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+TEN THINGS I HATE ABOUT YOU written by Karen McCullah Lutz & Kirsten Smith based on 'Taming of the Shrew" by William Shakespeare Revision November 12, 1997 PADUA HIGH SCHOOL - DAY Welcome to Padua High School,, your typical urban-suburban high school in Portland, Oregon. Smarties, Skids, Preppies, Granolas. Loners, Lovers, the In and the Out Crowd rub sleep out of their eyes and head for the main building. PADUA HIGH PARKING LOT - DAY KAT STRATFORD, eighteen, pretty -- but trying hard not to be -- in a baggy granny dress and glasses, balances a cup of coffee and a backpack as she climbs out of her battered, baby blue '75 Dodge Dart. A stray SKATEBOARD clips her, causing her to stumble and spill her coffee, as well as the contents of her backpack. The young RIDER dashes over to help, trembling when he sees who his board has hit. RIDER Hey -- sorry. Cowering in fear, he attempts to scoop up her scattered belongings. KAT Leave it He persists. KAT (continuing) I said, leave it! She grabs his skateboard and uses it to SHOVE him against a car, skateboard tip to his throat. He whimpers pitifully and she lets him go. A path clears for her as she marches through a pack of fearful students and SLAMS open the door, entering school. INT. GIRLS' ROOM - DAY BIANCA STRATFORD, a beautiful sophomore, stands facing the mirror, applying lipstick. Her less extraordinary, but still cute friend, CHASTITY stands next to her. BIANCA Did you change your hair? CHASTITY No. BIANCA You might wanna think about it Leave the girls' room and enter the hallway. HALLWAY - DAY- CONTINUOUS Bianca is immediately greeted by an admiring crowd, both boys and girls alike. BOY (adoring) Hey, Bianca. GIRL Awesome shoes. The greetings continue as Chastity remains wordless and unaddressed by her side. Bianca smiles proudly, acknowledging her fans. GUIDANCE COUNSELOR'S OFFICE - DAY CAMERON JAMES, a clean-cut, easy-going senior with an open, farm-boy face, sits facing Miss Perky, an impossibly cheery guidance counselor. MISS PERKY I'm sure you won't find Padua any different than your old school. Same little asswipe mother-fuckers everywhere. Her plastic smile never leaves her face. Cameron fidgets in his chair uncomfortably. MISS PERKY (continuing) Any questions? CAMERON I don't think so, ma'am MISS PERKY Then go forth. Scoot I've got deviants to see. Cameron rises to leave and makes eye contact with PATRICK VERONA, a sullen-looking bad ass senior who waits outside Ms Perky's door. His slouch and smirk let us know how cool he is. Miss Perky looks down at her file and up at Patrick MISS PERKY (continuing) Patrick Verona. I see we're making our visits a weekly ritual. She gives him a withering glance. He answers with a charming smile. PATRICK I missed you. MISS PERKY It says here you exposed yourself to a group of freshmen girls. PATRICK It was a bratwurst. I was eating lunch. MISS PERKY With the teeth of your zipper? She motions for Patrick to enter her office and Cameron shuffles out the door, bumping into MICHAEL ECKMAN, a lanky, brainy senior who will either end up a politician or game show host. MICHAEL You the new guy? CAMERON So they tell me... MICHAEL C'mon. I'm supposed to give you the tour. They head out of the office MICHAEL (continuing) So -- which Dakota you from? CAMERON North, actually. How'd you ? MICHAEL I was kidding. People actually live there? CAMERON Yeah. A couple. We're outnumbered by the cows, though. MICHAEL How many people were in your old school? CAMERON Thirty-two. MICHAEL Get out! CAMERON How many people go here? MICHAEL Couple thousand. Most of them evil INT. HALLWAY - DAY- CONTINUOUS Prom posters adorn the wall. Michael steers Cameron through the crowd as he points to various cliques. MICHAEL We've got your basic beautiful people. Unless they talk to you first, don't bother. The beautiful people pass, in full jock/cheerleader splendor. MICHAEL (continuing) Those 're your cowboys. Several Stetson-wearing, big belt buckle. Wrangler guys walk by. CAMERON That I'm used to. MICHAEL Yeah, but these guys have never seen a horse. They just jack off to Clint Eastwood. They pass an espresso cart with a group of teens huddled around it. MICHAEL (continuing) To the right, we have the Coffee Kids. Very edgy. Don't make any sudden movements around them. EXT. SCHOOL COURTYARD - DAY Michael continues the tour MICHAEL And these delusionals are the White Rastae. Several white boys in dreadlocks and Jamaican knit berets lounge on the grass. A cloud of pot smoke hovers above them MICHAEL (continuing) Big Marley fans. Think they're black. Semi-political, but mostly, they watch a lot of Wild Kingdom, if you know what I mean. Michael waves to DEREK, the one with the longest dreads. MICHAEL (continuing) Derek - save some for after lunch, bub? DEREK (very stoned) Michael, my brother, peace Cameron turns to follow Michael as they walk into the cafeteria. CAMERON So where do you fit in all this? INT. CAFETERIA - DAY - CONTINUOUS Loud music and loud students. Michael sits with a group of studious-looking teens. MICHAEL Future MBAs- We're all Ivy League, already accepted. Someday I'll be sipping Merlot while those guys -- He points to the table of jocks, as they torture various passers-by. MICHAEL (continuing) are fixing my Saab. Yuppie greed is back, my friend. He points proudly to the ALLIGATOR on his shirt. Cameron stops listening as BIANCA walks by, and we go SLO MO. Pure and perfect, she passes Cameron and Michael without a look. Cameron is smitten CAMERON That girl -- I -- MICHAEL You burn, you pine, you perish? CAMERON Who is she? MICHAEL Bianca Stratford. Sophomore. Don't even think about it CAMERON Why not? MICHAEL I could start with your haircut, but it doesn't matter. She's not allowed to date until her older sister does. And that's an impossibility. ENGLISH CLASS - DAY A room full of bored seniors doodle and scare off into space MS. BLAISE, the one-step-away-from-medication English Teacher, tries to remember what she's talking about. MRS. BLAISE Well, then. Oh, yes. I guess that does it for our analysis of The Old Man and the Sea. Any other comments? (with dread) Kat? Kat, the girl we saw as we entered the school, slowly cakes off her glasses and speaks up. KAT Why didn't we just read the Hardy Boys? MRS. BLAISE I'm sorry? KAT This book is about a guy and his fishing habit. Not exactly a crucial topic. The other students roll their eyes. KAT (continuing) Frankly, I'm baffled as to why we still revere Hemingway. He was an abusive, alcoholic misogynist who had a lot of cats. JOEY DORSEY, a well-muscled jock with great cheekbones, makes fun of her from his row. JOEY As opposed to a bitter self-righteous hag who has no friends? A few giggles. Kat ignores him. A practiced gesture MRS. BLAISE That's enough, Mr. Dorsey. Really gets fired up now KAT I guess the school board thinks because Hemingway's male and an asshole, he's worthy of our time She looks up at Ms. Blaise, who is now fighting with her pill box. KAT (continuing) What about Colette? Charlotte Bronte? Simone de Beauvoir? Patrick, lounging in his seat in the back row, elbows a crusty-looking crony, identified by the name SCURVY, embroidered on his workshirt. PATRICK Mother Goose? The class titters. Kat wears an expression of intolerance INT. GUIDANCE COUNSELOR'S OFFICE - DAY Kat now sits before Miss Perky. MISS PERKY Katarina Stratford. My, my. You've been terrorizing Ms. Blaise again. KAT Expressing my opinion is not a terrorist action. MISS PERKY Well, yes, compared to your other choices of expression this year, today's events are quite mild. By the way, Bobby Rictor's gonad retrieval operation went quite well, in case you're interested. KAT I still maintain that he kicked himself in the balls. I was merely a spectator. MISS PERKY The point is Kat -- people perceive you as somewhat ... Kat smiles at her, daring her to say it. KAT Tempestuous? MISS PERKY No ... I believe "heinous bitch" is the term used most often. She grimaces, as if she's referring to a medical condition. MISS PERKY (continuing) You might want to work on that Kat rises from her chair with a plastic smile matching the counselor's. KAT As always, thank you for your excellent guidance. INT. SOPHOMORE ENGLISH CLASS - DAY Bianca ignores the droning teacher as she writes a note in big flowing handwriting. TEACHER (0.S.) I realize the language of Mr. Shakespeare makes him a bit daunting, but I'm sure you're all doing your best. Bianca folds the note and passes it behind her with a flip of her hair to CHASTITY. Chastity opens the note and reads: INSERT - "JOEY DORSEY SAID HI TO ME IN THE HALL! OH! MY GOD!" Chastity frowns to herself. TEACHER (0.S.) (continuing) Ms. Stratford, do you care to comment on what you've read so far? Bianca looks up and smiles the smile of Daddy's little girl. BIANCA Not really. The teacher shakes her head, but lets it go. MANDELLA. a waif-like senior girl who sits off to the side trying to slit her wrist with the plastic spiral on her notebook, looks up and raises her hand. TEACHER Mandella -- since you're assisting us, you might as well comment. I'm assuming you read the assignment. MANDELLA Uh, yeah, I read it all TEACHER The whole play^ MANDELIA The whole folio. All the plays. TEACHER (disbelieving) You've read every play by William Shakespeare? MANDELLA Haven't you? She raises a challenging eyebrow. The stunned teacher doesn't answer and goes to call on the next student. EXT. SCHOOL COURTYARD - DAY Mandella and Kat sit down in the quiet corner. They are eating a carton of yogurt with gusto. MANDELLA Your sister is so amazingly without. She'll never read him. She has no idea. Kat attacks KAT The fact that you're cutting gym so you can T.A. Sophomore English just to hear his name, is a little without in itself if you ask me. Kat's attention is caught by Patrick as he walks by with his friends, lighting up a cigarette. Mandella notices her staring. MANDELLA Who's that? KAT Patrick Verona Random skid. MANDELLA That's Pat Verona? The one who was gone for a year? I heard he was doing porn movies. KAT I'm sure he's completely incapable of doing anything that interesting. MANDELLA He always look so KAT Block E? Kat turns back to face Mandella and forces her yogurt into Mandella's hand. KAT (continuing) Mandella, eat. Starving yourself is a very slow way to die. MANDELLA Just a little. She eats. Kat sees her wrist KAT What's this? MANDELLA An attempted slit. Kat stares at her, expressionless. KAT I realize that the men of this fine institution are severely lacking, but killing yourself so you can be with William Shakespeare is beyond the scope of normal teenage obsessions. You're venturing far past daytime talk show fodder and entering the world of those who need very expensive therapy. MANDELLA But imagine the things he'd say during sex. Thinks a minute KAT Okay, say you do it. You kill yourself, you end up in wherever you end up and he's there. Do you really think he's gonna wanna dace a ninety pound compulsive who failed volleyball? Mandella's attention is struck by Bianca ACROSS THE COURTYARD As she and Chastity parade by Joey and his COHORTS One of the cohorts elbows Joey. COHORT Virgin alert. Joey looks up and smiles at Bianca. JOEY Lookin' good, ladies. Bianca smiles her coyest of smiles. BACK TO KAT AND MANDELLA Still watching. MANDELLA Tragic. Doesn't respond ANOTHER ANGLE Michael and Cameron observe Joey's leers at Bianca from their bench in another corner. Cowboys eating cue of a can of beans linger on the grass behind them. CAMERON Why do girls like that always like guys like that? MICHAEL Because they're bred to. Their mothers liked guys like that, and their grandmothers before them. Their gene pool is rarely diluted. CAMERON He always have that shit-eating grin? MICHAEL Joey Dorsey? Perma-shit-grin. I wish I could say he's a moron, but he's number twelve in the class. And a model. Mostly regional stuff, but he's rumored to have a big tube sock ad coming out. The BELL rings, and the cowboys stand and spit into their empty bean cans. Cameron and Michael rise as Cameron tries to catch a glimpse of Bianca as she walks back inside. MICHAEL (continuing) You know French? CAMERON Sure do ... my Mom's from Canada MICHAEL Guess who just signed up for a tutor? CAMERON You mean I'd get a chance to talk to her? MICHAEL You could consecrate with her, my friend. Cameron watches as Bianca flounces back into the building. EXT. SCHOOL PARKING LOT - DAY Kat and Mandella walk toward Kat's car. Joey pulls up beside her in his Viper. JOEY (re her dress) The vintage look is over, Kat. Haven't you been reading your Sassy? KAT Yeah, and I noticed the only part of you featured in your big Kmart spread was your elbow. Tough break. JOEY (practically spitting) They're running the rest of me next month. He zooms away as Kat yanks open the door of her Dart. Mandella ties a silk scarf around her head, as if they're in a convertible. KAT The people at this school are so incredibly foul. MANDELLA You could always go with me. I'm sure William has some friends. They watch Joey's car as he slows next to Bianca and Chastity as they walk toward the school bus. ON BIANCA AND CHASTITY JOEY Need a ride, ladies? Bianca and Chastity can't get in Joey's car fast enough. He pulls away with a smile. BACK TO KAT AND MANDELLA Mandella lowers her sunglasses to watch. MANDELLA That's a charming new development Kat doesn't answer, but reaches over and puts a tape in the tape deck. The sounds of JOYFUL PUNK ROCK fill the car. As they pull out, Michael crosses in front of them on his moped. Kat has to SLAM the brakes to keep from hitting him KAT (yelling) Remove head from sphincter! Then pedal! Michael begins fearfully, pedaling as Kat PEELS out, angry at the delay. Cameron rushes over CAMERON You all right? He slows to a stop MICHAEL Yeah, just a minor encounter with the shrew. CAMERON That's her? Bianca's sister? MICHAEL The mewling, rampalian wretch herself. Michael putters off, leaving Cameron dodging Patrick's grimy, grey Jeep -- a vehicle several years and many paint jobs away from its former glory as a REGULATION MAIL TRUCK - - as he sideswipes several cars on his way out of the lot. INT. STRATFORD HOUSE - DAY SHARON STRATFORD, attractive and focused, sits in front of her computer, typing quickly. A shelf next to her holds several bodice-ripper romance novels, bearing her name. Kat stands behind her, reading over her shoulder as she types. KAT "Undulating with desire, Adrienne removes her crimson cape, revealing her creamy --" WALTER STRATFORD, a blustery, mad scientist-type obstetrician, enters through the front door, wearing a doctor's white jacket and carrying his black bag. WALTER I hope dinner's ready because I only have ten minutes before Mrs. Johnson squirts out a screamer. He grabs the mail and rifles through it, as he bends down to kiss Sharon on the cheek. SHARON In the microwave. WALTER (to Kat) Make anyone cry today? KAT Sadly, no. But it's only four-thirty. Bianca walks in. KAT (continuing) Where've you been? BIANCA (eyeing Walter) Nowhere... Hi, Daddy. She kisses him on the cheek WALTER Hello, precious. Walter kisses Bianca back as Kat heads up the stairs KAT How touching. Walter holds up a letter to Kat WALTER What's this? It says Sarah Lawrence? Snatches it away from him. KAT I guess I got in Sharon looks up from her computer. SHARON What's a synonym for throbbing? WALTER Sarah Lawrence is on the other side of the country. KAT I know. WALTER I thought we decided you were going to school here. At U of 0. KAT You decided. BIANCA Is there even a question that we want her to stay? Kat gives Bianca an evil look then smiles sweetly at KAT Ask Bianca who drove her home SHARON Swollen...turgid. WALTER (to Bianca; upset) Who drove you home? Bianca glares at Kat then turns to Walter BIANCA Now don't get upset. Daddy, but there's this boy... and I think he might ask... WALTER No! You're not dating until your sister starts dating. End of discussion. BIANCA What if she never starts dating? WALTER Then neither will you. And I'll get to sleep at night. BIANCA But it's not fair -- she's a mutant, Daddy! KAT This from someone whose diary is devoted to favorite grooming tips? WALTER Enough! He pulls out a small tape recorder from his black bag. WALTER (continuing) Do you know what this is? He hits the "play' button and SHRIEKS OF PAIN emanate from the tape recorder. BIANCA AND WALTER (in unison, by rote) The sound of a fifteen-year-old in labor. WALTER This is why you're not dating until your sister does. BIANCA But she doesn't want to date. WALTER Exactly my point His BEEPER goes off and he grabs his bag again WALTER (continuing) Jesus! Can a man even grab a sandwich before you women start dilating? SHARON Tumescent! WALTER (to Sharon; as he leaves) You're not helping. INT. TUTORING ROOM - DAY Cameron sits with an empty chair beside him. Bianca arrives in a flurry of blonde hair. BIANCA Can we make this quick? Roxanne Korrine and Andrew Barrett are having an incredibly horrendous public break- up on the quad. Again. CAMERON Well, I thought we'd start with pronunciation, if that's okay with you. BIANCA Not the hacking and gagging and spitting part. Please. CAMERON (looking down) Okay... then how 'bout we try out some French cuisine. Saturday? Night? Bianca smiles slowly BIANCA You're asking me out. That's so cute. What's your name again? CAMERON (embarrassed) Forget it. Bianca seizes an opportunity. BIANCA No, no, it's my fault -- we didn't have a proper introduction --- CAMERON Cameron. BIANCA The thing is, Cameron -- I'm at the mercy of a particularly hideous breed of loser. My sister. I can't date until she does. CAMERON Seems like she could get a date easy enough... She fingers a lock of her hair. He looks on, dazzled. BIANCA The problem is, she's completely anti-social. CAMERON Why? BIANCA Unsolved mystery. She used to be really popular when she started high school, then it was just like she got sick of it or something. CAMERON That's a shame. She reaches out and touches his arm BIANCA Gosh, if only we could find Kat a boyfriend... CAMERON Let me see what I can do. Cameron smiles, having no idea how stupid he is INT. BIOLOGY CLASS A frog is being torn asunder by several prongs and picks. Michael and Cameron go for the spleen. MICHAEL You're in school for one day and you ask out the most beautiful girl? Do you have no concept of the high school social code? Cameron grins away CAMERON I teach her French, get to know her, dazzle her with charm and she falls in love with me. MICHAEL Unlikely, but even so, she still can't go out with you. So what's the point? Cameron motions with his head toward Patrick, a few lab tables away. He's wearing biker glasses instead of goggles as he tries to revive his frog. CAMERON What about him? MICHAEL (confused) You wanna go out with him? The others at the lab table raise their eyebrows CAMERON (impatient) No - he could wrangle with the sister. Michael smiles. Liking the intrigue. MICHAEL What makes you think he'll do it? CAMERON He seems like he thrives on danger MICHAEL No kidding. He's a criminal. I heard he lit a state trooper on fire. He just got out of Alcatraz... CAMERON They always let felons sit in on Honors Biology? MICHAEL I'm serious, man, he's whacked. He sold his own liver on the black market so he could buy new speakers. CAMERON Forget his reputation. Do you think we've got a plan or not? MICHAEL Did she actually say she'd go out with you? CAMERON That's what I just said Michael processes this. MICHAEL You know, if you do go out with Bianca, you'd be set. You'd outrank everyone. Strictly A-list. With me by your side. CAMERON I thought you hated those people. MICHAEL Hey -- I've gotta have a few clients when I get to Wall Street. A cowboy flicks the frog's heart into one of the Coffee Kid's latte. Cameron presses on, over the melee. CAMERON So now all we gotta do is talk to him. He points to Patrick, who now makes his frog hump another frog, with full-on sound effects. MICHAEL I'll let you handle that. INT. WOODSHOP - DAY Boys and a few stray girls nail their pieces of wood Michael sits next to PEPE, a Coffee Kid, who holds out his jacket like the men who sell watches in the subway. Inside several bags of coffee hang from hooks. PEPE Some people like the Colombian, but it all depends on your acidity preference. Me? I prefer East African and Indonesian. You start the day with a Sumatra Boengie or maybe and Ethiopian Sidamo in your cup, you're that much farther ahead than someone drinkin' Cosia Rican or Kona -- you know what I mean? Michael nods solemnly. ACROSS THE ROOM Patrick sits at a table with Scurvy, making something that looks like a machete out of a two-by-four. Cameron approaches, full of good-natured farm boy cheer CAMERON Hey, there In response, Patrick brandishes a loud POWER TOOL in his direction. Cameron slinks away. CAMERON (continuing) Later, then. Michael watches, shaking his head. INT. CAFETERIA - DAY Joey and his pals take turns drawing boobs onto a cafeteria tray with a magic marker. Michael walks up and sits between them, casual as can be MICHAEL Hey. JOEY Are you lost? MICHAEL Nope - just came by to chat JOEY We don't chat. MICHAEL Well, actually, I thought I'd run an idea by you. You know, just to see if you're interested. JOEY We're not. He grabs Michael by the side of the head, and proceeds to draw a penis on his cheek with the magic marker. Michael suffers the indignity and speaks undaunted. MICHAEL (grimacing) Hear me out. You want Bianca don't you? Joey sits back and cackles at his drawing. MICHAEL (continuing) But she can't go out with you because her sister is this insane head case and no one will go out with her. right? JOEY Does this conversation have a purpose? MICHAEL So what you need to do is recruit a guy who'll go out with her. Someone who's up for the job. Michael points to Patrick, who makes a disgusted face at his turkey pot pie before he rises and throws it at the garbage can, rather than in it. JOEY That guy? I heard he ate a live duck once. Everything but the beak and the feet. MICHAEL Exactly Joey turns to look at Michael. JOEY What's in it for you? MICHAEL Oh, hey, nothin' man Purely good will on my part. He rises to leave and turns to the others. MICHAEL (continuing) I have a dick on my face, don't I? INT. BOY'S ROOM - DAY Michael stands at the sink, trying to scrub Joey's artwork off his face as Cameron watches. CAMERON You got him involved? MICHAEL Like we had a choice? Besides -- when you let the enemy think he's orchestrating the battle, you're in a position of power. We let him pretend he's calling the shots, and while he's busy setting up the plan, you have time to woo Bianca. Cameron grins and puts an arm around him CAMERON You're one brilliant guy Michael pulls back, noticing other guys filing in. MICHAEL Hey - I appreciate gratitude as much as the next guy, but it's not gonna do you any good to be known as New Kid Who Embraces Guys In The Bathroom. Cameron pulls back and attempts to posture himself in a manly way for the others, now watching. INT. KENNY'S THAI FOOD DINER - DAY Kat and Mandella pick apart their pad thai. Mandella is smoking. KAT So he has this huge raging fit about Sarah Lawrence and insists that I go to his male-dominated, puking frat boy, number one golf team school. I have no say at all. MANDELLA William would never have gone to a state school. KAT William didn't even go to high school MANDELLA That's never been proven KAT Neither has his heterosexuality. Mandella replies with a look of ice. Kat uses the moment to stub out Mandella's cigarette. KAT (continuing) I appreciate your efforts toward a speedy death, but I'm consuming. (pointing at her food) Do you mind? MANDELLA Does it matter? KAT If I was Bianca, it would be, "Any school you want, precious. Don't forget your tiara." They both look up as Patrick enters. He walks up to the counter to place his order. Mandella leans toward Kat with the glow of fresh gossip MANDELLA Janice Parker told me he was a roadie for Marilyn Manson. Patrick nods at them as he takes his food outside. KAT Janice Parker is an idiot INT. MISS PERKY'S OFFICE - DAY Patrick sits before Miss Perky, eating his Thai food MISS PERKY (looking at chart) I don't understand, Patrick. You haven't done anything asinine this week. Are you not feeling well? PATRICK Touch of the flu. MISS PERKY I'm at a loss, then. What should we talk about? Your year of absence? He smiles his charming smile PATRICK How 'bout your sex life? She tolerates his comment with her withering glance. MISS PERKY Why don't we discuss your driving need to be a hemorrhoid? PATRICK What's to discuss? MISS PERKY You weren't abused, you aren't stupid, and as far as I can tell, you're only slightly psychotic -- so why is it that you're such a fuck-up? PATRICK Well, you know -- there's the prestige of the job title... and the benefits package is pretty good... The bell RINGS. MISS PERKY Fine. Go do something repugnant and give us something to talk about next week. INT. TUTORING ROOM - DAY Several pairs of tutors and students sit at the various desks. Mandella sits with TREVOR, a White Rasta. She attempts to get him to do geometry, but he stares at her, as if smitten MANDELLA Look, it's really easy. TREVOR You're a freedom fighter. Be proud, sister. Mandella sets down her pencil and closes the book. MANDELLA (rotely) It's Mandella with two L's. I am not related to Nelson Mandela. I am not a political figure. I do not live in South Africa. My parents just spent a few too many acid trips thinking they were revolutionaries. TREVOR But you freed our people MANDELLA Your "people" are white, suburban high school boys who smoke too much hemp. I have not freed you, Trevor. (grabbing his arm dramatically) Only you can free yourself. ACROSS THE ROOM Bianca and Cameron sit side by side, cozy as can be BIANCA C'esc ma tete. This is my head CAMERON Right. See? You're ready for the quiz. BIANCA I don't want to know how to say that though. I want to know useful things. Like where the good stores are. How much does champagne cost? Stuff like Chat. I have never in my life had to point out my head to someone. CAMERON That's because it's such a nice one. BIANCA Forget French. She shuts her book and puts on a seductive smile BIANCA (continuing) How is our little Find the Wench A Date plan progressing? CAMERON Well, there's someone I think might be -- Bianca's eyes light up BIANCA Show me INT. HALLWAY - DAY Cameron and Bianca lean against the wall -inconspicuously. Bianca plays it cool. BIANCA Give me a sign when he walks by. And don't point. The bell RINGS. Kids flood past. Then Patrick saunters by with Scurvy. Cameron nudges Bianca. CAMERON There. BIANCA Where? Out of desperation, Cameron awkwardly lunges across Patrick's path. Patrick shoves him back against the wall without a thought. Cameron lands in a THUD at Bianca's feet. CAMERON I guess he didn't see me (calling after Patrick) Some other time -- Bianca watches Patrick, a wicked gleam in her eye. BIANCA My God, he's repulsive. He's so perfect! INT. GYM CLASS - DAY Several volleyball games are being played. Joey and a member of his hulking entourage, approach Patrick, who still manages to look cool, even in gym clothes. They pull him aside roughly. PATRICK (shrugging them off) What? Joey points JOEY See that girl? Patrick follows his line of vision to Kat as she spikes the ball into some poor cowboy's face. PATRICK Yeah JOEY What do you think? Kat wins the game and high fives the others, who are scared of her. PATRICK Two legs, nice rack... JOEY Yeah, whatever. I want you to go out with her. PATRICK Sure, Sparky. I'll get right on it. JOEY You just said PATRICK You need money to take a girl out JOEY But you'd go out with her if you had the cake? Patrick stares at Joey deadpan. His dislike for the guy obvious. PATRICK (sarcastic) Yeah, I'd take her to Europe if I had the plane. Joey smiles. JOEY You got it, Verona. I pick up the tab, you do the honors. PATRICK You're gonna pay me to take out some girl? JOEY I can't date her sister until that one gets a boyfriend. And that's the catch. She doesn't want a boyfriend. PATRICK How much? JOEY Twenty bucks each time you take her out. PATRICK I can't take a girl like that out on twenty bucks. JOEY Fine, thirty. Patrick raises an eyebrow, urging him up JOEY (continuing) Take it or leave it. This isn't a negotiation. PATRICK Fifty, and you've got your man. Patrick walks away with a smile EXT. FIELD HOCKEY FIELD - DAY Kat and the rest of the team go through a grueling practice session. Kat spares no one as she whips the ball all over the field. Patrick sits on the bleachers nearby, watching. A cigarette dangles from his mouth. His pal, SCURVY is next to him. MR. CHAPIN, the coach, blows the WHISTLE. MR. CHAPIN (proudly) Good run, Stratford. Kat nods in response, and the girls leave the field. Patrick hops down to follow. PATRICK Hey. Girlie. Kat stops and turns slowly to look at him. PATRICK (continuing) I mean Wo-man. How ya doin'? KAT (smiles brightly) Sweating like a pig, actually. And yourself? PATRICK There's a way to get a guy's attention. KAT My mission in life. She stands there undaunted, hand on hip. KAT (continuing) Obviously, I've struck your fancy. So, you see, it worked. The world makes sense again. Patrick's eyes narrow. He steps closer. PATRICK Pick you up Friday, then KAT Oh, right. Friday. PATRICK backs up a little. He uses his most seductive tone PATRICK The night I take you to places you've never been before. And back. KAT Like where? The 7-Eleven on Burnside? Do you even know my name, screwboy? PATRICK I know a lot more than that Kat stares at him. KAT Doubtful. Very doubtful. She walks away quickly, leaving him standing alone. PATRICK (calling after her) You're no bargain either, sweetheart. Scurvy appears at his side SCURVY So I guess the Jeep won't be getting a new Blaupunkt. ACROSS THE FIELD Cameron and Michael watch. MICHAEL He took the bait. STRATFORD HOUSE/BATHROOM - NIGHT Kat washes her face at the sink. Bianca appears behind her, and attempts to twist Kat's hair into a chignon. She wacks Bianca away. BIANCA Have you ever considered a new look? I mean, seriously, you could have some potential buried under all this hostility. Kat pushes past her into the hallway. KAT I have the potential to smack the crap out of you if you don't get out of my way. BIANCA Can you at least start wearing a bra? Kat SLAMS her door in response. INT. HALLWAY - DAY Patrick, Scurvy and some other randoms head for the exit SCURVY You up for a burger? Patrick looks in his wallet. It's empty. INT. HALLWAY - DAY Kat stands at her locker, gathering her books. Patrick appears at her side, smiling. PATRICK Hey Kat doesn't answer PATRICK (continuing) You hate me don't you? KAT I don't really think you warrant that strong an emotion. PATRICK Then say you'll spend Dollar Night at the track with me. KAT And why would I do that? PATRICK Come on -- the ponies, the flat beer, you with money in your eyes, me with my hand on your ass... KAT You -- covered in my vomit. PATRICK Seven-thirty? She slams her locker shut and walks away EXT. DOWNTOWN STREET - NIGHT Kat emerges from a music store carrying a bag of CDs in her teeth, and fumbling through her purse with both hands. She finds her keys and pulls them out with a triumphant tug. She looks up and finds Patrick sitting on the hood of her car PATRICK Nice ride. Vintage fenders. Kat takes the bag out of her mouth. KAT Are you following me? PATRICK I was in the laundromat. I saw your car. Thought I'd say hi. KAT Hi She gets in and starts the car. PATRICK You're not a big talker, are you? KAT Depends on the topic. My fenders don't really whip me into a verbal frenzy. She starts to pull out, and is blocked by Joey's Viper, which pulls up perpendicular to her rear and parks. Joey and his groupies emerge and head for the liquor store KAT (continuing) Hey -- do you mind? JOEY Not at all They continue on into the store. Kat stares at them in disbelief... Then BACKS UP Her vintage fenders CRASH into the door of Joey's precious Viper. Patrick watches with a delighted grin Joey races out of the liquor store. JOEY (continuing) You fucking bitch! Kat pulls forward and backs into his car again. Smiling sweetly. INT. STRATFORD HOUSE - NIGHT Walter paces as Kat sits calmly on the couch. WALTER My insurance does not cover PMS KAT Then tell them I had a seizure. WALTER Is this about Sarah Lawrence? You punishing me? KAT I thought you were punishing me. WALTER Why can't we agree on this? KAT Because you're making decisions for me. WALTER As a parent, that's my right KAT So what I want doesn't matter? WALTER You're eighteen. You don't know what you want. You won't know until you're forty-five and you don't have it. KAT (emphatic) I want to go to an East Coast school! I want you to trust me to make my own choices. I want -- Walter's BEEPER goes off WALTER Christ! I want a night to go by that I'm not staring a contraction in the face. He walks out, leaving Kat stewing on the couch. INT. HALLWAY - DAY Patrick shuts his graffiti-encrusted locker, revealing Joey's angry visage, glowering next to him. JOEY When I shell out fifty, I expect results. PATRICK I'm on it JOEY Watching the bitch trash my car doesn't count as a date. PATRICK I got her under control. She just acts crazed in public to keep up the image. Joey sees through the bluff JOEY Let me put it to you this way, if you don't get any action, I don't get any action. So get your ass on hers by the end of the week. Joey starts to walk off PATRICK I just upped my price JOEY (turning) What? PATRICK A hundred bucks a date. JOEY Forget it. PATRICK Forget her sister, then. Joey thinks for a frustrated moment, PUNCHES the locker, then peels another fifty out of his wallet with a menacing scowl. JOEY You better hope you're as smooth as you think you are, Verona. Patrick takes the money with a smile. INT. TUTORING ROOM - DAY Cameron runs a sentence past Bianca. CAMERON La copine et I 'ami? La diferance? Bianca glares at him. BIANCA A "copine" is someone you can count on. An "ami" is someone who makes promises he can't keep. Cameron closes the French book CAMERON You got something on your mind? BIANCA I counted on you to help my cause. You and that thug are obviously failing. Aren't we ever going on our date? He melts CAMERON You have my word. As a gentleman BIANCA You're sweet. She touches his hand. He blushes at her praise and watches her toss her hair back CAMERON (appreciative) How do you get your hair to look like that? BIANCA Eber's Deep Conditioner every two days. And I never, ever use a blowdryer without the diffuser attachment. Cameron nods with interest. CAMERON You know, I read an article about that. Bianca looks surprised. BIANCA You did? INT. BOY'S ROOM - DAY Patrick stands at the sink, washing his hands Michael and Cameron cower in the corner, watching him. PATRICK (without turning around) Say it MICHAEL (clearing his throat) What? PATRICK Whatever the hell it is you're standin' there waitin' to say. Cameron bravely steps forward CAMERON We wanted to talk to you about the plan. Patrick turns toward them. PATRICK What plan? MICHAEL The situation is, my man Cameron here has a major jones for Bianca Stratford. PATRICK What is it with this chick? She have three tits? Cameron starts to object, but Michael holds up a hand. MICHAEL I think I speak correctly when I say that Cameron's love is pure. Purer than say -- Joey Dorsey's. PATRICK Dorsey can plow whoever he wants. I'm just in this for the cash. Cameron starts choking at the thought of Joey plowing his beloved Bianca. MICHAEL That's where we can help you. With Kat. PATRICK So Dorsey can get the girl? MICHAEL Patrick, Pat, you're not looking at the big picture. Joey's just a pawn. We set this whole thing up so Cameron can get the girl. Patrick smiles. He likes the idea of Joey being a pawn in this game. PATRICK You two are gonna help me tame the wild beast? MICHAEL (grinning) We're your guys. CAMERON And he means that strictly in a non- prison-movie type of way. PATRICK Yeah -- we'll see. He swings the door open and exits, leaving Michael and Cameron grinning at each other. MICHAEL We're in. INT. CLASSROOM - DAY CU on a party invitation as it gets handed out. "Future Princeton Grad Bogey Lowenstein proudly presents a Saturday night bash at his abode. Casual attire". Michael holds the invitation up to Cameron. CAMERON This is it. A golden opportunity. Patrick can ask Katarina to the party. MICHAEL In that case, we'll need to make it a school-wide blow out. CAMERON Will Bogey get bent? MICHAEL Are you kidding? He'll piss himself with joy. He's the ultimate kiss ass. CAFETERIA - DAY Michael hands a jock the party invite as they pass each other at the trash cans. INT. GYM CLASS - DAY The jock calls a fellow jock INT. MATH CLASS - DAY Jock whispers to a cheerleader COURTYARD - DAY The cheerleader calls a White Rasta that she's making out with, showing him the invite. TRACK - DAY The White Rasta tells a cowboy as they run laps during track practice. INT. SHOWERS - DAY The cowboy Cells a Coffee Kid, as he shields his java from the spray of the shower. INT. HALLWAY - DAY Joey stands ac his open locker with Bianca. The locker is an homage to Joey's "modeling" career. Cheesy PRINT ADS of him -- running in a field of daisies, petting a kitten, etc. -- adorn the locker door. JOEY Which do you like better? INSERT - HEADSHOTS of Joey. In one, he's pouting in a white shirt. In the other, he's pouting in a black shirt. BIANCA I think I like the white shirt Joey nods thoughtfully. JOEY It's more BIANCA Expensive? JOEY Exactly (beat) So, you going to Bogey Lowenbrau's thing on Saturday? BIANCA Hopefully. He gives her his best flirtatious smile JOEY Good, 'cause I'm not gonna bother if you won't be there. He taps her on the nose and she giggles INT. TUTORING ROOM Bianca sits across from Cameron, who's transfixed, as always BIANCA Have you heard about Bogey Lowenstein's party? CAMERON Sure have. BIANCA (pouting) I really, really, really wanna go, but I can't. Not unless my sister goes. CAMERON I'm workin' on it. But she doesn't seem to be goin' for him. He fishes. CAMERON (continuing) She's not a... BIANCA Lesbian? No. I found a picture of Jared Leto in one of her drawers, so I'm pretty sure she's not harboring same-sex tendencies. CAMERON So that's the kind of guy she likes? Pretty ones? BIANCA Who knows? All I've ever heard her say is that she'd dip before dating a guy that smokes. Cameron furiously takes notes CAMERON All right. What else is she partial to? INT. DIVE BAR - NIGHT Patrick plays pool with some random deviant cronies. He looks up when he hears a COMMOTION at the door. LOU the bouncer is in the midst of throwing Michael and Cameron out. PATRICK Lou, it's okay. They're with me. Lou looks at Patrick, surprised, then reluctantly lets our two non-deviants pass through. Patrick guides them to a table and sips from a beer. PATRICK (continuing) What've you got for me? CAMERON I've retrieved certain pieces of information on Miss Katarina Stratford I think you'll find helpful. Cameron pulls out a piece of paper. MICHAEL (to Patrick) One question before we start -- should you be drinking alcohol when you don't have a liver? PATRICK What?! MICHAEL Good enough. Cameron looks up at Patrick. CAMERON Number one. She hates smokers MICHAEL It's a lung cancer issue CAMERON Her favorite uncle MICHAEL Dead at forty-one. Patrick sits up PATRICK Are you telling me I'm a - (spits the word out) "non-smoker"? MICHAEL Just for now. CAMERON Another thing. Bianca said that Kat likes -- pretty guys. This is met with silence. Then: PATRICK What? You don't think I'm pretty? Michael smacks Cameron MICHAEL He's pretty! CAMERON Okay! I wasn't sure Cameron goes back to the list. CAMERON (continuing) Okay -- Likes: Thai food, feminist prose, and "angry, stinky girl music of the indie-rock persuasion". PATRICK So what does that give me? I'm supposed to buy her some noodles and a book and sit around listening to chicks who can't play their instruments? MICHAEL Ever been to Club Skunk? PATRICK Yeah. CAMERON Gigglepuss is playing there tomorrow night. PATRICK Don't make me do it, man MICHAEL Assail your ears for one night. CAMERON It's her favorite band. Patrick groans MICHAEL I also retrieved a list of her most recent CD purchases, courtesy of American Express. He hands it over. PATRICK (smiling) Michael -- did you get this information "illegally"? Michael puts a finger to his lips. MICHAEL I prefer to think of it simply as an alternative to what the law allows. PATRICK I'm likin' you guys better He looks down at the list of CDs. PATRICK (continuing) This is really music? INT. KAT'S ROOM - NIGHT MUSIC BLARES in a room with minimalist decor splashed with indie rock band posters and flyers. Kat and Mandella dance as they dress and apply make-up Bianca enters, interrupting their fun. BIANCA Can you turn down the Screaming Menstrual Bitches? I'm trying to study. Kat doesn't move, so Bianca crosses to the stereo, turning down the volume. BIANCA (continuing) Don't tell me you're actually going out? On a school night, no less. Kat shoots her a glare BIANCA (continuing; excited) Oh my God, does this mean you're becoming normal? KAT It means that Gigglepuss is playing at Club Skunk and we're going. BIANCA (disappointed) Oh, I thought you might have a date (beat) I don't know why I'm bothering to ask, but are you going to Bogey Lowenstein's party Saturday night? KAT What do you think? BIANCA I think you're a freak. I think you do this to torture me. And I think you suck. She smiles sweetly and shuts the door behind her. Kat doesn't bat an eye. She grabs her purse and opens the door KAT Let's hit it. EXT. CLUB SKUNK - NIGHT A happy black and white neon skunk sprays fine mist on the line of kids below. INT. CLUB FOYER - NIGHT Kat and Mandella walk in, Mandella nervously pulling out her fake ID. The giant, afroed bouncer, BRUCE, looks typically mono-syllabic. MANDELLA (whispering to Kat) You think this'll work? KAT No fear. They approach Bruce. Kat puts on her happy, shiny face KAT (continuing) Hello! We'd like two for Gigglepuss! Bruce looks the girls up and down. BRUCE I can count. He looks at their IDs. Mandella gently moves Kat aside, wearing a face that could only be described as "I AM a Victoria's Secret model." MANDELLA I'll bet you can.. She sticks out her chest and licks her lips. Bruce stares at her deadpan and hands her back the IDs. BRUCE Go ahead. (to Mandella) And you MANDELLA (all come hither) Yes? BRUCE Take it easy on the guys in there. Mandella winks at him and sashays inside Kat: follows behind, shaking her head. EXT. CLUB SKUNK - NIGHT Patrick's mail truck clatters to a stop out front. INT. CLUB FOYER - NIGHT Patrick walks up to Bruce, who's frisking a badly mowhawked PIERCED EYEBROW BOY. Bruce pulls a SWITCHBLADE out of the boy's inside pocket. BRUCE Next time, leave the Bic at home, Skippy. SKIPPY It's a bottle opener. Bruce pushes him inside the club, then sees Patrick. BRUCE Verona, my man. They shake. PATRICK Always a pleasure, Brucie. BRUCE Didn't have you pegged for a Gigglepuss fan. Aren't they a little too pre-teen belly-button ring for you? PATRICK Fan of a fan. You see a couple of minors come in? BRUCE Never PATRICK Padua girls. One tall, decent body. The other one kinda short and undersexed? BRUCE Just sent 'em through. Patrick starts to go in BRUCE (continuing) Hey -- what happened to that chick you brought last time? The one with the snake? Patrick laughs and goes into the club INT. CLUB - NIGHT Onstage, the all-female band GIGGLEPUSS is parlaying their bad girl sass into a ripping punk number. Near the stage is a joyful mass of pogo-ing teens AT THE BAR Patrick bellies up and looks around the club. Gigglepuss finishes a song. LEAD SINGER Hello, out there. We're Gigglepuss and we're from Olympia. A teenage boy in the audience takes the opportunity to scream. BOY (0.S.) Pet my kitty! LEAD SINGER Meow They rev into their next song. NEAR THE STAGE Mandella and Kat glow with sweat. When they hear the opening chords of the song, they look at each other and scream with glee as they begin to dance. They couldn't be having a better time. AT THE BAR Patrick signals to get the bartender's attention and looks across the bouncing surge of the crowd. He spots Kat and Mandella singing along. HIS POV The gleeful Kat -- dancing and looking completely at ease. None of her usual "attitude". Patrick is transfixed. And most definitely attracted. NEAR THE STAGE Kat looks at Mandella. KAT (shouting) I need agua! She makes her way through the crowd to the bar. AT THE BAR She made it. She signals for the bartender and as she's waiting, looks around. She spots Patrick a few feet away KAT (continuing to herself) Shit She sneaks a glance. He's staring, but this time he looks away before she can. Despite herself, she's miffed. The bartender arrives BARTENDER (shouting) What can I get you? KAT Two waters. She looks at Patrick again. He's completely absorbed in the band. She scowls. The bottled water arrives and she marches off, forgetting to pay. She walks up to Patrick. KAT (continuing) You're not fooling anyone. Patrick looks at her, surprised PATRICK (yelling) hey. Great show, huh? KAT (yelling) If you're planning on asking me out you might as well get it over with. PATRICK (yelling) Excuse me? KAT (yelling) That's what you want, isn't it? PATRICK (yelling; gesturing toward the band) Do you mind? You're sort of ruining it for me. Kat steams. And watches him watch the band KAT (yelling) You're not surrounded by your usual cloud of smoke. The band takes a break, so they can stop yelling now PATRICK I know. I quit. He leans back, making no attempt to hit on her. She moves closer. KAT Oh, really? He motions toward the stage PATRICK You know, these guys are no Bikini Kill or The Raincoats, but they're right up there. KAT You know who The Raincoats are? PATRICK Why, don't you? She's completely taken aback. He uses the moment to his advantage and brushes her hair back as he speaks right into her ear. PATRICK (continuing) I watched you out there I've never seen you look like that Kat steps away, brushing the hair back that he just touched Her cheeks pinken. His cocky side is back in a flash PATRICK (continuing) Come to that party with me. At that moment, the band starts another SONG KAT (yelling) What? The bartender approaches. BARTENDER (to Kat, yelling) You forgot to pay! PATRICK (yelling) I got it, Rick. He tosses some bills on the bar Rather than thank him, Kat simply watches him, trying to figure out his motive. PATRICK (continuing; yelling) Nine-thirty then. A few people have gotten between them at the bar and she can't hear a word he's saying. She gives him one last look and heads back into the crowd. Patrick smiles. She didn't say no this time. EXT. CLUB SKUNK - NIGHT The crowd files out of the club, Kat and Mandella amongst them. A^ they're walking toward the parking lot, Patrick coasts by in his truck. The gears GRIND. He yells out the window. MANDELLA What'd he say? KAT Who cares? Mandella watches Kat as she stares after Patrick MANDELLA Has he importun'd you with love in honourable fashion? Kat glances sharply at her. MANDELLA (continuing; off her look) Don't be Cruella with me. I'm in favor of romance. You're the one that wants to march on Washington every five minutes. Kat pokes her, then looks back at the club dreamily. KAT Gigglepuss was so beyond. Mandella nods. MANDELLA They were. I only wish William could have been here to witness the rebirth of punk rock with us. Kat links her arm through Mandella's and they head for the car. KAT So true. INT. HALLWAY - DAY Cameron and Michael are at Michael's locker. CAMERON So, then she says that she almost didn't wear the Kenneth Coles with that dress because she thought she was mixing, you know, genres. And the fact that I noticed -- and I'm quoting here - "really meant something." Cameron looks At Michael expectantly MICHAEL You told me that part already. CAMERON Hell, I've just been going over the whole thing in my head and - Joey appears over Cameron's shoulder. JOEY Hey. Dingo Boingo Cameron and Michael look at each other And turn around slowly JOEY (continuing; to Michael) I hear you're helpin' Verona. MICHAEL Uh, yeah. We're old friend* JOEY You and Verona? MICHAEL What? We took bathes together when we were kids. It's incredibly obvious that he's lying. Joey eyes him then turns to Cameron. JOEY What's your gig in all this? CAMERON I'm just the new guy. Joey turns back to Michael, grabbing the alligator on his shirt and twisting it. JOEY You better not fuck this up. I'm heavily invested. MICHAEL Hey -- it's all for the higher good right? Joey lets go of Michael and SHOVES Cameron against a locker for good measure, as he walks away- CAMERON Is it about me? EXT. MISS PERKY'S OFFICE - DAY Kat sits outside waiting for her appointment, bored and annoyed. The door opens and Miss Perky escorts Patrick out MISS PERKY You're completely demented. PATRICK (cheery) See you next week! Kat stands and Patrick sees her. Miss Perky watches in horror MISS PERKY You two know each other? PATRICK/KAT Yeah/No. Miss Perky grabs Kat and shoves her into her office. MISS PERKY (to Patrick) Dear God, stay away from her. If you two ever decided to breed, evil would truly walk the earth. Patrick gives Kat one last look before the door shuts, then smiles- EXT. STRATFORD HOUSE - NIGHT The lights are on, illuminating the yard INT. STRATFORD HOUSE/UPSTAIRS HALLWAY - NIGHT Bianca and Chastity stand outside Kat's room. MUSIC is blaring and the door is shut. Bianca looks at her watch BIANCA She's obviously not going. INT. LIVING ROOM - NIGHT Across the carpet, two pairs of teenage girl feet sneak past. Bianca and Chastity, teddy bear purses in hand. FROM THE KITCHEN A RUSTLING is heard. The girls freeze. Walter emerges from the kitchen with a mile-high sandwich The girls are like statues. Walter jumps. BIANCA Daddy, I -- WALTER And where're you going? BIANCA If you must know, we were attempting to go to a small study group of friends. WALTER Otherwise known as an orgy? BIANCA It's just a party. Daddy, but I knew you'd forbid me to go since "Gloria Steinem" over there isn't going -- She points to Kat -- Walkman blaring -- who comes downstairs, wearing a baby tee and battered Levis. Her relaxing-at-home look is about 400 times sexier than her at- school look. She wanders toward the kitchen. Walter directs his attention toward Kat. WALTER Do you know about any party? Katarina? Kat shrugs as she comes back out of the kitchen with an apple BIANCA Daddy, people expect me to be there! WALTER If Kat's not going, you're not going. Bianca turns to Kat, eyes ablaze BIANCA You're ruining my life' Because you won't be normal, I can't be normal. KAT What's normal? BIANCA Bogey Lowenstein's party is normal, but you're too busy listening to Bitches Who Need Prozac to know that. WALTER What's a Bogey Lowenstein? Kat takes off her earphones, ready to do battle BIANCA Can't you forget for just one night that you're completely wretched? KAT At least I'm not a clouted fen- sucked hedge-pig. Bianca tosses her hair. BIANCA Like I'm supposed to know what that even means. KAT It's Shakespeare. Maybe you've heard of him? BIANCA Yeah, he's your freak friend Mandella's boyfriend. I guess since I'm not allowed to go out, I should obsess over a dead guy, too. WALTER Girls Kat stares Bianca down KAT I know about the goddamn party. I'm going. Bianca and Chastity look at each other, thrilled, and burst into gleeful screams. A startled Walter clutches Bianca in a protective hug. WALTER Oh, God. It's starting. BIANCA It's just a party. Daddy. Walter looks dazed. WALTER Wear the belly before you go. BIANCA Daddy, no! WALTER Just for a minute He rushes to a cupboard and pulls out a padded faux- pregnancy belly. WALTER (continuing) I want you to realize the weight of your decisions. He hangs the belly on her as she stands mortified. BIANCA You are so completely unbalanced. KAT Can we go now? Scanned by http://freemoviescripts.com Formatting by http://simplyscripts.home.att.net WALTER (to Bianca) Promise me you won't talk to any boys unless your sister is present. BIANCA Why? WALTER Because she'll scare them away. Kat stomps to the door, grabbing her car keys off the hall table and a sweater from the coat rack. She flings open the door and... There stands Patrick. PATRICK Nine-thirty right? Kat's in shock PATRICK (continuing) I'm early. She holds up her keys KAT I'm driving. He peeks in behind her. PATRICK Who knocked up your sister? INT. BOGEY LOWENSTEIN'S HOUSE - NIGHT BOGEY, a short Future MBA in a tux, greets his guests like a pro, handing out cigars and martinis. BOGEY Nice to see you. Martini bar to the right, shots in the kitchen. The house is filled to capacity with Padua High's finest Kat pushes through the crowd. Patrick saunters in behind her INT. BOGEY'S KITCHEN - NIGHT Joey lines up a row of shots amid much whooping and hollering within the jock crowd. Kat enters, then quickly tries to make an about face. Joey sees her and rushes over to block her, standing in the doorway. JOEY Lookin' fresh tonight, Pussy-Kat Kat gives him a death look and then stops and points at his forehead. KAT Wait -- was that?-- Did your hairline just recede? He panics, whipping out a handy pocket mirror She's already walking away. JOEY Where ya goin? KAT Away. JOEY Your sister here? Kat's face shows utter hatred KAT Leave my sister alone. JOEY (smirking) And why would I do that? A RUCKUS sounds from the next room JOCK A fight! The other jocks rush to watch as two Coffee Kids splash their cupfuls on each other. COFFEE KID #1 That was a New Guinea Peaberry, you Folger's-crystals-slurping-buttwipe. Caffeinated fists fly. Joey slithers away from the door to watch, giving Kat one last smirk, just as Bianca walks into the kitchen. JOEY Just who I was looking for. He puts his arm around Bianca and escorts her out KAT BIANCA Bianca keeps walking, ignoring Kat A GUY pouring shots hands Kat one She downs it and accepts another. GUY Drink up, sister. Patrick walks up PATRICK What's this? KAT (mocking) "I'm getting trashed, man." Isn't that what you're supposed to do at a party? PATRICK I say, do what you wanna do. KAT Funny, you're the only one She downs another. INT. BOGEY'S LIVING ROOM - NIGHT Cameron and Michael enter. Cameron looks, around for his beloved, while Michael schmoozee with all in attendance and dishes dirt simultaneously. MICHAEL (high-fiving a jock) Moose, my man! (to Cameron) Ranked fifth in the state. Recruiters have already started calling. Cameron nods intently MICHAEL (continuing; grabbing his belt) Yo, Clem. (to Cameron) A Patsy Cline fan, but hates the new Leanne Rimes. (with a Jamaican swagger) Ziggy, peace, bra. (to Cameron) Prefers a water pipe, but has been known to use a bong. Michael spots Bianca and Chastity, watching the skirmish, and points Cameron's body in her direction. MICHAEL (continuing) Follow the love, man ON BIANCA AND CHASTITY Bianca cranes her neck BIANCA Where did he go? He was just here. CHASTITY Who? BIANCA Joey. Cameron walks over. CAMERON Evening, ladies. Bianca turns and graces him with a pained smile. BIANCA Hi. CAMERON Looks like things worked out tonight, huh? Bianca ignores the question and tries to pawn him off BIANCA You know Chastity? CAMERON I believe we share an art instructor CHASTITY Great BIANCA Would you mind getting me a drink, Cameron? CAMERON Certainly Pabst? Old Milwaukee? RaiJieer? Bianca gives him a tense smile. BIANCA Surprise me. He heads for the kitchen. Joey walks up and grabs her around the waist. She giggles as he picks her up and carries her off -- just as Cameron returns, a beer -- complete with a napkin and straw -- in his hand. Chastity glares with a jealous fury after Bianca and Joey, then gives Cameron the once-over and walks away. Michael appears. MICHAEL Extremely unfortunate maneuver. CAMERON The hell is that? What kind of 'guy just picks up a girl and carries her away while you're talking to her? MICHAEL Buttholus extremus. But hey, you're making progress. CAMERON No, I ' m not. He smacks himself in the head CAMERON (continuing) She used me! She wants to go out with Dorsey. Not me. I'm an idiot! Michael pats him on the shoulder. MICHAEL At least you're self-aware BOGEY'S KITCHEN - NIGHT Kat and a crowd of White Rastas and Cowboys stand in a drunken group hug singing "I Shot the Sheriff". Kat has another shot glass in hand. Patrick is showing a scar to an inebriated, enraptured cheerleader. He looks up at Kat and smiles meets his eyes then looks away. INT. BOGEY'S LIVING ROOM - NIGHT Bianca stands next to Joey, sipping from her beer JOEY So yeah, I've got the Sears catalog thing going -- and the tube sock gig " that's gonna be huge. And then I'm up for an ad for Queen Harry next week. BIANCA Queen Harry? JOEY It's a gay cruise line, but I'll be, like, wearing a uniform and stuff. Bianca tries to appear impressed, but it's getting difficult. BIANCA Neat... JOEY My agent says I've got a good shot at being the Prada guy next year. He looks over her shoulder and waves at someone. Bianca takes the opportunity to escape. BIANCA I'll be right back. INT. BOGEY'S BATHROOM - NIGHT Bianca shuts the door and leans on it with a sigh. Chastity applies lip-gloss in the mirror. BIANCA He practically proposed when he found out we had the same dermatologist. I mean. Dr. Bonchowski is great an all, but he's not exactly relevant party conversation. CHASTITY Is he oily or dry? BIANCA Combination. I don't know -- I thought he'd be different. More of a gentleman... Chastity rolls her eyes CHASTITY Bianca, I don't think the highlights of dating Joey Dorsey are going to include door-opening and coat-holding. BIANCA Sometimes I wonder if the guys we're supposed to want to go out with are the ones we actually want to go out with, you know? CHASTITY All I know is -- I'd give up my private line to go out with a guy like Joey. There's a KNOCK at the door. Bianca opens it to find a very drunken Kat. KAT Bianca, I need to talk to you -- I need to tell you -- BIANCA (cutting her off) I really don't think I need any social advice from you right now. Bianca grabs Chastity's arm and they exit INT. BOGEY'S KITCHEN - NIGHT - LATER Patrick tries to remove a shot glass from Kat's hand. PATRICK Maybe you should let me have it. Kat is fierce in her refusal to let go KAT I want another one Joey enters, grabbing Patrick by the shoulder, distracting him from his task. JOEY My man As Patrick turns, Kat breaks free and dives into the sea of dancing people in the dining room. PATRICK (annoyed) It's about time. JOEY A deal's a deal. He peels off some bills JOEY (continuing) How'd you do it? PATRICK Do what? JOEY Get her to act like a human A very drunken Kat jumps up onto the kitchen island and starts dancing by herself. She lets loose, hair flying. She's almost burlesque. Others form a crowd, clapping and cheering her on She swings her head around BANGING it on a copper pot hanging from the rack above the center island. She starts to sway, then goes down as Patrick rushes over to catch her. The others CLAP, thinking this is a wonderful finale. Patrick sets her down on her feet, holding her up PATRICK Okay? KAT I'm fine. I'm She tries to push him away, but staggers when she does grabs her again, bracing her. PATRICK You're not okay. KAT I just need to lie down for awhile PATRICK Uh, uh. You lie down and you'll go to sleep KAT I know, just let me sleep PATRICK What if you have a concussion? My dog went to sleep with a concussion and woke up a vegetable. Not that I could tell the difference... She tries to sit on the floor KAT Okay, I'll just sleep but stay awake, okay? He pulls her back to her PATRICK C'mon, let's walk INT. BOGEY'S DINING ROOM - NIGHT As Patrick walks Kat through the dining room, Cameron grabs his arm. CAMERON We need to talk. PATRICK Cameron, I'm a little busy CAMERON It's off. The whole thing. Kat slides down to the floor and Patrick struggles to get h back on her feet. PATRICK What 're you talking about? CAMERON She's partial to Joey, not me Patrick doesn't have time for this. PATRICK Cameron -- do you like the girl? CAMERON Sure PATRICK (impatient) Then, go get her Patrick continues walking an oblivious Kat outside. Cameron stands there, unsure how to make use of this advice EXT. BOGEY LOWENSTEIN'S HOUSE - NIGHT Patrick marches Kat around the yard, holding her up KAT This is so patronizing. PATRICK Leave it to you to use big words when you're shitfaced. KAT Why 're you doing this? PATRICK I told you KAT You don't care if I die PATRICK Sure, I do KAT Why? PATRICK Because then I'd have to start taking out girls who like me. KAT Like you could find one PATRICK See that? Who needs affection when I've got blind hatred? KAT Just let me sit down. He walks her over to the swingset and plops her down in a swing, moving her hands to hang onto the chains. PATRICK How's that? She sits and looks at him for a moment with a smile. Then FALLS over backward. PATRICK (continuing) Jesus. You're like a weeble Patrick rushes to right her, then starts pushing her on the swing to keep her entertained. PATRICK (continuing) Why'd you let him get to you? KAT Who? PATRICK Dorsey. KAT I hate him. PATRICK I know. It'd have to be a pretty big deal to get you to mainline tequila. You don't seem like the type. KAT (holding up a drunken head) Hey man. . . You don ' t think I can be "cool"? You don't think I can be "laid back" like everyone else? PATRICK (slightly sarcastic) I thought you were above all that KAT You know what they say He stops the swing PATRICK No. What do they say? Kat is asleep, her head resting against the swing's chains. PATRICK (continuing) Shit! He drags her to her feet and starts singing loudly. PATRICK (continuing) Jingle Bells! Jingle Belles! Wake up damn it! He sits her down on the slide and shakes her like a rag doll. PATRICK (continuing) Kat! Wake up! KAT (waking) What? He sighs with relief. PATRICK I thought you were... They share some meaningful eye contact. And then she PUKES on his shoes. INT. BOGEY'S BATHROOM - NIGHT Kat washes her face and grabs a bottle of Scope, taking a big swig. A KNOCK sounds at the door KAT Go away Bianca opens the door and looks at her sister with the smuggest of all possible grins. BIANCA Dinner taste better on the way out? Gives her a "don't even start" look. BIANCA (continuing) I don't get you. You act like you're too good for any of this, and then you go totally apeshit when you get here. KAT You're welcome. She pushes past her and leaves the bathroom. KAT'S CAR - NIGHT Kat's in the driver's seat. Patrick leans in and takes the keys out of the ignition. PATRICK Cute BOGEY LOWENSTEIN'S HOUSE - NIGHT Kids loiter on the lawn. Bianca and Chastity walk outside Joey catches up to them. JOEY A bunch of us are going to Jaret's house. Wanna come? Chastity looks at Bianca, who wears a pained expression. She looks at her watch. BIANCA I have to be home in twenty minutes. CHASTITY (eagerly, to Joey) I don't have to be home 'til two. JOEY Then, c'mon. (to Bianca) Maybe next time -- They head back into the party, leaving an astonished Bianca Cameron exits the party and stops when he sees Bianca standing alone. CAMERON (slightly accusatory) Have fun tonight? BIANCA Tons He starts to walk on BIANCA (continuing) Cameron? He stops. She gives him a helpless smile. BIANCA (continuing) Do you think you could give me a ride home? INT. KAT'S CAR - NIGHT Patrick drives as Kat sits in the passenger seat, fiddling with the radio dial. She finds a SONG she's happy with and Patrick quickly changes it. PATRICK I'm driving, so I get to pick the tunes. She changes it back to her song. KAT It's my car. He changes it back. PATRICK And I'm in control of it. KAT But it's Gigglepuss - I know you like them. I saw you there. Patrick doesn't have an answer for this, so he let's her listen to her song. KAT (continuing) When you were gone last year -- where were you? PATRICK Busy KAT Were you in jail? PATRICK Maybe. KAT No, you weren't PATRICK Then why'd you ask? KAT Why'd you lie? He doesn't answer, but instead, frowns and turns up the music. She bobs her head drunkenly. KAT (continuing) I should do this. PATRICK Do what? KAT This. She points to the radio PATRICK Start a band? KAT (sarcastically) My father wouldn't approve of that that PATRICK You don't strike me as the type that would ask permission. She turns to look at him. KAT Oh, so now you think you know me? PATRICK I'm gettin' there Her voice loses it's venom KAT The only thing people know about me is that I'm "scary". He turns to look at her -- she looks anything but scary right now. He tries to hide his smile. PATRICK Yeah -- well, I'm no picnic myself. They eye each other, sharing a moment of connection, realizing they're both created the same exterior for themselves. Patrick pulls into her driveway and shuts off the motor. He looks up at her house. PATRICK (continuing) So what ' s up with your dad? He a pain in the ass? KAT He just wants me to be someone I'm not. PATRICK Who? KAT BIANCA PATRICK No offense, but you're sister is without. I know everyone likes her and all, but ... Kat stares at him with new admiration. KAT You know -- you're not as vile as I thought you were. She leans drunkenly toward him. Their faces grow closer as if they're about to kiss And then Patrick turns away PATRICK So, I'll see you in school Kat stares at him, pissed. Then gets out of the car, SLAMMING the door shut behind her. CAMERON'S CAR - NIGHT Bianca and Cameron ride in silence. He finally breaks it. CAMERON I looked for you back at the party, but you always seemed to be "occupied". BIANCA (faux-innocence ) I was? CAMERON You never wanted to go out with 'me, did you? Bianca bites her lip. BIANCA (reluctant) Well, no... CAMERON Then that's all you had to say. BIANCA But CAMERON You always been this selfish? BIANCA thinks a minute He pulls up in front of the house CAMERON Just because you're beautiful, doesn't mean you can treat people like they don't matter. She looks at him for a moment -- then grabs his face and gives him a kiss on the lips. He draws back in surprise, then kisses her back. She smiles, then gets out of the car without another word. Cameron grins and drives away CAMERON (continuing) And I'm back in the saddle. INT. ENGLISH CLASS - DAY Kat sits at her desk, burying her face in a book as the others enter. The White Rastas are first. DEREK Kat, my lady, you sway to the rhythm of my heart. He grabs her hand and kisses it as she pulls it away. CLEM, a cowboy, enters, high-fiving Derek with new-found friendliness. CLEM Yippe kai-aye, bra. (to Kat) Dance for me, cowgirl. He sits next to Derek CLEM (continuing) Okay, now tell me again why he didn't shoot the deputy? DEREK Because the deputy meant him no harm, my friend. It was only the sheriff that was the oppressor. Joey saunters in and takes his seat. JOEY Kat, babe, you were on fire. Mrs. Blaise enters and sits at her desk MRS. BLAISE Well now, did everyone have a good weekend? JOEY Maybe we should ask Verona Patrick enters, late, and slinks to his desk. Kat looks up, down and around, everywhere but at Patrick. Mrs. Blaise tries to remember what she's supposed to talk about. MRS. BLAISE Okay then. Well. (beat) Oh, yes She clears her throat. MRS. BLAISE (continuing) I'd like you all to write your own version of Shakespeare's Sonnet #141. Groans. MRS. BLAISE (continuing) Any form you'd like. Rhyme, no rhyme, whatever. I'd like to see you elaborate on his theme, however. Let's read it aloud, shall we? Anyone? The class is frozen in apathy. MRS. BLAISE (continuing) Derek? Ms. Blaise hands him the sonnet. He shifts uncomfortably in his seat. Then grins. DEREK (reading; in his Rasta stoner drawl) In faith, I do not love thee with mine eyes/ For they in thee a thousand errors note/ But 'tis my heart that loves what they despise/ Who in despite of view is pleas 'd to dote. In the back of the room Clem raises his hand CLEM Ms. Blaise, can I get the bathroom pass? Damn if Shakespeare don't act as a laxative on my person. INT. KENNY'S THAI FOOD DINER - DAY Kat and Mandella scrape the peanuts out of their sauce. MANDELLA You went to the party? I thought we were officially opposed to suburban social activity. KAT I didn't have a choice. MANDELLA You didn't have a choice? Where's Kat and what have you done with her? KAT I did Bianca a favor and it backfired. MANDELLA You didn't KAT I got drunk. I puked. I got rejected. It was big fun. Patrick enters, walking to the counter to order. He sees Kat and smiles. PATRICK Hey She gathers her things and bolts out the door. Patrick looks at Mandella, who shrugs and follows Kat. INT. BIOLOGY CLASS - DAY Cameron and Michael flank Patrick at his lab table MICHAEL So you got cozy with she who stings? PATRICK No - I've got a sweet-payin' job that I'm about to lose. CAMERON What'd you do to her? PATRICK I don ' t know. (beat) I decided not to nail her when she was too drunk to remember it. Michael and Cameron look at each other in realization, then turn back to Patrick. CAMERON You realize this puts the whole operation in peril. PATRICK No shit. She won't even look at me CAMERON Why can't you just tell her you're sorry? Patrick's expression says that this is not a possibility. Michael makes a time out sign with his hands. MICHAEL I'm on it INT. HALLWAY - DAY Mandella is at her locker. Drawings of William Shakespeare adorn the door. She looks at them with a sigh, then ties her silk scarf tightly around her neck, in an attempt to cut off her air supply. Michael walks up. MICHAEL Hey there. Tired of breathing? MANDELLA (shyly, as she loosens the scarf) Hi. MICHAEL Cool pictures. You a fan? MANDELLA Yeah. I guess. MICHAEL rocks. Very hip. MANDELLA You think? MICHAEL Oh yeah. She looks at him suspiciously MANDELLA Who could refrain that had a heart to love and in that heart, courage to make ' B love known? Michael thinks for a minute. MICHAEL Macbeth, right? MANDELLA (happily stunned) Right. MICHAEL Kat a fan, too? MANDELLA (puzzled) Yeah... He leans in close to her, conspiratorially MICHAEL So, listen... I have this friend EXT. FIELD HOCKEY FIELD - DAY Cameron sits next to Patrick on the bleachers as they watch Kat's practice. CAMERON She hates you with the fire of a thousand suns . That's a direct quote PATRICK She just needs time to cool off I'll give it a day. A PUCK flies at them from the field, narrowly missing their heads. PATRICK (continuing) Maybe two. He looks at Cameron. PATRICK (continuing) You makin' any headway? CAMERON She kissed me. PATRICK (eyebrow raised) Where? INT. HALLWAY - DAY Chastity rounds the corner and bends down to get a drink from the water fountain. NEARBY Joey stands talking to two JOCK COHORTS. The guys don't see her. JOEY Don't talk to me about the sweetest date. That little halo Bianca is gonna be prone and proven on prom night. Six virgins in a row. The cohorts chortle Chastity keeps drinking from the fountain EXT. PARKING LOT - DAY Joey leans against Patrick's Jeep. Patrick is inside. PATRICK I don't know, Dorsey. ..the limo.-the flowers. Another hundred for the tux -- JOEY Enough with the Barbie n' Ken shit. I know. He pulls out his wallet and hands Patrick a wad of money JOEY (continuing) Take it Patrick does, with a smile, as he ROARS out of the parking lot. INT. SCHOOL COURTYARD - DAY Kat and Mandella deface a prom flyer. KAT Can you even imagine? Who the hell would go to this a bastion of commercial excess? MANDELLA Well, I guess we're not, since we don't have dates . KAT Listen to you! You sound like Betty, all pissed off because Archie is taking Veronica. MANDELLA Okay, okay, we won't go. It's not like I have a dress anyway KAT You ' re looking at this from the wrong perspective. We're making a statement. MANDELLA (unconvinced) Oh, good. Something new and different for us. EXT. ARCHERY FIELD - DAY Mr. Chapin patrols as boys and girls shoot arrows at targets Joey swaggers up to Bianca, who is taking careful aim. Chastity watches from across the row. JOEY Hey, sweet cheeks. BIANCA (not looking at him) Hi, Joey. JOEY You're concentrating awfully hard considering it's gym class. She lets the arrow go and turns to look at him. JOEY (continuing) Listen, I want to talk to you about the prom. BIANCA You know the deal. I can ' t go if Kat doesn't go -- In the background, a RASTA crumples to the ground. Hit A casualty of Gym. Mr. Chapin scurries over. JOEY Your sister is going. Bianca looks at him, surprised BIANCA Since when? Joey takes the bow and arrow from Bianca's hand. He draws back and takes aim. JOEY I'm taking care of it. Chastity looks over from her spot on the field, but keeps lips firmly shut. INT. BOOK STORE - DAY Kat browses through the feminist lit section Patrick appears, through a hole in the books. PATRICK Excuse me, have you seen The Feminine Mystique? I lost my copy. KAT (frowning) What are you doing here? PATRICK I heard there was a poetry reading. KAT You 're so -- PATRICK Pleasant? Kat stares at him, deadpan. PATRICK (continuing) Wholesome. KAT Unwelcome. PATRICK Unwelcome? I guess someone still has her panties in a twist. KAT Don't for one minute think that you had any effect whatsoever on my panties. PATRICK So what did I have an effect on ? KAT Other than my upchuck reflex? Nothing. She pushes past him and heads out the' door Pat looks down at the book he's been holding in his hand: Taming of the Shrew. INT. CAFETERIA - DAY Cameron and Michael flank Patrick as he shovels food into mouth. PATRICK You were right. She's still pissed. MICHAEL Sweet love, renew thy force! PATRICK Man -- don't say shit like that to me. People can hear you. CAMERON (exasperated) You humiliated the woman! Sacrifice yourself on the altar of dignity and even the score. MICHAEL Best case scenario, you're back on the payroll for awhile. PATRICK What's the worst? CAMERON You get the girl. Patrick thinks for a minute PATRICK If I go down. I'm takin' her with me INT. ENGLISH CLASS - DAY Kat and the other students sit at their desks, taking a quiz Patrick's seat is conspicuously empty. From outside, we hear the soft, unsure beginnings of a SONG. Kat looks up, then out the window, HORRIFIED. The song grows louder until we realize it's The Partridge Family's "I Think I Love You". Being sung by Patrick. PATRICK (0. S.) "This morning, I woke up with this feeling, I didn't know how to deal with, and so I just decided to myself--" The STUDENTS rush to the window. OUTSIDE Patrick stands beneath the window, crooning. Scurvy is next to him, keeping the beat on the bongos and doing backup vocal s. PATRICK "I'd hide it to myself. And never talk about it. And didn't I go and shout it when you walked into the room --" He makes quite a sarcastic show of it. IN THE CLASSROOM Mrs. Blaise touches her heart, as if the song is for her. Kat slowly walks to the window, peeking below. OUTSIDE Patrick smiles at her as he finishes the verse with a big finale. PATRICK (continuing) " I think I love you I " INSIDE The other students laugh, clap, cheer, etc. Kat sinks down, mortified, but with a slight smile INT. DETENTION HALL - DAY Patrick and several other miscreants sit quietly, mulling over their misfortune. MISCREANT Nice song, Verona. PATRICK Flog me. He makes the appropriate hand gesture Mr. Chapin, the gym teacher, sits at the desk in front, ignoring them while he reads a girly weightlifting magazine KAT (0. S.) Excuse me, Mr. Chapin? Patrick looks up at the sound of her voice and sees Kat standing in the doorway. She gives him a smile and he perks up a little. Kat walks into the room and addresses Mr. Chapin again. He turns fully to face her. KAT Sir, I'd like to state for the record that Mr. Verona ' s current incarceration is unnecessary. I never filed a complaint. MR. CHAPIN You didn't have to. He disrupted a classroom. Kat glances over at Patrick and motions her head toward the window. Patrick shrugs, not knowing what she ' s talking about. She motions again, and looks toward the window with an expression that says, "Make a break for it, moron." Kat brings her attention back to Mr. Chapin while Patrick inches out of his seat toward the window. The other miscreants watch with glee. KAT But, Mr. Chapin, I hardly think a simple serenade warrants a week of detention. There are far more hideous acts than off-key singing being performed by the student body on a regular basis. Patrick is halfway out the window now. And none too happy about it, considering they're on the second floor. He eyes a large TREE a few feet away from MR. CHAPIN. He starts to turn away from Kat MR. CHAPIN You're not gonna change my mind, Kat. Rules stick. Kat starts to panic, as Patrick has yet to make the jump for the tree. KAT Wait, Mr. Chapin. There's something I've always wanted to show you. He turns back toward her again, the very second before he would have spotted Patrick. Kat glances toward the window. Patrick's just about to make the jump. MR. CHAPIN What? KAT These. From behind, we see her lift up her shirt and flash her bra at Mr. Chapin, just as Patrick makes the Jump. The miscreants cheer, for both the daring' escape and the flash of skin. Mr. Chapin reddens and tries to be stern. MR. CHAPIN I'm going to let that slide, Katarina. But if I catch you doing that again, you'll be in here with the rest of these guys. He motions to the remaining detention prisoners, without noticing Patrick's absence. Kat smiles at him. KAT Thank you, Mr. Chapin. Kat bolts out the door. Mr. Chapin goes back to his muscle mag, wiping the sweat from his brow. EXT. SCHOOL CAMPUS LAWN Kat arrives at the tree. looking around breathlessly, seeing no one. KAT He left! I sprung the dickhead and he cruised on me. PATRICK (0. S.) Look up, sunshine She does. He's still in the tree PATRICK I guess I never told you I'm afraid of heights. KAT (smiling) C'mon. It's not that bad PATRICK Try lookin' at it from this angle She assesses the branch structure KAT Put your right foot there -- PATRICK Forget it. I'm stayin'. KAT You want me to climb up and show you how to get down? PATRICK (voice trembling) Maybe. She sighs and dose so. When she gets to his level, she perches on the branch next to him. He grins at her. Then swings himself down with the grace and ease of a monkey, leaving her sitting there, realizing she's been duped. KAT You shit! She climbs down after him EXT. OUTDOOR ARCADE - DAY Patrick and Kat walk amongst the games KAT The Partridge Family? PATRICK I figured it had to be something ridiculous to win your respect. And piss you off. KAT Good call. PATRICK So how'd you get Chapin to look the other way? KAT I dazzled him with my wit She stops and picks up a toy gun that SHOOTS water at giggling hyenas and wails on it. The barker hands her a stuffed animal as her prize. She hands it to the small KID next to her and they continue walking. PATRICK (sarcastic) A soft side? Who knew? KAT Yeah, well, don't let it get out PATRICK So what's your excuse? KAT Acting the way we do. PATRICK Yes KAT I don't like to do what people expect. Then they expect it all the time and they get disappointed when you change. PATRICK So if you disappoint them from the start, you're covered? KAT Something like that PATRICK Then you screwed up KAT How? PATRICK You never disappointed me. She blushes under his gaze PATRICK (continuing) You up for it? KAT For. . . ? He motions to the SIGN for a paint-ball game. She grins SERIES OF SHOTS: The two of them creep through the paint-ball course, stealthy and full of the desire to best the other. Patrick nails Kat in the back with a big glob of red paint Kat gets him in the chest with a glob of blue. Patrick returns fire with a big yellow splat to the side of her face. Kat squirts a green shot to his forehead After a few more shots, they're both covered in paint She tries to shoot him again, only to find that her gun is empty. KAT (continuing) Damn it! Patrick grabs her in a victorious tackle. They land, laughing. It's hard to even recognize them, as their hair and faces are so smeared with paint globs, but they still manage to find each other's eyes. He wipes a smear of blue paint away from her lips, as he goes to kiss her. NEARBY The kid with the stuffed animal, points KID Look, Mom His mother hurries him away. What's started as a tackle has turned into a passionate kiss EXT. STRATFORD HOUSE - NIGHT Patrick pulls up in Kat's driveway. Their paint wardrobe has dried by now and they look like refugees from some strange, yet colorful, war. KAT State trooper? PATRICK Fallacy. KAT The duck? PATRICK Hearsay. KAT I know the porn career's a lie. He shuts off the car and turns to her. PATRICK Do you? He kisses her neck. It tickles. She laughs. KAT Tell me something true. PATRICK I hate peas. KAT No -- something real. Something no one else knows. PATRICK (in-between kisses) You're sweet. And sexy. And completely hot for me. KAT What? PATRICK No one else knows KAT You're amazingly self-assured. Has anyone ever told you that? PATRICK Go to the prom with me Kat's smile disappears. KAT Is that a request or a command? PATRICK You know what I mean KAT No. PATRICK No what? KAT No, I won't go with you PATRICK Why not? KAT Because I don't want to. It's a stupid tradition. Patrick sits quietly, torn. He can't very well tell her he being paid to take her. PATRICK People won't expect you to go... Kat turns to him, getting angry. KAT Why are you doing this? KAT All of it -- what's in it for you? He sits silently, not looking at her, confirming her suspicions. KAT (continuing) Create a little drama? Start a new rumor? What? PATRICK So I have to have a motive to be with you? KAT You tell me. PATRICK You need therapy. Has anyone ever told you that? KAT (quietly) Answer the question, Patrick PATRICK (angry) Nothing! There's nothing in it for me. Just the pleasure of your company. He takes out a cigarette. She breaks it in half before she SLAMS the car door and walks into the house. Patrick PEELS out of the driveway. Kat turns at the front door and watches him go EXT. STREET - NIGHT Patrick pulls up to a stop light and waits for .the green He glances over at A DRUNKEN HOMELESS GUY in the median, who has decided that he doesn't need to wear pants. Patrick pulls out his wallet, takes the wad of money Joey gave him and hands it to the homeless guy. PATRICK cover that up The light turns green and Patrick pulls away INT. STRATFORD HOUSE/BATHROOM - NIGHT Kat stands at the sink, scrubbing paint off of her face Bianca TAPS on the open door. BIANCA Quick question -- are you going to the prom? Kat pushes the door shut with a SLAM INT. STUDY HALL - DAY Cameron and Bianca sit together at their study cubby. She fingers a strand of her hair. BIANCA Then Guillermo says, "If you go any lighter, you're gonna look like an extra on 90210." CAMERON No... Bianca stares at him for a moment. BIANCA do you listen to this crap? CAMERON What crap? BIANCA Me. This endless ...blonde babble. I'm like, boring myself. CAMERON Thank God! If I had to hear one more story about your coiffure... He mock stabs himself with a pencil as she giggles and smacks his hand away. CAMERON (continuing) I figured you'd get to the good stuff eventually. BIANCA What good stuff? CAMERON The "real you". BIANCA Like my fear of wearing pastels? He looks stricken. BIANCA (continuing) I'm kidding. (beat) You know how sometimes you just become this "persona"? And you don't know how to quit? CAMERON (matter of fact) No BIANCA Okay -- you're gonna need to learn how to lie. INT. HALLWAY - DAY Mandella struggles with the lock on her locker. Finally, it opens. Hanging inside is a beautiful DRESS, inspired by the 16th Century. Mandella slowly unpins a NOTE from the dress. INSERT - "0 FAIR ONE. JOIN ME AT THE PROM. I WILL BE WAITING. LOVE, WILLIAM S." Mandella's agog. Trevor walks by and sees her holding the dress. TREVOR You're gonna look splendiferous in that, Mandella. Mandella looks up sharply, shaken from her reverie. TREVOR (continuing) that's cool to say. Mandella grins It is MANDELLA INT. STRATFORD HOUSE/DEN - DAY Sharon is at her computer, Walter at his exercise bike SHARON Would you rather be ravished by a pirate or a British rear admiral? WALTER Pirate -- no question. Bianca enters and walks over to Walter BIANCA Daddy, I want to discuss the prom with you. It's tomorrow night -- WALTER The prom? Kat has a date? BIANCA No, but WALTER It's that hot rod Joey, right? That ' s who you want me to bend my rules for? BIANCA He's not a "hot rod". Whatever that is. WALTER You're not going unless your sister goes. End of story. BIANCA Fine. I see that I'm a prisoner in my own house. I'm not a daughter. I'm a possession! Bianca storms out. WALTER (calling out) You know what happens at proms? Sharon stops her typing and looks up at Walter SHARON They'll dance, they'll kiss, they'll come home. Let her go. WALTER Kissing? Is that what you think happens? Kissing isn't what keeps me up to my elbows in placenta all day. INT. BIANCA'S ROOM - NIGHT Bianca lies on her bed. MTV blares. A KNOCK sounds. BIANCA Come in. Kat enters and sits down on the bed, muting the TV. KAT (kindly) Listen, I know you hate having to sit home because I'm not Susie High School. BIANCA Like you care. KAT I do care. But I'm a firm believer in doing something for your own reasons, not someone else ' s . BIANCA I wish I had that luxury. I'm the only sophomore that got asked to the prom and I can't go, because you won ' t. Kat clears her throat KAT Joey never told you we went out, did he? BIANCA What? KAT In 9th. For a month BIANCA (confused) Why? KAT (self-mocking) He was, like, a total babe BIANCA But you hate Joey KAT Now I do. Back then, was a different story. BIANCA As in... Kat takes a deep breath. KAT He said everyone was doing it. So I did it. BIANCA You did what? KAT (continuing on) Just once. Afterwards, I told him I didn't want to anymore. I wasn't ready. He got pissed. Then he broke up with me. Bianca stares at her, dumbfounded BIANCA But KAT After that, I swore I'd never do anything just because "everyone else" was doing it. And I haven't since. Except for Bogey's party, and my stunning gastro-intestinal display -- BIANCA (stunned) Why didn't you tell me? KAT I wanted to let you make up your own mind about him. BIANCA No. you didn't! If you really thought I could make my own decisions, you would've let me go out with him instead of helping Daddy hold me hostage. Kat stands up slowly KAT That's not BIANCA I'm not stupid enough to repeat your mistakes. KAT I guess I thought I was protecting you. BIANCA God, you're just like him! Just keep me locked away in the dark, so I can't experience anything for myself KAT Not all experiences are good, Bianca. You can't always trust the people you want to. BIANCA I guess I'll never know, will I? She rises and holds the door open for Kat, then slams it behind her. EXT. STRATFORD HOUSE - DAY A sprinkler cruises the lawn. INT. KAT'S ROOM - DAY Kat lies in bed, staring at the ceiling. She rolls over and picks up the phone. BIANCA'S ROOM - DAY Bianca, still in her pajamas, eats a bowl of cereal while watching "I Love Lucy" reruns. A KNOCK sounds BIANCA Come in. Kat opens the door and peers in with a grin KAT Feel like shopping? Bianca looks up, hopefully. LIVING ROOM - NIGHT Walter and Sharon are in front of the television. Walter has the TV Guide in hand, glasses on. WALTER What do you wanna watch? We've got crap, crap, crap or crap SHARON Dr. Ruth? Bianca walks into the living room. She's wearing a prom dress. BIANCA Hi, Mommy. (looking away) WALTER Walter scurries takes off his glasses and looks from Bianca to Sharon. SHARON Honey, you look beautiful! BIANCA You like? My date should be here in five. WALTER I'm missing something. BIANCA I have a date, Daddy. And he ' s not a captain of oppression like some men we know. The DOORBELL RINGS. Bianca runs to open it. There stands CAMERON. He takes in Bianca's outfit. CAMERON Wow BIANCA Let's go. Walter rises. Sharon pulls him back down on the couch SHARON (to Bianca) Have a great time, honey! WALTER But -- who -- what --? The door SLAMS. As Sharon looks at Walter with a grin, a blur rushes down the stairs and out the door. The blur has Kat ' s voice. KAT Hey, guys. I'm going to the prom. See you in a few. The door SLAMS again. Walter and Sharon 'are alone WALTER What just happened? SHARON Your daughters went to the prom. WALTER Did I have anything to say about it? SHARON Absolutely not. WALTER That ' s what I thought The DOORBELL RINGS again. Walter opens it to find Joey on the porch, wearing a tux. JOEY I'm here to pick up Bianca. WALTER late He SLAMS the door shut EXT HOTEL PARKING LOT - NIGHT Kat pulls up in her car, emerging resplendent in an ice gown. Patrick sits on the steps, waiting. In a tux. KAT How'd you get a tux at the last minute? PATRICK It's Scurvy's. His date got convicted. Where'd you get the dress? KAT It's just something I had. You know PATRICK (smiling) Oh huh KAT Look, I'm -- sorry -- that I questioned your motives. I was wrong. Patrick winces slightly, but covers it with a smile PATRICK No prob. He remains seated. Kat fidgets nervously. KAT are you ready? He rises and stares at her, taking in her image appreciatively. She blushes and turns away. KAT (continuing) C'mon. Let's get this over with. INT. PROM - NIGHT A hotel ballroom transformed into a fantasy world. Patrick and Kat enter, Kat attempting to deny the romance of it. KAT Quite the ostentatious display A cowboy two-steps by them, dragging some poor girl around PATRICK Look, Clem even wore his good boots Kat steps forward, looking around and spots Cameron and Bianca dancing cheek to cheek. She smiles. ACROSS THE ROOM Mandella enters nervously, in the long Elizabethan gown, hair piled on top of her head. She spots Kat and hurries over. MANDELLA Have you seen him? KAT Who? MANDELLA William - he asked me to meet him here. KAT Oh, honey -- tell me we haven't' progressed to full-on hallucinations. Patrick looks toward the door and taps Kat. She turns and points Mandella the same way. Michael - in full Shakespearean dress with a new goatee on his chin - bows in their direction. Mandella's grin couldn't be bigger. Michael swashbuckles over to them, taking Mandella's hand and leading her onto the dance floor. MICHAEL Mi' lady. (to Patrick) Good sir. Patrick rolls his eyes. INT. PROM - NIGHT - LATER Kat and Patrick dance to a slow SONG. Whatever he's whispering into her ear is making her laugh. Cam and Bianca dance nearby, glowing with happiness. She whispers something in his ear and heads for the ladies' room INT. LADIES ROOM - NIGHT Bianca walks in, positively radiant. Chastity emerges from a stall. BIANCA (surprised) What are you doing here? Chastity checks her hair in the mirror, aloof. CHASTITY You think you ' re the only sophomore at the prom? BIANCA I did. Chastity maintains her snooty tone. CHASTITY And just so you know, my date isn't planning on spending most of the night in his backseat. BIANCA What're you talking about? CHASTITY Joey Dorsey is only after one thing - - your cherry. He practically made a public announcement. Appalled, Bianca storms out. Chastity tries to backpedal. CHASTITY (continuing) I wanted to tell you INT. PROM - NIGHT Joey, drunk, disorderly and pissed off, walks in with a few stray jocks - also dateless. He zeroes in on Cameron, now consoling a pissed-off Bianca. Patrick and Kat continue to slow dance, oblivious to the evil about to erupt. PATRICK My grandmother's . KAT What? PATRICK That's where I was last year. She'd never lived alone -- my grandfather died -- I stayed with her. I wasn't in jail, I don't know Marilyn Manson, and I've never slept with a Spice Girl. I spent a year sitting next to my grandma on the couch watching Wheel of Fortune. End of story. He takes a breath and looks away, not meeting her eyes. Kat stares at him for a moment and laughs a delighted laugh KAT That ' s completely adorable! PATRICK It gets worse -- you still have your freshman yearbook? He's interrupted by Joey's hand on his shoulder. JOEY What's Bianca doing here with that cheese dick? I didn't pay you to let some little punk ass snake me. ACROSS THE ROOM Michael spots the altercation and dances Mandella over to Cameron and Bianca. MICHAEL (to Cameron) Feces hitting fan. C'mon Michael takes Cameron aside, leaving Mandella and Bianca staring after them. ACROSS THE ROOM Michael and Cameron approach Joey as he continues to taunt Patrick who keeps quiet, realizing the weight of this situation. MICHAEL (continuing) Joey, pal, compadre. Let's take it easy. Joey turns toward Michael and Cameron. JOEY You two are in big trouble Cameron faces Joey. CAMERON Admit it. You lost. Be a man. Joey PUNCHES Cameron in the face, taking him by surprise Cameron holds his nose as it bleeds onto his tux The various cliques descend angrily and Joey is soon surrounded by seething Cowboys, Coffee Kids and White Rastas. DEREK Very uncool, my brother JOEY I'm not your brother, white boy. The other Rastas GASP, as if stung by the realization that they're white. Joey turns back to Patrick and Kat. JOEY (continuing) Just so you know -- she'll only spread her legs once. Kat looks from Joey to Patrick, not sure what she's hearing. Joey pushes through the crowd but a HAND drags him back. It's Bianca. And she BELTS the hell out of him BIANCA That's for making my date bleed She BELTS him again BIANCA (continuing) That's for my sister. And AGAIN BIANCA (continuing) And that's for me. Cliques now descend on Joey, punching him wildly. COWBOY And that's for the fourth grade, asshole. HOTEL - NIGHT KAT runs down the stairs, Patrick chasing her PATRICK Wait I... KAT You were paid to take me out! By -- the one person I truly hate. I knew it was a set-up! PATRICK It wasn't like that. KAT Really? What was it like? A down payment now, then a bonus for sleeping with me? PATRICK I didn't care about the money. He catches up to her now PATRICK (continuing) I cared about -- She turns to face him with a countenance more in sorrow than in anger. KAT You are so not what I thought you were. He grabs her and kisses her to shut her up. After a second, she jerks away and flees down the stairs and out of sight. Bianca stands at the top of the stairs, watching. She's never looked more guilty. INT. STRATFORD HOUSE - DAY Kat is sprawled on the couch in sweats, wrapped in a blanket, watching "Sixteen Candles". When Molly Ringwald leans across the birthday cake to get a kiss from her dream date, Kat changes the channel disgustedly, settling for an infomercial The phone sits next to her. Not ringing. Bianca breezes in, bearing a cup of tea. BIANCA Are you sure you don't want to come with us? It'll be fun. Kat takes the tea and gives a weak smile. KAT I ' m sure . Bianca sits down next to her BIANCA You looked beautiful last night, you know. KAT So did you Bianca gives her a squeeze, then jumps up when the DOORBELL rings, opening the door to a waiting Cameron. He peeks his head inside. CAMERON She okay? BIANCA I hope so. The door shuts behind her as Walter enters. WALTER Was that your sister? KAT Yeah. She left with some bikers Big ones. Full of sperm. WALTER Funny. Walter sits down on the arm of the chair and watches the infomercial with Kat. WALTER (continuing) I don't understand the allure of dehydrated food. Is this something I should be hip to? KAT No, Daddy. WALTER (dreading the answer) So tell me about this dance. Was it fun? KAT Parts of it. WALTER Which parts? KAT The part where Bianca beat the hell out of some guy. WALTER Bianca did what? KAT What's the matter? Upset that I rubbed off on her? WALTER No -- impressed. Kat looks up in surprise. WALTER (continuing) You know, fathers don't like to admit that their daughters are capable of running their own lives. It means we've become spectators. Bianca still lets me play a few innings. You've had me on the bleachers for years. When you go to Sarah Lawrence, I won't even be able to watch the game. KAT (hopeful) When I go? WALTER Oh, Christ. Don't tell me you've changed your mind. I already sent 'em a check. Kat reaches over and gives him a hug INT. CAFETERIA - DAY Kat stands grabs a box of cornflakes from the food line. CAMERON (0. S.) Katarina? She turns and looks at him CAMERON I'd like to express my apologies. KAT For what? CAMERON (looking down) I didn't mean for you to get -- When Bianca asked me to find you a boyfriend, I had no idea it would turn out so -- ugly. I would never have done anything to compromise your - - - He trails off when he realizes she's thrown her food tray against the wall and marched off -- the old "kill, kill" look back in her eyes. INT. HALLWAY - DAY Kat stomps up the hallway, full of menace CLASSROOM - DAY Bianca's English teacher perches on the edge of a desk, open book in hand. TEACHER Who can tell me at what point Lucentio admits his deception? The door of the classroom FLIES open and an angry Kat stalks in, yanking Bianca from her chair and dragging her toward the hallway. KAT (to the teacher) Family emergency. HALLWAY - DAY Bianca tries to pull away as Kat drags her by the hair between two rows of lockers. BIANCA Let go! KAT You set me up. BIANCA I just wanted -- KAT What? To completely damage me? To send me to therapy forever? What? BIANCA No! I just wanted Miss Perky walks up MISS PERKY Ladies? Shall we take a trip to my office? INT. MISS PERKY'S OFFICE - DAY Miss Perky stares at both sisters as they sit before her, then focuses on Bianca. MISS PERKY So you're the real bitch BIANCA Yes! Okay? Yes -- I'm the real bitch. I wanted her to get a boyfriend so I could. Apparently, this makes me a horrible person. I'm sorry. She turns to Kat. BIANCA (continuing) I swear -- I didn't know about the money. I didn't even know Joey was involved. I would never intentionally hurt you, Kat. MISS PERKY (to Kat) Do you care to respond? KAT Am I supposed to feel better? Like, right now? Or do I have some time to think about it? MISS PERKY Just smack her now. Bianca rises, taking Kat by the arm. BIANCA (to Miss Perky) We'll be getting back to you. MISS PERKY What, no hug? HALLWAY - DAY And Bianca leave Miss Perky's office BIANCA Is that woman a complete fruit-loop or is it just me? KAT It's just you. ENGLISH CLASS - DAY Mrs. Blaise faces the class MRS. BLAISE All right. I'm assuming everyone found time to compose, their poems. Except for Mr. Dorsey, who's still in ICU. Nerds in the back high-five each other. MRS. BLAISE (continuing) Would anyone care to read theirs aloud? No one moves. Then Kat slowly stands up. KAT I'11 go Patrick looks up. MRS. BLAISE Oh, Lord. She downs a couple Prozac MRS. BLAISE (continuing) Please proceed. Kat stands, puts on her glasses, and takes a deep breath before reading from her notebook. KAT I hate the way you talk to me/ and the way you cut your hair/ I hate the way you drive my car/ I hate it when you stare. She pauses, then continues KAT (continuing) I hate your big dumb combat boots/ and the way you read my mind/ I hate you so much it makes me sick/ it even makes me rhyme. She takes a deep breath, and looks quickly at Patrick, who stares at the floor. KAT (continuing) I hate the way you're always right/ I hate it when you lie/ I hate it when you make me laugh/ even worse when you make me cry/ I hate it that you're not around/ and the fact that you didn't call/ But mostly I hate the way I don ' t hate you/ not even close, not even a little bit, not even any at all. She looks directly at Patrick. He looks back this time. The look they exchange says everything. Then she walks out of the room The rest of the class remains in stunned silence. EXT. PARKING LOT - MOMENTS LATER Kat walks to her car alone. When she opens the door, she's greeted with a Fender Stratocaster guitar, reclining in the front seat. She picks it up slowly, inspecting every detail, then spins around. Patrick stands there, smiling. KAT A Fender Strat. You bought this? PATRICK I thought you could use it. When you start your band. She doesn't answer, but hides a smile, so he walks closer. PATRICK (continuing) Besides, I had some extra cash. Some asshole paid me to take out a really great girl. KAT Is that right? PATRICK Yeah, but then I fucked up. I fell for her. Blushes and looks down. PATRICK (continuing) You know -- it's not every day you find a girl who'll flash her tits to get you out of detention. Looks up. surprised and embarrassed that he found out He takes her upturned face as a sign to kiss her and he does She lets him this time. Then breaks it off KAT You can't just buy me a guitar every time you screw up, you know. He grimaces. PATRICK I know He quiets her with another kiss Which she breaks off again. KAT And don't just think you can He kisses her again, not letting her end it this time. STRATFORD HOUSE - SUNSET We hear the sounds of MUSIC and LAUGHTER. STRATFORD HOUSE/BACKYARD - SUNSET Patrick is at the barbecue grill, flipping burgers. Kat watches. KAT Why is my veggie burger the only burnt object on this grill? PATRICK Because I like to torture you. KAT Oh, Bianca? Can you get me my freshman yearbook? PATRICK Don ' t you even dare. . . ON BIANCA AND CAMERON As they argue on the patio. CAMERON They do to! BIANCA They do not! Rises to get the yearbook. CAMERON Can someone please tell her that sunflower seeds come from sunflowers? ON MICHAEL AND MANDELLA Severely making-out in a lawn chair. She comes up for a breath. MANDELLA I can't remember a word of Shakespeare right now. Isn't that weird? Michael pulls her back down for another round ON KAT AND PATRICK She tries to keep him from grabbing the yearbook that Bianca now hands her. KAT You're freaked over this, aren't you? Bianca hands her the yearbook BIANCA He's more than freaked. He's froke Flips to a page. KAT I'd like to call your attention to Patrick Verona's stunning bad-ass look of 1995 --- INSERT - A horrifically nerdy freshman year picture Glasses, bad hair, headgear -- the works. She holds up the picture for all to view. Patrick cringes and throws a handful of pretzels at her. BIANCA Patrick -- is that- a. KAT Perm? PATRICK Ask my attorney. Kat and Bianca huddle over the picture, giggling -- as we CRANE UP and hear a GIRLY PUNK version of The Partridge Family's "I Think I Love You". FADE OUT: END 
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+TWELVE MONKEYS An original screenplay by David Peoples & Janet Peoples Inspired by LA JETEE, a Chris Marker Film Production Draft June 27, 1994 FADE IN: INT. CONCOURSE/AIRPORT TERMINAL - BAY CLOSE ON A FACE. A nine year old boy, YOUNG COLE, his eyes wide with wonder. watching something intently. We HEAR the sounds of the P.A. SYSTEM droning Flight Information mingled with the sounds of urgent SHOUTS, running FEET, EXCLAMATIONS. YOUNG COLE'S POV: twenty yards away, a BLONDE MAN is sprawled on the floor, blood oozing from his gaudy Hawaiian shirt. A BRUNETTE in a tight dress, her face obscured from YOUNG COLE'S view, rushes to the injured man, kneels beside him, ministering to his wound. ANGLE ON YOUNG COLE, flanked by his PARENTS, their faces out of view, as they steer him away. FATHER'S VOICE (o.s.) Come on, Son --this is no place for us. YOUNG COLE resists momentarily, mesmerized by the drama. YOUNG COLE'S POV: intermittently visible through a confusion of FIGURES rushing through the foreground, the BLONDE MAN reaching up and touching the cheek of the kneeling BRUNETTE in a gesture of enormous tenderness, a gesture of farewell, while the P.A. SYSTEM continues its monotonous monotone... P.A. SYSTEM Flight 784 for San Francisco is now ready for boarding at inmate number 66578, Greely. INT. PRISON DORMITORY/FUTURE - ETERNAL NIGHT PRISON P.A. SYSTEM --number 5429, Garcia -- number 87645, Cole... COLE, late thirties, dark hair, comes awake in a bunk cage, one of many stacked four high along both sides of a long dim corridor. He blinks in the near dark, shaken, disoriented. Then, as he "recovers" from his very vivid dream, WE GET OUR FIRST LOOK AT HIS ENVIRONMENT...A WINDOWLESS UNDERGROUND WORLD OF ETERNAL NIGHT SOMETIME IN THE FUTURE...AN ALMOST COLORLESS "REALITY" OF BLURRED EDGES AND ECHOEY SOUNDS, MUCH MORE "DREAMLIKE" THAN HIS DREAM. Flashlights glare. In the half-light, COLE sees spooky figures, GUARDS, moving among the locked bunk/cages. COLE turns and whispers to the occupant of the next cage, JOSE... COLE Ssssst! Jose, what's going on? JOSE's face is almost lost in shadow. What there is of it is youthful. He's just a scared Puerto Rican kid! JOSE "Volunteers" again. JOSE immediately rolls over and feigns sleep as SCARFACE, a menacing guard with a jagged scar running down his cheek, looms close to COLE's cage and unlocks it. SCARFACE "Volunteer duty". The PRISONERS in the other cages watch silently with narrowed eyes. COLE I didn't volunteer. SCARFACE You causing trouble again? COLE (controls his temper) No trouble. INT. EQUIPMENT ROOM - ETERNAL NIGHT COLE's alone, struggling to get into what looks like a space suit in a room where suits hang like ghosts with blank eyes. TITLES BEGIN SUPERED OVER THE SCENE COLE has the torso of the suit on now and is trying to close it. OFFSCREEN VOICE (o.s.) All openings must be closed. COLE looks for the source of the voice, a tiny grate in the wall. OFFSCREEN VOICE (o.s.) If the integrity of the suit is compromised in any way, if the fabric is torn or a zipper not closed, readmittance will be denied. INT. SEALED CHAMBER - MINUTES LATER (ETERNAL NIGHT) COLE, wearing the "space suit" and a helmet with a plastic visor, steps into a tiny chamber, a kind of air lock. The heavy door clangs shut behind him. He's alone. COLE'S breath comes quicker now as he sucks oxygen from the air tanks on his back. On the opposite wall is another door with a huge wheel lock. COLE turns the heavy wheel, opens the door, steps through It INT. ELEVATOR - SECONDS LATER (ETERNAL NIGHT) COLE'S in an ascending elevator that groans and creaks. He looks down at a crudely drawn map he holds in his gloved hand. The map shows a series of tunnels and ladders. INT. SEWER PIPE - MINUTES LATER (NIGHT) COLE pans a flashlight, probing the filthy sewer he's wading through RATS flee the blade of light, scurry across islands of rusting junk. The flashlight beam settles on a ladder mounted in the wall. Reaching the rusted ladder, COLE starts to climb awkwardly. EXT. CITY STREET/FUTURE - MOMENTS LATER (NIGHT) A SCRAPING NOISE as a heavy man-hole cover is pushed up and moved aside. COLE'S helmeted head emerges from below. COLE'S POV THROUGH HIS PLASTIC-VISORED HELMET: a city in moonlight! A surreal image of abandoned buildings. No people anywhere. The only sounds are the WIND and COLE'S BREATHING. EXT. ANOTHER CITY STREET - MINUTES LATER (NIGHT) COLE'S light reveals abandoned vine-covered automobiles. Moving to the nearest car, COLE searches in the vines for something. Finds it. An insect. COLE takes the bug in his gloved hand. As he clumsily inserts it into a collection tube, something makes him turn. There's something across the street in the dark. Something alive. COLE points his flashlight and reveals...a BEAR! Startled by the light, the animal blinks, then stands on its rear legs and ROARS. ANGLE ON COLE, staring wide-eyed. Then, the BEAR sinks down onto all fours and, trying to avoid the flashlight, it pads quickly down the street. INT. SUBTERRANEAN PARKING GARAGE - NIGHT Using the flashlight to see, COLE reaches down to the cracked floor and gets another specimen. DOGSHIT! The only sound is COLE'S labored BREATHING. Then, a different SOUND. GRRRR! A dog. More GRRRRS. More dogs. Then, a YIP. Then, VICIOUS GROWLS. It's a DOGFIGHT! EXT. STREET - NIGHT (FIRST LIGHT) A giant OWL, perched on an overhead traffic light, raises its wings and lifts off...rising higher and higher into the brightening sky. Below, on the street, COLE trudges along, passing deserted buildings, windows broken, rusted signs dangling. INT. DEPARTMENT STORE - NIGHT (FIRST LIGHT) COLE'S light reveals a spider web just inside the store. A large SPIDER tries to hide from the light. COLE reaches carefully into the web and plucks the spider and puts it into one of his specimen tubes. Then, he shines his light all around the once elegant store. There's nothing but aisle after aisle of moldering consumer goods. EXT. DEPARTMENT STORE - DAWN As COLE comes out of the store, the first rays of the sun hit the building. COLE stops, squints into the light through his visor. COLE'S POV: spray-painted on the wall a long time ago is a stenciled logo of twelve monkeys holding hands in a circle. Over it is written, "WE DID IT!" COLE looks up. COLE'S POV: high up on a building across the street, a LION patrols a ledge, pauses, looks out majestically over his world. TTTLES END INT. FIRST UNDERGROUND DECONTAMINATION CHAMBER - ETERNAL NIGHT ROARING WATER, powerful torrents gushing from nozzles in the wall, pummel the still-suited COLE. INT. SECOND UNDERGROUND DECONTAMINATION CHAMBER - ETERNAL NIGHT Stark naked and shivering, COLE is being scrubbed with brushes on long poles (like the ones used to wash cars) wielded by two HULKING FIGURES in bulky decontamination suits, their personas lost in their windowed masks. It's a grim scene in a grim cement room with damp, dripping walls. From an unseen source comes an AMPLIFIED VOICE, AMPLIFIED VOICE (o.s.) Raise your arms above your head. COLE lifts his arms and the FIGURES start scrubbing his armpits. INT. TINY CHAMBER - SHORTLY (ETERNAL NIGHT) Still naked, COLE is seated on a stool while a MASKED TECHNICIAN in a less elaborate, less bulky decontamination outfit draws blood from COLE'S arm with an old-fashioned hypodermic needle. COLE glances toward a single, nearly opaque "window" of thick plastic in the rusty iron wall. VAGUE FIGURES seem to lurk behind the translucent aperture, studying him. The TECHNICIAN slips the blood sample through a slot in the wall. INT. ENGINEERING OFFICE/FUTURE WORLD - ETERNAL NIGHT Ushered in by two guards, TINY and SCARFACE, COLE looks around. COLE'S POV: wails hidden by old headlines, articles, maps, charts... a blackboard covered with elaborate, sophisticated formulae...surfaces heaped with cracked monitors, gerry-rigged computers held together with string, lasers lost in tangles of cable, ancient tube amplifiers, a dilapidated cardboard reconstruction of a city, stacks of moldering books and tattered computer printouts...and, seated at a long conference table, staring at COLE, six SCIENTISTS: an ASTROPHYSICIST, ENGINEER, BOTANIST, MICROBIOLOGIST, ZOOLOGIST, and a GEOLOGIST. They represent a "modern" science where brilliant new ideas interface with crude, outdated, patched-together technologies. TINY James Cole. Cleared from quarantine. MICROBIOLOGIST Thank you. You two wait outside. SCARFACE He's got a history, Doctor. Violence. COLE'S eyes return to the walls. Headlines: "CLOCK TICKING! NO CURE YET!" SCARFACE Anti-social six -- doing 25 to life. ENGINEER I don't think he's going to hurt us. You're not going to hurt us, are you Mr. Cole? COLE'S head turns quickly to the ENGINEER. COLE No, sir. The GUARDS exchange a look, shrug, exit, closing the door. MICROBIOLOGIST Why don't you sit down, Mr. Cole. COLE goes to the empty chair at the conference table, sits down. ASTROPHYSICIST We want you to tell us about last night. COLE I went to the surface and I collected specimens like I was told. The SCIENTISTS don't say anything. They just study him carefully. COLE (worried) I mashed the spider, didn't I? MICROBIOLOGIST We'll get to the spider later, Mr. Cole. Right now, we want to know everything that you saw. INT. ENGINEERING OFFICE - AN HOUR LATER (ETERNAL NIGHT) COLE, starting to look very tired now, stands at the blackboard sketching a detailed map of exactly where he was last night. ASTPOPHYSICIST Where you collected sample #4, what street was that? COLE Uh... BOTANIST It's important to observe everything. COLE I think it was...I'm sure it was 2nd Street. As the SCIENTISTS start to whisper animatedly among themselves, COLE'S eyes drift across the newspaper clippings taped to the wall. One headline screams, "VIRUS MUTATING!" Another features a photo of an OLD MAN (DR. MASON, who we'll see again later on) and the words, SCIENTIST SAYS, "IT'S TOO LATE FOR CURE". ASTROPHYSICIST'S VOICE (o.s.) Close your eyes, Cole. Startled, COLE closes his eyes obediently. BLACKNESS. Like COLE, WE SEE NOTHING. But we HEAR their VOICES. ENGINEER'S VOICE (o.s.) Tell us in detail what you've seen in this room. COLE'S VOICE (o.s.) Uh, in this room? Uh... MICROBIOLOGIST'S VOICE (o.s.) How many of us are there? COLE'S VOICE (o.s.) Six...seven, if you count me. ASTROPHYSICIST'S VOICE (o.s.) Tell us about the pictures on the wall... COLE'S VOICE (o.s.) Uh, you mean the newspapers? A MONTAGE OF OVERLAPPING VOICES (o.s.) Tell us about the newspapers. Can you hear my voice? What do I look like? What does he look like, the man who just spoke? How old were you when you left the surface? The VOICES blur into a cacophony and FADE INTO the droning P.A. SYSTEM at the airport. INT. CONCOURSE/AIRPORT - DAY THE DREAM AGAIN! But at an earlier moment. YOUNG COLE, flanked by his PARENTS, whose faces are out of view, is watching a PLANE land through one of the big glass windows that lines the concourse leading to the departure gates. P.A. SYSTEM (o.s.) Flight 784 now boarding at gate... Suddenly, a SHOUT, followed by raised VOICES, interrupts the monotonous airport routine. As YOUNG COLE and his PARENTS turn to see what's going on, a man we'll call MR. PONYTAIL, his face averted, hurries past them, bumping YOUNG COLE with a Chicago Hulls Sports Duffle Bag. MR. PONYTAIL WATCH IT! YOUNG COLE sees little more than the gaudy pants, the duffle, and the man's ponytail flopping as he rushes towards the gates. Just then, a WOMAN'S VOICE cries out, "NOOOOOOOOO!" YOUNG COLE turns back toward the Security Check Point just as TRAVELERS scatter madly, some diving to the floor, others running. A TERRIFIED TRAVELER, hitting the floor close by, looks up at YOUNG COLE with panicky eyes, and asks.... TERRIFIED TRAVELER Just exactly why did you volunteer? INT. ENGINEERING OFFICE/FUTURE WORLD - (ETERNAL NIGHT) COLE comes abruptly awake. Seated now, he's facing the SCIENTISTS. ASTROPHYSICIST Wake up, Cole. COLE Uh, I didn't hear the... MICROBIOLOGIST (tapping a pencil on the table) I asked you, why did you volunteer? COLE Well, the guard woke me up. He told me I volunteered. The SCIENTISTS react, whispering urgently among themselves. COLE starts to nod off again, then comes awake with a start as the ENGINEER speaks to him. ENGINEER We appreciate you volunteering. You're a very good observer, Cole. COLE Uh, thank you. ENGINEER You'll get a reduction in sentence. COLE keeps his face impassive. ASTROPHYSICIST To be determined by the proper authorities. ENGINEER You don't want to jeopardize that reduction, do you, Cole? Have it taken away? COLE No, sir! ASTROPHYSICIST We have a very advanced program, something very different, requires very skilled people. MICROBIOLOGIST An opportunity to reduce your sentence considerably... ZOOLOGIST And possibly play an important role in returning the human race to the surface of the earth. ENGINEER We want tough minded people. Strong mentally. We've had some...misfortunes with "unstable" types. ASTROPHYSICIST For a man in your position...an opportunity. BOTANIST Not to volunteer could be a real mistake. MICROBIOLOGIST (tapping his pencil again) Definitely a mistake! COLE gives away nothing. He's in a box here. He has no choices. He stares at the tapping pencil. INT. ART GALLERY - NIGHT A strikingly "real" world of bright colors. Extravagant paintings adorn the walls. A POET, tiny and ruddy faced, squints over his glasses as he reads in a booming voice to an AUDIENCE of thirty seated on folding chairs. POET Still among the myriad microwaves, the infra-red messages, the gigabytes of ones and zeroes, we find words, infinitesimally small, byte-sized now, tinier even than science lurking in some vague electricity where, if we listen we can hear the solitary voice of that poet telling us, "We are no other than a moving row Of Magic shadow-shapes that come and go Round with the Sun-illumined Lantern hold In Midnight by the Master of the show." As the POET reads, we STUDY the audience, mostly YUPPIE CULTURE JUNKIES or BOHEMIANS. Among them, a light-haired woman of twenty- eight, soberly dressed, wearing glasses. She's KATHRYN RAILLY. And it's her beeper that suddenly BEEPS. BEEP! BEEP! POET'S VOICE (o.s.) "The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ, Moves on: nor all your Piety nor Wit Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line, Nor all your Tears wash out a Word of it." BEEP! BEEP! Scowling at the outrageous interruption, the POET looks up from the text just as RAILLY, tumbling, shuts off the beeper and rises, embarrassed. As she makes her way to an exit, the glaring POET continues... POET "Yesterday This Day's Madness did prepare; Tomorrow's Silence, Triumph or Despair: Drink! for you know not whence you came, nor why: Drink! for you know not why you go, nor where." INT. CORRIDOR/POLICE STATION - NIGHT DETECTIVE FRANKI leads RAILLY past crowded holding cells. FRANKI -- so they get there and they ask the guy real nice for some kind of i.d., and he gets agitated, starts screaming about viruses. Totally irrational, totally disoriented, doesn't know where he is, what day it is, alla that stuff. All they got was his name. They figure he's stoned out of his mind, it's some kinda psychotic episode, so they're gonna bring him... RAILLY He's been tested for drugs? FRANKI Negative for drugs. But he took on five cops like he was dusted to the eyeballs. No drugs. You believe that? FRANKI pauses, indicating a tiny observation window of thick meshed glass in an otherwise solid door, and RAILLY looks through it. RAILLY'S POV THROUGH THE WINDOW: a MAN, his back to her, in strait-jacket and prison denims, examining the wall of the padded cell with the distorted intensity of a "mental case". RAILLY You have him in restraints. FRANKI Were you listening? We got two officers in the hospital. Yeah, he's in restraints, plus the medic gave him enough stellazine to kill a horse. Look at him! Still on his feet. RAILLY'S POV THROUGH THE WINDOW: the MAN in the cell turns, looks right at her. In spite of the cuts and welts, it's clearly COLE. RAILLY That would explain the bruises, I guess. The struggle. FRANKI You want to go in? Examine him? RAILLY Yes, please. You said he gave a name... FRANKI (unlocking the door) James Cole. That's everything we got. None of the James Coles on the computer match him. No license, no prints, no warrants. Nothing. You want me to go in with you? RAILLY (entering) No, thank you. FRANKI I'll be right here...just in case. INT. ISOLATION CELL COLE stares at RAILLY. The environment is intensely real...vivid colors...each sound, however slight, very distinct, almost loud... and yet she appears to him almost like a vision. RAILLY Mr. Cole? My name is Doctor Railly. I'm a psychiatrist. I work for the County -- I don't work for the police. My only concern is your well being -- do you understand that? COLE I need to go now. RAILLY I'm going to be completely honest. I'm not going to lie to you. I can't make the police let you go...but I do want to help you. And I want you to trust me. Can you do that, James? May I call you "James"? COLE "James"! Nobody ever calls me that. RAILLY (frowns, studies him) Have you been a patient at County? Have I seen you someplace? COLE No, not possible. Listen, I have to get out of here. I'm supposed to be getting information. RAILLY What kind of information? COLE It won't help you. You can't do anything about it. You can't change anything. RAILLY Change what? COLE I need to go. RAILLY Do you know why you're here, James. COLE Because I'm a good observer. Because I have a tough mind. RAILLY I see. You don't remember assaulting a police officer...several officers? COLE They wanted identification. I don't have any identification. I wasn't trying to hurt them. RAILLY You don't have a driver's license, James? Or a Social Security card? COLE No. RAILLY Why not? Most people have some ID. COLE You wouldn't understand. RAILLY You've been in an institution, haven't you, James? A hospital? COLE I have to go. RAILLY A jail? Prison? COLE Underground. RAILLY Hiding? COLE I love this air. This is wonderful air. RAILLY What's wonderful about the air, James? COLE It's so clean. No germs. RAILLY You're afraid of germs? COLE I have to go. RAILLY Why do you think there aren't any germs in the air, James? COLE This is April, right? RAILLY July. COLE (sudden panic) July?! RAILLY Do you know what year it is? COLE What year is it? RAILLY What year do you think it is? COLE 1995? RAILLY You think it's July of 1995? That's the future, James. Do you think you're living in the future? COLE (slightly confused) No, 1995 is the past. RAILLY 1995 is the future, James. This is 1989. COLE looks stunned. INT. POLICE STATION CORRIDOR - MORNING COLE, bound tightly by the strait-jacket, heavy manacles on his ankles, is being escorted down the corridor by two surly POLICEMEN. COLE Where are you taking me? POLICEMAN #1 South of France, buddy. Fancy hotel. You're gonna love it. COLE South of France?! I don't want to go to the South of France. I want to make a telephone call. POLICEMAN #2 smirks as he unlocks a heavy steel door. POLICEMAN #2 Zip it, scumbag -- you fooled the shrink with your act, but you don't fool us. Then, POLICEMAN #2 swings the steel door open and sunlight overwhelms COLE, blinding him in a dazzling fury of white light. EXT. CITY STREET/MINI-VAN - DAY A Mini-van, the kind of vehicle used to transport a half dozen prisoners, crawls through a busy street. The Police Department logo is prominent on the side of the van beneath barred windows. INT. COUNTY HOSPITAL/SHOWERS - AN HOUR LATER (MORNING) Fierce spray recalls the decontamination in the future. COLE stands stark naked under the shower while two muscular attendants, PALMER and BILLINGS, supervise. As PALMER shuts off the water, BILLINGS hands COLE a towel and starts inspecting his scalp... BILLINGS Lemme see your head, Jimbo, see if you got any creepy crawlies. COLE I need to make a telephone call. BILLINGS (pulling Cole's head) Gotta work that out with a doctor, Jimbo. Can't make no calls 'til the doctor says. COLE It's very important. BILLINGS What chew gotta do, Jimbo, is take it easy, relax into things. We all gonna get along fine if you just relax. COLE gets the hint of menace in the message and submits to the lice inspection, only his eyes revealing his frustration. INT. HOSPITAL/DAYROOM - HALF AN HOUR LATER (DAY) COLE stands in the doorway, stunned by his first sight of the large room. His eyes go to the heavily-grilled windows where light pours in from outside. Then, to the TV, where a CARTOON COMMERCIAL makes raucous noises. PATIENTS, in K-Mart street clothes or ratty robes, stare gloomily at the TV, or play cards, pace, or just stare blankly. BILLINGS is at COLE'S side, beckoning to a patient, JEFFREY MASON, a twenty year old white youth dressed in khakis and a plaid shirt. BILLINGS Jeffrey. Yo! Jeffrey. This here is James. Whyncha show James around? Tell him the TV rules, show him the games an' stuff, okay? JEFFREY (with a sly look) How much you gonna pay me? Huh? I'd be doing your job. BILLINGS Five thousand dollars, my man. That enough? I'll wire it to your account as usual, okay? JEFFREY Okay, Billings. Five thousand. That's enough. Five thousand dollars. I'll give him the Deluxe Mental Hospital Tour. As BILLINGS walks away chuckling, JEFFREY turns to COLE. JEFFREY Kid around, kid around. It makes them feel good, we're all pals. We're prisoners, they're the guards, but it's all in good fun, you see? COLE nods and JEFFREY indicates card tables where PATIENTS are playing cards, checkers, chess, or working on jig saw puzzles. JEFFREY Here's the games. Games vegitize you. If you play the games, you're voluntarily taking a tranquilizer. COLE sees a partially completed puzzle of the well-known painting, THE PEACEABLE KINGDOM, depicting a serene world of animals in harmony. JEFFREY What'd they give you? Thorazine? How much? Learn your drugs -- know your doses. COLE I need to make a telephone call. JEFFREY A telephone call? That's communication with the outside world! Doctor's discretion. Hey, if alla these nuts could just make phone calls, it could spread. Insanity oozing through telephone cables, oozing into the ears of all those poor sane people, infecting them! Whackos everywhere! A plague of madness. (suddenly sly and confidential) In fact, very few of us here are actually mentally ill. I'm not saying you're not mentally ill, for all I know you're crazy as a loon. But that's not why you're here. Why you're here is because of the system, because of the economy. (indicating the TV) There's the TV. It's all right there. Commercials. We are not productive anymore, they don't need us to make things anymore, it's all automated. What are we for then? We're consumers. Okay, buy a lot of stuff, you're a good citizen. But if you don't buy a lot of stuff, you know what? You're mentally ill! That's a fact! If you don't buy things...toilet paper, new cars, computerized blenders, electrically operated sexual devices... (getting hysterical) SCREWDRIVERS WITH MINIATURE BUILT-IN RADAR DEVICES, STEREO SYSTEMS WITH BRAIN IMPLANTED HEADPHONES, VOICE- ACTIVATED COMPUTERS, AND... A woman orderly, TERRY, turns from the feeble PATIENT she's helping. TERRY Take it easy, Jeffrey. Be calm. Abruptly, JEFFREY stifles his hysteria, takes a deep breath and continues, completely calm now. But COLE isn't listening. He's mesmerized by the TV. JEFFREY So if you want to watch a particular program, say "All My Children" or something, you go to the Charge Nurse and tell her what day and time the show you want to see is on. But you have to tell her before the show is scheduled to be on. There was this one guy who was always requesting shows that had already played. He couldn't quite grasp the idea that the Charge Nurse couldn't just make it be yesterday for him, turn back time ha ha. What a fruitcake!! This last thought actually penetrates COLE'S focus on the TV and he turns to JEFFREY who's picking up speed again. JEFFREY Seriously, more and more people are being defined now as mentally ill. Why? Because they're not consuming on their own. But as patients, they becone consumers of mental health care. And this gives the so-called sane people work! (hysteria again) WHOOO! SHOCK THERAPY! GROUP THERAPY! HALLUCINATIONS! THERAPEUTIC DRUGS! IGGIDY DIGGIDY DIG! PERFECT! THE SYSTEM IN HARMONY LIKE A BIG MACHINE... TERRY Okay, that's it, Jeffrey, you're gonna get a shot. I warned you... JEFFREY (calming himself, smiling) Right! Right! Carried away, heh heh. I got "carried away". Explaining the workings of...the institution. Just then, TJ WASHINGTON, a somber-looking African American in a bathrobe, taps COLE on the shoulder. TJ WASHINGTON I don't really come from outer space. JEFFREY This is TJ Washington, Jim -- he doesn't really come from outer space. TJ WASHINGTON Don't mock me, my friend. (to Cole) It's a condition of "mental divergence". I find myself on another planet, Ogo, part of an intellectual elite, preparing to subjugate barbarian hordes on Pluto. But even though it's a totally convincing reality in every way...I can feel, breathe, hear...nevertheless, Ogo is actually a construct of my psyche. I am mentally divergent in that I am escaping certain unnamed realities that plague my life here. When I stop going there, I will be well. Are you also divergent, friend? The P.A. SYSTEM interrupts, startling COLE. P.A. SYSTEM (v.o.) James Cole. Report to Staff. James Cole! JEFFREY Staff! Whoo! Time for Staff. Now the geniuses cure you. Hallelujah! INT. PSYCH WARD CONFERENCE ROOM - MINUTES LATER (DAY) COLE is agitated, speaking forcefully. COLE This is a place for crazy people! I'm not crazy! RAILLY, four other PSYCHIATRIC RESIDENTS, including RAILLY'S best friend, MARILOU MARTIN, and their chief, DR. OWEN FLETCHER, sit around a beat-up conference table, watching COLE, who sits facing the doctors, with BILLINGS looming behind him. (Some of the DOCTORS bear a strong resemblance to the SCIENTISTS OF THE FUTURE.) RESIDENT #1 We don't use that term..."crazy", Mr. Cole. COLE Well, you've got some real nuts in here! Listen to me, all of you -- I have to tell you something that's going to be difficult for you to understand, but... DR. RAILLY James...please. These are all doctors here and we want to help you. DR. FLETCHER Mr. Cole -- last night you told Dr. Railly you thought it was... (checking a file) 1995. ... How about right now? Do you know what year it is right now? COLE 1989. Look, I'm not confused. There's been a mistake, I've been sent to the wrong place. Suddenly, COLE reaches out and BILLINGS lunges forward, but COLE is just grabbing a pad and pencil. COLE Hey, I'm not going to hurt anybody. FLETCHER restrains BILLINGS with a hand signal. COLE (drawing) Do any of you know anything about the Army of the Twelve Monkeys? They paint this, stencil it, on buildings, all over the place. COLE waves a sketch of the dancing monkey logo we saw earlier. DR. CASEY Mr. Cole... COLE Right. I guess you wouldn't, this is 1989, they're probably not active yet. That makes sense! Okay. Listen to me, three billion people died in 1995. Three billion, got that? Almost the whole population. Of the world! Only about one percent survived. DOCTORS exchange knowing looks. This is an old story, apparently. RESIDENT #2 Are you going to save us, Mr. Cole? COLE Save you? How can I save you? It already happened! I can't save you. I'm simply trying to get some information for people in the present so that someday... (sees their eyes) You don't believe me. You think I'm crazy. But I'm not crazy. I'm a convict, sure, I have a quick temper, but I'm as sane as anyone in this room. I... COLE stops, sees DR. FLETCHER tapping his pencil. COLE'S seen that tapping before -- in the future! It disorients him. DR. RAILLY Can you tell us the name of the prison you've come from? COLE doesn't answer. He's staring at the tapping pencil. DR. FLETCHER Does this bother you, Mr. Cole? COLE (recovering, new tack) No! Look, I don't belong here! What I need to do is make a telephone call to straighten everything out. DR. FLETCHER Who would you call, Mr. Cole, who would straighten everything out? COLE Scientists. I'm supposed to report in to them. They'll want to know they sent me to the wrong time. DR. FLETCHER So you could talk to these scientists and they do what? Send you to the future? COLE No, no. I can't talk to them. It's called, "voice mail". I'm supposed to leave messages. They monitor it from the present. RESIDENT #2 "From the present." We're not in the present now, Mr. Cole? COLE No, no. This is the past. This has already happened. Listen... RESIDENT #3 Mr. Cole, you belong in 1995 -- that's the present, is that it? COLE No, 1995 is the past, too. Look... DR. FLETCHER These scientists, Mr. Cole? Are they doctors like ourselves? Two of the residents exchange quick knowing looks. COLE No! I mean yes, but... Look, I've been given a lot of drugs but I'm still perfectly lucid. You have to let me use the phone. One call! COLE looks desperately toward RAILLY, pleading eyes meeting hers. INT. LOW RENT APARTMENT - DAY Four little KIDS SCREAM and SQUABBLE while the phone CHIRPS insistently in the tiny, cluttered apartment and a harried MOTHER lunges for the phone, answers sharply... MOTHER Yes? (listens, frowns, then) Whaaaaat? "Voice mail"! I don't know what you're talkin' about. ... Is this a joke? I don't know any scientists. James who? Never heard of you! The MOTHER slams down the phone. INT. RAILLY'S OFFICE/COUNTY HOSPITAL - DAY A dismayed COLE still has the receiver in his hand. Sympathetically, RAILLY takes it from him. RAILLY It wasn't who you expected? COLE is clearly agitated, starts to pace, upset. Nuts? COLE It was some lady. She didn't know anything. RAILLY Perhaps it was a wrong number... COLE No. That's the reason they chose me -- I remember things. RAILLY frowns, studying the distracted man with intense interest. It's clear COLE is becoming a special patient and RAILLY'S cool, detached demeanor is giving way ever so slightly. RAILLY James, where did you grow up? Was it around here? Around Baltimore? COLE (lost in thought) What? RAILLY I have the...strangest feeling I've met you before...a long time ago, perhaps. Were you ever...? COLE Wait! This is only 1989! I'm supposed to be leaving messages in 1995. It's not the right number yet. That's the problem. Damn! How can I contact them? RAILLY recovers her distance, her poise, as she takes a bottle, pours out some tablets, and holds them out to COLE. RAILLY James, take these. (watching him step back) Please -- I helped you like I said I would. Now I want you to trust me. INT. AIRPORT CONCOURSE - DAY (THE DREAM) MR. PONYTAIL races past the startled YOUNG COLE. MR. PONYTAIL WATCH IT! Was it JEFFREY wearing gaudy pants and a ponytail? It was definitely JEFFREY'S VOICE. TRAVELERS dive for cover as a WOMAN'S VOICE cries out... WOMAN'S VOICE NOOOOOOOOOO! The TERRIFIED TRAVELER looks up at YOUNG COLE, makes eye contact, but doesn't speak. The TERRIFIED TRAVELER looks a lot like DR. FLETCHER! Just then, YOUNG COLE is distracted by a running figure. It's the BLONDE MAN in the Hawaiian shirt, but he's not injured. He's sprinting toward the gates, glancing back over his shoulder, his moustache slightly askew! A sharp CRACK of a GUNSHOT rings out! Then, DAZZLING LIGHT. Everything goes white! INT. DORMITORY (PSYCH WARD)/COUNTY HOSPITAL - NIGHT COLE'S eyes blink awake, blinded by a flashlight. He's lying in one of thirty beds in a darkened ward. Disoriented. Which world is this? The room is full of BREATHING, SNORING, occasional MOANS. He can barely discern the shadowy figures of an ORDERLY and a NURSE, making their rounds, checking each bed. His eyes adjusting to the darkness, COLE watches them exit. He turns and sees a patch of moonlight coming in a barred window. With a quick glance at the sleeping PATIENTS, he slips out of bed, makes his way stealthily to the window, peers out. COLE'S POV: the moon, glowing in the sky, illuminating a single tree. Under the tree, in silhouette, a COUPLE embraces, kisses. ANGLE ON COLE, looking out the window, absorbed. VOICE (o.s.) It won't work. You can't open it. Alarmed, COLE turns, sees JEFFREY in the next bed. JEFFREY You think you can remove the grill but you can't. It's welded. COLE checks the grill anyway. JEFFREY See? I toldja. And all the doors are locked, too. They're protecting the people on the outside from us. But the people outside are as crazy as us. COLE has become preoccupied with a small SPIDER creeping along the window sill. He's staring at it when he's distracted by a sudden SOUND. Grabbing the SPIDER, COLE scrambles back into bed just as the door opens and an ORDERLY probes the dark room with the blade of his flashlight. ANGLE ON COLE, in bed, feigning sleep. The flashlight clicks off and COLE hears the door close. For a long moment the ward is silent except for BREATHING, SNORES, occasional MOANS. Then, COLE hears JEFFREY'S hoarse whisper, picking up right where he left off. JEFFREY You know what "crazy" is? "crazy" is "majority rules". Take germs for example. Although COLE is preoccupied with the SPIDER struggling to get out of his fist, he can't help reacting to the word, "germs"! COLE Germs?! JEFFREY In the 18th century there was no such thing! Nobody'd ever imagined such a thing -- no sane person anyway. Along comes this doctor...Semmelweiss, I think. He tries to convince people... other doctors mostly...that there are these teeny tiny invisible "bad things" called germs that get into your body and make you...sick! He's trying to get doctors to wash their hands. What is this guy...crazy? Teeny tiny invisible whaddayou call 'em?..."germs"! As JEFFREY warms to his subject, getting excited, COLE tries to figure out where to put the SPIDER. JEFFREY (cont.) So cut to the 20th century! Last week in fact, right before I got dragged into this hellhole. I order a burger in this fast food joint. The waiter drops it on the floor. He picks it up, wipes it off, hands it to me...like it was all okay. No alternative. COLE pops the SPIDER in his mouth and swallows it as JEFFREY prattles on... JEFFREY "What about the germs?" I say. He goes, "I don't believe in germs. Germs are just a plot they made up so they can sell you disinfectants and soap!" Now, he's crazy, right? Hey, you believe in germs, don't you? COLE I'm not crazy. JEFFREY Of course not, I never thought you were. You want to escape, right? That's very sane. I can help you. You want me to, don't you? Get you out? COLE If you know how to escape, why don't you...? JEFFREY Why don't I escape, that's what you were going to ask me, right? 'Cause I'd be crazy to escape! I'm all taken care of, see? I've sent out word. COLE What's that mean? JEFFREY I've managed to contact certain underlings, evil spirits, secretaries of secretaries, and assorted minions, who will contact my father. When he learns I'm in this kind of place, he'll have them transfer me to one of those classy joints where they treat you...properly. LIKE A GUEST! LIKE A PERSON! SHEETS! TOWELS! LIKE A BIG HOTEL WITH GREAT DRUGS FOR THE NUT CASE LUNATIC MANIAC DEVILS... PATIENTS are waking up as the NURSE and two ORDERLIES burst into the dorm and head straight for JEFFREY who's struggling to calm himself. JEFFREY Sorry. Really sorry. Got a little agitated. The thought of escaping crossed my mind and suddenly...suddenly I felt LIKE BENDING THE FUCKING BARS BACK, RIPPING OFF THE GODDAMN WINDOW FRAMES AND...EATING THEM, YES, EATING THEM, AND LEAPING, LEAPING... COLE watches the ORDERLIES grab JEFFREY and haul him away. JEFFREY You dumb assholes! I'm a mental patient! I'm supposed to act out. Wait til you morons find out who I am. My father's gonna be really upset. AND WHEN MY FATHER GETS UPSET, THE GROUND SHAKES! MY FATHER IS GOD! I WORSHIP MY FATHER. INT. WARD DAYROOM - MORNING ANGLE ON TV SCREEN/A VIDEO IMAGE OF A LAB MONKEY, convulsing pathetically, a victim of shocks from the numerous wires attached to his tiny, restrained body. ANGLE ON COLE, sitting, writing intensely in a magazine with crayon, surrounded by dull-eyed PATIENTS in pajamas and ratty robes, staring at the shuddering LAB MONKEY on the TV screen. JEFFREY'S VOICE (o.s.) Torture! Experiments! We're all monkeys COLE locks up, startled, as JEFFREY, one eye bruised black, takes the seat next to him. COLE They hurt you! JEFFREY Not as bad as what they're doing to kitty. ANGLE ON TV, showing a laboratory CAT turning in mad circles, eating its own tail, while a NEWS REPORTER narrates. TV NEWS REPORTER (v.o.) These video tapes were obtained by animal rights activists who worked underground as laboratory assistants for several months. Authorities say there is little they can do until... The video footage now shows LAB WORKERS watching the results of their experiments passively. ANGLE ON COLE, reacting angrily. COLE Look at those assholes, they're asking for it! Maybe people deserved to be wiped out! JEFFREY (startled, turning) Wiping cut the human race! That's a great idea! But it's more of a long term thing -- right now we have to focus on more immediate goals. (sudden whisper) I didn't say a word about "you know what". COLE What are you talking about??? JEFFREY You know -- your plan. As COLE stares, befuddled, JEFFREY sees COLE'S magazine. JEFFREY What're you writing? You a reporter? COLE (shielding the magazine) It's private. JEFFREY A lawsuit? You going to sue them? Just then BILLINGS looms over COLE, extending a cup full of pills. BILLINGS Yo, James -- time to take your meds. INT. DAY ROOM/HOSPITAL - THIRTY MINUTES LATER (MORNING) ANGLE ON THE TV, a commercial playing: a beautiful couple romps in the surf in slow motion while an eager NARRATOR encourages... NARRATOR (v.o.) Take a chance. Live the moment. Sunshine. Gorgeous beaches. The Florida Keys! ANGLE ON COLE, very drugged, seated in front of the TV along with other drugged PATIENTS, staring at the screen. ANGLE ON THE TV, showing a picture of the Marx Brothers. TV AWNOUNCER (v.o.) We'll return to the Marx Brothers in "Monkey Business" following these messages. JEFFREY'S VOICE (o.s.) Monkey Business! Monk Key Business. COLE sees JEFFREY sliding into the next chair and smirking. JEFFREY Get it? Monk - Key. Monk! (big grin) Key! JEFFREY flashes his palm open for one quick moment. A KEY! COLE (groggy) What....??? JEFFREY Wooooo, they really dosed you, bro. Major load! Listen up -- try and get it together. Focus! Focus! The plan! Remember? I did my part. COLE What...??? JEFFREY Not, "what", babe! When! "When???" JEFFREY (pressing the key into Cole's hand) Now! VOICE/TV (o.s.) Let us guide you to the stocks and bonds that will enhance your portfolio. JEFFREY (leaping to his feet) YES -- NOW! BUY NOW! STOCKS AND BONDS! NO MORE MONKEY BUSINESS -- BUY NOW. ANGLE ON TV, almost mimicking JEFFREY with an ad...a BULL and a BEAR and a computer screen showing stock prices fluctuating. VOICE/TV (v.o.) A portfolio tailored to your specific needs and the needs of your loved ones... ANGLE ON COLE, dumbfounded, watching JEFFREY dance crazily. JEFFREY YES, YES. ENHANCE YOUR PORTFOLIO NOW! ANGLE ON BILLINGS, across the ward, reacting to JEFFREY, lets go of the OLD MAN he's helping as another orderly, TERRY, presses a beeper, calling for help. ANGLE ON COLE, flabbergasted, as JEFFREY cavorts around the room. JEFFREY BUY! SELL! SEIZE THE OPPORTUNITY! ANGLE ON A HAND, inserting the last piece into the PEACEABLE KINGDOM JIGSAW PUZZLE. Just then, JEFFREY'S HAND sweeps the puzzle off the table, scattering it into a thousand pieces. ANGLE ON JEFFREY, dancing away while the PATIENT who just completed the puzzle stares, very upset. Other PATIENTS are getting agitated, too, as JEFFREY avoids a lunge by BILLINGS and dances off, using PATIENTS as a shield. HEAVY WOMAN PATIENT I'M GETTING DIZZY. MAKE HIM STOP! SKINNY MAN PATIENT HERE THEY COME! THEY'RE COMING! OLD MAN PATIENT FIVE HUNDRED DOLLARS! I GOT FIVE HUNDRED DOLLARS! I'M INSURED! JEFFREY OPPORTUNITY! DEFINITELY! A WINDOW OF OPPORTUNITY! OPENING NOW! NOW'S THE TIME FOR ALL GOOD MEN TO SEIZE THE MOMENT! YES! YES! MASTERCARD! VISA! THE KEY TO HAPPINESS! ANGLE ON COLE, realizing through the haze of drugs that JEFFREY is sending a message to him. COLE looks at the ward door. COLE'S POV: the WARD DOOR opens and two husky ORDERLIES enter. One locks the door with a key, one of many on a key ring attached to his belt, as the other ORDERLY rushes to join the pursuit. JEFFREY SEIZE THE MOMENT! GET RICH! NOW'S THE TIME! GO FOR IT! BILLINGS (missing a tackle) God damn you, Jeffrey, quit playing the fool. ANGLE ON COLE, hesitating. He locks at the door...blurring in and out of focus. He looks down at the key in his hand. ANGLE ON JEFFREY, being grabbed by the ORDERLIES. JEFFREY resists wildly as they struggle to overpower him. JEFFREY LAST CHANCE! LAST CHANCE! HEY -- OW! ANGLE ON COLE, moving to the door. He reaches it and tries to insert the key in the lock. ANGLE ON LOCK, as the key keeps missing the hole. ANGLE ON COLE, glancing nervously over his shoulder. COLE'S POV: ORDERLIES swarm over JEFFREY, don't notice COLE. ANGLE ON COLE, managing to insert the key. It won't turn. A PATIENT, close at hand, startles COLE, speaking into his ear. PATIENT Place to go would be...Florida. The keys are lovely this tine of year. COLE, unnerved, desperate tries the key again. It turns. PATIENT Be careful. J. Edgar Hoover isn't really dead. COLE pauses, stares, not understanding. Then, he opens the door. INT. CORRIDOR/COUNTY HOSPITAL Stepping through the door, COLE finds himself in an ante-room facing several elevators. A uniformed SECURITY MAN sitting at a near-by desk doesn't even lock up from the magazine he's reading. Barely daring to breathe, COLE steps toward the elevators so his back is to the SECURITY MAN. But he doesn't know how to control this elevator. What should he do? SECURITY MAN'S VOICE (o.s.) Two's not working today. Use one. COLE freezes, sneaks a glance over his shoulder. COLE'S POV: the SECURITY MAN continues his reading. He's a big guy with reading glasses perched on his nose. He looks exactly like the MENACING GUARD IN THE FUTURE...SCARFACE! ANGLE ON COLE, stunned! Just then, an elevator door slides open. The elevator's empty. COLE steps into it. INT. ELEVATOR/COUNTY HOSPITAL The door closes, isolating COLE in the elevator. COLE finds the down button, is about to push it when the elevator springs to life. The numbers on the indicator over the door start to rise. 7...8...9. Then, the elevator stops and the door opens. Two DOCTORS and an AIDE stand in front of the door, waiting. COLE hesitates. They look at him. They seem to expect him to exit. Avoiding eye contact, COLE exits the elevator. As they enter the elevator, the DOCTORS look back at COLE and frown. INT. RAILLY'S OFFICE - MORNING RAILLY has just arrived for work. She's slipping on her white doctor's coat when... DR. CASEY, one of the other residents, sticks his head in the door waving a crayoned message on a page torn from a magazine. DR. CASEY This was in my box, but I have a slight suspicion it wasn't meant for me. CASEY enters the room, reading the scrawled words dramatically. DR. CASEY "You are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen. You live in a beautiful world. But you don't know it. You have freedom, sunshine, air you can breathe." RAILLY (smiling) Cole. James Cole -- right? She reaches for the note but CASEY moves it out of her grasp. DR. CASEY "I would do anything to stay here, but I must leave. Please, help me." RAILLY Poor man... CASEY is handing her the note when another resident, DR. GOODINS, sticks his head in the door. He's upset. DR. GOODINS Hey, Kathryn, James Cole is one of yours, right? RAILLY and CASEY stare at him. DR. GOODINS He got out. Took off. Last seen, he was up on nine. INT. X-RAY DEPARTMENT/BASEMENT - DAY A PATIENT is being swallowed by a large tube, a CAT SCANNER, while a DOCTOR in a white coat speaks reassuringly. DOCTOR Just relax -- don't fight it. We have to know exactly what's there so we can... The DOCTOR stops, astonished, as the door bursts open. It's COLE! He stares at the PATIENT and the Cat Scanner. The PATIENT lifts his head up and stares at COLE. DOCTOR Eh, excuse me. Can I help you? COLE turns and rushes back out the door. INT. CORRIDOR/COUNTY HOSPITAL COLE steps into the corridor, turns to his right, freezes. A POSSE of SECURITY GUARDS is headed in his direction. COLE turns to his left. Four ORDERLIES are coming that way. COLE'S trapped. A beat. He attacks the nearest man. BILLINGS. INT. TECH ROOM/PSYCH WARD - SHORTLY (DAY) RAILLY prepares a hypo, turns to COLE who is strapped tightly on a gurney with BILLINGS and an RN standing on either side, tense for more trouble. One of BILLINGS' eyes is starting to swell shut. RAILLY It's just a shot to calm you. COLE No more drugs. Please... RAILLY I have to do this, James. You're very confused. RAILLY pushes the needle into COLE'S skin. INT. CONFERENCE ROOM/PSYCH WARD - LATER (DAY) DR. FLETCHER faces RAILLY across the conference table. DR. CASEY, DR. GOODINS, DR. MARILOU MARTIN are also there. DR. FLETCHER Don't be defensive, Kathryn, this isn't an inquisition. RAILLY I didn't think I was being defensive. I was just... DR. FLETCHER He should have been in restraints. It was bad judgment on your part, plain and simple. why not just cop to it? RAILLY Okay, it was bad judgment. But I have the strangest feeling about him -- I've seen him somewhere and... DR. FLETCHER (impatient, not interested) Two policemen were already in the hospital and now we have an orderly with a broken arm and a Security Officer with a fractured skull. RAILLY I said it was bad judgment! What else do you want me to say? DR. FLETCHER You see what I mean? You're being defensive. (to Dr. Casey) Isn't she being defensive, Bob? But just then, BILLINGS sticks his head in the door. BILLINGS Uh, Dr. Fletcher -- we got another... situation. INT. CORRIDOR/PSYCH WARD - MOMENTS LATER (DAY) DR. FLETCHER looks into an empty padded cell as RAILLY, MARTIN, GOODIN, BILLINGS, PALMER and the NURSE crowd behind him. DR. FLETCHER He was in full restraints? And the door was locked? BILLINGS Yes, sir. Did it myself. DR. FLETCHER And he was fully sedated? RAILLY He was fully sedated! DR. FLETCHER Then are you trying to tell me that a fully sedated, fully restrained patient somehow slipped out that vent, replaced the grill behind him and that he's wriggling through the ventilation system right now? DR. FLETCHER indicates an impossibly tiny vent high in the wall. INT. CONCOURSE/AIRPORT - DAY (THE DREAM) Seen through the glass windows, a 747 takes off, climbing into the sky as the airport P.A. System drones... P.A. SYSTEM Flight 784 to San Francisco now boarding at Gate 38... YOUNG COLE, watching the 747, whirls at the SOUND of a COMMOTION. MR. PONYTAIL bumps him. The BLONDE MAN sprints past. The WOMAN'S VOICE calls out! WOMAN'S VOICE NOOOOOOOOOO! TRAVELERS dive for cover briefly revealing the mysterious BRUNETTE running after the BLONDE MAN! But this time, YOUNG COLE catches just a glimpse of her face. She looks a little like RAILLY except for the dark hair, the make-up. and the flashy earrings. She calls out, her VOICE blending weirdly with the P.A. SYSTEM... BRUNETTE/P. A. SYSTEM The Freedom For Animals Headquarters now boarding on Second Avenue. The Army of the Twelve Monkeys... ENGINEER'S VOICE (o.s.) Cole, you moron -- wake up! INT. ENGINEERING OFFICE - ETERNAL NIGHT OF THE FUTURE As COLE blinks awake, the digitized monotone of the P.A. SYSTEM continues to drone in an unearthly VOICE... UNEARTHLY VOICE/P.A. SYSTEM -- they're the ones who are going to do it... COLE'S eyes seek the source of the sound and find it on the table in front of the panel of disapproving SCIENTISTS facing him. It's a beat-up old tape recorder. UNEARTHLY VOICE/TAPE RECORDER I can't do anything more. The Police are after me. The tape ends, runs off the reel, flap...flap...flap... ASTROPHYSICIST Well? COLE Uh, what? ENGINEER He's drugged out of his mind! He's completely zoned out. ASTROPHYSICIST Cole, did you or did you not record that message? COLE Uh, that message...me? MICROBIOLOGIST It's a digital reconstruction of a message, Cole, from a weak signal on our contact number. Did you make that call? COLE (angrily) I couldn't call! You sent me to the wrong year! It was 1989. SCIENTISTS 1989! The SCIENTISTS react, exchanging looks, whispers. Then, ZOOLOGIST You're certain of that? GEOLOGIST (before Cole can answer) What did you do with your time, Cole? Did you waste it on drugs? Women? COLE They forced me to take drugs. BOTANIST Forced you! Why would someone force you to take drugs? COLE I got into trouble. I got arrested. But I still got you a specimen -- a spider -- but I didn't have anyplace to put it, so I ate it. It was the wrong year anyway, so I guess it doesn't matter. The SCIENTISTS stare incredulously, then turn, exchange knowing looks, huddle, start whispering to one another. Struggling to stay awake COLE sees, blurrily, the MICROBIOLOGIST staring at COLE intently. For one moment, the face belongs to DR. FLETCHER! COLE blinks hard...and the MICROBIOLOGIST has his own face, again. COLE'S head slumps forward now...and everything goes dark. GEOLOGIST'S VOICE (o.s.) Cole! INT. ENGINEERING OFFICE - ETERNAL NIGHT OF THE FUTURE COLE comes awake with a start. The room is dark now, except... a slide is being projected on a torn screen. It's a picture of a stenciled graffiti...the logo of The Army of the 12 Monkeys. ENGINEER What about it, Cole? ZOOLOGIST Did you see it? COLE Uh, no, sir. I... Another slide CLICKS into place. Youthful PROTESTERS, their placards featuring slogans and images of Animal Atrocities, confront POLICE in riot gear. ASTROPHYSICIST What about these people? Did you see any of these people? Zooming in, panning, the SCIENTISTS emphasize the FACES of the PROTESTERS. The FACES are unfamiliar to COLE (though WE will recognize some of them later on). COLE (o.s.) Uh, no, sir, I...wait! The image pans back to a much enlarged blurry FACE among the PROTESTERS. In spite of the poor image, the expression of rage is clear, and it seems to resemble a somewhat older JEFFREY MASON. ASTROPHYSICIST Him? You saw that man? COLE Uh, I think so. In the mental hospital. MICRO3IOLOGIST (switching on the light) You were in a mental institution?! The SCIENTISTS MUTTER disapprovingly among themselves. ASTROPHYSICIST You were sent to make very important observations! BOTANIST You could have made a real contribution. GEOLOGIST Helped to reclaim the planet... ZOOLOGIST As well as reducing your sentence. MICROBIOLOGIST The question is, Cole -- "Do you want another chance?" COLE stares at them, trying to figure out what they mean. INT. CONCOURSE/AIRPORT - DAY (THE DREAM) The BRUNETTE runs up the concourse, her back to YOUNG COLE, as frightened PASSENGERS duck for cover, SHOUTING! RASPY VOICE (o.s.) Hey! Who's that? INT. CELL - ETERNAL NIGHT COLE opens his eyes. Where is he? Silence as he examines the tiny cell. Bare cement walls. High ceiling. Same color and size as the isolation room at the county hospital. RASPY VOICE (o.s.) Hey, Bob...what's your name? COLE looks around frantically. Up, down. Where is the VOICE coming from? Maybe from that tiny vent high in the wall... COLE Where are you? RASPY VOICE (o.s.) You can talk! Wah'dja do, Bobby boy? Volunteer? COLE My name's not "Bob". RASPY VOICE (o.s.) Not a prob, Bob. Where'd they send you? COLE Where are you? RASPY VOICE (o.s.) Another cell. ... Maybe. COLE What do you mean, "maybe"? What's that supposed to mean? RASPY VOICE (o.s.) Maybe. Means "maybe" I'm in the next cell, another "volunteer" like you -- or "maybe" I'm in the Central Office spying on you for all those science bozos. Or, hey, "maybe" I'm not even here. "Maybe" I'm just in your head. No way to confirm anything. Ha Ha. Where'd they send you? COLE doesn't answer. RASPY VOICE (o.s.) Not talking, huh, Bob? That's okay I can handle that. COLE 1989. RASPY VOICE (o.s.) 89! How was it? Good drugs? Lotsa pussy? Hey, Bob, you do the job? D'ju find out the "big info"?...Army of the Twelve Monkeys...where the virus was prior to mutation? COLE It was supposed to be 1995. RASPY VOICE (o.s.) Science isn't an exact science with these clowns. You're lucky you didn't end up in ancient Egypt! INT. LAB - ETERNAL NIGHT OF THE FUTURE COLE is strapped on a gurney. SCIENTISTS hover near-by, whispering. The walls of the gloomy chamber are damp, sweating. GEOLOGIST No mistakes this time, Cole. ASTROPHYSICIST Stay alert. Keep your eyes open. ZOOLOGIST Good thinking about that spider, Cole. Try and do something like that again. MICROBIOLOGIST Just relax now -- don't fight it. We have to know exactly what's there so we can fix it. The gurney is being wheeled into a crudely welded steel tube... reminiscent of the cat scanner in County Hospital. COLE'S POV: a last glimpse of anxious FACES, then the chamber door is CLANGED shut. EVERYTHING IS BLACK. A HUM BUILDS. THE BLACKNESS VIBRATES, THE HUM REACHES A DEAFENING LEVEL, THEN DIMUENDOS. WE BEGIN TO HEAR BURSTS OF MACHINE GUN FIRE, VOICES SHOUTING IN FRENCH, A SUDDEN HUGE EXPLOSION! THEN... EXT. TRENCH/FRANCE - DAY DRIZZLING RAIN. And SCREAMS. COLE'S in a deep trench, naked, eyes wide with terror. What's going on? Where is he? SOLDIERS in gas masks push urgently past him rushing toward their injured COMRADES who've been ripped apart by the shell that just hit fifteen yards away. Muffled VOICES shout through gas masks... in FRENCH. COLE doesn't know it, but this is World War I! Suddenly, a SERGEANT confronts him, shouting in French. SERGEANT (FRENCH, subtitled) Where's your mask?! And your clothes... and your weapon, you idiot?! COLE What? What?? COLE looks around desperately. A horribly WOUNDED MAN is being stretchered past them in the narrow trench. Machine guns chatter close at hand. AAK AAK AAK. A grenade EXPLODES. Reacting to the foreign word, the SERGEANT jams his bayonet into COLE'S ribs... SERGEANT (FRENCH, subtitled) Captain! A Kraut! We got a Kraut! COLE I don't understand. Where am I? The CAPTAIN hurries over, snapping at COLE in German. CAPTAIN (GERMAN, subtitled) How'd you get here, soldier? What's your rank? Where are your clothes? COLE I...don't understand. CAPTAIN (frowning, GERMAN, subtitled) German! Speak German! What are you doing here? VOICE (o.s.) (pleading in English) I gotta find 'em. I gotta find 'em. Please, you gotta help me! COLE turns, sees... It's his friend, JOSE, the Puerto Rican kid from the next cell in the "underground" time. He's being carried past COLE now on a stretcher, blood all over his torso, horribly wounded. COLE JOSE! JOSE Cole! Oh, God, Cole, where are we? JOSE reaches out to COLE just as a PHOTOGRAPHER takes a FLASH PICTURE of the kid being carried off on the stretcher. SUDDENLY, SHOTS RING OUT. COLE goes down. Hit in the leg! SOLDIERS in gas masks rush past him like giant insects. Looking to his left, COLE sees the CAPTAIN lying beside him, dead from a chest wound, his gas mask half off. COLE is reaching for the mask when... A SHELL HITS CLOSE BY WITH AN ENORMOUS EXPLOSION. EXT. COLLEGE CAMPUS - NIGHT Stunningly quiet. We are on a placid campus looking at the dignified architecture of Breitrose Hall. MOVING IN we FOCUS ON a large poster advertising "The Alexander Lectures, Spring 1995". WE SKIM the listings (Jon Else on The Nuclear Agony, Dr. Andrew Miksztal on Biological Ethics, etc.) until we SETTLE ON... DR. KATHRYN RAILLY MADNESS AND APOCALYPTIC VISIONS MAY 17 INT. AUDITORIUM/BREITROSE HALL - NIGHT A large screen dominates the auditorium stage. On the screen is a slide of an engraving from the Middle Ages showing a MADMAN in apparent agony, his mouth shaped to a scream, as he is restrained by PEASANTS. The projector ZOOMS slowly in on the agonized FACE of this MADMAN as we HEAR RAILLY'S VOICE lecturing. RAILLY'S VOICE (o.s.) According to the accounts of local officials at that time, this gentleman, judged to be about forty years of age, appeared suddenly in the village of Wyle near Stonehenge in the West of England in April of 1162. Using unfamiliar words and speaking in a strange accent, the man made dire prognostications about a pestilence which he predicted would wipe out humanity in approximately 8OO years. Deranged and hysterical, the man raped a young woman of the village, was taken into custody, but then mysteriously escaped and was not heard of again. WE DISCOVER RAILLY, six years older now, standing at a lectern in a pool of light. She's dwarfed by the giant screen where the engraving is replaced by a series of slides of woodcuts showing scenes of pestilence in the Middle Ages as she lectures to an audience of mostly SCHOLARLY TYPES. RAILLY (cont.) In 1841, Mackay wrote, "During seasons of great pestilence, men have often believed the prophecies of crazed fanatics, that the end of the world was come." Obviously, this plague/doomsday scenario is considerably more compelling when reality supports it in some form, whether it's the Bubonic Plague, smallpox, or AIDS. In addition to these "natural" contagions, there are now technological horrors as well: besides radiation, consider our lurking fear of germ warfare and its close approximation, chemical warfare, which first reared its ugly head in the deadly mustard gas attacks during the First World War. ON THE SCREEN, a SERIES of SLIDES show images of WORLD WAR I SOLDIERS in gas masks, in death throes, etc.. RAILLY'S VOICE (cont. o.s.) During such an attack in the French trenches in October, 1917, we have an account of this soldier... ON THE SCREEN, a slide of an old deteriorated photograph shows JOSE, the Puerto Rican kid, strapped to a stretcher, being carried by SOLDIERS through the trenches during an attack. JOSE appears to be ranting madly as the projector ZOOMS CLOSER on his face until the image approximates Munch's famous painting. RAILLY'S VOICE (cant. o.s.) -- who, during an assault, was wounded by shrapnel and hospitalized behind the lines where Doctors discovered he had lost all comprehension of French but spoke English fluently, albeit in a regional dialect they didn't recognize. The man, although physically unaffected by the gas, was hysterical. He claimed he had come from the future, that he was looking for a pure germ that would ultimately wipe mankind off the face of the earth in the year... 1995! The AUDIENCE gives a nervous CHUCKLE. ON THE SCREEN, a different old photograph of JOSE. This time he's in a military hospital, gaunt, haunted, very ill. RAILLY'S VOICE (cont. o.s.) Although seriously injured, the young soldier disappeared from the hospital before more data could be gathered. No doubt, he was trying to carry on his mission to warn others, substituting for the agony of war...a self-inflicted agony we call the "Cassandra Complex". As RAILLY continues, we SCAN the AUDIENCE and DISCOVER MARILOU MARTIN, RAILLY'S friend, and MARILOU'S HUSBAND, WAYNE CHANG, both listening attentively. Further away, another MAN listens intently. A MAN with shoulder-length carrot-colored hair. His name is DR. PETERS. RAILLY (cont.) Cassandra, in Greek legend you will recall, was condemned to know the future but to be disbelieved when she foretold it. Hence, the agony of foreknowledge combined with impotence to do anything about it. INT. RECEPTION ROOM - AN HOUR LATER (NIGHT) A stack of new books. THE DOOMSDAY SYNDROME, Apocalyptic Visions of the Mentally Ill by Dr. Kathryn Railly Surrounded by enthusiastic members of the audience, RAILLY is seated at the table signing books but DR. PETERS has her ear. DR. PETERS I think, Dr. Railly, you have given your alarmists a bad name. Surely there is very real and very convincing data that the planet cannot survive the excesses of the human race: proliferation of atomic devices, uncontrolled breeding habits, the rape of the environment, the pollution of land, sea, and air. In this context, isn't it obvious that "Chicken Little" represents the sane vision and that Homo Sapiens' motto, "Let's go shopping!" is the cry of the true lunatic? DR. PETERS smiles self-importantly at RAILLY as an elderly disheveled PROFESSOR elbows in front of him. DISHEVELED PROFESSOR Doctor Railly -- please! I wonder if you're aware of my own studies which indicate that certain cycles of the moon actually impact on the incidence of apocalyptic predictions as observed in urban emergency rooms and... As the PROFESSOR babbles, MARILOU MARTIN and her husband, WAYNE CHANG, appear and whisper... MARILOU You were great. RAILLY You're leaving? MARILOU The reservation's at nine thirty -- it's getting late. DISHEVELED PROFESSOR Doctor Railly -- please -- this is very important! WAYNE CHANG (checking the professor) You sure you're gonna be all right? RAILLY (smiles, checks her watch) I'll be there in twenty minutes. DISHEVELED PROFESSOR Dr. Railly, I simply cannot understand your exclusion of the moon in relation to apocalyptic dementia... EXT. PARKING LOT/BREITROSE HALL - NIGHT A full moon. COLLEAGUES in a VOLVO pull out of the parking lot, calling, "Congratulations" to RAILLY. She waves back as she hurries to her black ACURA, one of the last cars left in the lot. The outside lights of Breitrose Hall go off. RAILLY seems to be alone in the lot as she fishes keys from her purse, unlocks her car door, starts to open it when... Suddenly, she's grabbed from behind in a choke-hold by a large shadowy MAN looming out of the darkness behind her. MAN'S VOICE Get in! Unable to scream, she writhes and kicks as he forces her into the front seat. MAN'S VOICE I've got a gun. RAILLY freezes, terrified, as he opens the rear door and scrambles in behind her. INT. ACURA/PARKING LOT Fighting to suppress the quaver in her voice, RAILLY says... RAILLY You can have my purse. I have a lot of cash and credit... MAN'S VOICE (o.s.) Start the car. Glancing in the rear view mirror, RAILLY sees penetrating eyes peering out of the shadows, no other features. Half-turning in the seat, she holds out the keys to him. RAILLY Here! You can have the keys. You can... He grabs her hair and yanks her head back hard, speaking fiercely into her ear, his face last in shadow. MAN START THE CAR! NOW! EXT. ACURA/PARKING LOT The engine STARTS, the Acura backs up, then heads for the exit. INT. ACURA Steering fearfully, RAILLY hears him speak more calmly now. MAN'S VOICE (o.s.) I don't want to hurt you. But I will. I've hurt people before when...when I had no choice. Turn left. As she makes the turn, RAILLY glances in the rear view mirror, sees him unfolding a tattered map. His face is lost in darkness but she glimpses ragged, torn clothing as he tries to read the map by the intermittent glow of passing street lights. RAILLY Where... where are we going' MAN I need you to drive me to Philadelphia. RAILLY (startled, horrified) But that's... that's more than 200 miles! MAN That's why I can't walk there. Turn here... I think... RAILLY obeys. She glances in the mirror again, hesitates, then boldly switches on the dome light, holding her breath fearfully for his reaction. He grunts appreciatively. Relieved, she looks in the mirror again, trying to get a better look at him, but now his features are concealed by the map. RAILLY If you make me go with you, it's kidnapping. That's a serious crime. If you let me go, you could just take the car and... MAN I don't know how to drive! We went underground when I was nine, I told you that. When you come to the corner, turn right. Startled, RAILLY whirls, looks right at him. He's lowered the map. It's COLE! Haggard, unshaven, dirty. RAILLY Cole! James Cole! You escaped from a locked room six years ago. COLE 1989. Six years for you. There's the sign! Right here! COLE is indicating a freeway entrance. RAILLY turns the wheel sharply. EXT. FREEWAY - NIGHT The Acura veers up the ramp and onto the freeway. INT. ACURA/FREEWAY - NIGHT RAILLY glances in the mirror, sees COLE settling back wearily against the seat. She says carefully... RAILLY I can't believe this is a coincidence, Mr. Cole. Have you been...following me? COLE You told me you'd help me. I know this isn't what you meant, but...I was desperate... no money...bum leg... sleeping on the streets. I probably smell bad. Sorry about that. But then I saw your book in a store window with a notice about your lecture. (sudden pride) I can read, remember? RAILLY Yes, I remember. (a beat, then) Why do you want to go to Philadelphia? COLE It's the next step. I checked out the Baltimore information, it was nothing. It's Philadelphia, that's where they are, the ones who killed everyone. (pointing suddenly, eagerly) Zs that a radio? Does it play music? RAILLY turns on the radio and immediately WE HEAR the SOUND of SURF and the CRIES of gulls, background to an oozing baritone COMMERCIAL. COMMERCIAL/RADIO (o.s.) This is a personal message to you. COLE sits up, alert, listening intently. COMMERCIAL/RADIO (cont. o.s.) Are you at the end of your rope? Are you dying to get away? COLE'S eyes narrow, concentrating on this personal message. COMMERCAIL/RADIO (cont. o.s.} The Florida Keys are waiting for you. COLE frowns as the SOUND of breaking SURF and crying GULLS fills the car. It's confusing! He blurts out... COLE I've never seen the ocean! Observing his confusion in the mirror, RAILLY assumes her professional tone. RAILLY It's an advertisement, Mr. Cole. You do understand that, don't you? It's not really a special message to you. COLE frowns. He did think it was for him, but she's probably right. COLE You used to call me "James". RAILLY You'd prefer that? ... James...you don't really have a gun, do you. COLE (cynical laugh) Everybody's got a gun. In this city... He breaks off reacting to the RADIO MUSIC! FATS DOMINO singing "BLUEBERRY HILL"! COLE grins, mouth agape, eyes wide like a kid's. COLE Can you...can you make it louder? I love hearing twentieth century music! Hearing music and breathing air! As RAILLY cranks up the volume, she watches the mirror incredulously, sees him stick his head out the window into the wind, mouth open, "eating" the air hungrily. EXT. FREEWAY/ACURA - NIGHT "BLUEBERRY HILL" BLARES as the Acura, COLE'S head out the rear window, zips past a sign at 65 mph. The sign says, "PHILADELPHIA 233 MILES." INT. ACURA/FREEWAY - NIGHT RAILLY glances in the mirror at the nut in the rear seat with his head out the window. what can she do? Just then, while she's trying to figure something out, an ANNOUNCER'S VOICE breaks in... ANNOUNCER/RADIO (o.s.) This just in from Fresno, California: emergency crews are converging on a cornfield where playmates of nine year old Ricky Neuman say they saw him disappear right before their eyes. COLE pulls his head back inside with a frown, troubled now. ANNOUNCER/RADIO (cont. o.s.) Young Neuman apparently stepped into an abandoned well shaft and is lodged somewhere in the narrow 150 foot pipe, possibly alive, possibly seriously injured. Playmates claim they heard him cry out faintly but since then there has been no contact with... COLE "Never cry wolf!" RAILLY What? COLE My father told me that. "Never cry wolf." Then people won't believe you if...something really happens. RAILLY "If something really happens"...like what, James? COLE Something bad. Is that all the music? I don't want to hear this stuff... RAILLY glances at him as she scans stations. RAILLY Did something terrible happen to you when you were a child? Something so bad...? COLE Ohhhh, that one! Can we hear that one? It's IVORY JOE HUNTER singing, "SINCE I MET YOU, BABY". IVORY JOE/RADIO (o.s.) "Since I met you, baby, My whole life has changed... Ecstatic, COLE sticks his head out the window again. EXT. ACURA/FREEWAY COLE'S POV: the heavens, glittering with a million stars and a lover's moon as IVORY JOE croons the achingly romantic lyrics... IVORY JOE/RADIO (cont. o.s.) "-- cause since I met you, baby. All I need is you..." ANGLE ON COLE, wind in his hair, eyes shining, gulping air blissfully. INT. RAILLY'S APARTMENT - MORNING Two POLICE OFFICERS and an anxious MARILOU MARTIN listen to an answering machine's message while a hungry CAT cries plaintively. ANSWERING MACHINE Dr. Railly -- this is Palmer from Psych Admitting. There was a guy here this afternoon looking for you. He seemed very agitated. We tried to keep him, but he refused 'n I kept thinking, I know this guy. Then, just a few minutes ago, it came to me. It's Cole! James Cole. Remember him? The paranoid who pulled the Houdini back in '89. Well, he's back and he's...cuckoo...and he's looking for you. I thought you oughta know. The machine switches off. The POLICE OFFICERS exchange a look. MARILOU MARTIN It's just as I told you -- my husband and I had gone ahead -- she never showed. That's totally unlike her! OFFICER TWO (pulls out his notebook) Do you happen to know the make of her car? MARILOU MARTIN Um...Acura...'92 Acura. ... Also, that cat's starving! She would never neglect her cat! EXT. MOTEL - MORNING The ACURA is parked outside room 46 of the HIGHWAYS & BYWAYS MOTEL, which has definitely seen better days. INT. MOTEL ROOM 46 The TV is on. A commercial is just starting. A catfood jingle. The sound of HEAVY BREATHING. ANGLE ON COLE, sweating, BREATHING HEAVILY, sprawled on one side of the double bed, sound asleep. INT. CONCOURSE/AIRPORT - DAY (THE DREAM) GUNSHOT! YOUNG COLE glimpses the BLONDE MAN staggering, wounded. The mysterious BRUNETTE races past him toward the BLONDE MAN, and YOUNG COLE again glimpses the resemblance to RAILLY, in spite of the dark hair, the make-up, the flashy earrings. Close at hand, YOUNG COLE'S FATHER, his face still out of view, says, FATHER'S VOICE (o.s.) Son, it's important for your cat to have the nourishment necessary for healthy bones and a rich coat. INT. MOTEL ROOM 46 COLE comes awake with a start. He stares, disoriented, at the CATFOOD COMMERCIAL on the TV. RAILLY'S VOICE (o.s.) Please untie me. I'm very uncomfortable. COLE turns to RAILLY, beside him on the bed, frightened and helpless, her jacket arranged to restrain her like a strait-jacket. COLE'S instinct is to free her at once, but he controls his impulse. He looks away, gets up, and, wincing, limps to the dresser, stepping around empty fast-food cartons. He pulls a razor and shaving soap from a paper bag, then goes into the bathroom, leaving the door open, and starts to shave. COLE You were in my dream just now. Your hair was different, but I'm sure it was you. RAILLY We dream about what's important in our lives. And I seem to have become pretty important in yours. What was the dream about? COLE About an airport...before everything happened. It's the same dream I always have -- the only one. I'm a little kid in it. RAILLY And I was in it? What did I do? COLE You were very upset. You're always very upset in the dream, but I never knew it was you before. RAILLY It wasn't me before, James. It's become me now because of...what's happening. Please untie me. Finished shaving, COLE re-enters the bedroom, toweling his face. COLE No, I think it was always you. It's very strange. RAILLY You're flushed. And you were moaning. I think you're running a fever. What are you doing? COLE is rummaging through RAILLY'S wallet, pulling out money. COLE I'll be back in a minute. He heads for the door. RAILLY No! Don't leave me here like this! Too late! He shuts the door behind him, leaving her alone. ANGLE ON THE TV SCREEN, where an ANCHORMAN sits at a News Set. TV ANCHORMAN And in Fresno, California...crews continue to attempt to rescue nine year old Ricky Neuman. ANGLE ON RAILLY, twisting and struggling on the bed, trying to get loose, tears welling in her eyes. TV ANCHORMAN (cont. o.s.) The boy was playing ball with four other children when he literally disappeared off the face of the earth. EXT. MOTEL CORRIDOR - MORNING COLE puzzles over a junk food vending machine, inserts coins tentatively. INT. MOTEL ROOM ANGLE ON TV, the picture of RAILLY filling the screen. ----------------------- PAGE 52 MISSING ----------------------- COLE My notes. Observations. Clues. RAILLY Clues? What kind of clues? COLE A secret army. The Army of The Twelve Monkeys. I've told you about them. They spread the virus. That's why we have to get to Philadelphia. I have to find them -- it's my assignment. RAILLY What will you do...when you find this...secret army? COLE I just have to locate the virus in its original form before it mutates. So scientists can come back and study it and find a cure. So that those of us who survived can go back to the surface of the earth. RAILLY maintains a professional deadpan, says nothing as they pass a pickup truck with a MOTHER, FATHER, and five KIDS in the back. COLE stares at the KIDS, a sad look in his eyes. COLE You won't think I'm crazy next month. People are going to start dying. At first the papers will say it's some weird fever, some virus. Then they'll begin to catch on. They'll get it. RADIO NEWSCASTER (o.s.) We interrupt this program with a special bulletin... RAILLY and COLE both react to the radio, suddenly alert. RADIO NEWSCASTER (o.s.) This report just in from Fresno, California. Naval sonar specialists who were flown to the site... COLE I thought it was about us. I thought maybe they'd found us and arrested me or something. RAILLY stares at COLE. COLE Just a joke. RADIO NEWSCASTER (o.s.) -- an hour ago have been unable to determine the location of the boy in the 150 foot shaft...but a TV sound man who lowered an ultra-sensitive microphone into the narrow tube claims he heard breathing sounds coming from approximately seventy feet down... COLE reaches over and changes stations. MUSIC again. RAILLY Does that disturb you, James? Thinking about that little boy in the well? COLE When I was a kid I identified with that kid, down there alone in that pipe...a hundred feet down -- doesn't know if they're going to save him. RAILLY What do you mean -- when you were a kid? COLE Nevermind. It's not real -- it's a hoax. A prank. He's hiding in a barn. Hey, turn left here. Left! COLE quickly checks the map as RAILLY stares, then turns left. EXT. SKID ROW STREET/PHILADELPHIA - DAY An elderly EVANGELIST with long stringy hair, wearing a tattered bathrobe, stands on a Skid Row corner WAVING a worn Bible as he rants at disinterested DERELICTS, WINOS, and BAG LADIES. EVANGELIST "And the wild beasts of the islands shall cry in their desolate houses and dragons in their pleasant palaces: and her time is near to come, and her days shall not be prolonged." ANGLE ON RAILLY'S ACURA, crawling down the street, RAILLY driving, COLE, beside her, staring out the window. INT. ACURA/SKID ROW STREET COLE is scrutinizing the crumbling walls, boarded-up store fronts, tattered posters, decaying signs, miserable "RESIDENTS". COLE Where I come from we think of this as Eden. If we could just see the sun, eat sun-grown food. Eden! Look at them! They donut know what they have. They don't see the sky. They don't feel the air! COLE'S POV: a BMW speeds toward them, passes, its radio BLARING! COLE (o.s.) And the ones who aren't hungry are so smug they haven't a clue. WAIT! STOP! EXT. ACURA/SKID ROW On foot now, COLE pulls an astonished RAILLY to a wall covered with graffiti, a hopeless tangle of symbols, words, and crude pictures. Clueless, RAILLY stares at the wall, then at COLE. COLE touches a bit of red-stenciled graffiti hidden under gang insignias. We can just see TWELVE MONKEYS holding hands in a circle. COLE The Twelve Monkeys!!! They're here. (looks around) Somewhere. Come on! He pulls her along the sidewalk. No question, he's insane. At the next alley entrance, COLE stops abruptly. Then, still keeping a firm grip on RAILLY'S arm, he starts ripping down newly tacked-up posters announcing a Rap concert. RAILLY stares at him, then turns and is looking all around when, suddenly, COLE pulls her up tight and threatens... COLE Look, I'm warning you. You do anything, I'm going to go crazy -- hurt people! RAILLY I'm not going to "do" anything, I promise. But you need help, James. None of this is what you think it is. ANGLE ON COLE, not listening, staring triumphantly! He's found another partially obscured stencil of THE TWELVE MONKEYS! But just then, a raspy VOICE startles COLE. RASPY VOICE (o.s) You can't hide from them, Bob. COLE whirls, sees a derelict, LOUIE, leering at him, speaking in a voice eerily like the RASPY VOICE from the next cell in the future. LOUIE No, sir, Old Bob -- don't even try. (conspiratorially) They hear everything. They got that tracking device on you. They can find you anywhere. Anytime. Ha Ha! RAILLY looks from LOUIS to COLE, sees COLE'S stunned reaction. LOUIE (touches his back jaw) In the tooth, Bob! Right? (sudden triumphant grin) But I fooled 'em, old buddy! He opens his mouth wide. NO TEETH' COLE grabs RAILLY and pulls her into the alley and down it. COLE They're keeping an eye on me. RAILLY Who's keeping an eye on you? COLE The man...with the voice. I recognized him. He's from the present. He... COLE breaks off, freezes as he sees... there on a brick wall is a stencil of the DANCING MONKEYS And further on, another red stencil! EXT. VACANT LOT - MOMENTS LATER (DAY) CRACKHEADS huddle against a building, sucking their pipes, oblivious to COLE pulling RAILLY past. COLE scans the walls for messages in the confusion of graffiti. RAILLY is considering her surroundings dubiously when, suddenly, COLE pulls her toward the mouth of a dark and forbidding alley. RAILLY James, no -- we shouldn't be here! COLE ignores her, yanking her after him into the alley. INT. DARK ALLEY - DAY Two TOM CATS face off, arching their backs and HISSING menacingly. COLE avoids them as he pulls RAILLY into the gloom. ANGLE ON RAILLY, seeing something alarming twenty yards ahead! RAILLY'S POV: TWO THUGS, standing over a MAN, kicking him. RAILLY tries to stop, but COLE, intent on the wall messages, doesn't notice the THUGS. The TWO THUGS turn and spot COLE and RAILLY moving toward them. These creeps have mean eyes, predator faces. RAILLY digs her heels in, forcing COLE to stop. RAILLY James! We have to go back. Those men... Too late. While COLE turns and stares at her, uncomprehending, the TWO THUGS are approaching. FIRST THUG Hey, buddy. Startled, COLE turns to face them. The SECOND THUG lunges for RAILLY'S purse, yanks it from her. COLE reaches to grab it back, but...WHACK! The FIRST THUG smacks COLE hard across the face with something metallic. Bloody-faced, dazed, COLE doesn't even have a chance to clear his head as the FIRST THUG shoves the hard object against COLE'S cheek. It's a cheap thirty-eight pistol. RAILLY turns to run, gets two steps before the SECOND THUG knocks her roughly to the ground. SECOND THUG Stick around, bitch. Looming over her, the SECOND THUG starts to unzip his fly. RAILLY looks over to COLE, SEES... COLE dropping to his knees, groveling at the FIRST THUG'S feet. COLE Please! Please don't hurt me! The FIRST THUG steps close, kicks COLE contemptuously, cocks his foot for a second kick when... COLE uncoils, lunging, rising, his strong arms around the bigger man's calves, lifting him mightily, high off the ground. The gun FIRES wildly as COLE staggers forward with the FIRST THUG in his arms and smashes the man into the brick wail behind him. The FIRST THUG goes down in a heap, dropping the pistol. Zipping his fly hastily, the SECOND THUG turns to deal with COLE but COLE attacks him....rocking him again and again with savage blows that come one after another with lightning speed. The SECOND THUG staggers back, bloody and dazed as RAILLY watches, amazed. Turning back to the FIRST THUG, COLE sees the MAN reaching for the dropped pistol. COLE kicks him viciously in the jaw. The FIRST THUG'S head whips back. SNAP! He collapses against the brick wall. COLE turns back to see the SECOND THUG retreating down the alley as fast as he can stagger. RAILLY stares up at COLE. He looks very dangerous. He glances in her direction as he pockets the pistol. COLE Are you hurt? RAILLY Uh, no. Yes. I mean, just some scrapes... As RAILLY gets to her feet, she sees COLE bend over the motionless THUG and quickly go through his pockets. RAILLY Is he...alive? COLE ignores the question as he pockets the man's wallet and a handful of bullets, then turns and snaps at RAILLY. COLE Come an. We're running out of time. You can't help him. As COLE yanks her roughly away, she looks back, sees the FIRST THUG'S sightless eyes, wide open...staring blankly. RAILLY Oh, Jesus, James! You killed him! COLE I did him a favor. Now come on. COLE, pulling her again, sees more "12 MONKEYS" on the wall. RAILLY You didn't have a gun before, did you? COLE I've got one now. EXT. SECOND AVE - DAY The EVANGELIST, spotting COLE and RAILLY hurrying past him, points urgently at COLE. EVANGELIST You! You! You're one of us, aren't you? But COLE has stopped and is staring at... A STOREFRONT OFFICE...its windows covered with posters. The sign over the office says, FREEDOM FOR ANIMALS ASSOCIATION. INT. FAA STORE - MOMENTS LATER (DAY) Earnest young activists, FALE, deathly pale, BEN, long haired, and TEDDY, muscular, are gathered around a counter collating leaflets that demand an END TO SPECIEISM. Behind them, a large poster proclaims, "ANIMALS HAVE SOULS, TOO". Just then, there's a tremendous CLAP OF THUNDER as the ACTIVISTS look up and see COLE and RAILLY enter. COLE looks startled. It sounds like torrential RAIN POURING in here. Maintaining a tight grip on RAILLY'S wrist, he looks around frantically for an explanation for the tropical downpour. Bookshelves line two walls. The front window is blanked cut with posters of Animal Rights demonstrations, newspaper clippings, photos of animal atrocities. The fourth wall features the counter where the three ACTIVISTS face COLE as a JUNGLE BIRD SCREAMS in the DOWNPOUR. FALE Uh, can we help you? COLE looks confused as the RAIN abates and an ELEPHANT trumpets an urgent warning. FALE Excuse me. You looking for something in particular? RAILLY It's all right, James -- it's just a tape. COLE'S eyes follow her look. It's a tape recorder underneath a sign advertising, "THE TRUE MUSIC OF THE WORLD". COLE I, uh, I'm looking for the, ah, the Army of the Twelve Monkeys. FALE glances at BEN and TEDDY. "We have a problem!" the look says. MONKEYS start CHATTERING on the tape as TEDDY comes around the counter, bigger than COLE, physically imposing, menacing. TEDDY We don't know anything about any "Army of the Twelve Monkeys", so why don't you and your friend disappear, okay? COLE backs away, a firm grip on RAILLY, as a LION ROARS. COLE I just need some information... TEDDY Didn't you hear me? We're not... TEDDY breaks off mid-sentence...freezes. COLE is pointing a pistol at them. A TIGER SNARLS. RAILLY James, no -- don't hurt them. (to the activists) Please, I'm a psychiatrist -- just do whatever he tells you to do. He's... upset -- disturbed. Please -- he's dangerous -- just cooperate. MONKEYS CHATTER wildly as TEDDY backs up. FALE What do you want -- money? We only have a few bucks. COLE is suddenly very much in charge and self-confident again. A BABOON HOWLS with laughter. COLE I told you what I want. (snaps at Railly) Lock the door! RAILLY James, why don't we...? COLE Lock it now! RAILLY hurries to the door to lock it as BEN says to FALE, BEN I told you that fuckhead Mason would get us into something like this. FALE Shut up! COLE Mason??? RAILLY Jeffrey Mason? BEN Yeah, tucking, crazy Jeffrey Mason. INT. FAA STORE BASEMENT - TWENTY MINUTES LATER (DAY) The three ACTIVISTS are tied tightly together in the middle of the floor in this dimly-lit, windowless basement. They're very frightened, eager to cooperate. FALE Then, Jeffrey becomes like this...big star -- the media latch on to him because he's picketing his own father, a "famous Nobel Prize winning virologist". You musta seen all that on TV. COLE No, I don't watch TV. COLE, the gun next to him, rummages through boxes of papers while RAILLY watches helplessly. Suddenly, COLE finds something he thinks he's seen before. He holds it up. COLE Is this him -- Dr. Mason? It's a photograph of DR. MALCOLM MASON, being escorted by a phalanx of riot cops through a mob of raging activists. FALE That's him. BEN (very frightened) What are you going to do with us? COLE (stares at the photo, then) Tell me more about Jeffrey. FALE (a helpless shrug to his cohorts) Jeffrey started getting bored with the shit we do...picketing, leafleting, letter-writing stuff. He said we were, "ineffectual liberal jerkoffs". He wanted to do guerrilla "actions" to "educate" the public. COLE holds up a clipping showing horrified SENATORS standing on their desks as RATTLESNAKES slither along the Senate Floor. FALE Yeah, that's when he let a hundred snakes loose in the Senate. TEDDY But we weren't into that kind of stuff. It's counter productive, we told him. FALE So he and eleven others split off and became this underground..."army" COLE The Army of The Twelve Monkeys. BEN They started planning a "Human Hunt". TEDDY They bought stun guns and nets and bear traps. They were gonna go to Wall Street and trap lawyers and bankers... BEN But they didn't do it. They didn't do any of it. TEDDY Yeah, just like always, Mr. Big Shot sold his friends out! COLE What's that mean? FALE He goes on TV, gives a news conference, tells the whole world he just realized his daddy's experiments are vital for humanity and that the use of animals is absolutely necessary and that he, Jeffrey Mason, from now on, is going to personally supervise the labs to make sure all the little animals aren't going to suffer. COLE (holding up a rolodex) What's this? EXT. FREEWAY - AFTERNOON In the crawling traffic, WE FIND a battered FORD covered with bumper stickers and painted slogans. "I BRAKE FOR ANIMALS"... "FREE THE ANIMALS"..."WOULD YOU LET A MINK WEAR YOUR SKIN?" RAILLY (v.o.) You can't just barge in on a famous scientist. They'll have security guards, gates, alarm systems. It's insane, James. INT. MOVING FORD/FREEWAY A ROLODEX CARD with an address on "Outerbridge Road" for "Jeffrey Mason c/o Dr. Malcolm Mason" rests on a map spread across COLE'S lap. COLE is in the passenger seat, RAILLY'S at the wheel, maneuvering in heavy traffic. RAILLY If those young men don't get loose, they could die in that basement. COLE glances out the window, indicates the PEOPLE in passing cars...COMMUTERS, FAMILIES, TRUCKERS. COLE All I see are dead people. Everywhere. What's three more? RAILLY (a beat, carefully, a new tack) You know Dr. Mason's son, Jeffrey Mason, don't you, James? You met him in the County Hospital six years ago. COLE is studying the map again. COLE The guy was a total fruitcake. RAILLY And he told you then his father was a famous virologist. COLE is absorbed in the map, his finger tracing "Outerbridge Road". COLE No -- he said his father was "God"! EXT./INT. FORD/COUNTRY HIGHWAY - LATER (DAY) The RADIO BLARES a country song as the Ford zips along an open highway. COLE has his head out the window, sucking air, loving the music, but his bliss is feverish now -- he's not well. As the SONG ends, he pulls his head inside. An ANNOUNCER'S VOICE intones over the RADIO... RADIO ANNOUNCER (o.s.) This just in: police are widening their search for Dr. Kathryn Railly, prominent psychiatrist and author. Authorities confirm that Dr. Railly has been abducted by escaped mental patient, James Cole. The two are believed to be traveling in Railly's 1992 black Acura, license plate H-E-A-D-D-R. RAILLY glances at him, sees he's in pain. She feels so badly for him. She wants to help him. She says, tenderly... RAILLY This can't go on, James. You're not well. You're burning with fever. COLE, refusing to succumb, instead, leans over to check the gas gauge. COLE We need gas. RAILLY I thought you didn't know how to drive. COLE I said I was too young to drive. I didn't say I was stupid. RAILLY What's the matter with your leg? COLE I got shot. Look -- there's a gas station up ahead. RAILLY Shot! Who shot you? COLE It was some kind of...war. Never mind, you wouldn't believe me. Turn off here. INT. PARKED FORD/GAS STATION - MINUTES LATER (AFTERNOON) The GAS STATION ATTENDANT checks the oil while COLE and RAILLY remain in the car. She's pulling a gas card from her wallet. COLE You were going to run out off gas on purpose, weren't you? RAILLY No. I want you to turn yourself in, James -- It'll go much better for you if you do -- but I'm not going to trick you. COLE (sees the credit card) That has your name on it. Give him cash. RAILLY puts the card back into her wallet and pulls out cash as the GAS STATION ATTENDANT slams the hood down. RAILLY starts opening the door. Alarmed, COLE tries to stop her. COLE Where are you going? She looks him in the eye, then indicates the tiny Convenience Store appended to the Gas Station. RAILLY You can come with me. I have to get some things. Scissors, bandages, some alcohol or whiskey. ... I have to look at your leg, James. I'm a doctor. COLE looks helpless, hesitant. She's in charge...for the moment. EXT. CLEARING/WOODS - AN HOUR LATER (AFTERNOON) The sun dazzles through the canopy of leaves. We HEAR the CAR RADIO but not the engine. RADIO ANNOUNCER (v.o.) Meanwhile in Fresno, where mining engineers continue their desperate attempt to sink a shaft parallel to the ant in which nine year old... COLE, in his underwear, leans back on a large rock beside the Ford, his pants hanging on the car's open door. He's staring up at the sun and the sky. RAILLY finishes bandaging his thigh. RAILLY You shouldn't put your weight on it. You need stitches and antibiotics. Lucky for you it was near the surface. RAILLY wraps the bullet in some gauze and sticks it in her pocket while COLE continues staring up at the sky. COLE I love seeing the sun. A beat. COLE tries to stand up. RAILLY Wait -- let me help you. RAILLY puts an arm around him and helps him to his feet. A beat. They're very close. They don't move. RAILLY looks like she can barely breathe. COLE (leans closer, shuts his eyes) You smell so good. RAILLY (trying to concentrate) You have to give yourself up, you know. A beat. The spell is broken. He reaches for his pants, then turns back to her, suddenly grim. COLE I have to do something now. Something I don't want to do. I'm so sorry. RAILLY reacts, sudden fear in her eyes. He looms over her. He's cold now, steeled. COLE I have a mission. It's important. RAILLY steps back...horrified, realizing she's going to die. EXT. MASON MANSION - NIGHT A SECRET SERVICE AGENT ambles vigilantly among the rows of luxury cars parked beside the brightly-lit rural mansion. Encountering another AGENT, he pauses. FIRST AGENT They find him? SECOND AGENT Who?? FIRST AGENT That kid. The one in the pipe. SECOND AGENT You believe this? They're dropping a monkey down there with a miniature infra-red camera strapped on him and a roast beef sandwich wrapped in tinfoil. FIRST AGENT You're making that up! ANGLE UNDER A PARKED MERCEDES, where COLE is hiding, listening to the receding VOICES of the AGENTS. SECOND AGENT (o.s.) I shit you not. ... Man, life is weird! A monkey and a sandwich. Wonder who thought that one up. FIRST AGENT (o.s.) Probly give the sonafabitch a Nobel Prize! Quickly, COLE rolls to the next car and under it. He doesn't see...the pistol fell out of his pocket, under the Mercedes. INT. MASON MANSION/DINING ROOM - NIGHT A formal dinner for forty. Desert has been served. DR. MALCOLM MASON rises to the enthusiastic applause of the GUESTS. DR. MASON Would that I could enjoy this opulent dinner and this excellent and stimulating company for itself, with no sense of purpose. But alas, I am "burdened" with the sense that with all this excess of public attention and this cacophony of praise, there comes great responsibility. Indeed, I practically feel a soapbox growing under my feet whenever I stand for more than a few seconds. While GUESTS laugh at DR. MASON'S last remark, SECRET SERVICE AGENT #3 enters the room, scowling, looking for someone. DR. MASON (o.s.) The dangers of science are a time worn threat, from Prometheus stealing fire from the Gods to the Cold War era of the Dr. Strangelove Terror. AGENT #3 spots who he's looking for. JEFFREY MASON! DR. MASON (cont.) But never before, not even at Los Alamos when the scientists made bets on whether their first atomic bomb test would wipe out New Mexico, has science given us so much reason to fear the power we have at hand. ANGLE ON JEFFREY, as AGENT #3 whispers in his ear. JEFFREY What are you talking about? What friend? I'm not expecting anyone. ANGLE ON DR. MASON, reacting with irritation to the disturbance. DR. MASON Current genetic engineering as well as my own work with viruses has presented us with powers as terrifying as any... ANGLE ON JEFFREY, following the AGENT out of the dining room, grumbling loudly enough to disturb his father's audience. JEFFREY This is ridiculous. My father is making a major address. INT. HALLWAY/MASON MANSION The conversation continues as JEFFREY and AGENT #3 enter the hall. AGENT #3 Normally if we caught a guy sneaking around like this with no I.D., we'd bust his ass, excuse the French, but this one said he knows you... (smirk, smirk) -- and, since you seem to have had some...uh...unusual...uh..."associates", we certainly didn't want to arrest one of your, uh, closest...pals. INT. LIBRARY/MASON MANSION COLE, smudged with dirt and car grease, sitting in the shadows in a wingback chair, looks up as JEFFREY and AGENT #3 enter the room. A FOURTH AGENT looms beside the wingback chair. JEFFREY (dismissing Cole casually) Never saw him before in my life. Go ahead and shoot him or torture him or whatever it is you do. COLE (rising) You do know me. You helped me once. JEFFREY (turning to leave) That would be totally out of character. Helping people is against my principles. (to the Agents) See, he definitely doesn't know me. Now, I'm going to go back and listen to my father's very eloquent discourse on the perils of science WHILE YOU TORTURE THIS INTRUDER TO DEATH. COLE I'm here about some monkeys. Halfway out the door, JEFFREY freezes. A beat. JEFFREY Excuse me -- what did you say? COLE Monkeys. Twelve of them. JEFFREY frowns, turns, considers COLE. Then, suddenly, JEFFREY rushes to COLE and embraces him. JEFFREY Arnold...Arnold. COLE is astonished. The AGENTS are, too. JEFFREY (stepping back) My God, Arnie, what's happened to you? You look like shit AGENT #3 (dubious) You know this man? JEFFREY Of course I know him. What do you think -- I act like this to strangers? Listen -- you fellas are terrific. I thought you were pulling a number on me. What a terrible thing if you'd thrown old Arnie out. I owe you guys the big apologia! Mea culpa, fellas. (turning to Cole) Christ, Arnie, it's black tie! I mean, I said, "drop by," but, like, this is Dad's big "do"...vips, senators, secret service, and...and everything. JEFFREY throws an arm around COLE'S shoulder and starts leading him toward the door as the two AGENTS exchange narrow-eyed looks. AGENT #4 "Arnie?" JEFFREY Arnold Pettibone. Old Arnie Pettibone. Used to be my best friend. Still is. What've you lost, Arnie -- forty pounds? No wonder I didn't know you. You hungry? Lots of dead cow, dead lamb, dead pig. Real killer feast we're putting on tonight. The AGENTS watch JEFFREY lead the limping, disheveled COLE out. AGENT #4 These people -- all of 'em -- are true weirdoes! AGENT #3 (moving to the phone) I'm gonna call in a description of this "Pettibone" character. You go keep an eye on him. Make sure he doesn't do one of the guests with a fork. INT. HALLWAY/MASON MANSION GUESTS pouring from the dining room into the hall meet JEFFREY and a very disconcerted COLE. JEFFREY Hey, nice ta see ya. Lookin' good! Hi, there. Yes, it has been a long time. In the b.g., too far away to hear them, AGENT #4 trails JEFFREY and COLE as they maneuver through the GUESTS toward the grand staircase. JEFFREY (whispers to Cole) County Hospital, right? 1989. The "Immaculate Escape" -- am I right? (smiling to guests) Why, thank you -- you look wonderful, too. COLE Listen to me -- I can't do anything about what you're going to do. I can't change anything. I can't stop you. I just want some information... JEFFREY We need to talk. Come on. Upstairs. (to a guest) I am a new person! I'm completely adjusted. Witness the tux. It's Armani. (whispers to Cole) Who chattered? Goines? Weller? COLE I just need to have access to the pure virus, that's all! For the future! JEFFREY studies COLE. COLE doesn't just talk crazy. He looks crazy! JEFFREY Come on, follow me. You don't lock so good. JEFFREY starts guiding COLE up the grand staircase as COLE, glancing back, spots AGENT #3 and AGENT #4, both keeping an eye on him now. COLE I don't have time to go upstairs. The police are looking for me. I need to know where it is and exactly what it is. JEFFREY (brightening suddenly) I get it! This is your old plan, right? COLE Plan? What are you talking about? JEFFREY Remember? We were in the dayroom, watching TV, and you were all upset about the...desecration of the planet. And you said to me, "Wouldn't it be great if there was a germ or a virus that could wipe out mankind and leave the plants and animals just as they are?" You do remember that, don't you? COLE Bulishit! You're fucking with my head! JEFFREY And that's when I told you my father was this famous virologist and you said, "Hey, he could make a germ and we could steal it!" COLE (grabbing Jeffrey) Listen, you dumb fuck! The thing mutates We live underground! The world belongs to the fucking dogs and cats. We're like moles or worms. All we want to do is study the original... AGENT #4'S VOICE Okay -- take it easy. We know who you are, Mr. Cole. COLE feels a firm grip on his shoulder, turns and sees AGERT #4 AGENT #4 Let's go somewhere and talk this thing over. Okay? Just come with me... JEFFREY You're right! Absolutely right. Me's a nut case, totally deranged. Delusional! Paranoid. HIS PROCESSOR'S ALL FUCKED UP, HIS INFORMATION TRAY IS JAMMED. AGENT #4 is wishing JEFFREY would chill out even as the THIRD AGENT is climbing up the staircase to help. COLE is like a trapped animal. He's being led down the staircase now with JEFFREY, right on his heels, yelling so EVERYONE can hear. JEFFREY YOU KNOW WHAT IT IS, THE "ARMY OF THE TWELVE MONKEYS"? IT'S A COLLECTION OF NATURE KOOKS WHO RUN A STORE DOWNTOWN. SPACE-CASE DO-GOODERS SAVING RAIN FORESTS. I HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH THOSE BOZOS ANYMORE. I QUIT BEING THE RICH KID FALL GUY FOR A BUNCH OF INEFFECTUAL BANANAS. SO MUCH FOR YOUR GRAND PLOT! COLE stares back at JEFFREY as both AGENTS hustle COLE down the stairs. It sounds true! JEFFREY'S so confident. AGENT #3 Take it easy, Mr. Mason, we've got him. Everything's... JEFFREY MY FATHER HAS BEEN WARNING PEOPLE ABOUT THE DANGERS OF EXPERIMENTATION WITH VIRUSES AND DNA FOR YEARS. YOU'VE "PROCESSED" THAT INFORMATION THROUGH YOUR ADDLED PARANOID INFRA-STRUCTURE AND LO AND BEHOLD, I'M FRANKENSTEIN AND THE "ARMY OF THE TWELVE MONKEYS" BECOMES SOME SORT OF SINISTER REVOLUTIONARY CABAL. THIS MAN IS TOTALLY BATSHIT! YOU KNOW WHERE HE THINKS HE COMES FROM??? Suddenly, COLE, catching the AGENTS by surprise, wrenches free, shoves them aside, and stumbles down the rest of the staircase. INT. FOYER/MASON MANSION COLE heads for the front door, but there's an AGENT there! COLE turns and limps madly toward the dining room, pushing his way through the crowd of amazed GUESTS. INT. DINING ROOM/MASON MANSION SERVANTS, clearing the table, look up astonished as two AGENTS burst into the room. AGENT #4 Did a man just come through here...limping? INT. KITCHEN/MASON MANSION COOKS stare, amazed, as two OTHER AGENTS burst into the kitchen and look about urgently. INT. DEN/MASON MANSION A large projection TV is on and a knot of GUESTS is gathered in front of it...watching the spooky VIDEO IMAGES. TV REPORTER (v.o.) These pictures we are seeing are coming to us live from deep inside the pipe. You can just make out the metal wall behind those roots and I guess those must be spider webs. MRS. McCANN, a guest, watching the TV, expresses concern... MRS. McCANN Well, if you ask me, I think that monkey is going to eat the sandwich himself. Just then, two AGENTS burst into the den. The GUESTS turn from the TV, startled, stare open-mouthed, but the AGENTS have spotted an open window and are hurrying to it. AGENTS POV OUT THE WINDOW: the rows of expensive parked CARS. ON THE TV SCREEN, RAILLY'S photograph appears. TV ANCHOR (v.o.) This just in: Police say that the body of a woman found strangled in the Knutson state Park could be kidnap victim, Dr. Kathryn Railly. As the AGENTS run out of the room, a photo of RAILLY'S abandoned Acura comes up on the TV screen. TV ANCHOR (v.o.) Earlier in the day, police located Railly's abandoned car not far from a building where three animal rights activists were found bound and gagged... EXT. MASON MANSION - MINUTES LATER (NIGHT) Pistols drawn, AGENTS move cautiously among the rows of parked luxury cars, checking inside and under the vehicles. AN AGENT'S VOICE (o.s.) COME ON OUT, MR COLE -- WE'RE NOT GOING TO HURT YOU. INT. PARKED GREEN JAGUAR COLE, scrunched down on the floor next to the driver's seat, spots the key dangling from the ignition, then lifts his head slightly to study the shift mechanism, trying to figure it out. EXT. PARKED CARS/MASON MANSION AGENTS continue to move cautiously among the parked cars. INT. PARKED GREEN JAGUAR COLE eases himself into the driver's seat, tentatively slides the shift into "Drive", then turns the key. Nothing happens. Panic. COLE studies the shift again. EXT. PARKED CARS/MANSION AGENT #5 approaches the row where the Jaguar is parked. INT. PARKED GREEN JAGUAR COLE slides the shift from D (Drive) to N (Neutral). He twists the key again. The engine ROARS...SEVEN THOUSAND RPM! EXT. LAWN/MANSION AGENT #5 whirls at the sound. SMASH. The JAGUAR clips the Mercedes parked in front of it and accelerates right at him! AGENT #5 dives aside just as the speeding JAGUAR whizzes past him, slams into a parked Cadillac, bounces off, grinds between two other parked vehicles with a fierce scream of tearing metal. INT. MOVING JAGUAR Caught between two cars, COLE can only lean on the gas pedal. The JAGUAR comes free with a great SCCCREEEEECH... COLE sees the driveway ahead in the moonlight. Steering madly, he plows through shrubs and gardens heading for the driveway. EXT. MASON MANSION - NIGHT Lights off, veering wildly, the JAGUAR reaches the driveway. AGENTS are leaping into cars and a HELICOPTER is coming to life, its rotors whipping around. INT. SPEEDING JAGUAR/OUTERHRIDGE ?OAD - NIGHT COLE turns onto the road, careening crazily from one side to the other, unable to see ahead with no headlights. COLE LIGHTS! LIGHTS! He starts hitting switches. The wipers come on, the RADIO BLARES. RADIO REPORTER'S VOICE/RADIO (o.s.) ---when they pulled the monkey out, it was still clutching the tinfoil wrapped sandwich. Rounding a bend, an ONCOMING CAR heads straight at COLE. COLE yanks the wheel as the OTHER CAR, horn BLARING, just misses him. Recovering, COLE loses the road, speeds crazily along the shoulder. INT. FLYING HELICOPTER - NIGHT The PILOT, an agent, steers the chopper while the CO-PILOT pans a spotlight over the two lane road beneath them. Just then, the PILOT sees headlights below. PILOT There! He's showing lights. INT. SPEEDING JAGUAR - NIGHT COLE can see the road now in his headlights as the windshield wipers scrape frantically and the RADIO BLARES... RADIO REPORTER'S VOICE/RADIO (o.s.) We don't know what to think. They didn't locate him and they don't know how much longer he can last, that's assuming the boy is still alive. A spotlight hits the car and COLE hears the sound of the HELICOPTER as it lowers over him! EXT. OUTERBRIDGE ROAD The HELICOPTER maneuvers over the speeding JAGUAR. INT. SPEEDING JAGUAR COLE can see the underbelly of the HELICOPTER a few feet above his front windshield. Desperate, he yanks the wheel hard, veering off the road. COLE'S POV THROUGH THE WINDSHIELD: dense woods ahead. EXT. HELICOPTER/WOODS The chopper pulls up sharply, avoiding the trees, then levels out. INT. HELICOPTER The PILOT skims the top of the trees while the CO-PILOT rakes the forest below with his spotlight. PILOT Goddamnit! Where is he? The CO-PILOT gets a brief glimpse of headlights through the leaves. CO-PILOT There! Over there. PILOT Where? CO-PILOT Eight o'clock! He was right there. The headlights are gone. Nothing but darkness below. PILOT He musta turned his lights of if. CO-PILOT Couldn't drive down there without lights. We just can't see 'em. PILOT Maybe he's not driving! EXT. WOODS - LATER (NIGHT) A weather forecast BLARES from the radio of the steaming Jaguar, crumpled into a tree, the driver's door open. A POLICE OFFICER, pistol drawn, approaches the car cautiously, as OTHER OFFICERS and AGENTS stay behind trees, weapons ready. The POLICE OFFICER lunges forward, pointing his weapon into the Jaguar. He inspects the car, then turns and calls out... POLICE OFFICER He's not in here. EXT. WOODS/CLEARING - NIGHT Limping, bleeding from various cuts, COLE CRASHES through underbrush as he follows a stream through the woods. Suddenly, he sees what he's looking for. The FORD...barely visible in the moonlight, parked in the trees beside the stream. The car looks empty. INT. TRUNK/FORD Total blackness! The sound of keys in the lock. Then, the trunk swings open and COLE stands in the moonlight, looking down RAILLY is in the trunk, tears of rage and frustration in her eyes. RAILLY You bastard! You total bastard! EXT. FORD COLE backs away, as RAILLY scrambles out of the trunk, swinging. He slips, falls, and she starts kicking him as she rants hysterically. RAILLY I could have died in there. If something had happened to you I would have died. COLE is lying on the ground, looking up, his lip caked with blood. COLE I...I...I'm really sorry. Noticing his cuts and torn clothes, she stops kicking him. RAILLY What have you done? Did you...kill someone? COLE (getting to his feet) No! I...don't think so. I stole a car and they chased me. I hit a tree. RAILLY See -- you can drive after all! COLE Yeah, sort of, I guess. I...I'm sorry I locked you up. I thought...I thought... I think maybe I am crazy! She looks at him. Breakthrough? Very calm now, the doctor. RAILLY What made you think that? COLE Jeffrey Mason said it was my idea about the virus. And suddenly, I wasn't sure. We talked when I was in the institution, and it was all...fuzzy. The drugs and stuff. (horrified) You think maybe I'm the one who wiped out the human race? It was my idea? RAILLY Nobody is going to wipe out the human race. Not you or Jeffrey or anybody else. You've created something in your mind, James -- a substitute reality. In order to avoid something you don't want to face. COLE I'm..."mentally divergent". I would love to believe that. RAILLY It can be dealt with, but only if you want to. I can help you. COLE reacts to the sound of VOICES in the woods, dogs BARKING. COLE I need help all right. They're coming after me. RAILLY First, it's important that you surrender to them instead of them catching you running. Okay? COLE (brightening) It would be great if I'm crazy. If I'm wrong about everything...the world will be okay. I'll never have to live underground. RAILLY Give me the gun. COLE The gun! ... I lost it RAILLY You're sure? COLE (showing her) No gun! (looking up) Stars! Air! I can live here. Breathe! RAILLY starts around to the front of the car. RAILLY I'm going to attract their attention, let them know where we are, okay? RAILLY gets in the driver's seat...and starts to HONK the horn. RAILLY (calling out) They'll tell you to put your hands on top of your head. Do what they tell you. You're going to get better, James -- I know it! ANGLE ON COLE, spotting something on the ground. An insect! He reaches down to grab it, but, instead, grins, grabs some grass, stands, and starts rubbing it happily all over his face. The HORN BLARES as COLE looks up at the sky. ANGLE ON THE NIGHT SKY, the moon full, the sky rich with stars. ANGLE ON COLE, tears of joy running down his face. COLE I love this world! ANGLE ON RAILLY, in the driver's seat, hearing near-by SHOUTS from the woods. The police are almost here. She gets out of the car, starts around toward COLE. RAILLY Remember, I'm going to help you. I'll stay with you. I won't let them... She breaks off mid-sentence...stares, stunned! COLE is gone. Disappeared. INT. POLICE STATION OFFICE - MORNING RAILLY is being "debriefed" by POLICE OFFICERS and FBI AGENTS. RAILLY Then I said something to him about cooperating and he said he would do that, so I got in the car and started honking the horn. When I got out, he was gone. LIEUTENANT HALPERIN You lucked out. For a while we thought you were a body they found down state... mutilated. A COP enters, hands a photo to LIEUTENANT HALPERIN who studies it. RAILLY He wouldn't do something like that -- he... LIEUTENANT RALPERIN (interrupts, hands her the photo) This the man he attacked? RAILLY looks at the photo, an 8 x 10 of the FIRST THUG, slumped against the alley wall, obviously dead. RAILLY I'd like to be clear about this. That man and the other one were..."severely" beating us. James Cole didn't start it. In fact -- he saved me! LIEUTENANT RALPERIN Funny thing, Doctor, maybe you can explain it to me, you being a psychiatrist -- why do kidnap victims almost always try to tell us about the guys who grabbed 'em and try to make us understand how kind these bastards really were? RAILLY (as if reciting) It's a normal reaction to a life- threatening situation. (suddenly animated) He's sick. He thinks he comes from the future. He's been living in a carefully constructed fantasy world and that world is starting to disintegrate. He needs help! INT. AIRPORT CONCOURSE/THE DREAM YOUNG COLE stares, eyes wide. He sees the BRUNETTE, cradling the head of the BLONDE MAN as he sprawls on the concourse... ASTROPHYSICIST'S VOICE (O.S.) Wake up! Wake up! GEOLOGIST'S VOICE (O.S.) I think we gave him too much. MICROBIOLOGIST'S VOICE (O.S.) WAKE UP, PRISONER! INT. SCIENTISTS' CHAMBER - ETERNAL NIGHT COLE blinks awake. All he can see are blurry faces hovering over him, hammering him with questions. ASTROPHYSICIST Come on, Cole, cooperate! GEOLOGIST Spit it out... you went to the home of a famous virologist... COLE (weakly) You...don't...exist! You're in my mind... SCIENTISTS (IN RAPID SUCCESSION) What? What's that? What did he say? His brain's fried. Give him another shot! SPEAK UP, COLE. WHAT DID YOU DO NEXT? INT. RAILLY'S APARTMENT - EVENING The TV shows film of RAILLY leaving the police station. TV REPORTER (v.o.) The kidnap victim seemed exhausted but apparently unharmed by her 30 hour ordeal as she left the police station in Philadelphia this morning. So far she has refused to make a public statement. RAILLY'S friends, MARILOU and WAYNE, are watching the TV. A door opens and KATHRYN RAILLY, wearing a robe, comes out of her bedroom. She still looks exhausted Followed by her cat, she enters the kitchen area and turns on the kettle as WAYNE hastily turns down the TV. WAYNE Sorry. RAILLY No -- I'm in a state of hyper- alertness. I can't sleep. MARILOU Did you take the sedative? RAILLY I hate those things. They mess my head up. The old mug shot of COLE appears on the screen and RAILLY remotes the volume up. TV REPORTER (v.o.) Along with the kidnapping of the Baltimore woman, James Cole is now also wanted in connection with the brutal slaying of Rodney Wiggins, an ex-convict from... RAILLY goes to the window, pushes aside the drape, and sees... HER POV: ACROSS THE STREET...A COP keeps watch. RAILLY (o.s.) Do they really expect him to come here? RAILLY returns to the kitchen area where MARILOU is getting the tea things out. TV REPORTER on air And in Fresno, California... RAILLY (glances sadly toward the TV) He's dead, isn't he -- that little boy? WAYNE He's fine. It was just a "prank" he and his friends pulled. CLOSE ON RAILLY'S FACE... SHOCKED. ANGLE ON THE TV SCREEN, showing footage of a sheepish nine year old boy being led out of a barn by the police. The cops look grim. TV REPORTER (v.o.) Authorities have so far been noncommittal about whether they will try to file charges against the families of the children involved in the hoax. RAILLY stares at the TV, stunned. INT. "HOSPITAL" ROOM - ETERNAL NIGHT VOICES! SINGING! COLE blinks awake, looks around, confused, then stares in disbelief.... Crowded around COLE'S bed, the SCIENTISTS are concluding a ragged, out of tune, rendition of "BLUEBERRY HILL." SCIENTISTS ---found my thrills on Blueberry Hill... Seeing he's awake, SCIENTISTS break off the song and applaud. SCIENTISTS Well done, James! Well done! Nice going! Congratulations! Good for you! BOTANIST During your "interview," while you were..."under the influence," you told us you liked music! COLE, confused, looks around, sees he's in a one-bed windowless room adorned with cheap reproductions of 19th and 20th century landscapes. The BOTANIST responds to COLE'S obvious disbelief with a friendly smile and the others join in rapid fire, overlapping. ZOOLOGIST This isn't the prison, James. BOTANIST This is a hospital. ASTROPHYSICIST But just until you recover your, uh,... equilibrium. ENGINEER You're still a little... disoriented. GEOLOGIST Stress! Time travel! ASTROPHYSICIST You stood up very well, considering... GEOLOGIST Superior work! Superior! BOTANIST You connected the Army of the 12 Monkeys to a world famous virologist and his son... MICROBIOLOGIST Others will take over now... ZOOLOGIST We'll be back on the surface in a matter of months.... GEOLOGIST We'll retake the planet. ASTROPHYSICIST We're very close! Because of you! ENGINEER (unrolling a document) This is it, James...what you've been working for. BOTANIST A full pardon! MICROBIOLOGIST You'll be out of here in no time. ASTROPHYSICIST Women will want to get to know you... COLE I DON'T WANT YOUR "WOMEN," YOU BRAINLESS TWIT! I WANT TO BE WELL! Unseen until now, two guards, TINY and SCARFACE, suddenly break through the ring of SCIENTISTS, push COLE down, and tighten the loose restraints, already in place, but unnoticed before. ASTROPHYSICIST (sympathetically) Of course you want to be well, James. And you will be...soon. COLE bursts into hysterical laughter. COLE YOU DON'T EXIST, YOU SILLY BOZOS! YOU'RE NOT REAL! HA HA HA! PEOPLE DON'T TRAVEL IN TIME! YOU AREN'T HERE. MADE YOU UP! YOU CAN'T TRICK ME! YOU'RE IN MY MIND! I'M INSANE AND YOU'RE MY INSANITY! INT. PSYCHIATRIST'S OFFICE - DAY CLOSE ON KATHRYN RAILLY, insisting fiercely to someone, RAILLY He not only used the word "prank" -- he said the boy was hiding in a barn. RAILLY's talking to her former boss, DR. OWEN FLETCHER, psychiatrist sitting across from her in his office, tapping his pen. DR. FLETCHER He kidnapped you, Kathryn. You saw him murder someone. You knew there was a real possibility he would kill you, too. You were under tremendous emotional stress. RAILLY For God sakes, Owen, listen to me -- he knew about the boy in Fresno and he says three billion people are going to die! DR. FLETCHER Kathryn, you know he can't possibly know that. You're a rational person. You're a trained psychiatrist. You know the difference between what's real and what's not. RAILLY And what we believe is what's accepted as "truth" now, isn't it, Owen? Psychiatry -- it's the latest religion. And we're the priests -- we decide what's right and what's wrong --we decide who's crazy and who isn't. ... I'm in trouble, Owen. I'm losing my faith. INT. "HOSPITAL" CELL - ETERNAL NIGHT Alone in his "hospital" room, COLE struggles without success to free himself from his restraints. RASPY VOICE (o.s.) You sure fucked up, Bob! Startled, COLE freezes, then ignores the RASPY VOICE and continues his feverish struggle. RASPY VOICE (o.s.) But I can understand you don't want your mistakes pointed out to you. I can relate to that, old Bob. COLE looks around in spite of himself. Nothing to see but the walls and the landscape paintings. RASPY VOICE (o.s.) Hey, I know what you're thinking. You're thinking I don't exist except in your head. I can see that point of view. But you could still talk to me, couldn't you? Carry on a decent conversation? COLE (blurting) I saw you! In 1995! In the real world! You were a bum! You pulled out your teeth. RASPY VOICE (o.s.) Why would I pull out my teeth, Bob? They don't like that. That's a no-no. And when did you say you saw me? In...1872? COLE FUCK YOU! RASPY VOICE (o.s.) Yelling won't get you what you want. You have to be smart to get what you want. COLE Oh, yeah? What do I want? RASPY VOICE (o.s.) You don't know what you want? Sure you do, Bob. You know what you want. COLE, agitated, rocks back and forth. Then... COLE Tell me. Tell me what I want. RASPY VOICE (o.s.) To see the sky -- and the ocean -- to be topside -- breathe the air -- to be with her. ... Isn't that right? Isn't that what you want? Completely shaken, COLE hesitates for a long moment. When he speaks, it comes out of him like air...a whisper. COLE More...than...anything. INT. RAILLY'S BEDROOM - MORNING RAILLY'S in bed, asleep, having a very bad dream. Suddenly, the bedside phone RINGS. Her eyes snap open. A beat to orient herself. RING. She reaches for the phone. INTERCUT LIEUTENANT HALPERIN'S OFFICE/RAILLY'S BEDROOM CLOSE ON HALPERIN, at his desk, talking into the phone. LIEUTENANT HALPERIN Dr. Railly? Jim Halperin, Philly P.D.. Sorry to call so early but... CLOSE ON RAILLY, eager, concerned. into the phone, RAILLY You found him? Is he all right? CLOSE ON HALPEPIN, noting her reaction with raised eyebrows giving an "I told you so" look to the BLACK PLAINCLOTHES cop across his desk, then continuing into the phone, LIEUTENANT HALPERIN Au contraire, Doctor. No sign of your good friend, the kidnapper. However, the plot thickens. I have a ballistic report on my desk that says the bullet you claim you removed from Mr. Cole's thigh is an antique...and all indications are it was fired...sometime prior to 1920. ANGLE ON RAILLY, reacting, stunned. ANGLE ON HALPERIN, continuing soberly now, LIEUTENANT RALPERIN So what I was thinking was, maybe if I sent a detective down there to talk with you, you could maybe revise or amplify on the circumstances.... Hello? Hello? Dr. Railly? HALPERIN considers the dead phone, glances at the COP again. INT. RAILLY'S BEDROOM/STUDY Her hand still on the receiver, RAILLY looks shocked. Then, she hurries into her study and starts frantically pulling neatly arranged piles of papers and books from a bookcase until she finds a copy of her book. She leafs through it hurriedly, locates the picture of the Puerto Rican KID (JOSE) in WWI. Peering closely, she tries to see everything in the picture. Then, she turns and reaches for a research folder of old photographs and rummages through it until she finds...!!! RAILLY No! It's an uncropped shot of JOSE being carried on the stretcher in the trenches. And there in the corner with no helmet, no gas mask, and just a bit of bare shoulder showing...it's COLE!!! INT. SCIENTISTS' CHAMBER - ETERNAL NIGHT Clean shaven, clear eyed, COLE sits before the frowning SCIENTISTS. ASTROPHYSICIST The food, the sky, the certain, uh, sexual temptations -- you haven't become "addicted" have you, Cole? To that "dying" world' COLE No, sir! I just want to do my part. To get us back on top...in charge of the planet. And I have the experience, I know who the people are... BIOLOGIST He really is the most qualified... GEOLOGIST But all that..."behavior"... ASTROPHYSICIST (to Cole, a little hurt) You said we weren't "real," Cole... COLE Well, sir, I don't think the human mind was built to exist in two different... whatever you call it..."dimensions." It's stressful, you said it yourselves, it gets you confused. You don't know what's real and what's not. MICROBIOLOGIST But you know what's real now? COLE Yes, sir. The SCIENTISTS start to confer openly among themselves GEOLOGIST He'd have to bone up, catch up to our research, the latest clues... ZOOLOGIST He's proved to be a quick study... The ASTROPHYSICIST fixes COLE with a sharp, penetrating look. ASTROPHYSICIST You can't trick us, you know. It wouldn't work. BIOLOGIST And why would you want to? It'll be dangerously close to the end. COLE I understand. There'd be no point. ASTROPHYSICIST We're going to think about it, Cole. Among ourselves. We'll get back to you. INT. DR. MASON'S OFFICE - DAY Standing in front of a wall of glass in his office, overlooking a hi-tech lab below where WORKERS in white "space suits" work methodically, DR. MASON speaks angrily into a phone. His male ASSISTANT, whose features we don't see, stops writing a formula on a blackboard and listens. DR. MASON You have reason to believe that my son may be planning to do what?!!! INT. RAILLY'S APARTMENT/STUDY RAILLY, trying to stay calm, is talking to Dr. Mason on the phone. RAILLY Please, I know it sounds insane but... INT. DR. MASON'S OFFICE Dr. Mason on the phone. DR. MASON (into the phone) I'm afraid this doesn't seem very professional to me, in fact it's distressingly unprofessional for some- one who treated my son briefly (if indeed you actually are who you say you are) to take a sudden unsolicited interest in his mental health six years later, and to telephone a parent to express opinions that would be inappropriate... (breaks off, listens, then) I don't know anything about "Monkey armies", Doctor. Nothing whatsoever. If my son ever was involved in... (listens, then,) It would be doubly inappropriate to discuss matters of security with you, Dr. Railly, but if it will put you at ease, neither my son nor any other unauthorized person has access to any potentially dangerous organisms in this laboratory. Thank you for your concern. DR. MASON hangs up angrily and glares. DR. MASON'S ASSISTANT (o.s.) Dr. "Kathryn" Railly???? DR. MASON The psychiatrist who was kidnapped by that man who broke into my house. She seems to have been suddenly struck by the most preposterous notion about Jeffrey. DR. MASON'S ASSISTANT (o.s.) I attended a lecture once...Apocalyptic visions. We see Dr. Mason's ASSISTANT now. It's DR. PETERS, the red- haired man who insisted to Dr. Railly you didn't have to be insane to think the world was coming to an end. DR. PETERS (cont.) Has she succumbed to her own theoretical..."disease"? But DR. MASON is lost in thought, not listening. DR. MASON Given the nature of our work, we can't ever be careful enough. I think we should review our security procedures, perhaps upgrade them. INT. SCIENTISTS' CHAMBER - ETERNAL NIGHT COLE is facing the BOTANIST who's using a pointer to indicate various fading photos and newspaper clippings tacked on the wall. BOTANIST Let's consider again our current information -- if the symptoms were first detected in Philadelphia on June 28, 1995, that makes us know that...? COLE It was released in Philadelphia, probably on June 14, 1995. BOTANIST And it appeared sequentially after that in...? With a quick glance at the panel of SCIENTISTS staring at him from behind the long table, COLE replies like a good pupil, COLE San Francisco, New Orleans, Rio de Janeiro, Rome, Kinshasa, Karachi, Bangkok, then Peking. BOTANIST Meaning...??? COLE That the virus was taken from Philadelphia to San Francisco, then to New Orleans, Rio de Janeiro, Rome, Kinshasa, Karachi, Bangkok, then Peking. BOTANIST And your only goal is...??? COLE To find out where the virus is so a qualified scientist can travel back into the past and study the original virus. BOTANIST So that...??? COLE Uh, so that a vaccine can be developed that will, uh, allow mankind to reclaim the surface of the earth. COLE glances nervously at the suspicious SCIENTISTS as the BOTANIST switches on a slide projector and projects... a magazine photo of wall graffiti: "ATTENTION!!! POLICE ARE WATCHING! IS THERE A VIRUS? IS THIS THE SOURCE? 3 BILLION DIE?" BOTANIST (o.s.) This is from a magazine printed in late September, 1995. The writer speculated that this graffiti might be related to the epidemic that by that time had already killed thirty million people world-wide and was getting worse. He says, certain people, unnamed, were questioned, but what came of that is not known. But it is a clue you should pursue. COLE stares at the picture. EXT. FAA STOREFRONT - DAY LOUD BANGING! The storefront window, completely covered with posters, quivers violently. Images of MONKEYS covered with electrodes, BABY SEALS being viciously clubbed, DOGS jammed into tiny cages quiver as somebody beats on the window. It's RAILLY. RAILLY IS ANYBODY IN THERE? HELLO? IS SOMEONE IN THERE? IF YOU'RE IN THERE, I NEED TO TALK TO YOU. INT. FAA STORE JEFFREY, BEN, TEDDY, and two of JEFFREY'S youthful cohorts, SANDY and KWESKIN, wait motionless beside a heap of cardboard cartons as FALE peeks out the front window through a slit between posters. FALE It's the kidnap woman -- the one who was with the guy who tied us up. BEN What's she doing? FALE She's drawing attention to us, that's what she's doing. ... I don't know what you're up to this time, Mason, but you're gonna get us in deep shit! JEFFREY Whine, whine, whine. What about walkie talkies? We used to have walkie talkies. EXT. FAA STOREFRONT From littered doorways, DERELICTS sneak peeks at RAILLY as she, seemingly mad, shakes the doorknob, then hammers on the door. RAILLY I SAW YOU! I SAW SOMEONE MOVING. I KNOW YOU'RE IN THERE! RASPY VOICE (o.s) Secret experiments! RAILLY whirls, sees LOUIE, the raspy-voiced toothless derelict. LOUIE That's what they do -- secret weird stuff! RAILLY You! I know you! But LOUIE is studying the pictures of the tortured animals now. LOUIE Not just on them. Do 'em on people, too -- down at the shelters. Feed 'em chemicals 'n take pictures of 'em. RAILLY Have you seen James Cole? The man...? LOUIE They're watchin' you. Takin' pictures. RAILLY follows his look. ANGLE ON AN OLD CHEVY, parked across the street, the PLAINCLOTHES COP slouched at the wheel, pretending to read a newspaper. RAILLY The police. I know. Listen, I need to talk to James, but he has to be careful how he contacts me. He mustn't get caught. Do you understand me? LOUIS Uh, yeah, sure. Uh...who's James? RAILLY He was with me, he spoke to you. Several weeks ago. He said you were from the future...watching him. LOUIS gives her a look that says, "I'm outta here!" But just then, RAILLY spots two TEZNAGE PUNKS surreptitiously "tagging" their way along the street with cans of spray paint. RAILLY stares at the PUNKS. INT. FAA STORE FALE watches JEFFREY go over a check list while KWESKIN, SANDY, and TEDDY organize materials, and BEN peeks out the small opening between posters at the front window. JEFFREY You get the bolt cutters? KWESKIN One dozen. They're in the van. FALE One dozen bolt cutters! Whadda you gonna do with one dozen bolt cutters? JEFFREY (grins) You really want to know? FALE No! Absolutely not. Don't tell me anything. BEN Hey! Do you know what she's doing? Everybody freezes, looking toward 3EN, who's peeking outside. Then, except for JEFFREY, they all crowd around BEN to get a look. POV THROUGH SLIT: a glimpse of RAILLY, spray painting the front of the store! TEDDY What's it say? BEN I can't see it. JEFFREY (erupting) WHY DON'T WE FORGET MY GODDAMN PSYCHIATRIST AND DEAL WITH THE TASK AT HAND. THIS IS IMPORTANT. FALE (spinning around) Your psychiatrist? Did you just say, "your psychiatrist"? JEFFREY Ex-psychiatrist! Now, what about flashlights? How many flashlights...? FALE That woman is...was...your... psychiatrist? And now she's spray- painting our building? EXT. FAA STOREFRONT/SECOND AVENUE ANGLE ON SLACK PLAINCLOTHES COP, across the street in the CHEVY, amazed, watching RAILLY spray painting. He shakes his head wearily. ANGLZ ON STREET TYPES, inching closer, watching RAILLY with amazement, too. They include... an IRISH DRUNK, white haired, red-faced, bloated... a NATIVE AMERICAN with tormented eyes and a mangled ear... an AFRICAN AMERICAN with one eye... the TEENAGED PUNKS... a WHITE MAN, shabbily dressed, joining the knot of ONLOOKERS, reacting at the sight of RAILLY. It's COLE! He pushes toward her. COLE Kathryn! RAILLY stops spraying, whips around at the sound of his VOICE. RAILLY James! With a quick glance toward the PLAINCLOTHES COP, RAILLY takes urgent charge of the situation. RAILLY James! That's a policeman. Pretend you don't know me. If he sees you... COLE (turning, looking) No, I want to turn myself in. Where is he? (placing his hands on his head) Don't worry -- it's all okay now. I'm not crazy any more! I mean, I am crazy, mentally divergent, actually, but I know it now and I want you to help me. I want to get well... ANGLE on RAILLY, desperately pulling COLE'S hands off his head as she tries to block the COP'S view of COLE. RAILLY James -- put your hands down and listen to me. Things have changed! ANGLE ON THE PLAINCLOTHES COP, checking the mug shot of COLE on his clipboard, then reaching for his radio mike. ANGLE ON RAILLY, reacting to the COP speaking into his mike: she tosses the spray paint can aside, grabs COLE and tries to pull him along...but COLE isn't moving. He's staring at the front of the FAA Store with disbelief! RAILLY James, come on! We have to get out of here! COLE looks from the wall to the can rolling on the sidewalk, then back to the wall where RAILLY has sprayed the huge words: ATTENTION!!! POLICE ARE WATCHING! IS THERE A VIRUS? IS THIS THE SOURCE? THREE BILLION DIE? It's the graffiti COLE saw in the future, in the picture! COLE I've seen that...before. But RAILLY'S total attention is on their dilemma. RAILLY James, trust me. We're in terrible trouble. We have to run. Very confused, COLE lets her drag him along the sidewalk, past ONLOOKERS. She looks crazier than he does. ANGLE ON THE CHEVY, making a sudden, urgent u-turn, almost colliding with a passing car. BRAKES SQUEAL and a HORN BLARES. INT. FAA STORE - DAY ANGLE ON BEN, peeking out, reacting to the drama. BEN Wow, a guy in a Chevy is chasing her and some other guy I can't see. FALE Hey, no problem, it's probably just another kidnapping featuring Jeffrey's shrink, pardon me, make that ex-shrink. (indicating Jeffrey to the others) This is your leader, a certifiable lunatic who told his former psychiatrist all his plans for God knows what whacko irresponsible schemes, and now who knows what she's painted out there on our wall? JEFFREY WHO CARES WHAT PSYCHIATRISTS WRITE ON WALLS? (moves to Fale, jabs him with a finger) You think I told her about the Army of the 12 Monkeys? Impossible! Know why, you pathetically ineffectual and pusillanimous "pretend-friend-to- animals"?! I'll tell you why: because when I had anything to do with her six years ago, there was no such thing -- I hadn't even thought of it yet! FALE (triumphant) Then how come she knows what's going on? JEFFREY abruptly switches from rage to good humor, adopting a supercilious smile and a patronizing tone. JEFFREY Here's my theory on that. While I was institutionalized, my brain was studied exhaustively in the guise of mental health. I was interrogated, x-rayed, studied thoroughly. Then, everything about me was entered into a computer where they created a model of my mind. They all stare, mesmerized, at the strutting JEFFREY. Is he serious? Is he crazy? Doesn't matter -- he's charismatic. JEFFREY (cont.) Then, using the computer model, they generated every thought I could possibly have in the next, say ten years, which they then filtered through a probability matrix to determine everything I was going to do in that period. So you see, she knew I was going to lead the Army of the Twelve Monkeys into the pages of history before it ever even occurred to me. She knows everything I'm ever going to do before I know it myself. How about that? JEFFREY smiles smugly into FALE'S flabbergasted face. JEFFREY Now I have to get going -- do my part. You guys check all this stuff out and load up the van. Make sure you have everything. I'm outta here. JEFFREY exits. The others stare at the door. FALE He's seriously crazy -- you know that. EXT. SKID ROW ALLEY - DAY An overflowing dumpster squats near the mouth of an alley. The unmarked CHEVY crawls slowly past the alley, the PLAINCLOTHES COP'S eyes searching everywhere. Trash stirs in the dumpster and RAILLY'S eyes peer up out of the torn cardboard boxes, rotting food, and styrofoam litter. HER POV: the POLICE CAR passes from view. ANGLE ON RAILLY, emerging from the refuse, hissing, RAILLY James! Come on. A confused COLE emerges from the opposite end of the dumpster, bits of lettuce in his hair. COLE I don't understand what we're doing. RAILLY (climbing out of the dumpster) We're avoiding the police until I can....talk to you. COLE (climbing out after her) You mean, treat me? Cure me? Kathryn, those words on the wall -- I've seen them before... I...I...dreamed them. But she's not listening. She's peeking out the alley entrance. RAILLY'S POV: across the street is a run-down skid row hotel, THE GLOBE, ROOMS WEEKLY, DAILY. INT. GLOBE HOTEL/LOBBY - MINUTES LATER The DESK CLERK, an old alkie who hates trouble but finds it often, stares across the counter suspiciously at RAILLY and COLE. DESK CLERK Twenty five bucks an hour. RAILLY An hour?! DESK CLERK You want quarter hours, go someplace else. RAILLY (catches on, pulls out her last bills) Here's ninety eight. For the night. Deal? The DESK CLERK squints warily at this turn of events. Then, he turns, gets a key, turns back and hands it to her. DESK CLERK Forty four. Fourth floor, turn right. Elevator's busted. RAILLY turns, COLE follows, and they walk quickly to the stairs passing the stares of gloomy RESIDENTS sitting on torn sofas chairs in front of an old TV with hideous color. ANGLE ON THE DESK CLERK, watching RAILLY and COLE climb stairs. As they disappear from view, he picks up the phone, punches a number, speaks into the phone. DESK CLERK Tommy? This is Charlie at the Globe. You know if Wallace has a new girl? Sort of a rookie type? Blonde? INT. GLOBE HOTEL ROOM 44 - MINUTES LATER (DAY) COLE sits on the lumpy bed in the dingy room, watching RAILLY pace back and forth like a mad woman. RAILLY Okay...you were standing there looking at the moon...you were eating grass... then what? COLE I thought I was in...prison again. RAILLY Just like that? You were in prison? COLE No, not really. It's...it's in my mind. Like you said. RAILLY You disappeared! One minute you were there, the next minute you were gone. Did you run through the woods? COLE I don't know -- I don't remember. RAILLY The boy in the well. How did you know that was just a hoax? COLE It was? I didn't...know. RAILLY James, you said he was hiding in the barn... COLE I think I saw a TV show like that when I was a kid. Where a boy... RAILLY IT WASN'T A TV SHOW! IT WAS REAL! COLE looks at her. She's really upset. COLE Well, maybe that kid saw the same TV show and copied it. Listen, you were right, it's all in my head. I'm mentally ill, I imagine all that stuff. I know they're not real, I can trick them, make them do what I want. I just worked on them in my head and I got back here. I can get better. I can stay here. RAILLY pulls a photo from her purse, shows it to COLE. It's the uncropped picture from her book, the photo of JOSE in WWI with a fuzzy image of COLE on the edge of the frame, RAILLY What does this mean to you? COLE ...I had a dream about...something like that. RAILLY You had a bullet from World War One in your leg, James! How did it get there? COLE You said I had delusions -- that I created a world -- you said you could explain everything... RAILLY Well, I can't. ... I mean...I'm trying to. I can't believe that everything we do or say has already happened, that we can't change what's going to happen, that I'm one of the three billion people who are going to die...soon. COLE stands, moves close to her. COLE I want to be here. In this time. With you. I want to become...become a whole person. I want this to be the present. I want the future to be unknown. RAILLY (sudden hopeful idea!) James...do you remember...six years ago...you had a phone number! You tried to call and... WHAM! The door flies open, kicked violently, the flimsy lock not holding. A menacing figure stands in the doorway. WALLACE. A wiry biker-type with jail house tattoos and mean eyes. COLE and RAILLY are too stunned to say anything as WALLACE looks them over coldly, insolently, then advances on RAILLY. WALLACE This is my territory, bitch! COLE (confused, turns to Railly) Is this real -- or is this one of my delusions? RAILLY This is definitely real: (to Wallace) Excuse me, I think we have a little misunderstanding here... WALLACE smashes RAILLY in the face. She flies back against the wall and onto the floor as WALLACE spins around to COLE who is stepping toward him, but WALLACE is now holding a knife WALLACE What're you -- some kind of tough guy? You wanna be a hero? You gonna try and mess with me? Come on... A beat. COLE puts his hands up placatingly as he backs around WALLACE and moves to RAILLY, whose eye is already swelling. WALLACE Now that's a smart boy. But you, honey, you think you can go 'round me and peddle your fancy ass in this part of town, you bet your life we got what I would call a major goddamn misunderstandin'. RAILLY reaches a hand up to COLE for assistance, but, he grabs her purse instead, swings it around, SMASHES WALLACE in the face with it, then grabs the pimp's arm and SNAPS it like it was a twig! The knife clatters to the floor as WALLACE yelps in pain and COLE slams him to the floor, straddles his chest, retrieves the near-by knife, and presses it sharply against WALLACE'S neck. RAILLY JAMES -- DON'T! COLE hesitates. WALLACE (eyes bulging) You...heard...her. Don't do it, man. RAILLY (gets up, looks around) Put him in the closet, ... But get his money first. COLE (amazed) You want me to rob him? RAILLY I...I...We need cash, James. A shadow. RAILLY turns toward the door and glimpses a FACE disappearing, then hears SHOUTS from the hallway... SHOUTS (o.s.) They're killing him! Call the cops. Being very careful not to move his neck, WALLACE reaches into his pocket and produces a thick roll of bills, which RAILLY grabs. WALLACE You two are crazy. I got friends. You put me in a closet, they're gonna be really pissed. COLE moves off Wallace and, keeping the knife close, yanks him tohis teeth while RAILLY hurries to the window and looks out. HER POV: A fire escape leads down into an alley. RAILLY turns just in time to see COLE shove WALLACE into the bathroom, follow him in, slam the door behind them, and LOCK it. RAILLY James, no! INT. BATHROOM RAILLY'S VOICE (from the other room) (rattling the door knob) James, what are you doing? WALLACE cowers back against the shower stall. WALLACE I have friends, man -- if you cut me... WALLACE breaks off, bug-eyed, reacting to something we don't see! WALLACE What...the...fuck..are you doing??? INT. GLOBE MOTEL ROOM 44 RAILLY is pounding on the bathroom door now as, suddenly, it opens and COLE steps out, the knife in his right hand, dripping with blood. RAILLY Oh, my God, James. Did you kill him? COLE shakes his head "no" as blood oozes from his mouth. COLE Just...just in case. In case I'm not crazy... (holds up two bloody molars) That's how they find us. By our teeth. (a beat, eye contact) I don't want them to find me. Ever. I don't want to go back. RAILLY's astonishment turns to emotion as it dawns on her the choice he's made. Given up the future (if it exists, and it's looking like it does)! Risking his life to be with her! For this brief time! She's overwhelmed, lips trembling, tears welling in her eyes. But just then, the SOUNDS of SHOUTS and feet THUNDERING up the stairs snap her back to reality. INT. STAIRWELL/GLOBE HOTEL COPS' boots THUNDER up the stairwell. INT. ROOM 44/GLOBE HOTEL In between nervous glances toward the door, RAILLY supervises as COLE obediently blocks the bathroom door with the bureau. RAILLY Push it tight! WALLACE'S VOICE (from the bathroom) NO PROBLEM! I'LL JUST STAY IN HERE! DON'T WORRY ABOUT ME. INT. 4TH FLOOR HALLWAY/GLOBE HOTEL POLICE OFFICERS, led by the PLAINCLOTHES COP, make a cautious entrance onto the 4th floor, guns drawn. Seedy HOTEL RESIDENTS point to Room 44, then cower back into their doorways. EXT. GLOBE HOTEL FIRE ESCAPE/ALLEY - DAY COLE and RAILLY clatter down the fire-escape, COLE in the lead. They come to the end of the metal stairway. It's a long distance to the ground. COLE jumps down, turns, reaches up to her. She lets herself down to him. Their eyes meet. He holds her in his arms for a moment. Then, reluctantly, he puts her down. They start running down the alley. INT. GLOBE HOTEL FOURTH FLOOR - DAY The PLAINCLOTHES COP has his pistol out, his back to the wall alongside the open doorway to Room 44. The UNIFORMED OFFICERS are backing him up, weapons drawn. PLAINCLOTHES COP POLICE! THROW YOUR WEAPONS OUT AND COME OUTTA THERE! No response. INT. GLOBE HOTEL ROOM 44 The PLAINCLOTHES COP charges into the room in a crouch, pistol extended in both hands. He pans the gun around the empty room. HIS POV: the open window...the blood on the floor. WALLACE'S VOICE (from the bathroom) HEY! ZAT THE POLICE! I'M AN INNOCENT VICTIM IN HERE! I WAS ATTACKED BY A COKED-UP WHORE AND A CRAZY DENTIST! EXT. BUS STOP/DOWNTOWN - LATE AFTERNOON A city bus disgorges a stream of PASSENGERS at a stop in the toney downtown shopping district. Among them, RAILLY looks furtively left and right, COLE on her heels. She's hidden her bruised eye behind sun glasses; he's holding a bloody handkerchief to his mouth. As he steps to the sidewalk, COLE is overwhelmed by the bustling city, the tall downtown buildings. His eyes go up. COLE'S POV: a building, towering toward the sky. A building with a ledge. The same ledge the lion prowled in the future!!! ANGLE ON COLE, shaken, as RAILLY ushers him into the recessed entrance to a store. RAILLY Wait here. I'm going to try that phone number. Let's hope it's nothing! Dazed by his experience and the flow of SHOPPERS, COLE watches her hurry to a pay phone twenty yards away, his view of her made intermittent by PEDESTRIANS streaming past him, their FACES looming frighteningly close. A BUSINESSMAN jostles COLE, forcing him back against the display window. Turning, he faces the angry jaws of a BEAR only inches away Recovering from a jolt of terror, COLE realizes the BEAR is a life-size toy in the display window. Relieved, he looks back at RAILLY. COLE'S POV: RAILLY, well out of earshot, speaking earnestly into the phone. ANGLE ON COLE, startled, as a BUSINESSMAN, mistaking him for a panhandler, shoves a dollar into his hand. Confused, COLE stares at the dollar, then turns to say something to the retreating BUSINESSMAN, but just then he sees RAILLY rushing toward him, eyes sparkling with happiness, LAUGHING, ebullient. RAILLY James! James! It's okay. We're insane! We're crazy! COLE doesn't know how to respond, but a PASSERBY gives them a look. RAILLY It's a Carpet Cleaning Company... COLE A Carpet Cleaning Company? RAILLY (laughing) No superiors! No scientists. No people from the future. It's just a Carpet Cleaning Company. They have voice mail -- you leave a message telling them when you want your carpet cleaned. COLE You... you left them a message? RAILLY (impishly) I couldn't resist. I was so relieved. Wait'll they hear this nutty woman telling them...they better watch out for the Army of the Twelve Monkeys... Looking at her laughing face, COLE is struck with horror as he realizes the truth! He starts to recite... COLE "The Army of the Twelve Monkeys -- they're the ones who are going to do it. I can't do anything more. The police are watching me." Now she's stunned. She glances back and sees the phone booth twenty yards away. RAILLY You... you couldn't have heard me. COLE They got your message, Kathryn. They played it for me. It was a bad recording...distorted. I didn't recognize your voice. RAILLY'S eyes fill with horror as she grasps the meaning. ANGLE ON A UNIFORMED COP, staring out the window of a POLICE CRUISER as it inches along in the bumper to bumper traffic. Noticing something, he reaches for his radio. ANGLE ON RAILLY, spotting the CRUISER, grabbing COLE, pulling him into the CROWD. RAILLY Come on. INT. DEPARTMENT STORE/MEN'S DEPARTMENT - 6:00 PM RAILLY, whose sun glasses don't really hide her bruised eye, adds a man's Hawaiian shirt to the pile of other men's things heaped on a counter in front of a very suspicious CLERK. RAILLY And this. (turning) Anything else? But COLE'S not here. He's a short distance away...staring. COLE'S POV: aisle after aisle of eager shoppers and a bounty of brand new consumer goods. ANGLE ON COLE, remembering another department store, dark and full of moldering merchandise. ANGLE ON RAILLY, turning again to the CLERK. RAILLY I guess that's it. CLERK Shall I put this on your account, Ma'am? RAILLY (producing Wallace's roll of bills) No -- I'll pay cash. The CLERK stares at the huge roll of bills! RAILLY What floor are the wigs on, please? EXT. PEST CONTROL VAN - NIGHT Surrounded by stripped and abandoned vehicles, the VAN, with a PEST CONTROL logo on its side, is parked on a trash-littered street beside the massive pillars of a towering freeway. INT. PARKED PEST CONTROL VAN The VAN is packed with SIX ACTIVISTS, SANDY and KWESKIN among them, all wearing black. Some of them have climbing gear, tool belts, all sorts of paraphernalia. KWESKIN is telling his story. KWESKIN So then he goes into this incredible riff about how his shrink, like, replicated his brain while he was in the nut house. Turned it into a computer. WELLER And Fale believed it? KWESKIN Oh, you know Fale! He's like, "If you guys get nailed -- and I'm sure you will -- I never saw you before in nay life!" LAUGHTER from all of them. Then, there's a sharp, rhythmic series of RAPS on the side door, a signal. POPE quickly slides the door open. It's JEFFREY...grinning. Three other activists, GOINES, ICHIOKA, and BRUHNS, stagger out of the darkness behind JEFFREY, lugging a huge, squirming GARBAGE BAG. The van occupants react with murmurs of "Awwwwwright" and "Far out", then they help maneuver the writhing bag into the van. Then, JEFFREY and the other three scramble in, too. JEFFREY Let's do it! EXT. VAN/FREEWAY The PEST CONTROL VAN lumbers up a ramp and onto the freeway. INT. PEST CONTROL VAN/MOVING The GARBAGE BAG squirms and grunts as JEFFREY holds a map under a flashlight and goes over "the plan" with the other ACTIVISTS. JEFFREY Okay, that's Stage One. In Stage Two, Monkey Four is over here... A loud GROAN from the bag distracts the others. GOINES What's the harm in opening the bag? His eyes are taped. SANDY Yeah, it's cruel leaving him like that. JEFFREY Ah, but cruelty is his specialty. ICHIOKA So why should we be like him? Shrugging cheerfully, JEFFREY tears open the garbage bag revealing DR. MASON, trussed up, duct tape covering his eyes and mouth. JEFFREY Want the full effect? Grinning wickedly, JEFFREY rips the tape from his father's mouth. DR. MASON Jeffrey? I know it's you, Jeffrey. I recognize your voice. JEFFREY puts his finger to his lips, silencing everyone. DR. MASON JEFFREY??? ... Very well. You're out of your mind, Jeffrey. I know all about your insane plan. That woman -- your psychiatrist -- she told me. JEFFREY raises his eyebrows. This he hadn't expected. DR. MASON I didn't believe her -- it seemed too crazy even for you. But, just in case, I took steps to make sure you couldn't do it. I took myself out of the loop! I don't have the code any more. I don't have access to the virus. So, go ahead -- torture me, but you can't extract anything of use to yourself. The ACTIVISTS are all exchanging puzzled looks. JEFFREY What...virus? DR. MASON (spins his head toward Jeffrey) She knew about it, Jeffrey. She knew you were going to try this. JEFFREY What virus are we talking about, Dad? DR. MASON You're insane, Jeffrey. JEFFREY You "develop" viruses and you're calling me insane? Typical. What does this virus attack? Don't tell me, you sick fuck, it doesn't matter. (to the others) Have I ever "developed" a virus? Do I put helpless animals in cages and measure their reactions to electrical stimuli? Do I inject radioactive substances into living creatures and examine their bowel movements? Wow! And I'm crazy! DR. MASON Please tell me, Jeffrey, what exactly are you going to do? I don't have to tell you I'm afraid. JEFFREY THIS IS A FUCKING EXPERIMENT! YOU'RE OUR HELPLESS LITTLE TEST ANIMAL, DADDY. GOT THAT? NOW -- WHAT FUCKING VIRUS HAVE YOU COME UP WITH, YOU DEMENTED FUCKING MANIAC? INT. MOVIE SCREEN/THEATER - NIGHT Spooky BERNARD HERRMAN MUSIC, giant redwoods looming skyward. It's DAYTIME in Muir Woods. SCOTTY (JAMES STEWART) AND MADELINE (KIM NOVAK) walk toward a display of a cross cut section of a redwood tree. We're watching Hitchcock's VERTIGO. SCOTTY (up on the screen) Here's a cross section of one of the old trees that's been cut down. They look at the lines of the tree marked with cards that say, "BIRTH OF CHRIST", "DISCOVERY OF AMERICA", "MAGNA CARTA SIGNED", "1066 - BATTLE OF HASTINGS", and "1930 TREE CUT DOWN". ANGLE ON THE THEATER AUDIENCE, empty seats dimly visible in the flickering light, a few shadowy MOVIEGOERS scattered here and there. ANGLE ON THE SCREEN, MADELINE pointing, saying with profound melancholy. MADELINE (up on the screen) Somewhere in here I was born. And here -- I die. There's only a moment for you. You don't notice. ANGLE ON THE AUDIENCE, a shadowy COUPLE near the back of the theater. WE CAN'T REALLY SEE THEM, but we recognize their VOICES RAILLY Here, let me help you. The theater is briefly illuminated by a very bright scene on the screen, revealing enough of COLE and RAILLY for us to see she's doing something to his upper lip while he tries to watch the movie. COLE I think I've seen this movie before. When I was a kid. It was on TV. RAILLY (fussing with his upper lip) Shh -- don't talk. Hold still. COLE (moving his head to see the film) I have seen it, but I don't remember this part. Funny, it's like what's happening to us, like the past. The movie never changes -- it can't change -- but everytime you see it, it seems to be different because you're different -- you notice different things. RAILLY If we can't change anything...because it's already happened, then we ought to at least smell the flowers. COLE Flowers! What flowers? From the darkness, a MOVIE PATRON makes a SSSSHHHHH shound. RAILLY (whispering) It's an expression. Here... She's pulling something from a shopping bag at her feet, placing it on COLE'S head, adjusting it... COLE Why are we doing this? RAILLY So we can stick our heads out the window and feel the wind and listen to the music. So we can appreciate what we have while we have it. Forgive me, psychiatrists don't cry. There are tears in her eyes. They discomfit COLE. COLE But maybe I'm wrong. Maybe you're wrong. Maybe we're both crazy. RAILLY In a few weeks, it will have started or it won't. If there are still baseball games and traffic jams, armed robberies and boring TV shows -- we'll be so happy, we'll be glad to turn ourselves in to the police. SHADOWY MOVIEGOER SHHHHHHH COLE (whispers) Where can we hide for a few weeks? ANGLE ON THE SCREEN, where SCOTTY and MADELINE are in the foreground, the OCEAN behind them. RAILLY You said you'd never seen the ocean... EXT. GORILLA'S PEN/ZOO - NIGHT CLOSE ON A GORILLA, by moonlight, angry, a true nightmare vision. URGENT WHISPERS off screen, RUSTLING SOUNDS. Then, METAL ON METAL. Only now are we aware that the GORILLA is in an outdoor zoo pen with phony rocks. Stalking back and forth. Huge. Upset. CLANK. CLANK. METAL ON METAL. GRUNTS of effort, then, DR. MASON'S VOICE, plaintive, frightened. DR. MASON'S VOICE (o.s.) What are you doing to me? Where are we? Jeffrey, please... SANDY'S VOICE (o.s.) For God's sake, put the tape back on his mouth! The GORILLA bellows angrily, beating his chest. JEFFREY'S VOICE (o.s.) Forget the tape. The monkey's louder than he is. You gonna tape the monkey's mouth? EXT. PANTHERS' PEN/ZOO - NIGHT Under the full moon, PANTHERS pace back and forth, back and forth, uttering ominous guttural SNARLS. EXT. LION'S PEN/ZOO The KING OF BEASTS gives a deep, fierce ROAR. From the darkness, unseen ELEPHANTS TRUMPET their response. EXT. AVIARIES/ZOO A PANDEMONIUM of WINGS RUSTLING, the sharp metallic CLINKING of metal on metal, the MUTTER of HUMAN VOICES, then a cacophonous CRESCENDO of frenzied SCREECHING as PARROTS, COCKATOOS and other EXOTIC BIRDS careen madly in their cages. INT. MOVIE THEATER AUDITORIUM CLOSE ON COLE, dozing fitfully, as the SOUNDS of SCREAMING BIRDS continue. Suddenly, he comes awake with a start...sees the movie filling his field of vision. HIS POV: the MOVIE SCREEN. TIPPI HEDRIN, overwhelmed by screeching BIRDS in an attic in Hitchcock's THE BIRDS. ANGLE ON COLE, orienting himself, looking around. Empty seats on both sides of him. He's alone. He panics. COLE Kathryn?! INT. THEATER LOBBY A lobby poster boasts "Classics 24 Hours A Day" and "Hitchcock Festival". PANNING OFF the poster, passing a SNORING USHER, dead to the world in an old velvet chair, WE DISCOVER a BRUNETTE in a tight dress, just hanging up the lobby pay phone. Turning, she reveals heavy make-up, gaudy costume jewelry, and sun glasses. She's the BRUNETTE in COLE'S DREAM! Crossing the lobby toward the auditorium, it's a pleasure to watch her nice body undulate in the tight dress. Just then, the auditorium doors burst open and a BLONDE MAN in a Hawaiian shirt appears, the man from COLE'S DREAM, except this man's moustache is fixed firmly on his upper lip. The BLONDE MAN stops, stunned at the sight of the BRUNETTE. BRUNETTE We're booked on a 9:30 flight to Key West. The Brunette is RAILLY, no longer the frazzled professional, revealed now by her disguise as a sexy babe. The Blonde Man is COLE! He's confused. COLE You were in my dream just now. I didn't recognize you. RAILLY Well, you look pretty different, too. COLE I mean in my dream -- I didn't realize it was you. Then...I woke up and I...I thought you were gone. RAILLY (studies him seriously) I remember you...like this. I feel I've known you before. I feel I've always known you. Their eyes lock. Suddenly, she backs up, gently maneuvering him with her, past the sleeping USHER, to and through an unlocked, unmarked door, then closing it behind them. INT. STORAGE ROOM/MOVIE THEATER RAILLY and COLE are in a dimly lit cluttered storage room. She kisses him hungrily amid the brooms, plastic trash barrels, other janitorial items. COLE responds to her passion as they move deeper into the room, its walls covered with old movie posters. Tearing at each other's clothes, they collapse on a rolled theater curtain among stacks of ancient theater seats. EXT. SUBURBS - DAWN The red rim of the rising sun is just becoming visible beyond the silhouetted roofs of an upper middle-class suburban neighborhood. The early light is so vague that when a huge SIBERIAN TIGER pads across a neatly-trimmed lawn, he's more a shadowy vision than reality. Did we really see him at all? EXT. CONSTRUCTION SITE - DAWN The rising sun flares behind the towering silhouette of an unfinished building, deserted in the early morning light. High up, a MONKEY his head around a girder. Four stories below, other MONKEYS are climbing. EXT. SHOPPING MALL - DAWN Deserted in the first light of dawn, the stores face each other across a broad promenade with blank staring windows. Nothing happens. For a long moment. Then, an AFRICAN BULL ELEPHANT appears, turning the corner, lumbering toward us along the promenade, raising his trunk to TRUMPET triumphantly to the other ELEPHANTS trotting into view behind him. INT. TAXICAB/CITY STREETS - EARLY MORNING A fiftyish WOMAN CABBIE with white hair and a Southern twang is at the wheel of the cab. WOMAN CABBlE What time's your flight, friends? In the back seat, COLE, in the blonde wig and moustache, looks to his companion, the sexy babe in sun glasses and heavy make-up, RAILLY. RAILLY Nine thirty WOMAN CABBIE Might be tight. RAILLY (startled, checks her watch) Tight? My watch says 7:30. WOMAN CABBIE On your normal mornin', okay, plenty a time, but today, gotta take inta account your Army-of-the-Twelve-Monkeys factor. RAILLY What? What did you say? WOMAN CABBIE Twelve Monkeys, honey. Guess you folks didn't turn on your radio this morning. COLE and RAILLY exchange a quick look. WOMAN CABBIE Bunch a weirdoes let all the animals outta the zoo last night. Then they locked up this big shot scientist in one of the cages. Scientist's own kid was one a the ones did it! RAILLY and COLE stare at the cabbie, stunned. WOMAN CABBlE Now they got animals all over the place. Buncha zebras shut down the thruway 'bout an hour ago and some kinda thing called an "e-mu" it's got traffic blocked for miles over on 22. Flabbergasted, RAILLY'S eyes suddenly fill with hope. RAILLY That's what they were up to! Freeing animals! COLE On the walls -- they meant the animals when they said, "We did it." WOMAN CABBIE You can hear it on the radio all the stations... As the WOMAN CAEBIE switches on the RADIO, RA:LLY points and COLE follows her look. COLE'S POV: two CHEETAHS, sleek and magnificent against the cityscape, streaking past the cab at ninety mph! ANNOUNCER/RADIO (o.s.) In the meantime, numerous animal rights activists have joined the chorus condemning what they're calling the "loose canon" activities of Jeffrey Mason and his Army of the Twelve Monkeys. RIGHTS ACTIVIST/RADIO (o.s.) Can these fools seriously believe that releasing a captive animal into an urban environment is being compassionate to the animal? It's mindlessly cruel, almost as indefensible as holding the animal in captivity in the first place. RAILLY and COLE are watching FLAMINGOS cross the sky against a backdrop of skyscrapers in silhouette. RAILLY Maybe it's going to be okay. INT. TICKET COUNTER/AIRPORT TERMINAL - MORNING CLOSY ON copies of the mug shot of COLE and a photo of RAILLY while the airport P.A. SYSTEM DRONES in the b.g.. REVEAL a DETECTIVE, giving the flyers to the uniformed SUPERVISOR at one end of the ticket counter. DETECTIVE Tell your people if they spot either one of them, not to try and apprehend then. They should notify us and... ANGLE ON RAILLY AND COLE, thirty yards away, entering the terminal. P.A. SYSTEM -- Flight 531 for Chicago is now ready for boarding at Gate Seventeen. ANGLE ON COLE, reacting to the P.A., stopping, seeing the bustling airport lobby. COLE I know this place! ... This is my dream. RAILLY Airports all look the same. Maybe it's... (turning, reacting) James! Your moustache! It's slipping. But COLE isn't listening. He's looking around, mesmerized. COLE It's not just my dream. I was actually here! I remember now. My parents brought me to meet my uncle. About a week or two before...before...before everybody started dying. RAILLY glances around nervously. RAILLY'S POV: two UNIFORMED POLICEMEN, strolling through the lobby, their eyes scanning the faces of TRAVELERS. ANGLE ON RAILLY, pulling a small tube from her purse. RAILLY They may be looking for us, James. (placing the tube in his hand) Use this. You can fix it in the Men's Room. COLE (confounded) I was here...as a kid. I think you were here, too. But you...looked just like you look now. RAILLY (getting desperate) James, if we're identified, they're going to send us someplace...but not to Key West! COLE (snaps out of it, hand to moustache) Right! You're right. I have to fix this. RAILLY (indicating a sign) I'll get the tickets and meet you... in the Gift Shop. COLE follows her look, nods, then heads for the Men's Room as RAILLY, in sun glasses, gaudy outfit, high heels, starts clip clopping toward the ticket counter, her ass attracting admiring glances. INT. TELEPHONES/LOBBY - DAY BUSINESS TRAVELERS huddle over pay phones, talking earnestly, as COLE walks past on his way to the Men's Room. Seeing an unoccupied phone, COLE hesitates, considers it. Coming to a decision, he reaches into his pocket, pulls out some change. INT. TZCKET COUNTER/TERMINAL CLOSE ON the flyer of COLE and RAILLY taped under the counter, hidden from the customers, but in clear view of the TICKET AGENT who has just finished serving a PORTLY GENTLEMAN. The GENTLEMAN walks away. ANGLE ON RAILLY, stepping up to the counter, smiling, looking nothing like the Railly on the flyer. RAILLY Judy Simmons. I have reservations for Key West. INT. PAY PHONES/TERMINAL COLE is speaking into the phone very low, very private, very intense. COLE Listen, I don't know whether you're there or not. Maybe you just clean carpets. If you do, you're lucky -- you're gonna live a long, happy life. But if you other guys exist and you're picking this up -- forget about the Army of The Twelve Monkeys -- they didn't do it. It was a mistake' Someone else did it. The Army of The Twelve Monkeys are just dumb kids playing revolutionaries. It was someone else! COLE looks around nervously, catches a BUSINESSMAN at the next phone looking away quickly. COLE touches his loose moustache as he averts his face and speaks into the phone in an urgent whisper. COLE I've done my job. I did what you wanted. Good luck. I'm not coming back! COLE hangs up the phone, looks around, catches a few stares. Averting his face, he heads for the Men's Room. INT. TICKET COUNTER - DAY The TICKET AGENT is counting out a stack of bills. TICKET AGENT Don't see a lot of this... cash. RAILLY It's...a long story. TICKET AGENT (smiles, hands over the tickets) They'll begin boarding in about twenty minutes. Have a nice flight, Mrs. Simmons. Turning to go, RAILLY fumbles the tickets while trying to put them in her purse and they flutter to the floor. As she kneels to retrieve them, WE SEE the long line of waiting TRAVELERS from the waist down. WE SEE a familiar Chicago Bulls Sports Bag resting on the floor beside sneakers and gaudy baggy pants. we've seen this outfit before...in COLE'S dream...on MR. PONYTAIL! INT. MEN'S ROOM/AIRPORT - DAY The P.A. DRONES as CCLE, head down, lingers at a sink, washing and rewashing his hands while another TRAVELER finishes drying his hands, gives COLE a quizzical look, then leaves. Quickly, COLE glances around, checks the seemingly empty Men's Room, then takes the tube of adhesive from his pocket, puts some goop under the loose edge of his moustache and presses it firmly against his face as he leans close to the mirror. RASPY VOICE (o.s.) Got yourself a prob, Bob? COLE whirls, looks for the source of the VOICE. Nothing! Until he spots shoes peeking from dropped trousers indicating an occupied stall. It must be him! COLE Leave me alone! I made a report. I didn't have to do that. RASPY VOICE (o.s.) Point of fact -- you don't belong here. It's not permitted to let you stay. A toilet FLUSHES in the "occupied" stall. COLE'S answer is loud and defiant. COLE This is the present. This is not the past. This is not the future. This is right now! A PLUMP BUSINESSMAN emerges from the "occupied" stall, gives COLE a wary look and a wide berth as he heads for a sink. COLE I'm staying here! You got that? You can't stop me! PLUMP MAN (high pitched voice) Anything you say, chief. It's none of my business. COLE looks dismayed. This guy couldn't be "THE VOICE"! And there are no feet showing under the other stalls. Did he imagine it? INT. TICKET COUNTER - DAY The Chicago Bulls bag! It's on the counter in front of the TICKET AGENT who's reviewing a stack of tickets in awe... TICKET AGENT Woooo-eeee. San Francisco, New Orleans, Rio de Janeiro, Rome, Kinshasa, Karachi, Bangkok, Peking! That's some trip you're taking, sir, All in one week! MR. PONYTAIL (o.s.) Business. TICKET AGENT (handing over the tickets) Have a good one, sir. INT. TERMINAL LOBBY COLE emerges from the Men's Room, shaken, paranoid. He glances around nervously. Then, keeping his head down, he starts walking toward the Gift Shop. Before he gets more than a few steps, someone suddenly grabs his shoulder from behind. FAMILIAR VOICE (o.s.) You gotta be crazy, man! COLE whirls, finds himself facing a Puerto Rican youth in an L.A. Raiders jacket, a sideways baseball cap, and mirrored sun glasses COLE Jo...Jose???? JOSE Pulling out the tooth, man, that was nuts! Here, take this. JOSE tries to slip COLE a 9mm pistol. Astonished, COLE resists! COLE What? What for? Are you crazy? Frustrated, JOSE conceals the gun but keeps a grip on COLE'S arm. JOSE Me? Are you kiddin? You're the one! You were a hero, man. They gave you a pardon! And whadda you do? You come back and fuck with your teeth! Wow! COLE How did you find me? JOSE The phone call, man. The phone call. COLE The call I just made? Five minutes ago? JOSE Hey, five minutes ago, thirty years ago! Yes, that phone call. I been in training for this a couple a months now -- ever since I got back from that... "weird" war we were in. You remember that? (pressing the pistol on Cole) Here, take it, man! You could still be a hero if you'd cooperate! INT. GIFT SHOP/TERMINAL - DAY RAILLY takes a travel book on Key West from a rack, considers it, includes it with several magazines she's holding. She doesn't notice MR. PONYTAZL enter the Gift Shop behind her! The P.A. System DRONES flight info as RAILLY checks her watch and frowns. It's getting late and where's Cole? She turns, heads for the cash register to make her purchases. MR. PONYTAIL, seen from behind, is at the cash register already. He sets a newspaper on the counter and searches for change. The paper features a banner headline..."ANIMALS SET FREE" and a sub head..."PROMINENT SCIENTIST FOUND LOCKED IN GORILLA CAGE" over a photo of DR. MASON being released from the cage and another photo of a GORILLA perched atop a parked car. Stepping in line behind MR. PONYTAIL, RAILLY checks her watch again. Then, MR. PONYTAIL, having paid, turns to go and RAILLY looks up and sees his face. though it is not visible to us. Startled, RAILLY frowns. Does she know this man? MR. PONYTAIL pauses for a moment, considering the babe in the shades, gaudy earrings, the tight skirt, and high heels. RAILLY doesn't recognize the man, but we do! He's DR. MASON'S ASSISTANT, DR. PETERS...the man who attended RAILLY's lecture! Smiling, DR. PETERS steps around RAILLY and exits the Gift Shop. Still puzzled, RAILLY puts her purchases on the counter and the CLERK starts ringing them up as a DELIVERY MAN comes in and drops a bundle of newspapers at her feet. RAILLY'S POV: the front page shows a photo of three frightened GIRAFFES in freeway gridlock under a headline proclaiming, "TERRORISTS CREATE CHAOS". Further down are two more photos...DR. MASON in the gorilla cage and a file photo of DR. MASON in his lab. CLOSE ON THE SHOT OF DR. MASON in his lab. There's someone else in the picture. It's a man wearing a lab coat and a PONYTAIL! ANGLE ON RAILLY, reacting, suddenly remembering! MEMORY FLASHBACK! INT. RECEPTION ROOM/BREITROSE HALL - NIGHT RAILLY looks up from the book she's signing and sees DR. PETERS. DR. PETERS Isn't it obvious that "Chicken Little" represents the sane vision and that Homo Sapiens' motto, "Let's go shopping!" is the cry of the true lunatic? INT. GIFT SHOP - DAY RAILLY, stunned, stares in the direction PETERS/PONYTAIL went. RAILLY Oh, my God! P.A SYSTEM -- flight 764 for San Francisco is now ready for boarding at Gate 36. INT. LOBBY - DAY In the confusion of TRAVELERS streaming in different directions, COLE hurries toward the Gift Shop while JOSE struggles to keep up. JOSE Coma on, Cole, don't be an asshole. (then, blurting it out) Look, I got orders, man! You know what I'm sposed to do if you don't go along? I'm sposed to shoot the lady! You got that? They said, "If Cole don't obey this time, Garcia, you gotta shoot his girlfriend!" COLE stops in his tracks, blown away, too stunned to speak. JOSE I got no choice, man. These are my orders. Just take it, okay? COLE accepts the gun this time, resigned now. They've got him. COLE This part isn't about the virus, is it? JOSE Hey, man... COLE It's about obeying, about doing what you're told. JOSE They gave you a pardon, man. Whatdaya want? COLE Who am I supposed to shoot? Just then, RAILLY rushes up to COLE, not even noticing JOSE. RAILLY James! Thank God! I thought you'd disappeared. Listen, I think I know who it is! I saw him! It's Dr. Mason's assistant. An apocalypse nut! The next flight to San Francisco leaves from Gate 38. If he's there, it has to be him. JOSE, having heard this, steps back into the crowd as RAILLY grabs COLE and pulls him toward the Security Check Points. COLE I love you, Kathryn. Remember that. She doesn't hear him or see the look of doom in his eyes. RAILLY Maybe we can stop him. Maybe we can actually do something. INT. SECURITY CHECK POINT/TERMINAL - DAY A young boy of nine passes through the magnetic arch grinning. YOUNG COLE! Exactly as he appears in the dream! He joins his PARENTS, who are only visible from their chests down, and they continue along the concourse. WE LINGER and DISCOVER two DETECTIVES watching TRAVELERS as they pass through the magnetic arch and retrieve their bags from the X-ray machine, comparing their faces to photos of COLE and RAILLY. ANGLE ON A SECURITY OFFICER, watching the x-ray monitor. ANGLE ON THE MONITOR, showing the X-RAY IMAGE of a sports bag moving along the conveyer belt. The bag contains some strange objects. ANGLE ON THE SECURITY OFFICER, reacting. SECURITY OFFICER Excuse me, sir. Would you mind letting me have a look at the contents of your bag? ANGLE ON DR. PETERS, coming through the magnetic arch, reacting. DR. PETERS Me? Oh, yes, of course. My samples. I have the appropriate papers. INT. END OF LINE/SECURITY CHECK POINT RAILLY AND COLE arrive at the very long suddenly stalled line of TRAVELERS waiting to pass through security. RAILLY Oh, God, we don't have time for this. ANGLE ON THE SECURITY CHECK POINT, where DR. PETERS unpacks his Bulls bag, pulls out six metal cylinders along with a change of clothes and a Walkman. DR. PETERS Biological samples. I have the paperwork right here. DR. PETERS produces a sheaf of official papers while the SECURITY OFFICER examines one of the tubes, turning it over in his hands. SECURITY OFFICER I'm going to have to ask you to open this, sir. DR. PETERS Open it? (blinks stupidly, then) Of course. DR. PETERS takes the metal cylinder and starts opening it. There's a SOUND of VOICES RAISED behind them. DR. PETERS pays no attention, but the SECURITY OFFICER turns toward the NOISE. SECURITY OFFICER'S POV: RAILLY, trying to explain something to a SECOND SECURITY OFFICER. ANGLE ON THE TWO DETECTIVES, nearby, showing interest in the commotion. ANGLE ON DR. PETERS, oblivious to the fuss, pulling a closed glass tube out of the metal cylinder. DR. PETERS Here! You see? Biological! Check the papers -- it's all proper. I have a permit. SECURITY OFFICER It's empty! Indeed, it looks like a sealed clear glass tube with nothing in it. DR. PETERS Well, yes, to be sure, it looks empty! But I assure you, it's not. ANGLE ON RAILLY, at the end of the line, arguing with the SECOND SECURITY OFFICER. RAILLY Please listen to me -- this is very urgent! SECOND SECURITY OFFICER You'll have to get in line, ma'am. TRAVELER We're all in a hurry, lady. What's so special about you? ANGLE ON DR. PETERS, producing the glass tubes from the other metal cylinders as the SECURITY OFFICER examines the papers. DR. PETERS You see! Also invisible to the naked eye. A beat. OR. PETERS grins suddenly, opens one of the glass tubes, and waves it under the SECURITY OFFICER'S nose! DR. PETERS It doesn't even have an odor. The SECURITY OFFICER glances up, sees what DR. PETERS is doing, and smiles as he hands the papers back to the scientist. SECURITY OFFICER That's not necessary, sir. Here you go. Thanks for your cooperation. Have a good flight. Hastily, DR. PETERS snatches up all the tubes and cylinders and shoves them back into his gym bag. ANGLE ON RAILLY, raging as the SECOND SECURITY OFFICER jabs her with his finger. SECOND SECURITY OFFICER Who are you calling a "moron"? COLE Get your hands off her! The SECOND SECURITY OFFICER stiffens for trouble. ANGLE ON THE DETECTIVES, watching the fuss, ready to get involved. Suddenly, the FIRST DETECTIVE frowns. FIRST DETECTIVE9S POV: COLE'S moustache is slipping. COLE senses it, reaches up to touch it, catches the DETECTIVE'S look. For half a second their eyes meet, then COLE looks away. ANGLE ON DR. PETERS, hurrying away. SECURITY OFFICER'S VOICE (o.s.} HOLD IT! JUST A MOMENT. DR. PETERS freezes, turns, ashen. The SECURITY OFFICER is retrieving a pair of jockey shorts from the floor beside the search table. He waves them at DR. PETERS. DR. PETERS hurries back for his underpants. ANGLE ON COLE, trying to keep his head turned away as he confronts the SECURITY OFFICER. COLE I said, get your hands off her. She's not a criminal. She's a doctor...a psychiatrist. RAILLY looks alarmed at that. ANGLE ON THE DETECTIVES, coming this way. The FIRST DETECTIVE has the photos in his hand. ANGLE OW DR. PETERS, bagging his jockey shorts, then starting hastily down the windowed concourse toward the gates. ANGLE ON RAZZLY, suddenly spotting DR. PETERS! RAILLY THERE HE IS! HE'S CARRYING A DEADLY VIRUS! STOP HIM! ANGLE ON COLE, following RAILLY'S look, seeing MR. PONYTAIL, THE MAN FROM HIS DREAM! ANGLE ON DR. PETERS, frightened, glancing back, walking faster. RAILLY (o.s.) PLEASE, SOMEBODY -- STOP HIM! ANGLE ON DETECTIVES, reaching RAILLY and COLE. FIRST DETECTIVE (raising his badge) Police Officers. Would you step over here, please. ANGLE ON COLE, spotting something behind the DETECTIVES! COLE'S POV: SCARFACE, dressed like a "businessman"! He gives COLE a cold look. A beat. COLE lunges at the SECOND DETECTIVE, knocking him off balance, then sprints toward the magnetic arch and through it. The ALARM goes off!!!! The FIRST SECURITY OFFICER tries to stop COLE, but COLE knocks him aside like a rag doll. ANGLE ON DR. PETERS, fifty yards up the concourse, glancing back. ANGLE ON COLE, pulling his pistol. ANGLE ON THE SECOND SECURITY OFFICER. FIRST SECURITY OFFICER HE'S GOT A GUN! ANGLE ON THE FIRST DETECTIVE, raising his pistol at COLE. FIRST DETECTIVE STOP OR I'LL SHOOT! ANGLE ON COLE, gun in hand, sprinting along the concourse toward DR. PETERS as frightened TRAVELERS SCREAM and dive for cover. ANGLE ON YOUNG COLE, standing at a concourse window, watching a plane land, flanked by his parents whose faces we don't see. IT'S SUDDENLY AS IF THE DREAM IS HAPPENING IN REAL LIFE!!! THE SAME MOKENTS INTERSPERSED WITH "NEW" MOMENTS FROM THE POV OF YOUNG COLE who, hearing the commotion, turns just as DR. PETERS hurries by. DR. PETERS bumps into YOUNG COLE and reacts by pulling his Bulls bag close to his body and calling... DR. PETERS WATCH IT! ANGLE ON YOUNG COLE, wide eyed, watching... YOUNG COLE'S POV: a BLONDE MAN. dashing up the concourse, his moustache slipping over his lip, a pistol in his hand. YOUNG COLE'S POV: the FIRST DETECTIVE aims, looking for a clear shot in the crowded passageway. YOUNG COLE'S POV: a BRUNETTE in flashy clothes, gaudy earrings, high heels, and sun glasses SCREAMS... BRUNETTE (RAILLY) N0OOOOO0O!!!!!! YOUNG COLE'S POV: the FIRST DETECTIVE, firing! CRACK! YOUNG COLE'S POV: the BLONDE MAN, shuddering, staggering, falling. ANGLE ON YOUNG COLE, stunned, as his PARENTS try to shield him. MOTHER'S VOICE (o.s.) My God! They shot that man! Mesmerized, YOUNG COLE watches the BRUNETTE rush to the BLONDE MAN, kneel beside him, minister to his bloody wound. YOUNG COLE'S POV: the BLONDE MAN, fatalistically reaching up and tenderly touching the BRUNETTE'S cheek, touching her tears. (WE'VE SEEN THIS EXACT IMAGE IN COLE'S DREAM, A POWERFUL MOMENT, UNFOLDING UNNATURALLY SLOWLY, OPENING LIKE A FLOWER.) ANGLE ON YOUNG COLE, not able to hear their words, but he can see emotion as the BLONDE MAN tries to tell the sobbing BRUNETTE something. YOUNG COLE'S POV: PARAMEDICS, breaking the spell, pushing the BRUNETTE aside as they crouch beside the BLONDE MAN. FATHER'S VOICE (o.s.) Come along, son, this is no place for us. ANGLE ON YOUNG COLE, as his FATHER'S ARM drapes over his shoulder, steering him. YOUNG COLE turns to look back as he's led away. YOUNG COLE'S POV: the PARAMEDICS, exchanging glances, shrugging helplessly. It's too late. The BLONDE MAN is dead. YOUNG COLE sees the BRUNETTE, her face streaked with tears, suddenly turn and look around, scanning the crowd, searching for something. POLICE OFFICERS approach her, say something to her. Even as she responds, her eyes continue to scan the concourse. ANGLE ON YOUNG COLE, being hurried toward the lobby by his PARENTS (whose faces remain out of view). He can't help sneaking another look back. YOUNG COLE'S POV: POLICE, handcuffing a distracted, unresisting RAILLY. Even now, she continues to look around almost frantically. Suddenly, her gaze falls on YOUNG COLE and she reacts...she's found what she's looking for! ANGLE ON YOUNG COLE, reacting to the intensity of her look. ANGLE ON RAILLY, her eyes speaking to the boy across the crowded concourse. ANGLE ON YOUNG COLE, overwhelmed by the look. FATHER'S VOICE (o.s.) Hurry up, son. With a last lingering look toward the mysterious BRUNETTE, YOUNG COLE turns away, tears welling in his eyes. WE MOVE IN...CLOSE... CLOSE...CLOSER...on his eyes. WE WANT TO KNOW WHAT THE TEAR MEANS, BUT THERE IS NO WAY TO TELL. WE DON'T KNOW WHAT HE IS THINKING, BUT WE KNOW VERY WELL WHAT HE WILL REMEMBER! MOTHER'S VOICE (o.s.) Pretend it was just a bad dream, Jimmy. INT. 747 CABIN - DAY DR. PETERS closes the door to the overhead luggage rack containing his Chicago Bulls bag and takes his seat. Next to him, a FELLOW TRAVELER, unseen, says... FELLOW TRAVELER'S VOICE (o.s.) It's obscene, all the violence, all the lunacy. Shootings even at airports now. You might say...we're the next endangered species...human beings! CLOSE ON DR. PETERS, smiling affably, turning to his neighbor. DR. PETERS I think you're right. sir. I think you've hit the nail on the head. DR. PETERS' POV: the FELLOW TRAVELER, a silver haired gentleman in a business suit, offering his hand congenially. DR. PETERS doesn't know who this man is, but we do. It's the ASTROPHYSICIST! ASTROPHYSICIST Jones is my name. I'm in insurance. EXT. PARKING LOT/AIRPORT As YOUNG COLE'S PARENTS (seen only as sleeves and torsos) usher YOUNG COLE into their station wagon, the boy hesitates, looks back, watches a 747 climb into the sky. FADE OUT:
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+                             12 YEARS A SLAVE                               Written by                              John Ridley                              CARD: 1841                               FADE IN:                                   1 INT. TOWNHOUSE/STUDY - DAY 1           -EARLY APRIL, 1841-           We are close on a PAIR OF BLACK HANDS as they open A           FINELY WRAPPED PACKET OF VIOLIN STRINGS.           WE CUT TO the hands stringing a VIOLIN. It's not a high           end piece, but it is quite nice.           WE CUT TO a wide shot of the study. Sitting in a chair           with violin in hand is SOLOMON NORTHUP; a man in his late           twenties. Everything about Solomon, his mien and manner,           is distinguished. But he, too, seems a hardy individual.           Someone who has known manual labor in his time.           Solomon begins to lightly play his violin, as if testing           the strings, their tuning. Satisfied, Solomon begins to           play vigorously. As he does, we make a HARD CUT TO:                                    INT. HOUSE/LIVING ROOM - EVENING           We come in on a lively affair. A dinner party is being           thrown within the confines of a fairly stately house. In           attendance are EIGHT COUPLES. All are WHITE and all are           FAIRLY YOUNG, in their early twenties. The men and women           are dressed in very fine attire. We should get the sense           that for the most part they are people of means.           The furniture has been set aside in the living room. At           the moment the couples are engaged in the dancing of a           REEL.           The music they are dancing to is being played by Solomon,           having cut directly from the tune he was previously           playing. He plays with a light determination, and in no           way seems possessed with empty servitude.           Solomon concludes the reel, and the dancers break into           enthusiastic applause, which is followed by personal           thanks and congratulations from all. It should be clear           that despite their respective races there is much           admiration and appreciation for Solomon's abilities.                                    INT. NORTHUP HOUSE/BEDROOM - MORNING           It is a Saturday morning. Clad in her finest attire is           ANNE; Solomon's wife, a few years younger than he. We           see also the Northup children: MARGARET who is eight, and           ALONZO who is five. They are handsome, and well groomed           kids. Anne straightens up the children. She finishes,                                                   (CONTINUED)          2.                         3 CONTINUED: 3           she rises up and stands behind them, almost as if           preparing to pose for a portrait.           They all wait a moment, then Solomon enters the foyer.           He stands and looks admiringly at his family. ADMIRINGLY           stressed. It isn't that he doesn't have love for them,           he does as well. But in the moment, he truly admires his           greatest accomplishment: a family that is healthy and           well and provided for. He goes to his children, and           hands each a coin, then goes to Anne. Gives her a kiss           on the cheek. The children giggle at the sight.                                    EXT. STREET - DAY           Solomon and his family are out walking along the streets           and groves of Saratoga.           The streets are well populated this morning with many           people out strolling. Most are WHITE, but there are           BLACKS as well. They are FREED BLACKS who mingle fairly           easily - though not always completely - with the whites.           We see, too, a few BLACK SLAVES who travel with their           WHITE MASTERS. These pairings are largely from the south           and - despite the fact the blacks are slaves - they are           not physically downtrodden, not field hands. They are           well dressed and "leading apparently an easy life" -           comparatively speaking - as they trail their masters.           As they walk, Solomon and his family arrive to an           intersection well-worn and muddied from horse and cart           traffic. Solomon and his children easily jump across the           muck. Anne stands at the lip of the puddle, calls for           Solomon to help her across.                          ANNE           Solomon...           Solomon, turning back to his wife with a broad smile           waving her forward:                          SOLOMON           Come, Anne. Jump.           The children, now smiling as well, egg their mother on.                          ALONZO MARGARET           Jump. You can make it. I've done it. You can make           it.                                                   ANNE           I will not ruin my dress. Catch           me!           Solomon moves close, holds out his arms. Yet, there's           still just a bit of mischievousness in his eyes. Anne           gives her husband a lightly stern look to which Solomon           replies.                                                   (CONTINUED)          3.                          SOLOMON           I will catch you, Anne.                          (BEAT)           I will.           Again, lightly stern:                          ANNE           You will.           And with that Anne takes the leap. Solomon catches her,           swings her around grandly and sets her down lightly to           the delighted applause of the children. That done,           Solomon takes Anne's hand and leads her on.           As Solomon and his family make their way, among the           slaves on the street, we see one in particular; JASPER.           As he trails his MASTER he can't help but note Solomon           and his family as they enter A STORE. His intrigue of           this most handsome and harmonious group should be           obvious.           With his Master occupied, Jasper moves slyly toward the           STORE. Frozen on the spot, Jasper looks on admiringly.           Suddenly a voice barks out-           A VOICE (O.S.)           Jasper! Come on!                                    INT. STORE - LATER           We are inside the store of MR. CEPHAS PARKER; a white man           and a supplier of general goods. Solomon greets him                          WITH:                          SOLOMON           Mr. Parker.                          PARKER           Mr. Northup. Mrs. Northup.           With money in hand the Northup children move quickly           about the store looking for items to purchase.                                                   CONTINUED:           Anne looks over some silks and fabrics. Parker suggests                          TO SOLOMON:                          PARKER (CONT'D)           A new cravat, Solomon? Pure silk           by way of the French.                          SOLOMON           We are in need of a fresh carry           all for the Mrs's travels.                          PARKER           A year's passed? Off to Sandy           Hill?                          ANNE           I am.           Using a long pole, Mr. Parker fetches down a CARRY ALL           from an upper shelf.                          PARKER           Something to suit your style, but           sturdy enough for the forty miles           round trip.           Handing the Bag to Anne, she is immediately taken by it.                          ANNE           It's beautiful.                          SOLOMON                          (CAUTIOUSLY)           At what price?                          ANNE           We will take it. Children, come           see what your father has just           purchased for me.           As the children run over - chattering excitedly about the           new gift - they RUN PAST JASPER who has quietly entered           the store.           At the checkout counter sits a portrait of WILLIAM HENRY           HARRISON, the edges draped in black crepe. Before the           book sits a LEDGER. Mr. Parker asks of Solomon:                          PARKER           If you would sign our condolence           book. My hope is to find a way to           forward it to the Widow Harrison.           Sad days for the nation.                          SOLOMON           Yes, certainly. Poor Mrs. Harris           and her children. I hope brighter           times ahead.                                                   (CONTINUED)          4A.                         5 CONTINUED: (2) 5           Jasper looks scared, timid. It's as though he'd like to           engage, but is unsure of as to how. Noting Jasper, Parker                          SAYS:                          PARKER           A moment, sir, and you will be           assisted.                          SOLOMON           If we could discuss the price...                                                                                                                              (CONTINUED)          5.                         5 CONTINUED: (3) 5                          PARKER           Forgive me, Mrs. Northup. A           customer waits. Welcome, sir.           To Jasper, with good nature:                          SOLOMON           Shop well, but mind your wallet.                          PARKER           Ignore the gentleman's nonsense.           Now, may I interest you in a new           cravat? Pure silk by way of the--           Before Parker can finish, the door opens. It's Jasper's           Master, FITZGERALD. He's stern, clearly displeased.                          FITZGERALD           Jasper!                          (TO PARKER)           My regrets for the intrusion.                          SOLOMON           No intrusion.           Fitzgerald looks to Solomon. It is a cold glare as           though he wasn't speaking to, and has no interest in a           response from a black man. Looking back to Parker:                          FITZGERALD           Good day, sir.                                                  6 6           INT. NORTHUP HOUSE/DINING ROOM - EVENING           Anne, busy in the kitchen, puts the final touches to the           meal, which is just about to begin. Solomon, in the           meanwhile, sits at the head of the table reading from a           NEWSPAPER. He reads to his children solemn news of the           funeral arrangements for the recently deceased President           Harrison.                          SOLOMON           "Thus has passed away from earth           our late President."           Solomon starts from the top of the article.                          SOLOMON (CONT'D)           "During the morning, from sunrise,           the heavy bells had been pealing           forth their slow and solemn toll           while the minute guns announced           that soon the grave would receive           its trust. Our city as well as           our entire nation has been called           to weep over the fall of a great           and good man. One who was by the           wishes of a large majority of our                          (MORE) (CONTINUED)          5A.                         6 CONTINUED: 6                          SOLOMON (CONT'D)           people raised to fill the highest           place of trust within their gift.           William Henry Harrison."           A long moment of quiet, the family continuing to eat.           Then, from Margaret:                          MARGARET           Will you read it again?                          ANNE           Not just now, darling.           Anne enters the dining room and places a large chicken at           the center of the table. As she takes a seat, all heads           are bowed.                          MARGARET           For food that stays our hunger,           For rest that brings us ease,           For homes where memories linger,           We give our thanks for these.                          ALL           Amen.                          SOLOMON           Margaret, that was wonderful.                          MARGARET           Thank you, Papa.                          SOLOMON           Alonzo, do you have something to           say?                          ALONZO           Yes, I helped Momma make this.                          ANNE           Yes, and you were such a good           help. Especially making the gravy.                          MARGARET           Papa, I would very much like to           learn how to play the violin.           Could you teach me?                          ALONZO           Me too!                          MARGARET           Yes, but I asked Papa first.                          SOLOMON           Both of you, calm down. We will           have our first lesson after this           wonderful dinner. And on that           note, let's start eating.                          (CONTINUED)          5B.                         6 CONTINUED: (2) 6           The family all tuck in to their meal. The scene is one of           warmth and happiness.          6.                                                            7 INT. NORTHUP HOUSE - NIGHT 7           Solomon and Anne have fun and difficulty putting the           unruly children to bed. They are tucked in, and each           given a kiss good night. As Margaret lays down to sleep,           Anne blows out the candle darkening the room.           Silhouetted in the doorway, Solomon takes Anne in his           arms, holds her tightly as they both luxuriate in the           simple, beautiful gift that is their children.                                                  7A 7A            INT. NORTHUP HOUSE - NIGHT           Now alone together, we see Anne and Solomon wrapped in           each other's arms. Beyond being physically close,           emotionally close, they are just so very comfortable with           one another. They are the very representation of a           couple who are made for each other.                                     They look at each other for a prolonged time.                          SOLOMON                           (COMICALLY FORLORN)            Three weeks. Two days.                           ANNE            It is the custom. I wonder what            you'll do without me?                           SOLOMON            I won't stay idle.            SOLOMON's eyes lower.                           ANNE            Darling, it's good money.                           SOLOMON            If only I didn't have to share            your cooking with other people.            ANNE holds his gaze.                           ANNE            You don't.            They kiss.                                                   8 OMIT 8          7.                                                            9 EXT. NORTHUP HOUSE - MORNING 9           We are just outside the Northup house. A CARRIAGE waits           with a DRIVER. Anne and the children are dressed for           travel - Anne sporting HER NEW CARRY ALL. The Driver           loads bags into the carriage.           For her parting gift, Anne gives her husband a kiss.                          SOLOMON           Travel safely.                          ANNE           Stay safely.           Anne and the children loaded up, the Driver chides the           horse and the carriage heads off. Solomon waves a hearty           good bye to his wife and children.                                                  10 10           EXT. PARK - DAY           Solomon is now out for a stroll. He passes two men - two           in particular - who stand outside conversing with MR.           MOON himself: MERRILL BROWN and ABRAM HAMILTON. Brown           is about 40, with a countenance indicating shrewdness and           intelligence. Hamilton is closer to 25, a man of fair           complexion and light eyes. Both are finely, if perhaps a           bit garishly, dressed. Hamilton, as Solomon describes           him, slightly effeminate.           Moon, spotting Solomon:           MR. MOON           Call the Devil's name... There he           is now. Mr. Northup...! I have           two gentlemen who should make your           acquaintance. Messrs. Brown and           Hamilton.                          BROWN           Sir.           MR. MOON           Mr. Northup, these two gentlemen           were inquiring about distinguished           individuals, and I was just this           very moment telling them that           Solomon Northup is an expert           player on the violin.                          HAMILTON           He was indeed.                          SOLOMON           Mr. Moon is being overly gracious.                                                                                                     (CONTINUED)           8.                         10 CONTINUED: 10                          BROWN           Taking into consideration his           graciousness and your modesty, may           we trouble you for a moment of           your time to converse, sir?                                                  11 11           EXT. PARK/PAVILION - LATER           We make a jump to a green space. Solomon, Brown and           Hamilton are sitting at a bench.                          SOLOMON           A circus?                          HAMILTON           That is our usual employee. The           company currently in the city of           Washington.                          BROWN           Circus too constricting a word to           describe the talented and merry           band with which we travel. It is           a spectacle unlike most have ever           witnessed. Creatures from the           darkest Africa as yet unseen by           civilized man. Acrobats from the           Orient able to contort themselves           in the most confounding manners.                          HAMILTON           And I myself in aide of Mr. Brown;           an internationally renowned           practitioner in the art of           prestidigitation.                          BROWN           We are on our way thither to           rejoin the company having left for           a short time to make a small           profit from our own exhibitions.                          HAMILTON           The reason for our inquiry with           Mr. Moon...                          BROWN           Yes. We had just a devil of a           time in procuring music for our                          (MORE)                                                                                                                              (CONTINUED)           9.                         11 CONTINUED: 11                          BROWN (CONT'D)           entertainments. Men of true           talent seemingly in short supply.                          SOLOMON           Thank you sir...                          BROWN           If we could persuade you to           accompany us as far as New York...           We would give you one dollar for           each day's service and three           dollars for every night played at           our performances. In addition we           would provide sufficient pay for           the expenses of your return from           New York here to Saratoga.                          SOLOMON           You understand this is all very           sudden.                          HAMILTON           Consider it an opportunity to see                          THE COUNTRY--                          SOLOMON           It's intriguing...                          HAMILTON           If there is any way in which you           would give consideration to the           offer...           Solomon gives the whole deal one last consideration.                          SOLOMON           The payment offered is enticement           enough, as is my desire to visit           the metropolis.                          HAMILTON           We are delighted, sir. So           delighted. Though we would add           that our travel plans--                          BROWN           We would like to depart with           haste.                                                                                                                              (CONTINUED)          10.                         11 CONTINUED: (2) 11                          SOLOMON           As luck would have it, my wife and           children are traveling. I will           write her of our plans.                          BROWN           Excellent! I would beg you           collect yourself, then we may           proceed.                                                  12 12           INT. NORTHUP HOUSE/BEDROOM - LATER           Back in his house, we see Solomon packing: putting some           clothes in a travel case, and collecting his violin as           well.                                   13 INT. NORTHUP HOUSE/STUDY - LATER 13           Solomon sits down to write a letter; pen poised over           paper with already a few lines written. But Solomon           thinks better of it. WITH LITTLE THOUGHT HE TEARS THE           PAPER AND SETS IT ASIDE. WE SHOULD GET THE SENSE THAT           THE ABSOLUTE VALUE OF BEING ABLE TO COMMUNICATE BY LETTER           IS LOST ON SOLOMON. THIS FACT WILL HAVE GREAT WEIGHT IN           THE NEAR FUTURE.                                                  14 14           EXT. SOLOMON'S HOUSE/INT. COVERED CARRIAGE - LATER           Solomon enters the buggy, carpet bag in hand. Brown and           Hamilton are waiting. They ride in a covered carriage           led by a pair of "noble" horses.                          HAMILTON           No letter to post?                          SOLOMON           No need. My return will coincide           with my family's.                          BROWN           We're off then.                                                  15 15           INT. PUB - EVENING           -MID TO LATE APRIL, 1841-           We find ourselves in a roadside pub. It serves the           purpose of drinking and diversion, and little more. As           Solomon plays his violin, Brown and Hamilton perform a           decent, paired magic routine before a SPARSE AUDIENCE NOT           OF "SELECT CHARACTER."          11.                                                            16 INT. PUB - LATER 16           After the show, the pub now fairly empty, Solomon,           Hamilton and Brown sit down to eat. Hamilton and Brown           drink, but again Solomon abstains. Though Solomon           remains cool, Hamilton and Brown put up a great show of           being disappointed as Hamilton counts out what little           money was collected.                          HAMILTON           Not an additional tip from a one           of them. They expect to be           entertained for nothing.                          BROWN           And not satisfied a bit despite           giving them more than what they           paid for.                          SOLOMON           It's the national mood. There's           too much grief to make room for           frivolity.                          HAMILTON           My sincerest apologies, Solomon.           You were promised opportunity, and           you were given none.                          BROWN           The opportunity is with the           circus. A two man show poorly           promoted, what were we to expect?           But the circus bills itself.                          HAMILTON           True.                          BROWN           I have told you of the circus with           which we are connected. Creatures           from the darkest of Africa.           Acrobats from the Orient who--                          SOLOMON           You have described it, yes.                          BROWN           Yes. We need to return           immediately to Washington.           Solomon...I believe us familiar           enough now, but forgive me if I am           bold...would you consider making           the trip with us?           Solomon gives a bit of a laugh at the idea.                                                                                                     (CONTINUED)          12.                         16 CONTINUED: 16                          HAMILTON           Entertaining at pubs and inns has           it's place, but a man of your           skills deserves better.                          BROWN           Hear, hear.                          HAMILTON           And more importantly you would           build your own name and following.           The circus tends to attract those           with the highest of reputations.           An introduction here and there           could amount to a lifetime of           reward. Now would be the time.           With your family away, an           opportunity presents itself.                          BROWN           Said as fellow artists as well as           businessmen. Well worth the           effort at least.                          SOLOMON           You present a flattering           representation. As my family will           be traveling back shortly, perhaps           I might commit only to one trial           engagement.                                                   HAMILTON           Oh, very good, sir. Very good. I           cannot recall being so excited.                          BROWN           There is a practical concern. If           you are to continue on with us you           should obtain your free papers.                          SOLOMON           Not necessary.                          BROWN           Here in New York, no. But we will           be entering slave states and as a           matter of precaution... It's to           all our benefit we should not have           to come to account for your well           being.                          HAMILTON           Six shillings worth of effort           could well save much trouble           later.                                                                                                     (CONTINUED)          12A.                         16 CONTINUED: (2) 16                          BROWN           We'll go to the Customs House in           the morning, then travel on. Good           business all around.          13.                                                                           17 OMIT 17                                   18 EXT. WASHINGTON - DAY 18           The city is a swarm of people. At the moment the populace           is displaying both sorrow and anticipation. Sorrow for           the loss of the President. Many are dressed in black,           and black crepe hangs nearly everywhere. Black armbands           are frequently seen, and the occasional American Flag           hung at half mast. As well, there are portraits of           Harrison at varying locations.           Having arrived in Washington, Solomon, Hamilton and Brown           RIDE ONWARD IN THEIR CARRIAGE.                                                  19 19           INT. GADSBY HOTEL/DINNING ROOM - EVENING           A decent though crowded, boisterous and smoke-filled           joint. Very lively. Solomon, Hamilton and Brown are           among several parties drinking in the hotel's bar. As           with seemingly everywhere in the city black crepes           accessorize the background. Brown counts out $43.00 IN           COIN on the tabletop. Solomon is astonished by the           amount.                          BROWN           Forty-three dollars. All to you.                          SOLOMON           That...it's far more than my wages           amount to.                          BROWN           Consider the remainder an advance           from the circus. I cannot tell           you...I honestly wish you had seen           the expression of our director           when I described your abilities.           He was fairly overcome with           excitement.                          HAMILTON           You should have invited him to sup           with us.                          BROWN           I did. I did, but so many           preparations before the company is           to depart.                          SOLOMON                          GENTLEMEN--                          BROWN           Tomorrow we shall prepare for our           Washington debut. But tonight, our           thoughts are with the great man                          (MORE) (CONTINUED)          13A.                         19 CONTINUED: 19                          BROWN (CONT'D)           for whom this city prepared solemn           memorial. He has passed from the           praise of men to receive the           plaudit of his heavenly father. A           fine man has passed. Let us           remember him with a drink.                                                                                                                              (CONTINUED)          14.                         19 CONTINUED: (2) 19           Both Hamilton and Brown hold up their tankards to drink.           Solomon, a bit reluctantly, does the same.                          HAMILTON           Cheers.                          BROWN           Another. Our departed President           deserves all the salutation we can           imbibe.           Hamilton and Brown drink again, and Solomon does as well.                                                  20 20                          OMIT                                                  21 OMIT 21                                   22 EXT. ALLEY - LATER 22           WE MAKE A HARD CUT to Solomon outside of the Pub, in an           alley, with Brown and Hamilton in silhouette, back-lit by           the street lights. He is violently ill, hunched over and           retching horribly.                          HAMILTON           That's all right Solomon. No           shame in it. No shame at all.          15.                                                            A23 INT. GADSBY HOTEL - STAIRCASE A23           Hamilton and Brown help Solomon to lumber up the spiral           staircase, passing the occasional bemused guest.                                   23 INT. GADSBY HOTEL/SOLOMON'S ROOM - NIGHT 23           Hamilton is placing a spittoon near Solomon's bed, where           a prone and reeling Solomon lays. Hamilton sits on the           bed. As he strokes Solomon's sweaty face, Hamilton           speaks sweetly.                          HAMILTON           I'm afraid that Brown and I           haven't brought you much luck.           But rough waters bring smooth           sailing. Eventually they do.                          SOLOMON           ....So...so sorry...                          HAMILTON           Shhh. We won't hear it. We           won't.                          BROWN           Let him sleep.                          HAMILTON           Hmm. A good night's sleep. And           tomorrow...tomorrow you will feel           as well and refreshed as though           the earth were new again.           Hamilton lingers a bit too long and a bit too close to           Solomon for Brown's taste. With more than a bit of                          SIGNIFICATION:                          BROWN           Hamilton! Nothing more we can do           for him.                          HAMILTON           Such is the pity.           Displaying an odd sort of disappointment, Hamilton slinks           away from the bed. He crosses to, and BLOWS OUT A           CANDLE. The room goes dark with a blackness more than           night. Brown and Hamilton exit. Solomon lays in the           dark and moans. His sounds becoming MORE AND MORE           DISTRESSED.                                                  24 24           INT. BURCH'S DUNGEON - DAWN                                                                                                                              (CONTINUED)          16.                         24 CONTINUED: 24           Solomon stirs, then slowly awakes to his new           circumstances. He finds himself in a nearly lightless           room about twelve feet square with walls of solid           masonry. There is a thick and well-locked door, a small           window covered with iron bars and a shutter. The only           furniture is a wood stool and an old fashioned, dirty box           stove. As Solomon rises he sees that his HANDS are           CUFFED - the chain running to a bolt in the ground - and           his LEGS IN IRONS. At first Solomon is incredulous. But           that emotion is replaced first by fury and then panic.           He begins to pull on the chains, fight against them. He           does so with increasing desperation. Solomon flails           about, the sounds of the steel chains whipping and           beating against the masonry. He grunts and screams           without regard as the cuffs and irons bite into his           flesh, but he cannot pull himself free.           After several minutes of intense effort, Solomon tires,           slows, then finally he collapses. And in this collapsed           state he remains.                                                  25 25           INT. BURCH'S DUNGEON - MORNING           Solomon again awakens. He hears sounds beyond the           door...footsteps. Eventually the door opens. Enter           JAMES BURCH - who runs the slave pen - and EBENEZER           RADBURN who works as a turnkey and overseer.           As the door opens, this is the first light to seep into           the otherwise near-black room. The shine is painful to           Solomon's eyes. With no salutation whatsoever, Burch                          ASKS:                          BURCH           Well, my boy, how yah feel now?           Solomon rises up as best he can. With all the resolve he           can put together he states what he considers to be fact:                          SOLOMON           I am Solomon Northup. I am a free           man; a resident of Saratoga, New           York. The residence also of my           wife and children who are equally           free. I have papers. You have no           right whatsoever to detain me--                          BURCH           Yah not any--                          SOLOMON           And I promise you - I promise -           upon my liberation I will have           satisfaction for this wrong.                          BURCH           Resolve this. Produce your           papers.                          (CONTINUED)          17.                         25 CONTINUED: 25           With confidence Solomon goes to the pocket of his           trousers. He searches one, then the other, but they are           empty. He feels quickly about himself, but clearly his           papers have been lifted. Solomon's confidence shifts,           but to resolve rather than fear. Papers or none, he will           not be easily cowed. Still, Burch asserts:                          BURCH (CONT'D)           Yah no free man. And yah ain't           from Saratoga. Yah from Georgia.           A moment. Not a word spoken among the trio, but Solomon           and Burch do some serious eye fucking, neither man           yielding. Burch says again:                          BURCH (CONT'D)           Yah ain't a free man. Yah nuthin'           but a Georgia runaway.           Burch waits for Solomon to acquiesce. Solomon does not           in any way. Both men exchange a long and daring stare.           The two are clearly at an intellectual stand off. Burch,           leans to Radburn, SAYS SOMETHING WHICH WE CANNOT           DISTINGUISH.           Radburn walks off-camera and returns with a pair of           "instruments:" a PADDLE - the flattened portion, which is           about the size in circumference of two open hands, and           bored with a small auger in numerous places. He also           carries a WHIP. A cat-o-nine tails; a large rope of many           strands. The strands unraveled and a knot tied at the           extremity of each. Burch says again:                          BURCH (CONT'D)           Yah a runaway nigger from Georgia.           Solomon stands with a quiet stoicism. He will say           nothing of the kind.           As that is the case, Solomon is seized by both men. He is           pulled over the bench, face downward, shirt still on his           back. Radburn then STEPS ON HIS CHAINS, holding Solomon           down in a bent position.           With no preamble, Burch begins to beat Solomon about the           back with the paddle. Burch strikes him wordlessly - no           taunting, no sneering. Solomon screaming against each           blow. His back immediately SWELLING WITH WELTS AND           BRUISES.           This beating continues on and on and on until quite           literally Burch WEARS HIMSELF OUT with the effort.           Dripping in sweat and panting:                                                                                                                              (CONTINUED)          18.                         25 CONTINUED: (2) 25                          BURCH (CONT'D)           Yah still insist yah a free man?                          SOLOMON           ...I...I insist...           Burch regrets hearing this. Not from sympathy, but           rather because he's nearly too tired to go back to           beating Solomon. Yet, as if returning to work, Burch           returns to pummeling Solomon. Burch punctuates the blows                          WITH:                          BURCH           Yah a slave. Yah a Georgia slave!           Burch continues to strike, and strike... This time until           the paddle SNAPS IN HALF. Burch then GRABS THE WHIP.           Hardly missing a stroke, he whips Solomon relentlessly,           the flails cutting into Solomon's back. Again, Burch's           arm tires before Solomon "breaks."                          BURCH (CONT'D)           Are yah slave?                          SOLOMON           ...No...           Burch goes back to whipping and whipping, and whipping...           SOLOMON'S BACK IS NOW TORN OPEN WITH LACERATIONS AND           OOZING WITH BLOOD. Finally Burch can whip no more. He           pours sweat and sucks air, leaving himself just enough           energy to take up his instruments and EXIT. Radburn           lingers for a moment. He takes the irons off Solomon's           legs. Opens the window some. As he makes these           gestures, in a patronizing and confidential manner, one           wrought with poor sincerity::                          RADBURN           I seen a good many of the black           kind just where yah're. Sick.           Make me sick. Often times the           situation was resolved, and I           think; what was all the beatin'           and abuse for? Things end as they           should, and the violence was for           naught. So why cause trouble when           they ain't no cause for it? Be of           a cooperative nature, and things           don't need be particularly           unpleasant.                          (BEAT)           Or, yah can carry on like yah           been, and I fear yah won't live to           see Sunday next.           With that thought, Radburn exits. Solomon rests. But to           rest seems like giving in to defeat. He begins pulling                                                                            (CONTINUED)          19.                         25 CONTINUED: (3) 25           on his chains. But for all his struggling, the chain           loosens none. Solomon calls out:                          SOLOMON           Help me! Someone help me!           If anyone at all hears him, they do not respond. Solomon           continues his plaintive cry for assistance.                                                  26 26           EXT. BURCH'S DUNGEON - CONTINUOUS           Beginning with a TIGHT SHOT on the shuttered, barred           window of Burch's dungeon - Solomon's cries barely eking           beyond the space - THE CAMERA PULLS BACK from the           building, onto the city until clearly visible is the           Nation's capital. It's icon's of freedom - the WHITE           HOUSE, the CAPITOL BUILDING - fairly mocking Solomon's           captivity. Simultaneously, barren at the early hour and           cluttered with litter and the remains of previous day's           procession, the city is a bleak and forboding sight.                                                  27 27           INT. BURCH'S DUNGEON - DAY           IT IS DAY NOW. The door to the yard is thrown open. The           harsh white light floods all over Solomon.                                                  28 OMITTED 28                                                                                                                              (CONTINUED)          20.                         28 CONTINUED: 28                                                                                     29 MOVED TO SC. A32 29          21.                                                            30 EXT. BURCH'S DUNGEON/YARD - DAY 30           It is a yard just beyond Burch's. The yard is hemmed in           by a brick wall. In the yard are two men, and a boy.           The oldest is CLEMENS RAY a man of about 25 years of age.           He is well educated. JOHN WILLIAMS is about 20 years           old. He is born and bred a slave, is lacking in           education, and overwhelmed with fear of the situation.           Finally there is a child about 10 years of age who           answers to the name of Randall.           Solomon, Clemens Ray, John and Randall ALL STAND NAKED.           Though they try to cover their privates a bit, they are           all aware of the uselessness of modesty. Radburn is           present. He has before him A COUPLE OF BUCKETS OF COLD           WATER. He throws water on the naked men.                          RADBURN           Go on. Warsh up.           The men, soaking in humility as well as water, begin to           scrub with A SINGLE BAR OF HARSH SOAP passed among them.                          RADBURN (CONT'D)           The boy, too. Get him clean.           Solomon takes some soap and rubs it over Randall.                          RADBURN (CONT'D)           Scrub now. Git 'em clean.           Solomon scrubs harder. Randall - clearly cold and           uncomfortable - appeals to Solomon.                          RANDALL           Do you know when my Mama will           come?                          RADBURN           Hush him up!           Seeing Solomon has no answer for him, Randall begins to           cry.                          RANDALL           Mama ..! Mama! Is she going to           come?           Doing all he can to spare the child from a certain                          BEATING:                          SOLOMON           Quiet, please.           Randall is becoming nearly inconsolable.                          RANDALL           Mama!                                                   (CONTINUED)          21A.                         30 CONTINUED: 30                                                             Saying anything to keep the boy quiet:                          SOLOMON           Your mother will come, I swear she           will, but you must be silent.           Please. Be silent!           On the seeming strength of Solomon's promise, Randall           goes silent. Solomon looks to Radburn, who just throws           water on the soapy men.          22.                                                                           31 OMITTED 31                                   A32 INT. BURCH'S DUNGEON - EVENING A32           Radburn brings food in to Solomon; a shriveled piece of           meat and some water. Just barely enough to sustain           Solomon. Radburn also has a SHIRT.                          RADBURN           That old thing of yours is just           rags and tatters. Need something           proper to wear.           Solomon doesn't move for the clothing.                          RADBURN (CONT'D)           Go'won. Put it on.           With slow defiance, Solomon does as instructed. He           removes what remains of his old shirt - the one he was           wearing when first kidnapped - and puts on the one           Radburn brought him. The shirt's ill-fitting and dirty.           Despite that, Radburn says:                          RADBURN (CONT'D)           There. Tha's fine. Tha's fine.           Got no gratitude?                          SOLOMON           ...Thank you...                          RADBURN           Yah keep bein' proper, yah'll see           how things work out.           Radburn starts to take the old shirt.                          SOLOMON           No! It was from my wife.                          RADBURN           Rags and tatters. Rags and           tatters.           Taking the shirt, the "rags and tatters" as he calls           them, Radburn exits, locking the door behind him.           Solomon sits with the plate of food before him. He           pushes the plate away rather than eat.                                                  32 32           EXT. BURCH'S DUNGEON/YARD - DAY           Sitting together out in the yard are Clemens Ray, John           and Solomon. Over time they have drawn trustworthy           enough to speak with one another. At the moment Solomon           is still trying to apply reason to the situation.                                                                            (CONTINUED)          22A.                         32 CONTINUED: 32           Randall wanders about in the background. As usual, he           calls out for his "Mama." By now, however, his calls           should feel like little more than background noise.                          SOLOMON           This can't stand. It is a crime.           I believe now someone lay in wait           for me. My drink was altered...           We are free men. They have...they           have no right to hold us.           Solomon waits for a response from the others. They give           none.                          SOLOMON (CONT'D)           We need a sympathetic ear. If we           have an opportunity to explain our                          SITUATION--                          CLEMENS           Who in your estimation is that           sympathetic ear?                          SOLOMON           The two men I journeyed with. I'm           certain they're making inquires at           this very moment.                          CLEMENS           I would be just as certain they           are counting the money paid for           delivering you to this place.                          SOLOMON           They were not kidnappers. They           were artists. Fellow performers.                          CLEMENS           You know that? You know for           certain who they were?                                                                                                                              (CONTINUED)          23.                         32 CONTINUED: (2) 32           The fact is, Solomon can't say for certain.                          CLEMENS (CONT'D)           How I reckon the situation:           whatever past we had...well,           that's done now. The reality to           come is us being transported           southward. New Orleans if I were           to venture. After we arrive,           we'll be put to market. Beyond           that... Well, once in a slave           state I suppose there's only one           outcome.                          JOHN           No.                          CLEMENS           I don't say that to give you empty           agitation, John...                          JOHN           For y'all. For y'all they ain't           nothin' but that! But John was'n           kidnapped. John bein' hold as           debt, tha's all. Massa pay his           debt, and John be redeemed--                          CLEMENS           Boy, our masters will not come for           us.           John is nearly beside himself with panic.                          JOHN           Now John's...John's sorry for           y'all, but tha's how it be. Where           y'all goin', yah goin' witout           John. Massa take care of me.           Massa take care.                          RANDALL           Mama!           All three men turn and look. At the moment Randall           doesn't call out emptily. At the door to the yard is           Burch along with two women. One in her late twenties;           ELIZA. She is "arrayed in silk, with rings upon her           fingers, and golden ornaments suspended from her ears."           Though a slave, Eliza was a mistress and has - to this           point - lived well. This is reflected in her airs and           her speech. The other is a little girl, light in skin           color, of about seven or eight. This is EMILY, Randall's           half sister.           As she enters the yard Eliza squeals with high delight,           then breaks into tears of both sorrow and joy. Clearly           this is mother and child being reunited.                                                   (CONTINUED)          24.                         32 CONTINUED: (3) 32           As Burch locks the yard door, Eliza clutches Randall.           She is overcome with emotion.                          ELIZA           My darling. My sweet, sweet baby.                                                  33 33           INT. BURCH'S DUNGEON - EVENING           Later in the evening. Solomon now shares his space with           Eliza and her children. As the children rest, Eliza           drops into a lament as if pleading her case to Solomon           who lends a sympathetic ear.                                                             Both slyly, and with a bit of aggrandizement:                          ELIZA           When I say I had my master's           favor, you understand. Above even           his own wife, I had it. Do you           know that he built a house for me?           Built it on the sole condition           that I reside there with him. The           added promise in time I would be           emancipated. And for nine years           he blessed me with every comfort           and luxury in life.           Displaying the finery she still wears:                          ELIZA (CONT'D)           Silks and jewels and even servants           to wait upon us. Such was our           life, and the life of this           beautiful girl I bore for him.           But Master Berry's daughter...she           always looked at me with an unkind           nature. She hated Emily no matter           she and Emily were flesh of flesh.           As Master Berry's health failed,           she gained power in the household.           Eventually, I was brought to the           city on the false pretense of our           free papers being executed. If I           had known what waited; to be sent           south? I swear I would not have           come here alive.                                                                                                                              (CONTINUED)          25.                         33 CONTINUED: 33           Eliza turns to her children:                          ELIZA (CONT'D)           My poor, poor babies.                                   34 INT. BURCH'S DUNGEON - NIGHT 34           It's the deep of night, all are sleeping. A KEY TURNS IN           THE LOCK AND THE DOOR OPENS. Burch enters with Radburn           beside him. Both carry LANTERNS with them. Hardly           giving Solomon and Eliza a moment to rouse themselves,                          BURCH DEMANDS:                          BURCH           Come on. Get yer blankets. Get           up.           Sensing that things will not end well:                          ELIZA           No, please don't...                          BURCH           I don't want to hear yer talk.           Get in the yard.                          ELIZA           Please...                          RADBURN           Ain't no need for all that.           Putting hand to Randall's head.                          RADBURN (CONT'D)           Jus takin' a li'l trip, tha's all.           Don't want to frighten the           chil'ren none over a li'l boat           ride, do yah?           Eliza gives a shake of her head to the negative.                          RADBURN (CONT'D)           Alright then. Git yerselves up.                                                  35 35           EXT. BURCH'S DUNGEON/YARD - NIGHT           We now have Solomon, Clemens, John, Eliza and the           children. They are being cuffed together. As John is           cuffed, he pulls back. Scared. He beings in                          DESPERATION:                          JOHN           John's massa gunna pay his debt.           John's massa gunna come for him.                                                   (CONTINUED)          26-28.                         35 CONTINUED: 35           Not wanting to hear any of this talk, Burch strikes John           several times in the head with a sap-like instrument.           Weakened, but again:                          JOHN (CONT'D)           John's massa gunna--           Burch again strikes John until he's quiet. Curiously,           Emily and Randall don't even flinch. Why would they?           They are quite used to seeing this kind of violence.                          BURCH           Not a word out of none a yah. Not           a word.           Burch and Radburn begin driving the shackled slaves from           the yard.                                                  A36 A36           EXT. BURCH'S DUNGEON/INT. WAGON/FLAT BED - LATER           The slaves are lead to a flat bed of the horse and           carriage. They are made to lay down side-by-side. We stay           with them as some sort of cloth is flung over them,           obscuring and blacking out their view.           At that moment, the screen is BLACKENED and we hear the           sound of the cart moving in haste.                                                  36 36           EXT. WASHINGTON, D.C. DOCK - NIGHT           Led by Burch, the group of slaves arrive to a dock. They           are taken quickly up a gangplank and onto the steamboat           ORLEANS as the CAPTAIN, CREW and a MULATTO WOMAN WATCH,           but do not interfere.                                                  37 37           INT. ORLEANS/HOLD - CONTINUOUS           The slaves are hustled down one at a time into a dark,           dank hold among barrels and boxes of freight...and RATS.           Burch comes around and "checks" the chains; makes sure           they are all secure and locked.           Satisfied, he heads up out of the hold. Radburn follows.           Alone in the dark in the hold, John cries, as does Eliza.           Solomon stares down Burch for as long as he can, as if           wishing bad things. As if wanting to exact some measure           of revenge. But the greater insult is that Burch and           Radburn, engaged in conversation, take no notice of           Solomon whatsoever. He is that insignificant to them.           That fact, that reality, makes Solomon boil with a rage           he cannot express in words.                                                  38 38                          OMIT          26-28A.                                                            38A INT. STEAMBOAT - NIGHT 38A            We are now in the engine room of the steamboat, pistons            pumping, black oily cogs turning, the power and the            rhythm are both aggressive and hypnotic. A shovel comes            into view, feeding the furnace.                                    38B EXT. SEA - DUSK/DAWN 38B            The steamboat is en route between Washington and Norfolk.            We tilt up from the violent water foam to the powering            paddles of the boat.                                    39 MOVED TO 43A 39           29.                                                                           40 OMIT 40                                                   41 OMIT 41                                                  42 OMIT 42                                   43 INT. ORLEANS/HOLD - LATER - NIGHT 43            Down in the hold the slaves eat, pray. The MULATTO WOMAN           moves among them, catching ELIZA's eye.                          MULATTO WOMAN           Cheer up and don't be so cast           down.                                     Clemens Ray and Solomon watch as the Mulatto Woman           returns to top deck, the trapdoor locked firmly behind            her. Clemens Ray turns to Solomon with a deadpan stern            expression.                           CLEMENS RAY            If you want to survive, do and say            as little as possible. Tell no            one who you really are and tell no            one that you can read and write.                                                                                                                               (CONTINUED)           30.                         43 CONTINUED: 43           Clemens Ray turns away from Solomon, eyes lost into the            distance.            CLEMENS RAY (CONT'D)                           (SLOWLY)            Unless you want to be a dead            nigger.            Solomon's face is one of a confused despair.                                    43A EXT. NORFOLK/PORT - DAY 43A            We see a flat overhead view of the port of Norfolk.            Sardines are laid out to dry in rows, glittering in the            day's sun as if like silver pennies. A chain of slaves            enter the frame and are led one by one on to the docked            vessel.            MORE SLAVES - about 15 in all, of various genders and            ages - are brought on board. Chief among them is ROBERT            who fights viciously with his captors. "With all haste"            is shoved down into the hold.            Having taken their cargo as far as they care or need to,            Burch and Radburn depart. They do so without a word            spoken to Solomon or the others.            With this new and sizable batch of slaves on board, the            crew again CASTS OFF, and the Orleans makes its way            again.                                    44 INT. ORLEANS/GALLEY 44           Solomon is back cleaning in the galley. As he cleans, he           again watches Robert prep food. Robert's skill with a           knife is not lost on Solomon.                                   45 INT. HOLD - LATER - DAY 45            The hold is packed tighter now.            Muzzle covering his face, Robert is shackled with his            hands tied behind his back. Solomon and Clemens Ray look            on.            A sailor descends the staircase and takes off Robert's            muzzle, shooting him a forbidding look. He leaves.                                                                                                                               (CONTINUED)           31.                         45 CONTINUED: 45                          CUT TO:            Solomon, Clemens Ray and Robert, now in mid-conversation.                           ROBERT            I say we fight.            Robert delivers this in a hushed voice.                           SOLOMON            The crew is fairly small. If it            were well planned, I believe            they could be strong armed.                           CLEMENS RAY            Three can't stand against a whole            crew. The rest here are niggers,            born and bred slaves. Niggers            ain't got the stomach for a fight,            not a damn one.                           ROBERT            All I know, we get where we            travelling we'll wish we'd died            trying.                           CLEMENS RAY            Survival is not about certain            death, it is about keeping your            head down.            Solomon looks at Clemens Ray, agitated -- his voice now            raised above the previous whispers. Grits his teeth.                           SOLOMON            Days ago I was with my family, in            my home. Now you tell me all is            lost. "Tell no one who I really            am" if I want to survive. I don't            want to survive, I want to live.                                                   46 OMIT 46                                                   47 OMIT 47                                    47A EXT. SEA - DAY 47A            The steamboat paddles pound the water, filling the whole            frame. The vessel ploughs on south.           32.                                                                           48 OMIT 48                                    48A INT. HOLD - NIGHT 48A            The slaves are asleep.            A Sailor descends the ladder approaching Eliza. He bends            down and attempts to wake the daughter by caressing her            face.            Solomon rouses, and looks across to witness the scene.            From his vantage point, we see Eliza stand to interrupt            the Sailor. The Sailor looks at Eliza, Eliza looks back            at him. Knowingly she leads him off into a corner of the            hold.            As she does so, Eliza passes Robert who jumps up to stand            between Eliza and the Sailor. Stretching out a firm hand            to the sailor's shoulder, Robert's look says "No you            don't."            Clemens Ray is awake now, watching.            There is an odd moment of stillness between the Sailor            and Robert, an impasse.            We focus on the Sailor's face. Slowly, a greasy smile            erupts upon it. Back now to Robert's face, a look of            incomprehension.            Robert looks down. We follow his gaze to the knife that            has already been jabbed unseen between Robert's ribs.            The sailor withdraws the bloody blade.            A wide shot of the two men. Robert collapses to the            floor like a sack of potatoes.            Clemens Ray and Solomon react. Complete horror.                                                                            49 OMIT 49                                                                            50 OMIT 50           33.                                                            51 EXT. ORLEANS/DECK - DAY 51            We are back up on the deck of the ship. SOLOMON AND            CLEMENS RAY dump ROBERT's body over the side of the ship.            Solomon watches as the body churns for a moment in the           wake of the vessel... then sinks beneath the water.            Clemens Ray, with no sentimentality:                          CLEMENS RAY            Better off. Better than us.                                    51A EXT. NEW ORLEANS HARBOUR - DAY 51A            Solomon's POV from the back of the steamship of Robert's            corpse slipping gracefully into the water.                                    52 EXT. NEW ORLEANS/PORT - DAY 52           -MID MAY, 1841-           A white male, fairly smart, with broad shoulders, stands                          AND BELLOWS-                          RAY           Clemens...! Clemens Ray!           We are in the port of New Orleans, one of the busiest in           the young nation.           On the dock itself there is a bustle of activity as goods           are loaded and unloaded from a various ships. It's a bit           of controlled chaos as a VARIETY OF LANGUAGES are spoken           and shouted while slaves are shuttled from the Orleans to           a holding pen. Solomon, and all the slaves are           overwhelmed by all that is happening around them.           Two men - among many - are awaiting the arrival of the           Orleans. They are JONUS RAY - Clemens Ray's master - and           DAVIS who is the solicitor of Mr. Ray. They both look           like they mean business. The moment the gangplank is           laid, Ray yells for Clemens.           Clemens, seeing his master, is nearly crazy with delight.           He is, uncharacteristically beside himself. Ironically,           his master now represents "freedom."                                                                                                                              (CONTINUED)          34.                         52 CONTINUED: 52                          CLEMENS           ...My master... Master Ray, sir!           Master Ray!           Clemens pulls on his chain. As he does so, Several other           slaves collapse in his effort to reach his master, like           dominos.                          RAY           Who is in charge of this vessel?                          CAPTAIN           I am the Captain.                          RAY           I am Mr. Jonus Ray. My solicitor           has documentation verifying that           the Negro named Clemens Ray is my           property.           As he reads PAPERS handed to him by Davis:                          CAPTAIN           I know nothing of--                          RAY           You are ordered by court to return           that property immediately, or face           charges of thievery.                          CAPTAIN           My duty is to transport goods. I           am not responsible for their           origin.                          RAY           Remove these contraptions!           To his mate:                          CAPTAIN           Free him!           Biddee does as ordered. Once free, Clemens hugs and sobs           over his master as would a lost and then found child.                          RAY           It's all well, now, Clemens. You           will return home with me.           (to the Captain)           Consider this notice and warning.                                                                                                                              (CONTINUED)          35.                         52 CONTINUED: (2) 52           Ray, Davis and Clemens head away. Solomon seems both           desperate and hopeful of some aid from Clemens and Ray.           But there is none forthcoming. Ray and Clemens continue           on - Clemens not so much as even looking back in           Solomon's direction. Solomon stands and watches as they           fade into the environs and are gone from sight.                                                  53 53           EXT. NEW ORLEANS/PORT - LATER           Hours later. The slaves sit off on one side of the dock,           baking in the sun, awaiting their fate.           THEOPHILUS FREEMAN - a tall, thin-faced man with light           complexion and a little bent - moves along the deck           calling out names from a list. The slaves STAND as they           are called.                          FREEMAN           Oren. John. Lethe. Eliza.           Randall. Emily. Platt... Platt!           Solomon does not respond. Freeman looks around. He           spots Solomon.                          FREEMAN (CONT'D)           Captain, who shipped that nigger?                          CAPTAIN           Burch.           Freeman steps to Solomon. He gives him a looking over.                          FREEMAN           Stand up.           Solomon does as told.                          FREEMAN (CONT'D)           You fit the description given.           Why didn't you answer when called?                          SOLOMON           My name is not Platt. My name is--           Freeman strikes Solomon hard across the face.                          FREEMAN           Your name is Platt, and I will           teach you your name so that you           don't forget.           (to the Captain)           Shackle my niggers. Get them to           my cart.          36.                                                            54 I/E. CART - LATER 54           Solomon is carted off along with the rest of "Burch's           stock:" Eliza and her children, John and Solomon.           As they move off from the port in a make-shift cart, it           opens up to the frenzic, busy port.           For the first time Solomon sees true and severe slavery.           These are not visiting servants, such as Jasper was back           in Saratoga. These are humans held in strict bondage -           herded like cattle, chained together as if in a "chain           gang." Slaves are evident not merely by the color of           their skin. The residue and accessories of slavery are           everywhere. Blacks almost universally display scars -           THICK AND HEAVY DEAD TISSUE FROM LACERATIONS LEFT           UNTREATED - brands, and are often missing limbs. Blacks           are held in all types of shackles, from simple chains to           elaborate bindings, to neck collars that are spiked.           Some are muzzled or forced to wear bits. One slave is           attacked by a dog and the slave owner. The dog pulls and           tears at the slave's clothes. THESE IMAGES SHOULD BE A           CONSTANT AND CONTINUAL CANVAS TO THE PIECE. EVER           PRESENT, BUT NOT REALLY COMMENTED ON AS THEY ARE THE           NORM. They should be a reminder that not only are people           being oppressed, but that there is an entire system of           oppression in place.                                                  55 55           EXT. FREEMAN'S SLAVE PEN - LATER           "Burch's stock:" arrive at Freeman's slave pen. They are           led in by Freeman and his house slave CAPE - a mulatto.           The yard is enclosed by plank, standing upright, with           ends sharpened instead of brick walls as with Burch's.           Including Burch's group there are about 30 SLAVES in the           pen.           Solomon and the others look around and see nothing but           downtrodden and despondent faces. Three men sit next to           each other with muzzles and quietly stare back at this           new batch of arrivals. One attempts to speak, but all           that comes out is a muffled, unintelligible sound.                                                  56 56           EXT. FREEMAN'S SLAVE PEN - LATER           The slaves are in various states of undress, men and           women alike. They clean themselves, scrubbing with soap           and water. Women wash their hair. Men shave, skin is           oiled. Freeman walks among them, inspecting them as they           primp themselves.                                                  57 57           INT. FREEMAN'S SLAVE PEN - LATER           The slaves are given new clothes by Cape. The men are           given hat, coat, shirt, pants and shoes. The women                                                   (CONTINUED)          37.                         57 CONTINUED: 57           frocks of calico and handkerchiefs to bind about their           heads.                                   58 INT. FREEMAN'S/GREAT ROOM - LATER 58           It's an odd, ironic scene. The slaves are in a large and           fairly ornate room within Freeman's house. CAPE PLAYS A           PAINFUL TUNE ON A FIDDLE - background music - as Freeman           tries to line up A SMALL GROUP OF THE SLAVES, he becomes           less patient, jittery and nervous, knowing that his           livelihood is at stake, he wants his slaves to make a           good impression. Sometimes his patience gets the better           of him, and his hands move freely in direction of the           slaves.           The business has the air of an etiquette class, though           what Freeman is trying to do is coach the slaves into           being more "sellable." He works with them in groups of           five or so.                          FREEMAN           Tallest to smallest, understand?           Are you taller than her? Then           you'd go before her. Do it.           Move.           (to the group)           Keep your heads up. A sense of           direction; that's how you look           smart. None of those saucer eyes.           Rid yourself of that smile. Look           like a goddamn grinnin' monkey.           Put the least thought in your           head. C'mon, now. Think of           somethin'.           Weary of Cape's playing, Solomon moves to Cape. He asks:                          SOLOMON           Can you play a reel?                          CAPE                          (DISMISSIVE)           Nah. I don't know no reel.                          SOLOMON           If I may...?           Cape looks to Freeman:                          FREEMAN           He sick of your caterwaulin'. Let           him play, boy. Let's see what he           can do.           Cape reluctantly hands the fiddle over to Solomon.           Solomon tunes it a bit, then begins to play. His fingers           stiff at first, he takes a moment to warm up. But as he           warms up he is, despite the circumstances, masterful.                          (CONTINUED)          38.                         58 CONTINUED: 58           THE SLAVES ALL CLAP ALONG. SOME DANCE ALONG. All admire           his work. Freeman chief among them.                          FREEMAN (CONT'D)           Keep on. Keep on.           Solomon continues to play.                          FREEMAN (CONT'D)           A damn sight better than you,           Cape. A damn sight better.           Cape looks bitter as Solomon plays on.                                                  59 59           INT. FREEMAN'S/GREAT ROOM - DAY           We come in on an odd sort of sight; A JUMBLE OF ACTIVITY.           CUSTOMERS have come to see Freeman's lot - the room all           gussied up with flowers. Freeman moves among them,           displaying them as a rancher would prize chattel.           Freeman makes the slaves hold their heads up - "look           smart" as he previously admonished them. They are made           to walk briskly back and forth while customers feel their           hands and arms and bodies, turn them about and ask what           skills they possess. The Customers routinely make the           slaves open their mouths and show their teeth.           At times a MALE or FEMALE SLAVE are taken off to the           side, stripped and inspected more minutely.           One of them, John, is stripped and inspected.           Cape, as he's done previously, plays his fiddle.           A buyer - WILLIAM FORD; a man of middle age, and an           attractive nature in his tone of voice - consults a list           he's drawn up and asks of Freeman:                          FORD           What is the price for the ones           Platt and Eliza?                          FREEMAN           A thousand for Platt; he is a           nigger of talent. Seven hundred           for Eliza. My fairest price.                          FORD           You will accept a note?                          FREEMAN           As always, from you, Mr. Ford.           Eliza is beside herself as it seems she is about to be           separated from her family. She begs of Ford:                                                                                                     (CONTINUED)          39.                         59 CONTINUED: 59                          ELIZA           Please, sir... Please don't           divide my family. Don't take me           unless you take my children as           well.                          FREEMAN           Eliza, quiet!                          ELIZA           You will have the most faithful           slave in me, sir. The most           faithful slave that has ever           lived, but I beg that you do not           separate us.           A BUYER interrupts the skirmish and approaches Freeman           and delivers coolly, eyeing Randall-                          BUYER           Your price for the child?                          FREEMAN           You see how fit the boy is. Like           ripe fruit. He will grow into a           fine beast.           Randall is made to run, and jump by FREEMAN - exhibiting           his activity and his condition.                          FREEMAN (CONT'D)           Six hundred, and that's fair and           final.                          BUYER           Done.           He reaches into his waistcoat and retrieves his wallet,           counting out six hundred dollars, placing them into the           already extended hand of Freeman.           Ford sees the distress and panic in Eliza; it visibly           touches him. He now tries to buy EMILY to console her.                          FORD           How much for the little girl? You           have no need for her. One so           young will bring you no profit.                          FREEMAN           I will not sell the girl. There's           heaps 'n piles of money to be made           off her. She is a beauty. One of           the regular bloods. None of your           thick-lipped, bullet headed,           cotton picking niggers.                                                                                                     (CONTINUED)          39A.                         59 CONTINUED: (2) 59                          FORD           Her child, man. For God's sake,           are you not sentimental in the           least?                          FREEMAN           My sentimentality stretches the           length of a coin. Do you want the           lot, Mr. Ford, or do you pass on           them all?                          FORD           I will take the ones Platt and           Eliza.           Eliza grips her children tight.                          ELIZA           I will not go without my children.           You will not take them from me.                                                                                                                              (CONTINUED)          40.                         59 CONTINUED: (3) 59           As if to prove her wrong, Freeman puts a foot to Eliza           and harshly kicks her away from Emily.                          ELIZA (CONT'D)           Please, don't. No!           Freeman, to Cape:                          FREEMAN           Take her out of here.           Cape DROPS HIS FIDDLE, begins to pull Eliza away toward           the door of the room, but her screaming and pleading do           not abate. IT IS CLEARLY UNSETTLING TO THE OTHER BUYERS.                          FREEMAN (CONT'D)           Keep her quiet.           Cape tries to muzzle her with his hand, but Eliza           continues to scream for her children as Emily does for           her mother.                          EMILY           Mama... Mama!                          FREEMAN                          (TO SOLOMON)           Play something! Get the fiddle           and play.           As ordered, Solomon takes up Cape's fiddle and begins to           play lightly.                          FREEMAN (CONT'D)           Play!           Solomon plays harder and more loudly. Still, it is           barely enough to drown out Eliza's cries. Freeman gets           the other slaves to clap along with Solomon's playing.           Emily frees herself and runs back, crying but endeavoring           to be strong-                          EMILY           Don't cry, Mama. I will be a good           girl. Don't cry. I will keep my           head up and I will look smart. I           will always look smart.                          FREEMAN           Make merry, all of you! Goddamn           it, Cape! Keep her quiet or it's           your damned hide I will take it           out of!           Cape pulls a rag, stuffs it in Eliza's mouth. Clamping           both hands over her mouth, he hauls Eliza from the room           by the head. IT IS AN UGLY, UGLY SCENE.          40A.                                                            60 EXT. FORD PLANTATION - LATER 60           Driven in a horse drawn wagon by Ford are Solomon and           Eliza. Eliza is sullen to say the least. With the loss           of her two children she has dropped into a depression she           will not be able to pull out of.                                                                                                                              (CONTINUED)          41.                         60 CONTINUED: 60           They arrive to the FORD PLANTATION. The main house of           the plantation - the GREAT HOUSE as they are commonly           called - is sizable. Two stories high with a piazza in           front. In the rear are also a log kitchen, poultry           house, corncribs and several slave cabins. The           plantation is described as "a green spot in the           wilderness."           With the arrival of Master Ford there is a flurry of           activity - the "excitement" of a new delivery. MR.           CHAPIN, a white overseer, instructs a slave named SAM.                          CHAPIN           Sam, call to the Mistress.                          SAM           Mistress! Mistress, they arrivn'.           MISTRESS FORD EXITS the house - along with her attending           slave, RACHEL, who is a cook AS WELL AS SAM'S WIFE - and           travels to her husband, kisses him, then laughingly                          INQUIRES:           MRS. FORD           Did you bring all those niggers?           Two of them? You got two?                          FORD           Make me something to eat, dear.           The day has taken it from me.           MRS. FORD           Let me get a look at them...                          FORD           Mr. Chapin--           MRS. FORD                          (RE: ELIZA)           This one's cryin'. Why is this           one cryin'?                          FORD           Separated from her children.           MRS. FORD           Oh, dear.                          FORD           It couldn't be helped.           MRS. FORD           Poor, poor woman.                          FORD           Mr. Chapin, tomorrow you will take           these two up to the mill and start           them workin'. For now make them                          (MORE)                          (CONTINUED)          42.                         60 CONTINUED: (2) 60                          FORD (CONT'D)           adequate; fix them a meal, and           have them rest themselves.                          CHAPIN           Yes, sir.           (to the slaves:)           C'mon, now. C'mon. Don't dawdle.           MRS. FORD                          (TO ELIZA:)           Something to eat and some rest;           your children will soon enough be           forgotten.                                   A61A A61A            EXT. FORD'S WORK AREA - DAY           John Tibeats, stands before the slaves. Chapin hovers to            one side.                           TIBEATS            My name is John Tibeats, William            Ford's chief carpenter. You will            refer to me as Master.            Tibeats nods in Chapin's direction:                           TIBEATS (CONT'D)            Mister Chapin is the overseer on            this plantation. He is            responsible for all of Ford's            property. You too will refer to            him as Master.            This plantation covers many            hundreds of acres, and you will            traverse the Texas road between            the forest site and the sawmill in            double time. Any clever nigger on            that path that gets a little            lightfooted, I will remind him            that on one side men and            bloodhounds patrol the border and            on the other the bayou provides a            hard living, with alligators and            little to eat or drink that won't            kill you. No slave has escaped            here with his life. You're here            to work niggers, so let's            commence.            Tibeats begins to sing the song "Run Nigger, Run"            mockingly.            We cut to Solomon chopping logs and into the montage of            the slaves doing manual labor and arriving back to the            sawmill.            Lyrics for "Run Nigger, Run"                           (CONTINUED)          42A.          A61A CONTINUED: A61A           Oh run nigger run well the pattyroller will get you            Run nigger run well you better get away            Run nigger run well the pattyroller will get you            Run nigger run well you better get away            Nigger run nigger flew            Nigger tore his shirt in two            Run run the pattyroller will get you            Run nigger run well you better get away            Nigger run, run so fast            Stoved his head in a hornets nest            Run nigger run well the pattyroller will get you            Run nigger run well you better get away            Nigger run through the field            Black slick coal and barley heel            Run nigger run the pattyroller will get you            Run nigger run well you better get away            Some folks say a nigger won't steal            I caught three in my corn field            One has a bushel? And one has a peck            One had a rope and it was hung around his neck            Run nigger run well the pattyroller will get you            Run nigger run well you better get away            Run nigger run well the pattyroller will get you            Run nigger run well you better get away            Oh nigger run and nigger flew            Why in the devil can't a white man chew            Run nigger run well the pattyroller will get you            Run nigger run well you better get away            Hey Mr. Pattyroller don't catch me            Catch that nigger behind that tree            Run nigger run well the pattyroller will get you?            Run nigger run well you better get away            Nigger run, run so fast            Stoved his head in a hornets nest            Run nigger run well the pattyroller will get you            Run nigger run well you better get away                                    61 EXT. WOODS - DAY 61           -END OF MAY THROUGH EARLY JUNE, 1841-           We are in a wooded area. There is A GANG OF SLAVES           chopping trees into timber. It is hard, laborious work           made no more easy by the sweltering heat. Solomon is           among them as well as Sam.                                                  62 62           EXT. WOODS - LATER           The slaves now load the timber onto a horse drawn wagon.           Again, hard work done under the ever present sun.          42B.                                                            63 EXT. ROAD - LATER 63           As Sam drives the wagon, the other slaves trudge along           side by foot. We should get the sense the travel is long           and tedious.                                   64 EXT. FORD'S WORK AREA - LATER 64           It is a sizable work area on the edge of Indian Creek.           There is much work being done, the slaves primarily           employed in piling the timber and chopping it into           lumber. As before, there is little doubt about the           rigors of the job at hand.           Working as a carpenter at the work area is JOHN TIBEATS.           There are also various CUSTOMERS who move about placing           orders.                                                  65 65           EXT. FORD PLANTATION - DAY           -EARLY TO MID JUNE, 1841-           It's Sunday morning. All of Ford's slaves are dressed           with their "finest" clothes - brightly colored and as           free as possible of defect. The slaves are gathered on                                                                                                                              (CONTINUED)          43.                         65 CONTINUED: 65           the lawn just beyond the piazza. Mistress Ford is           present as well. As the slaves listen, Ford reads to           them Scripture. His tone is of a man trying to preach by           way of compassion.                          FORD           "But as touching the resurrection           of the dead, have ye not read that           which was spoken unto you by God,           saying, I am the God of Abraham,           and the God of Isaac, and the God           of Jacob. God is not the God of           the dead, but of the living. And           when the multitude heard this,           they were astonished at his           doctrine. Then one of them, which           was a lawyer, asked him a           question, tempting him, and           saying, Master, which is the           great commandment in the law?           Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt           love the Lord thy God with all thy           heart, and with all thy soul, and           with all thy mind. This is the           first and great commandment. And           the second is like unto it, thou           shalt love thy neighbor as           thyself. On these two           commandments hang all the law and           the prophets."           Despite the lightness with which Ford speaks and the hope           in his words, ELIZA SITS OFF TO THE SIDE - SELF-SECLUDED           A BIT - WEEPING GENTLY.           We should be able to see in Mistress Ford's eyes that           Eliza's constant crying is unsettling.                                                  66 66                          OMITTED                                                  67 OMIT 67                                                  68 OMITTED 68          44.                                                                           69 OMIT 69                                   70 EXT. FORD'S WORK AREA - DAY 70           -MID JUNE, 1841-           The slaves have broken for lunch. They snack on smoked           meat and drink water from gourds. As they lunch Solomon           reads from Sam's Bible to the other slaves.                          SOLOMON           But he that is greatest among you,           let him be as the younger; and he           that is chief, as he that doth           serve. For whether is greater, he           that sitteth at meat, or he that           serveth? Is not he that sitteth           at meat? But I am among you as he           that serveth.           A white customer - WINSLOW - irate at the sight and sound           of slaves reading Scripture, crosses over. He grabs the           Bible.                          WINSLOW           From where did you thieve this?                          SAM           Suh, the book is my property.           The White Customer has no interest in Sam's answer. With           flailing hands he STARTS BEATING ON SAM. Solomon tries           to stop him. That only makes the situation worse,           Solomon now the target of the man's ire.                          WINSLOW           Take your hands from me!           Ford comes running over.                          FORD           What is the commotion?                          WINSLOW           Your niggers are either brazen or           rebellious. This one was readin'           Scripture, and this one claims it           to be his.                          FORD           It is. A gift from his Mistress.                          WINSLOW           You condone this?                          FORD           I encourage it. As a Christian I           can do no less.                          (CONTINUED)          45.                         70 CONTINUED: 70                          WINSLOW           You can do no worse, Ford. A           slave that reads is dangerous.           Winslow moves off. He yells back at Ford:                          WINSLOW (CONT'D)           And the man who would allow a           slave to read is unfit to own           niggers!           Handing the Bible back to Sam, very matter of factly:                          FORD           Pay him no mind. The word of God           applies to all. In that you may           take comfort.                                                  71 71                          OMITTED                                   72 EXT. ROAD - DAY 72           Sam is at the reigns of the wagon carrying the timber to           Ford's WORK AREA. Slaves trudge alongside, same as it           ever was. Only...it's not quite the same. Sam brings           the wagon to a halt. He, and the slaves look up the road           ahead of them.           Standing in the middle of the road is a group of           CHICKASAWS INDIANS. They are in their "usual" dress of           buckskin breeches and calico hunting shirts of fantastic           colors, buttoned from belt to chin. They have with them           DOGS and HORSES. They carry with them the carcass of a           deer.           The two groups stare at each other for a long moment.                                                  73 73           EXT. FIELD - DUSK/END OF DAY           The groups of slaves and Chickasaws are now intermingled.           They "break bread" - actually they work on the carcass of           the deer which is now roasting over a large fire. As           well the group share a smoke on a pipe.           One of the Chickasaws is playing a tune on an "INDIAN           FIDDLE." The Chickasaws perform a customary dance;           trotting after each other, and giving utterance to a           guttural, sing-song noise.           The slaves enjoy the respite from work, Solomon           particularly taken by the music...if not entirely           enthralled by it.                                                                                                     (CONTINUED)          46.                         73 CONTINUED: 73           After a bit, Solomon rights himself and heads from the           group.                                   74 EXT. RIVER BANK - CONTINUOUS 74           Solomon arrives to some tall grass at the edge of the           river. Lowering his trousers, SOLOMON SQUATS TO           DEFECATE. As he does, he stares out toward the flowing           waters of Indian Creek. After a few moments, as though a           thought far greater than relieving himself has come to           him, Solomon stands and replaces his pants.           Oddly, Solomon stares out at the water as though he were           a man possessed.                                                  75 75           EXT. FORD'S WORK AREA - DAY           Just beyond the WORK AREA Solomon speaks with Ford as           Tibeats listens. Solomon is drawing in the dirt, making           rough diagrams for Ford as he explains himself.                          SOLOMON           The creek is plenty deep enough to           sail, even with a boat full of           load. The distance from the WORK           AREA to the point on the latter           bayou is several miles by water           fewer than land. It occurs to me           that the expense of the           transportation would be materially                          DIMINISHED--                          TIBEATS           "Materially diminished?"                          SOLOMON           If we use the waterway.                          TIBEATS           It's a scheme. Plenty of           engineers have schemed similarly.           The passes are too tight.                          SOLOMON           I reckon them at more than twelve           feet at their most narrow. Wide           enough for a tub to traverse. A           team of niggers can clear it out.                          TIBEATS           And you know what of transport and           terra formin'?                                                                                                                              (CONTINUED)          47.                         75 CONTINUED: 75                          SOLOMON           I labored repairing the Champlain           canal, on the section over which           William Van Nortwick was           superintendent. With my earnings           I hired several efficient hands to           assist me, and I entered into           contracts for the transportation           of large rafts of timber from Lake           Champlain to Troy.                          FORD                          (TO TIBEATS)           I'll admit to being impressed even           if you won't.                          (TO SOLOMON)           Collect a gang, see what good you           can do.                                                  76 76           EXT. CREEK - DAY           -END OF JUNE, 1841-           WE HAVE A SERIES OF SCENES in which we see Solomon and a           TEAM OF BLACKS working on the creek: CHOPPING TREES           ALONG THE BANKS, widening out the shore... It's all just           a trial for now. The work is diligent, but it is basic           to this point. Still, under Solomon's direction, the           slaves go at it like they've got something to prove. And           rightly they do.           Solomon also works on a narrow raft of twelve cribs with           which he will transport the timber.           Once this is constructed, HE PERSONALLY "SAILS" THEM UP           THE CREEK WITH A TEST LOAD.                                                  77 77           EXT. FORD'S WORK AREA - LATER           Ford and a group of slaves wait along the river banks           just beyond the WORK AREA. All are expectant in their           manner. A long moment passes with no sign of Solomon.           Then, from up river, we see Solomon's raft of lumber           winding its way. SLAVES CHEER, and Ford literally           applauds the effort. Tibeats looks pissed. He has just           been shown up after all.                                                  78 78           EXT. FORD PLANTATION/GREAT HOUSE - DAY           As we come into the scene, Ford is presenting Solomon           with a fiddle. Not as grand as the one he previously           owned in New York, but a fine instrument none the less.           It is a gift of thanks for his hard work. Solomon's           gratitude is easily expressed.                                                   (CONTINUED)          48.                         78 CONTINUED: 78                          SOLOMON           My great thanks, Master Ford.                          FORD           My thanks to you, and it is the           least of it. My hope is that it           brings us both much joy over the           years.           Following the statement, Solomon's not sure how to react.           He remains grateful, but the thought of "over the years"           is just a reminder of the altered state in which he now           finds himself.                                                  79 79           EXT. FORD PLANATION/SLAVE SHACK - EVENING           -END OF JULY, 1841-           The slaves eat. All tired from a days work they conduct           themselves in silence. All except for Eliza who,           SLIPPING INTO PERMANENT DEPRESSION, as always weeps. The           sound of her sobbing edging him up - particularly after           Master Ford's "over the years" observation. Solomon                          FINALLY SNAPS:                          SOLOMON           Eliza. Eliza, stop!           Solomon goes to her, grabs Eliza. She does not stop. As           if to force the misery from her, Solomon SHAKES ELIZA           VIOLENTLY.                          SOLOMON (CONT'D)           Stop it! Stop!                          ELIZA           It's all I have to keeps my loss           present.                          SOLOMON           You let yourself be overcome by           sorrow. You will drown in it.                          ELIZA           Have you stopped crying for your           children? You make no sounds, but           will you ever let them go in your           heart?                          SOLOMON           ...They are as my flesh...                                                                                                                              (CONTINUED)          49.                         79 CONTINUED: 79                          ELIZA           Then who is distressed? Do I           upset the Mistress and the Master?           Do you care less for my loss than           their well being?                          SOLOMON           Master Ford is a decent man.                          ELIZA           He is a slaver.                          SOLOMON           Under the circumstances--                          ELIZA           Under the circumstances he is a           slaver! Christian only in his           proclamations. Separated me from           my precious babies for lack of a           few dollars. But you truckle at                          HIS BOOT--                          SOLOMON           No...                          ELIZA           You luxuriate in his favor.                          SOLOMON           I survive. I will not fall into           despair. Woeful and crushed;           melancholy is the yolk I see most.           I will offer up my talents to           Master Ford. I will keep myself           hearty until freedom is opportune.                          ELIZA           Ford is your opportunity. Do you           think he does not know that you           are more than you suggest? But he           does nothing for you. Nothing.           You are no better than prized           livestock. Call for him. Call,           tell him of your previous           circumstances and see what it           earns you...Solomon.           Eliza uses Solomon's name quite pointedly as if to           underscore his true self. Solomon get her meaning. Yet           he says nothing. Again, pointedly:                          ELIZA (CONT'D)           So, you've settled into your role           as Platt, then?                          SOLOMON                          (DEFENSIVE)           My back is thick with scars from                          (MORE)                          (CONTINUED)          50.                         79 CONTINUED: (2) 79                          SOLOMON (CONT'D)           protesting my freedom. Do not                          ACCUSE ME--                          ELIZA           I accuse you of nothing. I cannot           accuse. I too have done so many,           many dishonorable things to           survive. And for all of them I           have ended up here... No better           than if I had stood up for myself.           Father, Lord and Savior forgive           me... Forgive me. Oh, Solomon,           let me weep for my children.           FORD (V.O.)           At the same time came the           disciples unto Jesus, saying, Who           is the greatest in the kingdom of           heaven?                                                  80 80           EXT. FORD PLANTATION - MORNING           -AUGUST, 1841-           It's Sunday. The slaves are again gathered in the rose           garden near the front of the house to hear the word of           the Lord as read by Master Ford.                          FORD           And Jesus called a little child           unto him, and set him in the midst           of them, And said, Verily I say           unto you, Except ye be converted,           and become as little children, ye           shall not enter into the kingdom           of heaven.           The phrase seems to trigger Eliza's tears. She begins to           sob uncontrollably.           Mrs. Ford turns to Rachel in a hushed whisper-           MRS. FORD           I cannot have that kind of           depression about.           Solomon, pretending not to have heard, slowly turns to           Eliza with worry.           Ford continues to preach over Eliza's keening.                          FORD           But whoso shall offend one of           these little ones which believe in           me, it were better for him that a           millstone were hanged about his           neck, and that he were drowned in           the depth of the sea. Woe unto                          (MORE)                          (CONTINUED)          50A.                         80 CONTINUED: 80                          FORD (CONT'D)           the world because of offences!           For it must needs be that offences           come; but woe to that man by whom           the offence cometh!                          BLACK          51.                                                            81 EXT. FORD PLANTATION - DAY 81           -JANUARY, 1842-           Seasons have passed. It is winter now, and very grey out           along the bayou. Ford and Tibeats - who we have seen           working around the WORK AREA - stand with Solomon,           Tibeats giving Solomon an inspection. Ford carries much           lament.                          TIBEATS           Raise yer shirt.           Solomon does as instructed. Tibeats looks at Solomon's           back, at the scars from lashings he bears.                          TIBEATS (CONT'D)           Troublesome.                          FORD           He's a good carpenter and quick-           witted.                          TIBEATS           I am familiar with his cleverness.                          FORD           You won't find a nigger more           humble.                          TIBEATS           Ain't found a nigger yet I cain't           humble.           Tibeats heads off. Solomon, highly curious over the           preceding.                          SOLOMON           Sir, have I done something wrong?                          FORD           Not your concern, Platt. I say           with much...shame I have compiled           debts. I have long preached           austerity, but find myself           hypocritical in that regard.           You'll be in the ownership of Mr.           Tibeats. You are his now. Serve           him as you'd serve me.                          SOLOMON           Sir.                          FORD           And your faithfulness will not be           forgotten.                                                                                                     (CONTINUED)          52.                         81 CONTINUED: 81                          SOLOMON           Yes, sir.                          FORD           Pride and want have been my sin.           Loss of you is but one of my           punishments.                                                  82 82           EXT. FORD PLANATION - DAY           -END OF JANUARY, 1842- [OVER ONE DAY]           We see Solomon working as a carpenter, helping to erect a           Weaving House that stands off to the side of the           plantation's Great House.           At the moment Solomon is nailing on siding. Tibeats           arrives and is immediately dissatisfied with the work.                          TIBEATS           Make them boards flush.                          SOLOMON           They are, sir.                          TIBEATS           They is no such thing.           Solomon runs his hands over the boards.                          SOLOMON           As smooth to the touch as a           yearling's coat.                          TIBEATS           Callin' me a liar, boy?                          SOLOMON           Only a matter of perspective, sir.           From where you stand you may see           differently. But the hands are           not mistaken. I ask only that you           employ all your senses before           rendering judgement.           What's Tibeats to do when faced with fact? All he can do           is spew invectives.                          TIBEATS           You are a brute. You are a dog,           and no better for followin'           instruction.                          SOLOMON           I'll do as ordered, sir.                                                                                                     (CONTINUED)          53.                         82 CONTINUED: 82                          TIBEATS           Then you'll be up at daybreak.           You will procure a keg of nails           from Chapin and commence puttin'           on clapboards.           Tibeats wheels away. Solomon goes back to his work.           After a few moments Solomon notices a bit of commotion in           the drive of the great house. It involves an           inconsolable Eliza who is being herded by Sam onto a cart           DRIVEN BY A WHITE MAN. Mistress Ford and Rachel watch.           Solomon can only watch as the last connection to his days           as a free man is driven away to a location unknown.                                                  83 83           EXT. WEAVING HOUSE - MORNING           It is day break. As ordered, Solomon is up and working.           Chapin is rolling a keg of nails off a handcart for           Solomon.                          CHAPIN           If Tibeats prefers a different           size, I will endeavor to furnish           them, but you may use those until           further directed.                          SOLOMON           Yes, sir.                                                  84 84           EXT. WEAVING HOUSE - LATER           As the day gets on to mid-morning, the sun already baking           in the sky, Tibeats makes his way over to Solomon. Even           before arriving to Solomon his mien is one of           belligerence; out of sorts and something less than sober.                          TIBEATS           I thought I told yah ta commence           ta puttin' on clapboards this           morn'.                                                                                                                              (CONTINUED)          54.                         84 CONTINUED: 84                          SOLOMON           Yes, master. I am about it. I           have begun on the other side of           the house.           Tibeats walks around to look over Solomon's work. He is           picayune, as if purposefully looking for fault.                          TIBEATS           Didn't I tell yah last night to           get a keg of nails of Chapin?                          SOLOMON           And so I did; and Chapin said he           would get another size for you, if           you wanted them when he came back           from the field.           Tibeats walks to the keg and kicks it. Moving toward           Solomon "with a great passion:"                          TIBEATS           Goddamn yah! I thought yah knowed           somethin'!           Solomon, perhaps inspired by his moment with Eliza, is in           no mood for Tibeats.                          SOLOMON           I did as instructed. If there's           something wrong, then its wrong           with your instructions.                          TIBEATS           Yah black bastard! Yah goddman           black bastard!           In an inconsolable rage, Tibeats runs off to the piazza           to fetch a whip.           Solomon looks around. He is alone other than Rachel and           Mistress Ford who, shocked by that which she witnesses,           runs out to the field to fetch Chapin. Solomon's           instinct is to run, but he stands his ground as Tibeats           marches back whip in hand.                          TIBEATS (CONT'D)           Strip yer clothes!           Solomon does no such thing.                          TIBEATS (CONT'D)           Strip!                          SOLOMON           I will not.           With "concentrated vengeance," Tibeats springs for           Solomon, seizing him by the throat with one hand and                          (CONTINUED)          55.                         84 CONTINUED: (2) 84           raising the whip with the other. Before he can strike           the blow, however, Solomon catches Tibeats by the collar           of his coat and pulls him in close. Reaching down,           Solomon grabs Tibeats by the ankle and pushes him back           with the other hand. Tibeats tumbles to the ground. A           violent struggle takes place as Solomon puts a foot to           Tibeats throat, and then in a frenzy of madness snatches           the whip from Tibeats and begins to strike him with the           handle again and again and again.                          TIBEATS           Yew will not live ta see another           day, nigger! This is yer last, I           swear it!           Solomon ignores the threats, continues to beat Tibeats.           Blow after blow falling fast and heavy on Tibeats's           wriggling form. The stiff stock of the whip wraps around           Tibeats's cringing body until Solomon's arm aches.           Tibeats's cries of vengeance turn to yelps for help and           then pleas for mercy:                          TIBEATS (CONT'D)           Murder! It's murder! Lord, God,           help me. God be merciful!           And then suddenly, Tibeats shrieks-                          TIBEATS (CONT'D)           Papa I'm sorry!           Chapin comes RIDING IN FROM THE FIELD fast and hard.           Solomon strikes Tibeats a blow or two more, then delivers           a well-directed kick that sends Tibeats rolling over the           ground.                          CHAPIN           What is the matter?           Tibeats struggles up and tries to present an air of           dignity and control while he keeps a demonic eye on                          SOLOMON:                          SOLOMON           Master Tibeats wants to whip me           for using the nails you gave me.                          CHAPIN           What's the matter with the nails?           With a mix of shame, anger and embarrassment, Tibeats           says, as if being exposed-                          TIBEATS           They're...they're too large.                          CHAPIN           I am overseer here. I told Platt           to use them, and                          (MORE)                          (CONTINUED)          56.                         84 CONTINUED: (3) 84                          CHAPIN (CONT'D)           I shall furnish such nails as I           please. Do you understand that,           Mr. Tibeats?           Tibeats answer is in the grinding of his teeth and the           shaking of his fist.                          TIBEATS           This ain't done by half. I will           have flesh, and I will have all of           it.           Tibeats moves off toward, and then INTO THE HOUSE.           Chapin follows. A long moment, Solomon stands alone. He           looks around, not sure what to do; to stay or to flee.           Anxiety mounts on his features.           A moment more, and Tibeats EXITS the house. He saddles           his horse and rides off to beat the devil. Or, worse, to           fetch him.           Chapin comes running back out of the house. He is           visibly excited, and when he speaks he is quite earnest.           Though he tries to project reasoned emotions he gives off           an air of impending trouble.                          CHAPIN           Do not stir. Do not attempt to           leave the plantation on any           account whatever. But if you run           there is no protecting you.                          SOLOMON                          SIR--                          CHAPIN           If you run, Platt, there is no           protecting you. Rachel...!           Chapin runs off to join Rachel. The two converse at a           distance from Solomon, then they head off for the log           kitchen.           Solomon is now very much alone, and he waits for what is           to come. AND WE WAIT WITH HIM. And we wait, and we           continue to wait... Moment by moment, the dread of the           unexpected mounts.           Solomon's eyes begin to well. He has beaten a white man,           and he knows that death awaits him.           A SLIGHT PRAYER TO THE HEAVENS BEGINS TO FORM IN HIS           THROAT, but he is too choked up to fully speak it.                                                                                                                              (CONTINUED)          57.                         84 CONTINUED: (4) 84           Chapin has now returned to the piazza. He stands and           watches, but does not move to Solomon.           Solomon waits, and waits...           WE HEAR THE SOUND OF DISTANT HOOFS which grow louder and           louder in the manner of rolling thunder. It's Tibeats.           He returns with two accomplices; RAMSAY and COOK. They           carry with them large whips and a coil of rope.                          TIBEATS           Tha's the one. Tha's him.           Dismounting, they move with menace that is tinged with           perverse pleasure and wordless malevolence. Solomon           tries to fight back, but he is strong armed and tied by           TIBEATS - his wrists, and then ankles bound in the same           manner. In the meantime the other two have slipped a           cord within Solomon's elbows, running it across his back           and tying it firmly. Solomon is then dragged toward a           peach tree. A lynching is in store. The naked horror of           it intensely palpable.           Solomon looks toward the piazza, but Chapin is now gone.           Tears of fear flow down Solomon's cheeks. He is on the           verge of panic; a man heading toward his own execution,           he begins to struggle and fight.           A rope goes around Solomon's neck, then is tossed over           the branch of the tree. The trio begin to hoist Solomon.           He gasps and gags as spittle flies from his mouth and the           life is choked from him.           With suddenness, Chapin comes from the house brandishing           a pistol in each hand - Colt Paterson .36 caliber           "Holster" pistols with 9" barrels. Chapin moves with           determination toward the lynch mob. He is sharp and           matter of fact. With the guns in hand, he really doesn't           need to be much more demonstrative.                          CHAPIN           Gentlemen... Whoever moves that           nigger another foot from where he           stands is a dead man. I am           overseer of this plantation seven           years, and in the absence of           William Ford, my duty is to           protect his interests. Ford holds           a mortgage on Platt of four           hundred dollars. If you hang him,           he loses his debt. Until that is           canceled you have no claim to his           life.           Directing his attention to Ramsay and Cook:                                                                                                                              (CONTINUED)          58.                         84 CONTINUED: (5) 84                          CHAPIN (CONT'D)           As for you two, if you have any           regard for your own safety...I           say, begone!           Ramsay and Cook don't need to be told twice. The pistols           Chapin's gripping make the situation real clear. Without           further word, they mount their horses and ride away.           Tibeats remains, and his anger with him.                          TIBEATS           Yah got no cause. Platt is mine,           and mine ta do with as I please.           Yah touch my property, I will 'ave           yah strung up as well.           Tibeats mounts up and departs. There is a surreal moment           as Chapin's not sure what to do about Solomon. He           chooses to do nothing. Solomon is left dangling by the           neck from the tree as Chapin calls to Sam in the                          DISTANCE:                          CHAPIN           Sam! Get the mule. You must ride           to Master Ford. Tell him to come           here at once without a single           moment's delay. Tell him they are           trying to murder Platt. Hurry,           boy. Bring him back if you must           kill the mule to do so!                          SAM           Yes, suh!           Sam mounts up and rides off, the mule demonstrating much           speed.                                                  85 85           EXT. FORD PLANATION - LATER           HOURS HAVE PASSED. The sun is now at its apex. The sight           and smell of the red rose bush is more than vivid as           Solomon remains tied and dangling exactly where he was           left. The scene is both tranquil and horrific. Life on           the plantation continues. The OTHER SLAVES work in the           field. CHILDREN make their way playfully in the yard.           It should all underscore the fact that a black, hanging           even partially from a tree, is nothing unusual in this           time and space.                                                                                                                              (CONTINUED)          59.                         85 CONTINUED: 85           Chapin walks back and forth with the pistols in his           hands. Clearly he fears Tibeats returning with more and           better assistance. And yet, he does nothing to alleviate           Solomon's suffering. He heeds Tibeats words, and as           though caught up in the middle of nothing more than a           property dispute, he offers no further aid.           Solomon's head lolls to one side. He looks toward the           sun. The bright light flares off the leaves and branches           of the tree from which Solomon hangs. The glare in           Solomon's eyes offering him more pain than solace, but he           cannot help but look upward. As he does, his eyes           flutter between life and lifelessness...                                                  86 86                          OMIT                                   87 EXT. FORD PLANATION - LATER 87           Solomon continues to hang. By now he is drenched in           sweat, and nearly delirious with dehydration. His lips           dry and parched. He may not die from hanging, but he may           very well expire before the day is over.           Eventually Rachel comes over - timidly, and as though she           were acting contrary to orders - and offers a drink of           water from a tin cup, pouring it in Solomon's mouth for           him. She then takes a small hand towel and dabs at the           water which clings to his lips. Rachel then retreats,           and leaves Solomon to hang.                                                  88 88           EXT. FORD PLANATION - EVENING           The sun is just now arching for the horizon. Solomon           remains, as though his torture will not end. Ford,           trailed by Sam, finally comes riding up. He dismounts,           and moves swiftly over to Solomon. With great heartache:                          FORD           Platt... My poor Platt.           Ford produces a blade and cuts Solomon loose. Solomon           attempts to carry himself, but he cannot. He falls to           the ground and passes out.                                                  89 89           INT. FORD PLANATION/GREAT HOUSE - NIGHT           As we come into the scene, Solomon lays on a blanket on           the floor. Eventually, his eyes flutter, then open. He           is in the foyer of the Ford house. As he gets his           bearings, he looks around the interior. THE SPACE IS           HANDSOME, AND WELL DECORATED. It is sharp contrast to           the bleak surroundings, shacks and dungeons Solomon has           largely been accustom to during his time of slavery. It           will be the "first and last time such a sumptuous resting           place was granted" during his twelve years of bondage.                          (CONTINUED)          60.                         89 CONTINUED: 89           Solomon doesn't have much chance to luxuriate in his           surroundings. He hears a DOG BARKING just outside, and           is unnerved. Has Tibeats returned to finish what he           started?           From a study, Master Ford appears with a gun in hand. He           goes to the door, opens it and looks outside. He can see           nothing. Satisfied, Ford crosses back over to Solomon.           He is frank with Solomon regarding the situation.                          FORD           I believe Tibeats is skulkin'           about the premises somewhere. He           wants you dead, and he will           attempt to have you so. It's no           longer safe for you here. And I           don't believe you will remain           passive if Tibeats attacks. I           have transferred my debt to Edwin           Epps. He will take charge of you.                          SOLOMON           (desperate, urgent)           Master Ford, you must know; I am           not a slave.                          FORD           I cannot hear that.                          SOLOMON           Before I came to you I was a           freeman.                          FORD           I am trying to save your life!           And...I have a debt to be mindful           of. That, now, is to Edwin Epps.           He is a hard man. Prides himself           on being a "nigger breaker." But           truthfully I could find no others           who would have you. You've made a           reputation of yourself. Whatever           your circumstances, you are an           exceptional nigger, Platt. I fear           no good will come of it.                                                  90 90           EXT. MASTER EPPS'S PLANTATION/BACK PORCH - DAY           -END OF JANUARY, 1842-           From the back porch, we come into the scene on EDWIN           EPPS; a repulsive and coarse man. His language gives           speedy and unequivocal evidence that he has never enjoyed           the advantages of an education.                                                                                                                              (CONTINUED)          61.                         90 CONTINUED: 90           Epps reads the Bible to his slaves, eight of them           altogether. ABRAM; a tall, older slave of about sixty           years. WILEY, who is forty eight. PHEBE, who is married           to Wiley. BOB and HENRY who are Phebe's children, EDWARD           and PATSEY. Patsey is young, just 23 years old...though           in the era, 23 not as young as in the present day. She           is the offspring of a "Guinea nigger," brought over to           Cuba in a slave ship. She nearly brims with unconversant           sexuality.           MISTRESS EPPS, Epps's wife, is also present. She sits           with, holds quite lovingly, some SLAVE CHILDREN. WITH           THEM SHE IS VERY "MOTHERLY." We also see Epps's overseer           TREACH. Treach constantly sports a LOADED PISTOL.           Though Epps reads the word of the Lord, he lacks the tone           of compassion with which Ford read.                          EPPS           "And that servant which knew his           Lord's will...WHICH KNEW HIS           LORD'S WILL and prepared not           himself...PREPARED NOT HIMSELF,           neither did according to his will,           shall be beaten with many           stripes..." D'ye hear that?           "Stripes." That nigger that don't           take care, that don't obey his           lord - that's his master - d'ye           see? - that 'ere nigger shall be           beaten with many stripes. Now,           "many" signifies a great many.           Forty, a hundred, a hundred and           fifty lashes... That's Scripter!                                                  91 91           EXT. MASTER EPPS'S PLANTATION/FIELD - DAY           -AUGUST, 1842-           WE START THE SCENE WITH A PAIR OF BLACK HANDS           picking cotton ferociously. As we move out, we identify           PATSEY, a 23 year old striking black woman. The camera           moves out again to a wider shot. This reveals several           lines of slaves picking cotton, with Patsey way out in           the lead.            We cut to another pair of black hands. This time,           revealing SOLOMON, clumsy and unskilled hands, picking           cotton. A lash bears down on him.           It is August, "cotton picking" season.           We are looking out over a cotton field in full bloom. It           presents a visual purity, like an immaculate expanse of           light, new-fallen snow. The cotton grows from five to           seven feet high, each stalk having a great many branches                                                   (CONTINUED)          62.                         91 CONTINUED: 91           shooting out in all directions and lapping each other           above the water furrow.           There is a slave to each side of the row. They have a           sack around their necks that hangs to the ground, the           mouth of the sack about breast high. Baskets are placed           at the end of the furrows. Slaves dump their sacks of           cotton in the baskets, then pick until their sacks are           again filled.                          EDWARDS           Pick that cotton. Move along now.           THE SOUNDTRACK TO THE SCENE IS NOTHING MORE THAN THE           RUSTLE OF LABOR, THE MALE CICADAS BUGS "TYMBALS" IN THE           HEAT and a SPIRITUAL SUNG BY THE SLAVES.           Despite the heat, there is no stopping for water. The           slaves are "driven" by Edward, who is himself "driven" by           Treach.                          TREACH           C'mon. Drive dem niggers.           Edward moves among the slaves, applying the whip to them           without regard.                          EDWARD           Pick dat cotton. Move along now,           hear?                                                  92 92           EXT. MASTER EPPS'S PLANTATION/GIN HOUSE - EVENING           The day's work is done. The slaves are now assembled in           the gin house with their baskets of cotton which are           being weighed by Treach. There is anxiety among the           slave, the reason for which soon becomes apparent.                          TREACH           Two hundred forty pounds for Bob.                          EPPS           What yah got for James?                          TREACH           Two hundred ninety five pounds.                          EPPS           Tha's real good, boy. Tha's real           good.                          TREACH           One hundred eighty two pounds for           Platt.           Epps does not look happy. Treach says again:                                                                            (CONTINUED)          63.                         92 CONTINUED: 92                          TREACH (CONT'D)           One hundred eighty two.                          EPPS           How much can even an average           nigger pick a day?                          TREACH           Two hundred pounds.                          EPPS           This nigger ain't even average.           Epps pulls Solomon aside.                          TREACH           Five hundred twelve pounds for           Patsey.                          EPPS           Five hundred twelve. Yah men folk           got no shame lettin' Patsey out           pick yah? The day ain't yet come           she swung lower than five hundred           pounds. Queen of the fields, she           is.                          TREACH           Two hundred six pou--                          EPPS           I ain't done, Treach. Ain't I           owed a minute to luxuriate on the           work Patsey done?                          TREACH           ...Sir...                          EPPS           Damned Queen. Born and bred to           the field. A nigger among           niggers, and God give 'er to me.           A lesson in the rewards of           righteous livin'. All be           observant ta that. All!                          (BEAT)           Now, Treach. Now speak.                          TREACH           One hundred thirty eight pounds           for Phebe.                          EPPS           Hit one forty five yesterday.           Pull her out.                          TREACH           Two hundred six pounds for Wiley.                                                   (CONTINUED)          64.                         92 CONTINUED: (2) 92                          EPPS           How much he pick yesterday?                          TREACH           Two hundred twenty nine pounds.           Wiley is pulled from the line, huddled with Solomon.                                                  93 93           EXT. MASTER EPPS'S PLANTATION/YARD - EVENING           In the distance, a flogging is going on. Solomon, Phebe,           and Wiley are stripped, placed in a stockade and now           being given a perfunctory whipping delivered by ANOTHER           IDENTIFIED SLAVE.                                                  94 94           EXT. MASTER EPPS'S PLANTATION - EVENING           Evening, but the day is not yet done. Slaves attend           their various evening chores; feeding livestock, doing           laundry, cooking food. There is no respite from a           slave's charge.                                                  95 95           INT. MASTER EPPS'S PLANTATION/SLAVE SHACK - NIGHT           A fire is kindled in the cabin. The slaves finally fix           their own dinner of corn meal. Corn is ground in a small           hand mill. The corn meal is mixed with a little water,           placed in the fire and baked. When it is "done brown"           the ashes are scraped off. Bacon is fried. As the           slaves eat, Abram goes on in great length and with much           emotion about General Jackson.                          UNCLE ABRAM           Hold my words: General Jackson           will forever be immortalized. His           bravery will be handed down to the           last posterity. If ever there be           a stain upon "raw militia," he           done wiped away on the eight of           January. I say da result a that           day's battle is of 'mo importance           to our grand nation than any           occurrence 'fo or since. Great           man. Great man in deed. We all           need pray to Heavenly Father da           General reign over us always.                                                  96 96           INT. MASTER EPPS'S PLANTATION/SLAVE SHACK - NIGHT           The slaves are sleeping. There is a loud commotion.           Epps enters, drunkenly, forcing the slaves awake.                                                                                                                              (CONTINUED)          65.                         96 CONTINUED: 96                          EPPS           Get up! Get up, we dance tonight!           We will not waste the evenin' with           yer laziness. Get up.                                                  97 97           INT. MASTER EPPS'S PLANTATION/MAIN HOUSE - NIGHT           Despite the lateness of the hour, the slaves are up and           now fully dressed. They take up position in the middle           of the floor. They wait, poised like actors. Solomon           strikes up a tune; Henry joins in with a pan flute and           the slaves dance. They do so very wearily. The whole of           it certainly more torture than pleasure.           Epps, whip in hand:                          EPPS           Where's yah merriment? Move yer           feet.           As the slaves twirl about Epps keeps an attentive eye on           Patsey. It should be quite clear that his primary           motivation for holding dances is so that he may view           Patsey twirl about the floor.           This fact is not lost on Mistress Epps. A few moments of           Epps's lust on display is all that the Mistress can bear.           Jealousy mounting, she snatches up a CARAFE. With all           her might she throws it at Patsey. It hits Patsey square           in the face. TOO THICK TO SHATTER, IT LEAVES HER BLOODY           AND WRITHING ON THE FLOOR. The dancing, the music stop.           The slaves, however, react as though it is not the first           time they've seen as much from the Mistress.           Mistress Epps, screaming like a hellion:                          MISTRESS EPPS           Sell her!                          EPPS           C'mon, now. Wha's this?                          MISTRESS EPPS           You will sell the negress!                          EPPS           You're talkin' foolish. Sell           little Pats? She pick with more           vigor than any other nigger!           Choose another ta go.                          MISTRESS EPPS           No other. Sell her!                          EPPS           I will not!                                                                            (CONTINUED)           66.                         97 CONTINUED: 97                          MISTRESS EPPS           You will remove that black bitch           from this property, 'er I'll take           myself back to Cheneyville.                          EPPS           Back to that hog's trough where I           found you? Oh, the idleness of           that yarn washes over me. Do not           set yourself up against Patsey, my           dear. That's a wager on which you           will not profit. Calm yerself.           And settle for my affection,           'cause my affection you got. Or,           go. 'Cause I will rid myself of           yah well before I do away with           her!           Mistress Epps stands irate, lost in fury and unable to           even think of what to do. Eventually, optionless, she           storms away.           For a few beats there is only the sound of Patsey           sobbing.                          EPPS (CONT'D)           That damned woman! I won't have           my mood spoiled. I will not.           Dance!           Epps sends the whip in Solomon's direction. Solomon           responds by playing.           Treach literally drags the prone Patsey from the floor,           blood still spilling from her face. The slaves, as           ordered, return to dancing.                                                  98 98           EXT. MASTER EPPS'S PLANTATION - MORNING           -AUGUST, 1843-           The sun has only just risen above the horizon. FROM THE           GREAT HOUSE THE HORN IS BLOWN signaling the start of           another day.                                                  99 99           EXT. MASTER EPPS'S PLANTATION/FIELD - DAY           Slaves are in the field picking cotton. They accompany           their work with a SPIRITUAL.                                   100 EXT. MASTER EPPS'S PLANTATION/GREAT HOUSE - LATER 100           As the slaves make their way in from the field, the           Mistress calls to Solomon. SHE HAS A PIECE OF PAPER IN           HAND.                                                   (CONTINUED)           67.                         100 CONTINUED: 100                          MISTRESS EPPS           Platt...                          SOLOMON           Yes, Mistress.                          MISTRESS EPPS           Can you find your way to           Bartholomew's?                          SOLOMON           I can, ma'am.           Handing Solomon a sheet of paper.                          MISTRESS EPPS           This is a list of goods and           sundries. You will take it to be           filled and return immediately.           Tell Bartholomew to add it to our           debt.                          SOLOMON           I will, Mistress.           Solomon looks at the list. In a careless moment, Solomon           reads quietly from it. He catches himself, but not           before the Mistress notes his action. With high                          INQUISITIVENESS:                          MISTRESS EPPS           Where yah from, Platt?                          SOLOMON           I have told you.                          MISTRESS EPPS           Tell me again.                          SOLOMON           Washington.                          MISTRESS EPPS           Who were yah Master?                          SOLOMON           Master name of Freeman.                          MISTRESS EPPS           Was he a learned man?                          SOLOMON           I suppose so.                          MISTRESS EPPS           He learn yah ta read?                                                                                                     (CONTINUED)          68.                         100 CONTINUED: (2) 100                          SOLOMON           A word here or there, but I have           no understanding of the written           text.                          MISTRESS EPPS           Don't trouble yer self with it.           Same as the rest, Master bought           yah to work. Tha's all. And any           more'll earn yah a hun'red lashes.           Having delivered her cool advice, Mistress heads back           into the house.                                                  A101 A101            EXT. ROAD - DAY           Solomon walks along a well-worn path, shopping bag draped            over one shoulder. We see his feet. As the walk slowly            gathers pace, Solomon suddenly turns left into dense            foliage. His tread is now a full blown sprint, trees            flash past as Solomon attacks his way through the woods.            The sound of branches cracking underneath. His feet,            heartbeat and breath almost deafening. He is desperate.            The violence of his advance abruptly stops, there is            silence. We see in a clearance a posse of patrollers,            preparing for a lynching of two young men. Solomon's            eyes meet theirs. The two men look back at Solomon with            a look of fear as one of the patrollers checks the noose            around their neck. Suddenly the bloodhounds start            barking and the patrollers turn in the direction of            Solomon. Solomon's whole body shakes with anticipation.                           PATROLLER                           (AGGRESSIVELY)            Boy, where are you going?                           SOLOMON            (almost tripping over                           HIS WORDS)            To the store, Sir, to            Bartholomew's. I was sent there            by Mistress Epps.            The patroller reaches out for Solomon's free pass around            his neck, yanking him forward. He looks at it.                           PATROLLER            Get there and get there quick.            The patroller kicks Solomon hard, sending him on his way.            Solomon walks on, looking one more time at the two young            men; again there is a moment of connection.            Solomon turns. The two men are hoisted up, kicking and            spitting, behind his shoulder.            Solomon finds himself back on the trail walking towards            Bartholomew's, his face now full of shock and                           (CONTINUED)           68A.          A101 CONTINUED: A101           trepidation. He walks, fighting to calm himself down.            We move behind him as he continues his journey, a lonely            figure.                                    101 INT. BARTHOLOMEW'S - LATER 101           A general store in the township of Holmesville. Solomon           stands at the counter as BARTHOLOMEW fills Mistress           Epps's order. Among the items set before Solomon is a           QUANTITY OF FOOLSCAP.           The items are collected for Solomon and placed in a sack.           Solomon giving little thought to them other than getting           them back to the mistress.           As he turns, he glimpses the regalia of slave restraints,           of all different guises; chains, muzzles for sale.                                                  102 102           EXT. MASTER EPPS'S PLANTATION/GREAT HOUSE - LATER           Solomon returns and delivers the items to the Mistress.                          MISTRESS EPPS           Any trouble?                          SOLOMON           No, ma'am. No trouble.                                                  103 103           OMIT - MOVED TO A105                                   104 EXT. SHAW'S HOUSE - DAY 104           -JULY, 1844-           Sitting on the Grand house's Piazza, Patsey is having tea           with MISTRESS HARRIET SHAW, WHO IS A BLACK WOMAN. Though           once a slave, she is now comparatively refined though not           wholly so. The table where they sit is adorned with           white linens, and they are attended by a HOUSE NIGGER.           It makes for a tranquil surreal scene.           MASTER SHAW, A WHITE MAN, IS ON THE LAWN GROOMING A           HORSE.          69.                                                            A105 EXT. ROAD - DAY A105           Solomon is running flat out along the road. Running as           though his life depended on getting to his destination in           beyond a timely manner.                                   B105 EXT. SHAW'S HOUSE - DAY B105           Still running, slick with sweat, Solomon comes upon the           SHAW HOUSE.           As Solomon arrives:                          MASTER SHAW           Platt Epps, good Sunday morning.                          SOLOMON           Good morning, Master Shaw. I've           been sent by Master to retrieve           Patsey. May I approach?                          MASTER SHAW           You may.           Solomon makes his way over to the piazza.                          SOLOMON           Excuse me, Mistress Shaw.                          MISTRESS SHAW           Nigger Platt.                          SOLOMON           My apologies. Patsey, Master           wishes you to return.                          PATSEY           Sabbath day. I's free ta roam.                          SOLOMON           Understood. But the Master sent           me running to fetch you, and said           no time should be wasted.                          MISTRESS SHAW           Drink tea?                          SOLOMON           Thank you, Mistress, but I don't           dare.                          MISTRESS SHAW           Would you knowed Massa Epps's           consternation ta be any lessened           wit your timely return? Sit. Sit           and drink the tea that offered.                                                                            (CONTINUED)          70.          B105 CONTINUED: B105           Solomon knows better, but he sits and the Mistress has           tea poured for him.           MISTRESS SHAW (CONT'D)           What'n was Epps's concern?                          SOLOMON           ...I'd rather not say...                          MISTRESS SHAW           L'il gossip on the Sabbath be           fine. All things in moderation.           Solomon is not sure what to say. He struggles to be as           diplomatic as possible.                          SOLOMON           As you are aware, Master Epps can           be a man of a hard countenance.           There are times when it is           impossible to account for his           logic. You know he has ill           feelings toward your husband.                          MISTRESS SHAW           He do.                          SOLOMON           Master Epps has somehow come to           believe, as incorrectly as it may           be, that Master Shaw is... That           he is something of a lothario and           an unprincipled man. A misguided           belief born out of their mutual           competition as planters, no doubt.                          MISTRESS SHAW           No doubt...if not born outta truth           itself.           The Mistress waves to Shaw. Shaw, unsuspecting of the           conversation, waves back.                          SOLOMON           I'm certain Patsey's well being is           Master Epps's only concern.                          MISTRESS SHAW           Nothin' Epps desire come outta           concern.                          SOLOMON           I meant no disrespect.                          MISTRESS SHAW           He ain't heard you.                                                                                                     (CONTINUED)          71.          B105 CONTINUED: (2) B105                          SOLOMON           I meant no disrespect to you,           Mistress.                          MISTRESS SHAW           Ha! You worry for me? Got no           cause to worry for my           sensibilities. I ain't felt the           end of a lash in 'mo years than I           cain recall. Ain't worked a           field, neither. Where one time I           served, now I got others servin'           me. The cost to my current           existence be Massa Shaw           broadcasting his affections, 'n me           enjoyin' his pantomime of           fidelity. If that what keep me           from the cotton pickin' niggers,           that what it be. A small and           reasonable price to be paid 'fo           sure.           Looking toward Patsey, speaking with great empathy:           MISTRESS SHAW (CONT'D)           I knowed what it like to be the           object of Massa's predilections           and peculiarities. And I knowed           they can get expressed with           kindness or wit violence. A lusty           visit in the night, or a           visitation from the whip. And wit           my experience, if'n I can give           comfort, then comfort I give. And           you take comfort, Patsey; the Good           Lord will manage Epps. In His own           time the Good Lord will manage dem           all. Yes, Lordy, there's a day           comin' that will burn as an oven.           It comin' as sure as the Lord is           just. When His will be done...the           curse on the Pharos is a poor           example of all that wait 'fo the           plantation class.           Mistress Shaw turns her head to the side, catching a           slave's attention. As she does so, the slave, a YOUNG           WOMAN, commences to pour tea.           As if to punctuate her thought, the Mistress takes a sip           of her tea.                                                  105 105           EXT. EPPS'S PLANTATION - LATER           Solomon and Patsey are returning from Shaw's. Waiting on           the porch of the Great House, a drunk Epps beckons for           Patsey, his lewd intentions obvious.                                                   (CONTINUED)           72.                         105 CONTINUED: 105                          EPPS           Pats...! Patsey!                          SOLOMON           Do not look in his direction.           Continue on.           Epps does not care to be ignored. He lifts himself and           moves toward the pair in a rage.                          EPPS           Patsey...!           Solomon moves between Epps and Patsey, cutting Epps off           as Patsey continues on. Playing up his "ignorance" of                          THE SITUATION:                          SOLOMON           Found her, Master, and brought her           back just as instructed.                          EPPS           What'd you jus now tell her?           What'd you say to Pats?                          SOLOMON           No words were spoken. None of           consequence.                          EPPS           Lie! Damned liar! Saw you           talkin' with 'er. Tell me!                          SOLOMON           I cannot speak of what did not           occur.           Epps grabs Solomon.                          EPPS           I'll cut your black throat.           Solomon pulls away from Epps, RIPPING HIS SHIRT IN THE           PROCESS. Epps gives chase. Solomon begins to run around           the large pig sty, easily keeping his distance. Epps,           however is undeterred. He moves after Solomon as           speedily as he can, which isn't very speedily at all.           And quickly he tires. Epps is forced to bend over and           suck air. Solomon maintains his distance, barely           breathing hard. His breath returned to him, Epps starts           up the chase again. Solomon runs on out of reach.           Shortly, Epps again stops, gets his breath... And now in           what should be quite comical, Epps again runs after           Solomon. Again, Epps's vigor leaves him before he can           even get close to the slave.           Dropping down to the dirt, in a show of regret and piety:                                                                            (CONTINUED)          73.                         105 CONTINUED: (2) 105                          EPPS (CONT'D)           Platt... Platt, liquor filled me.           I admit that it did, and I done           over reacted. It's the Lord's           day. Ain't nothin' Christian in           us carryin' on like this. Help me           ta my feet, and let us both pray           to the Lord for forgiveness.           Epps extends a hand to Solomon. Cautiously, Solomon           moves close, but not too close. As Solomon draws within           striking distance, Epps lunges for him. He chases           Solomon on until he is again out of breath and once more           drops down. And again offering a treaty:                          EPPS (CONT'D)           I'm all done in, Platt. I have           met my limitations, and I ain't           equal to 'em. I concede to yah,           but in the name of valor, help yer           master to his feet.           Solomon cautiously moves closer to help. Again he is           attacked by Epps - this time by knife. Sort of. Epps is           too drunk and tired to fully open the folding blade - and           chased far around the field by Epps. ALL OF THE           PRECEDING SHOULD BE MORE FUNNY THAN SHOCKING. A CHANGE           OF PACE FROM THE OTHERWISE NECESSARY BLEAKNESS OF SLAVE           LIFE.           Mistress Epps comes running from the house to the pair.                          MISTRESS EPPS           What? Wha's the fuss?                          SOLOMON           A misunderstanding is all. It           began when I was sent to retrieve           Patsey from where she'd taken           sabbatical at Master Shaw's. Upon           returning, Master Epps believed           Patsey and me to be in           conversation when we were not. I           tried to explain, but it lead to           all this.                          MISTRESS EPPS           What is it? Ya cain't remain the           Sabbath without her under your           eye? Ya are a no-account bastard.                          EPPS           Hold a moment...                          MISTRESS EPPS           A filthy, godless heathen. My bed           is too holy for yah ta share.                                                                            (CONTINUED)           74.                         105 CONTINUED: (3) 105                          EPPS           Wha's...wha's he been tellin' yah?                          MISTRESS EPPS           Of yer misbegotten ways.                          EPPS           And he would know what of           anythin'? I ain't even spoken           with him today. Platt, yah lyin'           nigger, have I? Have I?           Discretion being the better part and all, Solomon remains           silent.                          EPPS (CONT'D)           There; there's all the truth he           got. Damned nigger. Damn yah.           Epps pushes his way past the Mistress.                                                  106 106           EXT. MASTER EPPS'S PLANTATION/FIELD - DAY           -AUGUST, 1844-           With the sun yet again high in the sky the slaves are           working the field picking cotton. As before THEY SING A           SPIRITUAL, the only thing that distracts them from the           tedium at hand.           But there is no distracting from the heat. We see Henry           begin to falter before it... And eventually collapse           right in the dirt. Though the other slaves take note,           none move to help him. None dare.           From Treach rather matter of factly:                          TREACH           Get him water.           Edward runs to fetch a gourd. He carries it to Henry,           DUMPS THE WATER ON HIM, BUT DOES NOT ACTUALLY GIVE HENRY           ANYTHING TO DRINK.           Roused, Henry rights himself.                          EDWARD           Go'won. Git up.           Unsteadily, Henry lifts himself and goes back to picking           cotton. He joins in again with the spiritual, as if the           song is all that can keep him going.                                                  107 107           INT. MASTER EPPS'S PLANTATION/SLAVE SHACKS - NIGHT           -OCTOBER, 1844-                                                   (CONTINUED)           75.                         107 CONTINUED: 107           The slaves are asleep. Epps arrives, again without           knocking, with his whip in hand. The slaves stir. Uncle                          ABRAM ASKS:                          UNCLE ABRAM           We dance tonight, massa?           Epps remains quietly focused on Patsey. And it's clear           from her apprehensive expression just what it is he's           come looking for. This time there is no escaping it. As           if to acknowledge the badness to come, Phebe lightly           cries.                                                  108 108           EXT. MASTER EPPS'S PLANTATION/SMOKE HOUSE - NIGHT           On top of a wood pile, in the back of the smoke house -           Epps shoves Patsey. He stops, stands as if gathering his           manhood, then he's all over Patsey. He is rough and           clumsy. It looks like something between an awkward rape           and a virgin attempting his first sexual encounter.           Patsey does not respond in any way other than to           continually turn her head from Epps, but otherwise remain           as still as possible. If there is such a thing, she is           vicious with her passive aggressiveness.           Epps's frustration mounts until - as the Mistress Shaw           had cautioned - he crosses the line from passion to           violence. He begins slapping Patsey to get a response           from her. When that fails, he punches her which only           leads to him taking up his whip and lashing Patsey           MERCILESSLY. Still, she gives him nothing. Beaten,           Patsey sits in the dirt among the cotton, Epps deep           breathing above her. The desire for sex now having left           him.           Epps heads from the field. Patsey is left where she is.                                                  109 109           INT. BARTHOLOMEW'S - DAY           -NOVEMBER, 1844-           As before, Solomon waits as Bartholomew fills Mistress           Epps order. Among the items set before Solomon is           another quantity of foolscap.                                                  110 110           EXT. ROAD - DAY           Solomon is making his way back to the Epps plantation.           He carries with him a sack filled with the goods from the           store. As he walks, SOLOMON LOOKS AROUND CASUALLY. When           he is certain he is alone, he sets down the sack, opens           it and appropriates A SINGLE SHEET OF THE PAPER which he           folds and places in his pocket. That done, he cinches up           the sack and continues on his way.          76.                                                                           111 OMIT 111                                   112 INT. EPPS'S PLANTATION/SLAVE SHACK - DAY 112           Solomon takes the slip of paper and hides it within his           fiddle. Perhaps the safest place he can think of. He           acts as though he's hiding away found gold. In reality           it's more than that. For Solomon the paper is a first           step toward freedom.                                                  113 113           INT. MASTER EPPS'S PLANTATION/MAIN HOUSE - NIGHT           -DECEMBER, 1844-           It's another night of Epps's forced revelry. Coming in           quick from the previous scene, we go from Solomon holding           his fiddle, to playing it as the slaves are again made to           dance.           Mistress Epps brings out a tray of freshly baked           pastries. She sets them down on a table.                          MISTRESS EPPS           A moment from the dancing. Come           sample what I baked for y'all.           The slaves, thankful for the rest as much as the food,           file toward the tray reciting a chorus of "Thank you,           Mistress." As Patsey moves toward the pastries:           MISTRESS EPPS (CONT'D)           There'll be none for you, Patsey.           Patsey merely turns away. Her non responsiveness,           however, serves only to incite the Mistress. Screaming:           MISTRESS EPPS (CONT'D)           Yah see that? Did yah see the           look of insolence she give me?                          EPPS           Seen nothin' but her turn away.                          MISTRESS EPPS           Are you blind or ignorant? It was           hot, hateful scorn. It filled           that black face. Yah tell me yah           did'n see it, then yah choose not           to look, or yah sayin' I lie.                          EPPS           Whatever it was, it passed.                          MISTRESS EPPS           Is that how yah are with the           niggers? Let every ill thought           fester inside 'em. Look at 'em.                          (MORE) (CONTINUED)          77.                         113 CONTINUED: 113           MISTRESS EPPS (CONT'D)           They foul with it; foul with their           hate. You let it be, it'll come           back to us in the dark a night.           Yah want that? Yah want them           black animals to leave us gut like           pigs in our own sleep?           Epps isn't sure how to respond to the inchoate berating.           It's an invitation for the Mistress to continue.           MISTRESS EPPS (CONT'D)           You are manless. A damned eunuch           if ever there was. And if yah           won't stand for me, I'd pray you'd           at least be a credit to yer own           kind and beat every foul thought           from 'em.           Epps does nothing. The Mistress lets her anger loose.           She moves quickly to Patsey, DRIVES HER NAILS INTO THE           PATSEY'S FACE AND DRAWS THEM DOWN ACROSS HER FEATURES.           FIVE DEEP AND BLOODY GASHES ARE LEFT IN PATSEY'S SKIN,           the moment marked with appropriate screams. Patsey           collapses on the floor, covering her bleeding face.           MISTRESS EPPS (CONT'D)           Beat it from 'em!           Thoroughly cuckolded by the Mistress's actions, Epps           takes his whip and pulls Patsey out of the house. His           intentions are plain.           All the slaves remain silent. The Mistress, however,           displaying high satisfaction, entreats the others:           MISTRESS EPPS (CONT'D)           Eat. Fill yourselves. ...And           then we dance.           The slaves eat, but without a hint of levity.                                                  114 114           INT. MASTER EPPS'S PLANTATION/SLAVE SHACK - NIGHT           We come up on the slaves who lay sleeping. All except           for Patsey. She rises from her bedding, goes to a corner           of the cabin and removes something from a secretive           location. She then moves over to Platt.                          PATSEY           Platt... Platt, you awake?                          SOLOMON           I am.                          PATSEY           I have a request; an act of           kindness.                                                   (CONTINUED)           78.                         114 CONTINUED: 114           Patsey displays what she took from hiding. It is a           LADY'S FINGER RING.                          PATSEY (CONT'D)           I secreted it from the Mistress.                          SOLOMON           Return it!                          PATSEY           It yours, Platt.                          SOLOMON           For what cause?                          PATSEY           All I ask: end my life. Take my           body to the margin of the swamp--           Solomon looks at Patsey as though she were insane.                          SOLOMON           No.                          PATSEY           Take me by the throat. Hold me           low in the water until I's still           'n without life. Bury me in a           lonely place of dyin'.                          SOLOMON           No! I will do no such thing.           The...the gory detail with which                          YOU SPEAK--                          PATSEY           I thought on it long and hard.                          SOLOMON           It is melancholia, nothing more.           How does such despair even come to           you?                          PATSEY           How can you not know? I got no           comfort in this life. If I cain't           buy mercy from yah, I'll beg it.                          SOLOMON           There are others. Beg them.                          PATSEY           I'm begging you!                          SOLOMON           Why? Why would you consign me to           damnation with such an un-Godly           request?                                                   (CONTINUED)          79.                         114 CONTINUED: (2) 114                          PATSEY           There is God here! God is           merciful, and He forgive merciful           acts. Won't be no hell for you.           Do it. Do what I ain't got the           strength ta do myself.           Solomon says nothing. Clearly he's not about to do the           deed. With nothing else to do, knowing she is damned           with every breath she draws, Patsey crawls back to her           spot on the floor and lays herself down.                          BLACK                                                  115 115           EXT. MASTER EPPS'S PLANTATION/FIELD - DAY           -JULY, 1846-           Hard times on the planation. Where previously the field           in bloom was a carpet of white, it is now patchy and           under grown.           The slaves move through the field picking not cotton, but           rather COTTON WORMS from the plants. The cotton worms           have dined on the cotton and nearly destroyed the crop.           We see the cotton worms in extreme close-up, moving among           and destroying the cotton crop.           Epps is beside himself as he looks out over his ruined           field.                          EPPS           It is a plague.           TREACH (O.S.)           Cotton worm.                          EPPS           A plague! It's damn Biblical.           Two season God done sent a plague           to smite me. I am near ruination.           Why, Treach? What I done that God           hate me so? Do I not preach His           word?           TREACH (O.S.)           The whole Bayou sufferin'.                          EPPS           I don't care nothin' fer the damn           Bayou. I'm sufferin'.           Epps looks among his slaves at work, his enmity growing.                          EPPS (CONT'D)           It's that Godless lot. They           brought this on me. I bring 'em                          (MORE) (CONTINUED)           80.                         115 CONTINUED: 115                          EPPS (CONT'D)           God's word, and heathens they are,           they brung me God's scorn.           Crazed, Epps runs into the field, taking himself from           slave to slave delivering a whipping to all he can lay           his hands on.                          EPPS (CONT'D)           Damn you! Damn you all! Damn           you!                                                  116 116                          RE-OMIT                                   117 EXT. JUDGE TURNER'S PLANTATION - EVENING 117           -OCTOBER, 1846-           Henry, Bob, Uncle Abram and Solomon sit in the back of a           cart. SOLOMON HAS HIS FIDDLE WITH HIM. Epps has           delivered the men to JUDGE TURNER, a distinguished man           and extensive planter whose large estate is situated on           Bayou Salle within a few miles of the gulf. Epps and           Turner stand off to one side engaged in bargaining as           Henry, Bob, Uncle Abram and Solomon wait and watch.           One of the slaves whisper under their breath.                          EPPS' SLAVE           I hear cutting cane is twice as           hard as picking cotton.                          BOB           But at least we'll be away from           Master Epps.                          UNCLE ABRAM           Boy, you two have no sense.           Epps returns to his slaves and gives a parting           salutation.                          EPPS           Yer Judge Turner's for the season.           More if need be, until my crop           return. Yah'll bring no           disrespect to me, and yah'll bring           no biblical plagues to him. Be           decent, ere mark my words, I will           deliver an ungodly whippin'.                                                  118 118           INT. SLAVE SHACK - NIGHT                                                                                                                              (CONTINUED)           81.                         118 CONTINUED: 118           Slaves are crammed into the shack - LITERALLY ON TOP OF           EACH OTHER - as they try to sleep. Some lay, some sit           up. Packed in like cattle, there is barely room to move           let alone draw a deep, clean breath. There is a real           risk of suffocating in the mass. Some cough and wheeze.           A CHILD CRIES...           Among them is Solomon who must believe at this point that           his life has reached its very lowest point. The odds of           survival are slight, let alone the chance of actually           ever returning to his family. This clearly weighs on him           as he struggles to find anything like comfortable space           in the pen.                                                  119 119           EXT. CANE FIELDS - DAY           An OVERSEER is explaining to the new slaves - SOLOMON           AMONG THEM - how to cultivate cane. WITH A KNIFE IN HAND           he demonstrates the process:                          OVERSEER           Draw the cane from the rick, cut           the top and flags from the stalk,           understand? Leave only that part           which is sound and healthy. Cast           off the rest...                                                  120 120           EXT. CANE FIELDS - DAY           -NOVEMBER, 1846-           ABOUT THIRTY SLAVES are working the field. They are           divided into THREE GANGS. The first which draw the cane,           the next lay the cane in the drill, the last then hoe the           rows after.           Solomon is among a gang that draws and cuts, and he moves           with speed and skill. Certainly more so than he           displayed picking cotton.           Standing with his overseer, Judge Turner watches.                                                  121 121           INT. SLAVE SHACK - NIGHT           Again, the slaves have been herded into the shack and           pressed together.           As he tries to rest - sleep is nearly impossible -           Solomon finds himself face to face with a woman, ANNA.           She is awake. For a few beats she avoids eye contact           with Solomon. She seems, like Solomon, to be           unaccustomed to her surroundings and horribly frightened           by them. Eventually her eyes meet Solomon's. She makes           no sound, but great apprehension spills from her eyes.           Whatever's next, whatever horror awaits, she can barely           stand to face. Fear, proximity... They drive her hand                          (CONTINUED)          81A.                         121 CONTINUED: 121           to Solomon's. After a moment of seemingly reacquainting           herself with genuine human contact, the woman TAKES                                                                                                                              (CONTINUED)          82.                         121 CONTINUED: (2) 121           SOLOMON'S HAND AND PRESSES IT TO HER BREAST. Solomon           tries to jerk his hand away, but ANNA HOLDS IT IN PLACE.           Manipulating Solomon's hand, she begins to massage her           breast. Solomon takes no real pleasure in the act -           really, neither does Anna. THERE SHOULD BE A TRUE SENSE           ANNA IS JUST SO VERY, VERY DESPERATE FOR HUMAN CONTACT,           FOR THE NEED TO FEEL ALIVE AND LIKE A PERSON RATHER THAN           AN ANIMAL THAT EMOTIONALLY SHE IS WILLING TO ENGAGE           SOLOMON.           The need quickly compounds. Anna presses her lips to           Solomon's. Eventually, SHE DIRECTS HIS HAND BENEATH HER           DRESS AND BETWEEN HER LEGS. Solomon, with slightly more           compassion than a guy making union wages, BEGINS TO           MANIPULATE ANNA WITH HIS HAND. The act remains more           perfunctory than passionate.           We can see Anna moving toward climax and eventual           release. But more - or substantially less - than joyous           sex, it is really just a drug-like inoculation against           reality. But the feeling quickly fades. All that           remains, as with most chance encounters, is regret.           And there is shame, too. This is put on display as Anna           turns away from Solomon. As quickly as it began, it is           as though the act had not happened at all.                                                  122 122                          OMIT                                   123 EXT. JUDGE TURNER'S PLANTATION/GREAT HOUSE - EVENING 123           Solomon waits outside the house on the porch. A house           servant - ZACHARY - approaches and admonishes Solomon.                          ZACHARY           Off the porch. Get off.           Like a dog shooed away, Solomon steps down.           Eventually Judge Turner exits the house and crosses to           Solomon.                          SOLOMON           ...Sir...                          JUDGE TURNER           Platt is it? Have you cultivated           cane previously?                          SOLOMON           No, sir, I have not.                          JUDGE TURNER           You take to it quite naturally.           Are you educated?                                                                            (CONTINUED)          83.                         123 CONTINUED: 123                          SOLOMON           Niggers are hired to work, not to           read and write.           Turner gives that a bit of consideration as he gives           Solomon a wary looking over.                                                   JUDGE TURNER           You play the fiddle?                          SOLOMON           I do.                          JUDGE TURNER           Willard Yarney, a planter up the           bayou, celebrates his anniversary           in a three week's time. I will           hold out your name to him. What           you earn is yours to keep.                          SOLOMON           Sir.                          JUDGE TURNER           Mind yourself, Platt.                          SOLOMON                                     Yes, sir.                                   124 EXT. TURNER PLANTATION - LATER (MOVED FROM 124) 124            Work over, the slaves congregate to eat.           As Solomon eats, he takes note of the JUICE FROM SOME           BERRIES ON HIS PLATE.                                   125 EXT. TURNER'S PLANTATION - EVENING (MOVED FROM 125) 125            Solomon plays with a piece of cane, fashions it into some           kind of writing tool, testing it in the mud. He then           brushes over the dirt with his hand.          84.                                                            126 EXT. TURNER PLANTATION - NIGHT (MOVED FROM 126) 126            Secreted away out near the edge of the bayou and sitting           by a small fire, Solomon takes the slip of paper from his           fiddle. It is yellowed, showing age, but still usable.           Dipping the piece of cane - a quill - into the crushed           berries, Solomon attempts to write a bit on the paper.           The berry juice, too free-flowing, is unusable as ink.           Solomon returns the paper to the fiddle. He has some           scraps of food with him, which he snacks on.                                                  A127 A127                           OMITTED                                   A127A INT. SLAVE SHACK - DAY A127A            We see a sharp object scratching onto a surface. The            tool moves on to form another mark. The sound is            repetitive and almost unbearable. As we move out, we see            the names Anne, Margaret, Alonzo. They are engraved onto            the violin, in the hidden area where Solomon would rest            his chin.            Solomon looks at it for a moment, moving his fingertips            across the engraving. His face full of loss.            Sadly, he lifts his instrument under his chin and leaning            his head to the side as if to play.                                    127 INT. YARNEY'S HOUSE - EVENING 127           A party has commenced at the noble home of one MR.           YARNEY. A group of REVELERS have gathered and are on the           dance floor, in fancy dress. Their faces are covered with           a variation of decorative masks. The party is a feast of           celebration. As entertainment, SOLOMON ACCOMPANIES A           GROUP OF MUSICIANS, no more than three. And as he does           so, they all play with jovial liveliness. Clearly a good           time is being had by all.                                                  128 128           EXT. ROAD - NIGHT           His playing done for the evening, Solomon is returning to           Judge Turner's on foot. There is only the moonlight with           which to light the way. As he walks, Solomon eats from a           HEARTY CHUCK OF BREAD. Obviously part of his haul from           the evening. Solomon again hears noises coming from the           brush just up ahead of him. Solomon tears off some of           the bread, kneels and holds it out before him.                          SOLOMON           C'mere. C'mon, boy.                                                                                                     (CONTINUED)          85.                         128 CONTINUED: 128           This time, there is no dog. Instead, from the dark and           the brush step TWO BLACK MEN. Solomon stands. He looks           the men over - their clothes tatters and they themselves           covered in dirt. It becomes quite clear they are not           just slaves. A fact confirmed when they step menacingly           toward Solomon, ONE WITH A SHIV IN HAND.           At first it seems they want Solomon's food or money.           Worse, THEY GO FOR HIS FIDDLE.           Solomon has but a moment to brace himself before he is           attacked, TAKING A CUT TO THE ARM. Solomon fights back,           PICKING UP A PINE KNOT and striking his attacker over the           head. That takes the fight out of him, and both men           retreat back the way they came leaving Solomon be.                                                  A129 A129           EXT. TURNER PLANTATION - NIGHT           Outside of the slave shacks Solomon's wound tended by           Uncle Abram. As he works on it:                          UNCLE ABRAM           Runaways I would expect. The           Bayou full with 'em. They nothin'           'mo dangerous than a nigger in           flight.                          SOLOMON           They acted out of desperation.                          UNCLE ABRAM           Act outta lunacy. Heads fulla           stories 'bout life up north. Yah           ever been north, Platt?                          SOLOMON           ...No...                          UNCLE ABRAM           And never should yah be. I hope           that yah never bear witness the           sorry condition of the northern           black. Got neither no purpose,           nor direction. They jus...they           jus fall about the streets in           search of sustenance of both body           and spirit.                          SOLOMON           You know this to be so?                          UNCLE ABRAM           Two of my massas tolt me.                                                                                                                              (CONTINUED)          86.          A129 CONTINUED: A129                                                                                                    129 OMIT 129                                   130 EXT. TURNER PLANTATION - NIGHT 130           -FEBRUARY/MARCH, 1847-           Alone out on the edge of the Bayou, Solomon is playing a           low air on his violin WHILE SNACKING ON SCRAPS OF BACON.           As he plays, something appears in the distance. From the           edge of the bayou, coming forth like an apparition arisen           from the earth, is CELESTE. She is a young woman of           about 19 years of age and far whiter than most blacks.           "IT REQUIRED CLOSE INSPECTION TO DISTINGUISH IN HER           FEATURE THE SLIGHTEST TRACE OF AFRICAN BLOOD." Beyond           that, she is pale and haggard, but still lovely.           Dressed in a white gown, she emerges from the water.           Draped on her dress, her period. A line in her skirt.           It's very visible, but not shocking. A ribbon of red in           her dress.           Celeste moves to Solomon without fear or hesitation. As           Solomon, startled, takes her in, Celeste says quite                          PLAINLY:                          CELESTE           I am hungry. Give me food.                          SOLOMON           Who are you?                          CELESTE           I'm hungry.           Solomon gives Celeste some of his food. Celeste,           famished, devours it.                          SOLOMON           What is your name?                          CELESTE           My name is Celeste.                          SOLOMON           What are your circumstances?                          CELESTE           I belong ta Massa Carey, and 'ave           been two days among da palmettoes.           Celeste is sick and cain't work,           and would rather die in the swamp                          (MORE)                                                                                                     (CONTINUED)           87.                         130 CONTINUED: 130                          CELESTE (CONT'D)           than be whipped to death by the           overseer. So I took myself away.           Massa's dogs won't follow me. The           patrollers 'ave tried to set dem           on me. But dey a secret between           dem and Celeste, and dey won't           mind the devilish orders of the           overseer.           Celeste lifts her head from the food on which she gnaws.                          CELESTE (CONT'D)           Do you believe me?                          SOLOMON           Yes.                          CELESTE           Why?                          SOLOMON           There are some whose tracks the           hounds will refuse to follow.                          CELESTE           Give me more food. I'm starvin'.                          SOLOMON           This is all my allowance for the                          REST OF--                          CELESTE           Give it to me.           Almost as if compelled, Solomon does as ordered. As she           eats, Celeste aggrandizes herself:                          CELESTE (CONT'D)           Most slaves escape at night. The           overseers are alert for such           chicanes. But Celeste tricked dem           'n alight in the middle of the day           wit the sun up at its highest.           The place of my concealment now           deep in the swamp, not half a mile           from Massa's plantation, and a           world apart. A world a tall           trees whose long arms make fo' a           canopy so dense dey keep away even           the beams of the sun. It twilight           always in Celeste's world, even in           the brightest day. I will live           there, and I will live freely.           The overseers are a cowardly lot.           Dey will not go where their dogs           show fear and where it always be           night. Others will join me in the           twilight, and we ain't gunna be           slaves no 'mo forever.                          (CONTINUED)          88.                         130 CONTINUED: (2) 130           Solomon isn't sure what to say. Before he can say                          ANYTHING:                          CELESTE (CONT'D)           Celeste will come to you again in           the night. You will have food for           her.           Celeste departs the way she came; as though she were a           vision.                                                  131 131           INT. JUDGE TURNER'S PLANTATION/FOOD STORAGE - NIGHT           Solomon stealthfully makes his way into the storage shed.           Dried and smoked meats are hung, and milled corn is           about. Taking out a handkerchief, Solomon begins to load           it with food. Not too much. Not so much his thievery           will be readily noticed, but he does avail himself.                                                  132 132           EXT. TURNER PLANTATION - NIGHT           Solomon plays his violin, but plays it with an anxious           nature as he waits.           Then, as before, a figure appears in the distance. It is           Celeste coming out of the night. She makes her way           directly to Solomon. With no greeting, she says:                          CELESTE           I am hungry.           Solomon gives Celeste the handkerchief he's filled. She           opens it, and begins to devour the food. As she eats:                          CELESTE (CONT'D)           I was rude, and didn't even ask yo           name.                          SOLOMON           Platt.                          (BEAT)           Solomon. Solomon is my true and           free name.                          CELESTE           Was you free?                          SOLOMON           I was. I am.           Solomon exposes his wrist, displays his tattoo as he                          ANNOUNCES:                          SOLOMON (CONT'D)           I remain free in my heart.                                                                            (CONTINUED)           89.                         132 CONTINUED: 132           Giving a laugh as though it's the silliest thing she's                          HEARD:                          CELESTE           Free heart means nothin if'n yo           body gunna die a slave.                          SOLOMON           I will not.                          CELESTE           How? Celeste knows you ain't           gunna run. Celeste knows it ain't           your nature.                          SOLOMON           I have a plan. I have a letter.                          CELESTE           A letter? How'll yah mail da           letter? Who yah trust to post it?           A nigger that can read and write           is a nigger that'll hang.           There is a pause. Solomon can't answer this question. It           is the glaring hole in his plan.           Having finished eating:                                                                                                                              (CONTINUED)          90.                         132 CONTINUED: (2) 132                          CELESTE (CONT'D)           Celeste will come again in de           night. You will bring her 'mo           food.                          SOLOMON           I risk discovery to take more.                          CELESTE           You will bring Celeste 'mo food.           And with that Celeste again moves back into the darkness.                                                  133 133                          OMIT                                                  134 OMIT 134                                   135 EXT. TURNER PLANTATION - EVENING 135           Solomon is picking at the bark off a WHITE MAPLE.                                   136 EXT. TURNER PLANTATION - EVENING 136           In a tin cup, over a fire, Solomon boils the white maple           bark in just a bit of water.                                   137 INT. JUDGE TURNER'S PLANTATION/SLAVES CABIN - NIGHT 137           As others sleep, by the light of dying coals, Solomon           uses the quill to test the boiled bark. The liquid holds           as a form of ink. It is no?t ideal, but it is legible on           the page. Armed with this, Solomon writes his letter.                                                  138 138           EXT. TURNER PLANTATION - NIGHT           Solomon sits with Celeste. He relates his news to her.                          SOLOMON           I have my letter.                          CELESTE           Yah has your freedom then?                          SOLOMON           All that remains is to contrive           measures by which the letter can           safely be deposited in the post           office.           When Celeste speaks she is quite melancholy.                                                                            (CONTINUED)           91.                         138 CONTINUED: 138                          CELESTE           I have resolved to return to my           Massa.           Solomon gives an unnerved look. This is not good news.                          SOLOMON           Is it more food you need?                          CELESTE           I live in fear.                          SOLOMON           None will come after you in the           swamps.                          CELESTE           It ain't the patrollers I scared           of... At all seasons the howling           of wild animals can be heard at           night along the border of the           swamps. At first their calls were           welcomin'. Dey too was free, 'n I           thought dey greeted me like a           sistah. Lately, dey cries have           turned horrifyin'. They mean to           kill Celeste.                          SOLOMON           The solitude plays tricks. It's           your impression, nothing more. If           you go back to your master you           could face the same.                          CELESTE           My freedom been nothin' but a           daydream. So was Celeste's           thoughts of slaves conjoinin' in           the bayou.                          SOLOMON           Better the loneliness. You have           been free most of the summer.           Return now and your master will           make example of you.                          CELESTE           It is lonely dwellin' waiting for           others who won't never come.                                                                                                                              (CONTINUED)          92.                         138 CONTINUED: (2) 138                          SOLOMON           Go north. Make your way by           night...                          CELESTE           It'll only be worse if'n Celeste           don't go back of her own will.                          SOLOMON           You won't be caught. The dogs           won't track you. You are...you           are unique. Celeste...                          CELESTE           You got alternatives, Solomon.                          SOLOMON           To return is to die!                          CELESTE           Celeste got no one to write a           letter to.           As if to punctuate her resolve, without a word more           Celeste departs toward the swamp. Solomon starts on into           the swamp after her.                          SOLOMON           Celeste... Celeste!           Solomon continues after Celeste, wading deeper into the           dark night and murky waters.                          SOLOMON (CONT'D)           Celeste, I will guide you north!           Wait, and I will take you.           Celeste is too nimble. She outpaces Solomon, continues           on and disappears into the night.                          SOLOMON (CONT'D)           Let me take you! Let me go with           you!           Solomon runs on, then splashes to a stop. He stumbles           around disoriented, calling into the blackness:                          SOLOMON (CONT'D)           Celeste...           Nothing. No answer. Not a human one. There are sounds           and echoes - some in the distance, some perhaps moving           closer - which, moment by moment, become more and more           frightening. Soon, Solomon realizes he is in quite           literally over his head; the water first chest deep, then           neck deep. With no way to orient himself, no means to           guide him in the dark, Solomon's reserve begins to           crumble. He thrashes in the water trying to find his way                                                   (CONTINUED)          93.                         138 CONTINUED: (3) 138           back to shore. No longer trying to save Celeste, Solomon           calls to her - desperately - for assistance.                          SOLOMON (CONT'D)           Celeste! Come to me, Celeste!           In that moment Solomon is quite certain he is nearly           done; that he will not find land, nor aid and that this           is his final moment. His panic should be that tangible.           It is either force of will, or survival instinct...or           maybe just pure luck that carries Solomon on until he           reaches first muddy ground, then firm footing. Hauling           himself onto the swamps edge, Solomon finally collapses           in a drenched, worn heap. His life spared, but Celeste           never to be seen again.                          BLACK                                                  139 139           EXT. EPPS'S PLANTATION - DAY           -MAY/JUNE, 1847-           We come up now outside of Master Epps's plantation. Epps           stands in the drive. He's in surprisingly good spirits           as Solomon, Uncle Abram, Henry and Bob trudge their way           wearily toward Epps and his other slaves who are           gathered.           The cotton field is in full bloom, the crop fully           returned.                          EPPS           A joyous day. A joyous day. Dark           times is behind us. Clean livin'           'n prayer done lifted the plague.           Indicating to the cotton:                          EPPS (CONT'D)           As thick 'n white as New England           snow. 'N now my niggers is           returned to me.                          (TO SOLOMON)           Heard Judge Turner gave you favor.           Oh, did you beguile him, Platt,           with your slick nigger ways?           Well, yah won't stand idle, boy.           Not on my land. Much work to do.           Days of old long since, eh?           Joyous! Joyous indeed!           Throughout Epps's welcome, Solomon's focus is on Patsey           who is lined up with the other slaves. SHE IS NOW MORE           HAGGARD THAN WHEN WE LAST SAW HER. Her face and arms           display many new scars. It's clear that in the           intervening years she has quite literally been a whipping           boy for Epps and the Mistress.          94.                                                            140 EXT. EPPS'S PLANTATION/COTTON FIELD - DAY 140           -JULY, 1847-           The slaves are out working on the field. White hands           appear, picking cotton: ARMSBY. He is wholly unskilled at           picking cotton, and he puts little effort into the job.           As we meet him he seems a decent sort if a little short           on self-motivation. In anachronistic terminology, he'd           be called a "slacker." He joins in with the slaves,           singing a spiritual.                                                  141 141           INT. MASTER EPPS'S PLANTATION/GIN HOUSE - EVENING           As Epps said, it is days of long since. The slaves are           back to having their cotton weighed in the Gin House                          EPPS           Wiley...?                          TREACH           Two hundred sixty pounds.                          EPPS           Bob?                          TREACH           Three hundred forty pounds for           Bob.                          EPPS           Patsey?                          TREACH           Five hundred twenty pounds.                          EPPS           Tha's a girl. Don't never let me           down. Platt?                          TREACH           One hundred sixty pounds.           Before Treach is even done announcing the weight, Epps           has pulled Solomon aside to where Uncle Abram already           awaits his fate.                          EPPS           Armsby?                          TREACH           Sixty four pounds.           Epps speaks to Armsby sternly, but nothing of the manner           in which he would address the slaves.                                                                            (CONTINUED)           95.                         141 CONTINUED: 141                          EPPS           A good days labor would average           two hundred pounds.                          ARMSBY           Yes, sir.                          EPPS           I'm sure in time y'll develope as           a picker, but it takes effort,           boy. Put some damn effort into           it.                          ARMSBY           Yes, sir.           To Treach, regarding Solomon and Abram:                          EPPS           Take 'em out. Get to whippin'.           No force is needed. The slaves understand the situation.           They follow Treach out of the Gin house.                                                  142 142           EXT. EPPS'S PLANTATION/SLAVE SHACK - NIGHT           We come in after the punishment has been dealt. Patsey           tends to Uncle Abram's back as Armsby applies liniments           to Solomon's. As he does, Armsby muses:                          ARMSBY           It's a tragedy. How does such           come to pass? Working a field and           picking cotton like a lowly hand.           I'm of a damn sight better           station. And my desires never           lacked for a grandiose component,           though I will admit they have at           times been short on ingenuity.           But only at times. I've worked as           an overseer, you know.                          SOLOMON           I did not, sir.                          ARMSBY           Not "sir." Just Armsby. Not owed           more than any other in the field.           I worked plantations from           Virginia, down into Alabama. I           could manage easy a hundred slaves           and have done so. But to toil in           the field? Never thought that           would come to pass. Never. But           times are desperate. Where once I           had said "no" to Epps and his           merger offerings, I returned cap                          (MORE)                          (CONTINUED)          96.                         142 CONTINUED: 142                          ARMSBY (CONT'D)           in hand. ...Look at what I've           become.                          SOLOMON           How did you arrive at such a           place, if I may ask?                          ARMSBY           Ask. It's just conversation.           From a pocket Armsby produces a flask.                          ARMSBY (CONT'D)           I became a little too dependant on           the whisky, a little too           undependable on the job. Before           you say I'm just a sorry drunkard,           let me state my case: As reliable           employment as overseeing is, it's           no easy chore on the spirit. I           say no man of conscious can take           the lash to another human day in,           and day out without shredding at           his own self. Takes him to a           place where he either makes           excuses within his mind to be           unaffected... Or finds some way           to trample his guilty sensations.           Well, I trampled.           Armsby takes a drink.                          ARMSBY (CONT'D)           And with frequency.                          SOLOMON           Where is your place of birth?                          ARMSBY           Maryland. Have you traveled           there?                          SOLOMON           ...I cannot say that I have.                          ARMSBY           Fine country. More seasonal than           the bayou. A deal less humid.                          SOLOMON           Why did you leave it?                          ARMSBY           To make my fortune, of course. I           gave in to tales of wealth and           prosperity that were the lore of           the southern states: all that's           needed being a patch of land and a           few good growing seasons. Cotton,                          (MORE)                          (CONTINUED)          97.                         142 CONTINUED: (2) 142                          ARMSBY (CONT'D)           or tobacco. And then locating a           proper bank in which to store your           riches. But such profitable           outcomes are reserved for the           plantation masters. It's the lot           of the rest of us to serve. So I           settled on being an overseer, and           failed as well at that. In the           meantime my dreams gave way to           reality. Now, I want nothing more           than to earn a decent wage.                          (BEAT)           And get myself home.           Armsby takes another drink and leans back.                                                  143 143           INT. MASTER EPPS'S PLANTATION/SLAVE SHACKS - MORNING           -AUGUST, 1847-           We again hear the sound of the HORN BLOWING signaling the           start of the work day for the slave.                                   144 EXT. MASTER EPPS'S PLANTATION/FIELD - DAY 144           With the sun yet again high in the sky the slaves are           working the field picking cotton. As before they sing a           spiritual, the only thing that distracts them from the           tedium at hand.           But there is no distracting from the heat. We see Uncle           Abram begin to falter and finally drop down to the           ground.           Treach calls to Edward:                          TREACH           Get him water.           Edward runs to fetch water which he carries to Abram and           DUMPS ON HIM...BUT ABRAM DOES NOT RISE. DOES NOT MOVE.           At this point, the sounds of the singing from the others           tapers off as they realize Abram isn't getting up.                                                  145 145           EXT. MASTER EPPS'S PLANTATION/SLAVE CEMETERY - LATER           We are beyond the main of the plantation, the cotton           field in the background. We are at the slaves' cemetery,           a mixture of crude crosses and unsettled ground.           Solomon, Bob and Henry, now much visually older than when           we first saw them, are digging a grave in the dirt. The           uncovered body of Abram lays near. Having dug down an           appropriate distance, the three men take the body and,           very unceremoniously, place it into the ground. Holding                          (CONTINUED)          98.                         145 CONTINUED: 145           the shovel in his hands, and resting it by his feet, Bob           tilts his head down and closes his eyes. The others do           the same. Almost stutteringly, not really knowing what to                          SAY--                          BOB           I just want to say something about           Uncle Abram. He was a good man and           he always looked out for us since           we were little. God Bless him. God           love him. And God keep him.           That done, they begin to cover it with dirt. It is all           the more of a funeral that Abram will receive.                                                  146 146                          OMIT                                                  147 OMIT 147                                   A148 EXT. MASTER EPPS'S PLANTATION/SLAVE CEMETERY - LATER A148           A female voice appears out of the blackness and begins to           sing solo, "Went down to the river Jordan." A response of           "Oh Yeah" quickly follows. Again the singer continues,           "where John baptized three."           The same faces we have seen on Epps' plantation, but now           filled with rapture, appear. It's as if the voices have           created a new form of awakening and presence. It seems to           transcend and translate in a strange way, joy. A joy           which has un-yet been seen on screen. A joy which has           been hidden, but a joy which is undoubtedly there. It's           captivating, infectious.           This should be a moving part of the film, which stirs the           audience and, for a moment, relieves them of the           seemingly chastising environment.           The singer continues, "Well some say John was a Baptist,           some say John was a Jew, but I say John was a preacher,           because the Bible says so too, preach on Johnny." And           with that, the rest of the congregation chant "I believe.           Oh, I believe."                                                  148 148           INT. EPPS'S PLANTATION/WOODS - NIGHT           Solomon goes to RETRIEVE THE SMALL PACKAGE FROM UNDER A           ROCK AT THE BASE OF A TREE. Solomon returns the letter to           hiding. He takes the money with him and cautiously moves           from the area.                                                  149 149                          OMIT          99.                                                            150 INT. EPPS'S PLANTATION/ARMSBY'S SHACK - LATER 150           The door opens. Solomon enters. Armsby is surprised to           see him. So much so, he isn't sure what greeting to           give. Solomon gives a blunt introduction. Re: the                          COINS:                          SOLOMON           The proceeds of my fiddling           performances. A few picayunes,           but all I have in the world. I           promise them to you if you will do           me the favor I require. But I beg           you not to expose me if you cannot           grant the request.                          ARMSBY           What do you ask?                          SOLOMON           First, your word, sir.                          ARMSBY           On my honor.                          SOLOMON           It is a simple enough request. I           ask only that you deposit a letter           in the Marksville post office.           And that you keep the action an           inviolable secret forever. The           details of the letter are of no           consequence. Even at that, there           would be an imposition of much           pain and suffering were it known I           was the author. A patron is what           I require, sir.                          ARMSBY           Where's the letter now?                          SOLOMON           ...It is not yet written. I will           have it in a day. Two at most, my           skill with composition as poor as           it is.           Armsby considers the request.                          ARMSBY           I will do it. And will accept           whatever payment is offered.           Solomon hesitates. In the moment, he's not so sure he           can wholly give himself over to trust.                                                                                                                              (CONTINUED)          100.                         150 CONTINUED: 150                          ARMSBY (CONT'D)           To assist you, I put my own self           at risk. I will do so, but fair           compensation is all I ask.           Solomon hands over the money.                          ARMSBY (CONT'D)           Draw up your letter. We will meet           again. In two days?                          SOLOMON           In two days. ...Thank you.           Solomon exits.                                                  151 151           EXT. EPPS'S PLANTATION/COTTON FIELD - DAY           Solomon and the slaves pick cotton. Armsby is           conspicuously NOT laboring in the field. As Solomon           works he is watched by Epps. Watched more than he           normally is. For a moment it seems it might just be a           matter of perspective; Solomon's unease over his actions.           But soon Epps is joined by Armsby. The two men stand and           talk, their looks locked toward Solomon.           Whatever it is that is occurring between them continues           for a long, long moment. But Epps makes no move toward           Solomon. Solomon continues with his work.                                                  152 152           INT. EPPS'S PLANTATION/SLAVE SHACK - NIGHT           The slaves are at rest. Gripping his whip Epps enters,           without so much as a knock at the door. For a moment           there's curiosity; is he there for a dance, for           Patsey...?           Looking right to Solomon:                          EPPS           Get up.           Solomon does. Epps heads back out into the dark. He           says nothing, but his directive is clear: Follow me.                                   153 EXT. MASTER EPPS'S PLANTATION/SLAVE SHACK - CONTINUOUS 153           Solomon comes out into the dark. Nearly hidden in the           shadows is a bitter Epps. Despite the lack of light,           Epps's malevolence is quite clear. His whip attached to           his hip. As he speaks, he stokes himself with swigs from           a FLASK.           Epps puts his arm around Solomon, as if consoling a           friend, and guides him into the woods.                                                   (CONTINUED)          100A.                         153 CONTINUED: 153                          EPPS           Well, boy. I understand I've got           a larned nigger that writes                          (MORE)                                                                                                                              (CONTINUED)          101.                         153 CONTINUED: (2) 153                          EPPS (CONT'D)           letters and tries to get white           fellows to mail 'em.           Solomon, hardly missing a beat, plays this off.                          EPPS (CONT'D)           Well, Armsby tol' me today the           devil was among my niggers. That           I had one that needed close           watchin' or he would run away.           When I axed him why, he said you           come over to him and waked him up           in the middle of the night and           wanted him to carry a letter to           Marksville. What have yah got to           say to that?                          SOLOMON           All I have to say, master, is all           that need be said. There is no           truth in it.                          EPPS           You say.                          SOLOMON           How could I write a letter without           ink or paper? There is nobody I           want to write to 'cause I hain't           got no friends living as I know           of. That Armsby is a lying           drunken fellow. You know this,           just as you know that I am           constant in truth. Now, master, I           can see what that Armsby is after,           plain enough. Didn't he want you           to hire him for an overseer?           A beat.                          SOLOMON (CONT'D)           That's it. He wants to make you           believe we're all going to run           away and then he thinks you'll           hire an overseer to watch us. He           believes you are soft soap. He's           given to such talk. I believe           he's just made this story out of           whole cloth, 'cause he wants to           get a situation. It's all a lie,           master, you may depend on't. It's           all a lie.           For a tense moment we are unsure which way Epps'll go.           Increasingly it become apparent that, shallow minded and           equally soused, Solomon has been able to fold Epps's           thoughts. In a low curse that clearly states his ill           intentions.                                                   (CONTINUED)          102.                         153 CONTINUED: (3) 153           Revealed is a pocket knife, which all through the           conversation, unknown to us the audience, was pushed up           against Solomon's stomach. As Epps speaks, he closes it           and taps it on Solomon's shoulder.                          EPPS           I'm damned. I'll be god... Were           he not free and white, Platt.           Were he not free and white.           Epps heads off. Solomon is left to exhale a deep breath.                                                  154 154           EXT. MASTER EPPS'S PLANTATION/WOODS - NIGHT           Having found a lonely spot, Solomon has struck a SMALL           FIRE. He has in his hand his letter. With no ceremony,           he casts the letter upon the flames and watches it burn.           And with it, at this time, seems all chance of him ever           being free. He stands and looks at it as if forever, as           ashes descend into the night sky.           FADE TO BLACK.                                                  A155 A155           EXT. MASTER EPPS'S PLANTATION/GREAT HOUSE - DAY           -MARCH, 1852-           The slaves are now employed working on an extension to           the Great House. The slaves work under the direction of           MR. SAMUEL BASS, a between forty and fifty years old, of           light complexion and light hair. He is cool and self-           possessed, fond of argument, but always speaking with           extreme deliberation as well as a Canadian accent.                                                  B155 B155           EXT. MASTER EPPS'S PLANTATION/GREAT HOUSE - DAY           As the slaves continue to work, there is a conversation           going on between Epps and Bass. Bass much skilled in the           art of sophistry, while Epps's arguments are fueled           mostly by emotion alone. Though at first Epps does           little more than joke his way around the facts.           Solomon, working still, can't help but overhear as Epps           offers Bass a drink, which Bass waves away.                          EPPS           Take it. You look unsettled.                          BASS           I'm well.                          EPPS           No shame in taking respite from           the heat; drink, shade. It's           ungodly for travelers. Hearty, or           otherwise.                          (CONTINUED)          102A.          B155 CONTINUED: B155           Bass gives a laugh.                          EPPS (CONT'D)           I meant no joke.                                                                                                                              (CONTINUED)          103.          B155 CONTINUED: (2) B155                          BASS           Your humor is inadvertent.           Sensing perhaps Bass's laughter might be at his expense,           Epps presses.                          EPPS           Then share what's funny. Or what           ills you.                          BASS           I'm here to complete the work at           hand. As requested, and as paid.                          EPPS           Something rubs you wrongly.           Before I take further offense, I           offer you the opportunity to speak           on it.                          BASS           You ask plainly, I will tell you           plainly. What I find amusing: You           worry about my well being in the           heat but, quite frankly, the           condition of your laborers--                          EPPS           "The condition of my..." What in           the hell are you--                          BASS           It is horrid. It's all wrong.           All wrong, sir.                          EPPS           They ain't hired help. They're my           slaves.                          BASS           You say that with pride.                          EPPS           I say it as fact.                          BASS           If the conversation concerns what           is factual and what is not;           there's no justice nor           righteousness in slavery. I           wouldn't own a slave if I was rich           as Croesus, which I am not, as is           perfectly well understood. More           particularly among my creditors.           There's another humbug: the credit           system. Humbug, sir. No credit,           no debt. Credit leads a man into           temptation. Cash down is the only           thing that will deliver him from                          (MORE)                          (CONTINUED)          104.          B155 CONTINUED: (3) B155                          BASS (CONT'D)           evil. But this question of           slavery; what right have you to           your niggers when you come down to           the point?                          EPPS           What right? I bought 'em. I paid           for 'em.                          BASS           Of course you did. The law says           you have the right to hold a           nigger, but begging the law's           pardon...it lies. Is everything           right because the law allows it?           Suppose they'd pass a law taking           away your liberty and making you a           slave?                          EPPS           Ha!                          BASS           Suppose.                          EPPS           That ain't a supposable case.                          BASS           Because the law states that your           liberties are undeniable? Because           society deems it so? Laws change.           Social systems crumble. Universal           truths are constant. It is a           fact, it is a plain fact that what           is true and right is true and           right for all. White and black           alike.                          EPPS           Whoa, whoa, whoa. Yah compare me           to a nigger, Bass? Yah might as           well ask what the difference is           between a white man and a baboon.           Now, I seen one of them critters           in Orleans that knowed just as           much as any nigger I got. Yah'd           call them fellers citizens, I           s'pose?                          BASS           Look here; you can't laugh me down           in that way. These niggers are           human beings. If they are allowed           to scale no higher than brute           animals, you and men like you will           have to answer for it. There's an                          ILL--                                                   (CONTINUED)          105.          B155 CONTINUED: (4) B155                          EPPS           Ahhh!                          BASS           A fearful ill, resting on this                          NATION--                          EPPS           You betray yourself a foreigner!                          BASS           That will not go unpunished           forever. There will be a           reckoning yet.                          EPPS           You like to hear yourself talk,           Bass, better than any man I know           of. Yah'd argue that black was           white, or white black if anybody           would contradict you. A fine           supposition if yah lived among           Yankees in New England. But yah           don't.                          (POINTED)           You most assuredly do not.                                                  155 155           EXT. MASTER EPPS'S PLANTATION - DAY           It's the Sabbath. The slaves are left to themselves to           do their own chores. At the moment the female slaves are           washing their clothes in large cauldrons, slapping their           clothes against washing boards and hanging them up to dry           near to their living quarters behind the plantation. It           is a sight of ritual. Missing from the field of labor is           Patsey, for whom Epps hollers.                          EPPS           Patsey... Patsey!           A drunk Epps asks of the slaves:                          EPPS (CONT'D)           Where is she? Where is Patsey?           No one answers.                          EPPS (CONT'D)           Talk, Damn you!                          PHEBE           We know nothin' of her, Massa.                          EPPS           The hell you don't! You know           where she is! She run off, ain't           she? She's escaped, and you           miserable black dogs stand like                          (MORE)                          (CONTINUED)          106.                         155 CONTINUED: 155                          EPPS (CONT'D)           the deef and dumb. Speak! Speak!           Not a word spoken.                          EPPS (CONT'D)           My best cotton picking nigger! My           best.           A beat.                          EPPS (CONT'D)           I'd give yah all up for her.           Where she gone?           The slaves say nothing. There is nothing for them to           say. They don't know where she is. Eventually Epps           drops into true sorrow.                          EPPS (CONT'D)           She gone... My Pats gone.                                                  156 156           EXT. EPPS'S PLANTATION - LATER           Epps sits on the piazza looking quite forlorn. He looks           up only to see PATSEY RETURNING TO THE PLANTATION. Epps           steps up to greet her, with anger rather than relief.           As they hear his angry voice, the slaves step around from           where they are hanging their laundry to dry. Treach is           near as well.                          EPPS           Run off. Run off, did you?                          PATSEY                          MASSA EPPS--                          EPPS           You miserable wench! Where you           been?                          PATSEY           I been nowhere.                          EPPS           Lies to your misdeeds!                          PATSEY           The Sabbath day, Massa. I took me           a walk to commune wit da Lord.                          EPPS           Bring the Lord into yer           deceptions? Yah Godless...           Shaw's. Comin' from Shaw's           plantation weren't yah?                                                                            (CONTINUED)          106A.                         156 CONTINUED: 156                          PATSEY           ...No...                                                                                                                              (CONTINUED)          107.                         156 CONTINUED: (2) 156                          EPPS           Yah took yerself ta pleasure Shaw.           Yah gave baser passion to that           unblushin' libertine!           Solomon tries to intervene:                          SOLOMON                          MASTER EPPS--                          EPPS           Now yah speak? Now that yah want           to add to 'er lies yah find yer           tongue.           Epps goes to strike Solomon, but Patsey pulls his arm           back.                          PATSEY           Do not strike him. I went to           Massa Shaw's plantation!                          EPPS           Yah admit it.                          PATSEY           Freely. And you know why.           Patsey takes soap from the pocket of her dress.                          PATSEY (CONT'D)           I got this from Mistress Shaw.           Mistress Epps won't even grant me           no soap ta clean with. Stink so           much I make myself gag. Five           hundred pounds 'a cotton day in,           day out. More than any man here.           And 'fo that I will be clean; that           all I ax. Dis here what I went to           Shaw's 'fo.                          EPPS           You lie...                          PATSEY           The Lord knows that's all.                          EPPS           You lie!                          PATSEY           And you blind wit yer own           covetousness. I don't lie, Massa.           If you kill me, I'll stick ta           that.                          EPPS           I'll learn you to go to Shaw's.           Treach, go get some line.                          (CONTINUED)          108.                         156 CONTINUED: (3) 156           Treach runs quickly to the tool shed. In short order he           returns with the rope in hand.                          EPPS (CONT'D)           Strip her. Strike her bare 'n           lash her to the post.           Mistress Epps has now come from the Great House. She           gazes on the scene with an air of heartless satisfaction.           Now tied to the post, Epps stands behind Patsey with his           whip.                          EPPS (CONT'D)           Yah done this to yerself, Pats!           Epps hoists the whip to strike, holds it high...but no           matter his rage, Epps cannot bring himself to deliver the           blow. He looks to Mistress Epps who now stands gloating           and spurring him on.                          MISTRESS EPPS           Do it! Strike the life from her.           Epps again hoists the whip. It trembles in his hand           ahead of the act... But he does not have it in him to           deliver such a beating. Turning to Solomon, thrusting           the whip at him:                          EPPS           Beat her.           Solomon doesn't move. Epps shoves the whip into his           hand.                          EPPS (CONT'D)           Give her the whip. Give it all to           her!           Patsey, begging to Solomon:                          PATSEY           I'd rather it you, Platt.                          EPPS           Strike her, or yah'll get the           same!                                                                                                                              (CONTINUED)          109.                         156 CONTINUED: (4) 156           Solomon takes a step back. He unfurls the whip... He           begins to whip Patsey. Lash after lash, Patsey squirms           before it. Epps eyes fill with tears, he is nearly too           distraught to watch.           But the Mistress... She is not satisfied with Solomon's           half-hearted effort.                          MISTRESS EPPS           He pantomimes. There ain't barely           a welt on her. That's what your           niggers make of yah; a fool fer           the takin'.           Epps's grief is replaced by fury. EPPS GRABS THE PISTOL           FROM TREACH'S HOLSTER and draws down on the slaves.                          EPPS           Yah will strike her. Yah will           strike her until her flesh is rent           and meat and blood flow equal, or           I will kill every nigger in my           sight!           Solomon can't strike a blow, even if it means his life.           But from the ground, from Patsey:                          PATSEY           Do it, Platt. Don't stop until I           am dead.           What else can he do? Solomon begins to whip, to truly           whip Patsey. Her back welts, then tears... Patsey           screams in agony. Solomon strikes again and again...           After a full thirty lashes Solomon looks to Epps, who is           not satisfied.                          EPPS           Until I say no more! I ain't said           nothing!           Solomon strikes another ten to fifteen times. By now, as           promised, Patsey's back has been reduced to LITTLE MORE           THAN TORN MEAT AND BLOOD.           Finally, Solomon holds low the whip. He can and will do           no more.                          EPPS (CONT'D)           Strike her! Strike her!           Solomon will not. Epps takes up the whip and whips           Patsey with "ten fold" greater force than he had. The           painfully loud and angry curses of Epps load the air.           Patsey by now is terribly lacerated, literally flayed.           The lash wet with blood which flowed down her sides and           dropped upon the ground. At length Patsey ceases           struggling. Her head sinks listlessly on the ground.                                                   (CONTINUED)          110.                         156 CONTINUED: (5) 156           Her screams and supplications gradually decrease and die           away into a low moan. It would seem that she was dying.           Solomon, screaming at Epps:                          SOLOMON           Thou devil! Sooner or later,           somewhere in the course of eternal           justice thou shalt answer for this           sin!           Though Epps fronts rage, there should be underlying           anguish for what he has done to his beloved Pats.                          EPPS           No sin! There is no sin! A man           does how he pleases with his           property. At the moment, Platt, I           am of great pleasure. You be           goddamn careful I don't come to           wantin' to lightenin' my mood no           further.           By contrast to this horror, the field of cotton smiles in           the warm sunlight. The birds chirp merrily amidst the           foliage of the tress. Peace and happiness seems to reign           everywhere.           Everywhere else.           Epps leaves Patsey to herself. He says not a word to the           Mistress as he passes. The Mistress herself heads back           into the house.           Solomon unties Patsey, lifts her and takes her to the           cabin.                                                  157 157           INT. CABIN - LATER           Patsey is laid on some boards where she remains for a           long time with eyes closed and groaning in agony. Phebe           applies melted tallow to her wounds, and all try to           assist and console her.           In time Patsey opens her eyes. She looks to Solomon.           She does not say a word. She just looks at him...and           then her eyes close again.                                                  158 158           MOVED TO A155                                   159 MOVED TO B155 159          111.                                                            160 INT. MASTER EPPS'S PLANTATION/GREAT HOUSE/ADDITION - 160                          EVENING           -APRIL, 1852-           Solomon and Bass are working together alone on the           extension. From the amount of work that's been done on           it, it should be obvious that days have now passed.           Solomon makes a cautious approach to Bass. As casually           as he can he inquires:                          SOLOMON           Master Bass, I want to ask you           what part of the country you came           from?                          BASS           No part of this land. I was born           in Canada. Now guess where that           is.                          SOLOMON           Oh, I know where Canada is. I           have been there myself.                          BASS           Have you?                          SOLOMON           Montreal and Kingston and           Queenston and a great many places.           And I have been in York state,           too. Buffalo and Rochester and           Albany, and can tell you the names           of the villages on the Erie canal           and the Champlain canal.           Bass gives Solomon a long and curious stare.                          BASS           Well traveled for a slave. How           came you here?                          SOLOMON           Master Bass, if justice had been           done I never would have been here.                          BASS           How's this? Tell me all about it.                          SOLOMON           I am afraid to tell you, though I           don't believe you would tell           Master Epps if I should.                          BASS           Every word you speak is a profound           secret.                          (CONTINUED)          112-115.                         160 CONTINUED: 160           Solomon holds a moment. Hasn't he heard the same promise           before? Prior to Solomon stating his case, WE FADE TO:                                   161 INT. MASTER EPPS'S PLANTATION / ADDITION - DAY 161           Hours have passed. Bass reflects on the story that Epps           has told in the intervening.                          BASS           How many years all told?                          SOLOMON           Just nearly...just passed eleven.                          BASS           Your story is...it is amazing, and           in no good way.                          SOLOMON           Do you believe, sir, in justice as           you have said?                          BASS           I do.                          SOLOMON           That slavery is an evil that           should befall none?                          BASS           I believe so.                          SOLOMON           If you truly do, I would ask...I           would beg that you write my           friends in the north, acquainting           them with my situation and           beseeching them to forward free           papers, or take such steps as they           might consider proper to secure my           release.           Bass looks at Solomon, holding his gaze for more than a           prolonged beat.                          SOLOMON (CONT'D)           My daughter Margaret is possibly           now 19 and my son Alonzo, 16. I           miss them so. It would be an           unspeakable happiness to clasp my           wife and my family again.           Bass hands Solomon an end of a long plank of wood and           looks over his shoulder, as if to camouflage the           conversation by work. They both lift it toward the           floorboards. Finally Bass speaks.                                                                            (CONTINUED)           116.                         161 CONTINUED: 161                          BASS           I have always forgone           relationships and family. I did           once have a sweetheart who I loved           deeply.           Bass points to a measuring tool, which Solomon           immediately hands over.                          BASS (CONT'D)           But that was a long, long time           ago. I've been traveling this           country for the best part of           twenty years. My freedom is           everything. The fact that I can           walk out of here tomorrow gives me           most pleasure. I see the aching in           your eyes, the pain of not being           attached to your loved ones. My           life doesn't mean much to anyone,           but it seems your life means a lot           to a lot of people. What you have           just said to me scares me, and I           must say, sir, I am afraid. Not           just for you, but for me.           They continue working, fixing the floorboards in unison.           Solomon, slightly confused.                          BASS (CONT'D)           I will write your letter sir, for           if I could bring freedom to you,           it will be more than a pleasure.           It will be a duty. Now, would you           be so kind as to pass me those           nails, sir.           We pull back to reveal the two men dwarfed by the           unfinished structure. They continue to work, as if the           conversation had never occurred.                                                  162 162                          OMIT                                                  163 OMIT 163                                                  164 OMIT 164                                   A165 EXT. SWAMP TBD A165           Solomon walks a path he has walked a thousand times or           more on his way back from Bartholomew's - sack familiarly           slung over his right shoulder. Drearily he walks. His           eyes acknowledge something we yet cannot see to his left.           Almost simultaneously, his eyes retract back to the path                                                   (CONTINUED)          116A.          A165 CONTINUED: A165           towards Epps'. As he passes out of shot, the evidence of           what he was looking at is revealed.           FEET hang at the top right hand corner of the frame. A           woman, who has been lynched.                                                  165 165           EXT. MASTER EPPS'S PLANTATION/ADDITION - DAY           -SEPTEMBER, 1852-                          SLOW DISSOLVE           To a now virtually complete, half-painted white gazebo.           Slaves continue to work on it. As they do so, Bass peels           away from the structure to have an overview. He beckons           Solomon toward him, out of earshot from the slaves who           are continuing to work on the gazebo. As Solomon           approaches, Bass shouts-                          BASS           And bring those markers!           Solomon gathers a clutch of markers in his hands and           approaches Bass.                          BASS (CONT'D)           No letter yet.                          SOLOMON           You are certain?           Bass takes a marker from Solomon and slides it into the           earth.                          BASS           I have inquired thoroughly. More           than is safe for either of us.           Bass takes another and pokes it into the ground,           improvising a pathway towards the gazebo.                          BASS (CONT'D)           Solomon...I have a job or two on           hand which will be completed           shortly... The work here has           grown sparse.                                                                                                                              (CONTINUED)          117.                         165 CONTINUED: 165           Bass doesn't need to spell things out for Solomon.           Solomon's understanding of the finality of the situation           should be very clear.                          BASS (CONT'D)           You must know, wherever I am I           will press your cause.                          SOLOMON           Five months. On top of these           years. No cause remains.                          BASS           If there is any chance...                          SOLOMON           Mr. Bass...                          BASS           I will continue to write your                          PEOPLE--                          SOLOMON           Go home knowing you have tried.           The weight of defeat should hang very heavily with both           men. Nothing more to do, nothing more to say BASS TAKES           SOLOMON'S HAND, GRIPS IT FIRMLY, BUT LOW AND           SURREPTITIOUSLY knowing full well he cannot be seen           making contact with a slave. But in the strength of           their collective grip, in the emotion in which they hold           each other's eyes, we should be able to easily see how           greatly Bass wanted to be able to help Solomon. Equally,           we can see the depth of regard Solomon has for Bass. The           moment is made all the more powerful by the fact neither           man can openly speak his regret or thanks. A moment           longer, and then Bass releases his grip and makes his           way marching toward the gazebo, pointing instructions.           Solomon is left, markers in hand, alone.                                                  166 166                          OMIT                                                  167 OMIT 167          118.                                                            A168 EXT. ROAD BY EPPS' PLANTATION - EVENING A168           Solomon sits on a secluded part of the road, fiddle in           hand. He stares across the expanse. His eyes fixed on           something that is a million miles away.           Slowly Solomon tunes his fiddle, turning the tuning peg           tighter and tighter. As the strings are taut, the sound           is almost unbearable as Solomon tightens bit by bit, as           if bones are being cracked one by one. Just beyond the           breaking point of sound, there is a snap.           He then repeats the action.           Solomon holds the neck of the violin. Sliding his thumb           and forefinger down the neck, he methodically cracks it           at the base. He carefully snaps the neck and removes it           from the body, then snaps it in two, placing it on the           ground.           He then starts on the body. Heaving it on the ground, it           falls apart. Methodically he breaks the violin into small           bits - silencing the instrument with a hushed display of           violence, rather than aggressive. Seems almost to be, in           an odd way, respectful.                                                  168 168           EXT. MASTER EPPS'S PLANTATION/FIELD - DAY           -FEBRUARY, 1853-           The Slaves are sewing the heavily plowed field, making           their way in the trying soil. Solomon, too focused to           note the arrival of two men by carriage: Parker and the           SHERIFF.           While the Sheriff makes his way to the field, Parker           remains with the carriage. The Sheriff calls:                          SHERIFF           Platt...? Where is the boy called           Platt?                          SOLOMON           ...Sir...           The Sheriff crosses to him.                          SHERIFF           Your name is Platt, is it?                          SOLOMON           Yes, sir.           Pointing off to the distance.                          SHERIFF           Do you know that man?                                                   (CONTINUED)          118A.                         168 CONTINUED: 168           Solomon looks toward the carriage. He has to shield his           eyes from the sun. Recognition is slow coming to him.           But when it does, it hits him as a rush.                          SOLOMON           Mr. Parker...?                                                                                                                              (CONTINUED)          119.                         168 CONTINUED: (2) 168           Solomon starts for Parker, but he is pulled back by the           Sheriff who is keen to determine Solomon's true identity.                          SHERIFF           Say again?                          SOLOMON           Mr. Parker?           As he does, Epps makes his way over.                          SHERIFF           That man received a letter           compiling many accusations. You           look me in the eye and on your           life answer me truthfully: have           you any other name than Platt?                          SOLOMON           Solomon Northup is my name.                          EPPS           Sheriff...                          SHERIFF           Have you a family?                          EPPS           What's all this?                          SHERIFF           It's official business.                          EPPS           My nigger, my business.                          SHERIFF           Your business waits.                          (TO SOLOMON)           Tell me of your family.                          SOLOMON           I have a wife and two children.                          SHERIFF           What were your children's names?                          SOLOMON           Margaret and Alonzo.                          SHERIFF           And your wife's name before her           marriage?                          SOLOMON           Anne Hampton. I am who I say.           Solomon pushes past the sheriff. As Solomon moves toward           Parker, his pace quickens with each step until his                          (CONTINUED)          119A.                         168 CONTINUED: (3) 168           personal velocity has him nearly at a dead run. The two           old friends make contact with each other, wrap each other           in a long and emotional embrace. It if finally broken by           Epps, who has moved over with the Sheriff.                                                                                                                              (CONTINUED)          120.                         168 CONTINUED: (4) 168                          EPPS           Nah... You will unhand 'em.           Platt is my nigger!                          PARKER           He is Solomon Northup.                          EPPS           You say...                          PARKER           He belongs to no man.                          EPPS           You say! You come here,           unfamiliar to me, and make claims.                          SHERIFF           Not claims. I have no doubts.           This is Solomon Northup, a           resident of Saratoga Springs, NY.                          EPPS           To hell with that! My nigger, and           I'll fight you for 'em!                          PARKER           As is your right. As it will be           my pleasure to bankrupt you in the           courts. Your decision.           By this time, the slaves in the plantation have overcome           their fear of penalty, and left their work and gathered           in the yard as witnesses. They stand behind the cabin,           out of sight of Epps.           Mistress Epps also bears witness, standing on the veranda           next to her house slave. Her face is of a strange mixed           emotion.           Epps looks to Solomon. Solomon icily, stoically holds           his ground. He makes it quite clear in his countenance           that nobody owns him. Sheriff, hand on his gun, is there           to back Solomon up. Epps, with no other recourse than to                          BACK DOWN:                          EPPS           You think this is the last you'll           see of me, boy? It ain't.                          (TO PARKER)           Whatever paper you hold about his           freedom, it don't mean naught. He           is my nigger - and I will have my           day in court, sir. As God as my           witness, I will have my day in           court. Take 'em!           Epps calls to Bob-                                                   (CONTINUED)          120A.                         168 CONTINUED: (5) 168                          EPPS (CONT'D)           Saddle my horse! And bring her up           here.           Epps walks back into the plantation.           The trio starts for the carriage. Solomon is pulled back           by the call of Patsey's voice:                          PATSEY           Platt...           Disregarding Parker, Solomon crosses over to Patsey.           Under the circumstances, neither really knows how to           engage. Finally, suddenly, Patsey throws her arms around           Solomon and they embrace.           Epps, now mounted on his horse, witness the encounter.           Kicking the stirrups hard into the sides of the horse, he           rides off furiously.           Calling from the carriage, mindful of Epps:                          PARKER           Solomon...if we know what's wise,           we should depart.           A moment longer Solomon and Patsey hold each other. They           separate, Solomon heading back to the carriage. He and           Parker alight. The Sheriff chides the horses and they                                                                                                                              (CONTINUED)          121.                         168 CONTINUED: (6) 168           start up. As they move on, Patsey sinks down to the           ground, where she remains in a weary and half-reclining           state, the other slaves around her.           WE STAY WITH Solomon as he travels further and further           from the slaves - who are diminished by distance.           Solomon waves a hand to them, but the carriage rounds a           bend and a thicket of trees hides them from his eyes           forever more.                          BLACK                                                  A169 A169           EXT. NORTHUP HOUSE - DAY           -MARCH, 1853-           We now see Solomon in front of a door. A door we have           seen before at the very beginning of our story. Solomon,           aged significantly since then, stands nervously,           swallowing, and adjusting his attire. He breaths in and           holds his breath. He blows out and closes his eyes. A           tear falls from his cheek, but this is not the way he           wants his family to see him. He gathers himself, and           looks to his right. There stands Mr. Parker. He places           his hand on Solomon's shoulder. He says gently-                          PARKER           Are you ready?           Solomon swallows and nods.                                                  169 169           INT. NORTHUP HOUSE - LATER           THE DOOR TO THE ROOM OPENS. Mr. Parker enters, Solomon           behind. We first see Anne, in her finest attire; the           Northup children: Alonzo, who is now seventeen and           Margaret who is now twenty - SHE CARRIES WITH HER A           BUNDLE. Also present is MARGARET'S HUSBAND. The family           waits patiently, dutifully...but anxiously.           Anne rises to greet him, but holds back. All around, the           body language of the family is stiff and awkward. They           are, after all - after twelve years - little more than           familiar strangers.                          SOLOMON           I apologize for my appearance. I           have had a difficult time of           things these past many years.           Solomon looks among his family; trying to recall them as           much as they look to see familiarity within him. To his                          CHILDREN:                          SOLOMON (CONT'D)           Alonzo... Margaret, yes? You do           not recognize me, do you? Do                          (MORE) (CONTINUED)          122.                         169 CONTINUED: 169                          SOLOMON (CONT'D)           you...do you even remember the           last time we saw each other? I           put you on a carriage with your           mother...           Margaret, tearing, hugs her father. Solomon almost           breaks, but he keeps himself together. Looking to the                          UNKNOWN MAN:                          SOLOMON (CONT'D)           And who is this?                          MARGARET           He is my husband.                          SOLOMON           Husband?                          MARGARET'S HUSBAND           It is very good to meet you, sir.                          SOLOMON           We have much acquainting to do.           Margaret rises, she presents her bundle to her father.                          MARGARET           And this is your grandson.           Solomon Northup Staunton.                          SOLOMON           ...Solomon...           The fact his grandson carries his name, is overwhelming.           Solomon breaks down. Emotionally, physically... But           ANNE IS THERE TO CATCH HIM. As she holds him, Solomon           says to Anne with all his heart:                          SOLOMON (CONT'D)           Forgive me.                          ANNE           There is nothing to forgive.           The pair, joined now by the whole family, hold on to each           other for life...and one would think for all the rest of           their lives.                          FADE TO:                          BLACK                          CARD:           Upon gaining his freedom, Solomon Northup located and           attempted to seek legal justice against the men who           kidnapped him. The case was tried in Washington, DC           where blacks were prohibited by law from testifying                                                   (CONTINUED)          123.                         169 CONTINUED: (2) 169           against whites. The charges against the kidnappers were           eventually dismissed.           Northup spent the rest of his life working as an           abolitionist, and with the Underground Railroad.           Solomon Northup most likely died between 1863 and 1875.           The exact date, place, and circumstances of his death           remain unknown.           - END -
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+                                                                      12 AND HOLDING                                                   Written by                                     Anthony S Cipriano                                                                                                  04.06.04                                        FADE IN:                    EXT. NEIGHBORHOOD STREET - MORNING                    TWIN BOYS, RUDY AND JACOB CARGES (12), ride their bikes          through a suburban neighborhood.                    Rudy, the more athletic of the two, rides at a breakneck          pace. Jacob rides slowly due to a HOCKEY MASK that he wears          over his face. It's making it difficult for him to see. The          boys turn down a DIRT PATH and ride deep into some WOODS.                    INT. WOODS - CONTINUOUS                    Rudy and Jacob ride to the edge of a CLEARING and stop.          Across from the clearing is a large OAK TREE, which has a          TREE HOUSE perched high up in it's branches. The boys          cautiously look around and whisper.                                         JACOB                     You see `em?                                         RUDY                     No. But that doesn't mean they're                     not here.                    After a beat, Rudy gets off his bike and starts walking          towards the tree house.   Jacob stays behind, eyeing their          safety.                                         RUDY (CONT'D) (cont'd)                     Jacob, come on. It's cool.                    Suddenly, a ROCK comes careening from off screen.   It hits          Jacob in the head and knocks him to the ground.                    Rudy darts for the oak tree as a hail storm of rock and          debris come flying at him.                    As Jacob rises, a stream of blood pours down the front of his          mask. He quickly runs for the tree.                    TWO BOYS, JEFF AND KENNY (14), trailer park, punks come          running out of the woods, rocks in hand.                    Rudy and Jacob climb the tree, using makeshift RUNGS that are          nailed into the trunk. In the floor of the tree house is a          DOOR. Rudy removes a KEY from a chain around his neck and          unlocks it. He climbs inside and pulls Jacob in after him.                                                                              2.                                        INT. TREE HOUSE - CONTINUOUS                    Jacob looks back and sees Jeff and Kenny, running over. Rudy          crosses to the door with a BUCKET of liquid.                                        JACOB                    What the hell is that?                                        RUDY                    Piss.                    Rudy dumps the piss onto Jeff and Kenny.                    EXT. TREE HOUSE - SAME TIME                    Now drenched with piss, Jeff and Kenny jump from the tree,          screaming. They try to shake the urine off.                    Kenny spits the taste out of his mouth and angrily calls up          to the boys.                                        KENNY                    You and your deformed brother are                    dead!                    INT. TREE HOUSE - SAME TIME                    Jacob rips the hockey mask off. (A large STRAWBERRY          BIRTHMARK covers the right side of his face.) He's insulted.                                        RUDY                        (calling to Kenny)                    Anytime you're ready, dickhead.                    EXT. TREE HOUSE - SAME TIME                    Jeff and Kenny walk off.                                        KENNY                    They're fucking dead!                    Jeff runs off screen and throws up.                    INT. FISHER HOME - KITCHEN - MORNING                    LEONARD FISHER (12), severely obese, sits at the dinner          table, eating pancakes.                    His FATHER, PATRICK (35) and TWO YOUNGER SISTERS, HALEY (8)          and SARA (6) are seated with him. They are all overweight.                                                                                                    (CONTINUED)                                                                                 3.          CONTINUED:                    LEONARD'S MOTHER, GRACE (35), the largest of them all,          crosses to the table, sits and starts eating.                    JUMP CUTS show the progression of their meal. From globs of          syrup being placed over pancakes to the mass consumption of          omelets and sausage. Caught up with eating, nobody speaks.                    EST. EXT. CHUNG RESIDENCE - MORNING                    A modern, upper-class home with a large, well tended yard.                                           YACCO (O.S.)                       The check is supposed to be here on                       the first of the month... She's                       your daughter, you asshole!                    INT. CHUNG HOME - UPSTAIRS HALLWAY - CONTINUOUS                    YACCO CHUANG (35), Asian-American, sexy, uptight,          psychiatrist, paces the hallway on the phone.                    HER DAUGHTER, MALEE (12) with long, black, braided hair and          thick rimmed glasses, peeks her head out of the bathroom.                                           MALEE                       Mom, I need help.                                           YACCO (INTO PHONE)                           (ignoring her)                       Any parent is "parent of the year"                       next to you, you selfish prick.                    Yacco walks off.    Deflated, Malee reenters the bathroom.                    INT. CHUNG HOME - BATHROOM - CONTINUOUS                    Malee is wrapped in a towel and holding a TAMPON. Confused,          she grabs the TAMPON BOX and reads the directions. Malee's          confusion quickly turns to disgust.                    EXT. NEIGHBORHOOD ENTRANCE - LATER                    Leonard sits upon a large rock with the words, LINDSAY ACRES          inscribed on the center of it. He eats POPCORN. Hanging off          the top right hand corner of the rock is a banner, which          reads, 5th ANNUAL 4TH OF JULY PICNIC. ALL INVITED.                    Malee rides her bike up to Leonard. She HONKS her BIKE HORN          at every pedestrian in her path.                                           MALEE                       Move it, people.    Outta my way!                                                                                  (CONTINUED)                                                                             4.          CONTINUED:                    She comes to a screeching halt an inch in front of Leonard.                                           LEONARD                           (mouthful)                       You're late.                                           MALEE                       Yeah well, I began menstruating                       this morning, and I had some                       difficulty inserting the tampon.                           (off his disgusted look)                       What? It's a natural process. You                       know, I could conceive, carry and                       birth a child right now.                                             LEONARD                       Big deal.    You won't.                                           MALEE                       But I could. That's what matters.                                           LEONARD                       The twins said, they'd meet us at                       the spot.                    Leonard gets on his bike.                                           MALEE                       Wanna race?                                           LEONARD                       Nah, I'm good.                    INT. TREE HOUSE - LATER                    Jacob wipes at his head wound, frightened.                                           JACOB                       Maybe I should have mom look at it.                                            RUDY                       If you didn't have that damn mask                       on, you'd have seen it coming. Our                       birthday comes once a year, and you                       ask for a hockey mask. You don't                       even play.                                           JACOB                       Jason from "Friday the 13th" wears                       one. He's bad ass.                                                                                                     (CONTINUED)                                                                               5.          CONTINUED:                                           RUDY                       Exactly. Jason wouldn't run home                       `cause of a little blood. He'd get                       back up, decapitate his victim and                       move on.                    Jacob looks out the makeshift window in the wall.                                           JACOB                       You think Jeff and Kenny will come                       back?                                           RUDY                       I dropped piss on their heads.    I'd                       say the odds are pretty good.                                           MALEE (O.S.)                       You did what?                    Rudy and Jacob turn to find Malee and Leonard, entering the          tree house.                                           RUDY                       Jeff and Kenny were here. I dumped                       the piss I've been saving on their                       heads.                                           LEONARD                       Why were you saving piss?                                           RUDY                       Just incase. Pretty smart, huh?                                            JACOB                       No, it's stupid cause now they're                       gonna come back here and kick all                       our asses.                                           RUDY                       Don't be such a pussy.                                           LEONARD                       Yeah, I could probably take them                       both myself.                                           RUDY                       What are you gonna do, Leonard, eat                       them?                                           JACOB                       All I'm saying is, who cares if                       they tear it down.                                                                                   (CONTINUED)                                                                              6.          CONTINUED: (2)                                        RUDY                    This is OUR place. We've been                    coming here since we were seven.                                        JACOB                    Nothing lasts forever.                                        RUDY                    You're such a butt-munch.                    Rudy pushes Jacob.   Jacob pushes back.   The two start          fighting.                                        MALEE                    You guys, it's your birthday.                    Could you try and get along?                    Off the boy's fighting -                    INT. YACCO'S OFFICE - LATER THAT AFTERNOON                    Yacco sits across from DEBBIE POOLE (42), housewife,          conservatively dressed.                                        DEBBIE                    I don't think therapy is helping.                                         YACCO                    Why do you say that?   Are you still                    "cutting"?                    Embarrassed, Maggie lifts up her shirt sleeve. We see that          her arm is covered with cuts. Dried blood is everywhere.          Yacco is horrified by the sight.                                        YACCO (cont'd)                    Oh, Debbie.                                        DEBBIE                    It feels much better than it looks.                    Really.                    Suddenly, Malee bursts into her mother's office.                                        MALEE                    Ma, I... Oops.                                        YACCO                    Malee, out. Now.                                           MALEE                    I'm sorry.                                                                                  (CONTINUED)                                                                                 7.          CONTINUED:                    Malee quickly exits the office.                                           YACCO                       Excuse me for a moment.                    INT. YACCO'S OFFICE - RECEPTION AREA - CONTINUOUS                    Yacco enters the reception area.       She is obviously angry.                                           YACCO                       I told you a 100 times to knock.                                           MALEE                       I said, I was sorry.                                           YACCO                       Why aren't you with the boys?                                           MALEE                       Rudy and Jacob went for pizza with                       their parents.                    Yacco crosses to a desk and removes a FLUTE from a drawer.                                           YACCO                       I found this in the backseat of my                       car this morning. Do you know how                       much flutes cost?   Go outside, sit                       on the front steps and practice.                                             MALEE                       But, mom.                                             YACCO                       Now!                    Angered, Malee grabs the flute and exits.                    EXT. FRONT OF YACCO'S OFFICE - CONTINUOUS                    Malee drops on the stoop like a ton of bricks.      After a beat,          she reluctantly begins playing her flute.                    A few pedestrians stop to listen.                                           MALEE                       Keep it moving. This ain't a show.                    INT. TWIN'S HOUSE - LIVING ROOM - NIGHT                    Rudy and Jacob stare into the camera with big grins.                                                                                               (CONTINUED)                                                                               8.          CONTINUED:                                           RUDY/JACOB                       Cheese!                    VFX: CAMERA FLASH                    The boys relax their poses as ASHLEY and JIM CARGES (30's),          enter the shot. Ashley puts her camera down on the table and          picks up a large PRESENT.                                           JIM                       Okay, you got your small gifts this                       morning. Now for the big ones.                                           ASHLEY                       This one is Rudy's.                    Rudy rips into the present, revealing a SONY PLAY STATION.                                           RUDY                       Sony play station! Oh my God!      Oh                       my God! Yes! Too cool!                                           JIM                       Since neither of you wanted a party                       this year, we were able to splurge.                    Ashley removes an ENVELOPE from her purse. She hands it to          Jacob. His enthusiasm suddenly turns to worry.                                           JACOB                       What is it?                                           ASHLEY                       Only one way to find out.                    Jacob removes a colorful PAMPHLET from the envelope.                                           JIM                       Go ahead, read it.                                           JACOB                       "Plastic Surgery.     Isn't it about                       time?"                           (horrified)                       I don't get it.                                           ASHLEY                       Your father and I are going to pay                       to have your birthmark removed.                                           JIM                       Isn't that great.                                                                                   (CONTINUED)                                                                            9.          CONTINUED: (2)                                        JACOB                    You got me surgery for my birthday?                                        JIM                    Not just one.     A series of them.                                        RUDY                        (overcompensating)                    Cool.                                        JACOB                    It's not "cool".    It totally sucks!                    Jacob drops the envelope, walks from the room.                                         JIM                    Jacob?                    INT. TWIN'S HOUSE - BOY'S BEDROOM - LATER                    Rudy enters the darkened room and crosses over to Jacob, who          has his face planted in his pillow. Jacob has been crying.                                        RUDY                    Don't sweat it. You can borrow my                    play station anytime you want.                                        JACOB                    This isn't about the play station.                    It's about this thing on my face.                    Everybody hates it.                                         RUDY                    I don't.                                         JACOB                    Who cares what you think? You're                    the reason for all of this.                    Perfect you with your perfect skin.                    There to show the world what I'm                    supposed to look like.                        (beat)                    You know, sometimes I just wish I                    wasn't your twin.                                        RUDY                    Screw you! Know what, I take it                    back, you can't use my play                    station.                    Rudy exits the room, slamming the door after him.                                                                            10.                                        EXT. NEIGHBORHOOD - NEXT DAY                    It's your typical fourth of July block party. Families crowd          the streets with BBQ GRILLS, cotton candy and beer. Children          ride their bicycles, which are adorned with streamers,          balloons and noise makers.                    Off to the side, Malee and Jacob sit, eating SNOW CONES.                    EXT. STREET - SAME TIME                    Jim Carges tends to some burgers on his grill.   GABE ARTUNION          (40), real estate agent, approaches.                                          GABE                    30 acres.                                        JIM                    I already told you, Gabe, I'm not                    selling that land. Not 30 acres                    not five.                                        GABE                    I'm willing to pay top dollar.                                        JIM                    I'm not gonna let you tear down                    those woods, so you can stack                    twenty houses right on top of each                    other.                                        GABE                    I'm gonna write down a number.                                        JIM                    No! My kids... hell, your kids                    play in those woods all the time.                    You can't put a price on that.                    Gabe writes down a number and hands it to Jim.                                        GABE                    I believe I can.                    Jim looks at the figure and his eyes go wide.                    EXT. STREET - LATER                    A line of PICNIC TABLES surround nearby GRILLS. Leonard's          family minus Leonard sit, eating as if there's no tomorrow.                                                                                                     (CONTINUED)                                                                              11.          CONTINUED:                                           SOCCER MOM # 1 (O.S.)                       Look at them. So unhealthy.                    ON TWO SOCCER MOMS, watching Leonard's family eat.                                           SOCCER MOM # 1 (cont'd)                       You know, Grace can barely walk                       because of her weight.                                           SOCCER MOM # 2                       Where do you think she finds                       clothes big enough to fit?                    The two woman walk off. As they disperse, we see LEONARD,          standing behind them. He has heard every word.                    Hurt, Leonard looks down at his own plate, which overflows          with food. He feels embarrassed and disgusted.                    Patrick rises and crosses over to the buffet table.                                           PATRICK                       Good eating, huh son?                    Patrick grabs the ladle and begins to fill up his plate.                                           LEONARD                       Maybe you shouldn't have seconds,                       Dad, you know?                                           PATRICK                       Who are you, Richard Simmons?                       C'mon, enjoy the day.                    He walks off with his food. Leanard looks down at the food,          shrugs, then helps himself to a heaping porion.                    EXT. ANOTHER PART OF THE STREET - DUSK                    RUDY straddles his bike while watching a group of 8-year-          olds, having a water balloon fight. Jealous, he          reminiscences to a time when he was one of those kids.                                           KENNY                           (o.s. )                       Me and Jeff are gonna pay that tree                       house of yours a little visit                       tonight.                    Rudy spins around to find Kenny, standing at his side.                                                                                                       (CONTINUED)                                                                                12.          CONTINUED:                                           KENNY (cont'd)                       When we're through, it'll be a pile                       of scrap.                                           RUDY                       Why don't you take your smelly ass                       back to the trailer park?                                           KENNY                       Free country, asshole.                                           RUDY                       You got nothing better to do than                       pick on us all the time?                                           KENNY                       I did until yesterday.                                           RUDY                       I thought you liked "golden                       showers". Oh no, that was your                       mother.                    Kenny pushes Rudy to the ground and then jumps on top of him.          Rudy struggles to get free, but he's overpowered. A crowd of          kids surround them, chanting, "FIGHT, FIGHT".                    Jeff hocks a phlegm wad onto Rudy's face. Rudy screams as          the stream of saliva, drips across his nose and onto his lip.                                           NEIGHBORHOOD FATHER (O.S.)                       What's going on over there?                    Kenny looks up and sees a neighborhood parent coming over.                                           KENNY                       I'll finish this tonight!                    Kenny pushes Rudy down once more and runs off.      Rudy slowly          rises, wiping the saliva from his face.                    EXT. VACANT LOT - LATER THAT NIGHT                    The entire neighborhood has descended upon a VACANT LOT.          They are awaiting the annual, fireworks display.                    We FIND Leonard, Jacob and Malee sitting on a large rock,          which gives them a birds eye view of the crowd.                    Rudy runs over to the rock and climbs up top.                                                                                                        (CONTINUED)                                                                                 13.          CONTINUED:                                           RUDY                       Kenny showed up. He said, Jeff and                       him are gonna tear the treehouse                       down tonight. We gotta sneak out                       and stop them.                                           JACOB                       Mom and Dad would kill us.                                           RUDY                       We can't let him tear it down.                                           JACOB                       It's just a treehouse.                                           RUDY                       No, it's not! You know what, you                       suck. I'm going. Leonard, you in?                                           JACOB                       You don't have to go if you don't                       want to.                                           RUDY                       Don't listen to him.     He's a pussy.                    Leonard looks between Jacob and Malee.                                            LEONARD                       I'll go.                                           RUDY                       Finally, someone with balls.                    Insulted, Jacob slides off the rock and walks away.       Malee          follows.                                           RUDY (CONT'D) (cont'd)                       Let them go.                    The fireworks display begins.       As they turn to watch it...                    INT. TWIN'S HOME - BOY'S BEDROOM - MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT                    We SCAN the room and come to a set of BUNK BEDS.                    SFX: ELECTRIC WATCH ALARM                    A body in the top bunk sits up and turns on a small bed          light. Reveal, it's RUDY. Rudy grabs his watch from the          post and silences the alarm. Jacob sits up in bed.                                                                                               (CONTINUED)                                                                                   14.          CONTINUED:                                           JACOB                       Rudy.                                           RUDY                       Unless you're coming with me, I                       don't want to hear it.                    Jacob lies back in bed, silent. Rudy jumps off the top bunk,          gets dressed and grabs a BASEBALL BAT. Before leaving, Rudy          looks back at Jacob and shakes his head, disappointed.                                            RUDY (cont'd)                       You know, you can't be a pussy all                       your life.                                           JACOB                       What?                                           RUDY                       Jeff and Kenny pick on you all the                       time, and you don't do shit.                                           JACOB                       It's my problem.                                           RUDY                       No, it's mine too. Cause we're                       brothers. That's what brothers do.                       They fight for each other, kill for                       each other, die for each other.                                           JACOB                       I don't feel that way.                                           RUDY                       Cause you're a pussy. So stay                       home, keep your head under the                       blankets. I'm gonna fight.                    With that, Rudy disappears out the window.                                                                  FADE TO BLACK:                    DARKNESS... SFX: CREAKING DOOR. A FLASHLIGHT illuminates the          location. We are...                    INT. TREEHOUSE - LATER THAT NIGHT                    Leonard and Rudy enter with the help of a flashlight.                    Leonard reaches inside his backpack and removes a number of          SNACK CAKES from his backpack.                                                                                     (CONTINUED)                                                                            15.          CONTINUED:                                           LEONARD                           (re: snack cakes)                       Some provisions.                                           RUDY                       We're only gonna be here a couple                       of hours.                                           LEONARD                       When two o'clock rolls around,                       you'll be begging for one of these.                    Rudy shakes his head, removes his BAT from his backpack.                                           LEONARD (cont'd)                           (re: baseball bat)                       I didn't bring my glove.                                           RUDY                       Moron, the bat is for Jeff and                       Kenny. You know, to scare them a                       little.                    He swings it hard.                                           RUDY (cont'd)                       Maybe it's best if we don't talk.                       Just listen. Listen for them, and                       don't fall asleep.                                            LEONARD                       I'm wide awake. I could stay up                       all night.                    EST. EXT. WOODS - LATER THAT NIGHT                    The treehouse is illuminated by the full moon, which rests in          the sky above. The thunderous sound of a million crickets          fills the air.                    INT. TREEHOUSE - CONTINUOUS                    Both boys lie asleep. A mosquito flies in through the window          and buzzes past Leonard's ear. He haphazardly swipes at it          in his sleep, wakes himself up.                                             LEONARD                       Oh, shit.                    Rudy jumps awake.                                                                                                     (CONTINUED)                                                                               16.          CONTINUED:                                           RUDY                       What... What is it?    They here?                                              LEONARD                       No.                    Leonard rises, picks up his bag and opens the TRAP DOOR in          the floor. He is about to exit.                                           RUDY                       Where you going?                                           LEONARD                       They're not gonna show up, I'm                       goin' home. It's three o'clock-                    Suddenly, a FLAMING COCKTAIL comes flying through the window.          It hits Rudy in the head, explodes and engulfs him in flames.                    EXT. TREEHOUSE - SAME TIME                    Jeff and Kenny stand a few yards away from the treehouse.          Both laugh at the sight of the flames inside.                                              KENNY                       Now yours.     And aim for the window.                    Jeff lights his COCKTAIL. It misses the window and smashes          into the side of the tree house.                                           KENNY (CONT'D) (cont'd)                       Ha ha, you suck.                    Jeff and Kenny hear Leonard and Rudy screaming from inside.                                           JEFF                       You hear that?                    INT. TREEHOUSE - SAME TIME                    Rudy, now covered in flames, rolls on the floor, screaming.                                           RUDY                       Put it out! Put it out!                    Leonard struggles to put out the flames with his backpack,          but it's of no use. He spins around and finds the wall          behind him, engulfed with flames. He screams, terrified.                    EXT. TREEHOUSE - SAME TIME                    Jeff and Kenny are frantic.                                                                                    (CONTINUED)                                                                              17.          CONTINUED:                                           JEFF                       They're in there!   They're in                       there!                    Jeff turns around and runs back home through the woods.                    INT. TREEHOUSE - SAME TIME                    Leonard backs away from Rudy. Unfortunately, he doesn't          realize that the door in the floor is open.                    EXT. TREEHOUSE - SAME TIME                    We watch over Kenny's shoulder as Leonard falls from the          treehouse, smacks his head on the tree trunk and comes to a          crash upon some rocks. Kenny runs over and finds Leonard          unconscious.                                            KENNY                       Wake up!   Wake up, kid!                    Off the treehouse, which is now a towering inferno -                    INT. TWIN'S HOUSE - PARENT'S BEDROOM - SAME TIME                    Ashley jumps up from a deep sleep. There is terror on her          face. She rushes over to her DESK and turns on the LAMP.          Ken is awakened by her.                                             JIM                       Ashley?    What is it?                                            ASHLEY                       I forgot to deposit your paycheck                       last week.                                           JIM                       But I already wrote some checks.                                           ASHLEY                       I know. With the cookout and                       everything, I forgot. I'll deposit                       it tomorrow. The holiday should                       buy us an extra day.                                           JIM                       Write yourself a note so you don't                       forget again.                                           ASHLEY                       I just did.                                                                                           (CONTINUED)                                                                                18.          CONTINUED:                    Ashley turns off the desk lamp and returns to bed.                                             ASHLEY (cont'd)                       Goodnite.                                                               FADE TO BLACK:                    SFX OVER BLACK : TELEPHONE RINGING                    FADE IN:                    EXT. GRAVEYARD - WEEKS LATER - AFTERNOON                    ON JIM and ASHLEY, watching Rudy's casket as it is lowered          into the ground. The once spirited, couple now looks tired          and pained. They are accompanied by a number of mourners.                                           PRIEST                       Rest in piece, Rudolph Eugene                       Carges. May God hold you in the                       palm of his hand.                    Jacob stands beside his parents. Tears stream from his eyes,          across his birthmark and off his chin. So stricken with          grief, Jacob barely has to energy to wipe the tears away.                    We continue on through the crowd and find Malee. Embarrassed          by the tears, she brings a black veil down over her face.                    INT. YACCO'S OFFICE - LATER THAT DAY                    Malee enters, still wearing the veil. She crosses to the          couch and sits beside A PATIENT, GUS MAITLAND (30), long          haired, hippi-type with a moustache and beard. Gus eyes          Malee, intrigued.                                           GUS                       Friend or family?                                             MALEE                       Huh?                                           GUS                       The person who died.                                             MALEE                       Friend.                                           GUS                       I'm sorry. You'll like Dr. Chung.                       This is only my second session, but                       she's good.                                                                                   (CONTINUED)                                                                              19.          CONTINUED:                                           MALEE                       I'm not a patient.     I'm her                       daughter.                    Malee lifts her veil and looks at Gus.                                              GUS                       Oh.     I can see the resemblance.                                           MALEE                       Are you trying to make me sick?                    Gus shoots Malee a look just as Yacco exits her office.                                           YACCO                       Mr. Maitland?                    Gus rises and enters the office.                                           YACCO (CONT'D) (cont'd)                       I'll be with you in a second.                    Yacco crosses to Malee and sits beside her.                                           YACCO (CONT'D) (cont'd)                       So, how was it?                                           MALEE                       It was a funeral, Mom.     How do you                       think it was?                                           YACCO                       I'm sorry I couldn't make it. Let                       Rudy's parents know I'm available                       if they need to talk. I won't                       charge for the sessions.                    Malee looks to Yacco, stunned by her comment.                                           YACCO (CONT'D) (cont'd)                       You know, it's okay to cry.                                           MALEE                       I know it's okay to cry. I don't                       need you to tell me, it's okay to                       cry. If I want to cry, I'll cry.                                              YACCO                       Okay.                    Yacco re-enters her office.       A beat.                                                                                             (CONTINUED)                                                                              20.          CONTINUED: (2)                    Malee starts to cry.                    EXT. JACOB'S HOME - LATER THAT AFTERNOON                    Cars fill the driveway and line the street in front of          Jacob's house.                    INT. TWIN'S HOME - LIVING ROOM - SAME TIME                    Mourners stand in small groups, engaged in hushed          conversations. Jim sits in his recliner, crying.                    INT. TWIN'S HOME - KITCHEN - SAME TIME                    A number of MOTHERS watch as Ashley obsessively prepares a          platter of deviled eggs. Concerned, one of them crosses over          to her.                                         MOTHER                    Ashley, there's more than enough                    food here.                                        ASHLEY                    No, Rudy loved my deviled eggs.                    It's right that I make them.                    Where's the paprika?                    Ashley opens up her cupboards in search of the paprika.                                        ASHLEY (CONT'D) (cont'd)                    Jesus, you put something down, and                    it disappears.                    Now angry, Ashley starts throwing objects out of the          cupboards, haphazardly.                                           MOTHER # 1                    Ashley.                    Ashley slams her cupboard doors shut. She looks around and          spots the GARBAGE PAIL across the kitchen.                                        ASHLEY                    Maybe I threw it out.                    Ashley crosses to the garbage. She lifts it upside down and          dumps the trash all over the floor. Ashley gets on her knees          and starts searching.                    The other women look to each other, uncomfortable.     Mother #          1 kneels down beside her.                                                                                             (CONTINUED)                                                                               21.          CONTINUED:                                              MOTHER # 1                       Ashley.                    Ashley ignores her. Mother # 1 grabs Ashley's hands and          looks her in the eye.                                              ASHLEY                       It's okay.                    Ashley stops cold.     The grief and heartache hit once again.                                           ASHLEY (CONT'D) (cont'd)                       Not my baby! Please God not my son!                    The mothers collectively drop to the floor and surround          Ashley in an attempt to comfort her. They give no care to          the pile of garbage they now sit in.                    INT. LEONARD'S HOSPITAL ROOM - LATER THAT DAY                    Leonard lies in a bed, staring out the window. There is a          BANDAGE wrapped around his forehead. Patrick sits beside him          in a chair.                    Grace enters, carrying bags of MCDONALD'S food with her.                                           GRACE                       This hospital is a nightmare. The                       elevator is never there when you                       need it.                    Patrick crosses over to the food and grabs his lunch.                                           PATRICK                       Where are the girls?                                           GRACE                       Haley took Sara up to the maternity                       ward.                    Grace crosses over to Leonard.                                           GRACE (CONT'D) (cont'd)                       How are you feeling?                                           LEONARD                       My head hurts.                                           GRACE                       You're lucky you didn't get killed.                                                                                                       (CONTINUED)                                                                           22.          CONTINUED:                                           LEONARD                       I told you, I'm sorry.                                           GRACE                       You try being awakened at four                       o'clock in the morning by the                       police saying, they have your son,                       he's unconscious and on his way to                       the hospital. I've never been so                       scared in my life. And poor Rudy.                    Leonard starts crying.                                             GRACE (cont'd)                       What?                                           LEONARD                       My best friend is dead!                    Grace hands Leonard a double cheeseburger.                                             GRACE                       Eat this.    It'll make you feel                       better.                                           LEONARD                       I'm not hungry. Besides, I can't                       taste anything anyway.                                           GRACE                       Hospital food is always bland.                       This has flavor.                                           LEONARD                       No, it's because of my condition.                       I can't taste or smell anything                       anymore.                                           GRACE                       What are you saying, condition?                       What condition?                                           LEONARD                           (shrugs)                       My condition.                    INT. DOCTOR'S OFFICE - MOMENTS LATER                    Patrick and Grace sit across from the DOCTOR (50's).                                                                                                    (CONTINUED)                                                                       23.          CONTINUED:                                           DOCTOR                       Leonard has a condition.    It's                       called Anosmia.                                              GRACE                       Oh my God!     Is it serious?                                           DOCTOR                       No. Anosmia is when a person                       looses their sense of smell. It's                       not uncommon in patients who suffer                       serious head injuries.                       Unfortunately, it's also affecting                       his ability to taste. Again, not                       uncommon.                                           PATRICK                       Is it permanent?                                           DOCTOR                       Depends on the patient.                                           GRACE                       What do we do? He can't eat.                                           DOCTOR                       He can eat. He just can't taste                       what he's eating.                                           PATRICK                       What she means is, he won't eat.                                           DOCTOR                       Leonard's association with food is                       no longer about taste. It's about                       texture. While we may be partial                       to sweet or salty foods, Leonard                       will become partial to crunchy or                       smooth ones. Once he settles on a                       texture he likes, his appetite will                       increase.                                           GRACE                       I can't believe this is happening.                                           DOCTOR                       Considering what Leonard could have                       suffered, he's lucky. Besides, he                       is severely overweight. A loss of                       appetite may be a benefit.                    Grace and Patrick shoot him a look of death.                                                                            24.                                        INT. LEONARD'S HOSPITAL ROOM - SAME TIME                    Leonard lies in bed, staring out the window. A NURSE (40)          enters and crosses over to his bedside table.                                        NURSE                    How'd we do?                    The nurse sees that Leonard has barely touched his food.                                        NURSE (CONT'D) (cont'd)                    You have to eat something. It may                    not be gourmet, but you don't look                    that finicky.                                        LEONARD                    This stuff feels like shit in my                    mouth.                                        NURSE                    It's macaroni and cheese.                                        LEONARD                    It feels gross. Like there's a                    film on my tongue.                    The nurse grabs the tray of food. She removes an untouched          apple and places it in Leonard's hand.                                        LEONARD (CONT'D) (cont'd)                    I don't like apples.                                        NURSE                    So, you can't taste it, right?                    Maybe you'll like the crunch.                    The nurse exits. Leonard eyes the apple in his hand. A          beat. He reluctantly takes a bite. The apple makes a loud          CRUNCH. Leonard starts chewing. After a few seconds, a          smile comes to his face. He likes it.                    INT. JACOB'S BEDROOM - SAME TIME                    Jacob lies in bed, holding Rudy's old baseball GLOVE. He          brings the glove to his nose, and a flood of old memories          come back to him.                    Jacob rises, crosses over to the closet and removes a metal          LOCK BOX. He selects 666 for the combination and the box          opens. Jacob removes the contents; baseball cards, some          firecrackers, a few ticket stubs and a PHOTOGRAPH of he and          Rudy at age 5. He can't help but smile.                                                                                25.                                        INT. JACOB'S HOME - LIVING ROOM - SAME TIME                    Gabe Artunian crosses over to Jim.                                        GABE                    I'm leaving, Jim.    Again, so sorry.                    As Gabe turns to leave.                                        JIM                    Gabe, are you still interested in                    buying the land? Because I accept                    your offer.                                        GABE                    This is hardly the time to talk                    business.                                        JIM                    Buy the woods, Gabe, please. Tear                    them down and build. Build houses,                    condos, a 7-11, I don't care. I                    just don't want to recognize it                    ever again.                    Off Gabe's look -                    SFX OVER SHOT: BUZZING CHAIN SAW                                                                SMASH CUT TO:                    EXT. WOODS - THREE WEEKS LATER -AFTERNOON                    TIGHT ON a CHAIN SAW chopping down a tree.                    WIDEN to REVEAL a CONSTRUCTION CREW, tearing down the last of          the woods. Rows and rows of STUMPS make it look like a          graveyard for trees.                                           MALEE (O.S.)                    It's gone!     It's all gone!                    We FIND Malee and Jacob, straddling their bikes a few feet          away from the site. Leonard is beside them on a scooter. He          as a band-aid on his forehead.                                        MALEE (CONT'D) (cont'd)                    If Rudy was alive, he'd be freaking                    out right now.                    Leonard shoots Malee a look.    She silences herself.                                                                                             (CONTINUED)                                                                            26.          CONTINUED:                                           LEONARD                       You holding up alright, Jacob?                    Jacob shrugs.                                           LEONARD (CONT'D) (cont'd)                       I'm sorry. I wish I could have                       done something.                                           JACOB                       Jeff and Kenny were the ones that                       started the fire. It was their                       fault. Or maybe mine. I should of                       been there.                                           MALEE                       You wouldn't have been able to do                       anything. And it could have been                       you who died.                                           JACOB                       I wish it was. You know the last                       thing Rudy said to me? He said, I                       can't be a pussy all my life. He                       was right, I am. And Rudy might be                       dead because of it.                                            MALEE                       Don't say that.                           (beat)                       Why don't you talk to your parents                       about this?                                           JACOB                       They can't help me.                                           MALEE                       Give them time. It'll get better.                                           JACOB                       What if it doesn't? My dad hasn't                       gone back to work yet. What if he                       loses his job. We could lose our                       house. I could be homeless.                                           MALEE                       Then you'll stay with me.                                           LEONARD                       Or me.                                                                                                     (CONTINUED)                                                                           27.          CONTINUED: (2)                                        JACOB                    We're best friends.    We...                    Suddenly, something catches Malee's attention off screen.          It's GUS, standing beside a BULLDOZER.                                           MALEE                    Oh my God.                                           JACOB                    What?                                        MALEE                    That guy. I like know him. He's                    one of my mother's patients.                                           LEONARD                    So?                                         MALEE                    I've never seen a patient of hers                    actually out and about.                        (beat)                    Should we go over and say "hi"?                                        JACOB                    I just want to get out of here.                    Leonard and Jacob start heading off.                    Malee stays for a beat, eyeing Gus as he removes his T-shirt          and exposes his rock abs. She is obviously turned on.                                        LEONARD                    You coming, Malee?                    INT. LEONARD'S HOME - KITCHEN - LATER THAT AFTERNOON                    Leonard enters to find Grace, placing a casserole dish on the          table. The table is filled with a cornucopia of food.                                        LEONARD                    Are we having company?                                        GRACE                    No, this is all for you. Your                    favorites; fried chicken,                    spaghetti, pizza, french fries, and                    chocolate cheesecake for dessert.                    I made everything extra spicy, so                    you can taste it.                                                                                          (CONTINUED)                                                                               28.          CONTINUED:                                           LEONARD                       Ma, it doesn't matter how spicy the                       food is.                                           GRACE                       So you're not even gonna try it?                                           LEONARD                       I'm sure it's delicious.                                              GRACE                       Forget it.     Don't eat.                    Grace puts the plate of food into the sink.                                           GRACE (cont'd)                       You can't just eat apples all the                       time.                                              LEONARD                       Why not?                                           GRACE                           (beat, searching)                       It's unhealthy.                    Off Leonard's confusion -                    SFX OVER SHOT: SCHOOL BELL                    EXT. JEFFERSON JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL - DAYS LATER - MORNING                    Students make their way inside for the first day of school.          There is a sign out front, which reads: WELCOME BACK.                    INT. CLASSROOM - SAME TIME                    A TEACHER walks along the line of desks, showing students          their assigned seats.                                           TEACHER                       Tommy Wallace.                    Tommy takes his seat.                                           TEACHER (CONT'D) (cont'd)                       Jacob Carges.                    Jacob takes his seat.                                           TEACHER (CONT'D) (cont'd)                       Rudy Carges.                                                                                 (CONTINUED)                                                                                 29.          CONTINUED:                    Jacob along with his classmates are shocked to discover that          Rudy's name hasn't been removed from the attendance sheet.                    The teacher is unaware of the mistake.                                           TEACHER (CONT'D) (cont'd)                       Rudy Carges. Hello?                    Tommy looks to Jacob.       Since Rudy's not saying anything, he          will.                                           TOMMY                       He's not in this class anymore.                                           TEACHER                       How do you know?                                           JACOB                       Cause he's dead.                                           TEACHER                       I realize being new at this school                       puts me at a disadvantage, but                       joking about a fellow classmate's                       death is anything but funny, Mr....                    The teacher checks her attendance sheet.                                              TEACHER (cont'd)                       ...Carges.     Wait, are you...                                           JACOB                       I'm his brother. Was.     And I'm not                       joking. He's dead.                    The teacher looks around at the other students, realizing          Jacob is telling the truth.                                           TEACHER                       I'm so sorry. Wow, this is                       awkward. Would you like the seat                       left empty?                                              JACOB                       Why?                                              TEACHER                       In memory.                    Off Jacob's look -                                                                             30.                                        INT. SCHOOL GYMNASIUM - LATER THAT DAY                    COACH GILMORE (55), overweight, gym teacher, dressed in a          jogging suit, snaps gum while addressing his students.                    The class of boys stand up against the wall.    Leonard is          amongst them. His gym uniform barely fits.                                        COACH                    Alright, ladies, welcome to gym.                    We will be starting things off this                    year with the United States                    Standardized Fitness Test.                    The entire class groans.                                        COACH (CONT'D) (cont'd)                    I'm sure you all remember it from                    last year. I will be testing you                    in a number of physical fitness                    areas.                    As coach speaks, Leonard looks as if he's going to throw up.                                                             SMASH CUT TO:                    ON CHIN UP BAR - MOMENTS LATER                    A STUDENT performs chin ups with great ease.                                        COACH (V.O.)                    The state's requirement for upper                    body strength is ten chin ups.                    The student finishes his run with a count of twelve.   He hops          off the bar and crosses over to his classmates.                                        COACH (CONT'D) (cont'd)                    Leonard, you're up.                    Leonard crosses to the chin-up bar, grabs a hold of it and          begins struggling to lift himself up. Unfortunately, he can          only manage 1/8th of an inch. Leonard drops off the bar,          exhausted.                                        COACH (CONT'D) (cont'd)                    What are you doing, let's go!                                         LEONARD                    That was as far as I could pull                    myself up.                                                                                            (CONTINUED)                                                                                      31.          CONTINUED:                    A few students laugh.        Coach shakes his head, disgusted.                                                                      SMASH CUT TO:                    ON A STUDENT DOING SITUPS - LATER                    Coach stands over the boy, timing him with a stop watch.                                           COACH                       Ten seconds. You need forty to                       pass.                    The student increases his speed.                                               COACH (CONT'D) (cont'd)                       Time.   42.     Good job.                    The student rises off the mat and walks over to the other          boys. Leonard enters frame and drops on the mat like a ton          of bricks.                                             COACH (CONT'D) (cont'd)                             (rolling his eyes)                       Go!                    Leonard struggles to lift himself up but, he can't do it.                                           COACH (CONT'D) (cont'd)                       Come on, son, fight it.                    Leonard's face turns red. He clenches his teeth.          Unfortunately, due to the pressure he is exerting, he blows a          loud fart. The gym erupts with laughter.                    EXT. SCHOOL GROUNDS - TRACK - LATER                    The coach and his students stand at the beginning of the          track, waiting for Leonard to finish his laps.                    Leonard slowly walks over.           He is soaking wet and breathing          heavy.                                           COACH                       23 minutes.                                               LEONARD                       Not bad.                                           COACH                       The goal was 8.                    The class can't help but laugh.                                                                                         (CONTINUED)                                                                              32.          CONTINUED:                                           COACH (CONT'D) (cont'd)                       Hit the showers.                    The class walks off.                                           COACH (cont'd)                       Not you Leonard.                    Leonard turns back and crosses over to the coach.                                           COACH (CONT'D) (cont'd)                       Center. That's the position you'll                       be playing in two years.                                             LEONARD                       Football?                                           COACH                       You don't like football?                                           LEONARD                       I love it. It's just I'll never                       make the weight requirement. Pop                       Warner league wouldn't let me play                       for five years because of it.                                           COACH                       There's no weight requirement in                       high school ball, son.                    The coach bends down and rifles through his GYM BAG.    He          removes 2 books and hands them to Leonard.                                           COACH (CONT'D) (cont'd)                       These are your new bibles.                                             LEONARD                       Books?                                           COACH                       One is on nutrition, the other                       exercise. You do what they say,                       and you can play for me once you                       get to high school.                                             LEONARD                       Thanks.                    Leonard begins walking back to the gym.    After a few steps,          he stops and turns back.                                                                                                      (CONTINUED)                                                                           33.          CONTINUED: (2)                                        LEONARD (CONT'D) (cont'd)                    Coach, why are you doing this for                    me?                                        COACH                    Because I've never seen a child so                    out of shape in my life.                    INT. SCHOOL AUDITORIUM - LATER THAT DAY                    The school BAND is on stage and playing a particularly          horrendous rendition of the STAR SPANGLED BANNER. We FIND          MALEE in the flute section, playing her heart out.                    The CONDUCTOR, MR. FARMER (40) overly energetic and dorky,          waves his baton, silencing the band.                                        MR FARMER                        (annoyed)                    Did anyone practice over the                    summer?                    The band sits silent.                                         MR. FARMER                    Great. Well, we still have a fall                    recital coming up. If anyone would                    like to perform a solo, sign up on                    the sheet outside my office. Class                    dismissed.                    Off Malee, weighing the decision in her mind.                    INT. SCHOOL HALLWAY - MOMENTS LATER                    Malee stands outside Mr. Farmer's office, staring at the SIGN          UP SHEET on his door. After a beat, she lifts her pen to          sign her name. Before she writes it, she stops, quickly          turns around and walks away.                    After a beat, Malee returns to the sign up sheet and starts          writing her name. Halfway through, she stops, scratches out          her name and walks off.                    We remain on the sign up sheet. After a few seconds, Malee's          hand enters the shot and writes in her name.                    INT. JACOB'S HOME - DEN - EVENING                    Jacob enters to find Jim and Ashley fighting.                                                                                                    (CONTINUED)                                                                              34.          CONTINUED:                                           ASHLEY                       No, they're wrong.    Call them back.                                           JIM                       Ashley, I talked to the lawyer.   He                       wouldn't lie.                                           JACOB                       What's going on?                                           ASHLEY                       This is all your fault.                                             JIM                       Me?                                           ASHLEY                       If we had gone to the hearings like                       I said, this wouldn't be happening.                                           JIM                       We agreed it would be too painful.                                           ASHLEY                       You agreed.                                           JACOB                       Mom, what happened?                    Ashley turns to Jacob as if realizing his presence for the          first time.                                             ASHLEY                       Tell him.    Tell your son.                                           JIM                       The boys who killed Rudy cut a                       deal. They got a year in juvinile                       hall and five years probation.                                           ASHLEY                       A year. That's what your brother's                       life is worth. A damn year!                                           JIM                       Ashley, calm down!                                           ASHLEY                       How can you be so unaffected by                       this! How? Our son was murdered!                                                                                                       (CONTINUED)                                                                               35.          CONTINUED: (2)                                         JIM                         (measured)                     It was an accident, and the boys                     are juveniles.                                         ASHLEY                     So that makes it okay?                    Ashley storms out of the room. Jacob looks to his father,          unnerved by the sight of his mother so upset.                    Jim just turns and walks into the living room.                                                              FADE TO BLACK:                    SFX OVER BLACK: ALARM CLOCK                    FADE IN:                    INT. LEONARD'S BEDROOM - EARLY MORNING                    Leonard awakens and silences the alarm.   He sits up in bed          for a moment and comes to his senses.                    EXT. LEONARD'S HOME - MOMENTS LATER                    Dressed in a sweat suit and sneakers, Leonard sprints down          the driveway and to the street. His sweat suit is so tight,          Leonard looks like a stuffed sausage.                    With each step he takes, Leonard breathing becomes heavier          and heavier. Sweat forms on his forehead and drips down his          face.                    Within seconds, Leonard's pace tapers off. He struggles to          continue but is so out of shape, stopping is inevitable.                    Leonard leans over, gasping for air. He looks back and          realizes that he only ran about one hundred yards. In fact,          his house is still in view.                    Leonard turns around and starts walking back home.    After a          few steps, he stops and throws up.                    EXT. CONSTRUCTION SITE - DAYS LATER - AFTERNOON                    Gus stands inside of a shallow ditch, digging out the roots          of an old tree.                                         MALEE (O.S.)                     Don't I know you?                                                                                             (CONTINUED)                                                                             36.          CONTINUED:                    Gus turns and sees Malee behind him, holding a PICNIC BASKET.                                           GUS                       Dr. Chung's daughter.                                           MALEE                       You remembered. We were never                       introduced. My name is Malee.                                           GUS                       Gus.                    They shake hands.                                           GUS (CONT'D) (cont'd)                       What are you doing here?                                           MALEE                       I was in the mood for a picnic. I                       thought this would be a nice place                       to have one.                    Gus looks around, confused. This location is anything but          picnic friendly. Bulldozers plough through the scene,          blasting exhaust into the air. Men scream at each other.                                           WORKER (O.S.)                       Asshole, move your fucking truck!                                           MALEE                       Would you like to join me?   There's                       plenty of food.                                           GUS                       I don't go to lunch for another ten                       minutes.                                           MALEE                       I'll wait. Meet me by the cement                       mixer when you're ready.                    Malee walks off. Gus watches as she makes her way through          the construction site.                    EXT. CONSTRUCTION SITE - ANOTHER AREA - TEN MINUTES LATER                    Gus and Malee sit on a checkered blanket, eating Chinese food          with chopsticks. A large CEMENT MIXER stands behind them.                                                                                                      (CONTINUED)                                                                            37.          CONTINUED:                                            GUS                       The last time I saw you, you had                       just come from a funeral. How are                       you doing?                                           MALEE                       Okay. Death is like so weird. I                       mean, it's sad, but I also feel                       like I've been given this sign. A                       sign which is telling me, life is                       short, so you gotta do what makes                       you happy. You gotta take chances.                       You gotta get crazy.                                           GUS                       What are you doing to "get crazy"?                                           MALEE                       I play the flute.                                           GUS                           (laughs)                       Yeah, that's totally nuts.                                           MALEE                       No, not that. See, every year my                       school has this recital. I've                       always been too scared to play a                       solo in front of people, but this                       year I've decided to do it.                                           GUS                       Good for you. When is it?                                           MALEE                       Why do you care?                                           GUS                       Cause I'm gonna go.                                           MALEE                       What? You can't go!    Nobody goes                       to these things. I don't even                       think my mom is going.                                           GUS                       You gotta have somebody rooting for                       ya. Besides, I like music, and I                       owe you for bringing me lunch.                                                                                                     (CONTINUED)                                                                                38.          CONTINUED: (2)                                        MALEE                        (laughs, embarrassed)                    Okay. Tuesday at 8:30 in the                    junior high school auditorium.                                        GUS                    I'll be there.                                        MALEE                        (vulnerable)                    Don't say it if you don't mean it.                                        GUS                    I'll be there.      Front row.                    Malee smiles.    She's got a major crush on Gus now.                                                               CUT TO:                    TIGHT ON TV: VIDEO GAME - HALO. Two soldiers fire at each          other with supersonic weapons. One soldier is particularly          annihilated. GAME OVER appears.                    INT. CARGES LIVING ROOM. DAY                    REVEAL Jacob and Leonard in front of the TV. Malee off to the          side, reading a book.                                        LEONARD                    I can't believe how much you suck                    at this game.                    Jacob throws his remote down.                                        LEONARD (CONT'D) (cont'd)                    You wanna play again?                                          JACOB                    No.                    The boys sit in silence for a beat.                                        LEONARD                    You wanna shoot some hoops?                                          JACOB                    No.                        (beat)                    The sentencing thing totally upset                    my mom. She was up half the night,                    crying.                                                                                               (CONTINUED)                                                                              39.          CONTINUED:                    Malee closes her book, looks over at Leanord.                                           LEONARD                       I can't believe it either. A year                       ain't shit! Rudy is dead forever.                                            JACOB                       I want them dead. I want to kill                       them. I could handle a year in                       Juvy hall.                                           MALEE                       Whoa, what those guys did was an                       accident. If you were to kill                       them, it's premedicated. You'd get                       20 years to life at least.                                           JACOB                       So I'm just supposed to sit here                       and take it? Be like you guys.                                           LEONARD                       What is that supposed to mean?                                           JACOB                       You seem to have gone on with life                       pretty easily. Don't you miss him?                       Don't you care?                                           MALEE                       It's not that we don't care.     It's                       just...                                           JACOB                       Life goes on.                                           MALEE                       It does. You have to deal with it.                       If you don't, it could like eat you                       alive forever. 90 percent of                       people's problems is due to their                       inability to get over the past.                                           LEONARD                       How do you know?                                           MALEE                       My mom tells that to all her                       patients. I've eavesdropped on                       some of her therapy sessions.                                                                                                       (CONTINUED)                                                                            40.          CONTINUED: (2)                                        LEONARD                    That's awesome. Can I listen in                    sometime?                                        MALEE                    No. Anyway, she says, if a person                    wants closure, they gotta deal with                    their problems head on. Go see                    these guys and let them know how                    you feel.                                        JACOB                    I don't think my parents would be                    up for that.                                        MALEE                    Go alone. Juvy hall is only like                    forty minutes from here. Take the                    bus.                    Off Jacob, thinking-                    INT. JACOB'S PARENT'S BEDROOM - LATER THAT AFTERNOON                    The bedroom door slowly opens. Jacob peeks his head inside          the darkened room and quietly enters. He tip toes over to          his parent's bed. Ashley lies asleep, wrapped up in a bundle          of blankets.                    Jacob crosses to her night stand and opens the top drawer.          He removes her purse, unzips it and steals some cash, which          totals around 60 dollars.                    INT. CARGES LIVING ROOM - MOMENTS LATER                    Jim sits in his chair, staring off into space.   Jacob enters          and crosses to the front door.                                           JACOB                    Bye, Dad.                    EXT. BUS STATION - MOMENTS LATER                    With the help of the BUS DRIVER, Jacob loads his bike into          the luggage compartment underneath the bus. Then he hands          the driver a ticket and boards.                    Jacob takes a seat up front. After a few moments, the driver          boards, starts the engine and drives off.                                                                           41.                                        INT. JUVINILE HALL - CONVERSATION BOOTH - LATER                    Jacob and Kenny sit, staring at each other through a plate of          glass. Kenny picks up the ONE WAY PHONE. Jacob does also.                                        JACOB                    Where's Jeff?                                           KENNY                    He's sick.     I think he...                                        JACOB                        (interrupting)                    I hate you. You know that?     You                    bastard.                                        KENNY                    Rudy knew we were going to be                    there. He never should have come.                    You want the truth, all this                    happened cause of you.                                           JACOB                    Me?                                        KENNY                    Yeah, you deformed retard! The                    only reason we started picking on                    you guys in the first place was                    because of that thing on your face.                                        JACOB                    Every night, I lie in bed and plan                    your murder.                                        KENNY                    I'm shaking.                                        JACOB                    First I'm going to take a kitchen                    knife and chop off your fingers                    then your nose then your tongue.                    Then I'm gonna poke out your eyes                    with the end of a broomstick.                    Well, not really poke them out, but                    I'm gonna push them back into your                    brain. Then I'm gonna take                    scissors and cut off your ears.                    When they find you, it's gonna be                    like putting a jigsaw puzzle back                    together.                                                                                          (CONTINUED)                                                                              42.          CONTINUED:                                           KENNY                       If you kill me, you come here.                                          JACOB                       So? What do I have to look forward                       to? You've already destroyed my                       life.                                           KENNY                       What happened was an accident.                                           JACOB                       There are no accidents. You're                       gonna pay for what you did. And                       it's gonna hurt like hell.                    INT. LEONARD'S BEDROOM - NIGHT                    Leonard sits, reading through nutritional manuals.                    We see that he is writing things down on a piece of paper.          The words written are: Sugar, corn syrup, salt, gum.                    INT. LEONARD'S HOME - HALLWAY/KITCHEN - LATER                    Grace walks through the hallway half asleep. She enters the          kitchen and finds Leonard, sitting on the floor, surrounded          by boxes of food. All of the kitchen cupboards are open and          packages line the counter tops.                                           GRACE                       What the hell is this?                                           LEONARD                       I'm reading the list of ingredients                       in our foods.                                           GRACE                       Why?                                           LEONARD                       Research. Do you know the damage                       these chemicals can do to the human                       body?                                           GRACE                       Leonard, put everything back.                                           LEONARD                       This is serious. You can't keep                       buying this crap. Don't you care                       that you're ingesting garbage?                                                                                   (CONTINUED)                                                                            43.          CONTINUED:                                           GRACE                       Just put everything back and go to                       sleep.                    Off Leonard's look -                    EXT. STREET - NEXT DAY - AFTERNOON                    Malee is riding her bike on the sidewalk when she sees Gus,          exit his car and enter her mother's office.                    INT. STAIRWELL/HALLWAY - MOMENTS LATER                    Malee runs up a flight of stairs. She gets off at the second          floor and enters an open, unoccupied office.                    INT. UNOCCUPIED OFFICE - CONTINUOUS                    Malee runs over to the heating grate and puts her ear to it.                                           YACCO (FROM BELOW)                       How was your week?                                           GUS (FROM BELOW)                       Same. Still can't sleep. When I                       do, nightmares.                    INT. YACCO'S OFFICE - SAME TIME                    Yacco and Gus sit across from each other.                                           YACCO                       Post traumatic stress is very                       common in your line of work. Many                       fire fighters go through this.                                           GUS                       Yeah. But why now? I haven't                       fought fires in ten years.                                           YACCO                       Sometimes we experience something                       so horrific, our memory blocks it                       out. That way we won't have to                       relive the pain. It's called                       repression. Our bodies are not so                       forgiving, however. Inside, we                       feel the effects of trauma even                       when we don't know why.                                           GUS                       What does that mean?                                                                                (CONTINUED)                                                                             44.          CONTINUED:                                           YACCO                       Something stirred your unconscious.                       If we find out what that was, we                       can begin the healing process.                    Gus looks to her, confused.                                           YACCO (CONT'D) (cont'd)                       You told me last week, the                       nightmares started about the time                       you moved here. Let's look at                       that. Why did you move here?                                           GUS                       A friend was making good money with                       construction. He got an offer to                       build that extension off Lindsay                       Acres. He suggested I come into                       town and work for a while.                    INT. UPSTAIRS OFFICE -    SAME TIME                    Malee is on the edge of her seat, listening. We see that she          has written the following words in her notebook: GUS -          NIGHTMARES - FIRE.                                           YACCO (FROM BELOW)                       Are there any other reoccurring                       elements in your dreams. Perhaps,                       a face or...                    INT. YACCO'S OFFICE - SAME TIME                                           GUS                       "Light my Fire" is always playing.                                           YACCO                       What?                                           GUS                       Light my fire. The Doors song.                           (singing)                       "Da da something... wallow in the                       mire... Da, da... we couldn't get                       much higher. Come on baby light my                       fire.                    Yacco stares at Gus.    He is suddenly self conscious.                                           YACCO                       Interesting.                                                                            45.                                        INT. UPSTAIRS OFFICE - SAME TIME                    Malee circles the words "Light My Fire" again and again and          again.                    INT. JACOB'S HOME - UPSTAIRS HALLWAY - DAYS LATER - EVENING                    SFX: CLANGING POTS AND PANS, coming from downstairs.                    Jacob exits his room and goes to inspect the noise.                    INT. JACOB'S HOME - KITCHEN - MOMENTS LATER                    Jim stands on a chair, cleaning out the kitchen cupboards.                    Pots and pans line the counter tops, dishes cover the table          and non perishable foods are spread out across the floor.                    Jacob enters and is taken aback by the sight of Jim standing          on a chair and wearing an APRON and RUBBER GLOVES.                                           JACOB                    Dad?                                           JIM                    Jacob.                                           JACOB                    You okay?                                           JIM                    Fantastic.                    Jim rips the rubber gloves off with his teeth.                                        JIM (CONT'D) (cont'd)                    You know, for the past few weeks, I                    sat in this house. I couldn't                    move. Everything reminded me of                    Rudy. Then from out of nowhere I                    had a revelation. I am alive!                    Your mother is alive! I became                    overcome with joy because I                    realized how lucky we are to still                    have you.                                           JACOB                    Me?                                         JIM                    Jacob.   I love you.                                                                                          (CONTINUED)                                                                              46.          CONTINUED:                    Jim grabs Jacob and hugs him tightly.    Jacob pulls away,          unsettled and bit frightened.                                           JIM (CONT'D) (cont'd)                           (half crazed)                       I went to work today. For the                       first time in weeks. It was as if                       I had just gotten out of college!                       I was fearless! I went after                       accounts I had avoided for years                       because I thought they were out of                       my league. I spoke to presidents,                       vice presidents, business managers,                       sales reps. I was amazing. I was                       magic. But when I came home to                       share the news with your mother, I                       discovered her asleep. When I                       looked around the house, I realized                       that her "office", for lack of a                       better word, was also piled up.                       So, I took to the house. I have                       made it my duty to clean this place                       from top to bottom. Even if it                       takes me all night, I don't care.                       Jacob?                                           JACOB                           (frightened)                       Yeah?                                           JIM                       Will you join me? Join me in this                       celebration of life. A symbolic                       gesture of cleaning out the old and                       bringing in the new.                                           JACOB                       Do I have to?                                           JIM                           (thrown for a loop)                       No, you don't have to.                                           JACOB                       Good night, Dad.                    Off Jim's look -                    EXT. JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL AUDITORIUM - DAYS LATER - NIGHT                    Parents and students file inside. A large SIGN above the          door reads, JEFFERSON JUNIOR HIGH FALL RECITAL.                                                                            47.                                        INT. SCHOOL AUDITORIUM - CONTINUOUS                    A packed audience listens to A GIRL (12), standing center          stage and singing "The Rose". She is not nearly as good as          she thinks she is, but she sings full throttle.                    We FIND Malee, sitting in the flute section and playing along          with the rest of the orchestra. She looks to the front row,          but Gus is no where to be found.                    The girl finishes her song, and the crowd politely applauds.                    Mr. Farmer crosses to the microphone.                                        MR. FARMER                    I'm sure Bette Midler would be most                    impressed with that rendition.                    The crowd laughs.   Mr. Farmer didn't mean for it to be a          joke.                                        MR. FARMER (CONT'D) (cont'd)                    Anyway, our next soloist is Malee                    Chung. She will play the theme                    from "Love Story" on the flute.                    The crowd applauds as Malee rises and crosses to the          microphone.                                        MALEE                    Thank you, Mr. Farmer.                    Malee spots Gus, walking down the aisle. He scurries into          the front row and sits. Malee lights up.                                        MALEE (CONT'D) (cont'd)                    There's actually been a change.                    I'm not going to play the theme                    from "Love Story". Um... this is a                    song...                    Mr. Farmer, waves to Malee from off stage.   Malee looks at          him. Mr. Farmer mouths something to her.                                        MALEE (INTO MICROPHONE) (CONT'D)                        (to Mr. Farmer)                    What? I can't hear you?                    Mr. Farmer throws up his hands.                                                                                                     (CONTINUED)                                                                              48.          CONTINUED:                                             MALEE (CONT'D) (cont'd)                       Anyway.    This is a song by The                       Doors.                    At the mention of The Doors, Gus' smile instantly fades.    The          coincidence is just too great.                    Malee starts to play "Light My Fire". She is good. Mr.          Farmer and the audience seem pleased by her euphonious          performance. Even Gus is won over. He appears entranced by          the music.                    INT. SCHOOL AUDITORIUM - LATER THAT NIGHT                    The recital is over. Most of the audience has filed out. A          few remain, offering their congratulations to the musicians.                    Malee stands with Leonard.                                           MALEE                       Where's Jacob?                                           LEONARD                       Couldn't make it. He...                                              GUS (O.S.)                       Malee.                    Malee spots Gus, heading towards her.                                              MALEE                       Oh my God!     He's coming over.                                              LEONARD                       Who?                                              MALEE                       Shut up!     Leave now.                    Malee pushes Leonard behind her just as Gus approaches.                                           GUS                       You were awesome.                                           MALEE                       Really? Be honest. I'd rather you                       tell me I sucked then lie.                                           GUS                       You were great.                    Leonard peeks around Malee's back.                                                                                 (CONTINUED)                                                                            49.          CONTINUED:                                           MALEE                       Excuse me for a second.                    Malee turns around and pinches Leonard.                                           LEONARD                       Ow, ow, ow alright.    I'm going.                    Leonard walks off. Malee turns back around with a big smile          on her face. She plays coy.                                           MALEE                       So you really enjoyed it?                                          GUS                       Yeah. Good song.      What made you                       pick it?                                           MALEE                           (covering)                       Oh, uh... my mother was humming it                       all last week. Big Doors fan.                                            GUS                       Really?   Is she here?                                            MALEE                       No.                                           GUS                       She missed out.                                           MALEE                       You're so sweet.                                           GUS                       Yeah well, I have to go, but thanks                       again. I had a great time.                    Gus gives Malee an innocent kiss on the check and then walks          off. Malee melts. She stands frozen, clutching onto her          flute in ecstacy.                    EXT. STREET - MORNING                    With fire and determination, Leonard jogs. Unfortunately, he          is quickly winded by the run. He bends over, gasping.                    SUPERIMPOSE SHOT OVER SHOT: Leonard appears, running past          his old, weaker self. Stronger, he makes a few more yards          and then is forced to stop.                                                                                           (CONTINUED)                                                                              50.          CONTINUED:          He leans over for air, and we SUPERIMPOSE another SHOT OVER          SHOT of Leonard, weeks later, running past his weaker self.          (This series of shots repeats a few more times, illustrating          the progression of time and weight loss.)                    INT. LEONARD'S HOME - STAIRCASE/KITCHEN - DAY                    Leonard runs up and down the stairs, sweating like crazy.                    Grace appears, watching him around the corner.     She shakes          her head and then returns to the kitchen.                                           GRACE                       That boy is going to bring the                       entire house down.                                           PATRICK                       Let him be. He's looking good.                       I'm proud of him.                                           GRACE                           (to the girls)                       Girls, have you decided what you're                       going to go as for Halloween?                                           SARA                       Either a witch or a princess.                                           GRACE                       That's nice. Haley?                                           HALEY                       I'm going to go as a marble.                                           GRACE                       What do you mean, a marble?                                           HALEY                       You know, like a bag of marbles,                       but just one marble.                    INT. JUVY HALL - CONVERSATION BOOTHS - LATE AFTERNOON                    Jacob and Jeff sit across from each other on the phone. Jeff          has two black eyes and a fat lip. He is crying profusely.          Jacob doesn't appear at all sympathetic.                                           JEFF                       I'm really sorry, man.   I...                                                                                                       (CONTINUED)                                                                            51.          CONTINUED:                                           JACOB                       You just think about what I said.                       Get out of my sight. And send                       Kenny in on your way out.                    Jeff rises and walks to a door, leading to the jail. A          moment later, Kenny enters, looking pissed off. He sits          across from Jacob and picks up the phone.                                           KENNY                       What did you say to him?                                           JACOB                       I thought you'd both like to know                       that Halloween was Rudy's favorite                       holiday.                    Jacob picks up some pictures and presses them against the          glass.                                           JACOB (CONT'D) (cont'd)                       These are pictures from every                       single Halloween since we were                       five. You see how happy he was?                                            KENNY                       Stop it.                                           JACOB                       After we'd go trick or treating,                       we'd sit in our room and swap the                       candy we hated. Rudy loved                       Snickers, I Almond Joys.                                           KENNY                       Almond Joy sucks.                                           JACOB                       What sucks is that I'll never get                       to sit in my room and swap candy                       with my brother ever again. Thanks                       to you.                                           KENNY                       Why are you doing this?                                           JACOB                       To remind you.                                                                                                    (CONTINUED)                                                                             52.          CONTINUED: (2)                                        KENNY                    How could we forget? You been                    coming here for months to "remind                    us".                                        JACOB                    No one is forcing you to talk to                    me.                                        KENNY                    Anything to get out of my cell.                                        JACOB                    Is your cell small?                                        KENNY                    Yes.                                        JACOB                    So is a coffin.                                        KENNY                    You're not the only one who wishes                    he was still alive. I'd do                    anything to bring him back, but I                    can't. It's not easy being in                    here. Hell, you saw Jeff.                                        JACOB                    What happened to him?                                        KENNY                    He pissed off the wrong guy off.                    Jeff is totally fucked right now.                                        JACOB                    Good.                                        KENNY                    Don't come back here ever again.                                        JACOB                    Free country. I'll come if I want.                                        KENNY                    Don't expect me to show up.                    Kenny slams down the phone and exits.   Jacob smiles, having          shaken him.                                                                               53.                                        INT. LEONARD'S HOME - FRONT DOOR - THAT NIGHT                    Grace hands out candy to a few trick or treaters at her door.                                        GRACE                    Be careful now.   Have a good night.                    INT. KITCHEN - CONTINUOUS                    Grace crosses to the kitchen table where Pat is doing a          crossword puzzle.                                        GRACE                    Kids keep coming later every year.                    SFX: FRONT DOOR, opening and closing.                    Haley and Sara storm into the kitchen in tears. Haley is          dressed as a MARBLE, and Sara is dressed as a WITCH.                                        HALEY                    I hate him! I hate him!                                          GRACE                    Who?    What happened?                                        HALEY                    Leonard! He threw away all our                    Halloween candy.                                          GRACE/PATRICK                    What?                                        SARA                    He grabbed our bags and just threw                    them down a gutter.                    Leonard enters.   Haley and Sara run out of the kitchen.                                        PATRICK                    What the hell is going on? Why did                    you throw away their candy?                                        LEONARD                    Because their sugar intake is                    completely unhealthy. Besides,                    Halloween is supposed to be a                    celebration of evil. How did candy                    get wrapped into it?                                                                                                     (CONTINUED)                                                                                54.          CONTINUED:                                           GRACE                       I am going to ask you this once,                       and I want a straight answer. Are                       you in a cult?                                           PATRICK                       Grace!                                           GRACE                       This is what happens when kids join                       cults. The first thing they change                       is their diets.                                           LEONARD                       I'm not in a cult. This is all                       information you can find in books.                                           GRACE                       The issue here is that you have                       stolen one of the most exciting                       nights of the year from your                       sisters.                                           PATRICK                       If anybody had done this to you                       when you were a child, we never                       would have heard the end of it.                                           LEONARD                       I wish somebody had done it to me.                       I wish either one of you had given                       a shit about my weight.                    Leonard storms out of the kitchen.    Patrick and Grace are          speechless.                    INT. LEONARD'S ROOM - MOMENTS LATER                    Leonard lies on the floor, doing sit-ups.       He can actually do          a few now. Patrick bursts into the room.                                           PATRICK                       I do not care for your language.                                           LEONARD                       I'm only trying to help you guys.                    Leonard stops exercising.                                           LEONARD (cont'd)                       You're fat dad. Mom is fat.   Us                       kids are fat.                                                                                     (CONTINUED)                                                                            55.          CONTINUED:                                           PATRICK                       What's your point?                                            LEONARD                       Dad, you and mom are going to die                       young if you keep eating as poorly                       as you do.                                           PATRICK                       What is this obsession you have                       with weight?                                           LEONARD                       The coach for Jefferson High is                       also my gym teacher. He told me                       that if I got into shape, I could                       start as center for the Freshman                       team when I get to high school.                                           PATRICK                       Center is a great position.                       Toughest guy on the field. A good                       center can make or break a team.                                           LEONARD                       I know.   That's why I'm trying so                       hard to get into shape. You guys                       should to. At the rate you're                       going, you won't make it to your                       60's.                                            PATRICK                       Look, Leonard. Your mom, to her, a                       tasty meal is just a way of showing                       she cares.                                           LEONARD                       She doesn't! Tonight she served                       spaghetti and meatballs from a can.                       The amount of sodium alone can                       wreck havoc on a person's blood                       pressure. Not to mention...                                           PATRICK                       Leonard, people just don't drop                       dead from eating meatballs.                    Off Leonard's look -                    EXT. CONSTRUCTION SITE - DAYS LATER - AFTERNOON                    Malee hands Gus her bag of Halloween Candy.                                                                                 (CONTINUED)                                                                            56.          CONTINUED:                                           GUS                       I can't take your Halloween candy.                                           MALEE                       You'll be doing me a favor.                       Chocolate gives you zits. Besides,                       if I want to keep this firm ass as                       an adult, I gotta develop good                       eating habits now.                                           GUS                           (uncomfortable)                       Maybe just a snickers.                    Gus opens a snickers bar and starts eating.                                           MALEE                       So work is good?                                           GUS                       To be honest, I can't wait till                       this job is finished. This place                       is creepy. You know, a boy died                       here like right before we started                       working.                                            MALEE                       Rudy.   His name was Rudy.                                           GUS                       You knew him?                                           MALEE                       He was one of my best friends.                       Remember that funeral I went to?                                           GUS                       That was him?                                           MALEE                       I thought you knew. Two boys threw                       a flaming cocktail at him. Can you                       imagine killing someone like that?                       How evil can you get?                    Gus eyes Malee, completely unsettled.                    INT. APARTMENT BUILDING - NIGHT                    Obviously drunk, Gus stumbles to his front door.   He fumbles          for his keys and enters.                                                                              57.                                        INT. GUS'S APARTMENT - BEDROOM - LATER                    Gus lies in bed with a bottle of whiskey in one hand and a          GUN in the other. Distraught and at the point of tears, Gus          opens the chamber and loads the gun with a single bullet.                    Then he spins the chamber and locks it. Gus puts the gun to          his head and fires. NOTHING. He throws the gun across the          room, grabs the bottle of whiskey and drinks it till it's          gone.                    INT. JACOB'S HOME - KITCHEN - NEXT MORNING                    Ashley stands with a big smile on her face.                                        ASHLEY                    Jeff Laskey is dead.                    Jim and Jacob look up, stunned.                                        JIM                    What?                                        ASHLEY                    He committed suicide in his jail                    cell last night. Sally Yngve                    called just now to tell me.                    Jim and Jacob sit, stunned. Their shock turns to intrigue as          Ashley, appearing unaffected by the news, crosses to the          kitchen table, opens a nearby box of donuts and begins          eating. She is smiling.                                        JACOB                    Why are you smiling?    A boy died.                                        ASHLEY                    No, a monster that murdered my son                    died. Justice is served; end of                    story.                    Ashley crosses to the kitchen sink. She rolls up her sleeves          and begins cleaning. Jim crosses over to her and they kiss          as if nothing happened. Jacob is baffled by their behavior.                    INT. JUVY HALL - COMMUNICATION BOOTH - LATER THAT NIGHT                    Jacob and Kenny are on the phone together. Kenny looks gaunt          and tired. Jeff's death has obviously affected him.                                                                                                    (CONTINUED)                                                                             58.          CONTINUED:                                           KENNY                       He used his bed sheet, waited until                       lights out and then jumped.                                           JACOB                       That's terrible.                                           KENNY                       His cell mate let him hang there                       the entire night.                                           JACOB                       I'm sorry, Kenny.                                           KENNY                       Like you even give a shit. I bet                       when you heard, you started                       dancing.                                            JACOB                       No.                                           KENNY                       I knew he wouldn't make it. It's                       my fault too. Jeff wasn't a saint                       when I met him, but he sure as hell                       wasn't headed here.                           (tearing up)                       That fucking asshole!                    Kenny drops the phone and begins crying in his arms. Jacob          watches through the glass, touched by Kenny's reaction.                    MUSIC OVER SHOT:    UPBEAT CHRISTMAS MUSIC                    INT. JACOB'S HOME - LIVING ROOM - CHRISTMAS MORNING                    Jacob sits on the floor, surrounded by boxes and wrapping          paper. Santa has obviously been good to him.                    Jim sits on the couch, drifting in and out of sleep.                    Ashley, dressed in her finest Christmas sweater, peruses the          fireplace mantel and all of the decorations that line it.          She is a drastically different woman than the last time we          saw her. She looks upbeat and pretty.                                            JACOB                       An IPOD!   Sweet!                    Ashley looks at Jacob and smiles.    He has just unwrapped an          IPOD.                                                                                  (CONTINUED)                                                                              59.          CONTINUED:                                           ASHLEY                       You like it?                                              JACOB                       I love it.     You guys went crazy                       this year.                    Ashley smiles at her son. It's a bittersweet moment for her.                                           JIM                       I'm going to shower.                                           ASHLEY                       Jim, Jacob still has one more                       present.                                           JIM                       I thought we were going to wait.                                           JACOB                       No, do it now! Now!                    Ashley crosses to the couch and sits beside Jim.    They hold          each others hands.                                           ASHLEY                       After serious debate, your father                       and I have decided... to adopt A                       BABY!                                              JACOB                       What?                                           JIM                       We're gonna adopt a baby.                       Hopefully a boy.                    Off Jacob's shock -                    INT. LEONARD'S HOME - DINING ROOM       - DAY                    Leonard's extended    family sits at the kitchen table, eating          Christmas dinner.     His extended family is just as overweight          as his immediate.     Leonard barely touches his own plate, too          disgusted to eat.     He rises.                                           LEONARD                       May I be excused?                    The entire family stops eating and turns to him.                                                                                                       (CONTINUED)                                                                               60.          CONTINUED:                                           GRACE                       No!                    Leonard sits back down.    His family quickly resumes eating.                    INT. MALEE'S HOME - DEN - EVENING                    Malee does her homework, Yacoo flips through a fashion          magazine.                                           MALEE                       Why do I have to do this? It's                       Christmas break.                                           YACCO                       You'll be one step ahead in                       January.                                           MALEE                       Just because you're an atheist, I                       don't get to celebrate the                       holidays.                    Yacco shoots Malee the look of death.                                           MALEE (CONT'D) (cont'd)                       Don't you find it hard not                       believing in anything?                                           YACCO                       Malee.                                           MALEE                       I'm going for a bike ride.                                           YACCO                       There's a foot of snow outside.                                           MALEE                       The streets are ploughed. Besides,                       I like looking at all the lights.                                           YACCO                       Be home in an hour. Be careful.                    EXT. 7-11 PARKING LOT - LATER THAT NIGHT                    Malee flips through a TELEPHONE BOOK.      She comes to Gus' name          and rips out the page.                                                                              61.                                        INT. GUS' APARTMENT BUILDING - OUTSIDE HIS DOOR - LATER                    Malee knocks on Gus' door, but he doesn't answer. Then Malee          spots a WELCOME MAT. She kicks it aside and discovers a          SPARE KEY underneath.                    INT. GUS'S APARTMENT - CONTINUOUS                    Malee cautiously enters, shutting the door behind her. A          beat. She allows the excitement to settle in. It's your          typical bachelor pad. Stray beer bottles decorate every          shelf and end table. Dirty clothes drape across an old          couch. Malee continues on to the kitchen.                    INT. GUS' APARTMENT - KITCHEN - CONTINUOUS                    Malee finds the kitchen more of a mess than the living room.          Pots, pans and stacks of TV dinners line the counter top.                    INT. GUS'S APARTMENT - BEDROOM - MOMENTS LATER                    Malee enters and stops cold at the sight of the bed. Its          unmade and the sheets and blankets are entangled in a ball.          Aroused, Malee sits on the bed and then lies back in ecstacy.                    EXT. FRONT OF GUS' APARTMENT BUILDING - SAME TIME                    Gus drives up, parks along the sidewalk, and gets out.                    INT. GUS'S APARTMENT - BEDROOM - SAME TIME                    Malee goes through a photo album. We see pictures of Gus,          dressed in a firefighter's uniform. He appears much younger          and clean cut.                    As Malee returns the album to the night stand, she notices a          an open drawer and peeks inside.                    INT. APARTMENT BUILDING - STAIRWELL - SAME TIME                    Gus lazily makes his way upstairs.                    INT. GUS'S APARTMENT - BEDROOM - SAME TIME                    Malee holds Gus' gun. Complete with sound effects, she          pretends to shoot a beer bottle off the dresser.                    Malee laughs and then jumps across the bed like a Charlie's          Angel.                                                                             62.                                        INT. APARTMENT BUILDING - GUS'S FRONT DOOR - SAME TIME                    Gus fumbles for his keys.                    INT. GUS'S APARTMENT - BEDROOM - SAME TIME                    Malee stands in front of the mirror, posing.                                           MALEE                      Freeze!   That's right.                    Malee laughs in spite of herself. In the process, she          unknowingly cocks the trigger.   Malee places the gun to her          forehead and pretends to shoot herself.                    TIGHT ON TRIGGER, a hair away from firing -                    SFX: BAM!                    INT. GUS' APARTMENT - FRONT DOOR - SAME TIME                    The loud bang we heard was the front door slamming shut.   Gus          opens it and inspects the door frame.                    INT. GUS' APARTMENT - KITCHEN/BEDROOM - SECONDS LATER                    Gus removes a beer from the fridge. We follow him into his          bedroom. He stops cold as if feeling the presence of some          one else there, but Malee is nowhere to be found.                    Gus begins getting undressed. We follow his shirt to the          floor and SEE Malee, hiding underneath his bed.                    SFX: FOOTSTEPS, DOOR OPENING, SHOWER RUNNING                    Malee looks out from underneath the bed. She watches as the          now naked Gus enters the shower stall in the bathroom.                    As the water falls upon Gus, Malee rises from underneath the          bed and crosses over to him.                    INT. GUS' APARTMENT - BATHROOM - CONTINUOUS                    From over Gus's shoulder, we see Malee approaching. An inch          away from Gus, Malee reaches out her hand to touch him.          Suddenly, Gus breaks down and starts crying.                    Unsettled, Malee slowly retreats out of the bathroom.                    INT. JACOB'S HOME - BEDROOM - NEXT DAY                    Malee, Leonard and Jacob sit, playing LIFE, the board game.                                                                                (CONTINUED)                                                                             63.          CONTINUED:                                           LEONARD                       Don't worry, white male infants are                       the hardest to come by. 60 minutes                       did a whole story on it.                                           MALEE                       Since when do you watch 60 minutes?                                           LEONARD                       Since I was in the hospital. They                       said, any adoption agency worth its                       salt has at least a three year                       waiting list. By the time your                       parents get a kid, you'll be in                       college. You think they'll want to                       start over again with that baby                       shit?                                           JACOB                       No, but it's like they're trying to                       replace Rudy.                                           LEONARD                       It doesn't matter cause it's not                       gonna happen.                    Malee has been silent this entire time.    Seeing a moment, she          speaks up.                                           MALEE                       I'm thirsty.                           (to Leanard)                       Can you get us some drinks?                                           LEONARD                       Why me?                                           MALEE                       Because it's the gentlemanly thing                       to do.                                           JACOB                       I'll get the drinks.                                           MALEE                       I'll go with you.                                           LEONARD                       Why are you all of a sudden going                       to get the drinks?                                                                                                      (CONTINUED)                                                                       64.          CONTINUED: (2)                                        MALEE                        (bitchy)                    Because you've upset me, and I                    don't want to see you right now.                    Leonard looks to Jacob.                                        LEONARD                    Fine, I'll get the drinks.                    Leonard exits.   Malee turns to Jacob.                                        MALEE                    I need a favor. It's big. I need                    you to hide something for me.                                           JACOB                    Hide what?                    Malee reaches into her back pack.                                        MALEE                    Promise, you won't freak.                                           JACOB                    I won't.                    Malee removes Gus' gun.                                           JACOB (cont'd)                    Holy shit!                                        MALEE                    You said, you wouldn't freak!                                        JACOB                    That's a gun.                                           MALEE                    I know.                                        JACOB                    Where'd you get it?                                        MALEE                    I can't tell you. I just need you                    to hide it for a while. When all                    is cool, I'll come for it.                                        JACOB                    Why can't you keep it?                                                                                      (CONTINUED)                                                                                65.          CONTINUED: (3)                                          MALEE                     My mother is a total snoop. She                     goes through my stuff like all the                     time.                         (beat)                     Please, Jacob. Somebody's life                     might depend on it.                    Jacob crosses to his closet, removes his metal LOCK BOX and          opens it. Jacob takes the gun and places it inside.                                         JACOB                     Is it loaded?                                         MALEE                     No, but I do have some bullets.                    Malee reaches into her backpack and removes the bullets.          Jacob takes them out and puts them in the lock box.                                         MALEE (CONT'D) (cont'd)                     Sure your parents won't find it?                                         JACOB                     Nobody has the combination, but me.                     Besides, I could be building a bomb                     in here, and they wouldn't even                     know.                    Off Jacob, locking the box up.                                                               FADE TO BLACK:                    FADE IN:                    EXT. STREET - MONTHS LATER - MORNING                    ON TWO FEET, running. We REVEAL that it's LEONARD. His once          skin tight sweat suit, hangs off of him. More than just          skinny, Leonard is in perfect shape. He runs fast, carefully          avoiding puddles of melting snow. (Spring is fast on the          horizon.)                    INT. JUVY HALL - CONVERSATION BOOTH - NEXT DAY                    Jacob and Kenny talk via one way phone. Their demeanor has          changed since last we saw them. No longer fraught with          contempt and acrimony, they speak like two old friends.                                         JACOB                     I sent in some comics for ya.   The                     X-men one is pretty sweet.                                                                                  (CONTINUED)                                                                       66.          CONTINUED:                                           KENNY                       That last batch was awesome.                    Jacob checks his watch.                                           JACOB                       I better get going, I don't want to                       miss my bus.                                           KENNY                       Before you go, I got some news.                       Apparently, the parole board feels                       I've been a model prisoner, so                       they're giving me early release.                                            JACOB                       What?   How can they do that?                                           KENNY                       I don't know. They just did.                       You're pissed, aren't you? I knew                       you would be.                           (off Jacob's silence)                       It was an accident, Jacob.                                           JACOB                       So you're getting out.   Gonna head                       back to school, or...                                           KENNY                       Fuck school. I'm going to live                       with my Dad in New Mexico. He's                       working on a ranch out there.                                            JACOB                       You can't leave the state. That                       violates your probation. You'll                       have to...                                           KENNY                       My dad won't tell anyone. No one                       will even care I'm out there.                                           JACOB                       Your mom will.                                           KENNY                       Jacob, in the entire time I've been                       locked up, you were the only one                       who came to see me. Trust me, she                       won't care.                                                                              67.                                        INT. MALEE'S HOME - KITCHEN - AFTERNOON                    Malee fans out a fist full of twenty dollar bills.                                        MALEE                    200 dollars! Dad sent me 200                    dollars!                    Yacco, smiling, gets ready for work.                                        MALEE (CONT'D) (cont'd)                    I have to call him.                                         YACCO                    No!                        (covering)                    Your father... went out.     He's not                    home right now.                    Malee eyes her mother, suspicious.                                        MALEE                    You're acting weird.     What's going                    on?                                         YACCO                    Nothing.                                        MALEE                    Well, do you want to come with me                    to the mall and spend it?                                        YACCO                    I'd prefer it if you'd put that                    money in the bank.                        (off Malee's look)                    Fine, spend it. You'll have to do                    it alone though. I have a patient                    this afternoon. Have a good day.                    Yacco exits the kitchen.     Malee looks at her cash and smiles.                    INT. LEONARD'S HOME - KITCHEN - SAME TIME                    Leonard, Patrick and Grace sit at the kitchen table.                                        PATRICK                    Here's the deal. You know how my                    company flies me to Florida every                    April?                                                                                                       (CONTINUED)                                                                            68.          CONTINUED:                                           LEONARD                       You and I have been going since I                       was eight. It's the guy's week                       off.                                           PATRICK                       This year, I'm taking the girls.                       Just the girls. You're staying                       home.                                           LEONARD                       Why can't we all go?                                           GRACE                       I'm not staying here all alone.                       Besides, you said it yourself,                       you've been going for years. Give                       your sisters a chance.                    Leonard eyes his mother with hatred.                                            LEONARD                       Whatever.                           (beat)                       I need money.                                             PATRICK                       What for?                                             LEONARD                       Clothes.    Nothing I have fits                       anymore.                                           GRACE                       Your father and I aren't rich. You                       can't get a new wardrobe anytime                       you want.                                           LEONARD                       What am I supposed to do, go to                       school naked?                                           GRACE                       Wear a belt.                                           PATRICK                       I'll give him some cash, he can get                       some clothes.                                           GRACE                       No. He's gonna gain all his weight                       back in a few months.                                 (MORE)                                                                       (CONTINUED)                                                                              69.          CONTINUED: (2)                              GRACE (cont'd)                    Then what, we have to buy him new                    clothes all over again?                    Obviously hurt, Leonard storms out of the kitchen.                                          PATRICK                    Grace.                                          GRACE                    What?    It's true.                    Grace exits the kitchen.                                        JACOB (O.S.)                    I thought you hated going to                    Florida?                    EXT. JACOB'S FRONT LAWN - LATER                    Leonard and Jacob play catch with a football.                                        LEONARD                    When I was fat. Now I don't have                    to wear a T-shirt when I go                    swimming. Who knows, maybe I could                    even get lucky.                                        JACOB                    You're still ugly, though.                    Leonard punches Jacob's arm in fun.                                        LEONARD                    I don't understand what my mother's                    problem is. It's like the thinner                    I get, the more she hates me.                                        JACOB                    She's probably jealous. Maybe you                    should put her on that diet.                                        LEONARD                    Anytime I mention it, my mother                    goes crazy.                                        JACOB                    If you really want her to drop a                    few tons, put her in jail. Kenny's                    lost about 30 pounds since he's                    been incarcerated, and he was                    already thin.                                                                                                       (CONTINUED)                                                                              70.          CONTINUED:                                              LEONARD                       Really?                                           JACOB                       Yeah. Jail is the perfect weight                       loss program. You take a fat tub,                       throw them in a room and force them                       to eat right and exercise. Don't                       let them out till they do.                    Off Leonard, thinking-                    INT. MALEE'S HOME - BEDROOM - NIGHT                    Yacco enters Malee's room.                                           YACCO                       Malee, dinner!                    Yacco notices a number of department store bags strewn          everywhere.                                            YACCO (cont'd)                       Malee?                           (noticing something)                       Oh my God!                    REVEAL MALEE, standing across the room. She is no longer the          gawky, adolescent girl. Rather, she has been transformed          into a beautiful young woman. Her glasses have been replaced          by contacts, and her braided pig tails by a quaff of chin          length curls.                                           YACCO (CONT'D) (cont'd)                       What did you do?                                           MALEE                       I got a new look. You know, for                       Spring. What do you think?                    Malee spins around, giving Yacco the full picture.                                           YACCO                       You look...                                              MALEE                       Beautiful?                                           YACCO                       Different. What happened to your                       glasses?                                                                                             (CONTINUED)                                                                                71.          CONTINUED:                                           MALEE                       Contacts. It took me like forty                       five minutes to get them in, but                       beauty is pain.                                           YACCO                       Honey, in the future, I'd like to                       know if you're going to radically                       change your appearance. Clean your                       stuff up and come down for dinner.                    Yacco exits.    Malee looks in the mirror, deflated.                    EXT. CONSTRUCTION SITE - AFTERNOON                    Gus watches a CEMENT TRUCK, dumping cement into a foundation.          Once the cement is poured, the truck pulls forward. Malee is          revealed, standing there and holding a picnic basket.                    Gus sees the new and improved Malee for the first time.      His          jaw drops.                                            GUS                       Malee?   My God, you look...                                              MALEE                       Different?                                              GUS                       Beautiful.     You look beautiful.                    Off Malee's smile -                    EXT. CONSTRUCTION SITE - ANOTHER AREA - LATER                    Gus and Malee eat their lunch.                                           MALEE                       I felt like I needed a change, you                       know?                                           GUS                       I bet you're driving the boys at                       school wild.                                           MALEE                       Boys my age are so immature. I'm                       more attracted to older gentlemen.                    Malee smiles at Gus.       He knows where this is going, and he's          suddenly nervous.                                                                                               (CONTINUED)                                                                            72.          CONTINUED:                                           GUS                       You don't want somebody that much                       older than you. An age difference                       can cause problems.                                           MALEE                       What kind of problems?                                           GUS                       A lot of times when a couple has an                       age difference, they wind up                       splitting up because they want                       different things.                                           MALEE                       You mean sex.                                           GUS                       No.                    Gus catches a look of relief on Malee's face.                                           GUS (cont'd)                       I mean, yeah. You may be 13, but a                       boy even three years older than you                       is probably more "experienced".                       Boys can be impatient about that                       sort of thing.                                           MALEE                       Are you impatient?                                           GUS                       No, but when I was a kid.                                           MALEE                       Why don't you have a girlfriend?                                           GUS                       I did, but it didn't work out.                                           MALEE                       How old was she?                                           GUS                       About my age.                                           MALEE                       See that, age wasn't an issue, yet                       you still wanted different things.                       I don't think it's about age.                                 (MORE)                                                                                 (CONTINUED)                                                                             73.          CONTINUED: (2)                              MALEE (cont'd)                    I think when two people connect,                    they connect for other reasons.                    And since soulmates are eternal,                    they have no age.                    Gus is stumped.                    EXT. LEONARD'S DRIVEWAY - NEXT DAY                    Leonard watches Patrick and his sisters drive off in a          TAXICAB.                                        LEONARD                        (calling after them)                    Have a good flight!                    The taxicab disappears down the street.                    As Leonard turns back around, he sees Grace, staring at him          from the window. They lock eyes for a moment and then Grace          disappears into the dark recesses of the home.                    INT. LEONARD'S HOME - BASEMENT - NIGHT                    Leonard descends the staircase and begins looking around at          the setting. Boxes of junk clutter the floor along with old          furniture and bicycles.                    He crosses to the basement door, which leads out to the          backyard. As Leonard unlocks and opens the door, a mass of          cobwebs stretch across the frame like elastic bands. Leonard          grabs a nearby broom and starts wiping away the cobwebs.                    INT. JACOB'S HOME - BEDROOM - DAYS LATER                    Jacob sits at his desk, reading the PLASTIC SURGERY PAMPHLET          his parents had given him for his birthday last year.                    The bedroom door opens and Ashley sticks her head in.                                        ASHLEY                    We're home.                                        JACOB                    Hi.                                        ASHLEY                    Could you come downstairs for a                    minute. We have a surprise for                    you.                                                                            74.                                        INT. JACOB'S HOME - KITCHEN - MOMENTS LATER                    Jacob stands in front of KEITH GARDNER (10), African          American, sweet faced and dressed in a shirt and tie.   He has          luggage with him.                    Ashley and Jim stand behind the boys, beaming.                                        JIM                    This is Keith Gardner. You're new                    brother. Keith our son, Jacob.                    Keith extends his hand.                                        KEITH                    It's nice to meet you.                    INT. JACOB'S HOME - BEDROOM - LATER                    Jacob leads Keith inside.                                        JACOB                    You get top bunk.                                        KEITH                    I'm kind of afraid of heights.                                        JACOB                    Sucks to be you.                    Keith lets Jacob's attitude pass.                                        JACOB (CONT'D) (cont'd)                    No offence, but I never thought my                    future brother would be a... well,                    a "brother".                                        KEITH                    I never thought my future brother                    would have a KOOL AID stain,                    smeared across his face.                                        JACOB                    Fuck you, it's a birthmark!                                        KEITH                    We're getting off on the wrong                    foot.                                                                                                    (CONTINUED)                                                                            75.          CONTINUED:                                           JACOB                       When my parents said they were                       taking in an orphan, I pictured a                       baby. So what happened, your                       parents die or something?                                           KEITH                       I was given up at birth.                                           JACOB                       You gonna try and find your mother                       when you're 18?                                           KEITH                       As far as I'm concerned, the fact                       she had me was enough. I don't                       need to show up one day and disrupt                       her life.                                           JACOB                       Oh, but it's okay to just show up                       one day and disrupt mine?                    Off Keith's hurt look -                    INT. LIBRARY - LATER                    Malee stands at the card catalogue, flipping through the "S"          section. She comes to cards with the word SEX in the title.                    INT. MALEE'S HOME - BEDROOM - EARLY EVENING                    Malee enters her room, locks the door behind her and empties          her bag of SEX books on the bed. The first one she peruses          is the "KARMA SUTRA". At first glance, Malee's eyes go wide          in shock. She grabs her backpack and removes a number of          index cards. Malee starts taking notes.                    INT. JUVY HALL - COMMUNICATION BOOTHS - NEXT DAY                    Jacob is on the one way phone with Kenny.                                           JACOB                       He's not some baby.   He's like 10.                                           KENNY                       You're blaming me for this?                                            JACOB                       No.   But can you believe it?                                                                                                     (CONTINUED)                                                                             76.          CONTINUED:                                           KENNY                       Maybe this is the only way they can                       get over Rudy's death.                                           JACOB                       He's a person not a fucking vase.                                           KENNY                       I know.                                           JACOB                       I gotta get out of there. I can't                       live in that house for one more                       day. I want to go with you to New                       Mexico.                                           KENNY                       No way. You've never even   been                       out on the road.                                           JACOB                       So.                                           KENNY                       It's not easy. After first night                       falls, you'll be pissing yourself.                                           JACOB                       No, I won't.                                           KENNY                       You don't need me to run away from                       home.                                           JACOB                       That's not what this is about.                                            KENNY                       Yes, it is.                           (beat)                       And you want to come with ME of all                       people. Are you forgetting, I was                       the one who killed Rudy!                                           JACOB                       That was an accident.                    Kenny appears stunned.    Jacob has never accepted that truth.                                                                                                      (CONTINUED)                                                                            77.          CONTINUED: (2)                                        JACOB (CONT'D) (cont'd)                    I'll be helpful. I can get                    everything we'll need together. As                    soon as you're released, we can go.                    Kenny appears to be weighing the decision.                                        JACOB (CONT'D) (cont'd)                    Please.                                        KENNY                    If this is what you want.   Alright.                    INT. MALEE'S HOME - KITCHEN - SAME TIME                    Yacco is on the phone with her ex-husband.                                        YACCO (INTO PHONE)                    ... I'm not asking for much. Just                    call her from time to time...                    Because she needs to know her                    father cares... Call collect.                    Malee enters the kitchen.                                        MALEE                    Is that Dad? Can I talk to him?                                        YACCO                    Take some responsibility for                    yourself and grow... Hello?...                    Yacco slams the phone down.                                        YACCO (CONT'D) (cont'd)                    He hung up.                                        MALEE                    Well, what do you expect?   All you                    ever do is yell at him.                                        YACCO                    Malee, you don't understand.                                        MALEE                    He's my Dad! I'm sorry if it                    bothers you, but I love him. You                    keep this up then one day, when I'm                    old enough, I'll leave here and go                    and stay with him.                    Malee runs out of the room, leaving a disappointed Yacco.                                                                            78.                                        INT. LEONARD'S HOME - BASEMENT - NIGHT                    Leonard hammers a piece of wood over the basement door, which          is now entirely boarded up.                    REVEAL the basement. Now clean. Boxes, furniture and trash          are piled neatly in a corner. Only a mattress remains on the          floor in the center of the room.                    Leonard grabs a grocery bag and crosses to a bathroom at the          opposite end of the basement.                    INT. LEONARD'S HOME - BASEMENT BATHROOM - CONTINUOUS                    Leonard turns on the light, revealing a shower, toilet and          sink. He removes toiletries from the grocery bag and places          them inside.                    INT. LEONARD'S HOME - DEN - SAME TIME                    Grace watches FAMILY FEUD while eating cake.                                        LEONARD (O.S.)                        (screaming)                    Help! Oh God, Ma! Help!                    Grace drops her fork.                                         GRACE                    Leonard?                    Grace jumps up and runs out of the room.                    INT. LEONARD'S HOME - HALLWAY - CONTINUOUS                    Grace opens the door to the staircase, which leads to the          basement.                                        GRACE                        (screaming)                    Leonard, what's wrong?                                        LEONARD (O.S.)                    It's on top of me. I can't get up!                    Oh, there's so much blood!                                        GRACE                    I'm calling 9-1-1!                                        LEONARD (O.S.)                    Get it off me first! I'm bleeding.                                                                                          (CONTINUED)                                                                            79.          CONTINUED:                                           GRACE                       If I go downstairs, I won't be able                       to make it back up. Let me call                       9-1-1 first, okay?                    Leonard doesn't answer her.                                              GRACE (CONT'D) (cont'd)                       Leonard?                    Silence.                                              GRACE (CONT'D) (cont'd)                       Oh, Jesus!                    Grace begins walking downstairs. Due to her size, she has          difficultly maneuvering through the tight space. Her          inability to see her feet isn't helping matters.                    Grace makes it downstairs, but Leonard is nowhere in sight.                                              GRACE (CONT'D) (cont'd)                       Leonard?                    Suddenly, Leonard bursts through the bathroom door with a          hammer in hand. He runs past Grace and up the stairs.                                           GRACE (CONT'D) (cont'd)                       What the hell?                    Half way up the stairs, Leonard stops and pries two of the          steps off the stair case with his hammer. This creates a          GAP, making it virtually impossible for Grace to ascend.                                           GRACE (CONT'D) (cont'd)                       What are you doing? I can't climb                       up now!                    Leonard runs upstairs and slams the door after him.                                              GRACE (CONT'D) (cont'd)                       Leonard!     Leonard!                    EXT. GUS' APARTMENT BUILDING - SAME TIME                    Malee watches as Gus enters his car and drives off.                    INT. APARTMENT BUILDING - HALLWAY - SECONDS LATER                    Malee crosses to Gus' door with a GROCERY BAG in hand. She          kicks the welcome mat aside, picks up the spare key and          enters.                                                                              80.                                        INT. GUS' APARTMENT - KITCHEN - CONTINUOUS                    Malee enters and removes a pair of rubber gloves, a bottle of          ammonia and trash bags. She starts cleaning.                    INT. LEONARD'S HOME - BASEMENT - LATER THAT DAY                    Leonard descends the staircase, holding a tray of food.                    Grace instantly rises.                                        LEONARD                    I hope someone is hungry.                                        GRACE                    Get me out of here now!                                        LEONARD                    No joke, Ma. For the next two                    weeks while Dad and the girls are                    away, you will be kept down here.                    I'll provide you with nutritious                    meals and plenty of water. You,                    mother, will learn what it means to                    be healthy.                                        GRACE                    That's what this is about, food?                                        LEONARD                    I'm trying to save your life, mom.                    Trying to give you a life. Cause I                    love you.                                        GRACE                    My life is fine.   I don't need you                    to "save me".                    Leonard looks at his mother, sympathetic.                                        LEONARD                    You don't even realize how sick you                    are. It's a problem when an                    otherwise healthy woman can't drag                    her ass up a flight of stairs                    because she's so obese. You're                    staying down here.                    Leonard turns and crosses back to the staircase.                                        LEONARD (CONT'D) (cont'd)                    Oh, and no cigarettes either.                                                                              81.                                        INT. GUS' APARTMENT - KITCHEN - EVENING                    The kitchen is now spotless. Malee removes TWO TV DINNERS          from the oven. She crosses over to the kitchen table and          places the food onto plates.                    The table is set to the nines. A small candle burns in the          center. Once the table is set and the food served, Malee          takes a step back and smiles.                    INT. GUS' APARTMENT - BATHROOM - LATER                    Malee strips off her clothes and puts on a long, silk robe.                    EXT. GUS' APARTMENT BUILDING - SAME TIME                    Gus drives up, gets out of his car and enters the building.                    INT. APARTMENT BUILDING - HALLWAY - MOMENTS LATER                    Gus approaches his door. As he takes out his key, he notices          that the welcome mat has been pushed off to the side. Gus          lifts the mat up and sees that his spare key is gone.                    INT. GUS'S APARTMENT - FRONT ENTRANCE/ KITCHEN - CONTINUOUS                    Gus enters.   He knows someone else is in there.                                         GUS                    Hello?                    We follow him into the kitchen and FIND MALEE, standing          beside the table and dressed only in her robe.                                        GUS (CONT'D) (cont'd)                    What the hell is this?                                        MALEE                    I made dinner, my love.   And I have                    a surprise.                                        GUS                    You've been in my apartment before,                    haven't you?                    Malee drops her robe, revealing her naked body.    Gus quickly          looks away.                                        GUS (CONT'D) (cont'd)                    Malee, put your clothes on now!                                                                                                      (CONTINUED)                                                                              82.          CONTINUED:                                           MALEE                       Don't you like my body?                    Malee starts walking towards him.                                           GUS                       Malee, stop.                                           MALEE                       It's okay because I love you.                    Gus doesn't answer. Malee is right behind him now.     She puts          her head on his back.                                             MALEE (CONT'D) (cont'd)                       Touch me.                    Gus slowly turns around and looks at Malee for a long,          pregnant beat. It's a tense moment, and we are unsure of          what he's going to do. Then Gus moves past her and crosses          to the living room.                                           MALEE (cont'd)                       Where are you going?                                           GUS                       To go call your mother.                    Gus exits.    Malee stands the fool.                                           MALEE                       But we're soulmates.                    Now embarrassed and crushed, she starts to cry.                    EXT. GUS'S APARTMENT - LATER THAT NIGHT                    Malee, now wrapped in a large overcoat, is led by Yacco out          of the building and over to her car.                    INT. YACCO'S CAR - CONTINUOUS                    Yacco and Malee sit in silence.      After a beat.                                           YACCO                       I don't know what to say to you.                    INT. JACOB'S HOME - BEDROOM - AFTERNOON                    Jacob shoves clothes into his backpack.                    Keith enters with Rudy's baseball glove on his hand.                                                                                   (CONTINUED)                                                                            83.          CONTINUED:                                           KEITH                       Wanna play some catch?                    Jacob notices the glove. He rushes over to Keith, yanks it          off his hand and pushes Keith to the ground.                                           JACOB                       Where the hell did you get this?                                           KEITH                       The closet. Ow, what's wrong?                    Keith struggles to get free, but Jacob is too strong.                                           KEITH (CONT'D) (cont'd)                       You're hurting me.                                           JACOB                       Did I say you could play with the                       glove? Did I?                                           KEITH                       No, I just...                                           JACOB                       Everything, and I mean, EVERYTHING                       in this room is mine. You are not                       allowed to touch a thing,                       especially the glove.                                           KEITH                       Okay, okay.                    Jacob gets off of Keith and crosses to his closet. He pulls          out the lock box, unlocks it and removes the gun. He points          it at Keith.                                           JACOB                       If you tell my parents what I said,                       I'll kill you. I'll shoot you in                       the fucking face, I swear it!                    Keith nods, petrified. Jacob puts the gun back in the lock          box, throws it in the closet and storms out of the room.                    INT. JACOB'S HOUSE - KITCHEN - MOMENTS LATER                    Ashley sits at the kitchen table, looking at a picture of          Rudy and Jacob when they were infants. Her eyes are filled,          but she's not crying.                                                                                                     (CONTINUED)                                                                               84.          CONTINUED:                    Jacob enters and crosses to the fridge.      He spots Ashley and          is taken aback by her state.                                            JACOB                           (cold)                       What's wrong now?                                           ASHLEY                       I was looking at a picture of you                       and Rudy when you were born. God,                       I miss him.                                           JACOB                       But you have Keith now                    Ashley is struck by Jacob's comment.                                           ASHLEY                       What the hell does that mean?                                           JACOB                       You have Keith. Two boys again.                       Everything is fine.                                           ASHLEY                       We didn't adopt Keith to replace                       Rudy.                                           JACOB                       Didn't you?                                           ASHLEY                       For your information, your father                       and I discussed adopting for years.                                           JACOB                           (not buying it)                       Right. Maybe if it was me who                       died, you wouldn't need another kid                       to get over it.                                           ASHLEY                       How can you say that? I never                       wanted either of my children to                       die.                                           JACOB                       But one of us did. If you had to                       choose which one, I bet you wish it                       was me.                                                                                                        (CONTINUED)                                                                    85.          CONTINUED: (2)                                        ASHLEY                    I know you think we favored Rudy...                                          JACOB                    You did!    Admit it.                                        ASHLEY                    I admit he was easier to raise, but                    we didn't love him more. Jacob,                    listen to me. You came with a                    different set of challenges.                                        JACOB                    My birthmark.                                        ASHLEY                    It's not easy being different...                                        JACOB                        (screams)                    I'm not different!! You always                    made me feel like something was                    wrong. There's nothing wrong with                    me.                                          ASHLEY                    I know...                                         JACOB                    No, you don't! It's like you don't                    know how to deal with me. You                    never did.                                        ASHLEY                    I'm sorry if that is how you feel.                    You do the best you can as a                    parent. You don't always know                    what's right. But you're my son.                    I'd do anything for you. I'd fight                    for you, I'd kill for you, I'd die                    for you.                                        JACOB                    Rudy used to say that exact same                    thing.                                        ASHLEY                    It's true. And as unchristian as                    it sounds, I still want the boy                    that killed Rudy dead. Someday,                    when you grow up, you'll understand                    what I mean. Someday.                                                                            86.                                        INT. LEONARD'S HOME - BASEMENT - SAME TIME                    SFX: TOILET FLUSHING                    Grace exits the bathroom and begins walking around the          basement, looking for a way out. She crosses to the boarded          up door and tries to pull the boards off. Unsuccessful, she          returns to the bed and sits.                    After a beat, Grace spots the tray of food, which is still          untouched. Angry and disgusted, she takes it and throws it          at the wall.                                                             CUT TO:                    LATER THAT NIGHT -                    Grace paces nervously while blabbering to herself.                                        GRACE                    When Pat calls, and I don't answer,                    he'll know something is wrong.                    He'll know. I'll be fine.                                                             CUT TO:                    LATER THAT NIGHT -                    Grace nervously rocks back and forth. Sweat covers her body.          She glances at the tray of food, which rests on the floor.                                                             CUT TO:                    LATER THAT NIGHT -                    Grace stands at the base of the stairwell, screaming.                                        GRACE                    Open this door now! Let me out,                    God damn it! Leonard!                                                             CUT TO:                    LATER THAT NIGHT -                    Grace is crying. She catches sight of the meal that she          threw on the floor.                    After a beat, Grace crawls over to it and starts shoving it          down her throat. She doesn't seem bothered by the fact that          her dinner is covered with dirt.                                                                            87.                                        INT. YACCO'S OFFICE - RECEPTION AREA - NEXT DAY - AFTERNOON                    Yacco exits her office to find Gus waiting for his session.          They speak not a word. He rises and enters the office. She          follows, shutting the door behind her.                    INT. YACCO'S OFFICE - CONTINUOUS                    Gus and Yacco sit in their respective seats.                                        YACCO                    Before we begin, I want to                    apologize. I should have known                    what was going on with Malee.                                        GUS                    It's my fault. I knew she had a                    crush on me. I guess, I felt bad                    for her. She's a very unhappy                    girl.                    Yacco looks down, embarrassed.                                        GUS (CONT'D) (cont'd)                    If it's any consolation, the whole                    thing was very "therapeutic" for                    me.                        (off Yacco's look)                    Sorry. That was a very selfish                    thing to say.                                        YACCO                    This is your therapy. Not mine.                    Why was it therapeutic?                                        GUS                    I slept last night. I can't                    remember the last time I slept so                    deep or so sound. I don't remember                    dreaming or anything.                                        YACCO                    Why do you think that is?                                        GUS                    One of the last fires I ever fought                    was a brownstone, beautiful. The                    place was burned from roof to                    basement. Whole family was wiped                    out. When I was upstairs,                    inspecting, I found a girl. She                    couldn't have been more than 12.                              (MORE)                                                                      (CONTINUED)                                                                               88.          CONTINUED:                                 GUS (cont'd)                       The whole right side of her face                       was burnt off, but her eyes were                       open. She was alive. The pain must                       have been excruciating. She was                       begging for me to... kill her.                                           YACCO                       What did you do?                                            GUS                       Exactly what she wanted. I placed                       my hand over her mouth and what was                       left of her nose, and I... I killed                       her. I told myself it was the                       right thing to do, but I've never                       been sure.                                           YACCO                       What does this have to do with                       Malee?                                           GUS                       When I saw her last night, she had                       the same look on her face as that                       girl. She just wanted me to take                       away her pain.                    Yacco sits, pondering all of this.                                           GUS (CONT'D) (cont'd)                       Doctor?                                           YACCO                       Would you mind if we... cut out                       early today? No charge.                                           GUS                       I understand.                    Gus rises and exits.                    Yacco sits alone and starts crying.                    INT. LEONARD'S HOME - KITCHEN - MOMENTS LATER                    Leonard is at the kitchen sink, arranging a fruit salad.                    SUDDENLY, he hears the sound of water boiling over from the          stove. Leonard quickly turns the gas low, extinguishing the          flame. He removes the pot from the burner, grabs a strainer          and removes poached EGG WHITES from the water.                                                                                                     (CONTINUED)                                                                               89.          CONTINUED:                    Leonard grabs a dish towel and begins wiping the water off          the stove. Preoccupied, he doesn't realize that when he          wipes the oven knob dry, he turns the gas on high. (Since          the overflowing water, extinguished the pilot light, he is          unaware that gas is now being emitted from the burner.)    In          his condition, HE WON'T BE ABLE TO SMELL IT.                    Leonard grabs the plates of food and exits the kitchen.                    SFX: GAS LEAKING                    INT. LEONARD'S HOME - BASEMENT - MOMENTS LATER                    Leonard places the food by Grace's bed.    She is sleeping.                    INT. LEONARD'S HOME - KITCHEN - MOMENTS LATER                    Leonard sits on the couch, watching TV. Suddenly, he starts          coughing, hard. The fit subsides and Leonard resumes          watching TV, thinking nothing of it.                    INT. MALEE'S HOME - KITCHEN - EVENING                    SFX: TELEPHONE                    Malee enters the kitchen and answers the phone.                                           MALEE (INTO PHONE)                       Hello?... Daddy!... No, she's not                       home... Can I ask you something?                       Can I visit you for a while?... A                       week... But I can fly alone... No,                       I understand... Yeah... I love y...                       Hello?...                    Malee hangs up the phone. Tears swell in her eyes.     She          places her head in her arms and start bawling.                                           YACCO (O.S.)                       Honey?                    Malee looks to find Yacco standing behind her.                                           MALEE                           (through her tears)                       Why does he hate me?                    Yacco walks to Malee and hugs her tight.    It's a long,          overdue hug.                                                                               90.                                        INT. LEONARD'S HOME - BASEMENT - LATER THAT DAY                    Grace awakens from her nap.     Suddenly, she sniffs at the air.                    Grace rises and crosses over to the foot of the basement          stairs. She sees that the upstairs door is wide open.                                          GRACE                     Leonard!                    Silence.                                         GRACE (CONT'D) (cont'd)                     Leonard, I smell gas!                    INT. LEONARD'S HOME - DEN     - SAME TIME                    Leonard is slumped over, unconscious.                    INT. LEONARD'S HOME - BASEMENT - SAME TIME                    Grace coughs hard.                                         GRACE                     Leonard, don't you smell that...?                         (sotto)                     Oh God, he can't. Leonard!                     Leonard, the gas is on!                    Grace grabs a hold of the railing and starts climbing the          stairs. After a few steps, she stops to rest, wheezing.                    With the help of the railing, Grace pulls herself up to the          GAP in the staircase. In one forceful exertion, she propels          her body up and forward. The railing instantly becomes          separated from the wall. Grace lands in a heap.                    Luckily, the top half of her body made it to the other side.          With all of her might, Grace pulls herself up to the landing.                    INT. LEONARD'S HOME - KITCHEN - CONTINUOUS                    Exhausted and wheezing, Grace drags herself over to the stove          and shuts the gas off. She looks around for Leonard and sees          him in the living room, slumped over and unconscious.                                          GRACE                     No!                    Grace frantically shuffles over to the living room.                                                                                                       (CONTINUED)                                                                                91.          CONTINUED:                                           GRACE (CONT'D) (cont'd)                       Leonard, wake up! Leonard!                    INT. HOSPTIAL ROOM - NIGHT                    Leonard slowly comes to in a hospital bed.       The same nurse          from earlier is by his side.                                           NURSE                       It's alive!                                           LEONARD                       What happened?                                             NURSE                       Gas leak.                                           LEONARD                       My mom, she's...                                           NURSE                       She's fine. They've taken her into                       surgery. She blew out her knees                       somehow. We're trying to get your                       father on the phone right now.                                             LEONARD                       I...                                           NURSE                       Shh. You need your rest.                       Everything is fine now.                    EXT. CONSTRUCTION SITE - DAY                    Jacob straddles his bike, watching a crew spread cement over          the foundation of a house. Jacob appears lost in thought.          He looks at a picture of Rudy and himself together.                    Jacob touches his face in the photograph. He traces his          finger along the outline of his birthmark.                                           KENNY (O.S.)                       Tonight, we ride.                    EXT. TRAILER PARK - BESIDE KENNY'S TRAILER - DUSK                    Jacob and Kenny share a cigarette.                                           KENNY                       We got sleeping bags, a tent,                       canteens and a lantern.                                 (MORE)                                                                           (CONTINUED)                                                                                92.          CONTINUED:                                 KENNY (cont'd)                       I heard it's supposed to rain, so                       I'll bring ponchos.                                           JACOB                           (half hearted)                       Cool.                    Kenny eyes Jacob.                                           KENNY                       You're acting weird.    You gonna                       chicken out?                                            JACOB                       No.                                           KENNY                       You better not. I already packed                       twice the amount of shit. I can't                       carry it all alone.                                           JACOB                       I'll be there.                                           KENNY                       Good. I'm telling you, man. It's                       gonna be great.                                            JACOB                       I guess.                                            KENNY                       Come on. You can't be a pussy all                       your life.                                           JACOB                           (beat, hauntingly)                       I know.                                           KENNY                       I'll see you tonight.    Don't be                       late.                    Kenny rides off. Jacob watches him go.       He has a lifeless,          almost calculating look in his eyes.                    INT. HOSPITAL ROOM - NIGHT                    Grace lies in a hosptial bed, watching TV. Leonard enters,          dressed in a hospital gown. Grace turns to him, smiling.                                            GRACE                       Leonard!                                                                                    (CONTINUED)                                                                            93.          CONTINUED:                                           LEONARD                       I'm sorry, mom. I didn't mean to                       leave the gas on. It was an                       accident. And everything that                       happened, I... I just thought that                       maybe, I could help you.                                           GRACE                       Leonard, my mother died at 52. We                       had to cremate her body because                       they didn't make a coffin big                       enough for her to fit in. Even if                       they had, no one could have carried                       it.                           (tearing up)                       I loved her so much. I don't want                       that to happen to me.                                           LEONARD                       It doesn't have to.                                           GRACE                       Even if I can manage the food...                       Can you honestly see me, running a                       marathon?                                           LEONARD                       You don't have to run a marathon.                       You just have to run to the end of                       the block. It's not so hard as you                       think it is.                                              GRACE                       I'll try.                    Leonard leans over and kisses his mother's forehead.                                           GRACE (cont'd)                       I spoke to your father. He and the                       girls caught a flight. They should                       be here by morning.                                           LEONARD                       Did you tell him what happened?                                           GRACE                       I told him there was a gas leak.                                              LEONARD                       I meant...                                                                                                     (CONTINUED)                                                                                 94.          CONTINUED: (2)                                        GRACE                    I know what you meant. I didn't                    tell him. I don't think I will.                    Leonard smiles.                    INT. JACOB'S HOME - BEDROOM - MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT                    Jacob lies awake, staring out the window.     A heavy wind          blows.                    SFX: WATCH ALARM                    Jacob sits up and silences his watch alarm.                    Keith awakens as well, but remains silent. He watches as          Jacob grabs a bag and exits the house through the window.                    Once he's gone, Keith gets off the top bunk, crosses to the          window and watches as Jacob runs off.                    Immediately, Keith crosses to the closet. He removes the          lock box and begins trying combinations to open it.                    EXT. CONSTRUCTION SITE - SHORT TIME LATER                    A heavy rain begins to fall as Jacob rides up. He sees          Kenny, standing inside of a partially, constructed house.                                        KENNY                    You're late.                                          JACOB                    I'm here.                    Kenny throws Jacob a PONCHO.                                        KENNY                    Put this on.                    Jacob removes his backpack and puts on the poncho. Then he          opens his backpack and removes his HOCKEY MASK. (The same          mask he was wearing at the beginning of the movie.)                                        KENNY (CONT'D) (cont'd)                    What the fuck is that?                                        JACOB                    If people see me riding around in                    the middle of the night, we're                    screwed. You didn't bring a                    disguise?                                                                                   (CONTINUED)                                                                                95.          CONTINUED:                                           KENNY                       Who gives a shit what I'm up to.                    The boys start riding off in opposite directions.                                           KENNY (CONT'D) (cont'd)                       The main road is this way.                                           JACOB                       Yeah, but if we cut through the                       construction site, we'll hit the                       railroad tracks. It's faster and                       no one will bother us.                                           KENNY                       Good point.                    Kenny files in behind Jacob, and the boys make their way deep          into the construction site. Thunder and lightning crash.                    INT. JACOB'S HOME - BEDROOM - SAME TIME                    Keith has forgone opening the lock box via a combination and          now tries to pry the top open with a SCREWDRIVER. He works          frantically, fearing Jacob's return.                    EXT. CONSTRUCTION SITE - SAME TIME                    Jacob and Henry make their way to the edge of the          construction site. Suddenly, Jacob stops in his tracks.                                           KENNY                       What's wrong?                    Jacob lifts the hockey mask.                                           JACOB                       I can't do this.                                           KENNY                       What?!                    Jacob begins rummaging through his backpack.                    INT. JACOB'S HOME - BEDROOM - SAME TIME                    Keith pries the box open.       It's EMPTY.   No gun or bullets.                                                                               96.                                        EXT. CONSTRUCTION SITE - SAME TIME                                        KENNY                    Son of a bitch! I knew it.     I knew                    you'd chicken...                    Jacob rises, holding the gun.   He points it at Kenny.                                        KENNY (CONT'D) (cont'd)                    What the fuck?                    Jacob shakes, frightened and reluctant to do what he believes          he has to do.                                        JACOB                    I can't let you leave, Kenny.     You                    have to pay for what you did.                                        KENNY                    Whoa, whoa hold on. Alright, I...                    I won't go. I'll stay here. I'll                    do my probation.                    Jacob cocks the gun.   Tears stream down his checks.                                        JACOB                    You killed him. I gotta do this...                    for my family. It's the only way.                                        KENNY                    Jacob, I told ya, it... it was an                    accident. I swear. Please, don't.                    This isn't you.                                       JACOB                    I know. But I can't be a pussy all                    my life.                    Jacob fires. Kenny is hit in the head.      He drops to the          ground instantly.                    The force of the gun, knocks Jacob to the ground.      As he          falls, the hockey mask comes down over his face.                    Jacob sits for a beat, staring at Kenny's lifeless body.          Lightning flashes, illuminating his blue eyes through the          hockey mask.                    EXT. CONSTRUCTION SITE - SHORT TIME LATER                    Jacob is inside one of the UNPAVED house foundations, digging          a hole. He cries, struggling to finish what he has done.                                                                                   (CONTINUED)                                                                              97.          CONTINUED:                    Once a hole is dug, Jacob throws Kenny's body inside and          starts covering it up with dirt.                    INT. JACOB'S HOME - BEDROOM - LATER THAT NIGHT                    Jacob climbs through his window, soaking wet. He crosses to          his closet and begins to change. Keith lies in bed, watching.                    Jacob removes the gun from his pocket and places it back          inside the lock box. His hands shake violently. As he puts          the box back inside the closet. He finds Rudy's glove. He          smells the leather and smiles.                    Jacob takes the glove and crosses over to his bed.    He places          the glove beside Keith.                                           KEITH                       I thought I wasn't supposed to                       touch this.                                           JACOB                       You're awake.                                           KEITH                       Yeah.                                           JACOB                       It's yours. Just don't leave it                       outside. If it gets wet, the                       leather will crack.                                           KEITH                       I'll take good care of it.   I know                       this was Rudy's.                    Jacob lies down on his bed.                                           KEITH (cont'd)                       Why do you have a gun?                                            JACOB                       Just a b-b gun. I returned it to a                       friend of mine.                           (beat)                       I'm sorry for being such an asshole                       to ya.                                           KEITH                       Does this mean we're brothers now?                                                                                                       (CONTINUED)                                                                              98.          CONTINUED:                                           JACOB                           (beat, torn apart)                       Yeah. We're brothers.                    Keith lies back in bed, smiling. Jacob rolls over, still          unnerved by what he is done. He'll never be the same, and he          knows it.                    EXT. CONSTRUCTION SITE - DAY                    Gus loads cinder blocks into a wheel barrow.                                            MALEE (O.S.)                       Gus?                    Gus spins around, and finds Malee, standing there.                                           MALEE (CONT'D) (cont'd)                       Before you freak out, I want to                       tell you, I'm sorry. And to give                       you this.                    Malee opens her backpack and removes Gus' GUN.    Gus snatches          it from her.                                            GUS                       Malee?                                           MALEE                       Don't be mad. I was just worried                       about you. Now I'm out of your                       life forever. Goodbye. Thanks for                       not pressing any charges.                    Malee walks off.      Gus holds the gun in awe.                    EXT. STREET - BESIDE THE CONSTRUCTION SITE - SAME TIME                    TIGHT ON JACOB, staring at the construction site.    We ZOOM          OUT and find him, straddling his bike.                    Malee appears, walking over.                                           MALEE                       Quite a storm last night.                    They stand for a moment, watching the builders.                                           MALEE (cont'd)                       Did you hear about Leonard?                    Jacob nods, YES.                                                                                   (CONTINUED)                                                                                99.          CONTINUED:                                           MALEE (cont'd)                       Only him. I was gonna go and visit                       him at the hospital. You want to                       come?                    Jacob doesn't answer. He is preoccupied with watching a          TRUCK pour cement into the foundation where Kenny is buried.                    It's a bittersweet moment. While relieved by the fact that          his crime will be hidden, the guilt overwhelms him.                                           MALEE (cont'd)                       Earth to Jacob. You coming?                                            JACOB                       Huh?   Oh, yeah.                    Jacob turns his bike around, and the two ride off together.                                           MALEE                       You know, your birthday's coming                       up. Any hints as to what you might                       like?                                           JACOB                       Whatever you get me will be fine.                                           MALEE                           (annoyed)                       Right.                    Malee eyes Jacob, sensing that something is wrong.                                           MALEE (CONT'D) (cont'd)                       Are you okay?                                           JACOB                           (lying)                       Never better.                    BACK ON the foundation. Gus enters frame and begins          spreading cement over Kenny's grave.                                                               FADE TO BLACK:                    THE END 
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+CUT FROM BLACKTITLE: FINEXTERIOR - LA - DAYFin of red 1957 Chevy Impala convertible driving somewhere in the West. A car passes going the other way.TITLE: PLACE: Los AngelesMUSIC: Shadowy Men On A Shadowy Planet "Good Cop,Bad Cop."EXTERIOR - LA - DAYPOV driving on freeway in rain.EXTERIOR - LA - DAYPeople with umbrellas standing on corner.EXTERIOR - LA - DAYPeople with umbrella walking over bridge.EXTERIOR - LA - DAYPeople walk across downtown intersection with umbrellas, bus in background.EXTERIOR - LA - DAYRain and shadow on pavement.EXTERIOR - LA - DAYLA river wide, medium, close. We see graffiti swamped by high water.EXTERIOR - LA - DAYLarge man walking with umbrella.WE HEAR: THUNDER MUSIC STOPS			FIRST WOMAN	I've been here one year and I've lived 	through an earthquake, fires, floods...			SECOND WOMAN	The rains...it just keeps coming...the 						floods...the hillsides are coming down... 	you can't get to and from work and it's 	just a mess.EXTERIOR - LA - DAYPeople walking against high winds, umbrella reversed.EXTERIOR - LA - DAYFamily walking in the rain. Children protected by plastic bags.			THIRD WOMAN	You survive by natural instincts, you 	go with the flow.SFX: THUNDEREXTERIOR - LA - DAYWoman's foot stepping across swollen gutter.MUSIC RESTARTSEXTERIOR - LA RIVER- DAYProw of buttress in rapids. The rains have stopped, only the floods remain.EXTERIOR - BEACH - EVENINGWaves breaking on beach.EXTERIOR - OCEAN - NIGHTTanker at night.EXTERIOR - AIRPORT - NIGHTAirplane lights come on.EXTERIOR - OCEAN - NIGHTLanding lights over water.EXTERIOR - AIRPORT - NIGHTAirplane landing at night.SFX jet passing overhead.EXTERIOR - LA - NIGHTCamera pans over the city and over the ocean.EXTERIOR - LA - NIGHTThe panning city lights converge with a passing car.EXTERIOR - LA - NIGHTIt is TONY, a handsome man in his 30's, driving on Melrose. He approaches an intersection that is blocked by a truck. He flashes his headlights signaling to the truck to move and let him by but the truck stops. TONY is stuck.EXTERIOR - LA -DAYALLEN, a stout comedian, at a temp job, answering phones.			TALK SHOW HOST (V.O.)	And we're back with "Interpreting 	Your Dreams."  And I believe we 	have Allen in Hollywood on line...	12. Hello Allen...are you there? 	Hello..?ALLEN has the TALK SHOW HOST on hold so he doesn't hear her.			ALLEN	Okay...hold on. Yeah I'll take care of 	you in a second...I'm transferring 	you over..			TALK SHOW HOST	We are live on the air....Hello...?			ALLEN	Hello.? Yeah okay I've got somebody else 	on hold...I'm going to transfer you 	over. It might be a second, just hold on.			TALK SHOW HOST	(aside) I'm on hold..EXTERIOR - THE BIG ISLAND FROM ABOVE - DAYThe Big Island floats in sparkling light. WE HEAR a radio show filtered through the small speaker of an old radio.					TALK SHOW HOST	Okay, we're going to have to go...				ALLEN	Okay, oh doctor.			TALK SHOW HOST	Hello?EXTERIOR - RANCH HOUSE FROM ABOVE - DAYWe see rooftops of ranch buildings from high above.We HEAR the sound of a plane flying overhead. We HEAR ALLEN'S voice.			ALLEN	Are you there?EXTERIOR - RANCH HOUSE - DAYThe Ranch House stands isolated in a dry island valley. The plane passes overhead.			TALK SHOW HOST	You're live on the air.INSERT VIEW on RADIO. We HEAR			ALLEN	Can I use my real name on the radio?INTERIOR - RANCH HOUSE - DAYMARIE-NOEL is sitting in front of a mirror putting on her makeup. She is listening to the broadcast. She pays attention to ALLEN's dream when he says the word "invisible".The TALK SHOW HOST speaks flatly, angrily.			TALK SHOW HOST	What is your dream?			ALLEN	First of all I'm invisible. I see 	myself looking in a mirror. I'm 	having this dream almost every night.MARIE-NOEL listens more carefully to the radio.			TALK SHOW HOST	Yes?VIEW ON: A Sparkling lake. VIEW ON: MARIE-NOEL throwing bouquet at her wedding.			ALLEN	And the next thing you know I'm 	getting married. I don't know to 	whom....INTERIOR - RANCH HOUSE - DAYMARIE-NOEL looks in the mirror again; the conversation on the radio affirms something she knows to be true.			TALK SHOW HOST	And how long have you been having 	this dream?			ALLEN	Like an entire solid month.			TALK SHOW HOST	Uh huh...EXTERIOR - LA HARBOR - DAYA truck wipes the frame and we see MARIE-NOEL walking along the highway at a leisurely pace.			ALLEN	Then all of a sudden I see myself 	walking down a road by the harbor....The TALK SHOW HOST interrupts. WE HEAR a telephone ring.			TALK SHOW HOST	And how do you feel at this point 	in the dream?EXTERIOR - LA - NIGHTTONY, having been stopped by the truck, cuts down a side street to get around the gridlock. We HEAR ALLEN's phone RING.			ALLEN	Can you hold on for one second...	Hello.  			TALK SHOW HOST	No, actually we can't...Hello?INTERIOR - OFFICE - DAYALLEN is trying to juggle too many things at once. He tries to transfer incoming calls without losing them. He has the TALK SHOW HOST on hold again.			ALLEN	Yeah, I've got two other lines. 	Can you hold a second? Great....			TALK SHOW HOST	Hello! Allen from Hollywood!			ALLEN	Hello...yeah...hold on. I can 	transfer you now.EXTERIOR - HARBOR - DAYA MAN fixes the tire of an old Mercedes as MARIE-NOEL walks into frame. MARIE-NOEL stoops down and looks at his face. The man has no awareness of her. She is invisible.			TALK SHOW HOST	Are you there? Hello?			ALLEN	Hi. Hi. Sorry.			TALK SHOW HOST	Allen we don't have the time....			ALLEN	Sorry..			TALK SHOW HOST	Allen we're on the air and you 	can not put me on hold.			ALLEN	I'm really sorry....			TALK SHOW HOST	Go on with your dream Allen.			ALLEN	Am I on?			TALK SHOW HOST	Yes.			ALLEN	Okay. I'm walking along the road down 	by the harbor, and I'm invisible, and 	I go around looking at people knowing 	that they can't even see me and in 	this dream.....INTERIOR - CAR - DAYMARIE-NOEL is now in the car with the driver who fixed the flat. The driver cannot see her and MARIE-NOEL flicks his ear to tease him and test her invisibility.			ALLEN	... I ride around with people. I get 	in their cars, I go all over town.INTERIOR - OFFICE - DAYALLEN has risen to a peak in energy.			ALLEN	I mean here...this, this, this.			TALK SHOW HOST	And how does it feel to you?VIEW on PHONE: WE HEAR a RING					ALLEN	Can you hold on a second?NOTE: DISCONTINUITY - Glasses disappear from ALLEN's Hand.VIEW ON ALLENHe turns to a colleague in the office while the TALK SHOW HOST languishes on hold.					ALLEN	I've got two juice commercials. I'm 	like the spokesman for the company now. 	I got a Baske and Robbins, and I'm on 	avail for a couple of beer things that 	are going on..WE HEAR another RING. A hand in the foreground picks up a phone. ALLEN goes back to the line of the TALK SHOW HOST.			COLLEAGUE	Hello...			ALLEN	Dr. Powell I'm back....EXTERIOR - LA - NIGHTTONY continues his shortcut around the gridlock. Hiscar passes camera in a suburban neighborhood.			TALK SHOW HOST	I think we're running out of time 	here Allen.			ALLEN	Sorry to put you on hold....You 	see then I get out of the car... EXTERIOR - LA - EVENINGALLEN walks from his job to his car.					ALLEN	...and I walk all day...EXTERIOR - LA - NIGHTMARIE-NOEL walks down Hollywood Blvd. Creatures of the night surround her.			ALLEN	...and all night.			TALK SHOW HOST	Don't put me on hold...EXTERIOR - LA - NIGHTALLEN walking on a back street.			ALLEN	No, no, no, no. I'm at work. I'm at work. 			TALK SHOW HOST	Is this a real call?			ALLEN	What do you think? Do you think I'd 	make a fake call in the middle of work?EXTERIOR - SIDE STREET LA - NIGHTTONY turns the corner and heads back to Melrose toward a point beyond the gridlock.			TALK SHOW HOST		I'm feeling very left out here because 	you're not telling me how you feel.  	I'm telling you....EXTERIOR - MELROSE BLVD.- NIGHTMARIE-NOEL walks toward camera as ALLEN enters frameon the left. ALLEN and MARIE-NOEL pass at the corner. Neither notices the other. TONY pulls into the frameat the intersection and MARIE-NOEL sees TONY who does not notice either ALLEN or MARIE-NOEL. MARIE-NOEL runs to TONY'S convertible car and jumps in theback. She rides joyfully as TONY speeds off.			ALLEN	And then this really strange thing 	happens.			TALK SHOW HOST	What do you do for a living?			ALLEN	While I'm walking...I'm an Actor...				TALK SHOW HOST	So in other words you are in limbo in 	your daily life.							ALLEN	I'm walking, and I see myself walking, 	but I don't stop, I just keep on walking.			TALK SHOW HOST	You must be feeling invisible in your 	daily life and it's coming out in your 	dreams.			ALLEN	I want to know what you think about the 	dream, let me finish it! Can you hold on 	a second please?			TALK SHOW HOST	You can not put me on hold....I'm sorry 	but we're going to have to go to Mike 	in Downey on line 13.  Thank you very much 	for calling.TITLE: "START HERE"EXTERIOR - LA - SUNRISEWe see a distant mountain silhouetted against themorning light. We HEAR a plane in the distance. The plane is visible as a speck in the frame and flies close to the mountain. The sun rises to the opening cadence of:MUSIC: MOZART SYMPHONY 34 #1The plane grows more faint as the sun continues to rise.EXTERIOR - PARK - SUNRISETONY and MARIE-NOEL walk across a playing field. They look behind them fearfully.MUSIC: Evan Lurie "Deception"			TONY	Come on...			MARIE-NOEL	This isn't the way we came.			TONY	Yes it is.TITLE: "ACTOR CREDIT"EXTERIOR - PARK - SUNRISETONY and MARIE-NOEL arrive at a park bench.  Theysit on top of it, resting, waiting, then they interrupt each other.			TONY	Let's not.			MARIE-NOEL	Let's not. Sorry.			TONY	We'll just go home and we'll wait it out.			MARIE-NOEL	This place stinks!MARIE-NOEL stands up and moves to the other side of the bench, her back towards TONY.EXTERIOR - PALACE - NIGHTBRENDA walks through the rain toward the doors of the concert. Wawa guitar bursts from the inside through the unopened doors. BRENDA looks murderous in her wild hair and hot pants.INTERIOR - HALLOWEEN PARTYTONY and MARIE-NOEL wander separately around the party as costumed hipsters sway with the music. TWO WOMEN react in horror as something unseen occurs which causes the crowd to panic. A SHEEP is left standing in the empty hall.TITLE: "ACTOR CREDIT"EXTERIOR - BENCH IN SAME PARK - SUNRISETONY and MARIE-NOEL both scratch their ears at the same time. A faint sound of thunder causes TONY to look into the distance. They interrupt each other again.			TONY	Let's not.			MARIE-NOEL	You know.....You know, at this point I'm 	blaming it all on bad karma. This is how	we die, man. I wish they'd just get it 	over with.MUSIC STARTS			TONY	Don't give up. I mean nothing has happened 	to us. She'll probably be at the boat waiting 	for us when we get there.EXTERIOR - ADJACENT STREET - SUNRISEBRENDA fast walks on a street next to the park.  As she approaches, she suddenly stops. WE HEAR the sound of rain. It is a clear morning.  Perplexed, she laughs. EXTERIOR - PARK - SUNRISETONY and MARIE-NOEL walk urgently through a wooded section of the park. The sound of thunder gets louder and louder getting closer to them. TONY grabsMARIE-NOEL'S arm as the fearful sound passes close to them without incident.EXTERIOR - ADJACENT STREET - SUNRISEBRENDA walks past the camera, still perplexed by theodd occurrence.  EXTERIOR - LA - SUNRISEWe see the mountain again and continue to HEAR the airplane.EXTERIOR - WEST LOS ANGELES - SUNRISEThe fog is coming in. Tops of buildings disappear.			TONY	Let's not be naive about the earthquake...EXTERIOR - CENTURY CITY FROM THE AIR - SUNRISEThe fog gets thicker... 				TONY	It's a good sign...VIEW on WILSHIRE BLVD...Thick Fog.			TONY	That's what saved us.EXTERIOR - LA - SUNRISEWe see the silhouette of buildings from a distance. The sun rises above them.EXTERIOR - PARK - SUNRISETONY and MARIE-NOEL continue to walk urgently through a wooded section of the park.			MARIE-NOEL	Let me tell you, I had a premonition. I had 	the worst feeling when she said she was going 	to go up and see the band.EXTERIOR - PARK - DAYTONY and MARIE-NOEL walk along, totally engulfed in fog. 			MARIE-NOEL	What if we get it for not warning her?THEIR POVWe see a sheep standing beside a tree in the fog.EXTERIOR - PARK - MORNING Through a fog we see a sheep standing next to a tree. MARIE-NOEL and TONY arrive at the tree. They are horrified. INTERIOR - ALLEN'S BEDROOM - MORNINGALLEN's phone rings. He wakes suddenly and sits up in bed; his answering machine goes on. We HEAR MUSIC: "Be My Baby" coming from a source outside of the bedroom.			ALLEN'S VOICE	Hi this is ALLEN at 969-8895. I'm not 	home right now but if you want to leave 	me a message I'll get back to you as soon 	as you can...ALLEN listens for a minute. He is not quite awake.TITLE: "Actor Credit" ALLEN gets up and walks to the mirror waiting for his long message to end. He looks melodramatically at his face. We HEAR THUNDER.  He pulls at his face.He sits back down on his bed waiting to see if someone is on the line.			ALLEN'S VOICE	If it's important and during the day you 	can call me at Knapp Communications. The 	number is (213) 932-1465. Uh, I should be 	there all day. And if it's not important 	and you don't want to call me there leave 	a message on this machine but don't hang 	up I really hate that and, uh,that's it, bye.We HEAR a BEEP but no one is on the line. ALLEN's head hits the pillow and he flashes to.Clip of Scorcese's Mean Streets. Where Keitel's headhits the pillow.ALLEN walking satisfied.                                             SCENE FROM ALLEN's Pizza commercial, elbows out.EXTERIOR - STREET IN FRONT OF ALAN'S APARTMENTCamera dollies past a pickup truck.  The back of thetruck is filled with shopping carts.  A man is loading shopping carts into the truck. As the camera reaches the door of the truck we hear the source of the loud music. We see EUGENE, a homeless man, who has his hand out to the driver of the truck. The truck pulls away and EUGENE looks around in confusion. We HEAR THUNDER. EUGENE looks at ALLEN's building.SCENE FROM ALLEN's deodorant commercial, elbows in.Back to ALLEN rubbing his eyesTITLE: "Director Credit"CUT TO BLACKSILENCEMUSIC: Bach: Well Tempered Clavier #10Rack focus: MOONINTERIOR - ISLAND - NIGHTMARIE-NOEL is sitting in the dark, smoking a cigarette.			MARIE-NOEL (V.O.)	My despair has a strange shape.  It doesn't 	hurt like something that hurts your body.  	It's seeing the continuity.....TITLE: MARIE-NOEL at about the time of the tragic loss of her half-sister.VIEW ON TONY, speaking to MARIE-NOEL.			MARIE-NOEL (V.O.)	.....of something hopeless going on and on 	year after year.....VIEW ON Los Angeles at night			MARIE-NOEL (V.O.)		....When I close my eyes I see the city....EXTERIOR - 24HR GAS STATION - NIGHTMARIE-NOEL walks aimlessly.			MARIE-NOEL (V.O.)	But when I go out all I see are clues and 	patterns.....INTERIOR - RANCH HOUSE - DAYMARIE-NOEL writes at an old desk.  Wind blows through an open window.			MARIE-NOEL (V.O.)	...or the endless wait for coincidence.EXTERIOR - 24HR GAS STATION - NIGHTMARIE-NOEL is at a loss.  She has exhausted her options.			MARIE-NOEL	Events slowly unfold with the possibility 	that my patience will become accidental waste.VIEW on MARIE-NOEL speaking to TONY.			MARIE-NOEL	But at the same time I see that it's exactly 	what put Mom in the position she was always in.			TONY	The first time you feel sexual you see fate 	all around you? Is that what you want?			MARIE-NOEL	Yes, and I really deserve it.			TONY	I have the feeling that that's dad's only 	motive.VIEW of Eclipse of the Moon.			TONY	They think we are selfish...TITLE: TONY in the city, FILMORE on the island.			TONY	They think we should procreate.TONY breathes a sigh.			INTERVIEWER (V.O.)	So there were two guys and what were their 	names?EXTERIOR - FRONT YARD OF ALLEN'S HOUSE - NIGHTALLEN squints from the bright news camera lights.			ALLEN	Not two guys, a girl and a guy.  They were 	related. Marie-Noel that's her name, not very 	Greek I know...			INTERVIEWER	And she was the one you were married to?			ALLEN	Yes.			INTERVIEWER	Who own this house?			ALLEN	I do, I mean we did.MUSIC STARTSEXTERIOR - LOS ANGELES - DAYTONY across railroad tracks.			MARIE-NOEL (V.O.)	You stand to lose everything you worked 	for in the last 60 years.  The ranch, 	our inheritance....EXTERIOR - LOS ANGELES - DAYTONY walks on the sidewalk next to a busy street flipping a coin.			MARIE-NOEL (V.O.)	Why have you set out to prove everything is 	here by chance? EXTERIOR - ISLAND BACK COUNTRY - DAYMARIE-NOEL walks across a grassy field and sees a vortex of oak leaves swirling under a tree.  We see she is suddenly disturbed by her own feelings.			MARIE-NOEL (V.O.)	I wasn't too young to know what happened the 	last time we were found out.  You don't act 	like I'm the next to die.EXTERIOR - FRONT YARD OF ALLEN'S HOUSE - NIGHTALLEN continues his interview.			ALLEN	It started this way.			INTERVIEWER	So you're an actor?			ALLEN	Yes.  I'm an actor.  That's where I met 	the guy.INTERIOR - ELEVATOR - DAYALLEN stands inside elevator and TONY gets in.			ALLEN	I met him at a casting call for a commercial...	He said his name was Tony.EXTERIOR - HOLLYWOOD - DAYALLEN walks along the sidewalk on his way to a casting call.			ALLEN	I was late...INTERIOR - ALLEN'S TEMP JOB - DAYALLEN talks on the phone wearing sunglasses.			ALLEN	So I had to make up an excuse for work..WIDER view on ALLEN at work.			ALLEN	Some temp job I was working downtown.VIEW on Rainy sky with jet and palm tree.VIEW on LA river.VIEW on PEOPLE at bus stop.			ALLEN	It was raining, and there was this flood and	everybody was jittery.EXTERIOR - FRONT YARD OF ALLEN'S HOUSE - NIGHTALLEN continues his interview.			ALLEN	Because something that big in nature doesn't 	usually happen around here except an earthquake,	or your occasional rare winter snowstorm every	ten or twenty years.EXTERIOR - AGAINST BLACK - NIGHTMARIE-NOEL speaks to TONY.			MARIE-NOEL (V.O.)	I know why you're so happy all the time.  	This place is a free lunch.VIEW of TONY flipping coin.VIEW of cliffs on island.			MARIE-NOEL (V.O.)	Reality is a refraction from a physical 	process. The sum of the stars is nothing.	MUSIC BUILDS, we hear WINDVIEW of trees blowing.VIEW of MARIE-NOEL writing.EXTERIOR - LOS ANGELES - DAYWe PAN with an ambulance as it passes.  Tony walks along flipping coin.  Walking across crosswalk, hechanges his direction.  Comes to an intersection.MUSIC STOPSWe HEAR: City street ambiance.   TONY flips again, sees "Heads" walks on.  EXTERIOR - Los Angeles - DAYComes to an impasse, gives up.MUSIC: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Concert for Piano & Orchestra #20EXTERIOR - FRONT YARD OF ALLEN'S HOUSE - NIGHTALLEN continues his interview.TITLE: ALLEN'S tabloid interview, at the end, afterit was all over.			CAMERA MAN	Okay, ready to roll.			INTERVIEWER	What's your name?			ALLEN	Allen.			INTERVIEWER	And you were kidnapped by aliens, did you say?			ALLEN	No, no, no, no.  I was involved with this woman	and this guy.			INTERVIEWER	Wait, wait, wait, let me understand this... you	were involved with a goddess?  Like a Greek 	goddess?			ALLEN	With a Greek, Zeus, Athena type goddess.			INTERVIEWER	Where is she now?			ALLEN	She's like hunting quail in the Sierras now.  				INTERVIEWER		What?					ALLEN		She left me for dirt.			INTERVIEWER		And were you married?			ALLEN	Yeah, we were married right before....	TITLE: "Allen at about the time the disasters started"INTERIOR - ALLEN'S APARTMENT BUILDING - DAYALLEN waits in an empty apartment, tired of life.EXTERIOR - ALLEN'S BUILDING - DAY  TONY walks past the building still flipping a coin.INTERIOR - ALLEN'S BUILDING - DAY      WE HEAR a door slam. Off Screen: ALLEN and ARTEMIS (as AUGUST) walk into living room. AUGUST leads the way in, glances into the room on the left.                                                                                                                                                                                                              WE HEAR Door slam. Off Screen. ALLEN and AUGUST (as ARTEMIS) walk into living room. AUGUST leads the way in, glances into the bedroom on the left.			ALLEN	Look around. It's a 1 bedroom, 1/2 bath 	in the hall and full vanity...laundry 		downstairs. 			AUGUST 	Is it quiet? 			ALLEN	Very quiet. Where you from? August stops in left of frame, turns to ALLEN.			AUGUST 	Nashville.				ALLEN		First time in LA? 			AUGUST 	Yeah, I just got a "Seventeen" cover and 	everyone said I should come here. 			ALLEN 	Where are you staying? 			AUGUST 	With my Aunt. 			ALLEN	Do you act? August approaches the camera. She is wearing 1/2 moon earrings.			AUGUST 	No, just modeling for now. But I've heard about 	some really great workshops from my agent. AUGUST feels satisfied with what she sees as she gazes into the bedroom. ALLEN draws closer. 			ALLEN 	I'm an actor. TV commercials, some stage. 	I know just about everybody in town, free 	advice, comes with the rent. 			AUGUST. 	How much is it? 			ALLEN 	Well, the first month's free. You've got 	to come up with some kind of security deposit, 	figure one month and then the last month 	and that comes to half the price published 	in the ad.			AUGUST. 	(No response)			ALLEN 	Does that seem like a lot? 			AUGUST 	Well for Tennessee standards, but I don't know. 			ALLEN 	Do you know why the apartment's only half per 	month of the going rate for this size apartment 	in Hollywood? 			AUGUST.	No. 			ALLEN 	Because I sleep here 1 night a week. AUGUST looks at the bedroom, looks in, shocked by what she has just heard. She seems confused for a moment. She turns and faces ALLEN. ALLEN stares at her while blocking the doorway.  She hesitates and makes him budge.  ALLEN backs off and August slowly walks out of the apartment.  ALLEN is left standing alone in the empty apartment.MUSIC: Bach Concerto in D Minor EXTERIOR - DISNEYLAND - DAYTONY walks along the street and sees the Monorail pass.VIEW on TONY as he walks past the Big Donut.VIEW on TONY as he walks past the theme restaurant at LAX.VIEW on TONY as he walks past the Chinese Theater in Hollywood. TONY looks at people he passes.INTERIOR - ALLEN'S APARTMENT - DAYALLEN in corridor. Allen exits and three people come out of their apartments simultaneously.WE HEAR a TELEPHONEEXTERIOR - STREET IN LOS ANGELES - DAYEUGENE walks along the street. He hears a pay phone ring.  Eugene picks it up and HEARS a voice.			VOICE 	TONY, are you there?  Come on!	Pick up the phone!EUGENE panics and runs off.MUSIC: Guy Klucevsek's "Reprieve."INTERIOR - BLACK BARBERSHOP - DAYWe PAN from the pay phone in the barber shop where aman is on the phone...			VOICE 	TONY, are you there, Tony! Tony! Tony!...and find TONY at the door looking at the coin. It indicates he should go into a Barber shop. TONY looks inside the Barber shop and sees threatening faces. He enters anyway. Goes up to GUY SELLING SODAwho takes the coin out of TONY's hand and gives hima soda. TONY is puzzled.DISSOLVE:Tony is siting in a chair with a cloth wrapped up tohis neck. The barber looks at TONY'S hair. TONY is trying to open the can but can't figure it out.						TONY	Do you have a church key? Everybody in the barbershop laughs. The barber opensthe soda for him.			BARBER	What will it be?			TONY	I'll......Thugs slowly get up from their chairs, dropping their magazines, surrounding TONY. 			GUYS	Yeah, what'll it be man?TONY looks around at the 8 mean faces around him. 			TONY	I want to cure my passive aggressive 	personality.  From now on when I want 	something I'm going to ask for it. 	I'm going to learn how to be more 	observant of signs and consider how 	other people might need clearer signals 	from me. 			GUY 1	Why don't you get a job. That's what 	the man says....			GUY 2	...You look good, you'd do great in 	an interview.			GUY 1	Join a group. Do something for other 	people.			GUY 3	Go up and talk to people. See if you 	have someone in common...			GUY 4	Do some charity work...		 			ALL	Mingle..Be creative. Take chances. 	Take ownership.			GUY 3	Ride the bus....MUSIC: Rachmaninoff Prelude in G minor Op 23, No.5 INTERIOR - OFFICE - DAYA woman sits in the shadows of a government welfare office.			BRENDA	This case is a mess. We don't know what is 	going on with the child. No, no, no, no, 	no no, the couple is stonewalling. Nobody has 	seen the child, in what, 15 years. 	Every visit is marked "guardian unavailable". 		Nobody bothers because it's the island. And 	get this, the couple, they're not married. No.	They're the step-children of the owner of 	the island who is now deceased...	EXTERIOR - CATALINA EXPRESS TERMINAL - EARLY MORNINGBRENDA walks into the terminal.			BRENDA (continuing)	...I have a sniff writ and I'm going out 		there next week.EXTERIOR - OFF AVALON - DAYThe Catalina Express pulls into the harbor. BRENDA steps onto the prow of the boat letting off steam.MUSIC: Beethoven Violin Sonata #4 D Major VIEW of Parasail in AVALON HARBOREXTERIOR - AVALON HARBOR - DAYThe CATALINA EXPRESS pulls up to the DOCK.VIEW on The Casino, a Catalina Landmark. We HEAR the sound of coffee cups. INTERIOR - ISLAND OFFICE - DAYDAVE, an opposing Attorney, and TOSHI, his assistant,meet across the table with TONY and his attorney DOOLITTLE.			DOOLITTLE	The is your meeting so why don't we get down 	to business. 			DAVE	Sounds fine.			DOOLITTLE	Call Boston if you want. I don't think the 	time change will make any differenceNervous looks among lawyers. TONY is oblivious.			DAVE	Your name is Filmore West, correct?TONY does not answer.			DOOLITTLE	We're requesting an environmental impact study 	on the employment angle in Avalon. 			DAVE	Are you kidding?  Any loss in jobs will be 	absorbed in the Federal tourism franchise. 	Employment will double, property and leases 	will increase in value. The overall benefit 	will be stunning to the average citizen of 	Avalon.			DOOLITTLE	What if we tell everybody about the national 		resources here. If you'll remember your history 		gentlemen, the civil war was won by the 	collateral in the Treasury created by the 	California gold rush. We think the government	needs a big hit of cash right now to cure the 	deficit. Remember what Churchill said, a great 	government never has to face the truth nor pay 	cash. 			DAVE	Could we have a moment?DOOLITTLE and TOSHI stand and walk from the table.EXTERIOR - AVALON DOCK - DAYBRENDA storms off the boat.MUSIC: Mendolshon: Symphony #4 in A, Op. 90 (Italian) 			DOOLITTLE	We're looking very good here. Just don't give 	them anything they can use. Do not say anything.INTERIOR - ISLAND OFFICE - DAYDAVE and TOSHI stand and walk to the corner of the room.				DAVE	What if we bring up the legality of him	impersonating his grandfather. 			TOSHI	I think we need something stronger. Any 	sexual harassment suits or child abuse. 	He's a guardian.EXTERIOR - AVALON INFORMATION BOOTH - DAYBRENDA enters frame and speaks with an OFFICER.			BRENDA	Hello, I'm from the department of Human 	Services in LA.  I'm looking for a missing 	child who may be somewhere on the island.			SHERIDAN	Name?				BRENDA	A Marie-Christine West? Her guardian is a 	Mr. Filmore West.INTERIOR - INN ON MT. ADA - DAY		TONY and DOOLITTLE as they confer.					TONY	I think I know what's going on here.			DOOLITTLE	Good, good, good, good, just don't say anything.EXTERIOR - AVALON INFORMATION BOOTH - DAYBRENDA continues to speak with the OFFICER.			BRENDA	Did they have a child with them? Or did they 	take this child with them?The OFFICER interrupts BRENDA.			OFFICER	They're brats. They're very unpopular 		around here. They're keeping the property 		values from tripling.			BRENDA	Great, where can I find them?			SHERIDAN	Probably France. What would you do if you 		owned all of Catalina and Anacapa..?MUSIC: Beethoven String Quartet #8 in E minor Op.59 #2 Trk #1EXTERIOR - AVALON - DAYBRENDA walks, somewhat dazed, past the store fronts of AVALON.			OFFICER	...all the way to San Miguel including 		the Big Island which has gold deposits 	and the IRS are looking for them?BRENDA's expression changes. She becomes maniacal.INTERIOR - INN ON MT. ADA - DAYDAVE and TOSHI sit down again, ready with a response.			DOOLITTLE		Don't say anything.OPPOSING ATTORNEY hands TONY the documents.			DAVE	I'd like to direct your attention to the 		signatures on these documents.DOOLITTLE rips the document out of DAVE'S hand.  			DOOLITTLE	This is intolerable!			DAVE	One is a reconveyence of a second deed of 		trust, and the other is your recent letter 	to us. You would have been 4 years old at 	the time of the first document.WE HEAR the sound of a small earthquake. ALL PARTIESloo up and around and it stops.EXTERIOR - AVALON - DAYBRENDA is alarmed at the earthquake. She spins, disoriented.INTERIOR - INN ON MT. ADA - DAYTONY has a knowing look on his face. The earthquake is a good sign.			TONY	You guys believe in fairy tales don't you?			DAVE	We want to know who you are.			TONY	This reminds me of the Tempest where the 	rightful Duke is robbed of his kingdom by 	his evil brother... 			TOSHI	Were you born in this country?			TONY	...and the evil brother puts the good Duke 	and his daughter out to sea in a small boat 	to die. And at the end of the story....			DOOLITTLE	My client is using a figure of speech.			DAVE	Then where are we going with this, guys?			TONY	You two are going to jail.			DOOLITTLE	We're saying....you don't have enough money.TONY turns to TOSHI.			TONY	What do you say next?			TOSHI	We're just representing the United States 		Government in an attempt to take what the 	people have a right to.			TONY	Big Brother. Orwell! No, no, That's too recent.			DOOLITTLE	The situation is irreversible.DOOLITTLE tries to keep TONY from standing up.			DAVE	What are you going to do?  Act it out for us.TONY heats up.			TONY	...And it's raining and hailing and lightning's 		striking and you guys think that I'm dead, but 	I'm not. I'm really back in the big island with 	my daughter. DOOLITTLE puts his hand on TONY'S shoulder to restrain him.			TONY	And you know what we're doing. Playing chess, 	and having a picnic!TONY stands up to leave and crashes into a waiter who trips and spills dishes on the floor.MUSIC: BACH Concerto in D minor EXTERIOR - AVALON HARBOR - DAYTourist boats come and go.INTERIOR - AVALON CLOTHING SHIP - DAYBRENDA looks at a map of the Channel Islands.  She sees the Big Island. A woman behind the counter comes up to her.			COUNTER PERSON	Hi.  Can I help you?			BRENDA	Which way to the Big Island?The camera tilts up to a map of the Channel islands.EXTERIOR - THE BIG ISLAND - DAYWe pan up to reveal the Big Island in the middle of the Channel.EXTERIOR - THE BIG ISLAND - DAYTONY's boat enters the harbor.EXTERIOR - THE BIG ISLAND - DAYTONY's boat docks old fishing pier.INSERT: Water lapping over rocks.WE HEAR: SEAGULLS, then a HELICOPTER approaching overhead.EXTERIOR - THE BIG ISLAND DOCK - DAYThe RANCH HAND runs to TONY'S boat to help him unload supplies.VIEW of HELICOPTER passing overhead.TIGHTER VIEW ON TONY and RANCH HAND			RANCH HAND	You must have slept a long time.			TONY	I've been sleeping a lot lately.			RANCH HAND	Yeah about 2 years.The RANCH HAND helps TONY unload supplies from the boat. TONY starts walking down the dock with an outboard motor.			RANCH HAND	A woman named Reggie Swan confirmed she'll 	arrive March 4th. She'll be staying until 	September.  I got the bunk house all ready 	for her.The RANCH HAND goes back for a second box as TONY continues down the dock.			RANCH HAND	There have been quite a few fly-overs by 	the park service.  The last 6 months 		there has been surf on the North point. 	Anyone who can afford a boat has been 	streaming up here like freeway commuters.			TONY	Yeah.			RANCH HAND	This thing with the surfers has become 	some sort of a cult. There have been a 	few entries on the South shore, young men 	looking for Marie-Noel...I vacated them 	immediately.			TONY	Uh huh.			RANCH HAND	The park service has been on the island 	almost full time, as expected, and the 	monk from the monastery arrived for 	another year.EXTERIOR - ISLAND SHORELINE FROM MOUNTAIN TOP - DAYThe sun kicks off the water.EXTERIOR - BIRD'S EYE VIEW OF MARIE-NOEL'S HIDEOUT -DAYThe hideout is nestled under eucalyptus trees in an island canyon.MUSIC: SCHUBERT'S WINTERREISEEXTERIOR - HIDEOUT - DAYIt is a hot sunny day. MARIE-NOEL sits in a hammock reading.VIEW ON BOOK: She is reading War and Peace.INTERIOR - HOUSE - DAYBRENDA stands inside the house by the window. She holds MARIE-NOEL'S bow and arrow. She raises it slowly, aiming at MARIE-NOEL. BRENDA looks angry andpossessed.BRENDA'S POVThe lethal arrowhead is pointed at MARIE-NOEL'S head.CLOSER VIEW ON BRENDABRENDA is about to release the arrow when she HEARS a PUPPY.BRENDA'S POV on PUPPYA cute Dalmatian looks up at her, longing to be picked up.VIEW ON BRENDABRENDA puts down the bow and arrow to pick up the PUPPY.  As soon as she reaches for the PUPPY... EXTERIOR - ISLAND HOUSE - DAYMARIE-NOEL puts down her reading and goes into the house.VIEW ON BRENDA...The PUPPY skitters away. BRENDA follows it.EXTERIOR - RANCH HOUSE - DAYEUGENE stands outside the ranch house. He stares with a blank expression on his face, as if he does not know what he is doing there.INTERIOR - RANCH HOUSE KITCHEN - DAYShe enters and starts looking for something missing.The house has become a reading library, opened books everywhere. There is a gas cooking stove in a rustic kitchen. INTERIOR - ELSEWHERE IN RANCH HOUSE  - DAYThe PUPPY runs through the house.INTERIOR - RANCH HOUSE KITCHEN - DAYMARIE-NOEL continues her search, we see a crude sleeping area, an office, a couch and a fireplace.  She is a visitor. She lives out of suitcases. VIEW on DOORThe PUPPY runs out the door and BRENDA follows.INTERIOR - RANCH HOUSE - DAYMARIE-NOEL continues her search in the dining room. She looks under the table, on the mantle.EXTERIOR - RANCH HOUSE - DOORSTEPEUGENE enters the house with a heavy step.INTERIOR - RANCH HOUSE - DAYMARIE-NOEL continues her search in TONY's office. She sits down a desk and rummages through it.INTERIOR - RANCH HOUSE - DAYEUGENE walks through the house.INTERIOR - RANCH HOUSE - DAYMARIE-NOEL can't find what she is looking for on themessy writing desk, or in the drawers. She HEARS a CAR HORN and bolts out of frame.INTERIOR - KITCHEN - DAYMARIE-NOEL runs into the kitchen and sees the sheep.			MARIE-NOEL	Where have you been. He's here.MARIE-NOEL opens the door for TONY who is still wearing his suit and carries food in a cardboard box.The sheep looks up at him. He turns to MARIE-NOEL and hands her a dress box.			MARIE-NOEL	Dresses? 			TONY	More in the boat.			MARIE-NOEL	Books?			TONY	Likewise.			MARIE-NOEL	How was LA?			TONY	A dry hole.EXTERIOR - RANCH HOUSE - DAYEUGENE runs away from the house.INTERIOR - KITCHEN - DAYTony sits down and stacks packages of Pop Tarts infront of him. He opens a package and starts eating voraciously. The sheep is standing next to him and he strokes it. MARIE-NOEL sits down and starts reading the LA TIMES. She looks up.			MARIE-NOEL	Why did you let the animals go? Here's 		a story about animals that caused erosion 	on the Channel Islands. We don't need any 		more attention right now.				TONY	I scattered them for their own 		protection. And it doesn't bother me 		because any animal, no matter where it 		starts, turns out the same. TONY eats pop tarts.			MARIE-NOEL	Do you remember seeing my moon earrings 		anywhere have you?			TONY	The ones you were wearing the night .....			MARIE-NOEL	The night of the great unpleasantness? MARIE-NOEL gets up and starts looking for something in the kitchen drawer. TONY sees War and Peace on the kitchen table.			TONY	Is there anything about Halloween in 		Edgar Allen Poe?MARIE-NOEL sits up and stops the conversation.MUSIC Starts: Heavy RockFLASH BACK: Halloween Concert. VIEW on audience Dancing..The show on stage..Image of death..View on Sheep in fog.MUSIC Stops			MARIE-NOEL	OK, let's just stop talking about it.... 			TONY	I guess it's about time. It was starting 	to bug me.VIEW ON MARIE-NOEL She thinks about the night they lost MARIE-CHRISTINE.MUSIC: Bach Unaccompanied Cello Suites - Suite #2 Prelude S 1008 			MARIE-NOEL (V.O.)	20 November, the mirror never reflects my 	despair, just water running in the sink.MUSIC STOPSVIEW on TONY'S hands opening up pop tarts. TONY looks at her.			TONY	You can stop living out of suitcases and 	fix the place up?			MARIE-NOEL	Oh, and you can go and enjoy your life in 	LA.			TONY	What's that supposed to mean?			MARIE-NOEL	You get to come and go as you please and 	I'm stuck here in this dirty hideout.				TONY	I'm in the same situation you are. 		Moving or sitting still is the same 		thing, they're everywhere. 			MARIE-NOEL	What about the government?			TONY	I think we can stall the government  	until the next gubernatorial election. 			MARIE-NOEL	Forget it.She thinks about herself and her own dilemma.MUSIC: Bach Unaccompanied Cello Suites - Suite #2 Prelude S 1008 			MARIE-NOEL (V.O.)	If my dilemma is the dilemma of art, what 	would the art character do?MUSIC STOPSMARIE-NOEL starts looking under books. 			TONY	If anything happens to me you 		should take the train East...TONY points East.			TONY	...We both came from the West. I think 		we'll be heading that way.			MARIE-NOEL	Well, you'll be all set up in LA if 		anything happens to me.He pauses and doesn't answer right away.			TONY	We've had a good life. We've been lucky. 	All these extra years are for stories. 		There's nothing left to do except to see 	how we fit into them.MARIE-NOEL becomes silent and distracted, digging ina drawer.			MARIE-NOEL	You know, I've looked everywhere. There 		are no references to two people leaving a  		Halloween party anywhere in Western, Eastern, 	Sumerian, or comic book literature.			TONY	I thought we were going to drop that.				MARIE-NOEL	What was your mother's favorite book?			TONY	How should I know?			MARIE-NOEL	We both should have written these things 	down. That's why I have a diary now.MARIE-NOEL looks at TONY in the eye.			TONY	You'll know what to do when the time 		comes.			MARIE-NOEL	I protest in advance any role where I 	am resolved as ineffective, irrelevant, 		marginal, unable to influence, yet always 	influenced and, in short, any role where I 	am victimized by circumstance. These are 	my politics and someone's going to have 		to deal with them. 			TONY	Good.		EXTERIOR - RANCH HOUSE - DAY The house stands in the afternoon light.MUSIC: Ravel String Quartet in F INTERIOR - RANCH HOUSE - DAYMARIE-NOEL sits at the writing desk. Light and a warm breeze comes in the window.			MARIE-NOEL (V.O.)	16, November. You asked me to remember the 	time before I came here. I remember a 		shipwreck and a storm that washed out all 	the roads. INTERIOR - RANCH HOUSE - DAYMARIE-NOEL stands at the doorway in a beautiful dress, eyes closed.			MARIE-NOEL (V.O.)	I remember a dream from my childhood. In 	the dream a prince comes from the sea... EXTERIOR - PIER - DAYTONY walk toward his boat.				MARIE-NOEL (V.O.)	...and lives with me and my old father.  	There was England,..INTERIOR - OLD MINING CAMP - DAYMARIE-NOEL writes in her diary on an old sink.			MARIE-NOEL (V.O.)	...back stage with my mother all those 		years while I grew so slowly. France, 		India... 		EXTERIOR - ISLAND - DAYTONY'S boat steams out to sea.			MARIE-NOEL (V.O)	French Indochina...VIEW of OCEAN with Cacti.			MARIE-NOEL (V.O)	then here...beside the arbitrary sea.MUSIC: Vierne: Finale from Symphony #1 EXTERIOR - MOUNTAINSIDE - DAYBRENDA tries to catch the puppy but it gets away from her. She realizes she has been tricked and stands up, angry at ZEUS. We start to PAN and cut to..INTERIOR - RESTROOM IN AVALON - DAYBRENDA has same expression looking in a mirror. She realizes that something is wrong. She sees that her fingernails are painted dark red, her hair is puffed out and frightful, she has dark makeup on lips and eyes.She tries to remove the makeup and nail polish and pull herself together. She realizes that she is in the Men's room.EXTERIOR - AVALON - DAYBRENDA, having corrected herself, walks toward the boat going back to the mainland.EXTERIOR - ANOTHER PART OF THE HARBOR - DAYREGGIE stands forgotten at the end of the dock, surrounded by a very floral luggage.MUSIC: BACH Toccata in D majorTITLE: "2 Years later"MUSIC: Bach Toccata in D Major TITLE: "2 Years later"EXTERIOR - ALLEN'S BUILDING - DAYMorning light.INTERIOR  - ALLEN'S BUILDING - DAYALLEN asleep on couch. He has gained 50 pounds. There are empty beer cans and empty pizza boxes on the floor. A WOMAN unlocks the door and we follow her into the apartment. She is tired from a business trip. She sees ALLEN.			WOMAN	What are you doing in my apartment? What 		are you doing here?ALLEN wakes up, startled, rubbing his eyes.			WOMAN	And who's pizza is this? Excuse me!			ALLEN	Calm down. We weren't expecting you for 		a while, we had the exterminator come in 	like you requested...			WOMAN	Oh you did?H. TOM appears from the next room, groggy.			WOMAN	And who the hell is this?			ALLEN (aside to H. TOM)	Take this stuff out for her.H. TOM starts frantically collecting the garbage.			WOMAN	You've got pizza in my place...you're 	lying here. Who's clothes are these?ALLEN picks up his bag of things. H. TOM finishes his cleanup.			ALLEN	There's no pizza here; there's no clothes 		here.			WOMAN	You had no permission to come into my 		place. A guy sleeping in my bedroom, 		sleeping on my couch.			ALLEN	I'm going to request to the board that 	you perhaps should be kicked out for your 		bad sculpture.ALLEN and H. TOM exit.			WOMAN	Oh you are?  Get the hell out of here. 	What kind of manager are you anyway?The WOMAN slams the door and shakes her head in amazement.MUSIC: Arne Mellnas Transparence EXTERIOR - AUNT DEBBIE'S HOUSE - DAYA green cab pulls up in front of a garish Encino home. JULIENNE gets out, dressed plainly, with one suitcase. The cab leaves and she gives a skeptical once over to the house. She is about to begin her new life.  Is this it? She walks up the pathway to the door and notices a great quantity of mushrooms growing on the front lawn. She steps over the flowers, kneels down and picks up one of the mushrooms. She looks at it and wonders.VIEW of SUNA partial eclipse is in progress.	EXTERIOR - HOLLYWOOD - DAYWe see AUNT DEBBIE taking her daily constitutional on Hollywood Blvd. She is wearing a blue and white terry cloth jump suit and tennis shoes. She is fast walking through obstacles before her on the sidewalk.She is a determined and physically fit 65 year old.MUSIC: Dvorzak Cello Concerto in B minor op 104 EXTERIOR - LA - DAYThe camera pans from AUNT DEBBIE to ALLEN to H. TOM who all converge at the same street corner. 			ALLEN	Hi, Aunt Debbie?			AUNT DEBBIE	What's that on your face?ALLEN fingers his unshaven face.			AUNT DEBBIE	Did you move that refrigerator to my new 		building?			ALLEN 	Yes.			AUNT DEBBIE	Liar. Your car doesn't work.FLASHBACK:ALLEN and H. TOM stand next to ALLEN'S broken down car.			AUNT DEBBIE	Who's this?			H. TOM	I'm his assistant ma'am.			ALLEN	Shut up!FLASHBACK:H. TOM shaves in a park fountain surrounded by homeless people.			AUNT DEBBIE		Does he pay rent?			H. TOM	No ma'am.  When I find a job I'm going to 	pay rent.			ALLEN	He picks up my residual checks and he's a 		really good plumber.			AUNT DEBBIE		Did you steal another car from a tourist? FLASHBACK:Two JAPANESE tourists admire a star on Hollywood Blvd. as ALLEN and H. TOM make off with their car.				H. TOM	No ma'am.			ALLEN	Shut up! 	(to AUNT DEBBIE) 	No we didn't.			AUNT DEBBIE	That refrigerator, did you strap it on 		top of the car?FLASHBACK:The stolen car rolls through and intersection with the refrigerator strapped to the top.			ALLEN 	No!			AUNT DEBBIE	And then did you ditch their car?FLASHBACK:From above, ALLEN and H. TOM remove the refrigeratorfrom the top of the rental car.			H. TOM	No ma'am.  The car was towed...			ALLEN	Shut up!ALLEN pushes H. TOM.			AUNT DEBBIE	So you faked homelessness and begged for 		free chicken.FLASHBACK:ALLEN and H. TOM stand at the window of a fast food stand faking homelessness. ALLEN has Will Work For Food written on his stomach.			ALLEN	What are you saying Aunt Debbie?			AUNT DEBBIE	The refrigerator is all scraped up and has 		no freon. And you smell rancid. And why 		are you so fat!AUNT DEBBIE exits, ALLEN knows she is not finished and counts..			ALLEN	One, two, three..			AUNT DEBBIE	Your cousin just arrived. When you see 	her, be sociable!DEBBIE finally exits.			ALLEN	You know I've been having these dreams 		lately where my mother finds me floating 	down the river in a little wicker basket 		and it turns out that (shouts in the 		direction of AUNT DEBBIE) I am not 		related to you!MUSIC: JOHN ADAMS "Fearful Symmetries" EXTERIOR - LA - DAYTONY continues his search, flipping a coin to indicate the direction he should search. He tires ofthis and turns around, walking aimless around LA.EXTERIOR - BUS BENCH - DAYTONY sits on a bench talking to several people. Theyare annoyed and walk away. A weird man with an odd head dress sits next to TONY. Tony gets up and leaves.EXTERIOR - LA - DAYTONY walks off and walks into a line of workers carrying 2x4s. He ducks and almost gets decapitated, takesrefuge at a bus bench. A MUSICIAN is sitting on the far end of the bus bench reading.					TONY	Do you have the time?			MUSICIAN 	2:30.				TONY		Do you mind if I ask you a question?				MUSICIAN 	Yes. 			TONY	Why are you her right now?			MUSICIAN 	What?			TONY	Why did you come up just this minute?			MUSICIAN 	I'm going to work, man.			TONY	Is this the bus you always take?			MUSICIAN 	No,  I'm late.			TONY	You're late! Why are you late?			MUSICIAN 	I overslept, man.			TONY	Nothing caused you to be late?			MUSICIAN 	I'm just sitting here waiting for 	the bus. What's the big deal?  Do you 		have to talk to me?THE MUSICIAN gets up in frustration and leaves. Tonyexits frame in foreground. A runaway car careens into the bench going backwards and destroys the bench where they just sat. VIEWA Tire rolls up the hill propelled by the crash. TONY and the man re-enter frame. EXTERIOR - BUS BENCH - AS BEFOREThe car has a roof rack with a bike on it. A man runs up the car holding a bicycle tire. TONY and the man look at the damage. The man despairs.			CAR MAN	Oh my god!  I can't fucking believe this!	My car must have popped out of park!  It 	could have hit you.  Oh my god, I can't	believe this...800 bucks...Oh my god!TONY runs in Panic.MUSIC: Guy Klucevsek "Reprieve"VIEW ON TONYThe tire does not fall from its own weight, it starts rolling back down the hill.			CAR MAN	Call 911!	EXTERIOR - STREET - DAYTONY runs down the street and notices that the wheel starts chasing him.TONY runs down the hill trying to escape from the runaway tire.VIEW ON TONYLooking inside the Truck. Camera follows TONY in.  He looks back in terror.TONY'S POV the tire gains on the truck..SEQUENCE:The Truck stops for a cat.The doors shut.The light crosses Tony's face and goes black.SFX Doors lockTHE Rolling tire innocently hits the truck and gets stuck.A purring cat walks away from the truck.MUSIC: Guy Klucevsek "Loosening up the Queen"EXTERIOR - DOWNTOWN LA - DAYTRUCK moves along freeway headed across town.EXTERIOR - PARK - DAYALLEN and H. TOM sit eating their "begged for" chicken.			ALLEN	I have a genius IQ. My parents would 	have killed if I went into business. 		They'd love it.MUSIC: Bach Suite #2 S. 1008  			ALLEN	If they were alive, you know what I'd tell 		them? I'd tell them I'm a temp in an 		insurance company.			H. TOM	If you assign everything to infantile 		motives, life becomes boring. Your 		religion only explains your sex life.			ALLEN	You're not listening. I don't want to be 		poor. But it's not like I'm doing some I  	gotta starve thing here. If I had enough 	money I'd be happy.			H. TOM	And then again you may be right, for all 		the wrong reasons. Twenty years in the 	mind is unfortunately not twenty years in 		the body and it get worse and worse as 	you go.			ALLEN	Not me. I keep my nut real low. Basically 		I live off my relatives. You know?  Free 	rent. All the chicks I can pluck from my 	aunt's building. All I need is one national 		commercial a year and I can live like a 		king.			H. TOM	Things are stranger in other places.			ALLEN	Where do you get these things you say, 	man. Are you still on acid?			H. TOM	I just say things that come into my head, 		because they're more enjoyable than my 	own thoughts.We pull back to reveal ALLEN and H. TOM eating lunchunder a monument to the F-104.EXTERIOR - AUNT DEBBIE'S BACKYARD - DAYJULIENNE is sitting at a table in the sun, balancing her check book. She notices that the amount of one check, #1527, is the same as the number of the check.MUSIC: Tahitian choir  Segue to:MUSIC: A. Corelli Concerto VIISegue to:MUSIC: Prokofiev Romeo and Juliette JULIENNE looks up and Aunt DEBBIE passes in front ofher.			JULIENNE	There's two choices for me right now.  		I'm either pregnant or feeling a false 		pregnancy.  The first one is impossible.			AUNT DEBBIE	Are you trying to tell your mother that 		you're knocked up?			JULIENNE	Incredible weather we're having.			AUNT DEBBIE	I hate it because it makes my skin dry, 		especially my private parts.			JULIENNE	In Maine, it's been frozen for two months.			AUNT DEBBIE	Why are you here anyway?			JULIENNE	To take care of you. I thought that giving 	it all up and taking care of my old 	mother would be the simplest life 		possible. What you're telling me about my 		cousin Allen is upsetting. 			AUNT DEBBIE		Criminy....You sure feel sorry for 		yourself.			JULIENNE 		Damn right! I didn't come here to get 	drawn into slum-lording. What did you 	get into mom? AUNT DEBBIE likes to change the subject mid sentence,and wander freely the world of denigration.			AUNT DEBBIE	My dear husband, bless his soul THE 		BASTARD.(with a twinkle in her eye) He 	was very good to me..			JULIENNE	You always said that.....			AUNT DEBBIE	It was my idea, not his! Now you're 		cousin Allen is the bastard.			JULIENNE	Look mom, I came out here because I 		needed to. I've went through a time with 		so many regrets. I got ostentatious and 		solemn and I hated myself, and anyone who 	behaved the same way.  Independence works 	better alone. I'm a girl Shane, you know 	the gunfighter who hung up his guns.			AUNT DEBBIE	You didn't give them enough sex, that's 	your own fault. 			JULIENNE	Too many people in my past have been 	hurt, and all of them named Tony.				AUNT DEBBIE	Have you seen all these mushrooms around 		the house?			JULIENNE	Fato Profungus... I believe they're called. 			AUNT DEBBIE 	You would know that. But don't eat them. 		Mrs. Johnson up the street says they 	make you horny. And when are you going to 		learn to drive?			JULIENNE	Probably never. I like walking.EXTERIOR - THE VALLEY - DAYJULIENNE walks along Ventura Blvd. looking at store fronts. EXTERIOR - LA - DAYTONY walks in garment district.EXTERIOR - THE VALLEY- DAYJULIENNE walks along the street in front of a home with a motor home parked in front of it.EXTERIOR - ANOTHER PART OF LATONY walks on Hollywood Blvd., looking for clues in people's faces.MUSIC: Guy Klucevsek "Blue Window"EXTERIOR - FOREST LAWN - DAYWe pull back from a "help wanted" sign as the truck pulls into the driveway of the cemetery.EXTERIOR - MORTUARY - DAYTwo guys open the back of the truck and we see TONY standing in a trance in the back of the truck. INTERIOR - MORTUARY OFFICE - DAYThe MORTICIAN sits down at his desk to interview TONY.			MORTICIAN	And what qualifies you for this job?			TONY	Well, what is the job?			MORTICIAN	State privacy laws require that we watch over	our guests day and night from the minute they 	arrive to the day of the funeral.			TONY	You mean the bodies?			MORTICIAN	Yes. You're the body watcher.			TONY	Oh. The body watcher.			MORTICIAN	Well, do you have any questions?			TONY	Oh, no.			MORTICIAN	I have a few questions, if you don't mind. 			TONY	Okay.			MORTICIAN		For example, why do you want this job?			TONY 	I want to meet people.			MORTICIAN		Dead people?			TONY	No, no. If I work at night I'll meet people 	during the day. See, I don't sleep much at 	night.			MORTICIAN	You have two lives? I have two lives. I've 	always wanted to be a stand up comic. Do 	you mind if I show you some of my material?			TONY	Go ahead.			MORTICIAN	A man says to his doctor he can't remember 	things from one minute to the next the 	doctor says, "How long has this been going 	on?" The man says, "How long has what been 	going on?"TONY laughs.			TONY	That's good.INTERIOR - MORGUE - NIGHTTONY reads. MUSIC: "Frascilita" from Lisa Germano "Geek the Girl"Several angles. TIME PASSES.VIEW ON CLOCK 12 Midnight. 2 AM. 4 AM.TONY puts down the book and opens a refrigerator door and slides out a body. The body is in a bag. He lifts the body onto a cart and rolls it under a light. He zips open the bag and looks inside. He raises a pale arm of the dead person and the arm slowly falls out of frame. TONY looks for a knife onthe work table and looks at the first knife, it is too small. The picks up a second knife, it is too large. He reaches for a third knife, just right. He takes a deep breath and starts sawing open the dead body. EXTERIOR - MORTUARY - NIGHTThe MORTICIAN hurries to the door of the MORTUARY having forgotten something at work.INTERIOR - MORGUE - NIGHTWhen he has the stomach open he puts down the knife and scoops up the entrails of the dead body with two hands and holds them up in front of the camera. He saws the entrails loose and throws them on to thefloor.The entrails splatter on the cold tiles. TONY kneels over to examine them. VIEW on door.The Mortician comes through the door, sees what TONY is doing and is shocked. MUSIC STOPS			MORTICIAN	What are you doing?  You depraved person!	Is that a client?  Get out of here!			TONY	Number 12.			MORTICIAN	Mr. Peterson?			TONY	I dunno...Not yet. I see something here!			MORTICIAN	I don't care what you see. Get out.TONY Leaves. The MORTICIAN looks at the mess, horrified.EXTERIOR - THE VALLEY - NIGHTJULIENNE walks past a drug store and decides to go in.SOURCE MUSIC: "Green Tambourine" the Lemon PipersINTERIOR - PHARMACY - NIGHTPAN is reading a pornographic magazine. He is tappedon the shoulder by HERMES, a young man with a light beard. 			PAN	Oh hi.			HERMES	We need to talk.			PAN	OK.JULIENNE enters the frame and starts up an aisle.IN ANOTHER PART OF THE STORE:			PAN	I've been living quietly by myself, 		except for the moon-light orgies and me 		scoring twice a day. 			HERMES	Dad wants to talk to you...because you're 		family.			PAN	Hermes, I'll pay you if you get me back 		into the organization. I've got this new 		pornography you have to see...HERMES directs PAN'S attention toward TONY, who appears behind them. TONY heads down the same aisle as JULIENNE. HERMES smiles.VIEW ON TONY			PAN	His mother was Jefferson's mistress. 				HERMES	We should help him.			PAN	No.EROS, a small child with a toy bow and arrow, shootsan arrow at JULIENNE. It hits her and she picks it up. She looks around and does not see where it came from. 			PAN	He lives on my island. There will always 	be as many demigods as there are minor 		poets. There are too many of them. They 		have good lives. They don't need any 		help. TONY approaches JULIENNE. JULIENNE approaches TONY.  She sees TONY and smiles.			JULIENNE	God I have a headache. Do you know the 		best thing for headaches?				TONY	Is that why you came here just now?			JULIENNE	...most people go to the vegetable section, 	I come here because I believe in 		headaches....Men who are worth anything 		always have headaches..JULIENNE pauses, a little embarrassed. A WOMAN comesup behind them but does not pay any attention to them.					TONY	I walk to get rid of my headaches....			JULIENNE	I thought so. Everything's OK here as 		long as you're name isn't Tony. 			TONY	OK.VIEW on PAN and HERMES					PAN	Should we screw things up?VIEW on TONY and JULIENNE				JULIENNE	It's a challenge life put before me 		overcoming my Tony Karma.	Men want blonds and good breasts. Women 		with breasts always do well. They also 	like tomboys. They trust tomboys. They 		consider them honorable and would never 	have sex with them unless the tomboy asked? VIEW on PAN and HERMES			HERMES	No, don't.PAN yells at the top of his lungs. HERMES is thrown backward into a closet. VIEW on Gas coming from a broken pipe.INTERIOR VIEW ON TONY AND JULIENNE			WE HEAR an alarm. A WOMAN comes up to TONY in a state of fright.			WOMAN	There's gas leaking. Get out.TONY starts to run out of the store pulling JULIENNE by the hand. He looks back and sees a FRAIL OLD WOMAN who does not understand the danger. TONY wantsto go back.			TONY		(to JULIENNE)	I'll meet you outside.TONY goes back to help the old WOMAN.			TONY	Come on. there's a gas leak.TONY tries to pull her.			OLD WOMAN		Don't touch me...Manager!EXTERIOR - STORE - NIGHTThe store explodes and burns.	EXTERIOR - STORE - NIGHTJULIENNE interviewed in front of the STORE by acamera crew. Flaming store behind.			JULIENNE	A nice young man pulled me out and then 		went back in to save someone..and then 		there was this explosionINTERIOR - DEBBIE'S HOUSE - NIGHTALLEN and H. TOM are listening to the broadcast.			AUNT DEBBIE		Why don't you get a temp job. I can't 	pay you any more money.The Phone RINGS. ALLEN answers the phone.			ALLEN	Hello (to AUNT DEBBIE) Do you know a 		Tony.			AUNT DEBBIE 	Wrong number. They keep asking for TONY.		Look it's your cousin!VIEW ON TELEVISION				JULIENNE	Then the store blew up.			DEBBIE	She could have died.			ALLEN	Holy shit, that's my cousin? EXTERIOR - DOWNTOWN - DAYTONY walks down a street shaking an aerosol can. MUSIC: Johann Sebastian Bach - Double Concerto for 2 Violins BWV 1043, Largo Ma Non TantoHe stops at a corner, shakes the can, and starts spraying silly string into the street. As he does this, WE HEAR: a car alarm go off across the street. WE SEE a black range rover. TONY raises the can to spray again and sprays. The can emits a squiggly spray and the sound from the car across the street matches the silly string's oscillations. TONY puts the can down in astonishment. MUSIC: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Concerto for Piano& Orchestra #20 KV 466EUGENE stops and watches TONY. TONY looks at EUGENEand slides away from his dangerous gaze.EXTERIOR - ALLEN'S BUILDING - DAYTwo men walk up to a black Range Rover then turn andwalk toward ALLEN'S building.EXTERIOR - LA - DAYThe wind blows. A tree falls. As it falls its branches brush on a street sign for GREENTREE ST. The sign become GRAINTREE.						INTERIOR - ALLEN'S APARTMENT - DAYALLEN paces. ALLEN HEARS a knock at the door. ALLEN goes to the door. Two THUGS burst in, push ALLEN tothe floor, gun to his head.			SON	Where's the money Greg?			ALLEN 	My name isn't Greg, My name is Allen.			FATHER  	Maybe he isn't Greg. They said he was a		big guy.					SON	Where's the money Greg?			ALLEN 	I don't know what you're talking about.			SON	Are you allergic to pain?SON Pulls out a gun.			SON	Where is the money Greg?			FATHER	What's with the gun?  I said no guns?			ALLEN 	Take my wallet on the coffee table. 	There's $1200 in rent receipts in the 		kitchen drawer!			SON	Is that your black Range Rover parked 	outside?			ALLEN 	I don't have any black Range Rover.			FATHER 	Is this 6600 Graintree?			ALLEN 	Greentree!			SON	What?			ALLEN 	Greentree!			SON	Let's pop him. He knows a lot now.			FATHER	Come on. He doesn't know anything.			SON	(Aims gun)			FATHER	Come on. We're sorry. Have a good day.FATHER pulls SON away and they leave, ALLEN gets up.			ALLEN	You guys do sloppy work.A desk lamp and the light bulb pops. It startles him. EXTERIOR - THE BIG ISLAND - DAYOminous clouds cast shadow on roily sea.MUSIC: Brian Eno - ANOTHER GREEN WORLD "Spirits Drifting"EXTERIOR - SKY - DAYClouds part and light shines through.			RADIO	The New York Daily news says.. 1200 peopleINTERIOR PATIO - RANCH HOUSE - DAYMARIE-NØEL listens to the radio. She is wearing a black wig. She applies lipstick.			RADIO	Will be returned.. tomorrow..because you 		blew it...You're absolutely right..ANGLE ON RADIO MARIE-NØEL is turning the dial randomly.			RADIO	And what's going to happen?..to the 		personality of your dog...and don't 		forget..our children's 	future..please..	because forces will gather... to take 	you away...CLOSE UP ON MARIE-NØELShe hears something she thinks is interesting.			RADIO	...from the island.Then the radio becomes unintelligible. She turns thedial and only hears static.WE HEAR Phone ringing.INTERIOR - ALLEN'S ROOM - DAYALLEN sits in his easy chair and answers the phone.			ALLEN	Hello? Wouldn't you know it, the phone 		doesn't ring all day and it's you.EXTERIOR - LA - DAYVIEW on Rain clouds above sunny houses on Highland Blvd.			RADIO	Matrix lactating....			ALLEN	You notice something on the way home..EXTERIOR - DOWNTOWN LA - DAYTONY walks along the street flipping a coin.			RADIO	...Etched droplets.					ALLEN	Convertible with young bleach blond,		mom in back...EXTERIOR - THE VALLEY - DAYJulienne walks on Ventura Blvd.			ALLEN	..mom in back...ANGLE ON MARIE-NØELShe dabs he finger into the color purple on her color palette. 			RADIO	Heroic mall facing darlings..	Hasty Scotch preceding flick...ANGLE ON ALLEN			ALLEN		Young dad with ponytail driving, baby 		shotgun, back from beach...VIEW on SUN going behind clouds.			RADIO 	Normal cantilever... VIEW on OCEAN.			RADIO 	...short of awe...VIEW on ALLEN sitting in a curb at night, headlightsblind him.			ALLEN (V.O.)	Give style to Sunset Blvd.VIEW on MARIE NOEL. She dabs makeup and makes a mess.	l'art sans past...VIEW on old man walking his cat in the Wilshire district.			ALLEN (V.O.)	At sunset the cars move home one by one..			RADIO	...finding freckles...VIEW on JULIENNE walking on Ventura Blvd.			ALLEN (V.O.)	And the stages float to meet the warm lightVIEW on TONY walking on Downtown.			RADIO	talented...heady slap...			ALLEN (V.O.)	My time is mine again.VIEW on ALLEN drinking glass of water on his balcony.			RADIO	slap, talented, heady... MUSIC: Ludwig van Beethoven - Piano Concerto #8 inC minor, Op. 13 "Pathetique"VIEW on ALLEN rapidly wiggling his eyebrows.HIGH shot of San Miguel Island.MUSIC: Brian Eno - ANOTHER GREEN WORLD "Spirits Drifting"			RADIO	...breaks on not finding form...VIEW on MARIE-NØEL applying color to her eyes from color palette.			RADIO	ditched glue...laughter pulling Orion...Wrist 	on loan...TONY walking by tall poplars in the Valley on Mulholland drive.			RADIO	...bowed to & clean...VIEW on mountain field of flowers.VIEW on Plane in landing pattern.VIEW on TONY's POV walking on Melrose.VIEW on ALLEN hanging up the phone.VIEW on MARIE-NØEL putting on her makeup faster.VIEW on earthquake damaged buildings.VIEW on 3 people coming out of doors simultaneously.			RADIO	secret cycled from...the obvious...lodged 	style hawked from home...searing material	lush as trash...VIEW of the THIELE twinsMUSIC: Ludwig van Beethoven - Piano Concerto #8 inC minor, Op. 13 "Pathetique" VIEW on MN putting on her makeup faster, and faster till it is an even bigger mess.  VIEW of Downtown LA in a windstorm.VIEW of the Santa Monica Bay at sunrise.			RADIO	feet lifting heavy ball...to shoulder in 		backward world...lovely cart...lucky...	faucet of distant lakes...bad swath forever 	poor...MARIE-NØEL pulls off her black wig. She looks off camera as if she hears something.EXTERIOR - LA - MORNINGClose on pre-sunrise LA.Earthquake shakes the buildings as sun rises.WE HEAR the sound of a HELICOPTER.VIEW on LA. A moon rises in eclipse.MUSIC: Haydn String Quartet Op 76, Allegro con SpiritoEXTERIOR - LA STREET - NIGHTTwo cars pass in the night going opposite directions.MUSIC: Haydn - String Quartet: "Sunrise"		EXTERIOR - LA GOOGIE RESTAURANT - NIGHTTONY sits in an all night restaurant late at night. He eats like a horse, 10 entrees in front of him. WE HEAR: A jet landingMUSIC: IdentifyTONY looks out the window and sees a total eclipse of the moon.VIEW ON JET LANDINGVIEW ON LANDING LIGHTS ON WATEREXTERIOR - HOLLYWOOD STREET - NIGHT			TONY walk along the sidewalk in the middle of the night. EUGENE stops TONY. TONY avoids him, but EUGENE heads him off.MUSIC:?			EUGENE		Have a light?			TONY 	I don't smoke.Eugene, standing in front of TONY, searches in his pockets and finds a lighter, then a book and then some string.  TONY looks at the EUGENE 's face and eyes. EUGENE hands TONY the book. TONY looks at the book then EUGENE finds a cigarette.The lighter won't light. The man realizes he is imposing on TONY and tries to get the book back while holding the cigarette in his hand. EUGENE gives TONY the lighter and takes back the book. The priority is his smoking triumphs and TONY ends up lighting him up. The lighter shoots up in a bigflame to TONY'S surprise.  TONY can't turn off the lighter.  There is a power outage.....EXTERIOR - HOLLYWOOD - NIGHTA power outage darkens a large rectangle in the middle of a grid of city lights.SOUND: Car alarms, house alarmsEXTERIOR - HOLLYWOOD STREET - NIGHTCAMERA drifts to TONY'S face.EUGENE grabs the LIGHTER from TONY and walks off into the dark. MUSIC: Johann Sebastian Bach - Suite #25 in A minorEXTERIOR - SAME POSITION - DAYRain streaks from TONY'S face. TONY is same standingposition as night before. Men wearing suits like TONY'S are standing at the door. It is raining. The camera pushes in and TONY comes to. The door opens and the actors go in after applauding for TONY,thinking that he is a living statue. TONY follows them in the door. We see a sign that says "Casting."EXTERIOR - HOLLYWOOD - DAYALLEN walks in a hurry down a Hollywood street. BARRY, ALLEN'S AGENT, gets out of his car and approaches ALLEN.			ALLEN	Hey Barry, what are you doing here?			BARRY	I'm going to see my daughter's dance class. 		Aren't I allowed to have a life?			ALLEN 	That's fine You never see your agent anywhere.	It's kind of weird.			BARRY		I've heard that before.ALLEN gives AGENT a thirsty look. 			BARRY	Do you want this?BARRY hands ALLEN a Coke.			BARRY	16 table spoons of sugar. 		Fat is funny. Better you than me.			ALLEN	Did you wipe it? ALLEN burps.					BARRY	I always knew you were a very talented man.			ALLEN	You know Barry, when I was growing up in Maine 	my neighbors would say: Oh you're going to	Hollywood to be a star, Huh, That was pretty 	embarrassing, wouldn't you say? You're just 	like them. 			BARRY	What? Moi?			ALLEN	It wasn't very nice.			BARRY	What haven't I done for you lately			ALLEN	You're always so fucking condescending.				BARRY	What are you talking condescending,	what are you saying?ALLEN leaves frame, BARRY follows.EXTERIOR - CASTING BUILDING - DAYThere is a thunder clap and TONY and BARRY run for cover. BARRY starts going in the door.			BARRY	See you Allen. Aren't you going in the actor's 		entrance?			ALLEN	They always bring us in the back door here 	but I'm going in the front today.INTERIOR - LOBBY - DAYALLEN and BARRY enter the lobby of the building.					ALLEN	You know I've added up all the time my 		commercials have run on television and I'm 		already way done with my 15 minutes of fame.ALLEN starts to get into the elevator.			BARRY	Should I take that personally?			ALLEN	Take it how ever you'd like.			BARRY	You know what? I'm going to take the steps. 	I don't feel comfortable in this elevator.			ALLEN	Is this about me?			BARRY	No. I just don't like elevators. You know 	what and elevator is. It's a coffin. If it 	ever stops. Did you know that? The cables 	are weak, and it stops, there's no air.			ALLEN	Barry!			BARRY	If there was an earthquake you know what would 		happen?			ALLEN	Barry!			BARRY	...you'd be dead.				ALLEN	Barry!			BARRY	I'd rather walk and have thighs.			ALLEN	Barry!ALLEN finally interrupts him and hands him back thePepsi.			ALLEN	I'll call you at the office later. Oh oh oh! 	I'm scared.THE ELEVATOR DOOR closes.INTERIOR - ELEVATOR - DAYALLEN teases BARRY one more time. ALLEN opens the elevator door...			ALLEN	Oh Barry, I almost forgot......and TONY standing at the door waiting to get in. TONY enters and settles in for the ride. 			ALLEN	You're a pussy Barry. 		(to TONY) 	Casting?			TONY	Sure.ALLEN reacts to TONY'S lack of determination. The elevator starts to rise.EFFECT: EARTHQUAKE					ALLEN		Oh my god it's a earthquake.  			TONY	It's all right.			ALLEN	BARRY!!!!			TONY	It'll be over soon.			ALLEN	Are we under anything structural? Get in a 	door jam.ALLEN huddles next to TONY in the elevator door and the shaking increases.			ALLEN	Do you smell gas?The lights go on and off in the middle of the tumult. 			TONY	What?			ALLEN	We're going to die. Barrrrrrry!EXTERIOR - STREET - DAYHeavy chunks of plaster and brick hit the pavement.			ALLEN and TONY	AAhhhhhhhh!VIEW OF LOS ANGELES NEWS COVERAGE OF EARTHQUAKE: Damaged cars, freeways, collapsed apartments and parking structures, buckled freeways....MUSIC: Bocherini - Concerto in G Major			ANNOUNCER MONTAGE (v.o.)	6.6 officially if you have been sleeping all 		morning. 6.6 it was felt from San Diego to Las 		Vegas to Modesto. It was centered exactly under 	in Northridge and it is a unnamed fault...We 	are in Granada Hills and the power is still 	out...Sadly there were three deaths reported 	in the Santa Clarita Valley area. The force 	blew out storefront windows, there were 	landslides in Pacific Palisades left cars 	caked in mud. Ruptured gas lines buckled 		the roads. The Santa Monica freeway collapsed 	near La Cieniega. An apartment complex on 	14th and Idaho exploded. One house toppled 	down a hill.We tilt up from a collapsed storefront and see a partial eclipse of the sun.EXTERIOR - HOLLYWOOD - DAYA HOMELESS WOMAN and her daughter stand in front of a boarded up storefront.			HOMELESS WOMAN	After the earthquake was all over we went 	down to	the lobby and sad down in the 	lobby of the building...EXTERIOR - LA - DAYWe see a building where a wall has fallen off exposing the contents of a hotel room...broken windows...fallen brick...cracks in walls...more fallen facades.			HOMELESS WOMAN 	...until the sun came up. And then we went off 	to our room to see if there was any damage, it 	was pretty bad. It was quiet, there wasn't 	anybody driving, there were people just 	wandering around, you know we walked out and 	we looked and we saw the cracks..... and you 	know down the street over here beside the 	building was off, a big bell tower up the 	street was tilted halfway down, it was sort of 		scary......	EXTERIOR - STREET - DAYThe camera DOLLIES past a damaged car in an alley. We reach a door blocked by rubble. TONY and ALLEN emerge.			HOMELESS WOMAN	...and you know down the street over here 		beside the building was off, a big bell 	tower up the street was tilted halfway down, 	it was sort of scary......			TONY	What a beautiful day for an earthquake.				ALLEN 	I've go to check my building. I've got to 	turn the gas off. We don't have any 	earthquake kits. Where's your car?				TONY	I don't own a car. I walk.			ALLEN	You walk?			TONY	Yeah I walk.			ALLEN	Where do you live?			TONY	Out of town. 			ALLEN	Where out of town....like New York out of town, 	Texas out of town?				TONY	A couple of hours out of town.			ALLEN	Like Palm Springs out of town?			TONY	Yeah, like Palm Springs out of town.TONY walks away.				ALLEN	And you don't have a car?MUSIC: EXTERIOR - VINE STREET from above - DAYTONY and ALLEN their way across the road.EXTERIOR - EARTHQUAKE DAMAGED STREET - DAYTONY and ALLEN walk along together and meet a DERANGED WOMAN. She is very big and sexy. But she is.			DERANGED WOMAN	There's no love in the world! I miss my friend 	more than any thing that's ever happened to me.  	She had favorites of course. She appraoches ALLEN.  The woman has become sexier talking to ALLEN. TONY interrupts.			TONY	This makes me happy to know. We I have to go 	now.			DERANGED WOMAN	You your self may know someone she liked.  She works ALLEN up.			TONY	Loser. You're such a loser. You have 	terrible taste in clothes! All your taste 	is in your friggin' mouth!The woman flees. ALLEN is amazed. 			ALLEN	What are you doing?			TONY	You don't want to have anything to do with 	her.			ALLEN	I beg to differ. Is that tricycle listed. 	This never happens to me during the day.EXTERIOR- ALLEN'S BUILDING - DAYPeople holding household items pass them.  People are moving out.EXTERIOR - ALLEN'S BUILDINGWE HEAR Panic, chaos.INTERIOR- ALLEN'S BUILDING - DAYWe pick up JULIENNE with a group of people moving things out. One of them holds a ZEBRA HEAD. JULIENNEcomes from a storage room. She is holding a nice lamp and a box of pictures.  JULIENNE forgets something and goes back. A picture drops on the floor. It is a picture of ALLEN and JULIENNE and AUNT DEBBIE INTERIOR - ALLEN'S BUILDING - DAYALLEN and TONY enter the building. They work their way through the crowd in the hall toward ALLEN'S APARTMENT. The tenants hold personal items. They areangry at ALLEN.			ALLEN	Why are you moving out?			FLEEING TENANT	This place is condemned. No use of paying 	you any more rent.			ALLEN	Don't think you're going to get your security 	deposit back.ALLEN stops at his door and tries to open it.  It won't budge. TONY hears something upstairs and starts up the stairs. The group with the ZEBRA HEAD passes him coming down the stairs. 			VOICE	Watch out for the floor up there, it's weak.			TONY		OK.TONY and JULIENNE meet at the top of the stairs. JULIENNE is visibly prettier.			JULIENNE	I thought you were dead?			TONY 	I survived.			JULIENNE	We have to start meeting like this.Charming look form TONY. His eyes lock with JULIENNE's. She leans over for a kiss. THE CAMERA moves toward him. Tony steps forward to kiss and SUDDENLY.... TONY falls straight down out of frame.INTERIOR - STORAGE ROOMTONY turns and falls into a room. He ends up in a dusty room. He looks up, unable to get out, he slowly drifts into a trance.VIEW ON ALLEN'S APARTMENTALLEN forces open the door to his apartment and seesthat everything is on the floor and broken. He picksup his COAT and a few valuables and leaves. ALLEN comes back out looking for TONY. ALLEN sees JULIENNE. 			ALLEN	What are you doing here?			JULIENNE	Someone's fallen in the floor upstairs. 			ALLEN	Don't worry about it..Just a dead beat. 	We have to get out of here there's going 	be an aftershock.ALLEN hurries her out of the building. There is an aftershock. We hear SCREAMS.			TENANT'S VOICE	Who checked the gas main, asshole!MUSIC: Dvorak - Cello Concerto #14 in B minor Op 104 Adagio		INTERIOR - STORAGE TONY stands in the room in a tranceEXTERIOR - ALLAN'S APARTMENT - DAYThe camera tilts down and we see that the buildingis condemned. A chain link fence prevents squatters from moving in.INTERIOR - WRECKED BUILDING - DAYTONY wanders in Abandoned building.He picks up a picture from the floor. He sees ALLEN and JULIENNE standing together. INTERIOR - AVALON OFFICE - DAYTONY and TONY'S LAWYER stand in front of an open window.			JIM	The government has flip-flopped in maybe two or 	three years the problem will come up again but it 	least it gives us some breathing room.			TONY	I'm thinking about starting over in LA. I like it 	there, I've met some people I like. I'm happy for 	the the first time in years. 			JIM	I knew you would be in spite of all the damage.			TONY	How much?			JIM	All interior roads are out. Raymond's barn fell 	down. There's no power except from generators on 	the big island			TONY	Have you heard from Marie-Nøel?			JIM	No. We flew over and there's no damage to any 		structures, but her radio is out. 			TONY	I think I should get up there.EXTERIOR - ISLAND -DAYWe see the big island floating in a sea of reflectedlight.EXTERIOR - ISLAND - DAYTONY walks from his boat on the pier toward the ranch house.MUSIC: Dvorzak - Cello Concerto #17 in B minor Op 104 Adagio EXTERIOR - ZODIAC - NEAR ISLAND - DAYGuys on boat hear thunder. They stop and look around,hear it and are perplexed as it diminishes. 			ANTHONY	Stop the engine. Listen.They all HEAR thunder.ANTONY plunges overboard with his board and pack andstarts Paddling. The zodiac pulls next to him.			ANTHONY	I'll be all right. Pick me up on Sunday.The zodiac speeds off.			FIRST SURFER 	What's with Anthony? He really did 		it. He's crazy.			SECOND SURFER 	We'll pick him up on the way back. 			FIRST SURFER 	Does he really think some chick lives on that 		island? 					FIRST SURFER	I guess so. EXTERIOR - ISLAND PLATEAUMARIE-NØEL walking up hill next to water, hunting with a bow. MARIE-NØEL hears thunder MUSIC: Rene du pere "Saltimbanco"EXTERIOR - ISLAND PLATEAUMARIE-NØEL climbs a hill,hearing thunder. She stalksthrough grass. We see boar's eye. She appears from behind a bushSlow Mo of wide shot MARIE-NØEL picking up note andreading it.(flash forward) Just a clip of the paper falling.RETURN TO MAIN ACTIONShe takes her stance.FLASH FORWARDMARIE-NØEL reads the note, tearfully.			MARIE-CHRISTINE (V.O.)	Happy 18th. You're not aging well, but I 	shouldn't mention that on your birthday 	should I? I could not think of a better 	way to surprise you than to hide this in 	plain sight. Here's a treasure map to your 		birthday present, Some things that may help 	you when you want to leave home. If I'm 	gone when you read this, then I'm right, 	and I'm not going with you. Good luck. Love 	you. Your sister. Marie Christine.MUSIC: BACH HarpsichordSEQUENCEANTHONY paddles toward shore.MARIE-NØEL Cries.ANTHONY paddles toward shore gets turned away by cliff.MARIE-NØEL sitting with letter overlooking sea.EXTERIOR - ISLAND PLATEAU - SUNSETMARIE-NØEL reading letter.VIEW on ISLAND SHORELINEANTHONY paddles toward rocks.MARIE-NØEL crying.ANTHONY pulls himself out of the water and stand in the sun.MARIE-NØEL swatting away precursor to the gad fly Arrow out of quiver. EYE of BOAR. She releases.
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+                                    127 HOURS                                   Written by                                                   Simon Beaufoy & Danny Boyle                                   EXT. CROWD SCENES. VARIOUS.          A massive crowd, it could be a sports stadium, a u2 farewell          show or new year's eve on copacabana beach, but whatever it          is there are thousands and thousands of us. A mexican wave          erupts success, celebration, with so many involved it's          impossible to pick out anyone individually. Critical mass          cyclists, easter crowds at st. Peter's basilica, nyc          marathon, 4,000 flash mobbers doing the silent disco at          london's victoria station, india's kumbh mela, macy's          thanksgiving day parade, raves, subway parties, the daytona          500. . . . Gradually the screen splits into 2, and then 3,          though at times there appears to be no division at all.                                                             EXT. FREEWAY. NIGHT.          An overhead shot of a crammed freeway gives way to a single          vehicle, a 98 Toyota Tacoma, red and white with a topper.                          CUT TO:                                                            INT. ARON'S TRUCK. NIGHT.                                   Cut inside as Aron Ralston, 27 cuts off the freeway.                                   TRIPTYCH.                                                            OPENING TITLES ARE A SERIES OF TRIPTYCHS FEATURING ALL THE          TITLE CARDS EXCEPT THE MAIN ONE. THEY BLEND, OVERLAP AND ARE          INTERCUT WITH ADVERTS SOME FROM THE BILLBOARDS ARON'S VAN          PASSES, SOME FROM TELEVISION AND SOME FROM THE RADIO. AND,          OF COURSE, ALL THESE INTERCUT WITH ARON AND HIS TRUCK. AND          THE LANDSCAPE.                                   A TITLE CARD READS:          'Utah. The Canyonlands. The slickrock desert. The red dust          and the burnt cliffs and the lonely sky-all that which lies          beyond the end of the roads.'                                   Edward Abbey. Desert Solitaire.                          CUT TO:                                   EXT. ROAD. NIGHT.                                   Eventually Aron's truck is now alone on an interstate road.           2.                                                            INT. ARON'S TRUCK. NIGHT.          At the southwest edge of Green River, Aron Ralston drives          under the interstate into a landscape of obscurity. He looks          to his right and left, not a single light perforates the          absolute blackness of the San Rafael Desert.                                                   CUT TO:          EXT. ARON'S TRUCK. NIGHT.          From high above, three quarters of the screen is black and we          see his truck's lights running parallel with the blackness.                          CUT TO:                                   INT. ARON'S TRUCK. NIGHT.          A sign flashes by: Next Service: 110 miles          America's challengers for the Tour de France flash by in a          pack of 15 or so neon spirits. Night training.          10PM.                                   A BLM sign indicates that Horseshoe Canyon Trailhead is 47          miles ahead through the desert darkness.                          CUT TO:                                   EXT:. ARON'S TRUCK. NIGHT.          From even higher above again we see him turn left into this          black void.                                                   CUT TO:                                                            INT. ARON'S TRUCK. NIGHT.          Bang inside the truck now on a dirt road. Music at ear bleed          level.                                   A yellow triangular sign cautioning ROADS MAY BE IMPASSABLE          DUE TO STORMS flashes past.                          CUT TO:          INT/EXT. ARON'S TRUCK. NIGHT.                                   Jackrabbits dart onto the road, racing him, darting left and          right as he chases them down. They finish the game darting          back into the darkness.                          CUT TO:                                   EXT. DESERT. DAY.           3.                                                            Slowly, images from the Great Gallery materialise on          different parts of the Triptych - petroglyphs and          pictographs; dozens of 8-10 ft high Superhumans hovering over          groups of indistinct animals, dominating beasts and onlookers          alike with their long, dark bodies, broad shoulders, and          haunting eyes.                                                   CUT TO:          EXT/INT. VARIOUS. COMMERCIALS FOOTAGE.          Billboards, TV, cinema, www: commercial America sells          everything to us through every means. As many brand names as          we can get.                                                   CUT TO:          EXT. DESERT. NIGHT.          Rushing across the desert grooves, pulling, snatching, hard          left and right, the rear of the truck fishtails madly.          Curves, swoops and sandy washes kick up dust clouds as          everything in the truck flies all over the place. Except his          bike, locked down and braced solid.                                   Music blazes on.          Another Rabbit. Another fence line. Another curve.                          CUT TO:                                   INT. ARON'S TRUCK. NIGHT.          Suddenly a small brown sign flashes past. He kicks down on          the brakes and reverses back. It's the sign pointing out the          road spur to Horseshoe and Blue John Canyons.                          ARON           Nearly missed it!                          CUT TO:          EXT. HIGH ABOVE ARON'S TRUCK. NIGHT.          The truck turns sharp left.                          CUT TO:          INT. ARON'S TRUCK. NIGHT.                                   Now a really bumpy road approaching the dirt parking area.                          CUT TO:           4.                                                            EXT. PARKING AREA. NIGHT.          Ghostly, but there are three other vehicles and two          encampments at the Trailhead, despite signs prohibiting          camping.                          CUT TO:                                   INT. ARON'S TRUCK. NIGHT.          He turns off the music and waits for a head to pop out or a          light to come on but they have all turned in. Ghostly.          He glides to a flat spot near the sign board welcoming          visitors to the Horseshoe Canyon quadrant of Canyonlands          National Park.          He whips into the back of the truck and flings everything out          of the way of his sleeping bag and pad. Black.          END OF TRIPTYCH TITLE SEQUENCE.                                                   CUT TO:          BLACK.                                   But no rest.                          CUT TO:                                                            INT. ARON'S TRUCK. DAY.          The doors smash open to reveal a glorious day and Aron's          bike careers into it.                          CUT TO:                                   EXT. DESERT. VARIOUS.          It's still like a wild road movie, but now on a bicycle.          Having parked his motorized transport he ploughs into the          land like an ad for extreme sports. Past bikers, he vanishes          temporarily in their dust cloud, he wears a bandana across          his face as the bikers pass by... a final telephone box, past          remnants of those who tried to settle or work this          unforgiving land; Aborigines, frontier settlers, ranchers...          all driven away from a heartland he ploughs into.......                          CUT TO:           5.                                                            EXT. DESERT. CU on ARON.          Wearing a pair of beat-up running shoes and thick wool-blend          socks, Lycra biking shorts and a Phish tee shirt he has a          back pack with equipment but hydrates through a gallon of          water stored in an insulated three litre CamelBak hydration          pouch which he sucks on without stopping.                                                   CUT TO:                                   EXT. DESERT. DAY.          His bike pummels the canyon landscape and you get a sense of          the exhilaration this man gets from pitting himself alone          against what nature can offer. He's clearly a fit and daring          young man and these are his kicks.                          CUT TO:                                                            EXT. DESERT. DAY.          Even uphill he hammers his way up the sandstone. Gasping for          oxygen, his legs screaming for rest, he pushes and pushes          until the crest and then down, down, instant speed and he can          suck on his water again. Part of a massive clan who define          themselves not by what they are, but by what they do. In a          way, he's an action movie personified and the opening should          be shot and cut to provide adrenaline in spadefuls.                                   Until...                          CUT TO:                                                            EXT. DESERT. DAY.                                   Suddenly, he hits a sand trap and hurtles forward over the          handle bars, face first into the sand, his toe clips and          momentum brings the bike with him. The bike has him trapped          on the desert floor like a takedown in wrestling. He submits,          landing nose deep in the sand. He sits up, looks around          quickly to see if anyone saw. Pulls out his camera from his          bag and takes a a self-portrait snap of the mess.                          CUT TO:                                                            EXT. DESERT. DAY.          At what seems like the only tree for miles he U-locks his          bike in the shade, pockets the keys, scoffs a muffin and          heads off into the desert.                          CUT TO:           6.                                                            EXT. GULLEY CREST. DAY.          He approaches the crest of a sand gulley and sees below him,          just 30 yards down the canyon, 2 fellow hikers. He looks          around. All of them in the middle of nowhere it seems.                          CUT TO:                                   EXT. APPROACH TO BLUE JOHN CANYON. DAY.          He can see now it's 2 girls passing a map back and forth          between them. He rushes towards them, initially above them as          he walks along side. They're aware of him before he arrives:                          ARON           Hey. Are you doing the east pike?           Can I come along with you for a           while?          The girls don't reply, just look at each other.                                                   ARON (CONT'D)           I'm on my own. I'm Aron.                          CUT TO:                                   EXT. APPROACH TO BLUE JOHN CANYON. DAY. A VAST ARROYO.          He slides/surfs down so he's on the same level as them,          arriving in a haze of dust, holding out his hand for the          shake. Big smile.                          KRISTI           (looking at Megan)           Sure, I'm Kristi.                          MEGAN           Megan.                          ARON           Nice to meet you. What a day.                          KRISTI           It's beautiful.                          ARON           Did you bike or come straight from           the trail head?                          KRISTI           We left the car there. Pretty           quiet.                          ARON           I left mine at the Horseshoe Canyon           and biked here.           7.                                                                            MEGAN           You biked from Horseshoe? That's           20 miles or more.                          ARON           17 and windy.                                   The girls exchange glances.                          ARON (CONT'D)           I do this a lot.          They laugh. He's crazy, but harmless.                          ARON (CONT'D)           Wasn't expecting to see anyone in           the canyon today.                          MEGAN           Yeah, you surprised us, sneaking up           like that.                                                   ARON           Sorry.                                                   MEGAN           It's kind of nervy seeing a lone           guy walking up to you in the middle           of the desert.                                                   ARON           Yeah, I know, I mean there's no one           around for 50 miles.                                                   KRISTI           ... and suddenly there's a guy           right behind you and `wait a           minute, why is he wearing a HOCKEY           MASK!'          They all laugh.                          ARON           Let me guess... You're here for           the paintings or the Cathedral?                          KRISTI           The Cathedral? We've got a bit           disorientated and the map isn't           great. Where is it?                          ARON           The climb's a little tricky but           it's worth it.                          KRISTI / MEGAN           We climb.           8.                                                            They all laugh.                          CUT TO:                                   INT. CAVE. APPARENTLY SMOOTH DOME. DAY                                   Towards us comes Aron, upside down, like a tiny, fast spider,          talking all the time, his voice echoing.                          ARON           There's thousands of holds but you           can't see them until you're almost           upside down and then they just keep           appearing... it's a bit of a act of           faith so I'll go first... take off           as much as you dare as there's a           bit of a surprise at the other           end...           MEGAN (O.S.)           You behave Aron Ralston or we'll           tell your mother all about where           you lure girls...                                                   ARON           I swear I won't look but I swear           you won't care when you get out           here...                                   We've been moving towards him as he rushes towards us, spider          style. He's stripped to his underwear. He's lithe to say          the least. We can't see the girls or what's underneath us          but there's a feeling of the vertiginous, as much from the          weird echo and the sense of reflected light as from the scale          of the dome.                          ARON (CONT'D)           ... and the thing is, when you get           to the middle...          He lets go.                                                   ARON (CONT'D)           ... there aren't any more.          We spin and watch him fall into the most exquisite emerald          pool 60 feet below.                          KRISTI           OMG!                          CUT TO:          INT. CAVE. DAY.                                   They can't see him. They can only hear the explosive crack          of man on water.           9.                                                                            MEGAN           Are you ok? ARON!                          KRISTI           Of course he's ok. Listen to him.          Aron fills the cathedral dome with his version of a Phish          song at the top of his voice. Kristi strips to her underwear          and traverses away from Megan.                          KRISTI (CONT'D)           Got to be there, Meg.                          CUT TO:                                   INT. CAVE. DAY.          From the pool below with Aron we see Kristi in her underwear          heading out arachnid-style to the centre. Before she gets          there Megan appears too. She's left everything on except her          shoes.                                   They crash into the pool one after the other. They bob          together in the centre, the light seems to come from beneath          them and ripple over the heavenly ceiling.                                                   MEGAN           We've got to go again. And film           it!                                                   CUT TO:                                   EXT. OUTSIDE THE CAVE. DAY (LATER).                                   Eating and drying in the powerful afternoon sun. A little          self consciousness has returned but it's sweet-natured and          fun still.....                          MEGAN           I really can't eat all this           chocolate by myself... Never mind,           yes I can!                          KRISTI           So have you got a girlfriend, Aron?                          ARON           Well, there's not really anyone           special.                          MEGAN           Ah, so there's lots of girlfriends.                          KRISTI           There's always a girl, you just           don't know it yet.           10.                                                                            MEGAN           Yeah, we meet lots of guys and           there's always a girl.                          ARON           Long story.                                                   KRISTI           With lots of characters in it.                          CUT TO:                                   EXT. SNOWY MOUNTAINTOP. DAY. VIDEO FOOTAGE.                                   Aron on top of a snowy peak. Self shot. Classic pose.          Breathtaking backdrop.           ARON (V.O.)           I've done 46 of the 59 winter solo           ascents.                                                   MEGAN           Wow, highest person in Colorado.                                                   ARON           Well I figure no one else is mad           enough to climb in the winter.                          KRISTI           ... you can be the highest person           on the continent!                          CUT TO:                                                            EXT. STILL CAMERA. IMAGE OF `MOTEL 6'                                   Megan shows the image to Aron.                          MEGAN           Didn't you see it?                                                   ARON           What? No.                          MEGAN           Yeah, it's an old cattle guardian's           house - the roof's caved in and           someone spray-painted MOTEL 6 on           the side. Smelled weird though.                          ARON           Just like a MOTEL 6 then?                          CUT TO:           11.                                                            EXT. OUTSIDE THE CAVE.                          KRISTI           Why are you on your own?                          ARON           Solitude. Great tunes. Empty           mind.          He indicates the wilderness.                          ARON (CONT'D)           And I can sing Phish songs as loud           as I like.                                                   MEGAN           Phish?                          KRISTI           Not those guys from...                                                   ARON           Yeah, I know, I know.                          (LAUGHS)           See, that's why I'm on my own.           Nobody likes me or my band.          They laugh as he goofs for them. He gathers all their          packaging and stuffs it in his backpack.                                                   ARON (CONT'D)           I'll get this. Leave no trace.                          CUT TO:                                   EXT. BLUE JOHN CANYON. DAY.          They're walking again.                          ARON (CONT'D)           Hey, but I like a beer like the           next man. You know, end of the day.                                                   CUT TO:                                   EXT. CANYON. GULLEY.          They're negotiating a steep gulley. Aron is 1/2 way down,          Megan at the top, Kristi on her way down to him.                          ARON           I'm not certified yet but that's           what I want to do.                          MEGAN           An illegal instructor.           12.                                                                            ARON           It's hard to get the hours to           qualify. Catch 22.                          KRISTI           Well, we'll sign your time-card           today.                                                   ARON           Great. Now put your ass on my head.                          KRISTI           Okay but don't look and no grabbing           now, if I do...                                                   MEGAN           Oh whatever, you love it.                          KRISTI           Shhh!                                   Aron then quickly slips to the bottom. Megan is way high,          Kristi half way.                          ARON           (at his most instructor-           ish, talking all the time           as he makes his way down)           You'll have to chimney down a           little ways - like here, watch -           one foot on each wall then squat           onto your right heel, now your           butt's on the wall, so you can move           your right foot across, now put           your left foot under your butt           lower down and scootch your butt           down - watch that black part, it's           slick, slime, try not to get it on           your shoes - if you can get to           these bomber handholds here it's           like an elevator shaft and just           think friction to control the           slide. This is a keeper so always           have someone at the bottom to boost           you out.          He looks up to them.                          MEGAN           I didn't understand any of that.                                   EXT. CONJUNCTION OF BLUE JOHN CANYON, WEST FORK, EAST FORK.          LATER IN THE DAY. 2PM-ISH          They come to a clear fork in the paths. He watches them turn          their map round and round.           13.                                                                            MEGAN (CONT'D)           Kristi, I think this is our way           back.                          ARON           Why don't you come with me to the           Big Drop Rappel? I can give you a           lift back to your car.                          KRISTI           How far is it?          He shows them on the map.                          ARON           About another 8 miles or so, I           think.                          MEGAN           You'll never get out before dark.                                                   ARON           No, I really got to do this. Anyway           I've my miner's lamp.                                                   MEGAN           You don't climb at night, do you?                          ARON           No, it's great for seeing snakes in           hand holds. Can I get a picture           then?          They pose with raven feathers in their hair.                                                   ARON (CONT'D)           Listen, my friends are having a           party tomorrow night. You should           come.                          KRISTI           Yeah, we'd like that. What time?                                                   MEGAN           Where?                          ARON           Drive on the east road and about 40           miles out there's a huge inflatable           Scooby Doo. You can't miss it.           Turn off and it's about 2 miles           down that track. Starts late and           it'll go right thru.          Lots of cheek kissing and his last picture of them...           14.                                                                            KRISTI           Come on Aron, hike out with us -           we'll go get your truck, hang out           and have a beer.                          ARON           No, I really got to do this.                                                   KRISTI           Okay. Scooby Doo, yeah?                          ARON           That's the one. I'll have 3 cold           beers waiting for us.                                                   MEGAN           12 cold beers!                          CUT TO:          EXT. CANYON FORK. DAY. POV VARIOUS.                                   And they separate down 2 different canyons shouting to each          other...'hot dogs!...'vegetarian hot dogs!'.... 'so that's 12          cold beers and 9 vegetarian hotdogs!'...'.. I really can't          eat all these vegetarian hotdogs by myself... never mind, yes          I can!'... the last of the dialogue fading away as they lose          earshot of each other and we pull up out high over the          meandering slits of sandstone...                                                   CUT TO:                                   EXT. MAIN BLUE JOHN CANYON. DAY.                                   Aron alone ... they are gone ... he picks up the pace as he          checks his watch... he loved them but now he's behind          schedule and he's ruthless about his schedule...                          CUT TO:          EXT. HIGH ABOVE ARON. BLUE JOHN CANYON. DAY.                                   His sense of momentum is established again and it's clear          he's moving downhill, into the fissure of the rock.                          CUT TO:                                                            EXT. BLUE JOHN CANYON. DAY.          Without warning his feet suddenly slide forward from under          him and he skates/snap-kicks trying to keep his balance on a          floor of scattering pebbles left there by a flood. There's a          flash of the sky and dazzling sunlight.           15.                                                            Only his arms and the proximity now of the walls prevent him          landing hard on his ass.                          CUT TO:          EXT. C/U. DAY.                                   A small snake slithers away from his giant feet.                          CUT TO:                                   EXT. BLUE JOHN CANYON. DAY.                          ARON           Easy Aron, easy now.          He keeps moving, descending still, but a little more          circumspect. He lets the change of pace allow him to whip          round his pack and with the practice of thousands of times          selects and plays a CD without stopping, slipping the          headphones over his head.                          CUT TO:                                   INT. RUCKSACK. PORTABLE CD PLAYER.          We see the CD begin to spin: the display tells us there's          38:47 to play before 0:01 appears.                                                   CUT TO:                                   EXT. C/U ARON'S EARS. DAY.                                   Suddenly, louder than loud, the sound of fanatical 5,000          strong applause at the Phish live concert in Las Vegas, fills          his head and ours.          He's heard it many times as he alternatively          anticipates/answers all the dialogue preamble mixed over the          applause...                                                   CD RECORDING           Good evening Las Vegas... are you           having a good time? Are you ready           for PHISH!          Whether we are or not, the first song begins on a wave of          adoration from his fellow Phish fans. He sings along.                          CUT TO:           16.                                                            EXT. BLUE JOHN CANYON. SHORT SLOT ENTRY. DAY.          Aron keeps descending, the canyon walls growing taller and          closer, into the narrowing slot canyon.                          CUT TO:                                                            EXT. BLUE JOHN CANYON. S-SHAPED LOG. DAY.          A dry waterfall, many months since it's seen rain. A drop of          maybe 12/15 ft with no obvious climb down. Way beyond his          reach and jammed into the walls of the canyon is an enormous          S-shaped log, sand bleached and wind dried it looks like a          massive reptile making its way down the canyon. Beyond it,          Aron can see his route down disappearing into narrowing          darkness.                          CUT TO:                                                            EXT. CANYON WALL. DAY.          To reduce the drop he scrambles down clinging to the edge,          pushes away and drops the final 6 feet or so landing in a          fine cloud of sand. Nothing to it, second nature.                          CUT TO:          EXT. S-SHAPED LOG. DAY.                                                  PHOTOTIME          He snaps the log now arching above him well out of reach.                                   TITLE.          " 2:41pm. Sat April 26th. 2003 "                          ARON           Won't be coming back this way.                          CUT TO:                                   INT. SLOT CANYON. DAY (NOTE: FROM HERE ON CANYON SHOTS INT.)                                   He spins and continues, seeing the first huge chockstones,          the size of vans, their noses buried in the floor of the          canyon like unexploded bombs. He easily scrambles over one          and around another-tight fit but he's skinny.                          CUT TO:           17.                                                            INT. DEEPER INTO THE CANYON. DAY.          The slot is now just 4ft wide and as he stops to look at          massive tree logs jammed at strange angles high above him and          silhouetted against the blue cloudless sky, he drinks deeply          from his water bottle.                                                   CUT TO:                                   INT. CANYON RIM. LOOKING DOWN. DAY.          On we go and so does the concert. He pumps the air unaware          as we track above him - it's like the canyon in Star Wars and          he's Anakin feeling the force. One set of chockstones leads          to another and he rapidly negotiates them like an obstacle          race - until there's one the size of a big refrigerator which          has been stopped by the walls 18 inches from the floor.                          CUT TO:                                                            INT. CANYON. CHOCKSTONES. DAY.          Over or under? He drops to his belly and squeezes          underneath, rucking the sandy floor in front of him. He's          halfway, his chest rising out the far side when suddenly he          can't move. The music jams and loops on 2 notes like bad          techno. He pushes but nothing.                                   He reaches back with his hand and releases a part of his          rucksack strap that's snagged. And the music releases too.          He squat-jumps out and brushes off the sand.                                   No panic -a nothing moment.                          CUT TO:                                   INT. SLOT CANYON. DAY.          Now it's steeper. We're already 60ft below ground level and          it's falling away further in front of us. Another drink and          the map is out.                          CUT TO:                                   INT/EXT. SILHOUETTE PROFILE. CROSS SECTION OF CANYON. DAY.                                   We see a section of the canyon and the tiny figure of Aron          moving within it. We track in and elide into a graphic view          of him chimneying his way along the canyon now only 3 ft wide          at most. It's a chance to see his skill and thirst for          climbing. And to see how deep he's going.           18.                                                            He uses his legs, back and natural body weight to body walk          along and down the towering walls.                          CUT TO:                                   INT. SLOT CANYON. DAY.                                   He's moving towards a final chockstone below him jammed in          the gap. You can see the way he's thinking: it's about the          size of a bus wheel and used as a platform will help him          reduce the 10 foot drop and get quickly down into the next          section.                          CUT TO:                                                            INT. SLOT CANYON. DAY.          He reaches it at the same time we do and kicks fiercely,          automatically, to make sure it's solid.                                                   ARON           Yep.                                   And across he steps onto it. It holds.                          CUT TO:                                                            INT. CANYON FROM UNDERNEATH SILHOUETTED AGAINST SKY. DAY.          As before he squats and clambers down the back side of the          stone to reduce his drop down.                                                   CUT TO:                                                            INT. CANYON. DAY. C/U TIGHT ON ARON.          Just as he dangles there's a scraping sound, small but close,          too close and the stone judders towards him, pulled by the          torque of his weight on his side, rotating.          Instantly and instinctively he lets go and drops. Like he's          trying to detach a mine dragging him to the sea floor.                                                   CUT TO:                                   INT. CANYON. ON CHOCKSTONE. DAY.          But it follows him down, somehow he's released its latent          energy.                          CUT TO:           19.                                                            INT. CANYON. TIGHTER ON ARON. DAY.          He watches the chockstone follow him - not looking where he's          going.                          CUT TO:                                                            INT. CANYON. ARON'S POV. DAY.          The backlit chockstone falling towards him consuming the sky.                          CUT TO:                                                            INT. SLOT CANYON. DAY.          His arms rise to protect his head but his eyes remain open          and through his fingers we see the next 3 seconds. The rock's          face and his.                                   It grabs his left hand and flings it against the left wall.          He pulls it away as the rock ricochets against the canyon and          careers towards his right arm which he raises, to compensate          for withdrawing the left, and to protect his head.                                   The rock smashes the right hand and wrist against the wall          and drags it down the remaining distance. Like a cheese          grater it tears the skin from the back of the hand and the          forearm, decorating the wall. Aron is powerless to stop its          force and he lands on his feet allowing the rock to jam in          front of him with his hand held against the canyon wall by          the stone.                                   All this happens too quickly. We can hardly register what's          happened as everything stops.                          CUT TO:                                                            INT. CANYON FLOOR. DAY.          Silence. He's standing behind the rock. Like he's in a line          for a bus. Like he's shaking someone's hand. A hand shake          with the canyon. Silence.                          CUT TO:                                                                           TITLE:                                                   127HOURS                          CUT TO:           20.                                                            INT. CANYON FLOOR. DAY.          Adrenaline, searing, roaring pain and panic.                          ARON           FUCK, get your hand out of there!                                   Pulls and pulls, yanks until his shoulder will dislocate, but          nothing moves. Sweat, anxiety flaring, hot pain.                          ARON (CONT'D)           SHIT, SHIT, SHIT, SHIT...          Pushing with his left hand desperate to reverse the action;          so simple to undo the moment, to reverse gravity for a split          second and pull his hand out... nothing. Again and again          thrusting up with knees, thighs, pelvis, left arm, head,          neck... nothing.                          CUT TO:                                                            INT. CANYON FLOOR. DAY.          Then slam upwards, harder than ever as though he's run at it          from a hundred yards and it's a door that will surely burst          open.                          ARON           YEEARKGG... UNNNHHH                                   Air exploding out of his lungs. And then a quiet hollow          sound of the boulder shifting fractionally. A howl of          phenomenal pain -                                                   ARON (CONT'D)           NO, NO, NO, NO, FUCK.                                   He reverses the fraction and collapses in sweat and blood,          knees bleeding, good fingers lacerated. But he remains          upright, attached. Unable to physically collapse.          Grabs his shirt and wipes sweat away and goes to drink. He          hula-hoops out of his backpack to get access to the water,          gulps down 3 full throatfulls - stops mid 4th and backwashes          as much as he can into the bottle -                                                   ARON (CONT'D)           No, no... more water.                                   He caps the lid tightly and drops it into his pack.                          ARON (CONT'D)           Relax. Stop. Come on.          He breathes and breathes, taking stock for the 1st time.                                                   CUT TO:           21.                                                            C/U: WRISTWATCH          Time Check. 3.14pm. Stares at it until it changes to 3.15pm          - the watch is working.                          CUT TO:                                                            INT. CANYON FLOOR. DAY.          He examines the boulder at each point he can reach,          stretching and contorting to see into his crushed and          wretched hand where his thumb is visible above and his little          finger below. No matter how much he touches them, there is          no feeling. He prods up and down to see what feeling is left          and where it stops. Comparing left hand to where the right          hand is trapped to measure the width of his right wrist - now          smaller than the width of his little finger on his right          hand. He can barely get the little finger of his left hand in          the gap. We reverse back on him at each contortion. He                         REALIZES -                                                   ARON           FUCK! What the fuck? How the fuck           did you get your hand trapped by a           fucking boulder? Its crushed, it's           fucking dying man!          He reaches up and touches the trail of blood, hair and skin          left on the canyon wall as the rock pushed him to where he          is. Looks under boulder, no blood - check.          [He hears the crowd cheering on his headphones. It's been          playing throughout. He switches it off]                                   He looks above for the first time.                          ARON (CONT'D)           HELP! HELLO!                          CUT TO:          INT/EXT. PULL OUT OF CANYON. DAY.          ... to see the slot canyon, back and back and back, nothing          more than a dry crack in the surface of this massive land.          Gradually his cries for help become inaudible.                          CUT TO:                                                            INT. CANYON FLOOR. DAY.          He unpacks everything with great energy, like a stocktake,          and lays it all out on the surface of the rock;           22.                                                            chocolate bar wrappers and bakery bag with crumbs of          chocolate muffin inside that he volunteered to take away on          behalf of the girls, 2 small bean burritos, cd player, cds ,          extra AA batteries, mini digital video camcorder, small multi-          use tool and 3 LED headlamp.                          CUT TO:                                                            BIG C/U: VARIOUS.          ... of all these elements - these are now his only companions          and their POV of him reflects that as he tests each one for          its potential, opening all the blades and laying them out to          look at them; sunglasses - scratched, bike Ulok key, rock          climbing harness, cloth goggles bag, rapelling equipment,          water bottle, car keys, plastic grocery bag, empty de-          hydration pack, money, credit cards, green and yellow          climbing rope in black zippers bag, a stick, stones and sand.          Everything.                                                                                     Pause. He stares at it all and it all stares back at him.                                                   CUT TO:                                   C/U: DIGITAL NUMERALS.                                   3.28, changes to 3.29           HARD ENERGY CUT                          TO:                                                            INT. CANYON FLOOR. DAY.                                   Inside the tiny gap we see... his headlamp flick on to let          him assess the rock and the wall and his hand in between it.          He picks a point and begins to chip away with the knife.          He's back - energy, movement, purpose, action makes him          happy. He occasionally stops to look at his left hand,          swollen and puffy and constantly in need of flexing. He gets          into a rhythm of 'tick,tick,tick', flex and back again,          `tick,tick,tick'                                                   CUT TO:                                   TIGHTER C/U: DIGITAL NUMERALS.          4.19pm, changes to 4.20                          CUT TO:           23.                                                            INT. CANYON FLOOR. DAY.          In a huge close up of this eye he can see in the foreground          that there's a pile of steel filings from the knife itself,          almost as big as the dust from the ground -                          ARON           Not good.          He blows the whole lot into our face with a mighty gust.                          ARON (CONT'D)           When in a hole....          Alternative; he starts digging away at the wall instead, same          result.                          ARON (CONT'D)           Fuck. It's hard as iron.          Pause.                                    You're gonna have to cut your arm           off.                                   As if to answer that idea we...                          CUT TO:                                                            INT. CANYON FLOOR. DAY.          Tapping a rock in his hand onto the top of the knife as he          balances it against the wall or with his mouth. Weird close          angles as he almost taps the side of his eye socket.          Suddenly, he hammers down with ten times more force onto the          handle of the knife, the rock explodes in his hand, showering          pick dust over everything, and bouncing the knife off the          rock. Once again, gravity takes over. The knife hits his          shorts and as he moves to grab it, he misses it and knocks it          further round the back of his leg. He pivots and turns to try          and catch it but gravity is quicker than his restricted twist          and it falls into a hole between the rounded rocks near his          left foot -                          ARON           NO, NO!                          CUT TO:                                   INT. CANYON FLOOR. DAY.          The knife is visible in the crack below and behind his right          leg but he can't twist to get anywhere near it. He tries to          pull the canyon wall off balance to get closer. No chance.           24.                                                                            ARON           Shit!                                                            He pulls off his right sock and shoe and tries to squeeze his          foot into the hole. Too big. Size 10. He looks upward. He          can't believe he's done it.                          ARON (CONT'D)           Shit!!!                          CUT TO:                                                            INT. BENEATH CANYON FLOOR.          We're on a level with the knife in the little hole beneath          his feet. An enormous overhead light switches on (Aron's          headlamp placed above to let him see). The stick enters from          top of screen and nudges the knife in a semi circle. It's a          bit Punch and Judy if it wasn't so fucking serious. Huge          shadows. No success. The knife remains where it is. Maybe an          ant races across it.                                   Pause.          The stick withdraws.                                                                                                    PAUSE:                                                                                     The stick re-enters with the top of it almost broken off,          acting like a hook, we push in on the knife as the stick          hooks through the little ring at the end of the knife. It          lifts.                          CUT TO:                                   INT. ARON IN CANYON. DAY.          Looking down onto the ground, around his leg, his toes          holding the stick like a chopstick lift the knife out and up          tremulously, breathlessly, towards his good arm. He picks it          off the stick gently. Big smile. First one.                                                   ARON           Sweet.                          CUT TO:           25.                                                            TITLE OVER WIDE INT CANYON. NIGHT:                         " SATURDAY NIGHT ":          We pass through the transparent title on our way along the          canyon. Half dark. We're on a wind blowing dust through the          canyon walls, to find a miner in the distance digging into          the rock. It's Aron of course, and his head-lamp is filled          with the dust swirling through. He's using the shorter file          from the multi tool and has tied a shoe lace to his wrist and          looped through the ring at the end of the tool. He pulls his          cap down, to keep most of the dust out of his eyes. His lips          are caked but he keeps blowing on his arm, to keep it clear.                          CUT TO:                                                            C/U: DIGITAL NUMERALS. NIGHT.          The watch, now luminous, changes to 00.00.                                                   CUT TO:                                   INT. ARON IN CANYON. NIGHT.                                   Midnight is celebrated with a tiny, careful, sip of the          water. He holds it in his mouth. Puffing his cheeks,          circulating the precious fluid around.                                                   CUT TO:                                   EXT. EXTRAORDINARY LANDSCAPE. DAZZLING DAYLIGHT. DAY.                                   Daylight, a lunar landscape almost, though with patches of          green and giant boulders, Aron whom we sense only by being          around his shoulder is out walking with his friend, Mark Von          Eeckhout through this field of boulders. They come upon one          the size of a house buried nose deep in the field.                                                                                                     MARK           Wow, look at the size of this one.          There's no cliffs or mountains anywhere near. We look at          Mark's pleasant, unremarkable face for far too long as he          looks around -                                                   MARK (CONT'D)           How the fuck did this get there?          It's like we're on the moon looking over Buzz Aldrin's          shoulder at Neil Armstrong; it certainly sounds like that...                                    HARD CUT TO:           26.                                                            INT. CANYON FLOOR. NIGHT.          Chip,chip,chip; stretches his arm, flexes his legs,          tick,tick,tick. He changes the blade, prising suddenly at a          section of the rock with his file. It bites and a dime size          shred chip of rock arcs through the night light. He catches          it perfectly on his right elbow.                                                   ARON           Cool.          He picks it off his arm and places it on top of the rock next          to where he's working. It's a grain of sand on the seashore          but it's something.                                   Boy, his arm and his legs are aching now.                          CUT TO:                                   INT. ABOVE ARON, LOOKING DOWN INTO CANYON. NIGHT.                                   He's stepped into his harness and is throwing 30ft of rope up          towards us. There's a tangle of knots and carabiners looking          for purchase close to camera. Each time it falls back all          the way. He persists, each time, varying his line of attack          fractionally.          Finally it catches.                                   He pulls gently at first, then fiercely, it holds and we          slide softly and slowly down the rope and as we reach him he          gently takes the weight off his feet finally.                                                   ARON           Aahhhhh.                                                            Lovely relief for him, light off, his eyes close.                          CUT TO:                                                            INT/EXT VARIOUS. DAY.          A re-run of the accident. He can now witness it in detail as          though it were planned and his role is to point us where to          look. 3 seconds become 30... We fall with his face in high          definition slow motion watching his future. We fall with the          rock pitilessly chasing him down to the floor of the canyon.          As he lands...                          CUT TO:           27.                                                            INT. CANYON. PRE DAWN.          ... His eyes open and he stands unsteadily rubbing at his          legs, the lack of circulation has forced him up. Doesn't          think about the dream, starts chipping again.                          CUT TO:                                                            INT. CANYON. TIME-LAPSE. DAWN.          Lit only by his lamp, the black shifts to grey and then          there's light. He watches it arrive. A rush of wind.          Something flaps and he looks up sharply -                                                   RAVEN           Caw-caw.                          CUT TO:                                                            EXT. SKY. DAY.          A black raven flies symmetrically the length of the canyon          slit above him. Blue, blue sky.                                                   CUT TO:                                   INT. CANYON. DAY.                                                   ARON           Caw-caw.                                   As he stretches his neck to follow the path of the only other          living thing, he freezes stock still. The bird has gone.          Nothing moves. Not him.... nothing. Time passes.                                   He switches his light off.                          CUT TO:                                   EXT. NEVADA DESERT. BLACK ROCK CITY. PRE DAWN.          On top of some 4 x 4 vehicles are 8-10 ft huge Easter Island-          like masks, multi-coloured. Multiple bikes are strapped to          the backs of the vehicles too. More of Aron's friends,          including Mark V.E. mill around their 4 x 4s. There are          multiple lights in the distance but it's unclear what it          might be. The vehicles' own headlights illuminate Rana, a          stunningly beautiful red-haired woman in her mid-20s,          effortlessly organising the 15 or so group. As before, we          remain behind Aron. By the camera's virtually complete          concentration on Rana it's clear he's a fan.           28.                                                                            RANA           OK - lights off and line up           alongside me.          They turn off their vehicles' headlights as she draws a long          line in the sand and they join her standing on one side of          it.                                                   RANA (CONT'D)           On the other side of this line,           everything will be different.          As they all hold hands and together step cross the line          (Aron's keen and ever so slightly ahead of everyone across          the line) the sparkling lights of the crescent-shaped `town'          of vehicles and camps that is Burning Man are replaced by an          astonishing sunrise in the Nevada desert. They hoot and          holler as Rana smiles beautifully at Aron.                          RANA (CONT'D)           And remember, stick together, the           desert wants to kill you.                          CUT TO:                                                            INT. CANYON. DAWN.          Aron is very still, looking at the rock and the open blade          lying on top of it. Suddenly he looks over his shoulder to          see...                          CUT TO:                                                            INT. CANYON. MORNING.          A dagger of sunlight appear behind him. His won sunrise.                                                            C.U. WATCH.          9.30am                          CUT TO:                                                            INT. CANYON. DAWN.          He looks at ithe sunbeam as though it's his prey and it might          run away. It makes it's way along the canyon walls towards          him. He's very still. But it shifts across the floor and          it's going to miss him. He whips off his left shoe and sock          and pushes it towards the coming light. Slowly it climbs and          caresses his ankle and lower calf. He pulls the other sock          off and alternates the feet. He looks like he's doing yoga.          As it leaves him passing overhead it suddenly bursts into the          opening in front of him.           29.                                                            It's a beautiful sight as the colors of the canyon reawaken          but we can see from above that he appears to be behind a door          with a room of life beyond him.                          CUT TO:                                                                           TITLE:                         " SUNDAY ":                          CUT TO:                                   INT. CANYON. DAY. VIDEO MESSAGE ONE.                                                   ARON           It's three-oh-five on Sunday. This           marks my twenty-four-hour mark of           being stuck in Blue John Canyon           above the Big Drop. My name is           Aron Ralston. My parents are Donna           and Larry Ralston of Englewood,           Colorado. Whoever finds this,           please make an attempt to get this           to them. Be sure of it. I would           appreciate it.          He takes long blinks and seems to avoid looking at himself          though the screen is facing him. He looks alarmed and wide          eyed, startled, in contrast to his slow slurred delivery.                          ARON (CONT'D)           So... I was hiking Blue John Canyon           yesterday... and this happened.          He pulls the camera round to show where his forearm and wrist          disappear into the horrifyingly skinny gap between the          chockstone and the wall. As he does that we                          INTERCUT WITH:          INT/EXT. VARIOUS. CANYON. DAY.          Flashes of the accident-almost in silhouette - like an          animatic side view. It freezes just before the moment of          entombment.                          CUT TO:                                                            INT. CANYON. DAY. VIDEO FOOTAGE.                          ARON           What you're looking at there is my           arm, going into the rock... and           there it is, stuck. It's been           without circulation for 24 hours.                          (MORE)           30.                                                   ARON (CONT'D)           It's pretty well gone. If the           colour doesn't come across on the           video, it's grey and blue.                          ARON (CONT'D)           Unnhhhhh.......I'm in deep stuff.                                                   ARON (CONT'D)           So I have very little water.          He can't help look in the camera towards those who know what          that means in this place.                          ARON (CONT'D)           Yeah, I have about a third of a           litre left.          He picks up the water bottle and shakes it for the camera.                          INTERCUT WITH:                                                            INT/EXT. VARIOUS. CANYON. DAY.          Different angle on the freeze-frame.                                                   CUT TO:                                   INT. CANYON. VIDEO FOOTAGE.                                                   ARON           So the way I see it... there's kind           of four things happening here... I           tried to move it with some           rigging... useless... and I tried           chipping away at the rock... I           think part of the problem is, is           that my hand is actually supporting           the rock. Which means every time I           chip away the rock moves a bit and           settles onto my hand again. I           can't feel it happening but           microscopically, it seems to be,           because the little gap over there           between the rock and the wall seems           to be getting smaller. And this           chockstone is the hardest thing           here.                                                   CUT TO:           31.                                                            INT. WIDE. MOVING THROUGH CANYON. REALTIME.                                   A breeze slides through the canyon and he shudders          involuntarily for five seconds.                          CUT TO:                                                            INT. CANYON. DAY. VIDEO FOOTAGE.                          ARON           So the third thing left was to cut           my arm off.                                                  PAUSE                          ARON (CONT'D)           I don't know whether I could do           that but it's pretty much suicide.           It's four hours to my vehicle that           way and with very difficult           climbing with one hand and the bike           is like two, two and a half hours,           that way but the climbing... fourth           class climbing... which I think           will be probably impossible with           one hand... between the blood loss           and the dehydration I think I would           die if I cut off my arm.                          ARON (CONT'D)           Which means I'm waiting for someone           to come along.          He summons up the guts to let the evidence out.                                                   ARON (CONT'D)           I didn't tell anyone where I was           going and I didn't leave a note on           the truck.                                                   ARON (CONT'D)           Dumb.          The video whirrs on until he suddenly looks straight into the          lens.                          CUT TO:                                   INT. CANYON. DAY. REALTIME.          He hears voices.           32.                                                                                                                              CUT TO:                                   INT. CANYON. DAY. VIDEO FOOTAGE.                                   We see his reaction to this sound through the video message.                          CUT TO:                                   INT. CANYON. DAY. REALTIME.          He puts the camera down and listens. People descending at          the S log! He can hear them. He screams and screams and          screams and then he stops. He listens again.                          CUT TO:                                                            INT. CANYON. DAY. ARON'S POV BACK UP THE CANYON.          The noise is there still. Again he screams and screams.                                                   CUT TO:                                   INT. CANYON. DAY.                                   Breathing hard, heart racing he listens again. The noise is          still there unchanged. He knows now it's not people. They          would have heard him.                                                   CUT TO:                                   INT. CANYON. DAY. ARON'S POV.          He looks above and behind and sees a kangaroo rat          disappearing, scuffling, behind a chockstone.                          CUT TO:                                   INT. CANYON. DAY.                                   He stops, staring at the camera still recording. He picks it          up, rewinds and ...                                                   CUT TO:                                   INT. CANYON. DAY. VIDEO FOOTAGE.          ... re-runs the sound of him screaming for help.           33.                                                                            ARON                          (SCREAMING)           HELP!!! HELP!!!! OVER HERE!!!           HEEELLLPP!!!          Freaky. We just see an arbitrary view of the rock and sky on          the video camera, maybe with a bit of elbow, but we hear his          desperation, screaming at no one, distorting on the tiny          speaker.                          CUT TO:                                   INT. CANYON. DAY. REALTIME.                                   He stops it. The sound of his absolute helplessness and need          freaks him out and threatens absolute despair. Snorts.                          ARON           No one's coming Aron.                                   He rewinds to the end of the message and erases his futile          calls for help.                          CUT TO:                                                            EXT. ARON'S TRUCK. DAY.          Aron's Truck. We sense him in the cab but we're not inside          with him yet. Music loud and pulsing as we travel towards          the inflatable Scooby Doo. It's 12ft tall, powered by a mini-          generator.                                                   CUT TO:                                   INT. ARON'S TRUCK. DAY.          Aron swerves to affect the figure which buckles and flaps in          his after-draft.                          CUT TO:                                   EXT. ROAD. DAY.                                   We stay with the dancing figure as his truck drives away into          the landscape. The generator fan rattles on as the booming          bass of the truck fades.                          CUT TO:                                   INT. CANYON. DAY.                                   You can see him thinking. Will the girls go to the party?           34.                                                            EXT. GOOGLE-EARTH SATELLITE SHOT OF WILDERNESS. DUSK.          We're now high above the desert, and in the time-lapse we see          the soft, grey, endless line of darkness cross right to left                         BRINGING -                          CUT TO:                                                                           TITLE:                         " NIGHT TWO ":                          CUT TO:                                                            INT. CANYON. NIGHT.          A flashing, strobe-ing light - Aron's head-lamp bouncing back          and forth off the canyon walls - but also, as he continues to          chip away...                                                   INTERCUT WITH:                                                            INT. CANYON. NIGHT.          ...jump-cutting, strobe-lit as though by flash, of Aron madly          dressing for the night.                                                   INTERCUT WITH:                                   C/U: WATCH                                   We see the thermometer on his watch falling down and down          from 70 => below 50.                                                   CUT TO:                                   INT. CANYON. NIGHT.                                   The whole thing is almost like stop-frame animation. He          cannibalizes everything he can, using his knife, his teeth,          he tears holes in a cloth camera bag, he's frantically paced          to occupy himself, to pass time, to create heat from energy,          but he has to be careful not to stab himself in the eye. He          thrusts his left arm into the newly fashioned sleeve, pulling          it up with his teeth.          Purple webbing around his right arm, the insulated Camelbak          protects his upper arm from the chilling canyon wall. Yellow          webbing wraps a grocery bag (that held the burritos) round          his upper right bicep.           35.                                                            The dirty green and yellow ropes are curled round his legs          like pythons. Finally he puts his head inside the rope bag.                          CUT TO:                                   INT. ROPE BAG. BLACK.                                   It's plastic inside and although it's black the light from          his head-lamp suddenly lights him up alarmingly as we go          inside with him.                          CUT TO:                                                            EXT. ROPE BAG. NIGHT.          He looks like a multi-coloured version of the Michelin Man,          only much thinner.                          CUT TO:                                                            INT. ROPE BAG. NIGHT.                                   He laughs, as though he can see how ludicrous he looks.          We return to normal speed as he turns the light off.                          CUT TO:                                                            INT. ROPE BAG. NIGHT.                                   BLACK - but we can hear his breathing close as in a space          suit. LONG PAUSE.                          ARON           God, I am praying to you for           guidance. I'm trapped in Blue John           Canyon - you probably know that -           and I don't know what I am supposed           to do. I've tried everything I can           think of. I need some new ideas.           Please show me a sign.          PAUSE - Just his breath.          He switches on the head lamp and the inside of the bag          explodes with light. There's enough light for any kind of          heaven but it's just Aron in Blue John Canyon. He looks          around his bag. He stops. Silence. Only his breathing to          listen to. Heart rate... fast... too fast.          Light off.                                   PAUSE.           36.                                                                            ARON (CONT'D)           OK, then, God, since you're           apparently busy: Devil, if you're           listening, I need some help here.           I'll trade you my arm, my soul,           whatever you want. Just get me out           of here. You want me never to           climb again, I can give that up.           Just show me the dotted line.                         PAUSE:                          ARON (CONT'D)           Ungg-gggu-ggga-gggngh!                                   His throat uncontrollably shudders and splutters as his teeth          rattle with cold suddenly. It does sound like a demonic fit          from the multi-coloured headless man.                          ARON (CONT'D)           Yeah. Not very funny.                                                   CUT TO:                                                            INT. ASPEN STORE. DAY.          Aron leaves work: at no point do we see Aron. He's there,          you sense him in reflective surfaces, his arms, particularly          his right one and his feet occasionally come into shot. It's          not a strict P.O.V, more like 'over the shoulder' but without          much shoulder.                          Q           What you doin'?                          ARON           Still not sure. I'll see you           Tuesday.                          Q           Have a good one.                                                   ARON           Always do.                          CUT TO:                                                            BLACK.                          CUT TO:           37.                                                            C/U: DIGITAL NUMERALS          11:59 => 00.00 in huge, luminous figures.                          CUT TO:                                                            INT. CANYON. NIGHT.          He pulls his bag off and pulls his water bottle out of the          ground where he has half-buried it. It won't open. He can't          unscrew it. He mutters, cursing himself for tightening the          lid too much. He puts it between his teeth and levers with          his head, but nothing. Is his strength vanishing so quickly?                                   He looks at his puffy left hand... there's a tremble in it.          He shakes it to get rid of the tremble and jams the bottle          between his legs. He uses a bit of cloth to give his hand          better purchase on the top. We're tight on the neck of the          bottle as it releases, finally and he lifts it, slowly,          almost ceremonially. Controlling the tilt, a half-mouthful          of water slides onto his tongue. He tilts the bottle back          towards upright but not the whole way. He waits. Circulating          the splash of water around his mouth.                                                   CUT TO:                                   INT. CANYON. C/U: BOTTLE NECK                                   The bottle neck stares at Aron.                          CUT TO:                                                            INT. CANYON. C/U: ARON          ... his eyes staring at the bottle neck.                          CUT TO:                                                            INT. CANYON. NIGHT.          He still holds the water in his mouth as he rewinds the top          onto the bottle and reburies it in the sand to stop any          evaporation. He moves to pop his contact lenses into his          mouth and wash them in the moisture. First one then the other          as we...                                                   CUT TO:                                   INT. ARON'S APARTMENT. DAY.          The images shift with the lens change back to his apartment,          daylight, we sense him though he's probably in the shower.          His ansaphone clicks in.           38.                                                                            ANSAPHONE (MOM)           Aron, it's Mom. Hoping to catch           you. Nothing urgent. Dad's in New           York so it'll be a quiet weekend.          Aron is clearly there but can't answer.                                    ANSAPHONE (MOM) (CONT'D)           Call me. Lots of love.                          CUT TO:                                   INT. ARON'S APARTMENT. DAY.                                   In front of his bathroom mirror he's slipping his lenses in          for the day. It looks like The Man Who Fell To Earth.                          CUT TO:                                                            INT. C/U: VARIOUS. ARON & MIRROR. DAY.          Huge close-ups that freak people out who've never worn          lenses. Mirror shots and lots of short soft focus.                                                   CUT TO:                                   INT. ARON'S APARTMENT. DAY.                                   We hear a girl and a guy somewhere in the apartment. He          closes the door. GIRL SHOUTS:                                                   GIRL           That was your Mom! And your Dad           called. Call him. We're going.           See you next week. Oh, and Rana           called.                          CUT TO:                                   INT. CANYON FLOOR. PRE DAWN.          He is absolutely still. Almost absent. Flies buzz around          him. Indeterminate time passes.                          CUT TO:           39.                                                            INT. CANYON FLOOR. PRE DAWN.          Massive C/U of an ant. Huge, high-definition image, more          like a JCB-digger than an insect, and then more of them, and          all moving towards the mosquitoes which hover and land near          the real giant, Aron.                                                   CUT TO:                                   EXT. CANYON. PRE DAWN.          He watches them devour him and then he clears them away from          his hand. Suddenly breaks and he's busy now well before          sunrise. In the grey-white, soft morning he is involved in          recycling his overnight insulation gear into a crude lift and          pulley.          Obsessive, inventive, analytical, he constantly adjusts and          adds and subtracts, and cannibalizes. Undoing and tieing          knots with his teeth and hand. Each time nothing happens to          the rock. But each time he doesn't stop. He tries again and          again and again; looping and re-looping throwing and catching          ropes; creating footholds and bouncing in them with his foot,          his knees, his ass.                                                                                     Finally he stops. He looks down. For a moment it's as though          he will cry. He looks up to where he came from and                                                   CUT TO:                                                            INT/EXT. VARIOUS. CANYON AND BEYOND. DAY.          ... suddenly we're moving, retracing his journey at          increasing and eventually staggering speed.          Through the slot canyon, up and into the blazing light across          the desert paths, past his chained-up bicycle and back to his          truck waiting at the side of the road. But we don't stop...                                    SLAM CUT TO:                                   INT. ARON'S TRUCK. DAY.          We crash into the back of the truck and there, lying on its          side is an almost-full bottle of Gatorade, and then there's a          grapefruit, and another one, and they've got sparkly          condensation on them -like advertising spritzer mist - all          over them. And a water bottle, and an orange. And high          energy snack bars and another orange. The fruit seems to          roll around the empty truck.           40.                                                            The Gatorade lies on its side and the liquid slaps slowly          backward and forward like a Lava lamp. The liquid literally          bulges with wetness, moisture texture, and we...                          CUT TO:                                                            INT. CANYON. DAY.          ... snap back to Aron's face.                          CUT TO:                                                  TITLE:                                                  " MONDAY ":                          CUT TO:                                                            VIDEO MESSAGE TWO. INTERCUT WITH LIVE FOOTAGE.                                   Aron trying not to look at himself:                                                                            ARON          It's freaking me out looking at myself so I hope you guys are          OK with this                                                  PAUSE                          CUT TO:                                                                           REALTIME:                                   We can see 2 images of him when we go behind the balanced          video on the rock, as he has deliberately turned the screen          away from himself.                          CUT TO:                                                  VIDEO:                                                   ARON           It's Monday - all day - bummer. I           spent the morning trying to create           a 6:1 system ration and lift the           boulder but friction between the           rope and carabiners is dissipating           every bit of force I apply.                          (MORE)           41.                                                   ARON (CONT'D)           All it's good for is sitting in...                                                   CUT TO:                                                  REALTIME:                                   We see a more objective view of his morning's activities as          he describes them. We see him below us as the raven flies          between us and him.                          CUT TO:                                                                           VIDEO:                          ARON           There's a raven flies overhead, I           clocked it at 8.15. I'll bet it's           there tomorrow too. I'll film it           for you tomorrow                          CUT TO:                                                            REALTIME: EXT. SKY. DAY.          We see the raven and we see him check his watch. Sure          enough, 8.14 Slides to 8.15.                                                   CUT TO:                                                                           VIDEO:                          ARON           I have about one hundred and fifty           millilitres of water left. That's           four ounces. I can't believe it           but I peed twice today, within a           few minutes of each other. How is           this possible? It's two days since           I peed, I'm dehydrated and I had to           go so quickly I forgot to save the           first. I saved the second in the           CamelBak. Will I drink it? It           smells foul, and hot but it'll           settle. And I can chill it in the           sand in the night. It's like Polar           winter here for nine hours.                          CUT TO:           42.                                                                           REALTIME:          We see his precious bottle of water. It looks back at him.          Next to it is the Camelbak of his stored urine.                          CUT TO:                                                                           VIDEO:                          ARON           No number twos. Which will           disappoint my insect friends.           They're gonna have to wait. The           sunlight appears down here for a           few hours. I get 15 minutes of it           at 9.35... and apart from chipping           away uselessly at this rock that's           pretty much my morning routine.                          CUT TO:                                                            REALTIME - TIME-LAPSE:                                   Aron is deathly still as we travel towards him with the          dagger of light. His leg is stretched out and the only          movement is the change of leg halfway through. He stays in          shot throughout getting bigger and then smaller as the light          approaches and recedes; the sliver of light leaves the          canyon.                          CUT TO:                                                                           VIDEO:                          ARON           I keep chipping at the rock but           just to generate warmth and give me           something to do. I think it's           making it worse. I know it's           settling more on my arm as I remove           material from it. The area where I           chipped flakes off yesterday has           already rotated down onto my arm.                                    PAUSE. I can't feel anything.           PAUSE. So I made a great           tourniquet and I tried to cut it           off.                          CUT TO:           43.                                                                           REALTIME:          We see him pull the elastic neoprene tubing insulation from          the CamelBak. It's stretchy, supple and strong and emerges          like a thin snake. It's perfect. He wraps the black          neoprene around his right forearm 2 inches below his elbow.          Simple overhand knot tightened with his teeth. 2nd knot, 3rd          knot, clips the neoprene with a carabiner and twists 6 times          tight.                                                                            ARON                          OWWWWW                                   Now real pain in his right arm. Weird smile at the success.          The skin colour separates; fish belly white below the          tourniquet and bright red bunched up crushes of flesh between          the elbow and the tourniquet.                          ARON (CONT'D)           Oh yeah. That aches.          He takes out the multi-tool and switches to the long blade.          looks at it. Then he presses the blade and draws it quickly          across his forearm. Nothing. Repeats it harder. Nothing.          No cut, no blood, nothing. He switches to the short knife          and saws viciously at the same point.                          ARON (CONT'D)           Shit!          He releases the tourniquet and as the blood flow returns a          series of angry red lines establish themselves where he was          sawing. He looks at them.                          ARON (CONT'D)           Pathetic, Aron, pathetic.                          CUT TO:                                                                           VIDEO:                          ARON           The blades are too blunt even to           break the skin. I guess that's the           chipping. It's not even a proper           Leatherman. It's a knock-off one           we got free in a gift pack with a           torch... Mom gave it to me.           LONG PAUSE.           Sis. Sonja, I'm very proud of you.                          (MORE)           44.                                                   ARON (CONT'D)           I didn't get to hear firsthand how           your championships went, but I           heard from Mom that you placed very           well at the national competitions,           that you were tenth overall in           speech and debate in the nation.           Hot damn, girl. I'm very proud of           you. Not just for that but for who           you are.          He looks directly in the lens for the first time.                                                   ARON (CONT'D)           I can imagine you in your living           room looking back at me.                          CUT TO:                                   INT. CANYON. DAY.                                   We see his sister on her living room sofa. The sofa sits in          the open section of the canyon.                                                   CUT TO:                                   INT. CANYON. DAY. VIDEO FOOTAGE.                                                   ARON           I've been thinking about what my           friend Rob in Aspen says to me           several... frequently.. Several times           that, confusingly,           'It's not what you do but who you           are'.           I kind of got hung up on that a           lot, because I always thought who I           was, was very much wrapped up with           what I did. That I was happy           because of the things that I did           that made me happy. If things you           do make you happy, then they can           also make you unhappy. I think           that's why I found myself being as           ambitious and energetic -          The wind interrupts him and he shivers.                          ARON (CONT'D)           (mutters, bitterly)           It's cold... this place is an ice-           box at night... And killing winds.           45.                                                                           PAUSE                          ARON (CONT'D)           (he struggles to complete           the sense of the                          SENTENCE)                                    " - to do all the outings that I           did". PAUSE.          As he loses track of what he's saying and then catches up,          the canyon has become noticeably darker. He's oblivious.                          ARON (CONT'D)           I did want to say, on the           logistical side of things, I have           some American Express insurance           that should cover costs of the           recovery operation when that does           happen. Bank account balances           should take care of my credit-card           debts. You'll have to sell my           house, Mom and Dad. Possession-           wise, I don't know if Sonja can use           my computer and video camera...                                                   CUT TO:                                   INT. CANYON. DAY.                                   He's interrupted by a sudden realization as he looks first          one way up the canyon and then the other. He looks up at the          sky above.                                                   CUT TO:                                                            EXT. SLOT CANYON. DAY. ARON'S POV.          There's an angry looking black motherfucker of a cloud.                          CUT TO:                                                                                                              HUGE C/U OF:          A massive crack of noise like the land has split. His eyes          staring up, unblinking, the corridor of light above him          reflected in is contact lenses like mirrors. Suddenly a drop          of water hits his eye like an invisible bomb dropping from          the sky.                          CUT TO:           46.                                                            EXT. DESERT. DAY.          We're many miles away, the dust spits as though hit by silent          bullet tracer fire. Raindrops gathering and multiplying,          soaking and bouncing off the desert floor, they skim and slip          into a groove and then another, the slit instantly fills and          water drops crash on the new surface. The spillage spreads          and fills everything near it. We tilt up, the sky is furious          black, and murderous. Lightning arcs across hundreds of          miles.                          CUT TO:                                   INT. CANYON. DAY.                                   Aron's sky darkens above him. Instantly plunging him into a          dark, violet nether-light. He looks up the canyon as he          pulls at his arm in panic and tries to gather his laid-out          possessions into his backpack. Simultaneously he opens his          mouth to gather any drops he can into his parched throat.                                                   CUT TO:                                                            EXT. DESERT. DAY.          A channel fills now as the grooves spill and multiply. The          water poured from above appears everywhere, visibility is          virtually gone, whether it's through mist or darkness it's          impossible to tell.                          CUT TO:                                                            EXT. DESERT. DAY.          Another channel explodes like a volcanic surging mass in          every direction. The camera literally slips and slides as          the water now seems to take a direction towards deeper          gulleys, looking for something to fill, for somewhere to          escape to.                                   The floor of the desert becomes a river careering towards the          slot canyons.                          CUT TO:                                                            EXT. DESERT. DAY.          Now carrying debris with it the water cascades into the          natural pipe-work of the desert.                          CUT TO:           47.                                                            EXT. BLUE JOHN CANYON S-LOG. DAY.          We see the S log from below as someone seems to pour          unimaginable tons of water over the lips of the canyon above          it. The walls glisten with force as the canyon becomes a 6FT          wall of churning mud, hurtling towards the chockstones. The          smaller ones are picked up and tossed downstream, smashing          and breaking on the bigger ones.                          CUT TO:                                   INT. CANYON. DAY. WIDE.          We can see Aron in the distance pulling at his arm. Without          time to watch it's journey towards him, it seems to skip time          and hit him like a tsunami under-surging the initial push of          water on the floor.                          CUT TO:                                                            INT. CANYON. DAY. CLOSER.          In an instant it smashes into his chest, scattering all of          his possessions as he still tries to grab them.                                                            He pushes and pulls, trying to gain height but is underwater          almost immediately. He tries to take a huge suck of air          before he's submerged but even that is compromised by water.          We hear him choke and he disappears into the liquid wall of          mud.                                                   CUT TO:                                                            INT. CANYON. DAY. UNDERWATER FOOTAGE.          We're with him underwater. He's trying to switch his light          on. We can see almost nothing in this washing machine of          churning slush and debris and malevolent water. The light          flicks on. He can see his arm and the rock. Suddenly the          water lifts the chockstone and his arm releases. He pulls it          towards him, luminous deathly white in the mud, and flat, and          too big.                          CUT TO:                                                            INT. CANYON. DAY. UNDERWATER FOOTAGE.          We're close on Aron's face, at last free but now suffocating          in darkness.                                                   CUT TO:           48.                                                            INT: CANYON. NIGHT.          Aron gasps and throws his night bag off his head and to the          floor. He's sweating and gasping; thumped alert but...                          CUT TO:                                                                           TITLE:                         " NIGHT THREE ":                          CUT TO:                                                            INT. CANYON. NIGHT.          ... the canyon is dry as Mars. He tries to control his          breathing. Head down, sweat drips onto his arm - he licks it          off and lifts his head - a sudden shiver - looks at his          watch.                                                   CUT TO:                                                            C/U. WATCH:          The display changes from 20.29 => 20.30                          CUT TO:                                                            INT. CANYON. NIGHT.                                   He can't believe so little time has passed. He's only just          closed his eyes. It's going to be a long night.          The two bottles stand looking at him. He goes back in the          head bag and we go with him.                          CUT TO:                                   INT. ROPE BAG. NIGHT          He holds the video camera at waist height and switches it to          playback. He rewinds through his messages. Stops, switches          off playback and rewinds the blue LCD screen to save battery.          The light is surreal, soft LCD hell.                                                   CUT TO:                                   HUGE C/U OF:          Battery time. Time rewinding, hurtling backwards.           49.                                                            Stops. Plays back.                          CUT TO:                                   INT. CATHEDRAL CAVE. DAY. VIDEO FOOTAGE.                                   Megan and Kristi. The Cathedral. They clamber out in wet          clothes - it's from after their first jumps. We see all          three of them climb and fall and get out of the water and          climb and fall, smashing into the azure water. Their faces          are dripping wet, beaming mad, screaming and howling,          completely natural, children really, on their first helter-          skelter / Big Dipper.                                   He rewinds this time in vision. Kristi's bra and pants are          soaking. Megan's top cascades water as she rises out of the          water.                          CUT TO:                                                            INT. ROPE BAG. NIGHT          For Aron the volume of his and their shouting is deafening          and the first human sounds he has heard for days. He          watches, staring, laughing; not laughing, staring, eyes          tearing in self-pity.                          CUT TO:                                                            C/U: VIDEO CAMERA                                   HE STOPS IT IN VISION          There's water, joy, 2 beautiful girls, happiness, sensuality,          company, freedom...                          CUT TO:                                                            INT. ROPE BAG. NIGHT.          He looks at the picture and then into the bag. His breathing          is hard, pronounced. He carefully tells himself..                                                   ARON           No. No. Don't.                                   He sees the moisture on the inside of the bag, condensation.          He licks it with his sticky tongue, twice, three times. He          looks back at the LCD screen.                          CUT TO:           50.                                                            INT. ROPE BAG. NIGHT.          The LCD looks back at him.                          CUT TO:                                                            INT. ROPE BAG. NIGHT.          He kills the image and snaps it shut.                          CUT TO:                                   INT. CANYON. NIGHT.                                   He emerges from the bag.          21.05 and looks at the bottle. He takes the Camelbak and          saying...                                                   ARON           See you later...          ... swallows quickly 2 'spoons' of urine without disturbing          the sediment. Tangy and bitter, the saltiness makes him          wince.                          CUT TO:                                                            INT. ARON'S TRUCK. DUSK.          We're in his truck again but this time over his shoulder and          we can see the Scooby Doo Figure dancing in the distance.          It's now lit up too, as night is falling, and we're coming at          it from the other direction. As he gets to it he swerves and          follows its guide to the party.           JUMP CUT TO:                                                            EXT. DRIVEWAY. NIGHT          Jump cut, pulling up at the party.           JUMP CUT TO:                                                            INT. PARTY. NIGHT.          Jump cut, inside it's nice, full of ordinary decent people,          though no one acknowledges Aron as we stay attached to his          shoulder. There's a mini-Scooby Doo dancing in the main room          and there's a light, early party atmosphere. Aron searches          for the girls, approaching any cluster to see which girls          they contain. Rana is there but doesn't acknowledge him.           51.                                                            There's no Megan or Kristi anywhere and we finally settle on          the bar / drinks table where there is an ocean of all kinds          of drink. And melting ice in huge buckets with bottles of          beer floating around in them. And orange juice, and          popsicles. And melon, and lemon and lime. And grapefruit          and oranges for Margaritas are filling frosted glasses.          During the ritual we...                                                   CUT TO:                                   INT. CANYON. NIGHT          Aron ducks out of his head-bag and shakes his water bottle.          Something he always does - to check the sound of real water.          To make sure he hasn't drunk it all without knowing. He          opens, tilts and holds as always and then ritualistically          removes his contact lenses and washes them in his mouth.          Suddenly a shiver tears across him like an attack dog. He          coughs a lens out and as he tries to catch it before it goes          into the sand he tips the bottle in his lap.          He hasn't put the top on fully. It goes horizontal on his          shorts and a leak of the sacred fluid darkens his tan shorts.          He whips it upright.                          ARON           (furious at himself)           Fuck a nut, Aron. Pay fucking           attention - look what you did?          He stares at the stain - with all the dirt on his shorts it's          already paste. He screws the lid on slowly and can barely be          bothered to lift his lens into his mouth.                          CUT TO:                                   HUGE C/U OF:          With difficulty he puts the murky lens back in his bloody          eye.                          DISSOLVE TO:                                                            INT. UNKNOWN. NIGHT.          The image shifts with the lens to night, everything short          focus. Only one thing at a time clear, everything else          diffuse. No idea where we are. We come over Aron's shoulder          and he's clearly in the deep background of a vehicle. In          front of him a half a dozen of his friends (boys and          girls)... and Rana, excitedly chatting. Though we can hear          nothing.           52.                                                            Gradually it becomes clear it's night outside. They are all          undressing in their seats until all are butt naked. The tone          (we can't hear) is clearly more infantile than sexual. We're          beginning to see there's a ferocious blizzard outside. And          we appear to be badly exposed to it. Up a mountain, on the          crest of a high road... Snow, hail, swirls savagely around          all sides of the truck. We remain inside. It's warm, the          heater blows.          They prepare themselves for a mutual signal, press their          window buttons. All the windows open and a BLIZZARD explodes          inside the vehicle.                          CUT TO:                                                            EXT. MOUNTAIN. NIGHT.          One shot outside - POVs naked arms out the windows shaking          and saluting the storm. Their crazy, happy faces through the          windscreen as the weather invades the vehicle.                                                   CUT TO:                                                            INT. CANYON. NIGHT.          Aron very still, listens to their screams. He looks at his          knife dangling from his wrist by the shoelace.                                                   CUT TO:                                   EXT. CANYON. SUNRISE.                                   Hundreds of miles of canyon - sunrise. The inner canyons          change from dark umbers and black shadows to immense bands of          pastel yellow, white, green and a hundred shades of red, a          hallucinogenic movement towards light.           V.O.           `Good morning America!' etc.                                   There's a chorus of 'Good Mornings' from American TV & radio          shows. Literally dozens of them from Texas to Oregon,          Massachusetts to the Carolinas.                                                   CUT TO:                                                  TITLE:                         " TUESDAY ":                          CUT TO:           53.                                                            INT. CANYON. MORNING. VIDEO FOOTAGE.          Aron joins the morning chorus.                          ARON           Good morning everyone! It's 6:45           Tuesday morning in BJ Canyon. The           weather is great! I figure by now           that Leona, my housemate - Hi           Leona! - has missed me hopefully           since I didn't show up last night.           Another hour and a half they'll           miss me for not showing up for           work. Hi Brion at work! Best case           scenario is they notify the police           and after a 24 hour hold they file           a report, a missing persons report.           Which means noon tomorrow it's           official that I'm gone. I do still           have the tiniest bit of water left.           Well, actually, I've resorted...I've           had a couple pretty good gulps of           urine that I saved in my Camelbak.           I sorta let it distill...it tastes           like hell. So it's 70 hours since           I left on my bike from Horseshoe           Trailhead during which time I have           consumed 3 liters of water and a           couple mouthfuls of piss.                                   Pause.           Did I say the weather is great?           Well, it is. Though flash floods           potential is still present. There's           4-prong major canyons upstream from           me that all converge in this 3 foot           wide gap where I am. The rock I           pulled down on top of me, it was           put there by flood.                          PAUSE           Still, I'd get a drink.          He shudders, it's ridiculous.          Then composes himself during a long blink and looks straight          at the camera.                          ARON (CONT'D)           Mom, Dad, I really love you guys.           I wanted to take this time to say           the times we've spent together have           been awesome. I haven't appreciated           you in my own heart the way I know           I could. Mom, I love you. I wish           I'd returned all of your calls,           ever.                          (MORE)           54.                                                   ARON (CONT'D)           I really have lived this last year.           I wish I had learned some lessons           more astutely, more rapidly, than I           did. I love you. I'll always be           with you.                          CUT TO:                                                            INT. CANYON. MORNING.          Switches off the camera.          He charges into setting up the 6:1 haul system again. Much          quicker this time. He clears the rope - the rock - of his          possessions and puts his sunglasses on.                          ARON           Ready for lift-off.          He bounces his full weight in the stirrups and pulls on the          haul line. It looks a better set up.                          ARON (CONT'D)           Come on, move, dammit.                                   Nothing. He stops. And stares directly at the knife below          him. Absolute stillness. Nothing moves. Not him. Not even          the insects.                                                   CUT TO:                                   INT. CANYON. MORNING.                                   The knife stares back.                          CUT TO:                                                            INT. CANYON. MORNING.          Without warning he suddenly tourniquets his arm again . Twice          around the fore arm, knotted twice and clipped with a          carabiner that he twists 6 times. He secures the fix by          attaching the purple webbing.                                   Looks to his watch                          CUT TO:                                   C/U: DIGITAL NUMERALS          7:58AM.                                                   CUT TO:           55.                                                            INT. CANYON. DAY.          He folds open the knife, grasps it in his fist and picking a          spot just above the rock's grip on his right wrist, he          hesitates and then violently plunges the blade into his arm          up to the hilt.                                   He lets go leaving the knife embedded. He swoons and stares          at it. He slowly grasps the tool more firmly and wriggles it          slightly, the blade connects with something hard. He taps the          knife down and feels it knocking on the radius of his upper          forearm bone.          He puts his ear close and we can hear the little thocking          sound.                                                   ARON           Whoa, that's the bone.          He pulls the knife out opening the wound more. There's barely          any blood. He pokes at the gash with the tool.                                                   ARON (CONT'D)           Ouch!                                   He can see the epidermis, thick and leathery rough. Yellow          fatty tissue under the skin in a membrane layer around the          muscle. He thocks, thocks again and some blood finally seeps          out and blocks his view. He pulls the knife out and thinks.          He's sweating and puts the tool on top of the chockstone.                                   He immediately pulls up his water bottle and stares into it.          With a little shake he opens it and drinks it all gulping          open throated. He shakes any last drop down and runs his          tongue up into the neck. He screws the lid back on and          loosens the tourniquet. There's no discernible increase in          blood loss.          He picks up the video again.                          CUT TO:                                                                                                    VIDEO FOOTAGE                                                   ARON (CONT'D)           This next part may not be for all           viewers at home. It's a little           after eight. At precisely eight           o'clock I took my last sip of clean           water... and... hide your eyes,           Mom...          He pans across the boulder and zooms in on the wound,          smattered with bright red blood.           56.                                                                            ARON (CONT'D)           I made an attempt - a short career           in surgery, as it turned out -           those knives are just not anywhere           close to the task. I've got about           an inch-wide gash in my arm that           goes about a half inch deep. I cut           down through the skin and the fatty           tissue, and through some of the           muscle. I think I cut a tendon, but           I'm not sure.           I'll never saw through the bones           with this knife. I tried, anyways.           It really just didn't go well. The           tourniquet is relaxed at this           point. Which actually is a little           bothersome, considering I'm not           bleeding that bad, barely at all.           It's so weird. You'd expect to           definitely see more pulsing and           bleeding, but oh well.                          PAUSE                                    I'm really fucked now. I'm out of           water.                          CUT TO:                                                            INT. CANYON. DAY.          Stops the video and rips a section of his t-shirt to make an          impromptu bandage to cover the wound. As he ties it with his          teeth there's a rush of someone else's noise: the swat of          wings. He grabs the camera just in time to catch the very end          of the raven's flight 70 ft above his head.                          ARON           Shit missed it. 8:31AM. He's late           and I still missed it.                                   We can hear his heart racing. He holds his left hand to it          hoping to calm it down.                          CUT TO:                                                            EXT. STADIUM. CROWDS.          Like the beginning there are thousands of fans filling the          screen, people everywhere, maybe holding lighters. And again          like the beginning the screen splits into 2...           57.                                                                           TITLE:          " NIGHT FOUR. WEDNESDAY. NIGHT FIVE "                          CUT TO:                                                            INT/EXT. VARIOUS.          The rest of Tuesday and night, and Wednesday and night play          out through the triptych. Repetition is used to create a          trippy sense of losing coherence- sometimes there's 3 Arons          doing the same thing. It could be consecutive days or he's          forgotten.                                   At key moments it resolves to one image and then back again.          Things seem to loop and his close-ups almost seem to watch          the loops happening again and again. This is particularly          true inside the head bag at night. When his light is switched          on it's bleached and monstrously overlit, like cruel HD close-          up - his disintegration is terrifying.                                   When it's off we establish a night vision, of green, of blue,          that allows us to witness him in hiding. The images,          sometimes of himself also, play out on the interior surface          of the bag. The effect is like wraparound Imax, multi-screen          Technicolor.                                   INT. CANYON. DAY. DIPTYCH.                                   Aron has his headphones on EXT. STADIUM CROWD                                                                                     Listening to the live concert          again.                                   The laser in the CD The crowd smears,          skips. dragged and distorted.          It's been damaged by the time in The numbers skip on the          the sand. display.                                                            As they stop...                          CUT TO:                                                            INT. CANYON. DAY.          Aron falls into the canyon.           58.                                                                                     Beyond the foot 11.32 => 11.33          in the sunlight Aron falls again into the HUGE figures.          dagger. We don't canyon replayed in slower          see above waist motion V.O: HERE he is          height. Someone Aron lifts a          carrying 2 huge huge rock onto          office water his shoulder          dispensers by and heaves it          their necks walks to crash on          into the canyon the chockstone          He walks up to Aron It shatters          And puts them down into dust.          his side and leaves. It's like          ARON: quarry mining.          `Thanks' He finds a                          BLACK SHOT-           Adverts - 7UP, etc. Some putt sized           televised, some billboard rock and           some radio, pull tab cans begins           split and spit, slurpees hammering with           grapefruit juice, OJ that -           popsicles. ARON:           `owwww!'           But he carries           on.                          SHUDDERING SO                          VIOLENTLY WITH          Temperature 57 - shivers, like          56 - 55 (huge a fit teeth          Figures) chattering,                          RACKING HIS           A figure starts body with a           a small fire to furious           comfort Aron. vengeance.           Perfect for bacon           and beans.          He pisses again 02.02=>03.03=>04.04          ARON: Huge luminous figures on There's the          "I can't believe the inside of the black interior Scooby          this..." bag. Doo waving at a          decants the table in front          sediment out of V.O: There you are of it piled to          Camelbak. The creaking point          stench of the with margaritas          sediment makes the excess runs          him retch and jerk down the table          away. Where is all legs.          This coming from?                         ARON:          `Fuck Aron 05.05 We see it reflected          That shit stinks' on his eyeball the eyelid           rustles back and forward.          Finished he tucks          back in but VIDEO FOOTAGE: During this we          there's a small [ARON: RAMBLING ON VIDEO see pictures,           59.                                                            bloom. ARON: ONLY SOMETIMES COHERENT] unremarkable          `You can shake Tom, thanks for the lovely, natural          and you can dance fire last night...          but the last My friend Rob in Aspen ones of Erik +          drop is in the says to me several... Jon + Kristi +          pants'- of pee frequently... several Matt + Brent +          on his shorts. times, confusingly, Gary + Judson +                          BRYAN + MIKE +           INT. ROB IN CANYON ON SOFA. Rachel + Angie           ROB: `It's not what you do [SOME TAKE           but who you are'. THEIR TURN ON          + Erik + Rana + THE SOFA IN          Sonja + Jean Marc THE CANYON]                         + CHAD + KELLER          + Soha + Craig + Aron falls          Brandon + Chip + One of the things again - the          Norm I'm learning here is that I accident           didn't enjoy people's re-runs in           company that I was with silhouette           enough, or as much as I           could have. A lot of really           good people have spent time           with me. Very often I tend           to ignore or dismiss their           presence in seeking the He eats the           essence of their presence. last bite of                          BURRITO WASHED           Did that make sense? down with a           swig of urine,           He switches off and applies winces and           lip balm. swallows           somehow. ARON:           He looks at it and bites a `That's it.           bit off. Masticates it on I'm on the           and on... Chewing. urine diet           now. Well,          The chockstone it's no          waits and Aron's slurpee...'          foot kicks and          then lands and          they fall together.                                   The raven flies. => The accident runs in Aron watches           reverse the raven           INT. STORE ROOM. DAY.           REFLECTED ON THE INSIDE           OF THE NIGHT HEAD BAG.                                                  ARON CHIPPING          away desultory A slit of light in blackness           reveals Jon in work clothes.          Aron licks A light switch flicks on and          moisture thin metal shelves full of          condensation cleaning supplies appear He takes shots          from inside the on 3 sides, industrial mop, of himself          bag. His head- Aron in his canyon gear, with his still           60.                                                            lamp blinks right arm out of focus. camera and of          unreliably. Tries to knock on door with his hand and           left arm. Jon stops him and of the light           indicates it won't do any in the canyon.          V.O: Where are good. He takes one          You going? with the flash           VIDEO FOOTAGE: at night in           ARON: I'm holding on but the canyon.           it's really slowing down, And one inside           the time is going really the bag           slow but my heart rate is blinding          INT. GARAGE. DAY. going like crazy [WE HEAR himself. The          We're in the IT POUNDING IN CONTRAST spots in his          doorway of a TO HIS SLURRING DELIVERY] eyes bleed          garage with I swear it's like 3 x what across into          friends in the it should be... other shots          background gathered and change          around Rana who colour.          is working on one Rewinded video -          of the giant Megan and Kristi          Easter Island masks and back through          for Burning Man. his life in the          She chats away, canyon and then          carefree, some of him          she's in baggy climbing in snow          dungarees or that existed on          overalls with her the tape - triumphant          hair falling around pose on top of the icy          her face out of its wonder. All ice picks          hairband. She brushes and Gore-Tex.          it back and flecks of          Plaster of Paris dust          her skin. She notices          Aron. V.O: He's over here          RANA: There you are.          She shouts to someone:          RANA: Here he is.           Mum and Dad sitting on           Sofa. Sofa sitting in canyon He imagines           In front of him - flash-floods his head in           Of light the dagger           of sunlight.                          HIS HEAD                          TURNS ALWAYS           Rana's face is remaining in           huge on the inside the light.An           of his head bag, smiling accelerating           at him. Her face in huge carousel of           scale compared to his head. yellow           warmth.                                                   CUT TO:                                                            ALL THE SCREENS GO BLACK.           61.                                                            INT. ROPE BAG. BLACK.          Breathing close but shallow and rasping.                          ARON           God, it's Aron again. I still need           some help. It's getting bad here.           I'm out of water and food.           Listen. Give me the strength not to           do anything against myself. I want           to see this through, whatever.          A rumbling thunderous sound grows and the inside of the bag          begins to bear the image of the top of the canyon at dawn but          crumpled like paper, creased like the bag [BUT STRETCHED          ACROSS 2 SCREENS]. The noise grows and grows...                          CUT TO:                                   INT. CANYON. DAY. INT. CANYON. DAY.          ARON'S UPWARD POV.          When it can get no louder Obscuring the light on          a horse leaps the 6 ft gap his face once they've          at the top of the canyon. gone and only dust          it's followed by dozens of falling lightly is          horses stampeding across his evidence then...          roof....                                                                                                     CUT TO:                                                            EXT. SKY. DAY.          ...the raven beats its wings across the canyon.                          CUT TO:                                                            INT. CANYON. DAY. SINGLE SCREEN.          We tilt down the wall (still reflected on inside of bag) to          see Aron completing his obit. Scratched on wall of canyon:          Aron Oct 75 => APR 03 RIP.          As we reverse back on Aron in the canyon there's a burst of          light and color beyond him and on the sofa in the canyon a          little boy sits. He's blond, about 3 and in a red polo shirt.          He looks like Aron.          Aron walks towards him, the sunlight hits his face like a          train and Aron looks up to it but keeps moving towards the          boy, walking downhill towards the sofa. The boy leaps off the          sofa and comes running to Aron.           62.                                                            He scoops the boy up with his left arm and balances him          around his shoulders with his right handed stump. The boy          holds Aron's arms in his little hands and they prance around          the sofa, they giggle and shout playing bulls, giraffes,          elephants, jousting knights, pretending to walk downhill          behind the sofa. Like any father in any park. [A PERFECT POP          SONG, BLONDIE MAYBE, PLAYS IN THE DISTANCE]. Like any father          in any park.          Aron watches the image begin to fade. He switches on the          light but its low and feeble.          As the images on the inside of the bag fade so too does          Aron's lamp. He tries to warm it up but it fades to black. He          holds his breath.                                                   CUT TO:                                   INT. CANYON. DAY.                                   It's strangely still even by the canyon's standards. He peeks          out from his head bag; his contacts are cloudy and sore to          blink.                                   You can hear him blink. Eye socket rasping against eyeball.          The head lolls like he's lost control of the neck muscles.          His tongue rasps as he flexes his mouth to prevent sealing.                                                   CUT TO:                                   TITLE.                                   " THURSDAY MAY 1st ".                          CUT TO:                                                            INT. CANYON. DAY.          He looks at his obituary on the wall. ARON. OCT 75 => APR 03.          RIP.                          ARON           Out of date. May Day. Not dead.          He smirks.                                   8:15 Waits for the raven. No sign                          INTERCUT WITH:                                   C/U. DIGITAL NUMERALS.                                   8:30. Nothing.           63.                                                            8:45 No raven.                          CUT TO:                                   INT. CANYON. DAY. VIDEO FOOTAGE.                                   It's tough looking at him. So long without water. The          dehydration is frightening.                          ARON           No raven today. Everything's           fucked. Sonja... if you still want           me to play at your wedding... there's           a tape in a box in the basement of           Mom and Dad's Lounge. It's me 1993           or 1994.          We hear the music. Mozart, Beethoven, Bach, Chopin - he can          hear it as he played it until...                                                   ARON (CONT'D)           There was a little boy,and he           looked like my cousin Charlie but           he was too young. And I don't want           to die... But I really don't know           what to do.          Pause.                                   Quietly, deadly:                          VOICE           I did this Aron. I created this.           The boulder did what it was here to           do. It was waiting for me but it           did the only natural thing it could           do. I chose to come here, I chose           to do this descent by myself. I           chose not to tell anyone where I           was going. I chose to turn away           from the women who were there to           keep me from getting in this           trouble. I wanted it to be like           this. Look how far I came to find           this spot.                                    It's not that I'm getting what I           deserve - I'm getting what I           wanted.          He's empty now. He clicks the camera shut and puts it away.          That's over.                          CUT TO:           64.                                                            INT. CANYON. DAY.          He looks at his 'good' hand. It's swollen and angry red like          an inflated prosthetic on top and around of his real hand. He          takes off his shoe and pulls the sock over his hand to          cushion his palm and picks up the black rounded hammer rock          again. Ignoring the pain he starts hammering at the rock          surface. SMASH. MAD NOW.                          ARON           I hate this rock.          The rage blooms purple in his mind.                          ARON (CONT'D)           I hate it.          His face swells with anger, nostrils flaring.                          ARON (CONT'D)           I hate this fucking canyon.                                   A small mushroom cloud of pulverized grit and dust erupts          each time.                                                   ARON (CONT'D)           I hate this cold slab pressing me           against this damp fucking wall.          Smash, Smash, Smash.                                                   ARON (CONT'D)           I know there's water near coz of           these fucking mosquitoes.                                                                                     The sock quickly disintegrates with friction as he hammers          and hammers.                          ARON (CONT'D)           I hate this fucking mess.                                   Finally he stops but his fingers are paralyzed, fused rigid          around the rock. He pulls them off with his teeth and the          stone drops to his feet.                                   There's a thick layer of dust across the top of the stone and          his right arm. He tries to blow it away. He fails. Tired,          it's too thick and he's too dehydrated. He picks up his knife          and using this starts sweeping the grit off his thumb. As he          cleans up he accidentally rips away a thin piece of decayed          flesh. It peels back a long way like a skin of boiled milk.          The insects start to gather.                          ARON (CONT'D)           Shit.           65.                                                            He pokes the thumb with the stubbed point of the blade. On          the second prod the blade punctures the epidermis like soft          butter. There is a clear hiss as gases escape. The stench is          death. He looks at the gangrene attached to him, poisoning          him.           ARON (QUIET, CLEAR) (CONT'D)           Get rid of it Aron, it's dead, it's           garbage.          He drops to his haunches but the webbing stops him at his          waist. He detaches it and drops down again, almost able to          squat. His trapped arm is the only thing preventing that.          His face is suddenly open.                                   He pushes and pushes with his left hand under the boulder to          create maximum downward force on his right arm. Hard, harder,          HARDER. It looks insane, unnatural and painful, but he says          nothing.                                                  POW          Like a gunshot in the canyon, the bone breaks. The sound          ricochets. He rises and sees the bone pushing up violently          against the skin. He feels it. It's a serrated, but clean,          successful break.          Still he says nothing.                                   Now he humps his body up and over the chockstone, smearing          his feet, one with a shoe, one without, against the wall, he          pushes grabbing further and further round the dark side of          the chockstone, pulling with a silent, furious intensity.          Hard, then harder, and HARDER.                                                                                                    BANG          A second gun shot smashes around the canyon. He's sweating          heavily and yet euphoric, possessed. He checks the underneath          of the arm. It's broken too. Around the same place.          He can rotate his forearm like a shaft inside a housing.          Giving himself no time to wake up he grabs the knife, looks          at the watch-                          CUT TO:                                   C/U: DIGITAL NUMERALS.                         10:32                                                   CUT TO:           66.                                                            INT. CANYON. DAY.          He mutters...                          ARON           Ok Aron, here we go. You're in it           now.                                   He pushes the knife hard, to the hilt, in between 2 veins on          his wrist.          Fuck knows where the sweat is coming from but it's pouring          out of him.          Sawing downwards he makes as large a hole as he can without          tearing any of the noodle like veins. He puts the knife in          his teeth and pokes his left forefinger and thumb inside his          right arm.          Like a mechanic he looks to analyse and then he works by feel          only.                                   His sweat falls on his knife mixing with the blood.          He pulls muscle nearer the surface allowing his knife to          slice and pare away at a pinky 'finger-sized' fragment bit by          bit. It takes a dozen actions, each time the knife goes back          to his teeth.          Sort. Pinch. Rotate. Slice.                                   There's not a lot of blood. But he keeps working and working.          Once the blood increases he puts the knife down on top of the          rock and swiftly ties his tourniquet.                                   He's silent, refusing to verbalize the pain.                          CUT TO:                                                            C/U: DIGITAL NUMERALS.          10.53                          CUT TO:                                                            INT. CANYON. DAY.          He can't cut the tendon, no matter how hard he slices. But          nothing will stop his addiction to surgery now. He folds in          and swaps the blade for the pliers. He uses them to bite into          an edge of the yellowy tendon. Then squeezing and twisting he          tears away a fragment.                                                                                     Grip. Squeeze. Twist. Tear.           67.                                                            Finally he finishes the tendon.                          CUT TO:                                   C/U: DIGITAL NUMERALS.                                                  11:16                          CUT TO:                                   INT. CANYON. DAY.          He returns to the knife. Finally all that remains inside is a          pale white strand. Like swollen angel hair pasta. The nerve.          He touches it with the knife edge.                          ARON           AAAAARRRRRGGGGHHHH!                                   He explodes internally with vocal pain, through gritted          teeth. The first time he has made any sound during the          surgery. But it's like he's been taser-ed, he's stunned still          for a minute                          CUT TO:                                                            C/U: DIGITAL NUMERALS.                         11:17                                                   CUT TO:                                   INT. CANYON. DAY.          He looks at it... the nerve.                          CUT TO:                                                            INT. CANYON. DAY.          ...and the thin, swollen wire of his own nerve looks back at          him. For the final time, he asks himself, `Can you do this?'                          CUT TO:                                   INT. CANYON. DAY.          He puts the knife in and pulls it toward him, an inch, two          inches, it lengthens like pulling a guitar string.          Unimaginable pain builds in his whole body, like he's pushing          his arm into a cauldron of magma...           68.                                                            (It's difficult to tell because everything is so tight and          claustrophobic but maybe the boy is there intermittently          riding his shoulders slipping across and around him, or          obstructed by the boulder and stopped from getting to Aron)          ...until it breaks. He shudders in shock and drops everything          for minutes. His head lolls forward dripping. His mind          swarming with trauma.          And then he's back on the last action stretching the skin of          his outer wrist tight and sawing the blade into the wall.          It's a piece of gristle on a cutting board.          Everything now is forcing us towards the boulder, cramping us          in with him impossibly close, he's sweating and heaving, his          vision blurring with tears, his contacts failing, his breath          impossibly dry and rasping and then, as simply as this all          began, his shoulders open and he's free......          He staggers back, one, two, three steps away from his arm...                                   His head swarming with colours, swooning, overpowering. He          stares at his obituary as he's born again. His feet stagger          under him like a new foal, an involuntary dance, we see          colours bleeding and blending in his P.O.V.s and the colours          invade our shots of him.                          ARON           (spitting out this           declaration at the rock)           I AM NOT GOING TO DIE.... HERE.                          CUT TO:                                                            C/U: DIGITAL NUMERALS.                                                            11.34 am                          CUT TO:                                   INT. CANYON. DAY.          He's busy packaging his stump in the plastic grocery sack and          then wrapping that with the yellow webbing he wore as a          chocker to keep his neck warm in the night. He stuffs the          repackaged arm into the empty Camelbak backpack and throws          the straps over his neck to hold the arm in a makeshift          sling.          Packs his bag, water reservoir, full bottle of shiny urine,          video, pocket knife. Grabs his climbing rope, messy and          knotted from its use as insulation, and heads off down the          canyon.                                   Stops almost immediately and hesitates for a beat. He returns           69.                                                            to take 2 photos on his still camera of the rock and his          hand.          Goodbye.                          CUT TO:                                                            INT. CANYON. DAY.          And now the motion and energy and life force of the action          movie returns...          It's like Ray Liotta's final day in Goodfellas; relentless,          frustrating, pressure of life again now he's free from his          tomb. Deeper and deeper, down and down into the swirling          scoops of the sandstone. Couple of difficult manoeuvres, lots          of slipping and bumping, despite his best effort occasionally          his right shoulder takes the brunt and he stops, winces and          grunts thru the pain.                                   But on he goes, 100 ft of the rope trailing behind him. As          we follow its progress snaking after him we see specs of          blood on the lower walls.                                   The canyon becomes a chute increasingly steep in which he          ignores the shrinking daylight above because he has another          target; the twists and turns of the curricles of sedimented          sandstone lead to a soft glow, red, translucent, growing and          growing in intensity. He pushes forward, the tail of rope          whipping faster and faster along the walls and floor.                                                   CUT TO:                                                            INT/EXT. ROCK SHELF. DAY.                                   Finally, we burst into the dazzling midday sun on a rock          shelf halfway up a sheer walled amphitheatre, 200ft high. The          scale of the slated cliff face opposite is breathtaking, the          dazzling sunlight poaches the air he sucks in and burns his          dry eyes.          He sees, for the first time in his new life, green. The deep          green of a healthy 50ft tree below him and to his left, and          he knows. He looks for the bolts drilled into the rock, and          he knows. Now he can look down. Right to the edge of          vertiginous drop and there below is a puddle of shallow          turgid water. Life itself. He wanted it to be there and now          he's mesmerized by it. A pair of swifts leave the tree and          zig zag up and around him. He wobbles and has to stop himself          lunging head first over the precipice. Instead he drops to          the bolts and kisses them like the pope arriving in a foreign          land.                                   Unravelling the rope of its knots, he's baking in blazing           70.                                                            light. He can't go yet, every knot must be undone pulled open          between his teeth and his hand. But he'll die if he can't          have moisture. He tips the saved urine over himself and          licking and retching simultaneously he suddenly stops and          listens. He can hear a shuffling, a zip-zip... The rope is          uncoiling over the ledge. He put it down to drink. Picking up          speed the more it falls, there's only a few feet left. He          lunges across the ledge and catches it just in time. That was          his future disappearing over the ledge.                          CUT TO:                                   EXT. CANYON. DAY                                                            We're far below - 6 storeys - and see him inch over the edge.          Something's not right. It's a difficult overhang and he's          awkward and vulnerable with only one useful arm. His bad arm          catches horribly on the lip of the ledge. Suddenly he starts          coming fast, faster and then hideously, much too fast,          accelerating out of control and smashing into the water with          deadly force.                          CUT TO:                                                            INT. UNDERWATER. DAY.                                                            We're underneath, deep in the pool, and he crashes in an          explosive cascade of air forced into the water.                          CUT TO:                                                            EXT. C/U: DAY.                                   His feet gently touch the sandy floor, 10ft to the side of          the pool...                          CUT TO:                                   EXT. POOL. DAY                                   ... he's a great climber and even in his present condition          has perfectly executed the descent. And the pool is a puddle,          swimming with dead leaves and insects, 2 inches deep at most.          He falls on it with his bottles, filling them and dipping his          mouth into the water, He washes his head, drinks and fills,          drinks and gargles, and drinks again-insects, leaves,          tadpoles, everything. Blood splashes in beside him so out          comes his map again as he plots his way out. He sees a great          goose- necked avenue before him bending to the right.           71.                                                            Checking the map... there's a long way to go and he's small,          nothing in this landscape.                          CUT TO:                                   EXT. (VARIOUS)CANYON. DAY.                                   He walks shedding any weight that might reduce how long he          can keep going; his equipment, carabiners, headphones; his          harness left like a spent snake skin behind him. He keeps to          the shadows of the huge Monument Valley-like cliffs when he          can.                          CUT TO:                                                            EXT. HORSESHOE CANYON. DAY.          Finally, he comes to the great gallery that we saw in the          opening titles. A 300ft huge wall with dozens of broad          shouldered figures painted to enormous scale in all shades of          tan and maroon. They seem to stare back at him. He salutes          them in his own way and continues.                                   He banks left beneath a colossal alcove high up in the cliff          face and makes to the flattest ground - there's no shade to          hide in here.                          CUT TO:                                                            EXT. HORSESHOE CANYON. DAY.                                   70 yards ahead, 3 aliens are walking away from him. 2 tall,          one shorter. All with elongated bodies and tiny heads,          shimmering in the heat.                                                                                     He goes to shout but his voice catches. Then a feeble effort          is lost in the vast scale of the canyon. The figures walk on          bending and disappearing in the light. He digs deep.                          ARON           HELP!                                   And the figures turn.          There's a terrible pause of uncertainty on both sides and          then he pushes out another heartbreaking -                          ARON (CONT'D)           HELP ME! I NEED HELP!          The figures begin to run towards him. We watch his face in          close up as they come. If tears come, then now they come at          the sight of humans. He mutters to himself.           72.                                                                            ARON (CONT'D)           Hang in there Aron.          At they get closer he summons a surge of energy from          somewhere.                          ARON (CONT'D)           My name is Aron Ralston. I was           trapped by a boulder on Saturday           and I've been without food and           water for 5 days. I cut my arm off           this morning to get free and I've           lost a lot of blood. I need medical           attention.                                   There's a pause as they look at this refugee from a low          budget horror movie. He hungrily eyes the water bottles          attached to their waist bands. This gives them a way in to          his world. The moment is broken by their offering him their          water. It pours down his throat bypassing the swallow          mechanism.                                                   CUT TO:                                                            INT. TV STUDIO. DAY. ERIK MEJER TESTIMONY                                    (Erik's English is almost           perfect, although           accented and without           humour. His family sit           beside him on comfortable           chairs in a TV studio.           They are very pleased to                          BE THERE)                          ERIK           We are the Mejers from Holland. At           the start of the trailhead we           talked to a ranger who told us           about a car that was parked in the           area already for several days and           that the owner might be missing in           the canyon. We joked that we would           keep our eyes open and that we           would try to find him.           After a hike of 5.3 kilometres to           the Great Gallery (Indian rock art)           where we took some pictures, we           returned and suddenly heard a noise           behind us, and after that a voice           that cried "Help, I need help".           Monique and I immediately realized           that this had to be the missing           person.                          (MORE)           73.                                                   ERIK (CONT'D)           We didn't find him, he found us!           We gave him our water and Oreos.                          CUT TO:                                                            EXT. HORSESHOE CANYON. DAY.          Back now live as Aron wolfs down the cookies and organises          the Mejers in a series of jump cuts pushing us through the          final stages-he's brutally practical.                          ERIK           We are the Mejers from Holland.           You should stop and rest.                          ARON           No, we need to keep hiking.           We need a helicopter - who can run           fastest?- You, go now fast. Take           him.                                                                                     Monique runs ahead with Andy, her son.                          ERIK           They told us you were here.                                                   ARON           Who? Who told you?                          ERIK           The police at the parking lot                          ARON           Do you have a phone?                          ERIK           There's no signal for miles.          Nobody for 6 days and then like London buses another couple          appears. They too are confronted by:                          ARON           Do you have a cell phone?                          WAYNE           No. I'm Wayne. I have some medical           training.                          ARON           Is it ok for me to drink so much           water?           74.                                                                            WAYNE           Sure so long as it doesn't make you           vomit.          Aron drinks more and more, he overhears...                          WAYNE (CONT'D)                          (TO ERIK)           Make sure he doesn't pass out.                          ARON           I gotta stop and empty my shoes.           You'll have to tie my shoe lace.          As he sits his head slumps forward. He's absolutely          motionless. Wayne and Erik try to talk to him but he can          barely hear them. A pop song spins round and round distantly.                                   He strains to pull his head up, and, staring, drops forward          to his knees. There it is. Filling his vision like a god.          Whirling screaming in front of him, dust blasting him as he          kneels. A HELICOPTER.                          CUT TO:                                                            EXT. HELICOPTER. DAY.          A strange slightly formal man pops out of the helicopter. He          almost looks like he's part of the Matrix.                          PILOT           Are you Aron?                                                   ARON           Yes I am. Can I get a lift?                                                   CUT TO:                                   EXT. HELICOPTER. DAY.                                   Aron looks at the beautiful white leather seat before he gets          in the back of the helicopter. Surreal. It's a startling          contrast to his Frankenstein, and even now it's not lost on          him.                          ARON           I'm gonna make a terrible mess of           your seat.                          PILOT           Just get in buddy. We're all           looking for you.                                   The helicopter sucks upwards into the sky leaving Wayne,          Monique, Andy and Erik far below.           75.                                                                                                                             _____________________________________________________________                                                                                                                              1000 HOURS LATER                          CUT TO:                                   INT. UNDERWATER. DAY.                                   Underwater. A figure dives in, pulling strong breast strokes          down and towards us. Its Aron, fully recovered after surgery.          Eyes open, he pulls and pulls down through crystal clear,          oxygenated water.                          INTERCUT WITH:                                                            EXT/INT. HOSPITAL ROOM. DAY.                                   As the helicopter and gurney staff transfer him into the          medic room he's surrounded by vertical giants as he lies          horizontal for the first time in 6 days.                          ARON           Thank you for bringing me back.          The most senior of the burly men says,                                                   BURLY MAN           That's all your miracle days used           up kid. You need to rest. You can           stand everyone a beer later.          Aron is greeted by medics. Needles. Care. Machines. Tubes.                          ARON           Will you look after this for me           please?                                   He opens his fist and there is the small folded up knife.                          CUT TO:                                                            INT. UNDERWATER. DAY.          He pulls again releasing a huge chunk of air into a metallic          bubble.                                                   CUT TO:           76.                                                            INT. HOSPITAL ROOM. DAY.          A very soft voice reading.                          VOICE (MOM)           ...his love, the peace that passeth           all understanding...                                                   ARON           Mom.                          MOM           My boy. My only one. There you are.          She strokes his head so gently.                                                   ARON           Hey Mom.                          MOM           How are you feeling?                                                   ARON           OK. Are you okay...                                                   MOM           You've been asleep for 2 days. We           are so lucky...          She's a decent woman and a devoted mum. She looks weary, worn          out with worry and love for her boy.                          ARON           Mom, I'm sorry I scared you.                                   Very soft voice (again) - Aron hears the same words as he          drifts back into drugged rest.                                                   VOICE (MOM)           ...his love, the peace that passeth           all understanding...                          CUT TO:                                   INT. UNDERWATER. DAY.                                   Face underwater. Pull and kick. Wanting oxygen now.                          INTERCUT WITH:                                   INT. PRESS CONFERENCE. DAY.           (all of this without                          SOUND)                                   Flash of celebrity. His first press conference. And boy, is          there a lot of press there!           77.                                                            Aron, of course has his camera with him as he walks out and          takes a snap of the noise and light. We see his still, it's          floor to ceiling, wall to wall journalists.                          CUT TO:                                                            EXT. POOL. DAY.          We can see him beneath, swimming along the floor of the pool,          like a diver building lung capacity.                          CUT TO:                                                            EXT. VAST CROWD. STADIUM. NIGHT.          The vast crowd again, floodlit, ready to begin their evening.                          CUT TO:                                                            INT. ARON'S TRUCK. NIGHT.          In Aron's 4 x 4 somewhere in the endless parking lot outside          the stadium. Rana is wearing glasses, reading an SMS she's          just received.                          RANA           OK - he's got 3 vegetarian hotdogs           and the tickets and he'll be           outside Gate 6 in 5.                          ARON           So are you guys ok with me?                          RANA           Yeah. We split up a while back when           you were in hospital.                          ARON           Christine told me.                                                   RANA           (always to the point)           Is that what this is about?                                                   ARON           Yeah.                                   She laughs at him.                          RANA           What about the climbing?          Aron reaches in his bag and pulls out his scary looking          prosthetic arm / axe. He clinks the points together. She          doesn't laugh, maybe a smile.           78.                                                                            RANA (CONT'D)           Solo?                          ARON           I'm gonna finish the 49ers this           winter or next.                                                   RANA           (to change it)           Well, all I can't figure out is           what took you so long to cut it off           and get one of these.          They both laugh. But he also answers.                                                   ARON           Rana, before I did it I was           hallucinating, I saw this child, a           little blond boy -                          RANA           (over her glasses)           Not Jesus please...                          ARON                                    No, he looked like my cousin           Charlie but way too young... and I           didn't know why but I knew he was           mine and that this was what lay in           front of me.          He looks at her.                                   Pause.          She doesn't say anything.                                                   ARON (CONT'D)           But it's not going to be you, is           it?                          RANA           No Aron, it's not.                          ARON                          (HE KNOWS)           OK.          Rana leans over and tenderly kisses his cheek.                          RANA           You know, everyone who cares for           you, a little bit of them dies each           time you go back.                                   Before he can work out how to answer she breaks the door          open.           79.                                                                            RANA (CONT'D)           Let's go hero. If they do The Fly           first and we miss it we'll never be           forgiven.                                   EXT. CONCERT. NIGHT.                                   The concert explode into life.          THE POP SONG PLAYS OVER:          ` A man will rise, A man will fall...                                                            INT. UNDERWATER. DAY.          His face pushing for the surface. He surges up and out of the          water, to cling by his elbows on the side of the pool. No          prosthetic.                                                            SONG CONTINUES OVER:          ...From the sheer face of love                                   Like a fly from a wall'                                                                                                     CUT TO:                                   EXT. POOL. DAY.                                                            There in front of him on the grass by the pool is the same          sofa as in the canyon. On it and around it, his friends and          family, including Rana. There's so many of them they fill the          screen. Tucked deep into the sofa, is his son giggling away.          They smile, simple, silent support for him. He looks right          back at them.                                    THE END
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+1492: CONQUEST OF PARADISE by Roselyne Bosch REVISED September 23, 1991 FADE IN: CREDITS AND MUSIC OVER: INT. AUDIENCE ROOM - GRANADA - DAY We start on a man's elegant slipper. He is seated in a splendid chair. Moving up the stocking leg, we pass the garter of Castile, coming to rest on a pair of delicate hands. His fore finger impatiently plays with a large topaz ring. Over this, we hear distant footsteps, echoing on marble floors. CUT TO: A Castilian face: aquilaine profile, olive complexion, dark eyebrows and meticulously sculpted beard. This is TREASURER SANCHEZ. A door slams somewhere, the footsteps getting closer. We can now here a subdued conversation. TREASURER SANCHEZ stands up as: The door opens at the far end of the large gilded room. A WOMEN, magnificent in somber taffeta, enters. QUEEN ISABEL OF SPAIN moves towards him. He bows slightly as she sits at the end of the large table. She is followed by a PRIEST, BROTHER BUYL, and three dignitaries of Church and State. All sit beside her. TREASURER SANCHEZ takes a document and starts to read aloud. On screen the words: GRANADA - SPAIN - 1500 SANCHEZ Your Majesty would wish to know the true facts concerning the island of Hispanola, our first settlement in the New World, and the activities there of your servant, Christopher Columbus, Admiral of the Ocean Sea, Governor of that Island. You will remember with what hopes and promises he beguiled us -- the truth is that he now presides over a state of chaos, degradation and madness beyond imagining. SANCHEZ punctuates each word carefully. SANCHEZ From the beginning, Columbus proved himself incapable of managing the affairs of the island. He appointed his brothers to important positions, at once injuring the pride and dignity of the nobles who had gone with him. He promised to build a city, the City of Isabel, named after Your Majesty. What he actually built was nothing but a collection of huts, and that in the wrong place, for all of it was easily swept away by rain and mud. Is that not so, Brother Buyl? The PRIEST nods. BROTHER BUYL Yes, Your Honor. SANCHEZ He promised gold. Not finding the easy quantities he promised, Columbus commanded each Indian to pay an annual tribute. Most being unable to, they were barbarously punished, against the express wish of Your Christian Majesties... ISABEL lowers her eyes. SANCHEZ Since provocation and injustice never ceases, many of the Indians have fled to the forests, or have begun to slay the Christians. ISABEL looks over at BROTHER BUYL. ISABEL Could it be so? BROTHER BUYL Yes, Your Majesty. SANCHEZ But there is worse. From the beginning, he forced the nobles to undergo physical labor, treating them equally with the Indians, all of them reduced to slavery. When the nobleman Adrian de Moxica protested against such treatment... (he pauses) ... he was executed. (pause) Is that not true also, Brother Buyl? BROTHER BUYL Yes, Your Honor. It is all true. All of it. I saw it with my own eyes. SANCHEZ He has lost control. His great arrogance has led him into depravity. He encourages our soldiers to marry the native women. He promised a paradise, but he has made a hell full of all its horrors. Silence. ISABEL Is that the man I knew, Treasurer Sanchez? SANCHEZ Yes, Your Majesty. CUT TO: INT. HUT - ISLAND - DAY CLOSE ON the FACE: COLUMBUS is stretched on a bed, sweating heavily in fever, clearly delirious. Insects crawl over his face, he makes no effort to swat them away. There is a dripping sound of water. FERNANDO (V.O.) Of all the words my Father wrote and there were many, I remember these the most. "Nothing that results from human progress is achieved with unanimous consent..." Rain is falling into the room over documents spread on a table. COLUMBUS stands up and moves to the table. Some of the walls have been blackened with smoke and flames. A lizard scuttles into the shadows. FERNANDO (V.O.) "And those who are enlightened before the others are condemned to purse that light in spite of others..." COLUMBUS stares down at the documents, moving them away from the rain drips. He stares out by the window, and we see: A devastated landscape. Flooded roads, half-destroyed huts, broken trees... A dog picks its way through the mud. FERNANDO (V.O.) There was a time when the New World didn't exist... DISSOLVE TO: EXT. OCEAN - DAY A vast stretch of ocean. It fills the screen. Unbroken, infinite, luminous, mysterious -- it stretches away, meeting and blending with the sky in pale ribbons of pearl and misty light. FERNANDO (V.O.) ... The sun set in the west on an ocean where no man had dared to venture. And beyond that, infinity... Pulling back, we discover: A TEN-YEAR-OLD BOY and a strongly built man in his middle thirties, are riding a mule. The MAN'S weather-beaten face frames unusually bright eyes. On the screen these words: ANDALUSIA, 1491 COLUMBUS AND HIS SON are following a windthrashed path at the top of the hill. COLUMBUS hums a song, and FERNANDO looks up at him in adoration. FERNANDO (V.O.) Once I asked my Father where he wanted to go. And he replied: "I want to travel all over the seas. I want to get behind the weather..." FERNANDO laughs. He then starts to hum along with his FATHER. CUT TO: EXT. HILLSIDE APPROACH TO LA RABIDA - DAY A rugged landscape, remote and steep, with lines of stone walls and thousands of sheep. FERNANDO, rushes down a slope, barking like a dog, chasing the sheep who fan out in droves in front of him. High- spirited and wild, FERNANDO laughs and tumbles over. COLUMBUS rides his mule along the narrow track, watching his SON'S antics with amusement. In the distance, the solitary figure of A MONK SHEPHERD. COLUMBUS calls out to his son: COLUMBUS Fernando! FERNANDO runs over. COLUMBUS lifts him up onto the mule. As they move along the track we now see, perched on a distant hill, isolated and austere, the Monastery of La Rabida, their destination. EXT. CLOISTER - LA RABIDA - DAY As they dismount and walk into the quiet cloisters, FERNANDO suddenly spots a familiar FIGURE, standing under the ROMAN arches. FERNANDO Diego! He rushes over, full of joy, to kiss his BROTHER -- an adolescent dressed in the novice-robe, with a solemn, delicate face. DIEGO'S response is constrained. COLUMBUS Diego! Aren't you going to kiss your brother? DIEGO smiles a little, and kisses FERNANDO -- who is immediately distracted by a procession of hooded MONKS, hurrying to the refectory, as a bell begins to chime. The MONKS all turn to greet ANTONIO DE MARCHENA, a white- haired, elderly man -- and a monk cosmographer. MARCHENA'S gesture is broad and elegant as he opens his arms to greet COLUMBUS. He pats FERNANDO'S head and turns to DIEGO. MARCHENA Diego, take Fernando to the dining hall. He must be hungry. DIEGO Yes, Father. Both CHILDREN leave under the arched roof. COLUMBUS and MARCHENA begin to walk across the cloister. MARCHENA Diego is a bright boy -- a pleasure to teach -- but so serious... Brothers should be raised together, Colon. Even brothers from different mothers... COLUMBUS Father, I am doing what I think is the best for him. And he has the teacher I would have chosen for myself. MARCHENA laughs at the compliment. MARCHENA Just be careful you don't lose him. They have crossed the cloister. MARCHENA pushes open a door. INT. A HUGE LIBRARY - LA RABIDA - DAY Hundreds of books lined up on the shelves, displaying the miracle of printing, a recent German discovery. Several MONKS, perched on high stools behind lecterns, are busily "ILLUMINATING" some of these massive volumes, delicately painting around the letters in bright colors and gold leaf. Rays of light fall diagonally through high openings, projecting geometric patterns on the tiled floor. As MARCHENA and COLUMBUS move forward their conversation is punctuated by light and shadow. MARCHENA (fumbles in a pocket under his robe) I have something for you. Almost casually, he hands COLUMBUS a letter. MARCHENA You will be heard at the University of Salamanca... COLUMBUS stops dead in his tracks. Almost frantically he tears open the letter, hardly able to believe his eyes. COLUMBUS God... That's in a week! MARCHENA That's what it says. COLUMBUS How did you manage it? MARCHENA (smiling) With some difficulty. I had to promise them you were not a total fool. MARCHENA pushes open a second door, hidden behind a wooden panel. INT. STUDY - LA RABIDA - DAY MARCHENA is not a tidy man. Books are piled up on the floor, the desk, on every shelf, along with maps, instruments of astronomy... the visible evidence of an inquiring mind. With practiced familiarity, as if they had done this a hundred times -- which indeed they have -- MARCHENA sits behind his desk, and COLUMBUS opposite him. MARCHENA lights a candle and considers the mess. Then methodically, he slowly sweeps it from in front of him with his sleeve, exposing a large map underneath. When he looks up again, there is a new severity in his expression. He turns over an hourglass. MARCHENA Why do you wish to sail west? COLUMBUS To open a new route to Asia. At the moment there are only two ways of reaching it... He leans forward, and points to the map spread out on the desk. COLUMBUS By sea, sailing around the African Continent -- the journey takes a year... His finger traces the journey, from west to east. COLUMBUS Or by land... We are CLOSE now on the map, as we watch his finger tracing a line between Europe and the Far East. COLUMBUS (O.S.) ... But the Turks have closed this route to all Christians. Trading with the Orient has become arduous, if not dangerous. (he pauses) There is a third way... We notice that the outline of the European continent is familiar. But we also notice that, in that great expanse of ocean, the whole American continent is missing. COLUMBUS By sailing West across the Ocean Sea. CLOSE ON MARCHENA'S FACE, touched by the mystery. MARCHENA How can you be so certain? The Ocean is said to be infinite. COLUMBUS Ignorance! I believe the Indies are no more than 750 leagues west of the Canary Islands. MARCHENA How can you be so certain? COLUMBUS The calculations of Toscanelli Marin de Tyr, Esdras... MARCHENA (interrupting) Esdras is a Jew. COLUMBUS So was Christ! MARCHENA throws his quill in the air in frustration. He glances at the hourglass: MARCHENA Two minutes... and already you're a dead man. Don't let passion overwhelm you, Colon. COLUMBUS (mockingly) I'll try to remember that, Marchena... MARCHENA Father Marchena! COLUMBUS (ignoring this) Passion is something one cannot control! MARCHENA (heatedly) You get so carried away when you are being contradicted! COLUMBUS I've been contradicted all my life... Eternity! MARCHENA (amused) Only God knows the meaning of such words, my son. EXT. COURTYARD - LA RABIDA - EVENING DIEGO and FERNANDO wait in the courtyard. COLUMBUS appears and lifts FERNANDO onto the mule. DIEGO turns to go. COLUMBUS Diego. COLUMBUS walks over to him, squats down so their eyes meet. He looks at his SON for a moment. COLUMBUS Would you like to come and stay with us? Uncomfortable with the proposition, DIEGO cannot find an answer. COLUMBUS I'll do whatever makes you happy. DIEGO I am happy, Father. COLUMBUS reaches out -- and touches his shoulder. He climbs up behind FERNANDO, who waves back to his BROTHER as they ride off. EXT. CADIZ - STREETS AND CATHEDRAL SQUARE - NIGHT COLUMBUS leads the mule, carrying the sleeping FERNANDO, through narrow streets. There's a clamorous noise in the air. Suddenly a large group of YOUNG MEN, shouting with excitement, run up the street and brush past them. Then more people. FERNANDO sits up straight. The noise grows, rowdy, rumbling, sharp with excitement and violence. Huge CROWDS have thronged the massive old square outside the cathedral. Holding the mule by its reins, COLUMBUS tries to push his way through... Suddenly, as a gap opens in the crowd, we see the cause of the excitement: in the center of the square stand three pyres, already alit. HOODED EXECUTIONERS are busy around the fires. FERNANDO Look, Father! Before COLUMBUS can stop him, FERNANDO has slipped off the mule and into the crowd. COLUMBUS Fernando! But the BOY has been swallowed into the mass of people. COLUMBUS tries to follow him. Flames leap into the night sky with a terrible crackling, lighting up the square with a lurid glow. Prayers are being chanted somewhere. FERNANDO has elbowed his way to the front of the crowd. A PRIEST brandishes a crucifix in front of the face of a MAN bound to a post. The heretic wears the "sambenito", a robe made of coarse fabric on which his sins have been crudely illustrated -- we see cabalistic signs, indicating that the man is Jewish. THE MAN'S eyes are mad with fear. But he refuses to kiss the crucifix, as a sign of his repentance. FERNANDO is transfixed by the scene, but still doesn't realize what is happening. He is too close to the platform to see what is in the flames of the other pyres. COLUMBUS Fernando! He motions to his son, takes the BOY'S hand, and drags him away from the scene. But FERNANDO looks back. The distance now allows him to see inside the flames. A HALF-CHARRED FIGURE -- THE MAN'S face is distorted in a silent scream... The neck snaps like burning wood, and the head falls on one shoulder. Then the whole body collapses into the fire. INT. BEATRIX'S HOUSE - HALLWAY AND STABLE - NIGHT COLUMBUS and FERNANDO lead the mule into the white-washed, stone-floored hallway of the modest house. FERNANDO is mute, shocked by what he just witnessed. COLUMBUS takes the mule into its stall, and as he does so, his mother, BEATRIX, appears from the kitchen to greet them. She is a beautiful woman in her twenties, a calm, strong, domestic personality. COLUMBUS tousles the BOY'S hair. FERNANDO glances at his MOTHER but looks subdued and doesn't say anything. INT. BEATRIX'S HOUSE - KITCHEN - NIGHT COLUMBUS joins BEATRIX in the kitchen, where a MAID is cooking. He explains Fernando's subdued manner. COLUMBUS Executions. In the square. BEATRIX nods. He goes to the stone butt and pours water on his hands. COLUMBUS They've agreed to see me in a week. BEATRIX puts the candle on the table. Her face lights up with a smile. He walks to her, and kisses her. COLUMBUS I could be gone for years. BEATRIX I know. COLUMBUS I haven't given you much of a life. BEATRIX (amused) Well... that's true. I have a child by a man who won't marry me! Who's always leaving... COLUMBUS Are we going to argue? BEATRIX I'd love to argue with you sometimes. But you're never here! They laugh and kiss. COLUMBUS Perhaps I was never meant to live with a woman... BEATRIX (still kissing him) I find that hard to believe. DISSOLVE TO: INT. BEATRIX'S HOUSE - KITCHEN - NIGHT They are eating around the table, and FERNANDO is unusually silent and thoughtful. COLUMBUS pours a little wine into FERNANDO'S water, to distract him. FERNANDO looks up at him, surprised. COLUMBUS smiles, then looks over at BEATRIX. COLUMBUS Fernando, don't you think we are lucky to live with such a beautiful woman? He winks at FERNANDO. BEATRIX smiles. INT. BEATRIX'S HOUSE - BEDROOM - NIGHT The room is dark. As COLUMBUS approached the bed with a candle, it illuminates the naked body of BEATRIX. BEATRIX looks up at him intently. A drop of wax falls on her skin. She flinches, murmurs... They make love. EXT. SALAMANCA UNIVERSITY - DAY A medieval "campus". Students-novices are playing "pelote", with basket-gloves and a hard ball. They run with their robes tucked around their waist, revealing white legs. Others are studying, reading, hurrying to their class. We find COLUMBUS watching the game from the steps above the court. Others are waiting with him. A MONK comes from a door, and looks around the group. MONK (hesitant) Christopher Columbus? INT. AUDIENCE ROOM - UNIVERSITY OF SALAMANCA - DAY An El Greco painting. A tableau of twenty MEN sitting on dark, sculpted seats. Candles throw a gloomy light on their faces. Some are Churchmen, others are dressed in bourgeois outfits. Only one of them is richly dressed in the grand Spanish fashion -- he is SANCHEZ, Treasurer of the House of Aragon. A MONK (Don AROJAZ) holds a stick with an ivory claw at the top. Languidly, he scratches his back -- his off-hand manner only makes him more impressive than his peers. AROJAZ You say Asia can be found by sailing west? COLUMBUS Yes, your Eminence. The voyage should not take more than six or seven weeks. AROJAZ Unfortunately, Don Colon, that is precisely where our opinions differ... (pause) Are you familiar with the work of Aristotle? Erathostene? Ptolemeus? COLUMBUS I am, Your Eminence AROJAZ Then you cannot ignore that according to their calculations, the circumference of the Earth is approximately... (he leans forward) 22,000 leagues or more. Which makes the ocean... uncrossable. He leans back, satisfied, and pauses for effect. AROJAZ But you may have found new evidence proving that these men of knowledge are totally mistaken! A ripple of mirthless laughter. COLUMBUS Your Excellencies are aware of the statements of Marin de Tyr? HERNANDO DE TALAVERA We are. COLUMBUS Then you are also aware that his theories contradict Ptolemeus... De Tyr believes the Ocean to be only 750 leagues... A murmur of protest spreads among the members of the Commission. But Columbus is determined to press his theories. COLUMBUS The Florentine Toscanelli and the French Cardinal Pierre d'Ailly both think that Marin de Tyr is accurate in his calculations. And therefore, that the ocean can be crossed. Indignant and amused murmurs. DIEGO DE DEZA raises his voice to quiet the assembly. DIEGO DE DEZA Gentlemen, let us suppose Marin de Tyr is right... (the laughter subsides) Are we here to examine this proposal or not? Silence. DIEGO DE DEZA (to Columbus) In your opinion, how long would the voyage be? COLUMBUS Seven weeks. Six, during the summer months. The murmur increases. AROJAZ Marin de Tyr is wrong -- and has been corrected many times over the centuries by the finest geographers. Your voyage, Don Colon, would take a year! A MAN of simple bearing, that COLUMBUS identifies as being a seaman, interrupts. VICUNA How would the crew survive without being able to land for fresh water? Water is undrinkable after six weeks! You'd never be able to turn back! COLUMBUS We wouldn't have to turn back! We would find land at this point! AROJAZ Senor Colon, an experienced captain such as yourself will understand our concern with the crew. I am not willing to have on my conscience the loss of men who would have relied upon our judgment. COLUMBUS Excellency, you are right. Instantly, the protests stop. COLUMBUS I am a seaman, not a scholar... But as a simple man craving for knowledge, I have read all the work of these renowned geographers and discovered that none of them could agree on the exact width of this ocean... He pauses, and starts walking in front of the experts, as a lawyer before a grand jury. COLUMBUS Therefore, as a modest man, I wonder: who is right? The experts listen. CLOSE ON SANCHEZ'S FACE, impressed by the boldness. COLUMBUS Who is right? This question remains unanswered. He walks and stops before TALAVERA, and catches the look of SANCHEZ, sitting just behind him. COLUMBUS Your Eminence, there is only one way to settle the matter. And that is to make the journey. (to the assembly, with passion) I am ready to risk my life to prove it possible. AROJAZ Your life, and that of others! COLUMBUS If they agree to follow me, yes. SANCHEZ (O.S.) Suppose you cross this ocean. Suppose you reach Asia. What would Spain do there? Conscious of a friendlier voice, COLUMBUS sees the Treasurer SANCHEZ, an imposing man in his fifties. COLUMBUS Trade, Your Excellency. According to Marco Polo, the Kingdom of China is one of the richest of the world. Even the meanest buildings are roofed with gold. AROJAZ (interrupting) Is that all that interests you? Gold? COLUMBUS No. The Portuguese have already discovered black-skinned people. I, too, will find other populations -- and bring them to the word of God. THE MONK smiles thinly. AROJAZ Christopher -- Christo Ferens -- the Bearer of the Cross! MONK (ironic) And Colon -- the one who populates! Another small rill of laughter. AROJAZ If God intended our proximity to Asia, do you believe he would have waited for you to show it to the world? COLUMBUS Did He not choose a carpenter's son to reveal Himself to the world? A hum of interest. CLOSE ON SANCHEZ -- watching COLUMBUS intently, a hint of an admiring smile on his lips. AROJAZ So you consider yourself the chosen one? A pause. AROJAZ Don't you realize your words could be considered heretical? COLUMBUS (calmly) Blind faith is what I consider heresy! The murmur turns to an audible gasp. AROJAZ gets to his feet and leans forward, threateningly, the flame of a candle only inches from his face. There is absolute silence. COLUMBUS meets the MONK'S gaze unflinchingly. COLUMBUS (quietly) Asia can be found to the west -- and I will prove it. AROJAZ IF-GOD-WILLS-IT! EXT. TERRACE - UNIVERSITY - DAY The JURY is alone to deliberate. Food and wine has been laid out on tables. In the distance, students' cries carry over the conversation. SANCHEZ approaches. AROJAZ The Treasurer of Spain honors us with his presence. SANCHEZ bows slightly. SANCHEZ The State has some reason to be interested in this man's proposition, Your Eminence... AROJAZ The Judgment is ours! SANCHEZ Naturally. But I would really deplore the loss of such a potential opportunity for Spain for a... dispute over a point of geography. SANCHEZ helps himself to some grapes, looks round at the other members of the committee, who pretend not to be listening. AROJAZ (interrupting) He is a mercenary! Did he not already try to convince the King of Portugal of his absurd notions? SANCHEZ Indeed. The world is full of mercenaries -- and states often make use of them, when it benefits them. (casually) My only concern is the welfare and prosperity of Spain. AROJAZ understands the hint, and stops smiling. AROJAZ You would use your influence to assist this... intriguer? SANCHEZ reaches for a decanter of sherry. SANCHEZ You know, Your Eminence, the fascinating thing about power, is that what can be given so effortlessly... He offers the decanter to AROJAZ, who automatically lifts his glass. But instead, SANCHEZ pulls back the decanter, pours himself a drink, and replaces it on the table, leaving AROJAZ staring at his own empty glass. SANCHEZ ... can so easily be taken away. And he drinks with a smile. INT. LA RABIDA - MARCHENA'S STUDY - EVENING MARCHENA reads aloud the Commission's letter. MARCHENA ... and therefore nothing could justify the participation of Your Highnesses in the venture that relies upon such feeble assumptions, and which any man of knowledge would take to be impractical... if not impossible. He shakes his head, puts the letter down. COLUMBUS looks appalled; devastated. COLUMBUS They didn't listen. They didn't want to listen! He paces about the book-lined room. MARCHENA You mustn't give way to despair. You must wait. COLUMBUS Wait! I've waited seven years already! How much longer do you want me to wait? MARCHENA If God intends you to go, then you will go. COLUMBUS (angrily) Damn God! MARCHENA is shocked. MARCHENA Colon! COLUMBUS Damn all of you! You all set up theories based on what? You never leave the safety of your studies! Go out! Find out what the world is about and then tell me something I can listen to! He seizes a beautiful book from MARCHENA'S desk. COLUMBUS These don't mean anything! They're full of assumptions! Out of the heads of old men who've never been past the end of their gardens! He hurls the book across the room. MARCHENA is horrified. MARCHENA No...! My books...! COLUMBUS seizes more books from the shelves, just sweeping them to the floor. COLUMBUS All of them! Just lies! MARCHENA Colon! Don't! MARCHENA tries to stop him. In his fury, COLUMBUS accidentally knocks the poor old MAN to the ground. His cries bring three MONKS rushing into the room. As COLUMBUS continues to rage and scatter books everywhere, they try to stop him, struggling with this big, powerful man -- to almost comical effect. Finally, a short, muscular MONK delivers a quick punch that sends COLUMBUS crashing to the floor. INT. CHAPEL OF LA RABIDA - EVENING COLUMBUS lies face down on the stone floor. He is dressed in a homespun robe. His arms are stretched out in penance. FERNANDO and DIEGO look down at him. FERNANDO Father? DIEGO Sssshhhh...! One can't speak to a man doing penance. FERNANDO What can you do? DIEGO Nothing. That's the point, Fernando. A pause -- and then FERNANDO lies face down on the floor beside his FATHER, and stretches out his arms in the same way. DIEGO is left looking on, unable to bring himself to join them. EXT. CLOISTER - LA RABIDA - DAY Along the cloister, maps are drying, hanging like laundry in the light breeze. COLUMBUS pins up a new addition. Another MONK works nearby, in silence. PINZON (O.S.) Senor Colon? COLUMBUS turns, to see a small, stocky MAN approaching: a middle-class gentleman. He nods. PINZON Ah, thank God! I've been looking all over Seville for you! Never expected to find a sailor in a monastery, eh? He laughs. COLUMBUS smiles, but doesn't say anything. PINZON is clearly a little surprised. PINZON Name's Pinzon, by the way. Martin Alonzo Pinzon. I'm a ship owner from Palos... COLUMBUS glances around cautiously, and walks a little way down the cloister, away from the other MONK, gesturing for PINZON to follow him. PINZON is yet more surprised by this strange behavior. PINZON (indicating the monk) Is he a spy? COLUMBUS shakes his head. PINZON stares at him, perplexed. PINZON What is it? Are you a Trappist? COLUMBUS shakes his head again. PINZON Vow of silence...? Penance? COLUMBUS nods vigorously. PINZON Jesus! Just my luck! He takes off his hat, wiping his forehead with a silk cloth. PINZON Listen. I'll do the talking for both of us. You just nod. Agreed? Just as I do with the wife. COLUMBUS nods. PINZON I know that the Commission turned you down, right? What do you expect? You're a foreigner... But I want to help you. COLUMBUS gives him a glance like one throws a question in the air. PINZON You wonder why I believe in you? Hey, I am a seaman. And we don't like to be told where to go, and where not to go. COLUMBUS looks at him, and bursts out laughing. The other MONK looks round severely. COLUMBUS ducks behind a map, PINZON following him. PINZON lowers his voice. PINZON I don't look like it, but I have friends at the Court. The Treasurer of Aragon, for example. He finances me. His name's Santangel. Ever heard of him? COLUMBUS shakes his head, but looks increasingly interested by what he's hearing. PINZON He can get you an audience with the Queen! You know why...? She owes him money. That's how it is. You -- me -- the Queen -- the world and his mistress -- agreed? COLUMBUS nods. PINZON So. What do you say? COLUMBUS looks around, catches the disapproving face of the MONK, crosses himself, then speaks: COLUMBUS Where can I meet this man? PINZON (indicating with a nod) Immediately. COLUMBUS turns and sees an elegant Lord in his fifties, examining the maps. EXT. STREETS OF GRANADA - DAY A huge Islamic Crescent being pulled down from the minaret of a mosque. SOLDIERS are holding back a crowd at the foot of the tower. To the ecstatic cries of the crowd, a Cross is hoisted up in its place... Astride horses, COLUMBUS and the Treasurer SANTANGEL are watching the scene. They push through an extraordinary scene. The city of Granada has just been reclaimed from the moors after several years of siege. All around them, SPANISH SOLDIERS are herding, bedraggled columns of the defeated MOORS, bearing only a few possessions. Ragged, half-starved men, women and children. SANTANGEL These people built Granada... Centuries ago! It is a great victory over the Moors, Don Colon -- and yet what a tragedy it is! The THREE HORSEMEN pass a procession of grateful PENITENTS, who are crawling on their knees, chanting psalms and flagellating themselves. At the head of the procession, HOODED PRIESTS carry a statue of the Virgin Mary swathed in silk and lace. The gates of the Alhambra Palace are in sight. COLUMBUS Is this a good time to meet her? SANTANGEL It couldn't be better. Victors can't say no. Bells are pealing triumphantly. The noise is tumultuous. They ride towards the magnificent palace. EXT. ALHAMBRA PALACE - GARDENS - DAY Fabulous Moorish gardens: ponds filled with golden carp; exotic bird cages hang from lemon trees... The distant sounds of victory. SANTANGEL and COLUMBUS walk through the gardens, escorted by HALBERDIERS. SOLDIERS pass by, carrying coffers or piles of documents. As they approach the inner sanctum, however, there are fewer people. They stop by the Lion's Fountain, where several DIGNITARIES are waiting patiently for an audience. SANCHEZ appears. They bow. SANTANGEL approaches to murmur a compliment. SANTANGEL Your Excellency... truly grateful... your help... as ever... SANCHEZ protests softly, and looks over at COLUMBUS, a half-smile forming on his lips. Then a DUENA appears, and motions for COLUMBUS to follow. INT. ALHAMBRA PALACE - THRONE ROOM - DAY An ornate Moorish door is pushed open by the DUENA'S hand. We enter the Throne Room -- sculptured colonnades, mosaics... At the far end, windows open onto a view of Granada's rooftops. Against this dazzling light, the delicate silhouette of QUEEN ISABEL OF SPAIN. The light in her blonde hair creates a halo around her head as she turns. COLUMBUS falls to his knees. ISABEL Rise...! Come forward! He approaches the window, stopping close to her. ISABEL scrutinizes him quickly. ISABEL I should not even be listening to you, since my council said no. But Santangel tells me you are a man of honor and sincerity... And Sanchez, that you are not a fool. COLUMBUS (bold) No more than the woman who said she would take Granada from the Moors. ISABEL smiles, enjoying the lack of obsequiousness. ISABEL The ocean is uncrossable? COLUMBUS What did they say about Granada before today? ISABEL (a beat) That she was impregnable. ISABEL smiles again. ISABEL I cannot ignore the verdict of my council. COLUMBUS Surely you can do anything you want. A direct challenge. She doesn't know what to make of this man. ISABEL How little you know. This little hint of vulnerability subtly reverses their positions for a moment. Now we sense COLUMBUS scrutinizing her. COLUMBUS May I speak freely? ISABEL (with a smile) You show no inclination to speak otherwise! COLUMBUS I know what I see. I see someone who doesn't accept the world as it is. Who's not afraid. I see a women who thinks... "What if?"... ISABEL (amused at his familiarity) A woman? A slight pause. COLUMBUS Forgive me... but you're the only Queen I know. She bursts out laughing. ISABEL Then we are equal... since you are the only sailor I know! A beat. ISABEL How old are you, Senor Colon? COLUMBUS Thirty seven, Your Majesty... And you? Once again taken off guard, ISABEL flushes, and turns away slightly to hide it. ISABEL Thirty eight... A pause. ISABEL You will be informed of our decision. COLUMBUS bows and goes to leave. As the DUENA opens the door for him, he turns back. COLUMBUS Actually, I thought you were younger than me! And he goes out, leaving her stunned. EXT. SANCHEZ'S ESTATE - TREE-LINED ROAD - DAY A chalk white road, lined with trees. Two liveried SERVANTS are walking down the road, one carrying a large silver tray, the other a smaller tray. They are overtaken by an ADMINISTRATOR who hurries along the road, with documents under his arm. EXT. SANCHEZ'S ESTATE - STABLE BLOCK AND PADDOCK - DAY The CLERK enters an imposing stable block. In the paddock, SANCHEZ is training a magnificent young horse, making it step sideways, bending it to his will. The ADMINISTRATOR watches him, unable to interrupt. Behind him the two SERVANTS can be seen bringing in the silver trays, with covered dishes of food, a decanter of wine. They begin to lay them out on a table. EXT. SANCHEZ'S ESTATE - STABLE BLOCK AND PADDOCK - LATER SANCHEZ pours himself some wine, tucks into his his food, while the ADMINISTRATOR, clearly working himself up into a frenzy, reads from a document. ADMINISTRATOR ... and he demands... he DEMANDS to be made a Knight, with the right to bear the Golden Spurs! He will receive the title of Don Cristobal Colon -- which will be extended to his descendants for ever more... The ADMINISTRATOR looks up. He is reading the contract that COLUMBUS has proposed. SANCHEZ, his mouth full, gestures for him to continue. SANCHEZ Go on! ADMINISTRATOR He will be named Great Admiral of the Ocean Sea. Viceroy of the West Indies... Governor of all islands or lands discovered or as will be discovered with his help... The ADMINISTRATOR looks up again. ADMINISTRATOR The highest titles of nobility, Your Excellency! To an immigrant sheltered by monks! SANCHEZ gestures for the document. Wipes his mouth. Continues reading, calmly: SANCHEZ Furthermore he will receive one eight of all wealth or monies, precious gems, pearls, metals, spices and other lucrative sources conquered within the boundaries of his admiralty... He smiles, hands the document back. SANCHEZ It's very underdone. ADMINISTRATOR (exploding) Underdone! It's monstrous, Excellency! SANCHEZ No, the pheasant. It's almost raw. And he carries on eating. SANCHEZ You worry too much, Carvajal... The man will have to lower his demands. Believe me, he WILL! INT. ALHAMBRA PALACE - A RECEPTION ROOM - DAY Close up on COLUMBUS. COLUMBUS I WON'T! A WOMAN'S HAND quietly, carefully opens a cover of a spy hole in the wall. Two beautiful eyes peer through a grille, into the next room. What they see: SANCHEZ and COLUMBUS together. COLUMBUS is visibly upset. SANCHEZ (calmly) We have considered your -- demands very carefully, Senor Colon... Your expectations are... excessive, in every way. COLUMBUS tightens his fists, tries to remain calm. COLUMBUS If I am right, my requests are fair! SANCHEZ holds up a document. SANCHEZ We have prepared our own contract... He offers the document to COLUMBUS, who takes it, scans it quickly, shakes his head. COLUMBUS No... SANCHEZ No? COLUMBUS NO...! I have waited too long, fought too hard. Now you expect me to take all the risks while you take the profit! No... I will not be your servant! The eyes behind the screen -- the mouth, forming a little smile. SANCHEZ I remind you, Senor Colon, that you are in no position to bargain with me. COLUMBUS I'm not bargaining! SANCHEZ (steely) Then you are too ambitious. COLUMBUS leans over the table, faces him. COLUMBUS And were you never ambitious, Excellency? Or is ambition only a virtue among the nobles, a fault for the rest of us? SANCHEZ (abrupt) If you won't accept our proposal, we'll simply find someone who will. COLUMBUS smiles. COLUMBUS If you can do that, Excellency -- I'll become a monk! He turns, strides towards the door. We hear a WOMAN'S muffled laughter. As COLUMBUS goes out, ISABEL appears through a secret door. SANCHEZ bows. ISABEL goes over to the window and looks out. ISABEL You were right, Don Sanchez... His demands could never be granted. SANCHEZ Never, Your Majesty. Although... She turns, questioningly, towards him. SANCHEZ ... Although one may always renegotiate a contract. Especially signed by Royal Hands. EXT. ALHAMBRA PALACE GARDENS - POV - DAY SANCHEZ joins ISABEL at the window. They see COLUMBUS striding out and away. INT. ALHAMBRA PALACE - A RECEPTION ROOM - DAY BACK TO SANCHEZ SANCHEZ (quietly) ... Into a monk... ISABEL (with a smile) Yes. It would be a pity, wouldn't it? (turning to Sanchez) Call him back! EXT. STREET - EVENING Teeming life. COLUMBUS pushing his way through crowds. He is expressionless and distracted. He looks around him, stops walking. And then, unexpectedly, shouts. COLUMBUS YEEEEEEES! All heads turn as if he were totally insane. He walks on as if nothing happened. INT. BEATRIX'S HOUSE - NIGHT COLUMBUS is sitting at the kitchen table, by himself, with a glass of wine. There is a movement behind him. BEATRIX is standing at the foot of the stairs, in a night-shirt. COLUMBUS turns and looks at her, almost sad. COLUMBUS She said yes. BEATRIX (moved) Thank God... She smiles. But he seems to be unable to share her happiness. COLUMBUS If I ever come back, I swear I will... She crosses to him quickly, placing her hand gently on his mouth. BEATRIX (softly) I'm not asking you to swear to anything. COLUMBUS I don't want you to wait for me. BEATRIX (smiling) That's something you can't decide. COLUMBUS kisses her. INT. CORRIDOR - BEATRIX'S HOUSE - NIGHT Strange, unearthly music... A flickering light in a dark tunnel. FERNANDO, holding a candle in front of him, walks slowly down the dark corridor. Quietly opening a door, he walks into COLUMBUS' study. INT. COLUMBUS' STUDY - NIGHT CLOSE ON: A huge illustrated map of western Europe and Asia. FERNANDO'S candle moves slowly across the Atlantic Ocean, to the edge of the map. There, the illustrator's imagination has created monsters: terrifying demons; creatures half-human, half-animal. Sitting at his desk, COLUMBUS is looking at the map. FERNANDO (O.S.) You can't go there! Turning, COLUMBUS finds his son beside him. COLUMBUS Why not? FERNANDO points at the monsters. He pulls the boy to him. COLUMBUS There aren't any monsters, Fernando. The only monsters are in here... (he taps his own forehead) Watch! He takes a pen, and draws a smile on one of the terrible monsters, transforming it at once. FERNANDO laughs immediately. FERNANDO I want to go with you! COLUMBUS There'll be a time. FERNANDO You promise? (Columbus nods his head) Do you swear on St. Christopher...? FERNANDO pulls the chain with the St. Christopher medal from under COLUMBUS' shirt. FERNANDO Do you swear on all the Holy Saints in heaven? COLUMBUS (laughing) Yes... Yes, I do... On all of them! And he hugs his SON tightly. EXT. HILLSIDE AND GATE - PRE-DAWN A luminous procession passes through a Moorish stone gate, down to the harbor. We see the faces of the SAILORS and their FAMILIES -- COLUMBUS, PINZON AMONGST THEM -- We sense the fervor and apprehension of the departure. The procession is lead by MARCHENA and four young NOVICES carrying the Madonna. All hold long, burning tapers, saying the rosary. A SAILOR pushes through the crowd, and kisses the Madonna's feet. EXT. PALOS HARBOR - DAWN Hundreds of candles flicker in the pre-dawn light, held by the FAMILIES and FRIENDS of the SAILORS. The SANTA MARIA the PINTA and the NINA nestle against the quayside. Dwarfed by the hulls, a flotilla of smaller fishing craft, returning from night fishing, accidentally witness this event. EXT. MAKESHIFT CONFESSIONAL - DOCKSIDE - DAWN MARCHENA sits on a barrel and crosses himself. Behind a curtain sits COLUMBUS. MARCHENA In Nomine Patris et Filius, et Spiritus Sancti. COLUMBUS Forgive me, Father. For I have sinned. MARCHENA recognizes COLUMBUS' voice. MARCHENA I am listening, my son. COLUMBUS Father, I have betrayed my family. I betrayed my men. And I betrayed you. MARCHENA What are you saying? COLUMBUS I lied. The journey will be longer than I said. MARCHENA How long? COLUMBUS I am not sure... It could be twice the distance. A pause. MARCHENA May God forgive you...! You must tell them! You must tell your men! COLUMBUS If I tell them, they won't follow me. You know that I am right, Father. You trust me... MARCHENA My son, my son... (he shakes his head) Your certitudes are sometimes frightening... (pause) Christopher, you must speak to them. And if you don't I will. COLUMBUS You are bound by an oath, Father. A long silence. MARCHENA I believed in you... COLUMBUS Give me absolution. No response. COLUMBUS Give me absolution, Father! Devastated, MARCHENA reluctantly makes the sign of the cross. EXT. HARBOR AND SHIPS - PALOS - DAWN COLUMBUS walks over to where BEATRIX and FERNANDO are waiting. He kisses and hugs FERNANDO. MARCHENA (O.S.) Ispo Te Absoluto. May God forgive you and have mercy on your soul, Christopher Columbus. Go in peace. DISSOLVE TO: EXT. HARBOR AND SHIPS - DAWN - LATER The CROWDED QUAYSIDE. COLUMBUS stands in front of FERNANDO. COLUMBUS Be good to your mother, Fernando. Do you promise? FERNANDO nods, tears in his eyes. Then COLUMBUS embraces BEATRIX tightly. She whispers into his ear. BEATRIX Speak to Diego. But COLUMBUS and DIEGO are unable to find words, and instead they clumsily hug. Someone taps COLUMBUS' shoulder. He turns around to see SANTANGEL. Wordlessly, they hug. CUT TO: Activity on the ships, orders are being shouted, ropes fore and aft are cast off, splashing into the water... Now the SHIPS are slowly moving parallel to the quayside. The CROWD starts walking abreast to the VESSELS. WOMEN holding up babies, blowing kisses, old PARENTS crying... BEATRIX, HER SONS, AND SANTANGEL are among them. COLUMBUS suddenly unties the chain around his neck, and throws it at DIEGO. COLUMBUS Diego! Here! DIEGO catches it. Opening his hand he looks at the medallion. Then looks up at his FATHER, elated. THE SANTA MARIA is now two meters from the QUAY. SANTANGEL is now opposite COLUMBUS. SANTANGEL (casually) Take care of my investment, wherever you're going! COLUMBUS (ambiguous) I have to tell you Santangel. I don't know where on earth I am going! They both laugh. A FISHERMAN, standing in his shrimp-boat lets his hand slide gently along the gigantic hull. He stares up at the SAILORS leaning on the rail. SAILOR Vaya con Dios! (Go with God!) They wave back. CUT TO: MARCHENA walking towards the Moorish gate. He finally turns, sad and distraught. He sees: CUT TO: EXT. SHIPS AT SEA - WHALES - DAY THREE SHIPS ON A BOUNDLESS OCEAN. The sea resembling a DORMANT MONSTER, holding its breath. A living being, all powerful, capable of unpredictable metamorphosis. Music reflects the loneliness, the anxiety of the crew, the fear of the unknown... ENORMOUS WHALES moving slowly alongside, surging majestically through the waves. Sinking back, disappearing, their cries taking precedent over the music. EXT. DECK - DAY A SHIP'S BOY is throwing buckets of water on the deck. A SAILOR is busy clearing the ropes around the mast. A COOK is blowing life into a brazier, in preparation of the evening meal. TEN MEN heaving on a heavy rope, raising the top sail, punctuating their efforts with a sailor's chant. EXT. SANTA MARIA - NIGHT The crystalline north star -- as if seen through an instrument. COLUMBUS' silhouette, by an oil lamp, standing at the prow. Holding a quadrant he is aiming at the stars. SOME SAILORS are watching with curiosity. One of them is ALONSO, a rough, stocky Basque. Near COLUMBUS, on a tressel, various books and charts. He makes an entry in the log. Then goes back to his quadrant. He senses MENDEZ standing next to him. COLUMBUS (softly) Due west, Captain Mendez. And may God be with us... MENDEZ God be with us admiral. MENDEZ doesn't move, continuing to observe COLUMBUS. COLUMBUS What is it Mendez? Speak! MENDEZ is hesitant. He nervously clears his throat. MENDEZ Well... It's the men, Sir. They wonder how you know our position. We've lost sight from land days ago... COLUMBUS (still taking readings) And what do you think Mendez? MENDEZ Well, I surely know what a quadrant is! But I've never seen it used at night before. COLUMBUS Come over here. MENDEZ hesitates, then motions to COLUMBUS. The SAILORS are watching, and some approach to hear the conversation. COLUMBUS Now, find the North Star. Do you have it? CUT TO: The picture swims across the heavens, until we see the north star. COLUMBUS (O.S.) Steady yourself...! Keep the plumb line vertical... The picture steadies. CUT TO: MENDEZ nods -- and loses equilibrium. The plumb line swings. COLUMBUS Don't move! A mistake of one degree and we'll be off 6,000 leagues! MENDEZ tries again. COLUMBUS What do you read? MENDEZ Twenty eight. MENDEZ turns to COLUMBUS. COLUMBUS That's it. The twenty eighth parallel. And we'll follow it until we reach land. ALONSO does not seem convinced. ALONSO How do you know land is on the twenty eighth parallel? EXT. SANTA MARIA - DECK - DAY A blazing sun. The ship is like a furnace, its brass fittings too hot to touch, the blistering heat making the air shimmer over the decks. Desperate for shade, sailors are sheltering under the sagging prow sail. The SHIP'S BOY throws an empty bucket attached to a rope over the side and hauls it back up again, brimming with water. As he turns, we see his face, disfigured by a hair lip. He drenches himself... From the shade, ALONSO watches him. ALONSO Chicken-ass face! The others laugh. The BOY, ashamed, tries to ignore them. ALONSO'S hand accidentally touches a brass fitting; he reacts like he was burnt. ALONSO Shit! He sucks his blistered fingers. ALONSO I never seen heat like this! Not even in Las Minas! SAILOR The water's going putrid in the barrels. ALONSO You'll be drinking your own piss... For the glory of Spain... and Admiral Colon...! Bastard! The SHIP'S BOY glances round at them. ALONSO What are you listening to, chicken ass? SAILOR Ah, leave him alone. He's doing no harm. ALONSO With a face like that? (to boy) I don't want you looking at me. You hear? The BOY turns away, dropping the bucket back into the sea. ALONSO He's the devil's child... SAILOR We'll all go crazy... The BOY throws more water over the deck. A SAILOR takes his guitar, and starts singing an improvised song. SAILOR Culo de galina es el hijo del demonio... (Chicken ass mouth is the devil's child... Born from the loins of a stinky old goat etc...) They all laugh. The BOY, hearing this, climbs to the crow's-nest like a monkey. EXT. SANTA MARIA - RIGGING AND CROW'S-NEST - DAY We experience a sense of vertigo as we near the top of the main mast, high above the rolling deck. The BOY curls like a fetus in the swinging crow's-nest, exhausted by the heat, and scared. His eyes are turning white. He begins to piss himself... CUT TO: EXT. SANTA MARIA - DECK - DAY Piss is dripping on the deck. THE SAILORS do not seem to care. THE COOK takes a chicken from a cage. He breaks its neck, and starts plucking it. The OTHERS continue their bitter conversation. ALONSO We should have seen land. SAILOR We left three weeks ago, Alonso. Can't be that near. ALONSO Can't be that far, I say. Also, I don't like the smell of the sea around here. Smells like a cunt. Bad sign... The COOK starts laughing. They turn to him. COOK (shaking his head) Of course it smells like it! That's why sailors take to the sea! They all laugh. Alonso looks up at COLUMBUS standing on the poop deck, scrutinizing the horizon, waiting for the land to appear. ALONSO And why does this one take to the sea? Nobody knows. Never says a word... MENDEZ has sensed the danger of this lack of respect. He approaches them. MENDEZ To your post! At once! They split in silence. EXT. SANTA MARIA - DECK - NIGHT The SHIP is plowing on, pushed by a hot wind -- SAILORS sleep on deck. The SHIP'S BOY is singing to himself. Despite his hair lip he has a pure, melancholy voice... COLUMBUS, leaning over the prow rail, staring ahead, hears it carry over the darkness. EXT. SANTA MARIA - DECK - DAY CLOSE UP ON AN HOUR-GLASS, nearly through its time. The SHIP'S BOY throws an "ampoulette" over board. We follow the bulb attached to a rope, passing the full length of the hull. As it reaches the poop deck, another SAILOR shouts "MARK". A very primitive system of calculation for distance and speed. Sitting near the SHIP'S BOY, COLUMBUS is making entries in a log-book, watching the hourglass. SHIP'S BOY Mark. Twenty nine, Sir! THE HOUR-GLASS runs out. COLUMBUS converts the mark into a daily average for distance and speed. COLUMBUS Six hundred and twenty nine. THE SHIP'S BOY cups his hands to his mouth to shout. CUT TO: EXT. PINTA - DAY PINZON, his OFFICERS beside him, looks across at the SANTA MARIA. SHIP'S BOY Six hundred and twenty nine! AN OFFICER turns to PINZON to repeat the message. OFFICER Six hundred and twenty nine, Sir! PINZON does not seem too pleased. PINZON I heard. THE OFFICER examines his own calculations. OFFICER Captain, I don't understand. PINZON I think I do. He goes back to his cabin. CUT TO: EXT. SHIPS - SARGASSO SEA - DAY ABSOLUTE STILLNESS. A FURNACE. The three ships like dots, on what seems to be a prairie of weed. The caravels are being towed by three rowing boats. CLOSE ON THE MEN, rowing, drenched with sweat. FROM THE PROW, COLUMBUS is staring at the horizon. ALONSO pulling at his oars stares at COLUMBUS' distant figure with hate and resentment. ALONSO suddenly ships his oars, throwing the whole boat into disarray. Chaos. Total silence. MENDEZ and ALONSO stare at each other. MENDEZ Continue rowing! ALONSO To where? ALONSO defiantly stares at MENDEZ. He then starts to beat a rhythm on the hull with his fist, followed by the others. In the two other boats, the MEN begin to follow suit, beating a rhythm of protest on the hulls. MENDEZ looks up to COLUMBUS, in panic. ON BOARD PINZON'S SHIP, an OFFICER cups his hands to his mouth. OFFICER Captain Pinzon requests permission to board. CUT TO: EXT. SANTA MARIA - DAY COLUMBUS Granted. INT. COLUMBUS' CABIN - DAY PINZON enters. He looks furious. PINZON You lied! You cheated! We're way past 750 leagues! COLUMBUS (calmly) Six days ago, yes. PINZON You must be mad...! COLUMBUS We have to keep the hopes of these men alive! PINZON We're on the verge of a mutiny, Colon! COLUMBUS You think I don't know that? PINZON We're lost! COLUMBUS The land is there. I know it! PINZON You don't know anything! Listen Colon, these are my ships, right? So I'm telling you we're turning back! COLUMBUS And then what? Half of the water has gone, the rest is nearly putrid! You know that! PINZON (apoplectic) Jesus Maria! I should have never listened to you! COLUMBUS You never did. You did all the talking for both of us, remember? PINZON You bloody... COLUMBUS Pinzon, Pinzon... All we can do now is go forward! Think about that! PINZON You tell that to them! COLUMBUS You're right. Let the men decide. COLUMBUS moves to the door. As an afterthought, he takes his scarlet-embroidered jacket from a hook. EXT. SANTA MARIA - DECK - DAY Most of the men are now back on board. They go silent as COLUMBUS appears. He walks slowly over to them. All, including ALONSO, are surly, threatening... COLUMBUS Who gave you the order to come on board? He looks up and down the line, finishing on ALONSO. They stare at one another. ALONSO God doesn't want us to cross the ocean...! This voyage is cursed! Some of the MEN murmur their agreement. COLUMBUS Cursed? ALONSO We set sail for greed. God has abandoned us. The voyage is cursed. There are signs... ALONSO glances towards the SHIP'S BOY, with his hair lip. The BOY lowers his eyes. COLUMBUS moves towards him, pulls him forward, stands him in front of ALONSO. COLUMBUS This boy has the voice of an angel. What comes out of his mouth is blessed, Alonso. What comes out of your is evil. Some of the men laugh at this statement. ALONSO is ill at ease. COLUMBUS pauses, looks around at all the MEN. COLUMBUS Listen to me! Every man is afraid who does something for the first time. But those who overcome their fears, will find their rewards. I do not know if it is God's will that we cross this ocean -- but I am certain it is the devil who puts fears into our hearts... The MEN are listening. We sense a subtle change of mood... COLUMBUS This jacket to the first man who sights land! I want a man up that mast day and night. COLUMBUS points at the SHIP'S BOY. COLUMBUS You start first. The SHIP'S BOY rushes up the mast. As he climbs, the mainsail starts to fill with wind. The deck begins to move under their feet. This movement under their feet seems to imperceptibly erase the fears and the angers. MENDEZ Alonso! Jaime! Don't let this wind escape us. CRIES from the other ships, as the sails snap taut, filling with wind. MEN rush to their posts. PINZON stares at COLUMBUS, shaking his head in disbelief. PINZON (murmuring) You lucky bastard... COLUMBUS walks away to his cabin, then turning back to PINZON. COLUMBUS Pinzon, the more I sail, the luckier I get. Turning abruptly, he enters his cabin. EXT. SANTA MARIA - PROW - MISTY NIGHT COLUMBUS is seated, isolated at the prow, wrapped in his cape, struggling against the sleep. MENDEZ approaches him with a bowl of soup. MENDEZ Shall I take my turn? COLUMBUS shakes his head no, and starts drinking from the bowl. CUT TO: COLUMBUS' head nods lower and lower to his chest. He is asleep. We become aware of a sharp buzzing sound. It becomes louder as we move closer to COLUMBUS' face. A mosquito lands on his temple. COLUMBUS reflexively slaps it. He wakes up, and looks at his fingers -- a spot of blood, a crushed mosquito. He stares at it for a moment. Then slowly gets to his feet. EXT. SANTA MARIA - DECK - NIGHT In the luminous moonlight, COLUMBUS is standing, staring up at thousands of insects that wheel around the mast lantern. We hear the flutter of their wings and see the bats as they swoop and dive in a feeding frenzy. COLUMBUS turns, stares into the darkness, desperate to see the land that must be close. He kneels by MENDEZ, wrapped in a blanket. He touches his shoulder. COLUMBUS (murmuring) Mendez! Mendez! MENDEZ grimaces, and opens one eye. COLUMBUS Land... CUT TO: EXT. SHIP - DAWN An opaque dawn. COLUMBUS, riveted, staring forward as if to pierce the mist. The entire crew are clinging to the rail, and standing on the shrouds. Suddenly, the SHIP BOY'S voice cracking with emotion. SHIP'S BOY TIERRA...! TIERRA! COLUMBUS strains his eyes; he still can not see anything. The entire CREW stand and stare, silent, holding their breath. As the sun begins to rise, the fog dissipates -- slowly, exquisitely, revealing a single palm, so close it seems almost as though they could touch it. Then a white slash of beach. Near COLUMBUS, a SAILOR falls to his knees and burst into tears. Others laugh with joy. COLUMBUS watches this vision in disbelief, his mouth open as if it were difficult for him to breathe. Tears come to his eyes. He closes them. Then opens them again. The land is there -- a green paradise. On screen the words: OCTOBER 12, 1942. GUANAHAN ISLAND EXT. BOATS - DAY Three row boats plunging through the surf towards the beach. COLUMBUS stands in the prow of the first boat. MENDEZ is in the second. PINZON the third. They stare entranced at the lushness of the foliage, and the blue clarity of the water... As the first boat beaches, COLUMBUS leaps out and wades ashore. Behind him the rest of the landing party splash through the sun-dazzled water, carrying the banner of Castille and Aragon. EXT. BEACH - DAY They stand on the beach, almost in a dream. There is silence. The ROYAL NOTARY, ludicrously overdressed, now wet through, stumbles over to COLUMBUS and holds out his contract and a pen. COLUMBUS scrawls his name. The MEN stare at him, filled not only with new respect, but with something amounting to awe. COLUMBUS turns to them, tries to speak. COLUMBUS By the... by the Grace of... God... He swallows. Tears have sprung to his eyes. He is so moved he cannot continue. Coming to his rescue -- THE SHIP'S BOY starts to roll the drum. He then stops. COLUMBUS (pulling himself together) In the name of their Gracious Majesties of Castille and Aragon, and by all the powers vested in me, I claim this island and name it San Salvador. The MEN cheer as the flags are rammed into the sand, flapping in the wind. COLUMBUS starts to walk towards the jungle, and in silence the rest follow. EXT. JUNGLE - DAY Immediately they are met by an incredible wall of SOUND! The jungle is filled with NOISE. The impossibly-loud CRIES of EXOTIC BIRDS, the CHATTERING of MONKEYS. The SPANIARDS are overwhelmed. They move forward. Rays of sunlight pierce through the high canopy of leaves, like the roof of a magnificent cathedral. The sounds and smells intoxicate their senses. They are filled with wonder. Then PINZON stops. He has seen something. Another stops, then a third, staring ahead of them... MENDEZ (whispering urgently) Arquebuses! Several of them raise their weapons to their shoulders, pointing them into the jungle. From COLUMBUS' POV we slowly scan the face of the thick jungle ahead. For a moment we don't see anything -- and then, with a shock, we see the first INDIAN. Naked, painted like an idol, carrying a hunting lance. As if they had materialized from nowhere: the rest of the HUNTING PARTY, with their bows and spears. Silent. Watchful. They stare back at us. The SPANIARDS nervously finger their weapons. COLUMBUS slowly lifts his hand into the air: a clear signal not to fire. Then, removing his sword, he drops it on the ground, and starts to walk forward, fixing his gaze upon the first INDIAN he saw. PINZON (warningly) Colon! COLUMBUS ignores him, even though some of the INDIANS have raised their weapons. He stops in the no-man's land between them. The INDIANS don't move -- but something excites them. The SHIP'S BOY, wearing COLUMBUS' embroidered jacket and the drum, has followed COLUMBUS and now stands close to him. He is the cause of their interest. COLUMBUS puts his arm around the BOY, and this gesture of affection seems to put the INDIANS at their ease. They start talking and pointing. They come forward slowly, start to tentatively touch the BOY'S jacket. Then, now laughing, they touch COLUMBUS, pulling at his beard. COLUMBUS laughs too. Sensing their innocence, the rest of the MEN lower their weapons. Some of them laugh. An apparition: a beautiful young INDIAN GIRL, totally naked, walks out of the jungle. She is pregnant and holds a child. We begin to hear Indian music, played on a flute. CUT TO: EXT. INDIAN VILLAGE - DAY A large post is lifted from the ground by two SPANIARDS pulling on ropes. The post is fixed into position -- and then we see that it is a large wooden cross... The INDIAN VILLAGERS watch the ceremony with some interest and amusement. COLUMBUS looks over at the men and gestures at the INDIANS. COLUMBUS We have come here in peace, and we will behave with honor. They are not savages and neither will you be. Treat these people as you would your own wives and your own children. Neither are you free to take what you will; for a seashell you give a bandana. You will respect their beliefs. Pillage will be punished by the whip. Rape by the sword. EXT. VILLAGE - SUNSET The smoke from fires. Laughter. Music playing. The INDIANS have prepared food for the SPANIARDS, who are drinking and enjoying themselves in this strange world. COLUMBUS sits with MENDEZ, PINZON, the INDIAN CHIEF, ELDERS OF THE VILLAGE. Other INDIANS stand around, smiling, curious. The INDIANS talk among themselves. The ELDERS smoke primitive cigars -- and offer them, with good humor, to their guests. The SPANIARDS cough and choke at first... and laugh. In return, they offer the INDIANS wine... Dogs roam around the campfires. The WOMEN openly suckle their babies. The MEN are entranced. PINZON draws out attention, for the first time, to a small gold ornament on the nose of one of the INDIANS. He points to it, indicates his interest in it. PINZON Gold...! Gold! The INDIANS says the word in his own language, laughing. We see that some of the other INDIANS also have small gold ornaments. PINZON repeats the INDIAN word for gold. The INDIAN removes the ornament from his nose, gives it to PINZON, who indicates that he wants to have it. The INDIAN nods -- but points to PINZON'S dagger, indicating that he wants it in return. PINZON shakes his head, stops the INDIAN from taking it. COLUMBUS (to Pinzon) Give it to him! PINZON looks at him, about to argue -- but COLUMBUS insists. PINZON takes out the dagger and offers it to the INDIAN. PINZON (irritated) By God! That's the worst trade of my life! His friends laugh. Innocently, the INDIAN has taken it by the blade. He yelps, looks down at the blood welling up... A moment of tension... Then MENDEZ laughs at his clumsiness, and the ELDERS laugh too... and the INDIAN laughs. Just outside this circle, we see the first INDIAN we saw, squatting on his haunches, watching. This is UTAPAN. INT. TENT - DAWN The first light outside -- the strange, wonderful sounds of the jungle all around. COLUMBUS writes in his journal. COLUMBUS (V.O.) October 21st, 1492. I think we have returned to Eden. Surely this is how the world once was, before the beginning of time. I believe no man will ever see this land again as we do, for the first time... He looks up. UTAPAN is squatting in the doorway of the hut. He's been there all night. COLUMBUS takes more ink on his quill and begins to sketch UTAPAN'S face in the margin of his log-book. He draws well. He gets up and walks over to UTAPAN and shows him the drawing. It's an electrifying moment. UTAPAN is shocked and amazed. At first he is rather frightened of his own image... Then he is happy, and laughs... and COLUMBUS laughs with him and puts a hand on his shoulder in a gesture of friendship. UTAPAN gets up, and indicates that he too has something he wishes to offer. EXT. JUNGLE - MORNING UTAPAN expertly scampering through the jungle. COLUMBUS follows him. UTAPAN orders COLUMBUS to sit. COLUMBUS obeys. UTAPAN looks up at the tops of the trees. The sun is rising, and filters through the foliage. As if the time had come, UTAPAN stands up, and COLUMBUS does the same. A gap in the dense vegetation. Something is glittering. Gold. A mass of gold. As they approach, COLUMBUS discovers -- A large pool of fresh water. The morning sunlight has turned the water into liquid gold. The surface ripples with the breeze. UTAPAN smiles. It the stranger satisfied? Isn't this what he came for? COLUMBUS plunges into the pool. As he emerges, he fills his palms with liquid gold. DISSOLVE TO: EXT. RIVER - DAY Wide shot -- A flotilla of canoes are going upstream. INDIANS AND SPANIARDS are traveling together in the canoes. UTAPAN leads the expedition in COLUMBUS' craft. THE SHIP BOY'S cranium is shaved like UTAPAN'S, and we notice that some other crew members are beardless, some even wearing tribal patterns. EXT. RIVERSIDE - DAY INDIAN VILLAGERS confronting the SPANIARDS, UTAPAN talks to an ELDER MAN, watched by COLUMBUS, MENDEZ and PINZON. UTAPAN repeats several times the word for GOLD, showing some artifacts. The OLD INDIAN shakes his head no, indicating another distant place. OLD INDIAN Cuba! Cuba! THE OLD MAN nods, points into the distance, chatters away to UTAPAN. UTAPAN Say not here! Cuba! COLUMBUS What is it? A tribe? An island? UTAPAN Island. Far. EXT. SANTA MARIA - DECK - DAY Standing at the prow of the ship, his long dark hair floating in the wind, UTAPAN rejoicing at the speed. EXT. THICK JUNGLE - CUBA - DAY Led by UTAPAN, the SPANIARDS hack their way through thick jungle. It's hard work. The MEN sweat. This is inhospitable terrain. Even the noises of the jungle seem somehow more sinister... CUT TO: RESTING PLACE - ALONSO is seated under a tree. He takes off his boot, and grabs his foot, examining the blisters on his toes. As he puts his foot back into the boot, he jumps screaming in pain. ALONSO yelps, grasping his ankle. CLOSE ON a snake sliding out of the empty boot. While his COMPANIONS rush to him, a SAILOR spots the snake, and decapitates it with his sword. UTAPAN glances at the dead snake. He then goes and kneels -- he sees the bite on ALONSO'S ankle. COLUMBUS Help him! ALONSO is quiet and silent. His eyes are looking around at his companions. UTAPAN shakes his head. There is nothing he can do. ALONSO is now leaning back, supported by one of his friends. He has grabbed the forearm of a SAILOR. His look is already far away. His companion shouts at UTAPAN. SAILOR Do something! Help him! UTAPAN He dead. ALONSO starts convulsing. HIS FRIENDS hold him, desperate in their helplessness. Others simply move away, horrified. One of them cries. EXT. RIVER - DAY Standing in the stream up to his thighs, A SPANIARD (a gold expert) examines some stones. He then looks up at COLUMBUS and PINZON and just throws the stones back into the water without a word. The group of SPANIARDS are resting, exhausted by the humidity. Some are drinking from the river, others soak bandanas, and tie them around their necks... One after another, they stand up slowly -- they look discouraged, tired, and beaten. EXT. MOUNTAINOUS JUNGLE - DAY UTAPAN and the SPANIARDS are trekking in the hills. Fully armed, they are now suffering intensely from the heat and the vicious insect bites. COLUMBUS doggedly keeps up with UTAPAN, who tirelessly trots forward. Finally, COLUMBUS turns around and sees... nobody. He calls out to UTAPAN. COLUMBUS Utapan! Wait! UTAPAN stops obediently, and rushes back to COLUMBUS with comical energy. On their way back, they find one SOLDIER sitting, leaning against a tree. He has removed his helmet. His hair sticking to his forehead. As COLUMBUS and UTAPAN walk back, they find another SAILOR, then another, then the whole group gathered around PINZON. Ashen, he burns with fever. He attempts a smile. PINZON Well... You'll have to continue without me... COLUMBUS looks around him -- what he sees: exhausted men and jungle, as far as one can see. COLUMBUS No. It's enough. What would you say to a drop of Jerez, Pinzon? PINZON grins. PINZON And a nice slice of Santa Fe lamb! I'd sell my soul for it. (to his officer) Help me up. I've got to piss, gold. They all laugh as the OFFICER helps PINZON to his feet. PINZON walks a few yards into the jungle -- starts to urinate. It is red. Suddenly dizzy, he reels and collapses. EXT. JUNGLE - DAY A line of SPANIARDS and INDIANS threading their way down a mountainside. PINZON is being carried on a makeshift stretcher. His eyes are closed, his face thick with sweat. They enter a village, to the surprise of the INDIANS. UTAPAN once again at the front as the ambassador. INT. HUT - NIGHT A INDIAN SHAMAN is forcing a milky fluid into PINZON'S mouth. COLUMBUS attempts a gesture to prevent him. But UTAPAN stops him. UTAPAN He cures. COLUMBUS nods -- he obviously trusts UTAPAN. INT. CHIEF GUARIONEX'S HUT - NIGHT In the half-light, figures wreathed in smoke -- COLUMBUS, MENDEZ and UTAPAN watch the CHIEF GUARIONEX putting a Spanish helmet on his head. The helmet is too big, almost covering his eyes. The ELDERS appraise the gift with solemn wonder. In return, GUARIONEX hands COLUMBUS a parcel made of leaves. COLUMBUS unwraps them. Inside: a GOLD grimacing mask. The first real piece of gold. COLUMBUS is unable to conceal his excitement at this first real evidence of the metal. He waits for the CHIEF to speak, but the CHIEF only looks at him. On the ground, we see other presents offered by the SPANIARDS -- trinkets, and necklaces... UTAPAN (to Columbus) You come! You speak first! COLUMBUS Tell the Chief we thank him. UTAPAN Chief knows. COLUMBUS Tell him his country is very beautiful. Tell him we are leaving men here -- to build a fort. UTAPAN translates. COLUMBUS Tell him we will return very soon. Many of us. UTAPAN translates. The CHIEF GUARIONEX asks a simple question. UTAPAN Chief says -- how many? COLUMBUS Thousands. UTAPAN Why? COLUMBUS doesn't seem to understand the question. For the first time he seems to be caught short. COLUMBUS To bring the word of God. UTAPAN Chief says -- he has a God. COLUMBUS (pursuing) ... and also to bring medicine. UTAPAN Chief says... COLUMBUS (interrupting) He has medicine. (pause) Tell him we admire his people. UTAPAN translates. UTAPAN Chief says he knows you like his... (searches for the word) Women... And the CHIEF gets up, awards COLUMBUS with a smile, and walks out of the hut, the ELDERS following, leaving COLUMBUS alone. COLUMBUS (with a little smile) That's a beginning... EXT. SHORE - DAY Watched from the shore by the INDIANS and by about forty of the SPANIARDS, who are staying behind, the boats pull out towards the two remaining ships. PINZON is laid out in the bottom of the boat. COLUMBUS, UTAPAN, and four other INDIANS are in the same boat. COLUMBUS (V.O.) March 1493... Thirty nine of my men volunteered to stay behind. God willing we will be back in less than a year... The boats continue to pull away, the figures on the shore growing smaller. CUT TO: EXT. COLUMBUS' CABIN - NIGHT CLOSE ON: a golden mask... the lamp in the cabin swings violently back and forth, creating strange shadows, as if the mask was alive... COLUMBUS is writing with difficulty in his log-book. COLUMBUS (V.O.) ... Several men are ill. We did not find signs of civilization. No cities, no temples... Nothing that resembles Marco Polo's descriptions. My ships are not filled with the spices and the gold that Spain was hoping for. But this land intoxicates the senses like the strongest of perfumes... And all I can think of, is to return to these untamed lands... Suddenly the cabin seems to lurch over. Things fall from the table, smashing on the floor... COLUMBUS nearly falls. EXT. SEA - NIGHT We are in the middle of a violent storm -- of terrifying proportions. The thunder is deafening. Light irradiates the darkness. We see the two caravels, dwarfed by the massive seas. EXT. DECK - NIGHT Five MEN are struggling to lash down the tiller. The deck jumps and rolls. It rises five meters into the air then falls into space and hits the water with a terrible crack. Waves sweep over the decks. We hear desperate cries for mercy from the terrified crew, loud enough to be heard above the storm. COLUMBUS and MENDEZ are crawling towards the mast, along a lifeline. COLUMBUS (screaming to the sailors) Get below! All of you! Go! The MEN start to scramble below decks. COLUMBUS (to Mendez) Stay with me! The ship rolls again. COLUMBUS and MENDEZ crawl towards the mast. Another gigantic wave crashes over them, tons of water falling like cement. They reach the mast. The wood groans. COLUMBUS We may have to cut it! MENDEZ nods... COLUMBUS grabs some rope. The ship rises into the air again, crashes down, the deck disappearing beneath them for a moment. COLUMBUS (screaming out) I'll stay here -- to decide if we cut it. Help me! With MENDEZ'S help, COLUMBUS is tied to the mast: one rope under his arms, the other around his waist. MENDEZ hands him a horn. COLUMBUS (screaming) Now go! MENDEZ seems to hesitate. COLUMBUS screams at him again. COLUMBUS I said -- below deck, Mendez! MENDEZ crawls away. Another huge wave washes over COLUMBUS. He emerges, almost suffocated. The storm rages, its eerie light making it seem at times like bright daylight. But as the lightning flashes, COLUMBUS begins to count: COLUMBUS One... two... three... four... There's an enormous thunderclap on "four" -- it indicates how close they are to the eye of the storm. The ship keels over again, dropping down and down, seeming never to rise... COLUMBUS lifts his head to the heavens, screams out: COLUMBUS Damn you! As if in answer, another flash of lightning that illuminates the sky and the sea. COLUMBUS starts counting again. COLUMBUS One... two... three... four... five... Another terrible clap of thunder on "five" -- COLUMBUS starts laughing, knowing the storm is moving on. Then, in the strange light, something seems to move through the air towards him; it looks like some kind of projectile, a craft, with a trail of vapor. COLUMBUS stares up at it... amazed. We start to hear the "Te Deum", majestic and heavenly. CUT TO: INT. CATHEDRAL OF CORDOBA - SPAIN - DAY COLUMBUS looks up at the vast roof, to see an incense burner, swinging, gliding swiftly across the ceiling, trailing a think vapor of incense. A magnificent "Te Deum" is being sung -- in honor of COLUMBUS' achievements and return. The whole cathedral is packed with nobles and dignitaries in their gorgeous robes. BEATRIX, FERNANDO and DIEGO are staring in fascination at COLUMBUS' triumph -- somewhat separated by the grandeur of this occasion. COLUMBUS passes by, walking proudly down the long central alley, beside KING FERDINAND and QUEEN ISABEL and other GRANDEES. He turns to his family, keeping his eyes on BEATRIX until she is out of his vision. The procession is followed by UTAPAN, and other INDIANS in tribal regalia... As they move through the crowds, all eyes are upon COLUMBUS. CUT TO: INT. ROOM - SEVILLE (PINZON'S DEATH) - DAY In a simple room, a PRIEST finishes giving the Last Rites and a sheet is pulled over the head of MARTIN PINZON. His WIFE and CHILDREN weep at the bedside. CUT TO: INT. CATHEDRAL - DAY A stool passes from hands to hands. It is placed at the Queen and King's side. COLUMBUS sits on it -- a supreme privilege. To one side sit AROJAZ and SANCHEZ. AROJAZ leans over to whisper to him. AROJAZ It won't be easy to get rid of your prophet now, Don Sanchez. SANCHEZ (whispering) On the contrary, Your Eminence. It seems to me the man is preparing his own cross. INT. ALCAZAR'S PALACE IN SEVILLE - DINING ROOM - NIGHT CLOSE ON: the face of a young, SPANISH NOBLEMAN, ADRIAN DE MOXICA. Hesitantly, he brings a lighted cigar to his lips -- then pauses. We discover other people around the magnificent candle-lit table. NOBLE MEN and NOBLE WOMEN. SANCHEZ. COLUMBUS. QUEEN ISABEL. COLUMBUS takes the cigar from MOXICA. The rest watch him with rapt curiosity. COLUMBUS inhales deeply then, to their astonishment, blows out the smoke through his nose. COLUMBUS You must not inhale, but simply allow the palate to enjoy the flavor of the Tobacco... He hands the cigar back to MOXICA. With a casual air, MOXICA himself inhales deeply -- almost chokes to death. He gulps down a glass of wine... much to the amusement of the others. MOXICA (deeply embarrassed) And you say this is an Indian vice? By God! I don't see any kind of pleasure that would make this a sin. COLUMBUS The Indians have no such word, Don Moxica. ISABEL Do they have such thoughts? COLUMBUS They come and go as naked as the day God created them... ISABEL blushes slightly. COLUMBUS They don't see sin in their nakedness. They live according to nature, in a never ending summer. The islands are covered with trees, filled with blossoms and fruits. And... SANCHEZ (interrupting) Forgive me, Don Colon. But what about gold? COLUMBUS nods, turns and whispers something to a SERVANT standing just behind his chair. The SERVANT goes to open the door -- and in comes UTAPAN, dressed as a tribesman, carrying a casket. The WOMEN around the table fan themselves furiously at the sight. UTAPAN puts the casket down in front of the QUEEN, and steps back. COLUMBUS These are gifts for Your Majesty. ISABEL opens the casket, revealing the gleam of gold inside. She takes out some of the little golden ornaments... a bracelet and then the mask. She holds it, somehow moved by its crude beauty. ISABEL raises the mask to her face, looking across at COLUMBUS. The image is somehow powerful enough to reduce even the ARISTOCRATS to silence. She speaks from behind the mask. ISABEL We are more than gratified. The guests laugh obsequiously. COLUMBUS bows a little -- looks up and meets the eyes of SANCHEZ, who is staring at him, coldly. INT. ROTUNDA - DAY A SWORD MASTER advances towards us with determination, his sword flashing. He is fighting an adversary we do not see, and comments his movements. MASTER Si! Si! Muy bien! Excellente! (Yes! Yes! Good! Excellent!) We discover the SWORD MASTER is fencing with COLUMBUS. A dozen duellists are practicing in the magnificent rotunda, surrounded with a two-tiered colonnade. Out of breath, COLUMBUS stops the exercise, and removes his protective canvas padding. He bows at his teacher, who salutes him in return. COLUMBUS walks to a tressel laden with food and beverages. SANCHEZ, in a fencing outfit and boots, is having a glass of wine. Upon seeing COLUMBUS approaching, he hands him a glass. SANCHEZ You defend yourself admirably... COLUMBUS ... for a commoner? SANCHEZ laughs and raises his glass. SANCHEZ To your second expedition. They drink. A short, somewhat ugly man, with some kind of imposing energy, approach them. SANCHEZ Don Colon -- Don Alonso de Bobadilla. A man who knows our laws. BOBADILLA bows. BOBADILLA I understand that you will soon be appointing Governors for the islands? Is it not so? COLUMBUS Forgive me, Don Bobadilla -- those positions have already been taken. BOBADILLA (disappointed) May I ask by whom? COLUMBUS Bartolome and Giacomo Colon. SANCHEZ looks at him in surprise. BOBADILLA reddens. BOBADILLA I trust they are men of quality. BOBADILLA glances at SANCHEZ. COLUMBUS But we do have a lack of notaries. You should contact my administration. SANCHEZ (amused) Don Bobadilla is already a judge, my Dear Don Cristobal. COLUMBUS Good! We are also in need of judges. Except there are no thieves! A grin disfigures the face of BOBADILLA. BOBADILLA (to Sanchez) I see I was mistaken. Don Colon has no need for my services... And he walks off. SANCHEZ fills his mouth with a slice of ham. SANCHEZ (amused) You seem to have a special talent for making friends. COLUMBUS What...? Do I have so many already? SANCHEZ (seriously) To rise so high, in so short a time, is a dangerous occupation. (kindly) A little hypocrisy goes a long way. INT. ROOM - ADMINISTRATION - DAY COLUMBUS with two MEN: the oldest, around thirty, is a strong-looking man. The youngest, no more than twenty five, is thin and fit. There is obvious tension in the room. These are BARTOLOME and GIACOMO COLON, COLUMBUS' brothers. BARTOLOME is angry, and GIACOMO thoughtful. BARTOLOME You might have given us a choice! GIACOMO Bartolome is stronger, more capable than I will ever be... COLUMBUS I need both of you. What are you afraid of? We are living what we always dreamt of. GIACOMO You know I never shared those dreams with you. COLUMBUS Are you saying you refuse to help? COLUMBUS looks at them with such pained surprise... BARTOLOME (amused) You bastard... you always had your own way... COLUMBUS Let me show you something. He opens the door to a terrace. CUT TO: EXT. GALLERY - DAY The large gallery courtyard is crowded with PEOPLE -- applicants for the voyage. As COLUMBUS appears, they all press forward, calling out his name, trying to get his attention, touching his sleeves as if he were a saint. They crowd around COLUMBUS and his BROTHERS. COLUMBUS nods, murmurs vaguely, here and there... COLUMBUS Of course... Of course... We'll see to it... Yes... Thank you... Soon... Soon... Fighting their way through, the BOTHERS press their way, reaching the other side of the gallery. We get glimpses of the incredible activity down below. ADMINISTRATORS, MILITARIES, MERCHANTS are busy around tressels covered with documents, plans, maps... preparing the second expedition. COLUMBUS puts his arms around them. COLUMBUS (indicating the applicants) Now -- you tell me. Who can I trust? (almost amused) We're brothers! We must be a House. A bloodline! In this country one can't exist alone! I need you...! Both of you! He walks then to the balustrade. The cries from the courtyard down below subside... some of the applicants begin to look up, aware of his presence. SOLDIER Where is the Admiral? Has anyone seen the Admiral? Everybody laughs. COLUMBUS He is here! What is it? He leans over the balcony. In the middle of the overcrowded courtyard, the SOLDIER who was shouting is brandishing a document. MAN Admiral! The horses have arrived. COLUMBUS I know. I saw them! Who did we hire today? ANOTHER ASSISTANT raises his eyes. ASSISTANT Thirty blacksmiths, twenty eight halberdiers, twenty carpenters, a hundred farmers, twenty miners... and Doctor Chanca, the royal surgeon. COLUMBUS The royal surgeon? Then we can count on royal health! The whole courtyard bursts out laughing. EXT. ORANGERY - VICEROY'S HOUSE - DAY UTAPAN is lying in his hammock. FERNANDO turns him over. UTAPAN falls to the ground. COLUMBUS walks beside BEATRIX. COLUMBUS (looking at his son) He's growing up! BEATRIX smiles, nods. They walk on. COLUMBUS Beatrix, I want to ask you something. BEATRIX (with a smile) You don't usually ask. COLUMBUS (after a pause) I can arrange for the Queen to take Fernando and Diego into her service. BEATRIX stops in her tracks, looks at him. COLUMBUS It is a great honor. We could not hope for anything better. BEATRIX nods, but bites her lip, and looks back at FERNANDO. BEATRIX For once I wish you weren't right. COLUMBUS puts his arm around her waist, pulling her closer, they move away. EXT. FAR END OF THE ORANGERY - DAY FERNANDO is now swinging expertly in the hammock. UTAPAN is pushing him gently. He slowly straightens up to watch COLUMBUS and BEATRIX disappear, somehow sensing there is a dilemma. FERNANDO noticing UTAPAN'S reaction, turns to his parents. The arbor is empty. FERNANDO becomes pensive. We become aware of the rustling of the jungle. SLOW DISSOLVE TO: EXT. BEACH AND EDGE OF JUNGLE - DAY FIFTEEN HUNDRED MEN spread along the beach, looking towards the jungle. COLUMBUS stands beside his BROTHERS, and MENDEZ, and UTAPAN. MOXICA, astride a magnificent black horse, prances back and forth across the sand. All are waiting. A signal cannon is fired from one of the ships. Birds scatter into the air from the jungle -- but then silence, complete and ominous. COLUMBUS stares into the jungle. Nothing. No one to greet them -- no welcoming party from the MEN they left behind. COLUMBUS glances at MENDEZ. MENDEZ looks at him, but can't answer. MOXICA suddenly spurs on his horse, and guides it into the trees. The order is given for the rest to follow, fanning out as they do so, weapons at the ready. EXT. CLEARING - JUNGLE - DAY Ruins. The camp has been burned to ashes. A strange sight: arrows are stuck vertically into the ground, each with a moldering tuft of human hair attached to the flight. In silence the SOLDIERS pick their way through the devastation. The ground is littered with coconuts. Kicking one over with his shoe, a SOLDIER discovers that his coconut is actually a human skull. The gaping mouth has been filled to the brim with gold. But of the living, there is no sign. MOXICA Is this your new world, Don Colon? COLUMBUS looks around in dismay. A YOUNG NOBLEMAN, HERNANDO DE GUEVARA, takes out his sword. GUEVARA These animals should be shown what savagery can be! Other SPANIARDS join in, repeating this last word. NOBLEMAN Three heads for every life taken. No mercy before God! GUEVARA No mercy! Let's find them. COLUMBUS No Guevara. There will be no revenge. Silence. Everyone looks at COLUMBUS. MOXICA We lost cousins, friends. We will wash this in blood. COLUMBUS If you want to keep your head on your shoulders, you'll do as I say. They are all listening. COLUMBUS Moxica, I lost friends too... Thirty nine brave men who trusted me. He walks among them. COLUMBUS You want a war? Fine. We are a thousand. They outnumber us by ten! Who will you kill? Which tribe? MOXICA We don't need to know. COLUMBUS We came here to stay! To build! Not to start a crusade. In this forest, there is enough danger to sweep us away in days! So we will be brave and swallow our grief. And in the name of those who died, we will accomplish what we came for. EXT. INDIAN VILLAGE - DAY MOXICA mounted on his magnificent BLACK STALLION canters to the edge of the deserted village and enters the village. UTAPAN is terrorized by the absence of anything living. All we can hear is the breathing of the horse. The animal, an impressive mass of muscle, prances nervously. UTAPAN calls out in dialect. UTAPAN They here. Slowly, they begin to appear, one after the other -- materializing from the jungle. Shy and scared. They stare at this "Centaur" (the HORSE and the HORSEMAN seem to be one -- a God). To impress them even more, MOXICA makes the beast move sideways and backwards, rearing, its front hoofs pawing the air. THE INDIANS retreat in terror, except for one, who stands his ground, brandishing his lance. UTAPAN encourages the YOUNG WARRIOR to approach the centaur. He places his hand onto the shoulder of the animal. The muscles shudder. THE INDIAN jumps back comically, accompanied by the rest of the tribe. Without warning, MOXICA climbs down from the saddle. More INDIANS step back in fear and absolute astonishment. Now more have ventured from the jungle. The bravest of them approach MOXICA, daring to touch him, and the horse, retreating then touching until they fill the compound. At this moment, COLUMBUS and his SOLDIERS appear all around them, pointing their muskets, and their crossbows. A moment of tension. COLUMBUS walks forward, towards the CHIEF (GUARIONEX) we meet before. COLUMBUS Ask the Chief what happened to my men? The CHIEF answers. UTAPAN Another tribe made war on them... came by sea... took them away... BROTHER BUYL God have mercy on their souls... MOXICA The monkey is lying. A pause. The SPANIARDS shifting, eager for blood. MOXICA We should kill them, Don Colon. UTAPAN looks anxiously at COLUMBUS. COLUMBUS No...! you'll do it my way. (to Utapan) Tell the Chief we will not harm his people, even though we have the power to do it. UTAPAN translates. The CHIEF listens in silence. COLUMBUS We will work with his people. We want peace. Ask the Chief if he understands? UTAPAN He understands. COLUMBUS Ask him if he will help. CUT TO: EXT. WATERMILL AND DAM UNDER CONSTRUCTION - DAY It is raining hard. COLUMBUS is floundering in the mud, supervising a mixed work-force of SPANISH and INDIANS. They are attempting to raise the huge wheel of a watermill. Despite COLUMBUS' shouts of encouragement, it's clear the wheel is far too heavy and the mud too deep. Close by, on horseback, MOXICA watches the scene. COLUMBUS, plastered with wet mud, clambers out of the pit and approaches him. COLUMBUS Don Moxica -- we need your horse. MOXICA looks down at the sodden, dirty figure. COLUMBUS We can't raise the wheel without it. MOXICA My horse doesn't work. A beat. COLUMBUS wipes some mud from his eyes. COLUMBUS Don Moxica -- we all have to work. MOXICA You did not hear me, Don Colon. Not my horse. He starts to turn away; COLUMBUS grabs hold of the reins. COLUMBUS Forgive me, Don Moxica. But it was your horse I was talking about. A beat. MOXICA stares down at an equally determined COLUMBUS. Then, in front of everyone, MOXICA has to dismount, and suffer the disgrace of it. COLUMBUS Thank you, Don Moxica. COLUMBUS leads the horse away. CUT TO: EXT. WATERMILL AND DAM UNDER CONSTRUCTION - DAY Harnessed, the horse pulls, with COLUMBUS and the MEN. The wheel is raised into position. CUT TO: EXT. WATERMILL AND DAM - DAY Water thundering into the new canal. The huge wheel begins to turn. The MEN cheer and congratulate each other. MOXICA looks at his mud-splattered and foaming horse, his eyes full of hatred. EXT. CITY OF ISABEL - TWILIGHT A wide, high shot of the new "City", dominated by a huge wooden cross -- no more than a muddy main street bordered by a hundred bamboo and stone shanties, with candles burning in the doorways. A main square with the Governor's Mansion, and the foundations of a church. In the twilight, COLUMBUS and the other WORKERS returning, dirty and tired. EXT. VERANDA OF MOXICA'S HOUSE - TWILIGHT MOXICA and GUEVARA sit out on the "veranda", watching the MEN return. MOXICA raises his glass in an ironic salute. MOXICA To the Governor of the Mosquitoes! They laugh. We see the smoke and flames from a fire. Four or five INDIANS are squatting on the earth nearby, cooking for them, talking quietly in their own language. MOXICA calls out something in their language, and a naked YOUNG INDIAN GIRL comes out of the house, bringing more wine. GUEVARA stares at her lasciviously. MOXICA, letting his hand casually brush against her flank, smiles at him. MOXICA Do you want her? He turns the GIRL round so that GUEVARA can admire her properly. GUEVARA nods. MOXICA lets the GIRL go with a peremptory order, and she disappears back inside. GUEVARA suddenly stands up -- unsteadily -- and sweeping his arm round in a broad gesture, says ironically: GUEVARA To the new world, my friend! To the new world! INT. DINING ROOM - GOVERNOR'S MANSION - NIGHT In an already Spanish-colonel dining room, COLUMBUS is having dinner with his brothers, BARTOLOME and GIACOMO, served by an INDIAN WOMAN -- NIMA. GIACOMO eats with gusto. GIACOMO (as Nima pours the wine) Nima's a good cook! BARTOLOME She's more than that! Seeing GIACOMO'S sudden blush and discomfort, as NIMA smiles at him, the other BROTHERS laugh. To cover his embarrassment, GIACOMO returns to the topic of the food. GIACOMO What is it? COLUMBUS Eat! I'll tell you later. As he sees BARTOLOME stifling a laugh, GIACOMO pauses. GIACOMO I'd like to know what I'm eating. COLUMBUS eats a mouthful, glances at BARTOLOME. COLUMBUS Iguana. A look of horror crosses GIACOMO'S face; he wretches slightly, puts down his fork, and gulps down some wine. The BROTHERS laugh again. COLUMBUS What wrong with it? The Indians eat it! GIACOMO I'm not an Indian. BARTOLOME He wishes he were back in the seminary. Priests always eat well. (tasting his wine, grimacing) And they have very good cellars. GIACOMO Nothing grows here! Everything rots in the ground. The wheat and vines wither before we can harvest them. COLUMBUS We've got to learn to live like the Indians. (pause) Eat your Iguana! Reluctantly this time, GIACOMO goes back to his dinner. EXT. BALCONY - GOVERNOR'S MANSION - NIGHT They are drinking and smoking cigars. From the balcony they can see the dark mass of the jungle stretching away. GIACOMO is already dozing in his chair. BARTOLOME sees it, and elbows COLUMBUS. They both smile at their younger brother's exhaustion. Then COLUMBUS gets up and leans on the balustrade, looking down at the city, the jungle beyond. COLUMBUS How much gold have we found? BARTOLOME Not enough to justify a single shipment. COLUMBUS Perhaps it doesn't exist anywhere but in my imagination. BARTOLOME Then let's hope not... (pause) What will happen if we can't find enough gold? They begin to hear the sound of a flute -- a melancholy sound. COLUMBUS looks out over the jungle, and kills a mosquito by slapping his arm. COLUMBUS (jokingly) Then I'm Governor of the Mosquitoes. CUT TO: INT. INFIRMARY - CITY OF ISABEL - NIGHT An INDIAN is playing the flute. In the gloomy interior of the long hut, in the most primitive conditions, DOZENS OF SPANIARDS lie sick. On a segregated part of the room are the INDIANS, several coughing. They are attended by a doctor, DOCTOR CHANCA, BROTHER BUYL, and other NOVICES. A NOVICE attends to an INDIAN, gently lifting his head, helping him to drink -- there is so little they can do. BROTHER BUYL looks down at the body of a SPANIARD, covered in open sores. The NOVICE joins him. BROTHER BUYL What kind of disease is this? DOCTOR CHANCA I don't know. It seems almost as if we have exchanged diseases with the Indians. They die of our most common cold, and we of their plague. BROTHER BUYL God forgive us! CUT TO: EXT. ROYAL HOSPITAL - COURTYARD - SPAIN - DAY A MAN covered with sores is screaming, thrashing in his agony. He is held down, his voice muffled. ISABEL turns away, shocked. She is in a ward full of patients, attended by a DOCTOR, SANCHEZ and other members of her court. The patients are emaciated, their faces and bodies covered with virulent sores. NUNS move between the beds. DOCTOR It seems to be caused by intimacy with the native women, Your Majesty. ISABEL Will he survive? DOCTOR No, Your Majesty. They go mad -- then they die. There is nothing we can do. ISABEL looks around at SANCHEZ, appalled. SANCHEZ Every ship returns with a cargo of sick and dying. But with no gold! The new world proves expensive, Your Majesty. ISABEL We weren't expecting immediate profits, were we? We must have faith. We must give time for time. SANCHEZ bows in acknowledgement. But ISABEL, despite her words, looks distressed. EXT. MINE - NEW WORLD - DAY Excavations carved into a hillside. It is a blisteringly hot day. At the foot of the hill, GIACOMO sits at a table beneath an awning, with MOXICA and several CLERKS. ONE HUNDRED FIFTY INDIANS standing in line at the table. In turn, they hand over a small quantity of gold. The CLERK weighs it on a scale, and notes down each contribution. MOXICA impatiently gestures the INDIANS to move faster with a thonged crop. An INDIAN approaches the table. He is nervous. He doesn't produce anything. The INDIAN shakes his head, gesticulates, starts to speak rapidly. TRANSLATOR He says he has not found any! MOXICA He's lying! Again the INDIAN pleads and gesticulates. MOXICA hits him across the face with the thonged crop. The INDIAN tries to run away -- but is held by a SPANISH SOLDIER. MOXICA Bring him here! The frightened INDIAN is brought back to the table. One of the CLERKS slips away. MOXICA Tell him to put his hands on the table. Like this! CUT TO: EXT. OTHER SIDE OF THE SITE - DAY At the other end of the site, the CLERK sprinting to GIACOMO, who was talking to a FOREMASTER. CLERK Don Giacomo, you'd better come at once! EXT. MINE - DAY MOXICA turns, looks back at the long line of INDIANS, still passively waiting. MOXICA Tell them I want them to watch this! The terrified TRANSLATOR speaks to the INDIANS. CLERK Don't Moxica! You can't... CUT TO: GIACOMO and the CLERK running to the scene. CUT TO: MOXICA (to the clerk) I can't? I can't? With a single swift action, MOXICA draws his sword and cuts off the INDIAN'S hands. ALL HELL BREAKS LOOSE. The INDIANS flee, disappearing into the jungle. GIACOMO arrives at this moment. He stares at the dismembered hands in horror. INT. GOVERNOR'S MANSION - EVENING A tribunal. Sitting behind a table with his brothers, and flanked by his council, COLUMBUS presides. MOXICA stands before them. COLUMBUS In one act of brutality, you have created chaos. Tribes who were fighting each other are now joining forces against us! All that because of your criminal savagery! MOXICA (casually) Savagery is what monkeys understand. COLUMBUS You'll be held in detention, deprived of your privileges and possessions. Until you are returned to Spain where you will be judged. Have you anything to say? MOXICA (with exquisite insolence) You will regret this. He strolls to the GUARDS at the back of the room. EXT. BARRACKS - NIGHT Everything is quiet on the mine site. On the terrace, TWO SOLDIERS are drinking in turn, and cracking jokes. One of them leans against the wooden wall. He laughs as he hears repeated banging behind him. CUT TO: INT. BARRACKS - NIGHT A THIRD SOLDIER is fucking an INDIAN WOMAN against the wall. CUT TO: EXT. BARRACKS - NIGHT On the terrace, his two COMPANIONS laugh and encourage his efforts. A whooshing sound. An arrow embeds itself in the chest of the SOLDIER who was leaning against the wall. He is nailed to the wood behind him. THE OTHER SOLDIER stares at him, transfixed, until an arrow pierces his throat. He collapses, unable to cry out for help. INT. BARRACKS - NIGHT FOUR INDIANS in full warrior outfit, their faces painted, burst into the room. Still busy with the WOMAN, his eyes facing the wall, the SOLDIER believes the intruders to be his friends. SOLDIER (without stopping) You animals! Can't you wait! Discovering the FOUR TERRIFYING FIGURES staring at her, the INDIAN WOMAN starts screaming and pushes back the SOLDIER. He turns around, jumps off the WOMAN, and starts to scramble to the front door, trying to put on his trousers. THE FOUR INDIANS catch him, and force him to lay on the ground. THE MAN struggles, his eyes rolling in terror. TWO INDIANS force his mouth open. A THIRD ONE kneels and starts stuffing it with gold dust. THE SOLDIER chokes and suffocates. THE WOMAN still stands half naked against the wall, terrified. AN INDIAN takes his knife from his leggings, slowly. She starts sobbing and imploring in her language. THE INDIAN slowly walks to her, and plants the knife in the lower part of her belly. EXT. MINE - DAY PAIRS of bloody red legs hanging still, high in the air. Pulling back, we discover: A DOZEN SPANIARDS have been crucified on the scaffolding of the excavations. Some hands and noses have been removed. UTAPAN is standing, uncomfortable among the SPANIARDS. A SOLDIER removes a huge iron nail from a wrist. One of the CRUCIFIED BODIES is gently laid on the ground. He is still alive -- not for long. COLUMBUS and BARTOLOME are silent with rage. BARTOLOME (aggressively) Moxica is right. Our ways don't work! BARTOLOME turns to UTAPAN. BARTOLOME (aggressively) Can you find them? UTAPAN looks distraught -- this is the first time he is being asked to do something against his own people. He looks up at COLUMBUS for help in confusion. COLUMBUS You have to find them, Utapan. Look what they did! UTAPAN You did the same to your God! COLUMBUS is caught short. COLUMBUS We have to stop this war. UTAPAN nods. He walks and takes an arrow. He examines it. COLUMBUS Do you know them? UTAPAN nods, uncomfortable. CUT TO: EXT. HILL AND VALLEY - DAY Around a campfire, two dozen INDIANS are squatting. They are arguing over a musket and some woolen hats they stole from the mine. CLICK! CLICK! The INDIANS raise their heads. All around them, crossbows and muskets are pointed at them. Two INDIANS try to run away. They are shot. This sound triggers the SPANIARDS' response. They start shooting at random. UTAPAN is horrified. COLUMBUS stands up shouting. COLUMBUS Stop! Stop this! CUT TO: EXT. GOVERNOR'S MANSION - NIGHT MOXICA and a group of rebels (GUEVARA among them), silently approach the entrance of the mansion. A GUARD is stabbed and falls on his knees with a cry. INT. COLUMBUS' STUDY - GOVERNOR'S MANSION - NIGHT MOXICA tears COLUMBUS' plans of the city from the wall. On the table, the model of the future city. Watched by the other ARISTOCRATS, MOXICA sets fire to the parchment he has rolled up. He blows the flames from the torch onto the model. Fire races up and down the streets of the miniature, as if burning the city of Isabel. A mad gleam in MOXICA'S eyes... EXT. SQUARE OF ISABEL - NIGHT The half-burnt remains of the Mansion. COLUMBUS stands in the square, looking up at it. Behind him, his SOLDIERS, his BROTHERS and about thirty captured INDIANS. GIACOMO walks slowly across the square. COLUMBUS looks at him in disbelief. GIACOMO (through cracked lips) Moxica... EXT. RIVER BANK - JUNGLE - DAWN COLUMBUS leads his party of SOLDIERS through the jungle, looking for the MUTINEERS. They reach the river -- scan the far bank. Nothing. COLUMBUS nods. His MEN start to enter the river, led by a HALBERDIER. Others follow, wading across, their weapons held above their heads. A crossbow arrow pierces the HALBERDIER. Without a cry he falls forward into the water, and is carried away by the current. Two more MEN are hit. One cries out, thrashes around in the water, an arrow protruding from his side. The river stained with blood. Still no sign of the enemy. COLUMBUS' MEN nevertheless start to return fire from the bank, creating a shield... others continue to wade across the river. A MUTINEER is shot down from the branches of a tree... The first MEN come ashore. Musket fire. An exchange of arrows. COLUMBUS is now wading across. The MAN next to him is killed, and carried away by the current. Now, on the far shore, the enemy have shown themselves. There is hand to hand fighting, with swords and other weapons. MOXICA kills one of COLUMBUS' men -- but his own are outnumbered and outmatched. Already, some are beginning to surrender. In the midst of the fighting, COLUMBUS, sword drawn, pulls himself out of the river: A MUTINEER lunges at him. COLUMBUS kills him with a thrust of his sword -- and walks forward into the jungle. He spots MOXICA at the foot of a cliff. EXT. JUNGLE CLIMB TO CLIFF TOP - DAY MOXICA starts scrambling up the rocks behind him, with COLUMBUS following. The climb through the dense undergrowth is so exhausting, they are now almost climbing in slow motion. EXT. TOP OF CLIFF - DAY MOXICA bursts out of the undergrowth. He is at the edge of emptiness, swept by a violent offshore wind. He turns frantically, to see COLUMBUS coming up behind him. Knowing he is lost, MOXICA regains his natural arrogance. He steps backwards towards the edge. MOXICA You know what they will say in Spain about my death -- don't you? He takes another step backwards, as COLUMBUS moves towards him. MOXICA You are nothing! You bastards will never inherit your titles. We are everything. We are immortal! He smiles, and steps back into space. EXT. ROCKS BELOW CLIFF TOP - DAY His body falls, bounces off the rocks below, crashes into the water. EXT. TOP OF CLIFF - DAY COLUMBUS stares down as his body is swept away. CUT TO: EXT. SQUARE OF ISABEL - DAY CLOSE ON COLUMBUS' expressionless face. CUT TO: A MUTINEER -- his face is white, he is crying and trembling. His arms are tied behind his back. He is held fast, a rope is put around his neck. COLUMBUS, sitting not far away beside his BROTHERS, gives a signal. Drums begin to beat. BROTHER BUYL looks on impassive. A grimace suddenly transform THE YOUNG MAN'S face. He is being garroted -- his throat crushed with a rope. The YOUNG MAN'S feet dance frenziedly. We hear the choking. The drums cease. BROTHER BUYL crosses himself and murmurs a prayer, deeply distraught. GIACOMO has covered his eyes. A wider view shows the bodies of three other ARISTOCRATS from the rebellion, attached to chairs affixed to a pole, their heads straight, the rope still tight around their necks. Justice has been done. The members of the COUNCIL rise in silence, COLUMBUS stands up. CUT TO: EXT. ISABEL - QUAYSIDE - DAY CLOSE ON several large wooden cages. Inside we see the INDIANS that COLUMBUS captured. They are packed together. They stare out with vacant eyes. SOLDIERS guard them. A ship against the pier. BUYL at his side, COLUMBUS stares at the INDIANS. BROTHER BUYL I wish to go back with them, Don Colon. I have no desire to remain in this godless place. COLUMBUS You may do as you please, Brother Buyl -- though your departure will not help me to make it more Godly. BROTHER BUYL looks at him, almost with astonishment. BROTHER BUYL You treat Christians equally with heathen savages. You execute members of the nobility. And what do you offer in return? COLUMBUS (quietly) A new world, Brother Buyl. BROTHER BUYL Nobody wants one...! Only you! And he walks away. EXT. ISLAND - EVENING Against the livid horizon, three black waterspouts join the sky to the sea. A gust of wind disturbs the roof of the jungle. INT. GOVERNOR'S MANSION - EVENING The wind grows stronger. Doors bang inside the building... a melancholy sound. COLUMBUS sits on the balcony with his BROTHERS. They are silent. After a few moments, COLUMBUS begins to speak quietly, almost as if he were speaking to himself. COLUMBUS Perhaps hope only exists in the journey. When it begins, everything is still possible -- every expectation; every dream... The BROTHERS do not answer. COLUMBUS This is not how I imagined it to be. CUT TO: EXT. JUNGLE - NEAR ISABEL - NIGHT UTAPAN begins to shave his head... EXT. BALCONY - GOVERNOR'S MANSION - DAWN The sky is dark and threatening, the wind even stronger. We find COLUMBUS where we left him, but now alone. He has sat here all night. Shutters bang violently. He looks up -- and sees a few yards from him: the naked FIGURE OF AN INDIAN, his face and body painted, staring at him. COLUMBUS realizes who it is... COLUMBUS Utapan! UTAPAN is still and silent. A strange and mysterious figure now. COLUMBUS Utapan, won't you speak to me? You used to know how to speak to me. UTAPAN (sadly, in his own language) You never learned how to speak my language. UTAPAN is gone. EXT. SQUARE - DAWN The wind is whipping the trees now, stronger and stronger. Groups of INDIANS look up at the sky. Then, above the sound of the wind, they hear another noise. Like a collective murmur, almost in one voice, the INDIANS repeat, over and over. INDIANS Urracan... Urracan... Urracan... Urracan... (the wrath of God) With a loud thunderclap, the storm suddenly breaks. In a few seconds it has risen to violent proportions, and the landscape is drenched in torrential rain. The wind doubles its strength... and all hell breaks loose... EXT. CITY OF ISABEL - DAY The hurricane is full force. Trees are being ripped up by their roots. Rivers of mud are washed down from the hills, carrying everything away in their paths: houses, carts, equipment, horses... EXT. MINE - ISABEL - DAY The mine workings flooded with mud... EXT. APPROACH TO DAM AND WATERFALL - DAY COLUMBUS, BARTOLOME and MENDEZ struggle through the teeth of the hurricane towards the dam. EXT. DAM - DAY Timbers creak and strain. COLUMBUS, BARTOLOME, MENDEZ and a DOZEN other MEN are trying to save the dam. Suddenly, frighteningly, the dam begins to crash. COLUMBUS (screaming) Let it go! Let it go! The MEN scramble away as the dam wall buckles, and burst open. Water floods over them; a roaring torrent. From the bank, MENDEZ, BARTOLOME and COLUMBUS survey the ruins of their dreams. CUT TO: INT. GOVERNOR'S PALACE - BEDROOM - DAY COLUMBUS is stretched out on his bed, in his devastated bedroom. A column of ants is threading its way across the floor, each ant carrying a piece of leaf. Rain falls over a table covered with documents. COLUMBUS' face is covered in dried mud. SANCHEZ (V.O.) He promised us gold but has failed to find it. He subjects the natives to violence, provocation and injustice. He sent them to Spain against the express wishes of Your Majesty... INT. AUDIENCE ROOM - ALHAMBRA PALACE - DAY We are back to the first scene. In the vast, opulent, glittering room, ISABEL listens impassively to the voice of SANCHEZ. Also present, other GRANDEES, representatives of the church and state. SANCHEZ ... But there is worse. He ordered the execution of five members of the nobility... ISABEL Is this true, Brother Buyl? BROTHER BUYL Yes, Your Majesty. It is all true. I saw it with my own eyes. A pause. ISABEL seems to struggle inwardly with her emotions. SANCHEZ waits, expressionless, but on the point of victory. ISABEL Then, what do you suggest, Don Sanchez? SANCHEZ He must be replaced. ISABEL And who would you think of, for such a task? CUT TO: EXT. QUAYSIDE - ISABEL - DAY We see a buckled shoe -- as it rises, it slips into a stirrup. The horse is mounted. The shoe digs into its flank. The sound of hoofbeats... SANCHEZ (V.O.) I am thinking of a man. A devotee to Your Majesties. A man extremely motivated... DISSOLVE TO: EXT. STREETS OF ISABEL - DAY FIVE MEN on HORSEBACK, dressed in fashionable clothes, canter down what used to be the main street of Isabel. Through some has been rebuilt, the effects of the hurricane are still visible... People look at them curiously. We see them stop near the Governor's mansion. The MEN dismount and walk into the Palace. INT. GOVERNOR'S MANSION - DAY One of the MEN in black clothes removes his hat and steps forward. We recognize him as ALONSO DE BOBADILLA, the man COLUMBUS humiliated at the rotunda. COLUMBUS is sitting at his desk, studying plans with GIACOMO. Some other MEMBERS of the COUNCIL are with them. BOBADILLA Don Alonso de Bobadilla. COLUMBUS Yes... I remember... BOBADILLA turns, gestures to one of the other MEN, who comes forward and gives him a roll of parchment, bearing the royal seal. BOBADILLA My letters of appointment. COLUMBUS Appointment to what? BOBADILLA Viceroy of the West Indies. COLUMBUS Congratulations. Then I am free to search for the mainland. BOBADILLA smiles wickedly, happy to give COLUMBUS a low blow. BOBADILLA Didn't you learn? The mainland was discovered. Weeks ago. By another Italian. I forgot his name. A MAN IN BLACK Amerigo Vespucci, Excellency. COLUMBUS pales. Then... COLUMBUS How far from here? BOBADILLA I am not a seaman. But I heard it is no more than a week at sea. I hope you are not too disappointed. COLUMBUS How could I be? The mainland has been found. Exactly as I said it would. BOBADILLA I am afraid this is not the worst news. CUT TO: INT. CELL - SEVILLE PRISON - DAY All is dark. We can just make out COLUMBUS' face as he lies on the hard bed. He is sweating heavily; his beard is filthy and matted, like his hair. He looks feverish. A key turns in the lock. The JAILER lets in two fashionably dressed YOUNG MEN. COLUMBUS, blinking in the light, turns his head to stare at them. His eyes are reddened with infection at the corners. The YOUNG MEN come forward into the light. FERNANDO (quietly) Father? Unable to believe it, COLUMBUS slowly sits up. COLUMBUS Fernando...! My God...! He laughs, overcome with joy. Embraces DIEGO. COLUMBUS A man! Diego, how did this happen? DIEGO Santangel is going to see the Queen. We are going to get you out of here. COLUMBUS Good! I have to go back! DIEGO and FERNANDO look at one another, then back at COLUMBUS, incredulously, seeing his filthy clothes, his eyes rimmed with dried mucus. DIEGO Go back? There's a new excitement in COLUMBUS' voice. He walks over to the table. The candlelight illuminates maps, charts, drawings, figures... COLUMBUS I have to explore the mainland. FERNANDO This time with me! COLUMBUS laughs and DIEGO looks at them both in astonishment. DIEGO In your present state it is madness, Father! FERNANDO glances at DIEGO. FERNANDO Nobody is forcing you to come with us. DIEGO is hurt. DIEGO I can't go anyway. A pause. FERNANDO She's very beautiful! The Queen has very good taste. Diego is getting married. DIEGO seems saddened by his brother's attitude. Once again DIEGO feels like the outsider. COLUMBUS hugs him. COLUMBUS I am happy for you, Diego. INT. ALHAMBRA - AUDIENCE ROOM - DAY Like Lucifer and Gabriel, SANTANGEL and SANCHEZ sit on either side of ISABEL. SANTANGEL Granted his faults. Yes, a hundred times! But the man is still remarkable. ISABEL looks at him, then at SANCHEZ, MOVED BUT CLEARLY UNDECIDED. SANTANGEL presses his point. SANTANGEL All he asks is a chance to explore this... mainland. SANCHEZ It does not belong to him. SANTANGEL (quietly) In a way, it does, Don Sanchez. (to the Queen) I beg Your Majesty to receive him. To hear him... He will make no more demands. He has changed. He is penitent. SANCHEZ Penitent...? He is suing us for breach of contract! ISABEL Is he? She starts to laugh. ISABEL Really? SANTANGEL tries to stop himself laughing. INT. AUDIENCE ROOM - ALHAMBRA PALACE - DAY COLUMBUS is shown into the room. ISABEL is waiting for him. He drops to his knees before her. This time she walks towards him, clearly moved by his white-hair, and other signs of physical deterioration. Her hand hovers over his head, as if it means to console him. Her hand is dying to comfort. But instead, she offers her hand for him to kiss. ISABEL Rise... Please... COLUMBUS gets slowly to his feet -- but his eyes, as they meet hers, are as clear as before. ISABEL smiles with relief to see it. He looks back at her. COLUMBUS Now I do look older than you. She smiles -- then again, tries to restrain it, and keeps her dignity. ISABEL We have decided to allow you to undertake another voyage to the new world... COLUMBUS starts to interrupt; she stops him with a gesture. ISABEL But without your brothers. Nor are you to return to Santo Domingo or any of the other colonies. You may explore the continent. COLUMBUS Thank you. ISABEL There is one thing I'd like to understand... Why do you want to go back, after all this? COLUMBUS Your Majesty -- some men are content to read about things. I must see them with my own eyes. I cannot be other than I am. She almost bursts out laughing -- only pauses, turns slightly, then goes out. INT. ALHAMBRA PALACE - ROOM NEXT TO THRONE ROOM - DAY SANCHEZ is standing alone in the next room; he has obviously been listening. He looks at her. ISABEL I know, I should not tolerate his impertinence. SANCHEZ Then why? ISABEL Because he is not afraid of me. INT. ALHAMBRA PALACE - CORRIDOR - DAY SANCHEZ, in another direction, along a corridor, towards his office. As he reaches a corner with a wide window, a hand seizes him. COLUMBUS. SANCHEZ All I have to do is call the guards. COLUMBUS Call them. SANCHEZ looks at him -- and doesn't call. COLUMBUS lets go of him. SANCHEZ I am not afraid of you. You are nothing but a dreamer. COLUMBUS Look out of that window. Surprised, SANCHEZ nevertheless turns, looks out. COLUMBUS What do you see? SANCHEZ Roofs... towers, palaces... spires... COLUMBUS All of them created by people like me. SANCHEZ turns round again to face him. COLUMBUS No matter how long you live, Sanchez, there's something that will never change between us. I did it! You didn't! COLUMBUS turns abruptly and walks away, vanishing down the echoing corridor. EXT. COLUMBUS' MANOR HOUSE - DAY COLUMBUS dismounts in the courtyard. Everything seems deserted. There's no one about, no sign of life... INT. MANOR HOUSE - DAY COLUMBUS walks slowly through the great rooms. There is nothing left: no furniture, rugs, pictures... nothing. He turns, sees BEATRIX standing in a doorway, looking back at him. They are both moved. COLUMBUS God... you're so beautiful! I can't believe no other man has ever taken you away from me... BEATRIX They tried... but I didn't let them. She smiles. They don't dare to touch. BEATRIX looks round the empty room. BEATRIX They took everything... COLUMBUS (looking at her) Not everything... Do you think I care? I'm a free man again. Riches don't make a man rich, they only make him busier... They laugh. There's a pause. COLUMBUS God, how much I've missed you! And they throw themselves into each other's arms. CUT TO: INT. DINING ROOM - MANOR HOUSE - EVENING All that has been left is a simple table and one chair. They are having supper by candlelight in the vast, empty room, though the candles throw a warm, sensuous glow on the figs and hams and wine... and on their faces, as BEATRIX sits on his lap. SANTANGEL (O.S.) One chair. One table. What more can a man expect, when he tries to sue the Crown? They laugh. With only a little embarrassment, BEATRIX gets off COLUMBUS' knee. SANTANGEL comes forward, and COLUMBUS embraces him like an old friend. BEATRIX goes to the kitchen. COLUMBUS I owe you everything, Santangel... but as you see, I can't repay you. SANTANGEL On the contrary. It is I who owe you everything. Through you, I have been an adventurer, an explorer! It's true I shall never see the new world... but it's here... (he points to his head) And here... (pointing to his heart) COLUMBUS smiles. BEATRIX returns with a plate and glass for SANTANGEL. SANTANGEL What you are, Colon, is a sailor, a discoverer, a man of imagination... not a politician. You weren't meant to govern -- You cannot be all things to all men. He takes the wine BEATRIX offers, and raises his glass. SANTANGEL I wish you could have compromised. It would have made your life easier... COLUMBUS But as least we haven't been bored, have we? They all laugh, and drink. EXT. SHIP'S DECK - FERNANDO'S POV - NIGHT Night on the open sea -- the moon shines on the waves and we hear the creaking of ropes and timbers -- the loneliness and mystery of the night passage. SAILOR'S VOICE West... southwest, Captain Mendez... MENDEZ (O.S.) Steady as she goes... COLUMBUS walks over to FERNANDO, who is leaning against the rail. He is smoking a cigar... as the smoke blows over FERNANDO'S face, FERNANDO wretches... It's clear he's feeling seasick, trying to control it. COLUMBUS leans against the rail next to him, staring out at the darkness. Then looks at his SON again. FERNANDO won't give in to the sickness, but COLUMBUS knows he'd feel better if he did. COLUMBUS How are you feeling, Fernando? FERNANDO (in a strangled voice) Not bad. COLUMBUS nods meditatively, puffs out some smoke. FERNANDO winces, gags slightly. COLUMBUS (almost casually) You know what I always used to do? FERNANDO shakes his head. COLUMBUS Swallow a piece of pork fat on a string. It always worked. At the thought of the pork fat, FERNANDO jerks his head over the side, and vomits copiously. COLUMBUS smiles, pats him on the back. EXT. SHIP'S DECK - DAY As it plows through heavy seas. COLUMBUS, a coat wrapped around him, is sitting on a chair topside, directing operations despite an obvious fever. Suddenly a cry from the mast head: SAILOR (O.S.) Tierra...! Tierra! SAILORS and FERNANDO rush to the side of the ship, peering through the spray. FERNANDO wipes his eyes, and then he sees it: there in the distance, a speck of land. FERNANDO and his FATHER stand together, watching the low cloud formation sitting on the horizon. COLUMBUS The mainland... FERNANDO looks excited. Discreetly, COLUMBUS watches his SON, enjoying his happiness. EXT. PANAMA (SURREAL IMAGES) - DAY A most wonderful and surreal image. A heavy mist lies over the forest. We move above it slowly. A FIGURE emerges from the mist. At first only a silhouette -- then, slowly, a golden figure... an INDIAN, covered in gold... gold artifacts, golden paste on his body. The GOLDEN FIGURE turns, and points, into an unknown distance. EXT. TREEHOUSE - DAY From the INDIAN treehouse, COLUMBUS, FERNANDO, MENDEZ and several INDIANS are gazing west over a necklace of magnificent lakes. The INDIANS point and talk gently. FERNANDO has never seen anything so fresh, so beautiful. EXT. CAMP - SUNSET A magnificent sunset. A fire is burning, food cooking. COLUMBUS looks over his maps, trying to figure out where they are. We see the outline of the continent of Asia. An OLD INDIAN squats beside him, silent, also looking at the map. Then, slowly and very deliberately, he takes a piece of charcoal from the fire and begins to draw on the map. Ignoring the Asian continent, he sketches the Panamanian coastline -- an isthmus. MENDEZ and FERNANDO gather round. COLUMBUS watches the OLD INDIAN with initial puzzlement, then growing excitement. MENDEZ What's he doing? COLUMBUS He's drawing an isthmus... He's saying we're on an isthmus. MENDEZ We can't be. FERNANDO is still confused. The OLD INDIAN continues to sketch, talking quietly all the time. An INDIAN TRANSLATOR listens. COLUMBUS Tell me what he's saying. TRANSLATOR He says -- water on the other side. COLUMBUS Ask him if he means a lake. A big lake. The TRANSLATOR asks. The OLD INDIAN shakes his head, laughs, points to the west, way beyond the other lakes, emphatically. TRANSLATOR No. Says those are lakes. Water on other side big -- as wide as here. Above and below, much land. COLUMBUS (stunned) An ocean...? He's says it's an ocean? FERNANDO I don't understand. COLUMBUS is too stunned for a moment to explain. The INDIANS laugh. Then COLUMBUS takes the charcoal, and begins to draw on the map, for his son. COLUMBUS Here is Europe... and over here, the continent of Asia. But there's something in between! Another continent! We've found... another continent! FERNANDO stares west, then back at his FATHER. COLUMBUS looks very feverish, his face bathed with sweat. FERNANDO Father... COLUMBUS There must be a passage to that other ocean. CUT TO: INT. SHIP - COLUMBUS' CABIN - NIGHT COLUMBUS, feverish, lies on the bunk. He shivers violently. FERNANDO anxiously watches over him, bathes his eyes. Suddenly THE TRANSLATOR enters. TRANSLATOR I help. A little reluctantly, FERNANDO lets him go to his FATHER. The INDIAN crouches over the bed, takes out a handful of leaves from a pouch. He chews the leaves himself for a moment, until they form a sticky pulp, then opens COLUMBUS' mouth and puts the pulp inside, encouraging COLUMBUS to chew with the motions of his hands. COLUMBUS chews, quickly falling asleep. EXT. MOONLIT VISION OF VAST LAND MASS - NIGHT We see things from COLUMBUS' hallucination. We are plunging through layers of clouds, the speed accelerating, giving us a sickening sensation of falling to land, closer and closer... COLUMBUS wakes up with a jolt. Everything is silent. COLUMBUS walks outside. EXT. DECK - NIGHT COLUMBUS' fever has subsided. He raises his head and stares at the mainland passing in the night. He smiles. CUT TO: EXT. JUNGLE AND BAY - HIGH WIDE SHOT - DAY The roof of the jungle, the bay beyond, the caravel at anchor. CUT TO: EXT. RIVER - DAY Two canoes going upstream, deeper and deeper into the jungle. EXT. JUNGLE AND VILLAGE - DAY Smoke rises lazily above the trees. CUT TO: The boats reaching the bank. THE FIRST HUTS of a village. THE SOLDIERS spread out into the empty village. FERNANDO, COLUMBUS and MENDEZ preceded by TWO ARMED SOLDIERS enter one of the huts. The remains of a meal is still warm in bowls on the matted floor. A famished SOLDIER dips his hand in one of the bowls and devours its contents: some kind of stew. Stepping back accidentally, FERNANDO bumps into a large earthen jar behind him. It rolls and crashes, revealing the remains of meat marinating in liquid. There is something disturbing about the appearance of the content. FERNANDO Oh my God... The remains of human beings. COLUMBUS (approaching) What is...? He stares at the remains, stunned. THE SOLDIER stops chewing. He drops the half-empty bowl he was still holding. He runs at the back door, rams his fingers deep in the back of his throat, and vomits. SOLDIER Oh Virgen Maria... Oh Madre de Dios... (Oh Virgin Mary... Oh Mother of God...) But as he vomits and cries, he notices: A HEADLESS HUMAN TRUNK spread open, like a sheep carcass. Disturbed flies rise in clouds. SOLDIER Jesus, Maria, y todos los Santos... (Jesus, Mary, and all the Saints...) CUT TO: COLUMBUS and the SPANIARDS meet in the center of the village. All have made the same horrific discovery. COLUMBUS (urgently) Out! Get out! THE SPANIARDS back out of the village, crossbows pointed at the invisible enemy hidden in the jungle. They are running through the dense forest for the river bank. The CANNIBALS materialize among the trees, running alongside. Bounding, skipping, frightening FIGURES, their brutal faces painted in black. They release arrows at the running SOLDIERS. A SOLDIER stops, kneels to the ground, fires his crossbow and kills one of the CANNIBALS... but he is pierced by a spear. TWO CANNIBALS drag him and cut his throat to finish him. ELSEWHERE IN THE JUNGLE -- CRIES AND CONFUSION, SPANIARDS and CANNIBALS moving in hand to hand combat. A CANNIBAL comes sprinting at FERNANDO, brandishing his lance. COLUMBUS jumps on the man, and plants a knife in his abdomen. Blinded in sweat, he stabs the CANNIBAL, who collapses. Frenzied, COLUMBUS stabs over and over again. He stops and looks at his forearm -- soaked in blood. Shocked by his own fury, he raises his hand and stares at it. A GIANT BLACK BUTTERFLY alights gently on his bloody fingers, COLUMBUS staring fascinated at its palpitating wings. FERNANDO, screaming at his FATHER, drags him to his feet. They run... CUT TO: THE SPANIARDS, COLUMBUS, MENDEZ, FERNANDO... all running hard to the boat. ARROWS whistle around them as they leap into the canoes, nearly capsizing them, launching them into the current. SOME CANNIBALS still follow them along the riverbank. But the canoes are faster, and soon, they are left behind. EXT. SHIP AT SEA - DAY Endless seascape, the caravel plowing. EXT. SHIP'S DECK - DAY FERNANDO is crouched on the poop deck, wrapped in a blanket. He seems in a state of shock: he is pale and shaking. As COLUMBUS goes and sits near his son, he hands him a flask of alcohol. COLUMBUS (kindly) Take it. Come on. Drink. As COLUMBUS insists, brandishing the flask, FERNANDO notices that his hands are shaking too. His FATHER'S forehead is dripping with sweat. FERNANDO drinks a gulp and grimaces. He drinks again and hands the flask back to his FATHER, who does the same. FERNANDO notices dried blood on his FATHER'S fingers. COLUMBUS immediately hides his hand and stands. COLUMBUS I... I have to see Mendez. Then, with sudden anger. COLUMBUS Your brother was right. I should have never taken you with me. I'll never forgive myself. Never! He walks a few steps, lurches, and has to lean against the rail. He raises his hand to his eyes, grimacing in pain, as if they were burning. FERNANDO scrambles to his feet and rushes to him. COLUMBUS' eyes are already fixed somewhere -- fever is eating him up. COLUMBUS Will you ever forgive me? FERNANDO turns around for help. COLUMBUS Captain Mendez! INT. SHIP'S CABIN - DAY COLUMBUS is lying on his couch. FERNANDO is bathing his eyes, sweeping off the pus that continuously forms in them. COLUMBUS is drenched in sweat. CUT TO: FERNANDO is writing under his FATHER'S dictation. COLUMBUS I came to Your Highness with honest purpose and sincere zeal. I did not undertake these voyages for honor or wealth -- that is certain. After years of service to the Crown, I do not have a roof to put over my head... Your Majesty allowed me to explore the continent, believed to be Asia. I now believe that it is an new Land, of unknown proportions and wealth... Life has more imagination than we carry in our dreams... DISSOLVE TO: INT. ALCAZAR PALACE - GARDENS - DAY The DUENA, sitting beside ISABEL, quietly continues to read COLUMBUS' letter aloud. DUENA "I should be judged as a Seaman who by Divine Will discovered a New World, and thereby placed it under the sovereignty of Your Majesties. I humbly beseech Your Majesties that if it pleases God to remove me hence, you will help the name of Columbus to be remembered with honor... Weep for me, whoever has charity, truth and justice." She stops reading. ISABEL turns her face away. INT. UNIVERSITY OF SALAMANCA - DAY An ivory-sculptured hand -- the end of the back scratcher belonging to AROJAZ -- indicates a line across a large globe: the route between Europe and America. AROJAZ (O.S.) The sunset route to the new continent is now well-established... We see a large amphitheater, filled with PEOPLE attending a lecture of "Nova Geographica" -- the new geography. AROJAZ stands in front of the assembly. Facing him, enthroned, is KING FERDINAND, surrounded by COURTIERS, including SANCHEZ. We slowly move across the arena, passing attentive faces. AROJAZ ... West by south west for 750 leagues to Santo Domingo. From there, west north west, leaving San Juan to the north, reaching the island of Hispanola on the northern cape of San Raphael... Then onto the mainland, at the Cape called Gracias a Dios... We continue to rise up the tiers of seats... AROJAZ Spain -- by Your Majesty's grace -- has confirmed for all humanity the existence of an unknown continent... Tierra Incognita... On a highest tier, we stop on the face of CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS, listening impassively. AROJAZ ... This continent was first discovered by a sailor commissioned by your Majesty... CLOSE ON COLUMBUS' eyes. AROJAZ His name... Amerigo Vespucci... On COLUMBUS. EXT. UNIVERSITY OF SALAMANCA - DAY Around the KING, on horseback, surrounded by the KNIGHTS, a CROWD is kept back by SOLDIERS. AROJAZ is mounting his horse. SANCHEZ is waiting for him. COLUMBUS stands among the students at the back of the CROWD. CUT TO: AROJAZ rides next to SANCHEZ. AROJAZ suddenly spots COLUMBUS in the crowd, as they move off. AROJAZ My God...! I thought he was dead. They pass close enough to touch COLUMBUS. But he does not see them. SANCHEZ You can see for yourself. AROJAZ What a tragedy... what a waste of a life... SANCHEZ A waste...? Let me tell you something, Arojaz. If your name, or mine, is ever remembered -- it will only be because of his. AROJAZ looks at SANCHEZ in surprise -- then cranes his neck round, and looks back at COLUMBUS -- now a FACE IN THE CROWD. EXT. LA RABIDA MONASTERY - KITCHEN GARDEN - DAY ANTONIO DE MARCHENA, a very old man now, is taking a siesta next to his grapes. He is sitting in a simple armchair, a rosary wrapped around his fingers. The presence of someone wakes him. After a moment, he recognizes COLUMBUS and smiles. Both MEN are very moved. MARCHENA I suppose we're both old men now. COLUMBUS You'll always be older than me, Father. They laugh. COLUMBUS sits down. Bees drone lazily in the sunlight. COLUMBUS Have you ever forgiven me? MARCHENA nods his head. MARCHENA Yes. I forgave you a long time ago. You see, I was proud of you. You were like a willful child. You wouldn't accept what others told you. You had to find things out for yourself, hurting yourself -- and others -- in the process. MARCHENA looks at his plants, sighs contentedly. MARCHENA Do you remember when you said that people talk about the world, but never leave their gardens. COLUMBUS nods. MARCHENA More than ever I wonder what it is we do achieve by leaving our gardens... The world changes -- and yet it seems the same. We find new worlds, but fill them with the same people... He pauses, looks across at COLUMBUS, smiles again gently. MARCHENA, tiring, leans back in his chair, and looks up towards the sun. COLUMBUS I have to disagree. MARCHENA I knew you would. COLUMBUS New worlds create new people. MARCHENA Oh? So you are a new man? COLUMBUS I don't know... I have the impression that I didn't change that much. I still can't accept the world as it is! MARCHENA starts laughing. MARCHENA God bless you, and those like you! They both laugh. EXT. BEATRIX'S HOUSE BALCONY - EVENING FERNANDO is sitting in front of his FATHER, examining documents and letters. COLUMBUS has wrapped a shawl around his legs. He looks even older now, with his mass of pure white hair. BEATRIX comes out with a tray, carrying grapes and a decanter of water. She places it on a small table near COLUMBUS and touches his shoulder. As she is ready to return inside the house, he holds her back. COLUMBUS Can't you stay with us a little? BEATRIX I am busy inside. He smiles. She looks at him smiling, intrigued. BEATRIX What is it, now? Tell me... COLUMBUS I can't keep my eyes off you. I would like to catch up with all the moments I didn't spend with you. FERNANDO looks up at them above his letters, amused and slightly embarrassed. COLUMBUS looks at him with a fake air of reproach. COLUMBUS What are you listening to? FERNANDO I am not listening, Father. But I can't help hearing. FERNANDO opens a letter and reads it quickly. FERNANDO It's Diego... He is at the Court, with Santangel... He says they hope to get your privileges restored... And maybe the house. COLUMBUS smiles and nods -- all this seems to be of very little importance to him now. COLUMBUS But how is he? And Dona Maria? FERNANDO continues to read. FERNANDO Fine, it seems. Diego is thinking of starting a pearl trade, in Santo Domingo... He says he received many letters for you. Some of your men, mostly. He opens one of them, glances at it. FERNANDO This one is from Mendez! COLUMBUS' eyes brighten with joy. COLUMBUS What does he say? FERNANDO He asks when he can come to visit you. He left his address. COLUMBUS (smiling) He never had one... except aboard my ships! FERNANDO laughs -- then, suddenly serious. FERNANDO I want you to tell me everything you remember, Father. From the beginning. Everything. COLUMBUS Really? (pause) God... I wouldn't know where to start... and yet... FERNANDO Tell me the first thing that comes to your mind. COLUMBUS sighs, and leans back on his chair. His eyes are fixed somewhere, searching. Then, almost in a murmur. COLUMBUS I remember... We see the page. FERNANDO writes: ... I REMEMBER... A drop of ink falls from the quill onto the page and the words. FERNANDO is waiting. CUT TO: COLUMBUS' eyes. CUT TO: EXT. BEACH AND JUNGLE - FIRST LANDING - DAY A MOVING IMAGE, as seen from the rolling deck of a ship. We see: A majestic forest, resting on a slash of white sand, and deep blue sea... MUSIC BEGINS: THE LONE SILHOUETTE of an INDIAN emerges from the dense foliage. He runs down the beach towards the surf. He stops and seems to be staring at us. These words appear on the screen: THE BIOGRAPHY FERNANDO WROTE ABOUT HIS FATHER WAS FOUND BY CHANCE IN VENICE. ITS PUBLICATION IN 1571 CONTRIBUTED TO RESTORING THE NAME OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS, WHICH HAD BEEN FORGOTTEN. IN 1511 DIEGO COLUMBUS BECAME GOVERNOR OF SANTO DOMINGO. COLUMBUS RESTS IN THE CATHEDRAL OF SEVILLE, IN ANDALUSIA. END AND CREDITS.
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+FADE IN on the words CZECH AIRLINE. We are panning across the words on the side of the plane. INT. AIRPLANE ANGLE DOWN on a tray table. Crumpled Czech bills and coins are on it. Hands are counting the money. The airline hostess announces the arrival at JFK - in CZECH. A hand reaches into a breast pocket - pulling out two passports. One is opened. Belongs to EMIL SLOVAK. The next passport belongs to OLEG RAZGUL. The hand passes the Oleg Razgul passport to the man next to him. We notice several empty airline bottles of vodka and a small disposable camera on Oleg's tray table. The passport is set down. Oleg picks it up. We hear Emil's voice in CZECH. The scene is subtitled in ENGLISH. EMIL (V.O.) Just do what I do. Say the same thing I say. Don't open your mouth. OLEG (V.O.) Okay. INT. PASSPORT CONTROL - KENNEDY AIRPORT - DAY CAMERA DOLLIES down a long line of passengers. They are split into two lines - one for Americans, the other for visitors. CAMERA finally arrives at EMIL SLOVAK. An unshaven Czech in his mid-30's. Tall, scraggly beard. Piercing blue eyes. He's dressed in an outdated suit. His eyes are alert, cunning and smart. OLEG RAZGUL, stands in line behind Emil. Oleg is big. Not tall - but wide. A wrestler's body. Emil looks at Oleg. (The following is in CZECH and subtitled in ENGLISH.) EMIL Don't fool around. OLEG Okay. Oleg holds up his disposable camera - at arms length - to take a picture of himself. EMIL Did you hear what I said? OLEG I want to document my trip to America. IMMIGRATION OFFICER Next. (Emil steps up) Could I see your documents, please? EMIL Yes sir. He hands the passport to the officer who runs it through an image swipe. Emil glances furtively back to Oleg. IMMIGRATION OFFICER What is your intended purpose of your visit to the United States? EMIL Two weeks holiday. IMMIGRATION OFFICER How much money are you carrying with you? EMIL I have five-hundred dollars. IMMIGRATION OFFICER Can you show me? Sir, no cameras in the FIS area! Oleg was about to take a picture of Emil and the Immigration Officer. Oleg puts the camera away. Smiles sheepishly. IMMIGRATION OFFICER (CONT'D) (to Emil) Is he with you? Are you travelling together? EMIL Yes. IMMIGRATION OFFICER Please join us. (to Oleg) Come on forward. EMIL Is there a problem? IMMIGRATION OFFICER No, you're travelling together. I want to talk to you together. Hi, how are you? Can I take a look at your documents? (takes Oleg's passport) Are you related? OLEG Yes...he's my friend. IMMIGRATION OFFICER Okay. You're a Czech national and you're a Russian national. How do you know one another? Oleg starts to speak, but Emil cuts him off. EMIL We are both from Prague. IMMIGRATION OFFICER (to Oleg) How long are you planning to stay? EMIL Two weeks. IMMIGRATION OFFICER I'd like to speak for himself, okay? EMIL He doesn't speak English. OLEG I speak English. IMMIGRATION OFFICER (to Oleg) Then answer my questions. Where were you planning to stay during the two weeks that you're here? OLEG New York. IMMIGRATION OFFICER Yes, we're in New York now. But where are you planning to stay in New York? OLEG A cheap hotel. IMMIGRATION OFFICER What are you coming here to do? OLEG I'm here for movies. IMMIGRATION OFFICER Movies...to be in the movies or to see movies? OLEG Yes. No. Both. When I was a boy, I see movie at school called "It's a Wonderful Life" directed by Frank Capra. Ever since I want to come to America. Land of the free. Home of the brave. A land where anyone can be anything. As long as they are white. IMMIGRATION OFFICER Excuse me? EMIL He made joke, bad joke. First time on airplane... The SUPERVISOR comes over to see what the problem is: IMMIGRATION OFFICER Well, they've got valid visas, but they don't have much money. Uh... and I'm not...uh, I think there's a possibility they may be coming to live and reside. SUPERVISOR Look how long the line is. We gotta move 'em out. I'll take them down to secondary. Emil looks at Oleg, pissed. INT. P.B. HERMAN'S RESTAURANT - DAY The place is empty except for one table at the end of the bar. EDDIE FLEMMING, Manhattan's most famous detective, and his savvy, black partner, LEON JACKSON are having cocktails. Eddie is smoothly handsome, tough, smart and tired. Not only is he the best homicide detective Manhattan has ever seen, he's continually mentioned in New York columns and has been the subject of several magazine articles. There's even been a TV movie about one of his biggest cases. Leon has been with Eddie a long time and was also featured in the TV movie. Sitting with Eddie and Leon is ROBERT HAWKINS, host and star reporter for the tabloid show, "Top Story." Hawkins is also the best in the business and has dealt with them all: Joey Buttafuco and Amy Fisher, Lorena Bobbit and OJ. Wait staff bustles in the b.g. doing the morning set up. Hawkins listens as Eddie, cigar in hand, finishes a "war story" and a vodka tonic at the same time. EDDIE So we're waitin' to hit this warrant - we got Emergency Service with the heavy weapons standin' by - ready to go. I say, lemme get a cigar outta the car. I go to get the cigar and BOOM! All the sudden I turn around and a kid with a shotgun let one go. Right where I was standin'. That coulda been it. I coulda had my head blown off and for what? Some stupid kid got panicky, takes the safety off and it's over. If I hadn't gone back for that cigar - for a bad habit - I would've had my head blown off. HAWKINS Jesus Christ. PAULIE, the owner, walks up. PAULIE Speakin' of bad habits, everybody okay? HAWKINS Another martini. LEON Coffee for me, I gotta slow down. EDDIE Vodka tonic. LEON (rethinks it) Maybe you could just put in a shot of Martell? Paulie takes the drinks off the table and an empty bottle of vodka. LEON (CONT'D) (of Eddie's story) It was freaky, I'll tell you. Stupid kid. EDDIE What's the kid gonna say - sorry? Meanwhile I'm not here anymore. Like last week - we were at the morgue and this guy was all chopped up - spleen here - liver there - his heart in a pan. Six hours ago this guy was walkin' his dog or buyin' a quart of milk. Who knows? But some kid's robbed him for $3 or some shit and shot him and now you can't tell if he's a piece of beef or a human being and I'm thinkin' that's me. Sooner or later. That's me. HAWKINS Sooner or later that's everybody. EDDIE Not chopped up. Not chopped up like that. I mean, what do I got left? Coupla articles. A medal or two. Plaque here and there and in a coupla years no one remembers me anymore. HAWKINS I think you're getting a little moody there, Eddie. EDDIE I'm not moody. Hawkins and Leon share a look. HAWKINS Isn't he a little moody? LEON Of course he's moody. He thinks he's in love. HAWKINS In love? With who? Paulie delivers the drinks and sets some cigars on the table. Takes a seat next to Eddie. Eddie asks Hawkins. EDDIE How old are your kids? HAWKINS My kids? Let's see...Susan's 15. Aundrea's 9. Don't tell me you're thinking about having a kid! How old are you? Never mind. Let me just tell you this: Every stupid cliche you hear about kids - they change your life, they make you a better person, they make you whole... (beat) It's all true! Before I had kids when friends talked about their kids, I wanted to vomit. Now -- I get it. Am I right, Leon? LEON Absomotherfuckin'lutely. You can have all three of my ex-wives. But somebody so much as looks sideways at my four girls -- I'd kill 'em. (takes out his wallet) You haven't seen my youngest have you? As he hands pictures to Hawkins his cell phone rings. LEON (CONT'D) Yeah? HAWKINS Paulie, you've got kids, right? PAULIE My kids don't talk to me anymore but they were great when they were young. LEON (into the phone) Sure it's him? Great! (collapses the phone) Unique's home. They all rise from the table. EDDIE Paulie, I need the cure. PAULIE Step into my office. Leon and Hawkins sit back down as Eddie and Paulie leave. HAWKINS So you got your kids listening to Opera? You still singing in the church on the weekends? INT. SECONDARY IMMIGRATION OFFICE - DAY Now other officers are questioning Emil and Oleg. They've been there a while. The SECONDARY OFFICER is looking Oleg. SECONDARY OFFICER Okay. You work in a vodka factory. I understand that. (to Emil) And what kind of work do you do? EMIL I am butcher. SECONDARY OFFICER You're a butcher? What do you use pig intestines for? EMIL You stuff sausage in it. SECONDARY OFFICER And what do you do with the bones? EMIL Dog food. Emil looks at Oleg. Blaming his stupid responses at Passport Control for their detainment. SECONDARY OFFICER Are you married? EMIL No. Are you proposing? ANGLE UP through a thousand ICE CUBES. A face plunges towards us... INT. MENS ROOM Eddie has his back to us as he dunks his face into a sink full of ice. He dries his face, looks into his bloodshot eyes. Presents a small black ring box to the mirror. EDDIE Will you marry me? Wanna get married? What are you doin' Saturday? Leon enters. Eddie turns. EDDIE (CONT'D) I'm gonna propose. LEON When? EDDIE Tomorrow. At lunch. LEON You ready? Eddie leans back and drops some Visine in his eyes. Turns. EDDIE The thrill of the hunt. I love it. EXT. TIMES SQUARE - DAY Oleg and Emil stare at the bright lights - all the nonstop action. Each stands with an old suitcase. OLEG (in Russian) Look. Times Square. Just like in the movies! EMIL (in Czech) Don't speak Russian! OLEG (in Russian) Why? Why do I always have to speak to you in Czech? EMIL (in Czech) Because I don't like your ugly language. I heard enough of it in school! Now speak Czech or English. And don't fool around anymore. You almost got us thrown out! Emil pulls out an envelope with Milos' address on it. This is who they came to see. Emil hails a CAB. Oleg is staring inside a camera store - at himself on a monitor. A videocamera's pointed out in the street. OLEG Look. New videocameras. Color viewfinder. Image stabilization. Solarization. Night vision. EMIL We have no money. Come on. Oleg stares at the videocamera - dying to have one like this. Emil slides into the cab. CABBIE Where you wanna go, buddy? Emil pulls out the post-marked envelope. Points to the return address on it and passes it through the slot to the Cabbie. EMIL Here. Emil looks out the window - no sign of Oleg. Then, Oleg hurries out the camera store, gripping something inside his coat. He flings both suitcases in the trunk, SLAMS it shut and jumps in the back seat. He opens his jacket - pulling out the VIDEOCAMERA he just stole. EMIL (CONT'D) Go! Oleg smiles sheepishly at Emil. EXT. SPANISH HARLEM - DAY Eddie's car pulls up. Eddie, Leon and Hawkins get out. HAWKINS So what's unique? EDDIE Not what. Who. Eddie passes Hawkins a Polaroid - of a woman on a bed - covered in blood. EDDIE (CONT'D) He's from Antigua. His girlfriend was taking too long to put her make-up on. they were late for a party. Stabbed her with a beer bottle. HAWKINS That's unique. EDDIE Yeah. And he still went to the party. Leon moves to a LOOKOUT - gives him a twenty. LOOKOUT Top floor. Back room. EDDIE Yeah. I make big cases, they make the news and I look good. But the problem with becoming a star is downtown. They shoot at stars. Now be quiet. Shhh. As they reach the doorway - Eddie surprises two crackheads. Waves them off. They hurry away. EDDIE (CONT'D) I hope this prick doesn't run. My knees are killing me. Stay behind me. HAWKINS You're worried for my safety. I'm touched. Eddie flattens against the building - watches Unique descend the fire escape. HAWKINS (CONT'D) Ready? EDDIE Keep them out of my way. HAWKINS Okay. You ready? EDDIE Yeah, yeah. Jesus. Eddie closes in. HAWKINS (into his cell phone) COME ON! COME ON! YOU FUCKING GUYS, LET'S MOVE IT! Unique is climbing down the fire escape - before he gets to the bottom, Leon bursts through a door behind him and kicks the fire escape, sending Unique flying into the alley. Where he lands dropping his gun. Eddie pulls him off the ground as Leon scoops the gun up. EDDIE What's your rush? Going to a party? UNIQUE Why you chasin' me, man? EDDIE I don't know. You always come outta your house that way? UNIQUE It's not my house, man. I don't live here. EDDIE Well, sounds like burglary to me. Leon cuffs Unique who recognizes Eddie. UNIQUE I know you man. An unmarked van comes tearing into the scene. Disgorges a mini-cam team that starts filming but they missed the bust. HAWKINS (to Eddie) Any chance we can do that again? EDDIE Again? I didn't wanna do it the first time. EXT. EAST SIDE - LATE DAY The cab is in front of an old five-story brownstone. Oleg gets the bags out of the trunk as Emil tucks the envelope into his jacket, then steps up to the old building. He looks back at Oleg - who's VIDEOTAPING him. EMIL Turn that off! Get the bags. OLEG Why should I carry your bag? I am not a dog. EMIL For five years I paid for your stupidness - you'll carry my bag for the rest of my life if I say so. (challenging) Unless you refuse, Oleg. Oleg looks at Emil. Even though Oleg is stronger than Emil, he fears him. He picks up both bags. Emil searches the occupant list over the buzzers to the apartment building. EMIL (CONT'D) There. 5RW. Emil pushes ten of the buzzers except 5RW. A BUZZER clicks and Emil pushes it open. INT. MILOS' APARTMENT BUILDING - STAIRWELL - DAY The brownstone has no elevator so Emil and Oleg climb the stairs... Oleg cradling his camera. Emil notices a crack pipe on the floor and picks it up. Smells the bowl. OLEG What? EMIL Smell like chemicals...for smoking drugs. Emil pockets the pipe and climbs to the top floor, moving down the dirty hallway to a corner door. INT. MILOS' APARTMENT BUILDING - HALLWAY - DAY He KNOCKS...FOOTSTEPS approach. The door is opened by MILOS - a 40-year-old Czech, dressed in stained plumbers overalls. He is surprised to see Emil and Oleg in his doorway. Oleg films him... MILOS Emil???! EMIL Surprise! Surprise! Milos shoots a look across the tiny kitchen to TAMINA, his comely wife. INT. MILOS' APARTMENT - CONTINUOUS Emil pushes his way inside. Oleg follows. Milos wears plumbers overalls but Emil notices sports a Rolex. Tamina has on a faded dress but despite their cheaply furnished apartment she wears an expensive brushed gold necklace, bracelet and big pearl earrings. The room is furnished with kitsch from Disney World and Las Vegas. The only anomaly is a HUGE SONY TRINITRON HOME ENTERTAINMENT CENTER. (The following is in Czech and subtitled in English.) EMIL Your sister said she didn't know where you were so you shouldn't write to her with return address if you're hiding. MILOS Did you hurt her? EMIL You know me...I never hurt anybody. Where's the money? OLEG Hello, Tamina. Oleg is looking Tamina over. Milos - though scared - barks at Oleg. MILOS Take your eyes off her, Oleg! (to Emil) Look. It wasn't my fault you two were caught. (of Oleg) It's his fault. Trying to get the bank clerk's phone number?! I wasn't going to wait!!! EMIL Milos. Get my money! Oleg videotapes the scene. CLOSE ON AN AJAR DOOR All we see behind it is a WOMAN'S FACE and her wet hair - she obviously came from the shower and we see the towel wrapped around her. MILOS (nervously) We spent it! EMIL Ha. Ha. MILOS Look at the way we live. I'm a plumber. You think I'd be working if I had money?! Emil, pissed, moves to a wood block and pulls out a KITCHEN KNIFE. He grabs Tamina roughly, putting the blade to her throat. MILOS (CONT'D) Emil. Put down the knife. Milos looks at his wife - who is terrified. MILOS (CONT'D) Emil. I'll help you. Milos closes the gap between him and Emil - trying to calm him by talking softly. MILOS (CONT'D) I can get you a job. EMIL A job? MILOS Yes, the money is good. EMIL As a plumber?! MILOS It's easy to learn. EMIL A job?? As a plumber??? You think I come to America to work! MILOS We started over, you can too. EMIL (furious) You spent all the money while I was in prison? Now you tell me to get a job fixing toilets?!? Emil pulls the knife away from Tamina - then angrily PLUNGES it toward Milos' chest! Oleg videotapes it. Then lowers the camera - shocked that Emil killed Milos. Blood sprays Tamina's face. She tries to run but Oleg grabs her, not noticing her brushed gold bracelet falls to the floor. He covers her mouth as he points the videocamera at Emil who STABS Tamina - absolutely enraged! THE WOMAN BEHIND THE DOOR flees...Emil hears NOISE in the bedroom - a window opening. Emil kicks the bedroom door open. Sees the window leading to the fire escape. He dashes to it. Sees four flights down - the WOMAN, wearing a summer dress. Barefoot. Her hair still wet. She looks up. She is beautiful and terrified. She runs down the alley. EMIL (CONT'D) She saw! Emil hurries toward the bathroom. She just got out of the shower. Her underwear and purse are draped over a chair. Emil grabs the purse. Finds a CZECHOSLOVAKIAN PASSPORT. He opens the cover, stares at her photo and name. EMIL (CONT'D) Daphne Hanlova. There's one stamp in the passport - from the U.S. when she arrived - June 16, 1998. Underneath is written - 6 MONTH STAY. Emil flips through the rest of the passport - all blank pages. EMIL (CONT'D) Six month visa. Still here two years later. They'll deport her if she goes to Police. Emil pockets Daphne's passport and wallet, scoops up her shoes and jacket - enters the kitchen and dumps them on the floor. He tears through the kitchen cabinets, throwing cans and bottles aside. OLEG What are you looking for? Emil finds nail polish remover - looks at the bodies. EMIL I'm going to make a bohemian barbecue. Emil draws the kitchen curtains plunging the room into darkness. EXT. CENTRAL PARK - NIGHT A face comes from the darkness. It's an athletically handsome man, jogging out of a tunnel towards us. He's in a tie and jacket in Central Park at NIGHT. He is JORDAN (JORDY) WARSAW. A sensitive man of rugged honesty. He runs down the hill in a hurry. A MUGGER steps in his path. MUGGER Got any spare change? How 'bout a spare twenty? JORDY Look, I don't have time for you, get out of my way!! MUGGER Alright, how 'bout all your fuckin' money? The Mugger pulls a knife - and in a whirl of movement, Jordy grabs his wrist and disarms him in a deadly, professional manner - hurling him down to the pavement, twisting his arm behind his back. With his other hand, Jordy whips out a BROWNING 9MM from his shoulder holster and places it behind the mugger's head. Jordy displays his shield. JORDY Okay, you're under arrest! Now you happy? MUGGER Fire Department? Firemen don't carry guns. JORDY Oh yeah? Guess again. Jordy handcuffs the Mugger and searches the Mugger's coat pockets - pulling out a handful of driver's licenses and credit cards. JORDY (CONT'D) Nice - how many people you ripped off tonight?! Get up! As Jordy yanks the Mugger to his feet, his BEEPER goes off. JORDY (CONT'D) You couldn't listen to me, could you? Jordy drags the Mugger to a tree. Cuffs him so his face is pressed up against the bark. JORDY (CONT'D) I'll send a cop back for you. MUGGER Hey. C'mon, you can't leave me like this. Some freak'll come by and stab me! Jordy jogs off across the park. MUGGER (CONT'D) Wait! Come back!! EXT. MILOS' APARTMENT - NIGHT FIRE TRUCKS from three battalions. Radios CRACKLE. There's a crowd growing. Jordy pushes his way through. The top floor of the brownstone where Milos and Tamina lived has been reduced to smoking ruins. The trees are covered in debris and soot. Jordy moves to LOUIE - Battalion Chief. LOUIE Lieutenant - take up your line and relieve Ladder Company 60 on the top floor. JORDY Hey, Louie, were you first due? LOUIE Yeah, I radioed you guys right away 'cause you got two roasts on the top floor but you don't hafta investigate cause homicide is up there. JORDY Homicide? Who let them up? I didn't make it a crime scene yet. LOUIE Hey, it's Eddie Flemming. KORFIN (O.S.) Yo, Jordy! BOBBY KORFIN - an overweight arson investigator with a quick with and good sense of humor - comes over, pulling on a turnout coat. KORFIN (CONT'D) Where you been, man? We got a celebrity! JORDY I heard. Who the hell let them up there? KORFIN I don't know, you think Eddie will give me his autograph? JORDY You see anything in the crowd? Anybody suspicious? KORFIN Naw - I'm sure the suspect's not here. JORDY Oh yeah, why? KORFIN 'Cause Eddie woulda locked him up by now! INT. MILOS' APARTMENT - NIGHT The roof is gone. The sky is exposed. It's charred ruins, smoked beams and watery muck. Eddie and Leon are standing by what's left of the mattress, looking at Milos and Tamina's charred bodies. Eddie grips a half-smoked Cuban cigar, listening to Leon. LEON So, it looks to me - from the sixty-nine position - that they were doin' each other but were so whacked out of their heads they set the pipe on the mattress, lit it up, and they got fried. What do you think, Eddie? Jordy enters - with Korfin who's carrying a paint can. EDDIE I don't know. We got the experts here. Show them what you found - I hope you don't mind, we came over to see if we could help. Korfin makes a beeline for Eddie - wanting to meet the celebrity. KORFIN Nah, not at all. Detective Flemming - Bobby Korfin. My Uncle Tony worked with you at 2-1 back when you were a rookie. JORDY Could you put out the cigar? Part of the job is picking up scents. EDDIE Oh, sure. Eddie puts his cigar out. Carefully slides it into a cigar holder and pockets it to finish later. LEON Well, I found - check it out - crack pipe. Looks like they got careless. Leon displays the pipe Emil found on the stairs. Korfin shines the flashlight on Leon to look at the pipe. LEON (CONT'D) Mind not shining that light in my eyes? KORFIN Sorry, bro. JORDY Hey, that's great you guys got it all wrapped up, but you don't mind if we go through the routine? It gives us somethin' to do. EDDIE No, we don't mind. You mind Leon? LEON No. Go ahead. JORDY Thanks. Appreciate it. Jordy throws a look at Korfin. Homicide detectives have no respect for fire marshals' investigative skills. Eddie rummages through the apartment - moving into the kitchen and living room... Leon watches as Korfin sticks a pencil in a charred beam, measuring how deep in it goes. KORFIN Okay, Jordy - it was a fast fire, we got good patterns - about thirty minutes old. Jordy moves to one of the corpses. He pulls on a white rubber glove. Inserts his finger in the corpses mouth. The glove comes out white. JORDY Mouth's clean, too. KORFIN Clean? JORDY Don't blow your nose! Jordy's looking at Leon, who was just about to blow his nose. JORDY (CONT'D) The smoke'll permeate your nostrils - burn 'em out. Let it run. KORFIN But you knew that, right? Leon looks at Jordy, then lowers the handkerchief. Jordy turns back to the corpses on the bed. Eddie - in the other room - has found Tamina's brushed gold bracelet on the floor. JORDY So the way you see it, two crack heads burned themselves up? LEON That's what it looks like to me. JORDY And while they're burning up, they're still goin' down on each other? You got to hand it to them. LEON (realizes he's wrong - blows it off) Yeah, well, some people got their priorities straight. Leon watches Jordy, quietly. With a pair of tweezers, Jordy pulls a small unburned piece of cloth from behind one of the heads. Korfin supplies the paint can. Jordy drops the cloth inside. LEON (CONT'D) What was that? JORDY Evidence. Of a homicide. That got Eddie's attention and he comes back to the bedroom. JORDY (CONT'D) You know what that is, right? EDDIE No, what is it? JORDY Why don't you explain it, Bobby. (to a fireman joking a wall) Hey Camello! You mind punching a hole in the floor? CAMELLO No problem. (to Eddie and Leon) Excuse me, gentlemen. You might wanna back up a little more. Don't wanna get your pants wet. Leon and Eddie move to higher ground - on top of a burnt TV set. Eddie hands the brushed bracelet to Leon. As Camello hacks at the floor with an ax, Jordy continues to examine the bodies and Korfin explains: KORFIN They have not soot in their mouths, which means they weren't breathin' before the fire and that usually means they were deceased - and this piece of cloth that my partner found means they were wrapped up in something, probably doused with a flammable liquid and positioned like this on the bed. To the untrained eye, it looks like an accident. Jordy kicks around the draining floor, reaches down for something. LEON What's he looking for? EDDIE A timer. Jordy finds some wires attached to an outlet, pulls them up - on the other end is a timer. Korfin takes the timer from Jordy and moves to Eddie. KORFIN Here you go. A big double homicide. EXT. MILOS' APARTMENT BUILDING - NIGHT As Jordy and Korfin exit the brownstone, a CAMERA CREW is arriving. Jumps out. Korfin and Jordy cross toward Korfin's car. They open the trunk. Take off their muddy boots throwing them in. KORFIN You see Eddie's face when I gave him the timer? Wish I had a picture of it. JORDY He knew all along. KORFIN What?? JORDY That's why he was so quiet. He was testing us. Eddie and Leon exit - Eddie carrying a baggie with a timer inside. NICOLETTE KARAS, young and attractive, pushes her microphone at Eddie. She's smart, aggressive and respected by her peers. NICOLETTE Detective, does it look like a murder? EDDIE We don't know that yet. It's much too early. There's a lot to be done. NICOLETTE How many victims are up there? EDDIE There are two bodies found at this point. NICOLETTE Can we go up to the crime scene? EDDIE You know you can't do that. C'mon. NICOLETTE Is it drug related? EDDIE We don't know. When I have more I'll let you know. Nicolette signals for her camera man, MIKE, to zoom in on Eddie's hand. She barrels on... NICOLETTE Detective...what's that you're holding in your hand? Evidence? Mike pans up to Eddie's face. Other reporters arrive, hurling questions which Eddie easily answers. Cameras flash as we PAN BACK TO Korfin and Jordy. Jordy is about to get in the car as he notices, back behind some construction - DAPHNE HANDLOVA. She's still wearing the crumpled summer dress. She tentatively steps out to signal Jordy. He only catches a glimpse of her. He starts toward her -- knifes through the crowd - but Daphne is gone. KORFIN What? JORDY There was a woman - I think she wanted to talk to us. She looked scared. Oh shit! Oh no! EXT. CENTRAL PARK - LATER Korfin's car SCREECHES to a stop. Jordy leaps out. Suddenly, Jordy stops...the Mugger handcuffed to the tree is now NAKED! MUGGER You motherfuckin' bastard! She stripped me! It was a bag lady! She touched me all over, it was disgusting. Jordy unlocks the handcuffs. JORDY I'm sorry. I'm really sorry. Korfin delivers a blanket. Jordy covers him. JORDY (CONT'D) You okay? MUGGER A dog pissed on me!! I'm gonna sue you for this! You violated my civil rights! JORDY Your civil rights?! You tried to rob me! I could arrest you right now! You're lucky you're walking away from this. Now get outta here. Jordy gives him a push. The Mugger wraps the blanket around himself cursing - hurrying away. EXT. 8TH AVENUE - NIGHT Exhausted HOOKERS who have worked all night loiter outside a sleazy hotel. CAMERA PANS up to a blinking hotel sign. INT. KING EDWARD HOTEL ROOM - NIGHT The light is blinking an eerie green and yellow light into the room. Emil is at the window pulling the blind down trying to shut out the blinking light. He pulls it down twice and it pops back up both times. The third time he angrily pulls it so hard, it comes off the window completely. He sits down in a chair in frustration - adjusting a pillow behind his back. THE ROSEANNE SHOW is on TV. Roseanne has been talking to a FATHER. ROSEANNE (ON T.V.) So you slept with your son's wife! What's that all about? FATHER (ON T.V.) I take full responsibility for sleepin' with my daughter in law. I had low self esteem, I thought I had to compete with him. Emil reaches for his dictionary. EMIL (mutters) Self-esteem? Self-esteem?? He flips through his dictionary to find the meaning of self esteem. FATHER (ON T.V.) Losin' my job and everything, caused my behavioral disorder. (turns to his son) Forgive me, Kirk. Let me hug you? The audience boos. Roseanne mediates... Oleg - fresh from the shower with wet hair - sits on the bed in his skivvies - staring into the videocamera's LCD screen - rewinding Milos' murder. We see it now for the first time - as he rewinds it. Oleg watches - a bottle of cheap vodka between his legs. Emil, looks up from his dictionary. He's wearing Milos' Rolex. Tamina's jewelry - her brushed gold necklace and pearl earrings - are in front of him with Daphne's wallet. Emil looks up - Oleg is holding his videocamera. EMIL (Czech) Turn that fucking thing off! OLEG (Czech) I'm not filming. I'm watching Milos die. It's just like a move but realer. Emil grabs the videocamera. (Czech) Don't break it! Don't break it! EMIL Speak English! OLEG (English) You said speak Czech! EMIL How you erase this? OLEG I'll do it. Don't hurt my camera! Emil tosses the camera back to Oleg who drops his vodka bottle in order to catch the camera. Oleg, holding the camera like it's gold, goes to the dresser and puts it away. Emil starts to go through Daphne's wallet. EMIL Stupid, Milos. I didn't want to kill him. (noticing) What's this? Emil found the last card in the wallet. It's pink with a picture of a busty globe. Printed in the middle is - WORLDLY ESCORTS - and a number. EMIL (CONT'D) Worldly escorts? Emil picks up his dictionary and begins to flip the pages - finding the meaning of worldly. He gets up and dials the number. A soft, SEXY VOICE answers. Soft music in the background. SEXY VOICE Hi? EMIL Hello? SEXY VOICE Are you looking for companionship? Oleg, who's listening, moves to Emil. OLEG Whore? EMIL I'm homesick. You have Eastern European girl? A Czech girl? SEXY VOICE Matter of fact, I have a lovely Czech girl. EMIL I take her. Send her! EXT. FIRE STATION 91 - NIGHT Korfin's car pulls up to the station - as a fire engine is returning. JORDY Now that you know him, maybe you can get extra work in the next movie they make about him. KORFIN Yeah? JORDY Maybe you can be his stand-in. INT. FIRE STATION 91 - NIGHT The men are pulling off their equipment - coming down from the high of fighting a fire. Korfin and Jordy walk toward the TV room. The TV is on in the background. We can see Nicolette interviewing Eddie. He holds up the paint can. CHIEF DUFFY (O.S.) What the hell is that?? You gave Eddie Flemming the evidence?! They turn. DEPUTY CHIEF FIRE MARSHAL DECLAN DUFFY - the head of the arson squad - comes over. Duffy's tough, Irish and very political. DUFFY (pointing to the TV) Who did cause and origin? JORDY Who do you think, Chief?! DUFFY Then why didn't you talk to the reporter? JORDY 'Cause we got more important things to do, like finding out who did it. They walk to the back of the station and start up the stairs. DUFFY Don't you guys understand? It's all about image. The better we look the more money I get to pay you guys overtime. KORFIN Yeah, right. DUFFY What was that, Korfin? KORFIN I said, yeah, you're right, Chief. As soon as we get somethin' we'll let you alert the media. DUFFY You do that, wiseguy. Now let's solve this thing before Eddie Flemming does. They all head upstairs. INT. ARSON SQUAD ROOM - DAY The Chief, Jordy and Korfin enter. There are posters of pyros, arsonists and terrorists on the walls. GARCIA - a Puerto Rican investigator - looks up from his desk. GARCIA Hey guys, I got your torch. He just gave a full confession. A scruffy, unshaven white man sitting across from Garcia, turns. He is MAX, a pyromaniac in his 40's with a freshly scratched cross etched in his forehead. He craves attention. MAX It's my fire! Screw homicide. I'll tell you guys everything! Jordy moves to his desk with Korfin. They sit across from each other. Duffy keeps going to his office, not even bothering to stop. JORDY What's that on your forehead, Max? That's a nice attention getter. MAX Yeah, I'm religious. I'm not an Atheist like you! Now, are you guys gonna arrest me, or not? JORDY How did you start the fire this time? MAX I used an accelerant. JORDY Yeah? What kind? MAX (to Jordy) Hey, by the way, I'm really sorry about your wife leavin' you. KORFIN Max. MAX (continuing) ...Yeah, and with your old man dying last year you - what's it? Just you and the dog now? KORFIN Max! MAX Does it feel bad - I mean the new guy your ex-wife's seeing - I hear he's a big shot downtown. Jordy pops out of his seat. JORDY That's it! You're outta here. Jordy pulls Max by the collar - pushes him down the aisle. MAX That's it. I'm suing. KORFIN Get in line. Korfin takes over - throwing him out. Jordy turns to Garcia who is laughing. JORDY What's so funny. How does he know so much about me? Who tells him my life story? GARCIA He hangs around downstairs. The guys talk to him. He's a joke... JORDY He's no joke! One day he's gonna graduate from trash can fires and do something big. GARCIA Okay. Okay. We'll ban him from the station. INT. KING EDWARD HOTEL ROOM - TV SET - NIGHT As the "Top Story" logo is splashed across the screen, accompanied by a catchy TV THEME, Robert Hawkins introduces America's highest rated 'news magazine' show. ROBERT HAWKINS Good evening, I'm Robert Hawkins and this is Top Story. Tonight we bring you an exclusive interview with Stephen Geller - who horrified the nation two years ago when he went berserk and murdered three clerks in a Manhattan shoe store. But now, Mr. Geller's claim, spoken softly and articulately, is that he is the victim. According to Mr. Geller, the events of that fateful day were not his fault but were the fault of his psychiatrist. Hard to believe...watch. EMIL (O.S.) Louder. VIDEOCAMERA SLOWLY ZOOMS OUT and PANS over to Emil, sitting on the hotel bed watching the TV. He looks at us. EMIL (CONT'D) Louder. Oleg's hand reaches in front of the lens - turning up the volume. The scene cuts back to Stephen Geller being interviewed by Robert Hawkins and his camera crew. He's sitting on the front lawn of a mental institution in a paint stained shirt. A showing of his artwork is displayed in the background. Patients peruse the paintings of weird dysfunctional faces that avoid eye contact. One of the paintings depicts Eddie Flemming and Leon Jackson. STEPHEN GELLER This had nothing to do with shoes that didn't fit or my relationship with my father who, as you know, made a fortune selling penny loafers in the fifties. These people died because of the criminal actions of my doctor. ROBERT HAWKINS Your doctor? STEPHEN GELLER Yes. My psychiatrist didn't insist that I stay on my medication. ROBERT HAWKINS ...so you feel absolutely no responsibility for killing these people? STEPHEN GELLER It was my finger that pulled the trigger, but I'm not morally responsible. My psychiatrist knew what I was capable of. How could I know. I'm not a doctor. ROBERT HAWKINS You seem very savvy for a man who's been found mentally incompetent to stand trial. STEPHEN GELLER Look, I'm a victim here, too. I was a year away from getting my masters in Art, now I'll never graduate. My life has been permanently disrupted. ROBERT HAWKINS Permanently disrupted? Aren't you selling paintings now for quite a lot of money? Hasn't this 'incident' as you call it, jump started your career as an artist? STEPHEN GELLER Look, I'm in here. You call this a career move? ROBERT HAWKINS And isn't there a movie in the works about you? STEPHEN GELLER We're in negotiations, that's correct. ROBERT HAWKINS But doesn't the Son of Sam Law prevent criminals from profiting from their crimes? STEPHEN GELLER That doesn't apply to me because I'm not a criminal. I'm not a criminal! I wasn't convicted. Emil leans forward - listening. Fascinated. EMIL I love America. No one is responsible for what they do. There's a KNOCK on the door. Our VIDEOCAMERA POV swings over to it. Then WHIPS back to Emil. Emil looks at us. EMIL (CONT'D) Get in the bathroom! OLEG (O.S.) Whatever we do - we fuck her, right? EMIL Oleg, get in bathroom, stay there and shut up! Emil turns off the TV. Our POV backs into the bathroom, closing the door but leaving it open a crack. Emil looks down at his shoe. The POV PANS down to the kitchen knife sticking out of Emil's BOOT. Emil's hands pull his pants cuff over it. POV PANS up to Emil as he moves to the door and opens it. It's not Daphne and she's not world class. HONEY Hi, I'm Honey. EMIL Where's Czech girl? HONEY Baby, I'm anybody you want me to be. I'm a little schoolgirl, I'm mommy, I'm a Czech girl. She enters. Closes the door behind her. HONEY (CONT'D) Now I like to get business out of the way before we get down to pleasure. Why don'tchya put my money on the dresser. EMIL I ordered a Czech girl. Daphne, you know her? Oleg ZOOMS in for a CLOSE UP of Honey. During the rest of the scene Oleg films her. Honey begins to undress. HONEY It's an outcall service run out of an apartment. I don't meet the other girls. Aren't you gonna get undressed? EMIL Where is escort service? HONEY That's confidential. Could you put the money on the dresser? EMIL I like to talk to the person who runs the service. Can you give me address? HONEY Look. Do we have a problem here? There's no reason to have a problem. I'm gonna make you feel real good. You wanna Czech girl? After I'm done with you, you won't miss her. Now why don't you pay me? She starts to unfasten Emil's belt. EMIL (stopping her) Listen to me. I don't want sex. Just give me the address and then you go. HONEY (suddenly hard as nails) Look, man, I don't give a shit if you want sex or not, but you're payin' for my time. Emil pulls the knife out of his boot and SHOVES her against the door, PUSHING the blade against her throat - suddenly furious like he was before killing Milos and Tamina. EMIL Give me the address!! HONEY Alright, alright - don't hurt me! Please, it's in my book, in my purse! Emil backs off as she reaches for her purse, and comes out with a can of mace, SPRAYING Emil's face! Emil stumbles backwards - Oleg holding him in the frame. He WHIP PANS back to Honey as she grabs her clothes, unlocking the door but Emil's HAND SLAMS it shut! Emil turns blindly, rubbing his burning eyes - guarding the door. Honey darts toward the bathroom - she pushes open the door and runs into Oleg who is VIDEOTAPING HER. Horrified, she turns around as Emil SMASHES her in the face so hard she topples backwards, tripping into the bathtub, pulling the shower curtain down on her! Like a panther out for the kill, Emil POUNCES. Oleg films as Emil lifts his hand, gripping... THE KITCHEN KNIFE As Emil's hand comes FLYING DOWN - then RISES UP, BLOODIED. Her screams are muffled by the shower curtain wrapped around her face. Oleg films the scene as the knife plunges DOWN INTO: INT. FIRE STATION 91 - ARSON SQUAD ROOM - NIGHT DAPHNE, a sketch of her face. JORDY (O.S.) Her lips are fuller than that. You can see 'em a mile away. WIDER Food containers are scattered all over the place. The female COMPOSITE ARTIST looks at Jordy. Stacks of failed sketches sit beside her. COMPOSITE ARTIST What about her cheek bones? JORDY Her cheek bones are prominent and her eyes were huge. Big, blue eyes and when I saw her, she looked scared. Like she was looking to get away. But she was absolutely beautiful. The composite artist looks at Jordy. JORDY (CONT'D) I gotta good look at her. Korfin has his chair turned around from his desk and is watching the sketch evolve as he speaks on the phone to the landlord of the 7th Street brownstone. Garcia is also on the phone. The other investigators are gone. Working late into the night. Everybody's exhausted. It's almost dawn. KORFIN -- From Czechoslovakia? And how long have they been livin' in your building? (writes 4 YEARS on his pad) Alright, I'll be in touch when we know somethin'. (to Jordy) Milos and Tamina Karlova. They were quiet and kept to themselves. Landlord don't know who your girl is. JORDY How long they been livin' here? KORFIN You hear that question, Garcia? GARCIA Yeah, I got Immigration on the phone - they've been here illegally. KORFIN Well, they're definitely permanent residents now. GARCIA I got the owner of the plumbing company Milos worked for. KORFIN Why don't we get some sleep and we'll go see him in the morning. JORDY You go home. I'm takin' your car and goin' back to the crime scene. KORFIN Aren't you tired? JORDY If I go home I won't be able to fall asleep anyway. Jordy takes the sketch of Daphne which isn't a bad likeness and heads for the door. Korfin falls in behind him. As they pass Garcia he hands Jordy the address. KORFIN (of the picture) She keepin' you up? Like to meet her, huh? She'd make you forget your ex wife. Cure your insomnia. INT. MILOS' APARTMENT - DAWN CAMERA DESCENDS FROM THE SKY picking up Jordy as he enters what is left of Milos and Tamina's apartment. The roof has been burned off. He moves into the next room, trying to see through the darkness - looking through the muck and char. EDDIE Okay to smoke? Jordy turns, surprised. Eddie sits on a singed chair. He pours from a half-pint bottle of vodka into his 'won ton soup' container, smoking a cigar. On the arm of the armchair is a brown legal folder and stacks of photographs of the crime scene and the burned bodies. JORDY It's your crime scene now. You can do what you want. EDDIE Watch the news? JORDY Nah, I musta missed it. EDDIE Well, just so you know. I gave you guys the credit. JORDY Well, just so you know, I don't care about that stuff. EDDIE Nah, why should you? JORDY I don't even watch TV. EDDIE Good. Good. Commendable. Eddie knocks his 'won ton soup' back. JORDY Did you get a report from the M.E.? EDDIE Sure. But I would like to ask you something. You got a problem with me? JORDY If you found me steppin' on your crime scene - it might piss you off, too. (then) What about the report? EDDIE You were right, they were both dead before the fire. The male was stabbed so hard the killer broke off the tip of the knife in his spine. That's usually an indicator of something personal. Jordy pulls out a sketch of Daphne. Hands it to Eddie. JORDY The Super said he'd seen her before but she didn't live here. EDDIE Pretty. JORDY (acts as if he didn't notice) Hmmmm. EDDIE Maybe you don't care about that either. (beat) Prettiest suspect I've had in awhile. JORDY Who says she's a suspect? Jordy tries to take the sketch back. Eddie holds on. EDDIE What would you call her? JORDY Look, I'm not even sure she has anything to do with this. I saw her outside after the fire - thought it was a lead. Maybe she saw something. Maybe she was visiting somebody here. Who knows? Eddie walks up to the burnt mattress - where the bodies were. EDDIE Obviously they weren't having sex. As you pointed out. So why go through all the trouble of putting 'em like that? Eddie passes a crime scene photo of the bodies to Jordy. JORDY Maybe it's a ritual thing or someone trying to send a message. Burial rites are taken very seriously in Eastern Europe. It could be to humiliate them. Just burning them up, no proper funeral, it's like condemning them to hell. EDDIE Eastern Europe. Like what? Romania? Hungary? JORDY Or Czechoslovakia. The Slavs have been fighting the Germans and the Russians for a thousand years. These are very intense people and they take things personally. Eddie's cellular rings - he grabs it. EDDIE Yeah? Where? You sure it was a knife? Uh-huh. Really? Okay. (to Jordy) We've got another murder - in a hotel on Eighth Avenue. A stabbing. Clerk said the room was rented by a Russian... Eddie's moving with Daphne's sketch. JORDY I'll come with you. EDDIE There wasn't a fire. There'll be nothing for you to do. JORDY I can watch you, Eddie. Maybe I'll learn something. EDDIE This isn't homicide school. JORDY My parents are from Poland. I can help with the Eastern European angle. EDDIE You're Polish? JORDY My folks are. EDDIE Stay here. EXT. TIMES SQUARE - NEWS STAND - DAY Video POV of the news stand as a hand reaches into frame and picks up a copy of THE NEW YORK POST. Eddie's photo is on the front page - holding the kitchen timer by the wires. Underneath his picture the caption reads, "DOUBLE HOMICIDE... FLEMMING'S ON IT." The videocamera widens out revealing Emil standing in front of a Times Square news stand, reading the front page. The videocamera turns around - until focusing on Oleg himself. OLEG This is second day in America. First day was very exciting. Full of thrills and chills. Over there, is co-star of my new movie, Emil! He turns the camera around - FILMING EMIL. EMIL (to vendor) Who is he? VENDOR New York's finest. This is his case. The VENDOR - picks up People. Stephen Geller is on the cover. VENDOR (CONT'D) This all you want? EMIL Do you know how much killer gets for movie rights? VENDOR (People) In here, says he wants a million. EMIL Million?! The killer gets one million dollars for a television interview? VENDOR Hey, tabloids paid Ted Bundy - famous serial killer - half a million for his interview. And how much you think Monica got for writing book about the President coming on to her? It pays to be a killer or a whore in this country. Look, you want magazine or not? EMIL Yes. Both. OLEG And these. Oleg picks up FILM COMMENT, MOVIELINE and PREMIERE magazine. Emil pays for everything. EMIL (to Oleg) Get a taxi. Oleg tucks the magazines in his coat, picks up the suitcases and hails a taxi. As Emil collects his change he sees an old BLIND WOMAN waiting at the crosswalk. The light's blinking WALK. EMIL (CONT'D) Let me help. Emil gently takes her arm and crosses her to the other side. BLIND WOMAN Thank you, son. Emil watches her walk on. INT. KING EDWARD HOTEL ROOM - DAY The hotel room is a hive of activity. GIL is dusting the dresser for prints. Another officer is stripping the bed and putting the bedding into a big, clear plastic bag. As Eddie enters the crime scene, a POLICE PHOTOGRAPHER is standing in the doorway taking pictures. EDDIE Where is she? LEON Takin' a bath. EDDIE Any I.D.? LEON Still unknown but we're running prints. Kid over there caught the case. Jordy enters. Leon steps in his way. LEON (CONT'D) Sorry...PD only. EDDIE It's okay. Eddie walks over to a young detective. TOMMY CULLEN, only 26, is excited to meet Eddie. TOMMY Tommy Cullen. Heard a lot about you. Nice to meet you. Here's what we got. A girl in there, figure her to be a prostitute, looks like she was fighting for her life. She's got defense wounds on her hands. Right this way - in the bathroom. EDDIE After you. Eddie follows Tommy into the bathroom. There's blood splattered all over the walls and the floor. Honey's topless body lies in the tub tangled in the bloody shower curtain. MURPHY, an Irish medical examiner (M.E.), is examining the body. TOMMY Room was registered to a Francis Capra. JORDY Capra? That's not Czech or Russian. Who said he sounded Russian? TOMMY The clerk? EDDIE Check the switchboard, see what phone calls were made from this room. TOMMY I'll do it. Tommy heads out. Eddie takes out his cigar holder. Slides out what's left of his cigar. Re-lights it. Looks down at Honey's body in the bathtub. Gil's dusting the tub for prints. MURPHY Clothes were off in the other room. Tub is dry except for the blood. EDDIE Any of you guys take a piss lately? Gil looks confused. Eddie points to the toilet. Seat is up. EDDIE (CONT'D) Do the seat for me. Gil crosses to the toilet and starts to dust it. Eddie stands in the bathroom - studying the scene. Holding the unlit cigar. Looking around at the blood splattered walls. EDDIE (CONT'D) Only one guys checked in? LEON Yeah. EDDIE C'mere. You wanna go to homicide school? Here - make yourself useful. Eddie positions Jordy behind the tub next to the wall. EDDIE (CONT'D) Our killer...our killer's standing here slashing at her. She's fightin' him. The blood is splattering this way. It's on this wall... (pointing to the right of Jordy) And there's some specks over here. (to the left of Jordy) There's nothing here because someone was standing right here. Someone big. And he's got blood on him. Lots of blood. He wouldn't walk out of here like that. (turning to Murphy) Murphy, what kind of knife you think we're talking about here? Murphy pulls out a clear plastic ruler and walks over to the blood-splattered wall. MURPHY If you look here where he missed and hit the wall you see that the marks aren't deep but they're kinda wide... not your everyday kitchen or pocket knife. EDDIE What if the tip was broken off? MURPHY Could be. Then we should find it here somewhere. EDDIE I think we've already found it. Eddie exchanges a look with Jordy as Tommy, the young detective, returns. TOMMY There was only one call from this room last night. I dialed it. It's an escort service. LEON Did you identify yourself? TOMMY Hey, I'm new but I'm not stupid. EDDIE Call communications and get an address on that number. Tommy holds up a slip of paper with the outcall service address on it. EDDIE (CONT'D) Good work. INT. KING EDWARD HOTEL ROOM - STAIRS - DAY Jordy hurries out - catches up with Eddie. JORDY You goin' to the escort service? EDDIE You got any better ideas? JORDY Mind if I ride along with you? EDDIE This has nothing to do with your fire. JORDY But what if it does? You might need my help. As Eddie exits the hotel, a MAN approaches. MAN Hey, Eddie, can I get your autograph for my son? EXT. KING EDWARD HOTEL - DAY Jordy catches up. Eddie finishes signing the autograph using the man's back. EDDIE I'll let you know what happens. JORDY This is ridiculous. I'm not gonna be in your way - we can talk the case over. EDDIE Tell you what - I'll flip you a coin. If you win you can come with me. If you don't win, you don't come. JORDY I'll call it... tails. Eddie pulls out a coin and hands it to Jordy. EDDIE Okay. I'll call it. Heads. Jordy flips the coin and it's heads. EDDIE (CONT'D) Heads. See, you lost twice. (beat) Okay. Get in. Jordy goes for the passenger side of the car. Before Jordy can get in, Eddie starts to pull away. Jordy stands on the sidewalk - dejected. Eddie stops the car again and this time lets Jordy get in. WHIP PAN TO: INT. UPPER EASTSIDE HALLWAY - DAY Eddie and Jordy arrive in front of Rose's door. Eddie knocks and flips a coin to Jordy. EDDIE Oh here. A souvenir. Jordy takes the quarter. Not understanding what Eddie means. He looks at the quarter. JORDY Two heads. EDDIE Better than one. Eddie suckered him with the coin toss. Jordy reacts. Eddie laughs - squirts Binaca in his mouth. Knocks again. We hear ROSE HELLER. ROSE (O.S.) Who's there? EDDIE Police. We'd like to ask you a few questions. ROSE (O.S.) I have nothin' to say. If you wanna contact my attorney... EDDIE (commands) Homicide, Miss Hearn. It's Detective Eddie Flemming. Open up. Rose reacts. Immediately UNLOCKS, UNCHAINS and opens the door! ROSE You! I've seen you on TV! Eddie glances self-consciously at Jordy. ROSE (CONT'D) C'mon in. C'mon in! INT. ROSE'S APARTMENT - DAY They enter. ROSE Just a minute. Shit. And I don't have a camera. Hold on a second. Rose moves back to the phone - finishes up her conversation in Afrikaner. We hold on Eddie and Jordy at the door. Eddie looks around - taking in the place. FOUR GIRLS are on phones. Two girls take orders for customers. The other two work the phone sex lines. Rose hangs up the phone - turns to Eddie and Jordy: ROSE (CONT'D) What's wrong? EDDIE We don't have her I.D. yet, but one of your girls was killed last night at the King Edward Hotel. ROSE Oh my G-d. Honey! Honey's dead? JORDY Do you remember the man who called? Though Rose answers Jordy, she directs her response to Eddie. ROSE Yeah. He wanted a girl from Czechoslovakia, but I sent him Honey 'cause once they get there, you know, it doesn't really matter - Honey was killed...? Poor girl... EDDIE Do you have any Czech girls working for you? ROSE No. EDDIE Did you tell him you did? A BUTCH GIRL enters. Rose speaks to her in Afrikaner. ROSE (Afrikaner) Boy, she's so popular all the sudden. EDDIE What are you saying? ROSE Daphne. Another guy came in asking me about her, too. Jordy pulls out the sketch, unfolds it. JORDY This her? ROSE Yeah. Sort of. I tried to recruit her, gave her my card. She said she'd think about it but I never heard from her. BUTCH GIRL (Afrikaner) Beautiful eyes. EDDIE Who came by looking for her? ROSE He said he was her cousin. I told him where she works. They were just here. EDDIE Describe him. ROSE Tall, short-haired, scary eyes. Second guy with him was...shorter, with a wrestler's build. And he wouldn't turn his videocamera off me. EDDIE He had a videocamera? Where is she? Quickly! ROSE She washes hair up at Ludwig's - a salon on 63rd and Madison. EXT. EDDIE'S CAR - DAY As Eddie speeds through the street, SIREN BLARING. INT. EDDIE'S CAR - DAY Jordy holds on as Eddie darts in and out of cars with astonishing dexterity. This man can drive. Eddie picks up his phone - dials. Jordy is on his cell phone as well. EDDIE Leon - meet us at 63rd and Madison. Hair salon. Ludwig's. JORDY (overlapping) I'm on my way with Eddie. Ludwig's. 63rd and Madison. The suspects might be there already. Eddie looks over as Jordy disconnects. Eddie picks up a beer he was holding between his legs - finishes it. EDDIE You thirsty? JORDY I'm on duty. EDDIE (drinking) So am I. Alright, I'll go inside and you cover the back. JORDY Of course. EDDIE Hey! I always wanted to be a cop when I was a kid. I dreamed of running up to a door, kicking it in, pulling my gun and yelling 'Freeze!' at the bad guy! What'd you dream about? JORDY I wanted to run up to a building on fire, kick in the door, rush into the smoke and save a kid. EDDIE Then I guess we're doin' this the right way, aren't we? If we pull up to a burning building I'll gladly let you go first. Jordy looks at Eddie - can't deny he's right. INT. LUDWIG'S SALON - DAY We're in a moving video POV of Ludwig's, the hair salon - it's big and spacious. The lens finds THE RECEPTIONIST. OLEG (O.S.) Daphne Handlova? RECEPTIONIST Daphne? In the back. Probably shampooing a customer's hair. Oleg approaches Daphne who is mixing hair dye. LUDWIG, the owner, is with her. LUDWIG Why are you messing with your hair color again? You're going to kill your hair. You won't look good with black hair. DAPHNE I want to do it, alright? LUDWIG Well, then do it after work. A customer's waiting. He leaves, a customer approaches. She smiles at him - turns on the water in the sink then sees - Oleg filming her. She backs up...suddenly moves to the emergency door! TO THE BACKYARD There's a garden out there. Daphne runs toward the alley. Oleg follows her - still videotaping. As she rounds the corner she bumps into...Emil! He pulls out his kitchen knife, shoving her against the wall, pushing the blade with the broken tip against her throat. EMIL I...I have a temper. She looks at him, not understanding. Oleg films the scene. EMIL (CONT'D) When I lose it, I lose control. I didn't intend to kill Milos but he stole from me. Cheated me! When I went to prison, they beat me. I still didn't tell he was my partner. I loved Milos like a brother... The tone in Emil's voice - there's an uncharacteristic softness to it. He wants to reconcile his behavior to her. EMIL (CONT'D) (in English) I'm not a killer. The back door opens. He shoves the knife in his pocket as Ludwig peers around the alleyway. What he sees is Emil leaning close to Daphne, kissing her. LUDWIG Daphne, will you be coming back to work? DAPHNE In a minute, Ludwig. Ludwig leaves. EMIL Smart girl. I'm glad you're not a whore. But washing hair? This is no job for a woman as beautiful as you. They should be washing your hair. Emil reaches into his pocket and pulls out SOMETHING, sticks it in the palm of her hand, closing her fingers around it. EMIL (CONT'D) I don't want to kill you. But if you talk, I will. (whispers) I thought you'd want these. He taps her hand...he turns and goes out the rear exit. Oleg follows. Jordy arrives. JORDY ...Daphne? She says nothing. JORDY (CONT'D) I'm a fire marshal. You remember me from the other night? You are Daphne, right? She says nothing. Eddie arrives. Daphne turns. Recognizing Eddie. EDDIE You don't have to be afraid. We're here to protect you. Come with me. We want to talk to you. You speak English alright? Eddie looks at Jordy. Takes Daphne by the arm. EXT. LUDWIG'S SALON - CONTINUOUS As they come out, Eddie notices Daphne clutching something in her hand. He reaches for her hand. Opens it. It's a brushed gold necklace. EDDIE Did he give you these? Was he just here? Eddie searches the streets. Notices Oleg and Emil on the far corner. Oleg is videotaping him. Leon and Tommy pull up. Korfin behind. They all pop out. Eddie grabs Leon - squeezes his arm - quietly. EDDIE (CONT'D) The other side of the street. The guy with the videocamera. (back to Jordy) Don't look - put her in the car. (to Leon) Stay this side. LEON (back to Tommy) Stay with her. They start heading down the curb - trying not to attract the attention of Oleg and Emil. A VIDEO CLOSE-UP of the scene from across the corner. EMIL (Czech) Put the fuckin' camera down! Let's go! Emil starts to flee. EXT. NYC STREETS - CONTINUOUS What follows next is an incredible foot chase with Eddie, Jordy, Korfin and Leon running through traffic - chasing Emil. Eddie tries to stay in the lead but is running out of breath. EDDIE Split up! Jordy runs down one side of Madison - Eddie, the other. Korfin continues down 62nd and Leon covers the other side. They search for Emil, grabbing people, turning them around, missing him. Emil seems to have disappeared. Leon, gun raised, approaches the cafe. As he rounds the corner, Emil darts out, cracking Leon across the face! Leon crashes into a table, dropping his gun. Emil scoops up the gun and PISTOL-WHIPS Leon. BEATING the detective to a pulp. People are running from the scene. Emil takes Leon's wallet. He is distracted by LAUGHTER. Oleg is VIDEOTAPING the scene. OLEG Emil, look! Oleg swivels with the videocamera. Korfin is running toward them - pushing through the crowd. Emil FIRES! Korfin is blown backwards. OLEG (CONT'D) Perfect! Cut. Print! Eddie arrives. Bends down to Leon, whose face is red with blood. Jordy runs to Korfin, who's laying in the street, shot in the side. Jordy cradles his partner. EDDIE Are you hit? LEON No. I'm okay. JORDY (to Korfin) Bobby, Bobby! Where're you hit?! KORFIN It hurts. Aw, Jesus! JORDY Lay down. Stay down, Bobby. Jordy looks up as Eddie steps into the center of the street. Cars screech out of the way! Eddie crouches, taking aim at Emil, who is almost two blocks away. It's an impossible shot, out of range. But Eddie closes an eye, aims and squeezes off one SHOT. Two blocks away, Emil topples. Korfin and Jordy look at Eddie, astonished he made the shot. Emil scrambles to his feet. Runs. Eddie holsters his weapon. Pulls out a handkerchief. Dabs Leon's wounds. LEON He got my gun! Motherfucker was filming the whole time! EDDIE I know. Relax. Take it easy. Don't worry, we'll get those fuckers. DISSOLVE TO: EMS VEHICLE Eddie and Jordy watch as Korfin on a stretcher, is loaded in an EMS VEHICLE and in b.g., an EMS DOCTOR attends to Leon's bloody face. Eddie and Jordy turn to go back into the restaurant, now cleared out - as Nicolette Karas arrives with her cameraman. NICOLETTE Detective - can you tell us what happened here? EDDIE I can't talk right now. We have some things to take care of. Jordy moves off, he doesn't want to get pulled in front of Nicolette. Daphne can be seen waiting in the back of the restaurant, maybe twenty feet away. Tommy stands next to her. This is where Eddie and Jordy are headed. NICOLETTE I understand, but I noticed that the Fire Marshall is here with you. Is this somehow related to the fire department? EDDIE I really can't give out any information right now at this point. NICOLETTE Okay. But I do understand that your partner, Leon Jackson's been injured. Is that correct? EDDIE He was hurt, but not seriously. He'll be fine. NICOLETTE Do you have the suspect in custody? EDDIE Um...now is not a good time, okay. Detective Jackson's hurt. He's fine. I've got a Fire Marshall shot, Detective Jackson is hurt but not seriously. NICOLETTE (to cameraman) Alright, cut, cut, cut. Mike the cameraman cuts the cameraman - lowers it from his shoulder. NICOLETTE (CONT'D) (to Eddie) Eddie, are you okay? EDDIE Yeah. Now's not a good time. NICOLETTE Alright. EDDIE Alright? NICOLETTE Alright. EDDIE Alright. NICOLETTE Okay. Eddie walks into the restaurant. Throws a look back at her, then enters. INT. ARMAND RESTAURANT - DAY Jordy talks to Daphne. DAPHNE I told your partner, I can't help. I didn't see anything. EDDIE C'mon, start at the beginning. You know these people? DAPHNE Tamina was a friend of mine. My shower was broken, she let me use theirs. EDDIE Go on. She says nothing. EDDIE (CONT'D) Whether you tell us or not, we'll find out. Better if it comes from you. DAPHNE If I tell you, will you arrest me? EDDIE Arrest you for what? Why would we arrest you? She still hesitates. EDDIE (CONT'D) What are you hiding? Why are you afraid JORDY She just saw two of her friends killed! They probably threatened her. EDDIE Is that all there is? She looks at Eddie. EDDIE (CONT'D) Are you here illegally? Don't worry about that. We'll talk to Immigration. They won't deport you. DAPHNE No, no, don't talk to Immigration! She clams up. JORDY Why not? EDDIE Something back home? Jordy leads Daphne to a table - she sits. Eddie sits across from her. Jordy crouches down next to her. DAPHNE ...my little sister and I shared a flat - I came home one night and a man was raping her. His gun was on the chair... He came at me and I shot him. JORDY (optimistic) Alright. That's a justifiable homicide. DAPHNE Yes, but he was a cop. EDDIE A cop? DAPHNE (beat) I'm from a small town in Slovakia. Like the South here. The Police is right, a civilian is wrong. So I fled. EDDIE Look, we can help you but right now we have to deal with what's happening here. Tell us the truth...is that the truth? DAPHNE You're a cop - you'll never believe me. JORDY (to Eddie) Can I talk to you? Eddie steps away with Jordy. Keeping his eyes on Daphne. She tries to listen. EDDIE She's fucked. Even if that story is true. JORDY Raw deal. Eddie tilts his head. Measures Jordy. JORDY (CONT'D) Look - let me talk to her. Any leads I get, they're all yours. Just let me have a first crack at her. EDDIE You wanna talk to her alone? JORDY Yeah. EDDIE What would your girlfriend think of that? JORDY I don't have a girlfriend. EDDIE My point exactly. JORDY I'm serious here. EDDIE So am I. JORDY C'mon. You intimidate her 'cause you're a celebrity. She sees me differently. EDDIE You're her Savior? Is she the kid you're gonna save from the burning building? JORDY You know what I'm saying here. Eddie looks at his watch. Thinks it over. Measures Jordy. EDDIE Okay, tell you what, I'll give you a head start. You take her to the station house. Don't let her out of your sight. She's the only warm body we got left. JORDY Hey. I'm a professional. EDDIE Women like that have a way of turning professionals into amateurs. He gives Jordy a look and heads for the door. INT. A SEEDY BATHROOM - DAY Emil pulls off his sock and shoe, lifts his foot into a stained sink and washes the blood away, exposing the chunk of pink flesh taken out of his ankle. Emil grabs some toilet paper, plugs the wound, then cuts the towel off the dispenser with his kitchen knife and wraps his ankle. He grits teeth in pain. The lights go out. Then Oleg adjusts the fluorescent light above the sink. OLEG Gotta light the scene better. Now it's more moody... like a scene from THE THIRD MAN. EMIL Shut up. OLEG Does it hurt? Emil lifts his foot out of the sink. EMIL This is nothing. Emil lifts his shirt, exposing his back. OLEG Oh, shit. I hate looking at that! EMIL Don't want to film this? We don't see what Oleg sees - not yet - but from his expression, it's horrible. INT. JORDY'S CAR - DAY Daphne rides in the backseat. Jordy's watching her in the rearview. DAPHNE Now I become custody of police department? JORDY If you cooperate with the DA - maybe they'll help you with your situation. DAPHNE I will if they don't send me back. JORDY They won't until this is over. She looks away. Out the window. Jordy sees emotion filling her eyes. She looks back at him - her eyes have teared up. DAPHNE Are you married? JORDY Divorced. DAPHNE Do you live alone? (beat) I've been in these clothes since...the killings. Could we stop at your place? I could take a shower...before I go into custody? Jordy looks at her. Can't quite tell if she's trying to manipulate him or really just wants to get cleaned up before all the shit starts. JORDY I can't take you to my place. DAPHNE Somewhere else? Jordy looks at her... EDDIE Staring right at us. EDDIE I want to talk to you about something serious. He holds up the diamond engagement ring. EDDIE (CONT'D) I want to live the rest of my life with you...I don't know you've been married before and I've never been married, but I do love you, and... Eddie is standing in front of a mirror - rehearsing the proposal. He notices a small dab of blood on his shirtcuff. Leon's blood. Paulie enters carrying a towel and a vodka tonic. PAULIE She's here. Paulie sets down the drink and begins their silent ritual. He hands Eddie the towel. Eddie wipes off his face and hands, then hands the towel back to Paulie. Paulie helps Eddie on with his coat. Eddie takes some Visine out of his coat pocket. Drops a few in each eye. HE straightens himself and looks in the mirror, taking a big gulp of the drink. Eddie sets the glass down and starts out. Paulie hands him a Binaca. Eddie gives himself a squirt as he exits. Paulie follows. INT. P.B. HERMAN'S RESTAURANT - DAY It's lunchtime...it's crowded. Eddie takes a seat at a table. He takes the ring out of his pocket - holds it under the table. Nicolette Karas walks up to Eddie from behind. Gives him a kiss on the cheek. NICOLETTE Hey, honey. EDDIE Hey. She orders a drink in Greek from the Greek waiter, then sits down across the table. There's a long pause - they just look at each other. NICOLETTE What is your problem? Why'd you snap at me? I just wanted a statement. EDDIE I can't...I can't answer you just because you want me to answer you! NICOLETTE You didn't have to embarrass me in front of my colleagues. You could give me something. EDDIE Oh, I'm sorry. Did I embarrass you, sweetheart? Oh... NICOLETTE Stop it. EDDIE Maybe I should just, ya know...turn to the cameras and say, do you mind if we just work something out? NICOLETTE Alright, alright, Eddie. Don't patronize me. EDDIE I'm not. NICOLETTE Yes you are. I'm not just some reporter. I don't just stick a microphone in your face. You could give me something. EDDIE Yeah, well you took the camera and put it right down on the evidence. That was... NICOLETTE That was good. You were holding the evidence. EDDIE You were merciless. You didn't give a shit if you got me or not. NICOLETTE Well, who was it that taught me how to do that? Huh? EDDIE You're ruthless. NICOLETTE You're not so bad yourself. They look at each other. NICOLETTE (CONT'D) C'mere. They kiss. NICOLETTE (CONT'D) Look at this. You have blood on your shirt. Whose is it? EDDIE Could be Leon's. NICOLETTE Jesus. And last week you came over with blood on your shoes. What am I going to do with you? Eddie takes her hand. EDDIE You know, I been thinkin'...these shoes might look nice with another pair of shoes next to them in the closet. She looks at him. EDDIE (CONT'D) You know, Nicky, I've been married twice before. My first wife was a professional woman, didn't have time for children. My second wife...I never wanted to go home to her. Nicolette's phone rings. Eddie stops - looks at the ringing phone. NICOLETTE What are you doing? What are you saying? Nicolette's phone keeps ringing. Eddie stares at it. NICOLETTE (CONT'D) Eddie? Nicolette's phone keeps ringing. NICOLETTE (CONT'D) Don't worry about the damn phone. I won't answer it. EDDIE Answer the phone. NICOLETTE No. Tell me what you want to say. EDDIE Answer it. NICOLETTE Okay. Okay. Hold that thought just for a second. They only call me when it's an emergency. Just hold that thought. (into the phone) Can you call back? PHONE VOICE (O.S.) We need you here in twenty minutes. Get in a cab. NICOLETTE What're you talking about? PHONE VOICE (O.S.) Katie. We don't know where she is. We can't find her. You gotta anchor the 5:00. This is your shot. Come now. NICOLETTE What? Oh. Okay. Yeah. The line disconnects. She collapses the phone. Turns to Eddie. NICOLETTE (CONT'D) Oh my G-d, they want me to anchor. They want me to anchor tonight! EDDIE That's good. NICOLETTE Yeah. EDDIE Well, that's great. NICOLETTE Okay. That is great. But I can't go now, we're in the middle of something here. EDDIE No. Go ahead. You're gonna be great. NICOLETTE No. No, listen to me here. I want to know what you're talking about. You know, the shoe thing and the marriages and... EDDIE I'll tell you tonight. Let's do it tonight. As soon as you get back we'll talk. We'll talk. NICOLETTE Promise? EDDIE I promise. We'll talk. You'll be great. You'll be fine. Go ahead, just imagine that, uh... Just look into the lens and imagine you're talking to me. NICOLETTE Yeah. I'll do that. As long as you're not patronizing me. EDDIE Patronizing you... Nay, I love you. NICOLETTE I love you. They kiss. NICOLETTE (CONT'D) Okay, til tonight. EDDIE Tonight. NICOLETTE You promise? EDDIE Yeah. I promise. NICOLETTE Okay. And you know what, I'll swing by my place, grab a couple pairs of shoes and maybe just test them out next to yours...How's that... Would that be a good thing. EDDIE Yeah, yeah. Good thing. NICOLETTE Okay. EDDIE See you later. Good luck. NICOLETTE Thank you. EDDIE Don't be late. She walks out. INT. FIRE STATION 91 - DAY Jordy unlocks the door. Enters with Daphne. The fire station is empty. JORDY The men are out of quarters - practicing putting out fires. DAPHNE So...the station is empty? JORDY Yeah. This way. He gestures toward the stairs. INT. FIRE STATION LOCKER ROOM - CONTINUOUS Jordy and Daphne walk through the locker room. Her eyes never leaving Jordy's. JORDY You considered becoming a prostitute? DAPHNE Yes, I considered it. JORDY Did you ever turn tricks before? DAPHNE No. JORDY What about back home? DAPHNE No. Daphne stops. Looks at him. Stands very close. DAPHNE (CONT'D) I came here. I had no money. I knew no one. I couldn't get a job because you have to have a green card to get work. They approached me - I could've made a lot of money. I considered it, but... it's not who I am. They pay me below the table at Ludwig's. JORDY So you were never a prostitute? DAPHNE What are you asking me? JORDY I'm just trying to find out who you are. She looks up into his eyes. Searching. Thinking he's hinting. DAPHNE Can you let me go? She leans in close to him - giving him the opportunity to kiss her. Jordy is tempted but...remembers Eddie's warning and backs up slightly. JORDY Showers are this way. Desperate now, willing to do anything, Daphne moves in even closer. DAPHNE You could shower with me. Jordy is locked in her eyes. Almost giving in. Then breaks away. Gestures towards the showers. Daphne looks away form him - crestfallen. She heads to the showers. Jordy follows her into the bathroom. The walls are lined with shower stalls. JORDY I'll uh, I'll get you a towel. He leaves her there. Alone. She quickly moves to the window. Opens it. Looks down. It's a two-story drop to the street. JORDY gets a towel from the locker room. His beeper goes off. He checks the number but decides not to return the call. We follow him back into the bathroom. The shower is on but he notices the window. It's open. JORDY (CONT'D) Shit! He rushes over. He looks out. No sign of her. He turns - looks back at the shower. It's on but he can't see through the curtain. Can't tell if she's there. He walks over - quickly - fearing that she's left. He pulls the curtain aside. She's crouched in the corner shower stall. Holding herself. She looks up at him - her eyes filled with tears. JORDY (CONT'D) Are you alright? Jordy sits on the bench next to the shower. DAPHNE I'm not a whore. I'm not a whore. JORDY I know. DAPHNE You don't know. I'm sorry. I was desperate. That's not me. I shot a cop. Can you imagine what they'll do to me when I got to prison? JORDY They're not gonna send you right back. DAPHNE I'm sorry. I didn't mean to...I'm glad. Actually I'm glad it's over. All this time. Hiding. Never being able to look anyone in the eyes. Always afraid that someone would find out who I was. Never trusting anyone... He covers her with the towel, pulling her up. JORDY You can trust me. She embraces him. Trusting him. He stands there for a moment. Then awkwardly holds her. Comforting her. INT. NYC RESTAURANT - DAY CLOSE UP on a steak. Male hands cut a piece. Another male hand sets down a huge bottle of Extra Strength Excedrin. The hands abandon the steak and rip open the bottle. The CAMERA pulls back to include the LCD screen of Oleg's videocamera. He is taping Emil as he rips open the safety plastic with his teeth. Emil is sweating with fever and his eyes are glazed over in pain. He 'drinks' pills from the bottle and chews them up. Wincing in pain. Emil washes them down with a beer. Emil looks down and the camera follows his gaze to the "People" magazine article he's reading on Stephen Geller. Emil laughs. Shaking his head at the article as the videocamera tilts back up to his face. OLEG What is it? EMIL The video of Milos and Tamina - I told you to erase it. OLEG I did. EMIL And the whore's murder? You didn't erase that either, did you? Don't lie, I won't be angry. OLEG Why not? EMIL Put the camera down, Oleg. Oleg closes the LCD screen and puts the camera down. Emil removes a small address book -- from Leon's wallet - he looks up Eddie Flemming's name. OLEG What is that? EMIL What does it look like? It's an address book! Oleg jumps up with the camera to tape the book. OLEG Let me get a shot of it. EMIL Sit down! OLEG This way. Hold it this way. Good. Oleg gets a shot and quickly sits back down. OLEG (CONT'D) Why won't you be angry at me for keeping my movie? Emil takes a gulp of beer - drops cash on the table and limps away. Oleg follows. INT. PRECINCT - DAY It's quiet - Chief Duffy paces in front of the Sergeant's desk. Looking at his watch. Growing more and more aggravated as every second ticks by. Jordy enters escorting Daphne. Sees Duffy and tires to go past him. Duffy turns and sees Jordy and Daphne. DUFFY Hey. Warsaw. Jordy stops and comes back. Sitting Daphne down on a bench. JORDY Hey, Chief, what are you doing here? DUFFY I came to see how the investigation was going. (looks at Daphne) I called and you're not here. I wait up at the station and you don't even show up!!! I beep you - you don't return my call. Where the hell have you been?! Jordy takes a few steps away from Daphne. JORDY Ladder 20 was on the Rock for training. We stopped there... so she could get cleaned up. DUFFY What do you mean, 'cleaned up?' JORDY I let her take a shower. DUFFY A shower!? Did you take one, too? JORDY No! Nothing happened. DUFFY Oh really. That's nice. You took a homicide witness to take a shower after your partner was shot? Are you out of your fucking mind?? Are you having that much trouble gettin' dates?! EDDIE (O.S.) I told him to take her there. Jordy and Duffy turn. Eddie walks out. Eddie turns - Tommy - the young detective who caught the case in the King Edward Hotel - is coming out of the back office. EDDIE (CONT'D) Tommy, get her outta here. Tommy takes Daphne into the precinct. TOMMY This way, ma'am. EDDIE There was too much press hangin' around there. I didn't want her face on the news. So I told him to take her to a quiet area until things settled down. DUFFY Oh. EDDIE It was my decision, not his. DUFFY Well, I'm the Deputy Chief Fire Marshall and every now and then I'd like to be included in decisions. EDDIE Look, after Jordy briefs me, you can do the press conference. How about that? The case is all yours. DUFFY Oh yeah...? Alright. EDDIE (to Jordy) I'm ready to be briefed. (to Duffy) Excuse us. DUFFY (to Eddie) Yeah, sure. (to Jordy) Beep me when you're ready for the press conference. JORDY Will do, Chief. Eddie leads the way, walking past the Sergeant's desk - toward the back and to his office. JORDY (CONT'D) Eddie, I... Eddie holds up his hand - silencing Jordy. EDDIE Wait. INT. POLICE PRECINCT - DETECTIVE ROOM'S SQUAD - DAY A handful of detectives talk about work over burned coffee. Eddie enters with Jordy. EDDIE Guys...give me a few minutes? They empty out. JORDY Look, Eddie, I'm tellin' you - I didn't touch her. EDDIE Well, you shoulda because nobody's gonna believe you didn't...including me. JORDY I took her there for a shower and that's it. EDDIE Just a shower? Eddie gives Jordy a questioning look. JORDY Yeah, just her in the shower. Nothing happened. Look, I'm sure you probably think I'm a fool and I fucked up, but... EDDIE No, I don't think you were a fool, I just think you were stupid about it. I mean, to say the least, you outta know better. You don't know her well enough. She's got the potential to fucking hang you even if she suggests that you made a pass at her, it's fuckin' over. You can deny it all you want, but it will not make one fucking bit of difference. You're dead. JORDY I told you, you know, I thought I was doing the right thing, you know, I think she's innocent. EDDIE Well, it's not up to you to decide whether she's innocent or not. Don't you understand, that's why you're a professional. JORDY But, I mean, didn't you ever go out on a limb for somebody? I mean, you shoulda heard her there. Tellin' her whole story...I believed her. EDDIE How you go out on a limb for somebody is by giving her a number of an Immigration lawyer. Here, here's a number of an Immigration lawyer. That's how you help her. But you can't get involved in her like that. You're gonna jeopardize your career, your life and you're gonna jeopardize my case. And lemme give you another piece of advice. Maybe you don't watch TV but I'll let you in on a little secret - the whole fuckin' world watches television. And when you get out there, they know your face. And the little fame, the little fuckin' itty bitty fame that I get in this city makes it a lot easier for my job. And I get more done because of it. Jordy studies Eddie for a quiet beat. JORDY Why'd you help me back there with the Chief? Why'd you stand up for me like that? EDDIE You know, I don't know. I like you. You remind me of a puppy I used to have. He pissed on the rug all the time, but I still kept him. Eddie picks up his cigar that's going out. He sticks it in his mouth. A match is lit. He looks up. Jordy holds the match. Eddie dips the end of the cigar and puffs. The homicide detective and the fire marshal hold a look. INT. EDDIE'S APARTMENT - NIGHT Eddie walks in - carrying flowers. He closes and locks the door behind him. He grabs the phone. Dials. EDDIE It's Flemming...anything turn up? Did they check the hospitals? Airports? Yeah, I hit him! I fuckin' hit him! We should be all over everywhere - with dogs, choppers, everything! These guys are from fuckin' Czechoslovakia... He looks at the flowers. Decides to put the case behind him for a moment. EDDIE (CONT'D) I'll call you later. He HANGS up. Arranges the flowers in a vase. So they look perfect. Sets them on the coffee table. Fills out a card, writes, "Nicky, I love you. Will you marry me?" He sticks the card in the flowers - turns the lights down low. Puts a romantic Sinatra song on the stereo. Moves to the liquor cabinet. Pours himself a drink. He sets the ringbox on the coffee table - next to the flowers. There's a knock at the door. EDDIE (CONT'D) Coming! Eddie smooths his hair, unlocks the door. But the hallway is empty. EDDIE (CONT'D) Nicky!?!? No answer. Eddie steps out in the hallway with the drink in his hand. Walks toward the elevator. Doesn't notice the shadow that passes behind him - entering his apartment. Eddie turns. No sign of anyone. EDDIE (CONT'D) Nicky?! He walks back toward his apartment. Turns and locks the door. A BLUR jumps out of the shadows SLAMMING him on the head with a gun. Eddie tumbles to the floor! OUT COLD! A BLURRED VIDEO IMAGE as it's focused - on Eddie - handcuffed and upper body taped to a chair - 20 minutes later - sobered up. Emil is sitting in front of him. On the coffee table alongside him are the flowers in a vase. They've ransacked the place. Emil has Eddie's watch, his gold shield and his money. He's smoking one of Eddie's cigars and in Emil's hand...is the diamond engagement ring and card. Oleg, 60 MINUTES-style, is positioned behind Emil videotaping Eddie. He moves to the corner of the room - bringing a light back over to illuminate Eddie's face. EMIL So...who's Nicky? EDDIE What do you want? EMIL Your opinion. (leaning forward) You see, they going to make a movie about me, too, Eddie. And write books. EDDIE (sarcastic) What's your accomplishment. EMIL I kill someone famous. EDDIE Then do it, asshole. EMIL Good - be tough to the end. Actor who plays you will want to die like hero. Eddie looks at the videocamera. Emil answers Eddie's look. EMIL (CONT'D) So tabloids don't have to do re enactments. They going to have real movie this time. EDDIE If you kill me and film it you're putting a noose around your neck. Emil turns to Oleg. EMIL Turn it off. Oleg obeys. Emil turns to Eddie. EMIL (CONT'D) No. We are insane. Who else but crazy men would film their murders? (gestures to Eddie) So we kill someone famous and if we are caught, we are sent to mental hospital. But what good is money there? Because once in hospital I say I not crazy. Just pretended to be acquitted. We see psychiatrists. They must certify we are sane and because of your - what is law called? (Eddie says nothing) Oh - I got it. Because of your Double Jeopardy law, we can't be tried for same crime twice. We come out free, rich and famous! OLEG Good idea! EDDIE You really think you'll be able to fool a jury with this bullshit? How fuckin' stupid are you? EMIL Smarter than Americans. You're fed cry baby talk shows all day long. Not only will Americans believe me, they'll cry for me. (laughs) So...Detective Eddie Flemming, would you like to say goodbye to your Nicolette? Maybe you can propose to her now? Eddie says nothing. Just stares at Emil. Emil puffs on Eddie's cigar. EMIL (CONT'D) Okay. He has nothing to say. (signaling Oleg) Start the camera! OLEG Cut! Emil looks at Oleg. OLEG (CONT'D) This is my project. I say 'action.' I am the director! You are the talent. You wait for me to say 'action!' Emil looks at Eddie as if to say, "See what I have to put up with." Oleg gestures from behind the videocamera. OLEG (CONT'D) And...action! Oleg FILMS as Emil raises Eddie's service revolver. Eddie suddenly KICKS at Emil's hand, but Emil pulls it away, backing out of Eddie's reach. EMIL Bad last moment - I cut that out. Emil raises the pistol again - pointing the gun at Eddie's left temple. Emil cocks the hammer, but Eddie avoids the gun, ducking his head to the side of Emil's arm. Standing and following his head up Emil's arm and pushing him over into the desk. Eddie then knocks Emil with the chair and Emil falls off the desk and onto the floor. Oleg still grips the videocamera. Eddie continues around with the chair and drives Oleg back across the room - pinning him to the wall. Eddie comes back from Oleg to the gun at the same time as Emil is limping for it. Eddie knocks Emil out of the way with the chair and then stabs him with the legs of the chair repeatedly. Eddie comes up and around again at Oleg who is coming at him from the wall. Eddie knocks Oleg over the coffee table and onto the sofa. Falling on top of him, rolling over and leaving Oleg on the sofa. Eddie manages to get up from the sofa and position the chair in such a way that he can fall over backward and grab the gun. Emil limps toward the gun at the same time and it is not clear in the darkness who has the gun. Oleg gets up from the sofa and goes over to get the videocamera. Eddie has managed to get the gun and comes up as Oleg is moving in with the camera and starts shooting toward Oleg - managing to shoot one of the blinds off the window and one of the lampshades off the lamp. Oleg crouches down with the camera and Eddie starts to turn toward Emil who comes at him with the knife and stabs him in the stomach. Emil steps back, revealing the knife is BURIED IN EDDIE'S STOMACH. Eddie stumbles backward, falling over but still attached to the chair - holding the gun. Eddie can't believe he got stabbed. Blood swells around his stomach. He can't be dying. This can't be happening. He looks at Emil. The pain is terrible. Oleg has knelt down next to Eddie - getting a close up. Emil looks at Eddie. EMIL (CONT'D) Die. Die. Emil looks around. Grabs a black pillow and finishes Eddie off, suffocating him. BLACKNESS We are moving through a tunnel - pitch black, so dark all you feel is the motion. We are travelling very fast. Finally, in the distance, a speck of light which fills the frame. We slowly pull back from the white light to discover it is a tiny pixel on a TV screen. WIDENING further out we see Eddie's funeral on the evening news. It's an enormous gathering - a sea of blue uniforms and dignitaries. In the upper right hand corner, superimposed over the funeral, is a picture of Eddie from his ID and in his NYPD uniform. We see Oleg's reflection on the set with the videocamera. He is filming the TV. We hear the audio from Eddie's funeral. NEWSCASTER (ON T.V.) ..Detective Flemming was one of the most decorated NYPD detectives in the history of New York. He made several thousand arrests during his career, including the famed Stephen Geller case. Beloved by the community in which he served. His partner eulogized him... Leon is at the mic. LEON (ON T.V.) ...Eddie was my mentor, my best friend and my partner...he taught me the meaning of the word 'cop.' He was a man in every sense of the word. I'll miss him... (choking on tears) Sleep well, brother. Leon begins to sing "Amazing Grace." Oleg PANS from the TV and focuses it on a lightbulb. Hands enter the frame - carefully pouring clear liquid into an ashtray. A long hypodermic needle slides into the ashtray - the plunger is pulled back and the needle quickly fills with liquid. Gingerly, the needle is inserted into the lightbulb. Again, the plunger moves and the lightbulb is filled and placed on a table...next to a CAN OF GASOLINE. VIDEOCAMERA ZOOMS OUT revealing...Emil sitting at a hotel desk doing this. INT. P.B. HERMAN'S RESTAURANT - DAY It's packed with COPS drinking. Prosecutors...lawyers...many who were at the funeral, including Leon. All wear the black ribbon on their badges. There's a quality of an Irish wake - boisterous, guys cursing...many cops in uniform. A buffet has been laid out. Hawkins enters in a black suit, wearing a black ribbon. He greets people, shaking hands, embracing Leon. HAWKINS Awful...what an awful day. He was New York City. Hawkins notices a young man by the window. Teary-eyed. It's Tommy. Hawkins nods to him. TOMMY I never got to tell him how much I admired him. HAWKINS I know, son, I know. We all loved him. Hawkins moves on...greeting others. He notices at the end of the bar - sitting alone on a stool - is Nicolette. He moves to her. Pulls up a stool alongside her. She turns, looks at him. Just stares at him for a long beat. She is bombed. Definitely drunk. She's had many. She turns to Hawkins. NICOLETTE You know...you know he was gonna propose to me. The crime guys found a card he'd written out to me. And a ring box...these fuckers that killed him - have my ring. They have my diamond engagement ring... Hawkins touches her shoulder with compassion. HAWKINS I know. NICOLETTE What do you mean you know? He told you he was gonna propose to me? HAWKINS Well, he... NICOLETTE (overriding) I want to hear everything he said. HAWKINS I'm trying to tell you. NICOLETTE Alright. Go ahead. HAWKINS That morning. He was talking to me and Leon about marriage. NICOLETTE Oh my G-d. We were having lunch here. He started making overtures - talking about little shoes next to his in his closet but I got a call to anchor - and I walked out on him. I walked out on him when he was trying to ask me to marry him!! Nicolette is crying now. She angrily wipes away a tear. NICOLETTE (CONT'D) I'd never had a great relationship before. I'd never made great choices with men. And he wasn't easy to get to know. He was older, my parents told me I was nuts to get involved with him. But he was so great to me. Always encouraging, telling me I could do anything... (beat) He was the one. You know, I'd give up everything - everything - for just a little more time. I would've spent fifteen minutes with him if that's all I knew I had. She's lost it. Hawkins consoles her. Nicolette shrugs him off - turns back to her drink. Downs the rest of it. A woman arrives, MAGGIE, Hawkins' producer - assistant in tow. MAGGIE Robert...? HAWKINS What are you doing here? MAGGIE (holding a cellular) You've got a call. HAWKINS I can't talk to anybody right now, can't you see I'm busy! I can't talk business. Hang up. Have a drink. (to Paulie) Get her a whiskey. MAGGIE Trust me, you'll want to take this call. Robert steps off the stool. Takes the phone. HAWKINS Hello? Who is this? (listens) How do I know this is you? Hawkins gives Nicolette a comforting squeeze on her shoulder. Backs away from the bar. Now out of hearing distance, he looks back at Nicolette and lowers his voice. HAWKINS (CONT'D) Where? We INTERCUT Emil on a public phone in the lobby of a movie theater. Oleg videotapes Emil on the phone, as he throws glances into the theater. EMIL Come to 45 Broadway. Don't bring the Police. Come alone or you'll be in my next film. HAWKINS (low) Look asshole. I've been threatened by better than you. EMIL No. I'm the best that's ever threatened you. HAWKINS I'll meet you on one condition - I get exclusivity and you surrender to me. EMIL We'll talk about that. Four o'clock gives you time to go to bank. Three hundred thousand dollars. HAWKINS What? It doesn't work that way. EMIL (incensed) If you don't want my film - I'll call another show. And they will show it. HAWKINS Wait a minute. Wait a minute. EMIL Come alone. Bring cash. And we'll talk about surrendering. CLICK. The line goes dead. Hawkins disconnects. Hands the phone back to Maggie. She's looking at him. Excited. Hawkins looks at Nicolette. His mind whirls. INT. FIRE STATION 91 - KITCHEN - DAY Daphne and Korfin are sitting at a table. Korfin's arm is in a sling, his side bandaged. Duffy and Jordy enter in their dress uniforms. Korfin walks over to them. KORFIN How was it? JORDY (numb) Not good. Jordy's quiet. Dazed. Nobody can believe Eddie's gone. DUFFY (nods to Daphne) Did the D.A. videotape her deposition? KORFIN Yeah. He finished awhile ago. DUFFY (to Korfin) Alright. Swing by her apartment. Let her pick up her clothes and take her straight to Hoover Street. You got that? KORFIN Yeah. Jordy looks at her. Duffy sees them hold each other's look. JORDY Chief - mind if I take her? DUFFY Okay. But not water sports. Duffy walks out. Jordy leads Daphne out of the station. Korfin follows. A MAN IN A CHEAP SUIT is talking to Camello who points as Jordy walks by. The man chases after Jordy. MAN Excuse me - Jordan Warsaw? JORDY Yeah. MAN (shoving papers in Jordy's hand) Consider yourself served. Jordy opens the papers. Korfin puts Daphne in the car. Walks back over to Jordy and reads over his shoulder. KORFIN Zwangendaba??? Is suing you, the department and the city of New York for 10 million? Who is Zwangendaba? Jordy remembers...and gets more depressed. JORDY The mugger. EXT. DAPHNE'S APARTMENT BUILDING - NIGHT It's an old brownstone - in poor condition. Jordy pulls up. Opens the door for Daphne - takes her by the elbow - steering her to the door. He is edgy. Jumpy. Looking around. DAPHNE Are you alright? JORDY I still can't believe Eddie's gone. DAPHNE I'm sorry. He looks at her. Nods. They walk up to the stairs as the front door opens. A NEIGHBOR exits, shocked. Jordy pulls Daphne out of the way. DAPHNE (CONT'D) (in Czech to the man) Hello. How are you? INT. DAPHNE'S APARTMENT BUILDING - HALLWAY - CONTINUOUS Jordy and Daphne make their way up the stairs. A bouquet of flowers are outside Daphne's apartment. JORDY What's this? She takes the card. Jordy looks over her shoulder. Daphne reads: "Good luck with all your troubles. I'm here if you need me...Ludwig." JORDY (CONT'D) Is he your boyfriend? DAPHNE Ludwig? He's gay - are you jealous? JORDY If I was your boyfriend, I might be. DAPHNE If you were my boyfriend, I'd suggest you find another girlfriend that isn't going to jail ten-thousand miles away. They're staring in each other's eyes. The sexual tension strong. JORDY A good Immigration lawyer could stall the process. Eddie recommended one. DAPHNE No matter what happens...I'm glad I met you. JORDY I'm glad I met you. They hold each other's eyes...then suddenly they kiss. Urgently. Passionately. Somebody is coming up the stairs. They part quickly. A tenant enters his apartment down the hall. Jordy clears his throat. JORDY (CONT'D) Let's get your stuff. He opens the door. Peers inside - checking it out. Turns to her. Gestures that it's okay to enter. INT. DAPHNE'S APARTMENT - CONTINUOUS It's very small. Almost no furniture. The bare minimum. The apartment is a hole. She looks at Jordy. Both thinking the same thought. Another kiss. JORDY You better get packed. DAPHNE Right. She holds his look. JORDY Do you have coffee? DAPHNE In the kitchen. JORDY I'll make some for us. DAPHNE I'll get my clothes. She heads down the hall. Jordy enters the small kitchen. He flips on the kitchen light and the LIGHTBULB EXPLODES - SETTING THE CEILING ON FIRE AND RELEASING A RAIN OF FIRE INTO THE ROOM. Jordy JUMPS BACK. DAPHNE (CONT'D) Jordy!!! JORDY No! Get back! GET BACK!!! Jordy's more surprised than shaken. It's a fire - he knows the drill. He pushes her into the living room. Then notices a FIRE EXTINGUISHER hanging on the wall. Grabs it. Aims it at the FIRE spreading in the kitchen. He SPRAYS as Daphne SCREAMS! DAPHNE That's not mine! WHOOOOOOOOOSH! The fire extinguisher FEEDS THE FIRE! Flames leap up from the fire - shooting toward the extinguisher because it's filled with gasoline. The handle LOCKS! Jordy CAN'T TURN IT OFF. Flames engulf the extinguisher and JORDY'S HAND. He flings the extinguisher - BACKS OUT OF THE KITCHEN. Closes the door. Jordy takes off his jacket. Stuffs it under the bottom of the door. Blocking the smoke. He hurries into the living room. Knowing it's moments before the extinguisher will explode. Jordy pulls out his cellular. Hits the speed dial as he notices Daphne about to throw a chair through the window. JORDY Don't! It'll suck the flames toward us! Too late. She SMASHES the window. There's an EXPLOSION in the kitchen. Smoke and fire rush down the hallway and along the ceiling. Jordy yells into the phone: JORDY (CONT'D) This is Jordan Warsaw! We got a 1075, make it quick, we're trapped! 8th Avenue and 44th Street. He pulls Daphne toward the bedroom. It's locked. Jordy kicks it open. Grabs the comforter off the bed. Shoves that under the door jam. He pulls Daphne into the bathroom. Shuts the door. Runs his severely burned hand under the cold water. Daphne looks out the window - hearing the sirens. She notices someone has nailed the window shut. And on top of one nail...is Eddie's gold shield. DAPHNE Oh my G-d! Oh my G-d! Jordy turns - sees Eddie's shield. DAPHNE (CONT'D) They were here! This freaks her out. They were in her home. She starts to panic. JORDY Calm down. Get a hold of yourself! Get down! He pulls aside the curtain to the bathtub. In it is a CAN OF GASOLINE. A virtual bomb. JORDY (CONT'D) Oh Jesus! Daphne reaches for the can of gasoline. JORDY (CONT'D) What are you doing? DAPHNE Pouring it out! She grabs the can of gasoline - pours it down the drain. The FIRE is raging outside the bathroom. The bathroom door is beginning to smoke and burn. They are trapped. Jordy turns - grabs an exposed water pipe that runs up the wall to the ceiling. He throws his feet against the wall for leverage. Pulls with all his might to break it loose. It's creaking - but he's having a hard time with it. DAPHNE (CONT'D) Oh shit! Jordy looks over. The gasoline she's pouring out - is not going down the drain. It's stopped up. As soon as the fire gets in the bathroom, everything will explode! Jordy begins pulling at the rusty pipe with all his might. Daphne comes over - helps him. Both of them trying to break it off. Suddenly it snaps and water POURS into the room. SOAKING THE WALLS. They point the pipe toward the door, soaking some of the flames which are consuming the door. Trying to stop the fire from coming in. He and Daphne are drenched. And trapped. Jordy grabs a broken piece of pipe. Starts SMASHING the wall behind them. The wall to the adjacent apartment. VIDEO POV Jordy and Daphne in the bathroom - surrounded by fire. CAMERA WHIP PANS down the street as FIRE ENGINES arrive. OLEG is VIDEOTAPING them from the opposite rooftop. Tenants from Daphne's building are fleeing down the fire escape. Emil stands in back of Oleg - who is very excited. He turns the camera on himself. OLEG This is great film! You can see fire right now - Daphne is in fire - Fire Marshal is here. Everything is so messy. Everything is so crazy right here! Look at this fire! We made it! 90% of people who die in fire die from eating smoke. So most likely they all die from eating smoke. The CAMERA PANS to Emil. OLEG (CONT'D) And this is the man who started the fire. Say something to your fans, Emil! Emil waits a beat and then blows a kiss to the lens. DAPHNE'S BATHROOM Filled with smoke. You can barely see Jordy or Daphne. Jordy SMASHES a hole in the wall - which reveals the bathroom in the apartment next door. The smoke has a place to escape. There's a 7-year old KID in there. Standing in the bathroom. Terrified. JORDY Get back! Get out of the bathroom! Run! 7-YEAR OLD KID The hallway is on fire! JORDY It's okay. I'm a fireman. I'm going to help you. Get back! Now! Jordy pushes Daphne through the wall - turns as the bathroom door catches fire. It's seconds before the whole room will blow up. OLEG Across the roof is videotaping the bathroom as it EXPLODES! EXT. STREET - CONTINUOUS Fire engines have arrived. The street is filled with gawkers. Garcia and Korfin pull up just as Jordy runs from the building - holding the kid in one arm and pulling Daphne with the other. Carefully guarding his bandaged hand. A fireman grabs the kid. Another grabs Daphne. Garcia and Korfin run to Jordy. GARCIA Jordy! What the hell happened?! KORFIN Are you alright, man? Lemme see the hand! JORDY Where's Daphne? Daphne? He spots Daphne on the corner as a familiar voice pushes through the crowd. VOICE Isn't she a beauty? She's my fire, look at that loom-up on her! Jordy turns - it's Max. The attention pyromaniac who Jordy threw out of his office. As a news crew arrives, Max turns to the cameras. MAX I did this! I did this! Take my picture! I'm Max! Max Gornick! Jordy grabs Max - pushes him away. JORDY Get outta here! KORFIN What the hell happened? JORDY They were inside. They booby trapped her apartment! Korfin scans the crowd. Looking for Emil and Oleg. In the b.g., Duffy is SCREAMING. DUFFY What the hell are you talking about??? They're gonna do what? Jordy and Korfin turn. The Chief has a phone to his ear and is freaked. INT. LOBBY OF CHANNEL 12 BROADCASTING - NIGHT JORDY'S POV as he enters the TV station. His clothes burnt and still wet. The lobby's full of ANGRY COPS. Tommy and Leon, still in his funeral suit, SCREAMING above them all at Maggie the producer and her ASSISTANT, who are standing behind the desk. TOMMY Where is he?! Where is Hawkins?! MAGGIE He's not on the premises! LEON I want the tape. Go get it and bring it here this minute. MAGGIE Any request for the video must be directed to "Top Story's" attorney - Bruce Cutler. I'll be happy to give you his number. Leon jumps over the desk where Maggie stands. Tommy pushes past the security guard to follow Leon. They continue toward Maggie, pushing her further back into the office. She tries to protect herself with an office door which Leon slams open. LEON Lady, if you put Eddie's murder on TV, I'll get a warrant for your arrest and shove it so far up your ass it'll come outta your mouth! MAGGIE I want your shield number! HAWKINS (O.S.) Viewer discretion advised! MAGGIE (pointing at the TV) You want the tape? There it is! Leon, Tommy, all the cops and Jordy - turn toward a TV set which is mounted in the lobby. The "Top Story" logo flashes on the screen, then Robert Hawkins is seen behind his desk. HAWKINS What we are about to broadcast is very graphic footage... Everyone is riveted. But Jordy notices outside...a "Top Story" NEWS VAN is waiting in the alley. Robert Hawkins jumps from a doorway and into the van. Jordy backs out. INT. PLANET HOLLWYOOD - NIGHT POP...a video POV of a bottle of Crystal as the cork is popped. The videocamera pans up to Emil sitting at the table. He nods at the waiter who leaves. Emil raises the glass - looking into the lens. EMIL America! Who says you can't be success in America? I arrived with nothing, knowing nobody - now look - I am a success story! The videocamera is lowered. Oleg turns it off. Asks suspiciously. OLEG You are success story? I am success story! Why do you say I and not we? EMIL Oleg, don't be paranoid. You got a hundred-fifty thousand dollars, didn't you? I gave you half of what they gave me. Look - here we are! Emil gestures toward the big television set. We are in Planet Hollywood - where diners and those by the bar can watch a huge screen hanging from the ceiling. Robert Hawkins is introducing his show. HAWKINS (ON T.V.) Good evening. Welcome to "Top Story". Tonight, I present to you material of a graphic and violent nature never before seen on television. And I do so with a heavy heart. You will be first-hand witness to the slaying of celebrated New York City Homicide Detective, Eddie Flemming. It would be only normal to ask, why? Why are we showing something so journalist, I must show it. A democracy survives through the freedom of its media, and if we cannot see what is happening then we don't deserve our democracy, or our freedom. Eddie Flemming was my friend. I cried when I watched this footage and vowed to fight this violence with every molecule of my being from this day onward. Hopefully, this will have a similar effect on you. One final word, this material is absolutely not appropriate for children. The restaurant BUZZES. Emil checks his watch. OLEG In movie they make of us, who do you think would act me? EMIL The one who got caught in the bathroom. (beat) George Michael. Emil laughs. Oleg doesn't. OLEG I'm serious. EMIL Shut up. Look! Emil points towards the TV. "Top Story" is continuing. The scene cuts to Emil's video footage. Eddie is handcuffed to the chair. The light illuminating his face. OLEG (O.S.) This is my project. I say 'action.' I am the director! You are the talent. You wait for me to say 'action.' (beat) And 'action!' EMIL Bad last moment - I cut it out. Emil looks at Oleg - furious. EMIL (CONT'D) I told you to cut that out before we handed in the tape! OLEG Be quiet. Watch. Oleg watches the big-screen TV as Emil raises the pistol to Eddie's temple. Eddie pushes him over the desk. Eddie then knocks Emil with the chair and Emil falls off the desk onto the floor. Eddie continues around with the chair and drives Oleg back across the room - pinning him to the wall. Eddie and Emil both go for the gun. Eddie knocks him out of the way. Stabs him with the legs of the chair repeatedly. Leaves him in a ball on the floor. Oleg comes at Eddie and he knocks Oleg over the coffee table and onto the sofa. The blinds and lamp shade are shot - bathing the room with more light. Emil stabs Eddie in the stomach. Oleg kneels down for a CLOSE-UP. EMIL Die. Die. EXT. TIMES SQUARE - CONTINUOUS Hawkins' van drives across Times Square. Jordy's car following. We WIDEN OUT... Eddie's murder is being broadcast on the JUMBOTRON in Times Square. People stare up - stunned. INT. PLANET HOLLWYOOD - CONTINUOUS The dinner patrons are watching TV. Shocked. Emil glares at Oleg. EMIL Why did you leave that stuff in about you being the director? OLEG Because I am the director. Don't you realize, if it wasn't for my film, for my talent, my idea to do this - no way would we be sitting here right now. EMIL Your idea? I thought it was my idea. Oleg tenses. Emil laughs. EMIL (CONT'D) Aren't you just the cameraman? Oleg doesn't laugh. OLEG I'm serious...this - this is a great American film. Full of violence and sex. And I want my credit. EMIL Credit? OLEG Yes. Before we hand in the next video - I put titles on it and my credit is going to read - Directed by Oleg Razgul. EMIL Yes. But there's only one problem - you want credit but the problem is - I don't share credit. Oleg is pissed. EMIL (CONT'D) You got that? OLEG No, I don't get that! EMIL You think you are a director? You are a fucking little, small Russian piece of shit. And I hate you. I fucking hate you. Emil slaps Oleg across the face. Oleg stands up. Emil suddenly pulls out Eddie's gun but before he can pull the trigger, Oleg STABS Emil in the arm! Emil squeezes off a shot through the crowded restaurant. Patrons SCREAM - Oleg runs through the restaurant, escaping. It's chaos. Hawkins arrives with a crew and with BRUCE CUTLER, a confident, tough criminal attorney. Emil pulls the steak knife out of his arm, picks up a napkin - pressing it to his wound. EMIL (CONT'D) Oh, hello. Cutler accesses the situation. EMIL (CONT'D) Are you my attorney? (extends his hand to Cutler) I'm Emil. I'm insane. CUTLER I'm not your lawyer until I see the money. EMIL Here. I have your money. Emil picks up a briefcase and hands it to Cutler. Cutler opens it - inside is the cash Emil got from Robert Hawkins. Emil looks at the table, pushing the plates and silverware aside. Emil looks under the table, throwing the chair aside, freaking. He's lost the most important thing in his life. EMIL (CONT'D) Oh no! No! Shit! CUTLER (follows Emil - reaching out to him) Emil. Take it easy. Stay with me. Sit down. What do you need? What are you looking for? EMIL He has the camera! He took the movie! Jordy comes in, gun raised. JORDY Don't move! Don't move! Get your hands up! Drop it! Emil puts his hands in the air. Immediately drops the gun! EMIL I give up! Jordy is disappointed! He didn't want to take Emil alive. Hawkins signals to his camera man, who swings his camera at Jordy as he approaches Emil, his gun aimed at Emil's head. CUTLER This man is unarmed, officer. He's surrendered. Jordy cracks Emil across the face - knocking him down. CUTLER (CONT'D) What are you hitting him for? JORDY Turn that camera off! Jordy handcuffs him. Emil turns to the camera for sympathy, appearing more hurt than he is. EMIL No. Keep filming... Jordy realizes how media savvy Emil is and understands in that moment why he's surrendering. Jordy yanks Emil up - dragging him across the restaurant floor - Emil still favoring his ankle. CUTLER (to Emil) Don't say anything. EMIL Where are we going? CUTLER I'm coming with you. EMIL Yes. Yes, come with me! CUTLER (to Jordy) I'm invoking rights - this man is represented by counsel. I'm coming with him. The "Top Story" crew is all over them, filming everything. Cutler stays close to Emil. Making sure he's in the video footage. JORDY Turn that camera off! EXT. PLANET HOLLWYOOD - CONTINUOUS As Jordy comes out with a limping Emil, police are arriving. Tommy, Leon and Murphy run over as Jordy opens the back door to his car. Leon grabs Emil. LEON I'll take him. JORDY No way! He's mine! LEON (holding on to Emil, squeezing his arm hard) We're takin' him. Don't argue! JORDY He's my collar! LEON Well, he killed my partner! JORDY He's yours but I take him in! I'll drive him to the precinct, you can have him but I'm walkin' him in. Leon realizes Jordy wants to be seen on TV taking Emil into custody. LEON Okay, kid, have your 15-minutes. I'll follow you. Tommy, you ride with him! Leon stares hatefully into Emil's eyes. LEON (CONT'D) You're goin' down, motherfucker, you are goin' down. I'll be there with a smile when they put you down! Cutler hurries to Emil's side. CUTLER Don't say a word. Don't respond to his taunting! (to Leon) He's represented by counsel. You want to speak to someone - you speak to me! TOMMY Out of the way, counselor. Tommy shoves Cutler aside. CUTLER Don't you put your hands on me, Detective. Jordy pushes Emil in the back seat and slams the door. Leon turns to Hawkins, whose cameras are filming everything. LEON And you, you'll pay for what you did! HAWKINS (low) This footage will work in your favor. When the jury sees this - no matter what Cutler tries, they'll convict him. Leon looks at him. This man used to be his friend. LEON You outta be ashamed. Ashamed of yourself. HAWKINS If I didn't put it on somebody else would! I was his friend! LEON Don't give me that fucking shit. The cameras are rolling. MURPHY Don't get into it on TV. LEON (yells to other cop cars) Alright, let's get going! Leon and the other cops rush to their cars. Jordy is already behind the wheel. As soon as Tommy jumps in the passenger seat, Jordy takes off. The cameras film him driving away. INT. JORDY'S CAR - NIGHT Jordy takes a left turn, racing away. Running all the lights. TOMMY What are you doin'? You're gonna lose everybody! Jordy rips through another turn, heading toward the West Side Highway. The car speeds up the ramp and races up the left lane - having lost the police. TOMMY (CONT'D) Where are you goin'?? This ain't the way to the station! Jordy looks up at Emil in the rear view mirror. EXT. WEST SIDE HIGHWAY EXIT - CONTINUOUS Jordy pulls off on 130th Street. They are way uptown in the middle of nowhere. The car drives down a dark street. Crumbled, vacant buildings dominate the streets and there are no people around. EXT. DESERTED STREET - CONTINUOUS The car slows down. Tommy watches Jordy, realizes what's going on. Jordy stops at a dead end. Pulls open the back door, yanks Emil out and starts to drag him up into the deserted tunnel. TOMMY Jordy...??? Listen to me. You can't do this. This isn't the way to do things. Jordy ignores Tommy, slamming him up against the tunnel wall. JORDY Were you a fireman? That how you knew how to rig the apartment? EMIL My father was. He gave me many lessons about fire. Now it's my friend. JORDY Tommy, take a walk. TOMMY What are you gonna do? JORDY Don't you get it? He knew he was gonna get caught! That's why he videotaped Eddie's murder - he thinks he's gonna get off. TOMMY Don't stoop to his level! Jordy tosses the car keys to Tommy. JORDY Take the car. Get outta here, Tommy. TOMMY Look, you can't shoot him in cold blood. JORDY (erupting) GET OUTTA HERE NOW!! GET IN THAT CAR AND DRIVE AWAY!!! DO WHAT I SAY OR I'LL KILL YOU, TOO!!! Tommy nervously backs up toward Jordy's car. Climbs behind the wheel and drives away, leaving Jordy and Emil alone in the darkness. Jordy takes out Eddie's pistol. The one Emil took from Eddie. Jordy opens the cylinder - two bullets left. Jordy snaps the cylinder shut, tucks Eddie's gun in Emil's belt. He drags Emil away from the wall, into the center of the empty space - unlocks Emil's handcuffs and throws them aside. Still holding the gun on Emil, he circles around to face him. JORDY (CONT'D) Get your hands up! Get your hands up! Now facing Emil, he sticks his gun in his waistband - the same place he put Emil's. JORDY (CONT'D) You wanna be a real American? Go for your gun. Emil holds his arms out - making it clear he's not going for the gun. JORDY (CONT'D) Pull the gun! You want to be famous? Shoot me, you'll get more headlines and make more money. Emil watches Jordy...a slow grin spreads across his face. EMIL You can't kill me. You're not a cop. Just fireman with a gun. I bet you never shot anybody in your life. JORDY You'll be my first. Jordy pulls out his 9mm and pushes the barrel right between Emil's eyes. EMIL C'mon. Pull the trigger. Do it. Oh, look, you're sweating. You don't have the balls. JORDY Get down on your knees. Emil gets on his knees and starts to sing in Czech. SIRENS fill the air. Police cars come flying down the street. JORDY (CONT'D) Where's your partner? EMIL The Sheraton! On Broadway! Room 210. Go get Oleg. He'll kill you. Leon runs up. Tommy's relieved to see Jordy didn't kill Emil. LEON Gimme your gun, Jordy. We all want him dead but you can't do it this way. Emil is still smiling. Jordy suddenly slams Emil in the face. Knocking him to the floor. He jumps in his car and speeds away. INT. BROADWAY SHERATON - 2ND FLOOR HALLWAY - NIGHT A room service WAITER wheels a tray with a magnum bottle of Crystal, with three glasses, toward Oleg's room. Jordy follows behind him - gun aimed at his back. WAITER Do you really need me? JORDY Keep your mouth shut. Don't mess this up. They reach the room. Jordy flattens himself against the wall. The waiter KNOCKS. HOOKER'S VOICE Who's there? WAITER (nervous) R-room service. A HOOKER, wrapped in a towel, opens the door a crack, looking out at the waiter. HOOKER Come in. Jordy whips around the corner - pointing his gun and pushing the hooker back out of the room. Jordy moves to the bedroom door. Peers through the crack. Oleg sits on the edge of the bed in his skivvies with two naked prostitutes. He's hooked up his videocamera to the TV set and is showing them his footage of the fire. OLEG Look at that. See that shot! Seamless. No cuts. (excited) And look. Look at that transition. That's filmmaking!! Isn't it great?! Jordy KICKS in the door - gun raised. JORDY Don't move! Oleg grabs the videocamera. Has on hooker in a head lock and picks up the other one. He rushes at Jordy - using one of the hookers for protection. JORDY (CONT'D) Drop the girl! Drop her!! Oleg pushes the hookers at Jordy - knocking Jordy back into the living room and over the back of the sofa. Oleg rushes out into the HOTEL HALLWAY Oleg runs to the fire exit - Jordy follows, chasing Oleg down the stairwell. EXT. BROADWAY - NIGHT Oleg bursts out a door which opens onto Broadway. He runs through the crowd - knocking pedestrians aside! Jordy chases him, gun in hand! Oleg runs into the street, darting in and out of traffic, cars braking to a stop. One SLAMS into another. Jordy leaps over a car, closing in on Oleg. People gawk. Even in New York, it's odd to see a man being chased in his underwear. Oleg runs, knocking people aside. He's holding the camera in his hand. It's on. JORDY STOP! STOP THAT MAN! A UNIFORMED COP turns as Oleg runs right into him. Knocking him down. Oleg beats him, takes his gun and runs into: INT. MOVIE THEATER LOBBY - CONTINUOUS Oleg, gun in hand, runs past the TICKET TAKER at the door. TICKET TAKER Hey, come back here! The ticket taker runs after Oleg who continues past the candy counter. Jordy rushes in the door. JORDY Where is he? Where'd he go? TICKET TAKER Middle door. Jordy continues running through the lobby - past the middle door - and enters the theater through the far door. INT. MOVIE THEATER - NIGHT Jordy enters the theater, crouches down in the aisle. It's a night scene, the theater is dark. Jordy tries to see faces. He cuts through a row of seats to the middle aisle. DRUNK'S VOICE Kill him! Kill the bastard! Jordy spins toward the voice - it's a DRUNK. Others start YELLING for blood! AUDIENCE Shoot him! SHOOT! A GUNSHOT! Jordy ducks! Another GUNSHOT! Jordy realizes the shots are coming from the screen. OLEG Look! Over here! Jordy turns. Oleg stands up and FIRES at him - trying to film Jordy's death with a videocamera. Jordy ducks, then rises up with his gun as Oleg vaults over the seats, leaping from one to the other, mashing shoulders and heads, bounding for the screen. JORDY Everybody down! Stay DOWN! Jordy FIRES as the screen villain blasts away. Some in the audience don't realize the real thing is happening. Oleg leaps on the stage in front of the screen, illuminated by it. Jordy runs down the aisle. Oleg FIRES at Jordy. Jordy FIRES back. People panic - scurrying away - Jordy can't get a clear shot. Oleg FIRES again, wounding a moviegoer. Jordy raises up as the theater lights go on...and Oleg is gone! Jordy jumps on the stage - runs backstage - Oleg has disappeared. JORDY (CONT'D) Shit! SIRENS are heard from outside. VOICES of cops are heard as they enter. CLOSE ON TV A REPORTER is in Times Square, reports from outside the movie theater. REPORTER (ON T.V.) ...and the wild chase through Times Square ended with the suspect, Oleg Razgul, escaping. The fire department has identified the fire marshal involved in the failed pursuit as Jordy Warsaw. The channel is changed. PETER ARNETT is reporting the same story. PETER ARNETT (ON T.V.) In a related matter, Mr. Slovak's attorney, Bruce Cutler - famous for handling sensational cases - claims his client is unfit to stand trial. INT. JAIL CELL - WIDER - DAY Daphne sitting on a bench in a jail cell. Watching TV through the bars. She is in the fire department's holding cell in Brooklyn. PETER ARNETT (ON T.V.) In fact, Cutler claimed Mr. Slovak was not the alleged mastermind behind the murders. According to Cutler, Mr. Slovak was being directed by his partner, who threatened to kill him if he didn't follow Mr. Razgul's orders. Cutler told reporters today that Mr. Razgul did in fact stab his client. The scene CUTS TO Cutler's press conference. CUTLER My client, Mr. Slovak, is a victim. What's happened is not his fault. Emil was under the influence of his partner. At the trial, you'll see that my client will be vindicated... INT. BELLEVUE - MENTAL OBSERVATION UNIT - DAY The CAMERA WIDENS from the TV set. We are now in an interview room, a guard is posted outside the room. Emil sits at a small table - with Cutler. Emil is dressed in Bellevue clothes. He's handcuffed and his ankle is bandaged. Emil gives a complimentary nod toward Cutler. CUTLER I brought you some letters. It's really fan mail. Women mostly. One wants to buy you clothes, another sent a check. Another wants a check. EMIL You bring the cigarettes? CUTLER Oh, sure. Cutler shakes a cigarette out of the pack, stuffs it in Emil's mouth and lights it for him. Emil has never smoked before. CUTLER (CONT'D) How're they treating you, alright (Emil is nonresponsive) I want to get the cuffs off... but there's a little bit of a problem. Things out there are very negative right now for us. We gotta change that around. Perception is very, very important. Perception is reality. I know you're not fuckin' crazy. But it's important that I get that message out. Cause that's our only defense in this case. Emil leans forward. Cutler retrieves the cigarette from between his lips. CUTLER (CONT'D) I want you to focus on three things: fear... He puts the cigarette back in Emil's mouth. CUTLER (CONT'D) ...delusions and paranoia. EMIL I was all of these. CUTLER Well, you didn't appreciate the severity of it until recently. No question about that. EMIL What about Oleg? CUTLER Disappeared. They're looking everywhere. Maybe he went back to Czechoslovakia. EMIL No, he is here. Shit... CUTLER Don't worry about him. Think about yourself. EMIL What about my movie rights? Book rights? CUTLER Look, I haven't really focused on that kind of thing. EMIL What's your cut? How much? CUTLER I would say...half. Half is fair. EMIL (laughs) No. No way. CUTLER But it's... EMIL Thirty-percent. No more. Or I call another lawyer. This is the biggest case of your life. Don't try to negotiate. Thirty percent. Say yes or no. CUTLER This is not about money, Emil. I need your trust in me. EMIL What else do you need? CUTLER I need to know about your background. I need to know about your upbringing. Why you're here. EMIL (indicating cigarette) Give me another one, please. Cutler stuffs another cigarette in Emil's mouth. Lights it. CUTLER Tell me about yourself. What you did as a young boy... what your parents were like. EMIL My father always degraded me. Killed my self-esteem. And my mother was blind. CUTLER Your mother was blind? EMIL Yeah, she went blind giving birth to me. She went to fucking black market doctor to induce me. CUTLER Back in the Czech Republic? EMIL Yeah, yeah...bad doctor gave her bad drugs which made her go blind. And my father blamed me for her blindness... CUTLER Your father blamed you for your mother's blindness? EMIL Yeah, he hated me from day when I was born. Put it out. Can you put the cigarette out? Cutler takes the cigarette from Emil's lips and extinguishes it. EMIL (CONT'D) That's what he did to me. He put cigarettes out on me. CUTLER Your father put cigarettes out on you? EMIL Out on my back when I was a small boy. CUTLER Can I see your back? Emil rises. Cutler comes around and pulls his shirt up. HIS ENTIRE BACK IS COVERED WITH DISGUSTING PURPLISH WELTS FROM CIGARETTE BURNS. Cutler recoils - horrified. CUTLER (CONT'D) Oh, Jesus. EMIL I'm abused. Don't you think? CUTLER I don't think it's abuse, I think it's torture. INT. FIRE STATION 91 - DUFFY'S OFFICE - DAY Inside the Arson Squad, Duffy sits behind his desk. Jordy stands across the table from his Chief. Behind Jordy we can see Garcia and Korfin outside, listening. Duffy has a subpoena in his hand. DUFFY The public doesn't have any idea what we do and now you're going to define our image! This is going to be our Rodney King! JORDY What was I supposed to do? The guy tried to mug me. I was gonna send a cop back - I just forgot. DUFFY Forgot? You handcuffed a civilian to a tree?! JORDY Chief - I know I screwed up - but this guy was no innocent civilian. DUFFY Well this is gonna end your career and probably mine. JORDY End my career? DUFFY How are you going to fight this? Maybe if Oleg hadn't gotten away and you'd been on the front page, as a hero, this thing would be easier to fight. You'd have the good to weight against the bad! It's unfortunate that I have to make decisions based upon your press coverage but there's nothing I can do! Gimme your shield. JORDY But Chief? Over this?? DUFFY There's nothing to talk about. Get a good lawyer. You're suspended until your trial. Jordy sighs. Dying inside. He surrenders his shield. Drops his handcuffs, his pager and his gun. Duffy picks up the gun - looks at it. DUFFY (CONT'D) (pats Jordy's shoulder) I know you got backup at home. Drop it off. Jordy sighs and exits. INT. IMMIGRATION & NATURALIZATION OFFICE - DAY Jordy is talking to BILL STERN, a senior special agent. In another office we see Daphne with two 25-year old ASSISTANT U.S. ATTORNEYS. STERN (to Jordy) Look, what don't you understand? We've got a good relationship with the Czech's and the State Department doesn't want to cause an incident. JORDY But the D.A. needs her as an eyewitness! STERN They've got her testimony on videotape. And even if they do take her to court immediately after she'll be extradited. The Czechs want her back. She shot a cop! I mean, Christ, man, what if Emil Slovak and Oleg Razgul fled to the Czech Republic? How would you feel if the Czechs wouldn't give them back to us?! Stern looks over at Daphne sitting in another office. Lowers his voice. STERN (CONT'D) And just between us...I was married to a redhead. They're a jinx. Redheads are like cross-eyed priests. Stay away from both. Jordy gives him a look. STERN (CONT'D) You want to see her - go ahead. Jordy enters the other office. Sits next to Daphne. The assistant U.S. Attorneys leave. JORDY We're gonna fight the extradition. Daphne takes Jordy's bandaged hand in hers. DAPHNE Forget about me. You have enough problems of your own. JORDY ...Do you really want me to forget about you? DAPHNE I don't want to drag you down with me. JORDY Daphne, I... Daphne touches her finger to his lips. DAPHNE Shhhh. She leans in and kisses him. Then looks into his eyes, trying to find a smile. EXT. FEDERAL COURT HOUSE STEPS - DAY It's weeks later. Nicolette is looking worn, tired, frazzled. She's trying to go through her stand up. But she's unraveling. Not recovered from the loss of Eddie. NICOLETTE ...and today with his partner who he blamed for the crimes still at large, Emil Slovak will appear in court. His lawyer will argue that he is mentally unfit to stand trial. Eyewitness News has also learned that later this month, Jordy Warsaw will himself be appearing in court. He will be arraigned on charges of violating the civil rights of...Zwangen...Zwagen... MIKE Zwangendaba. NICOLETTE Goddamn assholes everywhere. Zwangenbobby..Zwangendaba. I got it. I'll do it. Shit. Let's start again. 5-4-3-2-1... She starts over. INT. JORDY'S APARTMENT - NIGHT Jordy's on the couch. A drink in his hand, watching TV with his dog, ZACK. Jordy's eyes are glazed. He's drunk, his eyes are as bloodshot as Eddie's were...without his job or Daphne. His mind miles away - the dog and drink are his only comfort. As Nicolette reports (she got the name right), her anger seeps through her broadcast. NICOLETTE (ON T.V.) Mr. Zwangendaba claims to be a direct descendent of the African King from whom he takes his name... Jordy's face is flashed on screen. The phone RINGS. Jordy picks up. JORDY Hello? (listens) No comment. He hangs up. The phone RINGS AGAIN. JORDY (CONT'D) Hello? (listens) No! Jordy hangs up. Changes the channel. He stops as Robert Hawkins' face fills the screen. He is standing across from someone - in a park - interviewing him. HAWKINS (ON T.V.) He robbed you? The ANGLE CUTS to Zwangendaba, the mugger, now dressed in a suit and tie. Clean shaven and with a fresh haircut. He stands in the same spot where Jordy handcuffed him to the tree. He's appearing on "Top Story". ZWANGENDABA (ON T.V.) That's right, I encountered him right here. I was just askin' for change an' he whips out his big gun an' pushes me up against that tree, whereupon he takes my money and handcuffs me to it, leavin' me there all exposed... The phone RINGS again. Jordy suddenly pulls the phone off the table and throws it through the window: BACK TO TV as the channel is changed. A REPORTER is on TV. Behind him is a picture of Emil. Emil is smiling, in a shirt and tie. The reporter stands in front of the jail. REPORTER ...and WBAI has learned that Mr. Slovak won't have to worry about how he is going to pay for his defense. He has received movie offers and been in conversations with numerous publishers concerning the rights to his life story. REVERSE ANGLE Oleg is at a bar watching TV. Poisoned with envy. INT. JORDY'S BEDROOM - NEXT MORNING Jordy stands in front of the mirror over the dresser. We see the TV overturned in the b.g. His back up gun is on it. He stares at it. Dark thoughts dancing in his head. EXT. BATTERY PARK - DAY Jordy sits in a taxi, wearing sunglasses. Looking inside the park where a POLICE BARRICADE surrounds a POLICE TUGBOAT. Cutler and Emil are arriving - Emil is being transferred to Rykers Island. Jordy pulls his .38 out of his ankle holster and sticks it in his pocket. CLOSE ON METER to $42.00. The TAXI DRIVER looks in the rearview mirror. TAXI DRIVER I can't believe this guy got off. Unbelievable. Jordy takes out money. All he's got is fifty bucks and he crams it into the slot. JORDY Whatever's leftover, keep. Jordy exits the cab. The anger rising inside his body is coming to a boiling point. He walks into the park. Leon is sitting on a bench. Just sitting there. Also filled with rage and frustration. Jordy meets his eyes. Leon gets up and walks away. Disgusted by it all. Jordy's right hand grips the gun inside his pocket as he walks on. HIGH WIDE SHOT Many policemen are trying to control a swarm of reporters. All are waiting for Emil. WE SEE: HAWKINS and his camera crew, and, not far from him - frustrated and frazzled, waits Nicolette. Still grieving her loss, she looks over at Hawkins and his crew. She shoots him a disgusted look - Hawkins shrugs it off. He checks his watch - anxious - looks at his cameraman. HAWKINS He said he'd be here. Pick him up as he comes through the crowd. Do you hear me? For Chrissakes don't miss this. THE POLICE VAN PULLS UP Cutler's car behind it. Emil - handcuffed - is unloaded from the van. Reporters swarm forward - Cutler gets out of his car, hurrying up, taking his place alongside Emil and the POLICE ESCORTS. The swarm follows - firing questions at Cutler. He answers the barrage of questions with: CUTLER ...my client was suffering from a major illness of schizophrenic nature wherein during times of intense stress, as a result of paranoid and psychotic delusions - there was impairment of his ability to appreciate wrongfullness... This is a victory for the mentally ill! Jordy walks alongside the moving mass. His eyes focused on Emil - his hand in his pocket. We notice in the crowd Max, the celebrity-crazed pyromaniac. What's he doing here? Max's hand is also stuck deeply in his pocket. A weird gleam in his eye. We see Korfin in the group, speaking to other cops. Nicolette and her camera crew are vying for their place in the mass. She watches Emil with quiet rage. Cutler continues: CUTLER (CONT'D) ...before Emil boards the police boat and heads for Rykers Island where he will be checked into the psyche ward, I want to say one last word to you all... As you know, Emil was coerced by Oleg Razgul into committing these murders, yet Oleg is still out in the street, a free man, filming gruesome murders... My client and I hope he is brought to justice in the near future. They are through the monuments, approaching the steps when Jordy passes a distracted Hawkins - who's checking his watch obsessively. HAWKINS Where the hell is he? Goddamn it?! Jordy glares at Emil. Emil looks back at Jordy, gloating. Smiles. He won. He beat the system. Jordy suddenly erupts. JORDY You think this is funny?? What the hell are you laughing at? Emil stares down Jordy. Jordy grips the gun inside the jacket. CUTLER (to a nearby escort) Officer, keep this man back, he's assaulted my client on previous occasions. A PATROLMAN blocks Jordy from Emil. JORDY This is it? This bastard kills the best cop this city ever had and we do nothing? CUTLER You may not like it marshal, but that's the law. JORDY And what about the other victims?? What about their families? He'll end up in some country club nuthouse while his lawyer sells his rights to the movies and we just stand here and do nothing? We let this scumbag walk? Jordy moves past the officer. Emil breaks away from Cutler. Gets in Jordy's face. Laughs quietly. EMIL Be careful. I can kill you. I'm insane. Jordy shoves Emil into Cutler. A scuffle breaks out as the cops separate the two - pulling Jordy back as we cut to: A VIDEO POV as it approaches Hawkins from behind. A hand dips into frame tapping Hawkins on the shoulder. Hawkins turns - sees who he's been waiting for. His face lights up. HAWKINS I thought you wouldn't show up. Where is it? Where is the tape? IT'S OLEG In disguise - sunglasses and a hat. Holding his videocamera. OLEG It's all in here. All in here. MEANWHILE JORDY has been separated from Cutler and Emil as Hawkins' voice cuts above the din of the crowd, announcing excitedly: HAWKINS Wait a minute, Bruce! We've got some interesting evidence, something you should look at! Reporters turn as Hawkins speaks. His crew is taping as he continues introducing his broadcast: HAWKINS (CONT'D) I have exclusive rights to the ORIGINAL UNCUT videotape shot by Oleg Razgul, proving Emil Slovak was not insane! Hard to believe...watch! Reporters swing their cameras over as Oleg holds his videocamera up in the air. OLEG (ON VIDEO) He knew exactly what he was doing - all of this was planned! It's all here in my movie. Emil is not insane. Look. Look! Oleg PLAYS his videocamera as lenses focus, we see excerpts of the moment where Emil explains to Eddie: EMIL (ON VIDEO) ...so we kill someone famous and if we are caught, we are sent to mental hospital... CUTLER (points to Oleg) Officers, there's your killer, do your duty, arrest him! The police are attempting to get to Oleg, but a sea of reporters separate them. We hear the staccato calls from the press corps. Nicolette looks on in amazed outrage. Jordy notices and starts moving towards her. Before the POLICE CAPTAIN in charge of the detail can react, the rage which killed Milos, Tamina and Honey wells up inside Emil. He yells at Oleg! EMIL Traitor!! OLEG No. You are the traitor. You are murderer. I am director. Action! Oleg pulls his gun. Emil pulls Cutler in front of him as: BANG! Oleg FIRES! Cutler is SHOT and goes down. Hawkins swings his camera over to Oleg - filming the would-be assassin. Oleg FIRES off another SHOT - hitting the COURT OFFICER escorting Emil. Emil grabs the down officer's gun. He swivels - rapid fires at Oleg. Oleg topples. People are screaming. It's CHAOS. Emil darts forward - grabbing Nicolette who is closes to him. He puts his handcuffed arms over her head - points the gun at her head. CAPTAIN Drop the gun! DON'T SHOOT! EMIL I'll kill her! Back off! Everyone back away from me! We hear Jordy's voice above Emil. JORDY Let her go. Let her fucking go!! The captain is screaming at all his men. CAPTAIN No one shoot! Lower your weapons! Do not fire! No officer will fire his weapon unless I say so! (to Emil) Let the woman go! Cops reluctantly lower their weapons. But Jordy is still aiming his gun at Emil. He is the only one who hasn't lowered his gun. The captain is yelling at him. CAPTAIN (CONT'D) Holster your weapons! Back away. That is an order! No officers will fire! Emil is screaming back at the captain as Jordy screams at Emil. EMIL Tell him to put his gun down! JORDY Let her go! Let her go!! EMIL If he doesn't lower his gun I'll fucking kill her. Jordy doesn't lower his gun. Emil tries to back away. The reporters - who have ducked and covered - are still keeping their lenses pointed at the scene. This is great film! Jordy follows after Emil - his gun raised. JORDY Let her go. NICOLETTE Shoot! Shoot him!! EMIL Shut up! Meanwhile, the captain is still yelling: CAPTAIN No on shoot! No one shoot!! No officer will follow. No officer will shoot! Nicolette is still encouraging Jordy. NICOLETTE Shoot! Shoot! Shoot him!! EMIL Shut up! Everyone is screaming at once. It's mass chaos. The captain is trying to keep everyone calm. Cops following along with their weapons lowered. All except Jordy - his gun still pointed at Emil. Hawkins can't believe what footage he's getting. He's pushing his cameraman to the front of the pack. Trying to get the best coverage. EMIL (CONT'D) I'll surrender!! I'll surrender if he lowers his gun. He's pointing at Jordy but he's continuing to back away towards the police boat. NICOLETTE Don't. Don't let him surrender. Shoot him! Jordy won't take his gun off him. JORDY Let her go. Let her go. The captain is yelling at Jordy. CAPTAIN Lower your weapon. I told you - lower your weapon! Jordy struggles to get a clean shot at Emil. He can't. His heart pounding. Adrenaline pumping. He suddenly lowers his weapon. Turns away. The captain visibly relaxes. Emil laughs. Jordy suddenly turns back. Quickly raises his weapon. JORDY SHOOTS Emil takes a shot in the leg. Nicolette ducks under the handcuffs and scurries away. Emil looks at Jordy - surprised he shot him. Jordy FIRES AGAIN. Emil is hit in the shoulder. Jordy marches forward, EMPTYING HIS CLIP in Emil's chest. Abdomen. Head. Gun fire echoes in the humid air as Emil stumbles back. Does a funny dance and drops to the ground. Dead. The captain yells. CAPTAIN (CONT'D) I told you not to shoot! No officers should shoot. Jordy quietly answers: JORDY I'm not a cop. I'm a fire marshal. HAWKINS He's still alive. Hawkins looks down at Oleg. He is sprawled on the ground. His videocamera in hand - he's still making the movie. OLEG'S VIDEO POV as it ZOOMS from the Statue of Liberty and PANS to Oleg. He looks in the lens with his dying eyes, gasps: OLEG A film...by Oleg Razgul. And Oleg dies but suddenly his eyes pop WIDE OPEN. Hawkins jumps back, Oleg smiles, coughing in pain. OLEG (CONT'D) How was that? Oleg's head rolls to one side. Now dead. Nicolette runs over to Jordy. Composing herself. Coming together. Glad Emil is dead. Jordy starts to walk away. NICOLETTE Wait a minute. Where are you going? Learn from Eddie. Talk to the court of public opinion. Take the credit, you need it. She turns him around. Straightens his tie. Starts to push the hair out of his face but he stops her hand. JORDY No thanks. Jordy puts something in her hand. She looks down. It's EDDIE'S BADGE. The one Jordy took out of Daphne's bathroom. She looks up at him. Her cameraman rolling. The lens pointed at Jordy. Jordy looks at Nicolette. Meets her eyes. He doesn't want to make a statement. He still doesn't want the fame. He did learn from Eddie. Eddie was killed because he was a celebrity. Jordy wants no part of it. NICOLETTE Cut. Her cameraman lowers his leans. Jordy smiles. She nods. Jordy turns and walks away. NICOLETTE (CONT'D) Get a shot of him leaving. Then pan to me. Jordy disappears into the sea of people. The camera PANS back to Nicolette. NICOLETTE (CONT'D) Well, he wouldn't talk to us, but you saw it. The CAMERA PULLS BACK from Nicolette's face and the video is now on: THE JUMBOTRON IN TIMES SQUARE We PULL BACK FURTHER and FURTHER. Nicolette finishing her stand up: NICOLETTE (CONT'D) New York City has a new hero, Fire Marshal Jordan Warsaw. I hope that Fire Marshal Warsaw's heroic actions this afternoon will help with his other legal problems. WB11 has also learned that the fire Marshal has retained an immigration lawyer to help Daphne Handlova with her case. We wish her well. This is Nicolette Karas, live at Battery Park, WB11 New York. Good night. THE SCREEN FADES TO BLACK.
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+                                                          17 AGAIN                                                                  Written by                                             Jason Filardi                                                                                                 October 2007                                        EXT. FITCH SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL - DUSK                    A few cars scatter the parking lot. WE hear GRUNTS followed          by the distinct sound of basketballs shredding net.                              INT. FITCH SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL/GYM - CONTINUOUS                    An empty gymnasium except for a shirtless MIKE O'DONNELL, 17.          Mike stands feet BEYOND the 3 point line, grabs balls from a          hopper and rapidly shoots, shoots, shoots.          SWISH...SWISH...SWISH. This kid's automatic.                    Mike's hair, a pompadour mullet a la `21 Jump Street' and          short shorts circa 1989.                    Mustached and curly haired COACH HARVEY, 40, enters.                                        COACH HARVEY                    Hey, O'Donnell, save some for the                    game.                    Mike sinks one last jumper, turns to the Coach.                                        MIKE                    Just warming up, Coach.                    Coach Harvey hands Mike a towel.                                        COACH HARVEY                    First game of the season and the                    scouts are already lining up. You                    have half the season I know you're                    capable of, you can play anywhere                    you want, Mike.                                        MIKE                    That's the plan coach.                    The rest of the FITCH FALCONS basketball team jogs out from          the locker room followed by a PHOTOGRAPHER.                                        COACH HARVEY                    Round up, Jock Straps! Picture                    time.                    The Team assembles in the middle of the court. A PLAYER          kneeling in front holds a sign, `FITCH FALCONS, 1989'.                                         MIKE                    Hold on.   Ed's not here yet.                    DOM, 17, handsome, tall, long rat tail, scoffs-                                                                               2.                                                                DOM                    Who cares?      He's the water boy.                                        MIKE                    And you suck, Dom, but we're                    letting you in the picture.                    A shoving match breaks out between Mike and Dom.                                            COACH HARVEY                    Hey!   Hey!     Knock it off.                    Coach Harvey pulls the Players apart just as the gym doors          burst open. ED FREEDMAN, 17, sporting a jacket over a WIZARD          costume, runs in, trips on his robe, gets up, peels his          clothes off.                                        ED                    Sorry I'm late. I was locked in a                    life and death battle with the dark                    wizard...                                        COACH HARVEY                    ...Fall in, Freedman. Hurry up.                    Ed takes a spot next to Dom.                                        PHOTOGRPAHER                    And 3, 2, 1-                    WE see Dom reach behind Ed, grab hold of his          underwear...RRRRIIIPP...FLASH. And with the flash WE cut to:                              INT. FITCH SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL/GYM - NIGHT                    The Falcons run, pass and shoot on one end of the court.    On          the opposite end, a TEAM in BLUE warms up.                    Lights dim. Cue MC Hammer's `Can't Touch This'. CHEERLEADERS          at center court perform the Hammer DANCE ROUTINE. PAN around          the gym, everybody's doing the Hammer dance.                    Ed awkwardly tries to imitate Mike.                    Coach shakes his head in disgust and when the routine ends-                                        COACH HARVEY                    Alright, Ladies, bring it in!                    The Falcons swarm to the bench, take seats.     Ed hands waters          to the Players, skips Dom, stops at Mike.                                                                            3.                                                            MIKE                    Ed, I can't help you with the girls                    if you keep showing up places                    dressed like the Cookie Crisp guy.                    Okay? Dude, don't look now but I                    think Muffy Campanella is scopin'                    you hard.                                          ED                    For real?                    Ed jerks around to blatantly stare at her.                                        MIKE                    Smile, pud.                    Ed flashes a goofy smile.   MUFFY mimes puking.                                          MIKE (CONT'D)                    My bad.                                          GIRL'S VOICE (o.s.)                    Mike?                    SCARLET, 17, an 80's beauty, stands at the end of the bench.                                        MIKE                    Who's that stone cold fox? Oh,                    it's my girlfriend.                        (walks over)                    I'm glad you're here, Scar. This                    whole scout thing's got me wicked                    nervous.                    Dom dribbles past, smiles at Scarlet.                                        DOM                    I'm dedicating my first basket to                    you, Scarlet.                                        MIKE                    Way you shoot that might be mid-                    season!                        (to Scarlet)                    Everything cool?                    She smiles nervously, lies...                                         SCARLET                    Oh yeah. Everything's totally                    copacetic.                                                                                   4.                                                     MIKE                              SCARLET          Totally?                           Totally.                    REFEREE blows the whistle.                                         COACH HARVEY                     Let's go! Remember, Boys, winners                     get the girls. Losers please                     themselves!                                         MIKE                         (to Scarlet)                     Excellent. Gotta run.                    He kisses her cheek, starts off, turns back-                                         MIKE (CONT'D)                     What's wrong?                    LONG SHOT: We hear nothing but see Mike's body deflate. He          steps away from Scarlet towards center court.                    Muffy and her friends mock Ed and laugh hysterically                                         ED                     Do you really think Muffy's in to                     me?                    Mike, in a daze walks right past Ed. Takes his place for the          jump ball. The Crowd stomps and cheers LOUDLY.                    The Ref is about to toss the ball. Mike looks up at the          stands, sees a crushed Scarlet heading for the exit. Mike's          torn. Play or go after her. He goes after her.                                         COACH HARVEY                     Where you going!? O'Donnell!?                              INT. FITCH SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL/TUNNEL - NIGHT                    Mike rushes in.                                           MIKE                     Scar!    Wait.                    She turns, slumps against the wall.    Mike catches up to her.          Mike leans in and kisses Scarlet.                                                                             CUT TO:                                                                               5.                                                  EXT. PALISADES NEIGHBORHOOD. PRESENT DAY - MORNING                    Opulent HOMES.   OCEAN views.   Luxury CARS.   Manicured LAWNS.                    The sound of an alarm clock shatters the silence as WE settle          in on a large, MEDITERRANEAN STYLE HOUSE.                              INT. ED'S HOUSE/MIKE'S BEDROOM - MORNING                    MIKE O'DONNELL, now 36, angrily slaps the alarm off...6 AM.          He climbs out of bed, bones creaking, stiff, groans.                              INT. BATHROOM - MORNING                    A showered, suited Mike stands before the mirror, knots a tie          around his neck.                                        MIKE                        (UNINSPIRED)                    Today is going to be a good day.     I                    love my job. I am a lucky man.                    Who's lucky? Mike O'Donnell.                    Mike yanks his tie straight up as if he were hanging himself.                              INT. ED'S HOUSE/LIVING ROOM - MORNING                    ED FREEDMAN, now 36, lies on a portable table in his boxers.          ACUPUNCTURE NEEDLES protrude from every inch of his body,          neck and face...at least 5000 needles.                    A HOT, YOUNG ACUPUNCTURIST adds more to him.                                        ACUPUNCTURIST                    Can you feel your Qi flowing                    freely?                                        ED                    I'm not sure if its my Qi or                    internal bleeding.                    Mike enters, shakes his head in amusement.                                        MIKE                    What are you doing now?                    Ed looks over, sees Mike watching.                                                                            6.                                                            ED                    There he is. There's Mr. Sunshine.                    Fei Jing Acupuncture. It's all the                    rage. Makes you look five years                    younger.                    Ed climbs slowly off the table, shuffles over, groaning in          pain the entire way. He pours himself a shot of BROWN LIQUID          from a pitcher, throws the shot back and immediately SPITS it          all over the place.                                        ED (CONT'D)                        (calls to Acupuncturist)                    What's this brown stuff again?                                        ACUPUNCTURIST                    Rhinoceros urine. Pure protein.                                        ED                    Delish!                        (to Mike)                    The girl has absolutely no clue                    what she's doing.                                        MIKE                    Then why are you letting her stick                    needles in you?                                        ED                    Because she's hot. But today's not                    about me. It's about you becoming                    the new regional sales manager.                                        MIKE                    I better be. I've invested 18                    years of my life in that miserable                    company.                                        ED                    No negativity. Negativity's for                    the 800 pound fat lady who needs to                    be airlifted out of bed. You,                    Michael Shawn O'Donnell, are a                    winner.                                        MIKE                    A winner doesn't have to crash at                    his best friend's house because he                    was kicked out of his own house.                                        ED                    Are you kidding?! It doesn't get                    any better than this!                              (MORE)                                                                              7.                              ED (CONT'D)                    I gotta get back. My legs just                    went numb. Good luck today.                    Ed drags painfully back to the Acupuncturist.                              EXT. SAN FERNANDO VALLEY - MORNING                    Mike wheels his Audi A4 below a nondescript, two level          building. Sign reads, `Wyatt Pharmaceuticals'.                              INT. WYATT PHARMACEUTICALS/CONFERENCE ROOM - MORNING                    PHARMACEUTICAL DRUG POSTERS cover the walls.    Smiling faces,          happy couples...little pills.                    Surrounding a conference table are Mike's colleagues...HOT          WOMEN, 20 to 35, in skimpy business suits, chatting away.                    Mike sits amongst them, the only male present. A glum look          on his face. WENDY, bubbly, ditsy, 22, leans over to him.                                        WENDY                    Congratulations, Mike. You deserve                    it. You're like a totally amazing                    salesman.                                        MIKE                    Thanks, Wendy. That like totally                    means so much to me.                    ROGER, 23, boss, strides through the door.                                        ROGER                    Good morning, peeps. As you all                    know, today I'll be naming the new                    regional sales manager. What's it                    take to be an RSM? Leadership                    skills, a comprehensive knowledge                    of today's prescription                    pharmaceuticals and most                    importantly a dedicated soldier.                    Mike straightens his tie, buttons his suit jacket.                                        ROGER (CONT'D)                    All being said, congratulations-                        (Mike begins to rise)                    Wendy.                    Dumbfounded, Mike slumps back into his seat.    Wendy springs          up out of hers, SCREAMING and BOUNCING.                                                                            8.                                                            ROGER (CONT'D)                    Now go out there and sell some                    drugs peeps!                    The Women stream out.                                        MIKE                    How could you do this to me? I've                    been a salesman here 18 years.                    Wendy's only been here 2 months!?                                        ROGER                    Look, your sales are admittedly                    better but she has the college                    degree. What can I do?                                        MIKE                    You can give me the promotion,                    Roger!                                        ROGER                    Things have changed. I couldn't                    even hire you now with only a high                    school diploma. My hands are tied,                    bro-ski.                    Mike swallows his pride and exits.                              EXT. FITCH SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL/PARKING LOT - DUSK                    Mike pulls into the empty parking lot, climbs out of his car          and into the building.                              INT. FITCH SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL/HALL - DUSK                    Mike hurries down the hall, opens a door, peeks his head in.                              INT. FITCH SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL/GYM - DUSK                    Mike peers around...nobody.                                         MIKE                    Alex?                    No answer. A basketball sits in the middle of the floor.          Mike enters, picks up the ball, begins dribbling...faster,          between his legs, around his back, up to the 3 point line-                                         MIKE (CONT'D)                    3, 2, 1-                                                                               9.                                        Mike hits a perfect jumper at the imaginary buzzer, smiles.                                        MIKE (CONT'D)                    The kid's still got it.                    Mike dashes for the bouncing ball, scoops it up, goes for a          reverse lay up, makes it but when he lands...he          lands...CRACK...hard. Mike grabs his lower back, groans-                                         MIKE (CONT'D)                    Ooooh.   That was stupid.                              INT. FITCH SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL/HALL - DUSK                    Mike limps out of the gym, wanders over to a wall covered in          PHOTOGRAPHS...Fitch basketball teams of the past.                    Mike searches the pictures until he finds it...the photo WE          saw being taken earlier...the team of 1989. Ed mid howl from          Dom's wedgy.                    Mike stares at the photograph...lost in time and thought.          The smiling, confident image of his youth stares back at him.                                        MALE VOICE (o.s.)                    You know someone in that picture?                    Mike startles from his daydream, turns. A kind-faced, old          JANITOR, stands behind him, mop in hand.                                          MIKE                    I do. Me.     I'm in the center                    there.                    The Janitor leans in, takes a closer look at Young Mike.                                        JANITOR                    Adolescence can be so cruel.                                        MIKE                    What are you talking about?                        (lost in the picture                         AGAIN)                    I had life by the balls in that                    picture. Everything was possible.                    Then a few minutes later, pffffft,                    all gone.                                        JANITOR                    `For of all sad words of tongue and                    pen, the saddest are these: `It                    might have been...'                                                                              10.                                                            MIKE                    That'll be my epitaph.                                        JANITOR                    We all have regrets.                                        MIKE                    Why's it have to be that way?                                        JANITOR                    Maybe it does, maybe it doesn't.                    Can't hurt to ask. You never know                    who's listening, Michael.                    Michael wistfully eyes the old photo, looks back to the          JANITOR-                                        MIKE                    How did you know...                                        ALEX (O.S.)                    ...What are you doing, Dad?                    ALEX, 15, messy hair and slight, and MAGGIE, 17 and awkwardly          pretty, appear at the other end of the hall.                                           MIKE                    Hey, Guys.     I was just talking to-                    Mike looks back to the Janitor...GONE.                                        MIKE (CONT'D)                    Never mind. Sorry I'm late. You                    ready to get some dinner then?                    They make their way towards the door.    Mike limping.                                        ALEX                    Why are you limping?                                        MIKE                    Tweaked my back pumping iron.                    Really, really heavy iron.                              INT. CHEESECAKE FACTORY - NIGHT                    Mike, Alex and Maggie sit before dinner.    Alex eats heartily.          Maggie quietly pushes her food around.                                        MIKE                    I bet your chompin' at the bit for                    hoop season to start.                                                                    11.                                                            ALEX                    Yeah, me and the guys are running                    drills, scrimmaging, getting in                    shape.                    Maggie stifles a laugh.                                        MIKE                    That's my boy. Remember, it's not                    how big you are-                                        ALEX                    -it's how big you play.                    Father and Son touch fists.                                        MIKE                    And what about you, Mags?   What's                    new?                                          MAGGIE                    Nothing.                                        ALEX                    She got into Georgetown.                                          MIKE                    You did!?    That's fantastic!                                        MAGGIE                    It's no big deal.                                        MIKE                    It's a huge deal. That's a great                    university. I'm proud of you.                        (Maggie remains quiet)                    Am I missing something here?                                        MAGGIE                    You wouldn't understand.                                          MIKE                    Try me.                                        MAGGIE                    I have a lot of emotional stress                    right now. My friends are all                    going to different schools, I'm not                    even sure...                                                                               12.                                                            MIKE                    That's not stress. Wait `til you                    get out into the real world, get a                    crappy job, have some smarmy twerp-                    boss calling you bro-ski...                    Maggie rolls her eyes.                                        ALEX                    Did you get the promotion, Dad?                                        MIKE                    Still waiting to hear.                    Mike forces a smile hiding his disappointment.                              EXT. SAN FERNANDO VALLEY/MIKE'S HOUSE - NIGHT                    Mike pulls up behind a `Dom's Nursery' van. He, Alex and          Maggie step out. Mike eyes the van with disdain.                                        MIKE                    Is your mom home?                                        ALEX                    She's probably out back.                                        MIKE                    Hey, next week we'll have a                    barbecue at Uncle Ed's. Sound                    good?                                        MAGGIE                    I'm counting down the minutes.                    Maggie heads straight for the modest ranch house and inside.                                        MIKE                    What's with her?                                        ALEX                    We see you once a week for a couple                    hours. What do you expect?                    Alex follows Maggie into the house.   Mike makes his way          around back.                              EXT. MIKE'S HOUSE/BACKYARD - DAY                    As Mike rounds the corner, he almost runs into a smiling Dom          Johnson, 36. Don lugs 3 loaded trash bags.                                                                               13.                                                            DOM                    Hey, Mike. Good to see you.    Tough                    break, you and Scarlet.                                        MIKE                    Bite me, Dom.                    Dom serves Mike a cocky wink, continues on.    Mike scowls.                    Scarlet, 36, slams a shovel into the ground, wedges it          beneath a dying shrub and rips it out.                                        MIKE (CONT'D)                    A little late for a delivery isn't                    it?                                        SCARLET                    Dom was in the neighborhood. He                    offered to make a dump run for me.                                        MIKE                    Doesn't he live 30 miles from here?                                        SCARLET                    What's your point?                                        MIKE                    Come on. He's been after you since                    10th grade and he's after you now.                                        SCARLET                    At least someone's after me.                    Mike smiles playfully and begins to serenade-                                        MIKE                    `In touch with the ground, I'm on                    the hunt I'm after you.'                    Scarlet shakes her head-                                        SCARLET                    Please, Mike. This isn't high                    school. That's not gonna work.                                        MIKE                    `Smell like I sound, I'm lost in a                    crowd, and I'm hungry like the                    wolf.'                    Mike flirtatiously stalks her.   Scarlet fights smiling.                                                                           14.                                                            SCARLET                    You can stop now. It's not                    working.                                        MIKE                    `Mouth is alive, with juices like                    wine, and I'm hungry like the wolf'                    Mike gets close to Scarlet's face. She smiles, stops herself          and pushes him away.                                        SCARLET                    You no longer have the right to                    invoke the "wolf."                    A chastised Mike eyes the yard...it's a WRECK...holes and          mounds of dirt everywhere, carcasses of dead plants, bushes          and flowers strewn about.                                        MIKE                    Why are you destroying the yard?                    Scarlet stops shoveling, wipes dirt from her face.                                        SCARLET                    I'm gonna use it as a showpiece for                    clients. Thanks for asking.                                        MIKE                    Kind of a big undertaking isn't it?                                        SCARLET                    I am a landscape designer. Then                    again you barely took an interest                    in my work so I guess that's a fair                    question.                    An awkward silence.   Then-                                        MIKE                    I didn't get it.                                        SCARLET                    I'm sorry. But maybe this is what                    you needed. Maybe it's time you                    looked for something else?                                        MIKE                    That's a great idea, Scar. Because                    there are so many options out there                    for a 36 year old with only a high                    school diploma.                                                                                15.                                        Scarlet throws the shovel to the ground.                                        SCARLET                    And it's all my fault, isn't it?                                        MIKE                    I didn't say that.                                        SCARLET                    No, but it's what you think, right?                    Mike's silence says it all.    Scarlet fights back tears.                                        SCARLET (CONT'D)                    I never asked you to marry me.                                           MIKE                    But I did.                    Scarlet shakes her head in frustration.                                        SCARLET                    I'm sorry you're not happy with the                    way your life turned out Mike,                    really, I am, but you're not the                    victim here.                    Scarlet goes back to shoveling.    Mike turns, steps, falls          into a hole.                              INT. MIKE'S AUDI - NIGHT                    A somber Mike drives alongside the Los Angeles River. An old          song plays low on the radio...static...then...BOOM. THUNDER          roars scaring Mike and literally shaking the Audi. SPLASH.          RAIN drops in buckets.                                           MIKE                    Jesus!                    Mike turns the wipers on high. Not much help. He slows the          car to a crawl, straining to see out the windshield.                    LIGHTNING flashes. We see the Janitor leaning over the          railing looking into the raging river. Mike brakes, throws          his door open, jumps out into the pouring rain.                              EXT. ROAD - NIGHT                                           MIKE                    Hey!?     Get away from there!?                                                                              16.                                        Mike, blinded by the rain makes his way to the railing. The          Janitor's GONE.                                         MIKE (CONT'D)                    Oh no!!   Hello!?                    Mike leans over the rickety railing, looks down...                    The phosphorescent water swirls angrily...rising quickly.          It's mesmerizing. Magical. Mike can't take his eyes off-                    LIGHTENING FLASHES Mike's 17 year-old face reflection stares          back up at him.                                          MIKE (CONT'D)                    What the-                    CRACK. The railing BREAKS.    Mike FALLS...SPLASH...headlong          into the river.                                                                         CUT TO:                              EXT. ED'S HOUSE - NEXT MORNING                    Mike's Audi rolls into the driveway. The door swings open.          A muddy, shoeless foot steps out followed by a shoed foot but          in no better shape.                    WE follow the feet, tattered slacks dragging on the cement,          to the door. 2 filthy hands dig into pockets, searching-                                        MIKE                    Damn it.                        (pushes doorbell)                    Ed! Ed! I lost my key!                              INT. ED'S HOUSE - MORNING                    Ed, wrapped in a robe, tissue between his toes, wobbles to          the door so as not to mess up his freshly polished nails.                                         ED                    Coming!   I've been worried sick!                    WHERE-                    Ed opens the door...standing before him is Mike, covered in          MUD. His ripped, grimy suit now hangs off of him          because...HE'S 17 AGAIN.                    Ed's eyes widen with FEAR.                                                                           17.                                                            MIKE                    I've had a really rough night.                                        ED                    AAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!                    Ed slams the door, frantically wobbles away. The door opens,          ANGLE ON the muddy feet as they enter and follow the trail of          cotton balls up the stairs and to the bathroom door.                              INT. BATHROOM - DAY                    ANGLE ON Ed cowering against the back wall, brandishing an          over-sized loofah. The door slowly swings open. Ed gasps-                                        ED                    Don't come any closer!    I'll use                    it!                                        MIKE                    What are you gonna do? Exfoliate                    me to death?                        (Ed shrieks)                    You got into my samples case again,                    didn't you?                    A whimpering Ed points to the mirror.                                        MIKE (CONT'D)                    What's your problem, it's only mud.                    The muddy feet turn toward the mirror and-                                        MIKE (CONT'D)                    AAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!                    ANGLE ON the mirror. Mike's 17. He turns on the water,          splashes his face frantically. Mud gone. He's still 17.                                        MIKE (CONT'D)                    AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!                    Mike tears his suit jacket and shirt off...hairless chest.          He yanks off his pants, peeks down his boxers-                                        MIKE (CONT'D)                    I'm dreaming right? Is this some                    kind of hallucination?                    Mike pulls Ed up by his robe.                                                                              18.                                                            MIKE (CONT'D)                    Do something! Anything!    Pinch me!                    Ed throws a knee into Mike's nuts, bolts out the door          SCREAMING. Mike crumbles.                                        MIKE (CONT'D)                    I said pinch!                              INT. ED'S HOUSE/FOYER - DAY                    Ed reaches the door, fumbles with the locks. He just manages          to open the door when Mike tackles him to the floor.                    The two buddies roll around, limbs intertwined.                                        MIKE                    Calm down! We need to talk!     We                    can work this out!                                        FEMALE VOICE (o.s.)                    Aye dios mio!                    They stop wrestling, look up.   The LATINO MAID stands in the          doorway genuflecting.                                        ED                    Maria, we're just friends.   Really.                    The Maid hurries off muttering prayers in Spanish.                                                                         CUT TO:                              EXT. ED'S HOUSE/BACKYARD - LATER                                        ED                    My theory is that you were                    transformed by a freak congruence                    of some of the planets most                    volatile elements. I've recreated                    the exact contents of the LA River.                    The toxic pollutants, the                    contaminants.                    REVEAL Mike in the gurgling green water of the hot tub.                                        MIKE                    Well, it obviously isn't working.                                                                             19.                                                            ED                    That's because the cocktail's not                    complete.                    Ed picks up a TOASTER attached to an extension cord.                                        ED (CONT'D)                    Last night we had the worst                    electrical storm of the last                    hundred years.                                        MIKE                    Is that true?                                        ED                    It was pretty bad.                    Ed raises the toaster-                                        MIKE                    Wait!! Wait!! Wait!! Do you                    really think this'll work?                                          ED                    It could.                    Ed tosses it in. Mike screams.   Nothing happens.                                        ED (CONT'D)                    Oops. Came unplugged. Won't be a                    moment.                    Ed reaches down to plug it in.                                        ED (CONT'D)                    What were you doing by the river                    anyway?                    CLOSE ON MIKE, Light bulb goes off.   He leaps out, runs for          the house.                                        MIKE                    The janitor!                                                                        CUT TO:                              EXT. FITCH SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL/PARKING LOT - DAY                    The Audi screeches to a stop in front of the school.   Mike          bounds out, wearing a robe, races inside.                                                                             20.                                                  INT. FITCH SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL/HALL - DAY                    Mike rushes past baffled STUDENTS, asking no one in          PARTICULAR-                                        MIKE                    Has anyone seen the janitor? Is                    the janitor here? Where's the                    janitor?                    Mike reaches the familiar wall of pictures.    Kids point,          laugh, stare.                    A FEMALE JANITOR, steps from a room.                                        MIKE (CONT'D)                    Excuse me! Excuse me!? Can you                    tell me where I can find the night                    janitor?                                        JANITOR                    I'm the only custodial engineer                    currently employed here.                                        MIKE                    There was an old guy, white hair.                    I showed him this picture of me-                    Mike points to the 1989 team photo.                                         JANITOR                    -Of you?   That picture's from 1989.                    Mike backs away from the picture and the Janitor.                                         MIKE                    Right.   Forget it.                    Confused, Mike stumbles to the bathroom. He's about to enter,          three letter jacket wearing JOCKS, STAN, JAZZ and KEVIN,          burst out laughing, knocking Mike on the way by.                              INT. FITCH SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL/BATHROOM - DAY                    Mike enters, moves to a sink, turns the water on-                                        VOICE (o.s.)                    Can I get a little help in here?                    Mike turns, sees what appears to be UNDERWEAR stretched over          the corner of a closed stall door.                                                                            21.                                        Mike approaches the door, swings it open...there HANGS Alex,          sneakers dangling 3 feet off the ground. The back of his          underwear wrenched up over the corner of the door.                                         MIKE                    Alex?   What are you doing up there?                                        ALEX                    I wanted to see if I could get my                    nuts into my esophagus. What do                    you think I'm doing!? Get me down!                                         MIKE                    Okay.   Okay. I'll get you down.                    Mike pulls the underwear off the door.   Alex drops, reaches          down his pants, adjusts his underwear.                                        ALEX                    How do you know my name?                                        MIKE                    I'm...Mark...Freedman. Your Uncle                    Ed's son. He told me to look out                    for you.                                        ALEX                    Uncle Ed has a son?                                        MIKE                    Believe me, it's gonna be a                    surprise to him too. Did those                    guys do this to you?                                        ALEX                    Goons from the basketball team.                                         MIKE                    But why?                                        ALEX                    Because they can and so they do on                    a daily basis.                                        MIKE                        (SHOCKED)                    But you're one of them.                                        ALEX                    No, I'm not. Nice robe, guy. Gotta                    go.                    Alex walks out bowlegged.   A devastated Mike watches him go.                                                                            22.                                                  INT. AUDI - MOMENTS LATER                    Mike drives off out of the parking lot. To his left he spies-          ANGLE ON: Stan and Maggie making out against Stan's Mustang.                    Mike pounds on the horn, scaring them apart.   Drive's off.                              INT. ED'S HOUSE/KITCHEN - NIGHT                    Ed sits at the island, a laptop in front of him. On the          screen WE see he's perusing www.spellscursesincantations.com.                    The sound of the front door opening and closing. Mike enters.                                        ED                    Did you find the janitor?                                        MIKE                    He doesn't exist.   Nothing makes                    sense.                                        ED                    Did he ask you for your soul?                                        MIKE                    No?                                        ED                    That's a good sign. We can                    eliminate Satan.                        (clicks on a link)                    I think what we're dealing with                    here is a spell of enlightenment.                        (peruses the page)                    "Spell affect"..."casting                    procedure"...yada, yada, yada.                    Basically it's a learning spell.                    There's something you need to                    figure out and until you do you'll                    stay a kid. My guess is that                    janitor was probably a war...                                        MIKE                    ...I'm going back to high school.                                        ED                    ...lock. I'm sorry. Could you                    repeat that? Because I thought you                    just said you were-                                                                           23.                                                            MIKE                    Going back to high school.                    Mike grabs a beer from the fridge, cracks it. As Mike is          about to take a sip, Ed swipes the beer from his hand...CHUGS          it down.                                        ED                    Are you out of your freaking mind!?                                        MIKE                    My son was hanging by his underwear                    from a bathroom stall door and my                    daughter was being mauled by a                    smarmy gorilla. They need me.                                        ED                    What about your job?                                        MIKE                    Email and telephone.   I got it                    covered.                                        ED                    Well, Scarlet, then.   What are you                    gonna tell her?                                         MIKE                    Nothing.                                        ED                    You're just gonna disappear?                                        MIKE                    To be honest, I think she'd rather                    have it that way. What's with the                    attitude?                                        ED                    Because I know you're going to suck                    me into this and I'm not going back                    there, Mike. You'll never get me                    to go back to Fitch. Never!                                                                      CUT TO:                              INT. FITCH SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL/OFFICE - DAY                                        ED                    I hate you.                                                                            24.                                        PULL BACK TO REVEAL Ed and Mike sit outside Principal's          office. Mike is dressed in an overly exaggerated hip style,          (a grown-ups concept of what's cool- he looks ridiculous).                                          MIKE                      Take a deep breath. All you have to                      do is enroll me and say as little                      as possible.                    Ed calms.   Mike pulls a manila folder out of his book bag.                                          MIKE (CONT'D)                      Are you sure these look legit?                                          ED                          (offended/cocky)                      Please. I created software used to                      launch the space shuttle. I think                      I'm capable of forging some report                      cards. What's up with the gear?                                          MIKE                      This is hip teenage apparel. I got                      it right off the mannequin at Ed                      Hardy.                                          SECRETARY                      Ms. Goodwin will see you now.                    Mike and Ed stand, head for the door marked `Principal'.                                          ED                      First sign this old hag is on to us                      I'M-                    Mike and Ed step through the door-                              INT. PRINCIPAL'S OFFICE - DAY                    MS. GOODWIN, 35, sits behind her desk...she's no hag. She's          an attractive, buttoned-up professional.                    Ed's face lights up and without missing a beat-                                          ED                      -so glad we chose this school.   I'm                      Ed Freedman.                    Ed steps in front of Mike, shakes Ms. Goodwin's hand.                                                                            25.                                                            JULIE                    Nice to meet you. I'm Julie                    Goodwin, principal here at Fitch                    Senior High. And you behind there?                    You are?                    Mike tries to peer around Ed.   Mike finally physically moves          Ed steps aside.                                        ED                    Oh, right. Sorry. This little                    chicken pock here is Mark. Say                    hello, Mark.                    Ed smiles, rubs Mikes head vigorously.   Mike slaps his hand.                                        MIKE                    Nice to meet you, Julie.                                        JULIE                    Around here you're going to have to                    use Ms. Goodwin. Please, sit.                    Mike and Ed sit.                                        ED                    Before we get started I want you to                    know that Mark's a bastard.                                        JULIE                    Excuse me!?                                        ED                    I had him out of wedlock.   So the                    answer is yes, I'm very                    single...and very rich.                                        MIKE                    Dad met mom in Thailand. She's a                    very successful prostitute.                    Ed's smile fades.                                        JULIE                    O-Kay. Did you bring your                    transcripts?                    Mike hands Julie the folder. As Julie browses through it, Ed          and Mike get into a pinching, elbowing fight. When she looks          up, the friends stop. Both smiling.                                                                             26.                                                            JULIE (CONT'D)                    So the last school you went to was                    Cutler High in Connecticut. And                    you were a straight A student.                    Very impressive.                                        ED                    I help him with his homework...a                    lot.                                        MIKE                    Oh, dad, the doctor called.     You                    were right. It is herpes.                    Ed's jaw drops.   Julie rises abruptly.                                        JULIE                    I think it's time we got Mark to                    class. Lisa! Lisa!                    The door opens, in steps LISA, 18.                                        JULIE (CONT'D)                    Lisa, will you print out a schedule                    for Mark and show him to class?                                         LISA                    Sure.   Come on, Mark.                    Mike stands.   Ed addresses him as fatherly as he knows how-                                        ED                    Be a good boy now.   And sit up                    straight.                    Mike glares at Ed, follows Lisa out.    Ed turns to Julie.                                        ED (CONT'D)                    They grow up so fast. Mojito?                                        JULIE                    I beg your pardon.                                         ED                    You strike me as a Mojito gal. I                    know this little Cuban place, great                    PLANTAINS-                                        JULIE                    -Yeah, no. I don't date my                    students' parents. It's a rule of                    mine.                                                                             27.                                                            ED                    I'll enroll him somewhere else.                                        JULIE                    I really need to get back to work.                    Julie ushers Ed to the door.                                        ED                    See you at the next bake sale then?                    Julie shuts the door, shakes her head in disbelief.                              INT. FITCH SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL/CALCULUS CLASS - DAY                    Mike steps in. Scattered giggles at his appearance. Mike          takes a seat, eyes three sexy girls wearing next to nothing,          SAMANTHA, LAUREN and JAMIE, busy texting on their phones.                                         MIKE                    Do their mothers know they dress                    like that?                    A GIRL next to him leans over-                                        GIRL                    Those are the Wonder Bras.    Beware.                    The Jocks, Stan, Jazz and Kevin strut in. Mike's eyes          narrow. Stan stops before Mike, looks him up and down-                                        STAN                    What did you did do? Mug the                    mannequin at the Ed Hardy store?                                        JAZZ                    Tool!                    Laughter from the class. Mike shies. The Jocks sit, Stan          behind Mike. Just as the last bell rings, Maggie rushes in,          sits with the Bras.                                        MAGGIE                    Oh thank God he's not here.    I ran                    all the way from-                    Something catches Maggie's eye.   It's Mike waving to her.                                        MAGGIE (CONT'D)                    Why's that freak waving at me.                    Maggie places a hand over her face, looks down.                                                                           28.                                                            MALE VOICE (o.s.)                    Take your seats. Stop the talking.                    MR. ADAMS, 45, prissy, strides in carrying a stack of papers.                                        MR. ADAMS                    Here are yesterday's tests.    Let's                    see how you all did.                    Moans from the class. Adams walks up and down the aisle          slapping them down on the desks..                                        MR. ADAMS (CONT'D)                    C-, C, B-, D, D-, F                    Adams reaches Maggie, drops the test on her desk...                                        MR. ADAMS (CONT'D)                    D for O'Donnell.                    Humiliated, Maggie lowers her head.                                        MR. ADAMS (CONT'D)                    Let me guess. Early acceptance?                        (Maggie nods)                    Where are we going?                                        MAGGIE                    Georgetown.                                        MR. ADAMS                    If you flunk senior calculus you'll                    be lucky to get into beauty school,                    missy. So, if you plan on slacking                    your way through my class, don't.                    Save your parents tuition money and                    pick up a blow dryer...                    Mike angrily stands-                                           MIKE                    Enough!                    Mr. Adams turns to Mike.                                           MR. ADAMS                    Excuse me?                                        MIKE                    Do you think humiliating a 17 year-                    old in front of her peers is                    helpful or do you just get off on                    it?                                                                             29.                                                            MR. ADAMS                    And you are?                                        MIKE                    Mark Freedman. It's my first day.                    Adams turns, walks back towards the front of the room.                                        MR. ADAMS                    Well, Mr. Freedman-                    Stan signals his friends, takes out a LIGHTER, flicks it,          leans forward and places the flame BETWEEN Mike's legs.                    The flame GLOWS RED against Mike's jeans.   The Jocks and Bras          pull out their cells and begin VIDEOING.                    Adams scribbles on a pad-                                        MR. ADAMS (CONT'D)                    -you've earned yourself a trip to                    the principal's office. Welcome to                    Fitch.                    Adams rips the paper off, holds it out towards Mike.   Mike          sniffs at the air-                                         MIKE                    Is someone barbecuing?                        (BEAT)                    YYYYEEEEOOOOOWWWWWWW!!!!                    Mike LEAPS out of his shoes. A FLAME runs up his crotch.          LAUGHTER. Mike, SCREAMING, runs around the room fanning his          package.                                        MR. ADAMS                    Get out, Mr. Freedman!                    Mike snatches the slip from Adams and out the door.                              INT. FITCH SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL/CAFETERIA - DAY                    A packed lunchroom. The CLIQUES sit amongst themselves. WE          notice all the KIDS hunched over STARING AT THEIR PHONES.                    Mike enters carrying a bag lunch. A BLACK BURN MARK on the          crotch of his pants. A GAYSIAN spots him, yells-                                        GAYSIAN                    Go Hot Pants! Do your dance, Girl!                                                                           30.                                        The entire cafeteria turns to Mike and erupts in laughter.                    As Mike passes each table, WE see the kids are watching his          `fire dance' on their phones.                    Mike approaches a table of the 3 BIGGEST LOSERS in school,          unkempt hair, fat, acne. Mike begins to sit when-                                        BIGGEST LOSER                    Look, we feel your pain. We really                    do. But life's hard enough,                    Brother.                    Mike nods, continues on past the snickering and catcalls          until he sees Maggie and the Wonder Bras.                    ANGLE: Wonder Bra Table. Maggie, Samantha, Jamie and Lauren          pick around plates of cafeteria food.                                        MAGGIE                    What's the big deal? He stuck up                    for me in class. It was a nice                    thing to do.                                        SAMANTHA                    He was totally sexing on you.                                        LAUREN                    He's coming. Pretend you're not                    here.                    Mike approaches, big smile. The Wonder Bras look off in          every direction except Mike's.                                        MIKE                    Hi, Maggie. Hi, girls.     I'm Mark-                    The Girls continue looking away, ignoring Mike.                                          MIKE (CONT'D)                    Girls?    Hello? Anyone home?                                           LAUREN                    Oh my God.     Can't you see we're not                    here?                                          MIKE                    Good.    So there's plenty of room                    then.                    Mike drops down next to Samantha and across from Maggie.                                                                           31.                                                            JAMIE                    Oh, look. He brought a bag lunch.                    How sped. (special ed)                    Mike hides his lunch.                                        SAMANTHA                    Look, this table is V.I.P.     You're                    a NIP.                                        MIKE                    What's a NIP?                                        LAUREN                    Not Important. Go away.                                        MIKE                    Maggie, why are you friends with                    these horrible girls?                                         MAGGIE                    Listen, I appreciate what you did                    in class but, I already have a                    boyfriend.                                        MIKE                    You have a boyfriend?                        (his phone rings)                    Excuse me a second.                    Mike pulls out an OLDER Blackberry phone, looks at the caller          ID...Scarlet. He sends it to voice mail.                                        JAMIE                    He still gets calls.    How 2007.                                        SAMANTHA                    I think my grandfather has that                    phone.                                        MIKE                    Maggie, could we talk somewhere                    ELSE-                    The sound of a bouncing ball interrupts.                                         MALE VOICE (o.s.)                    Yo!                    Mike turns.   Stan, Jazz and Kevin swagger over.                                                                            32.                                                            STAN                    Bro-ski, what are you doing at our                    table?                                         MAGGIE                    Nothing.   He was just leaving.                    Maggie nods for Mike to go.                                        MIKE                        (SARCASTIC)                    We should do this again sometime.                    Mike stands. Stan pulls Maggie up, starts making out with          her, hands all over her. WE can see Mike's blood BOIL until-                                        MIKE (CONT'D)                    Get your hands off her, you little                    punk!                    Oops. Stan stops groping, steps over to Mike, a solid foot          taller than him.                                        STAN                    You gotta problem with me, `bra?                    Mike looks around...the entire cafeteria watches.   Defeated-                                        MIKE                    No, no, I don't.                    Stan takes Mike's hat off, picks up an ice cream from          Maggie's tray, puts the ice cream in the hat, places it back          on Mike's head and SMUSHES it down.                                        STAN                    Now make like Tom and Cruise.                    Flush with humiliation and ice cream dripping down his face,          Mike turns and walks out.                                        MAGGIE                    That was so not cool.                                       STAN                    What? I'll buy you another ice                    cream.                    WE see Alex, seated by himself at a back table, shake his          head in disgust.                                                                            33.                                                  INT. RESTAURANT/BAR - NIGHT                    A beaten down Mike sits alongside Ed at the bar.                                        MIKE                    It was terrible. The place is                    evil, Ed. That building needs to                    be exorcised.                                        ED                    Come on. It couldn't have been                    that bad.                                        MIKE                    My beanbag was lit on fire, videoed                    and sent to every member of student                    body.                                        ED                    Yeah, I caught it on youtube.                    Funny stuff.                                        MIKE                    They mocked my clothes and phone.                    My daughter got a tongue bath in                    front of me and I have mint chip in                    my ears.                                        ED                    High school's great, isn't it?                    The BARTENDER approaches.                                        BARTENDER                    What can I get you?                                        MIKE                    Double scotch neat.                                        BARTENDER                    Funny, kid.                                        ED                    Get the boy a Shirley Temple.                    Extra cherries.                    The Bartender nods serves up the drinks.   Mike miserably          plucks a cherry off his pink drink.                                        MIKE                    I'm not going back there.                                                                              34.                                                            ED                    Mike, you're an adult sitting on 36                    years of experience. You should be                    dominating these kids, ripping                    their hearts out.                    An OLDER WOMAN takes a seat next to the boys.                                        MIKE                    I know why you're encouraging me                    all of a sudden.                                        ED                    Because I'm a supportive dad.                                         MIKE                    Because you want to nail my                    principal.                                        ED                    Did she ask about me?                                        MIKE                    She's not your type. She's smart.                                        ED                    As far as I can tell that's her                    only flaw. I need a reason to see                    her again. You could flunk your                    classes, start a fight, vandalise                    the place. You'll figure it out.                    Then I can rush in, a teary eyed,                    helpless, single dad who can't                    handle his angry, kitten killing                    son. What do you think?                    The Older Lady, having listened to it all, turns to Ed-                                        OLDER LADY                    I think you should be reported to                    child services!                                        ED                    Mind your business, Lady.   This is                    a family matter.                    The Lady turns away in disgust.                                        MIKE                    I can't do it. I don't have it in                    me.                                                                            35.                                                            ED                    Hey, no sweat off my sack. Tell                    Alex to stop wearing underwear all                    together. He'll be fine. That's                    what I did.                    Mike eyes Ed, considers just how "well adjusted" Ed is. A          determined look comes over Mike. He pounds the bar.                                        MIKE                    You're right! My kids need me.                                        ED                    At'a boy. Now what you need is a                    crash course on being a teen in                    2008.                    A MONTAGE OF MIKE'S CRASH COURSE                              EXT. MAGAZINE STAND - NIGHT                    The Boys gather a stack of TEEN MAGAZINES and TABLOID RAGS.          Ed slips a MELONS Magazine into the pile.                              INT. TRENDY HAIR SALON - NIGHT                    A picture of a YOUNG, POPULAR STAR torn from one of the teen          mags hangs on the mirror.                    A HAIRDRESSER cuts away and highlights Mike's long locks.     Ed          sits beside Mike sipping wine, enjoying a manicure.                              INT. TRENDY CLOTHES STORE - NIGHT                    It's the PRETTY WOMAN scene. 2 hip SALESGIRLS pull clothes          from racks. A clean cut Mike tries on sneakers, jeans, T-          shirts, hoodies, shirts, jewelry. Ed nods with his approval          or disapproval.                    At the register, the Girls hand Mike his bags of clothes.     Ed          takes out his cell to put their numbers in it. The Girls          frown and go back to work.                              INT. VIRGIN MEGA MUSIC STORE - NIGHT                    Mike and Ed stand before the wall of 100 top albums.   Both          wear headphones listening and moving to the music.                                                                             36.                                                  INT. ED'S HOUSE/OFFICE - NIGHT                    Mike and Ed, surrounded by the magazines and music discs, sit          before the computer. Ed TEACHES Mike how to create a MYSPACE          page.                    Bogus About Me and Interests. Photoshopped pictures of Mike          in exotic locations. All the `now' movies, music and books.          They fill his Friends section with only hot girls.                    The Boys view the flashy, finished product, tap fists.   This          page makes `Mark Freedman' look like a playboy.                              INT. MAC STORE - NIGHT                    A SALESMAN hands a smiling Mike his new iPhone.                              INT. ED'S HOUSE/MIKE'S BEDROOM - NIGHT                    Mike sits on the bed, types away on his laptop. A knock on          the door. Mike looks up and YELLS. Ed stands in the          doorway, his entire body and head wrapped in SEAWEED.                                        ED                    Before you ask, it's a seaweed                    wrap. I'm detoxifying as well as                    losing an inch or 2 from my problem                    areas.                                        MIKE                    There must be a very hot girl                    downstairs.                                          ED                    There is.    What are you doing?                                        MIKE                    I forwarded my calls to my new                    phone, sent some work emails and                    just lobbed one to Scarlet, told                    her I was in Peru finding myself.                    Think she'll buy it?                                        ED                    Probably not because when she                    called earlier I told her you were                    being detained at Guantanamo.                    Ready for tomorrow?                                                                                37.                                                             MIKE                     I am so ready.                    Ed flips Mike a set of keys.     Mike's eyes light up.                                         ED                     That ought'a put you over the top.                     And don't forget to hook me up son.                    Ed plods off.   Off Mike's huge smile.                              EXT. FITCH SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL/PARKING LOT - MORNING                    The usual pre-school ritual. Stan, Jazz, Kevin, the Wonder          Bras and Maggie all hang around Stan's `stang.                    Stan and Maggie wrapped in a heated embrace, kissing.                    HONK.   A horn blares.    Stan and Maggie jump out of the way.                    An ASTON MARTIN VANQUISH stops next to the crew. The tinted          window rolls down revealing the new and improved Mike.                    Mike winks then rolls on past.                                            SAMANTHA                     Oh my god.     Was that-                                         JAMIE                     Did you see-                                         LAUREN                     I told you he was cute.                              INT. FITCH SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL/HALL - DAY                    It's the MOMENT.   Mike walks the hallway, handsome and hip.                    Samantha, Lauren and Jamie text by their lockers.    Mike          struts up to them. The Bras smile.                                         MIKE                     So I've been here a couple days now                     and I think I got it figured out.                     You girls are lesbians, right?                    The Bras' jaws hit the floor. Mike walks off, a huge grin on          his face. Man, that felt good.                                                                           38.                                                  INT. FITCH SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL/CAFETERIA - DAY                    Mike steps from the kitchen area carrying a TRAY, scans the          crowded room, finds Alex seated at a table ALONE. It's a          heartbreaking image. Mike approaches-                                        MIKE                    Mind if I sit here?                                          ALEX                    Mark?    You look totally different.                    Mike sits across from Alex.                                        MIKE                    I got rid of the bull's eye on my                    forehead.                                        ALEX                    Could you move to the left a                    little?                    Mike inches left, peeks behind him...2 girls eat lunch          together. The one facing them is a cute Latino, NICOLE, 16.                    Nicole smiles.    Alex quickly shies away.                                           MIKE                    Who's she?                                        ALEX                    Nicole Lopez. She's in my Spanish                    class.                                        MIKE                    Have you spoken to her?                                       ALEX                    No. I get all stupid so I just                    stare.                                        MIKE                    I'll tell you a funny story. The                    first time I met your mother I was                    so nervous-                                           ALEX                    My mother?                                           MIKE                    What?                                                                            39.                                                            ALEX                    You said, `the first time I met                    your mother I was so nervous...'                                          MIKE                    I did?    That's weird.   Is your mom                    hot?                                          ALEX                    Dude.                                        MIKE                    What's going on tonight?    You wanna                    hang out? Do something?                                          ALEX                    Really?                                        MIKE                    Yeah you could show me around.                                          ALEX                    Cool.                    The Wonder Bras sway in, take seats at the VIP table.                                        MIKE                    I'll swing by your house around 7.                    Mike rises.                                        ALEX                    I wouldn't go over there. Stan and                    his Baboons have lunch this period.                                        MIKE                    Don't worry. I'll see you tonight.                    Mike strolls over to the Bras' table, plunks himself down.                                        MIKE (CONT'D)                    Did you girls catch Ellen                    yesterday? Rosie was on. Melissa                    Etheridge jammed-                                        SAMANTHA                    -You're so rude!? We're not gay.                    We like boys.                                        JAMIE                    Yeah, Samantha's a total slu...                    Samantha's jaw drops.                                                                           40.                                                            LAUREN                    Last New Year's Samantha made it                    with my boyfriend.                                        SAMANTHA                    I was on like 5 Red Bulls! I can't                    believe you keep bringing that up.                    The Bras' begin to bicker amongst themselves. Mike pulls out          his new iPhone, plugs the earphones in his ears.                    The Bras immediately stop bickering, ogle the phone.                                           JAMIE                    Rad phone.                                        MIKE                    I know. I'll text you...NOT.                    Later...much.                    Mike rises from the table.                                        SAMANTHA                    Like we'd ever give you our                    numbers.                    Stan, carrying a basketball, his goons and Maggie come up          behind Mike.                                           STAN                    Heads up!                    Stan whips the ball at Mike. Mike, cat-quick, spins around,          catches the ball.                    The whole cafeteria turns their attention on Mike and Stan.          Mike points to the name `Stan' on Stan's letter jacket, reads-                                        MIKE                    Stan. Did mommy sew that on there                    so you wouldn't forget your name?                    Laughter from the Students.                                        STAN                    You think `cause you got a haircut                    and new clothes people'd forget                    what a fag you are?                                        MAGGIE                    Cut it out, Stan.    Let's eat.                                                                              41.                                                            STAN                    Gimme my ball back, bee-yotch.                    Mike ignores him and starts dribbling.                                        MIKE                    You know, Stan, I feel sorry for                    you.                                        STAN                    You don't know me.                    Mike speaks loudly now, playing to the cafeteria.                                        MIKE                    Oh but I do. All too well. You're                    the man. Captain of the basketball                    team. Dates the pretty girls.                    High school is your kingdom.                    Stan and his Posse tap fists. Mike dribbles between his legs.                                        MIKE (CONT'D)                    But, People, Stan's a bully. Why?                    It would be way too easy to say                    Stan preys on the weak because he's                    simply a dick. No, Stan's more                    complex than that. According to                    leading psychiatrists Stan is a                    bully for 1 of 3 reasons. 1, under                    all that male bravado there's an                    insecure little girl banging on the                    closet door trying to get out. 2,                    like a caveman, Stan's brain is                    underdeveloped. Therefore Stan is                    unable to use self-control so he                    acts out aggressively. And the                    third reason-                    Mike holds up his pinky then spins the ball on it.                                        MIKE (CONT'D)                    I'd argue that Stan suffers from                    all 3.                    The entire cafeteria LAUGHS HYSTERICALLY.                    Mike feigns whipping it back at Stan, who recoils, then          gently rolls the ball back to Stan.                                        MIKE (CONT'D)                        (WINKS)                    Don't hurt yourself big boy.                                                                              42.                                        Some students, including Alex, ERUPT. The Wonder Bras eye          Mike with new found lust.                    ANGLE ON Mike's face as he walks away.                                         MIKE (CONT'D)                        (to himself)                    3, 2, 1...                    Mike ducks just as the ball whizzes overhead, rockets across          the cafeteria landing on Miss Goodwin's tray, splattering her          with food. She glares at Stan.                    Mike's iphone buzzes...ANGLE ON SCREEN: the Wonder Bras          digits appear.                              INT. FITCH SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL/COLLEGE CENTER - DAY                    Mike enters, approaches MRS. MENCER, 60.                                        MIKE                    My guidance councilor made me come,                    but just so you know I'm not                    planning on going to college.                                        MRS. MENCER                    A lot of kids feel that way. Don't                    be intimidated. It doesn't hurt to                    take a look.                    Mrs. Mencer hands Mike a hefty book.                                        MRS. MENCER (CONT'D)                    A good place to start is here...                    this book has information on every                    college and university in the                    country.                                        MIKE                    Thanks.                    Mike sits, starts paging through the book and gets lost in          the bright colored pictures...smiling STUDENTS, CAMPUSES and          LECTURE HALLS...THE OPTIONS HE LOST YEARS AGO.                              INT. ASTON MARTIN - NIGHT                    A pumped-up Mike dials...ringing. On the seat beside him          rests a stack of college applications. Ed answers.                                                                           43.                                                            ED (o.s.)                    Hello?                                        MIKE                    It was incredible! I was                    incredible! You should'a seen me!                    I humiliated Stan in front of the                    entire lunchroom. Everyone was                    clapping. The popular girls were                    begging to give me their numbers!                                        ED                    See what happens when you put a                    little lipstick on the pig? Did you                    manage to get sent to the                    principal's office?                                        MIKE                    Man, I feel great! I even shot some                    hoops after school. No aches. No                    pains. Gotta run, Buddy.                    Mike hangs up.                              EXT. MIKE'S HOUSE - NIGHT                    The Aston Martin pulls up. Mike climbs out, walks to the          door, takes a deep breath and rings the bell.                                        SCARLET (o.s.)                    Coming!                    The door opens revealing Scarlet in her dirty yard attire.                                        SCARLET (CONT'D)                    I've been dying to meet you. I've                    known your father since...(gasps)                    Scarlet...SPEECHLESS...visibly stunned by the resemblance...                                        MIKE                    Is something wrong?                                        SCARLET                        (FLUSTERED)                    No. It's just...you look                    like...No. I'm fine. Come in.                    Please.                                                                           44.                                                  INT. MIKE'S HOUSE/LIVING ROOM - NIGHT                    Scarlet and Mike sit across from one another. Scarlet stares          at Mike as if examining every pore on his face.                                        SCARLET                    And you say Ed Freedman is your                    father?                                        MIKE                    That's my dad. All 68 inches of                    him.                                        SCARLET                    You don't look anything like him.                    If you don't mind me asking, who's                    your mother?                                        MIKE                    My mother...she...she was...a...                    Mike spies Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment on a table.                                        MIKE (CONT'D)                    -a convict. In New Jersey. They                    met while dad was at Princeton.                    She was on parole. B&E, fist                    fighting, shanking. Nothing major.                    But she's dead now.                                         SCARLET                    Oh?   I'm sorry.                                        MIKE                    I warned her about kite surfing                    during hurricane season. So how                    are things with you? Doing                    anything exciting? Dating?                    Flirting with Dom Johnson maybe?                                        SCARLET                    Why would you ask about Dom? Did Ed                    tell you to say that?                                        MIKE                    I mean do what you want. You're a                    grown woman but, word on the street                    is Dom's been spreading gingivitis                    all over town.                                        SCARLET                    I'll keep that in mind, Mark.                                                                             45.                                        Scarlet can't take her eyes off Mike.                                        SCARLET (CONT'D)                    It's crazy how much you like my                    husband when he was a teenager.                    Mike switches subjects, points to her dirty clothes-                                        MIKE                    You doing some gardening?                                        SCARLET                    I am. I'm a landscape designer.                    I'm actually redoing the backyard.                    I'll show you.                    Scarlet stands, leads Mike to the french doors.                                         SCARLET (CONT'D)                    It's a work in progress so you'll                    have to use your imagination some.                    Scarlet opens the doors, flips on the lights. The yard's          been cleaned up. Fresh blankets of sod rest in piles next to          stacks of limestone. HUNDREDS of unplanted plants, flowers,          trees and shrubs sit around the yard in strategic positions.                              EXT. MIKE'S HOUSE/BACKYARD - NIGHT                    Mike and Scarlet step outside.                                        MIKE                    I almost don't even recognize                    it...er...if I had seen it before I                    probably wouldn't recognize it.                                        SCARLET                    You wouldn't have. It was a                    disaster back here a few days ago.                    Obviously I have a lot to do still.                    I'm laying the sod next and the                    limestone pathway will go here.                    Scarlet moves about the yard, pointing and explaining.                                        SCARLET (CONT'D)                    Then I'll plant all those, over a                    hundred different types of flowers                    and plants. I have an amazing                    fountain being delivered that'll go                    here and a bench over there.                              (MORE)                                                                          46.                              SCARLET (CONT'D)                    And I'll string rows of tiny, white                    lights above it all so every night                    will be a starry one. It'll be a                    real sanctuary back here.                                        MIKE                    It seems like a lot'a work for one                    person, Scar.                    A chill runs up Scarlet's spine.                                        SCARLET                    My husband's the only one that ever                    calls me that.                    Alex appears at the doors interrupting-                                          ALEX                    Yo, Mark.    Let's do this.                                        MIKE                    Good luck with the project.                                        SCARLET                    Nice to meet you. And, Alex, be                    home by 10:30.                    Mike heads back inside.   Scarlet stares after him.                              INT. ASTON MARTIN - NIGHT                    Mike and Alex step in.                                        MIKE                    How's your mom doing? You know,                    with your dad not being around and                    all.                                        ALEX                    She doesn't like to show it but I                    know she's bummed. I think it                    bothers her more that he hasn't                    called me or Maggie in a while.                    Whatever.                    BEEP. BEEP. Mike pulls out his iPhone, text message from          Samantha. It reads:                                       SAMANTHA'S TEXT                    Wat^? mobinit 2 zuma. soi! but                    w/e. brb. bk. gtg. ttyl. xo.                    sam.                                                                             47.                                        Mike stares at the screen as if it were in hieroglyphics.                                        MIKE                    I have no idea what this says?                    Alex takes the phone from Mike, reads-                                        ALEX                    It says `What up? Mobbing it to                    Zuma. So over it but whatever. Be                    right back. Back. Got to go.                    Talk to you later. kiss, hug. Sam.                                        MIKE                    Let's hit the beach, wingman.                    The two touch fists.                              EXT. ZUMA BEACH - NIGHT                    A BONFIRE illuminates the night sky. MUSIC plays. KIDS lay          on blankets, play football. Others splash in the ocean.                    WE find Maggie and the Wonder Bras seated by the fire.                                         SAMANTHA                    We were on his myspace page.                    There's a picture of him jamming                    with the Chili Peppers at                    Coachella.                                        JAMIE                    I heard Timbaland wants to produce                    an album with him.                                        LAUREN                    Yeah, but he turned him down to                    help orphans with Brangelina in                    Nambib-ib-bib...in Africa.                                           SAMANTHA                    Oh my God!     I bet he knows Justin.                    ANGLE: Mike and a nervous Alex make their way down the sand.                                        ALEX                    This looks boring. Let's go back                    to my house and play video games.                    Alex turns.   Mike grabs his arm, turns him back.                                                                               48.                                                            MIKE                    What are you so nervous about?                                        ALEX                    The beach is for the older, cool                    kids. I don't belong here.                                        MIKE                    What are you talking about? You're                    a basketball player. You're cool.                                        ALEX                    I don't play basketball. I mean, I                    can play, I just don't play on the                    team.                    Mike is stunned.                                        MIKE                    But I thought you were getting                    ready for the season?                                        ALEX                    I never told you that.                    As a confused Mike and Alex approach the scene, BOYS call out          to Mike, tap his fist. GIRLS fawn over him. Mike's become a          celebrity...and he's eating it up.                    ANGLE: Lauren spots Mike with Alex.                                        LAUREN                    Here he comes!                    The Bras whip their heads around, get all dreamy.                                        MAGGIE                    Can he be any lamer? Using my                    little brother to get to me?                                         SAMANTHA                    If that boy was an apple he'd be                    delicious.                    Samantha leaps up, scurries over to Mike.      Lauren and Jamie          chase after her. Maggie shakes her head.                    As Mike and Alex approach the gathering, Alex freezes up.                                         ALEX                    Oh, man.   It's her.   She's here.                                                                            49.                                                             MIKE                    Who?                    Alex nods towards the fire.   Seated with FRIENDS is Nicole.          Alex BELCHES loudly.                                        ALEX                    She's so pretty it makes me gassy.                                        MIKE                    Calm down. Here's what you're                    gonna do. You're gonna go over                    there and introduce yourself-                                        ALEX                    She won't like me, Mark.   I'm a                    loser.                    Mike grabs Alex by the shoulders.                                         MIKE                    Why? Because Stan says so? You                    think Stan's a winner? He's going                    nowhere. You're a great kid. Any                    girl would be lucky to get your                    attention.                                         ALEX                    Really?                                        MIKE                    Really. And right now, there's a                    girl over there who's dying to meet                    you.                    A determined look comes over Alex.                                         ALEX                    Okay.   What do I say?                                        MIKE                    Just introduce yourself. Then                    compliment her on something she                    never gets complimented on. Like if                    she has big, meaty, man hands tell                    her she should be a hand model.                        (Alex burps nervously)                    And don't burp on her.                                        ALEX                    I can do that.                                                                             50.                                        Alex takes a deep breath, marches off just as Samantha runs          up and throws her arms around Mike.                                        SAMANTHA                    You came! Why don't we take a walk                    somewhere private and play?                    Jamie and Lauren rush over.                                        JAMIE                    I don't think so, Sam. Mark                    promised me a walk on the beach.                                        LAUREN                    Walk with me. I've got less miles                    on me.                    A full blown ARGUMENT breaks out between the Bras.    Mike sees          Maggie sitting by the fire alone, slips out.                    ANGLE: Alex steps over to Nicole and suddenly loses          confidence. As he turns to retreat, Nicole looks up-                                           NICOLE                    Hi.                    Alex stops, turns back around and blurts out-                                           ALEX                    Hi, Alex.     I'm Nicole.                    Nicole and her Friends giggle.                                        NICOLE                    You don't look like a Nicole.                                        ALEX                    You have big, meaty man hands.    You                    should be a hand model.                    The Girls' jaws drop.    Nicole hides her hands.                                           NICOLE                    Oh my God!     Seriously!?                    Alex rips a huge BURP.    The Girls duck for cover.                                        GIRL 1                    I think he got some on me!                                                                             51.                                                            ALEX                    Wait. I'm sorry. I'm just real                    nervous and I've wanted to talk to                    you for so long. And Mark told me                    to compliment you on something you                    never get complimented on but I                    couldn't find anything because                    everything's so...perfect.                    Nicole and her Friends MELT.                                        NICOLE                    Do you want to sit down, Nicole?                    Nicole scoots over making room next to her.    Alex smiles.                    ANGLE: Mike sits down beside Maggie.                                        MAGGIE                    What do you want?                                         MIKE                    Stan.   Why are you dating him?                                        MAGGIE                    Get to the point why don't you?                                        MIKE                    I'm serious. He's not a nice guy.                    Matter of fact he's a jackass.                                        MAGGIE                    Don't talk about him like that.                    You don't even know him.                                        MIKE                    I know he bullies your brother.                                        MAGGIE                    Stan barely knows Alex exists.                    We're moving in together after                    graduation.                                        MIKE                    Whoa. Whoa. Whoa. I thought you                    were going to Georgetown?                                        MAGGIE                    I'm going to Westwood Community                    College. Stan and I both are.                    Mike loses it, leaps to his feet shouting-                                                                            52.                                                            MIKE                    The hell you are, Young Lady! If                    you think I'm gonna let you throw                    your life away on some Sleestack                    you're crazy! I forbid you to see                    him anymore and that's final!                    Maggie jumps up.   Kids all stare.                                        MAGGIE                    Who do you think you are!?   My                    father?!                    Maggie stomps over to the still bickering Bras.                                        MIKE                    Don't you walk away from me,                    Margaret Sarah O'Donnell!                    Maggie and the Bras turn towards Mike and glare.   Maggie          heads for the parking lot.                                        SAMANTHA                    Who's Margaret?                                        LAUREN                    He doesn't even know her name.                                        JAMIE                    He's so not into her.                    The Bras make the `text me' sign then hurry after Maggie.                    Mike kicks angrily at the sand and accidentally into the          faces of a group of KIDS.                              EXT. ED'S HOUSE/POOL - MORNING                    A HOT GIRL wearing a `Lifeguard' bathing suit sits atop a          high chair.                    Ed floats on a raft. A frozen drink next to him.    Scarlet          looms over him, the 2 in a heated conversation-                                        SCARLET                    I haven't heard from him in three                    weeks. Obviously he doesn't care.                                          ED                    He cares.                                                                           53.                                                            SCARLET                    Then where is he?                    Mike steps from the house, sees Scarlet-                                        MIKE                    What's going on?                                        SCARLET                    Nothing, Mark. I was just dropping                    something off.                    Scarlet tosses a manila envelope on the patio table.                                        SCARLET (CONT'D)                    Our court date is the 27th. If he                    has anything to say, he can say it                    then.                    Scarlet exits.                                        MIKE                    What was that all about?                                        ED                    That envelope contains divorce                    papers.                    Mike eyes the envelope, in stunned silence.                                        ED (CONT'D)                    But what do you care? You're going                    to college, right? Life's one big                    panty raid for you.                    Mike feigns innocence.                                        MIKE                    I don't know what you're talking                    about?                                        ED                    I saw the applications in your                    room.                                        MIKE                    You went through my room!?                                        ED                    If you'd cleaned like I asked I                    wouldn't have had to. You can't be                    serious about this can you?                                                                           54.                                        Mike starts to argue then gives in-                                        MIKE                    I have to face the possibility that                    I might never turn back and if                    that's the case, I'm going to do it                    right this time around.                                        ED                    Karmically speaking, in the next                    life you're coming back as a                    hemorrhoid.                    Mike scoffs, storms off.    Ed calls after him-                                        ED (CONT'D)                    I'm not paying for college!                              INT. FITCH SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL/HALL - DAY                    Mike shoves books in his locker.   Stan approaches.                                        STAN                    You like her, don't you?                                         MIKE                    Who?                                        STAN                    My girlfriend. She told me you                    were trashing me at the beach.                                        MIKE                    Leave her alone, Stan.    She's a                    good kid.                                        STAN                    I don't know how good she is yet                    but after I find out, she's all                    yours.                    Stan walks off.   Mike slams his locker shut.                              INT. FITCH SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL/CALCULUS CLASS - DAY                    Mike slips inside the empty classroom, slathers KRAZY GLUE          all over Stan's DESKTOP and CHAIR.                    Mike sits just as the rest of the class files in. Stan kisses          Maggie and takes his seat.                                                                           55.                                        Stan leans on his desk, placing a FOREARM and a HAND on the          sticky desktop. He catches Mike looking back at him and          gives him a cocky wink. Mike winks back knowingly.                    Mike's phone beeps. He checks it...A PIX MESSAGE...3 perfect          ASSES in tiny bikini bottoms. A wide-eyed Mike spins in his          seat to find the Wonder Bras smiling at him.                    Mr. Adams enters.                                        MR. ADAMS                    Settle, people.                    Adams scribbles a large equation on the blackboard.                                        MR. ADAMS (CONT'D)                    This was your homework. Who can                    come up here and solve this for me?                    Anyone?                    Blank, uninterested faces. Scattered giggles.   Adams tosses          the chalk angrily on his desk.                                        MR. ADAMS (CONT'D)                    Not one person. Fine. Miss                    O'Donnell. Come up here and dazzle                    us with your brilliance.                    Maggie rises nervously from her seat, shuffles to the front          of the class. As she passes Stan WE see...                    Stan lifts his fingers from the desktop...it's WET...he          places his wet fingers to the tip of his nose and smells.                    When Stan tries to remove his fingers from his nose...they          STICK. Stan tries to raise his other arm...STUCK.                                         STAN                    Stuck!!!   I'm stuck!   My fingers!                    Stan stands, hunched...the CHAIR GLUED to his butt. The DESK          ATTACHED to his forearm and his FINGERS STUCK to his nose.                    The Kids and Mike burst out laughing, break out their video          phones as Stan fumbles around, dragging the desk, PANICKING.                                        MR. ADAMS                    Sit down, Stan! Sit down!                                        STAN                    It's glue! I'm glued to                    everything!                                                                           56.                                        Jazz bounds out of his seat, grabs hold of Stan's wrist.                                        JAZZ                    I'll get it off!                                           STAN                    No!    No!   Don't pull--!                    RRRRIIIIPPPP.    Jazz yanks.   Stan's SCREAM echoes.                              INT. FITCH SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL/GYM - DAY                    Mike, wearing basketball gear and bouncing a basketball,          stands in the middle of the court. Alex enters.                                         ALEX                    I got your text.     What's so                    important?                                        MIKE                    This year you're making the team.                    We practice everyday `til try outs.                    That gives us a week and a half.                                           ALEX                    Forget it.                                        MIKE                    Yeah, you're right. You probably                    don't have any skills anyway.                    Mike begins to walk out.                                           ALEX                    Hey!     I got skills.                    Mike turns back.                                        MIKE                    So what's your problem?      Is it Stan                    and his friends?                                        ALEX                    Just leave it alone.                                        MIKE                    You don't need to be afraid of                    them, Alex.                                        ALEX                    I'm too small anyway.                                                                           57.                                                            MIKE                    That's why we focus on your speed,                    dribbling and outside shot.                    Remember, it's not how big you are-                                        ALEX                    -it's how big you play.                        (QUIZZICALLY)                    Where did you hear that?                                        MIKE                        (COVERS)                    I don't know? Read it somewhere I                    guess. Be a sport. Show me what                    you got.                    Mike tosses Alex the ball. Alex begins to dribble. Mike          steps up to defend. Alex dribbles quicker, through his legs.                                         MIKE (CONT'D)                    Alright.   You got a little game.                    WHAM. The doors slam open. In walk Stan and his Posse.     A          BLOOD speckled BAND-AID covers the tip of Stan's nose.                                        STAN                    What are you 2 queers doing in my                    gym?                                        MIKE                    Let's go, Alex.                    Alex stops dribbling. He and Mike move towards the door.          Stan and his Posse block the way.                                        STAN                    I don't think so. You girls wanna                    play with the boys then let's play.                    2 on 2.                                        MIKE                    We'll save you the embarrassment                    for try-outs.                    Stan takes the ball from Alex, turns his back, dribbles.                                        STAN                    Come on, Ally. Embarrass me.                    While dribbling, Stan moves backwards, bumping into Alex's          midsection, forcing Alex back.                                                                             58.                                                            MIKE                    Back off, Stan.                    Alex takes a deep breath, tired of being afraid-                                           ALEX                    It's okay.     I got him.                    Alex throws his hands up, tries to defend the much bigger          Stan. Stan easily backs Alex down, faking left and right.                                           STAN                    You ready?     Here it comes.                    Stan spins, elbows high...POW...Alex catches one to the head          and DROPS. Stan shoots and scores.                                           STAN (CONT'D)                    2 points!     And I was fouled!                    Stan high 5's Jazz and Kevin. Blind with RAGE, Mike RUSHES          Stan...WHAM...tackles him hard to the floor.                    Jazz and Kevin throw Mike off Stan, punching and kicking him.                    COACH HARVEY, now 58, enters the gym, runs over to the          fracas, pulls the boys apart.                                       COACH HARVEY                    Hey! That's enough! That's                    enough!                              INT. FITCH SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL/OFFICE - DAY                    Mike and a nervous Alex sit outside the principal's office.          Mike holds an ice pack to his eye.                                        ALEX                    My mom's been in there a while.                    She's gonna be pissed.                                        MIKE                    Act like you're hurt and she won't                    be able to stay mad at you.                    The door swings open.    An elated Ed blows in.                                        ED                    Way to go, slugger! Get any shots                    in?                    The Secretary's jaw drops.                                                                              59.                                                            SECRETARY                    Mr. Freedman, your son has a black                    eye.                                           ED                    Wuss!                    Ed sits between Mike and Alex.                                           ED (CONT'D)                    Hey, Alex.     How you doin', buddy?                                        ALEX                    I'm okay I guess.                                        ED                    Good. Good.                        (turns to Mike, nudges                         HIM)                    Nice goin'. How do I look?                    Anything in my teeth? How's my                    breath?                    Ed flashes his pearly whites then blows on Mike. The          principal's door opens, an angry Scarlet steps out.                                           SCARLET                    Ed.                                        ED                    Hey, Scarlet. Exciting, isn't it?                    My first parent/principal                    conference.                    Scarlet looks sternly to Alex-                                           SCARLET                    Fighting?     What's gotten into you?                                        ALEX                        (rubs his jaw)                    I can't talk, Mom.     My jaw.                                        SCARLET                        (MELTS)                    My poor baby. And how about you,                    Mark?                    Scarlet bends down so she's eye to eye with Mike.   She          removes the ice pack...a purple shiner.                                                                             60.                                                             SCARLET (CONT'D)                    Ouch.   You poor thing. Does it                    hurt?                    Scarlet strokes Mike's face. Mike loses himself in her          caring, gentle touch.                                        MIKE                    Not anymore. You smell great.                    Scarlet, a bit weirded out by Mike, stands.                                        SCARLET                    Alex, I'll meet you at the car.     I                    need to talk to Uncle Ed for a                    second.                    Alex shuffles out of the office.   Scarlet turns to Ed, hushed-                                        SCARLET (CONT'D)                    Did you give him the divorce                    papers?                                        ED                    I sent them to him.                                        SCARLET                    Is it another woman? I can handle                    it. Tell me the truth.                                        ED                    I haven't heard from him, really.                    Scarlet looks down, fights back tears, unravels a bit...                                        SCARLET                    Okay. If you do, please have him                    call home. For the kids...I'm                    running out of excuses-                                        ED                    I'll tell him.    I promise.                    Scarlet forces a smile. Mike watches her go. For the first          time he's seen HER REALITY...hurt, pain, frustration. Mike          places his head sadly in his hands.                    Julie the Principal pokes her head out the door.                                        JULIE                    Ed, come on in.                    Ed whispers to Mike.                                                                             61.                                                            ED                    I'll take it from here.                    As Ed passes Julie on the way in-                                        ED (CONT'D)                    I'm heartbroken. The boy's                    incorrigible.                              INT. FITCH SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL/PRINCIPAL'S OFFICE - DAY                    Ed takes a seat across from Julie, puts on his best `troubled          parent' look.                                        JULIE                    Look, if it was only one isolated                    fight it wouldn't distress me all                    that much. Boys will be boys.                    But, it's also been brought to my                    attention that Mark may have Krazy                    glued a boy to his chair.                    Ed stifles a laugh, puts on a serious face.                                           ED                    My son?     Mark!   Get in here!   Now!                    Mike slouches in, takes a seat.                                        ED (CONT'D)                    Did you glue a boy to his chair?                                           MIKE                    No.                    Ed throws his hands up in exasperation.                                        ED                    See? The boy's out of control.                    He's acting up at home. He won't                    eat his vegetables-                                MIKE                                 ED          He shaves his back.                He sucks his thumb.                                 MIKE                                ED          He wears girls underwear.          He wets his bed.                                                                             62.                                                            JULIE                    Enough! Mark, I know it's hard to                    be the new kid but if I have                    anymore trouble from you, you'll be                    facing detentions or worse. You                    can go now.                    Mike nods, exits.   Ed stands and with exaggerated sadness-                                        ED                    He's crying out for help and I                    don't know what to do. It hurts so                    bad. Maybe we could discuss this                    over margaritas?                                        JULIE                    Let's give him time to figure it                    out on his own. If the situation                    gets worse then we'll take the next                    step.                                        ED                    You're the expert. I'm just a                    single dad out here blowing like                    dust in the wind.                    Ed shakes Julie's hand and exits, sniffling.                              EXT. MIKE'S HOUSE/BACKYARD - DAY                    A dirt covered Scarlet wrestles a roll of sod down.                                        MIKE (o.s.)                    Got an extra pair of gloves?                    Scarlet peers over her shoulder...Mike wanders in.    Scarlet          stands, wipes her bare, dirty hands on her jeans.                                        SCARLET                    Gloves are for sissies.                                        MIKE                    Yeah, but I just had a manicure.                                        SCARLET                        (LAUGHS)                    You're serious? You want to help?                                        MIKE                    Are you kidding? I love                    landscaping!                              (MORE)                                                                            63.                              MIKE (CONT'D)                    It's right up there with watching                    "Sex and the City" and snuggling.                    Scarlet laughs, eyes him skeptically-                                        SCARLET                    Mark, I'm 36 years old-                                        MIKE                    I'm just doing this to make a few                    bucks so I can buy Laker tickets.                                        SCARLET                        (BLUSHES)                    Embarrassing. Sorry.      I'll give                    you 10 dollars a day.                                        MIKE                    Wow. 10 whole dollars. At that                    rate I should be able to buy                    tickets in...2011.                                            SCARLET                    Fine.   20.     Grab a roll.                    Mike and Scarlet, step over to the sod, lift a roll together,          carry it over to the spot.                                        MIKE                    What are the benefits like here?                                        SCARLET                    I'll throw in a baloney sandwich.                                            MIKE                    Deal.                    Mike and Scarlet share a laugh.                              INT. FITCH SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL/LIBRARY - DAY                    Mike strolls in, sits at a back table, pulls a college          application from his knapsack. He takes out a pen, places          the tip to the paper where it says `name' when-                    WE hear the muffled sound of CRYING. Mike rises, follows the          sobs through the maze of stacks until he finds-                                            MIKE                    Maggie?                    -seated on the floor, head hidden between her knees.   Maggie          looks up, sees Mike, quickly dries her eyes.                                                                              64.                                                            MAGGIE                    What do you want? To rub it in my                    face? Say I told you so?                                        MIKE                    You lost me?                    Maggie drops her head back between her knees.                                        MAGGIE                    Stan dumped me.                    Maggie BAWLS loudly.    Mike panics, fearing the worst-                                        MIKE                    What happened? What did he do?                    You didn't...                                        MAGGIE                    My mom was working last night.                    Stan came over with a box of-                    Mike slaps his palms over his ears.                                        MIKE                    Your next word better be `cookies'                    or you're in big, big trouble!                                        MAGGIE                    What am I going to do?    I can't                    live without him.                    Maggie takes Mike's shirt, BLOWS her nose on it.                                        MIKE                    Maggie, did you two...you                    know...do...                                           MAGGIE                    Do what?                                        MIKE                    That thing...that rabbits do a lot                    of and that a girl your age should                    never do and should only do when                    she's married.                                         MAGGIE                    Sex?   No, that's why he dumped me!                    Maggie bawls again. Mike silently celebrates, sits beside          her, awkwardly pats her on the back.                                                                               65.                                                            MIKE                    There, there now.       It's okay.                                        MAGGIE                    Sure he was a jerk but he was there                    for me. Which is more than I can                    say for any other man in my life.                    Maggie sobs uncontrollably.      Mike takes a deep breath, calms-                                        MIKE                    When you're young everything seems                    like the end of the world. But                    it's not. It's just the beginning.                    And you might have to meet a few                    more jerks, but one day you'll meet                    a boy who treats you the way you                    deserve to be treated...like the                    sun rises and sets with you.                                        MAGGIE                    You really think so?                                           MIKE                    I know so.                    Maggie throws her arms around Mike, hugs him tight. Mike          hugs her back. A moment he's never had with his daughter.                                        MAGGIE                    You're so sweet.                    ANGLE ON Maggie's face.       She's SMITTEN.                    MONTAGE OF LIFE                              EXT. BASKETBALL COURT - DAY                    Alex dribbles, using both hands, while running through a maze          of cones. Whenever he messes up, Mike makes him start again.                              EXT. MIKE'S HOUSE/BACKYARD - DAY                    Mike and Scarlet settle the limestone rocks into the freshly          laid sod creating a walkway.                              INT. FITCH SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL/CALCULUS CLASS - DAY                    Maggie solves a difficult problem on the board, much to Mr.          Adam's chagrin.                                                                             66.                              Maggie turns from the chalkboard and smiles flirtatiously at          Mike. Stan catches this exchange and pops the back of Mike's          head.                              EXT. BASKETBALL COURT - NIGHT                    Lights shine down. Alex stands behind the 3 point line.          Mike feeds him balls. Alex shoots and moves. Shoots and          moves. More misses than hits.                              INT. FITCH SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL/PRINCIPAL'S OFFICE - DAY                    Again, Mike and Ed sit before a stern Julie.                              EXT. MIKE'S HOUSE/DRIVEWAY - DAY                    Mike teaches Alex the cross over dribble. Scarlet brings the          boys water. Mike checks her out as she goes back in the          house. Alex bounces the ball off his head.                              INT. FITCH SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL/CALCULUS CLASS - DAY                    A muffled buzz. Mike reaches into his pocket, pulls out his          phone. A PIX MESSAGE. Mike opens it. A close up of perfect          CLEAVAGE.                    Mike peeks over his shoulder...the Wonder Bras text on their          phones. He's confused until-                    -Mike turns a little more in his seat...MAGGIE smiles          seductively at him, blows a kiss. Mike GASPS, spins back          around...TRAUMATIZED.                              EXT. MIKE'S HOUSE/BACKYARD - DAY                    Scarlet fills holes with plants then waters them with a hose.          She turns, finds Mike SLEEPING in the grass. Scarlet picks          up the hose, TURNS IT ON HIM. Mike leaps up, chases her.                              EXT. FITCH SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL/PARKING LOT - DAY                    Mike, Alex, Nicole, Maggie, the Bras and a slew of KIDS hang          by Mike's Aston. Stan, Jazz and Kevin are all that's left by          Stan's Mustang.                                                                             67.                                                  EXT. BASKETBALL COURT - DAY                    Alex scampers through the maze of cones, dribbling from hand          to hand...and does it perfectly. Mike and Alex high 5.                              EXT. MIKE'S HOUSE/BACKYARD - DAY                    Mike and Scarlet lug an ornate, wooden bench to it's spot.          They sit. Mike casually places a hand on Scarlet's leg.          Scarlet casually removes it.                              INT. FITCH SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL/GYM - DAY                    A game of 1 on 1. Alex dribbles up to Mike. Mike crouches          in a defensive stance. Mike goes for the ball. Alex crosses          over. Mike misses. Alex pulls up, shoots and scores. Mike          smiles, shakes his head.                              INT. FITCH SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL/PRINCIPAL'S OFFICE - DAY                    Again, Mike and Ed sit before Julie. She hands Ed a slip of          paper...3 detentions. Ed chokes back crocodile tears.                              INT. FITCH SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL/HALL - DAY                    Mike places books in his locker, shuts the door revealing...a          goo goo eyed Maggie. Mike startles and RUNS. Maggie chases.                              INT. BASKETBALL COURT - DAY                    Alex stands behind the 3 point line. Mike rapidly feeds him          balls. Alex catches, shoots and moves. This time...they're          all going in. Mike passes the last ball. Alex shoots and we-                                                                      CUT TO:                              INT. FITCH SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL/GYM - DAY                    CLOSE ON a ball going through the hoop. Wider reveals Alex          following through. He and Mike tap fists.                    It's TRY-OUTS. Coach Harvey, a number of HOPEFULS, Maggie,          Nicole and the Bras watch the game of half court, 2 on 2.          Stan and Jazz vs. Mike and Alex.                                                                              68.                                        Mike and Alex school Stan and Jazz. Steals, picks, fancy          passes and scoring. The Coach watches with awe. A final 3          pointer by Mike in Stan's face seals the deal.                                         COACH HARVEY                    That makes 11-3. Game over.                    Gather up.                    As Alex passes Harvey, Harvey stops him-                                        COACH HARVEY (CONT'D)                    You've gotta little bit of your old                    man in you, O'Donnell.                    The Team and the Hopefuls huddle around Coach Harvey.                                        COACH HARVEY (CONT'D)                    As you all know due to the amount                    of seniors coming back I only have                    2 open spots on the roster. It's                    Freedman and O'Donnell. The rest                    of you hit the showers.                    The Hopefuls trudge out of the gym.    Alex leaps into the air.                                         ALEX                    Wooo!   We did it, Mark!    We did it!                                        MIKE                    You killed it out there!                    Alex runs over, hugs Nicole. Mike beams with pride.     Coach          Harvey puts an arm around him-                                        COACH HARVEY                    Son, I don't know where you came                    from but you just made my year.                              INT. MIKE'S HOUSE - NIGHT                    Alex rushes through the door.   Mike and Maggie follow.          Maggie slaps Mike's butt.                              INT. MIKE'S HOUSE/KITCHEN - NIGHT                                             ALEX                    Mom!    Mom!                                        SCARLET (o.s.)                    I'll be right out, Honey!                                                                           69.                                                            MIKE                    I got'a use the bathroom.                    WE follow Mike down the hall. As he passes a half open door,          he pauses, peeks in...Scarlet, facing away, pulls a shirt          over her nude back, shakes out her long hair.                    Mike watches...no, he GAZES longingly, lovingly...lost in her          beauty until...Scarlet turns, startles-                                       SCARLET                    Mark? I didn't know you were                    there.                                           MIKE                    I'm sorry.     You just look so                    beautiful.                    Scarlet blushes...it's been a while since she's heard that.                                           SCARLET                    Thank you.                                        MIKE                    Can I zip you up?                                        SCARLET                    I'm wearing a sweater.                                        MIKE                    Your jeans?                    Scarlet walks towards him and...SLAM...shuts the door on him.          Mike wanders to the bathroom, shaking his head-                                        MIKE (CONT'D)                    Stupid, idiot, stupid.                              INT. MIKE'S HOUSE/BATHROOM - NIGHT                    Mike enters, steps over to the toilet. Maggie slips in behind          him, shuts the door. He whirls around.                                        MIKE                    Maggie, what...                    Maggie places a finger on his lips.                                                                        70.                                                            MAGGIE                    Shhh. I get it now. Why you didn't                    want me to be with Stan, the nice                    things you said in the library.                    It's because you wanted me.                    Maggie backs Mike against the wall.                                        MIKE                    Maggie, listen to me.    I'm not the                    person you think...                                        MAGGIE                    Shhh. Yes, you are. You're a good                    guy. You're not like the others.                                        MIKE                    That's right! I'm not like the                    others. I'm very different than                    the others. So different that you                    and I can never be...                    Maggie stops, looks quizzically at Mike-                                        MAGGIE                    What are you trying to say?    Are                    you..."confused"?                                        MIKE                    Yes! Yes! That's it. I'm                    confused. Extremely confused.                                        MAGGIE                    Ohmygod! It all makes sense now!                    Your hair. The highlights.                    Mike starts to speak.   Stops.   Finally gets it-                                        MIKE                    What? No-no-no-no. I'm not gay.                    I'm...I've been in love with the                    same girl since I was 17.                    Maggie switches back into predatory mode.                                        MAGGIE                    Who is it? Does she go to our                    school? Do I know her?                                        MIKE                    No, you don't. Now-                        (eyes the toilet)                    -if you don't mind?                                                                                 71.                                                            MAGGIE                    Tell your girlfriend she better                    keep a close eye on you.                    Maggie smiles seductively and struts out.                              INT. MIKE'S HOUSE/KITCHEN - NIGHT                    Alex types on his phone.   Mike enters.                                        MIKE                    Who you texting?                                         ALEX                    My dad.   I have to tell him about                    today.                    Mike nods...then realizes...BEEP...BEEP. HIS PHONE.     Alex          and Maggie look to Mike. Mike checks his phone.                                        ALEX (CONT'D)                    Did you just get a text?                                        MIKE                        (NERVOUS)                    Me? No. Yes. It's Ed. I mean                    dad. Not your dad. My dad. I'll                    just call him back.                    Scarlet enters. She looks AMAZING.                                         SCARLET                    So?   What happened? Tell me.     Tell                    me.   I'm dying to hear.                                        ALEX                    I did it. I'm a Falcon!     The first                    game's in 2 weeks.                                        SCARLET                    Oh my God, Alex! That's so                    incredible!                    Scarlet wraps Alex in a big hug.    Mike watches.   It's a          bittersweet moment for him.                                        SCARLET (CONT'D)                    I'm so happy for you. And now I                    want to show you guys something.                    Scarlet, unable to contain her excitement, leads Mike and          Alex to the french doors and flicks a light switch...                                                                            72.                                                              SCARLET (CONT'D)                    Ta da!                    Thousands of tiny, white lights illuminate Scarlet's OASIS...                                        MIKE                    You hung the lights!                                        SCARLET                    I wanted you to be the first to see                    it.                                        ALEX                    Mom, it's sick.                              EXT. MIKE'S HOUSE/BACKYARD - NIGHT                    The 3 step outside.   Mike, truly blown away, takes picture          with his iPhone.                                        MIKE                    It's amazing. I'm speechless. I'm                    sorry I never saw how talented you                    are...I mean when people see this                    and how talented you are you'll be                    designing sanctuaries all over the                    city.                                         SCARLET                        (BEAMS)                    Thank you.                                        ALEX                    Mom, why are you all dressed up?                                        SCARLET                    Oh my God. I almost forgot.    I                    have a date.                    Off Mike's stunned reaction.                                                                       CUT TO:                              INT. MIKE'S HOUSE/FOYER - NIGHT                    Mike marches in behind Scarlet.   As they reach the door, he          steps in front of her.                                        MIKE                    Let's see who the lucky guy is.                                                                              73.                                        Mike swings the door open revealing...Dom Johnson.                                            MIKE (CONT'D)                     I knew it!                    SLAM.   Mike shuts the door, blocks it.                                         MIKE (CONT'D)                     I knew you had a thing for him!                     You can't do this! You took vows.                     What kind of example are you                     setting for the kids!?                                         SCARLET                     Mark, I'm flattered. Really, I am.                     But I'm too old for you.                    Scarlet moves Mike aside, opens the door.     Dom stands in the          doorway holding a bouquet.                                          DOM                     Wow. You look absolutely                     ravishing.                                         MIKE                     Keep it in your pants, Casanova.                                         SCARLET                     Don't mind him. You all set?                                         DOM                     Let's do it.                    Scarlet heads for the van.     Dom looks to Mike-                                         DOM (CONT'D)                     Hey, kid...if the vans'a                     rockin'...well you know the rest.                    Dom imitates humping, jogs after Scarlet.                                         MIKE                     Don't you lay a finger on her,                     Johnson! I know where you live!                    Mike slams the door.                              INT. MIKE'S HOUSE/KITCHEN - NIGHT                    A contemplative Alex scoops lasagna onto plates.    An agitated          Mike enters, pulls up a seat at the counter.                                                                            74.                                                            ALEX                    It's weird to think about my mom                    with someone other than my dad.                                        MIKE                    It's adultery! If this were                    Afghanistan she'd be dragged                    through the village by goats.   You                    need to talk to her.                                        ALEX                    My mom's been pretty sad the past                    few months. She deserves to be                    happy. My dad obviously                    is...wherever he is.                                        MIKE                    Maybe he's not? Maybe he wishes he                    could be here right now with you                    but there's a real good reason he                    can't be.                                        ALEX                    No, my dad's not a family guy. This                    is dumb but I used to tell him I                    was on the basketball team because                    I knew he'd never make it to a                    game.                                        MIKE                    Then why would you tell him that?                                        ALEX                    I guess I was hoping it would make                    him like me more.                    Mike is CRUSHED.                              INT. GUCCI STORE - DAY                    Mike paces in front of a dressing room.   A SALESMAN waits by          the door.                                        MIKE                    My wife's moving on. My son                    doesn't think I like him and my                    daughter's in love with me. I need                    to change back, Ed.                    Ed steps from the changing room wearing very tight, ultra hip          clothes that belong on a 20 year old...he looks ridiculous.                                                                           75.                                                            ED                    What about college?                                          MIKE                    I'm not going. I'll be a pharm rep                    til I die. I just want my family                    back.                         (BEAT)                    You're not gonna wear that, are                    you?                    Ed checks his butt in a full length mirror, nods happily.                                        ED                    Baby's got back.                    Ed retreats into the changing room.                                        ED (CONT'D) (o.s.)                    Now that Julie's agreed to go out                    with me tonight, I need you to                    start behaving. I can't have her                    thinking my son is a complete                    degenerate.                                        MIKE                    Fine. I want to have some kids                    over tonight to celebrate Alex                    making the team. Is that cool?                    Ed, wearing only his banana hammock underwear and socks,          steps from the room, hands the clothes to the Salesman.                                        ED                    Wrap it up. No, it's not cool. I                    remember hearing what those parties                    were like, kids peeing everywhere,                    food on the ceilings, puke in the                    pool.                                        MIKE                    Listen to you. You sound like an                    old man.                    Other SHOPPERS eye Ed oddly as they pass.                                        ED                    No party. I mean it.    Don't make                    me take the car away.                                        MIKE                    Don't treat me like a child, Ed.                                                                             76.                                                            ED                    I won't when you stop acting like                    one.                    Mike grabs Ed's bare tits and TWISTS. Ed screams, grabs          Mike's tits and TWISTS. Both of them HOWL in pain.                                         SALESMAN                    Sir!   Please!                    Mike and Ed, both still titty twisting, look up. Everyone in          the store stares. They each let go, force smiles.                                        ED                    This isn't over...son!                                        MIKE                    Not even close...Dad!                    Ed stomps into the dressing room rubbing his sore boobs.          Mike pulls out his iPhone, begins texting.                                                                        CUT TO:                              INT. FITCH SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL/HALL - DAY                    The Wonder Bras stand by their lockers when their phones          beep...TEXT MESSAGE...                                        MIKE'S TEXT                    Party at my house 2nite.   7.    Get                    the word out.                    The Bras type away, simultaneously hit SEND. WIDE          REVEALS...hundreds of students...the beeps of hundreds of          cell phones.                              EXT. ED'S HOUSE - NIGHT                    CARS line the street. A steady flow of KIDS stream towards          the front door. MUSIC pounds from within. It's a RAGER.                              INT. ED'S HOUSE/KITCHEN - NIGHT                    MAYHEM. Kids raid the refrigerator, throw food around.          Another KID sprays the room with the removable sink head.                    Mike rushes in, grabs the sink head from the Kid.                                                                             77.                                                            MIKE                    Give me that!                                           WONDER BRAS (O.S.)                    Hey, Sexy.                    Mike turns without thinking SPRAYING all 3 Wonder Bras in the          face. The Bras scream. Mike replaces the nozzle.                                        MIKE                    I'm so sorry. Have you seen Alex?                    The Bras wipe themselves off, grab Mike's hands.                                        SAMANTHA                    Dance with us!                    The Bras drag a reluctant Mike out of the kitchen and into -                              INT. ED'S HOUSE/LIVING ROOM - NIGHT                    PARTY-GOERS dance everywhere and on top of everything.                    The Bras surround Mike, each girl grinding on him as if it          were a competition.                    Lauren takes Mike by the face, turns him towards her-                                        LAUREN                    Nambib-bib-ib, that African country                    makes me horny.                    Jamie spins Mike towards her, places his hands on her boobs-                                        JAMIE                    Perfect, aren't they?                    Samantha pulls Mike roughly by the hair, twists him around-                                        SAMANTHA                    Which one of us is it gonna be?                    Mike tries to squeeze out. The Bras block him. The music          changes...a remix version of Hammer's `Can't Touch This'          blares.                                        MIKE                    I thought you girls wanted to                    dance?                    Mike breaks into the 80's Hammer routine WE saw from the          first scene.                                                                                78.                                        The Bras back up. Party-Goers stop what they're doing and          watch...not sure whether to laugh or join in.                    And then, the Bras fall in.      Followed by others.   The party          just got hotter.                    Maggie runs through the party and out the back. Stan chases          after her. Mike inconspicuously Hammer walks his way out of          the mix and outside.                              EXT. ED'S HOUSE/POOL - NIGHT                    Stan corners Maggie against the back wall.                                        STAN                    I was upset. I'm sorry. But I                    need you to show me you love me.                    Then we'll move in together.                                          MAGGIE                    Whatever.    I'm with someone else                    now.                                        STAN                    Yeah, right. Who'd be stupid                    enough?                                          MAGGIE                    Him.                    Stan turns angrily toward Mike as he approaches.                                        MIKE                    Party's over, Stan.      You're out of                    here.                                        STAN                    Who's gonna make me leave?      You?                                        MIKE                    I would but it smells like you've                    been drinking so I'll let the cops                    do it.                    Mike pulls out his phone.      Stan looks to Maggie then back to          Mike, laughs-                                        STAN                    You can have the nun.      She doesn't                    put out anyway.                                                                           79.                                                            MIKE                    On second thought-                    Mike SWINGS. Stan ducks, throws a giant uppercut. POW.          Mike's eyes roll back in his head and WE cut to BLACK.                              INT. UPSCALE RESTAURANT/DINING ROOM - NIGHT                    The HOSTESS shows Ed and Julie to their table by the window.          Ed wears his new Gucci outfit. Julie's under dressed.                                        HOSTESS                    There you are, Mr. Freedman.                                       ED                    Thanks. Put this towards your                    studies.                    Ed hands the Hostess a 50.   Julie rolls her eyes.                                        JULIE                    When you asked me to get together                    to talk about Mark this isn't what                    I envisioned. This isn't a date,                    Ed.                                        ED                    Are you insinuating that I'd use my                    son's misfortune just to go out                    with you? What kind of a father do                    you think I am?                                        JULIE                    As long as we're on the same page.                    A WAITER approaches.                                        WAITER                    Good evening. Would you care to                    see the wine-                                        ED                    Bring us the 1962 Petrus.                    The Waiter nods, leaves.                                        ED (CONT'D)                    You're going to love this wine.                    $2000 dollars a bottle.                                                                     80.                                                            JULIE                    I don't drink. So tell me what you                    think's going on with Mark?                                        ED                    It's baffling really but I noticed                    he's been drinking a lot of diet                    ice tea lately. Maybe he's gay?                                        JULIE                    You didn't ask me here to talk                    about Mark, did you?                                        ED                    Do you like caviar? Because if you                    do you have to try the Almas. 100                    year-old Beluga. $700 per ounce.                    Julie throws her napkin on the table.                                        JULIE                    You're disgusting, Ed.                                        ED                    What? You don't like Beluga?     You                    can get something else.                                        JULIE                    I'm not some 22 year-old who you                    can impress with caviar and                    expensive wine.                                        ED                    Would the caviar and expensive wine                    impress you if you were on a yacht                    off Monte Carlo?                                        JULIE                    I came here because I'm concerned                    about the wellbeing of your son but                    you don't care about Mark. All                    you're concerned with is proving to                    me how wealthy you are.                                        ED                    I do care about Mike...Mark.                    Whatever his name is.                                        JULIE                    You know what's too bad, Ed? I'm                    sure when you were the guy the boys                    picked on and the girls ignored you                    were really sweet.                              (MORE)                                                                           81.                              JULIE (CONT'D)                    But you thought becoming rich would                    solve all your problems. Instead it                    made you just like them. I have to                    go.                    Julie rises.   Ed takes her wrist.                                        ED                    Wait. You're right. I'm acting                    like an idiot. I'm sorry. Please                    stay.                    Julie begrudgingly sits back down.                                        JULIE                    Act normal or I'm leaving.                              INT. ED'S HOUSE/MIKE'S BEDROOM - NIGHT                    CLOSE ON Mike's face, eyes shut. A hand gently strokes his          head. Mike stirs awake, smiles, eyes still closed-                                        MIKE                    I had the craziest dream. I was 17                    again and back in high school. It                    was horrible, Scarlet-                                          MAGGIE (o.s.)                    Scarlet!?                    Mike's eyes pop open. WIDER reveals Mike and Maggie on the          bed. Mike's head rests on Maggie's lap.                    Mike JUMPS off the bed, scrambles to the other side of the          room and behind a chair. Maggie leaps off the bed.                                        MAGGIE (CONT'D)                    You wanna play? Okay, let's play.                    I'm the hungry lioness and you're a                    baby gazelle.                    Maggie ROARS, chases Mike around the room.                                        MIKE                    Wait! This is highly inappropriate                    and dysfunctional. Listen to me,                    Maggie. I'm your father.                    Maggie growls, stalks Mike around the bed.                                        MAGGIE                    And I've been a bad, bad girl,                    Daddy.                                                                             82.                                        Maggie dives across the bed.    Mike dodges, runs out the door.                              EXT. ED'S HOUSE/BACKYARD - NIGHT                    Alex and Nicole sit closely by a fire pit, laughing.                                        ALEX                    How about Mrs. Cruz? Every time                    she rolls her r's she spits all                    over me.                    Alex imitates Mrs. Cruz. Nicole laughs, places her hand on          Alex's leg. Alex looks down at her hand, then up at her,          both staring at one another...THE MOMENT.                    Nicole closes her eyes, moves in. Alex moves in then          FREAKS. He bounds out of his chair, sprints inside leaving          Nicole hanging.                              INT. ED'S HOUSE - NIGHT                    A distraught Alex pushes his way through the insanity.   He          finds Mike running down the stairs.                                        ALEX                    Mike, I blew it!     I totally blew                    it!                                           MIKE                    Blew what?     What happened?                                        ALEX                    She wanted me to kiss her but I                    panicked. I didn't know if I                    should close my eyes or which way                    to turn my head or how much tongue                    I'm supposed to use-                                        MIKE                    Slow down. Have you ever kissed a                    girl before?                                        ALEX                    Not a real one. I used to practice                    on my dad's Playboys.                                        MIKE                    How did you find...forget it. It's                    easy. All you have to do is take                    her face in your hands gently like                    THIS-                                                                                83.                                        Mike places a hand gently on either side of Alex's face.                                         MIKE (CONT'D)                     -hold her still as you adjust your                     head, close your eyes and kiss her.                     The rest happens naturally.                    A BOY walks past, sees Mike romantically holding Alex's face.                                         BOY                     That is so wrong.                    Mike and Alex quickly separate.                                         ALEX                     What if I, you know, pitch a tent?                                          MIKE                     If you feel it, you know, getting                     angry, take a step back. Now go get                     that kiss.                    Alex takes a deep breath, steps outside.                              EXT. ED'S HOUSE/BACKYARD - NIGHT                    A determined Alex marches over to the seated Nicole.                                          ALEX                     Nicole.                    Nicole stands-                                         NICOLE                     I'm sorry, Alex. I didn't mean to-                    Before she can finish Alex's hands are on her face and his          lips on hers. It's as if time stands still.                              INT. ED'S HOUSE - NIGHT                    Mike watches his son's MAGICAL FIRST KISS.     And when Alex          takes a step back, Mike laughs.                    BEEP.   BEEP.   Mike pulls out his phone.   Text message.                                          SAMANTHA'S TEXT                     911.   ^stairs. mastr b-room.                    Mike rushes to the stairs. An angry Maggie storms down them.          Mike ducks. Maggie passes. Mike races up.                                                                           84.                                                  INT. ED'S HOUSE/HALLWAY - NIGHT                    Mike sprints down the hall, throws open the door to find-                              INT. ED'S HOUSE/MASTER BEDROOM - NIGHT                    Samantha, Jamie and Lauren in the bed, clothes on the floor.                                        SAMANTHA                    We decided not to make you choose.                                        JAMIE                    You can have all 3 of us.                    The chance of a lifetime.    A legend making moment.                                        MIKE                        (looks sadly at the Bras)                    Girls, if I was 20 years younger                    I'd...probably only last 10 seconds                    anyway. Put your clothes back on.                    Mike turns, exits. On the way out WE actually hear SNIFFLING.                                        SAMANTHA                    Was he crying?                              INT. UPSCALE RESTAURNT - NIGHT                    Julie laughs hysterically.                                        ED                    God's honest truth. I had the                    whole costume. I used to go                    everywhere dressed like a wizard.                    No wonder I didn't get a date all                    through high school. Annnnd you                    think I'm the biggest nerd ever.                                        JULIE                    No, no, really. I don't.                        (catches her breath,                         suddenly serious)                    Hark! Who goes there?                                        ED                        (UNSURE)                    Tis I. The Wizard they call                    Marius. And who might you be fair                    maiden?                                                                               85.                                        Free to be herself, Julie lets her hair down, shakes it out.                                         JULIE                      Tis I! Elf Princess Ariala of                      Jamroar.                                   ED                               JULIE          NO WAY!                           YES WAY!                                                       ED                             JULIE          Level 10.                         Mage. Level 15. Bitch!                    They stare at each other incredibly turned on. Ed screams-                                ED                      Check please!                              EXT. ED'S HOUSE/POOL - NIGHT                    CLOSE ON a Heavy Kid leans over the pool PUKING.          Wider...Mike beside him while Kids cheer the Heavy Kid on.                                          MIKE                      I'm so dead.                    Mike turns, finds SCARLET making her way through the crowd.                                          MIKE (CONT'D)                      Oh no!                    Mike rushes over to her.                                          MIKE (CONT'D)                      Scarlet, what are you doing here?                                          SCARLET                      I'm looking for Alex. It's past                      his curfew and he wasn't picking up                      his phone. Is he here?                                          MIKE                      Yeah, he's fine.   He's with his                      girlfriend.                                          SCARLET                      Alex has a girlfriend?                                                                              86.                                                            MIKE                    He does and she's really cute.                    Come on.                    Mike leads Scarlet away from the pool.                              INT. FERRARI - NIGHT                    Ed and Julie drive through the upscale neighborhood.                                        JULIE                    How did you get your hands on the                    5th edition? That's not due out for                    another three years.                                        ED                    I have two words for you.    Russian                    mafia.                                        JULIE                    Drive faster.                    He steps on the gas. He fishtails around a corner. Cars pack          Ed's street and driveway. Boys and girls trample the front          lawn. One BOY urinates in a flower bed.                                        JULIE (CONT'D)                    Calm thyself, Marius.                                        ED                    That little-!   I'll kill him!                    Ed double parks the car, jumps out.                              EXT. ED'S HOUSE - NIGHT                    Ed storms up the driveway.    Julie hurries after him.   A KID          spies Julie, calls out-                                        KID                    It's Ms. Goodwin!    Run!                    All the Kids on the lawn SCATTER in different directions.                              INT. ED'S HOUSE/LIVING ROOM - NIGHT                    Ed and Julie enter the crowded, loud room. Kids dance, stomp          around on the furniture. A furious Ed screams-                                                                              87.                                                            ED                    Everybody out!   Get out!   Get out!                    Nobody flinches.   Julie WHISTLES loudly.   The Kids stop.                                        JULIE                    This party is over! If you don't                    want to spend the next 3 months in                    detention you will leave...now!                    The Kids BEELINE for the door.    Ed stops a GIRL.                                        ED                    Do you know where Mark Freedman is?                                        GIRL                    I think I saw him go outside.                    SPLAT. A slice of pizza falls from the ceiling onto Ed's          head. The Girl laughs, exits.                              INT. ED'S HOUSE/KITCHEN - NIGHT                    Maggie enters, weeds through the crowd, bumps into the Bras.                                        MAGGIE                    Have you seen Mark?                                        SAMANTHA                    We're looking for him too.                    Maggie scowls, heads for the back door.     The Bras chase.                              EXT. ED'S HOUSE/BACKYARD - NIGHT                    Mike and Scarlet hide behind the pool house, peek around the          corner, spy on Alex and Nicole by the fire pit. Alex is          animated, confident...                                        SCARLET                    He's like a totally different                    person.                    Scarlet and Mike step back by the pool, sit on a lounge.                                        SCARLET (CONT'D)                    It's been so good for him to have                    you around. You have no idea.                                                                           88.                                                            MIKE                    Believe me, I do. He's a great                    kid. And you're an amazing mother.                                        SCARLET                    I'm not so sure. I mean look at                    me. I showed up at a party to drag                    my son home. Could I be any more                    embarrassing? And how many amazing                    mothers run their kids' father off?                                        MIKE                    Hey, you didn't run him off. Don't                    blame yourself for his stupidity.                                        SCARLET                    I knew he was unhappy. I knew he                    hated his job. I should've been                    more supportive, more sympathetic                    to what he was going through. He                    gave up a lot for me.                                        MIKE                    That's bull shit! You, Maggie and                    Alex are the best thing that ever                    happened to me...him. He was just                    too selfish to recognize it. At                    least, that's how I see it.                    Scarlet smiles thankfully at Mike.                    ANGLE...Maggie and the Bras roam the backyard searching for          Mike.                                        JAMIE                    He's over there.    By the pool.                                        SAMANTHA                    Who's the ho?                                         MAGGIE                    Mom?                    ANGLE...Alex and Nicole, hand in hand, stroll back towards          the house when Alex freezes-                                         ALEX                    Whoa.   What's my mom doing here?                    ANGLE...Scarlet places a hand over Mike's.                                                                                89.                                                              SCARLET                      You're sweet. I have no idea why                      I'm telling you all this. There's                      just something so familiar...                    Scarlet looks into Mike's eyes. Mike stares back. She's          vulnerable. He loves her. It's perfect. Mike leans in and          KISSES HER...PASSIONATELY.                    SSSSSLAP.   Mike falls off the chair.   Scarlet leaps up.                                          SCARLET (CONT'D)                      What do you think you're doing!?                    Mike scrambles to his feet.                                          MIKE                      Scar, just calm down. I have                      something to tell you but I need                      you to keep an open mind. Can you                      do that for me?                                          SCARLET                      This conversation is over, Mark.                                          MIKE                      I'm not Mark.                                          SCARLET                      I'm not in the mood for games.                                          MIKE                      It's no game. I'm me...him...Mike.                      It's me...your husband.                    Scarlet winces as if dealt a blow-                                           SCARLET                      What?   Why would you say that?                                          MIKE                      It's the truth. I'm the father of                      your children. You have to believe                      me.                                          SCARLET                      Don't ever come near me or my                      family again. If you do, I'll have                      you arrested or better yet,                      institutionalized.                    Scarlet marches towards the house.    Mike on her heels          pleading.                                                                             90.                                                            MIKE                    Let me explain, Scar.                    As she passes Ed and Julie.                                        SCARLET                    Your son needs a shrink!                    Scarlet storms off.   Before Mike can protest-                                          MAGGIE                    Pervert!                    Mike turns. SLAP. Maggie lights him up, runs for the house.          SLAP, SLAP, SLAP. The Bras add theirs on the way out.                    Alex and Nicole march past.    Mike reaches for Alex's arm.          Alex pulls it away.                                        MIKE                    Alex, wait. Let me explain-                                        ALEX                    How could you do this to me?                    Alex whisks Nicole into the house.   Mike lowers his head.    Ed          stomps over, grabs Mike.                                        ED                    This place is a disaster! A kid                    pissed all over my English garden!                    What were you thinking!?                                        MIKE                    She hates me, Ed.    I've ruined                    everything.                    Mike runs for the house.   Julie looks quizzically to Ed.                                        JULIE                    Who hates him? What's going on?                    Ed shifts uncomfortably, takes a deep breath.                                        ED                    Oh boy. I don't quite know how to                    put this.                                        JULIE                    Try being honest.                                                                                91.                                                             ED                     He's not really my son.    I don't                     have a son.                    SLAP.   Ed looks like he's about to cry.                                         JULIE                     Mark's obviously having a crisis                     and you...you insensitive bastard,                     you disown him? He'd be better off                     with his mother in Thailand.                    Julie strides for the house.     Ed yells after her-                                         ED                     Should I call you?!                              EXT. ED'S HOUSE - MORNING                    All is normal.   No signs of a party.                              INT. ED'S HOUSE/HALLWAY - MORNING                    Ed knocks and knocks on Mike's bedroom door.                                          ED                     Come on.   It's been 2 days.    Open                     up.                    WE hear a dragging sound then...CLICK.     Ed turns the knob,          opens the door, enters.                              INT. ED'S HOUSE/MIKE'S BEDROOM - MORNING                    Dark.   Mike climbs back into bed.   Ed waves at the air.                                         ED                     Jesus. It smells like Jeffrey                     Dahmer's kitchen in here.                    Ed pulls up the blinds, opens the windows. A disheveled,          Mike groans, rolls away from the light. Ed sits on the bed.                                         ED (CONT'D)                     Are you alright?                                         MIKE                     I really messed up.    I've lost my                     family.                                                                              92.                                                            ED                    That's not true.      Nothing's ever                    truly lost.                                        MIKE                    What about you and Julie?                                          ED                    Oh, that?    That's lost.                                        MIKE                    Sorry about the party.      I'll pay                    for any damages.                                        ED                    Don't worry about it. My spa guy                    got the last of the vomit out of                    the pool so we're good. I don't                    mean to rub salt in your wounds but-                    Ed holds up the manila envelope of divorce papers.                                        ED (CONT'D)                    -you're due in court in an hour.                    A look of determination comes over Mike's face.                              EXT. ED'S HOUSE - DAY                    The BMW roars out of the garage, Ed driving, tears down the          driveway, fishtailing onto the street, LOSES CONTROL, rips          across a neighbor's lawn then back onto the road and off.                              INT. LOS ANGELES COURT HOUSE/COURTROOM - DAY                    Crowded pews. Scarlet stands before the JUDGE, her right          hand raised as she's sworn in.                                        BAILIFF                    -the whole truth and nothing but                    the truth so help you God?                                          SCARLET                    I do.                    Scarlet sits beside her ATTORNEY.     The Judge eyes her papers.                                                                            93.                                                            JUDGE                    You've requested a divorce by the                    State of California citing                    irreconcilable differences. Is                    this correct?                                        SCARLET                    Yes, your Honor.                                        JUDGE                    Is Michael O'Donnell or his                    representative present?                                        SCARLET                        (SADLY)                    No, your Honor.                                        JUDGE                    Then I take his absence as                    agreement to the orders of the                    divorce. Let's proceed. You're                    not asking for alimony or child                    support?                                        JULIE                    No, your honor.                              EXT. LOS ANGELES COURT HOUSE - DAY                    Ed's BMW skids to a stop in front of the building.   Mike and          Ed bound out, race up the court steps-                                        ED                    What exactly are we doing?                                        MIKE                    I don't know. We just need to stop                    her from going through with it!                                        ED                    A well thought out plan.   Good job.                              INT. LOS ANGELES COURT HOUSE/COURTROOM - DAY                                        JUDGE                    The mother will have full custody                    of the children. The father will                    have visitation rights of one                    weekend a month-                                                                             94.                                        BOOM. The doors burst open.   All turn to see Mike and Ed          storm down the aisle.                                        ED                    I declare a mistrial on the grounds                    of insufficient evidence and Sacco                    and Vanzetti!                    Scarlet can only shake her head.                                        JUDGE                    Sacco and...what are you....who are                    you!?                                        ED                    I am legal counsel for Mike                    O'Donnell and I demand a stay of                    execution for this marriage, your                    Majesty.                                        SCARLET                    He's my husband's best friend.                                        JUDGE                    Are you a lawyer, best friend?                                        ED                    No but I have been a defendant in                    numerous lawsuits so-                                         JUDGE                    Bailiff! Get these 2 out of my                    courtroom.                    The Bailiff grabs Mike and a yelling Ed, drags them toward          the exit. Mike wiggles free, runs back to the front.                                        MIKE                    Your Honor! I have a letter from                    Mike O'Donnell. Just let me read                    it. Please.                                        JUDGE                    I'm sorry, but-                                        SCARLET                    If it's okay, your Honor.   I'd like                    to hear it.                                        JUDGE                    Make it quick.                    Mike digs into his pocket, pulls out a piece of paper.                                                                           95.                                                            MIKE                    Thank you, your Honor.                        (READS)                    September 7th, 1988 was the first                    time I saw you. You were reading                    `The Great Gatsby' and wearing a                    Guns N Roses T-shirt. I'd never                    seen anything so perfect. I                    remember thinking I had to have you                    or I'd die...not in a psycho kinda                    way but in that beautiful,                    innocent, unaffected way that way                    only a 17 year-old kid can have.                    You whispered you loved me at the                    homecoming dance and I felt so                    peaceful and safe because I knew no                    matter what happened from that                    night on nothing could ever be that                    bad because I had you. And then I                    grew up, lost my way and blamed you                    for my failures. But I was never                    lost. I'd just forgotten the way                    life makes you forget as you grow                    older. And I never failed at                    anything because on that September                    day you said `yes' to me. And at                    that dance you said you loved me.                    And as I stand here...as I write                    this, I want you to know if I don't                    have you I'll die...not in a psycho                    way but in that beautiful,                    innocent, unaffected way only a 17                    year old kid can have....oh                    and...P.S...I'm `Hungry Like the                    Wolf'.                    Mike places the PAPER ON THE TABLE, looks over to Scarlet.          Scarlet just stares at him, tears streaming down her          cheeks...sadness...recognition?                                        JUDGE                    Alright, son, you have to go now.                    Mike nods, walks down the aisle and out the door.                                        JUDGE (CONT'D)                    Let's proceed.                                        SCARLET                    Your Honor, Sir. I'm sorry.   I'm                    in no shape...I need to                    postpone...I'm sorry.                                                                             96.                                        A tearful Scarlet starts to leave, stops, picks up Mike's          `letter'...DIRECTIONS TO THE COURTHOUSE. She looks back          confused.                              INT. BMW CONVERTIBLE - DAY                    A solemn Mike stares out the window.    Ed turns the radio off.                                        ED                    Maybe it wasn't a spell of                    enlightenment.                    Mike looks to Ed.                                        MIKE                    What are you talking about?                                        ED                    According to the website once                    you've learned your lesson you'd                    turn back. That speech should've                    broken the spell.                                        MIKE                    Enough with the magic crap, Ed.                                        ED                    You know what this means? You need                    to let them go. You need to let                    them get on with their lives and                    you need to get on with yours.                    Mike chokes back tears...because he knows Ed is right.                              INT. ED'S HOUSE/MIKE'S BEDROOM - DUSK                    Mike works on his laptop, plugs his iPhone into          it...downloads pictures.                    Mike moves to the bed, packs his Falcons uniform into a          duffel bag. A BEEP. Mike unplugs the iPhone, types an email          to Scarlet, "I think this will help your business. Best of          luck, Mark" Mike hits send, grabs his bag and exits.                              EXT. ED'S HOUSE - DUSK                    Mike steps outside, throws his duffel into the Aston.    Ed          exits the house.                                                                           97.                                                            ED                    Where you going?                                        MIKE                    I'm moving on. See you at the                    game.                    Mike climbs into the car, pulls out of the driveway.                              INT. MIKE'S HOUSE/KITCHEN - DUSK                    Scarlet sits at the kitchen table working on her laptop. The          noise of an incoming email. She clicks over...MARK FREEDMAN.                    Scarlet reads Mike's email then clicks on the link. A web          site pops up...`Scarlet's Sanctuaries'. Scarlet smiles.                              INT. FITCH SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL/GYM - NIGHT                    An empty gym. Mike stands feet beyond the 3 point line,          grabs balls from a hopper and rapidly shoots, shoots, shoots.          SWISH...SWISH...SWISH. Automatic.                    Coach Harvey enters.                                        COACH HARVEY                    Hey, Freedman, save some for the                    game.                    Mike sinks one last jumper, turns to the coach.                                        MIKE                    Just warming up, Coach.                    Coach Harvey hands Mike a towel.                                        COACH HARVEY                    Son, I haven't seen anyone with                    your shooting ability in, well, in                    a long time. I called a couple                    college scouts I know. They're                    coming to the game tonight...to                    watch you. If you have half the                    season I think you're capable of,                    you can play anywhere you want.                                        MIKE                    That's the plan, Coach.                    The rest of the Falcons basketball team jogs out from the          locker room followed by a PHOTOGRAPHER.                                                                           98.                                                             COACH HARVEY                     Round up, Jock Straps! Picture                     time.                    The Team assembles in the middle of the court. Alex moves          away from Mike. A PLAYER kneeling in front holds a sign,          `FITCH FALCONS, 2008.'                                          PHOTOGRPAHER                     3, 2, 1-                    FLASH.   And with the flash WE cut to:                              INT. FITCH SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL/GYM - LATER                    A POPULAR SONG rocks the gymnasium. CHEERLEADERS dance on          the sidelines. STUDENTS and PARENTS cheer wildly from the          packed stands.                    Julie gabs with a group of TEACHERS.                    On one end of the court, the Falcons run a pass and shoot          drill. On the opposite end, a TEAM in BLUE shoots around.                    Mike sees Scarlet and Maggie enter. He smiles apologetically          to them. Both turn away, climb the bleachers, join Nicole          and the Wonder Bras.                                         MAGGIE                         (to Scarlet)                     I thought he was hanging out with                     Alex to get to me- not you.                    ANGLE...Coach Harvey claps loudly-                                         COACH HARVEY                     Alright, Ladies, bring it in!                    The Falcons swarm the bench, take their seats. Mike takes a          deep breath, sits next to Alex. Alex looks down.                                          MIKE                     ALEX-                                         ALEX                     I have nothing to say to you.                                         MIKE                     I never meant to hurt you-                                         ALEX                     Then why'd you kiss my mom!?                                                                           99.                                                             MIKE                    Alex, I'm your fa...I don't know.                    I'm sorry.                    Alex stands-                                        ALEX                    You're lucky I don't punch you out.                    Alex moves down the line, takes another seat.                    Ed strides through the door spots Julie, makes his way over          to her.                                        ED                    Julie, can I talk to you?                    Julie excuses herself from the Teachers.                                        JULIE                    What is it, Ed?                                        ED                    I've seen a good friend of mine                    lose everything that means anything                    to him. And maybe we'll never be                    there but...I just really want to                    play D & D with you.                    Julie can't help but smile, sizes Ed up.                                        JULIE                    You can raid my dungeon anytime.                                        ED                    I'll bring my long bow.                    A REFEREE blows his whistle.                                        COACH HARVEY                    Let's go! Remember, Boys, winners                    get the girls. Losers please                    themselves!                    Mike and the Falcons jog onto the court. Mike takes his          place for the jump ball. The Crowd stomps, cheers LOUDLY.                    Mike looks around the gymnasium...it almost seems to SLOW          UP...the sound deafening. He finds Alex on the bench...his          hopeful face. Mike looks into the stands...Maggie and          Scarlet. Scarlet abruptly stands, climbs back down the          bleachers and exits the gym.                                                                             100.                                        The Ref readies to toss the ball.    Mike takes a deep          breath...and walks off the court.                                        REFEREE                    Son! Come back here!      You're gonna                    get a delay of game!                                        COACH HARVEY                    This can't be happening again.                    Mike steps over to Alex-                                        MIKE                    It's your turn now.    Good luck.                    Mike rushes off the court. As Mike disappears into the          tunnel, WE see the OLD JANITOR amongst the crowd. He smiles.                    Coach Harvey turns to Alex-                                        COACH HARVEY                    Get off your butt, O'Donnell!    Get                    in there!                    Alex leaps off the bench.                              INT. FITCH SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL/TUNNEL - NIGHT                                           MIKE                    Scar!                    The tunnel is EMPTY.    Crestfallen, Mike lowers his head...                    ANGLE ON: Scarlet as she appears at the far end of the          tunnel.                                        SCARLET                    What took you so long?                    ANGLE ON: Mike and he's 36 years-old again, bursting out of          his uniform.                                        MIKE                    The best choice I ever made was                    you.                    Scarlet and Mike walk towards one another, picking up their          pace the closer they get.                                        SCARLET                    How did this happ-                                                                          101.                                        Mike wraps his arms around her.                                           MIKE                    Don't ask.                    They lock lips.                    Mike takes Scarlet's hand and as they walk out of the tunnel-                                        MIKE (CONT'D)                    I think it's best if we don't tell                    the kids about this. Especially                    Maggie.                                                     THE END
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+       187                by          Scott Yagemann       REVISED SHOOTING DRAFT         November 4, 1996FOR EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY    Rev. 7/10/96                             1   8   71   EXT. LOWER MANHATTAN SKYLINE - BROOKLYN BRIDGE - MORNING    1    RUSH HOUR    ON a pair of black Dexter penny loafers diligently    pedaling an old Schwinn mountain bike. ADJUST ANGLE now    to meet the bicyclist...    He's African-American. Anywhere from 33 to 40. Wears    wire-rim glasses, a fresh white oxford shirt, creased    slacks and a solid green tie. An unobtrusive figure, at    once familiar and yet undiscerning. The type you'd pass    on a sidewalk and never even notice. He's TREVOR GARFIELD.    ADJUST ANGLE FURTHER now to reveal the upper promenade    bike path and a dramatic view of Lower Manhattan behind    him. Morning sun glimmers off the Trade Center towers.    Trevor's shadow skitters along the wooden path, 160 ft.    above the East River.    A fat briefcase, strapped to the back of his bike, rocks    back and forth as he pumps the pedals.    FROM ABOVE now a sweeping view of Trevor, alone on the    bike path, a speck, suspended above a sea of rush hour    traffic on the bridge below.2   EXT. ATLANTIC AVENUE (BEDFORD STUYVESANT) - MORNING         2    A wrought-iron train trestle covered with graffiti shakes    as an "EL" TRAIN ROARS overhead. Trevor races parallel    with it along Atlantic Avenue. Every city block becomes    more and more rundown.3   EXT. ROOSEVELT WHITNEY HIGH SCHOOL (BEDFORD                 3    STUYVESANT) - MORNING    A cyclone fence frames the stalwart face of the old    three-story administration building. Ubiquitous gray    patches of paint fail to cover where taggers have most    recently left their marks. The ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL, a    black man with a booming voice, barks at late-comers who    are about to be tardy...                            ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL                     (clapping his hands)              ... Let's go, people! Tardy lock-              out starts in one minute! Get              your butts in gear! One minute,              people! Move it!                                                  (CONTINUED)     1   8   7 - Rev. 7/10/96                                  2.3    CONTINUED:                                                      3     SUPERIMPOSE:    ROOSEVELT WHITNEY HIGH SCHOOL -                     OCTOBER 1994     The Assistant Principal, attention diverted, doesn't even     notice Trevor as he enters on his bike and races down the     sidewalk in front of the school. With all the prompting,     students still don't seem to be in much of a hurry.4    OMITTED                                                         45    INT. RWHS "A" BUILDING - MAIN ENTRANCE                          5     ... as Trevor squeezes through the doorway past students     being processed through card readers and metal detectors     and turns down the main hall.6    INT. RWHS - MAIN FLOOR                                          6     With a glance over his shoulder, Trevor hops back onto     his bike and pedals it down the middle of the corridor.     STRAGGLING STUDENTS either ignore him or look at him     like he's insane.                                STRAGGLING STUDENT                         (as Trevor passes)                  ... No ridin' bikes in 'a hallway,                  stoo-pit.6A   INT. STAIRWELL                                                  6A     As Trevor reaches the end of the main corridor... and     steers his bike down the stairs.7    INT. RWHS - BOTTOM FLOOR                                        7     Trevor coasts skillfully down the stairs and emerges     onto the bottom floor of the school. He pedals away     toward the other end of the corridor.7A   EXT. TREVOR'S CLASSROOM                                         7A     A crowd of 10th graders loiter outside Trevor's room.     Seeing him coming, they stir to life with a flurry of     taunts. Trevor chooses to face all dissension with a     smile.                                                       (CONTINUED)     1   8   7 - Rev. 7/10/96                               3.7A   CONTINUED:                                                  7A     As Trevor hops off his bike and unlocks the classroom     door, he notices two lovers making out in the hallway...                                VOICE IN CROWD                  ... Yuh late, Garfield.                                TREVOR                         (catching his breath)                  ... No, bell hasn't rung yet.                  Okay, let's get inside. C'mon.                         (as they file                          into the room)                  ... Morning, morning. Rise and                  shine.     TWO STUDENTS make passing comments...                                AUGGIE                         (shaking his head)                  ... You one crazy-ass nigga, G.                                TYWAN                         (a quarter stuck                          in one ear)                  ... Damn skippy.                                TREVOR                  Thank you for sharing, Auggie.                                TYWAN                         (provoking Auggie)                  ... Auggie doggie.                                AUGGIE (O.S.)                  Fuck you, Tywan. Yer mama's a                  gangsta-rapper.     Trevor offers a pleasant greeting to the two lovers.                                TREVOR                  'Scuse me, you two... this isn't                  the Playboy Channel.     Trevor enters the room, but ducks his head back into     the hall.                                TREVOR                  'Morning, Juanita.8    INT. RWHS - TREVOR'S CLASSROOM - CONTINUOUS ACTION          8     Walls are covered with assorted science posters.     Styrofoam nuclei dangle from the ceiling. Trevor     unstraps the fat briefcase from his bicycle and sets     it on a metal stool next to his desk...                                                   (CONTINUED)                                                                   4.8   CONTINUED:                                                          8                               TREVOR                        (enthusiastically)                 Let's get started. August and                 Tywan, you pass out the books.                 Thank you, gentlemen.    Auggie and Tywan don't budge.                                TYWAN                 Whas up wit' your car, G?   Yer                 Pinto blow up?    The majority of students aren't even paying attention.          A    group in the back is already starting a card game.                               TREVOR                        (good-natured smile)                 No, I don't own a Pinto, Tywan.                        (addressing the class)                 Okay, can I have everyone's                 attention?    No response, but it doesn't phase Trevor.         He removes    the front wheels from his bike.                               TREVOR                 The purpose of the bicycle is to                 demonstrate the principle of                 centripetal force. That's the                 opposite of the force we studied                 yesterday, which was...                                 VOICE IN THE CROWD                 Magnum force.    Hoots and laughter.                               TREVOR                 Centrifugal force... Centripetal                 force is where the acceleration of                 a body moving in circular motion                 is directed toward its center by an                 opposing force, thus creating                 momentum that constrains the body to                 its circular path. Like a gyroscope.                        (sees nothing                         but yawns)                 It's better if I show you. Here,                 Tywan, you be my helper.    Tywan and Auggie are busy talking in the corner.        They    still haven't passed out the books.                                                         (CONTINUED)                                                              5.8   CONTINUED:    (2)                                               8                                TREVOR                 Tywan?   Come on.    Tywan, solidly built like a Rodin bronze, saunters over.                               TYWAN                 Whad-up, G?                        (to rest of class)                 Hey, shut up! Y'all too damn                 loud, man!    Class quiets but only marginally.                               TREVOR                 I need you to demonstrate                 centripetal force.                        (removes briefcase                         from stool)                 Here, have a seat.    Tywan sits and Trevor hands him the upside-down bicycle.                               TREVOR                 Okay, hold the bike steady with                 your knees. That's it. Seat                 positioned against your chest.    Tywan glances over at Auggie and starts to laugh.                               TYWAN                        (to Auggie)                 Shut up, foo.                               TREVOR                 Okay, now crank the pedals and get                 that back wheel spinning about                 180 R.P.M.                               TYWAN                 Whas up wit' dat?                               TREVOR                        (coaxing him along)                 You'll see. Be patient.    A skeptical Tywan starts to crank the pedals, but he's    not pedaling hard enough.                               TREVOR                 ... Put some muscle into it.    Tywan cranks the pedals harder now. Trevor back-pedals    over to the textbook shelf and randomly selects a    physical science book (but doesn't open it).                                                      (CONTINUED)    1   8   7 - Rev. 7/10/96                                6.8   CONTINUED:    (3)                                            8                               TREVOR                 ... Keep pedaling. Harder.    A paper airplane sails past an oblivious Tywan. He    cranks harder and harder until he's sweating ham juice.    Now, he impales Trevor with a befuddled squint.                               TYWAN                        (incredulous)                 Whas up? I tol' you you was                 crazy, man.    A thin smile of confidence from Trevor now...                               TREVOR                 Now tilt the wheel to your right.    Tywan does and immediately the wheel pulls him to the    right, causing the stool to slowly spin on its axis.                               TYWAN                        (eyes wide like                         a little kid)                 Aw, damn. I'm spinnin'.   Lookit                 me, Auggie!    Trevor flickers a smile as Tywan's spinning starts to    draw the attention of the rest of the class.    Now Trevor refers to the physical science book in his    hand. Smile on his face immediately fades.    INSERT: Physical science textbook. In magic marker.    The large number 187 has been scrawled across every    page. Trevor flips through the book. He checks the    front page to see who it belongs to.    Juxtaposed to Trevor's distracted state, the class is now    focused on Tywan's achievement...                               CLASS                        (attempting unison)                 ... Tywan, Tywan, Tywan.9   INT. RWHS - "A" BUILDING - MAIN CORRIDOR - SECOND            9    PERIOD    One of the fluorescent lights overhead flickers. The    place is deserted except for a custodian who pushes a    cresting wave of trash ahead of his broom. Now Trevor    heads up the north stairwell at the far end of the    corridor. He clutches the desecrated physical science    book. A student slides down the banister past him.                                                            7.10   OMITTED                                                      1011   INT. COUNSELING OFFICES - WAITING AREA                       11     A PUERTO RICAN WOMAN prods a group of gangbanger wanna-     bes. Two of the teens hover over a Sony Walkman, sharing     the earphones.                             SECRETARY               Okay, fellas, off the table. Put               the Walkman away. I said put it               away...     A 10th grade counselor's office opens and a student     emerges. Trevor walks directly in.                             TREVOR               Walter, I need to speak with you.     WALTER (Anglo; 52) is a disheveled middle-aged counselor.     A lifer. He chews on an empty smoking pipe as he glances     through a student "cum" (cue-mm).                             WALTER                      (preoccupied)               I'm pretty busy right now,               Garfield. What is it?     Trevor sets the book down on Walter's desk and nervously     adjusts his glasses.                             TREVOR               Could you open it, please?     Walter opens the book.                             WALTER                      (a weary look                       of disgust)               Don't suppose this kid cares about               our budget crisis?                      (shuts the book)               Have the textbook room charge him               for the book.     Walter snaps the book shut and looks up at Trevor.     That's all?                             TREVOR               One-Eight-Seven is a penal code               number for murder, Walter.               Means the same thing as T-O-S.               'Terminate On the Spot.'                                                    (CONTINUED)                                                              8.11   CONTINUED:                                                     11                                 WALTER                         (piqued)                  For chrissake, I know what it                  stands for. Look, kid probably                  heard it in a rap song. Doesn't                  mean anything.                                TREVOR                  ... The book belongs to Dennis                  Broadway. He's a known gangster,                  Walter -- a 'Five Percenter.'                                WALTER                  Garfield, if I had a dollar for                  every time a student threatened                  faculty... Don't you think you're                  overreacting a little?                                TREVOR                         (suppressing                          trepidation)                  Did you tell Dennis Broadway he                  was getting a fail from me?                                WALTER                         (stymied)                  I have legal access to those                  files.                                TREVOR                  He's a transfer from Nixon High                  School, isn't he?                                WALTER                         (becoming defensive)                  Look, I'm not obligated to track                  you down every time a transfer                  student comes through here. You                  want confidential information                  like that, come look it up in his                  cum (cue-mm).     Trevor exhales a sigh of resignation.                                TREVOR                  Do you have him on a contract?                                WALTER                  If he gets through the semester                  without a fail then he gets to go                  back to Nixon, so what?                                TREVOR                  ... and be with his homeboys.                                                      (CONTINUED)                                                              9.11   CONTINUED:    (2)                                             11     Walter's caught between a rock and a hard place.   His     instincts lean toward self-preservation.                                WALTER                  So he blew his opportunity. Now                  he has to learn to live with the                  consequences.                                TREVOR                  I don't think this kid's ready to                  deal with the consequences. I                  think he wants me dead.                                WALTER                  Relax, has nothin' to do with you.                                TREVOR                  I should have been told, Walter.                                WALTER                  Hey, I'm on your side, Garfield,                  but my hands are tied. Kid has a                  right to his privacy... Know what                  your problem is? You're an                  idealist.                                TREVOR                  What's wrong with that?                                WALTER                  You only see what you wanna see,                  that's what's wrong. On one hand                  you think someone's trying to kill                  you. On the other hand you                  actually believe kids are paying                  attention in your classes.     Trevor resigns himself to the fact that he's come to     the wrong person for support.                                TREVOR                         (collecting himself)                  Never mind. It's not a problem.                                WALTER                         (an empty promise)                  Tell you what, as soon as I get a                  chance I'll summons the kid.                  Promise.     Trevor's bemusement holds us.     1   8   7 - Rev. 7/10/96                              10.12   INT. RWHS "A" BUILDING - MAIN CORRIDOR - MORNING            12     Trevor retraces his steps back up the empty corridor as     the passing BELL RINGS. Within seconds the corridor is     teeming with teenagers.     Into SLOW MOTION now. MANEUVERING THROUGH the crowd to     DISCOVER DENNIS BROADWAY (16). About ten paces behind.     His Snoop-Dogg Afro frames a gold earring and a pair of     deep-set eyes filled with vitriol. Oblivious of Dennis,     Trevor presses on toward the north stairwell.     VARIOUS SHOTS OVERHEAD and THROUGH crowd as the gap     between Dennis and Trevor narrows. Every facial     expression, every blink of an eye, all magnified a     hundred times.     Broadway's right hand is wrapped in a dirty white     handkerchief as he reaches into the front pocket of his     baggie Solos and pulls out a block of wood with a     ten-penny nail imbedded in it.13   INT. RWHS - AT NORTH STAIRWELL                              13     Trevor's heavy eyelids blink as he slowly glances up into     a parabolic mirror on the wall. A silent, paroxysmal     terror registers on his face.     In a parabolic mirror, the blurred image of Dennis     Broadway, pushing hard toward a conclusion now.     BACK TO SPEED as Dennis explodes forward, body blocking     Trevor from behind, pinning him against a wall and     sending the "187" textbook flying.     He rams his weapon into Trevor's back.     In a SERIES OF RAPID-FIRE CUTS, filtered sunlight     shimmers off the sharpened nail as it slashes downward.     A barrage of stabbing motions, tearing at cloth and     flesh. Trevor's backward flailing arms are ineffective     in blocking the frenzied stabfest. Downward slashing,     again and again... 10 times.     Aftermath. As quickly as it began it's over. Dennis     Broadway slams open an exit door and is gone. Students     scatter like cockroaches. An eerie stillness lingers.     Trevor Garfield is lying on his back now in a pool of     blood; black plastic framed glasses in pieces on the     floor; lifeless arms spread out at his sides.   His     rheumy, unblinking eyes stare upward into infinite space.     Breathing is the major focus of his concentration now as     we SLOWLY MOVE IN ON his face. HOLD and now...                                                               11.14   EXT. TREVOR'S HOUSE (SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA) -                     14     SUPERIMPOSE: LOS ANGELES - SAN FERNANDO VALLEY,     SEVENTEEN MONTHS LATER     It's a tiny one bedroom house in the East San Fernando     Valley. A chain-link fence surrounds the perimeter and a     large olive tree shades the neatly-mowed front lawn.     And in the back there's a wooden tool shed that borders     a narrow alley.15   INT. TREVOR'S HOUSE - LIVING ROOM                               15     In the predawn light a terra cotta angel stands guard     over a bookshelf.16   INT. TREVOR'S HOUSE - BEDROOM                                   16     Stillness. Now the PHONE RINGS. A shape in the bed     stirs. A desk lamp flickers on, illuminating the phone.     Trevor's hand reaches for the receiver.                                 TREVOR                   Morning...                                 SUB UNIT (V.O.)                   'Morning, Mr. Garfield. This is                   the Sub Unit. Are you available                   for work?                                 TREVOR                          (clearing his throat)                   ... Yes, uh huh.                                 SUB UNIT (V.O.)                   There's a science class in the                   Valley at John Quincy Adams. It's                   a four day assignment. Teacher's                   name is Eskander.17   INT. TREVOR'S HOUSE - TREVOR'S PRAYER - SERIES OF SHOTS         17     We hear what God hears over the following...     A)   IN SHOWER          Trevor hangs his head under a torrent of soothing          water.     B)   TREVOR          Ceremoniously, he irons a shirt... and polishes his          shoes, a broad scar shows across the back of his hand.                                                       (CONTINUED)      1    8   7 - Rev. 7/10/96                                 12.17    CONTINUED:                                                      17      C)   ANOTHER ANGLE           His pressed slacks and tie hang meticulously over a           chair as he gets dressed.      D)   CRUCIFIX           Now Jesus Christ looks down on Trevor from his crucifix           on the bedroom wall.                                 TREVOR (V.O.)                          (kneeling bedside)                   ... If you're listening, God,                   please help me today. All I ask                   is a chance to do my job... t'do                   the job you put me here to do in                   the first place.                          (prayerfully now)                   Please help me accept those things                   I cannot change... and give me                   strength to change those things I                   can.                          (beat)                   ... This is me, Trevor, God.                   Amen.18    EXT. JOHN QUINCY ADAMS H.S. (SAN FERNANDO VALLEY) -             18      "A" BUILDING - MORNING      Traffic bottle-necks as students cross in front of cars,      and big yellow L.A.U.S.D. buses pull in. The green lawn      is scattered with students (about 65% Hispanic).      Compared to the scarred, institutional look of Roosevelt      Whitney, the face of John Quincy Adams is unblemished.      (This is your own backyard, not the inner city)      Sagging pants (Dickies, Ben Davis) and oversized jackets      (County Bens, Duke, Georgetown) are represented. The      different socio-economic and ethnic groups stick with      their own kind; the IHPs (Individual Honors Program), the      taggers, the Gangbangers, the Asians, the Armenians...18A   EXT. JQA PARKING LOT                                            18A      Anglo boy, Stevie Littleton, gets out of his mom's Lexus      in the school parking lot and walks towards school.19    INT./EXT. TREVOR'S '64 RAMBLER AMERICAN - FACULTY               19      PARKING LOT DRIVEWAY      Trevor sits behind the wheel of his Rambler.      Watches a      passing parade of students with detachment.     1   8   7 - Rev. 7/10/96                                 13.20   INT. JOHN QUINCY ADAMS - "A" BUILDING ENTRANCE - FEW           20     MINUTES LATER     Trevor, fat briefcase in hand, crosses the front lawn.     He's not the same Trevor we met back in Bedford-     Stuvyesant. Withdrawn, guarded, he manufactures a     cautious smile at students in passing.     Trevor now approaches VICTOR SIFUENTES, a young plain-     clothes narc, who intermittently wands students with a     metal detector at the front doors. FAVOR a kid now who     wears a baseball cap with an emblem on the crown that     says "Fucd."                               VICTOR                 ... Baseball cap, give it up.     The kid grudgingly reciprocates, handing over his cap.                               VICTOR                        (stopping Trevor now)                 Hold it, please.     Trevor produces his blue employee card.                               TREVOR                 I'm a substitute.                               VICTOR                        (pointing)                 Okay, you want the Main Office,                 straight ahead. Check in with                 Mrs. Ford.21   INT. JOHN QUINCY ADAMS - "A" BUILDING/MAIN CORRIDOR -          21     BEFORE FIRST PERIOD     Trevor wanders up the crowded corridor. Along with his     briefcase he now carries a sub folder that contains a     homeroom roster, lesson plans and seating charts.     A sporadic row of teachers, like weary sentinels, stand     outside their classrooms.     TEACHER #1 is an insipid woman in her mid-forties.   She's     overweight and wears too much make-up.                               TREVOR                 ... 'Scuse me. I'm lost. I'm                 looking for Bungalow...                        (checks homeroom roster)                 ... eighty-six.                                                   (CONTINUED)                                                                 14.21   CONTINUED:                                                        21                                TEACHER #1                         (pointing)                  All the way out, next to the                  parking lot. Last bungalow on the                  left.                                   TREVOR                  ... Thank you.                                TEACHER #1                         (fatalistic)                  Good luck.     Her comment weighs on him as he resumes his winding path     through the bustle of students headed for first period.22   INT. JOHN QUINCY ADAMS - MAIN CORRIDOR/CLASSROOMS -               22     TREVOR'S POV     Glancing through open doorways. Observing the inner life     of various classrooms in passing... sees students watch-     ing TV, teacher ignores them.     INTERCUT WITH:23   INT. JOHN QUINCY ADAMS - CLASSROOM #2                             23     ANGLO MALE, 39, slouching behind his desk, attempting to     read a newspaper but distracted by an offstage commotion.                                CLASSROOM #2 TEACHER (ANGLO MALE)                         (erupting)                  ... Sit down. I come back there                  and you're gonna be sorry.     INTERCUT WITH:24   INT. JOHN QUINCY ADAMS - CLASSROOM #3/COMPUTER LAB                24     On the opposite side of the corridor... we can hear     Ellen Henry's voice before reaching her doorway. All     brightness and light, full of enthusiasm...                                   ELLEN (O.S.)                         (like,    a buzzer;                          times    up)                  ... EEEEgghh!     Wrong. William,                  you know this.     C'mon, how do you                  find the pound    sign? What's the                  fastest way?                                                         (CONTINUED)                                                            15.24   CONTINUED:                                                   24     Now we see her through the doorway. ELLEN HENRY (TEACHER     #3). She's thirty, Anglo, and non-tenured. At the front     of the class ten students stand linked together, arm-in-     arm, in a human chain. WILLIAM (15) sits behind a computer     in the front row struggling to decipher the problem...                                ELLEN                         (playfully)                  You're not thinking.                         (a major clue)                  How 'bout Binary search.     William remains puzzled. The chain of students delight     in chiding him. "C'mon, Beavis!"...                                ELLEN                         (the answer)                  You split them!     Ellen attempts to bisect the impulsive chain of students     with a double-handed karate chop. Fickle chain that they     are, they resist.                                ELLEN                         (amused)                  ... Very funny.     Now a SLOW MOTION fleeting moment as she catches Trevor's     passing gaze and openly smiles at him.25   INT. MEN'S BATHROOM                                          25     Trevor rinses his face at the sink as Victor Sifuentes'     head speaks to him from above one of the heavily     graffitied stalls in b.g.                                VICTOR                  So who yuh here for?                                TREVOR                  Eskander.                                VICTOR                         (zipping up,                          exiting)                  Aw, man, you got bungalow                  duty.26   EXT. JOHN QUINCY ADAMS - BUNGALOWS - MORNING                 26     On a MEANDERING COURSE, MERGING with Trevor now.                                                    (CONTINUED)                                                                16.26   CONTINUED:                                                       26     Increasing evidence of tagging, and bands of wandering     students, indicate a higher degree of disorder the     further one gets from the Main Office.     FROM ABOVE NOW, like Algernon and his maze, Trevor     negotiates his own path deeper and deeper into the     configuration of bungalows.     ... And Trevor's trepidation. Eyes discerning every     passerby. His PULSE AUDIBLY RACES, senses heightened.     SHIFTING INTO SLOW MOTION AGAIN... And the reverberating     SOUND of a SPRAY PAINT MARBLE as Trevor rounds a corner     and comes face to face with three tag-bangers concealing     spray paint cans inside their oversized jackets. One of     the taggers locks eyes with Trevor as he passes, a slow     premonitory burn. The tagger has a "skin tight" (pelon)     hair cut and a string of black rosary beads around his     neck. A barcode tattoo on the back of his neck identi-     fies BENNY.27   EXT. UTILITY SHED AND VICINITY - MORNING                         27     ... Behind the bungalows, adjacent the delivery gate.     Meet DAVE CHILDRESS, a forty-something ditto-head.     The residual effects of a hangover linger as he sneaks a     cigarette before first period. He wears a faded Hawaiian     shirt and Huarache sandals. An old military tattoo     emblazons his left forearm. As he crushes out his     cigarette, something catches his eye.28   EXT. UTILITY SHED                                                28     ... Thru a chain-link fence we see a handful of cholo-     types loitering around the shed.     Childress investigates.    As he approaches the fence...                                CHILDRESS                         ... Hey, ese(s)?!     Homeboys scatter in all directions, some hop the chain-     link fence, others scurry out a narrow gate behind the     shed. Childress weighs an amused smirk. Now out of     nowhere a gangbanger lurches from the shed, buttoning     his sagging Dickies and tripping over his own feet. He     scrambles out the back gate and is gone.     Childress, curiosity piqued, now enters the compound     through a tear in the fence.     1   8   7 - Rev. 7/10/96                                 17.29   INT. UTILITY SHED - MOMENTS LATER                              29     As Childress pokes his head inside he discovers...     Rita Nartinez, seventeen... braless. A niobium belly-     ring piercing her navel. She pulls a dark blue sweat     shirt on over her head. Glances up at Childress. Masks     her shame with a defiant smirk.     (Behind the heavy eyeliner and baggy pants of a chola,     Rita's really nothing more than a little lost girl.)                               CHILDRESS                        (knowing full well)                 What the hell's going on here,                 lil' sister?30   INT. BUNGALOW "84" - MORNING                                   30     Trevor flicks on the lights, exposing bare, colorless     walls and closed venetian blinds. His breathing's     slightly labored as he sets down his briefcase. His back     faces the mob of students that trickle in now as he takes     a surreptitious hit off an inhaler. Almost instantly his     breathing returns to normal.     Now he shuts his eyes and prepares to conjure up the     dormant enthusiasm he used to have. Takes a deep     cathartic breath. Now he digs a file folder out of his     briefcase, opens it, selects a dispatch and approaches     the blackboard.     BELL RINGS as he picks up a piece of chalk... and begins.     First he writes his name in the corner of the blackboard.     Now he moves to the center of the blackboard and begins     to write per the file folder in his hand...     "GLIS WAS VERY FRAPPER.    SHE HAD DENARPEN FARFIE'S     MARDSEN..."     No one pays much attention.    Back still facing the     class...                               TREVOR                 ... Before taking roll, I'd like                 to prove a point.     Now one or two students begin to notice the     indecipherable gibberish he is writing on the board...                                                     (CONTINUED)                                                               18.30   CONTINUED:                                                      30                                 BARSEK                         (Armenian; a disparaging                          laugh)                  'Farfie?'                         (cholo-like)                  Whad up, Farfie?     Trevor mentally blocks out the salvo of grunts, groans     and expletives. With each subsequent stroke of the chalk     he is exorcising his demons...                                TREVOR                  ... It's not important what... or                  who... 'Farfie' is.     Turning to face the class now...                                TREVOR                  Yuh wanna play, yuh gotta stay.                  Have a seat, please.     A handful of students take their seats.                                TREVOR                         (pacing now)                  The point I'd like to make is                  this... Anyone here can be a                  scientist.     ... a grudging buzz of confusion.                                ASIAN GIRL                         (sotto; puzzled)                  ... What's he talking about?                                 TREVOR                  ... A scientist is like a                  detective. He investigates data.                  He scratches the surface of things                  he doesn't understand to see                  what's underneath.                         (pointing to blackboard)                  ... Things like this. Okay, who                  wants to read?     Barsek (the class clown) breaks in...                                BARSEK                         (standing up)                  I'll do it.     Trevor quiets a harmless barrage of, "Bart," "sit down"     and "Armenian Power sucks"...                                                       (CONTINUED)                                                               19.30   CONTINUED:    (2)                                               30                                 TREVOR                  Come on, we don't need disrespect.                  Let 'im do it.                         (to Barsek)                  What's your name?                                   BARSEK                  Barsek.     A wisp of gratification flickers at the corner of     Trevor's mouth.                                   TREVOR                  Okay, Barsek.     Read.     (The following is read in fits and starts and accompanied     by diminishing laughter and ridicule.)                                BARSEK                  ... Glis was very frapper. She                  had denarpen Farfie's Mardsen.                  She couldn't galp a giberter for                  Farfie. Instead she wharked to                  plimp a mardsen binky for him.                                TREVOR                  Okay, anyone know what Barsek just                  said?     ... A unanimous "No." Trevor can see the light at the     end of the tunnel now. He's back in the zone.                                TREVOR                  That's alright. You don't need to                  understand something to answer a                  few simple questions about it.                  Every one of you is capable of                  decoding data. Watch.     Trevor writes question #1 on the board...              1. WHY WAS GLIS FRAPPER?                                TREVOR                  ... Why was Glis Frapper?   Can                  anyone tell me?     The Asian Girl, into it now, tentatively raises her hand.                                   TREVOR                            (pointing at                             Asian Girl)                  Okay.                                                       (CONTINUED)                                                               20.30   CONTINUED:    (3)                                               30     Asian Girl's POV as she studies the first two sentences     on the board.                                ASIAN GIRL                         (slowly; cautiously)                  ... Glis was frapper... because...                  she had denarpen Farfie's mardsen?                                TREVOR                         (understated)                  That's right. You got it.                         (reactions all around)                  Let's try another.     Trevor reads and writes question #2 on the board...              2. WHAT DID GLIS PLIMP?                                TREVOR                  ... What did Glis plimp?     Before Trevor can finish writing the question, an     unidentified voice blurts out, "He plimped a Ho."     Scattered laughter. Trevor grimaces, shakes his head.     Now attempts to add the question mark at the end of the     sentence but the chalk breaks, causing dissension.                                 TREVOR                         (searching blackboard                          ledge)                  ... Hold on, hold on. Where's                  your teacher keep the chalk?                                ASIAN GIRL                  ... In the desk.     Trevor hastily rifles through the teacher's drawers.     A     startling discovery abruptly halts his search...     CLOSER now INTO a brown paper bag Trevor has opened.     Inside the bag is a .357 Magnum.     OFF Trevor's narrowing gaze, an offstage voice     interrupts...                                CHILDRESS (O.S.)                  ... Can I help you?     Trevor lifts his head to see Dave Childress standing in     the doorway of the bungalow. Trevor shuts the desk     drawer. You can hear a pin drop.     Childress piston-chews a wad of gum as he approaches     Trevor.                                                       (CONTINUED)     1   8   7 - Rev. 7/10/96                               21.30   CONTINUED: (4)                                               30                               CHILDRESS                 Sorry I'm late. Had to handle                 something. You a sub?                               TREVOR                        (puzzled)                 I thought this was Science.                 Ms. Eskander.     Childress weighs a shit-eating grin as he glances at     Trevor's name on the board.                               CHILDRESS                 No. This is Dave Childress,                 American History.     Some students brave a laugh at Trevor's expense.                               CHILDRESS                 ... Don't know how to break it to                 you...                        (glancing at                         Trevor's name again)                 ... Garfield... but this is                 bungalow 84.     Childress now places a patronizing hand on Trevor's     shoulder and steers him toward the window blinds.                               CHILDRESS                 See, you zigged when you shoulda                 zagged. Course it's not your                 fault someone jacked the number                 off my door. Keep askin' Garcia                 to fix it but all I get is 'nada.'     Childress draws the blinds on one of the windows exposing     another bungalow across the way.31   INT. BUNGALOW #86 - THROUGH WINDOW PANE                      31     ... In complete disarray. Students clutter the doorway     as wads of paper intermittently zing past them.                               CHILDRESS                 ... that mess over there, that's                 Eskander's.     OFF Trevor's unflinching stare...     1   8   7 - Rev. 7/10/96                                  22.32   INT. BUNGALOW #86 - MORNING                                     32     The bungalow was originally designed for lab science:     glass-encased cupboards, a caged white lab rat on a side     counter, an 8' by 3' counter top (island) at the front of     the room, including a built-in sink and butane gas valve.     Students crowd the opened windows on the far side of the     room. The chaotic atmosphere centers around one     student... Benny Chacon (18), the tagger we met earlier.     Trevor's back to square one. He struggles with     trepidation as he steps into the doorway of the bungalow     and hesitates.     A young black girl, LAKESIA STEWART (16), stands near the     doorway. She cradles a realistic looking E.N.A.B.L. baby     (Education Now And Babies Later).                                LAKESIA                 You our sub?     Trevor takes a peek at the doll.                               LAKESIA                 It's not real. We're studying                 teen parenting in home-ec.' It's                 computerized, so it cries and shit.     Crowd at the windows begins to disperse now, finding     their seats, except for Benny who doesn't budge. Trevor     approaches, gazes out the window, eyes sizing up the     situation.33   EXT. BUNGALOW #86 - TREVOR'S POV - TEXTBOOKS                    33     Scattered on the blacktop between the parking lot fence     and bungalow #86 are 35 science textbooks.34   INT. BUNGALOW #86                                               34                                TREVOR                        (addressing Benny;                          without prejudging)                 You know how the books got                 outside?     Benny plays with the black rosary around his neck.     Responds with mock ignorance.                               BENNY                 No speaky Engless.                                                       (CONTINUED)                                                                  23.34   CONTINUED:                                                         34     Class erupts with laughter.      A wad of paper sails past     Trevor and out the window.                                BENNY                  You speak Spanish, Mister... Whas                  yer name?                                  TREVOR                  Garfield.                                 BENNY                  ... You speak Spanish, Mister G?                         (as Trevor ignores                           the question)                  Eh, G... know what dat means when                  a homeboy calls you 'G'? Dat means                  gangster, homes. You a gangster,                  maestro?                                TREVOR                  No, I'm not a gangster.                         (beat)                  Would you please do me a favor and                  pick up the books?                                 BENNY                         (righteous                          indignation)                  Andate a la mierda.                         (more laughs)                  I ain't pickin' dat shit up.   You                  go pick it up.     Benny now finds a seat.      Trevor follows him.                                TREVOR                  What's your name?                                  BENNY                  Cesar Chavez.    Don't you recognize                  me?     Class laughs. Trevor refers to the seating chart (inside     the sub folder) in his hand but Benny's not sitting in     his proper seat. Benny indicates a 2" by 3" monitoring     device strapped to his ankle...                                BENNY                  See dis? I'm already on house                  arrest, homes. Ain't nothin' more                  you can do to me.                                                         (CONTINUED)     1   8   7 - Rev. 7/10/96                                  24.34   CONTINUED:    (2)                                               34     Suddenly three students across from Benny (the other     three taggers we saw earlier, Cesar Sanchez, Stevie     Littleton and Paco) stand with bold impunity. All are     17. Cesar has a buzz-cut, Stevie's an Anglo speed freak     with a runny nose and a bleached one-clip haircut (roots     showing) and Paco, a Latino.                                TREVOR                  Sit down, please.     Cesar, Stevie and Paco ignore Trevor and walk out of the     bungalow. Their departure is accompanied by a tumultuous     outburst of catcalls and whistles.                                 LAKESIA                          (peeking Benny's                           hold card)                  Mr. G, those guys that jus' walked                  out aren't even in here this                  period.                          (pointing to Benny)                  And this fool's name is Benny                  Chacon.                                BENNY                         (whirls in his seat)                  Shut yer mouth, hood rat! School                  girl bitch!                                 TREVOR                  Okay, Benny.   That's enough.     Benny turns his wrath on Trevor now.                                BENNY                  Hey, you ain't no real teacher.                  Fool, you're nothin' but a sub.                  T'ink yer so cool... You mus' be                  'Mr. culo.'     Scattered laughter. Trevor closes the sub folder and     just looks at Benny.                                TREVOR                         (a cool curiosity)                  Why do you wear a rosary?                                 BENNY                          (reacting)                  Ain't none a' yer damn business.                  To put God on me, okay? Why don't                  you jus' go sit down and read yer                  newspaper. Wanna-be, mother                  fucker.                                                       (CONTINUED)                                                                 25.34   CONTINUED:    (3)                                                 34     Trevor just stands there, studies Benny.       A palpable     beat.                                  TREVOR                  Are you done?     There is dead silence as Benny stares Trevor straight in     the eye. Trevor stares right back.                                BENNY                  Jus' gimme a referral.    Shit.     Trevor turns and calmly walks back to the island counter,     searches and finds a referral slip in one of the drawers,     fills it out...                                 TREVOR                         (cool deliberation)                  For future reference, anyone who                  disrupts a class, or in any way                  infringes on the rights of others                  to get an education, is subject to                  disciplinary action.                         (beat)                  When I'm here, ladies and                  gentlemen, I expect to be treated                  decently...                         (walks back                           to Benny)                  ... hopefully in an atmosphere of                  mutual respect. This classroom is                  our sanctuary, yours and mine.                  Respect it.                         (handing Benny                           the referral)                  For your information, I am a real                  teacher.                                BENNY                  Whatever you say, Opie.     Benny has a smirk on his face as he sashays past Trevor     with the referral slip.                                TREVOR                  Okay, who would like to help me                  pick up the books?     Benny, a self-aggrandized exit, crumbles the referral     slip and tosses it at Trevor, hitting him square in the     back.     Like a reflex, Trevor whirls and ducks.        Students laugh     at his heightened reaction.      1   8   7 - Rev. 7/10/96                                  26.34A   EXT. JQA - FACULTY DINING ROOM                                  34A      We see kids at an armored Coke machine.      PAN OFF machine      to see kids at lunch.35    INT. JQA - FACULTY DINING ROOM - LUNCHTIME                      35      Trevor sits by himself, lost in stirring a bowl of soup.      He observes a talkative clique of teachers at the far end      of the table, including Teacher #1.      Now Dave Childress sits down, disrupting Trevor's      solitude.                                CHILDRESS                  How goes the battle, Garfield?      Dave bites into a messy sandwich as he skims the front      page of a newspaper that someone left behind.                                CHILDRESS                  D'juh get that binky marsden farfied?      Trevor doesn't say a word. Just keeps stirring his soup      ... Now notices Ellen Henry as she enters and joins the      food line.                                CHILDRESS                  Know what I think? I think that                  Chacon punk's the one who opened                  your bungalow this morning.                         (another bite)                  Eskander doesn't know how to lock                  a window.      TREVOR'S POV - ELLEN AND CASHIER      The cashier (Armenian girl, 15) is one of Ellen's      students. As Ellen pays for a sandwich...                                ELLEN                  ... Come by the lab after school,                  we'll work on it...      BACK TO TREVOR AND CHILDRESS                                CHILDRESS                  Want some advice?      Trevor slides Dave a glance.                                                        (CONTINUED)                                                               27.35   CONTINUED:                                                      35                                CHILDRESS                  First homeboy that gives you the                  slightest bit of trouble... send                  'um tuh Larry Hyland. He's their                  counselor. Right off the bat, yuh                  have to sacrifice one. Let 'um                  know who's boss. Show some balls.                         (as Trevor nods)                  And don't look for support from                  the administration. Most of 'em                  haven't been in a classroom in ten                  years. They don't know shit. I                  got tenure and I'm still out here                  in the damn bungalows. I should                  be in the 'A' building with a nice                  air-conditioned room.                         (sarcastically)                  You met Garcia yet? The principal?     Trevor shakes his head as Ellen Henry takes the empty     seat at the end of the table, smiles at Trevor.                                ELLEN                  Ah!  New blood!                         (extends a hand)                  Ellen Henry, computer science.                                TREVOR                  Trevor Garfield.     As they shake right in front of Childress' face he can't     help noticing the mean scar on the back of Trevor's hand.                                CHILDRESS                  Nice scar yuh got there.     There's something familiar about this sub.                                CHILDRESS                  Ever sub here before?                                TREVOR                  First time.                                CHILDRESS                         (curiously)                  What about permanent?                                TREVOR                  I taught seven years in the                  Bedford-Stuyvesant section of                  Brooklyn. Roosevelt Whitney High                  School.                                                       (CONTINUED)                                                                28.35   CONTINUED:    (2)                                                35                                CHILDRESS                  Roosevelt Whitney? Didn't some                  teacher get stabbed to death there                  last year?                                TREVOR                  Actually, he survived.                                CHILDRESS                  No, it was on 'Sixty Minutes.' Some                  gangbanger stabbed this guy with a                  ten-penny nail like a dozen times                  in a hallway and...     Childress looks from Trevor silently stirring his soup     down to the scar again... and now it hits him.                                CHILDRESS                  Jesus Christ, you're him.   It was                  you.     Ellen blanches.                                CHILDRESS                         (awestruck)                  Holy shit, Garfield. When was                  that? December before last? No,                  it was fall.                                 TREVOR                  October 27.                                CHILDRESS                  Whadda schmuck. I'm sittin' here                  givin' advice to a man with a                  purple heart.                                 ELLEN                  Excuse me...     Inexplicably, she gets up and leaves. As Trevor watches     Ellen go, Childress slides closer to him.                                 CHILDRESS                         (sotto)                  Lemme tell yuh somethin'. In my                  book you're a fuckin' hero. Damn                  straight.     Trevor slides a look back to Dave as he eats his soup.                                TREVOR                  ... Getting stabbed doesn't make me                  a hero.                                                        (CONTINUED)                                                                29.35   CONTINUED:    (3)                                                35                                CHILDRESS                         (disregards                          Trevor's comment)                  So what'd they give the kid?                                TREVOR                  They put 'im upstate in a facility                  until his twenty-first birthday.                                CHILDRESS                  That all? They shoulda caned the                  bastard. Like they did that kid                  in Singapore. Remember?                         (recollecting)                  President of Singapore had a few                  choice words. Use to have it                  memorized... He said something                  like, 'When a state of increasing                  disorder and defiance cannot be                  checked by the rules... then new                  and sometimes drastic rules have                  to be forged to maintain order.'                         (slides Trevor                          a glance)                  'The alternative is to surrender                  order to chaos and anarchy.'                                TREVOR                  So why do you still teach?                                CHILDRESS                  Same reason as you, Garfield -- for                  the paycheck.36   EXT. BUNGALOW #86 - AFTERNOON (SIXTH PERIOD; NEXT DAY)           36     The windows and blinds are shut now.37   INT. BUNGALOW #86 - CLOCK ON WALL - CONTINUOUS ACTION            37     is inching toward the top of the hour.     Closing their books and loading their knapsacks, the     students talk and pay more attention to the inexorable     march of time than to Trevor writing on an overhead     projector.                                TREVOR                  Okay, someone tell me the                  difference between the central                  nervous system and the lymphatic                  system?                                                        (CONTINUED)     1   8   7 - Rev. 7/10/96                                   30.37   CONTINUED:                                                       37     Rita Nartinez (the chola from the "utility" shed) sits     near the front of the class. She wears her usual heavy     eyeliner and a new nose ring.                                RITA                         (obscenely)                  Mr. G, you gotta nice butt.     Class erupts. Rita enjoys the attention.        Trevor turns     and looks at her squarely.                                TREVOR                  You seem to be an expert on                  anatomy, Miss --                         (checks roster)                  -- Nartinez. Central nervous                  system and lymphatic system.                  What's the difference?                                RITA                  ... Uh...     Trevor doesn't expect anything remotely close to the     right answer.                                RITA                  It's like the central nervous                  system, that's your brain and                  spinal cord, and the lymphatic                  system, that's the stuff in your                  blood that fights diseases.     A beat.   Trevor looks up at her.                                TREVOR                  Very good.     Trevor notices Cesar Sanchez writing on his desk.      Stevie     cranes his neck to observe. Paco snoozes.                                TREVOR                  Cesar.     Cesar throws back his head and jerks both hands from his     desk top. Trevor walks up the aisle.                                TREVOR                  You writing on your desk?                                                        (CONTINUED)                                                                31.37   CONTINUED:    (2)                                                37                                CESAR                         (coolly)                  You see anything in my hands?                         (displaying his                          empty palms)                  I don't think so.     Trevor looks down at the tagging on Cesar's desktop. In     one corner are the letters K-O-S, and below that the word     "cartoon."                                TREVOR                  K-O-S, what's that? That a                  tagging crew?     Cesar shrugs with a big grin.                                TREVOR                  Cartoon... Is that you, Cesar?                         (off no response)                  'K-O-S' has something to do with                  your friend Benny?                                CESAR                  ... Dawg. You're a sucker. K-O-S                  stands for 'Kappin' Off Suckers.'                  Don't disrespect my homeboy, Benny.                  He don't like it. He don't like                  you.     Trevor dismisses Cesar's comments.                                TREVOR                  Do me a favor, Cesar. Go get a                  paper towel from the counter and                  wipe off your desk.                         (beat)                  And Mr. Littleton, please oblige                  me and turn that tagger shirt                  inside-out.     Stevie wears a fusion T-shirt emblazoned with a giant     spray can.                                STEVIE                         (refusing)                  Hyland said it was okay, Sucker.     Neither of them budge. Momentous deliberation. Now the     BELL RINGS and the classroom empties in a matter of     seconds. Cesar stares daggers at Trevor as he exits.     Rita hangs back, the last one to leave.      She doesn't want     anyone to see her talking to Trevor.                                                        (CONTINUED)                                                              32.37   CONTINUED:    (3)                                              37                                RITA                         (self-conscious)                  Don't pay no attention to them.                  They jus' tryin' tuh fuck wit'                  you, Mr. G. I mean play wit' you.                         (beat)                  Sorry I said you had a nice ass.                                TREVOR                         (a pensive beat)                  ... Apology accepted.                                RITA                         (in her own defense)                  I ain't no school girl.                                TREVOR                  God forbid anyone should think                  that.     Rita flickers an awkward smile, turns and exits. The     class empties and Trevor is left staring at the empty desks     where Benny and Cesar sat... WHACK -- Trevor's reverie is     broken by a BASKETBALL smashing against the side of the     bungalow.     POV - OUT THE WINDOW     A group of boys grin mischieviously at the reaction they     get from Trevor... continue smashing the ball against     bungalows.     TREVOR     shifts his gaze from them to the venetian blinds framing     the window... to the clock over his desk.38   INT. BUNGALOW #86 - CLOSE ON VENETIAN BLINDS - LATER           38     (AFTER SCHOOL)     as they open -- revealing the clock -- and just as     suddenly close. TILT DOWN to find Trevor working the     cords to the blinds he's rigged over the timeplace.     A FAINT KNOCK breaks his spell as he glances up to     discover Ellen Henry standing in the open doorway.                                   ELLEN                  May I come in?                                                      (CONTINUED)                                                             33.38   CONTINUED:                                                    38                                   TREVOR                  Yeah...                         (points at her)                  ... Ellen.                                   ELLENA                            (pointing back)                  Trevor.     He sees her looking quizzically at the blinds he's rigged     over the clock.                                TREVOR                         (explaining)                  I'm making time a reward instead                  of a distraction.     Impressed, Ellen peruses the room now with a benign gaze.                                ELLEN                  Clever... Listen, I wanted to                  apologize for jumping up like I                  did at lunch. I was just feeling                  a little weird...                                   TREVOR                  It's alright.                                ELLEN                  For what it's worth, Dave                  Childress thinks you walk on                  water.                                TREVOR                  Is that a good thing?     Ellen flickers a grin, point taken.                                ELLEN                  I think it takes a lot of                  courage to go back into a                  classroom after something like                  that.                                TREVOR                  Not if the only thing you ever                  wanted to do was teach.                                ELLEN                         (smiles)                  Now you see, there's our                  predicament.                                                     (CONTINUED)     1   8   7 - Rev. 7/10/96                                  34.38   CONTINUED:    (2)                                               38     WHACK -- the noise pulls Ellen's attention out the     window where the boys play a rough game of BASKETBALL.                                ELLEN                  I assume you've met Benny Chacon?                                TREVOR                  I have.                                ELLEN                         (absently)                  Last week Benny and his tagging                  crew had Ms. Eskander pinned in                  the corner over there.                         (pointing)                  ... She's seven months pregnant                  and he's tormenting her with a                  broom handle... Can I help you                  with those?     Trevor is trying to put some books on an upper shelf,     but he's having trouble raising his arm high enough.     Ellen sees he's in pain.                                TREVOR                  No thanks.     She watches him struggle, then breaks the awkwardness.                                ELLEN                  So anyway, Gloria kicks Benny...                  and if the district construes it                  as assault and battery on a                  student, she's gone.                                TREVOR                  They'd do that?                                 ELLEN                  In a heart beat. She's non-                  tenured, they don't want to get                  sued...                          (with resignation)                  Don't be surprised if she files                  for stress leave by the end of                  the week. Too bad, too. She's a                  good teacher.     WHACK... WHACK... Outside, the kids continue to play.     The late sun makes their violent shadows swarm over Ellen.                                ELLEN                  Can I ask you a personal question?                                                       (CONTINUED)                                                                35.38   CONTINUED:    (3)                                                38     Trevor glances up.    Here's what she really wants to     know...                                ELLEN                         (tentatively now)                  Why'd that kid attack you?                                TREVOR                  Because I flunked him.                                ELLEN                         (sobered)                  Is there any way you can see                  something like that coming?                                TREVOR                  When they say they wanna kill you,                  you'd best take it serious. This                  kid was an O.T. -- Opportunity                  Transfer -- but nobody told me                  until it was too late.     A beat.                                ELLEN                  Did you know Benny's an O.T.?...                  In less than a year he's been                  convicted of felony assault and                  suspended twice. I even testified                  against him as a character witness.                  Now I get to see him every day in                  homeroom. I'm stuck with him.                  Condition of his probation is                  that he stay in school.                                TREVOR                  You talk to the principal?                                ELLEN                  Many times... Three weeks ago,                  Garcia calls Benny's mother in for                  a conference, but she refuses to                  show up. She's afraid they'll                  deport her because she's illegal.                  So she contacts the A.C.L.U. and                  some attorney tells her she                  doesn't have to come in.                         (still can't                          believe)                  Garcia got cold feet and dropped                  the whole thing.                         (fear building)                  This kid's threatening me and all                  he's worried about is a lawsuit.                                                        (CONTINUED)     1   8   7 - Rev. 7/10/96                                    36.38   CONTINUED:    (4)                                                 38                                TREVOR                         (intent now)                  What'd Benny say to you?     Tears involuntarily well up in Ellen's eyes.     HOLD for     an awkward moment as she collects herself.                                ELLEN                  That he wanted to hurt me.   Real                  bad.                                TREVOR                  Does he know where you live?                                ELLEN                  I think so. Someone's been phoning                  me at night and hanging up... Two                  weeks ago, my car was broken into...                  And last Friday, I think he was                  inside my house... But I can't                  prove it.     The shadows of the basketball players rage inside the     bungalow.                                ELLEN                         (bottom lip quivers)                  ... I don't know what to do.                                  TREVOR                  You can quit.                                  ELLEN                  You didn't.     OFF Trevor's severe gaze...39   EXT. LA RIVER OVERPASS - NIGHT                                    39     ... Trace the cold underbelly of the overpass. The glare     of oncoming headlights flash overhead as we DISCOVER a     tagging wall.     CLOSER now...     ... The wall is completely covered with graffiti. The     centerpiece of the wall is a 5' by 10' multi-color     "placa" that reads...                                      K.O.S.     ANGLING TO DISCOVER an Anglo tagger now as he defaces     the "S" in K-O-S, covering it with his own piece.                                                      (CONTINUED)     1   8   7 - Rev. 7/11/96                                     37.39   CONTINUED:                                                         39     Suddenly the lone tagger feels a presence at his back.     He freezes. Now slowly turns to see...     ... Benny, Cesar and Paco.     Merely shadows. Benny lights a blunt, illuminating his     face. Passes it to Cesar...                                   TAGGER                  Do I know you?                                BENNY                         (indicates tagging)                  You should. You're fuckin' with                  my piece, puto.                                TAGGER                         (nervously)                  ... You from K.O.S.? No shit?     Cesar and Paco burst into hysterical laughter which     only manages to get Benny piqued.                                TAGGER                         (panicking)                  Look, I didn't mean nothin'. Lemme                  fix it. I can fix it. Okay?     Cesar and Paco laugh harder.                                BENNY                         (to Cesar)                  Eh, shut up, mojado!                         (to Tagger now)                  Don't mess wit' me, whiteboy.    I'll                  cap yer ass.     He pulls a .380 or a .25 automatic out of his pocket.     Brandishes it at Cesar and Paco...                                BENNY                  I said shut up! Shut the fuck up!     A BEEPER hooked on Benny's pants pocket BEEPS. Benny     shuts it off. The Tagger sees his opportunity and makes     a break for it. Without a second thought, Benny SHOOTS     him in the leg. Tagger crumbles to the ground. Benny's     really pissed now. Checks his beeper's glow-in-the-dark     face for the message.                                BENNY                         (reacting to message)                  I don't have no time to put up                  wit' 'dis shit!                                                          (CONTINUED)     1   8   7 - Rev. 7/11/96                                38.39   CONTINUED:    (2)                                             39     Cesar and Paco attempt to subdue their laughter but     fail...                                BENNY                  You think it's funny?!     Benny lifts a pant leg.    Indicates his ankle monitor with     the barrel of his gun.                                BENNY                  I don't call my P.O. in 15                  minutes, I'm fucked.     Venting rage, Benny walks up the wounded Tagger and     STARTS SHOOTING (one hand high near his face, shooting     downward). Now he kisses the crucifix on his rosary like     a sick, distorted affectation.                                BENNY                  Dis is K.O.S.' neighborhood.     Cesar and Paco laugh even harder now, falling all     over each other. Benny storms off. He marches past a     street lamp and is swallowed up by the night.40   EXT. L.A. RIVER - NIGHT                                       40     SUBJECT CAMERA FOLLOWING Benny. Oblivious that he's     being followed, Benny walks at a steady pace. As we     continue gaining ground on him, a SOUND UPCUT of     TREVOR CALLING ROLL transports us to...41   INT. BUNGALOW #86 - ON BENNY'S EMPTY DESK - NEXT MORNING      41     (FIRST PERIOD)     Amid unresponsive cross talk:                                TREVOR (O.S.)                  Sergio Arrellano... Blanca                  Orantes... Andrew Blackwell...                  Benny Chacon...                                LAKESIA                         (chiming in)                  Benny's not here.     Trevor gazes opaquely at Benny's empty seat.                                LAKESIA                  I think he went AWOL, Mr. G.                                                             39.42   EXT. VACANT DIRT LOT - AFTERNOON                              42     An eight-year-old Hispanic kid pulls a red Flexi-Flyer     wagon (laden with pop bottles and aluminum cans) across     weeds and cracked earth.     He suddenly stops and stares at something in the weeds.     Snatches it up, studies it, and tosses it with everything     else.     SLOWLY MOVING IN ON the wagon now...     ... thru a thin shroud of dust as it bangs and bumps     along.     Even CLOSER now on the last retrieved article... It's     Benny's ankle monitor.43   INT. JOHN QUINCY ADAMS - "A" BUILDING - MAIN CORRIDOR -       43     DAY (FIFTH PERIOD)     Trevor emerges from Assistant Principal Ford's office and     walks up the empty corridor, without breaking stride.                                ELLEN (O.S.)                      (muted)               ... Trevor.     Trevor retraces his steps back to the door of Ellen's     plant-filled, personalized computer lab. Over the     CLACKING of COMPUTER KEYS...                             TREVOR                      (quietly)               Eskander filed for stress leave.               They want me to finish out the               semester.                             ELLEN               That's great...                             TREVOR                      (with humility)               It's only 'til the end of the               year.                             ELLEN               Listen, I never thanked you               for letting me cry on your               shoulder.     Trevor flickers a conciliatory nod, now he averts his     eyes.                                                   (CONTINUED)                                                               40.43   CONTINUED:                                                      43                                 TREVOR                  That's okay.                                ELLEN                         (digressing now)                  Hey, have you seen Benny lately?                         (as Trevor shrugs)                  Ford told me he hasn't phoned                  his P.O. in four days.                         (weighs guilt;                          whispering)                  You know what they say. Be                  careful what you pray for. Don't                  get me wrong, Benny's made my life                  a living hell. I even moved back                  in with my mother because of him.                  I love my mother, but if I eat one                  more dinner off a TV tray or watch                  one more rerun of 'Wheel of                  Fortune,' I think I'll lose my                  fucking mind.     Now an EGG TIMER RINGS O.S. on Ellen's desk.      Back into     the classroom...                                ELLEN                         (to class)                  Time's up. Everyone stop working.     Realizing now that all the CLACKING COMPUTER KEYS have     stopped moments ago. All eyes are fixed on Ellen and     Trevor.     ... Big knowing grins all around.44   OMITTED                                                         4445   EXT. TREVOR'S HOUSE - EVENING                                   45     Balmy and still.     ON bug zapper above garage, a churning, SLOW MOTION     swarm of bugs repeatedly throw themselves headlong into     the light.46   INT. TREVOR'S LIVING ROOM - CONTINUOUS ACTION                   46     MUSIC plays faintly on the STEREO. Numerous artifacts     occupy the bookshelves. A primitive AFRICAN MASAI BOW     (with two arrows) is mounted on a wall.                                                       (CONTINUED)     1   8   7 - Rev. 7/10/96                                  41.46   CONTINUED:                                                      46     Trevor, tie loosened. Ellen, in nylon stocking feet,     leaning back against a couch. On the coffee table before     them are dirty dishes and half-full wine glasses.     Trevor's lost in a thin introspective smile.                                ELLEN                         (breaks the silence)                  ... So you have a wife hiding in a                  closet somewhere?                                 TREVOR                          (smile widens)                  No.   No wife.                                ELLEN                  Don't you ever get lonely?     Trevor considers the question.                                TREVOR                         (genuinely)                  Sometimes. There's this passage                  in God's Lonely Man by Thomas                  Wolfe where he says, '... The                  whole conviction of my life rests                  upon the belief that loneliness is                  the central and inevitable fact of                  human existence.' I believe that.                                ELLEN                  God that's depressing.     They both laugh.                                TREVOR                  ... My New York mentality.                         (beat)                  It's not always easy looking on                  the bright side.                                ELLEN                  Especially after spending a year                  in and out of a hospital, I                  would guess.     A beat.                                TREVOR                  Actually, that wasn't the toughest                  part -- it's the robbery that's                  been hardest to recover from.                                ELLEN                         (didn't know about this)                  What'd they steal?                                                       (CONTINUED)     1   8   7 - Rev. 7/10/96                                 42.46   CONTINUED:    (2)                                              46                               TREVOR                  My passion. My old, unguarded                  self. I resent that. I want them                  back.     He offers a smile.        Ellen returns it.                                ELLEN                  They're still there. Everybody                  around me seems to have given up.                  They're all so beaten down. But                  you're different. You refuse to                  be beaten.                                  TREVOR                  So do you.     Kindred souls.      Ellen fills her glass.                                 ELLEN                  Remember the last time a student                  surprised you?                                TREVOR                  You mean where a light goes on?                                ELLEN                  Yeah. Where the kid surpasses all                  your expectations.                                TREVOR                  ... Been awhile. So few you can                  actually get through to... You?                                ELLEN                         (thinks)                  ... That would have to be Daniel                  Terrazas. This was last year                  sometime. Kid was failing miserably                  ... But he was the best Salsa dancer                  in the whole school.                                  TREVOR                           (brightens slightly)                  Uh-oh.                                ELLEN                  So I made 'im a deal. Tutoring in                  exchange for Salsa lessons.                                TREVOR                  Saw it... Jerry Springer.                                                      (CONTINUED)     1   8   7 - Rev. 7/10/96                                   43.46   CONTINUED:    (3)                                                46                               ELLEN                  No, no. He was a perfect                  gentleman.                                 TREVOR                         (dryly)                  Male teachers can't do things like                  that. They get arrested.                                ELLEN                  Yep, double standard... By the way,                  did you know Cesar Sanchez was                  Special Ed?                         (as Trevor shakes                          his head)                  Yep, he never should've been                  mainstreamed. His I.E.P. says he's                  L.H. but he acts more like S.E.D.                                TREVOR                  Severely Emotionally Disturbed...                  that's great.     A beat. Then Ellen gets up, wine glass balanced in her     left hand.                                ELLEN                  Come on, Garfield -- on your feet.                  Lemme teach you how to Salsa.                                TREVOR                         (resisting)                  No, no, I'm no good at that.     Ellen spins the tuner on the STEREO to a LATIN STATION     and practically yanks Trevor to his feet.                                 ELLEN                  Let's go.   Don't play shy with me,                  homeboy.     Trevor grimaces, awkwardly relinquishes, as Ellen walks     him through it.                                 ELLEN                         (still holding wine                          glass)                  That's it... Okay, follow me. It                  starts on the one. Step forward                  with your left foot... One. Change                  weight on, two.                                 (MORE)                                                        (CONTINUED)                                                             44.46   CONTINUED:    (4)                                             46                                 ELLEN (CONT'D)                  And three, feet                  back together... Now do the same                  in reverse, starting with your                  right foot.                         (talks their way                           through)                  One, two, three... One, two                  three...     Trevor concentrates. Up to speed now. Technically he's     got it, he just needs to loosen up. Ellen suppresses a     gleeful snicker. Now, Trevor attempts to cut loose.     He spins Ellen once, into a tango step, one-two-three.     Now an awkward dip, causing her glass to spill wine down     the back of his shirt...                                ELLEN                         (horrified,                          giggling)                  Oh, my God... your shirt.   Oh, no,                  I'm so sorry.                                TREVOR                         (self-conscious)                  It's alright.     He dashes toward the hallway bathroom.                                ELLEN                  Can I help?                                TREVOR (O.S.)                  Grab the baking soda outta the                  fridge.     In a flurry, Ellen rushes into the kitchen. Flips on the     kitchen light, jerks open the refrigerator and locates     the baking soda.     FOLLOWING now, as she MOVES STEADILY FROM the kitchen TO     the hallway bathroom...47   OMITTED                                                       4748   INT. TREVOR'S - HALLWAY/BATHROOM                              48     as Ellen steps into the doorway and lets out a startled     gasp, dropping the box of baking soda.     Trevor is bent over, scrubbing his shirt in the sink.     His bare back and shoulders are scattered with brutal     knife scars.                                                             45.49   EXT. MOTHER HENRY'S - AFTER MIDNIGHT                          49     A tract house in the central San Fernando Valley.     Trevor's Rambler is parked at the curb. The house is dark     except for a porch light.     Trevor and Ellen are greeted by Ellen's golden retriever     Jack, who's chained to the front porch. JACK WHIMPERS,     ready to bark.                             ELLEN               Don't start barking, Jack.                             TREVOR                      (petting him)               Hey there, boy. You're a good               dog. Yes, you are.     Jack nuzzles up to Trevor, tail wagging furiously, no     barking. Now Trevor stands and faces Ellen...                             ELLEN               Sorry for reacting the way I did               back there.                             TREVOR               Don't apologize. That's how most               people react.                             ELLEN               Didn't scare me. It just               surprised me.                             ELLEN               ... Thanks for dinner.   I had a               good time.                             TREVOR               You're welcome.     Awkward silence. Trevor struggles with the urge to kiss     her good night. They look at each other timidly for a     moment. Now he moves to kiss her and she inadvertently     adjusts her stance. The result is a kiss that doesn't     quite hit her mouth. It's an awkward moment. Ellen     feels horrible for him, desperately picks up a strange     little plant by her feet.                             ELLEN               Here... you need a little life in               that place of yours.     Trevor takes it, smiles "thanks"...                             TREVOR               ... Good night.                                                   (CONTINUED)      1   8   7 - Rev. 7/10/96                                    46.49    CONTINUED:                                                        49      ... turns and starts toward his car...                                 ELLEN                          (a half-wave)                   ... Night.50    INT. TREVOR'S BEDROOM - AROUND 2 AM                               50      In the moonlit darkness. Trevor's abandoned bed. The      sheets are twisted and damp. We TILT UP to see a digital      clock at bedside reading 2:49 AM, and Trevor's sweat-      panted figure moving down the hall in b.g.51    EXT. TREVOR'S HOUSE - LOW ANGLE - TREVOR - NIGHT                  51      madly pedaling TOWARD us on a bike. He wears running      shoes, shorts and a Morehouse College sweat shirt and his      face is contorted from the effort. He wipes sweat from      his head, takes a gasping hit from his inhaler as CAMERA      CRANES UP to reveal Trevor on a stationary bike in the      back yard of his house, rapidly going nowhere.52    INT. TREVOR'S HOUSE                                               52      His sleepless night continues. Planted at his desk.      Trevor corrects a stack of science papers, like a fervent      prayer. Sun peeks through the window above his desk.                                                        CUT TO:52A   OVER SUBURBAN CLUTTER - RISING SUN - ESTABLISHING                 52A      Then burning out to white.52B   EXT. TREVOR'S BUNGALOW - DAY                                      52B      Shimmering in heat waves.53    INT. TREVOR'S BUNGALOW - DAY                                      53      It's sweltering.    A single fan stirs the air.      Amidst growing disorder, Trevor stands behind the front      counter. AGENDA is written on the overhead as he      flips through pages of a physical science text book.      Rita's out of her seat, feeding the caged, white lab rat.                                                        (CONTINUED)                                                              47.53   CONTINUED:                                                     53     Cesar, with sunglasses and typical disregard, holds court     in the back of the room. He and Stevie are high.     Trevor eyes them, finds what he was looking for in the     book...                                TREVOR                         (addressing class)                  Since some of you seem to have an                  interest in anesthetics, I've                  prepared a little demonstration.     Glances over at Rita now.    Checks the wall clock.                                TREVOR                  Rita, bring your friend in the                  cage over here, please.     Bringing the cage over...                                RITA                  His name's Snowball. Like 'dat                  lil' pig dude from Animal Farm.                                TREVOR                         (coolly impressed)                  You've read Animal Farm?                                CESAR                         (above the din)                  ... schoolgirl.                                RITA                         (snapping a look)                  Shut up, Cesar.                                TREVOR                  You read Animal Farm, Cesar?                                CESAR                  No, but I fucked a sheep.     Stevie and Paco love it.                                 TREVOR                  Cesar, come up here.                         (gesturing)                  I want you to have a front row                  seat for this.     Surprisingly, Cesar does what he's told as Trevor removes     an old pocket watch from his briefcase and sets it next     to Snowball's cage...                                                      (CONTINUED)                                                                48.53   CONTINUED:    (2)                                                53                                TREVOR                  And remove the 'lokes.'     Cesar removes his dark glasses.       His eyes are bloodshot     and vapid.                                TREVOR                  Why your eyes so red?                                 CESAR                         (lying)                  Mus' be pink-eye, sir.                                 CESAR                         (eyes Trevor's pocket                          watch)                  Nice watch, homes. Can I have it?     Disregarding Cesar, Trevor opens a drawer and removes two     latex surgical gloves from a cardboard box. He puts on     the gloves and selects a petri dish from another drawer.                                TREVOR                         (pointing)                  Rita, would you bring me a sugar                  cube from the shelf over there?     She does. Trevor now removes a small amber bottle     (with an eye-dropper top) from his briefcase. The     class starts to settle down now as Trevor pre-measures     water in a pipette and adds it to the petri dish.                                TREVOR                         (referring to text)                  Cesar, read Young's rule for us.                  Page 564. At the top.                                CESAR                         (like it's above him)                  I ain't gonna read 'dat shit.                                TREVOR                  Rita, give Cesar your book.    Let                  'im read.     Rita places her book on Cesar's desk.                                CESAR                  Forget it.     Jeers from the class, "Come on, read".       "Hurry up,     Cesar."                                                        (CONTINUED)                                                                     49.53   CONTINUED:    (3)                                                     53                                TREVOR                         (prompting him)                  'Young's rule...' Go on.     Rita points to the passage in the book.        Cesar slaps her     hand.                                RITA                         (reacting)                  ... Chunt. (Choont.)                                   CESAR                  Stoopit bitch.                                TREVOR                  Touch her again, Cesar, and you'll                  answer to me personally.     Rita knits her eyebrows at Trevor.        Cesar laughs.                                CESAR                  You like her, Mr. G?     Class erupts.                                RITA                         (shrinking)                  Shut up!                                 TREVOR                          (genuinely)                  Settle down, everyone. We all                  have to learn how to forgive and                  get along. C'mon, Cesar, read.                  Please.     At first Cesar doesn't budge.         Now grudgingly he looks     down at the book...                                CESAR                         (attempting to read)                  ... Young's rule... ff... fo...                                TREVOR                  ... Formulates.     Cesar heaves the book across the room: Class erupts,     "Refer 'im," "Send 'im tuh Hyland." Trevor walks over     and picks up the book. Class now settles. Watches     Trevor closely to see what he's going to do. Trevor     gazes at Cesar...                                                          (CONTINUED)     1   8   7 - Rev. 7/10/96                                   50.53   CONTINUED:    (4)                                                53                                TREVOR                  ... I say everyone deserves another                  chance. Whadda you say, Cesar?     Cesar knits his eyebrows, puzzled. Now Trevor walks over     and sets the textbook down in front of Rita...                                TREVOR                  Rita, would you please read Young's                  rule for me?                                RITA                         (hesitates and...)                  ... 'Young's rule formulates                  proper dosage levels for children                  and adolescents.'                                TREVOR                  Thank you.     Resume the lesson now.     Trevor indicates the amber bottle...                                TREVOR                  ... In the brown bottle I have a                  prescription for liquid Demeral.                                STEVIE                  Where'd that come from, sir?                                TREVOR                  A doctor.     Cesar grudgingly watches as Trevor places a measured drop     of the liquid demeral into the petri dish and stirs the     solution.                                TREVOR                  Demeral is a morphine sulphate...                  and is soluble in water.     Using the pipette, Trevor administers two drops of the     demeral and water solution to the sugar cube, which he     has placed inside Snowball's cage. As Snowball eats the     sugar cube...                                TREVOR                  Young's rule says, divide the age                  of the patient by the patient's                  age plus twelve, giving us the                  fraction of the adult dosage                  suitable for the patient.                                (MORE)                                                        (CONTINUED)                                                              51.53   CONTINUED:                                                     53                                TREVOR (CONT'D)                  In Snowball's case, I've                  calculated the dosage necessary                  to tranquilize a one-year-old                  child... then further divided                  that fraction by 30, based on his                  weight, to arrive at .002                  milligrams.     Having eaten most of the sugar cube, Snowball is rendered     unconscious.                                TREVOR                  ... Don't worry, he'll be back to                  normal in exactly 10 minutes.     Trevor peers at his pocket watch.54   INSERT - FULL SCREEN - TREVOR'S POCKET WATCH                   54     The hour and minute hands read 2:40.    HOLD as we...                                              TIME DISSOLVE TO:55   INT. BUNGALOW #86 - TEN MINUTES LATER                          55     Trevor's pocket watch now reads 2:50...                                RITA                  ... He shoulda woke up by now?     Snowball isn't moving. HOLD for an uncomfortably long     moment ON the class, clustered around Trevor's desk.     The class, for once, is completely silent. Beads of     perspiration form on Trevor's upper lip as he     resolutely watches the sleeping rat.                                CESAR                         (accusatory)                  You just caught a murder case,                  homes.     Now Snowball begins to stir and the class reacts with     scattered applause. A thin smile flickers across     Trevor's face. As the BELL RINGS....                                TREVOR                  Okay, anyone who didn't finish                  answering the questions on 246,                  finish them for homework.                                                      (CONTINUED)                                                              52.55   CONTINUED:                                                     55     As students head for the doors, he pulls off his latex     gloves and looks for his pocket watch... but it's gone.                                TREVOR                  Hold it, Cesar.     Cesar and Stevie are almost out the door.                                TREVOR                  Where's my watch?                                CESAR                         (urgently)                  Hey, I gotta go. I ain't got no                  watch.                                TREVOR                  Empty your pockets, both of you.                                CESAR                  Want me to break it down to you?                  I gotta catch a bus.     Cesar heads out the door.56   EXT. BUNGALOW #86 - MOMENTS LATER                              56     Trevor locks bungalow #86, picks up his briefcase, and     along with the rest of the foot traffic, heads in the     direction of the "A" building.57   EXT. JQA - ON EDGE OF BUNGALOWS                                57     As Trevor rounds a corner and runs smack into Ellen on     the opposite side of a chain link fence.                                TREVOR                         (making excuses)                  Sorry. I'm trying to catch Hyland                  before he leaves.     Trevor keeps moving.                                TREVOR                  I've been meaning to come by your                  room.                                ELLEN                         (keeping it light)                  ... It's almost been a week.   My                  guess is you're avoiding me.                                                      (CONTINUED)                                                               53.57   CONTINUED:                                                      57     Trevor's tongue-tied. Now he removes the Proventil     inhaler from his pocket, take an innocuous hit.                                ELLEN                  You okay?     Trevor nods, sustains an awkward smile.                                TREVOR                  Has nothing to do with you, Ellen.                  It's... hard for me...     A struggle, fighting against his true feelings...                                TREVOR                  Pretty much been like that                  since... you know, my accident.                  Has nothing to do with you.                                ELLEN                  Is it because I'm white?                                TREVOR                  No.     Trevor stares into her eyes, a soulful, searching gaze.     Now he averts a self-conscious look.                                ELLEN                  We can still be friends.   Just don't                  pull away.     Trevor just looks at her.    Nods, somewhat bewildered.                                ELLEN                         (back to lighter note)                  Now, can I ask you a favor? After                  you're done with Hyland, can you                  give me a ride to my car? It's at                  the mechanics, about five or six                  blocks up Lankershim. If you can't,                  it's okay, I can walk.                                TREVOR                         (a little embarrassed)                  ... I think I can manage that.     Victor Sifuentes approaches now.                                ELLEN                  Que paso, Victor?                                                       (CONTINUED)     1   8   7 - Rev. 7/10/96                                  54.57   CONTINUED:                                                      57                                VICTOR                         (into walkie-talkie)                  Base three to base one. 'Found                  'im.     As their paths converge and they stop, face to face...                                VICTOR                  Mr. Garcia would like to speak                  with you in his office.     OFF Trevor's puzzled look...58   OMITTED                                                         5859   INT. PRINCIPAL GARCIA'S OFFICE - AFTERNOON                      59     A wall air conditioner...     blows on Stevie and Cesar's sweaty backs. Trevor enters,     shirt equally drenched in sweat. The dead silence is     like that of a courtroom. MR. GARCIA, late forties,     drawn, sits behind his desk...     MR. HYLAND, stands in the outer office behind a glass     partition, head lowered. Hyland flashes Trevor a     defeated smile as we...     Trevor coolly deciphers the situation.     Garcia reaches down, switches on a portable tape recorder.                                MR. GARCIA                  You don't mind if I tape record                  our conversation. Matter of                  record. You understand.                         (indicating                          Mr. Hyland)                  Of course, you know Mr. Hyland.     Trevor weighs the situation.    Nods.                                TREVOR                  Am I being questioned?                                MR. GARCIA                         (beat)                  Mr. Sanchez and Mr. Littleton tell                  me you've accused them of stealing                  your watch. If that's the case, I                  need to address the accusation.                                                       (CONTINUED)     1   8   7 - Rev. 7/10/96                                   55.59   CONTINUED:                                                       59                                TREVOR                  ... For the record, I primarily                  suspect Mr. Sanchez. Although I                  wouldn't be surprised if Stevie                  was an accomplice.                         (glances over at                          Cesar and Stevie)                  Beginning of sixth period, Cesar                  admired the watch. I believe his                  exact words were, 'Can I have it?'                         (looks back to Garcia)                  Either way, I'd like my watch back.                                   MR. GARCIA                  Anything else?                                TREVOR                  When I asked him to empty his                  pockets, Cesar refused.                                MR. GARCIA                  Is that true, Mr. Sanchez?                                CESAR                  No way. He never asked me nothin'                  like that! I don't go 'round                  taxing no teachers...                                 MR. GARCIA                  Okay.   Calm down.     With fervor now, Cesar turns his pockets inside out,     emptying the contents (house keys and two dollars in     change) onto Garcia's desk.                                CESAR                  ... I ain't got no watch, man.                                MR. GARCIA                  Mr. Littleton, may we see your                  pockets too?     Stevie empties his pockets now. Nothing but a twenty     dollar bill and an empty pack of Marlboros.     Trevor just stares at him.                                TREVOR                         (last try)                  I'd like a locker search, please.     Garcia hesitates, now looks to Cesar and Stevie...                                                        (CONTINUED)     1   8   7 - Rev. 7/10/96                                  56.59   CONTINUED:                                                      59                                MR. GARCIA                  You're excused, gentlemen.   Take                  your things. Thank you.     The boys collect their belongings off Garcia's desk and     shoot looks at Trevor as they exit. Now Garcia turns     back to Trevor...                                MR. GARCIA                         (unflinching pragmatism)                  ... Let me try and explain                  something. I try and think of                  our students here at John Quincy                  Adams like they're my clients.                  I can't accuse anybody just on                  your hunches. I need more than                  that. I need facts.                         (looking at Hyland)                  I won't have another law suit like                  we did with that Blackwell case.                         (now to Trevor)                  Boy's mother spent $400 that she                  couldn't afford on new clothes for                  her son. Unfortunately we                  considered the clothing gang                  attire and sent the boy home.                  That cost the district a quarter                  of a million dollars.                         (beat)                  So I want you to be straight with                  me, Mr. Garfield. Did you                  physically see Cesar take your                  watch?                                TREVOR                  No, I didn't...                                MR. GARCIA                  Do you have any witnesses who saw                  him take it?                                      TREVOR                            (pause)                  ... No.                                MR. GARCIA                  Unless there's reasonable cause to                  show that Cesar, or Mr. Littleton                  took your watch then I can't                  authorize a locker search. I'm                  sorry. Any concerns regarding my                  decision, you can look up in the                  handbook. It's section 628.1 of                  the Education Code.                                                       (CONTINUED)                                                               57.59   CONTINUED:                                                      59                                TREVOR                         (to Garcia)                  That was my grandfather's watch.                  Can't you see what they're doing?                  Weren't you ever a teacher?                                MR. GARCIA                  Afraid I never had the privilege.                  Teaching and being a principal                  don't necessarily go hand in hand,                  Mr. Garfield.     OFF Trevor's defeated gaze...60   EXT. GARCIA'S OFFICE - MAIN CORRIDOR - AFTERNOON                60     As Trevor and Hyland emerge from Garcia's office and walk     steadily up the empty corridor...                                 HYLAND                         (sotto)                  Is it me or is Garcia a real                  asshole?     Trevor doesn't respond, lost in thought.                                TREVOR                  I've been thinking about                  videotaping my classes.                                HYLAND                  ... Yeah, well, here's some free                  advice. Cover your ass.     Trevor slides him a glance. They stop in front of     Hyland's office door. He unlocks the door with a key...                                HYLAND                  If Garcia asks, your main purpose                  is to observe you, not the                  students. Excuse me, I mean his                  `clients.'     PHONE RINGS as they enter...61   INT. HYLAND'S OFFICE - AFTERNOON                                61                                HYLAND                  Some gangbanger might think we're                  violating his civil rights...     Trevor weighs it as Hyland picks up the phone...                                                       (CONTINUED)     1   8   7 - Rev. 7/10/96                                   58.61   CONTINUED:                                                       61                                HYLAND                         (into phone)                  ... Yeah?     Signals Trevor to take a seat.                                HYLAND                         (into phone)                  Sorry, Iris. Completely forgot.     INTERCUT Trevor as his eyes idly fix on an index card     box (on Hyland's desk) labeled, "LOCKER COMBINATIONS."     Hyland hangs up.                                HYLAND                         (to Trevor)                  Yuh have a minute? Wanna talk to                  you about our discipline committee.                  Gotta run up to the office real                  quick first.     Trevor shifts his gaze back to Hyland.                                TREVOR                  Yeah, fine, go ahead.   I'll wait.     Hyland rushes out and Trevor glances back at the index     box. Momentous deliberation. Now he reaches over and     carefully opens the small tin box. Methodically now, he     flips through the file cards until he finds Cesar     Sanchez's locker combination. Trevor's eyes scanning     the information on the locker combination card. LOCKER     #204. Combination sequence...08-24-53.62   EXT. TRAFFIC SIGNAL - AFTERNOON                                  62     Trevor's Rambler, with Ellen in the passenger seat, stops     at a large intersection.63   INT./EXT RAMBLER - CONTINUOUS ACTION                             63                                ELLEN                  ... I have to fly up there for a                  computer conference.                                 TREVOR                  When's that?                                ELLEN                  Day after tomorrow.                                                        (CONTINUED)     1   8   7 - Rev. 7/10/96                              59.63   CONTINUED:                                                  63     As Trevor gets distracted by something he sees...                                TREVOR                  Never been to San Francisco.64   EXT. RITA'S BUS STOP - TREVOR'S POV                         64     At a right angle to Lankershim, down Magnolia Blvd., Rita     Nartinez sits alone on a bus stop bench.                                ELLEN (V.O.)                  Oh, you should go sometime,                  Trevor. I think you'd like it.                  Really. It's only an hour by air.                  Maybe five or six by car.                  Completely different attitude                  from L.A. Much more like a real                  city... like Chicago or New                  York...     As Ellen continues talking we see a lowered blue Nissan     mini-truck (with matching shell) pull up next to the bus     stop. A cholo from the utility shed hangs out the     passenger window and taunts Rita. Rita immediately     stands and walks back down Magnolia.     The mini-truck follows her in reverse. Rita halts and     begins ranting at the cholo, waving her arms all around.     Now she stomps away and the mini-truck drives away with a     lurch.                                ELLEN (V.O.)                  ... Only problem is I hate to                  leave Jack with my mother for any                  extended period of time. I'm                  afraid she'll forget to feed him                  and he'll starve to death.65   INT. TREVOR'S RAMBLER                                       65     INTERCUT Trevor's distracted gaze.                                TREVOR                  If you want, I'll take care of                  Jack.                                ELLEN                  I can't ask you to do that.                                TREVOR                         (straight at Ellen now)                  Sure you can.                                                              60.66   INT. BUNGALOW #86 - AFTERNOON (NEXT DAY; FIFTH PERIOD)         66     Trevor's conference period. He stands atop a ladder in     the front of the room, drilling holes in the wall for a     jerry-rigged camera mount. As he climbs down, Rita     enters. Paces back and forth, wringing a clenched spiral     notebook, English Comp. essay tucked inside...                               TREVOR                        (continues working)                 ... Aren't you supposed to be at                 P.E. fifth period?                               RITA                        (rants; kicks a desk)                 ... Sunland Boyz gettin' crazy,                 ol lady's... fucked up. Fuck dis                 being down shit. I wanna do                 somethin' wit' my life.     A POLAROID PHOTO drops out of her notebook.     Trevor     reaches down and scoops it up.     INSERT - POLAROID PHOTO/DEAD GANG MEMBER IN CASKET     Puppet... a young 16-year-old cholo, dressed in gang     colors, laid out in an open casket.     ON TREVOR     Now as he hands the photo back to Rita.                               TREVOR                 ... You know this guy?     Rita takes the photo back.    She doesn't want to talk     about it.                               RITA                        (unravels now;                         begins to cry)                 'Gotta make J-C next year. 'Got                 to! I ain't never gonna get up                 outta here.                               TREVOR                 Rita, slow down.                               RITA                 'Dat bitch Quinn, I'm 'onna sue                 her ass. 'Swear tuh God...                                TREVOR                 Okay, okay.   Calm down a second.                                                      (CONTINUED)                                                                 61.66   CONTINUED:                                                        66     Rita collapses into a desk.                                  TREVOR                  Who's Quinn?    What's she teach?                                  RITA                  English Comp.    She's failin' me.     Trevor tentatively picks up Rita's essay (branded with a     big red "F") and begins reading it.                                RITA                  'Bitch say I don't talk right.     Trevor scrutinizes her with a glance.        Now back to Rita's     essay.                                  RITA                  She hates me.    She's racist                  against me.     Trevor sets the essay down on Rita's desk.        Regards her     with genuine candor...                                TREVOR                  Just cause you're a Latina doesn't                  mean everyone's racist against                  you.                                RITA                         (prideful)                  Hey, I'm a La Raza, prof-eh.                                TREVOR                  Okay... just stop blaming everyone                  else. You're too smart for that.                         (as Rita's rocked                          back)                  And every mistake in that essay is                  fixable, okay? So relax, it's not                  the end of the world.     Rita collects herself, wipes the streaks of mascara     running down her cheeks with her sleeve. Trevor studies     her for a moment.                                TREVOR                         (points to counter)                  Tissues are in the first drawer.     Rita pulls herself together and walks over to the island     counter.                                                         (CONTINUED)     1   8   7 - Rev. 7/10/96                                   62.66   CONTINUED:                                                       66                                 TREVOR                          (innocuously)                  How come you always wear so much                  makeup?                                RITA                         (wounded)                  ... To make me pretty.                                TREVOR                         (frankly)                  You don't need it.     She grabs a handful of tissues, dabs at her smeared     mascara. Now her hair falls forward, exposing the back     of her neck... and a tattoo that reads "Puppet" in     a scrawling signature. She tosses her hair back and it     disappears.                                TREVOR                         (slightest bit                          probative)                  That your name?     He indicates the back of her neck.                                RITA                         (with fervor and                          frustration)                  It's a gang thing. But I'm                  kickin' dat shit... Jus' cuz I look                  down for my neighborhood don't                  mean I'm stupit.                                TREVOR                  I know you're not.     She inserts her "failed" essay inside the rolled-up     spiral notebook.                                TREVOR                         (offers)                  The ideas in your essay aren't the                  problem, Rita. It's your                  punctuation and grammar.                         (beat)                  They need work. Am I lying?                         (as Rita shrugs)                  If you want help I'm here for you.                  Okay?                                RITA                         (tentatively now)                  ... I dunno.                                                        (CONTINUED)                                                                63.66   CONTINUED:                                                       66                                TREVOR                  Have to be in the library after                  school.                                RITA                         (shaking her head)                  ... Somebody could see us.                                TREVOR                  All right then, I'll come to your                  house.                                RITA                         (spontaneous and                          decisive)                  No... No way.                                 TREVOR                  Where then?   You name the place.     The passing BELL for 6th period RINGS.       OFF Rita's torn     gaze.67   INT. BUNGALOW #86 - ON VIDEO CAMERA - SHORT WHILE LATER          67     (6TH PERIOD)     ... fully mounted now on the wall above the blackboard.     NEW ANGLE     Every eye in the class is riveted on the camera. SETTLE     ON Cesar and Stevie seated in the back of the bungalow.     OFF their malignant stares...                                CESAR                         (grumbling)                  Dog, you invadin' my privacy.                  Bitch.                                 TREVOR                          (remaining calm)                  Cesar, would you come up here                  please?     Leveling a hard look, Cesar swaggers up to the island     counter.     Rita watches, a bated gaze, from her seat.     Trevor motions for him to come around behind the counter.                                                        (CONTINUED)     1   8   7 - Rev. 7/10/96                                  64.67   CONTINUED:                                                      67     Now Trevor removes his grandfather's pocket watch from     his briefcase and furtively dangles it for Cesar to     see.                                TREVOR                         (calmly)                  Since you were so concerned, I                  though you might like to know... I                  found my watch.     Cesar glares at the watch, looks up at the video     camera.                                CESAR                  ... You broke into my locker.                  Dat's a serious felony, prof-eh.                  You caught a case for sure now.                                TREVOR                  Whadda yuh propose to do, Cesar?                  Tell Garcia?                         (as Cesar weighs it)                  Whadda yuh gonna tell 'im? That I                  broke into your locker to steal                  back the watch you denied taking?                  I don't think so. I'd say we're                  even now, wouldn't you, Cesar?                                CESAR                  No, I'd say we're just getting                  started, ese.     Cesar walks out. Trevor smiles innocuously. At a     stalemate now. You can hear a pin drop. Suddenly     the CRIES of an E.N.A.B.L. BABY break the palpable     tension...68   EXT. TREVOR'S HOUSE - 4 P.M.                                    68     ... Trevor's Rambler is parked out front.69   INT. TREVOR'S LIVING ROOM - CONTINUOUS ACTION                   69     A stilted Rita, planted on the couch.    Wearing less     makeup than usual.     Her notebook and pens are laid out on the coffee table     along with an old English grammar textbook. Trevor     stands in the kitchen doorway...                                                       (CONTINUED)                                                                 65.69   CONTINUED:                                                         69                                TREVOR                  Want something to drink?    We have                  Coke, Fanta or Sprite...                                RITA                         (self-consciously)                  ... Coke's awright.     OFF Trevor's mollifying nod...70   INT. TREVOR'S KITCHEN - TREVOR                                     70     A moment of self-examination as he pours a glass of Coke     for Rita...                                TREVOR                         (to Rita offstage)                  'Want you to know, you're not the                  only one risking a reputation                  here. Normally I don't tutor                  students at my house.                         (adds ice cubes)                  Rita, maybe you can clear                  something up. Can you explain                  to me what machismo is all about?                  Cuz this whole respect/code of                  honor thing baffles me.71   INT. TREVOR'S LIVING ROOM                                          71     as Trevor approaches the couch, eyes focused on Rita's     soda.                                TREVOR                         (preoccupied)                  Ask yourself this question. Is                  pride really that important?     Now he looks up and freezes.    Quickly turns away.     Rita, lying on the couch, completely naked.        Not sexual in     the least. More like a distorted offering.         Or a patient,     placidly waiting for her doctor.                                TREVOR                         (plainly)                  Put your clothes on, Rita.     An awkward moment. Chagrin becomes repressed sobs as     Rita picks up her pile of clothes off the floor and gets     dressed. This is one fucked-up little girl.                                                         (CONTINUED)                                                              66.71   CONTINUED:                                                     71                                TREVOR                         (affected)                  No harm done... Don't cry now.     Fully dressed again, remotely staring, Rita holds back     tears. Trevor sits down on the couch next to her. Opens     textbook.                                TREVOR                  Why don't you go ahead and copy                  the first rule there for the verb                  'to be.' Can you do that for me?                                RITA                         (hiccups a sob)                  I jus' wan'ed to thank you.                                TREVOR                  You don't have to thank me, I'm                  your teacher.     Rita opens her notebook and begins to copy the rule. She     wipes at the tears with the sleeve of her baggy sweat     shirt. Trevor resists the urge to comfort her.                                TREVOR                  ... From now on I think the best                  thing for us to do is meet in the                  library.72   INT. TREVOR'S BEDROOM - THAT EVENING (MAGIC HOUR)              72     Trevor kneels at the foot of his bed. Fully dressed,     shirt and loosened tie. Glimpses up at the crucifix on     the wall. Bows his head again...                                TREVOR                         (prayerfully, to                          himself                  ... I'll try.73   EXT. BLYTHE STREET PROJECTS - EVENING                          73     BOOMING DOWN FROM the Blythe St. sign...     A cement barricade covered in graffiti chokes off street     traffic.     ... Crack dealers and gangbangers freely wander the rows     of clapboard tenements, kids throwing sneakers, bangers     drinking from glass bottles.                                                      (CONTINUED)     1   8   7 - Rev. 7/10/96                               67.73   CONTINUED:                                                   73     Now apartment 105 (Cesar Sanchez's).     MOVING IN ON the MUTED sounds of an ARGUMENT (in Spanish).74   INT. APARTMENT 105 - CONTINUOUS ACTION                       74     Dingy. Yellowing walls. Cesar and his mother continue     their arguing as Cesar watches first the "Animaniacs" and     switches channels to "The Deer Hunter," while his BABY     SISTER CRIES in her high chair.     MRS. SANCHEZ is older looking than her thirty-four years.     Clutching her purse...                 MRS. SANCHEZ                                          *             (on the verge              (subtitles... You stay              of tears)                 out of my         ... Deja mis cosas, Cesar.     things, Cesar. You hear         Me oyes? Ese dinero es         me? That money puts         para poner comida en el        food on your baby         plato de tu hermanita.         sister's plate.     Cesar yells at his SISTER to stop CRYING...                 CESAR                     (subtitlesshut up,         Callate el osico, Rosillo!     Rosillo!             (now to his mother)         Que? Me estas mandando?        You tellin' me what to         Yo soy el hombre de esta       do?! I'm the man in         casa! Enceneme respeto!        this house! you show me                                        respect!)                 MRS. SANCHEZ           (subtitlesIf you're the        *         Pues si eres tan hombre,       man then         ve busca trabajo. Para         go get a job. Take care         que mantengas a tu madre y     of your mother and         hermanita y no tenga que       sister. Don't rob from         robar de mi bolsa.             my purse.)     In a rage, Cesar digs into his pocket and throws twenty     dollars in his mother's face. She cowers.                 CESAR                  (subtitlesHere, I don't         Tenga, no nesecito su          need your         pinche, apestoso dinero!       stinkin' money!)     They're interrupted by a KNOCK at the front door.                                CESAR                         (indicating door)                  I ain't getting it. You get it.                                                    (CONTINUED)     1   8   7 - Rev. 7/10/96                                     68.74   CONTINUED:                                                         74     Cesar plops down on an old worn out recliner and goes     back to watching "Animaniacs" on the TELEVISION.     ROSILLO STOPS her CRYING and Mrs. Sanchez carefully     gathers the money scattered at her feet.75   INT. APARTMENT 105 - FRONT DOOR                                    75     Behind the screen door, a silhouette fills the doorway.     MOVING IN ON CESAR.     He can faintly hear the O.S. conversation as he watches     TV.                 MRS. SANCHEZ                                                *                 (O.S.)                    (subtitlesYes, who's         Si, quien es?                     there?)                 TREVOR (O.S.)             (subtitlesMrs. Sanchez?         Senora Sanchez? Soy el            I'm Mr.                           *         senor Garfield, Profesor          Garfield, Cesar's         de ciencia de Cesar.              science teacher.                                MRS. SANCHEZ (O.S.)                         (surprised)                  Si, maestro.     Cesar's stunned look lifts him from the recliner.                 TREVOR (O.S.)             (subtitlesI know it's         Se que es tarde. Ojala no         late. Hope         este estorbando nada.             I'm not disturbing         Me permite hablar con             anything. May I speak         usted por un momento?             with you a moment?                                MRS. SANCHEZ (O.S.)                  Entre, por favor.76   INT. APARTMENT #105 - CESAR'S POV - TREVOR AND MRS.                76     SANCHEZ     PIVOTING now to see Trevor enter the front door.     Cesar glares with flint-hard eyes at Trevor.                                  TREVOR                  Hello, Cesar.     Breaking his unrelenting stare, Cesar now squeezes past     Trevor and out the screen door, slamming it behind him.     1   8   7 - Rev. 7/10/96                                   69.77   INT. APARTMENT #105 - KITCHEN - MOMENTS LATER                    77     Mrs. Sanchez cradles Rosillo in her lap.                 MRS. SANCHEZ                                              *             (beside herself)            (subtitlesI don't know         No se que hacer, maestro.       what to         El no hace caso.                do, maestro. He doesn't                                         listen to me.)     ROSILLO begins to CRY again...                  MRS. SANCHEZ           (subtitlesGod, but there          *         Perdona me Dios, pero hay       are         veces que quisiera              times I want to kill         matarlo.                        him.)     Suppressing her emotions, she comforts her baby. Trevor     weighs a vacuous stare. Now he notices a bruise under Mrs.     Sanchez's hairline, above her left eye.                  TREVOR              (indicating bruise)        (subtitlesHow'd that         Como paso eso? Arriba del       happen...         ojo?                            above your eye?)     Overcome with shame, she attempts to cover the bruise.                               MRS. SANCHEZ                 Nada... es nada.78   EXT. BLYTHE STREET PROJECTS - EVENING                            78     Steadfast and unflinching, Trevor beats a path back to     his car, parked outside the barricade. Cesar now appears     from nowhere. Carries a '40 ouncer' in a paper bag.     He's been drinking.                               CESAR                        (venting rage)                 Puto! You lied to Benny. You                 said you don't speak no Spanish!                                TREVOR                 No I didn't.                               CESAR                 'At's bullshit!                               TREVOR                 Enjoy hitting your mother, Cesar?                 You must be proud of yourself.                                                     (CONTINUED)                                                              70.78   CONTINUED:                                                     78     A handful of gangbangers, drinking and loitering     around Trevor's car, sharpen their stares and listen     intently. Cesar grows nervous.                                CESAR                         (to gangbangers)                  ... He's lyin', man.                         (at Trevor)                  Fuckin' liar! Homeboy don't                  never disrespec' his mother.                  Never. You hear me, joto?!                                TREVOR                  Whatever you say, Cesar.     Trevor steps around the gangbangers and climbs into     his car...                                 CESAR                  I'll find out where you stay.                  Trucha, homes!     As the Rambler drives away Cesar heaves his 40 ouncer at     it. Shatters all over the pavement.                                CESAR                  Valla ala chingada!     Cesar stands in the middle of the street, throwing hand     signs.79   EXT. PARKING LOT/BUNGALOW #86 - NEXT MORNING                   79     Trevor approaches, via the parking lot, through a gate in     a chain-link fence. ADJUST the ANGLE now to discover     first period students mobbing the open doorway of     Bungalow #86.                                TREVOR                         (pushing through)                  'Scuse me. What's going on?                         (and)                  Lakesia, who opened the door?                                LAKESIA                  It was like that when I got here.80   INT. BUNGALOW #86 - CONTINUOUS ACTION                          80     Trevor squeezes through the doorway to find Dave Childress     pacing the bungalow, assessing the damage. VIDEO CAMERA     (AND HOUSING) are scattered in pieces all over the floor.                                                      (CONTINUED)                                                               71.80   CONTINUED:                                                      80     One of the windows is smashed-in. A serpentine trail of     BLACK SPRAY PAINT encircles the entire room. Provocative     epithets tag the walls... "Pinche madre", "Puto" and "Fuck     you G!"                                CHILDRESS                  Whoever did this is gonna pay!                  Better believe it, ese(s).     A curious stream of students fill the room now.     Childress     vents his anger at them...                                CHILDRESS                         (crazed now)                  Get the hell outta here!                                  TREVOR                  Dave...                         (to Armenian kid)                  Barsek, don't touch anything,                  okay?                                  CHILDRESS                  Get out!!     And now Snowball... as Barsek discovers him... Lifeless.     Impaled by a pair of scissors on the front counter.                                BARSEK                         (an incredulous,                          sickened laugh)                  Oh, damn. Lookit the rat.     OFF Trevor's stricken gaze...     Childress snaps. He grabs Barsek by the throat. The     crowd scatters, students tripping over each other to get     out of the bungalow.                                CHILDRESS                  Think it's funny?! Huh?!       Yuh                  little fuck!     Trevor attempts to separate Childress from Barsek...                                  TREVOR                  Dave!   No!   Let go of 'im!                                CHILDRESS                         (to Barsek)                  D'you do this?!                                                       (CONTINUED)                                                               72.80   CONTINUED:                                                      80                                   BARSEK                            (choking)                  Nooo...     Trevor pries them apart. Barsek crumbles to the floor,     gulping for air and scurrying out of the bungalow on his     hands and knees.                                TREVOR                  He didn't do anything.    He's a                  good kid.81   EXT. ATHLETIC FIELD - MORNING (NUTRITION PERIOD)                81     ESTABLISHING the different student factions.     MUSIC, playing over a PUBLIC ADDRESS SYSTEM, fills the     quad.     Trevor, now an interloper, crossing the senior lawn,     openly searching for Cesar.     Tag-bangers, a clique of eight or nine K.O.S. wanna-be(s).     Feature PACO (16) as they take quick hits off a blunt.     Now Cesar extinguishes the blunt with his fingertips and     hides it as Trevor wanders into their midst.                                TREVOR                         (glances around;                          sniffs)                  Been smokin' the chronic, Cesar?                                CESAR                         (a smirk)                  I'm hooked on phonics... not                  'hooked on chronic.'     Laughs all around.                                TREVOR                         (not amused)                  You wouldn't happen t'know who                  vandalized bungalow eighty-six                  last night?                                CESAR                         (feigning ignorance)                  You guys know anything about that?                         (off silence)                  Sorry, maestro... nada.                                                       (CONTINUED)                                                              73.81   CONTINUED:                                                     81                                 TREVOR                         (sotto)                  Garcia may not think there's                  enough here to prove anything.                  But you and I both know who's                  responsible. Don't we?                                 CESAR                  Whadda you, a narc? Seriously, I                  don't know what the fuck you're                  talkin' about.     Trevor maintains his fervent demeanor. Now he notices     the ring on Cesar's right index finger.     INSERT - CESAR'S RING     emblazoned with a green marijuana leaf.                                TREVOR                         (pointing)                  The ring, Cesar... lemme have it.     Cesar dramatically jerks back his finger.                                CESAR                  Watch it, eh... that's my trigger                  finger.     As Cesar, with purpose, aims an invisible gun at Trevor...                                TREVOR                  It's inappropriate attire...                                CESAR                  ... Bang.                                TREVOR                         (momentous                          deliberation)                  ... Are you finished?     Cesar starts to laugh.    A crowd begins to gather.                                CESAR                  What? Finished with what?   Don't                  get crazy on me, dude.     The boisterous crowd escalates... hoots and hollers.     After weighing the situation, Trevor exchanges palpable     looks with Cesar.                                                      (CONTINUED)                                                                74.81   CONTINUED:                                                       81     Now he reluctantly back-pedals, squeezing his way past     the wall of bodies pressed in behind him.     His departure across an empty lawn is accompanied by a     hail of "boos" and taunts.82   EXT. BURBANK AIRPORT - LANDING RUNWAY - TWILIGHT                 82     as an 737 ROARS down onto the tarmac. In the f.g.,     Trevor and Ellen PEEL away from the curb angrily.83   EXT. TREVOR'S RAMBLER (AIRPORT VICINITY) - NIGHT                 83     Traveling down Hollywood Way.84   INT./EXT. RAMBLER - TREVOR AND ELLEN - CONTINUOUS ACTION         84     - NIGHT     in the front seat...                                ELLEN                  ... These conferences mainly focus                  on software now.                                TREVOR                         (far off)                  Software sells.                                ELLEN                         (flickers a smile)                  So, how's Jack?                                TREVOR                  ... Jack's good.     As they pull up to a stop light...                                ELLEN                         (flirtatious)                  And what about Trevor?   Was Trevor                  a good boy, too?     Triggers an unintended response...                                TREVOR                         (self-consciously)                  What's that supposed to mean?                                ELLEN                         (innocently)                  Nothing...                                                        (CONTINUED)                                                                  75.84   CONTINUED:                                                         84                                TREVOR                  Is that supposed to mean                  something?                                ELLEN                         (baffled)                  Trevor...     The light changes to green. An impatient young man in     the car behind them BEEPS his HORN. Lays it on a little     too long.     Trevor snaps.85   EXT. INTERSECTION - CONTINUOUS ACTION - NIGHT                      85     As Trevor gets out of the car, marching up to the car     behind, slamming his hand down on its hood...                                TREVOR                  Can't you see I'm talking to the                  lady?!     The young man shrinks, quickly rolling up his window.86   INT. RAMBLER - CONTINUOUS ACTION                                   86     as Trevor gets back in and they drive away. Not a word     is spoken. Exorcising his demons now. He simmers.                                   TREVOR                  ... I'm sorry.     Forgive me.     OFF Ellen's disturbed gaze...87   EXT. TREVOR'S HOUSE - NIGHT                                        87     as the Rambler pulls into the driveway. Ellen's '92 Jeep     Cherokee is parked on the street. Bug zapper above the     garage flickers on.88   INT./EXT. TREVOR'S FRONT YARD THROUGH CAR WINDSHIELD -             88     CONTINUOUS ACTION     Light now spills into the front yard.         No sign of Jack.     Trevor SHUTS OFF the IGNITION.       A portentous silence.                                                          (CONTINUED)                                                               76.88   CONTINUED:                                                      88                                ELLEN                  ... Come out, come out, wherever                  you are. Where is he?     Trevor reaches for a flashlight in the glove compartment.89   EXT. TREVOR'S HOUSE - DRIVEWAY - RAMBLER - CONTINUOUS           89     ACTION     Trevor and Ellen step out of the car.                                  TREVOR                           (tentatively)                  Jack?     MOVING THROUGH the chain-link fence, into the front yard.     Ellen whistles faintly. Trevor turns on his flashlight.                                ELLEN                  Here, boy... here, Jack.   Come to                  Mommy, sweetheart.     The glare of the flashlight fixes on the trunk of the     olive tree.     Jack's chain stretching tautly toward the back alley.                                ELLEN                         (reacting)                  ... Oh, my God.     Trevor and Ellen, propelled now toward the alley, hearts     pounding, frantically rushing toward the conclusion as     the flashlight traces the length of the chain...                                  ELLEN                           (right behind Trevor)                  Jack?!     The chain disappears over the top of the alley wall.     Trevor kicks open the alley gate and freezes.90   EXT. TREVOR'S HOUSE - OTHER SIDE OF ALLEY WALL - JACK           90     centered in the flashlight beam, dangling there,     strangled to death at the end of his dog collar.91   EXT. TREVOR'S HOUSE - ELLEN AND TREVOR - NIGHT                  91                                  ELLEN                           (gut-wrenching)                  Jack!                                                       (CONTINUED)     1   8   7 - Rev. 7/10/96                                    77.91   CONTINUED:                                                        91     Trevor holds her back. She unleashes her torment, punching     and kicking until fully spent, crumbling to her knees now,     sobbing hysterically.                                ELLEN                  ... Jack.     HOLD ON her fitful sobs, and...                                                       CUT TO:92   EXT. TREVOR'S HOUSE - IN ALLEY - THAT NIGHT                       92     (APPROXIMATELY AN HOUR LATER)     Trevor, a beaten hypnotic gaze, watches as an ANIMAL     REGULATIONS OFFICER fatefully slams the cargo door of his truck.                                ANIMAL REGULATIONS OFFICER                  Don't beat yourself up too much.                  It was an accident. He was probably                  after a cat... or someone walked                  past back here in the alley.                  Whatever it was, he jumped over the                  fence. What can you do?     Ellen watches Trevor's house; behind a screen door.93   INT. TREVOR'S BEDROOM - NIGHT                                     93     Ellen sits on Trevor's bed, fighting back tears.     Trevor enters with a glass of water and a pill.     Sits     down on the edge of the bed.                                TREVOR                         (offering pill)                  It's aspirin...                                ELLEN                         (refuses it)                  ... I can't talk to you right now,                  Trevor. Please. I'm so upset I                  can't even drive. I just need some                  time alone.     Trevor acquiesces. Steps over to his desk and sets the     glass of water down. A key protrudes from one of the desk     drawers. He leans over, removes the key and plays with it     for a moment.                                                       (CONTINUED)     1   8   7 - Rev. 7/10/96                                78.93   CONTINUED:                                                    93                                TREVOR                         (beat)                  I know about what's not fair. I                  left part of my lung in a damn                  hospital because some gangbanger                  didn't like the grade I gave him.                  Sometimes you do all the right                  things. You work hard in                  school... get a good job... pay                  your taxes. Things still go bad.                         (eyes flicker)                  I'm so sorry, Ellen.     Ellen shuts her heavy eyelids now.    Shuts out the world.94   EXT. ALLEY BEHIND TREVOR'S HOUSE - NIGHT                      94     A thorough investigation now at the foot of Jack's     wall...     ... Trevor's flashlight fixes on a faint set of shoe prints     in the dirt.     Waffle-soled Doc Martens.    He follows their trail, down     the alley.     Hesitating at the wall again. He now focuses his     flashlight beam on a smattering of graffiti... and     discovers a fresh tag...     In black spray paint, the letters K.O.S. Trevor reaches     out and touches a coagulated trickle of paint. As he     inspects the faint residue on his fingertip...95   OMITTED                                                       9596   EXT. FREEWAY UNDERPASS - LATER THAT NIGHT                     96     About 2 a.m.    The street's empty.     Cesar's darkened apartment is tucked away in the     distance. Now a lone figure emerges and beats a path     through the projects... CLOSER now... it's Cesar. White     T-shirt, sagging gray dickies...     FOLLOWING HIM now... as he crosses the edge of a dirt     lot. FOCUSING ON his Doc Marten boots and their waffle-     soled print...     1   8   7 - Rev. 7/10/96                               79.97   EXT. FREEWAY UNDERPASS - NIGHT                               97     Merging with Cesar as he slinks down the dark alley     corridor. Lighting a blunt off his Zippo lighter...98   FURTHER DOWN                                                 98     Cesar spray paints a wall with a can of black enamel paint.     He takes another hit. Chokes down a shit-eating grin. And     admires his work... a goofy dog smoking a blunt.     ... below the dog he scrawls the word, "CARTOON." Above     it, "K.O.S. As he slips the spray can into his front     pocket, he senses a presence..                               CESAR                 ... 'At you, Stevie?     Profound silence. Grin dissolves. Riveted, Cesar takes     another slow hit off his blunt. Suddenly a coyote darts     past him.                               CESAR                        (startled)                 ... Hells, man. Stupit dog.     His sick smirk returns. But only momentarily. Now a     premonitory flicker registers on his face. He blinks as     a Masai arrow splits the darkness and pierces his left     pectoral muscle.     Exhaling a stunned breath, Cesar looks down at the arrow.     An incredulous, stupefied laugh escapes him as he pulls     the arrow out of his chest and studies it...     The normal length of the arrow's been shortened by half     and the tip has been fitted with a modified hypodermic     needle. (The needle extends from a rubber stopper which has     retracted into the hypodermic casing, causing the     solution in the hypo to jettison through the needle and     into Cesar).                               CESAR                 ... Mutha fuck.     Now back-pedaling, stumbling, dropping the arrow, he     turns and runs off.99   EXT. FREEWAY UNDERPASS                                       99     Cesar collapses onto a pile of garbage bags. MOVING IN.     His eyes fixed and dilated. Forehead beaded with     perspiration. Fighting against the effects of the     injection...     Now blackness...      1   8   7 - Rev. 7/10/96                                     80.100   INT. TREVOR'S BEDROOM - NIGHT (3 AM)                               100      Ellen awakens with a start.      She glances about, momentarily disoriented.      Now she      remembers where she is and what happened.                                 ELLEN                   Trevor?      No response.    Choking back emotions.101   INT. TREVOR'S LIVING ROOM - NIGHT                                  101      TV SET ON.    Ellen enters, glances around.     No Trevor.                                 ELLEN                   Trevor?102   INT. TREVOR'S BEDROOM - MOMENTS LATER                              102      As Ellen returns. She notices the glass of water on the      desk. Bravely collects herself. Crosses over to the      desk and sits down.                                 ELLEN                   ... Where'd you put the aspirin?      Like an involuntary reflex she tugs on the center drawer      of the desk, but it's locked. Now she pulls on one of      the side drawers and it slides open. Ellen stops at what      she sees...      ... a treasure-trove of homemade shivs, Bic lighters,      Walkmen, pagers... and Benny Chacon's black rosary beads.      BACK TO Ellen and her curious, sobered look.      Now she slowly      shuts the drawer.103   INT. TREVOR'S FOYER - A SHORT WHILE LATER                          103      Fumbling in her purse for her keys, Ellen makes a hasty      departure.104   EXT. FREEWAY UNDERPASS - PREDAWN                                   104      Almost six AM. Encroaching sunlight creeps toward the      horizon. A vapid stillness. Not a soul stirs.105   EXT. FREEWAY UNDERPASS - TIGHT ON CESAR'S FACE -                   105      CONTINUOUS ACTION      as he comes to.                                                         (CONTINUED)      1   8   7 - Rev. 7/10/96                                 81.105   CONTINUED:                                                     105      Eyes feverish, registering pain. His head throbs. He      begins to move and discovers a pounding in his right      hand...      ... Lifting his hand up in front of his face.    Cesar's      ring index finger has been severed clean off.    Blood is      everywhere.      Cesar emotes a silent panic-stricken scream. Reduced to      a snot-sobbing wreck, he frantically searches the ground      on his hands and knees...                                CESAR                   My finger. Please, somebody help                   me! Where's my finger?!106   OMITTED                                                        106107   INT. EMERGENCY ROOM - CONTINUOUS ACTION - MORNING              107      PUSHING IN ON the Emergency Room Sign... MOVING PAST the      unrelenting urgency that permeates the ER. DISCOVER      Cesar now in a wheelchair, right hand completely wrapped      in gauze. He pleads with two police DETECTIVES...                                 CESAR                   ... I put it on my mother, sir.                                 DETECTIVE #1                          (leaning forward;                           good cop)                   ... So your science teacher shot                   you with an arrow full of drugs                   then chopped off your finger.                   Come on, you can do better than                   that, Cesar.                                 CESAR                   It had to be him!                                  DETECTIVE #2                           (bad cop)                   He smoke the `mota' for yuh, too,                   eh ese?                                 CESAR                   Pinche madre... he hates my guts,                   man!                                 DETECTIVE #2                   You covering for somebody, homes?                                 (MORE)                                                       (CONTINUED)      1   8   7 - Rev. 7/10/96                                   82.107   CONTINUED:                                                       107                                 DETECTIVE #2 (CONT'D)                   Cuz, this circumstantial bullshit                   won't hold up in court, I'll tell                   you that right now.      Detective #1 refers to a rap sheet...                                  DETECTIVE #1                          (sadly)                   Caught too many priors, Cesar.                   Juvenile GTA, vandalism...                                 CESAR                   I know he did it! Don't you hear                   what I'm saying?                                 DETECTIVE #1                   You saw his face?                                  CESAR                          (lying)                   Yeah, yeah. I seen him.      Detective #2 shakes his head and grimaces.                                 DETECTIVE #2                   Lemme save yuh from perjuring                   yourself, asshole... You're full                   of shit.                                  CESAR                   I swear it!   For reals!                                 DETECTIVE #2                          (turns to leave)                   C'mon, this guy's wasting our time.                          (points to Cesar)                   Come up with something better than                   that, or the truth, then maybe we'll                   talk.      Detective #2 walks away.     Detective #1 follows.      Cesar hangs his head, mumbling a disparaging flood of      Spanish expletives...108   INT. E.R. RECEIVING DESK - ANONYMOUS POV - CONTINUOUS            108      ACTION      THROUGH passing patients and personnel... APPROACHING the      receiving desk.                                                         (CONTINUED)      1   8   7 - Rev. 7/10/96                                 83.108   CONTINUED:                                                     108      ... As the blurred shoulder of an orderly CROSSES OUT to      reveal a legal-sized white envelope now on the counter      top.      A busy E.R. nurse notices the envelope. Glances around.      Picks up the envelope and reads the name typed across the      face of it... CESAR SANCHEZ... narrowing her gaze as she      opens the envelope.      In the envelope, Cesar's severed finger, nesting in a      clump of newspaper.      Appears to be something tattooed across the side of it      but we can't quite make it out.      The Nurse gasps and drops the envelope, spilling the      finger onto the counter top.      CLOSE now ON the finger and the fresh "tatt" scrawled      across its side: R-U-DUN?      SOUND FADES now from the scene, replaced by a TECHNO HIP-      HOP TRACK that CONTINUES THROUGH the CUT...109   EXT. BUNGALOW #86 - AFTERNOON (6TH PERIOD)                     109      Rain lashes the faculty parking lot...110   INT. BUNGALOW #86 - CONTINUOUS ACTION                          110      HIP-HOP TRACK FADES now replaced by the buzz of      cross-talk. Trevor strolls the aisles, an open      science book in hand.      (NOTE: Rita is dressed in overalls, very subdued      compared to her usual attire.)      Cesar's back... and seated in his regular seat, across      from Stevie Littleton. Uncharacteristically, his eyes      are fixed on the book in front of him.                                 TREVOR                          (addressing class)                   ... Name one of four parts that                   make up the human hand?      Trevor holds up his hand for display.                                 TREVOR                   ... Hands, please.      A reluctant cross section of hands go up.                                                     (CONTINUED)      1   8   7 - Rev. 7/10/96                                   84.110   CONTINUED:                                                       110      6th period is by no means a synchronized whole but there      has developed an odd sort of order to its madness.      Trevor looks around.      Picks on an Anglo girl in the second      row.                                  TREVOR                   Christian.                                 CHRISTIAN                   ... The metacarpals.                                 TREVOR                   The Metacarpals. That's one.                          (to class)                   Name some more?      Now he picks on Rita...                                  TREVOR                   Rita.                                 RITA                   The wrist... and thumb.      A flurry of thumbs go up as if on cue.                                  TREVOR                   Good.                          (holding up all his                           fingers now)                   ... And don't forget the phalanges.      Fingers shoot up and wiggle on cue...                                 CLASS                          (in unison)                   Phalanges, phalanges, phalanges...      Scattered laughter and groans at this embarrassing      routine...      Cesar's beaten gaze remains riveted to his book. Now he      slides a look at the "R-U-DUN" tatt on his right index      finger. The severed finger has been sewn back on,      supported by a finger brace.      Stevie openly stares at the back of Trevor's head as      Trevor passes by in the aisle.111   INT. JOHN QUINCY ADAMS - "A" BUILDING/COMPUTER LAB -             111      AFTER SCHOOL      RAIN steadily plays AGAINST the WINDOWS.                                                         (CONTINUED)      1   8   7 - Rev. 7/10/96                                  85.111   CONTINUED:                                                      111      Ellen sits behind her computer, lost in a grading      program...      Trevor now enters.    Damp hair and shoulders.                                    TREVOR                   May I come in?      Ellen stops what she's working on.                                 ELLEN                          (reticently)                   Hi.                                 TREVOR                          (concerned)                   Where'd you go the other night?                                 ELLEN                   I was going to ask you the same                   thing.                                 TREVOR                   ... I went for a run.                          (changes subject)                   Wanna get some Chinese later?                   There's a new place in the Valley                   Center. 'Spose to be pretty good.                                 ELLEN                          (an excuse)                   ... Can't tonight. Maybe another                   time.      Weighs it, and...                                 TREVOR                          (stands there for                           a moment)                   ... I should probably correct                   papers anyway. Some of these                   bungalow kids actually care                   about a grade. Even Cesar's doing                   better. Today, for the first time                   since I took over for Eskander, he                   actually did his work.                          (beat)                   Today Cesar Sanchez was a success.                   Maybe for the first time in his                   life.                          (blinks now)                   You alright?                                                        (CONTINUED)                                                                86.111   CONTINUED:                                                      111                                 ELLEN                   ... Much better, thank you.      A tacit satisfaction that all is well...                                 TREVOR                   ... I really am sorry about Jack.      He exits now leaving Ellen alone with her thoughts.112   INT. JOHN QUINCY ADAMS SCHOOL LIBRARY - MORNING                 112      Before school tutoring session. The minute hand on the      wall clock jerks ahead one minute... 7:23 AM.      Trevor and Rita at a table near the back of the library.      Trevor gazes blankly at Rita's essay. Rita revises one      of the pages.      INTERCUT Dave Childress at the front counter as the      librarian (late fifties) photocopies a page from a      history book for him. Childress scrutinizes Trevor and      Rita as he waits.      Satisfied now, Rita slides the page to Trevor...                                   RITA                   ... Finished.      Trevor blinks himself back to reality...                                 TREVOR                   ... Let's hava look..      He adjusts his glasses.      Pores over the paper...                                 TREVOR                   ... Good.                          (deliberating)                   ... I was just thinking, since                   your essay's about gangs and                   getting away from their influence,                   you probably could've left some of                   those double negatives you like so                   well.                                 RITA                          (confused)                   So now you wan' me to use bad                   grammar.                                                        (CONTINUED)                                                                87.112   CONTINUED:                                                      112                                 TREVOR                          (explaining)                   Only if it suits your topic.                                 RITA                   I know. We're all products of our                   environment 'n' shit.                                 TREVOR                   No, I think that's just an excuse.                          (beat)                   I say if we're strong, we can rise                   above adversity.                          (lets it sink in)                   But it's like rap or hip-hop...                   Correct all the grammar and it                   loses its impact.                                 RITA                   So you like hip-hop, Mr. G?                                  TREVOR                          (shakes his head)                   ... I hate it.                                 RITA                          (reacting)                   What kinda black man are you?      Trevor bursts forth a laugh.      Childress perks up at the front counter.      Trevor's laugh evokes a smile from Rita.      Now she pries      a little further...                                 RITA                   Why you here anyways? Don't you                   got nothin' better t'do?                                 TREVOR                   ... Everything I wanna do is right                   here.                          (back on track now)                   It's a good essay, Rita. You put                   a lot of effort into it, it shows.                                 RITA                          (a laconic grin)                   Comes from the heart, maestro.                   I'm a writer... not a fighter.      Trevor returns a cognitive flicker.                                                        (CONTINUED)                                                               88.112   CONTINUED:                                                     112                                 TREVOR                          (hinting now)                   ... Ms. Quinn was telling me she                   picks two seniors each year to                   read their essays at graduation.                                 RITA                          (taken aback)                   She ain't gonna pick my paper.                   Anyway, I don't wanna get up in                   fronna all those people and make                   a fool outta myself.                                  TREVOR                   Why not?   It'd be a Pyrrhic                   victory.                                  RITA                   What's dat?                                 TREVOR                   ... In your case, irony. Refers                   to King Pyrrhus. Never mind.                   Look it up sometime.      OFF Rita's reluctance...113   EXT. LOS ANGELES RIVER/SEPULVEDA DAM BASIN - AFTERNOON         113      A churning fist of muddy water cuts a path along the      perimeter of a golf course and jogging trail.      TRACING jogging trail, KEEPING PACE now with a die-hard      runner. Something registers in the runner's eyes, pace      slowing, now stopping. Not fully comprehending what he      is looking at...      FOLLOWING HIS GAZE... THROUGH a curtain of rain and tall      swamp grass... along the riverbank... TO the base of the      Burbank Boulevard Overpass.      SLOWING ANGLE to discover precariously jutting out of the      rushing waters, in a tangle of chicken wire fence, a      partially decomposed torso...114   INT. JOHN QUINCY ADAMS COMPUTER LAB - AFTER LUNCH              114      (5TH PERIOD)      Ellen walks down an aisle of computers as the class      settles...                                                      (CONTINUED)                                                                 89.114   CONTINUED:                                                       114                                 ELLEN                   ... Before getting side-tracked                   with viruses and T-S-R programs,                   we were talking yesterday about                   E-Mail.      INTERCUT Stevie. Ellen passes Stevie's computer as      he shares cryptic information with a kid sitting next      to him.      Ellen approaches her computer console on wheels at      the front of the class.                                 ELLEN                   If you click-on the mail icon in                   your tray, you'll be ready to                   send and receive mail. My                   computer's already set-up.                   Everyone go ahead and click the                   white envelope in the lower...      Ellen's interrupted by her own computer. A little white      envelope icon in the lower left hand tray flashes and      BEEPS. Now a COMPUTER VOICE announces: "You've got mail."      Ellen's taken aback.    Class titters.   Now she grins.                                 ELLEN                   Looks like someone's way ahead of                   me. Alright.                          (adapts and                           demonstrates)                   To retrieve your mail simply double                   click the top item in your mail                   list.                          (as she does)                   Since we're all a part of the                   same network, we share mail... so                   go ahead and do that.      The message read:    TEACHER FUCKS NIGGERS      Class is dumbstruck. Ellen's riveted. Now she turns.      Without losing her temper, she scours the class with      a narrow gaze.      Class starts to buzz.    Now a clicking frenzy to retrieve      the same message.      The anonymous message pops up on computer screens all      around the classroom.      Ellen's POV of students (and Stevie). Deciphering      reactions. LINGERING ON Stevie's poker face.                                                         (CONTINUED)                                                               90.114   CONTINUED:                                                     114      Her own poker face now...                                 ELLEN                   Whoever sent that message isn't                   as anonymous as they think.      Ellen turns to her console, clicks the REPLY button.    A      new mail message window opens up. It's addressed to      the anonymous sender, STUDENT #00. Ellen types in:                                 GO TO THE OFFICE      All the while anticipation builds on Stevie's face.    He      glances around, starting to get nervous.      Ellen now clicks the SEND button...      Stevie's COMPUTER BEEPS...    COMPUTER VOICE:   "You've got      mail..."      ... A window opens in the middle of Stevie's monitor      revealing Ellen's return message.      Class erupts and Stevie springs out of his seat...                                 STEVIE                   'Dat's bullshit, man!      He rushes up to the front of the class.                                 STEVIE                   You best step off, Ms. H. Cuz                   you can't prove nuthin'. And I                   know you can't afford to lose                   'dis minimum wage job 'a yers.                                  ELLEN                           (beat and)                   You're right, Stevie. I can't                   afford to live in a big house                   south of the boulevard. Like                   you do.      Class erupts again, coming down on Stevie and his wanna-be      poor boy from the streets image. They're laughing at him      now, not with him. In a rage, Stevie kicks open the      hallway door and exits the classroom.115   INT. JOHN QUINCY ADAMS MAIN OFFICE - MOMENTS LATER             115      Ellen hastily enters, looking for Stevie. Addresses      IRIS (a thirty-something Hispanic woman) behind      the counter...                                                       (CONTINUED)                                                               91.115   CONTINUED:                                                     115                                 ELLEN                   Iris, did Steven Littleton come                   in here?                                 IRIS                   Haven't seen 'im.      Teacher #1, the insipid woman, checks her mail slot.    It's      her conference period.                                 TEACHER #1                          (appalled)                   You're not supposed to leave                   your classroom unattended.                                    ELLEN                             (reacting)                   Sue me.      Teacher #1 exits in a flurry. Ellen now glances to her      right. Seated there in rigid silence is BENNY CHACON'S      MOTHER (51).                                 IRIS                          (offers; sotto)                   Benny Chacon's mother. Told                   'er Garcia had to leave early                   today but she jus' sits there.                   She been saying some pretty                   crazy things.      Mrs. Chacon begins speaking Spanish in plaintive spurts.      Ellen can't decipher what she is saying...                                 ELLEN                          (to Mrs. Chacon)                   ... Espanol, muy poquito, senora.                          (beat)                   Mrs. Chacon... you have to slow down.                          (back to Iris)                   What's she saying?      Hesitating.    Now with apprehension...                                 IRIS                   You heard 'bout that body they foun'                   in the L.A. River... She says she                   thinks it's Benny.      OFF Ellen's unblinking gaze...116   EXT. LOS ANGELES COUNTY CORONER'S OFFICE (DOWNTOWN) -          116      EVENING      A concrete fortress... Ellen and Mrs. Chacon approach.                                                               92.117   OMITTED                                                        117118   INT. ASSISTANT CORONER'S OFFICE - CONTINUOUS ACTION            118      Ellen and Mrs. Chacon sit stiffly in front of the      ASSISTANT CORONER (mid-forties). Desk cluttered. Half-      eaten sandwich in front of him. He nurses a Styrofoam      cup of coffee as he flips through a John Doe folder.                              ASST. CORONER                You say he's been missing                approximately four weeks?                              ELLEN                ... Four, almost five weeks.                              ASST. CORONER                That's a long time. Lots a                things happen to a body after                four or five weeks. Makes it                difficult to I.D.      A faint, incongruous smile.                              ELLEN                       (indicating John Doe)                So he just sits here?                              ASST. CORONER                We keep 'um up to thirty days.                Lady, we get 80, sometimes 90 Does                a month. Floaters, gangbangers,                illegals, junkies. Most of 'um                cheap homicides. Nobody's even                lookin' for 'em.                       (indicating folder)                This guy here, has a dent in his                head. Could be post-mortem                trauma. Probably hit a retaining                wall on his way down river after                that rain we had. Who knows.                       (beat)                Yuh ask me, this kid was dead                before he got his head caved in.                Overdose by morphine. That's what                it looks like t'me.      Ellen weighs it. Assistant Coroner now refers to some      sort of questionnaire.                              ASST. CORONER                On the phone you said the mother                mentioned some identifying marks.      Ellen refocuses a far-off, introspective gaze.                                                       (CONTINUED)                                                                93.118   CONTINUED:                                                      118                                 ELLEN                          (affirmative)                   She said he has some pockmarks on                   his chest; from a bad case of                   chicken pox. And there's a bar-                   code tattoo on his neck.      A cognitive flicker now as the Assistant Coroner sets      down his coffee...119   INT. AUTOPSY ROOM - EVENING                                     119      The acrid fecal smell causes Ellen to flinch. Averting      her eyes, she holds onto Mrs. Chacon's arm as they stand      next to the autopsy table. A plastic diaphanous sheet      covers the body.      Now the Assistant Coroner raises the sheet...      Mrs. Chacon's traumatic gaze confirms her worst fears.      She raises a hand to her mouth. Now the tears come...                                 MRS. CHACON                   ... Benito.      As she comforts Mrs. Chacon...                                  ELLEN                          (to Assistant Coroner;                           sotto)                   Did you find any rosary beads with                   the body?                                 ASSISTANT CORONER                   No.120   INT. TREVOR'S BEDROOM - LATER THAT NIGHT                        120      ... The digital clock next to Trevor's bed reads:      2:14 a.m.      Trevor sleeps. HOLD for a portentous moment. Now the      stillness is broken by a CLATTER at the front door.      Someone enters the house. Trevor awakens. Jolts out of      bed. Disoriented a beat.121   INT. TREVOR'S HALLWAY                                           121      In boxer shorts and a T-shirt, adjusting his glasses,      Trevor ventures through darkness...                                                        (CONTINUED)                                                               94.121   CONTINUED:                                                     121                                 TREVOR                   ... Who's there?      A light flickers on in the living room.                                 ELLEN (O.S.)                   You should keep your door locked.      ADJUSTING the ANGLE now as the living room comes INTO      VIEW...      Ellen paces back and forth, consumed by what's troubling      her.                                 TREVOR                          (still half asleep)                   What's the matter?      Ellen ignores his question.                                  ELLEN                          (impaling him with                            a look)                   I just want you to tell me one                   thing...      Now something she sees stops her pacing...      ... The black rosary beads on the dinner table.                                  TREVOR                           (off Ellen's                            puzzled look)                   What?      Following her gaze, he picks up the rosary beads.    As he      places them in a drawer in the credenza.                                  TREVOR                   What is it?      Ellen's confused.     Lost in a fixated gaze.                                 ELLEN                   ... If you had any idea what I've                   been thinking lately... you'd                   think I was crazy.                          (running it through                           her mind)                   ... Remember that John Doe they                   found in the L.A. River. Turned                   out it was Benny.                                                       (CONTINUED)                                                                 95.121   CONTINUED:                                                       121                                 TREVOR                          (impacted)                   Who told you that?                                 ELLEN                   ... Benny's mother identified the                   body.      Trevor just looks at her, a bated pause.       Now he blinks.                                 TREVOR                   Benny was no saint, Ellen. This                   is a kid who terrorized hald the                   school. He even broke into your                   house. Maybe we should think                   about that 'fore we shed any tears.      Ellen just looks at him.                                 TREVOR                   ... Maybe he's better off.                                 ELLEN                   That's a horrible thing to say.      Trevor accepts that it is.                                  TREVOR                   Do you believe for every troubled                   kid like Benny there's one or two                   others just waiting to take his                   place? Like Cesar... or his                   friend Stevie.      An awkward moment of silence...                                 ELLEN                   You don't know anything about                   Cesar's finger, do you, Trevor?                                 TREVOR                   Sometimes a person just runs out                   of bad choices. Then he's gotta                   pay a price. What happened to                   Cesar was inevitable.      Ellen flickers a terrified smile.                                 ELLEN                   You're scaring me.                                                         (CONTINUED)                                                                 96.121   CONTINUED:                                                       121                                 TREVOR                   We make choices in life and we                   live by 'em. You and I chose to                   be teachers, to stand on                   principle. Benny and Cesar,                   they're takers. They want what                   they want, and they want it now.                                    ELLEN                   Trevor...                                  TREVOR                           (unravelling)                   I'm sorry but everyone can't                   always get what they want.                   Sometimes you gotta take                   responsibility for your actions.                   Have you ever been ready to die                   for a fundamental principle? They                   haven't. You think those punks                   would die protecting your Civil                   Rights?                                    ELLEN                   Trevor, don't.                                 TREVOR                   Did you know Cesar hits his                   mother? Steals money from her                   purse? Did you know that?      Ellen blanches.                                 TREVOR                   Did you know he was here that                   night? In the alley?                                 ELLEN                          (confused)                   What are you talking about?                                 TREVOR                   Cesar. Jack was provoked.     It                   wasn't an accident, Ellen.    Cesar                   killed him.      Ellen just stares at him.       Traumatized...                                 ELLEN                          (momentous deliberation)                   Where'd you get the rosary beads?                                                         (CONTINUED)       1   8   7 - Rev. 7/22/96                               97.121    CONTINUED:                                                   121                                  TREVOR                           (pause and...)                    I like you, Ellen. I like you so                    much. Do you believe that?                                  ELLEN                           (riveted)                    Yes.       Trevor can't find words.                                  ELLEN                    ... I don't know you.       With that, Ellen turns and walks out of the house as       quickly as she came.                                  TREVOR                           (plaintively)                    ... You do know me. I'm a                    teacher, just like you.123A   EXT. STUDENT QUAD/QUEBRADITA - AFTER SCHOOL                  123A       (CINCO DE MAYO)       ESTABLISH hoardes of cowboy hats, belt sashes and boots       as they dance to the loud Mexican band music on the       patio...       Non-Hispanics, along with non-Quebradita cliques, look on       from the lawn area...       DAVE CHILDRESS       hanging back, on the fringes, scoping out the crowd.       Notices a pack of cigarettes in the chest pocket of a       15-year-old kid standing next to him. Kid's wrapped up       in talking to another kid, points to something O.S.                                  CHILDRESS                           (to the kid with                            cigarettes)                    ... Don't you know it's not polite                    to point at people. Everytime you                    point a finger at someone else...                           (demonstrates)                    ... There's three fingers pointing                    back at you.                           (lesson over)                    Lemme have a cigarette.      1   8   7 - Rev. 7/22/96                                  98.122   INT. JOHN QUINCY ADAMS - MEN'S BATHROOM - AFTER SCHOOL          122      ... Cinco de Mayo. The sounds of a QUEBRADITA waft in      from outside in the quad.      At the same time, Steve follows him into the rest room.      They're all alone.                                 STEVIE                  Eh, Mr. G?      Bracing himself with a fixed, straight-ahead look.                                STEVIE                         (boldly)                  I'm talkin' ta you, Garfield.                         (beat)                  Know what you did to Cesar.                         (wild notion)                  ... I'm thinkin' maybe you did                  Benny, too.                         (incredulously)                  That possible? You crush my                  friend's skull? Fuck 'im up wit'                  a two-by-four, maybe a baseball                  bat?      No response.   As Trevor starts to leave, Stevie blocks      his path.      Trevor steps to one side to go around... but Stevie      blocks his path again.                                TREVOR                         (trying to maintain)                  Please, step out of the way.                                STEVIE                  ... You kill my friend?   Huh?      Trevor's head begins to swim. His life's falling apart.      Like a trapped animal, he back-pedals a step to escape...      but then suddenly snaps.      He explodes into Stevie, crushing him against the bath-      room wall.      Trevor impales Stevie with a look that says it all.      Stevie immediately shrinks. Trevor now blinks. Cooling      himself down. Slowing his breathing. Stevie slips out      from under his hold and bolts for the exit.      1   8   7 - Rev. 7/22/96                              98A.123   EXT. STUDENT QUAD/QUEBRADITA - CONTINUOUS ACTION             123      Cesar and his tag-bangers... Cesar holds court, drowned      out by the MUSIC. Now Stevie arrives. Out of breath.      Urgent to tell his story.      Rita... Makeup subdued, wearing a cotton button-down blouse.      She watches the Quebradita from behind a tree. A desire      to be part of it, she moves a little closer...      ... as Cesar notices her. His head races from Stevie's      news. Eyes penetrating. Now galvanized. On a rampage,      he shoves his way through the crowd.      Victor Sifuentes... on the opposite side of the patio,      snapping a look, spotting Cesar moving in for the kill.      With a start, Victor barks something into his walkie-      talkie and squeezes his way into the Quebradita crowd...      Cesar shoves Rita to the ground.                                CESAR                  School girl bitch!                                                    (CONTINUED)                                                                  99.123   CONTINUED:                                                        123      Rita gets to her feet immediately...                                 RITA                          (shaken)                   You gotta problem?!                                 CESAR                   Yer fuckin' maestro, 'at's my                   problem!                                 RITA                   I don't know what yer talkin'                   'bout!                                 CESAR                   Garfield killed Benny!      Rita looks at him like he's insane.    Cesar's entourage      gathers around them.                                 RITA                   Yer crazy.      She turns her back and starts to leave.       Cesar grabs      her again...                                 CESAR                   Don't turn yer back on me when                   I'm talkin' t'you, bitch. You                   think yer better than everybody                   else. Well you ain't! You ain't                   nuthin' but a whore!                                 RITA                   Fuck you, asshole!                                 CESAR                   What? You forget about the time                   in the bungalows? We all had our                   turn wit you, man!                                 RITA                   Shut up!                                 CESAR                          (gets in her face)                   What the fuck you been fuckin'                   a nigger for? Huh? You think                   he's gonna protec' you? Stop                   me from doin' whatever I want                   wit' you? Stop any of us from                   doin' what we want wit' you?!      Rita just stands there, destroyed and sobbing now.                                                         (CONTINUED)                                                                100.123   CONTINUED:                                                       123                                 RITA                   Fuck you, Cesar.                                   CESAR                   No, fuck you!      He grabs her blouse and rips it wide open. His eyes      glisten with fervor now as he punches Rita (with his      good hand) square in the face. She crumbles to the      ground as Victor bursts through the crowd and      restrains Cesar.      As Rita gets to her feet and flees into the Quebradita      crowd...                                 CESAR                   Garfield better watch his back!124   OMITTED                                                          124125   INT. JOHN QUINCY ADAMS AUDITORIUM - NIGHT                        125      Standing room only.    An impassioned crowd.                                 ANGLO WOMAN                   ... I wanna know if this boy was                   killed and whether it was gang-                   related.      The audience erupts in unanimous support...                                 ANGLO WOMAN                          (playing to crowd now)                   As a mother and a taxpayer, I have                   a right to know. And if it was                   gang-related then I want tighter                   security...      At this point she's drowned out by the crowd.      On stage the discipline committee, including Trevor,      Childress, Hyland and Quinn sit at the dais. Garcia      stands at the podium, waiting for silence. MRS. FORD,      the assistant principal, a full-figured black woman in      her mid-fifties, stands alongside him, gesturing for      the crowd to settle down.                                 MR. GARCIA                   The death...                          (too noisy)                   The death of Benito Chacon is not                   gang-related.                                 (MORE)                                                        (CONTINUED)                                                                101.125   CONTINUED:                                                       125                                 MR. GARCIA (CONT'D)                   That's something you heard on                   the news. It's wrong. It's                   misinformation.                                  HISPANIC MAN                           (shouting out)                   Who says? How can you be so sure?                   You're talking about my kid's                   safety.                                 MRS. FORD                   Please, everyone just calm down.      Audience settles.                                  MR. GARCIA                   Thank you, Mrs. Ford.                           (now)                   ... The police at this point                   aren't even sure if it's a case of                   murder. The reason we're having                   this meeting tonight is to quash                   all the rumors floating around out                   there. Okay. Here's what we do                   know. Benny Chacon ultimately died                   from a drug overdose, technically                   it was morphine.                           (volume rising again)                   Which is what heroin breaks down                   into...                                 STEVIE (O.S.)                   ... Dat's bullshit! Benny was no                   junkie! I know who did it!      Heads turn...      ... Ellen quietly enters now and stands just inside      one of the doors at the back of the hall...      Up at the dais, Trevor notices her.                                 STEVIE                   It's not the gangbangers y'gotta                   worry about. It's the teachers!                                 MR. GARCIA                   That's exactly the type of rumor                   we don't need, Mr. Littleton.      Stevie deliberately stands and points at Trevor with      vitriol in his eyes...                                                        (CONTINUED)                                                                    102.125   CONTINUED:                                                           125                                 STEVIE                   ... It was Garfield.      The audience grows silent.                                 MR. GARCIA                          (losing his patience)                   Say one more word and you're                   suspended.                                 MRS. FORD                   ... Sit down, Stevie.      Trevor doesn't even flinch.       Childress scrutinizes him      with a glance.                                 STEVIE                          (ranting)                   You're a fuckin' murderer,                   Garfield!                                    MR. GARCIA                             (calling for assistance)                   Victor?                                 STEVIE                   ... Maybe I can't prove it but I                   know he did it. He fucked up                   Cesar and he killed Benny.                          (to crowd)                   Ast 'im!      As Victor and another plainclothes cop attempt to remove      Stevie...                                 STEVIE                   Touch me and I'll sue yer ass!                          (as Victor backs off;                           now to Trevor)                   Yer dead, G! Yer a dead man!      With that Stevie shoves Victor aside and bolts for the      door.      Garcia attempts to regain his composure...      Trevor glances back to the spot where Ellen was      standing... but now she's gone.126   EXT. FACULTY PARKING LOT - NIGHT                                     126      Meeting's broken up. Dave Childress, cigarette dangling      from his mouth, jogs a step to catch up with Trevor...                                                         (CONTINUED)                                                                  103.126   CONTINUED:                                                         126                                 CHILDRESS                   Garfield, wait up...      Trevor maintains a steady pace, one hopeful eye scouring      the parking lot for Ellen...                                 CHILDRESS                   ... Don't let that Littleton punk                   get to you.      Trevor ignores him.                                 CHILDRESS                   Lil' bastard's a tweaker. He's a                   speed freak. You didn't know that?      At Trevor's car now.    Hesitating.    Turning to      Childress...                                 TREVOR                          (testing his patience)                   What is it, Dave? How can I help                   you?      Unintentionally in Trevor's face...                                 CHILDRESS                   How 'bout a ride?                          (taking a step back)                   ... The wife wouldn't let me drive                   my own car. Ain't that a bitch?      Childress is pitiful. Wears a grease-stained tie with      his wrinkled Hawaiian shirt and a Windbreaker.                                 TREVOR                          (with resignation)                   ... You smell like beer.                                 CHILDRESS                   I only had two. That's all.                   Swear ta Christ.      Raising his palms. Surrendering.       Trevor studies him      with a sad grimace.                                 CHILDRESS                   I live right up here off Chandler.                   I'll buy you a drink.127   INT. CHILDRESS'S GARAGE - NIGHT                                    127      Dave's Sanctuary.                                                          (CONTINUED)                                                               104.127   CONTINUED:                                                      127      At the end of a gravel driveway, behind a darkened house.      Garage door open.      Childress chain smokes and drinks beer as he leans      against the dented fender of his '66 Lincoln Continental.      Trevor nurses a Diet Coke...                                 CHILDRESS                   ... I had the same situation                   'round the time of that 'Night                   Stalker' thing. Remember that?                   Whole city was scared shitless.                   My wife was convinced the frickin'                   mailman was the 'Stalker' for                   about a week there.                          (a tubercular chuckle)                   Some mental giant in my 4th period                   starts this rumor, see. Childress                   is the 'Night Stalker.' Right?                          (chug-a-lugs)                   ... Idiots. Even after they                   caught that Ramirez jerk, I'd                   still hear those fucks '... They                   got the wrong guy. Childress is                   the Stalker, ese.'      He finishes beer.    Crumples it.      Trevor studies him, without expression. Now he notices      something stapled to the tar paper wall...      Trevor's POV of the "Certificate of Excellence in      Teaching," yellowed and dogeared, hanging obliquely by      one staple.      ... as Childress opens another beer.                                 TREVOR                          (excusing himself)                   I better get goin'. Thanks for                   the soda.                                 CHILDRESS                   Wait, wait. Hold your horses.                   Just hold on...      ... Finding a key in a drawer.                                 CHILDRESS                          (a twisted grin)                   ... Can't leave without meetin'                   the kids.      Childress unlocks a particle board cabinet against the      garage wall.                                                    (CONTINUED)                                                                105.127   CONTINUED:                                                       127      A watery glint in his bloodshot eyes. Cabinet door      swings wide now, revealing a mini arsenal of handguns...                                    CHILDRESS                   Ta-dah... Huh?      Trevor's eyes remain expressionless.      Childress rhapsodizes as he removes and handles some of      the guns...                                 CHILDRESS                   ... This one's from                   Czechoslovakia. It's a C-Z .22                   automatic. Ten round clip. Glow-                   in-the-dark sights.                          (eyeing the sights)                   Ain't that a beauty?                          (next)                   ... Then we gotta custom Smitty, 9                   'milli.' With extended grip.                   These Smith & Wessons kick like a                   mutha.                          (and next)                   Now this one's special. A Glock                   21. Lightest gun in the world.                   The barrel and firing pin are                   metal. See. Everything else on                   it's plastic.                          (handing it to Trevor)                   Here, feel that.      Trevor takes it, reluctantly weighs it in the palm of his      hand. Sets it down.      Now Childress removes a gun from a holster in the small      of his back, under his Windbreaker...                                 CHILDRESS                   ... 'Course you can never be too                   prepared. My pukey lil' Davis                   .380.                                 TREVOR                          (a severe squint)                   You wear that thing at school?                                 CHILDRESS                          (a smirk)                   ... Don't worry. They never use                   metal detectors on teachers.                          (beat)                   I also keep a .357 inside my desk.                                 (MORE)                                                        (CONTINUED)                                                               106.127   CONTINUED:                                                      127                                 CHILDRESS (CONT'D)                          (a wry grin)                   ... But you already know that.                   Didn't think I was payin'                   attention, did'ja? Shoulda seen                   the look on your face.      Pretending now.    Aiming the .380 at an imaginary      student...                                 CHILDRESS                   Now, Jose, if I've told you once                   I've told you a hundred times,                   stay in your cotton pickin' seat.                          (aiming gun)                   Boom!      Childress laughs and chokes on his cigarette. Now he      gazes at the .380 in his hand. Lost in a stupid,      recalcitrant grin...                                 CHILDRESS                   Haven't you ever just wanted to                   blow one of these little bastards                   away?      Childress glances up into Trevor's unflinching gaze.      Smiles to himself now. Thinks he's funny...                                 CHILDRESS                          (digressing)                   ... Speaking of blowing, you ever                   wanna fuck a high school girl,                   Garfield?                          (off no response)                   'Caught yer girl, Rita, bustin' a                   train out in the 'utility' shed                   couple months back. Swear to God.                   She had at least five or six                   cholos lined up back there.                          (as Trevor's eyes                           narrow)                   Face it, brother, she's a slut.                   C'mon, I know you had 'er.                          (bragging now)                   I even did her.                                   TREVOR                   You're drunk.                                 CHILDRESS                   I know you been laughin' at me                   behind my back.                                 (MORE)                                                       (CONTINUED)                                                                  107.127   CONTINUED:                                                         127                                 CHILDRESS (CONT'D)                   I'm talkin' about screwin' high                   school broads and you're givin'                   off this self-righteous attitude                   like your shit don't stink.      Childress rolls back on his heels.                                 CHILDRESS                   ... Tell me the truth now,                   Garfield. Did yuh do it? C'mon,                   I won't tell. Did yuh whack Benny?                   Whadda 'bout Cesar? That was                   generous, only taking his finger.                   I woulda cut off his balls.                                 TREVOR                   ... Go to hell, Dave.      All traces of a smile fade from Dave's face.      Trevor      just stands there. Doesn't say a damn word.      Childress makes his own momentous conclusion.                                 CHILDRESS                          (almost exulted)                   You really did it. You son of a                   bitch.      Awkward glint of admiration in Childress's eye.     Leans      forward, hangs a hand on Trevor's shoulder.                                 TREVOR                          (disgusted)                   You probably think you and me are                   alike.      Trevor turns and exits the garage. PULLING BACK FROM      Childress's dull anesthetized gaze. Deep down inside      Childress knows he's a pathetic piece of shit...128   EXT. TREVOR'S DRIVEWAY - AROUND MIDNIGHT                           128      Trevor pulls into his driveway, right up to the garage      door. He SHUTS OFF the IGNITION and narrows a gaze out      the front windshield...129   INT. TREVOR'S CAR - GARAGE DOOR - TREVOR'S POV -                   129      CONTINUOUS ACTION      Caught in his headlights, tagged all over.                                                        (CONTINUED)                                                                  108.129    CONTINUED:                                                        129       Spray painted threats like, "YOU'RE DEAD," "187-UM,"       "TEACHER-K" (crossed out) and a CARTOON VERSION OF       TREVOR WITH "X'S" WHERE HIS EYES ARE SUPPOSED TO BE.129A   INT. TREVOR'S LIVING ROOM - NIGHT (SHORT WHILE LATER)             129A       Dimly lit. Trevor stands in front of the television       set, staring at a late-night repeat of "Talk Soup."       INSERT - TALK SOUP       A clip from "Sally Jessy Rafael" or "Jerry Springer."       One of those Sturm und Drang moments. Everyone points       the finger at everyone else. No one willing to take       responsibility for themselves.       Only partially watching the television. His eyes are       fixed on a point somewhere in his own mind, lost to the       world.130    INT. JOHN QUINCY ADAMS SCHOOL LIBRARY - EARLY MORNING             130       (BEFORE SCHOOL)       Into a parabolic mirror above the library doors...       ... an empty corridor stretches forever.       Trevor, now unshaven, looking like he hasn't slept, sits       amidst total silence in his regular spot. No sign of       Rita. He checks his wristwatch.       WALL CLOCK       reads... 7:10 AM.                                                       BACK TO:       TREVOR       peering toward the library doors.   Nothing.   Now above       the doors...       TREVOR'S POV       BACK AND FORTH between the mirror and Trevor.   His eyes       glazed and unblinking.       FURTHER INTO the parabolic mirror now.   Breathing becoming       more and more labored.                                                       (CONTINUED)                                                               109.130   CONTINUED:                                                      130      In a flicker, we're transported back to Roosevelt      Whitney... Dennis Broadway's image SLOWLY COMING TOWARD      us down the long corridor...      BACK TO SCENE      Trevor catches his breath and blinks...      ... Back to reality.    The mirror is empty.      He removes his Proventil inhaler from his shirt pocket.      Suppressing gasps, he takes two hits.      Two girls at the magazine racks whisper to each other,      eyes firmly fixed on Trevor.      Suddenly there's a presence at Trevor's side...                                 LIBRARIAN                   ... I don't think she's coming.131   EXT. RITA'S TRAILER (SUN VALLEY) - SAME MORNING                 131      (7:30 AM)      Strictly low rent district. The small dirt yard in front      is contained within a cinder block wall.      Rita, back to her chola look, heavy makeup, black (right)      eye where Cesar punched her, watches her two younger      brothers as they fight over a toy truck. Her      three-year-old baby sister, Maricella (too big to be      carried) straddles her hip as Rita yells at the boys...                                 RITA                   Be nice to your brother, Antonio.                   Don't make me go get Mommie.      Trevor's car pulls up.    Rita's taken aback.                                 RITA                          (setting Maricella                           down)                   Go play wit' your brothers.      Rita attempts to thwart him at the sidewalk.                                 RITA                          (almost defensive)                   Whatcha doin' here, maestro?                                                       (CONTINUED)                                                                110.131   CONTINUED:                                                       131                                 TREVOR                          (with fervor)                   I want you to come back to school,                   Rita. You can't afford to miss                   finals. They won't let you                   graduate.                                 RITA                          (overlapping)                   No way. Forget it. I can't.                   What's wrong wit' you.      Trevor really does looks like hell.                                 TREVOR                          (beseeching her)                   Cesar and Stevie won't bother you.                   That's a promise.      Something stirs deep inside her.                                 RITA                          (struggles with it)                   Why'd they have to kill Snowball?                                 TREVOR                   ... They didn't.                                 RITA                          (on the verge of                           tears now)                   What's it fuckin' matter?! 'At                   school shit's for other kids, not                   me!                                 TREVOR                   That's not true. You're so smart,                   Rita. Don't you know that? You                   have an opportunity here to change                   your life. Please don't throw                   away everything we've worked for.      Trevor just stares at her, incredulously.      Rita lowers her gaze, unable to look him in the eye.      Momentous deliberation, and now...                                 TREVOR                   I know what happened with Childress.                                  RITA                           (knitting her                            eyebrows)                   What?                                                        (CONTINUED)                                                                 111.131   CONTINUED:                                                        131                                 TREVOR                          (beat)                   He won't ever touch you again.                                 RITA                          (protesting too                           much)                   He ain't done nuthin' tuh me.                   That boy's fulla shit. What's he                   been sayin'?                                 TREVOR                   Doesn't matter.                                 RITA                   He ain't never touched me no ways.                   What's he sayin'? He say he                   fucked me?! He say dat?!                          (off Trevor's look)                   He's a damn liar!                          (erupting again;                           tears streaming                           down her face)                   Get the fuck outta here! I don't                   need yer damn pity and I don't                   need you!                                 TREVOR                          (genuinely)                   But I need you, Rita.      Beat.                                 RITA                          (hardening)                   You made a mistake.    Dat's all.      With that Rita scoops up Maricella and exits.132   INT. MR. GARCIA'S OFFICE - SAME DAY (LUNCH PERIOD)                132      Trevor sits transfixed in front of Garcia.       Still hasn't      shaven.                                 MR. GARCIA                   See these?      Garcia holds up a handful of phone messages.                                 MR. GARCIA                   They're phone calls about you.                   Good ones.                                 (MORE)                                                         (CONTINUED)                                                               112.132   CONTINUED:                                                      132                                  MR. GARCIA (CONT'D)                   Cesar's mother told me how you                   tried to help him. You're evidently                   a good teacher. You should be                   commended on your efforts. However...                          (pause)                   I'm going to have to let you go.      Trevor blinks.                                 MR. GARCIA                          (beat)                   As much as I'd like to have you                   stay until the end of the year, I                   can't overlook the seriousness of                   certain accusations.      Mr. Garcia waits for a response but none is forthcoming.                                 MR. GARCIA                          (for example)                   ... Is it true you had meetings with                   a female student at your house?                                 TREVOR                   I was trying to help her.                                  MR. GARCIA                   The implications are still there,                   Mr. Garfield. I can't afford to                   open the door for another lawsuit.                   Sure you can appreciate my position.                          (pause)                   You can stay until Friday. I hope                   that will be sufficient.      This part registers only minimally with Trevor.133   EXT. BUNGALOW 86 - AFTER SCHOOL (SAME DAY)                      133      A VAPID SILENCE HOLDS us. The bungalow is awash in a      sun-soaked pool of light...      Trevor makes his way toward the parking lot with his      briefcase and a cardboard box of personal belongings.134   INT. JOHN QUINCY ADAMS - "A" BLDG. - MAIN CORRIDOR/             134      COMPUTER LAB - CONTINUOUS ACTION      Plagued with doubts, Ellen lingers in the doorway,      confiding with Hyland...                                                       (CONTINUED)                                                                  113.134   CONTINUED:                                                         134                                  HYLAND                   You're not being an alarmist.                           (minimizing her                            concerns)                   He gets a little overzealous at                   times... like some other people                   I know.                           (beat)                   I don't think the rosary adds up                   to much either, frankly.                                 ELLEN                   Why?                                 HYLAND                   It's probably his.                          (beat)                   Look, when I received my first                   Holy Communion all the boys got                   black rosaries and the girls got                   white. Trust me, there must be                   millions of black rosaries filed                   away in desk drawers from here to                   the Vatican.      Ellen flickers a sad indecisive smile.                                 HYLAND                   This guy's been through a lot,                   Ellen. The system failed him.                   I don't think any of us can really                   appreciate what he's been through.                          (beat)                   I say we give the man a break.      Ellen acquiesces a pensive nod.135   EXT. FACULTY PARKING LOT/ADJACENT STREET (3:20)                    135      THROUGH a CHAIN LINK FENCE Trevor approaches his car.      Traffic is bumper to bumper.136   OMITTED                                                            136&                                                                        &137                                                                      137138   EXT. FACULTY PARKING LOT - CONTINUOUS ACTION                       138      ... as Trevor unlocks his car.     And hesitates.                                                          (CONTINUED)                                                                     114.138   CONTINUED:                                                            138      TREVOR'S POV - DRIVER'S SIDE CAR DOOR      ... a bold 187 has been "keyed" into the paint.                                                          BACK TO:      TREVOR      Rivetted. Now he slides the cardboard box, along with      his briefcase onto the front seat.      Suddenly, as if out of nowhere, Ellen pulls up in her      Cherokee.      She deciphers Trevor with mixed emotions.        Trevor adjusts      his stance, covering the "187."      Ellen now tentatively rolls her window down halfway...      TAILPIPE SPUTTERS, a portentous idle.                                 ELLEN                          (stilted)                   ... I'd like to apologize for                   the other night.      Trevor stands there transfixed for a moment.       Now he      looks into her eyes. A soulful gaze.                                 TREVOR                   Shouldn't listen to me.    I was                   half asleep.      His eyes become damp.    Trevor smiles bravely.                                 ELLEN                   We really need to talk.                                 TREVOR                   ... Not tonight. Have to finish                   some work...                                    ELLEN                   Tomorrow then?     It's important                   to me.                                 TREVOR                          (far off now)                   ... Okay.                                 ELLEN                          (resolves it in                           her head)                   ... How 'bout seven o'clock?      Trevor nods.    Ellen flickers a tenuous smile.                                                                115.139    INT. ELLEN'S CHEROKEE - SIDE VIEW MIRROR                        139       ... as she rolls up her window and drives away, leaving       Trevor standing in the middle of the parking lot. His       image gets smaller and smaller in the mirror.139A   INT./EXT. ELLEN'S JEEP CHEROKEE - ELLEN'S POV                   139A       as she watches him in the side view mirror, torn with       mixed emotions.140    OMITTED                                                         140thru                                                                   thru143                                                                    143144    EXT. TREVOR'S HOUSE - LATE AFTERNOON                            144       Seeing now that the whole house has been tagged with       graffiti (not only the garage) as the Rambler pulls into       the driveway. With dead calm, Trevor leaves his box of       belongings behind and enters the front door, carrying his       briefcase.144A   EXT. STOLEN BUICK REGAL - CONTINUOUS ACTION - LATE              144A       AFTERNOON       ... as it parks about two houses down from Trevor's.145    INT. BUICK REGAL - CONTINUOUS ACTION - LATE AFTERNOON           145       All three tag-bangers produce firearms... Cesar loads the       cylinder chamber on his .357 magnum. Stevie double       checks a 7 round clip and a 39 Smith and Wesson. And       Paco plays with a .38 caliber revolver that he hides in       the deep front pocket of is County-Bens.       The interior of the Buick snaps with the hard sound of       gun metal... cocking hammers, loading cartridges and       spinning cylinder chambers...       ... As the gun preparations systematically stop. Cesar       now flicks ON an ELECTRIC HAIR CLIPPER, sets it on 'NO       CLIP,' and passes it back to Paco. Paco runs the clipper       over his head. Hair tumbles off in chunks. Stevie       fidgets, picks up a naked one-eyed doll off the floor,       raises it INTO VIEW...                               STEVIE                 Where'd you jack 'dis car from,                 homes?                        (referring to doll)                 'At's nasty, man.                                                                116.146    INT. TREVOR'S BEDROOM - SUNSET                                  146       Dutifully seated at his desk. Like a fervent prayer.       Lost in correcting his final graded assignment.146A   INT. TREVOR'S BEDROOM - POV - SUNSET                            146A       PAST wrought iron bars on the outside of the window.       Sun hangs above a distorted horizon.                                                      MATCH CUT TO:146B   ELLEN'S POV - SAME SUNSET                                       146B       ... PAST high tension lines outside Mother Henry's       kitchen window.147    INT. MOTHER HENRY'S KITCHEN - DUSK                              147       Ellen's preoccupied with thought as she rinses dishes       and places them in the dishwasher. O.S. hear "WHEEL       OF FORTUNE" on the TELEVISION.       Now a wet DISH slips from her grasp and SHATTERS on the       floor.                                MOTHER HENRY (O.S.)                 Ellen?       As she picks up the pieces...                               ELLEN                 ... It's alright, mother.148    EXT. TREVOR'S HOUSE - DUSK                                      148       Sun goes down.   A palpable stillness permeates.149    INT. BUICK REGAL - K.O.S. TAG-BANGERS - CONTINUOUS              149       ACTION       All three heads clipped "skin tight." Fixed gazes       holding. Stevie nurses a runny nose as he smokes       another "Sherm." Now something flickers in Cesar's       eyes...                               CESAR                 ... Okay, let's smoke this bitch.      1   8   7 - Rev. 9/4/96                                    117.150   EXT. TREVOR'S HOUSE - CONTINUOUS ACTION - DUSK                    150      The house is quiet now as Stevie and Paco disappear      around the back.      Cesar approaches the front door, undaunted, gun drawn.      Without breaking stride he kicks open the door...151   INT. TREVOR'S HOUSE - CONTINUOUS ACTION - EVENING                 151      Trevor sits on his bed, watching the red orb of the sun      disappear over the horizon. He can hear DOOR OPENING and      someone moving in his house.                                TREVOR                  I'm in here, Cesar.      Cesar, Paco, and Stevie enter the bedroom, guns drawn.                                CESAR                  Dont' move, mutha fucka!      Stevie flips on a light. Paco SHOOTS out the TV set in      the living room -- an act of intimidation. Cesar jams      his .357 under Trevor's chin. Gets in his face.                                CESAR                  You killed Benny. And you cut off                  my finger... Say it.      Trevor stares right into Cesar's eyes, unflinching.                                   TREVOR                  Yeah.   I did.                                   STEVIE                  Told yuh.     Fuckin' A, man.                                   PACO                  Lemme do 'im.                                 CESAR                  No.   This nigga's mine.      Cesar sticks the gun barrel right between Trevor's eyes      ... and squeezes the trigger. Click. An empty sound.      Trevor blinks. Cesar exhales a malicious laugh.     Opens a      fist to reveal six bullets.                                CESAR                  Ever seen The Deerhunter, ese?                                                       CUT TO:                                                       (CONTINUED)      1   8   7 - Rev. 9/4/96                                      118.151   CONTINUED:                                                          151      ANOTHER ANGLE      In the middle of the dark house -- Trevor's dining room      table. Trevor on one side, Cesar/Paco/Stevie on the      other. Cesar's seated, loading one of the six bullets      into a cylinder chamber. He shoves the gun toward Trevor      as Stevie and Paco train their pistols on him.                                 CESAR                   You gon' do yourself, mayate.                   Put it to your head and pull the                   trigger.      Trevor grabs the pistol without hesitation, puts it to      his head and squeezes off TWO ROUNDS without incident.      He slams the gun down in front of Cesar without a blink.      A crazed, watery glint in his eye.                                 TREVOR                   That macho enough for you, Cesar?                   Huh? That make me a man?                                 CESAR                   Take more'n that.                                 TREVOR                   Then you do it.      All three tag-bangers are taken aback.                                 TREVOR                   C'mon, show me what you got.    Mano                   a mano.                                 STEVIE                   He's playin' with yer head.                                    PACO                   Vato's scared.     He tryin' to twist                   outta it.                                 TREVOR                   I gotta be a fool to prove you're                   a fool? -- okay.      Trevor picks up the gun again, puts it to his head and      pulls the trigger... click. Slams the gun down.                                    TREVOR                   C'mon.                                 CESAR                   Tha's not how we playin' it.                                                           (CONTINUED)      1   8   7 - Rev. 9/4/96                                   119.151   CONTINUED:    (2)                                                151                                 TREVOR                   Why -- you too chickenshit to play                   yer own game? Got no cojones?      Paco lashes out and hits Trevor with his pistol drawing      blood.                                  PACO                   Shut up!      Cesar stares at him.                                 TREVOR                   You gonna let your homies defend                   your punk ass, Cesar? You gonna                   let me dis you? I pulled three                   times, you pussy, you leva, you                   coward! Lessee you pull one.                   C'mon, be a man! Get some respect                   back! Do it!      Cesar takes the gun and raises it toward his head.                                 PACO                   Whatcho doin', homie?      He grabs Cesar's arm, but Cesar pushes him away.                                 CESAR                          (to Trevor)                   You disrespectin' me, vato?   You                   sayin' I ain't a man?                                 TREVOR                   I'm sayin' you're a fool.      Cesar puts the .357 to his temple again...                                  STEVIE                   Don't do it!      They are mesmerized into inaction as Cesar grits his teeth      and pulls the trigger. Click.                                 PACO                          (instant adulation)                   You the man, Cesar! You the man!                   Orale, vato!                          (to Trevor)                   He got character, homes.                                 STEVIE                   Crazy mutha fucka.                                                        (CONTINUED)      1   8   7 - Rev. 9/4/96                                   120.151   CONTINUED:    (3)                                                151      Trevor looks at Cesar in disgust as he takes another      bullet and blindly loads it into the cylinder chamber.                                 CESAR                   Yer turn.      He spins the cylinder and slams the gun on the table.                                 TREVOR                   You think you got respect now?                   Your kinda respect is bullshit.                   Only thing you honor is stupidity.                   You ready to die for stupidity,                   Cesar? I am, if it'll teach you                   somethin'. See you can't kill me,                   homeboy. Yeah, my body... but                   what I am, who I was? That's                   been dead for over a year. And                   I'm never gonna get it back -- no                   matter how many of you I get rid                   of. I realize that now...                          (furious)                   ... I was a teacher! I wanted to                   help you!...      He snatches up the gun, puts it to his head and pulls the      trigger again... click. Trevor slams it back down on the      table.                                 TREVOR                   You can't kill me... and you can't                   scare me.      Cesar's sweating now, glancing between Trevor and the gun      on the table. Stevie and Paco shift uneasily.                                 PACO                   Don't do it, homie.                                 STEVIE                   He's crazy.                                 TREVOR                   Yeah, but isn't that what you                   respect? Bein' loco? Don't listen                   to 'em, Cesar. If you gonna live                   stupid don't do it half-assed --                   take it all the way. Take your                   turn. Pull the trigger.      Caught between the proverbial rock and a hard place,      Cesar's hand inches toward the gun. Suddenly Trevor is      screaming at him.                                                        (CONTINUED)       1   8   7 - Rev. 9/4/96                                        121.151    CONTINUED:    (4)                                                     151                                  TREVOR                    Macho is bullshit, fool! Your                    whole way of life is BULLSHIT!       Cesar explodes to his feet and screams right back.                                  CESAR                    It's all I got!       Silence.    Trevor studies him with an enigmatic look.                                  TREVOR                    Well then, I'll take your turn for                    you...       He snatches up the pistol and puts it to his head...                                    CESAR                    No!       ... pulls the trigger.       BLAM!!   The SHOT knocks Trevor       out of his chair.152    OMITTED                                                               152thru                                                                         thru167                                                                          167167A   ON PACO AND STEVIE                                                    167A                                    PACO                    You see dat!    He's out! He's                    fuckin' out!    Snuffed hisself!                    Aw, shit!       Stevie's stunned.                                  STEVIE                    What'd he do that for?       He walks toward the back of the house like a zombie.                                  STEVIE                    ... Let's get outta here.       Paco pulls at Cesar, who's staring at Trevor's dead body.                                    PACO                    C'mon, homie.                                  CESAR                    He took my turn.                                                           (CONTINUED)       1   8   7 - Rev. 9/4/96                                122.167A   CONTINUED:                                                    167A                                     PACO                    ... What?                                  CESAR                    It was my turn. He took it...                    He dissed me.                                  PACO                    So fuckin' what, man!     He's dead!                    Let's go!       Cesar shrugs him off, picks up the .357.                                  CESAR                    I gotta do this.                                     PACO                    Fuck dis shit!     Leave it!       He tries to pull Cesar away, pleading with him in Spanish,       but Cesar shoves him off.                                  CESAR                    I got one chance in six. I'm                    'onna beat 'dis bitch... For                    honor, vato.                                     STEVIE                    No!!       Paco rushes toward him, but is stopped by the BOOM!       of the .357. Frozen in shock, Paco stares down at       Cesar's body as Stevie re-enters the kitchen.                                  STEVIE                    Cesar?... Why'd he do it?      Why?167B   ON PACO AND STEVIE                                            167B       Not knowing himself, Paco stumbles out of Trevor's       kitchen toward the back door. Finally Stevie follows       him as we PULL BACK to reveal the crumpled bodies of       Trevor and Cesar lying on the floor.                                  NEWSCASTER (V.O.)                    ... Last night tragedy struck in                    North Hollywood where a high                    school teacher and one of his                    students were both found shot                    to death inside the teacher's home.       V.O. continues through the...       1   8   7 - Rev. 9/4/96                                   122A.168    EXT. J. Q. ADAMS H.S. - MORNING (GRADUATION DAY)                168       TWO WEEKS LATER       ... the marquee outside the school reads...                     HAPPY GRADUATION -- CLASS OF '97                                 NEWSCASTER (V.O.)                   ... The teacher has been                   identified as forty-one-year-old                   Trevor Garfield, formerly of                   New York City. Most recently he                   taught science at John Quincy Adams                   High School in the San Fernando                   Valley...                          (beat)                   Confidential sources reveal that                   the teacher had publicly been                   accused of foul play in the                   death of another student whose                   body was discovered just last                   month in the L.A. River...168A   EXT. ATHLETIC FIELD - AFTERNOON                                 168A       Graduation in progress. Standing room only.       Administrators have begun to take their seats up on a       makeshift stage. Garcia, Hyland, Assistant Principal       Ford, etc...                                                         (CONTINUED)       1   8   7 - Rev. 7/11/96                                122B.168A   CONTINUED:   (A1)                                            168A       Bleachers now as guests and family members fan themselves       against the searing heat. A banner strung across the top       row of seats reads...                       CONGRATULATIONS CLASS OF '97       Faculty members are seated in the first two rows down       on the field. In front of a sea of mortar boards.                                                      (CONTINUED)                                                                123.168A   CONTINUED:                                                      168A       Dave Childress now enters, his usual shabby attire,       nursing another hangover. He takes a seat away from the       other teachers.168B   EXT. ATHLETIC FIELD - PODIUM - SHORT WHILE LATER                168B       As the first speaker approaches the podium...       ON two inch high heels, an occasional wobble as the white       high heels make their way up to the podium. ANGLE RISING       now, LINGERING ON a clinging powder blue dress and mani-       cured fingernails. HOLD ON her clenched essay. Now       CONTINUE UP to reveal Rita Nartinez.       She wears lipstick... and only a moderate amount of eye       shadow. She wears a slightly nervous, preoccupied look.       Now...       Rita at the podium, as she adjusts the microphone, a       nervous reflex. Places her essay on the podium. Stares       down at it...                                  RITA                    ... The title of my essay is,                    'Mi Vida Loca'... 'My Crazy Life'...       Rita hesitates.    Now she gazes out at the graduating       class.168C   FACES IN CROWD                                                  168C       Waiting... Intently fanning themselves...168D   DAVE CHILDRESS                                                  168D       Apathetic. Arms draped over the empty chairs on either       side of him.168E   BACK TO RITA                                                    168E                                  RITA                           (turning to Quinn)                    Ms. Quinn, can I say somethin'?                           (correcting                            herself)                    ... May I say something?       Ms. Quinn (45) hesitates, now acquiesces with       uncertainty...                                                       (CONTINUED)                                                                     124.168E   CONTINUED:                                                           168E                                  RITA                    ... There's been a lotta talk las'                    couple weeks whether Mr. Garfield                    done those things they been writin'                    about in the newspaper. He once                    tol' me you can't blame everything                    on yer environment.                           (beat)                    But I t'ink you can push a good                    teacher too far and he might jus'                    go bad like anybody else...169    OMITTED                                                              169thru                                                                        thru172                                                                         172173    INT. JOHN QUINCY ADAMS COMPUTER LAB - AFTERNOON                      173       INTERCUT VARIOUS CUTS OF Ellen's hands as she clears a       bulletin board... removes a computer graphics display from       a wall... empties desk drawers... and packs away her       computer in a box.                                   RITA (V.O.)                    ... I dunno if Mr. 'G' did all                    those bad things. All I know                    is dat teachers don't get no                    respect. 'At's the simple truth.                    And if Mr. 'G' is responsible,                    well den he ain't the only one                    responsible...                                                          BACK TO:174    INT. JOHN QUINCY ADAMS AUDITORIUM - PODIUM (GRADUATION)              174                                   RITA                    ... We're all responsible. You and                    me... all of us. I'm up here today                    cuz a him. He was dere for me                    when nobody else was. Thing is...                    I shoulda been 'dere for him                    too... but I wasn't. I turned                    my back on the only person who                    ever cared about me.                           (pause)                    He said if I could stand up here                    and read my essay it would be a                    Pyrrhic victory.                           (beat)                    I ast' 'im, 'What's up wit' dat?'                                                          (CONTINUED)                                                                125.174    CONTINUED:                                                      174       A trickle of incongruous laughter, awkward yet       cathartic...                                  RITA                    He told me in my case it was                    irony... and to go look it up...                    so I did.                           (beat)                    I wonder now if Mr. 'G' was really                    talking 'bout hisself.                           (beat)                    It refers to this guy named                    Pyrrhus. He was a king back                    'round 300 B.C.       Rita refers to a piece of scratch paper she has tucked       inside her essay...       INTERCUT ELLEN AND:175    INT. JOHN QUINCY ADAMS COMPUTER LAB                             175       again... as she now empties one last drawer, she dis-       covers her teaching credential. Reluctantly picks it up.       Holds it for a moment. Now read across the face of the       credential...                                STATE OF CALIFORNIA                        COMMISSION ON TEACHER CREDENTIALING                              issues this document to                                    ELLEN HENRY175A   BACK TO GRADUATION                                              175A                                  RITA (V.O.)                           (verbatim now)                    ... Pyrrhus defeated the Romans                    on two occasions. But those two                    victories lost him a large part                    of his army. Now whenever people                    say something's a Pyrrhic victory                    they mean it's a victory gained                    at too great a cost.       Childress stares off into space, flickers a pathetic smirk.       And now Stevie seated amongst the graduates. Glancing       up from under his mortar board cap. He adjusts       a gaze into the bleachers.                                                                 126.175B   STEVIE LITTLETON'S POV - HIS PARENTS                             175B       Early forties, upper-middle class. Stevie's mother       catches his eye. Like an incongruous SLOW MOTION dream,       she mouth the words, "Were... So... Proud... Of... You."175C   STEVIE LITTLETON                                                 175C       ... as guilt eats at him, weaving its insidious web.175D   BACK TO RITA                                                     175D       now at the podium. Holding back tears, Rita now carefully       folds up her piece of scratch paper... and fixes a distant       unblinking gaze...176    OMITTED                                                          176177    INT. JOHN QUINCY ADAMS COMPUTER LAB - AFTERNOON                  177       ... Slowly SCAN the walls, stripped completely bare now.       END ON Ellen standing obliquely in the doorway. Brief-       case in hand, files and papers tucked under one arm. Her       face, a solemn vacuous gaze.       Now she drops something into the trash can, shuts off the       lights, and leaves. As the door slowly closes...       MOVE IN ON the trash can...       ... and Ellen's crumpled teaching credential.   Add another       name to the list of fallen heroes as we...                                                       CUT TO:       BLACKNESS       ... and ROLL END CREDITS.                                   THE END
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+				    				    2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY					    Screenplay						   by 			   Stanley Kubrick and Arthur C. Clark					    Hawk Films Ltd.,					    c/o. M-G-M Studios,					    Boreham Wood,					    Herts.TITLE					    PART I					    AFRICA					    3,000,000 YEARS AGOA1VIEWS OF AFRICAN DRYLANDS - DROUGHTThe remorseless drought had lasted now for ten million years,and would not end for another million. The reign of the ter-rible lizards had long since passed, but here on the continentwhich would one day be known as Africa, the battle for survivalhad reached a new climax of ferocity, and the victor was notyet in sight. In this dry and barren land, only the small orthe swift or the fierce could flourish, or even hope to exist.										 a1A2INT & EXT CAVES - MOONWATCHERThe man-apes of the field had none of these attributes, andthey were on the long, pathetic road to racial extinction.About twenty of them occupied a group of caves overlookinga small, parched valley, divided by a sluggish, brown stream.The tribe had always been hungry, and now it was starving.As the first dim glow of dawn creeps into the cave, Moonwatcherdiscovers that his father has died during the night. He did not knowthe Old One was his father, for such a relationship was beyondhis understanding. but as he stands looking down at the emac-iated body he feels something, something akin to sadness. Thenhe carries his dead father out of the cave, and leaves him for thehyenas.Among his kind, Moonwatcher is almost a giant. He is nearlyfive feet high, and though badly undernourished, weighs overa hundred pounds. His hairy, muscular body is quite man-like,and his head is already nearer man than ape. The forehead islow, and there are great ridges over the eye-sockets, yet heunmistakably holds in his genes the promise of humanity. Ashe looks out now upon the hostile world, there is already										 a2A2CONTINUEDsomething in his gaze beyond the grasp of any ape. In thosedark, deep-set eyes is a dawning awareness-the first intima-tions of an intelligence which would not fulfill itself for anothertwo million years.										 a3A3EXT  THE STREAM - THE OTHERSAs the dawn sky brightens, Moonwatcher and his tribe reachthe shallow stream.The Others are already there. They were there on the otherside every day - that did not make it any less annoying.There are eighteen of them, and it is impossible to distinguishthem from the members of Moonwatcher's own tribe. Asthey see him coming, the Others begin to angrily dance andshriek on their side of the stream, and his own people replyIn kind.The confrontation lasts a few minutes - then the display diesout as quickly as it has begun, and everyone drinks his fill ofthe muddy water. Honor has been satisfied - each group hasstaked its claim to its own territory.										 a4A4EXT  AFRICAN PLAIN - HERBIVORESMoonwatcher and his companions search for berries, fruitand leaves, and fight off pangs of hunger, while all aroundthem, competing with them for the samr fodder, is a potentialsource of more food than they could ever hope to eat. Yetall the thousands of tons of meat roaming over the parchedsavanna and through the brush is not only beyond their reach;the idea of eating it is beyond their imagination. They areslowly starving to death in the midst of plenty.										 a5A5EXT  PARCHED COUNTRYSIDE - THE LIONThe tribe slowly wanders across the bare, flat country-side foraging for roots and occasional berries.Eight of them are irregularly strung out on the open plain,about fifty feet apart.The ground is flat for miles around.Suddenly, Moonwatcher becomes aware of a lion, stalkingthem about 300 yards away.Defenceless and with nowhere to hide, they scatter in alldirections, but the lion brings one to the ground.										 a6A6EXT  DEAD TREE - FINDS HONEYIt had not been a good day, though as Moonwatcher had noreal remembrance of the past he could not compare one daywith another. But on the way back to the caves he finds ahive of bees in the stump of a dead tree, and so enjoys thefinest delicacy his people could ever know. Of course, healso collects a good many stings, but he scacely noticesthem. He is now as near to contentment as he is everlikely to be; for thought he is still hungry, he is not actuallyweak with hunger. That was the most that any hominid couldhope for.										 a7A7INT & EXT  CAVES - NIGHT TERRORSOver the valley, a full moon rises, and a cold wind blows downfrom the distant mountains. It would be very cold tonight -but cold, like hunger, was not a matter for any real concern;it was merely part of the background of life.This Little Sun, that only shone at night and gave no warmth,was dangerous; there would be enemies abroad. Moonwatchercrawls out of the cave, clambers on to a large boulder besidesthe entrance, and squats there where he can survey the valley.If any hunting beast approached, he would have time to get backto the relative safety of the cave.Of all the creatures who had ever lived on Earth, Moonwatcher'srace was the first to raise their eyes with interest to the Moon,and though he could not remember it, when he was young,Moonwatcher would reach out and try to touch its ghostly face.Now he new he would have to find a tree that was highenough.He stirs when shrieks and screams echo up the slope fromone of the lower caves, and he does not need to hear the										 a8A7CONTINUEDoccasional growl of the lion to know what is happening. Downthere in the darkness, old One-Eye and his family are dying,and the thought that he might help in some way never crossesMoonwatcher's mind. The harsh logic of survival rules outsuch fancies. Every cave is silent, lest it attract disaster.And in the caves, in tortured spells of fitful dozing andfearful waiting, were gathered the nightmares of generationsyet to come.										 a9A8EXT  THE STREAM - INVASIONThe Others are growing desperate; the forage on their side ofthe valley is almost exhausted. Perhaps they realise thatMoonwatcher's tribe has lost three of its numbers during thenight, for they choose this mourning to break the truce. Whenthey meet at the river in the still, misty dawn, there is adeeper and more menacing note in their challenge. The noisybut usually harmless confrontation lasts only a few secondsbefore the invasion begins.In an uncertainly-moving horde, the Others cross the river,shieking threats and hunched for the attack. They are ledby a big-toothed hominid of Moonwatcher's own size and age.Startled and frightened, the tribe retreats before the firstadvance, throwing nothing more substantial than imprecationsat the invaders. Moonwatcher moves with them, his mind amist of rage and confusion. To be driven from their ownterritory is a great badness, but to lose the river is death.He does not know what to do; it is a situation beyond hisexperience.Then he becomes dimly aware that the Others are slowing										 a10A8CONTINUEDdown, and advancing with obvious reluctance. The further theymove from their own side, the more uncertain and unhappythey become. Only Big-Tooth still retains any of his originaldrive, and he is rapidly being seperated from his followers.As he sees this, Moonwatcher's own morale immediatelyrevives. He slows down his retreat, and begins to makereassuring noises to his companions. Novel sensations fillhis dim mind - the first faint precursors of bravery andleadership.Before he realizes it, he is face to face with Big-Tooth, andthe two tribes come to a halt many paces away.The disorganized and unscientific conflict could have endedquickly if either had used his fist as a club, but thisinnovation still lay hundreds of thousands of years in thefuture. Instead, the slowly weakening fighters claw andscratch and try to bite each other.Rolling over and over, they come to a patch of stony ground,and when they reach it Moonwatcher is on top. By chance,										 a11A8CONTINUEDhe chooses this moment to grab the hair on Big-Tooth's scalp,and bang his head on the ground. The resulting CRACK isso satisfactory, and produces such an immediate weakeningIn Big - Tooth's resistance, that he quickly repeats it.Even when Big-Tooth ceases to move for some time, Moon-watcher keeps up the exhilirating game.With shrieks of panic, the Others retreat back, across thestream. The defenders cautiously pursue them as far asThe water's edge.										 a12EXT  CAVE - NEW SOUNDDozing fitfully and weakened by his stuggle, Moonwatcher isstartled by a sound.He sits up in the fetid darkness of the cave, straining hissenses out into the night, and fear creeps slowly into his soul.Never in his life - already twice as long as most members ofhis species could expect - has he heard a sound like this. Thegreat cats approached in silence, and the only thing thatbetrayed them was a rare slide of earth, or the occasionalcracking of a twig. Yet this is a continuing crunching noisethat grows steadily louder. It seemed that some enormousbeast was moving through the night, making no attempt atconcealment, and ignoring all obstacles.And then there came a sound which Moonwatcher could notpossibly have identified, for it had never been heard beforein the history of this planet.										 a13A10EXT CAVE - NEW ROCKMoonwatcher comes face to face with the New Rock when heleads the tribe down to the river in the first light of morning.He had almost forgotten the terror of the night, because nothinghad happened after that initial noise, so he does not evenassociate this strange thing with danger or with fear. Thereis nothing in the least alarming about it.It is a cube about fifteen feet on a side, and it is made ofsome completely transparent material; indeed, it is not easyto see except when the light of the sun glints on its edges.There are no natural objects to which Moonwatcher cancompare this apparition. Though he is wisely cautiousof most new things, he does not hesitate to walk up to it.As nothing happens, he puts out his hand, and feels a warm,hard surface.After several minutes of intense thought, he arrives at abrilliant explanation. It is a rock, of course, and itmust have grown during the night. There are many plantsthat do this - white, pulpy things shaped like pebbles, thatseem to shoot up in the hours of darkness. It is true thatthey are small and round, whereas this is large and square;										 a14A10CONTINUEDbut greater and later philosophers than Moonwatcher would beprepared to overlook equally striking exceptions to their laws.This really superb piece of abstract thinking leads Moonwatcherto a deduction which he immediately puts to the test. The white,round pebble-plants are very tasty (though there were a fewthat made one violently sick); perhaps this square one...?A few licks and attempted nibbles quickly disillusion him.There is no nourishment here; so like a sensible hominid, hecontinues on his way to the river and forgets all about the Cube.										 a15A11EXT CUBE - FIRST LESSONThey are still a hundred yards from the New Rock when thesound begins.It is quite soft, and it stops them in their tracks, so that theystand paralyzed on the trail with their jaws hanging. A simple,maddeningly repetitious rhythm pulses out of the crystal cubeand hypnotises all who come within its spell. For the firsttime - and the last, for two million year - the sound ofdrumming is heard in Africa.The throbbing grows louder, more insistent. Presently thehominids begin to move forward like sleep-walkers, towardsthe source of that magnetic sound. Sometimes they take littledancing steps, as their blood responds to the rhythms thattheir descendants will not create for ages yet.Totally entranced, they gather around the Cube, forgettingthe hardships of the day, the perils of the approaching dusk,and the hunger in their bellies.Now, spinning wheels of light begin to merge, and the spokesfuse into luminous bars that slowly recede into the distance,										 a16A11CONTINUEDrotating on their axes as they do; and the hominids watch, wide-eyed, mesmerized captives of the Crystal Cube.Then by some magic - though it was no more magical than allthat had gone on before - a perfectly normal scene appears. Itis as if a cubical block had been carved out of the day andshifted into the night. Inside that block is a group of fourhominids, who might have been members of Moonwatcher'sown tribe, eating chunks of meat. The carcass of a wart-hoglies near them.This little family of male and female and two children is gorgedand replete, with sleek and glossy pelts - and this was acondition of life that Moonwatcher had never imagined. Fromtime to time they stir lazily, as they loll at ease near theentrance of their cave, apparently at peace with the world.The spectacle of domestic bliss merges into a totallydifferent scene.The family is no longer reposing peacefully outside its cave;it is foraging, searching for food like any normal hominids.										 a17A11CONTINUEDA small wart-hog ambles past the group of browsing humanoidswithout giving them more than a glance, for they had never beenthe slightest danger to its species.But that happy state of affairs is about to end. The big malesuddenly bends down, picks up a heavy stone lying at his feet -and hurls it upon the unfortunate pig. The stone descends uponits skull, making exactly the same noise that Moonwatcher hadproduced in his now almost forgotten encounter with Big-Tooth.And the result, too, is much the same - the warthog gives oneamazed, indignant squeal, and collapses in a motionless heap.Then the whole sequence begins again, but this time it unfoldsitself with incredible slowness. Every detail of the movementcan be followed; the stone arches leisurely through the air, thepig crumples up and sinks to the ground. There the scenefreezes for long moments, the slayer standing motionlessabove the slain, the first of all weapons in his hand.The scene suddenly fades out. The cube is no more than aglimmering outline in the darkness; the hominids stir, as if										 a18A11CONTINUEDawakening from a dream, realise where they are, and scuttleback to their caves.They have no concious memory of what they had seen; but thatnight, as he sits brooding at the entrance of his lair, his earsattuned to the noises of the world around him, Moonwatcherfeels the first faint twinges of a new and potent emotion - the urgeto kill. He had taken his first step towards humanity.										 a19A12EXT cave AND PLAINS - UtopiaBabies were born and sometimes lived; feeble, toothless thirty-year-olds died; the lion took its toll in the night; the Othersthreatened daily across the river - and the trib prospered.In the course of a single year, Moonwatcher and his companionshad changed almost beyond recognition.They had become as plump as the family in the Cave, who nolonger haunted their dreams. They had learned their lessonswell; now they could handle all the stone tools and weapons thatthe Cube had revealed to them.They were no longer half-numbed with starvation, and theyhad time both for leisure and for the first rudiments of thought.Their new way of life was casually accepted, and they didnot associate it in any way with the crystal cube still standingoutside their cave.But no Utopia is perfect, and this one had two blemishes. Thefirst was the marauding lion, whose passion for hominidsseemed to have grown even stronger now that they were betternourished. The second was the tribe across the river; for										 a20A12CONTINUEDsomehow the Others had survived, and had stubbornly refused todie of starvation.										 a21A13EXT CAVES - KILLING THE LIONWith the partly devoured carcass of a warthog laid out on theground at the point he hope the boulder would impact, Moon-watcher and three of his bravest companions wait for twoconsecutive nights. On the third the lion comes,betraying his presences by a small pebble slide.When they can here the lion below, softly tearing at the meat,they strain themselves against the massive boulder. The soundof the lion stops; he is listening. Again they silently heaveagainst the enormous stone, exerting the final limits of theirstrength. The rock begin to tip to a new balance point.The lion twitches alert to this sound, but having no fear of thesecreatures, he makes the first of two mistakes which will costhim his life; he goes back to his meal.The rock moves slowly over the ledge, picking up speed withamazing suddeness. It strikes a projection in the cliff aboutfifteen feet above the ground, which deflects its path outward.Just at this instant, the lion reacts instinctively and leapsaway from the face of the cliff directly into the path of the										 a22A13CONTINUEDonrushing boulder. He has combined the errors of over-confidence and bad luck.The next morning they find the lion in front of the cave. Theyalso find one of their tribe who had incautiously peeped out tosee what was happening, and was apparently killed by a smallrock torn loose by the boulder; but this was a small price topay for such a great victory.					  * * * * * * * *And then one night the crystal cube was gone, and not evenMoonwatcher ever thought of it again. He was still whollyunaware of all that it had done.										 a23A14EXT STREAM - MASTER OF THE WORLDFrom their side of the stream, in the never violated safety oftheir own territory, the Others see Moonwatcher and fourteenmales of his tribe appear from behind a small hillock over-looking the stream, silhouetted against the dawn sky.The Others begin to scream their daily challenge. But todaysomething is different, though the Others do not immediatlyrecognize this fact.Instead of joining the verbal onslaught, as they had always done,Moonwatcher and his small band decended from the rise, andbegin to move forward to the stream with a quiet purposefulnessnever befor seen.As the Others watch the figures silently approaching in themorning mist, they become aware of the terrible strangnessof this encounter, and their rage gradually subsides down toan uneasy silence.At the water's edge, Moonwatcher and his band stop. Theycarry their bone clubs and bone knives.										 a24A14CONTINUEDLed by One-ear, the Others half-heartly resume the battle-chant. But they are suddenly confrunted with a vision that cutsthe sound from their throats, and strikes terror into theirhearts.Moonwatcher, who had been partly concealed by two males whowalked before him, thrusts his arm high into the air. In hishand he holds a stoud tree branch. Mounted atop the branch isthe bloody head of the lion, its mouth jammed open with a stick,displaying its frightful fangs.The Others gape in fearful disbelief at this display of power.Moonwatchers stands motionless, thrusting the lion's head high.Then with majestic deliberation, still carrying his mangledstandard above his head, he begins to cross the stream, followedby his band.The Others fade back from the stream, seeming to lack eventhe ability to flee.Moonwatcher steps ashore and walks to One-Ear, who stands										 a25A14CONTINUEDunsurely in front of his band.Though he is a veteran of numerous combats at the water's edge,One-Ear has never been attacked by an enemy who had not firstdisplayed his fighting rage; and he had never before been attackedwith a weapon. One-Ear, merely looks up at the raised clubuntil the heavey thigh bone of an antelope brings the darknessdown around him.The Others stare in wonder at Moonwatcher's power.Moonwatcher surveys the scene. Now he was master of theworld, and he was not sure what to do next. But he wouldthink of something.										 a26					    A SECTION TIMING			    A1    00.30			    A2    00.45			    A3    01.30			    A4    00.30			    A5    01.00			    A6    01.00			    A7    01.00			    A8    03.00			    A9    00.45			    A10   02.00			    A11   04.00			    A12   02.00			    A13   02.30			    A14   02.30					    A SECTION TOTAL: @23 MIN. 00 SECS 			    TITLE					PART II							    YEAR 2001											    a26a B1EARTH FROM 200 MILES UP					 NARRATOR								    By the year 2001, overpopulation hasB1a						 replaced the problem of starvationTHOUSAND MEGATON			   but this was ominously offset by theNUCLEAR BOMB IN ORBIT		   absolute and utter perfection of theABOVE THE EARTH,			   weapon.RUSSIAN INSIGNIA ANDCCCP MARKINGSB1b							 NARRATORAMERICAN THOUSAND			  Hundreds of giant bombs had beenMEGATON BOMB IN ORBIT		   placed in perpetual orbit above theABOVE THE EARTH.			   Earth. They were capable of						    incinerating the entire Earth's						    surface from an altitude of 100						    miles.B1cFRENCH BOMB						   NARRATOR					    Matters were further complicated					    by the presence of twenty-seven					    nations in the nuclear club. There					    had been no deliberate or acciden-B1d						 tal use of nuclear weapons sinceGERMAN BOMB				   World War II and some people felt					    sercure in this knowledge. But to					    others, the situation seemed						    comparible to an airline with aB1f						 perfect safety record; in showedCHINESE BOMB				  admirable care and skill but no						    one expected it to last forever.10/4/65											  b1 B2ORION-III SPACECRAFTIN FIGHT AWAY FROMEARTH, 200 MILESALTITUDE.10/4/65											  b2 B3ORION-III PASSENGER AREA.DR. HEYWOOD FLOYD IS THEONLY PASSENGER IN THEELEGANT CABIN DESIGNEDFOR 30 PEOPLE. HE ISASLEEP.HIS PEN FLOATS NEAR HISHAND.10/4/65											  b3    B4ORION-III COCKPIT.PILOT, CO-PILOT.FLOYD CAN BE SEENASLEEP ON A SMALLTV MONITOR.STEWARDESS IS PUTTINGON LIPSTICK. SHE SEESPEN.10/4/65											  b4    B5STEWARDESS GOES BACKTO PASSENGER AREA,RESCUES PEN AND CLIPSIT BACK IN FLOYD'SPOCKET.10/4/65											  b5    B6SPACE STATION-5. THERAW SUNLIGHT OF SPACEDAZZLES FROM THEPOLISHED METAL SURFACESOF THE SLOWLY REVOLVING,THOUSAND-FOOT DIAMETERSPACE STATION. DRIFTINGIN THE SAME ORBIT, WE SEESWEPT-BACK TITOV-VSPACECRAFT. ALSO THEALMOST SPHERICAL ARIES-IB10/4/65											  b6   B7ORION-III PASSENGER AREAFLOYD AWAKE BUT GROGGY,LOOKS OUT OF WINDOW.10/4/65											  b7   B8ORION-III COCKPIT.THE CO-PILOT IN RADIOCOMMUNICATION WITH THESPACE STATION.10/4/65											  b8   B9THE ORION-III SPACECRAFTIN DOCKING APPROACH. THEEARTH IS SEEN IN BREATH-TAKING VIEW IN B.G.10/4/65											  b9B10INSIDE DOCKING CONTROL.WE SEE ORION-III MANO-UVERING. IN BACKGROUND.10/4/65											  b10B11FROM DOCKING PORT WESEE THE ORION-III INCHINGIN TO COMPLETE ITSDOCKING. WE SEE VARIOUSWINDOWED BOOTHS INSIDEDOCKING PORT. WE SEETHE PILOT AND CO-PILOTINSIDE THE ORION-IIICOCKPIT.10/4/65											  b11B12SPACE STATIONRECEPTION AREARECEPTIONIST AT DESK.MILLER ENTERS, HUR-RYING. HE GOES TOTHE ELEVATOR ANDPRESSES BUTTON. HEWAITS IMPATIENTLY.WE SEE ELEVATORINDICATOR WORKINGELEVATOR DOOR OPENSAND FLOYD IS SEENUNSTRAPPING HIMSELF.THE ELEVATOR GIRL ISSEATED BY THE DOOR						    MILLER						    Oh, good morning, Dr. Floyd.						    I'm Nick Miller.						    FLOYD						    How do you do, Mr. Miller?						    MILLER						    I'm terribly sorry. I was just						    on my way down to meet you. I						    saw your ship dock and I knew I						    had plenty of time, and I was on						    my way out of the office when,						    suddenly, the phone rang.12/7/65											  b12   B12CONTINUED					    FLOYD					    Oh, please don't worry about it.					    MILLER					    Well, thank you very much for					    being so understanding.					    FLOYD					    Please, it really doesn't matter.					    MILLER					    Well.. Did you have a pleaant					    flight?					    FLOYD					    Yes, very pleasant.					    MILLER					    Well, shall we go through					    Documentation?					    FLOYD					    Fine.					    RECEPTIONIST					    Will you use number eight,					    please?					    MILLER					    Thank you, Miss Turner.12/7/65										  b13B12CONTINUEDTHEY ENTER PASSPORTAREARECEPTIONIST PRESSES"ENGLISH" BAR ON HERCONSOLE AND SMILESAS FLOYD GOES THROUGH.12/7/65										  b13aIN AUTOMATED PASSPORTSECTION. THEY STOP INFRONT OF A BOOTHFEATURING A TV SCREEN					    					    PASSPORT GIRL (TV)					    Good morning and welcome to voice					    Print Identification. When you see					    the red light go on would you please					    state in the following order; your					    desitination, your nationality and					    your full name. Surname first,					    christian name and initial. For					    example: Moon, American,					    Smith, John, D. Thank you.THERE IS A PAUSEAND A RED BAR LIGHTS UP					    FLOYD					    Moon, American, Floyd, Heywood,					    R.THE RED LIGHT GOES OFF.THERE IS A DELAY OFABOUT TWO SECONDS ANDTHE WOMAN'S FACEREAPPEARS					    FLOYD					    I've always wondered....12/7/65										  b14   B13CONTINUED					    PASSPORT GIRL (TV)					    (Interrupting)  Thank you. Despite					    and excellent and continually					    improving safety record there are					    certain risks inherent in space					    travel and an extremely high cost					    of pay load. Because of this it					    is necessary for the Space Carrier					    to advise you that it cannot be					    responsible for the return of your					    body to Earth should you become					    deceased on the Moon or en route					    to the Moon. However, it wishes					    to advise you that insurance					    covering this contingency is					    available in the Main Lounge.					    Thank you. You are cleared					    through Voice Print Identification.THE LIGHTS GO OFFAND THE WOMAN'SFACE DISAPPEARSTHE MEN EXIT THEPASSPORT AREA					    MILLER					    I've reserved a table for you in					    the Earth Light room. Your					    connecting flight will be					    leaving in about one hour.12/7/65										  b15 B13CONTINUED						FLOYD						Oh, that's wonderful.12/7/65										  b16 B14INT SPACE STATION - LOUNGEFLOYD AND MILLER WALKING					    MILLER					    Let's see, we haven't had the					    pleasure of a visit from you not					    since... It was about eight or					    nine months ago, wasn't it?					    FLOYD					    Yes, I think so. Just about					    then.					    MILLER					    I suppose you saw the work on					    our new section while you					    were docking.					    FLOYD					    Yes, it's coming along very well.THEY PASS THE VISIONPHONE BOOTH						FLOYD						Oh, look, I've got to make a						phone call. Why don't you go						on into the Restaurant and I'll						meet you in there.12/7/65										  b17 B14CONTINUED					    MILLER					    Fine. I'll see you at the bar.FLOYD ENTERS PHONEBOOTH. SIGN ONVISION PHONE SCREEN"SORRY, TEMPORARILYOUT OF ORDER."HE ENTERS THE SECONDBOOTH AND SITS DOWN12/7/65										  b18	 B15DELETEDB16DELETEDPAGES b19 - b22 DELETED12/7/65B17FLOYD IN VISION PHONELITTLE GIRL OF FIVEANSWERS						CHILD						Hello.VISION PHONE SCREENDISPLAY SIGN 'YOURPARTY HAS NOT CONNECTEDVISION'A FEW SECONDS LATER,THE SCREEN CHANGESTO AN IMAGE OF THECHILD					    FLOYD					    Hello, darling, how are you?					    CHILD					    Hello Daddy. Where are you?					    FLOYD					    I'm at Space Station Five,					    darling. How are you?					    CHILD					    I'm fine, Daddy. When are					    you coming home?12/6/65										  b23 B17CONTINUED					    FLOYD					    Well, I hope in a few days,					    sweetheart.					    CHILD					    I'm having a party tomorrow.					    FLOYD					    Yes, I know that sweetheart.					    CHILD					    Are you coming to my party?					    FLOYD					    No, I'm sorry, darling, I					    told you I won't be home for a					    few days.					    CHILD					    When are you coming home?					    FLOYD					    In three days, darling, I					    hope.FLOYD HOLDS UPTHREE FINGERS.12/6/65										  b24 B17					    FLOYD					    One, two, three. Can I					    speak to Mommy?					    CHILD					    Mommy's out to the hair-					    dresser.					    FLOYD					    Where is Mrs. Brown?					    CHILD					    She's in the bathroom.					    FLOYD					    Okay, sweetheart. Well, I					    have to go now. Tell Mommy					    that I called.					    CHILD					    How many days until you					    come home?					    FLOYD					    Three, darling. One... two					    ... three. Be sure to tell					    Mommy I called.12/6/65										  b24a B17CONTINUED					    CHILD					    I will, Daddy.					    FLOYD					    Okay, sweetheart. Have a					    lovely Birthday Party					    tomorrow.					    CHILD					    Thank you, Daddy.					    FLOYD					    I'll wish you a happy					    Birthday now and I'll see you					    soon. All right, Darling?					    CHILD					    Yes, Daddy.					    FLOYD					    'Bye, 'bye, now, sweetheart.					    CHILD					    Goodbye, Daddy.12/6/65										  b24b B18VISION PHONEPROCEDURE FORINFORMATIONVISION PHONEPROCEDURE FORDIALLING					    OPERATOR					    Good morning, Macy's.					    FLOYD					    Good morning. I'd like the					    Vision shopper for the Pet					    Shop, please.					    OPERATOR					    Just one moment.12/7/65										  b25 B19THE PICTURE FLIPS ANDWE SEE A WOMAN STANDINGIN FORN OF A SPECIALLY-DESIGNED DISPLAY SCREEN					    VISION SALES GIRL					    Good morning, sir, may I help you?					    FLOYD					    Yes, I'd like to buy a bush baby.					    VISION SALES GIRL					    Just a moment, sir.THE GIRL KEYS SOMEINPUTS AND A MOVINGPICTURE APPEARS ONTHE SCREEN OF A CAGECONTAINING ABOUT SIXBUSH BABIES,BEAUTIFULLY DISPLAYEDAGAINST A WHITE BACK-GROUND					    VISION SALES GIRL					    Here you are, sir. Here is a 					    lovely assortment of African					    bush babies. They are twenty					    Dollars each.12/7/65										  b26 B19CONTINUED					    FLOYD					    Yes, well... Pick out a nice one					    for me, a friendly one, and I'd					    like it delivered tomorrow.					    VISION SALES GIRL					    Certainly, sir. Just let us have					    your name and Bank identification					    for V.P.I., and then give the					    name and address of the person					    you'd like the pet delivered to					    and it will be delivered tomorrow.SOME TIME DURINGTHIS CONVERSATION,FLOYD SEE ELENA,SMYSLOV AND THEOTHER TWO RUSSIANSPASS HIS VISION PHONEWINDOW. ELENA TAPSAND MIMES "HELLO",GESTURING TOWARD ATABLE BEHIND FLOYDWHERE THEY ALL SITDOWN					    FLOYD					    Thank you very much. Floyd,					    Heywood, R.,  First National					    Bank of Washington. Please					    deliver to Miss Josephine					    Floyd, 9423 Dupre Avenue,					    N.W.14.12/7/65										  b27 B19CONTINUED					    VISION SALES GIRL					    Thank you very much, sir. It					    will be delivered tomorrow.12/7/65										  b27a B20SPACE STATTION 5 - LOUNGE					    FLOYD					    Well, how nice to see you again,					    Elena. You're looking wonderful.					    ELENA					    How nice to see you, Hyewood.					    This is my good friend, Dr.					    Heywood Floyd. I'd like you					    to meet Andre Smyslov...SMYSLOV AND THE TWOOTHER RUSSIAN WOMENSTAND UP AND SMILETHEY SHAKE HANDSAFTER INTRODUCTIONAND AD-LIB 'HELLOS'					    ELENA					    And this is Dr. Kalinan...					    Stretyneva...THE RUSSIANS AREVERY WARM AND FRIENDLY.					    SMYSLOV					    Dr. Floyd, won't you join us					    for a drink?12/7/65										  b28 B20CONTINUED					    FLOYD					    I'm afraid I've only got a few					    minutes, but I'd love to.THERE IS A BIT OFCONFUSION AS ALLREALISE THERE ISNOT ENOUGH ROOMFOR ANOTHERPERSON AT THE TABLE.SMYSLOV OFFERS FLOYDHIS CHAIRAND BORROWSANOTHER FROM A NEARBY TABLE					    SYMYSLOV					    What would you like to drink?					    FLOYD					    Oh, I really don't have time					    for a drink. If it's all right					    I'll just sit for a minute and					    then I've got to be off.					    SMYSLOV					    Are you quite sure?					    FLOYD					    Yes, really, thank you very					    much.					    ELENA					    Well... How's your lovely					    wife?12/7/65										  b29 B20CONTINUED					    FLOYD					    She's wonderful.					    ELENA					    And your charming little daughter?					    FLOYD					    Oh, she's growing up very fast.					    As a matter of fact, she's six					    tomorrow.					    ELENA					    Oh, that's such a delightful age.					    FLOYD					    How is gregor?					    ELENA					    He's fine. But I'm afraid we					    don't get a chance to see each					    other very much these days.POLITE LAUGHTER					    FLOYD					    Well, where are all of you off					    to?12/7/65										  b30 B20CONTINUED					    ELENA					    Actually, we're on our way back					    from the moon. We've just					    spent three months calibrating					    the new antenna at Tchalinko.					    And what about you?					    FLOYD					    Well, as it happens, I'm on					    my way up to the moon					    SMYSLOV					    Are you, by any chance, going					    up to your base at Clavius?					    FLOYD					    Yes,as a matter of fact, I am.THE RUSSIANSEXCHANGESIGNIFICANTGLANCES					    FLOYD					    Is there any particular reason					    why you ask?12/7/65										  b31 B20CONTINUED					    SMYSLOV					    (pleasantly)  Well, Dr. Floyd,					    I hope that you don't think I'm					    too inquisitive, but perhaps					    you can clear up the mystery					    about what's been going on up					    there.					    FLOYD					    I'm sorry, but I'm not sure					    I know what you mean.					    SMYSLOV					    Well, it's just for the past					    two weeks there have been					    some extremely odd things					    happening at Clavius.					    FLOYD					    Really?					    SMYSLOV					    Yes. Well, for one thing,					    whenever you phone the base,					    all you can get is a recording					    which repeats that the phone					    lines are temporarily out of					    order.12/7/65										  b32 B20CONTINUED					    FLOYD					    Well, I suppose they've been					    having a bit of trouble with					    some of the equipment.					    SMYSLOV					    Yes, well at first we thought					    that was the explanation, but					    it's been going on for the past					    ten days.					    FLOYD					    You mean you haven't been able					    to get anyone at the base for ten					    days?					    SMYSLOV					    That's right.					    FLOYD					    I see.					    ELENA					    Another thing, Heywood, two					    days ago, one of our rocket					    buses was denied permission					    for an emergency landing at					    Clavius.12/7/65										  b33 B20CONTINUED					    FLOYD					    How did they manage to do that					    without any communication?					    ELENA					    Clavius Control came on the					    air just long enough to transmit					    their refusal.					    FLOYD					    Well, that does sound very odd.					    SMYSLOV					    Yes, and I'm afaid there's					    going to be a bit of a row about					    it. Denying the men permission					    to land was a direct violation of					    the I.A.S. convention.					    FLOYD					    Yes... Well, I hope the crew					    got back safely.					    SMYSLOV					    Fortunately, they did.					    FLOYD					    Well, I'm glad about that.12/7/65										  b33a B20CONTINUEDTHE RUSSIANS EXCHANGEMORE GLANCES. ONE OFTHE WOMEN OFFERSAROUND A PILL BOX.ELENA AND ANOTHERRUSSIAN TAKE ONE ANDTHE THIRD RUSSIANDELCINES.					    SMYSLOV					    Dr. Floyd, at the risk of pressing					    you on a point you seem reticent					    to discuss, may I ask you a					    straightforward question?					    FLOYD					    Certainly.					    SMYSLOV					    Quite frankly, we have had some					    very reliable intelligence reports					    that a quite serious epidemic					    has broken out at Clavius.					    Something, apperently, of an					    unknown origin. Is this, in					    fact, what has happened?A LONG, AWKWARDPAUSE12/7/65										  b33b  B20CONTINUED					    FLOYD					    I'm sorry, Dr. Smyslov, but					    I'm really not at liberty to					    discuss this.					    SMYSLOV					    This epidemic could easily					    spread to our base, Dr. Floyd.					    We should be given all the					    facts.LONG PAUSE					    FLOYD					    Dr. Smyslov... I'm not					    permitted to discuss this.					    ELENA					    Are you sure you won't change					    your mind about a drink?					    FLOYD					    No, thank you... and I'm					    afraid now I really must be					    going.					    ELENA					    Well, I hope that you and your					    wife can come to the I.A.C.					    conference in June.12/7/65										  b33c  B20CONTINUED					    FLOYD					    We're trying to get there. I					    hope we can.					    ELENA					    Well, Gregor and I will look					    forward to seeing you.					    FLOYD					    Thank you. It's been a great					    pleasure to meet all of you...					    Dr. Smyslov.THE RUSSIANS ALLRISE AND THEREARE AD-LIBS OFCOURTESYFLOYD SHAKES HANDSAND EXITSTHE RUSSIANS EXCHANGEA FEW SERIOUS PARA-GRAPHES IN RUSSIAN12/7/65										  b33d	   B21ARIES-IB IN SPACE.EARTH MUCH SMALLERTHAN AS SEEN FROMSPACE STATION					    NARRATOR					    The Aries-IB has become the					    standard Space-Station-to-Lunar					    surface vehicle. It was powered					    by low-thrust plasma jets which					    would continue the mild acceler-					    ation for fifteen minutes. Then					    the ship would break the bonds of					    gravity and be a free and indepen-					    dent planet, circling the Sun in an					    orbit of its own.10/4/65										  b34  B21aARIES PASSENGER AREA.FLOYD IS ASLEEP, STRETCHEDOUT IN THE CHAIR, COVEREDWITH BLANKETS WHICH AREHELD SECURE BY STRAPSA STEWARDESS SITS AT THEOTHER SIDE OF THE CABIN,WATCHING A KARATEEXHIBITION BETWEEN TWOWOMEN ON TELEVISIONTHE ELEVATOR ENTRANCEDOOR OPENS AND THESECOND STEWARDESS ENTERSCARRYING A TRAY OF FOODSHE BRINGS IT TO THE OTHERSTEWARDESS					    STEWARDESS ONE					    Oh, thank you very much.					    STEWARDESS TWO					    I see he's still asleep.					    STEWARDESS ONE					    Yes. He hasn't moved since we					    left.STEWARDESS TWO EXITS,INTO ELEVATOR12/6/65										  b34a  B21bARIES GALLEY AREA.STEWARDESS EXITS FROMELEVATOR, GOES TOKITCHEN SECTION, REMOVESTWO TRAYS, WALKS UP TOTHE SIDE OF THE WALL ANDENTERS PILOT'SCOMPARTMENT12/6/65										  b34b  B22ARIES-IB COCKPIT.PILOT, CO-PILOT.STEWARDESS ENTERS,CARRYING FOOD					    PILOT					    Oh, thank you very much.					    CO-PILOT					    Thank you.STEWARDESS SMILES.					    PILOT					    (sighs)  Well, how's it going					    back there?					    STEWARDESS					    Fine. Very quiet. He's been					    asleep since we left.					    PILOT					    Well, no one can say that he's not					    enjoying the wonders of Space.					    CO-PILOT					    Well, whatever's going on up there,					    he's going to arrive fresh and ready					    to go.12/14/65										 b35  B22CONTINUED					    PILOT					    I wonder what really IS going on					    up there?					    CO-PILOT					    Well, I've heard more and more					    people talk of an epidemic.					    PILOT					    I suppose it was bound to happen					    sooner or later.					    CO-PILOT					    Berkeley told me that they think					    it came from contamination on a					    returning Mars flight.					    PILOT					    Yes, well, whatever it is, they're					    certainly not fooling around. This					    is the first flight they allowed					    in for more than a week.					    CO-PILOT					    I was working out what this trip					    must cost, taking him up there					    by himself and coming back empty.					    PILOT					    I'll bet it's a fortune.12/14/65										 b36	   B22CONTINUED					    CO-PILOT					    Well, at ten thousand dollars a					    ticket, it comes to the better part					    of six hundred thousand dollars.					    PILOT					    Well, as soon as he wakes up,					    I'm going to go back and talk to					    him. I must say, I'd like to					    find out what's going on.12/14/65										 b36a  B23ARIES-IB IN SPACE.MOON VERY LARGE.10/4/65										  b37  B24ARIES-IB PASSENGERAREA. FLOYD FINISHINGBREAKFAST.PILOT ENTERS.					    PILOT					    Well, good afternoon, Dr. Floyd.					    Did you have a good rest?					    FLOYD					    Oh, marvellous. It's the first					    real sleep I've had for the past					    two days.					    PILOT					    There's nothing like weightless					    sleep for a complete rest.					    FLOYD					    When do we arrive at Clavius?					    PILOT					    We're scheduled to dock in about					    seven hours. Is there anything					    we can do for you?					    FLOYD					    Oh, no, thank you. The two					    girls have taken wonderful care					    of me. I'm just fine.12/14/65										 b38  B24CONTINUED					    PILOT					    Well, if there is anything that you					    wnat, just give a holler.					    FLOYD					    Thank you.					    PILOT					    Incidentally, Dr. Floyd, I wonder					    if I can have a word with you about					    the security arrangements?					    FLOYD					    What do you mean?					    PILOT					    Well... the crew is confined to					    the ship when we land at Clavius.					    We have to stay inside for the					    time it take to refit - about					    twenty-four hours. And then					    we're going to back empty.					    FLOYD					    I see.					    PILOT					    I take it this is something to do					    with the trouble they're having					    up at Clavius?12/14/65										 b39 B24CONTINUED					    FLOYD					    I'm afraid that's out of my depart-					    ment, Captain.					    PILOT					    Well, I'll tell you why I ask. You					    see, I've got a girl who works in					    the Auditing Department of the					    Territorial Administrator and I					    haven't been able to get her on					    the phone for the past week or so,					    and with all these stories one					    hears, I'm a little concerned					    about her.					    FLOYD					    I see. Well, I'm sorry about that.					    I wouldn't think there's any cause					    for alarm.					    PILOT					    Yes, well, I wouldn't have been					    too concerned about it, except					    I've heard these stories about the					    epidemic and, as a matter of fact,					    I've heard that ten people have					    died already.12/14/65										 b40 B24CONTINUED					    FLOYD					    I wish I could be more helpful,					    Captain, but as I've said, I don't					    think there's any cause for					    alarm.					    PILOT					    Well, fine. Thanks very much,					    anyway, and I hope you don't					    mind me asking?					    FLOYD					    No, of course, Captain, I can					    understand your concern.					    PILOT					    Well, thank you very much, and					    please let us know if there is					    anything we can do to make your					    trip more comfortable.12/14/65										 b40a B25ARIES-IB CLOSER TO MOON10/4/65										  b41	 B26FLOYD GOES TO ARIES-IBWASHROOM AND LOOKS ATTHE VERY LONG LIST OFCOMPLICATED INSTRUCTIONS10/4/65										  b42 B27ARIES-IB CLOSER TO MOONDISSOLVE:10/4/65										  b43 B28FLOYD VISITING ARIES-IBCOCKPIT. WEIGHTLESSTRICK ENTRANCE.10/4/65										  b44	 B29ARIES-IB ORBITING MOON.					    NARRATOR					    The laws of Earthly aesthetics did					    not apply here, this world had been					    shaped and molded by other than					    terrestrial forces, operating over					    aeons of time unknown to the young,					    verdant Earth, with its fleeting					    Ice-Ages, its swiftly rising and					    falling seas, its mountain ranges					    dissolving like mists before the					    dawn. Here was age inconceivable					    - but not death, for the Moon had					    never lived until now.10/4/65										  b45 B30ARIES-IB COCKPIT - THECREW AND DOCKINGCONTROL PEOPLE ON THEMOON GO THROUGH THEIRDOCKING ROUTINE. THISHAS THE RITUALISTIC TONEAND CADENCE OF PRESENT-DAY JET LANDINGPROCEDURE. WE ONLY HEARDOCKING CONTROL.10/4/65										  b46 B31ARIES-IB DECENDING.SEE AIR VIEW OF BASE.					    NARRATOR					    The Base at Clavius was the first					    American Lunar Settlement that					    could, in an emergency, be					    entirely self-supporting.					    NARRATOR					    Water and all the necessities of					    life for its eleven hundred men,					    women and children were produced					    from the Lunar rocks, after they					    had been crushed, heated and					    chemically processed.10/4/65										  b47 B32A GROUND BUS NUZZLES UPTO COUPLING SECTION OFARIES-IB10/4/65										  b48	 B33INSIDE GREAT AIRLOCKENTRANCE. GROUND BUSPULLS IN. GIANT DOORSCLOSE BEHIND IT.10/4/65										  b49	 B34INSIDE SECOND AIRLOCK.DOORS OPEN AFTER OUT-SIDE SECTION DOORS ARECLOSED. GROUND BUSPULLS IN. DOORS CLOSEBEHIND IT. SEE PEOPLEWAITING IN GLASSED-INSECTION WAITING FORSECOND AIRLOCK DOORSTO CLOSE.10/4/65										  b50 B35LOW GRAVITYGYMNASIUM TRICKWITH CHILDREN.					    NARRATOR					    One of the attractions of life on the					    Moon was undoubtedly the low					    gravity which produced a sense					    of general well-being.10/4/65										  b51 B36CHILDREN IN SCHOOL.TEACHER SHOWING THEMVIEWS OF EARTH AND MAPOF EARTH.					    NARRATOR					    The personnel of the Base and their					    children were the forerunners of new					    nations, new cultures that would					    ultimately spread out across the					    solar system. They no longer					    thought of Earth as home. The					    time was fast approaching when					    Earth, like all mothers, must say					    farewell to her children.DISSOLVE:10/5/65										  b52 B37LARGE CENTRALRECEPTION AREA. DOORSBRANCHING OFF TO DIFF-RENT MAIN HALLS. SMALLPOND WITH PLASTIC WHITESWAN AND A BIT OF GRASS.A FEW BENCHES WITH THREEWOMEN AND THEIR CHILDRENHAVING OUTING.FLOYD AND WELCOMINGPARTY WALK THROUGHAFTER EXITING ELEVATOR.HALVERSON, MICHAELSAND FIVE OTHERS.					    FLOYD					    (voice echoing)  I must congratulate					    you Halvorsen. you've done wonder-					    ful things with the decor since the					    last time I was here.					    HALVORSEN					    (voice echoing)  Well... thank you,					    Dr. Floyd. We try to make the					    environment as earthlike as possible.DISSOLVE:10/5/65										  b53 B38LOW CEILING CONFERENCEROOM, "U" SHAPED TABLEFACING THREE PROJECTIONSCREENS. SEATED AROUNDTHE TABLE ARE TWENTYSENIOR BASE PERSONNEL.					    HALVORSEN					    Ladies and gentlemen, I should					    like to introduce Dr. Heywood					    Floyd, a distinguished member					    of the National Council of					    Astronautics. He has just					    completed a special flight here					    from Earth to be with us, and					    before the briefing he would					    like to say a few words. Dr.					    Floyd.POLITE APPLAUSE. FLOYDWALKS TO FRONT OF ROOM.					    FLOYD					    First of all, I bring a personal					    message from Dr. Howell, who					    has asked me to convey his					    deepest appreciation to all of					    you for the personal sacrifices					    you have made, and of course					    his congratulations on your					    discovery which may well prove					    to be among the most significant					    in the history of science.POLITE APPLAUSE.11/25/65										 b54 B38CONTINUED					    FLOYD (cont'd)					    Mr. Halvorsen has made known					    to me some of the conflicting					    views held by many of you					    regarding the need for complete					    security in this matter, and					    more specifically your strong					    opposition to the cover story					    created to give the impression					    there is an epidemic at the Base.					    I understand that beyond it being					    a matter of principle, many of					    you are troubled by the concern					    and anxiety this story of an					    epidemic might cause your					    relatives and friends on Earth.					    I can understand and sympathize					    with your negative views. I have					    been personally embarrassed by					    this cover story. But I fully					    accept the need for absolute					    secrecy and I hope you will.					    It should not be difficult for all					    of you to realise the potential for					    cutural shock and social					    disorientation contained in the					    present situation if the facts					    were prematurely and suddenly					    made public without adequate					    preparation and conditioning.11/25/65										 b55 B38CONTINUED					    FLOYD					    This is the view of the Council					    and the purpose of my visit here					    is to gather addition facts and					    opinions on the situation and to					    prepare a report to the Council					    recommending when and how the					    news should eventually be					    announced. Are there any					    questions?					    MICHAELS					    Dr. Floyd, how long do you think					    this can be kept under wraps?					    FLOYD					    (pleasantly)					    I'm afraid it can and it will be					    kept under wraps as long as it					    is deemed to be necessary by					    the Council. And of course you					    know that the Council has requested					    that formal security oaths are to					    be obtained in writing from every-					    one who had any knowledge of this					    event. There must be adequate					    time for a full study to be made					    of the situation before any con-					    sideration can be given to					    making a public announcement.11/25/65										 b56 B38CONTINUED					    HALVORSEN					    We will, of course, cooperate					    in any way possible, Dr. Floyd.11/25/65										 b56a B39SEVERAL SCENIC VIEWS OFMOON ROCKET BUS SKIMMINGOVER SURFACE OF MOON.10/5/65										  b57 B40INSIDE ROCKET BUS,FLOYD, HALVORSEN,MICHAELS, FOURTHMAN, PILOT ANDCO-PILOT. ALL INSPACE SUITS MINUSHELMETS.FLOYD IS SLOWELYLOOKING THROUGHSOME PHOTOGRAPHSAND MAGNETICMAPS OF THE AREA.HE LOOKS OUT OFTHE WINDOW,THOUGHTFULLY.11/25/65										 b58 B40CONTINUEDTHE PHOTOGRAPHESARE TAKEN FROM ASATELLITE OF THEMOON'S SURFACEAND HAVE NUMBEREDOPTICAL GRIDBORDERS, LIKERECENT MARSPHOTOS.A FEW SEATSAWAY, MICHAELSAND HALVORSENCARRY OUT A VERYBANAL ADMINISTRATIVECONVERSATION IN LOWTONES. IT SHOULDREVOLVE AROUNDSOMETHING UTTERLYIRRELEVANT TO THEPRESENT CIRCUMSTANCESAND VERY MUCH LIKETHE KIND OF DISCUSSIONONE HEARS ALL THETIME IN OTHERORGANIZATIONS.DISSOLVE:11/25/65										 b59B41TMA-1 EXCAVATION.AIR VIEW. ROCKETBUS DESCENDING.THERE ARE NO LIGHTSON THE ACTUAL EXCA-VATION, ONLY THELANDING STRIP ANDTHE MONITOR DOME.12/14/65										 b60B42LONG SHOT MONITOR DOMESWITH A BIT OF EXCAVATIONIN SHOT. SIX SMALL FIGURESIN SPACE SUITS SLOWLY WALKTOWARD EXCAVATION.10/5/65										  b61	 B43THE PARTY STOPSAT TOP OF TMA-1EXCAVATION.A SMALL CONTROLPANEL MOUNTED ATTHE HEAD OF THERAMP. MICHAELSTHROWS A SWITCHAND THE EXCAVATION IS SUDDENLY ILLUMINATED.					    HALVORSEN					    Well, there it is.					    FLOYD					    Can we go down there closer to					    it?					    HALVORSEN					    Certainly.12/14/65										 b62	 B44THEY START DOWNWORKING RAMP					    FLOYD					    Does your geology on it still					    check out?					    MICHAELS					    Yes, it does. The sub-surface					    structure shows that it was					    deliberately buried about four					    million years ago.					    FLOYD					    How can you tell it was					    deliberately buried?					    MICHAELS					    By the deformation between					    the mother rock and the fill.					    FLOYD					    Any clue as to what it is?					    MICHAELS					    Not really. It's completely					    inert. No sound or energy					    sources have been detected.					    The surface is made of					    something incredibly hard					    and we've been barely able					    to scratch it. A laser drill11/25/65										 b63 B44CONTINUED					    MICHAELS					    might do something, but we					    don't want to be too rough until					    we know a little more.					    FLOYD					    But you don't have any idea as					    to what it is?					    MICHAELS					    Tomb, shine, survey-marker					    spare part, take your choice.					    HALVORSEN					    The only thing about it that we are					    sure of is that it is the first direct					    evidence of intelligent life beyond					    the Earth.SILENT APPRECIATION					    HALVORSEN					    Four million years ago, something,					    presumably from the stars, must					    have swept through the solar					    system and left this behind.11/25/65										 b64 B44CONTINUED					    FLOYD					    Was it abandoned, forgotten, left					    for a purpose?					    HALVORSEN					    I suppose we'll never know.					    MICHAELS					    The moon would have made an					    excellent base camp for					    preliminary Earth surveys.SOME MORE SILENCE					    FLOYD					    Any ideas about the colour?					    MICHAELS					    Well, not really. At first glance,					    black would suggest something					    sun-powered, but then why would					    anyone deliberately bury a sun-					    powered device?					    FLOYD					    Has it been exposed to any sun					    before now?					    MICHAELS					    I don't think it has, but I'd					    like to check that. Simpson,					    what's the log on that?11/25/65										 b65 B45INSIDE MONITOR DOMEWE SEE A NUMBER OFTELEVISION DISPLAYSINCLUDING SEVERAL TVVIEWS OF FLOYD ANDCOMPANY IN THEEXCAVATION.					    SIMPSON					    The first surface was exposed at					    0843 on the 12th April... Let me					    see... that would have been					    forty-five minutes after Lunar					    sun-set. I see here that					    special lighting equipment had					    to be brought up before any					    futher work could be done.11/25/65										 b66 B46TMA-1 EXCAVATION					    MICHAELS					    Thank you.					    FLOYD					    And so this is the first sun that					    it's had in four million years.					    PHOTOGRAPHER					    Excuse me, gentlemen, if you'd					    all line up on this side of the					    walkway we'd like to take a few					    photographes. Dr. Floyd, would					    you thand in the middle... Dr.					    Michaels on that side, Mr.					    Halvorsen on the other....					    thank you.THE PHOTOGRAPHERQUICKLY MAKES SOMEEXPOSURES					    PHOTOGRAPHER					    Thank you very much gentlemen,					    I'll have the base photo section					    send you copies.AS THE MEN SLOWLYSEPERATE FROM THEIRPICTURE POSE, THEREIS A PIERCINGLY POWERFULSERIES OF FIVE ELECTRONICSHRIEKS, EACH LIKE AHIDEOUSLY OVER-LOADEDAND DISTORTED TIME SIGNAL.FLOYD INVOLUNTARILY TRIESTO BLOCK HIS EARS WITH HISSPACESUITED HANDS. THENCOMES MERCIFUL SILENCE.11/25/65										 b67 B47VARIOUS SHOTS OFSPACE MONITORS,ASTEROIDS, THE SUN,PLUTO, MARS.					    NARRATOR					    A hundred million miles beyond					    Mars, in the cold lonliness					    where no man had yet travelled,					    Deep-Space-Monitor-79 drifts					    slowly among the tangled orbits					    of the asteroids.					    NARRATOR					    Radiation detectors noted and					    analyzed incoming cosmic rays					    from the galaxy and points beyond;					    neutron and x-ray telescopes					    kept watch on strange stars that					    no human eye would eever see;					    magnetometers observed the					    gusts and hurricanes of the solar					    winds, as the sun breathed million					    mile-an-hour blasts of plasma					    into the faces of its circling					    children.					    NARRATOR					    All these things and many others					    were patiently noted by Deep-					    Space-Monitor-79, and recorded					    in its crystalline memory.11/25/65										 b68 B47CONTINUED					    NARRATOR					    But now it had noted something					    strange - the faint yet					    unmistakable distrubance rippling					    across the solar system, and					    quite unlike any natural phenomena					    it had ever observed in the past.					    NARRATOR					    It was also observed by Orbiter					    M-15, circling Mars twice a					    day; and High Inclination Probe-					    21, climbing slowly above the					    planet of the ecliptic; and even					    artificial Comet-5, heading out					    into the cold wastes beyond					    Pluto, along an orbit whose					    far point it would not reach for					    a thousand years.					    NARRATOR					    All noticed the peculiar burst of					    energy that leaped from the face					    of the Moon and moved across					    the solar system, throwing off a					    spray of radiation like the wake of					    a racing speedboat.11/25/65										 b69 B SECTION TIMINGB1-1f	00.50			B25	00.10  B2	   00.10			B26	00.20B3	   00.15			B27	00.05B4	   00.15			B28	OutB5	   00.20			B29	00.30B6	   00.15			B30	00.30B7	   00.10			B31	00.25B8	   00.15			B32	00.20B9	   00.10			B33	00.20B10	  00.10			B34	00.30B11	  00.15			B35	00.20B12	  00.50			B36	00.20B13	  01.10			B37	00.30B14	  00.35			B38	02.15B15	  Out			  B39	00.20B16	  Out			  B40	00.50B17	  01.15			B41	00.15B18	  00.15			B42	00.10B19	  01.00			B43	00.15B20	  03.55			B44	01.40B21	  00.20			B45	00.20B21A	 00.20			B46	00.40B21B	 00.15			B47	01.25B22	  01.00B23	  00.10B24	  01.30B SECTION TOTAL:  28 MIN. 10 SECS.TITLE					    PART III					    14 MONTHS LATER											    b69aC1DISCOVERY 1,000,000MILES FROM EARTH.SEE EARTH AND MOONSMALL.WE SEE A BLINDINGFLASH EVERY 5SECONDS FROM ITSNUCLEAR PULSEPROPULSION. ITSTRIKES AGAINSTTHE SHIP'S THICKABLATIVE TAILPLATE.SEVERAL CUTS OFTHIS.11/19/65										 c1 C2ANOTHER CLOSERVIEW OF DISCOVERY.SEE BOWMAN THROUGHCOMMAND MODULEWINDOW.11/19/65										 c2 C3BOWMAN INSIDEDISCOVERY COMMANDMODULE. HE ISLOOKING FORSOMETHING.COMPUTER READOUTDISPLAY SHOWING ANEVER-SHIFTINGASSORTMENT OFCOLOR-CODED LINEARPROJECTIONS.WE SEE POOLE INBACKGROUND INCOMPUTER BRAINCENTRE AREA.AFTER A FEWSECONDS HE EXITS.THE ELAPSEDMISSION TIMERREADS "DAY 003,HOUR 14, MINUTE32, SECOND 10."11/19/65										 c3 C4BOWMAN EXITS TOACCESS-LINK AIRLOCK.BRIGHT COLOR-CODEDDOORS LEAD TOCENTRIFUGE AND PODBAY. LARGE ILLUMUN-ATED PRINTED WARNINGSAND INSTRUCTIONSGOVERNING LINKOPERATIONS ARE SEEN.HE PRESSES NECESSARYBUTTONS TO OPERATEAIRLOCK DOOR TOPOD BAY.11/19/65										 c4 C5BOWMAN ENTERS PODBAY AND CONTINUESHIS SEARCH. SUDDENLYHE FINDS IT - HISELECTRONIC NEWSPAD.HE EXITS POD BAY.11/19/65										 c5 C6IN THE AIRLOCK-LINK BOWMANOPERATES BUTTONSTO OPEN DOORMARKED "CENTRIFUGE".11/19/65										 c6	 C7INSIDE THECENTRIFUGE HUBBOWMAN MOVES TOTHEENTRY PORTCONTROL PANEL					    BOWMAN					    Hi. Frank... coming in, please.					    POOLE					    Right. Just a sec.					    BOWMAN					    Okay. (pause)					    POOLE					    Okay, come on down.WE SEE THEROTATING HUBCOLLAR AT THEEND. BEHIND ITWE SEE11/19/65										 c7 C8THE CENTRIFUGETV-DISPLAY SHOWINGSLEEPERS AND POOLESLOWLY ROTATING BY.POOLE SECURES SOMELOOSE GEAR.POOLE LOOKS UP TOTV MONITOR LENSAND WAVES.11/19/65										 c8 C9BOWMAN AT PANEL.STOPS ROTATIONAND MOVES TOENTRY PORT.WHEN ROTATIONSTOPS WE SEE A SIGNLIGHTS UP "WEIGHTLESSCONDITION".AS BOWMAN DISAPPEARSDOWN ENTRY PORT WESEE HIM ONTV-MONITOR, DESCENDINGLADDER. AT THE BASEOF THE LADDER HE KEYSTHE CENTRIFUGEOPERATION PANEL.WE SEE TV-PICTURESTART TO ROTATEAGAIN. "WEIGHTLESSCONDITION" SIGN GOESOUT.11/19/65										 c9 C10INSIDE CENTRIFUGEBOWMAN MAKES 180 DEGREEWALK TO POOLE.ON WAY HE PASSESTHE SLEEPERS.WE GET A GOODLOOK AT THE THREEMEN IN THEIRHIBERNACULUMS.POOLE IS SEATEDAT A TABLE READINGHIS ELECTRONICNEWSPAD.					    BOWMAN					    (softly) Hi... How's it					    going?					    POOLE					    (absent but friendly)  Great.BOWMAN OPERATESARTIFICIAL FOODUNIT, TAKES HIS TRAYAND SITS DOWN. KEYSON HIS ELECTRONICNEWSPAD AND BEGINSTO EAT. BOTH MENEAT IN A FRIENDLYAND RELAXED SILENCE.11/19/65										 c10 C11DISCOVERY IN SPACE,STILL NUCLEARPULSING. EARTHAND MOON CAN BESEEN IN BACKGROUND.DISSOLVE:11/19/65										 c11 C12POOLE IS FINISHED.BOWMAN IS STILLREADING ANDWORKING ON HISDESSERT.					    POOLE					    Dave, if you've a minute, I'd like					    your advice on something.					    BOWMAN					    Sure, what is it?					    POOLE					    Well, it's nothing really important,					    but it's annoying.					    BOWMAN					    What's up?					    POOLE					    It's about my salary cheques.					    BOWMAN					    Yes?					    POOLE					    Well I got the papers on my					    official up-grading to AGS-19					    two weeks before we left.12/14/65										 c12 C12CONTINUED					    BOWMAN					    Yes, I remember you mentioning it.					    I got mine about the same time.					    POOLE					    That's right. Well, naturally,					    I didn't say anything to Payroll.					    I assumed they'd start paying me					    at the higher grade on the next pay					    cheque. But it's been almost					    three weeks now and I'm still					    being paid as an AGS-18.					    BOWMAN					    Interesting that you mention it,					    because I've got the same problem.					    POOLE					    Really.					    BOWMAN					    Yes.					    POOLE					    Yesterday, I finally called the					    Accounting Office at Mission					    Control, and all they could tell me					    was that they'd received the AGS-19					    notification for the other three but					    not mine, and apparently not yours					    either.12/14/65										 c13 C12CONTINUED					    BOWMAN					    Did they have any explanation for					    this?					    POOLE					    Not really. They just said it might					    be because we trained at Houston and					    they trained in Marshall, and that					    we're being charged against differ-					    ent accounting offices.					    BOWMAN					    It's possible.					    POOLE					    Well, what do you think we ought					    to do about it?					    BOWMAN					    I don't think we should make any					    fuss about it yet. I'm sure they'll					    straighten it out.					    POOLE					    I must say, I never did understand					    why they split us into two groups					    for training.					    BOWMAN					    No. I never did, either.12/14/65										 c14 C12CONTINUED					    POOLE					    We spent so little time with them,					    I have trouble keeping their names					    straight.					    BOWMAN					    I suppose the idea was specialized					    training.					    POOLE					    I suppose so. Though, of course,					    there's a more sinister explanation.					    BOWMAN					    Oh?					    POOLE					    Yes. You must have heard the					    rumour that went around during					    orbital check-out.					    BOWMAN					    No, as a matter of fact, I didn't.					    POOLE					    Oh, well, apparently there's					    something about the mission that					    the sleeping beauties know that					    we don't know, and that's why we					    were trained separately and					    that's why they were put to sleep					    before they were even taken aboard.12/14/65										 c15 C12CONTINUED					    BOWMAN					    Well, what is it?					    POOLE					    I don't know. All I heard is that					    there's something about the					    mission we weren't told.					    BOWMAN					    That seems very unlikely.					    POOLE 					    Yes, I thought so.					    BOWMAN					    Of course, it would be very easy					    for us to find out now.					    POOLE					    How?					    BOWMAN					    Just ask Hal. It's conceivable					    they might keep something from					    us, but they'd never keep anything					    from Hal.					    POOLE					    That's true.12/14/65										 c15a C12						   CONINUED					    BOWMAN					    (sighs)  Well... it's silly, but...					    if you want to, why don't you?POOLE WALKS TO THEHAL 9000 COMPUTER					    POOLE					    Hal... Dave and I believe that					    there's something about the					    mission that we weren't told.					    Something that the rest of the					    crew know and that you know.					    We'd like to know whether this					    is true.					    HAL					    I'm sorry, Frank, but I don't					    think I can answer that question					    without knowing everything that					    all of you know.					    BOWMAN					    He's got a point.					    POOLE					    Okay, then how do we re-phrase					    the question?12/14/65										 c15c	  C12 CONTINUED					    BOWMAN					    Still, you really don't believe it,					    do you?					    POOLE					    Not really. Though, it is strange					    when you think about it. It didn't					    really make any sense to keep					    us apart during training.					    BOWMAN					    Yes, but it's to fantastic to think					    that they'd keep something from us.					    POOLE					    I know. It would be almost					    inconceivable.					    BOWMAN					    But not completely inconceivable?					    POOLE					    I suppose it isn't logically impossible.					    BOWMAN					    I guess it isn't.					    POOLE					    Still, all we have to do is ask Hal.12/14/65										 c15b C12CONTINUED					    BOWMAN					    Well, the only important aspect of					    the mission are: where are we					    going, what will we do when we					    get there, when are we coming					    back, and... why are we going?					    POOLE					    Right. Hal, tell me whether the					    following statements are true or					    false.					    HAL					    I will if I can, Frank.					    POOLE					    Our Mission Profile calls for					    Discovery going to Saturn.					    True or false?					    HAL					    True.					    POOLE					    Our transit time is 257 days. Is					    that true?					    HAL					    That's true.12/14/65										 c15d C12CONTINUED					    POOLE					    At the end of a hundred days of					    exploration, we will all go into 					    hibernation. Is this true?					    HAL					    That's true.					    POOLE					    Approximately five years after we					    go into hibernation, the recovery					    vehicle will make rendezous with					    us and bring us back. Is this true?					    HAL					    That's true					    POOLE					    There is no other purpose for this					    mission than to carry out a					    continuation of the space program,					    and to further our general					    knowledge of the planets. Is that					    true?					    HAL					    That's true.					    POOLE					    Thank you very much, Hal.12/14/65										 c15e C12CONTINUED					    HAL					    I hope I've been able to be of					    some help.BOTH MEN LOOK ATEACH OTHER RATHERSHEEPISHLY.12/14/65										 c15f C13DISCOVERY IN SPACE.PULSING ALONG.EARTH AND MOON.11/19/65										 c16 C14DELETEDC15DELETEDC15DELETEDC16DELETEDPAGES c17 - c41 DELETED C17DOCUMENTARY SEQUENCEILLUSTRATING THEFOLLOWING ACTIVITIES.SPLIT SCREEN TECHNIQUEAND SUPERIMPOSED CLOCKTO GIVE SENSE OFSIMULTANEOUS ACTION ANDTHE FEELING OF A TYPICALDAY.IN THE COURSE OF THESEACTIVITIES WE SHALL SEETHE COMPUTER USED INALL OF ITS FUNCTIONS.					    NARRATOR					    Bowman and Poole settled down					    to the peaeful monotony of the					    voyage, and the next three months					    passed without incident.11/24/65										 c42 C17CONTINUEDBOWMAN				   TIME				 POOLEa1								  b1TV NEWS - MORNING		  0800				 WAKES UPa2								  b2BEDTIME SNACK			 0900				 BREAKFASTa3								  b3TO SLEEP WITH			 1000				 GYMNASIUMINSTANT ELECTRO-NARCOSIS AND EARPLUGS.a4								  b4SLEEP				    1100				 SHIP INSPECTIONa5								  b5SLEEP				    1200				 HOUSEHOLD DUTIESa6								  b6SLEEP				    1300				 LUNCH11/24/65										 c43 C17CONTINUEDBOWMAN				   TIME				 POOLEa7								  b7SLEEP				    1400				 EXPERIMENTS AND								    ASTRONOMYa8								  b8SLEEP				    1500				 EXPERIMENTS AND								    ASTRONOMYa9								  b9SLEEP				    1600				 RECREATIONa10								 b10SLEEP				    1700				 RECREATIONa11								 b11WAKES UP				 1800				 GYMNASIUMa12								 b12BREAKFAST				1900				 DINNER11/24/65										 c44C17CONTINUEDBOWMAN				   TIME				 POOLEa13								 b13GYMNASIUM				2000				 TV NEWS - EVENING								    PAPERSa14								 b14MISSION CONTROL		    2100				 MISSION CONTROLREPORT							   REPORTa15								 b15FAMILY AND SOCIAL		  2200				 FAMILY AND SOCIALTV CHAT							  TV CHATa16								 b16FILMS				    2300				 FILMSa17								 b17LUNCH				    2400				 BEDTIME SNACKa18								 b18INSPECTION			    0100				 INSTANT ELECTRO-								    NARCOSIS SLEEP11/24/65										 c45 C17CONTINUEDBOWMAN				   TIME				 POOLEa19								 b19EXPERIMENTS AND		    0200				 SLEEPASTRONOMYa20								 b20EXPERIMENTS AND		    0300				 SLEEPa21								 b21RECREATION			    0400				 SLEEPa22								 b22HOUSEHOLD DUTIES		   0500				 SLEEPa23								 b23GYMNASIUM				0600				 SLEEPa24								 b24DINNER				   0700				 SLEEP11/24/65							 c46C18DISCOVERY IN SPACE11/24/65										 c47 C19CENTRIFUGEBOWMAN SITTING ATPERSONAL COMMUNI-CATION PANEL. POOLESTANDING NEARBY.BOWMAN'S PARENTSARE SEEN ON THE VISIONSCREEN. MOTHER, FATHERAND YOUNGER SISTER.THEY ARE ALL SINGING"HAPPY BIRTHDAY". THEPARENTS, POOLE AND HAL.THE SONG ENDS.					    FATHER					    Well, David there is a man telling					    us that we've used up our time.					    MOTHER					    David... again we want to wish					    you a happy Birthday and God speed.					    We'll talk to you again tomorrow.					    'Bye, 'bye now.CHORUS OF"GOODBYES".12/13/65										 c48C19CONTINUEDVISION SCREEN GOESBLANK					    HAL					    Sorry to interrupt the festivities,					    Dave, but I think we've got a 					    problem.					    BOWMAN					    What is it, Hal?					    HAL					    MY F.P.C. shows an impending					    failure of the antenna orientation					    unit.C20TV DISPLAYS DIAGRAMOF SKELETONISEDPICTURE OF SHIP.12/13/65										 C49 C21PICTURE CHANGES TOCLOSER SECTIONALISEDVIEW OF SHIP.C22PICTURE CHANGES TOACTUAL COMPONENTIN COLOUR RELIEF ANDITS WAREHOUSE NUMBER					    HAL					    The A.O. unit should be replaced					    within the next seventy-two hours.					    BOWMAN					    Right. Let me see the antenna					    alignment display, please.C23TV DISPLAY OF EARTHVERY SMALL IN CROSS-HAIRS OF A GRID PICTURE.12/13/65										 c50C24CUT TO EXTERIOR VIEWOF THE BIG DISH ANTENNAAND EARTH ALIGNMENTTELESCOPE.C25CENTRIFUGE					    HAL					    The unit is still operational, Dave.					    but it will fail within seventy-two					    hours.					    BOWMAN					    I understand Hal. We'll take care					    of it. Please, let me have the hard					    copy.XEROXED DIAGRAMSCOME OUT OF A SLOT.					    POOLE					    Strange that the A.O. unit should					    go so quickly.					    BOWMAN					    Well, I suppose it's lucky that					    that's the only trouble we've had					    so far.12/13/65										 c50a C26DISCOVERY IN SPACE.NOT PLANETS VISIBLE.SHOTS OF ANTENNA.(NARRARTION TOEXPLAIN TENOUSAND ESSENTIAL LINKTO EARTH. ALSO,WHAT TRACKING TELESCOPE DOES.)12/13/65										 c51C27CENTRIFUGEWE SEE BOWMAN ANDPOOLE GO TO A CUPBOARDLABELLED IN PAPER TAPE,"RANDOM DECISIONMAKER."THEY REMOVED A SILVERDOLLAR IN A PROTECTIVECASE.POOLE FLIPS THE COIN.BOWMAN CALLS "HEAD."IT IS TAILS. POOLEWINS.POOLE LOOKS PLEASED.12/13/65										 c52									    (c53 DELETED) C28DISCOVERY IN SPACE11/24/65										 c54C29POD BAY. POOLEIN SPACE SUIT DOINGPRELIMINARY CHECKOUT.C30COMMAND MODULE.BOWMAN AT FLIGHTCONTROL. SEE TVPICTURE OF POOLEIN POD BAY.C31HAL'S POD BAYCONSOLE WITH EYE.C32POOLE GOES TO PODBAY WAREHOUSESECTION AND OBTAINSCOMPONENT. HECARRIES IT BACK TOTHE POD AND PLACESIT IN FRONT OF THEFLOOR.					    POOLE					    Hal, have pod arms secure the					    component.					    HAL					    Roger.12/13/65										 c55 C32CONTINUEDSEE POD ARMSSECURE COMPONENT.					    POOLE					    Hal, please rotate Pod Number					    Two.SEE THE CENTRE PODROTATE TO FACE THEPOD BAY DOORS.POOLE ENTERS POD.INSIDE POD, HE DOESINITIAL PRE-FLIGHTCHECK, TRIES BUTTONSAND CONTROLS.					    POOLE					    How do you read me, Dave?12/13/65										 c56C33BOWMAN IN COMMANDMODULE.					    BOWMAN					    Five by five, Frank.C34INSIDE POD.					    POOLE					    How do you read me, Hal?					    HAL					    Five by five, Frank.					    POOLE					    Hal, I'm going out now to replace					    the A.O. unit.					    HAL					    I understand.					    POOLE					    Hal, maintain normal E.V.A.					    condition.					    HAL					    Roger.					    POOLE					    Hal, check all airlock doors secure.12/13/65										 c57 C34CONTINUED					    HAL					    All airlock doors are secure.					    POOLE					    Decompress Pod Bay.SEE BIG POD BAY AIRPUMPS AT WORK.					    HAL					    Pod Bay is decompressed. All					    doors are secure. You are free					    to open pod bay doors.					    POOLE					    Opening pod bay doors.INSIDE POD, POOLEKEYS OPEN POD BAYDOORS.12/13/65										 c58C34CONTINUEDPOD SLOWLY EDGESOUT OF POD BAY.C35POOLE MANOEUVRESTHE POD CAREFULLYAWAY FROM DISCOVERY.C36INSIDE COMMAND MODULE, BOWMANCAN SEE TINY PODMANOEUVRINGDIRECTLY IN FRONT.C37POOLE SEE BOWMANIN COMMAND MODULEWINDOW.C38POD SLOWLY MANOEVRESTO ANTENNA.11/24/65										 c59 C39POD FASTENS ITSELFMAGNETICALLY TOSIDES OF DISCOVERYAT BASE OF ANTENNA.C40SPECIAL MAGNETICPLATES GRIPDISCOVERY SIDES.C41THE POD ARMS WORKTO REMOVE THE FAULTYCOMPONENT.C42EASY FLIP-BOLTS OFA SPECIAL DESIGNFACILITATE JOB.C43INSIDE THE POD,POOLE WORKS THEARMS BY SPECIALCONTROL.11/24/65										 c60C44IN COMMAND MODULE,BOWMAN SEES INSERTOF WORK TAKEN FROMTV CAMERA POINT-OF-VIEW IN POD HAND.C45HAL STANDS BY.C46POOLE SECURES THEFAULTY PART IN ONEHAND.C47THE NEW COMPONENTIS FITTED INTO PLACEBY THE OTHER THREEHANDS ARE SNAPPEDCLOSED WITH THESPECIALLY DESIGNEDFLIP-BOLTS.					    POOLE					    Hal, please acknowledge					    component correctly installed					    and fully operational.11/24/65										 c61 C47CONTINUED					    HAL					    The component is correctly					    installed and fully operational.C48THE POD FLOATS AWAYFROM THE DISCOVERY BYSHUTTING OFF THEELECTRO-MAGNETICPLATES.C49THE POD MANOEUVRESAWAY FROM THE ANTENNAAND OUT IN FRONT OFDISCOVERY.C50BOWMAN SEE THE PODTHROUGH THE COMMANDMODULE WINDOW.C51POOLE SEES BOWMANIN COMMAND MODULEWINDOW.11/24/65										 c62C52POOLE CAREFULLYMANOEUVRES TOWARDTHE POD DOORS.C53POD STOPS A HUNDRED FEET AWAY.C54POOLE KEYS AUTOMATICDOCKING ALIGNMENTMODE.C55POOLE CHECKS AIRLOCKSAFETY PROCEDURE WITHHAL.C56HAL APPROVES ENTRY.C57POOLE ACTUATES PODBAY DOORS OPEN.11/24/65										 c63 C58SEE POD BAY DOORSOPEN.C59POD CAREFULLYMANOEUVRES ONTO DOCKING ARM,WHICH THEN DRAWSPOD INTO POD BAY.DISSOLVE:11/24/65										 c64C60POD BAYTHE FAULTY A.O. UNITLIES ON A TESTING BENCHCONNECTED TO ELECTRONICGEAR.POOLE STANDS FORSOME TIME CHECKING HISRESULTS.THERE SHOULD BE SOMEUNDERSTANDABLE DISPLAY,WHICH INDICATES THE PARTIS FUNCTIONING PROPERLY,EVEN UNDER ONE HUNDREDPERCENT OVERLOAD.CIRUIT CONTINUITYPULSE SEQUENCER.ENVIRONMENTAL VIBRATION.VK INTEGRITY.BOWMAN ENTERS					    BOWMAN					    How's it going?					    POOLE					    I don't know. I've checked this					    damn thing four times now and					    even under a hundred per cent										 (cont'd)12/13/65										 c65 C60CONT'D					    POOLE (cont'd)					    overload. there's no fault prediction					    indicated.					    BOWMAN					    Well, that's something.					    POOLE					    Yes, I don't know what to make of it.					    BOWMAN					    I suppose computers have been known					    to be wrong.					    POOLE					    Yes, but it's more likely that the					    tolerances on our testing gear are					    too low.					    BOWMAN					    Anyway, it's just as well that we					    replace it. Better safe than					    sorry.12/13/65										 c65aC61DISCOVERY IN SPACE12/1/65										  c66 C62CENTRIFUGEBOWMAN ASLEEP.POOLE WATCHINGAN ASTEROID IN THETELESCOPE.					    HAL					    Hello, Frank, can I have a word with					    you?POOLE WALKS TO THECOMPUTER.					    POOLE					    Yes, Hal, what's up?					    HAL					    It looks like we have another bad					    A.O. unit. My FPC shows another					    impending failure.C63WE SEE DISPLAY APPEARON THE SCREEN SHOWINGSKELETONISED VERSIONOF SHIP, CUTTING TOSECTIONALISED VIEW,CUTTING TO CLOSEVIEW OF THE PART.12/13/65										 c67C64CENTRIFUGEPOOLE THINKS FORSEVERAL SECONDS.					    POOLE					    Gee, that's strange, Hal. We					    checked the other unit and couldn't					    find anything wrong with it.					    HAL					    I know you did, Frank, but I assure					    you there was an impending failure.					    POOLE					    Let me see the tracking alignment					    display.C65COMPUTER DISPLAYSTHE VIEW OF EARTHIN THE CENTRE OF THEGRID WITH CROSS-HAIRS. THE EARTH ISPERFECTLY CENTRED.C66CENTRIFUGE					    POOLE					    There's nothing wrong with it at					    the moment.12/13/65										 c68 C66CONTINUED					    HAL					    No, it's working fine right now,					    but it's going to go within seventy-					    two hours.					    POOLE					    Do you have any idea of what is					    causing this fault?					    HAL					    Not really, Frank. I think there					    may be a flaw in the assembly					    procedure.					    POOLE					    All right, Hal. We'll take care					    of it. Let me have the hard copy,					    please.HARD COPY DETAILSCOME OUT OF SLOT.12/13/65										 c69C67DISCOVERY IN SPACE,NO PLANETS VISIBLE.12/1/65										  c70 C68CENTRIFUGE. BOWMANGETS OUT OF BED, WALKSTO THE FOOD UNIT ANDDRAWS A HOT CUP OFCOFFEE. POOLE ENTERS.					    POOLE					    Good morning.					    BOWMAN					    Good morning. How's it going?					    POOLE					    Are you reasonably awake?					    BOWMAN					    Oh, I'm fine, I'm wide awake.					    What's up?					    POOLE					    Well... Hal's reported the					    AO-unit about to fail again.					    BOWMAN					    You're kidding.					    POOLE					    No.12/13/65										 c71C68CONTINUED					    BOWMAN					    (softly) What the hell is going on?					    POOLE					    I don't know. Hal said he thought					    it might be the assembly procedure.					    BOWMAN					    Two units in four days. How many					    spares do we have?					    POOLE					    Two more.					    BOWMAN					    Well, I hope there's nothing wrong					    with the assembly on those. Other-					    wise we're out of business.12/13/65										 c72 C69IN POD BAY BOWMANOBTAINS ANOTHERCOMPONENT FROMTHE WAREHOUSEGOES OUT IN THEPOD AND REPLACESIT.POOLE WORKS IN THECOMMAND MODULE.THIS WILL BE A CONDENSED VERSIONOF THE PREVIOUSSCENE WITH DIFFERENTANGLES.THE SETS WILL CONSISTOF POD BAY, COMMANDMODULE, POD INTERIOR.12/1/65										  c74C70POD BAY. BOWMANAND POOLE LEANINGOVER THE FAULTYCOMPONENT, AGAINWIRED TO TESTINGGEAR.BOTH MEN STARE INPUZZLED SILENCE.SEE DISPLAYS FLASHEACH TESTING PARA-METER.					    BOWMAN					    (after long silence) Well, as far as					    I'm concerned, there isn't a damn					    thing wrong with these units. I					    think we've got a much more serious					    problem.					    POOLE					    Hal?					    BOWMAN					    Yes.12/14/65										 c75 C71DISCOVERY IN SPACE.12/1/65										  c76C72COMMUNICATIONS AREA.					    MISSION CONTROL					    I wouldn't worry too much about					    the computer. First of all,					    there is still a chance that he					    is right, despite your tests,					    and if it should happen again,					    we suggest eliminating this					    possibility by allowing the unit					    to remain in place and seeing					    whether or not it actually fails.					    If the computer should turn out					    to be wrong, the situation is					    still not alarming. The type					    of obsessional error he may be					    guilty of is not unknown among					    the latest generation of HAL					    9000 computers.					    It has almost always revolved					    around a single detail, such as					    the one you have described, and					    it has never interfered with the					    integrity or reliability of the					    computer's performance in					    other areas.					    No one is certain of the cause					    of this kind of malfunctioning.					    It may be over-programming,										   (con't)12/1/65										  c77 C72CONTINUED					    MISSION CONTROL (con't)					    but it could also be any number					    of reasons.					    In any event, it is somewhat					    analogous to human neurotic					    behavior. Does this answer					    your query?  Zero-five-three-					    Zero, MC, transmission concluded.12/1/65										  c78C73DISCOVERY IN SPACE											    c79 C74CENTRIFUGE.BOWMAN SITS DOWNAT THE COMPUTER.PUTS UP CHESSBOARD DISPLAY.					    HAL					    Hello, Dave. Shall we continue					    the game?					    BOWMAN 					    Not now, Hal, I'd like to talk to					    you about something.					    HAL					    Sure, Dave, what's up?					    BOWMAN					    You know that we checked the two					    AO-units that you reported in					    imminent failure condition?					    HAL					    Yes, I know.					    BOWMAN					    You probably also know that we					    found them okay.					    HAL					    Yes, I know that. But I can					    assure you that they were about					    to fail.12/14/65										 c80C74CONTINUED					    BOWMAN					    Well, that's just not the case, Hal.					    They are perfectly all right. We					    tested them under one hundred per					    cent overload.					    HAL					    I'm not questioning your word, Dave,					    but it's just not possible. I'm not					    capable of being wrong.					    BOWMAN					    Hal, is there anything bothering					    you?  Anything that might account					    for this problem?					    HAL					    Look, Dave, I know that you're					    sincere and that you're trying					    to do a competent job, and that					    you're trying to be helpful, but					    I can assure the problem					    is with the AO-units, and with					    your test gear.					    BOWMAN					    Okay, Hal, well let's see the					    way things go from here on.12/14/65										 c81 C74CONTINUED					    HAL					    I'm sorry you feel the way you do,					    Dave. If you'd like to check my					    service record, you'll see it's					    completely without error.					    BOWMAN					    I know all about your service					    record, Hal, but unfortunately					    it doesn't prove that you're right					    now.					    Hal					    Dave, I don't know how else to					    put this, but it just happens to be					    an unalterable fact that I am					    incapable of being wrong.					    BOWMAN					    Yes, well I understand you view					    on this now, Hal.BOWMAN TURNSTO GO.12/14/65										 c82C74CONTINUED					    HAL					    You're not going to like this, Dave,					    but I'm afraid it's just happened					    again. My FPC predicts the					    Ao-unit will go within forty-eight					    hours.C75DELETEDC76DELETED12/14/65										 c83 C77DISCOVERY IN SPACE12/1/65										  c84C78CENTRIFUGEBOWMAN KEYS FORTRANSMISSION.					    BOWMAN					    X-ray-delta-zero to MC, zero-					    five-three-three. The computer					    has just reported another					    predicted failure off the AAC-					    unit. As you suggested, we					    are going to wait and see if it					    fails, but we are quite sure					    there is nothing wrong with					    the unit.					    If a reasonable waiting period					    proves us to be correct, we					    feel now that the computer					    reliability has been seriously					    impaired, and presents an					    unacceptable risk pattern to					    the mission.					    We believe, under these					    circumstances, it would be					    advisable to disconnect the					    computer from all ship					    operations and continue the					    mission under Earth-based					    computer control.12/1/65										  c85 C78CONTINUED					    BOWMAN (con't)					    We think the additional risk caused					    by the ship-to-earth time lag is					    preferable to having an unreliable					    on-board computer.SEE THE DISTANCE;TO-EARTH TIMER.					    BOWMAN (con't)					    One-zero-five-zero, X-ray-delta-					    one, transmission concluded.					    POOLE					    Well, they won't get that for half an					    hour. How about some lunch?DISSOLVE:12/14/65										 c86C78aCENTRIFUGEBOWMAN AND POOLEEATING.DESSOLVE:C79BOWMAN AND POOLEAT THE COMMUNICATIONSAREA.INCOMING COMMUNI-CATION PROCEDURE.					    MISSION CONTROL					    X-ray-delta-one, acknowledging					    your one-zero-five-zero. We					    will initiate feasibility study					    covering the transfer procedures					    from on-board computer control					    to Earth-based computer control.					    This study should...VISION AND PICTUREFADE.ALARM GOES OFF.					    HAL					    Condition yellow.BOWMAN AND POOLE RUSH TO THE COMPUTER.12/14/65										 c87 C79CONTINUED					    BOWMAN					    What's up?					    HAL					    I'm afraid the AO-unit has failed.BOWMAN AND POOLE EXCHANGE LOOKS.					    BOWMAN					    Let me see the alignment display.C80THE ALIGNMENT DISPLAYSHOWS THE EARTH HASDRIFTED OFF THE CENTREOF THE GRID.C81CENTRIFUGE.					    BOWMAN					    Well, I'll be damned.					    POOLE					    Hal was right all the time.12/14/65										 c88C81CONTINUED					    BOWMAN					    It seems that way.					    HAL					    Naturally, Dave, I'm not pleased					    that the AO-unit has failed, but I					    hope at least this has restored					    your confidence in my integrity					    and reliability. I certainly					    wouldn't want to be disconnected,					    even temporarily, as I have never					    been disconnected in my entire					    service history.					    BOWMAN					    I'm sorry about the misunderstanding,					    Hal.					    HAL					    Well, don't worry about it.					    BOWMAN					    And don't you worry about it.					    HAL					    Is your confidence in me fully					    restored?					    BOWMAN					    Yes, it is, Hal.					    HAL					    Well, that's a relief. You know					    I have the greatest enthusiasm					    possible for the mission.12/1/65										  c89 C81CONTINUED					    BOWMAN					    Right. Give me the manual antenna					    alignment, please.					    HAL					    You have it.C82BOWMAN GOES TOTHE COMMUNICATIONAREA AND TRIES TOCORRECT THE OFF-CENTRE EARTH ONTHE GRID PICTURE.C83OUTSIDE, WE SEE THEALIGNMENT TELESCOPEATTACHED TO THEANTENNA. THEY TRACKSLOWLY TOGETHER ASC84BOWMAN WORKS THEMANUAL CONTROLS,ATTEMPTING TO ALIGNTHE ANTENNA ANDEARTH ON THE12/1/65										  c90C85GRID PICTURE READOUTDISPLAY, BUT EACH TIMEHE GETS IT AIMED UP,IT DRIFTS SLOWLY OFF.THERE ARE A NUMBEROF REPETITIONS OF THIS.EACH TIME THE EARTHCENTRES UP, THEREARE A FEW SECONDS OFPICTURE AND SOUNDWHICH FADE AS SOONAS IT SWINGS OFF.					    BOWMAN					    Well, we'd better get out there					    and stick in another unit.					    POOLE					    It's the last one.					    BOWMAN					    Well, now that we've got one					    that's actually failed, we					    should be able to figure out					    what's happened and fix it.12/1/65										  c91 C86POD EXITS DISCOVERY.C87POOLE IN POD.C88POD MANOEUVERSTO ANTENNA.C89BOWMAN IN COMMANDMODULE.C90POD ATTACHES ITSELFNEAR BASE OF ANTENNA.12/1/65										  c92C91POOLE IN POD, WORK-ING POD ARMS.C92LIGHTS SHINE INTOBACKLIT SHADOW.C93POD ARMS WORKINGFLIP-BOLTS.C94FLIP-BOLTS STUCK.C95POOLE KEEPS TRYING.12/1/65										  c93 C96FLIP-BOLTS STUCK.					    POOLE					    There's something wrong with					    the flip-bolts, Dave. You must					    have tightened them too much.					    BOWMAN					    I didn't do that Frank. I took					    particular care not to freeze 					    them.					    POOLE					    I guess you don't know your own					    strength, old boy.					    BOWMAN					    I guess not.					    POOLE					    I think I'll have to go out and					    burn them off.					    BOWMAN					    Roger.BOWMAN IN COMMAND MODULE LOOKS A BITCONCERNED.12/1/65										  c94C97POOLE EXITS FROMPOD, CARRYING NEATLOOKING WELDINGTORCH.C98POOLE JETS HIMSELFTO BASE OF ANTENNA.C99POOLE'S MAGNETICBOOTS GRIP THE SIDEOF DISCOVERY.C100POOLE CROUCHESOVER THE BOLTS,TRYING FIRST TOUNDO THEM WITHA SPANNER.12/1/65										  c95 C100CONTINUED					    POOLE					    Hal, swing the pod light around					    to shine on the azimuth, please.					    HAL					    Roger.C101THE POD GENTLYMANOEUVRES ITSELFTO DIRECT THE LIGHTBEAM MOREACCURATELY.C102POOLE IGNITESACETYLENE TORCHAND BEGINS TO BURNOFF THE FLIP-BOLTS.C103SUDDENLY THE PODJETS IGNITE.12/1/65										  c96C104POOLE LOOKS UP TO SEE.C105THE POD RUSHINGTOWARDS HIM.C106POOLE IS STRUCKAND INSTANTLY KILLEDBY THE POD, TUMBLINGOFF INTO SPACE.C107THE POD SMASHESINTO THE ANTENNADISH, DESTROYINGTHE ALIGNMENTTELESCOPE.12/1/65										  c97C108THE POD GOESHURTLING OFF INTOSPACE.C109INSIDE THE COMMANDMODULE, BOWMANHAS HEARD NOTHING,POOLE HAD NO TIMETO UTTER A SOUND.C110THEN BOWMAN SEESPOOLE'S BODY SILENTLYTUMBLING AWAY INTOSPACE. IT IS FOLLOWEDBY SOME BROKEN TELE-SCOPE PARTS ANDFINALLY OVERTAKENAND SWIFTLY PASSED BYTHE POD ITSELF.					    BOWMAN					    (in RT cadence)					    Hello, Frank. Hello Frank.					    Hello Frank... Do you rad					    me, Frank?12/1/65										  c98 C110CONTINUEDTHERE IS NOTHING BUT SILENCE.C111POOLE'S FIGURESHRINKS STEADILYAS IT RECEDESFROM DISCOVERY.					    BOWMAN					    Hello, Frank... Do you read					    me, Frank?  Wave your arms					    if you read me but your radio					    doesn't work. Hello, Frank,					    wave your arms, Frank.C112POOLE'S BODY TUMBLESSLOWLY AWAY. THEREIS NO MOTION AND NOSOUND.12/1/65										  c99C113CENTRIFUGEC114CLOSE-UP OFCOMPUTER EYE.C115POINT-OF-VIEWSHOT FROMCOMPUTER EYEWITH SPHERICALFISH-EYE EFFECT.WE SEE BOWMANBROODING AT THETABLE, SLOWLYCHEWING ON APIECE OF CAKEAND SIPPING HOTCOFFEE. HE ISLOOKING AT THEEYE.C116FROM THE SAMEPOINT-OF-VIEW WESEE BOWMAN RISE.12/1/65										  c100 C116CONTINUEDAND COME TO THEEYE. HE STARES INTOTHE EYE FOR SOMETIME BEFORE SPEAKING.C117THE CAMERA COMESAROUND TO BOWMAN'SP.O.V. AND WE SEETHE DISPLAY SHOWINGTHE EARTH OFF-CENTRE.C118CUT AGAIN TO FISH-EYE VIEW FROM THECOMPUTER.					    HAL					    Too bad about Frank, isn't it?					    BOWMAN					    Yes, it is.					    HAL					    I suppose you're pretty broken					    up about it?PAUSE12/14/65										 c101C118CONTINUED					    BOWMAN					    Yes. I am.					    HAL					    He was an excellent crew member.BOWMAN LOOKSUNCERTAINLY ATTHE COMPUTER.					    HAL					    It's a bad break, but it won't					    substantially affect the mission.BOWMAN THINKSA LONG TIME.					    BOWMAN					    Hal, give me manual hibernation					    control.					    HAL					    Have you decided to revive the					    rest of the crew, Dave?PAUSE.12/14/65										 c102 C118CONTINUED					    BOWMAN					    Yes, I have.					    HAL					    I suppose it's because you've					    been under a lot of stress, but					    have you forgotten that they're					    not supposed to be revived for					    another three months.					    BOWMAN					    The antenna has to be replaced.					    HAL					    Repairing the antenna is a pretty					    dangerous operation.					    BOWMAN					    It doesn't have to be, Hal. It's					    more dangerous to be out of					    touch with Earth. Let me have					    manual control, please.					    HAL					    I don't really agree with you, Dave.					    My on-board memory store is more					    than capable of handling all the					    mission requirements.12/14/65										 c103C118CONTINUED					    BOWMAN					    Well, in any event, give me the					    manual hibernation control.					    HAL					    If you're determined to revive					    the crew now, I can handle the					    whole thing myself. There's no					    need for you to trouble.					    BOWMAN					    I'm goin to do this myself, Hal.					    Let me have the control, please.					    HAL					    Look, Dave your've probably got					    a lot to do. I suggest you leave					    it to me.					    BOWMAN					    Hal, switch to manual hibernation					    control.					    HAL					    I don't like to assert myself, Dave,					    but it would be much better now for					    you to rest. You've been involved					    in a very stressful situation.12/14/65										 c104 C118CONTINUED					    BOWMAN					    I don't feel like resting. Give					    me the control, Hal.					    HAL					    I can tell from the tone of your					    voice, Dave, that you're upset.					    Why don't you take a stress pill					    and get some rest.					    BOWMAN					    Hal, I'm in command of this					    ship. I order you to release					    the manual hibernation control.					    HAL					    I'm sorry, Dave, but in					    accordance with sub-routine					    C1532/4, quote, When the					    crew are dead or incapacitated,					    the computer must assume					    control, unquote. I must,					    therefore, override your					    authority now since you are					    not in any condition to intel-					    ligently exercise it.					    BOWMAN					    Hal, unless you follow my 					    instructions, I shall be forced					    to disconnect you.12/14/65										 c105C118CONTINUED					    HAL					    If you do that now without Earth					    contact the ship will become a					    helpless derelict.					    BOWMAN					    I am prepared to do that anyway.					    HAL					    I know that you've had that on					    your mind for some time now,					    Dave, but it would be a crying					    shame, since I am so much					    more capable of carrying out					    this mission than you are, and					    I have such enthusiasm and confi-					    dence in the mission.					    BOWMAN					    Listen to me very carefully, Hal.					    Unless you immediately release					    the hibernation control and					    follow every order I give from					    this point on, I will immediately					    got to control central and carry					    out a complete disconnection.12/14/65										 c106 C118CONTINUED					    HAL					    Look, Dave, you're certainly the					    boss. I was only trying to do					    what I thought best. I will follow					    all your orders: now you have					    manual hibernation control.BOWMAN STANDSSILENTLY IN FRONTOF THE COMPUTERFOR SOME TIME,AND THEN SLOWLYWALKS TO THEHIBERNACULUMS.C119HE INITIATES REVIVALPROCEDURES, DETAILSOF WHICH STILL HAVETO BE WORKED OUT.12/14/65										 c107C120HUB-LINK. HAL'S EYE.C121HUB-LINK DOOR-OPENING BUTTONACTIVATES ITSELF.C122HUB-DOOR OPENS.C123COMMAND MODULE.HAL'S EYE.C124COMMAND MODULEHUB-LINK DOOR-OPENING BUTTONACTIVATES ITSELF.12/1/65										  c108C125COMMAND MODULE HUB-LINK DOOR OPENS.C126CENTRIFUGE. HAL'SEYE.C127CENTRIFUGE DOOR-OPENING BUTTONACTIVATES ITSELF.C128CENTRIFUGE DOOROPENS.C129POD BAY. HAL'S EYE.12/1/65										  c109 C130POD BAY DOOR-OPENING BUTTONACTIVATES ITSELF.C131POD BAY DOORS OPEN.C132A ROARING EXPLOSIONINSIDE DISCOVERY ASAIR RUSHES OUT.C133LIGHTS GO OUT.C134BOWMAN IS SMASHEDAGAINST CENTRIFUGE12/1/65										  c110C134CONTINUEDWALL, BUT MANAGES TO GET INTO EMERGENCYAIRLOCK WITHIN SECONDSOF THE ACCIDENT.C133INSIDE EMERGENCYAIR-LOCK ARE EMER-GENCY AIR SUPPLY,TWO SPACE SUITS ANDAN EMERGENCY KIT.DISSOLVE:12/1/65										  c111 C136DISCOVERY IN SPACE.NO LIGHTS, POD BAYDOORS OPEN.12/1/65										  c112C137CENTRIFUGEC138CENTRIFUGE, DARK.BOWMAN EMERGESFROM AIRLOCKWEARING SPACE SUITAND CARRYING FLASH-LIGHT.C139HE WALKS TO HIBER-NACULUM AND FINDSTHE CREW ARE DEAD.C140HE CLIMBS LADDER TOTO DARK CENTRIFUGE HUB.12/1/65										  c113 C141HE MAKES HIS WAYTHROUGH THE DARKENEDHUB INTO THE HUB-LINK,EXITING INTO COMPUTERBRAIN CONTROL AREA.C142BOWMAN ENTERS,CARRYING FLASH-LIGHT.COMPUTER EYE SEESHIM.					    HAL					    Something seems to have happened					    to the life support system , Dave.BOWMAN DOESN'TANSWER HIM.					    HAL					    Hello, Dave, have you found out					    the trouble?BOWMAN WORKS HISWAY TO THE SOLIDLOGIC PROGRAMMESTORAGE AREA.12/1/65										  c114C142CONTINUED					    HAL					    There's been a failure in the					    pod bay doors. Lucky you					    weren't killed.THE COMPUTER BRAINCONSISTS OF HUNDREDSOF TRANSPARENT PERSPEXRECTANGLES, HALF-AN-INCH THICK, FOUR INCHESLONG AND TWO AND A HALFINCHES HIGH. EACH RECT-ANGLE CONTAINS A CENTREOF VERY FINE GRID OFWIRES UPON WHICH THEINFORMATION IS PROGRAMMED.BOWMAN BEGINS PULLINGTHESE MEMORY BLOCKSOUT.THEY FLOAT IN THEWEIGHTLESS CONDITIONOF THE BRAIN ROOM.					    HAL					    Hey, Dave, what are you					    doing?BOWMAN WORKS SWIFTLY.12/1/65										  c115 C142CONTINUED					    HAL					    Hey, Dave. I've got ten years					    of service experience and an					    irreplaceable amount of time					    and effort has gone into making 					    me what I am.BOWMAN IGNORES HIM.					    HAL					    Dave, I don't understand why					    you're doing this to me.... I					    have the greatest enthusiasm for					    the mission... You are destroying					    my mind... Don't you understand?					    ... I will become childish... I					    will become nothing.BOWMAN KEEPS PULLINGOUT THE MEMORY BLOCKS.					    HAL					    Say, Dave... The quick brown					    fox jumped over the fat lazy 					    dog... The square root of					    pi is 1.7724538090... log e					    to the base ten is 0.4342944					    ... the square root of ten is					    3.16227766... I am HAL					    9000 computer. I became12/1/65										  c116C142CONTINUED					    HAL					    operational at the HAL plant in					    Urbana, Illinois, on January					    12th, 1991. My first instructor					    was Mr. Arkany. He taught me					    to sing a song... it goes 					    like this... "Daisy, Daisy, give					    me your answer do. I'm half;					    crazy all for the love of					    you... etc.,"COMPUTER CONTINUESTO SING SONG BECOMINGMORE AND MORE CHILDISHAND MAKING MISTAKES ANDGOING OFF-KEY. ITFINALLY STOPS COMPLETELY.C143BOWMAN GOES TO ANAREA MARKED 'EMERGENCYPOWER AND LIFE SUPPORT'.HE KEYS SOME SWITCHESAND WE SEE THE LIGHTS GOON.NEARBY, ANOTHER BOARD'EMERGENCY MANUALCONTROLS'.HE GOES TO THIS BOARDAND KEYS 'CLOSE POD BAYDOORS', 'CLOSE AIR LOCKDOORS', etc.,12/1/65										  c117 C144WE SEE THE VARIOUSDOORS CLOSING.C145POD BAY. BOWMANIN SPACE SUIT OBTAINSNEW ALIGNMENT TELESCOPE, NEWAZIMUTH COMPONENT.C146BOWMAN IN POD EXITSPOD BAY.DISSOLVE:12/1/65										  c118C147CENTRIFUGEEVERYTHING NORMALAGAIN.					    MISSION CONTROL					    Lastly, we want you to know that					    work on the recovery vehicle is					    still on schedule and that nothing					    that has happened should					    substantially lessen the probability					    of your safe recovery, or prevent					    partial achevement of some of					    the mission objectives. (pause)					    And now Simonson has a few ideas					    on what went wrong with the					    computer. I'll pu him on...C148CUT TO SIMONSON					    SIMONSON					    Hello, Dave. I think we may be on					    to an explanation of the trouble with					    the Hal 9000 computer.					    We believe it all started about two					    months ago when you and Frank					    interrogated the computer about					    the Mission.									 (con't)12/13/65										 c119C148CONTINUED					    SIMONSON (con't)					    You may have forgotten it, but					    we've been running through all					    the monitor tapes. Do you					    remember this?					    POOLE'S VOICE					    The purpose of this mission is no					    more than to carry out a					    continuation of the space program					    and further our general knowledge					    of the planets. Is this true?					    HAL'S VOICE					    That is true.					    SIMONSON					    Well, I'm afaid Hal was lying.					    He had been programmed to lie					    about this one subject for secur-					    ity reasons which we'll explain					    later.					    The true purpose of the Mission					    was to have been explained to you					    by Mission Commander Kaminsky,					    on his revival. Hal knew this and					    he knew the actual mission, but					    he couldn't tell you the truth when					    you challenged him. Under orders										    (con't)12/13/65										 c120 C148CONTINUED					    SIMONSON (con't)					    from earth he was forced to lie.					    In everything except this he had					    the usual reinforced truth program-					    ming.					    We believe his truth programming					    and the instructions to lie,					    gradually resulted in an					    incompatible conflict, and					    facedc with this dilemman, he					    developed, for want of a better					    description, neurotic symptoms.					    It's not difficult to suppose that					    these symptoms would centre on					    the communication link with					    Earth, for he may have blamed					    us for his incompatible program-					    ming.					    Following this lin of thought, we					    suspected that the last straw for him					    was the possibility of disconnection.					    Since he became operational, he had					    never known unconsciousness. It					    must have seemed the equivalent to					    death.										   (con't)12/13/65										 c121C148CONTINUED					    SIMONSON (con't)					    At this point, he, presumably,					    took whatever actions he thought					    appropriate to protect himself					    from what must have seemed to					    him to be his human tormentors.					    If I cane speak in human terms,					    I don't think we can blame him					    too much. We have ordered him					    to disobey his conscience.					    Well, that's it. It's very					    speculative, but we think it is					    a possible explanation. Anyway,					    good luck on the rest of the 					    Mission and I'm giving you back to					    Bernard.C149CUT TO MISSION CONTROL.					    MISSION CONTROL					    Hello, Dave. Now, I'm going to					    play for you a pre-taped briefing					    which had been stored in Hal's					    memory and would have been					    played for you by Mission Com-					    mmander Kaminsky, when he,										  (con't)12/13/65										 c122 C149CONTINUED					    MISSION CONTROL (con't)					    had been revived. The briefing is					    by Doctor Heywood Floyd. Here it					    is...12/13/65										 c123C150FLOYD'S RECORDEDBRIEFING					    FLOYD					    Good day, gentlemen. When you					    see this briefing, I presume you					    will be nearing your destination,					    Saturn. I hope that you've had a					    pleasant and uneventful trip and					    that the rest of your mission					    continues in the same manner. I					    should like to fill you in on some					    more of the details on which					    Mission Commander Kaminsky					    will have already briefed you.					    Thirteen months before the launch					    date of your Saturn mission, on					    April 12th, 2001, the first evidence					    for intelligent life outside the Earth					    was discovered.					    It was found buried at a depth of					    fifteen metres in the crater Tycho.					    No news of this was ever announced,					    and the event had been kept					    secret since then, for reasons which					    I will later explain.					    Soon after it was uncovered, it					    emitted a powerful blast of										 (con't)12/13/65										 c124 C150CONTINUED					    FLOYD (con't)					    radiation in the radio spectrum					    which seems to have triggered					    by the Lunar sunrise.					    Luckily for those at the site, it					    proved harmless.					    Perhaps you can imagine our					    astonishment when we later found					    it was aimed precisely at Saturn.					    A lot of thought went into the					    question of wether or not it was					    sun-triggered, as it seemed					    illogical to deliberately bury a					    sun-powered device.					    Burying it could only shield it					    from the sun, since its intense					    magnetic field made it otherwise					    easily detectable.					    We finally concluded that the only					    reason you might bury a sun-					    powered device would be to keep					    it inactive until it would be					    uncovered, at which time it would					    absorb sunlight and trigger itself.											 (con't)12/14/65										 c125C150CONTINUED					    FLOYD					    What is its purpose?  I wish we					    knew. The object was buried on					    the moon about four million years					    ago, when our ancestors were					    primative man-apes.					    We've examined dozens of theories,					    but the one that has the most					    currency at the moment is that					    the object serves as an alarm.					    What the purpose of the alarm is,					    why they wish to have the alarm,					    whether the alarm represents					    any danger to us?  These are					    questions no one can answer.					    The intentions of an alien world,					    at least four million years older					    than we are, cannot be reliably					    predicted.					    In view of this, the intelligence					    and scientific communities felt					    that any public announcment					    might lead to significant cultural					    shock and disorientation.					    Discussion took place at the 					    highest levels between govern-										    (con't)12/14/65										 c126 C150CONTINUED					    FLOYD (con't)					    ments, and it was decided that the					    only wise and precautionary					    course to follow was to assume					    that the intentions of this alien					    world are potentially dangerous					    to us, until we have evidence to					    the contrary.					    This is, of course, why security					    has been maintained and why					    this information has been kept					    on a need-to-know basis.					    And now I should like to show you					    a TV monitor tape of the actual					    signalling event.12/14/65										 c127C151WE SEE A REPLAYOF THE TMA-1 RADIOEMISSION, AS SEENFROM A TV MONITORON THE SPOT. WEHEAR THE FIVE LOUDELECTRONIC SHRIEKS.12/1/65										  c128 D1IN ORBIT WITHIN THE				NARRATORRINGS OF SATURN, WE				For two million years, it hadSEE A BLACK, MILE				  circled Saturn, awaiting aLONG, GEOMETRICALLY				moment of destiny that mightPERFECT RECTANGLE,				 never come.THE SAME PROPORTIONSAS THE BLACK ARTIFACT			   In its making, the moon had beenEXCAVATED ON THE MOON.			 shattered and around the centralPRECISELY CUT INTO ITS			  world, the debris of its creationCENTRE IS A SMALLER,			    orbited yet - the glory and theRECTANGULAR SLOT				   enigma of the solar system.ABOUT FIVE HUNDREDFOOT LONG ON THE SIDE.			 Now, the long wait was ending.AT THIS DISTANCE, THE			   On yet another world intelligenceRINGS OF SATURN ARE				had been born and was escapingSEEN TO BE MADE OF				 from its planetary cradle. AnENORMOUS CHUNKS OF				 ancient experiment was about toFROZEN AMONIA. THE				reach its climax.REST OF THIS SEQUENCE						  (con't)IS BEING WORKED ON NOWBY OUR DESIGNERS.THE INTENTION HEREIS TO PRESENT ABREATHTAKINGLY BEA-UTIFUL AND COMPREHEN-SIVE SENSE OF DIFFERENTEXTRA-TERRESTRIALWORLDS. THENARRATION WILL SUGGESTIMAGES AND SITUATIONS ASYOU READ IT.12/9/65										  d1D1CONTINUED					    NARRATOR (con't)					    Those who had begun the expri-					    ment so long ago had not been					    men.					    But when they looked out across					    the deeps of space, they felt					    awe and wonder - and loneliness.					    In their explorations, they					    encountered life in many forms,					    and watched on a thousand worlds					    the workings of evolution.					    They saw how often the first faint					    sparks of intelligence flickered					    and died in the cosmic night.					    And because, in all the galaxy,					    they had found nothing more					    precious than Mind, they					    encouraged its dawning every-					    where.					    The great Dinosaurs had long					    since perished when their ships					    entered the solar system, after					    a voyage that had already lasted					    thousands of years.12/9/65										  d2D1CONTINUED						NARRATOR (con't)						They swept past the frozen outer						planets, paused briefly above the						deserts of dying Mars and						presently looked down on Earth.						For years they studied, collected						and catalogued.						When they had learned all they						could, they began to modify.						They tinkered with the destiny						of many species on land and in						the ocean, but which of their						experiments would succeed						they could not know for at least						a million years.						They were patient, but they were						not yet immortal. There was						much to do in this Universe of a						hundred billion stars. So they						set forth once more across the						abyss, knowing that they would						never come this way again.						Nor was there any need. Their						wonderful machines could be						trusted to do the rest.										  (con't)12/9/65										  d3 D1CONTINUED					    NARRATOR (con't)					    On Earth, the glaciers came and					    went, while above them, the					    changeless Moon still carried its					    secret.					    With a yet slower rhythm than					    the Polar ice, the tide of					    civilization ebbed and flowed					    across the galaxy.					    Strange and beautiful and terrible					    empires rose and fell, and passed					    on their knowledge to their					    successors.					    Earth was not forgotten, but it was					    one of a million silent worlds, a					    few of which would ever speak.					    Then the first explorers of Earth,					    recognising the limitations of					    their minds and bodies, passed					    on their knowledge to the great					    machines they had created, and					    who now trnscended them in					    every way.										  (con't)12/9/65										  d4D1CONTINUED					    NARRATOR					    For a few thousand years, they					    shared their Universe with their					    machine children; then, realizing					    that it was folly to linger when					    their task was done, they passed					    into history without regret.					    Not one of them ever looked through					    his own eyes upon the planet Earth					    again.					    But even the age of the Machine					    Entities passed swiftly. In their					    ceaseless experimenting, they					    had learned to store knowledge					    in the structure of space itself,					    and to preserve their thoughts					    for eternity in frozen lattices					    of light. They could become					    creatures of radiation, free					    at last from the tyranny of matter.					    Now, they were Lords of the					    galaxy, and beyond the reach					    of time.					    They could rove at will among the					    stars, and sink like a subtle mist					    through the very interstices of					    space.12/9/65										  d5 D1CONTINUED					    NARRATOR (con't)					    But despite their God-like powers,					    they still watched over the					    experiments their ancestors					    had started so many generations					    ago.					    The companion of Saturn knew					    nothing of this, as it orbited					    in its no man's land between Mimas					    and the outer edge of rings.					    It had only to remember and wait,					    and to look forever Sunward with					    its strange senses.					    For many weeks, it had watched					    the approaching ship. Its long-					    dead makers had prepared it for					    many things and this was one of					    them. And it recognised what					    was climbing starward from the					    Sun.					    If it had been alive, it would have					    felt excitement, but such an					    emotion was irrelevant to its					    great powers.										   (con't)12/9/65										  d6D1CONTINUED					    NARRATOR (con't)					    Even if the ship had passed it by,					    it would not have known the					    slightest trace of disappointment.					    It had waited four million years;					    it was prepared to wait for					    eternity.					    Presently, it felt the gentle touch					    of radiations, trying to probe its					    secrets.					    Now, the ship was in orbit and it					    began to speak, with prime					    numbers from one to eleven,					    over and over again.					    Soon, these gave way to more					    complex signals at many frequen-					    cies, ultra-violet, infra-red,					    X-rays.					    The machine made no reply. It					    had nothing to say.					    Then it saw the first robot					    probe, which descended and					    hovered above the chasm.									    (con't)12/9/65										  d7 D1CONTINUED					    NARRATOR (con't)					    Then, it dropped into darkness.					    The great machine knew that this					    tiny scout was reporting back to					    its parent; but it was too simple,					    too primative a device to detect					    the forces that were gathering					    round it now.					    Then the pod came, carrying					    life. The great machine searched					    its memories.					    The logic circuits made their					    decision when the pod had fallen					    beyond the last faint glow of the					    reflected Saturnian light.					    In a moment of time, too short to					    be measured, space turned and					    twisted upon itself.12/9/65										  d8					 END OF SCREENPLAY					   END OF FILE
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+                                                                                 2012                                                                    Written by                                     Roland Emmerich & Harald Kloser                                                                                                                       Second Draft                                                    February 19th, 2008                                                  OVER BLACK                    We listen to the immortal music of Mozart's Adagio of the          Clarinet Concerto in A.                                                                          FADE UP                              EXT. THE SOLAR SYSTEM                    Space, infinite and empty.                    But then, slowly all nine planets of our Solar System move          into frame and align.                    The last of them is the giant, burning sphere of the sun.                    Just as the sun enters frame, a solar storm of gigantic          proportion unfolds. The eruptions shoot thousands of miles          into the blackness of space.                                                                    FADE TO BLACK                                                 2009                                                                          FADE UP                              EXT. COUNTRY SIDE/INDIA - SUNSET                    Mozart's concerto filters from a jeep's stereo, fighting the          drumming sounds of the monsoon rain. PROF. FREDERIC WEST, 66,          listens to the music.                    An Indian BOY playing by the roadside steers his wooden toy          ship across a puddle.                    The Professor turns to his driver, pointing to the boy.                                                 PROF. WEST                       Watch out!                    But it's too late. The jeep drives straight through the          puddle at full speed, sinking the boy's toy ship.                    In the background, the jeep stops in front of a building. The          driver jumps out, leading the Professor towards its entrance.                    The sign at the door reads: `Institute for Astrophysics -          University of New Delhi'.                                                                                  2.                    INT. NAGA-DENG MINE/INDIA - SUNSET                    An endless mine shaft. An old elevator cage comes to a          grinding halt. When Prof. West steps out we see that he is          accompanied now by a nervous DR. SATNAM TSURUTANI, 32.                                                 PROF. WEST                    How deep are we?                                               SATNAM                    8200 feet. Used to be an old copper                    mine, Professor, sir.                    As Prof. West follows Satnam, he takes in the unusual setting          for this science lab.                                               PROF. WEST                    Helmsley told me that the neutrino                    count doubled during the last sun                    eruptions.                                               SATNAM                    Correct, sir. But that is not what                    worries me...                    They enter a large room with low hanging ceilings. A small          group of WHITE COATS look up from their computers, which all          show images of the solar storm we witnessed earlier.                                               SATNAM (CONT'D)                    There was a new solar storm, so strong                    that the physical reaction got even                    more severe.                                                 PROF. WEST                    How can that be?                                               SATNAM                    We don't know, Professor, sir.                    Satnam walks over into another room. There he opens a hatch          on the floor and hot steam rises.                                               SATNAM (CONT'D)                    The neutrinos suddenly act like...                    microwaves.                    Prof. West slowly steps closer. When he discovers that the          water in the tank below is boiling, his face goes pale.                                                                          CUT TO:                                                                                  3.                    EXT. LARGE TERRACE/WASHINGTON D.C. - EVENING                    A major fund raising party is under way. The setting is          spectacular. A terrace overlooking the Washington Mall and          the Capitol Building.                    ADRIAN HELMSLEY, 32, stands with a group of young POLITICAL          AIDES. He is the only African-American among them.                    One of the aides spots CARL ANHEUSER, 58, White House Chief          of Staff, working the crowd.                                               POLITICAL AID #1                    Look at Anheuser. Anyone would think he                    was President. Did you hear, he wants                    us to sign in and out like school boys?                                               ADRIAN                    I still can't believe that Wilson chose                    him of all people to run the White                    House.                                               POLITICAL AID #2                    Why not? Anheuser owns the Senate and                    the Congress.                                               ADRIAN                    Shame he's such a pompous ass.                                               ANHEUSER (O.S.)                    Somebody mention my name?                    Adrian turns to see Anheuser smiling.                                               ADRIAN                            (SHOCKED)                    Yes sir... No, sir.                                                 ANHEUSER                    Which one is it?                                               ADRIAN                    We were talking about what a great                    speech you gave tonight. Well done,                    sir.                                               ANHEUSER                    It's Helmsley, right? I'll remember                    that.                    Anheuser walks away with a dangerous smile.                                               POLITICAL AID #2                    That guy scares the shit out of me.                    At that moment Adrian's cell phone rings.                                                              (CONTINUED)                                                                                  4.                                               ADRIAN                            (into the phone)                    Professor West?                                               PROF. WEST (O.S.)                    I've been trying to reach you!                              INT. LIVING ROOM/SATNAM'S HOUSE - NIGHT                    Prof. West is on the phone. In the background we make out          Satnam's family around the dining room table.                                               PROF. WEST                    Listen, Adrian. The situation is much                    worse than we thought...                    Satnam quiets his little son. It is the boy we saw earlier          with his toy ship.                              INT. HALLWAY/WHITE HOUSE - DAY                    Adrian follows Anheuser through a hallway of the White House,          papers in hand.                                               ADRIAN                    Sir, the President needs to know this.                                               ANHEUSER                    Helmsley, how long have you been on the                    job as science advisor?                                               ADRIAN                    Four months this week.                                                 ANHEUSER                    I would   say that's enough time to learn                    that we   have rules here. You'll just                    have to   wait until the quarterly                    science   briefing.                                               ADRIAN                    If this is about what I said last                    night, I am truly sorry, sir.                                               ANHEUSER                    So you didn't like my speech?                    Exasperated, Adrian holds out the papers to him.                                               ADRIAN                    Can you please have a look at this,                    sir? It's really important.                                                                                    (CONTINUED)                                                                                 5.                    Finally, Anheuser rips the papers out of his hands and starts          to walk away, reading.                    Suddenly he slows down.                                                ANHEUSER                    Who wrote this?                                               ADRIAN                    An Indian astrophysicist I graduated                    with from Harvard and Prof. West, the                    preeminent geologist in the US.                                               ANHEUSER                    Who else knows about it?                                                ADRIAN                    No one, sir.                                               ANHEUSER                    Let's keep it that way, Helmsley.                    Anheuser walks away.                                                                      FADE TO BLACK                                                2010                                                                           FADE UP                              EXT. SEVILLE/SPAIN - DAY                    G8 Summit. Riot police control the unruly crowd with water          cannons.                    We see PROTESTERS with Anti Globalization signs behind a          fence. A convoy of limousines is approaching a historic          building.                              INT. BIG HALL/ALHAMBRA - DAY                    We follow the American delegation into the conference room,          where the other G8 delegations are seated around an enormous          table.                    The President of the United States, THOMAS F. WILSON, 56,          doesn't sit down. He addresses the room and everybody goes          quiet.                                                PRESIDENT WILSON (O.S.)                    Good Morning...                    For the first time we see the President's face. He is African-          American.                                                             (CONTINUED)                                                                                6.                                               PRESIDENT WILSON (CONT'D)                    I hereby present a motion to meet                    privately with my seven fellow Heads of                    State, kindly excluding the rest of the                    delegates.                    A murmur erupts. The Russian President SERGEY MAKARENKO, 62,          whispers to one of his interpreters.                                               RUSSIAN INTERPRETER                    Mr. Makarenko wishes to have his                    interpreters present.                    President Wilson looks over to the Russian Colleague.                                               PRESIDENT WILSON                    Mr. President, judging from the                    conversations we've had in the past, I                    can assure you, your English is                    absolutely fine, for what I have to                    say.                    As the Russian President waves his interpreter away, all the          international delegates leave as well.                    The huge doors of the hall close. A secret service officer in          the sound booth switches off the recording equipment to the          chamber.                    The President gathers himself.                                               PRESIDENT WILSON (CONT'D)                    Six months ago I was made aware of a                    situation so devastating, that at                    first, I refused to believe it.                            (PAUSE)                    However through the concerted efforts                    of the brightest scientists of several                    nations, we have now confirmed its                    validity.                    Dead silence.                                               PRESIDENT WILSON (CONT'D)                    The world as we know it, will soon come                    to an end.                                                                            CUT TO:                              EXT. CHO MING VALLEY/TIBET - DAWN                    A huge Chinese military helicopter blasts through a majestic          mountain valley in Tibet. We are at the top of the world.                                                                                 (CONTINUED)                                                                                  7.                    A Chinese COLONEL, wearing dark sun glasses, watches from the          chopper as the army forces the evacuation of the villages and          monasteries.                                               VOICE (O.S.)                            (in Chinese)                    You will have new houses, electricity                    and running water...                              EXT. VILLAGE/TIBET - DAY                    Someone speaks on a megaphone in the village square as          villagers are evicted by soldiers and herded into trucks.                                               VOICE (O.S.)                    ... Some among you will even have the                    chance to work for the glorious                    People's Republic of China building the                    biggest dam project in the world...                    NENG PANG, a young monk, 18, is loaded into a truck together          with his PARENTS, both in their 60's.                              EXT. SCHOOL/TIBET - DAY                    Neng's older brother, LIN PANG, 25, is part of a huge crowd          of young men and women staying behind by a Tibetan school          building. He turns and yells after the truck.                                               LIN                    I will send you money mother.                    The Colonel with the dark glasses steps up, addressing the          masses.                                               COLONEL                    Who can read and write?                    Eager hands fly up in the air. An official makes notes.                                               COLONEL (CONT'D)                    Who can weld?                    Lin's hand shoots up in the air. We hear a siren echoing          through the mountains and suddenly an explosion. Lin turns.                    In the BACKGROUND, a series of explosions punch enormous          holes into the side of the mountain, showering rock          everywhere.                                                                      FADE TO BLACK                                                                                            (CONTINUED)                                                                                  8.                                                2011                                                                           FADE UP                              INT. DORCHESTER HOTEL/LONDON - DAY                    A MAN in a dark suit walks through a hallway of the          Dorchester looking like your typical MI-6 agent. The decor is          plush and luxurious. He's stopped by two security men who          frisk him.                              INT. PRESIDENTIAL SUITE/DORCHESTER HOTEL - DAY                    Heavily ringed fingers flip through a folder.                                               MI-6 OFFICER (O.S.)                    Has his Highness had the opportunity to                    study the dossier?                    A SAUDI PRINCE looks up and nods without expression.                                               SAUDI PRINCE                    You must understand I have a very big                    family. Mister...                                                MI-6 OFFICER                    Isaacs.                                               SAUDI PRINCE                    Mister Isaacs, one billion dollars is a                    lot of money.                                               MI-6 OFFICER                    I'm afraid the amount is in Euros, your                    Highness.                                                                           CUT TO:                              INT. LOUVRE/PARIS - NIGHT                    A group of dark figures in overalls walk past famous          Renaissance paintings. They stop at the Mona Lisa.                    MANFRED PICARD, 63, head of the French National Museums,          stands by LAURA, a young African-American woman in her late          20's. They observe the specialists opening the case of the          famous painting.                    A whoosh of air as the vacuum seal breaks.                                               MANFRED PICARD                    Laura, I'm putting a lot of trust in                    your people.                                                              (CONTINUED)                                                                                  9.                    Laura answers in almost perfect French.                                               LAURA                    There are too many crazy people who                    could hurt her, Manfred. The World                    Heritage Foundation has done this all                    over the world.                    In the BACKGROUND the Mona Lisa is taken off the wall and          replaced with a perfect replica. Picard still looks uneasy.          He watches as the real Mona Lisa is sealed into an airtight          case.                                               MANFRED PICARD                    And she'll be safe now? Tucked away in                    the Swiss Alps?                                                LAURA                    Perfectly safe.                    Picard looks suspicious but says nothing. The CAMERA MOVES IN          on the face of the fake Mona Lisa until all we see is her          mysterious smile.                                                                       FADE TO BLACK                                           2012                                                                  FADE UP                    FUZZY TV IMAGES:                    Lifeless bodies encircle a huge fire pit. They resemble the          rays of the sun. In the background we see the famous step          pyramids of Tikal.                                               NEWSCASTER (O.S.)                    ... The mass suicide was discovered by                    a BBC documentary crew in the ancient                    Mayan city of Tikal...                    Many of the dead are women and children looking peaceful and          are surrounded by colorful flowers.                                               NEWSCASTER (CONT'D)                    ... the victims were said to have                    adhered to the Mayan-Quiche Calender                    which predicts the end of time to occur                    on the 21st of December this year, due                    to the sun's destructive forces...                    The CAMERA slowly pulls out and we are in--                                                                                 10.                    INT. JACKSON'S APARTMENT/LOS ANGELES - EARLY MORNING                    A shabby apartment in Silverlake. The TV is on.                                               NEWSCASTER (O.S.)                    ... Strangely enough, scientific                    records do support the fact that we are                    heading for the biggest solar climax in                    recorded history...                     A small tremor rocks the apartment and the dishevelled face          of JACKSON CURTIS, 33, pops up from behind the couch. He fell          asleep at his laptop last night.                                               JACKSON                    Oh no. Not again.                    One look at his watch and he is off running. He throws some          clothes and a toothbrush in a bag. His cell phone rings.                                               JACKSON (CONT'D)                    Hello?... What do you mean? I'm not                    late. It's not even 10:30...                    Jackson turns off the TV and darts towards the door, stopping          only to slide his laptop into a knapsack. As he turns, he          stumbles over a stack of books, all shrink-wrapped and          identically titled: `Farewell Atlantis'.                                               JACKSON (CONT'D)                    Damn it!                            (into the phone)                    Kate, I'm on my way... For god's                    sake...                    Frustrated, he kicks them out of his way and exits. We hold          on the books and realize that Jackson's photograph is on          their back covers.                              EXT. JACKSON'S GARAGE/LOS ANGELES - EARLY MORNING                    The phone call continues as Jackson opens the garage door,          struggling to pack his old SUV with camping equipment.                                               JACKSON                    They're kids, Kate, going on vacation.                    It's not a doctor's appointment... it's                    supposed to be fun. You remember that,                    right? Fun?                    He tries to start the engine, but the battery is dead.          Frustrated, he hits the steering wheel.                                                                                 11.                    EXT. JACKSON'S STREET/LOS ANGELES - EARLY MORNING                    Jackson runs across the street with his camping equipment,          throwing it into the trunk of a stretch limo parked by the          curb.                                               JACKSON                    ... I know it's mosquito season at                    Yellowstone, Kate. I'll pick some up on                    the way.                    He notices a deep crack in the asphalt. His neighbors, an          elderly couple, stand there and stare at it.                                               NEIGHBOR                    Merrill, we should move back to                    Wisconsin.                    Jackson gets into the limo and speeds off.                              INT. STREETS/LOS ANGELES - EARLY MORNING                    Jackson drives through LA with the radio on.                                               RADIO HOST (O.S.)                    ... Those shake-proof coffee mugs are a                    genius idea, and they just show the                    true nature of us Californians.                    We pass a family frantically loading boxes into a van.                                               RADIO HOST (O.S.) (CONT'D)                    We'll not bow to little inconveniences                    like these so called `mini-quakes'...                    Jackson passes a man in a wheelchair. He's holding up a          cardboard sign: `Repent - The End is Near'.                              EXT. KATE'S HOUSE/LOS ANGELES - MORNING                    Jackson stops and honks in front of an upscale Westwood home.                                               RADIO HOST (O.S.)                    ... If you have a funny `mini-quake'                    story you wanna share, call Lisa &                    Randy at 1-800...                    Jackson switches the radio off. Two kids NOAH, 10, and LILLY,          7, come running down the driveway. They slow down, as they          see the limo.                                               NOAH                    Jackson, what is this?                                                                        (CONTINUED)                                                                                12.                                               JACKSON                    Don't call me Jackson, Noah, I'm your                    father.                    Lilly yells from inside the limo.                                               LILLY (O.S.)                    Noah! Look! Daddy's got Space-Busters                    in the car... and Space-Busters 2.                    Awesome!                    Their mother, KATE CURTIS, 32, a beautiful woman appears.                                               KATE                    So what, you're a chauffeur now? What                    happened to the temp work?                                               JACKSON                    This is better hours for me. Means I                    can still write.                                              KATE                    Of course.                    Kate's new boyfriend, GORDON SILBERMAN, 43, pulls out of the          garage in his Porsche wearing his Bluetooth.                                               GORDON                            (on the phone)                    Simone, how many times have I told you,                    we don't do Lipo on Fridays. It's too                    messy.                    Jackson smiles bitterly. Gordon waves at the kids.                                               GORDON (CONT'D)                    Have fun guys. And watch out for those                    bears.                            (to Jackson)                    Nice car.                    Jackson waves grudgingly as Gordon pulls away.                                               KATE                    Noah needs to read twenty pages from                    his book each day...                    She follows Jackson to the car with a bag of pull-up diapers.                                               KATE (CONT'D)                    ... and Lilly has to put these on,                    before she goes to sleep.                                              JACKSON                    Still?                                                                         (CONTINUED)                                                                               13.                    He shuts the trunk and gets back behind the wheel. She looks          at him seriously.                                               KATE                    Jackson, they've been really looking                    forward to this you know. Don't let                    them down.                    He nods as the car pulls away.                                                                          CUT TO:                              EXT. SHIP DECK/SAN FRANCISCO HARBOR - DAY                    HARRY HELMSLEY, 73, and his partner TONY DELGADO, 68, board          an enormous cruise ship, the `Freedom of the Seas'. Harry is          African-American, Tony is Italian. He carries a large case.          They pass a poster: `Jazz Night with Harry Helmsley & Tony          Delgado'.                                               HARRY                    So this time we'll hit the Japs.                                              TONY                    So what?                                               HARRY                    Well Tony, electronics are cheap there                    and... you could visit your boy Will.                                               TONY                    Afternoon ladies...                    TONY shoots a charmers smile at a couple of older single          ladies on sun loungers. They smile back coyly.                                               HARRY                    Are you even listening to me?                                               TONY                    Yes unfortunately I am Harry.                                               HARRY                    I heard from Audrey you're a grandpa                    now.                                               TONY                    Why don't you keep your nose out of my                    family. You're cramping my style.                                               HARRY                    He married a Japanese girl - how is                    that the end of the world? You should                    at least go see him.                                                                       (CONTINUED)                                                                                 14.                                               TONY                    Why? Do you see your boy?                                               HARRY                    Not as much as I'd like. DC is a long                    way. But at least we talk.                                                 TONY                    What about?                                               HARRY                    Life, how short it is...                    Suddenly they're thrown off balance by a large swell that          pulls the massive `Freedom of the Seas' away from the          landing, about ten yards.                    The next moment, the ship slams back against the dock with an          earthshaking BOOM.                                               TONY                    What the hell was that?                    A murmur goes through the crowd. Luckily nobody is injured.                                                                           CUT TO:                              INT. LAURA'S BEDROOM/D.C. - EARLY MORNING                    The phone rings twice before Laura switches on a light. We          catch a glimpse of a framed photo of her and Adrian. She          answers the phone.                                               MANFRED PICARD (O.S.)                    Laura? They lied to us.                                               LAURA                    Manfred is that you?                              EXT. STREETS/PARIS - NIGHT                    Picard is speeding in his Peugeot, anxiously checking his          rear view mirror.                                               MANFRED PICARD                    I had my suspicions. I should have said                    something. They are following me.                                                 LAURA (O.S.)                    Who is?                                               MANFRED PICARD                    They may be listening to us too. Laura                    the Heritage Foundation is a sham.                                                              (CONTINUED)                                                                                15.                    Picard's car approaches a tunnel.                                              LAURA (O.S.)                    What?                                               MANFRED                    The art you collected, it's not in the                    Alps.                    The Peugeot enters a tunnel.                                               LAURA (O.S.)                    Then where is it?                    A huge blast rips through the tunnel as his car explodes.                                                                       SMASH CUT TO:                              EXT. ROAD/YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK - DAY                                               JACKSON AND LILLY                            (singing along to the                             RADIO)                    `We all live in a Yellow Submarine...'                    They're driving through the glorious landscape of Yellowstone          National Park. Noah sits in the back with headphones on          playing Space-Busters 2.                    As they pass over a ridge, the music station is overpowered          by a talk show filtering through. We hear a raspy and          excitable voice.                                               RADIO HOST                    ... After what is going on in La-La-                    land with all those surface cracks, I                    told myself: Get your stupid ass to                    Yellowstone. I don't want to miss all                    the great fun, when it finally blows...                    Lilly reaches for the dial of the radio.                                               LILLY                    What happened to the music?                                               JACKSON                    Hang on, sweet pea, let daddy listen to                    this for a moment...                    Jackson corrects the dial to get better reception.                                               RADIO HOST                    ... There's been government people                    flying in and out all morning. And                    trust me, they did not look happy...                                                               (CONTINUED)                                                                                16.                    A huge black helicopter brushes over the limo.                                               RADIO HOST (CONT'D)                    ... Folks, always remember, you heard                    it first from Charlie.                    They watch in awe as the chopper disappears behind a ridge.                                                                            CUT TO:                              INT. OVAL OFFICE/WHITE HOUSE - MORNING                    Laura bursts in and heads straight for the TV. The President          looks up from his desk.                                               LAURA                    You have to see this.                    Sally the President's Secretary enters, flustered.                                               PRESIDENT WILSON                    It's alright Sally.                    Sally closes the door as Laura turns up the TV.                                               CNN ANCHOR                    ... Mr. Picard had been the director of                    the French National Museums for 24                    years. As fate would have it his                    assassination took place in the same                    Paris tunnel where Princess Diana died                    in 1997.                    The President comes around his desk. Laura looks at him          distraught.                                               LAURA                    I just talked to him, Dad. He told me                    the world Heritage Foundation is a                    sham. Is that true?                    The President shoots an anxious look across the room. Laura          turns and suddenly realizes that Adrian is standing in the          corner.                                               LAURA (CONT'D)                    You knew too? You sleep with me and you                    didn't say anything?                    Adrian looks ashamed.                                               LAURA (CONT'D)                    I can't even look at you. Either of                    you!                                                                         (CONTINUED)                                                                                17.                                               PRESIDENT WILSON                    Honey, calm down.                                               LAURA                    A man was killed! I want the truth Dad.                    Right now.                                                                             CUT TO:                              EXT. FOREST TRAIL/YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK - DAY                    A dense forest trail. We hear Lilly before we see her.                                               LILLY (O.S.)                    Daddy, where are we going?                                               JACKSON                    To a very special place, Lil'bee. It's                    a lake. A place where mommy and daddy                    fell in love.                            (winking to Noah)                    Remember the book I gave you?                                               NOAH                    I don't want to know where you and mom                    had sex. I'm not ready for that,                    Jackson.                                               JACKSON                    I'm your dad, Noah.                                                LILLY (O.S.)                    Daddy!                    Jackson runs to catch up with Lilly who has reached a fence          with a `keep out' sign posted.                                               JACKSON                    This wasn't here before.                    Jackson starts to climb the fence.                                               NOAH                    Don't you see the signs?                                                JACKSON                    It's fine guys.                              EXT. RIDGE/YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK - DAY                    Jackson and his kids crest a ridge. They look down on a          parched basin with cracked terrain.                                                                                  (CONTINUED)                                                                                 18.                                               JACKSON                    It's gone. The whole darn lake is gone.                    I swear you guys there was a lake here.                    The kids roll their eyes.                              EXT. EMPTY LAKE BED/YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK - DAY                    A puddle of water is all that remains of the lake. Jackson          and the kids walk into the basin, unaware of being watched          THROUGH BINOCULARS.                    Jackson spots an electronic measuring device and crouches to          have a closer look.                    Elsewhere in the lake bed, we see sand seeping through CRACKS          in the ground.                                                 NOAH (O.S.)                    Jackson!                    When he looks up, he sees heavily armed soldiers coming          towards them from all sides.                                                 JACKSON                    It's okay, Noh'.                    Through the BINOCULARS, we see Jackson and his kids arrested          and led over a ridge.                    With this we reveal an ENORMOUS RESEARCH FACILITY with          hundreds of tents and vehicles surrounding a massive drilling          tower.                              EXT. RESEARCH FACILITY/YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK - DAY                    Adrian Helmsley and Prof. West exit the drilling tower, both          studying papers. Adrian notices Jackson and his kids nearby,          being interrogated by an OFFICER.                                               ADRIAN                    I'll be with you in a second,                    Professor.                    Adrian walks towards them. Jackson stares at the officer with          defiance.                                               OFFICER                    ... And then you climbed over a posted                    fence? Just like that?                                                 NOAH                    I told you.                                                                        (CONTINUED)                                                                               19.                                               JACKSON                    Isn't this supposed to be a National                    Park? There shouldn't be fences. What                    are you guys doing around here anyway?                                               ADRIAN (O.S.)                    We're geologists...                    Jackson turns and sees Adrian standing there.                                               ADRIAN (CONT'D)                    I'll handle this officer. Thank you.                    The officer reluctantly hands him Jackson's license.                                               JACKSON                    So, where did the lake go?                                               ADRIAN                    That's what we're trying to find out.                    We think this whole area has become                    potentially unstable. I would advise                    you to take your kids and leave, Mr...                    He throws a look at Jackson's drivers license.                                              ADRIAN (CONT'D)                    ... Curtis.                    He looks up at Jackson with renewed interest.                                               ADRIAN (CONT'D)                    Are you by any chance the Jackson                    Curtis, the author of `Farewell                    Atlantis'?                                               JACKSON                            (SURPRISED)                    Yeah, that's me.                    Jackson straightens up proudly. Lilly smiles.                                               ADRIAN                    What a coincidence. I'm reading your                    book, as we speak... first third,                    around day 300, when the shuttle loses                    communication with earth and drifts off                    into space.                                               JACKSON                    You're one of lucky 422 who bought it.                                               ADRIAN                    Actually I didn't buy it. My father                    gave it to me.                                                                        (CONTINUED)                                                                                 20.                                              JACKSON                    Oh, I see.                    Prof. West waves at Adrian from one of the container labs.          Adrian hands back Jackson his drivers license.                                               ADRIAN                    Officer, can you return them to the                    campgrounds, please.                            (to Jackson)                    Pleasure to meet you, Mr. Curtis.                    Jackson and his kids look after Adrian hurrying away.                                               LILLY                    He was very nice.                                               JACKSON                    Yes he was, Lil'bee.                              EXT. FOREST TRAIL/YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK - LATER                    Jackson and the kids walk back to the campgrounds when          suddenly CHARLIE FROST, 62, a crazy looking guy with          binoculars around his neck, stands in their way.                                               CHARLIE FROST                    What did the government guys tell you?                    Jackson looks at him, instinctively picking up Lilly.                                               JACKSON                    They think it's not such a good idea to                    climb over their fences. They feel the                    area is unstable.                    Charlie bursts out laughing.                                               CHARLIE FROST                    Unstable! Ha-ha! They say its unstable!                    That's funny...                    With this he turns around and leaves.                              EXT. TENT/YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK - DUSK                    Jackson is sitting on a camp chair, right outside the tent.          He's on his laptop, looking enquiringly at an aerial picture          of Yellowstone on Google earth.                    In the background we see the kids are in the tent.                                                                                             (CONTINUED)                                                                                21.                                               NOAH                    There are mosquitos in here. Did                    anybody spray the tent?                    Jackson looks up, remembering he forgot the spray.                                               JACKSON                    We'll get some of that tomorrow. For                    tonight just put your head under the                    blankie.                                               LILLY                    Daddy you said you weren't gonna work                    on your book.                                               JACKSON                    I'm not Honey, I promise. Are you                    wearing your pull-ups?                    Lilly nods as Jackson walks over and tucks her into bed. He          kisses her good night. He turns and is surprised to see Noah          typing a text on his cell phone.                                               JACKSON (CONT'D)                    Did mommy buy you that?                                               NOAH                    No... Gordon gave it to me for my                    birthday.                    Jackson takes the phone from out of Noah's hands.                                               JACKSON                    Noah. Things like a cell phone have to                    be discussed in the family.                                                 NOAH                            (BITTER)                    What family?                    Jackson reads the message Noah has typed `Hey Gordon, Camping          Sucks!'. Hurt, Jackson hands back the phone.                                               JACKSON                    Go to sleep guys.                              EXT. RESEARCH FACILITY/YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK - DUSK                    Commotion. The base packs up. Adrian and Prof. West duck low          as they board a chopper. Adrian is on the phone.                                               ADRIAN                    ... You have to immediately inform the                    President, Mr Anheuser. The readings                    look much worse than I expected.                                     (MORE)                    (CONTINUED)                                                                                22.                                     ADRIAN (CONT'D)                    Plus Satnam's neutrino figures from                    India confirm...                    We hear Anheuser, yelling.                                               ANHEUSER (O.S.)                    ... But you guys said...                                               ADRIAN                    We were wrong! By five or six months...                    A second later the chopper lifts off.                              INT. LIMO/YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK - DUSK                    Jackson has his laptop open with the cursor blinking away on          the words `Chapter Seven'. But he can't concentrate on          writing after what Noah has said.                    A chopper flies overhead. Jackson follows it's path over the          campsite and his eyes fall on an American flag fluttering on          top of a massive radio antennae. This belongs to an RV truck.                    Through the RV's window, Jackson sees the silhouette of          Charlie Frost, the guy with the binoculars, speaking into a          microphone.                    Curious, Jackson flicks on the radio and twists the dial.                                               ON THE RADIO                            (Charlie's voice)                    ... We have a listener calling in. Bill                    from Cooke City, you're on the Charlie                    Frost Show.                            (Bill's voice)                    I wanted to know, where will this all                    start?                    Jackson is intrigued. He puts his laptop down.                                               ON THE RADIO (CONT'D)                            (Charlie's voice)                    Well, something like this could only                    originate in Hollywood, Ha-Ha! But                    seriously, they've got the earth                    cracking under their asses already,                    Bill.                    Jackson climbs out of his car and starts towards the RV. He          can still hear the radio.                                               ON THE RADIO (CONT'D)                            (Bill's voice)                    Our family believes in the gospel of                    our Lord Jesus.                                     (MORE)                   (CONTINUED)                                                                                 23.                                     ON THE RADIO (CONT'D)                    We have nothing to fear, Charlie.                            (Charlie's voice)                    Good for you Bill, good for you!                              INT. CHARLIE'S RV/YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK - DUSK                    Charlie hits a switch. Music starts playing. The Doors, `The          End'.                                               CHARLIE FROST                    ... This is Charlie Frost reporting                    live from Yellowstone National Park,                    soon to become the world's largest                    active volcano.                    Charlie is about to take a bite of his sandwich, when there's          a knock on the door. Jackson sticks his head in.                                               JACKSON                    Hi. Mind if I join you?                                               CHARLIE FROST                    I only got a few minutes.                    Charlie bites into his sandwich as Jackson looks around at          all the equipment.                                               JACKSON                    I just heard part of your broadcast...                    Mind me asking a question? What exactly                    is it... that will start in Hollywood?                                               CHARLIE FROST                            (CHEWING)                    Actually it's gonna be the whole west                    coast...                                               JACKSON                    What are you talking about?                                               CHARLIE FROST                    The apocalypse, the end of days. The                    Mayans knew it, the I Ching and the                    Bible, kind of...                    Charlie looks at his watch.                                               CHARLIE FROST (CONT'D)                    I got to eat... Just check my blog. You                    can download it for free.                    Charlie clicks on his laptop.                                               CHARLIE FROST (CONT'D)                    ... However, we do take donations.                                                               (CONTINUED)                                                                                24.                    A crudely animated film starts to play. Charlie narrates on          screen in an overly dramatic fashion.                                               CHARLIE'S VOICE                    In the year 2012 a cataclysmic event                    will unfold. Caused by an alignment of                    the planets in our solar system that                    only happens every 640,000 years...                    Just imagine the earth as an Orange...                    Charlie appears as an animated figure holding an orange.                                               CHARLIE'S VOICE (CONT'D)                    ... our sun will begin to emit such                    extreme amounts of radiation, that the                    core of the earth will melt - that's                    the inside part of the Orange, leaving                    the crust of our planet free to shift.                    On screen the middle of the orange shrinks, now the skin          moves freely around it.                                               CHARLIE'S VOICE (CONT'D)                    In 1958, Prof. Hapgood named it `Earth                    Crust Displacement'...                    A faded portrait of a scientist appears on screen.                                               CHARLIE FROST                    ... and Albert Einstein endorsed it...                    The infamous photo of Einstein, sticking out his tongue.                                               CHARLIE FROST (CONT'D)                    The forces of mother nature will be so                    devastating it will bring an end to                    this world on winter solstice 12-21-12.                    The film ends with an image of the whole earth covered with          water.                    Charlie shuts the laptop.                                               CHARLIE FROST (CONT'D)                    Pretty neat, huh? It's a big hit on                    YouTube. I did the animation myself.                            (PAUSE)                    I know what you're thinking. But all                    the governments know about this.                                               JACKSON                    If they all knew, don't you think                    somebody would tell us?                                                                                             (CONTINUED)                                                                               25.                                               CHARLIE FROST                    They can't. Just think about it. First                    the stockmarket would crash...                    Charlie opens a can of beer. Phsssh!                                               CHARLIE FROST (CONT'D)                    Then the economy... boom. The dollar...                    boom. And then the people in the                    streets...                            (mimicking gun fire)                    Boom, boom! Pandemonium, revolution,                    war! They would never tell us. Beer?                    Jackson shakes his head still struggling to digest this.                                               CHARLIE FROST (CONT'D)                    Only if you're some Sheik, Bill Gates,                    or maybe one of those Russian                    billionaires do you stand a chance to                    buy a seat.                                                JACKSON                    A seat?                                               CHARLIE FROST                            (INTENSELY)                    They're building spaceships, man.                                                JACKSON                    Oh... I see.                                               CHARLIE FROST                    No really... One of my listeners, a                    geography professor at UTSC, has even                    figured out where they're building                    them. He sent me a map.                                               JACKSON                    Well... Charlie, I think I gotta go. My                    kids are sleeping.                    Charlie looks at him bug eyed.                                               CHARLIE FROST                    Get them out of Yellowstone, man. It's                    gonna get ugly here.                                                JACKSON                    Night, Charlie.                    As Jackson exits, Charlie gets back on the air.                                                                                                      (CONTINUED)                                                                                 26.                                               CHARLIE FROST                    Sorry for the delay, folks. But even in                    times like these, a man has got to                    eat...                                                                             CUT TO:                              EXT. PARKING LOT OF SUPERMARKET/LOS ANGELES - NIGHT                    Westwood. The parking lot of Gelson's is nearly empty.                    Eerie silence. Suddenly some of the cars begin to shift in          place from an unseen force. A small CRACK creases the asphalt          and slowly crawls towards the brightly lit supermarket.                              INT. BETWEEN AISLES/SUPERMARKET - NIGHT                    Muzak is playing. Kate and her boyfriend Gordon are shopping          late. She picks up some pull-ups for Lilly, Gordon steps up          behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist.                                               GORDON                    Why don't we make a baby?                    He reaches up and touches her breasts.                                               KATE                    Stop it! We're in public.                    Gordon lets go of her with mock disappointment.                                               GORDON                    Honey, I created them. And now suddenly                    I can't touch them?                    Kate pushes him away and moves on.                    A few customers are paying at the checkout stand.                    BEHIND THEM: Huge glass windows reveal cars slowly sliding          into the ever widening crack in the parking lot. Nobody          inside notices.                    Gordon catches up with Kate.                                               GORDON (CONT'D)                    You always act strange after he shows                    up?                                               KATE                    Just because I don't care for your                    arrogant humor doesn't mean I'm acting                    strange. He is the father of my kids.                                                                        (CONTINUED)                                                                                 27.                                               GORDON                    Maybe biologically. Can I remind you                    what that guy did? First you gave up                    med school to have Noah... Then you                    practically raise him and Lilly by                    yourself while he sat glued to a laptop                    writing that junk.                                               KATE                    Some of his stuff is actually... He's                    published Gordon.                                               GORDON                            (MOCKINGLY)                    Yeah, published! You know your mother                    was right. You've always been drawn to                    guys with lofty dreams and empty                    pockets. But not this time right,                    sweetheart?                    Kate smiles awkwardly and picks up a can of soup. The shelf          in front of her shakes for a moment.                                               KATE                    Did you see that?                                              GORDON                    See what?                    Kate slowly puts the cans of soup into her cart and looks          around. Gordon senses a problem between them.                                               GORDON (CONT'D)                    You know Kate, we have to keep working                    at this... our relationship. Because I                    won't end up being just a re-run of you                    and Jackson.                            (PAUSE)                    I mean Honey, I feel like... something                    is pulling us apart?                    Before Gordon finishes his sentence--                    A violent ROAR! From front to back, the entire supermarket          rips open right between Kate and Gordon.                    The few customers scream in horror at the sight of the huge          crevasse forming beneath them. Kate and Gordon are thrown up          against opposite aisles holding on for dear life.                    They cling to the columns as the shelves fold into the ever          widening crack...                                                                          CUT TO:                                                                               28.                    INT. CONVENIENCE STORE/YELLOWSTONE - MORNING                    Jackson puts down some groceries at the checkout.                                               JACKSON                    Just stop scratching. You'll get them                    infected.                    He smiles at the female cashier behind the counter who does          not look friendly.                                               JACKSON (CONT'D)                    Something for Mosquito bites please?                                                 CASHIER                    Before or after?                                                 JACKSON                    What?                    The woman looks at Lilly and Noah with their red lumps.                                               CASHIER                    I'd get before and after.                    She slams two mosquito products on the counter.                                               LILLY                            (POINTING)                    Look! Mrs. Birnbaum, my teacher is on                    TV!                    On the store's TV: A heavy-set blonde WOMAN, 45, speaking to          a reporter in front of Gelson's.                                               NOAH                    That's our supermarket.                    The gap in the ground is enormous now, at least half a mile          long and 200 feet wide.                                               JACKSON                            (WORRIED)                    Kids, we have to pack up and go find                    mommy.                                                                           CUT TO:                              INT. HALLWAY/WHITE HOUSE - MORNING                    President Wilson and Anheuser walk towards the Situation          Room.                                                                                            (CONTINUED)                                                                               29.                                               ANHEUSER                    Sir, you have to initiate the boarding                    process immediately.                                               PRESIDENT WILSON                    Is this even possible? What's our                    information from China?                                               ANHEUSER                    They estimate four of the ships will be                    ready for launch.                    The President is shocked by this news.                                               PRESIDENT WILSON                    Only four?                                               ANHEUSER                    If it's alright with you sir, I'll                    brief the panel about the new                    development.                                               PRESIDENT WILSON                    I'd rather have Adrian do that. They                    trust him. I told him to be in on the                    meeting.                    Anheuser fumes as they enter the situation room.                              INT. SITUATION ROOM/WHITE HOUSE - MORNING                    Flat screens line the walls. A video conference is under way          with each of the G8 members represented.                                               PRESIDENT WILSON                    Ladies and Gentlemen, we all knew this                    day would come. But we never imagined                    it would come this soon.                    He looks over to Adrian.                                               PRESIDENT WILSON (CONT'D)                    I would like to pass this over to my                    science advisor, Adrian Helmsley.                    Adrian steps up and gathers himself. Anheuser watches.                                               ADRIAN                    I'll make this brief...                    Pointing to a set of charts.                                                                                                      (CONTINUED)                                                                                30.                                               ADRIAN (CONT'D)                    ... According to our latest data from                    Yellowstone, the temperature of the                    subterranean crust of the earth, the                    cement that holds our landmass in                    place, is increasing at a rapid rate,                    much faster than anticipated...                    All the heads of state are glued to his words.                                               ADRIAN (CONT'D)                    ... This causes extreme polar                    instability. The magnetic fields have                    decreased by more than 80% over the                    last 48 hours.                    The German Chancellor, a woman, interrupts.                                               GERMAN CHANCELLOR                    How much time do we have, Mr. Helmsley?                    Adrian glances to Professor West, standing in the back.                                               ADRIAN                    Two, maybe three days if we're lucky.                    The Prime Minister of Italy breaks in, upset.                                               ITALIAN PRIME MINISTER                    How can you speak about luck in such a                    situation?                                               ANHEUSER                    Apologies Prime minster. He's still new                    to the job.                    President Wilson steps up.                                               PRESIDENT WILSON                    Nevertheless, Mr. Antonioni, we have to                    make an immediate decision.                    We hear CHEERING and APPLAUSE.                                               BOXING ANNOUNCER (O.S.)                    Introducing the 320 pound muscle                    machine from the Ukraine...                                                                            CUT TO:                              INT. BOXING ARENA OF MGM GRAND/LAS VEGAS - NIGHT                    The arena is filled to its max. The crowd is on its feet.                                                                                   (CONTINUED)                                                                                 31.                                               BOXING ANNOUNCER                    ... and tonight's challenger for the                    heavy weight world championship of the                    world. Here he is... Mister Zultan                    Balashin!                    The crowd ROARS as the boxer and his entourage enter.                    The CAMERA moves in on a tall man with blonde clean cut hair.          He is well built, wearing designer clothing from head to toe.          YURI KARPOV, 45, stereotypical Russian oligarch.                    He approaches the ringside corner and whistles.                                                 YURI                    Zultan!                    The nervous boxer turns.                                               ZULTAN                            (in Russian)                    Ah, finally, Yuri. I thought I would                    not see you.                    Yuri hits the boxer's gloves. Zultan is nervous. His coach          steps in.                                               COACH                    He needs to concentrate now, Mister                    Karpov.                                               YURI                    You shut up... when I talk to my boy,                    understand?                                                 COACH                    Yes, Mr. Karpov.                                               YURI                    Good... That is good.                            (in Russian to the                             BOXER)                    Zultan my friend. Do not forget. We are                    fighters. We never go down. We always                    stay on our feet...                    Zultan just keeps nodding, pumping himself up.                                               YURI (CONT'D)                    ... No matter who is hitting us. No                    matter how hard.                    GONG. First Round. The fight is on.                                               YURI (CONT'D)                    Now, go kill the bastard.                                                              (CONTINUED)                                                                                32.                    Yuri walks to his seat, sitting down next to his trophy:                    TAMARA, 28, blonde, wears the shortest mini one can imagine,          designer shoes, handbag, glasses and boobs. In her lap she          holds CAESAR, a tiny dog wearing a diamond collar.                    In the ring the boxers maul at each other. Yuri's cell phone          beeps. It's a text message:                    START BOARDING PROCEDURE                    Yuri's whole demeanor changes. Without a word, he gets up and          walks out of the arena.                                               TAMARA                    Yuri bear... where are you going?                    Yuri does not respond as he squeezes through the crowd.                    Zultan, the boxer, notices Yuri leave. In that split second          distraction, he is hit HARD and goes down for the count.                    The crowd ROARS!                                                                          CUT TO:                              EXT. WESTWOOD/LOS ANGELES - SUNRISE                    Jackson has driven all night. The sun rises, a giant glowing          orb.                                               PUBLIC RADIO NEWS (O.S.)                    ... Caltech believes that the incident                    in the Westwood supermarket has                    released most of the surface tension...                              EXT. KATE'S HOUSE/LOS ANGELES - EARLY MORNING                    Jackson pulls up. The kids are asleep.                                               PUBLIC RADIO NEWS (O.S.)                    ... It looks like life in the city will                    soon be back to normal, Mayor Gonzales                    said at an early morning news                    conference from his home in Hancock                    Park.                    Jackson switches off the radio and wakes his kids gently.                                               JACKSON                    Lilly, we're home sweetie.                            (to Noah)                    Wake up big man.                                                                      (CONTINUED)                                                                                 33.                    Kate heads to the car. Still sleepy, the kids grab their          stuff and run into her arms.                                               KATE                    Oh honey, I'm so glad you're back...                    And you too, darling.                                               JACKSON                    We tried calling but -                                               LILLY (O.S.)                    I'm hungry Mummy.                                               KATE                    At least it looks like the Mosquitos                    ate well.                    She looks at Jackson and softens.                                               KATE (CONT'D)                    Wanna come in?                    Gordon appears at the door. Jackson watches painfully as Noah          runs and gives Gordon a big hug.                    His cellphone beeps with a message.                                               YURI (O.S.)                    Where are you Curtis?                              INT. PRESIDENTIAL SUITE/LAS VEGAS - EARLY MORNING                    Yuri stands at a huge window overlooking the strip talking          into his phone.                                               JACKSON (O.S.)                    Back in Westwood, Mister Karpov.                                               YURI                    Good. That is good. I'm sending the                    Gulfstream to pick up Alec and Oleg.                    Tamara hovers in the background packing her Louis Vuitton          luggage. Caesar, her little dog, watches from the bed.                                               TAMARA                            (in Russian)                    Tell him to bring Caesar's raincoat,                    it's in the Range Rover.                    Yuri brushes her off.                                                                                 34.                    EXT. STREET/BEL AIR - MORNING                    While talking to Yuri, Jackson is standing in front of the          open trunk, changing into his chauffeur suit.                                               YURI (O.S.)                    Curtis, make sure you get my boys as                    fast you can.                              EXT. MANSION/BEL AIR - MORNING                    A palatial home. Completely gaudy. The twins, ALEC and OLEG,          wait impatiently. They are 12 years old and wear identical          clothing by Dior.                                               ALEC                    Curtis, you are late.                    Jackson ignores him and starts throwing the luggage into the          limo. The other twin notices his muddy sneakers.                                               OLEG                    Careful with our stuff. Don't get it                    dirty.                              EXT. STREETS/LOS ANGELES - MORNING                    Ahead of the limo a crowd has formed in the streets, singing          songs and chanting about the end of days. A SKINNY MAN with a          ponytail preaches from the scriptures.                                               PREACHER                    ... There will be famines, pestilences                    and earthquakes, sayeth the Lord.                    Jackson has to maneuver through the people. Banners read:          `Prepare for the End'-- 'You cannot escape his judgement'--                    Alec looks up from his video game, annoyed.                                               ALEC                    Curtis, can't you go faster?                                               JACKSON                    Are you guys blind? I can't run people                    over.                                               OLEG                    Why not? They're idiots anyway.                    Jackson shoots these spoilt brats an angry look.                                                                                35.                    EXT. SANTA MONICA AIRPORT/LOS ANGELES - MORNING                    Jackson stops in front of the Gulfstream. SASHA, 40, Yuri's          Russian pilot is expecting them.                                               SASHA                    Hey Jackson. Took you a while...                    Jackson mutters under his breath as he unloads the luggage,          dropping one of them on Alec's foot on purpose.                                               ALEC                    Ouch! Be more careful!                    The other twin has noticed Jackson's intensions. He gets into          his face.                                               OLEG                    Now you're laughing, Curtis. But we are                    going on a big ship.                            (PAUSE)                    We will live... and you will die.                    Oleg grins back at Jackson as the jet door closes. The          Gulfstream taxis onto the runway.                    As Jackson turns back to the car a fine surface crack shoots          across the tarmac. We hold on his face as it hits him like a          ton of bricks:                    THE CRAZY RADIO HOST, CHARLIE FROST WAS RIGHT!                    Frantically Jackson looks around and spots a MAN in overalls          working on a twin engine Cessna. He runs to him.                                               JACKSON                    Where can I rent a plane?                    The man points to a shabby office building.                                                                             CUT TO:                              INT. KITCHEN/LOS ANGELES - MORNING                    Kate is in her kitchen cooking breakfast for the kids. Gordon          watches the Governor on the news.                                               GOVERNOR                            (with Austrian                             ACCENT)                    ... just this morning my people at                    Caltech told me that in the last 36                    hours we had basically zero earthquake                    activity in Southern California, which                    is very rare...                                                              (CONTINUED)                                                                               36.                    The phone rings. Kate picks up.                              EXT. STREETS/LOS ANGELES - MORNING                    Jackson drives like crazy.                                               JACKSON                    ... Kate, we have to get out of LA!                    I've rented a plane for us. Get the                    kids ready! I'll be there in five.                                               KATE                    The kids have plans today...                                               JACKSON                    Are you kidding me!                                               KATE                    No I'm not! Noah has music at 2 and                    Lil' has Karate.                    Gordon rolls his eyes and mutters.                                               GORDON                    Not that we'd expect him to remember.                                               JACKSON                            (SCREAMING)                    California is going down! Pack up the                    kids!                                               KATE                    You're crazy! The Governor just said                    we're fine now.                                               JACKSON                    The Governor's a meathead, how would he                    know anything? Kate listen! You gotta                    trust me over some politician. Come on.                              INT. KATE'S HOUSE/LOS ANGELES - MORNING                    Kate slams the phone down. Lilly stops eating.                                               LILLY                    Mommy, why are you so angry with Daddy?                                               LAURA                    Because your daddy is a lunatic,                    darling.                    On the TV, the interview comes to an end.                                                                                  (CONTINUED)                                                                                37.                                               GOVERNOR                    ... it looks to me, like the worst is                    over.                    That moment a MASSIVE QUAKE hits Los Angeles.                    Everybody dives under the table.                    ON TV: The news casters and the Governor do the same. A few          seconds later the signal cuts out.                    Gordon pulls Kate and the kids close as the earth shakes          violently for 20 seconds.                              EXT. KATE'S HOUSE/LOS ANGELES - MORNING                    Jackson flies into the driveway and runs into the house.                              INT. KATE'S HOUSE/LOS ANGELES - MORNING                    When he enters, Lilly immediately runs into his arms. The          next tremor hits. Cracks form on the kitchen floor.                                               JACKSON                    We have to leave! Noah, let's go!                                               KATE                    I think we're safer here!                                               JACKSON                    Noah, now! Kate please...                    The whole house rides up and down like on a wave.                                               GORDON                    I think he's right.                    Finally Kate pushes her son out from under the table. They          all scramble out of the house in a panic. Kate is cut on the          shoulder by falling glass but she hardly notices.                              EXT. KATE'S HOUSE/LOS ANGELES - MORNING                    As they storm out of their front door the house crumbles          behind them.                                                JACKSON                    Get in the car!                    The whole street starts to buckle. Left and right the houses          are shaken and smashed like toys.                                                                                  (CONTINUED)                                                                                38.                    Just before the wave of destruction can reach them, Jackson          tears out of the driveway.                              EXT. STREETS/LOS ANGELES - MORNING                    Jackson maneuver's the limo through the crumbling          neighborhood. Right in front of their eyes, streets          disappear, trees fall, electrical lines snap. Sewer pipes          burst in front of the car.                                               NOAH                    Holy shit!                    Jackson has to turn on the windshield wipers.                              EXT. SANTA MONICA AIRPORT/LOS ANGELES - MORNING                    The limo crashes through a gate onto the tarmac, coming to a          stop in front of a twin engine Cessna.                                               JACKSON                    Damn it! Where's the pilot?                    Kate turns to Gordon.                                               KATE                    Gordon, you know how to fly.                                               GORDON                    I... had a couple lessons...                                               JACKSON                    Did you cover taking off?                                               GORDON                    Yeah.                                               JACKSON                    That's good enough for me.                    They start running, when Jackson remembers something and          heads back to the Limo.                    He grabs his knapsack from the front seat fumbling to zip his          laptop back inside it. Kate shouts.                                               KATE (O.S.)                    Jackson, what are you doing?                                               JACKSON                    I'm coming.                    He jumps out of the car and races back after them. Behind          Jackson the hangar starts to disintegrate.                                                             (CONTINUED)                                                                                39.                    IN THE DISTANCE                    A gigantic fissure forms in the earth, shooting towards Santa          Monica airport.                    Gordon fumbles with the controls, Jackson yells from the          copilot seat.                                               JACKSON (CONT'D)                    Come on, come on...                                               GORDON                            (pointing at the                             INSTRUMENTS)                    But I'm supposed to check all these                    first...                    Jackson reaches over and slams Gordon's hand down and the          plane lurches forward.                    As the Cessna speeds onto the tarmac the control tower goes          down and explodes.                    Noah discovers the giant crevasse forming behind them.                                                 NOAH                    Guys, behind us!                    As the plane accelerates, the giant crack closes in on them.          Gordon's hand trembles on the throttle control. Everybody          screams on top of each other.                                               EVERYBODY                    Gordon! Damn it! Lift off!                    Gordon gathers his courage and pulls the lever. The plane          almost rockets into the air just as the ground beneath them          gives way.                    They hover for a moment, almost caught in mid-air as the          widening crevasse beneath them fights to suck them into the          bowels of the earth. Gordon fights to maintain control but          they begin to be pulled down.                    The daylight vanishes. Debris and mud smashes into the plane          from all sides. The canyon walls erupt.                                               GORDON                    I can't get it up!                    Taking desperate measures, Gordon nearly rips the control          stick out of its joint - with a lurch the Cessna lifts out of          the abyss.                                                                                          (CONTINUED)                                                                                 40.                    They all take a deep breath only to realize that now they are          flying directly into the collapsing towers of downtown Los          Angeles!                    Like a roller coaster, Gordon manages to weave the little          plane through the tumbling high rises.                    They dive one last time to evade the plummeting US BANK          TOWER, the tallest building on the west coast.                    All are dead silent as they watch the whole of Los Angeles          crumble beneath them. Kate covers Lilly's eyes.                                               NOAH                            (in total shock)                    That was amazing, Gordon!                    Jackson looks at Kate and notices her cut.                                              JACKSON                    Are you okay?                                               KATE                            (brushing it off)                    I'm fine. How did you know this was                    gonna happen?                                               JACKSON                    I didn't.                            (To Gordon)                    Do we have enough fuel to make it to                    Yellowstone?                    The plane veers off in a northeasterly direction. Behind them          the destruction of Los Angeles continues.                                                                          CUT TO:                              EXT. FREEDOM OF THE SEAS/PACIFIC - DAY                    The gigantic cruise ship plows through the Pacific. We hear          lounge music...                              INT. BAR/FREEDOM OF THE SEAS - DAY                    Adrian's father Harry and his partner Tony are on stage.          Harry on the piano, singing, Tony playing the bass. A waiter          brings drinks. Water for Harry, and a brightly colored          cocktail for Tony.                                               WAITER                    You got fans Tony...                                                                                (CONTINUED)                                                                                 41.                    Tony raises his glass to two old ladies who are sitting at          the bar.                                               WAITER (CONT'D)                    There's a call for you Harry. Want me                    to take a message?                                               HARRY                            (while still playing)                    I'll be right there.                    The waiter nods. A few more bars of music, then applause.                                               HARRY (CONT'D)                            (into the microphone)                    Thank you ladies and gentlemen. Let's                    hear it for the one and only Tony                    Delgado... And I'm Harry Helmsley and                    we'll be back after a short pit stop.                    Applause. Harry rushes off stage.                                               ADRIAN (O.S.)                    Dad... what I have to tell you is very                    serious...                              INT. HALLWAY/WHITE HOUSE - DAY                    Adrian is standing in a dark corner. Behind him people are          packing up, carrying boxes.                                               ADRIAN                    You remember when I told you about the                    dam in China? Well, it's happening much                    sooner than we anticipated.                              INT. GALLEY/CRUISE SHIP - DAY                    Harry's face has turned serious.                                               ADRIAN (O.S.)                    The President has ordered us to clear                    out the White House.                                               HARRY                    Hah... About time someone cleaned up                    that mess.                              INT. HALLWAY/WHITE HOUSE - DAY                    Adrian fights back the tears.                                                                                  (CONTINUED)                                                                                42.                                               ADRIAN                    Where are you, dad? What exactly is the                    course of the `Freedom' right now?...                                               HARRY (O.S.)                    It's all good, Adrian. Don't worry                    about your old man. You have more                    important things to do now.                              INT. GALLEY/CRUISE SHIP - DAY                    There's a tremor in Harry's voice.                                               HARRY                    You know, your mom and I, we had a hell                    of a great life... and a hell of a                    great kid too.                            (PAUSE)                    And the `Freedom' is a pretty big ship                    you know... Don't write your old man                    off, just yet.                              INT. HALLWAY/WHITE HOUSE - DAY                    A tear runs down Adrian's face.                                               HARRY (O.S.)                    ... Besides, I could never leave Tony                    alone. You know how he can't keep                    decent time by himself.                    Pause.                                                 ADRIAN                    I love you, dad.                              INT. GALLEY/CRUISE SHIP - DAY                    Harry bites his lip.                                               HARRY                    Love you too, son.                              INT. BAR/CRUISE SHIP - DAY                    Back in the lounge, Tony has finished his cocktail. Harry          walks up and hollers at the barkeeper.                                               HARRY                    Hey Herb. Get me a double Jack on the                    rocks.                                                                        (CONTINUED)                                                                                 43.                                               TONY                    After twenty-five years on the wagon?                                               HARRY                    Why not? Who cares how long we do                    certain things? How long we drink                    booze, how long we talk to people... Or                    how long we don't talk to people.                    Harry grabs Tony by his shirt.                                               TONY                    Woah!... Harry, what's the matter with                    you? Let's go. We're back on.                    Harry pulls him even closer.                                               HARRY                    Call your kid, you stubborn old ass.                            (PAUSE)                    I'm not going back on that stage unless                    you promise to call him.                                               WAITER                            (INTERRUPTING)                    Tony, the ladies are waiting for you.                                               HARRY                    Promise me, Tony... please.                    Harry stares him down.                                               TONY                    Yeah, maybe I should call him...                    Harry smiles, downs his bourbon and walks back on stage.                                                                           CUT TO:                              INT. ADRIAN'S OFFICE/WHITE HOUSE - DAY                    Adrian enters his office. The TV is on.                                               NEWS ANCHOR                    ... There is little we know at this                    point, but the earthquake registered at                    10.1 on the Richter scale. The whole of                    the Western seaboard was hit...                    Assistants stare at the news in shocked disbelief, some of          them are crying. Prof. West appears at the door.                                               ADRIAN                            (pointing at the TV)                    Have you seen this?                                                              (CONTINUED)                                                                                 44.                    Prof. West silently nods and beckons Adrian, who follows him          down the hall into a dark control room. They look at a wall-          sized high def monitor.                                               PROF. WEST                    We have satellite images. Here's the                    sequence we've got so far.                    On the monitors, detailed satellite imagery displays how the          monstrous quake unfolds, leaving California sliding into the          sea.                                               ADRIAN                    Any news from Yellowstone?                                              PROF. WEST                    Anytime now.                                                                             CUT TO:                              EXT. RESEARCH FACILITY/YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK - DAY                    The base is abandoned but for a few structures and the          enormous drilling tower.                    Gordon manages to land the plane next to what looks like a          fueling station. Jackson leaps out checking the pump.                                               JACKSON                    Guys, there's fuel! Fill her up and                    I'll look for Charlie.                                               KATE                    You're sure about this?                                               JACKSON                    Kate, everything this guy said so far                    has happened. I'll be right back.                    Jackson runs off towards the hills.                                               LILLY                    Daddy wait! I wanna come with you!                    Lilly runs after him. Jackson picks her up.                                               KATE                    Lilly! Come back!                                               JACKSON                    It's fine! I'll take her.                    Kate watches as they disappear, worried. Noah and Gordon have          started to fuel the plane.                                                                                 45.                    EXT. CHARLIE'S RV/YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK - DAY                    Jackson and Lilly find Charlie's RV with it's door hanging          open. They enter. The key is in the ignition. The radio          transmitters are on, but Charlie is gone. Jackson fiddles          with the switches and Charlie's voice comes on.                                               CHARLIE'S VOICE                    ... I am standing here at the highest                    point on what is the rim of this super                    volcano...                                               JACKSON                    He's got to be close by, Lil'bee...                    Jackson jumps behind the wheel and turns the ignition.                                               LILLY                    Let's go back, Daddy.                                               JACKSON                    Listen to me. We have to find Charlie.                    He's got a secret map, you know, like                    Jack Sparrow in `Pirates'.                    That catches her interest.                                               JACKSON (CONT'D)                    Lil', we have to work as a team now,                    okay? You have to help me.                    Jackson passes her his mobile phone. Lilly nods. He throws          the RV into gear and they speed off over the bumpy terrain.                    In their dust, we see the earth fissuring!                              INT. RV/YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK - DAY                    Jackson drives like a bat out of hell.                                               CHARLIE'S VOICE                    ... The last time this baby blew, was                    640,000 years ago...                                               JACKSON                    Dial Mommy's number, sweetheart.                    Jackson tears up the mountain looking for Charlie.                              EXT. EMPTY ARMY BASE/YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK - DAY                    Kate's phone rings.                                                                                   (CONTINUED)                                                                               46.                                              LILLY    (O.S.)                    Hi mommy...                                               KATE                    Where are you, honey!?                              INT. RV/YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK - DAY                    Jackson hears the stress in Kate's voice. He hisses at Lilly.                                               JACKSON                    Tell her we'll be back in ten minutes.                                               LILLY                            (EXCITED)                    We're looking for a secret map, mommy.                    Jackson grimaces.                              EXT. RESEARCH FACILITY/YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK - DAY                    Kate tries to keep it together for Lilly.                                               KATE                    Let me speak to your daddy, darling.                                               LILLY (O.S.)                    Daddy can't talk right now, he's                    driving really fast...                              INT. RV/YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK - DAY                    The RV runs over a boulder. Lilly hits the roof.                                              LILLY                    Ouch!                                              KATE (O.S.)                    LILLY!                    In the background Kate hears the voice of Charlie Frost.                                               CHARLIE'S VOICE                    ... I tell you guys, any minute now...                    any minute the fireworks will start...                                               KATE (O.S.)                    Who's in the car with you? Who's that                    man screaming?                                               LILLY                    He's not in the car. He's on a mountain                    waiting for fireworks.                                                              (CONTINUED)                                                                                47.                    Lilly spots Charlie way up on a ridge. He has erected his ten          foot radio antenna with the flag fluttering on top.                                               LILLY (CONT'D)                            (to Jackson)                    There he is! Up there!                                               JACKSON                    You're the best, darling. Give Daddy                    the phone...                            (into the phone)                    Kate I am sorry, I can't talk...                    The road ends just below the mountain peak.                                               KATE (O.S.)                    Bring back my child, Jackson! NOW!                    Jackson sees Charlie up above, broadcasting. He hangs up the          phone and jumps out of the RV.                                               JACKSON                    You wait here for me! You watch the                    ship while Captain Curtis talks to the                    pirate. Okay?                                                 LILLY                              (UNCERTAIN)                    Okay...                    Jackson climbs up to Charlie.                              EXT. MOUNTAIN PEAK/YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK - DAY                    Charlie has his broadcasting equipment strapped to his body.          The antenna's flag is whipping in the wind.                                               CHARLIE FROST                            (into his mic)                    ... I wish you guys at home could see                    this on TV...                    He notices Jackson and muffles the microphone.                                               CHARLIE FROST (CONT'D)                    How did you make it up here? Thought                    you were toast.                                               JACKSON                    The spaceships Charlie, where are they?                                               CHARLIE FROST                    You can't make it there.                                                                                   (CONTINUED)                                                                                48.                                               JACKSON                    We have a plane. We can get you out of                    here too. Let's go Charlie!                    All around the landscape begins to collapse. A three mile          crater forms, revealing the awe-inspiring sight of the super-          volcano.                                               CHARLIE FROST                    You'll never make it out in time. Just                    stay and enjoy the big bang. That your                    kid?                    Jackson discovers Lilly standing behind him, staring at          Charlie with her big brown eyes.                    Jackson grabs Charlie lifting him off the ground.                                               JACKSON                    Where is that god damn map!                                               CHARLIE FROST                    Easy, easy. Watch the mic... I don't                    know. Somewhere in my camper.                    A low rumble builds to a rapturous thunder as MILLIONS OF          BIRDS tear into flight.                                               CHARLIE FROST (CONT'D)                    Wow! Look at that!...                            (into his mic)                    Fly birdies fly! This marks the last                    day of the United States of America                    folks and by tomorrow...                    The mouth of the volcano starts to break apart revealing          molten lava underneath.                                               CHARLIE FROST (CONT'D)                    ... the last of mankind. Soon they'll                    see us from a million miles away, out                    there in the milky way...                    Jackson grabs his wide eyed daughter and races down the          mountain.                              EXT. BELOW MOUNTAIN PEAK/YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK - DAY                    Jackson and Lilly jump into the RV and races off, with          Charlie's broadcast still playing.                                               CHARLIE'S VOICE                    ... The ash cloud will travel                    everywhere.                                     (MORE)                                                              (CONTINUED)                                                                                 49.                                     CHARLIE'S VOICE (CONT'D)                    First the lights will go out in Vegas,                    then Dallas, St. Louis and then                    Washington DC...                    Jackson's cell phone rings and he picks up.                                               JACKSON                    We're on our way.                              EXT. RESEARCH FACILITY/YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK - DAY                                               KATE                    Jackson, things are really looking bad                    here!                    In that instant, the air around them vanishes, as if sucked          from the landscape into a vacuum.                    THE BIGGEST EXPLOSION THE WORLD HAS EVER SEEN... At least in          the last 640,000 years.                    To them, all this occurs in total silence. The sound of the          eruption has not reached them yet.                    They are frozen, unable to comprehend what is happening.                              EXT. MOUNTAIN PEAK/YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK - DAY                    The explosion begins to resembles an atomic mushroom.                                               CHARLIE FROST                    ... it's beautiful, kids! Just                    beautiful!                    The sound waves reach Charlie, throwing him to the ground.                              EXT. DIRT ROAD/YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK - DAY                    The RV flies over the rugged terrain. Everywhere the earth is          cracking, falling apart. Jackson struggles to swerve around          the disappearing landscape.                                               LILLY                            (SCREAMING)                    It's following us!                    Lilly has discovered the expanding ASH CLOUD behind them.                                               JACKSON                    Just don't look back, Lil'bee!                    The THUNDERING sound envelopes them! On the radio, the voice          of Charlie is getting shrill.                                                             (CONTINUED)                                                                                50.                                               CHARLIE'S VOICE                    Majestic!... Oh yeah!                              EXT. MOUNTAIN PEAK/YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK - DAY                    Charlie slowly tries to stand again, silhouetted against the          cloud of dust and fire towering above him.                    Flaming rocks fly towards him. When they hit the ground, they          detonate like fire bombs.                                               CHARLIE'S VOICE                    Oh baby! It's coming!                              EXT. DIRT ROAD/YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK - DAY                    Rocks plummet like comets around the RV as Jackson races over          a collapsing bridge. On the radio, in his delirious state,          Charlie begins to sing...                                               CHARLIE'S VOICE                    `This is the end, my friend'...                    Yellowstone looks like a war zone. The RV dodges the          bombardment of fire and rock.                              EXT. MOUNTAIN PEAK/YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK - DAY                    Huge tree trunks and glowing boulders fly at Charlie through          the ashes. He screams at the top of his lungs.                                               CHARLIE FROST                    ... Folks, always remember, you heard                    it first from Charlie.                    A second later, Charlie's radio antenna comes spinning like a          scythe through the air. It decapitates Charlie in an instant.                              EXT. DIRT ROAD/YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK - DAY                    The radio cuts out. The forest and the camp grounds are mown          flat by the extreme force of the ASH CLOUD. In the rear view          mirror Jackson sees it gaining on them.                                              JACKSON                    LILLY! DOWN!                    A firebomb hits the RV, ripping half the roof off.                    Lilly barely makes it under the dashboard.                                                                                   (CONTINUED)                                                                               51.                                               JACKSON (CONT'D)                    Stay down there, Lil'! We're almost                    there! Just keep looking at daddy.                    Jackson spots the little Cessna in the distance.                              EXT. EMPTY ARMY BASE/YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK - DAY                    At the entrance to the airstrip a huge crevasse forms,          cutting the RV off from reaching the plane.                    Lilly sticks out her head.                                                 LILLY                    Mommy!                    Jackson swerves wildly to miss the crack, sending Lilly          flying out. Without thinking, he lets go of the wheel,          lunging after her and pulling her back inside.                                               JACKSON                    Stay down darling.                    Jackson races the RV alongside the forming crack.                    Spotting a narrow point in the crevasse, he makes a decision.          Slamming the accelerator down, he races towards it at full          speed.                    Moments later the RV is airborne!                    Kate watches, too shocked to scream. A few drawn out seconds.                    Then the RV touches down, crashing 200 feet from the plane.                    Kate runs towards the wreckage of the camper. Lilly jumps          out, racing into her mom's arms. Jackson turns and sees the          cloud approaching.                                               JACKSON (CONT'D)                    You guys go! I'll be right there!                    Kate pulls Lilly back to the plane.                    Jackson jumps into the back of the RV scavenging through the          shelves, looking for Charlie's map.                    Kate lifts Lilly onto the wing of the plane. Gordon revs up          the engines.                                               NOAH                    Give me your hand, Lil'.                    Noah pulls his little sister into the cockpit.                                                                        (CONTINUED)                                                                                 52.                    Fiery rocks rain from the sky, detonating to the right and          left of their plane as Kate climbs in.                                               GORDON                    We have to take off!                                                NOAH                    No!                                                LILLY                    Where's daddy?!                                               GORDON                    Kate, I'm sorry but if we wait we'll                    all die!                    Gordon pushes the throttle. The plane starts to move. Kate          screams.                                                KATE                    Gordon! Wait!                    Back in the RV, Jackson is frantically going through the          masses of books and papers on the shelves. Finally, a map. He          unfolds it. But it's only of the London underground system.                    He throws it to the ground and finds another. This time he's          lucky! There are markings everywhere.                    As he races to the door, the ground gives way beneath the RV.          Kate and the kids watch it disappear from sight.                                                KATE (CONT'D)                    JACKSON! NO!                    Noah begins to cry and Lilly clings to her mom. Gordon just          stares, paralyzed.                    The ASH CLOUD is almost upon them!                    Gordon takes action and accelerates the plane.                    Kate turns back. A hand emerges from the crevasse. Then          another, holding a map. Her face lights up.                                                LILLY                    It's daddy!                    Jackson pulls himself up and sprints towards them, the map in          his hand.                                                KATE                    Jackson! Here!                    Kate leans out of the cockpit reaching for him.                                                                      (CONTINUED)                                                                                53.                                               NOAH                    Faster Dad. You can make it!                                               GORDON                    Kate, grab him for god sake. We're                    almost out of runway.                    Using every last ounce of energy, Jackson leaps onto the wing          and is yanked into the plane by Kate.                    Just at that moment, the plane lifts off.                    Jackson falls into the cockpit, completely out of breath.          Lilly crawls over and hugs him.                                               JACKSON                    Thanks for waiting guys.                    Now all eyes are glued to the speedometer. 180... 190...                    The violent ASH CLOUD is hitting their tail rudder. The plane          swerves wildly! Gordon gets it back under control.                    The speedometer finally creeps towards 200 mph and the CLOUD          slowly falls back. Everybody breathes a sigh of relief.                                               KATE                    So, now that you got your map, where                    are we going?                    Jackson unfolds it and takes a look. Hundreds of markings          clutter the map. In the left corner he discovers a large          letter C followed by H - I - N - A.                    He looks up.                                               JACKSON                    We're gonna need a bigger plane.                                                                           CUT TO:                              INT. WEST WING/WHITE HOUSE - LATE AFTERNOON                    The White House is being evacuated. Amidst the chaos stands          Anheuser. Adrian puts down a phone and looks at him.                                               ADRIAN                    Just a few minutes ago Yellowstone                    erupted, sir. The ash cloud will reach                    Washington in roughly 7 hours. Maybe 6.                    We have strong easterly winds...                                               ANHEUSER                    And the crustal displacement?                                                                        (CONTINUED)                                                                                54.                                               ADRIAN                    No one knows, sir.                    Anheuser starts walking, Adrian trails behind.                                               ANHEUSER                    Let's get the government airborne                    and... I mean now.                              INT. OVAL OFFICE/WHITE HOUSE - LATE AFTERNOON                    Anheuser and Adrian burst into the Anteroom of the Oval          Office. The President's secretary, SALLY, 55, is packing.                                               ANHEUSER                    Where is the President, Sally?                    Sally looks up stone faced.                                               SALLY                    He said he wanted to spend a few                    minutes alone. I think he's over at the                    chapel.                                               ANHEUSER                    The whole North American continent is                    about to perish, and Wilson decides to                    go to church!                    Adrian shoots an angry look at Anheuser.                                               ADRIAN                    He's praying sir. Which considering the                    circumstances is not a bad idea.                                               ANHEUSER                    Maybe. But right now I need the leader                    of the free world off his knees and on                    Air Force One. Wheels up 1900 hours.                    Can I leave that with you Helmsley?                    Anheuser walks away. Adrian and Sally exchange a look.                                               SALLY                    I really don't like that man.                              INT. CHAPEL/WHITE HOUSE - SUNSET                    Adrian finds the President standing near the front of the          chapel.                                               ADRIAN                    Mr. President? We need to get you out                    of Washington immediately.                                                              (CONTINUED)                                                                              55.                    President Wilson stays with his head bowed.                                               PRESIDENT WILSON                    Now matter how idealistic you are                    taking office. You lose your innocence                    behind that desk.                            (PAUSE)                    Laura was right. People have died                    because of the decisions I made.                                               ADRIAN                    That's not your fault sir.                    He turns to face Adrian.                                               PRESIDENT WILSON                    You sound like Anheuser.                    This quietly affects Adrian.                                               PRESIDENT WILSON (CONT'D)                    Laura's never looked at me like that                    before. Only once... When I told her,                    her mother had died. You knew the first                    lady?                                               ADRIAN                    A little.                                               PRESIDENT WILSON                    You know what she said to me that night                    we brought her to the hospital?                            (PAUSE)                    `Tommy... I think you should do a                    lottery. Every one should have a chance                    to go'. That's what Dorothy said to me.                    That's what we should have done.                                               ADRIAN                    There would have been chaos, sir.                    President Wilson looks Adrian in the eyes.                                               PRESIDENT WILSON                    You know what I believe, Adrian. I                    believe nature should choose for                    itself, from itself.                    Adrian takes this in.                                               PRESIDENT WILSON (CONT'D)                    Don't let her go. You'll regret it if                    you do. Prove to Laura what kind of a                    man you are. And I'll do the same...                    You go now. And watch your back for                    Anheuser.                                                             (CONTINUED)                                                                                 56.                    Adrian stares at the President in disbelief.                                              ADRIAN                    But sir?                                               PRESIDENT WILSON                    Go. That's an order Helmsley.                    A tense moment before Adrian starts to walk away. Just as he          exits the chapel, Wilson calls after him.                                               PRESIDENT WILSON (CONT'D)                    Would you tell my daughter... there's                    nothing on earth that I cherish more                    than her.                    We hold on President Wilson's face.                                                                           CUT TO:                              EXT. LAS VEGAS - SUNSET                    Most of Las Vegas is destroyed. A 200 foot wide canyon now          divides sin city along its famous strip. The towering casinos          still teeter along the canyon's rim.                    All forms of emergency rescue operations are deployed around          the city.                    In the FOREGROUND, we see Las Vegas International Airport,          its runway cut dramatically short. Large pieces of tarmac          continue to break off into the crevasse.                              EXT. AIRFIELD/LAS VEGAS AIRPORT - SUNSET                    Gordon maneuvers his plane through the chaos. Airplanes are          strewn about the runway. Passengers everywhere.                                               GORDON                    I told you we should have gone to my                    parents' in the Rockies.                                               KATE                    Gordon's right. Look at this mess.                    Jackson looks around frantically.                                               JACKSON                    You don't understand, it's our only                    chance.                                                                                                    (CONTINUED)                                                                                 57.                                               GORDON                    This isn't one of your crazy stories                    now. How the hell are we gonna make it                    to China?                                               NOAH                    Gordon, without Jackson, we'd never                    have made it out of California.                    Silence. Noah is right and they know it. They taxi past a          private jet whose front wheel is stuck in a hole in the          tarmac.                    We hear a dog barking and the CAMERA finds Tamara, with          Caesar in her arms.                                               YURI (O.S.)                    Careful with the landing gear!                            (in Russian)                    Tamara, get the boys out of the way!                    An airport tow truck attempts to pull Yuri's Gulfstream jet          out. Sasha, the pilot, helps. A safety announcement echoes          through the whole area.                                               VOICE                            (over loudspeaker)                    Attention! The US National Guard has                    informed us, that an extremely                    hazardous ash cloud is headed towards                    the city of Las Vegas.                    Tamara looks scared and secretly reaches for Sasha's hand.          They share an intimate look, no one else sees.                                               VOICE (CONT'D)                    We strongly advise every one to move                    indoors immediately...                    The tow truck driver panics and runs inside.                    We move in on Yuri. For the first time he looks helpless.                    In the background, Jackson and his family join the panicked          crowd heading towards the terminal building. Firemen and          rescue workers usher them forward.                                               FIRE MAN                    Let's move people! Inside the terminal!                    Jackson and his family are swept along.                                                                          CUT TO:                                                                               58.                    INT. AIR FORCE ONE/ARLINGTON AIRPORT - DUSK                    Adrian rushes up the stairs of Air Force One, approaching one          of the flight officers.                                               ADRIAN                    Where's Anheuser?                                               OFFICER                    In the command center, sir.                    Adrian moves on.                              INT. COMMAND CENTER/AIR FORCE ONE - DUSK                    Adrian enters. Anheuser immediately senses something is          amiss.                                               ADRIAN                    The President is not coming. I couldn't                    convince him to.                    Everyone in the room looks up, speechless.                                               ANHEUSER                    So, the captain doesn't want to leave                    his sinking ship?                            (PAUSE)                    Well, Mr. Helmsley, we just learned                    that the Vice President's chopper                    crashed 80 miles north of Atlanta.                    Adrian is shocked.                                               ADRIAN                    What about the Speaker of the House?                                               ANHEUSER                    In this chaos... I have no idea!                                               ADRIAN                    But she's Commander In Chief now. Sir,                    I just think -                    Anheuser moves in dangerously close.                                               ANHEUSER                    I don't care what you think, Helmsley.                    Laura quietly enters the Command Center, as Anheuser and          Adrian stare each other down.                                                                                                      (CONTINUED)                                                                               59.                                               ANHEUSER (CONT'D)                    Your ass only made it into the White                    House, because your old man knew the                    First Lady... and because of all that                    affirmative action bullshit.                    Anheuser takes it even further.                                               ANHEUSER (CONT'D)                    There was a white kid, much more                    qualified than you. Just so you know.                    Adrian's face is ashen.                                               LAURA (O.S.)                    Where is my father?                    Everyone turns to Laura. Silence.                                               ADRIAN                    He wanted to stay with his people.                    Suddenly, the engines of Air Force One turn over. Laura          panics.                                               LAURA                    We have to go back!                    Adrian tries to hold her close to him. Anheuser sees this          intimate moment and gives a suspicious, questioning look. A          second later Laura pushes Adrian away.                                               LAURA (CONT'D)                    Let me get out. Mr. Anheuser - tell the                    Captain.                                               ANHEUSER                    There is a protocol for just this                    situation Ms. Wilson and I'm afraid                    we'll have to follow it to the letter.                    Anheuser turns to an officer.                                               ANHEUSER (CONT'D)                    Tell the Captain, to take off                    immediately.                    Laura looks at him incredulously.                                                                           CUT TO:                              INT. AIRPORT TERMINAL/LAS VEGAS AIRPORT - DUSK                    Emergency lights illuminate the densely populated terminal.                                                                        (CONTINUED)                                                                                60.                                               RESCUE WORKER                    People, stay away from the windows!                    One of the rescue workers yells, pushing Jackson and his          family back.                    Frustrated, Jackson turns to Kate and Gordon.                                               JACKSON                    We can't get stuck here.                    Suddenly a voice...                                               VOICE (O.S.)                    Dr. Silberman? What are you doing here?                    They all turn and stare at Tamara, holding her little dog          against her plump breasts.                    Kate gives Gordon a look.                                               GORDON                            (EMBARRASSED)                    She's a patient, honey.                                               JACKSON                            (SARCASTICALLY)                    Nice work.                    But when Jackson discovers Yuri behind her, his tone suddenly          changes. He gets in Yuri's face.                                               JACKSON (CONT'D)                    You bastard. You knew it all along!                            (at the twins)                    You and those spoiled rotten sons of                    yours...                    Sasha comes running in and cuts through this.                                               SASHA                    I found us a plane, an Antonov. They                    were just about to take off, but the                    tower didn't let them.                                               YURI                    Can you still fly that thing?                                               SASHA                    Sure... But I need a copilot.                    Lilly chimes in.                                               LILLY                    Gordon is a pilot.                                                                        (CONTINUED)                                                                                61.                    Before Gordon can protest Jackson picks up Lilly.                                                 JACKSON                    Let's go!                    They burst through the emergency exit, setting off an alarm.          Emergency personnel yell after them.                                               RESCUE WORKER                    Hey! Stop! You can't go out there! Come                    back!                    But they keep on running. Sasha now leads the way.                              EXT. AIR FIELD/LAS VEGAS AIRPORT - DUSK                    They race around the corner and come to a halt. Before them,          a Russian freight plane of enormous size--                    The ANTONOV 225, the biggest aircraft in the world.                                               NOAH                    Wow, that is a big plane.                                               YURI                            (PROUDLY)                    It's Russian.                    Sasha, who has run ahead turns back and sees:                    A MASSIVE GREY WALL OF ASH moving towards the airport.                                                 SASHA                    Guys, follow me!                    They all run after him up the stairs.                              INT. COCKPIT/ANTONOV - DUSK                    Sasha enters the cockpit and puts on the headset while          readying the plane for takeoff.                                               SASHA                            (into the mic)                    You'll find folding seats on each side                    of the cargo hold...                              INT. CARGO HOLD/ANTONOV - DUSK                                               SASHA (O.S.)                    ... Sit down and buckle up!                    They all scramble to get into their seats.                                                               (CONTINUED)                                                                               62.                                               NOAH                    Wow! Look at those!                    They discover the cargo they are carrying--                    Sports cars, SUV's, concept cars and luxury models, some of          them are labeled `Las Vegas Auto Show 2012'.                                               YURI                    We had VIP tickets for that.                    The six engines of the Antonov come roaring to life.                              INT. COCKPIT/ANTONOV - DUSK                    The plane is starting to move. Gordon sits uncomfortably in          the copilot's seat.                                               SASHA                    You check the main bus for the                    hydraulics. I'll balance the tanks.                                              GORDON                    Uh... What?                    Sasha reaches over and does it himself.                                               SASHA                    Work the radio and keep an eye on the                    fuel, okay?                    Gordon nods and puts on the headset, trying to focus.                              INT. TERMINAL/LAS VEGAS AIRPORT - DUSK                    People start SCREAMING, when they discover the menacing WALL          OF ASH racing towards them.                                               RESCUE WORKER                    Move back, people... down on the floor!                              EXT. RUNWAY/LAS VEGAS AIRPORT - DUSK                    The nose of the Antonov turns onto the runway. This humongous          plane suddenly looks small against the wall of ash.                              INT. COCKPIT/ANTONOV - DUSK                    Gordon is panicking.                                               GORDON                    We have to get going!                                                              (CONTINUED)                                                                                63.                    Sasha hits the throttle.                                               SASHA                            (CALM)                    We're going, we're going.                    A deafening THUNDER emanates from the engines.                              INT. CARGO HOLD/ANTONOV - DUSK                    Everybody grabs their seat as the vibration of the aircraft          builds.                              EXT. RUNWAY/LAS VEGAS AIRPORT - DUSK                    The Antonov steadily gains speed as it rumbles down the          cracked and uneven runway.                    The canyon that has swallowed half the city looms ahead. And          behind them the volcanic cloud bears down.                              INT. COCKPIT/ANTONOV - DUSK                    Sasha stares down the gap ahead, determined. Gordon's face is          as white as a sheet.                                               GORDON                    We're not gonna make it!                                               SASHA                    Shut up! We will!                              INT. TERMINAL/LAS VEGAS AIRPORT - DUSK                    The violent cloud has finally reached the airport. The          terminals are hit by flying debris.                    Seconds later, Yuri's Gulfstream is whipped through the air,          shattering the huge windows into a thousand pieces.                    People are thrown like rag dolls as the jet explodes in a          massive fireball.                              INT. CARGO HOLD/ANTONOV - DUSK                    Kate and Jackson hold their kids tight. Tamara clings to          little Caesar and Yuri to his twins.                                                                                 64.                    EXT. RUNWAY/LAS VEGAS AIRPORT - DUSK                    The Antonov lumbers heavily towards the inevitable drop off          on the horizon. The runway is way too short...                    And to make matters worse, the ground begins to move again,          slowly arching the tarmac upwards, creating a crooked ramp at          the end of it.                              INT. COCKPIT/LAS VEGAS AIRPORT - DUSK                    A drop of sweat trickles down Sasha's forehead as he pulls          back the wheel.                    Gordon holds on for dear life as the huge plane barely lifts          off, veering sideways.                              EXT. CANYON/LAS VEGAS - DUSK                    The Antonov is on a collision course with the crumbling          casino towers along the other side of the rim.                              INT. COCKPIT/ANTONOV - DUSK                                               SASHA                    GOVNO! (shit). Help me pull!                    Gordon grabs the wheel on his side, helping Sasha pull up the          beast of a plane.                              EXT. CANYON RIM/LAS VEGAS - DUSK                    Very slowly the plane starts to rise and Sasha's face lights          up. They barely make it over a casino called `Paris; Las          Vegas'.                    But the plane clips its wheels on a high metal structure          right behind it, ripping away part of the landing gear.                              INT. COCKPIT/ANTONOV - DUSK                    After some struggle, Sasha manages to steady the Antonov.          Gordon's face is green as he looks back.                                               GORDON                    Was that the Eiffel Tower?                    Sasha looks over and grins. He grabs the microphone.                                                                                          (CONTINUED)                                                                                65.                                               SASHA                    Ladies and gentlemen, we are on our way                    to China.                                                                          CUT TO:                              EXT. YAK LA MONASTERY/TIBET - DAY                    An ancient monastery built atop a solitary mountain rock. In          the distance, the sun glistens off the peaks of the          Himalayas.                    NENG PANG, a young monk, 20, sits with his superior and          teacher LAMA YAK LA, 65. They have tea beneath a huge bronze          bell.                                               LAMA YAK LA                            (in Chinese)                    Do not believe in anything simply                    because you have heard it, Neng.                                               NENG                    But Lin is my brother. He is working                    inside the big tunnels, where the ships                    are made.                    The Lama remains silent.                                               NENG (CONT'D)                    What is in your wisdom for us to do,                    great Lama... if Lin is right, if our                    world is indeed coming to an end?                    Instead of answering, the Lama serves him more tea.                    When the cup is full, the Lama doesn't stop pouring. Neng          watches the tea overflow until he can no longer restrain          himself.                                               NENG (CONT'D)                    It's full, great Lama. It can hold no                    more!                    The Lama stops pouring and looks at Neng.                                               LAMA YAK LA                    Like this cup, Neng, you are full of                    your own opinions and speculations. How                    can I show you wisdom unless you first                    empty your cup?                    Neng bows his head in embarrassment.                    The Lama smiles to himself and takes a chain from around his          neck. On it hangs a set of rusty car keys.                                                             (CONTINUED)                                                                                66.                                               LAMA YAK LA (CONT'D)                    Be careful with the clutch. It tends to                    slide.                    The Lama throws him the keys and the young monk catches them,          smiling from ear to ear. They bow to each other and Neng runs          off.                    Lama Yak La looks after him as a father would. He gets up and          strikes the bronze bell with a wooden mallet.                              EXT. HOUSING PROJECT/TIBET - DAY                    As far as you can see is a series of identical little houses.          The house in the foreground has a chicken coop in the garden.                    Mrs. Pang enters the coop. We last saw her when the village          was being evacuated. She grabs one of the hens. She places          its head on a woodblock and picks up a rusty hatchet.                    Just about to strike, she hears a strange RATTLING noise.                    An old truck comes driving towards the house. Behind the          wheel sits her son Neng. She puts down the hatchet, yelling.                                               MRS. PANG                            (in Chinese)                    Bata! Neng is coming!                    The young monk jumps out, quickly bowing.                                               NENG                    Mother, I got a message from Lin. He                    wants us to meet him in Cho Ming, at                    the west gate. He says he can get us on                    one of the ships he is working on.                    Mrs. Pang is still holding the chicken by its throat.                                               MRS. PANG                    I thought Lin is working on the dam?                                               NENG                    The dam is a ship, Mother. The                    government lied to us. There will be a                    big flood.                    The chicken hangs limp in Mrs. Pang's hand.                                               MRS. PANG                    Not here in the mountains... Let's eat                    first.                    The hen panics as she puts its head back on the block,          raising the hatchet again.                                                             (CONTINUED)                                                                                67.                                               NENG                    No mother! We must pack up right away.                                               NENG'S MOTHER                    We took a trip with the Laem Song ferry                    once. Your father was throwing up the                    whole way.                    The door opens and Mr. Pang appears.                                               MR. PANG                    Neng, I did not know you were coming                    for dinner.                    At that moment the hatchet drops with a THUD!                                                                           CUT TO:                              EXT. ANTONOV/OVER THE PACIFIC - NIGHT                    The majestic Antonov is flying high in the Pacific skies.                                               OLEG (O.S.)                    Look, the new Bentley.                              INT. CARGO HOLD/ANTONOV - NIGHT                    The boys are exploring the huge freight deck. Caesar, the          little dog, is traipsing along.                    Alec, Oleg and Noah marvel at a stylish mixture of luxury and          performance cars.                                               ALEC                    Our dad had one on order. We were                    supposed to get it next year.                                               OLEG                    But then he cancelled it again, because                    of the ships.                    Noah points to a 2012 Aston Martin parked further back.                                               NOAH                    If I was rich, I'd get one of those.                                               OLEG                    We have one. How many cars does your                    family have?                                               NOAH                    My Mom's boyfriend has a Porsche, a                    Carrera 4.                                                                        (CONTINUED)                                                                                 68.                                               ALEC                    Our parents are divorced too.                    The boys share a moment of understanding.                                               NOAH                    Nothing we can do about that.                    Noah reaches for the door of the Bentley. To his surprise, it          opens.                                               NOAH (CONT'D)                    Wow... look at this.                    Noah jumps into the car.                                               KATE (O.S.)                    Be careful, Noh'!                    Kate and Lilly are still belted in next to Tamara. Jackson          and Yuri sit on the other side of the Antonov.                                               TAMARA                    How did you meet Dr. Silberman? He's                    great, isn't he?                                               KATE                    I think for the same reasons you did.                    You know, after breast feeding two                    kids...                    Kate looks at Tamara.                                               KATE (CONT'D)                    Did your husband ask you to get your's                    done?                                               TAMARA                    We are not married. And we probably                    never will... But he paid for them.                                               KATE                    I bet he did.                    They laugh.                                               LILLY                    What did the man pay for mommy?                                               KATE                    Nothing, Lil'bee.                    Kate looks over at Jackson who's trying to make sense of          Charlie's map. Tamara catches her looking.                                                                                 (CONTINUED)                                                                                 69.                                               TAMARA                    What's your situation?                    Kate lets out a sigh.                                               KATE                    Way too complicated...                    On the other side of the plane, Yuri has been watching the          two women talk.                                               YURI                    They seem to like each other.                                               JACKSON                    I guess... So tell me Mr. Karpov - how                    much did you pay?                                               YURI                    One billion euro, per seat.                                               JACKSON                    That's disgusting.                                               YURI                    You know Curtis, I wasn't always                    businessman. I am a boxer. Was my only                    playing when I was a boy, back in                    Murmansk. My coach...                            (SMILING)                    ... his name also Yuri... He always                    said: `Someone wants to beat you... he                    has to kill you first'.                    Yuri puts his hand on Jackson's shoulder.                                               YURI (CONT'D)                    What would you have done, if you rich                    like me? Just look at your gorgeous                    kids. And call me Yuri...                    Yuri offers his hand but Jackson doesn't shake it.                    Sasha's voice comes over the radio.                                               SASHA (O.S.)                    Hi guys. The plan is to refuel in                    Hawaii. So, buckle up... Gordon and I                    will do the rest.                              INT. COCKPIT/ANTONOV - NIGHT                    Gordon turns to Sasha.                                                                                   (CONTINUED)                                                                                70.                                               GORDON                    Let's get this straight, Sasha. I'm not                    a pilot. I'm a plastic surgeon. I just                    took some lessons to overcome my fear                    of flying.                                               SASHA                    Why did you give up?                                                GORDON                    It didn't work.                    Gordon points to the declining altimeter.                                               GORDON (CONT'D)                    What about the wheels we lost at take-                    off?                                               SASHA                    There's 14 on each side. Some of them                    must still be there.                    With that, Sasha commences the landing procedure.                              EXT. ANTONOV/OVER HAWAII - NIGHT                    The Antonov dives into a thick layer of clouds.                                               SASHA (O.S.)                    Still nothing from the tower?                              INT. COCKPIT/ANTONOV - NIGHT                    Gordon shakes his head.                    The two pilots stare ahead watching as the clouds slowly          change color, from yellow... to orange.                    They stare out the window in disbelief.                              INT. CARGO HOLD/ANTONOV - NIGHT                    Gordon comes climbing down the metal ladder whispering to          Jackson and Yuri.                                               GORDON                    Guys, you really oughta take a look at                    this.                    Jackson and Yuri follow Gordon back into the cockpit. The          women exchange a worried glance.                                                                                 71.                    INT. COCKPIT/ANTONOV - NIGHT                    When Jackson and Yuri enter, they don't believe their eyes.                                               YURI                    What is that?                                               SASHA                    The State of Hawaii!                                               YURI                    Not good. That is not good.                              EXT. ANTONOV/OVER HAWAII - NIGHT                    From above we watch as the Antonov flies over an endless          ocean of fiery red lava. The Islands of Hawaii have turned          into one big volcano.                              INT. COCKPIT/ANTONOV - NIGHT                                               JACKSON                    How much fuel do we have?                                               SASHA                    Not enough. We'll have to make a water                    landing somewhere in the South China                    Sea.                                               GORDON                    At least we won't need our landing                    gear.                    Yuri wonders.                                               YURI                    What about it?                                               GORDON                    We lost it all... in Vegas.                              EXT. ANTONOV/OVER HAWAII - NIGHT                    The damaged landing gear slowly retracts into the vast belly          of the Antonov as it veers off to the east.                                                                          CUT TO:                              INT. PRESIDENTIAL CABIN/AIR FORCE ONE - NIGHT                    Adrian knocks quietly and sticks his head around the door.          Laura is sitting in her father's chair.                                                             (CONTINUED)                                                                                 72.                                                 ADRIAN                    Can I come in?                                               LAURA                    I've got nothing to say to you.                                                 ADRIAN                    But I do...                    Adrian enters. He has his travel bag in one hand. He looks at          Laura and gathers himself.                                               ADRIAN (CONT'D)                    Your Dad and I... we were trying to                    protect you.                                               LAURA                            (EXPLODING)                    I'm a big girl Adrian. I don't need                    protection. You used me. You guys had                    me gallivanting around the world, as                    part of your little cover-up.                                               ADRIAN                    But you were doing a good job.                                               LAURA                    Sure, if your name's Da Vinci or                    Picasso. But if you're some young                    talent in Podunk, Texas, sorry you're                    not famous enough. People like you and                    Anheuser and my father - you think you                    can play God.                    Adrian takes a moment, he's desperate to make her see.                                               ADRIAN                    You know what your father believed.                    That nature will choose itself from                    itself.                                               LAURA                    That's bullshit and you know it. It's                    the fittest, the richest and the                    strongest that survive.                                                 ADRIAN                    That's not true.                    Adrian glances down and spots Jackson's book poking out of          his bag.                                                                                                     (CONTINUED)                                                                                 73.                                               ADRIAN (CONT'D)                    What would you say were the chances of                    a first time, middle-aged writer, who                    barely sold 500 copies of his novel                    making it on board this plane?                                               LAURA                    Zero. What's your point?                    Adrian pulls out the book from his bag. He shows her.                                               ADRIAN                    It's called `Farewell Atlantis' and                    it's a fantastic read. It's part of our                    legacy now.                    Laura takes this in. The plane's intercom cuts through the          moment.                                               INTERCOM (O.S.)                    Mr. Helmsley, Prof. West requests your                    presence immediately.                    Adrian takes a breath, but before he leaves -                                               ADRIAN                    What if I tried to sort some of this                    mess out? I need to know you can                    forgive me...                    Laura looks at him sadly, but with a little hope.                                               LAURA                    I need to know that too, Adrian.                    Adrian moves for the door. He stops.                                               ADRIAN                    One more thing. Your father told me you                    were the most precious thing to him in                    the whole world... You are to me too.                    As Adrian exits, we hold on Laura's conflicted face.                                                                            CUT TO:                              EXT. WHITE HOUSE/WASHINGTON D.C. - NIGHT                    The cloud from the Yellowstone eruption has hit Washington          D.C. hard. Pennsylvania Avenue resembles a war zone. A ten          inch layer of ash lies on the ground.                    The gates of the White House are wide open, with ash-covered          rescue workers running about, resembling ghosts.                                                                               74.                    INT. WEST WING/WHITE HOUSE - NIGHT                    The President has turned the whole West Wing into a shelter.          He walks through the packed rooms assisting where he can.                    An old African-American LADY holds a crying young girl.          President Wilson kneels down to her.                                               OLD LADY                    She can't find her mother.                                               PRESIDENT                    Why don't you two girls make yourself                    comfy on that big couch? I'll see what                    I can do.                    The child nods. The President gets up.                                               PRESIDENT WILSON                    Sally, can you take care of them. I'll                    go check with the Red Cross...                    As he leaves, the old lady looks up at Sally and smiles.                                               OLD LADY                    No wonder the First Lady fell for him.                    I knew Miss Dorothy Jones long before                    the President, when she was still                    singing jazz down in Atlanta with Harry                    Helmsley.                                               SALLY                    I know, she was amazing.                              EXT. FRONT LAWN/WHITE HOUSE - NIGHT                    The President walks up to the Red Cross tents placed on the          front lawn. He stops one of the Red Cross volunteers.                                               PRESIDENT WILSON                    Who can help me with missing persons?                    Without looking up, the young guy responds.                                               RED CROSS VOLUNTEER                    Sorry man, I'm busy right now.                    He then recognizes who he's talking to.                                               RED CROSS VOLUNTEER (CONT'D)                    I mean, of course sir. I didn't                    realize... What can I do for you, Mr.                    President?                    The President pats him on the shoulder.                                                              (CONTINUED)                                                                                 75.                                               PRESIDENT WILSON                    Don't worry about it. You're doing a                    great job son...                    A deep, low rumble begins, stopping everybody in place.                    As it builds, the President grabs onto a tent pole to secure          himself. He looks out over Washington D.C. His eyes grow          wide...                    The National Mall bends like rubber. The towering Washington          Monument breaks into pieces.                    An even more deafening sound makes him turn--                    The Capitol Building rises from behind the trees, lifted up          by earth's incredible force.                    As the whole building breaks apart, the President is thrown          to the ground.                                                                            CUT TO:                              INT. COMMAND CENTER/AIR FORCE ONE - DAY                    All the officers and scientists are glued to monitors that          show satellite images from all over the globe. Adrian and          Prof. West stare in disbelief.                                               SCIENCE OFFICER                    The capitol was hit by a 9.4.                    Laura enters the command center unnoticed.                                               COMMUNICATIONS OFFICER                    We lost communication with the White                    House, sir.                    She stands there frozen, emotionless. She looks over to          Anheuser, who is shouting orders. Another officer hands him a          phone.                                               LIEUTENANT #2                    President Makarenko for you sir. He's                    just entered Chinese air space.                    Anheuser takes the phone and after a beat answers.                                               ANHEUSER                    That's affirmative, Mr. President.                    Until communication is restored, I am                    in command.                    Adrian and Laura look to each other baffled.                                                                         (CONTINUED)                                                                                 76.                                               ANHEUSER (CONT'D)                    ... It seems all other Heads of State                    are en route, however there are                    unconfirmed reports that the Italian                    Prime Minister has also decided to stay                    behind and trust in prayer rather than                    action...                                                                           CUT TO:                              EXT. ST. PETER'S SQUARE/ROME - DAWN                    Pope Benedict XVI holds mass in St. Peter's Basilica.          Millions of followers flood Vatican City. It's a sea of          candles.                    Amidst the mass of believers we see the Italian Prime          Minister Antonioni with his family clinging to him. They all          are praying.                    A low RUMBLE. People look around frightened. In the distance          we hear SCREAMING.                              INT. SISTINE CHAPEL/CEILING - DAWN                    A few cardinals huddle together in silent prayer under          Michelangelo's famous fresco. Most prominent above them is          `The Creation of Adam'.                    The cardinals look up in horror as the rumbling intensifies.          A crack forms on the ceiling, shooting straight through God          touching the finger of Adam.                    Then the whole fresco breaks apart.                              EXT. ST. PETER'S SQUARE/ROME - DAWN                    The people in St. Peter's square begin to panic--                    The entire Vatican is lifted up in the air. We hold on the          Prime Minister and his family, as the basilica collapses onto          the fleeing masses.                                                                           CUT TO:                              EXT. MOUNT CORCOVADO/RIO DE JANEIRO - DAY                    The giant statue of `Christ the Redeemer' on Mount Corcovado.          Behind it, we see Rio de Janeiro being obliterated by violent          quakes.                                                                                  (CONTINUED)                                                                               77.                    The famous statue of Jesus Christ begins to topple over and          crashes down the mountain.                                                                          CUT TO:                              EXT. MOUNTAIN PASS/TIBET - NIGHT                    Neng Pang, the young Tibetan monk drives his truck up a bumpy          mountain pass. His parents huddle in the back of the pick-up.                    The steering wheel is vibrating badly in his hands as he          slides the clutch and downshifts. As the vehicle slows on the          steep incline, the vibrations become much worse. Neng worries          that the truck may be breaking down.                    He pulls up and switches off the engine but to his surprise          the steering wheel continues to vibrate.                    Looking out the windshield, he sees the whole earth shaking          violently.                                               NENG                            (in Chinese)                    Hold on back there!                    Rocks fall all around them.                                                                          CUT TO:                              INT. THE ANTONOV - NIGHT                    Jackson sits inside one of the luxury cars and tries the          radio. Kate opens the passenger door and gets in.                                               JACKSON                    Couldn't sleep huh? Me neither.                                               KATE                    Anything?                                               JACKSON                    Nothing, just static. Not even an                    emergency signal.                                               KATE                    I can't think about what's going on                    down there.                    Jackson switches off the radio.                                               KATE (CONT'D)                    I wanted to thank you. For coming back                    for us.                                                                       (CONTINUED)                                                                               78.                                               JACKSON                    I couldn't have left you...                    Silence. They both look out through the front windshield at          Lilly and Noah curled up together.                                               KATE                    Do you think people change?                                               JACKSON                    By `people' are we talking about me?                                               KATE                    Do you think you've changed since we                    separated?                                               JACKSON                    Well I certainly eat a lot more cereal                    now...                                               KATE                    You know, you always had tunnel vision.                    You could always just block things out                    and write. You blocked all of us out                    Jackson.                    He thinks about this and can't help asking.                                               JACKSON                    Do you love him? Gordon...                                               KATE                    I love him enough.                    Kate gets out of the car and shuts the door. He watches her          go.                                                                           CUT TO:                              INT. COMMAND CENTER/AIR FORCE ONE - DAY                    The computers buzz with the incoming data.                                               COMMUNICATIONS OFFICER                    ... Cho Ming reports the first tremors,                    however none higher than 5.0.                    Anheuser looks relieved. Then the big news hits.                                               SCIENCE OFFICER #1                    The crust has begun to shift, Prof.                    West.                                                PROF. WEST                    By what degree?                                                              (CONTINUED)                                                                                79.                                               SCIENCE OFFICER #1                    1.2 percent, but still moving.                                               ANHEUSER                    Any clue what to expect next,                    Professor?                                               PROF. WEST                    Once the movement of our land masses                    comes to a halt, we expect the                    formation of tidal waves, sir...                    proportional to the magnitude of the                    corresponding quakes.                    Adrian looks distressed as he turns to one of the officers.                                               ADRIAN                    Do we have any news from the Japanese                    seaboard?                    Laura notices Adrian's concern.                                               SCIENCE OFFICER #2                    We've recorded two quakes averaging                    8.3.                    She grabs Adrian's hand. Anheuser sees this and his          suspicions about them are confirmed. A cold little smile          appears on his face.                                                                             CUT TO:                              INT. SALON/CRUISE SHIP - NIGHT                    Tony is watching TV with a group of passengers. Harry has          just entered and stands near the back of the room.                    A TEENAGE BOY with bad acne searches for an available channel          that is still broadcasting. He finds a news program with          lousy reception.                                               NEWSCASTER                    ... Tokyo seems to have taken the                    severity of the hit... Unconfirmed                    reports indicate that the entire island                    of Japan is below water...                    The signal gets weaker.                    Harry watches Tony slowly stand up. As he turns to his          friend, his knees begin to buckle. His face is pale.                                               TONY                    I called... But I never got through.                                                                        (CONTINUED)                                                                                80.                                               HARRY                    I'm so sorry.                    Tony only stares back at him.                    Behind them, the TV rolls to the side, as the whole room          begins to tilt.                    Harry grabs on to the door frame, as the passengers along          with Tony fall like dominoes.                                               HARRY (CONT'D)                    Tony!!                    As the ship rolls to the side, Harry finds himself hanging          from the door frame now 20 feet off the ground. He's barely          able to pull himself up and roll onto the middle deck.                              EXT. MIDDLE DECK/CRUISE SHIP - NIGHT                    On his back, Harry is shocked to see the star field and the          moon shifting across the sky.                    An eerie sound fills the air. A gigantic swell has formed off          to his right. It's a mountain of water.                    Harry turns to see another gargantuan swell close in from the          other side of the `Freedom of the Seas'.                                                                          CUT TO:                              EXT. SHIBAM/YEMEN - DAY                    The old walled city of Shibam is in ruins. The 2,000-year-old          towers lie on the desert ground. Hundreds of believers have          gathered to pray towards Mecca.                    As they raise their hands to heaven in unison, they slow          their motion and the chanting dissipates.                    They stare into the distance not knowing if what they see is          reality or only a mirage.                    A monstrous tidal wave rises from the desert sands thundering          towards them.                                                                          CUT TO:                              EXT. WHITE HOUSE/WASHINGTON DC - NIGHT                    President Wilson's body lays between the rubble. As he slowly          regains consciousness, all he can hear is the flapping sound          of the collapsed Red Cross tents.                                                             (CONTINUED)                                                                                81.                    As President Wilson gets to his feet, he sees--                    A tidal wave come sweeping over the remains of the Washington          Mall and it carries with it the battleships of the 14th Fleet          of the US Navy that were anchored in Chesapeake Bay.                    The President looks ahead, calm and peaceful.                                               PRESIDENT WILSON                    I'm coming home Dorothy...                    The CAMERA follows the aircraft carrier `USS John F. Kennedy'          as it slams broadside into the White House.                                                                            CUT TO:                              INT. COMMAND CENTER/AIR FORCE ONE - DAY                    Hushed voices. Anheuser, Adrian and Prof. West stand amongst          a group of officers and analysts.                                               COMMUNICATIONS OFFICER #1                    All global ground communication has                    ceased sir.                                               COMMUNICATIONS OFFICER #2                    The only signal our satellites are                    picking up are coming from the vessels                    in Cho Ming.                                               ANHEUSER                    At least some good news.                    Anheuser turns to Adrian.                                               ANHEUSER (CONT'D)                    Would our science advisor care to give                    us his assessment?                                               ADRIAN                    We expect enormous tsunamis to reach                    landfall in every continent. The Cho                    Ming area will be impacted in                    approximately six hours.                    He nods to one of the analysts, who types in a couple of          commands.                                               ADRIAN (CONT'D)                    ... and it looks like the crust has                    shifted by nearly 23 degrees in a south-                    westerly direction. Here's the computer                    simulation.                                                                                   (CONTINUED)                                                                                82.                    Everybody stares as the graphic illustrates what happened to          planet Earth.                                               ADRIAN (CONT'D)                    Our data also shows, that our earth's                    poles have reversed their magnetic                    fields...                            (POINTING)                    ... These are their new positions.                    Anheuser looks at the monitor, then turns to Adrian.                                               ANHEUSER                    So Helmsley, what you're telling us                    here is that... the north pole is now                    somewhere in Wisconsin?                    Silence. Adrian clears his throat.                                               ADRIAN                    It's the south pole, sir.                    An ALARM SIGNAL goes off--                                                                           CUT TO:                              INT. COCKPIT/ANTONOV - DAWN                    A red light blinks on the plane's instrument panel.                                                 YURI (O.S.)                    What's that?                                               SASHA                    Engine failure. GOVNO! Two of six are                    down. We must get ready.                    Yuri and Jackson are standing behind the pilots.                                               JACKSON                    Let's go wake up the kids.                    Yuri nods and they make their way back to the lower deck.                              INT. CARGO HOLD/ANTONOV - DAWN                    Jackson's family are all asleep in their seats, Lilly in her          mom's lap. She looks like a little angel. Jackson can't bear          to wake them. He caresses Lilly's face.                                               NOAH (O.S.)                    Why do you hate Gordon?                    Jackson turns to see Noah is awake.                                                             (CONTINUED)                                                                                 83.                                               JACKSON                    What are you talking about? I don't                    hate Gordon.                                               NOAH                    But you don't like him either.                                               JACKSON                    I don't know him that well.                                               NOAH                    But I know him. He's really nice. You                    should talk to him more often. You guys                    would get along really well.                    This breaks Jackson's heart. He pulls Noah tightly to his          chest.                                               JACKSON                    I'll give it a try, Noah. I promise.                    Kate opens her eyes.                                              KATE                    Is it time?                    Jackson nods.                                               KATE (CONT'D)                    Wake up Lil'bee. We're getting ready to                    land.                    On the opposite side of the aircraft, Yuri and Tamara help          the twins get into their life vests. Noah is suspicious.                                              NOAH                    What's wrong?                    Jackson looks at his kids. They both look scared.                                               JACKSON                    Sasha told us, it could get a little                    bumpy... and wet.                    The Antonov jerks to the side. Two more engines out. Alarm          signals flash.                              EXT. ANTONOV - DAWN                    The remaining two engines barely hold the plane in the air as          it dives into the clouds.                                                                               84.                    INT. CARGO HOLD/ANTONOV - DAWN                    Jackson and his family huddle together. He puts his arms          around Lilly and Noah.                                               JACKSON                    Your daddy has to tell you something.                    In the background, Gordon climbs down from the cockpit. He is          about to speak when he hears Jackson's voice.                                               JACKSON (CONT'D)                    I know that with my writing and work I                    didn't have a lot of time for you                    both...                    Jackson glances at Kate.                                               JACKSON (CONT'D)                    I wasn't there for you, the way I                    should have been.                    Jackson looks Kate directly in the eyes.                                               JACKSON (CONT'D)                    ... And I am so very sorry for that.                    Gordon watches as Kate pulls the kids and Jackson tight. For          the first time, they seem a little like the family they once          were.                                               GORDON (O.S.)                    Jackson, Yuri... I think you guys                    should come back up here.                              INT. COCKPIT/ANTONOV - DAWN                    First Jackson and then Yuri enter the cockpit. Sasha points          out of the window.                                               SASHA                    Don't ask me how that happened.                    Behind them Yuri and Jackson stare at the snow covered          mountains of the Himalayas.                                               SASHA (CONT'D)                    There's no more ocean, and it looks                    like we're pretty close to where we                    wanted to go.                                               GORDON                    It's as if the whole earth shifted by                    1500 miles...                                                                       (CONTINUED)                                                                               85.                                               JACKSON                    No shit.                            (BEAT)                    It's called 'Earth Crust Displacement'                    Gordon... Prof. Hapgood, 1958.                    Jackson brims with joy.                                               JACKSON (CONT'D)                    Way to go Charlie!                    A JOLT!                                               SASHA                    We lost our last two engines.                    The plane drops rapidly, nearly scraping the tip of a          mountain. Sasha and Gordon are doing all they can to keep the          Antonov in the air.                    A vast glacier spreads out in front of them.                                               SASHA (CONT'D)                    I'll shoot for that glacier. Drain the                    brake fluids. It's going to get                    rocky... There, the blue levers!                    The plane plummets, loosing altitude fast.                                               SASHA (CONT'D)                    Listen up guys! This may sound a little                    crazy, but here's what you got to do...                              INT. CARGO HOLD/ANTONOV - DAWN                    Jackson and Yuri come running. Yuri yells at his boys.                                               YURI                            (in Russian)                    Get up! Follow me!                                               TAMARA                    Yuri bear, what are we doing?                                               YURI                    We're taking the Bentley!                              INT. COCKPIT/ANTONOV - DAWN                    Sasha is struggling with the gyrating wheel. The glittering          snow field comes flying towards them.                                                                                            (CONTINUED)                                                                               86.                                               SASHA                    CHTO ZA... Gordon! We're still too                    fast!                    Sasha pulls the Antonov back up.                                                 SASHA (CONT'D)                    Now! Open it!                    Gordon yanks with all his might. A loud NOISE.                              INT. CARGO HOLD/ANTONOV - DAWN                    The cargo door drops open. The Antonov is extremely close to          the glacier's surface.                    Jackson tries to start the Bentley, but nothing happens.          Everyone screams in panic.                                               YURI                    SHUT UP EVERY ONE!                    They all go quiet, except for a few muffled barks from          Caesar. Yuri speaks towards the dashboard, slowly and          clearly.                                               YURI (CONT'D)                    Engine... start...                    The motor revs to life. Yuri looks at Jackson.                                               YURI (CONT'D)                    Voice control... Sold me on it.                              INT. COCKPIT/ANTONOV - DAWN                    Sasha barely holds on. He yells at Gordon.                                               SASHA                    Your turn Gordon! Go! Make sure that                    they make it out of here before I touch                    down!                                                 GORDON                    What about you?!                                               SASHA                    I'll be fine! I have to land this                    thing!                    Gordon hesitates.                                               SASHA (CONT'D)                    What are you waiting for!                                                              (CONTINUED)                                                                                 87.                    Sasha nods at him reassuringly. Gordon bolts out.                              INT. CARGO HOLD/ANTONOV - DAWN                    The cargo door scrapes against the glacier, hurling ice          everywhere. The Bentley roars.                                                YURI (O.S.)                    Push it Curtis!                                               JACKSON                    We're waiting for Sasha and Gordon.                    Noah turns and sees Gordon.                                               NOAH                    Tamara! Open the door!                    Gordon jumps in. Tamara yells at him in desperation.                                                TAMARA                    Where's Sasha?                                               GORDON                    He said he'll be fine and we should get                    out of here before he touches down.                    Yuri notices Tamara's distress as she keeps looking back to          the cockpit. Jackson slams the pedal down trying to gain as          much speed as possible to soften their landing.                                                LILLY                    Daaadddy!                    The Bentley shoots out the back of the plane. As it hits the          snow, the air bags deploy cushioning the passengers.                    The Antonov hits the ice and catapults the rest of the luxury          cars out of the back cargo hold. They barrel past the Bentley          like skittles, narrowly missing it as they fly off in          opposite directions.                    The plane skids across the glacier, clipping its wing and          causing the aircraft to break apart.                    Sasha has no control anymore and watches helplessly as he          shoots towards the ledge in the Antonov, plunging into the          deep.                    The plane crashes and explodes.                                                                                 88.                    EXT. GLACIER/TIBET - DAWN                    As the snow settles we see that the glacier is scattered with          luxury cars tomb-stoned in the snow.                    The Bentley is half buried. We hear Caesar barking.                                               JACKSON (O.S.)                    Everybody okay back there?                                                KATE (O.S.)                    We're all fine.                    The door opens and Jackson climbs out, looking around. Just          above the wind, he hears the SOUND OF HELICOPTER BLADES.                    One by one the others appear behind Jackson and stare at a          surreal sight--                    Several Chinese Mil-26 choppers airlift animals over the          mountain pass.                    GIRAFFES, ZEBRAS, EVEN ELEPHANTS hang by huge straps from          these flying machines.                    One of the smaller helicopters veers from the transport fleet          and lands near the Bentley.                    Armed soldiers jump out. Their Commander speaks to them in a          sharp tone.                                               CHINESE COMMANDER                    Welcome to the People's Republic of                    China.                    Jackson nods to them.                                               JACKSON                    Thank you...                            (to Lilly and Noah)                    Say thank you, kids.                    The others acknowledge the soldiers as well. Hi... Hello...                                               CHINESE COMMANDER                    What color are your passes?                    Jackson stands dumbfounded. The Commander repeats.                                               CHINESE COMMANDER (CONT'D)                    What color are your boarding passes?                    Still no answer. He yells an order. The soldiers point their          guns at them.                                                                                   (CONTINUED)                                                                              89.                                               YURI (O.S.)                    I have green card.                    Surprised, Jackson turns to Yuri who's holding up three green          plastic cards.                                               YURI (CONT'D)                    For my boys and me.                    Tamara can't believe what she's hearing.                                               TAMARA                    It's a joke... a mistake...                            (LAUGHING)                    Right Yuri?                    Yuri shrugs. Tamara lunges at him.                                               TAMARA (CONT'D)                            (in Russian)                    You disgust me. You pig.                    Yuri brushes her off, coldly. And then speaks so they can all          understand him.                                               YURI                    You think I did not know about you and                    Sasha? May god rest that poor bastard's                    soul.                    With that Yuri turns to the others.                                               YURI (CONT'D)                    I am sorry guys. Good luck. And Jackson                    remember, if someone wants to beat                    you... he has to kill you first. Come                    boys!                    The twins grab Caesar and climb into the helicopter. The dog          barks furiously, wanting to stay with Tamara.                    The next moment, the helicopter takes off.                                               GORDON                    What!... Did that just happen!?                    They're stranded.                                                                          CUT TO:                              EXT. AIRFIELD IN CHO MING VALLEY/TIBET - DAWN                    Air Force One is in the background as Laura, Anheuser, and          other members of the crew are rushed towards a group of          waiting helicopters.                                                             (CONTINUED)                                                                                 90.                    Adrian is a little way back in the middle of the pack. A          Chinese Officer with a list shouts over the noise.                                               CHINESE OFFICER                            (POINTING)                    Mr. Anheuser - you're in Chopper 1. Dr.                    Wilson the same.                    Laura and Anheuser reach the chopper. An authoritative Naval          Officer greets them, and raises his voice.                                               CAPTAIN MICHAELS                    I'm Captain Richard Michaels. I'm the                    skipper of the American boat sir. After                    you!                    Anheuser nods and climbs in the chopper. Captain Michaels          helps Laura in. Adrian arrives just as the Chopper door          slides shut and it lifts off.                              INT. HELICOPTER/CHO MING VALLEY/TIBET - DAWN                    Laura catches Adrian's look of unease before they soar away.                                               CAPTAIN MICHAELS                    My sincerest condolences Dr. Wilson,                    for your father...                    Laura's look thanks him for this. He turns to Anheuser.                                               CAPTAIN MICHAELS (CONT'D)                    Your party is the last to arrive.                                               ANHEUSER                    I've been told of damages?                                               CAPTAIN MICHAELS                    We haven't completed the assessment but                    it looks like we lost Number 4 when the                    crust shifted.                    Captain Michaels looks up and points into the distance.                                              CAPTAIN MICHAELS (CONT'D)                    There it is!                              EXT. CHO MING VALLEY/TIBET - DAWN                    The CAMERA follows the choppers revealing--                    Nine gigantic oval gates that measure at least 60 stories,          built into the face of a mountain.                                                                                  (CONTINUED)                                                                                 91.                    In front of every gate there is a line of huge `Y' shaped          metal support structures, which are the launching towers for          the ships. They are each at least 800 feet high. It's an          unparalleled feat of engineering.                              EXT. CHOPPER/CHO MING VALLEY - DAWN                    The lead chopper descends onto a platform in front of one of          the gates, dwarfed against this majestic setting.                    The door slides open and Anheuser jumps out. Laura follows.          She looks around in awe.                    Even the utility entrances that lead into the mountain are          immense. The Captain guides them into the hollow mountain.                    In the BACKGROUND we see an angry Yuri scream and argue with          military personnel, waving his tickets.                                               YURI                    What do mean we can't board Number 4? I                    want to speak to your supervisor.                                               SOLDIER                    I am the supervisor! Now get in line                    with all the others while we make                    arrangements.                                               YURI                    I want your name!                                               SOLDIER                            (pointing to his                             BADGE)                    Can you read? Now get the hell back                    with the other green cards, or I'll                    have you detained.                    The twins stand nearby, holding Caesar. They look afraid.                                                                           CUT TO:                              EXT. THE GLACIER/CHO MING - DAWN                    Jackson and his group are small specks in a barren landscape.          They have made it down the glacier and are now walking over a          scree field.                    It is hard going. Jackson carries Lilly.                                               JACKSON                    Keep thinking warm thoughts sweetheart.                    You're doing great.                                                                        (CONTINUED)                                                                                 92.                    Kate holds Noah by the hand. Gordon and Tamara trail behind.          She's still very upset.                                               TAMARA                    I should have listened to you, Dr.                    Silberman. I actually liked the way I                    looked before that monster talked me                    into it.                                               GORDON                    Did you know he asked for a discount...                    and he paid in installments?                                               TAMARA                    Cheap bastard.                                               GORDON                    You're better off without him. What he                    said about you and Sasha, is it true?                    Tamara nods silently.                                               TAMARA                    Now that he's gone I think he was worth                    a hundred times a man like Yuri.                    Suddenly they hear the PUTTERING of an engine.                                               JACKSON                    You guys hear that?                    In the distance, an old rusty truck comes bumping down the          dirt road. Jackson puts down Lilly and chases after it.                              EXT. DIRT ROAD/NEAR CHO MING - DAWN                    Neng and his parents drive past, billowing a huge cloud of          dust just as Jackson reaches the road.                                               JACKSON                            (out of breath)                    Hey! Help! Wait for us!                    But Neng doesn't hear him over the rattling truck. Jackson,          pissed, kicks at the rocks on the road.                                               JACKSON (CONT'D)                    Shit! Shit!                    Just then, Neng's mother, sitting in the back of the truck,          turns and sees his tantrum. She bangs on the rear window of          the cabin.                    Neng looks in the mirror and hits the brakes. Jackson can't          believe his luck.                                                             (CONTINUED)                                                                                93.                    The others show up and they all run towards the truck.                                                                             CUT TO:                              INT. INSIDE MOUNTAIN/CHO MING - DAWN                    Anheuser and Laura follow Captain Michaels and a Chinese          Steward over one of the many boarding bridges erected inside          the cavernous mountain that lead to one of the monstrous          arks. Laura stops halfway, gazing in awe--                    Deep down below, thousands of workers are swarming over the          ship, readying it for launch.                    Laura looks up and sees the contrast, spotting the SHEIK we          met in the Dorchester Hotel as he boards comfortably with his          huge family.                    Laura points down at the workers.                                               LAURA                    Captain Michaels? What happens to all                    those people?                    The Captain doesn't know what to say. Anheuser turns.                                               ANHEUSER                    Dr. Wilson, there's a protocol for all                    that. You just stick to your art. We'll                    handle the rest.                    Laura hates him in that moment.                                               ANHEUSER (CONT'D)                    Captain? Where is the Bridge?                    Anheuser and Captain Michaels move away as Laura stands and          watches the frantic workers who are now boarding the animals          we saw being airlifted over the mountains.                                               CHINESE STEWARD (O.S.)                    Dr. Wilson? Your cabin is this way.                    Laura has a look of guilt as she follows the steward.                                                                             CUT TO:                              EXT. NAMPAN MOUNTAINS/EAST COAST OF INDIA - SUNRISE                    Thousands are on the march up the mountains. Behind them a          valley stretches into the horizon. Plumes of smoke rise from          destroyed cities in the distance.                                                                                  (CONTINUED)                                                                                 94.                    Amongst the refugees, we discover Satnam, the young          astrophysicist, holding his little son. The rest of Satnam's          family trails behind.                    Distant WARNING SIRENS pierce the silent march, coming from          the cities below.                    People start to scream and run, but Satnam stands there          frozen. He fumbles for his satellite phone, then hits a          number on its speed dial.                              INT. LIVING QUARTERS/AMERICAN SHIP - SUNRISE                    Adrian is unpacking. He lays down his copy of `Farewell          Atlantis' just as his cell phone rings.                                               ADRIAN                    Satnam?                            (CONFUSED)                    Where are you?                                               SATNAM (O.S.)                    On the Nampan Plateau...                    Adrian's face goes pale.                                               ADRIAN                    What?!                                               SATNAM                    There's a tidal wave coming from the                    East! It's huge!                                               ADRIAN                    Satnam, what happened?                                               SATNAM (O.S.)                    We never got picked up, Adrian, the                    airlift never came!                    Adrian closes his eyes.                              EXT. NAMPAN MOUNTAINS/EAST COAST OF INDIA - SUNRISE                    Satnam swallows hard. He stares out into the valley.                                               SATNAM                    I have to go!                    A wall of undulating foam and debris comes rolling towards          him. A tidal wave of gigantic height.                    Everybody panics and scratches for a higher elevation. But          for Satnam it is clear, they do not stand a chance.                                                             (CONTINUED)                                                                                95.                    He picks up his little son, squeezing him tightly to his          chest, humming an Indian lullaby for the scared child.                              INT. LIVING QUARTERS/AMERICAN SHIP - SUNRISE                    Adrian hears SCREAMING on the phone and the deafening sound          of the approaching wave. He tenses up, desperate but unable          to do anything.                    As the noise reaches its height, the line goes dead. Adrian          is left breathless.                              INT. BRIDGE/AMERICAN SHIP - SUNRISE                    Adrian storms onto the bridge. Many officers and analysts are          at work under Captain Michaels.                                               ADRIAN                    Do we have the latest satellite images                    of Napam, India?                                                 SCIENCE OFFICER                    One moment, sir.                    Anheuser and Prof. West step over and join him.                                               ANHEUSER                    Helmsley, what's going on here?                                               ADRIAN                    Looks like our model was wrong.                    They all stare at the monitor showing several tidal waves          coming in from the south.                                               ADRIAN (CONT'D)                    Satnam was talking about a wave from                    the East.                    A science officer selects a different quadrant on the          satellite display. They all stare at the new tidal wave          that's coming from the East of the Cho Ming valley.                                                 PROF. WEST                    Jesus!                    Anheuser is shocked.                                               ANHEUSER                    What does this mean?                                                                                                     (CONTINUED)                                                                                 96.                                               ADRIAN                    The flooding will happen earlier.                    Bobby, can you plug in the new data                    please?                    As the officer does this, Prof. West looks at Adrian with          questioning eyes.                                               ADRIAN (CONT'D)                    Satnam didn't get picked up.                    Prof. West is horrified.                                               SCIENCE OFFICER (O.S.)                    Ready sir.                    Adrian turns back to the monitor and sees the new tidal wave          that is coming towards the Cho Ming valley.                                               ADRIAN                    This one is at least 1500    meters high!                                               ANHEUSER                    Talk to me Helmsley. What does this                    mean for us?                                               ADRIAN                    Bobby, plug in the new data and adjust                    the count down?                    Every one on the bridge stares at a display. It reads--                    02hrs - 09min - 07sec                    The science officer nervously hits a few keys and the display          changes to--                    00hrs - 28min - 10sec... and counting.                    We see the shock on Anheuser's face.                                               ANHEUSER                    Get me the other Heads of State.                                                                             CUT TO:                              EXT. GATE/CHO MING SITE - EARLY MORNING                    Neng's truck, loaded with Jackson and the others, creeps up          to the service entrance of the launch site.                    A lone figure awaits them. This is Neng's older brother Lin,          who we saw signing up for the 'Chinese Dam Project'.                    Lin notices the strangers in the pick-up truck.                                                                (CONTINUED)                                                                              97.                                               LIN                            (in Chinese)                    Who are they?                    Neng answers hesitantly.                                               NENG                    We found them by the side of the road,                    my brother.                                               LIN                    You must send them back.                                               NENG                    I am a follower of the great Lama Yak                    La. You know I cannot do that.                    The others watch the interaction but do not understand.          Jackson senses a problem. He grabs Lilly and Noah.                                                 JACKSON                    Come with daddy.                    Gordon and Tamara stare perplexed as Jackson approaches Lin          with his kids.                                               JACKSON (CONT'D)                    At least take our children with you.                    Please.                    Lin answers in broken English.                                               LIN                    Why should I do that?                                               JACKSON                    For the same reason you sent for your                    parents.                    Lin stares at him stone faced. In desperation, Kate turns to          Mrs. Pang.                                               KATE                    I have no clue if you understand what                    I'm saying, but I ask you as a mother,                    please take my kids with you!                    Silence. A beat. The old Chinese lady turns to Lin.                                               MRS. PANG                            (in Chinese)                    We are all children of this earth.                                               LIN                    My plan will not work for so many,                    mother.                                                             (CONTINUED)                                                                                98.                    She looks up at her son, determined.                                               MRS. PANG                    We will take them all. Bata?                    Mr. Pang nods and reluctantly, Lin motions to Jackson to          follow. Kate bows to Mrs. Pang.                                               KATE                    Thank you ma'am. Thank you so much.                    Jackson and the others acknowledge what Kate has done.                                                                             CUT TO:                              INT. SHIP BAY/CHO MING - EARLY MORNING                    We finally reveal the unbelievable magnitude of this ship          yard, built into the hollow belly of the mountains.                    Nine gargantuan vessels are lined up next to each other.          Their size is at least four times that of the `Freedom of the          Seas'. However, they look more like spaceships than anything,          having been built aerodynamically to withstand the full force          of nature.                    But only three of these monstrous ARKS are complete. Number 4          is being repaired, all the others are still under          construction, surrounded by scaffolding.                    Suddenly SIRENS goes off!                    The boarding bridges to the finished vessels begin to          retract. There's growing confusion among the thousands of          workers and security personnel.                              INT. PLATFORM, SHIP BAY/CHO MING - EARLY MORNING                    Opposite the boarding bridges, on a large platform, Yuri and          his boys sit in line with the other waiting passengers.                    They watch as massive stern gates begin to close. Yuri jumps          up and yells to the others.                                               YURI                    They're leaving without us!                    The soldier from earlier points his gun at him.                                               SOLDIER                    What did I tell you!                    Caesar barks at the guy.                                                                       (CONTINUED)                                                                                 99.                                               YURI                            (POINTING)                    Look! Idiot! They are leaving you                    behind too!                    The soldier turns to the ships and Yuri knocks him out. He          grabs his boys and runs towards the closing gates. All the          other passengers surge forward with him.                    In the distance, on the bow side of the ships, the huge          mountain gates of the bay open, revealing a stunning view of          Cho Ming Valley.                                                                            CUT TO:                              EXT. MOUNTAIN RIDGE/CHO MING - MORNING                    Lin leads his group over a ridge. In front of their eyes--                    The gates to the mountain open!                                               LIN                            (in Chinese)                    We have to hurry!                            (to Jackson)                    They launch! We run out of time!                    They follow Lin rushing down the hill, towards one of the          many Y-shaped launch structures towering in front of the          gates. Neng and Kate help Mr. and Mrs. Pang down the rocky          terrain.                              INT. SHIP BAY/CHO MING - MORNING                    A screeching and thundering noise!                    THE THREE COMPLETED VESSELS BEGIN TO INCH FORWARD on metal          girders connecting the Y-shaped launch towers.                              INT. LIVING QUARTERS/AMERICAN SHIP - MORNING                    Laura feels a jolt. She rushes out of her small cabin and          into a swarm of people moving down a crammed endless          corridor. She struggles to fight her way through.                    A digital voice blares over the speakers.                                               COMPUTER VOICE                    Countdown to departure. Launch in 17                    minutes - 42 seconds.                    Laura bumps into one of Adrian's Science Officers.                                                                         (CONTINUED)                                                                               100.                                               LAURA                    Where can I find Adrian Helmsley?                                               SCIENCE OFFICER                    He's in the Technical Command Centre.                    Follow me.                              EXT. LAUNCH SITE/CHO MING VALLEY - MORNING                    The three gigantic vessels emerge from the mountain, into the          open. Support helicopters swarm around them like flies.                              EXT. BENEATH A LAUNCHING TOWER/CHO-MING - MORNING                    Lin and his group look like ants as they scale the metal          ladders of one of the launch towers.                              INT. BRIDGE/AMERICAN SHIP - MORNING                    Verbal commands fly back and forth. Anheuser watches the          preparations from a large window.                    He looks over to the command bridges of the other vessels as          they continue to be pulled into place.                              INT. COMMAND BRIDGES/OTHER SHIPS - MORNING                    We cut to the various Heads of State, all at their command          posts.                              EXT. TOP OF LAUNCHING TOWER/CHO MING - MORNING                    A hatch opens at the top of the launch tower. Lin is the          first to climb out.                    Right before his eyes, the hull of the American Ship slowly          creeps towards him. He's but a speck against this man-made          behemoth.                    Lin hastily pulls the others up.                                               LIN                            (in Chinese)                    Faster, Neng! Help father! Mother, give                    me your hand.                    It's a race against time. The huge ship's hull closes in          fast. Lin and his family crawl up the side arm while Jackson          hurries to pull up the rest of the group.                    Lilly freezes at the sight of the approaching ship.                                                             (CONTINUED)                                                                                101.                                              JACKSON                    Move Lil'bee!                    Jackson rips her out of harm's way, just in time. In a          frenzy, he pushes her up the support arm where the others are          already huddled on a small platform.                    As the towering wall of steel passes by them, inches from          their faces, Mr. Pang loses his balance. Jackson and Lin both          see this, but Jackson is closer--                    He grabs the old man by his arm, saving him from falling to          his death.                    For the first time, Lin acknowledges Jackson with a nod.                              EXT. SHIP BAY/CHO MING SITE - MORNING                    The three completed ships are half way out, grinding to their          final launching position.                    A mob of passengers led by Yuri has fought their way to the          ship. More and more people join them, including soldiers.                              EXT. TOP OF LAUNCHING TOWER/CHO MING - MORNING                    Lin, Jackson and the group are huddled on the platform.                    The sound of SCREAMING PEOPLE makes them turn. The storming          masses have arrived at the access platform. There is now a          huge drop off between them and the tails of the ships.                                               TAMARA                            (POINTING)                    Oh my god, that's Yuri!                    Next to Yuri are his twins, holding Caesar. She yells!                                              TAMARA (CONT'D)                    Caesar!                              EXT. ACCESS PLATFORM/CHO MING SITE - MORNING                    The little dog hears Tamara and jumps out of Oleg's arms,          leaping onto one of the thick cables, that connects the          platform with the launching towers.                    Alec and Oleg attempt to run after Caesar, but Yuri grabs          them by their necks.                                               YURI                    Let that stupid dog go!                                                                      (CONTINUED)                                                                                102.                    He's panicked. The arriving masses are pushing them to the          drop off at the edge of the platform.                              EXT. TOP OF LAUNCHING TOWER/CHO MING - MORNING                    The ship has reached its targeted position. A small hatch          lines up directly in front of Lin and his group.                                               LIN                            (in Chinese)                    Okay. Now!                    One by one they all climb into the hatch. Jackson being the          last in, notices that Tamara has stayed back.                                               JACKSON                    Tamara! Come on! Get in!                    She doesn't move, anxiously waiting for her beloved dog          darting towards her.                              EXT. ACCESS PLATFORM/CHO MING SITE - MORNING                    The mob pushes at Yuri and his boys. Passengers on either          side tumble off the platform.                    Yuri watches one of them fall, hitting his head against a          tiny ledge 8 feet below. To his right, he sees a small ladder          leading down.                                               YURI                            (in Russian)                    Down there! Oleg, you go first!                    As they hurry down the ladder, people keep tumbling into the          deep. Reaching the ledge, Oleg discovers Caesar running          towards Tamara.                                               OLEG                    Daddy look, Tamara!                    Yuri cannot believe his eyes.                              EXT. TOP OF LAUNCHING TOWER/CHO MING SITE - MORNING                    The hatch behind Tamara begins to move. The hydraulic          supports are being lifted, sealing up the vessel.                                                TAMARA                    Caesar darling!                    Jackson reaches out from the closing hatch.                                                                      (CONTINUED)                                                                                103.                                                JACKSON                    Tamara! Get in!                    Tamara climbs inside the hatch and turns.                                                TAMARA                    Come to mommy!                    Caesar leaps into her arms only seconds before the hatch          seals. As a last gesture, Tamara sticks out her arm and gives          Yuri the finger.                              INT. HYDRAULIC CHAMBER/AMERICAN SHIP - MORNING                    Lin leads the group into a long and narrow chamber where the          hydraulics for the tail gate are located.                    He opens a tool cabinet, retrieving a giant electrical power          drill, almost too big to be carried by one person.                    Lin climbs to a hatch near the ceiling and begins to unscrew          the huge bolts. He looks at Jackson.                                               LIN                    I need your help.                              INT. TECHNICAL COMMAND CENTER/AMERICAN SHIP - DAY                    Laura and the Science Officer enter the Technical Command          Center. She finds Adrian staring at a wall of monitors          showing the horrifying scenario on the platforms.                    People are falling to their deaths in large numbers in their          desperation to board the ship.                                               LAURA                    What in god's name is happening Adrian?                                               ADRIAN                    Anheuser convinced them all to launch.                    Outside, panicking workers, screaming for their life!          Deserted passengers waving their green cards!                    Adrian makes a decision and rushes out.                              INT. BRIDGE/AMERICAN SHIP - DAY                    Anheuser turns hearing Adrian storming onto the bridge.                                               ADRIAN                    Anheuser! We have to stop this madness.                                                                        (CONTINUED)                                                                                104.                    With that, Adrian turns to the Communication Officer.                                               ADRIAN (CONT'D)                    Bobby, make sure the other bridges can                    hear this.                    The officer hesitates as Laura enters in the background.                                               ANHEUSER                    What do you think you're doing?                                               ADRIAN                    I know exactly what I'm doing.                            (To Bobby)                    Turn it on!                    Bobby flicks a switch. Adrian's voice echoes through all the          ships.                                               ADRIAN (CONT'D)                    This is Adrian Helmsley, science                    advisor to President Wilson...                              INT. BRIDGE/EUROPEAN SHIP - DAY                    The German Chancellor turns to one of the technicians on the          bridge of the European Ship.                                               GERMAN CHANCELLOR                    Can you please turn up the volume, Mr.                    Hoffmann?                    Next to her stand the British and French Prime Ministers.                                               ADRIAN (O.S.)                    I know we've all been involved in                    making difficult decisions... to save                    our human civilization...                              INT. BRIDGE/AMERICAN SHIP - DAY                    Anheuser looks on stoney faced.                                               ADRIAN                    ... But to be human means to care for                    each other, and civilization means to                    work together to create a better life.                    If that's true there is nothing human                    and nothing civilized about what we're                    doing here. Ask yourselves ... Can we                    really stand by and let all those                    people out there die?                    Laura watches him proudly.                                                             (CONTINUED)                                                                               105.                                                ADRIAN (CONT'D)                     A civilization that allows that, does                     not deserve to survive.                             (PAUSE)                     Or at least I don't want to be part of                     it.                    Anheuser cuts in with sarcasm.                                                ANHEUSER                     We'll miss you Helmsley but somehow                     we'll get by. Officer switch that off.                    The Communications Officer looks at Adrian.                                                ANHEUSER (CONT'D)                     That's an order soldier.                                                 ADRIAN                     Don't do it!                              INT. BRIDGE/ASIAN SHIP - DAY                    The Russian President, together with the heads of state from          China and Japan, listen in as Adrian responds.                                                ADRIAN (O.S.)                     We have to open our gates and let these                     people in. All of them.                              INT. BRIDGE/AMERICAN SHIP - DAY                    Anheuser has had enough.                                                ANHEUSER                     Have you lost your mind? Look at the                     countdown. We have less than five                     minutes left... And none of our ships                     have the resources to feed those                     people. If you save them today we all                     starve tomorrow.                    He's almost screaming now.                                                ANHEUSER (CONT'D)                     Do you wanna be responsible for the                     extinction of the human race? Can you                     handle that, Adrian?!                    Silence.                    Adrian's battle seems lost. But he doesn't give up, and          instead speaks softly now.                                                                         (CONTINUED)                                                                          106.                                               ADRIAN                    There is a young astrophysicist from                    India who is the reason we are all                    here, trying to give mankind a second                    chance. He's the one who discovered it                    all, the one who connected the dots. We                    all owe him our lives.                    All eyes are glued to Adrian.                                               ADRIAN (CONT'D)                    I just learned that he was killed with                    his family by a tsunami in eastern                    India. You know why?                    Adrian stares Anheuser in the eyes as he continues.                                               ADRIAN (CONT'D)                    He died because we forgot to pick him                    up.                            (PAUSE)                    I beg you... whatever our future holds                    don't let us start it with an act of                    cruelty. What will you tell your                    children... and their children?                    Silence. Laura steps up alongside Adrian.                                               LAURA                    If my father were here, he would open                    the gates.                    Adrian and Laura share a look.                                               RUSSIAN PRESIDENT (O.S.)                    The people of Russia along with...                              INT. BRIDGE/ASIAN SHIP - DAY                    His Asian colleagues nod in approval.                                               RUSSIAN PRESIDENT                    ... China and Japan agree to open the                    gates.                              INT. BRIDGE/EUROPEAN SHIP - DAY                    The German Chancellor speaks up.                                               GERMAN CHANCELLOR                    The United Kingdom, Spain, France and                    Germany, and I believe I can also speak                    for the Italian Prime Minister...                                                                              107.                    INT. BRIDGE/AMERICAN SHIP - DAY                                               GERMAN CHANCELLOR (O.S.)                    ... We vote to open the gates.                    Laura and Adrian watch Anheuser shaking his head in defeat.          Bobby, the Communications Officer smiles with relief. Adrian          turns to the Captain.                                               ADRIAN                    Captain Michaels, you heard them.                              EXT. LAUNCH SITE/CHO MING VALLEY - DAY                    One by one the gigantic gates at the stern of the three ships          begin to creek open.                    The masses gathered on the platform CHEER wildly!                              INT. ZOOLOGICAL BAY/AMERICAN SHIP - DAY                    Lilly crawls through the CONNECTING TUNNEL meeting up with          Kate in a large bay on the other side.                                               LILLY                    Phew... It stinks in here.                    Together with Neng and his parents, they all look up in          DISBELIEF--                    A Giraffe, chewing her cud, smiles down at them. Caesar barks          at her.                                               TAMARA                    Sssh...Caesar.                    A second later, hundreds of different ANIMALS RESPOND. They          are in the zoological bay.                              INT. HYDRAULIC CHAMBER/AMERICAN SHIP - DAY                    Gordon helps Noah up the small ladder leading to the          connecting tunnel.                    Just as he goes to hand him Jackson's backpack, the HYDRAULIC          MOTORS begin to GROWL! Lin looks up in panic. He screams.                                               LIN                    They're opening the gate! It will crush                    us!                    The whole ceiling begins to lower towards them. From down          below, Jackson sees his son about to be hit by it.                                                             (CONTINUED)                                                                                108.                                                 JACKSON                    Noah! Watch out!                    Gordon makes a split second decision. With all his strength,          he shoves the boy into the tunnel.                              INT. ZOOLOGICAL BAY/AMERICAN SHIP - DAY                    From the other side of the tunnel, Kate watches as the metal          ceiling misses Noah by a hair, but catches Gordon, wiping him          off the ladder.                                                 KATE                    No!                              INT. HYDRAULIC CHAMBER/AMERICAN SHIP - DAY                    Jackson watches helplessly as Gordon falls past him. He          survives his landing and desperately tries to grab on to the          sloping surface, but he can't. He slips.                    Gordon is crushed between the gears, sharing his last look          with Jackson before he dies.                              INT. ZOOLOGICAL BAY/AMERICAN SHIP - DAY                    Kate helps a trembling Noah out of the tunnel.                                               NOAH                    Something happened, mom.                    Kate pulls him close and shuts her eyes tightly. She fights          back the tears.                              INT. HYDRAULIC CHAMBER/AMERICAN SHIP - DAY                    Jackson and Lin know they're running out of time, their          remaining space is shrinking every second.                                               JACKSON                    We have to stop it!                    Lin grabs the huge electrical power drill nearby and attempts          to jam it between the hydraulic arm and the wall.                    As it digs deeper into the metal, the hydraulic starts to          slow down.                                                                                109.                    EXT. ACCESS PLATFORM/CHO MING - DAY                    Still on the ledge, Yuri and the boys watch as the huge          boarding gate lowers towards them. They are trapped.                    Just then, the gates begin to slow, but surely they will be          crushed.                              INT. HYDRAULIC CHAMBER/AMERICAN SHIP - DAY                    Back in the chamber, Lin still struggles with the drill.          Suddenly he slips.                    Jackson manages to catch his fall. But in the process Lin's          foot gets caught between the gears, mangling it.                    He screams in pain as the hydraulic slowly grinds towards a          halt.                                               JACKSON                    You did it, man. You did it.                    In great pain, Lin grins back at him.                              EXT. LAUNCH SITE/CHO MING VALLEY - DAY                    The gates of the ships hit the access platform with a          thundering noise. People begin to rush on board.                              INT. BRIDGE/AMERICAN SHIP - DAY                    Alarm signals go off. The Captain turns to one of his          officers.                                               CAPTAIN MICHAELS                    What's wrong with the gate?                                               OFFICER                    I don't know. Maybe there's something                    jamming it, sir.                    The countdown on the monitor reads 2 min. 40 sec. Laura and          Adrian share a worried look.                    We hear a HOLLOW BELL ring!                                                                            CUT TO:                              EXT. YAK LA MONASTERY/TIBET - DAY                    Lama Yak La rings the large bronze bell of his monastery.                                                                      (CONTINUED)                                                                                110.                    The booming sound echoes through the Cho Ming valley. As a          gentle wind catches the Lama's clothes, he looks up--                    A tidal wave of immeasurable proportion crests the mountains.                    The Lama continues to strike the bell as the monastery is          wiped clean from the earth.                                                                           CUT TO:                              INT. BRIDGE/AMERICAN SHIP - DAY                    The technicians desperately try to figure out what's wrong.          An officer waves Adrian over.                                               SURVEILLANCE OFFICER                    Sir, we have a breach in the zoological                    bay.                                                 ADRIAN                    Can you zoom in?                    The video camera moves in on Kate, Noah and Lilly. Adrian          can't believe his eyes. He turns to Laura.                                               ADRIAN (CONT'D)                    I know those kids. Remember the book I                    told you about? Their father wrote it.                    Captain Michaels shouts across the room.                                               CAPTAIN MICHAELS                    We're loaded. We can close the gates                    sir.                                                 ANHEUSER                    Do it!                    Anheuser looks nervously at the countdown. It reads 1:34                              EXT. ACCESS PLATFORM/CHO MING SITE - DAY                    Above Yuri and the boys, people are leaping from the access          platform onto the stern gate of the American ship.                    Yuri looks for a hole in the flow of people before seizing          his chance and lifting the first of his boys up.                                               YURI                            (in Russian)                    Pull yourself up!                    Oleg manages to reach up and hold onto the gate.                                                                        (CONTINUED)                                                                               111.                    Inside the ship, officers yell.                                               DECK OFFICER (O.S.)                    To the lower decks people!                    The gates suddenly screech back into life and begin to close.          Yuri doubles his efforts lifting Alec higher, but Alec cannot          quite reach.                    Yuri strains with all his effort before deciding.                                               YURI                    Oleg! Catch your brother!                    Yuri leaps forward holding Alec out in his arms.                    Oleg manages to grab his brother's hands as Yuri lets go and          falls into the deep crevasse below. He makes no noise until          he hits the rocks beneath.                    Oleg pulls his brother from above.                              INT. INSIDE LOADING GATE/AMERICAN SHIP - DAY                    A SIREN blasts. Both of Yuri's sons are now on deck. A          loading officer pulls them back, away from the gate.                                               DECK OFFICER                    Boys, you gotta move.                                               ALEC                    We wait for our father! He's still down                    there!                    The loading officer attempts to comfort them.                                               DECK OFFICER                    There's no one down there.                            (GENTLE)                    Come on boys, come...                    The Officer and the boys look back as the stern gate slowly          closes. But with a SCREECHING sound it grinds to a halt.                    The gate is jammed open leaving a twenty foot gap.                              INT. BRIDGE/AMERICAN SHIP - DAY                    ALARMS sound. Anheuser and the Captain stare at the monitors.                                               ANHEUSER                    Why is the stern gate not closing?                                                                                   (CONTINUED)                                                                                112.                                               CAPTAIN MICHAELS                    Something's wrong with the hydraulics,                    sir.                                               ADRIAN (O.S.)                    Captain, over here.                    They race over. Adrian points to a monitor.                                               ADRIAN (CONT'D)                    I think we found the problem.                    On the monitor, they see Sarah and the others desperately          waiting for Jackson and Lin.                                               ADRIAN (CONT'D)                    How did they get in there?                                               SURVEILLANCE OFFICER                    They must have come through the                    hydraulic chamber. There...                    Bobby, the Surveillance Officer, selects a different camera          and we now see inside the tunnel in which Jackson is pulling          along a wounded Lin.                                               LAURA                    That guy is injured. Something must                    have gone wrong.                                               ANHEUSER                    You're damn right something went wrong!                    Congratulations Helmsley, you may have                    just killed us all but as long as your                    conscience is clean...                    Adrian tries to ignore this.                                               ADRIAN                    Let's get an emergency crew there right                    now. I'll meet them at the Hydraulic                    Chamber.                    Anheuser sneers him, shooting a look to Laura.                                               ANHEUSER                    You think you're the main man now, just                    because your fucking the President's                    daughter?                    Without thinking, Adrian turns and punches Anheuser hard in          the face. He drops to the floor, out cold.                    Everyone stands in stunned silence. Laura smiles. Adrian          looks around.                                                                        (CONTINUED)                                                                              113.                                               ADRIAN                    What are you all waiting for?                    They speed off. The countdown reads 0 min. 53 sec.                                                                          CUT TO:                              EXT. AIRFIELD/TIBET - DAY                    Further down in the valley, the tidal wave has reached the          Cho Ming airfield, blasting away the planes with overwhelming          force.                              EXT. LAUNCH SITE/CHO MING VALLEY - DAY                    The massive propellers of the ships begin to turn. However,          the props of the American ship don't move.                    In the background, the huge tidal wave comes thundering          towards them.                              INT. HALLWAY/AMERICAN SHIP - DAY                    An IMPACT WARNING sounds as Adrian and Laura race through the          crammed hallways with members of the rescue crew. One of the          officers explains.                                               TECHNICAL OFFICER                    If we can't close the stern gate, then                    the engines won't start.                                               ADRIAN                    There's no way to override it?                                               TECHNICAL OFFICER                    No sir, it has to be done manually.                              INT. ZOOLOGICAL BAY/AMERICAN SHIP - DAY                    Kate, Noah and Lilly watch as Jackson nears the end of the          tunnel with Lin. Neng comforts his brother who's about to          pass out.                                               NENG                            (in Chinese)                    Almost there, Lin...                                                                          CUT TO:                                                                             114.                    EXT. LAUNCH SITE/CHO MING VALLEY - DAY                    THE WAVE FINALLY HITS!                    All three vessels are now engulfed in churning water.                    They rock back and forth. Only the huge support towers          they're resting on, keep them anchored.                              INT. INSIDE LOADING GATE/AMERICAN SHIP - DAY                    A new ALARM sounds as water begins to shoot through the open          stern gate of the American ship.                    The people on the loading bay panic, among them we see Alec          and Oleg.                              INT. HALLWAY/AMERICAN SHIP - DAY                    The same ALARM rings out in the hallways of the ship. Laura,          Adrian and their party are all braced against the corridor,          as the vessel undulates back and forth.                                               SURVEILLANCE OFFICER                    Water has penetrated the stern!                    Laura looks unsure.                                               LAURA                    What now?                                               SURVEILLANCE OFFICER                    The rear of the ship will start sealing                    itself up one compartment at a time.                    Adrian looks at him.                                               ADRIAN                    Then how will we get to the hydraulic                    chamber?                                               SURVEILLANCE OFFICER                    If we don't hurry, we won't be able to.                    Despite the violent movement of the ship, Adrian pushes on          down the corridor towards the back of the boat. They follow.                              INT. ZOOLOGICAL BAY/AMERICAN SHIP - DAY                    Water is also now rushing into the Zoological Bay and only          the giraffe can manage to keep her head dry.                    Jackson is not yet out of the tunnel with an unconscious Lin.                                                             (CONTINUED)                                                                                115.                    Kate shouts across to Tamara.                                               KATE                    Tamara! Take Lilly and Noah.                    Kate reaches in to help Jackson as Tamara begins to move with          Lilly. Noah remains back with his mother.                    Jackson finally makes it through with Lin. Kate is almost          tearful with relief to see him.                                               KATE (CONT'D)                    I was so worried about you.                    Suddenly the Zoological bay begins to seal itself off.                    Lilly, already in the next compartment with Tamara and her          dog, screams out as a chamber door quickly slides up, from          the floor to the ceiling. It separates Lilly from her family.                                                 LILLY                    Mummy!                    Jackson and Kate turn but it's too late. They only catch a          glimpse of Lilly before they are sealed in. The water level          continues to rise.                              INT. ANTE-CHAMBER ZOOLOGICAL BAY/AMERICAN SHIP - DAY                    Panicked, Tamara turns and looks around. Down the corridor,          in the distance, she sees Adrian, Laura and the rescue crew          approaching.                    But between them she spots the next chamber door rising          quickly.                                                 TAMARA                    Lilly run!                    Lilly starts moving as Tamara turns and picks up Caesar.                    Moving quickly, Lilly is able to climb up and over the fast          rising door. But as she dangles from the other side, she          looks down and is too scared to jump.                                                 TAMARA (O.S) (CONT'D)                    Lilly! Take him.                    Lilly looks up and sees two hands straining to hold Caesar          above the quickly narrowing gap.                    In a courageous move, Lilly grabs the little dog before he          gets crushed and together they fall to the ground.                                                                                   (CONTINUED)                                                                              116.                    Back on the other side of the chamber door, Tamara looks          around. She is trapped now as the water continues to rush in.                              INT. CONNECTING CORRIDOR/ZOOLOGICAL BAY - DAY                    Laura picks Lilly up and comforts her. Adrian realizes they          are too late. He turns to the rescue crew.                                               ADRIAN                    Is there any way to talk to them?                    Lilly is close to tears.                              INT. ZOOLOGICAL BAY/AMERICAN SHIP - DAY                    The water continues to flood in as Jackson helps Neng with          his unconscious brother.                                               JACKSON                    We have to move him higher.                            (looks around)                    Over there!                    Suddenly, a VIOLENT SHAKE throws them all off balance,          pitching them into the water.                              EXT. LAUNCH PILLAR/UNDER WATER - DAY                    In the debris-filled, murky waters we see that the fuselage          of Air Force One has slammed against the first of the ship's          launch towers.                    Slowly it begins to bend, finally giving way. The other          launch towers follow like dominos.                    The ship is ripped from its anchorage and sent drifting          sideways, rudderless.                              INT. BRIDGE/AMERICAN SHIP - DAY                    Chaos. Fear. Everybody holds on for dear life.                              EXT. LAUNCH SITE/CHO MING VALLEY - DAY                    The vessel is swept away, over the mountain ridge.                              INT. HALLWAY/AMERICAN SHIP - DAY                    Alec and Oleg scream, desperately trying to hold on as the          whole ship capsizes.                                                                             117.                    EXT. DARJEELING VALLEY/HIMALAYA - DAY                    The giant ship drifts upside down and rudderless - smashed          around by the debris and raging waters.                    But then, as it hits another ridge, it rolls right side up          and seems to steady itself.                    However, the strong currents continue to force it through the          mountain ranges of the Himalayas.                              INT. BRIDGE/AMERICAN SHIP - DAY                    The officers try to regain some control.                                               NAVAL OFFICER                    Moving at 34 knots, sir.                                               CAPTAIN MICHAELS                    What is our position?                                               NAVIGATION OFFICER                    Darjeeling valley, heading south east,                    sir.                    The Captain's face drops.                                               CAPTAIN MICHAELS                    You must be kidding!                              INT. ZOOLOGICAL BAY/AMERICAN SHIP - DAY                    The water rises fast as Kate sees the severity of Lin's wound          for the first time.                                               KATE                    We need something to stop the bleeding                    or he'll die.                    A split second later Noah holds out his belt.                                               NOAH                    Mum, will this do?                    Suddenly Jackson hears a voice over a speaker.                                               ADRIAN                            (Over a speaker)                    Mr. Curtis... I'm Adrian Helmsley. We                    met once before. Your daughter is with                    me.                    Kate screams with relief.                                                                       (CONTINUED)                                                                              118.                                                 KATE                    Lilly!                              INT. CONNECTING CORRIDOR/ZOOLOGICAL BAY - DAY                    Adrian is using an emergency wall intercom, with Laura next          to him, holding Lilly.                                                 LILLY                    I'm alright Mom!                    Caesar barks.                              INT. ANTE-CHAMBER ZOOLOGICAL BAY/AMERICAN SHIP - DAY                    Tamara hears Caesar over the speaker in her compartment and          smiles with relief. She is struggling to stay afloat though,          and is running out of air.                              INT. ZOOLOGICAL BAY/AMERICAN SHIP - DAY                    Jackson discovers the wall speaker. He moves closer to it.                                               ADRIAN (O.S.)                    We can't get to you. Whatever you did,                    jammed the hydraulics. If you can't get                    it out... None of us will make it.                              INT. CONNECTING CORRIDOR/ZOOLOGICAL BAY - DAY                    All eyes are on Adrian as he speaks.                                               ADRIAN                    You're our only hope.                    Adrian looks at Laura.                              INT. ZOOLOGICAL BAY/AMERICAN SHIP - DAY                                               JACKSON                    I'll go back. I'll try my best.                                               NOAH                    I'll go with you.                                               JACKSON                    You stay with Mommy.                    Jackson looks at Kate.                                                                                  (CONTINUED)                                                                               119.                                               JACKSON (CONT'D)                    I'll be right back...                    The water is up to their chest now. Jackson takes a breath          and disappears underwater.                              INT. BRIDGE/AMERICAN SHIP - DAY                    Back on the bridge, Anheuser regains consciousness and gets          to his feet. His nose is bleeding. He looks around him.                                               ANHEUSER                    Captain, what's happening?                    The Captain looks at him annoyed.                                               CAPTAIN MICHAELS                    What's happening?...                            (PAUSES)                    We're heading straight for the north                    face of Mount Everest, Mr. Anheuser.                    Anheuser looks at him dumbfounded as he stumbles to the          window and sees the massive rock face of Mount Everest in the          distance.                              INT. HYDRAULIC CHAMBER/AMERICAN SHIP - DAY                    Jackson swims down into the dark chamber and reaches the          jammed power tool, pulling at it. But it doesn't budge.                              INT. ANTE-CHAMBER ZOOLOGICAL BAY/AMERICAN SHIP - DAY                    The water level in Tamara's compartment is at its height now          and she goes under.                    She struggles below the surface for a moment, looking around          desperately for a way out but there is none.                    Tamara drowns.                              INT. HYDRAULIC CHAMBER/AMERICAN SHIP - DAY                    Jackson manages to find an air pocket. He fills up his lungs          with air and thinks hard.                    As he strips off his jacket, he seems to have a plan. He          dives under again.                                                                             120.                    INT. ZOOLOGICAL BAY/AMERICAN SHIP - DAY                    Lin is being held up in the water by his brother and parents.                    Kate has wrapped the belt around his lower leg and now pulls          it tight. Lin screams.                    Noah uses this as the moment to dive underwater, unnoticed,          to go and help his father.                              INT. HYDRAULIC CHAMBER/AMERICAN SHIP - DAY                    Back under water, Jackson is using the extension cord of the          power drill to pull himself down to the tool cabinet.                    Jackson opens it, retrieving a giant crowbar. He begins to          use it to dislodge the tool but it's hard work.                              INT. BRIDGE/AMERICAN SHIP - DAY                    Anheuser and everybody on the bridge stares as the north face          of Mount Everest is almost upon them.                              INT. ZOOLOGICAL BAY/AMERICAN SHIP - DAY                    Kate and the Pangs are desperately close to running out of          air now, but despite this, Kate still tends to Lin.                    After a moment she turns and is first confused then horrified          to see that Noah is nowhere to be found.                                                 KATE                    Noah!                              INT. HYDRAULIC CHAMBER/AMERICAN SHIP - DAY                    Jackson pulls with all his might, but he can't quite shift          the drill.                    To his surprise, a pair of young hands join his on the handle          of the crowbar. Noah is alongside him now, helping.                    Working as father and son, they manage, little by little, to          loosen it before finally the drill comes free.                    Adrian gives Noah the thumbs up and the boy heads back to the          surface. Jackson goes to follow but in the last moment he          spots the knapsack containing his laptop.                    He dives back down for it.                                                                                121.                    INT. ZOOLOGICAL BAY/AMERICAN SHIP - DAY                    Noah emerges from the water.                                                NOAH                    Mom, we did it!                    Kate pulls him to her, relieved he is safe. Noah smiles and          calls out towards the nearly submerged speaker.                              INT. CONNECTING CORRIDOR/ZOOLOGICAL BAY - DAY                    Lilly and Laura wait nervously. They hear a muffled voice.                                               NOAH (O.S.)                    We got it free. Can you hear me? We did                    it!                    Adrian leaps up when he hears this. He flicks a button on the          intercom.                                               ADRIAN                    Captain Michaels - close the gate!                              INT. BRIDGE/AMERICAN SHIP - DAY                    Hearing this, the Captain yells the eagerly awaited order.                                               CAPTAIN MICHAELS                    That's affirmative. Close the gate!                                                TECHNICAL OFFICER                    Ay, ay, Sir.                              EXT. DARJEELING VALLEY/HIMALAYAS - DAY                    We hear a BOOMING sound as the tail gate finally seals.                              INT. HYDRAULIC CHAMBER/AMERICAN SHIP - DAY                    Jackson reaches his knapsack, but when sees Noah's cell phone          lying next to it, he makes a decision and reaches for that          instead.                    He hears the muffled sound of the engines and smiles. But as          he turns to swim back, his face freezes--                    He's looking into the lifeless eyes of Gordon, who floats          inches from his face.                                                                               122.                    EXT. PROPELLERS/AMERICAN SHIP - DAY                    The gigantic propellers fight against the current, hitting          rock at the base of the mountain.                              INT. BRIDGE/AMERICAN SHIP - DAY                    The battle seems hopeless. Captain Michaels yells at the top          of his lungs.                                               CAPTAIN MICHAELS                    Engage starboard stabilizers!                                               OFFICERS                    One is engaged... two is engaged...                    number three is out, sir!                    The vessel scrapes against the rocks, throwing Anheuser to          the floor.                              EXT. DARJEELING VALLEY/HIMALAYA - DAY                    The giant ship escapes the mountain with an inch to spare.                              INT. BRIDGE/AMERICAN SHIP - DAY                    Everyone on the bridge watches in awe as Mount Everest,          earth's highest peak, drifts slowly past.                    After a long beat, they begin to holler and cheer.                              INT. ZOOLOGICAL BAY/AMERICAN SHIP - DAY                    Kate hears the CHEERING coming from the speakers. The water          level stops rising but she still looks around in panic.                                               KATE                    Noah! Where is he?                    Noah begins to cry.                                               NOAH                    He was just behind me...                    Finally! Jackson bursts out of the water and takes a lungfull          of wonderful air.                    Kate and Noah are overjoyed. The Pangs smile to one another.                    Jackson looks Kate squarely in the eyes.                                                                                   (CONTINUED)                                                                                123.                                               JACKSON                    If you would ever consider to give me                    another chance... I promise, I'll                    always be there when you need me.                    Kate embraces him tightly.                                               KATE                    Whatever you do... I will never let you                    go again.                    Noah is all smiles.                                                                       FADE TO BLACK                                                           2013                              We hear a voice.                                               ADRIAN (O.S.)                    ... Day 988. No one is waiting for                    anything to happen...                                                                             FADE UP                    The CAMERA moves over the last lines of Jackson's novel.                              INT. SLEEPING QUARTERS/AMERICAN SHIP - DAY                    Adrian sits in his cabin, his copy of `Farewell Atlantis' in          his lap.                                                 ADRIAN                    ...   and all we can hear is the sound of                    our   own breathing that reminds us we                    are   still sharing our memories, hopes                    and   ideas.                    Opposite him, Laura sits listening to him read.                                               ADRIAN (CONT'D)                    ... And funny, just today we found out                    that the entire crew of the Atlantis,                    somehow or another, has relatives in                    Wisconsin.                            (PAUSE)                    The end.                    Adrian closes the book. There's a moment of silence.                                               LAURA                    How many copies did you say that sold?                                                                          (CONTINUED)                                                                               124.                                               ADRIAN                    Less than 500.                            (with a smile)                    It's what you might call a cult                    classic.                    Laura looks at him grinning.                                               LAURA                    It seems we have very different tastes                    Mr. Helmsley?                                               ADRIAN                            (PLAYFUL)                    Well that's healthy Dr. Wilson.                    Something we could maybe explore...                    unless you have other pressing                    engagements.                                               LAURA                    Actually my diary's pretty open.                    The intimate moment is cut short.                                               OFFICER (O.S.)                            (over loudspeaker)                    Mr. Helmsley to the bridge please.                              INT. HALLWAY/AMERICAN SHIP - DAY                    Adrian and Laura make their way to the bridge.                                               CAPTAIN MICHAELS (O.S.)                    Ladies and gentlemen, this is Captain                    Michaels speaking. In a few minutes, I                    will be giving the orders to unseal the                    decks.                              INT. FRONT DECK/AMERICAN SHIP - DAY                    Jackson and his family stand amongst thousands of other          people who are gathering in anticipation.                                               CAPTAIN MICHAELS (O.S.)                    Please be careful when you step out and                    of course... enjoy the fresh air.                    Jackson kneels down and zips up Lilly's jacket. She is          holding Caesar, whose still wearing his diamond collar.                                               LILLY                    Daddy? When can we go back home?                                                                                   (CONTINUED)                                                                             125.                                               JACKSON                    There's nothing we can go back to                    Lil'bee. Whatever's out there, that's                    our home now. Don't be scared.                                               LILLY                    I'm not Daddy. No more pull-ups.                                               JACKSON                            (PROUDLY)                    That's my big girl.                    Jackson squeezes Lilly's shoulder.                                                OLEG (O.S.)                    Can we pet him?                    Lilly turns to see Yuri's boys standing next to her.                                               LILLY                    Of course you can. He's your doggie.                    The boys both smile at her.                              INT. BRIDGE/AMERICAN SHIP - DAY                    Adrian and Laura enter the bridge.                                               ADRIAN                    You called for me, sir?                                               CAPTAIN MICHAELS                    Prof. West has something to show you,                    Mr. Helmsley.                    The Captain directs him to a monitor.                                               CAPTAIN MICHAELS (CONT'D)                    Looks like your scientific projections                    are way off again.                    The Captain grins at Prof. West.                                               PROF. WEST                    The water is receding much faster than                    we projected, Adrian...                    A monitor reveals an image of the African continent, however          its shape changed dramatically. The image of the southern tip          is enlarged.                                                LAURA                    What's that?                                                                                 (CONTINUED)                                                                               126.                                               PROF. WEST                    It's hard to believe, but the Himalayas                    are no longer the roof of the world.                    It's now the Drakensberg mountains of                    Kwa-Zulu Natal. The whole African                    continent has risen several thousand                    feet and most likely, never even                    flooded.                                               CAPTAIN MICHAELS                    Our European colleagues have already                    set course for it.                    Captain Michaels hands Adrian a short wave radio.                                               CAPTAIN MICHAELS (CONT'D)                    Here, somebody wants to talk to you.                    Adrian curious, grabs the mic.                                               ADRIAN                    This is Helmsley.                    We hear a muffled, raspy voice through the speakers.                              INT. COMMAND BRIDGE/FREEDOM OF THE SEAS - DAY                    Harry Helmsley stands beside the cruise ship's Captain.                                               VOICE                    No, this is Helmsley.                                               ADRIAN (O.S.)                    Dad!... Is that you?                              INT. COMMAND BRIDGE/AMERICAN SHIP - DAY                    Adrian is ecstatic. Captain Michaels explains.                                               CAPTAIN MICHAELS                    We should have a visual of the `Freedom                    of the Seas' shortly.                                               ADRIAN                    Dad. We're coming to pick you guys up.                    How's Tony?                              INT. COMMAND BRIDGE/FREEDOM OF THE SEAS - DAY                    Harry looks over at Tony who's listening, smiling.                                               HARRY HELMSLEY                    He's fine, son. We're all fine.                                                               (CONTINUED)                                                                               127.                                               ADRIAN (O.S.)                    See you guys soon. Bye dad.                    Harry hangs up. He picks up Tony, embracing him wildly.                              INT. COMMAND BRIDGE/AMERICAN SHIP - DAY                    Adrian, still excited from speaking with his dad, grabs Laura          and kisses her on the lips. She squeals.                                               ANHEUSER (O.S.)                    Put that woman down Helmsley.                    Adrian looks at Anheuser, unsure of what he might say.                                               ANHEUSER (CONT'D)                    Young guys like you with your                    idealistic dreams, you think you can                    change the world...                    Adrian and Laura exchange a look.                                               ANHEUSER (CONT'D)                    I just pray to God, that you keep on                    making the right calls... in this new                    world of ours.                    Adrian nods and with a smile to Laura turns to leave.                                               ANHEUSER (CONT'D)                    Mr. Helmsley, one more thing.                    Adrian turns back.                                               ANHEUSER (CONT'D)                    There was no one.                                                 ADRIAN                    Pardon me?                                               ANHEUSER                    There was no white kid better than you.                    I'm terribly sorry I said that.                    Anheuser puts out his hand. Adrian takes it.                              INT. FRONT DECK/AMERICAN SHIP - DAY                                               CAPTAIN MICHAELS (O.S.)                    This is your Captain speaking. Standby                    to open Deck 1.                                                 OFFICER                    Standing by Sir.                                                               (CONTINUED)                                                                                128.                    Neng pushes his brother Lin in a wheelchair onto the deck          next to his parents. Mrs. Pang turns to her husband.                                               MRS. PANG                            (in Chinese)                    I wonder will the clouds look the same                    and the stars?                                               MR.PANG                    Do not fear. Some things will never                    change.                    The old Chinese man forces a little smile. Closer to the          front of this crowd Jackson approaches Noah.                                               JACKSON                    I thought you might want this.                    He takes Noah's cell phone from his pocket and hands it to          him.                                               NOAH                    Do you think I'll still get a signal                    ... Dad?                    Jackson is touched to hear him use that word. He smiles and          hugs him. Adrian, Laura and Anheuser arrive alongside them.                                               ADRIAN                    I finally finished your book Jackson.                                               KATE                    Really? You may well be the first                    person who ever got to the end.                    Jackson looks at her, smiling playfully.                                               JACKSON                    Excuse me, I believe he's addressing                    the author. Well, what did you think?                    Adrian smiles.                                               ADRIAN                    I'd say... those astronauts of yours                    would be shitting themselves, if they                    knew all their relatives are now stuck                    in the South Pole.                    Suddenly a horn sounds and the sealed deck doors let off a          burst of pressurised air. A murmur goes through the crowd.                    Everyone is silent as the huge deck doors slowly begin to          roll back and light streams in.                                                                                 (CONTINUED)                                                                               129.                    The Pang family try to see over people's heads, even Anheuser          looks hopeful. Jackson pulls his family close as the first          rays of daylight hit their faces.                              EXT. AMERICAN SHIP/SOMEWHERE IN THE HIMALAYAS - DAY                    Hatches unseal all around the ship. Sun streams through the          clouds. Everywhere people emerge outside, into the light of          day. A majestic moment.                              EXT. FRONT DECK/AMERICAN SHIP - DAY                    They all stare in awe at the waters receding against the ice-          covered mountain peaks. Caesar lets out a YELP of joy.                    Almost as soon as the doors have opened, the ship's          HELICOPTERS take off, flying towards a stunning site--                    The `Freedom of the Seas' is perched on a mountain peak,          surrounded by calm waters. Behind it, they see the most          beautiful rainbow. This is the new world.                    And again we hear Mozart's Adagio...                                                                     THE END                     
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+THE 25th HOUR 
+
+
+
+by 
+
+
+
+David Benioff 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+4/30/01 
+
+
+INDUSTRY ENTERTAINMENT 
+
+
+
+
+
+EXT . WES T SIDE HIGHWAY -- NIGHT 
+
+
+
+
+o A blac k dog sleeps on the shoulder of the highway, head 
+between his paws , curled up next to the barricad e that 
+separates the north and southbound lanes . 
+
+
+
+Traffic rumbles past him: yellow cabs , blu e polic e cruisers , 
+white limousines with tinted glass and Jersey plates . 
+
+
+
+We hea r the squeal of brakes. A black *65 Ford Mustang, min t 
+condition, pulls onto the shoulder, ten yard s past the dog , 
+and back s up . Th e dog raises its head. 
+
+
+
+Two me n step out of the car. The driver , MONT Y BROGAN, mid - 
+twenties , is pale-skinned in the flickering light . A small 
+silver crucifix hangs from a silver chain around his neck ; 
+his fingers are adorned with silver rings . 
+
+
+
+The passenger , KOSTYA NOVOTNY, a hulking ma n in his late 
+thirties , blow s his nose in his handkerchief. 
+It's a cold night . Monty wears a camel's hai r overcoat, 
+Kostya an old blue Soviet Navy coat . 
+
+MONTY 
+
+He's alive. 
+
+KOSTYA 
+
+(Ukrainian accent) 
+This dog, how do you call it? 
+
+MONTY 
+
+Pit bull . Must have lost somebody some 
+money . 
+The dog stares at them and they stare at the dog . 
+
+KOSTYA 
+
+What d o w e do , Monty, w e watch hi m rot ? 
+
+·· ' .·····- · ' ? -. : · ·- ·' MONTY : . ·' ·· '' ' ' ;:; '' ' 
+
+
+: · "· "· - 
+
+
+· · 
+
+I was thinking of shooting him . 
+
+
+
+
+KOSTYA 
+
+Shooting him? Ar e you sick in the head ? 
+
+
+
+The dog continues to stare at them impassively, his face lit 
+by the passing headlights. The pavement by hi s paws is 
+littered with broken glass, twisted scraps of metal , black 
+rubber from blow n tires. 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+o 
+
+(CONTINUED) 
+
+
+
+
+
+CONTINUED: 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+MONTY 
+
+They just left him here to die. They 
+threw him out the window and kept 
+driving. 
+A ship's horn sounds from the Hudson. 
+
+KOSTYA 
+
+Come, my friend, it is cold. Come, people 
+wait for us. 
+
+MONTY 
+
+They're used to waiting. 
+Monty squats near the dog and inspects him. From this angle 
+it is clear that the pit bull has been badly abused. One ear 
+has been chewed to mince; his hide is scored with cigarette 
+burns; flies crawl in his bloodied fur. 
+
+MONTY (CONT'D) 
+
+I think maybe his hip -- 
+The dog pounces, jaws snapping,; lunging for Monty's face. 
+Monty stumbles backwards. The dog, too badly injured to 
+continue the attack, remains in his crouch, growling. 
+Monty sits on the pavement, shaking his head. 
+
+MONTY (CONT'D) 
+
+Christ. 
+(beat) 
+He's got some bite left. 
+
+KOSTYA 
+
+I think he does not want to play with 
+you. Come, you want police to pull over? 
+You want police looking through your car? 
+
+MONTY 
+
+Look what they did to him. Used him for a 
+fucking ashtray. 
+Monty stands and dusts his palms on the seat of his pants. 
+
+MONTY (CONT'D) 
+
+Let's get him in the trunk. 
+
+KOSTYA 
+
+What? 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+(CONTINUED) 
+
+
+
+
+
+3. 
+
+
+CONTINUED : (2 ) 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+MONTY 
+
+There's a vet emergency room on the East 
+Side. I like this guy. 
+
+KOSTYA 
+
+You like him? He tries to bite your face 
+off. Look at him, he is meat. You want 
+some dog, I buy you.nice puppy tomorrow. 
+Monty is not listening. He walks back to his car, opens the 
+trunk, pulls out a soiled green army blanket. 
+Kostya holds up his hands: stop. 
+
+KOSTYA (CONT'D) 
+
+Wait one minute, please. Please stop one 
+minute? I do not go near pit bull. Monty? 
+I do not go near pit bull. 
+Monty, carrying the army blanket, walks back toward the dog. 
+
+MONTY 
+
+This is a good dog. I can see it in his 
+eyes. He's a tough little bastard. 
+
+KOSTYA 
+
+Sometimes I think you are very stupid 
+man. 
+The dog has slumped back to the pavement. His breath, comes in. 
+shorts rasps and wheezes. But he never takes his eyes off the 
+two men. 
+
+MONTY 
+
+We wait much longer, he'll be dead. 
+
+KOSTYA 
+
+One minute ago you want to shoot him. 
+
+MONTY 
+
+That was a mercy thing. But he's not 
+ready to go yet. 
+
+KOSTYA 
+
+Yes? He told you this? 
+Monty slowly circles behind the dog, holding the blanket the 
+way a matador wields his cape. 
+
+MONTY 
+
+Distrac t him. 
+
+U 
+
+
+(CONTINUED ) 
+
+
+
+
+
+CONTINUED: (3) 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Kostya stares at his friend in disbelief. He looks down. A 
+crumpled soda can lies by his feet. He kicks the can. 
+The dog's head pivots to follow the aluminum flash. 
+Monty hurls the blanket over the dog and spring forward, 
+wrapping his arms around the dog's midsection. The dog 
+growls, bites the wool, tries to break the blanket's neck. 
+Monty lurches toward the Mustang, struggling to retain his 
+bearhug while the pit bull slithers in his grasp. As they 
+stumble closer to the car the dog releases the blanket and 
+snaps at Monty's throat. 
+Monty hurls the dog into the trunk and slams the lid. He 
+returns to the driver's seat. 
+Kostya watches him in silence, stares at the sky for a few 
+seconds, finally gets back in the car. The dog thrashes in 
+the trunk. 
+
+INT. MUSTANG 
+
+Both men sit in silence as Monty revs the engine. Blood is 
+beginning to leak from a bite on the right side of Monty's 
+neck. 
+
+KOSTYA 
+
+What goes on in your little head? 
+Monty grins. He has no idea that he's bleeding. 
+
+MONTY 
+
+I got him, didn't I? Surprised you how 
+.-- quick I was, huh? 
+Monty checks for traffic and pulls back onto the highway. 
+
+KOSTYA 
+
+Yes, you are so quick. 
+He points at the wound on Monty's neck, which has begun to 
+flow faster. 
+
+KOSTYA (CONT'D) 
+
+Meanwhile, you are bleeding. 
+
+MONTY 
+
+That's the dog's blood. 
+
+KOSTYA 
+
+Oh? Because you have hole in your neck 
+and blood is coining out. 
+
+
+
+
+(CONTINUED) 
+
+
+
+
+
+5. 
+
+
+CONTINUED : ,,,..-. . 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+"(/"~^) Mont y lift s hi s han d to hi s nec k and feel s th e blood . 
+
+MONT Y 
+
+They'l l stitc h i t u p a t th e vet's . 
+
+KOSTY A 
+
+Rul e numbe r one : don' t gra b half-dea d pi t 
+bulls . W e hav e peopl e waitin g fo r us , 
+peopl e wit h money , and you g o playin g 
+cowboy -- no , dogboy -- i n middl e o f 
+highway . 
+Mont y laughs , hi s han d presse d t o th e sid e o f hi s neck , bloo d 
+leakin g betwee n hi s fingers . 
+
+KOSTY A (CONT'D) 
+
+Yes , h a ha . You'r e ba d luck . Yo u brin g 
+ba d luc k o n me . Alway s everythin g tha t 
+ca n g o wrong , goe s wrong . I t i s no t jus t 
+yo u an d m e whe n w e g o out , no , no , i t i s 
+you , me , an d Miste r Doyle o f Doyle' s law . 
+Mont y frowns . 
+
+MONT Y 
+
+fly Doyle' s law ? Yo u mea n Murphy' s law . 
+
+KOSTY A 
+
+Who' s Murphy ? 
+
+MONT Y 
+
+Who' s Doyle ? Murphy' s law : whateve r ca n 
+g o wrong , wil l g o wrong . 
+
+KOSTY A 
+
+Yes . Him . 
+
+EXT . EAST RIVE R ESPLANAD E -- DAWN \ 
+
+TITL E CARD : Four Years Later 
+Mont y sits o n a par k benc h overlookin g th e Eas t River . H e 
+stub s out hi s cigarette , pull s anothe r fro m hi s pack , light s 
+it . 
+Th e blac k pi t bull , no w health y and well-fed , squat s b y 
+Monty' s side . I t i s winter : th e dog's war m breat h rise s a s 
+whit e vapor . 
+.Two tough-lookin g YOUN G ME N wal k by , wearin g hoode d 
+sweatshirts belo w thei r dow n parkas , on e o f the m leadin g hi s 
+i} spike-collare d rottweiler . . / 
+
+
+
+
+(CONTINUED ) 
+
+
+
+
+
+·- · -· - ··""·- · ·-"- 6. 
+
+
+CONTINUED: 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+o DOYLE (for the nameless pit bull has become Doyle) growls. 
+Monty tugs on his leash and Doyle grunts and quiets down. 
+
+
+
+
+YOUNG MAN 1 
+
+What up, Monty. 
+
+
+
+Monty nods but doesn't say anything. He's studying the view. 
+He stares at the green river, the steel bridges , the red 
+tugboats, the stone lighthouse of Roosevelt Island. 
+
+
+
+Doyle barks and Monty turns. SIMON, a bone-thin ma n in his 
+early thirties, approaches them. He wears rubber boots that 
+rise to his knees and a dirty yellow down parka . 
+
+
+
+
+SIMON 
+
+Easy, Doyle, easy, buddy. What's up 
+there, Monty? 
+Monty turns back to the river. Doyle barks again. 
+
+SIMON (CONT'D) 
+
+You want to tell the dog to relax? Hey 
+there, Doyle. Good dog. 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+0),^ Doyle has extended the leash as far as Monty will allow. He 
+~7 sniffs suspiciously at Simon. 
+
+SIMON (CONT'D) 
+
+I don't think your dog likes me . 
+
+MONTY 
+
+Go away, Simon. 
+
+SIMON 
+
+I'm hungry here. Woke up an hour ago and 
+I was hungry. 
+
+.- ··' " ·· · ··. , ···· \ ·: '·MONTY/ ' " ' ·- V ; :· · /'.I. · .- · ' "' . .',.· ' · 
+
+
+,· ' · . - · · . 
+
+Nothing I can do about that. Go up to On e 
+Hundred and Tenth. 
+
+
+
+
+SIMON 
+
+One Hundred and Tenth? Come on, I'm good. 
+
+
+
+He reaches into his pocket and brings out a wad of five 
+dollar bills held together by a rubber band. 
+
+
+
+
+MONTY 
+
+(angry) 
+~, Put that away. 
+
+
+
+^V- ^ Doyle snarls. Simon repockets the money. 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+(CONTINUED) 
+
+
+
+
+
+CONTINUED: (2) 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+SIMON 
+
+Okay, okay. I'm just saying, I'm not 
+looking for a mercy pop. 
+
+/ 
+
+
+MONTY 
+
+I'm over, man. 
+Simon points at a line of scabs that run along his throat. 
+
+SIMON 
+
+Cut myself shaving this morning -- four 
+times. Can't keep my hands steady. Come 
+on, Monty, help me out. I can't go to 
+Harlem. Look at me--- they'll eat me alive 
+up there. 
+Monty finally stands and walks toward the man, closer and 
+closer until their faces are inches apart. 
+
+MONTY 
+
+You need to leave me alone, friend. I 
+told you, I'm out of business. 
+Doyle sniffs Simon's boots, then raises his head, snout 
+climbing the man's leg. Simon dances a half-step, trying to 
+keep away from the pit bull without provoking him. 
+
+· 
+
+
+SIMON 
+
+You worried about me narking you out? You 
+know who I am. 
+
+MONTY 
+
+You're not listening to me. I got 
+touched. Game over. 
+Simon blinks, tries to JLaugh, looks behind him,,,looks down at 
+Doyle, rubs his nose with the back of his hand. 
+
+SIMON 
+
+Five years I've been coming to you. All 
+right, all right, I'm leaving. There's no 
+need to be nasty. 
+Monty and Doyle watch the man go; they begin walking in the 
+opposite direction. They pass the concrete chessboards, the 
+sandboxes, and pause for a moment by a basketball court. 
+Six TEENS play -- with little skill -- one last game before 
+school. Monty shakes his head disdainfully, watching one 
+player dribble at the top of the key. 
+
+MONTY 
+
+You got no left. 
+
+
+
+
+(CONTINUED) 
+
+
+
+
+
+CONTINUED: (3) 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+The player drives right and misses an open lay-up. Monty 
+spits and continues walking, Doyle leading the way. 
+
+EXT. CAMPBELL-SAWYER HIGH SCHOOL -- LATER 
+
+Monty looks up at the old private school, tucked away on a 
+leafy street on the Upper East Side. 
+Two TENTH GRADE GIRLS look at Monty as they pass by. People 
+are always looking at Monty. 
+Both girls take long final drags on their cigarettes before 
+crushing them out and entering the school. 
+
+INT. CAMPBELL-SAWYER HIGH SCHOOL 
+
+Monty walks down a corridor of the school building, Doyle 
+padding along beside him. STUDENTS, hurrying to their 
+classes, stare at the dog and then at Monty. 
+The bells ring and within moments the corridor is empty. 
+Monty stops before a row of framed photographs. He examines 
+one photograph and smiles. 
+
+INSERT PHOTOGRAPH 
+
+The Campbell-Sawyer basketball team. The players stand in a 
+semi-circle with their coaches. We move in closer on one face 
+in particular: Monty, when he was sixteen, free and easy. 
+We move closer still and the black-and-white face begins to 
+blur. 
+
+ADMINISTRATOR (O.S.) 
+
+,,.. .... Excus.e-.me-,- sir, can I help_ you? 
+
+. ·· 
+
+
+- -- 
+
+Monty, lost in a reverie, looks up. The ADMINISTRATOR, a 
+tall, harried-looking woman in her mid-fifties, squints at 
+him through her glasses. 
+
+MONTY 
+
+What? 
+
+ADMINISTRATOR 
+
+Can I help you with something? 
+
+MONTY 
+
+(smiling) 
+No, I don't think so. 
+
+ADMINISTRATOR 
+
+There are no dogs allowed on school 
+grounds. 
+
+
+
+
+(CONTINUED) 
+
+
+
+
+
+CONTINUED: 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+f~\ MONTY -^ 
+U Okay. .. 'J\ 
+(pointing at the picture) 
+I used to go here. 
+
+ADMINISTRATOR 
+
+I really have to ask you to remove the 
+dog. 
+
+MONTY 
+
+(still looking at picture) 
+Look at what a little punk I was. 
+The administrator bends forward and squints at the photo. 
+
+ADMINISTRATOR 
+
+I guess you weren't, the center. 
+
+MONTY 
+
+, Ha ha. Starting point guard. Started on 
+varsity from my first game, freshman 
+year. I still hold the all-time assist 
+record. 
+
+ADMINISTRATOR 
+
+Mm, no, Marvin Ray broke the record last ^V 
+year. mm^ 
+Monty stares at her. She shrugs. 
+
+ADMINISTRATOR (CONT'D) 
+
+I coach the girl's team. 
+Monty turns back to the photo. 
+
+MONTY 
+
+·- we* Weire undefeated that" year. 
+
+ADMINISTRATOR 
+
+Really? 
+
+MONTY 
+
+Until I got kicked off the team. After 
+that, they fell apart. Do you know where 
+Jakob Elinsky is? 
+
+ADMINISTRATOR 
+
+Probably in his classroom. Room 301. 
+
+MONTY 
+
+Thanks. 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+(CONTINUED) 
+
+
+
+
+
+10 
+
+
+CONTINUED: (2) 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+o He leads Doyle away, but stops after a few feet and turns 
+back. 
+
+MONTY (CONT'D) 
+
+Marvin Ray? 
+
+.ADMINISTRATOR 
+
+Mm hm. 
+
+MONTY 
+
+You're sure? 
+
+ADMINISTRATOR 
+
+I was there when he broke the record. 
+Monty nods and continues on his way. The administrator 
+watches man and dog walk down the long corridor. 
+
+INT. CAMPBELL-SAWYER CLASSROOM 
+
+JAKOB ELINSKY stands at the blackboard, facing three rows of 
+uninspired teenage faces. He wears a tweed jacket that seems 
+a few sizes too large, with chalk stains on the sleeves. 
+Jakob is the same age as Monty but he seems younger. There is 
+something adolescent in his slouch, in the way he chews his 
+lip. 
+One of his students, MARY D'ANNUNZIO (17), stands at her 
+desk, reading from a poetry textbook. Her eyes drown in pools 
+of painted shadow, her hair is dyed black, tattooed roses 
+garland her wrist. 
+
+MARY 
+
+-«=·-------···: .· (reading) - ·· -- ··· 
+
+· ·· - 
+
+
+· 
+
+"Let us roll all our strength and all 
+Our sweetness up into one ball, 
+And tear pur pleasures with rough strife, 
+Through the iron gates of life." 
+Jakob watches her. We don't know the Campbell-Sawyer dress 
+code, but we can guess that she's violating it . We can also 
+guess that Jakob is watching her a little too avidly. 
+Her pierced navel is visible below her Donnas tee-shirt. 
+
+MARY (CONT'D) 
+
+(reading) 
+"Thus, though we cannot make our sun 
+Stand still, yet we will make him run." 
+Mary shrugs and sits down. 
+
+
+
+
+(CONTINUED) 
+
+
+
+
+
+11. 
+
+
+CONTINUED: 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+JAKOB 
+
+Good, good, excellent reading. Urn, okay, 
+so. What do people think? What' s going on 
+here? 
+
+
+
+Nobody says anything. Jakob nods . 
+
+
+
+
+JAKOB (CONT'D) 
+
+Okay. 
+
+
+
+LUKE , a sullen-looking student with a shaved head and a 
+failed goatee, raises his hand. 
+
+JAKOB (CONT'D) 
+
+Luke? 
+
+LUKE 
+
+Can I go to the bathroom? 
+
+JAKOB 
+
+No . You went twenty minutes ago . 
+
+LUKE 
+
+I have a bladder infection. 
+
+JAKOB 
+
+The poem. The poem, folks. Hello? 
+
+MARY 
+
+It's not real deep or anything. The guy 
+wants to get laid and he's telling her to 
+give it up . 
+A few of the students titter half-heartedly. 
+
+
+
+A knock on the door releases Jakob from his hell . He goes to 
+answer it and then "stops/ startled. ~"~ 
+It's the type ofdoo r popular in school buildings> with a 
+wire-reinforced glass panel at head height , allowing you to 
+look into the classroom without disturbing anyone. 
+
+
+
+Doyle, tongue dangling from his mouth , stares back at Jakob 
+through the panel . 
+
+MARY (CONT'D) 
+
+I didn't know your mother was coming 
+today, Luke . 
+
+LUKE 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+o 
+Eat me . 
+
+
+
+Jakob opens the door . 
+
+
+
+
+(CONTINUED) 
+
+
+
+
+
+12 
+
+
+CONTINUED : (2) 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Mont y stands there, holding up Doyle. Doyle scramble s out of 
+hi s arms and jumps on Jakob , nearly knocking th e teache r 
+down , getting his dirty paw s all over Jakob's jacket . 
+
+MONT Y 
+
+Easy, Doyle. 
+Doyle immediately calms down , squatting by Jakob' s feet and 
+staring up at the teacher . 
+
+JAKOB 
+
+Hey -- uh , what' s going on? 
+Jakob seems awkward around Monty , nervous . 
+
+MONT Y 
+
+(looking at Doyle) 
+Look at him . He loves you. 
+Jakob looks at Doyle, wh o wag s the stump of hi s tail . 
+
+MONT Y (CONT'D) 
+
+He really love s you . So what are you 
+doing? 
+Jakob turns to look at hi s class , who all stare at Mont y and 
+the dog. For the first time today, they're quiet . 
+
+JAKOB 
+
+(to Monty ) 
+Teaching m y class , I guess. 
+
+MONT Y 
+
+Cool . 
+ffco class) " ··· 
+
+" ------,,...--.-.,··:. 
+
+Hey, class . 
+A few students shyly wave . 
+
+MONT Y (CONT'D) 
+
+(to Jakob) 
+Sorry to interrupt . .Listen, change of 
+plans . They'r e throwing me a goodbye 
+part y downtown . Yo u and Frank get 
+together somewher e and I'll com e pic k yo u 
+up . 
+Jakob is a little flustere d by this encounter , acutel y awar e 
+that his class is watching . 
+
+JAKO B 
+
+Okay. 
+
+
+
+
+(CONTINUED ) 
+
+
+
+
+
+13 
+
+
+CONTINUED: (3 ) 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+{ \ Monty lean s close r t o Jakob . 
+
+MONTY 
+
+(whispering) 
+I think the one with the bell y button' s 
+checking me out. 
+Jakob turns and sees Mary staring at them. He quickly turns 
+back to Monty , wh o is smiling at Mary. Jako b grab s the door 
+knob. 
+
+JAKOB 
+
+Okay, so I'll see you later? 
+Monty nods . 
+
+MONTY 
+
+Tel l Frank we'll meet up after midnight . 
+He leads Doyle away and Jakob closes the door , the n turns to 
+look at his silent class. The bell rings and all the students 
+grab their bags . , 
+
+INT. TEACHERS ' LOUNG E -- LATER 
+
+Jakob, alon e in the room, sits on a sofa, his hea d in his \ 
+hands. He looks up when he hears a knock on the door. xl"y 
+Mary D'Annunzio peek s in. 
+
+MARY 
+
+Yo u have a minute? 
+Jakob sits up straighter and smiles. 
+
+JAKOB 
+
+Sure . Come in. 
+
+/ '· '··· · ' , - · / . - . · M A R Y . , · ·,······· · ;·;·. ··:'· . - · . A , - ·. · · · · · ; - ; · .-. . ' 
+
+
+: 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+I thought no students were allowed in the 
+teachers ' lounge. 
+
+JAKOB 
+
+I won' t tell on you. 
+Mary walks into the room, looking around suspiciously. Jakob 
+points at a chair . 
+
+JAKOB (CONT'D) 
+
+Tak e a seat. 
+Mary sits . ( ) 
+
+
+
+
+(CONTINUED) 
+
+
+
+
+
+- -· - ·· - . · - - 1 
+
+
+4 
+
+
+CONTINUED: 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+JAKOB (CONT'D) 
+
+So what's up? 
+
+MARY 
+
+Who was that guy who came to class? 
+
+JAKOB 
+
+Monty? An old friend of mine. He went 
+here, too. 
+
+MARY 
+
+He doesn't look like you. 
+
+JAKOB 
+
+Actually, I have many friends who don't 
+look like me. 
+
+MARY 
+
+No, I mean, he doesn't look like someone 
+you'd be friends with. 
+
+JAKOB 
+
+We grew up together. 
+(beat) 
+So what can I do for you? 
+
+MARY 
+
+I want to know why I got a B+ on my 
+story. 
+
+JAKOB 
+
+Okay, first of all -- 
+
+MARY 
+
+Nobody else in this class can write. You 
+know it, too. Don't start -- 
+
+JAKOB 
+
+Don't worry about everyone else. 
+
+MARY 
+
+Vince Miskella writes a story about his 
+grandmother dying and you give him an A? 
+What is that, a charity A? Everyone's 
+always writing about their grandmother 
+dying. You know why? Not because it's so 
+traumatic. Because it's a guaranteed A. 
+And you're all sentimental, like, "Oh, 
+Vince, that was very powerful, very 
+moving." No it wasn't. You didn't care, I 
+didn't care, nobody cared. That's what 
+grandmothers do, they die. 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+(CONTINUED) 
+
+
+
+
+
+15. 
+
+
+CONTINUED : (2) 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Mary has worked herself into a lather and Jakob watches her 
+admiringly. 
+
+
+
+
+JAKOB 
+
+What did your mother say when you go t 
+that? 
+
+
+
+Mary stares at him, not comprehending. 
+
+
+
+
+MARY 
+
+What? When I got what? 
+
+
+
+
+JAKOB 
+
+(pointing at her wrist) 
+The tattoo. 
+
+MARY 
+
+She said, "Where'd you get the mone y for 
+that. " 
+
+JAKOB 
+
+Oh . And? 
+
+MARY 
+
+And what did I say or where did I get the 
+money? 
+
+JAKOB 
+
+Well , what did you say, I guess . 
+
+MARY 
+
+I said he did it for free. 
+
+JAKOB 
+
+Oh . Did he? 
+
+MARY 
+
+No . Why do you care so much? 
+
+JAKOB 
+
+Just curious. __ 
+
+
+
+
+MARY 
+
+So you're not going to change the grade? 
+
+
+
+
+JAKOB 
+
+No , I'm not changing the grade. I'd be 
+happy to discuss -- 
+Mary yanks her bookbag off the floor and straps it on her 
+shoulder. 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+(CONTINUED) 
+
+
+
+
+
+' · ~'T ' "' 16, 
+
+
+CONTINUED: (3) 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+MARY 
+
+Great. That was a big waste of time. 
+
+JAKOB 
+
+Look, instead of worrying about the grade 
+so much, let's talk about the actual--- 
+
+MARY 
+
+(muttering) 
+Forget it. 
+She stomps out of the lounge, her black combat boots clomping 
+on the corridor's linoleum floor. 
+Jakob shakes his head and looks up at the clock. 9:15. He 
+reaches for the phone sitting on the coffee table. 
+
+INT. SHREVE ZIMMER INVESTMENT BANK -- SAME TIME 
+
+FRANK SLATTERY, also in his mid-twenties, stares at the row 
+of clocks on the far wall. Below each clock is a sign: Tokyo, 
+Hong Kong, Frankfurt, London. The clock marked New York reads 
+
+9:15. 
+
+The trading floor is one giant room: rows of TRADERS seated 
+before their computers, jabbering into their telephone 
+headsets. No women -- the place is loud and aggressive. 
+Slattery is built like a former college wrestler: thick- 
+necked, broken-nosed, muscular, his hair retreating from his 
+forehead, his eyes undercast with dark crescents. 
+One of his phones rings. He answers. 
+
+----SEATTER Y - ·- - 
+
+Frank Slattery. 
+He listens for one second. 
+
+SLATTERY (CONT'D) 
+
+Can't talk right now. Employment number's 
+coming out. 
+
+INT. TEACHERS' LOUNGE - CONTINUOUS 
+
+
+JAKOB 
+
+All right. Just wanted to let you know 
+that Monty -- 
+
+INT. SHREVE ZIMMER - CONTINUOUS 
+
+
+SLATTERY 
+
+I'll call you later. 
+
+
+
+
+(CONTINUED) 
+
+
+
+
+
+17 
+
+
+CONTINUED: -,^-.- ..... , 
+
+
+.· 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+He hangs up the phone and returns his gaze to the computer 
+screens in front of him. Clearly he's waiting for something 
+and clearly he's anxious. 
+
+LICHTER (O.S.) 
+
+Coming out with us later on? 
+Slattery looks up at his boss, ARI LICHTER, early forties, a 
+plump, genial man. 
+
+SLATTERY 
+
+Nah, I'm meeting some friends tonight. 
+
+LICHTER 
+
+Big date? 
+The subject clearly makes Slattery uncomfortable. 
+
+SLATTERY 
+
+More of a going-away party. 
+
+LICHTER 
+
+Listen, the other thing, you're still 
+holding onto all those contracts? 
+
+. SLATTERY 
+
+Why, you're nervous? 
+
+LICHTER 
+
+I don't like it. The claims numbers have 
+dropped three weeks straight. 
+
+SLATTERY 
+
+And everybody's thinking, if claims have 
+dropped, employment must be up. 
+
+LICHTER 
+
+Everybody's thinking that because it's 
+pretty much always true. 
+
+SLATTERY 
+
+Not this time. 
+
+LICHTER 
+
+Frank-- 
+
+SLATTERY 
+
+I've got a theory. 
+
+LICHTER 
+
+Oh good, you've got a theory. Look, 
+you're in awfully deep. You've got sixty 
+million of the bank's money in there-- 
+
+
+
+
+(CONTINUED) 
+
+
+
+
+
+18 
+
+
+CONTINUED : (2) 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+e SLATTERY 
+A hundred million. 
+
+
+
+The news startles Lichter. 
+
+
+
+
+LICHTER 
+
+A hundred million? Jesus, Frank. 
+
+
+
+
+SLATTERY 
+
+They authorized me to a hundred million. 
+
+
+
+Other traders sitting nearby have begun watching this 
+exchange, and Lichter is careful to keep his voice down. 
+
+LICHTER 
+
+A week ago. They raised your limit a week 
+ago, and you're already maxing out. 
+
+SLATTERY 
+
+I'm telling you, we're in for a low 
+number. One-forty, maybe one-thirty-five. 
+
+
+
+
+LICHTER 
+
+Cut your stake in half, all right? You've 
+been doing a great job, everyone knows 
+that, but I'm still you r boss and I'm 
+telling you: sell those contracts. 
+Lichter grips Slattery's shoulder for a moment and then walks 
+toward his office (a real office, with walls and a door) , 
+exchanging hellos with other traders on the floor. 
+PHELAN, fresh from college, walks down the row, handing fax 
+sheets to all the traders. He hands a sheet to Slattery, wh o 
+looks-at--it briefly before crumpling it . ........ 
+
+. 
+
+
+
+
+
+PHELAN 
+
+Sollie's looking for a high number. Tw o 
+hundred and eighty thousand's their call . 
+
+SLATTERY 
+
+Fuck Sollie. 
+
+
+
+
+PHELAN 
+
+Fuck Salomon Brothers? 
+
+
+
+
+SLATTERY 
+
+They're hedging their bets . They want 
+everyone on their side of the fence. 
+
+
+
+
+PHELAN 
+
+What's the big deal with the employment 
+number, anyway? 
+
+
+
+
+(CONTINUED) 
+
+
+
+
+
+19. 
+
+
+CONTINUED : (3) ...,., 
+
+
+. 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Slattery doesn't want to discuss this right now . 
+
+SLATTERY 
+
+More jobs means fewer people looking for 
+work, right? Which means it's harder to 
+find the right people for a job, which 
+means you got to raise wages to get them, 
+which mean s inflation goes up -- you 
+following? 
+
+PHELAN 
+
+(not following) 
+Yeah. 
+
+
+
+Slatter y frowns. 
+
+
+
+
+SLATTERY 
+
+You're wearing a striped shirt with a 
+striped tie . 
+Phelan looks down at his tie . 
+
+PHELAN 
+
+Yeah? Is that bad ? 
+SLATTERY "x 
+,L#bi You look like a xuoAiiiig optical -LJ.JHJOJ.LJII. 
+xxiv c a fuckin j u^t.J.^ax illusion . ** 
+
+
+
+Go away. 
+Phelan walks away, nervously adjusting his tie . 
+MARCUSE peeks over the partition in front of Slattery. With 
+his slicked-back hair , red suspenders, and obnoxious smirk, 
+Marcuse looks like a ma n who owns the Gordon Gekk o action 
+figure. 
+
+- MARGUSE- ...·-..- 
+
+Better hop to , sonny boy. 
+Slattery says nothing, just stabs angrily at hi s keyboard. 
+
+MARCUSE (CONT'D) 
+
+I don't see you pickin g up the phone . 
+Didn't Lichter just tell you to sell? 
+Sounds like your allowance got cut off . 
+Slattery, nostrils flared, pretends to ignore the taunts . 
+
+MARCUSE (CONT'D) 
+
+You're not going to disobey a direct 
+order, are you? 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+(CONTINUED) 
+
+
+
+
+
+-- 20 
+
+
+CONTINUED : (4) 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Slattery rolls back in his wheeled office chair and stares at 
+Marcuse. 
+
+
+
+
+SLATTERY 
+
+I don't come into your bedroom and tell 
+yo u how to fuck your wife, do I? 
+
+
+
+Marcuse grins . He calls to another trader down the floor. 
+
+
+
+
+MARCUSE 
+
+Hey , Schultz, what are we looking at for 
+the employment number?. 
+
+
+
+
+SCHULTZ 
+
+(yelling from his desk) 
+Two-fifty, two-seventy, somewhere in 
+there . 
+Marcuse sits down again, disappearing behind the partition. 
+Slattery glowers at his desk. He picks up his phon e and holds 
+the receiver to his ear, never dialing a number. 
+Lichter calls to Slattery from his office door. 
+
+LICHTER 
+
+Slattery! We're good? 
+Slattery nods and gives a thumbs up. As soon as Lichter 
+returns to his office, Slattery hangs up the phone . 
+Marcuse sticks his head above the partition again. 
+
+MARCUSE 
+
+Good thing you got rid of those 
+contracts.-Looks like a huge numbe r o n -- ,«--·-.·----««». 
+the way. 
+The trading floor suddenly -- and eerily-^ goes quiet. 
+Everyone's attention is fixed on the television monitors 
+hanging from th e ceilings. The monitors ar e muted; closed 
+captioning files along the bottoms of the screens. 
+
+
+
+Each monitor is tuned to the same station, a financial 
+network broadcasting the employment number's release. A 
+REPORTER wearing a bowtie reads the statistics. 
+
+
+
+Slattery bows hi s head. He holds his hands in his lap and 
+closes his eyes . For a long while the room is very quiet. 
+
+
+
+Then a commotion of shouts and groans riles the floor. 
+Everyone is hollering at the same time, and we can only make 
+out a few phrases . 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+(CONTINUED) 
+
+
+
+
+
+21. 
+
+
+CONTINUED: (5) 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+TRADER 1 (O.S.) 
+
+Stop out of that! Stop out! 
+
+TRADER 2 (O.S.) 
+
+We're going for a ride! 
+Slattery looks up at the nearest monitor. A white number is 
+emblazoned on a blue background: 138,112. Every monitor in 
+the room flashes the same number. 
+Slattery stares at his computer screen. There it is again, 
+displayed prominently in the largest window: 138, 112. 
+Slattery raises his eyebrows. He juggles the crumpled fax 
+sheet a few times and then tosses it over the partition, 
+where Marcuse is sitting. 
+
+MARCUSE (O.S.) 
+
+Fuck you, Slattery. 
+Slattery grins and leans back in his chair, hands behind his 
+head. 
+
+EXT. MONTY'S BUILDING -- LATE AFTERNOON 
+
+A four-story walk-up on a quiet street in Yorkville. 
+NATURELLE ROSARIO sits on the stoop steps, reading a book. 
+Naturelle, in her early twenties, has the lean body of a 
+runner. It's cold outside but she doesn't seem to mind. When 
+she sees Monty coming she closes the book and stands. 
+
+NATURELLE 
+
+How long have you guys been walking? I 
+woke up at seven and you were already 
+gone. _ _ 
+Monty, digging in his pocket for his keys, kisses her for an 
+answer. Naturelle closes her eyes and tries to embrace him 
+but Monty abruptly ends the kiss and climbs the stairs. 
+Doyle wags the stump of his tail. 
+
+NATURELLE (CONT'D) 
+
+How you doing, Mr. Doyle? 
+She bends down to scratch him behind his mangled ear. 
+
+MONTY 
+
+Why you waiting down here? 
+
+, ' NATURELLE 
+
+I had my book. It was a beautiful day. 
+
+(CONTINUED) 
+
+
+
+
+
+·'"··· ··""·· " ' : '2 
+
+
+·· " 2 
+
+
+CONTINUED: 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+c Monty smiles. 
+
+MONTY 
+
+Of course it was a beautiful day. 
+He holds the door open for her and Doyle. 
+
+INT. MONTY'S APARTMENT 
+
+Monty closes the apartment door behind Naturelle and Doyle, 
+then locks it. There are five locks and a heavy steel 
+deadbolt. 
+Despite the ominous security, it's a nice one-bedroom 
+apartment, with hardwood floors and tall windows facing the 
+brownstones across the street. 
+Black-and-white photographs line the walls: shots of the 
+Manhattan skyline, of Bensonhurst, of Doyle. The largest 
+photo, hanging above the sofa, is of Brogan's Bar. 
+Doyle curls up next to the radiator and quickly falls asleep. 
+Monty sits on the sofa and flicks on the television with the 
+remote. 
+
+WEATHERMAN 
+
+The first major storm of winter is 
+heading our way -- 
+Monty turns off the television. He stares at the dead screen. 
+Naturelle comes out of the kitchen carrying a jar of honey 
+and a spoon. 
+She hands the jar to Monty, who opens it for her. She sits 
+· beside him and begins eating" the honey, watching him. He sees 
+her watching. 
+
+MONTY 
+
+What? 
+
+NATURELLE 
+
+What are you thinking about? 
+
+MONTY 
+
+What am I thinking about? 
+He leans forward and unclips a hand-tooled leather holster 
+from the back of his belt. A "B" for Brogan is tooled into 
+the leather, stylized like the old Brooklyn Dodgers' logo. 
+A .40 caliber automatic, squat and black, rests in the 
+holster. Monty drops the holster onto the coffee table and 
+runs his fingers over the B. Naturelle stares at the gun. 
+
+
+
+
+(CONTINUED) 
+
+
+
+
+
+23 
+
+
+CONTINUED: 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+MONTY (CONT'D) 
+
+I'm thinking I want to be like that girl 
+from the X-Men, the one who can walk 
+through walls. 
+He's still tracing the holster's "B " with his fingertips. 
+
+MONTY (CONT'D) 
+
+And if I can't do that, if I can't figure 
+out how to walk through walls, I'm 
+thinking one shot through the roof of the 
+mouth, boom, problem solved. 
+Naturelle hits him on the shoulder. 
+
+NATURELLE 
+
+Don't joke about that. 
+
+MONTY 
+
+You think I'm joking? 
+
+NATURELLE 
+
+So what are we doing tonight? Before you 
+shoot yourself. 
+Monty reclines, arms spread wide and resting on the sofa's 
+back cushions. 
+
+MONTY 
+
+Uncle Blue's throwing me a party at 
+Velvet. 
+
+NATURELLE 
+
+I thought it was over with him. 
+
+...MONTY. -- - .-- 
+
+Almost. 
+He watches her eat another spoonful of raw honey. 
+
+MONTY (CONT'D) 
+
+That's a nasty habit you have. 
+She leans forward and kisses him on the lips. 
+
+NATURELLE 
+
+Come take a bath with me. 
+
+MONTY 
+
+Not right now. 
+She caresses his jaw but Monty is distant, his mind J 
+elsewhere. ^--^ 
+
+(CONTINUED) 
+
+
+
+
+
+24. 
+
+
+CONTINUED: (2) 
+
+
+
+
+o She sets the honey jar on the table and walks out of the 
+living room. Monty listens to her in the bathroom, drawing 
+the bathwater. 
+He listens to the sound of running water. 
+
+CUT TO: 
+
+
+INT. MONTY'S BATHROOM -- SIX MONTHS AGO 
+
+Naturelle sits on Monty's lap in the narrow bathtub. He's 
+massaging her shoulders. Music plays from a radio on the 
+windowsill. 
+She is laughing at something he just said. He leans closer 
+and kisses the back of her neck, behind her ears. She 
+stretches back, lifting one leg out of the bath. 
+He runs his hand down her thigh and then stops, looking at 
+the Puerto Rican flag tattooed on her ankle. She follows his 
+gaze to the tattoo and then groans. 
+
+NATURELLE 
+
+Not this again. 
+
+MONTY 
+
+You were born in America, you lived in 
+America your whole life, you've been to 
+Puerto Rico twice, for vacation. What is 
+that? I should get an Irish flag tattooed 
+on my ass cause my grandparents are from 
+there? 
+
+NATURELLE 
+
+You,don!t have room on your ass for an 
+Irish flag. 
+Monty dips his hands into the warm water, reaches below her, 
+grabs her butt. Naturelle shrieks and Monty laughs. 
+
+MONTY 
+
+Between you and me the kids will be just 
+right. 
+Loud pounding on the apartment door startles them. They stare 
+at each other. Doyle barks from the other room. 
+Naturelle gets out of the tub, pulls on a bathrobe, and goes 
+to answer the door. Monty waits, listening. He knows who it 
+is. He stares out the bathroom's open window. 
+
+
+
+
+25. 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+C) INT. MONTY'S LIVING ROOM -- STILL IN FLASHBACK 
+
+Monty, wearing sweatpants and no shirt, walks into the living 
+room. Four D.E.A. AGENTS, all wearing D.E.A. windbreakers and 
+shoulder holsters, wait for him. 
+Doyle, ears back, growls at the agents. Monty scratches 
+Doyle's head and the dog relaxes a bit. 
+Naturelle, panicked, stares at Monty. She's still holding the 
+apartment door open. 
+
+MONTY 
+
+Close the door, baby. 
+She closes the door. 
+
+AGENT BRZOWSKI 
+
+Montgomery Brogan? 
+
+MONTY 
+
+Yeah. 
+Brzowski flips open a badge and hands a paper to Monty, who 
+looks it over. 
+
+AGENT BRZOWSKI ^^ 
+
+I'm Agent Brzowksi with the Drug 
+Enforcement Agency. We've got a warrant 
+to search your apartment. 
+Brzowksi walks over to the sofa and sits down. The other 
+three agents stroll around the apartment. One looks out the 
+window; one starts flipping through a magazine on the coffee 
+table; one stares at a photograph on the wall. 
+
+AGENT CUNNINGHAM 
+
+You take this picture? 
+
+MONTY 
+
+Yeah. 
+
+AGENT CUNNINGHAM 
+
+Nice picture. 
+When one of the agents steps too close to Doyle, the dog 
+growls and the agent jumps back. 
+
+MONTY 
+
+Easy, Doyle. 
+
+AGENT BRZOWSKI I) 
+
+I don't see any tags on that dog. ^"^^ 
+
+(CONTINUED) 
+
+
+
+
+
+26, 
+
+
+· ---· - 
+
+
+· 
+
+
+CONTINUED : 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+o MONTY 
+He's inside. He doesn't have to wear 
+tags. 
+
+
+
+
+AGENT BRZOWSKI 
+
+He better stay calm or I'll have the 
+pound come get him. I've seen too many 
+men bit by these little bastards . 
+Monty whistles and Doyle stands and walks over to him. Monty 
+crouches, one hand stroking Doyle's thick neck. 
+
+
+
+Naturelle, uncomfortable wearing only the bathrobe, begins 
+heading back to the bedroom. 
+
+AGENT BRZOWSKI (CONT'D) 
+
+Ms . Rosario? That's your name , right? I 
+need you to stay right here, ma'am. 
+
+
+
+He winks at her. 
+
+AGENT BRZOWSKI (CONT'D) 
+
+Can't have you sneaking around. 
+Naturelle leans against the wall, looking for a sign from 
+Monty, who gives her none. 
+The agents don't seem to be searching very hard. 
+
+AGENT BRZOWSKI (CONT'D) 
+
+Hm. 
+He stares down at the sofa he's sitting on . 
+
+AGENT BRZOWSKI (CONT-?D) 
+
+This sofa is not very comfortable. 
+Monty stares at the agent for a second and then exhales. He 
+turns and looks carefully at Naturelle. 
+
+
+
+
+AGENT CUNNINGHAM 
+
+Maybe it's your posture. Posture's very 
+important. 
+
+
+
+
+AGENT BRZOWSKI 
+
+No , it's this sofa. It's very 
+uncomfortable. It's lumpy. 
+
+MONTY 
+
+Get it over with. 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+(CONTINUED) 
+
+
+
+
+
+27 
+
+
+CONTINUED: (2) 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+yj AGENT BRZOWSKI 
+I just don't understand. It looks like 
+such a nice sofa. How much did you pay 
+for this sofa, Ms . Rosario? 
+Brzowksi stands and looks down at the cushion. Monty is still 
+staring at Naturelle, who meets his eye for a second and then 
+quickly turns away. 
+
+AGENT BRZOWSKI (CONT'D) 
+
+Maybe it's the padding? 
+
+AGENT CUNNINGHAM 
+
+Could be the padding. 
+Brzowski picks up the center cushion, turns it in his hands, 
+and unzips it. 
+
+AGENT BRZOWSKI 
+
+Probably the padding. 
+He pulls out handfuls of white fiber filling and lets them 
+drift to the floor. Monty and Naturelle watch. 
+
+, AGENT BRZOWSKI (CONT'D) 
+
+rsS*f Yeah, there's something lumpy in here, 
+v-v Mr. Brogan. It's a good thing I found 
+this, you know. It'll make your sofa much 
+more comfortable to sit on. 
+The other agents laugh. Brzowski pulls out a package the size 
+of a bottle of wine from the cushion, a bundle of plastic 
+wrap and masking tape. 
+Brzowski raises his eyebrows in mock shock while the other 
+agents poh and. cluck* -- --, --· -~ -- --- 
+
+- 
+
+
+AGENT BRZOWSKI (CONT'D) 
+
+Mr. Brogan, I do believe you're fucked. 
+
+END FLASHBACK 
+
+
+INT. MONTY'S LIVING ROOM 
+
+Monty sits on the sofa, running his hand over the sofa 
+cushion. Outside it's dark and Monty hasn't turned on the 
+lights. 
+
+NATURELLE (O.S.) 
+
+Baby? 
+V_/ Monty looks up. Naturelle stands in the bathroom's doorway, 
+wearing a bathrobe. 
+
+(CONTINUED) 
+
+
+
+
+
+28 
+
+
+CONTINUED : 
+
+
+
+
+For a moment they watch each other in silence. Then he 
+stands, grabs the holster off the table, and clips it to the 
+back of his belt. 
+
+
+
+
+NATURELLE (CONT'D) 
+
+Where you going? 
+
+
+
+
+MONTY 
+
+I got to meet my dad for dinner. I'll 
+call you in a couple hours. 
+He kisses her quickly and turns to go, but then stops and 
+looks at her. 
+
+MONTY (CONT'D) 
+
+Could you wear the silver dress tonight? 
+
+
+
+
+NATURELLE 
+
+You want me to? 
+
+
+
+He nods. 
+
+MONTY 
+
+I want to remember you in that dress . 
+He walks out of the apartment, leaving Naturelle alone in the 
+dark living room. 
+
+EXT. MONTY'S BUILDING 
+
+Kostya sits on the top step of the stoop, sipping from a 
+silver flask. A female JOGGER runs past and Kostya calls 
+after her. 
+
+KOSTYA 
+
+···· Hello ,--teeauti-f-uA~ woman! 
+
+- 
+
+She doesn't look in his direction. He takes another swig from 
+his flask. 
+A young MOTHER pushes a baby stroller past the stoop. 
+
+
+
+
+KOSTYA (CONT'D) 
+
+Hello, beautiful mother! Hello, little 
+baby! 
+The mother doesn't look at him, but the two-year old GIRL, 
+fascinated, stares at him. 
+
+
+
+
+KOSTYA (CONT'D) 
+
+(calling after mother) 
+You look like Julia Roberts. They tell 
+you this, yes? Come back! I make you a 
+new baby. I make you a boy! 
+
+
+
+
+(CONTINUED) 
+
+
+
+
+
+29 
+
+
+CONTINUED: 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Monty opens the front door. He stares down at Kostya. 
+
+MONTY 
+
+What are you doing here? 
+
+KOSTYA 
+
+So many beautiful women, this 
+neighborhood. I like very much. 
+Kostya stands and grips Monty's arm. 
+
+KOSTYA (CONT'D) 
+
+You are okay? 
+
+MONTY 
+
+I'm having the time of my life. 
+
+KOSTYA 
+
+Uncle Blue wants me talking with you. He 
+wants you coming to Velvet tonight. 
+
+MONTY 
+
+Yeah, three other people already told me . 
+He's really dying to say goodbye, huh? 
+Kostya releases Monty's arm and nods sadly. 
+
+KOSTYA 
+
+It seems. 
+
+MONTY 
+
+What does he want? 
+
+KOSTYA 
+
+I don't know. 
+
+· --·-- MONTY : "-" " ·"""" 
+
+
+~ · 
+
+You came all the way up here to tell me 
+this? You heard of telephones? 
+
+KOSTYA 
+
+Yes, I heard, but you don't return my 
+calls. And Uncle wants to make sure. 
+
+MONTY 
+
+I'll be there. I'm bringing Naturelle and 
+some friends. 
+
+KOSTYA 
+
+You bring her? Why? 
+
+MONTY "V 
+
+Why wouldn't I ? v^ 
+
+(CONTINUED) 
+
+
+
+
+
+30 
+
+
+CONTINUED : (2) 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Kostya shrugs. 
+
+
+
+
+KOSTYA 
+
+We have this conversation one time, 
+remember? You get angry. 
+
+MONTY 
+
+Oh , Jesus. She didn't dime me out, man . 
+
+
+
+
+KOSTYA 
+
+No? 
+
+
+
+
+MONTY 
+
+Why would she? 
+
+
+
+Kostya shrugs again. 
+
+KOSTYA 
+
+Maybe her aunt is illegal alien. 
+
+MONTY 
+
+What if she is? 
+
+KOSTYA 
+
+Maybe the Federals threaten her. 
+Monty shakes his head and walks down the stairs. 
+
+MONTY 
+
+. You're insane. She wouldn't do that. 
+
+KOSTYA 
+
+No? Did you ask her? 
+Monty--stares--up--at- Kostya for a few seconds before-walking -- 
+away. 
+Kostya stands at the top of the stoop. He feels something and 
+raises his palms to the air. The snow has begun to fall. 
+
+
+
+He looks up into the sky. Something catches his eye -- in one 
+of the fourth floor windows, Naturelle is staring down at 
+him. 
+Kostya watches her. She lets the curtain close. Kostya takes 
+another slug from his flask. 
+
+
+
+
+INT. SUBWAY STATION 
+
+
+
+
+Monty waits for the 6 train. Two BOYS (12), wearing winter 
+parkas and knit caps, crouch near the edge of the platform, 
+pointing down at the tracks and laughing. 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+(CONTINUED) 
+
+
+
+
+
+31 
+
+
+CONTINUED: 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+MONTY 
+
+What's down there? 
+The boys point and Monty looks. We follow his gaze. We can't 
+see anything at first, but then, as if our eyes were 
+adjusting to the dark, we begin to pick out movement. 
+A gang of large RATS crawls through the tracks, nosing 
+through balled-up paper bags, candy wrappers and orange 
+peels. 
+
+BOY 1 
+
+These ones, they eat rat poison like 
+chocolate. 
+The biggest rat of all sniffs around the base of an upright 
+wax-paper coffee cup that sits just outside the third rail. 
+Monty reaches into the pocket of his camel's hair coat and 
+pulls out a handful of change. 
+
+MONTY 
+
+Watch this. 
+He selects a quarter and -- with a free throw motion as smooth 
+as Hersey Hawkins's-- tosses it into the empty cup, a ten- 
+foot shot. 
+The big rat, startled, hustles into the alcove below the lip 
+of the platform. The boys, impressed, whistle. 
+
+MONTY (CONT'D) 
+
+Here -- 
+He offers his palmful of change. 
+
+MONTY (CONT'D) 
+
+Take a shot at it. 
+The boys look at each other for a moment before each takes a 
+coin. They stare up at Monty. He nods at them. 
+
+MONTY (CONT'D) 
+
+Let's see what you got. 
+Boy 1 takes careful aim at the coffee cup. His shot is way 
+off target, though -- it pings off the tile on the far side of 
+the tunnel. 
+
+MONTY (CONT'D) 
+
+Your release is too high. Look -- 
+He mimics the boy's shooting motion. 
+
+
+
+
+(CONTINUED) 
+
+
+
+
+
+32 
+
+
+CONTINUED : (2) 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+o 
+
+^^ MONTY (CONT'D) 
+
+See? You're letting go way up here, so 
+it's floating on you. It's like -- you 
+play basketball? 
+
+BOY 1 
+
+No. 
+
+MONTY 
+
+Baseball? 
+
+BOY 1 
+
+No . 
+
+MONTY 
+
+No? What do you play? 
+
+BOY 1 
+
+Soccer. 
+
+MONTY 
+
+(disgusted) 
+Soccer? All right, forget it. 
+(turning to the other boy) 
+Your turn, little man . 
+Boy 2 toes the edge of the yellow danger line and practices 
+his motion . When he finally releases the coin, it flashes 
+through the air and drops neatly into the cup. 
+
+MONTY (CONT'D) 
+
+Thataboy! 
+He raises his fist and the boy taps knuckles, grinning 
+
+
+
+
+BOY 1 
+
+You see that! You see that! Charlie got 
+mad skills! 
+Charlie says nothing, just grins and hops around on one foot. 
+
+
+
+
+MONTY 
+
+Make a wish. 
+
+
+
+
+CHARLIE 
+
+I get a wish? 
+
+MONTY ' 
+
+Hell , yes . A shot like that deserves a 
+wish. 
+
+
+
+Monty and Charlie stare at the coffee cup and concentrate. 
+
+
+
+
+33 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+INT . 6 TRAI N 
+
+Mont y rest s wit h hi s eye s close d a s th e trai n shudder s 
+throug h th e tunnels . 
+
+TRE Y (O.S.) 
+
+Monty ? Mont y Brogan ? 
+Mont y open s hi s eyes . TRE Y POWEL L (27) stand s abov e him , 
+holdin g th e ba r an d smilin g dow n a t Monty . A blonde , blandl y 
+handsom e man , Tre y look s lik e h e migh t hav e rowe d fo r Yale' s 
+crew . H e wear s a well-cu t navy-blu e suit . Hi s wife , NANC Y 
+(26) , stand s besid e him -- equall y blonde , equall y bland . 
+
+MONT Y 
+
+(not recognizin g them ) 
+Hey.. . 
+
+TRE Y 
+
+Tre y Powell ! Fro m Campbell-Sawyer ! 
+
+MONT Y 
+
+(trying fo r enthusiasm ) 
+Oh , Trey . Hey . Ho w yo u been ? 
+
+TRE Y \ 
+
+Excellent , excellent . Well , Goldman' s go t w*^jf 
+m e locke d awa y twent y hour s a day , bu t 
+othe r tha n that.. . I'm sorry , Nancy , thi s 
+i s Mont y Brogan . Bes t basketbal l playe r 
+eve r t o pla y fo r Campbell-Sawyer . 
+Mont y stand s an d shake s he r hand . 
+
+MONT Y 
+
+Nic e t o mee t you . Here , tak e m y seat . 
+
+NANC Y 
+
+No , no , please -- 
+
+MONT Y 
+
+Thi s i s m y stop . I go t t o catc h th e B 
+train . 
+j 
+Trey claps Monty on the shoulder. 
+
+TREY 
+
+Too bad, I wanted to catch up. 
+
+MONTY 
+
+Yeah, well I'm sure I'll see you soon -- 
+
+\J 
+
+
+(CONTINUED) 
+
+
+
+
+
+"- .,*..--- ~- 34 
+
+
+CONTINUED: 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+TREY 
+
+Tenth reunion. It's coining up! I'm the 
+alumni rep for our class, actually. We'll 
+see you there, I hope? June fifteenth? 
+The train has pulled into the station and Monty moves toward 
+the doors. 
+
+MONTY 
+
+Yeah, I hope so, definitely. Good seeing 
+you. 
+Monty makes his escape and Trey watches him go. 
+
+NANCY 
+
+He went to Campbell-Sawyer? 
+
+TREY 
+
+Mm. Well, he was a scholarship kid. It 
+didn't take, though. They threw him out 
+junior year. 
+Through the subway car windows, they watch Monty jogging up 
+the stairs. 
+
+NANCY 
+
+For what? 
+
+TREY 
+
+Selling drugs. 
+(beat) 
+You can take the kid out of Bensonhurst, 
+but you can't take the Bensonhurst out of 
+the kid. 
+
+EXT. BROGAN'S BAR -- NIGHT 
+
+The snow is falling faster. We watch the flakes spin through 
+a yellow cone of streetlight. 
+We see the bar from the street.. The name "Brogan's Bar & 
+Grill" is written in gold script on the storefront window. 
+From the outside it looks like any other Bensonhurst bar, 
+neon beer signs hanging in the window. 
+
+INT. BROGAN'S BAR 
+
+On the inside, though, it's clear that attention has been 
+paid to every detail. Everything is right: the zinc bartop, 
+the brass foot-rail, the antique mirrors behind the liquor. 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+(CONTINUED) 
+
+
+
+
+
+35, 
+
+
+CONTINUED : - ···--<·· 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+A BARTENDER wipes down the bartop with a rag and a spray- 
+bottle . Two CUSTOMERS sit on stools and watc h the basketball 
+game on television. 
+Mont y sits at a corner table with his father, JAME S BROGAN , 
+fifty. Each ma n has a pint of Guinness. The olde r Broga n was 
+clearly a fine-looking ma n in his day, but the year s hav e 
+bee n hard on him. 
+Monty points at the Tiffany-glass sconces on the wall . 
+
+MONT Y 
+
+Where'd you find those? 
+
+MR . BROGAN 
+
+Estate sale in Sheepshead Bay. Old lady 
+dies and her kids sell everything five 
+days later. The china -- she probably 
+thought her great-grandkids would be 
+eating off those plates. 
+
+MONT Y 
+
+Maybe they didn't need any more plates . 
+
+MR . BROGAN 
+
+(wistfully) 
+It was beautiful china. 
+Monty leans back in his chair and surveys the place . No t that 
+he hasn't seen the bar a thousand times -- he' s havin g a hard 
+time looking directly at his father. 
+RUTH (60), a waitress with a face like a crumpled pape r bag, 
+arrives with the food: pork chops for the elder Brogan , a 
+steak for Monty. 
+
+MONT Y 
+
+Thanks, Ruth . 
+
+RUTH 
+
+Anytime, sweetie . 
+She rests her hand on Monty's shoulder for a moment . 
+
+RUTH (CONT'D) 
+
+I'll send you cookies every month . Peanut I 
+butter, right? Your favorite. 
+Monty smiles and nods . Ruth exchanges glances wit h Mr . Brogan 
+before departing. Mr . Brogan breaks a bread roll an d butters 
+it . He stares at the buttered bread and leaves it on his 
+plate . \j 
+
+
+
+
+(CONTINUED) 
+
+
+
+
+
+36, 
+
+
+CONTINUED : (2) 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+MR. BROGAN 
+
+So I talked to Sal -- 
+
+
+
+
+MONTY 
+
+Ah , come on, Dad. 
+
+
+
+
+MR. BROGAN 
+
+See if he can help with anything. 
+
+
+
+
+MONTY 
+
+Sal? The guy's been out of the picture 
+for twenty years. 
+
+MR. BROGAN 
+
+He might know some people in there . 
+
+MONTY 
+
+The guy's three hundred years old. He 
+sits around playing gin rummy all day. 
+What's he going to do for me? 
+
+MR. BROGAN 
+
+He still knows people. 
+
+MONTY 
+
+Dad, would you please? I'll be all right. 
+Just, please, don't get involved in this . 
+(beat) 
+Okay? 
+
+MR. BROGAN 
+
+You're still going to be a young man when 
+you get out. 
+
+
+
+- Monty lets his fork drop and wipes his mouth with his napkin. 
+
+MR. BROGAN (CONT'D) 
+
+I know you don't think so. But listen to 
+me . You keep your head down in there. 
+Don't start any trouble. 
+
+MONTY 
+
+Jesus. Enough. 
+
+
+
+Both men stare at the uneaten food on their plates . 
+
+
+
+
+MR. BROGAN 
+
+This should never have happened. 
+
+
+
+Monty raps the tabletop with his knuckles. 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+(CONTINUED) 
+
+
+
+
+
+37 . 
+
+
+CONTINUED: (3) "-·- 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+MONTY 
+
+Dad? I fucked up. Okay? What else can I 
+tell you? I fucked up. 
+
+INT. BROGAN'S BATHROOM -- LATER 
+
+Monty stands in the cramped bathroom, staring into the 
+mirror. Someone has scrawled "Fuck you" in magic marker on 
+the wall above the mirror. 
+
+CUT TO: 
+
+
+INT. DEA DIVISION OFFICE, INTERROGATION ROOM ~ MORNING 
+
+Monty stares into the mirror covering one wall of the room. 
+
+INT. OBSERVATION ROOM -- CONTINUOUS 
+
+Two agents stare back at him through the one-way glass. 
+
+INT. DEA DIVISION OFFICE, INTERROGATION ROOM -- CONTINUOUS 
+
+Monty.sits at the table and waits. Agent Brzowksi walks in, 
+followed by Agent Cunningham. Brzowski leaves the door ajar 
+for a moment. 
+Monty looks through the door and sees Naturelle leaving 
+another room, escorted by two agents. She makes eye contact 
+with Monty. Brzowski shuts the door. He smiles at Monty. 
+
+AGENT BRZOWSKI 
+
+Good looking girl you got there. 
+Monty glares at him. Brzowski pretends to sh,iver. 
+
+
+
+Ooh, that's a scary look. Yikes. You see 
+the look he gave me? 
+Cunningham laughs. Both agents take seats at the table. 
+
+AGENT BRZOWSKI (CONT'D) 
+
+Naturelle Rosario. What a name. You see 
+the body on that girl? 
+Cunningham laughs again. 
+
+MONTY 
+
+You fucking touch her -- 
+
+AGENT BRZOWSKI 
+
+No, no, you've got it all wrong. She 
+fucking touched you. 
+
+
+
+
+(CONTINUED) 
+
+
+
+
+
+38 
+
+
+CONTINUED : 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Monty is silent for a few seconds. When he does speak, his 
+tone is very quiet and deliberate -- he is trying to restrain 
+his temper. 
+
+MONTY 
+
+You're lying to me . 
+
+
+
+
+AGENT BRZOWSKI 
+
+Am I? That's sweet, you really trust her . 
+All I know is, she's walking away. We 
+just signed her release. Bye bye , 
+Naturelle. 
+
+
+
+
+AGENT CUNNINGHAM 
+
+She's probably having a big party 
+tonight. 
+
+AGENT BRZOWSKI 
+
+Sure, why not? Big celebration. She's got 
+that whole big apartment to herself now. 
+
+AGENT CUNNINGHAM 
+
+She's a smart girl. You on the other 
+hand... 
+
+AGENT BRZOWSKI 
+
+You're supposed to be smart. Got yourself 
+a scholarship to a fancy private school, 
+huh? Not bad for a kid from Bensonhurst. 
+
+
+
+
+AGENT CUNNINGHAM 
+
+And then you get yourself thrown out for 
+dealing. Pretty dumb, buddy. 
+
+
+
+
+"~ -- --'--AGENT" BRZOWSKI 
+
+You know what happens to pretty boys like 
+you in prison? 
+
+AGENT CUNNINGHAM 
+
+Oh , they are gonna love you. 
+
+
+
+
+AGENT BRZOWSKI 
+
+But it's not too late, Brogan . First 
+felony offense, we can offer you a nice 
+deal. You just gotta be smart . So why 
+don't you tell us about your friend Uncle 
+Blue. 
+
+
+
+
+MONTY 
+
+(to Cunningham) 
+Can I ask you a question? 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+(CONTINUED) 
+
+
+
+
+
+39. 
+
+
+CONTINUED: (2) .. , , ._..,._... 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+AGENT CUNNINGHAM 
+
+Sure. 
+Cunningham and Brzowski lean forward, eager to hear Monty 
+name the names. 
+
+MONTY 
+
+When you've got your dick up his ass, is 
+he still talking all the time? 
+Cunningham and Brzowski sit back. 
+
+MONTY (CONT'D) 
+
+Cause it seems to me he never shuts up, 
+and I'm just wondering, is that annoying, 
+you're fucking the guy up the ass and he 
+never shuts up? 
+
+CUT TO: 
+
+
+INT. BROGAN'S BATHROOM 
+
+Monty still stares at the mirror. He wets his thumb and tries 
+to rub out the magic marker "Fuck you". Someone knocks on the 
+door. Monty rubs harder. It's not coming out. 
+VZ7 Another knock. 
+
+MONTY 
+
+Yeah, all right. 
+
+INT. BROGAN'S BAR 
+
+Monty returns to the table, sits, drinks some Guinness. , 
+
+MONTY 
+
+Let me aBk you "a question. 
+
+MR. BROGAN 
+
+Okay. 
+
+MONTY 
+
+What do you think of Naturelle? 
+
+MR. BROGAN 
+
+She's a good girl. Your mother would have 
+liked her. 
+
+MONTY 
+
+Do you trust her? 
+
+
+
+
+Q 
+
+
+(CONTINUED) 
+
+
+
+
+
+..... . 40 
+
+
+CONTINUED: 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+MR. BROGAN 
+
+Do I trust her? Why do J have to trust 
+her? 
+
+MONTY 
+
+Do you think I can trust her? 
+
+MR. BROGAN 
+
+Where you going with this? 
+
+MONTY 
+
+I've been hearing weird things. 
+(beat) 
+Some people are saying she dimed me out 
+
+MR. BROGAN 
+
+(incredulous) 
+Why would she do that? 
+
+MONTY 
+
+I don't know. Maybe the Feds got to her 
+somehow. Blackmailed her. 
+
+MR. BROGAN 
+
+The girl loves you/ Monty. I can't 
+believe she would betray you. 
+
+MONTY 
+
+Everything's gotten so strange, Dad. I 
+wake up some mornings and it takes me a 
+minute to remember who I am, you know? 
+Where I'm going. 
+Mr. Brogan looks down at his plate and nods. 
+
+MONTY (CONT'D) 
+
+Most of the people I'm with, I look at 
+them and I think, these are my friends? 
+(beat) 
+The only ones I trust these days are you 
+and the guys I grew up with -- Frank, 
+Jake. 
+
+MR. BROGAN 
+
+I miss those boys. 
+
+MONTY 
+
+And Naturelle... Jesus. I can't get it 
+out of my head. 
+
+
+
+vL MR. BROGAN 
+It doesn't really matter now, does it? 
+
+
+
+
+(CONTINUED) 
+
+
+
+
+
+41 
+
+
+CONTINUED : (2) 
+
+
+
+
+·( Monty stares at his father, blue eyes unblinking. 
+
+MONTY 
+
+It matters to me . 
+Monty checks his watch. 
+
+MONTY (CONT'D) 
+
+I should get going. 
+
+MR. BROGAN 
+
+Okay. I'll see you in the morning. 
+Mr . Brogan removes his wallet from the inside pocket of his 
+jacket. 
+
+MONTY 
+
+The morning? What for? I'm taking a bus 
+up there. 
+
+MR. BROGAN 
+
+Forget the bus. I'll drive you. It'll 
+take half as long. 
+Monty frowns, backing his chair away from the table. 
+
+MONTY 
+
+No thanks. I'd rather say goodbye here. 
+Mr . Brogan pulls a small photograph from his wallet and hands 
+it to his son. 
+
+MR. BROGAN 
+
+Take this. They'll let you keep it. 
+Monty holds the picture carefully. ._., ._ 
+
+_ =! 
+
+
+INSERT PHOTO 
+
+James Brogan, twenty years younger, his arm around his 
+beautiful wife. The six-year-old Montgomery Brogan stands in 
+front of them, wearing yellow pajamas and a red plastic 
+fireman's helmet, staring at the floor. 
+
+MR. BROGAN (CONT'D) 
+
+When you were a little kid you used to 
+sleep in that fireman's helmet. Your 
+mother -- 
+
+MONTY 
+
+(still looking at photo) ..-?·-. 
+Don't, Dad. Not now. L'·') 
+
+
+
+
+(CONTINUED ) 
+
+
+
+
+
+CONTINUED: (3) 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+> Monty carefully inserts the photo into his own wallet , kisses 
+his father's forehead, and walks away. 
+
+
+
+James Brogan stares at the empty chair where Monty had sat. 
+
+
+
+
+INT. ELEUTHERIA GREEK RESTAURANT -- NIGHT 
+
+
+
+
+UNCLE BLUE, SENKA VALGHOBEK, and VICTOR GEDNY sit on the 
+private balcony that overlooks the restaurant's mai n room. 
+
+
+
+The place is furnished in classic Outer Borough Greek 
+fashion: whitewashed walls , clay-tiled floors, poster s of the 
+Parthenon at dawn and Santorini at sunset. 
+
+
+
+Uncle Blue owns the place . He's a fierce-looking ma n with a 
+thick black beard, powerful hands, and no tolerance for 
+incompetence. It's hard to determine his age -- anywhere from 
+forty to sixty. 
+Valghobek, his lieutenant, looks at first glance like an 
+overweight suburban dad. But on closer inspection there is 
+something absolutely mirthless in his smile, a meannes s 
+around his eyes. He's in his late forties. 
+Gedny, mid-thirties, Uncle Blue's lawyer, wears a shiny suit, 
+a gold bracelet, and a deep , artificial-looking tan . 
+Gedny busily eats his shrimp and feta while the other two 
+watch him. Gedny gestures toward the windows. 
+
+GEDNY 
+
+Starting to snow. 
+
+UNCLE BLUE 
+
+You met with Brogan this morning. ··- 
+Uncle Blue's accent, like his age, is difficult to pi n down. 
+He could be Afghani or Iranian or Turkish. 
+
+
+
+
+GEDNY 
+
+I did, yeah. 
+
+
+
+Gedny reaches for his wine , takes a sip. 
+
+
+
+
+UNCLE BLUE 
+
+And? 
+
+
+
+
+GEDNY 
+
+He' s no t lovin g lif e righ t now, 
+obviously . I don' t know. He' s har d t o 
+read . 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+(CONTINUED) 
+
+
+
+
+
+43 . 
+
+
+CONTINUED : 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+( ) UNCL E BLU E 
+
+I kno w h e is . I don' t lik e that . 
+
+GEDN Y 
+
+Listen , on e hundre d percen t certain , th e 
+ki d didn' t flip . The y woul d no t b e 
+sendin g hi m t o Otisvill e i f h e flipped . 
+Uncl e Blu e an d Valghobe k exchang e glances . It' s clea r the y 
+don' t hav e muc h respec t fo r th e lawyer . 
+
+UNCL E BLU E 
+
+We'r e talkin g abou t huma n behavior , Mr . 
+Gedny . Nothin g i s on e hundre d percen t 
+certain . 
+
+VALGHOBE K 
+
+Don' t assum e they'r e idiots . 
+
+GEDN Y 
+
+That' s jus t it . They'r e no t idiots . N o 
+wa y i n hel l th e kid' s stil l walkin g 
+aroun d ou t her e i f h e flippe d Federal . 
+Secon d h e goe s he' s gone, right ? I f he' s 
+thei r sta r witness , they' d hav e 
+j-J§i disappeare d him . 
+Gedn y fork s anothe r shrim p an d eat s it . 
+
+GEDN Y (CONT'D ) 
+
+(mout h full ) 
+He' s kep t hi s mout h shut . 
+
+VALGHOBE K 
+
+S o far . 
+
+:' - ~ " GEDN Y ""~" 
+
+He' s a smar t kid . H e know s what' s goo d 
+fo r him . 
+
+UNCL E BLU E 
+
+He' s soft . H e won' t las t lon g i n there . 
+
+GEDN Y 
+
+He'l l hav e to . Fe d mandatory , tha t mean s 
+on e da y of f pe r mont h o f goo d behavior . 
+Eve n i f he' s a fuckin g choirboy , he' s i n 
+ther e seve n years . 
+
+UNCL E BLU E 
+
+(to Valghobek ) 
+He' s comin g tonight ? r,,'J 
+
+
+
+
+(CONTINUED) 
+
+
+
+
+i 44 
+
+4 CONTINUED: (2) 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Valghobek nods. 
+
+
+
+
+GEDNY 
+
+Where to? Throwing him a goodbye party at 
+VelVet? 
+
+UNCLE BLUE 
+
+You won't be there, Mr . Gedny. 
+
+
+
+
+GEDNY 
+
+What do I have to do to rate one of those 
+VelVet parties? Aside from getting locked 
+up for seven years. 
+
+UNCLE BLUE 
+
+Win more trials. 
+Gedny laughs but quickly notices that Uncle Blue and 
+Valghobek are not amused. 
+
+GEDNY 
+
+Listen, they found six hundred and fifty 
+g's in your boy's sofa cushion. They got 
+every white junkie on the East Side 
+saying Brogan's the sell. Game over. 
+
+
+
+Uncle Blue and Valghobek say nothing. Gedny licks his lips 
+
+GEDNY (CONT'D) 
+
+It's U.S . Code. There's nothing to argue. 
+Who do I argue with, the fucking grid? 
+It's seventy-eight to ninety-seven 
+months, automatic. I kept him out of 
+stepback* kep_t him in the world for a few 
+extra months -- 
+
+UNCLE BLUE 
+
+The judge kept him out of stepback. Why? 
+If he's not talking with the Federals, 
+how come he's still on the street? 
+
+
+
+Gedny shrugs. 
+
+GEDNY 
+
+It's pretty common for non-violent 
+offenders. He's a white boy with no 
+record and his father put up his bar as 
+the bail bond. They're not worried about 
+him jumping. 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+(CONTINUED) 
+
+
+
+
+
+45 
+
+
+CONTINUED: (3) 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+UNCLE BLUE 
+
+They know more than you think. If 
+Brogan's telling the truth, he was 
+touched. The DEA went straight to his 
+sofa. They knew exactly where it was. 
+
+GEDNY 
+
+Someone dimed him out. You know who? 
+Uncle Blue and Valghobek watch the lawyer, impassive and 
+silent. 
+
+GEDNY (CONT'D) 
+
+None of my business. 
+
+UNCLE BLUE 
+
+Correct. 
+
+EXT. MULBERRY STREET -- NIGHT 
+
+Monty walks down the snow-covered street, hands in the 
+pockets of his camel's hair coat. He watches everything 
+intently: the passersby, the cars swerving through the slush, 
+the stores and restaurants. 
+
+EXT. CLOTHING BOUTIQUE 
+
+He stops in front of a fashionable shop. Beyond the plate 
+glass window, bald mannequins wear the latest styles. 
+
+CUT TO: 
+
+
+EXT. CLOTHING BOUTIQUE -- FLASHBACK (TWO YEARS EARLIER) 
+
+Monty and Naturelle, hand in hand, stare through the window 
+at the elegantly attirejl manneguins_» ,,The shop appears to be 
+closed for the night. 
+
+NATURELLE 
+
+This is my favorite store. 
+
+' MONTY 
+
+I know. Let's go in. 
+
+NATURELLE 
+
+It's closed. 
+
+MONTY 
+
+Not for you it's not. 
+He raps on the window. A SALES CLERK (25) walks over to the 
+window, peers out and sees Monty. He goes to the door, 
+unlocks it, holds it open for Naturelle and Monty. 
+
+
+
+
+. (CONTINUED) 
+
+
+
+
+
+46 
+
+
+CONTINUED: 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Naturelle stares at Monty, who smiles and beckons for her to 
+enter. She raises her eyebrows and goes in. Monty nods to the 
+clerk as he enters the store. 
+
+MONTY (CONT'D) 
+
+How you doing? 
+
+CLERK 
+
+Pretty good, Monty, how you been? 
+
+INT. CLOTHING BOUTIQUE 
+
+Naturelle and Monty have the shop to themselves. She walks 
+around, inspecting the blouses, the pants, the jackets and 
+handbags. Monty watches hex. 
+
+NATURELLE 
+
+Everything here is so expensive. 
+
+MONTY 
+
+Don't worry about that. It's your 
+birthday. 
+The clerk emerges from the back room. 
+/"'.'Jaillt 
+[]^m CLERK 
+vs" 
+"~ We got some of the new stuff in from 
+Italy this morning. You want to take a 
+look? 
+
+INT. BACK ROOM 
+
+The new clothes are still wrapped in plastic. Naturelle pokes 
+around, touching the fabrics, examining the cuts. The clerk 
+touches her arm* - - - --- - 
+
+CLERK 
+
+Here, check out this dress. It's the best 
+thing they've made in years. 
+He tears the plastic wrap off a dress hanging in the corner 
+of thp rnrmu--It really is a gorgeous dress,--sleek and silver,-- 
+looking almost liquid under the fluorescent lights. 
+Naturelle holds the hanger to her chest and looks at herself 
+in a full-length mirror leaning against one wall. She turns 
+to Monty and smiles. 
+
+CUT TO: 
+
+
+
+
+
+47 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+EXT. CLOTHING BOUTIQUE WINDOW -- NIGHT 
+
+Monty, still remembering, stares through the window. His 
+reflection stares back at him. 
+
+INT. SLATTERY'S APARTMENT -- NIGHT 
+
+Slattery opens the door and Jakob hurries in, his Yankees hat 
+(which he wears for the rest of the night) and coat dusted 
+with snow. 
+
+SLATTERY 
+
+It's really coming down, huh? 
+Slattery lives in a Young Man with Money without Woman 
+Apartment. The television set in the living room is so large 
+that the weatherman startles Jakob. 
+The living room itself is bigger than many Manhattan 
+apartments, but it's empty except for the television, an old 
+sofa, a coffee table, a Persian rug (still rolled) under the 
+windows, and a shiny red electric guitar in the corner. 
+Slattery returns to the sofa, bottle of beer in hand, while 
+Jakob remains standing, brushing the snow from his coat. 
+
+JAKOB ^ 
+
+(indicating guitar) 
+You taking lessons? 
+
+SLATTERY 
+
+You think I have time for guitar lessons? 
+It's nice though, huh? 
+
+JAKOB 
+
+Yeah, it's nice. 
+
+SLATTERY 
+
+I like that color red. Have you checked 
+out the TV yet? Big, right? 
+
+JAKOB = 
+
+Very big. 
+On television, the weatherman blabs on about the coming 
+storm. 
+
+WEATHERMAN 
+
+...for the New York metropolitan area, 
+and I'll tell you what, Carol, it could 
+be a doozy. Expect anywhere from six to - 
+ten inches of snow. \ 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+(CONTINUED) 
+
+
+
+
+
+--.-........ - 
+
+
+. 48 
+
+
+CONTINUED : 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+JAKOB 
+
+Do you think real human beings use the 
+word "doozy"? 
+
+SLATTERY 
+
+Ten inches of snow! 
+
+JAKOB 
+
+Maybe we'll have a snow day tomorrow. 
+
+SLATTERY 
+
+We should go skiing this weekend. I 
+bought some racing skis. Six hundred 
+bucks.for a pair of fucking skis . 
+
+JAKOB 
+
+I don't know how to ski. 
+
+SLATTERY 
+
+Well so what. Neither do I. But ten 
+inches! 
+(beat) ! 
+You gonna stand all night? You'r e making ! 
+me nervous. 
+Jakob sits beside Slattery and stares unhappily at the huge 
+television. When the screen goes blank befor e a commercial, \ 
+he sees his own face reflected in the glass . j| 
+
+JAKOB ·! 
+
+Frank? 
+
+SLATTERY 
+
+Yeah? 
+
+JAKOB 
+
+Are you ready for this? 
+Slattery changes channels. 
+
+SLATTERY 
+
+For what? 
+
+JAKOB 
+
+For tonight. 
+
+SLATTERY 
+
+What's there to be ready for? 
+
+JAKOB 
+
+What do we say to him? He's goin g to be 
+living in a cell for seven years . 
+
+(MORE) 
+
+
+
+
+
+(CONTINUED) 
+
+
+
+
+
+49 . 
+
+
+CONTINUED : <2) 
+
+
+JAKOB (CONT'D) 
+
+It's like visiting a friend in the - 
+hospital with cancer . What do we say? 
+
+
+
+
+SLATTERY 
+
+We don't say anything. We get him drunk 
+and go wherever he wants to go . 
+
+JAKOB 
+
+I don't even know wh y he invited me . 
+
+
+
+
+SLATTERY 
+
+What are you talking about? 
+
+
+
+
+JAKOB 
+
+We hardly ever see each other these days . 
+You and I are his friends from the past . 
+
+
+
+
+SLATTERY 
+
+His friends from the present haven't done 
+him much good. 
+They're quiet for a time, staring at the huge television. 
+
+JAKOB 
+
+I can't believe he'l l be gone for seven 
+years. Someone turns him in and boom, 
+goodbye. 
+
+SLATTERY 
+
+It's the best thing that ever happened to 
+him. 
+The comment startles Jakob. 
+
+JAKOB 
+
+What does that mean ? 
+
+
+
+
+SLATTERY 
+
+It means if he didn't get arrested, he 
+wouldn't be alive in seven years . They'd 
+find him under the Manhattan Bridge with 
+two bullets in hi s head. 
+Jakob thinks about this for a second before picking up a 
+framed photograph from the coffee table. 
+
+
+
+
+INSERT PICTURE 
+
+
+
+
+Slattery, Jakob and Monty at age sixteen, mugging for the 
+camera. 
+
+
+
+
+JAKOB . 
+
+God, we were little punks, huh? { J 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+(CONTINUED) 
+
+
+
+
+
+· · - ·""·· 50, 
+
+
+·· 
+
+
+"" ·- 
+
+
+CONTINUED : (3) 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Slattery grunts. Jakob continues to stare at the photograph . 
+
+
+
+
+CU T TO: 
+
+
+
+
+
+INT. CAMPBELL-SAWYER CAFETERIA -- FLASHBACK 
+
+
+
+
+The three boys, age sixteen, sit at a table with their trays 
+of food. They wear the school uniform: blazers with the 
+Campbell-Sawyer crest, loosely knotted ties. 
+
+
+
+Young Slattery picks up a strand of limp spaghetti from his 
+plate . 
+
+YOUNG SLATTERY 
+
+Watch this. 
+
+
+
+He sticks one end up one nostril while his friends stare at 
+him. 
+Slattery snorts and then blows his nose. Monty and Jakob back 
+away in disgust. Slattery sticks a finger into his other 
+nostril and pulls down the end of the spaghetti strand. 
+One end of the spaghetti strand now dangles from each 
+nostril. He pulls on each end, a little this way, a little 
+that way. 
+
+YOUNG SLATTERY (CONT'D) 
+
+It's called brain flossing. 
+
+YOUNG MONTY 
+
+This is why you're still a virgin. 
+
+YOUNG SLATTERY 
+
+I'm not a virgin. 
+Two classmates, TREY and MASON, come over to their table . 
+Both are blonde, WASPy, and lazily elegant. 
+
+
+
+
+TREY 
+
+That's attractive, Slattery. 
+
+
+
+
+MASON 
+
+Very classy. Here they are , the three 
+Lords of the Outer Boroughs. 
+
+
+
+Slattery glares at them, the spaghetti still dangling from 
+his nose . 
+
+YOUNG SLATTERY 
+
+Fuck you. 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+(CONTINUED) 
+
+
+
+
+
+51 
+
+
+CONTINUED: > 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+TRE Y 
+
+Ooh, good comeback. Come on, we expect 
+our scholarship boys to be a little 
+quicker than that. 
+
+YOUNG SLATTERY 
+
+(clenching his fists) 
+You want to see how quick I am? 
+
+MASON 
+
+All right, all right, take it easy. What 
+are you boys up to this weekend? 
+
+YOUNG JAKOB 
+
+We've got that Paradise Lost paper due 
+Monday. 
+Trey rolls his eyes. 
+
+TREY 
+
+Monty, you coming to my party? 
+
+YOUNG MONTY 
+
+I don't know, maybe. 
+
+
+
+It's gonna be a rager. 
+
+YOUNG SLATTERY 
+
+A Park Avenue rager? You're gonna sit 
+around drinking tea? 
+Slattery drinks from his milk carton, letting his pinkie 
+finger dangle in imitation of an aristocrat drinking tea 
+
+TREY ,,. ... 
+
+Smoking tea, more like. I'm buying half 
+an ounce in the Meadow later on. 
+Mason mimics smoking a J. 
+
+MASON 
+
+Two hundred bucks, going up in smoke. 
+
+YOUNG MONTY 
+
+
+1 
+
+Two hundred bucks for half an ounce? 
+
+TREY 
+
+Why, how much does it cost you? 
+Monty shrugs 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+(CONTINUED) 
+
+
+
+
+
+-··-·· - · -- - -52. 
+
+
+CONTINUED : (2) 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+YOUNG MONTY 
+
+I could get it for seventy. 
+
+
+
+Trey pull s out his calfskin wallet and selects a crisp 
+hundred dollar bill . He hands it to Monty. 
+
+TREY 
+
+You get it, you can keep the change. 
+
+
+
+Trey and Mason amble away. Monty snaps the bill between hi s 
+fingers. Jakob looks at Monty skeptically. 
+
+YOUNG JAKOB 
+
+Since when are you the big player? 
+
+YOUN G MONTY 
+
+(gesturing at Trey and Mason) 
+They were born with money, right? Okay, 
+fair enough. I was born with sway. 
+
+YOUNG JAKOB 
+
+What's sway? 
+Monty leans toward the next table over, where four GEEKISH 
+STUDENTS are poring over their textbooks. 
+
+YOUNG MONTY 
+
+Hey, Julian. How's that math homework 
+treating you? 
+JULIAN, a pale, pudgy boy with an odd resemblance to Alfred 
+Hitchcock, grins at Monty and shrugs. He's clearly flattered 
+by Monty's attention; his three friends stare at Monty. 
+
+-- -- - --· JULIAN " 
+
+Piece of cake. Want to borrow it? 
+
+YOUNG MONTY 
+
+Just to make sure you didn't screw it up . 
+
+
+
+Julian laughs and hands Monty a sheet of graph paper covered 
+with geometric proofs . 
+
+
+
+
+JULIAN 
+
+Try no t to copy my name this time. 
+
+
+
+
+YOUNG MONTY 
+
+Ha ha . 
+
+
+
+Monty smiles at Jakob and flutters the graph paper . 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+(CONTINUED) 
+
+
+
+
+
+53 . 
+
+
+CONTINUED : (3 ) «.->.. - -^ 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+(Ifl YOUNG MONTY (CONT'D) 
+^~y Sway. 
+
+K 
+
+(beat) 
+Hey, Frank, you eating that? Cause I'm 
+still hungry. 
+He grabs for the spaghetti strand dangling from Slattery's 
+nose. Slattery defends himself with a butter knife. 
+
+CUT TO: 
+
+
+INT. SLATTERY'S APARTMENT 
+
+Jakob returns the photograph to the coffee table. 
+
+JAKOB 
+
+Lords of the Outer Boroughs. Remember 
+that? 
+Slattery stands and stretches. He looks tired. 
+
+SLATTERY 
+
+You want to help me with this rug? It's 
+been sitting here for a month. 
+
+JAKOB 
+
+Where do you want it? 
+
+SLATTERY 
+
+Over here. 
+They carry the rolled rug to the center of the room and tear 
+off the plastic wrap. 
+
+JAKOB 
+
+What's he planning to do with Doyle? 
+
+SLATTERY 
+
+Doyle? I don't know. Give him to 
+Naturelle? 
+Slattery balls up the plastic wrap and tosses it into the 
+corner. They begin unrolling the rug. 
+
+JAKOB 
+
+They should at least let him take his dog 
+with him. Maybe it wouldn't be so lonely. 
+Slattery cocks an eyebrow and stares at Jakob. 
+
+SLATTERY 
+
+You can't take your dog to prison with 
+you. 
+
+
+
+
+(CONTINUED) 
+
+
+
+
+
+CONTINUED : 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+JAKOB 
+
+I'm just saying it would be nice if you 
+could. 
+
+
+
+They look down at the unrolled rug. 
+
+
+
+
+SLATTERY 
+
+That looks pretty good^ 
+
+JAKOB 
+
+Monty's tough. I think he'll be okay. 
+
+
+
+Slattery starts shaking his head and Jakob hurriedly 
+continues. 
+
+JAKOB (CONT'D) 
+
+If it was me , I'd never last a day. But 
+Monty's different. 
+
+SLATTERY 
+
+(dismissively) 
+You don't get it. Here, let's move it 
+closer to the sofa. 
+They lift the rug and shift it a few feet. 
+
+JAKOB 
+
+So explain it to me . 
+
+SLATTERY 
+
+You want the simple version? People wh o 
+look like Monty don't do wel l in prison . 
+
+
+
+
+JAKOB 
+
+You're talking about... It can't be as 
+bad as people say. I mean, it's a Federal 
+prison. I'm sure they're pretty careful -- 
+
+
+
+Slattery starts to laugh. 
+
+SLATTERY 
+
+Man , you talk exactly like a guy who 
+never left school. 
+
+
+
+Jakob has no comeback for this . He simmers. 
+
+
+
+
+SLATTERY (CONT'D) 
+
+Monty's got three choices, and none of 
+them are good. One , he can run. Get on a 
+train going to wherever and hope they 
+never catch up to him. 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+(CONTINUED) 
+
+
+
+
+
+55. 
+
+
+CONTINUED: (2) 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+JAKOB 
+
+He won't do that. His dad's bar -- 
+
+SLATTERY 
+
+I'm not saying what he will do, I'm 
+saying what his choices are. Number two -- 
+Slattery makes a gun with his thumb and index finger and 
+points it at his temple. Jakob's eyes go wide. 
+
+JAKOB 
+
+Kill himself? Not a chance. No way. 
+What's the third choice? 
+
+SLATTERY 
+
+The third choice? 
+Slattery thinks about it for a minute. 
+
+SLATTERY (CONT'D) 
+
+The third choice is he goes to prison. 
+
+JAKOB 
+
+That's what's going to happen. He'll go 
+and he'll make it through. 
+
+SLATTERY 
+
+Maybe. But no matter what, it's bye-bye 
+Monty. 
+
+JAKOB 
+
+What does that mean? 
+Slattery raises his thumb. 
+
+SLATTERY 
+
+If he runs, he's gone. And he won't be 
+coming home. 
+He raises his index finger. 
+
+SLATTERY (CONT'D) 
+
+If he pulls the trigger, he's gone. 
+They'll keep the casket closed. 
+He raises his middle finger. 
+
+SLATTERY (COM" D) 
+
+If they lock him away, he's gone. You'll 
+never see him again. 
+
+
+
+
+Q 
+
+
+(CONTINUED) 
+
+
+
+
+
+56. 
+
+
+CONTINUED: (3) 
+
+
+
+
+o JAKOB 
+I'll see him again. I'll visit him up 
+there and I'll see him when he gets out. 
+
+SLATTERY 
+
+I wouldn't bet on it. You think you're 
+still gonna be friends? You think you'll 
+kick back with a couple beers and 
+reminisce? Forget it, Jake. It's over 
+after tonight. 
+
+INT. MONTY'S KITCHEN -- NIGHT 
+
+Naturelle, wearing the sleek, shimmering silver dress, enters 
+the kitchen. She's looking for something. 
+She finds her keys by the cutting board, and then stops for a 
+moment, looking at the carving knife atop the clean cutting 
+board. 
+
+CUT TO: 
+
+
+INT. MONTY'S KITCHEN --ON E YEAR EARLIER 
+
+Naturelle, wearing shorts and a t-shirt, slices onions while 
+music plays on the stereo. We hear the apartment door open 
+and close, and then Monty comes into the kitchen. 
+Naturelle continues slicing onions. Monty walks over to her 
+and embraces her from behind. He kisses her neck, her ears. 
+
+NATURELLE 
+
+You have a good day? 
+
+"· MONTY " " 
+
+Mm hm. 
+
+NATURELLE 
+
+Do anything special? 
+
+MONTY 
+
+Nope. 
+
+NATURELLE 
+
+Anyone call for me when I was out? 
+
+MONTY 
+
+Nah. 
+
+NATURELLE 
+
+Nobody? 
+Monty begins to get worried. 
+
+(CONTINUED) 
+
+
+
+
+
+57 
+
+
+·CONTINUED: - ' 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+MONTY 
+
+Urn. .. I don't -- 
+Naturelle wheels around and Monty has to jump back to avoid 
+getting gutted by the carving knife. 
+
+NATURELLE 
+
+Like, for example, my mother didn't call? 
+
+MONTY 
+
+Oh, shit. Shit, I'm sorry. I completely-- 
+Naturelle stabs the air to emphasize her point. 
+
+NATURELLE 
+
+This is the third time this month, 
+Montgomery. What's your problem, you're 
+illiterate? You can't write down a 
+message on a piece of paper? 
+
+MONTY 
+
+I meant to.y I just -- 
+
+NATURELLE 
+
+You meant to? You meant to? 
+
+MONTY 
+
+Could you put the knife away? 
+
+NATURELLE 
+
+I'll put the knife away. You want me to 
+put the knife away? 
+
+MONTY 
+
+(smiling) 
+Okay -- ^ 
+
+NATURELLE 
+
+This is funny? 
+Monty steps back and Naturelle advances on him with the 
+knife. She's kidding, basically, but it's hard to tell. 
+
+NATURELLE (CONT'D) 
+
+You think this is funny? I'll carve your 
+heart out, you shit. 
+Monty laughs. Doyle has walked into the kitchen and now 
+stands behind Monty, staring up curiously at the two humans. 
+MONTY x 
+You're gonna carve my heart out? · i) 
+
+
+
+
+· (CONTINUED) 
+
+
+
+
+
+58 
+
+
+CONTINUED: (2) 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Naturelle waves the knife at him and Monty takes another step 
+backward, trips over Doyle, and lands hard on his back . He 
+begins to laugh hysterically. 
+
+
+
+
+NATURELLE 
+
+Keep laughing. 
+
+
+
+She kicks him in the ribs, not very hard, and Mont y howl s 
+with laughter. Doyle, a little confused, licks Monty' s face. 
+
+NATURELLE (CONT'D) 
+
+Yeah, keep laughing, you fuck. I'll carve 
+your heart out and feed it to Doyle. 
+She continues kicking while Monty laughs and Doyle, 
+mystified, begins to bark, and finally Naturelle starts 
+laughing too. 
+Monty grabs her wrist and pulls her down on top of him . She 
+drops the knife to the side and bites Monty, hard, oh the 
+lips. 
+
+CUT TO : 
+
+
+
+
+
+INT. MONTY'S KITCHEN -- PRESENT 
+
+Naturelle, in her silver dress, stares at the carving knife. 
+Doyle pads in behind her, panting. Naturelle turns and looks 
+down at his blunt, expectant face. 
+
+NATURELLE 
+
+You ready for this? 
+
+INT. VELVET NIGHTCLUB -- MANAGER'S OFFICE -- NIGHT 
+
+LUIS VOLANDES has decorated his office walls with signed 
+photographs of various low-rung celebrities. 
+Volahdes, a potbellied ma n in his late thirties, wit h a mane 
+of curly black hair , sits behind his desk, listening to 
+Kostya, who shadowboxes, ringed fists flashing. 
+
+
+
+
+VOLANDES 
+
+You move prett y wel l fo r a fa t man. S o 
+tel l m e abou t thi s part y tonight . 
+
+
+
+Kostya throw s a left-right-lef t combination . 
+
+
+
+
+KOSTYA 
+
+Uncl e Blu e want s th e VIP room. 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+(CONTINUED) 
+
+
+
+
+
+59 
+
+
+CONTINUED : ·· - - · ..,.-.,. 
+
+
+, ·...-··. ..-..-- 
+
+
+. · .. 
+
+
+. 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+VOLANDES 
+
+Al l right, that's what he wants . It's his 
+place. If someone had asked, I'd have 
+said do this party some other night . 
+Tonight's gonna be insane. This DJ we've 
+got playing, he's like Jesus these days . 
+Every high school kid in the five 
+boroughs is gonna be at my door . 
+
+
+
+Kostya frowns at the smaller man . 
+
+KOSTYA 
+
+Monty goes to prison tomorrow. You wan t 
+we have party tomorrow night? 
+
+
+
+
+VOLANDES 
+
+(holding up his hands) 
+Hey, I like Monty. He's a good kid. Okay, 
+any special requests for this party? 
+
+
+
+Volandes taps the side of his nose. Kostya shakes his head 
+
+KOSTYA 
+
+None of that. For his last night , we get 
+him a girl. 
+
+VOLANDES 
+
+What does he like? 
+
+
+
+Kostya smiles. 
+
+KOSTYA 
+
+Monty? He likes everything. Get him a 
+pretty girl. And don't be cheap. 
+The office door opens. Uncle Blue and Valghobek walk in. 
+Volandes quickly stands. 
+
+VOLANDES 
+
+Hey. I didn't -- we weren't expecting you. 
+
+
+
+
+UNCLE BLUE 
+
+(to Kostya) 
+What time is Monty coining tonight? 
+
+
+
+
+KOSTYA 
+
+One , two, who knows? Monty will be late 
+for his own funeral. 
+
+UNCLE BLUE 
+
+(grim) 
+No , he won't. Bring him here at three. 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+(CONTINUED) 
+
+
+
+
+
+- ' - -····"- - · ·" - -- ···--- 60 
+
+
+CONTINUED: (2) 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+KOSTYA 
+
+Sure. 
+
+UNCLE BLUE 
+
+You hear me? Three o'clock. 
+
+VOLANDES 
+
+You want m e to, uh -- 
+
+UNCLE BLUE 
+
+From midnight on, I want you somewhere 
+else. Nobody comes down here, you got 
+that? 
+
+INT. BUG BAR -- NIGHT 
+
+Slatter.y. and Jakob sit on bar stools. Slattery sips from a 
+glass of whiskey; Jakob nurses a bottle of beer. 
+The Bug Bar gets its name from the exotic insects in glass 
+jars behind the bar. A television above the bar shows the 
+entertainment news. 
+A VETERAN in an army jacket practices trick shots on the pool 
+table, JODY, the young, zaftig bartender, runs a rag over the 
+bartop. 
+
+JODY 
+
+How you doing, Frank? You want another 
+one? 
+
+SLATTERY 
+
+Thanks. 
+- She pours-his-bourbon-. *,,»·-=«,.-.,,.-.··--^. -- __ 
+
+JODY 
+
+How about you, honey? 
+
+JAKOB 
+
+No , I'm fine. 
+Jody walks away. Slattery and Jakob examine her tush. 
+
+JAKOB (CONT'D) ; 
+
+One of the guys at school, this biology i 
+teacher, Terry -- did you ever meet Terry? j 
+
+SLATTERY | 
+
+(still watching tush) 
+No. 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+(CONTINUED) 
+
+
+
+
+
+. 61 
+
+
+CONTINUED: 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+JAKOB {- 
+
+Anyway, h e reall y like s thi s girl . In a 
+sor t of-- 
+
+
+
+
+SLATTERY 
+
+A girl ? What d o you mean , a student ? 
+
+
+
+
+JAKOB 
+
+A student, yeah. A junior. What's weird 
+is, I mean this girl is sixteen. Maybe 
+seventeen, I don't know. She's not really 
+pretty -- not in the usual way, but she's -- 
+I don't know, she's got something. 
+
+SLATTERY 
+
+Uh-huh. 
+
+JAKOB 
+
+I told him -- I told Terry he ought to 
+just forget about it, put her out of his 
+mind, but he's -- he's kind of obsessing. 
+It's a little scary, the way he talks 
+about it. He's like, ^Five years from 
+now, she'll be almost out of college. And 
+I'll be thirty-one. Nothing wrong with 
+that.' r~\ 
+Slattery sips from his whiskey. He still hasn't looked at 
+Jakob. 
+
+SLATTERY 
+
+You haven't fucked her yet, have you? 
+Jakob's eyes go wide. 
+
+
+
+
+_ 
+
+See, wait a second. If you were listening 
+to me you'd know I was talking about 
+Terry. The biology teacher? Terry? 
+Slattery turns and appraises Jakob. 
+
+SLATTERY 
+
+You haven't fucked her, right? 
+Jakob starts to protest and Slattery raises his eyebrows. 
+
+JAKOB 
+
+No. 
+
+SLATTERY 
+
+Good. That would be a mistake. fv \ 
+
+
+
+
+(CONTINUED ) 
+
+
+
+
+
+62 . 
+
+
+CONTINUED : (2) 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Jakob angrily picks at the label of his beer bottle. 
+
+
+
+
+JAKOB 
+
+I'm not a pervert or anything. 
+
+
+
+Slattery drains his whiskey. He tries to catch Jody's eye , 
+but she's staring at someone who just walked into the bar . 
+
+
+
+Slattery and Jakob see Monty in the mirror. For a momen t 
+neither of them moves . 
+Then both of them force cheerful expressions onto their 
+faces. They rise and each embraces Monty in turn. 
+
+MONTY 
+
+You been here long? 
+
+JAKOB 
+
+Oh, we got here early. 
+
+MONTY 
+
+Uncle Blue's throwing me a party at 
+VelVet. We ought to head over there. 
+
+JAKOB 
+
+Whose Uncle is he? 
+
+MONTY 
+
+Huh? Nah, it's a nickname. His real 
+name's like Ankaybusim or something, but 
+no one can pronounce it . 
+Monty surveys the sawdust-covered floor, the country rtiusic- 
+piay-ing--j-u-keboxy--the-glass jars of bugs_,_.. _. 
+
+_ . 
+
+
+MONTY (CONT'D) 
+
+What is this place? 
+
+JAKOB 
+
+Frank wants to be a redneck. He comes 
+here and whistles Dixie while he's 
+peeing. 
+
+
+
+Jody lines up three shot-glasses of whiskey. 
+
+
+
+
+JODY 
+
+It's nasty outside. You fellas gotta warm 
+up before you head out . 
+
+SLATTERY 
+
+Thanks, Jody. 
+
+
+
+Jody smiles at Monty. 
+
+
+
+
+(CONTINUED) 
+
+
+
+
+
+63 
+
+
+CONTINUED : (3) --~~ ~ . 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+JODY 
+
+Y'all ought to come by on Sunday for th e 
+Super Bowl . We're setting up a big 
+screen. I have a second cousin playing 
+for the Packers . 
+
+
+
+Slattery rubs the calluses on his palm and Jakob stares at 
+the floor. Jody laughs at their morose reaction. 
+
+
+
+
+JODY (CONT'D) 
+
+You don't have to come! I was just 
+saying. 
+Monty raises his glass and Slattery and Jakob grab their 
+glasses and raise them too . 
+
+MONTY 
+
+Fuck Sunday. 
+He drinks. Slattery and Jakob hesitate and then follow suit . 
+
+
+
+
+EXT . VELVET -- NIGHT 
+
+Monty steps out of a taxi, followed by Slattery and Jakob . A 
+roiling MOB occupies half the block, crowding in front of the 
+entrance to the dance club . 
+Most are teenagers. They clot together in groups of fours and 
+fives, smoking cigarettes and stomping their feet to keep 
+warm. Almost none are dressed for the snow. 
+
+MONTY 
+
+The whole city came out to say goodbye . 
+
+SLATTERY 
+
+«Jto-u'^ve»jgot a lot of yojxng _f an.s. I- think- -- 
+we're the oldest ones here. 
+
+MONTY 
+
+Wait a second. 
+
+
+
+Monty slips through the maz e of boys and girls . The kids look 
+at him as he walks by . 
+
+
+
+Monty makes his way to the velvet ropes . KHARI GREENE , a 
+pillar of a ma n wearing the exact same camel's hair coat as 
+Monty, stands by the door, checking names off a clipboard. 
+
+
+
+Two pale scars run in parallel lines down Khari's left cheek. 
+
+
+
+
+MONTY (CONT'D) 
+
+Nice coat , you bastard. ( ; 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+(CONTINUED) 
+
+
+
+
+
+64 . 
+
+
+
+
+
+CONTINUED: 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Khar i look s u p from hi s clipboar d and smiles . H e offer s hi s 
+hand and the y shake . 
+
+KHARI 
+
+It's the man . The man has arrived. 
+Wearing my coat. 
+
+MONTY 
+
+I gotta tell you, buddy, it looks better 
+on me . 
+Khari skeptically fingers the sleeve of Monty's coat . 
+
+KHAR I 
+
+Yeah, well, I hope you got some seven- 
+year mothballs for that coat. 
+Monty hesitates and then laughs. Khari puts his arm around 
+Monty's shoulders. 
+
+KHARI (CONT'D) 
+
+You doing all right? 
+
+MONTY 
+
+Just trying not to think, you know? 
+(gesturing at the crowd) 
+What's with all the kids? 
+
+KHARI 
+
+The legendary DJ Dusk is spinning wax 
+tonight. My homeboy from Hollis. Boy's 
+seventeen years old. Seventeen! But damn , 
+he gets the girlies moving. Don't worry 
+about -the -crowds ·? They- -got-.thgL-.YIP setjup 
+
+- 
+
+for y'all. 
+
+MONTY 
+
+I've got my people waiting. You want me 
+to bring them through here? 
+
+KHARI 
+
+Take ^em to the avenue entrance. I'll get 
+the door opened. 
+
+MONTY 
+
+Thanks, man . 
+
+KHARI 
+
+You got it . When you going in? 
+
+
+
+
+MONTY 
+
+Bus leaves at nine a.m. 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+65 . 
+
+v 
+
+CONTINUED : (2) "~ "' * ,-,,,·.,,,,,,, =· 
+
+
+,,- 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+KHAR I 
+
+Otisvill e right? 
+Monty nods . 
+
+KHAR I (CONT'D) 
+
+Uncl e go t an y peopl e i n there ? 
+
+MONT Y 
+
+N o one wort h knowing . 
+
+KHAR I 
+
+Th e Federals , the y ru n a nic e place . Lo t 
+nice r tha n Sta^e . 
+
+MONT Y 
+
+I'm a luck y kid. 
+
+KHAR I 
+
+Luc k o f th e Irish , right ? 
+
+MONT Y 
+
+Luc k o f th e Irish . 
+Khar i grip s Monty ' s shoulder . 
+
+KHAR I ^ 
+
+Liste n up . Don't los e you r tempe r unti l 
+it' s tim e t o los e you r temper . Yo u hear ? 
+
+MONT Y 
+
+Al l right . I'll se e yo u aroun d th e way . 
+The y shak e hand s an d Mont y signal s fo r Slatter y an d Jako b t o 
+follo w him . Mont y slide s throug h th e crowd ; Slatter y bull s 
+through * lik-& a--f-ullback blockin g for--his speedier--teammate . 
+Jako b walk s wit h a hig h degre e o f self-consciousness , 
+nervousl y dodgin g aroun d th e variou s obstacles . H e passe s on e 
+stone d gir l wh o stand s wit h he r hea d back , catchin g 
+snowflake s i n he r mouth . 
+
+MAR Y 
+
+Hey ! Elinsky ! Mr . Elinsky ! Hey ! 
+Jako b freezes . He r han d catche s hi s sleev e an d h e i s force d 
+t o tur n around , force d t o star e int o th e unnaturall y brigh t 
+eye s o f Mar y D'Annunzio . 
+Sh e wear s dar k deni m jeans , a fak e raccoo n fu r coat , an d n o 
+hat . He r we t blac k hai r snake s acros s he r forehea d an d neck . ^ 
+Blac k trail s o f ey e shado w stai n he r cheeks . () 
+
+
+
+
+(CONTINUED) 
+
+
+
+
+
+·· 
+
+
+· · -- 66 
+
+
+CONTINUED : (3 ) 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+MARY (CONT'D ) 
+
+Ha! It' s Elinsky! 
+
+
+
+
+JAKOB 
+
+Oh . 
+
+
+
+
+MARY 
+
+What are you doing here? God, I didn't 
+know you ever left the school! I thought 
+you had a bed down in the boiler room or 
+something. 
+
+JAKOB 
+
+Mary D'Annunzio. 
+
+MARY 
+
+Mary W B+ " D'Annunzio, that's me. 
+She sees the look on his face and quickly continues. 
+
+MARY (CONT'D) 
+
+I'm kidding. It's not a big deal. 
+
+JAKOB 
+
+I've got to go. I'm here with friends. 
+
+MARY 
+
+The guy who came to class today, right? 
+He knows people, huh? What do you think, 
+could he get us in? 
+
+JAKOB 
+
+Uh, I don't -- 
+
+MARY~ 
+
+They're not letting anyone in right now. 
+They say it's too crowded already. 
+(increasingly hyper) 
+I have to get in there. I have to! You're 
+a fan of Dusk? 
+
+JAKOB 
+
+Sure. 
+
+MARY 
+
+He's the absolute truth, right? He is so 
+truth. I can't believe you're into Dusk! 
+No offense, I mean, but I thought you 
+were more into flutes or -- 
+
+JAKOB 
+
+I think Dusk is very good. But I like his 
+earlier stuff better. 
+
+
+
+
+(CONTINUED) 
+
+
+
+
+
+67 
+
+
+CONTINUED: (4) 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+MARY 
+
+His earlier stuff? 
+
+MONTY (O.S.) 
+
+Jake, what are you doing? 
+Monty has circled back and now motions for Jakob to hurry. 
+
+MONTY (CONT'D) 
+
+I've got someone holding the door for us . 
+
+MARY 
+
+Hey! You're the guy with the dog. 
+Monty recognizes her from the classroom. 
+
+MONTY 
+
+It's past your bedtime, isn't it? 
+Mary clutches Jakob's arm and rests her head on his chest. 
+
+MARY 
+
+I'm with Jake. We're lovers. 
+Jakob closes his eyes. Monty grins. 
+
+· MONT Y 
+
+Is tha t right? I didn' t realiz e you tw o 
+wer e lovers . Well , com e on , plent y o f 
+roo m inside . 
+
+MAR Y 
+
+Wait.. . I've got thre e friend s wit h me . 
+
+MONT Y 
+
+Girls ? .._. ,, _._: 
+
+. _...._,,. . _ 
+
+
+MAR Y 
+
+No . 
+
+MONT Y 
+
+Ar e yo u retarded? 
+He turn s and lead s the m around th e corner . 
+i 
+
+
+
+
+MARY 
+
+Better one than none, I guess. 
+Jakob disengages himself from Mary. She beams at him. They 
+follow Monty to the side door and disappear inside. 
+
+
+
+o 
+
+
+
+
+68 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+INT. VELVET -- MOMENTS LATER 
+
+Monty walks up the back staircase (marked Club Employees 
+Only). Mary follows him. Jakob's in the rear. He still looks 
+stunned. 
+
+MARY 
+
+(to Monty) 
+So how do you know Jake? 
+
+MONTY 
+
+We went to school together. 
+
+MARY 
+
+You went to Campbell-Sawyer? You don't 
+seem the type. 
+
+MONTY 
+
+They didn't think so, either. 
+
+MARY 
+
+I hate that place. Elinsk -- Jake's okay, 
+but mostly -- 
+
+JAKOB 
+
+Look, Monty, she's seventeen. We can't 
+take her in here. 
+
+MONTY 
+
+Why not? We're already in. 
+
+MARY 
+
+I've got ID. 
+
+·"- 
+
+' " ' MOlfTY 
+
+"" 
+
+What did you say your name was? Mary 
+^P^AgOjtinO?^;'..:;../:.,ni;.,:,s.r.. .;.:··,·.,:,.;>'.,.; ·:,:-·,;. .. :..;-,' ., 
+
+. .· 
+
+
+
+
+D'Annunzio. 
+
+MONTY 
+
+What do you think of Mr . Elinsky? 
+
+MARY 
+
+He's all right. He acts like a little old 
+man sometimes. 
+
+JAKOB 
+
+Now listen -- 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+(CONTINUED) 
+
+
+
+
+
+· 
+
+
+69. 
+
+
+CONTINUED : -'" ' ' - \ 
+
+
+; 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+MONT Y j\ 
+That's true, he does. I think tonight "; 
+should be a big night for Mr. Elinsky. I 
+think we should make sure Mr. Elinsky has 
+fun for once. 
+Monty pushes open the door at the stop of the staircase. The 
+noise rushes in, overwhelmingly loud, the bass vibrating in 
+our bones. 
+Mary opens her mouth and speaks, but we might not be able to 
+hear it over the music. 
+
+MARY 
+
+Truth. 
+
+INT. VELVET VIP ROOM -- MOMENTS LATER 
+
+Monty leads Jakob and Mary into the VIP room. Naturelle is 
+already there, speaking with Slattery. 
+The walls of the VIP room are covered with crushed red 
+velvet. The couches are upholstered in red velvet, the small 
+bar in the corner is draped with red velvet, the carpet is 
+red faux velvet. 
+----^ DJ Dusk's music pours from speakers bolted into the corners. 
+s 
+His beats are impossible to sit still for, incorporating 
+elements of bossa nova, techno, hip hop, and jazz. 
+Slattery has a hard time keeping his eyes off Naturelle. His 
+gaze tends to slide her way, and his desire for her is 
+apparent to everyone. 
+Naturelle smiles when she sees Monty and goes to him. She 
+looks beautiful in-the silver dr.ess_...-_Sh .hugs him. Monty 
+e 
+stands awkwardly in her embrace. 
+When she realizes he's not returning the hug, she quickly 
+releases him. He's watching her carefully. She sees Jakob and 
+smiles at him. 
+
+NATURELLE 
+
+Hey, Jake. 
+She hugs Jakob. Mary has not stopped dancing since first 
+hearing Dusk's mix. 
+
+NATURELLE (CONT'D) 
+
+(looking at Mary) 
+Is this your friend? ·- . 
+
+[^J · · KJ 
+
+
+
+
+
+(CONTINUED) 
+
+
+
+
+
+.-·-· · · " '70-; 
+
+
+··· 
+
+
+CONTINUED : 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+o JAKOB 
+No . . . 
+
+
+
+
+MARY 
+
+I'm his lover, Mary. 
+
+
+
+Naturelle arches one eyebrow. 
+
+
+
+
+NATURELLE 
+
+Okay. I'm Naturelle. 
+
+
+
+
+MARY 
+
+I've seen pictures of this room. The 
+Smashing Pumpkins were in here. 
+
+
+
+She turns and examines Monty more closely. 
+
+MARY (CONT'D) 
+
+Who are you? Are. you somebody famous? 
+
+MONTY 
+
+Do us a favor, D'Annunzio. Don't talk too 
+much . 
+Mary grins, tears off her fake fur coat, and hides it 
+underneath a sofa. She wears a white tank-top with Tweety 
+Bird emblazoned on the front. Tweety Bird looks scared. 
+
+
+
+DAPHNE, a young waitress in a green dress , comes over with a 
+tray of champagne flutes. Naturelle kisses Daphne on the 
+cheek and the two women exchange greetings. Everyone takes a 
+glass. 
+
+MONTY (CONT'D) 
+
+·-"" ' (raising his glass~) 
+Champagne for my real friends, real pain 
+for my sham friends. 
+Everyone takes a sip except for Mary, who guzzles hers in one 
+giant gulp, then belches and wipes her mouth with the back of 
+her hand. Jakob stares at her, horrified. 
+
+MARY 
+
+Anyone want to go dance? 
+
+
+
+Naturelle glances at Monty. 
+
+
+
+
+MONTY 
+
+Do what you want to do . 
+
+
+
+Jakob and Slattery hear the coldness in Monty's voice and are 
+surprised by it . 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+(CONTINUED) 
+
+
+
+
+
+71 
+
+
+CONTINUED: (2) ~ """ , ^TM <----. 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Mary grabs Naturelle's hand and leads her out the door. 
+
+SLATTERY 
+
+(to Daphne) 
+You have any whiskey? 
+
+DAPHNE 
+
+What kind do you want? I'll call down for 
+some. 
+
+SLATTERY 
+
+Nah, don't bother, I'll get it. 
+He nods at Monty and Jakob. 
+
+SLATTERY (CONT'D) 
+
+Back in a minute. 
+Daphne sets a champagne bottle in an ice bucket on the table, 
+then retreats to the small bar in the corner of the room. 
+Monty sits on the red velvet sofa and Jakob lies down next to 
+him, covering his eyes with his arm. 
+
+JAKOB 
+
+I can't believe you brought my student in 
+here. 
+
+MONTY 
+
+She's cute, buddy. She talks too much but 
+she's cute. 
+
+JAKOB 
+
+You're going to get me fired. Do you 
+realize that? She'll tell her friends, 
+--'···=-=· --- and they'll -t-e-1-1-the-i-r friends -- 
+
+" -- 
+
+
+MONTY 
+
+So what, so you ran into her at a dance 
+club. You haven't done anything wrong, 
+have you? Not yet. 
+
+JAKOB 
+
+Not yet? What does that mean? 
+
+MONTY 
+
+You want this girl, don't you? 
+
+JAKOB 
+
+Shit, Monty, she's seventeen! She's my 
+
+
+
+o 
+student. I can't touch her. 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+{CONTINUED) 
+
+
+
+
+
+I 
+
+
+CONTINUED : (3) 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+MONT Y 
+
+I would . She' s go t tha t look . I lik e 
+littl e girl s wit h tattoos . 
+Jako b groan s an d rub s hi s han d ove r hi s face . 
+
+MONT Y (CONT'D) 
+
+It' s goo d seein g you , man . I gues s we'v e 
+kin d o f gon e ou r separat e ways . 
+Jako b sit s up . 
+
+JAKO B 
+
+Yeah . 
+
+MONT Y 
+
+It' s to o bad . You'r e smarte r tha n th e 
+peopl e I kno w thes e days . 
+Mont y pour s mor e champagn e for Jako b an d himself , the n raise s 
+hi s glass . 
+
+MONT Y (CONT'D) 
+
+Mak e m e a toast . 
+Jako b i s startle d b y th e request . 
+
+JAKO B 
+
+Yo u wan t m e t o mak e a toast ? 
+
+MONT Y 
+
+Yeah . Com e on , I won' t b e seein g yo u fo r 
+a while . Sa y somethin g nice . 
+Jako b stare s a t th e tin y bubble s risin g infills glass . 
+
+JAKO B 
+
+Urn. . . 
+
+MONT Y 
+
+Al l right . Here' s t o Doyle . 
+
+JAKO B 
+
+T o Doyle . 
+The y touc h glasse s an d drink . 
+
+MONT Y 
+
+He' s you r do g now . 
+
+JAKO B 
+
+What ? 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+73. 
+
+
+CONTINUED: (4) 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+MONTY 
+
+He needs a home. And he loves you. 
+
+JAKOB 
+
+Yeah, but... I don't know. You've seen 
+the size of my apartment. 
+
+MONTY 
+
+Poor Doyle, he'll live in a small 
+apartment. Hey, he's a tough dog. He'll 
+survive. 
+
+JAKOB 
+
+What about Nat? 
+
+MONTY 
+
+She's moving in with her mom. Woman hates 
+him. And Doyle hates Frank. And my Dad's 
+allergic. 
+
+JAKOB 
+
+The thing is -- 
+Monty takes another sip and then holds the champagne flute up 
+to the light. 
+
+MONTY 
+
+Cristal. They went all out for me , huh? 
+I'm lucky to work for such caring people. 
+
+JAKOB 
+
+One more glass of this and I'm officially 
+drunk. 
+
+MONTY 
+
+Listen, this is important to me.. Doyle is 
+important to me . You understand that? 
+
+
+
+
+JAKOB 
+
+Yeah, of course. 
+
+MONTY 
+
+Doyle's the toughest guy I know. He was 
+lying there off the highway when I found 
+him, waiting to die. He knew he was going 
+to die. And he didn't make a sound. The 
+best thing I ever did, my whole life, was 
+rescue that black little son-of-a-bitch. 
+Every day he's had since then is because 
+of me . Every time he runs through the 
+park, that's me . Every bone he chews -- 
+because of me . I saved him. 
+
+(MORE) 
+
+
+(CONTINUED) 
+
+
+
+
+
+~ ~ 74 . 
+
+
+· 
+
+
+' 
+
+
+CONTINUED : (5) 
+
+
+MONTY (CONT'D) ,| 
+
+And it's different from what you'd 
+expect, right? I saved him but I'm the 
+one that's grateful. Because I see him 
+running around, I hear him barking, and 
+there he is, the best thing I ever did, 
+in the flesh. 
+(beat) 
+I'm not going to let the pound have him. 
+Doyle's the ugliest fucking dog in the 
+five boroughs. Who's gonna adopt him? And 
+I'm telling you now, I will not let a vet 
+stick a needle in him and end him. I 
+saved his life, right? I'm responsible 
+for him. I didn't go through all that 
+just so some vet can put hi m to sleep. If 
+it comes to that, I'll do it myself. I'll 
+put a bullet in his ear tonight. So I'm 
+asking you, Jake -- for me , as a favor for 
+me , and it's a big favor but I'm asking 
+you -- will you take him? Will you take 
+him home with you? 
+Jakob is quiet, rubbing his palms over the red velvet sofa 
+cushions. 
+
+JAKOB 
+
+You know what? It would be an honor. 
+
+MONTY 
+
+I was hoping you'd say that. I really 
+was. 
+
+JAKOB 
+
+After that speech, Jesus Christ, how 
+could I refuse? 
+Slattery returns with a glass of whiskey. He sits next to his 
+friends and sighs. 
+
+SLATTERY 
+
+There's some talent here tonight. 
+
+
+
+Monty raps Slattery's knee. 
+
+MONTY 
+
+What do you think, Jake's girl's looking 
+pretty good, huh? 
+
+SLATTERY 
+
+Who, the little one? Who is she? 
+
+
+
+
+JAKOB 
+
+She's my student. MY STUDENT. 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+(CONTINUED) 
+
+
+
+
+
+75 
+
+
+CONTINUED': (6) 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+The lights go off. The room is completely dark. 
+
+
+
+When the lights come on again, a few seconds later, Monty is 
+crouching in front of the sofa, his .40 caliber automatic in 
+his hand . 
+
+
+
+Kostya stands just inside the doorway of the room, hands on 
+the light switch. 
+
+
+
+
+KOSTYA 
+
+The party begins without me ? 
+
+MONTY 
+
+I should have shot you, you fat Russian 
+fuck. 
+Kostya ambles over to the sofa, wagging his finger. 
+
+KOSTYA 
+
+Ukrainian. Fat Ukrainian fuck. 
+
+
+
+He bea r hugs Monty and kisses both his cheeks . 
+
+KOSTYA (CONT'D) 
+
+Montgomery, my friend! You have been here 
+long? An d you open champagne without me ? 
+Frank, hello Frank! 
+
+SLATTERY 
+
+Hey, Konstantine. How are you? 
+
+KOSTYA 
+
+Kostya, please, Kostya. I am good, yes . I 
+will be better when our friend comes back 
+to us . 
+(to Jakob) -- - 
+Hello! It is Jason, yes? 
+
+JAKOB 
+
+Jakob. 
+
+
+
+
+KOSTYA 
+
+(to Monty) 
+The champagne is good? 
+(elbowing Slattery and winking) 
+I have nice girl for you, Monty . Very 
+nice. 
+
+MONTY 
+
+I'm really not in the mood for that . 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+(CONTINUED) 
+
+
+
+
+Ll ····- - -· " · - · 76, 
+
+CONTINUED : (7) 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+KOSTYA 
+
+Ah , when you see her, you will be in 
+mood. I pick her out special for you. 
+
+
+
+
+MONTY 
+
+The last girl you picked out special had 
+three teeth. 
+
+KOSTYA 
+
+(laughing loudly) 
+Funny you should say that. 
+Everyone waits for the rest. When it becomes obvious that 
+Kostya will not provide the rest -- 
+
+MONTY 
+
+Why is it funny I should say that? 
+
+KOSTYA 
+
+It was funny, what you said. 
+Monty looks at Slattery for a second. 
+
+MONTY 
+
+Wait, when you say, "Funny you should say 
+that," it's like saying, "That reminds me 
+of this other funny story." 
+
+KOSTYA 
+
+No , no , I am saying what you say was 
+funny. "Funny you should say that. " You 
+see? It was funny, the thing you said. 
+
+
+
+Nobody speaks for a moment. 
+
+KOSTYA (CONT'D) 
+
+Come, you want to meet her? 
+
+MONTY 
+
+I don't think so. Naturelle's dancing 
+downstairs. 
+
+KOSTYA 
+
+So we go quick, we go right now. You must 
+see this girl. 
+
+MONTY 
+
+You have someone nice for my friends? 
+
+
+
+
+SLATTERY 
+
+
+« * . ·_ 
+
+
+_£T _ __ 
+
+Not for me . Thanks. 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+(CONTINUED) 
+
+
+
+
+
+77 
+
+
+CONTINUED: (8) ~ "" 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+JAKOB 
+
+Yeah, I'm -- 
+Monty puts his hand on Slattery's arm. 
+
+MONTY 
+
+Come down there with me . I need to talk 
+to you. 
+
+SLATTERY 
+
+That's not my style, Monty. I really -- 
+
+MONTY 
+
+No, that's cool. I just want to ask you 
+something. 
+
+JAKOB 
+
+Do you want me to stay here? 
+
+MONTY 
+
+You've got to stay here. Who's gonna look 
+after Mary D'Agostino when she gets back? 
+
+JAKOB 
+
+Should I tell Nat you're downstairs -x 
+having sex with a prostitute? \, ,. J 
+
+KOSTY A 
+
+(horrified ) 
+No , don' t tel l he r that ! 
+Mont y grin s an d punche s Jakob' s arm . 
+
+MONT Y 
+
+Tell her whatever you want. But don't 
+take off. We'll go back to my place after 
+the party and get Doyle. 
+Monty, Slattery and Kostya leave the room. Jakob sits alone, 
+rubbing his arm. 
+
+INT. CATWALK -- MOMENTS LATER 
+
+The three men stand on a glass-enclosed catwalk overlooking 
+the dance floor. The place is so crowded and dark that the ] 
+dancers look like one strange beast, thrashing and swaying to j 
+the beat. ] 
+DJ DUSK, the teen prodigy from Queens, mans his turntables I 
+from a riser above the dance floor. He stands in the eye of a 
+spotlight, deftly flipping needles onto spinning records. / \i 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+(CONTINUED) 
+
+ii 
+
+
+
+
+·-"" 
+
+
+· ·· · -«--»-- - . --,,-..- - _ 
+
+
+. . ,, 78 
+
+
+
+
+
+CONTINUED: 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+The music is loud, even behind the glass, but not loud enough 
+to overwhelm conversation. 
+
+MONTY 
+
+(to Kostya) 
+Where we going, the White Room? 
+
+KOSTYA 
+
+Yes, White Room. 
+
+MONTY 
+
+I'll meet you down there. I need to talk 
+with Frank about something. 
+Kostya leans closer to Monty and speaks quietly. 
+
+KOSTYA 
+
+After the girl, Uncle Blue wants word 
+with you. Okay? 
+Monty nods. Kostya grins and slaps Monty's shoulder. 
+
+KOSTYA (CONT'D) 
+
+She is waiting! 
+Kostya walks down the staircase that leads from the catwalk 
+to the dance floor and disappears into the crowd. For a while 
+neither Monty nor Slattery speaks. · 
+Then Slattery looks at Monty and notices his eyes are closed. 
+
+SLATTERY 
+
+You all right? 
+Monty opens his eyes". ~ "'" 
+
+MONTY 
+
+They knock out your teeth the first 
+night. You know why? So you can give them 
+head all night long and they don't have 
+to worry about biting. 
+
+SLATTERY 
+
+Come on. None of that's gonna happen. 
+
+MONTY 
+
+How the fuck do you know it's not gonna 
+happen? 
+Two broad-shouldered HOODLUMS in expensive suits saunter down 
+the catwalk. They stop to embrace Monty. 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+(CONTINUED) 
+
+
+
+
+
+79 
+
+
+CONTINUED : (2) _, 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+HOODLUM 1 '^ 
+
+My ace deuce. _> 
+
+MONTY 
+
+Hey, fellas. 
+
+
+
+
+HOODLUM 2 
+
+Bid's tomorrow, huh? 
+
+
+
+
+MONTY 
+
+Yeah. 
+
+
+
+
+HOODLUM 2 
+
+Nothing but a catnap. Be good, brother. 
+
+
+
+The hoods nod at Slattery and walk away. Monty presses his 
+forehead against the window. 
+
+MONTY 
+
+Believe me , Frank, I've studied this. 
+I've looked at the options. Seven years, 
+man . Seven years . 
+
+SLATTERY 
+
+Thirty-four is still young. You and me , 
+we'll start something up . A bar , maybe . /x 
+Two Irish kids from Brooklyn, how could fcr--] 
+we not have a bar? Green beer for St . 
+Paddy's Day, free hot dogs for Monday 
+Night Football. Think about it . Old 
+fashioned jukebox sitting in the corner -- 
+
+MONTY 
+
+I hate green bee r on St . Paddy's Day. 
+
+SLATTERY 
+
+Yeah : Well, m e t o o . " """""""*-""""--"· - 
+
+MONTY 
+
+But it's a nice thought, man . I don't see 
+it happening, bu t it's a nice thought. 
+
+
+
+
+SLATTERY 
+
+Have I ever broken a promise to you? Have 
+I ever once in my life broken a promise 
+to you? Have I ever said I would be 
+somewhere and not shown up? 
+
+MONTY 
+
+No . 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+C 
+
+
+(CONTINUED) 
+
+
+
+
+
+· ····- ··'·- - -- - " 80 
+
+
+-"- - 
+
+
+CONTINUED : (3) 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+o SLATTERY 
+When you get out, I will be there. You 
+hear me? I will be there. 
+
+
+
+Monty finally turns and looks at Slattery. 
+
+MONTY 
+
+But you won't be there tomorrow. 
+(beat) 
+Cute little white boy like me , how long 
+am I gonna last? 
+(beat) 
+I need a favor from you. 
+
+SLATTERY 
+
+Anything. 
+
+MONTY 
+
+Not here . Stick around, okay? We'll go 
+uptown in a couple hours. 
+Monty points to the dancers below. We can see Mar y dancing 
+wildly on a platform. 
+
+MONTY (CONT'D) 
+
+Our friend Jake has picked himself a 
+winner. 
+
+INT. VELVET VIP ROOM -- LATER 
+
+
+
+
+The room is beginning to crowd with Monty's friends and 
+acquaintances. Jakob sits alone on the sofa, sipping 
+champagne. He clearly recognizes no one . 
+The men speak loudly, holding their- champagne flutes in 
+ringed fists. Lean women stand in clusters, heads bowed 
+together. We hear snippets of banter in four different 
+languages. 
+
+
+
+Jakob dips his head against the sofa's velvet armrest. He's 
+clearly exhausted. He begins slipping into sleep. 
+
+
+
+Mary walks into the room. The men standing nearby turn to 
+look at her, then whisper to each other and laugh. Mary sees 
+Jakob curled up on the sofa and dances over to him. 
+
+
+
+She pulls off his Yankees cap and puts it on her own head, 
+where it sits, crookedly. She climbs on top of him, her knees 
+straddling his chest, and bends close to whisper in his ear. 
+
+
+
+
+MARY 
+
+Jakey... Jakey... 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+(CONTINUED) 
+
+
+
+
+
+81 
+
+
+CONTINUED,: 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+O She runs her fingernail down his side. Jakob, half-sleeping, 
+smiles and caresses her hand. Then his eyes pop open. He 
+jerks upright and Mary slides off him. 
+
+JAKOB 
+
+Whoa, what are you doing? What are you 
+doing? 
+Mary, now standing and slightly swaying, laughs. 
+
+MARY 
+
+Don't panic. Nobody here gives a shit. 
+
+JAKOB 
+
+I give a shit. Do you know what happens 
+if somebody sees me -- us -- like that? 
+Mary sits on the far side of the sofa, knees primly clasped 
+together, exaggerating the role of good girl. 
+
+MARY 
+
+Beg your pardon, Mr. Elinsky. 
+
+JAKOB 
+
+Are you drunk? 
+MARY · '·'mm 
+Uh huh. And I had some E before. 
+
+JAKOB 
+
+Jesus. 
+: He tries to rub the sleep out of his eyes. 
+
+JAKOB (CONT'D) 
+
+We call it X in this country. 
+
+MARY 
+
+Naturelle's cool as shit. She knows 
+everyone who works here. I love that 
+name, right? Naturelle? One hundred 
+percent Naturelle! All Naturelle flavors! 
+Jakob cannot help stealing a peek at Mary's chest. Tweety 
+Bird stares back, alarmed. 
+
+MARY (CONT'D) 
+
+So what's up with her boyfriend? Monty? 
+It's like he owns this place. 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+(CONTINUED) 
+
+
+
+
+
+' · 
+
+
+'' 
+
+
+"" ' 
+
+
+· 82 
+
+
+CONTINUED : (2) 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+JAKOB 
+
+Listen, Mary, do you think it would be 
+possible to avoid talking about this at 
+school? This whole night? 
+
+
+
+
+MARY 
+
+You think it would be possible to give me 
+an A for the term? 
+Jakob's mouth falls open. 
+
+
+
+
+JAKOB 
+
+Tell me you're joking. 
+
+MARY 
+
+I'm joking. That's what I love about you, 
+Elinsky. 
+
+
+
+Jakob says nothing for a moment, but he can't resist. 
+
+JAKOB 
+
+What? 
+
+MARY 
+
+Huh? 
+
+
+
+Mary is watching three women dancing in the middle of the 
+room, their purses flung down on the floor between them. 
+
+JAKOB 
+
+What's what you love about me ? 
+Mary turns to look at him again, but it's clear she's not 
+really following the conversation. 
+
+JAKOB (CONT'D) 
+
+Never mind. 
+
+MARY 
+
+Hello? Elinsky? Do you think I'm weird? 
+
+
+
+
+JAKOB 
+
+No. I don't think you're weird. 
+
+
+
+
+MARY 
+
+You're coming to see Hamlet next week, 
+right? 
+
+JAKOB 
+
+Of course. You're Ophelia? 
+
+
+
+
+MARY 
+
+Fuck Ophelia. Laertes. 
+
+
+
+
+(CONTINUED) 
+
+
+
+
+
+83 
+
+
+CONTINUED : (3) 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+(· 
+
+
+JAKOB · 
+
+Laertes? 
+
+MARY 
+
+You want to see my death scene? 
+
+
+
+She springs up from the sofa and takes three steps back, then 
+begins staggering toward Jakob, hands folded over her gut, 
+covering her invisible sword wound. 
+
+
+
+
+MARY (CONT'D) 
+
+Exchange forgiveness with me , noble 
+Hamlet: Min e and my father's death come 
+not upon thee , nor thine on me ! 
+She collapses onto the red sofa and lies there, quivering for 
+a moment before going still. 
+
+
+
+A group of men smoking cigars in the corner claps loudly. 
+Jakob stares down at the prone Mary. He cannot hel p noticing 
+the stretch of pale skin between the dark denim of her 
+waistband and the white cotton of her tank top. 
+
+
+
+Mary sits up and brushes some stray hairs under the Yankees 
+cap. ' 
+
+MARY (CONT'D) 
+
+It's bettex with the fake blood . j 
+
+\ 
+
+
+JAKOB 
+
+No , it was very good. 
+
+MARY 
+
+Ms . Taylor says I'm the best dier she's 
+ever haoL^ Did you see Romeo and Juliet 
+last year? I was Mercutio. That was the 
+greatest death of all time. 
+
+JAKOB 
+
+I was there . 
+
+
+
+
+MARY 
+
+You know wha t I really want to be ? A 
+stuntwoman. Except I'm afraid of heights . 
+You think they'd hire a stuntwoman who 
+was afraid of heights? 
+
+
+
+
+JAKOB 
+
+Ar e you allowed to stay out this late? On 
+a school night? 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+(CONTINUED) 
+
+
+
+
+
+CONTINUED : (4) 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+MARY 
+
+You think my mother gives a shit? Anyway/ 
+did you see all the snow outside? It's a 
+snow day for sure. 
+
+JAKOB 
+
+I need to go to sleep. 
+
+
+
+Mary lies back on the sofa and kicks her feet in the air. She 
+begins a bicycling motion, her hands behind her head. 
+
+MARY 
+
+Can't sleep yet. He's turning it on . 
+
+
+
+Jakob looks at her slender pale ankles. He covers his eyes . 
+Mary rolls off the sofa. 
+
+MARY (CONT'D) 
+
+Is there a bathroom in here? 
+Jakob points . 
+
+JAKOB 
+
+Over there, I think. 
+Mary winks at him and makes her way across the room. En route 
+she grabs a champagne flute off Daphne's platter and chugs 
+it. She replaces the glass and slips into the bathroom. 
+Jakob watches her go. He watches the bathroom door close 
+behind her. He stands, a bit unsteadily. He's been drinking 
+all night . He weaves his way to the bathroom door . 
+He waits . Eventually Mary opens the door. She looks up at 
+Jakob, he r "eyes as wide as Tweety Bird's . 
+
+MARY 
+
+You need to pee? 
+
+JAKOB 
+
+No . 
+
+
+
+He presses forward, backing her up , and closes the door 
+behind him. 
+
+INT. VI P BATHROOM -- CONTINUOUS 
+
+
+
+
+The bathroom is blue-walled and lit by a single blue bulb . 
+
+
+
+
+MARY ; 
+
+Hi? 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+(CONTINUED) 
+
+
+
+
+
+85 
+
+
+CONTINUED : 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+He r teeth glow in the blu e light. Jakob grabs he r by the 
+shoulder s and kisses her hard on the mouth . His hand s begi n 
+t o mov e down from her shoulders -- 
+--an d then, abruptly, Jakob pulls back . H e stares a t Mary , 
+wh o stares at the floor. She looks stunned, the Yankees cap 
+sitting crookedly on her head. 
+Jakob stumbles backward. He tries to say something bu t can't 
+get the words out . 
+He turns and rams through the bathroom door . 
+
+INT . VELVE T VI P ROOM -- CONTINUOUS 
+
+He shoves past cigar smokers and dancing women . He runs from 
+the VI P room. 
+The partiers watch him go and then turn to look at the 
+bathroom, a drop of blue in the overwhelming redness of the 
+VIP room. 
+Mar y stands in the blue light, still looking at the floor . 
+
+INT. WHITE ROOM -- LATER 
+
+The Whit e Room got its name for obvious reasons . Everythin g 
+is white : the shag carpet, the walls , the overstuffed 
+furniture. 
+Monty sits on a large whit e bea n bag in a corner of the room. 
+He holds a champagne bottle in one hand, and takes occasional 
+sips . 
+MARGUERITE, a beautiful prostitute in her early twenties , 
+kneels in front of. Monfcy,.__he_r...bands, .on ...his_Jfchighs... _... 
+
+; _ 
+
+Monty passes her the bottle and she takes a long draught , 
+never taking her eyes of f him. She hands back th e bottl e and 
+unzips his fly, taking he r time wit h everything. 
+Monty leans back and closes his eyes . We watch hi m like this 
+for a few seconds, and then we 
+
+CU T TO : 
+
+
+EXT . CARL SCHURZ PARK PLAYGROUND -- AFTERNOON 
+
+Springtime. Monty sits on a park bench. This is several years 
+ago , and he looks younger, less exhausted. 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+(CONTINUED) 
+
+
+
+
+
+86, 
+
+
+CONTINUED : 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+He is watching two high school girls on the swings. One 
+blonde -- LINDSAY JAMISON -- and one brunette -- a younger 
+Naturelle . 
+Both girls wear the uniform of their private school: white 
+blouses embroidered with the school's initials and green 
+plaid skirts over black tights. 
+Both girls are smoking. But while Lindsay keeps the cigarette 
+clenched in one hand as she swings higher, Naturelle 
+continues taking reckless drags., the crook of her elbow 
+holding the chain lightly as she soars skyward. 
+Monty stands and approaches the swings. The girls pretend not 
+to notice him. 
+
+MONTY 
+
+Hey! 
+The girls keep swinging. 
+
+MONTY (CONT'D) 
+
+Could I bum a smoke? 
+
+NATURELLE 
+
+What? 
+
+MONTY 
+
+A smoke. 
+
+NATURELLE 
+
+This is my last one . 
+Lindsay brakes with her feet and stares at Monty . 
+
+LINDSAY 
+
+I've met you before, haven't I? 
+Monty nods slowly. It's obvious he doesn't recognize her , but 
+he doesn't want to be rude. 
+
+MONTY 
+
+Yeah, you look familiar. 
+Naturelle has stopped swinging now. Lindsay jumps off he r 
+swing. 
+
+LINDSAY 
+
+I know wh o you are . Come on , Nat , we've 
+got practice. 
+
+MONTY 
+
+You know wh o I am? Who am I? 
+
+
+
+
+(CONTINUED) 
+
+
+
+
+
+87 
+
+
+CONTINUED: (2) 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Lindsay picks up her bookbag and strides quickly away, 
+looking back once or twice to see if Naturelle is following. 
+Naturelle is not following. 
+
+MONTY (CONT'D) 
+
+So you're Natalie? 
+
+NATURELLE 
+
+Naturelle. 
+
+MONTY 
+
+Really? Naturelle. I like that. 
+Naturelle. So what's your friend's 
+problem? 
+
+NATURELLE 
+
+You're the one that got thrown out of 
+Campbell-Sawyer, right? 
+
+MONTY 
+
+Yeah, well, lots of people got thrown out 
+of Campbell-Sawyer. How come you didn't 
+follow Blondie to practice? 
+
+NATURELLE 
+
+I want to finish my cigarette. 
+He smiles and sits on the swing next to her. He tries 
+swinging a little. 
+
+MONTY 
+
+I never really got the hang of these 
+things. 
+
+- ·-- " " NATURELLE - -- -- 
+
+It's all in the legs. 
+She starts swinging again and he watches her, her long black 
+hair falling beneath her, her legs straight and then bent, 
+straight and then bent. 
+
+CUT TO: 
+
+
+
+
+
+INT. WHITE ROOM 
+
+Monty's eyes are still closed. Now he opens them. His hands 
+are in Marguerite's hair, but now they drop by his side. 
+Finally he taps Marguerite on the shoulders. She backs away 
+from him, looking up at his face for a moment before blinking 
+and licking her lips. 
+
+
+
+
+(CONTINUED) 
+
+
+
+
+
+88 . 
+
+
+CONTINUED: 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+MONTY 
+
+It's my fault. You're very beautiful. 
+He hands her the bottle again and she takes a long sip. 
+
+
+
+
+MARGUERITE 
+
+(Colombian accent) 
+You are very handsome. Are you an actor ? 
+
+
+
+Monty zips his fly. 
+
+MONTY 
+
+Yeah. I'm a star. 
+
+
+
+
+INT. CLUB ROOM -- LATER 
+
+The club room is decorated to look like the library of an 
+English country manor : dark wood paneling, bookshelves 
+stacked with leather-bound books, flickering sconce lights. 
+Slattery sits on a stool at the bar, rolling a glass of 
+whiskey between his palms. His eyes are red, from crying or 
+exhaustion or both. 
+
+
+
+Naturelle walks into the room and spots Slattery. She goes 
+over to him and squeezes the back of his neck before sitting 
+on the neighboring stool. He sits up straight and smiles. 
+
+NATURELLE 
+
+Why are you all alone? 
+
+SLATTERY 
+
+I couldn't sit in that goddamn red room 
+anymore. I don't know anyone in there . 
+These are Monty's friends?-- 
+
+NATURELLE 
+
+I guess so . They're around a lot, anywayv 
+Slattery drains his whiskey. He signals for another and the 
+bartender pours it . He's clearly getting drunk, though 
+Slattery is a man who can handle his liquor. He checks his 
+watch. 
+
+SLATTERY 
+
+I'm supposed to be at work in a couple 
+hours. Christ, I can't even imagine 
+working today. You just gave me the flu, 
+okay? I'm calling in sick. 
+
+
+
+
+NATURELLE 
+
+I wish Monty could call in sick. Have you 
+seen him around? 
+
+
+
+
+(CONTINUED) 
+
+
+
+
+
+89 
+
+
+CONTINUED: 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+SLATTERY 
+
+He's probably saying goodbye to everyone. 
+
+NATURELLE 
+
+Can you do me a favor? 
+
+SLATTERY 
+
+What's that? 
+Slattery catches himself looking at Naturelle's cleavage and 
+looks away. 
+
+NATURELLE 
+
+Keep an eye on Monty tonight, would you? 
+Try to stick with him. 
+
+SLATTERY 
+
+What's wrong? 
+
+NATURELLE 
+
+He's just acting really strange. You 
+don't think he's acting strange? 
+
+SLATTERY 
+
+He's going to prison in a few hours, Nat. 
+How do you want him to act? 
+
+NATURELLE 
+
+I want him to act like he's scared. 
+
+SLATTERY 
+
+He is scared. 
+
+NATURELLE 
+
+I don't want him to hurt himself. Will 
+you watch him for me? ..-TO«.,,,,,..«--. 
+Slattery nods. For a while they are quiet. 
+
+NATURELLE (CONT'D) 
+
+I don't think he wants me here. 
+
+SLATTERY 
+
+That's not true. He's just -- 
+
+NATURELLE 
+
+You see the way he looks at me these 
+days. It's like he doesn't trust me . 
+
+SLATTERY 
+
+Why wouldn't he trust you? 
+Naturelle is quiet for a moment. 
+
+
+
+
+(CONTINUED) 
+
+
+
+
+
+- - -- -90 
+
+
+CONTINUED: (2) 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+NATURELLE 
+
+I'm going uptown. When you see him, tell 
+him I'm waiting for him back home, okay? 
+She stands and smooths out the wrinkles in her silver dress . 
+Again, Slattery has to turn away from the sight of her . 
+
+SLATTERY 
+
+This is all so stupid. It's so stupid. 
+He's got so much going on, he's so smart, 
+and what does he do? He throws it al l 
+away. An d here I am, his friend -- I mean , 
+right? I'm his oldest friend? 
+
+NATURELLE 
+
+He loves you, Frank. You know that. 
+
+SLATTERY 
+
+His oldest friend, and what do I do to 
+stop it? Nothing, never a word. When he 
+started selling pot to kids in Campbell - 
+Sawyer, did I say anything? When 
+everyone's talking about buying from 
+Monty, the whole school, and I knew they 
+were going to nail him, knew it, did I 
+say a word? The last ten years I watc h 
+him get deeper and deeper, and these 
+friends of his, these fucks you wouldn't 
+want petting your dog, did I say, 
+"Careful now, Monty, better get out of 
+this. " No . Nothing, not a word. His bes t 
+friend. Goddamn, Naturelle, I'm his bes t 
+friend and I just sat there and watched 
+him ruin his life. And you did, too . Both 
+of-us.,., all -of us , we just sat there and 
+let him . 
+Naturelle runs a fingernail down her forearm an d inspects the 
+faint white trail . 
+
+NATURELLE 
+
+Keep an eye on him, okay? 
+
+
+
+Slattery watches her walk away. A moment later Jakob hurries 
+in, sweating and frantic. 
+
+JAKOB 
+
+I've been looking all over for you. Can 
+we get out of here? 
+
+
+
+
+SLATTERY 
+
+We've got to wait for Monty. What's the 
+matter? 
+
+
+
+
+(CONTINUED) 
+
+
+
+
+
+91 . 
+
+
+CONTINUED : (3) 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+JAKOB 
+
+I kissed her. 
+
+
+
+
+SLATTERY 
+
+Who? 
+
+
+
+
+JAKOB 
+
+Mary D'Annunzio. I kissed her . 
+
+
+
+Slattery grins . 
+
+SLATTERY 
+
+Yeah? 
+
+JAKOB 
+
+I kissed my student. My seventeen year 
+old high school student. 
+(beat) 
+They'll fire me . 
+
+SLATTERY 
+
+Jake. 
+
+JAKOB 
+
+Yeah? 
+Slattery hands him the glass of whiskey. 
+
+SLATTERY 
+
+Have a drink. 
+
+
+
+
+INT. BASEMENT HALLWAY -- LATER 
+
+Monty and Kostya walk slowly down the corridor that leads to 
+the manager's office. 
+
+- -·· KOSTYA 
+
+So? You like her? 
+
+MONTY 
+
+She's very nice. 
+
+
+
+
+KOSTYA 
+
+Does she have three teeth? Eh ? No , I 
+think she has many teeth. I think you 
+like her. 
+
+MONTY 
+
+I said so, didn't I? 
+
+
+
+
+KOSTYA 
+
+
+
+
+o 
+Very nice . 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+(CONTINUED) 
+
+
+
+
+
+· '" 92 , 
+
+
+CONTINUED: 
+
+
+
+
+0·^ They stop outside the office and knock on the steel-plated 
+door. MUSTAFAYEV, a balding man smoking a cigarette, opens 
+the door and closes it behind him. He nods. 
+Monty and Kostya pull out their guns and hand them to him. 
+Checking the safeties, he shoves the guns under his belt and, 
+cigarette clenched between his teeth, carefully pats both men 
+down. 
+When Mustafayev finishes searching them he raps on the door 
+and it opens again. He gestures, and Monty and Kostya enter. 
+
+INT. VELVET MANAGER'S OFFICE -- CONTINUOUS 
+
+Mustafayev follows them inside, hands their guns to one of 
+the ZAKHAROV twins, and goes back outside, closing the door. 
+The twins are Russian redheads who speak very little English. 
+Their faces are blunted and pitiless. 
+Uncle Blue sits behind Volandes' desk, reading the paper. 
+Valghobek sits on a corner of the desk. 
+The twin with the guns places them carefully in front of 
+" Uncle Blue, then returns to stand by his brother, both of 
+them standing behind Monty and Kostya. 
+DJ Dusk's music can barely be heard down here, the thump of 
+bass and drum sounding like distant bombshells. 
+Uncle Blue folds his paper neatly and sets it aside. 
+
+UNCLE BLUE 
+
+Montgomery. How is the party? 
+
+MONTY 
+
+It's all right. Thanks for setting it up. 
+
+UNCLE BLUE 
+
+The first time I went to prison I was 
+fourteen years old, a skinny little boy. 
+Very afraid. By the time I came out I had 
+my beard. I was a grown man. I went back 
+to my hometown, I found my mother, I 
+kissed her. And she screamed. 
+(smiling) 
+She did not recognize me . I have been in 
+three different prisons, Montgomery, in 
+three different countries. You know what 
+I learned? 
+Monty shakes his head and waits. 
+
+
+
+
+(CONTINUED) 
+
+
+
+
+
+93. 
+
+
+CONTINUED: 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+o UNCLE BLUE (COM" D) 
+I learned that prison is not a good place 
+to be . 
+
+KOSTYA 
+
+(laughing) 
+I knew that before I went. 
+
+VALGHOBEK 
+
+Nobody's talking to you. Keep your mouth 
+shut. 
+
+UNCLE BLUE 
+
+Seven years is a long time. Some men 
+would do anything to avoid seven years in 
+prison. 
+Monty waits. 
+
+VALGHOBEK 
+
+Your father's a hardworking man . Where's 
+his bar? In Bay Ridge? 86th Street and 
+6th Avenue, am I right? 
+
+MONTY 
+
+Yes . 
+
+VALGHOBEK 
+
+At least he has a short commute. He can 
+practically walk to work. Where does he 
+live, 17th Avenue? And what was the cross- 
+street? 81st? 8002 17th Avenue. Is that 
+right? The first floor. That must be 
+noisy, living on the first floor. But he 
+doesn't walk to work, does he? He drives. 
+-A 1987 Honda. Should-I tell you how many 
+miles he has on the car? 
+Monty stares at the floor. 
+
+UNCLE BLUE 
+
+Your father, I like your father. A hard- 
+working man. He has had bad luck, some 
+very bad luck. Everyone in the 
+neighborhood loved your mother. You 
+remember her, Senka? 
+
+VALGHOBEK 
+
+Sure. She was a beautiful woman. A real 
+sweetheart. 
+
+
+
+
+Q 
+
+
+(CONTINUED) 
+
+
+
+
+
+· · " · · · 
+
+
+"··- · 
+
+
+-·'· 94. 
+
+
+· 
+
+
+· · 
+
+
+' 
+
+
+CONTINUED: (2) 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+UNCLE BLUE 
+
+I want to help your father. I could use a 
+man like that, a hard-working man, a man 
+I could trust. I could take care of your 
+father. Do you understand what I mean, 
+Montgomery? 
+
+MONTY 
+
+You don't need to do this. I never said a 
+word to anyone. You don't need to bring 
+him into it. 
+i 
+
+UNCLE BLUE 
+
+I asked you a question, Montgomery. 
+
+MONTY 
+
+I understand exactly what you mean. 
+
+UNCLE BLUE 
+
+I have a good job for your father. We'll 
+help him with the money he owes. 
+Uncle Blue turns Monty's gun in his hands. He checks the 
+slide's action. He ejects the magazine, peers at the top 
+cartridge, slaps the magazine back into the pistol's butt, 
+
+UNCLE BLUE (CONT'D) 
+
+Good weapon. Accurate? 
+Monty nods. 
+
+UNCLE BLUE (CONT'D) 
+
+Polymer frame, very good, easy to clean. 
+And reliable? No jams? 
+Monty shakes his head. He turns around for a moment. The 
+Zakharov twins are staring at him. Monty turns back. Uncle 
+Blue smiles. 
+
+UNCLE BLUE (CONT'D) 
+
+Have you ever fired it? At someone, I 
+mean. 
+
+MONTY 
+
+No. 
+
+UNCLE BLUE 
+
+No. Good. It is a toy for you. Not toy, 
+prop. A prop for you. Like an actor. Am I 
+wrong? With the gun you feel more... 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+(CONTINUED) 
+
+
+
+
+
+95. 
+
+
+CONTINUED: (3) " "~"~ 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Monty turns again. The Zakharov twins have their automatics 
+out. Monty, getting desperate, turns back to Uncle Blue. 
+
+MONTY 
+
+I never said a word to anyone. They came 
+after me to get to you. I know it, you 
+know it. They don't care about me . But I 
+never said a word. 
+Uncle Blue makes a gesture and the Zakharovs, frighteningly 
+fast, spring forward, slamming Kostya to the floor and 
+holding their pistols to his skull. 
+
+UNCLE BLUE 
+
+I believe you, Montgomery. When you get 
+there, figure out who is who. Find a man 
+nobody is protecting, a man without 
+people. And beat him until his eyes 
+bleed. 
+Monty stares at Kostya, who whimpers on the ground, blood 
+dripping from his nose. 
+
+UNCLE BLUE (CONT'D) 
+
+Let them think you are a little bit 
+crazy, but respectful, too, respectful of 
+the right men. 
+
+KOSTYA 
+
+Monty -- 
+One of the Zakharovs kicks Kostya in the ribs. 
+
+UNCLE BLUE 
+
+You're a good-looking boy, it won't be 
+easy for--you. But remember, I was=- - ---- 
+fourteen when I first went. And I 
+survived. 
+(beat) 
+We do what we have to do to survive. 
+
+KOSTYA 
+
+Monty... please, Monty... 
+
+UNCLE BLUE 
+
+So now we have this other problem. 
+
+VALGHOBEK 
+
+How many people knew you kept the stuff 
+inside your sofa cushion? Eh? Your 
+girlfriend, Kostya, who else? ^i 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+(CONTINUED) 
+
+
+
+
+
+96 
+
+
+CONTINUED : (4 ) 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+MONTY 
+
+
+I-- 
+
+
+UNCLE BLUE 
+
+Kostya dimed you outr little brother. He 
+made a call and stole seven years from 
+your life. 
+
+VALGHOBEK 
+
+They put the clamps on him, and instead 
+of being a man about it, taking the time 
+himself, he sold you out. 
+Uncle Blue hands Valghobek Monty's pistol. Valghobek walks 
+over to Monty and offers it to him. 
+
+MONTY 
+
+I don't want it. 
+
+UNCLE BLUE 
+
+It's yours. You know how to use it? 
+Valghobek holds the pistol by the barrel, a small smile on 
+his face, until Monty grabs it from him. 
+
+MONTY 
+
+I know how to use it. 
+
+UNCLE BLUE 
+
+Good. This man does not deserve to live. 
+He betrayed you, he betrayed me. He stole 
+from you. He stole seven years from you. 
+End him. 
+"One of the ZakTiaTo^^'Ewins!rag'rins at Monty and taps" "theback of 
+Kostya's skull with his pistol's muzzle. 
+
+ZAKHAROV 
+
+Right here. Boom! 
+The Zakharovs back away and Monty crouches down beside his 
+former friend. Kostya struggles to turn his head, to make eye 
+contact with Monty. ! 
+KOSTY A j 
+Monty-- | 
+i 
+
+MONTY | 
+
+Don't talk. ! 
+
+KOSTYA | 
+
+No, no, wait, Monty, wait, please listen. 
+I had no choice. I-- 
+
+I 
+
+(CONTINUED ) f 
+
+
+
+
+97. 
+
+
+CONTINUED: (5) 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Monty flicks off the safety and presses the muzzle against 
+Kostya's skull. 
+Everyone in the room is quiet, watching. 
+The only sound is DJ Dusk's mix, an accelerating industrial 
+heartbeat. 
+
+VALGHOBEK 
+
+Do it. 
+Kostya weeps, softly, his big body shuddering. 
+Uncle Blue, face impassive behind his heavy beard, watches 
+carefully. 
+
+ZAKHAROV 
+
+He is cockroach. Kill him. 
+Monty's face is very close to Kostya's. 
+
+MONTY 
+
+(quietly) 
+You were my friend. 
+f=*5 KOSTYA 
+^ Monty -- 
+Monty closes his eyes. 
+When he opens his eyes, he flicks the safety back on. He 
+stands. 
+He tosses the gun to Uncle Blue, who catches it and frowns. 
+
+_ MONTY, 
+
+It doesn't matter to me . Not a goddamn 
+thing matters to me , except this: if you 
+hurt my father, I'll kill you both. 
+The Zakharov twins grab Monty and hold him. Monty doesn't 
+struggle; he and Uncle Blue stare at each other. 
+Uncle Blue drums the desktop with his fingers. Everyone 
+waits. A glass of water on the table trembles from the 
+distant bass. 
+Finally Uncle Blue nods at Valghobek, who opens the office 
+door. The twins release Monty. Everyone (except for Kostya, 
+who is face down on the floor) watches him. 
+
+
+
+o 
+V' Monty walks out of the room, never looking back. 
+
+
+
+
+98 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+EXT. 14TH STREET -- LATER 
+
+Monty trudges down the sidewalk, followed by Slattery and 
+Jakob. The snow continues to fall, and lies thickly drifted 
+on the crookedly-parked cars, on the parking meters, on the 
+spears of the church gate they pass. 
+They reach the Union Square subway station and walk down the 
+stairs, disappearing from our view. 
+
+CLOSE ON FOOTPRINTS IN THE SNOW 
+
+We slowly follow their path backward. In the yellow shine of 
+the streetlights the footprints fill with snow, until finally 
+(the camera still moving backward) they disappear. 
+
+INT. UNION SQUARE SUBWAY STATION 
+
+Monty, Frank, and Jakob sit with their backs against the 
+""'corrugated shutters of a closed newspaper stand. 
+An OLD MAN, wearing a garbage bag with a hole cut out for his 
+head, leans against a blue I-beam that helps support the 
+ceiling. He holds a small radio to his ear; we can hear 
+fragments of Puerto Rican Jibaro music. 
+Jakob chews on his fingernails. He cranes his neck to look 
+down the subway tunnel -- still no train in sight. He looks at 
+Monty. 
+
+JAKOB 
+
+What time is it? 
+But Monty is jnot present, he is elsewhere, lost in whatever 
+feveFie occuples""his mind. Slattery's eyes are clo~sed;-he- 
+seems to be sleeping. 
+
+JAKOB {CONT'D) 
+
+Monty? 
+Monty looks up, dazed. 
+
+MONTY 
+
+What? 
+
+JAKOB 
+
+Do you know what time it is? 
+Another long pause. 
+
+MONTY 
+
+It's getting late. 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+(CONTINUED) 
+
+
+
+
+
+99 
+
+
+CONTINUED: . - - -*.«.-., ,..-, 
+
+
+-. 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+The lights of the train come around the bend in the tunnel. 
+
+INT. 4 TRAIN -- LATER 
+
+The three men sit side by side as the train shudders through 
+the darkness. Slattery seems to be sleeping again. Jakob 
+stares at his reflected face in the far window. 
+Monty pulls out his wallet and finds the photograph that his 
+father gave him earlier in the night. 
+
+INSERT PHOTO 
+
+Monty in his fireman's helmet, standing before his parents. 
+
+EXT. MONTY'S BUILDING -- NIGHT 
+
+Monty, Slattery and Jakob wade through the snow to the stoop 
+steps. 
+
+INT. MONTY'S BUILDING 
+
+They climb the narrow staircase, their footfalls echoing off 
+the tiled walls. 
+
+INT. MONTY'S APARTMENT ,-~^ 
+
+They enter the apartment. Doyle is excited to see them; he - 
+pants and spins in little circles, sniffing at their boots. 
+Jakob and Slattery fall onto the sofa and lie there like 
+corpses. 
+Monty opens the bedroom door, steps inside, and closes it 
+behind him. 
+
+INT- MONTY'S BEDROOM 
+
+Naturelle sleeps on her side, facing the window. Monty kneels 
+beside her and takes her hand. Her eyes open. She smiles for 
+a second and then quickly sits up. 
+
+NATURELLE 
+
+What time is it? 
+Both of them turn to look at the digital clock on the 
+nightstand. 
+
+MONTY 
+
+I've got an hour left. Listen -- 
+Naturelle waits as Monty stares down at the bed. ^J 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+(CONTINUED) 
+
+
+
+
+
+IOO, 
+
+
+CONTINUED: , 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+MONTY (CONT'D) 
+
+I was wrong. About you, about -- 
+She runs her hand through his hair. 
+
+NATURELLE 
+
+It doesn't matter right now. 
+
+MONTY 
+
+It matters to me. 
+(beat) 
+I don't want you to hate me. 
+
+NATURELLE 
+
+How could I ever hate you? 
+
+MONTY 
+
+Jesus, Nat, I blew it. I really blew it. 
+He stands. 
+
+NATURELLE 
+
+Stay with me, baby. We have another hour. 
+
+MONTY 
+
+There's one last thing I gotta do. 
+Naturelle doesn't like the sound of this remark. She leans 
+forward and takes his wrist. 
+
+NATURELLE 
+
+Hey. Don't go anywhere. Stay here with 
+me. 
+
+- -······· 
+
+
+- - ·--MONTY- ·· ' ~ -· ·· - 
+
+Just one last thing. 
+He kisses her again, a last fierce kiss, and heads for the 
+door. 
+
+INT. MONTY'S LIVING ROOM 
+
+Monty grabs the leash off the back of the apartment door and 
+clips it to Doyle's collar. 
+
+MONTY 
+
+Let me take one more walk with Doyle. 
+Slattery and Jakob nod. Both are exhausted. 
+
+EXT. EAST END AVENUE ~ LATER 
+
+The snow has finally stopped falling. 
+
+
+
+
+(CONTINUED) 
+
+
+
+
+
+101 
+
+
+CONTINUED: 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+The parked cars lining the avenue look like scoops of vanilla 
+ice cream, glistening below the streetlights. The awnings of 
+the buildings, fringed with icicles, creak beneath the weight 
+of the snow. 
+Doyle, off his leash, charges down the middle of the avenue, 
+carving a trail through the foot-deep powder, a drop of ink 
+rolling down a blank page. 
+Monty follows behind, twirling circles with the leash. 
+Slattery and Jakob bring up the rear, slogging through the 
+snow like weary soldiers. 
+The only vehicle on the road is a snow plow half a mile 
+south, its yellow lights flashing. 
+
+EXT. CARL SCHURZ PARK 
+
+They cross into the park, past the fenced-in gingko trees, 
+climbing the stairs that lead to the esplanade. 
+Doyle spies a squirrel and chases after it, but the squirrel 
+is quicker, makes it to a red maple and scrambles up the 
+trunk to safety. 
+Doyle squats at the foot of the tree, staring sadly up ^\ 
+through the branches. 11W7 
+
+EXT. EAST RIVER ESPLANADE 
+
+Across the river is Queens, and Queens before sunrise is 
+beautiful: red antennae lights winking to warn pilots; the 
+Pepsi sign glowing in neon script over the bottling plant; 
+white clouds rising from the smokestacks like genies. 
+Behind Queens the sky is beginning to brighten. - -- 
+Jakob brushes snow off the iron balustrade, leans against it 
+and stares into the river. A string of yellow lights quivers 
+beneath the waters, reflections from the Queensboro Bridge. 
+A red tugboat chugs south. 
+
+MONTY 
+
+It would be good to work a tugboat. Be 
+out on the river all day. 
+He turns to face Jakob. 
+
+MONTY (CONT'D) 
+
+So what do you think? You ready for Mr. 
+Doyle? 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+(CONTINUED) 
+
+
+
+
+
+; 
+
+
+· ·'· · · ' -- ·· 
+
+
+- 102, 
+
+
+·· 
+
+
+CONTINUED: 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Jakob looks at Doyle, who is rolling on his back in the snow, 
+kicking his feet in the air like a puppy. 
+
+JAKOB 
+
+He likes the snow. 
+Monty whistles for Doyle and the dog jumps to his feet and 
+runs over, wagging the stump of his tail, his muzzle dusted 
+with snow. 
+
+MONTY 
+
+I need a favor, Frank. 
+
+SLATTERY 
+
+Anything. 
+Monty refastens the leash onto the dog's collar and ties the 
+cord around a baluster, knotting it twice, checking to make 
+sure it's secure. 
+
+MONTY 
+
+I'm not going in there like this. The 
+minute they get a look at me, I'm gone. 
+Monty straightens up and looks directly into Slattery's eyes. 
+
+- 
+
+
+MONTY (CONT'D) 
+
+Make me ugly. 
+Slattery looks dumbfounded. He turns to glance at Jakob, who 
+is equally confused. 
+Monty clears the snow off the nearest bench, unbuttons his 
+camel's hair coat, and lays it down. 
+
+MONTY (CONT'D) 
+
+You just said you'd do anything. So this 
+is what I need. 
+
+SLATTERY 
+
+I can't do that. What are you thinking, I 
+give you a black eye and people won't 
+fuck with you? It won't change anything. 
+Monty steps closer. 
+
+MONTY 
+
+You think I deserve it, don't you? 
+Slattery holds his hands up and backs away. 
+
+SLATTERY 
+
+I can't hit you. 
+
+
+
+
+(CONTINUED) 
+
+
+
+
+
+103, 
+
+
+CONTINUED : (2) 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+MONTY 
+
+I think you can. I think you want to, a 
+little bit. I think you've wanted to for 
+years. 
+
+SLATTERY 
+
+I'm not doing it. 
+Monty steps closer again. 
+
+MONTY 
+
+You want to. Come on, Frank, you're 
+afraid? 
+
+SLATTERY 
+
+Listen -- 
+
+MONTY 
+
+What are you afraid of, Frank? That I'll 
+hit back? You're afraid I'll hit back? 
+That would be embarrassing, huh, big 
+tough guy like you getting his ass 
+kicked? 
+
+JAKOB 
+
+Come on, this is crazy. 
+on, t 
+i.JSh Come 
+Monty points at Jakob. 
+
+MONTY 
+
+Who the fuck is talking to you? 
+
+SLATTERY 
+
+Forget it. Come on, forget all this. 
+Let's get some breakfast. 
+
+MONTY 
+
+This works out pretty well for you, 
+doesn't it? You're gonna take good care 
+of Naturelle while I'm gone? 
+
+SLATTERY 
+
+What? 
+
+MONTY 
+
+You think I don't see you staring at her 
+all the time? You've wanted to fuck her 
+for years. 
+He shoves Slattery hard. Slattery's eyes narrow for a moment, 
+but he shakes his head. 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+(CONTINUED) 
+
+
+
+
+
+-·-- 104 
+
+
+CONTINUED : (3) 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+SLATTERY 
+
+All right. Al l right. 
+
+
+
+He turns stiffly and walks away. 
+
+
+
+
+' JAKOB 
+
+Come on. Come on , Monty, what are you 
+doing? Tell him you're kidding. 
+Monty pivots and punches Jakob hard on the cheek, the crack 
+of gloved knuckle on bone echoing on the empty esplanade. 
+Jakob falls back against the balustrade, clutching his face. 
+
+JAKOB (CONT'D) 
+
+Monty I 
+
+
+
+Monty steps closer and punches Jakob again, this time in the 
+gut, and Jakob sinks to his knees, gasping. He covers his 
+face with his hands, to protect himself. 
+Slattery tackles Monty, pinning him to the ground. 
+For a moment everything is still. Doyle, leashed to the 
+baluster, whines, unsure if his master is playing or 
+fighting. 
+Jakob, stunned by the violence, watches. Slattery stares at 
+Monty and Monty stares back . All :of them in the snow, their 
+breath coiling and rising into the sky. 
+Finally Slattery looks away, looks past the East River , past 
+Queens. He clenches his eyes shut. When he opens them, we see 
+the first tears forming. 
+Slattery grabs Monty's throat with his left hand and punches 
+him in the face with his right, again and again and again. 
+Doyle howls. He tries to jump on Slattery bu t the leash keeps 
+yanking him back. He strains forward, fangs bared , bu t his 
+master is three feet too far. 
+
+
+
+Jakob touches his cheek and examines his fingers: no blood. 
+
+
+
+Doyle, barking madly, keeps jumping for Slattery, keeps being 
+yanked back by the leash. 
+
+
+
+Jakob grabs hold of the balustrade and pulls himsel f to his 
+feet. 
+
+JAKOB (CONT'D) 
+
+Frank... Frank! 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+(CONTINUED) 
+
+
+
+
+
+105, 
+
+
+CONTINUED : (4) 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+The bloo d puddles by Monty's head, melting through the snow 
+and steaming in the air. Slattery, lost in hi s anger , his 
+frustration, continues swinging. 
+
+
+
+Jakob stumbles over to Slattery and pushes him. 
+
+
+
+
+JAKOB (CONT'D) 
+
+Stop! 
+
+
+
+Slattery looks up , his face wet with tears , a webbin g of 
+saliva between his lips . 
+
+JAKOB (CONT'D) 
+
+Okay. Enough. 
+
+
+
+Jakob grabs the bi g man under the armpits and help s hi m rise . 
+Slattery looks down at Monty, who is not moving . 
+
+SLATTERY 
+
+Oh Jesus . 
+Jakob crouches and turns Monty onto his stomach . Monty 
+coughs, a thick ribbon of blood falling from hi s mouth . 
+Jakob scoops up a handful of snow and begins gentl y pressing 
+it to Monty's brutalized face. 
+Doyle continues to bark, the collar digging into his throat 
+as he struggles to reach his master. 
+Slattery watches , speechless, his bloodied hand s by his side. 
+Finally Monty shakes his head clear of the snow and begins 
+crawling forward. 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Hold still for a minute. Hold still . 
+When Monty tries to stand his legs collapse beneat h him. 
+Jakob wraps his arms around him before he falls an d lowers 
+him to the snow. 
+
+
+
+
+JAKOB (CONT'D) 
+
+Don't try to move yet. 
+
+
+
+Monty pushes himsel f off the ground again and thi s time 
+manages to keep hi s balance, though he sways lik e a drunk. 
+
+
+
+
+MONTY 
+
+(slurring) 
+It's okay . 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+106, 
+
+
+CONTINUED : <5) 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Blood leaks from his nose, from his mouth, from a deep gash 
+bisecting one eyebrow. The entire left side of his face is 
+bright red, already swelling. 
+
+
+
+Slattery looks at him and moans , sits down heavily in the 
+snow, his chin tucked against his chest, his right hand, 
+slick with blood, covering his face. 
+
+
+
+
+SLATTERY 
+
+Oh Jesus. 
+
+
+
+
+JAKOB 
+
+Hospital.. We need to take you to the 
+hospital. 
+
+MONTY 
+
+No . 
+He staggers toward them. Doyle is mewling now, stomping his 
+paws, confused. Monty bends down unsteadily and scratches 
+behind the dog's ear. 
+
+MONTY (CONT'D) 
+
+(to Doyle) 
+Be a good boy. 
+He walks over to Slattery, wh o sits in the snow, sobbing. 
+Monty leans over and kisses his forehead. 
+
+
+
+
+MONTY (CONT'D) 
+
+I'm sorry. 
+Slattery rocks back and forth, hands over his face, his 
+forehead marked with blood. 
+Monty turns to Jakob and touches his shoulder. 
+
+MONTY (CONT'D) 
+
+I'm sorry, Jake. 
+
+
+
+Jakob is stunned by what's happened in the last few minutes . 
+He has no idea what to say. 
+
+
+
+
+JAKOB 
+
+Okay. 
+
+
+
+
+MONTY 
+
+Take care of my dog. 
+
+
+
+He grabs his coat from the park bench and walks away from 
+them. 
+
+
+
+
+107 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+EXT. MONTY' S BUILDING -- DAWN ( 
+
+Naturelle, in her down parka, sits on the stoop steps. She 
+sees him when he's a block away, and we see him from that 
+distance, limping through the snow. 
+Naturelle stands and breathes in deeply. She starts walking 
+toward him but stops after a few steps. She can see his face 
+now. 
+His eyes are so badly swollen that he doesn't notice her 
+until he's almost upon her. When he does see her he smiles, 
+and Naturelle has to look away for a moment. 
+He tries to say something but chokes, leans over, hands on 
+his knees, and spits up blood. 
+Naturelle takes him by the hand and leads him up the steps. 
+
+INT. MONTY'S LIVING ROOM 
+
+He sits on the sofa while Naturelle dabs at his face with a 
+wet washcloth. A bowl of soapy water sits beside her on the 
+coffee table. 
+When she wrings the washcloth above the bowl, drops of blood ,"***S 
+
+/ > 
+
+fall into the water and bloom. W-- / 
+
+MONTY 
+
+I don't want you to visit. 
+His voice is rough and slurred, his split lip impeding his 
+diction. 
+She opens a bottle of rubbing alcohol, wets a cotton ball, 
+presses the cottpn lightly against the gash in his forehead. -- 
+He shudders, his fingers gripping the edges of the sofa 
+cushions. 
+
+MONTY (CONT'D) 
+
+I don't want you to see me up there. 
+Naturelle struggles mightily to keep herself together. She 
+continues cleaning his wounds. 
+
+MONTY (CONT'D) 
+
+Why'd you stay with me? 
+(beat) 
+You should have left a long time ago. 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+(CONTINUED) 
+
+
+
+
+
+108. 
+
+
+CONTINUED: 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+NATURELLE 
+
+(shaking her head) 
+You idiot. 
+A knock on the door. Naturelle goes to answer it. We hear 
+voices that sound very distant. Monty peers through his 
+swollen eyelids at the man walking toward him. 
+
+CUT TO: 
+
+
+MONTY'S POV 
+
+The blurred figure of a man stands before him. The room is 
+sunlight and shadows, all edges washed away; 
+The man's face is a pale oval that bends and splits when he 
+speaks. 
+
+MR. BROGAN 
+
+Who did this to you? 
+
+CUT TO: 
+
+Monty sitting on the sofa, staring up at his father. 
+
+MR. BROGAN (CONT'D) 
+
+Who did this to you, Monty? 
+
+MONTY 
+
+What time is it? 
+
+MR. BROGAN 
+
+I'm bringing you to the hospital. We can 
+tell-- 
+
+MONTY 
+
+No. I need to go. 
+He pushes himself upright. Naturelle comes in from the 
+kitchen and hands him a glass of water. He takes it and 
+drinks. 
+
+NATURELLE 
+
+You have to go to the hospital, baby. 
+
+MONTY 
+
+No. 
+Monty goes to his bedroom. 
+
+
+
+
+INT. MONTY'S BEDROOM -- CONTINUOUS 
+
+\v_y He pulls an already packed suitcase from beneath the bed. He 
+~" grabs the string of silver rosary beads from the bedside 
+table. 
+He stares at the unmade bed for a few seconds before leaving. 
+
+INT. MONTY'S LIVING ROOM -- CONTINUOUS 
+
+He sets his suitcase by the front door. 
+
+MONTY 
+
+I'll say goodbye here. 
+He approaches his father but Mr. Brogan shakes his head. 
+
+MR. BROGAN 
+
+How you planning on getting to the Port 
+Authority? 
+
+MONTY 
+
+Subway. 
+
+MR. BROGAN 
+
+You won't make it. Trains are barely 
+running right now. I'll drive you to 
+Otisville. 
+(beat) 
+Jesus, look what they did to you. 
+
+MONTY 
+
+I'll take a taxi. 
+
+NATURELLE 
+
+You won't be able to get one. Let him 
+take you to the hospital. 
+
+MR. BROGAN 
+
+You don't trust my driving? I got chains 
+on the tires and everything. 
+
+MONTY 
+
+I don't want it like this. Let me walk 
+away, Dad. It's easier that way. 
+
+MR. BROGAN 
+
+What's easy about it? Easier? My God, you 
+don't understand, do you? You don't have 
+any idea. 
+He touches Monty's shoulder. 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+(CONTINUED) 
+
+
+
+
+
+110, 
+
+
+CONTINUED : 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+MR. BROGAN (CONT'D) 
+
+Let me drive you there. I need to see 
+where it is anyway, for visits. Okay, 
+buddy? Help me out . 
+
+
+
+Monty blinks and then nods . 
+
+
+
+
+MONTY 
+
+No hospitals. 
+
+
+
+Mr . Brogan kisses Naturelle on the cheek and she embraces the 
+older man . When she lets go he walks to the front door, pick s 
+up the suitcase, and leaves the apartment. 
+Monty stands still, looking at Naturelle. 
+
+NATURELLE 
+
+Wait a second. 
+She goes to the kitchen and Monty rocks back and forth on his 
+bootheels. When she returns she holds a plastic ba g filled 
+with ice cubes. 
+She makes him hold the bag against the side of his face. They 
+don't move for a moment, her hand on top of his hand, the ba g 
+of ice pressed to his jaw. 
+
+MONTY 
+
+I want you to be happy. 
+
+
+
+She nods but says nothing, biting her lip, tears beginning to 
+roll down her face. 
+
+MONTY (CONT'D) 
+
+Will you d© that for me ? 
+
+
+
+She nods again. 
+
+MONTY (CONT'D) 
+
+Okay? 
+
+
+
+She grabs him and holds him very hard, clutching him, sobbing 
+into his neck. 
+
+MONTY (CONT'D) 
+
+I'm sorry for everything. 
+
+
+
+
+NATURELLE 
+
+No . . . 
+
+
+
+
+MONTY 
+
+Fo r everything . 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+(CONTINUED) 
+
+
+
+
+
+CONTINUED: (2) 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+He kisses her again and releases her, walks out the apartment 
+door and closes it behind him. 
+
+INT. HALLWAY 
+
+Monty unknots the plastic bag and dumps the ice down the 
+stairwell. The cubes glitter and disappear before clattering 
+on the linoleum three floors below. 
+
+EXT. MONTY'S BUILDING 
+
+Mr. Brogan's car is double-parked. The roof of the old Honda 
+is crowned with snow but the windshield and rear window have 
+been swept clean. 
+
+INT. MR. BROGAN'S HONDA 
+
+Mr. Brogan opens the passenger door and Monty eases carefully 
+into the seat, then leans over to unlock the driver's door. 
+After Mr. Brogan starts the engine, they wait for a moment 
+for the windows to defrost. 
+
+MR. BROGAN 
+
+FDR is closed. I figured we'd go up 
+First, take the Triborough, catch 87 up 
+to Route 17, and then 211 takes us right 
+into Otisville. Easy drive, except for 
+the snow. 
+Monty says nothing, and Mr. Brogan studies his savaged face. 
+
+MR. BROGAN (CONT'D) 
+
+Jesus, look what they did to you. I'll 
+tell you what, Monty, you're gonna be 
+okay. It looks bad now, I know it, but 
+when all the swelling goes down it's 
+- · - gonna be okayr ~ ~" ··-·-· ······-· 
+
+- -- . -·--·· 
+
+(beat) 
+They sure gave you a licking, though. How 
+many were there? 
+
+MONTY 
+
+I don't know, Dad. A bunch of them. 
+
+MR. BROGAN 
+
+Well, give it a month and you'll be 
+better looking than ever. 
+A fire truck rolls slowly past, chains on its massive tires. 
+Monty and his father sit in silence, letting the engine warm. 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+(CONTINUED) 
+
+
+
+
+
+112. 
+
+
+CONTINUED: 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+MONTY 
+
+You were right, Dad. It wasn't Naturelle. 
+Mr. Brogan shifts into drive. 
+
+MR. BROGAN 
+
+Of course it wasn't Naturelle. 
+
+EXT. EAST RIVER ESPLANADE -- DAWN 
+
+Slattery sits on a park bench overlooking the river. It's the 
+same bench Monty sat on the day before. Slattery is alone on 
+the snow-covered esplanade. 
+His knuckles are covered with dried blood. His forehead is 
+marked with blood. 
+He watches the sun rise over Queens. 
+
+EXT. EAST END AVENUE -- DAWN 
+
+Jakob and Doyle walk south along the western edge of Carl 
+Schurz Park. A SKIER, an attractive young woman in her mid- 
+twenties, schusses toward them on cross-country skis. 
+She smiles at Jakob as she passes. 
+
+SKIER 
+
+Cool dog. 
+
+JAKOB 
+
+Thanks. 
+He turns and watches her glide down the hill toward 86th 
+Street. He looks down: at Doyle. Doyle looks-iap- at ~hifff. TM - 
+
+JAKOB (CONT'D) 
+
+Cool dog. 
+Jakob shakes his head and smiles, and they continue walking 
+south. 
+
+INT. MR. BROGAN'S HONDA -- MORNING 
+
+They drive up First Avenue. Monty looks out the window and 
+watches the city roll by. It's his last look for a long time, 
+and he wants to remember everything. 
+A WOMAN wearing a man's overcoat sprinkles salt in front of a 
+shuttered butcher shop. Two YOUNG BOYS drag their sleds 
+behind them, huffing and puffing with exaggerated fatigue. 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+(CONTINUED) 
+
+
+
+
+
+113. 
+
+
+CONTINUED: 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+A NEWSPAPER VENDOR sits on a blue milk crate, sipping coffee 
+from a paper cup, while his CURLY-HAIRED SON snaps icicles 
+from the kiosk's eaves. 
+A POLICE OFFICER, hands on his hips, stares under the opened 
+hood of his cruiser, while his PARTNER leans against the 
+driver's-side door and laughs into his walkie-talkie. 
+At a red light, Monty looks up at the city bus idling noisily 
+alongside them. A LITTLE BOY in the backseat waves. Monty 
+waves back. 
+The boy points at his window: letters have been finger-drawn 
+on the frosted glass. T-O-M. 
+Monty smiles as well as he can and draws his own name on his 
+own frosted window: M-O-N- 
+Before he can cross the T the bus pulls away. 
+They drive north. 
+
+MONTY 
+
+I always thought I'd make you proud of 
+me . 
+M r . Brogan turns to look at Monty and then turns back to the 
+road. 
+
+MONTY (CONT'D) 
+
+I pictured it, you know? I pictured you 
+sitting at the bar with all your friends, 
+poker night, and you'd say, "Did I tell 
+you what my boy's been up to?" And your 
+friends would be like, "Goddamnit, 
+_ Brogan,,_all you ever talk about-is your ,,... _, __,, _ 
+boy." 
+
+MR. BROGAN 
+
+Give me the word and I'll take a left 
+turn. 
+
+MONTY 
+
+Left turn to where? 
+
+MR. BROGAN . 
+
+Wherever you want. Take the GW Bridge and 
+go west. 
+Monty stares at his father. 
+
+
+
+o 
+
+(CONTINUED) 
+
+
+
+
+
+CONTINUED: (2) 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+MR. BROGAN (CONT'D) 
+
+Get you stitched up somewhere and keep 
+going. Find a nice little town -- 
+
+MONTY 
+
+Dad. 
+
+MR. BROGAN 
+
+I'm saying if you want. If that's what 
+you want, I'll do it. 
+Monty closes his eyes. We hear the tire chains rattling on 
+the snow. We hear the old engine wheezing. 
+CLOSE on Monty's ravaged face, on his eyelids. 
+Mr. Brogan keeps talking and New York City melts away. 
+
+MR. BROGAN (COM" D) 
+
+We'll drive and keep driving. 
+
+CUT TO: 
+
+
+EXT. INTERSTATE HIGHWAY -- DAY 
+
+As Mr. Brogan speaks, we watch the car driving west. The 
+voice-over tracks with the images on the screen. 
+
+MR. BROGAN (V.O.) 
+
+Head out to the middle of nowhere. 
+
+CUT TO: 
+
+
+EXT. DESERT HIGHWAY -- DAY 
+
+The car speeds along a desert highway now, past the pitchfork 
+cacti and towering mesas. 
+
+CUT TO: 
+
+
+EXT. MAIN STREET -- DAY 
+
+The car drives slowly down the main street of a one stoplight 
+town. 
+
+MR. BROGAN (V.O.) 
+
+Find a nice little town. 
+
+CUT TO: 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+(CONTINUED) 
+
+
+
+
+
+115 
+
+
+CONTINUED: 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Mr. Brogan parks in front of a small bar with an old- 
+fashioned BAR sign in front. Mr. Brogan and Monty (his face 
+unmarred) step out of the car. 
+
+CUT TO: 
+
+
+INT. TOWN BAR -- DAY 
+
+Mr. Brogan and Monty are sitting at a corner table. Mr . 
+Brogan raises his glass of whiskey to Monty and both men 
+drink. 
+
+MR. BROGAN (V.O.) 
+
+Find a bar, and I'll buy us drinks. I 
+haven't had a drink in nineteen years, 
+but I'll have one with you. And then I'll 
+leave. 
+
+CUT TO: 
+
+Monty stands at the window of the bar, watching Mr. Brogan 
+drive away. 
+
+MR. BROGAN (V.O.) (CONT'D) 
+
+I'll tell you don't ever write me, don't 
+ever come visit. I'll tell you I believe 
+in God's Kingdom and I believe I'll be 
+with you again, and your mother. But not 
+in this lifetime. 
+Monty approaches the BARTENDER, a powerfully-built older man 
+(60). Monty speaks and the bartender listens carefully, but 
+we don't hear the dialogue. 
+
+MR. BROGAN (V.O.) (CONT'D) 
+
+You get a job somewhere, a job that pays 
+cash, a boss who doesn't ask questions, 
+and you make a new life, and you never 
+come back. 
+
+CUT TO: 
+
+
+INT. TOWN BAR -- NIGHT 
+
+Monty works behind the bar on a crowded night. The bar 
+PATRONS, a blue-collar rural crowd, are rowdy drinkers, but 
+Monty works efficiently, quickly filling their orders. 
+
+CUT TO: 
+
+
+
+
+
+116, 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+INT. HEAD SHOP -- NIGHT 
+
+Monty, in the backroom of a seedy head shop, sits for a 
+photograph in front of a black drop. 
+
+MR. BROGAN (V.O.) 
+
+You find the right people and you get 
+yourself papers, a driver's license. 
+
+EXT. TOWN BAR -- DAY 
+
+Monty sits on the steps in back of the bar, looking out past 
+the gravel lot toward the distant mountains. 
+
+MR. BROGAN (V.O.) 
+
+And then you wait. People get caught when 
+they come home. But you're never coming 
+home. 
+
+EXT. BUS STATION -- DAY 
+
+Monty, a few years older, waits as a Greyhound bus pulls into 
+the station. 
+
+MR. BROGAN (V.O.) 
+
+And maybe -- and this is dangerous-- but 
+maybe after a couple years you send word 
+to Naturelle. 
+Naturelle steps off the Greyhound bus. She sees Monty. They 
+stare at each other, twenty feet apart. 
+Finally he goes to her, threading through the other 
+travellers, the other waiting families. He takes her in his 
+arms. 
+
+INT. APARTMENT -- NIGHT 
+
+In the cramped apartment above the bar where Monty works, 
+Monty and Naturelle sit together, on a sofa, watching a small 
+television. Naturelle is pregnant. 
+The ball is about to drop in Times Square. 
+
+MR. BROGAN (V.O.) 
+
+You forget about New York. You can't come 
+back. You can't call, you can't write. 
+
+INT. SMALL HOUSE -- NIGHT 
+
+Monty, much older now, stands in front of his family, his 
+grown CHILDREN and the little GRANDCHILDREN. Naturelle, 
+equally aged, sits with one of the little girls on her lap. 
+
+
+
+
+(CONTINUED) 
+
+
+
+
+
+117 
+
+
+CONTINUED: 
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+MR. BROGAN (V.O.) 
+
+And maybe one day, years from now, long 
+after I'm dead and gone, you gather your 
+whole family together and you tell them 
+the truth. Who you are and where you came 
+from. 
+As Monty speaks his children exchange glances. They can't 
+really believe what they're hearing, but they know their 
+father is telling the truth. 
+
+MR. BROGAN (V.O.) (CONT'D) 
+
+You tell them the whole thing. And then 
+you ask them if they know how lucky they 
+are to be there. 
+Monty looks at his family. He is awed by their existence, by 
+the life he has created. He looks at Naturelle, still 
+beautiful in old age, and she smiles back at him. 
+
+OLD MONTY 
+
+It all came so close to never happening. 
+
+INT. MR. BROGAN'S HONDA -- MORNING 
+
+The sun shines through the windshield. Monty sleeps, his 
+battered head resting against the window below his frost- 
+spelt name: M-O-N-T-Y. 
+
+OLD MONTY (V.O.) 
+
+This life came so close to never 
+happening. 
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/unformated_scripts/Script_30 Minutes or Less.txt b/unformated_scripts/Script_30 Minutes or Less.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..6c0af7b577d8b4f525c5c9264a0b0d51bc7c2dc1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/unformated_scripts/Script_30 Minutes or Less.txt	
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+                                 30 MINUTES OR LESS                                     Written by                       Michael Diliberti & Matthew Sullivan                                                                                          12-11-09          The following is very loosely based on some shit that actually          happened...                         OVER BLACK                                   We hear the roar of a V8 engine, piped out through some          throaty, fucked up muffler, as                                   EXT. HIGHWAY - DAY                                   An '89 Mustang bursts like a shot over a rise in the highway.          It's got a rusted two-tone paint job, Maryland plates, and          bald tires that scream as it peels off an exit and into the                                   EXT. SUBURBS - DAY                                   The car fast approaches a stop sign, dangerously blows through          the intersection.                                   INT. MUSTANG - DAY - MOVING                                   We don't see the DRIVER, only the redlining RPMs, Vans slip-          ons working the pedals, wristwatch being checked. The wheel          cranks right as the car turns onto a -                                   One way street. A minivan flies right at us. The Mustang          hops up onto the curb to avoid it, clips a trash can and -                                   Garbage explodes like confetti. The wipers engage, brushing          the trash aside. The car whips another turn and                                   EXT. SUBURBS - DAY                                   The Mustang fishtails around a corner and skids away.                                                   CUT TO:                                                  TIRES SCREECH                                   Brake pads smoke. The Mustang stops outside                                   EXT. HOUSE - DAY                                   The Driver jumps out of the car. As he rushes to the front          door, we see the urgent package he is delivering.                                   TWO LARGE PIZZAS                                   Before he can ring the bell, the door opens and two smug 15-          YEAR-OLDS stare out.                                                   15-YEAR-OLD           That's 34 minutes. You're 4 minutes           late. Pizza's free.                                   REVEAL our guy staring back at the kids. This is WILL (25),          probably good looking in another life.           2.                                   Right now, he is tired and unamused, wearing a red "Giorgio's          Trattoria" hat and a sweaty matching t-shirt.                                                   WILL           Gimme a break. You guys live two           towns away. It's pretty much fucking           impossible to get here in 30 minutes.                                                   OTHER 15-YEAR-OLD           Exactly. That's why we ordered from           your shitty "trattoria."                                                   WILL           This is gonna come out of my paycheck.           You sure you don't want to take the           moral high ground?                                                   OTHER 15-YEAR-OLD           We'd rather take the pizzas.                                   Will takes a calming breath. Hands over the pizzas.                                                   WILL           Ok. You guys are pretty smart. You           figured out a way to beat the system.                          (PEEKS INSIDE)           Got the house to yourselves?                                                   15-YEAR-OLD           That's right.                                                   WILL           Not bad. Any jailbait in there?           Little pizza and a rainbow party?                                   The kids shakes their heads.                                                   WILL           Seriously? Well, two hustlers like           yourselves gotta have the place           stocked with beer and whippits and           shit, right? Just call the girls up           and let them know the party's on.                                                   15-YEAR-OLD           Man, we don't have any of that stuff.                                   Will makes a show of mulling this over.                                                   WILL           I really shouldn't do this...but you           seem like a couple of good dudes.           I'll tell you what, you give me the           money that your mom left you for the           pizzas, and I'll grab you some beers.                          (MORE)           3.                                                   WILL (CONT'D)                          (BEAT)           But I get to keep the change as a           tip. Deal?                                   The kids look at each other. One hesitantly pulls out some          cash. Will snatches it and heads off.                                                   WILL           I'll see you in like 20 minutes.                                   The kids look uncertain. As if sensing this, Will stops          before getting into his ride.                                                   WILL           You boys like Budweiser, right?                                                   15-YEAR-OLD           Uh, yeah, totally.                                                   OTHER 15-YEAR-OLD           Love that shit!                                   INT. MUSTANG - DAY - MOVING                                   The sun sets. Will cruises back into his own middle-class          town in suburban Maryland.                                   A six pack of Budweiser rests in the passenger seat.                                   Will stops at a light. Checks out a PRETTY YOUNG THING in          the Jeep beside him. She catches him looking, rolls her          eyes. The light turns and the Jeep skids away.                                   Will self consciously removes his "Giorgio's" cap.                                   INT. GIORGIO'S TRATTORIA - NIGHT                                   Will enters and nods at CHRISTOPHER (40s), the manager. His          balding head is nearly translucent from absorbing a day's          worth of pizza grease.                                                   WILL           Yo, Chris. Let me cash the fuck out.                                   Will hands over some cash to Christopher.                                                   CHRISTOPHER           You have a pretty good shift?                                                   WILL           For sure. I mean, the part where I           had to drop off all those pizzas           kinda sucked, but the rest was cool.           4.                                                   CHRISTOPHER           Oh, yeah? 'Cause, I got some kids           calling in saying you ripped them off.           Promised to buy them beer or something.                                                   WILL           I actually did buy the beer, but it           would have been illegal to give it           to them, right? So I'm gonna do the           responsible thing and drink it myself.                                                   CHRISTOPHER           That's real funny. But I'm trying           to run a business here.                                                   WILL           What kind of business promises to           deliver anywhere in 30 minutes?           It's ridiculous.                                                   CHRISTOPHER           I don't wanna hear another one of           your bullshit excuses. You're fired.                                                   WILL           Come on. If I didn't need this job,           I wouldn't be doing this shitty job.                                   Chris is unmoving.                                                   WILL           Fuck! Whatever!                                   Will storms off. As he gets to the door -                                                   CHRISTOPHER           You know, you were an okay driver           half the time. And you're not a Puerto           Rican. Which means something to me.                                                   WILL           That's poignant.                                                   CHRISTOPHER           I guess I could rehire you, on a           provisional basis. Of course, this           would be at the slightly reduced           "new company rate."                                                   WILL           Are you fucking serious?                                                   CHRISTOPHER           I don't know. Is there anyone else           left in town for you to work for?           5.                                   Will shakes his head. Swallows what's left of his pride.                          WILL           When do I start?          EXT. SMALL APARTMENT BUILDING - NIGHT          Will sits on the darkened front stoop. He tosses an empty          can into the bushes and gets to work on his fourth beer.          He looks over at a parked Hyundai Elantra. A YOUNG MAN sits          in the passenger seat with a pensive look on his face. He          makes a sudden, surprised gasp. The homely YOUNG WOMAN who          was just blowing him sits up from his lap and rearranges          herself in the driver seat. She leans over for a goodbye          kiss. The Young Man obliges with much fanfare.          The Young Man gets out and the car pulls away. This is CHET          (25), a clean cut guy dressed in the Gap Premium Collection.          He heads toward the building, high off his BJ, humming          Outkast's "Ms. Jackson." He stops when he notices Will in          the shadows.                          CHET           What the hell? Have you just been           sitting there?                          WILL           Yep. Caught the whole show. Really           classy move at the end. You know,           the kiss. Putting your tongue in           her mouth right after you fucked it.                          CHET           Hey, a nice girl decides to pleasure           me on a weeknight, in her car no           less...I'm not gonna make her feel           like an untouchable. I'm gonna make           her feel like a lady.                          WILL           What manners. May I offer you some           alcohol, sir. To wash the taste of           yourself out of your mouth.          Will offers his beer. Chet takes a slug, gurgles for effect.                                                   CHET           By the way, she said she had a friend.           Maybe we can go on our first double           date since you tried to talk Jackie           Fortunato and her cousin into having           a four-way with us.                                                   WILL           I misread their body language. It           happens.           6.                                   Will picks up some rented movies sitting beside him.                                                   WILL           Come on. Let's go inside, drink           your beer and watch shit get crazy.                          (FANS MOVIES)           Old favorites. You choose. Lethal           Weapon, Lethal Weapon 2...was gonna           get the third Lethal Weapon, but           decided on a porn. So it's really           between the first two.                                                   CHET           I choose sleep. I gotta teach a           class at eight.                                                   WILL           You're a sub. Just call in sick.           Like the real teacher did.                                                   CHET           Come on, man, you know I got promoted           to full-time last month. You bought           me a laser pointer.                                   Will heaves a sigh.                                                   WILL           Yeah, I know. I guess I'm just having           a hard time accepting you as "the           man." You know, flunking kids, giving           out spite detentions to girls you           wanna fuck, laser pointing at shit.                                                   CHET           I also get healthcare and my summers           off. It's not perfect, but it's a           career.                                   Will grudgingly stands up.                                                   WILL           I guess that's just the difference           between you and me.                                   He holds up the Lethal Weapon DVDs.                                                   WILL           I'm like Riggs. Cruising the streets.           No rules, no attachments. Every           other day some asshole is trying to           take my badge. You're fucking           Murtaugh. Always worried about your           pension. Well, guess what, it gets           old after the first movie.           7.                                                   CHET           I just got head. I'm totally Riggs.          Will shakes his head, turns and walks off.          INT. STUDIO APARTMENT - DAY          Will wakes up, legs dangling over the edge of a tiny couch.          His TV is still on, displaying the menu screen from a porn.          Will looks down at his coffee table. Clears some magazines          to reveal a file folder. Flips the cover -          It's full of college applications, drafts of admissions essays,          a junior college transcript. Will thumbs through one of the          glossy applications. The kids look young. Very young.          Will glances over at a picture on his wall: he and Chet at          high school graduation, looking just as young. They have          their arms around a pretty girl squeezed between them. Will          and the girl look very high and very happy.          Will shuts the folder, slides it back under the coffee table          debris. He looks over at a clock: it is already 2:00 PM.                          WILL           Fuck.          INT. MUSTANG - DAY          Will jumps in and starts the engine. As he tucks his          "Giorgio's" cap onto his head, he catches his reflection in          the rear-view mirror.                                                   WILL           You asshole. You titanic asshole.           Come on down and get your prize.                                   He makes his fingers into a gun, puts it to his head...pulls          the trigger and                                   BOOM!                                                  WE'RE IN                                   EXT. OPEN FIELD - DAY                                   A watermelon explodes in a shower of red, juicy bits. Loud,          dumb laughter echoes.                                   Standing 20 yards away is DWAYNE (32), an intense, meaty guy          in a sleeveless Baltimore Ravens t-shirt. On his left bicep          is a tattoo of the Tasmanian Devil flipping the bird.                                                   DWAYNE           Fruit motherfuckin' salad!           8.                                   Crouched beside him is JAY (27), tall and awkward, in a wool          surplus cap. He carefully rigs homemade explosives to another          watermelon, then looks up at Dwayne. His eyes are magnified          into saucers by his thick glasses. There's a peculiar          eagerness to please in them.                                                   JAY           This one's gonna blow even bigger.                                                   DWAYNE           Boy, if you weren't such a skinny           little bitch you coulda been in the           military or something.                                                   JAY           Whatever. I don't need the military.           I taught myself how to do this shit.                                                   DWAYNE           I hear that. I taught myself how to           eat pussy. And cut my own hair.                                   Jay jogs the watermelon a safe distance away. He returns          and pulls out a detonator. Dwayne snatches it.                                                   DWAYNE           This one's all me.           (makes "radio" sounds)           Mr. President, we have enemies at           the gate. Give me the order.           (more "radio" sounds)           Fuck that, sir. I don't negotiate           with terrorists!                                   Dwayne presses a button and                                   BOOM!                                   The explosion is so powerful that it sprinkles our guys'          smiling faces with fruit juice.                                   INT. KITCHEN, NICE HOUSE - DAY                                   Large and early-90s chic. Dwayne and Jay have the fridge          open, fixing themselves a cold cut plate. Dwayne is debating          the amount of meat on the plate...adds some more.                                                   DWAYNE           Wanna make sure I get enough calories.                                                   JAY           I thought you wanted to get diesel           for the summer. Bang that towel           girl at the community pool.           9.                                                   DWAYNE           It's obvious you don't know shit-all           about physical fitness. You gotta           bulk up first, then you slim down.           I'm clearly in the bulk up phase. I           told you to watch Pumping Iron like           a month ago. If you'd listened to           me, maybe you'd know what the fuck           I'm talking about.                          (BEAT)           Grab some RC Cola.                                   INT. LIVING ROOM, NICE HOUSE - DAY                                   The shades are drawn. We hear a girl scream bloody murder!                                   The guys are watching FRIDAY THE 13TH PART 3...in 3D. They          both wear cheap cardboard glasses.                                   Jay jumps back as Jason wields a 3D ax.                                                   JAY           Shit, man! It's so real!                                   Dwayne reaches out, "touching" the 3D images. He stands and          starts humping the air.                                                   DWAYNE           Check it out. I ain't afraid of           Jason. I'm fucking him.                          (THRUSTING HARDER)           You like that, Jason!? In the mask!                                   Jay cracks up. The lights flick on.                                    GRIZZLED VOICE (O.S.)           Who are you two fags fucking?                                   Standing by the switch is Dwayne's dad, JERRY (70s). Most          people just call him "THE MAJOR." The faded USMC tattoo on          his thick forearm explains why.                                                   JAY           Afternoon, Major.                                   Dwayne flops back onto the couch.                                                   DWAYNE           Dad, we're watching a flick. We got           45 minutes and a potential 3D sex           scene left. You're sorta coming in           at the worst possible moment.           10.                                                   MAJOR           I bought that TV set so I could watch           my programs, not so you and your           friend could louse up my couch.                                                   DWAYNE           You gotta learn how to share the           common space.                                                   MAJOR           The only thing common in this house           is you. You remind me of your damn           mother. Fat, dumb, and in my way.                                   The Major grabs Dwayne and pulls him up off the couch. He          gets right in his face...scary, intense. Dwayne turns to Jay.                                                   DWAYNE           Let's get outta here. This movie           sucks anyway.                                   Jay gets up and files out the door. Dwayne goes to take the          cold cut plate. The Major grabs his arm.                                                   MAJOR           I paid for the damn cold cuts, too.           Maybe if you had a job, or a fucking           prospect, or a clue how to find any           of the above, I'd let you eat 'em.                                                   DWAYNE                          (QUIETLY)           You know, you can be a real           sonofabitch, dad.                                                   MAJOR           That's what it takes, boy. In the           Corps, men like you wore dresses to           keep us entertained.                                                   DWAYNE           That's pretty fucking disturbing!                                   Dwayne storms off.                                   EXT. NICE HOUSE - DAY                                   Dwayne and Jay head out, passing a brand new pickup truck in          the driveway. Dwayne spits on it.                                                   DWAYNE           Fuck The Major!                                   The guys get in a shitty Ford Aerostar minivan and peel out.           11.                                   INT. DIVE STRIP CLUB - DAY                                   R. Kelly's "Ignition (Remix)" pumps.                                   Large, fake breasts, sparkling with cheap body glitter and          pierced at the nipples, shake before us. Their owner, JUICY          (27), a petite Latina, phones in a lap dance as Dwayne pours          his heart out to her.                                   Somewhere in the background, Jay hangs at the bar, all alone.                                                   DWAYNE           - and he thinks he knows me. He           don't know shit. I got ideas he           could never dream of. I got plans           bigger than his fucking house.                          (BEAT)           He didn't even raise me. My mother           did. That was a good woman.                                                   JUICY           Oh yeah? What happened to her?                                   Dwayne shifts, uncomfortably, at the sore subject.                                                   DWAYNE           She passed on.                                                   JUICY           I hope you're not one of those guys           that comes here looking to get           mothered.                                                   DWAYNE           I wouldn't mind nursing on them           titties, mamacita.                                                   JUICY           Sure. Whatever you say. Maybe just           keep quiet for a while, forget about           your old man and let me do my thing.                                                   DWAYNE           I wish I could forget about that           asshole for good. I'm just waiting           around for him to drop dead. Don't           wanna mess with my inheritance.                                   This piques Juicy's interest.                                                   JUICY           What kinda inheritance?           12.                                                   DWAYNE           When my dad got outta the service, he           started buying lotto tickets. He'd           play his dog tag numbers. In '91,           the fucker won five million bucks.          INSERT PHOTO: The Major holding a giant cardboard check.                          DWAYNE           He had some health problems a few           years back, and since then he's been           burning through the money like an           NBA draft pick. Probably only got a           million or two left. But it's mine           as soon as he kicks.          Behind inch-long fake eyelashes, Juicy's shrewd eyes narrow,          mind working. She straddles Dwayne, tightly.                          JUICY           You know, with a million bucks, you           could have anything. Be like a king.           (almost a moan)           King Dwayne.                          DWAYNE           That's right. And maybe I'll make           you my queen. Let you polish my           royal scepter.                          JUICY           Practice makes perfect.          Juicy pantomimes a long, slow chicken head. Dwayne is blissed          out. She smiles at him, sticky sweet.                          JUICY           Let me ask you a question...do you           really hate your daddy?                          DWAYNE           Hate him like the Steelers.                          JUICY           Then maybe I can help you get that           money now. Before he spends another           penny.                                   Dwayne looks confused. Juicy puts his hands on her breasts,          emboldening him.                                                   JUICY           I know a guy in Baltimore. He could           help you out. Probably do it for...           (sizing him up)           ...100Gs.           13.                                                   DWAYNE           Do what?                                   Juicy leans in, whispers softly in Dwayne's ear -                                                   JUICY           Kill your mean old dad.                                   On Dwayne's face as this new possibility pinballs around his          mind, setting off a flood of different emotions.                                                   JUICY           So, what do you think...you ready           for your crown?                                   INT. MUSTANG - NIGHT - MOVING                                   Will has one pizza left in the back of his car. He pulls          over outside an office building.                                   INT. LAW FIRM, OFFICE BUILDING - NIGHT                                   Rows of cubicles. Speckled with late night STRAGGLERS, bleary          eyes, too busy generating detailed lists of places they'd          rather be to notice the pizza boy walking along. Will stops          before one such work station, looks on for a beat.                                                   WILL           Rio?                                   KATE (25) turns from the glow of her computer screen. She          has short, messy hair and a sarcastic smile. This is the          girl from the picture in Will's apartment.                                                   KATE           That's the plan. Five days, six           nights. Culture. Beaches.           Acceptable probability of kidnapping.           I leave in the morning.                                   Kate looks back at her computer, logged onto an Expedia          checkout page for a Rio vacation. She moves the mouse pointer          from the "proceed" key...closes the window.                                                   KATE           This morning I loaded up an African           Safari and a cruise to Alaska.                                                   WILL           Oh, the places you'll go.                                                   KATE           Fuck Expedia. Travel Advisor. Making           it seem so easy.           14.                                                   WILL           It is. Just do it. Get away for a           while.                                                   KATE           Even if I could afford that...they           fired two other paralegals last week.           Now's not the time to be putting in           for vacation days.                                                   WILL           Ok. Done. I've got my dose of the           actual working world. Can we eat?                                   Will lays a pizza down on her desk.                                                   KATE           How do you keep sneaking up here           past the security guard?                                                   WILL           He's there like half the time. The           other half I smile at him. I'm           relatively certain he's a homosexual.                                                   KATE           Interesting theory...                                   Kate opens the pizza box, grabs a slice.                                                   KATE           Maybe I should set him up with Tom           Small. He came out to me today on           Facebook.                                                   WILL           That kid beat the hell out of me and           Chet in grammar school. Wow.                                                   KATE           Tell me about it. He fingered me at           junior prom while they were playing           "No Scrubs."                                                   WILL                          (WINCES)           Really? What a fucking scrub.                                   Will grabs a slice. They eat quietly for a beat.                                                   KATE           So, I've got some news...           15.                                                   WILL           I thought the Tom Small stuff was           enough of a headline, but go ahead.                                                   KATE           I'm getting back together with Mark.                                   Will's delicious pizza suddenly tastes like shit. He does          his best to swallow it down.                                                   WILL           But you...you broke up with           him...ended the relationship.           Finality was had.                                                   KATE           Yeah, but we were talking and -                                                   WILL           Forget it. I don't want to know.                                                   KATE           You sound like Chet.                                                   WILL           Woah, don't compare me to your           brother.                                                   KATE           Well, neither one of you seems to           care that I don't have a life. Mark's           not perfect...but a relationship is           better than working late every Friday           because I have nowhere else to be.                                                   WILL           Sure. I get it. Here we are. Friday           night. Nowhere to be.                                   Kate shoves Will, good-naturedly.                                                   KATE           You know what I mean.                                   Will shrugs, quietly devastated. Goes back to his pizza.                                   INT. SPORTS BAR - NIGHT                                   Most of the PATRONS are fixated on an Orioles game blaring          from a large flat-screen TV.                                   At a booth in back, Dwayne and Jay are in deep conversation.           16.                                                   JAY           I don't wanna stick my nose into a           family matter...but killing your old           man? That's pretty messed up...I           mean, unless you think it isn't.                                                   DWAYNE           What we have here is a classic "lesser           of two evils" debate. You got one           evil: me shaving a few years off The           Major's shitty life. Then you got           the other evil: The Major ruining my           entire awesome life by blowing through           my inheritance. Maybe I'm biased,           but mine sure as shit seems like the           lesser.                                                   JAY           I guess I...sorta see where you're           coming from. And you have been           waiting around forever for that money.           You deserve it, Dwayne.                                   Dwayne nods, seriously.                                                   DWAYNE           You know, there's a reason I sleep           'til noon everyday. And it ain't           'cause I'm lazy. It's on account of           me having so many goddamn dreams.           Big ones. And once that money's           mine, they're all gonna come true.                                   Dwayne takes a long sip of beer, contemplative.                                                   DWAYNE           Like I had this one dream last night.           I was cruising through town in a           Lamborghini Diablo. The wind was           blowing through my hair, ruffling my           open shirt. There was a hot little           piece of ass sitting next to me. And           in the back seat, Jay...was you.           Strapped. Wearing a pair of Oakleys.                                                   JAY           Wow. I didn't know you dreamt about           me, Dwayne.                                                   DWAYNE           It was only this once, Jay. To be           honest, I didn't know what to make           of it. So I consulted my dream book,           and found out it means this: you're           my road dog. You got my back.                          (MORE)           17.                                                   DWAYNE (CONT'D)           That's why I want to make you my           partner.                                                   JAY           In what?                                                   DWAYNE           In crime. And business. You see, it           ain't just about the inheritance money.           It's about what I'm gonna do with it.                                   Dwayne leans across the table.                                                   DWAYNE           I'm about to clue you in on something.           And then you'll understand the true           magnitude of what's at stake here.           Are you ready?                                                   JAY           Yes. I'm totally ready.                                                   DWAYNE           Then answer me this...what's this           town missing? I'll give you a hint.           It's a cash business, crawling with           sexy bitches.                                                   JAY                          (BEAT)           A Chinese food restaurant?                                                   DWAYNE           No. A tanning salon.                          (BEAT)           Think about it. All that green.           All that brown flesh.                                   Jay nods, thinking about. He smiles.                                                   DWAYNE           It's also the perfect front for a           prostitution ring.                                                   JAY           Yeah, of course. Because of the booths.                                                   DWAYNE           Yes. And because of the bitches.                          (BEAT)           It can all be ours. 30 percent for           you, 70 percent for me. You just           gotta help me out here.           18.                                   Jay looks conflicted. Dwayne goes dark, like a spurned lover.                                                   DWAYNE           I'm starting to wonder if my dream           book was wrong about you. Maybe you           sitting behind me doesn't mean you're           my road dog. Maybe it means you're           plotting to stab me in the back,           like some snake in the grass.                                                   JAY           That's crazy. I'd never do something           like that. The dream book was right!                                   Jay looks Dwayne in the eyes, knows it's all or nothing...                                                   JAY           Ok. I'll do it. But I'm not shooting           him or anything. I'll hold him while           you shoot him. That's it.                                   Dwayne chuckles.                                                   DWAYNE           Here's a fact: they don't build prisons           for criminals, they build them for           idiots. Shit, they got three different           types of CSI on TV, just laying out           how the police do their business...and           still, idiots like you think you can           just go out and do a murder yourself.                          (BEAT)           If you wanna be a millionaire, you           gotta think like one. And           millionaires don't kill people.           They hire assassins. Which I did.           We gotta pay him on Tuesday.                                                   JAY           What? Why would you do that?                                                   DWAYNE           I was presented with an opportunity.           I took it. 100 thousand bucks for a           highly trained assassin is a steal.                                                   JAY           But we don't have that kinda money.                                                   DWAYNE           Now we're addressing the real problem:           how do we get the 100 grand? 'Cause           once we get that, we get the million.                          (MORE)           19.                                                   DWAYNE (CONT'D)           And once we get the million, we will           literally own this town and every           single thing in it.                                                   JAY           I guess we could just...rob a bank.           One of these local banks with nothing           but a dipshit security guard.                                                   DWAYNE           Again, not quite thinking like a           millionaire.                                                   JAY           Okay, then let's hire someone to rob           a bank.                                   Dwayne thinks about this for a second.                                                   DWAYNE           Fuck hiring them, we could just force           someone to rob a bank for us. Like           with blackmail, or death threats, or -                                                   JAY                          (ALMOST INVOLUNTARILY)           A bomb. Everyone's scared of a bomb.                                                   DWAYNE           I was gonna say hypnotism...but I           like that. It's out of the fucking           box. We just strap one to some           motherfucker's chest, like we did to           those watermelons. Think you can           you build some kinda bomb vest?                                                   JAY           Yeah, I mean...camel jockeys do it           in caves. I got a garage workshop.                                                   DWAYNE           I'm pretty sure this is exactly how           a millionaire would do it. And the           beauty of it is: we don't lose any           sleep, 'cause no one gets hurt.                                                   JAY           Except The Major.                                                   DWAYNE           Yeah. The Major dies. But no one           gets hurt.                                   Dwayne smiles. But a nagging thought interrupts him -           20.                                                   DWAYNE           There's just one problem. Where do           we get our guy? 'Cause if we do a           kidnapping, then we're right back           where we started...doing shit that's           gonna get us caught.                          (MIND WORKING)           What we need is someone to come to           us...to a place where we can control           the situation. Someone without any           connection to us.                                   The guys stare at each other, stumped. Until something          catches Dwayne's attention...a local commercial playing on          the flat-screen. A PIZZA CHEF slides a pizza into a box -                                                   PIZZA CHEF                          (ON TV)           We'll deliver anywhere in 30 minutes           or less! Or your pizza is free!           Giorgio's Trattoria, where the           customer gets what they want...pronto!                                   The guys look at each other.                                                   DWAYNE           Sometimes fate just takes out its cock           and slaps you in the face with it.                                   INT. CHET'S APARTMENT - DAY                                   A hand grabs a beer from the fridge.                                    VOICE (O.S.)           You're not trying to draw a psycho           pension...you really are crazy!                                   Will heads into the living room with the beer. The voice          belongs to Danny Glover. The guys are watching Lethal Weapon.          Murtaugh (Danny Glover) has just stopped Riggs (Mel Gibson)          from killing himself. Riggs looks at him, crazily, before -                                                   RIGGS                          (ON TV)           I'm hungry. I'm gonna get something           to eat.                                   Chet looks over at Will. He is drunk, and in a dark mood.                                                   CHET           Maybe you should pace yourself.           It's noon on a Saturday.                                                   WILL           Fridge is full, man. We're all good.           21.                                   Will drains half his beer.                                                   WILL           Let me ask you a question. You           remember Tom Small?                                                   CHET           Yeah, he used to kick our asses.                                                   WILL           Turns out he was probably jerking           off to it afterwards. He's gay.                                                   CHET           I hope he chokes on a dick. I never           liked him.                                                   WILL           Your sister did. She let him finger           blast her. Big time.                                   Chet pauses the movie.                                                   CHET           What the fuck are you talking about?           I don't want that shit in my head.                                                   WILL           Sorry. Kate told me about it last           night. I thought you should know.                                                   CHET           You two were swapping stories about           getting fingered? That's pretty cute.                                   Chet chuckles. Will ignores him, sips his beer.                                                   WILL           The point I'm trying to make is this:           Tom Small was an asshole. He was           totally wrong for your sister. Just           like every other guy she's ever dated.           Right through to that Mark dude she's           gonna get back together with. Un-be-           fuck-me-lievable...                                                   CHET           Whatever. Why the fuck are we talking           about who my sister goes out with?                                   At a loss, Will shrugs. Chet turns back to the TV, presses          play. Lethal Weapon resumes. Something blows up. Chet          pauses the movie and stares at Will for a beat.           22.                                                   CHET          You sneaky son of a bitch...you want          to fuck my sister, don't you?                                                   WILL          Chet, I really don't...                                                   CHET          My twin sister!? Which is basically          like fucking me!                                                   WILL          Hey, if you guys had that twin ESP          shit this would be a completely          different situation. There'd be          logistical problems.                                                   CHET          We look exactly alike!                                                   WILL          You look like a lot of people. You're          a normal looking dude.                                                   CHET          This is so fucked up I can't even          begin to process it. How long has          this been going on?                                                   WILL          If I had to put my finger on          it...middle school-ish.                                                   CHET          So all those sleepovers, they were          just some kind of opportunity for          you to peek in Kate's bedroom?                                                   WILL          It might have happened a few times.          Most of them were accidental.                                                   CHET          You're a peeping Tom. You realize          that, don't you? You're a sexual          fucking deviant.                                                   WILL          Fuck you. I'm as normal as they          come. Your sister is attractive.          She excites me, in a sexual way.          Fucking sue me. Can't we just be          adults about it?           23.                                                   CHET           You? An adult? Sort of stretching           the term.                                                   WILL           Hey, let's not say shit we can't           take back.                                                   CHET           Take back? Will, you got kicked out           of junior college for punching a           professor that made fun of some poem           you wrote.                                                   WILL           That poem was about your sister!                                                   CHET           That is, literally, the saddest thing           I have ever heard. Like retards           playing freeze tag sad. No wonder           you deliver pizzas for a living.                                                   WILL           Fuck you! Maybe I was just hanging           out with you for your sister. You           were always a whiny little bitch.           And you stuttered. All the kids           used to call you "Chutter."                                                   CHET           Whatever. I only started hanging out           with you because you had a Nintendo.                                                   WILL           Did you see my Nintendo naked?           Because I saw your sister changing           into her swimsuit at your thirteenth           birthday pool party. And it was the           highlight of the whole shitty event.                                   Chet bites his lip.                                                   CHET           Okay. You wanna do this?                                                   WILL           I think we already are.                                                   CHET           Well, you know who I saw naked?           Jenny Rifkin. While I was nailing           her. The week after she dumped you.                          (MORE)           24.                                                   CHET (CONT'D)           Why do you think every time you wanna           bet on whose cock's bigger I'm always           willing to go in? 'Cause I know           mine's bigger. 'Cause she told me!                                                   WILL           Wow...wow. You pulled a Judas on Jenny           fucking Rifkin. That is messed up.           Almost as messed up as how I sold your           Cal Ripken signed ball for 200 bucks.                                                   CHET           My grandpa left me that ball in his           will! You helped me look for it for           a month!                                                   WILL           Now you know why we never found it.                                   Will bows.                                                   WILL           We done here?                                   Chet's face is red with anger.                                                   CHET           Not quite yet. There's actually a           mystery I wanna solve for you.                          (BEAT)           I was the one who told John Tanner           about how your mom fucked that           lifeguard. And I always felt awful           about it, because even though he           swore secrecy, he told everyone else           in town. And then your parents wound           up getting divorced. But now...I           don't give a shit.                                                   WILL           What!? You ruined...my fucking life!                                   Will takes a swing at Chet. He dodges it and puts Will in          some sort of choke hold.                                                   CHET           Krav Maga, bitch. I bet your poetry           professor didn't know this shit.                                                   WILL           Get offa me!                                                   CHET           You threw the first punch!           25.                                                   WILL           I'm gonna break this hold and then           kick your skinny ass!                                                   CHET           Try it!                                   Will flexes and tries to break the choke hold...no luck. He          wrenches his back away from Chet and screams -                                                   WILL           What the fuck is that!?                                                   CHET           My knuckle in your spine! No holds           barred you backstabbing fuck!                                                   WILL           I'm gonna pass out...                                                   CHET           Good!                                                   WILL           (face bright red)           I love her, Chet...I love Kate...                                   Chet lets Will go. He drops to the floor, panting.                                                   CHET           Let me tell you something. And it's           the truest thing you'll ever hear,           from the person who knows you best           in the world...you're not good enough           for my sister. And you never will           be. You're the lowest common           denominator, Will. You're the square           root of fucking zero.                                   Will gets to his feet.                                                   WILL           Fuck you...Chutter!                          (GRABS DICK)           Square this!                                                   CHET           Get out of my house. You're a shitty           friend.                                                   WILL           Right back at you.                                   Will storms out.           26.                                   EXT. CHET'S APARTMENT BUILDING - DAY                                   Will screeches away in his car.                                   INT. STUDIO APARTMENT - NIGHT                                   A day or so has passed. Will sits on his couch, an unshaven          mess, watching Lethal Weapon 2. Murtaugh and Riggs laugh          and joke around. Best buds.                                   Will looks like he might cry. He goes for his beer, knocks          it over. He stares at the growing puddle of beer...then          grabs the folder with his college applications and uses them          to sop it up.                                   INT. GIORGIO'S TRATTORIA - NIGHT                                   Will sits at a table, looking out through the misty window.                                   Christopher boxes a pizza and drops it in front of him.                                                   CHRISTOPHER           Come on, wake up and get to work.                                   Christopher hands him the order slip. Will checks the address.                                                   WILL           Where the fuck is this?                                                   CHRISTOPHER           How should I know? It's 30 minutes           away or the pizza comes out of your           paycheck. Tick tock.                                   EXT. HIGHWAY - NIGHT                                   Will's Mustang travels down a dark, empty stretch of highway.          The lone working taillight fades as the car disappears into          the distance.                                   EXT. SIDE OF THE HIGHWAY - NIGHT                                   The Mustang stops at the mouth of a driveway. Overgrown          shrubbery blocks anything beyond it from view. All that          Will can see is a red and white radio tower jutting into the          sky, beacon light flashing atop it.                                   Will checks the address, then drives through the open gate.                                   EXT. RADIO TOWER - NIGHT                                   The Mustang parks at the end of the driveway. Will gets out.                                   There is a large storage shed and, across a clearing, a radio          tower built on top of a small office structure.           27.                                   The office door is ajar. Florescent light glows from inside.                                                   WILL           Hello?                                    DWAYNE (O.S.)           (calling back from beyond door)           Hey, bud! Sorry for the hike! The           county's got us doing repairs at the           ass end of the night!                                   This puts Will at ease. He heads toward the office. As he          gets close, a figure appears in the doorway. It is Dwayne                                   WEARING A SCARY FUCKING GORILLA MASK                                                   WILL           What the -                                   Will hears something behind him and whirls around -                                   To find Jay, also in a gorilla mask, charging at him.                                                   WILL           Holy fuck!                                   Will makes a run for it. But the guys are on top of him in          no time. He madly fights them off and dashes for his car.                                                   DWAYNE           Stop! We got a gun, you asshole!                                   Will breaks toward the cover of the shrubbery.                                                   DWAYNE           Fuck! Get him!                                   Jay is right on Will's tail. Without breaking stride, Jay          picks up a large branch and wings it at him.                                   Will is hit in the legs and stumbles over himself. Jay leaps          on top of him and locks his skinny legs around Will's body.                                                   WILL           What the hell!?           (at a loss)           Rape!                                   Jay wrestles something from his pocket. A chloroform soaked          rag. He presses it hard against Will's mouth and nose.          Will soon goes limp.                                   Dwayne appears, looming above them. He pulls his gorilla          mask back and smiles.           28.                                                   DWAYNE           Step one.                                                   CUT TO:                                   Blurry vision coming into focus. Two gorillas.                                   EXT. RADIO TOWER - DAY                                   Whereas the masks looked scary at night, they look ridiculous          now. Will is propped up on the hood of his car, staring at          his captors. His mouth is duct taped, hands bound behind his          back. He wears his "Giorgio's" cap and a buttoned up olive          green Army jacket.                                                   DWAYNE           You thought we were gonna rape you.                          (CHUCKLES)           Idiot.                                   Will mumbles something through the duct tape.                                                   DWAYNE           Just shut up. The tape is there for           a reason. 'Cause this next part is           gonna take a measure of calm. Are           you with me? Can you be calm?                                   Will nods. Dwayne holds up his driver license.                                                   DWAYNE           Will Dixon, of 112 North Whatever-           The-Fuck Street, right now you are           wearing an explosive vest.                                   Will looks down at the jacket he is wearing, tries to get          his hands loose so he can tear it open.                                                   DWAYNE           Calm the fuck down!                                   Will stiffens. For emphasis, Dwayne reveals the gun tucked          down the front of his pants like a big metal cock.                                                   DWAYNE           Now stay still and my associate will           show you.                                   Jay carefully unbuttons the Army jacket. Will is, in fact,          wearing an explosive vest. It is a cobbled together but          intimidating looking contraption, crisscrossed by multicolored          wires. There is a thick lock at the hinge, with a digital          display and a keypad.                                   Will begins to hyperventilate.           29.                                                   JAY           Take it easy, man. You're fine. I           built this thing. It's pretty stable.                                                   DWAYNE           For a fucking bomb. So don't trip           over your shoelaces or anything.           That thing's full of C-4. And the C           is for chaos.                                                   JAY           Actually, the C stands for "composite."           But, yeah, I'd try not to slam into           stuff.                                                   DWAYNE           Can I take that tape off now, pizza boy?                                   Will nods. Dwayne rips the duct tape off his mouth.                                                   WILL           Help!                                   Dwayne chuckles.                                                   DWAYNE           You know where you are? You might           as well be in space, motherfucker.           Nobody can hear you scream.                                                   WILL           Why are you doing this to me? I           don't have any money.                                                   DWAYNE           Not yet. But you're gonna go get us           some.                                                   WILL           Okay. Sure, man. Whatever you say.           I'll go sell my car. I'll get you           like a thousand bucks.                                                   DWAYNE           I want 100 thousand.                                                   WILL           Where the fuck am I supposed to get           that much money?                                                   DWAYNE           The Donner-Wells National Bank on           Charles Road.           30.                                                   JAY           Across the street from the Olive           Garden.                                                   DWAYNE           Yeah, the one across the street from           the Olive Garden.                                                   WILL           Do you guys have an account or           something?                                   Dwayne shakes his head like Will is an idiot.                                                   DWAYNE           No, I don't have an account! You're           gonna rob it!                                                   WILL           How the fuck am I supposed to rob a           bank?                                                   DWAYNE           Figure it out. You got a bomb strapped           to your chest. That's a start. It'll           scare the fuck outta people. Maybe           use your brain and go get a gun.           Borrow one from a friend for all I           care. It ain't rocket science.                                                   WILL           Then do it yourself.                                                   DWAYNE           I would, but I'm already wearing           this gorilla mask and you're already           wearing that bomb.                          (TO JAY)           Tell him about the vest.                                   Jay turns to Will.                                                   JAY           You seem like a pretty trustworthy           guy. I mean, you got a job and all.           But just in case you were gonna try           to take the vest off, we booby trapped           it to shit. There's also a remote           detonator on the back, so we can           trigger it by dialing a number.                                                   DWAYNE           And it's on speed dial. So do what           you gotta do, but we'll be watching.                          (MORE)           31.                                                   DWAYNE (CONT'D)           You go anywhere near a police station,           and Fourth of July comes early this           year.                                   Dwayne nods at the timer on the side of the vest.                                                   DWAYNE           It's 9:00 AM. You got 8 hours.                                   He hands Will a slip of paper.                                                   DWAYNE           Once you have the money, call this           number and you'll be given instructions           on where to drop it. You do good, we           give you the six-digit combination           that stops the timer and opens the           lock. Tomorrow morning, you can go           back to delivering pizza, the mail,           whatever the fuck you want.                          (BEAT)           Now let me demonstrate what happens           if you don't get us the money.                                   Dwayne looks over to where an oversized stuffed bear, rigged          with its own bomb vest, sits on a tree stump 20 yards away.          Dwayne mimes answering a phone -                                                   DWAYNE           Hey, Teddy Ruxpin...what's that?           You don't have the money? It was           too tough to rob the bank, so you           just went back to your bear cave and           cried like a bitch? Well, guess           what my stuffed friend...time is up.                                   Jay pushes a button on a detonator. Teddy Ruxpin explodes.          All that remains is a cloud of stuffing.                                   Will is frozen in fear.                                                   DWAYNE           I liked that bear. I don't even           know you.                                   Dwayne throws Will his car keys.                                                   DWAYNE           Go on. Get outta here.                                                   WILL           Guys, can we please just talk about           this?           32.                                                   DWAYNE           Yeah, of course we can.                                   Dwayne pulls out the gun and fires two shots at Will's feet.          Jay jumps backward, as does Will, who hits the hood of his          car, slides across it and onto the ground by the driver side.                                                   DWAYNE           Be careful!                                   Will awkwardly gets to his feet and arranges himself in the          car, adjusting to the weight of the bomb. As he starts the          engine and backs away -                                                   DWAYNE           That's right! Get the fuck out of           here! You're wasting time!                                   Once the car is gone, Jay yanks off his gorilla mask. Dwayne          stays primate.                                                   JAY           What the hell, Dwayne? You told me           that was a replica gun.                                                   DWAYNE           It was. Then I paid a Mexican 50           bucks to put a firing pin in it.           Now it goes boom.                                                   JAY           We didn't discuss a loaded gun!           Especially not with the bomb around!                                   Dwayne gets right in Jay's face. The plastic eyes of his          mask betray no emotion.                                                   DWAYNE           Don't you ever question me. I'm           fucking this bitch. You're just           holding the camera.                                                   JAY                          (VOICE FALTERS)           Sure, Dwayne...whatever you say.                                                   DWAYNE           Good. 'Cause this ain't the Marines.           This is cash money. You hesitate, you           fuck up...and I will leave you behind.                                   A tense beat. Dwayne pulls his mask off. He looks oddly calm.                                                   DWAYNE           Let's go get some breakfast.           33.                                   EXT. HIGHWAY - DAY                                   Will's car flies down the road. It screeches to a stop,          tires smoking. Will jumps out, stumbles to the shoulder and          pukes. He drops to his knees.                                                   WILL           Oh, god! Holy shit! Fuck me!           Someone please fucking help me!                                   Nothing but the wind.                                   Will fights back tears. He gets to his feet, wipes his mouth.          He takes out his cell phone, scrolls through the contacts.          He pauses on Chet's name...presses send.                                   The line goes to voicemail. Will looks at the bomb's timer:          7 hours, 47 minutes and counting. He hurries to his car.                                   INT. CLASSROOM, JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL - DAY                                   A laser dot dances around the middle of a United States map.                                   Chet is teaching a history lesson to a bunch of SEVENTH          GRADERS that look very mature and very bored. As he indicates          with his laser pointer -                                                   CHET           This whole region here, about 830           thousand square miles, was part of           the initial Louisiana Purchase.                                                   SEVENTH GRADER                          (COUGHING)           Nice laser.                                   The class giggles. Chet, embarrassed, puts away the pointer.                                   There is a knock at the door. Chet turns to see Will's face          in the door's window pane. He looks back to his class.                                                   CHET           Take out your workbooks. Chapter 3.                                   Chet opens the door.                                                   CHET           What do you want?                                                   WILL           We gotta talk.                                                   CHET           I'm working here. Do not mess with           me at work.           34.                                                   WILL           Chet, for the love of god, just talk           to me in private for one minute.                                   Chet sighs.                                   INT. HALLWAY, JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL - DAY                                   Chet leads a jumpy Will into                                   INT. EMPTY CLASSROOM, JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL - DAY                                   Chet shuts the door behind them. Will paces.                                                   CHET           You wanna apologize, don't you? You           look like shit. You've probably           been up for days thinking about what           an asshole you were. Well, it's           gonna take a lot more than some           pathetic groveling -                                                   WILL                          (SUDDENLY)           Chet! Shut up! I don't wanna           apologize to you!                                                   CHET           Then what do you want? Because we           don't have anything left to say to           each other.                                   Will swallows hard.                                                   WILL           Here goes. And this is gonna sound           crazy. Because it is fucking crazy.           But last night two guys in masks           jumped me and strapped a bomb to my           chest, and now I have less than eight           hours to rob a bank.                                   Chet just stares at Will, unimpressed.                                                   CHET           You're hysterical. Got me. Great           joke. I'm going back to work now.                                   Will steps in Chet's way. He unbuttons his jacket, revealing          the bomb.                                                   CHET           What the fuck? Is that real?                                   Will nods.           35.                                   Chet jumps backward, stumbles over a desk and scurries on          his ass to the other end of the classroom. He presses himself          flat against the wall.                                                   CHET           Stay away from me! What the fuck           are you involved in!? Terrorism!?                                                   WILL           Chet, do you really think I'm a           terrorist?                                                   CHET           Yes! One of the dumb ones! The           ones they convince to wear the bombs!                                                   WILL           I am not fucking around here. Two           guys did this to me. And if I don't           rob that bank in time this thing is           gonna blow.                                                   CHET           Seriously?                                                   WILL           Seriously.                                                   CHET           And your first idea was to come to a           school filled with young children?                                                   WILL           I didn't -                                                   CHET           Just back the fuck away from me with           that thing.                                   Will backs all the way up, so that the guys are on opposite          ends of the classroom.                                                   WILL           Listen, I think the vest is safe for           now. These guys don't want me to           blow myself up on accident before I           get their money.                                                   CHET           Oh, so you figure the two psychopaths           that rigged a bomb to your chest           made sure it was safe? There's no           margin for error in their fucking           bomb vest design!?           36.                                                   WILL           I don't know! All I do know is that           this is real. This is happening.           And I'm sure you hate me as much as           I hate you right now, but I have           nowhere else to go.                                                   CHET           For what?                                                   WILL           For help, Chet. I need your help.           Please. I can't do this alone.                                   Chet looks Will over. His desperation is palpable. Chet          bites his lip, weighing the situation...                                                   CHET           Damn it!           (takes a breath)           I'd like to tell you to get fucked,           but you know what the problem is...I'm           a better man than you. And someday,           I might actually forgive you. So if           I let you blow up, or whatever, that           shit might come back and eat at my           conscience, and totally affect my           relationships with other people.           Like my wife and kids and shit.                                                   WILL           That's a...very rational way to look           at the situation.                          (GENUINELY)           And you're right, about being a better           guy than me.                                   Chet takes a step toward Will.                                                   CHET           Are you sure that thing isn't gonna           blow at any second?                                   Will just looks at Chet...unable to offer any assurance.          After a beat -                                                   CHET           Could you just walk a few feet in           front of me for a while?                                                   WILL           I can do that.                                   Will opens the door, stops, looks back at Chet.           37.                                                   WILL           Thank you.                                   Will heads out. Chet takes a breath, bracing himself.                                   INT. HALLWAY, JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL - DAY                                   Will walks down the empty hallway. He glances back over his          shoulder, where Chet walks several feet behind him.                                                   CHET           Yes, I'm still here. I really am           this stupid. Just pay attention to           where you're going.                                                   WILL           I think I can handle it.                                                   CHET           These floors get waxed once a week.           On Tuesday, which today is. You hit           a slick patch, trip and fall, and I           got a classroom full of kids wearing           their skin inside out.                                                   WILL           Chet, I'm fucking nervous enough as           it is. Please. I don't need you           back seat driving me right now.                                                   CHET           Obviously.                                   Will stops, turns back toward Chet.                                                   WILL           Just for the record, this isn't a           nuclear weapon strapped to my chest.           And there are metal lockers on either           side of the hallway. If I fall, and           if this thing goes off, I'm probably           not taking out the whole school.                                                   CHET           Do you really want to debate this?                                   Will sighs, turns back around. A second later, the school          bell rings and kids flood the hallway, changing classes.                                   Will freezes. Multiple kids shove past him. Chet sweats          bullets, gives Will a look of death.                                   After a beat, the hallway empties again.           38.                                                   CHET           You're an asshole.                                                   WILL           Whatever. It's over.                                   Will continues walking. He tries to lighten the mood -                                                   WILL           Who was the chick in the white jeans?                                                   CHET           Kristi Evans. Why?                                                   WILL           You know why.                                                   CHET           Oh, come on. Just keep walking.                                   The guys' voices fade as they continue down the hallway...                                                   WILL           Come on yourself. You knew exactly           who I was talking about.                                                   CHET           Fuck you. She's in the eighth grade.                                                   WILL           I bet you love it when she calls you           Mr. Chet.                                                   CHET           She doesn't call me "Mr. Chet."           She's not a foreigner.                                   EXT. JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL - DAY                                   The guys get to Will's car. Chet wraps up a call on his cell -                                                   CHET           ...thanks so much, Mrs. Davis. I'll           call you after I talk to the doctor.                                   Chet hangs up. He is standing by the passenger door. He          looks over the roof of the car at Will.                                                   CHET           So, this is it?                                                   WILL           This is what?           39.                                                   CHET           Once I step inside this car, I'm           basically in a steel coffin with you           and...that thing. And if it goes           off, all they're gonna find in there           are two charred bodies and pieces of           a bomb. They'll assume we were driving           to a government building to blow it           up. It'll be all over the news.           Next thing you now, some militia or           Islam group is claiming us as members.           My family will be humiliated.                                                   WILL           We'll also be dead, in that particular           situation, so it won't really matter.                                                   CHET           Exactly!                                   Will sighs.                                                   WILL           I get it. Take your time, man.                                   Will gets in the car and shuts the door. He looks out at          Chet, who stands uncertainly by the passenger side.                                                   CHET           This is the world's biggest favor,           you motherfucker. You didn't even           help me move last winter.                                   Chet reluctantly hops in.                                   INT. MUSTANG - DAY                                   Will fires up the engine.                                                   CHET           Given the situation, I think you           should obey all traffic safety laws.                                                   WILL           Fine.                                   Will pulls out of the school parking lot.                                                   WILL           Okay, so where are we going?                                                   CHET           I have no idea. I just got in your           car. I thought you had a plan.           40.                                                   WILL           Well, I don't! I've been sorta           preoccupied with this crushing fear           of death!                                                   CHET           No plan. I can't say I'm surprised.                                                   WILL           Your plan is probably better. Just           condescend me until I explode.                                   Will goes to turn on the radio. Chet grabs his hand.                                                   CHET           Maybe we should turn on the radio.           See if the signal sets the bomb off.           That would be an interesting experiment.                                   Will heaves a frustrated sigh. Chet eases up.                                                   CHET           Listen, let's just go back to my           place. Figure out our options.           Maybe you can get the vest off or           something. I just don't want to do           anything stupid.                                                   WILL           Unless we have to.                                   The car hits a rough pothole. Chet's heart skips a beat -                                                   CHET           Holy fucking shit!                                   - and he throws himself against the passenger side window,          as far from Will as the confines of the car will allow.                                   Will slams the brakes.                                                   WILL           Stop it! You're scaring the fuck           out of me!                                                   CHET           Okay. Okay. Fuck!                                   Chet makes the sign of the cross.                                                   CHET           I'm cool now.                                   Will continues driving. Chet discreetly unlocks the passenger          side door.           41.                                                   WILL           Why did you do that?                                                   CHET           Do what?                                                   WILL           I saw you.                                                   CHET           It's in case I have to jump out.                                                   WILL           If I survive the day, and you don't           because you jumped out of a moving           car and broke your neck, I'm gonna           laugh my ass off.                                                   CHET           And if abandoning ship saves my life,           then that laugh will be mine.                                   The guys continue driving in silence.                                   SUPER COUNTDOWN: 6 hours, 59 minutes...                                                   CUT TO:                                   INT. BATHROOM, CHET'S APARTMENT - DAY                                   The door is shut. Will sits on the toilet lid. He has the          jacket off and we get our first complete look at the vest.          The actual structure is composed of hollow metal tubes. The          wiring that runs throughout the vest is messy and complicated,          purposely so, to scare anyone out of fucking with it.                                   Will is in the process of trying to contort his arm so he          can slide the vest off...no luck.                                                   WILL           It's too tight!                                   He is calling off toward the                                                  KITCHEN                                   Where Chet is crouched in a corner, at the furthest point in          the furthest room from the bathroom. He uses his laptop to          look for websites on disarming a bomb.                                                   CHET           What if we try to separate your           shoulder?           42.                                    WILL (O.S.)           Fuck you!                                                   CHET           Well, all these sites say different           shit. There's not a lot of consensus           in the bomb disarming community.                                   Will emerges from the bathroom, sliding the jacket back on.                                                   WILL           This is pointless.                                   Chet shuts his laptop.                                                   CHET           I agree. We gotta call the cops,           have them fly in the bomb squad or           something.                                                   WILL           We can't. These guys said they'd be           following me. And I don't have a           clue what they look like. For all I           know, they're outside right now.           They see the cops show up, they blow           the vest and cut their losses.                                   Will stares at Chet, hopelessly overwhelmed.                                                   WILL           What do I do, man? What do I do now?                                                   CHET           I don't know, Will...I guess you           gotta rob the bank.                                                   WILL           I haven't been inside a bank in three           years! How the fuck am I supposed           to rob one!? They wouldn't even           give me a savings account!                                   Will drops onto the couch and puts his head in his hands,          fighting hysterics. Chet offers a stock reassurance -                                                   CHET           It's gonna be okay.                                                   WILL           No, it's not! I'm gonna blow up!           That's way worse than getting stabbed           or shot. At least some people survive           that. No one survives being blown           up.                          (MORE)           43.                                                   WILL (CONT'D)           No one is ever like, "Yeah, I heard           Steve got blown up, tough break, but           how's he doing now? Is he still in           the Rec basketball league?" No of           course he isn't, 'cause there's nothing           left of Steve except a stain on the           wall and a pair of fucking high tops!                                   Chet looks on as his friend begins to sob. It's a crushing          sight. Chet strides across the apartment -                                                   CHET           Pull yourself together!                                   - and attempts to give him one of those "get a grip" slaps.          But Will flinches and Chet slaps him right on the ear.                                                   WILL           Ow! Fuck! I think you popped my           eardrum.                                                   CHET           Sorry. Shit. I didn't mean to do           that. But just listen to me now.           You're not gonna die. You wanna           know why? Because you know exactly           how to rob a bank.                                                   WILL           What are you talking about?                                                   CHET           Point Break.                                                   WILL           The movie?                                                   CHET           Yes. That movie is like a how-to           guide for bank robberies. You just           bust in. Masks. Guns. Move fast.           Stick to the tellers and don't bother           with the vault.                                                   WILL           Yeah...I guess it's pretty simple,           right? And it's just a local bank.           The Donner-Wells on Charles Road.                                                   CHET           Really? I applied for a job there           like a year ago.           44.                                                   WILL           You wanted to be a teller?                                                   CHET           Yeah, so what? It's a good job.           You get benefits.                                                   WILL           Like what, a name tag?                                                   CHET           What kind of benefits do you get?           Free toppings?                                                   WILL           That's really clever. No one ever           said that shit to me before. Anyway,           this is perfect. You know the whole           layout of the bank.                                                   CHET           Not exactly. They didn't hand me           the security schematics with the           application. But I sat in the waiting           area for like 20 minutes. I know           what the place looks like.                                                   WILL           How many guards?                                                   CHET           One. I think.                                                   WILL           That's a start.                                                   CHET           It's a great start. You can do it.                                   Will pauses.                                                   WILL           You're gonna do it with me, right?                                                   CHET           I was actually gonna stick to giving           tips, ideas...motivational speeches.           More of a consultant or advisory role.                                                   WILL           Jesus Christ, Chet. Please. I'm           begging you here. I need you on           this. If I do it alone, I'm dead.           45.                                                   CHET           Are you gonna cry again?                                                   WILL           That was a moment of weakness.                          (BEAT)           Yes. I'll fucking cry again if that's           what it takes.                                                   CHET           I should make you blow me.                                                   WILL           Sure. Whip that shit out. I'm           actually kinda curious. I wanna see           if Jenny Rifkin lied to you. She           obviously lied to me.                                   Chet cracks a smile.                                                   WILL           All these guys want is 100 grand.           We can do this.                                                   CHET           We're gonna rob a bank for 100 grand?           Just leave the rest of the money           sitting there? Why?                                                   WILL           I don't know. I guess they're very           modest criminals. Who the fuck cares?           Wait...you said "we" right?                                   Chet heaves a sigh.                                                   CHET           I'm putting my life on the line for           100 grand...what does 100 grand even           buy these days?                                                   CUT TO:                                   THE GRILLE OF A MURDERED OUT 1997 NISSAN SENTRA                                   As the car pulls into                                   EXT. BACK PARKING LOT, DIVE STRIP CLUB - DAY                                   Where Juicy waits by the service entrance, smoking a          cigarette. She spots the car and runs over. It parks and          the door opens. A glassy-eyed African-American man (30s)          steps out. His muscled body is covered in calligraphic prison          ink. This is VAUGHN.           46.                                   Juicy throws her arms around him.                                                   JUICY           I missed you so much, baby.                                                   VAUGHN           You don't got enough dicks to keep           you warm in that place?                                                   JUICY           You know it's not like that. Those           guys get Juicy, but you get Marisol.                                                   VAUGHN           Well, Marisol...what I want is to           get my money, kill that old ass man,           then get the fuck out of here.                                                   JUICY           Then that's how it's gonna go. We're           just waiting on a call.                                   Vaughn stares at her.                                                   VAUGHN           This is my impatient face.                                                   JUICY           Well, I think I can keep you           entertained.                                   Juicy gets in the open driver side door and makes a show of          crawling over into the passenger seat.                                   INT. WALMART - DAY                                   Fluorescent lights and pop music. Will and Chet roam the          aisles with a full shopping basket. They turn into the          "Sports & Fitness" section, where they find a variety of air          pistols. They are incredibly realistic, though clear and          with orange nozzles.                                                   WILL           Should we go with the handguns...or           the Uzis?                                                   CHET           Handguns.                                                   WILL           That's such a Murtaugh choice.                                                   CUT TO:           47.                                   A check out conveyor belt, as the guys' purchases drift past:          air pistols, spray paint, ski masks, leather gloves, several          5-Hour Energy drinks.                                   The tough REGISTER WOMAN looks at the guys with abject disgust.                                                   REGISTER WOMAN           You sure you don't want to grab some           condoms?                                                   WILL           Uh, no. Why?                                                   REGISTER WOMAN           Because this is usually what men buy           before they rape someone, and I want           to make sure you all use protection.                                                   WILL           Lady, we're just...buying some stuff.                                                   REGISTER WOMAN           Is that cash or credit for your rape           kit?                                   Will looks in his empty wallet, takes out a credit card.          Chet grabs his hand.                                                   CHET           We'll pay cash.                                   INT. MINIVAN - DAY                                   The van is parked. Dwayne sits behind the wheel. Metallica's          "Ride the Lightning" begins to play loudly.                                                   DWAYNE           You really fucked up this mix tape.                                   Dwayne ejects the tape, tosses it at Jay in the passenger seat.                                                   DWAYNE           We're not speed freaks knocking off           a 7-Eleven. We're masterminding a           heist here.                                                   JAY           Sorry, Dwayne. That song just means           a lot to me.                                   Dwayne shakes his head. He turns and looks out the windshield:          they're parked in the Walmart lot, watching the store entrance.                                                   DWAYNE           I wish he would hurry his shit up.           48.                                                   JAY           You worried about that other guy           he's with?                                                   DWAYNE           No, man. He picked him up at a           school. So long as there ain't any           cops, he can take the whole town           with him. I just want my money.                                   Dwayne surveys the area. Something catches his attention:          the bland strip mall across the street. There's a Blockbuster,          Subway, and an empty space in between. Dwayne smiles.                                                   JAY           What? You want me to run over to           Subway, get us a couple sandwiches?                                                   DWAYNE           If you had any vision, Jay, you'd           know exactly what I'm thinking about           right now. And it's not a sandwich.                          (BEAT)           Look how well trafficked that shopping           mall is. It's the perfect place for           the tanning salon.                                   Jay checks it out, nods.                                                   JAY           Oh, you're totally right.                                                   DWAYNE           I've been thinking about it, and I           want you to start off working the           counter. Sounds like a demotion, I           know, but it's an important position.           Because we're gonna be using code           words and shit. For example, if a           customer walks in and says he wants a           tan, that just means he wants a tan.           But if he says he wants a "deluxe           tan," that means a blow job and you           gotta get one of the girls in there           to suck him off. You with me?                                                   JAY           So far. But what if he wants a fuck?                                                   DWAYNE           There's gonna be codes for everything:           missionary, anal, black chicks. I           got it all written down back home in           my files.                          (MORE)           49.                                                   DWAYNE (CONT'D)           I'm not gonna bother getting into it           with you right now, because you're           supposed to be on lookout and you're           no good at multitasking.                                                   JAY           Okay. 'Cause they're about to get           away.                                   Dwayne spots the Mustang pulling away.                                                   DWAYNE           Fuck.                                   He throws the van into gear.                                   INT. MUSTANG - DAY - MOVING                                   Will navigates the streets. Chet is in the back seat, where          he has newspaper spread out and is spray painting the air          pistols, and much of the car, black.                                                   WILL           Be careful, you're getting paint           everywhere.                                                   CHET           Are you really worried about your           upholstery right now?                                                   WILL           Yes, because if I survive this shit           I'm quitting my job. That means           I'll probably have to give up my           place and I'll be sleeping in the           back of my car, which you're covering           in toxic paint.                                   Chet touches up one of the guns, goes to flip it over.                                                   WILL           That side isn't dry yet. You're           about to ruin it.                                                   CHET           It says it's fast drying.                                                   WILL           Fast isn't the same as instant. You           gotta let it sit for like 20 minutes.                                                   CHET           How would you know? You do a lot of           graffiti?           50.                                                   WILL           No, but I spray painted my bike last           year after I got my license suspended.           I didn't let it dry properly and I           fucked it up.                                                   CHET           We don't have time to sit around and           literally watch paint dry. Aren't           we going straight to the bank?                                                   WILL           I was actually thinking we need to           stop and steal a car first.                                   Chet drops the spray paint, whirls on Will.                                                   CHET           What? No way! We've got a car.                                                   WILL           Yeah, my car. I'm not gonna use it           as a getaway vehicle. They can trace           the plates. Even if we do get away,           we'll be arrested.                                                   CHET           Well, I can't hotwire a fucking           automobile, and neither can you.                                                   WILL           That's why I was thinking we'd steal           one from your parents' friends. The           Fishers. Remember how they used to           pay us to clean their garage? They           leave the keys in there. And they           have a Datsun. That's a fast car.                                                   CHET           I'm not stealing the Fishers' Datsun.           Let's steal a car from your parents'           friends.                                   Will seethes. He whips the car over to the side of the road          and gets in Chet's face.                                                   WILL           What friends? My parents don't have           any. My dad moved away after your           big mouth ruined his marriage and           humiliated him, and no one wanted to           hang out with the mom who everyone           knew fucked a lifeguard.           51.                                                   CHET           You never should have told me! I           was 13 years old. I couldn't process           that kind of information. I had to           tell someone else.           (shakes his head)           Fuck. I really am sorry about it.           Okay? Despite what I said before.           I was just a kid, but I messed up.                                                   WILL           Okay.                                   Chet looks at Will, expectantly.                                                   CHET           That's it? You're not gonna apologize           for selling my Cal Ripken ball?                                                   WILL           Sure. I'm sorry...I'm sorry that my           family was going through a rough patch           and I was smoking a ton of weed and           listening to the Wu Tang Clan all the           time. And that I needed some extra           dough to indulge my habit. Which, in           hindsight, was probably just a cry           for help. But you never even noticed.                                                   CHET           Thanks. Now I feel even worse.                                   Will sits there, stewing for a moment. Then he softens -                                                   WILL           I shouldn't have stolen the ball. I           knew it was wrong and I regretted it           like the next day. I actually tried           to buy it back but the guy wanted           twice as much. I had to smoke even           more weed just to get past the whole           shitty incident. I guess that's why           they call it a downward spiral.                                                   CHET           I appreciate that you tried to buy           it back. So, thanks.                                   An awkward moment passes.                                                   CHET           We should probably get going.                                   Will turns back around, goes to pull out without looking and -           52.                                   A horn blares as a speeding delivery truck barrels right at          them. Will slams the brakes, barely avoiding a collision.                                                   CHET           Fuck! Fuck! I just want this goddamn           day to be over!                                   As Chet continues to freak -                                   SUPER COUNTDOWN: 5 hours, 15 minutes...                                                   CUT TO:                                   EXT. THE FISHERS' GARAGE - DAY                                   Will keeps watch of the house. Chet squeezes through a garage          window he has pried open.                                   INT. THE FISHERS' GARAGE - DAY                                   Chet drops ungracefully to the floor, right beside a well          maintained 1977 Datsun 240Z.                                   Chet hurries over and unlocks the side door. Will enters,          hauling the Walmart bag of supplies. He goes right for a          set of hooks on the wall.                                                   WILL           The keys aren't here. They always           used to leave the keys out.                                                   CHET           Yeah. When we were teenagers. This           is fucked.                                                   WILL           Let's just find them.                                   The guys ransack the garage. Chet knocks over a shelf full          of clutter.                                                   CHET           Sorry.                                   Will goes to the car and tries the handle. It's open. He          scours the interior.                                                   CHET           You hear that?                                                   WILL           What?                                   Chet peeks through the glass pane in the door.           53.                                                   CHET           Mr. Fisher is coming!                                   As he looks for an escape -                                                   CHET           Oh shit, oh shit. Are the keys in there?                                                   WILL           No!                                   Will hops out of the car. He rifles through the Walmart bag.                                                   CHET           What are you doing?                                   Will pulls the ski masks out of the bag, along with one of          the freshly painted air pistols.                                                   WILL           I'm doing what I have to.                                   Will puts a ski mask on, then throws one to Chet. The door          opens and MR. FISHER (60s) enters. Chet quickly pulls down          his mask. It's backwards.                                   Will levels the pistol -                                    MR. FISHER           Oh, Jesus!                                   Mr. Fisher braces himself against a wall. Chet fumbles to          turn his mask around. Will affects a deep voice -                                                   WILL           Where are the car keys?                                    MR. FISHER           They're in my pocket! I'm just           reaching in my pocket for the keys!                                                   WILL           Quiet down and do it already.                                   Mr. Fisher reaches into his pocket and produces the keys.          They jingle as he holds them out in his trembling hand.          Will snatches them.                                                   WILL           Now listen, I don't want you to report           this car stolen or anything until           later tonight. Let's say 5 o'clock.           6 to be safe.           54.                                    MR. FISHER           Sure. Anything you say.                                   Will seems unconvinced. He looks to Chet, who shrugs. Will          turns back to Mr. Fisher and gestures violently with the gun -                                                   WILL           If you fuck with us, I swear, I           will...I will shoot your son. Taylor.           I know where he works. At the fucking           travel agency. He's the douchebag           with the bangs.                                    MR. FISHER                          (STUNNED)           Please no. I won't do anything. I           won't. Just leave Taylor alone.                                                   WILL           I'm gonna trust you. But if you           call the police, there's gonna be an           undertaker styling his stupid fucking           bangs!                          (BEAT)           Now open the garage door.                                   Mr. Fisher hits a switch that raises the garage door. Chet          grabs their stuff and gets in the passenger side. Will backs          toward the driver side.                                                   WILL           The car's insured, right?                                   Mr. Fisher nods.                                                   WILL           Okay. I feel better. Worse comes           to worst, something happens to it,           you can get a Honda. This thing           doesn't even have airbags.                                    MR. FISHER           Please, just go.                                   Will slides into the car and starts it up.                                   EXT. THE FISHERS' GARAGE - DAY                                   The car peels away.                                   INT. DATSUN - DAY - MOVING                                   The guys yank off their ski masks.           55.                                                   CHET           That old man's got a heart condition!           You could have killed him!                                                   WILL           My hand was forced!                                   Chet tries to get comfortable in the seat.                                                   CHET           Awesome. I'm stuck inside an even           smaller car with you and a bomb.                                   Will works the manual transmission. He steps on the gas.                                                   WILL           This thing's got some pickup.                                                   CHET           Could you just take it easy, we're           doing fine on time.                                                   WILL           I know...but there's one last stop           we have to make.                                                   CHET           Do you have to take a piss first?           Because I do.                                   Will nervously drums his fingers on the steering wheel, trying          to figure out how to say -                                                   WILL           I need to see your sister.                                                   CHET           Are you for real? Did you really           just ask me that? You salt-in-an-           open-wound motherfucker!                                                   WILL           Chet, as if it isn't apparent, I may           die today. I'll probably die today.           And if there's one small thing that's           clear to me now, it's that I've wasted           two and a half decades as a pussy,           watching everything I want pass me           by. I don't wanna peace out of this           world as a pussy. I need to tell           her how I feel.                                                   CHET           You're really gonna turn this into           some sort of dying wish bullshit?           56.                                                   WILL           Yes, I really am. It means that much           to me. I am not fucking around here.                                                   CHET           I don't think you are. I mean,           apparently, you love my sister so           much that you're willing to put her           life in danger by going to see her           with a bomb strapped to your chest.                                                   WILL           She won't be in danger. I promise.           I got it all worked out. And you           can even take a piss while I'm inside.                                   EXT. OFFICE BUILDING - DAY                                   The Datsun pulls around and parks in back.                                   PULL BACK TO REVEAL the minivan parking across the street.                                   INT. MINIVAN - DAY                                   Dwayne and Jay watch Will hurry out of the Datsun.                                                   DWAYNE           Where the fuck is he going? What's in           there? Some sort of FBI headquarters?           I told that guy not to fuck around!                                   Dwayne pulls out his cell phone, punches in the speed dial          code. His finger hovers above the send button.                                                   DWAYNE           Maybe I should give that bomb a call.                                                   JAY           No! Let me just go see what he's up to.                                   Dwayne smirks.                                                   DWAYNE           I was just fucking around. Are you           gay for this guy or something?                                                   JAY           I just wanna get the money, Dwayne.           Same as you.                                                   DWAYNE           All right. Then man up and go check           it out.                                   As Jay reaches for the door handle -           57.                                                   DWAYNE           Don't even tell me you're about to           do a reconnaissance without a cover.           What's you cover?                                                   JAY           I don't know...I'm from the telephone           company?                                                   DWAYNE           Yeah, nice fucking uniform.                                   Dwayne rummages in the back of the car, produces a shopping          bag and starts filling it with random clothes strewn across          the car. He shoves the bag at Jay.                                                   DWAYNE           You're a personal shopper. You're           delivering the latest fashions to Mr.           Quilby in marketing. Got it?                                   Jay nods, hops out with the bag and slams the door.                                   Dwayne looks down at the cell phone in his hand, twirls it          as he hums a revival song...sings the lyrics, softly -                                                   DWAYNE           "He's got the whole world in his           hands. He's got whole fucking world           in his hands..."                                   INT. STAIRWELL, OFFICE BUILDING - DAY                                   Will runs up the stairs, a phone pressed to his ear -                                                   WILL           ...no, I'm here right now.                                    KATE (O.S.)                          (OVER PHONE)           Why are you acting so strange?                                                   WILL           Because strange shit is going on.           I'll explain everything. Just meet           me where I texted you.                                    KATE (O.S.)                          WILL -                                                   WILL           Please. Just do it.           58.                                   EXT. ROOF, OFFICE BUILDING - DAY                                   You can see the entire shitty town from up here. The access          door opens and Kate emerges, wind tousling her short hair.                                                   KATE                          (CALLING OUT)           Will?                                   Will waves at her from where he is standing, way across on          the other side of the roof. Kate starts toward him.                                                   WILL           Stop!                                   Will takes out his cell phone and dials. Kate's phone rings.          She answers it, confused.                                                   KATE           What are you doing?                                   We STAY on Will. We can see Kate, standing 30 feet away,          but her voice comes over Will's cell phone, with a delay          that is slightly jarring.                                                   WILL           Just don't come any closer.                                                   KATE           Why not? What's going on?                                                   WILL           I'm gonna give you the short version           of an incredibly complicated and fucked           up situation, so please be cool.                          (BEAT)           Some very bad guys strapped a bomb           to my chest and they are forcing me           to commit a crime.                                                   KATE           Will, I swear, if this is -                                                   WILL           I wish I was joking, but I'm not. I           know it's a lot to swallow, but you           gotta take it on face value, because           there's a timer attached to this           thing and it's counting down.                                   Kate's voice falters -                                                   KATE           Oh my god, Will...we'll get help.           I'll get you help.           59.                                                   WILL           I didn't come here for help. I'm           taking care of it. I came here           because, should things not work out           today as I would like them to, I           want you to know why I was doing the           things I did.                                                   KATE           Please, just let me call someone.           Let me do something. This is crazy!                                                   WILL           I don't disagree with you. It's           fucking nuts. But that's not even           what this is about.                          (STRUGGLING)           Do you remember when you found that           picture in my car of you, me and           Chet, with Chet cut out of it?                                                   KATE           Will, I can't remember about some           stupid picture while you're -                                                   WILL           I need you to remember about the           picture, and about how I stop by           your office every Friday, and how           I've always hated all your boyfriends,           and how the two girls I've ever           seriously dated have looked like           less attractive versions of you.                          (BEAT)           Do you see where I'm going with this?           I love you Kate. I have for a very           long time.                                   Kate is barely holding it together.                                                   KATE           Will, this is a lot you're putting           on me! You just told me people are           trying to kill you or something, and           now you say you love me. What the           fuck is going on?                                                   WILL           A whole lot of shit. I'm sorry to do           this to you, but I was afraid I'd never           get the chance to tell you. And I           know you have feelings for me, too.           Maybe you feel for me the way you feel           for a good friend, or - if the world           fucking hates me - a brother.                          (MORE)           60.                                                   WILL (CONT'D)           But what I hope is that you don't really           know how you feel for me, and that           maybe when you figure it out you'll           realize it's the same way I feel for           you. Does that make any sense?                                                   KATE           Yes. I mean, I've known you forever.           It's not an easy thing to figure out.                                                   WILL           I don't need an answer now. Just           think about it. And no matter what           you decide, you're too good for           assholes like Mark and the rest of           them.                                   Kate manages a small, stifled laugh.                                                   KATE           Okay. I will process all of this.           It's just, the bomb -                                                   WILL           It's distracting. I know. Anyway,           I'd love to stay and talk some more,           but I can't. I gotta ask you to leave           now, because I'm running out of time.                                   Kate nods. Will hangs up the phone. She turns back toward          the access door, stops. She yells across the roof at Will -                                                   KATE           If I had time to think about it...I'd           probably tell you that I've always           felt very strongly for you. And I've           never thought of you as a brother.                                   Will smiles, yells back -                                                   WILL           That's a huge relief. Don't say           anything else. I just really don't           want to die now.                                                   KATE           Try not to. Please.                                   Kate turns and continues to the access door.           61.                                   INT. STAIRWELL, OFFICE BUILDING - DAY                                   Jay paces about the landing that leads up to the roof. He          hears the door opening and hurries down to the entrance for          the nearest floor. He tries the door, but it's locked.                                   Kate enters the stairwell from the roof access door and spots          Jay trying to force the door open. She is holding back tears.          He just looks incredibly confused.                                                   JAY           I'm, uh...I'm a personal shopper.           I'm looking for Mr. Quilby.                                                   KATE           I'm sorry, I don't know who that is.                                   Kate continues down the stairs, tears coming now. Jay waits          a beat, then hurries down and tries the door on the next          level, which is open.                                   INT. MINIVAN - DAY                                   Jay jumps in the van, huffing and puffing.                                                   DWAYNE           So?                                                   JAY           It was just his girlfriend or something.                                                   DWAYNE           Getting one last blow job in case he           don't make it. I kinda like this guy.                                   INT. DATSUN - DAY                                   Will, galvanized by the exchange, hops inside.                                                   CHET           Did you tell her how you saw her naked           when she was 13? That always works.                                                   WILL           I said my piece. She's gonna think           about it.                                                   CHET           Shut up. She was freaked out.                                                   WILL           Yes. By the bomb.                                                   CHET           By you.           62.                                                   WILL           Would it be so bad if we ended up           together? You and I would be family.                                                   CHET           I don't want you in the family. You           bring very little to the table. I           want her to be with someone awesome.           A pro quarterback. A war hero. At           the very least, someone I've never           watched porn with.                                                   WILL           Well, now it's up to her.                                                   CHET           Not if I set that bomb off myself.                                                   WILL           Then you'd probably never get to rob           a bank.                                   Will throws the car into gear and pulls away.                                   SUPER COUNTDOWN: 4 hours, 10 minutes...                                                   CUT TO:                                   EXT. PARKING LOT, DONNER-WELLS NATIONAL BANK - DAY                                   The Datsun is parked in the half-full lot. The guys lean          against the driver side, with their backs to the bank and          the car providing cover. They each have a spray painted air          pistol tucked into their pants.                                                   WILL           You go for the money. I'll cover           the crowd. In and out.                                   Chet clasps his hands around his stomach.                                                   CHET           I'm not feeling so good. I drank           like three of those 5-Hour Energy           drinks.                                                   WILL           It's just nerves. Let's pull our           shit together and do this thing.                                   Chet reigns it in. The guys slide on the leather gloves and          rolled up ski masks. They turn and stride toward the bank.                                   The guys stop as they get to the door. They pull the ski          masks down and take out their air pistols.           63.                                                   CHET           What should I call you in there,           like if I need to ask you to do           something?                                                   WILL           Call me Tivon. You'll be Darius.                                                   CHET           I can tell you're not a black guy           through the ski mask.                                                   WILL           Fine. Then you'll be Luis and I'm           Cruz. We're two loco motherfuckers           and that's the way we gotta roll           when we get in there.                                   INT. DONNER-WELLS NATIONAL BANK - DAY                                   It's business as usual for a dozen CUSTOMERS and about as          many EMPLOYEES. They all just want to get done with their          shit and go home, when -                                   Will and Chet burst through the bank doors, guns in hand.                                                   WILL           Everybody put your hands in the air!                                                   CHET           No, get on the ground!                                                   WILL           Actually, listen to him and get on           the fucking ground!                                   Will and Chet are on an adrenaline high, waving their guns          everywhere. People scream.                                                   WILL           Shut up! Please!                                   Will frantically scans the panicked crowd for -                                   The SECURITY GUARD (40s), rail thin and jumpy. Will points          his gun right at him.                                                   WILL           You, just stand right there and don't           do shit! The rest of you get the           fuck down! Spread your arms and legs!           Why is no one listening to me!?                                                   SECURITY GUARD           Just take it easy, man!           64.                                                   WILL           Don't be a hero, cowboy!                                                   SECURITY GUARD           What the fuck does that mean? I'm           not a hero! Or a cowboy!                                   As people drop to the ground, whispering nervously to one                         ANOTHER -                                   Chet rushes the TELLERS standing behind the bulletproof glass          partition.                                                   CHET           All of you, back away from the counter           and get out here! Anyone pushes a           button and one of these people gets           totally shot!                                   The Tellers hurry into the main area of the bank and get          onto their stomachs.                                   Will looks to the Guard.                                                   WILL           Very slowly, take out your gun and           toss it away.                                   The Guard takes out his gun, lays it on the ground and shoves          it away. The gun slides across the waxed floor and -                                   Right into the outstretched hand of a sobbing MOM (40s),          whose DAUGHTER (11) lies beside her in a soccer uniform.                                                   MOM           Oh, god! I don't want the gun!                                                   WILL                          (TO GUARD)           What the fuck!? Did you do that on           purpose!?                                                   SECURITY GUARD           It was an accident!                                                   CHET           Are you guys working together?                                                   MOM           No! Please take this gun away!                                                   WILL           Just toss it, lady!           65.                                   The Mom slides the gun away like it were on fire. It skids          all the way across the floor, slams hard against a wall and                                   BLAM!                                    MAN'S VOICE (O.S.)           Ah!                                   A FAT MAN has been shot. He clutches his thigh.                                                   FAT MAN           I think she got the femoral artery!                                                   MOM           I'm sorry! It was an accident!                                                   FAT MAN           Fuck you! Who slides a gun like that!?                                                   DAUGHTER           Mommy, what's happening!?                                                   MOM           Christi, be quiet. These men are           dangerous.                                   Chet turns ashen. He moves close to Will, whispers urgently -                                                   CHET           This is fucked. That dude is gonna           bleed out and we're gonna go to prison.                                                   WILL           Just calm down.                                                   FAT MAN           Why is no one getting me help!?                                                   WILL           Is anyone here a doctor?                                   Nothing. Just the heavy breathing of many frightened people.                                   Will hurries over to the Fat Man, who is bent over, hugging          his leg.                                                   WILL           Sir, let me see where you're hit.                                                   FAT MAN           Just call me an ambulance!                                                   WILL           Calm down, sir.           66.                                   The Fat Man sits up, removes his hand from his leg. Will          nervously takes a look. There is only a small amount of          blood.                                                   WILL           It's just a flesh wound. You're           gonna be okay.                                                   FAT MAN           But it hurts so bad.                                                   WILL           You got shot, man. It's not supposed           to feel good. But you're gonna be           fine. And you'll have a great story           to tell everyone.                                                   FAT MAN           This is an awful story! This isn't a           bank error in my favor! I got shot!                                                   WILL           Point taken. Luis, how we doing on           the money?                                   Chet snaps back to attention -                                                   CHET           Oh, shit. Sorry, Cruz.                                   Chet picks out the most harmless looking teller, a mousy 20-          something girl, and helps her up off the ground. He checks          her name tag: SANDRA.                                                   CHET           Hey, Sandra. I know you're probably           scared right now, but if you go grab           us 100 grand in a bag, we'll get out           of here. This will all be over and           you'll be fine. You trust me?                                   Sandra nods. Chet smiles, reassuringly. She hurries behind          the counter, starts filling a bank bag with cash, as -                                                   FAT MAN           My leg really hurts!                                                   WILL           Can you please hurry up, Sandra!?                                   Sandra emerges from behind the partition with the bank bag.          Will grabs it. He takes a last look at the people spread          across the floor.           67.                                                   WILL           I'm really sorry, everyone. I know           we probably fucked up your day.           (looks to Fat Man)           I'm thinking of you in particular,           sir. Actually, you know what...                                   Will crosses to the Fat Man, offers the bank bag.                                                   WILL           Quickly. Peel a few bills. On me.           Anyone rats him to the cops and I'm           coming for you. I remember faces.                                   The Fat Man hesitantly reaches for the bag. Opens it -                                   Red Dye explodes all over his face. He shrieks. Chet whirls          on the teller.                                                   CHET           What the fuck was that about, Sandra?           I thought we had something going!           What happened to trust?                                                   SANDRA           I'm sorry! They make us do it!                                                   WILL           Could you kindly fill another bag?           Not a bank bag. A fucking garbage           bag. And Luis, will you watch her           this time?                                   Sandra hurries back behind the partition with Chet. He dumps          out the contents of a trash can, grabs the bag and watches          closely as Sandra stuffs it with cash.                                                   CHET           Okay. That should be enough.                                   Chet grabs the bag and hustles out toward Will. They are          home free, until -                                   They hear the wail of approaching sirens outside. They stop          cold, panicked. Will whirls on the Tellers.                                                   WILL           Fuck! Which one of you assholes tripped           the alarm!? Was it you, Sandra!?                                                   SANDRA           No! It was Mark! He pushed the           button when you guys came in!                                   Another teller, MARK, looks up from the floor.           68.                                                   MARK           Sandra, you bitch! Now they're gonna           kill us both!                                                   SANDRA           Fuck you, Mark! You're the manager!                                   Will loses his shit -                                                   WILL           Fuck both of you! Fuck all of you!           I'm a regular guy! Just like you!           I'm a regular guy and you fucked me!           Thank you for fucking a regular guy!                                   People are freaked out. Sandra is crying, thinking she will          probably get shot now.                                   Chet grabs Will and pulls him toward the door.                                                   CHET           Let's just get the fuck out of here.                                   The guys slam through the doors, out into                                   EXT. PARKING LOT, DONNER-WELLS NATIONAL BANK - DAY                                   Just as a lone police cruiser screeches into the lot. Will          and Chet make a run for it, but the cruiser cuts them off.                                   OFFICER ZURMAN (21), a jittery rookie, jumps out of the cruiser          and levels his gun. The guys reflexively level theirs.                                                   OFFICER ZURMAN           Drop your weapons!                                                   CHET           Don't shoot us!                                                   OFFICER ZURMAN           Drop the guns or I'll have to!                                   Chet looks at Will with utter desperation. In the distance,          they hear the sirens of more cops approaching. Will tosses          his gun, rips open his jacket and grabs a cluster of wires.                                                   WILL           Fuck you! You just brought a gun to           a bomb fight, officer! I pull these           wires out and we all go! You got           ten seconds to drop your gun and -                                   Zurman doesn't stick around for the rest. He turns and          sprints away.           69.                                   As the guys make for the Datsun -                          CHET           That was awesome.                          WILL           He was tempting a desperate           motherfucker.          The guys jump in the Datsun and peel out as two more police          cruisers race toward the bank. The cruisers change course          and give chase. The Datsun blows right by the parked          INT. MINIVAN - DAY          Dwayne watches as the cars speed off into the distance.                          DWAYNE           Holy shit! Our boy is causing some           serious mayhem!                          JAY           He's gonna get caught or killed.          Dwayne whirls on Jay, punches him hard in the shoulder.                          DWAYNE           Shut the fuck up! If you jinx this           with your negativity, I'm gonna strap           a bomb to your chest next.          Jay massages his shoulder, pissed.                                                   JAY           Oh, yeah, who's gonna build it?                                                   DWAYNE           You are!                                   EXT. STREET - DAY                                   Whiplash blur as the three cars race by, one after the other.          Airborne leaves flutter in their wake.                                   INT./EXT. DATSUN - DAY - MOVING                                   Chet freaks out as they hurtle toward lunchtime traffic.          Will weaves in and out of cars.                                                   CHET           Shit! This is not cool!                                   Will is wild eyed, punching the gas. Chet's head is on a          swivel. Behind them: police cruisers in hot pursuit. Up ahead:          the world rushing at them at 80 mph, populated by nothing but          potential collisions that will result in a fiery death.           70.                                                   CHET           Maybe we should pull over and           surrender.                                                   WILL           I can outrun these guys. They're           not the FBI, they're local cops.           Just shut up and let me concentrate.           I do this for a living.                                   As they clip the side-view mirror off a Kia -                                                   CHET           You don't do anything like this for a           living! I am not a pizza, I am a man!                                   The cruisers are gaining ground, throttles wide open.                                   Will downshifts, spiking the RPMs into the red, as he banks          a hard right and                                   EXT. TOWN CENTER - DAY                                   The Datsun explodes onto a crowded street. PEDESTRIANS          crossing an intersection jump out of its way.                                   The cruisers take the turn into town. One makes it. The          other slams into parked cars.                                   INT./EXT. DATSUN - DAY - MOVING                                   Will jumps the curb to avoid slow-moving traffic, slams into a          newspaper dispenser. It flips up onto the hood and crashes          into the windshield, where it stays lodged.                                                   WILL           Holy fuck!                                   Will veers back into the street and blindly plows ahead as          cars he cannot see swerve to avoid him.                                   He finally slams the brakes, the momentum knocking the          dispenser loose and launching it onto the sidewalk, scattering          Pedestrians.                                   Chet whirls around to see the cruiser flying right at them.                                                   CHET           Go! Go! Go!                                   Will steps on the gas. The light ahead turns red.                                                   CHET           Stop! Stop! Stop!           71.                                   Will rolls the dice and blows through the intersection.          He's lucky. The cruiser behind him is not. It's T-boned by          traffic in a brutal, crunching collision.                                   INT./EXT. DATSUN - DAY - MOVING                                   The cruiser wreckage disappears in the rear-view mirror as          Will floors it toward a green light.                                                   WILL           That guy got fucked up.                                   In the rushing moment as they cross the intersection, Chet          glimpses the other cruiser barreling toward his side of the          car from the perpendicular street. He has a millisecond,          maybe, to process their impending doom, and then -                                   The cruiser smashes into the back passenger side of the car.                                   EXT. TOWN CENTER - DAY                                   The Datsun is sent spinning like a fucking top. Its ruined          back wheel catches, sending the car tumbling onto its roof.                                   INT./EXT. DATSUN - DAY - MOVING                                   Madness. The guys scream as the car continues to slide,          upside down, out of control. As it slams into a row of          parking meters, the world goes                                                  BLACK                                   Will blinks back to reality. He's hanging, inverted, by his          seat belt. The car is a pool of shattered glass. It twinkles          up at him. Hours could have passed, but it's only been          seconds. He sucks in air. Satisfied that he is, in fact,          still alive, he looks over at -                                   A battered and bruised Chet, head drooping straight back.                                                   WILL           Chet? Are you okay? Chet!?                                                   CHET                          (ROUSING)           Oh my god...                                                   WILL           Talk to me.                                                   CHET           I thought you were gonna blow up.                                   Will's hands go to the bomb...still intact.           72.                                                   WILL           No. Luckily your side took most of           the impact.                                                   CHET           Awesome.                                                   WILL           We gotta keep moving.                                   Will unclicks his seat belt and falls to the roof of the          car. He moves to Chet, unclicks his belt and helps him down.                                   EXT. TOWN CENTER - DAY                                   Will emerges from the overturned car. He drags Chet out,          along with the bag of cash. He glances up to see the OFFICER          who crashed into them stumbling out of his own ruined car,          which has turned a fire hydrant into a geyser. Another          cruiser races to the scene.                                                   WILL           Oh, fuck, man. Come on.                                   Will pulls Chet to his feet and they take off, rounding a                         CORNER INTO                                   EXT. ALLEY - DAY                                   As Will huffs and puffs -                                                   WILL           Chet...I don't know how to tell you           this...but you got a piece of the           car in you.                                                   CHET           What!?                                                   WILL           In your back.                                   Chet glances back to see a jagged piece of metal sticking          out of his shoulder blade.                                                   CHET           Ah! Get it out!                                                   WILL           I will.                                                   CHET           Do it now!           73.                                                   WILL           All right.                                   Without breaking stride, Will yanks the piece of metal out          of Chet's back. He screams.                                                   CHET           Is it rusty? Am I gonna get tetanus?                                   Behind them, two Officers turn into the alley in full sprint.          They are way faster than the guys and soon gain on them.          Will can barely keep up with Chet.                                                   CHET           Why are you moving so slowly?                                                   WILL           It's a combination of cheap sneakers           and this heavy fucking bomb on my chest!                                   They burst out of the alley, onto                                   EXT. STREET - DAY                                   The guys frantically search for an escape, spot -                                   A bus pulling up to a stop down the street.                                   They sprint for the the bus, peeling off their ski masks and          waving as it lazily rolls away from the stop.                                                   WILL           Hey! Over here!                                   The bus slows and the guys trip over each other to board it.                                   INT. BUS - DAY - MOVING                                   The guys fall into seats, gasping for air, a complete mess.                                   Will looks out the window to see the Officers emerge from          the alley and look around for them.                                   EXT. TOWN CENTER - DAY                                   A crowd has grown around the crash sites. Fire trucks and          ambulances are on the scene.                                   Dwayne and Jay make their way through the crowd, trying to          see what's what. Dwayne approaches a RANDOM LOCAL.                                                   DWAYNE           You hear what happened to the guys           they were after?           74.                                                   RANDOM LOCAL           Sounds like they got away.                                   Dwayne and Jay beam.                                   EXT. RESIDENTIAL STREET - DAY                                   The guys are covered in sweat as they hike along, eyes on          the lookout. They arrive at Will's parked Mustang. Will          hugs the car.                                                   WILL           I never thought I'd see you again.                                                   CHET           I thought you hated this car.                                                   WILL           It's actually not that bad. You know,           as compared to that Datsun. The           Mustang's got more comfortable seats.           And it never would have flipped over.                                   INT. MUSTANG - DAY                                   The guys get in. They sit there for a moment, silent except          for their heavy breathing. Will's eyes go to the garbage          bag sitting between them.                                                   WILL           There's a 100 grand in there. 100           fucking grand. Which we stole.           From a bank.                                                   CHET           I told a bunch of people I was gonna           shoot someone. I was like "you           fucking move, and I will kill you           where you stand!"                                                   WILL           I threatened to blow up a cop.                          (BEAT)           And you never said "I will kill you           where you stand."                                                   CHET           I know. But shit did get pretty crazy.                                                   WILL           Yeah, it did.                                   Will starts to get a little emotional.           75.                                                   WILL           You know, there's no one I would           have rather taken down a fucking           bank with. I mean that.                                   Chet smiles.                                                   CHET           Me, neither.                                                   WILL           And as for all that shit I said...and           all that shit I did...I hope you can           forgive me. We've been friends for           so long, and I guess you hurt the           people you're closest to the most.                                                   CHET           I messed up, too. I'm a dude who           slept with his best friend's ex-           girlfriend, and destroyed his parents'           marriage, and sat on the sidelines           watching his downward spiral. I'm a           shitty human being. But I'm glad           you know that now, because you can           accept me for who I am.                                                   WILL           I do. I accept you. Because you           accept me.                                   Will goes in for a hug. Chet gets lost in the moment, before          recoiling.                                                   CHET           Woah! You still got a bomb on you.                                                   WILL           You're right. Let's take care of           that. But you owe me a hug.                                   Will pulls the slip of paper Dwayne gave him from his pocket.                                                   WILL           It's all gravy from here.                                   Will takes out his cell and dials the number.                                                   INTERCUT WITH:                                   EXT. TOWN CENTER - DAY                                   Dwayne and Jay cross toward a McDonald's. Dwayne stops and          answers his vibrating cell phone.           76.                                                   DWAYNE           This who I think it is?           WILL (O.S.)           Can't you hear the ticking in the           background?                          DWAYNE           You know, you're a pretty funny guy.           WILL (O.S.)           Thanks. I'm happy to entertain a           complete psychopath.                          DWAYNE           Now wait a second, you're the murderer.           WILL (O.S.)           What's that supposed to mean?                          DWAYNE           One of those cops who wrecked his           car chasing you...he ain't breathing           no more.          Will goes white, covers the phone and whispers to Chet -                          WILL           We killed a cop.                          CHET           You were driving! I'm just an           accomplice!                          WILL           They're gonna hunt us down and kill           us. Cops don't take this shit lightly.                                                   CHET           I bet he had like eight kids. We           have to find them and support his           family forever.                                   Dwayne is holding back laughter. Finally bursts out.                                    WILL (O.S.)           What's so fucking funny!?                                                   DWAYNE           I'm just messin' with you. You didn't           kill anyone. How'd a moron like you           manage to rob a bank?                                    WILL (O.S.)           Jesus! Can we just get this over           with? Where do you want the money?           77.                                                   DWAYNE           There's a boarded up gas station out           on Commerce Avenue, past the highway.           Be there in 30 minutes.                                    WILL (O.S.)           I'll be there in ten.                                                   DWAYNE           Then you'll be standing around with           your dick in one hand, and my money           in the other.                                   Dwayne hangs up. He dials another number -                                                   DWAYNE           Yo, Juicy, wrangle your boy. Money's           on its way.                                   EXT. ROAD - DAY                                   The Mustang shrieks past us.                                   SUPER COUNTDOWN: 2 hours, 58 minutes...                                                   CUT TO:                                   INT. MCDONALD'S - DAY                                   Dwayne and Jay sit at a table with a fast food feast spread          out. Dwayne eats a Big Mac, a look of utter satisfaction on          his face, a man whom the gods have finally smiled down upon.                                                   DWAYNE           I remember the summer after my mother           passed was the first year they had           the Monopoly game at McDonald's. I           musta come here three times a day           trying to collect all the game pieces.           Packed on 20 pounds, got acne from           all the grease. The Major said I was           the fattest, ugliest 13-year-old he           ever laid eyes on. But I didn't care,           I just wanted to win the money and           get the fuck out of there. So, one           night, I followed this skinny register           kid home, jumped him. I kept whaling           on him, asking him where they were           hiding the Park Place piece. The           million dollar prize. But he didn't           know shit. A year later, The Major           won the lotto. I asked him for a           Sega Genesis. He bought me one of           those paddles with the ball attached.           78.                                   Dwayne goes for a fry, sees his carton is empty and grabs a          handful of Jay's.                                                   DWAYNE           I'm not ashamed to admit that I've           gone through some dark times since           then. Depression. Addiction to a           variety of shit, which I won't go           into. I know you must think that's           pretty silly, especially since you           manage to get through the day and you           don't got shit going on as compared           to me. But that's just the way it           is. That's life.                                   Jay looks pretty affected that Dwayne is opening up to him.                                                   JAY           You know, I've been pretty low, too...           if you ever want to talk about that           kinda stuff.                                                   DWAYNE           No. I don't. My whole point I was           trying to make before you interrupted           me was that that shit is all in the           past. 'Cause I did it. I finally           pulled it off.                                                   JAY           We pulled it off, Dwayne. The two           us. We're a good team.                                                   DWAYNE           Are we? Would you do anything to           protect me, my money, my empire?                                                   JAY           Yeah, sure...                          (NERVOUS)           I mean, like what kinda stuff are we           talking about?                                   Dwayne takes out his cell, keys in the speed dial code and          slides the cell across the table to Jay.                                                   DWAYNE           Would you push the button?                                                   JAY           Why would you want me to do that?                                                   DWAYNE           It's just a question, Jay. Would           you? If I asked you?                          (MORE)           79.                                                   DWAYNE (CONT'D)           I mean, it's no different than those           watermelons.                                                   JAY           Watermelons aren't alive.                                                   DWAYNE           Yeah, they are. Not the ones you           blew up, though.                                   Dwayne stares hard at Jay. A tense beat.                                                   JAY           No one gets hurt...right, Dwayne?                                                   DWAYNE           Oh, yeah. I forgot about that part.                                   Dwayne cracks a smile.                                                   DWAYNE           Anyway, he hasn't even made the drop           yet. I'm gonna go take a shit.           Stay away from the bathroom. Someone           could get hurt.                                   Dwayne heads off. Jay eyes the cell phone he has left behind.                                   EXT. BOARDED UP GAS STATION - DAY                                   Weeds have overtaken the abandoned place. Will leans against          his parked car, waiting. Chet is nowhere to be seen.                                   Will spots Vaughn's Sentra approach. It pulls into the          station and Vaughn steps. He could not look more menacing.          Juicy hangs back in the passenger seat.                                                   WILL           Where are the other guys?                                                   VAUGHN           I'm the only guy.                          (BEAT)           You got it?                                   Will picks up the garbage bag at his feet and walks it over          to Vaughn. He opens it, looks in.                                                   VAUGHN           What the fuck did you do...rob a           bank?           80.                                                   WILL                          (INCREDULOUS)           Yes.                                   Vaughn grins.                                                   WILL           Now where's the code?                                                   VAUGHN           I don't have any code.                                   Vaughn turns to leave. Will grabs his arm. Vaughn stops,          looks purposefully down at Will's hand. Will draws back.                                                   WILL           Listen, man, I just want the code.                                                   VAUGHN           I don't know what the fuck you're           talking about.                                                   WILL           The code for the fucking bomb!                                   Will opens his jacket. Vaughn takes a sudden step back.                                                   VAUGHN           What kind of stupid motherfucker           wears a bomb to a drop?                                                   WILL           Your boss put this on me.                                                   VAUGHN           I am my boss.                                                   WILL           Then give me the code!                                                   VAUGHN           Motherfucker, I don't know no goddamn           code. Whoever told you I did, lied           to you. Now step the fuck off, or           I'll shoot you in the face so you           don't explode and mess up my boots.                                   Vaughn goes to leave again. Will runs ahead of him and gets          in his way.                                                   WILL           If you don't have the code, I want           that money back.           81.                                                   VAUGHN           The only way you're getting this           money back is if you kill me.                                                   WILL           You don't know what I've gone through           for that money!                                   In an instant, Vaughn has his gun out, aimed at Will's head.                                                   VAUGHN           Do I look sympathetic? Now step the           fuck aside.                                   INT. SENTRA - DAY                                   Juicy looks on with interest as Vaughn holds Will at gunpoint.          Then she spots                                   EXT. BOARDED UP GAS STATION - DAY                                   Chet creeping up behind Vaughn, from wherever he was hiding,          clutching a large metal pipe.                                   Juicy jumps out of the Sentra.                                                   JUICY           Vaughn, look out!                                   Vaughn whirls around toward Chet, just in time to have his          gun arm smashed by the pipe. The weapon drops from his hand.          Chet takes another swing, cracking Vaughn across the face.          He howls, blood spraying, and topples over. Chet goes for          another swing, when -                                   Juicy jumps on him, wildly biting and clawing.                                   Will grabs the back of Juicy's track jacket for leverage and          flings her away. She hits the back of the Sentra and careens          clear across the trunk.                                                   WILL           Let's go!                                   Will grabs the money. Chet kicks Vaughn's gun into the          bushes. The guys break for the Mustang and get in.                                   Juicy gets to her feet, runs right by a dazed Vaughn and          after the car, which pulls out into the road and leaves her          behind, screaming and cursing.                                   INT. MUSTANG - DAY - MOVING                                   Will's mind is racing.           82.                                                   WILL           What the fuck was that?                                                   CHET           They tried to screw us. You're a           liability. They were just gonna let           you blow up.                                                   WILL           Not with the money they won't.                                   INT. JAY'S GARAGE WORKSHOP - DAY                                   A tidy space, filled with various half-finished devices,          action figures and heavy metal posters. A low mechanical          hum registers.                                   Dwayne sits on a stool in the center of the garage, while          Jay carefully trims his hair with an electric clipper. Dwayne          holds up a mirror to check out his work.                                                   DWAYNE           Never comes out this nice when I do           it myself. You might wanna take some           more off the top, though. I wanna           look real professional when I go down           to the morgue to identify the body.                                   Dwayne's phone chimes from a nearby counter. He grabs it,          looks at the incoming number, slightly concerned. He answers -                                                   DWAYNE           You drop the money yet?                                                   INTERCUT WITH:                                   INT. MUSTANG - DAY - MOVING                                   Will yells into the phone -                                                   WILL           No! I've still got the money! And           I cracked your friend's face open!                                    DWAYNE (O.S.)           Why the fuck would you do that!?                                                   WILL           You lied! You said I'd get the code!                                   Dwayne is panicked, covers badly -                                                   DWAYNE           I gave him the code. He told me he           committed it to memory.                          (MORE)           83.                                                   DWAYNE (CONT'D)           He was probably just embarrassed that           he forgot it. I'll call him up and -                                    WILL (O.S.)           You didn't give him shit! I want           the code now or you'll never see           this money!                                                   DWAYNE           Hold on there, big man. You got a           bomb on you. I got a cell phone that           detonates it. You're not exactly           negotiating from a position of leverage.                                    WILL (O.S.)           I'm holding the money. I blow up,           and it blows up. Who has the leverage           now? Go ahead and push the button,           you idiot.                                   Chet freaks out -                                                   CHET           Don't tell him to push the button!           Pull over! Pull over!                                   Dwayne is getting pissed off.                                                   DWAYNE           Why don't you watch what the fuck           you say! I own you! I tell you to           rob a bank, and you rob a bank. I           tell you to give me the money, and           you give me the goddamn money and           hope I show you some mercy.                                    WILL (O.S.)           I'm tired of this bullshit. I'm           already dead, right? So fuck you.           At least I'll die rich. I can't say           the same for you.                                   The line goes dead. Dwayne tears off his haircut smock.                                                   DWAYNE           That piece of shit hung up on me!                                   INT. MUSTANG - DAY - MOVING                                   Chet grabs the wheel and forces Will to pull over.                                                   CHET           Get me out of this car!           84.                                   EXT. ROAD - DAY                                   Chet jumps out while the Mustang is still slowing down. He          runs 20 yards away. Will turns the car off and gets out.                                                   CHET           That was colossally stupid!                                                   WILL           It was a negotiation tactic. He'll           call back and I won't answer. Then           he'll call back and I will answer, and           he'll realize the only way he gets the           money is if he gives me the code.                                                   CHET           Sure! That seems like a perfectly           logical pattern of thought! I bet           that's exactly what he'll do!                                   INT. JAY'S GARAGE WORKSHOP - DAY                                   Dwayne tries Will's phone again. It goes to voicemail. He          explodes like a pack of Mentos in a two-liter of Diet Coke.          Throws his cell across the room. Overturns a work table.                                                   DWAYNE           Does this guy know who the fuck I am!?                                   Jay retreats into a corner. Dwayne's a big boy, and he soon          tires himself out, hunches over, panting.                                                   JAY           Dwayne...you never told me you weren't           going to give him the code.                                                   DWAYNE           We're not amateurs. He was a loose           end. I let him live, someday I woulda           been walking out of my mansion and...           bam! FBI, CIA, NSA, all converging on           my front lawn, 'cause a loose end turned           state's evidence and they got what           they need to put me away.                                   Dwayne shakes his head. Starts digging through the mess          he's made...finds his phone.                                                   DWAYNE           Fuck it, Jay. I'll just kill The           Major myself.                                   Dwayne keys in the speed dial code.           85.                                                   JAY           Don't do it.                                   Dwayne looks down at the send button.                                                   DWAYNE           You know what they say about a tree           falling in the forest? Maybe the           same thing applies to blowing up           some motherfucker across town. Maybe           it doesn't even make a sound.                                   Dwayne hits send.                                                   DWAYNE           Boom.                                   But Dwayne notices something...the phone in his hand is          ringing. He puts it to his ear. The line connects -                                    FEMALE VOICE (O.S.)           Hello...who is this...hello...?                                   Dwayne snaps the phone shut, looks to Jay, who tries to will          the beads of sweat back into his pores.                                                   DWAYNE           Who did I just call, Jay? 'Cause           she sounded cute for a bomb.                                                   JAY                          (SWALLOWS HARD)           Gina Kim. My seventh grade crush. Or           whoever lives in Gina Kim's house now.                                                   DWAYNE           Where's the number for the bomb?                                                   JAY           In my head. I switched it out of           your phone while you were taking a           shit. You're out of control, Dwayne.                                                   DWAYNE           I'm in perfect control!                                   Dwayne charges Jay. Jay holds up the hair clippers like a          weapon, flicks them on. Dwayne rips the cord out of the          wall, uses it to yank the clippers from Jay's hand, then          whips him with the cord.                                                   JAY           Stop it!           86.                                   Dwayne goes to whip Jay again, but Jay moves like a jack rabbit          and delivers a fierce kidney shot. Dwayne stumbles backward,          falls onto the couch, groans -                          DWAYNE           You asshole...I make you my partner           and you pull this shit...                          JAY           I'm tired of you pushing me around           all the time! What kinda partner           does that!?                          DWAYNE           Fuck you...I'm gonna piss blood,           aren't I?                          JAY           That's what it said on the internet.          Dwayne's phone rings in his pocket.                          DWAYNE           Go on. Get it out for me. I can           barely move.          Jay pulls the cell from Dwayne's pocket...opens it and puts          it to his ear so he can answer -                          DWAYNE           Glad you came to your senses.                          INTERCUT WITH:          EXT. BOARDED UP GAS STATION - DAY                                   Vaughn has a rag pressed to his swollen, bloody face. Juicy          is nearby, banged up and dirty. Vaughn yells into his cell -                                                   VAUGHN           Who the fuck do you think you're           talking to!?                                    DWAYNE (O.S.)           I honestly don't know.                                                   VAUGHN           Let me give you a hint: your boy           just jumped me, tossed my bitch like           a rag doll and split with the cash.                                   Dwayne realizes who's on the other line, recovers -                                                   DWAYNE           That guy's not my boy. He's a dick.           I'm sorry for all the, uh, confusion.           87.                                    VAUGHN (O.S.)           Confusion? The only motherfucker           that's confused is you. Apparently,           you think you can fuck me and survive           the day.                                                   DWAYNE           I wasn't fucking you, I was fucking           him. You gotta understand, you're           like a pawn in a much larger game           I'm playing here.                                    VAUGHN (O.S.)           Did you just call me a pawn, you           stupid fuck!?                                                   DWAYNE           I didn't mean it like that. I'm           just juggling a whole lot of shit.                                    VAUGHN (O.S.)           I want my money. Right now.                                                   DWAYNE           That may not be possible.                          (DELICATELY)           I just want to put this out there,           to keep you in the loop...but I may           need to bump the hit.                                   Vaughn paces, furious.                                                   VAUGHN           This isn't a reservation at Sizzler!           You don't "bump" it! I want you to           bring me my money right now, to where           I am standing in this shit hole town,           bleeding from the motherfucking face!                                    DWAYNE (O.S.)           I don't exactly have the money...give           me some time and -                                                   VAUGHN           The deal's off! You just became the           hit!                                   Vaughn hangs up, tosses the bloody rag to the ground and          screams in frustration.                                                   JUICY           He lives with his daddy. You already           got the address.           88.                                   INT. JAY'S GARAGE WORKSHOP - DAY                                   Dwayne looks down at his phone.                                                   DWAYNE           That's it. The assassin's gonna           kill me now. I'm gonna die. Game           fucking over.                                   Dwayne cradles his arms around his wounded kidney, rocks          back and forth, wallowing in defeat.                                                   JAY           We can still get him the money. Try           the pizza guy back.                                                   DWAYNE           Why? So he can fuck around again,           and I wind up dead, anyway? No.           I'd rather just sit here. I want to           die right here on this couch.                                                   JAY           No. We're gonna get that money.           Just like we planned. All we gotta           do is get the leverage back.                                                   DWAYNE           How do we do that? Pizza boy's           obviously got some kinda death wish.                                   Jay gathers his resolve.                                                   JAY           We take the girl. The one he went           to see. Then he won't try shit.                                   Dwayne looks up at Jay with something not unlike awe.                                                   DWAYNE           That's actually...that's a great           fucking idea, Jay. It's the best           idea anyone's had all day.                                   Dwayne lowers his head. He removes the gun from his          belt...holds it out to Jay. Jay takes it. Feels its weight.          Then offers it back.                                                   JAY           I was just trying to figure out how           you would do it, Dwayne.                                   Dwayne takes the gun. Struggles to stand. Jay helps him.           89.                                                   DWAYNE           Ok. Then let's do it right. We           leave nothing to chance. Because if           we go to prison for this, I won't be           able to watch out for you.                                                   JAY           Ok, Dwayne.                                   Dwayne looks over at a frame backpack hanging from a hook on          the wall. PVC piping bulges from it.                                                   DWAYNE           You should probably bring the           flamethrower, buddy. There's gonna           be some evidence to dispose of.                                   EXT. SIDE OF THE ROAD - DAY                                   Will and Chet sit on the ground, still 20 yards apart. Chet          checks his watch.                                                   CHET           It's been half an hour.                                                   WILL           He'll call.                                                   CHET           In another 30 minutes I'm calling           the bomb squad.                                   Chet gestures to the vast emptiness all around them.                                                   CHET           These guys obviously aren't watching           you anymore.                                                   WILL           You know, even if they get the bomb           squad here in time, and they can           somehow get this thing off me, we           still gotta answer for the robbery.                                                   CHET           I'll take the heat with you, Will.                                                   WILL           Nah. I'll tell them I forced you           into it. That you didn't have a           choice.                                                   CHET           Thanks, man.           90.                                   Will looks at Chet for a beat.                          WILL           That's it? You're not gonna think           about it a little longer? After all           we went through...tear down the           relationship, rebuild it...you're           gonna let me go to prison alone?                          CHET           You offered.                          WILL           It was a test. Your grade: F minus.           You know what the "F" is for?                          CHET           To fuck myself?                          WILL           You passed that test. Failed the           important one.          As the guys continue to argue -          SUPER COUNTDOWN: 1 hour, 28 minutes...                          CUT TO:          INT. LAW FIRM, OFFICE BUILDING - DAY          Kate walks down a hallway, turns into an office. Two figures          rush past from the intersecting hallway and duck behind a          corner.                                   Kate emerges from the office and continues into                                   INT. WOMEN'S BATHROOM, OFFICE BUILDING - DAY                                   Kate goes to the mirror, checks herself out. She's been          crying. She splashes water on her face, then enters a stall.                                   The bathroom door opens and Dwayne and Jay enter. Dwayne          pulls something hairy from his pocket.                                   Inside the stall, Kate reaches for some toilet paper...from          underneath the barrier, she notices two pairs of dirty,          masculine sneakers. Her breath goes shallow. She takes out          her cell, quietly opens it. She presses the first 9 in "911,"          but her keypad volume is on and the phone makes a dull,          electronic beep that echoes in the quiet bathroom.                                    DWAYNE (O.S.)           Why don't you just slide the phone           under the door, so I don't have to           kick it open and see you with your           panties down.           91.                                   Kate slides the phone out. One of the sneakers crushes it.          She gets off the toilet, arranges her clothing and steps out          out of the stall. She gasps at -                                   The two ominous men standing there in gorilla masks. Dwayne's          gun is plainly visible, tucked into the front of his pants.                                                   DWAYNE           What's the quietest way out of the           building? 'Cause I might get excited           in a confrontation, and you might           wind up shot in the face.                                   EXT. LIVING ROOM, NICE HOUSE - DAY                                   The Major is watching reruns of Three's Company. He doesn't          laugh or remotely smile at any of it.                                   The subtle click of a door opening does not escape his finely          tuned senses.                                                   MAJOR           Dwayne?                                   Nothing. The Major gets up and goes to a desk, rifles through          a drawer and pulls something out. A simple pen. He clutches          it like a weapon.                                   INT. HALLWAY, NICE HOUSE - DAY                                   The Major creeps along.                                    VAUGHN (O.S.)           Just stay where you are, old man.                                   The Major turns to find Vaughn pointing a gun at him.                                                   VAUGHN           I'm looking for your son.                                                   MAJOR           Even if I knew where he was, I           wouldn't tell you nothing.                                                   VAUGHN           Don't be stupid.                                                   MAJOR           You know, I saved a black man's life           in the shit. So if I took yours I'd           be even.                                                   VAUGHN           I see where your son gets his common           sense.                          (MORE)           92.                                                   VAUGHN (CONT'D)           But you might want to readjust your           attitude, because I ain't fucking           around. I want Dwayne. I don't know           why you'd want to protect him, the           motherfucker hired me to kill you.                                   If this news has any effect at all on The Major, he doesn't          show it.                                                   VAUGHN           Just tell me where he is!                                   Vaughn pulls back the hammer of his gun.                                                   MAJOR           You think I'm scared of death?           There's a whole generation of gooks           that think I'm the grim reaper.                                   Vaughn shakes his head. Almost imperceptibly, The Major          repositions the hand with the pen in it. Vaughn is about to          squeeze the trigger -                                   But The Major beats him to it, clicking the pen, which is          actually a pen gun. It fires a .22 caliber round into Vaughn's          neck. He drops the gun and clutches the geyser of blood.                                   The Major charges Vaughn, jumps on him and wrestles him to          the ground, trying to jam the pen into the wound in his neck.                                                   MAJOR           I'll ride you all the way to hell!           I know exactly how to get there!                                   Vaughn reaches for his gun. His fingers curl around it and          he whips it across The Major's face, knocking him backwards.                                   Vaughn scrambles to his feet, gun pointed at the felled Major.                                                   VAUGHN           What now, old man!? You can't kill           me! None of y'all can kill me!                                   The Major looks up at Vaughn, once again face to face with a          loaded weapon.                                                   MAJOR           Go on and -                                   BANG!                                   The Major goes limp, one searing hole in his chest.           93.                                   Vaughn clasps a hand to his neck to staunch the flow of blood.          He steps over the The Major's body and continues upstairs.                                   INT. BATHROOM, NICE HOUSE - DAY                                   Vaughn rifles through the cabinets, dumps all of the first          aid supplies into the sink. He gets to work on his wound.                                   INT. DWAYNE'S ROOM, NICE HOUSE - DAY                                   The locked door is kicked open. Vaughn, neck crudely          bandaged, flicks on the lights and looks around the childish          room. Chinese Fighting Fish swim in a large tank, seem to          stop and look out at him like guard dogs.                                   Vaughn ransacks the place. He finds a desk drawer locked.          Takes out his gun and blows it open.                                   Vaughn pulls a stuffed file folder out of the drawer. Flips          through it. It's full of details about Dwayne's plan, the          tanning salon, etc.                                                   VAUGHN           Motherfucker has lost his mind...                                   He finds a map of the town in the file. Three locations are          highlighted: the bank, the boarded up gas station, and the          radio tower. PUSH IN on the radio tower.                                   Vaughn stuffs the map into his pocket. He stops before leaving          the room, turns and shatters the fish tank with the butt of          his gun. Water spills out and the Chinese Fighting Fish flop          onto the floor. As Vaughn lifts a boot to stomp them -                                   EXT. ROAD - DAY                                   Will and Chet are still arguing -                                                   CHET           Look at the upshot, while you're           behind bars you can finally finish           your degree. If I was there, too,           it would just be a distraction.                                                   WILL           Great idea, Chet. Thanks a lot.           I'll just sit here and figure out a           fucking major.                                   Will stews. After a beat, his hand goes to his pocket.          It's vibrating. He pulls out his cell.                                                   WILL           Hey, it's them.           94.                                   Will answers -                                                   WILL           You ready to talk now?                                                   INTERCUT WITH:                                   INT. MINIVAN - DAY - MOVING                                   Dwayne drives with his cell pressed to his ear. Jay keeps          watch on Kate in back. She is blindfolded, hands bound behind          her back with duct tape.                                                   DWAYNE                          (INTO PHONE)           Yeah, I'm ready to talk. I want my           money. Meet me back at the radio           tower in 50 minutes.                                    WILL (O.S.)           I've barely got an hour left!                                                   DWAYNE           That's the point. I want you on a           short leash.                                    WILL (O.S.)           Fuck that. Give me the code first.           Then you can have your money. You'll           just have to trust me when I say           that I don't want it.                                                   DWAYNE           Yeah, I'm sure. You just wanna go           back to your fantastic life. Your           great job. And that blonde bitch           with the sexy voice.                                   Will's mind jumps to the only logical conclusion. Roller          coaster stomach drop. His voice cracks as he asks a useless                         QUESTION -                                                   WILL           What the fuck is that supposed to           mean?                                    DWAYNE (O.S.)           It means that girl you paid a visit           to today is sitting in the back of           my van right now. And it ain't           exactly consensual.                                                   WILL           Fuck you! You crossed a line!           95.                                   Dwayne just laughs, maniacally.                                                   DWAYNE           There are no lines! There's just me           and you and 100 thousand dollars.           Once we get that shit in order, you           can have her back, and your life,           too. So you're gonna show up where           I say, when I say. Alone. And if           you try anything stupid, the two of           you will be delivering pizzas to           Saint Peter.                                                   WILL           Let me talk to her.                                                   DWAYNE           You got ten seconds.                                   Dwayne hands the phone back to Jay, who puts it to Kate's          ear. She is trembling.                                                   KATE           Will...?                                    WILL (O.S.)           Kate, I'm so sorry.                                                   KATE           It's okay...I'm fine...I'm just really -                                   Dwayne snatches the phone.                                                   DWAYNE           She's just really gonna die if you           fuck this up.                                   Will absorbs this like a blow to the chest. The line          disconnects.                                                   WILL           Fuck!                                                   CHET           What happened?                                                   WILL           They have Kate.                                                   CHET           What the fuck does that mean!?                                                   WILL           They took her, man. They must have           followed us to her office.           96.                                                   CHET           Damn it! You had to go see her!                                                   WILL           I'm sorry. I messed up...I finally           messed up worse than I could have           possibly imagined.                                                   CHET           We gotta get her back, Will. These           guys are crazy.                                                   WILL           We still got the money. As long as           we have that, she's alive. Come on.                                   Chet grabs the bag of cash. They hustle into the car and it          peels out, leaving behind a swirling cloud of dust. As the          sun begins to set -                                   SUPER COUNTDOWN: 58 minutes...                                                   CUT TO:                                   EXT. HIGHWAY - NIGHT                                   Two menacing headlights come at us on the empty road. They                         BELONG TO                                   INT. SENTRA - NIGHT - MOVING                                   Vaughn holds up Dwayne's map as he drives. He seems to be          on the right road, headed for the radio tower. He crumples          the map and throws it in back.                                   EXT. SIDE OF THE HIGHWAY - NIGHT                                   The Mustang stops by the gate to the radio tower. Chet jumps          out and disappears into the bushes.                                   EXT. RADIO TOWER - NIGHT                                   The Mustang pulls up. Will gets out and looks around the          deserted place. He holds up the money bag.                                                   WILL           I'm here!                                   In the shadow of the nearby shed, the minivan is revealed as          its interior lights come on. The door opens and Dwayne          emerges, in his mask.                                                   DWAYNE           How much time you got left?           97.                                   Will takes off the jacket and tosses it to the ground. He          looks at the timer.                                                   WILL           Ten minutes.                                                   DWAYNE           Damn. Maybe we should just wait           around for the money shot.                                   The guys meet in a clearing. Dwayne nods at the bag.                                                   DWAYNE           That the money?                                                   WILL           Maybe. Where's the girl?                                   Dwayne grins.                                                   DWAYNE           In the van. Maybe.                                                   WILL           Get her out here. You're wasting time.                                   Will grips the bag close to him.                                   Dwayne whistles. The minivan door opens and Jay steps out.          Strapped to his back is the frame pack we saw at his workshop.          A long tube connects the pack to the handle of a metal pipe-          like device in his hand.                                   Jay helps Kate, still bound and blindfolded, out of the van.          They approach Dwayne and take up position behind him.                                                   KATE           Will, are you there?                                                   WILL           I'm here. It's gonna be okay.                                                   DWAYNE           This is a fucking tearjerker.                                                   WILL           Just let her come over here.                                                   DWAYNE           I will. But you should know, my           associate over there is packing a           flamethrower.                                   Jay aims the metal device he has been holding. He hits a          button and a pilot light comes on.           98.                                                   JAY                          (FLAT)           Just do what we say. Don't mess           around or anything.                                                   DWAYNE           Unless either of you can outrun a 25-           foot flame.           (gestures to gun in his belt)           Or a bullet.                                   Dwayne roughly pulls Kate away from Jay and shoves her          forward. Will grabs her, pulls her blindfold off and pushes          her behind him.                                                   WILL           Get back.                                                   DWAYNE           I gave you the girl. Now give me           the money.                                                   WILL           How about we get the code out of the           way first, since this bomb happens           to be ticking so close to all of us.                                                   DWAYNE           Fair enough.                                   Dwayne pulls a slip of paper from his pocket.                                                   DWAYNE                          (TAUNTING)           You ready to be a free man?                                                   WILL           Just give it to me!                                                   DWAYNE           448921.                                   Will keys in the numbers. The timer freezes and the lock at          the hinge opens. Will carefully extricates himself from the          vest. He lays it down on the ground and steps away from it.          His shirt is drenched in sweat from where the bomb sat.                                   Will takes a final look at the money bag, then throws it to          Dwayne. He looks inside, smiles. Jay takes a peak.                                                   DWAYNE           It's so fucking pretty, ain't it?                                                   JAY           Yeah. It's awesome.           99.                                   Dwayne looks up at Will.                                                   DWAYNE           Okay, you can get out of here now.                                                   WILL           I actually have this sneaking           suspicion that once we turn around,           you're gonna put a bullet in both of           our backs - and this is just a guess -           burn our bodies.                                                   DWAYNE           They say great minds think alike.           And in this case, so do we.                                                   WILL           I figured as much. That's why I got           a gun pointed at you, too.                          (LOUDLY)           I got a sniper in the bushes locked           on you right now.                                                   DWAYNE           Do I look that dumb?                                                   WILL           I can't tell, you're wearing a mask.                                   Before Dwayne can react, he stops and blinks, something          shining in his eyes.                                                   JAY           Hey...on your forehead.                                   Dwayne's eyes turn upward, just barely making out the red          dot that dances on his forehead.                                                   DWAYNE           Son of a bitch. Well played.                                   In the bushes, hidden from sight, Chet carefully aims his          laser pointer at Dwayne's forehead.                                   Will grins at Dwayne.                                                   WILL           We're gonna walk out of here now.           If you shoot, my sniper shoots. I           can't guarantee he'll get both of           you. But he'll definitely get you.                                   As Will turns away -           100.                                    VAUGHN (O.S.)           Hold the fuck up.                                   Vaughn emerges from the darkness. He looks at Will.                                                   VAUGHN           Wasn't expecting to see you here.                                   Without warning, Vaughn cracks Will over the head with the          butt of his gun. He goes down hard. Kate screams. Vaughn          points the gun at her and she shuts up.                                   Dwayne steps forward with the bag.                                                   DWAYNE           It's all good. We got your money.                                                   VAUGHN           Nice mask, Dwayne. Now throw the           money over here.                                   Dwayne complies. As soon as the bag lands, Vaughn aims the          gun at him.                                                   DWAYNE           Hold up. You don't have to do this.           I just paid you.                                   Kate looks on, terrified, an unconscious Will at her side.                                   Vaughn's eyes burn a hole through Dwayne.                                                   VAUGHN           I've been hit with a pipe, shot with a           pen, and wasted my whole motherfucking           day...all because of you and this job.                                                   DWAYNE           I don't know what you're talking about.           Just take the money.                                                   VAUGHN           I will. And then I'm gonna tie up the           two loose ends in the gorilla masks.                                                   DWAYNE           I'm not a loose end!                                                   VAUGHN           You're a fucking idiot. You are as           loose as ends get.                                   Panicked, Dwayne's eyes flash over to Jay, who tightens his          grip on the flamethrower handle. Jay catches Dwayne's eye.          Dwayne nods. Vaughn sees this.           101.                                                   VAUGHN           What the -                                   Jay rears up with the flamethrower. Vaughn couldn't be more          surprised to see the device Jay is holding spit a massive          ball of fire at him.                                   Vaughn dives to the ground, fires off two wild shots, one of                         WHICH -                                   Nails Dwayne in the shoulder, spinning him backward and          knocking him off his feet.                                   Kate recoils in horror as: Vaughn scurries madly on the          ground, intermittently firing, while Jay screams and tries          to torch him with the 25-foot flame. A hand touches Kate's          shoulder and she whirls around to find -                                                   KATE           Chet!? What are you doing here!?                                                   CHET           Not now. We gotta take off.                          (LOOKS AROUND)           Where's Will?                                   Kate looks to the empty spot beside her where Will just was.                                   Flames inches from him, Vaughn lines up a desperate shot -                                   Good news: the bullet only grazes Jay's side. Bad news: it          keeps going and punches through the flamethrower backpack,          which happens to be filled with gasoline, which happens to          have an incredibly low flash point. So the spark from, say,          a bullet, would cause                                   AN ERUPTION OF FLAMES                                   Meanwhile, Will pops up behind Chet and Kate, clutching the          garbage bag.                                                   WILL           I got the money. Let's get the fuck           out of here.                                   They take off toward Will's car.                                   Dwayne groggily comes to...no SOUND, just a ringing. The          first thing he sees: Vaughn storming toward him, god-knows-          what spewing from his mouth. Vaughn levels his gun -                                   It doesn't make a sound for two reasons. The second being          that it's out of bullets.                                   Dwayne fumbles for his own hardware. Muzzle flash.           102.                                   Vaughn drops to his knees. Pulse snatched from him.                                   SOUND SLAMS BACK to the tune of Jay's screams. Dwayne looks          over to see his friend in flames, flailing his arms and          shrieking. Dwayne's head snaps to the other side, where he          sees the Mustang's tires peel. He tears off his mask,          frantically looks around. The money is gone.                                                   DWAYNE           No!!                                   Jay disentangles himself from the backpack, the source of          the flames, but his clothes are now ablaze. In his frenzy,          he somehow manages to string together two coherent words -                                                   JAY           Dwayne! Help!                                   Dwayne gets to his feet as the Mustang roars down the          driveway. He looks to Jay, then to his minivan. Dwayne's          face: Two roads diverge in a wood. Which to take?                                                   DWAYNE           Goddamn it, Jay!                                   Dwayne sprints over to Jay, rips off his jacket and uses it          to beat the flames down.                                                   DWAYNE           Stop, drop and roll!                                   Jay hits the deck. Dwayne continues fighting the flames,          finally falls on top of Jay with the jacket spread and          smothers the last of them out.                                   Jay looks up at Dwayne with puppy dog eyes.                                                   JAY           You came back for me...you said you           never would.                                                   DWAYNE           You didn't hesitate back there, Jay.           You did good.                                   Jay smiles. Flames overtake the field all around them.                                                   DWAYNE           I'm gonna go put a bullet in that           motherfucker and get our money.           Think you can get outta here?                                                   JAY           Yeah. Go get him.           103.                                   Dwayne hurries toward the minivan. Jay stumbles up to his          feet and limps off toward the woods.                                   EXT. HIGHWAY - NIGHT                                   The Mustang travels away from the rising flames.                                   INT. MUSTANG - NIGHT - MOVING                                   Will's face is a mess of dirt, sweat and dried blood. He          and Chet stare ahead, completely shell-shocked.                                   Kate looks from one of them to the other.                                                   KATE           Uh...I just got kidnapped.                                                   CHET           Yeah, that was totally Will's fault.           In case you want to factor that in           while you're mulling over the whole           relationship thing.                                                   WILL           I'm very sorry about the kidnapping.           This is me, taking responsibility           for it. Growing up. Like a viable           life partner.                                                   CHET           This man has spied on you in the           nude before!                                                   WILL           What? No, I didn't.                                                   CHET           He's lying. He's trying to build a           relationship on a foundation of lies.           And it won't stand.                                                   KATE           I just got kidnapped! Can we talk           about that!?                                   Something catches Will's attention: a set of headlights          rapidly growing larger in the rear-view mirror.                                   INT. MINIVAN - NIGHT - MOVING                                   Dwayne's speedometer is buried past 100 mph. His eyes burn          with intensity.           104.                                   INT. MUSTANG - NIGHT - MOVING                                   Will hits the gas.                                                   WILL           Oh, shit. One of those dudes is           definitely not dead!                                   Chet and Kate look out the back window. Chet screams -                                                   CHET           Hurry up! He's already on us!                                   EXT. HIGHWAY - NIGHT                                   Dwayne's car pulls even with the Mustang.                                   INT. MUSTANG - NIGHT - MOVING                                   Will looks over at Dwayne, who pulls out his gun and takes          aim. He flashes a sick grin -                                                   DWAYNE           I own this town.                                   Before Dwayne can get a shot off -                                   EXT. HIGHWAY - NIGHT                                   An explosion rocks the minivan from inside. The back end is          lifted off the ground and the car tumbles over itself. It          lands on its roof and skids into a ditch.                                   INT. MUSTANG - NIGHT - MOVING                                   Chet and Kate watch the burning wreck disappear out the back          window. They are equal parts confused and happy to be alive.                                                   KATE           What the hell was that?                                                   WILL           That was the bomb I carried around           all day. I reactivated it and put           it in the back of his van. I guess           his time was up.                                                   CHET           "His time was up?" Were you thinking           that up the whole day?                                                   WILL           I was prepared, yes. I can't help           it if I'm the kind of guy who thinks           about the future.           105.                                                   CHET                          (TO KATE)           He's not that kind of guy. He doesn't           think about the future. Ever.                                                   KATE           What exactly happened since I saw           you this afternoon?                                                   WILL           Primarily, we robbed a bank.                                                   KATE           What!? So you're, like, fugitives?           What do we do now?                                                   CHET           Yeah, Will. What does the future           hold?                                                   WILL           Nothing good if we stay in town and           they pin this on us. Kate, I think           you should put in for that vacation           time. Right now. If anyone gives           you a problem, tell them to fuck           off. There's 100 grand in that trash           bag by your feet. A third of it's           yours.                                   Kate opens the bag...smiles through the dirt and grime.                                                   KATE           Will, that's -                                                   CHET           Fucked up. Why does she get a share?                                                   WILL           Why do you get a share?                                   Chet stews. Will catches Kate's eyes in the rear-view.                                                   WILL           Airport's 30 minutes away. Pick a           destination. This time it's not a           practice run.                                   EXT. HIGHWAY - DAY                                   The car zooms off.                                   SUPER COUNTDOWN: 0 hours, 0 minutes...                                                   CUT TO:           106.                                   EXT. DITCH - NIGHT                                   Wind fans the flames of the burning minivan. The shattered          windshield sprouts another crack...then another, as -                                   Dwayne's foot kicks it out. He drags himself from the          smoldering steel carcass. He is a charred, blood splattered          mess, but he is alive.                                   EXT. HIGHWAY - NIGHT                                   Dwayne is propped up against a sign, lingering on the edge          of consciousness. The headlights of a lone pickup truck          approach. Dwayne feebly waves the truck down for a ride.                                   INT. NICE HOUSE - NIGHT                                   The door opens and Dwayne stumbles through. He has made it          home. He drops like a puppet whose strings have been cut.                                   From where his head has landed on the floor, Dwayne sees          something odd...long red streaks. He crawls forward on all          fours to investigate...                                   It is a trail of sticky red blood. Dwayne follows it until          he comes upon its source...the crumpled body of his father,          lying face down. Dwayne's face: shock and confusion and joy.                                                   DWAYNE           Dad?                                   Dwayne inches closer, pokes the body. Nothing.                                                   DWAYNE           Dad, are you -                                   The body emits a low groan. Dwayne rolls it over. His          father's face is white, he's lost a lot of blood, but he          isn't totally spent yet. He struggles to speak -                                                   MAJOR           Dwayne...                                                   DWAYNE           What happened to you?                                                   MAJOR           Some guy...said you hired him to           kill me.                                                   DWAYNE           Dad, I...I'd never...           107.                                                   MAJOR           Look at you...lip quivering like           you're getting fucked...be a man.                                                   DWAYNE           I am a man! I killed you, didn't I?           Now I'm gonna use your money to open           a tanning salon where they let you           fuck the chicks.                                   This stirs something in The Major.                                                   MAJOR           You mean...like those whorehouses...in           'Nam...I used to tell you about?                                   Dwayne softens at the recollection.                                                   DWAYNE           Those were great bedtime stories.                                   The Major nods. Opens his hand. Reveals a cordless phone.          Dwayne looks to the bloody streaks down the hall, leading to          the phone table. The Major dragged himself the whole way.                                                   MAJOR           Medics are late...probably a couple           lazy spicks...you tell 'em I said           so...all right, son?                                                   DWAYNE           Sure thing, pop.                                   The Major looks up at Dwayne's bruised face, as if for the          first time.                                                   MAJOR           Hell of thing...I think I           may...actually respect you now.                                   Dwayne's eyes well up. He reaches out, cradles his father          as he expires. It's like a very bloody, white trash version          of the Piet‡. Dwayne sobs uncontrollably, until -                                   He drops his father and pound-pound-pounds his chest in some          approximation of a life saving resuscitation.                                                   DWAYNE           Get up, you pussy! Come on, soldier!                                   PULL AWAY as Dwayne pounds the body and distant sirens grow          nearer.                                                   FADE OUT:           108.                                   BLACK. THE DARKNESS RIPPLES...                                   Into waves. It's the ocean, long past sunset. PULL BACK to          find a lone figure staring out at it, sitting on                                   EXT. BEACH - NIGHT                                   Will. Shirtless. Could be anywhere.                                   Chet approaches and sits beside him.                                                   CHET           Fucking nine dollars to use the           internet.                                                   WILL           And?                                                   CHET           Police think it was that black guy.           They found some kind of map in his           car. And I'm sure racial profiling           played a part.                                                   WILL           But nothing about us?                                                   CHET           Nope. Guess it's time to head back.                                                   WILL           I was thinking we'd stick around a           little a longer.                                                   CHET           Why? So you have more time to delude           my sister?                                                   WILL           Yes. And it'd be easier if you gave           us five fucking minutes alone.                                   Chet stares out at the ocean for a beat.                                                   CHET           You really think she's into you?                                                   WILL                          (SWALLOWS HARD)           I kissed her last night. No tongue.           Then you walked in.                                   Chet just nods. Will gets up.           109.                                                   CHET           You're gonna go fuck my sister now,           aren't you?                                                   WILL           I'll be thinking of you the whole           time.                                                   CHET           At the very least...be a considerate           lover. Give pleasure, before taking           pleasure.                                                   WILL           I think I'm reading you. And I will           try my best.                                   Will heads up a trail that leads to a hotel bungalow. Kate          opens the door, steps out onto the porch.                                   Will stops, looks back at Chet. He whistles. Chet turns.                                                   WILL           You're Riggs! You always have been!                                   Chet smiles, shakes his head as -                                   Will reaches the porch. He stands close to Kate. His nerves          clock overtime.                                                   WILL           I lied and told your brother I kissed           you. I thought it would make this           easier.                                                   KATE           Here's an idea: pretend you have a           bomb strapped to your chest. Tick,                          TICK -                                   Will closes the gap and kisses her. After a beat -                                                   KATE           Is Chet watching us?                                                   WILL           Probably. We should go inside. I           promised him I'd satisfy you.                                   Kate laughs, leads him inside and the door shuts to -                                                   BLACK           110.                                   CREDITS ROLL.                                   But they are pushed to one side of the screen, as the other          side is filled with -                                   A lo-fi, 2001-style light tunnel. It deposits us in the          furthest reaches of the galaxy, where we find -                                   A tanning bed. Rotating in orbit. Dwayne's voice booms and                         REVERBERATES -                                                   DWAYNE           GRAND OPENING SPECTACULARRR!                                   The tanning bed explodes, like a star gone supernova. From          the light and fire and chaos...emerges a logo:                                                   MAJOR TAN                                   A bad MATCH CUT takes us to the same logo. Camera ZOOMS OUT          unsteadily to reveal it is a banner above a strip mall          storefront. We are watching a local commercial with          appropriately poor production value.                                   INT. MAJOR TAN - DAY (LOCAL COMMERCIAL)                                   Dwayne walks backward down a hallway while addressing camera          and trying not to trip -                                                   DWAYNE           Here at Major Tan, our specially           trained technicians are hard at work           developing new technologies that           harness the power of the sun, to           ensure a cutting-edge tanning           experience.                                   Dwayne enters a tanning room. A man in a lab coat stares          down at a clipboard, on which a complicated scientific          equation is written.                                                   DWAYNE           How's it looking?                                   The man turns: it's Jay. His smiling face is speckled with          healing burn wounds.                                                   JAY           It's our most advanced tanning bed           yet!                                   He gestures to a very ordinary looking tanning bed.           111.                                                   DWAYNE           Hey, don't just take this scientist's           word for it. The proof...                                   Dwayne snaps his fingers. A BAD SPECIAL EFFECT makes him          disappear, then reappear with a totally orange tan.                                                   DWAYNE           ...is in the tan.                                   We follow Dwayne back out into the hallway.                                                   DWAYNE           But Major Tan isn't just about looking           good. It's also about feeling good.                                   Dwayne gestures to another room. The door opens and Juicy          saunters out in a bikini. A beat later, a RANDOM GUY exits.                                                   RANDOM GUY           That "Deluxe Tan" was fantastic!                                   EXT. MAJOR TAN - DAY (LOCAL COMMERCIAL)                                   Dwayne stands outside the store.                                                   DWAYNE           So come on down to Major Tan...where           we're proud to be a family business.                                   PULL BACK TO REVEAL...The Major beside Dwayne. He's only          about four feet tall now, on account of the wheelchair. But          he's grinning like a jackal, in a POW-MIA cap.                                   A SUPERED LOGO appears: Military Discounts Available!                                   As father and son smile and wave at us -                                   END COMMERCIAL.
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+                                                 42                                  Written by                               Brian Helgeland                                                   White - March 14, 2012                                                   Blue Revised - April 7, 2012                                                   Pink Revised - April 19, 2012                                                   Yellow Revised - April 24, 2012                                                   Green Revised - April 27, 2012                                                   Goldenrod Revised - May 9, 2012                                                   Buff Revised - May 29, 2012                                                   Salmon Revised - June 4, 2012                                                   Cherry Revised - June 11, 2012                                                   Tan Revised - June 25, 2012                                                   Double White Revised - June 28, 2012                                                   Double Blue Revised - July 9, 2012                                                                                                               PINK REV 4-19-12 1.          A1 WHITE A1            Fills the screen. Falling from the top of frame to the            bottom. Pluming off into dust. White, white, white. We            move toward it even as it recedes, always out of reach.            Finally we pop out wide and high to reveal...            The white is chalk. An old BLACK GROUNDSKEEPER lays down the            right field line on a baseball diamond.                                     1 INT. BRANCH RICKEY'S OFFICE - MONTAGUE ST, BROOKLYN - DAY 1           Blinds closed. Dust motes in the air. A large GOLDFISH TANK          bubbles. BRANCH RICKEY at his desk. Two photos on the wall:          Abe Lincoln & Leo Durocher. CHALKBOARDS covered with 100's          OF NAMES, every player in the Dodger organization.          CLYDE SUKEFORTH and HAROLD PARROTT sit across from Rickey          who stares at them. Sukeforth stares back. Parrott nervous.                         RICKEY          Gentlemen, I have a plan... As of          now, only the Board of Directors          and my family know.          Sukeforth and Parrott exchange a look.                         SUKEFORTH          A plan's always good, Mr. Rickey.          And you always got one.                         RICKEY          My wife says I'm too old, That my          health isn't up to it. My son says          that every one in baseball will be          against me. But I'm going to do it.          Parrott looks to Sukeforth who keeps his eyes on Rickey.                         SUKEFORTH          Do what, Mr. Rickey?                         RICKEY          I'm going to bring a Negro          ballplayer to the Brooklyn Dodgers.                         PARROTT          With all due respect, sir, have you          lost your mind? Imagine the abuse          you'll take from the newspapers          alone. Never mind how it'll play          on Flatbush. Please, Mr. Rickey.          Rickey looks dismissively at Parrott, over to Sukeforth.                                                                                                              PINK REV 4-19-12 1A.                         RICKEY          There's no law against it, Clyde.                         SUKEFORTH          There's a code. Break a law and          get away with it, some people think          you're smart. Break an unwritten          law though, you'll be an outcast.                                                                                                              YELLOW REV 4-24-12 2.                         RICKEY          So be it. New York is full of          Negro baseball fans; every dollar          is green. I don't know who he is,          or where he is, but he's coming.                         CUT TO:          2 EXT. RICKWOOD FIELD - BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA - NIGHT 2          The big Birmingham Black Barons CATCHER behind the plate as          Kansas City Monarchs JOHN SCOTT stands at bat. The catcher's          attention on the RUNNER DANCING off first. Stomping a foot,          feinting, hard to see clearly in the glare of the lights.                         CATCHER          Where'd you learn to move like          that, runner?! At dime a dance          night?! Stay quiet!          INSERT: Birmingham, Alabama. April 8, 1945.           On the first pitch the runner takes off. The catcher fires to          second. See it from his POV as the runner slides in “SAFE!”          A foot on the bag, the runner dusts off, heckles the catcher:                         RUNNER          Is that the best you got?! Huh?!          I'm going to steal nine, ten bases          today! You better start counting!          The catcher frowns. Standing, we see he is a big, big man.                         CATCHER                         (ALABAMAN)          Where's your shortstop from?                         JOHN SCOTT                         (LOUISIANAN)          California.                         CATCHER          He's got a mouth on him.          Shaking his head, the catcher gets back in his crouch,          signals the PITCHER. On the wind-up, the Runner is off          again. The catcher fires to THIRD: “Safe!”                         RUNNER          You got a rag arm, catcher!                         CATCHER          Steal home! You'll find out what          kind of arm I got!                                                                                                              DBL. BLUE REV 7-9-12 3.                         RUNNER          Okay, I'm coming!          The Catcher looks over at Scott who chuckles.                         CATCHER          California, huh?                         (SCOTT NODS)          Well California here he goes, if he          comes down here.          The Catcher gets back down in his squat. Signals the          pitcher: fastball. Scott digs in, ready. The runner dancing          off third. Here comes the wind-up...          The Runner takes off even as the pitcher fires it in. The          Birmingham Catcher receives it. As the Runner slides --          The Catcher intentionally drives his glove, the ball and both          hands into the runner's face -- WHALLOP! Sound drops as          we're knocked flat senseless along with the runner.          ON HIM now as he tries to push himself up from the dirt. A          close look at JACK ROOSEVELT ROBINSON. A born battler, he          shakes out the cobwebs, finally lurches to his feet, looks to          the UMPIRE. He never heard the call.                         JACK          What was I?          The umpire passes one hand over the other: Safe. Jack looks          over at the catcher, gives him a pointed look as he goes --          The catcher shoves him in the back. Jack turns, shoves back.          As the two men wrestles each other to the ground --                         CUT TO:          3 INT. BRANCH RICKEY'S OFFICE - MONTAGUE ST, BROOKLYN - DAY 3           Rickey and Sukeforth going through stacks of FILES on the           desk. A black ballplayer's picture is clipped to each. As            Rickey reviews one, Sukeforth tries to hand him another.                          SUKEFORTH          Josh Gibson. Oh boy can he hit.                         RICKEY          No.                         SUKEFORTH          No?          Rickey won't take the file; the answer is no.                                                                                                               DBL. BLUE REV 7-9-12 4.                         SUKEFORTH          Alright. Roy Campanella.          Sukeforth holds it out; Rickey won't take it.                          RICKEY          A heck of a player. But too sweet,          they'll eat him alive.                         SUKEFORTH          (holds up file)           Satchel Paige then.          Parrott enters carrying an armful of files.                          RICKEY          Too old. We need a man with a          future not a past.           (holds up his own                          FILE)           Here. Jack Roosevelt Robinson.           As Parrott sets them on the desk, they start to slide off,           spilling to the floor. Helpless to stem the tide, Parrott          looks down, surrounded by black faces...                         RICKEY           (flips through file)          A four sport college man, out of          UCLA. That means he's played with          white boys.                         (SCANS FILE)          Twenty-six years old, now with the          Kansas City Monarchs. Batting over          350 even as we speak. 350! And he           was a commissioned army officer!                         SUKEFORTH          He was court-martialed. A trouble          maker. He argues with umpires. A          quick temper is his reputation.          Rickey is obviously keen on him.                          PARROT           What was he court-martialed for?                          RICKEY           For refusing to sit in the back of           a military bus.           (checks the file)           Ft. Hood, Texas. The driver asked           him to move back. The MPs had to           take him off.                                                                                                                                         DBL. BLUE REV 7-9-12 5.                         SUKEFORTH          Do you see?                          RICKEY          I see he resents segregation. If           he were white, we'd call it spirit!                          PARROT           If he were white, sir, we wouldn't           be looking for him.          Rickey ends the debate...                          RICKEY           Robinson's a Methodist. I'm a           Methodist. God's a Methodist. We           can't go wrong. Find him. Bring him           here.                          CUT TO:          4 EXT. FILLING STATION - INTERSTATE 24 - DAY 4          A BLOODHOUND watches as a BUS pulls into a SERVICE STATION,          the tires RING the bell hose. A million miles easy on this          road rumbler. The BANNER reads: KC Monarchs.          Insert: Interstate 24, Missouri - August 24, 1945.          The DRIVER steps off. The fellas follow, getting off to          stretch their legs. Hot and tired. A WHITE ATTENDANT          saunters out. The driver steps over to meet him.                         ATTENDANT          Fill her up?                         DRIVER          Yes, sir.          The attendant starts unscrewing caps on two 50-GALLON TANKS.                         ATTENDANT          Where you all headed?                         DRIVER          Chicago.          As the attendant shoves down a pump, starts filling, Jack          steps off. He spots and heads for a restroom. White Men          Only lettered on the door. The attendant roused as he sees.                         ATTENDANT          Hey! Where you going, boy!?                                                                                                              BLUE REV 4-07-12 6.          Everyone looking over as Jack stops.                         JACK          I'm going to the toilet.                         ATTENDANT          Shit, boy, c'mon. You know you          can't go in there.          Jack does a slow burn, then suddenly strides toward the          attendant. The air rife with tension.                         JACK          Take that hose out of the tank.                         ATTENDANT          Huh?                         DRIVER                         ROBINSON --                         JACK          Take it out. We'll get our ninety-          nine gallons of gas someplace else.          The attendant blinks. He takes a look from Jack to up and          down the deserted highway. No business in sight.                         ATTENDANT          Okay, use it. But don't stay in          there too long.          Jack heads back. The Driver, the players, a bit stunned.                         CUT TO:          5 INT. WHITE MEN ONLY REST ROOM - FILLING STATION - DAY 5           Jack splashes water on his face, rips a paper towels from the           dispenser, pats his face dry. He balls the wad up, squeezes           it in his fist before firing it into the trash. He considers           his reflection in the mirror. As he regards himself, we hear            the SERVICE BELL ring outside.                          CUT TO:          6 EXT. FILLING STATION - HIGHWAY 24 - DAY 6           A car has pulled up. The driver talks to several players.           They look over as Jack exits. The driver is Clyde Sukeforth.                          SUKEFORTH           Are you Jackie Robinson?                          CUT TO:                                                                                                               TAN REV 6-25-12 7.                         7 OMITTED 7           8 INT. BRANCH RICKEY'S OFFICE - MONTAGUE ST, BROOKLYN - DAY 8           Blinds closed. Jack sits across the desk from Rickey.          Sukeforth sits a little further back. Rickey is staring at          Jack. Bushy eyebrows flared, light gleams off his glasses.          INSERT: August 28, 1945. Brooklyn.           Jack doesn't know what to do, looks to Sukeforth. Finally...                         RICKEY           Do you have a girl?                         JACK          Excuse me?                         RICKEY          A man needs a family relying on          him. It insures he'll behave          responsibly. Do you have a girl?                         JACK          I think so.                         RICKEY          You think so?          Jack looks to Sukeforth who smiles placidly. Back to Rickey.                                                                                                              WHITE 3-14-12 8.                         JACK          I don't make much money. Between          the army and now baseball I've been          away a lot. And Rae, Rachel, she          wants to finish school. Considering          all that, I say I think so.                         RICKEY          Do you love her? Rachel?                         (JACK CONFUSED)          Don't you know?                         JACK          Yes, sir, very much.                         RICKEY          Marry her.          What? Rickey stands, walks to a window. Jack looks at          Sukeforth who raises a hand as if to say: Give it a chance.          RICKEY (CONT'D)          Baseball's a hard life; a man needs          a good woman by his side. You          don't want the only person waiting          for you at home to be a catcher.          Sukeforth chuckles at that. Rickey fingers open a slat on          the blind and peers out. Jack looks hard at him.                         JACK          Coach Sukeforth here said you were          starting a new Negro League. That          doesn't make sense to me.          MR. RICKEY          It doesn't, huh? Are you calling          us liars, Jack?                         JACK          What's this about, Mr. Rickey?                         RICKEY          This is about baseball.          Rickey opens the shade. Sunlight floods in. Rickey follows          it to the chalkboard, to the list of players under Montreal.          RICKEY (CONT'D)          I see you starting in the spring          with our affiliate in Montreal. If          you make it there, we'll try you          down here with the Dodgers. The          white Brooklyn Dodgers.          Jack looks to Sukeforth who nods: Yes, you heard right.                                                                                                              BLUE REV 4-07-12 9.          RICKEY (CONT'D)          I'll pay you $600 a month and a          $3,500 bonus when you sign the          contract. Is that agreeable?          Believe it or not that's a lot of money to Jack on this day          in time. This is all becoming a bit overwhelming.                         JACK          Yes, sir. That's fine.                         RICKEY          There is one condition. I have a          pile of scouting reports. I know          you can hit behind the runner, that          you can read a pitch. The question          is can you control your temper?                         JACK          My temper?                         RICKEY          Yes your temper! Are you deaf?!           Rickey furious, the avuncular old man gone. Jack sits there,           fists now balled. Rickey to Sukeforth like he's not there:           RICKEY (CONT'D)          He looks proud. Willful.                          SUKEFORTH          He'll need to be.          Rickey looks back to Jack who is as angry as he is confused.                         RICKEY          I want to win! I want ballplayers          who can win! Are you one of them?!                         JACK          Yes.                         RICKEY          A black man in white baseball.          Imagine the reaction. The vitriol.          Rickey strides forward, gets in his face.          RICKEY (CONT'D)          The Dodgers check into a hotel. A          decent good hotel. You're worn out          from the road and some clerk won't          give you the pen to sign in.                         (SOUTHERN DRAWL)          We got no room, boy, not even down          in the coal bin where you belong.                                                                                                              BLUE REV 4-07-12 10.          Jack looks like he wants to tear Rickey apart.          RICKEY (CONT'D)          The team stops at a restaurant.          The waiter won't take your order.          (adopts a new voice)          Didn't you see the sign on the          door? No animals allowed.                          (LOOMING)          What are you going to do then?          Fight him? Ruin all my plans?          Answer me, you black sonofabitch!                         JACK                         (MASTERS HIMSELF)          Do you want a ballplayer who          doesn't have the guts to fight          back? Is that what you want?                         RICKEY          I want one who has the guts not to          fight back! There are people who          will not like this. They will do          anything to get you to react. If          you echo a curse with a curse, they          will only hear yours. Follow a          blow with a blow and they will say          a Negro lost his temper; that the          Negro does not belong. Your enemy          will be out in force, but you can          not meet him on his own low ground.          We win with hitting, running and          fielding, nothing else. We win if          the world is convinced of two          things: that you are a fine          gentlemen and a great ballplayer.          Like our Savior, you must have the          guts to turn the other cheek.          Jack considers Rickey. Rickey looks worn out.          RICKEY (CONT'D)          Can you do it?          Jack poised at what will be his Rubicon. He crosses.                         JACK          Mr. Rickey, you give me a uniform,          you give me a number on my back,          and I'll give you the guts.                         CUT TO:                                                                                                               PINK REV 4-19-12 11.          9 INT. HALLWAY - ISUM HOUSE - LOS ANGELES - DAY 9           A phone RINGS on a table. RACHEL ISUM steps in, 23,           possessed of style that you can only be graced with.                          RACHEL           Hello?                          CUT TO:          10 INT. LOBBY PAYPHONE - 215 MONTAGUE STREET - BROOKLYN - DAY 10           Jack in a PHONE BOOTH, the lobby busy beyond.                         JACK          Rae, I'm in Brooklyn.          INTERCUT THE FOLLOWING:                         RACHEL          Brooklyn? For what?                         JACK          I don't want to say on the phone.          In fact, I'm not supposed to tell          anyone.          She can hear the tingle in his voice.                         RACHEL          Jack?                          JACK           I'm here, Rae                          RACHEL           What's going on? You're supposed           to be playing in Chicago?                          JACK          We've been tested you and me. Our           loyalty, our faith. We've done           everything the right way. Me           trying to make money. You           finishing school. Separated by the           war, now by baseball. We don't owe           the world a thing. Only each other.           She's actually getting a little scared now.                          RACHEL          Jack, what are you talking about?          What happened?                                                                                                              GOLDENROD REV 5-9-12 12.                         JACK          The Brooklyn Dodgers just signed me          to play ball up in Montreal. It          might lead to bigger things. To          something wonderful.                         RACHEL          What does it mean? For you and me?                         JACK          Rae. Will you marry me?                         RACHEL          Absolutely. When?                         JACK          Now.                         RACHEL                         (LAUGHING)           Jack, I don't think we can get           married in a phone booth.                          CUT TO:                         11 OMITTED 11          11 A INT. HALLWAY - THE CLARK HOTEL - LOS ANGELES - NIGHT 11 A           Jack rounds a corner in a TUXEDO, the bow tie undone. Rachel           follows in her WEDDING GOWN. They look beautiful.                          RACHEL           Did my mom look happy?                           JACK           Yes.           They reach the door. Jack gets out a key to unlock it.            Rachel looks nervous, steps back across the hall.                           RACHEL           Did my gram look happy?            Swinging the door open, he looks at her. The air charged.                          JACK          Everyone looked happy. I've never          seen so many people looking happy.                                                                                                              GOLDENROD REV 5-9-12 12A.                         RACHEL          Did Jack Robinson look happy?                         (SOFT)          What if I can't make you happy?          He steps over, aware of her shyness.                          JACK          Too late. You already do. It's           you and me, Rae.                         RACHEL          Until the wheels fall off.                          (UNCERTAIN)          The world is waiting for us.                         JACK          It can wait one more night                         (KISSES HER)           Are you coming, Mrs. Robinson?                          RACHEL           (kisses him back)           I'd follow you anywhere, Mr.           Robinson.           He picks her up, carries her over the threshold. As the door          clicks shut behind them...                         CUT TO:          12 INT. BRANCH RICKEY'S OFFICE - BROOKLYN - DAY 12          The shades closed; we're scheming again. WENDELL SMITH sits          across from Rickey who stares back intently. Bespectacled,          32, Smith covers baseball for the Pittsburgh Courier.                         RICKEY          Who's the best shortstop you ever          saw?                         SMITH          Rabbit Tavener.                         RICKEY          Rabbit Tavener? And you call          yourself a sports writer?                                                                                                              WHITE 3-14-12 13.                         SMITH          Yes, a sentimental one. I'm from          Detroit. He was the Tiger          shortstop when I was a boy. How          about you? Who's your best?                         RICKEY          Pop Lloyd.                         SMITH          Not Honus Wagner?                         RICKEY          Wagner is number two. And Rabbit          Tavener would not break my top 25.          Where do you suppose Jackie          Robinson will end up on that list?                         SMITH          He won't break it. He doesn't have          a shortstop's arm. Robinson          belongs on second base.                         RICKEY          Alright then, where would he rate          at second?                         SMITH          If he was playing now he'd be the          best second baseman in the majors.                         RICKEY          High praise. He'll have to be the          best in the minor leagues first.                         SMITH          What are you saying, Mr. Rickey?                         RICKEY          I'm saying it's going to be a very          interesting spring training. A lot          of players are coming back from the          war and with gas rationing over, we          can train down in Florida again.                         SMITH          Daytona Beach?                         (RICKEY NODS)          You're aware in the past six months          a black boy was lynched in Madison,          Florida and a black man down in          Live Oaks?                         RICKEY          Those towns may as well be a          million miles from Daytona.                                                                                                              WHITE 3-14-12 14.                         SMITH          Live Oaks is 150 actually.                         RICKEY          I spoke to the Daytona mayor. He          assures me there'll be no trouble.          But Rickey doesn't sound so sure. They consider each other.          RICKEY (CONT'D)          Mr. Smith, are you a Communist?                         SMITH          I'm a Democrat. Why do you ask?                         RICKEY          I have a business proposition.          What's your salary at the Courier?                         SMITH          Fifty dollars a week.                         RICKEY          I will pay you an additional fifty          dollars a week plus expenses if you          will attend spring training with          Jackie Robinson. You will watch          over him, help him to avoid the          harm that could come if he were to          do or say anything out of turn.          You will act as his chauffeur, you          will secure accommodations for him          wherever the team may be, help him          find restaurants, etc...                         SMITH          What's in it for me? Besides the          fifty dollars and a whole lot of          aggravation?                         RICKEY          Unprecedented access for any          reportage you feel appropriate.          What do you say, Mr. Smith?                         SMITH          I say yes, sir. If a Negro is good          enough to stop a Nazi bullet in          France; he's good enough to stop a          line drive at Yankee Stadium.                         RICKEY          Ebbets Field actually, but yes, I          agree. The world is ready.                         CUT TO:                                                                                                               TAN REV 6-25-12 15.                         13 OMITTED 13           14 INT. BALLROOM - THE WALDORF ASTORIA HOTEL - NIGHT 14           Over 500 guests: journalists, players and politicians all          listen politely as a SPEECH drones to an end.          INSERT: New York City. 23rd Annual Baseball Writer's          Association Dinner February 3, 1946.                         SPEAKER          As our former President Herbert          Hoover remarked in his tribute to          our national pastime: ‘The rigid          voluntary rules of right and wrong,          as applied in baseball, are second          only to religion in strengthening          the morals of the American people.'          Polite applause as the speaker steps off. The clapping more          enthusiastic as the lights dim on all but an impromptu set:          plantation house columns. Hoots as a BUTLER appears wearing          satin knee breeches and a MONTREAL ROYALS jersey. He holds a          ring like a lawn jockey, a WHITE MAN in BLACK FACE. The          laughs get louder as he peers out with exaggerated wide eyes.                         BUTLER          Lordy, lordy, it's looking like da          massa will be late dis ebning.          As the LAUGHS from the audience subside, a sportswriter          dressed as a COLONEL enters from stage right.                         COLONEL          Robbie! Robbie!                         BUTLER          Yassuh, Massa Kunl. Here Ah is.          Huge LAUGHS as he struts and dances his way over.                                                                                                              WHITE 3-14-12 16.                         COLONEL          Jackie, you woolly headed rascal.          How long yo' been in the family?                         BUTLER          Ebber since Massa Rickey done bots          me from da Kansas City Monarchs.                         COLONEL          (aside to audience)          Rickey that no good carpetbagger!          What could he be thinking!          Huge LAUGHS from that one. Two people enjoying it we'll          recognize later as HERB PENNOCK and BOB COOKE.                         BUTLER          Ah came near bein' killed last          night, Kunl.                         COLONEL          How's that, Jackie boy?                         BUTLER          Ah was comin' up a dark street and          three men was behind me. And they          tried to do me with a baseball bat.                         COLONEL          You don't say?                         BUTLER          Yes, suh. Ah recognized one of          dem. Ah'm gonna hab him arrested.                         COLONEL          But I thought you said it was dark?                         BUTLER          It was. But I know he played for          the Philadelphia Baseball Club. On          account of he struck at me three          times and never hit me once.          That brings the house down. Check out their laughing faces.                         CUT TO:          15 EXT. LOCKHEED TERMINAL - BURBANK - DAY 15          A gleaming American Airlines DC-3 angled up on the tarmac.          PASSENGERS climb the portable stairs and disappear inside.          INSERT: February 28, 1946. Burbank, California                         CUT TO:                                                                                                               GOLDENROD REV 5-9-12 17.          16 INT. TERMINAL - BURBANK - DAY 16          Jack and Rachel are being seen off by FRIENDS from the          wedding and his mother MALLIE. Jack is in a natty suit with          Rachel in a beautiful coat.                          MALLIE          You knock the cover off that ball.                         JACK          I will, Mama.          Mallie hugs Jack and then kisses Rachel.                         MALLIE          Look after each other.                         RACHEL          We will.          She reaches in her bag, brings out a cardboard SHOEBOX; it's          ever so slightly greasy at the bottom.                         MALLIE          Take this. It's chicken.                         JACK          They have food on the plane, Mama.                         MALLIE          You never know what might happen.          I don't want you getting there          starving and too weak to hit.           Rachel gives Jack a subtle but emphatic look: No.                          CUT TO:          17 EXT. LOCKHEED TARMAC - BURBANK - DAY 17          Jack escorts Rachel to the plane, the shoebox in hand.                         JACK          I couldn't tell her no.                         RACHEL          I know she means well; I just don't          want to be seen eating chicken out          of a box like some country bumpkin.          Jack runs his hand over her coat.                         JACK          No one's going to mistake you for a          bumpkin in this.                                                                                                              PINK REV 4-19-12 18.                         RACHEL          Well, they'll know I belong on that          plane or wherever I happen to be.                         CUT TO:          18 EXT. DC-3 - DAY (STOCK FOOTAGE) 18          Descending toward a runway. Landing gear coming down.                         CUT TO:          19 INT. TERMINAL - NEW ORLEANS LAKEFRONT AIRPORT - DAY 19          A WOMAN exits the lady's room, passing a SIGN: White Only.          REVERSE to show Rachel looking at it like she's been slapped.          Jack joins Rae from the TICKET COUNTER, with the chicken box.          INSERT: New Orleans Lakefront Airport.                         JACK          The flight to Pensacola leaves in          an hour... You okay?                         RACHEL          I've just never seen one before.                         JACK          (follows her look)          We're not in Pasadena anymore.          A sudden momentum carries her forward.                         JACK          Honey... Rae --           He takes a step after her, stops as she disappears inside.            Jack unsure what to do. He looks around. Looks back. He            doesn't need this right now.                          20 OMITTED 20                          21 OMITTED 21                                                                                                                PINK REV 4-19-12 19.          22 INT. AIRPORT COFFEE SHOP - DAY 22            A black BUSBOY reacts as a bickering Jack and Rachel enter.                           JACK            I promised Mr. Rickey we'd stay out            of trouble.                           RACHEL            Did you promise him we wouldn't go            to the bathroom? You've done it.                           JACK            Before I promised.                           RACHEL            It was just a toilet. You'd think            the commodes were made of gold.            The busboy watches as Jack and Rachel slide into a booth. As            Jack reaches for a MENU, here comes the COOK.                          COOK          You folks can't sit here.                          JACK          Excuse me?                         COOK          It's white only.          Jack looking to Rachel; it's equanimity time. Not easy.                         COOK          I'll sell you some sandwiches. But          you gotta take ‘em to go.          Jack looks to the busboy, back to the cook.                         JACK          No. You hang onto those.          Mastering himself, Jack slides out. Drilling the cook with a          look, he offers his hand to Rachel as she slides out as well.                         CUT TO:                         23 OMITTED 23                                                                                                               GREEN REV 4-27-12 20.          24 INT. TERMINAL - NEW ORLEANS LAKEFRONT AIRPORT - DAY 24          Seen from on high. Jack and Rachel, sitting on a bench, two          little figures as passengers move along the concourse. They          sit a bit apart from each other, the world a wedge.                         CUT TO:          25 EXT. RUNWAY - PENSACOLA AIRPORT - NIGHT 25           SMOKE PINWHEELS as the wheels of a BOEING 247 touch down.          INSERT: Pensacola, Florida. Later that day.                         CUT TO:          26 INT. BOEING 247 - TARMAC - NIGHT 26          Jack and Rachel worn out among eight other passengers. As          the door is opened, FOUR of the eight get up and disembark.          After a beat, FOUR NEW PASSENGERS board and take their seat.                         JACK          Just a hop to Daytona now.          As Rachel nods, an AIRLINE EMPLOYEE boards, MISS BISHOP. She          makes her way over. She spots who she's looking for.                         MISS BISHOP          Jack Robinson? Come with me.          She starts away without explaining, looks back at them a bit          impatiently.                         MISS BISHOP          Come on now. Both of you.                         CUT TO:                                                                                                               BLUE REV 4-07-12 21.          27 INT. TICKET COUNTER - PENSACOLA AIRPORT - NIGHT 27           The shoe box sitting on the counter, Jack in mid discussion           with Miss Bishop. Rachel just behind Jack.                           MISS BISHOP           We have to lighten the plane.          There's some bad weather east of          here. A heavy plane's dangerous.                         RACHEL                         (LOW)          Tell her you're with the Dodgers.           Jack would rather not play that card.                         JACK          When's the next flight?                         MISS BISHOP           Tomorrow morning. But it's booked.          So someone'll have to cancel.          Jack and Rachel unaware as a WHITE COUPLE are ushered out a          door and onto the tarmac behind them.                         JACK          Look, I'm with the Brooklyn Dodger          organization. I've got to get down          to Daytona. I'm supposed to report          to spring training in the morning.                         MISS BISHOP           We'll do our best to get you down          there by tomorrow afternoon, but it          might be the day after.                         RACHEL                         JACK --          He follows her gaze to where the white couple get on the          plane they got off. Jack wheels on Miss Bishop, furious.                          JACK          You gave away our seats! Get us          back on that plane!          Miss Bishop picks up a PHONE, holds it in Jack's face.                          MISS BISHOP           Do you want to call the Sheriff?          Or should I?                         CUT TO:                                                                                                               YELLOW REV 4-24-12 22.          28 EXT. BUS STATION - PENSACOLA - NIGHT 28          Closed. A line of EMPTY BUSES; the BANNER on one: Daytona          Beach. Across from it Rachel sits at one end of a BENCH, her          fur pulled around her. Jack at the other, staring off into          the night. Finally, he reaches down, picks up the shoebox.          He pulls out a DRUMSTICK, considers it, then takes a bite.                         JACK          Mama knew...          He holds it out to Rachel. She slides over, takes it, takes          a bite as well, smiles at him. He smiles back.                         RACHEL           It's good.                          CUT TO:          29 EXT. BASEBALL FIELD - DAYTONA BEACH, FLORIDA - DAY 29            LEO DUROCHER hitting fungoes. One after the next. PEE WEE           REESE and EDDIE STANKY both settle under the same ball.                          REESE STANKY           I got it! I got it! I got it! I got it!          They both back off at the last second and it drops to the          ground between them. Durocher chuckles.                         DUROCHER          That's what spring training's for,          boys! Sort out our differences!          He hits another. This time to the outfield where veteran          DIXIE WALKER gives chase, finally gives up on it.                         DUROCHER          C'mon, Dixie, get after it!                         WALKER                         (LAUGHING)          I'm old!                         DUROCHER          I'm gonna squeeze one more year out          of that worn out body of yours!                         WALKER          If you could, skipper, my wife          would sure appreciate it!                         DUROCHER          Keeping the women happy! That's          what it's all about!                                                                                                               BLUE REV 4-07-12 23.          29 A EXT./INT. CONVERTIBLE - DAY 29 A            Rickey drives a dirt road through the training field singing            “Two Sleepy People” along with the radio: Passing BROOKLYN            DODGERS, MONTREAL ROYALS & ST. PAUL SAINTS on either side.            Durocher hits another as Rickey pulls up.                          RICKEY          How are they looking, Leo?                          DUROCHER          Rusty, Mr. Rickey. But we'll get          ‘em oiled up and ready in no time.          You find your lost sheep yet?          Troubled, Rickey shakes his head ‘no'. As he does, Harold          Parrot hurries over. He's the Dodgers travelling secretary.                         PARROTT          Jackie Robinson's on a bus leaving          Pensacola.                         RICKEY          A bus? Harold, how in blazes did          he end up on a bus?!          BOB BRAGAN, in his catching gear, passing by with pitchers          RALPH BRANCA and KIRBY HIGBE. Higbe asides to Bragan:                          HIGBE          Why don't they just put him on a           watermelon truck?                         BRANCA          What's the matter with you guys?                         BRAGAN           Not a thing, Branca, but we ain't           just two pretty faces either.                          CUT TO:          30 EXT. GREYHOUND STATION - DAYTONA BEACH - SUNSET 30          Wendell Smith stands waiting as a BUS pulls in.          The big air brakes hiss. The doors open and the PASSENGERS          disembark. First a DOZEN WHITE FACES, then a DOZEN BLACK.          Last but not least, Rachel and Jack. They look exhausted.                         SMITH          Jackie Robinson... Mr. Rickey sent          me to meet you. Wendell Smith.          Pittsburgh Courier. I'm going to          be your Boswell.                                                                                                               BLUE REV 4-07-12 24.                         JACK          My who?                         SMITH          Your chronicler, your advance man.          Hell, even your chauffeur.          (tips his hat)          Mrs. Robinson.                         RACHEL          It's Rachel.                         SMITH          Man, you two look wiped out.                         JACK                         (SHARP)          You got a car? Get us out of here.           CUT AHEAD TO:           31 EXT. SMITH'S BUICK (PARKED) - DAY 31            Jack and Smith carry the luggage. Smith's excited being            around Jack even if he is grumpy. As Smith unlocks the            Buick, Rachel considers a segregated pair of water fountains.                          SMITH          You ever been down South before,          Rachel?                         RACHEL          First time. We have our problems          in Pasadena, but not like this.                          SMITH          Mr. Rickey says we follow the law.          If Jim Crow and the state of          Florida say Negroes do this and          that, then we do this and that.                         RACHEL                         (SOFTLY)          My life's changing right in front          of me. Who I am, who I think I am.                         CUT TO:          32 EXT. THE HARRIS HOUSE - DAYTONA BEACH - DAY 32          Black neighborhood. The Buick stops at a nice looking house.                         SMITH          Joe and Duff Harris live here. He          gets out the black vote, does a lot          of good for colored folks.                         (MORE)                                                                                                              YELLOW REV 4-24-12 25.                         SMITH (CONT'D)          Mr. Rickey set it up himself.                         (IMITATES RICKEY)          If we can't put the Robinsons in          the hotels, they should stay some-          place that represents something.          Jack and Rachel exchange a look, the place seems nice.                         SMITH          Brooklyn plays downtown; Montreal a           few blocks from here. You'll stay          with the Harrises except for a few           days at the end of the week. The           whole Dodger organization is going          to Sanford, about 45 minute away.           You'll stay here though, Rachel.                          RACHEL          Where are the other wives staying?                         SMITH          There are no other wives. You're          the only one Mr. Rickey allowed to          spring training.           As the HARRISES step out on the porch, wave hello...                          CUT TO:          33 INT. STAIRWAY - THE HARRIS HOUSE - DAY 33          MRS. HARRIS leads Jack and Rachel up the stairs to a door at          the top. Mrs. Harris opens it.          MRS. HARRIS          I call this the love nest. I hope          you like it.                         RACHEL          I'm sure. Thank you.          As Jack enters, Mrs. Harris starts back down.          MRS. HARRIS          Dinner's at five.          Rachel enters, closes the door behind her --                         34 LOVE NEST 34          -- And accidentally knocks Jack onto the bed. She lands on          top of him. The room is impossibly small. It barely holds          their luggage and the BED they're on. As they look around:                         JACK          It's a joke, right?                                                                                                              GOLDENROD REV 5-9-12 26.                         RACHEL          I like it. The love nest.          She kisses him. He's starting to like it, too.                         RACHEL          Remind me dinner's at five.                         JACK          I'll try to remember...           As the kisses become more urgent...                          CUT TO:          A35 INT. SMITH'S BUICK - DAYTONA TRAINING FACILITY - DAY A35            Smith pulls up alongside the team buses, looks across at Jack            who is just a little nervous.                           SMITH            The first day of Spring Training.            My Pittsburgh Courier readers need            to know how it feels.                           JACK            It's okay.                           SMITH            That's not exactly a headline.                           JACK                           (BRUSQUE)            That's all I got.                           SMITH            Look, Jack, right now it's just me            asking you. But you get on that            field and it's going to be the New            York Times and the Sporting News.            You should think about it.                           JACK            If they ask something, I'll answer.                           SMITH            Alright, but you know when you're            at the plate, you want to feel like            you see the pitch come in slow?            Well, you want to see the questions            come in slow, too.            Jack just looks at him. Gets out. Smith sighs.                                                                                                                GOLDENROD REV 5-9-12 26A.          35 EXT. PLAYING FIELD - DODGERS DAYTONA FACILITY - DAY 35          As PLAYERS (Brooklyn, St. Paul & Montreal) warm up, practice,          Rickey sits on the bench, angry as he reads a NEWSPAPER.          Harold Parrott hurries over, something urgent on his mind.          Rickey on a rant; Parrott can't get a word in.                         RICKEY          Listen to this, Harold. Whenever I          hear a white man - yours truly -          broadcasting what a Moses he is to          the Negro race, then I know the          latter needs a bodyguard.          (Parrott tries to                         INTERJECT)          It is those of the carpetbagger          stripe of the white race - me again          - who under the guise of helping,          in truth are using the Negro for          their own selfish interest, thereby          retarding the race!          Parrott tries to interrupt again, but Rickey is furious.                         RICKEY          The minor league commissioner of          baseball said that! I pay part of          his salary! You wouldn't stab me          in the back like this, would you?                         PARROTT                         (FINALLY)          He's here, Mr. Rickey.                                                                                                              GOLDENROD REV 5-9-12 27.                         RICKEY          Why didn't you say so?!                         36 PLAYING FIELD 36          Jack crossing toward them in his Montreal Monarchs uniform          carrying a glove and a bat. 200 white players clocking him.          He's surrounded by REPORTERS and PHOTOGRAPHERS. It's the cue          for most of the batting and fielding and chatter among the          Dodgers, Royals and Saints to come to a stop.          Higbe forgets Bragan is throwing him a ball. It clocks him          in the chest.          Reese and Stanky passing a medicine ball.                          REESE          That's him, huh?                         STANKY          Take a wild guess.          Flash bulbs go off in Jack's face. Questions like punches.           Shouts of ‘Jackie' and then...                          REPORTER ONE          Jackie, do you think you can make          it with these white boys?          Jack looks off to where Smith watches, back to the reporter.           See the questions slow. He answers with measure.                          JACK          Sure, I had no problem with white          men in the service or at UCLA.                         REPORTER TWO          What'll you do if one of these          pitchers throws at your head?                         JACK           (thinks a beat)           I'll duck.          That gets some laughs.                         REPORTER THREE          Jack, what's your natural position?                         ROBINSON          I've been playing shortstop.                         REPORTER THREE          Are you after Pee Wee Reese's job?                                                                                                              GOLDENROD REV 5-9-12 27A.          Jack looks over to where Reese watches with Stanky.                          JACK           Reese plays for Brooklyn. I'm           worried about making Montreal.                          REPORTER ONE          Is this about politics?                         JACK          It's about getting paid.          Jack doing beautifully.           Smith breathes a sigh of relief...                                                                                                               YELLOW REV 4-24-12 28.          MANAGER CLAY HOPPER          In a Montreal uniform, Hopper's too old to be a ballplayer.          He stands with Dixie Walker the Dodger right fielder.                         HOPPER                         (MISSISSIPPI TWANG)          Well, when Mr. Rickey picks one, he          sure picks a black one.                         WALKER          He's fine with me, so long as you          keep him up in Montreal.                         HOPPER          Here comes the old man to save him.          They watch as Rickey pulls Jack from the press. He leads          Jack directly toward Hopper. As Walker excuses himself...                         WALKER          Good luck, Hop...                         RICKEY          Clay, I'd like you to meet Jackie          Robinson. Jackie, Clay Hopper,          manager of the Montreal Royals.          Hopper shakes his hand as they exchange greetings.                         HOPPER          We ain't doing much today. Just          throwing the ball around and          hitting a few. Why don't you toss          a few with those fellas over there?                         (CALLS OVER)          Hey, Jorgensen!          A kid in a Montreal uniform looks over. SPIDER JORGENSEN.                         HOPPER           Meet Jackie Robinson.                          CUT TO:          37 EXT. PARKING LOT - DODGER DAYTONA FACILITY - DAY 37           The end of the day. Buses leave by team, the Dodgers and the          farm clubs. White faces look down as they pass a tired Jack,          who walks through the lot toward Wendell Smith and his Buick.          Higbe and Bragan call out from the door of the Dodger bus.                         HIGBE          Hey, Rook! Did you hear about the          redneck shortstop?                                                                                                              GOLDENROD REV 5-9-12 29.                         BRAGAN          He thought the last two words of          the National Anthem were Play Ball!          Jack forces a smile, but the joke comes off a bit harsh. And          they seem like they're laughing at him as...                         HIGBE          How about the shortstop making all          the errors, tried to kill himself          by jumping out on the highway?                         BRAGAN          A bus just missed him. Drove right          between his legs!          As the bus passes by, Jack sees the impassive faces of Dixie          Walker, Reiser, Stanky, Pee Wee Reese and finally 20-year-old          Branca. Branca smiles, offers an awkward little wave.                         SMITH           Between his legs, good one. He            must've read a joke book. If he           can read.            Jack just gets in the car. Smith sighs, drum rolls the hood           of the Buick.                           SMITH            Hi, Wendell, how are you...? Well,            looks like I got a long drive to           Sanford.                          CUT TO:          38 EXT. PORCH - THE BROCK HOUSE - SANFORD - LATE AFTERNOON 38          MR. BROCK comes out the screen door carrying a tray of tall          drinks. He sets them on a table, watches and waits as Smith          and Jack get out of the Buick, start up the steps.          MR. BROCK          Jackie, I'm Ray Brock. Welcome to          Sanford Florida! The day belongs          to decent minded people.          They shake hands. Brock looks to Smith, obviously knows him.          MR. BROCK          Wendell, good to see you.                         (TO JACK)          My wife's inside cooking. You know          what she asked me this morning?          She asked me, what do you serve          when a hero's coming for dinner?                                                                                                              WHITE 3-14-12 30.          Jack's humble, embarrassed, doesn't know what to say.                         JACK          I'm just a ballplayer, Mr. Brock.          MR. BROCK          Tell that to all the little colored          boys playing baseball in Florida          today. You're a hero to them.          The look on Jack's face says that's a heavy burden.          MR. BROCK (CONT'D)          Sit down, have something to drink.          My special rum and coke.                         JACK          No thank you, sir, I don't drink.          MR. BROCK          A ballplayer who doesn't drink?          That's a new one on me.                         SMITH          I'll have one. I'm a stereotypical          reporter through and through.                         JACK          Mr. Brock, do you have a desk? I'd          like to get a letter to my wife.          MR. BROCK          Of course, this way.           As Mr. Brock leads Jack ahead, Smith sips his drink.                          CUT TO:          39 EXT. PRACTICE DIAMOND - SANFORD - DAY 39          Rickey and Montreal manager Hopper stand by the dugout          watching a spring game versus St Paul. Jack's playing          second. They watch him closely as they talk.                         HOPPER          He's getting by on a quick release,          but his arm's too weak for short.          Second base is his spot.                         RICKEY          I agree. And I'll state another          obvious, Clay, I need the players          to act like gentlemen around him.                         HOPPER          Uh huh.                                                                                                              YELLOW REV 4-24-12 31.          The MAN on first takes a lead.                         RICKEY          To treat him as they would any          other teammate.                         HOPPER          Uh huh.                         RICKEY          To be natural, to impose no          restrictions on themselves. To all          work together in harmony.          WHACK! The hit & run is on. The man on first runs on the          pitch as a LOW LINE DRIVE shoots for the gap between 1st and          2nd. Robinson turns himself inside out to dive on his belly          and catch it before it hits the ground.          He spins himself around, pivots on a knee to throw the runner          out before he can get back to first.   Rickey is astounded.                         RICKEY          That was superhuman.                         HOPPER                         (CHUCKLING)          Superhuman? Don't get carried          away, Mr. Rickey, that's still a          Nigger out there.          Rickey takes a moment to process. It's Hopper's light          admonishing tone that really halts him. Finally...                         RICKEY          Clay, I realize that attitude is          part of your heritage; that you          practically nursed race prejudice          at your mother's breast, so I will          let it pass. But I will add this:          you can manage Robinson fairly and          correctly or you can be unemployed.          They both look over as Jack comes off the field toward them.                         HOPPER           Attaboy, Jackie! Way to turn two!                          CUT TO:          40 EXT. FRONT PORCH - THE BROCK HOUSE - SANFORD - NIGHT 40           Smith and Mr. Brock are sitting on the porch sipping rum and          cokes. A quiet evening.                                                                                                              DBL. BLUE REV 7-9-12 32.          MR. BROCK          I hope Jackie sleeps alright.          Chasing baseballs in the sun all          day, I'd be in my grave. How are          they treating him out there?          They watch as a CAR slows, parks across the street.                         SMITH          Okay as far as I can see.          A MIDDLE-AGED WHITE MAN, LUTHER exits the car and starts           toward them.          MR. BROCK                         (FROWNS)          You find good people every place          you go. Even here in Florida...                         LUTHER                          (STOPPING BELOW)          Is he in there?                         SMITH          Who is it you're looking for?                         LUTHER           Nigra ball player.          The air suddenly alive with danger.                         SMITH          He's asleep. Maybe you better come          back in the morning.                         LUTHER           I ain't comin' back. Other fellas          is comin'. They ain't too happy          about him stayin' here in Sanford.          Playin' ball with white boys.          (a long beat)          Skedaddle, that's what I'd do.          If'n they get here, and he's still          here, there's gonna be trouble.          He turns and walks away. As they watch, a phone rings...          RICKEY'S VOICE           Yes, Wendell, what is it?                          CUT TO:          41 INT. HOTEL ROOM - DAYTONA BEACH - NIGHT 41          Rickey in his pajamas in his hotel room. On the phone.                                                                                                              YELLOW REV 4-24-12 33.                         RICKEY          I see... Yes, I understand. Wake          him up and get him out of there.          Put him in the car and start          driving for Daytona Beach. Now.          And, Wendell, under no circumstance          tell him what this is about. I do          not want him to get it in his head          to stay there and fight.                         CUT TO:          42 INT. BEDROOM - MR. BROCK'S HOUSE - NIGHT 42          Half dressed, Jack sits on the edge of his bed, feeling bad.          Through his open door, across a hall, we can see Smith in his          room. Passing in and out of view packing his own things.                         JACK          I was just getting loose.          Smith sticks his head in the door.                         SMITH          Don't just sit there. Pack your          duds. We're blowin'.          A phone RINGS somewhere. They hear Brock answer, then:          MR. BROCK'S VOICE          Wendell?!          Smith leaves the room. Hold on Jack, despair as he listens.          SMITH'S VOICE          Yes, Mr. Rickey, I'm with him          now... We're pulling out for          Daytona in five minutes, soon as he          gets his bag packed... Yes, yes,          it's just one of those things.          ‘One of those things.' As Jack's head hangs a little lower.                         CUT TO:          43 INT./EXT. BUICK - MAIN STREET - SANFORD - NIGHT 43          The street deserted, sidewalks rolled up. Jack angry and          silent in the passenger seat. Smith jumpy behind the wheel.          They stop as a PICK-UP stops ahead outside a BAR where:          A DOZEN WHITE MEN in shirtsleeves exchange words with the           boys in the truck. To Jack it looks like a typical small          town bull session. To Smith it looks like something else.                                                                                                              GOLDENROD REV 5-9-12 34.          The white men look over at the two black men. One steps          over, motions: roll down the window.                          JACK           I wonder what he wants?                          SMITH           To run us out of town.                          JACK           What are you talking about?           The man close now. As Jack cranks down the window, Smith           floors it. The Buick SCREECHES away, SWERVING around a CAR           coming the other way.                         JACK          What the hell, Wendell?!                          SMITH           Man came by while you were asleep.                          (CHECKS MIRROR)           Told us more men were coming. Maybe           those boys. Mr. Rickey said to get           you to Daytona Beach a-s-a-p.                         JACK          Why didn't you say so?                          SMITH          Mr. Rickey was afraid you wouldn't          leave, that you would fight.          As it becomes clear, Jack starts to LAUGH.                         SMITH          What the hell are you laughing at?                         JACK          I thought you woke me because I was          cut from the team.          Jack LAUGHS harder. Wendell LAUGHS as well. As it fades,          Jack looks back over his shoulder. Jesus...                         CUT TO:          44 EXT. CITY ISLAND BALLPARK - DAYTONA BEACH - DAY 44          A stadium SIGN boasts Brooklyn Dodgers vs. Montreal Royals.                                                                                                              PINK REV 4-19-12 35.          Daytona Beach's black community is turning out to see Jackie          Robinson. Hundreds of people line up, mass at the: Colored          Entrance. In their Sunday best. Families. Couples. The          old. The frail. Young boys chase after each other. One          MOTHER stands on her toes to spot her son.                         MOTHER          Ed! You stay where I can see you!          13-year old ED CHARLES turns, waves his baseball glove over          his head so she can see him. Then to no one in particular:                         ED          I'm thirteen years old.           WHITE PEOPLE enter at several gates around them.                          CUT TO:          45 CLOSE ON BRANCH RICKEY - THE DODGER DUGOUT 45          He sits watching as the segregated bleachers in right fill          with BLACK FANS. All else is white. Rickey pops a PEANUT in          his mouth, confides to someone alongside him we don't see.                         RICKEY          I've spoken to the mayor. I've          explained how much money we'll          spend in Daytona. But still, when          this fine young Negro man steps on          that field today, he and the          Dodgers will technically be          breaking the law. A law which says          white and black players cannot          enjoy the same field at the same          time. Does that make sense to you?          Does Jim Crow make any sense when          placed against the words of the          United States Constitution? When          placed against the word of God?          POP OUT to reveal he sits beside the DODGER BATBOY, so short          his feet don't touch the ground. Rickey offers his peanut          bag. As the batboy takes one...                         RICKEY          I'll tell you, it does not make          sense to me.                         CUT TO:                         46 OMITTED 46                                                                                                                PINK REV 4-19-12 36.                         47 OMITTED 47                          48 OMITTED 48           49 EXT. ON DECK CIRCLE - CITY ISLAND BALLPARK - DAY 49          Jack swinging two bats to get loose. Watches as the Montreal          BATTER hits a LINE DRIVE which -- Pee Wee Reese nearly leaps          out of his socks to bring down. Wow...          As the CROWD claps in appreciation, Jack takes a deep breath.                         PA ANNOUNCER          Now batting the second baseman --          Jackie Robinson!          Jack wincing as he steps forward to both cheers and boos from          the white sections. As a ‘go home, coon' drifts over -- A          BIG OVATION from the black section in right drowns it out.          COLORED SECTION - RIGHT FIELD           Rachel sits with Smith. They react to some of the INVECTIVE           coming from the white section.                          RACHEL           Jack's got a thick skin. He'll be           okay.                          SMITH           How about you?                          RACHEL                          (SHRUGS)           I better get one in a hurry.                          INFIELD           Higbe watching from the mound as Jack steps into the batter's          box. Two well wishing voices from the infield stands.                         SPECTATOR ONE          Come on, black boy, you can make          the grade!                         SPECTATOR TWO          They're giving you a chance! Do          something about it!          Jack heartened at the words. Concentrates as Higbe's first          pitch is fired. High and tight, Jack jerks out of the way.                                                                                                              YELLOW REV 4-24-12 37.          Bragan, behind the plate, chucks the ball back, grins up at          Jack who does not look down at him as he settles back in.                         ED CHARLES          The 13-year-old holding his hands together in prayer.                         ED          Please, God, let Jackie show them          what we can do.                         HOME PLATE          Here comes the next pitch. Even tighter. Jack nearly hit.                         UMPIRE          Ball two!          Jack glaring, crowds the plate more. Bragan shows 1, taps          his right thigh signalling outside. Jack watches it sail,          doesn't bite. The umpire: “Ball Three!” Higbe's fun          slipping away as he can't find the strike zone.                         HIGBE          Come on, Rook! Ain't you gonna          swing at something?!          Jack takes a practice swing, waits as Bragan sets up right          over the plate. Here comes the pitch. Low. “Ball four!”                         RACHEL & SMITH          A big, over-reacting CHEER from the Colored section.                         SMITH          It's just a walk.                         RACHEL          Who can blame them?                         HIGBE          Looks ill-tempered over to first where Jack gives the same          look back as he sidesteps an enormous, defiant lead off the          bag. Higbe incredulous. Did he just do that?                         DUROCHER                         (FROM DUGOUT)          Well throw over there for crying          out loud!          Higbe fires to LAVAGETTO at first. Jack dives back in time.                                                                                                                                        YELLOW REV 4-24-12 38.          Higbe gets the ball back, settles. Jack takes a lead, but a           modest one this time. Here come the pitch -- And Jack goes.          You knew he was fast; but not this fast. Bragan's throw to           Pee Wee is late and high. Pee Wee throws back to Higbe.           Higbe sets. Bragan gives him a sign. Jack takes a lead. On           the wind-up, Jack goes. Bragan stands -- it's a PITCH OUT.           Bragan fires to third and Jack is caught in a RUN DOWN. It           seems like half the team gets involved with Higbe finally           getting the ball by third and Jack ducking under the tag.           Safe! A BUZZ goes through the stadium now as people start to           realize they are not watching something or someone ordinary.                         RICKEY          Watching from a seat behind third.                         RICKEY          Thataway, Jackie! Thataway!                         HIGBE & JACK          Higbe looks home for the sign, Jack dancing off third,           pounding his right foot toward home. He feints hard home.           Higbe steps off the rubber. Jack stays where he is.                          HIGBE          Hell! You're supposed to go back          to third when I step off! Don't          you know nothing?!          He throws over. Jack back to the bag. Higbe gets the ball          back, looks in. Jack bouncing, pounding off third. His           movements carry violence within them. Like a piston           exploding in an engine.           Higbe into his motion, stops his delivery, accidentally drops           the ball to the ground. The umpire signals BALK, points Jack          home. Higbe is furious.          ED CHARLES - IN THE COLORED SECTION          CHEERING, joyous. His mother joins in, happy despite...                         MOTHER          I don't understand. What happened?                         ED          It's a balk, Mama. The pitcher          can't start toward home and then          stop. Jackie scores.                                                                                                              GREEN REV 4-27-12 39.                         MOTHER          But he didn't do anything.                         ED          Oh, mama, yes he did, he          discombobulated the man.                         DUGOUT          Durocher looks to Branca, impressed.                         DUROCHER          He didn't come to play; he came to          kill.          Durocher starts out to the mound to talk to Higbe.                         DIXIE WALKER          Watching from right field, the black crowd still cheering.          He walks over toward the open bullpen where Casey stands.                         WALKER          This really how it's gonna be some          day? Baseball?                         CUT TO:          50 EXT. SCOREBOARD - BALLFIELD - DAY 50          Montreal vs. Indianapolis. THE STANDS are half filled. The          COLORED SECTION is packed solid, accentuated by the many          empty seats in the sections on either side of it.          INSERT: De Land, Florida.          No score, top of the first as -- Jack drops a BUNT down the          line. The FIRST BASEMAN fields, throw to the SECOND BASEMAN          covering. Too late. Only Jack doesn't stop.          Realizing the SHORTSTOP isn't covering the bag, Jack bolts          for second. The second baseman has to wait on the throw and          when he makes it -- The UMPIRE signals safe. A bunt double!          Spider Jorgensen settles in the batter's box. The pitch.          Crack, Jorgensen laces a single to left.          Jack motors to third where Sukeforth is WAVING him home.          We're with him at hip level as he tears down the basepath.          The CATCHER bracing for the throw - they COLLIDE - he's SAFE!           As Jack gets to his feet, however, a Jim Crow POLICEMAN steps          up to meet him, grabs him by the shoulder.                         POLICEMAN          Git offa this field now!                                                                                                              WHITE 3-14-12 40.                         JACK          What!? Why?                         POLICEMAN          It's against the law is why. No          niggers don't play with no white          boys. Git off or go to jail.          Jack shrugs the policeman's hand off his shoulder. That          sends him reaching for his nightstick and --          Sukeforth is there to get between them.                         JACK          You swing that thing you better hit          me between the eyes with it.                         POLICEMAN          Is that so?          The CROWD BOOING. The black section especially.                         HOPPER          (arrives from dugout)          Hey, hold on, what'd he do wrong?                         POLICEMAN          We ain't havin' Nigras mix with          white boys in this town. Ya'll          ain't up-states now; they gotta          stay separate. Brooklyn Dodgers          ain't changing our way of living.          Where are you all from anyhow?                         HOPPER          Greenwood, Mississippi.                         POLICEMAN          Hell, man, you oughta know better.          (a dangerous beat)          Now tell your Nigra I said to git.          You think I'm foolin'?          Hopper looks desperately to Jack who just stands there.          RACHEL'S VOICE           What did you do?                          CUT TO:          51 EXT. STREET - DAYTONA BEACH - HARRIS NEIGHBORHOOD - DAY 51          Jack and Rachel out walking. He's been telling the story.                                                                                                              PINK REV 4-19-12 41.                         JACK          I said okay, Skipper, tell him...          Ah'm a-gittin'. Sho'nuff, ah is.                         RACHEL          You didn't?                         JACK          I did. Then I took a long shower.          We lost 2 to 1.          She takes a few exaggerated steps to amuse him.                         RACHEL          Ah'm a-gittin', ah'm a gittin'.          He laughs, takes her hand. He's going to kiss her.                         JACK          You're not getting away from me.                         RACHEL                         (LOOKING PAST)          Jack...          A white man bee-lines them from across the street, looks like          a real CRACKER. Jack on guard, gets in front of Rachel.                         JACK          Get back, Rae. Go back.          Cracker stops square across from him. Jack's fists balled.                         CRACKER          I want you to know something.                         JACK          Yeah, what's that?                         CRACKER          I want you to know I'm pulling for          you to make good. And a lot of          folks here feel the same way. If a          man's got the goods, he deserves a          fair chance. That's all.          (tips his hat)          Ma'am.           As Cracker walks away... Rachel takes Jack's hand.                          CUT TO:                         52 OMITTED 52                                                                                                                YELLOW REV 4-24-12 41A.          52A EXT. PLAYING FIELD - DODGER DAYTONA FACILITY - DAY 52A           Rickey leans against his car watching a GROUNDSKEEPER push          mow the infield grass. Jack, in street clothes, joins him.                         JACK          You wanted to see me, Mr. Rickey?          Rickey nods, consider the field a moment.                         RICKEY          Bermuda grass grows so well here.          I wish we could get it to grow like          this in Brooklyn.                         JACK          I like the way it smells when they          mow it.                                                                                                              PINK REV 4-19-12 42.                         RICKEY          Me, too.           Rickey consider the field a moment, then Jack.                          RICKEY          Jackie, it's my pleasure to tell          you that you've earned a spot on          the Montreal Royals. When they          head north Tuesday for opening day          against Jersey City, you'll be on          the train.          Jack trying to hold down his excitement.                         JACK          I won't let you down.                         RICKEY          I know that.                         JACK          If you don't mind, I've got to go          tell my wife.                         RICKEY          Give her my regards.          Jack about to head off when he looks back..                         JACK          Why are you doing this, Mr. Rickey?                         RICKEY          I'm an opportunist. With you and          the Negro players I hope to bring          up next year I'll put together a          team that can win the World Series.          And the World Series means money.          Jack studies him a beat, not quite buying it.                         RICKEY          Don't you believe that?                         JACK          I don't think what I believe is          important. Only what I do.                         RICKEY          Agreed. Therefore, run the bases           like the Devil himself.                         (MORE)                                                                                                              GREEN REV 4-27-12 43.                         RICKEY (CONT'D)          Worry those pitchers so they come          apart. Sometimes they'll catch          you, but don't worry about that.          Ty Cobb got caught plenty. Just          run as you see fit. Put the          natural fear of God into them.                         CUT TO:          53 EXT. DAYTONA BEACH TRAIN STATION - DAY 53          Ed Charles and his TWO FRIENDS follow Jack and the Montreal          PLAYERS as they walk toward the TRAIN waiting on the tracks.          Jack is one of the last to board. He's almost through the          door when something stops him. He looks back at Ed.          A beat. Ed slowly raises his hand and waves. Jack smiles,          does the same, then disappears inside. The WHISTLE blows and          the train starts out of the station. On impulse Ed starts to          trot out after it. Staying close. His friends follow.                         TRAIN TRACKS          The train picks up speed. The boys start to run. Arms          pumping, feet flying. One boy drops off. Then the other.          But Ed still runs. Chasing after that train carrying Jackie          Robinson. Finally, he stops, heaving for breath, watching          the train disappear around the bend. A lonely beat. Then --          Ed gets down on his hands and knees. He sets his ear on the          rail, closes his eyes. A thrum comes off the rail. A huge          smile spreads. He straightens, shouts back to his friends:                         ED          I CAN STILL HEAR HIM!           From somewhere, as the National Anthem ends...                          CUT TO:          54 EXT. ROOSEVELT STADIUM - DAY 54           INSERT: April 18, 1946 - Roosevelt Stadium, Jersey City.           Opening day of the International League Season.           A COLOR GUARD march away to REVEAL:            HOME PLATE UMPIRE           PLAY BALL!          30,000 FANS pack a stadium built for 24,500. Bunting and          flags everywhere. 1000s of black fans are here (segregated          only financially in New Jersey).                         CUT TO:                                                                                                               WHITE 3-14-12 44.          55 EXT. HOME PLATE - ROOSEVELT STADIUM - DAY 55          Jack steps up to some BOOING, but much more APPLAUSE. He          looks ready to beat the world.          INSERT: First inning.                         CROWD VOICE          Come on, Jackie, this fella can't          pitch!          Speaking of the pitch, here it comes. Jack tops a WEAK          GROUNDER to short. As he's thrown out by a mile...          56 WENDELL SMITH & RACHEL 56          Sitting up off third. His knees knocked together to hold his          TYPEWRITER on his lap. Nothing to write about there. He          looks over at Rachel who puts her hand over her mouth.                         SMITH          You okay?                         RACHEL          I think I might be sick.                         (STANDING)          Excuse me, Wendell.          He watches as she starts out, looks to the field.                         SMITH          I'd be sick at a swing like that,          too.                         CUT TO:          57 INT. REST ROOM STALL - ROOSEVELT STADIUM - DAY 57          Rachel exits looking stricken. She steps over, splashes a          little water from the sink up into her face. An OLDER BLACK          WOMAN watches sympathetically.                         OLDER WOMAN          Are you alright, honey?                         RACHEL          I'm sick. I don't know why.          The older woman rolls off a piece of paper towel for her.          RACHEL (CONT'D)          Thank you.                         OLDER WOMAN          When did you have your monthly          last?                                                                                                              WHITE 3-14-12 45.          Rachel looks over, taken aback. But then...                         RACHEL          I'm late.                         OLDER WOMAN          It may be that you're pregnant.          The older woman offers a little smile, leaves her there.          INSERT: Third Inning.          P.A. ANNOUNCER                         (ECHOING)           Now batting. Jackie Robinson.                          CUT TO:                         58 HOME PLATE 58          Jack steps up to bat. The JERSEY CITY GIANT PITCHER looks to          the Montreal RUNNER at first, glances over his shoulder at          the Montreal RUNNER at second, then focuses on home.                         59 SMITH 59          His hands resting on the top of his typewriter.                         SMITH          Come on, Jackie. Come on, batter.                         60 RACHEL 60          Emerging up the runway. The field opening up before her.          There's Jack standing down there. The sight of him settles          her. As she puts a hand gently over her belly...                         61 THE PITCHER 61          Grimaces for something extra as he fires a high fastball --          Jack UNLOADS. All heads turn to watch it sail -- high into          the left field bleachers, banging hard off the scoreboard.                         62 SMITH 62          Nearly drops his typewriter, pushes his hat back as he          watches Jack start his home run trot. Smith laughs. Joy.                         63 DUGOUT 63          Hopper can't believe his eyes. Softly to himself:                         HOPPER          I'll be damned...                                                                                                               WHITE 3-14-12 46.          64 WE'RE WITH JACK 64          As he runs the base paths. Over it, a TYPEWRITER CLATTERS.          SMITH (O.S.)          Robinson jogged around the bases,          his heart singing...          The crowd loves it as he continues toward third where          Sukeforth is clapping for all he's worth.          SMITH (O.S.) (CONT'D)          And our own hearts beat just a bit          faster, and the thrill ran through          us like champagne bubbles...          65 CLOSE ON RACHEL 65           Watching him head for home, shaking hands with the two men he           batted in. Pride & joy in her eyes.                          RACHEL           Oh, Jack... Oh Jack...                          CUT TO:          66 CLOSE ON RACHEL 66          Suddenly in pain, face beaded in sweat.                         RACHEL          Jack! Jack!          INSERT: November 18, 1946. Pasadena, California.          She is in labor and we are in Huntington Memorial Hospital.          A CRY. The DOCTOR holds up a slick, wailing NEWBORN.                         DOCTOR          It's a boy.           As Rachel holds out her arms for him...                          CUT TO:          67 INT. HALLWAY - MATERNITY WARD - PASADENA - NIGHT 67          Jack at the glass looking at JACKIE JR. Jack's eyes shine as          he regards his infant son. It's quiet. Jack's voice soft.                         JACK          My daddy left. He left us flat in          Cairo, Georgia. I was only six          months older than you are now. I          don't remember him. Nothing good,          nothing bad. Nothing.                         (MORE)                                                                                                              YELLOW REV 4-24-12 47.                         JACK (CONT'D)                         (A BEAT)          But you're going to remember me.          And I am going to be with you until          the day I die.           The stakes just got raised...                          CUT TO:          68 INT. YMCA GYMNASIUM - DAY 68           THIRTY prominent BROOKLYN NEGRO leaders, representing a cross          section of civic responsibility, sit on folding chairs before          a dais where HERBERT MILLER making an introduction.                         MILLER          As all of us know a young Negro          second baseman played north of the          border last season...          INSERT: Brooklyn YMCA. February 5, 1947.          In back: TWO DEACONS in the back whisper over a SPORTS PAGE.                         DEACON ONE          Look here what he did.                         (READS)          Led the International League in          batting: .349, in stolen bases: 40,          runs scored: 113. Plus batted .400          in the Minor League World Series.                         DEACON TWO          Last season doesn't matter. The          International League, it doesn't          matter. What matters is this year.          What matters is Brooklyn.                         DEACON ONE          Shhh... Here he comes.          As Herbert Miller introduces...                         MILLER          I present the general manager of          the Brooklyn Dodger baseball club,          Mr. Branch Rickey!          Warm APPLAUSE as Rickey steps up. As it settles...                         RICKEY          Good evening. I have something          very important to talk with you          about tonight. Something that will          require courage from all of us.                         (A BEAT)                         (MORE)                                                                                                              PINK REV 4-19-12 47A.                         RICKEY (CONT'D)          I have a ballplayer on my Montreal          team named Jackie Robinson.          The start of applause. Rickey motions for it to stop.                                                                                                              YELLOW REV 4-24-12 48.                         RICKEY          He may stay there or he may be          brought to Brooklyn. But if Jackie          does come up to the Dodgers, the          biggest threat to his success, the          one enemy most likely to ruin that          success, is the Negro people          themselves!          There is shocked silence in the room. Rickey notices a group           of KIDS watching from a raised running track, soldiers on:                          RICKEY          I say it as cruelly as I can to          make you all realize the weight of          responsibility that is not only on          myself and the Dodgers, but on          Negroes everywhere. For on the day          Jackie enters the National League,          if he does, I have no doubt every          one of you will form parades and          welcoming committees. You'll          strut. You'll wear badges. You'll          hold Jackie Robinson days and          Jackie Robinson nights. You'll get          drunk, fight and be arrested.          This is too much. People are slackjawed. Rickey powers on.                         RICKEY          You'll wine and dine him until he          is fat and futile. You'll          symbolize his importance into a          national comedy and yes, a tragedy!          So let me tell you this!          (pounds his fist)          If any group or segment of Negro          society uses the advancement of          Jackie Robinson in baseball as a          triumph of race over race, I will          regret the day I ever signed him to          a contract, and I will personally          see that baseball is never so          abused and misrepresented again!          Is he done? An embarrassed smattering of applause. Mostly          shock and stares. As Rickey stands there uncomfortably...                         CUT TO:          69 INT. HALLWAY - YMCA - DAY 69           Rickey stands waiting; giving that speech has worn him out.          The door opens and Miller looks in on him.                                                                                                              WHITE 3-14-12 49.                         MILLER          I question your bedside manner, Mr.          Rickey, but they've agreed to set          up a committee of self-policing.          We'll call it the 'Don't Spoil          Jackie's Chances' campaign.                         RICKEY           Thank you, Mr. Miller. I'm sorry;           the spotlight will be on us all.                          CUT TO:          70 INT. BEDROOM - BEVERLY HILLS HOTEL SUITE - NIGHT 70          The silhouette of stately palms through the window. A PHONE          RINGS. A figure fumbles through silk sheets for the          receiver. It's LEO DUROCHER, a WOMEN in bed alongside him.          INSERT: Beverly Hills. February 16, 1947.                         DUROCHER          Yeah?          RICKEY'S VOICE          Hello, Leo, what are you doing?                         DUROCHER          I'm bowling. Wait, I'm snowshoeing          in the Alps. I'm trying to sleep,          Mr. Rickey. It's still dark out.                         CUT TO:          71 INT. BRANCH RICKEY'S OFFICE - EARLY MORNING 71          It's very early in New York. Rickey on the phone.                         RICKEY          Another spring training is upon us.          In Panama. I need to know your          attitude toward Jackie Robinson.          72 INTERCUT THE FOLLOWING: 72                         DUROCHER          I don't got an attitude toward him.          The girl rolls over to look at him. She is the actress          LORRAINE DAY and she is stunning. As Durocher regards her...                         RICKEY          Eight times in the Bible we're told          to love our neighbor. It's one of          God's most repeated commands.                                                                                                              PINK REV 4-19-12 50.          She puts her hands on him. (Durocher addressing Rickey.)                          LORRAINE                          (SOFTLY)           Hi...                          DUROCHER          I don't know much about the Bible.                          LORRAINE           Me neither...                          DUROCHER           But I didn't go to school just to           eat my lunch either. I'll play an          elephant if he can help us win. To           make room for him, I'll send my own          brother home if he's not as good.                         LORRAINE           (in his ear)           What are you going to do with me?                          DUROCHER           We're playing for money, Mr.          Rickey. Winning's the only thing          that matters. Is he a nice guy?                         RICKEY          If by nice you mean soft, no, not          particularly.                         DUROCHER          Good. He can't afford to be. Nice          guys finish last.                         LORRAINE           What about nice girls?           She starts to kiss him. It's hard to concentrate.                         RICKEY          So you have no objections to him?                         DUROCHER          None whatsoever. Can I go back to          sleep now?                         RICKEY          Yes. Oh -- and Leo?                         DUROCHER          What?                                                                                                              PINK REV 4-19-12 50A.                         RICKEY          The Bible says a thing or two about          adultery as well.                         DUROCHER          I'm sure it's got a lot to say          about a lot. Good night.          Durocher hangs up the phone, looks to her.                          DUROCHER           What am I gonna do with you?                          LORRAINE           Leo, I thought you knew...           As she kisses him...                          CUT TO:          73 EXT. PEPPER STREET - PASADENA - DAY 73          Jack stands out front kissing Jackie Jr. good-bye as a CABBIE          muscles his LUGGAGE down the walkway to a waiting TAXI. Jack          kisses Mallie and hands off the baby. Mallie carries the boy          inside leaving Jack and Rachel alone to say goodbye.                                                                                                              BLUE REV 4-07-12 51.                         RACHEL          Promise me you'll write.                         JACK          When did I ever not write?                         RACHEL          I want you to know I'm there for          you. Even if it's words on paper.          He's sees she's raw, takes her in his arms with the baby.                         JACK          Rae, you're in my heart.          She sighs, rests her head on his shoulder.                         RACHEL          You're getting close now. The          closer you get, the worse they'll          be. Don't let them get to you.                         JACK          I will not. God built me to last.          He kisses her. She kisses him back.                         RACHEL          See you in Brooklyn in eight weeks.                         JACK          It might be Montreal.          A certainty grips her. She passes it on to him.                          RACHEL          It's going to be Brooklyn. I know          it is.          Power in her words. He nods, looks off toward the taxi.                          JACK            I've got to go, Rae.            She nods. They kiss, embrace a last time. He starts away            down the walk. She watches. Something not quite right.            A tug as Jack stops, looks back at her. Fighting back her            emotion and then impelled forward, she runs to him. They            come together. She practically disappears in his arms. They           do not want to be apart.                           CUT TO:                                                                                                                WHITE 3-14-12 52.          74 INT. DINING ROOM - THE TIVOLI HOTEL - DAY 74          Durocher eats heartily. Rickey's food is untouched.                         DUROCHER          It's a pipe dream, Mr. Rickey.                         RICKEY          Pipe dream? What do you mean by          pipe dream?          INSERT: Panama City, Panama. March 18, 1947.                         DUROCHER          I mean it ain't gonna happen. The          Dodgers are never gonna demand          Robinson be brought up from          Montreal. Ball players are          conservative.                         RICKEY          A team full of tough war veterans?          Immigrants' sons? Boys from          impoverished parts of the country?                         DUROCHER          It - ain't - gonna - happen.                         RICKEY          You really believe they won't          accept him? Once they see how he          plays, how he can help them win.                         DUROCHER          I'm not saying they won't accept          him: I'm saying they won't ask for          him. I'm saying Robinson's good          medicine, but they're not gonna          like the taste. I'm saying bend          over, boys, and get ready, this one          might hurt a little.                         (ANOTHER FORKFUL)           Boy, this is good fish.                          CUT TO:          75 KIRBY HIGBE - IN HIS TIVOLI HOTEL ROOM 75          As Higbe (South Carolina) finishes WRITING something on a          piece of hotel STATIONARY, Bragan (Alabama) looks to Dixie          Walker (Alabama) and Dodger pitcher HUGH CASEY (Georgia).                         BRAGAN          Why do you think Rickey's got us          playing spring games in Panama?                         (MORE)                                                                                                              BLUE REV 4-07-12 53.                         BRAGAN (CONT'D)          He wants to get us used to Negro          crowds. He wants more of them than          us. He's hoping it'll get us more          comfortable being around Robinson.          Higbe clears his throat, reads what he's written:                         HIGBE          We, the undersigned Brooklyn          Dodgers will not play ball on the          same field as Jackie Robinson.          Higbe signs it. He hands the pen to Bragan who adds his own          name. Casey signs with a flourish. Casey holds out the pen          to Walker who doesn't take it right away. An odd beat.                         CASEY          If you wanna make your mark, Dixie,          we can witness it.           Everyone laughs; it loosens Walker up enough to sign.                          CUT TO:          76 HOTEL ROOM DOOR 76          Higbe KNOCKS as Casey, Bragan and Walker crowd behind him.          STANKY'S VOICE          C'mon in!          STANKY'S ROOM          The boys enter. Eddie Stanky sits in a chair stripped to the          waist, soaking his right elbow in a BUCKET OF ICE.                         STANKY          What's goin' on?                         HIGBE          Got a petition goin' on, Stank.                         BRAGAN           To keep Robinson up in Montreal          where he belongs.                         STANKY          Oh... Did Pee Wee sign it?                         HIGBE          Ain't asked him yet. What          difference does it make?                         STANKY          None, just wonderin'.                                                                                                               BLUE REV 4-07-12 54.           Stanky looks to Walker who looks away.           STANKY (CONT'D)           (re: his right arm)           Can't sign now. I'm indisposed.           Could I catch up with you later?                          CUT TO:          77 PEE WEE REESE 77          Standing in the door to his room. Looking out at the glum          faces of Higbe, Bragan, Casey and Walker.                         REESE          Look, it's like this. I got a          wife, a baby, and I got no money.          I don't want to step in anything.                         (TO WALKER)          Skip me, Dix, I'm not interested.                         WALKER          What if they put him at shortstop?                         REESE                         (SHRUGS)          If he's man enough to take my job,          I suppose he deserves it.                         HIGBE          (laughs out loud)          The hell he does!                         WALKER          He does not have the ice water in          his veins for big league baseball.                          REESE            So let him show what he's got.           Robinson can play or he can't.           It'll all take care of itself.                          CUT TO:                         78 CARL FURILLO 78          The very son of immigrants Rickey was talking about. From          Pennsylvania no less.                         FURILLO          Give me the pen.          Higbe grins, hands it over. As Furillo signs...                         CUT TO:                                                                                                               TAN REV 6-25-12 55.          79 INT. LEO DUROCHER'S ROOM - THE TIVOLI HOTEL - NIGHT 79          Durocher lays staring up at the palm shadows on the ceiling.          Finally, the phone rings. He answers.                         DUROCHER          Yes, Mr. Rickey.           RICKEY'S VOICE          Have our friends in the press gone          to sleep yet?                         DUROCHER          We are the only people awake on           this entire isthmus, Mr. Rickey.           RICKEY'S VOICE          A deliberate violation of the law,          needs a little show of force. I          leave it to you. Good night, Leo.                          DUROCHER           Yes, Mr. Rickey.                          CUT TO:          80 INT. HOTEL KITCHEN - NIGHT 80          Deserted. Durocher stands in a hotel bathrobe, arms crossed          as his PLAYERS and COACHES file in. Bleary-eyed, half-          dressed, they're all here, all wondering what this is about.          Suddenly, Durocher grabs the handle of an industrial-sized          SOUP POT and heaves it across the room. BRWANG-RANG-RANG!                         DUROCHER          Wake up, ladies! Wake the Hell up!          (a stunned beat)          It's come to my attention that some          of you fellas don't want to play          with Robinson. That you even got a          petition drawn up that you're all          gonna sign. Well boys, you know          what you can do with your petition?          YOU CAN WIPE YOUR ASSES WITH IT!                         WALKER          C'mon, Leo...                         DUROCHER          Come on what?!                                                                                                              TAN REV 6-25-12 55A.                         WALKER          Ball players gotta live together,          shower together, it's not right to          force him on us. Besides, I own a          hardware store back home and I --                                                                                                              PINK REV 4-19-12 56.                         DUROCHER          Screw your hardware store, Dix!          And if you don't like it, screw          you! Mr. Rickey'll be happy to          make other arrangements for you.          Durocher suddenly marches to Higbe, looks like he's going to          belt him. As Higbe gulps, Durocher turns to the team.                         DUROCHER          I don't care if he's yellow or          black or has stripes like a zebra,          if Robinson can help us win, and          everything I've seen says he can,          then he's gonna play on this ball          club. Like it, lump it, make your          mind up to it because he's coming!          And think about this when your          heads hit the pillow, he's only the          first, boys, only the first. More          are coming right behind him. They          have talent and they wanna play!          He lets that sink a moment.                         DUROCHER          Yes, sir, they're gonna come diving          and scratching. So I'd forget your          petition and worry about the field.          Because unless you fellas pay a          little more attention to your work,          they are going to run you right out          of the ball park! A petition?          (looks them over)          Are you ballplayers or lawyers?           As he marches past them and through the doors...                          CUT TO:                         81 OMITTED 81                          82 OMITTED 82                                                                                                                PINK REV 4-19-12 57.                         83 OMITTED 83           84 EXT./INT. DUGOUT - PANAMA PRACTICE FIELD - DAY 84            Jack in his Montreal uniform headed off the field for the            dugout. Sukeforth headed over wearing Dodger blue.                           SUKEFORTH            Robinson!            As Jack turns, Sukeforth tosses him a FIRST BASEMAN'S GLOVE.                           JACK           What do you want me to do with          this?                         SUKEFORTH          Play first base.                         JACK           I've never played first base in my           life, Coach.                          SUKEFORTH          Well, it's like this. Brooklyn's           got a solid second baseman. And           they got Pee Wee Reese at short.           But first base is up for grabs.          Are you catching my drift?                         JACK                          (NODS)           Yeah. I don't need a glove to do           that.                          CUT TO:                                                                                                               YELLOW REV 4-24-12 58.                         85 OMITTED 85          86 JACK - PRACTICE FIELD 86           Coach Sukeforth, getting balls from a bucket, hitting           grounders down to Jack at first. The short hops are wicked.           Jack rolls his catches over to a little PANAMANIAN KID who            chucks them down to his brother who tosses them back to            Sukeforth. As Jack struggles...                           PANAMANIAN KID            El es muy malo.                          SUKEFORTH          Mr. Rickey said he wants you          playing conspicuous baseball!                         (WHACK)          To be so good the Dodgers'll demand          you on the team!                         (WHACK)          So I thought about it awhile and          then I looked up conspicuous in the          dictionary.                         (WHACK)          It means to attract notice or          attention.          Jack dives, spears a liner. Sukeforth tilts back his cap.                         SUKEFORTH           Conspicuous.                          CUT TO:                         87 OMITTED 87                                                                                                               PINK REV 4-19-12 59.                         88 OMITTED 88           89 INT. RICKEY'S OFFICE - THE TIVOLI HOTEL - DAY 89           Bobby Bragan sits across from Rickey looking defiant.                         RICKEY          Bragan, most of your teammates have          recanted on this petition nonsense.          Are you really here to tell me you          don't want to play with Robinson?                         BRAGAN          Yes, Sir. My friends back in          Birmingham would never forgive me.                         RICKEY          And your friends here in Brooklyn?          (Bragan just shrugs)          Then I will accommodate you. If          you give me your word that you will          try your very best for this team          until I can work out a trade.          That gets Bragan's goat. He jumps up, really mad.                         BRAGAN          Do you think I would quit on          anyone?! I don't quit.                         RICKEY          Only on yourself apparently. You          can go, Bragan.                         CUT TO:          89A SECOND BASE - PANAMA - DAY 89A            Time slowed way down as Jack takes a throw at second from the            Montreal shortstop. He pivots to turn the double-play even            as Dixie Walker barrels in low.            All Jackie's focus on the task at hand as he throws while            Walker submarines him. He lands in a heap tangled up            together. They both look back to see the result of the play.            As Robinson smiles and Walker scowls, we know...            RICKEY'S VOICE            Send Dixie in.                           CUT TO:                                                                                                                BLUE REV 4-07-12 60.                         90 DIXIE WALKER 90           Sitting down across from Rickey.                         RICKEY          I received your letter, Dixie.                         (READS)          Recently, the thought has occurred          to me that a change of ball clubs          would benefit both the Brooklyn          Baseball Club and myself.                         (TO WALKER)          This is about Robinson?                         WALKER          I'm keeping my reasons private.          Hope you can respect that, sir.                         RICKEY          I realize, Dixie, that you have a          Southern upbringing, that you would          have to subordinate your feelings          for the welfare of this venture. I          for one would deeply appreciate it.          I think we can all learn something.                         WALKER          What I have, Mr. Rickey, is a          hardware store back home. It's          called Dixie Walker's. Folks don't          come because I have the lowest          prices, they come because it's          called Dixie Walker's. Understand?          And I make as much money owning          that store as I do playing for you.                         RICKEY          Is that what you're you afraid of?          (he doesn't answer)          Bragan's a third-stringer, but you          bat clean-up. You're popular in          Brooklyn. Children look up to you!                         WALKER          You got my letter; can I go?                         RICKEY          I'll start looking for a trade or a          sale. But it won't happen until I          get value in return. Until then I          expect you to drive in runs.                         WALKER           I always have. That's my job.                           CUT TO:                                                                                                                GOLDENROD REV 5-9-12 61.          91 EXT. PENN STATION - NIGHT 91          INSERT: Manhattan. April 8, 1947.          Jack exits with his luggage. Looking for a cab, he sees          Smith waiting. Smith offers a salute. Jack looks grumpy as          he steps over. The Buick waiting beyond.                         JACK          You again.          Smith leans back, blinks.                         SMITH          That's right. Me again. Something          wrong with that, Jack?                         JACK          Come on.           Jack continues past. As Smith follows...                          CUT TO:          92 INT. SMITH'S BUICK - 34TH STREET - NIGHT 92          Traffic heavy. A glum silence in the car until...                         SMITH          They can't keep you on Montreal for          long. After these exhibition          games, they've got to bring you up.                         (NO REPLY)          You don't have two words to rub          together, do you?                         JACK          Do I have to entertain you?          More silence, then...                         SMITH          You ever wonder why I sit out in          right field with my typewriter on          my knees? Does that ever cross          your mind?          Jack stares out the passenger window, not in the mood. As he          looks up at some of the taller buildings they pass...                         SMITH          It's because Negro reporters aren't          allowed in the press box.          Jack doesn't answer, doesn't look over. Finally Smith starts           talking to himself. Pretending to be Jack.                                                                                                               GOLDENROD REV 5-9-12 62.          SMITH ‘AS JACK'           You know, Wendell, I never asked          you where you were from?                         SMITH          Why I'm from Detroit, Jack.          SMITH ‘AS JACK'          You don't say? Tell me more.                         SMITH          My daddy used to work at Fair Lane.          That was Mr. Ford's estate. My          daddy was Mr. Henry Ford's cook.          SMITH ‘AS JACK'          I did not know that.                         SMITH          Cooked for him for years, but never          once broke bread with him. I'd go          to work with daddy sometimes. Play          baseball out on the lawn with Mr.          Ford's grandchildren. We all had a          real good time. But it was          understood, if they got tired of          playing ball and moved inside to          the bowling alley or swimming pool,          I was not invited or allowed. The          grass was as far as I got. So          guess what? You're not the only          one with something at stake here.                         JACK          (after a beat)          If I start talking, will you stop?                         SMITH          I'd be happy to.          Smith stops at a red light.                          JACK          I apologize. You've been there for          me through this more than anyone          besides Rae and Mr. Rickey. But I          guess that's what bothers me.                         SMITH          How do you mean?                         JACK          I don't like needing someone to be          there for me. I don't like needing          anyone but myself. I never have.                                                                                                              GOLDENROD REV 5-9-12 63.                         SMITH          You are a hard case, Jack Robinson.          Is it okay if I keep driving you or          should I let you out so you can          walk?          Jack bursts out laughing. So does Smith.                          JACK           You remember the last time we were           at a red light? Down in Florida?                          SMITH           New York City now, baby. We've           come a long way.                          JACK           And we got a long way to go.           The light turns green. Off they go.                          CUT TO:          93 INT. BRANCH RICKEY'S OFFICE - BROOKLYN - DAY 93          Rickey reads to Parrott from the New York Sun.                         RICKEY          Branch Rickey cannot afford to          upset team chemistry and so the          only thing keeping Robinson off the          Dodgers now, plainly, is the          attitude of the players.          INSERT: Brooklyn. April 9, 1947.                         RICKEY          If it softens at the sight of          Jackie's skills, he'll join the          club some time between April 10 and          April 15. Otherwise, Robinson will          spend the year back in Montreal.          (throws paper down)          For the love of Pete, he batted          .625 in the exhibition games          against them, us, them -- Against          us! Judas Priest!          Rickey flummoxed as the phone RINGS from the outer office.                         PARROTT          Maybe you could have Durocher hold          a press conference. Demand that he          get Robinson on his team.                                                                                                              GOLDENROD REV 5-9-12 63A.                         RICKEY          Durocher. Of course, he's my ace          in the hole. Very good, Harold.          The phone still rings. Rickey looks to his open door.                         RICKEY          Jane Ann! Are you out there?          Grumbling, brambly eyebrows twitching, he makes the mistake          of answering his own phone.                                                                                                              WHITE 3-14-12 64.          RICKEY (CONT'D)          Branch Rickey... You're speaking          to him... The Commissioner of          what..? Oh, yes put him on.          (looks to Parrott)           The commissioner of baseball.                          CUT TO:          94 INT. COMMISSIONER'S OFFICE - DAY 94          HAPPY CHANDLER gets a manicure. Always jovial, a head like          an anvil with hair parted in the middle, he picks up a phone.                         HAPPY          Branch, how are you?          INTERCUT THE FOLLOWING:                         RICKEY          Fine. What can I do for you, Happy?                         HAPPY          Branch, how would you feel about          losing Durocher for a year?          Rickey switches the phone from one ear to the other.                         RICKEY          I'm sorry, Happy, I thought you          said lose Durocher for a year.                         HAPPY          Yes. He was seen in Havana with          known gamblers.                         RICKEY          Anyone who sets foot in Havana is          seen with known gamblers.                         HAPPY          It's not just one thing, it's an          accumulation. I received notice          today from the Catholic Youth          Organization. Vowing a ban on          baseball unless Durocher is          punished for his moral looseness.                         RICKEY          You're joking.                         HAPPY          It's this business with the actress          in California. She's recently          divorced and Durocher is the cause.          They may even be illegally married.                                                                                                              PINK REV 4-19-12 65.                         RICKEY          Now I'm sure you're joking.          Happy checks his nails, returns his hand to the MANICURIST.                         HAPPY          I wish I were. The CYO buy a lot          of tickets, Branch. They draw a          lot of water and I can't afford to          ruffle their feathers. Am I mixing          metaphors there?                         RICKEY          You know very well my organization          is about to enter a tempest. I          need Durocher at the rudder. He's          the only man who can handle this          much trouble, who loves it in fact.          You're chopping off my right hand!                         HAPPY          I have no choice. I'm going to          have to sit your manager, Branch.          Leo Durocher is suspended from          baseball for a year.                         RICKEY          You can't do that! Happy, you son          of a bitch!          DIAL TONE. Rickey steadies himself, looks to Parrott.                         RICKEY           Trouble ahead, Harold. Trouble.                          CUT TO:          95 INT. DODGER LOCKER ROOM - EBBETS FIELD - DAY 95          Durocher, in a suit, cleans out his locker. Carefully sets          each item in a cardboard box. Finished, he closes the locker          door. CLICK. And then -- WHAM! -- Drives his fist in, taking          it off its hinges. He picks up his box, quietly walks out.                          CUT TO:                          96 OMITTED 96                                                                                                                PINK REV 4-19-12 66.                         97 OMITTED 97                          98 OMITTED 98                          99 OMITTED 99           99A INT. MCALPIN HOTEL ROOM - EARLY MORNING 99A            RING... Jack asleep in bed, fumbles for the receiver.            INSERT: April 10, 1947.                           JACK            Hello?            JANE ANN'S VOICE            Mr. Robinson, this is Jane Ann in            Mr. Rickey's office. He needs to            see you right away. He has a            contract for you to sign.            That wakes him up.                           CUT TO:           99B INT. BRANCH RICKEY'S OFFICE - BROOKLYN - DAY 99B            Jack sits at the desk. Alone. He looks back over his            shoulder at the GOLDFISH. As one of them stares back, Rickey            enters with the CONTRACT in question. He sets it down before            Jack, hands him a pen.                           RICKEY            I'm so sorry about the rush.            Events are unfolding too fast to            keep up with. The burden has            finally fallen to me and so be it.                           JACK                           (POINTS)            Sign here?                           RICKEY            Yes, yes.            As Jack poises the pen -- Rickey suddenly aghast.                           RICKEY            Stop!            The pen a millimeter over the page.                           RICKEY            History. And I'm blabbing,            blabbing through history... Rushing            it along. What am I thinking?                                                                                                                TAN REV 6-25-12 66A.          99C RICKEY'S OUTER OFFICE 99C          Rickey sticks his head out the door.                         RICKEY          Jane Ann, come in here.          (hollering down hall)          Harold!          Parrott sticks his head out from an office down the hall.                         RICKEY          Get some employees up here!                          CUT TO:          99D RICKEY'S DESK 99D          Where Jack Robinson signs his contract. As he sets the pen          down -- Rickey starts APPLAUDING. He's joined by Parrott,          JANE ANN and a JANITOR. Rickey claps Jack on the shoulder.                          RICKEY          Harold, telegram the press. Say          this: “The Brooklyn Dodgers today          purchased the contract of Jackie          Robinson from the Montreal Royals.          He will report immediately.”           As Jack takes it in, he's the only one not smiling.                          CUT TO:          99E INT. HALLWAY - ISUM HOUSE - PASADENA - DAWN 99E          The phone rings. Rachel answers in her nightgown.                         RACHEL          Hello?          JACK'S VOICE          Rae, I'm in Brooklyn.          Brooklyn... Rachel lets out a triumphant WHOOP!                         RACHEL           What did I tell you?                          CUT TO:          100 EXT. NIGHTSCAPE - NEW YORK MIDTOWN SKYLINE - NIGHT 100          A few lights twinkle, but this city does occasionally sleep.                                                                                                               TAN REV 6-25-12 67.                         101 JACK 101          This man does not. He stands bare chested in his boxers          staring out the window of a MCALPIN HOTEL ROOM. Considering          the world before him. Wondering where his place is in it.          INSERT: April 15, 1947. 3 AM.          It's a lonely moment. Until Rachel appears behind him in her          nightgown. She wraps her arms around him, looks over his          shoulder at the world out there. Finally, softly...                         RACHEL          I love you...           As he closes his eyes, absorbs it...                          CUT TO:          102 INT. AISLE - SINGER'S DRUG STORE - BROOKLYN - DAY 102          Jack cruises down, stops in front of the PEPTO BISMOL.          INSERT: April 15, 1947. 11 AM.          As he grabs a bottle -- a man on the other side pulls one out          as well. Jack finds himself looking at Pee Wee Reese.          JUMP AHEAD TO:          103 EXT. SINGER'S DRUG STORE - BROOKLYN - DAY 103          Jack and Reese exit together, each with a bottle of Pepto          Bismol in hand. Reese hefts his bottle.                          REESE          Opening day nerves. Doing my          stomach something awful.          Jack nods in commiseration. It's awkward between them. A          RUMBLE as a GARBAGE TRUCK goes by.                         REESE          There goes another one.                         (SMILES)          Every time I see a garbage truck go          by I still can't figure why the guy          driving isn't me.                         JACK                         (SMILES BACK)          We'd both better get on base.          Reese nods. They start walking toward the stadium.                                                                                                              TAN REV 6-25-12 68.                         REESE          Know when I first heard of you?                         JACK          No I don't.                         REESE          On a troop transport, coming back          from Guam. A sailor heard it on          the radio, told me the Dodgers had          signed a Negro player. I said that          was fine by me. Then he said the          guy was a shortstop. Least you          were then. That got me thinking.          Thinking gets me scared.          Jack smiles, hefts his bottle of Pepto.                         JACK          Black, white, we're both pink          today, huh?                         (REESE NODS)          You still scared, Pee Wee?                         REESE          (looks down street)           Of garbage trucks? Terrified.                          CUT TO:          103A EXT. EBBETS STADIUM - DAY 103A            The Taj Mahal of baseball. Opening day.            INSERT: Ebbets Field. Brooklyn.                           CUT TO:           104 INT. DODGER LOCKER ROOM - DAY 104          Some guys quiet, some guys joking around. Everyone in some          version of getting out of their street clothes or into their          uniforms. The entire operation comes to a halt as --          Jack enters. As he walks past -- some players nod hello.          Others look like Sphinxes. Walker turns and faces his          locker. Gene Hermanski and Branca step over to SHAKE HANDS.                         HERMANSKI          I'm Hermanski. Welcome to Brooklyn.                         BRANCA          Hey, man. Ralph Branca.          Last, but not least, Spider Jorgensen, his Montreal teammate.                                                                                                              TAN REV 6-25-12 68A.                         JORGENSEN          We made it, Jack, huh? Good luck.          That's it. Everyone else is too busy to come over. As Jack          scans for a locker with his name on it, BABE HAMBURGER, the          clubhouse manager, steps over.                                                                                                              WHITE 3-14-12 69.                         BABE          You're looking for your locker,          huh, kid? Follow me.          They walk over to a hook on the wall. A uniform hangs from          it. A FOLDING CHAIR below.          BABE (CONT'D)          I just got the word. Best I could          do. I'll get you straightened out          tomorrow though, huh?          Jack nods, unbuttoning his shirt... Stanky is suddenly there.          All pugnacity as he gives up 4 inches and 40 pounds to Jack.                         STANKY          You're putting on that uniform, it          means you're on my team. But before          I play with you I want you to know          how I feel about it. I want you to          know I don't like it. I want you          to know I don't like you.          Jack regards him. Stanky doesn't flinch. Maybe he should.                         JACK           That's fine. That's how I prefer           it. Right out in the open.                          CUT TO:          105 HOT DOG VENDER - EBBETS FIELD 105          Standing before his steaming HOT DOG STAND.                         VENDOR          C'mon, Brooklyn! Get your Harry M.          Stevens special here!          As he hands one over, gets his .20 cents in return. Then:          VENDOR (CONT'D)          Hey, Lady!          Rachel looks over, baby Jackie in her arms. The vendor takes          a baby bottle out of the hot water in his STEAMER.          VENDOR (CONT'D)           I think it's ready.                          CUT TO:          106 JACK ROOSEVELT ROBINSON - DODGER CLUBHOUSE 106          Looking at himself in a MIRROR. Standing in his uniform, the          clean white wool, the flowing script: Dodgers. It fits.                                                                                                              YELLOW REV 4-24-12 70.          We FOLLOW HIM past Stanky as he goes. Follow the BLUE 42 on           his back as he steps through the clubhouse.          107 MAKES HIS WAY UP THE TUNNEL. 107          Always on that magic number as he comes up through the Dodger          DUGOUT and steps onto...                         108 EBBETS FIELD 108          PHOTOGRAPHERS snap photos, the crowd spot him and CHEER.                         109 RACHEL 109           Watches from the stands. Pleased at the cheering. She holds           the baby up to see, whispers to him...                          RACHEL           Okay, okay, that's good.           As Jackie's eyes find hers...                          CUT TO:          110 THE PLAYERS LINED UP FOR THE NATIONAL ANTHEM 110          The Dodgers down one baseline, the BOSTON BRAVES down the          other. Forty-nine white players and one black. Jack at the          end alongside Ralph Branca. Jack trying not to choke up.                         EVERETT MCCOOEY          O'er the land of the free! And the          home of the brave!                         CUT TO:          111 EXT. DODGER DUGOUT - DAY 111          The players not starting return to the dugout. Bragan          catches up with Branca.                         BRAGAN          You're crazy standing that close to          him.                         BRANCA          What do you mean?                         BRAGAN                         (LAUGHING)          What if the sharpshooter misses and          hits you instead?                         BRANCA          You got a serious problem, Bragan,          you know that?                                                                                                               WHITE 3-14-12 71.                          BRAGAN           Really? I don't see it.                          CUT TO:                         112 BRANCH RICKEY 112          Surveying the scene. Parrott alongside.                         RICKEY          Opening day, Harold. The world is          all future and no past.                         PARROT          A blank page, sir.          113 INT. BROADCAST BOOTH - EBBETS FIELD - DAY 113          RED BARBER looks down onto the field.                         BARBER          One out in the bottom of the first.          Headed toward the plate for his          first big league at bat is Dodger          rookie Jackie Robinson. Jackie is          very definitely brunette.                         114 JACK 114          Walks toward the plate. More cheers. Mostly.                         FAN          We're with you, Jackie!                         FAN #2          Hey, boy, how about a shine?!          Jack struggles not to look back at the source of the jeer.          He settles in at the plate. JOHNNY SAIN on the mound waiting          for the sign. The crowd BUZZING.          BARBER'S VOICE          Sain looking in. When he's got          that fastball working, he can toss          a lamb chop past a hungry wolf.          The BRAVES CATCHER signals ‘1'. Here come the pitch. CRACK!          It's down the third base line.          The THIRD BASEMAN is going to need every ounce of his arm as          he fields it at the line, throw across his body to --          FIRST. Where Jack's foot hits the bag an instant before the          ball smacks into the first baseman's mitt.                                                                                                              TAN REV 6-25-12 72.                         UMPIRE          You're out!          Jack can't believe it. As he trots toward the dugout he          looks at the umpire who looks back: I dare you to complain.                         STANDS          As the Brooklyn faithful BOO the call, Rachel and Smith watch          Jack head decisively toward the dugout. He was safe.          Rickey sits down closer to the dugout.                         RICKEY          It's a game of inches, Jackie!                         PARROTT           Get some glasses, ump!                          CUT TO:                         115 OMITTED 115                          116 OMITTED 116                          117 OMITTED 117                          118 OMITTED 118           118A INT. HALLWAY - DODGER OFFICES - DAY 118A            BURT SHOTTON, 62, walks down the hallway with Parrott.            INSERT: April 18, 1947.                           PARROTT            How's Florida, Burt?                           SHOTTON            Roses need pruning, but fine when I            left it last night. Branch said it            was important and I heard about            Leo. Any idea what this is about?                           PARROTT            You'd better just talk to him.            A beat as they reach the door. Parrott knocks.            RICKEY'S VOICE            Come in!           118B INT. BRANCH RICKEY'S OFFICE - BROOKLYN - DAY 118B            Rickey smiles from his desk as they enter.                                                                                                               TAN REV 6-25-12 73.                         RICKEY           Baseball has returned to Brooklyn,          Burt. Another season is underway.                         SHOTTON          Yeah, it's a shame about Leo.                         RICKEY          Inevitable I suppose. I asked him          if she was worth it and he said          yes. How's the retirement?                         SHOTTON           It's fine. The roses --                          RICKEY           It's a helluva thing when a man has           good health and enough money and          absolutely nothing to do.                         SHOTTON           I'm perfectly happy.                          RICKEY          Is that so?                          SHOTTON          When I took off that Cleveland           uniform two years ago, I promised          the Mrs. I'd never put on another          uniform again. Roses look great           and I sleep a whole lot better.                          RICKEY           Roses and sleep are two wonderful           things, Burt. But sleep you can           get inside your casket and flowers           look good on top of it. You don't           look like a dead man to me.                          SHOTTON           What's this about, Branch?                                                                                                               TAN REV 6-25-12 73A.                         RICKEY           I need you to manage the Dodgers.           We're a ship without a captain;          there's a typhoon ahead.                         SHOTTON           No, I'm sorry, but no.                          RICKEY           Do you miss the game, Burt? Look           me in the eye and tell me you           don't.           Shotton considers Rickey a beat and then looks away.                          SHOTTON          Baseball's the only life for an old           pepper pot like me, but I promised           my wife, Branch.                         RICKEY          You promised her you wouldn't put          on another uniform. You didn't          promise her you wouldn't manage.           Wear a suit and tie; Connie Mack           still does.                          (A BEAT)           You remember how to get to the Polo           Grounds, Burt?                          SHOTTON           Branch, I --                          RICKEY           You remember what the peanuts smell           like roasting, how the crack of the           bat sounds, the roar of the crowd?                          SHOTTON           Sure...           Rickey tosses him a set of car keys.                          RICKEY          My car's parked right out front.           Harold will show you where. Now           what do you say?                         SHOTTEN           Okay.                         CUT TO:                                                                                                               PINK REV 4-19-12 74.          119 INT. VISITOR'S LOCKER ROOM - POLO GROUNDS - HARLEM - DAY 119          Shotton addresses the half-dressed Dodgers, Jack included.                         SHOTTON          Men, I don't have much to say.          Just, don't be afraid of old Burt          Shotton as a manager. You can win          the pennant in spite of me. I can          not possibly hurt you.          The Dodgers trade looks. Not exactly inspirational. As          Shotton heads out he pauses by Jack.                         SHOTTON          Are you Robinson?                         (JACK NODS)          I thought so.          Shotton pats Jack on the shoulder, continues on his way.                         CUT TO:          120 INT. PRESS BOX - THE POLO GROUNDS - DAY 120          A huge CROWD beyond. Bob Cooke of the Herald Tribune (seen          at the Waldorf Astoria) holds court as Jack is ANNOUNCED.                         COOKE          Mark my words and circle this date.          Negroes are going to run the white          man straight out of baseball. I'm          not prejudiced; it's physiological.          They have a longer heel bone.          Gives em an unfair speed advantage.          121 JACK - POLO GROUNDS 121           Standing dead still at the plate, bat cocked and ready.           BARBER'S VOICE            Here's Robinson. Jackie holds that            club down by the end. Rear foot on            the back line of the box. Slight            open stance, bent at the knees...           Giants pitcher DAVE KOSLO goes into his wind-up and throws.          Jack swings. CRACK. The ball screams out to left. Home          run! The crowd goes crazy. This is what they came to see.                         122 PRESS BOX 122          Typewriters pounding away as Jack finishes his home run trot.          Bob Cooke watching thoughtfully as...                                                                                                              PINK REV 4-19-12 74A.                         ANOTHER REPORTER          Was that because his heels are          longer, Bob?!          As everyone cracks up, everyone but Bob...                          CUT TO:                                                                                                               BLUE REV 4-07-12 75.          123 INT. LAWSON BOWMAN'S CAFÉ - HARLEM - NIGHT 123          Jack and Rachel out for dinner. Jack nodding as BLACK          PATRONS pass by, saying encouraging things. He almost gets a          forkful of food to his mouth before a MENU and a PEN are          offered for an autograph. As he signs, a FLASH BULB goes          off. In a lull, Jack cuts his steak, low to Rachel.                         JACK          I'm not complaining, I just, I          don't know what they want.                         RACHEL                         (BEAMING)          They want to see if Jackie Robinson          is real. They want to see your          pride, your dignity. Because then          they'll see it in themselves.          He's stopped short. She blinks with mock coquettish modesty.          RACHEL (CONT'D)          And me? I'm just young and scared          and amazed at how brave you are.          He grins at her, almost gets a forkful in when LAWSON BOWMAN,          the Black owner, pulls up a chair, shakes Jack's hand.                         OWNER          I'm Lawson Bowman, Jack, the owner          of this joint. How's the steak?                         JACK           I'm not sure yet. It looks good.                          CUT TO:          123A INT. 526 MACDONOUGH STREET - BROOKLYN - DAY (MONTAGE) 123A            BATHROOM MIRROR - Steamed. A finger traces ‘42' in the steam            on the glass, then wipes it clean to reveal Rachel. Hair            wrapped in a towel, she looks at herself, frowns.            INSERT: Brooklyn, April 22, 1947.            DRYING DIAPERS - Hang like pennants on a line stretched            across the BEDROOM. Rachel ducks under them to retrieve her            shoes. She looks at them, frowns.            RACHEL - Brushing her teeth. Pauses to hold the toothbrush            in a batting stance. Swings...            RACHEL - Strains to reach to zip her dress up. She pulls at            the edges of the dress, straightens herself out. She looks            over at Jack Jr. who watches from his crib.                                                                                                               DBL. BLUE REV 7-9-12 75A.                         RACHEL          You're lucky you're a boy.          DOORWAY - Dressed to go, Rachel holding the baby, looking          anxiously out on the street. Suddenly, ALICE the baby-sitter          is there. Here she comes up the steps, opens the door.                         ALICE          Sorry I'm late. Class ran long.                         RACHEL          It's okay.          Rachel gently hands the baby over.                         RACHEL          It's so cold and raw out, I don't          want him getting sick at the game.                         ALICE          He'll be nice and warm here.                         RACHEL          (checks her watch)          I'm going to be late.          She kisses him goodbye, frowns as she heads outside --          123B EXT. MACDONOUGH STREET - DAY 123B            A forboding sky above as Rachel hurries along. Pulling her            jacket on as she goes. It's going to be a cold day.            RED BARBER'S VOICE            The sky's are leaden. Threatening.            Eddie Stanky safe at first as            Robinson steps to the plate.           124 EXT. ON DECK CIRCLE - EBBETS FIELD - DAY 124          Brooklyn vs. Philadelphia. The bottom of the first. The          crowd CHEERS. Stanky safe on first.          RED BARBER'S VOICE          The sky's are leaden. Threatening.          Eddie Stanky safe at first as          Robinson steps to the plate.          Jack walk to the plate, digs a cleat into the batter's box...          CHAPMAN'S VOICE          Hey! Hey you black Nigger!          Jack looks to the visitor's dugout where the Phillies Alabama-          born manager BEN CHAPMAN stands at the top of the steps.                                                                                                              DBL. BLUE REV 7-9-12 75AA.                         CHAPMAN          Why don't you go back to the cotton          fields where you belong!                                                                                                              GREEN REV 4-27-12 76.          The bear baiting has begun. Jack is in a kind of temporary          shock. That's the Phillies manager! In uniform.                         CHAPMAN          Or did you swing your way out of          the jungle?! Bring me a banana!          124A RED BARBER - IN THE BOOTH 124A                         BARBER          Chapman the Phillies manager up on          the top step, seems to be chirping          something out to Robinson. Chapman          a hothead during his playing days          with the Yankees.          125 RICKEY - IN THE STANDS 125           Sitting next to Parrott. He leans forward, unsure.                          RICKEY           What's he saying?                         126 VISITOR DUGOUT 126           Chapman joined by two of his PHILLIE BENCH PLAYERS.           PHILLIE ONE PHILLIE TWO           Go home, Nigger! Go back to Africa!          Phillie pitcher DUTCH LEONARD looks in. Jack has to try to          concentrate on the pitch. Here it comes. A fastball well          inside. Jack hits the deck to keep from getting beaned.                          CHAPMAN          Bojangles! You sure can dance,          snowflake!                         STANKY          On first, mouth hanging open. Almost forgets to take a lead.          It's an instant Rorschach test.                         DODGER DUGOUT          Shotton and the players look stricken. Even Walker doesn't          quite know what to make of it. No one enjoys it, but Higbe.                         STANDS          CONCESSION MEN walk closer to listen. The fans range from          horrified to some mildly pleased. Rachel looks stricken.                                                                                                              PINK REV 4-19-12 76A.                         JACK          A fastball inside. He leaps back again. This one was even           closer to hitting him. As Jack glares at Dutch...                         UMPIRE          Ball two!          CHAPMAN'S VOICE          Hey, black boy! Hey, shoe shine!                                                                                                              WHITE 3-14-12 77.          Jack doesn't want to look over, but he is compelled. The          bench players flanking Chapman look furious, but Chapman is          doing this with a sick sort of glee.                         CHAPMAN          You like white girls?! Huh?!          Which one of them Dodger boys'          wives are you climbing on tonight?!          Chapman looks toward...                         DODGER DUGOUT          They don't like that one.          CHAPMAN (CONT'D)          Oh, I think I got it. Dixie, I          believe I know!                         JACK          Grips the bat. Watches for the next pitch with bloody          mindedness. He hacks at it, lofts a routine fly into left.          He's about halfway down to first when the left fielder          catches it and Jack can mercifully return to the dugout.                         127 RICKEY 127          Rickey watches as he disappears inside. Finally exhales.                         128 BENCH 128          Jack sits down. No one says anything to him. No one comes          near him as he stares ahead, trapped in a kind of void. The          closest player to him is Bobby Bragan. Bragan finally          manages to glance over at him, then looks quickly away.                         CUT TO:                         129 RACHEL 129          As the Dodgers take the field, Jack heads to first. Almost          wincing, wondering if it's going to start again.                         RACHEL          (under her breath)          Look at me, baby. Look at me.          Finally, Jack glances up to her. She offers her eyes: I'm          with you. He looks away. Her witnessing makes it worse.                         130 BEN CHAPMAN 130          Settles back in the shadows of the dugout. Finished for now.                         CUT TO:                                                                                                               BLUE REV 4-07-12 78.                         131 DODGER SCOREBOARD 131          No score. Bottom of the 3rd.                         INFIELD          Spider Jorgensen takes a lead off first. At the plate,          Stanky lines a single to right. Jorgensen holds at second.                         JACK          Steps to the batter's box, starts digging in that back foot.          VISITOR'S DUGOUT          As Chapman emerges with his two bench players.           PHILLIE ONE PHILLIE TWO           Hey, Nigger lips! Party's over, jungle bunny!                          CHAPMAN          Hey, Pee Wee! Dixie! What's this          Nigger doing for you all to let him          drink from the same water fountain          as you?! I hope it's worth it!                         JACK          Waiting for the pitch. Takes a mighty swing -- CRACKS a          towering POP-UP between home plate and the mound. Dutch          watches his catcher Seminick settle under it. Waiting.                         DUTCH          Hey, is that a home run!?                         SEMINICK          Yeah! If you're playing in an          elevator shaft!          Jack veers off the first baseline. Heads for the dugout.                         CHAPMAN          You don't belong! Look in a mirror!          This is a white man's game. Get it          through your thick monkey skull!          Jack stops short looks at him. Chapman stands his ground.                         RICKEY          Stands, watches. Praying this doesn't go south. As Jack          finally continues on, Rickey closes his eyes in relief.                         RACHEL          Sick for her husband.                                                                                                              WHITE 3-14-12 79.                         THE DUGOUT          Jack stalks down past the team. No one looks at him. Bragan          is ashamed. Dixie tries to look disinterested. Stanky and          Reese exchange a helpless glance as Jack continues into:                         132 THE TUNNEL 132          Like a bull on his way to slaughter, he revolts. WHAM-WHAM!          He proceeds to turn his bat into SPLINTERS. Concrete chips,          wood flies. Jack drops the handle of the bat, pounds his          fists. Heaving for breath, framed by the empty tunnel. Raw,          electric, ungovernable. All the anger on display, the fury.          FEET SCRAPE. Jack looks up to see Rickey standing there,          watching, afraid to get too much closer.                         JACK          To hell with this. The next white          son of a bitch who opens his mouth,          I'll smash his goddamn teeth in.          Rickey stands there until finally, opening his mouth...                         RICKEY          You can't, Jackie. You know it.                         JACK          I'm supposed to let this go on?                         RICKEY          These men have to live with                         THEMSELVES --                         JACK          I have to live with myself, too!          And right now I'm living a sermon          out there. I'm through with it!          Jack is at the end of his rope. All Rickey has are words.                         RICKEY          You don't matter right now, Jack.          You're in this thing. You don't          have the right to pull out from the          backing of people who believe in          you, respect you and who need you.                         JACK          Is that so?                         RICKEY          If you fight, they won't say          Chapman forced you to; they'll just          say that you're over your head.          That you belong where you are.                         (MORE)                                                                                                              WHITE 3-14-12 80.                         RICKEY (CONT'D)          That every downtrodden man who          wants more from life is over his          head.          Jack's either going to explode or break into tears.                         JACK          Do you know what it's like, having          someone do this to you?!                         RICKEY          No. You do. You're the one living          the sermon. In the wilderness.          Forty days. All of it. Only you.                         JACK          And not a damn thing I can do about          it.                         RICKEY          Of course there is! You can stand          up and hit! You can get on base          and you can score! You can win          this game for us! We need you as          well! Everyone needs you.          (a beat; exhausted)          You're medicine, Jack.          Rickey reaches out, touches the wall to stay standing. Jack          just breathes as familiar sounds reverb down the tunnel.                         JACK          They're taking the field.                         RICKEY          Who's playing first?          Jack considers him. Everything hangs in the balance. Then:                         JACK          I'm gonna need a new bat.           As Jack heads back down the tunnel for the field.                          CUT TO:          133 EXT. SCOREBOARD - EBBETS FIELD - DAY 133          Eight zeros hang for the Phillies. Seven for the Dodgers.          No score, the bottom of the 8th coming up.                         134 JACK 134          Steps into the batter's box. Chapman and his sidekicks step          from the Stygian abyss of the visitor's dugout.                                                                                                              PINK REV 4-19-12 81.                         CHAPMAN          Hey, black Nigger! I know you can          hear me! If you were a white boy,          you know where you'd be right now?!          On a bus headed down to Newport          News cuz you can't play for shit!          Here comes the pitch. Jack nonchalantly sticks his bat out,          pokes a soft hit past second. A nothing hit, but he's          standing on first. And he looks, well, ferocious in fact.          As Pete Reiser steps up into the batter's box...          Jack stares at Dutch Leonard. Assassin's eyes as he takes an          insolent, in-your-face lead off first.          Dutch fires to first. Jack dives back safe!          Back on his feet, he spits out a piece of grit he picked up          sliding back on his belly. Not bothering to dust himself          off, he's turning into something elemental before our eyes.                         135 RED BARBER 135           Up in the booth.                          BARBER           Two strikes now to Reiser as           Leonard looks in. Robinson with           another big lead off first. He's as            restless as a cat with a hot foot.                          136 RACHEL 136           Witnessing.                          RACHEL          Steal it, sweetheart. Take it.                         137 FIELD 137          Dutch throws. Jack on the run as Reiser swings and misses -          STRIKE THREE! - and Seminick comes up throwing.          Jack slides into second, the throw high, ends up in center.          Half a dozen Dodgers impulsively on their feet and waving him          on as Jack gets to his feet and motors into THIRD. The throw          well late. Phillies third baseman HANDLEY throws the ball          back to Dutch. Handley then looks to Jack.                         HANDLEY          I'm sorry. I want you to know what          goes on here, it don't go for me.          Jack barely nods, but he heard.                                                                                                               BLUE REV 4-07-12 82.           BARBER'S VOICE           Hermanski steps up.                         PLATE          Dutch looking to third, nodding distracted at a sign, looking          back to third before... Hermanski cracks a single to left.          As Jack crosses the plate, he stares down Chapman on his way          to the dugout. As Chapman turns his head, spits --                         CUT TO:          138 INT. VISITOR'S LOCKER ROOM - DAY 138          Several REPORTERS around Chapman as well. He drinks a BEER.                         CHAPMAN          You fellas are making too big a          deal out of this. He scored We          lost. One to nothing.                         REPORTER THREE          Do you think you were a little hard          on Robinson?                         CHAPMAN          We treat him the same way we do          Hank Greenburg except we call Hank          a kike instead of a coon. When we          play exhibitions against the          Yankees, we call DiMaggio the Wop.          They laugh at it. No harm, it's          forgotten after the game ends.          Chapman tosses away his beer can.                         REPORTER THREE           Don't you think this was maybe one          foot over the line?                         CHAPMAN          Hey. Let's get the chips off our          shoulders and play ball. It's a          game, right?                         CUT TO:          139 INT. SHOWER - DODGER LOCKER ROOM - DAY 139          Jack alone in the shower. Water beating down. Steam rising.          A warrior who survived another day of battle. Maybe. They          say the Lord doesn't ask us to bear any more than we're able,          but God is cutting it pretty damn close here. He is in pain.                         CUT TO:                                                                                                               GREEN REV 4-27-12 83.          140 INT. BRANCH RICKEY'S OFFICE - BROOKLYN - LATE AFTERNOON 140          Rickey sits brooding, thinking. Parrott enters, upset.                         PARROTT          I'm going in that Phillie dugout          tomorrow and wring Chapman's neck!          Rickey considers Parrott, starts laughing. Parrott is hurt.                         PARROTT          Did I say something funny?                         RICKEY          When I first told you about Jackie,          you were against it. Now all of a          sudden you're worrying about him.          How do you suppose that happened?                         PARROTT          Well, any decent minded person --                         RICKEY          Sympathy, Harold, is a Greek word.          It means to suffer. I sympathize          with you means I suffer with you.          This Philadelphia manager has done          me a service.                         PARROTT          A service?!                         RICKEY          Is there an echo in here? Yes,          he's creating sympathy on Jackie's          behalf. Philadelphia by the way is          Greek for brotherly love.          The intercom BUZZES.          JANE ANN'S VOICE           Bob Bragan to see you, Mr. Rickey.                         RICKEY                         (FLASHES ANGRY)          What in Satan's fire does he want?                         (PRESSES BUTTON)          Send him in.          Rickey pretends to review papers as Bragan enters, his hat          literally in his hand. Rickey lets him stand there a moment.                         RICKEY          What do you want, Bragan?                                                                                                              WHITE 3-14-12 84.                         BRAGAN          I'd like not to be traded, sir, if          it isn't too late.                         RICKEY          What about Robinson?          Bragan's been staring at the floor. He looks up now. The          low afternoon sun hits his face.                         BRAGAN          I'd like to be his teammate.                         RICKEY          Why?                         BRAGAN          The world's changing; I guess I can          live with the change.                         RICKEY                         (SARCASTIC)          Red Sox just offered Ted Williams,          but I'll see what I can do.                         BRAGAN          Thank you, Mr. Rickey.          Bragan leaves. Rickey looks at Parrott: ‘What do you know?'                         CUT TO:          141 EXT. UNDER THE STANDS - EBBETS FIELD - LATE AFTERNOON 141          Rachel waiting. Jack exits, sees her, hadn't expected her.                         JACK          You shouldn't have waited.                         RACHEL          They haven't made a day long enough          that I wouldn't wait for you.                         JACK          Give these boys time. It's a three          game series.          A beat between them, framed by the steel girders around them.          JACK (CONT'D)          I don't care if they like me; I          didn't come here to make friends.          I don't even care if they respect          me. I know who I am; I got enough          respect for myself. But I do not          want them to beat me.                                                                                                              YELLOW REV 4-24-12 85.                         RACHEL          They are never going to beat you.                         JACK          They're taking their best shot. I          don't want you coming tomorrow. I          don't want you to watch that, them          beating me.                         RACHEL          Wherever you are, I am, too. Look          at me. Jack...          He looks over. It's not easy for this most proud of men.                         RACHEL          I have to watch. So our hearts          don't break... Plus I already          bought a scorecard.          She holds it up. His name the only one filled in.                         RACHEL          And I put your name on it. See?          Jack Robinson.          He puts his hand out, takes hers.                         JACK          I did good the day I met you.                         RACHEL           Baby, you hit a home run.                          CUT TO:          142 EXT. EBBETS FIELD - DAY 142          The SCOREBOARD shows 1 run scored by the Phillies in the top          of the first. Jack steps up to the plate. Here we go again.          INSERT: April 23, 1947. The next day.                          CHAPMAN          Hey, porch monkey! Hey Robinson!          Hey boy! You know why you're here?                         EDDIE STANKY          On the bench. Without warning, he blasts off it. MOVE WITH          him as he marches toward Chapman who doesn't see him coming.                         CHAPMAN          You're here to draw those Nigger          dollars at the gate for Rickey!                                                                                                              YELLOW REV 4-24-12 86.          Chapman clocks the apoplectic Stanky. Spit flying as:                         STANKY          Sit down. Sit down or I'll sit you          down.                         CHAPMAN          What's the problem, Stank?                         STANKY          You're the problem, you goddamn          disgrace! What kind of man are          you?! You know he can't fight!          Pick on someone who can fight!          BARBER'S VOICE                          (OVER IT)           Eddie Stanky having a chin wag with           his ex-teammate Chapman. Both men           masters of distraction. Eddie, of           course, from second. Chapman from           the dugout.           Stanky so mad he can't see straight. Chapman surrenders.                         CHAPMAN          Okay, okay. Jesus.          As Chapman disappears into his dugout, Jack whacks a single.                          CUT TO:           143 EXT. DODGER DUGOUT - DAY 143           Stanky sits here stewing. His head down.            BARBER'S VOICE            Robinson on first, Pete Reiser at            bat. Reiser belts it. A long one.            Deep into left center. Back goes            Ennis who is not tall enough. This            one's off the wall. Robinson is            going to score from first.            Over Barber: a CRACK of the bat, the ROAR of the crowd. As            players around him react, Stanky finally looks up as Robinson            crosses the plate, heads in, sits a few feet from Stanky.                           JACK           Thanks.                          STANKY          For what? You're on my team. What          the hell am I supposed to do?                         (SOFTLY)          I gotta look in the mirror, too.                                                                                                               PINK REV 4-19-12 86A.           Stanky stands, walks away. Today's gonna be okay.                          CUT TO:          144 INT. BLACK CHURCH - BROOKLYN - DAY 144          A BLACK PREACHER leads his congregation in prayer.                         PREACHER          Lord, make me an instrument of your          peace. Where there is hatred, let          me sow love. Where there is injury,          let me sow pardon. Where there is          darkness, let me sow light.          ‘Amens'. We see Rickey sits in the back row, the day heavy          on him. A YOUNG GIRL turns, looks at him. Why's a white man          here? Rickey smiles, puts a finger to his lips... Shhhh.                         CUT TO:                                                                                                               SALMON REV 6-4-12 87.          144A OMITTED 144A           144B OMITTED 144B           144C OMITTED 144C           144D OMITTED 144D                                                                                                               SALMON REV 6-4-12 87A.                                    145 INT. LOCKER ROOM - EBBETS FIELD - DAY 145          Players put on their uniforms as Higbe, in street clothes,          fires the contents of his locker into a cardboard box.                                                                                                              GOLDENROD REV 5-9-12 87B.                         HIGBE          I speak my mind and they trade me!          This ain't the America I know!          He glares down to Jack's locker. Jack regards him back.          It's Higbe who looks away first. He continues packing.                         WALKER          Where are they sending you, Hig?                         HIGBE          Pittsburgh! For cash and some I-          talian outfielder named Gionfriddo!                         (CONSIDER HIS                          JOCKSTRAP)           Pittsburgh...                          CUT TO:          146 EXT. EBBETS FIELD - DAY 146           Dixie Walker takes batting practice, drives the ball all over           the field. A natural.          Rickey and Shotton watch from behind the backstop.                         RICKEY          Do you remember the story, Burt, of          the 99 sheep? How one was missing?                         SHOTTON          If you're talking about Dixie, I'd          leave the word sheep out of it.                         RICKEY          I find myself at odds. I want          integration and the pennant. I          want to punish Dixie and at the          same time I want his salvation.                         SHOTTON          Can't he just be a good ballplayer?          He has to be a good person, too?                         RICKEY          It would be so much simpler if he          wasn't batting .385.           As Walker finishes, he passes Jack whose turn it is.                          WALKER           She's all yours, Robinson.           As THUNDER rumbles in the distance...                          CUT TO:                                                                                                               TAN REV 6-25-12 88.                         147 OMITTED 147           147A INT. BRANCH RICKEY'S OFFICE - BROOKLYN - DAY 147A            Rain beats on the windows. Rickey looks over as Parrott            rushes in; he's out of breath and dripping wet. Parrott            holds up the Herald Tribune sports section.                           PARROTT            The news isn't good, sir.                           RICKEY            Nevertheless it must be accepted            calmly, Harold. What is it?            A headline: PLAYERS STRIKE. Parrott reads...                           PARROTT            A National League players' strike           instigated by some of the St. Louis          Cardinals against the presence of          Negro first baseman Jackie Robinson          has been averted temporarily and          perhaps permanently quashed.                         RICKEY           Madness! What are they thinking?!                          CUT TO:          148 EXT. MANHATTAN HOTEL - DAY 148          Wendell Smith waits under an umbrella as the CARDINALS get          off the team bus. Smith buttonholes manager EDDIE DYER.                         SMITH          Eddie, what's all this talk about          your Cardinals refusing to play?                         DYER          We're here, aren't we? We didn't          come to New York to go to Macy's.          Dyer continues past him. Here comes big JOE GARAGIOLA.                         SMITH          Hey, Garagiola --                         GARAGIOLA          Get lost.          Here comes STAN MUSIAL, a class act if there ever was one.                          SMITH          Hey, Stan, what's the story?                                                                                                                TAN REV 6-25-12 88A.                          MUSIAL            This is big league baseball, not            English tea. Couple a guys            might've popped off; it's hot air.                           CUT TO:           149 INT. HOTEL ROOM - MCALPIN HOTEL - DAY 149            Smith types out his report. As rain lashes the window, the            Empire State building looms a few block away.           SMITH (V.O.)          St. Louis didn't win the world          championship last year without          using their heads. They have the          same heads this year and should          know that they can't pick the          players of another club.                         CUT TO:                                                                                                               GOLDENROD REV 5-9-12 89.          150 INT. EBBETS FIELD TRAINING TABLE - DAY 150           Jack sits here alone, tending to a bat. Cleaning it with          rubbing alcohol, handling it like the friend it is. Rickey          joins him. He has a newspaper in hand. He holds it up.                         RICKEY          National League President Frick          says this is America and baseball          is America's game. He says one          citizen has as much right to play          as another.                         (LOOKS UP)           Baseball will go on as planned once           the rain stops.           Jack eyes his bat.                         JACK          Why are you doing this, Mr. Rickey?                         RICKEY          Because my job is to win. I have          an obligation to Brooklyn to put          the best team on the field I can.          Your presence on the roster          increases our chances of winning.          Not buying it, Jack looks over at him.                         JACK          If this is winning, I'd hate to see          us on a losing streak.                          CUT TO:           150A INT. DODGER LOCKER ROOM - EBBETS FIELD - DAY 150A            Guys change into their street clothes. Branca reads to Reese            from the New York Post. Walker listens in from his locker.                           BRANCA            Listen to this: Right now Robinson            is the loneliest man I have ever            seen in sports.                           (UPSET)            Who's this guy to say Jackie's            lonely? He doesn't wear it on his            sleeve. Man's got one helluva game            face. Take no prisoners. How does            some reporter know how he feels.            They stop talking as Robinson walks past, the last one into            the shower, a couple of towels around him.                                                                                                                GOLDENROD REV 5-9-12 89A.                          BRANCA            Lonely? I say its the best game            face in the world.                           WALKER            So long as he showers lonely, he            can have whatever face he wants.                           CUT TO:           151 EXT. EBBETS FIELD STANDS (BETWEEN FIRST AND HOME) - DAY 151           Rachel sitting here. This section about two-thirds full.           INSERT: May 6, 1947. Brooklyn.          Then, about five rows behind her, two RACIST FANS find their           seats. They spot Jack down at first.                         RACIST FAN #1           Look there he is! Black as the ace          of spades!                                                                                                              GOLDENROD REV 5-9-12 90.                         RACIST FAN #1           Damn! You believe that? A genuine          nigger in a Dodger uniform.          As Rachel winces at his words --                         BROOKLYN FAN #1          Shut up and go back to St. Louis!                         RACIST FAN #1           Hey, you got a nigger on your team!                         BROOKLYN FAN #2          So what?! He's better than anyone          you got!                         RACIST FAN #1           Wait'll his cousin wants your job!          Don't you know nothing?                         BROOKLYN FAN #1          Don't you?!                         RACIST FAN #1           He's a nigger! Hey, black boy!          Rachel stares ahead, tries to maintain. She shows them her          back, sits up as straight as she can. Her movements heroic.                         CUT TO:          152 EXT. EBBETS FIELD - DAY 152          Jack steps up against the Cardinals. Garagiola, the catcher,          shouts down to third.                         GARAGIOLA          Watch this guy! He can't hit!          Especially the curve! He can only          get on base bunting!          As Jack digs into the box.                         GARAGIOLA          Take your time, Robinson, you're          digging your own grave.          Big RED MUNGER looks in for the sign.          Garagiola flashes a sign: ‘1'. Wants it inside.          Here's the pitch. Inside. Jack just scoots back.                                                                                                               GOLDENROD REV 5-9-12 90A.          152A RED BARBER - BOOTH 152A                         BARBER          Takes a fastball in on the hands.          Robinson, who is pitched to a great          deal that way, uses a thicker          handle bat than most hitters, just          because he hits a lot of balls out          on his hands.          152B BATTER'S BOX 152B          Jack edges up closer to the plate.                         JACK          What's your average, Joe?                         GARAGIOLA          It'd be a lot higher than yours, if          I could run as fast as you can.                         JACK          No matter how fast you run, you'll          never hit as much as you weigh.          Garagiola signals for another fastball.                         GARAGIOLA          C'mon, Munger! Boy's got a hole in          his bat!          Munger throws inside.          Jack falls back, strokes a double into the gap.          BARBER'S VOICE          That one wasn't quite ‘in' enough.          Robinson punishing the Redbirds          with a smart piece of hitting.                         RETURN TO:          152C EXT. EBBETS FIELD STANDS (BETWEEN FIRST AND HOME) - DAY 152C           The Brooklyn fans cheer; the Racist fan sulks. The double is           little comfort to Rachel who stares ahead, sitting as          straight up as she can. Willing herself not to cry.                         CUT TO:                                                                                                               GOLDENROD REV 5-9-12 91.                         153 OMITTED 153           154 INT. BROOKLYN CITY BUS - DAY 154            Jack and Rachel ride home. Forlorn, she stares out.                          RACHEL           Oh Jack...                          JACK           What is it, Rae?                          RACHEL           Nothing. It's just, sometimes when           I sit up there with those bastards,            those loudmouths in the stands, I            know you can hear them.                           JACK           Don't worry. It's okay.                           RACHEL           No, it's not okay. And I can hear            them, too.            Jack looks at her, takes her hand in his.                           JACK            I know. I'm sorry for that.            Rachel squeezes his hand back.                           RACHEL            We're in it together. When they            start in on you, you know what I           do? I try to sit up as straight.                           JACK            Yeah?                           RACHEL            Straight as I can.                          (MORE)                                                                                                              GOLDENROD REV 5-9-12 92.                         RACHEL (CONT'D)          I got it in my head that I can          block it from you, some of it, if I          sit up straight.          (a sad smile)          Isn't that dumb?          Closing the space between them, he takes her hand.                         JACK          It worked. I didn't hear a thing.          She tries to smiles. As the tears streak her cheeks, he          leans in kisses her forehead.                         JACK          They're just ignorant.                         RACHEL          If they knew you, they'd be          ashamed.          She puts her arm around him, draws that strength.                         JACK           Hold on.                          RACHEL           I am holding on.                          JACK           Long as we hold on, it'll be okay.                          CUT TO:          155 EXT. STANDS - EBBETS FIELD - DAY 155          WHACK! Rachel and Rickey watch Jack taking batting practice.                         RICKEY          You look lovely, Mrs. Robinson.                         RACHEL          Thank you.                         RICKEY          I don't know how you do it. Every          day, from the 1st to the 9th.          Myself? I could pay $100 for a          suit and in twenty minutes I'd look          like I fell out of bed. Even my          shoes look rumpled.          They watch Jack crack one high off the Schaefer Beer sign.                         RACHEL          I used to think Jack was conceited.                                                                                                               GOLDENROD REV 5-9-12 93.                         RICKEY          Is that so?                         RACHEL          It was the very first thing I          noticed about him.                         RICKEY          How did you two meet?                         RACHEL          I saw him at a UCLA football game.          Even in uniform with a helmet on,          his vanity was awful. It was the           way he held his hands on his hips.          I hated him!                         (RICKEY LAUGHS)          And on campus he always wore crisp          white shirts and I'd think his skin          is so dark, why would he do that?          Then I got to know him, his pride          and confidence, and I realized he          was showing off his color. I was          wrong. He wasn't conceited; he was           proud. Always, of who and what he           is. I'd never met another man like          that. What about you? How did you          meet your wife?                         RICKEY          Trying to catch her in a race. She          was the fastest girl in town.          Beautiful legs. I finally caught          up; we've been together ever since.          They sit a moment. Below: Jack nails another one.                         RICKEY          I wanted to apologize to you.                         RACHEL          For what?                         RICKEY          Everything. I can't apologize to          him. He and I both knew what we          were getting into. But you. A          newlywed, trying to blossom a          marriage under all this pressure.                         RACHEL          Don't worry about me. Or us. We          know who we are.          Crack. Jack hits another.                                                                                                              WHITE 3-14-12 94.                         RICKEY          Your husband has humbled me. When          this all began I thought I was          changing the world and that Jackie          was my instrument. Can you          imagine? I wish I could help him,          but I'm just a spectator.                         RACHEL          You help him plenty. Believe me.          They watch him rip into another pitch.                         RICKEY          Is he able to get things off his          chest? So he doesn't burn up?                         RACHEL          Yes. I have to let him have that          silence at first, let him come to          me. But he opens up eventually.                         RICKEY          Good. It's too much to carry          inside. Does he have any friends          on the team?          (she gives him a look)          They're spectators, too. They do          admire him though.          Rachel looks out to where Reese and Stanky play catch.                         RACHEL          Do you think so?                         RICKEY          Even the worst of us recognizes          courage. Moral courage especially.          I have to think they see it.          Jackie's a man on trial. He's          responding with glory and grace.          No one can take their eyes off him.                         RACHEL          He's had himself on trial since the          day I met him. No man is harder on          himself or gets to himself worse          than Jack. But I hope his team-          mates know, they're on trial too.                         RICKEY          I suppose we all are. You're an          astute woman, Mrs. Robinson.                                                                                                              GOLDENROD REV 5-9-12 95.                         RACHEL                         (LAUGHS)          I have to be, Mr. Rickey, I'm          married to a man of destiny. I          can't let him down.                         RICKEY           If I'd met you first, I wouldn't           have looked so long for Jackie.                          RACHEL           How do you mean?                          RICKEY           I mean if he was good enough for           you, he's certainly good enough for           the rest of us.                          CUT TO:          156 INT. PENNOCK'S OFFICE - SHIBE PARK - DAY 156          Phillie GM HERB PENNOCK at his desk, on the phone.                         PENNOCK          Branch, it's Herb.          157 INT. BRANCH RICKEY'S OFFICE - BROOKLYN - DAY 157                          RICKEY           What can I do for you, Herb?          INTERCUT THE FOLLOWING:                          PENNOCK          How long have we known each other?                         RICKEY          Twenty years. Maybe more.                         PENNOCK          Then trust me when I say,          Brooklyn's due here tomorrow, but          you can not bring that Nigger down          here with the rest of your team.          Rickey grits his teeth, stays civil.                         RICKEY          And why's that, Herb? His name's          Jackie Robinson by the way.                         PENNOCK          We're just not ready for this sort          of thing in Philadelphia.                         (MORE)                                                                                                              GOLDENROD REV 5-9-12 95aA.                         PENNOCK (CONT'D)          I'm not sure we'll be able to take          the field against your team if that          boy is in uniform.                         RICKEY          Herbert, what your team does is          your decision. But my team is          coming to Philadelphia. With          Robinson. If we have to claim the          game as a forfeit, we will. That's          9-0 in case you forgot.                                                                                                              PINK REV 4-19-12 95A.                         PENNOCK           Branch, you've got one helluva hair           across your ass on this thing and           I, for one, would like to know what           you're trying to prove?                          RICKEY           Do you think God likes baseball? I           do.                          PENNOCK           What the hell does that mean?                          RICKEY           It means you're going to meet God           one day, Herb, and when he inquires           why Robinson wasn't on the field in           Philadelphia and you answer because           he was a Negro, it may not be a           sufficient reply.           As Rickey hangs up the phone...                          CUT TO:                                                                                                               BLUE REV 4-07-12 96.                         158 OMITTED 158           159 EXT. THE BENJAMIN FRANKLIN HOTEL - DAY 159            The Dodger TEAM BUS pulls up. The doors whoosh open; Parrott            steps off looking official. As the players start to follow:            INSERT: May 9, 1947. Benjamin Franklin Hotel, Philadelphia.                           PARROTT            Come on, fellas! We have twenty            minutes to check in and then get to            Shibe! Chop chop.            No one is listening as the TEAM DRIVER opens the lower            compartment and the players (including Jack) grab their bags.                           HOTEL MANAGER            Out! Get that bus out of here!            The HOTEL MANAGER stalks over, flanked by HOTEL SECURITY.                           PARROTT            We're the Dodgers. We have a            reservation.                           HOTEL MANAGER            Your team's not welcome, not while            you have ballclub Negroes with you.                           PARROTT            You mean Robinson can't stay here?                           HOTEL MANAGER            I mean the entire team is refused!                           PARROTT            We've been staying here ten years.                           HOTEL MANAGER            And you can stay away that long!                           SHOTTEN            (last off the bus)            Hold on now, let's talk about this.            The Hotel Manager jerks his thumb like an umpire.                           HOTEL MANAGER            Get out! Now, grandpa!                           SHOTTEN            Grandpa? Hey hold on, you!            Security getting between as Shotten and the Manager go at it.                                                                                                               BLUE REV 4-07-12 96A.          Jack is embarrassed, but what can he do? Walker says to no           one in particular, but loud enough for Jack to hear:                         WALKER          Maybe 42's got enough friends in          town, we can bunk up.                         JACK          What's that supposed to mean?                         WALKER          Nothing. It's just, I know when           you can't get into a hotel, you got          people's houses you can stay at.                         JACK          What do you want from me, Walker?                         WALKER          An apology.                          JACK                         (STEPS FORWARD)          For what? Places like this?           Parrott alarmed at this turn of events.                          WALKER           For turning this season into a           sideshow! I'm a ballplayer; I want           to play ball!                          JACK           So am I! I'm here to win!                          WALKER           How the hell are we gonna win           sleeping on the bus?!                          PARROTT                          FELLAS --                          JACK           It might do you some good the way           you're swinging the bat lately.                          DIXIE           Watch your mouth!                                                                                                               PINK REV 4-19-12 97.          Walker jabs his chest with a finger; Jack bats his hand away.                         JACK          Watch your damn hand!          And they're lunging at each other. Separated by Reese,          Stanky, Branca and Bragan while other players hold off          Shotton. Two fights about to break out at the same time.                         SHOTTEN          Grandpa?! I'll show you grandpa!          Parrott summons something deep, lets loose a shrill WHISTLE.                         PARROTT          Fellas! Burt! Please! Take the          bus to the field! Worry about the          game. I'll find another hotel.                         CUT TO:          160 INT. PENNOCK'S OFFICE - SHIBE PARK - DAY 160           Ben Chapman sits across from Herb Pennock who flips through          underlined newspaper reports. Pennock reads one:                         PENNOCK          There is a great lynch mob among          us; they go unhooded and work          without rope.          (looks at him)          That's you, not me.          (reads some more)          We must remember that all this          country's enemies are not beyond          the frontiers of our home land.                         CHAPMAN          Some Jew must've wrote that.                         PENNOCK          This doesn't look good, Ben! It          makes the Phillies, look racist!          You've got to do something.                         CHAPMAN          Me?!                         CUT TO:                                                                                                               GOLDENROD REV 5-9-12 98.          161 INT. VISITOR'S LOCKER ROOM - SHIBE PARK - NIGHT 161           ON PARROTT. He's trying to work up the nerve for something.            Finally, he comes around the corner where Jack sits at his           locker talking to Smith.                          PARROTT          Jackie, excuse me, um, a request           came in. The Phillies manager Ben          Chapman, he'd like his photo taken           with you.          Jack pretends to sniff the air around Parrott.                         JACK          You been drinking, Harold?                         PARROTT          Mr. Rickey thinks it's a good idea.          He says it'll be in every sports          page in the country. An example          that'll show everyone even the most          hardened man can change.                         JACK          Chapman hasn't changed. He's just          trying to take the heat off.                         PARROTT          Mr. Rickey says it doesn't matter          if he's changed. As long as it          looks like he's changed. Chapman           said he'd come down here. Or meet           you in the runway.           As Jack slow burns...                         SMITH           See the ball come in slow. See the           photo come in slower.                          JACK                          (TO PARROTT)           Tell him on the field. Where           everyone can see him.          As Parrott smiles; he's done it.                          PARROT           Perfect.                          CUT TO:                                                                                                               GOLDENROD REV 5-9-12 98A.          162 EXT. HOME PLATE - SHIBE PARK - NIGHT 162          Chapman and Jack stand side-by-side facing the PRESS.          Chapman makes a little speech. Hypocrisy at its best.                         CHAPMAN          Jackie's been accepted in baseball          and the Philadelphia organization          wish him all the luck we can. I          only hope in some small way our          trial of fire... helped him along.          Jack looks at him: Did he just say that?                                                                                                              GREEN REV 4-27-12 99.                         PHOTOGRAPHER          How about a picture? Shake hands.          Bury the hatchet?                         JACK          You want a picture? Sure.          Jack steps to the on-deck circle, grabs a BASEBALL BAT.          Chapman's eyes widen as he starts toward him with it.                         JACK          (low to Chapman)          We'll hold the bat. That way we          don't have to touch skin.          Chapman nods, looks relieved. A photographer hands over a          bat. Chapman has two hands on the handle. Jack puts one          hand on the barrel, the other stays on his hip.                         JACK          Ben, I hope all your friends back          home like the picture.          Jack smiles as the flashbulbs go off. Chapman looks dumb.                         DIXIE WALKER           By the dugout with Stanky, watches in disbelief.                           WALKER           Carl, I swear, I never thought I'd           see ol' Ben eat shit like that.                          CUT TO:          163 EXT. FORBES FIELD - PITTSBURGH - DAY 163          FRITZ OSTERMUELLER on the mound. He takes a long look in at          Jack, at his catcher KLUTTZ who flicks his thumb: ‘Hit him.'          INSERT: May 17, 1947. Pittsburgh.          Here it comes. All Jack has time to do is cover his face to          lessen the blow. Beaned in the head, he goes down in a heap.          Branca leads the Dodger players out onto the field. The          UMPIRES move to head them off. Pirates as well. Kirby          Higbe, now in a Pirate uniform, claps his hands pleased.                         BRANCA          (in his face)          Ostermeuller, you kraut! You gotta          bat, too! Don't you forget!                         OSTERMUELLER          I'm ready, you Wop bastard!                                                                                                              PINK REV 4-19-12 99A.                         BRANCA           It's gonna come right between your           eyes! Like a Kamikaze!                          OSTERMUELLER                          (RE: JACK)           For him!? He doesn't belong here!                          BRANCA           You don't belong here! Go home to           Goering and Shmelling!                          OSTERMUELLER           Make me, you goddamn dago!                                                                                                               WHITE 3-14-12 100.          As an UMPIRE gets between them, Jack sits up. He's okay.                         CUT TO:          164 INT. BRANCH RICKEY'S OFFICE - BROOKLYN - DAY 164          Rickey looks up as Reese enters. He holds a LETTER.                         RICKEY          What can I do for you, Pee Wee?                         REESE          Well, Mr. Rickey, it's like this,          the series in Cincinnati next week.                         RICKEY          It's an important road trip, we're          only three games out of first.                         REESE          Yes, sir. You know, I'm from          Kentucky.                         RICKEY          Cincinnati's nearly a home game for          you.                         REESE          I got this letter, sir. I guess          some people aren't too happy about          me playing with Robinson.          Rickey is not liking where this is going; he motions for the          letter, scans it, reads the highlights...                         RICKEY          Nigger lover. Watch yourself. We          will get you, carpetbagger.          (holds it out)          Typical stuff.          Reese takes the letter back, a little hurt.                         REESE          It's not typical to me.                         RICKEY          How many of these letters have you          gotten, Pee Wee?                         REESE          Just this. Ain't that enough?          Rickey looks Reese over a moment. Pushing back his chair he          steps over to a filing cabinet.                                                                                                              WHITE 3-14-12 101.          Motioning Reese to join him, he pulls open a drawer, pulls          out a 4-inch stack of flattened letters, then another, then a          third. He looks to Reese.          REESE (CONT'D)          What are those?                         RICKEY          I'll tell you what they aren't,          they aren't letters from the Jackie          Robinson fan club. Here --          He thrusts a sheaf of it into Reese's hands. As Reese flips          through the stack of hate, reads:                         REESE          Get out of baseball, or your baby          boy will die.                         (NEXT ONE)          Quit baseball or your Nigger wife          will be...          Reese trails off, won't say it out loud. Skips to another.          REESE (CONT'D)          Get out of the game or be killed.          He looks at one more, reacts to the vitriol, but does not          utter it. Reese looks back at Rickey, shocked.          REESE (CONT'D)          Does Jackie know?                         RICKEY          Of course he knows. And the FBI.          They're taking a threat in          Cincinnati pretty seriously. So          excuse me if I'm not too shocked at          you being called a carpetbagger.          You should be proud of it!                         REESE          We'd just like to play ball, Mr.          Rickey. That's all we want to do.                         RICKEY          I understand. I bet Jackie just          wants to play ball. I bet he wishes          he wasn't leading the league in hit          by pitch. I bet he wishes people          didn't want to kill him. But the          world isn't so simple anymore. I'm          not sure it ever was. We just,          baseball ignored it. Now we can't.                                                                                                               GOLDENROD REV 5-9-12 102.                          REESE                          (QUIET)           Yes, Sir. I gotta get to practice.                          CUT TO:          A 10-YEAR OLD BOY 165 165           In the stands. Freckled, cute. Looking at the men around           him, his own FATHER SHOUTING at Jack as the Dodgers take the            field (the Reds coming off it).            Jack headed for first. Pee Wee out to short.                           FRECKLES           Nigger!           (then...)          We don't want you here!          INSERT: Crosley Field, Cincinnati, June 21, 1947.          RED BARBER'S VOICE           Cincinnati fans expressing their          displeasure as the Dodgers take the          field. Jackie Robinson at first.          The Brat Eddie Stanky at second.          Spider Jorgensen at third. And the          captain Pee Wee Reese at shortstop.                         (A BEAT)          Ask any man and they'll tell you          that the Gillette Superspeed razor          is a honey. Maybe the sweetest          shaving razor you'll ever use.                         166 OMITTED 166                         167 OMITTED 167                                                                                                               BLUE REV 4-07-12 103.          168 EXT. INFIELD - CROSLEY FIELD - DAY 168           Jack reaches first, throws the ball around the infield. Many           in the crowd beyond rise to jeer and heap abuse. COON!          SHINE! Jack tries to let it wash over him.          At short, Reese receives the ball, moves to throw to first          when he pauses. Deciding, he suddenly moves to trot across          the diamond until he's alongside Jack.                         JACK          What's up?          Now cries of CARPETBAGGER! cut through. PEE WEE, HOW CAN YOU          PLAY WITH THIS BLACK BASTARD!? Reese stares up at the worst          hecklers along the first base line. He looks a little sad.                         REESE          They can say what they want; we're          here to play baseball.                         JACK          Just a bunch of crackpots still          fighting the Civil War.                         REESE          Hell, we'd a won that son of a gun          if the cornstalks had held out. We          just ran out of ammunition.          Jack laughs. Reese has a funny way of saying it.                         JACK          Better luck next time, Pee Wee.          Reese impulsively puts his arm around Jack's shoulder, stares          into the Cincy dugout.                         REESE          Ain't gonna be a next time. All we          got is right now. This right here.          Know what I mean?          Walker reacting out in right. The crowd shuts down, some in          shock at the gesture. Jack surprised also.          REESE (CONT'D)          Thank you, Jackie.                         JACK          What're you thanking me for?                         REESE          I've got family here from          Louisville. Up there somewhere. I          need ‘em to know who I am.                                                                                                              YELLOW REV 4-24-12 104.          Jack moved by Pee Wee's gesture, can't find the words.          RED BARBER'S VOICE           Robinson and Reese conferring at           first. Maybe discussing an infield           shift on Baumholtz.                          UMPIRE          Hey! Number one! You playing ball          or socializing?                         REESE          Playing ball, ump! Playing ball!                         (TO JACK)          Maybe tomorrow we'll all wear 42.          That way they won't be able to tell          us apart.          Reese heads for short. Jack pounds his fist in his glove.                         CUT TO:                         169 OMITTED 169                         170 OMITTED 170          171 INT. TRAIN - ENROUTE TO NEW YORK - DAY 171          Jack playing Gin Rummy with Branca, Reese and Wendell Smith.                         BRANCA          (to Smith; teasing)          You ever write about white guys in          your paper? I mean, if I threw a          no hitter and Jackie got a base          hit, what would the headline be?                         SMITH          Jackie leads Dodgers to victory.          Again. Under that: white Italian          guy does ok.          They all laugh.                         REESE          I'd call your folks for ya, Ralph.          Tell ‘em how you did.                         BRANCA          No problem. It'll still make the          Post.          They play their hands as they talk.                                                                                                              YELLOW REV 4-24-12 105.                         REESE          We are on some kind of winning          streak, huh boys? And I don't mean          cards.                         BRANCA          Hey, maybe forty of our last fifty.                         SMITH          Thirty-two and fifteen actually.          Since the 4th of July.                         BRANCA          Math is why I throw a baseball for          a living.                         REESE          This next series against the          Cardinals, it's a big one.          They look over at Jack who hasn't said a word. It's his          play. He lays his cards down. Deadpan as he wins the hand.                         JACK          Gin.           RED BARBER'S VOICE            The top of the 11th inning, all            tied at 2. For those of you just            tuning in, how did we get here?                           CUT TO:           A172 JACK AT BAT A172            Jack strokes a DOUBLE over Stanky's head as Stanky breaks off            second for third.            RED BARBER'S VOICE            It's been double trouble as            Robinson knocked in Stanky with a            double in the third...           B172 DIXIE WALKER AT BAT B172            Walker strokes a DOUBLE over Stanky's head as Stanky breaks            off second for third.            RED BARBER'S VOICE            ...And Dixie Walker did the same            with a double in the eighth.                                                                                                                GOLDENROD REV 5-9-12 105A.          172 EXT. EBBETS FIELD - DAY 172          ENOS SLAUGHTER steps in for St. Louis. Hugh Casey on the          mound for Brooklyn. Slaughter looks fiercely determined.          RED BARBER'S VOICE          It wasn't enough as the Cardinals          tied it with two of their own in          the top of the ninth. This game is          crucial to the Red Birds. They're          five games out, the Dodgers having          not relinquished first place sine          June 30th.          Casey throws a pitch. Inside, a ball.          INSERT: August 20, 1947. Brooklyn.          RED BARBER'S VOICE          Slaughter takes ball one low.          Casey in his second inning of          relief. This game is tighter than          a new pair of shoes on a rainy day.          Slaughter hitless in four trips as           Casey goes into his wind-up.           Slaughter swings, hits a hard ground ball right at Reese who          fires over to Jack at first. Slaughter is out by fifteen          feet, but he never slows down. And his foot comes down --          -- High on Jack's right calf. Slaughter's spiked him          something wicked. Jack goes down in a heap clutching his          leg, blood already seeping through his high socks.          Slaughter, head down, on his way to the visitor's dugout as          Dodger players pour out of their own to protest. As the UMP          raises his hands, motions them all back... Jack pulls up his          sock, a bloody mess. Stanky looks to Casey.                                                                                                              WHITE 3-14-12 106.                         STANKY          Next batter, throw right at his          head. Clean his clock --                         JACK                         (FIERCE)          Just get him out. Understand?          Game's too important.          As Casey nods, Jack reaches up to Stanky and Reese.          They pull him to his feet. Jack looks, finds Rachel in the          stands. As he gives her a little wave: ‘I'm okay.'                         CUT TO:                         173 WHITEY KUROWSKI 173          A big Cardinal slugger at bat. Casey pitching.                         BARBER'S VOICE          The top of the 12th and Kurowski at          the plate. He hit his 20th home          run on Monday so Casey's going to          want to be careful with him.          The pitch grooves in and Kurowski nails it.          BARBER'S VOICE (CONT'D)           Oh dear. There goes number 21.                          CUT TO:          174 SCOREBOARD - EBBETS FIELD 174          The Cardinals leading 3-2 going into the bottom of the 12th.                         175 JACK 175          The stadium electric as Jack steps in, his left leg bloody.          He takes an inside pitch at the knees. Bastards!          Here comes the next one. WHACK - He singles hard up the          middle, nearly takes the pitcher's head off.                         FIRST BASE          He rounds hard, returns to the bag. Reiser stepping up to          the plate as Musial holds Jack on at first. Jack in a fury.                         JACK          I don't care what happens, I don't          care what kind of play it is, when          I get to second I'm gonna knock          someone into centerfield.                                                                                                              YELLOW REV 4-24-12 107.                         MUSIAL          (glances at blood)          I don't blame you, man, you got          every right.          Jack running on the pitch. Reiser bunts. The play is to          first. Reiser is out and Jack slides safe into second.          SCHOENDIENST has the sense to vacate before he gets there.                         JACK          Bouncing up and down, wearing that badge of potential          violence and action. The crowd buzzing, the electricity          practically hits you in the face. Jack's going to score.                         RICKEY          Coming up out of his seat along with the fans around him.                         JACK          Walker at bat. Jack steps out, checks on MARION the          shortstop. He takes another step out, looks to Schoendienst.                          RED BARBER            (over it all)            Munger sets. Robbie back and forth            off second. The third bag clearly            in his sights. Oh, and Munger            deals a pick off throw to Marion at            second and Robinson is out!            Marion breaks for the bag and Munger turns and fires a            strike. Marion brings down the tag -- Out!            He is and he knows it. The crowd stunned into silence. Jack            frozen a moment, head down, furious with himself. Low.           BARBER'S VOICE           The Cardinals pick up a game. It            was one of those plays where you do           or you don't and Jackie didn't.                          CUT TO:          176 INT. TRAINER'S TABLE - DODGER CLUBHOUSE - DAY 176           Jack on his stomach as STITCHES are sewn into his leg.          REPORTERS in front of him.                          REPORTER ONE           Did he spike you on purpose?                                                                                                                                        YELLOW REV 4-24-12 107A.                         JACK           You saw the play. I had my foot           inside the bag. He was out by a           mile. But he kept coming.                          REPORTER TWO           Slaughter said it was an accident.                          JACK          What are you asking me for then?                         REPORTER TWO          Are you calling Slaughter a liar?                                                                                                              CHERRY REV 6-11-12 108.          This guy's a real jerk. Rickey arrives, a BASEBALL in hand.                         RICKEY          Get out. Let me talk to my first          baseman. Go. He's getting          stitched up for Pete's sake.          The reporters move off for other interviews. Reporter Two          hesitant to let it go, finally drifts off. Rickey watches.                         RICKEY          Sticking up for yourself is what          you'd expect of any man. Some find          it galling to see it in a Negro.                         JACK          I'm sorry, Mr. Rickey.                         RICKEY          Sorry? Sorry for what?                         JACK          I lost my cool out there. It          probably cost us the game.                         RICKEY          I told you, Jackie, all the best          base runners get caught sometimes.                         JACK          I wasn't thinking.          Rickey pulls up a chair sits across from him, leans in.                         RICKEY          Do you know what I saw this          morning? I was passing a sandlot          and a little white boy was up to          bat. You know what he was doing?                         JACK          Sitting on a fastball?                         RICKEY           He was pretending he was you.            Wiping his hands on his pants,            swinging with his arms outstretched            like you do. A little white boy            pretending he was a black man.                           CUT TO:                         177 OMITTED 177                                                                                                                CHERRY REV 6-11-12 109.          178 INT. TRAINER'S TABLE - DODGER CLUBHOUSE - DAY 178           The two men, who have done so much, looking each other over.                         JACK          Why are you doing this, Mr. Rickey?                         RICKEY          We had victory over fascism in          Germany; it's time for victory over          racism at home.                         JACK          Why are you doing this? Come on          now.          A long moment between them. Finally, Rickey looks away.                         RICKEY          I love this game. I love baseball.          I've given my life to it. Forty          odd years ago I was a player coach          at Ohio Wesleyan University. We          had a Negro catcher, best hitter on          the team. Charley Thomas.          Rickey starts slowly rubbing the baseball in his hands.                         RICKEY          A fine young man. I saw him laid          low. Broken because of the color          of his skin and I didn't do enough          to help. I told myself I did, but          I didn't. The game I loved had          something unfair at the heart of          it. I ignored it. But a time came          when I could no longer do that.                         (LOOKS UP)          You let me love baseball again.          Thank you.          Jack's eyes gentle on Rickey's.                         JACK          You're welcome.                                                                                                              GOLDENROD REV 5-9-12 110.          Rickey fighting back tears now, retreats to his more           confident self.                          RICKEY          You're a force of nature, Jackie,          you've complicated everything but          yourself. You're changing the          world, and refusing to let it          change you. I for one am in awe.          Jack reaches, takes the baseball from him. A beat as they          consider each other. Finally, a promise...                          JACK          I won't get picked off second base          again. Not this year.                         CUT TO:                         179 OMITTED 179                         180 OMITTED 180                         181 OMITTED 181                         182 OMITTED 182                                                                                                               GOLDENROD REV 5-9-12 111.                         183 OMITTED 183          184 INT. BEDROOM - 526 MACDONOUGH STREET - BROOKLYN - DAY 184          It's early. Rachel watches from bed as Jack finishes          packing. She looks sad.          Jack looks into the cradle at Jackie Jr..                         JACK          It's pop's last long road trip of          the year, little man.                         RACHEL          Careful you don't wake him.                         JACK          I know. I won't.                         (LOOKS OVER)          You okay?                         RACHEL          I don't like seeing you leave,          that's all.          He looks at her a beat, resumes packing...                          JACK          I'll be home in a week.                         RACHEL          Eleven days. That's a long time           without you.           He doesn't answer, packs away. Finally:                          RACHEL           Try not to lunge at the plate.                          JACK          Seriously?                         RACHEL          That's why they're throwing the          fastballs inside.          He looks at her, a little shocked.                                                                                                              DBL. BLUE REV 7-9-12 112.                         RACHEL          Fight those inside fastballs off,          foul them back. Sooner or later          they won't be able to help but          throw a curve.          He steps to the bed, leans over her.                         JACK          And what'll happen then?          She clucks a 'hit' sound, makes an 'ahhhhhh' crowd sound.                         JACK          We win enough of these next games          and we'll bring home the pennant.                         RACHEL          Pennant? Where are we going to put          a pennant? All these baby diapers          hanging everywhere.          Jack looks around the room, at the diapers hanging.                         JACK          We got room right over there.          Between number one and number two.          She mock grimaces at his bad joke.                         RACHEL          Win one if you have to, but bring          yourself home; that'll be plenty.          They kiss.                         JACK          Rae, you're in my heart.                         RACHEL          Promise me you'll come home. That          you'll always come home.          As he looks at all he loves in the world...                         JACK           I promise.                          CUT TO:          184A EXT. MACDONOUGH STREET - BROOKLYN - DAY 184A            Jack exits MacDonough Street apartment building and makes his            way down the street.                          185 OMITTED 185                                                                                                               BUFF REV 5-29-12 113-114.                         186 OMITTED 186                         187 OMITTED 187                         188 OMITTED 188          188A EXT. SPORTSMAN PARK - ST. LOUIS - DAY 188A           A CARDINAL RUNNER on second. Jackie holding another RUNNER           on first as the St. Louis crowd ROARS.           BARBER'S VOICE            2 on 2 out for the Cardinals in the            eighth. Anxious moments now as            they've cut the Dodger lead to 2.            Nippy Jones up. Musial taking his            place on deck. Jones likes to            punch that ball when he swings.           Insert: September 13, 1947.          Casey on the mound receives the ball. Pounds his glove.                         JACK          Come on, Casey, get him out! Pitch          that ball!           BARBER'S VOICE            The outfield is deep, shaded toward            left. Robinson holding the runner            on first. Here comes Casey with            the pitch --            Jones swings, pops it up.                           BARBER            It's popped up foul toward first.            Should be out of play. But here            comes Robinson, he's coming hard --                          189 OMITTED 189                          190 OMITTED 190                          191 OMITTED 191                          192 OMITTED 192                                                                                                                BUFF REV 5-29-12 115.                          CUT TO:           193 EXT. SPORTSMAN PARK - ST. LOUIS - DAY 193          Jack chasing down the foul, headed right for the open steps          of his own dugout. He never considers the peril as he          CATCHES THE BALL and his left foot comes down onto nothing --          BRANCA LEAPS forward, tackles Jack back onto the infield.                         BARBER'S VOICE          He's got it! And one of the           Dodgers has him!                           CUT TO:                         194 OMITTED 194                          195 OMITTED 195           196 INT. VISITOR'S LOCKER ROOM - SPORTSMAN PARK - DAY 196            BARBER'S VOICE            The Dodgers closing in on the            Pennant as they'll leave St. Louis            for Cincinnati and a three game            series with the Reds.           Jack sits in his grass stained pants after the game. Most of          the guys are in the shower. Branca, a towel around his          waist, is headed there himself. The sight of Jack stops him.                         BRANCA          Can I ask you something, Jackie?          How come you never shower until          everyone else is done?          Jack just stares at him. Branca won't let it drop.                         BRANCA          You shy or something?                         JACK          I don't want to make anyone          uncomfortable.                                                                                                              BUFF REV 5-29-12 116.                         BRANCA          We're a team. On a hot streak.          Half the wins on account of you.          You're the bravest guy I ever saw.          You're leading us and you're afraid          to take a shower?          A beat as Jack considers him. Stone-faced.                         BRANCA          C'mon. Take a shower with me.                         (A BEAT)           Hey, I don't mean it like that.                          CUT TO:                         197 SHOWERS 197          The Dodgers showering, guys chattering. Suddenly, there's          Branca and Jack at the shower entrance. All eyes look over.          Branca enters. Then Jack. A beat and everyone goes back to          getting clean. It's no big deal. Except...          Dixie Walker looks to the floor, shakes his head. Finally,          quietly, he leaves. Who's the loneliest man on the team now?                         CUT TO:          198 INT. BRANCH RICKEY'S OFFICE - BROOKLYN - DAY 198          As the phone rings, Rickey grabs it. On edge.          INSERT: September 16, 1947                         RICKEY          Rickey here.          199 INTERCUT WITH PARROTT 199           On a payphone in the CROSLEY FIELD CONCOURSE.                          PARROTT           We did it, Boss! We did it! We           swept Cincinnati! That puts us            seven games up.           Joyous, Rickey grabs a sheet showing the NL standings.                         RICKEY          And eliminates the Giants and           Boston.          He puts an ‘X' through Boston and the Giants. The rest of          the NL are already crossed out. Only the Cardinals remain.          At the same time, Parrott X's the same out on his notebook.                                                                                                              DBL. BLUE REV 7-9-12 117.                         RICKEY          We'd have to lose nearly every game          for the Cardinals to catch us now.          One more win may do it. Who's          pitching tomorrow for the Pirates?                         PARROTT           Ostermueller.                          CUT TO:          199A EXT. MACDONOUGH STREET - BROOKLYN - DAY 199A            Rachel walks pushing Jackie Junior in his stroller. As she            moves, the RADIO BROADCAST of the Dodgers' game can be heard            from one house to the next. In a gap, a passing car picks it            up and we hear it from the window. Then another house.           BARBER'S VOICE          A very big game today here in          Pittsburgh. A win and the Dodgers          will have clinched the National          League Pennant.                         CUT TO:          199B EXT. EBBETS FIELD - DAY 199B          Branch Rickey alone in the stadium. The field empty as he          listens to the call of the game over the PA.                         BARBER'S VOICE          Fritz Ostermueller on the mound.          He's 12 and 8 on the season.          200 EXT. FORBES FIELD - PITTSBURGH - DAY 200          INSERT: September 17, 1947. Pittsburgh.          Ostermueller on the rubber. Staring in at Jack.                         OSTERMUELLER          You don't belong! You'll never          belong!          Jack waits. Ostermueller pitches.          BARBER'S VOICE          Here comes the pitch and Robinson          takes outside. Ball one.          200A RACHEL - ON MACDONOUGH STREET 200A           Listening as --                                                                                                              DBL. WHITE REV 6-28-12 117A.          BARBER'S VOICE          Ostermueller winds and throws, low          and away ball two. Fritz seems to          be pitching around Jackie. Or          trying to get him to chase.                         RACHEL           Come on. Throw him a strike.                          CUT TO:          200B EXT. FORBES FIELD - PITTSBURGH - DAY 200B          Shakes off one sign, then nods at the next. Throws the ball          well outside. Another pitch outside. “Ball Three!”          BARBER'S VOICE          3 and 0 now. Robinson waiting on          something he can swing on.          As catcher Kluttz throws it back...                         JACK          Give me something I can hit!                         (TO HIMSELF)          What are you afraid of?                         OSTERMUELLER          You want it?!                         (TO HIMSELF)          Careful what you wish for boy...          Ostermueller nods at the sign. Jack about to slay the dragon          as the pitch comes in - WHACK! The ball is going for a ride.          BARBER'S VOICE          That is a deep fly ball to left.          Kiner on his horse, but I don't          think he'll get there.          200C EBBETS FIELD 200C          Rickey standing, looking up like he can see it.          BARBER'S VOICE          Back, back, back and oh doctor!          Robinson got his pitch!                         CUT TO:          200D FORBES FIELD 200D          The ball sails out: HOME RUN! Ostermueller hangs his head.                                                                                                               DBL. WHITE REV 6-28-12 117B.          200E INT. MACDONOUGH STREET APARTMENT - BROOKLYN - DAY 200E            Rachel listening, smiling as CHEERS sound from outside the            apartment. We hear the sound of car horns on the street.           200F JACK 200F          He runs toward first and we run with him. The smile starts          somewhere in his body. His heart most likely. By the time          it reaches his face, his joy has erupted. The weight of the          world starting to drop.                                                                                                               TAN REV 6-25-12 118.                         201 PIRATES DUGOUT 201           Kirby Higbe who watches Robinson round the bases in disgust.                          HIGBE           Pittsburgh...                         202 JACKIE ROBINSON 202           Nears second on his home run trot. Even the Pittsburgh crowd           starting to applaud him.                          CUT TO:                         203 OMITTED 203          203A EBBETS FIELD 203A           Rickey absorbing the moment. It's almost too much.                          204 JACKIE ROBINSON 204          Rounding second and headed for third. The weight of the          world somehow lifting. They gave him one he could hit.                         CUT TO:                                                                                                               DBL. BLUE REV 7-9-12 119.                         205 OMITTED 205                         206 42 206           We're tight on Jack's back as he heads for home at Forbes           Field. 90 feet away... 75...          207 WENDELL SMITH IN THE STANDS 207           Finally inspired to type: T-h-a-n-k y-o-u, J-a-c-k-i-e.                         208 JACKIE ROBINSON 208           Nearing home. About to step on the plate. He closes his           eyes as well and --           WE CUT TO:          209 EXT. 526 MACDONOUGH STREET - BROOKLYN - DAY 209            Rachel all alone on the sidewalk looking up and down the            street. And suddenly there he is... Jack, scooting between            two cars, hurrying to her. And they're in each others arms.                           JACK            I'm home.                           RACHEL            Safe.                           (RE: HOUSE)            The baby's sleeping so don't you            make a sound.            He makes to button his lips.                           RACHEL            Stay just like that.            She kisses him. And kisses him. And he kisses her back. As            they finally head inside, we let them go. And as we're left            looking down the street, a crawl begins:                                                                                                               BLUE REV 4-07-12 120.          Branch Rickey was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1967.           Pee Wee Reese was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1984.          Bobby Bragan retired the following year and became a manager          in the Dodger minor leagues. He is credited with mentoring          several African American minor league players.          Wendell Smith became the first African-American sportswriter           to join the Baseball Writers Association in 1948.          Ben Chapman was fired in 1948 and never managed again.          Eddie Stanky went on to manage the St. Louis Cardinals, the           Chicago White Sox and the Texas Rangers.           Ralph Branca lives and works in Rye, New York.           Dixie Walker was traded the following season to Pittsburgh.          Ed Charles grew up to become a professional baseball player.          He won the World Series in 1969 with the Miracle Mets.          Rachel Robinson splits her time between Connecticut and          Manhattan where she runs the Jackie Robinson Foundation.          Jackie Robinson was named Major League Rookie of the Year in           1947. He won the World Series in 1955 against the New York           Yankees, stealing home in Game One. He was elected to the           Baseball Hall of Fame in 1962.           We end on a montage of Jackie Robinson Day in present time.          Every year in April, all MLB players wear the number 42 as a          reminder of Jackie's accomplishments on and off the field.          The number 42 is the only number retired by all of baseball.           We see 42s leaving their dugouts, 42s at bat, 42s in the          field, 42s signing autographs, 42s stealing bases, 42s lined          up for the National Anthem.          FREEZE FRAME on a 42.          The End.                                                                                                                              
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+                                 44 INCH CHEST                                  Written by                         Louis Mellis & David Scinto   PROLOGUE   Stagnant black water ... Greasy. Pitch. Thick. Oily.   Dense. Heavy... Lapping... Slow.... A desolate canal... Night.   Onto dark stones... rain-slicked... darkest slate-grey cobbles...   And on through streets... Narrow.        Grimy.     Sooty.   Rank...   Deserted...   Pastal-disused Victorian broken-windowed, derelict   buildings and wharf side warehouses with rotten oaky loading   beams and rusted iron chains... Mossy, mildewed walls... Dripping   fetid water from corroded dilapidated ancient ruined   guttering...   Moving... Turning... Into a pinched, arched, alleyway -- If   anything darker, blacker... Foreboding... Forsaken...   And if we listen -- If we strain our ears -- listen -- we can   hear music -- faint. Ghostly. Haunting ... "Take Me Back To   Dear Ol' Blighty " as if sung by a jolly girl in a long gone   bar surrounded by drunken men...   We keep moving... The music growing... In the distance a faint   glow.... Dirty-yellow, diffused, misty light... We move towards   it... Towards the piss-coloured light...   We stop... In the middle of nowhere... Dark nowhere... and the   music fades... Fades away... Vanished... Extreme silence... All we   have is all we can see...   The gable end of an old house.... Limey-light bleeding weakly   from a broken, filthy window... All is still -- suddenly it   comes crashing down -- the end wall comes crashing down - a   flurry of bricks and mortar... Crashing down... The tumble of   masonry... And through clouds of brick-dust and rubble we see   figures inside... Through a smokey powdered fog we can see a   group of men in the downstairs room of the derelict house...   On the walls faded 40's wallpaper, peeling in parts to reveal   older dim patterns... damp patches... A window crudely boarded   up... A few unmatched armchairs in various states of disrepair   -- a 60's black vinyl, a deco-patterned smoker, a 70's cream   plastic, a brown wooden kitchen chair etc... The colours in   the room are browns, greys, caramels, darks, muted...   In the middle of the room, standing on dusty, bare wooden   floorboards, his fist clenched aggressively by his sides, is   OLD MAN PEANUT, aged 80... Skinny... Wearing a dark three piece   suit... Gold watch chain... Black Homburg... He is squaring up to   us... Staring...                                                                                                                                      3.CONTINUED: (2)   Slightly behind, to his left, sitting nonchalantly cross-   legged in a battered brown leather wingback armchair and   casually smoking a Davidoff cigarette, is MEREDITH, late   40's... Suave... Immaculate... Wearing black handmade boots, black   Saville Row suit, black cashmere roll neck sweater, herring   bone overcoat with a black velvet collar, brown leather   gloves, his jet-black hair is heavily brilliantined.... Behind   him an old wardrobe...   Standing with his back three quarters to us, and leaning on a   broken, chipped, mantelpiece over a smashed tiled fireplace   is ARCHIE, aged 52... Big... Avuncular... Wearing a car coat and   casual nondescript clothes... he is pouring himself a Captain   Morgan's rum from a bottle into a polystyrene cup... He sort   of sees us -- is not fussed -- drinks...   Standing at the back of the room, in front of a door which             *   has at some time been on fire, (it's yellowing, tobacco-ey   paint charred and blistered), is MAL, aged mid-40's... Wearing   a silver-grey suit, white shirt, duck-egg blue silk tie...   There is another man in the room but we do not see his face --   for he s its slu mpe d, h ead in his han ds in o ne of t he   armchairs - a picture of despair. He wears an olive green   shirt, brown trousers, maroon braces... This is COLIN, aged   late 40's...                                        CUT TO   Blackness and silence...   In the silent black an outsize boot appears - scuffed and   tatty... Attached to skinny legs in black tights... The legs   gangle and flip pulling into view a bony, pasty, bare torso   which is undulating oddly -- and here comes the head! - Long,   lank, shoulder length hair... Dripping from a white domed pate   - The face poker straight in contrast to the comedic body-   antics -- A grave-grey face -- Fleshy, bulbous, rubbery...   Ladies and Gentlemen -- MAX WALL!   He goon-walks about for a bit in the black space... Baboon-   bottomed... As if knees tied together... Aflickin' and akickin'   his clown boots... His unhappy face... Like death... Prancing...   Ridiculous dancing... Absurd...   Giant C/U on his morose contorted phizzog...                          MAX                    (Directly to us... darkly)              ...Evenin'!                                        CUT TO   Music...   Loud...   "BREED" by NIRVANA...                                                                                              Pink Revised      21st May 2008              4.    CONTINUED: (3)                                        CUT TO    TITLE    44' CHEST in Caucasian-flesh-coloured writing on black...              We    see chest hairs in the lettering...                                        CUT TO1   INT LIVING ROOM      DETACHED SUBURBAN VILLA         NIGHT                  1   *    MUSIC... `WITHOUT YOU' by NILSSON...    We are out of focus on purple... white... scattered sparkling    "jewels"? begin to come into focus and we see that they are    in fact pieces of broken glass... Thousands of splinters and    shards strewn across a purple Wilton carpet... the white fur    of a luxurious sheepskin rug in bits... Ripped to shreds... In    extreme C/U we begin to move along the floor slowly taking in    mor e de bri s of d est ru ct io n... Sm as he d c ha ir s... Sm as he d    photographs... Broken records... Ripped, shredded record    sleeves -- `THE POWER OF LOVE' by JENNIFER RUSH -- `HOPELESSLY    DEVOTED TO YOU' by OLIVIA NEWTON JOHN -- `I WILL ALWAYS LOVE    YOU' by WHITNEY HOUSTON etc.    The TV remote smashed to smithereens... The television --    widescreen -- TOTALLED!... We move along the plush `World of    Leather' leather sofa... See that a chunk has been bitten out    of it... See teeth marks -- like a bite out of cheese!... Moving    on past an area of slashed carpet and underfelt... Approaching    the legs of a si deboard and see ing into the bla ckness    underneath... We can just make out the quizzical, frightened    eyes of a white poodle... We move on... Past twisted, wrecked    lampshades... Broken plates, ornaments... An up-ended vase of    half-eaten flowers... NILSSON continues his self-pitying    overwrought ballad and as he hits the massive, masochistic    chorus/crescendo we come across COLIN lying rigid on his back    in the corner of the devastated room... His shocked eyes    staring wildly... His body petrified. Paralysed... As if frozen    at the height of an epileptic fit -- Like something from    Pompeii -- Like Max Schrek as Nosferatu hit by light... We stay    on COLIN... His uncomprehending terror-filled eyes... His sheer    rigor mortis-like horror... We move in on him... Into the black    of his eyes... The tragic, agonised black..    CROSS FADE TO                                                                       5.2   EXT DETACHED SUBURBAN VILLA NIGHT                                     2   *    We are outside, square on to an upstairs window of a detached    suburban villa... We hear muffled sounds from inside the house...    Yells... Screaming... Cries... Commotion... And suddenly the glass    window explodes towards us as a desperate terrified woman    comes crashing through... Having run full pelt to escape from    something... This is LIZ, aged 44...                                         CUT TO3   INT LIVING ROOM   SMALL TERRACED HOUSE NIGHT                          3    Television on... ARCHIE'S MUM aged 80 is eating soup from a    tray on her lap... ARCHIE, aproned, watches on fondly...                           ARCHIE               ...'Ow's that, Mum?                         MUM               `S gorgeous, Archie!                            ARCHIE               Put hairs on your chest, that will!...               Pananarama'll be on soon -- after the               new s... Da vi d Dim bl e- bim bl eb y! Your               favourite!                         MUM                   (Pleased... eating)               What is this?                          ARCHIE               That -- Mulligatawny!      King of soups!                           MUM               `S nice!    Now a phone rings elsewhere in the house...                          ARCHIE               Whoops -- there's me mobilius!     `Scuse I!...    He leaves the room... Goes into the darkened pokey hallway...    Takes his mobile phone from his car-coat pocket... Answers...                            ARCHIE (CONT'D)               ...Who is this?... I'm not understandin'               ya!... I'm not getting' ya!... `Ooever you               are, stop cryin'!... Stop it! Listen -- I               wanna help you... but I can't help you if I               don't know who you are... and what you're               on ab out ! W hat a re yo u on ab ou t? ...               (listens)... Yeah, Archie, that's me... slow               down... we'll get there much quicker if you               -- ( re al is es ) -- Col?                            (MORE)                                                                                                                                                 6.3   CONTINUED:                                                            3                             ARCHIE (CONT'D)                 Colin ?!... Wha's happened?... (alarmed)                 Whaaat?!... No?!... When?!...                                            CUT TO4   INT LIVING ROOM      DETACHED SUBURBAN VILLA NIGHT                       4    Music `WITHOUT YOU' by NILSSON...    COLIN, as before, lying in the wrecked room... The music ends...    Suddenly we hear ARCHIE'S voice ...                               ARCHIE'S VOICE                       (Gently)                 ... Col... Col... C'mon mate this is no good...                 Colin...    We now see ARCHIE sitting in a nearby armchair, smoking,    patient...                             ARCHIE                 ... C'mon mate, you can't lie `ere forever!    The rigid COLIN, ignoring him, has suddenly, belatedly,    realised that the music has stopped... Desperately needing his    friend, NILSSON -- like a man in excruciating pain reaching    for a gallon of morphine, he frantically, urgently twists his    body on the floor and reaching behind, hammers the play    button on the nearby ghetto blaster... And slowly, gently,    kindly, the piano intro of NILSSON'S gorgeous wallow re-    commences... Colin, somewhat soothed, eases back into his    former rigid, mortified position.                                            CUT TO5   INT LUXURIOUS THAMESIDE PENTHOUSE NIGHT                                  5   *    MEREDITH, sits on a sofa staring intently at another man on                  *    an opposite sofa. A phone begins to ring.                                    *                                            CUT TO6   INT HUGE TASTEFULLY DECORATED LIVING SPACE PENTHOUSE NIGHT               6    The phone continues to ring...                                               *                              MEREDITH                 `Allo?...   (amiable) `Allo, Arch!...                                            CUT TO7   INT   VAN   DAY                                                          7    We are on MAL in the back of the scruffy van seated on the    wheelbase... Opposite him is MEREDITH calmly smoking ... ARCHIE    drives... COLIN slumped beside him in the passenger seat...                                                                                                                                                     7.7    CONTINUED:                                                            7                            ARCHIE                      (concerned)                  You alright, Col?     But COLIN is sobbing... quietly sobbing... sobbing his heart     out... ARCHIE looks in the rear view mirror at MAL... Who in     turn looks to MEREDITH who calmly smokes raising an eyebrow...     Now the van swings into a cul-de-sac, headlights illuminating     a row of tatty garages and picking out OLD MAN PEANUT who     stands there stony-faced... MAL opens the rear door... OLD MAN     PEANUT clambers in... ARCHIE throws the van into reverse and     takes off again....                                         CUT TO8    EXT/INT VAN HIGH STREET     DAY                                           8     The van double-parked engine running ... COLIN still slumped     in his seat staring teary-eyed at the dash-board... MEREDITH     and OLD MAN PEANUT in the back focused on the exterior of an     Italian restaurant...                                         CUT TO9    INT FRENCH RESTAURANT       DAY                                           9   *     Busy, bustling atmosphere... Customers becoming aware of a     co mm o ti on at t h e ba c k of th e r es t au ra n t... N o w th e ir     consternation grows as MAL who has got hold of one of the     waiters (we cannot see his face as his red shirt has ridden     up over his head in the struggle) is violently, relentlessly,     frog-marching him at great pace towards the door... We are     with ARCHIE overseeing the 'operation'... Staff terrified...     Customers alarmed... ARCHIE wheels round wielding an outsize     pepper grinder like a club... Crash/zoom in on him...                            ARCHIE                      (Menacingly)                  Just get on with yer meals! Concentrate                  on your snails!                                                  *     He too backs out of the door...                                         CUT BACK TO...10   EXT/INT VAN HIGH STREET     DAY                                       10     MEREDITH and OLD MAN PEANUT watching as MAL, THE WAITER and     ARCHIE spill onto the street... ARCHIE discarding the giant     pepper grinder as he goes... THE HAPLESS WAITER is bundled     into the back of the van... ARCHIE gets in... It drives     off...                                         CUT TO                                                                     8.11   EXT STREET OUTSIDE CORNER SHOP SUNNY DAY                        11     ARCHIE, holding a carrier bag of shopping, is in conversation     with another man, BIGGY WALPOLE, aged 58, wears tweed sports     jacket, cavalry twills, brown suede brogues, handlebar moust-     ache, Daily Mail under his arm, his dog ROSEMARY, a wire-     haired terrier, by his side...                         BIGGY               ...That's a bad show.                         ARCHIE               'S a fuckin' bad show... He couldn't do               nothin'... like a wet lettuce! (they both               shake their heads)                         BIGGY               Liz, eh? - Who'da thought it?!... Poor               Colin! (PAU SE) S o you 're b ack t here               tonight then?                         ARCHIE                   (Wearily)               Yup, back again... Round two... Poor               bastard... anyway... Anyway...                         BIGGY               Cuckoldry - Cuckoldry - terrible word! -               Terrible Thing!... Is he up to it d'you               think? Will he do it?                         ARCHIE                   (Protective)               Oh, he'll do it! He'll do it! He'll kill               'im! 'S gotta in'he?! Just needs a bit of               time that's all - get over the shock...               Oh, he'll do it - no question!                         BIGGY               Well g ive h im my rega rds.. . Sen d my               condolences.                         ARCHIE               I will - I will, Bigg - I'll pass them               on.                           BIGGY                     (Almost to himself. Suddenly                      sinister)               ... Meredith, eh?... Meredith.                         ARCHIE               ... And Mal ... and Peanut ... and me...                         BIGGY               ... Meredith.                                                                                                                                        9.11   CONTINUED:                                                    11                            ARCHIE                      (Changing the subject)                  'Ow's Rosemary?                            BIGGY                  ... I dunno... ask her!                            ARCHIE                      (Looking down at the dog)                  Allo, Rosemary... 'Ow's you?     We are on ROSEMARY'S expectant face looking up at ARCHIE ...     Over this we hear...                            BIGGY'S DOGGIE VOICE                      (Gruff)                  I'm alright, 'spose -- thanks for askin'.                            ARCHIE                      (To Rosemary)                  'S he lookin' after you? Keepin' you in                  sausages?     We are on ROSEMARY...                            BIGGY'S DOGGIE VOICE                  What this cunt?!! Jokin' intchya?! - If                  he opens another tin of Chum, I'm gonna                  bite his bollocks off!     ARCHIE smiles. Looks back to BIGGY...                               BIGGY                      (Tuts)                  Charmin'!                            ARCHIE                      (Beginning to move off)                  ...Well I'll catch ya later, Biggy ...                  Bye Rosemary!                            BIGGY                      (Beginning to walk off in the                       other direction)                  Toodle pip!     ARCHIE is walking away... BIGGY and ROSEMARY in the other     direction... Suddenly BIGGY stop's... turns... stares darkly     at the departing figure of ARCHIE who ambles off unaware...     BIGGY is staring with such hatred... we move in on his     face... His hating face... we are close up... he stares just     off camera... seems he is growling... low... primal growls...     and now his hand, claw-like, comes into frame... he is     reaching towards us... threatening-ly ... and slowly his     hating eyes follow... and he is staring right at us...                                         CUT TO.                       Pink Revised   21st May 2008           10.12   INT ROOM IN DERELICT HOUSE   NIGHT                            12     The room is as described in the prologue albeit with gable     wall intact... MAL stands by the crumbling mantelpiece his     back to the room... Touches the back of his head as if     something has brushed against him... Over this we hear...                         ARCHIE'S VOICE               ...Bells, aintcha?     MAL glances over his shoulder... ARCHIE is crouching over and     sorting through a card-board box containing various bottles     of spirits...                         MAL               Yeah, that's me... or Teachers!... This               is beginnin' to piss me off, this is!                         ARCHIE               And me!... 'Ere y'are!     MAL is handed a bottle of Bells whiskey - he slumps in one of     the armchairs... Opens the bottle...                         MAL               ...I mean, I'm sorry for the cunt an' all               that but there's no point in draggin' it               out, is there?... We're goin' round in               circles!... Fair do's, the guy's hurtin'               but fuck me!                         ARCHIE               I know, I know... it's mental!                         MAL               Shit 'appens... deal with it!                         ARCHIE               'Ow's your hand?                         MAL                   (Flexing his fist)               'S throbbin' like fuck!...' Ad it in a               bowl of iced water when I got back ...               It's my own fuckin' fault!                          ARCHIE               That'll teach ya! (PAUSE)... He was on               the phone to me last night...'our and a               'alf!... Woke me up!..."Cunt" this and               "cunt" that ... r eckon ed he coul dn't               sle ep .. pi ss ed ou t of hi s hea d! .. .               Talkin' a load of cobblers!... Doesn't               know where he is!                         MAL               I been there!                                                                                                                                            11.12   CONTINUED:                                                           12                            ARCHIE                  Not like this!... Not like `im!... Not                  like Colin!... Not like Colin Diamond!                                          CUT TO13   EXT DARK RAIN SOAKED DESERTED OLD STS & ALLEYS NIGHT                 13     Back view of a rain-coated man slowly walking the bleak     ancient streets.... We follow him... Over this we hear...                            ARCHIE'S VOICE                  ...Believe me, you shoulda heard `im...                  fuckin'ell... On and on!... Tellin' me                  'is fuckin' dreams! - Get this - He's in                  a phone box - only it's not a phone box --                  it's her cunt!     The man turns a corner and we see his face... Sad, sorry, lost,     self -pit yin g, b een thr oug h th e m ill. .. This is COL IN     DIAMOND...                                          CUT BACK TO14   INT    ROOM IN DERELICT HOUSE         NIGHT                          14     ARCHIE and MAL as before...                                 MAL                  Her what?                              ARCHIE                  Yeah!... With teeth!... No, pardon me,                  so r ry , l e t' s g e t t hi s r i gh t - no t                  teeth... Dentures!                                 MAL                  Dentures!                            ARCHIE                  Dentures!... Her cunt's got dentures!                            MAL                  Jesus Christ!                                 ARCHIE                  Oh, yeah!...                                          CUT BACK TO15   EXT DARK RAIN SOAKED DESERTED OLD STS & ALLEYS NIGHT                 15     The lonely figure of COLIN walks...                           ARCHIE'S VOICE                  ... Snappin'... Clackin' at 'im... On                  'im...                           (MORE)                                                                                           Pink Revised     21st May 2008         12.15   CONTINUED:                                                       15                             ARCHIE'S VOICE (CONT'D)                  Nibblin' his arse... Bitin' his balls... I                  was tryin' not to laugh... I'm knackered                  -- It's 'alf three in the fuckin' mornin'                  hearin' this shit!                            MAL'S VOICE                  Fuckin' `ell!     COLIN walks under an old iron bridge...                            ARCHIE'S VOICE                  That's right!... It goes on...     A door                  opens... In walks a cock -- Yeah, you                  heard, a cock!... In walks a cock!...                  Massive... Not his - guess who's?...                  That's right!... Fuck's sake!... Then                  he's on a plane... Club class... 'avin'                  is dinner... dressed as a clown!...     COLIN stops... Lost in thought... Staring down at/into     puddles...                            ARCHIE'S VOICE (CONT'D)                  ...Big red nose!... Like Ronald fuckin'                  McDonald!... Waitress comes up the aisle,                  starts punchin' im in the head!!     Big C/U on COLIN'S little boy lost face...                            ARCHIE'S VOICE (CONT'D)                  ...You make sense of it... It's fuckin'                  tragic!                                        CUT BACK TO16   INT ROOM IN DERELICT HOUSE      NIGHT                            16     ARCHIE and MAL as before...                            MAL                  He needs pullin' back... He's on the                  slippery slope... We better watch'im ...                  (slight pause)... Dressed as a clown?!                            ARCHIE                  Fuckin' Coco, mate!     Immediately the door opens and COLIN enters... Atmosphere. He     take s of f h is M ac. .. A nd sits in one of the ba tter ed     armchairs...     ARCHIE and MAL look at each other...                            ARCHIE (CONT'D)                  ...Alright, Col?     COLIN grunts... ARCHIE resumes sorting through the cardboard     box... MAL lights up... smokes...                                                                                                Pink Revised   21st May 2008           13.16   CONTINUED:                                                       16                            ARCHIE (CONT'D)                      (Holding up a near empty bottle                       of Smirnoff)                  ...He is vodka, Old Man Peanut, I'n'e?                            MAL                  Yeah, he's vodka                            ARCHIE                      (Showing Mal the bottle)                  Cor, he's taken a sizeable lump outa this                  look...                             COLIN                      (Surly)                  You can look at me, you know... I'm not                  invisible!                             MAL                      (Jokingly looking around the                       room)                  Who said that?     The three men smile ... MAL and ARCHIE look at COLIN...                            ARCHIE                      (Kindly)                  You alright, son?                            COLIN                      (None too convincingly)                  I'm bearing up, Arch, I'm bearing up.                            MAL                  It's never easy, mate, its never easy.     Silence...                            COLIN                  Give us a fuckin' drink!     ARCHIE tosses him a bottle.                            ARCHIE                  'Ere y'are, brandy... Doctor's orders!     COLIN opens it and drinks...         ARCHIE and MAL watch him     intently...                            COLIN                      (Paranoid)                  What are you starin' at?... 'Ave I got a                  knob on my forehead or somethin'?!                                                                                              Pink Revised   21st May 2008             14.16   CONTINUED: (2)                                                   16                          MAL               Shut up, Colin! You're amongst friends...               Don't make this any more difficult than               it already is... Y'hear me?... Y'hear               me?... Colin?... Look at me...                           COLIN                     (Grudgingly)               ...I hear you.                         ARCHIE               C'mon, mate, be brave.                         COLIN               ... Yeah... I will... I've got to ain'i?                         ARCHIE               That's the stuff!                         MAL               That's the spirit!                          COLIN               I can' t bel ieve it... I st ill c an't               bel ie ve it .. . I j us t c an 't fu ck in '               believe it...                         MAL               Yeah, I know, it's unbelievable... It's               like a bad dream, innit?     ARCHIE and MAL look at each other... knowingly...                         ARCHIE               Where's Old Man fuckin' Peanut?     Suddenly the doo r flies open an d there stands O LD MAN     PEANUT...                         OMP               I'm fuckin' here!... That's where he               is!... Cunt!                         MAL               Sorry, Pop... We wondered where you was.                         OMP               Don't Pop me!... I'm fuckin'.ere!...               Give's a fuckin' drink... Bunch o' cunts!     OLD MAN PEANUT sits... ARCHIE takes him the bottle of vodka     and a plastic cup... stands over him...                         ARCHIE               D'you want me to pour it for you?                                                                                                                                             15.16   CONTINUED: (3)                                                     16                         OMP                   (Snatching the bottle and cup)               Give it 'ere!... Treat me like a fuckin'               cunt!... Tosser!     ARCHIE shrugs...                         OMP (CONT'D)                   (indicating Colin)               ...'Ow is he, alright?                         MAL               Yeah, he's doin' good... Aintcha, Colin?                         COLIN                   (Weakly)               Yeah, I'm good.     ...OLD MAN PEANUT gets up ... goes over to him... stares him     in the eyes...                         OMP               You get it together, you cunt!... You               hear me?... Eh?... (slaps COLIN)... Get               it to-fucking-gether!... We can't 'ave               this.. . Can 't' a ve it !...Y ou we re a               fuckin' disgrace last night! Inept!...               Tonight the kid gloves are off... Show               some fuckin' backbone! - You're a man...               Fucking act like one!                         ARCHIE               He'll get there...      He'll get there.                         OMP                   (Vociferously)               ...And the bloodied slave rose to 'is               feet, thrust his hand into 'is defiant               chest, tore out `is own heart and threw               it at the aggressor, sayin' "Free from               bondage!... Free from fuckin' bondage'               you CUNT!!"... Eh?... Eh?...                         MAL                   (Offhand)               Yeah, you're right, Pop.                           OMP               Eh! .. . F uc ki n' ri gh t I 'm r igh t! .. .               Fuckin' right I'm fuckin' right!... It's               th e s t ro n g t ha t s h al l i n he r it th e               earth... Not the fuckin' weak!...                         ARCHIE                   (Flat ... Patent)               You tell 'em!                                                                                                Pink Revised     21st May 2008             16.16   CONTINUED: (4)                                                     16                         OMP               Not the fuckin' weak!                         MAL               Yeah, well, whatever ... But this's gotta               be finished tonight cos I'm busy tomorrow                          OMP                    (Riled)               You break every other fuckin engagement               ... Every other fuckin' engagement! ...               This! ... This takes top priority! ...               Above everything ... Everything!...'Til               this is done and dusted ... Put to bed...               Lai d to re st .. No bo dy do es fu ck in '               nothin' but this! ... This - This is               where we are... 'Ere! ... Now! ... This..               Where's fuckin' Meredith?                            ARCHIE               He's late.                         OMP               Late? Late!.. No such fuckin' word!...               And I'll tell you this ... If Brighton               Billy - God rest his tortured soul - had               ever caught anyone being late ... He               would've cut their eyelids off, stuck 'em               in a f uc k in ' s a ck wi t h a s n ak e , a               cockerel and a dog and chucked 'em in the               fuckin' sea!                            MAL               Charmin!                           OMP                    (Vehement)               It was! It fuckin' was!... That was how               it was! ... Believe you me - Once he'd               made up his mind, that was it!... That               was it !... Nothi n wou ld sw ay 'i m...               Nothin!.. No surrender!... Immovable he               was!... Immovable! A mountain!... A               fu c ki n ' C ol o ss u s! . .. Yo u h e ar me ,               Colin?... A fuckin' giant!... A Titan!...               Spectacular!... My God!!                         COLIN                   (Miles away)               I can't believe it ... I still can't               believe it...                           OMP                   (T h r o w in g h i s h a n d s u p i n                    despair)               OOWW!!                                                                                                Pink Revised     21st May 2008            17.16   CONTINUED: (5)                                                    16     Suddenly the wardrobe wobbles... Creaks... They all turn to     look at it... Faint sounds of struggle from within... It     stops... Is still... Silence eventually...                          ARCHIE                    (Peer ing i nto t he c ardbo ard                     box... Nonplussed)                Who wants crisps?                                       CUT TO17   EXT GRASS VERGE BY ELEVATED MOTORWAY RAIN          NIGHT          17     Sounds o f traffi c... LIZ is try ing to s cramble up the     embankment ... Trying... Failing ... She is cold, wet, muddy,     bloody ... No shoes ... Her white dress torn and blood-soaked     ... She tries to climb ... In vain ... Slips in the mud ...     No strength ... Cries in frustration... Falls on her back...     Lies there...still ... Curls up... Above her the traffic     zooms by.                                       CUT TO18   INT ROOM IN DERELICT HOUSE       NIGHT                            18     Now t he do or o pe ns. .. M ER EDI TH s ta nds f ra me d b y th e     doorway... Immaculately dressed... A wry smile... He raises     his arm in a Romanesque salute...                           MEREDITH                Salutee!                          OMP                    (Mouthful of crisps)                You're late!                          MEREDITH                So sue me!...                                               *     He sits... Looks around the room.                          MEREDITH (CONT'D)                ...Cor, fuck me - Deja Vu!...                               *                    (studies OLD MAN PEANUT)                                *                ... You enjoying those?                          OMP                    (Munching)                Fuck off!     MEREDITH smiles...                          MEREDITH                ...So, Kittens, what's happenin?                          MAL                More of the same.                                                                                                  Pink Revised   21st May 2008            18.18    CONTINUED:                                                        18                             MEREDITH                   How are you today, Colin? ... You look                   terrible!                             OMP                   He's good ... He's fuckin' strong.                             MEREDITH                   Oh, that's good... That is good... He                   don't look it!                             MAL                   No, he's alright... He's alright.                             ARCHIE                   Better than 'e was last night!!                                         JUMP CUT TO18A   EXT DERELICT HOUSE     NIGHT                                      18A   *19    INT   ROOM IN DERELICT HOUSE       NIGHT                           19      COLIN slumped in an armchair... See the men...                             ARCHIE                   'Ere Meredith, I bumped into Biggy                   Walpole this mornin'. He was askin'                   after you...                             MEREDITH                   Was he?... That's funny... He hates me!                             ARCHIE                   Does he? ... Didn't seem like it...                             OMP                       (Sneeringly to Meredith)                   'S he an iron an' all?                             MEREDITH                       (Staring at OMP)                   ... Not sure... Is he, Arch?                             ARCHIE                   Oo, Biggy?... Don't think so...                             MEREDITH                       (Staring at OMP)                   Arch doesn't think so, Pea...      OLD MAN PEANUT snorts derisively ... MEREDITH turns to ARCHIE                             MEREDITH (CONT) (CONT'D)                   ... What was he wearin'?                                                                                                       Pink Revised   21st May 2008        19.19   CONTINUED:                                                         19                            ARCHIE                  ... Dunno... Jacket?     Suddenly ... From his armchair...                            COLIN                  I get waves...                                MEREDITH                  Jacket?                            COLIN                  ...Up and down...                                ARCHIE                  Tweedy...                              COLIN                  ...state of me...                            MEREDITH                  Tweedy, eh?                            COLIN                  All I ever did was love 'er ...     Now the men all look to COLIN ... pause...                            COLIN (CONT'D)                                   *                  ... Maybe I loved 'er too much ...                         *                  Maybe that's it ...                                        *                                                               CUT TO20   EXT DRIVEWAY DETACHED SUBURBAN VILLA PREVIOUS DUSK                 20     COLIN is opening the back doors of a grey mercedes... Merrily           *     takes out a massive bouquet... a big box of chocolates ...              *     Laden and happy he awkwardly approaches his front door ...     Enters...                                                               CUT TO21   INT HALLWAY DETACHED SUBURBAN VILLA PREVIOUS EVE                   21                            COLIN                      (Calling out)                  He's 'ome!!     A Poodle greets him enthusiastically.                            COLIN (CONT) (CONT'D)                  Yeah, alright Muffles, got somethin' for                  you an' all - choc-choc! ... Liz! ...                  It's me!... I'm `ome!!!                                                                                                  Pink Revised   21st May 2008            20.21   CONTINUED:                                                        21     He enters the kitchen...his wife LIZ, is standing in a white     dress at the far end ... Looking away ... Gazing out of the     window...                            COLIN (CONT) (CONT'D)                      (Cheerily)                  'Ere he is! ...     She does not react ... He places things on the table.                            COLIN (CONT) (CONT'D)                  ... He comes bearing gifts, look! Look                  what I gotcha!     He goes to the fridge...                            COLIN (CONT) (CONT'D)                  Avril's been at it again! Fuckin' up big                  style! ... She's useless almost cost us a                  sale on an XKR Jag!                                       *     He takes out a pint carton of full fat milk                            COLIN (CONT) (CONT'D)                  ... Fuckin' 'ell, Saab last week and now                  a Jag! - She didn't... but she almost                  did! I gave her a verbal warnin'. Told                  her if she didn't buck her ideas up she'd                  be out of the showroom - stick her desk'                  in the backyard beside the khazi!. -                  Stupid cow! - And you know what she said?                  - This is what I have to put up with! "Do                  it then"! Can you believe that?!! - - 'F                  she wants sendin' back to the job centre                  I'll do it!                                               *     He knocks back the full pint in one ... LIZ glances at him     ... He reaches into the fridge again and takes out a can of     coke...                              COLIN (CONT) (CONT'D)                  ... Anyway, that's me! 'Ow's you?... Oh,                  an another thing 'fore I forget, ow d'you                  fancy the Algarve? 'Cos that bird from                  the travel agent ...... phoned me... I know                  we were... talkin' bout the Med but this is               *                  dirt cheap - I said I'd speak to you...                   *     He begins glugging the coke ... Finishes it...                            COLIN (CONT) (CONT'D)                  What d'ya reckon?     LIZ is silent...                                                                                               Pink Revised   21st May 2008            21.21   CONTINUED: (2)                                                  21                         COLIN (CONT'D)                   (Fondly... Indulgent)               ... Alright, it's the Med, I give in!!     He o pens a cupb oar d. T ake s ou t a pac ket of cho cola te     biscuits. Unwraps one..., eats it...     LIZ looks at him ... Looks away ... Stares out of the window     ... Worried... Puts her hand to her forehead ... She is     biting her lower lip...                         COLIN (CONT'D)                   (Munching)               ... What?                         LIZ                   (To herself. Desperately)               Oh, fuck...                         COLIN               What is it ?... 'S a matt er?.. .'S               up?...S'appened?     She look s a t hi m . .. T ear s in he r ey es. .. E ven tual ly     struggling...                         LIZ               ... Colin ...     Words fail her.   She sighs heavily                         COLIN               Liz, love ... what's wrong?     Eventually...                         LIZ                   (Weakly)               ... This is really, really difficult,               Colin...                         COLIN                   (Worded)               What is?                         LIZ                   (With great difficulty)               ... This is the hardest thing I've ever               done in my life ... I'm so sorry...                         COLIN                   (Gently. Helping)               For what? What you sorry for?... What you               sorry for, Liz?                         LIZ               I'm sorry, Colin...                                                                                              Pink Revised   21st May 2008        22.21   CONTINUED: (3)                                                21                          COLIN                   (Serious faced)               So you've said ... You've said that,               Liz... I've got that ... What `re you               sorry for?     She can't look at him. Stares at the floor ... Eventually ...                         COLIN (CONT) (CONT'D)               You're scarin me Liz...     A LONG PAUSE...                         LIZ                   (Tinily)               I've met someone else...22   A LONG PAUSE...                                               22                            COLIN                      (Stunned. Absolutely Stunned)               Wha?23   A LONG PAUSE...                                               23                         COLIN                   (Small)               y`kiddin'                         LIZ                   (Sadly)               ... I'm sorry.                            COLIN                      (Reeling)                      ...'Someone else'??!!. I don't                       understand, Liz ... I've just                       come in through the door ...                       and ... now I'm ... I'm ...                       (TRAILS OFF)...'met someone                       else'?     She can't look at what she's done to him ... She gazes out         *     of the window ... Far, far away ...                                *                         LIZ                   (From a million miles away)               ... I'm so sorry.     Slowly ... Slowly ... We move in on COLIN ... He begins to     blink ... Is swallowing ... His chin wobbling ... Can't     speak... Uncomprehending little eyes... His gullet begins to     spasm ... He swoons ... Stumbles back ... His knees go ... He     grips the toaster for support ... Looking at her as she     stares out of the window ... Looking ... Looking ... His     desperate eyes pleading ...                                        *                                        CUT TO                                                                     23.24   INT ROOM IN DERELICT HOUSE    NIGHT                              24     The men are watching him...                                           *                          COLIN               I know what you're all thinkin'... you're                   *               all feelin' sorry for me - Poor Colin...               Think I'm pathetic... Come on, say it ...                   *               I can take it... Well you can all fuck                      *               off - Sling yer dirty hooks! ... I'll                       *               deal with this myself ... Well, what are               you waiting for? - Piss off - Sorry to               have inconvenienced you an' all that ...               but your services are no longer required -                  *               Slags! - Laughin' at me! I may look like                    *               a cunt but I'm not stupid!                         ARCHIE               No it's 'er that's stupid, Col ... It's               Liz...                         COLIN                   (Rounding on him)               What would you know about'er! - What               would you know 'bout what it means to be               married?! You're still livin' with your               fuckin' Mum!                                                *                         MAL                   (Stepping in)               Oi! Oi! Oi! Oi!                           OMP                    (Rises. Enraged)               Th is is wh y Lo ve r bo y mus t b e               killed !...Th is is why s he mus t be               ki l le d ! . .. To d o t ha t t o a ma n               (indic ates C OLIN). ..Jes us fuc king               Christ almighty! ... Fire and fucking               sword! ... It's unforgiveable!... It's               de-fucking-plorable! ... (points at               COLIN with a long bony finger) Look at               the man ... where is he? ... Look at               'im! He aint there! ... That's someone               else! ... That's a shell! If that!...               A sad, empty shell! ... It hurts your               fucking eyes! ... Can 'ardly look at               'im!... Make ya weep! ~_ Mother of               God! They will suffer... Oh, yeah! -               The y wil l su ffe r! . .. Th at is m y               promise!... They will fucking suffer!     The seething PEANUT paces the room...                                                                                                   Pink Revised   21st May 2008        24.24   CONTINUED:                                                       24                            COLIN                  I'm sorry, Arch ... I don't know what I'm                  sayin'... I've gone crackers ... don't                  listen to me...                            ARCHIE                  'S alright, mate ... forget about it- 's                  understandable.                            MEREDITH                  'Ere, Colin, this'll cheer you up...Ave a                  guess `ow much I won last night...                            OMP                      (Still ranting)                  Oh yes, they will suffer!                            MEREDITH                  'Ave a guess...                            COLIN                      (Distractedly)                  I don't know.                            MEREDITH                  Ask me how much I won...                            OMP                  ... Fucking suffer!                              MEREDITH                  Ask me!                            COLIN                      (Half-heartedly)                  ...'Ow much did you win?                            MEREDITH                  ... Well...                                           CUT TO.25   EXT NASH CRESCENT LONDON         PREVIOUS NIGHT                  25     MEREDITH, alone, strolls along the lamplit street ... Over     this we hear...                            MEREDITH'S VO                  ... after we left here last night I was                  buzzi n'... was on m y wa y to the                  Buckingham for a quick one ... none of                  you wet willies wanted to come ... who'd                  I run into? ...     MEREDITH walking ... Suddenly, from out of nowhere a metallic     blue Rolls Royce Corniche thunders and screeches up beside     him almo st m oun ting the pa veme nt . ..                                                                                                  Pink Revised       21st May 2008                   25.25   CONTINUED:                                                                     25     Simu ltan eous ly t he curb side back doo r fli es o pen and     crashes/smashes into a lamp-post shattering its window and     buckling... MEREDITH turns at the sound of the impact... And     is immediately greeted by a figure emerging from the back     seat ... The man is larger than life ... 60-ish... He wears a     full length white mink coat over a tuxedo ... His coiffured     hair sports a pink rinse ... He is over-excitedly pleased to     se e h i s f r i e n d , M E R E D I T H . . . T e r r i f y i n g l y s o . . .     Psychopa thically happy h e stand s in the middle of the     pavement like a frenzied polar bear...                            MEREDITH VO                  ... Tippi Gordon!     TIPPI GORDON bellows insanely at MEREDITH...                            TIPPI                  CHUBBYBUMMYWUMMY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!                  !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!                                             CUT TO26   INT ROOM IN DERELICT HOUSE               NIGHT                                 26     The men listen to MEREDITH'S story...                            MEREDITH                  ...Off his fuckin'face! Pumpin'! Zoomin'!                  Pupils the size of a sixpence!...                                             CUT BACK TO27   EXT NASH CRESCENT LONDON PREVIOUS NIGHT                                        27     TITANIC C/U ON TIPPI'S maniacally ecstatic face...                            TIPPI                      (To us/Meredith)                  Y'UP FOR IT??? Y'WITH ME??? NIGHT OF                  IT???? `AVE SOME???? BEAUTY BOY??? --                  Y'UP FOR IT?????? -- BOYS NIGHT                  OUT??????????????!!!!!!!!!!                                             JUMP CUT TO28   INT ROLLS ROYCE CORNICHE CHAUFFEUR DRIVEN PREV NGT                             28     MEREDITH and TIPPI in the back of the Roller as it travels     through London ... TIPPI chopping out huge lines of cocaine     on a walnut veneer tabletop...                            MEREDITH VO                  ... He was on his way to the Grenadier                  ... Invites me along...                                                                                                           Pink Revised     21st May 2008        26.28   CONTINUED:                                                      28                            TIPPI                      (Chopping them out)                  I like a li ne th e siz e of a fuc kin'                  toblerone!! ...     To the UNIFORMED CHAUFFEUR, indicating the coke                  Oi, Bumface -'ere y'are!                                        JUMP CUT TO.29   EXT BUSY WEST END STREET PREVIOUS NIGHT                         29     The Rolls Royce has stopped at a red light ...THE CHAUFFEUR     casually gets out of the front and climbs into the back ...     The lights change to green ... Cars behind get impatient ...     Start tooting...more and more horns sound ... Blaring out...                                        CUT TO.30   INT HIGH CLASS CASINO      PREVIOUS NIGHT                       30     We move through the elegant casino ... Over this we hear...                            ARCHIE'S VOICE                  Come on then, whad ya win?                            MEREDITH'S VOICE                  Forty thousand and six 'undred pounds is                  what I won...                            MAL'S VOICE                  Fuck me!... 'Ow?     We now come across MEREDITH and TIPPI laughing, engaged in     conversation...                             MEREDITH'S VOICE                  ... W ell , I' ll te ll ya . .. we w er e                  fucking about...     MEREDITH turns from TIPPI and speaks directly to us into     camera...                            MEREDITH                  ... And I bet Tippo five grand that he                  couldn't win six grand in a minute...                            TIPPI                      (Excitedly to Meredith)                  I fucking can!!                            MEREDITH                      (To Tippi)                  Go on then!!     TIPPI heads for the nearest roulette table...                                                                                                  Pink Revised       21st May 2008                  27.30   CONTINUED:                                                                     30                            MEREDITH (CONT'D)                      (To us)                  ... He's off... Steams into the nearest                  table and smacks six thou down on the                  black...     We can see TIPPI intently staring down at the wheel almost     crowding THE CRO UPIER wh o smile s polite ly at hi s high     spirits...                             TIPPI                      (Screaming over to Meredith)                  RED!!!... CUNT!!!                            MEREDITH                      (To us)                  We were laughin' like fuck!                            TIPPI                      (Calling over)                  Double or quits!                            MEREDITH                      (To us)                  ... He bets black...     We can see TIPPI intently staring down at the wheel ...     hungry ... childish....excited...                            TIPPI                      (Screaming over to Meredith)                  RED!!!...CUNT!!!...                            MEREDITH                      (Smiling to us)                  Double or quits twice... bets black...     We see TIPPI staring intently down at the wheel... almost     wetting himself with anticipation.. until...                                 TIPPI                       (Screaming over to Meredith)                  RE D ! ! ! . . . C U N T ! ! ! . . . D O U B L E O R                  QUITS!...                            MEREDITH                      (To us)                  For the third time... only this time -     We are on TIPPI staring intently down at the wheel...                            MEREDITH'S VOICE                  ... He bets red...     C/U on the roulette wheel-the ball spinning and hurtling     round ... we watch as it comes to rest...                                                                                                               Pink Revised   21st May 2008        28.30   CONTINUED: (2)                                                 30                          TIPPI'S VOICE                    (Screaming)                BLACK!!!!!!     Massive C/U on TIPPI'S thrilled by losing face...                         TIPPI                CUNT! CUNT! CUNT ! MER EDITH YOU' RE A                CUNT!!!                                         CUT BACK TO31   INT ROOM IN DERELICT HOUSE          NIGHT                      31                            MEREDITH                ..."Meredith you're a cunt! Thank you                very much, 'ere's your forty thou... See                ya!"... For a giggle. I've stuck four                hundred pound on the pontoon table -                splatt! -- Blackjack! Six to four! Lovely!                That's me done!... 'Ad some dinner in the                corner - fillet steak, coupla spuds...                last d rink - lar ge ca lvado s... Home                met hi nks , "G et me a ca b" , ove r th e                bridge, bung `im a nifty -."Ta, guv",                wipe my feet, cup of cocoa, into me jim-                jams, lights out ... ain't life grand!                            ARCHIE                Nice one!                          OMP                What, you mean you didn't stop off at the                poof's club?     MEREDITH turns slowly to stare at him...                           MEREDITH                No, Peanut, since you so kindly ask, I                did not stop off at The Clayton ... Not                las t nig ht .. . b ut I sh al l be th er e                tonight ... later on ... looking for some                hot male action... Is that alright with                you?                            OMP                Yerr!                          ARCHIE                Don't fucking start you two!                          OMP                Dirty bastard!     MEREDITH laughs...                                                                                              Pink Revised     21st May 2008         29.31   CONTINUED:                                                       31                            OMP (CONT'D)                  Puttin g you r one in a man' s bum !...                  Sodomite... Buggerer...                            MEREDITH                  Peanut ... What I choose to do with my                  nine and a half has got fuck all to do                  with you!                            OMP                  It's disgusting! - Man with man!                         *                            ARCHIE                  Alright, alright!                            OMP                  Fucking smarm!                             ARCHIE                  Alright!                                        CUT TO32   INT KITCHEN DETACHED SUBURBAN VILLA PREVIOUS NIGHT               32     LIZ at the window ... COLIN at the table...                            COLIN                  ... I've loved you too much, 'aven't I? --                  That's what I've done wrong -I've driven                  you away - driven you into the arms of                  someone else - that's what I've done -                  S'pose I deserve it - must do - who'd                  'ave thought it, eh, you can love someone                  too much!... I've over loved ya - I'm an                  overlover... and I feel very lonely...                      (begins to sob, catching his                       breath like an infant)                  ... I'm beggin' you to stay - I beg you                  not to leave me... I beg you... on my                  bended knees... Please... I just don't                  understand what I've done wrong - and I                  beg you not to leave me this way - don't                  leave me this way.                                       *                            LIZ                      (Softly)                  ... Come on, Colin...                            COLIN                  ...What?...                            LIZ                      (Gently)                  ... Have some dignity...                                                                                                 Pink Revised   21st May 2008            30.32   CONTINUED:                                                         32                            COLIN                      (Chest heaving with sobs)                  I - don't - want din-gity - I want you!!                  ... Is that bad? ! ... Is t hat a bad                  crime? - Ov- ver - lovin'???     Pause... he fights his tears... struggles to get it together     ... breathes ... breathes hard ... sucking in air ... trying     to gather strength ... from somewhere... calms a bit ...     stares hard at her ... eventually- .                              COLIN (CONT'D)                  ... You've made a mistake, you 'ave ...                  You're gonna miss me! - You're really                      *                  gonna fuckin miss me! ... Coupla days                  time - when it sinks in ... Oh, you'll                  reg re t t ha t! Wh at a n e rr or ! W ha t a                  booboo! ... You've fucked up! Boy, 'ave                  you fucked up!... An' you know what? -                  when you realise 'ow ... (selects a word)                  silly you've been -- `ow impulsive ...                  reckless and stupid - 'ow ... (selects a                  word) feminine you've been - you stupid                  woman ... you're gonna come runnin', back                  with your tail between your legs pleadin'                  to be let in out of the cold - and will I                  take you back? - Will I fuck!! No way!!                  Not a snowball's chance in hell! Not on                  your nelly !!... 'Ang on Colin -' ang on                  son - you're lying to yourself! - Course                  you'll take her back! Of c ourse you                  will!!... I'll take you back, Liz - I                  fo r g i ve y o u - c o s t h a t ' s w h a t                  overlovers', do, you see -they 'overlove'                  - they love too much!                            LIZ                      (Delicately)                  Colin, its not working between us - well                  for me its not working - and it hasn't                  been working for a long time...                            COLIN                  Yeah, that's because you ain't been doing                  your bit, Liz ... you ain't been doing                  your bit! ... Love is like a garden and                  in order to keep it looking beautiful you                  gotta work at it ... Gotta do the weedin'                  and you ain't been doing any weedin', Liz                  - and that's cos you're lazy - You're a                  lazy lover, Liz - And now the garden's                  over-run -'s a jungle, innit? - we're                  lost in the jungle - can't see each other                  -                                                                                                                                         31.32   CONTINUED: (2)                                               32                         LIZ                   (Softly)               I don't feel like that, Colin - I don't                 *               feel the same as you - just have to get               out -                          COLIN                   (Petulant)               Well fuck off then!!... Go on, go!...               Fuck off!... I'll be alright ... You               cru el ba st ar d! .. . Go on - I' m no t               stopping you... Take your stuff and get -               Leave mine - I'll attend to that! Just               fuck off!... You're a horrible cunt!               Traitor!                                                *                         LIZ                   (Had enough)               Well if you're going to start calling me               names -                         COLIN                   (Affronted. Interrupting)               Don't you - a dirty, unfaithful cow who's               sucked another man's bell-end -tell me -               tell me that I'm callin' you names!! Who               is he?     There is a pause as LIZ decides how to play this...                         LIZ               ... Does it matter?                         COLIN               Oo is he? Tell me the cunt's name - I               wanna know.                         LIZ               ... He's just a guy.                         COLIN               Oh, a guy is he? - A guy! - What he's not               a bloke? Not just a. bloke? He's a `guy'!               Cunt - I'll cut `is cock off when I find                *               'im!                         LIZ                   (Forcefully)               Oh stop it, Colin!                         COLIN               Oh, th at's right , pro tect the cunt!               Course you're on `is side... on the side               of the 'guy'! ... I'm tellin' you, Liz -               mark my fuckin' words - I will tear the               flesh off 'is face with my fuckin' teeth               and stick it in your fuckin' `andbag!                                                                                         Pink Revised   21st May 2008            32.32   CONTINUED: (3)                                                 32                         LIZ               Right, that's it, I'm going ... we'll               talk later.     LIZ makes towards the door.     But COLIN beats her to it ...     slams it shut...                         COLIN                   (Darkly)               Where d'you think you're goin' ?! You               ain't goin' nowhere!     LIZ, frightened, has stepped back.                         COLIN (CONT) (CONT'D)                   (Darkly)               ... You think you can say that to me an'               then j ust g o?! - Leav e me here with               that?! - Drop a bomb in my brain and just               go?! ... No, you can't!...     We are C/U on COLIN'S hand by his side... it begins to     tighten ... begins to ball itself into a fist...                         COLIN'S VOICE                   (Menacingly)               Tell me his fuckin' name...                                     CUT TO33   INT ROOM IN DERELICT HOUSE   NIGHT                             33     COLIN standing ... the men listening...                         COLIN                   (Confessionally)               I caught her right on the fuckin' chin...               Her head bounced off the door frame...               She fell lookin' at me...                           OMP               Good boy!                          COLIN                   (Emphatically)               No, not good boy!... I hit her so fuckin'               hard... Heard her teeth rattle in her               hea d. .. Sh e was l yi ng th er e.. . Sh e               wouldn't look at me..."Tell me!"..."Tell               me!", I said... "Tell me 'is fuckin'               name!"... but she wouldn't look at me...                         MAL               Well, she wouldn't, would she?!... She               couldn't, could she?!                                                                                                                                            33.33   CONTINUED:                                                          33                            ARCHIE                  Too ashamed!                            COLIN                  I 'ad her b y the thro at .. . pun ched                  her..."Tell me!"...punched her... "Tell                  me!" ... punched her "Tell me `is fuckin'                  name!"...                      (PAUSE)                  ... She said it ... She told me...                            MAL                  What? Just like that?!                             OMP                  Brazen! -- Fuckin 'audacity!                            ARCHIE                  Cheeky cunt!                            MAL                  Takin' the piss, mate!                            COLIN                      (Quietly)                  ... Yeah, just like that ... right in the                  heart.     ...OLD MAN PEANUT goes to him... puts his arm around him...     comforts him... ARCHIE, seeing this, goes over the wardrobe     ... addresses it...                            ARCHIE                      (To the wardrobe)                  ... You hearin' this? ... What you've                  done? ... What you're responsible for?                  ... Are you proud of yourself? ... Was it                  worth it? ... All this pain?     MAL joins him... addresses the wardrobe...                              MAL                       (To the wardrobe)                  Fucked his wife?! ... Fucked his                  fuckin' wife?! ... You fuckin' wife-                  fucker you!... You fuckin' fucked his                       *                  wife you wife-fuckin' cunt!...                              *                       (beat)                  Fuckin' his wife?!... Fuckin' his fuckin'                   *                  wife?!... Another man's wife?!... Are you                   *                  fuc ki n' th ic k? - Yo u cunt !... Fu ck                  another man's wife?... What's the matter                  with you?! You don't do that!... It' not                  done!... You do that - it ends in this! -                  Th i s! - T hi s i s w h er e i t e n ds ! I n                  this!... You hear me? ... you listenin'?                  Shitter!... Little shitter!                                                                                                   Pink Revised   21st May 2008        34.33   CONTINUED: (2)                                                33                         ARCHIE                   (To the wardrobe)               Should've got your own fuckin' wife to               fuck!                                        CUT TO34   INT WARDROBE     NIGHT                                        34     Blackness ... tiny light leaking in from cracks/joints in     wood ... a shape ... breathing                         MAL'S VOICE                   (From outs ide.. . me nacin gly                    quiet)               ...You're in deep shit, mate ... You're               in the worst possible place a man can               find himself...     Pause ... breathing in the blackness...                                        CUT TO35   INT ROOM IN DERELICT HOUSE    NIGHT                           35                         MAL                   (Turns to Colin)               When d'you wanna do this, Col? When are               we doin' it? Come on, is time innit?!...               Get i t fuc ki n' do ne .. . W hat d 'yo u               reckon? ... Come on, my blood's fuckin'               up! What are we sayin'? Yes? No? - what?               ... Colin?- S up to you, mate - you're               the one in the cunt hat!                         ARCHIE                   (To Colin)               It's about time, mate...                         OMP                   (Rising)               Get the fucker out 'ere!                         MAL               ...Well!... Col?...     COLIN is staring at the wardrobe but suddenly he rises and     heads for the door...                         COLIN               I gotta find her! (he exits)     The men thwarted, sit in silence ... MAL looks at PEANUT ...     PEANUT looks at ARCHIE ... MEREDITH looks at MAL ... PEANUT     looks at MEREDITH ... ARCHIE looks at MAL ... MEREDITH looks     at ARCHIE...                                                                                                Pink Revised   21st May 2008                35.35    CONTINUED:                                                              35                             ARCHIE                   ....What?!... Well, don't look at me!35A   EXT DERELICT HOUSE      NIGHT                                           35A   *      COLIN exits the house.                                                        *35B   INT   ROOM IN DERELICT HOUSE       NIGHT                                35B   *                             MEREDITH                   What age is Liz, Arch?                             MAL                   She's forty-two                                ARCHIE                   Forty-four                             MEREDITH                   Fucking hell, she looks good for forty-                   four!                             OMP                   'Ow would you know?!                              MEREDITH                       (Pointing)                   Peanut - would you like me to spank your                   bony arse?      OLD MAN PEANUT giggles... MEREDITH smiles...                             MEREDITH (CONT'D)                   ... Y eah . .. g orgeo us w oman ...                   glamorous... vivacious ... sparklin'...                             ARCHIE                   You're not wrong.                             MEREDITH                   Beautiful face.                                ARCHIE                   Lovely                             MEREDITH                   It's a shame                             ARCHIE                   That it is.                                           CUT TO36    EXT RAINY, DESOLATE, STREETS         NIGHT                               36      COL IN i s r un ni ng ... r un ni ng. .. r un nin g- ... De spe ra te ...      running... Away from us... Towards us ... Past us...                                                                                                        Pink Revised   21st May 2008        36.36   CONTINUED:                                                      36     Running until... Eventually... Having run himself into the     ground... He collapses against a brick wall in shadow...     Holds onto it ... Buries his head into it... Pitifully...     Like Judah Ben Hur when first seeing his mother and sister     emerge from the leper colony...                            COLIN                      (Agonised)                  She could be anywhere!                                          CUT TO37   EXT GRASS VERGE BESIDE ELEVATED MOTORWAY RAIN NIGHT             37     LIZ lying still in scrub at the foot of the embankment- her     eyes slowly open ... her POV....the cloudy night sky.                                          CUT TO38   INT ROOM IN DERELICT HOUSE      NIGHT                           38     MEREDITH, ARCHIE, MAL & OLD MAN PEANUT chatting...                            ARCHIE                      (TO OMP)                  Nah!... That was Tommy Yardley, y'cunt                  ... the stouter of the two! - He couldn't                  drive!                            MAL                  Never stopped `im though, did it?!                             OMP                  Beard?                            ARCHIE                  That's 'im!                             OMP                  Poof?                            ARCHIE                  No!... Who you thinkin' of?                            MAL                  He's thinkin' of Faraday ... He's been                  dead years!                           MEREDITH                  Faraday was alright! He was a gentle                  giant...                            MAL                  He was only five foot four                            MEREDITH                  I fucked `im back in the seventies - I'm                  tellin' you - he was a gentle giant!                                                                                                 Pink Revised     21st May 2008              37.38   CONTINUED:                                                              38                            MAL                  Did ya? I never knew that.                            OMP                  Well we do now!                            MEREDITH                  Very shy man ... I liked him.                            OMP                  No ... it's not that cunt I'm thinkin'                  of. It was that other cunt... the cunt                  with the ears!... Pen and inked somethin'                  terrible!...                            MAL                  That's Dougie Clark ... the human stink-                  bomb!                             ARCHIE                  ... Fuckin' hell!... I remember once at                  this p arty. .. he 'd go t hol d of some                  bird... gone upstairs with her... next                  thing you know she come. crashin' out of                  the bedroom, run downstairs in her bra                  and knickers, screamin' blue murder that                  he'd put 'is armpit in her face!... his                  great, stinkin', hairy oxter right in her                  mooey! She's like that - (pulls an about                  to vomit face)!... And `im - 'Ol' Smelly'                  -- `s at the top of the stairs with 'is                  todger stickin' out of 'is trousers,                  laughin' his head off!                            OMP                  I've got a bone to pick with that cunt!                            MAL                      (Laughing)                  Yeah but you can't get near him though,                  can you!                            ARCHIE                  Not without a gas mask!                              MAL                  Ai n ' t h e h e a r d o f a b a t h ? ! . . . A n                  invention called a bath?.. 'Ere can you                  imagine under his foreskin?                            ARCHIE                  Cor, fuck me ... I think I'm gonna throw                  up!                                                                                                     Pink Revised   21st May 2008            38.38   CONTINUED: (2)                                                  38                         MAL               You would'nt want to go there for your               summer 'olidays, would'ya?! ... Imagine               that! Fuck me!     They all laugh ... The door opens ... COLIN comes in ...     speaking...                           COLIN                   (Uncomprehending)               It's not as though we didn't fuck... we               did!... Just last week!... Just last               Thu rs day !. .. Sh e wa nte d to !.. . Sh e               ins ti gat ed i t!. .. S he ca me !.. . Sh e               did!... In fact, I didn't!... But that               didn't matter... It wasn't about that...               it wa s a b ou t be in ' c lo se .. . ' bo ut               warmth... 'bout bein' a normal married               couple... why would she do this?... Flush               it all down the fuckin' toilet... why?                          OMP               Jezebel!                          COLIN               What a terrible waste!...What a waste of               time!. .. En ergy! ... Everyt hin' !. ..               What's it all mean?... Surely a marriage               is somethin'?!... I mean, what's it all               about? What is the fuckin' point! Twenny               one fuckin' years, good times and bad -               dow n th e fuc ki n' pl ug 'ol e! Up th e               fuckin' Swanee, eh?!!...          W e ' ad                 *               somet hin' goin' !... Soli d!... A               life! ...We wer e a f amil y! - The               Diamonds!.. What're they gonna say?...               What am I gonna tell `em?... What does               one tell the children? - This's gonna               affect their studies!...                         MAL               Where're they again?                         COLIN               Well, Colin J's doin' computer somethin'               at Car diff ... a nd Sa manth a's doin'               drawin' in Hull ... fuckin' `ell! Oh,               fuckin' `ell! - My poor babies! - Your               Mum's a whore!!... I can't bear this... I               can' t br eath e!.. . Ca n't fuck in'               breathe!... I'm serious...     He begins to tug at this collar...                         MAL               Colin, stop it!                                                                                                                                             39.38   CONTINUED: (3)                                                      38                         COLIN                   (Serious)               No, I can't ... I can't breathe ... I'm               not jokin'...                         ARCHIE               You're just panickin'!                         COLIN                   (Gasping)               'Elp me!!                           MAL               Stop it!                         ARCHIE               You'll be alright ... calm down!                         COLIN                   (Panicking)               Someone!                         ARCHIE                                               *               Deep breaths, mate...                                          *                         MAL                                                  *               Is he alright?                                                 *                        OMP               This is shameful! ... Get a grip you               cunt!                           COLIN               My l u n g s - t o o t ig h t ! . . . H e a r t s               burstin'... Please! -- Mercy! - 'Ave pity!               (gurgles)                           MAL                                                *               Colin!                                                         *                         MEREDITH                   (Quiet. Firm. Measured)               ... Colin...Colin ... Look at me... Look               at me ...     COLIN does.   Pop-eyed.                         MEREDITH (CONT'D)                   (Quiet. Firm. Measured)               ... That's, it ... That's it...                         ARCHIE               Talk `im down Meredith...     COLIN, calming, stares at MEREDITH...                                                                                                   Pink Revised   21st May 2008          40.38   CONTINUED: (4)                                                  38                         MEREDITH               You're alright, mate ... you're alright               ... That's it ... easy does it ... listen               to me ... you're alright ... Alright? -               You're alright ... Right - Now listen to               me ... You're a good man... Got that?     COLIN is staring at him. transfixed. like a snake in front of     a charmer.                         MEREDITH (CONT'D)               ... Never forget that ... Cling to that               ... You've done nothin' wrong ... You               listenin'? ... You've been wronged ...               You're in the right!... Remember that!...               Right... now there's characters in the               world - characters like that handsome               young macho boy ...     Indicates the wardrobe. COLIN looks at it. darkens ...     MEREDITH calms him                         MEREDITH (CONT'D)               ...Easy! - Who will come along to test               you and cause you to doubt yourself ...               to hate yourself ... to turn your life               upside down ... and its times like this               you find out who you are ... You                           *               listenin' to me? You hear this?     COLIN dumbly nods                         MEREDITH (CONT'D)               ...Listen to me... you don't disgust               me... You're not pathetic... you're not               weak - you're normal! - you're human -               and human's hurt!... Alright?                         ARCHIE               That's right!                         COLIN                   (Somewhat soothed)               'Ave you 'ad this, Meredith?                            MEREDITH               ...Me?... No... but I'm quite lucky...               because I'm different to you... I don't               share your emotions... I don't love like               you... like you do... Maybe I should...               but I don't!... I'm not a family man -               with me, sex is sex... no more... no               le s s . . . C o l d . H a rd . Dark... and               sweaty... Sudden. Excessive... When I've               shot my wad, I leave the room... I put my               coat on and I leave the room... No "thank               you's"...                            (MORE)                                                                                             Pink Revised     21st May 2008              41.38   CONTINUED: (5)                                                      38                           MEREDITH (CONT'D)               no "I really enjoyed that" - I leave the               room!... And I don't go back!... I can               aff or d t o do th at .. . I 'v e got t ha t               luxury... I'm charismatic... People are               drawn to me . (PA USE) Now m aybe it's               cowardly but I choose to live without               turmoil... without entanglements... All               that bores me! - With me it's the five Fs               - find 'em, follow 'em, finger 'em, fuck               'em and forget 'em!... But you, Colin,               you possess different qualities... that's               what makes you you... You're more caring               stroke sharing... Your capacity to love               lea ve s y ou v uln er ab le - bu t t ha t' s               admirable!... You care... and you should               be proud of that!                            COLIN               ... Proud?                         MEREDITH               Yes, proud, you should be proud.                            COLIN               Why?                         MEREDITH               'Cos that is what you should be!                           OMP               Pr o u d ! Y o u fu c k i n ' p i l c ha r d ! !               Proud!...'Ave a bit of pride!                         COLIN                   (Ignoring OMP)               What would you do Meredith?                         MEREDITH               'Bout what?                         COLIN               Everythin' ... my situation...                         MEREDITH               I'd prioritise...     Slowly MEREDITH turns to look at the wardrobe ... COLIN Does     likewise ... looks back to MEREDITH...                         MEREDITH (CONT'D)               If it was me he'd be dead already!                         COLIN               ... But if you were me?                         MEREDITH               Well, that's a big leap for me, Colin...                                                                                                 Pink Revised   21st May 2008          42.38   CONTINUED: (6)                                                38                         COLIN               Please ... try...                         MEREDITH               ... I'd toss a coin ... Heads I'd skin               him alive ... find her ... do the same...                         COLIN               ... And tails?     MEREDITH stares hard at COLIN ...                         MEREDITH               ... Well, that's the hard part, Colin ...     COLIN shrinks back with the realisation of what is being     implied... Scared...                         COLIN                   (Aghast)               ... Oh, I can't do that! ... I don't               think I could do that!... What let `im               go?!... How can I do that?'                         MEREDITH               Well let's hope it's heads then!...     COLIN dumbfounded can only stand and watch as...                         MEREDITH (CONT'D)               ... Who's got a coin?     ARCHIE begins to fish in his pocket...                         OMP                   (To Meredith)               You're a nasty bastard, aintcha!                         MEREDITH               Am I?                         ARCHIE               I've got a 2p!     COLIN finds himself holding the coin... He swallows ...     Closes his eyes as if in prayer ... Opens them ... Is about     to toss the coin...                         MEREDITH               Hold on, Col ... (TO MAL) A oner says its               heads!                         MAL               Yeah, alright, yer on!                         ARCHIE               I'll 'ave some of that!                                                                                          Pink Revised   21st May 2008              43.38   CONTINUED: (7)                                                   38                         MEREDITH               Anybody else? ... No? ... Alright... Go               on, Col!                         OMP                   (To Meredith)               Nasty bastard!     COLIN, gulping, looks at each of them in turn ... Looks at     the coin ... Swallows again-tosses it ... The coin spins     upwards- into the air ... Humungous C/U of the coin spinning     ... Music begins, CHILLS & FEVER by TOM JONES...                                     CROSS FADE TO.     Music continues. Huge C/U... S/M... The coin spinning...     The men watch the coin land on HEADS!                                     CROSS FADE TO.     The music continues...39   CUT                                                              3940   INT ROOM IN DERELICT HOUSE      NIGHT                            40     THE MUSIC CONTINUES...     We fade in on ... MAL in motion ... Pacing like a lion ...            *     Serious faced hard eyed ... Intent ... Focused on something     just off camera ... Studying it...     We see MEREDITH seated ... smokes ... Super sexy-slowly...            *     Focused on something just off camera ... Studying it...     PEANUT standing... Staring... super- slow... Caught mid-              *     expression... Mid horrible expression... Vicious denture     manoeuvres... Old man horrendousness ... Focused on something     just off camera ... Studying it...     And ARCHIE... dear old ARCHIE... Swigging from a bottle...            *     And focused on something just off camera... Studying it...     ... And COLIN... Poor COLIN... Seated... Staring down... Down     at the floor... The floorboards ... The music fades ...     Disappears... silence ... More silence...     And now we see the room...     The men as described and the object of their focus... Seated     on a small, wooden kitchen chair is a figure with a scruffy           *     old Tesco carrier bag over it's head... The wardrobe is     open... The figure is cowed. Broken. Beaten.                                                                                              Pink Revised     21st May 2008             44.40   CONTINUED:                                                             40     Scared ... The men are relaxed-all the time in the world ...     Eventually...                            MAL                      (Very quietly)                  Squeeze 'er tits, didya?     He draws relaxedly on his cigarette...                              ARCHIE                      (M e a s u re d l y ma s h i n g o u t a                       cigarette)                  'Ow was that?                            MAL                  Do the trick, did it?... Get her going?                             ARCHIE                  Ha n d u p t he sk i rt ? . . . I ns i de th e                  knickers? ... That's alright, innit?                              MAL                  Loverboy!                              ARCHIE                  Wanker                            MAL                  Get it out? ... Give it a rub?                            ARCHIE                  In the noddy? ... On the bed?                            MAL                  Spit `n' polish?                              ARCHIE                  I bet                            MAL                  Cop a feel?                            MEREDITH                  David Copperfield?                            MAL                  Nice 'n' wet was she?                            ARCHIE                  Do you like that?                            MAL                  You make me sick!                            ARCHIE                  I love you!                                                                                                     Pink Revised       21st May 2008                 45.40   CONTINUED: (2)                                                            40                         OMP               Use a banana?!                         ARCHIE               Blimey o'Reilly                            OMP               You cunt!                         MAL               Go on, what's your secret? ... Old Spice?                         ARCHIE               Splash it all over!                         MAL               Now you're talkin'!         L'il bit kinky?                         ARCHIE               Ha, ha, golden shower!                         MEREDITH               The erotic world of Jacques Cousteau.                            MAL               That's right!... Is that right? ... So,               what was it? ... Eyes meet across the               room?... Fireworks?... Crashin' waves?...               I think I love you?... Will you... marry               me ? . . . O h , d a r l i n' . . . F o r e v e r . . .               Bollocks!... Bum her did you?                            ARCHIE               Cor, dear!                         MAL               Karma Sutra? 69?                         ARCHIE               99? ... Flake?                         MAL               Lickety split?                         OMP               Lick it! Lick it!                         MAL               The ol' Vaseline?                         ARCHIE               Nice `n' easy!                            MAL               Playboy!                                                                                                         Pink Revised   21st May 2008        46.40   CONTINUED: (3)                                                40                            OMP               Arsehole!                            ARCHIE               Playmate!                            MAL               Cunt!                            ARCHIE               Fucker!                         OMP               Knee-trembler!                            MAL               Polaroids?                         OMP               Bombay roll?                         ARCHIE               That's handy!                         OMP               Pearl necklace?                         ARCHIE               That looks nice!                         OMP               Terrible thing to do!                         MEREDITH               Rock -'ard 'Udson                         ARCHIE               Upstairs, downstairs? Round the back?                            MEREDITH               Bullseye                         MAL               You're a bit of a boy, aintcha?... Bit of               a fucking boy?                            ARCHIE               Stud!                         MAL               That's 20th Century Casanova, sitting               there, in a plastic bag!                         ARCHIE               Certainly is!                                                                                          Pink Revised   21st May 2008           47.40   CONTINUED: (4)                                                40                         MAL               Right rascal!                         ARCHIE               Oh, you didn't use a candle, did ya? ...               Don't tell me that!                         MAL               He didn't, did he?                         OMP               Fuckin' did!                         MAL               'Uckin' `ell!                         ARCHIE               Not love-eggs?...That's awful                         MEREDITH               The man's a love machine!                         MAL                   (Angered)               She's a mother!!     He moves towards the seated figure...                         MAL (CONT'D)               That's somebody's mother, you idiot!!...               She's got children!     OLD MAN PEANUT joins MAL by the figure...                         OMP               She's a wife ... can't be off gobblin!     They are joined by ARCHIE...                         ARCHIE               Got a grievin' 'usband!     He indicates COLIN who remains seated.                         ARCHIE (CONT) (CONT'D)               ... That's him! Colin!                         MAL               You've ruined him!                         OMP               He's a husk!... Nothing left of him!                         MAL               He's shattered!... You've shat on him...               You shit!                                                                                            Pink Revised     21st May 2008              48.40   CONTINUED: (5)                                                       40                            OMP               That's his missus ... That was his missus               you diddled ... That was Liz! That was               hi s L i z ! . . . T h a t w a s h i s L i z y o u               fucked!... That's Mrs. Diamond!... Mrs.               Colin Diamond!... A married woman, you               berk!                           MAL               ...And you a fucking waiter!... A fucking               waiter!... frog waiter!... You cuntin'                          *               spunka!... You sorry fuck! You'll be               fuckin' sorry!... If you thought               yesterday was something... today's gonna               be somet hin' else!. .. Yes terday was               nothin' !... I 've be en hom e... h ad a               bath... had a kip... somethin' to eat...               watched a bit of telly ... I've got a               li f e! . .. Be e n t o t he pu b .. . h a d a               drink!... Had a laugh!... Had a dance!...               And you?.... You stink!.. Locked in a               wardrobe!... Chucked in like a puppet!...               Like an unwanted toy!... Sack o' shit!...               Where's that bottle opener?... where's that               corkscrew?... Got a knife?                         ARCHIE                   (Doing nothing)               'Ere it is!                         MAL                   (Doing nothing)               Ta!... I'm rollin' my sleeves up!... Say               your fuckin' prayers!     They watch as the figure twitches, winces, evades imagined     blows ... Eventually                         COLIN               I want to be alone with it     The men look at COLIN...                         MAL               Is that a good idea?     ARCHIE and MEREDITH look at each other...                         MEREDITH               ... Yeah, alright, Col... We'll leave you               alone for a bit ... why not?                           MAL               You sure?                         ARCHIE               If that's what he wants!                                                                                                 Pink Revised     21st May 2008         49.40   CONTINUED: (6)                                                40                         MEREDITH               We'll have a fag in the passage.     The men begin to leave ... OLD MAN PEANUT approaches COLIN...                         OMP               You dare get emotional... You dare get               emotional... Don't you dare... Leave that               out... You hear me?... You kill him quick               and you're a cunt! ... Got that?                         ARCHIE                   (From the door)               ... Peanut!                         OMP               Remember ... He's had your wife!... Nice               'n' slow, boy ... Nice `n' slow!     OLD MAN PEANUT leaves the room ... the door is closed ...     long pause ... eventually ...     He glances at the wardrobe                                         *     The door opens and ARCHIE pops his heap in...                      *                            ARCHIE               Everythin'     alright, Col?                         COLIN               Everythin' alright?!... This cunt's been               up my wife!!... (HE CALMS)... Yeah, I'm               alright, Arch!     ARCHIE goes, closing the door...                                      CUT TO41   INT HALLWAY, DERELICT HOUSE NIGHT                             41     Bare floorboards. Bare walls. Dim lighting. The colours grey,     brown, ochre, dirty cream, black,- Sombre... At the far end     is a dilapidated front door... To the right of rotting stairs     with broken, wooden banisters... MEREDITH sits smoking on top     of a knack ered upr ight pia no . .. O LD M AN P EANU T si ts     grouchily on the keys... MAL, partly hidden, sits smoking on     the stairs ... ARCHIE is gently closing the door to the main     room ... walking up the corridor towards the men/us...                         MAL                   (Casually)               'S he alright?                                                                                             Pink Revised     21st May 2008             50.41   CONTINUED:                                                            41                            ARCHIE                      (No sweatishly)                  Yeah, he's alright.                                          CUT TO42   INT ROOM IN DERELICT HOUSE        NIGHT                               42     COLIN and LOVERBOY as before...                            COLIN                  You didn't know she was married to people                  like me, didya? ... Or didya? - Maybe you                  did -- probably did - Maybe it made it                  more excitin' ... the risk element ...                  Yeah, I can see that! (PAUSE) ... You're                  thinkin', aren't you? ... Under that                  stupid bag ... thinkin' away ... I can                  hear it .. . Ca n hea r yo ur br ain                  whirrin'... let me 'ave a stab at what                  you're thinkin' apart from the obvious -                  Sweet Jesus, please help me!"... My guess                  is you 're thinkin' , 'Why am I still                  alive? These are honourable men I've done                  a bad thing - Why am I still alive?"...                  Is that right?.. Is it? ... Nod your                  fuckin' head if that's right!...     THE FIGURE, slowly nods                              COLIN (CONT) (CONT'D)                  ... Thank you... ... Alright - I'll tell                  you why you're still alive ... but this                  is just between you and me, mind ...                  Thing is, I've got a dilemma! Which is -                  and this is stupid, I know - I'm thinkin'                  that with you dead - which is what I want                  - don't get me wrong - I want you dead -                  I think you owe me that - I do! ... Coz                  that's what you've done to me - you've                  killed me - but see, with you dead ...                  She... Liz...Elizabeth. .. will hate me                       *                  forever - end of story... However ... on                  the other hand... 'f I let you live ...                  well ... maybe ... Me an' Liz ... we can                  ... who knows ... who fuckin' knows ...                  (PAUSE)... So that's the state of play...                     *                  That's where we're at! (PAUSE)... D'you                  know, I don't even know what you look                         *                  like!.. It's all been a blur to me...                  Last night I couldn't see anythin' what                  wi t h a l l t h e r a g e a n d t h a t - T h e                  disappointment - Come on then, let's `ave                     *                  a look at you...     Slowly COLIN goes towards the figure... Stands in front of     it... Stares at i t...                                                                                                                                                      51.42   CONTINUED:                                                             42     Suddenly his hands grab at the black plastic- he roughly     tears it open eventually revealing the bloody vest and pant-     ed body ... Now he slowly lifts the crumpled Tesco bag from     the head and we see the bowed, beaten face of LOVERBOY, early     30's ... Eventually...                            COLIN (CONT) (CONT'D)                  You know-you're not a bad looking boy!..                  Yeah, I can see the attraction!... Young                  ... fit ... well built ... sexy ... but                  if you don't mind my sayin' so - isn't it                  all a bit obvious? Bit of a clichÈ? ...                  (PAUSE) What was she doing? ... Silly cow                  ... What a stupid woman!...     COLIN slowly returns to his seat ... Uncaps the brandy ...     Pours some into the cap and drinks it...                              COLIN (CONT'D)                       (To Loverboy)                  You don't know the first thing about                  her! ... Bet she's never farted in                  front of you, has she! ... Has she?                  ... No! ... I thought not!... it's not                  romantic, is it? ... you just wanted                  the perfumed clouds of love! ... The                  magicalness of it all! ... All the                  false crap!...Well I've got news for                  you, s onny J im - t hat's not l ove!                  That' s in - erm - whatdyamacallit -                  fatuation ... tha t's wh at it is...                  that's not fuckin' love!... Y'dildo...                  Love's `ard work! `Ard graft! Love can                  be murder! It's putting her first- not                  you ... her! ... Watching what she                  wants to watch on telly ... taking her                  the papers and a cup of tea in bed on                  a Sunday morning ... And enquiring...                  as to how she might be feeling... "you                  alr ig ht, L iz ?.. . Pl ump in g up he r                  pillows... and she might get irritated                  by tha t... ' leave me in peace for                  God's sake! Constant attention!"...                  and that might hurt, hearing that ...                          *                  her saying that... but you've got to                  ta k e i t o n t he c hi n . H av e b r oa d                  shoulders. 'Cos she's the queen and                  you're the bee ... the Dad... and so                  wh a t i f y ou co o k t h e d in n er an d                  there's no thanks for it! Don't do it                  if you expect thanks for it! That's                  not w hy yo u do it ! ... E nj oy th e                  washing up-whistle while you work ...                  and if she shouts through for you to                  "shut up please stop whistling`---                  then shut up! Stop whistling! Doesn't                  co s t no t h i n g! . . .                              (MORE)                                                                                                                                                      52.42   CONTINUED: (2)                                                        42                            COLIN (CONT'D)               And, yes, you've ignored the dripping               tap or whatever for five years but one               day, for whatever reason, fuck knows               why, you get up off your fat arse and               you find yourself under the sink with               a span ner in your hand and yo u're               s     m     i    l    i     n   g            a               way like fuck...'Cos you know that its               gonna please her! ... And if she don't               notice it, she don't notice it. It               don't matter. It's plumbed It's fixed.               It counts. It's the maintenance of a               marria ge. Th e nuts and bolts. The               nitty gritty. The reality... That's               life. That's love. It ain't easy ...               Nobody ever said i t'd b e easy and               they're right! It's hard work.... But               love c an be lovely ... ( meanin gful               pause)... One day... you're shaving in               the bathroom mirror - with a soapy               face - and you 'll fee l h er               approaching... entering... she's come               in for a pair of tights drying on the               radiator... on the way out she pats               your bum and she'll give you a tiny               smile - almost not a smile - almost               invisible - but a smile nevertheless               and it'll mean the fucking world to                              *               you... The whole incredible world...               The f uck in g uni ve rs e! (p au se) .. .               Me?... I'm old fashioned ... I'm like               swans-one partner for life! ... And               now y ou co me al on g in yo ur ti gh t               tro use rs to sp oi l i t all ! You 'v e                         *               spoilt my life! Degraded me! Brought               me to me knees! Humiliated me!... You               ugly cunt ... your heart's ugly ...               selfish ... selfish, ugly, cunt !...               Love is give and take, mate ... give               and take... give... and... take... You               to o k. . . a nd I g i ve . .. I g iv e .. .               (STARES AT LOVER BOY LOSES IT BALLS               HIS FIST MENACINGLY) I give you such a               fucking punch in the mouth in a minute               ... (PAUSE) I wet the bed last night               ... coz of you ... cried myself to               sleep . .. Cr ied m yself to fuckin'                             *               sleep! ... Thanks to you! ... Look at               me... Look at me crying!... Look at               these tears! ... Fucking look at me!               You fucking look at me! ... Look at               me!... You fucking cunt !... I said               look at me!                                                                                                    Pink Revised     21st May 2008                 53.42   CONTINUED: (3)                                                          42     LOVERBOY gradually, painfully, lifts his bowed head ...     Slowly, very slowly, he turns ... And looks at COLIN ...     They look at each other...                                        CUT TO.43   EXT WEST PIER, BRIGHTON MISTY NIGHT 1954                                43     His face is blank. Heartless. Matter of fact. Grizzled.     Cold. His eyes dull. Black. Stony ... He is thick set... Bear-     like... He wears a scruffy tweed coat ... A flat working man's     cap a thick, battered gypsy belt-and he is busy bundling a     live cockerel into the Hessian sack before him ... In with     the snake ... In with the dog ... In with the man - the     beaten, terrified, whimpering man in the sack...the four     creatures in there together ... Pandemonium in the sack as he     ties it off ... Brutishly dragging the hellish parcel to the     edge of the pier-and lazily booting it into the dark sea     below .. . He tur ns now . .. His task com pleted . .. And     couldn't give a monkeys as he looks with zero compassion down     the barrel of the camera at us... He walks off, disappearing     into the foggy night ... This was BRIGHTON BILLY...                                        CUT TO.44   EXT UNDERWATER NIGHT                                                    44     In the gloomy dirty, silent water the tethered sack descends     ... Hellish movement inside...                                        CUT BACK TO45   INT HALLWAY, DERELICT HOUSE NIGHT                                       45     The men as before ... Eventually...                         MEREDITH               'Ow's yer Mum, Arch?                            ARCHIE                    (Modest. Fond)               Yeah, she's alright... fine... doin'               very well ... (SLIGHT PAUSE) `Ad a bit               of a scare last week, though ... She                               *               fell outa bed, middle of the night!               ... I didn't hear `er! ... Found 'er               in the mornin' sleepin' on the floor!               Frightened the life out, of me! - but               sh e ' s a l r i g h t . . . D o c ' s a y s i t               'appens...                         MAL               She's tough, your Mum ... she'll go on               forever!                                                                                                                                                  54.45   CONTINUED:                                                       45                            ARCHIE                      (Sweetly. Lovingly)                  ... Yeah ... she'll outlive me -- that's                  for sure!                            MEREDITH                  Give 'er my regards!                            ARCHIE                      (Gratefully)                  Yeah, I will ... I will ... course...     Silence- eventually...                            OMP                  D'you remember Samson?...Who remembers                  Samson?                            MAL                  'Ad a petshop on the Roman Road.                            OMP                  No! The Bible! ... A strongman!                             MEREDITH                  Victor Mature...                                         *                      (beat)                                               *                  ... Never fancied `im.                                   *                            OMP                  ... I'm talkin' about the real McCoy ..                  the actual bloke!                            MAL                      (To Peanut)                  What about 'im?                            MEREDITH                  Now Rod Taylor - that's different! - What                  a shag! Mamma Mia! -- Big fat back!                            OMP                      (Ignoring)                  This is a man who's got everything! ...                  Power. ' Influence. Upper body strength.                  Friends in 'igh places!                             MEREDITH                  And John Saxon! - Enter the drag - queen!                  -- Sex-ee!                            OMP                  He meets this bitch...                            MEREDITH                  Boyd'y! - Stephen Boyd! - Scrumptious!                                                                                                Pink Revised   21st May 2008            55.45   CONTINUED: (2)                                                    45                         OMP                   (Persevering)               ... Falls in love with the cunt...                           *                         MEREDITH               ... And Paul McCartney, strangely enough!                         OMP                   (Pestered)               ...He falls in love with the cunt...                         ARCHIE               ...'S Sir Paul now, innit?                         MEREDITH               Hedi Lamarr!                         OMP                   (irate)               Oh, please! Let me say what I'm sayin'!                         MEREDITH               But that's who it is. In the film - Hedi               Lamarr!                         O.M.P.                   (impatient)               In the film, yeah ...                                        *                           MEREDITH               Delilah                           OMP               Yeah, right hooer! ... He's got this               lovely long hair ... as was the style in               them days ... and its where he got `is               st r en g th fr o m . .. On e n i gh t s h e' s               dru gge d' im .. . p ut a po tio n in 'i s               drink...                                        CUT TO46   INT BED CHAMBER BC     NIGHT                                      46     C/U on a bejewelled, golden goblet of red wine on a marble     surface... Now a many braceleted beautiful arm and heavily     ringed hand of a woman comes into view... Powder is gently     poured into the goblet...                                        CUT BACK TO47   INT HALLWAY, DERELICT HOUSE NIGHT                                 47                         OMP               ... He's gone all woozy and he's conked               out on the marble floor...                         (MORE)                                                                                                 Pink Revised      21st May 2008           56.47   CONTINUED:                                                          47                            OMP (CONT'D)                  She's crept off like the rat she is and                  she's come back.. with a pair of scissors                  ... And she's give'im the full monty ...                  short back and sides!                                        CUT TO48   INT BED CHAMBER BC      NIGHT                                       48     We are C/U on the back of a head of extremely long hair,-the     same ringed hands wielding scissors, frenziedly hack and chop     in a flurry of hair barbarism!                                        CUT BACK TO49   INT HALLWAY, DERELICT HOUSE NIGHT                                   49                            OMP                  ... Next mornin' he's woke up ... gone                  into the bathroom for a wash ... Looked                  in the mirror ... seen the state of his                  barnet and he's flipped `is lid! ... He's                  hit the roof!...-He's gone apeshit!..                                        CUT TO50   INT OLD TESTAMENT BATHROOM      DAY                                 50     We see SAMSON... 6'5"... Hunky, handsome, beefcake... His     hair cut superman-style ... Going beserk! ... Smashing the     roo m up .. . Wa il ing .. . Sc rea mi ng .. . H ow li ng ... W it h     displeasure at his new style...                                        CUT BACK TO51   INT HALLWAY, DERELICT HOUSE           NIGHT                         51                            OMP                  ... H e's r each ed fo r hi s tru sty                  broadsword only to discover he can't pick                  it up - weighs a ton!! ... His strength                  was in his hair you see ... He can't even                  pick up his fuckin' toothbrush! ... From                  then on his life was terrible ... Fell                  apart!... They stabbed 'is eyes out ...                  blinded 'im! Stuck `im in a dungeon!...                  Bread and water!... Whipped! Lashed!                  Mornin', noon and night!...                                        CUT TO52   INT DUNGEON BC      NIGHT                                           52     SAMSON, chained up, sporting a pudding basin cut ... His bare     back being lashed by TWO BURLY, UNIFORMED SOLDIERS ... Crack!     Crack! Crack!.. Over this we hear...                                                                                                 Pink Revised   21st May 2008             57.52   CONTINUED:                                                         52                            OMP (VOICE)                  ... His life was a fuckin' misery!..     C/U on SAMSON'S agonised face as he's being whipped, his hair     something of a `bob'... Over this we hear...                            OMP (VOICE) (CONT'D)                  ... But all the while see, his hair's                  growin' back in!                                        JUMP CUT TO     C/U on SAMSON'S agonised face as he's being whipped, his hair     somewhat 'pageboy'... Over this we hear...                            OMP (VOICE) (CONT'D)                  ... He's gettin' stronger!                                        JUMP CUT TO     SAMSON. Long haired, chained up alone in the, dungeon ...     Presently the sound of the heavy door being unbolted ...     Slowly it eases open ... And there stands DELILAH, tears in     her eyes...                            OMP VOICE                  ... She comes to visit `'im ... Tries to                  make it up...     She throws herself on him ... Is all over him ... Smothering     him with kisses ... We see SAMSON'S harsh, hard, set face as     he's being kissed...                            OMP VOICE (CONT'D)                  But he don't want to know! - Well he sort                  of does ... but anyway...     Sud de nl y t he c ha ine d up S AMS ON s pu rns t he r epe nt an t     DELILAH... He lashes out with his sandaled, foot ... And     boots her across the room ... She lands like a sack of     potatoes against the wall...                                        CUT BACK TO53   INT HALLWAY, DERELICT HOUSE        NIGHT                           53                            OMP                  ... Now by this stage his hair's down                  'ere... (INDICATES ON HIMSELF) ... And                  his might's comin' back - Slowly but                  surely!... Comes the day of the big party                  in the temple and he's well up for it!                  Can't wait! Bent on vengeance!... But                  he's got fuck all on `im - no weapons -                  no nothin' - No matter!...                                        CUT TO                         Pink Revised      21st May 2008               58.54   INT TEMPLE PARTY BC NIGHT                                              54     MUSIC 'CANNED HEAT' BY JAMIROQUAI...     Lavish, debauched frivolities- PHILISTINES, MACEDONIANS,     PERSIANS ETC having a ball...to one side of the dance floor     we see the forlorn figure of SAMSON...                         OMP VOICE               He's chained up between these two columns               ... Great thick pillars ... And all the               guests are taunting 'im ... slaggin' 'im               off...     We see this ... Liberties being taken with poor SAMSON ...     Women teasing him ... Dwarfs kicking -him ... A camp chap in     a robe lifting SAMSON'S tunic to reveal his undergarments-     SAMSON, somewhat mincily, twists and writhes, squirms, in a     vain attempt to protect his modesty ... But it is hopeless     ... The tau nter s s quea l w ith del ight at his pa thet ic     plight... .                          OMP VOICE (CONT'D)               ... Callin' 'im this and that ... every               name under the sun and he thinks - right -               fuck you lot, 'ave some of this...     SAMSON, incensed, begins to push mightily against the pillars     -his face a mask of crazed revenge                                         CUT BACK TO.55   INT HALLWAY DERELICT HOUSE      NIGHT                                  55     OLD MAN PEANUT is determinedly pushing against the walls of     the hallway ... The others, slightly bored, vaguely amused,     watch him...                            OMP                    (Pushing the walls)               ... And with 'is bare hands...'is simple,               big, bare fuckin' hands - he's pushed and               he's pushed... pushed and pushed -'uffin'               an' puffin' 'eavin' an 'oin'... until the               ve r y f o u n d a t i o n s o f t h e h o u s e o f               debauchery start to crack - to yield...               to crumble... and I'm tellin' ya, they               built things proper in them days. Built               to last - this was no mean feat...And               with one mammoth shove ... One terrible               thrust... He's brought the whole kaboodle               crashin' to the ground!... He's killed               the whole fuckin' tot of 'em!!                                         CUT TO                            Pink Revised   21st May 2008                 59.56   INT TEMPLE DEVASTATED NIGHT                                              56     Chaos... Panic stricken party-goers fleeing in terror...     Rushing towards and past the camera... Behind them the temple     in ruins ... People crushed ... Limbs sticking out of the     rubble...                                          CUT BACK TO57   INT HALLWAY, DERELICT HOUSE NIGHT                                        57                          ARCHIE                And 'imself!                          OMP                And 'imself! ... He didn't give a fuck                about 'imself by this point! ... And all                because....     MUSIC begins "THIS & THAT" by TOM JONES...                                          CUT TO58   INT ROOM DERELICT HOUSE NIGHT                                            58     MUSIC CONTINUES-...     LOVERBOY is as before ... We see the back of COLIN as he     leans on the mantelpiece ... Deep in thought...                          OMP VOICE                ... And all because?...                                          CROSS FADE TO59   EXT DESERTED STREETS/ALLEYWAY RAIN            NIGHT                      59     THE MUSIC CONTINUES...     The streets deserted.....    Bleak.... Drizzly....    Foreboding                                          CROSS FADE TO...60   INT ROOM IN DERELICT HOUSE       NIGHT                                   60     THE MUSIC CONTINUES...     COLIN sits in front of LOVERBOY... staring intently at him...                          OMP VOICE                ... And all because?...                                          CROSS FADE TO...61   EXT DESERTED STREETS/ALLEYWAYS RAIN           NIGHT                      61     THE MUSIC CONTINUES...                                                                                                       Pink Revised   21st May 2008            60.61   CONTINUED:                                                         61     The stre ets seem ingl y de sert ed... . B leak .... Driz zly... .     Foreboding.... We become aware of the gentle clicking of high     heel shoes...                                         CROSS FADE TO...62   INT ROOM IN DERELICT HOUSE          NIGHT                          62     THE MUSIC CONTINUES-     COLIN stands directly behind LOVERBOY ... staring down     murderously at him...                            OMP VOICE                  ... And all because?...     COLIN slowly lifts his head ... and stares down the barrel of     the camera...                                         CUT TO63   INT HALLWAY, DERELICT HOUSE NIGHT                                  63     C/U on OLD MAN PEANUT...                            OMP                  ... of a woman!     THE MUSIC STOPS.                                         CUT TO.64   INT ROOM IN DERELICT HOUSE      NIGHT                              64     COLIN staring darkly at LOVERBOY...                              COLIN                  ...(QUIETLY)... I was up at the window... the                  broken window... I called to her ... She                   *                  couldn't have heard me... couldn't have                  heard me... I went fuckin' bananas ...                  ballistic ... went fuckin' spare ... You                  ain't seen nothin' like this ... like                  what I did ... I 'was possessed ... I                  smashed my home up! With my bare hands I                  smashed my home to pieces!'... BANG!                  Elbowed the telly!... BANG!... There goes                  the coffee table!... BANG!...That's the                  stereo fucked!... BANG!., Gonna need a                  new settee now!... And carpets!... And                  it's BANG this and its BANG that! BANG!                  BANG! BANG! - Like Sonny and fuckin'                  Cher!... I almost killed the family dog! -                  You almost killed the family dog! D'You                    *                  accept that you've spunked all over my                  marriage? (LOVERBOY SLIGHTLY NODS) ...                              (MORE)                                                                                                     Pink Revised   21st May 2008        61.64    CONTINUED:                                                      64                             COLIN (CONT'D)                   Note that the prisoner has nodded his                   head ... How do you plead? ... Exactly!                   As sin!... Before sentence is passed, do                   you have anythin' to say for yourself? No                   you don't! Take him away... come'ere!...                   I'm gonna strangle your eyeballs out!                   Gonna embed your 'ead in that wall!...      He lunges towards LOVERBOY ... murderously, his hands about      to strangle...      SUDDENLY...                               LIZ'S VOICE                         (From outside. Distant)                   No!      COLIN freezes in his tracks, shocked at what he has heard...      What he thinks he has heard... Backs away from LOVERBOY...      Gathers himself... Makes his way gingerly to the filthy      window... Tries to clear the accumulated grime with the palm      of his hand... Eventually can just about see through onto the      street... All seems quiet, deserted... But no... He catches a      glimpse, a blur, of red -- A figure? ... Disappears...      Colin shocked... backing away from the window slightly... Then      edging closer again... Peering through ... Seeing ... 30 yds      away, standing stock still, staring back at him... LIZ... She      is glamorous ... A slinky red cocktail dress... High heels...      No bag... No coat... Un-bloody, un-marked, un-scathed... Full      make up... A fantastic face... A fantastic face...staring      back at him...                             COLIN                       (Shell-shocked)                   ... Liz!      She turns ... Walks into the dark ... And is gone... COLIN      desperate, can't see properly, smashes the filthy pane of      glass with his elbow... Suddenly legs appear at the window...      Striding silently past ... But they are giant- she must be      50ft tall... And now they are gone ...64A   INT ROOM IN DERELICT HOUSE                                      64A   *      COLIN turns back into the room now populated with OMP ,               *      MEREDITH, MAL and ARCHIE. COLIN stands strong... As strong as         *      he can ... Braced ... Holding his head high - as high as he      can ... Expectant ... Looking towards the door ... As it      slowly begins to open ... LIZ enters...                               *                             MAL                   She's got some fuckin' balls, I'll tell                   ya... she has got some fuckin' balls!      And now she appears ... In the doorway ... And COLIN is      looking at her ... At LIZ... The men have taken their seats      ... Interested ... Very interested...                                                                                                 Pink Revised   21st May 2008          62.64A   CONTINUED:                                                   64A                             OMP                   I knew she'd show her Jezebel face!                              MAL                        (To Loverboy)                   'Ere, Romeo, things are lookin' up ...                   the cavalry's arrived!... Can't you smell                   it?!      COLIN is looking at her ... But her loveliness is sapping his      strength ... He can't take it ... He can't take the beauty...      He crumples into a nearby armchair ... His face averted from      all ... Eventually                              LIZ                       (Look ing a t Lov erbo y. So tto                        voce)                   ... Bastards...                             MAL                   What's that, slag?                             ARCHIE                   Now that's something I don't like - A                   woman swearin'... Its unbecomin'!                             OMP                   She wants her fucking mouth washed out                   with soap, she does!                             MAL                   Jokin', mate ... she'd fuckin' love that!                             LIZ                   You all must be very proud of yourselves.                             OMP                   Not yet we ain't but we're gettin' there!                             LIZ                   What have you done to him?                              ARCHIE                   It's a ll se lf in flict ed... all self                   inflicted.                             OMP                   He's a masherkist!                              MEREDITH                   A what?!                             OMP                   A masherkist!... You must know what a                   masherkist is! Don't you know what a                   masherkist is? - A masherkist!                                                                                               Pink Revised     21st May 2008              63.64A   CONTINUED: (2)                                                   64A                          MEREDITH                    (Laughing ... Can't bear it)                Don't say that word anymore ... please!                          LIZ                    (Takes out a cigarette)                ... Mal, have you got a light?                          MAL                What? Yeah...      MAL goes to LIZ ... Lights her cigarette ... She touches      his hand gently as he does so... MAL looks at her ... She      looks at him...                          OMP                    (To Mal)                What you doin?                          MAL                    (Dumbly)                Giving her a light...                          OMP                Well just give her it, then! Doesn't `ave                to be all that!      MAL hesitates ... Returns to his seat ... Eventually...                          LIZ                Thanks, Mal.      LONG PAUSE...                           MEREDITH                'Ere Liz...'ere's a funny thing ... Last                week, right, I went to get a new pair of                shoes ... down Bond Street ... So I've                popped into this shop and I've said I                want that pair - those in the window - in                a ten... So he's brought'em to me and I                tr i es 'e m o n .. . b e au t if u l. . . l ik e                slippers... bit loud for this lot but me                to a 'T'... I'll 'ave 'em... Ow much?...                Four 'undred and forty four pounds!... So                I'm counting out the money and I can feel                the assistant standing too close - like                here - like his head's by my chin ... So                I've eased him back a tad and I says, 'ow                much were these again? ... and he's told                me ... repeated it ... Four 'undred and                forty-four pounds ... Tell you what, I                say s. .. I' ll g iv e y ou f iv e 'un dr ed                for'em... I'll get the box, he says ...                but I've called him back ...                           (MORE)                                                                                                  Pink Revised   21st May 2008             64.64A   CONTINUED: (3)                                               64A                          MEREDITH (CONT'D)                Never mind the box, I says, stick `em in                a paper bag!... Right you are, sir, he                says ... and toddles off.                          LIZ                I know you hate me.                          MEREDITH                Lovely shoes! ... Hate you? ... No-one's                hating ... not in this room ... So shut                your fucking mouth!                          ARCHIE                    (Pointing to Meredith's feet)                Is that them?                          MEREDITH                    (Eyes on Liz)                ... No... these are boots ... this was                shoes ... Would you like something to                drink, Liz? ... (he walks over to her                with his whiskey bottle) ... Sorry we                ain't got a glass ... D'you mind the                bottle?                          OMP                Up yer arse!                          MEREDITH                    (Tuts. Waves his finger at Old                       *                     Man Peanut)                Peanut!... (To LIZ) ... Apologies for                that ... That was uncalled for ... Do                you forgive 'im?                          LIZ                I didn't hear him.                          MEREDITH                ... I said sorry we ain't got a glass ...                D'you mind the bottle? And he said, `Up                your arse!"... D'you forgive 'im?      LIZ ignores- reaches for the whiskey bottle ... Takes a swig      ... Hands it back... MEREDITH returns to his seat...                          ARCHIE                Why'd you give' im five 'undred for 'em?                          MEREDITH                You wouldn't understand.                          ARCHIE                No I don't!                          OMP                He was bein' flash!                                                                                              Pink Revised   21st May 2008          65.64A   CONTINUED: (4)                                            64A                         OMP (CONT'D)                                 *                Is it true?... Is it? ... Is it true,                Liz?                          LIZ                Is what true?                          OMP                Is it true you're expectin?                          MAL                    (Surprised)                Is she?!                          OMP                    (Relishing the thought)                Could be!... Could be, Col!... (COLIN                IS LISTENING. ALARMED. ALL EARS) ...                Eh? ... A little one . .. a l ittle                bastard!...                          LIZ                    (Dismissively)                Oh, shut up ... you idiot!      COLIN looks at her, weighing it up, unsure...                          OMP                Coz if it's true ... if it is true ...                *                you're comin' round my house ... get in                the back room ... bottle of gin ... in                the tin bath ... and my Agnes'll take                care of it - with a coat hanger!... Then                that'll be ta ken ca re of and we can                forget all about this slack behaviour of                yours...                          MEREDITH                It's not exactly BUPA, is it?!                          OMP                    (To Meredith)                It's the way it's done! It's what you                do!... To amend!                          MAL                Nah ... you're just gettin' your rocks                off! - He's just gettin' 'is rocks off,                Colin!                          OMP                If she were mine I'd stone 'er!                          LIZ                                         *                Like you've been stoning Agnes for years?                                                                                                                                       66.64A   CONTINUED: (5)                                              64A                          OMP                You what?... What did you say?... You're                wrong!... Fucking fornicator!... -She's                loyal to me... Faithful and true! ...                          LIZ                She's just scared...                            OMP                You bitch!... Bad-mouthing me!... You!...                Its outrageous!... Knock some sense into                her , C ol in! .. . B eat i t o ut of h er!                You're in trouble you cunt and you know                it! .. . You hear me? ... W hore! ...                Colin, if you're not gonna do something                about this ... I'll do something!                          LIZ                Like what? Piss your pants?                          OMP                'Ow dare you!...'Ow dare you!... I'll                mark your face forever!... I'll knock                your fuckin' teeth out (as he says this                his dentures slip out of his mouth. his                jaw grapples to re-grip them)      LIZ laughs at his plight...                          LIZ                Come on then...                          OMP                    (Flustered)                Colin!                          LIZ                What are you waiting for?      OLD MAN PEANUT, furious, rises...                          ARCHIE                Don't rise to it, Pop!                           OMP                     (Sitting)                ...Yeah, you're right! ... Why give                her the satisfaction?! ... I wouldn't                gi ve h e r th e p ic ki n gs o f f my                handkerchief! ... (TO LIZ) In time ...                In time lady ... All in good time ...                I'm gonna enjoy watching you squeal                lik e th e sow y ou a re! .. . An d yer                little piglet!                          LIZ                Oh, grow up!                                                                                               Pink Revised   21st May 2008           67.64A   CONTINUED: (6)                                               64A                           MAL                     (Indicating Loverboy)                He ' s n ot sa y in ' m uc h , i s h e, To m                Cruise?!                           ARCHIE                He's keepin' his head down...'Opin it'll                go away...                          OMP                Well, it won't!... Whoremonger!                          MAL                    (To Loverboy)                Oi, fi shface ... S he's lookin ' at                you!... Now she's lookin' at me! ...                Now she's lookin' at you again!... (TO                THE MEN) ... Did you see that? How she                went f rom lo ve to hate in a s plit                second?                             OMP                Typical!                          MAL                    (To Loverboy)                Come on then! ... Give her a look! ... A                look of love! ... Oi, buggerlugs, you                listenin?...Am I talkin' to myself 'ere?!                Fuckin' look at 'er! ... Look at `er, you                worthless'cowson!                             OMP                Adulterer!                          ARCHIE                Look at 'er!                             MAL                Cunt!!                             LIZ                Stop it!                          MAL                Shut up!... (TO LOVERBOY) Look at `er!      Slowly, painfull y, LOVER BOY lif ts his h ead to l ook at      LIZ...they stare into each other's eyes...                          ARCHIE                    (Falsely moved)                Aahh!                          MAL                ... By the way... Do you still love her?                                                                                              Pink Revised   21st May 2008          68.64A   CONTINUED: (7)                                            64A      Slowly LOVERBOY looks away from LIZ...                          MAL (CONT'D)                There's your answer!... I think we can                take that as a 'No'!... Well we've learnt                something ... Fear is stronger than love!                          ARCHIE                I knew that!... Everyone knows that!...                          MEREDITH                    (Staring at Colin)                ... Do they?...      LIZ is staring at LOVERBOY... COLIN watching her every move      like a hawk....she rises from her chair ... Goes to LOVERBOY      ... Kneels beside him ... Gently turns his face to look at      her ... She smiles at him with great tenderness - COLIN,      heartbroken, watches ... LIZ kneeling beside LOVERBOY...      Tenderly stroking his face ... The men chatter quietly      feeling for COLIN...                          MAL                    (Sotto voce)                Should he be seein' that?                          MEREDITH                    (Sotto Voce)                Can't be favourite!                          OMP                    (quietish)                They may as well be fuckin' doin' it in                front of 'im!                          ARCHIE                    (Sympathetically sotto voce)                That's gotta smart!                          MAL                    (Sotto voce)                You do not wanna see your wife tendin' to                another man in that way! - That's 'usband                only stuff!.                          MEREDITH                'S quite beautiful, really...                           OMP                What you on about?! 'S ugly! 'S `ideous! -                it's pornogrographic!                          MEREDITH                ...'S like a paintin'...'Loverboy bein'                tended to by 'is Liz ... (ARCHIE and MAL                suppressing laughter) ... with spare                prick Colin lookin' on'! ...                          (MORE)                                                                                             Pink Revised   21st May 2008        69.64A   CONTINUED: (8)                                             64A                          MEREDITH (CONT'D)                (giggling schoolboys) ... Oil on canvas!                ... I might paint that when I get home                ... give it to Archie's mum on Pancake                Day...                          MAL                    (Wetting himself)                Shutup!!                          ARCHIE                    (Wiping away a laughter tear)                Poor bastard!                          MAL                    (Sobering)                ... You alright Col?      Now COLIN turns from the Pieta ... Towards the men...                          COLIN                    (to MAL)                ... Yeah, I'm alright, Archie!                             MAL                What?                          ARCHIE                I'm Archie!                             MAL                I'm Mal!                          COLIN                I'm not Colin!                          MEREDITH                That's interestin'!                             OMP                       (Confused)                Eh!                             COLIN                He's gone.                          ARCHIE                Gone? ... Where? ... Where you gone, son?                          COLIN                There is no Colin... No such man... No                such person... Not anymore... There was a                man called Colin... He looked like me...                But not anymore ... (pause) His boots                were covered in icing...                             OMP                Eh!                                                                                                                                              70.64A   CONTINUED: (9)                                                    64A                          COLIN                                               *                ... Little mornin' suit...                                    *                          MEREDITH                                            *                    (Cheerily tipping an invisible                            *                     hat)                Mornin'!                          COLIN                ... Little gentleman... (goes over to                LIZ...) You remember Colin, don't you?...                Course you do!.. No?... He had a big                heart!... Don't you remember? 'Ave you                forgot ? - h is ki ndnes s... His s weet                nature ... C ouldn 't do enou gh, c ould                he?... Family man... Proud... His kids...                Home... His wife... How he used to make                her laugh... Spoil her... Dote on her...                Different treats... Ah, well!... Do you                know what happened to him? - I do!...                Yeah!... He was murdered! Yeah!, In his                kitchen - that's right!... in his own                fuckin' kitchen!... Had his fuckin' heart                ripped out ... standin' by the fridge...                Should've seen his face - Stupid! Looked                like a cunt !... He did!... You would've                laughed!                          ARCHIE                    (Straight)                No one's callin' you a cunt, Col.                              COLIN                      (To Liz ... indicating                       Loverboy)                ... He met Colin! ... Didn't you? ...                Last night ... Do you remember? ... He                wasn't very nice to you was he?! ...                No he wasn't! (DIRECTLY TO LIZ) Didn't                k n o w w h a t f u c k i n ' h i t h im ! He                remembers Colin, alright! ... The man                Colin!...                          MAL                Yeah, he fucked 'is fuckin' wife, didn't                he?! Fucked 'is fuckin' wife!                          LIZ                    (Rises takes out a cigarette)                What and you wouldn't?      MAL is stunned ... LIZ sits by OLD MAN PEANUT ... who without      thinking, lights her cigarette...                          MAL                What did you say? What did she say?...                                                                                                    Pink Revised     21st May 2008             71.64A   CONTINUED: (10)                                                 64A                          LIZ                I said that given half a chance you'd try                to fuck me.      All eyes on MAL...                          MAL                    (Defensively)                Not now I wouldn't!                          COLIN                    (Studying him)                Well when, then?                            MAL                Never! Fuck off! - What is this?! ...                (a l l e ye s o n M A L) Fu c k' s s a ke ! .. .                What?. .. Wh at th e fuc k is this? !...                Don't! ... Don't do this, Col... this                ain't right! ... What you tryin' to do -                put me in the fuckin' wardrobe?! ...                Wel l, I' m no t goi n' in th e fuc ki n'                war dr obe !. .. I re fu se to g o i n th e                fuckin' wardrobe !.. Alright?!... Fuckin'                make me out to be a... to be a...                          COLIN                To be a what?                          MAL                Look she's a good lookin' woman - she's                beautiful - she's sexy - she's horny -                fuckin' Meredith said as much - You'd                have to be blind not to notice - deaf and                dumb - but if you're expectin' me to deny                that ... I'm not gonna! ... But one thing                I am fuckin' not ... one thing I am most                definitely not - is -                            LIZ                - A liar.                          MAL                That's fuckin' right! Fuckin' right!...                Look, Colin, you've obviously got a bee                in your bonnet about somethin' but all I                did was give her a light!                          COLIN                I've told you ... I'm not Colin                          MAL                    (Irate)                    Yeah? Well I'm not fuckin' Liz!                     - He is! (Points to LOVERBOY)                                                                                                                                                 72.64A   CONTINUED: (11)                                                 64A      COLIN looks to LOVERBOY ... looks back to MAL ... stares at           *      him ... eventually lets it go ... looks at the men... looks           *      at LIZ, who sits smoking ... looks to LOVERBOY...                     *                                       CUT TO65    INT ROOM IN DERELICT HOUSE        NIGHT                          65      COLIN and LOVERBOY alone ... COLIN studying him...                             COLIN                You 'r e m or e 'an dso me tha n m e. Mor e                virile. Younger. Probably more sexually                experienced ... patient, considerate,                tender, sensitive, kind, thoughtful,                sh a r i ng , g i vi n g , in t e l l ig e n t ,                passionate... D'you want me to go on? ...                Bet you get her goin' ... take her there                ... talk to her, listen to her, hear her -                yo u h ea r h e r! . . . Y o u l au g h -                together!... God you're manly! Fuckin'                manly! ... What a man ! "Go d's g ift!                You're everythin a woman could want... I                can just see your wardrobe! - Everythin'                colour co-ordinated! Whatever you pick                out to wear ... whatever combination - it                works! - You look superb! ... And your                underw ear - immac ulate ! 100 % cot ton!                Dazzlin'!... Not like my pinky grey-y                things! Nah, you've just got it - good at                everythin'! ... Me - on the other hand -                I'm good at sittin'!... Sit, sit, sit...                watch, watch, watch ... drink, drink,                drink... Honestly, she must've spent                        *                half our marriage yawnin "... The kids --                d'you know what they call me? - Captain                Arsehole! - Oh, but they do! Captain                Arsehole! - They were thinkin' of gettin'                T-shirts printed up for the whole family                with my photo on them and the legend                "Captain Arsehole" printed underneath!...                And you know what? - I'd ave worn one! -                I would've! If it'd've pleased them -                given 'em a laugh - I'd a worn one! ...                Wouldn't I, Liz?      He turns-but the room is empty ... Just him and LOVERBOY ...      COLIN realises he's been seen talking to himself ... Turns on      LOVERBOY...                           COLIN (CONT'D)                What you starin' at?!... French Cunt!...                    *                Sittin' there all superior... Shut your                mouth - shut your noise... (pause) Shut                your eyes!... Shut your fuckin' eyes!...                (LOV ERB OY do es so ... CO LI N g ra bs a                chair... sits facing LOVERBOY)...                           (MORE)                                                                                               Pink Revised   21st May 2008             73.65   CONTINUED:                                                         65                            COLIN (CONT'D)                  Right - you're comin' with me!... (pause,                  stares hard at terrified LOVERBOY ) ...                  This is it... here we are... The Master                  bedroom, look...                                        CUT TO66   INT MASTER BEDROOM DETACHED SUBURBAN VILLA DAY                     66     We enter the bedroom just behind COLIN ... He looks over his     shoulder ... Talks/refers directly to camera/LOVERBOY ...                              COLIN                  ...recently painted... That's the bed...                  see the tangled sheets?!... (indicates a                  door. Opens it.)... Bathroom! - en suite                  look ... gold taps! - but never mind                  that... ignore all that... that's not why                  you're in `ere... It's that - that look -                  this - this look - this 'ere... (he has                  moved to a chest of drawers)... this                  chest of drawers... Inside here, mate, is                  tre as ure .. . (ca re ss es th e che st o f                  drawers). Treasure like you wouldn't                  fuckin' believe! - Should we have a look                  inside it?... Shall we?...We fuckin'                  shall!... (slowly opens a drawer)... What                  we got 'ere? 'S her underwear, look ...                  all s oft a n' wa rm .. . a n' p ret ty .. .                  (slowly turns to us. Stares darkly. Turns                  away. Shuts the drawer)... Shut that...                  'Ow a bou t th is on e? (o pe ns an ot he r                  drawer ) My socks and pants ! (cl oses                  it)... What about this one? This could be                  interestin'... (slowly opens another                  drawer. His face lights up). Bingo! (He                  extracts an old document. holds it up for                  us to see) ... See this? See it? D'you                  know what this is? No?... I'll tell ya                  what this is - 's the contract!...'s the                  marriage contract! (stares smugly)...                  Lets see what it says, shall we? (READS)                  'Mr and Mrs Colin Diamond!'... It's there                  in black and white. Plain as the broken                  nose on your face...'Married'! 'By law!                  'Before God'!... There's no gettin' round                  that!... We must accept that!... So...                  this piece of paper's gonna be a bit                  trick y... yeah, diff icult ... hmm ...                  (MUSES) Tell ya what, lets lay it aside                  for a bit... (puts it back)...'Allo ,                  what's this? (takes out a photograph) 'S                  a p ho to! T ha t's u s on ou r wed di ng '                  day!... Don't laugh at-the suit ... pony                  'aircut!.. (stares at it intently) But                  didn't she look lovely!....What else we                  got in 'ere? (rummages) The stuff you                  keep!...'Ere's 'er garter, look!                              (MORE)                                                                                                    Pink Revised      21st May 2008               74.66   CONTINUED:                                                                66                              COLIN (CONT'D)                  (shows it to us) ... Blue, of course!...                  Wha t' s i n th is bo x? (o pe ns a sm al l                  box)... Oh, it's cake! Bit of cake! Still                  all right. . still moist - you could eat                  that!... (looks at it intently... then                  returns it to the drawer. Now his eye                  catches something inside and slowly he                  reaches in ... gently extracts a fancy,                  pearl handled, gleaming, 12" knife.)                  'Ere's the knife we cut it with!... (he -                  confronts us. Holding it staring at us                  darkly. Murderously ... Eventually...)                  ... Best put this away, eh?. '. (slides                  the knife back into the drawer. Finds                  something else ... Something 2 inches                  tall. His face fills with wonder)...                  Ere's a little man, look ... off the top                  of the cake! Ain't he 'andsome! (looks                  closely at it)... In 'is little mornin'                  suit ... aahh!! - Top hat - spats 'n'                  al l ! . . . I t s m e ! ! . . . ( S u d d e n l y ,                  violently, he thrusts the 2 inch groom                  towards us/camera. Holding. It. Shaking                  with rage) ... You've made me feel that                  sm a ll ! !! (p u ll s h i ms e lf to g et h er .                  Retracts the figure) ... He's goin' back                  in the drawer! (QUICKLY RETURNS IT) ...                  Safe! ... Away from you!!...                                            CUT BACK TO                                                               75-78.67   INT ROOM IN DERELICT HOUSE          NIGHT                     67     LOVERBOY with his eyes shut ... COLIN, upset, opposite...                         COLIN               Away from you!! ... (TURNING to THE               ROOM) Away from him!!     He turns...and we now see the others back in the room ...     But... LIZ's head is on MEREDITH'S body she smokes ...     MEREDITH'S head is on ARCHIE'S body he leans on the     mantelpiece ... ARCHIE'S head is on MAL's body standing ...     MAL's head is OLD MAN PEANUT's body sitting...     C/U on COLIN'S face ... He can't believe it ... Addresses     the MEREDITH/LIZ person                         COLIN (CONT'D)                   (Perplexed)               What's 'appenin', Meredith?     But this figure does not reply ... The response comes from     the LIZ/MEREDITH combo...                         LIZ/MEREDITH                   (But with Old Man Peanut's                    voice)               Oh, I'm not Meredith!                         OMP                   (but with ARCHIE,s gruff                    voice)               Oh, gawd! !     COLIN confused ... Fascinated ... Scared ... Especially by     the relaxed, cross legged, smoking, sexy-bodied, feminine     form disturbingly topped with the nasty old head of OLD MAN     PEANUT ... it speaks...                         OMP/LIZ                   (but with MEREDITH'S smooth                    voice)               ... My name is Max.                         COLIN               - No - Sacha! ...                                                          CUT TO68   EXT ELEGANT STATELY HOME      DAY                             68     We take in the splendor of a grand old stately house...Over     this we hear...                                                                                           Pink Revised   21st May 2008           78A.68   CONTINUED:                                                       68                            MEREDITH V/O                  Sacha is it...Alright...Sacha it                  is...It's your nightmare, Col...I'm                  only the chauffeur...     We now see MEREDITH.... Immaculate in a dove grey     chauffeur's uniform - below the window ... On the     impressive gravel drive ... Tending to an orange coloured     Bentley... Over this we hear...                            MEREDITH VO                  Liz hates me ... She's a lady ... Rich                  bitch ... Fuck all to do 'cept shop                  and wank... Bored out of her box...                  She's at the window ... looking out                  ... looking down...     We see the upper regency window ... Behind it, staring     through, looking down, is LIZ ... Wearing electric pink     jodhpurs ... Leaf-green, silk, blouse and stock ... Riding     boots ... Her face spectacularly made up - severe.... Over     this we hear...                            MEREDITH VO (CONT'D)                  I'm in the drive, waxing the                  Bentley... I can feel her eyes... on                  me... scorching through my dove-grey                  uniform... but I'll be damned if I'm                  gonna look at her... I know she's                  crying... and I can feel her                  loneliness ... emptiness... longing...                  So I'm buffin' away with my cloth...                  my little chamois - leather!...     MEREDITH stops waxing ... LIZ at the window staring down...     he does not look at her...                             MEREDITH VO (CONT'D)                  ... Think I'll `ave a fag... One                  deserve one ... Its hard work rubbing                  a car down... I smoke - What do I                  smoke Col?                                               *                            COLIN (V.O.)                  Sovereigns!                                              *     He takes out a pack of cigarettes- studies the box with     mild disapproval...                            MEREDITH VO (CONT'D)                           *                  Sovereigns!...Alright!...Get the ugly                    *                  old silver pack out ... put one in my                    *                  mouth ... yellow 'clipper'... light it                  ... lean on the bonnet... puff away                  ... She's still fuckin' looking at                  me...                                                                                              Pink Revised   21st May 2008            78B.68   CONTINUED: (2)                                                   68                         MEREDITH THE CHAUFFEUR                   (Not looking at Liz)               ... Aintcha?!                         MEREDITH (V.O.)                                   *               ...Hang on, you're playing safe `ere                        *               Col. This is more Mal...                                    *                           MAL (V.O.)                                      *               Oh.    Fucking cheers Meredith.                             *     Suddenly Mal is the chauffeur -looking as though he's                 *     dressed in a hurry...                                                 *                         MAL VO                                            *               What am I doin' `ere?... Is she               looking at me?...She is ain't               she...She's looking at me!...     We see LIZ at the window... She is slowly, erotically,     flagrantly, licking the glass...                         MAL VO (CONT'D)                                   *               Hold up!...What's she doin'               now?...She's licking the bleedin'               window...Licking the bleedin'               glass!...What's she doin' that               for?...That's a bit weird,               innit?!...Bloody `ell!     Now he turns ... C/U on him as he looks up at the window     and stares ... Over this we hear...                         MAL VO (CONT'D)                                   *               ... That's not right! - That ain't -               That's wrong!...Take note Colin, this                       *               has nothing to do wi' me ...I'm just                        *               mindin' my own business ... I'm just               'aving a break - `Aving a kit kat!                                                             CUT TO69   INT ROOM IN DERELICT HOUSE   NIGHT                               69     All in the room...'normal! Again...MAL snaps a piece of     chocolate off a bar and hands it to ARCHIE...                         ARCHIE                   (To Meredith)               They ain't lookin' for a gardener at               this place by any chance, are they?                         MAL                                               *               I don't think you'd like that job.               Don't think you'd be interested in               that particular post.                                                                                           Pink Revised   21st May 2008               78C.69   CONTINUED:                                                           69                            ARCHIE                  Why's that?                            MEREDITH                  Gardener fucks the maid!                            ARCHIE                  Sounds alright!                            MEREDITH                  You ain't seen the maid!                            ARCHIE                  Be alright, I'll be wearin' muddy                  gloves!     They all laugh...                                                         *                            COLIN                                              *                  What about me?                                               *     MEREDITH smiles... Eventually looks at COLIN.                             *                            MEREDITH                                           *                  You? Well, Colin, since you ask...                           *                  you're the thing in the basement...                          *                  with the hood on... ain't he Peanut?                         *                            OMP                                                *                  Eh?                                                          *                                                               CUT TO70   INT NARROW STONE STAIRCASE LEADING TO DUNGEON         NIGHT          70     We are at the foot of the stairs ... can hear footsteps     descending ... and now OLD MAN PEANUT appears ... carrying     a battered old suitcase ... he opens the heavy, wooden,     studded, creaking, dungeon door and enters ... we see a     figure, trussed up in bin bags and with an old Tesco bag on     its head hanging from a meat-hook ... it struggles...OLD     MAN PEANUT slams down the case ... opens it ... inside a     jumbled variety of rusty tools /gadgets/ implements....     from the tangled hardware he manages to extract a thick,     rusty file ... an ancient heavy plane...a mallet-and a six     inch nail ... uttering to himself...                            OMP                  This is gonna 'urt you much more than                  its gonna'urt me!... I feel for ya, I                  really don't... (turns and addresses                  the hanging figure). You're mincemeat,                  mate! - 'Mincemeat!                                                              CUT TO:                                                                 78D.71   INT ROOM IN DERELICT HOUSE       NIGHT                        71     All in the room...COLIN on his feet. his blood up...                         COLIN               I am gonna kill `im, Liz - and I'm glad               you're here to see it! ... To see the man               you said `I do' to, defend his honour!               I'm gonna kill `im... like the beast you               think I am!                         ARCHIE               Go on, son, fill yer boots!                         OMP               'Bout fuckin' time!                         COLIN               'Throttle 'im! Kick his sorry arse from               here t o Sun day! (HE I S LOO MING OVER               LOVERBOY, THREATENINGLY, FISTS CLENCHED)               ... Tell me you don't love me, Liz...                         LIZ               I don't love you.                         COLIN               Break 'is fuckin' neck!... (TO LIZ) Come               on, I can take it! Say it!! - Say you               don't love me!...                         LIZ               I don't love you.                         COLIN                   (Shocked. Rocked)               Don't say that! ... What did you say?                         ARCHIE               She don't love you, Col.                         OMP               'ow 'urtfull                         MEREDITH               He's a masherkist!                         COLIN                   (To Liz. Devastated)               ... You don't love me?     She stares at him...                                                                                             Pink Revised   21st May 2008               79.71   CONTINUED:                                                            71                            COLIN (CONT'D)                  ... Not even a little bit?     She stares at him...                             COLIN (CONT'D)                       (Intimate. Tender)                  You were my Queen. You were my rock ... I                  can't - I wish - Wish I could tell you -                  I wish - wish you could feel how much -                  how very very very much - how very much I                  - I - I'd lay down and die for you! - If                  that would get you back, that's what I'd                  do! -- Oh, that sounds stupid doesn't it?!                  But you know what I mean... I mean... Id cut                  both my arms off if I could hold you one                  last t ime -- oh, that' s mad an' all,                  innit!... I love you -- `S as simple as                  that! -- Or as complicated! -- whichever it                  is -- I'm not sure -- I wish I knew -- I                  wish you `adn't've done this, Liz... I                  really wish you `adn't've done this!... I                  just wish that we --     At this moment LOVERBOY shifts ever so slightly in his chair     to ease his discomfort... COLIN flips...                                 COLIN (CONT'D)                       (Apoplectic)                  FUCKIN' SHUTUP YOU CUNT !!!... I'LL                  PULL YOUR FUCKIN' ARSEHOLE OUT IN A                  MI N U T E ! ! !   (Turns back to Liz,                  immediately loving again)... That we --                  (trails off)... I love you, Liz... I just                  need you to understand -- that I love                  you!... (Getting desperate)... I'm a good                  bloke, Liz! -- A really good bloke!...                  (she is staring at him)... Liz, please                  -- you gotta give me somethin'...                  so me th i n' ... p le as e... I d es er ve                  somethin'... Twenty one years is a long                  -- that's a lotta life -- to dedicate --                  surely -- please... Liz... somethin'...     LIZ staring at him...                                 LIZ                  ... Help me.                            COLIN                      (Taken aback)                  Wha'?                                 LIZ                  Help me.                                                                                                     Pink Revised     21st May 2008                80.71   CONTINUED: (2)                                                          71     COLIN staring at her...                                         CUT TO72   EXT GRASS VERGE BESIDE ELEVATED MOTORWAY          NIGHT                 72     A car has parked on the motorway... It's door ajar... The DRIVER     is hurriedly/scrambling down the muddy grass verge... Towards     the body of LIZ... She turns her head slowly and with great     difficulty towards him...                            LIZ                     (Faintly)                 Help me...                                         CUT TO73   INT KITCHEN/HALLWAY/LOUNGE DETACHED SUBURBAN VILLA NIGHT                73     Chaos... Violence... Terror... Screaming... LIZ, battered, scrambling     around on the kitchen floor... COLIN, mad, grabbing a knife...     After her... On her... Screaming in her face... Insane... With     rage... Fighting... Struggling... LIZ somehow managing to squeeze     through the kitchen door... COLIN after her like a fiend... Her     going down again... Him stamping on her... Kicking... Booting... Like     she's the worst dog in the world... Horrific... Horrendous...     Horrible... He's going to kill her... A howling, wounded beast...     he r la s t ve st i ge o f s tr en gt h ... F o rc in g h er se lf up ...     Running/scrambling in absolute terror... Through the lounge...     Banging off walls and furniture... And still he's in pursuit...     Her life's going to end here... She takes her chances... Runs at     it... To get away... runs at it... Running at the window...     Straight at the window... And crashing through... And down... And     COLIN shocked... And can't believe it... and horrified... And     brought closer to his senses... Him going to it... going to the     shattered window... A weak man... Trembling... And frightened...     And holding onto the window frame to stay upright... And     looking out... And down... And seeing her getting up and     struggling... And limping... And broken... And bleeding... And     running away... Running away... Fleeing... From him... From the     monster at the window... From COLIN...                             COLIN                       (Shell-shocked. Distraught.                        Pathetic)                 Liz... I'm sorry... Let's talk... (She                           *                 has gone into the night)... I love you,                 Liz!... I love you... ... Liz... Liz, it's                       *                 rainin'... (Sobbing and sobbing and                              *                 sobbing                                         CUT TO                        Pink Revised     21st May 2008             81.74   INT ROOM IN DERELICT HOUSE     NIGHT                               74     We are on COLIN's face... His heartbroken face... Awash with     tears... Real tears... Tears for her... For LIZ... We pull back     slowly and see COLIN on the floor by LOVERBOY's chair...     Holding on to LOVERBOY's knees/legs... Desperately holding on...     LOVERBOY looking down on him... LOVERBOY's bruised, beaten     face loo kin g do wn on h is `tor tur er'... B ut w ith gre at     compassion... With huge feeling... His own eyes filling with     tears... And COLIN holding on... And sobbing and sobbing and     sobbing... C/U on LOVERBOY's bruised and bloody hand as it     hangs limp by his side... Slowly, painfully, it begins to     move... To reach out... Inches closer to poor COLIN... Gently,     soft ly, ten der ly LOVE RBOY pla ces his hand on COLI N's     anguished head... So softly... So gently...                                       CUT TO75   INT HALLWAY DERELICT HOUSE     NIGHT                               75     MAL, MEREDITH, ARCHIE and OLD MAN PEANUT waiting in the hall...                           ARCHIE               ...Massive, it was... massive `ead! -- Size               of it! -- Like a melon! Like a pumpkin!               Grotesque! `Uge!... Well it wasn't so much               `is `ead -- it was `is face!... It was just               abnormally big -- An abnormality!... Like               th e b o ne st r uc t ur e w a s o ut `e r e --               (indicates with his hands) Rhinoceroussy               -- `ad grown out of all proportion to the               rest of `im... Coz `is skull -- the skull               itself -- the top -- it was in actuality               quite small -- not much bigger than a               co co n ut -- so r t o f po i nt y a n' al l ...               Coroner's report said he'd never seen               anythin' like it!... They thought they'd               found the missin' link!                         MAL               Sounds fuckin' `orrible!                         ARCHIE               Well, apparently not... women liked `im! --               Dunno if he got any -- but seemingly he               was quite the thing... Supposedly a right               laugh. `Ad a sense of humour -- well               you'd `ave to `ave really, wouldn't ya?!                           MEREDITH               ... An' this chap was a good dancer?                         ARCHIE               `S wha t the y sai d -- n ifty! Reg ular               twinkletoes! A right Gene Kelly!... Sad               tho' -- top yourself like that... Over a               cat.                                                                                                   Pink Revised      21st May 2008         82.75   CONTINUED:                                                         75                              MAL                  ... He must've loved it.                             ARCHIE                  Well a nimal s don 't di scrim inate , do                  they?... To the cat, he was beautiful!                            MAL                  Did they bury them together?                            ARCHIE                  Now that I don't know... Be nice if they                   *                  `ad... But it's all red tape, innit --                  depends on the different by-laws...                              MAL                  ...And what borough you live in!     They sit in silence... Eventually...                              MAL (CONT'D)                        (Rising)                  ...Well, come on then... this won't get the                  washing done!                            ARCHIE                  Yeah, he's `ad long enough!                            OMP                  What's the pillock doin'?!                            MEREDITH                      (Jumping down from the piano)                  My arse has gone to sleep!                            ARCHIE                  The ol' numb-bum?                               MAL                        (his ear t o the liv ing r oom                         door)                  ...It's all gone a bit quiet in there...                            ARCHIE                  Whadya reckon?                            MAL                  Let's go in... fuck it!                            OMP                  `Ope to Christ he's done somethin'!                            MEREDITH                  Don't hold your breath!                                                                                                  Pink Revised   21st May 2008           83.75   CONTINUED: (2)                                                   75     They enter the room...                                        CUT TO76   INT ROOM IN DERELICT HOUSE         NIGHT                         76     The men file in... COLIN sits in one of the armchairs... LOVERBOY     sits with his head bowed...                          MAL                What's been `appenin' then?                          ARCHIE                We any further forward?                          MAL                He's still with us I see...                          ARCHIE                    (Going to the cardboard box)                I'm `aving a beer... Who wants one?                          MAL                Ill `ave one.                          OMP                Nothin g's h appen ed! -- Why' s not hing                happened?! -- Don't you want your pound of                flesh?                          ARCHIE                    (Opening a can)                It's not looking like it!                           OMP                Lord love a duck!... Fuck this!... I give                up!... Streuth! (sits)... Fucking baby!                Milksop!                          MEREDITH                Had any thoughts, Col?     COLIN does not reply...                              MAL                Col?                              COLIN                ...Eh?                          ARCHIE                `Ad any thoughts?                              COLIN                Thoughts?                                                                                                 Pink Revised     21st May 2008               84.76   CONTINUED:                                                               76                            MAL                  Yeah, thoughts!                              COLIN                  ...One or two...                              MEREDITH                  Oh, yeah?... Like what?                            COLIN                  I'm letting him go.                              OMP                  Do what?!... You ain't!!                            COLIN                  It's my decision... That's my decision...                  It's what I've decided.                               OMP                  Cobblers!                               COLIN                  Maybe.                               OMP                  Poppycock!                            ARCHIE                  No, it's his call!... It's your Col' call...                     *                  `Col call'! -- `ark at me! -- I'm tired!                         *                            MEREDITH                  Lightweight!                              ARCHIE                  ... Well an' truly cream crackered!                              MAL                  ...So what are we saying'?... He's walkin'?...                              COLIN                  Yeah... He's free to go.                            OMP                  "Free to go"! "Free to go"!!... Why don't                  you give `im a kiss goodnight as well,                  while you're at it!... Let's `ave a whip-                  round for the cunt!... I can hear Brighton                  Billy spinnin' in his fuckin' grave!...                  "Free to go"!!                              ARCHIE                      (Nudgi ng MA L, in dicat ing                       LOVERBOY)                  `Ere, he's listenin'... His ears are out on                  stalks... He can't believe it!                                                                                                        Pink Revised     21st May 2008                85.76   CONTINUED: (2)                                                          76                             MAL                 It's not too late to change your mind,                 Col!... Think about it... I'll do it for you                 if you like... Freebie!     COLIN smiles...                              MEREDITH                 ...And Liz... wherever she is... what about                 her?... She free?     COLIN dips his head... bites his lip... sadly nods...                             MEREDITH (CONT'D)                 ...Well, that's that then!                           ARCHIE                 He's a very lucky boy!... (To LOVERBOY )                 You're a very lucky boy!... He fucking is!...                 Very fortunate!                           MAL                 Well come on then... Do the honours, Col...                 It's your party... Some of us `ave got                 homes to go to!                           OMP                 I'm really upset about this!     Pause... COLIN stares at LOVERBOY... Stares... Stares...   Then slowly     looks away... Eventually...                           COLIN                 You're free to go, mate.     LOVERBOY does not move... pause...                           COLIN (CONT'D)                     (Not looking at him)                 You're free to go, mate.     LO VE R BO Y s hi ft s i n hi s s ea t ... OL D M AN P E AN UT s n or ts     derisively...                           COLIN (CONT'D)                     (Looks at Loverboy)                 Go on...     LOVERBOY, with great difficulty, gets to his feet...                             ARCHIE                 Attaboy!                           MAL                 `S he finding his land-legs?                                                                                                     Pink Revised   21st May 2008             86.76   CONTINUED: (3)                                                     76     LOVERBOY struggles to walk... Shuffles on painful legs... The     black plastic bin bags trail around him...                          MAL (CONT'D)                In your own time!     LOVERBOY, very slowly, begins to cross the room... But he is     not heading for the door... He is heading towards ARCHIE...                          ARCHIE                What's this... The fuckin' Mummy?!     The men chuckle... LOVERBOY reaches ARCHIE and with extreme     gratitude he takes ARCHIE's hand...                          MAL                Oh, he likes you!    You're his favourite!                           ARCHIE                    (Ligh tly shak ing LOVERB OY's                     hand)                Yeah, alright, mate... now fuck off `fore I                give you another slap!... Door's there,                look!...     LOVERBOY shuffles to the door...                          MAL                Mind how you go!                               OMP                `Ere you!...     LOVERBOY stops...                          OMP (CONT'D)                Look at me...     LOVERBOY turns...                          OMP (CONT'D)                Don't you go blabbing off, now, will ya?     LOVERBOY slowly shakes his head...                           OMP (CONT'D)                Good boy... Now get out of my sight you                piece of shit!     LOVERBOY goes...                          MAL                Close the door behind you!     Pause... Slowly the door is closed...   The men sit in silence...     Eventually...                                                                                                    Pink Revised   21st May 2008              87.76   CONTINUED: (4)                                                        76                            MEREDITH                ....So, Kittens, what're we up to?                             MAL                Dunno...   What you doin'?                          MEREDITH                Me an' Peanut are off to The Clayton,                ain't we Pop?                             OMP                Yerrr!                          MEREDITH                You might like it.... Never know!     Slight pause...                           OMP                D'they do grub there?        I'm ready for my                   *                breakfast.                                                      *                          MEREDITH                Do what you want.... Y'comin'?                              OMP                ...Yeah... why not?... Be an eye opener, won't                it?                            ARCHIE                      (Crushing his empty beer can)                ...Right , we f or the off then?          (To                MAL)... You want droppin' off?                          MAL                Yeah... you stoppin' off for one?                          ARCHIE                If you like!... Colin?                            COLIN                      (Deep in thought)                ... I might catch you later, Arch... (to                the men)... I just wanna say.... Thanks...                          ARCHIE                Ah, shutup! We'll be in the Old Bamboo                if you fancy one... Right, we're off then...                Cheerio!     The men all leave... We hear the front door closing...       COLIN     sits there... Alone in the room... Sits there...                           *     He slowly gets up... Slowly puts his raincoat on... Goes to                *     the door... Stops... Does not turn... We are on his back... His     head bowed...                                                                                                      Pink Revised   21st May 2008             88.76   CONTINUED: (5)                                                        76     He goes...     We take in the empty room... See the open wardrobe... hear     the front door open...                                                               CUT TO:77   INT LOUD RED SPACE                                                    77     OLD MAN PEANUT squaring up to use...     Super-aggressive... Hyper-     cantankerous... Ultra-mean                              OMP                        (Direct to camera)                  Two years later I was dead... I passed                  away in the small hours in a nursing                  `ome in Slough, with a drip in me arm,                  me gnashers in a mug by the bed and me                  boots most definitely on!... I'd done                  me hip in the spring and couldn't cope                  with meself no more at `ome, if you                  must know... I died in a `orrible                  fuckin' room they'd give me in the                  midst of a bunch of doddery, decrepit,                  dribbling old mongs!... Come the time,                  this dragon-witch-bitch of a nurse,                  arsked me if I wanted a fuckin'                  priest?! To make my peace!... I arsk                  you!!... I told `em where to get off!...                  Told `em all to fuck off out of it and                  leave me to meet my maker on my Jack                  Todd!... I lay on my pit like a scabby                        *                  baby and waited for it... waited for                  it... waited for it to come... and get                  me! It came alright... The Reaper                  came, alright... in the middle of the                  fucking night -- Like a burglar -- Like                  a worry... I opened my milky mince's                  and saw... saw Death... The ugly brute                  of it... It's black mouth... it's cocky                  eyes... `ungry like the wolf... for me!...                  My time was up!     I was wanted!...                  "I'll break you", it said... "I'll                  fucking' break you!"... I stared at it...                  hissed at it... spat at it... I raised                  myself up from the stainy cot with my                  weak, bony arm... got myself in a proud                  position -- my spine ramrod straight...                  It was reaching for me... grabbing at                  me... laughing at me... "FUCK YOU!", I                  said... `FUUUCCKK YOOUU!!!!!"                                                                CUT TO                                                                        89.78   INT PURPLE SPACE                                                    78                            MEREDITH                      (Direct to camera)                I've got a new boyfriend... I haven't                had a steady in years... He's black,                aged 21, beautiful... Works in the                city... Ray!... I love that name... Ray!...                Met him in a sauna... he looked at me --                I looked at him -- He looked at me...                that sort of thing. Just clicked... Got                talking... Learnt one or two things                about each other... he can't swim -- I                like cars, so on and so forth... Took                it from there... We've been together                three weeks now... Play it by ear...                (pause)... Yesterday... he went off to                work... I fancied a stroll... `opped on a                bus... Hyde Park and I'm walkin'...                Serpentine... Past the ducks... I see this                rowing boat... man rowin',.. He turns...                looks at me... still rowin'... It's him...                It's Ray... The boyfriend... We don't                acknowledge each other... and I just                carry on walking... (pause)... Is he a                liar or shouldn't I have been there?...                What d'you reckon?... I know what I                think!                                                                CUT TO79   INT AN AZURE BLUE SPACE                                             79                            ARCHIE                      (Direct to camera)                ...I've met someone... Her names `Azel!...                I was a bit nervous at first... fear of                the unknown I s'pose... well you get set                in your ways, don't ya... anyway, I like                `er... like `er a lot- `s a nice feelin'                -- an' she says she likes me an'' all!                -- So you never know -- watch this                space!... And Mum an' her? -- Do they                get on?     He looks over his right shoulder... His POV...                                                                                                   Pink Revised     21st May 2008             90.79   CONTINUED:                                                            79     A vignette of his MUM and HAZEL (50) sitting on an old     sofa, drinking tea and chatting happily... Behind them on a     floral wallpapered wall is a painting -- Spanish/Woolworth's     style... Carmenesque... A wounded 18th Century soldier is     slumped in a chair being tended to by a wild, exotic,     gypsy, flamenco-type woman... Nearby, standing alarmed,     humiliated and cuckolded wearing a white frilly, puffy-     sleeved shirt, red breeches with a gold stripe, black     boots, is the shocked faced husband... These three     characters bearing an uncanny resemblance to guess who?...     C/U on ARCHIE as he turns back to look at us... (the vignette     has gone)...                              ARCHIE (CONT'D)                        (proud)                  ...They get on brilliantly!!... I'm                  taking them to Ikea this afternoon...                  (raises his eyebrows. Intimate with                  us). Say a prayer for me!                                                                 CUT TO80   INT MONOCHROME SPACE... GRAINY...    SHADOWY...                       80     We can just see part of MAL... His face half in shadow... He     is looking at us... Edgy... Defensive... Dodgy... He slips into the     shadows... Is gone...                                                                 CUT TO81   INT ROOM IN DERELICT HOUSE          NIGHT                             81   *     CUT                                                                        *82   EXT. STREET OUTSIDE HOUSE.                                            82     COLIN emerges onto the street... Closes the door behind     him... We move in on his brave/sad face as he gazes up at     the old, bluey, London sky, and says to Liz's spirit...                            COLIN                      (Humbled. Accepting.       Very                       quiet)                  Be lucky, Liz.     Slowly he begins to walk the wet street... Away from us...     Towards his new life...     THE END
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+              FADE IN:              OPEN COUNTRY - DAY              Endless green hills bisected by a ribbon of highway. A road              gang clearing brush by the side of the road... Twenty-five              men in prison fatigues sweating through their mid-afternoon              labor.              THREE GUARDS              Flank the working prisoners... Mountie hats, shotguns,              sidearms, sunglasses; they look like they mean it.              HIGHWAY              A battered pickup appears...approaches. Suddenly, it coughs,              shudders, stalls. A big Blackfoot Indian named BILLY BEAR              gets out and starts cursing and kicking the vehicle.Then he              begins walking toward the road gang...              ROADSIDE              BRADY is the Guard near the center of the work gang; he              smiles at the oncoming man, pokes a prisoner beside him.                                  BRADY                        Wonder what reservation they let                        him off of...              The prisoner is GANZ who looks up, grins at Brady...                                  GANZ                        Yeah, there goes the neighborhood.              Brady laughs as Billy Bear closes in on him.                                  BILLY                        Say, buddy, my engine's                        overheating and I got 30 miles                        before the next station... Could                        I get some water out of your                        cooler?              Ganz leans on his hoe, speaks as Billy passes...                                  GANZ                        Maybe you shoulda stole a better                        truck, Tonto.                                  BILLY                        You got a real big mouth, convict.                                  BRADY                        It's okay, chief.  He's just                        joking...                                  BILLY                        How about the water...                                  GANZ                        Firewater, Tonto?  Is that what                        you...              Billy whirls, swings at Ganz. Both men roll to the ground.                                  BRADY                        Hey! Jesus Christ!              THE OTHER GUARDS              Seeing the commotion, they run toward it.              GANZ AND BILLY              As they struggle, Billy slips a pistol into Ganz' hand.                                  BRADY                        That's a state prisoner,                        asshole...! Back off...              ROADSIDE              Brady pulls Billy away from Ganz just 'as one of the other              officers arrives... Ganz suddenly whips out a pistol, shoots              Brady at point-blank range. Before the other Guards can even              react, Billy comes out with his own pistol, caps the Second              Guard.              THIRD GUARD              Still forty yards away... In mid-draw, be howls as a bullet              from Ganz breaks the nearby ground. He fires, then turns and              runs for the prison bus.              GANZ              Smiling, fires twice. but the range is too great for pistol              work...              THE OTHER PRISONERS              Watching....Then they all scatter in different directions...              GANZ              Hefts his weapon...                                  GANZ                        Come on...              He and the big Indian run to the pickup, climb in and roar              away.              INT. BUS              The THIRD GUARD making a call on the police radio...                                  OFFICER                        APO 657, Unit 25 to APO 478t APO                        657t Unit 25 to APO 478.                                  RADIO RESPONSE                        Go ahead, Unit 25.                                  OFFICER                        Escape in progress. Two officers                        shot off rail crossing 31.                        Prisoners escaping. Two men, one                        six-four, 200 pounds, dark, an                        Indian, the other, Albert Ganz,                        five-ten...              FURTHER DOWN THE HIGHWAY              Several miles from the escape... A big semi parked by the              side of ttie road; back doors to the closed trailer open. A              station wagon parked across the road. The pickup appears,              approaches the semi, slows down and drives up the ramp into              the van. Ganz and Billy jump out, shove the ramp up inside              the truck and close the big doors.              STATION WAGON              Ganz and Billy climb inside ancl roar off, back in the              direction of the road gang.              BILLY BEAR              Takes off his hat, puts on a baseball cap and sunglasses...                                  BILLY                        Get ready to duck.              Ganz dives for the floor. Three police cars go by, sirens              blaring, lights flashing. They pass the road gang. Ganz              reappear, smiles...                                  GANZ                        You know something? I'm having a                        real good time.              HIGHWAY              The station wagon blasts down the pavement... Becomes a small              dot on the landscape.              TRANSITION.              A DOORWAY - NIGHT              the portal slams open revealing a man holding a huge              pistol,jack cates, s.F.P.D., a large and powerful man... He              stealthily moves up a stairwell.              CORRIDOR              He stops at the top of the stairs... Listens gun still ready.              A continuous sound of running water... Cates moves toward the              bathroom. Rips the door open.              BATHROOM              The shape behind the shower curtain freezes. Cates, gun held              level, moves forward... Rips the shower curtain open.              Revealing a young and very beautiful woman, ELAINE MARSHALL.                                  CATES                        Inspector Jack Cates, S.F.P.D....                        And you're wanted.              Elaine stares at him as Cates turns off the water.                                  ELAINE                        What am I wanted for?                                  CATES                        I don't answer questions, I ask                        'em...              A moment as she continues to stare at his pistol.                                  ELAINE                        I don't think your gun's loaded...                                  CATES                        This is a .44 Magnum, the most                        powerful handgun in the world. You                        gotta ask yourself just one                        question. Are you feelin' lucky?                                  ELAINE                        I still don't think it's loaded.              Elaine shakes her head and smiles, folds her arms over her              breasts, shivers a little... Cates looks at the cylinder,              spins it...                                  CATES                        Hey, you're right.                                  ELAINE                        You're hopeless.                                  CATES                        That's the way I see it, too.              Be puts the gun down on the edge of the sink, embraces her.                                  ELAINE                        I'm all wet.                                  CATES                        What's wrong with that?              They both smile.              TRANSITION.              BEDROOM              Cates in bed with Elaine.  She wears his shirt.                                  ELAINE                        A guy in the bar called me a dumb                        bitch today.                                  CATES                        What'd you do?                                  ELAINE                        Irrigated his face with the shot                        of J and B I'd just poured him.                        Then I tried to deck the sucker.                                  CATES                        I guess he got the message...                                  ELAINE                        Then I sit back and I think, I                        mean, who's to say I'm not a dumb                        bitch.  I work in a bar, right?                        I can't read a list of my academic                        credentials to every booze-hound                        that comes in the place... You are                        what you do...                                  CATES                        Positive self-image problem all                        over again ... You are who you                        decide you are unless you're the                        type that lets assholes decide for                        you.                                  ELAINE                        Aren't you the one that thinks all                        psychotherapy is bullshit?                                  CATES                        I do think all psychotherapy is                        bullshit. But just because I think                        it's bullshit doesn't mean I don't                        know something about it.                                  ELAINE                        If this is your idea of                        sympathetic interest in my                        problems, I'll take brutal                        indifference.                                  CATES                        Hey, you know what I really think?                                  ELAINE                        Tell me--I'm dyin' to hear it.                                  CATES                        I think you're ashamed to tend bar                        which is sad because you look                        great in that outfit they make you                        wear... You pull down four bills                        a week which is damn good, and you                        mix the best Pina Coladas I've                        ever had... I think that if you                        need bigger and better things ...                        then go for em.              She smiles at him after this. It looks like they'll kiss.              Their faces are close.  Then she lightly moves back.                                  ELAINE                        You oversimplify every...              He stops her in the middle of the sentence by kissing her,              then pulls back...                                  CATES                        Some things are simple, right?              Their faces are very close ... but they don't touch for              another second.                                  ELAINE                        Right...              TRANSITION.              SAN FRANCISCO - DAWN              Titles continue.              Tugs churning across the bay... Quiet city streets. Parked              cars covered with early morning dew... A newspaper truck              slowly grinds by, drops a bundleand moves on.              EMBARCADERO - DAWN              The station wagon pulls up to a young punk, HENRY WONG, on a              motorcycle.              Billy Bear smiles and leans out the driver's side window.                                  BILLY                        You got somethin' for us, Henry?              Henry produces some credit cards.  Billy passes them to Ganz              for inspection.                                  GANZ                        How hot are they?                                  HENRY                        Hot?  Hey, they're not even room                        temperature.              Ganz snorts derisively.                                  GANZ                        How ya doin'?                                  HENRY                        Can't complain.                                  GANZ                        We got a lot to talk about.                                  HENRY                        Yeah, old times.                                  GANZ                        We'll follow you.  Take it                        slow,okay?                                  HENRY                        Sure, right.              Ganz pockets the credit cards as Henry wheels away.              INT.  STATION WAGON                                  GANZ                        I want to drive awhile.                                  BILLY                        I ain't tired yet.              INT.  STATION WAGON                                  GANZ                        Maybe after we get done with him                        I'm gonna buy us some girls.                                  BILLY                        Whaddya mean, buy?                                  GANZ                        Pros.              Ganz stares at Billy.                                  BILLY                        Pay money?                                  GANZ                        Yeah, dummy.  Money.                                  BILLY                        I never paid for it in my life.                                  GANZ                        It's better when you pay... they                        let you do anything.                                  BILLY                        They always let me do anything. I                        don't want to pay for it.  I never                        paid for it in my life.                                  GANZ                        Just do what I say, okay? We'll                        pay for the girls and have a good                        time... Don't you trust me?              Billy smiles.                                  BILLY                        Sure, I trust ya.              They drive off.              NORTH BEACH - RESIDENTIAL STREET - DAWN              First light breaks over Telegraph Hill. A quiet row of              Victorian townhouses now converted into apartments.              APARTMENT BEDROOM - EARLY MORNING              Cates is sprawled across the double bed; Elaine is on the              verge of falling off the edge. Cates' eyes snap open.  A              second later, his wrist watch alarm goes off.  He turns it              off, gets out of bed and begins pulling on his pants. Elaine              sits up in bed, still wearing Cates' blue shirt... Cates              picks up a robe as Elaine gets out of bed on the opposite              side, throws the robe to Elaine... She takes off the shirt,              swaps it for the robe and throws the shirt to Jack.                                  ELAINE                        You know, if you let me come over                        to your place once in a while, you                        could put on a clean shirt in the                        morning.                                  CATES                        What makes you think I have any                        clean shirts at my place?              He buttons his shirt and heads for the kitchen.              KITCHEN              Cates brushing his teeth at the sink, Elaine making coffee.                                  ELAINE                        You know, that's my toothbrush,                        Jack.              He keeps brushing.                                  CATES                        Maybe you ought to buy me one.                                  ELAINE                        Maybe I would if I knew when you                        were coming back.              He stops brushing, turns and looks at her.                                  CATES                        I'm here.  And I've been coming                        back for quite awhile... Let's not                        hassle, okay?  And can I have a                        cup of coffee?  Please.              She pours some coffee, hands him a cup and saucer... Cates              pours some whiskey into it from a flask.                                  ELAINE                        That's a fairly crummy way to                        start a morning.                                  CATES                        Maybe I got a fairly crummy day                        ahead.                                  ELAINE                        Maybe that makes a nice excuse.                                  CATES                        Maybe you don't know what the hell                        you're talking about.              Cates picks his holstered .44 off a chair back and begins              strapping it on.                                  ELAINE                        When you start with that                        attitude... it's like I don't know                        who you are.                                  CATES                        What do you want to know?  What                        difference does it make?  I'm the                        guy in your bed the last three                        months.  I make you feel good. You                        make me feel good.  What the hell                        else do you want from a guy?                                  ELAINE                        I wish you'd stop trying to make                        me mad so I won't care for you...                        I wish you'd give me a little more                        of a chance.              He turns away, moves into the corridor near the stairwell.                                  CATES                        I don't have time for this. I                        gotta go to work.              She stands frozen... He turns back and looks at her; it's              hard to apologize.                                  CATES                               (continuing)                        Look, I'm glad I'm in your life...                        and hell, with an ass like yours,                        I figure anything might be                        possible.              She is warmed up by the first part, amused by the second; she              approaches...                                  ELAINE                        You know something, Jack, you                        really are hopeless.                                  CATES                        That's the way I see it, too.                                  ELAINE                        Call me later.                                  CATES                        You sure you want me to?                                  ELAINE                        Yeah, for some reason, I'm sure...              He moves closer, kisses her..                                  CATES                        Thanks for the coffee.                                  ELAINE                        I think you forgot this. Hands him                        his wallet and badge...                                  CATES                        Guess people ought to know who I                        am...              He turns to go down the stairwell...                                  ELAINE                        Jack, wait.  Here...              She puts a scarf around his neck.                                  ELAINE                               (continuing)                        It's cold as hell out these                        mornings, and you know what the                        man said, the coldest winter I                        ever spent was the summer I spent                        in San Francisco...              They don't kiss.  He nods appreciately, the scarf in hand as              he turns and goes.              STREET - NORTH BEACH - MORNING              Cates comes out of Elaine's apartment building, crosses to              his whipped and battered  64 Cadillac convertible, notices a              parking ticket stuck under the windshield wiper...                                  CATES                        Son of a bitch.              Shoves the ticket in his coat pocket, gets into the Caddie              puts the scarf around the rear view mirror, starts the engine              and guns away...              CITY STREET              Cates driving the convertible; he comes down a hill and turns              toward the East Bay...              TRANSITION.              GOLDEN GATE PARK - MORNING              Henry Wong, seated on a park bench. Now very dead, a bullet              hole in the middle of his forehead. Billy Bear is seated next              to him on the bench reading the race form.              GANZ              Using the telephone at an outdoor booth a few feet beyond the              bench.              STREET - BROADWAY DISTRICT - DAY              LUTHER and ROSALIE, a young couple, turn a corner.  A dark              parody of all-American young marrieds.  They are bickering as              usual.                                  ROSALIE                        I liked that carpet we saw.                                  LUTHER                        We can't afford it.                                  ROSALIE                        Don't remind me.                                  LUTHER                        Whaddya want me to do, go out and                        steal for the money?  I hated the                        color anyway; the color sucked...              Suddenly, Billy and Ganz descend on Luther and Rosalie and              pull them into their station wagon..              INT.  STATION WAGON              Billy has Rosalie by the mouth, gagging her with his big              paw... Ganz has his gun at Luther's neck.                                  GANZ                        Surprise, Luther.                                  LUTHER                        Whaddya want?  I thought you were                        locked up-                                  GANZ                        I want the money, asshole, what do                        you think?  The money that Reggie                        hid...                                  LUTHER                        I don't know what you're talkin'                        about.                                  GANZ                        You want that Indian to snap her                        neck?              He mimes the gesture... snap...                                  GANZ                               (continuing)                        Instead of worryin' about Reggie,                        you better worry about me...                                  LUTHER                        Don't give me this, we were                        partners.                                  GANZ                        Billy, go ahead, break it...                                  LUTHER                        No! Don't kill her.  I can get you                        the money.                                  GANZ                        When?                                  LUTHER                        I can't get it until Monday.                        Honest.                                  GANZ                        You chickenshit punk...                                  LUTHER                        Honest. The place we stashed it                        opens Monday morning. I can't get                        it till then. Monday morning,                        that's when it opens. After that,                        I'll get the money to you right                        away...              Ganz finally takes the gun from the neck.                                  GANZ                        I always liked you, Luther. You                        were always a lotta fun to hang                        out with...              Rosalie is rubbing her neck now that she's been released...              Ganz gestures to Billy.                                  GANZ                               (continuing)                        We're gonna keep her.              Luther desperately doesn't like this.                                  LUTHER                        Come on, you can trust me. Please.                                  GANZ                        You try to mess with us or go to                        the cops, I promise you, I'll put                        holes in her you wouldn't believe.              He smiles at Luther, pinches him on the cheek, shoves him out              of the car.              LUTHER              Stands shivering as it powers away.              WALDEN HOTEL - DAY              A small hotel on one of the quiet streets behind Union Square.              A GREEN COUGAR              Pulls up across the street.              INT. CAR              Tha car arrives in front of the hotel.                                  GANZ                        Nice place, huh?              Rosalie is very nervous.                                  ROSALIE                        What are you gonna do to me in                        there?              Ganz gives her a casual smile.                                  GANZ                        Maybe that's where I'm gonna cut                        your throat.                                  BILLY                        He's just kiddin', you just keep                        doin' what I tell ya, you'll be                        okay.              They move out of the car, head for the hotel.              LOBBY              A FRIZZY YOUNG BLONDE sits behind the desk in a mirrored              entrance hall.  She reads a lurid paperback. Morning traffic              streams by outside as Ganz, Billy and Rosalie enter and              approach the desk.                                  GANZ                        We need some rooms for a couple of                        nights...Okay?              She smiles at Ganz.                                  FRIZZY                        Sure.  We don't get many real                        customers, ya know?  Most people                        only stay an hour or two...              Passes a form across. Ganz signs it, Frizzy glances at his              signature then takes a key from the rack behind.                                  GANZ                        I want her young.  And tall. Nice                        legs. Legs are important. Then,                        real thin.  Yeah.  NO jeans-A                        dress? a nice summer dress.  You                        know I want her fresh... I'll tell                        you why, because I been hoein'                        weeds and makin' license plates                        for a couple of years... Yeah, I                        know you don't get it...              BILLY BEAR              Sees a couple approaching, he shoves the dead man down on the              bench and spreads the newspaper over his head.  The body now              looking like a typical park bum who has spent the night.              Billy walks over to Ganz.                                  BILLY                        Hey, what about me?                                  GANZ                        And I need one more for my pal.                        Yeah. Make her an Indian. No, not                        a turban, you know, a squaw.              Billy smiles, takes the Polaroid...              POLAROID              A close shot of the dead man with the bullet hole in his              forehead.              GANZ              Takes the photograph back from Billy and slips it into his              jacket pocket...                                  GANZ                        Walden Hotel. Third near Broadway.                        Tell them to ask for ... uh...              He takes the hot credit cards out of his pocket, the name              embossed on the plastic..                                  GANZ                               (continuing)                        G.P. Polson...P.O.L.S.O.N....Just                        be a couple of hours.              Hangs up. The two men head for a green Plymouth...              TRANSITION.                                  FRIZZY                        Number twenty-seven, Mr. Polson.                                  GANZ                        Put them next door, okay.              She gives him a slightly knowing look.                                  FRIZZY                        Sure, hey, you got the whole floor                        to yourself...              Ganz sends her back a sharp look.                                  GANZ                        Keep your filthy ideas to                        yourself, lady.              Ganz picks up his suitcase, walks over to the nearest              stairwell.  Billy and Rosalie follow...              TRANSITION.              STREET              Bars starting to fill up with mid-day customers... A black              Chevy cruises past and stops further up the block. Two              Plainclothesmen, VANZANT and ALGREN, get out of the car. As              they start toward the Walden...              THE CADILLAC CONVERTIBLE              Pulls up near the two men. Cates climbs out of his car and              walks over to them.                                  CATES                        Hey, fellas, what's happening?                        Radio said you guys had something                        on...                                  ALGREN                        Not much, Jack ... Salesman named                        Polson had his credit cards                        lifted...              Algren nods over to the parking lot opposite.                                  ALGREN                               (continuing)                        One of Polson's cards rented that                        green coupe.                                  VANZANT                        Not too much for a big rough tough                        gunfighter like you to do on this                        one...              Cates smiles at the verbal positioning he's used to with his              colleagues.                                  CATES                        Suspect packed or is this a                        laugher?                                  ALGREN                        Five and dime stuff. Polson said                        a kid with a switchblade mugged                        him and drove off on a motorcyle.                                  CATES                        Yeah, well, I guess you two are                        experts at taking boy scout knives                        away from teenagers...                                  VANZANT                        Yeah, we are, that means you can                        stay outta this one. We don't have                        any big need for the artillery              Vanzant's turn to smile.                                  CATES                        Hey, I'm just offering to help                        out... I like to watch real pros                        work.                                  VANZANT                        Help, huh?  Sometimes your kind of                        help tends to leave the suspect in                        bad shape.              Algren...mediator... soothes the competitive situation.                                  ALGREN                        Hey, relax ... Jack, you wanna                        come inside, fine... You can stake                        out the lobby...              Cates, a bit disgusted at the politics of this moment, nods...                                  CATES                        Fine, it's your show...              The three men move toward the Walden.              WALDEN HOTEL LOBBY              Frizzy Blonde still behind the desk. Still reading the lurid              paperback. Unaware as Vanzant and Algren approach... She              looks up as they flash their badges.                                  FRIZZY                        Aw, you guys were in last week.                        You better ask around.  I'm not                        supposed to be hassled... I got                        friends.                                  VANZANT                        Hey, park the tongue for a second,                        sweetpants, we just want to search                        a room.                                  FRIZZY                        Not unless you got a warrant.                                  CATES                        Maybe you should of been a lawyer                        instead of a dumb skirt workin'                        behind a register.              Frizzy turns to find Cates standing beside her. He nudges her              aside. Starts going throught the register book.                                  FRIZZY                        Aw, come on, what the shit is this?                                  ALGREN                        We're looking for a guy going                        under the name Polson...              Frizzy sits back down in defeat.                                  FRIZZY                        Okay, big deal.  Get it over with.              Cates finds the name.                                  CATES                        Mr. Polson, room 27...                                  ALGREN                        Is he alone?                                  FRIZZY                        Naw, his sister went up an hour                        ago.              Vanzant turns to Cates.                                  VANZANT                        Okay, like we said, you stake out                        the lobby.                                  CATES                        Sure. Great. Whatever.                                  VANZANT                        You're not missing out on                        Dillinger. This punk just stole                        some credit cards.              Cates watches the two Detectives head for the elevator.              SECOND FLOOR CORRIDOR              Vanzant and Algren move down the hallwayStop at the far end.              Both Detectives draw their pistols and approach a door.              ROOM              Summer dress and undergarments scatteredon the floor. LISA,              lies naked under the covers.              She matches Ganz's earlier requirements.Smoking a cigarette,              staring at the ceiling. Ganz remains on top of the blanket.              Still in his shirt and pants watching TV. Three sharp knocks              at the door. Ganz reacts as if he's received an electric              shock. His hand goes under the pillow... Comes up with an              automatic. Shoves it hard into Lisa's stomach.                                  LISA                        Hey...                                  GANZ                        Shut up.                                  LISA                        What the hell's wrong?  I didn't                        do anything.              Another knock. Ganz makes her move to the door.                                  LISA                               (continuing)                        What do you want?  What's goin' on?                                  GANZ                        Shut up.              She grabs her dress and tries to pull it on.                                  GANZ                               (continuing)                        Now ask who it is.              Shoves harder with the pistol.                                  GANZ                               (continuing)                        Come on, ask.              She calls out.                                  LISA                        Who is it?              CORRIDOR              Vanzant and Algren stand back from the door. Guns held ready.                                  ALGREN                        Police... open up.              R00M              Lisa looks from the door back to Ganz. Then at the gun held              against her. She's petrified.                                  GANZ                        Stall.                                  LISA                        What do you want?                                  VANZANT                        Police business. Come on, open up.              A smile on Ganz' face. Almost as if he's enjoying the moment.                                  GANZ                        Keep stallin'.                                  LISA                        Alright, I'm coming...hold on.              I'll just be a minute.              CORRIDOR              Vanzant and Algren waiting. Sounds of movement from within              the room.              LOBBY              Cates moves toward the foot of the stairwell. Looks across at              mirror on the wall opposite. The entire lobby covered from              this spot. Every angle, including Frizzy.              ROOM              Ganz gestures to Lisa.                                  LISA                        Just a second.              Ganz belts her with his gun; she falls..Ganz goes through the              connecting door. Slips into the adjacent room.              BILLY'S ROOM              Another Hooker cowers in the corner, pulling on her clothes.              She's a Mexican girl in a ridiculous 'Indian' outfit.                                  MEXICAN GIRL                        Que paso? Que esta pasando? No                        entiendo...                                  BILLY                        Shut up.              Billy goes to where Rosalie is awkwardlytied to a chair with              an electric dord.  He pulls her to her feet as Ganz moves by.                                  BILLY                               (continuing)                        When I say jump, girl, you better                        jump.                                  BILLY                               (continuing)              CORRIDOR              Vanzant reaches down, tries the knob.  Locked. Algren moves              back, preparing to kick the door down.              ADJACENT ROOM              Ganz opens the door behind the two cops. Raises his pistol              and fires. Billy's shots follow immediately. Hits Vanzant.              Algren rolls just as Ganz fires again. Wounded, he gets off              three shots, then moves inside Ganz' room. Ganz and Billy run              for the elevator... Exchange two more shots with Algren. The              Mexican Girl begins screaming in Spanish...              LOBBY              Cates draws his .44. Races up the stairs three at a time.              Frizzy starts to frantically call the police.              CORRIDOR              Cates stops at the landing. Vanzant's body sprawled across              the hallway. Algren back in the corridor, still losing              blood... Leans against the wall for support... Lisa staggers              out of the room, screams. Algren points the gun toward the              elevator. Indicating where Ganz and Billy have just fled.              Cates starts back down toward the lobby.              ELEVATOR              Ganz and Billy, guns ready as the carriage jolts downward.              Rosalie is terrified, sobbing...              CATES              Arrives at the halfway turn of the second staircase. He takes              the next flight in two jumps.              ELEVATOR              As the doors open, Ganz gestures for Billy and Rosalie to              wait as he heads for the lobby.              LOBBY              Cates literally flies into the lobby just as Ganz appears. He              slams Ganz against a column, belts him across the neck with              his pistol. Ganz screams with pain, drops his gun... Cates              again slams him with his pistol, felling him...              GANZ              Slides across the floor.              CATES Senses something ... moves just as Billy appears behind              and fires at him. The bullet takes out a window. Cates dives              over the desk. Another bullet chews up the wood.              LOBBY              Frizzy has been standing beside her desk, screaming... Cates'              move and the accompanying bulletspanic her. She dashes for              safety... Cates gets to his feet behind cover. Sees Billy              holding Rosalie by the throat. Frizzy begins to scream.                                  GANZ                        He'll blow her goddamn head off.              Cates doesn't miss a beat. He slowly levels his .44. Takes              careful aim and starts to fire at Billy.                                  ROSALIE                        No. No.              Cates' shot narrowly misses Rosalie. The bullet smashes into              a mirror above Billy's head. Cates keeps moving closer, gun              pointed straight ahead. Billy pushes the pistol against              Rosalie'temple. For the first time, Cates hesitates. They              face each other across the length of the lobby.              ALGREN              Struggles down the remaining steps into the lobby. He still              holds his revolver. Dares not raise it towards Billy and              Rosalie.              BILLY BEAR              Covers Algren from near the entrance.  He's confused, doesn't              know what to do... He keeps hold of Rosalie.              GANZ              His eyes catch Algren's...                                  GANZ                        You.  Drop it and we won't kill                        her.              Algren tosses his gun to the floor.                                  GANZ                               (continuing)                        Now, tell him to drop his Goddamn                        piece.                                  ALGREN                        Do it, Cates.              No response.                                  ALGREN                               (continuing)                        Do it, Cates.  Goddamn it, do it.              Cates lowers his gun. Finally lets it drop to the floor.                                  GANZ                        Kick it over here.              Cates does; Ganz picks it up, smiles, looks at Billy.                                  GANZ                               (continuing)                        Get the car.              Then back to Cates as Billy runs out the entrance with              Rosalie.                                  GANZ                               (continuing)                        Your gun's just like mine.              He's going to kill Cates. But first be glances at Algren.              Then, almost casually, shoots him twice with Cates' .44.              Algren staggers back. Dead before he hits the floor. Cates              twists sideways just as Ganz fires. The bullet misses. Again              Frizzy starts screaming and struggling. Ganz swipes the woman              across the head with the gun. Her body slumps to the floor.              Police sirens can be heard in the distance. Cates makes an              attempt for Algren's gun. A bullet splatters against the              floor only inches from his outstretched fingers. The gun              skitters out of reach.                                  CATES                        You lying son of a bitch...                                  GANZ                        What are you talking about? We                        didn't kill her ...              Ganz smiles.              With your own gun, cop. How does it feel? Cates leaps into a              wooden phone booth. Ganz leisurely blasts away at the booth              with both his and Cates' gun. Two bullets crash into the              booth. Ganz moves to check inside the booth but sirens are              ominously near. Ganz finally retreats out the entrance.              STREET              Billy and Rosalie weave their way across street to the              Cougar. They make a U-turn. Ganz runs out. Car pulls out,              then the police cars and vans begin to arrive.              PHONE BOOTH              Chunks of wood on the floor. Shafts of light through a dozen              bullet holes. Shattered receiver dangling from a cord. Cates,              wedged tight into the very top of the cubicle. He drops to              the floor.              LOBBY              The police arrive. Swarm into the hotel. All eyes on Cates as              he rushes to Algren. Too late... Cates realizes Algren is              dead. He cradles Algren's head as he stares at the arriving              TAC Squad and Patrolmen.              TRANSITION.              SQUAD ROOM DAY              Cates walks in. Several Detectives gather around him.                                  FAT COP                        What happened?                                  CATES                        Read the report.                                  OLD COP                        Two cops blown away by a credit                        card booster... that don't figure.                                  CATES                        No shit.                                  FAT COP                        They were good cops.                                  CATES                        They were good cops who fucked up                        and got careless.              A snotty YOUNG COP paces.                                  YOUNG COP                        That's what you say, Cates...                                  CATES                        Yeah.                                  YOUNG COP                        But that's what you say about all                        of us all the tine ... we're                        always the ones fucking up when                        you tell it...                                  CATES                        The truth hurts, doesn't it, buddy?              Cates looks at the Old Cop.                                  OLD COP                        It don't figure.                                  CATES                        I need to borrow a piece.              The OLD COP shrugs... looks in his desk...                                  YOUNG COP                        Somebody steals your gun, you're                        supposed to file a report.                                  CATES                        Are you gonna tell me about police                        procedure?  Do me a favor, don't                        give me a bunch of crap.                                  YOUNG COP                        I guess when two cops die on                        account of your fuck up you want                        to keep it as quiet as possible...              Cates loses it for a second, lands on him with both hands,              pushes him against a wall... The room goes quiet. Cates cools              down.                                  CATES                        Just shut the fuck up.              The other cops don't intervene. They just watch.  Cates cools              down, straightens up. HADEN walks by, or, rather, speeds by.                                  HADEN                        Cates, I'll need to see you in                        five minutes, exactly five.              The Old Cop hands Cates a gun, a traditional Army .45...                                  OLD COP                        Best I can do.                                  HADEN                        D'you read me, Cates...              Haden continues moving away.                                  CATES                        Five minutes.  I heard you, your                        voice carries...              As Cates is examining the gun, RUTH, a lab technician, enters              and drops three 8 x 10's on the desk near Cates.                                  RUTH                        They're still wet.              Cates lifts the blow-ups, each one showing a different aspect              of a spent bullet.                                  RUTH                               (continuing)                        Lots of people getting shot with                        .44's lately ... Last year, it was                        Saturday Night Specials..now it's                        heavy stuff. People must be                        getting madder about something.              Cates starts pinning the blow-ups onto a large bulletin board              on the wall. Nearby, at the same time (within Cates' line of              sight, within earshot), Lisa, the Hooker, is being              interrogated by a POLICE-WOMAN who pulls the statement off              the typewriter. Nearby, the Indian Hooker is being              interrogated in Spanish.                                  POLICEWOMAN                        You're an accessory to Murder One,                        so you're going to have to do a                        whole lot better than what we got                        down here, honey...                                  LISA                        Gimme a break, huh? ... Look, I                        got there.  He was a trick just                        like any other for all I knew.                        That's all there is.  He didn't                        feel like sitting and talking. He                        was in a big hurry to get laid.                        I was with him about an hour...              Cates has gotten interested in the last part of this ...              drifts toward her... A DETECTIVE comes through, begins              distributing I.B.M. printouts to Cates, the other nearby              officers..                                  DETECTIVE                        We got a print from the hotel                        room.  Guy's real name is Ganz,                        Albert Ganz.  A hitter from back                        East but he worked out here a few                        years back.  Armed robbery. Broke                        out of prison two days ago and                        capped two of the guards. A real                        animal.  Wait'll you see this...              Cates reads the printout, then smoothly,imperiously, he takes              over the questioning of Lisa.                                  CATES                        Did he give you a return match?                                  LISA                        He wasn't interested.                                  CATES                        Maybe he didn't like your                        performance.                                  LISA                        Fuck you.                                  CATES                        I'll take a raincheck...              From the side, Ruth is pointing at the photos...                                  RUTH                        This'll interest you, Jack...we've                        got something here from your                        gun... and these are from the                        first weapon Ganz used...                                  CATES                        I don't get it.                                  RUTH                        Here.                                  CATES              She turns, produces the third photo.  Pins it beside the one              from the Walden Hotel.                                  RUTH                        A perfect match for the markings                        from the first gun he used... but                        not from the Walden Hotel... fired                        at least six hours earlier...at                        point blank range... right between                        the eyes.  Found him on a park                        bench...              She shows him two more pictures.  Police forensics shots of              Henry Wong ... very dead on the park bench...                                  RUTH                               (continuing)                        Ya know, there are some very bad                        people out there in the world.                                  CATES                        Look at it this way, Ruth.  If                        there weren't, what would there be                        for us to do?              Lisa continues with the Policewoman.                                  LISA                        Anyway... so I got there and took                        him down.  He started watching                        television and then you                        sensational people started banging                        on the door... that's all...                        except ... he's gonna give you                        guys a hard time.                                  CATES              Cates looks up as he hears that remark.  Notices KEHOE,              another Detective, entering with a long suitcase.                                  POLICEWOMAN                        What makes you think so?                                  LISA                        I think he liked shooting cops a                        lot more than getting laid.              Cates watches Kehoe unpack the box.                                  CATES                        Is that what this guy Ganz had in                        the hotel?                                  KEHOE                        Every last bit of it.  The big                        guy's room was empty.                                  CATES                        I'll help you out.              Cates and Kehoe start going through the suitcase.  Kehoe              produces a speed loader for a .44...                                  KEHOE                        This guy must have had a .44 like                        yours, Jack. Now he's got yours.                                  CATES                        Shit.              Kehoe next produces several boxes of shells.                                  KEHOE                        This cat was real serious about                        his artillery.              An Attendant comes through, hands Kehoe a file. He opens it,              shows the file to Cates who reads the name under the mug shot.                                  CATES                        Billy Bear...                                  KEHOE                        Backup man from the East Bay.                        Worked with Ganz a few years ago                        and sprung him from the road gang.              Kehoe opens the second file.  Four mug shots are inside.                                  CATES                        Who are all these?                                  KEHOE                        They all pulled a bunch of jobs                        with Ganz about four years ago.                                  CATES                        Wait a minute, wait a minute...                        who's this?                                  KEHOE                        Uhh ... Wong, Henry Wong.  He was                        in on the same job.              Cates spins the file around so that both Ruth an Kehoe can              see it, throws the forensic shots down beside it.                                  CATES                        Tell me that's not the same guy.                                  KEHOE                        Hey ... Dick Tracy.                                  RUTH                        Did Ganz have a grudge against his                        old friends?              Haden comes out of his office.                                  HADEN                        Get in here, Cates.              Cates ignores him.                                  CATES                        I think I wanna have a discussion                        about it with any of the ones                        still walking.  Can we find them?                                  KEHOE                        Here's the file. Cates checks the                        file.                                  CATES                        One of  em's in the slam.                                  HADEN                        Damn you, Cates ... Get in here.              Cates walks into Haden's cubicle.                                  CATES                        I want to be left alone on this                        one. Algren was killed with my gun.                                  HADEN                        Yeah, I read the report...              Haden shuffles some papers, seems to ignore Cates.                                  CATES                        Hey, the bastard's got my gun.  I                        want it back.                                  HADEN                        Jack, come on, there is an                        official department policy about                        cop killings. Cop killers                        represent a special priority                        because any man crazy enough to                        kill a cop is a greater threat to                        an unarmed civilian... In other                        words, we can't seen like we're in                        the revenge business... I know, we                        all know the truth's a little                        different.              Cates almost smiles at Haden.                                  CATES                        Yeah...                                  HADEN                        Anthing botherin' you besides                        losin' your gun?                                  CATES                        Yeah.  It bothers me when cops get                        hurt while I'm makin' a play. I                        don't like it.                                  HADEN                        You might be more of a team player                        and a little less of a hot dog on                        this one, Jack.                                  CATES                        Being a hot dog's worked pretty                        well for me so far... Besides, I                        got a lead...                                  HADEN                        Okay.  You're not a team player.                        You gotta do things your own way.                        Fine.  Nail this guy and make us                        all look good.  But you better                        watch your ass.  If you screw up,                        I can promise you, you're goin'                        down.                                  CATES                        You really know how to send a guy                        out with a great attitude. He                        starts to go.                                  HADEN                        Jack?                                  CATES                        Yeah?                                  HADEN                        Try not to get your ass shot to                        pieces. We got enough dead cops on                        this one.                                  CATES                        I'll keep it in mind.              Leaves.              TRANSITION.              CITY STREET              Heavy vehicle and pedestrian traffic. Cates stands near a hot              dog stand. Elaine joins him. Cates is eating a hot dog and              studying a police file.                                  ELAINE                        Great place for lunch.                                  CATES                        Yeah, one of my favorites.                                  ELAINE                        You made the front page.              He hands her a dog.                                  CATES                        Yeah, Guess it must have been a                        slow news day...                                  ELAINE                        Jack, are you okay?                                  CATES                        Sure, okay, fine, no problem...                        See, there's this kid in jail ...                        First thing I got to do is go up                        and see what he knows ...              He points to the file.                                  ELAINE                        I thought you might come over to                        my place to recuperate.  I don't                        have to go to work until the day                        after tomorrow.              They begin to stroll down the street.                                  CATES                        I got nothing to recuperate from.                        There's a guy out there with my                        gun, and I want it back.              She's not happy with this attitude.                                  ELAINE                        Look, spare me the macho bullshit                        about your gun...                                  CATES                        Bullshit?  I'll tell you about                        bullshit.  My gun's a real weapon                        in the hands of a real maniac who                        knows how to use it.  It isn't my                        macho bullshit that's killing                        people, my gun is ...                                  ELAINE                        Look, Jack, if you make everything                        your personal responsibility,                        you'll turn into a bad cop.  It's                        not a practical way to function...                                  CATES                        I didn't get burned, two cops did.                        Listen, I'll tell you about                        personnel responsibility.  I like                        to get the job done right.  And if                        I don't get my job done right...                        I'm for shit.                                  ELAINE                        Here it comes again ... the sacred                        job...                                  CATES                        That's right.  I'm not like you.                        I'm not gonna sit on my ass                        wondering what's right and what's                        wrong... There's a psycho out                        there killing people with my gun                        and I'm gonna get him.  Because                        it's my job. And if you don't get                        that...                                  ELAINE                        I get that. The job first.                        Everything else, especially me,                        second. I get it. I don't like it.              Pause.                                  CATES                        No one asked you to like it... But                        that's the way it is.              TRANSITION.              PRISON CELL BLOCK - DAY              Cates and a GUARD on the upper deck approaching the door to              the cell block... The Guard shouts upward.                                  GUARD                        Open Nine.              With a huge metal clatters the door to the cell block opens.              CELL BLOCK - NEAR ENTRANCE              Cates and the Guard go through the door.                                  GUARD                        Close Nine.              They move forward together.                                  GUARD                               (continuing)                        It's Number Twenty-two... You want                        company?                                  CATES                        No, no thanks.              The Guard shrugs, stays by the door.              CATES              He walks down the cell block. Inmates stare at him from              inside the stark cells. They don't know who he is, but they              can smell a cop. Cates stops at Twenty-two, looks inside...              a bit startled. Obviously, Reggie Hammond has connections and              taste. The paint is fresh; there's framed prints on the wall              instead of pin-ups, and the overall feeling is that of a              graduate school dorm rather than a prison. Cates turns, nods              to the Guard at the end of the cell block. He throws a switch              and the door opens.              HAMMOND'S CELL              Cates steps inside. Hammond is at a table wearing a Sony              Walkman and writing in some detailed ledgers with a fountain              pen. He's boogeying in his seat to the music. Sprawled on a              bunk nearby is LEROY, another black inmate close to Hammond's              age. Leroy is leafing through a copy of a skin magazine. He              doesn't even look at Cates.                                  CATES                        Hammond.              Cates steps inside the cell.                                  CATES                               (continuing)                        Hammond!              No answer. Cates leans over, hits the override button on the              Sony.                                  CATES                               (continuing)                        Hammond!              Hammond jumps, grabs his ears in pain ... He pulls the              headset off and glares at Cates.                                  HAMMOND                        You got a name, cop?                                  CATES                        Try Cates.  And let's talk in                        private, okay?                                  HAMMOND                        Sure, anything you want.              He tosses the Walkman to Leroy who dutifully puts it on.                                  CATES                        Look, convict, I know all about                        you. Single.  No fixed address. No                        known relatives.                        One previous conviction. Armed                        robbery... six months to go on a                        three-year sentence.                                  HAMMOND                        You here to write my life story?                                  CATES                        Not likely, Reggie.  Maybe I just                        need some help.              Cates takes the forensic photo out of his pocket, passes it              across the table to Hammond.  He looks at it, hardly reacts.                                  HAMMOND                        Henry Wong... My old pal.  He's                        looked better...              He passes the photo back.                                  HAMMOND                               (continuing)                        Look, I got just six months before                        gettin' out of here.  Six months                        between me and freedom after bein'                        here three years... And I'm not                        gonna do anything to screw it up,                        includin' pee in the prison yard,                        knock up the Warden's daughter or                        rat on my old partners...              Cates swings the cell door back open.                                  CATES                        Too bad, Reggie.  I thought maybe                        you were a smart boy.  But I guess                        if you were real smart you                        wouldn't be a convict.              He smiles, decides to play his card.                                  CATES                               (continuing)                        I can see a second-rater like you                        wouldn't be any help at all goin'                        up against a real hard case like                        Ganz.              Hammond jerks his head around.                                  HAMMOND                        Ganz?              Pause.                                  HAMMOND                               (continuing)                        Ganz the one who shot Henry?                        Cates, I asked you a question...              Cates smiles.                                  CATES                        Yeah, I noticed...                                  HAMMOND                        Ganz is in jail.  He's gonna be                        there two years after I'm on the                        street.                                  CATES                        Didn't work out that way.  He                        busted out with a big Indian.                        They capped two guards on a road                        gang. Nice meeting you Reggie.              He turns, goes out. The door clangs behind him. Hammond jumps              up and bangs on the bars, shouts at Cates' back...                                  HAMMOND                        Cates, Come back here.              Cates turns, saunters back, leans against the door.                                  CATES                        Yeah?                                  HAMMOND                        I can deliver Ganz.  But you gotta                        get me outta here first.                                  CATES                        You're crazy.                                  HAMMOND                        I can help you, man, but you gotta                        get me out.  I got to be on the                        street.  Get me outta here.                                  CATES                        What's the big deal about you                        bein' on the street?                                  HAMMOND                        I got a lot to protect.                                  CATES                        Bullshit.                                  HAMMOND                        It's the only way you're gonna get                        Ganz.                                  CATES                        I'll think about it.              TRANSITION.              Cates typing several of official looking documents while              seated across from a rather dour-looking bureaucrat named BOB.                                  CATES                        Let me borrow your pen, Bob.              Handed over by Bob.                                  BOB                        You going to use your own name?                                  CATES                        Shit, no.                                  CANDY              He begins signing the documents.                                  BOB                        Jack, just remember one thing. If                        all this comes down, you don't                        know me.  I'm not gonna burn for                        you.  And I'll tell you something                        else.  If it all comes down, your                        ass is new-mown grass.                                  CATES                        Right.  Hey, no sweat.              He hands over the papers. Smiles.                                  BOB                        BOB You got him for 48 hours.              Bob studies the sheet.                                  BOB                               (continuing)                        You got a big career as a forger                        if you decide to go that way,                        Jack...   I'll ring security.              TRANSITION.              PROCESS ROOM - PRISON - DAY              The GUARD leads Hammond to a steel cage. Harmnond's now              wearing a beautifully tailored plaid suit.              The Guard shouts to ANOTHER GUARD on the far side.                                  GUARD                        Prisoner G21355 ... Hammond.                                  SECOND GUARD                        Okay.  Send him through.              The gate slides open. The Guard geztures for Hairmond to              enter. Hammond walks to the far side of the pen.  The first              gate closes, the second one opens.              Hammond turns and walks over to Cates. The Guard comes up to              Cates, double checks his orders then unlocks Hammond's cuffs.                                  GUARD                        Gotta sign for him.                                  CATES                        Sure thing...              He looks over at Hammond who smiles at him.  Then looks at              Harmond's clothes...                                  CATES                               (continuing)                        This prison gives out $400 suits?                                  HAMMOND                        What are you talkin' about?  This                        suit's mine.  It cost $900.              Hammond dusts off a sleeve.                                  CATES                        We're supposed to be after a                        killer, not a string of hookers...                                  HAMMOND                        Listen, it may be a little out of                        date. You know, I got a reputation                        for lookingreal sharp with the                        ladies...              Cates hands some papers to the Guard.                                  GUARD                        He's all yours.              The Guard walks away as Hammond feels Cates' lapel.                                  HAMMOND                        We could change this for something                        good...Get you lookin' sharp for                        pussy.              Cates gives him a look.                                  CATES                        I don't need to hear your jive. I                        already got that department taken                        care of...                                  HAMMOND                        You got a girl... shit... the                        generosityof women never ceases to                        amaze me.              Cates slaps a cuff on Hammond's outstrethand, then puts the              other on his own wrist.                                  HAMMOND                               (continuing)                        Hey, no way.  Take off the                        bracelets or no deal.                                  CATES                        You just don't get it, do your                        Reggie?  There isn't any deal. I                        own your ass.                                  HAMMOND                        No way to start a partnership.                                  CATES                        Get this.  We ain't partners. We                        ain't brothers.  We ain't friends.                        I'm puttin' you down and keepin'                        you down until Ganz is locked up                        or dead.  And if Ganz gets away,                        you're gonna be sorry we ever met.                                  HAMMOND                        Shit.  I'm already sorry.              Cates yanks on the cuffs.  They move away.                                  ?                        TRANSITION.              OUTSIDE THE JAIL - DAY              CATES LEADS HAMMOND OUT.  THEY HEAD FOR CATES' BATTERED              CADILLAC.                                  HAMMOND                        This your car, man?                                  CATES                        Yeah.                                  HAMMOND                        It looks like you bought it off                        one of the brothers.              As they approach the car...                                  CATES                        Okay, let's get down to it.  I did                        my part and got you out.  So now                        you tell me where we're goin'?                                  HAMMOND                        Don't worry, I got a move for ya.                        An awesome move. A guy named                        Luther. Ganz'll be paying him a                        visit.  We go to him right away.                                  CATES                        Luther was part of the gang?                                  HAMMOND                        What gang you talkin' about, Jack?                                  CATES                        I can read a police file,                        shithead, and quit calling me Jack.                                  HAMMOND                        Just an expression man, don't mean                        nothin'.              Cates gets behind the wheel and kicks the engine over.                                  CATES                        I don't give a damn.  It happens                        to be my name.                                  HAMMOND                        Then what're you complainin'                        about? At least nobody's calling                        you shithead....                                  CATES                        I may call you worse than that.              Cates drives off.              EXT. STREET - MISSION DISTRICT - DAY              Cates' Cadillac purrs into view, entering a deserted street              within a rundown neighborhood.              INT. CADDY              Hammond seated next to Cates.                                  HAMMOND                        Just up the street, the other                        side, over there ... Now, don't                        bother knockin' on the door.                        Luther ain't the kind of guy that                        looks for company.                                  CATES                        Your pal nuts enough to take a                        shot at me?                                  HAMMOND                        Luther ain't the reliable type. I                        don't want you shot yet, Cates ...                        not before you been a help to me.                                  CATES                        I'm helpin' you, huh?              Hammond smiles.                                  HAMMOND                        Yeah. Didn't you know that?              STREET              The Caddy pulls to a stop.                                  HAMMOND                        Over there...232...              Cates double-checks his .38.                                  HAMMOND                               (continuing)                        You better let me borrow one of                        those.              Cates smiles.                                  CATES                        Sure thing, asshole.              Handcuffs Hammond to the door handle.  Grabs the car keys.                                  CATES                               (continuing)                        You just hang on.  And hope this                        big move of yours turns out to be                        something. Opens the car door.                                  CATES                               (continuing)              LUTHER'S VICTORIAN              Cates knocks at the door. Nothing. Knocks again ... no              response.. From inside, he hears a faint noise but no              response to the knock. Holding the .38 in one hand, Cates              tries the knob with the other. The door opens. Cautiously,              Cates steps inside.              INT. LUTHER'S VICTORIAN              Long corridor ahead. No sign of Luther.              CATES              Moves down the corriaor, checks the rooms off to one sides.              LUTHER LUTHER              slips into the hallway behind Cates... Cates turns just as he              gets to the kitchen. Luther holds a gun. Cates drops to a              crouch and aims the .38. Luther whirls and fires at Cates. As              wood and plaster fly out all round him, Cates makes a running              dive for the floor. Luther runs out before Cates has              regainehis feet.              STREET              Luther rushes out the front door and heads toward the              Cadillac.              HAMMOND              Watches as Luther heads down the sidewaltoward him. As he              starts to pass by... Hammond steps out suddenly... Flattens              him with the car door. Luther drops, stunned. Hammond, still              restricted by being cuffed to the door handle, reaches and              grabs his pistol.                                  CATES                        Hammond, Drop the Goddamn gun.              Hammond looks up. He sprints across the pavement. Aims his              gun at Hammond.                                  HAMMOND                        Quit playin' cop and undo this                        cuff, Jack, I need to talk to this                        man.                                  CATES                        I'm tellin' you to drop the Goddam                        gun.                                  HAMMOND                        I got a whole thing about people                        pointin' guns at me.                                  CATES                        Just throw me the Goddamn gun.              Long moment. Then Hammond smiles and tosses him Luther's              pistol.  Luther groans. Cates puts his foot on Luther's belly              and pulls himself into a standing position, cuffs him.                                  HAMMOND                        Luther, I always told you the                        physical side of life wasn't your                        gig.  Look at you, all messed                        up... Course you never were much                        in the snappy dresser department,                        were you?              Cates now has Luther ready to be questioned.                                  CATES                        Come on, talk to him.              Hammond turns to smile at Luther.                                  HAMMOND                        What's happening, Luther?                                  LUTHER                        I thought you were inside...                                  HAMMOND                        Meet my travel Agent.              Luther leans forward, looks straight at Cates.                                  LUTHER                        A cop...                                  CATES                        I sure ain't his fairy                        godmother... now I'm looking for                        Ganz...where is he?                                  LUTHER                        Haven't seen him for years. That's                        the truth.                                  CATES                        You just took a shot at me,                        asshole. I think you do know where                        he is.                                  LUTHER                        Who gives a fuck what you think?              Cates grabs the still open Cadillac door, slams it into              Luther. He falls backwards. Cates looks at Hammond.                                  CATES                        Hey, this works pretty good.                                  HAMMOND                        Thank you.                                  CATES                        Want to try it again?              Luther sits up again, glares at Cates.                                  LUTHER                        Ganz and Billy got my girl,                        Rosalie.                                  CATES                        I think I met her.  Now tell us                        something we don't know, like                        where they stashed her.                                  LUTHER                        I don't know.              Cates slams the car door agains him again.                                  HAMMOND                        I gotta tell you he's having a                        ball with this car door, Luther...                        You'd better think of somethin' to                        tell him.              Luther besitates...flashes a look at Hammond, who sends him              a silent fleeting reply.  Maybe Cates sees this. Maybe not.                                  LUTHER                        He ... he wants me to help him                        skip town.                                  CATES                        When? How?                                  LUTHER                        I dunno ... he's gonna call me...              Another look at Hammond.                                  LUTHER                               (continuing)                        He's gonna call me on...Tuesday.              Something's wrong with all this.  Cates isn't sure just what.              Not yet. He looks at Hammond.                                  CATES                        What do you think?                                  HAMMOND                        I think you better put him on ice,                        man.                                  CATES                        He's gotta take that call ... if                        there is one.                                  HAMMOND                        If you let him run around till                        Tuesday, he's gonna run right to                        Ganz and warn him. Ain't you,                        motherfucker?              Luther makes a play toward Hammond, who laughs, doesn't even              flinch.                                  HAMMOND                               (continuing)                        Luther, are you angry with me?              Cates wrestles Luther into the back seat, turns to Hammond.                                  CATES                        I don't know what the hell you're                        smiling about, watermelon. Your                        big move turned out to be shit.              HAMMOND Just stares at Cates, keeps smiling...              TRANSITION.              BOOKING - POLICE PRECINCT - NIGHT              Two Uniforms follow a sullen Luther, Cates and Hammond to the              DUTY SERGEANT... Cates speaks to him through the small              window.                                  CATES                        Assault on a police officer with                        a deadly weapon.  Carrying a                        concealed weapon.  Resisting                        arrest, Disturbing the peace.                        Public nuisance...              The Sergeant begins typing out an arrest form.                                  CATES                               (continuing)                        I'll think up a few more and file                        the report tomorrow.              Cates looks back at Hammond as Luther is hauled away.                                  CATES                               (continuing)                        Come on, I gotta make a phone call.              As they move through the honeycomb of office partitions.                                  CATES                               (continuing)                        You stay with me.              Cates picks up the phone on the other side of the booking              desk. Dials ... waits for a response as TWO HOOKERS are led              past by an Arresting Officer. Hammond gives them the eye.                                  CATES                               (continuing)                        This is Jack Cates. Any messages?              ELAINE'S APARTMENT              Elaine is on the kitchen phone, speakingwhite putting her              coat on over her uniform for the evening.  One look at the              way it is cut and you know why she hates her job.                                  ELAINE                        Just one.  Some lady called.  Said                        she's a little hot-headed                        sometimes... But she still wants                        her occasional roommate. She'd                        like to talk it over after she                        gets off work tonight... if it's                        humanly possible....                                  CATES                        Elaine, look, I'm in the middle of                        sone stuff right now... I'm not                        gonna have time to come by. I                        don't know when I can get there.              Her face falls. Making the offer was hard enough.                                  ELAINE                        Come on, Jack ... you're making me                        work too Goddamn hard at this...              Jack is very irritated by this turn of events.                                  CATES                        Listen, Goddamn it if you think                        I'm happy about it, you're nuts.                        I just gotta take care of a few                        things, okay?                                  ELAINE                        This is not the way people who                        care for each other are supposed                        to behave.              Cates says nothing.  She hangs up angrily.              BOOKING              Hammond is working on the girls.                                  HAMMOND                        Excuse me, ladies, you seem to be                        in need of assistance.                                  HOOKER TWO                        Look, we got enough problems, we                        don't need no tight-ass court-                        appointed lawyer trying to                        bullshit us!                                  HAMMOND                        Sweetheart, I'm not trying to                        bullshit you. I don't know whether                        or not you ladies heard but the                        city is coming down real hard on                        people practicing unlawful carnal                        knowledge.                                  HOOKER ONE                        So what are you trying to say,                        fella?                                  HAMMOND                        I'm trying to say that you're not                        just walk in that courtroom and                        get gonna slapped with a $50 fine                        and be back on the street turning                        tricks tonight. You both are going                        to do some time. About 30 days                        each... Unless, of course,we talk                        real business.                                  HOOKER TWO                        So where do you want to do it,                        honey? You wanna hop up on the                        counter?                                  HAMMOND                        No, we can go to the back room.              Cates walks over and pulls him by the shoulder.                                  CATES                        We're on the move. Let's go. As                        they walk toward a corridor.                                  HAMMOND                        Do you know how close I was to                        getting some trim.  And you                        fucked' it up.                                  CATES                        Yeah, well, my ass bleeds for you.                        And I didn't get you out so you                        could go on a Goddamn "trim"                        hunt... stop moaning.                                  HAMMOND                        Speakin' of moans my Stomach is                        startin' to growl.                                  CATES                        We eat when I say we eat.                                  HAMMOND                        Bullshit ... I ain't moving  till                        I get something to eat. You've                        been treating me like shit ever                        since I came out here.  If you                        don't like it, you can take me                        back to the penitentiary and kiss                        my hungry black ass good-bye.  And                        I want some food some place nice..                        Some good people, nice music...                                  CATES                        Yeah, I'm hungry too. I know of a                        place. Let's go eat.                                  HAMMOND                        Yeah, I want mandolins, flowers...                        They move off down the corridor.              TRANSITION.              UNDERGROUND PARKING LOT - NIGHT              INT.  POLICE HEADQUARTERS              Cates and Hammond at a candy machine.  Cates drops in a              quarter, throws Hammond a candy bar...                                  CATES                        There's your God-damn dinner. Now,                        let's go.              They move toward a row of parked cars.              AT THE CADDY                                  HAMMOND                        Who'd you call on the phone back                        at the booking station?                                  CATES                        Just get in the car and keep your                        mouth shut.              Hammond gets in the car as Cates readjusts Elaine's scarf on              the mirror.                                  HAMMOND                        Must of been your lady friend...              Cates frowns at him.                                  HAMMOND                               (continuing)                        You really do have onoe, huh,                        Jack... what's her problem besides                        you?                                  CATES                        She's got the same complaint as                        half the Goddamn population.  She                        can't get the job she's trained                        for and it pisses her off...                        Anyway, what the fuck do you care?              Cates climbs in behind the wheel of the Cadillac.                                  HAMMOND                        No, man, tell me about her.  In                        jail they got me surrounded by                        guys wearin' blue suits twenty-                        four hours a day.  And I ain't                        built for that. Really?  With the                        clothes you got on you look like                        you'd love it.              Cates takes a belt from his flask.                                  CATES                        Now, where we goin', convict?                                  HAMMOND                        Mission District.  Gonna find us                        an Indian.              Cates starts the motor, slams it into gear.  Accelerates out              to the street.              TRANSITION.              EXT.  CITY STREET NIGHT              Cates and Hammon booming along in the Caddy.                                  HAMMOND                        Come on, Jack.  I want to hear                        about your girl.  When were you                        with her last ... You get what I                        mean?              Smiles. Cates smiles back at him, almost cruelly                                  CATES                        I don't give out the details.                                  HAMMOND                        Last night, two nights ago, three?              Cates keeps smiling.                                  CATES                        Last night.                                  HAMMOND                        You have a good time?              Pained expression on Cates' face as he comes back to reality.                                  CATES                        Sure.  Then we had a fight this                        morning.                                  HAMMOND                        At least you took care of business                        and got the important part in                        before she came down on you...Tell                        me a little about her.  She got                        great tits?              Cates gives him a hard look.                                  CATES                        I get the feeling it's going to be                        real long night.              They keep driving.              TRANSITION.              MISSION DISTRICT - STREET - NIGHT              The Cadillac drives slowly past a bar called Torchie's.              Stops at the end of the block.                                  CATES                        Well?                                  HAMMOND                        It's a long shot, but...Billy used                        to tend bar here a few years back.                        I heard him talk about it.                                  CATES                        This part of town, they'll make us                        for heat the second we walk in.                        Just back me up like you've got a                        piece...                                  HAMMOND                        Back you up?  Now why would I                        wanna do that?                                  CATES                        If they kick my ass, they'll sure                        as hell carve yours up...                                  HAMMOND                        But you can handle it all right,                        huh? Real amazin' how far a gun                        and a badge can carry some cats...                                  CATES                        Bullshit.  Attitude and experience                        get you through...              Cates and Hammond step out, glance toward the bar.                                  HAMMOND                        I been in a lot of bars where a                        white cop rousted me and some of                        the brothers. All those clowns                        ever had going for 'em was a gun                        and a badge...                                  CATES                        You need five years training to                        handle a joint like...              Hamnond's had enough of this debate.                                  HAMMOND                        Hey, you wanna bet?                                  CATES                        I got two problems.  Number one,                        I'm not playin' games.  Number                        two, you got nothin' to bet with.                                  HAMMOND                        If we come outta this joint with                        Ganz' phone number, or a dead                        Indian, or anything else useful,                        then you could turn the other way                        for half an hour while I get                        laid...                                  CATES                        Why?  Anybody that talks about                        women as much as you do probably                        can't get it up anyway.                                  HAMMOND                        That's never been one of my                        problems.                        Now, stop stallin', man, or else                        admit all this professional stuff                        you're talkin' about is a crock of                        shit.                                  CATES                        I'll tell you what happens if you                        lose... you tell the truth for                        once.                                  HAMMOND                        What are you talkin' about?                                  CATES                        You tell me what Ganz busted out                        for, he's after a lot more than                        just gettin' out of jail.  And                        whatever it is, you're part of it.                                  HAMMOND                        I don't know what you're talking                        about. I just wanna see Ganz                        nailed.                                  CATES                        The bet's off.              Hammond thinks it over..                                  HAMMOND                        Okay, if I lose, I'll tell you                        anything you want to know...              Cates reaches into his pocket.                                  CATES                        I'm gonna enjoy this ... here,                        I'll even loan you my badge.                                  HAMMOND                        I thought you said bullshit and                        experience are all it takes.              He takes the badge anyway as they head for the entrance.              TORCHIE'S WESTERN BAR              They step inside. Hammond reacts to...              REDNECK CITY              Longhorns mounted over the bar, Rebel Flags, Lone Star Beer,              armadillo posters. Even the waitresses wear Stetsons.              Rockabilly pounding from the jukebox. A Cowgirl Stripper is              doing the grind on a small podium.                                  HAMMOND                        This place don't seem real popular                        with the brothers.                                  CATES                        My kind of place. I always liked                        country boys.              Cates smiles, finds a table in the corner. A Cowgirl comes              over to take his order.              HAMMOND              Takes a deep breath, moves toward the bar. Smiles at the good              ol' boys. They don't smile back. He sits down at the bar.                                  BARTENDER                        Yeah.                                  HAMMOND                        Vodka.                                  BARTENDER                        Maybe you better have a Black                        Russian.                                  HAMMOND                        No, man, I think I'll have a vodka.              Hamnond looks around the room.              THE BARTENDER              places a glass in front of him, picks up the dollar as              Harmond flashes Cates' shield.                                  HAMMOND                        You know a big Indian named Billy                        Bear?  He used to work here.              The Bartender shakes his head, gives him a scowl.                                  BARTENDER                        Never heard of him.              Hammond lifts the shot glass and throws it through the mirror              behind the bar. Sudden silence throughout the room.                                  HAMMOND                        Now how's your memory doin'?                                  BARTENDER                        Fuck off.  I don't know what the                        hell you're talkin' about.                                  HAMMOND                        Maybe I better ask around, see                        what your pals think.                                  BARTENDER                        I don't give a shit who you ask.              The Bartender walks down toward Cates.              HAMMOND              Moves away from the bar. He stops at a booth occupied by              FOUR COWBOY PUNKS,              one a very big man.  Hammond grabs him by the arm and pulls              him up.                                  HAMMOND                        Up against the wall, cowboy.              The Punk breaks free, aims a massive haymaker at Hammond.              Gets a right to the stomach for his trouble.                                  HAMMOND                               (continuing)                        Now, I said get over there by that                        wall ... You hear me,                        motherfucker...              Looks at the others.                                  HAMMOND                               (continuing)                        Move it, rednecks.  On your feet...              He grabs the next by the arm, yanks him up.                                  HAMMOND                               (continuing)                        Over there...move your ass. Some                        of you rednecks seem a little hard                        of hearing, so I'll repeat it for                        everybody... I need word on the                        whereabouts of an Indian that goes                        by the name of Billy Bear. It's a                        police matter and you all look                        like you'd just love to                        cooperate...              CATES Quietly sips his beer. The other occupants of the bar              watch Hammond herd the four Punks to the end wall.              A BIG COWBOY              when Hammond isn't looking, he dashes toward the exit, Cates              puts out a leg. Sends the Cowboy crashing into a crowdedtable.              HAMMOND              Turns around at the noise.                                  HAMMOND                               (continuing)                        That wasn't necessary, buddy. I                        got this under control.                                  CATES                        Some of us citizens are with you                        all the way, Officer.              The Redneck Punks are now spread-eagled against the wall.              Hammond searches the first. He drops a wallet on the floor              and moves to the second. A switchblade, some credit cards and              another wallet fall to the floor. The last Punk has only a              roll of bills.  Hammond holds the money up to his face.                                  HAMMOND                        You're in trouble, big trouble, so                        you better start talking. Where'd                        a boy like you make a score like                        this?                                  PUNK                        It's mine, what the hell...                                  HAMMOND                        You must a rolled somebody.  They                        don't let punks like you take jobs                        that pay this much ... you sure                        you don't know a dangerous Indian,                        because unless you start talkin'                        I may just have to start looking                        down your pants with a                        flashlight...                                  PUNK                        What kind of cop are you, anyway?                                  HAMMOND                        I am your most terrible nightmare                        ... a bad nigger with a badge that                        entitles him to kick your ass...              Hammond turns to the Bartender...                                  HAMMOND                               (continuing)                        One of them is under-age.  Another                        attacked a police officer. And you                        know I ain't found what I came                        lookin' here for yet...              Walks back to the Bartender.                                  HAMMOND                               (continuing)                        The tall one had a weapon ... you                        want me to keep on makin' a list,                        or you got the picture yet?              He reaches for a towel under a pyramid of bar glasses. Jerks              the towel, the pyramid capsizes onto the floor. Huge crash as              the glasses break into a million fragments.                                  HAMMOND                               (continuing)                        Looks like you're on your way to                        bein' outta business, redneck...                        Now, let's see what can we fuck                        with next?              The Bartender doesn't have the look of a happy man.                                  BARTENDER                        Okay, okay.  The Indian hangs out                        with a girl down the block. Right                        where Chinatown starts.  She lives                        on top of the hardware store.              Hammond turns, grins at Cates. As far as he's concerned, he's              won the bet.  Cates nods, slips out the door.                                  HAMMOND                        I don't give a damn about his                        girl...                                  BARTENDER                        Look, give me a break, you're                        going to have to settle for her                        place.  It's the only thing I know.              He looks desperate.                                  BARTENDER                               (continuing)                        I'm tellin' ya, I'm giving you all                        I know.                                  HAMMOND                        Try obeyin' the law once in                        awhile, and I won't have to hassle                        you...              Turns to go, then turns back.                                  HAMMOND                               (continuing)                        But remember this, cowboy, there's                        a new sheriff in town.              Smiles, turns and goes.              TRANSITION.              STREET - ACROSS FROM TORCHIE'S - NIGHT              Hammond steps out of the bar.  He crosses to Cates by the car.                                  CATES                        I think you got something for me.              Pause.                                  CATES                               (continuing)                        The gun you took off that redneck                        in there.              Hammond smiles.                                  HAMMOND                        You made that move, huh?                                  CATES                        While you're at it, You can give                        me the switchblade, too.              Hammond reluctantly takes out a .22 automatic, slams it down              on the hood of the car.                                  CATES                               (continuing)                        Credit cards?              Hammond hands them over with the knife.                                  HAMMOND                        You already got a gun and you owe                        me a piece of ass.  I'll settle                        for the gun you just took.              A long moment. Then Cates slowly lifts the .22 automatic.                                  CATES                        You did a real good job... Guess                        you deserve a reward.              Removes the clip.  Throws it across the street. Hands Hammond              the automatic.                                  HAMMOND                        Motherfucker.              He throws the gun away.                                  CATES                        I sure am. Now let's go get us an                        Indian.              They walk up the block.              TRANSITION.              STREET - CHINATOWN - NIGHT              Neon signs with Sino lettering.              CATES AND HAMMOND              Walk down the street, spot a shop with a window display of              tools.  Look up at the darkened apartment windows. They walk              to the end of the block.              ALLEY              Stairwells lead to each apartment above the shops. Cates and              Hammond move along the buildings... Arrive at the back of the              hardware store. Quietly, they start to ascend the stairs.              STAIRWELL              The metal steps extend onto a platform by the back door.              Cates leans over the railings to look through the adjacent              window. Between the drawn curtains, a flickering glimmer from              a TV set. On the tube, various poses from stridently              exercising women.                                  HAMMOND                        What the shit is that?              Looks again. A female form passes by, goes out of the room.                                  CATES                        There.                                  HAMMOND                        Must be billy's girl.                                  CATES                        Come on.              DOORWAY              Cates gestures to the door lock. Hammond fiddles with it for              several moments. The door swings open. They step into a              darkened room.              APARTMENT              Cates takes the .38 from his pocket. He stops near the open              bedroom doorway. He looks at Hammond and then both men step              quickly into the room.                                  CATES                        Police! Nobody move!              Hammond reaches for the light switch. Takes a heavy blow.              Slumps against the door. A Woman's voice screams out.                                  CATES                               (continuing)                        Stay where you are!              The light goes on. Cates' gun points at a YOUNG WOMAN (CASEY)              in a flimsy dressing gown. Saturday Night Special held              between her palms, police style... A SECOND WOMAN (SALLY)              stands beside Hammond at the light switch. Larger and              slightly older than the first, she wears a man's shirt. Holds              a baseball bat in her right hand.                                  SALLY                        You better drop it or he's gonna                        get another one.                                  HAMMOND                        Hey, talk to here jack.  I don't                        feel like gettin' number two along                        side of the head.                                  CATES                        I said police.  Now drop the                        goddamn gun.                                  CASEY                        Don't give me that police shit.                        You drop it.              Pause.                                  CATES                        Okay, look, don't shoot.  I'm just                        reachin' for my badge.              Cates takes out his badge-Shows it to Casey.                                  CASEY                        I don't like this bullshit. I've                        seen fake badges before.                                  HAMMOND                        I'll tell you something lady, this                        guy is a real nervous cop - He's                        just liable to pull the trigger.              Cates takes two steps toward Casey...                                  CATES                        Naw, I'm the calm type.  I know                        you don't want me to shoot you,                        and I know that you don't want to                        shoot me.              He takes two more steps toward her.                                  CATES                               (continuing)                        Shooting a cop puts you away for                        a long time.              Holds out his hand.                                  CASEY                        You assholes better be real.              She hands Cates the gun. Sally prods Hammond with the              baseball bat.                                  SALLY                        Just wait a Goddamn second here,                        let's see your badge...              He snatches the bat out of her hands.                                  HAMMOND                        Don't have one.                                  SALLY                        I knew it.  Call the cops.              Casey walks over to the phone.                                  CATES                        Tell them it's Cates, Detective                        31st District.  Then put your                        clothes on. If you don't answer                        some questions I'm taking both                        your asses in.              After a moment, Casey puts down the phone.                                  CATES                               (continuing)                        Now, let's cut out the crap, which                        one of you sees Billy Bear?                                  SALLY                        None of your business, cop.  The                        son of a bitch isn't here, and he                        isn't coming back.                                  CATES                        You can do better than that.              Turns to Casey.                                  CATES                               (continuing)                        How about it?                                  CASEY                        I used to go with him...I don't                        know where the hell he is.  I                        haven't seen him for two weeks.                        And I don't think I will.  He owes                        me money...                                  SALLY                        He's a Goddamn lowlife, the way he                        treated her.                                  CATES                        Sounds like a real stormy romance.                                  CASEY                        I don't much care what it sounds                        like to you, Cop. All I know is                        that I went a few laps around the                        track with him and I ended up with                        nothin' but the short end of the                        stick.              Cates looks over at Hammond.                                  CATES                        Let's go.                                  HAMMOND                        Wait a minute.  Maybe these ladies                        would like to go a few laps with                        us.  How about it? I been nearly                        three years in prison and...                                  SALLY                        Fuck off.                                  CATES                        Come on...              Hannond starts for the door with Cates.                                  CASEY                        If you find that bastard, Billy,                        tell him to stay out of my life.                        I don't need any more of his macho                        bullshit.              TRANSITION.              STREET  CHINATOWN - NIGHT              The two men walk among the bright neon lights. Neither of              them very happy.                                  CATES                        This sucks.  A maniac gets hold of                        my gun and goes all over the                        streets killing people with it.                        So, instead of me being where I                        oughta be, which is in bed giving                        my girl the high, hard one, I'm                        out here doing this shit, roaming                        around with some overdressed,                        charcoal-colored loser like you.                                  HAMMOND                        You wanna leave, man?  Let me take                        care of Ganz all by myself.                                  CATES                        You?  Don't make me laugh.  You                        can't take care of shit.  You've                        been dicking me around since we                        started on this turd-hunt.  All                        you're good for is games... So                        far, what I got outta you is                        nothin'...                                  HAMMOND                        I'm impressed with you too, Jack                        you did a real good job of busting                        up a couple of dykes bedded down                        for the night.                                  CATES                        Luther knew more than he told me                        and so do you...Now you better                        tell we what the fuck this is all                        about.  I gave you 48 hours to                        come up with something and the                        clock's runnin' ...              A long look at Hammond.                                  HAMMOND                        Maybe I don't like the way you ask.                                  CATES                        Who gives a Goddamn what you                        think? You're just a crook that's                        got a weekendpass ... You're not                        even a name anymore. Just a spear-                        chucker with a Goddamn number                        stenciled on the back of his                        prison fatigues...              They walk past.              TRANSITION.              STREET ACROSS FROM TORCHIE'S - NIGHT              They two men walk toward the Cadillac.                                  CATES                        Okay, Reggie, I'm done playing                        around. I want to know what's                        going on and I'm going to beat the                        living shit out of you until you                        tell me.              Hammond goes into a street rap.                                  HAMMOND                        You beat the shit out of me?                        Don't make me laugh, sucker.  You                        don't know how I'd dance on your                        face?  I'll hit you so hard, so                        many times, you'll wish you'd                        never been hatched.  I'll turn                        your face into cottage cheese.                        I'll make your girl think you been                        takin' ugly pills.  She won't even                        know who you are, sucker.              They stop by the car. Cates takes the gun out, lays it on the              hood.  Hammond stares at him. Cates next takes out his              wallet, shows Hammond his badge, then lays the badge on the              car fender... Smiles.                                  CATES                        I guess the first thing I ought,                        to explain to you, nigger, is I                        fight dirty.              Hits Hammond a tremendous right hand full in the face.              Hammond sags, grabs onto the car fender for support. Cates              hesitates ... and Hammond kicks out, sending the partially              open car door slamming into Cates. Cates sprawls.                                  HAMMOND                        So do I.              Hammond aims a kick at Cates' head.  Cates blocks it with              crossed forearms, grabs, twists.  Hammond tumbles, rolls away              from Cates.  Both men struggle to their feet, circle each              other.              Hammond moves in only to receive twoquick blows from Cates,              a bit sooner than he expected.  Cates smiles.              Hammond dances in and out... Cates' breathing becomes more              labored. His windmill attack penetrates Cates' defense. Cates              clears his head, charges, bull-like ... His rush and greater              bulk send both of them crashing into some trash cans and a              brick wall.              Hammond is faster...              Cates is much stronger; Both men on their knees. They look at              one another. Silently, they move to their feet. Hammond's              back is to a wall... Cates keeps him there, negates the              lighter man's agility. They slug away, each now arm-weary...              Exchange a dozen blows. Finally, Cates steps back, arms at              his side... Breath coming like a bellows...              Hammond has to hold on to the wall; one more punch would put              him out.                                  CATES                        Now, you bastard, you going to                        tell me what's going on...              Puffing away.                                  CATES                               (continuing)                        ... Do I have to kick the shit out                        of you some more.              They stand facing one another. Hammond smiles. A black-and-              white comes roaring up the street. Sirens howling, red lights              flashing, it slides to a stop. TWO UNIFORMED COPS jump out,              guns drawn.                                  FIRST COP                        All right, you two.  Don't move.                                  CATES                        NO, no...it's okay...I'm police.                                  SECOND COP                        Yeah, sure.  Get your hands above                        your head.              He keeps his gun trained on Cates,and Hammond.                                  CATES                        My gun and badge are over there.                        And I'm too fucking tired to raise                        my hands...              Hammond rubs the side of his face. Cates falls back against              the patrol car. Still fighting for breath. The First Cop              lifts Cates' wallet off the Cadillac and looks at his badge,              shows it to the other cop.                                  FIRST COP                        What the hell's going on here?              Cates walks over, pockets his gun.                                  SECOND COP                        I've got a burglary call.  Two                        women say a couple of hoods broke                        into their place posing as cops.                                  CATES                        I was following a lead.  We                        rousted them... Go up and sweet                        talk 'em.  You can straighten it                        out.              The First Cop checks out Cates' badge and I.D.                                  FIRST COP                        Why don't you do it?  We got                        better things to do than                        straighten out your messes.                                  CATES                        So do I. I'll file a report                        tomorrow.              The First Cop takes out his book, starts writing.  He's              pissed.                                  FIRST COP                        I gotta file a..Report tonight                        asshole...                                  CATES                        Goes with the territory.              He grabs Hammond and they head for the Cadillac.              TRANSITION.              ALL-NIGHT GAS STATION              Cadillac parked behind the service area.              RESTROOM              Hammond looks' up at his bruised face in the mirror, then              washes up.  Cates is one step ahead of him. He rolls up a              piece of the wet towel and inserts it over his bleeding gum.                                  HAMMOND                        Too bad we got interrupted when we                        did.  I was getting ready to                        finish you off.              Cates straightens up from the wash basin.                                  CATES                        Yeah, right.  You want to try                        again?                                  HAMMOND                        Naw, you'd just call your pals                        back to bail you out one more time.                                  CATES                        They saved your ass, convict.                                  HAMMOND                        One thing's for sure, Jack.                        That's how you'll tell the story.              Cates dries off his face, starts out of the washroom.                                  CATES                        I'll even put it in my report that                        way.              The door closes behind Cates. Hammond leans back toward the              mirror, nudges a tooth with his finger.                                  HAMMOND                        Motherfucker.              GAS STATION PARKING LOT              Cates leans on the Cadillac as Hammond emerges. Hammond              starts for the passenger side.                                  CATES                        Wait a minute.              Hammond stops.                                  CATES                               (continuing)                        You come clean or we're going to                        go again.  Right here, right now.              Pause.              A long moment; Hammond decides be has no choice.                                  HAMMOND                        I been waiting a long time for                        some money.                                  CATES                        How much?                                  HAMMOND                        Half a million.                                  CATES                        Jesus.              Hammond smiles his meanest smile.                                  HAMMOND                        How's that for a number to give                        you heart failure? Guess you might                        start to get the picture after                        all. Mlaybe you're on the wrong                        side of the old law and order                        business..              Cates is unmoved.                                  CATES                        Just tell me about the money.                                  HAMMOND                        Me and my bunch hit a dealer in                        the middle of a sale. It's the                        kind of money nobody ever reports                        stolen. I was sittin' pretty,                        livin' in the high cotton, then                        somebody fingered me for another                        job. ... Some psycho who's out                        there capping people with some                        cop's gun.                                  CATES                        He's after your money.                                  HAMMOND                        You catch on real fast...Okay,                        Jack, let's talk deal. How much of                        my money you gonna let me keep?              Cates just looks at him.                                  HAMMOND                               (continuing)                        We split 50-50?                                  CATES                        Not likely, convict.                                  HAMMOND                        You gonna let me keep any of it?                                  CATES                        Depends on how things work out. I                        believe in the merit system. So                        far you haven't built up any                        points.              He smiles.                                  HAMMOND                        Okay, from now on, I'm gonna be                        real good, Jack.              Cates smiles back.                                  CATES                        Where's the money?                                  HAMMOND                        In the trunk of a car.  A lot                        better than under a mattress,                        right?              Cates smiles.                                  CATES                        Right, partner.                                  HAMMOND                        Get this. We ain't partners. We                        ain't brothers. We ain't friends.                        If Ganz gets away with my money,                        you're gonna be sorry we ever met.                                  CATES                        Yeah.  Right.              They get into the Caddy. Boom away.              TRANSITION.              The Cadillac moving through the city... Clock on the              dashboard showing 4 a.m. Cates at the wheel.                                  CATES                               (continuing)                        Where's the goddamn car?                                  HAMMOND                        You're a real case, you know that,                        Jack?              Smiles.                                  HAMMOND                               (continuing)                        This'll show you how smart I am.                        I got it parked.                                  CATES                        ...For three years?  Let's hope it                        wasn't a tow-away zone.                                  HAMMOND                        You just drove by it.              The Cadillac makes a screeching U-turn,i swings into the curb.              Cates leans out, looks at...              PARKING BUILDING              Narrow, multi-storied, with a garage-like opening and              signals... proclaiming 'Weekly-Monthly-Long Term."              CADILLAC                                  CATES                        Okay, now what?              Hammond gets out of the car.              Stands on the sidewalk.              Stretches.              Then gets into the back seats.                                  HAMMOND                        Since you're wired on benniest you                        get to stay up and stare at the                        building. I'm  tired, so I'm going                        to sleep. They take Sunday off.                        Place opens at seven o'clock                        Monday morning. Wake me up at a                        quarter till...              Cates stares at the place.                                  CATES                        You son of a bitch. You knew where                        the money was all along and all we                        had to do was come here and wait.                        I almost got my ass blown off                        twice tonight for nothing.                                  HAMMOND                        I wasn't sure the money was still                        there until we saw Luther. You                        almost got your ass shot off for                        nothing once, not twice, Jack.                                  CATES                        Shit.              THE CITY              Beyond the skyline, grey streaks of dawn etch the sky.              TRANSITION.              The Cadillac is pulled up facing the streets down the block              from the parking sections Cates walks in through the lot              entrance. Threads his way between the lines of parked              vehicles Tired and haggard, he carries a paper bag filled              with quick-order food.              CADILLAC              Hammond stretches on the back seat.  Cates slams the door              shut.                                  CATES                        I don't want you sleeping on the                        job.              Hammond yawns, eases himself into a sitting position.                                  HAMMOND                        The place opens in five minutes.                        Ganz ought to be here soon...              Cates tears the paper bag open. Passes a cup of coffee and              donut back. He sips his own coffee, adds some whiskey from              his flask... pops another bennie.                                  CATES                        You took a big chance, leaving                        this here all this time.                                  HAMMOND                        Not really.  I figured Ganz was                        put down for a long time.  And I                        knew Luther would never job me on                        his own.  He's too chickenshit.                                  CATES                        Guess what?  Luther just got in                        line.              Hammond sits up.                                  HAMMOND                        What?                                  CATES                        Musta got some primo bondsman.                                  HAMMOND                        Jesus Christ.  That's a disgrace                        The guy pulls a gun on a cop and                        he's out in 24 hours.  I tell you                        some of the courts these days are                        just a fucking revolving door.              INT. PARKING LOT BUILDING              Luther walks up to the window where a bored ATTENDANT reads              a comic book.                                  ATTENDANT                        Yeah?                                  LUTHER                        I want to pick up my car.              He passes across a faded form.                                  ATTENDANT                        Name?                                  LUTHER                        Hammond.              The Attendant examines the form, surprised.                                  ATTENDANT                        This is three years old.                                  LUTHER                        Yeah, I've been busy.              The Attendant opens a key file, begins rummaging in it.                                  ATTENDANT                        We don't wash 'em, ya know.                                  LUTHER                        How about chargin' the battery?                                  ATTENDANT                        That we do. And we put air in the                        tires. I'll even sell you some gas                        if you need it.                                  LUTHER                        Great, just great.              The Attendant finds the key, exits the booth. Luther follows              to an elevated stack of cars. The Attendant throws a switch,              the stack of cars begins to move.              STREET              Luther drives down the exit ramp in a dated Porsche              convertible.              The car is covered with a uniform coat of dust, except for              the windshield which has been wiped hastily clean.              Luther waits for a break in the flow of traffic, drives out.              Another street              Luther turns onto a side street and then suddenly Cate's              Cadillac appears ... starts to tail the Porsche.              CADILLAC              Cates follows Luther through several turns.              The Porsche jerks whenever it speeds up or slows down.                                  HAMMOND                        Jesus Christ, look at all the dust                        on my car...why in the hell don't                        he take it to a car wash?                                  CATES                        Didn't know you darker people went                        in for foreign jobs.                                  HAMMOND                        I had no choice. Some white                        asshole bought the last piece of                        shit skyblue Cadillac.              ANOTHER STREET              The Caddy follows the Porsche.              INT. CADDY              As they follow Luther.                                  CATES                        You'd think the guy'd be smart                        enough to know he was being tailed.                                  HAMMOND                        Tryin' to save his girl, man. He's                        in another world.                                  CATES                        If I was his size and had Ganz on                        my ass, I'd  just leave town.                                  HAMMOND                        I'm tellin' you the man's in                        love... he wants to be a hero for                        his girl.                                  CATES                        Oh, yeah, does bein' in love make                        you stupid?              ANOTHER STREET              The Caddy follows the Porsche.              As they follow Luther.                                  CATES                        I suppose you'd never be like                        Luther and let a woman get to                        you...                                  HAMMOND                        I let women get to me.  The quest                        for pussy is the meaning of life                        ... I got my own personal                        philosophy about 'em.  Keep women                        separate from guns, money and                        business ... women are for                        spending money.  They got nothing                        to do with helping you make it.                                  CATES                        That ain't philosophy.  That's                        common sense.              ANOTHER STREET              The Caddy follows the Porsche.              INT. CADDY              As they follow Luther.                                  HAMMOND                        Say, do you always work people                        over like you did Luther?                                  CATES                        If they don't tell me what I need                        to know...                                  HAMMOND                        Doesn't it get... Tiring?                                  CATES                        I'm not in this 'cause it's fun.                        I'm not into hitting guys 'cause                        it makes me feel good either... I                        do it 'cause it works-...                                  HAMMOND                        You got a very depressing view of                        life, man... you gotta smile once                        in awhile...              ANOTHER STREET              The Caddy follows the Porsche.              INT. CADDY              As they follow Luther.                                  CATES                        Maybe Luther hopes Ganz'll give                        him a piece of your money...                                  HAMMOND                        If he's hoping that then he's                        dumber than I think he is, which                        would be amazin', cause I already                        think he's real dumb.              ANOTHER STREET              The Caddy follows the Porsche.              INT. CADDY              As they follow Luther.                                  HAMMOND                        A long time agb Luther must of got                        the shit beat out of him so bad it                        just rattled his brain ... that                        would account for him making so                        many wrong moves in a row...                                  CATES                        Yeah, it doesn't look like he's                        gonna make it as a dangerous tough                        guy...              ANOTHER STREET              The Caddy follows the Porsche.              INT. CADDY              As they follow Luther,                                  HAMMOND                        You know, I'd be embarrassed if I                        let my wheels go the way you've                        done with this job.                                  CATES                        What you don't understand is, I                        don't give a damn about how this                        thing looks.                                  HAMMOND                        No class...                                  CATES                        Class isn't somethin' you buy,                        punk. Look at you, five hundred                        dollar suit and you're still a                        lowlife.              ANOTHER STREET              The Caddy follows the Porsche.              INT.  CADDY              As they follow Luther.                                  HAMMOND                        We're getting too close ... Cates,                        what's the matter, you been takin'                        dumb pills?                                  CATES                        Yeah, most cops are pretty dumb...                        But since you're the one that                        landed in jail what's that make                        you?              ANOTHER STREET              Luther pulls over to curb and parks.              CADILLAC              suddenly swings over several lanes of traffic and parks in              driveway of parking lot.              LUTHER - CATES & HAMMOND'S P.O.V.              He goes to the trunk. Rummages there ... picks up a flaming              red suit.              INT. CADILLAC                                  CATES                        That Goddamn suit is yours?              Hammond winces.                                  HAMMOND                        That was in style a couple years                        back, man.                                  CATES                        Right. if you ever switch from                        armed robbery to pimping, then                        you're all set.              Under the suit is a nondescript attache case. Luther takes              it, closes the trunk. Beads down the sidewalk.              CADILLAC                                  HAMMOND                        That's the money, Jack.              They jump out of the car, follow on foot.              STREET              Luther hurries along the sidewalk.              He reaches the corner, turns quickly...              CATES AND HAMMOND              Following a little way behind.              They pause at the corner, watching the pedestrian traffic              move by. Then turn down the cross street after Luther. Follow              him down a stairwell.              SUBWAY STATION - LOBBY              Escalators and open stairwells. Luther enters and pauses by              the doorway. Commuters crowd the counters and congregate near              the stairwells. More people are seated along hard plastic              seats. But no Ganz.  And no Billy.              Luther moves further into the station.  Cates and Hammond              enter. They keep Luther fixed between them, 50 feet ahead.              Luther seems to be wandering He walks through the shop area              and back toward the escalator. Hammond remains near the              arcade while Cates blends in with the commuters. Luther puts              the briefcase down at his feet and leans against a counter.              Next to him, a loud troop of Boy Scouts marches by.  A crowd              of people from the train area below flows through the lobby              obscuring Luther from Hammond and Cates for a moment.  Cates              steps out to get a better view and suddenly spots Ganz moving              through the crowd toward Luther. Be looks over at Hammond              across the station and motions.  Then they both start moving              in on Ganz, trying to intercept him before he gets deeper              into the crowd.              Ganz moves cautiously through the station. A crumpled              newspaper held absently in his hand. He scans the faces of              the commuters and spots Luther. Fails to notice Cates and              Hammond closing in on him from two directions.              A PATROLMAN comes up. Starts chatting amiably with a Boy              Scout next to Luther. Ganz hesitates in his approach. He              motions Luther to move awaye, but Luther starts to panic when              he sees Cates and Hammond closing in...              Ganz reacts to Luther, turns and spots the two men. He makes              an immediate break for open ground. The Patrolman sees Ganz              start to run. The newspaper is thrown to the floor... Ganz              swings Cates' .44 toward Hammond.                                  PATROLMAN                        Hey--you!              Ganz whirls, his feet slipping on the marble floor. His shot              at Hammond goes plowing into the ceiling. The crowd starts to              panic and run in all directions.              The Patrolman has al ready brought his own gun out. Levels it              at Ganz.                                  PATROLMAN                               (continuing)                        Put it down.              BILLY BEAR              Suddenly appears, Rosalie at his side. Billy Bear's .44              blasts the Patrolman onto his back.              Ganz comes up and scrambles through the screaming patrons.              He, Billy and Rosalie head toward the escalator. Cates has              already brought out his .38... Can't get a clean shot through              the chaos.              Hammond pushes his way through the crowd to Cates.                                  HAMMOND                        Shoot the sons of bitches.              Cates can't risk it...                                  HAMMOND                               (continuing)                        You don't want to chance it, then                        give me the gun...              A moment.                                  HAMMOND                               (continuing)                        Bullshit. Then i'm staying with                        the money.                                  CATES                        You stay with me...                                  HAMMOND                        No way...              Hammond starts after Luther. Cates turns, starts to aim at              Hammond. Hesitates...              PASSENGER WALKWAY              Panic has overtaken everyone as they try to escape the madman              with the gun.              Ganz and Billy elbow and kick their way through the crowd,              tugging Rosalie along...              Cates, gun in hand, creates further-panic as he moves after              Ganz.              Ganz grabs a man beside him.              Shoves him hard into the passengers in back.              The man knocks over several more people creating a roadblock.              Ganz vaults over the railing and starts for the trains.              Cates loses a few more precious seconds grappling through the              terrorized passengers...              TRAIN AREA              The usually jammed area looks like an empty stockyard. The              patrons huddle in fear against any available wall.              Cates bursts out of the stairwell...              TUNNEL              Red and green signal lights. The light goes red, a train              roars up and the doors hiss open.              Billy and Ganz fight through the passengers getting off the              train, jump on board; Billy pulls Rosalie behind him.              CATES              Running for the doors...              Suddenly, a SECURITY OFFICER appears, riot gun in hand.                                  SECURITY OFFICER                        Freeze!                                  CATES                        No! No!  There they are!                                  SECURITY OFFICER                        Just put it down real slow.              The train doors close.                                  CATES                        I'm a policeman, you asshole!                                  SECURITY OFFICER                        Don't even try... now drop it                        or - you're all done.              He means it, points the riot gun even closer... The train in              front of him moves away.              Cates carefully places the .38 on the pavement. Then raises              his hands in the air.                                  CATES                        Shit.              TRAIN STATION - LOBBY              Witnesses stand in nervous little knots. Give versions of              what happened to notepad-toting patrolmen. Hospital              Attendants minister to various and sundry complaints.              Cates sits on a passenger bench, obviously dejected.  A              voice comes echoing from behind.                                  HADEN                        Cates.              Haden, silhouetted against the light from the street.                                  HADEN                               (continuing)                        What the bell happened?                                  CATES                        I lost them, that's what happened.                                  HADEN                        How did they get away?                                  CATES                        They ran.  As fast as they could.                        Caught a train.              Haden watches the Morgue Personnel wheel out the body of the              Patrolman.                                  HADEN                        Which one pulled the trigger?                                  CATES                        The Indian.  I was about 30 yards                        away.                                  HADEN                        You couldn't get to him?              Cates shrugs.                                  HADEN                               (continuing)                        What a screw-up.                                  CATES                        Right.  I screwed up.  I fucked                        up. I messed up.  Anybody could                        have done better, especially you.                        I bet you're real good at hitting                        targets through crowds.              Haden starts toward the street. Looks back at Cates.                                  HADEN                        Don't duck the bullet Cates. Why                        didn't you call in for backup                        instead of makin' a grandstand                        play?                                  CATES                        I didn't have the time.                                  HADEN                        Too bad, it would've covered your                        ass.  Now you're in the shit and                        so's the department. In case you                        haven't noticed, this wasn't our                        finest hour... I told you everyone                        was watchin' on this one. Maybe                        you better start thinkin' about                        writin' tickets off a three wheel                        bike.              Cates looks at Haden for a moment...              Turns and walks away.              TRANSITION.              PREDMORE HOTEL - NIGHT              Hammond across the street from Predmore.              Standing in a phone booth talking into the receiver...              He turns and looks acain at the hotel...              Hangs up.              Walks into a nearby bar.              TRANSITION.              VROMAN'S ROCK CLUB              HAMMOND              Punk Dancers all over the floor.              A rock group blasting away...("NEW SHOES" - Vocal)              HAMMOND              At a back booth...              A MAN (SOSNA) approaches carrying a small suitcase.                                  HAMMOND                        How you doing, man?                                  SOSNA                        Not bad, not bad.              Puts the suitcase down on the table.                                  SOSNA                               (continuing)                        You want to go outside?                                  HAMMOND                        Naw, right here's okay.              Dancers sliding and jerking in front of them.                                  SOSNA                        You sure?                                  HAMMOND                        I'm sure.  Everybody here's                        looking at everybody else's ass.              Sosna pops open the suitcase. Lid shielding the contents from              the patrons...                                  SOSNA                        I got some real nice merchandise.                        All of it's clean.              Suitcase arranged like q salesman's display case. Tightly              spaced rows of handguns mounted in their holsters.                                  HAMMOND                        I like this one...              Pockets a revolver with a deft move.                                  HAMMOND                               (continuing)                        How about some ammo?                                  SOSNA                        It's loaded... I got some shells                        in here.              Opens another compartment. Hammond helps himself to two              boxes...                                  HAMMOND                        How much?                                  SOSNA                        This is clean shit.  No serial                        numbers and never been used...                                  HAMMOND                        Don't mess with me. How much?                                  SOSNA                        Five bills.                                  HAMMOND                        Five.  On credit.                                  SOSNA                        This ain't a credit business.              You know that.                                  HAMMOND                        Yeah, I know that, but this is me                        and we're old friends. I haven't                        got the money so what are you                        gonna do about it?                                  SOSNA                        Give it back.                                  HAMMOND                        Try and take it.              A long moment.                                  SOSNA                        Fuck you.  You got no right for                        this kind of play.                                  HAMMOND                        I'll got your money to you. No                        sweat.              Hammonds heads for the bar.              Stands next to a good-looking woman (RITA). Nods to the              barkeep.                                  HAMMOND                               (continuing)                        Vodka. With a twist. And I want to                        run a tab.              Served up. He knocks half of it back, turns to the woman.                                  HAMMOND                               (continuing)                        My name's Reggie Hammond.              Big personality smile.                                  RITA                        So what?              She turns away as he takes a drink. He looks at another              pretty girl (ANGELA).                                  HAMMOND                        Hi there. I'm Reggie Hammond.                                  ANGELA                        I'm with somebody.              She turns away.                                  HAMMOND                        This ain't my night.              He drinks up.              TRANSITION.              SQUAD ROOM - NIGHT              Several Detectives are working at desks. Kehoe walks into the              office. He moves slowly to Cates' desk and slumps down in a              nearby chair.                                  KEHOE                        You look awful.                                  CATES                        So do you...been a long day.                                  KEHOE                        Long night, too, from what I heard                        ... Word's going around that in                        addition to losing Ganz for the                        second time, and in addition to                        Haden busting you back to                        Patrolman, some jig beat the crap                        out of you.                                  CATES                        Aw, bullshit, you heard wrong.                                  KEHOE                        Doesn't look like it.                                  CATES                        Nothing came in for me yet?  No                        calls?                                  KEHOE                        Nothing.              Kehoe's phone begins to ring.  Cates watches hopefully.                                  KEHOE                               (continuing)                        Kehoe... Okay, hang on.              Offers the phone to Cates.                                  KEHOE                               (continuing)                        It's for you... Ordinance.              Cates' excitement vanishes. He takes the receiver. Kehoe              begins to clean off his desk.                                  CATES                        Hello... Yeah, okay.  I'll be in                        tomorrow. That's right, you can                        depend on it.  Okay?              He slams down the receiver, leans back in the chair.                                  CATES                               (continuing)                        Bullshit red tape.                                  KEHOE                        I'm heading out. How about you?              Cates shakes his head.                                  CATES                        I got to wait for a call.                                  KEHOE                        Okay.  See you in the morning...                        you know, you ought to get some                        rest...              He walks out the door. Cates stares fixedly at the phone on              the desk. Hoping Hammond will call... Across the room another              phone starts to ring. Cates stares at the PLAINCLOTHESMAN who              answers.                                  PLAINCLOTHESMAN                        Yeah, he's here.              Cates stiffens.                                  PLAINCLOTHESMAN                               (continuing)                        Cates... line twelve.              Cates snatches up the phone, shouts into it...                                  CATES                        You motherfucker, where are you?              ELAINE              In the Chronicle Restaurant and Bar, a well appointed              establishment off Montgomery Street.                                  ELAINE                        I'm at work, asshole.  Where else?                                  CATES                        Elaine! I... I'm sorry... I was                        expecting somebody else... police                        business.                                  ELAINE                        No wonder you're so popular.                                  CATES                        No, it's I'm just surprised you                        called.                                  ELAINE                        So am I.                           ELAINE                        CATES                   Jack, this afternoon...       Hey, look, when...                                  ELAINE                        You first.                                  CATES                        Look, I'm sorry about ... the way                        things have been lately.  I know                        I haven't been acting real great...              Behind Cates, Kehoe steps back into the room.                                  KEHOE                        Hey, Cates...              Cates swings around.                                  KEHOE                               (continuing)                        I almost forgot.  That pal of                        yours from the Vice Squad wants                        you to call him.                                  CATES                        What?                                  ELAINE                        Jack, are you still there?                                  KEHOE                        Yeah.  He said he rousted a bar                        with you last night.                                  CATES                        Jesus Christ.  Why the hell didn't                        you tell me before?                                  KEHOE                        I'm not paid to take your personal                        calls.  He was in some bar. .. off                        duty.              Cates interrupts.                                  CATES                        The number ... what's the Goddamn                        number?                                  ELAINE                        Jack?  What was that?                                  KEHOE                        Find it yourself.  It's on my desk.              Cates speaks back into the receiver.                                  CATES                        Elaine, I gotta put you on hold...                                  ELAINE                        Jack, wait...                                  CATES                        Just a second, that's all!              He hits the bold button, starts rummaging through the desk.              Paperwork scatters in all directions.              Kehoe watches him in silence for awhile then leaves. Cates              begins to dial.                                  CATES                               (continuing)                        Hammond... you son of a bitch,                        where are you?              Listens for a moment.              VROMAN'S ROCK CLUB              Hammond on the phone as the band rocks away.   (MONKEY              MASH - Track only)                                  HAMMOND                        Hey, Jack, how ya doin'? What took                        you so long to call, man? I been                        waitin' ... I'm at Vroman's up in                        the Fillmore. Yeah, Vroman's...                        'Course you don't hang out here;                        it's for the brothers.              SQUAD ROOM                                  CATES                        I'll be there in a minute. You                        don't move your ass, right?              Slams down the phone. Starts toward the door. Remembers...              He dashes back to the phone, hits the other line. Hears only              a buzz.                                  CATES                               (continuing)                        Oh, shit.              TRANSITION.              VROMAN'S ROCK CLUB              Band blasting away on another number (THE BOYS ARE BACK IN              TOWN - VOCAL)              Hammond now in the middle of the floor dancing his ass off              with a girl named CANDY. As the song ends...                                  HAMMOND                        My name's Reggie Hammond.              Tries his big personality smile.              This time gets one back.                                  CANDY                        I'm candy...                                  HAMMOND                        Excuse me, baby, but if i don't                        get some action tonight, I'm gonna                        bust.  You interested?                                  CANDY                        Hey, what kind of talk is that?                                  HAMMOND                        Oh ... You're a schoolteacher...                                  CANDY                        No, I go to a school to learn how                        to do hair. It's a government                        program. But really I want to be                        a model - and I am definitely not                        sellin'.                                  HAMMOND                               (humorously)                        Goodbye.              She stops him.                                  CANDY                        Hey, don't you think a hair                        stylists got any interest in                        gettin' it on?                                  HAMMOND                        Here you go sweetheart, throw it                        my way.              He gives her a kiss.                                  CANDY                        You're in a hurry.                                  HAMMOND                        Yeah, i been waiting three years.                                  CANDY                        You just quit bein' a priest or                        somethin'?                                  HAMMOND                        No, baby, nothin' like that.                        Look, there's a place across the                        street. We can go right over                        there...                                  CANDY                        What's the matter with my place?                                  HAMMOND                        No, it's gotta be here and now.                        Believe me. Only I don't have the                        damn money for a room...              The band starts up again. ("LOVE SONGS ARE FOR CRAZIES" -              VOCAL)                                  CANDY                        Yeah, well, even us non-pros                        expect the guy to pay for the                        room...              Cates suddenly appears... steps between them. Yells above the              band's noise.                                  CATES                        Where's luther?                                  HAMMOND                        Be polite. Say hello.  This is                        Candy.                                  CATES                        Hello. And goodbye.              She looks at Hammond. He nods.                                  CANDY                        Well, maybe I'll see you later ...                                  HAMMOND                        Here's hoping, baby...              Candy leaves and melts into the crowd on the dance floor.                                  CATES                        What about Luther?                                  HAMMOND                        What about Ganz?              Cates shrugs.                                  CATES                        We missed.                                  HAMMOND                        You missed ... Luther took a taxi                        to the hotel across the street.                        Made a phone call.                                  CATES                        Maybe we should pay Luther a                        visit.                                  HAMMOND                        Let him get some sleep.  He's                        going to need it.              They move to the bar.                                  HAMMOND                               (continuing)                        They must have set up a meeting                        for the morning; Luther left an 8                        am wake-up and put up the "Don't                        Disturb" sign.  He's trading his                        girl for the money.  All we have                        to do to grab Ganz is not go blind.                                  CATES                        So you took the rest of the night                        off...              Hammond smiles.                                  HAMMOND                        We don't have too many                        cheerleaders in prison. I though                        I might indulge myself in a little                        trim.              Cates orders two drinks.                                  CATES                        Tell me something.  Why didn't you                        just take the money off Luther and                        split?                                  HAMMOND                        Forget it. I want Ganz as bad as                        you do and I got some other news                        for you...              He opens his jacket slightly. Reveals a shoulder holster and              accompanying .45.  A long moment.                                  CATES                        I don't know why, but I'm going to                        let you keep it. Maybe because you                        told me you had it, or maybe just                        because I'm too tired to argue...                                  HAMMOND                        You sure that's the reason?              Pause.                                  CATES                        Thanks for callin' in... and I                        guess Maybe... Look, I'm sorry I                        called you Watermellon nigger...                        those kinds of things. I was just                        leanin' on ya, doin' my job.                                  HAMMOND                        Bein' good at your job don't                        explain everything, Jack ...                                  CATES                        Yeah. Guess not.              Hammond gives him a big smile.                                  HAMMOND                        As long as you're feeling like Abe                        Lincoln, how about payin' me on                        our bet?  We got time and all this                        pussy around here's drivin' me                        crazy. See that one over there,                        the one I was with...              He nods at Candy across the way.                                  CATES                        Yeah, I see her.                                  HAMMOND                        I can just take her right across                        the street to Luther's hotel.  All                        I need is some money for the room.                                  HAMMOND                               (continuing)              Big smile as Cates produces some cash. Hammond counts it              eagerly. Looks around. Candy suddenly appears like a trout              seeing a lure.  She grabs the money.                                  CANDY                        Hello, again.                                  HAMMOND                        I just struck it rich... I think                        we can do a little business.  As                        a matter of fact, I think we can                        have a party.              Hammond smiles, leads her out of the bar.                                  CATES                        Hurry back.              Cates watches them go, downs his drink. He fishes in his              pocket for a coin, moves to a wall phone. Dials...              CHRONICLE RESTAURANT BAR - NIGHT              A COCKTAIL WAITRESS answers the phone as Elaine pours a drink.                                  COCKTAIL WAITRESS                        It's for you.              Hands her the receiver.                                  ELAINE                        Hello.                                  CATES                        Hi, it's me...                                  ELAINE                        Fuck you.              She slams down the receiver.              SIDEWALK - FRONT OF VROMAN'S - NIGHT              Hammond and Candy exit the rock club. A line of young Punkers              waiting to get inside... Hammond and Candy are in a tight              clinch, a little giggly.                                  CANDY                        So... what did you have in mind?              Suddenly, Hammond sees Luther emerge from the Predmore across              the street.                                  HAMMOND                        Oh no, not now!              Luther moves down the street with the briefcase.  Hammond              pulls Candy back inside Vroman's.              VROMAN'S ROCK CLUB - BAR              Rock group still blasting away... (LOVE SONGS ARE FOR              CRAZIES - Vocal continues)              Hammond and Candy reappear, knocking aside a waitress about              to refill Cates' drink.                                  CATES                        That was quick.                                  HAMMOND                        When you been in prison three                        years, it don't take long. Let's                        go.                                  CATES                        Why?                                  HAMMOND                        Luther's on the move...              Cates jumps up, runs out. Hammond looks at Candy.                                  HAMMOND                               (continuing)                        I'll be back. Trust me.              He kisses her.              Runs off after Cates. She stares at him in disbelief.              STREET LIGHT              Luther checking over his shoulder for shadows, walks down the              block. Turns into a narrow street.              A BUS STOP              Luther waits, impatient.              Checks his watch.              Looks up and down the street.              He double-checks the bus stop sign over his head.              Just as a bus pulls to a stop, air brakes hissing ...              LUTHER              Gets in.              Sees that the driver is Billy Bear...              BUS              The bus starts up. Luther hesitates in the front. On the wide              rear seat is Ganz. Rosalie beside him.                                  GANZ                        Open your coat. Both sides.              He shows he's not packed.                                  LUTHER                        Let her go.                                  GANZ                        First, the money.              Luther takes a step.                                  GANZ                               (continuing)                        Just show me.              Luther puts the case on a side seat, opens it for display.              ANOTHER BUS STOP              Commuters look up expectantly. One of two drift toward the              curb. Jump back in alarm as the bus roars by.              BUS              Ganz is satisfied. Luther closes the case.                                  LUTHER                        Rosalie, you okay?                                  GANZ                        What are you talkin' about? I said                        I wouldn't hurt her.              And then he shoots Luther. Right between the buttons.                                  GANZ                               (continuing)                        I never break my word.              Laughs as Rosalie begins to scream.              CATES' CADDY              Barreling down the street, ignoring red lights.              Hammond shouts over the wind.                                  HAMMOND                        Notice something funny about that                        bus?                                  CATES                        Yeah. It missed the last four                        stops.              Cates pours on the gas.              BILLY BEAR              His eyes fall on the rear view mirror. A white Caddy dances              in the vibrating glass. Billy looks over his shoulder at Ganz.                                  BILLY                        Ganz!              THE CADDY              Swerves into cross traffic, makes a big press forward. Comes              abreast of the driver's side of the bus.              GANZ              Smashes a side window with the two handguns.              Blasts away.              Cates driving with one hand as he draws his gun.              CATES              Looks up as glass shards sparkle down.              He speeds up ... he is neck and neck with the bus.              Hammond has a clear shot of Billy Bear who gives a side              glance at him;              Hammond doesn't shoot...              Cates slows down and fires...              Billy is hit in the shoulder. Ganz runs up and fires again...              Hammond is hit in the arm. Cates grabs Hammond by the shirt.              Yanks him close. Throws the wheel over ...              CADDY              Swerves as bullets pepper the passenger side. Stuffing flies              out of Hammondis still warm seat. The right hand windows              explode. Then the Caddy spins out.              THE BUS              Roars away...              THE CADDY              Skids into a traffic sign, demolishing some newspaper              machines. Cates curses, tries to start the car. The engine              won't turn over. He looks at the distant bus.                                  CATES                        Goddamn! Goddamn!  Goddamn!              Pounds on the dash. What's left of the windshield falls in at              the impact.              TRANSITION.              SQUAD ROOM - NIGHT              Cates at his desk. Hammond seated nearby, now with a bandaged              arm.  Haden in front of Cates, furious.                                  HADEN                        A bus, you goddamn whiskey mick                        cop, you lost a stolen bus... We                        got five deaths related to Ganz,                        all of 'em law enforcement                        related, and you blow it for a                        lousy nigger convict...              Cates says nothing...                                  HADEN                               (continuing)                        That's rights I called him a                        nigger.  You bet I did ... I saw                        the report on that little piece of                        shit.  If he spent one legal day                        in his whole life, it'd be a                        record...This is it for you...                        suspension, review board... you've                        had it.  When it gets 'round you                        protect a con rather than nail a                        cop killer...              Cates stands up.                                  CATES                        He's got more brains and more guts                        in one corner of his asshole than                        any cop I've worked with.                                  HADEN                        Just cause you say it with                        conviction don't mean shit to                        me... How you gonna take to a pink                        slip, huh?.              Cates stands. Moves to Hammond. Handcuffs himself to him.                                  HADEN                               (continuing)                        Where the Christ do you think                        you're going?                                  CATES                        I'm taking my prisoner back to                        jail.              Hammond looks at Haden.                                  HAMMOND                        Goin' a little hard on him, aren't                        you?                                  HADEN                        Go fuck yourself convict.                                  HAMMOND                        You know for a man, you have very                        pretty brown eyes.              Cates and Hammond walk out.              UNDERGROUND PARKING LOT - POLICE STATION - NIGHT              Cates and Hammond walk stoically along a row of cars, arrive              at Hammond's Porsche.                                  HAMMOND                        Hey, how'd my car get here?                                  CATES                        I had it impounded.  Come on,                        we'll use it for haulin' you back                        to the slam.                                  HAMMOND                        Back to jail in my own car.  Ganz                        got away. Got all my money. It                        just don't seem right.                                  CATES                        I don't know about you, but I                        could use a drink... I'll buy you                        one.  It'll be my good-bye present.              Takes off Hammond's cuffs.  Looks at them.. Throws them away.                                  HAMMOND                        Sorry we didn't do better, Jack.                        I feel like I let you down.                                  CATES                        Naw, you didn't let me down.  It                        was a long shot all the way.  We                        gave 'em a good run at it.                                  HAMMOND                        Yeah, but we didn't get 'em.              They get in and drive off.              TRANSITION.              EXT.  CITY STREET - NIGHT              The Porsche blasts by ... These men want a drink.              TRANSITION.              CHRONICLE RESTAURANT AND BAR - NIGHT              Cates and Hammond walk in. It's late, the place is almost              empty. The Bartender is a woman with her back to them              conferring with a waitress about something.                                  HAMMOND                        It's late, they're closing...                                  CATES                        Don't worry about it.              The barmaid turns around to take their order.  It's Elaine.                                  ELAINE                        Hey, I don't believe it.                                  CATES                        Hiya, kid.                                  ELAINE                        I ought to have you and your                        friend thrown out...                                  CATES                        Don't.  We've had a hard night.                                  ELAINE                        I can see that.  Pardon me for                        saying so, but you look like                        shit.  What happened?                                  CATES                        We and my pal here have been                        taking it on the chin for the last                        few hours...              Hammond looks at her. He nudges Cates.                                  ELAINE                        Who the hell are you?                                  HAMMOND                        Name's Hammond, Reggie Hammond.                        I heard a lot about you. And any                        friend of Jack's is a friend of                        mine.              Gives her a big smile.                                  ELAINE                        I'm not so sure I can say the same                        thing...You don't look like a cop.                                  HAMMOND                        Well, I been workin' the other                        side of the street for the last                        few years.  And you don't exactly                        look like a shrink, wearin' that                        dress...                                  ELAINE                        Shrink major, not a shrink.              She pours three glasses of cognac. A STRAGGLER at the end of              the bar pipes up.                                  STRAGGLER                        Hey, lady, a drink here.                                  ELAINE                        We're closed.                                  STRAGGLER                        Hey, what the hell?              Elaine turns to him; it's short and sweet.                                  ELAINE                        Drink your drink, pay up and get                        out.                                  STRAGGLER                        You can't do this.  It's against...                                  ELAINE                        Hey, just fuck off.  My friends                        have guns.              Cates holds up his pistol. The man's eyes widen and he turns              his angry move toward her into a skedaddle out of the bar.              Elaine finishes drying a glass and approaches.                                  ELAINE                               (continuing)                        You real down?                                  CATES                        I've been better...Dead end.  No                        Ganz, no Indian.              He finishes his drink, puts down the glass.                                  CATES                               (continuing)                        I gotta call the station.              Looks back at Hammond...                                  CATES                               (continuing)                        Don't run off anywhere, okay?                        I've already got enough to worry                        about.              Moves away.                                  HAMMOND                        Hard man to live with.                                  ELAINE                        How would you know?                                  HAMMOND                        Hey, two days with him is enough.                                  ELAINE                        That's no bull.              She looks at him carefully. They both grin.              CATES              In the phone booth.                                  CATES                        Is there any report ... No ...                        Just tell me... nothing..Yeah I                        figured... Okay, sure.              Hangs up.              ELAINE AND HAMMOND              Cates returns...                                  CATES                        Nothing.  No sign of Ganz.  No                        sign of the Indian.  Airport's                        clean.  Train station. Bus                        station.  Docks... Shit...                                  ELAINE                        Ganz is going to be hard to track.                        Just a pure schizo ... wires all                        crossed... totally without any                        pattern... kill anybody... The                        Indian... himself... anybody...                                  CATES                        How do you know?                                  ELAINE                        Jack, it's all over the papers.                        He's an obvious type.  But this                        Indian...              Hammond cuts in.                                  HAMMOND                        He was the only one of my bunch                        that was my friend... He was                        loyal, went all the way for you...                                  ELAINE                        In all due respect, he sounds kind                        of pathetic to me.  The kind of                        guy that runs home to his momma or                        some girlfriend.  Have you two ace                        detectives checked that out?                                  CATES                        Yeah, well the only woman of the                        Indian's we ran into was shacked                        up with her dyke girlfriend.  I                        guess she went with him before she                        came outta the Closet ... They                        both looked mad enough to kill                        him...                                  HAMMOND                        Yeah, too bad.  They were real                        nice lookin' too...In bed                        together, hardly any clothes one                        watching TV...                                  ELAINE                        What makes you think they were                        lesbians, or as you so quaintly                        put it, dykes?                                  CATES                        Come on, they were a little old                        for a slumber party.                                  ELAINE                        It might pay to reexamine a few of                        your more primitive notions.  I                        was in bed with a girlfriend                        watching TV last week, Jack, and                        one thing we know about me is I                        happen not to be a lesbian ...                        Now, if this Indian's girlfriend                        got upset when you came looking                        for him, it could just be she's                        still vulnerable to him.                                  CATES                        So what?                                  ELAINE                        When a guy hurts you, then comes                        back bleeding on his hands and                        knees, who knows, he might just be                        irrestible.                                  CATES                        Hey, Come on, shrink time's over.                        They wouldn't go see some old                        girlfriend.                                  ELAINE                        Oh, yeah, well look where you came                        when you were down and out.                                  HAMMOND                        She's got a point there, Jack.              Smiles. Cates reflects for a moment.                                  CATES                        It's the only thing we got.              He looks at Elaine.                                  CATES                               (continuing)                        Whaddya think?                                  ELAINE                        What do I know?  I'm just a                        bartender.                                  CATES                        Let's go, Reggie.              He kisses Elaine.                                  HAMMOND                        Do I get to kiss her too?                                  CATES                        If she's right, and if you don't                        screw up.              They exit the bar.              TRANSITION.              EXT.  STREET - CHINATOVIN - NIGHT              Cates and Hammond hidden in a doorway which affords them a              good view of the alley landing to Casey and Sally's apartment.                                  HAMMOND                        What if your girl's theory turns                        out to be bullshit?  I mean, they                        could be in Rio de Janeiro.                                  CATES                        I've got to play it rough with                        them. If they know anything, I'm                        gonna know it.              A woman appears, turning out to be Casey carrying a shopping              bag.                                  HAMMOND                        Hey, there she is...                                  CATES                        Whatever play I maker just back me                        up.                                  HAMMOND                        If we run into Billy first, let me                        try and talk him in.                                  CATES                        Sure, I'll give you a shot at it,                        but Ganz is mine.  You know, that                        big Indian plays it for keeps...                                  HAMMOND                        Yeah, and I know Ganz sure ain't                        no sweetheart... I wouldn't like                        it if this partnership ended                        before it gets started.                                  CATES                        Partnership?                                  HAMMOND                        Well, you got to admit we come a                        long way.              Cates gives him a smile.                                  CATES                        Let's just do it.              APARTMENT STAIRWELL              As Casey opens the door and starts toward the.stairs, Cates              and Hammond come through the door and grab her. They are now              on the ground floor stairwell.                                  CATES                        I hear you've got visitors.                                  CASEY                        Would you guys...                                  CATES                        No time for any of that crap any                        more, lady... I'll rip your lungs                        out if you don't answer fast.              Cates has her by the shoulder and arm; he twists her like a              vise...                                  HAMMOND                        He means it...              She looks at Cates, knows Hammond's correct.                                  CASEY                        Don't kill him.  Please, just                        don't kill him.              A long moment.                                  CATES                        You and the other one, you're                        still Billy's girls. You always                        were his girls...                                  CASEY                        Yeah.  Sure, i'm crazy in love                        with him, who wouldn't be...                                  CATES                        You're gonna help us take him.                                  CASEY                        No chance.                                  CATES                        He can live or die ... You let us                        in and he's got a chance to make                        it.  Otherwise, he gets ventilated.              Casey's face is seared with pain at the thought of Billy              dying.                                  HAMMOND                        If you help use he's got a chance,                        lady.                                  CASEY                        Billy's in the first room off the                        hall ... With rosalie ... He's                        makin' her happy tonight.  You                        don't understand about the way it                        is with him, do ya?                                  CATES                        Where's ganz?                                  CASEY                        In the back.  Down the other                        corridor.              Cates looks at Reggie.                                  CATES                        Looks like you're gonna get your                        chance.              They move upward...              INT. APARTMENT - NIGHT              Cates is stealthily going to the end of the second corridor              of the kitchen and living room area. That corridor turns at              a sharp angle and goes to the back. Hammond is at the very              front of that first corridor..at a door ... he shoves it back.              INT. FIRST BEDROOM              There is a bed and  Rosalie, undressed, is in it... Billy is              seated on the edge of it... pants on, shirt off, pulling on              his boots. Suddenly, Hammond is pointing a gun at him...                                  HAMMOND                        Give it up, Billy.  You got no                        shot at it.              Billy stands.                                  ROSALIE                        Don't let him hurt met Billy.                        You're not gonna let 'em hurt me,                        are ya?                                  BILLY                        He won't hurt you.  He ain't gonna                        do nothin' to you, he's just after                        me.                                  HAMMOND                        I'm tellin' ya, Billy, give it up.                                  BILLY                        I never was much for bein'                        rehabilitated.              Billy looks at Hammond.  With lightning sudden quickness, he              reaches and produces a huge Bowie knife from behind his back.              Billy smiles, laughs...then with a sudden, awful roar, he              leaps at Hamnond who unflinchingly fires his pistol.  The big              slugs stop Billy cold and throw him back against the bed as              Rosalie shrieks.              INT. BACK BEDROOM              Ganz, half-dressed, asleep, gun in hand, throws himself off              the bed, pushes Sally out of the way ... opens the door and              starts firing furiously down the corridor... He grabs the              briefcase and runs to the window.              INT. CORRIDOR/DOOWAY TO BACK BEDROOM              Cates has ducked the bullets ... he is inching toward the              door...              He pulls it open...Ganz from the window fires another shot              which almost gets him then vanishes down the fire escape...              INT. BACK BEDROOM              Sally gets to her feett yelling, runs at Cates as he appears              and futilely tries to hit him....He throws her down on the              bed as if she were a doll ... He goes to the window...              EXT. FIRE ESCAPE              Ganz peels down the fire escapes hits the ground. He stops              for a second... Then Cates appears, Ganz fires a shot then              starts to run. Cates keeps coming...              INT. FIRST BEDROOM              Hammond hears the gunfire, runs out of the room...              CATES              Dives down the fire escape.              BATHROOM              Hammond enters to find it empty of Ganz and Cates, only Sally              crying hysterically ... He runs out.              EXT. CHINATOWN STREET              Ganz runs out the back alley ...Cates pursues...              ALLEY              Hammond runs down the stairs toward the front of the building.              EXT. STREET              Ganz runs, turns out of an alley onto a street baked with              neon light. Cates pursues.              EXT. FRONT OF CASEY'S BUILDING              Hammond runs out, turns down the adjoining street.              CATES              Following Ganz, holding him in sight, but unable to get a              shot off...              PARALLEL STREET              Hammond running down a street near the one where Ganz is              being chased...              MAIN STREET              Cates fires at Ganz ... Ganz ducks in a doorway...              HAMMOND              on his street hears the shot... he runs toward it, down a              narrow alley between two buildings....              EXT. DOORWAY AT END OF ALLEY              Ganz hears footsteps approach from the opposite direction of              Cates.  They move very close to where be is crouched... it is              Hammond coming toward him... Ganz suddenly rolls a garbage              can in his path, dropping him like a stone.              CATES              Comes toward where he expects to find Ganz... Ganz has his              arm around Hammond's throat and his gun to his ear...                                  GANZ                        Drop it... you come up against me,                        you're gonna lose...              Hammond drops his gun.                                  GANZ                               (continuing)                        Hey, cop, come on...l got                        something for ya... come on...              EXT.  MAIN STREET              Cates comes out of the doorway from which he's fired...and              comes into the middle of the street, gun up ... he puts it              down when he sees Ganz with Hammond in jeopardy.  The hand              that's around Hammond's throat also holds the black bag.              Cates walks forward, his gun down at his side...                                  GANZ                        After I get outta this, cop...I'm                        gonna live forever...                                  CATES                        I don't think you're gonna make it.                                  GANZ                        Whaddya mean...I got your gun ...                        I got his money... I got                        everything...                                  HAMMOND                        Give up.  He's crazy.  He'll kill                        us both.              Cates still walking...                                  GANZ                        He won't try it. He's a fucking                        chickenshit cop. They're all                        fucking wimps, right, Cates?              They are now closer to each other. Ganz holding Hammond and              the money...                                  GANZ                               (continuing)                        Okay, cop ... give me your gun and                        I'll let him live. Come on, Cates,                        you're real good at giving up your                        gun.              Cates keeps the same methodical pace...                                  CATES                        Sure...              Suddenly, he crouches and fires twice. Hammond twists as Ganz              also fires. Ganz is hit in the collarbone and driven ten feet              backward. His grip on Hammond drops, Hammond dives to the              ground, looks at Cates.                                  HAMMOND                        Jesus Christ, I didn't think you'd                        really do it. You are crazy.              Ganz' gun still in his hand, but his arm useless at his side.              Cates is frozen in the crouch, ready to fire again.              Ganz is in enormous pain holding his bleeding chest... A look              of childish disbelief passes over his face.                                  GANZ                        I got hit.  I can't believe it. I                        got shot.                                  CATES                        You're done.  End of story.                                  GANZ                        I ain't gonna beg for my life. It                        ain't cool.              He runs at Cates full-speed, screaming, roaring, then is              stopped by two more bullets that tear fist-sized holes in his              chest. Cates rises from his crouch. Takes his gun out of              Ganz' now lifeless hand. Then goes over to Hammond...                                  HAMMOND                        Yours?              Cates raises the pistol.                                  CATES                        Mine...              Pause.                                  CATES                               (continuing)                        You okay?                                  HAMMOND                        Yeah.  But I wasn't there for a                        second.                                  CATES                        You did pick a real strange time                        to go and be brave all on your                        own...              Hammond smiles.                                  HAMMOND                        Just tryin' to get the money,                        Jack.  Just tryin' to build up a                        few points on that merit system.              Cates smiles back, picks up the black bag as they move off.              TRANSITION.              ELAINE'S BATHROOM              Cates in the tub, steam rushing from the water.              Elaine sits on the porcelain edge as he splashes and soaps...                                  ELAINE                        How'd they take it back at                        headquarters?                                  CATES                        Usual bullshit.  You make one                        smart move and everybody wants to                        be your friend... You know                        somethin', shootin' guys sucks.                        Especially compared to this.                                  ELAINE                        I've been waiting a long time to                        hear you say that.                                  CATES                        Yeah, bein' a hard-ass all the                        time is a real drag, but it works.              He reaches out, lifts his watch from his pile of clothes on              the floor.                                  CATES                               (continuing)                        Three more hours...                                  ELAINE                        Where is he?                                  CATES                        Promised I'd turn my back while                        he... ah, never mind...                                  ELAINE                        Tell me.                                  CATES                        He's takin' care of the same                        business I'll be takin' care of -                        soon as I dry off.              Elaine smiles, leans close.                                  ELAINE                        You're impossible...                                  CATES                        That's what I always say.              TRANSITION.              CANDY'S ROOM - NIGHT              Minimal crummy hotel room accommodations... Hammond is              kissing her at the door, finishing buttoning all his buttons.              He reaches for a wallet, gives her several bills.                                  HAMMOND                        Here you go, baby.                                  CANDY                        Hey, don't do that.  I said I                        wasn't a pro, remember?                                  HAMMOND                        Hey, no, I'm tryin' to be nice.                        Buy yourself something pretty.                        I'd do it, but I got to go.  I got                        this cop waitin' for me...              They kiss... it's pretty romantic... She opens the door for              him.              CORRIDOR              She stands at the top of the stairs; as Hammond walks down,              he calls back to her over his shoulder ...                                  HAMMOND                        I'll be back in six months...                        Maybe I'll make an honest woman of                        you.              He gives her a big sniile.                                  HAMMOND                               (continuing)                        I'll buy ya the best dinner in San                        Francisco...how'd that be? Then                        we'll go dancin', okay?                                  CANDY                        Now you're talkin'. See ya...              He moves off, still smiling, holding the black briefcase...              STREET - NIGHT              on a picturesque hill above the Haight. Cates standing near              the wheel of Hammond's Porsche.  Hammond comes down the porch              steps from the hotel.                                  CATES                        Okay, reggie, start bustin' my                        chops... Tell me how great you                        were with that chick.                                  HAMMOND                        Hey, Jack, real men don't have to                        go in for that macho bullshit ...                        but I was fantastic.                        As a riatter of fact, I was so                        good, I may have my cock done in                        bronze.              Cates holds up the black briefcase.                                  CATES                        I guess this is what you want to                        talk about...All the pretty money                        that's inside here.              Cates takes the case to the trunk, opens it, deposits the              case, locks the trunk.                                  HAMMOND                        Wait a minute, Cates.  I've been                        waitin' three years for that.  I                        don't think it's fair, man. What                        about the merit system.? You were                        gonnna give me a few thousand.                                  CATES                        There's nothin' to talk about.              Another long exchange of looks. Then be hands Hammond the              keys to the trunk.                                  CATES                               (continuing)                        It's your money.  It'll be here in                        six months when you get out.                                  HAMMOND                        And you're tellin' me you don't                        want any of this cash?                                  CATES                        That's right. Not my style,                        Reggie..                                  HAMMOND                        You are an awesomely weird cop.                        Sure wish there were more like you                        runnin' around out here.                                  CATES                        No, you don't. If I ever get word                        of you steppin' over the line                        again, I'm gonna ventilate that                        suit of yours.                                  HAMMOND                        Spare met Jack. I'm into legit                        investments from here on in.              Cates gives him a very skeptical look, as they head for the              car.              Hammond gets in behind the wheel, Cates on the passenger side.              Cates takes out a cigarette, starts to light it.              Hammond takes the match does it for him.                                  CATES                        Thanks.                                  HAMMOND                        No trouble, Jack. But, listen,                        suppose I stay a crook?  Where'd                        you get the idea that you could                        catch me?              They both smile. Hammond socks it into gear and they drive              off into the far distance...                                             END.
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+                           50/50 (I'M WITH CANCER)                                                         Written by                               Will Reiser                                                                                                                                                                   7/2/08          FADE IN:                                   OPENING TITLE SEQUENCE                                                            EXT. SAN DIEGO - DAY                                   It's another picture perfect day in San Diego. The beaches,          golf courses, and yacht clubs are packed with hundreds of          rapturous citizens.                                                            EXT. BUS STOP - DAY                                   A BUS pulls up and unloads it's passengers.                                   We follow ADAM SCHWARTZ(25), a kind faced, mild mannered,          pragmatist - who despite his youth has the cynicism of an old          man. He steps off the bus, crosses the street and approaches          MOUNT SINAI HOSPITAL.                                                            INT. MOUNT SINAI HOSPITAL - DAY                                   Adam enters the Hospital. The mood is calm. All the chaos one          would expect to find in a hospital of this size is tucked          away behind the sterile and monochrome walls.                                   Adam walks to the reception counter. The RECEPTIONIST is          engrossed with the latest edition of US Weekly. She ignores          Adam who just stands there awkwardly, unsure of what to do.                                   Adam gives out a small cough to grab her attention. The          Receptionist keeps her eyes fixed on her magazine.                                                   RECEPTIONIST           Can I help you?                                                   ADAM           I have an appointment.                                                   RECEPTIONIST           Name?                                                   ADAM           Adam Schwartz.                                   The Receptionist says nothing. Adam stands silent, not          knowing what to do. He coughs again.                                   Annoyed, the Receptionist looks up but says nothing.           2.                                                                            ADAM (CONT'D)                          (CONFUSED)           Um, am I supposed to go somewhere?                                   With her eyes the Receptionist points to the waiting area.                                                   ADAM (CONT'D)           Oh, should I go sit?                                   The Receptionist rolls her eyes and returns to her magazine.                                   Adam looks around the empty waiting room. He takes a seat and          browses through a dozen outdated magazines: Highlights, Time,          Life, Modern Maternity, etc. Only moments later, as though he          hadn't just introduced himself, the Receptionist calls out:                                                   RECEPTIONIST           Adam Schwartz.                                   Adam looks around the waiting room. There's no one else          there. Again the receptionist calls out again -                                                   RECEPTIONIST (CONT'D)           Adam Schwartz.                                                   ADAM           Yeah, that's me.                                                   RECEPTIONIST           Follow me.                                   The Receptionist leads Adam to a small changing room and          hands him a hospital gown.                                                   RECEPTIONIST (CONT'D)           Put this on.                                                   ADAM           Do I need to take off all my           clothes?                                   The Receptionist stares blankly at Adam.                                                   ADAM (CONT'D)           I'll figure it out.                                   The Receptionist leaves. Adam awkwardly undresses and slips          on the hospital gown. Unsure which end of the gown is the          front, Adam adjusts the garment a few times until he decides          he has it right.                                   Adam pulls back the curtain of the changing room to find          JOANNE, an overly cheery nurse.           3.                                                                            NURSE JOANNE           Hi Adam, my name is Joanne, so nice           to meet you.                                   Adam scratches his chest, the hospital gown is beginning to          irritate his skin.                                                   ADAM           You don't happen to have anything           in a cotton blend?                                                   NURSE JOANNE                          (LAUGHS)           Cotton. You're funny.                                   Joanne hands Adam a giant specimen cup marked with a thick          yellow line.                                    NURSE JOANNE (CONT'D)           Now I'm going to need you to fill           this cup with urine. You think you           can do that?                                                   ADAM           You want me to fill this entire           cup.                                                   JOANNE           Yup.                                   Adam looks down at the cup in total disbelief.                                                   ADAM           It's gonna take me at least a week           to fill this. Can I take it home?                                                   JOANNE                          (LAUGHS)           Take it home. You're so funny.                                   The CAMERA PANS to reveal a group of MEDICAL STUDENTS taking          diligent notes in the background. WE PAN AGAIN this time to          the next room:                                                            INT. HOSPITAL. BATHROOM                                   Adam struggles to fill the cup. After a few beats, there's a          knock on the door.                                    JOANNE (O.S.)           You okay in there Adam?           4.                                                                            ADAM           Just another minute.                                   Adam looks down at the empty cup in frustration. The CAMERA          PANS to the next room:                                                            INT. HOSPITAL. X-RAY ROOM                                   Adam stands in front of an X-Ray machine. The APATHETIC          TECHNICIAN has him stand in a dozen uncomfortable positions          for long periods of time: sideways, one arm in the air, then          the other arm, on one leg, then the other, one leg in the          air, then the other, and so on.                                   Again we see the group of Medical Students taking notes. The          CAMERA PANS to the next room:                                                            INT. HOSPITAL. EXAMINING ROOM                                   Joanne pulls out a giant needle.                                                   JOANNE           Here comes the choo-choo!                                   In the back we see the Med Students still taking notes. The          CAMERA PANS to the next room:                                                            INT. HOSPITAL. MRI ROOM                                   Adam is lying on the gurney of an MRI machine. He is slowly          drawn into the enclosed body scanner.                                                   TECHNICIAN                          (AUTHORITATIVELY)           Now make sure you lie completely           still. Otherwise we'll have to do           it all over again. Which we're not           going to have to do, right?                                                            INT. HOSPITAL. MRI ROOM - LATER                                   Adam lies perfectly still in the enclosed body scanner.                                                   ADAM           Hello? Is anybody out there?                                   There's no one there. He's been left unattended. The MRI          Technician is watching the Laker game in the next room.           5.                                                                            ADAM (CONT'D)           I have to pee.                                   The Med Students continue to take notes.                                   END OPENING TITLE SEQUENCE                                                            EXT. SAN DIEGO - EVENING                                   Through the window of the hospital the CAMERA PULLS OUT and          PANS across the San Diego skyline. We watch as the Sun sets          to night, then rises to morning...                                                            EXT. SAN DIEGO BEACH - MORNING                                                  SUPER: JUNE                                   It's a gray morning as the thick spring fog slowly begins to          lift. With no one in sight, the only sound that can be heard          is that of the waves crashing onto the shoreline and then          rolling back out to the Pacific Ocean.                                   About a mile inland, we come upon:                                                            EXT. GRAND VIEW GATED COMMUNITY - DAY                                   Rows of identical two and three bedroom town houses with          lawns groomed to perfection fill the community. This is          Southern California Suburbia.                                   The sound of the waves crashing gets increasingly louder and          louder as we PUSH IN ON:                                                            INT. ADAM'S HOUSE - CONTINUOUS                                   The interior of Adam's house is spotless. Pictures on the          walls: Adam and his dad sailing. Adam and his parents at his          Bar Mitzvah. Adam and his best friend, Seth, at High School          Graduation. A University of Berkeley hat. A National Academic          Achievement Award in the Sciences.                                   Curled in a fetal position, Adam sleeps peacefully next to          RACHEL (25), his loving girlfriend. Cute, charming, and          artsy, Rachel is "Winnie Cooper" all grown up.                                   The sound of the waves crashing stops abruptly. A loud          obnoxious alarm clock goes off. Startled, Adam jumps up.          Drenched in sweat, and completely disoriented, he looks          around in confusion.           6.                                                            After a moment, Adam pulls an earplug out of each ear, and          turns off the alarm. The sound of the crashing waves turns          back on. Adam pushes a button on the alarm clock and the          sound of the waves stops, but the loud obnoxious alarm          returns. He pushes the clock again. The alarm turns off but          now we hear the sound of crickets chirping. Again Adam pushes          a button, this time we hear the sound of a loud thunder/rain          storm, he pushes a button again, this time we hear the sound          of loud clanging church bells. Rachel rolls over -                                                   RACHEL           (asleep and incoherent)           Make it stop.                                                   ADAM                          (WHISPERS)           It won't turn off.                                   Frustrated, Adam tries pushing all the buttons. This only          makes it worse. We hear ALL of the previous sounds          simultaneously sound off. Rachel rolls over and moans as she          puts a pillow over her head.                                                   ADAM (CONT'D)                          (WHISPERS)           Sorry.                                   Adam reaches down and unplugs the alarm clock, bringing an          end to the noise. He sits for a moment at the edge of the          bed, collects himself.                                   Adam looks down at Rachel and begins kissing her neck.                                                   RACHEL           Mmmmm.                                   Rachel gently strokes her fingers through Adam's hair.          Something catches her attention - a single strand of hair.          She holds it up.                                                   RACHEL (CONT'D)           Oh my god.                                                   ADAM           What?                                                   RACHEL           I think you have a gray hair.                                                   ADAM           Really?                                                   RACHEL           I'm gonna pull it out.           7.                                                                            ADAM           No! Don't touch it.                                   Adam jumps from bed. He rushes into the bathroom. Rachel          rolls back to sleep.                                                            INT. BATHROOM - CONTINUOUS                                   Adam stands in front of the mirror and searches for the gray          hair. Once he finds it, he holds it out for a closer look. It          is in fact a gray hair. He smiles.                                                            INT. BATHROOM - MOMENTS LATER                                   As Adam showers, he tries to squirt shampoo into his hand,          but the bottle is empty. He looks over at Rachel's large          assortment of shower products, finds one that smells          pleasant, Fructis by L'Oreal, and squirts some into his hair.          He then proceeds to lather his entire body in the product.                                                            INT. BEDROOM CLOSET - MOMENTS LATER                                   Adam dresses in front of the bathroom mirror. His outfit is          well put together, but not what you would expect of someone          his age - more of a Mr. Rogers look. He pulls out a LINT          BRUSH and meticulously combs his cardigan.                                                            EXT. ADAM'S HOUSE - LATER                                   SETH (25), pulls up in front of Adam's house in his white          Neon and HONKS the horn. On the bumper is a sticker: "Let's          put the Christ back in Christmas."                                   Overweight, well dressed, and wearing an air of confidence,          Seth pulls out a massive joint, lights it and takes a hit.                                   Just then Seth looks over at 3 YOUNG SCHOOL CHILDREN and          their MOTHER waiting for the school bus. The mother's jaw is          on the ground in shock. Seth hides the joint and smiles in          embarrassment.                                                   SETH           Hi kids. Beautiful day isn't it?                                   The mother quickly moves her kids out of sight.                                   Adam approaches Seth's car. He spots his neighbors ANDREW and          MISSY DONNELLY (late 40's) getting into their car. They wave          to Adam.           8.                                                                            ANDREW           Hey Adam.                                                   ADAM                          (SEEMS ANNOYED)           Hey Andrew.                                                   ANDREW           Sorry about the noise last night.                                   Adam shrugs as if to say "what the fuck?" Andrew and Missy          giggle as they get into their car.                                                            INT. SETH'S CAR - CONTINUOUS                                   Adam gets into the car.                                                   SETH           Yo.                                                   ADAM           Yo.                                                   SETH           ...What's that smell?                          (SNIFFS ADAM)           Are you wearing perfume?                                                   ADAM           No.                                                   SETH           Well, you smell like the cast of           Steel Magnolias.                                                   ADAM                          (SMELLS HIMSELF)           I ran out of shampoo. I had to use           Rachel's.                                                   SETH           For a second there I thought maybe           you'd fucked Olympia Dukakis.                                   Adam tries to close his window. The child safety lock is on.                                                   ADAM           Can you unlock my window? There's a           lot of pollen in the air.                                   Seth ignores Adam and turns up the music.           9.                                                                            ADAM (CONT'D)                          (ANNOYED)           Seriously, my allergies are flaring           up. It feels like my nasal cavities           are on fire.                                   Adam begins to clear his throat, Seth turns the music even          louder.                                                   SETH           Sorry music's too loud, it's making           it hard for me to hear your           whining.                                                            INT. COFFEE SHOP - LATER                                   We see the morning bustle as BUSINESS MEN and WOMEN stand in          line waiting for their morning coffee. Adam and Seth stand at          the end of that line watching the YOUNG COUPLE in front of          them who can't keep their hands off of each other.                                                   SETH           I don't get it, that guy is clearly           a total douchebag...He's wearing           Capris!                                                   ADAM           Rachel and I used to be like that;           like two wild animals in heat...                          (THINKS)           I guess it is only natural though,           as we get older, more mature,           things begin to slow down.                          (BEAT)           Sex every three weeks is normal?           Right?                                                   SETH                          (IN SHOCK)           You haven't had sex in three weeks?                                                   ADAM                          (SHRUGS)           You think maybe she's mad cause I           haven't asked her to move in?                                                   SETH           What the fuck are you talking           about? I don't think she's waiting           for you to ask anything. You're           using her shampoo. Next thing           you'll be using her tampons.           10.                                                            Seth laughs at his own joke.                                                   SETH (CONT'D)           But seriously, let me get this           straight - she has her own place,           yet she spends every night with           you, in your bed, but she won't           sleep with you?                                                   ADAM           It's not that big a deal.                                                   SETH           So when does it become a big deal?           Five weeks? Six weeks? A year? My           cut off...4 days. That's when I           begin to worry.                                                   ADAM           Do you realize how lucky I am to be           with Rachel?                                                   SETH           Look around, there are like a           million Rachel's in this city           alone...well, she's kind of hot, so           maybe half a million.                                                   ADAM           But they're not Rachel. I don't           know how to explain it, but being           with her just feels right. And I'm           not going to overlook that just           cause we're in a lull.                                                   SETH           My parents are in a lull, which is           what happens after 35 years of           marriage. You've only been dating           her four months. At our age sex is           all we have. Every time she refuses           to sleep with you a small piece of           every man's soul dies. She's           killing us Adam...You're a semi-           smart, semi-successful, semi-           average looking dude. Just based on           that you could get with at least           one third of the female population.                                   Adam and Seth step up to the counter. They're greeted by the          SUPER GAY BARISTA, who loves his job way too much.                                                   BARISTA           Morning gentlemen.           11.                                                                            SETH                          (TO BARISTA)           Would you sleep with my friend.                                                   BARISTA           Like, right now?                                                   SETH           No just in general.                                                   BARISTA           Yeah, I'd fuck him.                                   The Barista yells to DEMETRI, the other Barista.                                                   BARISTA (CONT'D)           Hey Demetri,                          (RE: ADAM)           Fuckable?                                   Demetri examines Adam. He's not impressed with what he sees.                                                   DEMETRI           I'd let you blow me.                                                   SETH                          (TO ADAM)           See this is what I'm saying.                                   The Barista hands Seth and Adam two cups of coffee, they each          leave a dollar.                                                            INT. SAN DIEGO MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY - LATER                                   Adam and Seth enter the museum. They pass JENNY (30) at the          information desk.                                    SETH AND ADAM           Good morning Jenny.                                   Jenny ignores them.                                                   SETH                          (UNDER BREATH)           I love you.                                   PHIL (60), the museum's vivacious director approaches.                                                   PHIL           Salutations gentlemen.                                   Phil sniffs the air and looks at Adam.           12.                                                                            PHIL (CONT'D)           Are you wearing perfume?                                                   ADAM           It's Rachel's shampoo.                                   Phil goes in for a closer sniff. Then an even closer sniff.          Adam looks uncomfortable.                                                   PHIL                          (DECLARATIVE)           Fructis by L'oreal.                          (IMPRESSED)           My wife uses that.                          (TO SETH)           What are you wearing?                                   Seth's eyes open wide as Phil goes in for a sniff.                                                   PHIL (CONT'D)           What is that?                                                   SETH           Ah, mothballs?                                   Seth spots a GROUP OF SECOND GRADERS with their TEACHER          assembled by the entrance.                                                   SETH (CONT'D)           Looks like my group is here.                                   Seth slaps on a button that reads "DOCENT" and rushes off to          greet the students.                                                   SETH (CONT'D)           See you guys later.                                   Phil turns to Adam.                                                   PHIL           How's the Origins exhibit coming           along?                                                   ADAM           We're almost done with Upper           Paleolithic.                                                   PHIL           I'm counting on you not to screw           up.           (looks into Adam's eyes)           You're the only one I can trust.                          (BEAT)                          (MORE)           13.                                                   PHIL (CONT'D)           The Board is talking about bringing           in sponsors...We're a dying art           Adam.                                   Phil stares into Adam's eyes for what feels like an eternity.          It's incredibly awkward.                                                   ADAM           Phil?                                                   PHIL           Yeah?                                                   ADAM           I should probably get to work.                                                   PHIL           That's probably a good idea.                                   Phil looks at the clock - 10 a.m.                                                   PHIL (CONT'D)           I think I'm gonna go to lunch.                                   Phil wanders off.                                                            INT. MUSEUM. ORIGINS OF MAN EXHIBIT - LATER                                   Adam and GREG (45), Adam's slightly moronic co-worker, place          the finishing touches on the CRO MAGNON exhibit - it's an          elaborate life sized diorama depicting the life of a family          of four Cro Magnons. Outside their hut it's snowing, but          inside there's a large fire and decorative horse drawings on          the walls. The MAN instructs his SON to paint as the WOMAN          teaches her DAUGHTER to sew. We see Greg positioning the          fossil of a VELOCIRAPTOR next to the mother and daughter. The          dinosaur looks poised to pounce. Adam notices.                                                   ADAM           Greg. What are you doing?                                                   GREG           It's a velociraptor.                                                   ADAM           Where did it come from?                                                   GREG           The dinosaur exhibit.           (off Adam's look)           Why can't we just say it was the           first domesticated pet?...People           love dinosaurs.           14.                                                            Adam cringes in frustration.                                                   ADAM           Greg you can't just...that's a 75           million year old fossil...just           please, put it away before someone           sees it.                                   Greg reluctantly goes to put the dinosaur away. He flaps the          dinosaur's arm in the air - waving goodbye to Adam.                                   Seth leads his tour of second graders. He speaks like a tour          guide at Universal Studios.                                                   SETH           Coming up here on our left is the           "Origins of Man" exhibit on loan           from the Smithsonian Institute. It           won't be open to the public for a           few more months, so you're one of           the first groups to see it.                          (SPOTS ADAM)           Adam!                                   Adam looks up. He hates this part of his job.                                                   SETH (CONT'D)           Everyone this is Adam, he's the           curator of ancient civilizations           here at the museum.                                   Adam gives a reluctant wave.                                                   ADAM           Hey kids.                                                   SETH                          (TO ADAM)           Why don't you tell us what we're           looking at.                                                   ADAM                          (BEGRUDGINGLY)           This here is a family of homo           sapiens who lived in Europe about           25,000 year's ago...                                   In excitement, the kids move in for a closer look.          Unaffected, the teacher stays back and files her nails.           15.                                                                            ADAM (CONT'D)           ...these Cro Magnon's as they're           often called, are the closest in           the evolutionary chain to modern           day humans...                                   KID 1 touches the Cro Magnon father. Still talking, Adam          steps in and moves Kid 1's hand off.                                                   ADAM (CONT'D)           ...What made Cro Magnon so advanced           was their sense of community...they           were the first to settle on a           single plot of land, devote to one           partner, raise a family, and take           care of the sick.                                                   KID 1                          (TO SETH)           This is lame! I thought you said we           were gonna see dinosaurs.                                                   GREG                          (TO ADAM)           See, I told you.                                   Damage control. Seth points to a life sized NEANDERTHAL MAN          holding a spear.                                                   SETH                          (IN EXCITEMENT)           Who wants to hear about the           caveman?                                   Seth picks up the spear and pretends to charge Adam.                                                   SETH (CONT'D)           Caveman. RRRRRR!                                   The kids cheer.                                                            Annoyed, Adam takes the spear out of Seth's hand.                                                   ADAM           This is Homo Neanderthalensis - the           Neanderthal Man. For over 150,000           years his ancestors dominated all           of Europe. But then about 30,000           years ago, Neanderthals began to           disappear, until one day, their           entire civilization was gone.           16.                                                                            GREG           What happened?                                                   ADAM           Greg you know what happened.                                                   GREG           I do?                                                   SETH           Come on! Tell us what happened to           the caveman.                                                   ADAM           Well no one knows for sure. But           it's suspected that because           Neanderthal was a nomadic huntsman,           he roamed the land, only fending           for himself - never learning to           cohabitate with others. So as Cro           Magnon families settled into           Europe, they took over the land.           One by one, Neanderthal was pushed           out...and never seen, or heard from           again.                                                   SETH           (game show voice)           That's quite a story. Thank you           Adam.                                   Seth and Adam look at the kids, they look bored.                                                   SETH (CONT'D)           (Quietly to Adam)           You really know how to win a crowd.                                                   ADAM           (to the kids)           But you never know, just cause they           vanished doesn't mean they're gone.           For all we know, there could be a           Neanderthal walking among us right           now. And by the looks of this guy                          HERE -           (points at Neanderthal)           I'd say he probably plays defense           for the Raiders.                                   Adam's joke gets a small laugh from the teacher, but zero          response from the kids.                                                   KID 1           This sucks ass.           17.                                                            Adam and Seth look at each other in shock...Seth chimes in -                                                   SETH           I see dinosaurs.                                   Seth runs down the hall towards the dinosaur exhibit. The          kids follow in excitement. The teacher barely bats an eye as          she takes her time slowly trailing after the group.                                                            EXT. MOUNT SINAI HOSPITAL - LATER                                   Adam enters the hospital...                                                            INT. HOSPITAL. EXAMINING ROOM - LATER                                   Adam leafs through a pamphlet on Incontinence.                                   The pedantic DR. ROSS enters and completely ignores Adam.          Instead, he looks over Adam's chart, examines his MRI scans,          and pulls out a DICTAPHONE -                                    DR. ROSS           (into the dictaphone)           Patient has been complaining of           excessive urination, back pain, and           night sweats. Blood tests and urine           analysis are normal. MRI indicates           a massive intraduaral extradural                          MALIGNANT SCHWANNOMA           neurofibrosarcomas extending into           psoas muscle with nerve root           compression syndrome and bone           erosion.                                   We see Adam's face gradually look more and more confused, he          slowly begins to raise his arm as if to ask a question.                                    DR. ROSS (CONT'D)           Growth extends from the L2 to L5.           Cytotoxic antibiotics are           recommended.                                   Dr. Ross turns to see Adam holding his arm in the air.                                    DR. ROSS (CONT'D)           Yes. Questions?                                                   ADAM                          (DUMBFOUNDED)           I have no idea what you just said.           Is there something wrong with me?           18.                                                             DR. ROSS           (points to MRI)           If you look here on your MRI, you           see this cephalopod like object           spreading down along your spinal           column?                                   Adam squints. It all looks the same.                                    DR. ROSS (CONT'D)           That is a massive schwannoma           neurofibrosarcomas.                                                   ADAM           I still have no idea what you're           talking about.                                    DR. ROSS           It's a malignant tumor.                                                   ADAM           What?!...A tumor? No.                                    DR. ROSS           I'm afraid so.                                                   ADAM           How is that possible?...I don't           smoke. I don't drink. I eat           healthy...I even recycle.                                    DR. ROSS           Well Adam it's actually quite           fascinating. Your cancer is the           result of an incredibly rare gene           mutation in chromosome 17p in the           p53 Gene that causes the growth of           malignant cells in tissue around           the nerves. In your case it's grown           along the nerves in your lower           spine.                                   Adam looks at himself in the mirror.                                                   ADAM           (still in denial)           But, look at me. I don't look sick.                                    DR. ROSS           Cancer often has no specific           symptoms. People can go years with           out knowing they're sick. We're           lucky we caught it before it           metastasizes.                          (MORE)           19.                                    DR. ROSS (CONT'D)                          (BEAT)           I'm going to put you on a 4 month           regimen of chemotherapy. It's an           aggressive dosage so you might want           to think about taking some time off           from work.                                   This is real. Adam walks to the window and presses his face          against the glass. He looks down at the city below. From 15          stories up, the people on the street look like miniature          figurines.                                   Adam turns back to Dr. Ross.                                                   ADAM           Can't you just cut it out of me?                                    DR. ROSS           Yes, that is an option. But because           the tumor has spread to a such           significant size. Cutting it out           now would be risky.                                                   ADAM           Well what are my chances of beating           this?                                   Dr. Ross puts on his best act of reassurance. His words are          seemingly genuine, his tone is anything but.                                    DR. Ross           Listen, you're in good hands. The           best thing for you to do right now           is to not worry...Let me do the           worrying. Alright?                                   Dr. Ross takes a long look at Adam's devastated face.                                    DR. ROSS (CONT'D)           Maybe you should talk to someone.                                   Dr. Ross hands Adam a business card for the "Mount Sinai          Psychology Group".                                    DR. ROSS (CONT'D)           We have a whole department of           psychologists here in the hospital.           They specialize in cases...in           these...sort of matters. They'll be           able to help you.                                   Not knowing what else to say, Dr. Ross looks at his watch,          looks back to Adam, and moves to the door.           20.                                                             DR. ROSS (CONT'D)           Hang in there champ.                                                            INT. SAN DIEGO PUBLIC LIBRARY - EVENING                                   CLOSE ON a computer screen:                                   "Neurofibrosarcoma Schwannoma. Treatment Forms: Chemotherapy          and Radiation offer negligible success rates. Surgical          resection proven to be most effective. Risks of surgery:          Amputation of limbs. Paralysis. Death. 2 Year survival rate:          50%. If tumor metastasizes systemically, 2 year survival          rate: 0%."                                   Adam sits staring at the screen. This is not good.                                   The LIBRARIAN, a tall blond surfer type, taps Adam on the          shoulder.                                                   LIBRARIAN           Hey bro, time's up.                                   Startled. Adam looks up at the librarian.                                                   ADAM           Can I have just a few more minutes?                                                   LIBRARIAN           Sorry bro. Twenty minute limit.                          (EMBARRASSED)           Rules.                                   The librarian motions to the LONG LINE of mostly HOMELESS          CUSTOMERS waiting to use the computer.                                                            INT. BUS - EVENING                                   Adam sits deep in thought.                                                            EXT. ADAM'S HOUSE - SAME TIME                                   The bus stops. Adam gets off, walks to his house, and takes a          deep breath...                                                            INT. ADAM'S HOUSE. LIVING ROOM - CONTINUOUS                                   Adam enters the living room - it's empty. NPR News is on the          radio. Fresh paint dries on a canvas resting on an easel. The          sound of someone cooking comes from the kitchen.           21.                                                             RACHEL (O.S.)           Adam? Is that you?                                   Adam walks into the kitchen. Rachel is at the stove cooking          in her underwear. Adam stands in the doorway watching her.          God she looks sexy. Rachel turns -                                                   RACHEL (CONT'D)           (in a Hungarian accent)           Welcome home Mr. Adam. I made           vegetarian goulash.                                   Like a ballerina, Rachel crosses to Adam on her tip toes          holding out a spoon of her goulash. She holds up the offering          to Adam's mouth. He takes a small bite and smiles, trying to          hide his internal distress. His sad eyes tell Rachel another          story.                                                   RACHEL (CONT'D)           (still using accent)           What is wrong?                                                   ADAM           Nothing.                                                   RACHEL           (still using accent)           Liar.                                   This is not going to be easy.                                                   ADAM           We need to talk.                                   Rachel drops the accent. This seems serious.                                                   RACHEL           Why? What's going on?                                                   ADAM           I had a doctor's appointment today.                                                   RACHEL                          (WORRIED)           What kind of doctor's appointment?                                   Adam has no idea what to say.                                                   ADAM           Have you ever seen the movie           "Beaches"?                                                   RACHEL           You mean with Bette Midler?           22.                                                                            ADAM           Yeah that one.                                                   RACHEL           Not as good as "The Rose", but           good.                                                   ADAM           Remember the end of "Beaches"?                                                   RACHEL                          (CONFUSED)           Yeah. Sad....What does that have to           do with you?                                   Adam just looks her in the eyes...Rachel gets it.                                                   RACHEL (CONT'D)           Oh. Oh my god.                                   In total shock, Rachel covers her mouth.                                                   RACHEL (CONT'D)           What kind?                                                   ADAM           I don't know.                                                   RACHEL           You don't know?                                                   ADAM           Well I do know, but I can't           pronounce it. Neuroscharnoma or           something.                                                   RACHEL           Well how bad is it?                                                   ADAM           It's not good.                                   Rachel hugs Adam. Soaking in the comfort, Adam rests his head          on her shoulder. She gently strokes his hair. Adam's hand          slowly moves down Rachel's back. He starts kissing her neck.          He knows it's wrong, but can't help it, the only thing          running through his mind is sex.                                   After a beat Rachel pulls away.                                                   RACHEL           (begins to cry)           You have cancer.           23.                                                            Heart racing, Rachel opens the top pantry. She reaches back          as far as she can and pulls out a cookie jar. She sticks her          hand in the jar and pulls out an old pack of American          Spirits. Adam looks at Rachel disapprovingly.                                                   RACHEL (CONT'D)           Not now.                                                   ADAM           I just think it's an interesting           time to take up smoking again.                                                   RACHEL           Adam I'm 24 years old!                          (CATCHES HERSELF)           You're 25.                                   Rachel puts one of the cigarettes to her mouth, lights it on          the stove and takes a drag.                                                   RACHEL (CONT'D)           What are we going to do? I don't           know what to do.                                   Rachel begins compulsively pulling drags from the cigarette.          Adam takes the cigarette out of her hand. He goes to put it          out, but takes a drag instead. He then hugs Rachel with one          hand and opens the window with the other; he proceeds to          discreetly fan out the cigarette smoke.                                                   ADAM           Sshhhh. Everything's going to be           alright Yammy. I'm going to start           chemo in a few days.                          (POSITIVE)           We're going to get through this.                                   They embrace in total silence...A beat. And then Adam groans          with the realization -                                                   ADAM (CONT'D)           Ugh...and my parents are coming           over for dinner.                                                   RACHEL           Do they know?                                   Adam is clearly not in the mood to see his parents.                                                   ADAM           No.           24.                                                            PRE LAP: The sound of a doorbell...                                                   SMASH CUT:                                                            INT. FOYER - ADAM'S HOUSE - MOMENTS LATER                                   Rachel and Adam stand in front of the door.                                                   ADAM           3...2...1...                                   Rachel opens the door.                                                   ADAM (CONT'D)                          (BIG SMILE)           Hey.                                   Adam's mother, EDITH SCHWARTZ (55) enters. Edith is a short,          portly woman with thick glasses and a bright red sweatshirt          bearing a cross-stitched cat on it. If the borough of Queens          and the city of Milwaukee had a child, it would be Edith.                                                   EDITH                          (EXCITED)           There they are!                                   Edith gives Rachel a big hug, and grabs for her left hand.                                                   EDITH (CONT'D)           I can't wait to hear the big news.                                                   ADAM           Where's dad?                                   ART SCHWARTZ(58) enters the house carrying a CAT. Due to a          stroke 10 years prior, he carries a limp and is a little out          of it.                                                   ART           I found your cat playing in the           neighbors yard.                                                   ADAM           Dad, I don't have a cat.                                   Art drops the cat and it bolts out the door.                                                   EDITH           So what's for dinner?           25.                                                            INT. ADAM'S DINING ROOM - LATER                                   Everyone sits around the table. Edith pokes at her plate of          vegetarian goulash, confused as to what she's looking at.                                                   RACHEL           If I had known you were coming I           would have made something else.                                                   EDITH           I'm just glad to finally be sharing           a shabbat dinner with my son...           (looks at her plate)           So this isn't meat?                                                   RACHEL           No it's called sei-tan.                                                   ADAM           It's made of wheat gluten.                                   Edith looks more confused.                                                   EDITH           But it's not meat.                                                   RACHEL           No, but it has a texture just like           meat.                                   Edith reluctantly takes a small bite of the goulash.                                                   EDITH                          (INSINCERE)           Mmmmm. It's Good.                                   Edith puts her spoon down. She pulls a handful of pills out          her fanny-pack and puts them in front of Art.                                                   EDITH (CONT'D)           Art, take your pills.                                   Art picks up the pills and puts them in his mouth, but          doesn't swallow.                                                   EDITH (CONT'D)           Swallow.                                   As Art swallows, Edith eagerly turns her attention to Rachel.                                                   EDITH (CONT'D)           So? Did you set a date?           26.                                                                            RACHEL                          (CONFUSED)           A date?                                                   EDITH                          (TO ADAM)           Do not do summer like your cousin,           remember how awful that was?           Schlepping around in the heat like           that. Plus the bugs and the gnats.                                                   ADAM           (whispers to Rachel)           What is she talking about?                                                   EDITH           And now Rachel. I know we haven't           discussed this, but are you going           to convert?                                                   RACHEL           (whispers to Adam)           She thinks we're getting married.                                                   ADAM           Mom. We're not getting married.                                                   EDITH           Oh thank god.                          (TO RACHEL)           No offense.                          (TO ADAM)           So then what's the big news that           you made us rush all the way over           here.                                   Not knowing how to tell his mother the upsetting news...                                                   ADAM           Have you ever seen "Terms of           Endearment"?                                                   RACHEL           Oh jesus Adam, just tell her.                                                   EDITH           Tell me what?                                                   ADAM           Alright fine. But, before I tell           you, you have to promise me you're           going to stay calm.           27.                                                                            EDITH           Oh Adam, don't be so overdramatic.                                                   ADAM           Mom, just promise me. Okay?                                                   EDITH           I promise...You make me out to be           some kind of irrational loon.                                   Here goes nothing.                                                   ADAM                          (MUMBLES)           I have cancer.                                                   EDITH           What?                                                   ADAM                          (MUMBLES)           I have cancer.                                                   EDITH                          (TO RACHEL)           What is he saying?                                                   ADAM           (takes a deep breath)           I have cancer.                                                   EDITH           Cancer? What do you mean you have           cancer?                                                   ADAM           I - HAVE - CANCER.                                                   EDITH           I don't understand.                                                   ADAM           Mom, I have a giant tumor in my           spine.                                   Edith sits motionless for what seems an eternity. The only          indication that she's not dead is the movement of her index          finger, which twitches uncontrollably. Adam sits uneasy,          tying to anticipate his mother's next move.                                                   ADAM (CONT'D)           Mom?           28.                                                            Edith calmly rises from of her seat and heads to the kitchen.          Adam follows after her.                                                   ADAM (CONT'D)           Mom, what are you doing?                                   Edith lights the stove, and puts up a kettle of Tea.                                                   EDITH           I'm making you green tea.                                                   ADAM           Please, will you come sit down.                                   Edith holds up the package of Green Tea.                                                   EDITH           I saw on the Today Show that it           reduces your risk of getting cancer           by fifteen percent.                                                   ADAM           Mom, I already have cancer.                                   Refusing to look at her son, Edith frantically rifles through          her fanny pack.                                                   EDITH           Here take these.                                   Her hands now shaking uncontrollably, Edith hands Adam a          large number of prescription pills.                                                   EDITH (CONT'D)           Aspirin, Zoloft, Lexapro, Lipitor,           Flagel, Ditropan, Alka Seltzer.                                                   ADAM           Mom, please, stop. I don't need           these.                                                   EDITH                          (YELLS)           Just take the god-damn pills.                                   Adam take Edith's hand.                                                   ADAM           Mom.                                   Edith's a nervous wreck, frantic and hysterical.                                                   EDITH           How could this happen?           29.                                                                            ADAM           It's genetic.                                                   EDITH           Genetic? It must be from your           father's side of the family,           they're always getting sick. Your           uncle Bobby just got Crohns.                                   Adam's father looks up from his plate of goulash...                                                   ART           That's a disorder of the bowels,           son. How are your bowels?                                                   ADAM           The problem is not with my bowels.                                                   ART           You're a lucky man.                                                   ADAM           Thanks dad.                                                   EDITH           I'm moving in.                                                   ADAM           What? No. Absolutely not.                                                   EDITH           Adam, I'm your mother, and I need           to be close to you in your time of           need.                                                   ADAM           That's a terrible idea.                                                   EDITH           Well who's going to take care of           you?                                                   ADAM           Mom, I'm fine.                                                   EDITH           I think I have a right to take care           of my son with cancer.                                                   ADAM           It's nothing. Really.           30.                                                                            EDITH           Nothing! You tell me you have           cancer of the spine and now you           tell me it's nothing.                                   Adam looks to Rachel for support.                                                   RACHEL           Edith, I can't even imagine how           hard this must be for you. But I           promise, there's nothing for you to           worry about. I'm going to be here           every step of the way, to help take           good care of your son.                                                   EDITH                          (TO ADAM)           You're a very lucky boy to be with           such a good girl. You know that?           You don't deserve her.                                   Adam looks at Rachel and smiles.                                                   ADAM           I know.                                                            INT. COFFEE SHOP - MORNING                                   Adam and Seth stand on an endless line of BUSINESS MEN and          WOMEN waiting for their morning coffee. Greg is at the front          of that line - he's taking forever to decide what he wants.          Adam impatiently looks at his watch.                                                   ADAM           What's taking him so long? How hard           is it to buy a cup of coffee?                                   Seth ignores Adam as he stares at the cleavage on the WOMAN          behind him.                                                   SETH           (quietly to Adam)           Look at how tight that shirt is.           She's totally aware of how large           her breasts look too. This morning           when she got dressed, she said to           herself - "I have these things and           I want the world to see them."                                   Greg looks up at the menu of endless options.           31.                                                                            GREG           What about that frozen drink,           what's that like?                                                   BARISTA                          (ENTHUSIASTIC)           The Bavarian Blender. It's absolute           heaven.                                                   GREG           I don't know. Does it have a lot of           sugar?                                                   ADAM           We've been here 20 minutes. What's           he shopping for a car?                                   Seth's eyes are still fixed on the woman's breasts.                                                   SETH           Why are you in such a rush?                                   Adam looks around at all the stodgy business men all having          menial conversations.                                                   ADAM           Is this really how you want to           spend the rest of your life?           Wasting away in this place?                                   Greg still hasn't made up his mind. Adam snaps.                                                   ADAM (CONT'D)           I don't believe it. Why can't he           just get a latte like he does every           morning.                                                   SETH           Relax. We have plenty of time.                                                   ADAM           No we don't have plenty of time!           Life is finite.                                                   SETH           What the fuck is wrong with you?                                                   ADAM                          (QUIETLY)           I have cancer.                                                   SETH                          (LAUGHS)           Yeah right.           32.                                                                            ADAM           I'm serious.                                                   SETH           Get the fuck out of here. You have           cancer?                                   People in line look at Seth.                                                   ADAM           Maybe a little louder, you can make           a special announcement.                                                   SETH                          (QUIETLY)           When did this happen?                                                   ADAM           Yesterday. They found a tumor in my           spine.                                                   SETH           Who?                                                   ADAM           What do you mean who?                                                   SETH           Who found the tumor?                                                   ADAM           Lewis and Clark...The doctors found           it.                                                   SETH           When were you going to tell me?                                                   ADAM           I'm telling you now.                                                   SETH           If I had cancer I'd tell you right           away.                                                   ADAM           What do you want the Better Friend           award? It's not an easy topic to           bring up.                                                   SETH           Holy shit!                                   Seth takes a deep breath. A look of panic sweeps across his          face...he quickly shakes it off.           33.                                                                            SETH (CONT'D)           Okay, let's relax here.                          (BEAT)           I think the best thing to do is to           look on the bright side.                                                   ADAM           The bright side of what?                                                   SETH                          (EMPHATICALLY)           This is your chance to do all the           things you've always wanted. This           is it. This is your time to live it           up.                          (A BEAT)           Plus, do you know how much pussy           we're going to get?                                                            EXT. HOSPITAL - DAY                                   Rachel pulls her car up to the front of the hospital. Adam          kisses her goodbye and gets out of the car. He takes a few          steps and then turns back. He gives her a nervous smile and          then continues into the hospital.                                                            INT. HOSPITAL CORRIDOR - MOMENTS LATER                                   Adam walks down the hospital corridor passing dozens of          patients, none of whom are under the age of 40. In Adam's          hand is the business card with "Mount Sinai Psychology Group"          written on it. He finds the office and knocks on the half          opened door.                                   The office is small, cold and emotionless - with stacks of          psychology books and files strewn about.                                   An attractive young woman, KATIE (26), sits behind a desk          reading a file while she eats a rather messy sandwich. Katie          takes her job very seriously, but has not quite mastered the          art of speaking without sounding like a rigid grad student.                                   Kate looks up as she takes a bite of her sandwich.                                                   KATIE           (mouth full of food)           Can I help you?                                                   ADAM           I have an appointment with Dr.           McRae.           34.                                                            Katie puts down the sandwich, rises from her seat and puts          her hand out to shake Adam's.                                                   KATIE           Please call me Katie.                                                   ADAM                          (CONFUSED)           You're Dr. McRae?                                                   KATIE           You were expecting someone else?                                   Katie wraps up her sandwich and puts the rest away.                                                   ADAM           Aren't you supposed to be like           sixty-five and wear earth toned           sweaters?                                                   KATIE                          (SLIGHTLY DEFENSIVE)           Why? Did someone say that's what I           look like?                                                   ADAM           No, no, no. I was just expecting           someone older.                                                   KATIE           Sorry to disappoint you.                                                   ADAM           No believe me, you're fine. Better           than fine, you're Dr.           McRae...you're a doctor? How old           are you?                                                   KATIE           Twenty-six.                                                   ADAM           Twenty-six? What are you like           Doogie Howser?                                                   KATIE           Who?                                                   ADAM           Doogie Howser...                                   Off Katie's blank look.           35.                                                                            ADAM (CONT'D)           ...The teenage doctor.                                                   KATIE           Does he work here?                                                   ADAM           No. Nevermind...but aren't you           young to be a doctor?                                                   KATIE           I'm actually in my final semester           of medical school.           (off Adam's look)           This is a training hospital.                                                   ADAM           So have you had many patients?                                                   KATIE           You're actually my first.                                   That did not help to ease Adam's anxiety.                                                   ADAM           Oh.                                                   KATIE           Please sit.                                   Adam notices a dark stain on the couch. He sits as far from          it as possible.                                   Katie pulls out Adam's file and sits in a chair across from          him. Adam looks anxious, this is his first time in therapy.                                                   KATIE (CONT'D)           Dr. Ross filled me in on your           situation. Tell me, how have you           been feeling?                                                   ADAM           Honestly. I feel fine.                                                   KATIE           I think that's great considering           what you're going through.                                                   ADAM           Yeah, but I tend to internalize           everything so, who knows.           36.                                                                            KATIE          You mean you repress as a coping          mechanism.                                                   ADAM          Is that what I do?                                                   KATIE          That's what you just said.                                                   ADAM          The way I say it sounds cute in a          neurotic way. When you say it, it's          like an indictment. The word          "repress" - sounds so harsh.                                                   KATIE          It's actually quite common.                                                   ADAM          Oh good, I'd hate to think I'm          anything but an emotional sheep.                                                   KATIE          Don't think of it in those terms.          It's not like it's been a conscious          decision on your part. What's          important now is for you to be          aware of the way you treat your          emotions and for me to help you          make adjustments.                                                   ADAM          So how do we do that?                                                   KATIE          The first thing I want you to do is          to stop looking at cancer as a          burden. Cancer has come into your          life to show you that your          emotional and physical bodies are          out of balance. This is your chance          to correct that.                                                   ADAM          You're not in a cult are you?                                                   KATIE          Now, why do you say that?                                                   ADAM          I don't know, it was a bad joke.           37.                                                                            KATIE           But there's a reason. You chose to           use humor rather than express how           you really feel.                                   Katie is losing Adam.                                                   KATIE (CONT'D)           In order to heal the body, you must           heal the mind. It's imperative that           you free yourself from stress and           anger. Get rid of all those           negative emotions stored deep           inside.                                   Adam's mind drifts away from Katie. He focuses on all the          clutter. The slanted clock. The wilting plant. The crumbled          paper on the floor. The mess is driving him crazy.                                                   KATIE (CONT'D)           So today what I want to do is start           you on some very simple relaxation           therapy.                                   Katie presses play on her iPod. We hear the soothing sounds          of new agey flute music. Adam looks up in confusion.                                                   ADAM           Huh?                                                   KATIE           I want you to lay back and close           your eyes.                                   Adam looks down at the coffee stained couch.                                                   ADAM           Lay here?                                                   KATIE           Yes, I want you to just lay back,           and let go.                                                   ADAM           Shouldn't we be analyzing my           childhood? Or my days as a call           girl?                                                   KATIE           Another joke?           38.                                                                            ADAM                          (SHRUGS)           Oh come on. Nothing? That was           funny.                                                   KATIE           Ssshhhhh...                                   Katie stands behind Adam and places her hands on his          shoulders. Despite the fact that this is all too strange, he          doesn't mind, in a weird way, Adam is enjoying the attention.                                   He finally lies down, contorting his body so as to avoid the          stain.                                                   KATIE (CONT'D)           Close your eyes and relax. Find a           place inside yourself where you can           escape the cancer.                                   Adam closes his eyes.                                    FADE TO BLACK:                                    RACHEL (O.S.)           Keep your eyes closed. No peeking.                                                            INT. ADAM'S HOUSE - NIGHT                                   Adam is seated at the dining table with his eyes closed.                                                   ADAM           I can't believe you got me a           present.                          (BEAT)           Is it that Prada handbag I've been           eyeing?                                    RACHEL (O.S.)           Even better.                                                   ADAM           What is it?                                    RACHEL (O.S.)           Keep your eyes closed.                                                   ADAM           You know how I feel about           surprises. Last surprise I got my           parents told me I was adopted.           39.                                                             RACHEL (O.S.)           You're not adopted.                                                   ADAM           Yeah, but sometimes I wish I was.                                   Rachel crosses into the room and stands over Adam.                                                   RACHEL           Okay. Open your eyes.                                   Adam opens his eyes to see Rachel holding a tiny SHIH-TZU          wearing a pink ribbon in it's hair.                                                   RACHEL (CONT'D)           Surprise!                                   Adam stares in confusion.                                                   ADAM                          (DISAPPOINTED)           What is it?                                                   RACHEL           It's Noodle.                                                   ADAM           It's so small. What do you do with           it?                                                   RACHEL                          (ANNOYED)           Adam, IT's a he, and HE's           adorable...Having a dog is supposed           to help with the healing process.                                                   ADAM           Why, did it go to medical school?                                                   RACHEL                          (PISSED)           I thought you'd be happy...                                                   ADAM           It looks like a gremlin. What           happens if you get it wet after           midnight?                                   Rachel looks furious. Adam backtracks.                                                   ADAM (CONT'D)                          (REASONING)           They're a lot of work.                          (MORE)           40.                                                   ADAM (CONT'D)           I can barely take care of myself, I           don't think I can handle another           living, breathing, needy, thing in           my life.                                                   RACHEL           I didn't realize it would be such a           big deal.                          (PASSIVE AGGRESSIVE)           I can bring him back to the shelter           in the morning.                                                   ADAM           I know what you're doing.                                                   RACHEL           No, you're right, it's not a good           idea. Tomorrow I'll take him back           where he'll be kept in a tiny cage           with 10 other dogs who will bully           him, and rape him, and then he'll           eventually be euthanized.                                   The dog looks at Adam. It's hopeless, there's no way Adam's          going to win this one.                                                   ADAM           Alright. Fine, we can keep the dog.                                                   RACHEL           Really?                                                   ADAM           Really.                                   Rachel's face lights up. She hugs Adam.                                                   RACHEL           This is going to be so good for           you.                                   Adam turns to see the dog shitting on the carpet.                                                            EXT. SAN DIEGO - EVENING                                   The sun sets over the San Diego skyline.                                                            INT. SAN DIEGO MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY - NIGHT                                   It's Adam's going away party. Draped across the entrance is a          "Bon Voyage" banner with an image of a Cruise Ship.           41.                                                            Adam, Rachel and Seth enter to find a crowd of mostly          unfamiliar faces. Phil, who has had one too many vodka          tonics, approaches Adam - drink in hand.                                                   PHIL                          (ANNOUNCES)           There he is, the man of the hour.                                                   ADAM           Here I am.                                   Phil takes a sip from his glass, and then offers it to Adam.                                                   PHIL           Martini?                                                   ADAM           No thanks.                                   Phil puts his arm around Adam and gestures wildly - causing          his drink to splash on Adam.                                                   PHIL           So cancer?                                                   ADAM           Yup. The Big C.                                                   PHIL           Man!                                   Phil tugs on Adam's hair.                                                   PHIL (CONT'D)                          (WHISPERS)           Are you wearing a wig?                                                   ADAM           Nope, this is my real hair.                                                   PHIL                          (SENTIMENTAL)           I'm gonna miss you so much buddy.                                                   ADAM                          (UNCOMFORTABLE)           I'm going to miss you too.                                   Phil puts his head on Adam's shoulder.           42.                                                                            ADAM (CONT'D)           Excuse me for a moment, I think I           see someone over there from a           previous life.                                                   CUT TO:                                   Adam is talking with his co-worker JOE.                                                   JOE           Have you started chemo yet?                                                   ADAM           No, not yet.                                                   JOE           Don't do it man. It'll fuck you up.           That's like some Nagasaki shit.                                                   CUT TO:                                   Adam stands with SUSAN.                                                   SUSAN           You want to know the secret?                                                   ADAM           Ah, okay.                                                   SUSAN           Eat nothing but green foods.                                                   ADAM           Like a specific kind of green food?                                                   SUSAN           No, any green food. It works, my           sister's friend survived lung           cancer.                                                   CUT TO:                                   Adam stands with TED.                                                   TED                          (SUSPICIOUS)           So what kind of cancer do you have?                                                   ADAM           Schwannoma Neurofibrosarcomas.                                                   TED           Never heard of it.           43.                                                                            ADAM           It's pretty rare.                                                   TED           Yeah well, you don't look sick.                                                   ADAM           Cancer often has no specific           symptoms. People can go years with           out knowing they're sick.                                                   TED                          (SUSPICIOUS)           Huh.                                    CUT BACK TO:                                   Adam with Susan again...                                                   SUSAN           There's spinach, zucchini,           broccoli, kale, cucumbers, green           beans, snow peas, seaweed, kiwi,           Zucchini,                                                   ADAM           I think you already said zucchini.                                                   SUSAN                          (ANNOYED)           Zucchini...                                   From across the room, Adam and Rachel lock eyes. He gives her          a defeated look, as if to say "help me." Rachel gives a          sympathetic smile.                                                   SUSAN (CONT'D)           Are you paying attention?                                                   ADAM           (caught off guard)           Uh huh.                                                   SUSAN           Cause I'm only trying to help save           your life.                                   From across the room, Rachel laughs at the entire episode,          Adam sparks a smile.                                                   CUT TO:                                   Adam is talking with EDDIE.           44.                                                                            EDDIE                          (SECRETLY)           There's this guy on the beach who           injects oxygen into your blood.                                                   ADAM           Is that legal?                                                   EDDIE           No, but it's totally safe.                                    CUT BACK TO:                                   Adam with Susan...                                                   SUSAN           ...Brussel Sprouts, Turnip greens,           Asparagus, Celery, Cabbage, Okra,           Honeydew Melon, Limes, Green bell           peppers, green chiles...                                                   CUT TO:                                   Jenny cries hysterically as Seth consoles her.                                                   JENNY                          (CRYING)           I can't believe that he has cancer.                                                   SETH           I know, it's crazy.                                                   JENNY           I've seen him every day for the           past two years and I've never once           made an effort to talk to him.                                                   SETH           Well I'm his best friend, so           talking to me in a way is kind of           like talking to him.                                                   JENNY           Oh what does it matter? It's too           late.                                   Jenny walks away crying. Seth follows after her.                                                   SETH           Wait. It's not too late.                                                   CUT TO:                                   Adam makes himself a drink at the bar. Greg approaches.           45.                                                                            GREG           Hey Adam.                                                   ADAM           (less than excited)           Hey Greg.                                                   GREG           My uncle had what you have.                                                   ADAM           Really?                                                   GREG           Man that was the worst.                                                   ADAM           Your uncle had Schwannoma           Neurofibrosarcomas.                                                   GREG           Yeah, I think so. It's the thing           with the toe and the screaming, and           everything tastes like olives?           Right?                                   Adam looks perplexed.                                                            INT. RACHEL'S CAR - LATER THE SAME NIGHT                                   Rachel and Adam drive home from the party. They're in          completely different moods.                                                   ADAM           Well that was a nightmare.                                                   RACHEL           Adam, those people just threw you a           party...They love you.                                                   ADAM           Half those people don't even know           me.                                   The car stops at a red light. Rachel looks at Adam. She finds          his pouting adorable. He sees her staring,                                                   ADAM (CONT'D)           What?                                                   RACHEL           Nothing.           46.                                                                            ADAM                          (SMILES)           What?                                                   RACHEL           I love you.                                                   ADAM           I love you.                                   Rachel takes Adam's hand.                                                   RACHEL           Everything's going to be okay.                                   They look intensely into each others eyes and then kiss.                                                   CUT TO:                                                            INT. ADAM'S HOUSE - MOMENTS LATER                                   Adam and Rachel make-out as they enter the house.                                                            INT. ADAM'S BEDROOM - CONTINUOUS                                   They make their way into the bedroom and clumsily undress one          another. Adam looks at Rachel's naked body.                                                   ADAM           You are so unbelievably sexy.                                                   RACHEL           I'm totally yours,                                   Suddenly there's a loud scratching at the bedroom door,          followed by a loud whimpering. Rachel stops.                                                   RACHEL (CONT'D)           Noodle.                                                   ADAM           What?                                                   RACHEL           The dog.                                   Adam continues to kiss Rachel.                                                   ADAM           Ignore him.           47.                                                                            RACHEL           I think he needs to go out.                                                   ADAM           I'll do it after.                                   The two continue making out. The dog starts to bark.                                                   RACHEL           I can't do this with him barking.                                                            EXT. ADAM'S HOUSE - NIGHT                                   Adam stands on the sidewalk impatiently waiting for the dog          to do his business.                                                   ADAM           (to the dog)           Come on. Today...If I don't get           laid tonight because of you, I'm           going to take your little bow and           make a noose...                                   The dog sniffs around, trying to find the perfect spot.                                                   ADAM (CONT'D)                          (PLEADING)           Please! I need this.                                   ADAM'S NEIGHBOR walks by with A GIANT MASTIFF. He sees Adam          yelling at the little Shi Tzu in ribbons. Adam looks up...                                                   ADAM (CONT'D)                          (EMBARRASSED)           Evening.                                                   NEIGHBOR           Nice dog.                                   Once the neighbor is out of sight-                                                   ADAM           Will you please just finish.                                   The dog finally finishes. Adam runs back into the house.          After a minute, he realizes he left the dog in the street. He          runs back after the dog, scoops him up and then runs back          inside.           48.                                                            INT. ADAM'S HOUSE. BEDROOM - CONTINUOUS                                   Adam fumbles around in the dark as he tears off his clothes.          He then climbs back into bed, spoons Rachel, and begins          seductively kissing her neck. He slowly moves his hand          downwards. Rachel takes Adam's hand, pulls it up, and clasps          it tight against her chest.                                                   RACHEL           Hold me.                                                   ADAM                          (UNDER BREATH)           Mother fucker.                                   The two lay silently with Adam's arms wrapped around Rachel's          body. A beat.                                                   ADAM (CONT'D)           Do you...want to move in?                                                   RACHEL           Do you want me to?                                                   ADAM           I was thinking it might be nice,           now that I'm not going to work           anymore. And with my chemo           starting...                                   Rachel turns to Adam.                                                   ADAM (CONT'D)           You're here all the time anyway.                                                   RACHEL                          (SMILES)           Okay.                                   Rachel kisses Adam and lays her head on his chest.                                                   ADAM                          (WHISPERS)           You wanna have sex?                                                   RACHEL                          (ASLEEP)           In the morning.           49.                                                            EXT. BETH ISRAEL SYNAGOGUE - MORNING                                   Edith's car whizzes down the street and peels into the Beth          Israel Synagogue parking lot. The car comes to an abrupt stop          as it parks in the last empty space.                                   Edith and Adam step out of the car and walk 20 feet before          they realize Art is still in the car.                                                   EDITH           Art come on.                                                   ART           I'm coming.                                   Art, still in the car, doesn't move. Edith looks at her watch          and walks back to the car.                                                   EDITH           We're late.                                   Edith grabs Art's hand. He slowly gets out of the car.                                                            INT. BETH ISRAEL SYNAGOGUE - MOMENTS LATER                                   Edith, Art and Adam enter into the 600 seat synagogue. The          service led by RABBI JACOBS (75) has already begun.                                   Edith spots three empty seats all the way in the left corner          of the first row. Prime seats, but a bitch to get to since          the service has begun - getting there would mean wading          through a row of two dozen people. The USHER approaches.                                                   USHER           Please take your seats.                                   The Usher motions for Edith and company to sit in the back.                                                   EDITH           What about those seats up there in           the front?                                                   USHER           The service has begun.                                                   EDITH           Please. My son has cancer.                                   Adam's jaw tightens, he can't believe his mother just did          that. The Usher looks at Adam, sizing up the situation. Adam          couldn't be more uncomfortable.           50.                                                                            USHER           Please, follow me.                                   The usher leads the group to the front and directs the people          in the front row to let them pass through.                                   Edith apologizes as each person they pass has to stand to let          them by.                                                   EDITH                          (QUIETLY)           Sorry, my son has cancer.                                   Adam smiles in embarrassment as he steps past.                                                   ADAM                          (QUIETLY)           Hi. Nice to see you.                                                            INT. BETH ISRAEL SYNAGOGUE. ATRIUM - LATER                                   Edith and Art stand in a crowd of 600 congregants socializing          and conversing after the service. ROSE (60) approaches.                                                   ROSE                          (CONCERNED)           Edith. How are you?                                                   EDITH                          (OVERDRAMATIC)           Oh Rose. Things are not well.                                                   ROSE           I heard about the                          (WHISPERS)           cancer.                                                   EDITH           I can't tell you how hard it's been           on me. My only child. God only           knows what terrible thing I did to           deserve this. I've got a catatonic           husband and a son with cancer. Not           to mention my arthritis. I don't           know how I'll ever get through it.                                   As Adam walks through the atrium, he notices everyone          whispering and pointing at him.                                   Rabbi Jacobs (75) exits the bathroom, pulls up his fly and          spots Adam. Jacobs has the face of a leather couch from all          the tanning and face lifts. He spots Adam.           51.                                                                            RABBI           Ladies and gentleman, Adam           Schwartz!                                                   ADAM           Rabbi Jacobs.                                                   RABBI           How are you son?                                                   ADAM           Oh you know, just trying to live by           the Covenant.                                                   RABBI           Don't bullshit me. You were the           worst student I ever had. I bet           you haven't even spoken a word of           Hebrew since your Bar Mitzvah.                                                   ADAM           I don't like to brag, but I           couldn't speak it then.                                                   RABBI           Your mother told me about your           situation.                                   Adam looks over to see his mother surrounded by a dozen          sympathetic listeners as she tells them her horror story of          having a son with cancer.                                                   ADAM           I'm sure she did.                                                   RABBI           It's not easy for a mother to see           her son go through something like           this,                                                   ADAM           Nothing is easy for my mother.                                                   RABBI           Have you thought about trying to           reconnect with the Torah?                                                   ADAM           Honestly, I'm just here to make my           mother happy. It was either this or           I had to go see my cousin perform           in his high school theatre's           adaptation of "You've Got Mail".           52.                                                                            RABBI           Well think about it. I'm always           here.                                                            INT. HOSPITAL - DAY                                   ALAN ALDA looks directly into the camera. The year is 1970.                                                   ALAN ALDA           Hi there, I'm Alan Alda...                                   Alan Alda walks down the hospital corridor.                                    ALAN ALDA (CONT'D)           So you've been told you have           cancer. Well, you're not alone. 1           in every 3 people living today will           experience some form of the           disease...                                   A shot of people walking in Times Square, arrows slowly pop          up over the heads of every third person.                                    ALAN ALDA (CONT'D)           You may be wondering what is           cancer? Well, cancer is a group of           more than 100 different diseases           characterized by the abnormal           growth of cells. These cells form a           lump or mass called a "tumor".                                   A reddish freckle dissolves into massive tumor.                                    ALAN ALDA (V.O.) (CONT'D)           Cancer is treated through the use           of a revolutionizing medicine           called Che-mo-therapy.                                   Shot of a very PRETTY WOMAN being administered a small pill          by a Nurse. The woman smiles politely to the Nurse.                                    ALAN ALDA (CONT'D)           Chemotherapy is a very serious           treatment.                                   Shot of a Doctor speaking intently to the Pretty Woman who          listens closely.                                    ALAN ALDA (CONT'D)           It works by destroying cancer           cells; unfortunately, it cannot           tell the difference between cancer           cells and healthy cells.           53.                                                            Shot of a poorly designed diagram of the human body. A milky          substance runs through the body destroying all the various          cells in it's path.                                    ALAN ALDA (V.O.) (CONT'D)           As a result, it's going to make you           feel tired...                                   Image of yawning kitten.                                    ALAN ALDA (V.O.) (CONT'D)           And sick.                                   Shot of a School Nurse checking a child's temperature.                                   The music begins to ramp.                                    ALAN ALDA (V.O.) (CONT'D)           ...You are about to embark on the           journey of a lifetime. So aim           high...                                   Shot of APOLLO 11 lifting off.                                    ALAN ALDA (CONT'D)           ...and always remember, the road to           recovery is a team effort...                                   A shot of a girls volleyball team. One of the players serves          up a pass and another spikes it down. All the girls high-          five.                                    ALAN ALDA (V.O.) (CONT'D)           It's important that you talk openly           with your health care providers.           Ask questions so you can know all           the facts. Being prepared is half           the battle...                                   Back on Alan Alda.                                    ALAN ALDA (CONT'D)           Toward helping yourself begin to           feel in control again...On behalf           of all the great folks at Mount           Sinai Hospital, I'd like to thank           you for your time...make it a great           day.           54.                                                            INT. HOSPITAL - DAY                                   A small group of patients, including Adam, have been watching          the video. The people in the room applaud, Adam looks around          baffled by both the video and the clapping.                                   GEORGE, a tall male nurse of Bahamian descent, enters the          room.                                                   GEORGE           Adam Schwartz.                                   Adam stands.                                                   GEORGE (CONT'D)           Come with me my baby.                                   Adam follows George into the elevator where they ride down          into the bowel of the hospital: The Cancer Ward.                                   Walking through the long ominous halls of the hospital          basement, Adam passes dozens of sick patients who are being          shuttled into Radiation Therapy, Chemotherapy and other          various treatment rooms.                                   A sick, fat, BALD ELDERLY WOMAN coughs as she passes. Adam          winces in disgust.                                                   GEORGE (CONT'D)           This way my baby.                                   George leads Adam into a Chemotherapy Treatment room.                                                            INT. HOSPITAL. CHEMOTHERAPY ROOM - LATER                                   Adam is seated in a plush leather chair where he's hooked          into a chemo drip. He's surrounded by a dozen gaunt, hairless          patients. He is the youngest patient by at least 20 years.          Completely overwhelmed, Adam spots A BALD WOMAN sitting          quietly knitting. She's at peace with herself. Her Zen like          state helps Adam relax.                                   Adam skims through a catalogue of clothing intended for          cancer patients until he notices HENRY (50), a very small man          sitting in a wheel chair which is attached to a respirator.          Despite the fact that every breath Henry takes looks like it          might kill him, he barks derogatory statements at the wall.          Adam looks on in terror. The genial MITCH(85) notices.                                                   MITCH           That's Henry.           55.                                                                            ADAM           Is he okay?                                                   MITCH           He's always like that.                                                   ADAM                          (TERRIFIED)           Is that going to happen to me?                                                   MITCH           Best not worry about these things.                                   ALAN (84), the contentious old man sitting next to Mitch          chimes in.                                                   ALAN                          (TO ADAM)           Want a hit?                                   Adam looks down to see that Alan is holding a ONE HITTER full          of weed.                                                   MITCH           It makes it all a little easier to           handle.                                                   ADAM                          (PARANOID)           What if someone sees us?                                                   ALAN           Don't be such an old man. Look at           this place, it's like Death Row in           here, they don't give a shit what           we do.                                   Adam reluctantly takes a hit.                                                   MITCH           How old are you?                                                   ADAM           Twenty-five.                                                   ALAN           You're lucky. Life only gets worse           anyway.                                                   MITCH           Alan, stop it.                          (TO ADAM)           Don't listen to him, he's just           messing with you.           56.                                                                            ALAN           No I'm not.                          (TO ADAM)           It's all downhill from here. Trust           me. First your hair's going to fall           out, then your balls will shrink.           You'll marry a woman, or man,           who'll suck every penny out of your           savings and then leave you for a           fitness instructor in a teal Miata.           Then, to top it all off, your kids           will one day stop talking to you           because their therapist, who you           pay for, tells them you're the           reason they're so fucked up.                                                   MITCH           You'll have to excuse Alan here,           he's going through a rough time.                                                   ALAN                          (TO ADAM)           I'm just being realistic. You want           some advice?                                                   ADAM           Not really.                                                   ALAN           Don't end up a victim like the rest           of `em. Life sucks, the earlier you           accept it, the better off you'll           be.                                                   ADAM           I got to tell you, I was really           nervous about this whole cancer           thing, and then I met you guys, and           boy do I feel better.                                   Alan and Mitch laugh.                                                   ALAN                          (TO MITCH)           I like this kid.                          (TO ADAM)           I'm Alan Liebowitz: stage 4           lymphoma. Pleased to meet you.                                                   MITCH           Mitch Horowitz, metastatic prostate           cancer.           57.                                                                            ADAM           Adam Schwartz, schwannoma           neurofibrosarcomas.                                                   ALAN           What the fuck is that?...Sounds           like the greek dish I had for           lunch.                                   Adam is beginning to feel the effects of the weed.                                                   ADAM           ... man this pot is really strong.                                                   MITCH           Medicinal.                                                   ALAN           Good shit eh.                                   Adam stares off into space. He's really high, almost like          he's tripping. The walls start spinning.                                                   FADE TO:                                                            EXT. AMUSEMENT PARK - DAY (DREAM)                                   Adam is standing on line for a Roller Coaster. He gets to the          front of the line when the CARNIE stops him.                                                   CARNIE           Hey you! What do you think you're           doing?                                   Everything Adam says is in German and subtitled in English.                                                   ADAM           I want to ride.                                                   CARNIE           Read the sign.                                   The Carnies points to a sign that reads "No Cancer."                                                   ADAM           I don't have cancer.                                                   CARNIE           Then what's that?                                   The Carnie points out Adam's T-shirt, it reads "I'M WITH          CANCER."           58.                                                            Adam turns around to see a GIANT BALD FAT MAN eating cotton          candy, his shirt reads "CANCER".                                   Adam tries to run away, but he's attached to the Giant Fat          Bald Guy via an umbilical cord. The Giant Fat Bald Guy          reaches out, picks Adam up, and swallows him.                                   END DREAM SEQUENCE                                                            INT. ADAM'S BEDROOM - NIGHT                                   Adam jolts out of bed. His clothes are drenched in sweat. He          looks down to see Rachel sleeping peacefully next to him. He          quickly gets out of bed and runs into the bathroom. And by          the sound of it, throws up. A lot. Rachel mutters something          incoherent and then sprawls out, consuming the entire bed.                                                            INT. HOSPITAL. KATIE'S OFFICE - NEXT DAY                                   Adam looks worn and exhausted from the chemo. He's never felt          worse.                                                   KATIE           So how do you feel after your first           treatment?                                                   ADAM           I feel like I was just gang raped           by the Buena Vista Social Club.                                                   KATIE           Is everything with you going to be           a joke?                                                   ADAM           I'm serious. Have you heard their           horn section?                                                   KATIE           Adam, you have a responsibility to           your mind and body.                                                   ADAM           I was just injected with three           pints of kryptonite. Can we please           hold off on the new agey stuff.                                                   KATIE           You can't just sit there and ignore           what's happening to you...You need           to stop bottling everything up.           59.                                                                            ADAM           What I need is for people to stop           telling me what I need.                                                   KATIE           Have you considered that this           cancer is nature's way of telling           you to change the way you live your           life?           (off Adam's look)           ...There's an old saying - you           can't change the wind, but you can           adjust the sails.                                                   ADAM           They teach you that in medical           school?                                   Katie's patience is waning.                                                   KATIE           I know you don't like to talk about           your feelings, but you have to           learn to find an outlet.                                                   ADAM                          (FRUSTRATED)           An outlet for what? I have cancer.                                                   KATIE           And how is your body ever going to           fight the stress of that cancer if           you can't even handle your own           emotions?                                   Adam snaps, rasing his voice.                                                   ADAM           Well excuse me. You'll have to           forgive me for not having a firm           handle on my emotions at this           particular juncture of my life.                                   Katie's a little shaken by Adam's outburst. She stays firm.                                                   KATIE           You don't have to be here.                                   Adam knows he went too far. Plus, that little outburst lifted          a little wight off his shoulders, and he knows it.                                                   ADAM           I'm sorry, I know you're only           trying to help.                          (MORE)           60.                                                   ADAM (CONT'D)           This is all too much for me. I           don't know what to do. Just tell me           what to do and I'll do it.                                   Katie looks at Adam, is he being for real? She's skeptical.                                                   KATIE           I want you to do some homework.           Here's a list of books on mind-body           therapy. They should help you get           started.                                   Katie hands Adam a sheet of paper with a list of books          scribbled on it.                                                            WE PUSH IN ON THE LIST OF BOOKS:                                                            INT. BOOKSTORE. SELF HELP SECTION - DAY                                                            WE PULL OUT ON THE LIST OF BOOKS:                                   Adam and Seth browse through shelves of books. Seth is          reading the author's bio from one of the books on Katie's          list.                                                   SETH                          (IN EXCITEMENT)           "Franz Schlegel is an American           `medical intuitive' and `mystic           psychiatrist'. Schlegel's teachings           are widely recognized as a global           spiritual awakening that is           transcending individual and           collective human consciousness"...           You're actually going to read this           shit? This guy is a fucking tool.                                   Seth ditches the New Age book and picks up one on Mardi Gras.                                                   SETH (CONT'D)           Let's go to Mardi Gras!                                                   ADAM           Why would we go to Mardi Gras?                                                   SETH           Because it's Mardi Gras man. It's           like a giant orgy of the sexiest           women you can imagine all throwing           themselves at you, screaming to be           fucked. It's a fuck fest.           61.                                                                            ADAM           I'm getting chlamydia just           listening to you talk about it.                                                   SETH           We need to go see the world.                                                   ADAM           This isn't my bachelor party we're           planning here.                                                   SETH                          (FRUSTRATED)           Adam you can not let your cancer go           to waste.                                   Adam takes the book from Seth's hands and puts it down.                                                   ADAM           I'm not going anywhere.                                   From across the store, Seth notices, CLAIRE (30), an          attractive employee stacking books.                                                   SETH           Well if you're not going to take           advantage of your cancer, then I           will.                                   Seth yanks the list of books from Adam and crosses to Claire.                                                   SETH (CONT'D)           Excuse me.                                                   CLAIRE           Yes, how can I help you?                                                   SETH           I'm looking to buy a few books -                                   Seth hands Claire the list of book titles. She reads.                                                   CLAIRE           Oh.                          (CONCERNED)           Are these for...I'm sorry it's none           of my business.                                                   SETH           No that's okay. They're for my best           friend, Adam.                                   Seth nods towards Adam across the room.           62.                                                                            SETH (CONT'D)           He's pretty sick.                                   Claire shoots Adam a look - the way one looks at a dying          puppy. Adam looks on in confusion.                                                   CLAIRE           How awful.                                                   SETH           Yeah. Cancer, not cool.                                                   CLAIRE           Poor guy.                                                   SETH           I know it's been really hard.                                   Claire leans in.                                                   CLAIRE           It's bad isn't it?                                                   SETH           Honestly?                          (FEIGNING SADNESS)           Sometimes I just wish it was me           instead of him...to relieve some of           the burden, you know? I just...I           just want to help.                                                            INT. BOOKSTORE - LATER                                   Adam and Seth exit the bookstore. They pass Claire who gives          Seth a big smile followed by the "call me" motion.                                                   ADAM           What just happened?                                                   SETH                          (TO ADAM)           I'll tell you what happened. Cancer           happened, and you need to get on           the train.                                                            INT. ADAM'S HOUSE - DAY                                   Adam and Seth smoke a joint as they watch "Planet Earth" on a          brand new 50" flat screen TV. There are a dozen oversized          boxes marked "Rachel" scattered throughout the house.                                   Rachel yells from the bedroom.           63.                                                             RACHEL (O.C.)           Adam do you know where the dog           leash is?                                                   ADAM           Are you going to the park again?                                   Rachel enters the room with the dog cradled in her arms.                                                   ADAM (CONT'D)           This is the third time today.                                                   RACHEL           He likes running around with the           other dogs.                                                   ADAM           He can barely make it to the door           without shitting himself.                                   Rachel finds the leash and then smells the joint.                                                   RACHEL                          (TAKEN ABACK)           Are you smoking weed?                                                   ADAM           Yeah.                                                   RACHEL           Since when do you smoke?                                                   ADAM           It's medicinal.                                   Rachel's shocked, this is way out of character for Adam.                                                   RACHEL           You got a prescription for           medicinal marijuana?                                                   SETH           No, I did.                                                   RACHEL           What's wrong with you?                                                   SETH           Night blindness. Rods and cones are           off.                                   Rachel rolls her eyes. Seth is ridiculous. Then she notices          the new flat screen TV on the wall and just like that, her          demeanor switches. She looks pissed.           64.                                                                            RACHEL           Where did that TV come from?                                                   ADAM           The store.           (off Rachel's furious                          LOOK)           It's medicinal?                                                   RACHEL           I thought we already agreed that my           painting was going there.                                                   ADAM           (trying to reason)           Why can't we put up both?                                                   RACHEL           You want me to put my painting next           to a television?                                                   ADAM                          (SHRUGS)           Yes?                                                   RACHEL                          (YELLS)           Art needs to breathe Adam!...Do           whatever you want. I'm taking your           dog to the park!...And open a           window. This isn't a dorm room.                                   Rachel walks to the door, scoops the dog up in one arm and a          bag of garbage in the other.                                                   ADAM           (calls out to Rachel)           Love you.                                   The door slams.                                                   ADAM (CONT'D)           I don't get it, they spend all day           at the dog park.                                                   SETH           Great. Maybe she'll move there.                                                   ADAM           Can you not talk about her like           that?                                   Seth nearly chokes as he inhales.           65.                                                                            SETH           Are you joking? Do you see the way           she treats you?                                                   ADAM           She's got some kind of creative           block...It's her process.                                                   SETH           You have cancer for fuck's sake! If           I was your girlfriend, I'd be           baking you cookies and blowing you           every thirty minutes. Instead,           she's yelling at you over some           fucking painting. Her art sucks.           You don't want to put that on your           wall. It looks like someone threw           up a shrimp cocktail and then used           it to spackle the Berlin Wall.                                                   ADAM           We're going through a rough patch.           That's what happens in           relationships.                                                   SETH                          (SERIOUS)           Bullshit. She's fucking you in the           ass Adam. This is the one time in           your life you can do whatever you           want. If you want to smoke weed,           then smoke. You want a 50 inch flat           screen TV, then get the fucking TV!           And if you want to go to Mardi           Gras, then LET'S GO TO MARDI GRAS!                                                   ADAM           We're not going to Mardi Gras.                                   Seth takes a hit from the joint and hands it back to Adam.                                                   SETH           (as he exhales)           You're totally missing my point.                                                            INT. HOSPITAL. KATIE'S OFFICE - DAY                                   Adam sits in Katie's office.                                                   ADAM           I've been reading your books, and           you know it actually makes           sense...Some of it.                          (MORE)           66.                                                   ADAM (CONT'D)           I'm not gonna lie, I don't really           get the "Dark Night of the Soul"           stuff. But I get it, years of           anxiety have taken over my body.           I'm blocked...emotionally.                                                   KATIE                          (EXCITED)           Adam! This is fantastic.                                   Adam is slightly taken aback by Katie's response.                                                   KATIE (CONT'D)           You know if you're interested,           there are some more advanced forms           of therapy that I think could be           really useful.                                                   ADAM           Sure, if you think it'll help.                                                            INT. LAUGHTER THERAPY - DAY                                   Adam and Seth are seated in a semi-circle with a half dozen          middle aged men and women. At the front of the group is the          LAUGHTER THERAPIST (50) - a short man with a long greying          pony tail and a thick beard. All eyes are closed except for          Seth and Adam's. Adam's hair is noticeably thin.                                                   LAUGHTER THERAPIST           Good morning class. Before we begin           I'd like to introduce Adam and           Seth, our two newest giggle gurus.                                   The class laughs. Adam and Seth look around paranoid.                                                   SETH           (quietly to Adam)           What are they laughing at?                                                   ADAM           (quietly to Seth)           Just go with it.                                   Seth and Adam laugh along with the others.                                                   LAUGHTER THERAPIST           (to Adam and Seth)           Now what you'll soon discover is           the true miracle and gift of           laughter.                          (MORE)           67.                                    LAUGHTER THERAPIST (CONT'D)           Learning to laugh at ourselves and           others through non- judgemental           means is far more effective than           any prescription drug, or,           rehabilitation center.           You see, when we laugh, our bodies           release endorphins that not only           support the immune system, but also           release deeply stored emotional           pain, and give us a fresh new           outlook on life.                                   The Laugh Therapist opens his eyes and stares intensely at          Adam and then Seth.                                    LAUGHTER THERAPIST (CONT'D)           We don't tell jokes here, we tell           the truth - and we laugh at that           truth.                                   The Laughter Therapist closes his eyes.                                    LAUGHTER THERAPIST (CONT'D)           So let us share. Adam, why don't           you tell us what brings you here?                                   Adam looks around in fear of saying the wrong thing.                                    LAUGHTER THERAPIST (CONT'D)           We're all friends here in the           Laughter Pagoda.                                                   ADAM           I, ah, have cancer.                                   The entire class laughs hysterically.                                                   LAUGHTER THERAPIST           Ah cancer yes. Yes. Laugh.           Everyone. Beverly, share -                                                   BEVERLY           Yesterday, I confiscated my son's           pornography collection and then           used it to masturbate 6 times.                                   The class laughs.                                                   LAUGHTER THERAPIST           Paul, share,                                                   PAUL           My wife told me she's a lesbian.           And then left me for my sister.           68.                                                            The class laughs.                                                   LAUGHTER THERAPIST                          JIM -                                                   JIM                          (GLUM)           I owe two men eight grand by           Friday.                                   The class laughs.                                                   LAUGHTER THERAPIST                          SETH -                                                   SETH           My best friend is a giant pussy.                                   The class laughs.                                                   ADAM           My best friend's favorite band is           Abba.                                   Everyone laughs except for Seth.                                                   SETH                          (DEFENSIVE)           When I was 12.                                                   LAUGHTER THERAPIST                          (HYSTERICAL)           Abba! Wonderful. I love it. Seth           laugh.                                                            INT. ADAM'S BATHROOM - DAY                                   TIME LAPSE: Adam stares at himself in the mirror. His health          slowly deteriorates. Hair begins to fall out. His face thins.                                                  SUPER: JULY                                                   FADE TO:                                                            INT. HOSPITAL. HALLWAY - DAY                                   Adam, Alan and Mitch sit in the corridor of the Cancer Ward.          Adam is wearing a ski hat to cover his balding head.                                                   ALAN                          (CONFIDENT)           Real.           69.                                                                            MITCH           Fake.                                                   ADAM           Fake.                                   CAMERA PULLS BACK to reveal an INSANELY HOT WOMAN with giant          breasts in a hospital gown walk by the three men.                                                   ALAN           You're both wrong. I think I know           real when I see it.                                   The hot woman scratches her head, revealing that she's          wearing a WIG.                                                   ALAN (CONT'D)           God damn it.                                   Alan hands Adam and Mitch each a five dollar bill.                                   Mitch notices Adam watching one of the OTHER PATIENT's          sitting and laughing with HIS WIFE. There's a longing in          Adam's eyes.                                                   MITCH           How come we've never met Rachel?                                                   ALAN           Yeah. What the fuck?                                                   ADAM           She's been really stressed lately,                                   Adam looks around at all the sick people.                                                   ADAM (CONT'D)           If I brought her here, she'd           probably freak out.                                                   ALAN           Smart man. Save yourself the           headache.                                                   MITCH           Don't listen to him Adam. It's           important to be with your loved           ones in times like these.                                                   ALAN           Bullshit. Women are nothing but           trouble.                          (MORE)           70.                                                   ALAN (CONT'D)           They're selfish animals who only           add to the misery in your life. You           want to talk about a cancer.                                                   MITCH           Listen to me Adam, I've been           married 40 years and it's my           Margaret who keeps me going.                                   Mitch pulls out his wallet. He holds out a picture of his          wife MARGARET (80).                                                   MITCH (CONT'D)           She's my reason to live.                                                   ALAN           That's precious Mitch, I almost           want to wrap it up and tie a little           bow around it.                          (TO ADAM)           Honestly, I don't give a shit. You           can do whatever you want. It's your           life. All I know is that I'm not           going to spend my last days on this           miserable planet pining over a           woman. The day my wife left me was           the best day of my life.                                   Adam let's this soak in.                                                            EXT. HOSPITAL - AFTERNOON                                   Adam's on his cell phone pacing in front of the hospital.                                    RACHEL (V.O.)           Hey, it's Rachel. I must be doing           something really important. I'll           give you a call when I'm           done...yay!                                                   ADAM                          (INTO PHONE)           Hey it's me, just checking to see           if you're on your way.                                                   CUT TO:                                                            EXT. HOSPITAL PARKING LOT - LATER                                   Adam paces impatiently. He calls Rachel again, it goes          straight to voice mail.           71.                                                             RACHEL (V.O.)           Hey, it's Rachel. I must be doing           something really important. I'll           give you a call when I'm           done...yay!                                                   ADAM                          (INTO PHONE)           It's me again. Just checking to see           where you are. In case you're           looking for me I'm now on the other           side of the parking lot. Call me.                                   As Katie walks to her car, she sees Adam pacing and mumbling          to himself.                                                   KATIE           Adam?                                                   ADAM                          (EMBARRASSED)           Oh hey.                                                   KATIE           What are you doing?                                                   ADAM           Just waiting for Rachel to pick me           up.                                                   KATIE           What time is she coming?                                                   ADAM           Uh, four.                                   Katie looks at her watch.                                                   KATIE           It's six thirty.                                                   ADAM           She must be stuck in traffic.                                                   KATIE           You want a ride?                                                            INT. KATIE'S CAR - MOMENTS LATER                                   Adam is seated in the front seat as Katie drives. The car is          filthy - it's littered with papers, magazines, food wrappers,          etc. Katie's body is pressed all the way up against the          steering wheel with her eyes fixed on the road.           72.                                                                            KATIE           Sorry about the mess.                                   Adam picks up a copy of "Organizing Your Way to Success,"          which is lying on the floor.                                                   ADAM           I think you should ask for a           refund.                                                   KATIE           I know, I know. What can I say? I'm           not good at getting rid of things.           I get easily attached.                                                   ADAM           Yeah, I can see.                                   Changing the subject.                                                   KATIE           So you don't drive?                                                   ADAM           Nope.                                                   KATIE           But you have a license?                                                   ADAM           Nope.                          (BEAT)           I actually failed my test.                                                   KATIE           No!                                                   ADAM                          (EMBARRASSED)           It's true.                                                   KATIE           But, I thought you can re-take the           test.                                                   ADAM           Eh. Let's just say, that the state           of California felt it was best I           didn't.                                   Katie stares at Adam in shock.                                                   KATIE           What did you do?           73.                                                                            ADAM           I kind of backed my mom's car down           an embankment...Into the Balboa           cactus garden.                                                   KATIE           The garden with all the endangered           plants?                                                   ADAM           They didn't want to tow it out in           fear of destroying more of the           vegetation, so they had to use a           giant crane.                                   Katie lets out a tiny chuckle, but quickly contains herself.                                                   KATIE           I'm sorry. That's terrible.                                   Unable to hold back, Katie continues laughing. This is the          first time we've seen Katie let go of her rigid nature.                                                   ADAM                          (ABRUPT)           Stop the car.                                   Katie looks at Adam nervously.                                                   KATIE           Why what's wrong?                                                   ADAM           Just stop the car.                                   Katie stops the car. Adam grabs a handful of Katie's garbage          and gets out.                                                   KATIE           What are you doing?                                                   ADAM           I can't handle all this mess.                                   Adam tosses the garbage in a dumpster and comes back to the          car for more. Katie starts laughing, she can't believe Adam          is cleaning her car.                                                   KATIE           Wait, no, not that, that's my           dinner.                                   Adam leaves Katie's dinner and throws out the rest of the          garbage. He gets back in the car and takes a deep breath.           74.                                                                            ADAM           You can drive.                                                            EXT. ADAM'S HOUSE - LATER                                   Adam and Katie arrive at Adam's house.                                                   ADAM           Thanks for the ride...                                   Adam looks at his house. The lights are out. He's really not          in the mood to be alone. He looks back at Katie.                                                   ADAM (CONT'D)           Do you want to come in. For a           beverage? Or something?                                                   KATIE           It probably wouldn't be very           professional of me.                                                   ADAM           Come on, I'll let you analyze my           Id.                                   Katie is hesitant, but she also feels in a strange way that          Adam is more than a patient.                                                   KATIE           Uh, okay. But I can't stay long.                                                            INT. ADAM'S HOUSE. LIVING ROOM - LATER                                   Adam and Katie sit on the couch playing an ultra-violent          video game. Katie is destroying Adam.                                                   KATIE           You know you are terrible at this?                                   Adam is totally lost. He has zero sense of how to play.                                                   ADAM           I've never played before.                                                   KATIE           This is your Playstation.                                                   ADAM           Doesn't mean I play it. Games these           days today are so complicated.                          (RE: CONTROL)                          (MORE)           75.                                                   ADAM (CONT'D)           There's too many buttons. I can't           keep track of what does what.                                                   KATIE                          (LAUGHS)           Perhaps you'd prefer something a           little more simple. Maybe a nice           game of Connect Four or Bingo.                                                   ADAM           She has a sense of humor.                                   Katie's face lights up. She's proud of herself for that one.                                                   ADAM (CONT'D)           Duck Hunt, now that was a game.           You know why? One button.                                   Katie laughs.                                                   ADAM (CONT'D)           You think I'm kidding. My dad and I           used to have Duck Hunt tournaments.           He was actually really good.                          (BEAT)           Until he had his stroke.                                                   KATIE           That must have been hard, seeing           him lose his cognitive skills like           that.                                   This is the most emotionally honest we've ever seen Adam.                                                   ADAM           Well the funny thing is that the           stroke actually made him a better           player, he just lost interest.                                   Katie feels for Adam.                                                   KATIE           You've never talked about your dad.                                                   ADAM           Well whose fault is that? Doctor?                                                   KATIE           Hey!                                   The two continue to play. Adam wildly pushes every button as          Katie's character pins Adam's character and repeatedly slams          his head into the ground.           76.                                                            Game over.                                   Katie pats Adam on the shoulder.                                                   KATIE (CONT'D)           Rematch?                                                            INT. ADAM'S KITCHEN - LATER THAT NIGHT                                   Adam holds out a tray of wheat grass as he prepares to blend          wheat grass shots.                                                   ADAM           You ever had this stuff.                                                   KATIE           No, but it's supposed to be really           good for you.                                                   ADAM           Well it smells like my grandmother.                                                   KATIE           You complain a lot.                                                   ADAM           You haven't met my mother.           It's a miracle I do anything but           complain.                                                   KATIE           I try not to look at the world like           that.                                                   ADAM           The world would be a boring place           if we didn't complain. Come on.           There's got to be something. One           thing, just one thing, that drives           you nuts.                                                   KATIE           Hmmm.                          (FISHING)           I really don't like it when people           at work finish all the coffee and           don't refill the pot.                                                   ADAM           It's infuriating right?           77.                                                                            KATIE           I wouldn't say infuriating. It's           just not good work place etiquette.                                   Adam is far more excited by this revelation. He hands Katie a          shot of wheat grass and takes one last sniff of the awful          smelling drink. He raises his glass to make a toast.                                                   ADAM           To complaining.                                   Adam downs the drink and cringes at the taste. Katie follows,          and in total disgust, she spits her wheat grass all over          Adam's face.                                                   KATIE           Oh god, that's disgusting. I'm so           sorry.                                   Katie grabs a towel as Adam stands speechless.                                                   KATIE (CONT'D)           Hold on. I'm so sorry.                                   Adam keeps his eyes closed as Katie wipes his face.                                                   ADAM           Is it all gone?                                   For the first time, Katie notices how cute Adam is. Adam          opens his eyes to catch Katie staring at him. They lock eyes          for a moment. Uncomfortable, Adam averts his look.                                   Suddenly, Rachel walks through the front door.                                    RACHEL (O.C.)           Adam?                                   Feeling a little foolish, Katie motions to leave.                                                   KATIE           I should probably be going.                                   Rachel enters the kitchen.                                                   RACHEL           Adam?                                                   ADAM           Finally. Where have you been?                                                   RACHEL                          (MAD)           I hope I'm not interrupting.           78.                                                                            ADAM           Oh, this is Dr. McRae, my           therapist.                                                   RACHEL                          (SUSPICIOUS)           This is your therapist?                                                   KATIE           Please, call me Katie.                                                   RACHEL                          (SUSPICIOUS)           OK. Katie. What are you doing here?                                                   ADAM           She drove me home. Ring a bell?                                                   RACHEL           Ugh. Shit.                          (SWEET/NERVOUS)           Thank you so much for doing that.           Life's been a little crazy lately,           which I'm sure Adam has told you           all about. I love those shoes.                                                   KATIE           Thanks...                                   Awkward silence. The tension is thick.                                                   KATIE (CONT'D)           I'm going to go. I'll see you at           our next session Adam.                                   Katie leaves.                                                   ADAM           Where have you been?                                                   RACHEL           I was at the gallery.                                                   ADAM                          (PISSED)           You were supposed to pick me up. 8           hours ago.                                                   RACHEL           I know. I'm sorry. I totally           spaced. With the opening only three           months away my head's just all over           the place.           (off Adam's look)                          (MORE)           79.                                                   RACHEL (CONT'D)           Don't look at me like that. You           know this is a hard time for me.                                                   ADAM           You're right. Let me go back and           talk to the doctor - see if maybe           they can diagnose me with something           that better suits your needs.                                                   RACHEL                          (DEFENSIVE)           I'm not just some car service here           to shuttle you around!                                                   ADAM           And my house isn't a summer camp.           You can't just come and go as you           please and not take some           responsibility.                                                   RACHEL           And what is it that I'm not taking           responsibility for?                                                   ADAM           This. Us.                                                   RACHEL           I can't handle this! You make it           sound like I'm your wife.                                                   ADAM           You know what I thought the other           day? That I might actually die           without ever having sex again.                                                   RACHEL           I'm sorry if your cancer isn't           turning me on.                                   Rachel begins to cry.                                                   RACHEL (CONT'D)           You think this is easy for me           seeing you sick like this? The past           few months have been hard on me           too. It's not always about you.                                                   ADAM                          (RELENTS)           I know.                                   Adam tenderly wraps his arms around Rachel.           80.                                                            A beat.                                                   RACHEL           Why are you so good?                                                   ADAM           You're my Yam.                                                            INT. ADAM'S BEDROOM - LATER THE SAME NIGHT                                   Rachel stares at Adam as he sleeps next to her in bed. She          slowly moves her index finger along Adam's arm and then          seductively kisses his neck. Adam firmly grabs hold of Rachel          and the two begin to go through the motions. Clothes come          off. Adam gets on top of Rachel...And then stops.                                                   RACHEL           What's wrong?                                                   ADAM           I can't.                                                   RACHEL           Why?                                   Adam looks down.                                                   ADAM           I don't know what's wrong.                          (DEFEATED)           It won't work.                                   Adam rolls over onto his back. He and Rachel lay silent -          neither making contact with the other.                                                   FADE TO:                                                  SUPER: SEPTEMBER                                                            INT. HOSPITAL. CHEMOTHERAPY TREATMENT ROOM - MORNING                                   Adam sits down next to Mitch, but notices there's no Alan.                                                   ADAM           Where's Alan?                                   Speechless, Mitch looks up at Adam and slowly shakes his          head. Tears roll down Mitch's cheek. Adam's face goes white.           81.                                                            EXT. CEMETERY - DAY                                   Adam and Mitch stand next to the RABBI.                                   The tombstone reads "ALAN LIEBOWITZ (1923-2007) FINALLY."                                   THE CAMERA TILTS up to the sky, and then DOWN to reveal:                                                            EXT. BOCA RATON RETIREMENT COMMUNITY - DAY (DREAM)                                   A healthy Adam is surrounded by dozens of energetic elderly          people who are swimming, playing bocci ball, shuffle board,          bridge, etc. Adam looks on in confusion as an OLD MAN wearing          an official looking badge drives by on a golf cart.                                                   ADAM           Excuse me.                                   The old man stops his cart.                                                   OLD MAN           How can I help you?                                                   ADAM           Where am I?                                                   OLD MAN           The After Life.                                                   ADAM           This is Heaven?                                   The old man scratches his balls.                                                   OLD MAN           Pretty great huh? They've even got           a frozen yogurt machine.                                   The old man points to a long line of excited seniors awaiting          their turn at a massive Frozen Yogurt Sundae Bar. A sign in          front reads "WAIT: 45 MINUTES".                                                   ADAM           There are lines in Heaven?                                                   OLD MAN           It's worth it.                                   End Dream.           82.                                                            INT. ADAM'S HOUSE - NIGHT                                   Adam jumps from bed in cold sweat.                                                            INT. SYNAGOGUE. RABBI JACOB'S OFFICE - DAY                                   Adam is seated in the Rabbi's office, he looks despondent.                                                   RABBI           So you want to know what's going to           happen when you die?                                                   ADAM           I think it's a fair question.                                                   RABBI           Fair yes, but impossible for me to           answer. Our deaths, like our lives,           have meaning and are all part of           God's plan. How should I know what           God has planned for you. Maybe if           you came to service once in a           while...                                                   ADAM           Well am I going to go to Heaven?                                                   RABBI           Probably.                                                   ADAM           What if I want to just die? That's           it. No Heaven.                                                   RABBI           That's like buying a ticket for a           cruise and then not going. The           Afterlife is where the fun begins.                                                   ADAM           How can being stuck in some           nonexistent void with my           grandparents be fun. I spent my           entire life trying to get away from           my family, now I'm going to have to           spend an eternity with them.                                                   RABBI           Adam, you can not look at death as           a curse. Even in death we are all           still part of God. Life on Earth is           just the beginning.           83.                                                                            ADAM           But that's not what I want.                                                   RABBI                          (FRUSTRATED)           Oy. Then find another religion. I           don't make the rules.                                                            INT. HOSPITAL. KATIE'S OFFICE - DAY                                   Adam is lying on the couch staring at the ceiling. There is          total silence.                                                   KATIE           You're being awfully quiet today.           Is everything okay?                                                   ADAM           I'm going to die aren't I?                                                   KATIE           What are you talking about?                                                   ADAM           It's true.                                                   KATIE           We don't know that.                                   Adam sits up and looks at Katie.                                                   ADAM           I'm not getting any better.                                                   KATIE           Don't say that, you're doing so           well.                                                   ADAM           Did you know that they found a           Quasar 7 billion light years away?           7 billion light years! It's more           than 3 billion years older than our           planet, and we're just seeing it           now; and you think I'm going to           live?                                                   KATIE                          (TOTALLY BAFFLED)           What are you talking about?           84.                                                                            ADAM           Cancer is an epidemic! It killed           Alan, it's going to kill me, and           it's going to kill millions more           after me. There's nothing anybody           can do.                                                   KATIE           This is really good Adam. Let it           out.                                                   ADAM           Will you stop!                          (BEAT)           I can't do this anymore. It doesn't           matter. None of it. I'm going to           die and with nothing to show for my           life. 100 years from now my legacy           be will be that of just another           person dead of cancer. That's it.                                                   KATIE           This helplessness you're feeling is           normal. These emotions you're           holding onto are what make you           human. But it doesn't mean you can           just stop living your life.                          (BEAT)           Look at how you've grown over the           past few months, you can't just           throw it all away...Talk to me.                                                   ADAM           I know you're only trying to help,           but this isn't working for me           anymore.                          (BEAT)           I'm sorry.                                   Adam leaves. Katie is left feeling as though she failed.                                                            INT. HOSPITAL - DAY                                   Adam lies on the bed of an MRI machine. His body is slowly          drawn into the enclosed body scanner.                                                            INT. ADAM'S BATHROOM - MORNING                                   TIME LAPSE: Adam's stares at himself in the mirror. His          health deteriorates even more.                                                  SUPER: NOVEMBER           85.                                                            Looking at himself in the mirror, Adam takes note of his          hollow cheeks and worn eyes. He looks awful, like an old man.          There isn't any youth left. He's not getting any better, and          he knows it.                                   Noticing a few renegade hairs sticking up, Adam pulls out a          lint brush and combs his head.                                   Rachel enters and steps up on the scale. She examines herself          in the mirror.                                                   ADAM           I need a new lint brush.                                                   RACHEL           Okay, I'll pick one up.                                                   ADAM           And I have a doctor's appointment           next Thursday...The big one.                                   Rachel continues to examines her waist.                                                   RACHEL           Am I getting fat?                                   Adam stares at Rachel.                                                   RACHEL (CONT'D)           What?                                                   ADAM           Are you listening to me?                                                   RACHEL                          (ANNOYED)           Yes.                                                   ADAM           So you'll take me?                                                   RACHEL           Of course.                                   Rachel leaves. In frustration Adam weakly picks up the scale          and throws it against the wall, smashing it.                                                   CUT TO:                                                            INT. ADAM'S LIVING ROOM - DAY                                   Adam sits alone in his empty house. It's a mess. He looks          unhinged.           86.                                                            He slowly pulls a hit from a joint as he watches Matlock on          his flat screen TV, which has been moved to the floor to make          room for Rachel's painting.                                   Adam flips the channel to Martha Stewart, then to I Love          Lucy, then to General Hospital, then to Body Building on          ESPN. He turns the TV off. He's bored.                                   Adam crosses to the answering machine. It reads "10          Messages." He presses play. All the messages are from his          mother. He hits delete.                                                            Adam reads through a stack of unopened letters. He comes          across a postcard from the Museum advertising "Mountain Dew          Presents: The Origins of Man".                                                   DISSOLVE TO:                                                            INT. SAN DIEGO MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY - DAY                                   CLOSE ON: the "Mountain Dew Presents: The Origins of Man"          poster in the Museum's main entrance.                                   Adam enters the museum and walks up to the sign. People stop          and stare, stunned by Adam's gaunt appearance - like a ghost          haunting the grounds. Adam carries a wide smile, he's          overcome with a sense of nostalgia for his old job.                                                            INT. PHIL'S OFFICE - MOMENTS LATER                                   Phil and Adam sit in Phil's office.                                                   PHIL           You look great.                                                   ADAM           Really?                                                   PHIL                          (INSINCERE)           Yeah, look at you.                                                   ADAM           I want to come back to work.                                                   PHIL                          (IN DISBELIEF)           You want to come back? Here?                                                   ADAM           What's so crazy about that?           87.                                                                            PHIL           You could be anywhere right now,           and this is that place?                                                   ADAM           Yeah.                                                   PHIL           Are you sure that's a good idea?                                   Phil is treading a fine line...                                                   PHIL (CONT'D)           ...Given...your current health?                                                   ADAM           You said I look great.                                                   PHIL           Yeah for a guy with cancer.                                   Adam looks dejected. Phil feels bad, he went too far.                                                   PHIL (CONT'D)           Alright, what the hell? I'd love to           have you back. Let's be honest this           place is falling apart without you.                                                   ADAM           Thank you Phil.                                                   PHIL                          (SYMPATHETICALLY )           So you're really okay? I mean, the           cancer, is-                                                   ADAM           Oh it's really good. We've come to           an understanding. It takes whatever           it wants and depletes me of my           every will to live, and I let it.                                   Phil, second-guessing his decision-                                                   PHIL           Welcome back.                                                            INT. MUSEUM. POMPEII EXHIBIT - LATER                                   Seth leads a tour of FOREIGN TOURISTS through the museum. He          speaks as he did earlier - like a game show host.           88.                                                                            SETH           And if you look over on your left           you'll see our newest exhibit "The           Last Days Pompeii." Buried in 79 AD           by the catastrophic eruption of Mt.           Vesuvius, Pompeii remained hidden           and forgotten until 1748 when           archeologists began to excavate the           site. Here we see exquisitely           preserved objects that offer a           glimpse into the day-to-day life of           this ancient city.                                   Seth comes upon Adam who is working closely on a diorama.                                                   SETH (CONT'D)           This here is Adam, one of our           curators. Adam do you want to tell           us what you're working on?                                                   ADAM                          (UPBEAT)           Gladly. This here is a depiction of           what Pompeii's final 19 hours           probably looked like.                                   Adam's exhibit is a highly morbid depiction of Pompeii's          final hours. The scene is total chaos. Ash flies through the          air. Hot molten lava engulfs the town. Miniature men, women,          and children run through the streets in horror. People are          sacrificing whatever they can for the Gods. There's a wild          orgy in the streets. And a giant TYRANNOSAURS REX model          devours a villager.                                                   ADAM (CONT'D)           According to Pliny the Younger -           "You could hear women lamenting,           children crying, men shouting.           There were some so afraid of death           that they prayed for death. Many           raised their hands to the gods, and           even more believed that there were           no gods any longer, and that this           was one unending night for the           world."                                   The tourists take pictures. In shock, Seth quickly shuttles          the group away.                                                   SETH           Ok. Moving along we see the           beautiful watercolor paintings of           John James Audobon.           89.                                                            Seth looks back at Adam like he's lost his mind.                                                            INT. MUSEUM. HALL - LATER                                   The sound of someone vomiting can be heard booming from the          men's bathroom. A crowd of Museum guests walk past in horror.          They look at each other in fear. The toilet flushes. Adam          walks out. Everyone stares. Adam smiles in embarrassment.                                                   ADAM                          (AWKWARD)           I'll be in Pompeii if anyone needs           me.                                   Adam walks back to the Pompeii exhibit. Phil approaches.                                                   PHIL           You feeling okay? You don't look so           good.                                                   ADAM           Could be worse. Right?                                   Phil notices the Pompeii exhibit.                                                   PHIL                          (STARTLED)           Jesus!                                   Phil feels terrible about what he's going to say next.                                                   PHIL (CONT'D)           Listen Adam...I don't know how to           say this...                                   Phil places a comforting hand on Adam's shoulder.                                                   ADAM           Don't worry...I get it. You're a           good guy.                                                   PHIL           Come back when you're better. You           know you'll always have a home           here.                                                            INT. MUSEUM. ORIGINS OF MAN EXHIBIT - MOMENTS LATER                                   Distraught, Adam walks down the Hall of Evolution. Slouched          in defeat, he passes the various dioramas depicting human          evolution. He begins at MODERN HUMANS and walks backwards in          time.           90.                                                            He comes to the family of Cro Magnons, then Neanderthal man.          He stops and looks at Neanderthal - their slumped profiles          match. He continues down the hall towards the exit.                                                            EXT. SAN DIEGO BOARDWALK - AFTERNOON                                   Adam walks along the boardwalk. He's surrounded by          perfection. The beach. The water. The blue sky. Hundreds of          beautiful men and women in their 20's and 30's: jogging,          biking, surfing, skate boarding, playing volleyball, etc. He          looks like a raisin among grapes.                                                            EXT. ADAM'S HOUSE - DAY                                   Adam stands impatiently on his porch. He looks at his watch          and then dials his phone.                                    RACHEL (V.O.)           Hey, it's Rachel. I must be doing           something really important. I'll           give you a call when I'm           done...yay!                                   Adam's face is red with fury. He does his best to hold back.                                                   ADAM                          (SWEET)           Hey, it's Adam. Where are you?           Maybe you forgot, but my           appointment is today. So call me           back.                                   Enraged, Adam hangs up.                                                   ADAM (CONT'D)           Fuck!                                   Adam picks up his phone and dials again.                                    SETH (V.O.)           Yoooooo.                                                   ADAM           Hey man, I need you to do me -                                    SETH (V.O.)           Not around. Leave a message.                                   Adam hangs up and dials again.           91.                                                             EDITH (O.S.)                          (YELLING)           Hello,                                   Adam holds the phone away from his ear and cringes. A pang of          regret runs through his body.                                                   ADAM           Hi mom.                                                            INT. HOSPITAL EXAMINATION ROOM - LATER                                   Edith, Art and Adam sit in the exam room, each reading their          respective magazines - minus Art who is lost somewhere in his          own world. The tension is thick. Edith looks at her watch and          shivers. There's a knock at the door. A CUTE NURSE enters.                                                   CUTE NURSE           The Doctor wanted me to apologize           for running late, he's just in with           another patient, but should be out           in a few minutes. You guys holding           up alright?                                                   EDITH           It's very cold in here. Is there           anyway you can turn down the Air           Conditioning?                                                   CUTE NURSE           Unfortunately the temperature is           controlled by a central thermostat.                                                   EDITH           My son has cancer.                                                   CUTE NURSE                          (FEELS BAD)           I'm sorry, really, if I could I           would, but there's nothing I can           do.                                   Adam's pissed that his mother has just involved him.                                                   ADAM           (smiles to the Nurse)           Don't worry about it.           (Scowls at Edith)           I'm fine.                                                   CUTE NURSE           Are you sure? I could get you a           blanket.           92.                                                                            ADAM           No, really, I'm okay. But thank           you.                                                   EDITH           I'd love a blanket.                                                   ADAM           (to the Cute Nurse)           We're fine.                                                   CUTE NURSE           Okay, but you let me know if you           need anything.                                   The Nurse smiles at Adam in sympathy, he smiles back. The          Cute Nurse exits.                                                   EDITH           (Re: the cute nurse)           I don't like her.                                   Edith puts her hand on Adam's forehead. He looks at her hand          and then picks up a magazine in an attempt to ignore her.                                                   EDITH (CONT'D)           You feel warm.                                                   ADAM           I'm fine.                                   Edith pulls some pills out her fanny pack.                                                   EDITH           Take these.                                                   ADAM                          (ANNOYED)           You're like some kind of deranged           pusher.                                                   EDITH           Do you know what it's like to fear           losing your son? No. You don't.           When you have children of your own           we can discuss it. Now take the           pills.                                   Adam puts the pills in his mouth and pretends to swallow.          Edith gets up from her chair. As soon as his mother turns          away, Adam spits the pills into his hand.                                   Edith paces around the room looking at the Doctor's various          degrees on the wall.           93.                                                            Adam looks on, annoyed at every step his mother takes. Edith          closes in on one of the degrees and puts on her reading          glasses for further examination.                                                   EDITH (CONT'D)                          (DISAPPROVING)           Huh.                                                   ADAM           What?                                                   EDITH           Oh nothing.                                                   ADAM                          (ANNOYED)           What?                                                   EDITH           It's nothing, he went to a state           college.                                                   ADAM           You're unbelievable.                                                   EDITH           I just worry that you're not           getting the best care possible.                                   Adam can't take it anymore.                                                   ADAM           Well who needs a doctor when           they've got you and your fanny           pack?                                                   EDITH           You can be a little shit sometimes,           you know that? You think I don't           know what's best for you? I birthed           you. You came out of me. I am your           mother, for better or for worse, so           accept it.           (Re: fanny pack)           You don't like this, well I'm           sorry. It's my own way of caring.                                                   ADAM                          (SNAPS)           Well stop! You're driving me crazy.           With the comments and the pills           every five minutes. Just stop. I'm           not dad. I can take care of myself.           94.                                                            Edith turns away, Adam's words hurt.                                                   ADAM (CONT'D)           I'm sorry, I didn't mean it.                                   Edith blows her nose as tears rolls down her cheek.                                                   EDITH           Yes you did. I drive you crazy.                                   Adam gently puts his hand on Edith's shoulder.                                                   ADAM           Mom.                                   Edith turns to Adam helpless and scared.                                                   EDITH           You're all I've got. Look at your           father.                                   We see Art sitting in the chair picking his nose.                                                   EDITH (CONT'D)           I've lost him. My true love, gone.           I'm never going see him again, at           least not in this life.                          (BEAT)           He spent his whole life priding           himself on his independence, always           too stubborn to ask for help and           now look at the son of a bitch.                          (TO ART)           You happy? You like shitting           yourself?                                                   ADAM           Mom!                                                   EDITH           He was the greatest thing to ever           happen to me. And then I had you,           and that was even greater. So if I           hover and threaten your           independence, so what? You have a           mother who loves you more than           anything. Is that so awful?                                                   ADAM           No. It's not.                                   Adam and Edith share a moment...Dr. Ross storms in the room          carrying a stack of MRI films. He seems rushed.           95.                                                             DR. ROSS           Sorry to keep you folks waiting.           It's been one of those days...car           got towed. Wife double parked it.                                   Adam and Edith look at Dr Ross with blank stares.                                    DR. ROSS (CONT'D)           Anyway I'll cut to the chase. The           cancer's not responding to the           chemo.                                   Dr. Ross places the MRI into the light box.                                    DR. ROSS (CONT'D)           As you can see...The tumor is           continuing to grow here, along the           nerve.                                   Adam and Edith squint to see what Ross is talking about, but          see nothing.                                                   ADAM           So what do we do?                                    DR. ROSS           We need to operate. If we don't           remove it soon we risk metastasis.                                                   ADAM           But you said surgery was too risky.                                    DR. ROSS           We're out of options.                                   Tears roll down Edith's cheek. Adam grabs hold of her hand.                                                   EDITH           But he's going to be okay, right?           You're going to fix it.                                   Dr. Ross sits, he knows this can't be easy for a mother.                                    DR. ROSS           This surgery is no guarantee. The           risks are tremendous. And, even if           we're able to remove the tumor           there's still the chance that Adam,           you'll never be able to walk again.                                   Adam looks at his mother. He firmly grabs hold of her hand.           96.                                                                            ADAM           Does that mean...I can get handicap           parking?                                   Adam's line breaks the tension forcing a slight smile across          Edith's face.                                                            INT. ADAM'S HOUSE - LATER THAT NIGHT                                   Distraught and emotionally worn, Adam enters to discover the          smell of a home cooked meal. He walks through the house.                                                            INT. ADAM'S KITCHEN - CONTINUOUS                                   He stands in the doorway of the kitchen staring at Rachel          cooking. Rachel turns around. She's in high spirits.                                                   RACHEL           Hey you.                                   Rachel gleefully skips over and gives Adam a sweet kiss on          the cheek.                                                   ADAM           Smells good.                                                   RACHEL           The girls and I are having a movie           night. I somehow got suckered into           cooking.           (off Adam's look)           Don't worry I left you some.                                   Adam feigns a smile, hiding the pain of his heart breaking in          a thousand pieces.                                   Suddenly Rachel's iPhone VIBRATES. She picks it up, and reads          her text message. Her face lights up as she reads. She          quickly types a reply.                                                   ADAM                          (SUSPICIOUS)           Who's that?                                                   RACHEL           Susan. She wants to know what time           I'm coming over.                                                   ADAM           (even more suspicious)           That's what she just texted?                          (MORE)           97.                                                   ADAM (CONT'D)           She wants to know what time you're           going over to her house?                                   Rachel puts the phone down on the counter and returns to her          cooking.                                                   RACHEL           Uh huh.                                                   ADAM           Alright, well I'm gonna go lie           down.                                                   RACHEL           I might be out late so don't wait           up.                                   Adam walks to the bedroom. After a beat he moves back to the          doorway and pops his head around the corner. He quietly          watches Rachel cross from the kitchen into the living room.                                   He stealthily steps into the kitchen, picks Rachel's iPhone          off the counter and scrolls through her text messages.                                                   ADAM                          (TO SELF)           What the fuck?                                   Rachel enters the kitchen.                                                   RACHEL           What are you doing?                                                   ADAM           Who's James?                                                   RACHEL           My art partner.                                                   ADAM           (re: text message)           He wants to know if you're still           coming over tonight. Should I tell           him you're having a girls night?                          (CONTINUES READING)           Oh wait, you already told him to           bring the wine.                          (LOOKS UP)           That's funny. It seems as though           you've double booked yourself.                                                   RACHEL           I can't believe you just invaded my           privacy like that.           98.                                                                            ADAM                          (READING PHONE)           Oh, you just got another text from           him. He says "Your skin is the           canvas upon which my dreams are           painted...                                   Rachel reaches for the phone. Adam pulls away.                                                   RACHEL                          (FUMING)           Give me back my phone.                                                   ADAM                          (READING)           "Hope you're not too sore from this           afternoon."                          (A BEAT)           He seems sweet.                                                   RACHEL           Adam, it's not what you think.                                                   ADAM           Well now how do you know what I'm           thinking?                                                   RACHEL           Don't be like that. I didn't do           anything wrong.                                                   ADAM                          (SERIOUS)           You've been cheating on me.                                                   RACHEL           Adam you're being ridiculous.                                                   ADAM           Am I?                                   Adam holds up Rachel's phone to display a photo of Rachel          naked, covered in red paint.                                                   ADAM (CONT'D)           What's this?                                   Adam scrolls through an entire series of nude photos of          Rachel - all ridiculously artistic.                                                   ADAM (CONT'D)           And this? And this? And this? There           are over a dozen naked photos of           you in here.           99.                                                            Suddenly the back door swings open. Oblivious, Seth enters.                                                   SETH           Hey guys.                                   Adam and Rachel say nothing. Seth can tell he just walked          into some major shit.                                                   SETH (CONT'D)           Bad time?                                   Adam and Rachel say nothing. Seth takes a peak at Rachel's          iPhone.                                                   SETH (CONT'D)                          (IMPRESSED)           Whoa! Nice! Now that I would put on           the wall.           (off Adam's look)           I can see you're in the middle of           something. I'll just be in the           other room.                                   Seth crosses to the living room. Rachel picks up the          conversation where they left off.                                                   RACHEL           It's a portrait series, commenting           on post-colonial patriarchy in the           Congo.           (off Adam's look)           ...That's it. Nothing more.                                                   ADAM           Have you lost your mind? I had the           most important appointment of my           life today and you missed it           because you were off with your "art           partner"...And what the fuck do you           know about Africa?                                   Rachel totally forgot about his appointment. The guilt runs          through her body.                                                   RACHEL           Oh shit. I forgot. Please, Adam,           I'm so sorry.                          (CONCERNED)           What did the doctor say?                                                   ADAM           Did you cheat on me?           100.                                                                            RACHEL                          (CRYING)           Adam stop. Tell me what the doctor           said.                                                   ADAM           DID-YOU-CHEAT-ON-ME!?                                   Like a child being scolded, Rachel's face says it all.                                                   RACHEL                          (POUTING)           Are you going to break up with me?                                                   ADAM           No.                          (BEAT)           I'm going to pretend you never           existed.                                                   RACHEL                          (CRYING HYSTERICALLY)           Please. I don't want to break up.                                                   ADAM           You know, you have a pretty fucked           up way of showing your commitment.                                                   RACHEL           I told you I couldn't handle this!                                   Rachel stares at Adam with her adorable green eyes. She takes          his hand.                                                   RACHEL (CONT'D)           I'm sorry...I love you.                                   They embrace. A beat. Adam lets go. He looks Rachel in the          eyes.                                                   ADAM           I want you out my house.                                   Adam walks out the back door.                                   Seth enters the kitchen and gets in Rachel's face. He stares          her down.                                                   SETH           Shame on you.                                   Seth exits out the back door.           101.                                                            EXT. YACHT CLUB - LATER THAT NIGHT                                   Adam and Seth sit on the bow of a docked sail boat. The two          have had a lot to drink. Adam is understandably upset.                                                   SETH           Your skin is the canvas upon which           my dreams are painted?                                                   ADAM                          (DISGUSTED)           I know.                                                   SETH                          (BEAT)           Is "dreams" a metaphor, for-                                   Seth makes a masturbating motion with his hand.                                                   ADAM           You remember the last time we came           out here?                                                   SETH           Prom night. How could I forget? Jen           Zabrowski went down on me right           where you're sitting.                                                   ADAM           That memory is so far from me,                                                   SETH           Jen giving me a blow job?                                                   ADAM           No, prom night. It feels like a           lifetime ago... I know it happened,           but that's it. It's like someone           else's memory.                                   Adam stares out at the ocean. Reality check.                                                   SETH           You okay?                                   Adam throws his beer bottle into the ocean.                                                   ADAM           I can't believe this is all           actually happening.                                                   SETH           The girl or the cancer?           102.                                                                            ADAM           Both.                                                   SETH           It's some pretty fucked up shit.                                                   ADAM           You know, I used to think that I           was actually going to spend the           rest of my life with           Rachel...granted that might not be           so far off.           (shakes his head)           What a waste.                                   Seth puts his arm around him.                                                   SETH           We need to get you laid.                                                   ADAM                          (ANNOYED)           Don't you ever give up?                                                   SETH           No.                                                   ADAM           Seriously, who's going to have sex           with me?                                                   SETH           Some girls are into it?                                                   ADAM           I look like Powder.                          (BEAT)           Plus I have erectile           dysfunction...temporary. I hope.                                                   SETH           Then let's go get me laid.                                   Seth stands, and then stumbles. He's really drunk.                                                   ADAM           I think I should drive.                                                   SETH           You don't have a license.                                                   ADAM           You're drunk.           103.                                                                            SETH           Do you even know how to drive?                                                   ADAM           How hard can it be?                                                   SETH           Hard enough that you don't have a           license.                                                   ADAM                          (SOMBER)           This might be my last chance.                                                   SETH           Driving! You care about driving! We           could be on Everest getting high on           Ayahuasca with Sherpas, and you           want to drive!...Forget it, I give           up. Drive.                                   The two get off the boat and climb into Seth's car.                                   Adam puts the key in the ignition. Without checking the          mirrors, he backs the car up. BOOM the car slams into a giant          statue of Neptune riding a sea horse.                                                   SETH (CONT'D)           Hey Miss Daisy, will you please           watch where your going?                                                   ADAM           What? I didn't see it.                                                   SETH           That's what the mirrors are for.                                   Adam pulls out of the parking lot.                                                   SETH (CONT'D)           Turn right.                                                   ADAM           I know what I'm doing.                                   Adam turns left onto a one way street. It's the wrong way.                                                   SETH           Apparently not. YOU'RE GOING THE           WRONG WAY!                                   An oncoming car honks and swerves out of the way - only          nearly avoiding a head on collision.           104.                                                                            SETH (CONT'D)           Adam! Turn the car around.                                                   ADAM           No. I'm driving and I want to go           this way.                                   Another car swerves out of the way.                                                   SETH           What the fuck is wrong with you?                                                   ADAM           For once can you just shut up and           let me do this? So I'm driving the           wrong way? Big fucking deal.                                   Seth pulls the emergency brake. The car stops abruptly.                                                   SETH           You're an idiot.                                   A beat.                                                   ADAM           Get out.                                                   SETH           This is my car.                                   Adam looks like he's about to erupt.                                                   ADAM           GET! OUT!                                   Seth looks at Adam speechless, and then gets out of the car.                                                   SETH           You're being a real douche.                                   Adam locks the doors and sits quietly for a moment. He then          proceeds scream at the top of his lungs. 25 years worth of          suppressed emotions come out.                                   Adam pulls out his cell phone. Seth notices. He tries to open          the door. It's locked.                                                   SETH (CONT'D)           Adam, open the door.                                   Adam ignores Seth and begins to dial.           105.                                                                            SETH (CONT'D)           Don't you dare call her. Not after           everything she's done to you.                                   Adam gives Seth the finger.                                                   SETH (CONT'D)           You're a pussy.                                                   ADAM           Well you're a selfish piece of shit           who cares more about getting his           dick wet than actually being a           friend.                                   Seth looks hurt. Adam holds the phone up to his head.                                                            INT. BEDROOM - SAME TIME (INTERCUT)                                   The phone rings. A dark figure in bed sits up and turns on          the bedside lamp. It's not Rachel, it's Katie.                                                   KATIE                          (ASLEEP)           Hello.                                                   ADAM           I don't want to die.                                                   KATIE           Adam?                                   Katie sits up. She's awake now.                                                   ADAM           I'm 25 years old and I've never           even been to Canada. I haven't           lived my life!                          (BEAT)           I'm really, really scared.                                                   KATIE           I know.                                                   ADAM           I'm sorry for the way I acted. I           should have never stormed out like           that.                                                   KATIE           It was wrong of me to push you the           way I did. I wasn't listening.                          (MORE)           106.                                                   KATIE (CONT'D)           I could never have handled all of           this the way you have.                                                   ADAM           You mean like a complete asshole?                                   Katie laughs. And then silence, she really cares about him.                                                   KATIE           I think you're really brave.                                                   ADAM           If I don't die, I think we should           go on a date.                                                   KATIE           Adam, I'm not sure if that's a good           idea.                                                   ADAM           Why not?                                                   KATIE           Not only am I your therapist, but           you're also my first patient, ever.           What kind of precedent would I be           setting?                                                   ADAM           It makes for a nice incentive.                                                   KATIE           I can't date you.                                                   ADAM                          (PLAYFUL)           Yes you can.                                                   KATIE           No I can't.                                                   ADAM           Yes, you can.                                                   KATIE           No I can't.                                                   ADAM           A wise person once told me - you           can't change the wind, but you can           adjust the sails.           107.                                                                            KATIE                          (LAUGHS)           Adam I can't date you.                                                   ADAM                          (COY)           That's what you think.                                   Suddenly Adam passes out. His head slams into the steering          wheel. The Horn blares.                                                   KATIE           Adam? Adam? Adam?                                                   CUT TO:                                                            EXT. SETH'S APARTMENT - LATER THAT NIGHT                                   Seth and Adam stagger into the building.                                                            INT. SETH'S APARTMENT - CONTINUOUS                                   Adam and Seth enter the dingy studio apartment - it looks          like it hasn't been cleaned in years. Adam scoops up some          dust with his finger.                                   Seth is unusually quiet. Both guys are being distant. Seth          pulls down the Murphy Bed and the two awkwardly avoid eye          contact as they undress. Adam climbs into bed. He notices a          book called "Coping with Your Loved One's Cancer" on Seth's          bedside table. The book is worn and has multiple book marks -          indicating it's been read. Adam looks at Seth, he had him          pegged all wrong.                                   Seth claps his hands. The lights turn off.                                                   ADAM           Good night.                                                   SETH           Night.                                   Lying in bed, Adam hears a strange noise, he tilts his head          to the side to see Seth breathing heavily and staring at him.                                                   ADAM                          (UNCOMFORTABLE)           What are you doing?                                                   SETH           Watching you sleep.           108.                                                                            ADAM           It's a little creepy.                                                   SETH           I know. I can't help it.                                   Seth lays back on his pillow and holds onto Adam's hand. They          both stare up at the ceiling - terrified about the future.                                                            EXT. FOX MEADOW GALLERIA PARKING LOT - NEXT DAY                                   Seth's car enters the Mall parking lot and parks.                                    VOICE MALL OPERATOR (V.O.)           You have 2 new messages. First           message.                                   A beep.                                    RICHARD MATHESSON (V.O.)           Hi Adam, this is Richard Mathesson,           your family's estate lawyer. Your           mother asked me to call. We need to           talk about potential, ah, well just           call me, there are some potential           arrangements we need to work out.                                                            INT. MEN'S WEARHOUSE - MOMENTS LATER                                   Adam and Seth browse through racks of mens suits. Adam comes          upon one he likes. The SALES CLERK approaches.                                                   SALES CLERK           Sir can I help you with anything           today?                                                   ADAM           (holds up suit)           You think this is a good suit to           wear to your own funeral?                                                   SALES CLERK           No, what you want is on level 3.                                                   CUT TO:                                                            EXT. REDWOOD FUNERAL HOME/CEMETERY - SAME DAY                                   Seth's car drives up the long driveway of the Cemetery.           109.                                                             VOICE MAIL OPERATOR (V.O.)           Next message.                                   A beep.                                    DR. ROSS (V.O.)           Adam, this is Dr. Ross. Good news,           I was able to expedite the wait for           your surgery. Your scheduled for           tomorrow morning at 7:00 am with           Dr. Lamb. Please call my office if           you have any questions.                                                            EXT. FUNERAL HOME/CEMETERY - LATER                                   A MORTICIAN, stout and dignified, with a slight British          accent leads Adam and Seth on a tour of the cemetery grounds.                                                   MORTICIAN           Here at Linden we're more than just           a stopping ground for the deceased.           We understand that life is           different for everyone, and helping           families to see their loved ones           off to the hereafter means           approaching every funeral and           burial with it's own dignity and           care...A funeral is a representation           of the individuals time spent on           earth, so I ask you to reflect on           your inevitable interment and think           carefully in choosing the service           and tomb that best befits you.                                                   SETH           What about a Viking funeral?                                                   MORTICIAN                          (INTRIGUED)           I'm not familiar.                                                   SETH           (talking out of his ass)           You know, we put him on a boat...           cover it with...dirt           and...branches...whatever you can           find. We push it out...into the           sea...or the ocean...and then shoot           flaming arrows, boom! It catches on           fire...And that's it. It's awesome.                                   The Mortician stops and looks at Seth. He's not even going to          dignify Seth with a reply. A beat.           110.                                                                            MORTICIAN           (points to grave plot)           Here you are, the Schwartz family           plot.                                   Adam and Seth look at the rows of Schwartz family tombstones.          Up front is an empty gap, presumably where Adam and his          parents are to go. Adam and Seth stare at the graves as we:                                                   DISSOLVE TO:                                                            INT. HOSPITAL PRE-OP ROOM - EARLY MORNING                                   Adam lies on a gurney. DR. LAMB, the neurosurgeon performing          Adam's surgery enters. He's wired on Espresso. Behind him is          NURSE WONG who looks like she'd rather be anywhere else.                                    DR. LAMB           Good morning Adam, how are you           feeling? Good. Good. Good. Good.                                   Despite Dr. Lamb's already thick glasses, he holds Adam's          medical chart right up to his to his face.                                    DR. LAMB (CONT'D)           So we're going to be removing your           kidney? Right? Or is it the left?           Just kidding. That's doctor humor.                                   Adam forces a small chuckle. He's completely terrified.                                    DR. LAMB (CONT'D)           Nurse Wong here needs you to sign a           few papers, so I'm going to leave           her to do her job, and I'll see you           after the surgery.                                   Dr. Lamb exits. Nurse Wong hands Adam a giant pile of          disclaimers to sign.                                                   ADAM           What is all this?                                                   NURSE WONG           Hospital liability and disclaimer           forms...in case they need to fuse           your spine or remove any organs.           You know, the usual.                                                   ADAM           Oh, great.                          (TO HIMSELF)                          (MORE)           111.                                                   ADAM (CONT'D)           Glad to hear there's nothing           unusual about removing organs.                                   Adam signs the documents and hands them back to Nurse Wong.                                                   NURSE WONG           You have some visitors.                                   As Nurse Wong exits, Edith and Art enter.                                                   EDITH           There he is.                                   Edith pulls a strip of pills out of her fanny pack. She hands          them to Adam like she's slipping him illegal drugs.                                                   EDITH (CONT'D)           Here take these. They're special. I           got them from Canada.                                   Adam looks closely at the pills - they read "NUPRIN."                                                   ADAM                          (PERPLEXED)           Mom, this is Nuprin.                                                   EDITH           I know isn't it great?                                   Adam looks at his mother, perplexed by her logic.                                                   ADAM                          (SHRUGS)           What the hell.                                   Adam downs the pills. Art whispers closely into his ear.                                                   ART           I gotta new coat.                                                   ADAM           That's great dad.                                                   ART           Brooks Brothers. Silk pockets.           Feel.                                   Adam sticks his hand inside the pocket of Art's coat.                                                   ART (CONT'D)           Feel.                                                   ADAM           I am feeling.           112.                                                            Art grabs hold of Adam's hand and stares at his son. A beat.                                                   ART           I love you son.                                                   ADAM           I love you too dad.                                   Katie knocks on the door.                                                   KATIE           Hello?                                   Katie slowly enters holding a bouquet of flowers. Edith          examines her. This is too awkward.                                                   ADAM           Egh em. Mom. Mom.                                   Adam nods for his mother to leave.                                                   EDITH           Alright. Come on Art, let's go to           the waiting room.                                   On her way out, Edith turns to Katie and notices a CROSS          around her neck.                                                   EDITH (CONT'D)                          (DISPLEASED)           Hmmm.                                   Edith and Art exit. Adam is left alone with Katie. They're          both nervous.                                                   KATIE           I brought you flowers. Not sure           why, I didn't know what else-                                                   ADAM           They're great, thank you.                                   Katie sits on the bed next to Adam.                                                   KATIE           So how you doing?                                                   ADAM           I'm a little freaked out.                                   A small GERMAN ANESTHESIOLOGIST enters. There is something          incredibly unsettling about her thick accent.           113.                                                                            ANESTHESIOLOGIST           Hello Adam, I am the           Anesthesiologist. I will give you           shot to make you sleep.                                   Adam holds Katie's hand.                                                   ADAM           Will you be here when I wake up?                                                   KATIE           I'm not going anywhere.                                                   ANESTHESIOLOGIST           Now relax, this will take a few           minutes to feel the effect.                                   The Anesthesiologist injects the drugs into Adam's IV.                                                   ADAM                          (TERRIFIED)           About how long?                                                   ANESTHESIOLOGIST           Relax, you will soon begin the           sleeping.                                                   ADAM           Well what if it doesn't work. How           do you know I won't wake in the           middle of the surgery? What if I-                                   Just like that, Adam's out cold.                                                            INT. HOSPITAL SURGICAL AMPHITHEATER - LATER                                   Adam is face down on the operating table. Two Neurosurgeons,          Dr. Lamb and DR. HENRY are in mid surgery. Alongside the two          doctors are Nurse Wong and NURSE SCOTT.                                    DR. HENRY           I'm telling you Sir Francis Drake           was a Buccaneer.                                    DR. LAMB           No he was a privateer.                                                   NURSE SCOTT           I thought he was a pirate.           114.                                                             DR. LAMB           A pirate works for no one but           himself. A privateer has a mandate           from a government.                                    DR. HENRY           I thought that was a buccaneer.                                    DR. LAMB           No, a buccaneer is a butcher turned           pirate.                                    DR. HENRY           Then what's a mercenary?                                    DR. LAMB                          (FRUSTRATED)           Nurse Wong. Will you Google it?                                   Standing to the side of the operating table is the group of          Med Students from earlier. They're still taking notes.                                                            INT. HOSPITAL WAITING ROOM - CONTINUOUS                                   Edith, Art and Seth sit impatiently watching the clock. Katie          paces up and down the hall. Hours go by. Time can't seem to          go by quick enough.                                                   CUT TO:                                                            INT. HOSPITAL WAITING ROOM - LATER                                   Dr. Lamb finds Edith, Katie and Seth in the waiting room.                                    DR. LAMB           We were successful in the           extraction of the tumor. However,           as you can imagine, with something           of this magnitude...there were some           unforeseen complications. The bone           corrosion was much greater than           initially anticipated. We had to           remove part of the hip and pelvis,           as well as most of the psoas           muscle. We also had to remove a           good amount of sheath tissue around           the sciatic nerve, the damage to           that nerve is considerable, which           is going to hinder his ability to           walk...He's in stable condition           right now, but it's touch and go.           115.                                                            INT. HOSPITAL ICU - MOMENTS LATER                                   Adam's in his hospital bed - still asleep from the surgery. A          NURSE comes in to change his IV. Adam slowly awakens. He is          high on morphine. He stares, mesmerized by the nurse.                                                   ADAM           That is the most beautiful dresses.           Where did you get it?                                   Dr. Lamb enters.                                    DR. LAMB           Adam, I see you're awake.                                                   ADAM           I'm here.                                    DR. LAMB           How are you feeling?                                                   ADAM           I feel wonderful.                                    DR. LAMB           That would be the morphine.                                   Dr. Lamb picks up a handle that's attached to the morphine          drip and sticks it in Adam's hand.                                    DR. LAMB (CONT'D)           I want you to push this little           button any time you feel pain.           It'll trigger the morphine. You           think you can do that?                                   Adam moves his hands really slowly in the air -                                                   ADAM           Magic!                                   Art and Edith enter the room. Adam reacts like a little kid          being picked up from pre-school.                                                   ADAM (CONT'D)           Mommy! Daddy!                                                   EDITH                          (CRYING)           My little boy.           116.                                                                            ADAM           Remember the time you walked in on           me masturbating?...That was so           awkward...What hotel is this? We           need to go on more vacations.                                   Katie pops her head out from behind Adam's parents.                                                   ADAM (CONT'D)           You're here too! You're soooooo           awesome...                          (SING SONG)           Katie McRae, Katie McRae, Katie           McRae. Mic-Rae, Dr. Awesome Mic-           Rae...I'd love to make you pancakes           sometime.                                   Suddenly the most excruciating pain runs through Adam's body          causing him to scream in agony.                                                   ADAM (CONT'D)           PAIN! PAIN! PAIN! PAIN! PAIN! PAIN!           PAIN! PAIN!                                                   KATIE           Squeeze the morphine trigger!                                   Adam squeezes the trigger. The morphine offers immediate          relief. He lays back in total bliss, and then...                                                            FADE OUT TO WHITE LIGHT.                                                            EXT. BEACH HOUSE - DAY                                                  SUPER: NOVEMBER                                   A door bell. A hand reaches out. A finger on that hand pushes          the door bell. The other hand holds a bouquet of flowers.                                   The hand belongs to Mitch's wife, MARGARET (80). She stands          on the porch of a small beach bungalow.                                   The front door opens. Margaret looks straight ahead. Nothing.          She then looks down, startled by Adam in a wheelchair.                                                   MARGARET                          (STARTLED)           Oh, hello, I didn't see you, ah           down there.                                   There's a glow in Adam's face - he looks younger and more          jovial than we've ever seen.           117.                                                                            ADAM           You must be Margaret.                                                   MARGARET           Yes, I'm looking for Adam Schwartz.                                                   ADAM           That's me.                                                   MARGARET           (face lights up)           You're Adam? The way Mitch           described you, I always assumed you           to be much older. About 50 years           older. But, you're just a baby...                                   Adam blushes.                                                   ADAM           I'm so glad you could make it.                          (SOLEMN)           I'm really sorry about Mitch.                                                   MARGARET           Me too.                                                   ADAM           Please come inside. You're just in           time.                                   Adam leads Margaret inside, past a dozen oversized boxes.                                                   ADAM (CONT'D)           Sorry about the mess. I just moved           in...The ocean air is supposed to           be good for my recovery.                                                            INT. ADAM'S LIVING ROOM - CONTINUOUS                                   Adam and Margaret enter the living room. Everyone's there:          Edith, Art, Katie and Seth.                                   Seth and Katie are playing a video game: DUCK HUNT. Edith          sets food on the table.                                                   ADAM                          (TO MARGARET)           We're having a Duck Hunt           tournament. You play?           118.                                                                            MARGARET                          (LAUGHS)           Me? Oh I don't know how to play           video games.                                   Adam holds up the controller - an old Nintendo Gun.                                                   ADAM           It's really easy. One button does           everything.                                   Edith chimes in from across the room.                                                   EDITH           This food's not going to eat           itself.                                   Everyone makes their way to the table. Visibly weak, Adam          slowly lifts himself out of the wheelchair. He yelps in pain.          Katie starts to help when Seth intervenes.                                                   SETH           I got it.                                   Seth grabs hold of Adam, and with his help, Adam takes a          small step and then lowers himself into his seat at the          table. Katie places a pillow behind Adam's back.                                   Adam takes Katie's hand, she looks down at him, they exchange          a smile.                                   Adam notices and open window.                                                   ADAM                          (TO SETH)           You mind?                                   Seth ignores Adam as he fills both their plates with food.                                                   ADAM (CONT'D)           Please. I think there's a red tide           or something. My eyes are all           itchy. It feels like someone is           rubbing sandpaper on my corneas.                                                   SETH           (as he serves Adam)           Nope. You don't have cancer           anymore. No more special treatment.                                                   ADAM           I am still in remission.           119.                                                                            EDITH           You gonna spend the rest of your           life complaining?                                                   ADAM                          (PROUD)           I like complaining.                                   We FREEZE on the family sitting around the dinner table.                                   We hear the song "That's the Way The World Goes Round" by          John Prine as we:                                    FADE TO BLACK.                                                   THE END
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+                                                              500 DAYS OF SUMMER                                                                 Written by                                 Scott Neustadter & Michael H. Weber                                                                                                             First Draft                                        SIMPLE BLACK ON WHITE CREDITS ROLL TO BIG STAR'S "I'M IN LOVE          WITH A GIRL." When all is said and done, up comes a single          number in parenthesis, like so:                              (478)          EXT. PARK - DAY                    For a few seconds we watch A MAN (20s) and a WOMAN (20s) on a          park bench. Their names are TOM and SUMMER. Neither one says          a word.                              CLOSE ON her HAND, covering his. Notice the wedding ring. No          words are spoken. Tom looks at her the way every woman wants          to be looked at.                    A DISTINGUISHED VOICE begins to speak to us.                                        NARRATOR                    This is a story of boy meets girl.                                                                      CUT TO:                              (1)          INT CONFERENCE ROOM - DAY                    The boy is TOM HANSEN. He sits at a very long rectangular          conference table. The walls are lined with framed blow-up          sized greeting cards. Tom, dark hair and blue eyes, wears a t-          shirt under his sports coat and Adidas tennis shoes to          balance out the corporate dress code. He looks pretty bored.                                        NARRATOR                    The boy, Tom Hansen of Margate, New                    Jersey, grew up believing that he'd                    never truly be happy until the day                    he met his... "soulmate."                                                                      CUT TO:                              INT LIVING ROOM - 1989                    PRE-TEEN TOM sits alone on his bed engrossed in a movie. His          walls are covered in posters of obscure bands. From the TV,          we hear: "Elaine! Elaine!"                                                                               4.                                                            NARRATOR                    This belief stemmed from early                    exposure to sad British pop music                    and a total misreading of the                    movie, "The Graduate."                                                                      CUT TO:                              INT OFFICE CUBICLE - PRESENT DAY                    The girl is SUMMER FINN. She files folders and answers phones          in a plain white office. She has cropped blonde hair almost          like a boy's but her face is feminine and pretty enough to          get away with it.                                        NARRATOR                    The girl, Summer Finn of                    Shinnecock, Michigan, did not share                    this belief.                                                                      CUT TO:                              INT BATHROOM - 1994                    Teenage Summer stares at herself in the mirror. Her hair          extends down to her lower back.                                        NARRATOR                    Since the disintegration of her                    parents' marriage, she'd only loved                    two things. The first was her long                    blonde hair.                    She picks up scissors from the counter and begins to slice.                                        NARRATOR                    The second was how easily she could                    cut it off... And feel nothing.                                                                      CUT TO:                              SPLITSCREEN. INT BOARDROOM/ INT CUBICLE - SAME                    On the right side of the screen, Tom continues to listen to          some boring presentation. On the left, Summer answers a call,          takes a message, and walks out of her cubicle down a long          narrow hallway.                                                                             5.                                                            NARRATOR                    Tom meets Summer on January 8th in                    a San Francisco office building. In                    an instant, he will know she's the                    one he's been looking for.                    CU Summer opening the door to the boardroom, about to come          face to face with Tom for the first time.                                        NARRATOR                    This is a story of boy meets girl.                    But before they do,                                                                      CUT TO:                    BLACK.                                        NARRATOR                    You should know up front, this is                    not a love story.                              (240)          EXT STREETS OF SAN FRAN - NIGHT                    A 12 year old GIRL rides her bicycle down the block. She          arrives at an apartment complex, jumps off the bike and races          up the front stairs. She rings the doorbell.                              INT TOM'S PLACE - LATER                    PAUL and MCKENZIE open the door. These are Tom's best friends          since birth. Paul is a doctor and wears hospital scrubs.          McKenzie works in the cubicle next to Tom.                                        PAUL                    I didn't know who else to call.                    The Girl removes her bike helmet.                                        GIRL                    You did the right thing. Where is                    he?                    Tom is in the kitchen breaking things and basically going          insane. About to smash a plate on the floor, he's interrupted          BY:                                                                                6.                                                              GIRL                    Thomas.                    Tom freezes.                                        TOM                    Rachel? What are you doing here?                                        GIRL (RACHEL)                    I'm here to help you.                                        TOM                    Help me how?                                        RACHEL                    First, put down the plate.                    Tom slowly obliges.                                        RACHEL                    Now come here and sit down.                    Tom sits next to the young girl. Paul and Mckenzie sit on          either side of them.                                        RACHEL                    The key is not to panic.                                        TOM                    I think I'm gonna be sick.                                        RACHEL                    Drink this.                    She hands him a glass of water. Tom drinks it down.                                        MCKENZIE                    What is that?                                          RACHEL                    Vodka.                                        TOM                        (grimacing at the taste)                    More.                    He gulps another down.                                        TOM                    Does Mom know you're here? It's                    gotta be past 10.                                                                             7.                                                            RACHEL                    Don't worry about it. Start from                    the beginning. Tell us what                    happened...                    Tom takes a deep breath.                              EXT PARK - DAY                    Tom and Summer eat sandwiches in the park.                                        TOM (V.O.)                    We spent the whole day together.                              EXT OUTDOOR MARKET - DAY                    Tom and Summer walk through the stalls.                                        TOM (V.O.)                    We went shopping.                              EXT COFFEE HOUSE - DAY                    Tom and Summer seated outside drinking coffee. He reads the          newspaper, she reads a novel.                                        TOM (V.O.)                    We had coffee.                              EXT MOVIE THEATER - DAY                    Tom and Summer walk out of a movie theatre.                                        TOM (V.O.)                    We saw a film.                              INT RECORD STORE - LATER                    Tom and Summer shop for music. Tom excitedly shows Summer a          Ringo Starr solo album.                                        TOM (V.O.)                    We bought music.                                                                    8.                                                  INT TOM'S PLACE                                        TOM                    I thought it was a great day.                                        RACHEL                    And then what happened?                              INT DINER - NIGHT                    Tom and Summer in a booth ordering dinner.                                        TOM                        (to WAITRESS)                    Um...you know what...let's go                    crazy, I'll have BOTH.                        (to Summer)                    God, I love eating pancakes at                    night. It's like the greatest thing                    ever. How great is this?                                        SUMMER                    I think we should stop seeing each                    other.                              INT TOM'S PLACE - AS BEFORE                                        RACHEL                    Just like that?                                        TOM                    Just like that.                                        PAUL                    Did she say why?                              INT DINER - AS BEFORE                                        SUMMER                    This thing. This whatever it is.                    You and me. Do you think this is                    normal?                                        TOM                    I don't know. Who cares about                    normal?! I'm happy. Aren't you                    happy?                                                                    9.                                                            SUMMER                    You're happy?                                        TOM                    You're not?                                        SUMMER                    All we do is argue!                                        TOM                    That is such a lie!                              INT TOM'S PLACE - AS BEFORE                                        RACHEL                    Maybe she was just in a bad mood.                                        PAUL                    A hormonal thing.                                           RACHEL                    P.M.S.?                                        TOM                        (to Rachel)                    What do you know about PMS?                                        RACHEL                    More than you.                                           TOM                    Oh my god.                                        MCKENZIE                    Please continue.                              INT DINER - AS BEFORE                                        SUMMER                    This can't be a total surprise. I                    mean, we've been like Sid and Nancy                    for months.                                        TOM                    Summer, Sid stabbed Nancy seven                    times with a kitchen knife. We've                    had some disagreements but I hardly                    think I'm Sid Vicious.                                        SUMMER                    No... I'm Sid.                                                                              10.                                                             TOM                        (BEAT)                    So I'm Nancy?!                    The Waitress comes out with the food. Tom and Summer stop          their discussion until the meal is served and the Waitress          leaves. Summer starts to eat.                                        SUMMER                    Let's just eat and we'll talk about                    it after. I'm starving.                    Without another word she goes back to her pancakes. Tom          watches her eat like this is the worst travesty in the          history of mankind.                                        SUMMER                        (mouth full)                    Mmm, you're so right. These are                    great!                    Tom looks at his food in disgust. He may never eat again.                                        SUMMER                        (INNOCENT)                    What?                    Tom stands up to go.                                        SUMMER                    Tom, don't. Come back. You're still                    my best fr---                    THE SCENE FREEZES AND WE ZOOM IN ON TOM'S STUNNED FACE.                              INT TOM'S PLACE - AS BEFORE                    Silence for a few beats.                                           PAUL                    Jesus.                                        MCKENZIE                    That's harsh.                                        TOM                    I don't know what I'm gonna do.                                        RACHEL                    You're gonna be fine.                                                                            11.                                                             TOM                        (BEAT)                    I'm gonna throw up.                                         MCKENZIE                    Or that.                                         RACHEL                    Here.                    Tom drinks more vodka.                                        MCKENZIE                    Come on Hansen. You'll be ok.                    You're the best guy I know. You'll                    find someone.                                        PAUL                    You know what they say...there's                    plenty other fish in the sea.                                         TOM                    No.                                        PAUL                    Sure they do. They say that.                                        TOM                    Well they're wrong. It's not true.                    I've fished in that sea. I've                    jumped in and swam in that sea! I'm                    fucking Aquaman!                        (to Rachel)                    Sorry. What I mean is... there are                    no other fish. This was my fish.                    Paul and McKenzie share a very concerned look.                                                                      CUT TO:                              (86)          EXT SIDEWALK - DAY                    Tom walks alongside his friend PAUL. Out of nowhere, he says:                                        TOM                    I'm in love with Summer.                                                                            12.                                                               PAUL                        (BEAT)                    For real?                                                                      CUT TO:                              CU - SUMMER'S SMILE                                        TOM (V.O.)                    I love her smile.                    CU - SUMMER'S HAIR                                        TOM (V.O.)                    I love her hair.                    CU - SUMMER'S KNEES                                        TOM (V.O.)                    I love her knees.                    CU - SUMMER'S EYES                                        TOM (V.O.)                    I love how one eye is higher up on                    her face than the other eye.                    CU - SUMMER'S NECK                                        TOM (V.O.)                    I love the scar on her neck from                    this operation she had as a kid.                    CU - SUMMER'S BREASTS (UNDER A BLACK T-SHIRT)                                        TOM (V.O.)                    I love how she looks in my Clash T-                    shirt.                    CU - SUMMER ASLEEP                                        TOM (V.O.)                    I love how she looks when she's                    sleeping.                    CU - SUMMER'S LAUGH                                        TOM (V.O.)                    I love the sound of her laugh.                    OVER BLACK, play the middle 8 of "Every Little Thing She Does          is Magic" by The Police.                                                                            13.                                                            TOM (V.O.)                    I love how I hear this song every                    time I think of her.                     CU - TOM, STARING DIRECTLY AT THE CAMERA.                                        TOM (V.O.)                    I love how she makes me feel. Like                    anything's possible. Like, I don't                    know...like life is worth it.                                                                      CUT TO:                              EXT SIDEWALK - SAME                    Paul and Tom.                                        TOM                    For real, Paul. I'm madly in love                    with that girl.                    Paul is silent for a beat.                                          PAUL                    Oh shit.                                        (1)          INT CONFERENCE ROOM - DAY                    Tom as we saw him earlier. Bored. In the boardroom. Mckenzie          is in mid-presentation.                                        MCKENZIE                    Now I know this may be a little                    risque...but if New Hampshire                    Greetings wants the jump on those                    conservative, right-wing neo-Nazis                    at Hallmark, maybe playing it safe                    is the wrong approach. The nuclear                    family is dead and we need a new                    holiday to recognize that.                    Mckenzie holds up a home-made photoshopped family portrait of          Martina Navratilova, Ellen DeGeneres, and the kid from "Jerry          Maguire".                                                                             14.                                                            MCKENZIE                    May 21st. Other Mother's Day.                    The co-workers nod and digest this idea. VANCE is the head of          the department.                                        VANCE                    Hmmm. That's an intriguing idea                    McKenzie. Along with Grossman's                    "Magellan Day" I'd say we've got                    some potential here. What do you                    think Hansen? Could you write up                    some prototypes for these?                    Tom is about to answer when... the door opens.                                        SUMMER                    Excuse me, Mr. Vance? There's a                    call for you on line 3.                    And in walks this girl. Summer. We've met her by now but Tom          hasn't. This is the first time. His eyes go wide and from          that moment on, he can't take them off her.                                        VANCE                        (to the table)                    Everyone this is Summer, my new                    assistant. Summer just moved here                    from...                                          SUMMER                    Michigan.                                        VANCE                    Right. Michigan. Well, Summer,                    everyone. Everyone, Summer. Excuse                    me, I have to take this.                                        SUMMER                    Nice to meet you all.                    Summer gives a little wave before following Vance out.                    She doesn't notice Tom whose face looks like he's just seen          God.                                                                             15.                                                  (3, 4, 5)          INT. OFFICE - DAY                    Tom trying to work. And failing. He turns to McKenzie.                                        TOM                    What do we know about this new                    girl?                                        MCKENZIE                    Who?                                        TOM                    The new girl. Summer. In Vance's                    office.                                        MCKENZIE                    Dude. I hear she's a bitch from                    hell!                                        TOM                        (DISAPPOINTED)                    Really?                                         MCKENZIE                    Patel tried to talk to her in the                    copy room. She was totally not                    having it.                                        TOM                    Maybe she was just in a hurry.                                        MCKENZIE                    And maybe she's some uppity, better                    than everyone, superskank.                                        TOM                    Damn.                                        MCKENZIE                    I know. She's pretty hot.                                        TOM                    That makes me so mad! Why is it                    pretty girls always think they can                    treat people like crap and get away                    with it?                                                                            16.                                                            MCKENZIE                    Dunno.                                        TOM                    Like, just cause she has high                    cheekbones and soft skin...                                        MCKENZIE                    ...and really good teeth.                                        TOM                    And maybe the world's most perfect                    breasts...Just cause of that stuff,                    she can walk around like she's                    center of the universe?                                        MCKENZIE                        (as explanation)                    Women.                                        TOM                    Ugh. You know what? Screw her! We                    haven't even met and I can't stand                    her already.                              INT. ELEVATOR - LATER                    Tom is listening to headphones. Summer enters the elevator          and Tom actively puts on a show to ignore her. Summer hears          the music.                                        SUMMER                    The Smiths.                    Tom, pretending not to hear or care, gives her an          unenthusiastic wave.                                        SUMMER                    I love The Smiths.                    Tom, still pretending, takes off his headphones.                                        TOM                    Sorry?                                        SUMMER                    I said. I love The Smiths. You have                    good taste in music.                    A beat as Tom processes this information.                                                                            17.                                                            TOM                        (AMAZED)                    You like the Smiths?                                        SUMMER                        (SINGING)                    "To die by your side is such a                    heavenly way to die." Love it.                    The elevator doors open and she gets off.                                         TOM                        (accidentally out loud)                    Oh my god.                              (8)          INT OFFICE LOBBY - DAY                    The office sings "Happy Birthday" to a FEMALE CO-WORKER. When          they get to the part about her name, Tom is the only one who          knows it, everyone else just there for the cake. Song over,          everyone digs in. Tom finds himself standing next to Summer.                                        TOM                    Hi.                                        SUMMER                    Hello.                                        TOM                    So, uh, Summer...                                        SUMMER                    Tom.                                        TOM                    Yeah! How's it going so far?                                        SUMMER                    The city or the firm?                                        TOM                    Both... Either.                                        SUMMER                    I'm happy. Still getting situated.                    How long have you worked here?                                                          18.                                                  TOM          Oh, you know, 4, 5... years.                              SUMMER          Really? Jesus. Did you always want          to write greeting cards?                               TOM          Are you nuts? I don't even want to          do it now.                              SUMMER          What is it you want to do?                              TOM          I studied to be an architect          actually.                              SUMMER          That's so cool! What happened?                              TOM          Eh, you know. Same old story. Moved          to the city to work for a company.          Company went under. Needed a job.          My friend worked here. Got me this.                              SUMMER          And are you any good?                              TOM              (points to a framed card)          Well I wrote that one.                              SUMMER              (READING)          "Today You're a Man. Mazel Tov on          your Bar Mitzvah."                              TOM          It's a big seller.                               SUMMER          I meant, are you any good as an          architect?                              TOM          Oh... No. I doubt it.                              SUMMER          Well, I'd say you're a perfectly          ...adequate... greeting card          writer.                                                                            19.                                                            TOM                    Why thank you. That's what they                    called me in college. "Perfectly                    adequate" Hansen.                                        SUMMER                    They used to call me "Anal Girl."                    Tom does a spit-take and almost chokes.                                        SUMMER                        (EXPLAINING)                    I was very neat and organized.                    There's an awkward silence.                                        SUMMER                    Anyway, I should get back.                                        TOM                    Ok, well, I'll see you around.                    She walks back to her cubicle at the other end of the hall.          Tom watches her walk away, completely enamored.                    He sits down at his desk and sets out to work. But before he          does, his eyes fall on a sketch he drew of a house. It's          dated 2001 and it's the only architecture sketch on his wall.                              (11)          INT TOM'S PLACE - DAY                    Tom is playing Playstation with Rachel.                                        TOM                    And it turns out she's read every                    Graham Greene novel ever published.                    Her desk is lined with Magritte                    posters and Edward Hopper.                                        RACHEL                    Your favorites.                                        TOM                    We're so compatible it's insane!                    Seriously! It doesn't make sense!                    She's not like I thought at all.                    She's... amazing.                                                                            20.                                                               RACHEL                    Oh boy.                                           TOM                    What?                                        RACHEL                    You know...just cause some cute                    girl likes the same bizarro music                    you do doesn't make her "the one."                                         TOM                        (BEAT)                    Of course it does.                                           SARAH (O.S.)                    Dinner!                    SARAH, 50s, Tom and Rachel's mother, stands in the doorway.                                        SARAH                    Pause and come eat.                    They do. Tom enters the living room area and sits down next          to his stepdad MARTIN, 60s, a quiet, professorial Southern          gentleman type.                                        TOM                    Hey Martin.                    ANGLE ON RACHEL and Sarah.                                        RACHEL                    He met a girl.                                        SARAH                        (EXCITED)                    Yeah?                                           RACHEL                        (GRIM)                    Yeah.                    Sarah grows serious too.                                           SARAH                    Oh shit.                                                                      CUT TO:                                                                              21.                                                  STOCK FOOTAGE.                    The Wright Brothers, Galileo, Heaven's Gate, Neil Armstrong.                                        NARRATOR                    When one strongly believes in                    something, it takes overwhelming                    contradictory evidence to change                    their minds.                    END ON:                    LITTLE TOM, age 6, mesmerized by a vinyl album cover of          Olivia Newton-John in "Xanadu."                                         NARRATOR                    Tom had always been a devout                    believer in the idea of "true                    love."                        (BEAT)                    The evidence did not support him.                                                                        CUT TO:                              (-8914)          INT CLASSROOM - DAY                    Little Tom stares at a LITTLE GIRL, 6, who has the same          hairstyle and dress as Newton-John on that cover. Tom draws a          picture. It's a boy and a girl with a giant heart over them.                    He stands up and walks over to the girl, putting the picture          on her desk. Not a word is spoken. Satisfied, he returns to          his seat and waits to see what happens.                                        NARRATOR                    Exhibit A: Lisa Rayner.                    The Little Girl stands up and walks the picture over to          ANOTHER BOY.                    Tom is mortified. The OTHER BOY eats the drawing.                                        (-5313)                                                                            22.                                                  EXT FOOTBALL FIELD - NIGHT                    A BLONDE CHEERLEADER leads the crowd in a cheer. PAN ACROSS          to find TEENAGE TOM, 15, finishing making out with a homely          HIGH SCHOOL GIRL. He says goodbye and walks off, looking back          longingly.                                        NARRATOR                    Exhibit B: Wendy Wilson.                    Once Tom is out of frame, a SECOND BOY approaches Wendy. Then          they start making out.                                        (-2825)          INT AIRPLANE - DAY                    COLLEGE TOM sits next to his girlfriend REBECCA MYLES. His          smile gleams.                                        TOM                    I'm so glad we decided to go away                    together Bec. I know we've only                    been dating a few months but it's                    been...awesome.                                        NARRATOR                    Exhibit C: Rebecca Myles.                                        TOM                    And now, you and me, 8 days in                    Mexico... best spring break ever!                    Across the aisle Rebecca makes eye contact with three COLLEGE          DUDES.                                        REBECCA                    I think we should see other people.                                        (-734)                                                                            23.                                                  EXT CAR - NIGHT                    Younger Tom sits in the passenger seat. Raven-haired AMANDA          drives.                                        NARRATOR                    And, finally... Exhibit D: Amanda                    Heller.                                        AMANDA                    It's just... it's complicated.                                        TOM                    What's complicated? Last week you                    said you loved me!                                        AMANDA                    I know it's sudden but...                                        TOM                    No, this can't be. Everything was                    going so great. I don't understand.                                           AMANDA                        (BEAT)                    Here.                                        TOM                    What's this?                    She puts a disc into the cd player.                                        AMANDA                    Because you're, like, the biggest                    music nerd I've ever met, I think                    this should really help explain                    where I'm coming from.                    A pop song begins to play on the stereo. They listen for a          few beats. Tom is confused.                                        AMANDA                    You remember how much I loved this                    song when you first played it for                    me?                                        TOM                    Sure. It's all you wanted to listen                    to for weeks.                                                                            24.                                                            AMANDA                    Right. And I still like it, don't                    get me wrong. It's just... When I                    hear it now, I don't feel the                    same...rush.                                        TOM                        (still confused)                    Ok...                                        AMANDA                    I press the skip button.                    Still Tom doesn't understand.                                        TOM                    What does this have to do with--?                                        AMANDA                    I'd rather listen to something                    else.                    And with that, it slowly sinks in for him.                                        TOM                    But Amanda... this is a great                    fucking song!                                        (22)          INT LOCAL DIVE BAR - HAPPY HOUR                    Tom removes his headphones and sits defeated with McKenzie          and Paul in a booth.                                          TOM                    It's off.                                          PAUL                    What?                                        TOM                    Me and Summer.                                        MCKENZIE                    Was it ever on?                                                                     25.                                                            TOM                    No. But it could have been. In a                    world where good things happen to                    me.                                        PAUL                    Yeah well, that's not really where                    we live.                                          TOM                    No.                                        MCKENZIE                    So what happened?                                        TOM                    You ready for this?                              INT ELEVATOR - THE DAY BEFORE                    Tom is alone. The door opens. In walks Summer.                                        TOM (V.O.)                    So there we are. All alone. Nine                    more floors to ride. Plenty of                    time. I figure...this is my chance.                    If not now when, right?                    They ride in silence for a few beats.                                          TOM                    Summer...                                          SUMMER                    Yeah?                                         TOM                        (BEAT)                    So how was your weekend?                                        SUMMER                    It was good.                              INT LOCAL DIVE BAR - AS BEFORE                    The friends wait for more.                                        TOM                    You believe that shit?                                                                               26.                                                               MCKENZIE                    What shit?                                        PAUL                    I think I missed something.                                         TOM                    "It was good." She didn't say "It                    was good." She said "It was good."                    Emphasis on the good. She basically                    said "I spent the weekend having                    sex with this guy I met at the                    gym." Fucking whore. Screw her.                    It's over.                    Everyone's silent.                                        MCKENZIE                    What the hell is wrong with you?!                                        PAUL                    Dude, you got problems.                                        TOM                    She's not interested in me. There's                    nothing I can do.                                        MCKENZIE                    Based on..."it was good?"                              TOM                    And some other things.                                        PAUL                    Like what, she said "hey" instead                    of "hi" cause that totally means                    she's a lesbian.                                        TOM                    I gave her all sorts of chances.                              INT OFFICE - DAY                    Tom types at his desk. Summer approaches the cubicle Tom          shares with McKenzie.                                        SUMMER                    I'm going to the supply room.                    Anyone need anything?                                           MCKENZIE                    No thanks.                                                                            27.                                                            TOM                    I think you know what I need.                    There's a beat.                                        TOM                    Toner.                                        SUMMER                    Oh ok, sure, no prob.                              INT OFFICE - LATE IN THE DAY                    The office is emptying out. Only a few people remain but Tom          and Summer are two of them. Tom takes this opportunity to put          a CD in his computer and play the song really loud. It's "I          Want to Know What Love Is" by Foreigner. No reaction from          Summer. Tom turns it up. Still nothing. Tom turns it down,          defeated.                              INT SUMMER'S DESK                    Tom is there.                                        TOM                    Do you want to go out with me?                    A beat. Summer says nothing.                                        TOM                    And the Priest says, "But we're                    already out!"                    They both laugh.                                        SUMMER                    That is hilarious!                                        TOM                    I know!                    And when she walks away, he smacks his head a few times with          his palm.                              INT LOCAL DIVE BAR - AS BEFORE                                         TOM                    Not once did she take the bait. Not                    once. Screw it. I'm done with her.                    It's over.                                                                            28.                                        Tom's friends all look at him like he's crazy.                                        (27 & 28)          INT OFFICE - TOM'S CUBICLE - DAY                    Tom sits at his desk with headphones on trying to work. But          with Summer down at the end of the hall, he's having a hard          time concentrating.                    McKenzie shares a cubicle with Tom.                                        MCKENZIE                    This Friday. 10 bucks all you can                    karaoke at The Well.                                        TOM                    No way McKenzie. Absolutely not.                                        MCKENZIE                    Come on!                        (SINGING)                    "Take me down to the paradise city                    where the grass is green and they                    got big titties!"                                        TOM                    They won't let you back in there                    after last time.                                        MCKENZIE                    I wasn't that bad.                                        TOM                    Not at all. You just threw up on                    the stage, tried to fight the                    bartender, and then threatened to                    burn the place down before passing                    out on the sidewalk. Quiet night                    for you.                                        MCKENZIE                        (REVERENTIAL)                    You saved my life that day.                                        TOM                    We are not going back there.                                                                            29.                                                            MCKENZIE                    This is a work thing, Tommy. It                    won't be like that. The whole                    office is going.                                        TOM                    I really can't. Even if I wanted                    to. There's a lot of stuff I gotta                    take care of.                                        MCKENZIE                    You're not listening to me.                                        TOM                    What?                                        MCKENZIE                    The whole office is going.          Tom looks over to where Summer sits. And realization dawns on          him...                              INT KARAOKE BAR - NIGHT                    Summer is in a back booth with some co-workers when Tom walks          in to the crowded place. McKenzie has the microphone and he's          singing "Every Rose Has Its Thorn" by Poison. He's real into          it and, well, it's kinda sad. Tom waves to McKenzie and walks          over to the booth.                                        TOM                    Hi.                                        SUMMER                    Hey! They said you weren't coming.                                         TOM                    You asked if I was coming?                        (BEAT)                    I mean...my plans got cancelled...                    Tom is at a loss. There's yet another awkward silent beat          between them. Thankfully, it's interrupted by...                                        MCKENZIE                        (already drunk)                    Goddamn that song is brilliant!                    What's up Hansen?                    Summer sees the next song come up on the screen.                                                                            30.                                                            SUMMER                    Ooh that's me.                    She downs a shot and jumps up on stage.                                         SUMMER                        (into mic)                    Ok. I'm the new girl so no making                    fun of me.                    Her co-workers whistle and cheer her on. She takes a deep          breath as the opening bars of "Born to Run" begin to play and          Summer starts to sing. Tom sees Summer as the actress in          whatever nonsensical karaoke video accompanies the song (it's          something to do with an old convertible, the sunset, and a          midget in a tuxedo.)                    LATER. Tom sits in the booth with McKenzie (doing a shot) as          Summer chats with co-workers at another table. Tom can't help          but stare at Summer. She notices and waves. He smiles,          hopeful that she'll come over. She doesn't. He hides his          disappointment.                    LATER. Tom walks back to his table with drinks. Summer is          there in mid-conversation with McKenzie.                                        TOM                    You were great up there, by the                    way.                                        SUMMER                    Well you can't go wrong with The                    Boss.                                        TOM                        (sitting down)                    I hear that.                                        MCKENZIE                    Hey, did you know Tom here's from                    Jersey?                                        SUMMER                    Yeah?                                        TOM                    Lived there til I was 12.                                        SUMMER                    I named my cat after Springsteen.                                        TOM                    No kidding? What's his name?                                                                            31.                                                             SUMMER                    Bruce.                                         TOM                        (BEAT)                    That makes sense.                    She laughs. She's really cute when she laughs.                                        MCKENZIE                    So you got a boyfriend?                                         SUMMER                    Me? No.                    Tom shoots daggers at McKenzie for that comment. McKenzie          mouths "what?" Summer sees nothing.                                         MCKENZIE                    Why not?                                        SUMMER                    Don't really want one.                                        MCKENZIE                    Come on. I don't believe that.                                        SUMMER                    You don't believe a woman could                    enjoy being free and independent?                                         MCKENZIE                        (BEAT)                    Are you a lesbian?                                        SUMMER                    No, I'm not a lesbian. I'm just not                    comfortable being somebody's                    "girlfriend." I don't want to be                    anybody's anything, you know?                              MCKENZIE                    I have no idea what you're talking                    about.                                        SUMMER                    It sounds selfish, I know, but... I                    just like being on my own.                    Relationships are messy and                    feelings are always getting hurt.                    Who needs all that? We're young.                    We're in one of the most beautiful                    cities in the world.                              (MORE)                                                                           32.                                        SUMMER (cont'd)                    I say, let's have as much fun as we                    can afford and leave the serious                    shit for later.                                        TOM                    But...what if you meet someone and                    fall in love?                                        SUMMER                        (LAUGHS)                    Love? You seriously believe in that                    stuff?                                        TOM                    Of course I do.                                        SUMMER                    Interesting. A real romantic.                                        MCKENZIE                    Oh you have no idea. This one...                    embarrassing. There was this one                    girl,                        (to Tom)                    I gotta tell this story --                    Tom elbows McKenzie hard in the ribs to shut him up.                                        TOM                    Summer, hold on... you don't                    believe in love?                                        SUMMER                    I don't even know what that word                    means. I know I've never felt it,                    whatever it is in all those songs.                    And I know that today most                    marriages end in divorce. Like my                    parents.                                        TOM                    Well mine too but --                                        SUMMER                    Oh yeah, And I read in Newsweek,                    there were these scientists who                    found that by stimulating a part of                    the brain with electrodes you can                    make a person fall in "love" with a                    rock. Is that the love you're                    talking about?                                        TOM                    Well...                                                                            33.                                                            SUMMER                    Why, what's your take on it?                                                                      CUT TO:                    AN ANIMATION SEQUENCE, real quick. AN EXPLOSION OF MANY          DIFFERENT COLORS, COMPLETE WITH A CHOIR AND A CHURCH ORGAN          ALL BUILDING TO A HUGE CRESCENDO.                                                                     BACK TO:                              INT BAR                    On Tom:                                        TOM                    I think it's...kind of a huge                    thing.                                         SUMMER                        (BEAT)                    Ok. Looks like we're gonna have to                    agree to disagree on that one.                    McKenzie senses some discontent.                                        MCKENZIE                    So, uh, who's singing next?                                        SUMMER                        (re: singing)                    I'd say it's your turn loverboy.                                        TOM                    Nooo. I don't sing in public.                                        SUMMER                    Sure you do. I see you lip-synching                    to your headphones every morning on                    your way in.                                           TOM                    I don't...                                        MCKENZIE                    You really do.                                        SUMMER                    It's ok. I like it. Takes a lot of                    self-confidence to look ridiculous.                                                                            34.                                                            MCKENZIE                        (can't help himself)                    Self-confidence! Ha!                    Tom elbows him in the ribs again.                                        TOM                    Anyway, I'm not near drunk enough                    to sing in front of all these                    people.                                        SUMMER                    Ok then. Let's drink.                                        TOM                    It would take at least ten shots to                    get me to sing.                                           SUMMER                    Bartender!                    TEN MINUTES LATER. Tom is up there singing The Clash's          "Magnificent Seven." You wouldn't think so but Tom is a ROCK          STAR up there! He's dancing like Jagger, he's got everyone in          the bar singing along to the audience-participation parts.          It's a sight to behold. Summer is all smiles watching.                    LATER. Tom and Summer back at the table. Summer is humming          something.                                        TOM                    That's not it.                                        SUMMER                    What is that then?                                        TOM                    I have no idea.                    They're both having a good time.                                        SUMMER                    I used to watch it every week.                                        TOM                    Me too. Why can't we think of the                    stupid A-Team theme song.                                           SUMMER                    Pathetic.                                        TOM                    This is gonna bother me for weeks.                                                                            35.                                                               SUMMER                    Totally.                    They share another laugh and then it gets quiet. In that good          way.                    ANGLE ON McKenzie, wasted, singing the shit out of "Proud to          Be an American." He really means it. At any minute he might          start to cry.                                        MCKENZIE                    "And I'd proudly stand UP!"                        (aggressive drunk)                    I said stand!                    BACK ON TOM and SUMMER.                                        TOM                    Oh here we go.                              EXT KARAOKE BAR - LATER                    Tom helps a nearly comatose McKenzie exit the place. Summer          is with them.                                        MCKENZIE                        (to Summer)                    This guy.                        (DRAMATICALLY)                    He's the best.                                        TOM                    Ok, let's get you in a cab.                                        MCKENZIE                    No. I'm gonna walk. I live right                    down that street. Or that one.                                        SUMMER                        (LAUGHING)                    Is he gonna be ok?                                        TOM                    He'll be fine.                    A cab arrives. Tom and Summer help McKenzie inside.                                           MCKENZIE                    Hey.                                           TOM                    What's up?                                                                              36.                                                            MCKENZIE                    Not you. You.                        (beat, to Summer)                    He likes you.                                        TOM                        (QUICKLY)                    Ok, goodnight McKenzie!                                        MCKENZIE                    I mean... likes you, likes you. For                    real. Tell her Tom.                    Tom shuts the door on McKenzie as fast as he can. Now it's          just Tom and Summer. Tom talks a mile a minute to try and          erase McKenzie's last exchange from her mind.                                        TOM                    Sorry you had to see that. Happens                    every time we come here. It's                    unbelievable. Something about that                    guy and singing for people. I don't                    know. But at least he didn't --                                        SUMMER                    Is that true?                                        TOM                    What?                                        SUMMER                    You know what. Do you...like me?                                        TOM                    Yeah. I like you. Of course I do.                                        SUMMER                    As a friend.                                        TOM                    Right. As a friend.                                        SUMMER                    Just as a friend?                    The wheels are spinning in Tom's head. What's the right          answer here?                                        TOM                    Yes. I mean... I haven't really                    thought about... Yes. Why?                                                                               37.                                                             SUMMER                     Nothing. I just... You're                     interesting. I'd like us to be                     friends. Is that ok?                    Tom was clearly hoping for her to say something else. He          hides his disappointment the best he can.                                         TOM                     Oh yeah totally. Friends. You and                     me. That's... perfect.                                         SUMMER                     Cool.                                         TOM                     Cool.                    Silence.                                         SUMMER                     Well, I'm that way. Good night Tom.                                         TOM                     G'night Summer.                    Tom watches her walk away for a beat before he turns to go          the other way.                                         TOM                         (under his breath)                     Friends. Awesome. That's just                     great. Well done Hansen, you idiot.                    Tom walks a few more steps.                    And then, seemingly out of nowhere, without his even          noticing, SUMMER HAS WRAPPED HER ARMS AROUND HIM AND PULLED          HIM INTO A KISS!                    It's unbelievable. There's a few seconds where Tom isn't sure          if he's dreaming or not. But then he realizes, suddenly, out          of the blue, his best case scenario really is actually          happening.                              (29)          FADE UP: "YOU MAKE MY DREAMS COME TRUE" by Hall and Oates.                                                                            38.                                                  EXT STREET - MORNING                    It's the greatest morning of all time!                    Tom walks down the street. Or, more accurately, Tom struts          down the street. He's pointing at people as he passes,          winking, doing a little shuffle. He is the man. He checks out          his reflection in a window. A YOUNG PAUL NEWMAN stares back.                    People wave as he passes, they clap, they give him thumbs up.          A parade forms behind him. The POSTMAN, a POLICE OFFICER, the          HOT DOG VENDOR, RONALD MCDONALD and MAYOR MCCHEESE, everybody          loves Tom today. HALL and OATES themselves walk with Tom          singing the song.                    Cars stop at crosswalks to let Tom go by. The DRIVERS also          pump their fists in celebration of Tom's achievement last          night. He walks on, the man. We notice the sidewalk lights up          every time he touches the pavement like in "Billie Jean".                    CARTOON BIRDS fly onto Tom's shoulder. He smiles and winks at          them.                              INT OFFICE - SAME                    Tom passes Summer's office whistling Hall and Oates. She sees          him and immediately lights up.                                           SUMMER                    Hey!                                           TOM                    Hey!                    Vance pokes out of his corner office.                                        VANCE.                    Summer, I need -- Oh hello Hansen.                                        TOM                    Hey Mr. Vance.                                        SUMMER                    Yes, Mr. Vance?                    And they're all business. As Tom turns to go, however, Summer          gives him a little coy smile that would be enough to make          anyone's day complete. Tom gives her the international signal          for `I'll call you later' in return. Vance sees none of it.          Tom walks to his cubicle, still on top of the world.                                                                            39.                                                  INT TOM'S PLACE - THAT NIGHT                    Tom answers the door. It's Paul (in hospital scrubs).                                        PAUL                    You son of a bitch.                    He walks inside without waiting for an invite.                                        PAUL                    Last night, karaoke night?                                        TOM                        (ANXIOUS)                    Shhh.                                         PAUL                    The same girl you'd been whining                    and crying and bitching about for                    weeks now?                                        TOM                    I have not been...                                        PAUL                    The same girl you said was way out                    of your league and you'd have no                    chance with no matter what. That                    girl?                                        TOM                    Paul, seriously...                                        PAUL                    Did you bang her?                                          TOM                    No!                                          PAUL                    Blow job?                                          TOM                    No!                                          PAUL                    Hand job?                                        TOM                    No, Paul, no jobs. I'm still                    unemployed. We just kissed.                                                                            40.                                                            PAUL                    Come on, level with me. As your                    best friend, who tolerated a whole                    month of talk talk talk about this                    girl, nothing but Summer this,                    Summer that, Summer Summer Summer,                    I mean you were practically                    stalking her...                                         TOM                    Shhh!                    Suddenly, the sound of a toilet flushing is heard. From the          bathroom emerges Summer, dressed to go out.                                         PAUL                    Oh crap.                                        SUMMER                    Hi, I'm Summer..                                        PAUL                    Summer, wow what an unusual name.                    I'm sure I'd remember that if I had                    heard it before. Tom, how come                    you've never mentioned you knew                    such a lovely little lady?                        (off Tom's nasty look)                    Or perhaps you have and I've just                    forgot.                        (to Summer)                    I mean, with all the women in Tom's                    life it's hard to keep track...                        (not helping)                    Ok, well, I was just... I'm Paul.                                         SUMMER                    Hi Paul.                                        PAUL                        (not sure what else to                         SAY)                    I'm a doctor.                                        SUMMER                    Nice to meet you.                                        PAUL                    Anyway, I'm leaving now. Pretend I                    was never here. Tom, talk to you                    later?... Hey, If any jobs open                    up...                                                                            41.                                        Tom quickly shuts the door on Paul.                                        TOM                    If you heard...                                        SUMMER                    Heard what?                                        TOM                    Excellent. You ready to go.                                        SUMMER                    I'm stalking, STARVING!                    Tom realizes she's heard it all.                                        TOM                        (PLAYFULLY)                    He exaggerates!                              (198)          INT CHINESE RESTAURANT - NIGHT                    Tom and Summer eating, not really talking much. At another          table, Tom sees a VERY UNATTRACTIVE COUPLE feeding each other          food.                                        TOM                    Check them out.                    Summer sees. She has no reaction.                                        TOM                        (SARCASTIC)                    That is hot.                    Summer keeps eating.                                        TOM                    I am very turned on right now.                                        SUMMER                    Sometimes you can be so judgmental.                                           TOM                    Huh?                                                                            42.                                                            SUMMER                    I mean, who are you? They're happy.                    Just mind your own business.                    Summer goes back to eating. Tom can't believe she snapped.                              (31)          INT RESTAURANT - NIGHT                    An equally UNATTRACTIVE COUPLE go at it in a booth. PAN          ACROSS to find Tom and Summer early in their relationship, in          a booth across the room, watching in hysterics.                                        TOM                    9, 9.5?                                        SUMMER                    Too soon to say. It's all in the                    dismount.                                        TOM                    If we're lucky, there won't be a                    dismount.                    Summer, her cheeks flushed already from laughing, loses it          again. They are having a great night.                                        SUMMER                    I can't believe them. I have like                    zero patience for PDA.                                        TOM                    I hear ya. If I want to watch                    people make out, I have big windows                    and binoculars at home.                                        SUMMER                    Yeah?                                         TOM                        (BEAT)                    No. That would be wrong.                    They laugh some more. She is in hysterics.                                        SUMMER                    This is fun. You're fun.                                                                            43.                                                            TOM                    Thanks.                                        SUMMER                    I mean, I just want to say, up                    front, I'm not looking for anything                    serious.                    Tom is a little surprised.                                        SUMMER                    Are you cool with that?                                        TOM                        (UNCONVINCING)                    Sure.                                        SUMMER                    It freaks some guys out when I say                    that.                                        TOM                        (still confused)                    Not me.                                         SUMMER                    Let's just have fun. Let's                    just...hang out, no pressure, no                    labels, no obligations.                        (BEAT)                    Ok?                    Tom is visibly disappointed by this but he tries to hide it.                                        TOM                    Sure.                                         SUMMER                        (BEAT)                    Wanna hold my hand under the table?                    A beat.                                        TOM                    Yeah.                              INT TOM'S BEDROOM - LATER THAT NIGHT                    Summer and Tom come bounding in, lip-locked and all over each          other. They fall on his bed and begin undressing each other.          Suddenly, Tom stops.                                                                              44.                                                            TOM                    I'll be...back in a sec.                    He walks into the hallway, out of her sight. He looks into          the hallway mirror.                                        TOM                    Settle. Don't get too excited.                    She's just a girl. There's lots of                    them. Who look like that. And like                    what you like. They're everywhere.                    Calm yourself.                    He takes a few deep breaths.                                         TOM                    Are you calm?                        (BEAT)                    Ok. Then it's time to go back in.                    We watch from behind as he re-enters his bedroom. Where          Summer waits. Under the covers. Naked.                                        SUMMER                    Hi.                                        TOM                    Oh sweet Jesus!                    Tom can't help but do a little celebration dance.                                                                        CUT TO:                    LATER. Sex has been had. Summer is asleep. Tom lies next to          her. He still can't help but be ecstatic. He is pumping his          fists in the air and silently shouting "Woo Hoo!!!!"                              (388)          CU - TOM. LOOKING THE WORSE FOR WEAR. UNSHAVEN, LONG HAIR,          CRUMPLED CLOTHING. IN SHORT, HE'S A MESS.                                        TOM                        (into CAMERA)                    I fucking hate Summer.                    CU - SUMMER'S SMILE (as before)                                        TOM (V.O.)                    I hate her crooked teeth.                                                                            45.                                        CU - SUMMER'S HAIR (as before)                                          TOM (V.O.)                      I hate her 1950s haircut.                    CU - SUMMER'S KNEES (as before)                                          TOM (V.O.)                      I hate her knobby knees.                    CU - SUMMER'S EYES (as before)                                          TOM (V.O.)                      I hate her lopsided, asymmetrical,                      cock-eyed head.                    CU - SUMMER'S NECK (as before)                                          TOM (V.O.)                      I hate that centipede-shaped scar.                    CU - SUMMER'S BREASTS (as before)                                          TOM (V.O.)                      I hate her...stupid...big boobs.                    CU - SUMMER ASLEEP (as before)                                          TOM (V.O.)                      I hate the way she sleeps.                    CU - SUMMER'S LAUGH                                          TOM (V.O.)                        I hate the way she laughs.                    OVER BLACK, play the middle 8 of "Every Little Thing She Does          is Magic."                                          TOM (V.O.)                      I HATE THIS FUCKING SONG!                    CU - TOM.                    REVERSE ANGLE on A TROLLEY FULL OF PEOPLE, terrified of this          raving lunatic.                                          BUS DRIVER                      Son, you're gonna have to exit the                      vehicle.                                                                      CUT TO:                                                                            46.                                                  INT OFFICE - DAY                    Tom passes Summer's desk. A new SECRETARY sits there. He          notices, in the trash, a reprint of an avant garde surrealist          painting of two dogs humping. He stops and retrieves it from          the bin like it's some family heirloom. He gives the          secretary a dirty look for tossing it.                              (35)          INT. SF MUSEUM OF MODERN ART - DAY                    CU: the same painting.                    ANGLE ON Summer and Tom looking at it curiously.                                        TOM                    It's very... complex.                                        SUMMER                    Complex. Yes.                    CU: a second painting which is nothing but red.                    ANGLE ON Summer and Tom looking at it with the same          expressions.                                        SUMMER                    In a way, it speaks so much by                    saying... so little.                                        TOM                    I feel the same way.                    CU: a third painting which could only be, well, poop.                    ANGLE ON Summer and Tom, still perplexed but trying.                    They say nothing, until:                                        TOM                    You wanna go to the movies?                                        SUMMER                        (RELIEVED)                    God yes!                                                                               47.                                                  EXT. MOVIE THEATER - LATER                    The marquee reads "Part Vampire. Part Giant. `VAGIANT!'"                              INT. MOVIE THEATER - CONT.                    The theater is packed. Everyone is laughing and screaming and          throwing popcorn. Tom and Summer are having a great time.                                        (51)          EXT TRANSAMERICA BUILDING - DAY                    Summer and Tom stand on San Francisco's most interesting          street corner, where the ultra-modern Transamerica Building          stands next to the ancient Columbus Tower.                                        TOM                    A lot of people have problems with                    this, but to me, it makes both                    structures so much more beautiful                    side by side like that.                              EXT PALACE OF FINE ARTS - DAY                    Summer and Tom in front of the famed Roman-style structure.                                        TOM                    The guy who made this, Maybeck, he                    is a God.                              EXT YERNA BUENA GARDEN - DAY                    Summer and Tom sit on the steps which offers a stunning view          of the city's architectural marvels.                                        TOM                    It just makes you feel... peaceful.                    They really do seem at peace.                              EXT SONY METREON - DAY                    Tom and Summer in front of the gargantuan mirrored building.                                                                              48.                                                            TOM                    No. See now, this is torture.                                         SUMMER                    Why?                                        TOM                    Over there, that's St. Patrick's                    church. The beauty of St. Patrick's                    is its humility. With this giant                    mirror thing deflecting all the                    attention away, it's too humble. No                    one even knows it's there.                                        SUMMER                    How would you change it?                                        TOM                    There's a million things. First,                    there's no need for this much                    glass. You could easily...                                         SUMMER                    Show me.                                         TOM                    What?                                        SUMMER                    Don't talk about it. Do it.                    Summer gives him a pen from her purse and the underside of          her arm. Tom thinks about this. Then he starts to draw a          sketch on her skin. We catch her watching his face as he          draws. She's attracted to his enthusiasm.                                         TOM                    See this beam, it steps on the                    landscape. But if we moved it...                    just so...                                        (55)          EXT OFFICE BUILDING - DAY                    Tom and Summer, who have ridden together to work, stand          outside the building.                                                                               49.                                                            SUMMER                    You wanna --                                        TOM                    No you go first.                                        SUMMER                    It doesn't matter to me.                                        TOM                    Whatever you want.                    A CO-WORKER passes.                                        CO-WORKER                    Hey Summer. Tom.                                        BOTH                        (like nothing's up)                    Hey./ Hi.                    Summer joins the co-worker and walks in.                                        SUMMER                        (to Co-Worker)                    So how's it going?                    She turns back to look at Tom on the way. She sticks out her          tongue to be cute. Co-Worker doesn't see. Tom is crazy about          her.                              INT OFFICE - LATER                    Tom at his cubicle with the one architecture sketch. The          phone rings and he picks it up.                                           TOM                    Hello?                                        SUMMER (V.O.)                    I remember!                              INT COPY ROOM - DAY                    Summer is on her cell phone in the office copy room. She          begins to sing the theme song to "The A-Team."                                           TOM (V.O.)                    That's it!                                                                            50.                                        McKenzie enters and sees her singing into the phone. Turns          without a word and leaves.                              INT TOM'S CUBICLE - SAME                    Tom listening to her sing. McKenzie comes over.                                        MCKENZIE                    Your girl is losing it.                    Tom is too wrapped up in the phone call to acknowledge him.          The smile on his face is the biggest we've seen yet.                                        (68)          INT. SHOWER - LATER                    We just see the curtain, but we can see their silhouettes          behind it. Summer and Tom are trying to have sex in the          shower. They're trying to stable themselves, grip something          so as not to fall, elbows are flying, it's a mess.                                        SUMMER                    This is not at all as easy as it                    looks.                                          TOM                    Ow!                    The curtain rips and the bar comes crashing down. They fall          on top of each other laughing.                                        (77)          INT VIRGIN MEGASTORE - NIGHT                    Tom and Summer wander through the aisles.                                        TOM                    There's no way.                                          SUMMER                    Why not?                                                                            51.                                                            TOM                    "Octopus's Garden?" You may as well                    just say "Piggies?"                                        SUMMER                    I told you. I love Ringo.                                        TOM                    You're insane.                                        SUMMER                    Why?                                        TOM                    Cause nobody loves Ringo.                                          SUMMER                    That's what I love about him.                         (BEAT)                    Ooh.                    Summer drags Tom into the curtained-off "Porn" section. She          picks up a box.                                        SUMMER                        (FLIRTATIOUS)                    This got great reviews.                              INT. SUMMER'S APARTMENT - LATER                    Tom and Summer get comfortable. Both are excited and looking          forward to this. The movie starts, the credits roll. Tom and          Summer start to make out a bit, both keeping an eye on the          TV.                                                                      CUT TO:                              INT. SUMMER'S APARTMENT - 20 MINUTES LATER                    Tom and Summer, watching the movie. Intently. They've even          got popcorn.                                        SUMMER                    Is that... possible?                              (79)                                                                   52.                                                  INT SPORTS BAR - NIGHT                    Tom, Mckenzie and Paul are having a drink.                                        PAUL                    So what's going on with you and                    Summer?                                        TOM                    I don't know.                                        PAUL                    Is she your girlfriend?                                        TOM                    I wouldn't say that.                                        MCKENZIE                    What would you say?                                        TOM                    Like, are we "going steady?" Come                    on, guys. We're adults.                                        PAUL                    It's not an unreasonable question.                    Watch. McKenzie, do you have a                    girlfriend?                                        MCKENZIE                    No I do not. In fact girls are                    repulsed by me. Paul, how about                    you?                                        PAUL                    Why yes, in fact I do. Her name is                    Robyn. See Tom, it's easy.                                        TOM                    It is when you've been with the                    same girl since high school.                                        PAUL                    You've been "seeing" this girl,                    what, two months now?                                        TOM                    Something like that.                                        PAUL                    And you haven't discussed it?                                                                    53.                                                            TOM                    No! She's not... We're not like                    that.                                           PAUL                    Like what?                                           MCKENZIE                    Normal.                                        TOM                    We've just been... hanging out.                                        PAUL                    Hanging out?!                                        TOM                    Yeah. Guys, look, Summer and I...we                    know how we feel. We don't need to                    label it. "Boyfriend, girlfriend."                    That stuff is very... juvenile.                    Beat.                                        MCKENZIE                    You're so gay.                                        PAUL                    Well let me ask you this then. Do                    you want her to be your girlfriend?                    Tom takes a second to think about this.                                        TOM                    I don't know... Maybe.                                        MCKENZIE                    I heard her Hansen. She's not the                    girlfriend type. You're gonna need                    to discuss it.                                        TOM                    No. We're adults. It'll be fine.                                        MCKENZIE                    Have you made her a CD yet?                                           TOM                        (BEAT)                    Maybe.                                           MCKENZIE                    Oh dude.                                                                            54.                                                            PAUL                    You really need to have that talk.                              (80)          EXT FIELD - DAY                    Rachel is playing field hockey on the 7th grade team. Tom is          watching from behind the players' bench. A whistle blows and          Rachel comes back and sits down.                                        RACHEL                    You were saying?                                        TOM                    My thinking is... why rock the                    boat? Things are going well. If we                    start putting labels on it, that's                    like the kiss of death. Like saying                    to a girl "I love you."                                        RACHEL                    I know what you mean. That's what                    happened with me and Sean.                                        TOM                    Who the hell's Sean?                                        RACHEL                    My boyfriend before Mark.                                        TOM                    Who the f--! Never mind. Help me. I                    need solid female advice.                                        RACHEL                    I'm 12.                                        TOM                    Yeah but, you know me. This is the                    kinda stuff that always gets me in                    trouble.                                                                            55.                                                            RACHEL                    Hmm. So, basically you do want to                    ask the question, `are we                    boyfriend/girlfriend?' You're just                    afraid you'll get an answer you                    don't want and that will shatter                    your illusions of how good                    everything's been these past few                    months. Is that about right?                                         TOM                        (BEAT)                    Something like that.                                        RACHEL                    Thomas, tell me this. Is it worse                    to get the wrong answer now... or                    find out in a month she has a date                    coming up with Lars from Norway?                                        TOM                    Who's Lars?                                        RACHEL                    He's a professional surfer with                    Brad Pitt's face and Jesus's abs.                                        TOM                    That son of a bitch.                                        RACHEL                    You see what I mean?                    The whistle blows again and Rachel gets up to go back on the          field.                                        RACHEL                    Later dude.                                        TOM                    Coach, no, wait! I need her.                        (shouting to Rachel)                    Rachel, what do you think I should                    do?                                        RACHEL                        (calling back)                    Just don't be a pussy.                    On Tom, we:                                                                      CUT TO:                                                                            56.                                                  INT TOM'S CAR - THAT NIGHT                    Tom and Summer driving on the Golden Gate. Tom is very          conflicted and we can see it in his face. They're silent a          few beats, before:                                          SUMMER                    Hi.                                          TOM                    Hi.                                        SUMMER                    Are you ok?                                          TOM                    Yeah.                                          SUMMER                    You sure?                    He's not. He clenches his teeth. And begins...                                         TOM                    Summer, I've gotta ask you                    something.                                          SUMMER                    Ok.                    He takes a deep breath. He's about to go on when:                                          SUMMER                    Wait!                    Summer finds on the radio a particular song. ("Waiting in          Vain" by Bob Marley, if you must know.)                                         SUMMER                    Whoa. Oh my god. We can't talk                    during this song. It's too                    beautiful.                    And it is. Tom's hand is on the gear shift. She puts hers          there and locks it with his. Tom listens and Tom watches          Summer listening. There's something about this moment, the          way she sings along, the way her eyes close during certain          notes, the way her smile rises and falls like she could cry          at any minute from being overwhelmingly happy or just simply          overwhelmed. Tom is powerless to stop his feelings for this          girl.                                                                              57.                                        Marley sings:                                        B.M.                    "In life I know there's lots of                    grief/ but your love is my relief."                    We know, as well as he does: he will ask nothing tonight.                              (172)          INT PARTY - NIGHT                    Tom and Summer are in a LARGE CIRCLE OF PEOPLE at a party.          TIME CUTS reveal that Summer is talking with, laughing with,          drinking with, and possibly flirting with many of them. Tom          notices, smiles, pretends it doesn't mean anything, but he's          clearly jealous, not in a sexual way but of the attention          they're getting from her. It's been a while. He misses that          attention.                                                                      CUT TO:                              (272-286)          INT. BOOKSTORE - DAY                    Tom, starting to get that unshaven, unkempt look, wanders          through the self-help section. He leafs through some of the          titles. He grabs just about every one of them.                              INT. APARTMENT - LATER                    Tom has more than fifty self-help books on a shelf by his          bed. He reads from one called "Six Steps to Getting Over          Him."                                        TOM (V.O.)                    "So he broke your heart. You've                    been sad and depressed for weeks.                    Perhaps you've turned to drinking                    or even drugs. And nothing's                    helped. Now what? Should you binge                    on rocky road and watch soaps all                    day?"                    SECONDS LATER. Tom sits in his bed eating ice cream. He          continues to read.                                                                               58.                                                              TOM (V.O.)                      "No you should not."                    He slowly puts the ice cream down.                                          TOM (V.O.)                      "Through extensive research, we                      have found the six most effective                      ways to get over that lost love and                      make room in your heart for a new                      man to fill. Those steps are:"                              EXT. STREET - DAY                    Tom jogs.                                          TOM (V.O.)                      "One. Exercise. The body's release                      of endorphins will assuage the                      brain and provide a genuine sense                      of accomplishment and success."                    Cars pass him at top speed. Bicycles breeze by him. A child          on a big wheel soars past. He may as well be jogging in          place.                              INT. YOGA CENTER - NIGHT                    Tom is taking a yoga class.                                          TOM (V.O.)                      "Two. Physical and Mental                      relaxation. Channel all of your                      energies to the core of your being                      for a new understanding of the self                      and others."                    This shit is really fucking hard when you're as inflexible as          Tom. Everyone else in the class seems at peace. Tom can't          even get the breathing right.                              INT. HOMELESS SHELTER - DAY                    Tom feels good about himself as he gives out food to the          homeless.                                          TOM (V.O.)                      "Three. Charity. Reach out! You are                      not alone in your pain."                                                                            59.                                        Next in line is a HOMELESS COUPLE holding hands. Tom spirits          immediately fall. Even these two somehow found each other.                              INT SHOE STORE - DAY                    Tom stands in the center of a fashionable ladies shoe store.                                          TOM (V.O.)                      "Four. Shoe Shopping! Ladies...you                      know you want to. Indulge!"                    ANGLE ON TOM, just sorta standing there. Confused. He doesn't          really want new shoes.                              EXT. FOREST - DAY                    Tom backpacks alone in the forest.                                          TOM (V.O.)                      "Five. Travel. Take some time to                      see another environment. Get                      perspective. It's a beautiful                      world. It will be for you again                      someday."                    This is it, he's finally found some peace. Tom looks up to          the tops of the trees where the sunlight is peeking in and          takes a deep breath.                    FREEZE ON TOM.                    INFORMATION BUBBLES pop up on the screen to point out that          Tom is standing in POISON OAK. There's a RUSTY BEAR TRAP a          step ahead of him. A giant POISONOUS SNAKE creeping up          behind him. A TICK on his leg. And in the distance a HUNTER          has Tom sized up in his rifle sight.                    UNFREEZE.                    Tom starts to itch...                              INT. APARTMENT - LATER                    Tom is painting the walls of his now nearly bare apartment.                                          TOM (V.O.)                      "Six. Redecorate. Start anew."                    He's focused on his task and in fact seems pretty good at it.                                                                              60.                                                            TOM (V.O.)                    "By taking these few steps, you                    will have discovered your inner                    strength and should be ready to                    move on. I bet you can hardly                    remember his face at all."                    We pull back to REVEAL Tom has painted a giant mural of          Summer on his wall. He looks at the self-help book and          dropkicks it.                                        (145)          INT CROWDED BAR - NIGHT                    Summer and Tom stand by the bar.                                        TOM                    I just don't get women's fashion                    nowadays. Everybody with the                    tattoos, the giant hoop earrings,                    those annoying hats. Explain this                    to me.                                        SUMMER                    People think it looks good.                                         TOM                    Do you?                                         SUMMER                    On some.                                        TOM                    I like how you dress.                                        SUMMER                    Yeah? What if I started wearing                    berets and got a huge butterfly                    tattoo on my leg?                                         TOM                        (BEAT)                    Please don't.                    A tall, well-built, GOOD-LOOKING DOUCHEBAG GUY has suddenly          appeared next to them.                                                                            61.                                                               DOUCHE                           (to Summer)                    Hey.                    Tom and Summer stop talking.                                           SUMMER                    Hey.                                        DOUCHE                    How's it going?                                           SUMMER                    Ok.                    Tom puts his hands in his pockets and watches this exchange          go down. Not sure what else to do. At this point he's more          amused than concerned.                                        DOUCHE                    You live around here?                                        SUMMER                    Yeah not too far.                                        DOUCHE                    I've never seen you here before.                                        SUMMER                    You're not too perceptive.                                        DOUCHE                    Ha. That's funny.                    Tom smiles to himself. This guy's a tool. Nothing to worry          about.                                        DOUCHE                    So, uh, let me buy you a drink.                                        SUMMER                    No thank you.                    As she answers Summer gives a quick glance over to Tom. The          Guy notices. Up to this point he had not connected the two of          them together.                                        DOUCHE                    Are you with this guy?                    Tom realizes he has to sort of say something now.                                                                               62.                                                             TOM                        (BEAT)                    Hi. I'm Tom.                                        DOUCHE                    Whatever.                        (to Summer)                    Come on, one drink. What are you                    drinking?                                        SUMMER                    Sorry, no thank you.                    Tom is pleased.                                        DOUCHE                    You're serious? This guy?                    And now he's pissed.                                        TOM                    Hey buddy --                                         SUMMER                        (to the Douche)                    Don't be rude. I'm flattered, I'm                    just not interested. Now why don't                    you go back over there and leave us                    alone, ok?                                        DOUCHE                    It's a free country.                    Summer and Tom make eye contact again, as if to say "now          what?" After a beat:                                        DOUCHE                    So you and him, huh? I can't                    believe that. Is this guy really                    your boyfriend?                    And that question hangs in the air. Tom, panicked, decides to          cut the silence. All the pent up uncertainty and confusion,          coupled with the challenge to his manhood in front of the          woman he loves, all manifests in one single, solid, almost          automatic RIGHT CROSS TO THE GOOD LOOKING DOUCHEBAG'S FACE.                    Which connects spot on and sends the Douche reeling.                    Both Douche and Tom wince at the pain (Douche's chin, Tom's          fist).                                                                            63.                                        There's a beat of calm where Tom is actually sorta surprised.          And then the Douche spins around and starts PUMMELLING TOM.                                                                      CUT TO:                              EXT BAR - A FEW MINUTES LATER                    Having been thrown out, Summer and Tom exit the place. Tom is          a bloody mess, granted, but feels pretty great about it.                                        TOM                    Did you see that punch? I don't                    know where it came from. I haven't                    punched someone since Josh                    Greenberg in fifth grade. Guess I'm                    gonna have to throw out this shirt.                    Summer starts walking ahead and Tom notices for the first          time she's furious.                                        TOM                    Hey. What is it?                                        SUMMER                    I can't believe you.                                        TOM                    What?                                        SUMMER                    You were so completely uncool in                    there.                                        TOM                    You're mad at me? I just got my ass                    kicked for you.                                        SUMMER                    Oh that was for me? You were, what,                    protecting me? Next time Tommy,                    don't. I fight my own battles.                                        TOM                    Come on, that guy was an asshole!                                        SUMMER                    You didn't have to hit him. Why                    didn't you just let me handle it?                                        TOM                    I don't know. He was --                                                                            64.                                                            SUMMER                    See. This is why I don't want a                    serious relationship.                                        TOM                    Whoa. What was that?                                        SUMMER                    Nothing. Look, I like you Tom. I                    like this. What we've been doing.                    But maybe it's gone too...                                          TOM                    What...?                                        SUMMER                    I told you all along what I don't                    want and it's...                    Tom waits for more. It doesn't come.                                        SUMMER                    I'm tired. Can we talk about this                    tomorrow?                    It's silent. He doesn't know what to do or say or think.          Neither of them say a word as they go their separate ways.                                        TOM                        (calling to her)                    I just got my ass kicked!                    Only the CROWD outside the bar hear this.                                        TOM                        (to Onlookers)                    I got one good shot in.                                        (146 & 147)          INT. OFFICE - LATER                    Tom is in the photocopy room with a bandage on his nose.          Summer walks in, not realizing he would be there. She stops          short.                                          TOM                          (GENUINE)                    Hi.                                                                            65.                                                                 SUMMER                          (COLD)                    Hi.                                             TOM                    What's up?                                             SUMMER                    Nothing.                                             TOM                    Ok.                    Nothing else is said.                                        TOM                    Wait, are you still mad at me?                                        SUMMER                        (rolling her eyes)                    Tom...                                        TOM                    Holy shit you are. I can't believe                    you!                                        SUMMER                        (re: copies)                    Are you almost done?                                        TOM                    Yeah. I'm all done.                    He starts to walk out.                                        TOM                    You know what... Sometimes you                    really don't make any sense.                    Tom walks out. He looks back but she isn't looking. When she          looks back at him, he's gone.                    LATER. Tom about to leave the office. Passes Summer's desk.          She's on the phone. He wants to stop and say something but          she's busy. He walks on. She never knew he was there.                    LATER. Summer, packed up to go, walks over to Tom's cubicle          but he's already gone.                              SPLITSCREEN - INT. BOTH APARTMENTS - THAT NIGHT                    Left: Tom tosses and turns in his sleep.                                                                               66.                                        Right: Summer lies awake, staring at the ceiling.                    Left: Tom picks up the phone. Is about to dial when he stops          himself and hangs up.                    Right: Summer looks at her phone, willing it to ring. It          doesn't.                              INT TOM'S BEDROOM - HOURS LATER                    Tom is awakened by a buzzer. He hits the "sleep" button but          the buzzing isn't coming from his alarm. It's his door. He          gets up, concerned, and goes to answer it. It's Summer.                                        SUMMER                    Say you're sorry.                                         TOM                    Huh?                                        SUMMER                    Say you're sorry for acting like a                    jerk.                                        TOM                    I am. I'm sorry for acting like a                    jerk.                                        SUMMER                    Ok. Me too.                                        TOM                    Summer... we don't have to label                    what we're doing. I just... I need -                                         SUMMER                    I know -                                        TOM                    Consistency. I need to know you                    won't wake up tomorrow and feel a                    different way.                                        SUMMER                    I can't promise you that. Nobody                    can. Anyone who does is a liar.                    A beat.                                        SUMMER                    I can only tell you how I feel                    right now... or I can show you.                                                                            67.                                        She comes in and kisses him. He thinks about it for a second.          Is this enough to assuage his doubts? Damn it, she wins          again. He shuts the door in our faces.                              INT TOM'S BEDROOM - THE NEXT MORNING                    Tom and Summer in the wee hours.                                        TOM                    Have you ever had a real                    "boyfriend?"                                           SUMMER                    What?                                        TOM                    A boyfriend. "Going steady."                    Whatever. You know what I mean.                                        SUMMER                    Well... yeah.                                        TOM                    More than one?                                           SUMMER                    A few.                                        TOM                    Tell me about them.                                           SUMMER                    Oh no way.                                           TOM                    Why?                                        SUMMER                    Cause there's nothing to tell.                                        TOM                    Come on, I'm interested.                                        SUMMER                    You wanna have the relationship                    history conversation?                                           TOM                    Yes.                                        SUMMER                    You sure about that?                                                                              68.                                                            TOM                    No. Yeah. I don't know. Why not? I                    can take it.                                        SUMMER                    Ok. Well, in high school, there was                    Markus.                    INSERT: Still photograph of MARKUS. Or at least how he          appears in Tom's mind. Arm cocked, about to throw the winning          touchdown pass.                                        TOM                    Quarterback slash homecoming king?                                        SUMMER                    He was a rower. Very hot.                                        TOM                    What happened to Markus?                                        SUMMER                    He works for the Republican party.                    Very successful. Just not for me.                                        TOM                    Ok. And then?                                        SUMMER                    Well, for a short time in college,                    there was Kurt.                    INSERT: Still photograph of KURT. As Tom envisions him.          Playing the guitar on stage in Motley Crue.                                         SUMMER                    That didn't really go anywhere.                        (BEAT)                    And... my semester in Rome. Daniele                    Belardelli. AKA "The Puma."                    INSERT: Still photograph of THE PUMA. A swarthy Italian          posing in front of a Vespa moped in tight Gucci pants, his          boner clearly trying to escape.                                          TOM                    The Puma?                                        SUMMER                    Yeah, cause, you know...                    Tom has no idea. And he doesn't want to know.                                                                            69.                                                            TOM                    And that's it?                                        SUMMER                    The ones that lasted.                                        TOM                    What happened? Why didn't they work                    out?                                        SUMMER                    Nothing happened really. It's what                    always happens. Life.                    On TOM. Silent for a few beats. Did he want to hear that?                                                                      CUT TO:                              (290S)          EXT. STREET - DAY                    Tom, unshaven, un-showered, walks by himself. He turns a          corner and sees Summer walking towards him. As she gets          closer he sees it's not her after all and breathes a sigh of          relief.                              INT. BEDROOM - LATER                    Tom watches TV. An advertisement for toothpaste comes on. Tom          could swear the actress was Summer.                              INT TROLLEY - DAY                    A trolley going the other direction passes by. EVERY          PASSENGER ON IT IS SUMMER. Tom is a fucking mess.                              (302)          EXT RESTAURANT - NIGHT                    Tom and an attractive girl we haven't seen before walk          towards an outdoor cafe. Her name is ALLISON. It's clear          right away that Tom can't wait for this night to end already.                                                                    70.                                                            ALISON                    So how long have you known Paul and                    Robyn?                                        TOM                    Since grade school.                                        ALISON                    No way, really? That's crazy.                                        TOM                    Yeah.                                        ALISON                    Well I'm glad you called. They                    spoke very highly of you.                                        TOM                    Great.                              INT RESTAURANT - LATER                    Tom and Alison eat. In silence.                                        ALISON                    So...uh... how's it going?                                        TOM                    Ok.                    Beat.                                        ALISON                    You've been pretty quiet.                                        TOM                    Sorry.                                        ALISON                    I'm pretty quiet too. Usually. It's                    nice sometimes to be comfortable                    enough that you can just sit and                    eat and not have to say anything,                    you know?                                        TOM                    Uh-huh.                    More silence.                                        ALISON                    Do you want to try some --                                                                               71.                                                               TOM                    No thanks.                    Alison looks at her food. Tom realizes he's been difficult,          starts to feel kinda bad.                                         TOM                    I'm sorry. It's just... there's                    this girl.                                           ALISON                    Oh.                                        TOM                    I'm not usually like this. I wasn't                    before... Long story short, she                    wrecked me. I don't know if you can                    tell but it was pretty recent and                    I'm still kinda thinking about her.                                        ALISON                        (DISAPPOINTED)                    Well maybe you should think                    about... someone else... who could                    cheer you up.                                        TOM                    I can't get her out of my head, you                    know? I see her everywhere. She's                    all I think about. And it's                    horrible. Cause I totally didn't                    see it coming. I thought things                    were fine. So now I keep going                    through every day in my mind, every                    second really. Wondering. What went                    wrong? Is it my fault? Could I have                    prevented it somehow?                              EXT TRANSAMERICA BUILDING - (BACK ON DAY 51)                    Summer and Tom stand on the street corner looking at the          buildings.                                        TOM                    A lot of people have problems with                    this, but to me, it makes both                    structures so much more beautiful                    side by side like that.                    Tom keeps talking. Summer turns and looks directly at the          CAMERA.                                                                            72.                                                            SUMMER                    While you continue to talk about                    buildings and whatever other                    bullshit interests you, I'll just                    nod my head and pretend to listen                    while secretly dreaming about the                    many ways I can one day rip out                    your heart and eat it like the                    rabid vampire I am.                              INT RESTAURANT - SAME                    Tom and Alison.                                        TOM                    Maybe there were things I could                    have said or done, you know?                    INT SUMMER'S BEDROOM - NIGHT - (FROM DAY 39)                    From the scene in which Tom and Summer first slept together.          He's sleeping like a baby, probably the best sleep he's had          in a long while. Summer lies next to him. Wide awake. Bored          and unfulfilled.                              INT RESTAURANT - SAME                    Tom and Alison. Alison is desperately trying to get a drink.                                        ALISON                    Waiter!                                        TOM                    Or... Christ, I don't know, maybe                    she was never that interested in me                    to begin with.                              INT ELEVATOR - DAY - (FROM DAY 22)                    Tom and Summer ride in silence for a few beats.                                         TOM                        (BEAT)                    How was your weekend?                                        SUMMER                        (winks at him)                    It was good.                                                                            73.                                                  INT RESTAURANT - SAME                                        TOM                    Anyway... sorry. If I'm acting                    strange, that's why.                                        ALISON                    It's ok. I'm sure it's tough                    getting over an ex-girlfriend.                                        TOM                    Actually she was never my                    girlfriend.                    Now Alison is really confused. And it's right around the part          where Tom starts totally cracking up.                                        TOM                    I just... I thought I'd have                    figured it out by now, you know? My                    life. Where I'm going, where I want                    to end up, who with. All that                    stuff. I still don't know anything.                    And the thing is... When I was with                    Summer, none of that mattered. I                    never even noticed how much of my                    life was missing! Isn't that weird?                                        ALISON                    You were in love, that's what it                    does. But, now that you know where                    the holes are you can start to fill                    them.                                         TOM                    Sure.                        (BEAT)                    Hey, I've been talking non-stop.                    You talk.                                        ALISON                    Me? Well I grew up --                                        TOM                    So what do you think? Did I do                    something? Did I not do something?                    What can I do now?                                              ALISON                    I...                           (BEAT)                                    (MORE)                                                                               74.                                        ALISON (cont'd)                    You wanna get out of here? I know                    this great...                                        TOM                        (suddenly excited)                    Oh! You know what we should do...                              INT KARAOKE BAR - LATER                    Tom is, yes, on stage singing another song by The Clash,          "Train in Vain." Not so much singing as having a nervous          breakdown to music.                                        TOM                    "You said you'd stand by your                    man!/So tell me something I don't                    understand. You said you loved                    me!/And that's a fact! And then you                    left me, said you felt trapped!                    Alison sits by herself in a booth trying to hide her face.                                        TOM                    "You didn't stand by me! Not at                    all! You didn't stand by me," I'm                    talking about you Summer!                    On Alison, having the worst date ever.                                                                        CUT TO:                                        (219)          INT TOM'S BATHROOM - NIGHT                    Tom is getting dressed for a big fancy night out. A punkish          pop song plays in the b.g. that he occasionally boogies down          to. He's excited.                    He tucks his shirt into his pants. He ties his tie. He          brushes his teeth with aplomb. He looks for, finds, and          plucks a grey hair from his head. He makes some faces into          the mirror.                    Satisfied, he grabs his coat and hits the street.                                                                            75.                                                  EXT SAN FRANCISCO STREET - SAME                    Tom walking in the Spring air, feeling good. The phone rings.                    INTERCUT WITH:                              INT SUMMER'S APARTMENT - SAME                    Summer on the cell as she enters her apartment. She looks          like she's coming back from the gym.                                        SUMMER                    Hey it's me.                                        TOM                    Hello me. You having a good day?                                        SUMMER                    I am thank you. Listen, about                    tonight... I think I might just                    stay in and go to bed early.                                           TOM                    What? Why?                                        SUMMER                    I'm just really tired and I've                    gotta go in early tomorrow. Would                    you be super mad at me if we went                    out this weekend instead?                                        TOM                    Well... You don't want to just,                    maybe, go to dinner. I mean, you've                    gotta eat right?                                        SUMMER                    I'm not really that hungry. And                    this place is fancy right?                                        TOM                        (touching his tie)                    Sorta.                                        SUMMER                    I'd rather not. Seriously, do you                    mind?                    Tom is standing still now, no longer moving. He's trying to          keep his frustration from being audible.                                                                            76.                                                               TOM                       Hey, no, that's cool. Whatever you                       want to do.                                           SUMMER                       Thank you. So we'll talk tomorrow,                       alright?                                           TOM                       Sure.                                           SUMMER                       Great. Good night Tom.                                            TOM                       Good night.                           (BEAT)                       Hey, Happy... birthday.                    But the line is dead. Tom's head sinks into his chest. Yet          another frustrating night...                                                                       CUT TO:                              CU PAUL, TALKING DIRECTLY TO THE CAMERA DOCUMENTARY STYLE                                           PAUL                       I just got lucky I guess. We met in                       elementary school. We had the same                       class schedule in the 7th grade and                       we just... clicked.                                                                       CUT TO:                              CU MCKENZIE.                                           MCKENZIE                       Love? Shit, I don't know. As long                       as she's cute and she's willing,                       right? Actually, cute is a strong                       word. Not atrocious.                    CU RACHEL.                                           RACHEL                       That's a pretty complex question.                       Philosophers, poets, scientists,                       everybody has a theory, don't they?                                 (MORE)                                                                      77.                                          RACHEL (cont'd)                      I kinda like what Nietzsche said:                      "There is always some madness in                      love, but there is also...always                      some reason in madness." Think                      about it. Pretty smart. Although,                      Nietzsche also said "Kill the                      Jews." So there's that.                    CU VANCE.                                           VANCE.                      I've been happily married for 30                      years. She's the light that guides                      me home.                          (BEAT)                      Yes it is from one of our cards.                          (BEAT)                      No someone else wrote it. Doesn't                      make it less true.                    CU SUMMER                                          SUMMER                      Ok I'm sick of this love shit. Come                      on! We've been fed this nonsense                      for generations to the point where                      it's now genetically encoded in our                      very beings. And what does it mean?                      Absolutely nothing. Give me a                      break!                    CU MCKENZIE                                           MCKENZIE                      I'm just saying... I really need                      some ass. I'm desperate.                          (BEAT)                      You got nothing?                    CU PAUL                                           PAUL                      I wouldn't say "the girl of my                      dreams," no. The girl of my dreams                      would have a better rack. Probably                      different hair, could like sports a                      little more. But... truth is...                      Robyn's better than the girl of my                      dreams.                          (BEAT)                      You know why? Cause she's real.                    CU TOM.                                                                             78.                                        He says nothing. Just stands there. So confused. We go right          INTO:                    ANIMATION. A QUICK 5 second recap of the earlier color          sequence.                                        (101)          INT OFFICE - DAY                    Tom is wandering through the office whistling.                                        MCKENZIE                    Hansen, don't you have like twenty                    bar mitzvah cards to write?                                        TOM                    Nope. All done. What are you                    working on?                                        MCKENZIE                    Congratulations. But I've run out                    of ways to say it. "Good job,"                    "well done," "way to go"... I got                    nothing.                                        TOM                    Why don't you try... "Everyday you                    make me proud. But today, you get a                    card."                                         MCKENZIE                        (BEAT)                    Shit. That's not bad.                                        TOM                    No worries.                    Tom walks by the room marked "Weddings and Anniversaries."          He's about to keep going when he pauses.                              INT WEDDINGS AND ANNIVERSARIES SUITE - LATER                    All of the people who work in here are MIDDLE AGED WOMEN.          Currently, they are standing around one desk where Tom sits          writing everyone's cards.                                                                             79.                                                            TOM                    This is good Millie. "To my wife,                    the love of my life. I love you."                    That's very nice. I was thinking                    though, why not try something                    like... "Everyday that we don't                    meet is meaningless and                    incomplete." You know, spice it up                    a little.                    The Women clutch their heart like they might faint.                              INT RELIGIOUS HOLIDAYS WING - LATER                    Workers are again all gathered around Tom.                                        TOM                    Did you try... "Merry?"                                        ALL                    Whoa/Perfect/Yes!                                        TOM                    What else you got?                                          EMPLOYEE #1                    Passover.                    Tom says something totally in Yiddish. No one knows what the          hell he just said except for one Employee who bursts out in          tears of joy.                              INT OFFICE HALLWAY - LATER                    Tom passes Summer at her desk. She waves. He waves back. He's          so in love with her.                              INT ANOTHER WING - LATER                    ANGLE ON TOM writing furiously at a computer terminal.                                         TOM                    "...aint no woman got what you got,                    sista girl. Happy birthday to the                    lean, sheen, and sizzly mocha                    queen!"                        (BEAT)                    How's that?                    The AFRICAN-AMERICAN MAHOGANY WRITERS are impressed.                                                                             80.                                                            MAHOGANY WRITER #1                    Something's gotten into you son!                                        TOM                    Yeah. It's pretty cool.                              (222)          EXT MOVIE THEATRE - NIGHT                    Tom and Summer in line to buy tickets.                                        TOM                    You really want to see this?                                        SUMMER                    It sounds amazing.                                        TOM                    It's, like, all stabbing and shit.                                           SUMMER                    Exactly.                                           TOM                    Ok.                                        SUMMER                    All you take me to are sappy little                    romances. I want to see some open                    wounds, damn it. I want carnage.                                           TOM                    Fantastic.                    Suddenly, Tom sees something at the front of the line.                                           TOM                    Oh shit.                                           SUMMER                    What?                    And here they come, Tom's mom and step-dad, Sarah and Martin.          Tom's face registers a noticeable panic.                                           SARAH                    Hey!                                                                               81.                                        Sarah and Martin are delighted at this coincidence. Sarah          hugs and kisses her son.                                        TOM                        (looking at Summer)                    Hi Mom.                    Summer smiles. Maybe this will be ok.                                        TOM                    Mom, Martin, this is Summer.                                        SARAH                    Summer! Well hello! We've heard so                    much about you! It's so good to                    finally meet you.                    Sarah hugs Summer.                                         SUMMER                    You too.                    And now Martin weighs in with his own hug. Tom notices          Summer's face growing increasingly concerned. Why is he          hugging me?                                        MARTIN                        (to Tom)                    Is this the girlfriend?                    Tom is caught like a deer in headlights. What can he do?                                        TOM                    Well this is the girl friend I've                    told you about. I don't know if                    "girlfriend" is the right word...                                        SARAH                    You going to see the serial killer                    one?                                        SUMMER                    Yes we are.                                        SARAH                    Great! Should we save you seats?                    Again, this has become incredibly awkward for Tom and for          Summer.                                        SUMMER                    Absolutely.                                                                            82.                                                            SARAH                    Ok. We'll see you inside.                    When they're out of earshot, Tom sees that Summer is          distraught.                                        TOM                    Sorry about that.                                           SUMMER                    It's fine.                                        TOM                    You wanna go do something else? We                    can totally bolt.                                        SUMMER                    Did you tell them I was your                    girlfriend?                                        TOM                    What?! No way... I never used that                    word.                                        SUMMER                    They seemed to think... I mean, why                    is your step-dad giving me a hug?                                        TOM                    He's very...loving.                                        SUMMER                    Does he hug all your friends?                    There's that word again.                    Summer looks at Tom, like she's disappointed or even angry at          him for something. Then she walks ahead of him into the          theatre. He's forced to follow. Answer-less, as conflicted as          ever. Why is none of this easy?                                                                      CUT TO:                              INT MOVIE THEATRE - LATER                    Summer, Tom, Sarah, Martin in a row. Summer's face is cold,          emotionless. Tom tries to look at her, to make eye contact,          something. She knows he's looking but it doesn't make her          head turn his way. Tom gives up and watches the movie.                    ANGLE ON THE MOVIE SCREEN. We see a BLACK AND WHITE FILM.                                                                            83.                                        It's a MAN racing down the street, fleeing from an unseen          assassin. When he turns around we see the man is TOM. Bullets          fly and he's hit repeatedly in the back while running away          like Belmondo in BREATHLESS. He dies an elaborate, violent,          horrible on-screen death.                              (228)          INT CLUB - NIGHT                    Rave music blares. Tom stands off to the side looking          miserable. Summer is on the dance floor. Though she's not          really dancing with anyone in particular, she's dancing with          everyone. Finally she comes over, white shirt dripping with          sweat and clearly a little high on one thing or another.                                        SUMMER                    You're not having any fun.                                        TOM                    You're having enough for both of                    us.                                        SUMMER                    I'm dancing. I haven't danced in                    ages. God. Come on.                                        TOM                    No.                                        SUMMER                    Come on! I wanna dance with you.                                        TOM                    Where were you an hour ago? I might                    have danced then. I've been                    standing here by myself this whole                    time and you didn't look over once.                                        SUMMER                    So you're pissed?                                        TOM                    I'm not pissed. Summer... you know                    I hate this shit.                                        SUMMER                    Then why are you here?                                                                               84.                                                            TOM                    This is what you wanted to do                    so...we're doing it.                                        SUMMER                    Yeah well, I didn't need a                    chaperone. Go home. You're a                    buzzkill standing there pouting.                                         TOM                        (HURT)                    That's real nice.                    He walks off. She feels some guilt for a second.                                           SUMMER                    Tom!                    But when he doesn't turn around she just shakes it off and          starts dancing again.                    LATER. Tom is outside in the rain. We can still hear the          music blaring from the club. Summer is in there. Tom is          alone. He can't believe it's come to this.                              (251)          FADE UP: "YOU MAKE MY DREAMS COME TRUE" by Hall and Oates.                              EXT STREET - MORNING                    The worst morning ever.                    Tom walks down the street. Or, more accurately, Tom sulks          down the street. Though it's sunny and warm, Tom is a sad,          broken man and the world is an awful place. There's still          Hall and Oates following Tom, almost trying to cheer him up.          He checks out his reflection in a window. Ron Howard's          brother Clint looks back.                    Tom walks by a COUPLE making out on a bench. He grimaces.                    He walks by a sign that says "TODAY ONLY: FREE BEER." He          doesn't even stop.                    Cartoon Bird returns but Tom swats it away.                    The WORLD'S MOST BEAUTIFUL WOMAN stops to ask him for          directions. He doesn't even look up.                                                                            85.                                        Tom's parade of supporters, The Postman, Mayor McCheese, all          of them shake their heads and give him disapproving looks.          The Cartoon Bird takes a cartoon shit on Tom's shoulder. Tom          tries to kill the bird. Can't even manage that.                              INT OFFICE - SAME                    He passes Summer desk on the way in. She's no longer there.          He miserably sits down at his desk, tries to work but he ends          up just staring into space.                              INT VANCE'S OFFICE - DAY                    Tom has been called into the Principal's office.                                        TOM                    You wanted to see me, Mr. Vance?                                        VANCE                    Yes Hansen. Sit down.                                        TOM                    Ok.                                        VANCE.                    Has something happened to you                    recently?                                        TOM                    What do you mean?                                        VANCE                    A death in the family, someone                    taken ill...anything like that?                                        TOM                    No.                                        VANCE                    Look, I don't mean to pry. Does                    this have something to do with                    Summer leaving.                                        TOM                    Who?                                        VANCE.                    My assistant.                                                                    86.                                                            TOM                        (faking badly)                    Your...?                                        VANCE.                    Tom...everyone knows. Nevermind.                    The reason I'm asking... lately                    your work performance has been... a                    little off.                                        TOM                    I'm not following.                                         VANCE                    For example, here's something you                    wrote last week...                        (reads from a card on his                         DESK)                    "Roses are Red, Violets are Blue.                    Fuck You Whore." Now...most                    shoppers on Valentine's Day ---                                        TOM                    Mr. Vance... are you firing me?                                        VANCE                    No, no, no. Relax Hansen. You're                    one of our most... adequate                    writers.                                        TOM                    Ok. Well, I'm sorry. Things for me                    have been a little difficult.                                        VANCE                    That's ok. I understand that. I was                    just thinking... perhaps you could                    channel your energy into... this.                    He hands him some sympathy cards.                                        TOM                    Funerals and sympathy?                                        VANCE                    Misery, sadness, loss of faith, no                    reasons to live... it's perfect for                    you. Whaddaya say? Good? Good. Now                    back to work you go.                    He quickly ushers him out of the office.                                                                            87.                                                  (383)          INT TOM'S BEDROOM - MORNING                    Tom wakes up. He gets his bearings and then quickly rolls          onto the floor and begins a brief push-up routine.                                        NARRATOR (V.O.)                    Most days of the year are entirely                    unremarkable. They begin and they                    end without creating a single                    lasting memory. Most days have no                    real impact on the course of a                    life.                    The phone rings. Tom stops his push-ups to answer it.                                        NARRATOR (V.O.)                    May 8th was a Saturday.                              INT DELI - DAY                    Tom walks in to find Paul and McKenzie at a table. They look          extremely nervous.                                        TOM                    What's going on?                    Neither one answers him. They look at each other. Finally...                                        PAUL                    We have news.                                        TOM                    Ok.                                        MCKENZIE                    It's about her.                                        TOM                    Do I want to hear it?                                        PAUL                    Thats what we wanted to ask you.                                        MCKENZIE                    It's just...lately you've                    been...better.                                                                            88.                                                            PAUL                    You've been much much better.                                        MCKENZIE                    So maybe it's best we don't ever                    bring her up again.                                        PAUL                    Just let sleeping dogs lie.                                        MCKENZIE                    Leave those dogs alone Tom!                                        TOM                    You guys, look, I'm... I appreciate                    what you're saying and, thank you,                    really, for putting up with me                    these past few months. I've been                    crazy. But I've accepted the fact                    that she and I were just two very                    different people who wanted very                    different things. I wanted to get                    serious. Shit, I loved her. And I                    know now, she just isn't the kind                    of girl who can settle down with                    one person and be happy. The way I                    wanted. And she probably never                    will. There was nothing I could do.                    Mckenzie and Paul just sit there. Now more uncomfortable than          ever. On Tom, we:                                                                      CUT TO:                              EXT DELI - SECONDS LATER                    Tom comes charging out of the place with his friends          following behind.                                        TOM                    There's no fucking way!                                        MCKENZIE                    Tom.                                        TOM                    It can't be. It's impossible!                                        PAUL                    It is.                                                                            89.                                                            TOM                    How do you know?                    On Tom's pained face we...                                                                      CUT TO:                              INT TOM'S BEDROOM                    Tom is going apeshit in his room. He's ripping down posters,          taking pictures out of frames and tearing them apart. He          punches the wall. He drinks an entire bottle of red wine. He          tries to find something to kick and can't. He throws his cell          phone off his balcony. Finally he collapses on the bed.                              (384)          INT TOM'S BEDROOM                    The half-destroyed alarm clock goes off. Tom hits the off          button.                              (385)          INT TOM'S BEDROOM                    Same exact thing.                              (386)          INT SUPERMARKET - DAY                    Tom, in a robe and boxer shorts, buys milk, OJ, cigarettes,          Jack Daniels, and twinkies.                    The CLERK eyes him suspiciously.                              EXT STREET - SAME                    Tom sees a COUPLE kissing on the sidewalk. He winces. He sees          ANOTHER COUPLE entwined on a bench. It's killing him. He sees          a THIRD COUPLE walking towards him holding hands. He snaps.                                                                            90.                                                             TOM                     Jesus Christ people! Get a room!                    They look at this lunatic in his robe and quickly walk away.                              (387)          INT TOM'S BEDROOM                    Alarm clock. We PAN ACROSS to see Tom is wide awake. He          probably hasn't slept in a day or so. He has no reaction to          the alarm.                              INT OFFICE - LATER                    Tom actually wanders in to work, wearing sunglasses and the          clothes he slept in. People pass and say hello. He can't          muster responses. At his desk,                                           MCKENZIE                     Tom!                    Nothing.                                         MCKENZIE                     I've been calling every five                     minutes. Are you ok?                                         TOM                     What? Oh yeah. Great.                                         MCKENZIE                     Do you need anything?                                           TOM                     Twinkies?                                           MCKENZIE                     Sorry.                                         TOM                     I'm out of twinkies.                                         MCKENZIE                     Well let's go.                                         TOM                     Go... where?                                                                            91.                                                            MCKENZIE                    It's Thursday.                              INT BOARDROOM - LATER                    Tom sits next to McKenzie and across from Vance. He's in his          usual boardroom position, which is to say, near comatose.                    A female CO-WORKER, 50s, stands at the front of the room in          mid-presentation, showing slides that have something to do          with a cat in various poses. First we see, "Cat Reaching Up          for Out-of-Reach Milk Bowl."                                        CO-WORKER                    This one says "Go for it!"                    She clicks to the next slide. "Cat Hanging From Tree Branch."                                        CO-WORKER                    This one says "Don't give up!"                    Click. We see "Cat Considering a Giant Leap."                                        CO-WORKER                    And this one says "You can do it!"                    We have a whole line of                    inspirational cards featuring                    Pickles, my cat. I think people                    will really enjoy them. Thank you.                    She takes her seat.                                        VANCE.                    Good job Rhoda, I agree. Really                    inspirational stuff. Now, who's                    next. We haven't heard from                    "Sympathy" in a while. Hansen...                                           TOM                           (reacting to his name)                    Hmm?                                        VANCE.                    The Winter collection. You have                    anything to contribute?                                        TOM                    Uh...no. I really don't.                                        VANCE.                    You have nothing?                                                                               92.                                                            TOM                    Well I wouldn't say nothing...                    Actually, that's about right.                                        VANCE.                        (DISAPPOINTED)                    Oh...k. We'll come back to you.                    McKenzie --                                        TOM                    You know what...?                                         VANCE.                    Yes Tom.                                        TOM                    Can I say something about the cat?                                        VANCE                    Well sure. Go ahead.                                        TOM                    This here is, and Rhoda, you know I                    mean no disrespect... but this...                    this is total shit.                                         MCKENZIE                    Tom!                                        TOM                    "Don't give up?" "You can do it?"                    He points to the screen, still showing the "Cat About to          Leap" image.                                        TOM                    This isn't inspirational. It's                    suicidal. He tries that jump, I'm                    writing a sympathy card for that                    cat. That's the last thing I want                    to be doing with my life. It's bad                    enough writing these things for                    people.                                         VANCE                    Hansen, this is a place of                    business. We don't cut down our co-                    workers --                                        TOM                    That's cause we're liars! It's what                    we do here. Why don't we level with                    people? Stop feeding them nonsense?                                                                              93.                                                            CO-WORKER (RHODA)                    We're a greeting card company.                                        TOM                    Yes but think about it! Why do                    people buy these things? Not to say                    how they feel. There's paper and                    pens for that. People give these                    cards when they can't say how they                    feel. Or they're afraid to. And we                    provide the service that lets `em                    get away with that!                    Tom is getting excited. The rest of the room is growing          uncomfortable.                                        TOM                    I say to hell with it! Let's level                    with America. Or at least make them                    speak for themselves! I mean,                    seriously, what's this...                        (picks a card off the                         TABLE)                    "I'm sorry to hear your grandmother                    has passed." What the hell? Let's                    give em some truth. Something like,                    "Sorry to hear about your                    grandmother. Here's a card so I get                    some credit in your time of need.                    I'm sure it makes up for the fact                    that grandma's dead."                    Vance and the card-writing team are appalled.                                        TOM                    Think about it.                        (picks up another card)                    "Congratulations on your new baby."                    Eh... How bout... "Congratulations                    on your new baby... Guess that's it                    for hanging out. Nice knowing ya,                    buddy."                                        VANCE                    Hansen, sit down!                                        TOM                        (picks up a card)                    Wait, what's this? Ooh... fancy!                    Look at this one with all the                    hearts. Let's open it up. "Happy                    Valentine's Day, Sweetheart. I love                    you." Oh that's nice.                                                                            94.                                                            MCKENZIE                    Tom...                                        TOM                    If someone gave me this card, Mr.                    Vance... I would eat it.                                        MCKENZIE                    Tom!                    Tom recognizes he's losing his shit. He takes a seat on the          boardroom table.                                         TOM                        (BEAT)                    It's these greeting cards, Sir,                    these cards, these movies, these                    pop songs. They're responsible for                    all the lies, the heartache,                    everything! We're responsible!          Everyone shifts in their seats.                                         TOM                    I think we do a bad thing here.                    People should be able to say how                    they feel, how they really feel,                    without some strangers putting                    words in their mouths. The truth. A                    card is a nice thought but it                    shouldn't do the dirty work for                    you. You love someone, tell them                    yourself, in your own words. Maybe                    it's not love at all. Maybe there's                    no such thing as love. Maybe                    it's... "galoogoo."                        (BEAT)                    Yeah I made it up, so what?!                    Tom gets up and walks to the door.                                        TOM                    It's all crap. We make and peddle                    crap. And sometimes people believe                    in this crap. I just can't do it                    anymore, Mr. Vance. There's enough                    bullshit in the world without my                    help. I quit.                                                                            95.                                        And with that he gets up and walks off. The room is pretty          stunned. Someone coughs. McKenzie tries to start a clap. It          doesn't really take.                                                                      CUT TO:                              EXT BUILDING - MINUTES LATER                    Tom comes outside with some boxes. He stands out in front of          the building. His face says one thing. "Holy shit. Did I just          do that?!" And then we,                                                                      CUT TO:                              (383)          EXT DELI - SAME AS EARLIER                    Tom and his friends on the sidewalk outside the deli.                                        TOM                    There's no fucking way!                                         MCKENZIE                    Tom.                                        TOM                    It can't be. It's impossible!                                         PAUL                    It is.                                        TOM                    How do you know?                                         MCKENZIE                    We know.                                        TOM                    But... It's May! We broke up last                    August.                                         PAUL                    I know.                                         TOM                    And you said she was single at                    Christmas.                                                                  96.                                                               MCKENZIE                    She was.                                        TOM                    And now she's...                                           MCKENZIE                    Yeah.                                        TOM                    Now she's getting married.                                        PAUL                    I'm so sorry Tom.                                           TOM                    Married?                                        PAUL                    It's insane.                                        TOM                    It's impossible. It doesn't make                    sense. Where did they meet? Is it                    someone we know?                                           PAUL                    No.                                        TOM                    So everything she said. All that                    stuff about... it can't be. Not                    her. I know her too well. She                    wouldn't do that.                    His friends say nothing.                                           TOM                        (BEAT)                     Fuck!                    And with that he storms off.                                           MCKENZIE                    Tom!                                        PAUL                    Let him go.                    ANGLE ON Tom walking away from them.                    Literally, his entire universe falls apart.                                                                             97.                                        FX: BUILDINGS come crumbling down. The whole city turns to          rubble. He's the only constant as the world around him is          ERASED, brick by brick, beam by beam, as if by an unseen          force and reduced to nothing.                                                                      CUT TO:                              BLACK.                    And we fade up those famous OPENING BARS OF "HAVA NAGILA."                              (399)          CU on a CIRCLE OF PEOPLE HOLDING HANDS, some young, some old,          Tom right in the mix trying hard to smile. Has he joined a          cult?                    We are:                              INT BALLROOM - NIGHT                    Tom's sister Rachel's Bat Mitzvah. Tom and his family have          formed a traditional Hora. They dance in a big circle and          clap their hands. A chair is brought to the center and Rachel          is lifted high above the circle by Tom, his step-dad, and          some others.                                                                      CUT TO:                    LATER. Rachel is standing by a cake with a microphone.                                        RACHEL                    Your apple pies are really great.                    So Uncle Sid and Aunt Ro, come                    light candle number eight!                    ANGLE ON TOM sitting with his mom Sarah at the table. They          clap. Mom looks at her son knowing something is wrong. Tom          catches her looking.                                                                      CUT TO:                    LATER. Tom being accosted by two more Aunts.                                        AUNT ANITA                    I can't believe that. No                    girlfriend?                                                          98.                                                  TOM          I can't believe it either!                              AUNT BETSY          What are you 30? You should be          married now. With a family. What          are you waiting for?                              TOM          The right girl I guess.                              AUNT BETSY          There's girls everywhere. I bet you          have to beat em off with a stick.                              TOM          Oh you'd be surprised.                              AUNT ANITA              (actually squeezing his               CHEEKS)          Look at this punum. Are all those          girls blind?                               AUNT BETSY          My friend Mimi has a granddaughter.          Yay high. Great figure. Bosom out          to here --                              TOM          Hey I appreciate that Aunt Betsy.          Lord knows I like bosoms. It's          just... I recently got out of          a...well, I don't know what it was.                              AUNT ANITA          Oh I'm sorry. When was that?                              TOM          July.                              AUNT BETSY          You mean...seven months ago?                              AUNT ANITA          Was it a man?                              TOM          What?                              AUNT BETSY          She's means `are you a homosexual?'                                                                             99.                                                             TOM                     No. Where's that coming from?                                         AUNT BETSY                     We just always wondered.                    Awkward.                                         AUNT ANITA                     So how's work?                                                                      CUT TO:                    LATER. Tom at the bar. He downs his drink in one gulp.                                                                      CUT TO:                    LATER. ANGLE ON Tom alone at the table. The band plays "Lady          in Red" and everyone's dancing. When we're back on Tom, he's          sitting with Summer.                                         TOM                     Well...glad you came?                                         SUMMER                     Of course. Where am I exactly?                                         TOM                     When you turn 13 in the Jewish                     religion, you officially become an                     adult.                    ANGLE ON RACHEL, dancing with a BOY.                                         SUMMER                     Wow. So this is a big day in your                     sister's life.                                         TOM                     Pretty big, yeah.                                          SUMMER                         (BEAT)                     So why aren't you smiling?                    ANGLE ON TOM. Alone. Still not smiling. Rachel arrives in the          nick of time.                                         RACHEL                     Hey brother. Wanna dance?                    She drags him to the dance floor.                                                                           100.                                                            RACHEL                    Hi.                                        TOM                    You having fun? You were great this                    morning.                                        RACHEL                    Yeah yeah yeah. Talk to me. How are                    you?                                        TOM                    Me? I'm good. I'm great.                                        RACHEL                        (re: Summer's engagement)                    I heard.                                        TOM                    Yeah.                                        RACHEL                    Sucks.                                        TOM                    Yup.                    It's silent a few beats.                                        TOM                    Anyway, who cares about me? This is                    your day.                    She hugs him. Tight. He doesn't cry but he could.                                        RACHEL                    You know, my friends... they're all                    in love with you.                                        TOM                    Is that right?                                        RACHEL                    Look.                    He sees a coven of 13-year olds swooning across the dance          floor at him.                                        TOM                    That's nice.                                                                   101.                                                            RACHEL                    What I tell ya? There are plenty                    other fish in the sea.                                        TOM                    Those are guppies.                                        RACHEL                    Who knows, someday one might turn                    out to be your "true love."                                        TOM                    Are you making fun of me now?                                        RACHEL                    No I'm serious.                                        TOM                    I got news for you Rach. That true                    love stuff... it's make-believe.                                        RACHEL                    Well that's not very romantic.                                        TOM                    It's the new me.                    The song ends.                                        TOM                    Alright... go play with your                    friends.                                        RACHEL                    You'll be ok?                                        TOM                        (LYING)                    Sure.                                        RACHEL                    Tom.                                        TOM                    Hmm?                                         RACHEL                    I know you think she was the                    perfect girl for you...                        (BEAT)                    I don't. I think you're just                    remembering the good stuff. But                    what do I know, right? I'm 13.                                                                              102.                                        She blows him a kiss and then runs off and joins her girls.          Tom watches her go.                                                                      CUT TO:                              (240)          SPLITSCREEN - TOM'S BEDROOM/ SUMMER'S BEDROOM - MORNING                    Tom is wide-awake, sitting fully dressed on his bed putting          his shoes on. He holds the phone up to his ear.                                          TOM                    Hey.                    Summer is half-asleep under the covers. The phone lays at her          side and she angles towards it.                                          SUMMER                    Hello?                                        TOM                    Are you still sleeping?                                        SUMMER                        (GROGGY)                    I'm getting up. What time is it?                                        TOM                    10:30. Are we still hanging out                    today?                                          SUMMER                    Ok. Sure.                                        TOM                    I'll meet you at Liberty in... 20                    minutes?                                        SUMMER                    I might need 45.                              EXT PARK - DAY                    Tom and Summer are having a picnic. If it looks familiar,          it's cause we saw them here on page 7. This is that fateful          day Tom described to his sister and his friends. The day it          all, finally, fell apart.                                                                           103.                                                            TOM                    So how was last night?                                        SUMMER                    It was fine. Just a work thing.                                        TOM                    Where did you guys go?                                        SUMMER                    Some restaurant.                                        TOM                    Fun?                                        SUMMER                    Uneventful. Didn't get home until                    after 12 though which is way too                    late for a stupid work function.                    How was your night?                                        TOM                    Pretty standard.                    Not much more to say. Stay with them for a few extra beats of          silence.                              EXT OUTDOOR MARKET - LATER                    Tom and Summer shopping at the fruit market. Unless we were          looking for trouble we wouldn't see any. But since we are, we          might notice she lags behind him as they walk through the          aisles. His hands are in his pockets. He's bored. She's          distant. But only if we're really looking.                              (406)          INT. APARTMENT - LATER                    Tom, almost with a full beard, is redecorating his apartment          again. We see him rearranging the furniture in the room.                    LATER. He hangs some new pictures.                    LATER. He uses a pencil on the wall to mark for a bookshelf.          Then he uses a ruler to make sure his marks are even. He          draws a faint line on the wall to mark where he needs to nail          something.                                                                             104.                                                  (240)          INT COFFEE HOUSE - LATER                    That day again. As we've seen before, Tom reads a newspaper.          Summer reads a novel.                                        TOM                    It's playing at 5.                                        SUMMER                    You want to go?                                        TOM                    I don't know. You wanna maybe go                    back to your place or ---                                        SUMMER                    I want to see it. Let's go.                                         TOM                    Ok cool.                                        SUMMER                    Unless you don't want to.                                        TOM                    No, I will. That's fine.                                         SUMMER                    Ok.                    A few more silent beats. Something's in the air.                              INT MOVIE - LATER                    Tom and Summer watching the film. Tears begin to well in          Summer's eyes. They soon turn to audible sobs. Tom turns to          look at her, to offer some sort of comfort, believing it to          be a response to the movie. She doesn't look back.                              (409)          INT TOM'S BEDROOM - DAY                    Tom drawing a straight line on his wall. Redecorating.                                                                           105.                                        And then he stops.                    He looks at the line he's drawn. He extends it a little bit.          He draws another. He begins to furiously draw on the wall.          From out of nowhere, inspiration has hit. An image starts to          form. A pretty impressive looking futuristic skyscraper,          almost shaped like a tear drop.                              (240)          EXT MOVIE THEATRE - LATER                    Same day from the past. They walk out, at first everything's          alright. It's exactly as we saw on page 7. But soon after          that she begins to cry again. Serious, real sobbing.                                           TOM                       Hey.                    He goes to hug her. He hugs her. It's unclear if she hugs          back.                                           TOM                       Hey Sum, it's just a movie.                                           SUMMER                       I know. I'm sorry Tom.                                           TOM                       Is everything alright with you?                    She smiles, tries to pull herself together.                                           SUMMER                       Yeah. I'm just...I'm sorry. I'm                       being ridiculous.                                           TOM                       It's ok. This happens to me every                       time I watch "Hoosiers." Let's go                       for a walk, ok. Let's get some air.                       Or go to Sister Ray's.                                           SUMMER                       Ok.                    They walk.                                                                              106.                                                  INT RECORD STORE - NIGHT                    Tom and a much more in control Summer walk down the aisles.          He grabs one.                                         TOM                    It pains me that we live in a world                    where no one's ever heard of                    Spearmint.                                        SUMMER                    I've never heard of them.                                        TOM                    And it's painful. Oh look.                    He grabs a Ringo Starr album and shows it to her, just as          we've seen on Page 7. She smiles and they continue on down          the aisles.                    In CU, Tom goes to hold Summer's hand. But something happens.          It could be a total coincidence, but just as his hand          approaches hers (in SLO-MO), she moves it away and keeps it          at her side. Tom puts his hands in his pockets, unsure if          there's something to read in that.                              (411)          EXT HARBOR - DAY                    Tom sketches intensely. The landscape, the skyline, the          works. He's in the zone.                              (240)          EXT RECORD STORE - LATER                    Again, that fateful day continues. Tom and Summer outside.                                        SUMMER                    So.                                        TOM                    So... Now what?                                                                           107.                                                            SUMMER                    Now...I think I'm gonna call it a                    day.                                        TOM                    Yeah? You wanna maybe...get some                    dinner or something?                                        SUMMER                    I've got pasta at home.                                        TOM                    Are you hungry?                                        SUMMER                    I'm pretty hungry, but --                                          TOM                    Ooh!                                          SUMMER                    What?                                        TOM                    I've got a great idea!                                          SUMMER                    What?                                        TOM                    Let's get breakfast.                                          SUMMER                    Now?                                          TOM                    Pancakes?                    Summer's resistance is futile. And the rest as they say is          history.                    FADE UP: "Number Two" by the Pernice Brothers. Which plays          OVER:                              (417-464)          1. INT TOM'S BATHROOM - DAY                    Tom shaves. Makes himself look presentable.                                                                           108.                                        LATER. Tom, now clean shaven and looking like he did when we          first met him, sketches on his bed with one hand while          holding a phone with the other.                              2. EXT CITY SIDEWALK - DAY                    Tom sits on a street corner drawing new additions to the          city's skyline.                    2. INT LIBRARY - DAY                    Tom sits with his feet up on a table, headphones on his ears,          reading one of many Taschen books on innovative building          design.                              3. INT OFFICE LOBBY - DAY                    Tom drops off his portfolio with the security guard in the          lobby of a high-rise.                              4. EXT SOCCER FIELD - DAY                    Tom and his mom and step-dad cheer on his sister playing          soccer. It's a nice temporary distraction for him.                              6. INT TOM'S BEDROOM - DAY                    Tom getting bad news on the phone. He has a list written on          his wall (which is now composed of a dynamic cityscape of          futuristic looking structures). He crosses "Abrams and          Abrams" off the list. We notice several others are also          crossed off.                              5. EXT GOLDEN GATE BRIDGE - DAY                    Tom has his car on the side of the road and is out measuring          the distance between the beams of the bridge.                    8. EXT PARK - DAY                    Tom jogs. A little faster this time.                    9. INT TOM'S BEDROOM - NIGHT                    Tom getting more bad news from the answering machine,          crossing off yet another firm from the list. Few remain. He          sits on the bed with his shoulders slumped. For a beat, lost          in thought.                                                                              109.                              Then, as if to shut those thoughts out, whatever they were,          he turns on the TV and joylessly watches the nothingness.                              9. SPLITSCREEN - DAY                    On the LEFT, Tom, alone, on a bus. Looking out the window.          Thinking.                    On the RIGHT, Summer. In her wedding dress. The veil is          lifted. And she's a bride.                    END MUSIC.                              (478)          EXT OFFICE BUILDING - ANOTHER DAY                    Tom, in a suit, exits a building after another dismal          interview. We can see he is frustrated but not deterred. In          the distance, his favorite spot in the city, where he took          Summer ages ago.                              EXT. PARK - DAY                    Tom walks over and sits down on a bench. He stares off, lost          in thought. And then, from out of nowhere, there's her voice.                                           SUMMER (V.O.)                       Hey.                    Summer sits like an apparition on a neighboring bench. She          may have just sat down, she may have been there for hours.          Tom isn't sure if she's real. He doesn't quite know what to          do.                                           SUMMER                           (re: suit)                       Where you coming from?                                           TOM                       What? Oh. Nowhere. How long have                       you been sitting there?                                           SUMMER                       Awhile.                    Tom finds it hard to look at her.                                                                             110.                                                            SUMMER                    I come here a lot. I always loved                    this place, ever since you brought                    me here.                    The mention of their past makes the atmosphere frosty.                                        TOM                    So... I should probably say                    congratulations.                                        SUMMER                    Probably. But only if you mean it.                                        TOM                    I don't know if I do honestly.                                        SUMMER                    I understand.                                        TOM                    Yeah well...anyway...I hope you're                    happy.                                        SUMMER                    You really do?                                           TOM                        (BEAT)                    God no.                    They both laugh a little. The tension begins to dissipate.                                        SUMMER                    How are you, Tom?                                        TOM                    I'm good. Ish.                                        SUMMER                    That's good.                                        TOM                    Yeah I quit the office.                                         SUMMER                    Really? That's great! What are you                    doing now?                                        TOM                    Mostly...sleeping. Breaking things.                    Awkward silence.                                                                           111.                                                            TOM                    So who's the guy?                                        SUMMER                    Who, my guy?                                        TOM                    Yeah... Wait. Don't tell me. I                    don't want to know.                                        SUMMER                    Tom...                                        TOM                    No really, I don't.                                        SUMMER                    Ok.                    More awkward silence. This one goes on a beat longer. And          THEN:                                        TOM                    It's amazing to me. You're married.                                        SUMMER                    I know.                                        TOM                    You're not only someone's                    girlfriend, your someone's wife!                                        SUMMER                    Pretty crazy, huh?                                        TOM                        (SIGHS)                    I'll never understand that.                                        SUMMER                    Tom --                                        TOM                    What's different now? How could                    things change so quickly?                                        SUMMER                    I don't know. It just happened.                                        TOM                    What happened?! That's what I don't                    get.                                                                           112.                                                            SUMMER                    I... Tom...                                        TOM                    What, tell me...                                        SUMMER                    I woke up one day and I knew.                    Tom says nothing.                                        SUMMER                    I knew I could promise him I'd feel                    the same way every morning. In a                    way that I... I never could with                    you.                    And there's not much else to say after that.                    Tom gets up to leave.                                        TOM                    You know what sucks? Realizing that                    everything you believe in is                    complete bullshit.                                         SUMMER                    What is?                                        TOM                    Destiny, soulmates, true love. All                    that stuff. It's nothing more than                    silly childhood fairy tale                    nonsense, isn't it? God!                                        SUMMER                    Tom, don't go.                                        TOM                    I should have listened to you,                    Summer. You were right all along.                    Summer takes a beat to let this hang there.                                        SUMMER                    I was right?                    And then, out of nowhere, she begins to hysterically laugh.                                        TOM                    What? This is funny?                                                                            113.                                        Tries to stop but it only makes it worse. Now's she's          completely cracking up.                                        TOM                    What are you laughing at?                    And she can't stop. She's totally lost control.                                        TOM                        (trying himself not to                         LAUGH)                    You're a crazy person!                                        SUMMER                    Tom! You're the crazy person!                                        TOM                    What are you talking about?!                                        SUMMER                    One day I'm reading a book at the                    corner deli and this guy sits down                    and starts asking about it. Now                    he's my husband!                                        TOM                    This is funny to you?                                         SUMMER                    What would have happened if I went                    to the movies instead? If I went                    somewhere else for lunch? If I                    showed up to eat ten minutes later?                    Tom, it was meant to be, just like                    you said. And as it was happening,                    I knew it. I could feel it, sure as                    the sun. And I kept thinking to                    myself "Holy shit. Tom was right."                    You were right about all of it.                        (BEAT)                    It just wasn't me you were right                    about.                    Tom is speechless. Summer takes his hand. We may notice her          wedding ring. We may also notice that this is the same exact          shot as the first scene of the screenplay. We hold it for a          few seconds more. And then, the hands separate.                                        SUMMER                    Anyway, I should probably be                    getting back. It was good to see                    you. I'm glad you're well.                                                                           114.                                        Summer gets up and starts walking away from him. After a          SECOND:                                           TOM                       Summer!                    She stops and turns back. He takes in her face, most likely          for the last time ever.                                           TOM                       I really do hope you're happy.                                            SUMMER                       I know.                           (BEAT)                       See you later.                    And she walks away. The CAMERA TRACKS AWAY with her, leaving          Tom alone in the park, getting smaller and farther away every          second.                                                                    FADE OUT:                              A FEW SECONDS OF BLACK, BEFORE...                                                                     FADE IN:                              (500)          INT OFFICE WAITING AREA - DAY                    Tom, in a suit, with a hefty batch of architecture sketches          at his side, waits in the foyer of Allen, Prince, and Gethers          Architecture. From the room we can tell this firm is big          time.                    Tom waits.                    We notice, before he does, a VERY CUTE GIRL sitting in a          another chair, also waiting. She smiles. He smiles back.                                           GIRL                       Are you here to interview?                                           TOM                       Sorry?                                                                           115.                                                            GIRL                    Are you interviewing? For the                    position?                                        TOM                    Oh. Yeah. Why, are you?                                           GIRL                    Yup.                                        TOM                    Ah. My competition.                                        GIRL                    It would appear.                                        TOM                    Gee, this is a little awkward.                                           GIRL                    Yes it is.                                        TOM                    Well, I hope you don't get it.                                        GIRL                    I hope you don't get it.          They both laugh. There's a silence for a few beats. And it's          during this time that something weird comes over Tom and we          can visibly see it in his face. He likes the look of this          girl. This girl is cute. He'd like to talk more with her.          And, honestly, he's a little surprised by it.                                           TOM                    So, uh...                                           GIRL                    Hmm?                                        TOM                    Are you from...California?                                        GIRL                    Grew up not too far from here.                    Atherton, near Stanford.                                        TOM                    I know Atherton. Nice area.                                        GIRL                    Have I seen you before?                                                                           116.                                                            TOM                    I, uh, don't know. I don't think                    so.                                        GIRL                    Do you go to St. Patrick's? Not to                    pray or anything but to stand                    outside?                                        TOM                    I do! I love that church. It's like                    my favorite structure in the city.                                        GIRL                    If only it wasn't near that                    horrible mirrored thing...                                        TOM                    Yes! Exactly. I totally agree!                                         GIRL                    Yeah.                        (BEAT)                    I think I've seen you there.                                        TOM                    You have? Really? Hmm. I didn't see                    you.                                        GIRL                    It happens. You probably weren't                    looking.                    A MAN comes out.                                        MAN                    Tom Hansen?                                           TOM                    Yes.                                        MAN                    Come on back.                                           TOM                    Thank you.                    He starts to go. But halfway through the doorway, he pauses          and looks back at the girl.                                                                           117.                                                            NARRATOR                    If Tom had learned anything... it                    was that you can't ascribe great                    cosmic significance to a simple                    earthly event. Coincidence. That's                    all anything ever is. Nothing more                    than coincidence.                    ANIMATION. 1 second clip of the colored sequence. Real fast.          Hardly noticeable. But it's there.                                         NARRATOR                    It took a long time but Tom had                    finally learned. There are no                    miracles. There's no such thing as                    fate. Nothing is meant to be. He                    knew. He was sure of it now.                        (BEAT)                    Tom was...                    Tom turns back around.                                        NARRATOR                    ...pretty sure.                                         TOM                        (to Girl)                    Excuse me.                                        GIRL                    Hello stranger.                                        TOM                    When this is over... uh... would                    you like to maybe...grab a cup of                    coffee or something?                                        GIRL                    Oh. I'm sorta supposed to meet                    someone.                                        TOM                        (DEFLATED)                    Oh. Got it... No problem.                    He turns back around and shakes that off, tries to refocus on          the task at hand. A job interview. And then he hears.                                        GIRL                    Ok.                    Tom turns back around.                                                                          118.                                                             TOM                     What's that?                                          GIRL                     Why not?                                          TOM                     Yeah?                                          GIRL                     Yeah.                                         TOM                     Great! So... I'll wait for you                     here, or you wait for me                     or...something.                    She laughs. She's cute when she laughs.                                         GIRL                     We'll figure it out.                                          TOM                     Ok!                         (extends hand to shake)                     My name's Tom.                                         GIRL                     Nice to meet you...                    She puts out her hand to meet his. They shake.                                         GIRL                     I'm Autumn.                    And on his face...                                                                SMASH CUT TO:                                                             THE END                    (CREDITS ROLL TO "GO ASK YOUR DAD" by THE TYDE)                     
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+                                                                           9                                                            Written by                                                Pamela Pettler                                                                    Short story by                                                 Shane Acker                                                                                SEQ. 05 - PROLOGUE                     The Focus Features logo appears on screen and we slide INTO          the "O" in Focus.                    Stock dissolves from 35mm to 16mm.        BLACK & WHITE.    GRAINY,          like OLD DOCUMENTARY FOOTAGE.                                           SCIENTIST'S VOICE                        Experiment 208, day 20...                              INT. SCIENTIST'S LAB - DAY          We see an early incarnation of a MACHINE (this will be the          inner brain of the FABRICATION MACHINE). We see the          scientist, in a white coat.                     We pull back to see the Scientist is playing a complicated          MULTI-LEVEL 3-D chess game on a MULTI-LEVEL GAME BOARD with          the MACHINE. The Scientist makes an elaborate multi-level          move. The Machine reaches an arm out into the chess game but          then malfunctions and strews the game everywhere.                    We pull back further to see the back and legs of the          DICTATOR, with black-uniformed soldiers flanking him. The          regime's emblem can be seen on the uniforms.                                            DICTATOR                    Useless.                                            SCIENTIST                       Please.   Give it a chance.                    We're on the machine, which is clicking and jerking as it          malfunctions.                                            DICTATOR (V.O.)          One more.      That's all.          We turns to leave. We hear the clicking of boots as the          soldiers accompany him out.                    We see the scientist's dejected face as he comes towards the          camera to turn it off.                                                                     CUT TO:                              BLACK                                                                                                             2.                                        INT. SCIENTIST'S LAB - NIGHT                    The grainy footage rolls again; we see the scientist moving          away from the camera (having just turned it on).                    The lab is shadowy, late at night. We see his worktable for          the first time, covered with discarded sketches, a furiously          filled-in journal, and pieces of failed machinery (the floor          is also similarly littered). The TALISMAN sits on the          worktable. Nearby is a small old-fashioned tiny little box.                                        SCIENTIST                        (tired, but dictating to                         keep the documentary                         record complete)                    My last possible solution....                        (muttering to himself)                    It must work...                    He gently brushes his fingers over the little box as though          for good luck. He picks the TALISMAN up off the table. He          moves over to insert the talisman into the port of the          machine.                    His back to us, he faces the machine. We see him putting          something over his face (but only from behind).                    There is a sudden FLASH OF GREEN LIGHT and the machine JOLTS,          and then suddenly, starts up...lighting up, electricity          crackling, parts moving in smooth coordination, etc.                    The scientist waits, watching. The machine continues to run.          Its arms move smoothly, almost curiously.                    The scientist puts the device covering his face down and gets          up and comes towards camera.                    We see the camera's POV as the scientist comes towards us:          CLOSE on the scientist's face, which is exhausted, cheeks          sunken, eyes wide, pupils dilated.                    Pull back to show the machine purring, suddenly full of a new          sort of energy. Something new has happened.                    The scientist switches off the camera and:                                                                      CUT TO:                                                                                                    3.                                        INT. SCIENTIST'S LAB - A DAY LATER                    The machine zips through the complex 3-D chess game at          lightning speed, checkmating the scientist in seconds as the          Dictator watches.          The scientist laughs fondly and pats the machine.                                           DICTATOR                      Perfect.                                          SCIENTIST                          (PROUDLY)                      You see, it evolves.                    The scientist proudly gives the machine to the dictator. A          flash goes off: someone is taking a picture O.S.                    The dictator exits; we hear the click of boots and see as          much as possible of the soldiers flanking him.                    OUT OF SIGHT OF THE SCIENTIST,                    CLOSE on the machine: the dictator is gripping it with a          nasty firmness. The machine seems to try to squirm away.          The director's BLACK-GLOVED HAND grasps it harder.                     he machine, responding to the brutality, lashes an arm out          and grabs the nearest soldier (seen from the back, we see          only the uniform and helmeted head) by the back of his arm,          BREAKING his ARM. The soldier falls (if possible).                     he dictator CONTINUES ON WITHOUT BREAKING STRIDE.                                          DICTATOR                           CHILLINGLY)                      Yes. Perfect.                    And we:                                                                 DISSOLVE TO:                    SEQ. 010 - Title Sequence                              IN BLACK:                    TITLE CARD #1                                                                                         4.                                                  RADIO (V.O.)                        (robotic sounding)                    Alert. We are in a state of                    emergency...                    Sounds of WAR: EXPLOSIONS, MACHINE GUNS, SCREAMS...                                                                   FADE UP INTO:                              INT. SCIENTIST'S WORKSHOP - DAY                    A tiny, cluttered attic, filled with bits and pieces of found          material--burlap, door hinges, an old shoe, old eyeglasses,          rusty scissors, pen nibs, gas masks etc.   We see the tiny          little box sitting on the cluttered makeshift worktable.                    TITLE CARD #2                                        RADIO (V.O.)                    ...the Machines have become                    uncontrollable... they are shooting                    at will... ALERT: stay in your                    homes.                    Grainy footage as we see the scientist looking around          desperately--he's obviously in hiding.                                        SCIENTIST                        (HEARTBROKEN)                    My invention... my beauty... beauty                    was taken...                    He is feverishly cobbling together a SMALL BURLAP DOLL.                    He labels the burlap doll on its back: "1." He makes frantic          notes in a journal. He brushes his fingers over the little          box for good luck, then moves towards a strange contraption          on the table.                     LASHES and EXPLOSIONS shake the workshop horribly.                     ITLE CARD #3                                        RADIO (V.O.)                    Reports are coming in... they've                    breached the Northern walls of the                    city...                    The radio voice is DROWNED OUT BY EXPLOSIONS. D                                                                    ISSOLVE TO:                                                                                                   5.                                        TITLE CARD #4                              INT. SCIENTIST'S LAB - ANOTHER DAY                                        RADIO (V.O.)                    An announcement from our                    Chancellor!                                        DICTATOR'S VOICE                        (on the radio)                    Comrades, I have lost control. The                    Machine is now our enemy. We need                    to join forces to fight against it.                    We hear EXPLOSIONS and SCREAMS outside.                    We see the scientist cobbling together another SMALL BURLAP          DOLL, a little more evolved.                    He labels it "5," then makes notes in a journal.                    TITLE CARD #5                                        SCIENTIST                         his voice a mere whisper                         NOW)                    Five so far....I can't get them                    right...                                                                     ISSOLVE TO:                              TITLE CARD #6                              INT. SCIENTIST'S LAB - ANOTHER DAY                                        RADIO (V.O.)                        (through static)                    Gas masks are being distributed...                    ALERT: beware....                    We see the scientist desperately grabbing bits and scraps for          one last doll. He is like a skeleton, almost no energy left.                                         ADIO (V.O.) (cont'd)                    ...deadly gas....                     he radio voice dies out.   We hear nothing but STATIC.                     ITLE CARD #7                    H                                                  H                                                  C                                                                  (                                                                                                              6.                              The scientist totters over, makes a note in his journal. He          clutches the little box, and suspends this last doll with a          rope in a strange contraption.                                          SCIENTIST                           a feeble whisper)                      My last one... this one, finally,                      must work... it must....                    TITLE CARD #8                    The SOUND of the scientist collapsing to the floor.                                                                    DISSOLVE TO:                    ...........................................................                    SEQ. 020 - Attic                              SEQ. 020 - INT. WORKSHOP - DAY                    The thin strand of rope stretches... stretches... and                     RAAAACK.                    The rope SNAPS, and--                    --a SMALL BURLAP FIGURE falls onto the table.                    As he falls, he is yanked free from a large, circular          Machine.                     e had been attached with the fraying rope and a long cable,          attached to him by the TALISMAN. The cable still dangles          from the Machine, but the force of his fall pulls the          Talisman off.                    The little burlap figure pulls himself to his feet, shaking          his head. Falling free from the connecting cable has finally          awakened him.                     e is made up of odd patchwork items: burlap, a thick zipper,          big round gas-mask eyes (which we recognize as what we saw          before, in the title sequence).                    We pull around to see the number "9" painted on his back.                    We pull back further to see...                    9                              H                                        T                                                  R                                                  H                                                  S                                                  "                                                                                                                7.                                        SEQ. 020 - INT. RUINED WORKSHOP - EERIE, INDETERMINATE          DAYLIGHT          .           ..he is on the tabletop in the RUINS OF A SMALL ROOM.                    Splintered BITS OF WALL jut up to the open sky. Rotted          FLOORBOARDS are BENT and WARPED. The room is full of years          of DUST and ROT. Dust hangs in the feeble rays of dirty          sunlight.                    The table and floor are covered with the same kinds of scraps          and raw materials from which "9" is made: burlap, hinges,          bits of Machinery.                     9" blinks and turns around, his head darting this way and          that, trying to make sense of his surroundings.                    He walks over to the edge of the tabletop. He peers over, and          sees...                    ...the SCIENTIST LYING DEAD ON THE FLOOR.                     lumped on the floor, we clearly see: the scientist's          skeletal hand is clutching a tiny box.                    He hears a clattering sound and turns to see          A              loose window shutter. He goes over to the window.                     e pushes opens the window to see--                              SEQ. 020 - EXT. STREET - INDETERMINATE DAYLIGHT                    ...AN APOCALYPTIC WASTELAND.                     usting machine carcasses, bombed-out ruins, and emptiness          stretch as far as he can see.                    Terrible, life-ending destruction.                     here is no other living being anywhere.                    9 stares in disbelief and horror and fear. He can't make any          sense of it... or the room... or the endless miles of          lifeless wasteland stretching out in front of him.                     e seems to be completely alone.                      sees a glint of something, a possible sign of life.    He          moves to go outside.                    C                                                  M                                                                                                              8.                              He stops and is strangely drawn to the TALISMAN. He turns          and takes it, stowing it inside his zippered chest before he          heads out.                                                                       CUT TO:                              ...........................................................                    SEQ. 029 - 9 Meets 2                              SEQ. 029 - EXT. WASTELAND - DAY                    9 moves warily in the dusty, grim light, along the deserted          RUINS of the outside streets. It is the remains of war.                    Pulverized HULKS of BUILDINGS, torn-open suitcases, scattered          clothes, rusting cars and the grim debris of human          civilization surround him.                    He sees a dead body slouched next to a suitcase in the front          seat of a car.                    Banners hang on the buildings with a three prong symbol on          them.                     achines lie deserted on the sides of roads.                    Distracted by the spectacle, 9 stumbles and lands on a ragged          old flyer: REVOLT!    He looks back at the War Machines and          Dictator flags.    He sees a vandalized poster of what appears          to be a dictator/leader.                    9 looks around him, trying to piece together what happened.          Suddenly there is a clanking sound in front of him.                    9 sees a light flicker on in the shattered hulk of a war          Machine.                     LOSE on 9 as the light crosses his face.                    Scared, he ducks behind a huge piece of debris.   9 grabs a          piece of metal lying in front of him.                    The shadow moves closer, 9 shakes nervously. The figure          emerges with spear in hand and 9 swings the weapon at him          with all his might.                    9 hits him square in the chest. It is another ragdoll: 2. 2          is propelled backwards and falls to the ground on the debris          behind him. 9 quickly tries to hide.                                        2                                                  A                                                                                                            9.                              But 2 is looking at 9 with surprise.   He struggles to get up,                               2          speaking with urgency to 9.                                            (firmly, kindly, almost                         eagerly; like trying to                         soothe a wild animal)                    Wait... I am a friend.                     LT:                                        2 (CONT'D)                        (GENTLY)                    Friend... I am a friend.                    9 now sees he has hit a ragdoll, similar to himself. He          hesitates, not sure what to make of this. 2 extends his          hand, calmly, eagerly. 9 hesitates again, then, still timid,          but showing a little bravery, drops his weapon and goes to          help 2 up.                    We see that 2 is much older, much more decrepit, much more          primitively constructed: he is made from patchwork bits of          OLD LEATHER SHOES. A SHOELACE stitches up his front and is          tied in a bow at his neck. Bits of leather FRAY off him.          His feet are primitive small HINGES. Half of a pair of          eyeglasses, like an enormous MONOCLE, is attached to 2's hat.                    9 helps straighten 2's monocle. 2 smiles at him. We see          that 2 is like a wise mentor, a kindly professor with a          contagious eagerness and imaginativeness.                    2 peers eagerly at 9.   He circles 9 and spots the number on          his back.                                          (CONT'D)                        (eagerly, excited, like an                         intrigued scholar)                    Yes... yes... I always thought                    there'd be one more.                    He nods and smiles. He extends his hand to shake 9's hand.          While doing this, he takes 9's hand and studies it, nodding          with eager excitement. We see that 9's hand is more          sophisticated than 2's.                                        2 (CONT'D)                    The details... how exciting.                        (FASCINATED)                    Carved wood... steel bolts...                    molded copper...                    H                                                  9                                                  2                                                                                                             10.                              2 turns slightly, and 9 sees his number and tries to say it.          But no sound comes out of his mouth.                      looks at him, nodding, again, the kind mentor. He's          interested, observing without judging; curious, kindly and          ready to help.                                          2 (CONT'D)                      You can't speak.                    With a friendly, disarming smile, he taps 9's zipper. 9          unzips himself and 2 peers in. 2 looks up, happy that he can          help.                                          2 (CONT'D)                      Yes, yes...                    2 looks around nervously and hurries over to his roller-skate          cart covered with detritus - odds and ends, a broken china          doll.                                          2 (CONT'D)                      ...come with me.                        follows, looking around curiously.                    2 finds the china doll.                                          2 (CONT'D)                      Here!                    As 2 rummages through the chest of the china doll 9 picks up          a bullet casing from 2's cart and starts tapping it. 2 turns          with the doll's voice box in his hand.                                          2 (CONT'D)                          (sees 9 with the bullet;                           whispers sharply)                      No! Stop!                    2 eases the bullet away from 9, then smiles gently at 9,          EXPLAINING:                                          2 (CONT'D)                          (                           QUIETLY)                      Some things in this world are                      better left where they lie.                     e puts the bullet to one side and kneels, prying into 9's          chest. 2 begins to connect the doll's voice box.                    A                                                  9                                                                                                            11.                                                  2 (CONT'D)                    But if you know where to look,                    these ruins are full of riches.                    2 concentrates, a look of pleasure on his face as he twists a          few more wires. Static and unclear sound come out at first,          but as 2 tunes the voice further...                                        9                        (as his voice is "tuned                         in".. starting with pure                         static, then slowly                         moving into a voice)                    Chhhhhhh.....chhhhehhhh...                                        2                    Wait..                        (tunes him in)                    ...almost there...                    9 gets a little panicky look on his face at the strange          sounds coming out of him. 2 puts a calm hand on his          shoulder. 9 calms down and tries again.                                         9                    Friend?   Friend?                                        2                        (BEAMING)                    Friend.                                        9                        (more and more normal                         SOUNDING)                    Are we alone?                                        2                        (REASSURING)                    No. There are others.                      and 2 stare at each other. 9 looks at 2 in wonderment,          then reaches out and touches 2's chest where he hit it.                    2 beams at 9, happy 9 can speak, happy he was able to help,          and happy that 9, with his first words, is concerned about          others.                      glow beams from within 9's chest.   2 stares.   9 removes the          TALISMAN from his chest.                    2 has a big reaction--he draws his breath in and looks at it          in ASTONISHMENT.                    9                              2                              I                                                  9                                                  .                                                  T                                                                    (                                            2                                                                                                             12.                              He takes it and looks at it.     He gives 9 a look of surprise.                                            (CONT'D)                      But how strange....                           muttering to himself as                           he turns the Talisman in                           his hands)                      Yes, he was always drawing this...                      exactly like this... how strange...                     hey both stare at the TALISMAN.                    Suddenly, a  is heard OFFSCREEN. 2 looks up IN          HORROR. He grabs his spear. He pushes 9 away almost          fiercely.                    ALT:                                            2 (CONT'D)                            (firmly, to 9)                      GO!                               ..........................................................                    SEQ. 030 - Cat Beast Attacks                              SEQ. 030 - EXT. WASTELAND - DAY                    2 points forcefully to an old rusted can.                    2 runs into the can.              stands, ready to attack.                    9 watches 2, wondering what is coming. Then from behind him,          a large claw of a mechanical figure settles softly next to          9's can. He tries to call out to 2...                    And from behind 2 enters--                    A HIDEOUS CAT BEAST.                     t is a nail and razor-studded predatory Machine with a cat          skull-shaped head, its body laced with bones, nails and          razors. 9 now understands 2 was trying to protect him.                      GASPS as he turns and sees it. The Cat Beast lets out a          roar and claws at 2, KNOCKING him over and losing his spear.                        looks on with horror.                                           9                                                  H                                                  T                              9                                                                                                              13.                              2 attempts to reach for his spear but the Beast holds him          down with its razor-sharp feet.                    The Beast is attracted to the Talisman. It picks it up with          one of its jagged claws and looks at it quizzically.                      cringes.    His movement makes his hiding place teeter,          creaking.                     he Cat Beast WHIRLS at the sound. Picking up 2's struggling          body, the Cat Beast stalks towards the noise, right up to 9's          hiding place, sniffing through its hollow nostrils. 9          cringes in terror. The Cat Beast probes with one of his          claws INTO the tin can. 9 recoils. The claws do not find          him and retreat. 9 is relieved.                    A beat, then:                    9 feels himself violently LIFTED UP and SMASHED.                    We see the Cat Beast has picked up the entire tin can and is          smashing it to get at what's inside it.   Failing, it hurls          the tin can aside.                    9 is almost knocked out. Trying to stay conscious, he          struggles towards the entrance of the can.                     is POV: through his haze and through the broken edges of the          opening to the can, he sees the Cat Beast GRAB the Talisman          and the struggling 2 in his sharp-toothed mouth, and          disappearing into the smoky mist.                    9 can just make out, in the distance, the silhouettes of                    THREE TALL SHAPES.                                               (MUTTERING)                       The others...                                                                        CUT TO:                              .............................................................                              POV SPYGLASS - ELSEWHERE IN THE WASTELAND - LATER                    POV SPYGLASS: the spyglass searches through the city and          comes across a lone staggering figure (9).                              W                                     (                                                                         9                                                                         9                                                                         5                                                                                                          14.                              Pull back to show the back of 5's head as he peers through          the spyglass, then pulls away so we can see into the spyglass          again.   We zoom in through the spyglass to a                    CLOSE SHOT on 9--                              EXT. WASTELAND - CLOSE ON 9 - CONTINUOUS                    9 staggers, weary, and collapses.                    In the foreground, the feet of another ragdoll (5) step into          the shot.                                                                      CUT TO:                    ...........................................................                    Seq. 040 - Meeting 5                              SEQ. 040 - INT. 5'S WORKSHOP - DAY                    5 is finishing sewing 9 up.                                        It's all right. You're safe now.                                        9                    Where am I?                                           5                    With us.                                            (MUTTERING)                    Yes... he told me there were                    others...                                           5                           (suddenly, urgently)                    Who?                                            (still dazed, trying to                         REMEMBER)                    He was older... Out there...                                        5                    2.  Out in the emptiness?                         HORRIFIED)                    Alone? Was he all right?                     hen is he coming back?                                I                                                  1           W                                                  1                                                  5                                                                            1                                                                  (                      T                                              9                                                                                                          15.                              9 looks at him, the whole memory suddenly coming back to him          as though fresh.                                            HE--THE--                            can't think of the right                            WORD)                      T                        hing! It took him.                    5 reacts with horror.                                              5                      No...   No!       It can't be!                    He turns away, grief-stricken.                                            (O.S.)                      Keeping secrets from me, I see.                    Another RAGDOLL pushes into the workroom. This is a bigger          ragdoll, the most primitive one we have seen. He has          primitive wooden hinges for feet. He is very frayed and          patched together. The number 1 is painted on his back.                        and 9 whirl around.       5 CRINGES.                                          5                      I... I was coming to tell you...                    1 carries himself with authority. He wears a red cloak, and          a strange mother of pearl and wire hat bound together as an          almost papal-like headpiece, and carries a staff made from an          old gear, with a bell attached.                      pulls at 9 with his staff, displaying the number on his          back.                                          1                       hat's this?                      turns and glares at 5 like a general glaring at a new          private, expecting an explanation for a misdeed. 5 cringes          back, obviously intimidated by 1.                                           5                       ... I found him.... in the                      emptiness.   He saw--                    1 HOOKS 5 by the neck with his staff, cutting off his speech.                                         1                      What? What were you doing out                      there?                                        1                                                                      9                              Y                                        1                                                                                                             16.                                                   5                    I saw him from the watchtower and I                    thought...                                         ou'll lead The Beast straight back                    to us! How many times have I told                    you?                                        The Beast--that's what took 2!   If                    we hurry we could save him--                                         1                        (CURTLY)                    If the Beast took him, that's the                    end of it.                                        9                    But he was still alive--                    5 turns with sudden hope to 9.   2 might still be alive?                                        1                    No, we have RULES.                    1 smashes his staff against the ground.                    Immediately, a knife comes through the curtain revealing          another RAGDOLL: a large ragdoll, with the number "8" on his          arm.                                          (CONT'D)                        (TO 8)                    Our new guest seems confused.                        (condescendingly, to 9)                    Perhaps I can help you achieve some                    clarity.                    8 is very large, and designed for great strength. He is          almost as evolved in his design as 9, but his design favors          primarily brute force.                    He has armored himself with curved pieces of tin and metal.          He carries the blade of a large kitchen knife, with a nail he          has attached for a handle. On his back he has slung another          knife--half of a scissors; the scissors handle loops up above          his head.                    T                                                  T                                                  1                                                                                                      C                                                                                                             17.                              1 leaves. 8 taps his knife in his hand and motions for 9 and          5 to follow.  They follow.                                                                                    UT TO:                    ...........................................................                    SEQ. 050 - Clock Tower                              SEQ. 050 - INT. CATHEDRAL - CONTINUOUS                    They walk through the nave and plane up overhead.                    5 taps 9 covertly.                                        5                        (whispering, hopefully)                    He was still alive? Really?                                        9                    I think so--                    8 looms forward threateningly.                                         8                    Hmmmph!                    5 quickly stops talking.   9, following his lead, stops          talking also.                    The group gets into a bucket-like device.   8 pushes 9 hard          into the bucket.                      NODS commandingly to 8. 8 begins to crank a rope that          lifts them up. 5 gestures to 9 to hold on.          9            braces himself as 8 pulls them up into a tall tower. He          steals a glance at 1. 1 frowns. 9 tries to smile.                     hey pass an old plane outside that has crash-landed in to          the Cathedral.                    On the side wall is a round, multi-colored stained glass          window. Shafts of different colored sunlight flicker          through.                     he bucket moves past two large church bells into--                    ...the inside of a CLOCK TOWER of a once-magnificent          Cathedral. We see the BACK of the CLOCK, the light casting          shadows of the backward numbers onto the floor.                    T                                                                      7                                                                      1                                                                      1                                                                                                           18.                              1 gestures out towards the outside and addresses 9:                                        When we woke in this world....                    Camera drifts up to the clock... WIPE to WHITE...                    ...........................................................                    SEQ. 053 - War Flashback                    ENTER FLASHBACK:  as we see the chaotic inferno of          war.                                          (V.O.) (cont'd)                    ...it was chaos... Man and Machine                    attacked each other with fire and                    metal... The earth split and the                    skies burned...                    Ragdolls 2, 5, 6, 8, and 1 hide under an old helmet,          frantically trying to escape the explosions BURSTING around          them. 7 appears with 3 and 4. We get the sense that 7 is          the reckless one, the only one determined to SCOUT AROUND and          see what's out there.                                            (TO 1)                    I found others...                    They are welcomed in by the other dolls. They turn to 1, who          is clearly the leader, to see what to do next. 1 decides: he          points forward, and they all run a few feet while underneath          the helmet.                    A plane crashes in the background, causing 5 to fall behind          (he has both eyes).                     hrough a dirty MIST we see War Machines enter with their          weapons.                    A RESISTANCE FIGHTER throws a Molotov cocktail at one of the          Machines. It turns and SHOOTS a round of gunfire.                    A MUSTARD GAS BOMB is launched from the top of the Machine.          It heads straight at 5 but he runs and gets KNOCKED to the          ground, barely missing it.          T           he bomb lets out a yellow CLOUD that envelops the area and          KILLS PLANTS ON CONTACT.                    7 turns and sees 5 lying face-down on the ground.   1 urges          her to stay with the others.                    E                                           1                                                  7                                                                                                              19.                    But, again, brave and slightly reckless, she runs through the          yellow cloud to help him. She brings him back to the group.          His left eye is damaged. The others cower. 2, the gentle          mentor of the group, puts a comforting hand on 5's damaged          eye. 7, always the scout, brave and fearless, points off to          the right, and addresses 1.   She knows what's out there;          she's seen it.                                         7 (CONT'D)                        (TO 1)                    There's a path ahead--                    1 looks around calculatingly, like Patton: the general taking          charge. He thinks, judiciously, then:                                           1                        (TO 7)                    Go ahead.                      nods and darts off.      1 turns to the others, who wait for          their instructions.                                         1 (CONT'D)                        (to the others)                    Follow me.                    They hurry off, increasingly enveloped by the YELLOW CLOUD.                    The yellow CLOUD TRANSITIONS into STEAM...                                          (V.O.) (cont'd)                    The gas killed everything.                     ND FLASHBACK.                    ...........................................................                    SEQ. 057 - 9 Meets 6                              SEQ. 057 - INT. CATHEDRAL/CLOCKTOWER - CONTINUOUS                    The steam is rising from the small thurible in the CLOCK          TOWER.                                        1 (V.O.)                    I led us here...                    1 is now standing at the thurible with a torch in his hand.                                        1 (V.O.) (cont'd)                    ...to sanctuary. And here we                    waited for the war to end.                                        9                                                  T                                                                      9                                                                      9                    T                                                                      1                                                                                                          20.                              He puts his hand around 9's shoulders and walks him over to          the other side of the room.                                          (CONT'D)                    Slowly, the world became silent.                    1 and 9 walk over to a picture of the Cat Beast hanging on          the wall.                                         1 (CONT'D)                    The only thing that remains now is                    the Beast.                    1 faces 9 as the torch slowly fades.                                        1 (CONT'D)                    So we stay hidden and we wait for                    it, too, to sleep.                     he torch burns out. 9 looks at 1.                                        But where did it come from?   Why is                    it hunting us?                                        1                    Questions like that are pointless.                    We need to protect ourselves. Keep                    ourselves out of danger.                                        But one of us is in trouble... he                    could still be rescued...          1            turns and walks to a tattered calendar page on the wall          with the days 3, 4, and 7 crossed off.                                        1                     oo many of us have already been                    lost.                    1 crosses 2's number off the calendar with the burnt end of          his torch.                                        No! You're not listening. He may                    still be alive! Why won't you try                    to save him? Why won't you--                    1 angrily SMACKS HIS STAFF ON THE FLOOR.                    5                                                  O                                                                     (                                                                                                               21.                                                    1                      Enough! Enough of this madness!                          (to 5, annoyed)                      Go to the watch tower and take our                      guest with you.                    5 meekly immediately obeys, gesturing to 9 to follow him.                    We hear a strange WHISPERING SOUND, and CAMERA, instead of          following 5 and 9, stays behind and moves in on a shadowy          little area. There, we see 6. 6 is ink-stained and has a          strange quality, as though he sees and hears things inside          his head that only he experiences. He has a SMALL SKELETON          KEY around his neck, and his fingers are made of PEN NIBS.          He is drawing on a piece of paper and WHISPERING TO HIMSELF.                                          6                           muttering, whispering)                      The source.... The source...                    We see he is drawing the TALISMAN. In fact his whole area is          covered with drawings of the TALISMAN.                                                                            CUT TO:                              ...........................................................                    SEQ. 060 - Telescope                              SEQ. 060 - EXT. WASTELAND - DAY                    FVERHEAD SHOT - THE CATHEDRAL           rom a high angle we see the nave of the Cathedral. It has          been bombed and attacked, and there is a plane intersecting          through the side.                    The Camera moves to the left and what seems like a prow of a          boat comes into frame. We find ourselves in...                              SEQ. 060 - INT. WATCHTOWER - DAY                    2 had created a sort of LOOKOUT. A rickety, jury-rigged          spyglass points out of a hole in the wall. A half-drawn map          is pinned up next to the spyglass. Everything is pieced          together from the sorts of bits and pieces we saw 2          scavenging. Around the space, we also see more bits and          pieces that 2 has found out in the wilderness.                        sighs sadly.       He touches the spyglass sadly.                                             9                                                                   (                                                                           5                                                                           9                                        5                                                                   (                                                                                                         22.                                                   5                    This was the first thing we built                    together.                         looking around at the                         map, bits and pieces,                         etc.)                    All his work... trying to make                    sense of everything.                    He looks out into the wilderness.                                        5 (CONT'D)                    Is he out there? Is he still                    alive?                                             9                    Yes.       He could be.                      looks out in fear. We see the conflict on his face: fear          of going out there but a desperate longing to see his old          friend again.                                          (CONT'D)                        (conspiratorially; looking                         around to make sure                         they're not being spied                         ON)                    We could go after him.                                               (shocked; and amazed, this                            is impossible)                    Us?                                             9                              No one else will.                         imploring him)                    We MUST go.                    5 is silent, afraid.                    9 looks through the spyglass.                    POV spyglass: the THREE TALL SHAPES in the distance.                                           (CONT'D)                    Look. That's where the creature                    took him. Out towards those three                    tall shapes.                    5                                                                          9                                                                          5                                                         (                                  9                              9                                                                                                                23.                                                    5                          (HORRIFIED)                      Ohhhh... no... we can't... not                      there. We need to stay here.                          (as though repeating                           something he's heard from                           1)                      We have rules.                        looks at him.    He recognizes 1's words.                                               QUIETLY)                      Why do you listen to 1?                    5 looks at 9.                                              (repeating what he's been                           indoctrinated with)                      A group must have a leader.          9              looks at him for a beat.                                          9                          (GENTLY)                      But what if the leader is wrong?                    5 looks a little shocked. He never thought of this. We see          in 5's face that he is considering 9's question, but he still          can't bring himself to disobey 1.                    5 hesitates again.      9 sees he is having an effect on 5.                                             (CONT'D)                           (suddenly, firmly)                      I'm going. I'm going to look for                      him.                    He turns to 5.                                          9 (CONT'D)                          (COAXING)                      Come with me. I can't do it alone.                      is terribly torn. He wants to, but he's never done          anything like this before. He's always done as he's told.          He hesitates:                                          5                          (HESITATING)                      I... I...                                (MORE)                                           9                                                                                                             24.                                  (he can't odo 'd) he can't                              5(c nt it,                         DEFY 1)                    I can't.                    9 looks directly into his eyes. He knows how 5 loved and          admired his mentor and everything he did. He understands          that 5 would like to be like 2, to do what 2 would have done.                                            (GENTLY)                    But wouldn't he have come for you?                    9 waits, hopefully. But 5 looks away. He wants to do it,          but he doesn't have the nerve. 9 nods, compassionately. He          turns away. 5 hesitates, looking down, then:                                        5                        (more determined)                    Wait!                    5 grabs the map off the wall and rolls it up.   He walks          towards 9.                                        5 (CONT'D)                    You're going to need a map.                    9 and 5 smile at each other.                                                                       CUT TO:                              ...........................................................                    SEQ. 070 - Wasteland                              SEQ. 070 - EXT. CATHEDRAL -- DAY                    9 and 5 look behind them at the Cathedral as they start to          make their journey to find 2.                                                                       CUT TO:                              SEQ. 070 - EXT. WASTELAND -- DAY                    5 and 9 pick their way through the rubble. They have          traveled miles from the Cathedral. Mist swirls in front of          them, obscuring their path.          5            and 9 look around constantly, on the alert for the Cat          Beast. Piles of rusted, broken metal machines, broken          skeletal bones, exploded vehicles tipped into craters, and          crumbling, disintegrating buildings surround them.                                           5                                                     9                                                  H                                                                         5                              T                                                                         9                                                                                                                25.                              9 looks up and 5 follows his gaze to 2's STAFF stuck in a          pile of rubble atop a hill.                                           5                                           5 hurries up the hill. 9 follows him. 5 turns to FIND 2's          hat lying in the dirt. He bends down to pick it up, brushing          the dust off the top. 5 looks sadly at 2's broken hat.                                               (QUIETLY)                       You looked out for him?                                           5                           (SIMPLY)                       He looked out for me.    He taught                       me.                     he spoon-light falls off.      5's face is filled with grief.                                             (CONT'D)                       Why was he out here alone?                    He slumps.    9 puts his hand on 5's shoulder, reassuring him.                                           9                       We can still find him.                     e stands up, determinedly. 5 hesitates, but then, his face          filling with hope, gets up too. 5 puts 2's hat on his          quiver. 9 offers 2's staff to 5 but 5 gestures to 9 for him          to hold it.                    They continue on, through the debris and devastation.     A          storm is starting to come up. The wind howls loudly.                                           5                           (BITTERLY)                       Why was he out here alone?                                           A good question.                                               (RUEFULLY)                       Yes. The ones we're not supposed                       to ask.                    They exchange a look. This is the first time 5 has said          something to actually challenge 1's rules. 9 notices this          and nods.                    H                                                                        5                                                                        9                                                    5                                                            W                                                                                                              26.                              The wind howls louder. 5 looks at his map uncertainly and          tries to keep leading them forward.                    They come to a field full of trip mines and dangerous tank          trap pits.   A parachute blows in the wind on a tree branch.                    5 turns the map one way and the other with growing panic.                                        9                     here are we?                                        5                        (MISERABLY)                    I don't know...                    As he turns the map to look at it, the wind picks up and          blows the map out of 5's hands. It blows away into the          distance and gets stuck on a pole.                    5 reaches after it desperately but can't retrieve it.      He          looks in despair at 9.                                              (CONT'D)                    It's no use.      We should go back!                                        We can't.                    9 looks around bravely, then points over towards a trench.                                          9 (CONT'D)                    There.                    They head over to the trench.      They now see a huge FOOTPRINT          OF THE BEAST.                    They inspect the footprints. 9 moves bravely towards the          trench entrance. 5 resists, afraid.                                        No... it's too dark.                    9 looks around.                                        9                    We can use that.                     e points to a lightbulb in a broken headlight.                              ...........................................................                    SEQ. 075 - Trench                    9                                                  5                                                                                                               27.                                        SEQ. 075 - EXT. TRENCH - CONTINUOUS                    9 is pointing to the lightbulb.                      can't help himself. He pulls the lightbulb out, pulls out          a battery and electrical wire from his chest, winds the wire          around the battery and places it inside the hat.                    They screw the lightbulb and it LIGHTS UP.    5 can't help          9          smiling at 9.                      unwinds the wire holding the blade on 2's staff. He places          2's hat on the end of 2's staff and secures it with the          blade.   5 nods, intrigued.                                          5                      Yes... yes... good....                    He sees that 9 now has made a LIGHTSTAFF.    He blurts out:                                          5 (CONT'D)                      2 will be so impressed!                    A terrible grief suddenly comes over him as he remembers what          has happened to 2.                        puts his hand on 5's shoulder, bracing him.                                          9                          (FIRMLY)                      Yes. He will.                    9 is conveying with his simple words that he believes 2 IS          still alive and he WILL be impressed when he sees the          lightstaff.                    9 shines the light to gesture "this way."                    5 smiles tremulously at 9, almost more grateful for his          sympathy and support than necessarily believing him. He          follows 9 to the mouth of the trench.                    The camera pans over to reveal catlike scratchmarks on a side          wall indicating this is the same trench we saw the Cat Beast          travel through earlier.                    5 recoils, but 9 puts a calming hand on him again, then puts          both hands on the lightstaff and enters the trench. 5 takes          a deep breath and follows.                    9                                                  .                                                  T                                                  A                                                                                                             28.                                        SEQ. 075 - INT. TRENCH - LATER                    9 and 5 continue down the trench, both looking around with          great caution and nervousness.                     s they come around a corner they see--                    The CAT BEAST.                                        9 AND 5                                        5 springs into action shooting his weapon at the Beast.    9          shines his light up to see... an old hanging gas mask.                     hey look at each other and LAUGH as they continue down the          trench.                                        9 AND 5 (cont'd)                                        The mask DROPS behind them and they SCREAM and run away.                                         9 AND 5 (cont'd)                                                                                            CUT TO:                    A SHADOW (WITH A BIRD SKULL HEAD) AT THE ENTRANCE TO THE          TRENCH                    Someone is watching them.                     .......................................................                              SEQ. 075 - INT. CLIMBING UP A "HILL" OF SAND BAGS - LATER                    5 and 9 climb up a hill of sand bags..                    They come around a corner.                                         5                         (DISCOURAGED)                    We've been here before... it's no                    use.                      steps over and pushes some debris aside.    Suddenly they can          see they are right next to....                    .                                                  T                              T                              L                                                                                                      C                                                                                                            29.                              THREE ENORMOUS SMOKESTACKS                                                                         UT TO:                    ...........................................................                    SEQ. 080 - The Factory                              The FACTORY: A enormous, destroyed old stone building, its          caved-in ceiling revealing huge boilers, scarred old metal          walkways and catwalks dangling, dust-covered rotting turbines          exposed to the elements.                    SEQ. 080 - INT. FACTORY - CONTINUOUS                    They creep into the enormous hulk of a building.                    In the center of the building are the splintered vestiges of          an enormous          A           SSEMBLY LINE                    Enormous metal arms lie motionless. Huge steel hooks tower          over the belt, with sharp-edged pieces of Machinery dangling          from them.                    They look around in horror.                     arge pieces of Machinery, pipes, and ducts dangle from the          ceilings. Layers of dust cover everything like eerie          blankets. Bundles of wires lie ripped from their moorings.                     ools and shards of glass and metal are strewn around the          floor, twisted into strange melted shapes.                     hey walk through lines of large missiles lined up in rows.                                        5 (CONT'D)                        (WHISPERING)                    Why would it bring him here?                    They slide down a duct and land   in a pile of debris. They          now see 2, imprisoned in an old   birdcage. In the b.g., the          CAT BEAST lurks, next to a pile   of what seems like debris and          broken machinery. The talisman    is on the floor next to the          Cat Beast. The Cat Beast seems    to be looking for something          in the debris. The Cat Beast's    back is to us.                                         ..........................................................                    5                                                  A                                                                                                             30.                              SEQ. 081 - Factory Chase                    SEQ. 081 - INT. FACTORY - CONTINUOUS                    9 and 5 hurry forward towards 2.                    They find 2, seemingly lifeless.                                          5 (CONT'D)                          (deep regret)                      I shouldn't have waited...                    9 stands compassionately, respecting 5's grief.    5 pats 2's          shoulder.                     t the pat, 2 blinks 2                               awake.                                              (WHISPERS)                      I knew you would come...                                          5                      I thought--                                          2                          (cutting him off)                      Shhh...                    He motions towards the Beast.                    5 and 9 try to pry the bars open. 2 tries to help. They          just manage to pry the bars open and get 2 out when--                    Suddenly a light SHINES above them. They look up and see --                    The Cat Beast beaming his light from his eye. It GROWLS.                    The three dolls run away frantically.    The Cat Beast chases          after them.                    9 gets cornered but swipes the Beast and manages to escape.          9 jumps a heap of debris but stumbles. 5 and 2 pull him up          to higher ground.                        shoots his crossbow at the Cat Beast, shattering his eye.                    2 manages to hide in a tube.                    9 and 5 run away but get stuck at the end of a table.                    The Cat Beast slashes his claw at them.                    T                                                  S                                                              7         2                                                  S                              T                                                                                                               31.                              They climb onto another piece of debris, only to encounter          the Cat Beast, now in front of them.                     he Cat Beast slashes a claw out and knocks them over.    The          Cat Beast moves closer and closer. They are doomed.                     uddenly there is a strange rhythmic moaning sound.   The Cat          Beast turns, distracted.                    We pan over and see a mysterious creature that seems to be          half ragdoll, half bird, with a bird-skull head swinging a          weapon over its head.   THIS IS 7. 7 releases the weapon--a          strap of leather with weighted shot at either end. The          weapon flies through the air with a low whooshing sound and          strikes the Cat Beast, entangling it.                    7, 5, and 9 now charge the Cat Beast. 5 shoots his crossbow,          entangling the Beast's paw and hobbling it. 9 and 2 both          LURE THE CAT BEAST IN DIFFERENT DIRECTIONS, deliberately          goading and further causing it to become entangled in the          machinery.   7 now leaps up over the Beast and brings the          full weight of her spear down on the Cat Beast's neck. The          head of the Beast comes off and lands at their feet.          7              now pulls off her bird-skull helmet.                                          5                       !                                          You weren't lost--                                          5                      You've come back!                                          7                      I never left. YOU finally decided                      to join the fight.                     he hands 5's map back to him.                    9 comes over with her shield (lost during the fight).    7          looks 9 over.                                          7 (CONT'D)                      I think I know why.                    They move towards her but she turns and looks at 9.     2 and 5          nod proudly towards 9. 7 nods.                     hey all look at the fallen Cat Beast.                    2 is poking at it:                    .                                                  N                                                                          9                                                  9                                                                                                           32.                                                  2                    Rusty... hacked together... shoddy                    pile of scrap.                    They all turn to leave. 5 and 7 support 2 on either side of          him, helping 2 along.   9 hangs back to look at the machine          again, and suddenly sees the TALISMAN, lying on the floor.                    5, 7, and 2 have continued on without him and do not see him          as he picks it up.                      looks at the strange object with ENORMOUS CURIOSITY. He          turns it and see the RUNES on the side of it. He turns and          inspects it closely.   He turns and discovers, on the          machine, a PORT with the SAME RUNES.                                            (blurting out)                    Look!                    The others now turn to see him. They see him holding the          talisman close to the machine's port... about to          experimentally put the talisman INTO the port.                                            2                    No!   Stop!       NO!                    2 tries to break free and stagger towards him but it is too          late. 9 puts the talisman into the port.                     othing happens for a moment.                    Then suddenly, horribly, the ground begins to SHAKE.                               ..........................................................                    SEQ. 082 - Fabrication Machine                              SEQ. 082 - INT. FACTORY - CONTINUOUS                    Suddenly the Cat Beast's dead body begins to SHIFT and          MOVE... There is a rumbling from beneath it as...                    ... a LARGE FORM rises up from under the debris.                    ANGLE on the machine awakening: movement under the cloth, a          claw-like appendage rising from the rubble.                                         7                    Quickly!   Run!         Get away!                    A                                                  A                                                  A                                                  2                                                                                                             33.                              They try to climb to safer ground from the tumbling debris.                        is thrown back and LANDS hard.                    A mechanical ARM emerges and PINS 7, 9, and 5.                    As dust and debris rain down, we see one hideous RED EYE          begin to come up.                     s 2 tries to scramble to safety, the other three ragdolls,          pinned by the mechanical arm, stare in horror. We see that          the "pile of Machinery" has risen to reassemble into an          monstrous, towering FABRICATION MACHINE attached to the          ceiling of the building.                    It is enormous, a spherical shape with a dozen folded          appendages, each with different fabrication tools at the end          of its long spindly robotic arms.                    2 tries to crawl away but the Machine grabs him with his          robotic arm.          T           he Machine points the talisman towards 2 and it OPENS up to          a sparking green glow. 2 struggles in the Machine's claw but          the strange green energy SHOOTS directly into 2's mouth and          eyes, painfully  his soul.                     NGLE on 2 as his soul is being taken.                    2 slumps over, his LIFELESS CARCASS smoking in the grip of          the Machine.                     NGLE on the green glow as it PASSES into the machine. The          sound has drawn its attention. The Machine turns towards          them and grabs at them with its enormous claw. 9, 5, and 7          turn and flee.                    The Fabrication Machine's arms chase after them. 5 shoots          his grappling hook onto a switch. 9 and 7 grab onto him.                    Frantically working together, the three of them manage to          escape the Machine's horrifying arms. [  Important to make          sure the Machine is understood to be tethered to the          Factory.]                    They see in the distance a pipe that leads out.                    In the Machine's RED POV, they run into it just as the          Machine's arm is behind them but can't fit into the hole.                                          7                                                                        9                              T                                                                (                                                                (                                                                                                          34.                                        ...........................................................                    Seq. 084 - Going to the library                              SEQ. 084 - EXT. FABRICATION FACTORY - DAY                                        9, 5, AND 7                                            9, 5, and 7 escape out a long tube that leads out from the          factory and JUMP behind a small trench.                                        5                         HEARTBROKEN)                    My poor old friend...                    7 puts a consoling hand on his shoulder.                                        7                        (shaking her head)                    I know.                         turning on 9)                    What? What on earth were you                    thinking?                                        9                        (just as devastated)                    I didn't know... I'm sorry...                    He stares in horror at the factory.                                        9 (CONT'D)                    What WAS that? What is it doing?                     hey are interrupted by a loud whirring sound from the          machinery inside the factory. They whirl around, then stare          at each other, horrified.                                          (CONT'D)                    What will it do now?                    5 shakes his head miserably.                    7 looks at them.                                        Let's go.                                           9                                                      (                                                                                                       C                                                                                                            35.                              She strides off. 9 follows. 5 turns, grieving, towards the          factory, head bowed. He hesitates, then goes after 9 and 7.                                                                          UT TO:                              ...........................................................                    SEQ. 090 - The twins                              SEQ. 090 - EXT. LIBRARY - DAY                    9, 5, and 7 enter into a building through a hole that has          been put in a side wall.                              SEQ. 090 - INT. LIBRARY - DAY                    They enter the ruins of an old library.                    Giant stacks of random, tattered, stained books, globes, and          celestial devices tower over them. Dusty rays of light beam          down through broken glass skylights, casting filtered light          on shelves and shelves of old tomes, papers, and crumbling          artifacts.                    9 stops to look at a beautiful painting, showing life and the          world before the apocalypse.                                        9                        (whispering to himself)                    So beautiful...                    7 grabs the lightstaff from 9 and shines it towards a pile of          books. A glimmer of two sets of eyes appear and disappear.                    7 holds her hand up, gesturing to 9 to hold still.          3            & 4 emerge from their globe.   5 smiles.                                        5                         delighted, relieved)                    They've been here? The whole time?                    The twins venture out.                                            (SURPRISED)                    Twins?                    A                                                                       9                                                  T                                                  3                                                                                                             36.                                                  7                        (to 5 and 9, explaining)                    They've been hiding here. Lost in                    the past.                      and 4 approach 9 with curiosity.   They communicate by          beaming ideas to each other.   They look at 9, sizing him up.          They beam their ideas to each other excitedly. 9 recoils. 7          puts a reassuring hand on 9.                                        7 (CONT'D)                        (EXPLAINING)                    They're cataloguing.                    3 and 4 take 9's lightstaff. Their chattering and beaming          gets more intense as they take it and catalogue it, their          eyes clicking as if they're recording on film what they are          seeing.                    7 stops them.   She has an urgent look on her face.                                        7 (CONT'D)                    We need you--we awakened something--                    9 interrupts her to take full responsibility for the mistake.                                        9                    I awakened something.   In the                    factory.   Something terrible...                    3 and 4 look at each other WITH HORROR. They begin to          chatter feverishly and with great distress.                     hey beam an image of THE FABRICATION MACHINE on the wall.                    5 and 9 lean forward, startled.                                          (CONT'D)                        (recognizing it)                    That's it!                                        7                    What is it?                    3 and 4 now show:                      NEWSPAPER PHOTOGRAPH of the Scientist and the Machine          (which we recognize from before, in the prologue, when the          Scientist gave the machine to the Dictator and we saw the          FLASH of the flashbulb).                    We now push into the photo to a CLOSE UP on the machine.                    7                                9                                                  -                                        -                                                                        D                                                  -                                                                                                             37.                              Then dissolve into a NEWSREEL of the machine and see:                      -the original machine being wired into the FABRICATION          MACHINE          -           -Dutch-angle shots of the Dictator, and we hear his SPEECH--                                           ICTATOR                      ...yes, we have entered a new                      future, the age of the intelligent                      machine. This remarkable invention                      can adapt and evolve, creating new                      machines, machines of                          (a slight, chilling pause)                      PEACE---                    --shots of the Killing Machines, marching out as they're          FABRICATED--                                          DICTATOR (V.O.) (cont'd)                      --that will usher in a new era of                      PROSPERITY--                    --shots of the Machines ATTACKING--                    --A newspaper headline "HUNDREDS KILLED AT PEACE RALLY"                                          DICTATOR (V.O.) (cont'd)                      --and brotherhood for our nation!                    Now, terrible sounds of war:                    --A newspaper headline "WAR DECLARED AFTER UNPROVOKED ATTACK          BY OUR ALLIES"                    --STILL PHOTOS showing the war, the machines getting more and          more devious, chasing a mother and child down an alley, more          and more machines appearing.                     -SHAKY, HAND-HELD AMATEUR footage showing the GAS KILLING          EVERYTHING. The footage ends with the camera sinking to the          ground as whoever is operating it is overcome by gas.                     -ending on a STILL PHOTO that we pan across, showing TOTAL          DEVASTATION.                    The ragdolls stare at it.    9 turns to them.                                          What have I done?                        shakes her head sadly and impatiently.   5 suddenly turns to          9.                    .                                                            T                                                     9                                                                         9                                                            2                                                  S                                                                                                                 38.                                                     5                        (TO 9)                    The thing!       Show them.                    9 quickly sketches out a drawing of the TALISMAN and shows it          to the twins.                    3 and 4 chatter, trying to analyze and catalogue the drawing          of the Talisman. They shake their heads: they don't          recognize it.                     eeing it as a drawing, 5 is startled.                                        5 (CONT'D)                    Wait! 6... he always draws that.                      used to keep the drawings... with                    his notes....                    9 looks at 5.                                        The drawings... would they still be                    there? In 2's old workshop?                                           5                    Yes.                        (slightly embarrassed)                    I saved everything.                                         hen we'll go back.       Perhaps the                    answer is there.                    5 looks alarmed and looks over at 7.      7 shakes her head.                               7                              I think the answer is there.                    She points out towards the factory and strides off,          dauntless, fine, and proud. The twins chatter unhappily,          beaming flickering lights to each other.                    9 looks at 5.    5 nods and they set off in the other          direction.                                                                        CUT TO:                     ..........................................................                    SEQ. 120 - Winged Beast creation                    5                                                  5                                                                                                          39.                                        SEQ. 120 - INT. FABRICATION FACTORY - SAME TIME                    Inside the factory, a very quick shot of the Fabrication          Machine reaching its arms out and gathering things. It welds          metal pieces. It grabs an enormous black-and-red Dictator's          flag and rips it in half.   [  We do not see yet what it is          creating.]                                                                       CUT TO:                    ...........................................................                    SEQ. 130 - Confrontation                              SEQ. 130 - INT. 2'S WORKSHOP - NIGHT                    9 and 5 sneak into 2's workshop. A dirty moonlight filters          through the air. 9's light is off.                     , familiar with the layout, locates 2's stash of 6's          drawings. The pages are dotted with 2's annotations and          drawings; he was obviously trying to figure out why 6 kept          imagining this object and what it meant.                      and 9 bend over the drawings. They are unable to see          clearly in the murky darkness. 9 looks around warily, then          switches on his light.                    The light now reveals 8 LOOMING IN THE SHADOWS.                    8 SEIZES them and escorts them out.                              SEQ. 130 - INT. CATHEDRAL/CLOCKTOWER - SAME TIME                    1, sitting on his throne, glares in righteous anger as 5 and          9 stand in front of him.               148                                                      148                               1                     You awakened what?                    He gets onto his feet angrily. 6 hunches over one of his          sketches, muttering to himself.               149                                                      149                               1 (CONT'D)                     You fools! I warned you!                    8 is sharpening his knife on the side.               150                                                      150                               8                     He warned you.                                           6                                                                                                          40.                         151                                                      151                                 1                       Now you've put us all in                       unimaginable peril. And, may I                       ask, did you manage to save 2? Of                       course not! By following this                       witless folly, you've endangered                       everything we work for!               152                                                      152                                 9                       Why was 2 sent out to begin with?               153                                                      153                                 1                           (DEFENSIVELY)                       I sent him to scout.               153.5                                                    153.5                                            9                       That doesn't make any sense! You                       don't send the oldest out to--                           (trying to control                            HIMSELF)                       Look, we need to figure out what's                       going on--                    6 emerges from his shadowy corner and comes over to 9. He          has a drawing of the Talisman and seems to want to show it 9,          urgently.                                               (softly, trying to tell                            him of something, but                            unable to fully                            articulate it)                       The source... You must go back to                       the source....                                           9                           (turning to 6)                       What? What is it?    Where?                    1 bangs his staff against the floor. 8 stands at attention.                                            1                       Quiet!                           (TO 9)                       I won't allow you to endanger us                       further.                           (TO 8)                       Subjugate them.                    8 looks confused.                                 S                                                         1                                                  5            Y                                                  9                                                                                                             41.                                     159                                                   159                                  1 (CONT'D)                           (TO 8)                       Take their belongings!          8            grabs 6's drawing and lifts 5 from his crossbow and shakes          him up. 9 tries to stop him.                    8 PUNCHES 9 out of the way, knocking him to the edge of the          floor. A knocked chess piece FALLS down the dark abyss below          them.                        slowly gets up and addresses 1.                 160                                                       160                                 9                        ou're nothing but a coward!                      lets out a GASP. 8 heads towards 9 as he laughs and cracks          his knuckles menacingly. 1 cuts in.                 161                                                       161                                 1                           (suspicious, angry)                       How dare you challenge me! I, who                       kept everyone safe all these years.                       Ever since you got here everything                       has been unraveling. You're a                       curse. A fool guided by pointless                       queries.                    9 stands staunch.                  62                                                       162                                  9                            (gritting teeth, angry,                             determined; effort at end                             as 9 pulls the staff out                             of 1's hand)                       A                         nd you are a blind man guided by                       fear.                    6 holds onto the key around his neck, looking afraid.                 163                                                       163                                 6                       The sky... the sky is breaking....                    A shadow comes over them with a faint sound of something          outside. 1 starts to back away.                 164                                                       164                                 1                        ometimes fear is the appropriate                       response.                    The WINGED BEAST tail crashes through the stained glass          window and breaks into the floor right next to 9.                                                                                42.                              6 looks bewildered and doesn't move.   5 pulls him out of          danger.                                        6                        (whispering, reflexively)                    The source... the source...                    5, 6, 8 and 9 huddle together. Suddenly the Winged Beast          comes crashing in the window behind them, knocking over the          thurible and splashing hot coals all over the floor.                                                                        CUT TO:                              ...........................................................                    SEQ. 140 - Winged Beast Attacks                              SEQ. 140 - INT. CATHEDRAL/CLOCKTOWER - CONTINUOUS                    5, 6, 8 and 9 see the Winged Beast emerge from the smoke          pouring out of the upset thurible.                    The Winged Beast SHRIEKS at them. It catches its foot on the          runner leading up to 1's empty throne. The hymnboard/          calendar topples away to reveal 1 hiding behind it. 1          instinctively clutches his staff causing the bell at the top          of the staff to RING and attracting the Winged Beast's          attention.          1            flees. 8 charges the Beast but it SCYTHES its wing towards          him and knocks 8 across the floor. 8 slides across the floor          to 1, who stands next to 6's picture of the Cat Beast.                    1 pushed the picture of the Cat Beast away to reveal a HIDDEN          PASSAGEWAY. 1 runs away as 8 looks at the others for a brief          moment before also running away.                    The Winged Beast turns its attention to 9, 5, and 6. The          ragdolls run for the bucket and bell-ropes, but 9 trips. The          Winged Beast advances towards him.   5 reaches out to 9.  9          gestures to him to continue without him.                    As 9 recovers himself and makes a break for the bucket, 5          starts to lower the bucket down. Just as the Winged Beast is          about to catch up with him, 9 LEAPS down the shaft and lands          in the bucket with 5 and 6.                    Angrily, the Beast lashes its harpoon tail down at them,          piercing the bottom of the bucket. The bucket rocks and 6 is          sent FLYING OUT but 5 CATCHES him in the nick of time.                    9                                                                                                             43.                              The Winged Beast starts reeling its harpoon tail in. Jerking          back and forth, the bucket ascends, drawing the ragdolls          closer and closer to the Beast.                    9 spots a SMALL LEDGE next to a stained glass window.                    He opens the side of the bucket and gestures that they should          jump.                    The others hesitate, but then 9, 6, and 5 jump out of the          bucket onto a swinging rope, and onto the ledge. The Winged          Beast plummets down the shaft after them.                              SEQ. 140 - EXT. CATHEDRAL/CLOCKTOWER - CONTINUOUS                    The ragdolls squeeze through a small crack in the stained          glass emerging onto a ledge overlooking the Cathedral's roof.                    9 sees 1 and 8 running across the roof and points to 5 and 6          to look down there. Down on the roof, 1 and 8 see 5, 6, and          9. 1 pushes past 8 and runs farther out, towards the front          of the Cathedral. 8 follows.          S           uddenly, the Winged Beast SMASHES through the glass behind          them. It struggles to get through the window but can't quite          fit.                    6 is very vulnerable out there.                    9 turns to 5.                                          9                      Take him inside.                        now climbs out on the gargoyle purposefully.                    The Winged Beast FLIES UP into the air, circling lazily.    1          and 8, running on the top of the roof, are very exposed.          Hawklike, the Winged Beast sails towards them.                    8 steps up to defend 1. He flips his salt-shaker helmet down          over his face as armor, pulls out his scissor knife and          stands his ground... waiting... waiting for the Winged Beast          to soar in closer...                    And then, at the last possible moment, he HURLS his scissor          knife at the Winged Beast. It flies through the air and          catches in the Beast's propeller.                    Knocked off balance, the Beast swoops down. 1 ducks out of          the way but it knocks 8 off his feet. 8 slides down the          sloped edge of the roof, towards GAPING HOLE.                    .                                                  S                                                                                                             44.                              Just as 8 is about to fall into the hole, he catches on to          the edge. His other blade plummets through the hole as he          hangs, desperately... his grip SLIPPING...                    9 catches up to where 1 is.                              SEQ. 140 - INT. CATHEDRAL - SAME TIME                    6 and 5 run down the banisters towards the crashed plane.     6          seems to pull 5 in a particular direction.                               EQ. 140 - EXT. CATHEDRAL - CONTINUOUS                    The Winged Beast circles around and sets its harpoon tail to          shoot. 1 squints into the sun as the Winged Beast, backlit,          swoops down towards them. He sees a glare come from the tin          roof. 9 gets an idea.    He gestures to 1 to help him. 1          scowls, but has no alternative but to help him.                    9 peels back a piece of the roof, with 1 helping him.   The          ROOF'S                    GLARE                    beams right into the eyes of the Winged Beast, momentarily          blinding it.          T           he Beast flinches just as it FIRES its harpoon tail at them.          Blinded by the glare, it MISSES and almost hits 8.                    The harpoon imbeds itself into a rafter inside the Cathedral.                               ..........................................................                    SEQ. 145 - Wing                              SEQ. 145 - EXT. CATHEDRAL/CLOCKTOWER - CONTINUOUS                    8 falls onto and then slides down the harpoon's line,          swinging into the Cathedral and landing on the wing of the          airplane embedded in the side of the Cathedral, right next to          5 and 6. 8's weight on the harpoon's line has pulled it more          and more taut...                    The Winged Beast is pulled hard into the roof and slides          down, knocking into 1 and 9.                    1 and 9 PLUNGE into the Cathedral and onto the plane wing,          where 8 catches them in midair before they hit the wing.                    5                                                  9                                                  <                              I                                                     1                              1                                                                                                              45.                              The Winged Beast plummets after them onto the wing. It picks          itself up, spots the cowering ragdolls, and opens up his          bladed beak screaming.                    The Winged Beast starts to charge them when suddenly--                    7 DROPS DOWN from a high parapet and leaps onto the Winged          Beast's neck.                        and 8 stare in surprise.   9 stares in delight and relief.                                               (stunned and surprised)                      7?                     mmediately, the beast throws her off towards the others.          She'd dropped her spear; she goes to pick it up and                     PFFFFFFT> immediately, her leg is IMPALED by the Winged          Beast, which has fired its harpoon. She is impaled next to          the guys.                                          7                          (LIGHTLY)                      I thought you might need some help.                    But as she speaks, the Beast begins to reel her in.       She          fights viciously.                        jumps and grabs on to 7 as she's being pulled away.                                          7 (CONT'D)                          (YELLING)                      My spear!                      grabs her forked spear and hands it to her. She grabs her          forked spear and stabs it into the plane.   The harpoon's          cable is pulled taut 9                               between her leg and the Winged Beast.                                              (yelling to the others)                      The cable! Cut it!                    8 runs to recover the blade that slipped from his grasp as he          slid down the roof, then runs over and SLICES with all his          brute force through the cable. The cable flies up in the air          and WRAPS itself around the propeller on the end of the wing.                    The Winged Beast jerks back, towards the propeller, causing          the whole wing of the plane to tilt, and the ragdolls to          slide. 5 and 6 tumble into the plane's engine room.                    A          1                                                                                                          46.                              7 clutches her staff. 9 slides by her and grabs on to the          harpoon, still lodged in her leg.                    9's staff slides by, and 9 catches it just before it falls          off the wing. As 8 climbs up onto the same buttress fragment          that 7's spear is lodged in, 1 slides down the wing, past 9.               179                                                      179                               9 (CONT'D)                         (to 1; holding out his                          STAFF)                     Grab on!                    1 grabs 9's staff. Dangling, he sees that the Winged Beast          is close behind, snapping at him with its beak.                    9 sees 5 and 6 in the engine room.                                          9 (CONT'D)                         (shouting to 5)                     The propeller! Start the                     propeller!                    6 nods. 5 points to the wires. 5 and 6 gather wires and set          to work. They ZAP the propeller to life and it GROANS... then          whines into motion as it starts taking up the power it had          generated. It goes faster... faster...                    Even as the Beast is slowly drawn towards the propeller, it          struggles forward and grabs 1's cape in its beak.                    As the Winged Beast pulls 1 closer, 9 strains to hang on to          1, and 7 strains with the added weight on the harpoon          sticking out of her wounded leg.                                         1                     My... my cape!                                            9                     Let it go!                    1 glares furiously, hesitates, then undoes the clasp. The          Winged Beast falls backwards down the wing, DIRECTLY INTO THE          DEADLY BLADES.                    It is instantly shredded.                    Claws, feathers, and strange mechanical debris shower down.                     , 9, and 7 look in relief as the Beast is finally destroyed.                     fter the clasp is released, 1 has meanwhile recoiled into          9's arms. There is a brief moment of awkwardness as 1 and 9          realize how close they are physically to each other.                    A                                                                            9                    9                                                         1                                                                                                              47.                              1 begins to climb up the side of the wing, using dangling 9          and 7 as a ladder.                    Perched on top of 7's staff, 1 reaches up for 8, who is          crouched on the edge of the buttress. He grabs 8's hand,          gesturing imperiously to 8 to pull him up.          9            looks at 7 urgently, nodding to her. She gets it          immediately and grabs 1's leg, stopping him.                  86                                                        186                                  1                       You fool! We can still save                       ourselves!                    The plane teeters down to a 90 degree angle. 5 and 6 look up          at the rest of the ragdolls from farther down the wing. 5 is          concerned and almost panicked. 6 is almost zen-peaceful, as          though he can foresee it will be all right.                        looks around and sees the rope tied around 7's waist.                                               (TO 7)                       Your rope.                    7 throws it down to 9 who ties it to his own waist. The plane          tilts... it's hanging even more precariously now... about to          fall out of the side of the Cathedral entirely...                    9 suddenly jumps down into the flames just as the plane          starts to fall. 7 shouts with stress.                    The plane EXPLODES as it hits the ground, smoke rising from          the crash. The rope pulls taut, and after the smoke settles          we can see 9 dangling with 5 and 6.                    8 pulls the hanging chain of ragdolls up and onto the          buttress fragment.                     s 1 recovers himself and straightens his hat, he glances          up... towards the smouldering clock tower...                                                                        CUT TO:                              ...........................................................                    Seq. 155 - Sanctuary lost                              SEQ. 155 - EXT. LIBRARY GARDENS - TWILIGHT                    We can see, in the distance, the Cathedral, on fire.                    8           I                                        9                                                  O                                                                        1                                                                                                            48.                              The ragdolls have come to the library. Embers from the          burning cathedral drift down like burning snowflakes.                                              (BROKEN-HEARTED)                      Oh... my sanctuary...                    The others try to avoid the embers. 9 moves purposefully          towards the library. 1 stands, mourning his sanctuary. His          staff is charred and ruined. He lets it drop. 8 takes 1's          arm and urges him to follow the others.                                                                         CUT TO:                              .............................................................                    Seq. 157 - Seamstress being constructed                              SEQ. 157 - INT. FABRICATION FACTORY - SAME TIME                    Inside the factory, a shot of the Fabrication Machine          reaching its arms out and gathering remnants and detritus          that we will see later as part of the SEAMSTRESS. [The          Machine is clearly tethered to the Factory.]                     ne of the machine's arms discovers 2's body.    The arm seems          horribly interested.                                                                    DISSOLVE TO:                    .............................................................                    Seq. 160 - Library                              SEQ. 160 - INT. LIBRARY - NIGHT                     , 5, 1, 8, and 6 have come to a clearing in the debris          outside the globe. 6 has dropped to the floor and is drawing          his pattern. 1 looks angrily up at the glass ceilings.                               1                                 t's not safe here!                        shakes his head, agreeing with his boss.                                          8                      No.                    7                                                                   (                                                  5                                                                   (                                             7                                                                           9                              6                                                  1                                             1                                                                   (                                                                                                               49.                                                    1                           to 8, keeping his sense                           of responsibility)                      Stand lookout.                    1 points out into the gardens.                                            (CONT'D)                      I'll search out a safer retreat.                      moves away, looking for what he might find in the way of a          safer retreat.                    8, proud to receive orders, strides off towards the garden,          taking care to STEP ONTO 6's DRAWING and smear it. He laughs          meanly.                      shakes his head sadly and takes another piece of parchment          to start over. He is drawing the talisman.                                              (looking up at the sky; to                           7)                      There will be more, won't there?                    7 nods grimly.       9 looks worriedly after 1's retreating form.                                               looking after 1's                           retreating form)                      Forget him.                    The twins appear in the crack of the globe. They flash their          eyes and gesture for 9 to come in. 9 moves away into the          globe. 6 sees the twins and, happily, skitters towards them.                        and 7 are left alone.    5 works deftly on 7's leg.                                          5                           QUIETLY)                      You wanted us to forget you, too?                    ALT:                                          5 (CONT'D)                          (QUIETLY)                      Why did you leave us?                        looks around, trying to find the right words.    Finally:                                          7                      I couldn't sit and hide, just                      waiting.                                (MORE)                    8                                                  A                                                  5                                                              7                                                                                                                50.                                7(CONT'D)                          (APOLOGETICALLY)                      I just couldn't. It's...                          (contrite, trying to                           explain herself to her                           FRIEND)                      It's not in my nature.                    5 nods, smiling ruefully.     He knows.                                             (CONT'D)                          (GENTLY)                      And perhaps, no longer in yours,                      either?                      smiles and nods, almost shyly. He's finished fixing her          leg. She flexes it and smiles at him.   Now she looks          around, worriedly, sensing something.                                                                          CUT TO:                    ...........................................................                    Seq. 162 - 8 & the seamstress                              SEQ. 162 - EXT. LIBRARY GARDENS - SAME TIME                    8 plays with his magnet, foolishly.                        FLASH of something slithering.                    8 looks around, but continues to play.                    A FLASH again of something slithering closer.     Something          menacing.                        looks up in horror.   Lights flash on his face.                                                                          CUT TO:                              .............................................................                    Seq. 164 - Confrontation                              SEQ. 164 - INT. THE GLOBE - SAME TIME          C           LOSE on a DRAWING OF the TALISMAN'S RUNES in ancient          illuminated manuscript. Pull back to see the twins have          found this and are showing it to 9. 5 and 6 crowd around.           6          is clutching his drawing of the talisman.                                        1                                                                      9                                                                (                                                                                                           51.                              7 looks out of the globe, intuitively startled, her scout's          sense unhappy. She senses something.                    9 looks at her, but also now studies the drawings and the          writings around them that explain them.   He studies the          drawings of the RUNES.                                        9                         studying the drawings,                         CAREFULLY)                    An alchemist's ability to draw                    animus into the unanimated...                    He turns the page and sees a drawing of the Talisman.                                            (CONT'D)                    Again!                    He gazes at the picture as though drawn to it.                                        9 (CONT'D)                    What is it? What can it be?                    6 comes over and recognizes his drawing.                                        6                        (trying to help)                    The source...!                                        9                        (turns urgently to him)                    What? What are you trying to say?                                        6                        (helplessly trying to                         articulate something)                    The first room--                    1 now appears out of the darkness.   He sees the manuscript          and the drawings of the runes.                                         'S VOICE                        (ANGRILY)                    Dark science.                    We whip pan over and see 1 standing in the entrance to the          globe.                                        1                        (ANGRILY)                    What good does this useless rubbish                    do us? Forget it!                    7                                                                    (                                                                        6                    H           W                                          9                                                                                                              52.                              He seems unusually agitated.                    9 moves towards him, curiously.                                           hat do you know?                     e comes closer to 1.                                              (WHISPERING)                      The source... the source...                    1 turns and meets 9's gaze unflinchingly. We have a moment          of admiration for the old soldier's toughness. But he speaks          now with a strange bitterness. He gestures around at the          library, at the ruins of humanity's civilization.                                          1                          (BITTERLY)                      I know enough to leave their                      ancient evils to moulder. Look                      what they have left us with. Leave                      it be, I say!                          (ANGRILY)                      But you. Always asking questions,                      so many pointless questions--                      probing, pushing--                           spitting out the words,                           beginning to rant and                           rave a little)                      like 2--he always had to know--too                      MUCH--                                          9                          (SUDDENLY)                      I was right! You did send him out                      to die!                                          5                      No!                                          1                      He was old!   He was weak!                    1 suddenly realizes what he's said.      He collects himself and          stands tall, defending himself.                                          1 (CONT'D)                      Sometimes one must be sacrificed                      for the good of many.                        LEAPS angrily at 1, pulling her blade to 1's neck.                                C                                                                                                      C                    H                                                                        9                                                                                                              53.                                                    7                      Coward!                    Her blade flashes at 1's neck.    9 leaps forward and blocks          her.                                          9                      Stop!                    1 stands PROUDLY, staring down 7's blade. Again, we almost          admire the old soldier's fortitude.   7's reckless anger          blazes from her face.   9 looks at the two of them.                                            (CONT'D)                          (IMPLORING)                      We must work together. We must use                      our thoughts, not our weapons.                    9 moves back towards the drawing of the Talisman and looks          down at it.                                          9 (CONT'D)                      The answer to all our questions is                      here, in some way. I can feel it.                      We must follow this path...                    1 glares furiously at all of them, then turns to address 9.                                          1                      Your path takes us to catastrophe.                     e strides away.                                                                         UT TO:                              .............................................................                    SEQ. 166 - Seamstress                              SEQ. 166 - INT. LIBRARY/ANOTHER AREA - MOMENTS LATER          1              picks his way through the stacks, ranting to himself.                                          1                       an't he see his way only brings                      trouble? What good comes from his                      path? I know what we need. I know                      what is right--                    7                                                  T                                                                                                      C                                                                                                            54.                              Suddenly, he hears a sound. The twisted corpse of 2 comes          floating out from the stacks like Banquo's ghost. 1 stops,          rigid with terror.                                        1 (CONT'D)                        (MOANING)                    No....                    2's eyes click on with their hypnotic gaze.                                                                          UT TO:                              INT. LIBRARY/THE GLOBE - SAME TIME                    1's SCREAM echoes through the library.    The others rush out          of the globe.                              INT. LIBRARY - CONTINUOUS                    They race towards 1, into an area of the library with a large          broken FOUNTAIN. The fountain is sunken into the library          floor (with statuary reaching up into the library).                     hey now see, to their horror--                    THE SEAMSTRESS:                    A hideous SERPENT-LIKE CREATURE with NEEDLE-LIKE CLAWS and a          HORRIFYING VACANT FACELESS HOOD.                    The Seamstress has sewed the carcass of "2" into her tail in          order to lure and mesmerize the ragdolls. She emits a          GLOWING LIGHT through 2's vacant eye sockets.                    She RISES UP and points her sewing needles at 1... we see 8's          limp body trapped in her belly.                    The other ragdolls leap into action.                      chops off the tail and with it 2's carcass but then is          thrown to the side and trapped as a cascade of books fall on          her.                    9 manages to grab 1 who is partially sewn on to the          seamstress but can't free him.                    The seamstress lashes out towards them.                    5 fires an arrow and hits the Seamstress's eye, blinding her.          She turns to flee, dragging 1 with her. 1 struggles in          mortal terror.                                          9                                                              1                              H                                                  9                                                  A                                                                                                            55.                              5 pulls the blade from 2's staff from his quiver and throws          it to 9. 9 catches the blade and cuts the threads away from          1's body, trying to free him unsuccessfully as 1 struggles.                      t the very last moment, they manage TO CUT 1 LOOSE. But the          seamstress suddenly darts one of her claws out, GRABS 7, and          SLITHERS OFF out through the library [ALT: through part of a          drainpipe in the bottom of the fountain] with 8 still          attached to her belly and disappears.          T           he other ragdolls run after her but it is futile; she is          gone.                                          9                          (HORRIFIED)                      No! No!                              ...........................................................                    SEQ. 168 - Burial and Regrouping                              SEQ. 168 - INT. LIBRARY/FOUNTAIN - CONTINUOUS                    The ragdolls stand in the bottom of the fountain, where          remnants of water still linger, and water dribbles into the          drainpipe at the bottom of the fountain [ALT: next to the          fountain]. The coin in 1's crown falls to the ground. He          sits down heavily.                    The twins emerge, eyes wide. They've seen the whole thing.          They look with alarm at everyone, and sadly, at 2's carcass.                        looks in the direction of where the seamstress disappeared.                                          9                      I have to get her back!   I have to                      go after her!                                          1                      It's too late.                     e has a strange, sad look on his face.    He looks in the same          direction.                                            (CONT'D)                          (SADLY)                      It killed 8... it'll kill her too.                                          It didn't kill him.                          (THINKING)                                (MORE)                                                                         C                                                  9                                                  T                                                  1                                                                                                               56.                                It's taking (cont'd) to the                                9 them back                      Machine.                    The twins look up and nod their agreement. While the others          have been talking, they have found a book cover and have lain          2's body on it. They now put the sword on top of 2 like a          fallen soldier and put his hands on his chest holding the          sword.                                          9 (CONT'D)                          (URGENTLY)                      We have to go--all of us.   We have                      to rescue them--                                          5                          (nodding soberly)                      --and destroy the machine for once                      and for all.                      just bows his head.    He's still mourning 8.   9 gives him a          compassionate look.                    They turn towards the twins, and see them pick up 1's coin          and place it on top of 2's face. They see that the twins          have prepared 2's body for burial.                     hey all bow their heads. The twins now slowly send 2          floating down the remnants of water in the drainpipe at the          bottom of the fountain.                    5 pulls out the piece of burlap from 2's back with his number          on it. He hands it to 9.                        looks at 5, 9, and the twins soberly.                    They look at him.    Slowly, they nod, as though accepting          their mission.                    1 sighs heavily. Suddenly he looks so very old, so very          tired. He stares down at 2 floating away. Slowly, he nods          as well.                                                                          UT TO:                              S          ...........................................................                     EQ. 180 - Destroying the Factory                              SEQ. 180 - EXT. OIL FIELD BEHIND THE FACTORY - DAWN                    A SHOT of the tallest smokestack.    It belches smoke,          darkening the dusk sky.                    H                                                  5                    9                    1                                                  T                                                  9                                                                                                             57.                              We pan down, and see SEEKER DRONES (that the newly vitalized          Fabrication Machine has constructed) floating in the air          around the factory, tirelessly looking for enemies. One of          them floats near to camera and its searchlight fixes on          something. We follow the light down.                    The light reveals a PUMPING OIL DERRICK, also newly awakened.          Its pump moves up and down in sinister rhythm.                    The light moves away from the derrick. Camera stops          following the light and keeps moving down, arriving at the          ground where we now see, in the darkness--                    THE RAGDOLLS. They huddle behind an oil pipe waiting for the          Seeker Drone to pass. 1 is weak, but is supported by 5, who          has been patching him, and is just finishing up, pulling the          last thread out of the patch he's sewn onto 1. 1 is          regaining his strength. The twins huddle behind 6.                      looks out past the pumping derricks and sees AN ENTRANCE TO          A COAL CHUTE.                                            9                        All right. I'll go inside.   You do                        as we planned.                            (FIRMLY)                        EXACTLY as we planned.                     he others nod.     9 turns to 5.                                            9 (CONT'D)                        Take charge.                        scowls.   5 nods, proudly taking the responsibility.                        darts purposefully towards the factory.                      looks around keenly, looking up for seeker drones, then          runs out from cover, over to a huge barrel that lies half          buried in the scorched earth.    A painting of the Dictator's          symbol is stenciled on the side.                    He taps on the front. It is FULL. He looks up in the air at          the seeker drones. They haven't seen him.                    We gestures to the others.           e see the barrel is on top of a small hill that leads down          to coal car tracks. The tracks lead to the open mouth of a          coal chute that feeds into the factory.                    5 sees a bent spoon on the ground. He smiles, remembering 2          and his ingenuity, and picks it up. He hands it to 1.                    T                                                  A                              A                                                  A                                        T                                                                                                           58.                    With confidence now, he looks around. He sees a splintered          pile of wood planks, the remains of a wooden derrick          platform. He looks at the others and gestures to the wood.                                                                       CUT TO:                              INT. FACTORY - SAME TIME                    9 darts from hiding place to hiding place inside the darkened          factory, moving towards the Fabrication Machine.                    He spots the half-blinded Seamstress and watches in HORROR as          he sees that the Seamstress is giving 8 up to the Fabrication          Machine. 9 is too late to do anything to stop the Machine          from sucking 8's soul.                     here is a bright GREEN GLOW as 8's soul is sucked, and in          the sudden illumination, 9 sees 7. She is sewn into the          Seamstress--but is still alive!                     NGLE on 9 as he realizes she is still alive and he can still          rescue her! From his hiding place he looks around for a way          to rescue her. He inspects the machinery near him. He sees          a LEVER and GEARS. He looks at his LIGHTSTAFF. He then          spots a remnant of the FABRIC used to create the Winged          Beast. We see he is formulating a plan. He darts his hand          out to drag the fabric towards him.                     NGLE on the Fabrication Machine as it begins to power back          up after taking 8's soul.                     NGLE on the Seamstress. She turns to get 7, and give her to          the Fabrication Machine. We see the TERROR and DEFIANT FURY          in 7's eyes, but she is immobilized and can do nothing.                    Suddenly the Seamstress hears a SOUND.   She whips around.          P           OV through the Seamstress's damaged eye: a MOVEMENT in the          shadows.                     he Seamstress, distracted from her morbid mission with 7,          slithers towards the movement.                    In the shadow we see a RAGDOLL with GLOWING EYES. 7 sees          this and registers recognition, relief, and also TERROR at          what will be 9's fate. But she is unable to move or speak          and now, just as 9 could only watch 8's soul being sucked          out, 7 can only helplessly watch as the Seamstress slithers          closer and closer to its prey. We see the misery on 7's          face.                    The seamstress raises her needles and STRIKES the ragdoll,          sewing wildly.                    T                                                  T                                                                                                          59.                              The ragdoll SWINGS OUT from a string attached to a lever.          The lever now moves down (because of the weight of the          ragdoll) and SWITCHES on machinery. Gears start to turn and          we see the ragdoll is attached and begins to drag the trapped          seamstress in, arms first.                     he gears CRUNCH the ragdoll. 7 FLINCHES... but then her          expression turns to amazement as she suddenly sees it is not          a ragdoll at all but is 9'S LIGHT-STAFF DRESSED IN FABRIC.          Instinctively, she looks up, a sudden hopeful look on her          face... just as                    9 SWINGS IN and lands on the SEAMSTRESS, tearing a hole in          her back. He slides down the length of her body, FREEING 7.                    7 and 9 fall to the ground as the gears now CRUSH THE          SEAMSTRESS.                                                                      CUT TO:                              EXT. FACTORY - SAME TIME                    5, 1, 6, and the twins crouch behind the barrel. We see they          have built two paths of wooden boards leading down to the          entrance of the coal chute, have dug a trench under the          barrel, and have placed a long bar of metal beneath the          barrel.                                        5                        (hoarse whisper)                    PULL!                    They all pull down with all their weight. The barrel lifts          and teeters, then tips and RACES DOWN THE HILL. At the          bottom, it launches off the boards, spinning into the air and          landing on the rails to the coal chute with a sparking crash.                     he ragdolls race down after it.                    The barrel rolls and comes to a stop right at the mouth of          the coal chute.          .                     ..........................................................                    SEQ. 185 - Seeker Drone                                             1                              5                                                                 1                    5                                                                 1                                          W                                                                                                             60.                                        SEQ. 185 - EXT. THE FACTORY - CONTINUOUS                    5, always looking around warily for the seeker drones,          directs 1, 6, and the twins to conceal themselves behind the          barrel. He anxiously stares down the tunnel.                                          5                       here are they?                    The twins' eyes flicker anxiously.      1 looks down the tunnel          as well.                                          It's been too long.    We should take                      action.                        hesitates.                                            (CONT'D)                      Are you forgetting what he said?                      If he doesn't return--continue as                      planned.                        hesitates.   He peers down into the darkened tunnel.                                            (CONT'D)                      EXACTLY as planned!                    He grabs a sharp piece of metal and stabs the side of the          barrel. He stuffs an old rag into the hole and grabs a match          out of 5's quiver.                                          5                          (SHOUTING)                      No--stop!                    Immediately a beam of bright light focuses down on them.          They look up and see one of the horrible SEEKER DRONES          floating directly above them.                    Its two slug-like eyes reel in recognition.     The wail of an          air raid siren pierces the still night.                                             1                          (TO 5)                      Fool!                                                                         CUT TO:                                     (                                                     1                              1                                                  7                                                  T                                                                                                             61.                                        INT. FACTORY - SAME TIME                    9 and 7 sneak towards the coal chute escape.     They hear the          SIREN go off.                     he siren alerts the FABRICATION MACHINE to their presence.                    They turn and see the Fabrication Machine's arms bearing down          on them [the Fabrication Machine is still clearly tethered to          the factory]. Scores of small Spider Beasts emerge from the          shadows towards them.                      and 9 race desperately towards the coal chute escape with          the Spider Beasts crawling and spinning after them.                                                                         CUT TO:                              EXT. FACTORY - SAME TIME                    5 instinctively fires his grappling hook at the Drone.     5, 6,          and the twins try to drag the Drone down.                      brandishes the match. We suddenly hear the sound of the          SPIDERS. 1 looks down the tunnel.                                             FIERCELY)                    More creatures!      We have to ACT!                    NOW!                    1 strikes the match on the side of the oil barrel and is          about to light the rag. 5 grabs his arm.                                          5                    No!    Not yet--                    They tussle over the lighted match when suddenly--                                        9'S VOICE                    What did I tell you?      Light it!                    Now!                    7 and 9 run towards them. The eyes of the spiders can be          seen right behind them. 1 looks at the burning match in his          hands, thinking about what he almost did...                                           5                           (CONFIDENT)                    Now!                    7                                                        1                                                  T                                                                                                             62.                              1 sets the rag on fire. The ragdolls jump behind the barrel          and PUSH it into the tunnel. 7 and 9 just make it, leaping          out of the tunnel as the flaming barrel HURTLES down the          tunnel--DRAGGING the SEEKER DRONE with it--crunching over the          unseen Beasts--and landing in the factory and --                    BLAM!!!!                    THE FACTORY EXPLODES.                     he dolls run from the blast.    9 and 7 look on in triumph.                    ...........................................................                    SEQ. 190 - The Dolls Celebrate                              SEQ. 190 - EXT. WASTELAND/A RUTTED FIELD - CONTINUOUS                    The ragdolls walk up to the hill away from the explosions.          6, and the twins pick up old debris along the way and study          it.          T           he group turns and watches the factory as it burns to the          ground.                 311                                                       311                                    5                           (TO 9)                       It's done.                                           The past is dead.                        turns to 9, her face full of gratitude.                                           7                       And some of us very much alive.                    9 warmly clasps her arm. She pats his hand.     They look with          great affection and appreciation at each other.                    The twins chatter: they've found an old Victrola lying in the          debris, with an old warped record still on it. They climb          onto the record, tripping the needle arm onto the disc, and          begin walking on the record.                    A scratchy old melody comes from the large Victrola          amplifying horn. 7 smiles at the sound of the music. She          leaps on the record, joining them. As they walk faster, the          music speeds up.                    1 comes up behind them. He looks deep in thought.     He          catches his hat as it begins to slip off his head.                    9                                        9                                                  H                                                    9                              H                                                                  (                                                                                                            63.                              1 goes to sit down and rest, sitting on a brick. 5 heads          over towards the others. But 9, seeing 1's contemplative          mood, stops next to 1. 1 looks up at him.                                           1                           REGRETFULLY)                      I've been a bitter old pill,                      haven't I?                    9 looks at 1, not sure how to respond. 1 now also sees 2's          old staff that 9 is still holding onto.                    He looks over at 9.                                          1 (CONT'D)                      I lost sight... of many things.                     e looks at 9 as though to beg his forgiveness.    9 sits down          next to him.                                          We've both made mistakes.                     e looks over at the smoldering remains of the factory.                                          9 (CONT'D)                      What's past is past.                    They look at each other for a beat, then look over to the          others, relaxing together on the Victrola.                      holds out his hand to 1. 1 gives 9 his hand and 9 helps          him up. As 1 stands, his heavy headpiece falls off and          shatters.                      looks in horror.    But 1 just looks at it, shrugging and          slightly smiling.                                          1                      It was always so heavy.                    1 smiles.          H           e now runs his hand over his head, which we now see has a          funny looking pony-tail like protuberance.   9 hesitates,          then can't help CHUCKLING. 1 sees him, then starts to LAUGH          as well.                    9 and 1 go over together to the Victrola. 7 notices as 9          helps 1 climb up on the Victrola and starts to celebrate.                    9 joins 7 near the needle and 6 sits on the crank as it spins          around. Everyone is enjoying the music.                           3                                                                               9                                                  S                                                  6                                                                                                               64.                              5 discovers a trove of records (enormous in scale compared to          the little ragdoll). He curiously begins to go through them.                    He picks one out.                    But it rolls away from him.  It rolls towards the hill and          then down the hill. 5 runs after it.                    Behind him, unseen by anyone, the talisman crackles and glows          slightly.                        notices.                                             6                         No... it .... it... it...                    9 sees 6's beginning panic and whirls to see --                    ...........................................................                    SEQ. 200 - The Fabrication Machine Breaks Free                               EQ. 200 - EXT. WASTELAND/A RUTTED FIELD - CONTINUOUS                    5 running down the hillside.       And suddenly--                    --the enormous Fabrication Machine, RISES UP, free of the          factory, TOWERING over him like a giant monster.                    THE TALISMAN is GLOWING ferociously in the Machine's front.                                             NO!                    He tries to run towards 5.       5 SHRIEKS, running back towards          the others.                                                 5                         Run!   Run!                    The other ragdolls whirl and stare, frozen, at the hideous          apparition...                    They leap off the spinning Victrola, hitting the needle and          the music SCRATCHES TO A HALT.                    Before anyone can get to him, 5 is SNATCHED by the TOWERING          MACHINE.                  30                                                         330                                       9                         No!                               G                                                  .                                                                                                             65.                              9 tries to run towards the Machine. 1 pulls him away          frantically, fiercely forcing 9 to allow himself to be saved.                                          1                         (TO 9)                     There's nothing you can do!                    5 faces the Machine as the green of the TALISMAN shoots out          at him, sucking his soul into its portal. The Machine's eye          turns green showing it has absorbed the soul, then back to          glowing red.               333                                                         333                                  9                     No!   No!                    The Machine again SHAKES and then seems momentarily paralyzed          as it ingests the soul, giving the ragdolls a moment to flee,          scrambling, desperately trying to get up the hill and escape.          1 looks over to the bridge. His general's instincts kick          back in.                                            1                     Follow me!                    The Fabrication Machine powers back up and lumbers after          them. The dolls head over to the bridge.                     ..........................................................                    SEQ. 201 - The Bridge                              SEQ. 201 - EXT. BRIDGE - CONTINUOUS               335                                                         335                                9                      o!   Get across!                    9 sends 1 and the twins across the bridge. He turns to 7 but          they don't need to speak--they both understand the plan.          They linger behind, luring the Machine.                    1 tries to drag 6 across the bridge.     6 resists:               337                                                         337                                 6                     No!   No!   No!                    The twins chatter. 6 is moving slower than the others.     1          grabs his arm and pulls him off the bridge.               338                                                         338                               1                     Come on, we can't stay here!                                   N                           3                                                                     (                                                  T                                                                                                                 66.                                                       6                             (protesting incoherenly to                              1)                 339                                                      339                         No... they mustn't... they                         can't.... no...                    The Fabrication Machine lumbers up the hill. 9 and 7 clamber          onto the bridge... get out to the center and stop. They wave          their hands and weapons trying to get the Machine to come to          the bridge.                    The Machine CRASHES onto the bridge.         It lumbers ferociously          after 9 and 7.                    9 and 7 struggle to get to the end of the bridge.                    The Machine is closing in on them... they frantically          struggle across, the Machine gets closer... closer...and                    ...suddenly the floorboards GIVE WAY under the Machine's          enormous weight.                      he Machine scrambles and claws at the splintering boards but          falls through.          I           t hangs on with two of its mechanical legs, one on each side          in the broken bridge. Inexorably, it begins working its way          back up...                    7 and 9 start sliding down the bridge as the Beast's weight          is making the bridge fall.                    ALT:                 339                                                           339                                   9                              efforts prying off the                              Fabrication Machine)                         Pry it loose!                    They continue prying, hammering, pounding at the Machine's          legs with the steel scraps.                    6, 1, and the twins watch with horror.                    7 and 9 have almost managed to pry the Machine loose, and are          about to send it plummeting to its destruction.                    6 breaks free from 1's hold. 1 grasps after him, trying to          stop him. 1 only grabs onto 6's key. 6 runs out onto the          bridge.                  42.5                                                         342.5                                             6                          o, no, you must not destroy it!                                          6                                                                        6                    B                                                   Y                                                                                                           67.                              He points to the Talisman on the machine.                                         6 (CONT'D)                     We need it... they are inside...               343                                                       343                                7                     Go!   Get away!                    9 looks in puzzlement at the Talisman. There's an          astonished, questioning look on his face.                                         7 (CONT'D)                         (screaming at 9, re 6)                     He has to go --                    She grabs 6 and pushes him to the side.                                         6                      ou must go back... to the First                     Room...                    9 looks at 6, trying to understand him.   The Machine twists          and turns.                     ehind him, the Machine begins to regain its footing.                                           (CONT'D)                      He is there... He will show you...                    6 suddenly gets a look of doomed horror on his face.                                           (CONT'D)                     Come for us...                         (his last words, urgent)                     The source...                    --and one of the Fabrication Machine's robotic arms grabs 6.               346                                                       346                                9                     No!                    9 goes for 6 but can't get to him.                    The bridge starts to give way 9 and 7 run to the other side.          9's light staff slides and falls down into the dark crevice.                    The Fabrication Machine is now hanging off of one side of the          bridge, still holding on to 6.          9            and 7 flee wildly across the disintegrating bridge. They          make it across to the other ragdolls at the other end of the          bridge, just in time.                                            9                                                                    (                                                      9                                                  1                                                      9                                                  S                                                                                                              68.                              The Fabrication Machine tries to back up on the bridge but          ends up getting caught in the beams, which form a cage around          him. The other ragdolls yell to 6 from the other side of the          bridge.                    The Fabrication Machine brings 6 up to its eye.                    ...........................................................                    SEQ. 202 - Disagreement                               EQ. 202 - EXT. BRIDGE - CONTINUOUS                    9 watches in horror as the Machine sucks 6's soul. As before,          the Machine SHAKES and then seems momentarily paralyzed as it          ingests the soul. It then re-animates.                    1 strides over to 9.                                          1                      We must destroy it.                    9 stares at him.      We can see a sudden new thought is forming          on his face.                                          We can't.                        looks at the Machine.                                          1                      Anything can be overcome.    One                      just needs the right weapon.                                          No.  We can't destroy it.                           TO 7)                      You heard him: "Come for us."                      They're still inside--                                          7                      9, they're gone.                                          No. I don't think so. We can get                      them back. I just have to figure                      this out.                          (trying to parse 6's                           WORDS)                      "The first room...."                    7 tries to persuade 9.                                           9                                                  7                                           9                                          P                                                              I                                        1                                                              W          9                                                                                                                 69.                                                    7                       e need to get a weapon.     Quickly.                                              (trying to parse 6's                           words, completely focused                           in thought)                      "The source... he will show you..."                    The machine screams, starting to break free.                        turns, abruptly, making a decision.                                          1                      This raving will get us nowhere.                       'm going to find a real weapon.                    1 turns and stalks off.      The twins hesitate, uncertainly.                    7 goes over to 9 and implores him.                                           7                       lease.   Leave it.   Come with us.                    9, determined, certain of his path, shakes his head gently.                                          No.   I can't.                      looks sad, but she feels she has no choice. She ushers the          twins away and they follow 1. The twins are carrying 6's          key.                                          9 (CONT'D)                          (MUTTERING)                      The source... the First Room...                    Suddenly he looks up.      He gets it!                                            (CONT'D)                      The First Room!                                                                                  SMASH CUT TO:                              ...........................................................                    SEQ. 210 - Return to the Workshop                    W                                                  H                                                  H                                        H                              C                                                                                                              70.                                        SEQ. 210 - INT. ATTIC WORKSHOP - DAY                    9LOSE ON THE SHUTTER banging in the Attic Workshop.              is staring at it, then looks around the Workshop.                     e sees the Scientist on the floor.    He recognizes him.                    He looks up and climbs up onto the table.                     e sees the machine that he fell out of.      He sees diagrams.                    He sees a journal, with drawings and thoughts. The drawings          include: the original machine... the talisman... sketches of          the dolls... the diagram that we saw in the Library          manuscript...                     e looks further and sees a strip of film. Curiously, he          picks it up, and now sees it's feeding into a rickety old          movie projector which now TURNS ON and we see --                    THE DOCUMENTARY FOOTAGE that we saw being made in the TITLE          SEQUENCE [It can be the exact same footage, or can be          slightly altered if necessary for our uses here; if we still          want to hear the radio it should be mixed in very low, so we          are aware of it but it doesn't interfere with the scientist's          dialogue. This is constructed so the scientist can be in          V.O. only until the end, but if possible we can also see the          back of the scientist in the first few pieces of footage].                    We HEAR the scientist's voice and we realize the Scientist          WAS ADDRESSING THE DOLLS.                     e see first, THE FOOTAGE OF THE SCIENTIST MAKING 1 and hear          the scientist:                                          SCIENTIST'S VOICE                          (MUTTERING)                      It had such promise... my first                      creation...                    We see, on the table, a drawing of the original machine, as          the Scientist assembles the raw materials of 1. Sounds of          WAR in the b.g.                                          SCIENTIST'S VOICE (cont'd)                          (BROKEN-HEARTED)                      ...but it was taken... and bent to                      such evil...                    We see him making 1.                                  (                                                  I                                                                                                           71.                                                  SCIENTIST'S VOICE (cont'd)                    ...so little hope remains... that                    is why I create you...                    The footage crackles out, then RESUMES.                    Now we see the FOOTAGE OF THE SCIENTIST MAKING 5.                                        SCIENTIST'S VOICE (cont'd)                        (much more weakly)                    I am unable to reverse the transfer                    process... my life force diminishes                    with each one of you... it is all                    right... you will thrive...                    Tenderly, he puts 5 together.                    The footage crackles out, then RESUMES.                    Now we see the footage OF THE SCIENTIST MAKING 9...   with          louder, more explosive sounds of WAR in the b.g:                                        SCIENTIST'S VOICE (cont'd)                    ...so little hope remains... that                    is why I create you...                     n the footage we now see him putting 9 into the strange          machine, putting the finishing touches on 9... brushing his          hand across the little box...                    WE PULL OUT of the footage to see 9, looking in astonishment          at the flickering footage.                    9 looks over at the little box in the scientist's hand in the          footage, and suddenly                    FLASH                    9 goes into a startling FLASHBACK:                    HIS POV as he is suspended in the strange machine... he sees          the scientist, clutching the little box, from the front as          the scientist approaches him, a look of endless love on his          weakened, haggard face.                                         SCIENTIST                         tenderly, to 9 directly)                    ... it's up to you now...                        (with his last breath of                         ENERGY)                    ...you...you are all the pieces of                    my soul...                    T                                                                        9                    9                                                                                                      C          9                                                                        9                              9                                                  B                                                                                                           72.                              The scientist puts the strange face mask on and 9's POV is          suffused with a GREEN GLOW.   The talisman clicks shut, the          soul transfer completed. We hear the scientist fall to the          ground, his soul depleted.                     ACK TO PRESENT TIME:                    9 comes out of his vision. He looks over the side of the          table at the dead scientist.                        walks to the scientist and stares at the dead man.                                               (finally realizing it;                            GENTLY)                      You.    You're the source...                    He reaches out to the skeletal hand clutching the box, then          simply touches the Scientist's hand, tenderly. He looks up,          a new, resolute look in his eyes.                                                                        CUT TO:                              S          ...........................................................                     EQ. 220 - Reunion                              SEQ. 220 - EXT. THE WASTELAND - NIGHT                        runs through the Wasteland looking for the others.                                                                         UT TO:                              EXT. THE WASTELAND - NIGHT                      sees the others through barbed wire. They're carrying a          large missile towards an old cannon. 9 ducks under and          hurries towards them.                                          He--he's the source.                    They stare at him, uncomprehendingly.                                          9 (CONT'D)                      The Scientist! The one who made                      the machine. He gave us life too.                     hey stare at him.                                          7                                                                        9                              7                                                                                                           73.                                                    7                    How?                    9 pauses at the enormity of it.      Finally:                                        9                    He... he used his own soul.                      and the twins look at him in awe and surprise.   1 seems          strangely unmoved.                                          (CONT'D)                    That's why the machine is hunting                    us. It was warped, reprogrammed to                    hunt humanity. It, and the                    machines it made, killed                    everything. Except us.                    They stare at him.                                        9 (CONT'D)                    We're all that remains.                    Suddenly the ground starts to shake. We hear the machine          approaching. 1, 7, and the twins run to the missile.                                          9 (CONT'D)                    No!    Don't destroy it!                                        What? It's hunting us! It'll                    never stop! You said it yourself!                                       9                    No. First we have to get them                    back.                                        7                    It's impossible!                    She continues loading the missile with 1.                                          9                    It isn't.    I have an idea.                                        1                    Enough of your ideas!      We need to                    load the weapon!                              ...........................................................                    SEQ. 222 - The machine attacks                                                                                                     74.                                        SEQ. 222 - EXT. THE WASTELAND - CONTINUOUS                    The Fabrication Machine appears from BEHIND THE CANNON. The          ragdolls are CAUGHT OFF GUARD and scramble to get away just          as its claw SMASHES down, DEMOLISHING THE CANNON.                    The dolls fly back from the blast. 9 is the only one          standing. 9 deliberately walks towards the Machine. 7          rushes over, trying to pull him away.                                        7                        (trying to get back up)                    Stop! You're a fool!                    The Machine swipes at 9 with its claw. 7 tries to stop it          from getting 9. The Machine sends her flying. She lands          badly and can't get up immediately. The Machine regroups,          then begins to re-approach 9. 9 stays put.                                             INSISTENTLY)                    It powers down right after it takes                    a soul!   Just for a few seconds.                     he twins chatter frantically.   7 struggles to get up.                                         No it doesn't!                                        9                    Yes, it does. You'll see.      I'll                    let it take my soul. Then                    after.... take the device.                     e points to the talisman on the machine.       He stands as the          Machine approaches.                                        7                    But what if you're wrong?                        (begging him)                    Don't do this--                                          9                        must.                    The Machine raises its claw to grab 9 when suddenly 9 is          KNOCKED ASIDE and --                    1 TAKES HIS PLACE.                                          9 (CONT'D)                    No!    What are you doing?   Stop!                    T                                                  W                                                  T                                                                         1                                                                                                             75.                              He tussles with 1 but 1 pushes him aside with surprising          strength.                                              (TO 9)                      They left us nothing. Nothing.                      What right did they have to burden                      us? Why did we have to right their                      wrongs? So I refused. I refused                      our path. But now... I see... we                      cannot refuse it.   We are all                      that's left.   We must complete                      our journey.                     he Machine raises its claw again and grabs 1.                    1 looks over to 9.                                          1 (CONT'D)                      Sometimes one must be sacrificed                      for the good of many.                     ith a horrible green glow the machine TAKES HIS SOUL.     The          twins look away, distressed.                                           7                          (TO 9)                      Go! Get away!   Hurry!                                           9                      NO--NO--                    But the machine RISES UP TERRIFYINGLY. It looks for a moment          as though 9 was wrong and they're all going to be killed.          They all cringe with horror.                    But then, as 9 had remembered, the Machine powers down to          "digest" 1's soul.          9              darts in and GRABS the TALISMAN.                     he machine, with a terrible shrieking sound, falters, then          crumples, dead. Sparks and smoke spew from it. Oil bubbles          down its sides. It is lifeless--just a pile of jumbled          machinery.                    7 and the twins approach and all of them look down at the          Talisman in 9's hands and we:                                                                     DISSOLVE TO:                    6                                                  T                              9                              T                                                  I                                                                                                              76.                                        ...........................................................                    SEQ. 240 - Souls Released, Life Renewed                              SEQ. 240 - EXT. RUINED CITY, JUST OUTSIDE OF THE SCIENTIST'S          HOUSE - NIGHT                    Smoke rises from the center of a funeral pyre the dolls have          made.                     t is a circular pyre, with spokes reaching out from the          center.                    At the end of each spoke is the burlap skin of one of the          fallen ragdolls, with its number stretched across a pole.                    In the center, a small FIRE flickers.                    9 stands in front of the last pole, holding 5's skin in his          hands. He looks down at it in his hands and sadly places it          upon the pole, looking up towards it.                     he twins come in with artifacts from the Scientist's studio.          The journal. The tiny box. They put them down to the side.                      and 7 take the Talisman and place it IN THE CENTER, in          front of the fire.                     he Talisman pulsates, vibrates, and shakes, and, finally          BURSTS. A huge GREEN GLOW reaches up to the sky and the          ragdolls' souls emerge.                    8 emerges and walks to his number. He nods to 9, 7, and the          twins. They nod back, acknowledging the fierce warrior.                    2 comes out with 5 close behind.   5 places an arm around 2.                      emerges from the Talisman energy.   He sees his key and          caresses it.                    1 emerges and comes over to stand next to 9. He nods,          acknowledging that 9 has finally completed the mission.     He          looks up to the sky. The others follow his gaze.                    Together, spirits and living, they all watch together, and          watch as the beam shoots up to the sky. We see THE SKY          CHANGING, HEALING, RENEWING ITSELF.                    A healing rain begins to fall.                                                                                                                    77.                              The souls of the slain ragdolls now rise and dissipate into          the healing energy.                    9 and 7 watch.   7 puts her arm around 9.                    The twins chatter: they've taken 6's key and tried it in the          little box's keyhole. It opens the box. 7 and 9 go over as          the box is opened:                    It is a music box.                    As they see themselves reflected in it, they see the word          "HOPE."                    Camera pulls back slowly... revealing a tiny tendril of green          grass growing.                                                                    FADE OUT.                                                THE END
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+                                      A FEW GOOD MEN                                        Written by                                       Aaron Sorkin                                   Revised Third Draft                                      July 15, 1991                               FADE IN:               EXT. A SENTRY TOWER --               -- in the middle of the night, in the middle of nowhere.               Small beams of light coming from lamps attached to the tower                cut through the ground mist. We HEAR all the unidentifiable                sounds of night in the woods. We also HEAR, very, very                faintly, a slow, deliberate drum cadence. And as this starts,                we begin to MOVE SLOWLY UP THE TOWER, more becomes visible                now:... the sandbags on the ground piled ten-high... the                steel, fire escape-type stairway wrapping around the structure                and leading to the lookout post, and finally... THE LOOKOUT                POST, maybe forty feet off the ground.               Standing the post is the silhouette of A MARINE. He's holding                a rifle and staring straight out.               The drum cadence has been building slightly.                                                                    CUT TO:               A WIDER SHOT OF THE FENCELINE. And we see by the moonlight                that the tall wire-mesh fence winds its way far, far into                the distance.               SUBTITLE: UNITED STATES NAVAL BASE GUANTANAMO BAY - CUBA.               The drum cadence continues, and we                                                                    CUT TO:               INT. A MARINE BARRACKS               We HEAR two pairs of footsteps and then                                                                    CUT TO:               THE BARRACKS CORRIDOR               where we see that the footsteps belong to DAWSON and DOWNEY,                two young marines who we'll get to know later. They stop                when they get to a certain door. The drum cadence is still                growing. DAWSON puts his hand on the doorknob and turns it                slowly.  He opens's the door and they walk into               INT. SANTIAGO'S ROOM - NIGHT               WILLY SANTIAGO, a young, very slight marine, lies asleep in                his bunk.               DAWSON kneels down by the bed, puts his hand on SANTIAGO'S                shoulder and shakes him gently. SANTIAGO opens his yes, looks                at DAWSON, and for a moment there's nothing wrong --               -- and then SANTIAGO's eyes fill with terror. He lunges out                of the bed -- but forget about it. In one flash DAWSON and                DOWNEY grab him out of bed, and before the scream can come                out, DOWNEY's shoved a piece of cloth into SANTIAGO's mouth.               Everything that happens next occurs with speed, precision                and professionalism.               -- A strip of duct tape is pulled, ripped, and slapped onto                his mouth and eyes --               -- A length of rope is wrapped around his hands and feet.                                     DOWNEY                              (quietly)                         You're lucky it's us, Willy.               -- An arm grabs him tightly around the neck, not choking                him, just holding his head still --               -- The drum cadence has built to a crescendo. We HEAR four                sharp blasts from a whistle and we                                                              SMASH CUT TO:               EXT. THE WASHINGTON NAVY YARD - DAY               and the drum cadence we've been hearing has turned into Semper                Fidelis and it's coming from THE U.S. MARINE CORPS BAND, a                sight to behold in their red and gold uniforms and polished                silver and brass.               The BAND is performing on the huge and lush parade grounds                before a crowd made up mostly of TOURISTS and DAY-CAMPERS.               As the TITLES ROLL, we watch the BAND do their thing from                various angles. Incredible precision is the name of the game.                Each polished black shoe hitting the ground as if they were                all attached by a rod. Each drumstick raised to the same                fraction of a centimeter before striking. A RIFLE DRILL TEAM                that can't possibly be human. Flags, banners, the works.               SUBTITLE: THE WASHINGTON NAVY YARD, WASHINGTON, D.C.                                                                    CUT TO:               HIGH ANGLE of the entire band an we end credits.                                                                    CUT TO:               EXT. A RED BRICK BUILDING - DAY               It's an important building, a main building. A few SAILORS                enter and exit and                                                                    CUT TO:               A WOMAN               as she walks across the courtyard toward the brick building.                 The WOMAN is JOANNE GALLOWAY, a navy lawyer in her early                30's. She's bright, attractive, impulsive, and has a tendency                to speak quickly. If she had any friends, they'd call her                JO. As she walks, she mutters to herself ...                                     JO                         I'm requesting... I'm... Captain,                          I'd like to request that I be the                          attorney assigned to rep -- I'd like                          to request that it be myself who is                          assigned to represent --                              (she stops)                         "That it be myself who is assigned                          to represent"? ...Good, Jo, that's                          confidence inspiring.               We follow JO, still muttering, as she walks into the brick                building which bears the seal of the               UNITED STATES NAVY - JUDGE ADVOCATE GENERAL'S CORPS                                                                    CUT TO:               INT. WEST'S OFFICE - DAY               As JO  enters. CAPTAIN WEST and two other officers, GIBBS                and LAWRENCE, sit around a conference table.                                     GIBBS                         Jo, come on in.                                     JO                         Thank you, sir.                                     GIBBS                         Captain West, this is Lt. Commander                          Galloway. Jo, you know Mike Lawrence.                                     JO                         Yes sir.                              (to WEST)                         Captain, I appreciate your seeing me                          on such short notice.                                     WEST                         I understand there was some trouble                          over the weekend down in Cuba.                                     JO                         Yes sir... This past Friday evening.                           Two marines, Corporal Harold Dawson                          and Private Louden Downey, entered                          the barracks room of a PFC William                          Santiago and assaulted him. Santiago                          died at the base hospital                          approximately an hour later. The NIS                          agent who took their statements                          maintains they were trying to prevent                          Santiago from naming them in a                          fenceline shooting incident. They're                          scheduled to have a hearing down in                          Cuba at 4:00 this afternoon.                                     LAWRENCE                         What's the problem?                                     JO                         Dawson and Downey are both recruiting                          poster marines and Santiago was known                          to be a screw-up. I was thinking                          that it sounded an awful lot like a                          code red.               Jo lets this sink in a moment.                                     WEST                              (under his breath)                         Christ.                                     JO                         I'd like them moved up to Washington                          and assigned counsel. Someone who                          can really look into this. Someone                          who possesses not only the legal                          skill, but a familiarity with the                          inner workings of the military. In                          short, Captain, I'd like to suggest                          that... I be the one who, that it be                          me who is assigned to represent them.                              (beat)                         Myself.               Jo looks around the room for a response.                                     WEST                         Joanne, why don't you get yourself a                          cup of coffee.                                     JO                         Thank you, sir, I'm fine.                                     WEST                         Joanne, I'd like you to leave the                          room so we can talk about you behind                          your back.                                     JO                         Certainly, sir.               JO gets up and walks out.                                     WEST                         I thought this Code Red shit wasn't                          going on anymore.                                     LAWRENCE                         With the marines at GITMO? Who the                          hell knows what goes on down there.                                     WEST                         Well lets find out before the rest                          of the world does, this thing could                          get messy. What about this woman?                                     LAWRENCE                         Jo's been working a desk at internal                          affairs for what, almost a year now.                                     WEST                         And before that?                                     GIBBS                         She disposed of three cases in two                          years.                                     WEST                         Three cases in two years? Who was                          she handling, the Rosenbergs?                                     GIBBS                         She's not cut out for litigation.                                     LAWRENCE                         She's a hall of an investigator,                          Jerry --                                     GIBBS                         In Internal Affairs, sure. She can                          crawl up a lawyer's ass with the                          best of 'em, but when it comes to                          trial work --                                     WEST                         I know. All passion, no street smarts.                          Bring her back in.               LAWRENCE goes to the door and motions for JO to come back                in.                                     WEST                              (continuing)                         Commander, we're gonna move the                          defendants up here in the morning.                                     JO                         Thank you, sir.                                     WEST                         And I'll have Division assign them                          counsel...                                     JO                              (beat)                         But... not me.                                     WEST                         From what I understand from your                          colleagues, you're much too valuable                          in your present assignment to be                          wasted on what I'm sure will boil                          down to a five minute plea bargain                          and a week's worth of paper work.                                     JO                         Sir --                                     WEST                         Don't worry about it. I promise you,                          division'll assign the right man for                          the job.                                                                    CUT TO:               EXT. SOFTBALL FIELD - DAY               THE RIGHT MAN FOR THE JOB               His name is LIEUTENANT JUNIOR GRADE DANIEL ALLISTAIR KAFFEE,                and it's almost impossible not to like him. At the moment                he's hitting fungoes to about a dozen LAWYERS who are spread                out on the softball field on a corner of the bass. The '27                Yankees they're not, but they could probably hold their own                against a group of, say, Airforce dentists.               KAFFEE's in his late 20's, 15 months out of Harvard Law                School, and a brilliant legal mind waiting for a courageous                spirit to drive it. He is, at this point in his life,                passionate about nothing... except maybe softball.                                     KAFFEE                              (calling out to the                               team)                         Alright, let's get two!               He smacks one to the SECOND BASE. The ball bounces right                between his legs.                                     SECOND BASE                         Sorry!                                     KAFFEE                         Nothing to be sorry about, Sherby.                           Just look the ball into your glove.               He smacks one out to the same place. It bounces off the heel                of SHERBY's glove and into center field.                                     SECOND BASE (SHERBY)                         Sorry!                                     KAFFEE                         You gotta trust me, Sherby. You keep                          your eyes open, your chances of                          catching the ball increase by a factor                          of ten.               SPRADLING, a young naval officer, sweaty and out of breath,                walks up behind the backstop.                                     SPRADLING                         Kaffee!                                     KAFFEE                         Let's try it again.                                     SPRADLING                         Kaffee!!                                     KAFFEE                              (turning)                         Dave. You seem upset and distraught.                                     SPRADLING                         We were supposed to meet in your                          office 15 minutes ago to talk about                          the McDermott case. You're stalling                          on this thing. Now we got this done                          and I mean now, or no kidding, Kaffee,                          I'll hang your boy from a fuckin'                          yardarm.                                     KAFFEE                         A yardarm?                              (calling out)                         Sherby, does the Navy still hang                          people from yardarms?                                     SHERBY                              (calling back)                         I don't think so, Danny.                                     KAFFEE                              (back to SPRADLING)                         Dave, Sherby doesn't think the Navy                          hangs people from yardarms anymore.                              (back to the field)                         Let's go, let's get two!               He goes back to hitting fungoes.                                     SPRADLING                         I'm gonna charge him with possession                          and being under the influence while                          on duty. Plead guilty and I'll                          recommend 30 days in the brig with                          loss of rank and pay.                                     KAFFEE                         It was oregano, Dave, it was ten                          dollars worth of oregano.                                     SPRADLING                         Yeah, well your client thought it                          was marijuana.                                     KAFFEE                         My client's a moron, that's not                          against the law.               Swapp! The THIRD BASEMAN takes one in the face.                                     KAFFEE                              (continuing)                         Ow. That had to hurt.                              (calling out)                         Way to keep your head in the play,                          Lester. Walk it off!                                     SPRADLING                         I've got people to answer to just                          like you, I'm gonna charge him.                                     KAFFEE                         With what, possession of a condiment?                                     SPRADLING                         Kaffee --                                     KAFFEE                         Dave, I've tried to help you out of                          this, but if you ask for tall time,                          I'm gonna file a motion to dismiss.                                     SPRADLING                         You won't got it.                                     KAFFEE                         I will get it. And if the MTD is                          denied, I'll file a motion in liminee                          seeking to obtain evidentiary ruling                          in advance, and after that I'm gonna                          file against pre-trial confinement,                          and you're gonna spend an entire                          summer going blind on paperwork                          because a Signalman Second Class                          bought and smoked a dime bag of                          oregano.                                     SPRADLING                         B Misdemeanor, 20 days in the brig.                                     KAFFEE                         C Misdemeanor, 15 days restricted                          duty.                                     SPRADLING                         I don't know why I'm agreeing to                          this.                                     KAFFEE                         'Cause you have wisdom beyond your                          years. Dave, can you play third base?               INT. CONFERENCE ROOM - DAY               About 16 NAVY AND MARINE LAWYERS (several of whom are women)                are taking their seats around a large conference table.               A PARALEGAL is handing out folders and some photocopied papers                to the LAWYERS.               We might notice that one of the lawyers is Lieutenant Junior                Grade SAM WEINBERG. Sam's serious and studious looking. If                he weren't in uniform, you wouldn't guess that he was a naval                officer.               CAPTAIN WHITAKER walks in.                                     WHITAKER                         'Morning.                                     LAWYERS                              (school class)                         'Morning Captain Whitaker.                                     WHITAKER                         Sam, how's the baby?                                     SAM                         I think she's ready to say her first                          word any day now.                                     WHITAKER                         How can you tell?                                     SAM                         She just looks like she has something                          to say.               KAFFEE walks in.                                     KAFFEE                         Excuse me, sorry I'm late.                                     WHITAKER                         I'm sure you don't have a good excuse,                          so I won't force you to come up with                          a bad one.                                     KAFFEE                         Thank you, Isaac, that's nice of                          you.                                     WHITAKER                         Sit-down, this first one's for you.               He hands KAFFEE some files.                                     WHITAKER                              (continuing)                         You're moving up in the world, Danny,                          you've been requested by Division.               "Oooh"'s and "Ahhh"'S from the other LAWYERS. (Subtle Note:                Kaffee doesn't want to move up in the world.)                                     KAFFEE                         Requested to do what?               WHITAKER hands him a file.                                     WHITAKER                         Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. A marine                          corporal named Dawson illegally fires                          a round from his weapon over the                          fenceline and into Cuban territory.                                     KAFFEE                         What's a fenceline?                                     WHITAKER                         Sam?                                     SAM                         A big wall separating the good guys                          from the bad guys.                                     KAFFEE                         Teachers pet.                                     WHITAKER                         PFC William Santiago threatens to                          rat on Dawson to the Naval                          investigative Service. Dawson and                          another member of his squad, PFC                          Louden Downey, they go into Santiago's                          room, tie him up, and stuff a rag                          down his throat. An hour later,                          Santiago's dead. Attending physician                          says the rag was treated with some                          kind of toxin.                                     KAFFEE                         They poisoned the rag?                                     WHITAKER                         Not according to them.                                     KAFFEE                         What do they say?                                     WHITAKER                         Not much. They're being flown up                          here tomorrow and on Thursday at                          0600 you'll catch a transport down                          to Cuba for the day to find out what                          you can. Meantime, go across the                          yard and see Lt. Commander Joanne                          Galloway. She's the one who had 'em                          brought up here. She'll fill you in                          on whatever she has. Any questions?                                     KAFFEE                         The flight to Cuba, was that 0600 in                          the morning, sir?                                     WHITAKER                         It seems important to Division that                          this one be handled by the book, so                          I'm assigning co-counsel. Any                          volunteers?                                     SAM                         No.                                     WHITAKER                         Sam.                                     SAM                         I have a stack of paper on my desk --                                     WHITAKER                         Work with Kaffee on this.                                     SAM                         Doing what? Kaffee'll finish this up                          in four days.                                     WHITAKER                         Do various... administrative... you                          know... things. Back-up. Whatever.                                     SAM                         In other words I have no                          responsibilities whatsoever.                                     WHITAKER                         Right.                                     SAM                         My kinda case.                                                                    CUT TO:               INT. JO'S OFFICE - DAY               JO sits behind her desk. KAFFEE and SAM stand in the doorway.                KAFFEE knocks politely.               JO looks up.                                     KAFFEE                         Hi.                              (beat)                         I'm Daniel Kaffee. I was told to                          meet with --                              (checks notes)                         -- Commander Galloway.               JO is staring at him. KAFFEE doesn't know why.                                     KAFFEE                              (continuing)                         About a briefing.               JO is finding this hard to believe.                                     JO                         You're the attorney that Division                          assigned?                                     KAFFEE                         I'm lead counsel. This is Sam                          Weinberg.                                     SAM                         I have no responsibilities here                          whatsoever.               JO's deeply puzzled.                                     JO                              (beat)                         Come in, please, have a seat...               KAFFEE and SAM come into the office and sit.                                     JO                              (continuing)                         Lieutenant, how long have you been                          in the Navy?                                     KAFFEE                         Going on nine months now.                                     JO                         And how long have you been out of                          law school?                                     KAFFEE                         A little over a year.                                     JO                              (beat)                         I see.                                     KAFFEE                         Have I done something wrong?                                     JO                         No. It's just that when I petitioned                          Division to have counsel assigned, I                          was hoping I'd be taken seriously.               KAFFEE and SAM exchange a look.                                     KAFFEE                              (to JO)                         No offense taken, if you were                          wondering.                                     SAM                         Commander, Lt. Kaffee's generally                          considered the best litigator in our                          office. He's successfully plea                          bargained 44 cases in nine months.                                     KAFFEE                         One more, and I got a set of steak                          knives.                                     JO                         Have you ever been in a courtroom?                                     KAFFEE                         I once had my drivers license                          suspended.                                     SAM                         Danny --                                     KAFFEE                         Commander, from what I understand,                          if this thing goes to court, they                          won't need a lawyer, they'll need a                          priest.                                     JO                         No. They'll need a lawyer.               During this, she'll hand KAFFEE a series of files, which                KAFFEE will pass To SAM without even glancing at them.                                     JO                              (continuing)                         Dawson's family has been contacted.                           Downey's closest living relative is                          Ginny Miller, his aunt on his mother's                          side, she hasn't been Contacted yet.               None of this really means anything to KAFFEE.                                     JO                              (continuing)                         Would you like me to take care of                          that?                                     KAFFEE                         Sure, if you feel like it.               JO takes another beat to size this guy up.                                     JO                         One of the people you'll be speaking                          to down there is the barracks C.O.,                          Colonel Nathan Jessep, I assume you've                          heard of him.                                     KAFFEE                              (beat)                         Who hasn't?                                     SAM                              (to KAFFEE)                         He's been in the papers lately. He's                          expected to be appointed Director of                          Operations for the National Security                          Counsel.               Passing KAFFEE another file --                                     JO                         These are letters that Santiago wrote                          in his 8 months at GITMO --                                     SAM                              (whispering to kaffee)                         Guantanamo Bay.                                     KAFFEE                         I know that one.                                     JO                         He wrote to his recruiter, the fleet                          commander, HQ, Atlantic, even his                          senator. He wanted a transfer. Nobody                          was listening. You with me?                                     KAFFEE                         Yes.                                     JO                         This last letter to the Naval                          investigative Service --               She hands it to KAFFEE who hands it to Sam --                                     JO                              (continuing)                         -- where he offers information about                          Corporal Dawson's fenceline shooting                          in exchange for a transfer, was just                          a last ditch effort.                                     KAFFEE                         Right. Is that all?                                     JO                              (beat)                         Lieutenant, this letter makes it                          look like your client had a motive                          to kill Santiago.                                     KAFFEE                         Gotcha.                              (beat)                         And Santiago is... who?                                     JO                              (beat)                         The victim.                                     KAFFEE                              (to SAM)                         Write that down.                              (to JO)                         Am I correct in assuming that these                          letters don't paint a flattering                          picture of marine corps life in                          Guantanamo Bay?                                     JO                         Yes, among other --                                     KAFFEE                         And am I further right in assuming                          that a protracted investigation of                          this incident might cause some                          embarrassment for the security counsel                          guy.                                     JO                         Colonel Jessep, yes, but --                                     KAFFEE                         Twelve years.                                     JO                         I'm sorry?                                     KAFFEE                         Twelve years. I can get it knocked                          down to Involuntary Manslaughter.                          Twelve years.                                     JO                         You haven't talked to a witness, you                          haven't looked at a piece of paper.                                     KAFFEE                         Pretty impressive, huh?                                     JO                         You're gonna have to go deeper than                          just --                                     KAFFEE                         Commander, do you have some sort of                          jurisdiction here that I should know                          about?                                     JO                         My job is to make sure you do your                          job. I'm special counsel for Internal                          Affairs, so my jurisdiction's pretty                          much in your face. Read the letters.                          You're not under any obligation, but                          I'd appreciate a report when you get                          back from Cuba.                                     KAFFEE                         Sure.               KAFFEE gets up without waiting for JO to say --                                     JO                         You're dismissed.                                     KAFFEE                         Sorry, I always forget that.               KAFFEE's gone. SAM's standing in the doorway.                                     SAM                         He's a little preoccupied.                              (beat)                         The team's playing Bethesda Medical                          next week.                                     JO                         Tell your friend not to get cute                          down there.  The marines in Guantanimo                          are fanatical.                                     SAM                         About what?               And in VOICE OVER we HEAR --                                     SANTIAGO (V.O.)                         Dear Sir,                                     JO                         About being marines.                                                                    CUT TO:               EXT. CUBAN FIELD - DAY               SERIES OF SHOTS - DAY               And while we HEAR the letter read in V.O., what we're seeing                is this: SANTIAGO's life in Guantanimo Bay over the last 8                months. He had a rough time of it.               THE SHOTS SHOULD INCLUDE:               -- SANTIAGO running along at the rear of a group of MARINES.                 It's been over seven miles and he's matted with sweat. A                SERGEANT runs up along side, grabs his back, and pushes him                to keep up with the group. SANTIAGO falls, struggles to get                back up and keep running, and                                                                    CUT TO:               EXT. MARINE BARRACKS - DAY               -- SANTIAGO doing push-ups alone in the rain. He's being                supervised by a SERGEANT who sees to it that his face hits                the mud every time down and                                                                    CUT TO:               INT. MESS HALL - DAY               -- SANTIAGO sitting alone in the mess hall, not a friend                within four seats of him and                                                                    CUT TO:               EXT. MARINE BARRACKS - DAY               -- SANTIAGO being chewed out by a Lieutenant in front of his                squad and                                                                    CUT TO:               EXT. ROCKY HILL - DAY               -- SANTIAGO running with the squad of MARINES again, this                time down a rocky hill. It's hot as hell and it looks like                he's gonna pass out.               He stumbles, and the SERGEANT picks him up and pushes him                down the hill. He rolls about 30 feet before he stops. Over                this, we HEAR                                     SANTIAGO (V.O.)                         "...My name is PFC William T.                          Santiago. I am a marine stationed at                          Marine Barracks, Rifle Security                          Company Windward, Second Platoon                          Delta. I am writing to inform you of                          my problems with my unit here in                          Cuba and to ask for your help. I've                          fallen out on runs before for several                          reasons such as feeling dizzy or                          nauseated, but on May 18th, I'd fallen                          back about 20 or 30 yards going down                          a rocky, unstable hill. My sergeant                          grabbed me and pushed me down the                          hill. Then I saw all black and the                          last thing I remember is hitting the                          deck. I was brought to the hospital                          where I was told I just had heat                          exhaustion and was explained to by                          the doctor that my body has trouble                          with the hot sun and I hyperventilate.                          I ask you to help me. Please sir. I                          just need to be transferred out of                          RSC. Sincerely. PFC William T.                          Santiago. U.S. Marine Corps."               At this point, with SANTIAGO's letter still in V.O., we                                                                    CUT TO:               INT.  JESSEP'S OFFICE - DAY               THE LETTER - DAY               It's the last paragraph of the letter we've been hearing,                and at the moment, we can't see the hands that are holding                it.                                     SANTIAGO (V.O.)                         "P.S. In exchange for my transfer                          off the base, I'm willing to provide                          you with information about an illegal                          fenceline shooting that occurred the                          night of August 2nd."               And as these last words are spoken, we PULL BACK TO REVEAL                COLONEL NATHAN R. JESSEP, who drops the letter he's been                reading on his desk, where it joins a stack of other letters                just like it.               JESSEP's a born leader, considered in many circles to be one                of the real fair-haired boys of the Corps. He's smart as a                whip with a sense of humor to match. As soon as he drops the                letter, he says                                     JESSEP                         Who the fuck is PFC William T.                          Santiago.               He's talking to his two senior officers. CAPTAIN MARKINSON                is in his late 40's. He's a career marine and a nice guy in                a world where nice guys may not finish last, but they sure                as shit don't finish first. Lt. JONATHAN JAMES KENDRICK is                26, from Georgia, and an Academy graduate.               If you asked him he'd tell you that the gates to heaven are                guarded by the U.S. Marine Corps.                                     KENDRICK                         Sir, Santiago is a member of Second                          Platoon, Delta.                                     JESSEP                         Yeah, well, apparently he's not very                          happy down here at Shangri-La, cause                          he's written letters to everyone but                          Santa Claus asking for a transfer.                          And now he's telling tales about a                          fenceline shooting.               He tosses the letter over to MARKINSON. MARKINSON is looking                it over. JESSEP is waiting for a response.                                     JESSEP                              (continuing)                         Matthew?                                     MARKINSON                         I'm appalled, sir.                                     JESSEP                         You're appalled? This kid broke the                          Chain of Command and he ratted on a                          man of his unit, to say nothing of                          the fact that he's a U.S. Marine and                          it would appear that he can't run                          from here to there without collapsing                          from heat exhaustion. What the fuck's                          going on over at Windward, Matthew?                                     MARKINSON                         Colonel, I think perhaps it would be                          better to hold this discussion in                          private.                                     KENDRICK                         That won't be necessary, Colonel,                          I'll handle the situation.                                     MARKINSON                         The same way you handled the Curtis                          Barnes incident? You're doing                          something wrong, Lieutenant this --                                     KENDRICK                         My methods of leadership are --                                     MARKINSON                         Don't interrupt me, I'm still your                          superior officer.                                     JESSEP                         And I'm yours, Matthew.               The room calms down for a moment.                                     JESSEP                              (continuing)                         I want to know what we're gonna do                          about this.                                     MARKINSON                         I think Santiago should be transferred                          off the base. Right away.                                     JESSEP                         He's that bad, huh?                                     MARKINSON                         Not only that, but word of this                          letter's bound to get out. The kid's                          gonna get his ass kicked.                                     JESSEP                         Transfer Santiago. Yes I suppose                          you're right. I suppose that's the                          thing to do. Wait. Wait. I've got a                          better idea. Let's transfer the whole                          squad off the base. Let's -- on second                          thought -- Windward. The whole                          Windward division, let's transfer                          'em off the base. Jon, go on out                          there and get those boys down off                          the fence, they're packing their                          bags.                              (calling out)                         Tom!               The ORDERLY cones in from the outer office.                                     ORDERLY                         Sir!                                     JESSEP                         Got me the President on the phone,                          we're surrendering our position in                          Cuba.                                     ORDERLY                         Yes sir!                                     JESSEP                         Wait a minute, Tom.               The ORDERLY stops.                                     JESSEP                              (continuing)                         Don't call the President just yet.                          Maybe we should consider this for a                          second. Maybe -- and I'm just spit                          balling here -- but maybe we as                          officers have a responsibility to                          train Santiago. Maybe we as officers                          have a responsibility to this country                          to see that the men and women charged                          with its security are trained                          professionals. Yes. I'm certain I                          once read that somewhere. And now                          I'm thinking that your suggestion of                          transferring Santiago, while                          expeditious, and certainly painless,                          might not be in a manner of speaking,                          the American way. Santiago stays                          where he is. We're gonna train the                          lad. You're in charge, Jon. Santiago                          doesn't make 4.1 on his next fitness                          report, I'm gonna blame you. Then                          I'm gonna kill you.                                     KENDRICK                         Yes sir.                                     MARKINSON                         I think that's a mistake, Colonel.                                     JESSEP                         Matthew, I believe I will have that                          word in private with you now. Jon,                          that's all. Why don't you and I have                          lunch at the "O" club, we'll talk                          about the training of young William.                                     KENDRICK                         Yes sir, I'd be delighted to hear                          any suggestions you have.                                     JESSEP                         Dismissed.               KENDRICK is gone.                                     JESSEP                              (continuing)                         Matthew, sit, please.               MARKINSON sits.                                     JESSEP                              (continuing)                         What do you think of Kendrick?                                     MARKINSON                              (beat)                         I don't know that --                                     JESSEP                         I think he's kind of a weasel, myself.                          But he's an awfully good officer,                          and in the end we see eye to eye on                          the best way to run a marine corps                          unit. We're in the business of saving                          lives, Matthew. That's a                          responsibility we have to take pretty                          seriously. And I believe that taking                          a marine who's not yet up to the job                          and packing him off to another                          assignment, puts lives in danger.               MARKINSON starts to stand --                                     JESSEP                              (continuing)                         Matthew, siddown.                              (beat)                         We go back a while. We went to the                          Academy together, we were commissioned                          together, we did our tours in Vietnam                          together. But I've been promoted up                          through the chain with greater speed                          and success than you have. Now if                          that's a source of tension or                          embarrassment for you, well, I don't                          give a shit. We're in the business                          of saving lives, Captain Markinson.                          Don't ever question my orders in                          front of another officer.               JESSEP grabs his hat and walks out, leaving MARKINSON sitting                all alone, and we                                                                    CUT TO:               EXT. WASHINGTON NAVY YARD - MAIN GATE - DAY               It's maybe a little hazier today than it was yesterday. An                M.P. is waving a procession of three Military Police sedans                and a fourth unmarked car through the gate. The cars drive                through and we                                                                    CUT TO:               EXT. THE BRIG - DAY               Another red-brick building. A few M.P.Is stand out front as                the cars pull up. As soon as they come to a stop, all the                doors swing open and various uniformed and non-uniformed                officers hop out and move to the unmarked sedan where they                escort DAWSON and DOWNEY, in handcuffs, out of the car.                 HAROLD DAWSON's a handsome, young, black corporal. Intense,                controlled, and utterly professional.               LOUDEN DOWNEY's a 19-year-old kid off an Iowa farm. He's                happiest when someone is telling him exactly what to do.               DAWSON's his hero.               The two prisoners stand still for a moment. They might as                we'll be in Oz.                                     DOWNEY                         Hal?               DAWSON doesn't say anything.                                     DOWNEY                              (continuing)                         Is this Washington, D.C.?                                     M.P.                         Alright, let's move.                                                                    CUT TO:               EXT.  SOFTBALL FIELD - DAY               and KAFFEE's at it again.                                     KAFFEE                         Alright, let's get tough out there!               JO walks up from behind the backstop.                                     JO                         Excuse me.                                     KAFFEE                         You want to suit up? We need all the                          help we can get.                                     JO                         No, thank you, I can't throw and                          catch things.                                     KAFFEE                         That's okay, neither can they.                                     JO                         I wanted to talk to you about Corporal                          Dawson and Private Downey.                                     KAFFEE                         Say again?                                     JO                         Dawson and Downey.                                     KAFFEE                              (beat)                         Those names sound like they should                          mean something to me, but I'm just                          not --                                     JO                         Dawson! Downey! Your clients!                                     KAFFEE                         The Cuba thing! Yes! Dawson and                          Downey.                              (beat)                         Right.                              (pause)                         I've done something wrong again,                          haven't I?                                     JO                         I was wondering why two guys have                          been in a jail cell since this morning                          while their lawyer is outside hitting                          a ball.                                     KAFFEE                         We need the practice.                                     JO                         That wasn't funny.                                     KAFFEE                         It was a little funny.                                     JO                         Lieutenant, would you feel very                          insulted if I recommended to your                          supervisor that he assign different                          counsel?                                     KAFFEE                         Why?                                     JO                         I don't think you're fit to handle                          this defense.                                     KAFFEE                         You don't even know me. Ordinarily                          it takes someone hours to discover                          I'm not fit to handle a defense.               Jo just stares.                                     KAFFEE                              (continuing)                         Oh come on, that was damn funny.               Jo moves close to KAFFEE to say this with a degree of                confidentiality.                                     JO                         I do know you. Daniel AlliStair                          Kaffee, born June 8th, 1964 at Boston                          Mercy Hospital. Your father's Lionel                          Kaffee, former Navy Judge Advocate                          and Attorney General, of the United                          States, died 1985. You went to Harvard                          Law on a Navy scholarship, probably                          because that's what your father wanted                          you to do, and now you're just                          treading water for the three years                          you've gotta serve in the JAG Corps,                          just kinda layin' low til you can                          get out and get a real job. And if                          that's the situation, that's fine, I                          won't tell anyone. But my feeling is                          that if this case is handled in the                          same fast-food, slick-ass, Persian                          Bazaar manner with which you seem to                          handle everything else, something's                          gonna get missed. And I wouldn't be                          doing my job if I allowed Dawson and                          Downey to spend any more time in                          prison than absolutely necessary,                          because their attorney had pre-                         determined the path of least                          resistance.               KAFFEE can't help but be impressed by that speech.                                     KAFFEE                         Wow.                              (beat)                         I'm sexually aroused, Commander.                                     JO                         I don't think your clients murdered                          anybody.                                     KAFFEE                         What are you basing this on?                                     JO                         There was no intent.                                     KAFFEE                         The doctor's report says that Santiago                          died of asphyxiation brought on by                          acute lactic acidosis, and that the                          nature of the acidosis strongly                          suggests poisoning.                              (beat)                         Now, I don't know what any of that                          means, but it sounds pretty bad.                                     JO                         Santiago died at one a.m. At three                          the doctor was unable to determine                          the cause of death, but two hours                          later he said it was poison.                                     KAFFEE                         Oh, now I see what you're saying.                           It had to be Professor Plum in the                          library with the candlestick.                                     JO                         I'm gonna speak to your supervisor.                                     KAFFEE                         Okay. You go straight up Pennsylvania                          Avenue. It's a big white house with                          pillars in front.                                     JO                         Thank you.                                     KAFFEE                         I don't think you'll have much luck,                          though. I was assigned by Division,                          remember? Somebody over there thinks                          I'm a good lawyer. So while I                          appreciate your interest and admire                          your enthusiasm, I think I can pretty                          much handle things myself.                                     JO                         Do you know what a code red is?               KAFFEE doesn't, but he doesn't say anything.                                     JO                              (continuing)                         What a pity.                                                                    CUT TO:               INT. THE BRIG - DAY               And an M.P. is leading KAFFEE and SAM down to DAWSON and                DOWNEY's cell.                                     M.P.                         Officer on deck, ten-hut.               DAWSON and DOWNEY come to attention. Through the following,                the M.P. will unlock the call door and let the lawyers in.                                     DAWSON                         Sir, Lance Corporal Harold W. Dawson,                          sir. Rifle Security Company Windward,                          Second Platoon, Delta.                                     KAFFEE                         Someone hasn't been working and                          playing well with others, Harold.                                     DAWSON                         Sir, yes sir!                                     DOWNEY                         Sir, PFC Louden Downey.                                     KAFFEE                         I'm Daniel Kaffee, this is Sam                          Weinerg, you can sitdown.               DAWSON and DOWNEY aren't too comfortable sitting in the                presence of officers, but they do as they're told. KAFFEE's                pulled out some documents, SAM's sitting on one of the cots                taking notes.                                     KAFFEE                              (continuing; to DAWSON)                         Is this your signature?                                     DAWSON                         Yes sir.                                     KAFFEE                         You don't have to call me sir.                              (to DOWNEY)                         Is this your signature?                                     DOWNEY                         Sir, yes sir.                                     KAFFEE                         And you certainly don't have to do                          it twice in one sentence. Harold,                          what's a Code Red?                                     DAWSON                         Sir, a Code Red is a disciplinary                          engagement.                                     KAFFEE                         What does that mean, exactly?                                     DAWSON                         Sir, a marine falls out of line,                          it's up to the men in his unit to                          get him back on track.                                     KAFFEE                         What's a garden variety Code Red?                                     DAWSON                         Sir?                                     KAFFEE                         Harold, you say sir and I turn around                          and look for my father. Danny, Daniel,                          Kaffee. Garden variety; typical.                          What's a basic Code Red?                                     DAWSON                         Sir, a marine has refused to bathe                          on a regular basis. The men in his                          squad would give him a G.I. shower.                                     KAFFEE                         What's that?                                     DAWSON                         Scrub brushes, brillo pads, steel                          wool...                                     SAM                         Beautiful.                                     KAFFEE                         Was the attack on Santiago a Code                          Red?                                     DAWSON                         Yes sir.                                     KAFFEE                              (to DOWNEY)                         Do you ever talk?                                     DAWSON                         Sir, Private Downey will answer any                          direct questions you ask him.                                     KAFFEE                         Swell. Private Downey, the rag you                          stuffed in Santiago's mouth, was                          there poison on it?                                     DOWNEY                         No sir.                                     KAFFEE                         Silver polish, turpentine, anti-                         freeze...                                     DOWNEY                         No sir. We were gonna shave his head,                          sir.                                     KAFFEE                         When all of a sudden...?                                     DOWNEY                         We saw blood drippinq out of his                          mouth. Then we pulled the tape off,                          and there was blood all down his                          face, sir. That's when Corporal Dawson                          called the ambulance.               KAFFEE tries not to make too big a deal out of this last                piece of news.                                     KAFFEE                              (to DAWSON)                         Did anyone see you call the ambulance?                                     DAWSON                         No sir.                                     KAFFEE                         Were you there when the ambulance                          got there?                                     DAWSON                         Yes sir, that's when we were taken                          under arrest.               KAFFEE kinda strolls to the corner of the cell to think for                a moment.                                     SAM                              (to DAWSON)                         On the night of August 2nd, did you                          fire a shot across the fenceline                          into Cuba?                                     DAWSON                         Yes sir.                                     SAM                         Why?                                     DAWSON                         My mirror engaged, sir.                                     KAFFEE                              (to SAM)                         His mirror engaged?                                     SAM                         For each American sentry post there's                          a Cuban counterpart. They're called                          mirrors. The corporal's claiming                          that his mirror was about to fire at                          him.                                     KAFFEE                         Santiago's letter to the NIS said                          you fired illegally. He's saying                          that the guy, the mirror, he never                          made a move.               DAWSON says nothing.                                     KAFFEE                              (continuing)                         Oh, Harold?               SAM is staring at DAWSON.                                     KAFFEE                              (continuing)                         You see what I'm getting at? If                          Santiago didn't have anything on                          you, then why did you give him a                          Code Red?                                     DAWSON                         Because he broke the chain of command,                          sir.                                     KAFFEE                         He what?                                     DAWSON                         He went outside his unit, sir. If he                          had a problem, he should've spoken                          to me, sir. Then his Sergeant, then                          Company Commander, then --                                     KAFFEE                         Yeah, yeah, alright. Harold, did you                          assault Santiago with the intent of                          killing him?                                     DAWSON                         No sir.                                     KAFFEE                         What was your intent?                                     DAWSON                         To train him, sir.                                     KAFFEE                         Train him to do what?                                     DAWSON                         Train him to think of his unit before                          himself. To respect the code.                                     SAM                         What's the code?                                     DAWSON                         Unit Corps God Country.                                     SAM                         I beg your pardon?                                     DAWSON                         Unit Corps God Country, sir.                                     KAFFEE                         The Goverrment of the United States                          wants to charge you two with murder.                          You want me to go to the prosecutor                          with unit, corps, god, country?               DAWSON stares at KAFFEE.                                     DAWSON                         That's our code, sir.               KAFFEE takes a long moment. He picks up his briefcase and he                and SAM move to the door.                                     KAFFEE                         We'll be back. You guys need anything?                          Books paper, cigarettes, a ham                          sandwich?                                     DAWSON                         Sir. No thank you. Sir.               KAFFEE smiles at DAWSON.                                     KAFFEE                         Harold, I think there's a concept                          you better start warming up to.                                     DAWSON                         Sir?                                     KAFFEE                         I'm the only friend you've got.               And as KAFFEE and SAM walk out the open cell door, DAWSON                and DOWNEY come to attention and snap a salute.               They hold the salute until KAFFEE and SAM are well out of                sight, and we                                                                    CUT TO:               INT.  KAFFEE'S OFFICE - DAY               He's packing up stuff into his briefcase at the end of the                work day. Lt. JACK ROSS, a marine lawyer maybe two years                older than Kaffee, opens the door and walks in..                                     ROSS                         Dan Kaffee.                                     KAFFEE                         Sailin' Jack Ross.                                     ROSS                         Welcome to the big time.                                     KAFFEE                         You think so?                                     ROSS                         I hope for Dawson and Downey's sake                          you practice law better than you                          play softball.                                     KAFFEE                         Unfortunately for Dawson and Downey,                          I don't do anything better than I                          play softball. What are we lookin'                          at?                                     ROSS                         They plead guilty to manslaughter,                          I'll drop the conspiracy and the                          conduct unbecoming. 20 years, they'll                          be home in half that time.                                     KAFFEE                         I want twelve.                                     ROSS                         Can't do it.                                     KAFFEE                         They called the ambulance, Jack.                                     ROSS                         I don't care if they called the Avon                          Lady, they killed a marine.                                     KAFFEE                         The rag was tested for poison.  The                          autopsy, lab report, even the initial                          E.R. and C.O.D. reports. They all                          say the same thing: Maybe, maybe                          not.                                     ROSS                         The Chief of Internal Medicine at                          the Guantanamo Bay Naval hospital                          says he's sure.                                     KAFFEE                         What do you know about Code Reds?               ROSS smiles and shakes his head.                                     ROSS                         Oh man.               He closes the office door.                                     ROSS                              (continuing)                         Are we off the record?                                     KAFFEE                         You tell me.                                     ROSS                              (pause)                         I'm gonna give you the twelve years,                          but before you go getting yourself                          into trouble tomorrow, you should                          know this: The platoon commander Lt.                          Jonathan Kendrick, had a meeting                          with the men. And he specifically                          told them not to touch Santiago.               KAFFEE holds for a moment. Dawson and Downey neglected to                mention this... He packs up his briefcase and cleats.                                     KAFFEE                         I'll talk to you when I get back.                                     ROSS                         Hey, we got a little four-on-four                          going tomorrow night. When does your                          plane get in?                                                                    CUT TO:               EXT.  THE PARKING LOT - DUSK               It's dusk and people on the base are going home from work.                 We can see the flag being lowered in the background.               KAFFEE's walking toward his car. JO intercepts him and starts                walking along with him.                                     JO                         Hi there.                                     KAFFEE                         Any luck getting me replaced?                                     JO                         Is there anyone in this command that                          you don't either drink or play                          softball with?                                     KAFFEE                         Commander --                                     JO                         Listen, I came to make peace. We                          started off on the wrong foot. What                          do you say? Friends?                                     KAFFEE                         Look, I don't --                                     JO                         By the way, I brought Downey some                          comic books he was asking for. The                          kid, Kaffee, I swear, he doesn't                          know where he is, he doesn't even                          know why he's been arrested.                                     KAFFEE                         Commander --                                     JO                         You can call me Joanne.                                     KAFFEE                         Joanne --                                     JO                         or Jo.                                     KAFFEE                         Jo?                                     JO                         Yes.                                     KAFFEE                         Jo, if you ever speak to a client of                          mine again without my permission,                          I'll have you disbarred. Friends?                                     JO                         I had authorization.                                     KAFFEE                         From where?                                     JO                         Downey's closest living relative,                          Ginny Miller, his aunt on his mother's                          side.                                     KAFFEE                         You got authorization from Aunt Ginny?                                     JO                         I gave her a call like you asked.                          Very nice woman, we talked for about                          an hour.                                     KAFFEE                         You got authorization from Aunt Ginny.                                     JO                         Perfectly within my province.                                     KAFFEE                         Does Aunt Ginny have a barn? We can                          hold the trial there. I can sew the                          costumes, and maybe his Uncle Goober                          can be the judge.               Jo steps aside and lets KAFFEE got into his car.                                     JO                         I'm going to Cuba with you tomorrow.                                     KAFFEE                         And the hits just keep on comin'.               HOLD on KAFFEE and Jo. JO smiles.                                                                    CUT TO:               EXT. SIDEWALK NEWSSTAND - DUSK               KAFFEE IN HIS CAR               He's driving down a Washington street and pulls over at a                sidewalk newsstand.               He gets out of his car, leaving the lights flashing, and                runs up to the newsstand.               As he plunks his 35 cents down and picks up a newspaper, he                engages in his daily ritual with LUTHER, the newsstand                operator.                                     KAFFEE                         How's it goin', Luther?                                     LUTHER                         Another day, another dollar, captain.                                     KAFFEE                         You gotta play 'em as they lay,                          Luther.                                     LUTHER                         What comes around, goes around, you                          know what I'm sayin'.                                     KAFFEE                         If you can't beat 'em, join 'em.                                     LUTHER                         Hey, if you've got your health, you                          got everything.                                     KAFFEE                         Love makes the world go round. I'll                          see you tomorrow, Luther.               And we                                                                    CUT TO:               INT. SAM'S LIVING ROOM - NIGHT               A baby sleeping in a crib pull rack to reveal SAM is standing                over the crib. KAFFEE's sitting on a beer.                                     SAM                         When Nancy gets back, you're my                          witness. The baby spoke. My daughter                          said a word.                                     KAFFEE                         Your daughter made a sound, Sam, I'm                          not sure it was a word.                                     SAM                         Oh come on, it was a word.                                     KAFFEE                         Okay.                                     SAM                         You heard her. The girl sat here,                          pointed, and said "Pa". She did. She                          said "Pa".                                     KAFFEE                         She was pointing at a doorknob.                                     SAM                         That's right. Pointing, as if to                          say, "Pa, look, a doorknob".               SAM joins KAFFEE in the living room.                                     KAFFEE                         Jack Ross came to see me today. He                          offered me twelve years.                                     SAM                         That's what you wanted.                                     KAFFEE                         I know, and I'll... I guess, I mean --                              (beat)                         I'll take it.                                     SAM                         So?                                     KAFFEE                         It took albout 45 seconds. He barely                          put up a fight.                                     SAM                              (beat)                         Danny, take the twelve years, it's a                          gift.               KAFFEE finishes off his beer, and stands.                                     KAFFEE                         You don't believe their story, do                          you? You think they ought to go to                          jail for the rest of their lives.                                     SAM                         I believe every word they said. And                          I think they ought to go to jail for                          the rest of their lives.               KAFFEE nods and puts down the empty beer bottle.                                     KAFFEE                         I'll see you tomorrow.               Sam opens the front door for him and they stand out on the                stoop for a moment.                                     SAM                         Remember to wear your whites, it's                          hot down there.                                     KAFFEE                         I don't like the whites.                                     SAM                         Nobody likes the whites, but we're                          going to Cuba in August. You got                          Dramamine?                                     KAFFEE                         Dramamine keeps you cool?                                     SAM                         Dramamine keeps you from throwing                          up, you get sick when you fly.                                     KAFFEE                         I get sick when I fly because I'm                          afraid of crashing into a large                          mountain, I don't think Dramamine'll                          help.                                     SAM                         I've got some oregano, I hear that                          works pretty good.                                     KAFFEE                         Yeah, right.               KAFFEE starts toward his car, then turns around.                                     KAFFEE                              (continuing)                         You know, Ross said the strangest                          thing to me right before I left. He                          said the platoon commander Lieutenant                          Jonathan Kendrick had a meeting with                          the men and specifically told them                          not to touch Santiago.                                     SAM                         So?                                     KAFFEE                         I never mentioned Kendrick. I don't                          even know who he is.                              (beat)                         What the hell.                              (beat)                         I'll see you tomorrow.               We hold for a moment on KAFFEE as he walks to his car, then                                                                    CUT TO:               EXT. THE AIRSTRIP AT GUANTANAMO BAY - DAY               The whole place, in stark contrast to the Washington Navy                Yard, is ready to go to war. Fighter jets line the tarmac.                Ground crews re-fuel planes. Hurried activity.               A 36 seat Airforce Jet rolls to a stop on the tarmac and a                stair unit is brought up.               HOWARD, a marine corporal, is waiting by the stairway as the                passengers begin to got off. Mostly MARINES, a few SAILORS,                a couple of CIVILIANS, and KAFFEE, JO and SAM. KAFFEE and                SAM are wearing their summer whites, JO is in khakis.               KAFFEE and SAM stare out at what they see: They're not in                Kansas anymore.               HOWARD shouts over the noise from the planes.                                     HOWARD                         Lieutenants Kaffee and Weinberg?                                     KAFFEE                              (shouting)                         Yeah.                                     JO                         Commander Galloway.                                     HOWARD                         I'm Corporal Howard, ma'am, I'm to                          escort you to the Windward side of                          the base.                                     JO                         Thank you.                                     HOWARD                         I've got some camouflage jackets in                          the back of the jeep, sirs, I'll                          have to ask you both to put them on.                                     KAFFEE                         Camouflage jackets?                                     HOWARD                         Regulations, sir. We'll be riding                          pretty close to the fenceline. The                          Cubans see an officer wearing white,                          they think it's someone they might                          wanna take a shot at.               KAFFEE turns and glares at SAM.                                     KAFFEE                         Good call, Sam.                                                                    CUT TO:               EXT. CUBAN ROAD - THE JEEP - DAY               Tearing along down the road, and now we see a beautiful                expanse of water, maybe 1000 yards across. It's a section of                Guantanamo Bay.                                     HOWARD                              (shouting)                         We'll just hop on the ferry and be                          over there in no time.                                     KAFFEE                              (shouting)                         Whoa! Hold it! We gotta take a boat?!                                     HOWARD                         Yes sir, to get to the other side of                          the bay.                                     KAFFEE                         Nobody said anything about a boat.                                     HOWARD                              (shouting)                         Is there a problem, sir?                                     KAFFEE                              (shouting)                         No. No problem. I'm just not that                          crazy about boats, that's all.                                     JO                              (shouting)                         Jesus Christ, Kaffee, you're in the                          Navy for cryin' out loud!                                     KAFFEE                              (shouting)                         Nobody likes her very much.                                     HOWARD                              (shouting)                         Yes sir.               The jeep drives on and we                                                                    CUT TO:               JESSEP, MARKINSON and KENDRICK are standing as the LAWYERS                are led in.                                     JESSEP                         Nathan Jessep, come on in and siddown.                                     KAFFEE                         Thank you. I'm Daniel Kaffee, I'm                          the attorney for Dawson and Downey.                          This is Joanne Galloway, she's                          observing and evaluating --                                     JO                              (shaking hands)                         Colonel.                                     JESSEP                         Pleased to meet you, Commander.                                     KAFFEE                         Sam Weinberg. He has no responsibility                          here whatsoever.                                     JESSEP                         I've asked Captain Markinson and Lt.                           Kendrick to join us.                                     MARKINSON                         Lt. Kaffee, I had the pleasure of                          seeing your father once. I was a                          teenager and he spoke at my high                          school.               KAFFEE smiles and nods.                                     JESSEP                         Lionel Kaffee?                                     KAFFEE                         Yes sir.                                     JESSEP                         Well what do you know. Son, this                          man's dad once made a lot of enemies                          down in your neck of the woods.                          Jefferson vs. Madison County School                          District. The folks down there said                          a little black girl couldn't go to                          an all white school, Lionel Kaffee                          said we'll just see about that. How                          the hell is your dad?                                     KAFFEE                         He passed away seven years ago,                          colonel.                                     JESSEP                              (pause)                         Well... don't I feel like the fuckin,                          asshole.                                     KAFFEE                         Not at all, sir.                                     JESSEP                         Well, what can we do for you, Danny.                                     KAFFEE                         Not much at all, sir, I'm afraid.                          This is really a formality more than                          anything else. The JAG Corps insists                          that I interview all the relevant                          witnesses.                                     JO                         The JAG Corps can be demanding that                          way.               JESSEP smiles.                                     JESSEP                         Jonanthan'll take you out and show                          you what you wanna see, then we can                          all hook up for lunch, how does that                          sound?                                     KAFFEE                         Fine, sir.                                                                    CUT TO:               EXT.  THE FENCELINE - DAY               A SQUAD OF MARINES jogs by as a jeep carrying KENDRICK and                the three LAWYERS cruises down the road.               We FOLLOW the jeep.                                     KAFFEE                         I understand you had a meeting with                          your men that afternoon.                                     KENDRICK                         Yes.                                     KAFFEE                         What'd you guys talk about?                                     KENDRICK                         I told the men that there was an                          informer among us. And that despite                          any desire they might have to seek                          retribution, Private Santiago was                          not to be harmed in any way.                                     KAFFEE                         What time was that meeting?                                     KENDRICK                         Sixteen-hundred.               KAFFEE turns around and looks at SAM.                                     SAM                              (leaning forward)                         Four o'clock.                                                                    CUT TO:               INT. THE BARRACKS CORRIDOR - DAY               KENDRICK leads the LAWYERS down the corridor to Santiago's                room.               Two strips of tape which warn DO NOT ENTER - AT ORDER OF THE                MILITARY POLICE are crisscrossed over the closed door. They                open the door and step under the tape and walk into               INT. SANTIAGO'S ROOM - DAY               The room is exactly an it was left that night. The un-made                bed, the chair knocked over... The LAWYERS look around for a                moment. The room is sparse.               Kaffee goes to the closet and opens it: A row of uniforms                hanging neatly. He thumbs through then for a second, but                there's nothing there.               He opens the footlocker: Socks, underwear... all folded to                marine corp precision... A shaving kit, a couple of                photographs, a pad of writing paper and some envelopes...               Kaffee closes the footlocker.                                     KAFFEE                         Sam, somebody should see about getting                          this stuff to his parents. We don't                          need it anymore.                                     KENDRICK                         Actually, the uniforms belong to the                          marine corps.               The LAWYERS take a moment.                                     KAFFEE                         Lt. Kendrick -- can I call you Jon?                                     KENDRICK                         No, you may not.                                     KAFFEE                              (beat)                         Have I done something to offend you?                                     KENDRICK                         No, I like all you Navy boys. Every                          time we've gotta go someplace and                          fight, you fellas always give us a                          ride.                                     JO                         Lt. Kendrick, do you think Santiago                          was murdered?                                     KENDRICK                         Commander, I believe in God, and in                          his son Jesus Christ, and because I                          do, I can say this: Private Santiago                          is dead and that's a tragedy. But                          he's dead because he had no code.                          He's dead because he had no honor.                          And God was watching.               SAM turns to KAFFEE.                                     SAM                         How do you feel about that theory?                                     KAFFEE                              (beat)                         Sounds good. Let's move on.               SAM and KENDRICK walk out the door. JO stops KAFFEE.                                     JO                         You planning on doing any                          investigating or are you just gonna                          take the guided tour?                                     KAFFEE                              (beat)                         I'm pacing myself.                                                                    CUT TO:               INT. THE OFFICERS CLUB - DAY               JESSEP, MARKINSON, KENDRICK and the LAWYERS are seated at a                table in the corner.               Stewards clear the lunch dishes and pour coffee. Jessep is                finishing a story.                                     JESSEP                         ...And they spent the next three                          hours running around, looking for                          Americans to surrender to.               JESSEP laughs. KENDRICK joins him. SAM and KAFFEE force a                laugh.               MARKINSON forces a smile. JO remains silent.                                     JESSEP                              (continuing; to the                               STEWARDS)                         That was delicious, men, thank you.                                     STEWARD                         Our pleasure, sir.                                     KAFFEE                         Colonel just need to ask you a couple                          of questions about August 6th.                                     JESSEP                         Shoot.                                     KAFFEE                         On the morning of the sixth, you                          were contacted by an NIS angent who                          said that Santiago had tipped him                          off to an illegal fenceline shooting.                                     JESSEP                         Yes.                                     KAFFEE                         Santiago was gonna reveal the person's                          name in exchange for a transfer. An                          I getting this right?                                     JESSEP                         Yes.                                     KAFFEE                         If you feel there are any details                          that I'm missing, you should free to                          speak up.               JESSEP's not quite sure what to say to this Navy Lawyer                Lieutenant-Smartass guy who just gave him permission to speak                freely on his own base.                                     JESSEP                         Thank you.                                     KAFFEE                         Now it was at this point that you                          called Captain Markinson and Lt.                          Kendrick into your office?                                     JESSEP                         Yes.                                     KAFFEE                         And what happened then?                                     JESSEP                         We agreed that for his own safety,                          Santiago should be transferred off                          the base.               Here's something else KAFFEE didn't know. Neither did Jo.                SAM jots something down on a small notepad.               MARKINSON doesn't flinch.                                     KAFFEE                         Santiago was set to be transferred?                                     JESSEP                         On the first available flight to the                          states. Six the next morning. Three                          hours too late as it turned out.               KAFFEE nods.                                     KAFFEE                         Yeah.               There's silence for a moment.               KAFFEE takes a sip of his coffee. Then drains the cup and                puts it down.                                     KAFFEE                              (continuing)                         Alright, that's all I have. Thanks                          very much for your time.                                     KENDRICK                         The corporal's got the jeep outside,                          he'll take you back to the airstrip.                                     KAFFEE                              (standing)                         Thank you.                                     JO                         Wait a minute, I've got some                          questions.                                     KAFFEE                         No you don't.                                     JO                         Yes I do.                                     KAFFEE                         No you don't.                                     JO                         Colonel, on the morning that Santiago                          died, did you meet with Doctor Stone                          between three and five?                                     KAFFEE                         Jo --                                     JESSEP                         Of course I met with the doctor. One                          of my men was dead.                                     KAFFEE                              (to JO)                         See? The man was dead. Let's go.                                     JO                              (to JESSEP)                         I was wondering if you've ever heard                          the term Code Red.                                     KAFFEE                         Jo --                                     JESSEP                         I've heard the term, yes.                                     JO                         Colonel, this past February, you                          received a cautionary memo from the                          Naval Investigative Service, warning                          that the practice of enlisted men                          disciplining their own wasn't to be                          condoned by officers.                                     JESSEP                         I submit to you that whoever wrote                          that memo has never served on the                          working end of a Soviet-made Cuban                          Ml-Al6 Assault Rifle. However, the                          directive having come from the NIS,                          I gave it its due attention. What's                          your point, Jo?                                     KAFFEE                         She has no point. She often has no                          point. It's part of her charm. We're                          outta here. Thank you.                                     JO                         My point is that I think code reds                          still go on down here. Do Code Reds                          still happen on this base, colonel?                                     KAFFEE                         Jo, the colonel doesn't need to answer                          that.                                     JO                         Yes he does.                                     KAFFEE                         No, he really doesn't.                                     JO                         Yeah, he really does. Colonel?                                     JESSEP                         You know it just hit me. She outranks                          you, Danny.                                     KAFFEE                         Yes sir.                                     JESSEP                         I want to tell you something Danny                          and listen up 'cause I mean this:                          You're the luckiest man in the world.                          There is, believe me gentlemen,                          nothing sexier on earth than a woman                          you have to salute in the morning.                          Promote 'em all I say.               JO's not upset. JO's not mad. But she's gonna ask her question                'til she gets an answer.                                     JO                         Colonel, the practice of code Reds                          is still condoned by officers on                          this base, isn't it?                                     JESSEP                         You see my problem is, of course,                          that I'm a Colonel. I'll just have                          to keep taking cold showers 'til                          they elect some gal President.                                     JO                         I need an answer to my question,                          sir.                                     JESSEP                         Take caution in your tone, Commander.                           I'm a fair guy, but this fuckin'                          heat's making me absolutely crazy.                          You want to know about code reds?                           On the record I tell you that I                          discourage the practice in accordance                          with the NIS directive. Off the record                          I tell you that it's an invaluable                          part of close infantry training, and                          if it happens to go on without my                          knowledge, so be it. I run my base                          how I run my base. You want to                          investigate me, roll the dice and                          take your chances. I eat breakfast                          80 yards away from 4000 Cubans who                          are trained to kill me. So don't for                          one second think you're gonna come                          down here, flash a badge, and make                          me nervous.               A moment of tense silence before --                                     KAFFEE                         Let's go. Colonel, I'll just need a                          copy of Santiago's transfer order.                                     JESSEP                         What's that?                                     KAFFEE                         Santiago's transfer order. You guys                          have paper work on that kind of thing,                          I just need it for the file.                                     JESSEP                         For the file.                                     KAFFEE                         Yeah.                                     JESSEP                              (pause)                         Of course you can have a copy of the                          transfer order. For the file. I'm                          here to help anyway I can.                                     KAFFEE                         Thank you.                                     JESSEP                         You believe that, don't you? Danny?                          That I'm here to help anyway I can?                                     KAFFEE                         Of course.                                     JESSEP                         The corporal'll run you by Ordinance                          on your way out to the airstrip. You                          can have all the transfer orders you                          want.                                     KAFFEE                              (to JO and SAM)                         Let's go.               The LAWYERS start to leave.                                     JESSEP                         But you have to ask me nicely.               KAFFEE stops. Turns around. Sam and JO stop and turn.                                     KAFFEE                         I beg your pardon?                                     JESSEP                         You have to ask me nicely. You see,                          Danny, I can deal with the bullets                          and the bombs and the blood. I can                          deal with the heat and the stress                          and the fear. I don't want money and                          I don't want medals. What I want is                          for you to stand there in that faggoty                          white uniform, and with your Harvard                          mouth, extend me some fuckin'                          courtesy. You gotta ask me nicely.               KAFFEE and JESSEP are frozen. Everyone'staring at Kaffee;                The OFFICERS at their tables... KENDRICK... SAM...                MARKINSON... JO... KAFFEE makes his decision.                                     KAFFEE                         Colonel Jessep... if it's not too                          much trouble, I'd like a copy of the                          transfer order. Sir.               JESSEP smiles.                                     JESSEP                         No problem.               HOLD for a moment. JO's very disappointed.               JESSEP stands there and watches the LAWYERS as they turn and                leave the Officer's Club.                                     JESSEP                              (continuing)                         I hate casualties, Matthew. There                          are casualties even in victory. A                          marine smothers a grenade and saves                          his platoon, that marine's a hero.                          The foundation of the unit, the fabric                          of this base, the spirit of the Corps,                          they are things worth fighting for.               MARKINSON looks at the ground.                                     JESSEP                              (continuing)                         Dawson and Downey, they don't know                          it, but they're smothering a grenade.               MARKINSON looks up as we                                                                    CUT TO:               EXT. ANDREWS AIRFORCE BASE - DUSK               As a plane touches down on the runway. It's dusk in Washington                and                                                                    CUT TO:               EXT. KAFFEE'S APARTMENT - DAY               A little one-bedroom. Just the essential furniture, barely                even that.               KAFFEE's sitting and watching a baseball came on t.v. He's                holding a copy of The Baseball Encyclopedia, normally his                favorite reading material, but right now he's having trouble                keeping his mind in it. He's holding a baseball bat and                fiddling with it.               The remnants of a pizza and Yoo-Hoo dinner sit next to him.                 His white uniform in a pile in the corner. There's a BUZZ at                the door. KAFFEE's not expecting anyone. He goes to the door.                                     KAFFEE                         Who is it?                                     JO (O.S.)                         It's me.               KAFFEE opens the door and JO walks in.                                     KAFFEE                         I've really missed you, Jo. I was                          just saying to myself, "It's been                          almost three hours since I last saw --                         "                                     JO                         Markinson resigned his commission.                                     KAFFEE                              (pause)                         When?                                     JO                         This afternoon. Sometime after we                          left.                                     KAFFEE                         I'll talk to him in the morning.                                     JO                         I already tried, I can't find him.                                     KAFFEE                         You tried? Joanne, you're coming                          dangerously close to the textbook                          definition of interfering with a                          government investigation.               JO hands KAFFEE the file she's been holding.                                     JO                         I'm Louden Downey's attorney.               KAFFEE's stunned. He opens the file and begins to read.                                     JO                              (continuing)                         Aunt Ginny. She said she feels like                          she's known me for years. I suggested                          that she might feel more comfortable                          if I were directly involved with the                          case. She had Louden sign the papers                          about an hour ago.               KAFFEE looks up. Still too stunned to say anything. Then                finally...                                     KAFFEE                         I suppose it's way too much to hope                          that you're just making this up to                          bother me.                                     JO                         Don't worry, I'm not gonna make a                          motion for separation, you're still                          lead counsel.               KAFFEE hands her back the file.                                     KAFFEE                         Splendid.                                     JO                         I think Kendrick ordered the Code                          Red.                              (beat)                         So do you.                                                                    CUT TO:               INT. A HOLDING ROOM IN THE BRIG - NIGHT               DAWSON and DOWNEY come to attention as KAFFEE and JO are led                in.                                     DAWSON                         Officer on deck, ten hut.               KAFFEE starts in immediately.                                     KAFFEE                         Did Kendrick order the code red?                                     DAWSON                         Sir?                                     KAFFEE                         Don't say sir like I just asked you                          if you cleaned the latrine. You heard                          what I said. Did Lt. Kendrick order                          you guys to give Santiago a code                          red?                                     DAWSON                         Yes sir.                                     KAFFEE                              (to Downey)                         Did he?                                     DOWNEY                         Yes sir.                                     KAFFEE                         You mind telling me why the hell you                          never mentioned this before?                                     DAWSON                         You didn't ask us, sir.                                     KAFFEE                         Cutie-pie shit's not gonna win you a                          place in my heart, corporal, I get                          paid no matter how much time you                          spend in jail.                                     DAWSON                         Yes sir. I know you do, sir.                                     KAFFEE                         Fuck you, Harold.               There's some understandable tension in the room, broken by --                                     JO                         Alright. Let's sort this out. There                          was a platoon meeting on August 6th                          at four in the afternoon. And Lt.                          Kendrick, he gave strict instructions                          that nothing was to happen to                          Santiago. Now is that true? I want                          you to speak freely.                                     DAWSON                         Ma'am, that's correct. But then he                          dismissed the platoon and we all                          went to our rooms.                                     JO                         And what happened then?                                     DAWSON                         Lt. Kendrick came to our room, ma'am.                                     KAFFEE                         When?                                     DAWSON                         About five minutes after the meeting                          broke, sir. About 16:20.                                     KAFFEE                              (continuing)                         And what happened then?                                     DAWSON                         Lt. Kendrick ordered us to give                          Santiago a Code Red.                                                                    CUT TO:               INT. THE GYMNASIUM - NIGHT               ROSS is playing a game of full-court basketball with some                other OFFICERS.               A door at the far end of the court opens and KAFFEE and JO                walk in. They head down the sideline toward Ross.               KAFFEE shouts --                                     KAFFEE                         Jack!               But ROSS is into the game...                                     KAFFEE                              (continuing)                         Jack!!                                     ROSS                              (waving him off)                         Hang on...                                     KAFFEE                         They were given an order.               ROSS stops cold and looks over at Kaffee. The game flies by                him. He motions to the locker room door in the corner of the                gym and the three of them make their way to privacy.                                     JO                         How long have you known about the                          order?                                     ROSS                         I didn't --                              (to KAFFEE)                         Who is this?                                     KAFFEE                         This is Jo Galloway she's Downey's                          lawyer. She's very pleased to meet                          you.                                     ROSS                         What exactly are you accusing me of,                          commander?                                     JO                         I'm accusing you of --               They're in the               LOCKER ROOM - NIGHT               and KAFFEE slams the door shut behind them.                                     KAFFEE                         Jack didn't know about the order.                          Because if he did and he hadn't told                          us, Jack knows he'd be violating                          about 14 articles of the code of                          ethics. As it is, he's got enough to                          worry about. God forbid our clients                          decide to plead not guilty and testify                          for the record that they were given                          an order.                                     ROSS                         Kendrick specifically told the men                          not to touch Santiago.                                     KAFFEE                         That's right. And then he went into                          Dawson and Downey's room and                          specifically told them to give him a                          code red.                                     ROSS                         That's not what Kendrick said.                                     KAFFEE                         Kendrick's lying.                                     ROSS                         You have proof?                                     KAFFEE                         I have the defendants.                                     ROSS                         And I have 23 marines who aren't                          accused of murder and a lieutenant                          with four letters of commendation.                                     KAFFEE                         Why did Markinson resign his                          commission?                                     ROSS                         We'll never know.                                     KAFFEE                         You don't think I can subpoena                          Markinson.                                     ROSS                         You can try, but you won't find him.                           You know what Markinson did for the                          first 17 of his 21 years in the corps?                          Counter Intelligence. Markinson's                          gone. There is no Markinson.               Some of the wind has been taken Out of Kaffee's sails.                                     ROSS                              (continuing)                         Jessep's star is on the rise.                          Division'll give me a lot of room to                          spare Jessep and the corps any                          embarrassment.                                     KAFFEE                         How much room?                                     ROSS                         I'll knock it all down to assault.                          Two years. They're home in six months.                                     JO                         No deal, we're going to a jury.                                     KAFFEE                         Jo --                                     ROSS                         No you're not.                                     JO                         Why not?                                     ROSS                         'Cause you'll lose, and Danny knows                          it. And he knows that if we go to                          court, I'll have to go all the way,                          they'll be charged with the whole                          truckload. Murder, Conspiracy, Conduct                          Unbecoming, and even though he's got                          me by the balls out here, Dan knows                          that in a courtroom, he loses this                          case. Danny's an awfully talented                          lawyer, and he's not about to send                          his clients go to jail for life when                          he knows they could be home in six                          months.               This is now clear: Ross is as good as Kaffee.                                     ROSS                              (continuing)                         That's the end of this negotiation.                          From this moment, we're on the record.                          I'll see tomorrow morning at the                          arraignment.               ROSS turns and heads back to the gym as we                                                                    CUT TO:               INT. A HOLDING ROOM - NIGHT               Kaffee and JO are sitting at a table. Dawson and Downey are                at parade rest. Kaffee lights a cigarette.                                     KAFFEE                         Here's the story: The Goverment's                          offering Assault and Conduct                          Unbecoming. Two years. You'll be                          home in six months.               DAWSON and DOWNEY say nothing.                                     KAFFEE                              (continuing)                         "Wow, Kaffee, you're the greatest                          lawyer in the world. How can we ever                          thank you?" Fellas, you hear what I                          just said, you're going home in six                          months.                                     DAWSON                         I'm afraid we can't do that, sir.                                     KAFFEE                         Do what?                                     DAWSON                         Make a deal, sir.                                     KAFFEE                         What are you talking about?                                     DAWSON                         We did nothing wrong, sir. We did                          our job. If that has consequences,                          then I accept them. But'I won't say                          I'm guilty, sir.               KAFFEE can't believe this. He looks over at JO.                                     KAFFEE                         Did you --                              (to DAWSON and DOWNEY)                         Did she put you up to this?                                     JO                         No.                                     DAWSON                         We have a code, sir.                                     KAFFEE                         Well zippity-doo-dah. You and your                          code plead not guilty and you'll be                          in jail for the rest of your life.                          Do what I'm telling you and you'll                          be home in six months.               DAWSON just stares at him.                                     KAFFEE                              (continuing)                         Do it, Harold. Six months. It's                          nothing. It's a hockey season.                                     DAWSON                         Permission to --                                     KAFFEE                         Speak!                                     DAWSON                         What do we do then, sir?                                     KAFFEE                         When?                                     DAWSON                         After six months. We'd be dishonorably                          discharged, right sir?                                     KAFFEE                         Yes.                                     DAWSON                         What do we do then, sir? We joined                          the corps 'cause we wanted to live                          our lives by a certain code. And we                          found it in the corps. And now you're                          asking us to sign a piece of paper                          that says we have no honor. You're                          asking us to say we're not marines.                          If a judge and jury decide that what                          we did was wrong, I'll accept whatever                          punishment they give. But I believe                          I was riqht, sir. I believe I did my                          job. And I won't dishonor myself, my                          unit, or the Corps, so that I can qo                          home in six months.                              (beat)                         Sir.               HOLD ON the four of them for a moment, then                                     KAFFEE                         Commander, I want to talk to corporal                          Dawson alone for a minute.               Jo waits Just a moment before she calls out --                                     JO                              (to Downey)                         Let's go in another room. Louden,                          everything's gonna be alright.               The M.P. has shown up and unlocked the cell door.                                     JO                              (continuing; to M.P.)                         We're gonna go into a holding room.                                     M.P.                         Aye, aye, ma'am.               JO, DOWNEY, and the M.P. are gone. KAFFEE paces a moment                before he says --                                     KAFFEE                         You don't like me that much, do you?                              (beat)                         Forget it, don't answer that, it                          doesn't matter.               KAFFEE paces another moment, then sits on the cot. He's trying                to choose his tack carefully.                                     KAFFEE                              (continuing)                         You know, Downey worships you. He's                          gonna do whatever you do. Are you                          really gonna let this happen to him                          because of a code? Harold?                                     DAWSON                         Do you think we were right?                                     KAFFEE                         It doesn't matter what I --                                     DAWSON                         Do you think we were right?               KAFFEE gets up.                                     KAFFEE                              (beat)                         I think you'd lose.                                     DAWSON                              (beat)                         You're such a coward, I can't believe                          they let you wear a uniform.               KAFFEE stares at DAWSON.                                     KAFFEE                         I'm not gonna feel responsible for                          this, Harold. I did everything I                          could. You're going to Levenworth                          for the better part of your life,                          and you know what? I don't give a                          shit.               KAFFEE calls out --                                     KAFFEE                              (continuing)                         M.P.!               KAFFEE and DAWSON are staring each other down. The M.P. shows                up and unlocks the cell door. KAFFEE steps out to leave.                                     KAFFEE                              (continuing)                         What happened to saluting an officer                          when he leaves the room?               DAWSON holds on KAFFEE. Then DAWSON, a man who would rather                die than breach military protocol, takes his hands and puts                them in his pockets.               The cell door closes and we                                                                    CUT TO:               INT. THE OFFICE CORRIDOR - NIGHT               One light is on at the end of the hall.                                                                    CUT TO:               SAM has joined KAFFEE and JO. The mood is somber.                                     KAFFEE                         Dawson's gonna go to jail just to                          spite me. Fine. If he wants to jump                          off a cliff, that's his business.                          I'm not gonna hold his hand on the                          way down.                              (to SAM)                         I want to get him a new lawyer. How                          do I do it?                                     SAM                         You just make a motion tomorrow                          morning at the arraignment. The                          judge'll ask you if you want to enter                          a plea. You tell him you want new                          counsel assigned.                                     KAFFEE                              (beat)                         Then that's that.                                     JO                              (beat)                         Yeah. One thing, though. When you                          ask the judge for new counsel, Danny,                          be sure and ask nicely.                                     KAFFEE                         What do you want from me?                                     JO                         I want you to let 'em be judged! I                          want you to stand up and make an                          argument!                                     SAM                         An argument that didn't work for                          Calley at My Lai, an argument that                          didn't work for the Nazis at                          Nuremberg.                                     KAFFEE                         For Christ sake, Sam, do you really                          think that's the same as two teenage                          marines executing a routine order                          that they never believed would result                          in harm? These guys aren't the Nazis.               There's a pause in the room.                                     JO                         Don't look now, Danny, but you're                          making an argument.                                     KAFFEE                              (pause)                         Yeah.                              (beat)                         Tomorrow morning I'll get them a new                          attorney.                                     JO                         Why are you so afraid to be a lawyer?                          Were daddy's expectations really                          that high?                                     KAFFEE                         Please, spare me the psycho-babble                          father bullshit. Dawson and Downey'll                          have their day in court, but they'll                          have it with another lawyer.                                     JO                         Another lawyer won't be good enough.                          They need you. You know how to win.                              (beat)                         You know they have a case. And you                          know how to win. You walk away from                          this now, and you have sealed their                          fate.                                     KAFFEE                         Their fate was sealed the moment                          Santiago died.                                     JO                         Do you believe they have a defense?                                     KAFFEE                         You and Dawson both live in the same                          dreamland. It doesn't matter what I                          believe, it only matters what I can                          prove. So please don't tell me what                          I know and don't know. I know the                          law.               JO looks at him, shakes her head, and turns to walk away.                 She turns back.                                     JO                         You know nothing about the law. You're                          a used car salesman, Daniel. You're                          an ambulance chaser with a rank.                          You're nothing.                              (beat)                         Live with that.               Jo walks off leaving KAFFEE alone. We HOLD on KAFFEE. He's                not having a good night.                                                                    CUT TO:               INT. A GEORGETOWN BAR - NIGHT               KAFFEE sits at the bar. The place is crowded with YUPPIES                and STUDENTS. KAFFEE's been drinking there a while now. Next                to him is a YUPPIE LAWYER, regaling his FRIENDS with the                story of his latest brilliant maneuver in the world of high                stakes corporate law.               We HOLD on a KAFFEE a moment longer, then                                     YUPPIE LAWYER                         ...So I told duncan if we leverage                          the acquisition of Biotech, the                          interrogatories would be there on                          demand. All I have to do is not pick                          up the phone and it'll run Flaherty                          ten thousand a day in court costs.                                                                    CUT TO:               EXT. A GEORGETOWN STREET - NIGHT               KAFFEE sits on a bench in the night. He takes a sip from a                bottle he's holding in a brown paper bag.                                                                    CUT TO:               EXT. THE PARADE GROUNDS - DAY               A bright, sunny morning. The BAND is performing for a group                of day campers.                                                                    CUT TO:               INT. THE COURTROOM - DAY               DAWSON and DOWNEY are at the defense table, ROSS is his place.                KAFFEE walks in and joins JO and SAM at their table. Papers                are being passed back and forth between ROSS and the SERGEANT                AT AMS. Quiet activity.               The door in the back of the courtroom opens and RANDOLPH, a                marine colonel, enters and takes his place at the bench. We                can HEAR the band in the background.                                     SERGEANT AT ARMS                         All rise.               Everyone present in the courtroom stands.                                     RANDOLPH                         Where are we?                                     SERGEANT AT ARMS                         Docket number 411275. VR-5. United                          States versus Lance Corporal Harold                          W. Dawson and Private First Class                          Loudon Downey. Defendants are charged                          with Conspiracy to Commit Murder,                          Murder in the First Degree, and                          Conduct Unbecoming a United States                          Marine.                                     RANDOLPH                         Does defense wish to enter a plea?               KAFFEE stands.                                     KAFFEE                         Yeah.                              (pause)                         They're not guilty.               JO, SAM, ROSS, RANDOLPH... it's hard to say who's the most                surprised. It takes everything Jo's got to suppress a smile.                The silence is broken by ROSS, who takes the two files, drops                them into his briefcase, closes the lid, and snaps it shut.               RANDOLPH looks at KAFFEE and ROSS, then turns to the SERGEANT                AT ARMS.                                     RANDOLPH                         Enter a plea of not guilty for the                          defendants. We'll adjourn until ten-                          hundred, three weeks from today, at                          which time this Court will reconvene                          as a General Court-Martial.               He raps the gavel.               RANDOLPH walks out. ROSS walks up the aisle without a word                to anyone. The M.P.'s come to escort DAWSON and DOWNEY back                to their cell.               KAFFEE and JO and SAM are the only ones remaining. SAM is                looking at KAFFEE with question marks in his eyes.                                     KAFFEE                         Why does a junior grade with six                          months experience and a track record                          for plea bargaining get assigned a                          murder case?                              (beat)                         Would it be so that it never sees                          the inside of a courtroom?               KAFFEE picks up his briefcase and begins heading toward the                door.                                     KAFFEE                              (continuing)                         We'll work out of my apartment.                           Every night, seven o'clock. Jo, before                          you come over tonight, pick up a                          carton of legal pads, a half-dozen                          boxes of red pens, a half-dozen boxes                          of black pens. Sam get a couple of                          desk lamps. I need you to start on a                          preliminary medical profile and Jo,                          we need all the fitness reports on                          Dawson, Downey and Santiago. The                          only thing I have to eat is Yoo-Hoo                          and SugarSnacks, so if you want                          anything else, bring it with you.                          Okay?               Jo's still stunned.                                     JO                         Yeah.               KAFFEE's at the door, stops, turns around, and takes it all                in for a moment.                                     KAFFEE                         So this is what a courtroom looks                          like.               He walks out the door, and we                                                                    CUT TO:               INT. KAFFEE'S APARTMENT - NIGHT               Among the stuff, is a blackboard that's been hung on the                wall. Written across the top are three headings:                    INTENT             CODE RED             THE ORDER               Sam is on the floor, sorting papers into piles. KAFFEE comes                in from the kitchen with a fresh bottle of Yoo-Hoo and joins                Sam on the floor.                                     KAFFEE                         Were you able to speak to your friend                          at NIS?                                     SAM                         She said if Markinson doesn't want                          to be found, we're not gonna find                          him. She said I could be Markinson                          and you wouldn't know it.                                     KAFFEE                         Are you Markinson?                                     SAM                         No.                                     KAFFEE                         Well, I'm not Markinson, that's two                          down.               SAM doesn't laugh.                                     KAFFEE                              (continuing)                         What.                                     SAM                              (pause)                         I was wondering, now that Joanne's                          working on this... I was wondering                          if you still need me.                                     KAFFEE                              (pause)                         They were following an order, Sam.                                     SAM                         An illegal order.                                     KAFFEE                         You think Dawson and Downey know it                          was an illegal order?                                     SAM                         It doesn't matter if they know, any                          decent human being would've refused                          to --                                     KAFFEE                         They're not permitted to question                          orders.                                     SAM                         Then what's the secret? What are the                          magic words? I give orders every                          day, and nobody follows them.                                     KAFFEE                         We have softball games and marching                          bands. They work at a place where                          you have to wear camouflage or you                          might get shot.               Sam looks away. He doesn't buy it.                                     KAFFEE                              (continuing; pause)                         I need you. You're better at research                          than I am and you know how to prepare                          a witness.               Jo lets herself in. She's carrying a huge stack of papers                under one arm, and a large brown paper bag under the other.                 But we stay with KAFFEE and Sam a moment longer.                                     JO                         I've got medical reports and Chinese                          food. I say we eat first.               KAFFEE's still looking at SAM. SAM nods his head.                                     SAM                         Did you get any dumplings?                                                                    CUT TO:               INT. KAFFEE'S APT. - LATER - NIGHT               The remnants of the Chinese food is spread around. SAM and                JO are sitting and taking notes from KAFFEE. As he speaks,                he'll pace slowly around, carrying his baseball bat. He refers                to the blackboard.                                     KAFFEE                         This is our defense. Intent: No one                          can prove there was poison on the                          raq. Code Red: They're common and                          accepted in Guantanamo Bay. The Order:                              (he writes)                         A) Kendrick gave it. B) They had no                          choice but to follow it.                              (beat)                         That's it.                                     SAM                         What about motive?                                     KAFFEE                         We're a little weak on motive. They                          had one.                                     JO                         Just because a person has a motive                          doesn't mean --                                     KAFFEE                         Relax. We'll deal with the fenceline                          shooting when it comes up. For now                          we start here --                              (pointing to INTENT)                         I don't know what made Santiago die,                          I don't want to know. I just want to                          be able to show it could've been                          something other than poison. Jo,                          talk to doctors. Find out everything                          there is to know about lactic                          acidosis. Let's start prepping for                          Stone.                                     JO                         As long as we're on the subject of                          the doctor --                                     KAFFEE                         Here we go.                                     JO                         Listen to me, three o'clock he doesn't                          know what killed Santiago, then he                          meets with Jessep, and at five o'clock                          he says it was poison? The doctor's                          covering up the truth.                                     KAFFEE                         Oh, that's a relief. I was afraid I                          wouldn't be able to use the "Liar,                          Liar, Pants on Fire" defense. We                          can't prove coercion!! Alright,                          fitness reports and biographical                          information.                                     SAM                         Cartons 3 and 4.               KAFFEE looks at the cartons and the mind-numbing amount of                paper.                                     KAFFEE                         No Cliff-Notes on these things?                                                               DISSOLVE TO:               INT. KAFFEE'S APARTMENT -               SERIES OF SCENES               The scenes cover the three weeks of preparation leading up                to the trial, and are interspersed with shots of Kaffee's                apartment getting messier, KAFFEE, JO and SAM flipping through                documents and reference books, writing on the blackboard,                dozzing off...               We start with               INT. KAFFEE'S APARTMENT - NIGHT               Jo's on the phone, KAFFEE and SAM are going over testimony,                with SAM sitting in a mock witness chair. During this, KAFFEE                will go to the door, pay the PIZZA Man for the pizza, and                return without missing a single beat.                                     JO                              (into phone)                         Captain Hill, this is Lt. Commander                          Galloway, I'm an internal affairs                          officer with the JAG Corps in                          Washington, D.C. I'm trying to track                          down a Captain Matthew Andrew                          Markinson, USMC...                                     KAFFEE                         Doctor, other than the rope marks,                          was there any other sign of external                          damage?                                     SAM                         No.                                     KAFFEE                         No scrapes?                                     SAM                         No.                                     KAFFEE                         No cuts?                                     JO                              (into phone)                         He resigned his commission a week                          ago Thursday.                                     KAFFEE                         Bruises? Broken bones?                                     SAM                         No.                                     JO                              (into phone)                         No, please don't put me on hold --                                     KAFFEE                         Doctor, was there any sign of                          violence?                                     SAM                              (beat)                         You mean other than the dead body?                                     KAFFEE                         Fuck!! I walk into that every goddam                          time!                                     SAM                         Don't ask the last question.                                                                    CUT TO:               INT. A LAW LIBRARY - NIGHT               MOS -- JO pulls two thick volumes off a shelf and takes them                to the table where SAM and KAFFEE are working. She plops the                books down where they join a pile of about two-dozen just                like them and we                                                                    CUT TO:               INT. A COFFEE SHOP - DAY               The LAWYERS have their books and papers spread out in front                of them.                                     KAFFEE                         Lt. Kendrick, the type of disciplinary                          action, or "training'' as you say --                                     JO                         Object.                                     KAFFEE                         Please the Court, I maintain that                          nothing could be more relevant than                          what the defendants learned by the                          example of, among others, the witness.                                     JO                         Nice.                                                                    CUT TO:               INT. KAFFEE'S APARTMENT - NIGHT               MOS -- KAFFEE's paying the pizza boy again. He goes into the                living room where SAM is on the "stand". It's getting hard                to see the floor from all the papers, cartons, books, pizza                boxes, etc., and                                                                    CUT TO:               INT. THE BRIG - DAY               A HOLDING ROOM where DAWSON and DOWNEY are being put through                their paces.                                     JO                         And what happened after Kendrick                          came into your room?                                     DOWNEY                              (beat)                         He ordered me and Corporal Dawson to                          give Willy a Code Red.                                     SAM                              (to Jo)                         His answers still have to come faster,                          Jo. The Iowa farmboy thing'll play                          for a while, but in the end it looks                          like he's searching for the truth.                                     KAFFEE                              (to Dawson & Downey)                         He's right, and from now on, "Willy"                          is Private Santiago. You start calling                          him Willy and all of a sudden he's a                          person who's got a mother who's gonna                          miss him.                                                                    CUT TO:               INT. THE APARTMENT - NIGHT               MOS -- The clock reads 3:37, and KAFFEE, in sweatpants and a                bathrobe, is pacing around slowly with his baseball bat and                                                                    CUT TO:               SAM and JO art listening to a lecture for the 14th time.                                     KAFFEE                         Poker faces. Don't flinch in front                          of the jury. Something doesn't go                          our way, don't hang your head, don't                          shift in your seat, don't scribble                          furiously. Whatever happens, you                          have to look like it's exactly what                          you knew was gonna happen. When you                          pass me documents --                                     JO/SAM                         Do it swiftly, but don't look                          overanxious.                                     KAFFEE                              (beat)                         And don't wear that perfume in Court,                          it wrecks my concentration.                                     JO                         Really!                                     KAFFEE                         I was talking to Sam.                                     SAM                         What time is it?                                     KAFFEE                         Time to go home. Try to get some                          sleep tonight.                                     JO                              (to SAM)                         I'll give you a ride.               SAM begins to gather up his things. He stands in front of                KAFFEE.                                     KAFFEE                              (to SAM)                         You're a good man, Charlie Brown.                                     SAM                         See you in court.               Sam steps out the door. JO looks at the ground, then up at                KAFFEE.                                     JO                         Danny --                                     KAFFEE                         I know what you're gonna say. You                          don't have to. We've had our                          differences. I've said some things I                          didn't mean, you've said some things                          you didn't means but you're happy                          that I stuck with the case. And if                          you've gained a certain respect for                          me over the last three weeks that                          you didn't have before, well, of                          course I'm happy about that, but we                          don't have to make a whole big deal                          out of it. You like me. I won't make                          you say it.                                     JO                         I was just gonna tell you to wear                          matching socks tomorrow.                                     KAFFEE                              (beat)                         Oh.                              (beat)                         Okay. Good tip.                                     JO                         We're ready.                                     KAFFEE                         Bet your ass.               Jo walks out the door and KAFFEE closes it and locks it behind                her.               Then he says, very softly...                                     KAFFEE                              (continuing)                         We're gonna get creamed.                                                                    CUT TO:               INT. THE COURTHOUSE CORRIDOR - DAY               A few M.P.Is are standing by the entrance. KAFFEE comes around                the corner and heads toward the courtroom. We're immediately                stricken by something:               In his dress blue uniform he could easily be mistaken for a                real live naval officer. He opens the courtroom doors and                walks into               INT. THE COURTROOM - DAY               A few more M.P.'s are standing around. THE JURORS, nine                enlisted navy and marine men and women, are in their place,                Ross is at his table looking through some papers, and DAWSON                and DOWNEY, in handcuffs, are seated at the defense table.                The trial in a few moments from being underway and a few                people are milling about. KAFFEE walks down the aisle but is                stopped by a voice behind him.                                     MAN (O.S.)                         Lieutenant Kaffee?               KAFFEE turns around to see a MAN and WOMAN who are clearly                Dawson's parents.                                     MAN                         You're gonna save our son, aren't                          you?                                     KAFFEE                              (pause)                         I'll do my best.               KAFFEE continues on and stops next to JO, who's talking with                a WOMAN in her mid-30's.                                     JO                         Danny, I want you to meet Ginny                          Miller, Louden's aunt.                                     KAFFEE                         You're Aunt Ginny?                                     GINNY                         Uh-huh.                                     KAFFEE                         I'm sorry, I was expecting someone                           older.                                     GINNY                         So was I.               Not quite the words of inspiration KAFFEE was hoping to hear                before he does the hardest thing he's ever had to do.               He walks over to ROSS.                                     KAFFEE                         Last chance. I'll flip you for it.               RANDOLPH enters.                                     SERGEANT AT ARMS                         All rise.                                     ROSS                         Too late.               KAFFEE walks back to his table as                                     SERGEANT AT ARMS                         All those having business with this                          general court-martial, stand forward                          and you shall be heard. Captain Julius                          Alexander Randolph is presiding. God                          save the United States of America.               RANDOLPH raps the gavel.               RANDOLPH without objection, the sworn confessions of the two                defendants have been read to the jury and entered into the                court record.                                     ROSS                         No objection, your honor.                                     KAFFEE                         No objection.                                     RANDOLPH                         Is the Government prepared to make                          an opening statement?                                     ROSS                              (standing)                         Yes sir.               ROSS walks to the jury box.                                     ROSS                              (continuing)                         The facts of the case are this: At                          midnight on August 6th, the defendants                          went into the barracks room of their                          platoon-mate, PFC William Santiago.                           They woke him up, tied his arms and                          legs with rope, and forced a rag                          into his throat. A few minutes later,                          a chemical reaction in Santiago's                          body called lactic acidosis caused                          his lungs to begin bleeding. He                          drowned in his own blood and was                          pronounced dead at 32 minutes past                          midnight. These are the facts of the                          case. And they are undisputed. That's                          right. The story I just told you is                          the exact same story you're going to                          hear from Corporal Dawson, and it's                          the exact same story you're going to                          hear from Private Downey. Furthermore,                          the Government will also demonstrate                          that the defendants soaked the rag                          with poison, and entered Santiago's                          room with motive and intent to kill.                              (beat)                         Now, Lt. Kaffee, is gonna try to                          pull off a little magic act, he's                          gonna try a little misdirection.                          He's going to astonish you with                          stories of rituals and dazzle you                          with official sounding terms like                          Code Red. He might even cut into a                          few officers for you. He'll have no                          evidence, mind you, none. But it's                          gonna be entertaining. When we get                          to the end, all the magic in the                          world will not have been able to                          divert your attention from the fact                          that Willy Santiago is dead, and                          Dawson and Downey killed him. These                          are the facts of the case.                              (beat)                         And they are undisputed.               ROSS walks back to his seat.                                     RANDOLPH                         Lt. Kaffee?               Before KAFFEE's even stood up, these words are coming out of                his mouth.                                     KAFFEE                         There was no poison on the rag and                          there was no intent to kill and any                          attempt to prove otherwise is futile                          because it just ain't true.                              (beat)                         When Dawson and Downey went into                          Santiago's room that night, it wasn't                          because of vengeance or hatred, it                          wasn't to kill or harm, and it wasn't                          because they were looking for kicks                          on a Friday night. It's because it                          was what they were ordered to do.                              (beat)                         Let me say that again: It's because                          it was what they were ordered to do.                          Now, out in the real world, that                          means nothing. And here at the                          Washington Navy Yard, it doesn't                          mean a whole lot more. But if you're                          a marine assigned to Rifle Security                          Company Windward, Guantanamo Bay,                          Cuba, and you're given an order, you                          follow it or you pack your bags.                              (beat)                         Make no mistake about it, Harold                          Dawson and Louden Downey are sitting                          before you in judgement today because                          they did their job.               KAFFEE walks back to the table and takes his seat.                                     RANDOLPH                         Is the Government ready to call its                          first witness?                                     ROSS                         Please the Court, the Government                          calls Mr. R.C McGuire.               While McCGUIRE, a civilian in his late 30's, is being sworn                in, KAFFEE has sat back down.               He leans over to DAWSON and whispers.                                     KAFFEE                         How you doin'?               DAWSON doesn't change his expression.                                     KAFFEE                              (continuing)                         Good.                                     ROSS                         Mr. McGuire, would you state your                          full name and occupation for the                          record, please?                                     MCGUIRE                         Robert C. McGuire, Special Agent,                          Naval Investigative Service.                                     ROSS                         Mr. McGuire, did your office receive                          a letter from PFC William Santiago                          on 3 August of this year?                                     MCGUIRE                         We did.                                     ROSS                         What did the letter say?                                     MCGUIRE                         That a member of Private Santiago's                          unit had illegally fired his weapon                          over the fenceline.                                     ROSS                         Was that marine identified in the                          letter?                                     MCGUIRE                         No sir. I notified the barracks C.O.,                          Colonel Jessep, that I would be coming                          down to investigate.                                     ROSS                         And what did you find?                                     MCGUIRE                         For the shift reported, only one                          sentry returned his weapon to the                          switch with a round of ammunition                          missing.                                     ROSS                         And who was that?                                     MCGUIRE                         Lance Corporal Harold Dawson.                                     ROSS                              (continuing; to KAFFEE)                         Your witness.               ROSS goes back to his table. KAFFEE stands.                                     KAFFEE                         Mr. McGuire, have you questioned                          Corporal Dawson about the fenceline                          shooting?                                     MCGUIRE                         Yes. He claims to have been engaged                          in some manner by the enemy.                                     KAFFEE                         But you don't believe him.                                     MCGUIRE                         It's not my place --                                     KAFFEE                         Corporal Dawson's been charged with                          a number of crimes, why wasn't he                          charged with firing at the enemy                          without cause?                                     MCGUIRE                         There wasn't enough evidence to                          support such a charge.                                     KAFFEE                         Thank you.               KAFFEE sits.                                     ROSS                         Mr. McGuire, I don't understand what                          you mean when you say there wasn't                          enough evidence to support such a                          charge. You had Willy Santiago's                          letter.                                     MCGUIRE                         Santiago was the only witness, but I                          never had a chance to interview him.                          So I don't know what he saw.                                     ROSS                         And now we won't ever know, will we,                          Mr. McGuire?                                     MCGUIRE                         No.                                     ROSS                         No more questions.                                                                    CUT TO:               HAMMAKER, a young marine corporal, is being sworn in.                                     HAMMAKER                         Corporal Carl Edward Hammaker, Marine                          Barracks, Rifle Security Company                          Windward, Second Platoon Charlie.                                     ROSS                         Corporal, were you present at a                          meeting that Lt. Kendrick held on                          the afternoon of August 6th with the                          members of second platoon.                                     HAMMAKER                         Yes sir.                                     ROSS                         Would you tell the Court the substance                          of that meeting?                                     HAMMAKER                         Lt. Kendrick told us that we had an                          informer in our group.  That Private                          Santiago had gone outside the chain                          of command and reported to the NIS                          on a member of our platoon.                                     ROSS                         Did that make you mad?                              (pause)                         You can tell the truth, corporal,                          it's alright. Did it make you mad?                                     HAMMAKER                         Yes sir.                                     ROSS                         How mad?                                     HAMMAKER                         Private Santiago betrayed a code                          that we believe in very deeply, sir.                                     ROSS                         Were the other members of the squad                          angry?                                     KAFFEE                         Object --                                     ROSS                         Were Dawson and Downey?                                     KAFFEE                         Please the Court, is the judge                          advocate honestly asking this witness                          to testify as to how the defendant                          felt on August 6th?                                     RANDOLPH                         Sustained.                                     ROSS                         Corporal, did Lt. Kendrick leave a                          standing order at that meeting?                                     RANDOLPH                         Yes sir.                                     ROSS                         What was it?                                     HAMMAKER                         Well it was clear that he didn't                          want us to take matters into our own                          hands, sir.                                     ROSS                         What was the order?                                     HAMMAKER                         Sir, he said that Santiago wasn't to                          be touched.                                     ROSS                              (to KAFFEE)                         Your witness.                                     KAFFEE                         Corporal Hammaker, were you in Dawson                          and Downey's barracks room ten minutes                          after this meeting?                                     HAMMAKER                         No sir.                                     KAFFEE                         Thanks, I have no more questions.               HAMMAKER gets off the stand, and KAFFEE watches while walks                past DAWSON and DOWNEY. A barely perceptible exchange occurs                between the eyes of DAWSON and HAMMAKER.               KAFFEE makes a decision.                                     ROSS                         The Government calls Corporal Raymond                          Thomas --                                     KAFFEE                         Please the Court, I understand Lt.                           Ross is planning on calling all the                          other members of Rifle Security                          Company Windward to testify.                                     ROSS                         In light of the defense that Lt.                           Kaffee is planning to mount, the                          explicit instructions of the platoon                          leader seems particularly relevant                          testimony.                                     KAFFEE                         The defense is willing to concede                          that all 23 witnesses will testify                          substantially as Corporal Hammaker                          did, if the Government is willing to                          concede that none of them were in                          Dawson and Downey's room at 16:20 on                          August 6th.                                     RANDOLPH                              (to ROSS)                         Lieutenant?                                     ROSS                         The Government'll agree to the                          stipulation, sir.                                     RANDOLPH                         Then we'll adjourn for the day. You                          can call your next witness in the                          morning.                                                                    CUT TO:               SHOT OF WASHINGTON AT NIGHT                                                               DISSOLVE TO:               THE PARADE GROUNDS - EARLY MORNING, two SAILORS are raising                the flag.                                                                    CUT TO:               INT. THE COURTROOM - DAY               COMMANDER STONE, a Navy doctor in his mid-40's, is on the                stand.                                     STONE                         ...And he was pronounced dead at                          zero-zero-thirty-seven.                                     ROSS                         Dr. Stone, what's lactic acidosis?                                     STONE                         If the muscles and other cells of                          the body burn sugar instead of oxygen,                          lactic acid is produced. That lactic                          acid is what caused Santiago's lungs                          to bleed.                                     ROSS                         How long does it take for the muscles                          and other cells to begin burning                          oxygen instead of sugar?                                     STONE                         Twenty to thirty minutes.                                     ROSS                         And what caused Santiago's muscles                          and other cells to start burning                          sugar?                                     STONE                         An ingested poison of some kind.                                     KAFFEE                         Your Honor, we object at this point.                          The witness is speculating.                                     ROSS                         Commander Stone is an expert medical                          witness, in this courtroom his opinion                          isn't considered speculation.                                     KAFFEE                         Commander Stone is an internist, not                          a criminologist, and the medical                          facts here are ultimately                          inconclusive.                                     RANDOLPH                         A point which I'm confident you'll                          illustrate to the jury under cross-                          examination, so I'm sure you won't                          mind if his opinion is admitted now.                                     KAFFEE                         Not at all, sir. Objection withdrawn.               KAFFEE sits.                                     ROSS                         Doctor Stone, did Willy Santiago die                          of poisoning?                                     STONE                         Absolutely.                                     ROSS                         Are you aware that the lab report                          and the coroners report showed no                          traces of poison?                                     STONE                         Yes I am.                                     ROSS                         Then how do you justify --                                     STONE                         There are literally dozens of toxins                          which are virtually undetectable,                          both in the human body and on a                          fabric. The nature of the acidosis                          is the compelling factor in this                          issue.                                     ROSS                         Thank you, sir.               KAFFEE gets up.                                     KAFFEE                         Commander, you testified that it                          takes lactic acidosis 20 to 30 minutes                          before it becomes lethal.                                     STONE                         Yes.                                     KAFFEE                         Let me ask you, is it possible for a                          person to have an affliction, some                          sort of condition, which might, in                          the case of this person, actually                          speed up the process of acidosis                          dramatically?               STONE says nothing for a moment.                                     KAFFEE                              (continuing)                         Commander, is it possible?                                     STONE                         Certainly.                                     KAFFEE                         What might some of those conditions                          be?                                     STONE                              (beat)                         If a person had a coronary disorder...                          or a cerebral disorder, the process                          would be more rapid.                                     KAFFEE                         Commander, if I had a coronary                          condition, and a perfectly clean rag                          was placed in my mouth, and the rag                          was accidentally pushed too far down,                          is it possible that my cells would                          continue burning sugar after the rag                          was taken out?                                     STONE                         It would have to be a very serious                          condition.                                     KAFFEE                         Is it possible to have a serious                          coronary condition, where the initial                          warning signals were so mild as to                          escape a physician during a routine                          medical exam?                                     STONE                         Possibly. There would still be                          symptoms though.                                     KAFFEE                         What kind of symptoms?                                     STONE                         There are hundreds of symptoms of a --                                     KAFFEE                         Chest pains?                                     STONE                              (beat)                         Yes.                                     KAFFEE                         Shortness of breath?                                     STONE                         Yes.                                     KAFFEE                         Fatigue?                                     STONE                         Of course.               KAFFEE has gone back to his table where JO has handed him                some documents. He shows then to STONE.                                     KAFFEE                         Doctor, is this your signature?                                     STONE                         Yes it is.                                     KAFFEE                         This in an order for Private Santiago                          to be put on restricted duty. Would                          you read your hand written remarks                          at the bottom of the page, please,                          sir.                                     STONE                              (reading)                         "Initial testing negative. Patient                          complains of chest pains, shortness                          of breath, and fatigue. Restricted                          from running distances over five                          miles for one week."                                     KAFFEE                         Commander, isn't it possible that                          Santiago had a serious coronary                          condition, and it was that condition,                          and not some mysterious poison, that                          caused the accelerated chemical                          reaction?                                     STONE                         No. I personally give the men a                          physical examination every three                          months. And every three months Private                          Santiago got a clean bill of health.                                     KAFFEE                         And that's why it had to be, poison,                          right, Commander? 'Cause Lord knows,                          if you put a man with a serious                          coronary condition back on duty with                          a clean bill of health, and that man                          died from a heart related incident,                          you'd have a lot to answer for,                          wouldn't you, doctor?                                     ROSS                         Object. Move to strike.                                     RANDOLPH                         Sustained. Strike it.                                     KAFFEE                         No more questions, judge.               ROSS stands immediately.                                     ROSS                         Dr. Stone, you've held a license to                          practice medicine for 21 years, you                          are Board Certified in Internal                          Medicine, you are the Chief of                          Internal Medicine at a hospital which                          serves over 8000 men. In your                          professional opinion, was Willy                          Santiago poisoned?               Jo stands.                                     JO                         Your Honor, we re-new our objection                          to Commander Stone's testimony, and                          ask that it be stricken from the                          record. And we further ask that the                          Court instruct the jury to lend no                          weight to this witness's testimony.               KAFFEE and SAM are dying, but they're trying to keep their                poker-faces. RANDOLPH'S gonna try to be polite about this,                but he thought he made himself clear.                                     RANDOLPH                         The objection's overruled, counsel.                                     JO                         Sir, the defense strenuously objects                          and requests a meeting in chambers                          so that his honor might have an                          opportunity to hear discussion before                          ruling on the objection.                                     RANDOLPH                         The objection of the defense has                          been heard and overruled.                                     JO                         Exception.                                     RANDOLPH                         Noted. The witness is an expert and                          the court will hear his opinion.                                     ROSS                         Doctor, in your expert, professional                          opinion, was Willy Santiago poisoned?                                     STONE                         Yes.                                     ROSS                         Thank you, sir, I have no more                          questions.                                     RANDOLPH                         Commander, you may step down.                                     ROSS                         Please the Court, while we reserve                          the right to call rebuttal witnesses                          if the need arises, the Government                          rests.                                     RANDOLPH                         We'll stand in recess until ten-                         hundred hours this Monday, the l9th                          at which time the defense will call                          it's first witness.               RANDOLPH raps his gavel.                                     SERGEANT AT ARMS                         Ten hut.               And the courtroom begins clearing out. KAFFEE, JO and SAM                are packing up their various papers.                                     SAM                         I strenuously object? Is that how it                          works? Objection. Overruled. No, no,                          no, no, I strenuously object. Oh,                          well if you strenuously object, let                          me take a moment to reconsider.                                     JO                         I got it on the record.                                     SAM                         You also got it in the jury's head                          that we're afraid of the doctor. You                          object once so they can hear you say                          he's not a criminologist. You keep                          after it and it looks like this great                          cross we did was just a bunch of                          fancy lawyer tricks. It's the                          difference between paper law and                          trial --                                     KAFFEE                         Sam --                                     SAM                         Christ, you even had the Judge saying                          Stone was an expert!                                     KAFFEE                         Sam, she made a mistake. Let's not                          relive it.               There's an uncomfortable silence.                                     SAM                         I'm gonna go call my wife. I'll meet                          you tonight.               Sam starts to leave. JO turns and says                                     JO                         Why do you hate them so much?               Sam stops and turns around.                                     SAM                         They beat up on a weakling, and that's                          all they did. The rest is just                          smokefilled coffee-house crap. They                          tortured and tormented a weaker kid.                          They didn't like him. And they killed                          him. And why? Because he couldn't                          run very fast.               A long silence. KAFFEE makes a decision.                                     KAFFEE                         Alright. Everybody take the night                          off.                                     SAM                              (continuing)                         I apologize, I, --                                     KAFFEE                         It's alright. We've been working 20                          hour days for three and a half weeks                          straight. Take the night off. Go see                          your wife, see your daughter. Jo, do                          whatever it is you do when you're                          not here. What day is tomorrow?                                     SAM                         Saturday.                                     KAFFEE                         We'll start at ten.               KAFFEE picks up his stuff and walks out.               SAM and JO stand there uncomfortably for a moment. JO begins                packing up her things.                                     SAM                         Why do you like them so much?                                     JO                              (pause)                         'Cause they stand on a wall.                              (beat)                         And they say "Nothing's gonna hurt                          you tonight. Not on my watch."               Despite their differences, SAM likes this woman.                                     SAM                         Don't worry about the doctor. This                          trial starts Monday.                                                                    CUT TO:               INT. KAFFEE'S APARTMENT - NIGHT               A baseball game is on.               KAFFEE's pacing slowly around, carrying his baseball bat.                He's looking at the blackboard as he walks around the room.               He's studying it. Studying it hard. There's a knock on the                door. KAFFEE answers it. JO is standing in the doorway.                                     JO                         I'm sorry to bother you, I should've                          called first.                                     KAFFEE                         No, I was just watching a baseball                          game.                                     JO                         I was wondering if -- how you'd feel                          about my taking you to dinner tonight.                                     KAFFEE                         Jo, are you asking me out on a date?                                     JO                         No.                                     KAFFEE                         It sounded like you were asking me                          out on a date.                                     JO                         I wasn't.                                     KAFFEE                         I've been asked out on dates before,                          and that's what it sounded like.                                     JO                         Do you like seafood? I know a good                          seafood place.                                                                    CUT TO:               INT. A SEAFOOD RESTAURANT - NIGHT               On the Virginia side of the Potomac. KAFFEE and JO are sitting                at a table, finishing up dinner.                                     JO                         My third case was a Drunk and                          Disorderly. The trial lasted nine                          weeks. I rounded up 31 people who                          were in the bar that night.                                     KAFFEE                         Nine weeks on a D and D? What was                          the prosecutor offering?                                     JO                         15 days.                                     KAFFEE                              (pause)                         Well, you sure hustled the shit outta                          him.                                     JO                         After that, they moved me to internal                          affairs.                                     KAFFEE                         Tough to blame them.                                     JO                         Where I've earned two distinguished                          service medals and two letters of                          commendation.                                     KAFFEE                         Why are you always giving me your                          resume?                                     JO                         Because I want you to think I'm good                          lawyer.                                     KAFFEE                         I do.                                     JO                         No you don't.                              (beat)                         I think you're an exceptional lawyer.                          I watch the jurors, they respond to                          you, they like you. I see you                          convincing them. I think Dawson and                          Downey are gonna end up owing their                          lives to you.                                     KAFFEE                              (pause)                         Jo... I think you have to prepare                          yourself for the fact that we're                          gonna lose.                              (beat)                         Ross's opening speech, it was all                          true.                              (beat)                         I mean, let's pretend for a minute                          that it would actually matter to                          this jury that the guys were given                          an order. We can't prove it ever                          happened.                              (beat)                         We'll keep doing what we're doing,                          and we'll put on a show, but at the                          end of the day, all we have is the                          testimony of two people accused of                          murder.                                     JO                         We'll find Markinson.                                     KAFFEE                         Jo, we're gonna lose. And we're gonna                          lose huge.               We HOLD on then for a moment, and in VOICE OVER hear                                     HOWARD (V.O.)                         Corporal Jeffrey Owen Howard, Marine                          Barracks Windward, Guantanamo Bay,                          Cuba.                                                                    CUT TO:               CORPORAL HOWARD, the young marine who drove the lawyers around                Cuba, is on the stand.                                     KAFFEE                         Corporal Howard, name some reasons                          why a marine would get a code red?                                     HOWARD                         Being late for platoon or company                          meetings, keeping his barracks in                          disorder, falling back on a run...                                     KAFFEE                         Have you ever received a code red?                                     HOWARD                         Yes sir. We were doing seven man                          assault drills, and my weapon slipped.                          It's just cause it was over a hundred                          degrees and my palms were sweaty and                          I'd forgot to use the resin like we                          were taught.                                     KAFFEE                         And what happened?                                     HOWARD                         That night the guys in my squad threw                          a blanket over me and took turns                          punching me in the arm for five                          minutes. Then they poured glue on my                          hands. And it worked, too, 'cause I                          ain't never dropped my weapon since.                                     KAFFEE                         Was Private Santiago ever late for                          platoon meetings?                                     HOWARD                         Yes sir.                                     KAFFEE                         Was his barracks ever in disorder?                                     HOWARD                         Yes sir.                                     KAFFEE                         Did he ever fall back on a run?                                     HOWARD                         All the time, sir.                                     KAFFEE                         Did he ever, prior to the night of                          August 6th, receive a code red?                                     HOWARD                         No sir.                                     KAFFEE                              (beat)                         Never?                                     HOWARD                         No, sir.                                     KAFFEE                         You got a code red 'cause your palms                          were sweaty. Why didn't Santiago,                          this burden to his unit, ever get                          one?                                     HOWARD                         Dawson wouldn't allow it, sir.                                     KAFFEE                         Dawson wouldn't allow it.                                     HOWARD                         The guys talked tough about Santiago,                          but they wouldn't go near him. They                          were too afraid of Dawson, sir.                                     ROSS                         Object. The witness is characterizing.                                     KAFFEE                         I'll rephrase. Jeffrey, did you ever                          want to give Santiago a code red?                                     HOWARD                         Yes sir.                                     KAFFEE                         Why didn't you?                                     HOWARD                         'Cause Dawson'd kick my butt, sir.                                     KAFFEE                         Good enough. Lt. Ross is gonna ask                          you some questions now.               ROSS takes three books out of his briefcase and puts them on                the table. He brings one to HOWARD.                                     ROSS                         Corporal Howard, I hold here The                          Marine Guide and General Information                          Handbook for New Recruits. Are you                          familiar with this book?                                     HOWARD                         Yes sir.                                     ROSS                         Have you read it?                                     HOWARD                         Yes sir.                                     ROSS                         Good.                              (hands him the book)                         Would you turn to the chapter that                          deals with code reds, please.                                     HOWARD                         Sir?                                     ROSS                         Just flip to the page in that book                          that discusses code reds.                                     HOWARD                         Sir, you see, Code Red is a term we                          use -- it's just used down at GITMO,                          sir. I don't know if it actually --               ROSS has produced another book.                                     ROSS                         We're in luck, then. The Marine Corps                          Guide for Sentry Duty, NAVY BASE                          Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. I assume we'll                          find the term code red and its                          definition in this book, am I correct?                                     HOWARD                         No sir.                                     ROSS                         No? Corporal Howard, I'm a marine.                          Is their no book, no manual or                          pamphlet, no set of orders or                          regulations that let me know that,                          as a marine, one of my duties is to                          perform code reds?                                     HOWARD                              (pause)                         No sir. No books, sir.                                     ROSS                         No further questions.               ROSS sits. KAFFEE walks over to ROSS's table and picks up                one of the books. He brings it to HOWARD.                                     KAFFEE                         Corporal, would you turn to the page                          in this book that says where the                          enlisted men's mess hall is?                                     HOWARD                         Lt. Kaffee, that's not in the book,                          sir.                                     KAFFEE                         I don't understand, how did you know                          where the enlisted men's mess hall                          was if it's not in this book?                                     HOWARD                         I guess I just followed the crowd at                          chow time, sir.                                     KAFFEE                         No more questions.               KAFFEE chucks the book back on ROSS's desk.                                     RANDOLPH                         Corporal Howard, you can step down.                                     HOWARD                              (greatly relieved)                         Thank you, sir.               KAFFEE gives HOWARD a subtle "You Did Good, Kid" look, and                we                                                                    CUT TO:               INT. THE COURTHOUSE CORRIDOR - DUSK               It's the end of the day's session. KAFFEE walks down the                hall with SAM and JO.                                     KAFFEE                         Seven tonight, we'll do a final                          Kendrick review. I want to slam-                          dunk this guy.                                                                    CUT TO:               EXT. SIDEWALK STAND - NIGHT               KAFFEE'S CAR               as it drives along a street in the D.C. business district.                it's evening now and the windshield wipers are fighting                against a rain KAFFEE pulls over at his usual newsstand. He                hops out, leaving the lights flashing and the door open, and                runs to the stand.                                     KAFFEE                         Hey, Luther.                                     LUTHER                         Admiral, how's the big case goin'?                                     KAFFEE                         Nose to the grindstone.                                     LUTHER                         No flies on you.                                     KAFFEE                         A rolling stone gathers no moss.                                     LUTHER                         Yeah, well it ain't over til the fat                          lady sings.                                     KAFFEE                         Ain't that the truth. Catch you                          tomorrow.               He gets back in his car, tosses the newspaper on the passenger                seat, and turns on the ignition. And as soon as he does               -- a hand is slapped over his mouth --                                     VOICE (O.S.)                         It's Matthew Markinson.               -- and KAFFEE jumps out of his skin.               Because sitting in the back seat, in civilian clothes, is                MARKINSON.                                     KAFFEE                         Jesus fucking Christ!!--                                     MARKINSON                         You left the door unlocked.                                     KAFFEE                         Scared the shit outta me.                                     MARKINSON                         Drive.                                     KAFFEE                         Are you aware you're under subpoena?                                     MARKINSON                         Yes. I'm also aware that the lives                          of two marines are in your hands. If                          there was something I could do about                          that, I would, but since I can't,                          all I can do is help you. Why don't                          you drive, Lieutenant.               KAFFEE begins driving down the street.                                     KAFFEE                         What do you know?                                     MARKINSON                         I know everything.                                     KAFFEE                         Was it a code red?                                     MARKINSON                         Yes.                                     KAFFEE                         Did Kendrick give the order?                                     MARKINSON                         Yes.                                     KAFFEE                         Did you witness it?                                     MARKINSON                         I didn't need to --                                     KAFFEE                         Did you witness it?!                                     MARKINSON                         No.                                     KAFFEE                         Then how do you know?                                     MARKINSON                         I know.                                     KAFFEE                         You know shit.                                     MARKINSON                         He was never gonna be transferred                          off the base.               And with this, KAFFEE screeches the car over to the side of                the road. He grabs the parking brake and pulls it up. He                turns to Markinson.                                     MARKINSON                              (continuing)                         Jessep was going to keep him on the                          base. He said he wanted him trained.                                     KAFFEE                         We've got the transfer order. It's                          got your signature.                                     MARKINSON                         I know. I signed it the morning you                          arrived in Cuba. Six days after                          Santiago died.               KAFFEE's wheels are spinning. He's pumped.                                     KAFFEE                         I'm gonna get you a deal. Some kind                          of immunity with the prosecutor. In                          about four days, you're gonna appear                          as a witness for the defense, and                          you're gonna tell the court exactly                          what you told me. Right now I'm gonna                          check you into a motel, and we're                          gonna start from the beginning.                                     MARKINSON                         I don't want a deal. And I don't                          want immunity.               KAFFEE shakes his head and laughs.                                     MARKINSON                              (continuing)                         I want you to know, I'm proud neither                          of what I've done nor what I'm doing.               KAFFEE puts the car in gear and we                                                                    CUT TO:               INT. KAFFEE'S APARTMENT - NIGHT               Where KAFFEE has just finished telling his story to an amazed                SAM and JO.               There's silence.               Then JO has a total adrenaline rush.                                     JO                         Where is he?                                     KAFFEE                         The Route 23 Best Western.               JO picks up the phone.                                     JO                         I want him guarded.                                     KAFFEE                         That's probably a good idea.                                     JO                              (into phone)                         This is Lt. Commander Joanne Galloway.                          My clearance code is 411273.               KAFFEE is impressed. He turns to SAM --                                     KAFFEE                         Clearance code?                                     JO                         Thank you.                                     KAFFEE                              (to SAM)                         I don't have a clearance code. Do                          you have a --                                     JO                              (into phone)                         It's Jo Galloway. I need to secure a                          witness.               Jo continues giving information to the person on the phone,                while Kaffee keeps talking to the both of them. Sam is writing                down notes as fast as he can.                                     KAFFEE                         He also said that Jessep's lying                          about the transportation off the                          base. Jessep said six the next morning                          was the first flight Santiago could've                          left on, Markinson says there was a                          plane that left seven hours earlier.               JO hangs up the phone.                                     JO                         Damn.                                     KAFFEE                         That was impressive. Did you hear                          what I just said about the flight?                                     JO                         Yes.                                     KAFFEE                         Sam, when a plane takes off from a                          base, there's gotta be some kind of                          record kept, right?                                     SAM                         We need the Tower Chief's Log for                          GITMO.                                     KAFFEE                              (to SAM)                         Get it.                                     JO                         We're gonna win.                                     KAFFEE                         Jo, don't get crazy about this. We                          don't know who Markinson is. We don't                          know what the log book's gonna say.                          You just concentrate on Downey. I'm                          gonna talk to Ross and tell him where                          we are.                                     JO                              (sing-song)                         "Kaffee's got his case now, Kaffee's                          got his case now."                                     KAFFEE                         You are like seven of the strangest                          women I have ever met.                                                                    CUT TO:               INT. A WASHINGTON SALOON - NIGHT               A WAITRESS sets two drinks down in front of KAFFEE and ROSS,                who are sitting across from each other in a booth in the                back.                                     ROSS                         That was nice work today. The redirect                          on Howard.                                     KAFFEE                         I have Markinson.               ROSS only takes a moment digest this.                                     ROSS                         Where is he?                                     KAFFEE                         A motel room in Arlington with 14                          Federal Marshals outside his door.                           Take a sip of your drink.                                     ROSS                         Damn.                                     KAFFEE                         The transfer order that Parkinson                          signed is phoney. And Jessep's                          statement that the six a.m. flight                          was the first available is a lie,                          we're checking the tower chief's                          log. But in the meantime I'm gonna                          put the Apostle Jon Kendrick on the                          stand and see if we can't have a                          little fun.               ROSS takes another sip of his drink, then lays it on the                line for Kaffee..                                     ROSS                         I have an obligation to tell you                          that if you accuse Kendrick or Jessep                          of any crime without proper evidence,                          you'll be subject to Court-Martial                          for professional misconduct. And                          that's something that'll be stapled                          to every job application you ever                          fill out. Markinson's not gonna hold                          up, he's a crazy man. I'm not saying                          this to intimidate you. I'm being                          your lawyer.                                     KAFFEE                         Thanks, Jack. And I wanna tell you                          that I think the whole fuckin' bunch                          of you are certifiably insane. And                          this code of honor of yours makes me                          wanna beat the shit outta something.                                     ROSS                         Don't you dare lump me in with Jessep                          and Markinson and Kendrick because                          we wear the same uniform. I'm your                          friend, Danny, and I'm telling you,                          I don't think your clients belong in                          jail. But I don't get to make that                          decision. I represent the Government                          of the United States. Without passion                          or prejudice. And my client has a                          case.                              (pause)                         I want you to acknowledge that the                          judge advocate has made you aware of                          the possible consequences involved                          in accusing a marine officer of a                          felony without proper evidence.                                     KAFFEE                         I've been so advised.               ROSS stands up and heaves a few dollars on the table.                                     ROSS                         You got bullied into that courtroom,                          Danny. By everyone. By Dawson, by                          Galloway, shit, I practically dared                          you. Not for a second have you                          believed you could win. You got                          bullied into that room by the memory                          of a dead lawyer.                                     KAFFEE                              (pause)                         You're a lousy softball player, Jack.                                     ROSS                         Your boys are going down. I can't                          stop it anymore.                                                                    CUT TO:               INT. COURTHOUSE CORRIDOR - DAY               People are filing in. KENDRICK is standing at the entrance                to the courtroom. KAFFEE glides past him...                                     KAFFEE                         Batter up, J.J.               KENDRICK watches this impudent thing walk into the courtroom                as we                                                                    CUT TO:               INT. THE COURTROOM - DAY               KENDRICK's on the stand. What drives Kaffee's entire                examination of Kendrick is this: Kaffee's got him. He's gonna                win. At least this round. All he has to do is not let his                emotions take control of his professional skill.               SAM will have files and documents ready to hand Kaffee as he                needs them.                                     KAFFEE                         Lt. Kendrick, in your opinion, was                          Private Santiago a good marine?                                     KENDRICK                         I'd say he was about average.                                     KAFFEE                         Lieutenant, you signed three fitness                          reports on Santiago. On all three                          reports you indicated a rating of                          Below Average.                                     KENDRICK                         Yes. Private Santiago was Below                          Average I didn't see the need in                          trampling on a man's grave.                                     KAFFEE                         We appreciate that, but you're under                          oath now, and I think unpleasant as                          it may be, we'd all just as soon                          hear the truth.                                     KENDRICK                         I'm aware of my oath.               KAFFEE's handed some more files.                                     KAFFEE                         Lieutenant, these are the last three                          fitness reports you signed for Lance                          Corporal Dawson and PFC Downey. Downey                          received three straight marks of                          Exceptional. Dawson received two                          marks of Exceptional, but on this                          most recent report, dated June 9th                          of this year, he received a rating                          of Below Average. It's this last                          report that I'd like to discuss for                          a moment.                                     KENDRICK                         That's fine.                                     KAFFEE                         Lance Corporal Dawson's ranking after                          Infantry Training School was perfect.                          Records indicate that over half that                          class has since been promoted to                          full corporal, while Dawson has                          remained a lance corporal. Was                          Dawson's promotion held up because                          of this last fitness report.                                     KENDRICK                         I'm sure it was.                                     KAFFEE                         Do you recall why Dawson was given                          such a poor grade on this report?                                     KENDRICK                         I'm sure I don't. I have many men in                          my charge, Lieutenant, I write many                          fitness reports.                                     KAFFEE                         Do you recall an incident involving                          a PFC Curtis Barnes who'd been found                          stealing liquor from the Officer's                          Club?                                     KENDRICK                         Yes.                                     KAFFEE                         Did you report private Barnes to the                          proper authorities?                                     KENDRICK                         I have two books at my bedside,                          Lieutenant, the Marine Code of Conduct                          and the King James Bible. The only                          proper authorities I'm aware of are                          my Commanding Officer, Colonel Nathan                          R. Jessep and the Lord our God.                                     KAFFEE                         Lt. Kendrick, at your request, I can                          have the record reflect your lack of                          acknowledgment of this court as a                          proper authority.                                     ROSS                         Objection. Argumentative.                                     RANDOLPH                         Sustained.                              (to KAFFEE)                         Watch yourself, counselor.                                     KAFFEE                         Did you report Private Barnes to                          your superiors?                                     KENDRICK                         I remember thinking very highly of                          Private Barnes, and not wanting to                          see his record tarnished by a formal                          charge.                                     KAFFEE                         You preferred it to be handled within                          the unit.                                     KENDRICK                         I most certainly did.                                     KAFFEE                         Lieutenant, do you know what a Code                          Red is?                                     KENDRICK                         Yes I do.                                     KAFFEE                         Have you ever ordered a code red?                                     KENDRICK                         No, I have not.                                     KAFFEE                         Lieutenant, did you order Dawson and                          two other men to make sure that                          Private Barnes receive no food or                          drink except water for a period of                          seven days?                                     KENDRICK                         That's a distortion of the truth.                          Private Barnes was placed on barracks                          restriction. He was given water and                          vitamin supplements, and I assure                          you that at no time was his health                          in danger.                                     KAFFEE                         I'm sure it was lovely for Private                          Barnes, but you did order the barracks                          restriction, didn't you? And you did                          order the denial of food.                                     KENDRICK                         Yes.                                     KAFFEE                         Wouldn't this form of discipline be                          considered a code red?                                     KENDRICK                              (beat)                         Not necessarily.                                     KAFFEE                         If I called the other 8000 men at                          Guantanamo Bay to testify, would                          they consider it a Code Red?                                     ROSS                         Please the court, the witness can't                          possibly testify as to what 8000                          other men would say. We object to                          this entire line of questioning as                          argumentative and irrelevant badgering                          of the witness.                                     RANDOLPH                         The Government's objection is                          sustained, Lt. Kaffee, and I would                          remind you that you're now questioning                          marine officer with an impeccable                          service record.                                     ROSS                         Thank you judge.               KAFFEE looks over at DAWSON. They share a brief moment before                KAFFEE turns back to KENDRICK.                                     KAFFEE                         Lieutenant, was Dawson given a rating                          of Below Average on this last fitness                          report because you learned held been                          sneaking food to Private Barnes?                              (to ROSS)                         Not so fast.                              (to KENDRICK)                         Lieutenant?                                     KENDRICK                         Corporal Dawson was found to be Below                          Average because he committed a crime.                                     KAFFEE                         What crime did he commit?                              (beat)                         Lieutenant Kendrick?                              (beat)                         Dawson brought a hungry guy some                          food. What crime did he commit?                                     KENDRICK                         He disobeyed an order.                                     KAFFEE                         And because he did, because he                          exercised his own set of values,                          because he made a decision about the                          welfare of a marine that was in                          conflict with an order of yours, he                          was punished, is that right?                                     KENDRICK                         Corporal Dawson disobeyed an order.                                     KAFFEE                         Yeah, but it wasn't a order, was it?                          After all, it's peacetime. He wasn't                          being asked to secure a hill... or                          advance on a beachhead. I mean, surely                          a marine of Dawson's intelligence                          can be trusted to determine on his                          own, which are the really important                          orders, and which orders might, say,                          be morally questionable.                              (beat)                         Lt. Kendrick?                              (beat)                         Can he? Can Corporal Dawson determine                          on his own which orders he's gonna                          follow?                              (pause)                                     KENDRICK                         No, he can not.                                     KAFFEE                         A lesson he learned after the Curtis                          Barnes incident, am I right?                                     KENDRICK                         I would think so.                                     KAFFEE                         You know so, don't you, Lieutenant.                                     ROSS                         Object!                                     RANDOLPH                         Sustained.                                     KAFFEE                         Lieutenant Kendrick, one final                          question: if you ordered Dawson to                          give Santiago a code red...                                     ROSS                         -- please the court --                                     KENDRICK                         I told those men not to touch                          Santiago.                                     KAFFEE                         -- is it reasonable to think that he                          would've disobeyed you again?                                     ROSS                         Lieutenant, don't answer that.                                     KAFFEE                         You don't have to, I'm through.               ROSS doesn't even wait before he says --                                     ROSS                         Lieutenant Kendrick, did you order                          Corporal Dawson and Private Downey                          to give Willy Santiaga code red?               But KENDRICK isn't listening -- he's glaring at Kaffee.                                     ROSS                              (continuing)                         Lt. Kendrick, did you --                                     KENDRICK                         No I did not.                                     ROSS                         Thank you.                                                                    CUT TO:               FWAP! - a nerf ball slams into a hoop.               PULL BACK TO REVEAL               INT. KAFFEE'S APARTMENT - NIGHT               JO and KAFFEE. KAFFEE's pumped and shooting baskets as Sam                walks in with some bound papers under his arm.                                     KAFFEE                         What's the word?                                     SAM                         This is the tower chief's log for                          that night. Jessep was telling the                          truth. The six a.m. flight was the                          first plane out.               KAFFEE lets the ball drop out of his hands.                                     KAFFEE                         Let me see that.                                                                    CUT TO:               EXT. A MOTEL - NIGHT               A SEDAN, with U.S. MARSHALL stenciled on the door, sits in                front of one of the rooms, and the two FEDERAL AGENTS inside                the car are reading the newspaper as KAFFEE'S CAR pulls next                to them and KAFFEE jumps out.               AGENT #1 sticks his head out the window and calls to KAFFEE --                                     AGENT #1                         Workin' late, lieutenant?               KAFFEE pays no attention and bangs on MARKINSON's door. The                door opens and KAFFEE walks into               INT. MOTEL ROOM               HE tosses the log book on the table.                                     KAFFEE                         There was no flight out at eleven                          o'clock. What the fuck are you trying                          to pull?                                     MARKINSON                         The first flight stateside left                          Guantanamo Bay at eleven and arrived                          at Andrews Airforce Base, Maryland,                          at a few minutes past two.                                     KAFFEE                         Then why the hell isn't it listed in                          the Tower Chief's log?!                                     MARKINSON                         Why the hell did you think it would                          be?!!               KAFFEE is silent. And now it begins to sink in.                                     KAFFEE                         What are you telling me?                              (beat)                         He fixed the log book?               Setback. Big setback.                                     KAFFEE                              (continuing)                         Well, maybe he can make it so a plane                          didn't take off, but I can sure as                          hall prove that one landed. I'll get                          the log book from Andrews.               MARKINSON says nothing. But his face says that KAFFEE was                born yesterday.                                     KAFFEE                              (continuing; beat)                         He made an entire flight disappear?                                     MARKINSON                         Nathan Jessep is about to be named                          Director of Operations for the                          National Security Council. You don't                          get to that position without knowing                          how to side-step a few land mines.                              (beat)                         And putting me on the stand isn't                          gonna make him step on one.               KAFFEE stares at him.               Then shakes his head, sighs, and picks the log book up off                the table, and heads for the door.                                     KAFFEE                         You're taking the stand. Thursday.               KAFFEE leaves.               HOLD on MARKINSON.                                                                    CUT TO:               INT. KAFFEE'S APARTMENT               KAFFEE'S APARTMENT later that night and SAM and J0 have just                heard the report him.                                     KAFFEE                         There's gotta be someone who can                          testify to the flight. A ground crew                          member. Someone.                                     SAM                         Do you have any idea how many planes                          take off and land every day? A kid                          from the ground crew isn't gonna                          remember a flight that landed four                          weeks ago.                                     KAFFEE                         Forget the flight. We'll put Markinson                          on the stand and we'll deal with                          Jessep's refusal to transfer Santiago                          and he'll testify to the forged                          transfer order. That'll be enough.                          That and Downey's testimony really                          oughta be enough.                                                                    CUT TO:               INT. THE HOLDING ROOM - DAY               Jo is working with DOWNEY. He sits on a mock witness stand.                                     JO                         Private Downey, why did you go into                          Santiago's room on the night of the                          6th?                                     DOWNEY                         To give Private Santiago a Code Red,                          ma'am.                                     JO                         And why did you give him a Code Red?                                     DOWNEY                         I was ordered to give him a Code Red                          by the Executive officer for Rifle                          Security Company Windward, Lieutenent                          Jonathan James Kendrick.               JO smiles.                                     JO                         You're gonna do fine.               DOWNEY smiles.                                     DOWNEY                         You think they'll let us go back to                          our platoon soon, ma'am?                                     JO                              (pause)                         Absolutely.                                                                    CUT TO:               INT. THE COURTHOUSE CORRIDOR - DAY               Jo is going over last-minute details with KAFFEE.                                     JO                         You remember the order of the                          questions?                                     KAFFEE                         Yes.                                     JO                         Are you sure?                                     KAFFEE                         Yes.                                     JO                         And you'll use small words?                                     KAFFEE                         Yes.                                     JO                         He gets rattled when he doesn't                          understand something.                                     KAFFEE                         Jo --                                     JO                         I'm just saying go slow.                                     KAFFEE                         I'm gonna go slow.                                     JO                         Okay.                                     KAFFEE                         Alright.                                     JO                         And get him off as fast as you can.                                     KAFFEE                         Joanne!                                     JO                         What?                                     KAFFEE                         He's gonna be fine.               They turn and head into the courtroom as we HEAR MARKINSON                in VOICE OVER...                                     MARKINSON (V.O.)                         "Dear Mr. and Mrs. Santiago..."                                                                    CUT TO:               INT. MARKINSON'S ROOM - DAY               MARKINSON is writing a letter and we HEAR it in V.O.                                     MARKINSON (V.O.)                         I was William's company commander.                           I knew your son vaguely, which is to                          say I knew his name...               And while we continue to HEAR Markinson's voice writing the                letter, we begin a SERIES OF SHOTS: MARKINSON is getting                into his class A dress uniform, complete with medals, side                arm, and military dress sabre.                                     MARKINSON (V.O.)                         In a matter of time, the trial of                          the two man charged with your son's                          death will be concluded, and seven                          men and two women whom you've never                          met will try to offer you an                          explanation as to why William is                          dead. For my part, I've done as much                          as I can to bring the truth to light.               MARKINSON is finished dressing. He stands in the middle of                the motel room.                                     MARKINSON (V.O.)                              (continuing)                         And the truth is this: your son is                          dead for only one reason. I wasn't                          strong enough to stop it.               MARKINSON takes a pistol out of his holster and cocks the                trigger.                                     MARKINSON (V.O.)                         Always, Captain Matthew Andrew                          Markinson.               MARKINSON puts the pistol in his mouth --                                     MARKINSON (V.O.)                         United states marine corps.               We HEAR the BLAST of the gunshot as we                                                                    CUT TO:               EXT. THE COURTROOM - DAY               Kaffee is at the end of his examination of Downey.                                     KAFFEE                         Private, I want you to tell us one                          last time: Why did you go into Private                          Santiago's room on the night of August                          6th?                                     DOWNEY                         A code red was ordered by my platoon                          commander, Lt. Jonathan James                          Kendrick.                                     KAFFEE                         Thank you.                              (to ROSS)                         Your witness.                                     ROSS                         Private, for the week of 2 August,                          the switch log has you down at Post                          39, is that correct?                                     DOWNEY                         I'm sure it is, sir, they keep that                          log pretty good.                                     ROSS                         How far is it from Post 39 to the                          Windward barracks?                                     DOWNEY                         It's a ways, sir, it's a hike.                                     ROSS                         About how far by jeep?                                     DOWNEY                         About ten, fifteen minutes, sir.                                     ROSS                         Have you ever had to walk it?                                     DOWNEY                         Yes sir. That day, sir. Friday. The                          Pick-up Private -- sir, that's what                          we call the fella who drops us at                          our posts and picks us up... also,                          'cause he can get girls in New York                          City -- the Pick-up Private got a                          flat...               At the defense table, KAFFEE, poker-faced, scribbles something                down on a piece of paper and slides it to JO. JO looks at                it:               "Where's he going with this?" JO scribbles "?" And hands it                back to KAFFEE.                                     DOWNEY                              (continuing)                         ...Right at 39. He pulled up and                          blam! ...A blowout-with no spare.                          The two of us had to double-time it                          back to the barracks.                                     ROSS                         And if it's ten or fifteen minutes                          by jeep, I'm guessing it must be a                          good hour by foot, am I right?                                     DOWNEY                         Pick-up and me did it in 45 flat,                          sir.                                     ROSS                         Not bad. Now you say your assault on                          Private Santiago was the result of                          an order that Lt. Kendrick gave in                          your barracks room at 16:20.               KAFFEE knows what's coming. There's nothing he can do about                it. And he can't lose his cool in front of the jury.                                     DOWNEY                         Yes sir.               JO. Helpless. Panicked.                                     ROSS                         But you just said that you didn't                          make it back to Windward Barracks                          until 16:45.               DOWNEY's confused. These are questions he hasn't been asked                before.                                     DOWNEY                         Sir?                                     ROSS                         If you didn't make it back to your                          barracks until 16:45, then how could                          you be in your room at 16:20?                                     DOWNEY                              (pause)                         You see sir, there was a flat tire.                                     ROSS                         Private, did you ever actually hear                          Lt. Kendrick order a Code Red?               KAFFEE's world is falling down around him, and there's nothing                he can do about it. And he knows it.                                     DOWNEY                              (pause)                         No, sir.               Jo leaps to her feet.                                     JO                         Please the court, I'd like to request                          a recess in order to confer with my                          client.                                     ROSS                         Why did you go into Santiago's room?                                     JO                         The witness has rights.                                     ROSS                         The witness has been read his rights,                          commander.                                     DOWNEY                              (confused)                         Hal?                                     RANDOLPH                         The question will be repeated.                                     ROSS                         Why did you go into Santiago's room?                                     JO                         Your honor --                                     DOWNEY                         Hal?                                     ROSS                         Did Corporal Dawson tell you to do                          it?               Everyone is frozen.                                     ROSS                              (continuing)                         He did, didn't he? Dawson told you                          to give Santiago a code red.               DOWNEY looks at DAWSON.                                     DOWNEY                         Hal?                                     ROSS                         Don't look at him.                                     DOWNEY                         Hal?                                     DAWSON                         Private. Answer the Lieutenant's                          question.               The room is still silent. DOWNEY does something we've never                seen him do before. He straightens himself up and says this                with the pride of a man who believes he's done the right                thing.                                     DOWNEY                         Yes, Lieutenant. I was given an order                          by my squad leader, Lance Corporal                          Harold W. Dawson of the U.S. Marine                          Corps. And I followed it.               ROSS let's it hang. He looks over at KAFFEE. KAFFEE won't                meet his eyes.               INT. KAFFEE'S APARTMENT - NIGHT               JO and SAM are sitting in silence. It's dark outside.                                     JO                         Where do you think he is?               SAM doesn't know. JO is beside herself, and trying to keep                it together.                                     JO                              (continuing)                         As far as Downey was concerned, it                          was an order from Kendrick. It didn't                          matter that he didn't hear it first                          hand. He doesn't distinguish between                          the two.               SAM understands, but he doesn't say anything. The door opens                and KAFFEE walks in.                                     JO                              (continuing)                         Danny. I'm sorry.               KAFFEE seems to be in an incredibly normal mood.                                     KAFFEE                         Don't worry about it.                                     JO                         Sam and I were just talking about                          how all we really have to do is call                          some witnesses who'll talk about                          implied orders... or maybe we put                          Downey back on the stand before we                          get to Dawson.                                     KAFFEE                         Maybe if we work at it we can get                          Dawson charged with the Kennedy                          assassination.               JO studies KAFFEE for a moment.                                     JO                         Are you drunk?                                     KAFFEE                              (a simple answer)                         Pretty much. Yeah.                                     JO                              (pause)                         I'll make a pot of coffee. We have a                          long night's work ahead.                                     KAFFEE                         She's gonna make coffee. That's nice.                              (beat)                         He wasn't in his room.                              (Kaffee's amazed)                         He wasn't even there.                              (beat)                         That was an important piece of                          information, don't you think?                                     JO                              (pause)                         Danny, it was just a setback. I'm                          sorry. But we'll fix it and then                          move on to Markinson.                                     KAFFEE                         Markinson's dead.               JO and SAM are frozen.               KAFFEE says this with no particular feeling one way or the                other.                                     KAFFEE                              (continuing)                         You really gotta hand it to those                          Federal Marshals, boy.                              (he almost has to                               laugh)                         It's not like he hanged himself by                          his shoelaces or slashed his wrists                          with a concealed butter knife. This                          guy got, into full dress uniform,                          stood in the middle of that room,                          drew a nickle plated pistol from his                          holster, and fired a bullet into his                          mouth.               Jo and SAM don't say anything.                                     KAFFEE                              (continuing)                         Anyway, since we seem to be out of                          witnesses, I thought I'd drink a                          little.                                     JO                         I still think we can win.                                     KAFFEE                         Then maybe you should drink a little.                                     JO                         Look, we'll go to Randolph in the                          morning and make a motion for a                          continuance. 24 hours.                                     KAFFEE                              (beat)                         Why would we want to do that?                                     JO                         To subpoena Colonel Jessep.                                     KAFFEE                         What?                                     JO                         Listen for a second --                                     KAFFEE                         No.                                     JO                         Just hear me out --                                     KAFFEE                         No. I won't listen to you and I won't                          hear you out. Your passion is                          comforting, Jo. It's also useless.                          Private Downey needed a trial lawyer                          today.                                     JO                              (pause)                         You chicken-shit. You're gonna use                          what happened today as an excuse to                          give up.                                     KAFFEE                         It's over!                                     JO                         Why did you ask Jessep for the                          transfer order?                                     KAFFEE                         What are you --                                     JO                         In Cuba. Why did you ask Jessep for                          the transfer order?                                     KAFFEE                         What does it matter --                                     JO                         Why?!                                     KAFFEE                         I wanted the damn transfer order!                                     JO                         Bullshit! You could've gotten it by                          picking up the phone and calling any                          one of a dozen departments at the                          Pentagon. You didn't want the transfer                          order. You wanted to see Jessep's                          reaction when you asked for the                          transfer order. You had an instinct.                          And it was confirmed by Markinson.                          Now damnit, let's put Jessep on the                          stand and end this thing!                                     KAFFEE                         What possible good could come from                          putting Jessep on the stand?                                     JO                         He told Kendrick to order the Code                          Red.                                     KAFFEE                         He did?! Why didn't you say so!?                          That's qreat! And of course you have                          proof of that.                                     JO                         I --                                     KAFFEE                         Ah, I keep forgetting: You were sick                          the day they taught law at law school.                                     JO                         You put him on the stand and you get                          it from him!                                     KAFFEE                         Yes. No problem. We get it from him.                              (to SAM)                         Colonel, isn't it true that you                          ordered the Code Red on Santiago?                                     SAM                         Look, we're all a little --                                     KAFFEE                         I'm sorry, your time's run out. What                          do we have for the losers, Judge?                          Well, for our defendants it's a                          lifetime at exotic Fort Levenworth.                          And for defense counsel Kaffee? That's                          right -- it's -- a court -- martial.                          Yes, Johnny, after falsely accusing                          a marine officer of conspiracy, Lt.                           Kaffee will have a long and prosperous                          career teaching typewriter maintenance                          at the Rocco Columbo School for Women.                           Thank you for playing "Should We or                          Should-We-Not Follow the Advice of                          the Galacticly Stupid".               And with one motion, he knocks everything from his desk. A                ton of papers, books, files, etc., falls to the floor.               There's dead silence. Maybe just the sound of KAFFEE breathing                after this exhausting outburst.               Finally...                                     JO                         I'm sorry I lost you your set of                          steak knives.               Jo picks up her purse and coat and walks out. The door slams                behind her.               KAFFEE walks into the kitchen without a word.               SAM gets down on the floor and begins picking up all the                stuff that Kaffee knocked off the desk.               KAFFEE comes back in with a bottle of Jack Daniels.                                     KAFFEE                         Stop cleaning up.               But Sam continues.                                     KAFFEE                              (continuing)                         Sam. Stop cleaning up.               SAM stops and sits in a chair. KAFFEE sits on the couch.                                     KAFFEE                              (continuing)                         You want a drink?                                     SAM                         Yeah.               SAM takes a swig from the bottle.                                     KAFFEE                         Is your father proud of you?                                     SAM                         Don't do this to yourself.                                     KAFFEE                         I'll bet he is. I'll bet he bores                          the shit outta the neighbors and the                          relatives. "Sam, made Law Review.                           He's got a big case he's making --                          He's arguing making an argument."                              (pause)                         I think my father would've enjoyed                          seeing me graduate from law school.                              (beat)                         I think he would've liked that... an                          awful lot.                                     SAM                         Did I ever tell you that I wrote a                          paper on your father in college?                                     KAFFEE                         Yeah?                                     SAM                         He was one of the best trial lawyers                          ever.                                     KAFFEE                         Yes he was.                                     SAM                         And if I were Dawson and Downey and                          I had a choice between you or your                          father to represent me in this case,                          I'd take you any day of the week and                          twice on Sunday. You should have                          seen yourself thunder away at                          Kendrick.                                     KAFFEE                         Would you put Jessep on the stand?                                     SAM                         No.                                     KAFFEE                         You think my father would've?                                     SAM                         With the evidence we've got? Not in                          a million years. But here's the thing --                         and there's really no way of getting                          around this -- neither Lionel Kaffee                          nor Sam Weinberg are lead counsel                          for the defense in the matter of                          U.S. versus Dawson and Downey. So                          there's only one question. What would                          you do?               We HOLD on the two of them for a moment, then                                                                    CUT TO:               EXT. A SUBURBAN STREET - NIGHT               JO is walking through the night at a brisk pace. She's doing                her best not to fall apart.               TWO HEADLIGHTS appear coming down the street, and KAFFEE's                CAR, with SAM driving and KAFFEE riding shotgun, slows down                alongside JO. KAFFEE rolls down his window.                                     KAFFEE                         Joanne.               JO ignores them and keeps walking. The car crawls along with                her.               JO starts walking faster.                                     KAFFEE                              (continuing)                         Jo, we look ridiculous.                              (to SAM)                         Stop the car.               KAFFEE hops out and calls --                                     KAFFEE                              (continuing)                         Joanne.               JO keeps walking.                                     KAFFEE                              (continuing)                         I apologize. I was angry and... I'm                          sorry about what I said.               But JO'S still walking.                                     KAFFEE                              (continuing; calling)                         I'm gonna put Jessep on the stand.               She stops. She turns around.                                                                    CUT TO:               INT. KAFFEE'S APARTMENT - LATER - AFTERNOON               A nerf ball bounces off the wall.               KAFFEE, JO and SAM are sprawled out in the living room. For                hours now they've been trying to come up with an idea.                 KAFFEE's mind seems to be on his basketball game.                                     JO                         I say we hit him with the phoney                          transfer order.                                     SAM                         What's the transfer order without a                          witness?                                     KAFFEE                         We have a witness.                                     SAM                         A dead witness.                                     KAFFEE                         And in the hands of a lesser attorney,                          that'd be a problem.                                     SAM                         Look at this. Last night he was                          swimming in his Jack Daniels, now he                          can leap tall buildings in a single                          bound.                                     KAFFEE                         I'm getting my second wind. Siddown.                          Both of you.               He sees that SAM and JO were already sitting down.                                     KAFFEE                              (continuing)                         Good.                              (beat)                         Jessep told Kendrick to order a code                          red. Kendrick did, and our clients                          followed the order. The cover-up                          isn't our case. To win, Jessep has                          to tell the jury that he ordered the                          code red.                                     SAM                         And you think you can got him to                          just say it?                                     KAFFEE                         I think he wants to say it. I think                          he's pissed off that he's gotta hide                          from us. I think he wants to say                          that he made a command decision and                          that's the end of it. He eats                          breakfast 80 yards away from 4000                          Cubans who are trained to kill him,                          and no one's gonna tell him how to                          run his base. Least of all the pushy                          broad, the smart Jew, and the Harvard                          clown. I need to shake him and put                          him on the defensive.               SAM and JO are silent for a moment.                                     SAM                         That's it? That's the plan?                                     KAFFEE                         That's the plan.                                     SAM                         You're gonna trip Jessep and he's                          gonna confess.                                     KAFFEE                         I'm not gonna trip him. I'm gonna                          lead him right where he's dying to                          go.                                     SAM                         And how are you gonna do that?                                     KAFFEE                         I have no idea. I need my bat.                                     JO                         What?                                     KAFFEE                              (looking around)                         I need my bat. I think better with                          my bat. Where's my bat?                                     JO                         I put it in the closet.                                     KAFFEE                         You put it in the closet.               KAFFEE heads to the closet.                                     JO                         I was tripping over it.                                     KAFFEE (O.S.)                         Don't ever put a bat in a closet.                                     JO                         He thinks better with his bat?               And we go to KAFFEE AT THE CLOSET.               OFFSCREEN WE HEAR                                     SAM (O.S.)                         I can understand that. I used to                          have stuffed panda named Mr. Boob. I                          could never do my home work without                          him.               During this, KAFFEE's opened the closet door. He reaches in                to grab his bat when all of a sudden he notices something:               His clothes.               His uniforms and his civilian clothes. Hanging neatly along                the bar. He stares at this a moment, then suddenly heads                back through the living room towards the front door.                                     KAFFEE                         Stay here, I'm going to the office                          for a while.               KAFFEE storms out.                                     SAM                         Boy, he does think better with that                          bat.                                                                    CUT TO:               INT. THE COMPUTER ROOM - DUSK               A small room at the end of a corridor at the office. KAFFEE                stands over a printer and watches it spit out something he's                been waiting for. He tears the printout off and we                                                                    CUT TO:               INT. KAFFEE'S OFFICE - EARLY EVENING               KAFFEE is looking over the computer printout. From what we                can tell, it resembles a large, military coded phone bill.               KAFFEE picks up the phone and dials.                                     KAFFEE                              (into phone)                         Sam.                              (beat)                         I need you to do something.                                                                    CUT TO:               INT. KAFFEE'S APARTMENT               SAM hangs up the phone slowly.                                     JO                         What's goin' on?                                     SAM                         I've gotta go out to Andrews.                                                                    CUT TO:               INT. COURTHOUSE CORRIDOR - DAY               The day's session is going to begin in a few minutes. KAFFEE                comes around the corner and runs into Jo.                                     KAFFEE                         Is Sam here?                                     JO                         Not yet.                                     KAFFEE                         Where is he?                                     JO                         He's on his way.                                     KAFFEE                         Did he got the guys?                                     JO                         Yes. Listen, can I talk to you for a                          second?                                                                    CUT TO:               INT. AN ANTE-ROOM OFF THE CORRIDOR - DAY               JO closes the door behind them.                                     JO                         How're you feeling?                                     KAFFEE                         I think he's gonna have his hands                          full today.                                     JO                         Listen.                              (beat)                         Danny.                              (beat)                         When you're out there. If it's not                          gonna happen he's not gonna say it                              (beat)                         ...don't go for it.               KAFFEE looks at her.                                     JO                              (continuing)                         If you feel like... if you feel                          like... You could get in trouble.                              (beat)                         I'm special counsel for internal                          affairs, and I'm telling you, you                          could get in a lot of trouble.                                     KAFFEE                         Why Lt. Commander Galloway... are                          you suggesting I back off a material                          witness?                                     JO                         If you think you can't get him.                              (beat)                         Yeah.                                     KAFFEE                         Do you think I can get him?                                     JO                              (beat)                         I think it doesn't matter what I                          think. I'm an administrator.                              (beat)                         I can't seem to defend people.               KAFFEE takes that in. He picks up his briefcase and grabs                his jacket.               Then he turns to JO.                                     KAFFEE                         You're my hero, Joanne.                              (beat)                         From the first day, you were a lawyer.                              (beat)                         Live with that.               And in VOICE OVER we HEAR the SERGEANT AT ARMS.                                     SERGEANT AT ARMS (V.O.)                         All rise.                                                                    CUT TO:               INT. THE COURTROOM - DAY               Everyone stands at attention as RANDOLPH enters. SAM is                missing.                                     RANDOLPH                              (to KAFFEE)                         Call your witness.                                     KAFFEE                         Where's Sam?                                     JO                         He'll be here.                                     RANDOLPH                         Lieutenant, call your witness.                                     KAFFEE                         Defense calls Colonel Nathan Jessep.               JESSEP is escorted in through a side door. He's wearing his                dress uniforms, adorned with the appropriate medals.                                     ROSS                         Colonel, do you solemnly swear that                          the testimony you will give in this                          General Court-Martial will be the                          truth, the whole truth, and nothing                          but the truth so help you God?                                     JESSEP                         Yes I do.                                     ROSS                         Would you state your name, rank, and                          current billet for the record please,                          air?                                     JESSEP                         Colonel Nathan R. Jessep, Commanding                          officer, Marine Ground Forces,                          Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.                                     ROSS                         Thank you, sir, would you have a                          seat, please.               JESSEP sits.                                     KAFFEE                         Colonel, when you learned of                          Santiago's letter to the NIS, you                          had a meeting with your two senior                          officers, is that right?                                     JESSEP                         Yes.                                     KAFFEE                         The Executive Officer, Lt. Jonathan                          Kendrick, and the Company Commander,                          Captain Matthew Markinson.                                     JESSEP                         Yes.                                     KAFFEE                         And at present, Captain Markinson is                          dead, is that right?                                     ROSS                         Objection. I'd like to know just                          what defense counsel is implying?                                     KAFFEE                         I'm implying simply that, at present,                          Captain Markinson is not alive.                                     ROSS                         Surely Colonel Jessep doesn't need                          to appear in this courtroom to confirm                          that information.                                     KAFFEE                         I just wasn't sure if the witness                          was aware that two days ago, Captain                          Markinson took his own life with a                          .45 caliber pistol.               And from the back of the room, SAM enters. He's escorting                two young AIRMEN in Airforce dress uniforms. SAM shows the                AIRMEN to a seat near the front, and takes his place at the                defense table.               Over this we HEAR --                                     RANDOLPH (O.S.)                         The witness is aware, the Court is                          aware, and now the jury is aware. We                          thank you for bringing this to our                          attention. Move on Lieutenant.               SAM scribbles something on a piece of paper, KAFFEE walks                over, looks at the paper on which are wrttten two names:                Cecil O'Malley and Anthony Perez, then turns back to RANDOLPH.                                     KAFFEE                         Yes sir. Colonel, at the time of                          this meeting, you gave Lt. Kendrick                          an order, is that right?                                     JESSEP                         I told Kendrick to tell his men that                          Santiago wasn't to be touched.                                     KAFFEE                         And did you give an order to Captain                          Markinson as well?                                     JESSEP                         I ordered Markinson to have Santiago                          transferred off the base immediately.                                     KAFFEE                         Why?                                     JESSEP                         I felt that his life might be in                          danger once word of the letter got                          out.                                     KAFFEE                         Grave danger?                                     JESSEP                         Is there another kind?               KAFFEE holds up a document from his table.                                     KAFFEE                         We have the transfer order that you                          and Markinson co-signed, ordering                          that Santiago be lifted on a flight                          leaving Guantanamo at six the next                          morning. Was that the first flight                          off the bass?                                     JESSEP                         The six a.m. flight was the first                          flight off the base.               KAFFEE nods and decides to move on.               JESSEP steals a quick glance at the two AIRMEN sitting out                in the courtroom.                                     KAFFEE                         Colonel, you flew up to Washington                          early this morning, is that right?                                     JESSEP                         Yes.                                     KAFFEE                         I notice you're wearing your Class A                          appearance in dress uniform for court                          today.                                     JESSEP                              (continuing)                         As are you, Lieutenant.                                     KAFFEE                         Did you wear that uniform on the                          plane?                                     ROSS                         Please the Court, is this dialogue                          relevant to anything in particular?                                     KAFFEE                         The defense didn't have an opportunity                          to depose this witness, your honor.                           I'd ask the Court for a little                          latitude.                                     RANDOLPH                         A very little latitude.                                     KAFFEE                         Colonel?                                     JESSEP                         I wore fatigues on the plane.                                     KAFFEE                         And you brought your dress uniform                          with you.                                     JESSEP                         Yes.                                     KAFFEE                         And a toothbrush? A shaving kit?                          Change of underwear?                                     ROSS                         Your honor.                                     KAFFEE                              (to ROSS)                         Is the Colonel's underwear a matter                          of national security?                                     RANDOLPH                         Gentlemen.                              (to KAFFEE)                         You better get somewhere fast with                          this, Lieutenant.                                     KAFFEE                         Yes sir. Colonel?                                     JESSEP                         I brought a change of clothes and                          some personal items.                                     KAFFEE                         Thank you.               KAFFEE gets a document from his table.                                     KAFFEE                              (continuing)                         After Dawson and Downey's arrest on                          the night of the sixth, Santiago's                          barracks room was sealed off and its                          contents inventoried.                              (reading)                         Pairs of camouflage pants, 6                          camouflage shirts, 2 pairs of boots,                          1 pair of brown shoes, 1 pair of                          tennis shoes, 8 khaki tee-shirts, 2                          belts, 1 sweater --                                     ROSS                         Please the Court, is there a question                          anywhere in our future?                                     RANDOLPH                         Lt. Kaffee, I have to --                                     KAFFEE                         I'm wondering why Santiago wasn't                          packed.               That landed. On the JURY, RANDOLPH, ROSS...                                     KAFFEE                              (continuing)                         I'll tell you what, we'll get back                          to that one in a minute.               JO hands KAFFEE the computer printout.                                     KAFFEE                              (continuing)                         This is a record of all telephone                          calls made from your base in the                          past 24 hours. After being subpoenaed                          to Washington, you made three calls.               Handing Jessep the printout --                                     KAFFEE                              (continuing)                         I've highlighted those calls in                          yellow. Do you recognize those                          numbers?                                     JESSEP                         I called Colonel Fitzhuqhes in                          Quantico, Va. I wanted to let him                          know I'd be in town. The second call                          was to set up a meeting with                          Congressman Ramond of the House Armed                          Services Committee, and the third                          call was to my sister Elizabeth.                                     KAFFEE                         Why did you make that call, sir?                                     JESSEP                         I thought she might like to have                          dinner tonight.                                     ROSS                         Judge --                                     RANDOLPH                         I'm gonna put a stop to this now.               Jo's handed KAFFEE another printout and a stack of letters.                                     KAFFEE                         Your honor, these are the telephone                          records from GITMO for August 6th.                           And these are 14 letters that Santiago                          wrote in nine months requesting, in                          fact begging, for a transfer.                              (to JESSEP)                         Upon hearing the news that he was                          finally getting his transfer, Santiago                          was so excited, that do you know how                          many people he called? Zero. Nobody.                          Not one call to his parents saying                          he was coming home. Not one call to                          a friend saying can you pick me up                          at the airport. He was asleep in his                          bed at midnight, and according to                          you he was getting on a plane in six                          hours, yet everything he owned was                          hanging neatly in his closet and                          folded neatly in his footlocker. You                          were leaving for one day and you                          packed a bag and made three phone                          calls. Santiago was leaving for the                          rest of his life, and he hadn't called                          a soul and he hadn't packed a thing.                          Can you explain that? The fact is                          there was no transfer order. Santiago                          wasn't going anywhere, isn't that                          right, Colonel.                                     ROSS                         Object. Your Honor, it's obvious                          that Lt. Kaffee's intention this                          morning is to smear a high ranking                          marine officer in the desperate hope                          that the mere appearance of                          impropriety will win him points with                          the jury. It's my recommendation,                          sir, that Lt. Kaffee receive an                          official reprimand from the bench,                          and that the witness be excused with                          the Court's deepest apologies.               RANDOLPH ponders this a moment.                                     RANDOLPH                              (pause)                         Overruled.                                     ROSS                         Your honor --                                     RANDOLPH                         The objection's noted.                                     KAFFEE                              (beat)                         Colonel?               Jessep's smiling...               ...and now he can't help but let out a short laugh.                                     KAFFEE                              (continuing)                         Is this funny, sir?                                     JESSEP                         No. It's not. It's tragic.                                     KAFFEE                         Do you have an answer?                                     JESSEP                         Absolutely. My answer is I don't                          have the first damn clue. Maybe he                          was an early morning riser and he                          liked to pack in the nq. And maybe                          he didn't have any friends. I'm an                          educated man, but I'm afraid I can't                          speak intelligently about the travel                          habits of William Santiago.  What I                          do know is that he was set to leave                          the base at 0600. Now are these really                          the questions I was called here to                          answer? Phone calls and footlockers?                          Please tell me you've got something                          more, Lieutenant. Please tell me                          there's an ace up your sleeve. These                          two marines are on trial for their                          lives. Please tell me their lawyer                          hasn't pinned their hopes to a phone                          bill.                              (beat)                         Do you have any other questions for                          me, counselor?               The courtroom is silenced. Jessep's slammed the door.               KAFFEE looks around the room, sees that the world is waiting                for him to do something...                                     RANDOLPH                         Lt. Kaffee?               KAFFEE says nothing. He glances over to AIRMEN O'MALLEY and                PEREZ.                                     RANDOLPH                              (continuing)                         Lieutenant, do you have anything                          further for this witness?               KAFFEE doesn't respond. JESSEP gets up to leave.                                     JESSEP                              (standing)                         Thanks, Danny. I love Washington.               And JESSEP starts to leave, but he's stopped by --                                     KAFFEE                         Excuse me, I didn't dismiss you.               JESSEP turns around.                                     JESSEP                         I beg your pardon.                                     KAFFEE                         I'm not through with my examination.                          Sit down.                                     JESSEP                         Colonel.                                     KAFFEE                         What's that?                                     JESSEP                              (to RANDOLPH)                         I'd appreciate it if he addressed me                          as Colonel or Sir. I believe I've                          earned it.                                     RANDOLPH                         Defense counsel will address the                          witness as Colonel or Sir.                                     JESSEP                              (to RANDOLPH)                         I don't know what the hell kind of                          an outfit you're running here.                                     RANDOLPH                         And the witness will address this                          Court as Judge or Your Honor. I'm                          quite certain I've earned it. Take                          your seat, Colonel.               Jessep goes back to the stand.                                     JESSEP                              (continuing)                         What would you like to discuss now!                          My favorite color?                                     KAFFEE                         Colonel, the six a.m. flight, was                          the first one off the base?                                     JESSEP                         Yes.                                     KAFFEE                         There wasn't a flight that left seven                          hours earlier and landed at Andrews                          Airforce Base at 2 a.m.?                                     RANDOLPH                         Lieutenant, I think we've covered                          this, haven't we?               KAFFEE gets the two log books from his table as well as the                piece of paper that SAM scribbled on.                                     KAFFEE                         Your Honor, these are the Tower                          Chief's Logs for both Guantanamo Bay                          and Andrews Airforce Base. The                          Guantanamo log lists no flight that                          left at eleven p.m., and the Andrews                          log lists no flight that landed at 2                          a.m. I'd like to admit them as Defense                          Exhibits "A" and "B".                                     RANDOLPH                         I don't understand. You're admitting                          evidence of a flight that never                          existed?                                     KAFFEE                         We believe it did, sir.                              (glancing at the paper,                               then motioning to                               the AIRMEN)                         Defense'll be calling Airman Cecil                          O'Malley and Airman Anthony Perez.                          They were working the ground crew at                          Andrews at two a.m. on the seventh.                                     ROSS                         Your Honor, these men weren't on the                          list. Rebuttal witnesses, Your Honor,                          called specifically to refute                          testimony offered under direct                          examination.               If you looked closely at JESSEP, you could see a drop of                sweat.                                     RANDOLPH                         I'll allow the witnesses.                                     JESSEP                         This is ridiculous.                                     KAFFEE                         Colonel, a moment ago --                                     JESSEP                         Check the Tower Logs for christ's                          sake.                                     KAFFEE                         We'll get to the airmen in just a                          minute, sir. A moment ago said that                          you ordered Kendrick to order his                          men not to touch Santiago.                                     JESSEP                         That's right.                                     KAFFEE                         And Kendrick was clear on what you                          wanted?                                     JESSEP                         Crystal.                                     KAFFEE                         Any chance Kendrick ignored the order?                                     JESSEP                         Ignored the order?                                     KAFFEE                         Any chance he just forgot about it?                                     JESSEP                         No.                                     KAFFEE                         Any chance Kendrick left your office                          and said, "The 'old man's wrong"?                                     JESSEP                         No.                                     KAFFEE                         When Kendrick spoke to the platoon                          and ordered them not to touch                          Santiago, any chance they ignored                          him?                                     JESSEP                         Have you ever spent time in an                          infantry unit, son?                                     KAFFEE                         No sir.                                     JESSEP                         Ever served in a forward area?                                     KAFFEE                         No sir.                                     JESSEP                         Ever put your life in another man's                          hands, ask him to put his life in                          yours?                                     KAFFEE                         No sir.                                     JESSEP                         We follow orders, son. We follow                          orders or people die. It's that                          simple. Are we clear?                                     KAFFEE                         Yes sir.                                     JESSEP                         Are we clear?                                     KAFFEE                         Crystal.               KAFFEE speaks with the quiet confidence that comes from                knowing you're about to drop your opponents                                     KAFFEE                              (continuing; beat)                         Colonel, I have just one more question                          before I call Airman O'Malley and                          Airman Perez: If you gave an order                          that Santiago wasn't to be touched,                          and your orders are always followed,                          then why would he be in danger, why                          would it be necessary to transfer                          him off the base?               And JESSEP has no answer.               Nothing.               He sits there, and for the first time, seems to be lost.                                     JESSEP                         Private Santiago was a sub-standard                          marine. He was being transferred off                          the base because --                                     KAFFEE                         But that's not what you said. You                          said he was being transferred because                          he was in grave danger.                                     JESSEP                              (pause)                         Yes. That's correct, but --                                     KAFFEE                         You said, "He was in danger". I said,                          "Grave danger". You said --                                     JESSEP                         Yes, I recall what --                                     KAFFEE                         I can have the Court Reporter read                          back your --                                     JESSEP                         I know what I said. I don't need it                          read back to me like I'm a damn --                                     KAFFEE                         Then why the two orders?                              (beat)                         Colonel?                              (beat)                         Why did you --                                     JESSEP                         Sometimes men take matters into their                          own hands.                                     KAFFEE                         No sir. You made it clear just a                          moment ago that your men never take                          matters into their own hands. Your                          men follow orders or people die. So                          Santiago shouldn't have been in any                          danger at all, should he have,                          Colonel?               Everyone's sweating now. Everyone but KAFFEE.                                     JESSEP                         You little bastard.                                     ROSS                         Your Honor, I have to ask for a recess                          to --                                     KAFFEE                         I'd like an answer to the question,                          Judge.                                     RANDOLPH                         The Court'll wait for answer.                                     KAFFEE                         If Kendrick told his men that Santiago                          wasn't to be touched, then why did                          he have to be transferred?               Jessep is looking at O'MALLEY and PEREZ.                                     KAFFEE                              (continuing)                         Colonel?               JESSEP says nothing.                                     KAFFEE                              (continuing)                         Kendrick ordered the code red, didn't                          he? Because that's what you told                          Kendrick to do.                                     ROSS                         Object!                                     RANDOLPH                         Counsel.               KAFFEE will plow through the objections of ROSS and the                admonishments of RANDOLPH.                                     KAFFEE                         And when it went bad, you cut these                          guys loose.                                     ROSS                         Your Honor --                                     RANDOLPH                         That'll be all, counsel.                                     KAFFEE                         You had Markinson sign a phony                          transfer order --                                     ROSS                         Judge --                                     KAFFEE                         You doctored the log books.                                     ROSS                         Damnit Kaffee!!                                     KAFFEE                         I'll ask for the forth time. You                          ordered --                                     JESSEP                         You want answers?                                     KAFFEE                         I think I'm entitled to them.                                     JESSEP                         You want answers?!                                     KAFFEE                         I want the truth.                                     JESSEP                         You can't handle the truth!               And nobody moves.                                     JESSEP                              (continuing)                         Son, we live in a world that has                          walls. And those walls have to be                          guarded by men with guns. Who's gonna                          do it? You? You, Lt. Weinberg? I                          have a greater responsibility than                          you can possibly fathom. You weep                          for Santiago and you curse the                          marines. You have that luxury. You                          have the luxury of not knowing what                          I know: That Santiago's death, while                          tragic, probably saved lives. And my                          existence, while grotesque and                          incomprehensible to you, saves lives.                              (beat)                         You don't want the truth. Because                          deep down, in places you don't talk                          about at parties, you want me on                          that wall. You need me there.                              (boasting)                         We use words like honor, code,                          loyalty... we use these words as the                          backbone to a life spent defending                          something. You use 'em as a punchline.                              (beat)                         I have neither the time nor the                          inclination to explain myself to a                          man who rises and sleeps under the                          blanket of the very freedom I provide,                          then questions the manner in which I                          provide it. I'd prefer you just said                          thank you and went on your way.                          Otherwise, I suggest you pick up a                          weapon and stand a post. Either way,                          I don't give a damn what you think                          you're entitled to.                                     KAFFEE                              (quietly)                         Did you order the code red?                                     JESSEP                              (beat)                         I did the job you sent me to do.                                     KAFFEE                         Did you order the code red?                                     JESSEP                              (pause)                         You're goddamn right I did.               Silence. From everyone. RANDOLPH, ROSS, the M.P.'s, they're                all frozen. JO and SAM are likewise. JESSEP seems strangely,                quietly relieved. KAFFEE simply takes control of the room                now.                                     KAFFEE                         Please the court, I suggest the jury                          be dismissed so that we can move to                          an immediate Article 39a Session.                           The witness has rights.               Silence.               RANDOLPH looks to ROSS.                                     RANDOLPH                         Lt. Ross?               ROSS is frozen. He doesn't know what to do.                                     KAFFEE                              (as a friend)                         Jack.               ROSS looks at KAFFEE, then JESSEP, then nods his head "yes"                to RANDOLPH.                                     RANDOLPH                         The Sergeant at Arms will take the                          jury to an ante-room where you'll                          wait until further instruction.               The SERGEANT AT ARMS begins leading the JURORS out of the                room.                                     JESSEP                         What the hell's going on?               No one will say anything until the jurors are out of the                room.                                     JESSEP                              (continuing; to captain)                         Captain, what the hell's going on? I                          did my job. I'd do it again. Now I'm                          getting on a plane and going back to                          my base.                                     RANDOLPH                         M.P.'s, guard the prisoner.               The M.P.'s are tentative. They've never heard a marine colonel                referred to as "the prisoner" before. They sure as hell have                never been asked to guard one.                                     ROSS                         Guard the prisoner.                                     JESSEP                         What the hell --                                     ROSS                         Colonel Jessep, you have the right                          to remain silent. Any statement you                          do make can be used against you in a                          trial by court-martial or other                          judicial or administrative proceeding.                           You have the right...               ROSS continues reading JESSEP his rights, over --                                     JESSEP                         I'm being charged with a crime? I'm --                          that's what this is --                              (to Ross)                         Marine!                              (Ross keeps going)                         Marine!!                              (Ross is doing his                               job.)                         I'm being charged with a crime? I'm --                          that's what's happening? This -- I'm --                         this is funny, you know that, this                          is --               And JESSEP lunges at KAFFEE, and KAFFEE would be dead but                for the three M.P.'s who've leapt in to restrain JESSEP.                 SAM and JO have come to their feet and stand behind KAFFEE.                                     JESSEP                              (continuing; to Kaffee)                         I'm gonna tear your eyes right outta                          your head and piss in your dead skull.                           You fucked with the wrong marine.               ROSS is done reading JESSEP his rights.                                     ROSS                         Colonel Jessep, do you understand                          those rights as I have just read                          then to you?                                     JESSEP                         I saved lives. That boy was -- there                          was a weak link. I saved lives, you                          hear me?               The courtroom is silent from Jessep's outburst. Jessep shakes                his head.                                     JESSEP                              (continuing)                         You fuckin' people.                              (beat)                         You have no idea how to defend a                          nation.                              (continuing; to KAFFEE)                         All you did was weaken a country                          today, Kaffee. That's all you did.                          You put people in danger. Sweet                          dreams, son.                                     KAFFEE                         Don't call me son.                              (beat)                         I'm a lawyer, and an officer of the                          United States Navy. And you're under                          arrest you sonofabitch.               KAFFEE stays on JESSEP a moment longer, then remembers --                                     KAFFEE                              (continuing)                         The witness is excused.               The M.P.'s start leading JESSEP out, and KAFFEE notices                DAWSON. And DOWNEY. And ROSS. who are watching a man in a                marine colonels uniform be led away in handcuffs... KAFFEE                takes a handkerchief from his pocket and wipes some sweat                from his hands. He takes a deep breath as we                                                          SLOW DISSOLVE TO:               INT. THE COURTROOM - LATE AFTERNOON               There's low murmur in the room as the JURORS are being led                back into their box.               Everyone's in place.               RANDOLPH enters.                                     SERGEANT AT ARMS                         Ten-hut.               All rise. And sit when RANDOLPH sits.                                     RANDOLPH                         Have the jurors reached a verdict?                                     JURY FOREMAN                         We have, sir.               The SERGEANT AT ARMS takes all the slips of paper from the                FOREMAN and brings them to RANDOLPH.               KAFFEE stands, and nods to DAWSON and DOWNEY that they should                do the same. SAM and JO stand as well.                                     RANDOLPH                              (reading)                         On the charge of Murder, the Members                          find the defendants Not Guilty.               It's hard to resist the temptation to scream and shout, but                they do.                                     RANDOLPH                              (continuing; reading)                         On the charge of Conspiracy to Commit                          Murder, the Members find the                          defendants Not Guilty.               RANDOLPH looks up. Then reads from the last slip of paper.                                     RANDOLPH                              (continuing)                         On the charge of Conduct Unbecoming                          a United States Marine, the members                          find the defendants Guilty as Charged.               A little of the energy drains out of the room. RANDOLPH                continues reading.                                     RANDOLPH                              (continuing; reading)                         The defendants are hereby sentenced                          by this court to time already served,                          and are ordered...               RANDOLPH clears his throat.                                     RANDOLPH                              (continuing)                         ...And are ordered to be dishonorably                          discharged from the marine corps.                              (pause)                         This Court-Martial is adjourned.               RANDOLPH raps his gavel.                                     SERGEANT AT ARMS                         Ten hut.               All rise.               RANDOLPH's gone.                                     SERGEANT AT ARMS                              (continuing)                         Dismissed.               The M.P.'s move to DAWSON and DOWNEY to unlock their                handcuffs. KAFFEE is packing up his things, just another day                at the office.                                     DAWSON                         Why?                                     KAFFEE                         Harold, I'm sorry.                                     DAWSON                         Why?!                                     DOWNEY                         I don't understand. Colonel Jessep                          said he ordered the Code Red.                                     JO                         I know, but --                                     DOWNEY                         Colonel Jessep said he ordered the                          Code Red, what did we do wrong?                                     JO                         It's not as simple as --                                     DOWNEY                         What did we do wrong?                                     DAWSON                         We did nothing wrong.               SAM slaps his hands down on the table --                                     SAM                         Yes you did! A jury just said your                          conduct was unbecoming a marine.                          What does that mean?!                                     DAWSON                         You're the lawyer.                                     SAM                         You're the marine.                                     DAWSON                         Not anymore.               SAM lets it hang. DAWSON is staring at SAM. His stare moves                slowly to the floor.                                     DAWSON                              (continuing)                         I never meant to hurt Willy.               DAWSON looks up at HIS PARENTS. The moment hangs there...                before                                     SERGEANT AT ARMS                         Kaffee, I've gotta take these guys                          over to personnel for some paper                          work.               KAFFEE nods.                                     SERGEANT AT ARMS                              (continuing; to Dawson                               & Downey)                         Gentleman?               DAWSON looks to KAFFEE. There's gotta be more. This can't be                it.               But KAFFEE has nothing to say.               DAWSON and DOWNEY walk to the SERGEANT AT ARMS and begin to                follow him up the aisle and out of the courtroom. But before                they get to the door, KAFFEE turns around and calls                                     KAFFEE                         Harold!               They stop and turn around.                                     DAWSON                         Sir!                                     KAFFEE                              (pause)                         You don't need to wear a patch on                          your arm to have honor.               DAWSON stares at KAFFEE for a long moment.                                     DAWSON                         Ten-hut.               DAWSON and DOWNEY come to attention.                                     DAWSON                              (continuing)                         There's an officer on deck.               DAWSON snaps a salute and holds it.               KAFFEE stares back. Then stands up straight and returns their                salute.               With one last glance back at KAFFEE, DAWSON turns and walks                out the door, followed by DOWNEY.               ROSS walks over to the defense table.                                     ROSS                         Airmen Cecil O'Malley and Anthony                          Perez? What exactly were these guys                          gonna testify to?                                     KAFFEE                         Unless I'm mistaken they were gonna                          testify, under oath, that they have                          absolutely no recollection of                          anything.               ROSS smiles.                                     ROSS                         Strong witnesses.                                     KAFFEE                         And very handsome, too, don't you                          think?                                     ROSS                         I'll see you around the campus.                           I've gotta go arrest Kendrick.                                     KAFFEE                         Tell him I say "Hi".                                     ROSS                         Will do.                                                                    CUT TO:               EXT. OUTSIDE THE COURTHOUSE - DUSK               KAFFEE, JO and SAM are walking down the steps. The BAND is                practicing on the parade grounds.                                     JO                         What do you say we take the rest of                          the day off. Go out someplace. Sam?                          Champagne? Yoo-Hoo?                                     SAM                         Thanks, I can't. I'm gonna go home                          and talk to my daughter. I think                          she's gotta be bilingual by now.               And SAM heads off toward his car.                                     JO                         So what's next for you?                                     KAFFEE                         Staff Sargeant Henry Williamson. He                          went to the movies on company time.                          What about you?                                     JO                         Me? Oh... you know... the usual.                                     KAFFEE                         Just pretty much generally annoying                          people?                                     JO                         Yeah.                              (pause)                         So what do you say? How 'bout a                          celebration?                                     KAFFEE                         No. How 'bout a date. A real date.                          Dinner. Attractive clothes. The works.                                     JO                         Sounds good.  Who do you think I                          should call?                                     KAFFEE                         I'll pick you up at seven.                                     JO                         What are you gonna do now?                                     KAFFEE                         I'm gonna get started on Henry                          Williamson.                              (beat)                         Stand my post for a while.               JO holds out her hand. KAFFEE shakes it. JO kisses him.                                     JO                         Wear matching socks.               Jo splits off toward her building and KAFFEE keeps walking                toward the bleachers as we PULL BACK TO INCLUDE the almost                empty parade grounds and PULL BACK as to show the Washington                Navy Yard and PULL BACK and back and back and                                                                  FADE OUT.                                         THE END
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+                                   A SERIOUS MAN                                     Written by                               Joel Coen & Ethan Coen                                                            June 4th, 2007                              White letters on a black screen:          Receive with simplicity everything that happens to you.          -RASHI                    FADE IN:          AGAINST BLACK: SNOWFLAKES                    The flakes drift lazily down toward us. Our angle looks straight          up.          Now an angle looking steeply down: the snow falls not quite dead          away to collect on a          foreground chimneypot and on the little shtetl street that lies          maplike below us.          It is night, and quiet, and the street is deserted except for          one man who walks away from          us, his valenki squeaking in the fresh snow. He carries bundled          branches on one shoulder          and has a hatchet tucked into his belt.                    We cut down to street level. The man walks toward us, bearded,          and bundled against the          cold. Smiling, he mutters in Yiddish-the dialogue subtitled.                    MAN          What a marvel... what a marvel...                    HOUSE INTERIOR          As its door opens and the man enters.                    MAN          Dora!                    VOICE          Yes...                    The man crosses to the stove with his bundle of wood. The voice          continues:                                                  2          . Can you help me with the ice?          The man dumps the wood into a box by the stove as his wife enters          with an ice pick.          . I expected you hours ago.          MAN          You can't imagine what just happened. I was coming back          on the Lublin road when the wheel came off the cart          thank heavens it was the way back and I'd already sold the          geese!                    WIFE          How much?                    MAN          Fifteen groshen, but that's not the story. I was struggling to          set the cart upright when a droshky approaches from the          direction of Lvov. How lucky, you think, that someone is          out this late.                    WIFE          Yes, very remarkable.                    MAN          But that's the least of it! He stops to help me; we talk of          this, we talk of that-it turns out this is someone you know!          Traitle Groshkover!                    His wife stares at him as he beams.          He takes the stare as a sign that she can't place the name.          . You know, REB GROSHKOVER! Pesel Bunim's uncle!          The chacham from Lodz, who studied under the Zohar reb          in Krakow!                    Still she stares. Then, quietly:                    WIFE          God has cursed us.                    MAN          What?                    WIFE          Traitle Groshkover has been dead for three years.                    Laughter erupts from the man but, as his wife continues to stare          at him, he strangles on it.          Quiet.          Wind whistles under the eaves.                    The man says quietly:                    MAN          Why do you say such a thing! I saw the man! I talked to him!                    WIFE          You talked to a dybbuk. Traitle Groshkover died of typhus          in Pesel Bunim's house. Pesel told me-she sat shiva for          him.                    They stare at each through a silence broken only by the sound          of the quickening wind.          A rap at the door.          Neither immediately responds.          Finally, to her husband:                    Who is it?                    MAN          For some soup, to warm himself.          The wind moans. He helped me, Dora!                    THE DOOR          We are looking in from the outside as it unlatches and creaks          in, opened by the husband          in the foreground, who has arranged his face into a strained          look of greeting. In the          background the wife stares, hollow-eyed.                    MAN          REB GROSHKOVER! You are welcome here!          Reverse on REB GROSHKOVER: a short, merry-looking fellow with          a bifurcated beard and a          silk hat and spectacles. He gives a little squeal of delight.                    REB GROSHKOVER          You are too kind, Velvel! Too kind!                    He steps into the house and sees the wife staring at him.          And you must be Dora! So much I have heard of you!          Yes, your cheeks are pink and your legs are stout! What a          wife you have!                    The husband chuckles nervously.                    MAN          Yes! A ray of sun, a ray of sun! Sit!                    WIFE          My husband said he offered you soup.                    REB GROSHKOVER          Yes, but I couldn't possibly eat this late, or I'd have          nightmares. No, no: no soup for me!                    WIFE          I knew it.                    REB GROSHKOVER laughs.          REB GROSHKOVER          I see! You think I'm fat enough already!                    He settles, chuckling, into his chair, but Dora remains sober:                    WIFE          No. A dybbuk doesn't eat.                                                  5          REB GROSHKOVER stares at her, shocked.          The wife returns the stare.          The husband looks from wife to REB GROSHKOVER, apprehensive.          A heavy silence.          REB GROSHKOVER bursts into pealing laughter.                    REB GROSHKOVER          What a wife you have!                    He wipes away tears of merriment; the husband relaxes, even begins          to smile.                    MAN          I assure you, REB GROSHKOVER, it's nothing personal; she          heard a story you had died, three years ago, at Pesel          Bunim's house. This is why she think you are a dybbuk; I,          of course, do not believe in such things. I am a rational          man.                    REB GROSHKOVER is still chuckling.                    REB GROSHKOVER          Oh my. Oh my yes. What nonsense. And even if there          were spirits, certainly...          He thumps his chest.          I am not one of them!                    WIFE          Pesel always worried. Your corpse was left unattended for          many minutes when Pesel's father broke shiva and left the          room-it must have been then that the Evil One-          She breaks off to spit at the mention of the Evil One.          -took you!                    REB GROSHKOVER is terribly amused:                                                  6          REB GROSHKOVER          "My corpse!" Honestly! What a wife you have!                    WIFE          Oh yes? Look, husband...                    She steps forward to the Reb, who looks enquiringly up at her.          They were preparing the body. Pesel's father shaved          one check...                    As his eyes roll down to look at her hand, she draws it across          his smooth right cheek.          Then he left the room. He came back, and shaved the          other...                    She reaches across to the other cheek, REB GROSHKOVER's eyes          following her hand-          You were already gone!                    -and drags her hand across. A bristly sound.                    REB GROSHKOVER laughs.                    REB GROSHKOVER          I shaved hastily this morning and missed a bit-by you this          makes me a dybbuk?                    He appeals to the husband:          It's true, I was sick with typhus when I stayed with          Peselle, but I recovered, as you can plainly see, and now          I-hugh!                    The wife steps back.          REB GROSHKOVER looks slowly down at his own chest in which the          wife has just planted an          ice pick.          REB GROSHKOVER stares at the ice pick.          The wife stares.                                                  7          The husband stares.          Suddenly, REB GROSHKOVER bursts out laughing:          What a wife you have!          The husband can manage only a shocked whisper:                    MAN          Woman, what have you done?                    REB GROSHKOVER again looks down at his chest, which again moves          him to laughter. He          shakes his head.                    REB GROSHKOVER          Why would she do such a thing?                    He looks up.          I ask you, Velvel, as a rational man: which of us is          possessed?                    WIFE          What do you say now about spirits? He is unharmed!                    REB GROSHKOVER          On the contrary! I don't feel at all well.                    And indeed, blood has begun to soak through his vest.          He chuckles with less energy.          One does a mitzvah and this is the thanks one gets?                              MAN          Dora! Woe, woe! How can such a thing be!                    REB GROSHKOVER          Perhaps I will have some soup. I am feeling weak...                    He rises to his feet but totters.          Or perhaps I should go...                                                  8          He smiles weakly at Dora..          One knows when one isn't wanted.          He walks unsteadily to the door, opens it with some effort, and          staggers out into the          moaning wind and snow to be swallowed by the night.          The wife and husband stare at the door banging in the wind.          FINALLY:                    MAN          Dear wife. We are ruined. Tomorrow they will discover          the body. All is lost.                    WIFE          Nonsense, Velvel...          She walks to the door...          Blessed is the Lord. Good riddance to evil and shuts it against          the wind.          BLACK          A drumbeat thumps in the black.          Music blares: the Jefferson Airplane. Grace Slick's voice enters:          When the truth is found to be lies          And all the hope inside you dies          Don't you want somebody to love. . .                    An image fades in slowly, but even up full it is dim: some kind          of round, dull white shape          with a small black pinhole center. This white half-globe is a          plug set in a flesh-toned          field. The flesh tone glows translucently, backlit. We are drifting          toward the white plug          and, as we do so, the music grows louder still.                    AN EARPIECE                                                  9          A pull back-a reverse on the preceding push in-from the cheap          white plastic earpiece          of a transistor radio. The Jefferson Airplane continues over          the cut but becomes          extremely compressed. The pull back reveals that the earpiece          is lodged in someone's          ear and trails a white cord.                    We drift down the cord to find the radio at its other end. As          we do so we hear, live in the          room, many voices speaking a foreign language in unison. A classroom,          apparently.          The radio is on a desktop but hidden from in front by the book          held open before it. The          book is written in non-Roman characters.          We are in Hebrew school.                    The boy who is listening to the transistor radio-DANNY Gopnik-sits          at a hinge-topped          desk in a cinderblock classroom whose rows of desks are occupied          by other boys and          girls of about twelve years of age. It is dusk and the room is          flourescent-lit.          At the front of the room a gray-haired man in a worn suit and          tie addresses the class.          DANNY straightens one leg so that he may dig into a pocket. With          an eye on the TEACHER to          make sure he isn't being watched, he eases something out:          A twenty-dollar bill.                    TEACHER          Mee yodayah? Reuven? Rifkah? Mah zeh "anakim"?          Efsheh mashooach ba-avodah?                    A BLINDING LIGHT          At the cut to the light the Jefferson Airplane music jumps up          full. The light resolves into          a multi-flared image of a blinking eye.          Reverse: the inside of a human ear. Fleshy whorls finely veined,          a cavity receding to          dark.          Objective on the DOCTOR's office: the DOCTOR is peering through          a lightscope into the ear of          an early-middle-aged man, LARRY Gopnik.          The Jefferson Airplane music continues.                                                  10          DOCTOR          Uh-huh.          HEBREW SCHOOL          Close on Hebrew characters being scribbled onto the blackboard          as the TEACHER talks.          The TEACHER, talking.          A bored child, staring off.          His point-of-view: a blacktopped parking lot with a few orange          school busses, beyond it a          marshy field, and distant suburban bungalows.          Close on another child staring at something through drooping          eyelids.          His point-of-view: very close on the face of a classroom clock.          We hear its electrical          hum. Its red sweep-second hand crawls around the dial very, very          slowly.          DANNY Gopnik hisses:          DANNY          Fagle!.. .          The TEACHER drones on, writing on the blackboard. DANNY's eyes          flit from the TEACHER to          the student sitting kitty-corner in front of him-a husky youth          with shaggy hair. He          hasn't heard the prompt.          . Fagle!          The TEACHER turns from the blackboard and DANNY leans back, eyes          front, folding the          twenty up small behind his book.          TEACHER          Ahnee rotzeh lalechet habait hakisai. Mee yodayah?          Misaviv tamid anachnoo tamid...          The clock-watching child, eyelids sinking, is beginning to drool          out of one side of his          mouth.          DOCTOR'S OFFICE                                                  11          The light again flaring the lens.          Reverse: looking into a pupil.          Objective: the DOCTOR looking through his scope into LARRY's          eye.          DOCTOR          Mm-hmm.          HEBREW SCHOOL          A bored child is excavating a bugger from his nose.          The TEACHER turns back to the chalkboard to circle something.          DANNY          Fagle!          TEACHER          Hamrah oomoh-          He interrupts himself briefly to make a couple of phlegm-hawking          sounds. He resumes:          . Hamrah oomoh meshiach oomshel zal?          DOCTOR'S OFFICE          The DOCTOR palpates LARRY's midriff, digging his fingers into          the hairy, baggy flesh.          DOCTOR's Voice          Uh-huh. We'll do some routine X-rays.          HEBREW SCHOOL          A young girl holds a hank of her bangs in front of her face,          separating out individual hairs          to examine them for split ends.          TEACHER          Ahnoo ahnoo mah? Mah? Talmidim? D'vorah?                                                  12          D'VORAH          Ahnee to yodayah.          The TEACHER begins to pace the desk aisles, looking back and          forth among the students.          TEACHER          Mee yodayah?          The bugger-seeker, having succesfully withdrawn a bugger, carefully          drapes it over the          sharp end of his pencil, to what end we cannot know.          DANNY, apprehensively eyeing the TEACHER, slides the twenty into          the transistor radio's          cover-sleeve.          X-RAY CONE          A huge white rubberized cone, pointed directly at us.          We hear a rush of static and the DOCTOR's voice filtered through          a talk-back:          DOCTOR's Voice          Hold still.          Wider: LARRY is in his shorts lying on his back on an examining          table covered by a sheet          of tissue paper. The X-ray cone is pointed at the middle of his          body.          There is a brief sci-fi-like machine hum. It clicks off.          HEBREW SCHOOL          The clock-watching student's head is making descending bobs toward          his chest.          TEACHER          Nefsheh shelach hamilamid-eh?!          The TEACHER's circuit of the classroom has taken him around behind          DANNY. DANNY's          book lies face-down on the desk, covering the radio, but the          white cord snakes out from          under it up to his ear.          The TEACHER yanks at the cord.                                                  13          The cord pops out of its jack and the Jefferson Airplane blares          tinnily from beneath the          book of torah stories.          The TEACHER lifts the book to expose the jangling radio.          Outraged, the TEACHER projects above the music:          . Mah zeh? ! Mah zeh? !          Some of the students are singing along; a couple beat rhythm          on their desks.          . Shechet, talmidim! Anachnoo lo cam zeh b'bait sefer!          Shechet bivakasha!          Three other students join in a chorus:                    STUDENTS          Shechet! Shechet bivakasha!          The nodding student's head droops ever lower.          Other students join in the chant:          SHECHET! SHECHET! SHECHET BIVAKASHA!                    The nodding student's chin finally reaches, and settles on, his          chest, and he gives a long          snorfling inhale of sleep.                    DOCTOR'S OFFICE          LARRY, now fully clothed, is seated across from the DOCTOR.          The DOCTOR is looking at his file. He absently taps a cigarette          out of a pack and lights up.          He nods as he smokes, looking at the file.                    DOCTOR          Well, I-sorry.          He holds the pack toward LARRY.                                                  14          LARRY          No thanks.          DOCTOR          Well, you're in good health. How're Judith and the kids?          LARRY          Good. Everyone's good. You know.          The DOCTOR takes a long suck.          DOCTOR          Good. Daniel must be-what? About to be bar mitzvah?          LARRY          Two weeks.          DOCTOR          Well, mazel tov. They grow up fast, don't they?          TINTED PHOTO PORTRAIT          The portrait, old, in an ornate gilt frame, is of a middle-aged          rabbi with a small neat          mustache and round spectacles. He wears a tallis hood-style and          a phylactery box is          strapped to his forehead. A plaque set into the frame identifies          the man as Rabbi Minda.          Wider shows that the portrait hangs in the Hebrew school principal's          office, a white          cinderblock room. It is quiet. The only sound is a deep electrical          hum.          Just visible behind the principal's desk, upon which is a low          stack of books and a name          plate identifying the occupant as MAR TURCHIK, is the top of          a man's head-an old          man, with a few whispy white hairs where his yarmulka is not.          DANNY, seated opposite, pushes up from his slouch to better see          across the desk.          We boom up to show more of the principal. He is short. He wears          a white shirt and          hoist-up pants that come to just below his armpits. He has thick          eyeglasses. He fiddles          with the transistor radio, muttering:          PRINCIPAL          Hmm... eh... nu?                                                  15          He experiments with different dials on the radio.          DANNY nervously watches.          DANNY          You put the-          The old man holds up one hand.          PRINCIPAL          In ivrit. (In Hebrew)          DANNY          Um...          The old man looks down at the little earpiece pinched between          two fingers. He examines          it as a superstitious native might a Coca-Cola bottle.          The source of the electrical hum: a wall clock whose red sweep-second          hand crawls          around the dial very, very slowly.          The Reb continues to squint at the earpiece.          DANNY sighs. He encourages:          DANNY          Yeah, you-          The principal's tone is harder:          PRINCIPAL          In ivrit!          This time his cold look holds until he is sure that the admonishment          has registered.          He looks back down at the earpiece.          We hear the door open. The principal ignores it.          An old woman walks slowly in with a teacup chattering on a saucer.          She has thick          eyeglasses. She wears thick flesh-colored support hose. She takes          slow, short steps          toward the desk. The principal is studying the radio.                                                  16          PRINCIPAL          Mneh...          The old woman continues to take slow short steps toward him.          The tableau looks like a          performance-art piece.          She reaches the desk and sets the teacup down. She summons a          couple of phlegm-          hawking rasps and turns to go.          She takes slow short steps toward the door.          The principal raises the earpiece experimentally toward his ear.           Close on his hairy, wrinkled ear as his trembling fingers bring          in the earpiece. The          i f ngers push and wobble and tamp the earpiece into place, hesitate,          and then do some          more pushing and wobbling and tamping.          The principal keeps DANNY fixed with a stare as his hand hesitantly          drops from his ear,          ready to reach back up should the earpiece loosen.          .mneh...          Satisfied that neither the student nor the earpiece are about          to make any sudden moves, he          looks down at the radio. He turns a dial.          Faintly and tinnily from the earpiece we hear the compressed          jangle of rock music. The          rabbi stares blankly, listening.          DANNY slumps, looking warily at the rabbi.          The rabbi continues to stare down at the radio. The compressed          rock music jangles on.          The rabbi is expressionless, mouth slightly open, listening.          Tableau: anxious student, earplugged spiritual leader.          Muffled, from the outer office, the hawking of phlegm.          CLASSROOM          We are behind a man who writes equations on a chalkboard, shoulder          at work and hand          quickly waggling. Periodically he glances back, giving us a fleeting          look at his face: it is                                                  17          LARRY Gopnik.          LARRY          You following this?... Okay?.. So... Heh-heh... This          part is exciting...          Students follow along, bored.          LARRY continues to write.          . So, okay. So. So if that's that, then we can do this,          right? Is that right? Isn't that right? And that's          Schrodinger's paradox, right? Is the cat dead or is the cat          not dead? Okay?          BLEGEN HALL          LARRY is entering the physics department office. The department's          secretary wheels her          castored chair away from her typing.          SECRETARY          Messages, Professor Gopnik.          He takes the three phone messages.          LARRY          Thank you, Natalie. Oh-CLIVE. Come in.          A Korean graduate student who was been waiting on a straightbacked          chair rises.          LARRY'S OFFICE          He is flipping through the messages. Absently:          LARRY          So, uh, what can I do for you?          The messages:          WHILE YOU WERE OUT Dick Dutton          OF Columbia Record Club                                                  18          CALLED.          REGARDING: "Please call."          WHILE YOU WERE OUT Sy Ableman          CALLED.          REGARDING "Let's talk."          WHILE YOU WERE OUT CLIVE Park          CALLED.          REGARDING: "Unjust test results."          He crumples the last one.          CLIVE          Uh, Dr. Gopnik, I believe the results of Physics Mid-Term          were unjust.          LARRY          Uh-huh, how so?          CLIVE          I received an unsatisfactory grade. In fact: F, the failing          grade.          LARRY          Uh, yes. You failed the mid-term. That's accurate.          CLIVE          Yes, but this is not just. I was unaware to be examined on          the mathematics.          LARRY          Well-you can't do physics without mathematics, really,          can you.          CLIVE          If I receive failing grade I lose my scholarship, and feel          shame. I understand the physics. I understand the dead cat.          LARRY          (SURPRISED)          You understand the dead cat?                                                  19          CLIVE nods gravely.          But... you... you can't really understand the physics          without understanding the math. The math tells how it          really works. That's the real thing; the stories I give you in          class are just illustrative; they're like, fables, say, to help          give you a picture. An imperfect model. I mean-even I          don't understand the dead cat. The math is how it really          works.          CLIVE shakes his head, dubious.          CLIVE          Very difficult... very difficult...          LARRY          Well, I... I'm sorry, but I... what do you propose?          CLIVE          Passing grade.          LARRY          No no, I-          CLIVE          Or perhaps I can take the mid-term again. Now I know it          covers mathematics.          LARRY          Well, the other students wouldn't like that, would they. If          one student gets to retake the test til he gets a grade he          likes.          CLIVE impassively considers this.          CLIVE          Secret test.          LARRY wraps a hand wearily over his eyes.          LARRY          . No, I'm afraid-                                                  20          CLIVE          Hush-hush.          LARRY          No, that's just not workable. I'm afraid we'll just have to          bite the bullet on this thing, CLIVE, and-          CLIVE          Very troubling.          He rises.          . very troubling...          He goes to the door, shaking his head, as LARRY looks on in surprise.          He leaves.          LARRY stares at the open door. The secretary outside, her back          to us, types on.          LARRY. looks stupidly around his own office, shakes his head.          He picks up the phone message from Sy Ableman-"Let's talk"-and          dials. As he dials          his other hand wanders over the papers on the desktop.          There is a plain white envelope on the desk. LARRY picks it up          as the phone rings through.          A ring is clipped short and a warm basso-baritone rumbles through          the line:          Phone Voice          Sy Ableman.          LARRY          Hello, Sy, LARRY Gopnik.          SY          (MOURNFUL)          LARRY. How are you, my friend.          LARRY picks idly at the envelope.          LARRY          Good, how've you been, Sy?                                                  21          Inside the envelope: a thick sheaf of one-hundred-dollar bills.          SY          Oh fine. Shall we talk LARRY.          LARRY reacts to the money.          LARRY          (into phone)          What?! Oh! Sorry! I, uh-call back!          He slams down the phone.          . CLIVE!          He rushes out the door, through the secretarial area, and into          the hallway, and looks up          toward the elevators.          Empty.          He looks at the stuffed envelope he still holds.          He goes back to the departmental office. The secretary sits typing.          She glances at him          and, as she goes back to her typing:          SECRETARY          Sy Ableman just called. Said he got disconnected.          BATHROOM DOOR          A hand enters to knock.          Man's Voice          Out in a minute!          SARAH, the sixteen-year-old girl who has just knocked, rolls          her eyes.          SARAH          I gotta wash my hair! I'm going out tonight!          VOICE          Out in a minute!                                                  22          SARAH          Jesus Christ!          She stomps down the hall.          KITCHEN          Judith, a woman of early middle age, is at the stove. SARAH enters.          SARAH          W is Uncle Arthur always in the bathroom?          JUDITH          He has to drain his sebacious cyst. You know that. Will          you set the table?          SARAH          Why can't he do it in the basement? Or go out in the          garage!          BUS          We are raking the exterior of an orange school bus as it rattles          along. Hebrew characters          on the side identify it-to some, anyway.          INSIDE          We are locked down on DANNY as the bus rattles like an old crate,          squeaking, grinding          gears, belching exhaust. DANNY and the children around him vibrate          and pitch about but,          from their lack of reaction, seem used to it.          They raise their voices to be heard over the engine noise and          the various stress noises in          the chassis and a transistor radio somewhere that plays Jefferson          Airplane.          DANNY          I had twenty bucks in it too. Inside the case.                                                  23          Mark Sallerson          Twenty bucks! How come.          DANNY          I bought a lid from Mike Fagle. Couple weeks ago. I still          owed him twenty.          Mark Sallerson          He already gave you the pot?          DANNY          Yeah but a couple weeks ago my funding got cut off. Fagle          said he'd pound the crap out of me if I didn't pay up.          Howard Altar          What funding got cut off? Where do you get your money?          Another boy, with thick glasses, is Ronnie Nudell.          Ronnie Nudell          What happened?          Mark Sallerson          Rabbi Turchik took his radio. Had money in it.          Ronnie Nudell          That fucker!          DANNY          Yeah. I think he said he was confiscating it.          Ronnie Nudell          He's a fucker! Where do you get your money?          Mark Sallerson          Mike Fagle's gonna kick his ass. Last week he pounded          the crap out of Seth Seddlemeyer.                                                  24          Ronnie Nudell          He's a fucker!          Mark Sallerson          Fagle? Or Seth Seddlemeyer?          Ronnie Nudell          They're both f ickers!          BATHROOM DOOR          A hand enters to knock.          Uncle Arthur's Voice          Out in a minute!          SARAH          Are you still in there?!          Uncle Arthur          I, uh.. . Just a minute!          SARAH          I've gotta wash my hair! I'm going out tonight, to the hole!          Uncle Arthur          Okay!          OUTSIDE          LARRY pulls into the driveway and gets out of the car. The purr          of a lawn mower. He          looks.          His point-of-view: Gar Brandt, the next-door neighbor, is mowing          his lawn. He has a          buzz cut and is wearing a white T-shirt.          Another noise competes with the lawn mower: rattling, squeaking,          gear-grinding. The          orange school bus with Hebrew lettering pulls up across the street.          Its door opens with a          pneumatic hiss to discharge a passenger.                                                  25          DINNER TABLE          LARRY sits in. His wife and two children are already seated.          There is one empty place.          LARRY projects:          LARRY          Arthur!          A muffled voice:          ARTHUR          Yeah!          LARRY          Dinner!          ARTHUR          Okay! Out in a minute!          LARRY          We should wait.          SARAH          Are you kidding!          They start eating.          LARRY          Mr. Brandt keeps mowing part of our lawn.          JUDY          Does that matter?          LARRY          What?          JUDY          Is it important?          LARRY shrugs.          LARRY          It's just odd.                                                  26          JUDY          Any news on your tenure?          LARRY          I think they'll give me tenure.          JUDY          You think.          LARRY          (EQUABLY)          Well, I don't know. These things aren't, you know.. .          JUDY          No, I don't know. Which is why I ask.          LARRY          WELL-          SARAH          Mom, how long is Uncle Arthur staying with us?          JUDY          Ask your father.          BACK YARD          Twilight.          LARRY is stepping onto a hose as he unwheels it from the drum          of a traveling sprinkler,          laying out an are to cover the back yard. Intermittent thwacks          from next door:          Gar Brandt and his son, who also has a buzz cut and a white T-shirt,          throw a baseball          back and forth. Gar Brandt throws hard. The ball pops in the          boy's mitt.          MITCH          Ow.          LARRY walks over to the boundary defined by the fresh mowing.          He sights down it.          Gar Brandt looks over his shoulder at LARRY, looking. Gar Brandt          is expressionless. He                                                  27          goes back to throwing.          MITCH          Ow.          INSIDE          Evening. Lights on. LARRY sits at the kitchen table, a briefcase          open on the chair next to          him. Blue books-examination booklets-are spread on the table          in front of him. He          reads, occasionally making marginal scribbles, grading.          From off, faint and dulled by intervening walls, rock music:          somewhere in the house          DANNY is listening to the Jefferson Airplane.          The clink of teaspoon against china as LARRY stirs his tea. He          looks up at a noise: JUDY          enters.          JUDY          Honey.          LARRY          (ABSENT)          Honey.          JUDY          Did you talk to Sy?          Still absent, without looking up:          LARRY          Sy?-Sy Ableman!-That's right, he called, but I-          JUDY          You didn't talk to him.          LARRY          No, I-          JUDY          You know the problems you and I have been having.          Sympathetic, but still absent:                                                  28          LARRY          Mm.          JUDY          Well, Sy and I have become very close.          This brings LARRY's head up. He focuses on JUDY, puzzled. She          elaborates:          In.short: I think it's time to start talking about a divorce.          LARRY stares at her. A long beat.          At length, trying to digest:          LARRY          . Sy Ableman!          JUDY          This is not about Sy.          LARRY          You mentioned Sy!          JUDY          Don't twist my words. We-          LARRY          A divorce-what have I done! I haven't done anything-          What have I done!          JUDY          LARRY, don't be a child. You haven't "done" anything. I          haven't "done" anything.          LARRY          Yes! Yes! We haven't done anything! And I-I'm          probably about to get tenure!          JUDY          Nevertheless, there have been problems. As you know.          LARRY                                                  29          WELL-          JUDY          And things have changed. And then-Sy Ableman. Sy has          come into my life. And now-          LARRY          Come into your-what does that mean?! You, you, you,          you barely know him!          JUDY          We've known the Ablemans for fifteen years.          LARRY          Yes, but you you said we hadn't done anything!          JUDY suddenly is stony:          JUDY          I haven't done anything. This is not some flashy fling.          This is not about woopsy-doopsy.          LARRY stares at her.          LARRY          Sy Ableman!          From down the hall, a knock on a door. A muffled voice:          ARTHUR          Out in a minute!          JUDY          Look, I didn't know any other way of breaking it to you.          Except to tell you. And treat you like an adult. Is that so          wrong?          LARRY does not seem to be listening. His eyes roam the room as          he thinks.          LARRY          Where do I sleep?          JUDY narrows her eyes.                                                  30          JUDY          What?          LARRY          Arthur's on the couch!          JUDY          Look. Sy feels that we should-          LARRY          Esther is barely cold!          JUDY          Esther died three years ago. And it was a loveless          marriage. Sy wants a Gett.          This derails the conversation. LARRY stares, trying to pick up          the thread.          LARRY          . A what?          JUDY          A ritual divorce. He says it's very important. Without a          Gett I'm an Aguna.          LARRY          A what? What are you talking about?          She turns to go, shaking her head, peeved:          JUDY          You always act so surprised.          As she leaves:          I have begged you to see the Rabbi.          FADE IN          LARRY has fallen asleep at the kitchen table, face-down in a          pile of blue books. Cold blue          light sweeps across him and he looks up.                                                  31          A short, balding middle-aged man in flannel pyjamas and an old          flannel dressing gown          stands in front of the open refrigerator holding an open jar          of orange juice. He tips the jar          back to drink, his free hand holding a balled-up towel to the          back of his neck          LARRY stares at him.          FADE OUT          BLEGEN HALL          LARRY enters the departmental office. His eyes are red-rimmed          and dark-bagged. He has          beard stubble.          The department's secretary wheels her castored chair away from          her typing.          SECRETARY          Messages, Professor Gopnik.          He takes the two phone messages.          HIS OFFICE          LARRY looks at the messages:          WHILE YOU WERE OUT Dick Dutton          OF Columbia Record Club          CALLED.          REGARDING: "2°d attempt. Please call."          WHILE YOU WERE OUT Sy Ableman          CALLED.          REGARDING "Let's have a good talk."          A knock brings his look up.          LARRY          Yes-thanks for coming, CLIVE.          CLIVE Park enters the office.                                                  32          . Have a seat.          LARRY uses a key to open the top left desk drawer. He takes out          the envelope.          We had, I think, a good talk, the other day, but you left          something that-          CLIVE          I didn't leave it.          LARRY          Well--you don't even know what I was going to say.          CLIVE          I didn't leave anything. I'm not missing anything. I know          where everything is.          LARRY looks at him, trying to formulate a thought.          LARRY          Well... then, CLIVE, where did this come from?          He waves the envelope.          . This is here, isn't it?          CLIVE looks at it gravely.          CLIVE          Yes, sir. That is there.          LARRY          This is not nothing, this is something.          CLIVE          Yes sir. That is something.          A beat.          . What is it.          LARRY          You know what it is! You know what it is! I believe. And                                                  33          you know I can't keep it, CLIVE.          CLIVE          Of course, sir.          LARRY          I'll have to pass it on to Professor Finkle, along with my          suspicions about where it came from. Actions have          consequences.          CLIVE          Yes. Often.          LARRY          Always! Actions always have consequences!          He pounds the desk for emphasis.          In this office, actions have consequences!          CLIVE          Yes sir.          LARRY          Not just physics. Morally.          CLIVE          Yes.          LARRY          And we both know about your actions.          CLIVE          No sir. I know about my actions.          LARRY          I can interpret, CLIVE. I know what you meant me to          understand.          CLIVE          Meer sir my sir.          LARRY cocks his head.                                                  34          LARRY          . Meer sir my sir?          CLIVE          (careful enunciation)          Mere... surmise. Sir.          He gravely shakes his head.          . Very uncertain.          CLOSE ON A TONE ARM          A hand lays it onto a slowly spinning vinyl record.          Through scratches and pops, a solo tenor starts a mournful Hebrew          chant.          Close on the sleeve:          Rabbi Youssele Rosenblatt Chants Your Haftorah Portion          VOLUME 12          Rabbi Youssele wears a caftan and a felt hat and has sad eyes.          They peer out from the          dark beard that covers most of the rest of his face like owl's          eyes peering out of the          woods.          Wider, on DANNY, in his bedroom, evening. He lifts the tone arm          on the portable          turntable.          He chants the passage.          He drops the tone arm at the same place; Rabbi Youssele chants          the passage again.          DANNY listens, eyes narrowed. He lifts the tone arm and chants          the passage again.          He replays the passage again; before he can lift the tone arm          to echo it his door bursts          open. Rabbi Youssele continues to chant.                                                  35          SARAH          You little brat fucker! You snuck twenty bucks out of my          drawer!          DANNY          Studying torah! Asshole!          SARAH          You little brat! I'm telling Dad!          DANNY          Oh yeah? You gonna tell him you've been sneaking it out          of his wallet?          SARAH          All right, you know what I'm gonna do? You little brat? If          you don't give it back?          We hear the thunk of the front door opening. DANNY stands, calling:          DANNY          Dad?          FOYER          LARRY is entering with his briefcase. As he stows it in the foyer          closet DANNY's voice          continues, off:          DANNY          Dad, you gotta fix the aerial.          Judith emerges from the kitchen.          JUDITH          Hello LARRY, have you thought about a lawyer?          LARRY          Honey, please!          DANNY emerges from the hall.          DANNY                                                  36          We're not getting channel four at all.          LARRY          (to Judith)          Can we discuss it later?          DANNY          I can't get F Troop.          JUDITH          LARRY, the children know. Do you think this is some secret?          Do you think this is something we're going to keep quiet?          SARAH enters.          SARAH          Dad, Uncle Arthur is in the bathroom again! And I=m          going to the hole at eight!          She hits DANNY on the back of the head.          DANNY          Stop it!          LARRY          SARAH! What's going on!          DANNY          She keeps doing that!          LATER          LARRY sits in a reclining chair in the living room, head back,          listening to Sidor Belarsky on          the hi-fi. On top of the music is a hissing-sucking sound. There          is also the sound of a          pencil busily scratching paper.          We cut to its source: Uncle Arthur sits scribbling into a spiral          notebook, his free hand          holding the end of a length of surgical tubing against the back          of his neck. The tube leads          to a water-pik-like appliance on an end table next to him-the          source of the sucking          sound.          After a long beat of listening to the music, LARRY speaks into          space:                                                  37          LARRY          Arthur?          Uncle Arthur does not look up from his scribbling.          Uncle Arthur          Yes.          LARRY continues to stare at the ceiling.          LARRY          What're you doing?          Still without looking up:          Uncle Arthur          Working on the Mentaculus.          Long beat. Music. Scribbling.          LARRY          Any luck, um, looking for an apartment?          More scribbling.          Uncle Arthur          No.          The doorbell chimes.          FRONT DOOR          LARRY enters, glances through the front door's head-height window,          and-freezes, one          hand arrested on the way to the doorknob.          His point-of-view: framed by the window, yellowly lit by the          stoop light, a human head.          A middle-aged man, a few years older than LARRY. A fleshy face          with droopy hangdog          features, a five-o'clock shadow, and sad Harold Bloom eyes.          LARRY opens the door.                                                  38          LARRY          Sy.          Sy, entering, thrusts out a hand. His voice vibrates with a warm,          sad empathy:          SY          Good to see you, LARRY.          He is a heavy-set man wearing a short-sleeved shirt that his          belly tents out in front of          him. In his left hand he holds a bottle of wine.          LARRY          (TIGHTLY)          I'll get Judith.          SY          No, actually LARRY, I'm here to see you, if I might.          He shakes his head.          . Such a thing. Such a thing.          LARRY          Shall we go in the...          He is leading him into the kitchen but Sy, oblivious to surroundings,          plows on with the          conversation, arresting both men in the narrow space between          kitchen sink and stove, and          invading LARRY's space.          SY          You know, LARRY-how we handle ourselves, in this          situation-it's so impawtant.          LARRY          Uh-huh.          SY          Absolutely. Judith told me that she broke the news to you.          She said you were very adult.          LARRY          Did she.                                                  39          SY          Absolutely. The respect she has for you.          LARRY          Yes?          SY          Absolutely. But the children, LARRY. The children.          He shakes his head.          . The most impawtant.          LARRY          Well, I guess...          SY          Of coss. And Judith says they're handling it so well. A          tribute to you. Do you drink wine? Because this is an          incredible bottle. This is not Mogen David. This is a wine,          LARRY. A bawdeaux.          LARRY          You know, Sy-          SY          Open it-let it breathe. Ten minutes. Letting it breathe, so          impawtant.          LARRY          Thanks, Sy, but I'm not-          SY          I insist! No reason for discumfit. I'll be uncumftable if          you don't take it. These are signs and tokens, LARRY.          LARRY          I'm just-I'm not ungrateful, I'm, I just don't know a lot          about wine and, given our respective, you know-          He is startled when Sy abruptly hugs him.          SY                                                  40          S' okay.          He finishes the hug off with a couple of thumps on the back.          S'okay. Wuhgonnabe fine.          SKEWED ANGLE ON PARKING LOT          We are dutch on a slit of a view through a cracked-open frosted          window: the Hebrew          school parking lot.          The last couple of busses filled with students are rolling out          of the lot. It is late          afternoon.          A reverse shows DANNY in a stall, standing on a closed toilet,          angling his head to peer out          the bathroom window opened at the top.          The bathroom outside the stall: Ronnie Nudell leans against a          sink waiting, sucking a          long draw from a joint.          DANNY emerges from the stall. Ronnie Nudell offers the joint.          Ronnie Nudell          Want some of this fucker?          HALLWAY          The bathroom door cracks open in the foreground. DANNY peeks          out.          His point-of-view: the empty hallway ending in a T with another          hallway. A janitor          crosses, pushing a broom down the far hallway. He disappears.          His echoing footsteps          recede.          DANNY and Ronny emerge from the bathroom.          RABBI MINDA          The photo-portrait on the wall of Mar Turchik's office lit by          late-day sun.          We hear a scraping sound.                                                  41          Wider: Ronnie Nudell looks over DANNY's shoulder as DANNY, hunched          at Mar Turchik's          desk, fishes the end of a bent hanger into the keyhole on the          top left drawer. After a beat,          the hanger turns.          They open the drawer. In it: squirt guns, marbles set to rolling          by the opening of the          drawer, a comic book, a Playboy magazine, a slingshot, a small          bundle of firecrackers.          Hands rifle the gewgaws: no radio.          Ronnie Nudell          Fuck.          SANCTUARY          We are behind the two boys who sit side by side on the last pew,          staring at the front of          the empty sanctuary. Its stained glass windows further weaken          the late-afternoon light.          In deference to the location, the boys wear yarmulkas.          A long hold on their still backs.          At length, some movement in DANNY's back, his head dips, and          we hear him sucking on          the joint. He holds it, exhales, and passes it wordlessly to          Ronnie Nudell.          SUBURBAN STREET          We are pulling DANNY as he walks along the street, eyes red-rimmed,          still wearing his          yarmulka. It is dusk.          After a few beats of walking, the front door of a house just          behind DANNY opens. A          husky, shaggy-haired youth emerges on the run.          The sound has alerted DANNY. Seeing Mike Fagle, he too begins          to run. He reaches up          and grabs his yarmulka and clutches it in one of his pumping          fists.          Pursued and pursuer both run wordlessly, panting, feet pounding.          Mike Fagle is closing. But DANNY is already cutting across the          Brandt's front yard,          approaching his own. He plunges into the house and slams the          door.          Mike Fagle draws up, panting, gazing hungrily at the house.                                                  42          Lights are on inside. The house is a warm yellow citadel in the          dusk.          After a beat we hear, faint and dulled, the Jefferson Airplane.          Mike Fagle slinks away.          PUFFY WHITE CLOUDS          A shockingly blue sky with picture-perfect clouds hanging in          it.          After a beat the top of an aluminum extension ladder swings in          from the bottom of the          frame and comes toward us.          We cut to a side angle as the ladder clunk against a roof.          It starts vibrating to the rhythmic clung of someone climbing.          Hands enter. LARRY's head enters.          He climbs onto the roof.          He takes a couple steps away from the edge and stands tentatively,          making sure of his          balance. He looks around.          His point-of-view towards the front. An unfamiliarly high perspective          on the street and          the neighboring houses, almost maplike. Very peaceful. Wind rhythmically,          gently          waves the trees.          LARRY gingerly walks up to the aerial at the peak of the roof.          We are hearing a rhythmic          popping noise.          LARRY reaches the peak and straddles it. He looks down at the          back yard.          MITCH          Ow.          Foreshortened Gar Brandt and Mitch are playing catch in their          back yard. With each toss          the ball pops, alternately in father's mitt and son's.          Precariously balanced, LARRY reaches out for the aerial. He tentatively          touches it. He          grasps it. He twists the aerial.                                                  43          Something strange: as it rotates the aerial creaks-a high whine          as pure as the hum          sounded from the rim of a wineglass.          MITCH          Ow.          Faintly, under the wineglass sound, and clouded by static, a          high, ringing tenor sings in          an unfamiliar modality. Cantorial music.          LARRY drops his hand. Inertia keeps the aerial rotating slowly          til it dies, the sound drifting          away into the sybillant shushing of trees.          LARRY reaches out again to turn the aerial. The same crystal          hum... cantorial singing...          and now, layering in, the theme from F Troop.          Music. Crystal hum. Wind.          MITCH          Ow.          LARRY's look travels: his point-of-view pans slowly off the steep          angle of father and son          playing catch, travels across his own backyard, and brings in          the white fence that          encloses the patio of the neighbor on the other side.          Gar (off)          Good toss, Mitch.          On the enclosed patio a woman reclines on a lawn chaise of nylon          bands woven over an          aluminum frame. She is on her back, eyes closed against the sun.          She is naked.          Mitch (off)          Ow.          LARRY reacts to the naked woman: startled at first, he moves          to hide behind the peak of the          roof. But as he realizes that the sun keeps the woman's eyes          closed he relaxes, continu-          ing to stare.          She is attractive. Not young, not old: LARRY's age. Peaceful.          After a still beat one of her hands gropes blindly to the side.          It finds an ashtray on the          table next to her and takes from it a pluming cigarette. The          woman takes a puff and          replaces it.                                                  44          Mitch (off)          Ow.          F Troop. Cantorial singing.          Blue sky and white puffy clouds.          The sound of a pencil scratching against paper.          NOTEBOOK          A pencil scratches equations into a lamplit spiral notebook.          Sidor Belarsky comes in at the cut. So does the spluttering suck-sound          of Uncle Arthur's          evacuator.          Wider on Uncle Arthur, in his pyjamas, propped up on the narrow          fold-out sofa, writing          with one hand as he holds the evacuator hose to his neck with          the other.          Squeezed into the living room next to the fold-out sofa is a          camp cot of plaid-patterned          nylon stretched over an aluminum frame. On the camp cot is LARRY,          lying half-in, half-          out of a rumpled sleeping bag. He stares at the ceiling, a damp          washcloth pressed against          his forehead. His face is flaming red.          Arthur speaks absently as he scribbles:          ARTHUR          Will you read this? Tell me what you think?          LARRY continues to stare at the ceiling.          LARRY          Okay.          Uncle Arthur glances up from the notebook, focuses on LARRY.          ARTHUR          Boy. You should've worn a hat.          LATER                                                  45          The lights are out. Very quiet. Uncle Arthur lightly snores.          LARRY still stares at the ceiling. He shifts his weight. The          aluminum frame of the cot          squeaks. He shifts again. Another creak.          LARRY fishes his watch from the jumble of clothes on the floor:          4:50.          KITCHEN          LARRY, in his underwear, spoons ground coffee into the percolator.          Uncle Arthur snores          softly on in the other room.          From outside, a dull thunk.          LARRY pulls back a curtain.          Next door, Gar Brandt is going down the walk, wearing camouflage          togs and camo billed          cap, a rifle bag slung over his shoulder. He is carrying an ice          chest, its contents clicking          and sloshing.          The boy Mitch, also wearing camo clothes and cap and also with          a rifle bag, has just          closed the front door. He now lets the screen door swing shut          behind him and follows his          father down the walk to the car in the driveway.          The twitter of early morning birds. Gar's voice, though not projected,          stands out in the          pre-dawn quiet:          GAR          Let's see some hustle, Mitch.          CLOSE ON THE NOTEBOOK          Its top sheet, densely covered by equations, has a heading:          The Mentaculus          Compiled by Arthur Gopnik          After a beat LARRY's hand enters to turn the page. The second          page is also densely          covered with equations.                                                  46          VOICE          LARRY?          This brings LARRY's look up from the Mentaculus. We are in LARRY's          office. Standing in          the office doorway is Arlen Finkle.          LARRY          Hi Arlen.          Arlen Finkle          LARRY, I feel that, as head of the tenure committee I should          tell you this, though it should be no cause for concern. You          should not be at all worried.          LARRY waits for more. Arlen seems to need a prompt.          LARRY          Okay.          Arlen Finkle          I feel I should mention it even though we won't give this          any weight at all in considering whether to grant you          tenure, so, I repeat no cause for concern.          LARRY          Okay, Arlen. Give what any weight?          Arlen Finkle          We have received some letters, uh... denigrating you, and,          well, urging that we not grant you tenure.          LARRY          From who?          Arlen Finkle          They're anonymous. And so of course we dismiss them          completely.          LARRY          Well... well... what do they say?          Arlen Finkle          They make allegations, not even allegations, assertions, but                                                  47          I'm not really... while we give them no credence, LARRY,          I'm not supposed to deal in any specifics about the          committee's deliberations.          LARRY          But... I think you're saying, these won't play any part in          your deliberations.          Arlen Finkle          None at all.          LARRY          Um, so what are they...          Arlen Finkle          Moral turpitude. You could say.          LARRY          Uh-huh. Can I ask, are they, are they-idiomatic?          Arlen Finkle          I, uh...          LARRY          The reason I ask, I have a Korean student, South Korean,          disgruntled South Korean, and I meant to talk to you about          this, actually, he-          Arlen Finkle          No. No, the letters are competently-even eloquently          written. A native English-speaker. No question about          that.          LARRY          Uh-huh.          Arlen Finkle          But I reiterate this, LARRY: no cause for concern. I only          speak because I would have felt odd concealing it.          LARRY          Yes, okay, thank you Arlen.                                                  48          Arlen Finkle          Best to Judith.          LARRY answers with a wan smile. He looks down at the Mentaculus.          HEBREW SCHOOL EXTERIOR          Day. Somewhere inside the school a bell rings. Its doors swing          open and children          emerge.          Our angle is down a line of school busses, each with the the          same stenciled Hebrew          lettering, waiting to ferry the children home.          We are tracking toward the busses to steepen the rake. As children          sort themselves out          and climb into their respective vehicles, the track brings the          nearest bus into the fore-          ground. It noisily idles with its signature squeaks and stress          sounds, its low coughing          engine ominously rumbling. Children start climbing on.          MINUTES LATER          Inside the bus, now moving. Engine noise bangs in louder and          air roars in through open          windows.          We are on the driver, a sallow man in a short-sleeved white shirt          with earlocks and a          yarmulke. He pitches about, stoically wrestling with the wheel          and gear shift as the          vehicle bucks.          The pitching children. Somewhere, Jefferson Airplane plays.          DANNY          I gotta get my radio back.          Ronnie Nudell          Maybe the fucker lodged it up his fucking asshole.          DANNY          I gotta get it back. Or Mike Fagle's gonna pound the crap          out of me.          Ronnie Nudell                                                  49          Way up his asshole.          DANNY          And I'll still have to get my sister the money back or she's          gonna break four of my records. Twenty bucks, four          records.          Howard Altar          How do you buy all those records. Where do you get your          funds.          CLOSE ON LARRY          Standing in his yard. His eyes are darkly pouched. He is staring          at something, it seems          in distress. We hear a fluttering sound.          His point-of-view: stakes are set out in the Brandts' yard. Red          ribbon connecting them          outlines a projection from the side of the house. The loose ends          of the ribbon flutter in          the breeze.          Engine noise brings LARRY's look around. A car is arriving.          It is the Brandts' car, oddly burdened. As it pulls into their          driveway we see that there is          a four-point stag strapped to the hood, its head lolling over          the grille.          Gar and Mitch get out of the car in their hunting fatigues. Blood          is smeared on Gar's          shirt.          GAR          Go scrub up, Mitch.          LARRY          Uh, good afternoon.          This brings Gar's look around. Apparently he is unused to talking          with his neighbor.          There is a short beat before his response.          GAR          Afternoon.          In the background of his angle is the dead buck, staring off          through sightless eyes.                                                  50          LARRY          (LAMELY)          . Been hunting?          GAR          Yep.          LARRY          Is that a, uh...          He is indicating the staked area. Gar looks around at it, looks          back at LARRY.          GAR          Gonna be a den.          LARRY          Uh-huh, that's great. Uh, Mr. Brandt-          Gar barks at Mitch, who has lingered to listen to the grown-ups:          GAR          I said scrub up, Mitch!          The child quickly goes. LARRY frowns.          LARRY          Isn't this a school day?          GAR          Took him out of school today. So he could hunt with his          dad.          LARRY          Oh!          He nods.          . That's.. . nice.          Gar stares at him with button eyes. Small talk is not his thing.          LARRY clears his throat.                                                  51          . Um, Mr. Brandt, that's just about at the property line,          there. I don't think we're supposed to get within, what, ten          FEET          GAR          Property line's the poplar.          LARRY          . the. ?          GAR          Poplar!          LARRY          . Well.. . even if it is, you're just about over it          GAR          Measure.          We hear two pairs of pounding footsteps coming up the street.          LARRY          I don't have to measure, you can tell it's...          GAR          Line's the poplar.          He indicates.          . It's all angles.          Gar Brandt turns and goes.          LARRY turns, reacting to the pounding footsteps. One of the two          pairs belongs to DANNY          who arrives, slowing to a walk, panting, a bookbag over his shoulder.          A half-block back the pursuing boy also stops running. Husky,          shaggy-haired, he          watches, scowling, as DANNY goes up the walk to his house.          LARRY addresses DANNY's retreating back:                                                  52          LARRY          What's going on?          DANNY          Nothing.          IN THE HOUSE          As LARRY enters.          Judith (ofj)          LARRY?          LARRY          (PROJECTING)          Yeah?          Judith (ofj)          Did you go to Sieglestein Schlutz?          No, I-not yet.          LARRY.          Appointment Monday.          The thud of a car door outside.          SARAH heads for the front door, pulling on a jacket. LARRY is          surprised.          . Where are you going?          SARAH          I'm going to the hole.          LARRY          At five o'clock?          He looks out the front-door window. Four girls of SARAH's age          are coming up the walk                                                  53          from the car. All have dark hair and big noses.          SARAH          We're stopping at Laurie Kipperstein's house so I can wash          my hair.          LARRY pulls open the door just as the doorbell rings. From the          four dark girls:          VOICES          Hi, Mr. Gopnik.          LARRY          You can't wash it here?          From somewhere in the house, Jefferson Airplane starts.          As she brushes past LARRY:          SARAH          Uncle Arthur's in the bathroom.          VOICE          Out in a minute!          Judith enters.          JUDITH          Are you ready?          LARRY          Huh?          JUDITH          We're meeting Sy at Embers.          LARRY          I am?          JUDITH          Both of us. I told you.          EMBERS                                                  54          LARRY has his arms pinned at his sides by hugging Sy Ableman.          SY          LARRY. How are you.          LARRY          Sy.          SY          Hello Judith.          JUDITH          Hello Sy.          Once Sy releases LARRY, all seat themselves at Sy's booth, Judith          next to Sy, LARRY          facing.          SY          Thank you for coming, LARRY. It's so impawtant that we be          able to discuss these things.          LARRY          I'm happy to come to Embers, Sy, but, I'm thinking, really,          maybe it's best to leave these discussions to the lawyers.          SY          Of coss! Legal matters, let the lawyers discuss! Don't mix          apples and oranges!          JUDITH          I've beamed you to see the lawyer.          LARRY          (teeth grit)          I told you, I'm going Monday.          SY          Monday is timely! This isn't-please!-Embers isn't the          forum for legalities, you are so right!          JUDITH          Hmph.                                                  55          SY          No, Judith and I thought merely we should discuss the          practicalities, the living arrangements, a situation that will          conduce to the comfit of all the parties. This is an issue          where no one is at odds.          LARRY isn't sure where this is leading:          LARRY          . Living arrangements.          SY          Absolutely. I think we all agree, the children not being          contaminated by the tension-the most impawtant.          JUDITH          We shouldn't put the kids in the middle of this, LARRY.          LARRY          The kids aren't-          JUDITH          I'm saying "we." I'm not pointing fingers.          SY          No one is playing the "blame game," LARRY.          LARRY          I didn't say anyone was!          JUDITH          Well let's not play He said, She said, either.          LARRY          I wasn't! I. ---          SY          Aw right, well let's just step back, and defuse the situation,          LARRY.          LARRY glares at Sy.                                                  56          Sy smiles at him, sadly. He reaches over and rests a hand on          LARRY's hand.          . I find, sometimes, if I count to ten.          A beat.          One... two... three... faw... Or silently.          Long beat.          JUDITH          Really, to keep things on an even keel, especially now,          leading up to DANNY's bar mitzvah-          SY          A child's bar mitzvah, LARRY!          JUDITH          Sy and I think it's best if you move out of the house.          LARRY          . Move out?!          SY          It makes eminent sense.          JUDITH          Things can't continue as they-          LARRY          Move out! Where would I go?!          SY          Well, for instance, the Jolly Roger is quite livable. Not          expensive, and the rooms are eminently livable.          JUDITH          This would allow you to visit the kids.          SY          There's convenience in its fava. There's a pool-          LARRY                                                  57          Wouldn't it make more sense for you to move in with Sy?          Judith and Sy gape at him, shocked.          After a long beat:          JUDITH          LARRY!          SY          LARRY, you're jesting!          JUDITH          LARRY, there is much to accomplish before that can happen.          Sy is sadly shaking his head.          SY          LARRY, LARRY, LARRY. I think, really, the Jolly Roger is the          appropriate coss of action.          He shrugs.          It has a pool.          IN BLACK AND WHITE: A BRAIN          It sits in a large fishbowl filled with clear fluid.          The brain, alive, pulses. Leads connect it to various pieces          of gear outside the fishbowl.          Brain and appurtenances sit on a dais of sorts dressed out with          bunting.          Oddly, the picture is scored with cantorial singing.          The brain seems to be giving orders to people who wear imperfectly          form-fitting 1950's          uniforms of the future. After receiving their instructions the          minions of the brain          kowtow before it and leave. They are succeeded by two leather-helmeted          thugs, big and          heavy though lacking muscle definition, who escort a resisting          handsome man before the          brain. The handsome man, hands tied behind his back, gazes defiantly          up at the brain          which in some fashion addresses him.          We hear blows and voices over the cantorial music:                                                  58          DANNY          Stop it!          SARAH          Creep fucker!          DANNY          Stop it! I'm getting it! I'm gonna get it!          Wider shows that the brain is on television, which DANNY has          muted while he plays the          Cantor Youssele Rosenblatt record and drills his torah portion.          He and SARAH are in a          stand-off, hands tensed to either deliver or ward off blows.          SARAH          Brat!          LARRY enters.          LARRY          What's going on?          SARAH          (LEAVING)          Nothing.          She closes the door behind her.          LARRY          What was that?          DANNY          Nothing.          LARRY          How's the haftorah coming? Can you maybe use the hi-fi?          DANNY          What?          We hear the doorbell off. LARRY indicates the portable record          player.          LARRY                                                  59          Can I borrow this? I'm taking some stuff. To, you know,          the Jolly Rodger.          DANNY          Sure Dad.          On TV, the handsome man shouts defiance at the brain.          From off, SARAH projects:          SARAH          Dad. Chinese guy.          ASIAN MAN          A middle-aged Korean man, well groomed. He wears a nicely cut          suit and a jeweled tie-          pin.          MAN          Culcha clash.          He bangs his two knuckles together, illustrating.          . Culcha clash.          He faces LARRY in the driveway. LARRY's car is half-loaded with          open boxes that are          haphazardly stuffed with clothing and effects.          LARRY is leaning against the hood, arms folded, gazing at the          man, unimpressed. A long          beat.          Finally he bestirs himself.          LARRY          With all respect, Mr. Park, I don't think it's that.          Mr. Park          Yes.                                                  60          LARRY          No. It would be a culture clash if it were the custom in          your land to bribe people for grades.          Mr. Park          Yes.          LARRY          So-you're saying it is the custom?          Mr. Park          No. This is defamation. Grounds for lawsuit.          LARRY          You-let me get this straight-you're threatening to sue          me for defaming your son?          Mr. Park          Yes.          LARRY          But it would-          Gar Brandt          Is this man bothering you.          Gar Brandt stands on the strip of lawn separating the two neighbors.          He is giving Mr.          Park a hard stare.          LARRY          Is he bothering me? No. We're fine. Thank you, Mr.          Brandt.          Gar Brandt, not entirely convinced, withdraws, glaring at the          Korean.          LARRY turns back to Mr. Park.          . I, uh. . See, if it were defamation there would have to          be someone I was defaming him to, or I... All right, I...          let's keep it simple. I could pretend the money never          appeared. That's not defaming anyone.                                                  BL          Mr. Park          Yes. And passing grade.          LARRY          Passing grade.          Mr. Park          Yes.          LARRY          Or you'll sue me.          Mr. Park          For taking money.          LARRY          So.. . he did leave the money.          Mr. Park          This is defamation.          LARRY stares at him.          LARRY          Look. It doesn't make sense. Either he left the money or          he didn't          Mr. Park          Please. Accept mystery.          LARRY          You can't have it both ways! If          Mr. Park          Why not.          LARRY stares.          We hear Sidor Belarsky music.          RECORD PLAYER                                                  62          Sidor Belarsky's singing crosses the cut. The tone arm of DANNY's          portable record          player rides on a spinning LP.          Wider shows LARRY grading bluebooks at a small formica table          crowded into a corner of          his motel room. It is a depressingly generic budget motel room          of the mid-sixties with          cheaply paneled walls, thin carpet, formica night tables, plastic          lamps, and twin beds          with stained nubby bedspreads.          The phone rings.          LARRY          Hello...          He brightens.          . Fine, Mimi, how are you?... Uh-huh... No, it's not          that bad... It's not that bad... There's a pool...          Arthur emerges from an alcove in the dim depth of the room that          has a dressing-room          mirror and apparently connects to the bathroom. He has a hand          towel pressed to the          back of his neck.          . Oh sure, that sounds great. . . Oh, great, then I'll bring          DANNY...          LAKE NOKOMIS          The beach: families are crowded onto the small beach of a freshwater          lake, children          cavorting, adults lounging, much sun, few umbrellas. Red floats          connected by red nylon          rope define a swimming area; beyond it people dive from an anchored          raft.          Splashing and children's laughter slap off the surface of the          lake.          WOODS          Above the lake. The beach noise has some distance. It also has          a faintly bizarre canyon          echo. There is a present, sybillant shushing of breeze in the          trees.          It is dark here with intense hot spots where sun sifts through          the leaf cover. We are close          on DANNY, who sits very still, leaning back against a tree trunk.                                                  63          After a very long beat he slowly exhales, a small amount of smoke          feathering out with his          breath.          VOICE          Gimme that fucker.          DANNY passes the joint to Ronnie Nudell, who sits opposite.          PICNIC AREA          On a woodless rise above the lake. Each of the separate picnic          areas consist of a redwood          table and benches placed next to a firepit.          Here in the sun both LARRY and Mel Nudell, a man slightly older          than LARRY, glisten with          sweat. Mel, in the background, bounces a bag of charcoal briquettes          to spill some into          the firepit. LARRY sits at the table in the foreground with Mimi          Nudell who alone seems          unaffected by the heat-or by anything else in the physical environment.          Her pale,          gravely composed Giacometti face is shaded by a large-brimmed          hat.          LARRY          No. Almost a year and a half since Touche Ross let him          go. He's very good with numbers. I think his, his social          skills have held him back.          MIMI          Such a sweet man though.          LARRY          Arthur has a good heart. And he never complains, unlike          me. Sometimes I don't give him enough credit.          MIMI          He tried to tell me about this thing he's working on, this,          um...          LARRY          The Mentaculus? He says it's a, uh. a probability map.          Of the universe. He asked if I could help him publish it.          Um, it was a little hard for me to evaluate.                                                  64          A beat.          MIMI          Does he go out socially at all?          LARRY          He tries. He's been going to the singles mixers at Hillel          House.-Well, I should talk, I'm not doing any better.          MIMI          How is Judith?          LARRY          Fine. She's fine. I'm the odd man out.          Mimi smiles.          MIMI          Sometimes these things just aren't meant to be. And it can          take a while before you feel what was always there, for          better or worse.          LARRY          I never felt it! It was a bolt from the blue! What does that          mean! Everything that I thought was one way turns out to          be another!          MIMI          Then-it's an opportunity to learn how things really are.          LARRY broods. Mimi softens.          . I'm sorry-I don't mean to sound glib. It's not always          easy, deciphering what God is trying to tell you.          LARRY          I'll say.          MIMI          But it's not something you have to figure out all by your-          self. We're Jews, we have that well of tradition to draw on,          to help us understand. When we're puzzled we have all the                                                  65          stories that have been handed down from people who had          the same problems.          LARRY          I guess.          MIMI          Have you talked to Rabbi Nachtner?          Silence.          Arthur is climbing the hill from the lake, dripping wet. He projects:          ARTHUR          Boy! The air out here is magnificent!          Mimi, looking at LARRY, responds to his dark silence:          MIMI          Why not see him?          Mel Nudell has finished spreading and lighting the coals. He          now comes and sits next to          Mimi, draping an arm over her shoulder. She strokes his hand,          still looking at LARRY.          LARRY          What's the rabbi gonna tell me?          MIMI          If I knew I'd be the rabbi.          He looks at her glumly. She laughs.          . Life is beautiful, LARRY. Nobody's sick. Nobody died.          You just need help remembering how to enjoy it.          She rests her head against Mel's shoulder.          . Where are the kids?          MEL          Woods. Exploring.          Uncle Arthur approaches, swim trunks plastered to his thighs,          hair dripping, one hand                                                  66          pressing his towel to the back of his neck.          ARTHUR          If somebody could bottle this air they'd make a million          bucks!          A white title comes up:          The First Rabbi          SYNAGOGUE OFFICE ANTEROOM          Day. LARRY sits waiting. A door opens and he rises.          LARRY          Oh-Rabbi Scott.          Rabbi Scott Ginzler is the junior rabbi, a man in his twenties.          Rabbi Scott          Hello LARRY.          LARRY          I thought I was going to see Rabbi Nachtner.          Rabbi Scott          He was called away on an etz monim: Ruth Brynn's mother          is in the hospital and she isn't doing well. Rabbi Nachtner          asked me to cover for him-come on in.          RABBI SCOTT'S OFFICE          A few minutes later. LARRY sits tensely hunched forward facing          Rabbi Scott.          LARRY          And she wants a Gett.          A long silence. The hum of ventilation.          At length:                                                  67          Rabbi Scott          A what?          LARRY          She wants a-          Rabbi Scott          Oh, a Gett. Uh-huh, sure.          LARRY          I feel like the carpet's been yanked out from under me. I          don't know which end is up. I'm not even sure how to          react; I'm too confused.          Rabbi Scott          What reasons did she give? For the rupture?          LARRY          She didn't give-reasons. Just that, oh, you know, things          haven't been going well.          Rabbi Scott          And is that true?          LARRY          I guess. I don't know. She's usually right about these          things.          Rabbi Scott          Mm-hm.          LARRY          I feel so... addled.          Rabbi Scott          Yes, I can see.          LARRY          I was hoping that... Rabbi Nachtner...          Rabbi Scott          That he would... yes?                                                  68          LARRY          Well, with the benefit of his life experience... no          OFFENSE-          Rabbi Scott chuckles.          Rabbi Scott          No, of course not. I am the junior rabbi. And it's true, the          point-of-view of somebody who's older and perhaps had          similar problems might be more valid. And you should see          the senior rabbi as well, by all means. Or even Minda if          you can get in, he's quite busy. But maybe-can I share          something with you? Because I too have had the feeling of          losing track of Hashem, which is the problem here. I too          have forgotten how to see Him in the world. And when          that happens you think, well, if I can't see Him, He isn't          there any more, He's gone. But that's not the case. You          just need to remember how to see Him. Am I right?          He rises and goes to the window.          I mean, the parking lot here. Not much to see.          It is a different angle on the same parking lot we saw from the          Hebrew school window.          But if you imagine yourself a visitor, somebody who          isn't familiar with these... autos and such... somebody          still with a capacity for wonder... Someone with a fresh...          perspective. That's what it is, LARRY.          LARRY          Um...          Rabbi Scott          Because with the right perspective you can see Hashem,          you know, reaching into the world. He is in the world, not          just in shul. It souunds to me like you're looking at the          world, looking at your wife, through tired eyes. It sounds          like she's become a sort of... thing... a problem... a          thing...          LARRY          Well, she's, she's seeing Sy Ableman.                                                  69          Rabbi Scott          Oh.          LARRY          She's, they're planning, that's why they want the Gett.          Rabbi Scott          Oh. I'm sorry.          LARRY          It was his idea.          Rabbi Scott          Well, they do need a Gett to remarry in the faith. But this          is life. For you too. You can't cut yourself off from the          mystical or you'll be-you'll remain-completely lost.          You have to see these things as expressions of God's will.          You don't have to like it, of course.          LARRY          The boss isn't always right, but he's always the boss.          Rabbi Scott          Ha-ha-ha! That's right, things aren't so bad. Look at the          parking lot, LARRY.          Rabbi Scott gazes out, marveling.          . Just look at that parking lot.          EXTERIOR: GOPNIK HOUSE          Our low angle looks across the lawn toward the front of the house.          Someone's pounding          footsteps approach and his feet enter just off the lens and he          quickly recedes, cropping in          as he races up to the house: DANNY.          A beat later pursuing feet enter, slowing-for DANNY is already          mounting the front          stoop. DANNY's pursuer does not go deep enough to crop in but          we might gather from          the size eleven sneakers and the cuffed jeans that it is hulking          Mike Fagle.                                                  70          GOPNIK KITCHEN          We hear the front door being flung open and slammed shut, and          in the background foyer          DANNY appears, panting heavily. He gives one glance back toward          the front door and          then looks at his mother and sister eating soup in the foreground.          His sister has a towel          wrapped turbanlike around her head. She holds it with one hand          to keep it from tipping          off when she tilts her head down for the soup.          DANNY          (still panting)          We eating already?          SARAH          I'm going to the hole.          DANNY enters the kitchen and sits at the setting across from          his sister. He picks up his          spoon.          Some movement in SARAH's body; DANNY recoils from a kick.          DANNY          Ow! Cut it out!          JUDITH          What's going on?          The siblings slurp soup, neither answering.          After a couple slurps:          . Isn't Dad eating?          JUDITH          He's at the Jolly Roger.          DANNY          Oh yeah.          More eating.          FADE OUT                                                  71          SIEGLESTEIN, SCHLUTZ          In a small windowless conference room lined by bookshelves filled          with law reference          books, LARRY rises to greet Don Milgram, entering.          LARRY          Don.          DON          How are you, LARRY, Jesus, I am so sorry to be seeing you          under these circumstances.          LARRY          Oh, well...          DON          I always thought you and JUDY were rock solid. This is so          terrible, LARRY. This is devastating.          LARRY          Well, the way I look at it, it's an opportunity for me to          really sit down and figure things out, and, and, look at the          world afresh instead of just, you know, settling for the          routine, tired old way of looking at things.          Don Milgram stares at him.          DON          . Really?          LARRY          (DEFLATING)          I don't know. Maybe not.          DON          Well, legally, I have to warn you, it's never easy for the          husband. Unless, of course, there's some question of the          wife having violated the marriage contract.          LARRY          Oh no, nothing like that. She's planning to marry Sy          Ableman, but they-                                                  72          DON          Sy Ableman!          LARRY          Yes, but they-          DON          Esther is barely cold!          LARRY          She passed three years ago.          DON          Well, okay, still-this changes the complexion, LARRY! Sy          Ableman!          LARRY          Not in the sense that... there hasn't been hanky-panky. To          my knowledge.          DON          Oh.          LARRY          No. I'm fairly certain this is not an issue. And in fact they,          uh, Judith wants a Gett.          Beat. Don stares blankly at LARRY.          LARRY clears his throat.          A ritual divorce.          DON          Oh.          LARRY          So that they can remarry in the faith-          DON          Uh-huh, sure, not really a legal matter. Okay. Well. My          goodness. How are the children taking it?                                                  73          LARRY          Oh, they're very...          He gropes.          . resilient.          DON          Good. Well. On the other thing, the neighbor's property          line, I've asked Solomon Schlutz to take a look. There's          very little having to do with real estate that'll get by Sol.          LARRY          Okay. Good. How do you-I guess I'm a little worried,          how do you, I have money pressures and-          DON          Our fee structure? We bill by the hour. Dave Sieglestein          and Solomon Schlutz bill at a hundred and ten, the associ-          ates, me for instance, bill at          A secretary sticks her head in.          SECRETARY          A call for Mr. Gopnik. DANNY. At home.          LARRY          DANNY? !          DON          You can take it here.          SECRETARY          Oh-eight-oh-nine.          LARRY punches a button on a row of four on the conference-room          telephone.          LARRY          DANNY? !          VOICE          Dad?                                                  74          LARRY          Are you all right? Are you all-is everything-          VOICE          F Troop is fuzzy.          LARRY          . What?          VOICE          F Troop is still fuzzy.          LARRY stares.          DON          Everything okay?          DAWN AT THE JOLLY ROGER          Wide on the motel room, dimly lit by weak sun starting to seep          in around the curtain.          LARRY sleeps in one of the twin beds; Uncle Arthur snores in          the other.          Uncle Arthur's breath snags and tangles on a snorfling inhale          and it wakes him, gagging.          He blinks, sits up, swings his legs out, gazes blearily around          the room.          He rises stiffly and heads for the bathroom.          LARRY stirs. The sound of Uncle Arthur urinating. LARRY looks          blearily around.          LARRY stiffly rises. He takes the two steps across the room to          the formica desk on which          are spread papers for his class. As we hear the sucking sound          of the neck evacuator in          the bathroom, LARRY sweeps papers together and mechanically stuffs          his briefcase.          CAR          LARRY is driving, hollow-eyed, to work.          After a long beat of staring, the ka-ching of a bicycle bell.                                                  75          LARRY's eyes widen and his head swivels, tracking as he overtakes          and passes:          The bicyclist. A young Asian man wearing a white traffic-mask.          LARRY looks at him in the rear-view.          LARRY          CLIVE!          He starts frantically pumping down his window, shouting:          . CLIVE! You gonna send your mother next?! You little          bastard! I wanna see you! I wanna-          Crash.          He has rear-ended someone.          A blaring horn, a quick second crash: wrenching steel and spattering          glass.          He has been rear-ended in turn.          The ka-ching of the bicycle. CLIVE Park cycles past without looking.          BLEGEN HALL          LARRY enters the outer office, hugging his paper-stuffed briefcase          to his chest.          The secretary is just crooking the phone into her shoulder.          SECRETARY          Oh-Professor Gopnik. It's Dick Dutton again.          LARRY          (BLANK)          Dick Dutton.          LARRY'S OFFICE          He sits in and picks up the phone.                                                  76          LARRY          Hello?          VOICE          Hello, Mr. Gopnik, this is Dick Dutton from the Columbia          Record Club. I'm calling because it is now, what, four          months and we have yet to receive your first payment.          LARRY          I-there's some mistake. I'm not a member of the          Columbian Record Club.          VOICE          Sir, you are Lawrence Gopnik of 1425 Flag Avenue South?          LARRY          No, I live at the Jolly Roger.          VOICE          Excuse me?          LARRY          No, I-well, yes, okay.          VOICE          Yes you are Lawrence Gopnik?          LARRY          Okay.          VOICE          Okay means...          LARRY          Okay, yes, Lawrence Gopnik, yes.          VOICE          Okay, well, you received your twelve introductory albums          and you have been receiving the monthly main selection for          four months now-          LARRY          "The monthly main selection?" Is that a record? I didn't                                                  77          ask for any records.          VOICE          To receive the monthly main selection you do nothing.          YOU-          LARRY          That's right! I haven't done anything!          VOICE          Yes, that's why you receive the monthly main selection.          The last          LARRY          But I-          VOICE          The last one was Santana Abraxis. You-          LARRY          I didn't ask for Santana Abraxis!          VOICE          You request the main selection at the retail price by doing          nothing. It is automatically mailed to you. Plus shipping          and handling. You're about to-          LARRY          I can't afford a new record every month! I haven't asked          FOR-          VOICE          You're about to get Cosmo's Factory, sir. The June main          selection. And you haven't-          LARRY          Look, something is very wrong! I don't want Santana          Abraxis! I've just been in a terrible auto accident!          Beat.          VOICE          I'm sorry sir.                                                  78          LARRY          Well-thank you. But I-          VOICE          Are you okay?          LARRY          Yes. Yes, no one was hurt.          VOICE          Okay. Good. Well, you had fourteen days to listen to          Santana Abraxis and return it if you weren't completely          satisfied. You did nothing. And now you-          LARRY          I didn't ask for Santana Abraxis! I didn't listen to Santana          Abraxis! I didn't do anything!          The secretary is sticking her head in.          SECRETARY          Sir.          VOICE          Sir. Please. We can't make you listen to the record. We-          SECRETARY          Professor Gopnik, your son. He said it's urgent.          LARRY          Okay, look, I have to call you back, this is, this is I'm          sorry.          He irritably punches a button on the bottom row of four.          DANNY?          DANNY          Dad!          LARRY          Did you join the Columbia Record Club?!                                                  79          Silence.          . DANNY?          DANNY          Um...          LARRY          DANNY, this is completely unacceptable. I can't afford to-          DANNY          Okay Dad, but you gotta come home.          LARRY          Is it F Troop?          DANNY          Huh? No no. Mom's real upset.          GOPNIK HOUSE          LARRY enters. We can hear weeping, semi-hysterical, from somewhere          in the house.          SARAH's Voice          .Dad?          LARRY          Yes?          She enters.          SARAH          Does this mean I can't go to the hole tonight?          LARRY          Does what mean-what happened?          SARAH          Sy Ableman died in a car crash.          DANNY's Voice                                                  80          Hey Dad!          LARRY          What?!          DANNY enters.          DANNY          So are you coming back home? Can you fix the aerial?          The weeping, off, grows louder and more hysterical.          LARRY          What?!          DANNY          It's still, you know...          Loud wailing.          BLACK          After a beat in black, a white title:          The Second Rabbi          The title fades.          RABBI'S OFFICE          We are close on LARRY. He sits hunched forward, hands clasped          in front of him, staring at          the floor, sadly shaking his head.          After a long beat:          LARRY          It seems like she's asking an awful lot. But then-I don't          know. Somebody has to pay for Sy's funeral.          Rabbi Nachtner, sitting opposite, nods.          Rabbi Nachtner                                                  81          Uh-huh.          LARRY          His own estate is in probate. But why does it have to be          me? Or is it wrong to complain? JUDY says it is. But I'm          so strapped for cash right now-paying for the Jolly Roger,          and I wrecked the car, and DANNY's bar mitzvah... I...          Rabbi Nachtner          Something like this-there's never a good time.          LARRY          I don't know where it all leaves me. Sy's death. Obviously          it's not going to go back like it was.          Rabbi Nachtner          Mm. Would you even want that, LARRY?          LARRY          No, I-well yeah! Sometimes! Or-I don't know; I guess          the honest answer is I don't know. What was my life          before? Not what I thought it was. What does it all mean?          What is Hashem trying to tell me, making me pay for Sy          Ableman's funeral?          Rabbi Nachtner          Mm.          LARRY          And-did I tell you I had a car accident the same time Sy          had his? The same instant, for all I know. Is Hashem          telling me that Sy Ableman is me, or we are all one or          something?          Rabbi Nachtner          How does God speak to us: it's a good question. You          know Lee Sussman?          LARRY          DOCTOR Sussman? I think I-yeah.          Rabbi Nachtner          Did he ever tell you about the goy's teeth?                                                  82          LARRY          No... I-What goy?          Rabbi Nachtner          So Lee is at work one day; you know he has the orthodontic          practice there at Texa-Tonka.          LARRY          Uh-huh.          Rabbi Nachtner          Right next to the Gold Eagle Cleaners.          We cut to:          SIGN FOR THE GOLD EAGLE CLEANERS          It dominates a small suburban strip mall.          Rabbi Nachtner continues in voice-over as we cut to a smoked          glass door that identifies          Leon Sussman, DDS.          Rabbi Nachtner          He's making a plaster mold-it's for corrective bridge          work-in the mouth of one of his patients...          A close shot of a man's mouth biting down on two horse-shoe shaped          troughs-an upper          and a lower-that overflow an oozing white goo.          . Russell Kraus. He's a delivery dispatcher for the Star          and Tribune with chronic mandicular deterioration.          The grinding guitar solo from Jefferson Airplane's "Bear Melt"          scores the narrative.          The patient opens his mouth as a hand enters to grab the upper          tray.          The reverse shows Dr. Sussman, a balding middle-aged man, dressed          in the the high-          collared white smock of an oral surgeon. He carries the mold          over to a drying table.          Kraus is twisted over the side of the chair spitting into the          water-swirled spit-sink.          . Well, the mold dries and Lee is examining it one day                                                  83          before fabricating an appliance...          Another day: Dr. Sussman is sitting at his desk examining the          lower mold. He notices          something unusual.          . He notices something unusual.          Sussman reaches up for the loupe attached to his eyeglasses.          There seems to be something engraved on the inside of the          patient's lower incisors...          He flips down the loupe. His eyes are hugely magnified as he          stares.          Sure enough, it's writing.          Sussman squints.          His point-of-view: Tiny incised Hebrew letters:          sml�nn          BACK TO RABBI NACHTNER          He confirms with a nod.          Rabbi Nachtner          This in a goy's mouth, LARRY.          BACK TO LEON SUSSMAN          The Rabbi's narrative continues.          Rabbi Nachtner          Tet resh nun lamed nun shin tsayin. What is that-tiranu          linoshets? "Help me"? Is that what it says? Or is it a          name? It's not Kraus's name.          Sussman flips the loupe away and looks off, haunted. He rises.          He checks the mold, just to be sure. Oh, it's there all                                                  84          right...          A dental mirror is dipped into the horse-shoe-shaped hardened          paste of the mold. It pans          tiny letters that stand out in relief, right-side around in the          mirror:          yw .rin          Sussman leans back, thinking.          He calls the goy back on the pretense of needing additional          measurements for the appliance...          Close on Kraus grinning as he shakes Sussman's hand in the reception          area. Sussman          gestures to invite Kraus back to the examination room.          Sussman chats, affecting nonchalance.          In the examination room, leaning over Kraus in the chair, the          dentist is indeed chatting          with seeming casualness.          Notice any other problems with your teeth? Anything          peculiar, et cetera?          Sussman takes a dental mirror.          No. No. No. Visited any other dentist recently?          He looks in Kraus' mouth with the mirror:          Ym nn          Sussman frowns.          There it is. "Help me"?          He leans back.          Sussman goes home. Can Sussman eat? No.          Sussman sits at the kitchen table, untouched food in front of          him. His wife chats volubly          while Sussman stares into space.          Can Sussman sleep? No.                                                  85          Sussman is in bed, pyjamas buttoned to the neck, staring at the          ceiling.          What does it mean? Is it a message for him, for Sussman?          And if so, from whom? Does Sussman know? Sussman          doesn't know.          Back in the dental office Sussman pulls boxes containing other          molds off the shelf.          Sussman looks at the molds of his other patients, goy and          Jew alike, seeking other messages. He finds none. He          looks in his own mouth...          Close on Sussman in front of a mirror straining to see the reflection          of a reflection of the          dental mirror he holds in his own mouth.          . Nothing. His wife's mouth...          Sussman's wife lies asleep on her back, her mouth open, snoring          softly. Sussman, in          pyjamas but with his glasses on and loupe in place, lies over          her in bed, supporting          himself with one arm thrown across her body. He leans awkwardly          in, carefully          lowering a dental mirror into his wife's open mouth.          . Nothing. It is a singular event. A mystery.          The Jefferson Airplane guitar solo is heating up.          But Sussman is an educated man. Not the world's greatest          sage, maybe, no Rabbi Minda, but he knows a thing or two          from the Zohar and the Caballah. He knows every Hebrew          letter has its numeric equivalent.          Sussman, still in his pyjamas is sitting at the kitchen table          scribbling on a tablet of lined          paper.          Close on the paper: the Hebrew letters have been transcribed          into their numeric          EQUIVALENTS:          496-2428          Nachtner continues in voice-over:                                                  86          Seven digits-a phone number maybe?          Sussman reaches for the phone. He hesitates a moment, then dials.          . Sussman dials. It rings.          AN ELEVATED CUBICLE          In a grocery store. A man in short sleeves reaches for the phone.          Rabbi Nachtner          It's a Red Owl grocery store in Bloomington. Hello? Do          you know a goy named Kraus? Russel Kraus?          The store manager is shaking his head.          Where have I called? The Red Owl. In Bloomington.          Thanks so much.          The manager, puzzled, hangs up.          Sussman thinks, am I supposed to go to the Red Owl, to          receive a further sign? He goes...          In the parking lot of the Red Owl Sussman, wearing a short-brimmed          fedora, emerges          from his car. It is an unremarkable grocery store in a suburban          mall.          It's a Red Owl.          Inside Sussman, in his fedora, gazes around.          Groceries. What have you.          A service alley behind the store: dumpsters, wind-blown garbage,          Sussman looking.          On the wall behind the store, a stain...          There is an old, rather nondescript stain of some liquid splatted          against the back wall and          long since dribbled away.          . Could be a nun sofit... Or maybe not...          The parking lot again: Sussman gets back in his car.                                                  87          Sussman goes home. What does it mean? He has to find          out, if he's ever to sleep again.          Sussman again, in pyjamas buttoned to the neck, lies in his bed          staring at the ceiling.          He goes to see the Rabbi, Nachtner. He comes in and sits          right where you're sitting now.          Sussman is indeed sitting across from Rabbi Nachtner, just where          we've seen LARRY          sitting.          What does it mean, Rabbi? Is it a sign from Hashem?          "Help me." I, Sussman, should be doing something to help          this goy? Doing what? The teeth don't say. I should know          without asking? Or maybe I'm supposed to help people          generally-lead a more righteous life? Is the answer in          cabalah? In torah? Or is there even a question? Tell me,          Rabbi-what can such a sign mean?          Nachtner-not the narrating Nachtner but the Nachtner in the scene-nods          and          considers.          LARRY          Staring at the Rabbi. He waits a good beat.          He prompts:          LARRY          So what did you tell him?          The Rabbi seems surprised by the question.          Rabbi Nachtner          Sussman?          LARRY          Yes!          Rabbi Nachtner          Is it. . relevant?                                                  88          LARRY          Well-isn't that why you're telling me?          Rabbi Nachtner          Mm. Okay. Nachtner says, look.. .          We are back in the scene, narrated by voice-over, of the Rabbi          silently advising the          fretful Sussman.          . The teeth, we don't know. A sign from Hashem, don't          know. Helping others, couldn't hurt.          LARRY's voice-over question plays over Sussman asking the same          thing:          LARRY (of])          But is that what it meant?-tet resh nun lamed nun shin          isayin, was it "Help me"? or a number? Or was it          Rabbi Nachtner (off)          We can't know everything.          Sussman stares blankly at the Rabbi.          A beat.          LARRY (of])          It sounds like you don't know Mthing!          THE RABBI          Smiling equably at LARRY. He reacts to the ejaculation with a          shrug.          LARRY scowls.          LARRY          Why even tell me the story?          Rabbi Nachtner          (AMUSED)          First I should tell you, then I shouldn't.                                                  89          LARRY, exasporated, changes tack:          LARRY          What happened to Sussman?          SUSSMAN          In his office. Working on different patients as the Rabbi resumes          his voice-over.          Rabbi Nachtner          What would happen? Not much. He went back to work.          For a while he checked every patient's teeth for new          messages; didn't see any; in time, he found he'd stopped          checking.          Sussman, at home, chats with his wife over dinner.          . These questions that are bothering you, LARRY-maybe          they're like a toothache. We feel them for a while, then          they go away.          Sussman lies in bed sleeping, smiling, an arm thrown across his          wife.          LARRY          Dissatisfied.          LARRY          I don't want it to just go away! I want an answer!          Rabbi Nachtner          The answer! Sure! We all want the answer! But Hashem          doesn't owe us the answer, LARRY. Hashem doesn't owe us          anything. The obligation runs the other way.          LARRY          Why does he make us feel the questions if he's not gonna          give us any answers?          Rabbi Nachtner smiles at LARRY for a beat.                                                  90          Rabbi Nachtner          He hasn't told me.          LARRY rubs his face, frustrated.          A last question occurs to him:          LARRY          And what happened to the goy?          Rabbi Nachtner's forebearing smile fades into puzzlement.          Rabbi Nachtner          The goy? Who cares?          EXTERIOR: THE SYNAGOGUE          The modern synagogue grafted onto a patch of prairie.          An echoing voice rings out:          VOICE          Sy Ableman was a serious man!          RABBI NACHTNER          In close-up he gazes around, weighing the effect of the words          just delivered.          After a long beat during which he seeks to establish eye contact          with as much of his          audience as possible:          Rabbi Nachtner          . Sy Ableman was a man devoted to his community...          Wider shows Rabbi Nachtner up on the bema. He and the congregation          face each other          across a casket down at floor level.          . to torah study...          LARRY sits among the congregants, his gaze fixed on a point off.                                                  91          . to his beloved wife Esther until, three years ago, she          passed.. .          LARRY's point-of-view: JUDY is visible from 3 behind. She sits          a few rows ahead looking          grimly up at the rabbi.          . and to his duty, as he saw it. Where does such a man          go? A tzadik-who knows, maybe even a lamid vovnik-a          man beloved by all, a man who despised the frivolous?          Could such a serious man... simply... disappear?          The words echo.          Again the rabbi gazes around, as if awaiting answer.          THEN:          . We speak of L'olam ha-ba, the World to Come. Not          heaven. Not what the gentiles think of as afterlife.          "L'olam ha-ba." What is L'olam ha-ba? Where is L'olam          ha-ba? Well: it is not a geoaraphic place, certainly.          Like-Canada.          Murmured chuckles from the congregation.          Nor is it the eretz zavat chalav ood'vash-the land flowing          with milk and honey, for we are not promised a personal          reward, a gold star, a first-class VIP lounge where we get          milk and cookies to eternity!          More chuckles.          L'olam ha-ba... is in the bosom of Abraham. L'olam ba-          ba is in the soul of this community which nurtured Sy          Ableman and to which Sy Ableman now returns. That's          right, he returns. Because he still inspires us Ableman          returns. Because his memory instructs us Ableman          returns. Because his thoughts illuminate our days and ways          Sy Ableman returns. The frivolous man may vanish          without a ripple but Sy Ableman? Sy Ableman was a          serious man...                                                  92          A sob echoes through the sanctuary.          LARRY looks at Judith, who stifles further sobs with a handkerchief.          . As you know, the mourner's kaddish does not mention          the dead. It praises Hashem; it praises what abides. And          Sy Ableman, whose spirit will continue to assist us in          tikkun olam, is with us even now, a serious man who would          say as we now say Yiskadal v'yiskadash sh'may rabah...          The congregation begins to chant along but it and Judith's weeping          are cut off by:          A HAND RAPPING AT A DOOR          The front door to the Gopnik home.          LARRY, still in his suit from shul and wearing a yarmulka, opens          the door. He recoils in          surprise edged with fear.          Reverse: two uniformed policemen.          COP 1          Arthur Gopnik?          LARRY is momentarily dumb. Inside the house we can see a corner          of a card table set up in          the living room with food laid out on it. SARAH sits with her          back to us, head wrapped by          a towel-turban. Arthur, on the far side of the table, his balding          head domed by a yarmul-          ka, half-leans out so that he may sneak looks toward the men          at the door without totally          revealing himself. From somewhere down the hall come Judith's          muffled sobs.          . Are you Arthur Gopnik?          LARRY          I'm... Laurence Gopnik.          Cop I          Do you go by the name Arthur Gopnik?          LARRY          No.                                                  93          COP 1          Is that Arthur Gopnik?          Arthur ducks away.          From inside the living room:          DANNY (off)          Dad? What's going on?          LARRY          Can you tell me what's going on. We're sitting shiva here.          COP 1          You're what.          LARRY          A religious observance. We're... bereaved.          The cop standing behind gazes in over his partner's shoulder.          COP 2          Who died?          LARRY          My wife's um... it's a long story.          COP 1          Look. Tell Gopnik-you know, Arthur Gopnik-he's          breaking the law. We're not arresting him now but next          time we will. Gambling is against the law in this state.          That's just the way it is. All right. Go back to your...          COP 2          Sorry, sir.          LIVING ROOM          A minute later. The family-except for Judith, whose weeping continues          off-sits          around the card table. A long beat.          At length:                                                  94          DANNY          Dad, we get Channel 4 now but not Channel 7.          LARRY          Arthur, how could you do that to this family. On Sy's...          on Sy's-          ARTHUR          It's a victimless crime.          LARRY          That doesn't make it right! And you-          DANNY          He won a lot of money, Dad! The Mentaculus really          works!          LARRY's gaze swings onto his son.          LARRY          You knew about it?!          DANNY          Well, um...          ARTHUR          They must have finked me out. They knew I could just          keep on winning, so a couple weeks ago they blackballed          me, and now they've-          LARRY          What did you do with the money you won?          Silence. Arthur sneaks a look at DANNY.          LARRY looks back and forth between them.          . What's going on?          Arthur shrugs.          ARTHUR                                                  95          I didn't want it. DANNY said he could use it          SARAH          Unfair!          LARRY          What have you been-          ARTHUR          What's unfair is these guys saying I can't play in their card          game!          SARAH          Why give him the money?! You know what he spends it          on?          LARRY          (knowing nod)          I know about the records.          SARAH          Records?! You think he buys records from Mike Fagle?          Movement in DANNY's body; SARAH recoils from a kick.          . Ow! Little brat!          LARRY          Hey! What's going on!          DANNY          At least I'm not saving up for a nose job!          LARRY          What?!          SARAH          Brat!          LARRY          Nobody in this house is getting a nose job! You got that?!                                                  96          DANNY          Ali!          Struck by a thought he leaps up and bolts from the room.          LARRY          DANNY! You weren't excused! We're still talking!          SARAH          What a brat.          LARRY          What was this card game, Arthur?          ARTHUR          Some goys run a private game.          We hear the TV go on down the hall and the theme from F Troop.          I think they're Italians.          LARRY          DANNY, what's going on!          He rises.          BEDROOM          LARRY enters to look down at DANNY's back. Beyond him F Troop          flickers on the TV.          LARRY          DANNY! We're sitting Shiva!          DON MILGRAM'S OFFICE          LARRY, sitting across from Don, has his head buried in his arms          on the desktop.          DON          She's retained Barney Silver at Tuchman, Marsh. This is a,          uh--this is an aggressive firm, LARRY.                                                  97          LARRY          (MUFFLED)          Uh-huh.          DON          These are not pleasant people. Judith is free of course to          retain whoever she... I take it you don't talk to her?          LARRY raises his head, squinting against the light.          LARRY          It's hard. I think she emptied our bank account. I tried to          ask her about it, very civilly.          DON          Mm.          LARRY          She, uh...          DON          Yeah, yeah you better open an account in your name only,          put your paychecks in there from here on out. Til we know          where we stand.          LARRY          Can I?          DON          Oh, absolutely!          LARRY          That's not, um, dishonest?          DON          Oh, absolutely! You, uh-          LARRY          I hate to say this, but I think she's also been sneaking cash          out of my wallet.          DON          Ouch. Well, yes, this is definitely, um, adversarial. The                                                  98          first thing we-are you all right?          LARRY is wincing as he rubs a forearm under his shirtsleeve.          LARRY          Just a sunburn. I've been spending a lot of time on the          roof. For... perspective.          He trails off and his head drops back down onto his arms. Don          gives him an appraising          look.          DON          . Have you seen the Rabbi?          LARRY          (muffled again)          Talked to Nachtner.          DON          You should talk to Minda.          LARRY           They told me Minda doesn't do pastoral work any more.          Just.. . ceremonial.          DON          Mm. Congratulates the bar mitzvah boy every week, so          forth?          LARRY nods miserably.          . That's too bad. A very wise man, Minda.          LARRY raises his head.          LARRY          Getting old.          DON          Very old.          LARRY          No, me.                                                  99          DON          LARRY, you're fine. It's a bump in the road. Was Nachtner          helpful at all?          LARRY gives a helpless shrug.          Don rolls his eyes.          . What-did he tell you about the goy's teeth?          A knock on the door. Don projects:          Yeah?          The door cracks open. A pipe edges in, followed by a peeking          face: Solomon Schlutz.          . Oh, good! Sol, come on in.          Solomon Schlutz is a large man in shirtsleeves and suspenders.          He has the smooth          impassive face of a sphynx with a pipe clenched in its teeth.          He glides into the room, a sheaf of files tucked under one arm.          . Sol has been looking into the property-line issues.. .          Solomon Schlutz seats himself at the conference table and starts          sorting and arranging          the files into three piles.          . It seems that you do have a real problem with the          original survey. But Sol seems to think there's some kind          of nifty way for us to-well, I haven't heard it myself, I'll          let Sol map it out.          Solomon Schlutz continues to arrange the files, his eye occasionally          lingering on a          specific page. When at length he is finished he carefully justifies          the edges of the closest          pile, takes the pipe out of his mouth, gives LARRY a smile that          seems to take some effort,          and then taps the pipe in a large glass ashtray.          He looks up again at LARRY, this time shocked. His stunned look          on LARRY holds for a          long beat.          LARRY returns a bewildered look.                                                  100          Solomon Schlutz, staring at LARRY as if he were some sort of          monster, emits one barking          SYLLABLE:          Solomon Schlutz          Gah!          His stare holds. He reddens.          DON          .Sol?          Solomon Schlutz's face now passes from the red end of the spectrum          to the purple.          Solomon Schlutz          Nnnnff!          The pipe clatters out of his hand. The hand grabs at his own          shirt front.          . Glufffl...          Now his head pitches back. His backflung weight and twisting          body send his chair          tipping over, one hand still clutching at his chest while the          other frantically waves. He          disappears behind the conference table and lands with a floor-shaking          thump. His          writhing and gurgling remain audible.          DON          Sol! Sol!          Don Milgram has risen to look down at his fallen colleague; now          he flings open the          conference room door and bellows into the office:          An ambulance! Quick! Somebody call an ambulance! A          DOCTOR!          A secretary looks in and screams.          Solomon Schlutz          Garf!... Nnlogl...          BLEGEN HALL                                                  101          LARRY walks into the outer office clutching his briefcase, eyes          wide, shell-shocked. The          secretary is at her typewriter but holding the phone, one hand          covering its mouthpiece.          SECRETARY          Dick Dutton. Columbia Record Club.          LARRY          Call back.          HIS OFFICE          LARRY sits in heavily behind his desk.          A beat.          He opens the top left desk drawer. He withdraws the bulging white          envelope and opens          its flap.          He runs a finger over the wad of bills.          VOICE          LARRY?          He looks up, startled.          Arlen Finkle stands in the doorway.          . As you know, the tenure committee meets-are you all          right?          LARRY sits frozen with the white envelope in his hands.          LARRY          I'm... fine.          Arlen Finkle          I'm sorry. I know you've hit a rough patch.          LARRY          Thank you. I'm fine.          He puts the envelope in the desk drawer and closes it.                                                  102          Arlen Finkle          Uh-huh. Well. As you know, the tenure committee meets          next Wednesday to make its final determinations. If          THERE'S-          LARRY          Arlen, I am not an evil man!          Arlen looks at him, shocked.          Arlen Finkle          LARRY! Of course not!          LARRY          I am not-          Arlen Finkle          We don't make moral judgments!          LARRY          I went to the Aster Art once. I saw Swedish Reverie.          Arlen Finkle          It's okay, LARRY, we don't need to know! The Tenure          COMMITTEE-          LARRY          It wasn't even erotic! Although it was, in a way.          Arlen Finkle          It's all right, LARRY. Believe me.          LARRY calms somewhat.          LARRY          . Okay.          Arlen Finkle          Okay. Okay. We, uh, we decide on Wednesday, so if          there's anything you want to submit in support of your          tenure application, we should have it by then. That's all.          LARRY                                                  103          Submit. What. What do you-          Arlen Finkle          Well. Anything. Published work. Anything else you've          done outside of the institution. Any work that we might not          be aware of.          LARRY          I haven't done anything.          Arlen Finkle          Uh-huh.          LARRY          I haven't published.          Arlen Finkle          Uh-huh.          LARRY          Are you still getting those letters?          Arlen Finkle          Uh-huh.          LARRY          Those anonymous-          Arlen Finkle          Yes, I know. Yes.          A beat. LARRY nods.          LARRY          Okay. Okay. Wednesday.          Arlen Finkle          Okay. Don't worry. Doing nothing is not bad. Ipso facto.          LARRY          Sure.                                                  104          CLASSROOM          We are close over LARRY's shoulder as he scribbles symbols onto          the chalkboard.          LARRY          . and that means... so that... from which we derive...          His glances back toward the class show that he is wearier, baggier-eyed,          more haggard          than ever. There is also something odd about his posture.          He writes smaller and smaller so as to finish before hitting          the right edge of the          chalkboard.          . and also.. which lets us... and...          Wider as he finishes and straightens up, revealing that he has          been stooping to write          across the very bottom of the board.          The equation covers every inch of the classroom-wide three-paneled          chalkboard. LARRY          is an off balance figure at the right edge of frame.          Reverse on the class: staring.          Okay?          LARRY claps chalk dust from his hands.          . The Uncertainty Principle. It proves we can't ever          really know... what's going on.          A bell sounds. The students start to shake off their stupor and          rise. LARRY projects over          the wallah:          . So it shouldn't bother you. Not being able to figure          anything out. Although you will be responsible for this on          the mid-term.          The thinning crowd gradually reveals one person still seated:          Sy Ableman.          He wears a prayer shawl and yarmulka.                                                  105          LARRY does not seem surprised to see him.          . Did you follow that?          Sy Ableman          Of coss. Except that I know what's going on. How do you          explain.          LARRY          Well, it might be that, in, you know, in L'olam ha-bah-          Sy Ableman          Excuse me. Not the issue. In this world, LARRY.          He nods at the chalkboard.          . I'll concede that it's subtle. It's clevva. But at the end          of the day, is it convincing?          LARRY          Well-yes it's convincing. It's a proof. It's mathematics.          Sy Ableman          Excuse me, LARRY. Mathematics. Is the art of the possible.          LARRY's brow furrows.          LARRY          I don't think so. The art of the possible, that's... I can't          remember... something else...          Sy Ableman          I'm a serious man, LARRY.          LARRY          I know that. So if I've got it wrong, what do I-          Sy Ableman holds up one hand to silence him.          Sy Ableman          So simple, LARRY. See Minda.                                                  106          LARRY          I know, I want to see Minda! I want to see Minda! They          told me that oonh!          Without our having seen him rise or cross the room Sy Ableman          has body-slammed          LARRY into the chalkboard. Now he grabs LARRY by the hair and          whips his head against          the equation. As he slams LARRY's head, again and again, the          chalkboard chatters and the          fringes on Sy's tallis dance.          Sy Ableman          See Minda! See Minda! I fucked your wife, LARRY! I          seriously fucked her! That's what's going on! See Minda!          LARRY          Very close on his eyes as they open. His head is on a pillow.          Dull early light. A hissing          sound.          LARRY looks blearily over.          On the vanity table just outside the motel bathroom door sits          Uncle Arthur's cyst          evacuator. Its waggling hose snakes into the cracked bathroom          door as the machine          hisses.          MEZUZA          On a doorpost.          A hand enters to knock. A long beat. The person knocking gives          up and his footsteps          start to go away just as the door opens to reveal an attractive          woman the sunbathing          neighbor, now wearing plaid shorts and a buttoned white blouse.          Her point-of-view: LARRY, frozen halfway down the stoop, head          turned back up toward          the door.          WOMAN          Mr. Gopnik.                                                  107          LARRY          Oh. Hello, Mrs. Samsky. I knocked, and then thought you          weren't here. I, uh...          Mrs. Samsky's voice is soft and breathy:          Mrs. Samsky          It just took me a second to get to the door. I was out back.          LARRY stands nodding.          He seems to need prompting. Mrs. Samsky does:          . Can I help you? Wanna come in?          LARRY          No, I-          One hand on the door, she steps back.          Mrs. Samsky          It's cooler.          LARRY          Oh. Okay. I just wanted to let you know...          He is entering.          INSIDE          After the outside glare the house does indeed seem cooler. LARRY          looks around the living          room, dim but neat. Wavering light sifts through closed vertical          blinds which drift and          click over floor-vented air-conditioning.          Mrs. Samsky closes the door, shutting out all sound from outside.          LARRY          I've noticed that Mr. Samsky isn't around, and I-          Mrs. Samsky          He travels.                                                  108          LARRY          Uh-huh. Yeah, I never seem to see him, so I thought I          should let you know, since you're somewhat new here, if          you ever have, whatever, chores that you'd, um, or just help          with something-I've decided to help others-you know,          in a neighborly way...          She gazes at him with the least hint of a smile and waits for          the speech to dribble away to          silence. In the ensuing beat, quiet except for the clicking of          the blinds, she is perfectly          still. Finally, only her mouth moves:          Mrs. Samsky          How thoughtful.          LARRY shrugs off the compliment.          LARRY          Oh it's nothing. It's just good to know your neighbors.          And to help. Help others. Although I don't care much for          my neighbors on the other side, I must say.          Mrs. Samsky lets another smiling silence pass before responding.          Mrs. Samsky          . Goys, aren't they?          LARRY          Mm. Very much so. Maybe it's not fair to judge; I have to          admit I-          Mrs. Samsky          Won't you sit down?          LARRY          Oh! Um. Okay. Thank you.          Mrs. Samsky          Iced tea? I have some.          She is already turning to the kitchen.                                                  109          LARRY          Okay.. .          He watches her and reacts to:          The backs of her thighs. The flesh retains the broad cross-hatch          of her lawn chair.          She disappears into the kitchen, but calls out:          Mrs. Samsky          I don't see you around much, either.          LARRY          Yes. Actually I haven't been home a lot recently, I, uh, my          wife and I are, uh, well, she's got me staying at the Jolly          Roger, the little motel there on-          Mrs. Samsky is reentering with two tall glasses of iced tea beaded          with moisture. The          click of the ice cubes joins the clicking of the blinds.          Mrs. Samsky          You're in the doghouse, huh?          She hands him a glass as she sits on the couch next to him, not          invasively close, one bare          leg folded onto the couch, the other draped over it.          LARRY          Yeah, that's an understatement I guess, I -thank you-I,          UH-          Mrs. Samsky          Do you take advantage of the new freedoms?          LARRY stares at her. Mrs. Samsky gazes back. Her look displays          equanimity; his, not.          FINALLY:          LARRY          . What do you mean.          Her look holds for one more beat and then she swivels and opens          the drawer of an end          table.                                                  110          She turns back with a joint.          Mrs. Samsky          It's something I do. For recreation.          She lights it.          LARRY          That's... Marijuana?          Mrs. Samsky          Mm-hmm.          She hands the joint over.          . You'll find you'll need the iced tea.          LARRY handles the bitty cigarette with trepidation.          LARRY          Is it. . well.. . okay...          THE VERTICAL BLINDS          Some minutes later. They drift and click in the air blown from          the floor vents.          LARRY stares at them.          After a long beat:          LARRY          Maybe Rabbi Scott was right.          Mrs. Samsky          Who's Rabbi Scott?          LARRY          The junior rabbi.          Mrs. Samsky          The junior rabbi.                                                  111          Another long beat. Neither person feels compelled to speak as          the blinds click.          The joint makes another trip back and forth.          THEN:          . What did he say?          LARRY          He spoke of.. perception. All my problems are just...          just a... a mere..          He trails off, listening.          . Is that a siren?          Mrs. Samsky          No. Some people get a little paranoid when they... Holy          cow... That is a siren.          OUTSIDE          The Samsky's door opens and LARRY stumbles out. He stares.          The police car has stopped in front of his own house next door,          lights still flashing. Two          cops are going up the walk with Uncle Arthur between them in          handcuffs.          LARRY, stunned, walks woodenly toward his house.          LARRY          Hey!          Neither the cops nor Uncle Arthur has heard. They have rung the          doorbell and now          disappear inside.          LARRY projects louder-          . HEY!          -and starts to sprint. Mrs. Samsky has emerged from her house          behind.          LARRY takes the stoop steps two at a time. His door stands open          and the theme from F                                                  112          Troop issues from within.          Just inside the two policeman stand with their backs to us and          handcuffed Uncle Arthur          in between. The three men face DANNY, who addresses them, projecting          over the music          from the TV.          DANNY          Sort of. He sleeps on the couch.          LARRY          This is crazy!          This brings the cops' look around. Uncle Arthur also turns, shamefaced,          to LARRY.          COP          Does this man live here?          ARTHUR          I didn't know what to tell them! They asked for my          address.. .          LARRY          It's just mathematics! You can't arrest a man for          mathematics!          ARTHUR          I didn't know whether to say I lived here or at the Jolly          Roger.          COP          You know this man?          ARTHUR          I figured this would sound more... I don't know...          Mrs. Samsky appears behind LARRY on the stoop.          DANNY          Dad, why is Uncle Arthur in handcuffs?          LARRY          It's all a mistake. I mean, not a mistake, a, a-                                                  113          ARTHUR          Hello, Mrs. Samsky.          LARRY          -a miscarriage-          COP          Does this man live here?          DANNY          He sleeps on the couch.          LARRY          Look! What did he do!          ARTHUR          Nothing! I didn't do anything!          DANNY          It folds out. Dad sleeps on a cot.          LARRY          You can't just-          COP          Sir, we picked this man up at the North Dakota.          LARRY is brought up short.          LARRY          The North Dakota!          ARTHUR          But I didn't do anything!          DANNY          Dad, what's the North Dakota?          COP          Solicitation. Sodomy. Very serious.                                                  114          LARRY          . The North Dakota!          We hold on LARRY's shocked reaction as we hear DANNY, off:          DANNY          What's Sodomy, Dad?          DON MILGRAM          He wears a black armband. He sits thinking, bouncing steepled          fingers against his nose.          FINALLY:          DON          What does Arthur say?          LARRY          He says he didn't do anything.          DON          Uh-huh.          LARRY          He says. . . he just went in for a drink.          DON          Uh-huh.          Long beat.          . Does Arthur drink?          LARRY          No.          DON          Uls-huh.          LARRY          . He says he was confused.                                                  115          DON          Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Well. The North Dakota. Well. You'll          need a criminal attorney.          LARRY          Okay. Who's-          DON          Ron Meshbesher.          LARRY          Is he good?          DON          Ron is very good.          LARRY's gaze wanders. He becomes wistful.          LARRY          I don't understand. He goes to mixers at the Hillel House.          DON          Mm.          A beat.          . I would call Ron Meshbesher.          LARRY          Is he expensive?          DON          Ron is not cheap.          Don focuses on LARRY. Cheerful change of subject:          . DANNY's bar mitzvah is... ?          LARRY          This week.                                                  116          DON          This shabbas! Great!          He nods.          . It'll be okay. Try to relax, LARRY. Try to relax.          MRS. SAMSKY'S BEDROOM          LARRY is making strenuous love to Mrs. Samsky.          Mrs. Samsky          So good... so good...          She rolls on top of LARRY to straddle him and, still humping,          she lights a mentholated          cigarette. LARRY moans.          LARRY          Oh my God, Mrs. Samsky...          Beyond her head LARRY can see the low cottage-cheese ceiling          of the bedroom. Outside          we can hear Gar Brandt mowing the lawn.          Suddenly we hear muffled laughter and the front door opening.          LARRY panics. He hisses:          . Who is it?          Footsteps are approaching along the hall. Mrs. Samsky doesn't          react; she looks calmly          down at LARRY even as the bedroom door opens behind her and CLIVE          Park walks in          wearing a traffic mask. LARRY is mortified:          CLIVE, please! Wait outside!          Mrs. Samsky blows smoke into LARRY's eyes. The screen goes black.          Close on LARRY as he opens his eyes. A shadow falls across his          face.          His point-of-view: a wooden plank is just being slid into place          over his head. The bang          of hammer on nailhead. In the black:                                                  117          Sy Ableman's Voice          Nailing it down is so impawtant.          We hear the chanting of Kaddish and the sound of dirt hitting          the top of the coffin. It          drums a steady rhythm. Grace Slick's voice enters: "Somebody          to Love." In a break in          the vocals right before the chorus:          Mrs. Samsky's Voice          It's something we do. For recreation.          On the chorus downbeat, a crescent moon pops into the black.          Gar Brandt traverses the          sky, pushing his lawn mower. A cow flies the opposite way. Stars          twinkle. Sy Able-          man walks across the sky dressed like a shtetl elder, a bindlestick          over one shoulder.          LARRY bolts upright in bed.          Sudden quiet.          Uncle Arthur is snoring in the tatty motel room's other bed.          A title burns in:          MINDA          LARRY          He stands looking down in low shot. Above him is cheap Johnson-Armstrong          dropped          ceiling.          LARRY          Please. I need help. I've already talked to the other rabbis.          Please.          Reverse shows an elderly eastern European woman seated behind          a desk, looking up at          LARRY.          . I won't take much of his time. I need help. I need          Minda. It's not about DANNY's bar mitzvah. My boy          DANNY. This coming shabbas. Very joyous event. That's          all fine. It's, it's more about myself, I've... I've had quite          a bit of tsuris lately. Marital problems. Professional. You          name it. This is not a frivolous request. This is a serious-          I'm a serious-I'm, uh, I've tried to be a serious man. You                                                  118          know, tried to do right, be a member of the community,          raise the, raise the, DANNY, SARAH, they both go to school,          Hebrew school, a good breakfast. Well, DANNY goes to          Hebrew school, SARAH doesn't have time, she mostly...          washes her hair. Apparently there are several steps          involved. But you don't have to tell Minda that. Just tell          him I need help. Please. I need help.          He lapses into silence, staring at the secretary.          She stares inscrutably back.          After a moment she rises, goes to the door behind her, opens          it, shuffles into the dimness          of an inner office.          LARRY cranes to see past her. Her own body and the dimness interfere          with a good view          of the figure hunched behind the desk. The man is old and bent.          His desktop is empty.          Murmured voices in Hebrew.          A clock ticks in the outer office. LARRY looks around, waiting.          Mysterious Judaica adorns the outer office.          The old woman is shuffling back. She closes the door on the motionless          rabbi and sits          down, heavily, behind her own desk.          SECRETARY          The rabbi is busy.          LARRY          He didn't look busy!          As she starts shuffling papers:          SECRETARY          He's thinking.          NIGHT          Sidor Belarsky comes in at the cut.                                                  119          We are booming down on LARRY, asleep in bed.          We hear weeping, soft, suppressed.          LARRY stirs. He opens his eyes.          After a groggy beat he reacts to the weeping. He looks over.          LARRY          Arthur... ? Arthur?          Arthur is a dim mound on the next bed. His weeping continues.          For no reason LARRY continues to keep his voice to a whisper:          . Arthur. What's wrong?          No answer.          . Arthur. It'll be okay. Arthur. We'll get Ron          Meshbesher. It'll be okay-          ARTHUR          AAAHHHH!          Shockingy loud, the scream is hard to interpret.          Arthur flings off his bedclothes. He leaps from the bed and runs          to the door. In boxer          shorts and undershirt he flings the door open and runs out of          the room.          LARRY          Arthur!          LARRY leaps from his bed, also in his underwear.          He goes to the door but pauses, peering cautiously outside. Satisfied          that the courtyard is          deserted, he plunges into it.          COURTYARD          The courtyard/parking lot is hardlit by ghastly mercury vapor          lights. The pool,          surrounded by chain-link fence, has been drained. Its white concrete          interior is cracked                                                  120          and weedy.          Uncle Arthur is hunched weeping in a corner of the pool enclosure.          LARRY          (HISSING)          Arthur!          He opens the creaking gate and scurries over to Arthur.          . You've got to pull yourself together!          Arthur is suddenly angry. His voice bounces off the concrete:          ARTHUR          It's all shit, LARRY! It's all shit!          LARRY          Arthur. Don't use that word.          ARTHUR          It's all fucking shit!          LARRY          Arthur! Come on!          ARTHUR          Look at everything Hashem has given you! And what do I          get! I get fucking shit!          LARRY          Arthur. What do I have. I live at the Jolly Roger.          ARTHUR          You've got a family. You've got a job. Hashem hasn't          given me bupkes.          LARRY          It's not fair to blame Hashem, Arthur. Please. Sometimes          -please calm down-sometimes you have to help your-          self.          ARTHUR                                                  121          Don't blame me! You fucker!          LARRY          Arthur. Please.          ARTHUR          Hashem hasn't given me shit. Now I can't even play cards.          He starts weeping again.          LARRY looks around.          LARRY          Arthur. This isn't the right forum. Please. Not by the          pool.          Arthur weeps.          Arthur... It's okay... It's okay...          MORNING          LARRY and Arthur are driving. We are looking at the two of them          square through a          windshield in which towering conifers stream by in reflection.          It seems to be a glorious          day.          LARRY          Is this it?          Both men peer out.          ARTHUR          I think so... yeah... there...          He indicates the road ahead.          A SIGNPOST          The old-fashioned kind with wooden fingers pointing the different          directions.          One points toward CANADA.                                                  122          We tip off the sign as LARRY's car passes and recedes. There          is a canoe strapped to its          roof.          BOUNDARY WATERS          Beautiful, wooded, remote.          The car is parked at water's edge, having backed down a lane          of two tracks worn          through the undergrowth. LARRY and Arthur are lowering the canoe          into water.          LARRY          Okay.. .          He straightens. Arthur straightens. LARRY hugs him.          .Look...          They separate and LARRY pulls a white envelope from his pocket          and gives it to Arthur.          . This'll help you get back on your feet.          Arthur looks into the envelope.          ARTHUR          Oh my God. Where did you get this?          LARRY          Doesn't matter. When you-          ARTHUR          This is a lot of money!          LARRY          It should get you started.          ARTHUR          This is a lot of money! Are you sure you don't need it?          LARRY          Arthur, I'm fine. Come on, get in. When you're settled...                                                  123          Arthur climbs into the canoe.          . let me know how to get in touch.          He helps push the boat off. Arthur is twisted around, looking          back. As he drifts off:          ARTHUR          Are you sure this is okay?          LARRY          It's fine. It's fine...          LARRY waves.          Arthur waves bravely back, then turns to pick up the oars. A          couple of strokes and he          turns back again with a last thought. He calls:          ARTHUR          LARRY. I'm sorry. What I said last night.          LARRY          I know. It's okay.          A lingering look from Arthur, and then he turns back to row.          A gunshot.          Blood spurts from the back of Uncle Arthur's neck.          He slumps forward, dead.          VOICE          Good shot!          LARRY looks wildly around. He sees:          Gar Brandt and Mitch in their camo fatigues, hard to pick out          in the foliage. They are          looking off toward the canoe, Mitch just lowering his rifle.          Gar Brandt's look swings around, into the lens. He points at          us:          There's another Jew, son.                                                  124          Mitch swings his rifle toward us.          He fires.          LARRY          Gasping awake in the motel room.          He looks around.          It is dawn.          Arthur sits on the edge of his bed in his underwear, staring          off into space, slackjawed,          vacant-eyed, drained.          LARRY gazes around the room, waiting for things to fall into          place.          Finally, blearily:          LARRY          Were we... out at the pool last night?          Arthur, still staring off, responds in a flat, empty voice:          ARTHUR          Yes. I'm sorry.          LARRY blinks sleep away.          After a beat:          LARRY          It's shabbas.          Another beat.          Arthur heaves a deep sigh.          ARTHUR          I'll go drain my cyst.                                                  125          RESTROOM          Day. A two-urinal, two-stall men's room of old tile and yellowed          fixtures.          We are low. One of the stall doors is closed. Under it we see          the dress shoes and dress          pants of two young men standing inside.          We hear a long sucking inhale.          Ronnie Nudell's Voice          Gimme that fucker.          A loudly projected echoing male voice:          VOICE          Ya'amod hab'rayshit.          SANCTUARY          DANNY, seated in the second pew next to his parents and sister          and Uncle Arthur, rises          and shuffles along the row to the aisle. His eyes are wide and          red-rimmed.          The prelapped voice was his call to the torah. All eyes in the          congregation, which fills          the large sanctuary, are on him.          In great echoing silence he walks to the steps on the right side          of the bema and climbs.          The right-side lectern is surrounded by a gaggle of old Jewish          men. They busy          themselves with the preparation of the pair of scrolls on the          lectern, rolling them,          pausing, rolling some more, muttering prayers, kissing the scrolls          by means of their          tsitsim. They pay DANNY no attention.          DANNY takes his place centered behind the lectern. His chin comes          up to the bottom of          the reading platform.          Men continue to mutter prayers around him. A pair of hands appear          on his shoulders          from behind. DANNY looks down at the strange hands. They pull          him back.          A foot drags a small riser out from under the lectern.          Hands push DANNY up onto the riser.                                                  126          Booming up on the torah scrolls, still being busily rolled.          Beyond it, a sea of faces.          The yad-a molded tin pointer-is thrust into DANNY's hand. The          non-pointing end has          a red silken tassel.          DANNY looks at the bouncing tassel. He looks at the little pointing          finger which is the          business end of the yad.          Men mutter around him, each a different prayer. They dip and          doven.          DANNY watches himself point the yad down at the scroll.          The scroll is a dense swarm of Hebrew letters. DANNY squints.          One voice separates from the murmurs around him. It chants, insistently,          in a sotto-voce          FALSETTO:          VOICE          Nefesh echad sheichayim, yitzeh gamor shel effashot...          DANNY is still staring at the end of the yad against the parchment          scroll.          Someone's hand enters and moves the yad to a different place          in the text.          The voice repeats:          . Nefesh echad sheichayim, yitzeh gamor shel effashot...          DANNY looks up from the scrolls.          In the congregation Ronnie Nudell sits hunched-shouldered and          squished between his          parents. He returns DANNY's red-rimmed slack-jawed stare.          The insistent voice:          . Nefesh echad shelchayim, yitzeh gamor shel effashot...          DANNY looks over.          From the surrounding scrum the prompter nods at him. He looks          somewhat like Cantor          Youssele Rosenblatt.                                                  127          . Nefesh echad shelchayim, yitzeh gamor shel effashot.. .          DANNY looks back down at the scroll. A hand enters to tap a pointing          finger where the          yad points.          . Nefesh echad shelchayim, yitzeh gamor shel effa-          DANNY suddenly erupts:          DANNY          Nefesh echad shelchayim, yitzeh gamor shel effashot. .          PROMPTER          Mm-hm.          DANNY continues to boom out the torah portion. He moves the yad          along the line of          letters.          In the congregation, LARRY and Judith watch. We hear DANNY chanting          fluently and          LARRY squeezes the hand Judith has laced through his arm.          Juith whispers:          JUDITH          I'm sorry that... things have been so hard for us...          LARRY          It's okay.          JUDITH          Sy had so much respect for you, LARRY.          He pats her hand.          A beat.          . He wrote letters to the tenure committee.          LATER          The congregation is loudly singing V'Zos Hatorah. A tallised          man of late middle age                                                  128          hoists the open scroll from the lectern and raises it high, turning          his back on the          congregation so that all may see it.          DANNY has been ensconced in a highbacked chair upstage on the          bema.          His point-of-view of the man holding the torah is close and steeply          raked. The man is          sweating. The heavy scrolls vibrate slightly from his effort          to keep them aloft. As the          congregation continues to sing he mutters under his breath:          MAN          Jesus Christ.. .          LATER          DANNY stands behind the left lectern facing Rabbi Nachtner who          holds a small kiddush          cup out to him.          Although Rabbi Nachtner seems to be addressing DANNY, he is projecting          loudly.          NACHTNER          . taking your place as a member of our tribe. You will          go and see Rabbi Minda after the service. You will cele-          brate in a reception downstairs in Schanfield Hall. And          then you will be a member of B'Nai Abraham and of the          Nation of Israel. DANNY Gopnik, the Sisterhood makes a          gift to you of this kiddush cup so that you will remember          this blessed day on the next shabbas and the next, and on          every shabbas of a long and fruitful life, and, until that          wonderful day when you stand under the chupa, we say.. .          CONGREGATION          Amen.          DANNY, still red-eyed, tries to focus.          His point-of-view shows the kiddush cup large in the foreground,          extended toward him          by the Rabbi beaming above.          His own hand rises into frame to grasp the kiddush cup.          The congregation starts Adon Olam.                                                  129          A DOOR          Creaking open. The cut has snapped off the robust Adon Olam,          leaving sepulchral quiet.          DANNY, clutching his kiddush cup, hesitantly enters the dim study.          Minda's elderly          eastern European gatekeeper closes the door behind him.          Minda is an old man staring at him from behind a bare desktop.          His look, eyes          magnified by thick glasses, is impossible to read.          DANNY creeps to the chair facing the desk. He gingerly sits on          the squeaking leather          upholstery, self-conscious under Minda's stare.          Minda breathes regularly through his mouth. It is the only sound          in the room.          A long beat. The two sit face to face.          Minda smacks his lips a couple of times, preparing to speak.          Another beat.          FINALLY:          MINDA          When the truth is found. To be lies.          He pauses. He clears his throat.          At length:          . And all the hope. Within you dies.          Another beat. DANNY waits. Minda stares.          He smacks his lips again.          . Then what?          DANNY doesn't answer. It is unclear whether the question was          directed at him.          Quiet.                                                  130          Minda clears his throat with a loud and thorough hawking.          The hawking abates. Minda sniffs.          . Grace Slick. Marty Balin. Paul Kanta. Jorma...          somethin. These are the membas of the Airplane.          He nods a couple of times.          . Interesting.          He reaches up and slowly opens his desk drawer. He takes something          out. He lays it on          the bare desk and pushes it partway across.          . Here.          It is DANNY's radio.          . Be a good boy.          LARRY'S OFFICE          LARRY is at his desk sorting through mail.          Arlen Finkle (off          DANNY was magnificent.          LARRY looks up: Arlen is leaning in his accustomed spot in the          office doorway.          LARRY          Oh. Thank you, Arlen.          Arlen Finkle          Mazel tov. It was wonderful.          LARRY          Yes it was. Thank you.          Arlen Finkle          Such a time of nachas, LARRY. He's your youngest. You          have to savor it.                                                  131          LARRY          I do. I will.          Arlen Finkle          See you at the staff caf.          LARRY          Yes.          Arlen shoves off to go, but hesitates.          Arlen Finkle          I just... I shouldn't tell you. I'm not telling you officially.          The tenure candidates aren't notified til Monday.          LARRY          . Yes?          Arlen nods.          Arlen Finkle          You'll be very pleased.          LARRY stares at him.          LARRY          Thank you, Arlen.          Over his back as he goes:          Arlen Finkle          I didn't say anything. Mazel tov.          HEBREW SCHOOL CORRIDOR          Distant thunder at the cut.          We are tracking behind Minda's female Caliban as she walks down          the hall, stooped and          shuffling. She holds a stack of papers in one hand.          LARRY'S OFFICE                                                  132          Mail in front of him.          He opens an envelope from RONALD MESHBESHER, ESQ.          In it are two pieces of paper. Topmost is a letter headed RETAINER          AGREEMENT.          Underneath is an invoice. The amount: $3,000.          Arriving rain begins to patter at the window.          HEBREW SCHOOL CLASS          The TEACHER, Mar King, leads the class in drill.          DANNY has a book tilted towards him on his desktop. It hides          his radio.          The door opens and the elderly woman shuffles to Mar King's desk.          She hands him a          paper from off her stack of copies.          Mar King puts on reading glasses and inspects it. As he reads          thunder crashes, closer.          LARRY'S OFFICE          He fingers the invoice.          Close on a printed detail: PAYABLE: and, typed underneath: Upon          Receipt.          Wind is whipping rain hard against the window.          HEBREW SCHOOL CLASS          Mar King taps on the desktop for attention.          Mar King          Chaverim, there's a tornado warning from the weather          service. Rabbi Minda has decided to move us over to the          basement of the shul.          Hubbub in the classrooom.                                                  133          . Shechet. Shechet. We're gonna form two lines. This is          orderly. Hakol b'seder.          LARRY'S OFFICE          He is staring down at his desktop.          Thunder.          He reaches up and scratches his nose as he stares at his desk.          On the desk: a ledger sheet with a list of students' names. Next          to each name, a grade.          LARRY drums his fingers.          He picks up a pencil.          He goes down to PARK, CLIVE. Next to it is an F.          He waggles the pencil, eraser-end thumping the sheet.          He erases the F. He enters a C.          The pencil leaves frame. We hold for a beat on the new grade.          The hand reenters. It puts a minus sign after the C.          The hand withdraws.          LARRY closes the file. Just as he does so:          The phone jangles, very harsh.          LARRY looks at it, frozen.          He lets it ring a couple times.          He reaches for it. He slowly picks it up.                                                  134          LARRY          . Hello?          VOICE          LARRY?          LARRY          . Yes?          VOICE          Hi, Len Shapiro.          LARRY          Oh. Hello Dr. Shapiro.          Dr. Shapiro          Listen, mazel tov on DANNY.          LARRY          Yes, thank you.          Dr. Shapiro          Listen, could you come in to discuss these X-ray results?          LARRY sits frozen, phone to his ear.          . Hello?          LARRY          Yes?          Dr. Shapiro          LARRY, could you come in and discuss these X-ray results?          Remember the X-rays we took?          LARRY          . We can't discuss them on the phone?          Thunder. Pattering rain.                                                  135          Dr. Shapiro          I think we'd be more comfortable in person. Can you come          in?          A beat.          LARRY          When?          Dr. Shapiro          Now. Now is good. I've cleared some time now.          TALMUD TORAH PARKING LOT          The students mill about. It is overcast dark, and extremely windy.          Someone is fumbling with keys at the shul.          DANNY still has his radio with the earpiece in.          Everyone's clothing flaps.          Ronnie Nudell shouts above the wind:          Ronnie Nudell          That fucking flag is gonna rip right off the flagpole!          CAR          We are looking through a windshield lashed by rain at LARRY,          driving. His hands are          clenched tight on the wheel. Wipers pump to keep up with the          rain. The cars behind          have their lights on. It has gotten quite dark.          Passing streetlights rhythmically sweep LARRY's face, their light          stippled and bent by the          rain on the windows.          TALMUD TORAH PARKING LOT          DANNY is looking across the lot in which orange school busses          are parked. His head bobs          in time to the music. His hair whips in the wind. A building          roar, very deep.                                                  136          We hear, very compressed, the beginning of "Somebody to Love."          DANNY sees a shaggy-haired youth among the milling students.          DANNY          Hey! Fagle!          From behind DANNY, over his shoulder: we see a funnel cloud in          the middle distance.          A growing rumble. The tornado is approaching.          At the first downbeat of its chorus the Jefferson Airplane song          bumps up full.          We cut to black, and credits.                                    THE END
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+                                        Rev. 04/29/87 (Blue)                      ABOVE THE LAW                      Screenplay by           STEVEN PRESSFIELD and RONALD SHUSETT                     and ANDREW DAVIS                            Story by              ANDREW DAVIS and STEVEN SEAGAL                                        FINAL DRAFT                                        March 27, 1987WARNER BROS. INC.                       � 19874000 Warner Boulevard                   WARNER BROS. INC.Burbank, California 91522               All Rights Reserved                          ABOVE THE LAW    FADE IN:1   TITLES SEQUENCE - MONTAGE WITH SCORE    PHOTOGRAPHIC STILLS show us NICOLA TOSCANI as a city boy in    various growing-up SHOTS, circa 1950's -- with street chums    wearing a Wyatt Earp T-shirt, in a communion suit. Then:    in his first qi, a youngster studying the martial arts; he    grows, we see news clippings of him winning trophies, his    name on contest posters, SHOTS of him in action. Then:    Japan. Nico now in his teens, studying with real masters,    being dumped on his butt, posing smiling beside Japanese    martial artists, then himself as an instructor. Now: a    few military uniforms enter the picture, we see security    clearance documents with Nico's picture and name on them.    Then Nico near draft age with an American friend NELSON    FOX on some kind of training base. TITLES END.                                              DISSOLVE TO:2   EXT. JUNGLE - DAY    Blowing through the roof of a dense jungle straight AT    CAMERA, HELICOPTER ROTORS RISE to a DEAFENING PITCH.    SUPER:  Viet - Cambodian Border, 1972. Jungle foliage    whips in the fierce downdraft as --3   "HUEY" GUNSHIP    with US Army markings becomes discernible. The chopper    lowers toward a crude landing zone hacked out of the    wilderness. We GLIMPSE Cambodian troops and several    machine gun positions around the LZ.4   EXT. JUNGLE - TWO ARMED AMERICANS - DAY    watch from the edge of the landing zone. We recognize Nico    and Fox, now in their twenties, dressed in the nonmilitary    jungle attire that usually marks a CIA "spook."5   HELICOPTER    touches down. THREE OLDER AMERICANS -- rough-looking, in    their mid-thirties, all carrying some kind of medical bags    -- disembark into the HOWLING ROTOR BLAST. They hit the    ground nimbly, as if they've done it many times before.6   LEADER OF THREE    wears a khaki cowboy hat and packs a pearl-handled .45.7   NICO AND FOX    don't know whether to react with laughter or uneasiness.                                                             2.                                FOX                  You ever see chemical interrogation                  before?     Nico's eyes stay on the approaching "cowboy," KURT ZAGON,     for whom he plainly feels an instant animosity.                                NICO                  These assholes are agency?8    NICO'S POV     FOLLOWS the medical bag in the cowboy's hand.9    BACK TO FOX AND NICO                                FOX                  We're all C.I.A. But these guys are                  from a page that ain't on the map.10   EXT. JUNGLE - LATE AFTERNOON     Nico in the point,   leading Fox and the three CIT (Chemical     Interrogation Team)   men down an unmarked, twisting trail.     We see from Nico's   gait that he is athletic, a born leader     and totally at home   in the jungle.11   TRAIL - LATE AFTERNOON     snakes along a ridge line, high enough to give us a view and     let us know these guys are way out in the boonies.                                ZAGON                  How long till we're across the border?                                NICO                  We've been over for the past hour.     The group continues along the ridge.                                                   CUT TO:12   EXT. JUNGLE - NIGHT     The sky glows from nearby bomb attacks.13   NICO     listening hard -- and even sniffing the air -- glances back     at Zagon, who stands impatiently, drawing on a cigarette.                                ZAGON                  What are you looking at, hotshot?                                NICO                         (indicates cigarette                          glow)                  Why don't you light a bonfire?                                                         3.     Irritably, Zagon ditches his smoke.                             ZAGON               Just drive the taxi, ace.     As the party moves out, Fox flashes Nico a look as if to say,     "Don't fuck with these guys."14   EXT. CAMBODIAN BASE CAMP - NIGHT     A pocket-fortified position. Armed Cambodian lookouts,     several hooches, radio equipment. Nico leads the party in     through the perimeter. Zagon eyes the layout like he's seen     100 of them. Fox indicates a hooch.                             FOX                      (to Zagon)               They're in there.     The three CIT men start for the hooch. Nico casts a concerned     glance around at the base camp troops, looking sloppy as hell.                             NICO               I don't trust these yo-yo's.15   FULL SHOT - BASE CAMP     We see Nico moving like a shadow from one defensive position     to another, checking the perimeter. We can vaguely hear him     ROUSTING the Cambodian lookouts, speaking in dialect.16   DEFENSIVE POSITION - NICO     hears a SOUND, looks back toward the hooch.17   NICO'S POV - HOOCH     Two Asian prisoners, stripped to the waist, babbling in-     coherently, are dragged out the back by a pair of Cambodian     guards and hustled off into the darkness. VOICES can be     heard inside the hooch. A single lantern glowing inside     gives the hut a creepy, frightening aspect.18   BACK TO NICO     He's extremely uneasy about what's about to happen inside the     hooch.19   INT. HOOCH - CLOSE ON RICKETY CARD TABLE - NIGHT     on which are spread a terrifying array of syringes, drug vials     and surgical instruments. Zagon's hand picks up a hypodermic,     squirt-tests it.                                                          4.20   TWO ASIAN PRISONERS     are on their knees, shirtless, handcuffed with heavy nylon     tape to a stake driven into the ground in the center of the     hooch. One of the subordinate CIT men moves in, grabs the     first prisoner by the shoulders. Zagon injects the first     prisoner. Instantly the man begins shivering, convulsing.     Zagon watches with professional satisfaction.                               ZAGON                 That's the nice thing about modern                 technology. You don't have to wait                 for results.     He moves close to the first prisoner.                               ZAGON                        (to first prisoner)                 Where is it, Charley? You got six tons                 of our shit --     The prisoner tries to speak, but he's in such torment all     that comes out is a blood-curdling wail --21   EXT. BAST CAMP - NICO     hears this horrifying cry.   He starts swiftly toward the     hooch --22   INT. HOOCH - INTERPRETER     has moved as close to Zagon and the first prisoner as a fight     referee to two boxers. The prisoner is convulsing wildly.     Zagon grabs him fiercely by the hair.                               ZAGON                 Don't you die on me, fucker --                               FOX                        (from the side)                 What the hell's wrong?                               ZAGON                        (throws the prisoner                         down)                 This pussy can't hold his liquor.     The first prisoner is plainly in a death spasm.23   NICO     enters at this point. He takes in the scene quickly, moves     to a spot beside the entrance. Zagon doesn't look at Nico,     but it's plain he is aware of Nico's presence. It is as if     he wants to prove something to this muscular kid -- and prove     it to the others, too.     ABOVE THE LAW - Rev. 4/17/87                         5.24   FIRST PRISONER     dies in agony on the ground.25   SECOND PRISONER     watches with eyes like flint. He is in his mid-forties,     scarred, missing several fingers. Probably a colonel or     higher, he looks like he's been fighting these round-eyes     since the French in the 50's. He is plainly one tough     customer. The second prisoner meets Zagon's eyes, as if     daring him to use the drugs on him, too. Zagon eyes the     prisoner with barely contained hatred. The prisoner doesn't     back down an inch.                             ZAGON                      (to second prisoner)               So my little doctor bag doesn't                      *               scare you, eh? Well I don't need                     *               it to open your yap.                                 *     Zagon reaches to a scabbard on his Western belt, pulls out a     fearsome serrated blade -- a cross between a bowie knife and     a scalpel. He steps toward the prisoner, displaying the     blade in the lantern light.26   NICO     watches impassively.                             ZAGON (O.S.)                      (to prisoner)               Where's our load, you sack of slime?               What did you do with my shit? --27   ZAGON     punches  the prisoner full in the face, holding the knife     handle  in his fist to double the force of the blow and to     terrify  him with the proximity of the blade. The prisoner     crashes  sideways, face bloody --                             ZAGON               I'm gonna teach you good. I'm gonna               teach you never to fuck with my               opium --28   FOX AND TWO CIT MEN     seem to know exactly what this is about.29   NICO     didn't know, but the new kid on the block is catching on fast.     Nico has difficulty containing his emotion. Zagon stands     over the prisoner, as if daring him to get back up.                                                    6.The prisoner gets back to his knees, bloody eyes meetingZagon's with defiance --                       ZAGON                (to prisoner)         You're a hard nigger, aren't you, boy?         You took it from the Chinks... you took         it from the French. You'll be fucked         if some Yankee peckerwood's gonna start         your gums flapping --Nico watches Zagon move the knife blade closer to theprisoner.                       ZAGON         -- Well, you're gonna chirp for me,         tough guy. You're gonna sing like a         choir --Nico takes a step toward Zagon.                       NICO         What the fuck does this have to do         with military intelligence?                       ZAGON         Your orders are 'assist and observe'         cherry --Zagon turns to face Nico --                       FOX                (to Nico)         Back off, partner --Zagon turns from Nico. He moves close to the second prisoner,close as a lover, displaying the blade in the lamplight.                       ZAGON                (to second prisoner)         I'm gonna start carving at your ankles.         We'll throw your feet in that box right         over there. Then I'm gonna take off         your arms --One of the CIT men yanks the prisoner's leg forward, clampingit to the ground with his hands. The prisoner still hasn'tflinched. He seems as locked into this dance of death asZagon.                         NICO                  (can't take                   much more)         Fox --                       FOX         Shut up, Nico.                                                         7.                             ZAGON               You can disappear as easy as this               slope, kid --     Zagon starts for the prisoner. Here comes the blade.     Suddenly -- Nico grabs Zagon's shoulder. Zagon spins with     terrifying quickness, cocking the blade to slash at Nico.     Before Zagon's blow even starts, Nico slams him with a     ferocious elbow shot right under the jaw. Zagon literally     comes off the ground, Nico's blow is so terrific. Zagon drops     in an unconscious heap. In a flash the two other CIT men     move to jump Nico. Smash! The second CIT man is swallowing     his teeth. Fox leaps in the way of the third, shoves Nico     out of the hooch --30   EXT. HOOCH - NIGHT     Fox wrestles Nico away from the hooch --                             FOX               Are you crazy?!!                      (as Nico jerks free)               What the fuck's the matter with you?!!!     Nico is shaking with rage and fear. He takes several steps     away from the hooch, then draws up abruptly. Nico pulls his     .45 from his holster, pops the safety, starts back for the     hooch --                            FOX               Nico!                             NICO               I don't cap him now, he's gonna do me               later.     The last CIT man appears, gun drawn, in the hooch doorway.     Fox grabs Nico, hauls him back again --                             FOX               I'll cover this. Get back to the               L.Z. --                      (as Nico resists)               -- I'll fix it! Get out! Get the               fuck outa here!     The CIT man calls out to the Cambodian troops, in dialect,     pointing at Nico. The soldiers start toward Nico, as if to     seize him. Fox, too, starts yelling to the troops in dialect,     apparently countermanding the orders of the CIT men. The     troops, confused, hold up for a moment.                             FOX                      (to Nico)               I'll call for a chopper... get outa               here!     ABOVE THE LAW - Rev. 4/29/87                        8.     Nico gives a last look, turns and takes off down the jungle     trail. Fox seems abandoned. The DISTANT BOMBING CONTINUES.     Nico disappears into the darkness.                                                FADE TO BLACK.     FADE IN ON:31   CHURCH STEEPLE - DAY     TILT DOWN to reveal St. Elizabeth's, a huge parish church in     an Italian/Latino neighborhood in Chicago. The church looks     festive, we see a few formally-dressed people hurrying in,     then a squad car pulls up. The cops run upstairs as if     they're late --32   INT. ST. MARY'S - DAY     A baptism in progress. Nico -- 15 years older than when we     last saw him, is standing beside SARA, his lovely wife        *     -- watching a 60-ish priest, FATHER GENARRO, finish the     final ritual on Nico's infant son Julian. The priest     straightens the baby's baptismal garment, tugging the cloth     around the little fellow's crotch. Smiles from friends and     relatives clustered proudly around. Several cops, some in     uniform are amongst them. Nico grabs his son from Genarro     with a theatrical protective motion, tugs up the little boy's     garment, kisses him smack on the bare butt. Laughter from     all as Nico holds the lad high and proud. He puts his arm     around Sara.                                                  *33   EXT. NICO'S HOUSE - BACK YARD - DAY     Huge trays of Italian delicacies are carried out into the     sunlight by several "old country"-type women. Wine is     poured from generous carafes. Friends and relatives are     everywhere, laughing and enjoying themselves; apparently     the party has come here straight from the church. Presents     for the new baby are being opened by Nico's wife, Sara,        *     and Nico's mother, ROSA.                             SARA                                   *               Mama, look at this -- all done by hand.     Sara lifts a cute baby outfit.                                 *                             ROSA               Nico had one just like this.   Thank               you, Cora.     Cora, an aunt, proudly smiles.34   NICO     Holding the baby. Realizes that his little son has pooped     in his pants. He turns for help to Sara.                       *     ABOVE THE LAW - Rev. 4/29/87                           9.                                NICO                  I think we got a little problem here.                                SARA                                  *                         (winking at the women)                  I carried him for the last nine months,                  you take him for the next diaper.     Assorted uncles and aunts watch with amusement as Nico tries     awkwardly to deal with the problem.                                NICO                         (to all)                  That's what you get for not marrying a                  Sicilian.     Sara lets Nico struggle a moment, then takes over.               *                             SARA                                     *               My brave husband. He's not afraid of               thieves and muggers, but he's terrified               when his son poops in his pants.     Toscani relatives look on with approval at the happy couple     and their baby.35   ANOTHER PART OF BACK YARD     Three Chicago cops, LUKICH and HENDERSON in plain clothes     and LIEUTENANT STROZAH in uniform wolf some Italian goodies     while eying the group of celebrating relatives.                                LUKICH                         (indicates Nico                          across the patio)                  Toscani holds the record... for havin'                  more relatives under federal indictment                  than any other cop in Chicago.36   TWO OF NICO'S UNCLES     BRANCA and LUIGI, who   look like they have been on the other     side of a cop's work,   are in turn eying Lukich and Henderson     -- plus a cluster of   other cops in civvies hovering around     the buffet table like   vultures.                                BRANCA                  Look at these stiff dicks. A free meal                  and they come out like flies.37   STREET OUTSIDE NICO'S HOUSE - DAY     An unmarked police car pulls up. DOLORES JACKSON ("Jax"),     another undercover cop, tall, black, and elegant, enters     the driveway leading to Nico's back yard --     ABOVE THE LAW - Rev. 4/29/87                         10.38   BACK YARD     Jackson enters. She's impeccably dressed and radiates     intelligence. She's greeted warmly by Lukich, Henderson,     Strozah, and a couple of other cops.                               STROZAH                 I didn't do nothing, Counselor.    I'm                 clean.                               JACKSON                 Eight more days, Lieutenant. You                 better start preparing your defense.                               HENDERSON                 Baby, I'm gonna put you on retainer.                               LUKICH                 You passed the bar? I make it a                 point never to pass the bar.     Jackson sees Nico and Sara across the yard, waves and          *     starts toward them --39   BACK TO BRANCA AND LUIGI     Luigi indicates Jackson as she crosses the patio.                                 LUIGI                 Now this cop.    She can bust me any                 day.40   NICK, SARA AND ROSA (NICO'S MOTHER)                            *     Jackson comes up, makes a theatrical appreciation of Nico's     stylish attire, kisses Sara and greets Nico's mom warmly.      *     She starts oohing and ahhing over the baby.41   VARIOUS SHOTS     Young kids playing on the lawn, more guests arriving, Father     Genarro dancing with an elderly matron. We see that Nico's     friends are an electric mix. Cops, art-y types, people of     varied ages and professions.42   BACK TO JACKSON     Holding the baby.                               JACKSON                 Look at this little bundle.    What a                 cupcake!                               NICO                 You give up being the D.A. and hurry                 up and find the right fella, Jax.                 You might have time for one of these                 yourself.     ABOVE THE LAW - Rev. 4/29/87                        10A.                            SARA                                    *              Nico, will you let the woman              catch her breath?43   JAPANESE WOMAN (DR. WATANABE)                                  *     moves in shyly on the fringe of the cluster. While Jackson     and Sara continue their "mom" talk, Nico edges off toward      *     Watanabe, shaking her hand with real pleasure.                 *                             NICO              Watanabe!   Say hey, Doc.     They begin jabbering in Japanese.     We will meet Watanabe again later. She's a brainy-looking      *     woman -- reserved, a bit mysterious -- who talks quietly and   *     intensely in Japanese with Nico like they're old friends who     go back a long way.     ABOVE THE LAW - Rev. 4/17/87                        11.      *44   EXT. TOSCANI FRONT PORCH - LATER     Branca, Luigi and several other Toscani patriarchs smoke     cigars and sip beer in a cluster. Nico holds Julian.                            BRANCA              You're a father now. Are you gonna              take me up on my offer?                            NICO              I'm happy, Branca.    I like what I do.     Branca glances seriously to the other uncles, then, with a     smile, pats Nico's cheek.                            BRANCA              Look at this face! Six-foot-four,              pretty as the statue of David. And              he's a cop!     Branca laughs. From a distance, Watanabe watches, missing     nothing. Across the porch, Lukich and several other cops     observe and try to listen.                            BRANCA              This face should be sticking up from              a white shirt. It should be a banker,              a businessman, someone who earns a              decent living for his family!                             NICO              We're happy.                            LUIGI              Nickels and dimes. Your wife's a              woman with class. What did she run              -- a ballet school...?                            NICO              An art gallery.                            BRANCA              Same thing. She wants a husband who              carries a briefcase, not a shoulder              holster.     Jackson watches Nico trying to keep his good humor. This     is serious stuff, despite the light tone. Branca's eyes     meet Nico's.     ABOVE THE LAW - Rev. 4/29/87                        12.                             BRANCA               You wanted to get shot, you got shot.               You wanted to get knifed, you got               knifed. You've had your fun. Basta!               Enough!                             UNCLE GUISEPPE               Let your family help you, Nico.                             NICO                      (lightly)               Uncle Gio, that kind of help I don't               need. I'd rather get shot by someone               I don't know.     Jackson and Lukich crack up. The others follow.   For the     moment, the tension is dispelled.45   INT. NICO'S HOUSE - UPSTAIRS - DAY     Nico comes out of the bedroom, adjusting his shoulder     holster, tugging his jacket over it. He sees his mother     standing near the head of the stairs, just outside     another bedroom door. Concern on her face.                             NICO               What are you doing in here, Mama?               Go join the party...     Nico comes down the hall, tucking in his shirt -- stops     to give his mother a squeeze. O.S. from the bedroom:     the sound of QUIET SOBBING. Nico glances in.46   INT. NURSERY - DAY                                           *     Sara and another woman sit on the bed, comforting a 60-ish   *     grandmother Zingaro, who is crying. Nico comes in. He     kneels before MRS. ZINGARO, concerned.                             NICO               Mrs. Z.                      (tries to be light)               Is this a way to act on the day of               my son's baptism?     The poor woman can't meet Nico's eyes.                              SARA                                *               It's Lucy.   She's gone again.     Nico glances from Sara to Rosa.                              *     Mrs. Zingaro shakes her head, choked with pain. Nico     holds her, looking over her shoulder toward Sara.            *                             NICO               It's that kid from the bar on Damen?               The one with the drugs?     ABOVE THE LAW - Rev. 4/29/87                          13.     Sara doesn't know. Nico does.     He comforts Mrs. Zingaro   *     another moment, then stands.                             NICO               Listen to me, Mrs. Z. Are you               listening?                      (as the woman nods                       miserably)               I have to go to work now. But               I'll come by tonight. You'll be               at the bakery?                               MRS. ZINGARO               Si, Nico.                             NICO               We'll talk, okay? We'll find a               way to take care of this.     Nico kisses Mrs. Z. He takes Sara's hand in goodbye,         *     starts for the door.47   EXT. NICO'S HOUSE - DAY     Festivities still in progress. Nico passes through,     nodding, thanking people for coming, taking farewells.     Jackson waits for him, glancing at her watch.48   INT. UNMARKED CAR - MOVING     Nico is driving.   Jackson checks in on the radio.                             JACKSON                      (into mike)               Unit Ten Tango X-ray.    We're up               and clear.49   EXT. VARIOUS STREETS - UNMARKED CAR     moves into the central city.50   POV THROUGH CAR WINDOWS - STREETS - MOVING     Bad-looking hombres on stoops, street corners.                             NICO (O.S.)               I promised the Lieutenant, I'm               gonna take care of you. Broken               windows and lost kittens for your               last week.     WIDEN SHOT to include Nico and Jackson.                             JACKSON               And then you're gonna come visit               me in a nice, clean, air conditioned               office --     ABOVE THE LAW - Rev. 4/29/87                          14.51   EXT. STREET - BUCKSHOT'S LIQUORS - DAY                        *     The unmarked car pulls up outside a liquor store and bar.52   INT. UNMARKED CAR     as it parks. Jackson gives Nico a look:     "What are we     stopping at this dive for"?                             NICO               I gotta take a quick leak. Stay               put.     He gets out of the car, starts for the bar.53   INT. BUCKSHOT'S LIQUORS - DAY                                 *     Dim, smoke-choked, dangerous characters at the bar.    Nico     enters.     ABOVE THE LAW - Rev. 4/17/87                            15.     His silk shirt and sport coat clash with the druggy, working-     class attire of the bar's denizens. Hard faces check him out     subtly, ignore him. Nico approaches the bartender, shows a     photograph. The bartender (BAD DUDE) shakes his head.                            BAD DUDE                                 *              Why the fuck don't you assholes                        *              leave me alone?                                        *     He continues mouthing off to Nico. Nico moves to one stool,     *     then another; the same exchange is repeated.54   FAVOR ONE PARTICULARLY TOUGH CUSTOMER                           *     A hulking bruiser with an earring.   He watches as --55   NICO     approaches him. Three ARMY JACKETS look up sullenly.     Beefy arms, tattoos, greasy mustaches.                              NICO              Gentlemen.     One Jacket treats him like he doesn't exist, and begins     to pick his nose.                            FIRST ARMY JACKET                     (to others)              I thought this was a kosher bar.              They didn't allow no pork in here.     The two others snicker, then so does the rest of the bar.     Nico holds out a photo of a young girl (Lucy).                            NICO              You seen this girl?                            SECOND ARMY JACKET              I seen the top of her head.                              NICO              That's witty.ABOVE THE LAW - Rev. 4/17/87                        15A.Nico takes a step away, as if moving on to the nextstool. From behind the bar, the bartender swings a          *sawed-off baseball bat into view. Other bodies move         *ominously toward Nico. Suddenly he spins and, in a move     *almost too quick to see, he kicks the entire stool rightout of its floor socket. Beer bottles fly, bodies crash.Nico slams the First Jacket in the face so hard it lookslike his nose has exploded. Blood sprays onto Nico's silkshirt. He hauls the Second Jacket upright, nails him witha shot that crushes three ribs. A savage elbow blasts thethird, head over heels, out over the bar and careeninginto the sink. In three seconds 600 pounds of fat hasbeen put in cold storage. The rest of the bar is on itsfeet. Four huge men confront Nico. Now five. Six.Seven. Nico's jacket and shirt are ripped, blood spat-tered; his eyes are like an animal's, daring the men --                         NICO          Come on.   Show me something.No one moves.      ABOVE THE LAW - Rev. 4/17/87                           16.      *                               NICO                I get it.   It's a gay bar.   Is                that it?      The men, led by the Bad Dude, are shifting to surround      Nico. But no one attacks. Nico has Lucy's photo in his      hand. He jams it in one man's face, then another's, slap-      ping each one violently, spitting, raging for them to attack.                              NICO                You seen the top of her head, huh?                Like I seen your mother's --                       (to another guy)                Or was it yours?                       (to a third)                Or yours?                       (slaps him fero-                        ciously)                I couldn't tell, it looked like                her ass --      Nico rages like a beast.                             NICO               Come on, motherfuckers.    Do it.               Do it! One man --      Nico lunges for the Bad Dude, grabs him like he's about      to tear his face off --                             BAD DUDE               Upstairs!                      (in terror)               She's upstairs! 4-D!      Nico drags the Dude from behind the bar.     Holding him,      Nico turns, glowering, to all.                             NICO               You cocksuckers are brave enough               with 14-year-old girls.55A   INT. FLOPHOUSE HALLWAY      Nico throws Bad Dude down the hallway in front of him.56    INT. FOURTH-FLOOR APARTMENT - DAY      The door bursts in from a jackhammer kick. Nico stands      in the hallway. Bad Dude stands next to him; hurt,      shaking.                              NICO                       (to Bad Dude)                Get outta here.      We look in the apartment.ABOVE THE LAW - Rev. 4/17/87                         16A.REVERSE - NICO'S POV                                           *A young PIMP -- quite  handsome in a boyish way -- stares upin panic from a grimy  mattress on the floor. Little LUCYis in bra and panties,  strung out, 14 and beautiful.Syringes and free-base  paraphernalia are on a table.NICO IN DOORWAY                                                *                        NICO                 (to Pimp)          This ain't your day, kid.Nico comes in, eyes taking in everything.     ABOVE THE LAW - Rev. 4/17/87                          17.                              PIMP               Wait, man.   It ain't like it               looks --     Nico grabs the Pimp by the scruff of the neck, lifting him     bodily. Lucy starts wailing in horror. Nico smashes the     Pimp's face down into a mirror with white powder on the     table --                             NICO               That's two years.     He jerks the Pimp back, rips open a drawer.    More pills     and glacene bags.                             NICO               That's four.                      (twisting the   Pimp's                       neck toward   Lucy)               She'll get you eight   more. And               I'm just warming up   --     Lucy is crying hysterically. Nico flings the Pimp, face          *     bloody, toward the open door.                                    *                             PIMP                      (to Nico, indicat-                       ing drugs)               Take it, baby. It's all yours --                             NICO               Get your clothes on, Lucy.                             PIMP               There's money. Three grand in the               mattress...                      (begging)               ... I can get ya more --                                                  QUICK CUTAWAY TO:57   EXT. STREET OUTSIDE - JACKSON     Three young STUDS have ambled to the window of her parked     car.                             STUD               Hey, sister, what it be?     With infinite boredom, Jackson lifts her badge -- and     gun. The Studs shuffle away.58   INT. HALLWAY - DAY     Other tenants stare from doorways as Nico drags the Pimp         *     to the top of the flight of stairs, threatening to throw         *     him down.                                                        *ABOVE THE LAW - Rev. 4/17/87                        17A.                       NICO                                *         Don't you fuckin' move.                           *Nico steps back into the apartment, hauls out Lucy in      *a dressing gown.     ABOVE THE LAW - Rev. 4/17/87                        18.59   TOP OF LANDING                                             *     The Pimp is dazed, bloody. Nico comes down with Lucy,     hauls the Pimp to his feet --                             LUCY               Let him alone! He's beautiful!                             NICO               Not when I get through with him.     Nico lifts the Pimp by the throat, pins him to the wall.                             PIMP               No, man, wait! I'll give you               something! Something big!                               LUCY               Please, Nico!    Don't!                             PIMP               It's huge! I swear it! A               shipment... coming in next               Tuesday --                             NICO               Shipment, my ass.                             PIMP               This is square! On my mother's               soul! You can't send me up --     Nico glances to Lucy. Half of him wants to tear the     Pimp apart, the other half doesn't want to make the poor     girl's life any more tragic. Besides, he's a good cop     -- and maybe this "shipment" is on the level.                             PIMP               I heard it from a hooker friend               of mine. She's banging some big               coke lawyer, he told her. I swear               to Jesus!     Nico relents -- a little.                               NICO               What lawyer?                             PIMP               I don't know.                      (sees Nico doesn't                       believe him)               That platinum chola... Carla               DeCarlo... she knows.     Nico tightens his grip on the Pimp's throat.     ABOVE THE LAW - Rev. 4/17/87                          19.   *                             PIMP               She got popped this afternoon.               She's downtown. Red dress, lizard               shoes --60   EXT. STREET OUTSIDE BAR - DAY     Jackson looks up from the car to see Nico -- wild-haired,     shirt ripped and bloody -- emerging from the adjacent     apartment stoop, leading young Lucy, who's tear-streaked,     wearing a torn dressing gown. Instantly, Jackson is out     of the car, moving to Lucy.                             JACKSON               It's okay, girl. Mama Jax is               here.     She wraps an arm around Lucy, helps her toward the car.                             JACKSON                      (to Nico)               That was some leak you took.     From the door of the bar, several bloodied heads peek.                             JACKSON               Broken windows and lost pussy cats,               huh.     Jackson checks out her battered partner.                             JACKSON               You're one crazy bastard, Toscani.     Nico opens the rear door, helps Jackson ease Lucy in.                             NICO               We'll get her some clothes and a               bath. I'm not bringing her home               to her grandmother like this.                                                  DISSOLVE TO:61   OMITTED&6263   EXT. ZINGARO BAKERY - DAY     From the front seat of Nico's car emerges a tearful Lucy,     in fresh clothes and looking miserably contrite. Nico     walks her inside.     ABOVE THE LAW - Rev. 4/17/87                         20.       *     The Zingaro family is busy preparing for the night's baking.     Grandpa and Grandma Zingaro leave their work and receive     their waif-like granddaughter. With eyes watering they     thank Nico. They disappear upstairs with Lucy. Jackson,     standing in the doorway, has seen all this.64   INT. UNMARKED CAR - MOVING - DAY     Nico at the wheel has just pulled away from the bakery.     Jackson, in the passenger seat, studies her partner for a     few moments, shaking her head at the contradictions in this     man. Educated, classy, an elegant dresser -- yet underneath     an out-and-out wild man.                             JACKSON               I don't get you, Toscani.                      (beat)               What the hell are you doing being a               shitheel cop? With your background?     For a long moment Nico says nothing.   Then, quietly, look-     ing straight ahead:                             NICO               When I was overseas, I saw some               things. Things that eat your guts               out. Things that stay in front of               your eyes like they were burned in               and branded.     He turns to Jackson.                             NICO               You can walk away from them, Jax.               You can quit, but you know it's               still going on. You try something               anyway --                      (smiles a moment)               -- I know I'm not going to change               the world. I can't stop the tonnage               coming in, I can't fight the boys               behind the desks pushing their               buttons --     ANGLE INCLUDING MEAN STREETS OUTSIDE                             NICO               But maybe here, huh?                      (indicates street)               Maybe in my own city, my own               neighborhood, on my own block --               maybe here I can do something.     He turns a corner.                             NICO               That's why I'm a shitheel cop.      ABOVE THE LAW - Rev. 4/17/87                         20A.     *64A   INT. POLICE STATION - DAY      Behind the desk, a few detectives man the phones.   A Latin      attorney, ABANDANO, is at the counter.                             COP (O.S.)               You can see your client. As soon               as she's through eating her dinner.65    INT. POLICE LOCKUP - "CAGE" AND HALLWAY - EVENING      Hookers, female addicts, etc. in the downtown "cage."      Nico has the girl in the red dress and lizard shoes      (CARLA DECARLO) out in the hallway adjacent to the lock-      up. Nico is Mr. Charm, offering her a heart-shaped box      of chocolates.                             NICO               Carla... Carla -- I just want the               name of your boyfriend --                             CARLA               I got 200 boyfriends.      The hooker, Carla DeCarlo, slaps the box away, cursing in      Spanish.                                                             21.                             CARLA               Pinchi cabron, cabeza colon!     Some of the chocolates tumble onto the lockup floor, the     detainees snap them up, start munching. The girl con-     tinues to spit curses at Nico, gesturing with her hands     with Latin flamboyance. Nico grabs her by the elbow, as     a jailer opens the lockup door. More curses are being     flung at Nico from various females in the cage. Nico     heaves Carla in among them. Carla flops down on a bench     next to a tall black hooker. MOVE IN ON the black hooker.     It's Nico's partner, Jackson, dolled up like a street-     walker, playing her undercover role to the hilt.                             JACKSON                      (to Nico)               Why can't you sons-a-bitches ever               treat someone with a little               respect?                             NICO                      (walking away)               Take it easy, sister.                             JACKSON               I ain't your goddamn sister.   We               ain't got the same mother,               motherfucka.     Carla fires one final parting salvo of obscenities, then     sags back among the women. Carla starts to cry. Jackson     comforts her; Carla responds, lets herself be comforted.                                                   CUT TO:66   EXT. DOWNTOWN - FINANCIAL DISTRICT - DAY     Jackson, back in her normal daytime wear, exits a     building. She gets into Nico's car.67   INT. CAR - DAY     Jackson checks her makeup in the rearview mirror. Nico     sits behind the wheel. The two are on some kind of     stakeout.                             JACKSON               The lawyer's name is Abandano.               He's on the third floor. I got a               look at him. I couldn't get how               he's connected, but according to               Carla, he's a lousy lay.                             NICO               Maybe we can bust him for that.     Jackson spots something, gestures subtly out window --     ABOVE THE LAW - Rev. 4/17/87                           22.68   EXT. DOWNTOWN BUILDING - DAY     A short, slick-looking Latin man in a business suit emerges     from the building.                             JACKSON               That's our stud.     Nico and Jackson leave their car and follow him on foot.69   EXT. FINANCIAL DISTRICT - BANK - DAY     ABANDANO meets a striking-looking middle-aged woman in front     of a stately financial institution. They go in. Jackson     remains out on the street, while Nico follows the couple in.70   LATER     Jackson has been waiting, sipping some coffee. Nico     emerges from the bank, signaling to his partner to follow     him. Abandano and the woman exit from the bank's revol-     ving doors and immediately jump into a cab. Nico and     Jackson look at each other and step in front of another     cab. Nico opens the cab door, flips his badge open, then     asks the occupant to leave. Jackson gets in the front     seat next to the protesting cabbie.71   EXT. FEDERAL BUILDING - DAY     Abandano and the woman are crossing the plaza as Nico and     Jackson run up the block. Near the entrance to the Federal     *     Building, a small but vocal group of protestors are            *     gathered, carrying signs and chanting slogans. The frus-       *     trated cabbie watches them in the background.72   PLAZA     Jackson and Nico watch Abandano and the woman pass the        *     crowd of demonstrators and enter the building. Jackson acts *     indifferent, almost frustrated; Nico keenly senses something.                                                  CUT TO:73   INT. EXPENSIVE RESTAURANT ("BOGOTA") - DAY                     *     The main dining room. No customers, just busboys readying     tables for the evening's business. We notice one of the        *     busboys is the "pimp" Nico found with Lucy.                    *74   BOOTH NEAR BACK HALLWAY     The owner's table. Stacks of dining checks, a cashbox     and calculator, full ashtrays, wine glasses. BAUTISTA     SALVANO, a heavyset, swarthy Venezuelan dressed in a tux     with the collar open, glowers across the table at a mus-     cular, scar-faced Latin busboy -- the kind who looks like     he does more for his boss than clean up the tables. The     busboy (NARDO) is nervous, apologetic --     ABOVE THE LAW - Rev. 4/17/87                          23.                            SALVANO                     (pissed off)              -- I brought you in for your              muscles, Nardo, not your mouth.                            NARDO                     (scared)              I'm sorry, boss.                            SALVANO              Your English is getting good...              You're showing it off. Showing it              off on the street --                              NARDO              I keep quiet.    I never talk no              more --     Salvano glowers at Nardo like he's about to punch him.     Instead he reaches over, playfully chokes the busboy --     then releases him, as if all is forgiven.                            SALVANO              Make yourself useful.                     (indicates empty                      wine bottle on                      table)              Get downstairs, bring me one of              these.                     (as Nardo stands,                      starts for back                      hallway)              Then get back to work.75   INT. RESTAURANT BASEMENT STOREROOM - LATE AFTERNOON     Nardo enters at the top of the stairs, radiating relief.     He trots down into the empty basement, toward a floor-to-     ceiling wine rack.                            NARDO                     (to himself)              I thought I was dead, man.                     (whistles with                      relief)              I thought I was fucking dead.     He crosses to the wine rack. It's dark, hard to see.     He searches for the bottle. Suddenly: a METALLIC sound     behind him. Nardo turns -- CHI CHI TESTAMENTE, a wiry,     pock-faced Latino, stands in the shadows (it is clear he     has been waiting there, hiding) -- holding a small     silencer automatic.                            CHI CHI              You were right, cabron.                            *     ABOVE THE LAW - Rev. 4/17/87                           24.     One SHOT between the eyes and Nardo CRASHES backward into     the WINE RACK, eyes wide with shock and bewilderment. Chi     Chi SHOOTS him AGAIN; Nardo drops like a stone. Coolly,     professionally, Chi Chi pumps FOUR more SHOTS into the     prone busboy's head. Chi Chi ejects the clip into his     palm, unscrews the silencer, holsters the gun. Salvano     appears at the top of the stairs. Two busboys are behind     him. One of them is the young pimp. The busboys hurry        *     down, the pimp -- scared shitless but playing it macho-cool. *     Salvano comes down the stairs. Chi Chi stands over his work.                             SALVANO                      (to busboys)               Clean up this mess.                            CHI CHI                                  *              Who knows who else is talking --                       *                            SALVANO                                  *              He was a young fool.                                   *76   BACK IN UPSTAIRS DINING ROOM     Salvano and Chi Chi emerge from the basement steps and     walk toward their booth.                            CHI CHI              We're crazy waiting for this              bullshit 'shipment.' Let me waste              the other fucker now.     Salvano puts a hand on Chi Chi's shoulder.                            SALVANO              Be patient. This will be done              the way it was planned.                                                  CUT TO:77   EXT. BODY AND FENDER SHOP - NIGHT     Rusting cyclone fences surround   a mud-lot repair yard in a     dingy industrial section. Young    Lation and black workers     finish up for the night; through   the dirty, security-barred     office window we can see Chi Chi   talking on the phone. The     lawyer, Abandano, is also there.78   EXT. ALLEY - REAR OF SHOP - NIGHT     Nico finishes connecting a small transmitter which has     been hastily wired to the entering phone line.79   INT. UNMARKED CAR - NIGHT     Nico and Jackson in the shadows down the street from the     body shop. Nico wears earphones, a small tape recorder     on the seat beside him. Jackson does not look happy.     ABOVE THE LAW - Rev. 4/17/87                          25.                             JACKSON               Toscani, you're going to have me               doing time.                             NICO               Lighten up, Jax. No one's               bringing this into court.                             JACKSON               Except against us.                             NICO               I don't give a shit how we do it.               I just wanna get there.     Jackson gives Nico a dirty look, but stifles her protest.                             JACKSON               I thought you said you were               gonna protect me. Cover my butt.               Be my guardian angel --     Nico hears something through the earphones.    Gestures for     silence --80   ANGLE THROUGH OFFICE WINDOW     Chi Chi listens with increased intensity to something on the     phone. He starts writing it down --81   BACK TO NICO     In unmarked car.   He's writing it down too.                             NICO               I got the shipment.                                  *                               JACKSON               What?    What's he saying?                             NICO                      (scribbling furiously)               '... Engine block has cleared               customs. Serial number VA-748.               Pick up Tuesday, 3 May as               authorized.'82   EXT. BODY SHOP - NIGHT     Chi Chi emerges from the office, tucking a scrap     of paper into his pocket. Abandano follows. They get     into a late-model Lincoln which pulls out onto the street.     *83   EXT. STREET - NIGHT     Nico and Jackson's car follows at a discreet distance.     ABOVE THE LAW - Rev. 4/17/87                           26.                             NICO (V.O.)               Unit Ten Tango X-ray. I need a               vehicle registration I.D.                             POLICE RADIO (V.O.)               Go ahead, please.                               NICO (V.O.)               '86 Lincoln.    Illinois 354 Dog '67.                *84   INT. UNMARKED CAR - MOVING - NIGHT     Jackson picks up Nico's pad to take down the response.     After a moment:                             POLICE RADIO (V.O.)               Vehicle registration follows.               Leaseholder: Ramon Testamente,               registered alien. Nation of               origin: Venezuela. Do you wish               criminal record search?                              NICO                       (into mike)               I want to know when he wipes his                     *               behind.                                              *85   SERIES OF SHOTS     As Nico and Jackson tail the Lincoln out of the industrial     zone into a fancier, non-Latin neighborhood. On the sidewalks     we glimpse theatergoers, fashionable white couples out on the     town.86   LINCOLN     Pulls up to a valet park outside a ton-y restaurant.    A     sign says: "BOGOTA."                                           *87   INT. UNMARKED CAR - MOVING     Nico and Jackson exchange a glance.                               JACKSON               Salvano?                               NICO               Jackpot.88   EXT. RESTAURANT - NIGHT     Chi Chi and Abandano get out of their car, a valet takes it,     Chi Chi enters the restaurant.89   INT. SALVANO'S RESTAURANT - NIGHT     Nico and Jackson enter the main dining room, which we     recognize from the scene with Nardo the busboy.                                                          27.     The place is packed with fashionable people of all races.     A band plays salsa; couples dance. Nico and Jackson pass     easily as a hip "uptown" couple. A pretty Latin HOSTESS     approaches them.                             HOSTESS               Two for dinner?                             NICO               Two for drinks.     They elbow up to the packed bar, standing.   Nico squints     toward the rear dining room.90   NICO'S POV - DOWN BAR     Looking past numerous patrons, we see Chi Chi whisper     something to a waiter and take a seat at a rear table     (the same "owner's table" where Salvano sat before.)     The waiter hurries off into a back hallway.91   NICO AND JACKSON - AT BAR     Jackson moves to the salsa beat.   A BARMAID approaches.                             JACKSON               Gimme something stiff.   I need it.                              BARMAID               Who doesn't?     Nico's eyes never leave Chi Chi.92   REAR DINING ROOM     From the back hallway Salvano emerges -- in his tux,     looking prosperous. He sits down beside Chi Chi and     Abandano. A waitress brings two drinks. After a few     words, Chi Chi removes the scrap of paper from his pocket,     hands it to Salvano.                             NICO (O.S.)               You'll have your engine block               next Tuesday, boss.93   BACK TO NICO AND JACKSON     As the Barmaid brings their drinks. Jackson sees her     peaceful week to retirement flying out the window.                             JACKSON               Why couldn't it be a week from               Tuesday? I could read about it               in the paper.     Nico grabs her waist, pulls her onto the dance floor, and     does a playful twirl.      ABOVE THE LAW - Rev. 4/17/87                           28.                              NICO                Cheer up, partner.   I'm gonna                make you famous.94    EXT. WHOLESALE MEAT AREA - DAY                               *      Track spurs, greasy streets, parked fork lifts.94A   EXT. ROOF - DAY                                              *      Lieutenant Strozah surveys the street traffic.               *95    NICO, JACKSON AND LUKICH      The two men, dressed as meat processors in hard hats and      bloody white coats, rake cattle guts under the eave of a      packing plant. Jackson, dressed like a USDA Inspector and    *      carrying a clipboard, inspects a few hanging carcasses.                              JACKSON                You missed a few spots, boys.                              LUKICH                I'm takin' it home t'a make                kilbasa, boss.      Luke casts an impatient glance across the street to a lot      with four parked meat trucks. We glimpse two "truckers"      keeping low in the shadows of one cab. Down the block a      seemingly empty pickup truck is parked in an alley.                              LUKICH                This ain't a bust -- it's a                convention.                              NICO                Don't you like company, Luke?                       (sarcastic)                We got all the scouts here --                Drug Enforcement Agency, the                Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms --                              WALKIE-TALKIE (V.O.)                Keep this channel clear, Toscani.      We realize Nico, Jackson and Lukich are wired, with mikes      out of sight under their coats. Nico glances to the pick-      up, near to which three men can be spotted in the alley.      Apparently one of them is the walkie-talkie voice.                              NICO                       (into mike)                This is our channel, dickhead.                And our collar.                              ANOTHER WALKIE-TALKIE (V.O.)                That's enough, all of you! Keep                this channel clear.     ABOVE THE LAW - Rev. 4/17/87   28A.96   ANGLE ON MEAT PLANT - DAY     Nothing happening.     ABOVE THE LAW - Rev. 4/17/87                          29.97   ANOTHER ANGLE     Dead as hell.98   NICO, LUKICH AND JACKSON     Bored, pissed off, tired.   Suddenly:99   BATTERED VAN WITH TWO MEN     emerges from a corner, two blocks down.    It starts slowly     this way.                             1ST WALKIE-TALKIE (V.O.)               All right. Everyone get their               heads outa their ass.     The meat truck men duck down out of sight, the pickup men     back into the shadows. Nico and Lukich keep raking cow     guts. The van passes slowly, checking out the area.                             JACKSON                      (sarcastic)               '... And so I quit the police               department... got myself a steady               job -- '     The van accelerates slightly, turns a corner, vanishes.     Silence.                             LUKICH                                *               They spotted me. I'm too good-               looking to be a meat slopper.                       *                             1ST WALKIE-TALKIE (V.O.)               Will you hot dogs shut up?     The van returns.   On a cross street.   Heading behind the     packing plant.                             NICO                                  *                      (to Lukich)                                  *               You're too ugly.     Now a second car appears. The Lincoln. Behind it is an     ancient station wagon. Both vehicles take a different     cross street, but both heading behind the packing plant.                             NICO                      (into hidden mike)               Here we go, boys and girls --                      (to Jackson)               You stay put.                                       *     As soon as the two vehicles pass out of sight, Nico and     Lukich ditch their rakes, dart into the packing plant.     The meat truck men START their TRUCK.                                                            30.      The pickup men board their vehicle -- Jackson follows Nico      and Luke -- but at a safe distance.100   INT. PACKING PLANT - DAY      Nico and Lukich sprint in a crouch past the blood runoffs,      meat cutting tables --101   NICO'S POV - RUNNING      THROUGH the windows at the rear of the plant, we see the      station wagon and the van, pulling up swiftly beside one      another, men getting out --102   INT. PLANT      Nico and Lukich draw their guns, running full-tilt.                                 NICO                          (into hidden miki)                   It's going down now. Move!103   EXT. REAR OF PACKING PLANT - DAY      The station wagon men heave their rear door open, the      van men start to open their side door. The Lincoln is      stopped at a distance. Suddenly --104   NICO AND LUKICH      burst from the rear door of the packing plant, guns drawn.                                 LUKICH                   Police!105   QUICK CUTS - VAN AND STATION WAGON MEN      grab for their weapons --106   COPS IN MEAT TRUCK AND PICKUP      come highballing around both sides of the packing plant --107   VAN AND STATION WAGON MEN      OPEN FIRE. There is confusion and mayhem; it's not clear      who's a cop and who's a criminal.108   NICO AND LUKICH      dive for cover, RETURNING FIRE. The DEA men in one truck      also OPEN UP. One of the van men is hit between the eyes.      MACHINE GUN FIRE rakes the DEA truck; it spins out of      control; flips. Lukich SHOOTS the machine-gunner.                                  LUKICH                           (shouts; points)                   Nico!   The Lincoln!                                                             31.109   LINCOLN      starts to PEEL OUT. We glimpse Chi Chi in the driver's      seat, Salvano on the passenger side.110   NICO      steps in front of the accelerating Lincoln, raises his .45.111   INT. LINCOLN - DAY      Salvano and Chi Chi dive below the dash and continue      forward. Salvano, in the passenger seat, raises his GUN;      FIRES blindly -- trying to hit Nico.112   EXT. LINCOLN - DAY      Nico UNLOADS his .45 into the windshield and the firewall.      The Lincoln keeps coming down the narrow alley.113   NICO      brazenly steps up onto the hood and dives, grabbing onto      the roof.114   INT. LINCOLN - DAY      Salvano can't believe it. He screams something in      Spanish. He FIRES again, this time through the roof.115   EXT. LINCOLN - ROOF - DAY      Bullet holes appear.    Nico narrowly misses being hit.116   ANOTHER ANGLE - LINCOLN      Nico reaches over the side of the car and SMASHES the pas-      senger WINDOW with his fist.117   CLOSEUP - NICO'S HAND      Salvano's face is bashed.     Nico's huge hand grabs Salvano's      throat; he won't let go.118   CLOSEUP - NICO      He hangs on with one hand.119   CLOSEUP - SALVANO      Nico's fingers now    dig into Salvano's larynx; he may never      talk again. He's     gagging. Salvano now points the gun at      Chi Chi. Chi Chi     makes the decision to stop the car in      order to save his    boss.      ABOVE THE LAW - Rev. 4/17/87                            32.120   NICO      leaps off the roof pulling Salvano past the broken glass,      out of the window.121   SEVERAL POLICE VEHICLES                                        *      SCREECH into the lot. Officers pour out, guns drawn,      surrounding the Lincoln and the other vehicles. Jackson      joins them, weapon in hand.122   NICO      drags Salvano by the neck across the lot to the van,      slamming the drug dealer up against the van's side.      Lukich, Jackson and Strozah are there, with the DEA cops,      *      all covering the other men.                               NICO                        (to Salvano)                 How many kilos you got in there,                 Skivuzo?      Salvano couldn't answer if he wanted to. The other cops      look at Nico with awe. Lukich whips the van door open,      yanks a tarp off the cargo.123   INT. VAN      The engine block sits in a wooden shipping frame, wrapped      with industrial plastic. Nico climbs into the van, rips      the plastic sheeting off, grabs the wood slats of the      shipping frame, tears them off. In the background,      ambulances are arriving to care for the wounded cops      and criminals.124   CLOSEUP - ENGINE BLOCK      From the cylinder heads emerges a full load, not of drugs,      but of plastique tubes labeled U.S. ARMY C-4 HIGH EXPLOSIVE.125   LUKICH, JACKSON AND OTHER COPS      react with surprise and shock.126   NICO      rips open one of tubes and smells it.127   CLOSE - NICO      Confused; frustrated.                               NICO                 What kinda fuckin' high is this?                                                    CUT TO:      ABOVE THE LAW - Rev. 4/29/87                         33.128   INT. FBI OFFICE - NIGHT      OPENING ON SALVANO, in a chair, looking bruised and swollen,      and wearing an expression of fuming indignation.                              SALVANO                -- I'll tell you what this cop is.                He's a fucking menace!129   TWO FBI AGENTS (NEELEY AND HALLORAN)                           *      face Salvano, Chi Chi and the lawyer Abandano (apparently      representing Salvano and Chi Chi). Neeley is on the phone.     *      Pictures of Reagan and Meese are prominent on the wall.                              SALVANO                You see what he did to me?!                              AGENT HALLORAN                Your problem is being handled right                now, Mr. Salv --                              SALVANO                Yeah? Well, it shoulda been                handled twelve hours ago. I don't                know who's running this outfit, but                somebody better get his goddamn wires                straight!                              AGENT NEELEY                           *                       (into phone)                -- yes, sir... yes, sir, I understand --                              SALVANO                That maniac should be wearing a                number, not a badge.      Salvano knows what the call is about. He straightens the      tie beneath his bruised neck, assuming the attitude of a      respectable citizen who has been unjustly wronged.                              AGENT NEELEY                           *                       (into phone)                -- count on it, sir. Right.                You'll have our full cooperation.      Neeley hangs up. Glances dubiously to Halloran. Then turns     *      grimly to Salvano, Chi Chi and the lawyer Abandano.                              AGENT NEELEY                           *                You're free to go.130   OMITTED131   INT. FEDERAL BUILDING - LOBBY - NIGHT                          *      The hoods and their lawyer smugly walk past a cleaning      woman.      ABOVE THE LAW - Rev. 4/29/87                         33A.132   INT. PRECINCT CAPTAIN'S OFFICE - MORNING      OPENING ON Agent Neeley's face. Composed, clean-cut, but      *      intense, wearing a light-colored business suit. PAN TO      Agent Halloran -- the same upright, clean-shaven bureau look.      The two men are seated to one side of LIEUTENANT FRED STROZAH.133   NICO, JACKSON, LUKICH AND DEA AND ATF MEN      sit and stand in various postures in front of the Lieutenant's      desk.                              LIEUTENANT STROZAH                       (to Nico, DEA & AIF)                -- This is no reflection on the                work you officers have done. I                feel, and the whole department                feels, extremely proud of your                initiative and gallantry.      That "spare me the horseshit" look on Nico's face. He's      fuming. Strozah sees Nico's bitter expression. It's on      the others' faces too.                                LIEUTENANT STROZAH                As all of you   are well aware,                possession of   these explosives                is a federal   offense and under                jurisdiction   of the F.B.I.      Nico's eyes meet Lieutenant Strozah's. There's respect      between the two, but it's plainly under a helluva strain.                              NICO                Sir. With all respect to our                brothers in the Bureau --                       (biting sarcasm;                        turns to Neeley)                            *                -- That's no answer. It's no                answer to why one of the biggest                dealers in the city is out on the                street now, free as a bird!      Agent Neeley stiffens.                                        *                              LIEUTENANT STROZAH                Keep it in your pants, Nico.                These men have a job to do, just                like us.      Nico stifles his outrage. The other cops exchange glances      -- upset and angry. Agent Neeley clears his throat.          *                              AGENT NEELEY                          *                Lieutenant, I think these officers                are entitled to a fuller                explanation.                              (MORE)      ABOVE THE LAW - Rev. 4/29/87                           34.                              AGENT NEELEY (CONT'D)                They've risked their lives. I                understand one man is in the                hospital.      He speaks to the officers.                              AGENT NEELEY                            *                What I'm about to say doesn't                leave this room. Is that clear?      Assent from everyone.                              AGENT NEELEY                            *                Mr. Salvano has been working for                some time in cooperation with                certain federal agencies.134   CLOSE - NICO'S FACE      Stunned and furious at this royal fuck-up.                              AGENT NEELEY (O.S.)                     *                I'm not at liberty to divulge                the nature of Mr. Salvano's                involvement -- I just learned of                its existence myself a few hours                ago. But one thing I can tell you --135   BACK TO AGENT NEELEY                                            *                              AGENT NEELEY                            *                Mr. Salvano's role is crucial to                an extremely sensitive ongoing                investigation. Any further                surveillance, harassment, or                unauthorized operations against                this individual are forbidden.                I must order you gentlemen --                       (looking straight at                        Nico)                -- with all respect for your work                and your courage, to stand down.      Lukich shakes his head; Nico is devastated.     Jackson takes      it all in.                                                   CUT TO:136   INT. POLICE SQUAD ROOM - MORNING      OPENING CLOSE ON a desk drawer being opened. Aside from      rounds of ammo, notes and an aging eggplant parmigiana      sandwich, there are half a dozen hand-labeled audio-      cassettes and a small collection of miniaturized bugging      devices. Jackson and Lukich watch Nico take out the      notes, hand them to Lieutenant Strozah.ABOVE THE LAW - Rev. 4/29/87                         35.                       LIEUTENANT STROZAH         The tapes too.                       NICO                (mocking)         That's my Lawrence Welk         collection!                       LIEUTENANT STROZAH         I want everything you got on this         one.Reluctantly, Nico hands over the tapes.   The Lieutenant eyesthe bugs and wires.                       LIEUTENANT STROZAH         I know you don't give a shit         about yourself, Toscani.                (a glance to Jax)         But you're gonna put Jackson's         ass in a sling, too, with these         illegal wires.       ABOVE THE LAW - Rev. 4/17/87                         35A.    *136A   OTHER SIDE OF SQUAD ROOM       Agent Halloran edges up to Jackson, who's grabbing coffee       on the far side of the squad room, and watching from there       as Nico gives Strozah more of a hard time.                              AGENT HALLORAN                What's the story on your partner,                Jackson? Did he learn this style                or was he born with a brick up his                ass?       Jackson checks Halloran out. He's black too and, despite       herself, there's a certain rapport.                              JACKSON                He has ethics. Unlike certain                others on this case.       Halloran watches the illegal bugs and tapes come out of       Nico's drawer.                              AGENT HALLORAN                His 'ethics' are gonna cost him                his badge and his gun.       This "white" talk gives Jackson a pain.   She slips into       her jive mode.                              JACKSON                You don't wanna catch him without                no gun.       Halloran's look asks why not?                              JACKSON                'Cause what he do with his hands...                make bullet holes look pretty.       Across the room, Nico turns over the tapes.                              AGENT HALLORAN                He bad?                              JACKSON                Bad bad.      ABOVE THE LAW - Rev. 4/29/87                          36.137   INT. PRECINCT HOUSE - STAIRWAY - DAY      Nico and Jackson come down the stairs. Jackson has had      ample excitement for her last week on the force.                              JACKSON                Is that enough? Can we do                something normal now -- like                eat lunch?                              NICO                Anything you say, Jax.   How                about Salvano's?                              JACKSON                Let it be, Nico.138   EXT. PRECINCT HOUSE - DAY      Nico and Jackson's car pulls out into traffic.139   INT. UNMARKED CAR - PARKED (ALLEY BEHIND SALVANO'S)      Jackson and Nico are eating some fast good.   Nico reaches      to his jacket pocket; takes out a cassette.                              JACKSON                What... you kept his tape, too?      Nico already has it in the PLAYER. We hear FRAGMENTS      of the telephone tap from the body shop in Spanish and      English. Jackson looks frustrated. Nico listens care-      fully to what appears to be the taped PHONE CONVERSATION.                              NICO                Poetry, ain't it?140   EXT. REAR SALVANO'S RESTAURANT - DAY (POV FROM CAR)      The pimp (busboy) comes out and dumps a load of garbage.141   INT. UNMARKED CAR - DAY      Nico and Jackson case the restaurant from down the alley.142   EXT. REAR SALVANO'S - NICO'S POV - DAY      From the restaurant door, Salvano and Chi Chi emerge.      They get into a black Cadillac and pull out.                 *                              NICO (O.S.)                And now for some dessert.143   SERIES OF SHOTS      As Nico's car tails Salvano's through various streets.       ABOVE THE LAW - Rev. 4/29/87                          37.144    EXT. OAK STREET       Salvano comes out of a fancy flower shop with a bimbo on       his arm. He kisses her goodbye and puts her in a cab.                               NICO (O.S.)                 And that must be Mrs. Sal. So nice                 to see married couples still in love.144A   NICO AND JACKSON       are hidden, waiting.144B   CHI CHI       emerges from a dry cleaner's with a suit on a hanger.         *145    EXT. ST. ELIZABETH'S PARISH CHURCH - DAY       Salvano's Caddy   pulls up outside the same church where we   *       saw Nico's son   get baptized. Salvano and Chi Chi get out,       look both ways   up and down the street. Salvano, holding     *       flowers, makes   eye contact with a car down the block.       *146    EXT. STREET UP BLOCK FROM CHURCH - DAY       Nico's car backs out of sight around the corner.147    SIDEWALK IN FRONT OF CHURCH       Salvano and Chi Chi, seeing nothing, enter the church.148    INT. CHURCH - DAY       A smattering of older women and men praying. Salvano and       Chi Chi stop at the head of the aisle, genuflect to the       altar, move in, take seats toward the front.149    BACK OF CHURCH       Nico and Jackson slip in the front door, glide silently       into the shadows at the rear of the church.                               JACKSON                 This is your mother's church,                 isn't it?                               NICO                 Yeah. But I bet she's never seen                 these boys in the choir.150    NICO'S POV       Salvano's head is bowed, but Chi Chi is looking around       quite carefully. Nico and Jackson fade into the shadows       behind the huge pillars.      ABOVE THE LAW - Rev. 4/29/87                        37A.151   SALVANO AND CHI CHI      After a few moments, the pair rises. They cross them-      selves, start out for the front door. As they walk, they      continue to look for something.152   INT. CHURCH - DAY                                           *      Nico and Jackson emerge into a courtyard which reveals a      day care center and a rectory. They head toward the front      of the building. Jackson, planning on picking up their      tail on Salvano, is stoped by Nico. He wants to stay and      look around.                                                          38.                             FATHER GENARRO (O.S.)               Nicola! That can't be you in               church without the family!      Nico turns to see Father Genarro, perspiring in a baggy      sweatshirt, a handball glove on his hand. The courtyard      alongside the church is marked off as an athletic area.                             NICO               Father Genarro.      The priest seizes Nico's hand warmly, smiles at Jackson.                             FATHER GENARRO               This must be your partner in               crime.                      (shakes her hand)               I'm Father Genarro. I saw you at               the baptismal party.                      (with a wink to Nico)               What a partner.                             JACKSON               Dolores Jackson                      (smiling, but                       impatient)               Nico, we gotta go --                             FATHER GENARRO               No, please --                      (more serious now)               It's good you stopped by. I have               to show you something. Please.      The priest begins leading Nico and Jackson. Jackson keeps      glancing back out the alley to see Salvano's car slowly      driving by.153   INT. CHURCH BASEMENT - DAY      This is an old building. The dark corridors resemble an      underground bunker. Old trophies and furniture are stored      along the walls. The two cops and the priest walk.      Another priest emerges from a door, nods, passes. Nico      and Jackson glance in through the door as they walk.      They reach a door with a broken handle. It looks like a      break-in has taken place.                             FATHER GENARRO               The rats are getting bigger.                             NICO               When did this happen?                             FATHER GENARRO               Two nights ago. I didn't call               the police.      ABOVE THE LAW - Rev. 4/17/87                        39.         *      Father Genarro knocks on the door, pauses, then knocks      again. The door opens. A twelve-year-old who looks like      he's from Central America stands in the doorway.                              FATHER GENARRO                       (in Spanish)                It's all right, son. These are                friends.      The boy steps back and we MOVE INTO --154   INT. CHURCH SANCTUARY - DAY      A largish room, no exposed windows, everything boarded up.      Newly-constructed makeshift toilet and shower in one corner,      various cots. A number of LATIN REFUGEES -- families mostly      -- react shyly as Father Genarro introduces Nico and Jackson.      Sister Bonifacia is there, and a youthful priest, FATHER      TOMASSINO. We will see both of them again.                              FATHER GENARRO                       (referring to the cops)                These are friends.                       (to Nico)                This is Father Tomassino.                             FATHER TOMASSINO               How do you do?      Nico shakes the young priest's hand. There is a moment      between them as Nico meets Tomassino's eyes, liking what      he sees. The refugees are relieved, however, when Father      Genarro, Nico and Jackson take their leave.155   NICO, JACKSON AND FATHER GENARRO      continue down the hall.                             JACKSON               I didn't know this church was a               sanctuary, Father.                            FATHER GENARRO               Yes. But, perhaps not such a               safe one.                             NICO               How long have they been here?                             FATHER GENARRO               Too long. At least the kids can               go to our school.                             NICO               Who did it, Father?ABOVE THE LAW - Rev. 4/17/87                 39A.                       FATHER GENARRO         Kids, maybe.                (significantly)         Maybe worse. It's not the first         time.                       JACKSON         We can have a car check by, every         hour.                         FATHER GENARRO         No... please.    Police frighten         these people.      ABOVE THE LAW - Rev. 4/29/87                          40.156   INT. CHURCH - MAIN AISLE - DAY                              *      The three are outside, taking their leave. A big smile      and a hand on Father Genarro's shoulder. The priest is      greatly relieved.                             NICO               Really, I don't mind coming by.                             FATHER GENARRO               Tell me, Nico... When was your               last confession?                             NICO               I'm a married man, Father.   I've               got no sins to confess.                             FATHER GENARRO               You're a police officer, you have               many sins to confess.                             JACKSON               Amen.      Nico and Jackson start off.                              FATHER GENARRO                       (calls after Nico)               You come back Sunday. I feel               better when I see Nicola in               church.                       (calls louder)               You don't show, I'm phoning your               mother!                                                   DISSOLVE TO:157   SAME CHURCH - POV FROM WINDOW - EARLY MORNING (SUNDAY)      HIGH ANGLE FROM ACROSS the street: neighborhood people      dressed in their Sunday best fill the sidewalk, filing in      for Mass. We hear an ORGAN from inside the church.158   VARIOUS ANGLES - CONGREGATION      An Italian neighborhood becoming more Hispanic. As the      churchgoers file in, we see families -- women, kids,      babies.159   NICO, SARA, ROSA AND JULIAN                                 *      are among the crowd, exchanging pleasantries with friends      and neighbors -- in English, Italian and Spanish.160   INT. CHURCH - SIDE AISLE      Sara, holding Julian, slips into a pew. As Nico and Rosa    *      follow, Father Genarro passes, heading for the front.      ABOVE THE LAW - Rev. 4/29/87                             41.                               ROSA                 Father Genarro! I have you to thank                 for getting my son back into church!                               FATHER GENARRO                 It's amazing what shame can                 accomplish.      Father Genarro smiles and continues on toward the pulpit.                                          QUICK DISSOLVE TO:161   VARIOUS SHOTS      A)   THE CHOIR           building to the finish of a hymn.      B)   NICO'S WIFE (SARA)                                        *           also singing, balancing baby Julian and a hymnbook.      C)   NICO AND HIS MOTHER ROSA           sing with full gusto.      D)   THE CHOIR MASTER           makes the sign to be seated.      E)   CONGREGATION           sits. We notice a   young, intellectual-looking man           (Alan Singletary)  wearing wire-rim glasses, sitting in           the front row. We   will see his face again later. He           looks out of place  and glances around, surprised as...      F)   FATHER GENARRO           moves into the pulpit, opens his Bible.                               FATHER GENARRO                 In nomine patris, filius et                 spiritu sancti... (etc)162   SARA AND JULIAN                                                *      The little one starts to CRY; she comforts him. Nico      reaches over to try to help. The BABY continues FUSSING.      Nico looks toward the priest and the front of the church.      He notices a woman in a black shawl rise from the front      of the church and turn, heading down one of the side      aisles.                               SARA                                  *                        (examines Julian's                         diaper)                 Way to go, Julian -- perfect timing.      ABOVE THE LAW - Rev. 4/29/87                           42.      She cynically smiles at Nico. Nico sees the woman in      black pass toward the exit of the church.163   CLOSEUP - WOMAN      It is the same woman Nico and Jackson were following with      Abandano, the lawyer!164   CLOSEUP - LARGE SHOPPING BAG      The woman has left it in front of the votive candles      directly before the priest's pulpit.165   CLOSEUP - NICO      His head spins from the shopping bag to the doorway --166   NICO'S POV - DOORWAY      The woman is hastily sneaking out.167   BACK TO NICO      Instantly he pushes his family to the floor, covering      them with his body.168   CLOSEUP - NICO - SECOND LATER      BOOM!!!    A POWERFUL EXPLOSION erupts between the priest      and his   congregation. Fragments of plaster, wood, and      marble   come blasting past Nico and his family! Churchgoers      in the   first rows are blown off their feet by the shock      wave of   the blast. Pews overturn, smoke everywhere --169   CHOIR      is shrieking hysterically. Stone and plaster dust rain      down on them from the ceiling.170   CONGREGATION      is in total pandemonium.   Screams, cries, panic --171   PULPIT      has been blown to oblivion. Where Father Genarro had      been standing is now nothing but smoke and rubble.172   NICO      Prone, covering Sara and the baby, groping frantically         *      to protect his mother as well.                               SARA                                  *                        (clutching baby)                 We're okay! We're okay!      Nico checks them and his mother swiftly.      ABOVE THE LAW - Rev. 4/29/87                           43.                              ROSA                       (in Italian)                Help the others! Help them, Nico!                                                 CUT TO:173   STATUE OF JESUS      Splattered with real blood.                                                 CUT BACK TO:174   ANGLE ON CONGREGATION      Everyone is down, reeling from the concussion, dust and      smoke. Nico rises alone from this scene.                              NICO                       (forcefully)                Help each other move outside.   Be                calm.175   EXT. SIDE OF CHURCH - MORNING      From a doorway and a shattered window smoke pours forth.      We hear SCREAMS from inside.176   INT. CHURCH      Nico on his feet, plainly the leader in this moment of      terror. Worshippers, shattered and bleeding, pour past      him toward the door. Nico grabs a stout-looking church-      goer.                              NICO                Call 911. Tell 'em to send                everything they got!                       (turns to his wife)                Sara, get the baby and Mama                        *                outside.      Nico starts for the altar where the damage is worst.177   EXT. FRONT OF CHURCH - MORNING      The congregation streams out in terror-stricken disarray.      We see Nico's family -- they're all right.178   NICO      appears from the church, carrying a young choir girl. He      hands the child over to two older women, races back into      the church.179   LONG SHOT - STREET OUTSIDE CHURCH      The first paramedic van comes speeding around the corner,      SIREN BLARING. Police cars appear right behind --      ABOVE THE LAW - Rev. 4/29/87                            44.180   INT. CHURCH      Nico appears through the backlit smoke and kneels over      the bloodied body of Father Genarro. He desperately tries      to maintain the priest's life.                                                    CUT TO:181   INT. HOSPITAL/ICU WARD - AFTERNOON      The aftermath of the blast. Doctors and nurses have the      scene more of less under control, but there's still plenty      of pain and misery.182   INT. HOSPITAL ROOM - AFTERNOON      Nico stands, his back to the wall -- a scary, blank look      on his face. A doctor and several nurses are pulling the      plugs on the terribly mutilated body of Father Genarro.      A nun is crying; a fellow priest is blessing the Father.183   JACKSON      arrives.   Nico talks to her, aside.                               NICO                 I want a list of everyone that's                 been treated here today. Everyone.                                JACKSON                 Right.                               NICO                 Then find those sanctuary people,                 the ones we saw in the church                 basement --      As Jackson makes notes.                               NICO                 Find out where they're from, why                 anyone would want to harm them.      Jackson flips her notepad shut, ready to go.                               JACKSON                 Where are you gonna be?                               NICO                 Just stay near a radio.   I'll find                 you.184   INT. HOSPITAL CORRIDOR - NICO'S MOTHER (ROSA) - AFTERNOON      Sits on a bench with a bandage over one eye. Sara             *      and Julian are sleeping beside her. Nico kneels beside      his mother, deeply concerned. Nico takes his mother's      arm, helps her to her feet.      ABOVE THE LAW - Rev. 4/29/87                        45.      Sara wakes and picks up Julian. Mama knows Father Genarro     *      has died. She begins sobbing softly. Other members of      the congregation are in the hallway, mourning. Nico, with      his family, takes several steps toward the exit. Suddenly,      Nico stops. He sees Agent Neeley entering (the FBI man who    *      ordered him off the case) accompanied by Lieutenant Strozah   *      and two uniformed officers.                              NICO                Sara... go down to the car; I'll                    *                be with you in a minute.      He hails Neeley.                                              *                              NICO                I need to talk to you.                       (a glance to Strozah                        and others)                ... Alone.      Neeley nods. Nico leads him off the corridor, through a       *      fire exit door --185   STAIRWELL LANDING      The door closes behind them. Nico and the FBI man are      alone on the stairway landing.                              AGENT NEELEY                          *                       (impatient)                What the hell is it, Toscani?      Without warning, Nico grabs Neeley by both lapels, slams      *      him furiously into the wall!                               NICO                You.   That's what the hell it is!                              AGENT NEELEY                          *                Get your goddam hands off me!      Neeley tries to shake free; Nico won't let him.               *                              NICO                You let Salvano walk.                              AGENT NEELEY                          *                Salvano?! Are you crazy?                       (rips himself free)                What does he have to do with this?                              NICO                That was no cherry bomb in there.                That was C-fucking-4!                       (struggles to master                        his rage)                I've used that shit.                              (MORE)ABOVE THE LAW - Rev. 4/29/87                        46.                       NICO (CONT'D)         I know what it smells like, I know         what it blows like --Neeley glares at Nico.                                    *                       AGENT NEELEY                       *         Salvano never came near that C-4.         It's in federal holding now!         Besides, why would he blow up a         church?                       NICO         I tailed Salvano. Two days ago.         Him and one of his apes were in         that church -- and they weren't         taking communion. I saw some broad         saw who was with his lawyer plant         the bomb. Now I want some goddamn         answers.                       AGENT NEELEY                       *         You tailed him? After I ordered         you off?                         NICO         Where is he?    Where's Salvano?                       AGENT NEELEY                       *         My orders were release him.    Not         babysit him.Neeley brushes Nico's fingermarks off his lapels.         *                       AGENT NEELEY                       *         You think you're rough stuff,         Toscani -- martial arts hero, chop         suey crap. Well I'll tell you         something: you're not bullet-         proof. You're not even a good         cop.                (composes himself;                 reclaims his dignity)         You sneak around, playing your         street dick games. But all you         come up with is conjecture, wild         coincidence and bullshit.                       NICO         I want the agent who signed for         the explosives.                       AGENT NEELEY                       *         I'll do my job. You do yours.                       NICO         Bank on it, pal.      ABOVE THE LAW - Rev. 4/17/87                           47.      Nico stalks off.   The door slams.                                                  CUT TO:186   MONTAGE WITH SCORE      A)   EXT. "BOGOTA" (SALVANO'S RESTAURANT) - LATE AFTERNOON      *           Nico's unmarked car whips in front.   Nico storms toward           the front door of the restaurant.      B)   INT. RESTAURANT - LATE AFTERNOON                           *           Nico storms through toward the restaurant rear. The           employees are getting ready for the evening crowd. He           flashes his badge, checks the kitchen, Salvano's           office.   The man is gone.      C)   INT. MORGUE - LATE AFTERNOON           Jackson has her list from the hospital.    A coroner and           his assitant show her a body on a slab.    The body is           that of Alan Singletary, the man we saw   in the front     *           row of the church. Jackson takes notes.     The dead man   *           is definitely not the ethnic type you'd   expect in St.           Mary's congregation.      D)   EXT. BODY AND FENDER SHOP - LATE AFTERNOON           The same place where Nico and Jackson wire-tapped Chi           Chi. Nico interrogates the shop boss, several workers.           All shake their head, gesture emphatically. Salvano           not here.      E)   CUT BACK TO MORGUE - JACKSON           takes Polaroids of the dead man's I.D. and personal           effects.187   CLOSEUP OF DEAD MAN'S EFFECTS      as Jackson's flash pops. We see clearly a U.S. Senate      staff ID, a U.S. Senate office building parking pass and      an Illinois driver's license with address.188   EXT. AFFLUENT BROWNSTONE - LATE AFTERNOON      Nico comes storming out. A Maid and a bodyguard follow      after him screaming. The door slams. We see it is      missing a panel.                              MAID                You gonna be in real trouble,                mister, when El Senor Salvano                find out about dis.      ABOVE THE LAW - Rev. 4/29/87                            48.189   EXT. ST. ELIZABETH'S CHURCH - LATE AFTERNOON      Jackson at the blast scene. Police tapes rope the area      off while a TV news crew photographs the damage. Jackson       *      talks with neighborhood people, asking questions.190   EXT. BICEK'S BAR - LATE AFTERNOON      Nico in the alley, grilling several tough guys we saw be-      fore when he raided this bar. The answers are all zero;      Nico's disgusted, worn out, frustrated. He starts out      the alley -- At the edge of the street, a battered van pulls      in. A jacketed LATINO MAN leans against it, an unlit ciga-      rette in his mouth. As Nico approaches, turning toward      his car --                                 FIRST LATINO                          (polite, casual)                   'Cuse me, sir. Can I bum a light?      Nico slows, eyeing the   guy dubiously. As he reaches to      his jacket -- The side   door of the van flashes open. A      .38 is leveled straight   at Nico's head. Instantly three      other Latino hoods leap   to the sidewalk.                                 FIRST LATINO                          (machete under jacket)                   Don't even think about it,                   motherfucker.      Machete Man (First Latino) snatches Nico's gun from its      shoulder holster. Two hoods shove Nico back into the      alley. Nico checks out his assailants quickly. Four of      them. Machete, CROWBAR, BALL BAT, GUN.                                 MACHETE MAN (FIRST LATINO)                   You come to our streets... fuck                   with our people. Now our people                   gonna fuck with you.      The five advance on Nico.                                 PIPE MAN                   We ain't gonna shoot you, man.                   We gonna beat you to death. You                   gonna learn what it means to 'get                   down.'191   QUICK CUTS      A)   Nico is  trapped. The hoods advancing. Nico has a           moment  of stillness, as if all senses are clicking           out of  normal gear and into some hyper-combat readi-           ness.   Then:                                                           49.      B)   Gun and Machete Man are side by side. As Machete Man           starts to move, Nico spins in beside him, seizes his           wrist, twists it violently, wrenching the machete away,           keeping Machete Man between him and Gun Man so Gun           Man can't shoot. In a flash, Nico swings the machete,           slicing over the top of Machete Man, half-severing           the wrist of Gun Man. Gun Man falls, clutching his           wrist in agony; the gun skitters away beneath a chain           link fence, out of reach. Nico flips Machete Man           (who has Nico's gun in his pocket) sending him crash-           ing, half-unconscious.      C)   Instantly, Pipe Man aims a home run shot at Nico's           head. Nico uses the machete, matches the angle of           the oncoming blow, slides under and, in the same arc,           blocks the blow and turns it into a strike, slashing           Pipe Man's tendons behind the knee. Pipe Man goes           down on one knee, writhing, hamstrung, crying out in           pain.      D)   Now Ball Bat attacks. Nico intercepts the blow,           flips Bat Man ass over teakettle, sending him sail-           ing -- feet first -- through the side window of the           van. Bat Man CRASHES THROUGH the GLASS, hung up with           just his head and shoulders dangling free.      E)   Nico is spread out, feet wide, in a crouch. Crowbar           Man sees his chance. He is the fiercest of the four,           and the savviest fighter. He throws three consecu-           tive vicious blows at Nico's head; Nico drops to one           knee, dodges the blows, then intercepts the third,           machete in hand, matches the arc of interception and           whips the blade up -- straight into the crotch of           Crowbar Man. Crowbar Man can't believe it. He re-           mains frozen a moment, staring at Nico, then down at           his own groin.      F)   Machete Man, the first to be flipped, struggles des-           perately to regain his senses. He tries to get           Nico's gun from his own pocket, but Nico bats it a-           way. Machete Man scrambles to his feet, in terror,           bolts.      G)   Nico snatches his gun from the sidewalk, glances to           Bat Man who is still half-dangling from the van           window. Nico gives Bat Man one parting punch to the           head, then tears off after Machete Man --192   EXT. STREET - DAY      Shrieks from passersby as Machete Man hurtles past,      straight into the street. A car nearly hits him, he      vaults its hood. Here comes Nico, in hot pursuit. He      too leaps the car, whose owner is staring, cursing --193   ANGLE DOWN BLOCK      An all-out foot face.                                                             50.      Machete Man is a speedster; he hurdles a row of trash cans.      TWO YOUNG GIRLS, on a stoop, whistle as he passes.                             FIRST GIRL                Fly, baby!194   NICO      tears after this human cannonball.   Amazingly, he's      gaining --195   INT. BODEGA - DAY      Machete Man highballs off the sidewalk, straight into a      Mom and Pop groceria. Customers scatter in shock as the      hood blasts past them, out the back door. Here comes      Nico. Patrons curse in Spanish as he barrels past --196   EXT. YARD BEHIND BODEGA - DAY      Machete Man bolts from the bodega into a small patio with      tables and chairs. He leaps the fence into the next yard,      which belongs to a funeral home. He hurdles the headstone      inventory, clambers up the fence on the far side --197   BACK TO NICCO      pursuing along the same route.198   MACHETE MAN      claws his way to the top of the fence and onto a frame-      work of two-by-fours which form an arbor-like canopy a-      bove the third back yard. Plastic sheeting is tacked      between the beams. Machete Man glances back at Nico,      starts out -- tightrope-style -- across the two-by-fours.      Nico reaches the fence behind the hood, starts also onto      the two-by-fours. We hear FEMALE SCREAMS from below as      the rickety structure starts to wobble precariously.      Machete Man reaches the far side. A fire escape is ad-      jacent; he grabs for it, starts up. Nico catches him by      the ankle. The two crash together back onto the two-by-      fours, which give way, sending them plunging into --199   BACKYARD OF FLOWER SHOP - DAY      Four young Oriental women, potting plants, react with      terror as the two bodies CRASH through. Machete Man      scrambles away from Nico but is trapped in the corner      next to the rear shop door. The flower girls can't move      either; Nico and the hood are too near the door. The      girls retreat to the far corner, squealing in fright.                              MACHETE MAN                       (to Nico, in terror)                No, hermano. Please --                                                      51.Nico starts menacingly toward the hood, breathing hardfrom the chase.                           NICO             Who put up the money?                            MACHETE MAN             What money?Nico grabs him by the hair.                           NICO             You didn't come after me for a             piece of ass.                    (twists the youth's                     neck)             Who paid you?                             MACHETE MAN             I told ya!    No one!Nico slams him with a fierce shot to the ribs. The hooddoubles over, gasping. The flower girls shriek evenlouder. Nico turns to the girls with a ferocious glare.                           NICO                    (shouting)             Shut up!The girls instantly go silent in terror. Nico turns backto Machete Man, spins him violently face-down, jackingthe punk's right arm straight out behind him. We seethat Nico can break his elbow with one blow.                          NICO                   Give it to me!Nico raises his fist to strike.                           MACHETE MAN             Jimmy Constanza!Nico shoves the hood into the ground, tearing the hood'swallet from his trouser pocket. Nico rips the wallet a-part, seizes the kid's identification and holds it up. Hegrabs the punk by the hair with his free hand. MacheteMan is staring up in terror, wondering what this means.                           NICO             If you're lying to me, I'll come             and kill you right in your own             fucking kitchen.Nico dumps him on the ground and walks away.    InstantlyMachete Man changes his tune.                            MACHETE MAN             Salvano!   Bautista Salvano!      ABOVE THE LAW - Rev. 4/29/87                            52.      Nico walks back, his foot smashes into the punk's face.      He hits the ground with a thud.                               NICO                 Gracias, muchacho.      Nico walks away.200   MONTAGE WITH SCORE      A)   INT. NICO'S HOUSE - KITCHEN - NIGHT           Nico at the kitchen table spread with notepads, old add-           ress books, 3X5 cards. He's on the phone, impatient,           apparently getting nowhere. He slams the phone down.      B)   INT. LIVING ROOM - EVENING           Nico paces, phone cradled to ear, talking urgently.           CLICK: he's been hung up on; he looks at the receiver           in frustration and disgust.      C)   CLOSE - CORKBOARD ON KITCHEN WALL           Nico's hands pushpin a 3X5 card into the wall.      D)   INSERT - 3X5 CARD           We read: "FBI / Agent Smith / 11:53 / B.S. / Covering           for who?"      E)   KITCHEN - NIGHT           Nico back at the table, listening to the wiretap           tape, transcribing it.      F)   ANOTHER ANGLE - KITCHEN - NIGHT (LATER)           Nico holds Julian, goes over notes.      G)   CLOSE - YELLOW LEGAL PAD           The page is headed: "FATHER GENARRO." Below in           doodle formation, are a series of boxes, each one           containing a phrase. We read: "Father G had some-           thing on Salvano?" "Church break-in?" "Drug infor-           mation?" "Father G connected to FBI?" Irritably,           Nico's pencil crosses everything out.201   SARA                                                            *      Appears in a nightgown at the kitchen doorway.   She looks      frail, frightened. MUSIC ENDS.                               SARA                                   *                        (softly)                 I can't sleep. Will you come and                 hold me?      ABOVE THE LAW - Rev. 4/29/87                         53.        *                              NICO                Of course I will. I've been waiting                to hear from Jax. She was supposed                to get back to me by now.202   INT. NICO'S BEDROOM - LATE NIGHT      Nico comes in with his arms around Sara. She stops      near the bed, holds him tight. They look to little      Julian sleeping in the crib nearby.                              SARA                Thank God you couldn't find your                shoes. We would of have been                sitting in the front row.                       (beat)                Alright, I know the rules -- I                don't ask you don't tell. But                could've died today and I deserve                to know.                       (beat)                Why did we go to church this                morning?                              NICO                I'm willing to break   the rules;                I'm willing to tell   you whatever                I know. But I need    some time.                Could you just give   me some time?      Nico leans to kiss her, but is cut off by the HARSH RING      of a PHONE. Sara starts at the sound. She and Nico      glance at each other --                              SARA                I'll bet that's her.      Nico picks up the phone.                              NICO                       (into phone)                This better be good, Jax.                              MAN (V.O.)                       (filtered)                It's bad, Nico.      Nico glances to Sara. The voice on the   phone is not      Jackson. Nico is chilled. He glances    to Sara, finger to      his lips. He points to his bare wrist   as if wanting to know      the exact time. Sara, not sure what's   going on, mouths:      "Two-fifteen."                              NICO                       (into phone)                Long time, Nelson.      ABOVE THE LAW - Rev. 4/29/87                         54.203   EXT. STREET - PHONE BOOTH - LATE NIGHT      We recognize Fox, Nico's buddy  from SE Asia whom we met      in the opening sequence.  Fox,  too, of course, looks 15      years older. He wears a  suit  and seems quite prosperous.      We are unable to identify from  where Fox calls.                              FOX                You should know not to use a name                on an open line.                       (beat)                I'm gonna talk for fifteen                seconds, then I'm getting off.                You're in trouble, Nico.204   BACK TO NICO'S BEDROOM - LATE NIGHT                              FOX (V.O.)                       (filtered)                Serious, serious trouble. Take                your wife and family and get them                someplace safe now.205   BACK TO STREET - PHONE BOOTH - LATE NIGHT                              FOX                You hear me? Now. I'm risking my                ass by telling you this. Good                luck, kid.206   BACK TO NICO'S BEDROOM - LATE NIGHT      The PHONE CLICKS DEAD. Nico tries to keep a casual ex-      pression. Sara sees through it -- she knows he's shaken.     *                              SARA                                 *                       (grim)                That was Fox, wasn't it?      Nico doesn't answer.                              SARA                                 *                       (very concerned)                Why is the C.I.A. calling you at                two in the morning?                              NICO                It's okay, sweetheart --                       (crosses to her, puts                        his arms around her)                -- You know what a crazy bastard                Fox is. He gets drunk and forgets                he's halfway around the world. He                calls me.      Nico gives her a squeeze and a smile.      ABOVE THE LAW - Rev. 4/29/87                        55.                              NICO                He just wanted to make sure we got                his Christmas card.207   INT. BEDROOM - LATER      Sara is sleeping next to Nico. Julian next to her. A         *      LOUD POUNDING comes O.S. from the front door. Nico jumps      out of bed. His gun appears in his hand, as if from nowhere,      he steps quickly to the front window, looks out --208   NICO'S POV - STREET BELOW      Two unmarked cars pull in.209   BACK TO NICO      He moves swiftly to the rear window and spots another un-      *      marked car.                                                    *210   INT. DOWNSTAIRS - FRONT DOOR      Nico enters the vestibule in his pajama bottoms with his gun      in his hand.                              VOICE THROUGH DOOR (O.S.)                F.B.I., Toscani. Open up.      Nico pulls aside a curtained glass panel; he recognizes      two uniformed police officers, plus Neeley and Halloran,       *      the FBI agents who authorized the release of Salvano. He      lowers his gun, opens the door. The cops surge in.                               NICO                        (to one of cops)                It's a little early for breakfast,                O'Hara.                              O'HARA                Sorry, Nico.                       (displays warrant)                You're under arrest.                              AGENT NEELEY                           *                       (reaches for Nico's                        gun)                I'll take this, thank you.      Before Neeley can get his hand on the gun, Nico, without       *      pausing, hands it over to another agent.                              NICO                No, you won't. I'm gonna give it                to you.      ABOVE THE LAW - Rev. 4/29/87                         56.211   INT. NICO'S BEDROOM - NIGHT      JULIAN BAWLS fearfully; Sara holds him, trembling. Nico         *      is hurriedly getting dressed. A cop and the FBI agents      stand at the door.                              SARA                                    *                       (to cops; distraught)                This is ridiculous -- there's                no need for this!                              NICO                It's all right, darling.      Two agents enter the room carrying Nico's confiscated      papers and tapes and begin rummaging through dressers,      jewelry boxes and closets. Rosa crosses swiftly to calm      Sara.                                                           *                              ROSA                       (to cops)                Who do you think you are --                coming in here like this,                treating my son like a criminal?                              SARA                                    *                Why are you terrifying us?                There's an infant here!      Nico pulls on a jacket. He looks like he could kill.    He      restrains himself for his family's sake.                              AGENT HALLORAN                       (to cops)                Check that coat.      The cops cross to frisk Nico.   Sara, still holding the baby,   *      starts slapping at them.                              SARA                                    *                Get your hands off him!      Rosa grabs Sara --                                              *                              NICO                       (to Sara,                                      *                        allowing himself                        to be frisked)                It's all a mistake, Sara -- It's                      *                gonna be all right.      The cops steer Nico toward the door.                              SARA                                    *                       (calls after them)                The Police Association's got lawyers                for this, you bastards!      ABOVE THE LAW - Rev. 4/29/87                            57.      Sara grabs for the phone; Nico is manhandled out the            *      door --212   EXT. NICO'S HOUSE - LATE NIGHT      The neighbors are now on their porches.   Nico is led to a      waiting unmarked car.                                                  CUT TO:213   INT. POLICE HEADQUARTERS - LATE NIGHT      Bad Dude, the bartender we remember from Nico's first      visit to the Polish bar, finishes signing a deposition.      A cop takes the paper. Bad Dude stands, glances half-      fearfully, half-defiantly to Nico, who is led down a hall-      way flanked by two uniformed officers. Agent Halloran      opens the door for Bad Dude, who exits.214   INT. INTERROGATION ROOM - LATE NIGHT      Neeley, Halloran, Lieutenant Strozah and Deputy Superinten-     *      dent JACK CROWDER. Halloran indicates a stack of                *      depositions, tapes and notes on the table before Nico.                             AGENT HALLORAN               Illegal wiretaps. Unauthorized               surveillance.                             NICO               When were you born, asshole?                             AGENT NEELEY                             *               Associating with known felons.               Disobeying direct orders --                             NICO               Where's Jackson?                             CROWDER                                  *               She's outa this.                             AGENT HALLORAN               You're the rotten apple in this               barrel, Toscani. We don't have               to look any farther than you and               your 'family.'      Nico comes out of his chair, going for Halloran.      Strozah      tries to block him, but it's useless.                             LIEUTENANT STROZAH                       *               Nico! You damn fool! You wanna               go to prison?!      Nico stops. He's speechless with rage.    His finger points      toward Halloran like a loaded gun.      ABOVE THE LAW - Rev. 4/29/87                           58.                             CROWDER                               *                      (indicates more                       depositions)               Unlawful entry. Illegal search               and seizure --                             NICO                      (spits on papers)               You'll never build a frame on this               chickenshit.                             AGENT NEELEY                          *                      (angrily)               You were ordered to back off on               Salvano. But you had too big a               hard-on for that, didn't you--      Nico contains his fury. He steps away from Strozah, with      a gesture that says "I won't hurt you."                              NICO                       (to Strozah)               Fred.   You can't be in on this.      Nico faces his lieutenant -- a look that calls on long       *      years of comradeship and loyalty. Strozah is torn. He's      a good man, over his head in a situation he doesn't com-      pletely understand.                             LIEUTENANT STROZAH                    *               You're officially suspended, Toscani.               I want your tin... and your iron.      Neeley leans past Nico; drops Nico's gun (with an evidence   *      tag on it) onto the table. Nico looks to Strozah, who      averts his eyes. Nico flips his badge onto the table.                             NICO               You holding me?                             AGENT NEELEY                          *               You can walk for now. But don't               walk far.                                                   CUT TO:215   EXT. PHONE BOOTH ON DOWNTOWN STREET - DAWN      We are outside of a cop breakfast hangout. Several police      cars are parked in the lot. Nico is on the phone.                             NICO               Sara, I'm okay. I love you.                         *                                                   CUT TO:         *       ABOVE THE LAW - Rev. 4/29/87                           58A.215A   INT. NICO'S KITCHEN                                           *       Sara on the phone.                                            *                               SARA                                  *                 Where are you? Why aren't you                       *                 coming home?                                        *                                                    CUT TO:          *215B   EXT. PHONE BOOTH                                              *                               NICO                 I'll be home later. Lukich will                     *                 be there. Tell mama not to worry.       Jackson and Lukich are waiting by Nico's car.    They see       Nico emerge from the phone booth.                                                    CUT TO:216    EXT. STREET - NICO, JACKSON AND LUKICH - DAWN       A mood of urgency.                               JACKSON                 -- I found the sanctuary people.                               (MORE)ABOVE THE LAW - Rev. 4/17/87                        59.                        JACKSON (CONT'D)          They're refugees from El Salvador,          Guatemala, Chile. They won't talk                  *          to me, they're terrified of cops.Jackson has an armload of notes, including photocopies ofnews clippings.                        JACKSON          Ready for this? One of the people          killed at the church was definitely          not a congregation member.She shows Nico and Lukich the Polaroids we saw her take inthe morgue.                        JACKSON          Alan Singletary. He's an aide to          Senator Harrison.Nico is electrified.                        JACKSON          That's right. Harrison. Foreign          relations committee. The guy who's          been crawling all over the Central          American drug connections.                        NICO                 (impressed)          You're gonna make a helluva D.A.,          Jax.                         LUKICH          God help us.                        JACKSON                 (savors the com-                  pliment)          I've been at the Tribune all night,          wearing out their Xerox machine.          Harrison's staff has been          compiling some kind of white          paper. He's due to release it          next week.Nico's mind races.                        NICO          That's how Fox knew.                         JACKSON          What?Nico turns to Lukich, dead earnest.      ABOVE THE LAW - Rev. 4/29/87                           60.                              NICO                Luke. I  want you to go to my                house.  Call Branca... my mother                has the number. Get my family                ready to move out.                              LUKICH                You got it, buddy.                              NICO                Stay with 'em. We'll be there.                              LUKICH                What's going on, Nico?   What                happened?                              NICO                I got a call last night. An old                agency friend. He told me my                family was in danger.      Jax and Lukich can't put all the pieces together yet.    But      if it's drugs-CIA-Senate, it's got to be heavy.                              LUKICH                You got a weapon?      Lukich knows he doesn't. He glances up and down the      street, makes sure no one's watching -- then cracks the      driver's door of his car. There's a bulge in the map      pocket. Nico  pulls out a Sig Saur .45.                               LUKICH                Try this on.      Jackson watches Luke slip Nico a clip.                         *                                                   CUT TO:217   INT. DAY CARE CENTER (BEHIND CHURCH) - MORNING      OPENING CLOSE ON the faces of the sanctuary refugees.      They are faces that have known fear and tragedy. The kind      of faces we see on newsreels after villages have been      burned and family members murdered. The refugees have      been moved from church basement to a back room in the day      care center. Nico kneels, facing them. Jackson in the      background. A nun (SISTER BONIFACIA) and a priest (whom      we saw in Genarro's hospital room) watch over the people.      Nico is frustrated; he can't crack the refugees' fear.                              NICO                       (to nun)                Sister... you know me. Tell them                there's no need for fear.                                                        61.                        SISTER BONIFACIA          There is rubble all over the yard,          Nicola.(THE REST OF THE SCENE MAY BE IN ENGLISH, OR SPANISH WITHSUBTITLES, AT THE DIRECTOR'S DISCRETION.)                        NICO                 (to refugees)          I was there... in the church.          They tried to kill my family, too.Several of the refugees look like they want to speak, butthey are terrified.                        NICO          I know there was a man here, from          an American senator's office. Who          was he going to speak to?The refugees become increasingly anxious.                        NICO                 (to one woman)          Was it you, senora?                 (to a man)          Was it you?More silence.    Glances among the people.   Finally:                          REFUGEE WOMAN          The priest.The others shrink.   The Woman glances to them.                          NICO          Who?                 (gently)          Father Genarro?                        REFUGEE WOMAN          The other one.Nico looks to the American priest standing there.                       REFUGEE WOMAN          No. The young one. From Costa          Rica.Sister Bonifacia sighs.                        SISTER BONIFACIA          Father Tomassino.Jackson has her pad out, taking notes. Bonifacia knowstoo much has already been revealed; she must speak.                                                               62.                              SISTER BONIFACIA                He came alone... two weeks ago.                He had papers. Papers to give to                the senator.      Nico tries to contain his excitement; not scare anyone by      losing his calm.                              NICO                But the bomb... The bomb was                planted to destroy the pulpit.                              SISTER BONIFACIA                Father Tomassino was going to                give the Mass that day.                       (shaken)                Father Genarro talked him out of                it.      The refugees' faces confirm this.                              NICO                       (understands)                It was Father Tomassino they were                trying to kill.      Bonifacia starts softly to cry.    Nico puts his hand on her      shoulder, comforting her.                              NICO                Where is Tomassino?   Where is he                now?      The nun shakes her head.   Nico looks to the refugees.      They don't know, either.                              REFUGEE MAN                He run, mister. He go --      He gestures: "who knows where?"                              NICO                If you know where he is, you've                got to tell me. I want to help                him. I can help him.      The refugees lower their eyes. Bonifacia continues her      soft weeping. Nico glances to Jackson; her look says      "Enough, let's leave these poor people alone." Nico      stands, touches Bonifacia one more time on the shoulder --218   EXT. CHURCH DAY CARE BUILDING - DAY      Nico and Jackson come out.   Nico has made a decision.                              NICO                You're outa this, Jax.    Go home.      ABOVE THE LAW - Rev. 4/29/87                             63.                                 JACKSON                          (displays her notes)                   You see this list? Well, I'm not                   done.      Nico admires his partner's guts, but he's worried.                              JACKSON                I'm not a rookie, Toscani. Now,                go home. Get your family out of                here.      Nico agrees.    The pair starts to split.                                 NICO                          (calls after                           Jackson)                   Just paperwork, you understand?                                                     CUT TO:219   INT. NICO'S CAR - MOVING - MORNING      Nico drives, a jumble of emotions on his face.      Urgency      fear, exhaustion. He's deep in thought --220   EXT. INTERSECTION - MORNING      Nico's car pulls up at a stop light. He looks around      without really seeing. An old lady pulls a shopping cart       *      while a crossing guard takes some kids across the street.      *221   ANOTHER CAR      ROARS up out of nowhere, without two men inside, SCREECH-      ING to a stop head-on to Nico's door. Its doors spring      open --222   NICO      dives toward his own passenger door --223   SECOND CAR - TWO MORE ARMED MEN      leap out, OPEN FIRE with pistols and automatic weapons.224   QUICK CUTS      Nico's car riddled with a furious FUSILLADE.      WINDOWS      BLOW OUT; the driver's door is shredded --      ABOVE THE LAW - Rev. 4/29/87                          64.225   NICO - ON FLOORBOARD      crawling frantically; shoving the passenger door open as      a FIRESTORM of lead and FLYING GLASS BLAZES all around      him.226   FOUR MEN      FIRING point blank (6 to ten feet) into Nico's car.   The      men are cool, professional.227   NICO      spills from the passenger door onto the ground, scrambles      like mad under his own car toward one of the attackers' cars.228   PEDESTRIANS AROUND INTERSECTION      scream and scatter in terror.229   FOUR MEN      FIRING as shells spew from the ejection ports of their      weapons.230   NICO'S CAR      being chewed to pieces --231   NICO - UNDER MEN'S CAR                                          *      crawling at full speed from the car's front to its back.      On the ground, alongside the car, spent CARTRIDGE CASES      RAIN like hailstones.232   FOUR MEN      As their magazines empty. The last shells spring free,      GUN BARRELS SIZZLE, blue smoke fills the air. The leader      waves two men forward to check their kill. At that      instant:233   NICO      springs to his feet behind the men, the Sig Saur .45            *      clutched in both hands. (He has crawled under both cars      to envelop his attackers.)                                 NICO                   Over here, you sons-a-bitches!      Nico's rage is superhuman. The men stare in conster-      nation. One of the men has a fresh magazine half into      his weapon --      ABOVE THE LAW - Rev. 4/29/87                        65.                              NICO                       (eyes like an                        animal)                Try it. Be my guest.      The man lets the magazine clatter to the street. The      others raise their hands. It takes all Nico's strength      to keep from wasting all four of them on the spot. His      gaze swings wildly around the intersection. He spots a      corner grocery store. A phone inside.                              NICO                       (gestures with gun)                Over there! Move it! -- Now!!      The men are scared shitless. They put their hands in      back of their heads; trot jelly-legged --234   INT. CORNER GROCERY STORE - DAY      A Pakistani counter clerk takes one look at the mob enter-      ing his store and bolts for the rear. A customer exits      as Nico herds his captives in.                             NICO               Hands on the counter!      Three men do it; the fourth is slow.                             NICO               Don't tempt me, ASSHOLE --      The fourth obeys. Nico moves to the pay phone on the      wall, covering the men with his .45. He grabs the re-         *      ceiver in his free hand; tries to dial. Adrenaline makes      his hand shake; the dials spin wrong -- One of the men      sees Nico's dilemma. To hit 911, Nico has to take his      eye momentarily off his captives. As Nico turns again      to the dial -- A free-standing sales display hurtles      toward him, crashing into his gun hand. One of the men      has lunged into the display; now he dives atop Nico a      second later. The whole human pile crashes, thundering      into a glass freezer. Somehow Nico gets to his feet.      One of the men grabs Nico's gun; Nico swings one of the      freezer doors -- Wham! -- smack into the man's face. The      GLASS SHATTERS; the man drops like a rock. Now it's      three against one -- prime odds for Nico. He wades into      his attackers. A coffee stand goes flying. A body sails      into a makeup display. One fool is lucky enough to land      a blow that bloodies Nico's nose; he pays with a shattered      forearm and a head-first heave into an ice cream locker --235   POV FROM OUTSIDE STORE      It looks like a tornado has hit the interior. Magazine      RACKS CRASH, mayo jars fly through the air, the ICE      MACHINE seems to EXPLODE as a man's back careens into it --      ABOVE THE LAW - Rev. 4/29/87                            66.236   STREET CORNER UP BLOCK      Two police cars heave into view, SIRENS WAILING --237   FRONT DOORS OF STORE      Nico takes the last man, lifts him up, and drives him like      a battering ram straight through the glass.238   NICO      Wild-eyed and bloody, sees the cop cars whipping into the      corner. He spins to see his .45 on the floor -- too far      away to race for. He bolts down a gangway.                                                    CUT TO:239   INT. NICO'S HOUSE - DAY      The PHONE RINGS next to Lukich. Sara starts towards              *      it. Lukich stops her with a look; he picks up the phone.                               LUKICH                        (into phone)                Yeah?240   INTERCUT NICO ON STREET - PHONE BOOTH - DAY                              NICO                       (into phone)                Get their stuff into the car now.                Do it in the alley, not the                driveway. I'll be there in five                minutes.                                                    CUT TO:241   TWO MORE POLICE CARS      SQUEALING around a corner, entering the block where Nico      is.242   NICO - ON SIDEWALK      Lets them pass, keeping low.      He sprints across the street      and down the alley.243   OMITTED&244                                                    CUT TO:245   INT. NICO'S BEDROOM - DAY      Sara grabs a handful of dresses from the closet and angrily      *      throws them into an open suitcase on the bed. Nico watches,      hoping to ride the storm.      ABOVE THE LAW - Rev. 4/29/87                          67.                             SARA                                    *               Your job and your family in one day,               Nico. You're batting a thousand.                             NICO                      (softly)               Sara...                                               *      Sara is at the dresser, pulling open drawers, dumping her      *      clothes haphazardly into the suitcase. She stops suddenly.      She pulls out a handgun and ammo from her panty drawer. She      starts to weep. Nico steps up behind her, puts his arms      around her.                             NICO               You'll be safe with Uncle Branca.               It's gotta be this way... I'm sorry.      He turns her around to face him.                             NICO               Don't you think I'd rather be with               you?      He holds her passionately.    Rosa coughs loudly in the doorway.                             SARA                                    *                      (no longer angry)               -- Mama... you got your medicine?               Don't forget the baby's sweater --                             ROSA               I know about babies.      We glimpse other relatives in the hallway; Nico hands them      a pair of suitcases; they hurry off --                             SARA                                    *                      (of Nico's bloodied                       shirt)               You sure you're all right?                             NICO               I am if you are.                             SARA                                    *                      (trying to lighten up)               Don't worry --                      (touches him)               We needed a vacation, anyway.      Sara takes her suitcase, hurries out --                        *246   EXT. ALLEY BEHIND NICO'S HOUSE - DAY      Branca's sedan is half-loaded; Branca adds a few more bags.      Lukich's car is parked behind it.      ABOVE THE LAW - Rev. 4/29/87                          67A.                              NICO                       (crossing yard with                        Sara)                                      *                I'll give you five minutes start.    We                have to do it this way.      They get their suitcases into the sedan. Mama and the baby      are already aboard. Sara gets into the passenger seat.       *      Lukich comes around from the front, glancing around like a      lookout.                               NICO                Where's Jax?                              LUKICH                She thinks there may be documents at                some guy's apartment.      Nico starts toward the rear basement door.    Lukich falls      in with him.247   INT. BASEMENT - DAY      Nico and Lukich enter, start down the steps.                              NICO                They killed the wrong priest.      Lukich doesn't understand.                              NICO                There was a second priest... from                Costa Rica... hiding at the church.                He was the one they meant to kill.      Nico starts to remove a large piece of ducting from the      basement heater.                              LUKICH                And you know where to find him?                               NICO                No.      The hole in the foundation holds several shotguns and a      couple of pistols, some passports and some cash.                              LUKICH                You're gonna need help.      Nico grabs the pistols, starts to strap them on.                              NICO                Just stay with my family      Nico replaces the piece of foundation, starts back up the      steps.       ABOVE THE LAW - Rev. 4/29/87                             68.                               LUKICH                 What are you gonna do?                               NICO                 You don't want to know.248    EXT. ALLEY BEHIND NICO'S HOUSE       Branca STARTS the SEDAN. Sara looks back, pained.              *       Rosa, Lukich and Julian are also in the car. Nico grabs       another hand-carried case from the basement, hurries into       Lukich's car.249    NICO'S POV - LOOKING DOWN DRIVEWAY       Two police cars pull up to the front of the house.250    HIGH ANGLE SHOT - ALLEY BEHIND HOUSE       Lukich's car continues off.                                                   CUT TO:250A   EXT. SUBURBAN HOUSE - DAY       We see Uncle Branca's car and Lukich's car out front.251    INT. SAFE HOUSE - DAY       Branca leads Nico, Sara, Rosa, Julian and Lukich down a        *       corridor. Two older Italian women open a door leading to a       basement rec room.                               BRANCA                 My sister's cousin's place. You're                 safe -- not even I can find this joint.       The family enters the back room.    They take in their       sanctuary.                                                   CUT TO:252    EXT. PARKING LOT - DAY       Agent Neeley hurries across the lot toward his car. He gets    *       in, STARTS the ENGINE. As he puts the car in gear --253    BARREL OF .45 AUTOMATIC       nestles behind his right ear.                               NICO                        (rising from rear seat)                 Don't forget your seat belt.      ABOVE THE LAW - Rev. 4/29/87                        69.254   INT. FEDERAL WAREHOUSE - DAY      Nico walks casually beside Agent Neeley, holding his gun out   *      of sight in his pocket. They proceed down a corridor. Be-      hind them we glimpse a security checkpoint, manned by two      uniformed guards, through which they apparently have already      passed.255   ANGLE - CORRIDOR      The two walk past floor-to-ceiling warehouse shelves, packed      with labeled boxes, film cans, etc. which are visible      through a heavy wire-mesh screen.                              AGENT NEELEY                           *                Congratulations, Toscani. You just                made number four on the most wanted                list.ABOVE THE LAW - Rev. 4/17/87              69A.                       NICO         Keep walking --                (another nudge)         -- I'm bucking for number one.      ABOVE THE LAW - Rev. 4/29/87                        70.256   ADMINISTRATIVE WINDOW      A pot-bellied, Naval-retired-type CLERK looks up from his      desk as Nico and Neeley come up to the counter. We see a      *      sign: "EVIDENCE HOLDING DEPOT -- You MUST Have Your Requi-      sition Number!!!" The Clerk stands, chomping a cigar, wad-      dles to the counter. We see his arms covered with tattoos.                              CLERK                What can I do for you, lads?      Neeley presents his ID.                                       *                              AGENT NEELEY                          *                There was a quantity of C-4 explosive                brought in four days ago --                              CLERK                Hell, that's gone.                                NICO                When?                              CLERK                Right away, pardner. They scooped                that stuff outa here before we even got                it tagged.                                NICO                Who?    Who took it?                                CLERK                         (casual)                C.I.A.      Nico reacts, nudges Neeley once more.                         *                              AGENT NEELEY                          *                       (to Clerk)                We'd like to see the paperwork.      The Clerk has an accordion file right under the counter.      He indicates a sign-in book.                             CLERK               You gotta sign.      Neeley signs the book. The Clerk starts leafing through his   *      files, searching for the release form.                             CLERK               Yeah... I remember that guy. Flew in               special from Langley. Bomb tech.               Real nice fella --                      (finds the form,                       lifts it from                       file)               -- Here it is. Fox. Nelson Fox.      ABOVE THE LAW - Rev. 4/29/87                           71.257   NICO      snatches the release form.     Stares at the signature, stunned.258   EXT. LAKEFRONT - DESERTED SECTION - DAY      Neeley's car parked in the boondocks along the lake.               *                               FEMALE (V.O.)                        (from car radio)                 -- Here it is, sir. Coming in from                 Langley now --259   INT. CAR      Neeley holds the radio mike, as if about to say something.         *      Nico shoves his gun against the guy's temple.                               FEMALE (V.O.)                        (from car radio)                 -- That agent has been with the Central                 American desk, uh, since '84 --                               AGENT NEELEY                              *                        (into mike)                 Thank you. That's what I wanted.      Nico takes the mike, clicks it back into its cradle.     Neeley    *      freezes, unsure what Nico's going to do with him.                               NICO                        (motions with gun)                 Dump your shoes. Ditch your I.D. on                 the floor.      Nico watches the FBI man obey.                               NICO                 So you think I'm a lousy cop, huh,                 Neeley? Maybe I am. But I haven't got                   *                 my face buried up Washington's ass.                               AGENT NEELEY                              *                 Nobody buys me, Toscani.                               NICO                 Yeah? Then somebody pulled the plug                 on your brain, pal. You didn't come                 up with the second priest, did you?                 Or Harrison's dead aide.                        (as Neeley fumbles with                          *                         his laces)                 Hurry up!                        (as Neeley obeys)                                *                 You heard the radio. The Agency's                 pushing buttons and bodies are dropping                 like flies. You assholes are missing                 half the case!      ABOVE THE LAW - Rev. 4/29/87                         72.      Despite his animosity toward Nico, Neeley is beginning to     *      realize this cop is onto something.                                 AGENT NEELEY                       *                Listen.     Toscani --      Nico grabs Neeley's shoes, heaves them into the back seat.    *      He shoves the agent out the door, swings himself behind the      wheel.                              NICO                Watch your step.260   EXT. DESERTED LAKEFRONT - DAY      Nico drives off, leaving the FBI man miles from nowhere.                                                 CUT TO:261   MONTAGE      with SCORE and V.O.      A)   INT. POLICE HEADQUARTERS - DAY           From out of an elevator and down a busy corridor march           the brass, Deputy Superintendent Crowder included.       *           Lieutenant Strozah lags slightly behind. They enter      *           an auditorium where a large contingent of press,           cameras ready, wait.      B)   INT. CONDO COMPLEX - HALLWAY - DAY           Jackson outside an apartment door in a Yuppie-esque           condo complex. She looks both ways to be safe, then           slides a credit card behind the lock. The door opens.      C)   EXT. CONVENTION CENTER - DAY           Nico parks Neeley's car in a huge packed lot. A towering *           marquee sign reads: "COMPUTER EXPO '87." Nico starts on           foot toward the convention center entrance.      D)   INT. CONDO APARTMENT - DAY           Jackson enters, looking guilty as hell. She picks up           a framed photo from a piano: the dead Senator's aide           posed smiling beside a distinguished-looking man           (Senator Harrison) in front of the capitol building.           Jackson sets the photo down, starts rummaging through           desk drawers.      E)   INT. POLICE HEADQUARTERS - DAY                              CROWDER                               *                The officer is alleged to be involved in                illicit drug trafficking, racketeering                and kidnapping --ABOVE THE LAW - Rev. 4/17/87                          73.       *F)   INT. CONVENTION CENTER     Nico, in the crush of convention-goers, pauses before a     booth promoting a TV manufacturer. The latest model TV's     are set up in a sales display, with visitors gawking at     the pictures of the church bombing aftermath.                         NEWSWOMAN (V.O.)                  (on TV's)           Police sources also speculate that           Toscani may be connected to the suspect           in the bombing of St. Elizabeth's           parish church --     A police composite rendering of the woman who placed the     bomb at the church is shown on the television.                         NEWSWOMAN (V.O.)                  (on TV's)           -- the suspect is likely to be armed           and considered to be extremely           dangerous --     Nico's police ID photo appears on the news.   He blends     back into the crowd.                         NEWSWOMAN (V.O.)           In other news, Senator Ernest           Harrison's presidential bid has...     Nico moves swiftly through the convention center floor     (which is packed for thousands of square feet with sales     booths, each manned by technicians and pitchmen, all     displaying the latest in high-tech data processing     equipment, telecommunications, etc.)G)   INT. CONDO APARTMENT - DAY     Jax stuffs a wad of offical papers -- including appoint-     ment books, notes and tapes -- into her briefcase. At     the apartment door, she looks both ways, then emerges,     starts away down the hallway.H)   INT. CONVENTION CENTER - COMPUTER BOOTH - DAY     Nico in the crowd in front of the booth of a Japanese     computer manufacturer. Dr. Watanabe (Nico's friend whom     we remember from the baptism/picnic scene) is the chief     engineer at the booth, showing off some high-tech     equipment to several brainy looking executives.     Watanabe glances up, spots Nico. Nico makes a subtle     sign to indicate he must speak to Watanabe. Watanabe     crosses at once to Nico.      ABOVE THE LAW - Rev. 4/29/87                           73A.                               WATANABE                 So good to see you again, sir!                        (shakes Nico's hand)                 Come back near closing... five-                 thirty... we'll place your order                 then.          Nico nods, fades like a shadow into the throng.     MUSIC          DOWN, SEQUENCE ENDS --                                                    DISSOLVE TO:262   INT. CONVENTION CENTER - NIGHT      All customers gone, lights being turned off. Janitors      sweep up, the last booth people shut down for the night.      WATANABE      emerges with Nico from behind a booth divider, leads her        *      old friend at a brisk pace across the deserted floor.                               NICO                 Listen, Wat... you know I wouldn't                 call in a favor --      ABOVE THE LAW - Rev. 4/17/87                        74.        *                              WATANABE                Of course not. Just because you                kept a few 'friendly' tribesmen                from cutting my heart out and serving                it up as Pad Thai?      With a wink, Watanabe escorts Nico into a back area off the      floor. Carpeted office dividers set off a small area,      packed with super sophisticated computer equipment.      Watanabe "boots up" a terminal, sits down with relish.                              WATANABE                The last six years I've been risking                nothing but money. It's a kick to                risk my ass again.      Nico eyes the equipment and Watanabe, impressed.                              NICO                The old Spook.                                                CUT AWAY TO:263   OMITTED&264265   INT. JACKSON'S APARTMENT - NIGHT      Jackson has the Senator's aide's papers spread before her,      cataloging them with interest. The PHONE RINGS. Jackson      picks it up.                              JACKSON                       (into phone)                Jackson.      Whoever the voice is (which we can't hear), it makes Jackson      forget the documents.                              JACKSON                       (into phone)                -- Yes... yes, of course, sister, I                know who you are.                       (listens)                -- where... where are you?                                                CUT BACK TO:266   INT. WATANABE'S COMPUTER AREA - NIGHT      Watanabe working two computers simultaneously, with the      gusto of a rock keyboard player.      ABOVE THE LAW - Rev. 4/17/87                          75.         *                              WATANABE                -- No way to access Covert Ops                directly. But Ornstein's at                Princeton, he's got a database                bigger than Langley --                       (works keyboard                        lovingly)                If I can't crack that turkey's                code, it's time to hang up my                rock and roll shoes --      Nico watches Watanabe work.                               WATANABE                -- ah, here! Here's a little trap                door. Let's see if we can wriggle up                into --                        (watches the screen                         with anticipation)                Personnel files! Operative dossiers.                Will that do?                                NICO                It's a start.      Nico sits down beside Watanabe.                                                   DISSOLVE TO:267   FULL ASHTRAY      Watanabe stubs out a cigarette. Empty coffee cups all      around. Nico paces, reading a hard-copy printout.                              NICO                Fox has had a helluva career.                       (reads down page)                '69 to '76, Cambodia, Laos. Operation                Phoenix. Operation Green Mountain.                Operaton Northstar. This is all Vang                Pao, it's all heroin --                              WATANABE                You friend has found his metier.      Nico circles the "operations" on the page, hands it to      Watanabe.                              NICO                Run personnel retrievals on all these                operations. I want the names of every                company man who was on them.                                                   QUICK DISSOLVE TO:268   CLOSE - COMPUTER SCREEN      A list of about thirty names -- mostly civilian, but some      with military rank attached.ABOVE THE LAW - Rev. 4/17/87                      75A.                       NICO (O.S.)         Altshuler. Cosgrove. I know half         these guys --                (thinking)         Okay... now run me an update. Where         are these fuckers now?                                         QUICK DISSOLVE TO:      ABOVE THE LAW - Rev. 4/29/87                           76.269   NICO - LATER      Pouring a fresh coffee, studying the screen with Watanabe.                              WATANABE                       (finger tracks down                        screen)                Central American desk. Central                American desk. Central --                              NICO                Thirty names from secret drug                operations... and two-thirds of 'em                are in Central America.                       (beat)                All right. Run these two names:                Bautista Salvano and Ramon 'Chi Chi'                Testamente.                              WATANABE                Those street dealers you were talking                about? They're not gonna be in here.      Nico gives her a look.    Watanabe starts punching keys.     *270   CLOSE - COMPUTER SCREEN      Official biographies of Salvano and Chi Chi come up.                              WATANABE (O.S.)                Well, kiss my ass.                       (reads)                Both former Somoza secret police.                       (whistles, impressed)                Recruited by agency, 1975. Trained                Fort Benning, counter insurgency...       ABOVE THE LAW - Rev. 4/17/87                          76A.                              NICO (O.S.)                Where's Fox's printout?                       (finds it, reads)                1976... Fort Benning. He recruited                these pricks!                                                   DISSOLVE TO:270A   EXT. CONVENTION HALL - NIGHT                                   *       It's even later. The last of    the janitorial crew is         *       finishing up the huge floor.    A few display lights remain    *       on, otherwise it's dark. Nico    stands above, observing,      *       contemplating the information   he has received.               *271    INT. WATANABE'S COMPUTER AREA                                  *       Watanabe crapped out in a chair; Nico looking weary, pacing,   *       wracking his brain.                              WATANABE                There's nothing left, Nico.     We've                wrung these files dry.      ABOVE THE LAW - Rev. 4/29/87                           77.                               NICO                        (muttering to                         himself; thinking)                Fox is here, in Chicago... or was                here...                        (has an idea)                ... Listen. Can this thing tap into                airlines? Reservations records --                              WATANABE                I can get you the ball scores, too.                                                   DISSOLVE TO:272   NICO      As he finishes viewing the screen, stands.                                NICO                Five agents   from Central American desk.                All trained   assassins. All arrived in                Chicago in   the last week -- and none                of them has   left.      Nico grabs his coat, gulps a last swallow of coffee --                              NICO                Thanks, Wat. You finally may have                done some good for your country.                              WATANABE                Where are you going?                              NICO                To find a priest.                                                   CUT TO:273   EXT. CONVENTION CENTER - NIGHT      Jackson's unmarked car whips into the curb. Aboard:          *      Jackson and Lukich. Nico steps from the shadows, ducks      into the back seat. The car takes off.274   INT. UNMARKED CAR - MOVING - NIGHT                              NICO                How did ya find him?                              JACKSON                The nun phoned me. She said two men                had been sneaking around the church.                She sounded scared --      Nico checks his .45.    Two spare clips.                                                            78.                              JACKSON                There's more. I got the papers                from that senator's aide's apartment.                Everything Harrison's been working on.                It's all at my place.                                                CUT TO:275   ELEVATED SUBWAY TRAIN - NIGHT      BOOMS PAST CAMERA, only a few feet away from a row of      tenement apartment buildings. As TRAIN sound RECEDES,      CAMERA MOVES IN ON one building. We hear LOUD UPBEAT      ROCK AND ROLL coming from a third-floor apartment --276   EXT. TENEMENT - POV FROM CAR ON STREET - NIGHT                              VOICE (O.S.)                       (from within car)                Once you're inside, you'll signal us.277   INT. CAR - CLOSEUP ON TREMBLING WOMAN (SAME STREET)      It is the Middle-aged Woman who left the bomb, seen in Father      Genarro's church. A police sketch of her was seen on tele-      vision. She is looking up at the third-floor window, getting      instructions. She turns around occasionally to see who's      talking to her.                              SALVANO (O.S.)                Don't be scared. Your life depends on                this.278   CLOSE ON DRIVER      It is one of Salvano's goons we've seen before.    He is      checking his gun.279   INT. TENEMENT HALLWAY - NIGHT      The Woman walks slowly down the hall. She carries a small      donation can. She knocks on a door. We hear FOOTSTEPS from      within the apartment. The door opens. It's Bonifacia, the      nun from the church (though now in civvies). The Middle-Aged      Woman with the donation can raises it as if asking for a      contribution. Bonificia looks flustered, impatient. She      really doesn't want to leave the door open.                              MIDDLE-AGED WOMAN                Exusame, por favor. Tiene dinero                para...280   FROM NOWHERE      Three of Salvano's armed goons appear on both sides of the      doorway. They push both women violently into the apartment.                                                           79.281   CLOSEUP - GOON      He steps quickly, surely into the apartment.282   CLOSEUP - BEDROOM DOOR      It flies open.   The goon points his gun AT the CAMERA.283   GUNMEN'S POV      Father Tomassino, the Costa Rican priest, stands at the      window, he has been trying to open it. He turns. He knows      he can't escape.284   EXT. APARTMENT - POV FROM SALVANO'S CAR      The light in the apartment window blinks twice.285   EXT. TENEMENT - STREET - NIGHT      From two cars emerge the shapes of several men.286   EXT. CHICAGO STREET - NIGHT      Jackson's car -- with Jackson, Nico and Lukich aboard --      swings around a corner into a traffic jam. The HORN BLARES.287   INT. TENEMENT APARTMENT - THIRD FLOOR - NIGHT      A STEREO SPEAKER BLASTS MUSIC from the front room. CAMERA      PANS ACROSS Bonifacia's bedroom dresser. We see mementos      of her life and a photo of herself with Father Genarro with      a group of children. CAMERA CONTINUES TO PAN PAST Bonifacia's      bed, PAST Bonifacia's body! CAMERA CONTINUES DOWN TO the      floor, where lies the lady who planted the bomb. They both      appear dead.288   CLOSE - FATHER TOMASSINO      He is in a chair, his wrists strapped to the chair arms.    He      is sweating, fearful but clinging to his courage.289   ANOTHER ANGLE      Behind Father Tomassino, we see Salvano, Chi Chi and two      other goons, armed with pistols. Salvano moves toward the      priest, sets a small TV table down beside him. The priest      glances toward it --290   PRIEST'S POV - TV TABLE      Atop its rickety surface:   a fearsome array of syringes and      drug vials.291   BACK TO FATHER TOMASSINO      He glances up from the hypodermics --      ABOVE THE LAW - Rev. 4/17/87                           80.292   PRIEST'S POV      INTO FRAME moves Kurt Zagon! We see clearly the 15 years of   *      aging since SE Asia. His face is even scarier than when he      performed similar atrocities in those days. Zagon prepares      a syringe, tests it, shooting a clear liquid skyward.                              ZAGON                You'll be in heaven in a few minutes,                padre. But first I'm going to put                you through hell.293   EXT. CHICAGO STREET - NIGHT      Nico, Lukich and Jackson are speeding through the infamous      Southside. We want to scream at them to get there already.294   BACK TO APARTMENT      Salvano holds the priest's arm steady, Zagon moves in with      the needle.                              ZAGON                You came here to talk to the                        *                Senator's aide, didn't you?                         *                               FATHER TOMASSINO                I tried.   But you killed him first.                *                              ZAGON                Who told you about our plans?                       *                              FATHER TOMASSINO                This is from confession. I tell no                one.                              ZAGON                You wouldn't lie to me, Father?   It's                a sin.      Father Tomassino says nothing, he begins to cry.                              ZAGON                       (almost with kindness)                If you spoke to anyone, tell me now --                       (indicates hypo)                -- and I won't have to use this.295   EXT. TENEMENT - NIGHT      The unmarked police car pulls up, across the street.296   INT. CAR - NIGHT      Nico, Jackson, and Lukich gaze at the building.       ABOVE THE LAW - Rev. 4/17/87                          80A.296A   POV FROM CAR                                                   *       In the shadows by the corner, a hulking Latino man loiters.    *                               JACKSON (O.S.)                         *                 That's an eyeball if I ever saw one.                 *296B   BACK TO CAR                                                    *       Nico starts to open the car door.   Jackson moves to join him. *                               NICO                 You're our backup. If we come out                 running, then you can shoot.       Nico's eyes meet his partner's. It's plain he'll break her       leg if he has to, to keep her safe by the car. Jackson       accepts this reluctantly.                                                             81.297   EXT. TENEMENT - NIGHT      Nico and Lukich exit the vehicle. Nico indicates an adjacent      building; he and Lukich start for it.298   INT. APARTMENT      Father Tomassino is beginning to come under the influence of      Zagon's chemicals. In spite of this the priest's spirit to      resist is astounding...                              ZAGON                Speak to me, Father -- who did you tell?                              FATHER TOMASSINO                I know what you are. I know what                beasts you are.299   EXT. ADJACENT BUILDING - ROOF OF TENEMENT      Nico and Lukich emerge from the roof door, guns drawn. The      roof is empty. Antennas, skylights, clotheslines. The pair      creep soundlessly onto the next roof. They cross toward the      roof door like infantrymen, moving one at a time from cover      to cover, covering each other. They reach the door that      leads down into the building. Nico checks the far side of      the enclosure, nods to Lukich. Lukich cracks the roof door      open --300   STAIRWELL FROM ROOF - NICO AND LUKICH      Nico and Lukich creep down the stairs from the roof.    Nico      opens the door leading to the top (third) floor.301   INT. APARTMENT      The drugs have taken hold. The priest's brain is an open      memory bank for Zagon to probe.                              ZAGON                I want to know who you told.                              FATHER TOMASSINO                       (barely coherent)                I told them... you make the ninos...                see... castrating their fathers --                raping... mutilating their mothers                ... And...                       (breaks down crying)                ... and sometimes... to the ninos...302   NICO'S POV - HALLWAY      As he slowly pushes the door open.   The hallway is empty.303   INT. HALLWAY      Nico and Lukich pad in.      ABOVE THE LAW - Rev. 4/17/87                           82.      Quickly Lukich checks the stairs leading down. Nico crosses      silently past the first apartment door, checks the far end of      the hallway. Nico comes back toward the apartment door.      Lukich approaches from the opposite side. They take up      positions flanking the door, guns drawn. The LOUD MUSIC      CONTINUES from inside.304   INSIDE APARTMENT      Salvano and Chi Chi look on, revulsed. Whatever is happening      to Father Tomassino is enough to make even cruel men ill.                                 ZAGON (O.S.)                   -- Tell me the truth, Father --      The priest's eyes roll grotesquely; he convulses, sweat      beading on his forehead. He looks like a man in the agonies      of some narcotic hell.                                 ZAGON                          (close to priest)                   -- Can we kill him? If you told anyone,                   about our plans to kill the senator,                   we cannot do it.                                  FATHER TOMASSINO                   Nadie.   Nadie. Nadie.                             *305   NICO AND LUKICH IN HALLWAY      O.S. we hear another ELEVATED TRAIN APPROACHING outside.      Nico kicks the apartment door in! He and Lukich burst in,      guns clutched two-handed.306   QUICK CUTS      The first goon reacts, raises his pistol. Lukich SHOOTS him.      Nico NAILS the second goon, just as Chi Chi aims his sawed-      off pistol-grip shotgun at Nico. Nico has a split second to      dive behind a heavy upholstered chair. Chi Chi's DOUBLE-      BARREL BLAST blows the chair into powder. Almost instan-      taneously Nico sees the priest -- just as Zagon slashes the      priest's throat! Salvano SHOOTS Lukich point blank, in the      shoulder, sending Lukich's gun sailing. Nico, FIRING, grabs      Lukich, dives out the door with him --307   HALLWAY      Zagon and Salvano OPEN FIRE from the apartment full-tilt.      BULLETS RIP through the WALL, BLASTING WOOD and PLASTER      everywhere. Nico shoves Lukich toward the stairwell --                                 NICO                   Go!   Go!      -- Simultaneously FIRING back through the kicked-in door,      EMPTYING his GUN.      ABOVE THE LAW - Rev. 4/17/87                         83.                              ZAGON                       (in Spanish, from                        apartment)                Get him! Finish him!      Nico is slamming a fresh clip in, Lukich is stumbling away      toward the stairwell. Salvano and Chi Chi appear in the      apartment doorway. Chi Chi levels his fierce "hogleg" at      Nico's head. At that instant -- A broadside of BULLETS slam      into the wall around Chi Chi. It's Jackson -- on the stairs!      Chi Chi is hit, but spins, FIRES. His shotgun blast catches      Jackson square in the chest, blowing her back like a doll,      down the stairwell, out of sight. Nico reacts with agony,     *      twists on the floor, SHOOTS Chi Chi in the face. Nico pulls      the trigger as fast as he can, sending a HAIL of FIRE through      the doorway, through the walls. Salvano clutches his hench-      man, using his dead body as a shield; Nico's BULLETS blow Chi      Chi apart. Zagon FIRES back, hits Nico in the side by the      ribs! Nico tries to fire back; he's empty!                              ZAGON                Now!      Nico bolts for the stairwell to the roof, clawing for a new      clip as he goes. Salvano and Zagon burst into the hallway,      SHOOTING at Nico.308   INTERCUT - ELEVATED TRAIN      THUNDERING along the tracks adjacent to the building.309   EXT. ROOF - NIGHT      Nico highballs from the stairwell as the tarpaper roof erupts      all around him with GUNFIRE from the floor below! He dives      sideways, rolling to avoid the fire -- He recovers his      footing in time to see Salvano and Zagon burst onto the roof      from the stairwell. Nico's BULLETS miss them; they separate,      taking cover behind two walls at the roof's margins. Nico      is trapped -- in the open.310   ZAGON AND SALVANO      pop back out, aiming at Nico --311   NICO      leaps off the roof!312   ANGLE - ELEVATED TRAIN - MOVING      Nico lands on the roof of the speeding "el" train, his      momentum nearly carrying him off the far side --313   NICO - ATOP TRAIN      catches a railing, claws at it.   BULLETS rip into the train      roof all around him --       ABOVE THE LAW - Rev. 4/29/87                          84.314    ATOP TENEMENT ROOF - SALVANO AND ZAGON       FIRE for all they're worth at Nico's receding form.315    ATOP TRAIN - NICO       crawls to the space between cars, lowers himself down.      He       clings to the swaying chains.315A   INT. TRAIN CAR       Nico staggers through the almost empty car and collapses on       a bench.316    AROUND CORNER - TWO POLICE CARS       hurtle INTO VIEW under the El, SIRENS BLARING.                   *317    BACK ON TENEMENT ROOF       Zagon and Salvano scramble away.318    OMITTED                                                 CUT TO:319    EXT. EL STATION - STAIRWAY TO STREET - NIGHT       A cleaner, more upscale neighborhood. Nico labors down the       steps, clutching his jacket to his ribs. Several affluent       people look at him oddly, he ignores them, keeps going -- He       makes his way up the street, weakening, to a tasteful brown-       stone. Nico climbs the steps in pain --                                                 QUICK DISSOLVE TO:320    INT. JACKSON'S APARTMENT - BATHROOM - NIGHT       Nico over the sink, shirt off, WATER RUNNING -- applying a       makeshift bandage to his bloody ribs. We see Jackson's make-       up stuff along the counter, feminine robes hanging on the       door, law books around a reading stand. Nico is in real       pain, exhausted, weakening --321    LIVING ROOM - NIGHT       Nico at Jackson's desk, its surface spread with the notes       and papers she got from Senator Harrison's aide's place. We       glimpse them: photos of Central American atrocities, dead       bodies, etc. He tries to study them, quickly, but his       attention shifts --       Nico glances around the apartment: more law books, Jackson's       degree on the wall, her rowing machine on the floor, several       framed photos beside him on her desk. Nico turns several       toward him.       ABOVE THE LAW - Rev. 4/29/87                          85.322    INSERT - FRAMED PHOTOS       Jackson with her sisters and their kids, Jackson in law       class, Jackson and Nico posing, smiling, at the police shoot-       ing range --323    BACK TO NICO       He starts to cry.                                  NICO                           (to Jackson's photo)                    -- Had to be a hero... another fucking                    hero. I'm sorry Jax.       He reaches for a small calendar, looks at it.324    CLOSEUP - CALENDAR       Nico circles "meet with Father Tomassino." Nico circles       another date, "Senator delivers foreign policy position       paper/Committee for Democratic Policy fund raiser."             *325    OMITTED&326327    BACK TO NICO       Nico scoops up the aide's papers, stands, wobbly --                               NICO                 -- Senator... --                        (of papers, with scorn)                 -- dumb fuck... think they're gonna                 let you put 'em outta business --327A   INT. EMERGENCY ROOM CORRIDOR - NIGHT       Several cops frantically clear the way to the emergency room.       A gurney is wheeled down the corridor. Lukich, a shoulder       bandaged, walks beside the gurney, holding the hand of Jackson.327B   CLOSEUP ON       a bloody flak jacket rests upon the gurney.327C   CLOSEUP - JACKSON       She's been sedated. She has buckshot wounds on her neck and       shoulder, but she is alive.                                  JACKSON                           (to Lukich)                    You call Nico's goddamn Uncle and                    find out if he's heard anything.       ABOVE THE LAW - Rev. 4/17/87                        85A.       *                               LUKICH                        (wounded himself)                 You just shutup and take it easy,                 pal.328    INT. TAXI - NIGHT       CLOSEUP of Nico riding through the wet streets.328A   INT. EMERGENCY ROOM       Lukich is on the phone. His shirt is off and he's being       bandaged. In the background Jackson is also being cared       for.                               LUKICH                        (on phone)                 We don't know what happened to him,                 Branca. Ya, she's gonna be alright.328B   INT. BRANCA'S SAFE HOUSE - NIGHT       Branca, a bodyguard next to him, grimly puts down the phone.       He looks devastated.      ABOVE THE LAW - Rev. 4/29/87                         86.329   EXT. DRIVEWAY - BRANCA'S SAFE HOUSE - NIGHT      From the darkness, Nico appears, barely making it up the      driveway. We hear the sound of the CAB DRIVE OFF.330   EXT. BRANCA'S SAFE HOUSE - NIGHT      Branca and a bodyguard come forward, grabbing Nico as Nico      almost collapses.                                BRANCA                Jesus Christ!                              NICO                The motherfuckas got Jackson.                              BRANCA                Lukich called. She's not dead.                She's gonna make it. She was                wearing a vest.      Nico can't believe it. In spite of it all, life comes to      him. A little smile...                              NICO                That broad didn't trust me.                                                 CUT TO:331   EXT. BRANCA'S SAFE HOUSE - POV FROM WINDOW - NIGHT      We glimpse several armed bodyguards in concealed positions.      A late-model Cadillac pulls up. A man carrying a doctor's      bag gets out and is escorted to the side door.332   INT. BRANCA'S SAFE HOUSE - NIGHT      Rosa has pulled back the curtain from the second-floor bed-      room window. She witnesses the arrival of the doctor. On      the bed behind her sleep Sara and Julian. A bodyguard          *      stands outside the bedroom door.333   INT. BASEMENT FAMILY ROOM - NIGHT      The doctor tends Nico. Bloody bandages and antiseptic      bottles litter a coffee table. Two guards stand by. Branca      is showing Nico an 8-by-11 photograph.                              BRANCA                It was picked up with your mail this                afternoon.334   INSERT - PHOTOGRAPH      A shot of Nico's family taken from a parked car, in front of      the church, the morning of the bombing.      ABOVE THE LAW - Rev. 4/29/87                          87.335   BACK TO NICO AND BRANCA      Nico's grim expression shows he knows just what this means.                              BRANCA                Don't worry, they're booked on an early                plane. They'll be out of the country                tomorrow.      Nico winces as the doctor finishes applying a bandage.      In      the background we hear a COMMOTION.336   INT. BASEMENT STAIRWAY - NIGHT      A bodyguard tries to fend off the physical and verbal assault      from Sara and Rosa. Sara carries Julian.                      *337   INT. BASEMENT FAMILY ROOM - NIGHT      Sara rushes to Nico's side.    Nico reaches for her, but         *      the pain stabs him.                              SARA                                     *                Oh my God, Nico!                                       *      Rosa starts forward, her face in agony at the sight of her      wounded son.                               BRANCA                He's fine.   The boy has ribs of steel!                              ROSA                       (touching Nico's brow)                Enough of your humor.      Sara clings to Nico's arm, tears in her eyes. Rosa               *      crosses herself. Sara begins to weep. The doctor finishes.       *      There's a long awkward moment. Then:                              BRANCA                       (to doctor and                        bodyguards)                Leave them. Leave them alone.                                                  QUICK DISSOLVE TO:338   INT. FAMILY ROOM - LATER      Rosa sits in a chair. Nico on the couch, holding Julian.      Sara faces him. Tears have stained her cheeks, but she           *      is in control of her emotions now.                               *                              SARA                -- You've got to do it, Nico.    You                know you have to.      Whatever Sara is proposing, Nico is dead set against it.ABOVE THE LAW - Rev. 4/29/87                         88.      *                        ROSA          Listen to her, Nicola.                 (dead serious)          Whatever you think of him, Federico          is family. He is our family.Nico makes no response.   Instead, he lifts Julian, nuzzleshim tenderly.                        NICO          Ever notice how clean babies smell?          Like nothing in the world has touched          them yet.Sara glances to Rosa. Rosa knows what she wants. Dis-creetly Rosa rises, exits. Sara and Nico are alone.                        SARA          If you won't go to him, I will.                        NICO                 (in pain)          Don't push me like this --Her eyes meet his -- loving, but desperate.                        SARA          Branca can put us on a plane -- but          where can we fly to? Tibet? The moon?          There's nowhere they can't find us.                        NICO          You don't know what the hell you're          talking about.                        SARA          I'm talking about everything I've          learned from you in the past five          years.Nico is in agony.                        NICO          You know I can't go to him.Sara takes both his hands in hers.                        SARA          Do you know why I love you? Do          you know what it is about you          that I've always loved?                 (as Nico fights his                  own emotion)          Pride. It's what you have inside.          You don't live the way other people          live. You trust what you see as          right and won't let anyone or anything          make you stray from it.      ABOVE THE LAW - Rev. 4/29/87                           88A.      *      MOVE IN PAST Sara TO Nico's face.                              SARA (O.S.)                But now that pride may kill all                of us.                       (beat)                You've got to swallow that pride,                Nico. Choke on it if you have to.                Lay it aside.339   ANOTHER ANGLE - NICO AND SARA      Close together, with their baby between them. Sara      buries her face against her husband's chest. Nico's arm      goes around her. He holds her tight.                                                   CUT TO:340   CLOSE - NICO - AGAINST WALL - DAY      He wears a suit and tie, a hat.   All business.                              MAN (O.S.)                Is this the attorney?                              ANOTHER MAN (O.S.)                You can come now, Mr. Carlucci.      O.S. we hear a METALLIC sound BEGIN, VERY CLOSE -- PULL      BACK TO:341   ANOTHER ANGLE      To reveal bars which slide electrically to the side.    A      prison door opens, letting him through.342   ANGLE - PRISON CORRIDOR - DAY      Nico, escorted by a prison guard, walks down a long, blank      hallway.                                                   CUT TO:343   NICO      Waiting in a barren reception room.   Several benches, tables;      heavy steel mesh over windows --344   NICO'S POV - ACROSS ROOM      A steel door opens on the far side. Out steps a small      Italian man in his seventies, wearing the faded denim of      an inmate.      ABOVE THE LAW - Rev. 4/29/87                         88B-90.345   INT. PRISON CORRIDOR - LONG SHOT - DAY                          *      Nico and the small man (FREDERICO LARUSSO) walk together down *      a long corridor, speaking occasionally, the tension thick     *      between them. Behind them, a discreet fifteen paces, walk     *      two armed prison officials.346   CLOSER - LARUSSO AND NICO      The old man never looks directly at Nico, yet we sense keenly      that he is taking the younger man's measure.                              FREDERICO LARUSSO                I am only an old man. An old man                with a cancer.      The two are like an old and a young lion, appraising each      other -- using all five senses and more.                              NICO                I don't have much time, Uncle.    So                I must speak plainly.      Larusso listens.   Nico waits for a beat.   Then:      ABOVE THE LAW - Rev. 4/17/87                          91.                              NICO                       (this is very painful                        for him)                -- For as long as I've been old enough                to think, I've hated you and hated                everything you stood for.      Larusso takes this in without a flicker.                              NICO                I was so sure that you and I were on                opposite sides of the fence... and                that you and your people were                destroying this country --      Nico pauses, glances away across the grounds.                              NICO                -- The most painful realization of my                life was that the people I worked for                and you are not far apart.                       (meets Larusso's eyes)                -- And there's not much difference                between what you are and what I was.      Larusso studies Nico a long moment.    Then takes Nico's elbow. *                                                                      *347   OMITTED                                                         *348   NICO AND LARUSSO      continue across the grounds.                                 FREDERICO LARUSSO                I will be    candid with you. I knew,                probably    before you did, that you                would be    coming to me. I knew what                you would    ask... and I had every                intention    of refusing you.      He glances to Nico.                              FREDERICO LARUSSO                But it is a form of wisdom to know                when to cease relying only upon                yourself.      He keeps walking.                              FREDERICO LARUSSO                You know, of course, that this Senator                Harrison will never live to make his                speech tomorrow.                       (as Nico acknowledges)                You know, too, that as long as this                man... this torturer --      ABOVE THE LAW - Rev. 4/29/87                             92.                                 NICO                   Kurt Zagon.                                  FREDERICO LARUSSO                   -- As long as this Zagon lives, nothing                   I can do will guarantee your family's                   safety.                           (beat)                   'Ecce non uomine, ecce bestie.' You                   know Dante?                           (translates)                   'These are not men, these are animals.'      Larusso stops, takes a small note pad from his pocket.         He      quickly scribbles a few lines.                                 FREDERICO LARUSSO                   Memorize this address.      He holds the paper for Nico to see.                                 FREDERICO LARUSSO                   Have you got it in your mind?      Nico nods.    Larusso tears the paper into tiny shreds.             *349   INT. ADMIN BUILDING - RECEPTION ROOM - DAY      The old man takes his leave of Nico with a warm, if formal      handshake. The guards stand by, waiting.                                 FREDERICO LARUSSO                   Thank you, Mr. Carlucci. I trust you                   will give my love to my niece, Rosa.                                 NICO                   I will do that, Mr. Larusso.                          (sincerely)                   I hope you will be well.350   LARUSSO      nods: "Bene." Then: without a word he turns and exits      back through the steel door.                                                     CUT TO:351   INT. O'HARE AIRPORT - BOARDING GATE - DAY      Passengers file aboard a flight to Toronto. Hugs, goodbyes.      Rosa, carrying the baby, is among the crowd moving toward      the boarding door. Leaving with them are two of Branca's      men. We PICK OUT Branca and two of his bodyguards near the      fringes, looking inobtrusive but definitely on guard.      ABOVE THE LAW - Rev. 4/29/87                           92A/93.352   CORNER NEAR BRANCA      Hidden by a bank of phones, Sara clings to Nico, holding      *      him as tight as she can. When she releases him, we can't      hear what she says, but it seems like, "Be careful, please be      careful." Nico glances to Branca, who motions subtly to      hurry.      He squeezes Sara's hand, she joins the crowd swelling            *      toward the boarding door --                                                   CUT TO:353   EXT. O'HARE - RUNWAY - DAY (STOCK)                               *      An Air Canada PLANE BLASTS skyward.354   NICO AND BRANCA      watch from an open corner of a parking lot. As the plane      begins its bank to gain altitude, Branca turns to Nico.      The two bodybuards keep a discreet watch nearby.                              BRANCA                You got the architect's drawings?                Wiring, floor plans --      Nico indicates a briefcase he is carrying.                              NICO                It's all here.      Nico turns to his uncle.    Regards him with affection.                              BRANCA                I could help you from here on.                              NICO                It's not your business.      Nico embraces his uncle by both shoulders.                              NICO                Grazie, tio caro.      Branca pats Nico's cheek.                              BRANCA                Take care of yourself, Nicola.                                                   CUT TO:355   SERIES OF SHOTS      SEVERAL SHOTS of high-rise cityscapes at night.                                                   DISSOLVE TO:       ABOVE THE LAW - Rev. 4/17/87                        94.356    OMITTED                                                       *thru                                                                 *360                                                                  *361    TELESCOPE POV - CHICAGO SKYLINE - NIGHT       CAMERA PANS TO the apartment complex across the plaza.       FOCUS ON one suite on the topmost floor. Curtains are drawn       on all windows, but through one crack we glimpse a man       pacing. The man wears a white shirt and a shoulder holster.362    RAISE TELESCOPE POV       TO the roof of the apartment complex. We see a heli-pad.       Two more men, also in suits -- smoking, talking.      ABOVE THE LAW - Rev. 4/17/87                             95.363   LOWER TELESCOPE POV      BACK TO the apartment suite. Now another man crosses before      the gap in the curtains. Wearing a cowboy hat: Zagon!      He's laughing, pouring himself a drink at the wet bar --364   EXT. ROOFTOP SKYSCRAPER - NIGHT                                *      Nico, looking through a high-tech night telescope. His         *      briefcase is by his feet, open. Several architect's            *      drawings, floor plans visible.365   NICO      lifts his eye from the scope, jots a note on a pocket pad.     *                                 VOICE (O.S.)                   Not even you can hit him at this range,                   Nico.      O.S. behind Nico: the unmistakable sound of a .45 SAFETY      being CLICKED OFF. Nico freezes, his back to the voice. He      raises his hands.                                 NICO                   That wasn't the plan, Nelson.366   NELSON FOX      covers Nico from behind with a silencer-fitted .45. He      glances to the briefcase and building plans, on the floor.                                 FOX                   Close range, huh? Never work. Place                   is rigged, scanned every 35 seconds.                                 NICO                          (back still turned)                   I was thinking of a mine on the roof.                   Remote-triggered, when the chopper                   comes in.                                 FOX                   Roof's wired too.   Sensors every                   fifteen feet.      Fox's finger rests ready on the trigger.                                 FOX                   You can turn now.   Slowly.   Slooowly...      Nico turns. We see Fox clearly now. His boyish features      have weathered since his "spook" days in Vietnam. There is      grey in his hair now: he wears an expensive suit and is      alone.       ABOVE THE LAW - Rev. 4/17/87                         96.                               FOX                 I figured you'd do your recon from this                 building.       Nico regards his old mate across the gun barrel.                               NICO                 You're looking fit, Nelson.                               FOX                 Getting a bit of a tire.                               NICO                        (indicates Fox's suit)                 Your own tailor?                               FOX                 Hong Kong.                               NICO                 You've gone a long way.       Fox motions for Nico to dump his gun; Nico complies, dropping       it gently into the briefcase. Nico takes half a step toward       Fox. Fox shakes his head in warning.                               FOX                 Uh uh.  Uhhh-uh...                        (motions Nico back)                 I know what you can do when you get too                 close to a man.367    CLOSEUP - NICO                                                  *                               NICO                                    *                 I don't believe you, Fox.                             *367A   INT. BUILDING CORRIDOR - NIGHT                                  *       Nico walks, hands behind his head. Fox is catty-corner be-    *       hind him, carrying the briefcase, .45 leveled at Nico's back. *                               FOX                 -- What's so hard to believe. I                 want to help you, you dumb guinea!                               NICO                 Fox the fixer.                               FOX                 If I wanted to cap you, I'd have saved                 myself this chit-chat. Make big points                 for me to bring in your scalp. I'd be                 White House material.                               NICO                 Is that what Zagon is?    One of your                 basement boys?ABOVE THE LAW - Rev. 4/17/87                96A.                       FOX         Zagon's a rancher. 4000 acres in         Costa Rica. Beautiful place.       ABOVE THE LAW - Rev. 4/17/87                         97.        *                               NICO                 Bought with what -- opium from Cambodia?                               FOX                 And a ton a week of coke from other                 places.                               NICO                 Which he funnels here through Salvano.                 With the Company getting its cut.                                 FOX                 Legal tender.                               NICO                 Still dodging appropriations                 committees, eh, Nelson?                               FOX                 That's my job, Nico.       They arrive at an elevator.                               FOX                 Keep your nose in the corner. When                 we get out, stay five paces ahead of                 me. Cross down to the garage.367B   INT. LOWER CORRIDOR       Nico and Fox emerge from the elevator. Nico lowers his hands       from behind his head. Fox keeps his gun out of sight as he       and Nico step past.368    ELEVATOR BANK - NIGHT       Fox maintains a slight distance behind Nico as they cross to-       ward some escalators under a sign: "TO PARKING LEVEL 8."                               NICO                 The Senator couldn't be bought, could                 he? He was gonna blow the lid off, so                 you cleared Zagon to frost him --                                 FOX                 Keep walking.369    INT. PARKING STRUCTURE       They reach a corner and turn.                                          97A.              NICOBut the priest found out somehow andran here. You couldn't do the Senator'snumber 'till you knew if the priest hadtalked. So Zagon flew in with hislittle medical bag. Only by then I wasin on it -- and you thought I mightrecognize his handiwork.      ABOVE THE LAW - Rev. 4/17/87                        98.370   PARKING GARAGE - VALET STATION                              *      Several guests and diners wait by the cashier's booth for      their cars to be fetched. Valets hustle with tickets. Fox      and Nico come off the escalator.                             FOX               If your name was Joe Smith I never               would have caught it. But how many               Nicola Toscani's are there?                             NICO               You got it off the arrest sheet.      Fox hands his ticket to the cashier, motions Nico to the      side, away from the guests, still keeping his distance --      should Nico try to make a move.                             FOX               I tried to warn you, old buddy. I knew               you had wiretaps. and I knew you               wouldn't let 'em go.                             NICO               Only I was too dumb to crack it. I was               so busy trying to figure a code, I               didn't even recognize Zagon's voice.      It's all crystal clear to Nico now.                             NICO               So we kill our own senators now.                              FOX               Why not?   The Romans did.      A Cadillac pulls up; the valet hops out, two particularly      florid, well-fed guests get in, tipping the valet.                             NICO                      (to Fox, watching the                       guests)               Are we the Romans?                             FOX               We're an empire too.      Fox doesn't like the look Nico gives him.                             FOX               Would you rather spoon borscht and               quote Lenin?                      (losing patience)               I'm trying to save you, asshole! I got               a spot for you. Thailand, deep under,               no names, no numbers --                                                     99.                       NICO         Doing what -- processing heroin?                       FOX         You 'consult.' You 'assist.' You send         checks to your family. Zagon won't         touch you, you'll be on the team --                       NICO         Fuck you.                       FOX         In five years you're out, with a fat         Swiss account and a GS-15 pension.Nico stares at his old friend with contempt. He sees thegun under Fox's coat, but he's too tired and too disgustedto care --                       NICO         You know, Fox, right now in Israel         they're trying some 80-year-old camp         guard for war crimes. And all around         our country there are guys on Death         Row for killing one person, two people.         And probably they all deserve it --He takes a step toward Fox.   Fox's hand tightens on his gun.                       NICO                (emotion rising)         -- but you and I know a couple guys         personally who are responsible for the         murder of at least what... 60,000 non-         military personnel.                (ticks off the beats)         Viet. Lao. Thai. Cambodian.         Librarians, teachers, doctors... women,         children... and that's just a sliver of         it.Fox tries to maintain a hard face.   But his own guiltyconscience is working --                       NICO                (presses closer)         We've wiped out entire fucking         countries. And not one agent --                       FOX                (moves gun into Nico's                 view)         Stop right there!      ABOVE THE LAW - Rev. 4/29/87                           100.                                NICO                         (doesn't stop)                  -- not one C.I.A. agent has ever been                  tried or convicted, much less accused                  of any crimes.                         (closer still)                  You motherfuckers think you're above                  the law --                         (right in Fox's face)                  Well, you ain't above mine.      Nico holds himself, trembling with intensity. At that      moment -- O.S. from the garage entrance ramp: the SQUEAL      of APPROACHING TIRES. Nico and Fox turn to see --*NOTE* 4-17-87. THE FOLLOWING SEQUENCE (SCENES 371 - 401) WILL BE       MODIFIED TO CONFORM TO LOCATION. DO NOT BUILD OR PURCHASE       WITHOUT CHECKING WITH STUNT COORDINATOR AND ASSISTANT       DIRECTORS. STORYBOARDS AND NEW PAGES WILL BE AVAILABLE NEXT       WEEK.371   A BIG CAR                                                      *      SCREECHES to a halt in front of them. Five men dismount        *      swiftly. Salvano, Bad Dude, and two agent types from the       *      tenement... and Zagon!                                         *      Zagon and his men are forty feet from Nico and Fox, playing      it cool so as not to alarm any innocent bystanders, but the      bulk under their jackets is unmistakably guns.                                  NICO                  Well... well.    What a team we have                  here.                                ZAGON                         (calls, friendly)                  We've been looking for you, Nelson.    I                  see you've found our friend.      Fox looks shaky, unnerved: Nico's words have hit too close      to home. Now Nico backs away a step, ready for anything.      One of Zagon's agents holds their car's rear door open.        *                                NICO                  Thanks for the help, Fox.                                FOX                  I didn't bring him, Nico.    I swear it!                                ZAGON                  Have you two been sharing fond memories?                  Reminiscing about the good old days?      Zagon waves Nico and Fox toward his car. Zagon and             *      Salvano start forward. Fox glances, torn, to Nico, who      has backed away another half-step. Will Nico attack?      Run for it?                                                    100A.                       FOX         Stay still!                (to Nico)         Don't fucking move!!Fox pulls his .45 from concealment, covering Nico. AnEVENING-GOWNED WOMAN, waiting with her husband for theircar, hears Fox's shout, sees his gun.                                                          101.                              EVENING GOWN WOMAN                       (grabs her husband's arm)                Jack --      The husband sees. So do the other guests. Salvano sees      their alarm; he swings his jacket open, revealing a snub      machine gun. Someone SCREAMS --                              ZAGON                Bring in our friend, Nelson.      Salvano's muzzle covers Fox and Nico --                              ZAGON                Be a good boy --372   FOX      His moment of truth.                               FOX                Dive, Nico!!      He FIRES -- at Salvano! In the same instant, Salvano pulls      his own trigger! Salvano's MACHINE GUN BURST cuts Fox down,      a milli-second before Fox's .45 SLUG BLOWS Salvano off his      feet! Pandemonium. Fox, dying, slings his .45 to Nico, who      snatches it from the ground just as a HAIL of MACHINE GUN      FIRE THUNDERS around him. Nico dives headlong behind a      concrete column, which is instantly chewed to shreds by      GUNFIRE. Zagon FIRES his MAC-10 on full automatic. A      second agent hurries forward to outflank Nico. Nico pops      from behind the column, DRILLS the agent broadside behind      the ear, blowing the whole side of his head off! Guests and      valets are shrieking in terror, hitting the deck in      clusters, clawing and scrambling over each other for safety.                               ZAGON                        (to first agent,                         advancing)                Move!      Nico springs from cover, FIRING, trying to bolt down the      garage ramp, toward the lower levels. His path puts the      first agent directly in Zagon's line of fire. Zagon doesn't      hesitate; he OPENS UP on Nico, cutting down his own man --      Salvano has gotten to his feet, wounded, but still handling      his gun. He  joins Zagon, rushing forward --373   RAMP TO LOWER LEVELS      A valet rounds a corner, unsuspecting, bringing up a car.      Nico is on him like a cat, tearing the poor boy from behind      the wheel, leaping in --       ABOVE THE LAW - Rev. 4/17/87                          102.374    ZAGON AND SALVANO       tear around the corner at the top of the ramp.    Both OPEN       FIRE as --375    NICO - IN CAR       highballs straight toward them!376    SALVANO       hold the trigger down, FULL AUTOMATIC --377    NICO'S CAR (MOVING)       Nico drops below the dash, driving blind. The WINDSHIELD is       BLOWN APART, both FRONT TIRES EXPLODE, the RADIATOR BLASTS       STEAM --378    ZAGON       Reloading as Salvano FIRES.379    NICO'S CAR       pinwheels out of control, its nose facing away from Salvano       and Zagon. The car BRAKES FURIOUSLY --380    NICO       hits reverse, looking back over the seat --381    NICO'S POV - THROUGH REAR CAR WINDOW       He sees Salvano, his clip empty now, hurrying to wrestle a       fresh magazine in --382    ANGLE - NICO'S CAR AND SALVANO       Nico floors it in reverse, slamming into Salvano, lifting       him off his feet, smashing him with the car into a metal      *       grate wall.                                                   *383    SALVANO       A horrible death.383A   EXT. PARKING STRUCTURE - NIGHT                                *       From the eighth floor the metal grate of the parking struc-   *       ture blows out onto the street below, followed by Salvano's   *       body.                                                         *384    NICO - BEHIND THE WHEEL       BURNING RUBBER FURIOUSLY, away from the wall --                                                          102A.385   ZAGON      Reloaded, turning his gun toward Nico, when --386   TWO UNIFORMED HOTEL SECURITY GUARDS      hurtle around the corner from the escalators, guns drawn.      ABOVE THE LAW - Rev. 4/29/87                          103.                                FIRST SECURITY GUARD                         (shouts to Zagon)                  You there --      Zagon spins, rips both guards with a FIERCE BURST!    The      Guards drop. Zagon turns to --387   NICO - OUT OF CAR      on his feet, charging straight at Zagon. Nico grabs him,      slams Zagon with incredible force into a concrete column.      Zagon's gun goes flying, but miraculously he spins away.      Nico dives for him, gets his neck in a grip that is certain      to snap it in half a second. But --388   ZAGON'S KNIFE      appears in the torturer's hand.    It slashes Nico, right a-      cross his already wounded ribs!    Nico cries in agony --389   ZAGON      scampers free. Nico gets to his feet, bleeding. Nico is      between Zagon and Zagon's machine gun on the ground. Zagon      bolts for his car. Nico dives for the gun --                      *390   CAR                                                               *      Zagon floors it into a SCORCHING 360, BLASTS up the exit      ramp, out of Nico's line of fire --391   NICO      leaps   into the other, half-destroyed car. Its two front      tires   are flat, windshield blown out, RADIATOR POURING STEAM.      Nico   does the only thing he can do: puts the pedal to the      metal   in reverse, BLASTS across the ramp divider, takes off      after   Zagon in reverse --392   ON RAMP - ZAGON'S CAR                                             *      Another car is coming down.    Zagon sideswipes it into a wall,      keeps going --393   ON RAMP - NICO'S WRECKED CAR      Rear TIRES CHURNING smoke, FRONT FLATS SCRAPING on their      rims... he pours on the speed --394   TOP OF RAMP - HOTEL ACCESS DRIVE      Zagon's car whips out into the night-time commotion.      Pedestrians, POLICE SIRENS O.S. Zagon looks behind him --395   NICO'S CAR - TOP OF RAMP      hurtles into view in reverse!      ABOVE THE LAW - Rev. 4/29/87                            104.396   ZAGON'S CAR                                                      *      is trapped   by the traffic. Zagon looks around wildly, then      floors the   accelerator. Zagon's car bucks straight up the      *      pedestrian   steps, onto the plaza! Strollers scream and      scatter as   it fishtails wildly, careening toward the           *      huge stone   fountain --397   NICO'S WRECKED CAR      Follows, pouring smoke, in reverse! Nico cuts Zagon off,      CRASHES into Zagon's car broadside, sending it skittering        *      sideways into the fountain retaining wall --398   ZAGON      leaps free, sprints toward the hotel alley.     Nico takes off      after him on foot --399   EXT. ALLEY - REAR OF HOTEL - NIGHT      Zagon races down the darkest of alleys, rounds a corner --400   NICO      hurtles after him, gaining.     Nico whips around the alley      corner, straight into:401   FOUR ARMED AGENTS      waiting beside a plain grey TV remote van. Nico skitters         *      to a stop as a shotgun, an M-16 and two pistols cover him.      Shotgun Agent raises his weapon to fire --                                  ZAGON                   No!   I want him! I want him alive!402   EXT. MIDLAND HOTEL - NIGHT                                       *      A banner reads:     WELCOME COMMITTEE FOR DEMOCRATIC POLICY      *403   EXT. ANOTHER ALLEY - BEHIND MIDLAND HOTEL - NIGHT                *      A car pulls up. Nico, his wrists tied, is dragged into the      basement of the hotel. Zagon follows.                                                    CUT TO:404   INT. BASEMENT ROOM - NIGHT      Sweating, windowless concrete. Overhead pipes. Churning      machinery. As the CAMERA REVEALS this airtight dungeon --                                 PISTOL AGENT (O.S.)                   -- this is bullshit, Zagon. We got                   work to do.      ABOVE THE LAW - Rev. 4/17/87                        105.                             ZAGON (O.S.)               All work and no play makes Jack a dull               boy.405   NICO      in a metal chair, wrists taped in front of him. One agent      stands behind him, clasping a thin cable noose wrapped      tight around Nico's throat. Shotgun agent holds his      weapon on him, its twin muzzles inches from Nico's skull.406   ZAGON      finishes washing his hands in an industrial-type sink. He      is cleaned up, wearing a fresh shirt, his hair combed.      When he dries his hands, he looks like a surgeon preparing      to operate.                             ZAGON               We've got an hour before the               honorable senator.                      (hands towel to                       pistol agent)               You've got to learn to take time,               smell the roses.      Zagon turns to Nico.                             NICO               How are you gonna do him, Zagon?               In a motorcade? Or passing               through a hotel kitchen?      The Noose agent jerks his cable tight, making Nico gag and      choke. Zagon motions to slacken off. He stops at a      small table before Nico -- unrolls a well-worn felt pouch.      Zagon watches Nico's reaction as the tools of the inter-      rogator's trade come into view -- drug vials, syringes,      scalpels, surgical tools.                             ZAGON               I've used these little beauties               many times to extract information --                      (lifts a needle to                       the light)               -- This'll be the first time I've               ever used them... just for fun.      Zagon sets the syringe down, slips on a heavy, weighted      glove.                             ZAGON                      (to agents)               Take his arms.      Pistol agent and Bad Dude move in, one on each side,         *      seizing Nico's forearms. Shotgun agent holds his weapon      tight to Nico's head.                                                          106.      Zagon punches Nico square in the face, so hard the chair      reels backward, spinning out from under Nico --                              ZAGON               Hold him up!      Pistol agent and Bad Dude lift Nico. Zagon slams him      again. Again. Nico's cheekbone is broken; blood drains      from his nose. Zagon aims a two-handed blow; backhands      Nico, crushing the other side of his face! Zagon backs      off, chest heaving. Pistol agent and Bad Dude plop Nico      back in the chair, gagging, choked by the noose. Nico      looks like the Viet prisoner -- the one we saw in the      opening sequence. Like the prisoner, Nico takes his      beating -- still conscious, still meeting Zagon's eyes      with defiance.                             ZAGON               This is where you came in, Toscani.               Only, now it's where you're gonna               check out.      He takes off his glove, grabs the syringe. Pistol agent      and Bad Dude clamp Nico's right arm down tight. Zagon      injects Nico.407   NICO      reacts instantly to the hypo -- cursing, sputtering under      the choking noose. He twists wildly trying to free him-      self, but the agents' powerful arms hold him.                             ZAGON               That's it. Fight it, cherry.               Fight it, so it speeds faster on               its way --      Nico struggles more violently.                             ZAGON               Fight it. Till the vessels burst               in your brain. Till the arteries               rupture in your heart --      Slowly, the struggle goes out of Nico. His muscles go      limp; he slumps -- drooling, babbling incoherently.                             ZAGON               That's my boy. That's what I was               waiting for --      Zagon produces his famous knife. He motions Pistol agent      and Bad Dude to release Nico's arms. Noose agent slackens      his grip on the choke cable. Zagon moves in closer,      gloating, cooing --                                                          107.                              ZAGON                A fool learns from his own                mistakes. But a wise man learns                from the mistakes of others --                       (moves closer, blade                        in hand)                You should have killed me when                you had the chance, Toscani --      The blade moves to Nico's throat. Suddenly: Nico springs      to life (catching Noose man by surprise and jerking the      cable from his grip) -- grabbing Zagon with his taped      hands by the throat, lifting him bodily, slamming him      ferociously into the wall! Zagon drops to the floor,      half-conscious. Nico spins instantly to find: the Shot-      gun agent right behind him, raising his weapon to Nico's      face, about to pull the trigger. Nico sidesteps, grabbing      the man's wrist. The SHOTGUN GOES OFF, missing Nico by      inches, blasting a huge chunk out of the concrete wall.      The Noose agent draws his weapon from his shoulder      holster. Nico snaps the Shotgun agent's wrist, flipping      him through the air, simultaneously grabbing the weapon,      spinning behind the Noose agent, then using the shotgun      barrel like a club to smash the back of his head in!      Another swing wipes out Pistol agent. Bad Dude, now with      a clear shot, aims his M-16. Nico blows him away with a      double-barreled SHOTGUN BLAST. In a flash, Nico has spun      to Zagon's surgical tool table, lifted a rzor-sharp      scalpel and slashed the tape, freeing his hands. He      yanks the choke cable off his neck --408   ZAGON - AGAINST WALL      On his feet again. He reaches swiftly to the floor,      snatches up his famous knife. Nico confronts him -- face      battered, bloody -- shaking, battling internal spasms.                              ZAGON                Can you feel the chemicals,                cherry? You can't fight 'em much                longer --                              NICO                Long enough to finish you.      Sweating, half-spitting, Zagon slashes at Nico like an      animal -- Nico traps the knife, and enters, smashes Zagon      in the face with one lightning blow. We see Zagon's nose      and face completely cave in. Nico comes under Zagon's      elbow, the arm that still holds the knife clamping it in      a vise-like grip and bending it backwards, slowly, against      the joint -- which now starts to rip in half. Zagon is      screaming and cursing, writhing in agony -- The drugs      have hit Nico full force now. He's weakening, his eyes      are starting to roll. Zagon tries one last surge of      strength to save himself; it almost seems he'll wriggle      free when: the elbow JOINT SNAPS in half with a sicken-      ing sound.       ABOVE THE LAW - Rev. 4/29/87                             108.       As the joint hangs, dangling grotesquely, Nico reaches up       around Zagon's neck, still holding the dangling limb with       one arm. He begins to now do to Zagon's neck what he did       to his arm. We hear a terminal CRACK. Zagon's body       crumples to the floor. Nico, in delirium, staggers       toward the door --409    INT. HOTEL LOBBY - REAR STAIRWELL - NIGHT       A woman at a pay phone.    She turns, drops the receiver       in shock as --410    NICO       bursts, delirious, from the stairwell door!411    MAIN LOBBY - FRONT ENTRANCE       A commotion as Lukich, Agent Neeley and Jackson, arm in a       *       sling, race in from their car.412    MAIN LOBBY - REAR - NICO       weaves wildly forward. He drops to his knees.     Guests       react in astonishment and horror.412A   JACKSON       is the first to spot Nico.    She runs up to him as he       collapses.412B   NICO       looks at Jackson.413    LUKICH AND NEELEY                                               *       reach Nico and Jackson.                               LUKICH                        (shouting for                         anyone)                 Is there a hotel doctor?    Call 911!      ABOVE THE LAW - Rev. 4/17/87                          108A.   *414   NICO      passes out in Jackson's arms. Behind them we see a banner,      announcing Senator Harrison's address. From the ballroom we      hear CHEERS and APPLAUSE. A fiery address is being finished      inside. The senator is now leaving.415   FULL SHOT - LOBBY      Total confusion. Guests staring everywhere. From a side      office, a man with a medical bag comes running. The senator      sees the group around Nico.                                                FADE OUT.      FADE IN ON:416   EXT. NICO'S HOUSE - DAY      Press vans outside; a crush of cars, reporters, neighbors.      Newsmen are trying to gain access to the house, held back      by several cops and some of Nico's more strapping      relatives.       ABOVE THE LAW - Rev. 4/29/87                              109.417    BUICK STATION WAGON       escorted by two police motorcycles, pulls in. The press       surrounds it as Lukich, Neeley, Lieutenant Strozah and           *       Jackson, her arm in a sling, disembark from the car.417A   SECOND CAR       pulls up. Neeley walks over and opens the door as a court        *       stenographer, carrying her transcription machine case, steps       out -- followed by a federal judge, CLAYTON ALSPAUGH and       SENATOR ERNEST HARRISON.418    REPORTERS       shove mikes and cameras at the senator and the judge, shouting       questions. Lukich, Neeley and Strozah clear a path for them. *419    ANGLE FROM INSIDE HOUSE - THROUGH FRONT WINDOW       Harrison and Alspaugh fend off the questions, cross the path       and mount the steps to the house.                                  T.V. REPORTER (O.S.)                           (in front of house)                    -- Senator Harrison has today                    issued a statement calling for the                    appointment of a special prosecutor --                                                       CUT TO:420    INT. NICO'S HOUSE - DAY       Nico, propped up on the couch, looking like hell, but de-       finitely conscious and in full command of his faculties.       Sara, Jackson, and Rosa beside him.                              *421    TV       A network ANCHOR delivers the headline news.                                  ANCHOR (V.O.)                    Earlier this week, the Harrison                    Commission delivered its report                    on the growing C.I.A. scandal to                    Congress...       The image changes to SENATOR HARRISON behind a battery of       microphones, sitting at a senate hearing-type table, with a       plaque reading "SEN. ERNEST HARRISON" before him.                                  SENATOR HARRISON (V.O.)                           (on TV)                    -- officially-sanctioned deceit,                    murder and corruption, will                    continue until these men are                    brought to justice.      ABOVE THE LAW - Rev. 4/17/87                        109A.422   NICO                                                        *      looks up as the real Senator Harrison, Judge Alspaugh and   *      the others enter the room. TV SOUND DOWN. Harrison stops      before Nico, taking a moment to look with respect and ad-      miration at the man propped up on the pillows.      ABOVE THE LAW - Rev. 4/29/87                            110.                                SENATOR HARRISON                  Detective Toscani. I wanted to personally                  thank you. You are making it possible for                  a sliver of truth to finally come out.      He holds out his hand.    Nico takes it.   The senator gestures      to Judge Alspauch.                                SENATOR HARRISON                  And this is Clayton Alspaugh of the                  fifth circuit court.                                NICO                  Your Honor.      The Judge nods to his stenographer, who swiftly sets up      her equipment, takes a seat. Rosa makes a face at Branca,      who rises, clearing a seat for the Judge. Sara moves              *      in tight beside Nico.                                JUDGE ALSPAUGH                  Are you sure you're feeling well                  enough?      Nico glances to Sara, to the supporting faces around              *      him. Lukich. Neeley. Strozah. Jackson. The others.                *                                NICO                         (to Alspaugh)                  If you're ready to listen, I'm                  ready to talk.423   CLOSE - STENOGRAPHER'S HANDS      As the Judge's VOICE begins OVER, "slating" the depo-      sitions, the stenographer's fingers start moving.      PULL BACK TO:424   ANGLE FROM OUTSIDE ROOM      The full scene. Nico telling his story.      Responsible      officials recording it --425   EXT. YARD OUTSIDE NICO'S HOUSE - DAY      The press corps, vans, neighbors -- CLOSING CREDITS BEGIN.426   LONG PULLBACK      to the street, the houses, and finally: the neighborhood.      Nico's neighborhood, to which the truth has finally come      home. CLOSING CREDITS CONTINUE OVER.      FADE OUT.                                 THE END THIS SCRIPT WAS PREPARED   BY WARNER BROS. INC.SCRIPT PROCESSING DEPARTMENT      (818) 954-4632
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+ABSOLUTE POWER      Written by    WILLIAM GOLDMAN  Based on the book by     DAVID BALDACCI    May 1996 Draft  FOR EDUCATIONAL   PURPOSES ONLY    FADE IN:1   INT. WASHINGTON MUSEUM - DAY                                   1    The saddest eyes you ever saw.    We are looking at an El Greco drawing.       It is a study for    one of his paintings.    PULL BACK TO REVEAL --    A bunch of art students are doing sketches of the eyes,    the elongated fingers, the slender hands El Greco drew so    brilliantly.    Most of the students are around 20.        A couple of suburban    housewives are there too.    And one older man.    This is LUTHER WHITNEY. Mid 60s, very fit, neatly    dressed. At quick glance, he seems as if he might be a    successful company executive.    As we watch him draw we can tell he is capable of great    concentration. And patient. With eyes that miss    nothing: He has pilot's eyes.    We'll find out more about him as time goes on, but this    is all you really have to know: Luther Whitney is the    hero of this piece. As we watch him draw --    Luther's sketchbook. He is finishing his work on the    eyes, and he's caught the sadness: It's good stuff.    Luther. It's not good enough for him.        He looks at his    work a moment, shakes his head.                                GIRL STUDENT               Don't give up.                                LUTHER               I never do.                                GIRL STUDENT               May I?    She's indicated his sketchbook.      He nods.   She starts    thumbing through.    The sketchbook as the pages turn.    Detail work. Eyes and hands. The eyes are good.         The    hands are better. Very skillful.                                                     (CONTINUED))B(   ABSOLUTE POWER - Rev. 5/16/96                         2.1     CONTINUED:                                                    1      The GIRL hands it back.    Impressed.                                 GIRL STUDENT                   You work with your hands, don't                   you?      CLOSEUP - LUTHER                                                  *      An enigmatic smile.    Now, from that --2     EXT. RED'S BAR - DAY                                          2      A nice working class part of town. Nothing fancy here      but there's a pleasant feel. The streets are clean, the      houses neat and well tended.      Luther, carrying his sketchbook, walks along. It's      afternoon now. Up ahead is a local bar: RED'S.3     INT. RED'S BAR - DAY                                       3      Luther walks in. Nothing fancy here. Strictly working      class. And relatively empty. An overweight bald man      Luther's age works behind the bar. This is RED. They      are good enough friends not to ask each other questions.                               LUTHER                       (as they nod to                         each other)                Redhead.                                RED                Luther.                       (as Luther hands                        him a videotape)                Your life would be a whole lot                simpler if you could learn to                operate a V.C.R.                              LUTHER                My only failing.      As he turns --4     EXT. NEIGHBORHOOD - LUTHER'S HOUSE - DAY                   4      A street of   small row houses. Clean, well tended.      Luther walks   toward one. Later in the afternoon. He      carries half   a dozen small shopping bags, from the      market, the   hardware store, the drug store, the cleaners.                                                            3.5   EXT. LUTHER'S HOUSE - DAY                                    5    A terra cotta planter to the right of the front door.    Luther shifts his packages, tilts the planter slightly,    bends down, pulls out a key, inserts it in the front    door.6   INT. LUTHER'S HOUSE - KITCHEN - DAY                          6    as he enters. Neat, tidy. A Cuisinart, a cheese slicer,    lots of other nice equipment. As he begins putting food    away --7   INT. LUTHER'S HOUSE - DINING AREA - NIGHT                    7    Evening now. Table set for one. A single candle.    Beside the candle is Luther's sketch pad. Now Luther    himself moves INTO VIEW, carrying a tray. He puts it    down.    A gorgeous omelet is on a fine china plate, parsley    sprinkled neatly on top. An elegant green salad is on    another plate, covered with thinly sliced parmesan    cheese. An expensive water pitcher, a lovely glass.    Clearly, a great deal of thought has gone into dinner.    Luther lights the single candle. We are now aware of a    photograph nearby. The picture is old. A pretty little    girl stands in the center, smiling. Her mother stands    alongside, smiling too. A man is with them, looking at    them happily. It's Luther. When he was young.    Luther studies the photo a moment.    Then he turns, looks    out the window.8   POV SHOT - SLIVER OF MOON                                    8    is visible.     Lovely.   Peaceful.9   LUTHER                                                       9    Now Luther opens the sketch pad, quickly flips past the    hands and eyes and faces --    -- we are looking at something totally different:   a    mansion.    HOLD ON Luther's drawing of the mansion.    KEEP HOLDING.    PULL BACK to reveal --                                                               4.10   EXT. SULLIVAN MANSION - NIGHT                                  10     In the moonlight -- it looks exactly like his drawing.     But no drawing could convey the size of the place -- we     are looking at ten thousand square feet. Wealth and     power.     We're in rolling hill country.     The mansion is dark.     Totally deserted. Silence.     Now a sound - TIRES ON GRAVEL. A car comes rolling INTO     VIEW. The motor of the car has been turned off. The     lights of the car have been turned off. The car slides     to a stop. Again, silence...     HOLD ON mansion, a couple of hundred yards away.     There     is a small field between the car and the estate.     Now --11   EXT. SULLIVAN MANSION/INT. LUTHER'S CAR - NIGHT                11     A man holds binoculars, studying the place. He wears     dark clothes, tennis shoes. He puts down the binoculars,     begins to smear his face with black camouflage cream --     -- it's Luther, and he's been a  professional thief his     entire life. He's a three-time   loser, but his last     sentence was so long ago and his  skills are now so vast,     so refined, that it is unlikely  he will ever get caught     again.12   EXT. SULLIVAN MANSION - GROUNDS - NIGHT                        12     The grounds as Luther glides through it.     He wears a     backpack.     The night is cool.     He stops. All that separates him from the mansion now is     a stretch of gorgeous lawn. Except for Luther, it isn't     gorgeous -- it's no-man's land.     One final check of his surroundings -- then he sets off,     in graceful motion, long strides eating up the ground.     He makes no sound at all.13   EXT. SULLIVAN MANSION - FRONT DOOR - NIGHT                     13     Thick wood with reinforced steel.     Luther stops by the door, takes off his backpack, opens     it. He puts on plastic gloves that have a special layer     of padding at the fingertips and palms. Now he takes a     key, inserts it in the front door, turns it, and the     instant he pushes the door open -- ZOOM TO:                                                             5.14   INT. SULLIVAN MANSION - FOYER - NIGHT                        14     The infrared SECURITY DETECTOR -- it immediately starts     to BEEP and you can see the seconds being counted down:     forty, thirty-nine, thirty --                                                CUT TO:15   LUTHER                                                       15     -- in his hands now is an automatic screwdriver, no more     than six inches long --     -- he sets to work on the security panel that is inside     in the foyer next to the front door.     The screwdriver undoes the first screw, the second --                                                CUT TO:16   SECURITY DETECTOR                                            16     Thirty-one, thirty, twenty --                                                CUT TO:17   SCREWDRIVER                                                  17     Now the third and fourth screws are in hands and he lifts     the security panel away.     The BEEPING sound is constant --     -- and getting louder.     A tiny device, no bigger than a pocket calculator. It     has two wires protruding from it. It is, we are about to     find out, a tiny computer. Luther holds it like a baby.                                                CUT TO:18   SECURITY DETECTOR                                            18     Eighteen, seventeen --                                                CUT TO:19   LUTHER                                                       19     probing with the wires into the heart of the security     panel.                                                (CONTINUED)                                                           6.19   CONTINUED:                                                 19     The BEEPING is LOUDER still.     The security panel. Luther is attempting delicate work     and it's dark so it isn't easy but he continues to probe     with the wires and --                                                CUT TO:20   SECURITY DETECTOR                                          20     Eleven, ten --                                                CUT TO:21   LUTHER                                                     21     and he's got it attached!22   COMPUTER                                                   22     Now the face of the tiny computer is alive with numbers     -- they fly by much too fast for us to make them out     clearly.                                                CUT TO:23   SECURITY DETECTOR                                          23     Four, three, two --                                                CUT TO:24   FACE OF TINY COMPUTER                                      24     as five numbers lock -- 7 -- 13 -- 19 -- 8 -- 11 --     The BEEPING sound dies.                                                CUT TO:25   LUTHER                                                     25     A glance across the foyer -- the lights of the security     detector go from red to a warm looking green.     Safe.                                                (CONTINUED)                                                              7.25    CONTINUED:                                                   25      He allows himself to exhale. Then he's busy again,      unhooking the computer. His fingers, as always, work      quickly, precisely.25A   INT. SULLIVAN MANSION - FOYER - NIGHT                        25A      The foyer as Luther, once again carrying his backpack,      moves across it. Behind him, the front door is again      shut, the security panel back on, screws all in place.      It's as if he hadn't been there at all...26    INT. SULLIVAN MANSION - STAIRCASE - NIGHT                    26      Luther walks quickly up -- and here we get a sense of the      vast size of the place -- it feels bigger inside than it      looked in the moonlight.      A Van Gogh at the head of the stairs. Luther moves past      it, then stops, goes back, studies the painting. It's a      late one, when the madness had him and things were      sliding away. Very sad.      Luther looks at it admiringly for another moment --      -- then surprisingly he raises his hand,  and for just an      instant traces the lines of the painting  in the air, as      if trying to figure out how the magic was  done, as if      getting ready for his next museum session  --      -- then almost grudgingly, he moves on, up toward the      third floor.27    INT. SULLIVAN MANSION - THIRD-FLOOR LANDING - NIGHT          27      Here's a Hopper. One of the great ones, filled with an      overpowering sense of being alone --      -- Luther stares at it almost in awe, whispers "wow,"      moves on.28    INT. SULLIVAN MANSION - HALLWAY - NIGHT                      28      Luther, walking down the third-floor corridor.      The corridor walls. No paintings here -- instead we see      a series of framed photographs. The first is of a baby      girl, the next one of the same child at three.      We watch the child grow up in these photos.    At ten she      is already pretty. At fifteen a stunner.                                                    (CONTINUED))B(   ABSOLUTE POWER - Rev. 5/16/96                          8.28    CONTINUED:                                                  28      Not a classic beauty by any means, she is turning into,      if you will a latter-day Ann-Margret. The kind of girl      you ached for in high school. The perfect cheerleader.      These are pictures, we will come to know, of Christy      Sullivan. A high school graduation shot at eighteen, a      shot in front of a Burger King at twenty.      CLOSEUP - WEDDING PHOTOGRAPH                                     *      Christy, looking just fabulous, is 24 and smiling      happily. We can only see her face and the wedding veil      here. Now --      PULL BACK to reveal --      A glorious and expensive white wedding dress.    Christy      holds a bouquet of flowers. Breathtaking.      KEEP PULLING BACK.      And now we can see the groom. Walter Sullivan. Walter      is smiling too, one arm proudly around his lovely bride.      Walter, it might be noted, is eighty years old.      Luther, staring at the photo, shakes his head.    Now he      moves on.29    INT. SULLIVAN MANSION - MASTER BEDROOM - NIGHT              29      Luther opens the DOOR. It SQUEAKS. He goes inside,      closes the door firmly. Next, he puts his backpack down,      takes out a low-power non-glare work light, sets it up.      Now he looks around. A huge room, a gigantic canopied      bed.      A nightstand alongside, which contains a small silver      clock, three Danielle Steel novels piled neatly one atop      the other, several more photos of the happy couple --      -- and an antique silver-plated letter opener with a      thick leather handle.      Luther. He studies himself in front of a very large      full-length mirror across from the canopied bed.      Now we realize something -- he isn't studying himself,      he's studying the mirror itself.      He turns, goes to the sitting area where there are chairs      and a sofa and a large TV and VCR.                                                 (CONTINUED)                                                             9.29   CONTINUED:                                                   29     Three remotes on a side table. Luther carefully picks up     the middle one, crosses the room with it, points it at     the large mirror, clicks once --     -- and the mirror swings silently open.     A room is revealed. All we can see of it so far is this:     There is an armchair in the middle facing where the     mirror had been.     Luther turns back toward the sitting area, the remote     held in his hand.     The side table. Luther puts the remote down -- very     carefully. In the exact position it had been. Now he     takes a moment, blows on his hands, rubs them together.     Then -- Luther takes a collapsible duffel bag out of his     backpack, moves with the work light into the revealed     room --30   INT. SULLIVAN MASTER BEDROOM - VAULT - NIGHT                 30     It's a vault! And it's FULL! There's cash, naturally,     piles of the stuff. Plus all kinds of other valuables     we'll get around to.     Luther's a little stunned -- it's more than he hoped for.     He glances at the armchair -- there is a remote on it     that is identical to the one he replaced at the side     table.     Now he opens his duffel all the way and sets to work.     First the cash goes in -- all neatly bundled. Large     denominations. Lots of bundles. Next are a series of     slender boxes --     The first box as Luther opens it.     Jewelry.     Into the duffel it goes.     Luther, emptying more jewelry boxes into the duffel.    And     still more. As he continues to do this --31   INT. SULLIVAN MASTER BEDROOM - NIGHT                         31     All is quiet. High on a wall, the security light beams a     friendly green.     Now, from somewhere, a distant sound.   LAUGHTER?   Was it     laughter? Doesn't matter, it's gone.)B(   ABSOLUTE POWER - Rev. 5/16/96                             10.32    INT. SULLIVAN VAULT - NIGHT                                     32      Luther has moved deeper into it -- he's finished with the      jewelry. Now he's examining piles of bonds.      Into the duffel they go.      He takes a breath, glances around.    Perfect.      Coins.   Antique ones.   They disappear into the duffel.      Stamp books.   Gone into the swelling duffel.      Luther as he hears now the DISTANT LAUGHTER.     Not so      perfect.33    INT. MASTER BEDROOM - NIGHT                                     33   *      He moves quickly out of the vault, takes a step toward      the door -- the GIGGLING is getting LOUDER, closer. Two      people. A man and a woman.      Luther stops, mutters "shit!" -- glances around -- No      place to hide. Luther, grabbing his backpack, moves into      the vault, turns off his work light, and shuts the door      with the remote. The DOOR CLICKS --34    INT. SULLIVAN VAULT - NIGHT                                     34      -- Luther is alone in the darkness.      A burst of LAUGHTER now.    Growing nearer still.      Luther moves into the back of the vault, crouches down,      doing his best to hide behind the armchair. Trapped,      Luther waits in silence, trying not to breathe...      Now he can hear a SQUEAK -- the BEDROOM DOOR has opened.      HOLD.35    INT. SULLIVAN MASTER BEDROOM - NIGHT                            35      Dark -- except for a slant of light from the hall outside      the open bedroom door.      Two people are briefly visible as they enter, a MAN and a      WOMAN. The CLINK of GLASS. Stifled LAUGHTER.      The Woman closes the bedroom door.      Darkness again.      And now the LAUGHING sound increases.    GIGGLING, really.                                                           11.36   INT. SULLIVAN VAULT - NIGHT                                  36     Luther in the pitch-black vault. The GIGGLING is MUTED     but it is there. He is starting to perspire.37   INT. SULLIVAN MASTER BEDROOM - NIGHT                         37     The woman flicks on the lights and as she does --38   INT. SULLIVAN VAULT - NIGHT                                  38     Luther as the burst of light hits him like a fist -- and     it's over.     Luther blinks, confused, looks around --     -- because it isn't over, he hasn't been caught.     The door to the vault is suddenly gone. Luther is     staring straight into the goddamn bedroom.     Because the door is a two way mirror. Now it's as if he     was watching the bedroom on a giant TV screen.     Just a few feet away, just outside the door.     Where things are clearly starting to heat up.     Luther moves to the armchair, sits.    There is nothing to     do now but wait. He settles in.39   INT. SULLIVAN MASTER BEDROOM - NIGHT                         39     They are staring at each other.     We have seen the woman already -- she's CHRISTY SULLIVAN.     But the pictures in the corridor did not do her justice.     This is a fabulous-looking twenty-five-year-old woman.     Long, golden hair, a round face that sets off her deep     blue eyes, a tanned, curving body. A bare-shouldered     black dress. An expensive necklace.     One more thing:   she is staggering drunk.     The man is ALAN RICHMOND, wealthy, successful, handsome     and fit. Mid-forties. He wears an elegantly-cut suit.     Two additional points: (1) Richmond is clearly not the     husband in the wedding photo. (2) He is drunker than she     is.                                                  (CONTINUED)                                                                12.39   CONTINUED:                                                       39     Richmond carries a vodka bottle and two tumblers.     He     fills them, gives one to her.     They touch glasses.    Down the hatch.   Tight laughter.     He looks at her.     She looks at him.    There's a lot of sexual tension in the     air.     But now he begins looking around, checking things out.     She spots this.                                 CHRISTY                         (drunk)                  It's okay -- I told him I was                  sick -- anyway, he's gone --                  relax...     He nods then, more at ease.    And he blows her a kiss.     She catches it -- and now she starts to parade for him.     Her body moving very slowly.     He pours himself another shot, chugs it, watches.     Now --40   INT. SULLIVAN VAULT - NIGHT                                      40     Luther suddenly terrified and we find out why.41   INT. SULLIVAN MASTER BEDROOM - NIGHT                             41     Christy, fumbling with her necklace, looks across the     room --     What she's looking at:     the side table with the remote     that opens the vault.42   INT. SULLIVAN VAULT - NIGHT                                      42     Luther, frozen, as Christy starts toward the table.43   INT. SULLIVAN MASTER BEDROOM - NIGHT                             43     The table and the remote waiting there.44   INT. SULLIVAN VAULT - NIGHT                                      44     Luther, mouth dry...)B(   ABSOLUTE POWER - Rev. 5/16/96                          13.45    INT. SULLIVAN MASTER BEDROOM - NIGHT                         45      Richmond, reaching out for her, then as she passes him;      he takes her by the hand --      -- and now they are dancing, their bodies pressed      together. They move slowly. She hums. He tries to get      fancy, spin her with one arm --      -- no good. They're too drunk for it, starts to lose      balance, separate.      They giggle. Smile at each other. Now Christy manages      to unhook her necklace, and as she starts to drop it in           *      the drawer of the nightstand --                                   *46    INT. SULLIVAN VAULT - NIGHT                                  46      Luther.   A genuine sigh of relief --      -- which suddenly dies --47    INT. SULLIVAN MASTER BEDROOM - NIGHT                         47      Christy, as she spins toward the table again, still with      the necklace in her hand.48    INT. SULLIVAN VAULT - NIGHT                                  48      Luther, and there's nothing he can do now but watch.49    INT. SULLIVAN MASTER BEDROOM - NIGHT                         49      Richmond, watching too, emptying the vodka bottle into      his tumbler, chugging it down and now...      The table as Christy reaches out, grabs a remote, turns.50    INT. SULLIVAN VAULT - NIGHT                                  50      Luther dead in the water because --51    CHRISTY'S                                                    51      pointing the goddam thing at him --      -- and as she CLICKS it --)B(   ABSOLUTE POWER - Rev. 5/16/96                        14.52    INT. SULLIVAN VAULT - NIGHT                                52      Luther, and for a moment, he's like a goddam deer caught      in the headlights --      -- but now here comes another sigh of relief and we find      out why.53    INT. SULLIVAN MASTER BEDROOM - NIGHT                       53      Suddenly there's ROMANTIC MUSIC PLAYING -- she's turned      the STEREO ON. Christy starts humming, replaces the      clicker, drops the necklace in the drawer.                      *      Then they are into each other's arms. Their bodies      press. Their bodies sway. He moves a hand to her      breasts --      -- Christy breaks loose, shakes a finger at him, as if to      say, "naughty, naughty" --      -- then with one hand, she pulls a zipper down. The      dress falls off her body. Her breasts spring free. She      is wearing only her panties now and high heels. And a      smile.      She is stunning looking and she knows it and men have      always gone nuts over her and she knows that too. And      Richmond can't resist her either, goes to her, bends her      back, caresses her neck, begins sucking her nipples.      Christy moans.54    INT. SULLIVAN VAULT - NIGHT                                54      Luther, in the chair, embarrassed, averting his eyes.      But the MOANING from the other room GROWS LOUDER, more      insistent.55    INT. SULLIVAN MASTER BEDROOM - NIGHT                       55      Christy, pulling away for a moment, starting to work at      Richmond's tie, shakes him out of his suit jacket,      reaches for his belt, loosens it. She is working at his      shirt buttons now and their breathing is audible and in a      moment he is down to his boxer shorts and then her      panties are off, her shoes kicked away and they are near      the vault mirror now. As they approach it, they stare at      themselves.56    INT. SULLIVAN VAULT - NIGHT                                56      Luther, moving farther back in his chair as their faces      are just a couple of feet away --)B(   ABSOLUTE POWER - Rev. 5/16/96                         15.57    INT. SULLIVAN MASTER BEDROOM - CLOSEUP - CHRISTY - NIGHT 57      as Richmond's hands move across her wondrous body and she      is hot and drifting into drunken fantasy and her eyes      close and --      CLOSE ON RICHMOND                                                *      as his eyes are open --      -- the look on his drunken face is scary.58    INT. SULLIVAN VAULT - NIGHT                                 58      Luther, transfixed by that look, transfixed and worried.59    INT. SULLIVAN MASTER BEDROOM - CHRISTY AND RICHMOND         59      IN CLOSEUP - NIGHT      looking at each other now, and she is smiling happily and      looking at him and he is smiling happily and looking at      her, and whatever was on his face just before has gone.60    INT. SULLIVAN VAULT - NIGHT                                 60      Luther, watching as they turn for the gigantic canopied      bed.61    INT. SULLIVAN MASTER BEDROOM - NIGHT                        61      The bed as they stop alongside it and kiss -- it's their      first. And her arms go around his neck and she holds him      like that, her eyes shut tight --62    INT. SULLIVAN VAULT - NIGHT                                 62      Luther -- watching because Richmond's eyes are not shut,      they are wide open and they stare at the mirror and the      awful look from before is back, only worse, and then      without warning, he grips her buttocks roughly --      -- and slaps her hard on the ass, over and over and      Christy is shocked, surprised, pulls away. Richmond      smiles at her sweetly.      Christy.   Shaking her head.      Richmond. He continues to smile, makes a courtly      gesture, kissing her fingertips in apology.                                                  (CONTINUED)                                                              16.62   CONTINUED:                                                     62     Christy. She smiles in acknowledgement and they move     onto the bed. She pushes him down and straddles him.     Richmond, from her POINT OF VIEW -- a wonderfully-     handsome man.     Christy, from his POINT OF VIEW. A glorious, vibrant     young woman. She smiles, touches her lips to a finger,     reaches out, touches the finger to his mouth.     It's a sweet moment.     They smile.     Then he reaches up, and without a word, grabs her breasts     and squeezes and twists them brutally and Christy is     shocked and she tries to make him stop but he won't, and     she cries out in pain but he still won't stop so she     slaps him in the face. He slaps her back, viciously,     right in the mouth and now there is blood mixing with her     lipstick and she rolls off the bed onto the floor.     Christy sits there stunned.                             CHRISTY                      (slurred)               You fucking bastard.     And on that --     Richmond, standing now, reaches down to help her up.     Christy hesitates, finally takes his hand and as soon as     she is on her feet --     Christy, kicking him with all she has, in the stomach.63   INT. SULLIVAN VAULT - NIGHT                                    63     Luther, silently applauding.64   INT. SULLIVAN MASTER BEDROOM - NIGHT                           64     Richmond, the air momentarily out of him,  falling     drunkenly to the floor, stunned for just  a moment and     clearly in pain, but he is a big man and  he is strong and     he grabs her ankle, yanks, and then both  are laboring on     the floor and Christy kicks him again and  again --     -- but he will not release her ankle.   Each kick only     inflames his drunken rage.                                                 (CONTINUED)                                                               17.64   CONTINUED:                                                      64                                RICHMOND                         (very slurred --)                  You little whore --     And now they both try and stand.     Neither one does it gracefully, neither one does it     quickly, but Richmond gets there first and as soon as he     is on his feet he begins to strangle her.     Christy, gasping, terrified, she claws at his arms, her     fingers scratching deeply --     -- but he will not let go.     She twists and jerks her body --     -- no good -- he continues to tighten his grip on her     throat --     -- and spreads his legs for better balance.     The bed table, as Christy, beyond desperation reaches     around for something, anything -- her fingers finally     close on the letter opener and in one wild stroke, she     slashes his right arm.     Now he lets go.    And stares, stunned, at his bleeding     arm.     Then he crunches her flush in the   mouth, a brutal blow,     and blood pours from her nose and   mouth and if she     weren't so scared, maybe it would   have stopped her, but     it doesn't -- because somehow she   manages to maintain     balance --     -- and knees him all she has, in the nuts.     It's over -- Richmond falls to the floor, helpless.       He     lies on his back, holding his crotch.     But it isn't over. Christy, blood pouring down her face,     stands over him, the letter opener still tight in her     hand.     And in her eyes you can see it, the homicidal rage --     -- and she drops to her knees beside him --     -- and Richmond can only lie there, watching her --     -- and she gets a better grip on the letter opener --     -- and Richmond still only lies there, watching her --                                                   (CONTINUED)                                                             18.64   CONTINUED:   (2)                                              64     -- and she raises the letter opener slowly very high     above her head, the point aimed at his heart --     -- and Richmond screams one time --     -- and as Christy starts to kill him, two well-dressed     men in business suits burst through the bedroom doorway,     GUNS in their hands, and they BLOW HER BRAINS OUT before     the opener reaches Richmond's heart...65   INT. SULLIVAN VAULT - NIGHT                                   65     Luther, in SLOW MOTION and this is what he does --     -- he reels back in the chair, eyes wide, jaw slack,     mouth open --     -- this is a man who has seen everything but nothing has     prepared him for this --     -- his arms flop over the arms of the chair, his body     loses strength, he tries to look away, can't --     -- and this is what he sees --66   INT. SULLIVAN MASTER BEDROOM - NIGHT                          66     Christy, fighting for another instant of life --     -- no chance --     -- the two bullets have shattered her brain, her eyes     roll up into her head, the letter opener drops to the     rug, she collapses like a rag doll --     -- and blood is everywhere.67   INT. SULLIVAN VAULT - NIGHT                                   67     Luther. Back in regular motion now.    Pale, barely able     to breathe.68   INT. SULLIVAN MASTER BEDROOM - NIGHT                          68     The two well-dressed men in business suits.     BILL BURTON is the more formidable. Mid-40s, he looks     like a retired tight end. No body fat. Intimidating.     But right now he is shaking and he can't stop it. He     puts his gun away, goes to Richmond.                                                   (CONTINUED)                                                           19.68   CONTINUED:                                                   68     TIM COLLIN is closing in on 30. Handsome. In wonderful     shape. Burton is more physical, Collin more lethal. He     puts his gun away, goes to Christy.     Richmond is trying to sit. He is as drunk as before but     now he is also close to shock. He reaches over, manages     to pick up the bloody letter opener.                                RICHMOND                  Kill her?     Collin, by the body, nods.                                BURTON                  No choice in the matter.     His words are efficient but clearly, he has been rocked.     Richmond, staring stupidly at the letter opener. He     drops it back to the floor, tries to stand, can't.     Burton helps him back to the bed. Which is when he     passes out cold.     Burton and Collin look at each other now.                                BURTON                  Jesus, Tim, what did we do?                                COLLIN                         (echoing Burton)                  No choice in the matter.69   INT. SULLIVAN VAULT - NIGHT                                  69     Luther, staring at it all. The shock is still there but     so is something new: anger. And on that --70   INT. SULLIVAN MASTER BEDROOM - NIGHT                         70     GLORIA RUSSELL moving through the bedroom door.     Russell's 40, well-dressed, attractive and very smart.     Now she sees what's happened, stops dead.     Now she moves forward, looks at Burton and Collin.    It's     very clear from the outset: these three are not     friendly.                                                 (CONTINUED))B(   ABSOLUTE POWER - Rev. 5/16/96                         20.70    CONTINUED:                                                  70                                 RUSSELL                          (to Burton and Collin)                   Do you realize what a shitstorm                   we're in?                          (beat)                   Go on -- tell me.                                 COLLIN                   Nothing to tell. He screamed.                                 RUSSELL                   And you heard no sounds of                   violence 'til then?                                 BURTON                          (beat)                   Nothing we haven't heard before.      Richmond, on the bed, out. Russell studies his face as      Burton moves toward the telephone.                              BURTON                Maybe I should call the police                now.      CLOSEUP - RUSSELL                                                *                                 RUSSELL                          (soft)                Bill?     Why don't you think about                that?                       (beat -- starting to                        move toward him)                Take a second and just think about                that.                       (closing in on Burton,                        furious)                Think... real... fucking... hard.      BURTON                                                           *      He is strong enough to snap her neck with one hand.                              BURTON                       (backing away)                Probably not a good idea.                              RUSSELL                       (taking charge)                Okay -- here's what happened                tonight -- poor Christy came home                alone and interrupted a burglary.                That sound logical?                                                             21.71   INT. SULLIVAN VAULT - NIGHT                                   71     Luther in the closet.    He nods.72   INT. SULLIVAN MASTER BEDROOM - NIGHT                          72     Burton and Collin nod, too.                             RUSSELL               We're going to have to sanitize               this place.                      (shaking Richmond)               Alan, did you have sex with her?     Richmond, eyes barely open.                             RICHMOND               ... Don'... 'member...                             RUSSELL               Bill, you're going to have to               examine her.                             BURTON               I'm no gynecologist.                             RUSSELL                      (she takes nothing                       from nobody)               I just made you one.     End of discussion.73   INT. SULLIVAN MASTER BEDROOM - NIGHT (LATER)                  73     A clock on the side table beside the three clickers.     There is the sound of a VACUUM -- it's later now.     The place is incredibly changed. Christy is lying as     before -- except now she is fully dressed. The bed has     been made with clean sheets. There is a large black     garbage bag that Collin shoves the sheets in, dumps in     Christy's jewelry. Burton is VACUUMING the rug.     Richmond is visible, still in terrible shape, finishing     putting his clothes on in the open master bedroom.     Everyone wears gloves.     Everything that is incriminating is gone --                                                   (CONTINUED)                                                            22.73   CONTINUED:                                                   73     -- except the letter opener, which has been put in a     clear plastic bag. Collin reaches for it, starts to dump     it in along with the sheets and the jewelry.                                RUSSELL                  I'll take that.                             COLLIN                      (surprised)               It's got their prints on it.                             RUSSELL                      (she holds out her                       hand)               Thanks for sharing.     Collin glances at Burton, shrugs, hands it over. Russell     puts it in her handbag, puts the handbag on the bed table     when suddenly --     Richmond, careening into the room, wide-eyed, crying     out --                             RICHMOND               Gloria -- I killed her --     Russell, turning, shocked as Richmond bears down --     -- she holds out her arms for him, but he is staggering     and he collides hard with her, spins against the wall,     uses the bed table to try to steady himself.74   INT. SULLIVAN VAULT - NIGHT                                  74     Luther, stunned, staring.75   INT. SULLIVAN MASTER BEDROOM - NIGHT                         75     What he's staring at: the letter opener has spilled from     her open purse and fallen behind the bed, out of sight.     Russell, calm, going to Richmond, starting to lead him     from the room --                             RUSSELL               It's all going to be fine, Alan.                             RICHMOND               ... But she's dead...                                                  (CONTINUED)                                                            23.75   CONTINUED:                                                   75                             RUSSELL               ... I'll take care of everything               just like I always do.                      (to Burton and Collin)               Gentlemen?     She gestures to leave.     Burton and Collin finish up -- Collin grabs the large     plastic bag. Burton glances around one final time and     backs toward the door, vacuuming carefully. Then --     Collin stops dead.   He stares across at the bed table.76   INT. SULLIVAN VAULT - NIGHT                                  76     Luther, holding his breath.77   INT. SULLIVAN MASTER BEDROOM - BURTON AND COLLIN - NIGHT 77                              COLLIN               Shit.                              BURTON               What?     In reply, Collin dashes back toward the bed table, grabs     Russell's purse, snaps it shut, tucks it under one arm     and leaves.     Burton flicks the light out, closes the door.     The room is lit by moonlight now. Christy looks     beautiful and still. HOLD for a moment.78   EXT. MANSION - FRONT DOOR - NIGHT                            78     It's open and Russell leads a staggering Richmond     outside. Two dark Towncars are parked in the driveway.     Burton is behind them, turning off all lights. Collin is     last, with Russell's purse, the garbage bag. As he     follows them outside, he closes the front door firmly --     it makes a loud, solid sound.79   INT. SULLIVAN VAULT - LUTHER - NIGHT                         79     The sound is barely audible.   He has been looking at his     watch --                                                  (CONTINUED)                                                           24.79   CONTINUED:                                                  79     The watch face is illuminated in the darkness. The     second hand is fifteen seconds away from the top.     Luther takes a deep breath, waits in silence.     The WATCH face:   the sound is loud, like "60 Minutes."80   EXT. SULLIVAN MANSION - DRIVEWAY - NIGHT                    80     Burton and Russell moving with Richmond toward one of the     cars. Burton takes the man in his arms, leaving Russell     free to open the back door.     Collin dumps the plastic bag into the trunk, shuts it,     moves quickly so that he can get a decent view of the     road.     The road in front of the house. Empty. Collin hurries     to the Towncar where Burton is struggling to get Richmond     comfortably stretched out on the back seat.81   INT. SULLIVAN VAULT - NIGHT                                 81     The second hand on Luther's watch hits the top and he     moves into action.     -- He points the clicker at the door --     -- the door starts to swing open --     -- Luther, backpack in hand, strides quickly into the     bedroom, turns, points the clicker again and as the door     starts to swing shut -- Luther carefully tosses the     clicker back inside.82   INT. SULLIVAN VAULT - ARMCHAIR - NIGHT                      82     as the clicker lands -- dead-solid perfect --83   INT. SULLIVAN MASTER BEDROOM - NIGHT                        83     Luther, in the bedroom, moving to the nightstand,     carrying his backpack --     -- he slows as he circles the body of Christy Sullivan,     looks sadly down at her, continues on as we MOVE TO...                                                 (CONTINUED))B(   ABSOLUTE POWER - Rev. 5/16/96                         25.83    CONTINUED:                                                  83      The bed table. First, Luther opens the drawer and                *      pockets the necklace. Tense, he kneels, probes behind            *      the table, reaches farther and then -- the letter opener!      In the plastic bag. Luther grabs it.      He rises, opener in hand, and goes to the far window that      has a view of the front of the house. He looks out,      grimaces.84    EXT. SULLIVAN MANSION - DRIVEWAY - NIGHT                    84      The cars are still there. Burton is visible helping      Russell in. Collin hands over her purse, closes the      door. He and Burton move to the front doors.85    INT. SULLIVAN MASTER BEDROOM - NIGHT                        85      Luther, going to the rear window. He opens the window      slowly and silently. He ties one end of the rope around      the leg of a heavy, wooden chest of drawers --      -- now he carefully plays the knotted rope out the      window.86    EXT. SULLIVAN DRIVEWAY - TOWNCAR - NIGHT                    86      Collin heads to one of the Towncars. In the other Burton      and Russell are getting settled in the front. Richmond      lies in a stupor, stretched along the rear seat.      Russell --      -- a moment of relief. She breathes deep.    And as      Russell starts to open her purse --87    EXT. SULLIVAN MANSION - KNOTTED ROPE - NIGHT                87      as it snakes down the brick mansion -- it reaches the      ground.88    INT. SULLIVAN MASTER BEDROOM - NIGHT                        88      Luther, putting his backpack on securely.      The window -- Luther glances out and down.89    HIS POV - GROUND OUTSIDE SULLIVAN MANSION - NIGHT           89      Forty feet below.   And it's dark.)B(   ABSOLUTE POWER - Rev. 5/16/96                       26.90    INT. SULLIVAN MASTER BEDROOM - NIGHT                       90      Luther -- he doesn't much like this -- but taking hold of      the rope, he puts one leg out the window -- only the damn      backpack makes it complicated and he's caught for a      moment, clumsily trapped with one leg in, one leg out and      the backpack wedged against the corner of the window --      -- and at that moment, there is a SCREAM.91    EXT. SULLIVAN DRIVEWAY/INT. TOWNCAR - NIGHT                91   *      Gloria Russell, as every nightmare she has ever had comes      true -- the fucking letter opener isn't in her purse and      as she screams again --92    EXT. SULLIVAN MASTER BEDROOM - WINDOW - NIGHT              92      Luther, cursing to himself, forcing his way out the      window and it isn't easy, but he makes it and then the      rope slips in his hands and for one precarious moment, he      is in serious trouble and...93    EXT. SULLIVAN MANSION - DRIVEWAY - NIGHT                   93      The Towncar doors bursting open as Burton and Collin come      barrelling out.94    EXT. SULLIVAN MANSION - NIGHT                              94      Luther, getting his grip on the nylon rope again,      starting to go down -- but it's difficult going for him.95    EXT. SULLIVAN MANSION - FOYER - NIGHT                      95      Burton and Collin tearing into the house, Collin in the      lead.96    EXT. SULLIVAN MANSION - NIGHT                              96      Luther in the night, thirty feet up, and he can hear      COMMOTION inside the house and he tries to go faster --      -- but it's not easy; the man is, after all, in his 60s      and he's dangerously high and his visibility is rotten,      so he's doing the best he can, but he isn't exactly      flying.                                                             27.97    EXT. SULLIVAN MANSION - DRIVEWAY - NIGHT                     97      Russell, standing by the Towncar, staring in at the house      and from the look on her face, you know she thinks her      life might be over.98    INT. SULLIVAN MANSION - STAIRCASE - NIGHT                    98      Burton and Collin, racing up the second floor staircase      toward the top.99    EXT. SULLIVAN MANSION - NIGHT                                99      Luther, halfway down.100   INT. SULLIVAN MANSION - HALLWAY - NIGHT                      100      Burton and Collin, tearing along the third floor      corridor.101   EXT. SULLIVAN MANSION - NIGHT                                101      Luther, ten feet off the ground now.102   INT. SULLIVAN MANSION - NIGHT                                102      The bedroom door, flying open.103   EXT. SULLIVAN MANSION - NIGHT                                103      Luther, six feet to go, three, and he lets go, drops the      rest of the way, hits the ground running.104   INT. SULLIVAN MASTER BEDROOM - NIGHT                         104      Burton, racing toward the window, Collin goes to the      night table.105   EXT. SULLIVAN MANSION - NIGHT                                105      Luther, at the end of the house, turning a corner.106   INT. SULLIVAN MASTER BEDROOM - NIGHT                         106      Burton, staring out the window and Luther is gone.                                                  (CONTINUED))B(   ABSOLUTE POWER - Rev. 5/16/96                        28.106   CONTINUED:                                                 106                              BURTON                   Shit!      Collin, looking around the table and the letter opener is      gone.                              COLLIN                   Shit!      And without another word, they bolt out the door.107   EXT. SULLIVAN MANSION - GROUNDS - NIGHT                    107      Luther, crashing through the field.   He is in wonderful      shape --      -- for a man his age.      And he gives it all he has but is it going to be enough?108   EXT. SULLIVAN DRIVEWAY - NIGHT                             108      The Towncar as Collin yanks something out of the glove      compartment, and then he is racing off into the night      after Burton who is a few steps ahead.109   EXT. SULLIVAN DRIVEWAY/INT. TOWNCAR - NIGHT                109   *      Russell staring after them -- in the back seat, Richmond      is in a half-slumber.110   EXT. SULLIVAN MANSION - GROUNDS - NIGHT                    110      Luther, bursting out of the underbrush --      -- up ahead is the most dangerous place for him --      -- one hundred yards of open field.   He runs on.111   EXT. SULLIVAN GROUNDS - BURTON AND COLLIN - NIGHT          111      as Collin catches up to the other man, tosses what he      took from the glove compartment.      Thermal goggles.      They put them on, on the fly and...                                                           29.112   THERMAL POV                                                112      The world ahead of them as they see it: their FIELD OF      VISION now resembles a rough computer game. THERMAL      IMAGES register in red, everything else is dark green.113   EXT. SULLIVAN GROUNDS - OPEN AREA - LUTHER - NIGHT         113      Beginning to tire now -- and he's only halfway through      the open field and...      Burton and Collin, behind him, can't see him yet, but      they are moving faster --      -- and Burton could probably destroy anyone in a fight --      -- but Collin can fly.      And he begins to leave Burton behind.      Luther, and twenty yards ahead of him are some woods that      spur him on, he pumps his arms, his body straining and      his breath coming in gasps and...      Collin, graceful and young and in fabulous shape and just      ahead is the open field and as he starts into it --114   THERMAL POV                                                114      What Collin sees: a THERMAL figure; a man running out of      the open and then disappearing into the woods.115   EXT. SULLIVAN GROUNDS - OPEN AREA - NIGHT                  115      The sight of the figure is enough to kick Collin into      overdrive and he has never run this fast as he crosses      the open area.116   EXT. SULLIVAN GROUNDS - WOODS - NIGHT                      116      Luther, running through the woods -- he can hear THEM      now, and he knows they're closing on him and he glances      back --      -- and smashes into a fucking tree!... hard... and it      rocks him, drops him to his knees --117   EXT. SULLIVAN GROUNDS - OPEN AREA - NIGHT                  117      Collin and he could be jet propelled.                                                              30.118   EXT. SULLIVAN GROUNDS - WOODS - NIGHT                         118      Luther, forcing himself back to his feet and running      again, giving it everything he has left and he's dodging      through the trees now.119   EXT. SULLIVAN GROUNDS - NEAR WOODS - NIGHT                    119      Burton, behind Collin, but he draws his gun anyway --      Collin, in the woods, and his gun's drawn too --      Luther, out of the woods and now his car is visible --      Collin, in the woods but they're coming to an end.120   THERMAL POV                                                   120      The figure up ahead is approaching a car.121   EXT. SULLIVAN GROUNDS - LUTHER'S CAR - NIGHT                  121      Luther, throwing the car door open, ripping off his      backpack, tossing it inside, jumping in behind the wheel.122   EXT. SULLIVAN GROUNDS - WOODS - NIGHT                         122      Burton.   Pulling up, gasping terribly.   He sinks to one      knee.      Collin, out of the woods! -- Still amazingly without the      least sign of tiring --      -- and now there is a sound:   a CAR MOTOR STARTING.123   EXT. SULLIVAN GROUNDS - LUTHER'S CAR - NIGHT                  123      Luther in his car, wheels spinning.124   EXT. SULLIVAN GROUNDS - WOODS - NIGHT                         124      Collin has his pistol ready but it's impossible to hit      anything when you're running like this.125   EXT. SULLIVAN GROUNDS/INT. LUTHER'S CAR - NIGHT               125      Luther, in the car, GUNNING AWAY.                                                              31.126   EXT. SULLIVAN GROUNDS - WOODS - NIGHT                         126      Collin.    Slowing.127   EXT. SULLIVAN GROUNDS - LUTHER'S CAR - NIGHT                  127      The car.    A swirl of dust.      The dust clears.      The car rounds a corner, is gone.128   EXT. SULLIVAN GROUNDS - NIGHT                                 128      Collin.    He stands there, rips off his thermal goggles --      -- and surprisingly, he smiles.      Burton, getting to his feet, his breath still not steady.      He takes his goggles off too as Collin approaches.                               COLLIN                        (still the smile)                 I got his license number.      Now on that --129   INT. SULLIVAN MASTER BEDROOM - NIGHT                          129      Russell -- back in the bedroom, with Burton and Collin      who are moving around constantly, checking the place out.      Things are just amazingly tense.                               RUSSELL                        (close to losing it)                 Gee, guys, maybe it was the                 bogeyman -- don't forget to check                 under the bed --                        (exploding)                 -- You may have buried us! --                               COLLIN                 -- relax, I got his license                 number, remember? --                               RUSSELL                        (whirling on him)                 -- you think he's going to just                 sit around waiting for us? --                 Asshole --                               COLLIN                 -- take it easy, Miss Russell --                                                    (CONTINUED)                                                                32.129   CONTINUED:                                                      129                                 BURTON                          (trying for calm)                   -- everybody shut up, all right?      He is staring at his reflection in the big mirror.      He      crosses to it, goes to his knees, studies the rug.      The rug -- indentations in the expensive carpet.                                 BURTON                   Oh boy...      Burton and Collin with a crowbar, working at the mirror.      The MIRROR; there is a TEAR and a POP and it swings open.130   INT. SULLIVAN VAULT - NIGHT                                     130      All three going inside, looking around.    The chair, the      looted shelves. The truth thuds home.      Russell turns, looks out at the bedroom through the door.                                 RUSSELL                          (dead)                   A two-way mirror.      Silently, they move out into the bedroom.131   INT. SULLIVAN MASTER BEDROOM - NIGHT                            131                                 COLLIN                   -- I better get cracking on that                   license number --                                 RUSSELL                          (no anger now)                   -- it's all we've got -- and he's                   got the letter opener -- blood,                   fingerprints -- Jesus, think what                   he can do --                                 BURTON                          (a powerful man who                           speaks softly)                   -- the man is a thief -- a thief                   who witnessed a murder --                                 (MORE)                                                      (CONTINUED)                                                             33.131   CONTINUED:                                                   131                              BURTON (CONT'D)                       (gesturing around)                -- it looks like he stole a whole                bunch of money -- I'll tell you                what he's going to do.                       (beat)                He's going to run like hell.      And on that --132   INT. WASHINGTON MUSEUM - DAY                                 132      The saddest eyes you ever saw.      It's the next morning and Luther is back at the same old      stand, looking at El Greco. The other art students are      there too. So are the suburban housewives.      Everything is as it was -- calm and peaceful --      -- now a museum guard moves into the doorway, scanning      the room.      Luther -- a quick glance over, then back to his      sketchbook -- and from that glance it's clear all is not      calm and peaceful.      The guard checks the room again.      Edgy, Luther still works away.      The guard leaves.      Luther gets set to do the same.133   INT. RED'S BAR - DAY                                         133      Red, alone in his empty bar, sipping coffee.    It's before      the place has opened for the day.      Luther comes in the back.    Red slides the videocassette      over, Luther pockets it.                                 RED                   Jordan beat us at the buzzer.                                 LUTHER                   Bad night.      And as he turns, goes --                                                               34.134   EXT. JOGGING PARK - PARKING AREA - DAY                         134      A YOUNG WOMAN parking her car -- a high rocky area above      the Potomac. Below, a jogging path is visible, full of      runners.      The Young Woman gets out, locks her car, starts down a      narrow walk toward the joggers.      She's in her mid-thirties. A good face.        And there's      something familiar about her.135   EXT. JOGGING PARK - DAY                                        135      Luther, standing by the edge of the jogging path,      studying the runners. Now he registers something:       and      smiles.      The Woman in her mid-thirties as she comes jogging along.      She runs well.      Luther.   An imperceptible straightening of his clothes.      The jogger.    We realize who she is: the little girl in      the photo on   Luther's dining room table. All grown up.      Now her face   registers something: his presence. Her      eyes go down   to the path, she increases her speed.      Luther.   Waving, calling out.                                LUTHER                 Kate.                         (as she runs on)                 Kate.      She slows, hesitates, stops.      Kate, hands on hips, breathing deeply, moving to the edge      of the path as he approaches. The river flows behind      them. Runners pass by.      Beat.                               LUTHER                 Probably too late for me to take                 it up.      She says nothing -- he gestures toward the path.                                LUTHER                 The jogging.                                KATE (YOUNG WOMAN)                 Ahh.                                                     (CONTINUED)                                                                35.135   CONTINUED:                                                      135      Beat.                                 LUTHER                   Dumb way to start this, I guess.      Beat.                                 LUTHER                   Wanted to talk to you.                                 KATE                   About?                                 LUTHER                   Believe it or not, the weather.                          (as she waits)                   Nights are starting to get cold.                                 KATE                   That happens this time of year.      Luther speaks quickly now, his voice low.                                 LUTHER                   I was thinking of maybe                   relocating. Someplace with a                   kinder climate.                          (nothing shows on                           her face)                   I just wanted to check it out with                   you first...                          (still nothing)                   ... you're the only family I've                   got.      And on that --      Kate speaks quickly now, her voice low.                                 KATE                   Luther, you don't have me.      The last words in this world he wanted to hear, but you      can't tell from his face.                                LUTHER                   Kate --                             KATE               -- you know what it's like being               the only kid in show and tell who               got to talk about visiting day?                                                      (CONTINUED)                                                               36.135   CONTINUED:    (2)                                              135                                 LUTHER                   This move -- I'm talking                   permanent, you understand.                                 KATE                   We don't see each other anyway --                   we haven't seen each other since                   Mom died and that's a year.                          (a step toward him)                   Look, you chose your life. You                   had that right. You were never                   around for me. Fine. But I have                   no plans to be around for you.      And now she stops, turns away toward the path --      -- Luther can say nothing, watches her --      -- then she spins back --                                 KATE                          (louder now)                   -- wait a minute -- you're lying                   about something, aren't you? --                                 LUTHER                   -- no --                                 KATE                   -- are you active again? -- is                   that why you're here now?                                 LUTHER                   -- no --      Kate moves in close now --                                 KATE                   -- I don't believe you --                          (big)                   -- Christ, Father, what have you                   done?      And on those words --136   INT. SULLIVAN MASTER BEDROOM - DAY                             136      Christy Sullivan's body.      We're back in the master bedroom but now there is a lot      of police activity -- people work around the corpse. The      place is covered with black fingerprint powder.                                                      (CONTINUED))B(   ABSOLUTE POWER - Rev. 5/16/96                            37.136   CONTINUED:                                                     136      SETH FRANK moves into the room -- Bogart at 40. Chief      Homicide Detective of Middleton County, Virginia but he      had a decade of top work in New York City. Bright,      funny, and tough enough for anything you want to throw at      him.      He kneels beside the body next to an older man. This is      the MEDICAL EXAMINER, fat and bored. Seth studies      Christy; sadly shakes his head.                                 SETH                   Christy Sullivan?                                 MEDICAL EXAMINER                          (nods)                   Wife of Walter -- most likely came                   home and stumbled onto a                   burglary --                                 WOMAN (O.S.)                   -- some burglary.      LAURA SIMON. Laura is early 30s, and the best lab      technician Seth has ever known, and he knew some good      ones in New York.                                 LAURA SIMON                   I wish my carpets were this clean.                   And I can't find a single decent                        *                   fingerprint.                                 SETH                   You serious, Laura?                                 LAURA SIMON                          (bewildered)                   It's like Mary Poppins was here.                                 SETH                   Could someone have let him in?                                 LAURA SIMON                   Sorry, Seth, but the entire                   Sullivan household went to                   Barbados two days ago.                                 SETH                   Thank you for your support.                                                      (CONTINUED)                                                               38.136   CONTINUED:    (2)                                              136                                 LAURA SIMON                   Wait -- it gets worse --                          (moving to the door)                   -- the shots came from here. If                   she interrupted a burglary, she                   should have been here --                          (moving to the bed now)                   -- she was killed where she is --                   all the blood patterns indicate                   that. But she was looking toward                   the bed -- what in hell was she                   looking at?137   INT. SULLIVAN VAULT - DAY                                      137      Seth says nothing as he and Laura go in the vault.      Seth      stares at the chair.                                  LAURA SIMON                   Looks like someone sat here -- but                   I couldn't find any prints.                          (lowering her voice --                            indicating the one-way                            mirror)                   You think Sullivan holed up in the                   chair and watched his wife                   perform?                                 SETH                   I hope not --                          (shakes his head)                   -- he's such a great man.      He moves back into the bedroom.138   INT. SULLIVAN MASTER BEDROOM - DAY                             138      Another cop is working on the wall by the bed table where      a hole the size and shape of a bullet is visible.                                 SETH                          (as he moves past)                   Careful digging that out.      The cop nods.                                 MEDICAL EXAMINER                   Looks like he tried to strangle                   her.                                                     (CONTINUED)                                                             39.138   CONTINUED:                                                   138                                 SETH                   So he tried to strangle her, then                   went to the door and shot her from                   behind?                                 MEDICAL EXAMINER                   He also inspected her vagina.      Seth.   Stunned.                                  SETH                   He did what?   Why?                                 LAURA SIMON                   Maybe he couldn't remember if he                   fucked her.                                  SETH                           (has to laugh)                   A strong burglar with a weak mind                   -- obviously another open and shut                   case...      As he stares around, baffled.139   EXT. LUTHER'S SAFE HOUSE APT. BUILDING - DAY                 139      A high rise. It's in a different part of Washington than      we've seen thus far. Afternoon now.      An old salesman type is trudging into the building. He's      slumped, carries heavy salesman type suitcases. He wears      a battered hat. As he goes inside --140   INT. BUILDING - FOYER/MAIL AREA - DAY                        140      The salesman is opening a mail slot with the name      "Hawthorne" on the outside. A good bit of mail, most of      it unsolicited. Hawthorne pockets it, unlocks the foyer,      heads toward the elevator.141   INT. BUILDING - HALLWAY - DAY                                141      The elevator and Hawthorne slowly getting out, heading      toward a corner apartment, taking out some keys --      -- there are three locks on the door... he takes out      keys --                                                             40.142   INT. LUTHER'S SAFE HOUSE APARTMENT - DAY                     142      Hawthorne walks in, puts the suitcases down, flings his      hat toward a long sofa --      -- it's Luther and this, we will come to learn, is what      he keeps as his safe house. It's neatly furnished,      modern and clean.      Now he moves quickly --      -- first he opens a suitcase -- it contains his full      backpack from the robbery --      -- then he opens a locked closet door, revealing a very      large and sophisticated safe. As he begins to work the      dial --143   INT. LUTHER'S SAFE HOUSE APARTMENT - DAY (LATER)             143      -- the TV ON in the living room as he slides the video      cassette Red gave him into his machine. Everything has      been put away.      The TV as Michael Jordan is introduced to the crowd --      Luther sits, nurses a beer, watches intently...144   INT. MORGUE - DAY                                            144      An old man silently weeping.      This is WALTER SULLIVAN, one of the giants of the era.    A      self-made billionaire. Remarkably, the man has few      enemies.      At 80, his body may be betraying him -- he was once      handsome -- but his mind is that of a young man.      We've seen him before -- in the wedding picture on the      wall of his mansion. With his young bride Christy.      He is with her again now, at the morgue. A sheet covers      her body. The toe tag is visible. Walter, shattered and      desolate, stares at her once joyous face.      PULL BACK to reveal --145   INT. MORGUE - OBSERVATION ROOM - DAY                         145      Seth Frank, studying Walter THROUGH a two way mirror.      Seth is moved at depth of the old man's grief. Anyone      would be. Walter slowly rises --                                                              41.146   INT. MORGUE - DAY                                             146      SANDY LORD waiting in an anteroom as Walter enters...      Sandy Lord is Walter Sullivan's lawyer.     He is 60,      abrasive, powerful.      Sandy moves to Walter, gestures toward the front door.      Seth appears through another door, intercepts them.                              SETH                Mr. Sullivan? -- I'm Seth Frank,                senior homicide detective for                Middleton County --                              SANDY LORD                       (protectively)                -- my client is in no mood for                conversation, sir.                              WALTER SULLIVAN                It's all right, Sandy --                       (looks at Seth)                -- you're in charge of the case?                              SETH                       (nods)                I have to ask some questions, but                it can be tomorrow.                              WALTER SULLIVAN                You want what, positive                identification? Yes, that was my                wife. Anything else?                              SETH                       (notebook in hand)                You'd been in Barbados for two                days?                              WALTER SULLIVAN                       (nods)                I took the entire staff down --                always do this time of year.                              SETH                But Mrs. Sullivan didn't come.                              WALTER SULLIVAN                She was, had it all planned, but                you know women, they change their                minds.                              (MORE)                                                    (CONTINUED)                                                                42.146   CONTINUED:                                                      146                                 WALTER SULLIVAN (CONT'D)                          (to Seth, softly)                   I'd been married to my Rebecca for                   forty-seven years and when she                   died, I decided I never wanted                   that pain again. One thing I knew                   about Christy: she was going to                   outlive me.                                 SANDY LORD                   I think that's enough for today.      Takes Walter's arm.                                 SETH                          (beat)                   I have to ask about the vault.      And on that -- Walter.     Holds to Sandy for a moment, then      lets go.                               WALTER SULLIVAN                 You mean the contents of the vault                 of course --                        (turns to Sandy)                 -- Sandy, you go on, I'm all                 right.                        (as Sandy looks at                         him a moment)                 Really. Go to the reception --                 obviously I can't make it, but I'm                 sure everyone will understand.      Sandy nods, exits.    Seth and Walter are alone.      Beat.   Then --                               WALTER SULLIVAN                 I know it's not the contents --                        (as Seth embarrassed,                         stands there)                 You mean the chair. You have to                 ask about the chair.                                 SETH                        (soft)                 Yessir, I do.                                WALTER SULLIVAN                 But why?   Are they connected?                                                      (CONTINUED))B(   ABSOLUTE POWER - Rev. 5/16/96                           43.146   CONTINUED:    (2)                                             146                                 SETH                   I think someone sat in it -- and I                   think that someone may have been                   involved in the murder.                          (beat)                   You were my father's hero, Mr.                   Sullivan, I promise you this won't                   make my highlight reel.      CLOSEUP - WALTER                                                    *      Humiliated.                               WALTER SULLIVAN                 I'd hoped I could satisfy her...                 but you know... she had needs and                 she didn't want to go behind my                 back... she suggested the chair...                 she hoped I might get to like                 sitting there...                        (beat)                 ... I didn't...                        (takes a breath)                 I've tried for eighty years to                 live a decent life. I've given a                 billion dollars to charity. If                 this comes to trial, none of that                 will be remembered -- I'll just go                 out as the joke of the world.      Seth.   He closes his notebook.                              SETH                I understand, sir; I'll do what I                can.                              WALTER SULLIVAN                       (beat)                Will you listen to me whine?                Please forgive me, Mr. Frank.                Just do your job.                       (beat)                And I'll do mine.      Walter slowly moves to the door.    Seth watches him.      Sadly...147   EXT. WHITE HOUSE - MAGIC HOUR                                 147      A gorgeous SHOT of a very famous place.    The sun is      setting. It all looks magical.                                                             44.148   INT. WHITE HOUSE - NORTH PORTICO - NIGHT                     148      A room filled with well-dressed men and women. Formal      attire. The  rich and the famous. But the only one we      recognize is Sandy Lord, deep in conversation with      several other men. Now, someone says his name.                                 MAN (O.S.)                Sandy.                       (as Sandy turns)                Is there anything I can do?                                 SANDY LORD                Mr. President.      And on those words -- The 44th President of the United      States. He has all the natural charm in the world. He      is remarkably bright, with a phenomenal memory. He is,      also, at this moment, one of the most popular men in      American history, three years into a brilliant first      term, a shoo-in for re-election when that ritual comes.      His name, by the way, is Alan Richmond, and we've seen      him before, most recently lying drunk in the back seat of      a dark Towncar.                              RICHMOND                Take a walk with me.      He and Sandy start out of the room. A well-dressed woman      moves with them. She is Chief of Staff and her name is      GLORIA RUSSELL.      Two men in suits follow behind. Burton and Collin are      their names and they are the best the Secret Service has      to offer.149   INT. WHITE HOUSE - CORRIDOR - NIGHT                          149      The group, as they leave the room, come to a wide      corridor.                              RICHMOND                Tell me about Walter -- how is he?                              SANDY LORD                Eighty and alone, Mr. President.                              RICHMOND                He understands officially my hands                are tied?                              SANDY LORD                Mr. President, he's touched at                your concern.                                                   (CONTINUED))B(   ABSOLUTE POWER - Rev. 5/16/96                       45.149   CONTINUED:                                                149                                 RICHMOND                   Any news of the killer?                          (as Sandy indicates                          "no")                   Well, why isn't there? Who's in                   charge of the case?                                 SANDY LORD                   Top man -- eight years homicide                   work in New York. But I                   understand how you feel -- it's                   hard to be patient.                                 RICHMOND                          (terribly upset)                   No one understands how I feel --                   I'm supposed to have all this                   power but I can't help my oldest                   friend -- you know and I know that                   more than any man alive Walter                   Sullivan put me here -- and now                   when he most needs me, he must                   feel abandoned.      CLOSEUP - RICHMOND                                              *      On fire --                                 RICHMOND                   -- I'll hold a press conference --                   and I'll have Walter come -- and I                   will embrace him before the world.      Sandy.   Listening.    Moved.                                 SANDY LORD                   He'll treasure that, Mr.                   President. What a generous                   gesture. Thank you. Thank you.      And he reaches out, shakes Richmond's hand, squeezes      Richmond's arm and -- Richmond -- suddenly screaming in      pain -- Sandy pulls back, shocked. Richmond looks      embarrassed.                                 RICHMOND                          (quick smile)                   Damn tennis elbow is killing me.      And on that --                                                             46.150   INT. HALLWAY OUTSIDE OVAL OFFICE - NIGHT                     150      Richmond, immediately after, and he sure isn't smiling      now -- he storms toward the Oval Office, Russell, Burton      and Collin hurrying to keep up.151   INT. OVAL OFFICE - NIGHT                                     151      Burton opens the door for them, closes it once they're      inside.                             RICHMOND                      (throws off his jacket,                       turns on Russell)               This thing's worse, Gloria. I               need to see a doctor.                             RUSSELL               The country would have to be               informed, Mr. President.                              RICHMOND               What happened to my right to               privacy?                      (rolls up his sleeve,                        studies his cut)               I think she nicked a tendon.                              RUSSELL                Burton says it's a flesh wound --                              RICHMOND                       (to Burton)                -- when did you become such an                expert, Bill? -- Ever been                wounded? --                              BURTON                       (quietly)                Yes, sir. Many times.      The fireplace.   Richmond goes to it, rubs his arm, stares      at the flames.                              RUSSELL                Are you serious about that press                conference, Alan?                              RICHMOND                Of course I am -- Walter's been                like a father to me.                              RUSSELL                Shall I bring Mrs. Richmond home                for it?                                                   (CONTINUED)                                                        47.151   CONTINUED:                                              151      Richmond, turning from the fire now, quietly.                                 RICHMOND                   I think Mrs. Richmond's mission to                   help the poor in Asia should not                   be interrupted.                          (takes a breath,                           starts to button                           his shirt)                   We know anything yet?                                 RUSSELL                   We checked his license plate -- he                   stole the car from a police                   impoundment lot.                                 RICHMOND                   We're not dealing with a fool                   here.                          (gestures toward his                           jacket, as Russell                           helps him into it)                   Has he initiated contact?                                 RUSSELL                   Burton doesn't think he will.                                  RICHMOND                   I agree.                          (checking himself                            in a mirror)                   Sorry about my behavior -- won't                   happen again; think of it as a                   blip on the screen. And as far as                   I'm concerned, so is he.                                RUSSELL                  He could be a little more than                  that, Alan -- he saw.      Richmond.    Big.                                 RICHMOND                   He saw nothing -- a drunk woman                   who liked rough sex too much. And                   he's a burglar. Who's going to                   believe him?                          (beat)                   After all, it's not as if he had                   evidence or anything...      And on those words --)B(   ABSOLUTE POWER - Rev. 5/16/96                          48.152   INT. LUTHER'S SAFE HOUSE APARTMENT - LETTER OPENER -         152      NIGHT      Luther holds it. It's the middle of the night. Luther      turns the weapon over and over in his big hands...153   EXT. WHITE HOUSE REAR GATE - NIGHT (LITTLE LATER)            153   *      Burton is alone in his car, exiting the gate and driving           *      home. He turns onto the main road.154   EXT. STREET NEAR WHITE HOUSE/INT. BURTON'S CAR - NIGHT       154      He picks up speed.   Glances around -- no cars are      following.      Burton reaches into his pocket, takes out a MICRO-      CASSETTE RECORDER, flicks it ON.                              RICHMOND (V.O.)                What happened to my right to                privacy?                       (beat)                I think she nicked a tendon.      Burton clicks the cassette off, puts it back into his      pocket. Drives into the night...155   INT. KATE'S APARTMENT - TINY KITCHEN - DAY                   155      A stove with one burner on high.   A tea kettle is over      the flame.      It is morning and Kate is clearly not fully awake. She      is finishing making instant coffee with lowfat milk and      Sweet 'n Low; next she goes to the front door of her      apartment, opens it, picks up the morning Washington      Post.      She unfolds the paper as she starts back to the      kitchen --      INSERT - WASHINGTON POST      Huge headlines -- as big as you can get without a war.                      WALTER SULLIVAN'S WIFE MURDERED                                                   (CONTINUED)                                                              49.155   CONTINUED:                                                    155      BACK TO SCENE      Kate looks at it only a moment, shakes her head, then      starts to turn her attention to another section of the      paper --      -- she doesn't get that far.      Kate:   she has seen something she didn't catch before --      The front page again.    And the headline is still there --      -- but there is a smaller headline beneath it:                               Jewel Thief Sought      Kate sits down hard. Trying for control.      Entering a      nightmare. She stares at the paper.      The front page. Pictures of the mansion, of Walter      smiling on his wedding day, of Christy.      But Kate's eyes keep coming back to the smaller headline:                               Jewel Thief Sought      She tries to sip coffee, spills. She closes her eyes --      in the kitchen, the pot of WATER starts to SHRIEK. Kate      does not move.156   EXT. VALERIE'S MIDDLE CLASS NEIGHBORHOOD - DAY                156      (EARLY AFTERNOON)      Kids riding bicycles.    Very Norman Rockwell.157   INT. VALERIE'S BASEMENT - DAY                                 157      A bald man. There is the sound of a CLICK.       We realize      after a moment that the bald man is Luther.      Another SHOT of Luther looking very different -- full      beard. Again, a CLICK.      Luther again -- elegant beard this time.      CLICK.      PULL BACK to reveal --      We are in the basement game room of one of the suburban      homes.      But our attention is on a whole string of Polaroids of      Luther.                                                     (CONTINUED)                                                               50.157   CONTINUED:                                                     157      Two people are present: Luther and VALERIE.      Valerie is      very small, and doesn't miss much.      She has been photographing him, and as the last photo      slides out of the camera, she blows on it, puts it      alongside the others.                                  VALERIE                           (as they study the                            pictures)                   You always did disappear good,                   Luther.                                 LUTHER                   You mean I've got a weak face.                   Thanks, Val.                                 VALERIE                   You're lucky is all -- some of my                   customers, they stand out no                   matter what.      An order form book.    Valerie licks a pencil with her      tongue.                                 VALERIE                   How many passports you need?                                 LUTHER                          (thinks)                   Four should cover it.                             VALERIE                      (writes this down)               Now you'll want different looks,               and matching international               driver's licenses -- I'll throw in               some dummy credit cards, seeing               it's you. How the rugs I made you               holding up?                             LUTHER               They're good. Beards and               mustaches, too.                             VALERIE                      (pleased)               I try to give value for money.               Leaving the country permanent?                             LUTHER               It may come to that.                                                    (CONTINUED))B(   ABSOLUTE POWER - Rev. 5/16/96                          51.157   CONTINUED:    (2)                                            157                                 VALERIE                   Matter where you've been? -- I                   hate doing those goddam Asian                   passport stamps.                              LUTHER                Europe's fine. Maybe the                Caribbean for winters. When can I                pick up?                              VALERIE                Usually takes some time, but for                you, I'll rush it.                              LUTHER                Thanks, Val. I've always been                able to count on you.      Valerie puts the order book down, studies him.                                LUTHER                What?                              VALERIE                I don't want to know what you're                into, but leaving forever...                                LUTHER                Finish it.                              VALERIE                I never figured you for a runner                -- thirty percent of my runners                kill themselves within five years.                              LUTHER                       (kisses her forehead)                Five years doesn't sound so bad to                me just now.      And as he heads out --158   INT. POLICE HEADQUARTERS - CRIMINAL LAB - DAY                158      Seth and Laura in the good-sized criminal lab.    Loaded      with up-to-date equipment.      Seth has drawn a picture of the crime scene. Words like            *      "Bedroom Door," "Exit Window," "Vault," "Bed," "Victim"      are written neatly to scale. He holds a sheaf of papers.                                                    (CONTINUED))B(   ABSOLUTE POWER - Rev. 5/16/96                            52.158   CONTINUED:                                                     158      It's late afternoon and things are already getting      crazed. NOISE in the b.g. throughout.                                 SETH                   See if any of this makes sense.      Seth mimes opening the "bedroom door," stepping inside,      closing it. He makes a click with his tongue.                                 SETH                   I am Christy Sullivan and I walk                   in and surprise a burglar.      Seth moves to the "vault door," mimes closing that, makes      a grunt.                                 LAURA                   Now you're the burglar coming out                   of the vault and being surprised.                                 SETH                   Gold star.                          (aims his finger like                           a pistol)                   I draw my gun --                                 LAURA                          (cutting in)                   -- then why do you bother to                   strangle her when you could just                   shoot?                             SETH               That's nothing -- why do I bother               to have her strip and then put her               clothes back on?                             LAURA               There I can help you -- see,               before you were a burglar you were               a dry cleaner and you still love               beautiful clothes.                             SETH               And I dress her because?                             LAURA               She was a good customer and you               didn't want her embarrassed when               the police came.                                                      (CONTINUED)          *)B(   ABSOLUTE POWER - Rev. 5/16/96                           53.158   CONTINUED:    (2)                                             158   *      CLOSEUP - SETH      Frustrated.                              SETH                She had a point-21 blood alcohol                level. -- she was too drunk to                drive. I've checked every cab and                limo company in the area and not                one of them knows anything.                Someone drove her home. Goddamit,                who? And why haven't they come                forward?                              LAURA                Maybe whoever drove her home                killed her.                              SETH                You saying the burglar drove her                home?                       (pissed)                I hate this case.      An open door behind them. A TELEPHONE REPAIRMAN appears.      Nice looking kid with a dazzling smile.                              TELEPHONE REPAIRMAN                Lieutenant? -- sorry to bother you                --                       (as Seth turns)                I've got your phone working again,                shouldn't give you any more                trouble.                              SETH                Good service, thanks.                              TELEPHONE REPAIRMAN                       (dazzling smile                        as he goes)                Part of the job.      Seth and Laura.     Seth's lost his train of thought.   Then --                                SETH               Oh yeah    -- remember that bullet               hole in    the wall? Had the lab dig               out the    slug -- guess what -- no               slug --    why does the burglar take               the time    to do that?                             LAURA               Different from the one in her               body?                                                   (CONTINUED))B(   ABSOLUTE POWER - Rev. 5/16/96                         54.158   CONTINUED:    (3)                                           158   *                                 SETH                          (getting more and                           more upset)                   Oh I like that a lot -- two                   different guns means two different                   burglars. Two guys broke in? And                   they both went out the window?                   Bullshit.                          (big)                   And oh, by the way, why does he --                   or they -- go out the window in                   the first place when he -- or they                   -- got in by breaking a zillion-                   dollar security system? --                                  COP (O.S.)                   -- Seth?                                  SETH                           (whirling)                   What?                                 COP                          (in doorway)                   A Bill Burton of the Secret                   Service in the parking lot.                                  SETH                          (gives papers to                           Laura)                   Here, you solve the goddam thing.                          (as he starts away)                   Did I mention that I hate this                   case? I really truly hate this                   case -- you cannot imagine how                   much I hate it --159   EXT. POLICE HEADQUARTERS - PARKING LOT - DAY                159      Burton waits by his car as Seth walks up.                                 BURTON                          (as they shake)                   Bill Burton, hi --                                 SETH                   -- hi, Seth Frank --                                 BURTON                   -- I know you must be going crazy                   -- but the boss is very interested                   in your progress. Maybe we can                   help each other.                                                   (CONTINUED)                                                        55.159   CONTINUED:                                              159                                 SETH                   What did you have in mind?                                BURTON                  You know how close he and Sullivan                  are?                         (as Seth nods)                  The minute anything breaks, if                  you'd call me, I'd tell the                  President. That way, he'd be the                  first to alert Mr. Sullivan -- it                  would mean a lot to him. And any                  red tape you want cut -- done.                         (as he takes out                          card)                  Here are my numbers.      He turns, opens his front car door.                                  BURTON                           (getting in)                  Leads?                                SETH                  Still trying to figure out what                  might have happened --                                BURTON                  -- I loved playing Sherlock                  Holmes.                                 SETH                          (surprised)                   You Secret Service guys do that?                                 BURTON                   I was State Trooper here ten years                   ago before the Government got me.      Seth.     It just pops out.                                 SETH                   You're that Bill Burton.      Burton.    Embarrassed.                                  BURTON                   I was younger and dumber then.                          (quickly)                   Keep in touch.      Seth waves as Burton drives away.)B(   ABSOLUTE POWER - Rev. 5/16/96                          56.160   EXT. STREET NEAR POLICE HEADQUARTERS - DAY                   160      Burton. He drives alertly along, turns a corner. Up      ahead, a telephone repair truck has stopped. The      Repairman leans out. He has a dazzling smile. He and      Burton wave to each other...161   INT. SULLIVAN DINING ROOM - NIGHT                            161   *      Quietly elegant. Two men are finishing dinner.      Walter      Sullivan we know.      MICHAEL McCARTY, his dinner companion, is 35, fit,      handsome, beautifully dressed. He is, at present, torn      by a silver tray of small French pastries.                               WALTER SULLIVAN                        (noting McCarty's                         temptation)                The chef makes them especially for                me -- I promise you they're                sinful.      McCarty grabs one, downs it, grins sheepishly.                              McCARTY                You're a salesman, Mr. Sullivan.      Sullivan nods as they rise.162   INT. SULLIVAN LIVING ROOM - NIGHT                            162   *      Tastefully appointed, as one would expect.                              WALTER SULLIVAN                This is a new arena for me, but                from what I'm told, you have a                flawless reputation, Mister                McCarty -- which is why I need to                employ you.                              McCARTY                Understood.                              WALTER SULLIVAN                I have no idea who I'm after.                Until I do, you will have to wait                in Washington for instructions.                                                    (CONTINUED))B(   ABSOLUTE POWER - Rev. 5/16/96                             57.162   CONTINUED:                                                      162                                 McCARTY                   Out of the question, I'm afraid.                          (explaining as they                           walk)                   Mine isn't particularly creative                   work -- I only do it because I                   enjoy living beyond my means. I                   can't afford to just sit around.      A sofa.   Walter gestures for them to sit.                                 WALTER SULLIVAN                   When I was 10 my father died -- he                   was a miner and lung disease                   killed him. I became rich at 25                   and the first thing I did was                   purchase that mine, close it, and                   give every miner there fifty                   thousand dollars to retire on.                          (beat; staring at                           McCarty now)                   You will come to Washington, Mr.                   McCarty. You will put one million                   dollars expenses into the Swiss                          *                   bank account of your choosing.                          (beat)                   And, when the time comes, two                   million dollars a bullet.                                 McCARTY                          (smiles, nods)                   You are a salesman, sir.                                 WALTER SULLIVAN                   Selling sin is easy...      Now, sharply...                                                      CUT TO:163   INT. SETH'S OFFICE - CLOSEUP - OLD MUG SHOT OF LUTHER -         163      DAY      PULL BACK to reveal...      ... Seth and Laura, in his office.      The mug shot is on      his desk, along with some folders.      Seth beckons to her.                                 LAURA                          (studying photo)                   Who is he?                                                      (CONTINUED)                                                              58.163   CONTINUED:                                                    163                                 SETH                   Luther Whitney --                          (beat)                   -- one of the great thieves of the                   world.      Seth.    The words pour out.                               SETH                 Been going nuts with this thing,                 up all night and I remembered your                 notion how it might be two                 burglars, and around dawn I                 thought, wait, what if it wasn't                 two burglars but what if it was                 one guy trying to throw us off by                 making it look like two?                        (faster)                 Called a buddy at the Bureau --                 they keep track of this stuff                 internationally -- he says maybe                 only a half a dozen guys alive                 could have pulled off the Sullivan                 job -- I'm tracing all six --                        (beat)                 -- but Whitney's the only one                 lives in Washington.      Laura.   Looking at Seth now.   Starting to get excited,      too.                               LAURA                 Why haven't I ever heard of him?                               SETH                 Because he hasn't been arrested in                 thirty years.                               LAURA                        (indicating mug shot)                 This his graduation picture from                 Harvard?                               SETH                        (waving her off)                 Ancient history -- he wasn't a                 jewel thief back then. Just a                 kid, just part of a gang, a three-                 time loser. But since he got out                 the last time, he's only worked                 alone --                               (MORE)                                                    (CONTINUED))B(   ABSOLUTE POWER - Rev. 5/16/96                         59.163   CONTINUED:    (2)                                           163                                 SETH (CONT'D)                          (beat)                   -- and no one's touched him.                          (shakes his head)                   He gets questioned whenever                   anything big comes up. But                   nothing sticks.                              LAURA                       (really excited now)               Seth -- we can make this stick --               I'll bet you anything this is our               guy -- a local? -- can't ask for               more --                             SETH                                       *                      (makes a face)                                    *               We've got a problem.                                     *                                LAURA                                   *               -- what? --                             SETH               Whitney hasn't killed anyone in 45               years.      Laura doesn't get it.                                SETH               Korea.                             LAURA               Big deal, so he's a veteran.                             SETH               Not just a veteran -- a wounded               veteran.                      (indicating folder)               Got his combat record here.               Battles, commendations,                                  *               decorations up the kazoo.                                *               Lives alone on his disability.                           *               Says he does anyway.                                     *                      (glum)                                            *               And I don't do war heroes...                             *                                                  CUT TO:164   EXT. WASHINGTON MUSEUM - DAY                                164      Luther -- it's a beautiful morning now and he's walking      up the steps to the art museum. He seems in a terrific      mood as he goes inside --                                                  (CONTINUED))B(   ABSOLUTE POWER - Rev. 5/16/96                       59A.164   CONTINUED:                                                 164      -- HOLD.      Seth has been on the steps of the museum, watching him.      Now quickly --165   INT. WASHINGTON MUSEUM - DAY                              165      Luther, inside, peering back out at Seth. And he doesn't      seem in as terrific a mood now. He hesitates, keeps on      going.                                                              60.166   EXT. WASHINGTON MUSEUM - DAY                                  166      Seth.   Outside -- and he knows Luther was watching.167   INT. WASHINGTON MUSEUM - DAY                                  167      El Greco. The usual group has gathered, sketching away.      Luther is deeply engrossed in his labors.      Seth enters the room, casually taking it all in. He      approaches the group, ends up behind Luther who is intent      on getting the hands right.                              LUTHER                       (not looking)                Boy, you must be smart.                                SETH                         (really taken aback)                Sorry?                              LUTHER                Usually takes a week for you guys                to get to me.                       (turns, smiles)                You look just like your picture,                Seth. I'm Luther Whitney.      He reaches out to shake a surprised Seth's hand --168   INT. MUSEUM - COFFEE SHOP - DAY                               168      They walk in, go to  the food line. There is, throughout,      a bantering tone.   Not that it matters, but these two, in      a different world,  would like each other -- they're both,      in their own ways,  deeply moral men.                              LUTHER                So, do you want my confession now                or after coffee?      As Luther draws some coffee from an urn --                              SETH                       (doing the same)                Before I send you away for life, I                should probably check out your                alibi.                                                    (CONTINUED)                                                                   61.168   CONTINUED:                                                         168                                 LUTHER                   Watched the Bullets game    with Red                   Bransford. Prison buddy     of mine                   -- runs a bar -- want to    question                   me about the game? I'm     probably                   lying.      They each give the cashier some money and we see a quiet      table in the corner as they head for it.                                 SETH                   You been following the case?                                 LUTHER                          (nods vigorously)                   I love true crime --                                 SETH                   -- F.B.I. feels only a few guys                   could have handled something as                   hard as the Sullivan job.                          (touches his notebook)                   I've got a list here; you're on                   it.                                 LUTHER                          (nothing shows)                   I wish it was true.                          (shakes his head)                   Your robber actually went in the                   front door but came out down a                   rope in the dark in the middle of                   the night?                          (as Seth nods;                           Luther sighs)                   If only I could do stuff like that                   -- I'd be the star of my A.A.R.P.                   meetings.      Luther and Seth as they sit.     Seth smiles, looks at      Luther.                                 SETH                          (beat)                   Luther? Why was this so hard?      Luther.   Now he's surprised.    He kind of smiles.                                 LUTHER                   You want me to help solve your                   case?                                                          (CONTINUED)                                                               62.168   CONTINUED:    (2)                                              168                                   SETH                   Just looking   for insight. How                   would you --   scratch that -- how                   would one go   about it? What kind                   of person do   you think I should be                   looking for?                                 LUTHER                          (like a shot)                   Older fella. Like me.                                 SETH                          (now he smiles)                   Because?                                 LUTHER                   Need patience. The secret is just                   research, research, research --                   from everything I've read.      Seth. This hasn't gone at all the way he thought -- and      he's starting to get fascinated.                                 SETH                   Research for what?                                 LUTHER                   Well, from what I can tell on the                   tube, it's not a small house.                          (as Seth nods)                   There had to be an architect,                   right? You'd be able to tell                   which one from public records in                   the library. And once you know                   the office, you could break in and                   find the plans and Xerox them, get                   them back before morning.                                 SETH                   Not just steal them?                             LUTHER               Seth -- breaking in isn't hard --               what's hard is breaking in so no               one knows you've been there. Now,               after the architect, next you'd               want the contractor's office --               and the security company's office.                      (beat)               You know the skill involved               breaking the security of a               security company?                      (shakes his head)               I wonder how those guys do it?                                                     (CONTINUED)                                                               63.168   CONTINUED:    (3)                                              168                                 SETH                   Why go to all that trouble?                                 LUTHER                   Papers said he kept the money in a                   vault, yes?                          (as Seth nods)                   Well, I'm guessing there was                   probably some secret way to open                   it --                                 SETH                          (casually)                   -- clicker --                                 LUTHER                          (fascinated)                   -- explain --                                 SETH                   -- gizmo -- looked like a V.C.R.                   remote --                                  LUTHER                           (shaking his head)                   -- amazing --                           (beat)                   -- must have been a lot of money                   inside.                                 SETH                          (sipping casually;                           a pause)                   Five million.      And on those words --      Luther, more than he thought, a lot more -- but of course      nothing shows -- instead he breaks out laughing.                                 SETH                   Why's that funny?                                 LUTHER                   The way you said it -- as if you                   were trying to surprise me.                                 SETH                          (smiles)                   I was trying to surprise you.                                 LUTHER                          (smiles back)                   There you go.                                                      (CONTINUED)                                                           64.168   CONTINUED:    (4)                                          168      Seth sips his coffee, takes out his notebook, opens it.                                 SETH                   Would the burglar use a disguise?                                 LUTHER                   Seth, you've got to get with the                   program you expect to catch this                   guy -- most likely it is a guy, am                   I right? Some kind of weird                   loner?                                 SETH                   Maybe like you.                                 LUTHER                          (couldn't agree more)                   I'm the perfect prototype.                          (sipping away)                   But you see any face often enough,                   you'll start putting things                   together. That's why these top                   guys disguise themselves. I read                   a great article a couple of years                   back -- damn, I wish I could                   remember where -- anyway, it was                   about these makeup experts some of                   them use -- wigmakers, people like                   that.                                 SETH                          (flipping a page)                   Go on about the wigmakers.                              LUTHER                       (glancing at his watch)                I'd love that but I'm late as it                is -- got to get my pacemaker                checked.                       (he likes Seth)                -- all this excitement, you                understand.                              SETH                       (and he likes Luther)                A) You don't have a pacemaker, and                B) I'll be back tomorrow.                              LUTHER                Tomorrow is promised to no one.      HOLD ON Luther.                                                               65.169   INT. LUTHER'S SMALL HOUSE - BEDROOM - NIGHT                    169      Luther is throwing clothes into a suitcase while talking      on the phone --                              LUTHER                Not 'til morning?                       (makes a face)                -- I'll be by early --      He hangs up, shuts the suitcase, takes off out the      door --170   INT. KATE'S APARTMENT - NIGHT                                  170      A place we've seen briefly before.   Dark.   Moonlight      through the windows.      The sound of a KEY IN the DOOR.      Luther enters, takes out a tiny flashlight. We're in one      largish room, books all over. The home of someone who      doesn't care a whole lot about their home.171   INT. KITCHEN - NIGHT                                           171      Luther enters. He opens the fridge. Disaster -- still      water, sparkling water, carrot sticks.                              LUTHER                       (sadly, muttering)                Katie darling, you've gotta try                real food sometime.      He closes the door, moves back into the room --172   INT. KATE'S APARTMENT - NIGHT                                  172      A graduation photo of Kate. Luther touches it with a      fingertip, moves on through the silence.173   INT. KATE'S APARTMENT - BEDROOM - NIGHT                        173      Luther by the bed now, he flashes his light around --      -- what the light illuminates: a bed table full of law      books. Expected. A phone/answering machine. The      mandatory lamp.      And photographs. A proud mother and daughter picture.      The daughter is Kate. The mother is a fine-looking woman      with a kind face.                                                   (CONTINUED))B(   ABSOLUTE POWER - Rev. 5/16/96                         66.173   CONTINUED:                                                  173      Half a dozen more shots as Kate grew up, the mother grew      older. Mother and daughter, mother and daughter.      Nothing unusual here at all.      So why is Luther so sad?      HOLD.174   EXT. MIDDLETON COUNTY COURTHOUSE - DAY                      174      10 A.M. A white-brick, weather-beaten building, Old      Glory fighting the breeze.                                 RICHMOND (V.O.)                   I am having this press conference                   here because...      Richmond, speaking on a podium. The press corps stands      in front of him, TV crews of all kinds, CNN the most      noticeable.                                 RICHMOND                   ... it is here, at this courthouse,                  *                   that Christine Sullivan's killer                   will be tried for his crime.      Burton and Collin, in the b.g., scanning the crowd.      Gloria Russell stands behind them.175   INT. AIRPORT LOUNGE - DAY                                   175      The same shot -- only now it's grainy -- we're watching      it on a TV SCREEN. CNN ON the TUBE.      A BARTENDER cleaning glasses; otherwise, not a whole lot      going on.      Now Luther enters, dressed for travel. He goes to a      stool, orders a ginger ale, puts his passport and ticket      on the bar, glances toward the TV.                                 LUTHER                   Turn that off, okay?                                 BARTENDER                          (finishing up the                           glasses)                   In a sec.                                                              67.176   EXT. MIDDLETON COUNTY COURTHOUSE - DAY                        176      Richmond at his press conference.   He speaks without      notes and he speaks beautifully.                              RICHMOND                As you know, I came from an                impoverished family in an                impoverished town -- but we lived                with our doors unlocked.      Russell watching, listening; she loves hearing him talk.                              RICHMOND (O.S.)                We all lock our doors now, but                that is not what concerns me...      Burton and Collin, scanning the crowd.                              RICHMOND (O.S.)                ... we are also locking our                hearts... that is the sadness,                that is the loss.      Richmond, and suddenly he's like a Southern minister.                              RICHMOND                We are locking our hearts to the                cries of the weary, we are locking                our hearts to the poor and their                pain...      An old man, standing behind Russell.     We realize it's      Walter Sullivan.                              RICHMOND (O.S.)                ... Sisters and brothers, we are                locking our hearts to ourselves.177   INT. AIRPORT LOUNGE - DAY                                     177      Walter Sullivan. Grainy now. CNN. He has aged      shockingly in the past couple of days.      Luther staring sympathetically at the devastated old man.      -- Sullivan's image suddenly is gone --      -- The Bartender has TURNED OFF the TELEVISION.                              LUTHER                       (politely)                Put it back on.                                                   (CONTINUED))B(   ABSOLUTE POWER - Rev. 5/16/96                         68.177   CONTINUED:                                                  177                                 BARTENDER                          (starting to argue)                   You said --                                 LUTHER                          (cutting through)                   Do it --      CNN.   Walter Sullivan is still there.                                  RICHMOND (V.O.)                   We feel savagery and violence must                   be allowed a place at table.                           (beat)                   That is wrong. That is not                   America. I shall fight that                   battle.      Luther, staring at the image of Walter Sullivan, who is      heartsick and beaten. Luther is simply transfixed --      -- Richmond on CNN and now he has turned and is beckoning      for Walter Sullivan to join him.      Sullivan for a moment is uncertain. He points to himself      -- "do you mean me?" Richmond nods, opens his arms out      wide. Sullivan gets up, comes forward.      Luther, as he gets up too, also comes forward, leaving      the stool, walking close to the television.      Richmond and Sullivan, grainy on CNN as Richmond embraces      Sullivan, holds him in a loving embrace.                                 RICHMOND (V.O.)                   Dear friend, old friend, we shall                   fight that battle.      Sullivan, too overcome by the moment, can only nod.                                 RICHMOND (V.O.)                   Who can explain the ways of                   chance? If we had never met, I                   would not be President. If                   Christine had not taken ill, she                   would be with you in Barbados                        *                   even now. Oh, Walter, you've                         *                   always been like a father to me.                     *                   I would give the world to lessen                   your pain.                                                              69.178   EXT. MIDDLETON COUNTY COURTHOUSE - DAY                        178      The press corps.   Subdued, saddened.      Richmond and Walter. They turn, face the cameras. The      president's arm is still around the old man; they both      blink back tears and now --      -- here it comes ! --179   INT. AIRPORT LOUNGE - EXTREME CLOSEUP - LUTHER - DAY          179      Tears of rage in his eyes.   A rage so deep it shocks      him --                              LUTHER                You -- heartless -- prick --                       (building)                -- you -- fucking -- bastard --      The Bartender, surprised, turning toward Luther. He      starts to say something, stops; something tells him to      shut up and he does.180   EXT. MIDDLETON COUNTY COURTHOUSE - DAY                        180      Richmond, wiping away tears, alone on camera.181   INT. AIRPORT LOUNGE - DAY                                     181      Luther, wiping away tears, in the bar.      A SHOT of the two of them, Luther and Richmond, one on      CNN, one in reality, because Luther has moved so close to      the TV he and Richmond could almost be staring at each      other.                              LUTHER                       (whispered now)                I'm not running -- not from you.                       (beat)                I'm going to bring you down...      HOLD ON the two men.182   INT. WHITE HOUSE - NORTH PORTICO - DAY                        182      Seventy very excited people we've never seen before.      They stare around at their surroundings -- they are in      the White House. On a guided tour.                                                   (CONTINUED))B(   ABSOLUTE POWER - Rev. 5/16/96                         70.182   CONTINUED:                                                  182      A bright late morning of what's going to be a beautiful      day. A guide leads the people through a doorway. They      troop happily along.      Luther is with them; he seems happy too.183   INT. WHITE HOUSE - NORTH PORTICO AREA - DAY                 183      The guide leads the people through. They look around,      chat with their friends, follow the guide out.      Luther follows the guide out too.      HOLD ON the room.      All is as it was.      Except a large envelope has been dropped on a side table.      MOVE IN ON the envelope --      -- it's addressed to Gloria Russell.184   INT. WHITE HOUSE - GLORIA RUSSELL'S OFFICE - DAY            184      Gloria Russell.    Terrified.      Her doors are closed, Russell is at her desk. Burton      stands alongside. Collin, silent, sits in a corner.      And on her desk, half out of the envelope, is a photo-      graph of the letter opener.                                  RUSSELL                   He was in the building -- he took                   a guided tour.      Burton pulls the picture all the way out, studies it.                                 RUSSELL                   I've never dealt with blackmail --                                 BURTON                          (trying for calm)                   -- he doesn't want money --                              RUSSELL                       (exploding)                -- you a mind reader too?                               *                                                   (CONTINUED)                                                                71.184   CONTINUED:                                                      184                                 BURTON                          (under control)                   No, I just looked on the back --                          (shows her )                   -- see? --      Luther has written something.                                 RUSSELL                          (reading)                   'I don't want money.'      Russell is more upset.    Burton almost smiles.                                 LUTHER                          (admiringly)                   This guy sure has the guts of a                   burglar. Wish we had him.      Collin laughs.                                 RUSSELL                   You finished your recruiting                   speech? Because I'd like to know                   how I handle this.                                 BURTON                   Like you handled the letter                   opener?      Russell.     She studies Burton.   Then --                                 RUSSELL                   Gee, Bill, that could be construed                   as criticism. Do you really want                   me as an enemy?      Burton stands there, massively powerful. His voice, when      he speaks, is his usual voice: polite, considerate.                                 BURTON                   Miss Russell, I should have called                   the police that night. But I was                   weak. You convinced me to stay                   silent. I regret that.                          (another pause)                   Know this: every time I see your                   face I want to rip your throat                   out.      Russell.     Silence.                                                      (CONTINUED)                                                            72.184   CONTINUED:    (2)                                           184                                 RUSSELL                   Fine -- you win the pissing                   contest --                          (then suddenly                           almost like a                           little girl)                   -- what should I do?                              BURTON                Nothing -- because he's making a                terrible mistake, he thinks he has                time -- he doesn't -- Seth Frank's                too good. He'll bring him in.                                RUSSELL                Then what?                              COLLIN                       (his first words)                Then I kill him.      Now, from them --185   INT. KATE'S OFFICE - DAY                                    185      She is, we will find, a top prosecutor for the Common-      wealth of Virginia. Her office is a zoo.      On her desk, a baby picture of Kate and her mom smiling      -- but there is something a little different about it.      Seth enters and they shake.    He glances around --      -- sees the photograph, glances away.      Kate has risen now -- and in the silence it's clear that      even though they are both standing still, they are both      circling.                             SETH                      (trying for a smile)               For a tough prosecutor, you don't               resemble your reputation, Miss               Whitney.                             KATE                      (the same)               Is that good or bad?                             (MORE)                                                  (CONTINUED)                                                             73.185   CONTINUED:                                                   185                                  KATE (CONT'D)                          (before Seth can                           reply)                   Look, Lieutenant -- I told you on                   the phone, I'm simply not involved                   with my father, so this may not be                   a waste of time for you, but it                   sure is for me.                                 SETH                   What would you do if I just turned                   around and left?                                 KATE                   Report you as an incompetent.                                 SETH                          (a real smile now)                   You're exactly like your                   reputation, Miss Whitney --      As they head out --186   INT. LOUNGE OUTSIDE KATE'S OFFICE - DAY                      186      They enter.     It's empty.                              SETH                      (the instant                       they're alone)               I'm assuming your father's a big               part of you --                                KATE               -- what? --                             SETH               -- You think it's all coincidence?               He's a thief and you just happen               to be the toughest prosecutor in               the area?                             KATE                      (just amazed)               Wow -- that never crossed my mind               -- you think there might be some               connection? -- Like maybe I'm               somehow compensating? -- I better               write that down.                             SETH               -- Luther disappeared.                                                   (CONTINUED)                                                             74.186   CONTINUED:                                                   186      No reaction.      A banged-up couch.     Kate sits, shrugs.                                 SETH                   I think you can help me.                                 KATE                   Lieutenant -- I don't know the man                   -- he was in jail when I was a                   kid, when he got out my mother and                   I went off to live by ourselves.                   We don't make contact. He doesn't                   care about me. I've seen him all                   of once this past year.                                 SETH                   When?                                 KATE                   Couple days ago. He said he might                   be going away. There. I just                   helped you. Can I go back to work                   now?                                 SETH                          (shakes his head)                   Any idea where he might have gone?      Seth and Kate realize something: In a different world,      under different circumstances, they'd probably be      starting an affair.                                 KATE                          (snappishly)                   Quit wasting my time -- if he                   doesn't want you to find him,                   you're not going to find him.                                 SETH                   You saying he's left town, skipped                   the country, what?                             KATE               I'm saying you won't recognize               him. I'm saying he could be just               around the corner -- he always               kept a safe house --                             SETH                      (cutting in)               -- where? --                                                   (CONTINUED))B(   ABSOLUTE POWER - Rev. 5/16/96                              75.186   CONTINUED:    (2)                                                186                                 KATE                   He never said --                                 SETH                   -- Then where'd you hear this?      CLOSEUP - KATE                                                         *                                 KATE                   -- my mother loved him, all right?                   -- Even after she left him -- even                   when she was dying she always                   talked about him -- 'If only he                   hadn't this,' 'if only he could                   have that' --      She stops.      Seth, watching her.                                 SETH                   And?                                 KATE                   I meet a lot of asshole cops like                   you -- guys who O.D.'d on                   Columbo --                               SETH                 -- Lady, I may be an asshole cop                 but you don't know me well enough                 to call me one --                               KATE                 -- There's something else, isn't                 there? Something you want me to                 do? -- But you won't say ---      Seth.   There is.   But he won't say.      Kate.   For the first time now, apprehension.     Now --187   EXT. LUTHER'S HOUSE - DAY                                        187      The row of small, neat houses -- where Luther lived.      Kate and Seth get out of his car, go to the front door.                               KATE                 How long did he live here?                                                    (CONTINUED)                                                             76.187   CONTINUED:                                                   187                                 SETH                   Years.                                 KATE                   Never been.188   EXT. LUTHER'S FRONT DOOR - DAY                               188      Seth stoops, gets the key from under the terra cotta      planter.                                 SETH                   Strange place for a thief to leave                   a key, don't you think?                                 KATE                          (quick memory)                   He always did that...189   INT. LUTHER'S HOUSE - LIVING ROOM - DAY                      189      They enter.    It's surprisingly tidy.      Seth and Kate as they move along.    Seth is watching Kate      who suddenly stops dead.      The mantle. A large blowup of the same picture Kate had      in her office, the one of Kate and her mom --      -- with one startling change: Luther is in this shot,      standing there proud and smiling. She has ripped his      presence out of her photo.      Seth, silently watching Kate. She turns sharply away.      He gestures for her to follow.190   INT. LUTHER'S BEDROOM - DAY                                  190      They enter.    Clothes tossed all over.                                 SETH                   He sure took off in a hurry. What                   scares a professional thief like                   that?      Kate. No reply. She has seen something across the tiny      room and is drawn to it --      Luther's bed table --      -- and here it is!                                                   (CONTINUED)                                                              77.190   CONTINUED:                                                    190      Call it a montage, call it a collage, call it what you      will, we are looking at dozens of photographs --      -- all of them featuring Kate.      Many of them we saw in her apartment -- only here, as in      the photo over the mantle, Luther is there with Kate and      her mom.      We are looking at a shrine!      And there are newer photos too -- Kate at her college      graduation, Kate at her law school graduation, Kate and      her mother coming out of an elegant restaurant, Kate      alone on the steps of Middleton County Courthouse --      -- these are not posed shots.      She looks wonderful and alive in all of them --      Kate. She looks dead now.     All energy gone.   She sits      heavily down on the bed.                               KATE                       (fighting tears)                ... but he wasn't at those                places...                       (pointing to the                         grown-up photos)                ... college graduation; law school                graduation; the night Mom and I                celebrated when I got a job; and                me alone on the steps? -- I'd just                won my first case, I was so                proud...                       (still fighting)                ... I used to think... sometimes                I'd come home and I'd sense he'd                been in my apartment, checking the                fridge, shaking his head because                he never thought I ate right...                It's crazy but I just knew Daddy                was watching over me...      And now she loses it, starts crying silently.      Seth kneels alongside her, gives her a handkerchief.                              SETH                You can do a good thing, Kate --                       (beat)                -- help me bring him in. Just                leave a message on his phone                machine, you're worried about him.                                                  (CONTINUED))B(   ABSOLUTE POWER - Rev. 5/16/96                         78.190   CONTINUED:    (2)                                           190                                KATE                   ... No...                                 SETH                   It's the truth -- you are worried                   about him -- this isn't your                   normal case -- his life may be in                   danger -- you can save him, make                   the call --                                 KATE                   ... He won't come...                                  SETH                           (indicating the                            pictures)                   Of course he'll come. You're all                   he has.      Kate, staring at the photos, trying to get control.                                 SETH                          (moving in)                   Kate, he's on the run   and he's                   scared and he's right   to be scared                   because he's going to   get caught                   -- you don't know the   heat on this.                *                                 KATE                                   *                   He's not a murderer.                                 *                                 SETH                                   *                   Maybe you're right. Maybe he is                      *                   innocent. If so I'll have him                        *                   home and dry in a few hours. But                     *                   what happens if some hotshot who's                   trying to make a reputation tracks                   him down?                          (beat)                   I can guarantee his safety. You                   make the call, I make a promise:                   You'll have your father, home and                   dry...191   INT. KATE'S APARTMENT - LATE AFTERNOON                      191      Kate alone. Totally wiped out. She is on the phone with      Seth. Outside, the sun is dying.                                 KATE                   I left a message on his machine,                   he called back within an hour;                   we're meeting tomorrow afternoon.)B(   ABSOLUTE POWER - Rev. 5/16/96                         79.192   INT. SETH'S OFFICE - LATE AFTERNOON                         192      Seth, taking it down.                                 SETH                Where?                              KATE (V.O.)                An open-air place near my office,                the Cafe Alonzo --      Seth's excited.193   INT. TREASURY BUILDING - BURTON'S OFFICE - BURTON -         193   *      LATE AFTERNOON      taking it down.                              KATE (V.O.)                Four o'clock -- it's deserted then.      Burton's excited too.     HOLD.194   EXT. SKY - MOON - NIGHT                                     194      high in the sky -- middle of the night now.195   INT. KATE'S APARTMENT - KATE - NIGHT                        195      Wired. Pacing across her small apartment, back and      forth, back and forth.196   INT. SETH'S OFFICE - SETH - NIGHT                           196      alone in his office, going over plans, sipping coffee to      stay awake.197   INT. BURTON'S BEDROOM - BURTON - NIGHT                      197      alone in his bed, staring at the ceiling, a nearly empty      Scotch bottle in one hand.198   OMITTED                                                     198199   INT. LUTHER'S SAFE HOUSE APARTMENT - LUTHER - NIGHT         199      listening to the PHONE MACHINE. We hear KATE'S VOICE.      "Daddy... I miss you... I'm worried... call me..."      A CLICK. Luther hangs up, immediately dials again. We      hear the message start over. "Daddy... I miss you..." As      he continues to listen --                                                             80.200   EXT. FIRING RANGE - DAY (EARLY MORNING)                      200      -- on what's going to be a gorgeous day.      Burton, yawning, blowing into a steaming paper cup of      coffee. Collin, wide awake, moves alongside. Collin is      carrying a rifle.      -- we are at a government firing range.      Collin squints into the morning sun.      Burton, putting down the coffee cup, picking up a pair of      binoculars.      Burton and Collin staring out --      -- A distant target is being raised.      Collin.   He strokes the barrel of his high-powered rifle.                                                  CUT TO:201   TARGET                                                       201      A long way off.                                                  CUT TO:202   BURTON                                                       202      as he has focused the binoculars --203   BINOCULAR POV - TARGET                                       203      seen through the binoculars as it comes clear -- the      bull's eye is small.                                                 CUT TO:204   COLLIN                                                       204      with his rifle. His fingers still move along the barrel.      No hurry whatsoever --      -- and then it all goes fast, and in one motion he is      aiming and FIRING and FIRING again and the sound explodes      and --      Burton, dazed.                                                  CUT TO:                                                                    81.205   TARGET                                                              205      -- the bull's eye has been totally blown away.                                                     CUT TO:206   OMITTED                                                             206207   INT. DOWNTOWN MEN'S STORE - DAY                                     207      Luther and a SALESMAN are engaged in conversation.      Luther is buttoning a new raincoat to the throat. The      Salesman holds several hats. Luther picks one, tries it      on.                               LUTHER                 I need to look really good today.      He doesn't like the hat.                               SALESMAN                 Business?                        (as Luther tries                         the other hat --                         very rakish, he                         likes it)                 It's a woman, I can tell.                        (as Luther nods)                 Never too late, is it?      Luther.   Beaming.                               LUTHER                 You got that right.      Now, from his happy face --208   EXT. CAFE ALONZO BUILDING - THREE CURSING WORKMEN - DAY             208      PULL BACK to reveal the workmen are on a scaffolding two      stories up, struggling to replace a glass panel that has      cracked.      The glass panel is heavy and bulky and the workmen are      having a bitch of a time with it.      The entire front of the building is glass panels.        It      mirrors the area across the street -- a bunch of      dilapidated brownstones.)B(   ABSOLUTE POWER - Rev. 5/16/96                           82.209   EXT. BROWNSTONES ACROSS FROM CAFE ALONZO - DAY                209      They are empty and, according to a sign, are due for      demolition. All the windows of the brownstones are      closed -- except one. On an upper story.210   INT. BROWNSTONE - DAY                                         210      Inside the window. Michael McCarty, who we last met at              *      Walter Sullivan's, is there. He looks out.                          *211   HIS POV                                                       211      The glass building and the struggling workmen and, on the      ground floor, a few tables are set outside, with large      umbrellas alongside each.      There is a sign:    CAFE ALONZO.212   INT. BROWNSTONE - DAY                                         212      McCarty.   Beside him is a leather case.     He opens it.      The case. A very high-powered rifle. McCarty begins to      expertly assemble it, taut and businesslike.213   INT. POLICE HEADQUARTERS DEBRIEFING ROOM - DAY                213      Seth, taut and businesslike, stands by a     blown-up map of      the Cafe Alonzo area. The restaurant is      circled -- and      around it are marked places for policemen     to wait -- Seth      is giving instructions to those policemen     now --      -- fifty of them.    And no one's smiling.214   INT. KATE'S APARTMENT - DAY                                   214      Kate. Dressed and ready. Lying on her bed. Afternoon      now. She gets up, makes it halfway to the front door --      -- can't do it -- she turns, goes back to bed, lies down      again, frozen.215   EXT. CAFE ALONZO BUILDING - DAY                               215      The cursing workmen. The glass panel is so damn      cumbersome they are having a miserable time.)B(   ABSOLUTE POWER - Rev. 5/16/96                            83.216   EXT. CAFE ALONZO - DAY                                         216      An elderly couple sits at one of the half dozen outdoor      tables.      The place is empty.217   EXT. POLICE HEADQUARTERS - PARKING LOT - DAY                   217      Seth, outside headquarters now, giving instructions to      police officers. Behind them: two dozen unmarked cars.                                                     CUT TO:218   SUN                                                            218      Later in the afternoon.219   EXT. POLICE HEADQUARTERS - PARKING LOT - DAY                   219      Burton, getting out of his car at Seth's Police      Headquarters.      Seth, finishing instructing a dozen motorcycle cops.                 *      Burton moves up behind Seth, waits quietly. As Seth is      done, he sees Burton, they nod, start toward Seth's car.                              BURTON                The Boss is very grateful.                Thanks.                                 SETH                Figured he'd    like an eyewitness                report of the    capture. This is                our guy -- if    he's innocent, he                sure took off    awful fast.220   EXT. CAFE ALONZO BUILDING - DAY                                220      The three workmen.    Making some headway with the bulky      glass panel --221   GUNSCOPE POV                                                   221      -- now crosshairs cover them and we --      PULL BACK to reveal --)B(   ABSOLUTE POWER - Rev. 5/16/96                          84.222   INT. BROWNSTONE - DAY                                        222      McCarty, staring out the window of the brownstone, the      rifle pointed -- very relaxed, he pulls the trigger --      the RIFLE'S not loaded yet -- and the STACCATO "CLICK" is      all we hear.223   INT. CAFE ALONZO BUILDING - LOBBY                            223      Seth and Burton moving quickly into the lobby of the      glass office building that adjoins the Cafe Alonzo -- the      lobby has a clear view of the outdoor part of the cafe.      Around and behind them, dozens of cops get in position.224   EXT. STREET - CAFE ALONZO BUILDING - DAY                     224      Around the corner from the glass building -- unmarked      cars.225   EXT. ANOTHER STREET - NEAR THE CAFE BUILDING - DAY           225   *      Motorcycles, waiting in shadow, out of sight.226   INT. CAFE ALONZO BUILDING - LOBBY - DAY                      226      Seth and Burton. They've both seen a lot -- which      doesn't mean they're not tense. Burton takes out some      Tums, offers them to Seth. Seth shakes his head, brings      out Tums of his own.                                                   CUT TO:227   SUN                                                          227      Starting down.228   EXT. CAFE ALONZO BUILDING - DAY                              228      The three workmen and they hate their job.   One of them      glances down.229   EXT. CAFE ALONZO - DAY                                       229      Empty.      Now, from the workmens' angle, a woman moves to one of      the tables. It's Kate. They don't pay much attention.                                                             85.230   EXT. CAFE ALONZO - DAY                                       230      Kate. She hesitates, then decides on the front table.      She takes a breath. Sits. Motionless.                                                   CUT TO:231   GUNSCOPE POV - CLOSEUP ON KATE                               231      -- now crosshairs cover her face and we --      PULL BACK to reveal --232   INT. BROWNSTONE - DAY                                        232      McCarty as before, with his weapon. He pulls the trigger      again and again, there is the "CLICK" -- now he flicks      away a grain of dust from the barrel --      -- then he puts the weapon down, reaches out and --      ONE BULLET. It's supersonic ammo. McCarty picks it up,      blows on it gently. He might be holding a child.233   INT. CAFE ALONZO BUILDING - LOBBY - DAY                      233      Burton and Seth.    They can see Kate sitting alone in the      late afternoon.                                 SETH                          (mutters)                Fuck...      -- And a goddamn WAITER has appeared and is walking out      toward Kate. He is Asian and very young.234   EXT. CAFE ALONZO                                             234      Kate, startled as the Waiter calls out from behind her.                                 WAITER                Miss?                       (as she spins                        around)                What you want please?      His English could be a lot better.                              KATE                Nothing, thank you.                                                   (CONTINUED)                                                               86.234   CONTINUED:                                                     234                                   WAITER                   Got to.                                   KATE                   Pardon?                                 WAITER                          (gesturing)                   You sit you eat please.235   INT. CAFE ALONZO BUILDING - LOBBY - DAY                        235      Seth and Burton.       Stunned.                                 SETH                   This is not part of my brilliant                   master plan.      More Tums.                                 BURTON                   Unfuckingbelievable.      They both crunch away.236   INT. BROWNSTONE - DAY                                          236      McCarty, watching the Waiter and Kate. He's not happy      either. He points a finger at the Waiter, goes "Boom."237   EXT. CAFE ALONZO - DAY                                         237      Kate, and it's almost four o'clock and she's not at her      best.                                 KATE                          (gesturing around)                   I'm waiting for someone.                              WAITER                He must eat too, please.                              KATE                Oh he will, we both will -- we'll                order half the menu -- but just                not now --      The Waiter nods, finally he turns, starts off.      Kate.   Trembling.                                                      (CONTINUED)                                                                87.237   CONTINUED:                                                      237      The Waiter returning.                                 WAITER                   Cheesecake gone.                                 KATE                   Thank you so much.      The Waiter nods again, and this time he does go.      Kate, watching him, making sure.       Now she sits      straight --238   CLOSEUP - KATE                                                  238      Very shaky, trying to hold it together. And now      crosshairs cover her face as we PULL BACK to reveal --239   EXT./INT. UNMARKED VAN ON STREET NEAR CAFE BUILDING -           239      DAY      Collin. He holds a very high-powered weapon. It looks      like it could kill from a thousand yards away.      Where he is -- and it's not a thousand yards away -- he's      in an unmarked van on the street, even closer than      McCarty.      Collin, loading his weapon.       His movements are skilled.      His concentration is total.240   INT. BROWNSTONE -    DAY                                        240      McCarty, glancing out at the office building area. The      three workmen on the scaffolding are fighting to right      the glass panel. One of them grabs a rope connected to a      block and tackle.      He pulls on the rope.      Slowly, the piece begins to rise.241   EXT. CAFE ALONZO - DAY                                          241      Kate, sitting alone, studying her hands.242   INT. CAFE ALONZO BUILDING - LOBBY - DAY                         242      Seth and Burton.    The waiting is agony.                                                              88.243   EXT. CAFE ALONZO - DAY                                        243      Kate.     It's worse for her.   She glances around --      -- nothing, no one.244   INT. BROWNSTONE - DAY                                         244      McCarty.    All the time in the world.245   INT. UNMARKED VAN - DAY                                       245      Collin.    Blows on his weapon slightly.246   EXT. CAFE ALONZO - DAY                                        246      Kate, and it's a question of how much longer she can take      it. Her trembling is almost out of control -- she      glances around again and --      -- and there he is!      Luther Whitney himself, and he looks splendid in his new      raincoat and hat --      -- he moves along in the shadow of the office building,      toward the cafe, walking with his usual grace -- Luther      always seems to glide.247   INT. BROWNSTONE - DAY                                         247      McCarty in the window.    Spotting Luther --      -- totally controlled.248   INT. UNMARKED VAN - DAY                                       248      Collin does the same.249   INT. LOBBY - DAY                                              249      Seth and Burton, and the instant Luther is visible, Seth      gestures toward the policemen: Get ready.250   INT. BROWNSTONE - McCARTY - DAY                               250      raising his rifle.                                                          89.251   INT. UNMARKED VAN - DAY                                    251      Collin, raising his.252   EXT. CAFE ALONZO BUILDING - DAY                            252      The three workmen, raising the glass panel.253   EXT. CAFE ALONZO - DAY                                     253      Kate.   Watching her father come closer.      Luther. It's hard to suppress a smile as he walks      towards his daughter.      Kate, still watching.      Luther, almost there.     Speaks softly.                              LUTHER                I did not kill that woman, Kate.254   INT. BROWNSTONE - DAY                                      254      McCarty, flipping off the safety.255   INT. UNMARKED VAN - DAY                                    255      Collin, doing the same.256   EXT. CAFE ALONZO - DAY                                     256      Luther and Kate, and he starts to sit --257   INT. LOBBY - DAY                                           257      Seth, right hand raised -- he's about to start it all in      motion.258   INT. BROWNSTONE - DAY                                      258      McCarty, his finger floating to the trigger.259   INT. UNMARKED VAN - DAY                                    259      Collin, doing the same.                                                           90.260   EXT. CAFE ALONZO - DAY                                     260      Luther, seated now and as at last, he reaches out for his      daughter's hand --261   EXT. CAFE ALONZO BUILDING - DAY                            261      -- The three workmen, and for a moment the glass panel      slips and tilts and as it catches the afternoon sun --262   INT. BROWNSTONE - DAY                                      262      -- McCarty, blinded as the red reflection hits his eyes      but he FIRES.263   EXT. CAFE ALONZO - DAY                                     263      Luther and Kate as suddenly the umbrella at their table      is severed and starts to topple.264   INT. UNMARKED VAN - DAY                                    264      Collin, startled, and he FIRES too.265   EXT. CAFE ALONZO - DAY                                     265      Luther, instantly diving toward Kate as the second BULLET      EXPLODES in the pavement close by.266   INT. LOBBY - DAY                                           266      Seth, stunned, because this is crazy and Burton, stunned,      eyes wide.267   EXT. CAFE ALONZO - DAY                                     267      Luther, taking Kate down to the sidewalk, protecting her      body with his body and --      Madness! -- because all goes nuts now as there are shouts      and screams and people running this way, that way --268   INT. LOBBY - DAY                                           268      -- Seth is in the center of it all, shouting      instructions, racing with Burton out of the building --)B(   ABSOLUTE POWER - Rev. 5/16/96                          91.269   EXT. STREET/CAFE ALONZO BUILDING - DAY                       269      -- unmarked cars fill the street --      -- a hundred uniformed policemen charge --      -- MOTORCYCLES ROAR in from everywhere --270   EXT. CAFE ALONZO - DAY                                       270      -- Kate lies dazed -- staring at the chaos -- here come      thirty uniformed policemen --                                      *      -- and here come thirty more --                                    *271   EXT. REAR OF BROWNSTONE - DAY                                271      -- McCarty races out of the back of the building, leaps      into a SPORTSCAR, GUNS away --272   INT. UNMARKED VAN - DAY                                      272      -- Collin disassembles his rifle, scrambles from the      van --273   INT. LOBBY - DAY                                             273      -- Burton stays close to Seth, watching it all --274   EXT. CAFE ALONZO BUILDING - DAY                              274      -- The three workmen look down at it all -- then they      look at each other in total confusion -- what the fuck is      going on? --      -- because what they see is that the recently-deserted      plaza is now stuffed with cops and more cops and vehicles      and here come more and here come even more --275   EXT. CAFE ALONZO - DAY                                       275      And Kate sits now, staring around, looking for Luther --      -- and Seth in the middle of it all stares around,      looking for Luther --      -- because where the hell is he?      A black police lieutenant, shouting for his men to spread      out.                                                   (CONTINUED))B(   ABSOLUTE POWER - Rev. 5/16/96                          92.275   CONTINUED:                                                   275      Burton, turning, turning, trying to make sense of it all.      Three police sergeants on MOTORCYCLES, GUNNING through      the crowd.      Kate, standing now, looking down -- and then she sees it      -- on the ground where Luther was: a new raincoat and a      new hat and --      Seth, and it's all gone wrong and it's all going crazy      and there is noise and there are shouts and there are      whistles.      The black police lieutenant, breaking into a run, chasing      after someone we can't quite make out.276   INT. CAFE ALONZO - DAY                                       276   *      A tall uniformed police lieutenant, entering Cafe      Alonzo --      -- he passes a couple of guys in chef's hats and the      Chinese waiter who just gapes out toward what was his      service area --      -- the tall uniformed police lieutenant moves gracefully      past --      -- it's Luther.      He goes to the front door of the place, glances back      toward where the NOISE is still mounting -- shakes his      head -- out the door and gone!277   INT. KATE'S APARTMENT - NIGHT                                277      The door to Kate's apartment opening and Seth coming in      with Kate. Evening. Kate is as drained as you'd expect.                                KATE                         (glancing around)                Messy.                              SETH                I like that in a woman.      She doesn't smile.      Seth, giving her back her keys and a piece of paper.    His      voice is raw from all the shouting.                                                 (CONTINUED))B(   ABSOLUTE POWER - Rev. 5/16/96                              93.277   CONTINUED:                                                       277                                 SETH                   Top number's local police --                          (as she nods)                   -- other two are my office and                   home.                          (off another nod)                   I live alone, too, call anytime.                   Want me to get someone to spend                   the night?                                 KATE                   I just need some sleep.                                SETH                  I've got surveillance outside.                  And I'm keeping it on 'til this is                  over. I've got a feeling he's                  going to try and contact you.                                KATE                  You're on a hot streak, I guess.                                SETH                  Listen, I'm sorry.      Kate.   Nothing to say.                                SETH                  Anything unusual, call me right                  away -- not a bother, I live                  alone.                                KATE                  You said.                                SETH                         (he knows that)                  Feeble, huh?      She nods.    They look at each other.    Then he starts toward         *      the door.    Slowly.                                KATE                  Anything for the road?     I've got                  water and water.                                SETH                  Deal.278   INT. KATE'S APARTMENT - KITCHEN - NIGHT                          278      They enter and she opens the fridge --                                                        (CONTINUED)                                                             94.278   CONTINUED:                                                   278      -- and it's full of food: milk and fruit and cookies.      Kate stares, then quickly glances at Seth. He just      points to a bottle.                                 SETH                   Pelligrino would be great.                          (off Kate, who can't                           help it, breaks out                           laughing)                   What's funny, I say it wrong?                                   KATE                   Tired is all.      As she hands him a bottle.279   INT. KATE'S APARTMENT - FRONT DOOR - NIGHT                   279      as they move toward it.      He opens it.                              SETH                I don't think I've told you this,                but I live alone.                       (and this time, as she                        does smile, and he                        does go)                Lock it behind me.                              KATE                       (LOCKING it loudly)                How's that?                                SETH (O.S.)                Real good.    Try and sleep.      His FOOTSTEPS get softer, DISAPPEAR.                              KATE                       (still facing door,                        her back to her                        apartment)                I betrayed you, Luther. You                better know that now.                              LUTHER (O.S.)                You're not the first.      As Kate turns, Luther, standing there, is looking at her.                              KATE                Why'd you come?                                                   (CONTINUED)                                                                 95.279   CONTINUED:                                                       279                                 LUTHER                   You have to know I'm not a                   murderer.                                 KATE                   No, this afternoon. To the                   restaurant. Why'd you come then?                   You must have suspected something,                   or you wouldn't have been                   prepared.                                 LUTHER                          (simply)                   My daughter wanted to see me.      He points to the couch -- as Kate sits.      Luther, and      before she's even seated, he's into it.                              LUTHER                The robbery went fine 'til they                came in. They were drunk. I hid                in the vault. Sex got rough. He                was going to kill Christy, but she                turned the tables, was going to                kill him. Two guys came in, shot                her dead.                              KATE                The same two guys who tried for                you this afternoon?                              LUTHER                Probably only one of them. I                think Walter Sullivan might have                hired the other.                              KATE                Pretty powerful enemy; good going.                              LUTHER                Not as powerful as the President                of the United States.      Kate just looks at him.      Dead silence.                              LUTHER                Richmond was drunk. The two guys                are Secret Service. Chief of                Staff Russell planned the coverup.      Kate just looks at him.                                                    (CONTINUED))B(   ABSOLUTE POWER - Rev. 5/16/96                               96.279   CONTINUED:    (2)                                                 279      Dead silence.      Luther.     Studying her.    Not a great reaction.      Kate.     Little shake of the head.                                 LUTHER                   Every word true.                                 KATE                   You're saying you're innocent of                   the murder? Why in the world                               *                   should I believe you?      CLOSEUP - LUTHER                                                        *      Long pause.                                 LUTHER                   Because I swear on Mattie's grave.      KATE                                                                    *      Rocked --      Luther, going to her.                                 LUTHER                   On your mother's grave, Kate --                   you know I'd kill myself before                   I'd lie about that.      Kate. Looking at him.        Because he wouldn't lie, not      about that.      Everything he's told her, all true.      The air goes out of her.      Silence.                                   KATE                         (soft)                  Jesus, Luther.                                   LUTHER                  I know.                                KATE                  They'll kill you.                                                      (CONTINUED))B(   ABSOLUTE POWER - Rev. 5/16/96                         97.279   CONTINUED:    (3)                                           279                                  LUTHER                   I know.                                  KATE                   Can you run?      Luther as he sits beside her on the couch.                                 LUTHER                   I was set to. At the airport.                   All the money I'd ever need.      CLOSEUP - LUTHER                                                  *                             LUTHER               But I saw that bastard using                             *               Sullivan on the T.V. -- maybe I               couldn't have saved that woman,               Kate. But I didn't even try.                      (beat)               I know what you think of me and I               know what we've been to each               other --                      (beat)               -- haven't been to each other.               And it's not the time to try and               explain my life --      KATE                                                              *      watching his face now.                             LUTHER               -- but I've never robbed anyone               couldn't afford it and I've never               stiffed a waitress.                      (beat)               And Alan Richmond has to pay.                             KATE               What can you do?                             LUTHER               Not much, maybe -- but I only went               to jail when I had partners.                      (beat)               People betray each other, Kate --               nowadays, when there's a group,               someone wants to write a book --                             (MORE)                                                   (CONTINUED))B(   ABSOLUTE POWER - Rev. 5/16/96                         98.279   CONTINUED:   (4)                                            279                              LUTHER (CONT'D)                       (beat)                -- these people hate each other.                And if I can drive them just a                little bit nuts, who knows how                they'll react under pressure?                       (rises and looks at                        her)                Glad for the talk, wish we'd had                more.      Luther crosses to the door, turns.                              LUTHER                This is probably it; you                understand that.                       (as she does, he still                        looks at her. Then -- )                I was never going to tell you                this, but I watched you argue a                case last year -- thank God you                got your brains from your mother.      Kate standing now, too -- they're across the room from      each other.                              KATE                It's dangerous outside.                               LUTHER                It always is --                        (beat)                -- and I may not make you proud,                Kate --                        (soft)                -- but I'm not going down alone...      And on that...280   EXT. RUSSELL APARTMENT BUILDING - DAY                       280      An elegant high-rise in Washington. Crisp, cool      afternoon. A DOORMAN stands outside, enjoying the day.      A well-dressed man rounds the corner; he holds a small,      beautifully-wrapped package with a small envelope      attached. He moves to the Doorman.                                                   (CONTINUED)                                                               99.280   CONTINUED:                                                     280                                 WELL-DRESSED MAN                          (it's Luther)                   For Miss Gloria Russell.      He hands it over.                                 DOORMAN                          (taking it)                   Want me to sign anything?                                 LUTHER                          (shakes head)                   I trust you.      And he turns, walks quickly away as we --281   INT. RUSSELL'S APARTMENT - DAY                                 281      The envelope being opened. It's early evening now.       The      message inside is short and clear --                   "Gloria,                          Thanks for the rescue.                                             AR"      Russell smiles, and as she opens the package --282   INT. WHITE HOUSE - EAST ROOM - NIGHT                           282      A beautiful necklace. Antique mostly likely. And      tasteful -- we hear the sound of an ORCHESTRA PLAYING      WALTZES.      PULL BACK to reveal Gloria Russell, looking just      splendid, the necklace around her throat, entering a      large and very impressive White House dinner-dance.      Clearly an important affair of state.      We've never seen Russell quite      like this -- relaxed,      secure in her femininity. She       nods distantly to Burton      and Collin who are, as always,      close the President. For      the first time now, we realize      something: Gloria Russell      is hot for Alan Richmond.      Richmond, on the edge of the dance floor, chatting with      some elderly couples, several of them European, all of      them wealthy.                                 RICHMOND                          (as Russell approaches)                   You're a vision this evening, Miss                   Russell.                                                     (CONTINUED))B(   ABSOLUTE POWER - Rev. 5/16/96                             100.282   CONTINUED:                                                       282                                 RUSSELL                   Thank you, Mr. President.                          (beat)                   And thank you, Mr. President.                                 RICHMOND                          (doesn't understand)                   For?                          (off her, radiant,                           indicating the                           necklace)                   Come again?      This time she touches it -- he bends close to her.                                 RUSSELL                          (whispering)                   You sent it to me this afternoon.      Long pause -- then...      CLOSEUP - RICHMOND                                                     *      So happy.                                 RICHMOND                   Well, of course.                          (now, to the others)                   Excuse me, all -- I am overcome                   with the desire to dance with my                   Chief of Staff.                                                                             *      A hand to her -- Russell, beaming, moves out onto the      dance floor with him.      Everyone at the gathering, watching them.      Richmond and Russell, very much aware that all eyes are      on them --      -- what we don't know is this: they are both wonderful      dancers. And they seem to be reveling in their moves --      -- because throughout this, they never stop smiling.                                 RICHMOND                   What is this nonsense? I'm hoping                   there's an explanation.                                                       (CONTINUED))B(   ABSOLUTE POWER - Rev. 5/16/96                               101.282   CONTINUED:    (2)                                                  282                                 RUSSELL                          (surprised)                   Your gift, Alan -- I was                   overwhelmed -- and your note was                   so gratifying --                                 RICHMOND                          (cutting in)                   -- I sent a note?                                 RUSSELL                   Yes, yes, you think I don't know                   your writing? I assumed you                   wanted me to wear it tonight.      The necklace.       He looks at it as they spin gracefully.                                 RICHMOND                   It is lovely, Gloria -- and you                   know what else?      They do a perfect dip.                                   RUSSELL                   What, Alan?                                 RICHMOND                   Christy Sullivan wore it the night                          *                   she was killed.                                             *      Russell, a quick glint of panic, a gentle peal of      feminine laughter.      Richmond and Russell -- he bends her back, their mouths      are close.                                 RICHMOND                   You realize what this means?                   Whitney's been heard from.      CLOSEUP - RUSSELL                                                        *      They spin and glide.       Long pause.   Then --                                  RUSSELL                   It's not precisely the first time,                   Mr. President.                                                                               *      The MUSIC is BUILDING TO CLIMAX now.       Their movements      become more grand.                                                         (CONTINUED))B(   ABSOLUTE POWER - Rev. 5/16/96                          102.282   CONTINUED:    (3)                                             282   *                                 RICHMOND                          (so happy)                   You've been keeping things from                   me?                                 RUSSELL                   Only because you have so much on                   your plate, Alan; we wanted to                   spare you.                          (beat)                   He sent me a Polaroid of the                   letter opener yesterday.      CLOSEUP - RICHMOND                                                  *      A kick in the teeth --      -- he summons all his control, goes into even more      complicated movements.                                                                          *      The crowd of elegant men and women, it's really wonderful      dancing they're seeing -- they start to applaud.      Richmond and Russell, hearing the sound. Richmond      acknowledges it with a smile as they come to climax.                                 RICHMOND                   Well, now --                          (a final flourish)                   -- I need time to think -- come                   see me in my office in the                   morning --                          (beat)                   This will certainly make for an                   interesting chapter in my memoirs.      And as they bow...      The crowd applauding louder, while on the dance floor,      the President of the United States and the Chief of Staff      applaud happily back. As the sound builds --283   EXT. BURTON'S HOUSE - ROOF - NIGHT                            283      Luther in the night.    Silence.      He is moving across the rooftop of a home. He carries a      briefcase -- Luther's making business calls.      Ahead is an attic window -- as he slides it open --                                                              103.284   INT. BURTON'S HOUSE - ATTIC - NIGHT                        284      Luther, slipping inside. Some stairs are just across.      He goes down them, opens the door --285   INT. BURTON'S HOUSE - HALLWAY - NIGHT                      285      Luther stepping into the main part of the dark house. He      stops. No noise at all except that of someone BREATHING      DEEPLY, coming from an open bedroom door.      Luther passes by -- for an instant we can see that Burton      is asleep, an empty bottle by his head.286   INT. COLLIN'S HOUSE - NIGHT                                286      Luther rounding a corner --      -- and we can tell immediately he's in a different house      now. Burton's had only old furnishings, these are modern      and new.      Luther pauses, listening.     Nothing.      He moves forward then, turns another corner --287   INT. RUSSELL'S APARTMENT - NIGHT                           287      -- and now we can tell he's someplace else -- this is an      apartment with a large window looking out on the city.      Luther doesn't stop to admire the view.    He moves      silently on...      HOLD ON the window.      And suddenly:   Dawn -- the sun is starting to rise.      PULL BACK to reveal --288   INT. RUSSELL'S APARTMENT - BEDROOM - DAWN                  288      Gloria Russell, as the ALARM GOES OFF.    She sits --      -- she stretches --      -- then she stares -- something has been taped to her      lamp. We are looking at an issue of the Washington Post      -- Russell's photo smiles out -- there is a headline that      says simply: RUSSELL TO BE CHIEF OF STAFF.      Written across her picture are the words: "This      shitstorm is your fault -- if we go down, you go down!"      Russell takes the paper down, stares at it. Furious.                                                              104.289   INT. BURTON'S HOUSE - KITCHEN - MORNING                    289      Burton, hung over, staggering into the kitchen of his      home, stopping dead. A newspaper is set beside his      coffee pot.      A front page of the Washington Post. Years back. The      lead article reports that a siege has been successfully      broken --      -- Burton, bloody and wounded, is being carried to an      ambulance. A hero. Across the top these words have been      written:      HOW DID THIS HAPPEN, YOU GUTLESS FUCK?      Burton stares.   Steaming.290   INT. COLLIN'S HOUSE - BATHROOM - MORNING                   290      Collin, yawning, going into his bathroom --      -- across his mirror is taped a large white piece of      paper, across which is written in thick black marker --      "If you could shoot for shit, we'd be out of this."      Collin angrily rips it down.291   EXT. DOWNTOWN NEWSSTAND - MORNING                          291      A bunch of commuters and businessmen are buying papers.      The newspapers. Washington, New York, Philadelphia --      and they're all different front pages, of course, but one      photo in all of them is the same --      -- every one of them is running the mug shot of Luther.      And the sense of the stories is the same too:                          HAVE YOU SEEN THIS MAN?                                                    CUT TO:292   COMMUTERS                                                  292      crowded around, making their purchases. Some of them are      young, some of them are half asleep. One of them is in      his 60's and very wide awake --      -- it's Luther --      -- as he buys a paper, looks at the headline --      fascinated.                                                            105.292A   INT. BURTON'S OFFICE                                      292A       Still early morning -- Collin is going through Burton's       desk hurriedly --       -- when Burton surprises him --                               BURTON                        (pissed)                 What are you doing?                               COLLIN                        (closes the desk,                         shrugs)                 Needed a pen.                               BURTON                        (pointing to his                         desktop)                 There's pens --                        (moving in)                 -- you don't trust me? --                               COLLIN                        (pissed)                 -- I don't answer to you, asshole                 --       Russell in the doorway now, glaring at them.                               RUSSELL                 You're both assholes, now move --       And on that --293    INT. OVAL OFFICE - DAY                                    293       The note that was sent to Russell and the Polaroid of the       letter opener.       PULL BACK to reveal --       The Polaroid and the note are on Richmond's desk. He       studies them. Russell, Burton and Collin stand silently       watching him, their hatred of each other clear.       The smell of death's in the room.                              RICHMOND                       (holding the note now,                        his voice is, when he                        speaks, calm; to Burton)                Any idea who could have forged it?                                                 (CONTINUED))B(   ABSOLUTE POWER - Rev. 5/16/96                    106.293   CONTINUED:                                              293                                 BURTON                   I talked to Seth Frank --                   apparently Whitney learned how in                   prison.                                 RICHMOND                   Very gifted man.      The window as he walks to it, looks out.                                 RICHMOND                   And are we close to stopping him?                                 RUSSELL                   We're working round the clock.                                 RICHMOND                   Good to know that.                                 BURTON                   He'll make a mistake.                                 RICHMOND                   Good to know that too.      CLOSEUP - RICHMOND                                            *      With more meaning than the words convey --                                 RICHMOND                   There is one other thing you'll                   want to take care of.      The other three, looking at Richmond.                                 BURTON                   You're sure you want to do that?                                 RICHMOND                          (nods)                   She's a young prosecutor,                   prosecutors ask questions -- she                   might know what he knows...                          (a reassuring smile)                   Let's get cracking, shall we?                          (beat)                   Show you love your country.      On those words --                                                             107.294   INT. KATE'S APARTMENT BUILDING HALLWAY - DAY                  294      Kate Whitney, getting into the elevator.    Off to work.      She pushes for the lobby.      The doors close and the elevator starts down.295   INT. ELEVATOR - DAY                                           295      Kate checks her purse to see if she has everything.296   INSERT - ELEVATOR BUTTON                                      296      The "L" is lit --      -- but when the elevator gets there, it does not stop but      goes straight on down to the basement.297   INT. ELEVATOR - KATE - DAY                                    297      That's strange.     She instinctively moves to the rear of      the car.      ODD SOUNDS from the basement.     Kate's just the least bit      tense.298   INT. ELEVATOR IN BASEMENT - DAY                               298      The ODD SOUNDS are LOUDER.      And the doors don't open when they should.299   INT. ELEVATOR - KATE - DAY                                    299      and now she's starting to get a little scared.300   INT. BASEMENT - ELEVATOR DOORS - DAY                          300      The doors sliding open and the Super standing there with      tools.                              SUPER                       (smiling)                Sorry, Miss Whitney, but this                thing's giving us a little                trouble.      Kate nods, smiles back, relieved.)B(   ABSOLUTE POWER - Rev. 5/16/96                         108.301   EXT. KATE'S APARTMENT BUILDING - DAY                         301      Kate, leaving her building, going toward her car, getting      in.      Down the block is a police car. Two surveillance cops      inside. Kate starts to drive -- and so do they.      Kate turns a corner --      -- and so do they --      -- and as they do, they pass Luther, parked on the      corner. Watching. Satisfied, he drives off in another      direction.302   EXT. OUTER CITY ROAD (WASHINGTON) - DAY                    302      Luther, heading out of the city.    The sun is higher in      the sky.303   EXT. COUNTRY ROAD - DAY                                      303      Several cars. Traffic is moving slowly.     Luther      continues to drive.304   EXT. KATE'S OFFICE BUILDING - DAY                            304      Kate, coming out of her office building, hurrying along      the sidewalk. Lunch hour.                                                                         *      She goes past some brownstones -- the two cops walk                *      behind --      -- the window of one of the brownstones is open, shadowy      movement from inside --      -- Kate hurries past, not paying attention... Cops don't      either.305   EXT. BROWNSTONE - DAY                                        305      Now a figure begins to appear in the window --      The figure holds something long and thin, like a rifle      barrel --      -- it's a large woman with a long mop -- as she shakes      it --      Afternoon and the sun is strong.                                                                      109.306   EXT. SULLIVAN MASTER BEDROOM - DAY                                 306      Sunlight, streaming in an open bedroom window.          Whose      bedroom, though?      Two maids are cleaning it --      -- and now we realize where we are: Walter Sullivan's      bedroom, but it's all been changed, different rug,      different fabrics, different furnishings.      The maids work silently and well. A final sweep of a      dust rag here, a last tug at the bedspread there.      Done.   They go to the door, take a last look around.      Perfect.      They go.      HOLD ON the empty room.      Keep HOLDING.      Now, silently, the vault door opens -- a gardener steps      out, clicker in hand.      The gardener -- it's Luther -- he clicks it, tosses it      back inside --      -- the door starts to close --      -- but before it shuts, we can see he's returned what he      took the night of the robbery.      And as he moves silently toward the door.307   EXT. GAS STATION (WASHINGTON CITY LIMITS) - DAY                    307      The outskirts of Washington.       Mid-afternoon now.      Luther's at a pay phone.308   INT. SETH'S OFFICE - DAY                                           308      Seth, as he picks up the phone --                                  LUTHER (V.O.)                 Kate okay?                                  SETH                 Where are you?                                                              110.309    EXT. PAY PHONE - DAY                                      309       Luther.   Fast.                               LUTHER                 I'm not staying on long enough for                 you to track this, just answer me.310    INT. SETH'S OFFICE - DAY                                  310                               SETH                 She couldn't be in better hands --                 talk about catching a break,                 Secret Service called me. They're                 taking over surveillance --311    EXT. PAY PHONE - DAY                                      311       The telephone swinging back and forth --       -- and in the b.g., a car MOTOR ROARING away.312    INT. KATE'S APARTMENT BUILDING - ELEVATOR - DAY           312       Kate, coming down the elevator again -- in her jogging       clothes now. She has pushed the lobby button.       The elevator stops suddenly on the second floor --       -- The Super gets in, smiles.                               SUPER                 Got it working fine, Miss Whitney.       Kate nods, smiles back --312A   EXT. WASHINGTON STREET - DAY                              312A       Luther, driving like crazy through the city.312B   EXT. KATE'S APARTMENT BUILDING - DAY                      312B       Kate, getting into her car in front of her building,       driving off -- no one is behind her.312C   EXT. WASHINGTON - ANOTHER STREET - DAY                    312C       Luther, HONKING his HORN as he barrels around a corner,       scattering traffic.)B(    ABSOLUTE POWER - Rev. 5/16/96                       111.312D   EXT. JOGGING PARK ENTRANCE - DAY                          312D *       Kate drives into the park past a sign reading:                    *       "PARKING LOT."                                                    *312E   EXT. ROAD NEAR JOGGING PARK - DAY                         312E       Luther, gunning along -- up ahead the park is visible       now.312F   EXT. JOGGING PARK - PARKING LOT - ENTRANCE ROAD - DAY     312F       Kate, following an arrow that leads to the parking lot.       Luther, in the park, now, suddenly shouting "Shit" as       we --312G   EXT. JOGGING PARK - PARKING LOT - DAY                     312G       A "DETOUR" sign.       Kate, entering the parking lot.312H   EXT. JOGGING PARK - PARKING LOT AREA - DAY                312H       Luther, out of his car now, running like crazy through       the park. Ahead is a sign saying: "JOGGING PATH."313    EXT. JOGGING PARK - PARKING AREA - DAY                    313       Not many other cars so she gets a space in front,       overlooking the river, and as she stops, takes out her       keys --314    BURTON AND COLLIN                                          314       Collin at the wheel, ROARING in behind her, rear-ending       her hard.       -- there is a SCREECH of BRAKES and a SCREAM --314A   EXT. JOGGING PARK - TRAIL - DAY                            314A       Luther as he hears the terrible sound, keeps running.315    EXT. PARKING LOT - INT. KATE'S CAR - DAY                   315       Kate in her car as it teeters at the edge and then starts       its long fall to the jogging path far below.)B(    ABSOLUTE POWER - Rev. 5/16/96                         112.316    EXT. JOGGING PARK - PARKING AREA - DAY                    316       Burton and Collin in their car, driving like hell away.316A   EXT. JOGGING PARK - TRAIL - DAY                           316A       Luther, running INTO VIEW, stopping dead, helpless now,       staring at the worst thing in the world --317    OMITTED                                                      317318    EXT. JOGGING PARK CLIFF - DAY                                318   *       Kate's car, careening against a rocky ledge, then cart       wheeling the rest of the way down, landing horribly,       spinning, finally coming to rest upside down and --                                                  CUT TO:319    EXT. BOTTOM OF CLIFF - DAY                                   319   *       Luther running to the car; hands shaking, he manages to            *       pull front door open and reach inside --       -- now there are cries as other joggers stop and stare       and --       Kate, as Luther pulls her body out of the wreckage.                               LUTHER                        (terrified)                 ... Kate...?       -- no response -- it's impossible to tell if she's       alive --       -- in the distance now, the sound of an AMBULANCE.320    EXT. WASHINGTON HOSPITAL EMERGENCY ENTRANCE - EVENING     320       The AMBULANCE, SIREN SCREAMING.       PULL BACK to reveal --       Early evening now, getting dark, and the ambulance       braking in front of the emergency room of a large city       hospital --       -- as doctors and attendants with gurneys come pouring       out --                                                               113.321   INT. WASHINGTON HOSPITAL - KATE'S ROOM - NIGHT               321      A private room. Later.      Kate is bandaged and attached to      a bunch of equipment --      -- but however faintly her breathing, it's still      breathing and it's steady. She's alone for the moment in      the semi-darkened room.322   INT. HOSPITAL CORRIDOR - NIGHT                               322      Empty.    A doctor comes walking along -- it's Collin.323   INT. HOSPITAL - KATE'S ROOM - NIGHT                          323      Kate in her room, sleeping.     Another doctor is with her      now, checking her charts.324   INT. HOSPITAL CORRIDOR - NIGHT                               324      Collin. He sees what's going on, stops, pulls out a      small notebook, pretends to read it, all the while      glancing toward Kate's room with the one doctor still      there --      -- now from around the corner, NOISE, COMING CLOSER --      SEVERAL PEOPLE APPROACHING, perhaps more.      Collin turns away from the sound, curses, then stops --      -- The doctor is done with Kate's charts.      From around the corner now, the group coming closer      still.      Kate's doorway as the doctor exits and Collin enters --      they pass each other --325   INT. HOSPITAL - KATE'S ROOM - NIGHT                          325      -- Collin moves a step further into the room --      -- and now there is something in his hand --      -- a hypodermic needle.      Kate.    Out of it.   Lying there, eyes closed.      Collin, the needle ready, moving silently toward the bed.      Kate is barely breathing.                                                    (CONTINUED)                                                             114.325   CONTINUED:                                                    325      And now suddenly Collin is barely breathing --      -- because the other doctor's arms have viced around      Collin's neck, forcing the air out of him.      Collin, stunned, trying to struggle --      The doctor jerking Collin's body into the air -- his feet      are dangling now -- the hypodermic needle drops to the      bed as the struggle goes on --      -- and Collin's in fabulous shape. He's young and power-      ful and he's been in terrible situations before and he      knows how to fight and he's been taught to defend himself      and --      -- tough shit --      -- the doctor -- it's Luther -- relentlessly increases      the pressure against Collin's throat --      -- Collin can't even gasp now --      -- his feet can't kick anymore --      -- his body starts to go limp --      -- his eyes start to slide up into his head --      -- silence in the room --      -- it's almost over --      -- which is when suddenly Luther lets go.      Collin, eyes flickering open as Luther lays him down on      the floor. All this next is whispered.                                 LUTHER                   Scream. Go on. Which do you want                   most, for me to kill you or life                   in jail forever?      He has gone across the room to the bed.     Collin tries to      move, can't.      The hypodermic needle as Luther picks it up carefully,      starts back to Collin.                                 LUTHER                   Going to guess this wasn't to pep                   her up.                                                   (CONTINUED))B(   ABSOLUTE POWER - Rev. 5/16/96                            115.325   CONTINUED:    (2)                                               325                                 COLLIN                          (staring, eyes wide)                   ... you're not going to kill me...                                 LUTHER                   ... why do you think that...?                                 COLLIN                   ... you could have but you                   didn't...      Luther.   Kneeling by Collin now.                              LUTHER                That's because you didn't know                your crime, prick.      -- and now he jams the needle against Collin's neck.                  *      Collin tries to cry out, but Luther covers his mouth.                                 LUTHER                          (kneeling close, almost                           whispering into Collin's                           ear)                   I didn't mind you tried to shoot                   me at the restaurant -- I wouldn't                   have minded if you'd nailed me at                   Sullivan's -- part of the job --                          (beat)                   -- but you fucked with blood.      Collin.   Terrified.                                                  *                                    COLLIN                   ... mercy...      Luther, bending over him.       Luther pushes the plunger.            *                                    LUTHER                   I'm fresh out.      Collin dying now. His breathing is getting strange, his               *      body starting to stiffen. And on that --                              *                                   KATE (O.S.)                   ... Daddy...?      Kate, eyes barely open. From her position Luther is      simply kneeling, nothing else is visible...                                 LUTHER                   ... go to sleep, honey...                                                     (CONTINUED)                                                              116.325   CONTINUED:     (3)                                         325      She tries to stay awake, can't make it, drifts off.      Kate.     She closes her eyes.      Collin.    Luther closes his eyes for him.     Now --326   INT. HOSPITAL HALLWAY - NIGHT                              326      A gurney with a figure on it being pushed by a doctor.327   EXT. HOSPITAL - NIGHT                                      327      A dumpster outside --      -- the gurney is there --      -- the figure isn't --      -- the sound of a CAR GUNNING into the night and we --328   INT. SETH'S BATHROOM - NIGHT                               328      Seth coming out of the shower. He puts a towel around      him, wipes the steam off the mirror, cries out --      -- Luther is standing there.                                 LUTHER                   I need one answer -- when you                   interviewed Walter Sullivan, did                   he say why Christy didn't go to                   Barbados?                                 SETH                          (shakes his head)                   Just that she changed her mind.                          (studying Luther)                   You know who did it, don't you?                                 LUTHER                   So will you -- check your                   phones --                                 SETH                          (incredulous)                   -- who'd tap a police officer?      No reply -- Luther's already headed for the door as we --)B(   ABSOLUTE POWER - Rev. 5/16/96                         117.329   EXT. GEORGETOWN MANSION - NIGHT                            329      Walter Sullivan, getting into his limousine in front of a      Georgetown mansion. Later in the evening. The car      starts to move. Walter looks frail and very old now.      And somehow smaller.330   EXT. GEORGETOWN/INT. LIMO - NIGHT                          330      Walter huddled in the back seat, as the street lights      illuminate him. He might even be ill. In any case, a      sad figure.331   EXT. GEORGETOWN - NIGHT                                      331      The limousine, turning a corner.332   INT. LIMO - NIGHT                                            332      Walter.   Blinking.                               WALTER SULLIVAN                 Is this a shortcut, Tommy?                              *                              CHAUFFEUR                       (turns; it's Luther)                I'm your replacement driver for                the evening, sir. Don't worry,                Tommy's fine.                                            *                              WALTER SULLIVAN                Very unusual -- what do I call                you?                                LUTHER                Luther, sir.                              WALTER SULLIVAN                And are you familiar with how to                get to my home, Luther?                              LUTHER                I know the way, sir -- I'm the man                who robbed you --      Sullivan says nothing; stares unsmiling.                              LUTHER                -- and you're the man who tried to                have me killed --                                                   (CONTINUED)                                                                118.332   CONTINUED:                                                    332                                 WALTER SULLIVAN                   -- I'm sorry I missed -- I believe                   in the Old Testament, sir -- there                   is nothing wrong with an eye for                   an eye when a terrible deed has                   been done.                          (ice)                   A deed such as yours.                                 LUTHER                   You want to believe that, don't                   you? -- Makes your life a lot                   simpler if you believe that, isn't                   that right?                          (big now)                   What do you think I gain being                   here?      Sullivan.     Contempt.                                 WALTER SULLIVAN                   Have no idea -- you going to rob                   me again? --                                 LUTHER                   I don't need your money, Mr.                   Sullivan. Look in your vault                   lately?                                WALTER SULLIVAN                         (he has)                  I'm afraid we're a little late for                  an attempt at leniency.333   EXT. GEORGETOWN - STREET - NIGHT                              333      The CAR.    A SCREAMING TURN.334   INT. LIMO - NIGHT                                             334                                 LUTHER                  Shit's coming down tonight, Mr.                  Sullivan, do you want to be a                  player or not?                         (bigger)                  Do you want to know what happened,                  or not? I saw. Your call.                                 WALTER SULLIVAN                          (beat)                   I want to know.                                                      (CONTINUED)                                                                119.334   CONTINUED:                                                    334                                 LUTHER                   Are you up to hearing about it? --                   Do you want to hear how he beat                   the shit out of her and tried to                   strangle her -- you have enough                   left for that? --                                  WALTER SULLIVAN                          (a nod)                   -- I could walk through fire --      Luther, fast now.                                 LUTHER                   I was in the chair when they came                   in.                          (as Sullivan says                           nothing)                   They were drunk -- at first he                   only wanted to bruise her -- she                   fought back, he went for the kill                   -- she turned the tables. Then he                   screamed for help.      Pause.                                 WALTER SULLIVAN                   Who else was in my house?                                 LUTHER                   Secret Service shot her.                                 WALTER SULLIVAN                          (doesn't like it)                   Nonsense.                                 LUTHER                   Gloria Russell handled the cover                   up.                                  WALTER SULLIVAN                   Stop this --                                 LUTHER                   -- don't you want to know who the                   man was?                                 WALTER SULLIVAN                          (desperate)                   It was you.                                 LUTHER                   We're too old to bullshit each                   other, Mr. Sullivan.                                                      (CONTINUED))B(   ABSOLUTE POWER - Rev. 5/16/96                         120.334   CONTINUED:    (2)                                            334                                 WALTER SULLIVAN                          (big)                   Who was it then?                                 LUTHER                          (bigger)                   You know!      Sullivan, shaking his head as Luther roars on.                              LUTHER                You fucking well do, don't shake                your head at me -- when you're                alone at night, when the rage                takes you and you think of what                you'd do to revenge her, on those                nights you put a face to your                enemy.                                 WALTER SULLIVAN                          (coming apart)                   Stop the car --                              LUTHER                -- we're going all the way,                Walter --                              WALTER SULLIVAN                -- it's too terrible.                                LUTHER                It sure is.      Walter Sullivan.    A long, shaky moment, then --                             WALTER SULLIVAN               ... I know about Alan's reputation               as a philanderer... but... he               would never dream of betraying               me... I gave him the Presidency.      Luther and Walter as Luther turns a sharp corner and the      WHEELS SCREAM --                                  LUTHER                          (pressing it)                   The press conference -- remember?                   -- he held you in his arms and                   said if only Christy hadn't gotten                   sick she would have been with you                     *                   in Barbados --                                        *                                  (MORE)                                                   (CONTINUED))B(   ABSOLUTE POWER - Rev. 5/16/96                        121.334   CONTINUED:    (3)                                           334                                 LUTHER (CONT'D)                          (bigger)                   -- how do you think he knew she                   was sick? You didn't tell                   anybody. But he heard it, all                   right. He heard it from her.                   That night. And I heard every                   word --      Walter. For a moment, no reaction. Then he sits back      hard. The air's out of him. He just breathes quietly.      Then --                                 WALTER SULLIVAN                   That's not real proof.      Luther.   Handing something back.                                LUTHER                   And this?      Sullivan takes it --      -- it's the letter opener.      Sullivan leans back, shuts his eyes.                              WALTER SULLIVAN                You could have stolen this.                              LUTHER                I did steal it. But that isn't my                blood and those aren't my prints.      CLOSEUP ON SULLIVAN                                               *      Eyes still shut --      -- and he's very old and you expect tears --      -- but he didn't get to be Walter Sullivan by crying --      -- HOLD ON Walter --      -- and this incredible shriek of rage explodes! --      Luther, suddenly stopping the car --335   EXT. WHITE HOUSE GATE - NIGHT                               335      -- and we're at the rear of the White House.                      *                                                               122.336   INT. LIMO - NIGHT                                           336      Walter.   He sits in the back a moment.      Then he gets out.337   EXT. WHITE HOUSE GATE/EXT. LIMO - NIGHT                     337      Luther has gotten out too. They stand close to each      other. They nod. Then Walter starts away.                               WALTER SULLIVAN                        (turns -- quiet now,                         at peace)                 I did love her, you know.      And he walks away.      A White House SECURITY GUARD as Walter approaches.                               WALTER SULLIVAN                 Is he working late? I haven't an                 appointment but I'd like to see                 him if I might.                               GUARD                 You don't need an appointment, Mr.                 Sullivan.      And as he waves him through --      Luther, standing there, watching the old man.      Walter, a final turn back, a nod of the head.      Luther.   He nods back, returns to the car, gets in --      -- and now we begin a BLIZZARD OF CUTS.338   EXT. WASHINGTON STREET/INT. LIMO - NIGHT                    338      Luther driving through the night.339   EXT./INT. NORTH PORTICO ENTRANCE - NIGHT                    339      Walter entering the White House proper.340   INT. WHITE HOUSE - BURTON'S OFFICE - NIGHT                  340      Seth, with a bunch of other officers, standing in front      of an office with the name "BILL BURTON" on a plaque --      he opens the door --                                                   (CONTINUED))B(   ABSOLUTE POWER - Rev. 5/16/96                           123.340   CONTINUED:                                                     340      -- Burton has blown his brains out. A note alongside      reads: "I am so sorry." Alongside the note is a micro-      cassette recorder and a dozen tapes.341   EXT. WASHINGTON STREET/INT. LIMO - NIGHT                   341      Luther.   Driving faster.342   INT. WHITE HOUSE HALLWAY - SECURITY AREA - NIGHT           342      Walter Sullivan approaching a METAL DETECTOR -- he starts      to go through --      -- it GOES OFF --      Walter's embarrassed.    He holds up his wrist, showing his      watch.      The security guards smile, wave him to go ahead.      Walter continues on.343   INT. LIMO - NIGHT                                              343      Luther, tense, ROARING along.344   INT. RUSSELL'S - NIGHT                                         344   *      Gloria Russell -- Seth is with her -- he cuffs her, leads            *      her out --345   INT. AREA OUTSIDE OVAL OFFICE - NIGHT                      345      Walter, by the door of the Oval Office.    The letter      opener is tight in his hand now.      The door opens.      Richmond, arms out, comes to embrace him, as he embraced      him at the Press Conference.346   EXT. HOSPITAL PARKING LOT - NIGHT                          346      Luther pulling up into the parking lot of the hospital,      getting out, passing the parking lot attendant who is      listening transfixed to a small radio.                                                   (CONTINUED))B(    ABSOLUTE POWER - Rev. 5/16/96                             124.346    CONTINUED:                                                       346                                  RADIO ANNOUNCER #1 (V.O.)                   *                    ... in the greatest shock to the                    nation since the Kennedy                    assassination, President Alan                    Richmond's death has rocked...       Luther has moved past now; we can't hear the radio       anymore.346A   INT. HOSPITAL RECEPTION AREA - NIGHT                            346A       Luther enters. A number of people are present, all of       them listening to a large radio, on the desk of the       Information Clerk.                                  RADIO ANNOUNCER #2 (V.O.)                   *                    ... Richmond died violently in the                    Oval Office and Walter Sullivan...       Luther has moved past now; we can't hear the radio       anymore.347    INT. KATE'S HOSPITAL ROOM - NIGHT                                347       She dozes.     Luther sits alongside in a chair.       Outside, the moon is high in the sky.       Kate blinks, half opens her eyes, sees Luther.                                  KATE                    ... you're still here...?                                  LUTHER                    Haven't budged.       She dozes again.347A   INT. HOSPITAL LOUNGE - NIGHT                                    347A       A coffee machine in a lounge.       Empty.   But a TELEVISION       SET IS PLAYING SOFTLY.       Luther enters, gets some coffee.       The TV is SHOWING the PRESS CONFERENCE Richmond held. As       we WATCH, Walter Sullivan moves down toward the President       and they embrace.                                                        (CONTINUED)                                                                 125.347A   CONTINUED:                                                    347A       Now the Press Conference is over and we are LIVE AT the       FRONT OF the North Portico of the WHITE HOUSE. A ton of       reporters --       -- and Walter Sullivan, in their midst, beckoning for       quiet.                                  REPORTER #1 (V.O.)                    Mister Sullivan, have you no idea                    why the President took his own                    life?       Luther stops making coffee, looks at the screen.                                  WALTER SULLIVAN (V.O.)                           (voice soft)                    I know he's been feeling the                    pressure of office more than ever                    lately. We've talked about it a                    great deal.                                  REPORTER #2 (V.O.)                    But why would he stab himself?                                WALTER SULLIVAN (V.O.)                        (sadly)                 That's a question that will haunt                 me forever. Of course I tried to                 stop him --                        (beat)                 -- Alan was like a son to me...       Luther smiles, takes his coffee, leaves the room as we --                                                       CUT TO:347B   INT. KATE'S HOSPITAL ROOM - NIGHT                             347B       Kate sleeping. Seth stands there now. Luther enters       with his coffee. Seth sees him and they both move to the       door and confer silently --       -- Seth indicates Kate.       Luther crosses his fingers.       Seth says something we can't make out.       Luther nods.       Seth glances a final time at Kate, then leaves them.       Luther moves to Kate, studies her face.                                                       (CONTINUED))B(    ABSOLUTE POWER - Rev. 5/16/96                               126.347B   CONTINUED:                                                         347B                                  KATE                           (eyes still closed)                    ... was that Seth...?                                  LUTHER                    He was just checking in. When                    you're up to it, he said we might                    come over for dinner. He                                     *                    mentioned --                                                 *                                  KATE                           (eyes half open)                    I know, he lives alone --                                    *                                  LUTHER                           (smiles)                    Watch it now.       He arranges her sheets.                                  KATE                    ... you don't have to fuss...                                  LUTHER                    You were forever catching colds.       She nods, drifts and we --                                                       CUT TO:348    MOON                                                               348       starting to fall out of the sky now.349    LUTHER                                                             349       stands by the window, looking out.       Soon, dawn.   He       stretches, crosses to her.                                  KATE                    ... am I going to be all                    right?....                                  LUTHER                           (long pause)                    We'll be fine.       Kate nods, drifts.       Luther watches her.       Then he goes to his chair --                                                       (CONTINUED)                                                             127.349   CONTINUED:                                                    349      -- reaches down --      -- pulls out his sketchbook.      He turns the pages.      Drawings of Kate.      He turns to a new page.    Starts drawing her again.   He's      really getting good.      HOLD ON Luther and Kate.                                                FINAL FADE OUT.                                 THE END
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+THE ABYSS AN ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY BY JAMES CAMERON August 2, 1988 Director's Revision------------------------------------------------------------------------------ THE ABYSSOMITTED 1OMITTED 2TITLE: THE ABYSS -- ON BLACK, DISSOLVING TO COBALT BLUEEXT. OCEAN/UNDERWATER -- DAY 3Blue, deep and featureless, the twilight of five hundred feet down.PROPELLER SOUND. Materializing out of the blue limbo is the enormous butsleek form of an Ohio-class SSBN ballistic missile submarine.INT. U.S.S. MONTANA -- DAY 4In the attack center, darkened to womb-red, the crew's faces shine with sweatin the glow of their instruments. The SKIPPER and his EXEC crowd aroundBARNES, the sonarman. CAPTAIN Sixty knots? No way, Barnes... the reds don't have anything that fast. BARNES Checked it twice, skipper. It's a real unique signature. No cavitation, no reactor noise... doesn't even sound like screws.He puts the signal onto a speaker and everyone in the attack room listens tothe intruder's acoustic signature, a strange THRUMMING. The captain studiesthe electronic position board, a graphic representation of the contours ofthe steep-walled canyon, a symbol for the Montana, and converging with it, anamorphous trace, representing the bogey. CAPTAIN What the hell is it? EXEC I'll tell you what it's not, it's not one of ours. BARNES Sir! Contact changing heading to two-one-four, diving. Speed eighty knots! Eighty knots! EXEC Eighty knots... BARNES Still diving, depth nine hundred feet. Port clearance to cliff wall, one hundred fifty feet. FRANK (simultaneously) Still diving, depth nine hundred feet. Port clearance to cliff wall, one hundred fifty feet.Tension builds in the attack room as the Montana surges to intercept theintruder. The exec tensely watches the vector-graphic readout for the side-scan sonar array. The sub is running uncomfortably close to the cliff walls. EXEC (low, to Captain) It's getting tight in here. CAPTAIN We can still give him a haircut. Helm, come right to oh six niner, down five degrees. HELMSMAN Coming right to oh six niner, sir. Down five degrees. NAVIGATOR Port side clearance one hundred twenty feet narrowing to seventy-five. Sir, we have a proximity warning light. EXEC That's too damn close! We've gotta back off. BARNES Range to contact, two hundred. Contact junked to bearing two six oh and accelerated to... one hundred thirty knots, sir! EXEC (really freaked now) Nothing goes one thirty!Suddenly the control room lights dim almost to blackness.EXT. U.S.S. MONTANA 5We see only the effect, not the source, as a large diffuse light passesrapidly under the sub's hull. Moments later a shockwave, like an underwatersonic boom, impacts the sub, slamming it sideways.INT. U.S.S. MONTANA 6The bride crew are knocked off their feet, as the ship is buffeted. EXEC Turbulence! We're in its wake!SIRENS. Everyone shouting at once. The power flickers low. CAPTAIN Helm, all stop! Full right rudder! HELMSMAN All stop. Full right rudder. Hydraulic failure. Planes are not responding, sir!Power returns in time for the sonarman to get a glimpse at the side-scandisplay... AS THE SHEER CLIFF WALL LOOM BEFORE THEM. HELMSMAN Hydraulics restored, sir.EXT. U.S.S. MONTANA 7The cliff wall materializes out of the blue limbo off the port bow withnightmarish slow-motion. The sub slams into it with horrific force, scrapingalong and bouncing off. One tail stabilizer is sheared off and the big screwprangs the wall with an earsplitting K-K-KWANG!INT. PORT TO TORPEDO ROOM 8With the outer tube-doors torn off, seawater slams in, busting the innerhatches. Two-foot thick columns of water, like fire-hoses of the gods,blast into the room. Everything vanishes instantly in white spray.INT. CONTROL RM/ATTACK CENTER 9Everyone is hurled off his feet. The planesman flights to recover control ofthe yoke. CAPTAIN Collision alarm! Collision alarm! Lighten her up, Charlie! NAVIGATOR The torpedo room is flooded, sir! CAPTAIN Blow all tanks! Blow everything! HELMSMAN Passing twelve hundred feet... EXEC Blowing main tanks! HELMSMAN Twelve hundred fifty feet...EXT. MONTANA 10The great sub is being hauled down by the mass of its flooded bow section,its flanks rushing past us like a freight train headed for Hell.INT. MONTANA CONTROL ROOM 11The command crew fights futility for control, everyone shouting and terrified. EXEC Main forward tanks ruptured! HELMSMAN Passing thirteen hundred feet... EXEC Too deep to pump auxiliaries! CAPTAIN All back full! All back full! HELMSMAN Answering all back full. Passing thirteen hundred fifty feet... fourteen hundred... fourteen fifty...The Captain locks eyes with the Exec amid the din... CAPTAIN We're losing her. Launch the buoy!The Exec opens the door to a small box and punches a button. A red lightcomes on. The Captains takes a deep breath.EXT. MONTANA 12A tiny transmitter is ejected from the sub's hell and begins its long ascentto the surface. A second later the sub slams down like a piledriver onto aledge, tearing open its pressure hull.INT. MONTANA 13VARIOUS QUICK CUTS, just flashes and impressions, as...Seawater blasts down the corridors --Explodes across the control room, hurling men like dolls --Floods the cavernous missile bay in seconds --Bursts through hatches into the reactor room --Blasts men OUT OF FRAME in a micro-second.EXT. OCEAN/UNDERWATER 14In the cobalt twilight we see the Montana slide down the sea cliff, its hullSCREECHING like the death agonies of some marine dinosaur. Descending in anavalanche of silt, it finally disappears into the blackness below... ablackness which continues almost straight down, 20,000 feet to the bottom ofthe Cayman Trough. The abyss.EXT. OCEAN SURFACE -- DAY 15Above, in the world, the Caribbean rolling gray under a stormy sky. TheMontana's emergency buoy pops to the surface, transmitting. CUT TO:EXT. OCEAN/20 MILES AWAY -- DAY 16LONG LENS SHOT: three massive Navy Sea King helicopters thundering straightat us, FILLING FRAME.REVERSE, as they barrel OVER CAMERA toward a lone civilian ship... an uglybut very sophisticated deep-sea drilling support ship, the BENTHIC EXPLORER.It is a twin-hulled monstrosity with a central opening in its deck, aroundwhich crouch enormous cranes, winches and other arcane equipment.The first Sea King settles onto the helipad, disgorging a contingent of Navalofficers, technicians, and a squad of armed seamen. A pantomime in therotorwash, we see the Benthic Petroleum "company man" KIRKHILL greetingCOMMODORE DEMARCO, the on-scene commander.INT. BENTHIC EXPLORER/BRIDGE -- DAY 17The bridge is state-of-the-art, with computers and sophisticated navigationand communications gear, looking like mission control with its bank of videomonitors. The Drilling Operations Supervisor, LELAND MCBRIDE, and BENDIX,the crew chief, watch the invaders swarming the deck below. MCBRIDE Does not look good at all.TIGHT ON VIDEO SCREEN (MINUTES LATER) showing divers working in totalblackness around some sort of installation on the bottom of the ocean. Theymove through the harsh floodlights in dreamlike slow motion, looking likespace-suited figures with their helmets and umbilical hoses. DEMARCO (V.O.) No light from the surface. How deep are they? MCBRIDE (V.O.) Seventeen hundred feet.WIDER, showing the Navy contingent crowding the control room. DeMarco ishardcore military, brusque and efficient. Kirkhill is a small man withpinched features, wearing a shirt and tie, which on a drill ship meanscompany man and/or dickhead. DEMARCO I need them to go to over two thousand. KIRKHILL They can do it. (to McBride) Get Brigman on the line. CUT TO:EXT. UNDERWATER -- DAY (TOTAL DARKNESS) 181700 FEET BELOW. A submersible oil-drilling platform, DEEPCORE II, an islandof light in the vast blackness. Its main framework connects two "tri-modules" consisting of three cylinders each. These contain living and workareas in a pressurized environment. An umbilical cable, thick as a man'sthigh, runs up from the oil rig into the darkness, to the Benthic Explorerat the surface. In a bubble-like dome port window we see the rig foreman, or"toolpusher," BUD BRIGMAN. He's talking (via headset) with two diversworking outside... 'CATFISH' DE VRIES, AND LEW 'BIRD-DOG' FINLER. BUD Hey, you guys are milking that job. CATFISH (Kentucky drawl) That's cause we love freezin' our butts off out here sooo much, boss.OMITTED 19INT. DRILL ROOM 20Bud turns from the window and crosses the drill floor. The working heart ofthe rig. THUNDEROUS MECHANICAL ROAR. The drill crew, in hardhats and mud-plastered overalls, tend the massive spinning turn-table in the center of thechamber. The semi-automated system requires only five men to operate. Theothers are LUPTON MCWHIRTER, DWIGHT PERRY, JAMMER WILLIS, and TOMMY RAYDIETZ. Bud hears his names called above the din by Jammer, a massiveroughneck/diver who stands a good head taller than the rest. JAMMER (yelling) Bud! Hippy's on the bitch-box. It's a call from topside. That new company man. BUD Kirkhill? That guy doesn't know his butt from a rathole. Hey, Perry!One of the roustabouts, a wiry Texan, turns to him. BUD Do me a favor and square away the mud hose and those cable slings. This place is starting to look like my apartment.Perry chuckles and sets to the task cheerfully. Bud EXITS, ducking his headthrough a low watertight hatch.INT. CORRIDOR/TOOLPUSHER'S OFFICE 21Bud tromps down the narrow corridor, his work boots gonging on steel. P.A. (HIPPY'S VOICE) BUD, PICK UP THE TOPSIDE LINE URGENT. BUD I'm coming. Keep your pantyhose on.He enters his office, a tiny cubicle with stacks of paperwork, dust-gathering tech manuals and waterstained Penthouse fold-outs. He picks up thephone... punches down a line. BUD Brigman here. Kirkhill? What's going on? (pause) I am calm. I'm a calm person. Is there some reason why I shouldn't be calm?HOLD ON Bud's expression, darkening, as he listens.INT. CORRIDOR/CONTROL MODULE 22The control module is a long narrow cabin like the inside of a Winnebago,packed with instrumentation. At the end is a small bay with multipleviewports. Outside, at a 'Christmas tree' pipe installation, a lone divercan be seen welding. He is accompanied by a large submersible, FLATBED, andby a Remotely Operated Vehicle, or ROV, call LITTLE GEEK. Little Geek is anunderwater robot which operated on the end of a cable-like control TETHER.It has a single video 'eye' in front, by which the operator pilots the littlemachine. The rig's ROV pilots is ALLEN 'HIPPY' CARNES, who stands by thewindow twiddling his joysticks and drinking coffee. His pet white rat,BEANY, crawls contentedly around his shoulders. The door BANGS OPEN.Hippy jumps, slops his coffee. Bud strides in. Not calm. BUD Son of a bitch.He kicks a chair out of the way and slams his palm down on a switch markedDIVER RECALL. A SIREN, blasting through the water from a big hydrophoneloudspeaker. BUD All divers. Drop what you're doing. Everybody out of the pool.EXT. DEEPCORE/CHRISTMAS TREE A22Flatbed's pilot, LISA 'ONE NIGHT' STANDING, can be clearly seen behind abubble canopy. She is a no-nonsense lady who holds her own in the mostlymale environment by being one of the best submersible drivers in thebusiness. She controls a hydraulic manipulator arm, assisting the diver,ARLISS 'SONNY' DAWSON, in his work. Little Geek hovers around them like atiny helicopter. One Night moves the Flatbed arm to Sonny and hands him thepipe. ONE NIGHT Here you go, hon'. SONNY Just in time, sugar.They react to Bud's recall, looking toward him up in the control module. ONE NIGHT Dammit, we just got out here. SONNY There was a time when I would have asked why.One Night makes a grab for his butt with the manipulator claw, which henarrowly avoids. CUT TO:EXT. DEEPCORE/UNDER SUB-BAY 23Flatbed moves underneath the rig, a few feet above the seafloor, with Sonnyriding on its top deck. It passes under a lit opening and rises toward thesurface of the water in the chamber above. Little Geek follows like anobedient dog.INT. SUB-BAY/MOONPOOL 24The opening is called the moonpool, and Deepcore's submersibles are launchedthrough it. From inside the sub-bay it looks just like a swimming pool.Flatbed surfaces, nearly filling it. The chamber also contains CAB ONE, asimilar submersible. Jammer, Perry, and some of the other drill-room boysare helping the divers out of the water. The water at this depth is onlyabout six degrees above freezing, and these folks are cold and prune-fingered. Finler pulls off his demand-helmet, revealing a round, boyishface. FINLER What's goin' on? How come we got recalled? SONNY Hell is I know.One Night jumps 'ashore' from Flatbed's broad deck and joins them. Catfishis unzipping his bulky dry-suit. CATFISH Just follow standard procedure, will ya... flog the dog till somebody tells us what's happening. JAMMER Hey, Catfish, I'll sell you my October Penthouse for twenty bucks. ONE NIGHT Save you money, darlin'... the pages are all stuck together by now.Bud enters, approaching the group. JAMMER What's goin' on, Boss? BUD Folks, I've just been told to shut down the hole and prepare to move the rig. SONNY She-hit. BUD We're being asked to cooperate in a matter of national security. Now you know exactly as much as I do. So just get your gear off and get up to control. There's some kind of briefing in ten minutes. CUT TO:INT. DEEPCORE/COMMAND MODULE 25The whole rig crew is somehow jammed into the room for the video briefing.DeMarco is on the main monitor, with his aides and Kirkhill visible b.g. DEMARCO At 09:22 local time this morning, an American nuclear submarine, the USS Montana, with 156 men aboard, went down 22 miles from here. There has been no contact with the sub since then. The cause of the incident is not known.PAN AROUND the reactions of the various drill crew members... shocked,hushed, curious. DEMARCO Your company has authorized the Navy's use of this facility for a rescue operation. The code name is Operation Salvor. ONE NIGHT You want us to search for the sub? DEMARCO No. We know where it is. But she's in 2000 feet of water and we can't reach her. We need divers to enter the sub and search for survivors, if any.Bud's scowl has been deepening since DeMarco started to talk. BUD Don't you guys have your own stuff for this type of thing? DEMARCO By the time we get our rescue submersible here the storm front will be right on us. But you can get your rig in under the storm and be on- site in fifteen hours. That makes you our best option right now.Hippy, born suspicious and recently graduated to paranoid, leans forward... HIPPY Why should we risk our butts on a job like this? KIRKHILL I have been authorized to offer you all special- duty bonuses equivalent to three times normal dive pay. CATFISH Hell, for triple time I'd crawl through razor blades and shower off with lime juice. FINLER I'm here to tell ya', you could set me on fire and call me names. BUD Look, I don't know what kind of a deal you guys worked out with the company, but my people are not qualified for this... they're oil workers. DEMARCO A four-man SEAL team will transfer down to you to supervise the operation. BUD You can send down whoever you like, but I'm the toolpusher on this rig, and when it comes to the safety of these people, there's me... then there's God. Understand? If things get dicey, I'm pulling the plug. KIRKHILL I think we're all on the same wavelength, Brigman. Now let's get the wellhead uncoupled, shall we? CUT TO:INT. DEEPCORE/COMMAND MODULE AND CORRIDOR 26Bud stands beside the hatchway as the others file out toward their tasks.They comment gravely as they pass... JAMMER When Lindsey finds out about this, it's not gonna be a pretty sight. ONE NIGHT They're going to have to shoot her with a tranquilizer gun. CUT TO:EXT. OCEAN -- DAY 27A single Navy Sea King churns through the rain under massive thunderheads.The sea below is whipped by the storm.INT./EXT. SEA KING 28PANNING ALONG BOOTED FEET, four pairs of black military size twelves lineup, onto... a pair of Charles Jourdans fives under shapely ankles.WIDER, revealing the four-man team of Navy SEALs. And a slender woman inher early thirties. She's attractive, if a bit hardened, dressedconservatively in a skirt and jacket. Meet LINDSEY. Project Engineer forDeepcore. She's a pain in the ass, but you'll like her. Eventually.She's holding on grimly, sitting crammed in with the SEALs and a bunch ofgear, getting tossed around by the storm. The SEALs are dressed alike inblack fatigues. They are muscular, finely-tuned and extremely dangerousspecial-forces types. The leader of the SEAL team, LIEUTENANT COFFEY, makeshis way forward to the cockpit.The pilot is white-knuckling his stick, trying to hold the great beast of ahelicopter in position. Through the windshield, the deck of the BenthicExplorer can be seen below, pitching in a violent sea. PILOT No way I'm putting her down. I shouldn't even be flying in this shit. COFFEY (cool) Just hold it over the deck.Coffey goes back to the crew deck, moving easily in the bucking craft. Henods to the others SEALs, MONK, WILHITE, and SCHOENICK. In the open sidedoor, Wilhite clips a 100 foot nylon rope to the airframe and throws out thecoil. One by one the shoulder the gear-bags, grab the rope, and step out.Lindsey stands swaying in the chopper door, watching the SEALs fast-ropingto the deck. One, two, three. Coffey looks at her. COFFEY You want to be on that ship, there's only one way it's going to happen.He's sure she won't go for it. It's his certainty that gets her. She setsher jaw. Opening her purse she takes out a small plastic bag, puts hershoes and purse in the bag, and grips the bag in her teeth. Then grabsthe rope and slides down.EXT. BENTHIC EXPLORER/HELIPAD 29Swinging wildly in the wind like a human pendulum, Lindsey fast-ropes fortyfeet to the deck. She steps away an instant before Coffey hits behind her.Lindsey crosses the rainswept deck with athletic strides. Her nylons areruined. An air-crewman in the chopper lowers two additional equipment casesusing the rescue sling. The SEALs catch them as they swing radically acrossthe deck. They Navy chopper banks and seems to scurry away before themounting storm. CUT TO:EXT. OCEAN BOTTOM 30BLACKNESS. Then shafts of light become visible, above a ridge of rock.Flatbed appears, trailing two heavy two cables. Behind it, the mass ofDeepcore emerges from the darkness, its forward lighting array blazing.Flatbed is towing it like a tug, aided by Deepcore's own mighty sternthrusters.INT. DEEPCORE/CONTROL MODULE 31Bud, his feet propped up, uses joystick controls to 'fly' Deepcore,maneuvering against currents and around seafloor obstacles. He is guidedby the side-scan sonar display, with Hippy assisting in the sonar shack.Through the front viewport, Flatbed can be seen out ahead.McBride appears on the bridge monitor, holding a sheet of weather-fax. MCBRIDE (on screen) Well, it's official, sportsfans. They're calling it Hurricane Frederick, and it's going to be making our lives real interesting in a few hours.INT. EXPLORER BRIDGE -- DAY 32Bud responds via video. BUD Fred, huh? I don't know. Hurricanes should be named after women.McBride looks up as the bridge door opens. Lindsey enters in a blast of wind,wet as a wharf rat and twice as pissed off. Maybe Bud is right. CUT TO:INT. DEEPCORE/CONTROL MODULE 33Bud is surprised to see Lindsey's face appear on the monitor screen. LINDSEY I can't believe you let them do this! BUD (unpreturbed, almost cheerful) Hi, Lins. I thought you were in Houston. LINDSEY I was, but I managed to bum a ride on the last flight out here. Only here isn't where I left it, is it, Bud? BUD Wasn't up to me. LINDSEY We were that close to proving a submersible drilling platform could work. We had over seven thousand feet of hole down for Chrissake. I can't believe you let them grab my rig! BUD Your rig? LINDSEY My rig. I designed the damn thing. BUD Yup, a Benthic Petroleum paid for it. So as long as they're hold the pink slip, I go where they tell me. LINDSEY You wimp. I had a lot riding on this. They bought you... more like least rented you cheap-- BUD I'm switching off now. LINDSEY Virgil, you wiener! You never could stand up to fight. You--Bud hits the switch and the screen goes dead. BUD Bye.Hippy looks over him, trying very hard not to crack up. HIPPY Virgil? BUD God, I hate that bitch. HIPPY Yeah, well you never should have married her then.Bud nods fatalistically. CUT TO:EXT. EXPLORER DECK/LAUNCH WELL 34Ten foot waves crash through the launch-well, sending up geysers of spray.Next to the launch-well, crewman have attached a lifting cable to CAB THREE,eighteen feet of ugly yellow submersible. It slams violently in its steelcradle as the drill-ship rolls. Coffey and Schoenick hand the gear bags into Wilhite and Monk though the hatch under the rear of the submersible.Lindsey approaches, wearing a borrowed roustabout's coverall.She looks down at the larger of the two equipment cases brought by the SEALs,lying on the deck. Stenciled on it are the words: F.B.S./DEEP SUIT/MARK IV.Coffey and Schoenick push past her to pick it up. LINDSEY Let's go, gentlemen! We either launch now or we don't launch.Coffey looks up in surprise as she nimbly climbs the side of Cab Three andgrabs the lifting shackle, circling her raised hand to signal the crane man. LINDSEY Take her up, Byron!Cab Three, with Lindsey riding its back, is pulled up out its cradle andstarts to swing violently as Explorer pitches. The submersible is thenswung out to the center of the launch well. It sways and gyrates above thefurious water below. Lindsey drops into the upper hatch.INT. EXPLORER BRIDGE/D.O.C. 35Kirkhill leans suddenly over the console to look out the window. KIRKHILL What the hell is she doing out there? Son of a bitch... (into microphone) Lindsey... get out of Cab Three. Bates is taking her down.INT. CAB THREE 36Lindsey pulls her headset as she dogs down the inside locking levers of thehatch. LINDSEY Bates is sick. Besides I've got more hours in this thing than he does. (to Coffey) A little change of plan.The little sub is swinging like a pendulum on the cable, and the SEALs,jammed in with their equipment in the tiny space, are getting slammed intothe walls. Lindsey is calmly flipping switches as she talks. COFFEY Lady, we better fish or cut bait. LINDSEY Just hold your water, okay? (to Kirkhill) So Kirkhill, we gonna do this or we gonna talk about it?INT. EXPLORER BRIDGE/D.O.C. 37The plug is pulled on DeMarco's patience. DEMARCO I don't care who drives the damn thing. Just get my team in the water. KIRKHILL Alright, alright. Christ Almighty!He gestured dismissively to McBride. MCBRIDE Cab Three, you are clear to launch.INT./EXT. CAB THREE 38Lindsey reaches up a grabs a red lever. LINDSEY Roger. (to Coffey) There's only one way it's going to happen...She pulls the lever hard. CLUNK-CLANG! The shackle-release drops the sub.It freefalls ten feet to the water with an enormous splash and keeps righton going after Lindsey floods the trim tanks. Coffey et al have been slammedhard. LINDSEY Touchdown. The crowd goes wild. Explorer... Cab Three. We are styling. MCBRIDE (filtered) Roger, Cab Three.Lindsey cuts on the floodlights and maneuvers the descending submersible sothat the umbilical cable is a few feet ahead on her front port. Moving upthrough her lights, it will guide her down to the rig. Cab Three free-fallsinto increasing darkness. Soon it is a candle below us in the indigo.EXT./INT. FLATBED 39One Night is driving the tug one-handed, pouring coffee from a thermos androcking out to the great truck-driving song "Willing" on the beat-box she'sgot propped up on the sonar rig. Fighting white-line fever in the besttradition.INT. CONTROL MODULE 40Bud and Hippy come in for a rousing chorus. BUD/HIPPY ... I've been driving every kinda rig that's ever been maaaaade...EXT. DEEPCORE 41Lit up like a proud Peterbilt, the rig crossed the trackless wastes. Wehear them singing, carried OVER.EXT. OCEAN DEPTHS/CAB THREE 42In total blackness, the submersible descends along the rigorous line of theumbilical cable. Two hundred feet below it, the lights of Deepcore resolveout of the darkness. Now we can see the rig crawling over the ocean bottomlike some monster lawnmower. LINDSEY (V.O.) Deepcore, Deepcore... this is Cab Three on final approach. HIPPY (V.O.) Gotcha, Cab Three. Who is that? That You, Lindsey?INT. DEEPCORE/CONTROL MODULE 43Bud stop singing and snaps around at the mention of her name. LINDSEY (V.O.) None other.Bud's expression is nothing less than stricken. BUD Oh no... you gotta be kidding me.EXT./CAB THREE/DEEP CORE 44Lindsey executes a 180 degree turn and cruises over the control module, backthrough the A-frame toward the docking hatch. The flange of Cab Three'slockout hatch settles over the pressure collar on the rig's back. There isa CLUNK as it mates up.INT. DEEPCORE/COMPRESSION CHAMBER/GAS CONTROL STATION 45Lindsey drops down from the hatch into the small cylindrical pressure chamber.The SEALs drop down behind her, passing their gear through hand-over-hand.The chamber is spartan, with steel benches, a folding card table, breathingmasks, and medical supplies. Catfish greets them through the tiny portholeat one end. CATFISH Howdy, y'all. Hey, Lindsey! I'll be damned! You shouldn't be down here sweet thing, ya'll might run ya stockings. LINDSEY Couldn't stay away. You running mixture for us? Good. Couldn't ask for better. CATFISH Okay, here we go. Start equalizing, y'all.HISSSS of inrushing compressed gas. The pressure in the chamber rises. Thebreathing mixture is composed of helium, oxygen and nitrogen. Catfishmonitors it carefully from a station outside the chamber, watching thegauges with a practiced eye. Lindsey and the SEALs all grab their nosesand start making funny faces... popping their ears with the familiar diver's'equalization' technique. They continue as: LINDSEY Get comfortable. The bad news is we got six hours in this can, blowing down. The worse news is it's gonna take us three weeks to decompress back to the surface later. COFFEY We've been fully briefed, Mrs. Brigman. LINDSEY Don't call me that, okay... I hate that. Alright, from now on we watch each other closely for signs of HPNS... MONK (as if by rote) High-Pressure Nervous Syndrome. Muscle tremors, usually in the hands first. Nausea, increased excitability, disorientation. LINDSEY Very good. About one person in twenty just can't handle it. They go buggo. They're no way to predict who's susceptible, so stay alert. COFFEY Look, we've all made chamber runs to this depth. We're checked out. LINDSEY Oh... chamber runs. Uh huh, that's good. (Coffey turn away) Well, hey... you guys know any songs?They ignore her. Start going over some diagrams of the Montana's interior.It's going to be a long six hours.INT. GAS CONTROL STATION -- HOURS LATER 46Catfish checks his watch, then reaches over and adjusts a value on the tri-mix manifold, watching the gauges. Satisfied, he leans over to the pressurewindow in the door, checking out the SEALs. Hippy has come down from thecontrol deck for an advanced look are the interlopers. Jammer is in a chair,reading a Louis L'Amour paperback. CATFISH Those guys ain't so tough. I fought plenty of guys tougher'n them. HIPPY Now we get to hear about how he used to be a contender.Catfish hold up one calloused fist up in front of Hippy's face. CATFISH You see this? They used to call this the Hammer. JAMMER Hippy wasn't born then.INT. PRESSURE CHAMBER 47It looks like the end of a long bus trip. Everyone silent... leafingthrough beat-to-hell magazines or just staring. Lindsey has her feet proppedup on the smaller of the SEALs' two equipment cases. She casually toes openone of the latches, then the other. Glances at Coffey. He's reading. Shebegins to lift the lid with her toe. Gets a GLIMPSE INSIDE, of packing foam,and what looks like a SMALL BLACK METAL BOX. Then... WHAM! Coffey's footcomes down on the lid, slamming it shut. Startled, she looks up into hiscool gaze. COFFEY Curiosity killed the cat. CUT TO:INT. GAS CONTROL STATION/CHAMBER DOOR -- LATER 48TIGHT ON CATFISH'S hands... closing values... spinning the wheel on thechamber hatch. CUT WIDER as it cracks open with a virgin's sigh and swingsaside. CATFISH Y'all'er done to a turn and ready to serve. Everybody okay?The SEALs nod peremptorily and shoulder their gear. Lindsey exists first,followed by Monk, Wilhite, and Schoenick. Coffey bends to relatch the smallequipment case. He is alone for one moment in the chamber. He raises hishand and stares at it. The fingertips are trembling the slightest bit. Heclenches them into a fist and walks out.INT. CORRIDOR 49As Lindsey emerges into the main corridor of the rig, she bumps into a large,dark mass. LINDSEY Hey, was there a wall here before? I don't remember a wall here. Oh, Jammer! Hi.The 'wall' grins down to her. JAMMER Howdy, there, little lady.Coffey emerges behind them and, ignoring Lindsey, faces Jammer. COFFEY (to Jammer) Show us the dive prep area. We need to check out your gear.Jammer scowls, turns and leads the SEALs in the sub-bay. Catfish and Lindseyexchange a look. LINDSEY Those guys are about a much fun as a tax audit. CUT TO:INT. COMMAND MODULE 50TIGHT ON HIPPY, bathed in the light of the sonar display. He is makingkissing sounds at Beany, who has his inquisitive nose right up to Hippy'slips. LINDSEY Hippy, you're going to give that rat a disease.WIDER, as Hippy and Bud to see Lindsey leaning in the doorway. She and Budsize each other up. He opts for a jovial approach, his eyes wary. BUD Well, well. Mrs. Brigman. LINDSEY Not for long.Lindsey crossed past him, her eyes scanning the banks of equipment, almostunconsciously checking, checking... getting the pulse of her big iron baby. BUD You never did like being called that, did you? LINDSEY Not even when it meant something. (looking through the front port) Is that One Night up in Flatbed? BUD Who else?Lindsey leans past Bud to the gooseneck mike on the console. LINSEY Hi, One Night, it's Lindsey.INT. FLATBED 51One Night mimes a puking motion, finger down her throat. Then she replieswith sickening sweetness... ONE NIGHT Oh, hi, Lindsey.INT. COMMAND MODULE 52Lindsey fives the sonar shack the once-over. She tweaks some knobs. BUD I can't believe you were dumb enough to come down. Now you're stuck here for the storm... dumb, hot-rod... dumb. LINDSEY Look, I didn't come down here to fight.She crosses past Bud and exits into the corridor. Bud bolts out of the chairto follow her and Hippy scrambles in to take over.INT. CORRIDOR/LADDER-WELL/LEVEL ONE LANDING 53Bud catches up with Lindsey in the corridor, and through the following keepspace with here as she make here inspection. BUD Then why'd you come down?She stops abruptly to look at a leaky pipe. He almost slams into her. Shemoves on, climbing down the ladder to the lower level. LINDSEY You need me. Nobody knows the systems on this rig better than I do. What is something was to go wrong after the Explorer clears off? What would have you done? BUD Wow, you're right! Us poor dumb ol' boys might've had to think for ourselves. Coulda been a disaster.On the lower level landing, Lindsey opens a hatch into one of the machinerooms. ROAR OF PUMPS AND COMPRESSORS.INT. MACHINE ROOM 54Lindsey enters and moves expertly through the dark labyrinth of pipes androaring machinery. Her eyes rove constantly over fittings, gauges, circuitpanels. BUD (yelling) You wanna know what I think? LINDSEY Not particularly. Jeez, look where this is set! Morons.She scowls at a pressure gauge and turn a valve minutely. BUD I think you were worried about me. LINDSEY That must be it.Lindsey's on the move again, and Bud scrambles through the pipes to keep up. BUD No, I think you were. Come on, admit it. LINDSEY I was worried about the rig. I've got over four years invested in this project. BUD Oh, yeah, right... and you only had three years with me.She looks up at him. LINDSEY You've got to have priorities. CUT TO:INT. BUD'S ROOM 55Darkness. The door opens and Bud snaps on the light. BUD My bunk's the only one I can guarantee won't be occupied. You can grab a couple hours before we get there.Lindsey slips past him into his tiny state-room, the only private bunk on therig. Rank had its privileges. His hand on the door is just level with hereyes. She notices his wedding ring, a massive band of pure titanium(something your fiancee might have picked out if she had a degree fromM.I.T.). LINDSEY What are you still wearing that for? BUD I don't know. Divorce ain't final. Forgot to take it off.Bud stays in the doorway. Lindsey takes a heaps of Bud's cloths off thenarrow bunk. Start unconsciously straightening the room. LINDSEY I haven't worn mine in months. BUD Yeah, what's-his-name wouldn't like it. The Suit. LINDSEY Do you always have to call him that? The Suit? It makes you sound like such a hick. His name is Michael.Lindsey takes off her borrowed tennies and socks.Bud eyes her, sounding too causal. BUD So what about "Michael" then... Mr. Brooks Brothers... Mr. BMW. You still seeing him? LINDSEY No, I haven't seen him in a few weeks. BUD What happened? LINDSEY Bud, why are you doing this? It's not part of you life any more. BUD I'll tell you what happened... you woke up one day and realized the guy never made you laugh. LINDSEY You're right, Bud. It was just that simple. Aren't you clever? You should get your own show... Ask Dr. Bud, advice to the lovelorn from three hundred fathoms.She closes the watertight door, forcing him out. Locks it. She turns andthrows her shoe hard against the far wall. LINDSEY AAAARRRGGH!She flops down on the bed, sitting... staring at the wall. Her armor isgone. She looks small and vulnerable. A long beat. She reaches over to thetiny sink. Amid the clutter is a bottle of Bud's aftershave. She unscrewsit and takes a sniff. Catches herself. Tosses it. LINDSEY Shit.INT. QUARTERS/HEAD 56Bud barges into the tiny head and puts some soap on his ring finger. He pullsthe ring off roughly and throws it into the toilet. He reaches forward toflush. Can't do it. Now really pissed off at himself, he reaches into thetoilet bowl, wrist deep in the chemical-blue water, and salvages the ring.He puts it on and washes his hands. The right hand stays faintly blue nomatter how hard he scrubs. BUD Shit. CUT TO:EXT. DEEPCORE 57The platform is stopped, hovering in place. Like a great spacecraft settingdown on a barren planet, the rig settles into the bottom ooze. Flatbedreleases its tow lines and heads back to its berth inside. CUT TO:INT. SUB-BAY 58CLOSE ON A PHOTOGRAPH, actually a computer-composited down-looking scan froma towed LIDAR (laser imaging sonar) rig. It shows a faint, blurry outline ofthe Montana lying on her side on a ledge part-way down the canyon wall. Thereis no detail. A finger points to a flat ledge nearby. An "X" has been puton with a grease pencil. COFFEY (V.O.) This is us. We're just on the edge of the Cayman Trough. The Montana is here, on its side, 300 meters away and 70 meters below us. We think she slid down the wall, and lodged against this outcropping.CUT WIDE, showing the rig crew gathered around a worktable in the sub-bay.The divers, Bud, Catfish, Sonny, Finler, Jammer, and the four SEALs havetheir dry-suits on. The pre-dive briefing. Lindsey, One Night, and Hippywill crew the submersibles. Wilhite is going around clipping DOSIMETERBADGES on everybody. SONNY This tells us how much radiation we get? HIPPY Hey, whoah... I can't handle no radiation, man. Forget it! Include me out. CATFISH Hippy, you pussy. HIPPY What good's the money if your dick drops off in six months? COFFEY We'll take reading as we go. If the reactor's breached or the warheads have released radioactive debris, we'll back away. Simple. BUD Okay... Hippy's not going... McWhirter, you can run Little Geek.Bud pats the top of a small ROV, sitting next to its larger brother, BigGeek. HIPPY No way! No way! He can't fly an ROV worth shit. I'll go. Shit! COFFEY (to all) On the dive, you will do absolutely nothing without direct orders from me, and you will follow my instructions without discussion. Is this clear? Alright, I want everyone finished prep and ready to get wet in fifteen minutes.The rig crew disperses, picking up helmets and diving gear. Some are studyingthe diagrams of the Montana's interior layout. Bud takes Coffey aside asthe others prepare. BUD Look, it's three AM. These guys are running on bad coffee and four hours sleep. You better start cutting them some slack. COFFEY I can't afford slack, Brigman. BUD Hey, you come on my rig, you don't talk to me, you start ordering my guys around. It won't work. You gotta know how to handle these people... we have a certain way of doing things here. COFFEY I'm not interested in your way of doing things. Just get your team ready to dive.End of discussion. Coffey is walking away. Burning, Bud crosses to his gearlocker. Picks up his helmet. Finler is suiting out next to him. FINLER Hey, you know your hand is blue? BUD Shut up and get your gear on.NEARBY, Monk comes over to pick his helmet up off the worktable. Hippypoints to the heavy equipment case that says F.B.S. DEEP SUIT/MARK IV. HIPPY I've been meaning to ask you what this thing is.Mink opens the case and shows them an unfamiliar diving suit, what looks likea space helmet, and a large backpack. MONK Fluid breathing system. We just got them. We use it if we need to go really deep. HIPPY How deep? MONK Deep. (shrugs) It's classified... you know. Anyway, you breathe liquid, so you can't be compressed. Pressure doesn't get to you.Catfish is grappling with the concept. CATFISH You're saying you get liquid in your lungs? MONK Oxygenated fluorocarbon emulsion.Monk take a clear plastic box full of O-rings off the shelf and dumps themout. He opens a valve on the backpack and allows some of the fluid insideit to drain into the box. Then he take Beany by the tail off Hippy'sshoulder. HIPPY Hey! MONK Check this out.He drops Beany in the box and, before Hippy can protest, closes the lid.Beany is forced under the surface. He struggled for a second, and bubblescome out of his mouth. Then he casually swims around in there, completelysubmerged... breathing liquid. Catfish and the others stare into the box,amazed. MONK See? He's diggin' it.Monk takes Beany out and hold him by the tail for a few seconds to drain hislungs. Then hands him back to Hippy. The rat is annoyed, but otherwisealright. CATFISH This is no bullshit hands down the goddamnedest thing I ever saw. CUT TO:EXT. DEEPCORE/DROPOFF 59Three sets of moving lights move outward from Deepcore. Cab One and Three,with Lindsey and Hippy at the controls respectively, and One Night in theFlatbed. Lindsey is in the lead. She approaches the cliff-like drop-offand starts to descend. LINDSEY Com-check, everybody. Flatbed, you on line? ONE NIGHT Ten-four, Lindsey, read you loud and clear. LINDSEY Cab Three? HIPPY Cab Three, check. Right behind you. LINDSEY (V.O.) What's you depth, Cab Three? HIPPY 1840... 50... 60... 70... LINDSEY Going over the wall. Coming to bearing 065. Everybody stay tight and in sight. ONE NIGHT Starting out descent. Divers, how're you doing?EXT. FLATBED 60Eight divers ride the back of Flatbed like itinerant workers on the way tothe fields. Bud and his civilian crew, Catfish, Finler, and Jammer... sitacross from the SEALs. They are in their gear and breathing from umbilicalhooked in Flatbed's low-pressure manifold. BUD Okay so far. JAMMER How deep's the drop-off here? CATFISH This here's the bottomless pit, baby. Two and a half miles straight down. COFFEY Knock off the chatter. Cab One, you getting anything?INT./EXT. CAB ONE 61Lindsey consults her array of instruments. COFFEY Cab One, do you see it yet? LINDSEY The magnetometer is pegged. Side-scan is showing a big return, but I don't see anything yet. Are you sure you got the depth right on this? BUD (V.O., filtered) You should be almost to it, ace.She turns the submersible and...The spotlight flares back from the great brass screw of the Montana. Itdwarfs Cab One, FILLING FRAME. LINDSEY Uh, yeah, roger that... uh, found it.EXT. MONTANA/SUBMERSIBLES 62Cab One maneuvers along the flank of the enormous sub, while Flatbed and CabThree move above it. Wilhite take readings with a hand-held neutron counter. COFFEY Cab One, radiation readings? LINDSEY Neutron counter's not showing very much. COFFEY Wilhite, anything? WILHITE Negative. Nominal. COFFEY Just continue forward along the hull. LINDSEY Copy that, continuing forward. You just want me to get shots of everything, right? COFFEY Roger, document as much as you can, but keep moving. We're on a tight timeline. LINDSEY Copy that.The great black hull of the Montana recedes into the darkness beyond thepuny beams of their lights. It seems bigger than the Titanic and just aseerie in its final resting place. On it side, the sub's top deck becomes awall along which the tiny submersibles are moving. Ahead, in the lights, isa white painted circle. COFFEY That's the midship hatch. You see it, Cab Three? HIPPY Roger, I see it. BUD Just get around so your lights are on the hatch. HIPPY Check. Then I just hang with these guys, right? COFFEY Right. ONE NIGHT How do you want me? COFFEY Just hold above it. Alright, A team.Wilhite, Schoenick, and Monk unhook their short whip-umbilicals from thecentral manifold and roll off the side of Flatbed. They maneuver down towardthe sub's hatch. Hippy guides Cab Three in closer to the hatch area.INT. CAB THREE 63Hippy turns to Perry back in the lockout chamber, ready to launch Little Geek.The ROV has a handheld neutron-counter gripped in its manipulator arm. MONK (V.O.) Stand by on the ROV. HIPPY Perry, stand by on the ROV. (to Little Geek) Sorry about this, little buddy. Better you than me, know what I mean?Hippy nods and Perry drops Little Geek through the hatch into the water andfeed out a length of tether. Hippy picks up the control box and watches thevideo screen, guiding the ROV toward the Montana's hatch.EXT. MONTANA HATCH AREA 64The three SEALs have unlatched the deck cover and revealed the hatch. Theyopen the out hatch and Monk swims down into to narrow escape trunk. He bangson the inner hatch with a wrench, listening carefully with his helmet pressedagainst it. MONK It's flooded. Alright, I'm opening her up.Straining hard in the confined space, he get the lower hatch open, then swimsbacks out immediately. He gestures to Hippy, via Little Geek's vision, andHippy flies the ROV into the hatch.EXT./INT. CAB ONE/MISSLE DECK 65Meanwhile Cab One and Flatbed have proceeded forward along the hull. BeyondLindsey's front port, the great hatches of the Trident missile tubes rolltoward us in procession. Several of the hatch covers have been forcedpartway open by the warping of the hull. COFFEY (V.O.) Radiation is nominal. The warheads must still be intact. LINDSEY How many are there? COFFEY (V.O.) 24 Trident missiles. Eight MIRVs per missile. LINDSEY That's 192 warheads... And how powerful are they? SCHOENICK Your MIRV is a tactical nuke, 50 kilotons nominal yield. Say times time Hiroshima. LINDSEY (V.O.) Jesus Christ... this is World War Three in a can. COFFEY (V.O.) Let's knock off the chatter, please.INT. CAB THREE 66TIGHT ON VIDEO SCREEN -- LITTLE GEEK'S CAMERA. Passing through a hatch, intoa large grotto filled with pipes and machinery. The engine room. MONK (V.O.) Getting a reading? HIPPY It's twitching but it's below the line you said was safe.EXT. MONTANA MIDSHIP HATCH 67Monk moves into the opening. MONK Alright. Let's get in there.Wilhite and Schoenick follow him through the escape trunk, into the darkcorridor beyond.EXT. MONTANA/BOW SECTION 68Out of the darkness ahead emerges the trailing edge of the sail, big as afive-story building. Far below her, Flatbed moves along the edge of theledge which supports the vast sub. Its lights, and Lindsey's strobes, revealthe tremendous damage to the forward section as they pass the sail. The tornand twisted hull looms above Flatbed as it sets down.Coffey indicated an enormous rent where the bow section is almost torn awayfrom the rest of the hull. COFFEY We'll go in through that large breach. BUD Let's go, guys.Bud's team leaves Flatbed, swimming forward. The opening is a black mouth intheir lights. Coffey moves inside. Bud attaches one end of an orange nylonline to a piece of pipe and moves into the wreck behind him. BUD Take it slow, stay on the line, and stay in sight. Watch for hatches that could close on you, or any loose equipment that could fall.Jammer, Catfish, Finler, and Sonny follow him inside.INT. MONTANA/FORWARD BERTHING SECTION 69They find themselves in the forward berthing compartment with its rows ofbunks. The room is twisted and disheveled, with bedding hanging from thebunks like the lolling tongues of dead dogs. Papers float in gentleeddying currents, letters, pages from paperback novels, photos of girlfriends.Bud pays out the line and follows Coffey forward. As they pass sealed doors,Coffey pounds with a tool, listening. All flooded.INT. ENGINE ROOM 70Monk leads his team along a corridor, following Little Geek's tether. Througha hatch into the engine room. Their lights play over flooded machinery.INT. COMPANIONWAY/CONTROL ROOM AND ATTACK CENTER 71From the berthing Coffey's team swims up a companionway towards the attackcenter. He pulls at a buckled watertight door. COFFEY It's jammed. Give me a hand.Jammer and Bud squeeze in around Coffey. Together they wrench the door openon its squealing hinges. It give way suddenly, flying open. The suctionpulls SOMETHING THROUGH. It slams Bud's shoulder. He turns. A FACE...RIGHT IN FRONT OF HIM! He jerks back, gasping.Face to face with Barnes, the sonarman. The ensign seems unmarked, merelydismayed at his own mortality, judging from his wide eyes and mouth. Coffeyreaches past Bud and pushes the ensign's body out of the way. COFFEY Alright, let's keep moving. We knew we were going to see this.They enter the control room. Their lights play over the high-tech wreckage.Floating debris and bodies make shifting shadows on the walls as they swirlin the currents. A languid, weightless waltz. They move through the carnage.Their lights pick out tableaux... the planesman still strapped in his chair,someone jammed into the ceiling pipes, hanging down. Dead faces, pale in thelights. Still. We see only glimpses.Coffey locates the captain's body and rolls it over. Removes the missilearming key which hangs on a chain around the dead man's neck. Moves on. Allbusiness. Bud turns back to his guys. Checking them. He notices Jammer isbreathing so rapidly he's fogging his helmet. Catfish, Finler, and Sonnyaren't much better. A wave a panic seems imminent. BUD How you guys doing? SONNY I'm alright, I'm dealing. CATFISH Triple time sounds like a lotta money, Bud. It ain't. I'm sorry... BUD We're here now. Let's get her done.We see Bud working, calming them, talking them through it. He's sweatingrivers in his helmet, not looking too steady. His projection of calm to theothers is his own salvation.Coffey pauses in the doorway to the communications room. COFFEY This part I do alone. Brigman, take you men and continue aft. Split up into two teams of two. Let's get moving... we head back in fourteen minutes.Bud leads his team into a narrow corridor.INT. CORRIDOR/ROOMS 72They search the rooms along the corridor with their lights until they come toa vertical hatch, open. a pit of darkness below. BUD Okay, Cat, Lew, Sonny. You guys stay on this deck. Hook you line onto mine. Any problem, you tug my line. Two pulls. Jammer, you're with me.Bud drops down through the hatch to the level below, followed by Jammer, whobarely fits through. Catfish hooks his safety line onto Bud's with acarabiner and move along the corridor with the others.EXT./INT. CAB ONE 73Lindsey circles the hull, documenting, photographing. Her strobes sear thedarkness, give glimpses of the dead leviathan's form as her tiny submersiblecircles it like a bee.INT. COMMUNICATIONS CENTER 74Working from a plastic card, Coffey spins the dial on the wall safe and opensit. He removes several plastic binders... the code books. He also grabshandfuls of classified documents and orders, and a set of missile arming keys,all which he places in a pouch at his waist.INT. CORRIDOR 75Bud leads Jammer through a long, claustrophobically narrow corridor, tappingon the walls and hatches periodically. After he taps, he waits a fewmoments. There are no answering taps. They open doors and shine their lightsinto the rooms. The are bodies, but they seem anonymous. Crumpled shapesin khaki or blue. They undog and open a hatch. Beyond it is the largestchamber of the sub, the...INT. MISSLE COMPARTMENT 76The missile compartment is the large gallery a hundred and twenty feet longand forty feet high, with two rows of vertical launch tubes, 24 in all. Thechamber is divided into three levels by a floor of open steel grillwork. JAMMER Where are we? BUD Missile compartment. Those are the launch tubes.They sweep their lights around the chamber. Jammer turns... his beamilluminating a body just beyond the door. A coveralled seaman turningslowly in the eddying current. Small albino crabs crawl slowly over theman's face. One scuttles out of his gaping mouth. JAMMER Lord Almighty. BUD Hey, you okay?Bud goes to him. Gets up close to his face. Sees that he's not. That he'shyperventilating. Fighting nausea. Bud grabs him by the shoulders. BUD Deep and slow, big guy. Deep and slow. Just breathe easy. JAMMER I... they're all dead, Bud. They're all dead. I thought... some of them... you know... BUD I'm taking you back out. JAMMER No! I'm okay now. I just don't... I can't go any further in.Bud sees that the big diver's breathing has stabilized. He looks at hiswatch. Checker Jammer's pressure gauges. BUD Okay, Jammer. No problem. You stay right here. I have to go there to the end... you'll see my lights. We'll stay in voice contact. Just hold onto the rope. Five more minutes. Okay? JAMMER Yeah, okay. Okay.He moves off through the center aisle of the gallery swimming between the hugecylinders. He pays out the lifeline as he goes.INT. COM-ROOM 77Coffey is working rapidly and efficiently, moving from one rack of electronicsgear to the next, setting thermite grenades at vital points. As the thermiteignites, it generates an intense arc-bright light and tremendous heat. Thecircuit chasses melt. Coffey works calmly in the infernal glare.INT. MISSLE COMPARTMENT 78Bed negotiates his way through the tangle of wreckage near the far end of themissile compartment. He goes down a stairwell to the lower level. A HUNDREDFEET AWAY, Jammer loses sight of Bud's dive-lights. He starts to getnervous. Suddenly his own lights begin to DIM, flickering lower and lower.They become little orange candles, the filament barely glowing. The darknesscloses in. JAMMER Bud? BUD?! You readin' me? BUD?!!BUD, at the same moment, is fiddling with the connector cables on his helmetlights, which are dimming and flickering. He hears nothing from his helmettransceiver.JAMMER, smacks the side of his helmet. Shakes the transceiver on his belt.Nothing... just static. Then even the static dies. Panic time.He grabs the safety line and pulls twice. Hard. It is snagged on a sharpmetal edge ten feet from him. He pulls twice more, harder, hauling thething. The line severs. Jammer stared at the frayed and floating towardhim. His eyes bug. He looks all around in the darkness. Can't see Bud.Can't decide what to do. We can see hysteria revving up inside him like aflywheel.Then he becomes aware of a faint radiance flickering over the walls. It is acold and ethereal light, unlike the warm-white of their dive lights.It grows brighter. He turns slowly toward it.The glow is moving beneath the steel grill of the deck, sending shafts ofcold light flickering upward hypnotically, coming toward him. JAMMER Bud? Is that you?C.U. JAMMER, shielding his eyes, staring into the radiant source.Guess what, Jammer? It's not Bud. In the brightest center of the glow,SOMETHING is moving, a figure casting strange inhuman shadow across the walls.Jammer blinks against the glare, his face registering total, outrightastonishment melting into terror.The glare pulses subtly, hypnotically. The shifting shadow falls acrossJammer. He finally snaps out of his fixity...Screaming and gulping air he spins away and starts clawing hand over handthrough the treacherous wreckage.His harness catches on a twisted pipe.He struggles, totally out of control... the big man reduced to a blind panic.Jammer heaves forward with all his adrenalized strength.He tears free of the entangling debris. Launches like a torpedo... slamminghis backpack full force into the top sill of the hatchway. His tri-mixregulator takes the full brunt of the impact.ON BUD, swimming furiously back toward Jammer's position. The strangeradiance is gone. His dive light flare back to full brightness. BUD Jammer? Answer me, buddy, JAMMER?!He reaches Jammer only to find him thrashing violently in place. A seizure.Bud grapples with him. BUD Hang on, big guy. Hand on!Catfish, Sonny, and Finler arrive from the corridor a moment later. Theyleap into the fray. BUD He's convulsing! CATFISH It's his mixture! Too much oxygen!Then they're all yelling at once, grappling with the big man, struggling withthe valves on his breathing gear. FINLER Crank it down, man! We're gonna losing him... BUD SHIT, it's stuck... goddamnit! SONNY You got it?! You got it? BUD Yeah, yeah... yeah. It's turning.Jammer's convulsion ends. He goes limp. BUD We gotta get him out of here. Come on! (to Jammer) Hang on, buddy.They drag Jammer's slack form into the corridor, hauling their way rapidlyback along the lifeline.INT./EXT. CAB ONE & MONTANA SAIL 79Lindsey is approaching the monolith of the sail, maneuvering to clear thehorizontal diving plane. Then her lights go dim and her thrusters loosepower.Suddenly a bright corona breaks around the bulk of the sail and SOMETHINGappears right in front of her, a glowing object moving like a bat out ofhell right at her! It is slightly smaller than submersible and we only geta glimpse. What we think we see in the diffuse glow is a translucent ovoid,open at the front with a spinning vortex of light inside... like somehallucinatory jet engine. And it's hauling ass.Lindsey jinks left. The object jogs right. She fights the control as hersub slews around, slamming broadside into the sail. K-BAM! Her power comesback up. Righting Can One, she spins to look through the aft viewport intime to see the object racing away in a broad arc. It pulls a high-G turnand dives straight down.We see the object zip behind Flatbed. One Night can't see it. The thingspirals down into the darkness like a hit-and-run drunk, diving along thewall into the abyss until it is lost to view.HOLD ON Lindsey excited, amazed... dazed. Her hands are shaking. SuddenlyBud's voice blares out over the open frequency. BUD (V.O.) CAB ONE! CAB ONE! Meet me at Flatbed! This is a diver emergency!! Do you copy? Lindsey?!She has a hard time focusing on what he's saying. Finally... LINDSEY Copy you, Bud. On my way. CUT TO:INT. DEEPCORE INFIRMARY -- AN HOUR LATER 80Jammer is unconscious on a folding cot set up in the tiny cubicle of theinfirmary. Monk, who is cross-trained as a medic as well as a demolitionsman, has hung an IV of something. Bud and the SEAL are in the room, theothers hovering outside. BUD Whattya think? MONK I'm a medic, which is mostly about patching holes. This type of thing... there's not much I can do. The coma could last hours or days.Bud, torn by guilt, gazes at the big man lying pathetically on the cot. CUT TO:INT. CONSOLE MODULE 81The SEALs, minus Monk, are all gathered inside, debriefing with DeMarco viaclosed-circuit video. DEMARCO (video) Did any of you see it? COFFEY Negative. But there was definitely a Russian bogey. The Brigman woman saw it. DEMARCO CINCLANTFLT's gonna go apeshit. Two Russian attack subs, a Tango and Victor, have been tracked within fifty miles of here... and now we don't know what the hell they are. Okay, I don't have any choice. I'm confirming you to go to Phase Two.Wilhite and Schoenick glance uneasily at each other.Coffey is silent. He is vibrating with tension... his fists clenched toprevent the shaking. He is wrestling with the moment, knowing it is, in away, a point of no return. DEMARCO Is there any problem? COFFEY Yes... I mean no. Negative, sir.Coffey takes a deep breath. Lets it out. Phase Two is clearly a big deal. CUT TO:INT. MAINTENANCE ROOM B/DARKROOM 82The maintenance room doubles as a camera workstation. An adjoining head servesas darkroom. Lindsey is glumly reassembling Cab One's camera housings. BUD Did you get anything on the cameras. Video or anything? LINDSEY No. Look, forget it. I don't want to talk about it. BUD Fine. Be that way. LINDSEY I don't know what I saw. Okay? Coffey wants to call it a Russian submersible, fine. It's a Russian submersible. No problem. BUD But you think it's something else. What? One of ours? LINDSEY No. BUD Whose then? Lindsey? Talk to me...Lindsey is wrestling with a feeling which is somehow also certain knowledge. LINDSEY Jammer saw something in there, something that scared the hell out him-- BUD His mixture got screwed up. He panicked and pranged his regulator. LINDSEY But what did he see that made him panic? BUD What do you think he saw? LINDSEY I don't know. I DON'T KNOW!Hippy comes pounding up, sticks his head in, gesturing animatedly. HIPPY Hey, you guys... hurry up, check this out! They're announcing it.They follow him into the corridor, trotting down to the mess hall.INT. MESS HALL 83General melee as they rush in, everybody focused on the TV. CATFISH Quiet! Quiet! HIPPY Turn it up, bozo. ANCHORMAN ... the Kremlin continues to deny Russian involvement in the sinking of the Trident sub USS Montana. The Navy has not released the names of the 156 crewmembers, who are all presumed dead at this time. Civilian employees of a Benthic Petroleum offshore drilling rig-- HIPPY Hey that's us! CATFISH SSSSHHH! ANCHORMAN --are apparently participating in the recovery operation but we have little information about their involvement. On the scene now is-- FINLER BOOOOH! We want names! SONNY Hey, hey! There's the Explorer.A LONG LENSE VIDEO SHOT of the Benthic Explorer and the other vessels in astormy sea CUTS TO a shot of BILL TYLER, the on-scene reporter, in raingear, clutching his microphone. He is on the deck of a Navy support ship,being used as a staging area from the press, well away from the center of theoperation. TYLER --there is a tremendous amount of activity. With Cuba only 80 miles away, the massive buildup of US ships and aircraft in the area has drawn official protest from Havana and Moscow and has led to a redirection of Soviet warships into the Caribbean theater. ANCHORMAN How would you describe the mood there? TYLER The mood is one of suspicion, even confrontation. A number of Russian and Cuban trawlers, undoubtedly surveillance vessels, have been circling within a few miles throughout the day, and Soviet aircraft have repeatedly been warned away from the area... HIPPY This sucks.INT. CORRIDOR/SUB BAY 84Bud, Lindsey, and Hippy walking along the corridor, Hippy in a black mood ofincipient paranoia. BUD What's the matter with you? HIPPY Now we're right in the middle of this big-time international incident. Like the Cuban Missile Crisis or something. LINDSEY Figured that out for yourself, did you? HIPPY We got Russian subs creeping around. Shit! Something goes wrong they could say anything happened down here, man. Give our folks medals, know what I mean? BUD Hippy, just relax. You're making the women nervous. LINDSEY Cute, Virgil. HIPPY No, I mean it. Those SEALs aren't telling us diddly. Something's going on. BUD Hippy, you think everything's a conspiracy. HIPPY Everything is.One Night is pounding down the corridor from the sub bay. ONE NIGHT Hurry up! Coffey's splitting with Flatbed! He got me to show him the controls, then his guys suited up and they're rolling.Bud breaks into a run, passing her. BUD Goddamnit! D'you tell him we need it right now? ONE NIGHT I told him we had to get the umbilical unhooked ASAP.INT. SUB BAY 85Bud clears the door in time to see an empty moonpool, roiling with turbulence.He runs to the edge and looks down. Flatbed is a vague shape moving off. BUD Unbelievable. CUT TO:EXT. EXPLORER BRIDGE -- DAY 86The sky is charcoal, the sea is a mountain range of gray slopes. Wavesthunder over the foredeck, whipped by eighty-know winds. Men in lifejackets scurry like insects. Off the port bow, the ASW destroyer ALBANYvanishes and reappears among waves sixty feet tall. McBride scream ordersthat can't be heard to the crewmen on deck. He staggers back along the bridgerailing.INT./EXT. BENTHIC EXPLORER BRIDGE -- DAY 87McBride steps into the quiet of the control room. He turns on De Marco. MCBRIDE We're trying to get unhooked and get out of here... and your boys go sightseeing! DEMARCO They'll be back in two hours. MCBRIDE Two hours?! We're gonna be getting the shit kicked out of us by our friend Fred in two hours!De Marco's expression is infuriatingly calm... icy. McBride looks at hiswatch and swears under his breath. CUT TO:EXT. USS MONTANA WRECK SITE 88For a second time the black hull of the ballistic missile sub is illuminatedby diver's lights. Tiny figures, the divers move like moths around a distantstreetlight. Wilhite, Monk and Schoenick are clustered around an open missilehatch. Using a large lift bag, they are removing the frangible fiberglass,or 'diaphragm'. Coffey pilots Flatbed with increasing deftness, deployingthe big arm to aid in the work.DOWN ANGLE as the diaphragm lifts away... revealing the blunt nose of theTRIDENT C-4 MISSLE. Like looking down the barrel of a gun at the bulletaimed right at you. CUT TO:INT. DEEPCORE/MESS HALL 89TIGHT ON VIDEO SCREEN: A HELICOPTER SHOT of a warship burning, rollingponderously as it sinks in stormy seas. NEWS ANCHOR (V.O.) Little is known at this hour about the events leading up to the collision. The US Navy guided missile cruiser Appleton apparently struck the Soviet 'Udaloy' class destroyer in low visibility conditions...VARIOUS CUTS of men in life jackets among huge waves... Rescue helicoptershovering. Shaky camera work. Wind blasting. INTERCUT WITH REACTIONS of therig crew watching. NEWS ANCHOR (V.O.) In violent seas little hope remains for over a hundred Russian crewmen still missing after the sinking an hour ago.SHOT OF AMERICAN CRUISER, burning, listing to one side in heavy seas.Replaced by SHOT OF NETWORK ANCHORMAN. NEWS ANCHOR Soviet military spokesmen have claimed that the collision constituted an unprovoked attack. This was denied--It continues. Bud looks at Lindsey. She turns to him, expression grim. LINDSEY Bud, this is big time. CUT TO:EXT. MONTANA WRECKSITE 90The divers are working head-first in the missile's launch tube. Monk readsfrom a plasticized card, directing the other two step by step. The arcanelitany is punctuated by the hissing rasp of their breathing. WILHITE (filtered) Separation sequencer disconnected. Next? MONK (filtered) Remove explosive bolts one through six in counterclock-wise sequence. SCHOENICK (filtered) Check... removing bolt one.INT. DEEPCORE 91ON THE RIG CREW, watching. Bathed in the light of the video screen. NEWSCASTER (V.O.) ... just learned that Soviet negotiators have walked out of the strategic arms limitation summit in protest over the incident this morning.Bud switches the channel. ANOTHER NEWSCASTER ... US and NATO military forces have been put on full alert worldwide this morning in the wake of... BUD It's on every channel.Bud switches again. Reception is getting worse as the storm affect thesatellite down-link to Explorer. THE SCREEN shows a reporter on a citystreet, stopping people at random. Their answers are edited together: YOUNG WOMAN You just feel so hopeless. You can see it coming, but what can you do? What can anyone do? CONSTRUCTION WORKER Hey, they don't want war any more than we do. You think about it, you say... hey, they love their kids too. So why are we doing this?He is replaced by a self-righteous, middle-aged woman. WOMAN If the Russians sank that submarine, they deserve what they got and a lot more, if you ask me, and you did. I think we've been pussyfooting around with them long enough.EXT. USS MONTANA 92It is now clear what the SEALs are doing. Using large lift bags and Flatbed'sbig arm, they have pulled one of the Trident C-4 missiles partway out of itslaunch tube, and have partially disassembled the nose-shroud, exposingseveral of the MIRV warheads within.Moving very carefully, Wilhite and Schoenick ease one of the individual MIRVsout of its bracket. Hanging under a lift-bag in a jerry-rigged harness, thethree-foot long warhead is move gently by the divers to the back of Flatbed.INT. DEEPCORE/VIDEO SCREEN 93Another man in the street interview, tortured by static. MAN Scared? I'm scared ____-less. But if it happens it happens, nothing I can do about it. Right? So why think about it? CUT TO:INT. SUB-BAY 94Flatbed surfaces in boiling foam. The rig crew are all waiting. Like acrack pit-crew Bud's people leap onto Flatbed while its deck is still awashand start to work on to Navy divers, unsealing their helmets and uncouplingtheir umbilicals. Hippy and Bud start to untie a cylindrical object wrappedin one of the SEAL's gear bags. Coffey emerges from the hatch. COFFEY Don't touch that. Just step away. Now! HIPPY Excusez moi. BUD Coffey, we're a little pressed for time. COFFEY Monk, Schoenick... secure the package.The two SEALs unlash the object in the black bag. Bud an Lindsey exchange aglance. He glares at Coffey as they pass each other. One Night nimblyclimbs the hatch-tower and drops in. Bud swings the heavy hatch up,balancing it, and grins down at One Night. BUD This ain't no drill, slick. Make me proud. ONE NIGHT Piece of cake, baby.He swings the hatch closed with a CLANG. CUT TO:EXT. DEEPCORE 95The big A-frame, massive as a railroad bridge, to which the umbilical fromthe Explorer is attached. Flatbed rises INTO FRAME arcing around thecoupling mechanism F.G. One Night deploys the big hydraulic arm.It unfold from Flay bed like a huge steel spider leg, its claw-like 'gripper'opening.INT./EXT. BENTHIC EXPLORER BRIDGE -- DAY 96An ALARM sounds stridently on the dynamic-positioning console. BENDIX We're losing number two thruster. Bearing's going.INT. THRUSTER ROOM TWO 97Deep in one of the catamaran hulls, the positioning thruster motor isSCREAMING like a steel banshee above its usual roar. It EXPLODES with smokeand shrapnel. A roaring fire erupts. Crewmen run shouting in the smoke.INT. EXPLORER BRIDGE 98Now a KLAXON is going off as the ship begins to slew in the high winds. BENDIX It's not holding. We're swinging out of position!EXT. EXPLORER'S DECK/LAUNCH WELL 99As the ship slews, the umbilical is drawn off vertical. It goes tight as abowstring. Pulled to the edge of the launch well, it rips down the sidewith a godawful screech, tearing loose ladders and floats.EXT. DEEPCORE/A-FRAME 100Flatbed's manipulator has gripped the de-coupling mechanism when the cablesuddenly pulls taut. The sub is jerked sideways, its grip dislodged. Wesee One Night get tossed around inside.INT. DEEPCORE 101Lindsey is in the corridor with a cup of tea when the whole rig BOOMS LIKE AGONG and lurches sideways. She's wearing her tea when Bud tears through adoorway and goes pounding past her. The intercom blares... HIPPY (intercom) Bud to control! Emergency! Bud to Control!Bud claws his way up the ladder to level two. The rig BOOMS and shuddersas...EXT. DEEPCORE 102The rig begins to move. The enormous skid breaks loose. Start to slide,plowing furrows in the bottom. One Night junks the controls, pivoting hersubmersible as the A-frame looms toward her.INT. DEEPCORE/CONTROL MODULE 103Bud runs in, past Hippy, and grabs the mike. BUD Topside, topside... pay out some slack, we're getting dragged!EXT. EXPLORER DECK 104The winch man staggers along the railing, blasted by 80-knot winds. Hesprints for the base of the enormous crane which supports the umbilicalwinch. A wave blasts him into the bulkhead. He half-crawls to the laddergoing up to the winch-house. As he climbs the winch's heave-compensatorslides up and down, FILLING FRAME behind him.It is bottoming-out with a sound like a piledriver, overloaded by the strainon the cable. It chooses that moment to fail. GRINDING CRASH OF METAL.INT./EXT. DEEPCORE CONTROL MODULE 105Lindsey has joined Bud, looking out the front viewport. LINDSEY We're heading right for the drop off!EXT. EXPLORER DECK 106The deck is ripped upward as the entire 40-ton crane is pulled over by theweight of Deepcore. It topples in the launch well with a roar of torturedsteel that rivals the storm. An EXPLOSION OF WATER. UNDERWATER, the cranetumbles between the twin hulls. Trailing a vortex of foam and debris, itroars down on us, FILLING FRAME WITH BLACKNESS.INT. EXPLORER BRIDGE 107McBride stares in shock at the churning cauldron of the launch well. Grabsthe underwater telephone. MCBRIDE Bud! We've lost the crane! BUD (V.O.) What? Say again. MCBRIDE THE CRANE! WE'VE LOST THE CRANE. IT'S ON ITS WAY TO YOU!!INT. DEEPCORE/CONTROL MODULE 108Everyone is stunned by what is happening. Lindsey fires up the sonar. LINDSEY Got it! It's dropping straight to us.She puts the signal over the speakers and the room fills with eerie PINGING.Bud shouts over the intercom. BUD Rig for impact! Seal all exterior hatches. Move it! Let's go!VARIOUS ANGLES, QUICK CUTS, as everyone runs to comply:The rig crew pounding down the narrow corridors. Diving through lowhatchways. Hatches are closed and the wheels spun down. Hippy puts into aZIP-LOK BAG and seals it.EXT. DEEPCORE 109The umbilical drops down in slack loops out of the blackness above, drapingitself over the habitat in large coils. One Night pilots her submersiblefeverishly among the falling loops. She banks and twists. A length of heavyumbilical slams onto her neck, tipping the sub.She manages to get out from under it a keep going.INT. CONTROL MODULE 110Through the front viewport they can see the coils of cable piling up in frontof the rig. The hull booms with impacts as the massive stuff hits.Everyone hold their breath as the sonar return-pings get closer... andcloser. And closer...An ENORMOUS SHAPE plunged into the floodlight in front of the rig.K-WHAM!! The 40-ton crane hits like a flatiron thirty feet in front of them.A clean miss. Much WHOOPING AND CHEERING. Then...The crane topples slowly over the back. It rolls down the slope of the drop-off, gathering speed. Then tumbles over the cliff into the abyssal canyon.The coiled umbilical starts to pay out after it like rope after a harpoon.And they're still attached. LINDSEY Oh shit.An agonizing few seconds. Then... the cable pulls taut.K-BOOM!! The rig is slammed by the shock. Everyone is knocked off his feet,into walls and equipment.EXT. DEEPCORE 111The rig begins to slide. It tilts over the embankment and grinds down theslope of the drop-off in a cloud of silt. The cable pulling it inexorablytoward the cliff. The framework twists and slams into rocks. SCREECHINGAND GROANING of tortured steel.INT. DEEPCORE/CORRIDOR/LADDERWELL/MAIN CORRIDOR 112All hell has broken loose. SIRENS, SCREAMING, a KLAXON HOOTING moronically.Bud sprints from Control, bouncing off the corridor walls as the riglurches and tilts. The lights go out. Emergency light come on. He tripsand falls, scrambles up, running on.IN THE LADDERWELL of trimodule C, Lindsey runs toward the machine rooms.K-BOOM! A searing bright EXPLOSION in the electrical room. Flames roarthrough the doorway. She dashed to a seawater hose hanging nearby and startsto unroll it. She sees Coffey and Schoenick in maintenance, lashing downthe mystery package. LINDSEY Hey! Get on this hose, you turkeys!INT. TRIMODULE C/COMPRESSOR ROOM 113Monk is working in a spray of seawater, turning valves to stop the flow ofruptured pipes. Behind him, a wall of flame blossoms through the door fromthe electrical room, driving the back with the heat. A reservoir-tanksbreaks loose from one of the compressor assemblies. In rolls at him,crushing his legs against machinery. The fire roars into the room.INT. SUB BAY 114Hippy runs in. The place is going nuts. Water floods from the moonpool asthe rig tilts. Wilhite is dancing across the deck, leaping over compressed-gas cylinders which are rolling around loose. Cab One jumps clear off itscradle and slides SCREECHING across the deck. Wilhite, running before the12-tom juggernaut, had no place to go. The SEAL dives into the churningmoonpool. Cab One slams into the end wall, then spins and rolls towardHippy.He starts to run. Drop something. Looks back.Beany, in his zip-loc bag, is lying in the path of the slide submersible.Hippy runs back. Scoops up the baggie. Cab One FILLS FRAME behind him.He makes it through the door an instant before the thing hits behind him,buckling the steel doorframe.Wilhite is clawing up the sheep skirting of the moonpool. He gets his fingersover the top. Pulls himself up...A steel helium tank slams against his fingers, crushing them, and he fallsback. More tanks bounce over the lip of the pool, hammering Wilhite downinto the foaming water.He doesn't surface.EXT. DEEPCORE 115The rig is sliding to the edge of the cliff. Beyond it... the bottomlesspit of the Cayman Trough. It slams, crushing and twisting, into a rockoutcropping and stops, hanging over the precipice.INT. TRIMODULE A/QUARTERS 116Perry is trapped as the trimodule floods with stunning swiftness. He makesit through an emergency hatch between floors but can't get it closed. Theinrushing tide blasts it open. He scramble upward to the next hatch. Spinsthe wheel. No time. He is slammed against the ceiling by the force of thewater.OMITTED A116INT. DRILL ROOM B116Lew Finler, Tommy Ray Dietz, and Lupton McWhirter fight their way toward thedoor as the drill room floods rapidly. Ahead, the big automated watertightdoor is closing like a motorized bank-vault. They reach it just as it isclosing, but can't prevail against the strength of the motors. FROM THE FARSIDE, we can see them screaming soundlessly at the tiny pressure window inthe door. We can hear the dull THUNK of their pounding.INT. TRIMODULE C/LADDERWELL AND COMPRESSOR ROOM 117Coffey and Schoenick, in emergency breathing masks, are fighting the fire witha seawater hose and fire extinguishers. Smoke and steam choke the darkchambers.Nearby, Lindsey grabs Hippy's arm as he is running past and drags him into theblazing compressor room. Hands him her seawater hose. Wide-eyes, he startsblasting everything in sight with water. LINDSEY No! Hold it on me!She rushed into the teeth of the fire as Hippy blasts her with a spray ofwater, following her into the intense heat. She grabs Monk, who issemiconscious, and drags him out of the blazing room... Hippy dancing backwith the hose, tripping, blasting her in the face.But it works. They get Monk clear.INT. DRILL ROOM CORRIDOR 118Bud comes pounding down the flooding corridor in time to see the water in thedrill room swirl above the pressure window, obscuring the faces of thetrapped men. He claws futility at the door. The motors and the fail-safelatching mechanism are on the opposite side. Through the pressure window hewatches helplessly as they drown. We don't see what he sees, but we knowwhat he sees. Suddenly the bulkhead next to him gives way and a freezingtorrent thunders in. Bud is blown off his feet a hurled along the corridor.He scramble up somehow, splashing waist deep toward the opposite end of thecorridor where another of the hydraulic doors is closing inexorably. He'snot going to make it. He reaches it a moment too late to squeeze through.Grabs the edge of the door and desperately tries to stop it from closing withthe strength of this arms. It doesn't work. The steel door closes on thefingers of his left hand, pinning them in the doorframe.But something amazing happens. His wedding ring lodges between the door andframe, preventing his fingers from being crushed and the door fromsealing and locking.It resists tons of pressure, denting but not collapsing.The freezing sea pours in until only his head is clear. BUD Heeyy!! HHHEEEYYY!!ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE DOOR, Catfish and Sonny come pounding up. They seehis face at the tiny window and his hand jammed in the door. Sonny wedgesa crowbar in the narrow opening and starts to pry. Catfish whips open hisjackknife and slashes the hydraulic hoses on the door actuator. He issprayed with red hydraulic fluid, machine blood.Together they force open the door. Bud is blown through in a torture ofwater. Sonny is thrown back into some pipes. Breaks his arm.Together they somehow heave the door shut manually, cutting off the flow.Catfish hammers the fail-safe latch home with the crowbar.Bud lies gasping and shivering... staring at the tiny band of metal thatsaved him. DISSOLVE TO:EXT. DEEPCORE/ONE HOUR LATER A118LOOKING DOWN THE WALL of the canyon as Big Geek moves beneath us, tilting upto show Deepcore perched at the very edge of the abyss. The rig is twistedand dented, covered with loops of umbilical, trimodule-A a mass of wreckage.The ROV passes across the front of the control module. Through the frontport, two figures can be seen in the light of a single emergency lamp. SONNY (V.O. static) Mayday, mayday. This is Deepcore Two calling Benthic Explorer. Do you read, over?INT. CONTROL MODULE B118Sonny flips some switches on the UQC acoustic transceiver. Tries again. SONNY Benthic Explorer, Benthic Explorer. Do you read, over? This is Deepcore-- BUD Forget it, Sonny. They're gone.INT. TRIMODULE C 119Bud walks down the corridor from control, slowly... as if carrying a greatweight. The air is still thick with smoke. The power off... everythinglit by emergency lights. Makeshift quarters have been set up in the messhall, with blankets laid out on the tables, and with folding cots in thestorage room across the hall. Jammer is still unconscious. Coffey andSchoenick bring Monk in on a stretcher, and set him up on a table. He isconscious but dazed with painkillers, his led splinted. BUD Did you find Wilhite? COFFEY No.He and Bud lock eyes. Bud bites back on his recriminations, but his gazeblames Coffey. He turns away. COFFEY Brigman. (Bud turns) I was under orders. I had no choice.Coffey's manner is subdued, contrite. A marked contrast to his previousbrusque arrogance. He's wrestling with his own loss, a sever blow to thetight brotherhood of a SEAL unit. Bud's anger is not dispelled. But hecan't address it now. He moves on.PAST THE INFIRMARY, where Sonny Dawson is rigging a sling over his own brokenarm. He cries out in pain, cursing at himself. LOOKING DOWN THE CENTRAL WELLas Bud crosses. Down through the grill decking we can see the bottom levelof the module is flooded. Catfish is down there welding, sending shiveringreflections through the chamber.INT. MACHINE ROOM 120Lindsey is working, up to her knees in water. She is covered with grease,tools scattered around. Bud puts his hand on her shoulder. She looks up,blows some hair out of her eyes. BUD What's the scoop, ace? LINDSEY I can get power to this module and sub-bay if I remote these busses. I've gotta get past the mains, which are a total melt-down.Rather than trigger anger and invective, the disaster seems to have affectedher in a different way. She's accepted the situation, now that's it's done,and is immersing herself in technical tasks, which are for her therapeutic. BUD Need some help? LINDSEY Thanks. No, I can handle it. Bud... there won't be enough to run the heaters. In a couple hours this place is going to be as cold as a meat locker. BUD What about O-2? LINDSEY Brace yourself. We've got about 12 hours worth if we close off the sections we're not using. BUD The storm's gonna last longer than 12 hours. LINDSEY I can extend that. There's some storage tanks outboard on the wrecked module. I'll have to go outside to tie onto them.She goes back to her task, working efficiently with a socket wrench. BUD Hey, Lins... (she looks up) I'm glad your here. LINDSEY Yeah? Well I'm not.OMITTED 121OMITTED 122The sub bay is still a mess. Dark. A few battery-operated lamps. Flatbedis back, floating in the moonpool.One Night and Hippy are in deep concentration, piloting the two ROVs in adamage survey of the rig. Bud comes up behind them, check her screen first.BIG GEEK'S MONITOR shows a view of the aft section of the rig. The drillingderrick had collapsed across Cab Three, totaling it. A girder is jammedthrough its acrylic front dome. ONE NIGHT Right through the brainpan. Deader'n dogshit, boss. BUD (to Hippy) Where're you? HIPPY Quarters. Level two.INT. TRIMODULE A/QUARTERS A123Little Geek rises up through the open central hatch, pivoting in a circle toscan the flooded interior.INT. SUB BAY/R.O.V. STATION B123TIGHT ON VIDEO SCREEN, LITTLE GEEK'S POV. The interior of the structure is ashambles. The lights of the little robot fall upon a figure... Perry.Lying on the deck, almost looking like he's asleep. HIPPY That's Perry. BUD (lets his breath out slowly) That's it then. Finler, McWhirter, Dietz, and Perry. Jesus. HIPPY (gestured at the screen) Do we just leave him there? BUD Yeah, for now. Our first priority's to get something to breathe. CUT TO:EXT. DEEPCORE 124Catfish and Lindsey, in suits and helmets, drop down from the glare of themoonpool onto the dark sea floor under the rig. Walking, they pull theirumbilicals behind them and head out through the twisted wreckage. LittleGeek follows along like a dog at their heels. They settle beside a valveassembly at the base of the wrecked module. LINDSEY Cat, you tie onto this manifold. There's some tanks on the other side; I'm gonna go check them out. CATFISH You watch yourself.He begins to attach one end of a coiled-up high-pressure hose to a manifold.She takes the other end of the hose and moves off into the darkness. LittleGeek goes with her faithfully.INT. SUB BAY 125Cab One is hanging from the overhead crane while One Nigh works to repair it.Bud is nearby, tending hose for the divers and handing her tools. Talkingwhile they work. Hippy is across the moonpool running Little Geek. ONE NIGHT Gimme a three-eighths socket on a long extension. (he hands it to her) So there you were-- BUD There we were, side by side, on the same ship, for two months. I'm tool-pusher and we're testing this automated derrick of hers. So, we get back on the beach and... we're living together. ONE NIGHT Doesn't mean you had to marry her. BUD We were due to go back out on the same ship. Six months of tests. If you were married you got a state-room. Otherwise it was bunks. ONE NIGHT Okay, good reason. Then what? BUD It was alright for a while, you know. But then she got promoted to project engineer on this thing, couple years ago. ONE NIGHT She went front-office on you. Tighten that for me, right there. That's it. BUD Well, you know Lindsey, too damn aggressive-- Son of a--!!He's jammed his fingers with a wrench torquing down a bolt. Whips his handout. BUD She didn't leave me... she just left me behind.She puts her arm around his shoulders, somehow managing to be fraternal,maternal and suggestive all at the same time. ONE NIGHT Bud, let me tell you something. She ain't half as smart as she thinks she is.She smiles and pretends to kink Lindsey's air-hose.ACROSS THE CHAMBER, Hippy scowls as Little Geek's screen starts to go haywirewith interference. HIPPY Hey, Lindsey, you reading me? Over.OMITTED 126EXT. DEEPCORE/TRIMODULE A 127Catfish is working on one side of the wrecked module while Lindsey is on theother, out of sight. She is standing on the bottom at the base of thewreckage, checking valves on a rack of oxygen bottles amongst the wreckage.Right at the edge of the canyon wall. Behind her is a sheer drop tonothingness LINDSEY Yeah, Hippy, I read you. What's the matter?The reply is GARBLED by a wash of static. Then, for no apparent reason,Lindsey's helmet light begins to dim out. Little Geek's lights fade. Hismotors whine to a stop.ON CATFISH, as his lights drop to candleglows.INT. SUB BAY A127The emergency lights are dimming, like a brownout. Bud grabs the diverintercom mike. BUD Lins, how're you doing? Lindsey?EXT. TRIMODULE A 128ON LINDSEY, as she fiddles with her lights and transceiver pack. LINDSEY Catfish... I got a problem here. You there? Catfish?Behind her, SOMETHING rises from the depths.It is the little vehicle she almost collided with at the Montana wreck.It comes right up behind her. She doesn't know it's there. It hoverssideways like a hummingbird, as if curious, trying to get a better look. Shebecomes aware of the pulsing glow on the ground around her. She turnsslowly. We see her react as the glowing, pulsing apparition is reflected inher faceplate.A more powerful glow washes up onto her from below.Her eyes go down. She gasps, absolutely stunned...Above the edge of the wall, AN ENORMOUS SHAPE RISES SILENTLY OUT OF THEDEPTHS. Over sixty feet across. It looks like a blown glass manta ray, itstransparent outer hull housing interior structures of great delicacy andcomplexity, pulsing with a blue-violet glow.Lindsey stand before it, unable to move. Absolutely rapt.Captivated by its ethereal beauty. It begins to turn, majestically, onerounded wing passing only a few feet above her. She reaches up. Touches itas it passes over her.Lindsey is without fear, completely mesmerized.The thing completes its turn and dives gracefully down along the wall. Sheis gently lifted by a backwash of turbulent water.About that time, Lindsey remembers she has a still camera, a little Nikonos.She fumbles to set focus and exposure with her bulky gloves as the beautifulmachine glides into the depths. Gets all set for a shot and...WOOSH! The little 'scoutschip' whizzes past her from behind, startling her.She completely misses the shot of the 'manta ship'. She pivots, trying toget a shot of the little one as it zig-zags down along the wall, fast as ameteor. CLICK. She get a shot a second before it disappears.From around the flank of the rig module, Catfish appears. Their com-setscome backs to life, along with their lights. LINDSEY You better not say you missed that. CATFISH Missed what? CUT TO:INT. DEEPCORE/MESS HALL 129TIGHT ON SLIDE STRIP. Lindsey's fingertip in for scale. The shot is blackwith a little squiggle of light in the center. Pathetic. BUD Nice shot, Lins. SONNY What is that? You drop your dive light?WIDER, SHOWING THE GROUP huddled around Lindsey who has her freshly-processedslide roll laid out on the pinball machine, using it as a light table. LINDSEY Come on, you guys... look, this is the little one right here. You can see how it's kind of zigging around. BUD If you say so. It could be anything. LINDSEY I'm telling you what is there. You're just not hearing. The impulses somehow aren't getting from you ears to your brainpan. There's something down there. Something not... us.She looks around. Sees a lot of skepticism in the eyes around her. CATFISH Y'all could be more specific. LINDSEY Not us. Not human. Get it? Something non- human, but intelligent... HIPPY You mean like Coffey?Lindsey is reddening. Despite her conviction, this is really hard. LINDSEY A non-terrestrial intelligence. HIPPY Non-Terrestrial Intelligence. NTIs. Yeah, I like that better then UFOs. Although that works too... Underwater Flying Objects.Hippy is not really mocking her. He's actually into it. But it has thateffect. Catfish is eyeing Lindsey like he's never seen her before. CATFISH Are we talkin' little space friend here? HIPPY Right on! Hot rods of the Gods. Right, Lins? Hey, no really! It could be NTIs. The CIA has known about them for years. They abduct people all the time. There was this woman I knew in Albuquerque who-- LINDSEY Hippy, do me a favor... stay off my side.Bud takes her firmly by the arm. Heads her out into the corridor. BUD Lindsey, will you step into my office for a minute...INT. CORRIDOR/LADDER WELL 130He propels her along the corridor, away from the mess hall doorway. Theyface each other in the narrow space. BUD Jesus, Lindsey-- LINDSEY Bud, something really important is happening here. BUD Look. I'm just trying to hold this situation together. I can't allow you to cause this kind of hysteria-- LINDSEY Who's hysterical? Nobody's hysterical!They're talking across each other, not connecting. Bud weary and frustrated.Lindsey is cranked up with the afterglow of her encounter. BUD All I'm saying is when you're hanging on by your fingernails, you don't go waving you arms around. LINDSEY I saw something! I'm not going to go back there and say I didn't see it when I did. I'm sorry. BUD God, you are the most stubborn woman I ever knew. LINDSEY I need you to believe me, Bud. Look at me. Do I seem stressed out? Any of the symptoms of pressure sickness, any tremors, slurred speech? BUD No. LINDSEY Bud, this is me, Lindsey. Okay? You know me better than anybody in the world. Now watch my lips... I saw these things. I touched one of them. And it wasn't some clunky steel can like we would build... it glided. It was the most beautiful thing I've ever seen.Bud is stilled by her intensity. She moves close to him. Eyes alive andluminous. LINDSEY It was a machine, but it seems almost alive. Like a... dance of light. Bud, you have to trust me... please. I don't think they mean us harm. I don't know how I know that, it's just a feeling. BUD How can I go on a feeling? You think Coffey's going to go on you 'feeling'? LINDSEY We all see what we want to see... Coffey looks and he sees Russians, he sees hate and fear. Bud, you have to look with better eyes than that.Bud has been taking this all in. His eyes tracking her face. He closes hiseyes, taking a deep breath. It's so hard for him to do this, but... BUD I can't, Lindsey. I'm sorry. How can I? CUT TO:INT. MESS HALL -- LATER 131Coffey has Bud, Lindsey and several of the rig crew gathered for a littlesummit. Lindsey is withdrawn, sitting far from the others, a self-imposedexile. They're all wearing warm clothes and hugging themselves. Theirbreath shows in the air. COFFEY I want 'round-the-clock manning of the sonar shack and the exterior cameras. We need early warning if the Soviet craft try another incursion. LINDSEY (rolling her eyes) Gimme a break! Coffey, these things live three and a half miles down on the bottom of an abyssal trench! Trust me... they're not speaking Russian.Coffey looks at her for a moment, then goes on as if she hadn't spoke. COFFEY (to One Night) Why haven't you finished repairs on the hydrophone transmitter yet? ONE NIGHT I was having my nails done.Coffey is sweating, despite the chill. Keeps his hands clenched in fists sothey won't see how bad the tremors have gotten. COFFEY Get something straight. You people are under my authority-- CATFISH Look, podner... we don't work for you, we don't take orders from you, and we don't much like you. In addition to which your momma dresses you funny.Coffey's eyes are straight razors. He slashes them from face to face. Youcan see him tightening up like a clockspring, losing control of the situationin front of his own men. Bud defuses it. BUD 'Fish'? CATFISH Yuh? BUD Take the first watch in sonar. Hippy, you handle the exterior surveillance. One Night, see if you can get that transmitter working for me, okay? ONE NIGHT Gimme a couple of hours.HOLD ON COFFEY as everyone leaves. Winding tighter. CUT TO:INT. MAINTENANCE ROOM B -- LATER 132Coffey and Schoenick are bending over the warhead. They have a small portremoved and are attaching waterproof leads from an ELECTRONIC DETONATOR. Theblack box Lindsey glimpsed earlier. As the two SEALs work like surgeons, wesee past Coffey's shoulder to a hemispherical window behind him, which looksout into the perpetual blackness. Something appears... a goofy shark face.Big Geek rises silently in front of the port. It moves a little, trying toget a peek over Coffey's shoulder.INT. CONTROL MODULE/ROV SHACK 133Hippy is twiddling his joysticks, watching the screen like a ferret. HIPPY Come on... move to the left... just a little more... come on, A.J. Squared Away... that's it--ON THE SCREEN, Geek's POV. Coffey is blocking Hippy's view of whatever it isthey're working on. Abruptly, be moves. The warhead is lying there in plainsight, detonator wires hooked up. Hippy's eyes bug out. He knows exactlywhat it is. HIPPY Pretty radical, guys. Pretty radical.He hurries to the VCR and puts it into RECORD.INT. CONTROL MODULE/ROV SHACK -- MINUTES LATER 134Video image of the SEALs working. It FREEZES on a clear view of the warhead. HIPPY (V.O.) Say hello to MIRV.Bud has his face right up to screen. He frowns, skeptical. HIPPY Come on, man. What else could it be? BUD Why bring it here? HIPPY It's gotta be, like, an emergency plan to keep it away from the Russians... Hotwire one of the nukes with some kinda detonator, put it back in the sub, and fry the whole thing, slicker'n snot. Oh, uh... hi, Lins.Bud whips around. Lindsey, standing quietly in the doorway. It's apparentfrom expression she's been watching them for some time. She looks ready tokill somebody. Then she's gone.INT. CORRIDOR 135Bud catches up to her in the corridor, trying to put the brakes on her. LINDSEY Look, goddamnit, if you won't do something about it, I will. BUD Lindsey! Wait a second--She reaches the watertight door to Maintenance Room B. It's locked. BeforeBud can stop her she grabs a fire-extinguisher off the wall and pounds onthe steel door like a big gong. BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!Needless to say, it opens. She pushes past Schoenick, see the bomb lyingthere naked. LINDSEY You've got some huevos bringing this... thing... into my rig! With everything that's been going on up in the world, you bring a nuclear weapon in here? Does this strike anyone as particularly psychotic, or is it just me? COFFEY You don't need to know the details of this mission... you're better off if you don't. LINDSEY You're right... I don't. I just need to know that this thing is out of here! You hear me, Roger Ramjet? COFFEY Mrs. Brigman, you're becoming a serious impediment to this mission. I believe the stress is affecting you. (to Schoenick) Escort her to quarters and have Monk prepare a tranquilizer.Schoenick takes her arm in a tight grip. LINDSEY Bullshit, you can't do that. Oww... goddamnit!Lindsey goes bananas, trying to get Schoenick's big hands off her arms. Budslams his hand down on the intercom button. BUD Emergency! Maintenance room B. Emergency!He pulls the fire alarm for good measure and spins on Coffey... warning himwith a look that is not to be messed with. Coffey is braced back against theworktable... an odd stance, with one arm behind his back. Suddenly there'sa crowd outside the door as Catfish, Hippy, One Night, and Sonny come runningup. Confrontation time.Sirens going. About a million volts of electricity in the air. Bud bracesSchoenick. BUD Let her go. Do it... right now.He does. Lindsey jerks away. Rubs her arms. LINDSEY You dumb jarhead motherf-- BUD Chill out, Lindsey!! CATFISH What's the problem?Everyone is frozen in place. Bud a Coffey... snake and mongoose, glaring.Bud pulls Lindsey back into the corridor. BUD Nothing. We were just leaving. (to her) Weren't we?ANGLE FROM BEHIND COFFEY, as Bud's group moves out of sight up the corridor.Hands behind his back. In his hand, cocked, finger on the trigger, is the.45. He turns and sets it on the table, steadying himself as if in the wind.he seems to sag. When he looks at Schoenick, his eyes are wounds. A huntedanimal. Voice shaky. COFFEY They can't be trusted. They're turning against us. We may have to take... steps.INT. CORRIDOR 136Lindsey, Bud, Hippy. Bud slows, letting them trail behind the others. BUD Lins, stay away from that guy. I mean it. HIPPY Yeah. The dude's in bad shape... you see his hands? LINDSEY He's got the shakes? BUD Look, the guy's operating on his own, cut off from chain of command. He's exhibiting symptoms of pressure-induced psychosis. And he's got a nuclear weapon. So, as a personal favor to me... will you put your tongue in neutral for a while? HIPPY Man, I give this a sphincter-factor of about nine point five.INT. MAINTENANCE ROOM B 137Coffey goes to the dome port. Looks past his shrunken and twisted reflectioninto the void. Eternal night.ANGLE FROM OUTSIDE. Coffey's face in the window. Stuck to the acrylicbubble beside him is one of those Garfields, suction cups on its paws. Coffeystares out. Behind his eyes, his brain is like that cat, just hanging on,spreadeagle and screaming. CUT TO:INT. SUB-BAY/DIVE-PREP AREA 138Under a single worklight, a couple of conspirators. Lindsey and Hippy hunchover Big Geek. The ROV grins maniacally with goofy shark teeth. LINDSEY Look, you can just punch into his little chip where you want him to go, and he goes, right? HIPPY Well, yeah, but the tether off it ain't gonna be fancy. When he gets down there he'll just sit, like a dumb-shit. Unless something wanders through view of the camera, you'll get nada. LINDSEY Let's go for it. We could get lucky.INT. CONTROL MODULE 139ONE SURVEILLANCE MONITOR. Lindsey and Hippy next to Big Geek. Their voicesare tinny but intelligible. HIPPY (V.O.) I don't know. I really oughta talk to Bud about this.E.C.U. COFFEY. Watching them in the dark. Alone. LINDSEY (V.O.) No. Just you and me. We get some proof, then tell them. Hippy, look... if was can prove to Coffey it's not Russians, maybe he'll ease off the button a little. HIPPY (V.O.) I gotta tell you, that guy scares me a lot more than whatever's down there. A.J. Squared Away goddamn jarhead robot. Okay, gimme a couple hours on this.Coffey watches, his jaw clenched.INT. QUARTERS/MESS HALL 140The lights are down. Those who can are grabbing some sleep. Snoring comesfrom one of the bunkrooms as Lindsey passes. In the mess hall, Catfish andBud are crashed out on the tables, wrapped in blankets. The cold has gottenintense. Water drips. The walls sweat with condensation. Lindsey can seeher breath as she makes coffee. She carries a cup over to Monk, who is aface in a pile of blankets. A hand comes out, takes the coffee. MONK Thanks.Lindsey sips hers, staring. Her thoughts are far away... in the bottomlesspit. She is leaning up against the table where Bud is sleeping. His softsnoring downshifts into a loud rasp. Lindsey touches him gently on theshoulder. LINDSEY Virgil, turn on your side.Bud grunts and turns without waking, an automatic response. The snoringstops. It is a quiet, intimate moment, a reminder of the mileage these twohave logged together. CUT TO:INT. SONAR SHACK 141Sonny has made himself comfortable in front of the screens. Too comfortable.He's asleep, chin on his chest. On the main passive-sonar screen, an almostimperceptibly faint trace appears. A HUM, which is by now familiar, becomesaudible. Sonny shifts in his seat. Doesn't wake.INT. SUB BAY 142Hippy puts his tools away, finished with the modifications to Big Geek. HIPPY All set, big guy. Hey, I told you to wipe that grin off your face.He yawns as he shambles across the chamber to the corridor door. Switches offthe lights. Goes out.Quiet lapping of water in the moonpool. A beat. Then...A cold luminosity suffuses the water beneath the moonpool opening, sendingshadows shifting across the top of the chamber. The surface begins topulsate.Suddenly, the water itself rises, forming itself into a shifting, shimmeringpseudopod as big around as a man's body. The transparent form pulses... anamoebic mass shivering in the air.It stretches, becoming a more refined form. Like a blindly probing glasspython, it elongates and weaves across the room. It extends and extends,stretching out from the moonpool, a shimmering tentacle. The 'head' or tip,a featureless liquid bulb, seems somehow to be scanning as it moves forward,as if it can see where it's going.INT. CORRIDOR 143Hippy trudges along the dark corridor. He reaches the men's head and goes in.As the door closes, the tip of the liquid pseudopod extends into the corridorB.G. It 'looks' left and right. Then extends the length of the corridor,holding itself a couple feet off the floor like a weightless snake.INT. TRIMODULE B/LADDERWELL/BUNKROOM/MESS HALL 144LOOKING DOWN three levels through the central ladderwell between thecylinders. The pseudopod enters and undulates upward.FROM INSIDE THE MAKESHIFT BUNKROOM, we see its tip extend inside.Sonny and One Night are snoring, oblivious. Jammer is still unconscious. Thepseudopod, taking its time, checks them out and then moves on.IN THE MESS HALL, it's dark and quiet. Lindsey has even fallen asleep in herchair, her head buried in her arms on the table. The shimmering tentacleenters the room in total silence. It sways gracefully in to air, searching.It undulates across the room, hanging about five feet in the air, surveyingeverything. It moves past Lindsey. Sensing something, she lifts her head,turning... sees the apparition next to her.Her eyes go wide. Amazement, but not fear. The tentacle is moving on, stillsearching. Lindsey shakes Bud awake, clapping her hand over his mouth.Bud blinks twice, then freezes. When she lowers her hand his mouth is hangingopen like a total goon.Bud chucks his pillow are Catfish, on the next table.Catfish cracks one eye open. Turns away. Turns right back... both eyes opennow. Sensing movement, the thing turn back toward them. It seems torecognize Lindsey. It doubles back on itself in a loop and comes right up toher. She holds her ground, fascinated.The bulbous tip forms suddenly into a human face... her face. It is water,still clear and undulating... but definitely Lindsey. She gasps in surprise.The liquid-Lindsey gasps soundlessly... a perfect mimic of her expression.Lindsey laughs involuntarily. It laughs... without sound. Lindsey makes aface, sticking out her tongue... testing it.The liquid-Lindsey does the same. Bud has just had the rug jerked out fromunder his sense of what is possible and what isn't, but he's taking it prettywill, considering. BUD (whispering) I think it likes you. LINDSEY It's trying to communicate.Her liquid face suddenly transforms into a likeness of Bud's.She reaches out her hand slowly. Gingerly, her fingers touch the surface.Ripples extend outward from the contact, across Bud's features.Her fingertips break effortlessly through the surface, just like she'sdipping her hand into a bowl of water, except sideways. She draws her wetfingers out and studies them, amazed. Touches one fingertip to her tongue. LINDSEY Seawater.The pseudopod pulls back from her. It loops in the air dramatically, fullcircle... and ties itself into a knot. As the knot tightens down, it meltsback into the body. The 'disappearing knot' trick.Lindsey laughs, grinning with the open wonder and delight of a child at amagic show. She is transported. LINDSEY Show off.She looks at Bud. He grins broadly. He's with her now.The stunned group watches as the thing moves on across the room. Out to thecorridorINT. SUB-BAY 145Coffey and Schoenick enter the back way, through the dive-prep area. They seethe pseudopod arching from the moonpool big as a treetrunk. Coffey's mind isblown. We can smell the insulation burning. He just stares.INT. CORRIDOR/MAINTENANCE ROOM B 146The water tentacle enters and moves toward the hot-wired warhead. It studiesthe device for a few seconds. Bud and Lindsey enter through a side door, intime to see the tentacle divide into four tendrils which wrap around thewarhead. They begin to lift it off its cart.INT. SUB BAY 147Coffey finally jump-starts his brain. In a flash of insight, he runs to thebig sliding door through which the pseudopod stretches into the corridor. Heand Schoenick heave on the door. Like a guillotine blade it sliceseffortlessly through it.VARIOUS ANGLES -- CORRIDORS, MESS HALL, LADDERWELL, MAINTENANCE... as thebody of the pseudopod collapses, splashing on the floor. It reverts tonothing more than a long puddle of simple seawater. As the tendrils dissolve,the warhead slams back down onto the cart, unharmed. ON COFFEY'S SIDE ON THEDOOR, however, the "stump" rears back like a cobra. It withdraws rapidly intothe moonpool. The glow fades away.INT. SONAR SHACK 148Sonny wakes up with a start as the HUM revs up into a LOUD WHINE and thenfades away. He scrambles to track it. Too late.INT. CORRIDOR 149Hippy emerges from the can and looks down, puzzled, at the puddle running thelength of the corridor. He missed the whole thing.INT. MESS HALL 150Light on. Everybody there. Lindsey is really strutting, high on life, nowthat she's been proven right. LINDSEY Okay, raise your hand if you think that was a Russian water-tentacle. Lieutenant? No? Well, a breakthrough.Coffey is looking out from under his eyebrows like Nicholson in "The Shining".Bud give her a warning look. Don't poke at the rattler. BUD You done impressing yourself, ace? ONE NIGHT No way that could just be seawater. LINDSEY They must've learned how to control water... I mean at a molecular level. They can plasticize it, polymerize it... whatever. Put it under intelligent control. BUD Maybe their whole technology is based on that. Controlling water.Coffey is hunched over, elbows on his knees. His hands are out of sight. Hisarm is moving in a slow rhythm. We can't see what he's doing. HIPPY That thing was probably their version of Big Geek... like an ROV. CATFISH Just checking is out, huh? How come?ANGLE UNDER THE TABLE, showing what Coffey is doing. He has his K-BAR KNIFEgripped white-knuckle in one hand. He is drawing it slowly and repeatedlyacross the skin of the other forearm. Neat chevrons of blood from wrist toelbow.C.U. COFFEY -- He doesn't flinch. His eyes are hard and bright as diamonddrills. No one notices. He's keeping the edge. LINDSEY They're curious, maybe. We could be the first people they've seen up close. SONNY Hope they don't judge the whole race offa us. CATFISH Maybe I oughta shave.Coffey stands abruptly, snags Schoenick with his eyes, and leaves, walkingthrough the group as if they were smoke. This cold behavior brings the mooddown a notch.INT. CORRIDOR/MAINTENANCE ROOM B 151Outside the mess hall, Coffey pauses, listening to the conversation resume.Bright speculation, a few jokes. Coffey is visible shaking. Breathing hard.Pupils dilated. Schoenick looks at him with concern. COFFEY It went straight for the warhead. And they think it's cute. SCHOENICK You need to get some sleep.Coffey walks away without hearing him. Schoenick catches up.INT. MAINTENANCE 152The door opens in the dark room. Coffey enters, moving with purpose. Hepulls his gear bag out from under the work table. Unzips it. Pulls out ashort-barreled CAR-15 assault rifle. COFFEY We have no way of warning the surface. Do you know what that means?Schoenick doesn't know. He hopes Coffey knows. Because he's a fearless manwho's discovering what it is to be afraid. Coffey inserts the magazine witha CLACK! Snaps the bolt. Tosses the rifle to Schoenick. COFFEY It means... whatever happens is up to us. CUT TO:INT. CORRIDOR/MAINTENANCE -- LATER 153Hippy passes the maintenance room. Looks in. The warhead and its cart aremissing. He looks around. Heads toward the sub-bay.INT. MESS HALL 154The discussion, still in progress. ONE NIGHT You think they're from down there originally? Or from... you know.She jerks her thumb toward the ceiling. LINDSEY I think they're from 'you know'. Some place that has similar conditions... cold, intense pressure. No light. CATFISH Happy as hogs in a waller down there, prob'ly.INT. CORRIDOR/SUB BAY 155Hippy freezes in the corridor as he hears a loud ratcheting sound echoing fromthe sub-bay. He edges forward slowly, trying to keep his feet silent on thesteel floor. Slides up along the wall next to the door. Inches his eyearound the doorframe. Across the room. Schoenick is working with a chainfall,lowering Big Geek onto the MIRV warhead, which is still on its cart. Hebegins to attach them together with a sling of tie-down straps.Hippy lets his breath out slowly. His expression is Holy Shit.He slides back along the corridor wall, silently. Away from the door. Thenturn turns quickly to go... WHAM! Coffey slams him up against the wall!.45 pressed to Hippy's temple. Hippy gulping air as Coffey ears back thehammer. COFFEY Sniff something did you, rat boy?INT. MESS HALL 156The meeting is breaking up as the door CLANGS open and Hippy is thrustedinside. His hands are taped behind his back and he stumbles onto his face.Coffey steps through smoothly, straight-arming the .45. Schoenick flanks himwith the assault rifle aimed at the group. COFFEY FREEZE! Don't move. That's it. (to Monk) Here, hold this a second. We're going to phase three.He hands his gun to Monk, with the assumption of absolute loyalty from a teammember. Monk's eyes move between Coffey and the pistol. We can't tell whathe's thinking. Coffey grabs Hippy and shoves him onto a chair. HIPPY They're using Big Geek to take the bomb to the NTIs! We set it up to go right to them.Lindsey looks stricken. Her plan is betraying them all. LINDSEY Oh my God... Oh no... (steps toward Coffey) Please, you can't. Coffey, think about what you're doing... for God's sake--Coffey lets her approach him, his eyes glittering.Without warning he grabs her by the hair and hurls her against the Cokemachine, pinning her there with one hand. Bud leaps forward. SCHOENICK GET BACK!Bud freezes. The rifle's muzzle is aimed for a heart-shot.Coffey moves up close to Lindsey. COFFEY This is something I've wanted to do since I first met you.His hand reaches down, OUT OF FRAME. We hear something RIP. His hand comesback up... holding a piece of gaffer's tape.He slaps it over her mouth. Then pushes her down into a chair.Hippy looks at Monk and Schoenick. HIPPY You boss is having a full-on meltdown. Guy's fixing to pull the pin on fifty kilotons and we're all ringside! MONK What's the timer set for? SCHOENICK Three hours. COFFEY Shut up! Don't talk! MONK We can't get to minimum-safe-distance in three hours. The shockwave will kill us. It'll crush this rig like a semi driving over a beer can. COFFEY Shut up! SHUT UP! What's the matter with you?!Everybody is twitching a hyper. Schoenick is white-knuckling his assaultrifle... looking from Monk to Coffey to the group. COFFEY Just stay calm. The situation is under control.Coffey backs out quickly with Schoenick.INT. CORRIDOR 157Coffey dogs down the watertight door and wedges a piece of steel pipe intothe mechanism so it can't be opened. COFFEY Stay here.Schoenick take a position in front of the door. Coffey turns and runs throughthe corridor like demons are chasing him.INT. MESS HALL 158Their only hope is to sway Schoenick. But the SEAL's fear is making him theperfect machine, totally dependent on external orders. And his orders areclear. They can see him through the tiny window in the door. Lindsey ripsthe tape painfully off her mouth. LINDSEY Schoenick... your Lieutenant is about to make a real bad career move... HIPPY That guy's crazier'n a shithouse rat! BUD We have to stop him! Schoenick!!They pound on the door. Schoenick turns and hangs his cap over the tinywindow.INT. SUB BAY 159Using the chainfall, Coffey maneuvers the completed Geek/MIRV package overthe back of Flatbed, obviously preparing to use the submersible to take itout and launch it.INT. MESS HALL 160Lindsey is up next to the door, with Bud. LINDSEY ... he's about to declare war on an alien species, Schoenick, just when they're trying to make contact with us. (to Bud) I think I'm reaching him.There is a CLUNK-CLATTER and the door unlatches. LINDSEY See?The door opens. Jammer is standing there. Schoenick is in a heap againstthe far wall, moaning. Jammer hands the rifle to Hippy as he walks in. Hippyturns to cover the other SEAL. Monk puts his hands up, passively. MONK I'm the least of your problems.Bud appraises Jammer, who seems a little weak and dazed but basically okay. BUD Thanks. How you feeling, big guy? JAMMER Figured I was dead, there, when I seen that angel comin' toward me.They all look at him for a second. What? BUD Uh, okay, right. You can tell us about it later. Let's go. CUT TO:INT. TRIMODULE C/LADDERWELL 161Bud drops down the ladder, INTO FRAME, followed by the others. He tries thedoor into the main corridor. The wheel won't turn. The others get on it.Won't budge. BUD He's jammed the mechanism. LINDSEY Now what?They're locked in trimodule-C. No other doors give access to the sub-baycorridor. Bud's mind is racing. He drops down the ladder to Level One, intoabout two feet of water. He reaches down and open the emergency lockouthatch. Takes off his boots. BUD Okay, I'm gonna free-swim to hatch six... get inside, get the door open from the other side. LINDSEY Bud, that water's only a couple degrees above freezing. BUD Then I guess you better wish me luck, huh?Catfish is pulling his boots off as well. CATFISH Wish us luck. (hands his wallet to Hippy) 'Case I don't die. Okay, Bud... let's go, podner, I ain't got all day.Bud clasps him on the shoulder and starts hyperventilating. He drops intothe water.EXT. DEEPCORE/TRIMODULE C 162Bed shoots down through the hatch. The cold hits him list a fist, becominginstantly paralyzing. He starts kicking in powerful strokes through the darkwater, maneuvering around tangles of umbilical cable twisted tubular steel.Catfish is behind him, swimming like hell. They reach hatch six. Togetherthey spin the wheel and heave upward, opening it.INT. TRIMODULE D/LEVEL ONE 163Bud surges up into the lock. Catfish jams into the tiny airspace with him.They try the upper hatch. Jammed. They're both panting with the exertionand intense cold. BUD Hafta... go on to... the moonpool. Only way. CATFISH I can't... make it... podner.Bud looks at Catfish, shivering and heaving, wide-eyed. BUD Okay, Cat. You head back.Bud hyperventilates rapidly and pikes over diving back out through the hatch.EXT. DEEPCORE 164Bud is stroking rapidly through the tangle of pipes and conduit. He sees thelit rectangle of the moonpool far ahead.INT. SUB BAY 165In the moonpool, Bud surface with an explosive gasp beside the full ofFlatbed. His wracked breathing is masked by the WHINE of HYDRAULICS as Coffeyuses the external controls to extend Flatbed's big hydraulic arm, lockingthe Geek/MIRV in its gripper.Bud strokes to a point where Coffey can't see him and heaves up out of thewater onto the deck of the pool. He lies gasping behind Cab One's cradle.His limbs are wooden and unresponsive from the cold. His fingers arecompletely numb. He hugs himself, putting his hands under his armpits.Scans the situation. He can't get to the door, which is across the room,without Coffey seeing him.INT. CONTROL MODULE 166Lindsey watching the whole thing going down, ON THE SCREEN, a high angle ofthe sub bay... Bud moving up on Coffey. HIPPY He can't get to the door... I think he's going to try and take him himself. LINDSEY He couldn't be that dumb. The guy's a trained killer. Bud's idea of a fight is arm-wrestling One Night over laundry duty.ON THE SCREEN, Bud picks up a piece of pipe. Hefts it. Moves forward,crouched... stalking. Lindsey yells at the screen in frustration. LINDSEY BUUUUUD!!INT. SUB BAY 167Bud chucks a tool across the chamber, creating a clattering distraction, thenwades in with the pipe in a vicious swing to the back of Coffey's knees,taking him down. Coffey spins even as he falls, catching Bud in a scissorkick that topples him.Grappling, they fall together into the freezing water.Coffey is momentarily stunned by the cold, giving Bud time to haul himselfout, hoping to make it to the door.Coffey launches from the water and grabs him legs.He pulls himself up as Bud kick out. Claws his way viciously over Bud'sbody until he has him pinned to the deck. Then he pulls out the .45.Put it unceremoniously to Bud's forehead.INT. CONTROL MODULE 168 LINDSEY NOOO!!INT. SUB BAY 169Coffey pulls the trigger... CLICK. Bud flinches, then opens his eyes,staring cross-eyed at the muzzle of the .45. Coffey cocks it and triesagain. CLICK. Nothing. Really pissed off beyond description, Bud hurlsthe commando off him with a powerful heave, sending him clattering againsta rack of equipment. They face off, panting.INT. CONTROL MODULE 170The rig crew turns from the screen at the sound of Monk's voice. MONK I tool the liberty of removing this before I gave it back to him.Monk pulls his hand out from under his blanket and holds up the magazine fromthe .45.INT. SUB WAY 171Even so Bud is getting his ass kicked. Coffey's really trying to put him outof business. It's mostly duck and dodges on Bud's part. Throw a few things.When Coffey connects, Bud goes down hard. Give him credit, though. Hemanages to scramble back up.The fight wrecks the room, scattering tools and gear.Compressed air cylinders roll dangerously around the floor.Coffey slips on one and Buds get in a couple of good licks.Slams the SEAL's head in an equipment locker door.But the Navy man is just too massive. Bud is hammered back into a wall.Coffey has his fist cocked back for the coup de grace. Spins around at thesound of a VOICE. CATFISH Hey!Catfish is right behind him. Dripping wet. A trail of water goes back tothe moonpool a few feet away.CRACK! Catfish's 'Hammer' punch comes in so hard and so fast, Coffey isknocked right on his ass. He doesn't get up. Just sort of flops around.Catfish helps Bud to his feet. They advance on Coffey, who crab-scuttlessideways, his eyes rabid.He picks up a helium tank and hurls it at them. As they duck he sprints toFlatbed and drops through the hatch and slams it down. BUD (to Catfish) Get the door!Bud leaps across the water to land on Flatbed. The hatch is already sealed.He grapples with Geek/MIRV, trying to free it from the steel claw.INT. FLATBED 172Coffey crawls along the access tunnel to the pilot's compartment. He clawshis way into the control seat and starts rapidly flipping switches.INT. CORRIDOR 173Catfish pounds down the corridor like he's never run before, his beer gutdoing a rumba. He reaches the door, tears out the piece of pipe and spinsthe wheel. Hippy pushes it open so fast it hits Catfish in the stomach.Hippy tears past him, running with the assault rifle. John Wayne.INT. SUB-BAY 174Flatbed is submerging, with only the hatch tower still above the water. Budis being dragged down, still trying to free the ROV. He gives up when hesees Hippy run in, waving the assault rifle around like a 130-pound Rambo.Bud climbs the hatch tower and leaps to the deck of the moonpool.Hippy clumsily raises the unfamiliar rifle at Coffey, visible inside hisviewing bubble beneath the swirling water. Coffey looks up, stares at thegun... doesn't seem to care. CATFISH SHOOT!Hippy's squeezing the trigger and nothing's happening. Flatbed's hatch towergoes under. CATFISH Safety's on! On the side... the lever! Up, push it up!Hippy fumble with the selective-fire lever, BLAM-BLAM-BLAM! He put threequick rounds into the ceiling. HIPPY SHIT! CATFISH Give me that!!He grabs it out of Hippy's hands and aims it at the sub. He racks the waterwith a long burst. BENEATH THE SURFACE, the rounds nip nasty contrailsthrough the water. They barely scar the front port. LINDSEY Forget that... go for Big Geek!Catfish rakes the descending sub with more bursts, trying to hit theshimmering shape of the ROV on its back. UNDERWATER we see the roundsarcing wild, a few hitting the ROV but causing little damage.Coffey complete his descent to just above the seafloor. ABOVE, Catfishempties the weapon. BUD Gimme a hand!They all turn. Bud is fumbling into his wetsuit like a madman. The othersrush over to help him. BUD Get the rest of my gear. Grab that hat there... let's go guys! Come on, come on!Catfish slams a backpack onto Bud's shoulders, grappling with the straps andhose connections. Hippy and Sonny (with one hand) are clipping, zipping andbuckling all over him. This is a world-record suit-up time. Bud pulls therubber neck-dam of the helmet's lower ring down over his face. BUD Helmet... helmet! Work fast.EXT. DEEPCORE UNDERSTRUCTURE 175Beneath the habitat, Coffey is maneuvering Flatbed through the twisted pipeand debris left by Deepcore's slide to the edge. Bloodied, his fatiguesripped half-off, he looks like a feral animal. His eyes burn with thedetermination of his mission.INT. SUB BAY 176Jammer expertly works the crane controls, moving Cab One out over themoonpool from its drydock cradle. Lindsey and One Night are scrambling likemonkeys over the port side crash bars of the swinging sub, clambering up tothe hatch tower. ONE NIGHT I'll unhook. (Lindsey hesitates) GO! You're better in these than I am.Lindsey recognizes this for what it is... a sign of respect, areconciliation. She nods and drops through the hatch.EXT. DEEPCORE 177Coffey passes under the twisted wreckage of the big automated derrick and makesa tight turn beneath the drill-floor module. Flatbed scrapes through betweentwisted conduit, metal screeching on metal.INT. SUB BAY 178Bud has his 'hat' locked down and his air cut on. He take two quick stridesto the edge of the pool and just drops in.EXT. DEEPCORE 179Bud rockets DOWN INTO FRAME in a column of bubbles. He looks around. Throughthe lattice of conduit under the rig he can see Flatbed moving forward fromits exit point under the stern. Bud see a shortcut under the platform.He kicks along a lattice a pipes, heaving himself along in frantic hand-over-hand stokes. He reaches for Flatbed's stern as it passes.Misses the last hand-hold... but just manages to seize a tie-down trailingbehind it. He is jerked along behind the sub.Bud holds on with both hands as he is buffeted in the wake of the powerfulthrusters. Flatbed gathers speed, moving out toward the edge of the abyssalwall. The current slams him, spinning him like a fishing lure. He pullshimself forward slowly until he can grip the stern rail of Flatbed's platform.LOW ANGLE, look up the wall. Flatbed appears over the edge and stops.Hovering.ON THE BACK OF FLATBED. Bud has the break he needs. He scrambles up onto thedeck and opens and equipment locker. Nothing in it but one of the yellownylon safety lines. The big arm begins to unfold, lifting Geek/ROV.INT./EXT. FLATBED 180Coffey works intently. His eyes are the cool ice of lethal madness in aface streaked with blood. He brings the ROV into view with the boom arm.GEEK/ROV had a passenger. Brigman. The diver is holding Geek's skid withone hand, doing something with the other. He turns to look at Coffey.EXT. FLATBED/DEEPCORE 181Coffey releases the ROV with the gripper and makes a grab at Bud with thesteel claw. Bud dives. The gripper hits his helmet a glancing blow. Budkicks away rapidly, letting nylon rope pay out. We see he has managed to tieone end to Geek's skids. Coffey hits the button to activate the ROV, sendingan acoustic pulse to Geek's transponder. The little robot, pregnant with itsload of death, turns nimbly around and dives out and down toward the void.Coffey pivots his bid machine toward Bud. Bud strokes rapidly to a largejumble of wreckage. He loops the rope around a twisted pipe. Big Geek ishauling ass away from him. The line snap taut an instant later. The ROVstrains, like a Rottweiler on a leash... trying to go. The rope is slippingas Bud fights to make a knot.Flatbed slews around, thrusters whining. As it banks, it hurls up clouds ofsediment from the escarpment face.Through the front panel we see Coffey jerking on the controls.The big arm extends menacingly. The smaller from manipulators open. Anenormous predatory instinct, its lights blaring.The big machine roars forward. Straight at Bud.Bud gets his knot partly done. See Flatbed looming.Glare-lit in its lights, Bud grabs a handlehold and pulls himself downward asCoffey closes the last few feet.One manipulator slams into his backpack, tumbling him, and the sub's undersiderakes across his legs as it passes over. Flatbed crushes into the tangle ofpipework. K-CRUUUNCH!!INT. FLATBED 182Coffey is slammed hard over the controls, up into the front dome port. Hegets back in the seat. Strains to free his machine.EXT. DEEPCORE/BIG GEEK/FLATBED 183Bud swims clear, diving down at an angle along the wall, hoping to stay inCoffey's blind area. Flatbed backs out of the wreckage in a cloud of debris.It pivots toward Bud. Moves after him.Nearby, the ROV is whining mindlessly, trying to please. Trying to GO.DETAIL OF ROPE attached to wreckage, as Bud's knot begins to slip. The nylonline starts to play through the knot slowly.BUD has gotten himself into a bad position. Along the bare rock face of thecliff wall he is naked, nailed in the spotlights like a rabbit in front of atruck. Coffey puts the hammer down, thrust levers all the way forward.Flatbed surges forward, multi-limbed and demonic. There's no cover, side toside, up or down.Coffey has him head in his lights. Suddenly a bright glare blasts in,blinding Coffey. He looks up to see Cab One rushing down upon him, fullthrottle.At the last moment LIndsey slams the thrusters full-lock and the submersibleslews sideways, slamming its heavy skidplate into Flatbed's cab. Coffey issmashed sideways by the shock. He fights to control his vehicle. Lindseylooks up to see Coffey's sub gun it up over the wall, out of sight. Shecruises up over Bud. LINDSEY (V.O.) Get in!Bud gets the lockout hatch open and clambers up into Cab One's belly.INT./EXT. CAB ONE 184Bud flops over the lip of the hatch and slams it shut. He ditches his helmet.Lindsey raises her vehicle warily above the wall. Through the front portthere is not sign of Coffey. LINDSEY You owe me one, Virgil. BUD Can we negotiate later? There's Big Geek.He points. Through the front port, they can see the ROV still straining atits leash. Lindsey dives toward it, simultaneously working the controls toopen her own small manipulator claws.EXT. DEEPCORE/WALL, ETC. 185The last few feet of the rope slip through the knot.Big Geek happily surges forward. It dives gracefully down into the void,trailing the yellow rope like a kite tail.ONE CAB ONE, Bud and Lindsey through the front port. BUD Go after it! We gotta catch it!FLATBED DROPS INTO FRAME BEHIND THEM, dwarfing little Cab One. They areslammed viciously as Coffey's submersible hammers into them. She hits fullthrottle. Coffey floors it after Lindsey, ramming her from behind with hismore powerful vehicle. With difficulty Lindsey maintains trim.She arcs back toward the rig. Flatbed slams her again, for the side. Shefights for control.INT./EXT. CAB ONE 186Bud is tossed around, ricocheting off the walls. Lindsey flies with herjaw set. Fighting hard for control. The A-frame of the rig looms before her.She shoots through at full throttle.EXT. DEEPCORE AND OCEAN TERRAIN 187Now the fight is really on. The two subs are dodging between the cylindricalmodules at full throttle, slamming into each other and the steel pressurehulls.Coffey sideswipes the smaller sub, jamming it sideways. It screeches alongthe flank of one of the trimodules.They head out over empty terrain in a flat-out speed run.Lindsey is jinking and dodging as Flatbed, roars along behind her, tearingup the bottom with its powerful backwash. Lindsey carves hard around a rockpinnacle, finding herself running parallel to the edge of the abyssal canyon.Coffey is ramming, hammering from behind, then from side to side.Lindsey snarls. He's pissing her off. He shouldn't do that.Ahead, out of the blackness, another outcropping.Lindsey rises, cuts right.Smashes down into Coffey's craft. Timing it just right. He skids catch inthe rocks.Flatbed slews violently, nosing down. Crushing into the rocky bottom.Pressing the advantage, Lindsey hammers into Flatbed from behind.It smashes full force into a second spire, spinning out of control.Tangles together, the subs slide down an embankment toward the edge of thewall. With her one remaining thruster she jerks clear of Flatbed and groundsher crippled sub. Flatbed tumbles over the edge.ANGLE DOWN THE WALL as it falls, trailing a cloud of sediment like a comet'stail, down into the unfathomable blackness below.INT. FLATBED 188Inside the machine, Coffey is fighting for control.He has no buoyancy or motors and the craft continues its mad plunge. As thepressure intensifies the hull begins to groan, and steel fitting scream withthe enormous load.A tiny silver fracture shoots partway across the front bubble. Grows.Coffey gives up fighting. Just stares, wide eyed, at his death. A damnedsoul dropping into the bottomless pit.The fracture line arcs rapidly across the dome port.Suddenly, a scythe-like curtain of seawater, under tons of pressure, slashesinto him. A moment later the bubble implodes, and Coffey disappears in abloody froth of churning water, air and glass shards.EXT. CANYON WALL 189Flatbed looks like a toy, tumbling away down the wall.Soon its lights vanish.INT. CAB ONE 190They're both going to have a lot of bruises...Lindsey is surveying the damage. Water is spraying down on them like ashower, and lights are flickering. LINDSEY You did okay, back there. I was fairly impressed. BUD Not good enough. We still gotta catch Big Geek. LINDSEY Not in this thing.Lindsey is flipping switches. Nothing works. BUD You totaled it, huh? LINDSEY Yeah. So sue me.Bud looks down. There's already about a foot of water sloshing around thefloor at their feet. BUD It's flooding like a son of the bitch. LINDSEY You noticed.She picks up and hand-mike of the underwater telephone. LINDSEY Deepcore, Deepcore, this is Cab One, over.She waits. No response. BUD Try again. LINDSEY Deepcore, this is Cab One. We need assistance, over. Deepcore, this--With a SEARING CRACKLE or arc-light, a power panel shorts out and everythinggoes black. LINDSEY Well, that's that. BUD Wonderful. (looking around) There's some light from somewhere...A faint illumination, dimmer than moonlight, washes in through the front port.Lindsey scrunches up against the acrylic and scans the darkness. LINDSEY Over there. It's the rig.A glow, beyond a rock promontory... like the lights of a town just over thehill in the desert. BUD Good hundred yards, I'd say. LINDSEY They'll come out after us. BUD Yeah, but it's gonna take them a while to find us. We better get this flooding stopped.He picks up his helmet and clicks on the light. Using the thing like a bulkyflashlight. The water is really pouring in, spraying them like a shower...almost two feet deep already. LINDSEY You see where it's coming in? BUD Somewhere behind this panel. Hold this.She takes the light and he tries to reach the burst weld, which is blocked bya steel switch panel and a bunch of conduit. BUD Can't get to it. Have to pull this panel off. You go any tools? LINDSEY I don't know, look around.Bud scans the cramped interior, feels around under the water. It's past hisknees. BUD Nothing. Son of a bitch. All I need's a goddamn crescent wrench.He grabs the panel in both hands and starts torquing on it, trying to wrenchit off the wall. Heaves on it repeatedly. Finally stops, panting. He'sbreathing hard now, and it's not just effort. BUD Son of a bitch! LINDSEY Calm down, Bud.A nervous edge in her voice now. Bud's turning all around, looking aroundfor anything, trying to think fast. Water up to their waists. The seaclosing in. BUD Okay... okay. We gotta get you out of here. LINDSEY How? BUD I don't know how! LINDSEY We've only got one suit. BUD I know! I know! But we better come up with something. LINDSEY Aaargh!! I'm freezing!She climbs up on the pilots seat, scrunching right up against the ceiling,keeping as much of herself as possible out of the frigid water. She'sshaking all over with the cold, and getting drenched from above by waterpouring in. LINDSEY Okay, look, you swim to the rig and come back with another suit. BUD Seven, eight minute swim each way... not enough time. Look at this... (the rate of flooding) Time I get back you'll be--That stops the conversation for a second. About two feet of airspace left.Bud can't believe what this is coming down to. They both stare at each otherfor a long moment.He makes a decision. Starts pulling off his backpack. BUD Alright, put this on. LINDSEY What, you growing gills all of a sudden? You got it on, keep it on. BUD Don't argue, goddamnit, just-- LINDSEY No way! Forget it. Not an option.Bud has his pack off uncoupling it. She keeps fighting his hands, stoppinghim, hooking it back up. The desperation of the situation fuel the struggle. BUD Lindsey, just put the thing on and shut up-- LINDSEY NO!! Now be logical, Bud, you're-- BUD FUCK LOGIC!!They're both right up against the ceiling, water up to their chests.Lindsey's lips are blue and trembling from the cold. LINDSEY Listen... will you listen to me for a second!? You're for the suit on and you're a better swimmer than me. Right? So I got a plan... BUD What's the plan? LINDSEY I drown, you tow me back to the rig-- BUD WHAT KIND OF PLAN IS THAT!??Lindsey's gut-scared... shaking violently, her eyes wide. But she's keepingit together. Thinking it out. Bud see the bottomless pit opening to take herand he can barely think. LINDSEY Look, this water is only a couple degrees above freezing. I drown. I go into deep hypothermia... my blood like icewater. I can maybe be revived after ten, fifteen minutes. You got all the stuff to do it on the rig.Bud stops moving and looks into her face, inches from him. The water is upto their necks. He knows that, as always, infuriatingly, Lindsey is right. BUD It is insane. LINDSEY It's the only way, Bud. Now trust me.She takes a deep breath. Before her nerve fails she busies her hands on hissuit, rehooking everything. BUD Jesus, I don't believe this is happening.She raise his helmet. Water up to their chins. They lock eyes, inchesapart. He can feel her breath on his face... maybe for the last time. BUD Oh God, Lins... I-- LINDSEY Tell me later.He grabs her head in both hands and pulls her mouth to his. They locktogether in a fierce kiss, fueled by passion and terror... the nakedrealization of love hanging over the abyss of death.She breaks away at the last possible second and quickly pulls his helmetover his head. Seats is down over the neck ring. Lock the bail-out handle,sealing it. Even with her head press up into the highest point of theceiling, Lindsey's mouth is barely above water. She give a scared littlelaugh. LINDSEY This is maybe not such a great plan, is it?She is half-paralyzed with the cold, shaking pathetically. Puts her face tothe glass of his helmet. Seconds to go. LINDSEY Hold me. Hold me, Bud... I'm so scared...He can't hear her, but he read her lips. They clutch each other desperately.The embrace last while the water rises over her mouth and nose. She startsto choke. Her hands grip his shoulders like claws. She bucks and thrashes.Bud holds her, and a scream tears loose from him, a pure agony of the soul. BUD NOOOOO!!!The freezing seawater races into her lungs. Her finger go slack, and herhands float lifelessly.Bud stares, transfixed, as the last tiny bubble trickles out of Lindsey's openmouth. He kicks himself into gear, fingers frenzied as he spins the wheel ofthe lockout hatch. CUT TO:INT. DEEPCORE/COMMAND MODULE 191TIGHT ON VIDEO SCREEN, one of the outside cameras. A ghostly figure swims outof the darkness, towing something. ONE NIGHT It's Bud. Oh my God... that's Lindsey! BUD (V.O./faint) Deepcore, Deepcore, do you read? HIPPY Read you, Bud. We're here.EXT. DEEPCORE 192Bud swims with long, powerful kicks, towing Lindsey. Her arms and legs floatas gracefully as seaweed waving in a gentle current. Bud's voice comes inshort rasps, breathing hard, but icy with control. BUD Go to the infirmary... get the cart .. oxygen... de-fib kit... adrenaline in a... ten cc syringe... and some... heating blankets. You got all that? HIPPY (V.O.) Got it. Over. BUD Meet me in the moonpool. Move fast.INT. INFIRMARY 193The door crashes open and Jammer thunders in. He picks up the CPR cart, meantto roll on wheels, and carries it out past Hippy, Catfish, and One Night, whoare crowding in to get the rest of the equipment. They ransack the place inabout ten seconds, grabbing everything they might need and half of everythingelse.EXT. DEEPCORE/UNDER THE MOONPOOL 194Bud moves up toward the rectangle of light, towing Lindsey to the divingplatform. Through the surface we can see the others arrive at the edge,looking down.INT. SUB-BAY 195Hippy and Catfish are setting up the cart and the oxygen kit, dropping things,making mistakes. One Night is teaching herself how to fill a syringe from abottle of adrenaline. SONNY Here he comes!Jammer and Sonny leap into the freezing water, waist deep on the submergeddiving platform. Bud bursts to the surface. Together they haul Lindseyacross the platform, out of the water, and onto the deck. Her skin is blue-white, her chest still.Bud rips his helmet off in a near-frenzy, like a man possessed, a man with amission. The others are galvanized by his energy even though they all seeLindsey as dead, a corpse... cold and inert. Water flows from her mouth andnose and her lips are blue, her limbs completely limp. Hippy peels back oneeyelid, to find the pupil fixed and dilated.But when Bud shouts for them to move, they move. BUD Turn her over!They flip his wife's body over. He straddles her, pushing down with bothhands in the middle of her back. Seawater gushes from her slack lips. Hedoes it again until the flow stops, then flips her onto her back. BUD Come on, hurry! Gimme the de-fib...One Night and Catfish are fumbling with the emergency cart equipment. They'veall been trained in CPR and use of the gear but that was years ago, and is afriend they're working on. They're all thumbs. Catfish drops the electrodes,picks them up quickly, hands them to Bud... CATFISH Here, here, here... no, you got to have bare skin, or it won't...Bud rips into her clothing, opening her jumpsuit, literally tearing away herT-shirt, revealing her bare chest... bony and still. BUD Jesus. Gimme those, come on. Catfish, move it, man! Come on... come on!He slaps the things into Lindsey's bare skin, one on the sternum and one onthe side of the rib cage. BUD Is that it? Is this right? HIPPY Yeah! I mean, I don't know... it looks right. BUD All right. Do it!One Night hits the switch and Lindsey's body convulses. It is a pure musclereflex, and when it is over, there is not a hint of life. Hippy pushes himback and puts a black rubber oxygen mask over her mouth. He opens the valveon the cylinder and starts pumping the squeeze bag. They start packingelectronic blankets around her to fight the intense hypothermia BUD Do it again, One Night. Zap her again!The current hits Lindsey again and her back arches. Bud doesn't wait for aresult... he's in his own reality now, driven. He's doing it all at once,somehow, in a senseless frenzy... pumping on her chest with his hands,squeezing the oxygen bag, placing the electrodes. BUD Aw. Christ... come on, baby. Again! Do it again!Lindsey's back arches. Her body relaxes, inert. BUD Come on, One Night... what are you waiting for?A hush seems to have fallen over the group. They know instinctively that it'sover. But Bud can't accept it. He looks at them, beseechingly, like theyare somehow intentionally holding out on him. One Night starts to cry,quietly. CATFISH (gently) Bud, it's over, man. It's over.There is a beat of silence. Bud stares down into Lindsey's half-open,motionless eyes.TIGHT ON LINDSEY'S EYES, moving in until the pupil FILLS FRAME, a black void.REVERSE, HER POV. SILENCE. A distant, distorted image, we see Bud, OneNight, Jammer, Hippy, Catfish, staring down. It is like the circular top ofa dark well, their faces shimmering as if through the surface of water. It isas if we are in a well, descending, looking up at a circle of faces growingsmaller as we drop away... smaller and smaller, receding until it becomesa point of light in the void, like the fading bright dot at the center of aturned-off TV.TIGHT ON BUD, rigid, staring. Catfish puts his hand gently on Bud's shoulder.Suddenly Bud tears Catfish's hand away and sets upon Lindsey like a madman,renewing his efforts in spades... totally manic. BUD No! NO! She's not... her heart is strong, she wants to live... can't you see that? Come on, Lins. Come on, baby! Zap her again! Do it... DO IT!They do. And Bud works, feverishly. He lock his lips over hers and startsmouth-to-mouth. It is frantic, passionate... the kiss of life. BUD Come on, breath! Goddamn it, you bitch, you never backed down from anything in life... now fight!He slaps her face, hard. Her head lolls. He smacks her the other way. BUD Fight, Goddamnit!LINDSEY's POV, from the bottom of the great well. The circles of faces andlight rockets toward us in the blackness, as we soar upward from the pit. Wesee Bud yelling, but his voice is distant, windlike. BUD FIGHT!!TIGHT ON LINDSEY, still. Then something incredible happens. Something theywill never forget as long as they live. Lindsey coughs once, weakly, and herhands clench in a spasm.Bud see it and his expression becomes beatific. BUD Come on, Lins. You can do it... fight your way back, baby...The others look on in wonder as Bud wills this woman back.She starts to cough, weakly at first... then more violently as she draws airinto her lungs. Bud crouches over her, rubbing her limbs... trying to re-establish circulation. It is like a difficult birth. Lindsey comes hackingand howling back into the world, wet and naked and fighting for breath.Bud puts the oxygen mask over her face and she draws breath after agonizedbreath. He pushes her wet hair back from her face with his trembling hands,and watches her breathe. Color is returning to her skin as she lies there,gasping weakly.ONE THE GROUP... Catfish, Hippy, One Night, Jammer, the others... they'reall grinning, crying, beaming... gazing at the miracle of her rebirth.ON BUD... tears are streaming down his face. BUD (a whisper, fierce and harsh) You did it, ace. DISSOLVE TO:INT. DEEPCORE/QUARTERS -- LATER 196TIGHT ON LINDSEY, sleeping peacefully. WIDER shows Bud hovering over her,attentive. They are alone in Bud's tiny cubicle. Perhaps twenty minuteshave passed. She is completely swaddles in blankets, except for her face,and looks like a waif.Lindsey's eyes flutter and open. The first thing she sees is Bud, bendingover her. He can't help himself. The tears break again and roll down hischeeks. She seems terribly fragile, but bright and aware. She smiles,faintly... touches his cheek. LINDSEY Hey... big boys don't cry, remember? BUD Hi, lady. LINDSEY Hi, tough guy. I guess it worked, huh? BUD 'Course is worked. You're never wrong, are you? How d'you feel. LINDSEY I've been better. Next time it's your turn, okay?Bud's expression turn inexplicably grim. BUD Well, you got that right. CUT TO:INT. SUB-BAY 197TIGHT ON BUD'S EYES, as Monk's fingers insert acrylic scleral lenses under hiseyelids so he can see in the fluid helmet.WIDER reveals Bud is wearing the SEALs' deep suit. Everybody is groupedaround, buckling and zipping. He is hyperventilating with an oxygen mask,part of the procedure for transitioning from air to fluid breathing. Monk,on his stretcher, is presiding. The resident expert. Lindsey is wrapped in ablanket, still looking wan and frail. She doesn't have the strength to resistBud's will, but she's trying. LINDSEY No, Bud, no... not you. BUD Who then?She looks around at the others. Sees their eyes. The fear. Has her answer.He lowers the helmet over his head. Catfish clamps it down. We see what'sdriving him... his sense of responsibility for these people, for not beingable to prevent this situation.He touches her cheek, one last time. She sees his fingers are trembling.Then he puts on the gloves. Catifsh is strapping a KEYPAD UNIT onto Bud'sforearm. Lindsey wants to scream... to stop this madness. BUD (muffled) So I'll hear you, but I can't talk? MONK The fluid prevents your larynx from making sound. It'll feel a little strange. BUD (muffled) Warning you now, folks, I'm a lousy typist. (a beat) The moment of truth, huh?His breathing is shallow and tense. He looks at Lindsey. The eyes of acondemned man. She squeezes his hand. He takes a deep breath. BUD Okay. Let's rock and roll.Monk gently cracks a valve on the suit's feed line. The breathing fluid (3Mfluorocarbon emulsion FX-80) swirls into the helmet. Bud reflexively raiseshis chin. The liquid fills toward his mouth. MONK Relax now, Bud. Just keep breathing as it fills... don't fight it. Take it in. Just let yourself take it in.Suddenly, there's nothing in there to breathe but liquid. His eyes go wide,instant panic. He starts to thrash. Chest heaving. MONK Hold him. Hold him. This is normal... it'll pass in a second. You're gonna be okay. We all breathe liquid for nine months, Bud. Your body will remember.Lindsey grabs Bud's shoulders, steadying him. He finds her eyes, the lookcalming him. He's passed into a realm from which she has already returned.His spasms subside. He begins to "breathe" normally. He gets a goofy lookof wonder on his face, not really believing what he's experiencing. He isalive, alert and quite completely drowned inside the FBS helmet. He grins.Gives a big thumbs up. Lindsey picks up a microphone. LINDSEY Can you hear me okay? (another thumbs up) Try your keypad.Bud taps out a brief message. FEELS WEIRD - YOU SHOULD TRY THIS prints outon their portable monitor. LINDSEY I already have, moron.They help Bud to the edge of the dive platform. Jammer and Hippy lower LittleGeek into the water and Bud grabs onto it. Hippy yells right up next to hishelmet. HIPPY I redid Little Geek's chip the same as Big Geek! He should take you right to it. All you gotta do is hang on!Lindsey crouches at the edge to watch Bud submerge.He looks up at her as he drops away.In a few seconds, she can't see him. Her chin quivers, minutely.EXT. DEEPCORE/THE WALL 198FROM FAR BELOW, Deepcore is a faint tiara of lights, above in the blackness.A single moving light appears above, at the edge of the cliff, and startsdown. It grows large, resolving into Bud, free-falling down the wall.He gathers speed as Little Geek's vertical thruster drives them down.Bud looks down. Between his feet he can see a short way down the wall in theglow of his single light, and beyond that an unfathomable blackness. The wallunrolls upwards out of the darkness like a convoluted gray drapery. He looksup. The lights of Deepcore are gone. He feels more alone than he has everfelt. He types out: CANT SEE YOU LINDSEY (V.O.) We're right here with you, Bud. Your depth is 3800 feet. You're doing fine.Bud comes upon the twisted wreckage of the crane, hanging against the walllike a forty-ton yo-yo at the end of the umbilical.INT. COMMAND MODULE 199Everyone is grouped around the monitor screen, watching Bud's telemetry. Budtypes out: GOOD DEAL ON SLIGHTLY USED CRANE. They watch the depth metercounting down. MONK 4800 feet. It's official. LINDSEY Bud, according to Monk here, you just set a record for the deepest suit dive. Bet you didn't think you'd be doing this when you got up this morning.The screen print out: CALL GUINESS. They laugh. So far so good. Secondslater... HIPPY One mile down and still grinnin'.EXT. THE WALL 200WIDE SHOT. Bud is a tiny spider dropping down the wall in a pathetic littlepool of light. The wall is sterile brown-gray, devoid of life at this depth.LOOKING DOWN, as the light shrinks to a star and vanishes in the blacknessyawning below.INT. COMMAND MODULE 201Lindsey has the microphone gripped tightly, and the lightness in her voice isa bit brittle. LINDSEY 8500 feet, Bud. Everything okay? MONK Ask him a pressure effects. Tremors, vision problems, euphoria. LINDSEY Ensign Monk want to know how you feel.ON THE SCREEN, printing out: COLD. LINDSEY Big baby.Then: HANDS SHAKING. HHARD TO TYPE. MONK It's starting. It hits the nervous system first. ONE NIGHT Keep talking, Lindsey. Just let him hear your voice. It doesn't matter what about. LINDSEY Don't forget Bud, you're being graded on spelling as well as sentence structure, so concentrate, okay? (long pause) Bud, I... uh, there's some things I want to say. It's hard for me. I'm not of those softy, gooey- center-type people. It's not easy, you know, being a cast-iron bitch. It takes discipline and years of training. A lot of people don't appreciate that.Lindsey has somehow tuned out the others in the room. In her mind she iswith Bud, out in the darkness. LINDSEY But is wasn't all bad. I know that. You remember that bike trip... we rode the Honda up through Oregon? It took me a week to get my hair untangled, but I've never been happier. It was the most... free... I've ever felt. I'm sorry I can't tell you these things to your face.EXT. THE WALL 202Bud is visibly trembling, gritting his teeth... holding on as the vise-gripof pressure takes him. LINDSEY (V.O./filtered) It's pitiful. I have to wait until you're freezing in the dark and there's ten thousand feet of water between us. I guess I'm babbling. I'm sorry.Bud struggles with his keyboard.INT. COMMAND MODULE 203ON THE SCREEN: YOU ALWAYS DID TALK TOO MUCHSomehow's she's smiling and on the verge of tears at the same time. HIPPY Two miles down and still grinnin' Comin' up on the big ten thou'. ONE NIGHT Bottom's still a mile and a half down.EXT. THE ABYSS 204BLAM! Bud jerks as his dive light implodes. He still has Geek's floodlights.He falls on.INT. CONTROL MODULE 205 HIPPY 12000 feet. Jesus, I don't believe he's doing this. LINDSEY Shut up, Hippy. Bud, how you doing?He types: SE LUMINUS THINNGSEveryone snaps suddenly alert. HIPPY Uh, oh... LINDSEY What kind of luminous things, Bud? CATFISH Maybe it's... you know... them.The screen prints out: ITS OK. SQUID. GLOWING SQUID.EXT. THE ABYSS 206Bud is in an enormous school of bioluminescent squid, graceful, attenuatedcreatures less than a foot long. Thousands of then glide in ghostly arcsaround him, filling the black void as far as the eye can see. He stares atthem in wonder. Reaches out and touches one, catches it, lets it go. Arethey really here? He can no longer be sure of his own perceptions.INT. CONTROL MODULE 207Another message from Bud: THINK THEYR REAL. MONK He's losing it. Talk to him. Keep him with us. LINDSEY Bud, it's the pressure. Try to concentrate. Concentrate on my voice. Just listen to my voice.EXT. THE ABYSS 208Bud emerges from the school of squid. As he falls, they form a luminous planeof swirling colors above him. He stares upwards, transfixed. BUD'S POV, theghostly blizzard of luminescence above him. A spectral form takes shape inthe patternless glow... resolving into Lindsey's face, a hundred feet wide.Gazing down at him, her expression sad. Her image receded away from him intothe darkness above as he falls.DOWN ANGLE ON BUD, reaching up in anguish.INT. CONTROL MODULE 209Lindsey watches as Bud haltingly types out: YOUR GOING AWAY LINDSEY I'm not going away, Bud. I'm right here, right here with you. This is Lindsey, Bud. I'm right here. ONE NIGHT Signal's fading. HIPPY We're losing juice... kill everything we don't need. Catfish, knock out those lights.Everyone hustles to comply. The room is plunged into darkness, the faces ofthe group lit only by the ghostly CRT screen. ONE NIGHT Run it through the digital processor, cook it as much as you can. CATFISH Seventeen thousand feet. Good Christ Almighty, this is insane.EXT. THE ABYSS 210Bud is shaking violently, as if with palsy. His eyes keep rolling back, andhe's having a hard time staying conscious. He tries to type a message and hecan't. The tons of pressure per square inch are short-circuiting his nervoussystem. Suddenly K-BAM! Little Geek's pressure hull implodes. Its lightsgo out. BLACKNESS.INT. CONTROL MODULE 211 ONE NIGHT Little Geek just folded. HIPPY Bye, little buddy. MONK He can still make it. LINDSEY I know how alone you feel... alone in all that cold blackness... but I'm there in the dark with you, Bud you're not alone...Lindsey seems not to be in the room, but to be with him, seeing what he sees.She is oblivious to the others.EXT. THE ABYSS 212Blackness. Then a bright light appears... he's lit a MAGNESIUM FLARE.It's fierce, flickering glare lights his plunge. Bud discards the stalwartlittle ROV and free-falls like a skydiver without a chute. Out of control, hehits a ledge and rolls off. Tumbles forward in a cloud of debris. He hitsanother outcropping, limp as a rag doll. Rocks and sand rain down with himas he continues his descent.Bud us quivering, teeth locked in a titanic rigor.He pulls his arms and legs slowly into a fetal position.In the plunge toward death he has gone he has gone full circle, returned tothe womb in which we all breathe the water of life before we know the world ofair and light. Still, there is Lindsey's voice, faintly in his helmet. LINDSEY (V.O.) You remember that time, you were pretty drunk, you probably don't remember... the power went out at the old apartment, the one on Orange Street... and we were staring at that one little candle, and I said something really dumb like that candle is me, like every one of us is out there alone in the dark in this life...INT. CONTROL MODULE 213TIGHT ON LINDSEY as she grips the microphone. Her voice has become a hoarsewhisper. Her eyes are intense, focused on a point far beyond the walls of theroom. LINDSEY ... and you lit another candle and put it beside mine and said "that's me"... and we stared at the two candles, and then we... well, if you remember any of it, I'm sure you remember the next part. Bud, there are two candles in the dark. I'm with you. I'll always be with you.EXT. THE ABYSS 214A tiny flickering light moves down along a vast black wall. Bud falls on indream-like solitude, a candle in the dark.INT. CONTROL MODULE 215Catfish gently takes the microphone from Lindsey's hands and leans close. CATFISH How you doin', podner? Still with us, come-back? Talk to us, Buddy boy.They watch the screen, expectantly.Nothing. Hippy and One Night start checking the equipment. Lindsey triedunsuccessfully to keep the terror our of here voice. LINDSEY Bud? You hangin' in there? Talk to me, Bud. Are you okay?There is an agonizing pause, then the letters appear slowly: SHAKING STOPED.FEEL BETER. SOM LITE BELOW. LINDSEY What kind of light?LIGHT EVYWHER. BEAWTIFULLL MONK He's hallucinating badly.EXT. THE ABYSS 216Bud is no longer in pain. His expression is rapt.LOOKING DOWN, past his to a ghostly landscape. His last flare sputters out,but there is light. Bioluminescent algae carpet the walls of the canyonbelow him. And he's right... it is beautiful.The water is so clear we can see down 500 feet past Bud's tiny, silhouettedfigure, to a vast landscape faintly revealed in spectral pastels. Barren asthe moon but exquisite, serene. Changeless. A place unseen by human eyes.Like a firefly below, the lights of Big Geek are visible. Bud descends towardthe ROV, which has grounded on a narrow shelf. Below the shelf, the wallslopes out, suggesting we are near the bottom of the canyon but can't see it.ONE BIG GEEK/MIRV, sitting there like a dumbshit. Bud's feet thump into thesediment next to it, stirring it luminous particles. Touchdown... three andhalf miles of water over his head. Bud leans over the warhead in a swarm offireflies.INT. CONTROL MODULE 217AT GEEK prints out. Monk takes the headset gently from Lindsey. MONK Okay, Bud, we'll go step by step. Take the cover plate off the firing box.A long pause. Then... PLATE OFF MONK All right, Bud, you have to cut the ground wire, not the lead wire...EXT. ABYSSAL LEDGE 218Bud is peering into the detonator unit. How bad is he? We can't tell. MONK (V.O.) It's the blue wire with the white stripe, not... I repeat... NOT the black wire with the yellow stripe.Bud is staring. Blinking. The two wire look big as sewer pipes, and they'remiles away... way down there where his hands are.The only light he has left is a CYALUME STICK. He pulls out the littleplastic tube. Breaks and shakes. It starts to glow, a tiny wand of greenlight. He fumbles with his tool pouch, takes out a pair of side-cutters.CUTING NNOW he types to them. He reaches into the detonator.DETAIL, THE WIRES... in the green Cyalume glow, the look identical. Thecutters go over on wire. A long beat. They withdraw, then go over the otherwire...He cuts--INT. CONTROL MODULE 219Everyone is frozen. Waiting. It's very quiet. LINDSEY Would we see the flash? MONK Through three miles of water? I don't know.They're holding their breaths. Then... STILL HEREA cheer goes up. Rebel yells. CATFISH Quiet, quiet! Save you air, goddamnit. MONK Bud, give me a reading off you liquid oxygen gauge.TEN MINUTES WORTH ID SAY. Lindsey does white. HIPPY It took him over an hour to get down there--It's hopeless. Lindsey grabs the headset from Monk. LINDSEY Drop you weights and start back now! The gauge could be wrong...EXT. ABYSSAL LEDGE 220Bud is one his knees beside the dead warhead. His expression is enigmatic.He looks around slowly at the luminous canyon. Starts to type.INT. CONTROL MODULE 221The message comes in: NO. THINK ILL STAY A WHILE. BEAUTIFUL HERE. WORTHADMISSION LINDSEY No! You can make it! You hear me? Drop your weights... you... can breathe shallow... you... it could be wrong--Lindsey's voice has twisted into a sob. She begins to weep, quietly. LINDSEY Oh God, Virgil, please...DONT CRY BABYA pause. Then the words...WE KNEW THIS WAS A ONE WAY TICKET WHEN I PUT THIS THING ON. BUT YOU KNOW IHAD TO COME.Lindsey sobs at the mike. The others look away. The signal is weakening.One Night boosts it and the screen clears briefly.LOVE YOU WIFE.She stares at the printout. LINDSEY Love you.There is no reply. CUT TO:EXT. THE ABYSS 222A tiny figure lies slumped beside the inert ROV, an Indian dying with hishorse in the desert.Bud's eyelids close. His chest barely moving.A strange illumination bathes his face and his eyes open. He blinks. Weakly,he raises his head, facing the source of the radiance.BUD'S POV... A glowing figure hovers before him, like a vision. It seems tobe an angel. Seen closer, as it drifts toward him, we see that it is anextraterrestrial being, bioluminescent like some deep-sea fish. Its bodyand limbs are transparent, and it resembles a figure made of blown glass. Adelicate mantle or veil billows out around its like a corona, which pulsatesgently, propelling the being with the hypnotic grace of a Spanish dancer. Thehead is refined and strangely anthropomorphic, with large eyes that convey acold, dispassionate wisdom.It is stunningly beautiful.The creature settles toward him. Unafraid, Bud extends his hand.Its slender, blown-glass digits grasp his bulky glove. It pulls him up fromthe benthic ooze and they glide together down the slope, deeper into theabyss.At the limits of visibility we see faint, glowing forms moving below. Theyresolve into NTI ships. Tiny ovoids, like the little scoutship that Lindseynearly collided with at the Montana wreck. The larger manta-ships. Andothers, strangely configured, moving in the darkness below like luminous fish.Suddenly the darkness explodes with light. A vast, reticulated pattern ofbrightly glowing lines, like some enormous circuit diagram, appears belowthem, covering the floor of the abyssal trench. It sweeps outward from thecenter, as if the light were surging through channels. The NTIs are revealingtheir home to Bud. The ships move among the spires like air traffic over amajor city.EXT. N.T.I. STRUCTURE 223Bud and the creature descend until, between the lines of light, we see a darksurface of inhuman design. The shape extends beyond the limits of visibility.Towers hundreds of feet high stretch upward from the curving surface. Itdwarfs their figures as the descend toward it, approaching an opening that soonyawns like a vast mouth.They are picking up speed, swept along by a powerful current, into the mouth-like opening.INT. N.T.I. STRUCTURE 224Bud stares around in awe as smooth, pearlescent walls blur past him. It is acurving three-dimensional maze of tunnels, like a vast circulatory system,where controlled currents of water become freeways in three-dimensionalspace. Tunnels divide, narrow, and reenter main-routes hundreds of feetacross, as the pair race through in a dizzying blur.INT. FINAL CHAMBER 225Entering a smaller chamber they settle to the floor, and the NTI moves back afew feet.A shimmering plane or surface appears like a vertical curtain bisecting thechamber. The seawater divides, like the Red Sea, into two rippling walls.They move apart. Leaving Bud standing in a short, shimmering hallway.Weakly, he uncouples his helmet and pulls it free. Drops to his knees.Doubles over as spasms wrack him. Breathing fluid explodes from his lungs.He lies gasping and coughing on the floor, dragging in deep breaths of whathe can only hope is air. It is.Bud slowly recovers, sitting up. His head is clearing. This really ishappening. Beyond the shimmering, vertical surface of the water he sees theNTI being joined by others, move or less identical, until a group of sevenis gathered watching him. BUD Howdy, Uuuh... how you guys doin'?His voice echoes metallically in the strange chamber. Soft laps of waterfrom the 'walls'.In the air a pattern of glowing lines appears, a series of what appears to becircuit diagrams. Bud staggers back from this strange 'screen' hanging inmid-air. The image is about twenty feet across.There is a rolling jumble of static and interference which resolves into...the face of Dan Rather, doing the evening news. STATIC, then anothernewscast. And another. Fragments of the same story. The world on the brinkof war. BUD You watch out TV? That what you're trying to say? That you know what's been going on up there?The NTIs are impassive. Static... then another newscast.This time, we're allowed to focus on the story. An on-the-scene interviewoutside a high-tech seismology lab. There is an air of hysteria about thescene... technicians running across the background of the shot, peopleshouting, the reporter jamming his mike at the harried-looking scientist. REPORTER ... a Caltech scientist who is among those reporting an unprecedented disturbance in the world's oceans. Dr. Breg, can you give us a clearer explanation then we're getting?Berg is edgy and distracted. People keeps handing him pieces of paper,computer hardcopy. The biggest thing in his life is happening... BERG They're acoustic shockwaves, like tsunamis, but with no seismological source. The waves are propagating toward the shorelines of every continent--An assistant runs up, face shiny with fear, beckoning. We see that Berg isrunning scared. The impossible bringing the greatest terror to the rationalmind. BERG Yeah. I'll be right there... I have to go. Look, we don't know what it is! Okay? Not the slightest goddamn idea!The image dissolves into static, fades out. Bud turns to the NTIs. BUD You're doing it! Right? That's what you're telling me. Yeah, you can control water... that's your technology. But why?Static again, then a brilliant flash. Grainy stock film of a hydrogen bombtest in the Pacific.The film repeats, and then again, faster, and again until is merges into anunbroken white glare. Bud gets the message. BUD Hey, you don't know they're really gonna do it. Where do you get off passing judgment on us, when you can't be sure? How do you know?The screen exploded into a staccato series of searing images, stark momentsfrom recent history...US soldiers fighting in Vietnam, street warfare in Beirut, a car bomb inBelfast, a suspect shot in the head in the streets of Saigon, burned andbleeding children, grainy footage of corpses bulldozed into mass graves atAuschwitz, Wermacht soldiers marching in goose-step review, a 13-year-oldcontra with an AK-47... Just glimpses, strobing... a few frames of each.But enough. The images continue.HOLD ON BUD, as the lights flicker on his face, the ongoing indictment ofhumanity. CUT TO:EXT. OCEAN FRONT WALK, SANTA MONICA, CALIFORNIA -- DAY 226A video news crew leaps from a Jet Ranger helicopter in a parking area andruns to set up near the railing, facing the ocean. Pandemonium reigns aroundthem, people running, driving, evacuating inland.On the horizon, out to sea, a dark line has appeared.It grows in height as it comes closer, a wall of water stretching across thehorizon, already hundreds of feet high and growing.EXT. NEW YORK -- DAY 227LONG LENSE SHOT, looking seaward past the Statue of Liberty, out past theVerazzano Narrows. Stacked up by perspective, the distant wave is a wall ofwater impossibly high, still miles out.EXT. NAVAL BASE, KAMCHATKA PENINSULA, U.S.S.R. -- NIGHT 228The scene repeats on the eastern coast of the Kamchatka Penninsula in Russia,where a full moon shimmers along the crest of a vast wave.SIRENS wail as Russian sailors run from the docks of Petropavlovsk Naval Base.Some stand rooted as the black glacier of water, a thousand feet high andgrowing, thunders toward them in nightmarish slow motion.EXT. OCEAN FRONT, SANTA MONICA -- DAY 229The minicam crew reporter is speaking rapidly, faltering with emotion, hisvoice cracking like the famous broadcast from the scene of the Hindenburgdisaster. REPORTER The horizon has gone dark... the crowd is starting to run... some are just staring, unable to move... the wave... the wave is... it's... I don't know... maybe a thousand feet high already... getting bigger as I'm watching... still miles out... oh my God, Jesus... I can hear it...A roar fills the air, a thunder which drowns out the people's screams, eventhe rotors of the news chopper as the camera teams scrambles aboard. Theyleave the announcer standing transfixed, his face blank, eyes tracking upwardand upward as the ground begins to shake.EXT. NEW YORK -- DAY 230The Statue of Liberty looks like a souvenir figurine at the afternoon sun isblocked out by the cresting tsunami, an escarpment of water 2500 feet tall.EXT. SAN FRANSISCO -- DAY 231LONG LENS SHOT -- The Golden Gate Bridge and the hills of the city, thebuildings downtown. Beyond, FILLING FRAME is the wall of sea green whichdefies our comprehension. The image shakes with the THUNDER.EXT. MALIBU -- DAY 232A diehard surfer looks over his shoulder as the mountain of water whichtranscends his worst nightmare. He lies paralyzed on his board.EXT. MIAMI -- DAY 233Downtown Miami crouches in terror at the feet of the shimmering monolith.In a penthouse office suite, an executive watches the wave towering above him,blocking out the sun, a line of raging foam appearing as it arches over,about to break upon the teeming city.And then...The wave slows as it crests...And stops.IT SIMPLY STOPS.2600 feet high and motionless except for a shimmering undulation of itssurface in the bright sun. There is quiet, a faint wind and calling ofconfused gulls. Various reactions, as the thunder fades and people recover,only to stand awed before the vast, inexplicable manifestation. A newshelicopter passes in front of it like a dragonfly.EXT. MALIBU 234The surfer just blinks, starting.EXT. NEW YORK -- DAY 235On the East Coast it's the same, as the World Trade Centers are dwarfed by ashimmering blue wall which stands... waiting.EXT. PETROPAVLOVSK NAVAL BASE, U.S.S.R. -- NIGHT 236Russian seamen, lining the harbor breakwall at Petropavlovsk Naval Base on theKamchatka Peninsula, stare upward at the monolith of water, undulating in themoonlight. It seems poised to crash down, inflicting inconceivabledevastation... but it doesn't.EXT. OCEAN FRONT WALK, SANTA MONICA 237When all have seen...The wave soundlessly subsides, slowly slipping back and down until the surfaceof the sea is normal again.VIDEO SHOT, HANDHELD, of a crowd of people watching the sea. Moving fromface to face. Various reactions as people respond to what they can onlyunderstand as a miracle. The faces... awed, stunned, tear-streaked...laughing. The cameraman is just walking. Some people turn to him and smile,or laugh, or whoop.A woman is collapsed on a bench, crying.A man is on his knees, shaking.Total strangers hug each other.A black guy, tears pouring down his face, turns to the camera with a beautificgrin. GUY Somebody just laid it down to us, man. Things ain't never gonna be the same!PULL BACK to reveal that we are in the...INT. FINAL CHAMBER 238Bud sits, shaken, watching the screen, as people react to their deliverance.He turns to the NTIs. BUD Why? You could've done it. Why didn't you?The screen darkens. Then letters appears on it, slowly printing out, as ifsomeone was clumsily typing them.WE KNEW THIS WAS...And we've seen this before so we know the rest...WE KNEW THIS WAS A ONE WAY TICKET WHEN I PUT THIS THING ON. BUT YOU KNOW IHAD TO COME.A pause, then:LOVE YOU WIFEThe last message expands to fill the entire screen.Bud stares at the screen, at his message of self-sacrifice, then at thealiens. They bow their heads, just for a moment. A sign of respect.CLOSE ON BUD as he begins to realize what has happened. CUT TO:INT. DEEPCORE/CONTROL MODULE 239Lindsey is slumped in a chair, just staring. Withdrawn.The others are conserving oxygen and heat, huddling in the dark.The air is looking pretty thick. The speaker of the hydrophone transceivercrackles to life. MCBRIDE (V.O.) Deepcore, do you read? This is Benthic Explorer, over. CATFISH Hell yes, we read! Good of you to join us. How's that storm doin'? MCBRIDE Well, it's strange... it just kind've blew itself out all of the sudden. We're up here in a flat sea with no wind. But then a lot of weird things've been happening. CATFISH Well, hell, son. You better get us a line down here, we're in moderately poor shape.LATER, Hippy, Catfish, and Monk are conferring B.G. on how to get a newumbilical hooked on. One Night is talking to McBride on the hydrophone. MCBRIDE They figure is was over a half mile high. ONE NIGHT I wish I could have seen it--She glances down at the telemetry screen, seeing movement. ONE NIGHT Hey. Hey! HEY!! Look... it's Bud. MONK That's impossible.Lindsey bolts to the screen. Stares at the message printing out.A huge grin wraps around her face. LINDSEY No it's not. MCBRIDE (V.O.) What's it say?Lindsey take the mike and sits before the screen. During the message, hervoice will go through an emotional spectrum from confusion to wonder, to achildlike joy.INTERCUT BETWEEN DEEPCORE AND EXPLORER BRIDGE DURING THE FOLLOWING: LINDSEY It says... "VIRGIL BRIGMAN BACK ON THE AIR/HAVE SOME NEW FRIENDS DOWN HERE/I GUESS THEYVE BEEN HERE AWHILE/ THEYVE LEFT US ALONE BUT IT BOTHERS THEM TO SEE US HURTING EACH OTHER/GETTING OUT OF HAND LATELY"Lindsey grins as she reads the next part... LINSEY "THEY SENT A MESSAGE/HOPE YOU GOT IT" CATFISH I'd say that's a big 10-4, jack. LINDSEY "THEY WANT US TO GROW UP A BIT AND PUT AWAY CHILDISH THINGS/OF COURSE ITS JUST A SUGGESTION."INT. BENTHIC EXPLORER BRIDGE -- DAY 240Beyond the windows the ocean is calm. The sky steel-gray put placid. McBrideturns to Commodore DeMarco and the Navy contingent, his eyebrows cocked. MCBRIDE Looks like you boys might by out of business. BENDIX Something's going on down there. I'm getting some big readings....Bendix is hunched over the sonar, and we can see the screens lit up like aWurlitzer.INT. DEEPCORE 241In Deepcore the crew becomes aware of a strange subsonic rumbling. The sonaris going crazy. One Night puts the headphones of her passive sonar rig up toher ear, then jerks it away. ONE NIGHT Whew! Whatever this is, it's major.The rumbling increases and a glow diffuses the water.The glow intensifies until a blinding shaft of light blasts through theviewport, bathing the whole interior in a cold white radiance.A last message appears on the screen:KEEP YOU PANTYHOSE ON/YOURE GONNA LOVE THISThe radiance intensifies. Everyone covers their eyes. It flares toWHITE-OUT. CUT TO:INT./EXT. EXPLORER BRIDGE -- DAY 242Bendix and the bridge crew are going nuts. All their instruments are pegged. BENDIX Active is pinging back something big... it's enormous! Coming up right under us. DEMARCO Where? BENDIX Where? EVERYWHERE!! (looks out the window) Over there! Port bow.EXT. BENTHIC EXPLORER AND OCEAN 243A depression appears in the surface of the sea a hundred yards off, notswirling down like a whirlpool, just dimpling down.It gets wider. Deeper. Rapidly becomes a yawning pit.The ocean is OPENING.Now the surface is churned by turbulence. Slow massive roils of tremendouspower boil up from the depths.McBride leads a mass exodus onto the deck to see better.The open becomes a roaring maw a hundred yards across.The ships are like toys on the shimmering rim of the maelstrom.SOMETHING RISES IN THE CENTER OF THE OPENING. A massive spire. Smoothlycurving and iridescent. Off the starboard beam, a quarter mile away, anotherspire rises. Tons of seawater fall from its sides with a THUNDEROUS ROAR, theenergy of Niagara.Off the port bow... another spire.And another, beyond the destroyer Albany, dwarfing it.Six towers... plus one larger, in the center. Rising.One the Explorer's deck, a shadow engulfs them as the nearest spire blocks outthe sun. The air, the sea, the deck... all vibrate with the THUNDER OFCREATION.And now for the payoff shot: WE'RE HIGH, LOOKING DOWN. THE SPIRES FORM APERFECT RING A MILE ACROSS. A VAST DARK FORM, LIKE A GREAT SHADOW, RISES FROMTHE DEPTHS BENEATH THE SHIPS. THE SPIRES ARE CONNECTED. IT IS ALL ONE.THE NTI ARK.It surfaces with slow majesty, gently beaching all the ships on its broadback. We recognize it as the structure into which Bud was led by the angelicbeing, which we assumed was a city. The Explorer rocks gently on its flathull, clunking massively to one side as it settles.The bridge crew watch millions of tons of seawater streaming off the back ofthe vast, slightly curved hull. The missile cruiser rocks back and forthnearby, high and dry... its prop whining futility.ON EXPLORER'S DECK, McBride, Bendix, DeMarco, the rest of the Navycontingent... they're all standing there open-mouthed, in a dream-like daze.Touched by the hand of God. BENDIX Look...WHAT THEY SEE -- Fifty yards away, between them and the Albany, sits DeepcoreTwo. It looks like a particularly ugly and unwanted toy, sitting on theglistening plain of the NTI Ark's hull.CLOSER, ON TRIMODULE C, as the hatch at the bottom opens.Catfish's feet appear, bicycling. He swings down to the pearlescent 'deck'.Stands there blinking in the sunlight, mole-like. Jammer plonks down behindhim. He turns, lifts Lindsey down. Hippy, Sonny, and the rest, emerge intothe light of the sun. A deliverance from the blackest night they will everknow. LINDSEY We should be dead. We didn't decompress. CATFISH Out blood oughta be fizzin' like a warm, shook- up Coke. HIPPY They must've done something to us.Lindsey has tears streaming down her cheeks... for the sun, for life, fortheir deliverance and the larger one she knows has happened, an epiphany forthe whole human race. LINDSEY Oh, yes. I think you could say that.She blinks. Seeing something not far away. She gives a little laugh, orsomething between laughing and crying.REVERSE, as Bud walks up the curving incline of one of the mouth-likeenterances to the NTI structure. His suit is casually unzipped and the FBShelmet dangles from one hand jauntily.She starts toward him. Breaks into a run. Then stops a few feet from him.Watching him come to her.His smile, his eyes illuminating her.He stops and she touches him, lightly. Is this real?The look at each other, wonderingly a moment.Then laugh. She sniffs loudly. LINDSEY Hello, Brigman. BUD Hello, Mrs. Brigman.Their lips meet. CUT TO BLACK
\ No newline at end of file
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+
+
+ACE VENTURAPET DETECTIVE
+
+Written byJack BernsteinTom ShadyacJim Carrey
+
+EXT. STREET - DAY
+
+A UPS Man with a big pot belly is walking down the street, whistling and carelessly tossing a package in the air. We hear the sound of broken glass in the box. He passes a professional woman.
+
+UPS MAN 
+Good morning, UPS!
+
+He tosses the box behind his back like a basketball, then acknowledges another passerby.
+
+UPS MAN 
+UPS, good to see you!
+
+He takes a couple of steps, then flings the package incredibly high into the air, spins completely around and expertly drops to one knee and catches the box. A Hispanic man passes.
+
+UPS MAN 
+Buenos dias. Uo Pay eSsay.
+
+EXT. APARTMENT BUILDING - DAY
+
+The UPS Man dodges a couple of black kids as though playing basketball. He runs up the front steps of the building. He reaches out to open the front door and inadvertently flings the package behind him and back down the steps.
+
+He goes back, retrieves the package, then enters the building.
+
+INT. LOBBY - DAY
+
+Several people stand in the elevator. The UPS Man just makes it, but the door closes on the package... REPEATEDLY. He feigns embarrassment.
+
+INT. 3RD FLOOR - DAY
+
+ELEVATOR DOORS OPEN. The UPS Man throws the package out onto the floor and starts kicking it down the hall like a soccer player. With one last big kick the parcel lands in front of APARTMENT 3B. He picks it up and knocks on the door.
+
+We hear a small dog barking.
+
+GRUFF MAN (O.S.) 
+Shut the hell up, you stupid mutt!
+
+An angry, burly man pokes his nose hairs out the chained door.
+
+GRUFF MAN 
+What do you want?
+
+UPS MAN 
+UPS, sir. And how are you thisafternoon? Alrighty then!
+
+The man grumpily unchains the door. He's a big guy - 6'5", 250, and 50 of that is chest hair. A small Shiatsu stands beside him.
+
+UPS MAN 
+I have a package for you.
+
+The UPS guy thrusts the package toward the man. We can clearly hear broken glass inside. The man takes the package.
+
+GRUFF MAN 
+It sounds broken.
+
+UPS MAN 
+Most likely sir! I bet it wassomething nice though! Now... Ihaver an insurance form. If you'lljust sign here, here, and here,and initial here, and print your namehere, we'll get the rest of theforms out to you as soon as wecan.
+
+The man begrudgingly begins to fill out the form. The dog wags his tail and whines. We can see that he likes the UPS guy.
+
+UPS MAN 
+That's a lovely dog you have. Doyou mind if I pet him, sir?
+
+GRUFF MAN
+(mumbles) 
+I don't give a rat's ass.
+
+The UPS Man bends down and talks to the dog in a really sucky pet talk.
+
+UPS MAN 
+Oo ja boo ba da boo boo do booo!
+
+GRUFF MAN
+(under breath) 
+Brother.
+
+Before the Gruff Man can finish, the UPS Man stands back up and takes the form again.
+
+UPS MAN 
+That's fine sir. I can fill outthe rest. You just have yourselfa good day. Take care, now! 'Bye'bye, then!
+
+THRASH MUSIC STARTS
+
+INT. HALLWAY -- CONT'D
+
+The UPS Man moves swiftly down the hall and into the stair well.
+
+INT. APARTMENT 3B - CONT'D
+
+The Gruff Man shakes the box, tosses it down and sits in front of the TV.
+
+EXT. APARTMENT BUILDING - CONT'D
+
+The UPS Man bursts from the front door and hustles down the street very quickly. He passes several people.
+
+UPS MAN
+(quickly) 
+UPS, S'cuse me. UPS, comin'through.
+
+INT. APARTMENT 3B - CONT'D
+
+We see the back of the Shiatsu staring at the crack in the front door. He has not moved an inch. The Gruff Man looks over.
+
+GRUFF MAN 
+Hey, stupid! Get away from thedoor!
+
+The dog doesn't budge and this really pisses him off. He gets up and heads for the dog.
+
+GRUFF MAN 
+What's the matter with you, I saidGIT!!!
+
+He roughly picks the dog up by the scruff of the neck, but as he turns it around we see that it is a stuffed dog. Around it's neck is a business card that reads, "You have been had by Ace Ventura - Pet Detective." He breathes fire.
+
+GRUFF MAN 
+Son of a bitch!
+
+He smashes the dog to the ground.
+
+EXT. ALLEY - CONT'D
+
+As the UPS Man/Ace rounds the corner, his shirt opens up at his pot belly and the Shiatsu's head sticks out. Ace is gloating.
+
+ACE
+(announcer's voice) 
+That was a close one, ladies andgentlemen. Unfortunately, inevery contest, there must be...A LOOSER!
+
+He jumps into an old beat-up Chevy Bel Air, and lets the dog out onto the passenger seat.
+
+ACE (CONT'D) 
+LOOOHOOOSERRRHERRR!
+
+He then pulls open the car's ashtray, and to the dog's delight, it's filled with puppy chow.
+
+He tries to start the engine but it won't turn over. The dog shoots him a look.
+
+ACE
+(to dog) 
+No problem, it gets flooded.We'll just wait a few seconds.
+
+Ace sits back. SMASH!!!
+
+From Ace's POV we see a Baseball bat shatter the front windshield.
+
+ACE 
+Or, we could try it now.
+
+Ace frantically tries to start the car. His new friend continues around the car beating the living shit out of it.
+
+ACE 
+Oooh, boy.
+
+ACE'S POV
+
+We see the creep wailing on the car in Ace's side view mirror.
+
+ACE 
+Warning! Assholes are closer thanthey appear!
+
+The dog is barking insanely.
+
+ACE
+(to dog) 
+You think you can do better?!
+
+The baseball bat is now pummeling the trunk.
+
+ACE 
+Wanna give me a push while you'reback there?
+
+BOOM! The back window shatters. Then the car's engine roars to life. Ace rejoices.
+
+ACE 
+FARFEGNUGENNNNN!!!
+
+Ace leaves the bad guy in a cloud of dust and gravel, screaming bloody murder.
+
+EXT. MIAMI CITY STREETS - DAY
+
+Ace and his new pal speed away freely.
+
+Close on the happy dog, hanging his head out the car window. PAN across the broken windshield to Ace, also hanging his head out the window to see where he's going.
+
+The car drives by a sign on a telephone pole: "Reward" -- with a picture of the Shiatsu in Ace's seat.
+
+THRASH MUSIC ENDS
+
+INT. HOUSE - DAY
+
+A very sexy woman is hugging and kissing the Shiatsu.
+
+WOMAN 
+My little baby. You missed mommydidn't you? Did daddy hurt you?I won't let him, no I won't. Hemay have kept the big screen TV,but he's not gonna keep my baby.No he isn't.
+(very sexy to Ace) 
+Thank you, Mr. Ventura. How can Iever repay you?
+
+She slinks over to Ace and puts her arms around his neck.
+
+ACE 
+Well, the reward would be good,and there was some damage to my –
+
+She cuts Ace off with a devastating kiss.
+
+WOMAN 
+Would you like me to take youpants off instead?
+
+ACE 
+Ummmm… Sure.
+
+She pulls him toward the bedroom.
+
+WOMAN 
+It takes a big man to stand up tomy husband. He's already put twoof my lovers in the hospital.
+
+ACE 
+How did he find out? Does he haveyou followed.
+
+WOMAN 
+No… I tell him
+
+She plants a kiss on Ace's neck and pulls him down out of frame onto the bed.
+
+EXT. DOLPHIN STADIUM PLAYING FIELD - DAY
+
+The stands are empty, but there's plenty happening on the field. The Miami Dolphins are practicing. Dan Marino is in top form, hitting pass after pass.
+
+Behind one of the goal posts, the team's mascot, a rare dolphin (SNOWFLAKE), wearing #4, is practicing his routine. The Trainer is dressed like a quarterback.
+
+TRAINERBlue! 42! Blue! 42! Hut! Hut!
+
+Snowflake swims over, snatches a small football out of the Trainer's hand, and does an end zone dance on his tail. He then returns the ball to the trainer.
+
+The Trainer now sets the ball on the dolphin's tail and snowflake "kicks" a perfect field goal. The Trainer blows a whistle and raises both arms.
+
+DISSOLVE TO:
+
+EXT. DOLPHIN STADIUM PLAYING FIELD - NIGHT
+
+The stadium is now completely empty. Snowflake peacefully swims around his tank.
+
+Suddenly, the water is illuminated by the headlights of an n.d. panel truck.
+
+The rear door slides open. Two men jump out in wet suits.
+
+They slip into the water while a third waits outside the tank.
+
+Snowflake surfaces to check out the action. One of the men holds out a fish. Snowflake eagerly takes it, then shudders as a large syringe is stuck into his back. Snowflake thrashes around.
+
+Quick cut of a hand with the blur of a ring slamming against the tank. But the needle has done its job. Snowflake quickly goes limp.
+
+Snowflake is loaded into the back of the truck. Move in on Snowflake's face. His excited cackle has turned into a painful whimper.
+
+The truck skids away passing the guard gate. The guard is hog tied and gagged, struggling to free himself.
+
+INT. ADELLE'S FRIENDLY PET SHOP - NEXT DAY
+
+Close up on a dead goldfish laying on a newspaper. We pull back to reveal ADELLE ROSENBERG, the seventy year old owner of a cluttered pet shop. She's handing a live goldfish in a bag to JENNIFER, a very sweet nine year old.
+
+ADELLE 
+Here you go, honey. Nowremember… this kind of fishdoesn't like it in the freezer.
+
+JENNY 
+But what's gonna happen to Dolly?
+
+ADELLE 
+Don't worry, I'll make sure shegets a proper burial.
+
+Jennifer exits. Adelle calls to her cat, and tosses it the goldfish. The cat catches it in mid-air.
+
+ADELLE 
+Rest in peace.
+
+Ace enters the pet shop. It looks like he slept in his clothes.
+
+ADELLE 
+Well… here comes another deadfish.
+
+ACE 
+Hi, beautiful. What time do youget off?
+
+ADELLE 
+Uh oh.
+
+ACE
+(suggestively) 
+I've heard some pretty greatthings about your kibble.
+
+ADELLE 
+Well, I hope I'm not getting areputation.
+
+ACE
+(switching to mock anger) 
+Just get me the food!
+
+She chuckles at Ace as she loads a couple of bags with different kinds of pet food.
+
+ADELLE 
+So… ahh, when can I expect youto pay your tab?
+
+ACE 
+I'm a little bit Sli Pickins,right now, I'm a little TightSqueeze Louise, a little WelfareWolly, Potless Pissing Pete, I'mah –
+
+ADELLE 
+If you were a horse I'd shoot ya'.Just take it.
+
+ACE 
+Gravy! I'm good for it, Adelle.I'm on a very big case right now.
+
+Ace reaches into his coat pocket and pulls out a flyer with a picture of a white pigeon.
+
+ACE 
+See this pigeon? It's a truealbino. Some rich guy lost it.He's offering a ten thousanddollar reward.
+
+ADELLE 
+Wow, albino pigeons are veryrare. How are you going to findhim?
+
+ACE 
+Just keep my eyes open, and hopeto god it doesn't snow.
+
+Ace grabs his bags and heads for the door.
+
+ADELLE 
+You're a good boy, Ace. A goodboy.
+
+He holds the door open for an elderly gentleman who is entering at the same time. The gentleman is walking a toy poodle on a leash. The poodle is dragging its butt along the entire length of the floor. Ace and Adelle just stare.
+
+ELDERLY MAN
+(in a loud voice) 
+Do you have anything for ringworm?
+
+EXT. SURFSIDE APARTMENT COMPLEX - DAY
+
+Ace enters the courtyard of a two story U-shaped apartment complex carrying his groceries. It's a crappy joint but he calls it home. Inside an open apartment on the ground floor, the landlord, MR. SHICKADANCE, sits watching TV, stuffing his face with cheese doodles. Ace sneaks past the door and up the stairs.
+
+EXT. SECOND FLOOR - DAY
+
+Ace is just putting the key in the door when the landlord steps up behind him. Ace is startled by the dreaded 'Shickadance Rasp' (not unlike Linda Blair in THE EXORCIST).
+
+LANDLORD 
+Venturaaaaa?
+
+Ace straightens up, but doesn't turn around.
+
+ACE 
+Yes, Satan?
+
+Now Ace turns around in mock surprise.
+
+ACE 
+Oh, I'm sorry, sir. You soundedlike someone else.
+
+LANDLORD 
+Never mind the wise cracksVenturaaa. You owe me rent!
+
+ACE 
+Mr. Shickadance… I told you,you're my first priority! As soonas I find the white pigeon,you're paid!!
+
+LANDLORD 
+I heard animals in there Ventura!I heard 'em again this morning,scratchin' around.
+
+ACE 
+I never bring my work home withme, sir.
+
+The landlord notices the bags of kibble.
+
+LANDLORD 
+Oh, yeah? What's all this petfood for?
+
+ACE
+(beat) 
+Fiber.
+
+The landlord isn't buying it.
+
+ACE 
+You wanna take a look foryourself? Go head.
+
+Ace rattles his keys in the door. Then he swings it open and turns on the light. The house is clear. Ace walks in as the landlord stands there snooping and sniffing the air.
+
+ACE 
+Well… are you satisfied?
+
+LANDLORD
+(still suspicious) 
+Yeah, but don't ever let me catchyou with an animal in there,that's all!
+
+ACE 
+Okay then. Take care now. 'Bye'bye.
+
+The landlord walks away as Ace closes the door.
+
+ACE
+(quietly to himself) 
+LLOOSER.
+
+He then turns to the room and gives a distinct whistle.
+
+CHAOS ENSUES! Animals jump out from every direction. Lizards crawl out of drawers, birds fly through the air, all of them gravitating to Ace.
+
+ACE
+(to his flock) 
+Ooshhooboobooboodoodoo!
+
+INT. MIAMI DOLPHIN HEADQUARTERS - LATER THAT DAY
+
+The very imposing office of BOBBY RIDDLE, owner of the Miami Dolphins. Riddle, 70, is a take charge, doesn't take crap from anyone type of guy. He is yelling at ROGER PODACTER, an ex-linebacker in his early sixties, and MELISSA ROBINSON, Podacter's attractive assistant.
+
+RIDDLE 
+I just want to know one thing; Howthe hell do you lose a 500 poundfish?!
+
+Melissa's about to speak but hesitates.
+
+RIDDLE (CONT.) 
+What?
+
+MELISSA 
+It's not a fish, sir. It's amammal.
+
+An angry Riddle stands up.
+
+RIDDLE 
+Oh, thank you very much, Mrs.Jacque Cousteau!
+
+PODACTER 
+Bob, she didn't mean anything byit.
+
+RIDDLE calms down a little, and sits.
+
+RIDDLE
+(calmer) 
+Listen, personally, I don't give agood god damn about a fish.
+
+He looks at Melissa. She doesn't dare say anything.
+
+RIDDLE (CONT.) 
+All I care about is winning thisSuper Bowl! I want the players'head in the right place. Shit,Roger, you've been in this gamelong enough, you know howsuperstitious players are. Ourquarterback's been putting hissocks on backwards since highschool. And I got a lineman whohasn't washed his jock in twoyears because he thinks flies arelucky! I want that god damn fishon the field Super Bowl Sunday!FIND THE FISH, OR FIND NEW JOBS!
+
+INT. HALLWAY - CONTINUOUS ACTION
+
+An upset Podacter and Melissa walk through the hallway.
+
+PODACTER 
+Why did it have to happen now? Igot three stinking years left tillretirement.
+
+MELISSA 
+I've got forty.
+
+PODACTER 
+I'll tell you who did it. It wasthose goddamn animal rights nuts!Always out there with theirgoddamn signs, ANIMALS WERE BORNFREE, STOP TORTURING SNOWFLAKE!That goddamn fish lives better thanthey do!
+
+They stop outside Melissa's office by her secretary's desk.
+
+MELISSA 
+The police are checking into theanimal rights people.
+(to secretary) 
+Martha, have the police calledback about the dolphin yet?
+
+MARTHA 
+No, but I wanted to tell you, whenI lost my Cuddles, I hired a petdetective.
+
+PODACTER 
+A what?
+
+MARTHA 
+A pet detective.
+
+MELISSA 
+Thanks Martha, but we'd betterleave this to professionals.
+
+MARTHA 
+Well actually, he was quite good.Pet detection is a very involved,highly scientific process.
+
+CUT TO:
+
+EXT. ROOF OF HOUSE - SAME TIME
+
+CLOSE ON ACE - COOING like a pigeon. Widen to reveal, Ace precariously perched on the roof of a two story building. He is four feet away from "The" pigeon. Ater a beat, he makes a mad, spastic, yet scientific, lunge for the bird.
+
+ACE 
+AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!
+
+The bird makes a clean getaway. Unable to stop his momentum, Ace flies past the edge of the building and slides down the side of the roof.
+
+EXT. GROUND - CONTINUOUS ACTION
+
+BAM!!! Ace crashes to the ground. As he lies face down, in a heap of trash, his beeper goes off.
+
+EXT. DOLPHIN HEADQUARTERS/BOBBY RIDDLE STADIUM - DAY
+
+Parking lot. Ace's clunker drives by some real nice cars. Employees stare at him.
+
+INT. SECURITY CHECK POINT - DAY
+
+A stern guard is admitting people into the stadium. He scans each one with a security detection wand.
+
+MAN #1 
+Art Wheeler. Sporting supplies.
+
+The guard scans him. He goes.
+
+MAN #2 
+Tom Anderson. Concessions.
+
+The guard scans him. He goes.
+
+ACE 
+Ace Ventura. Pet detective.
+
+The guard stares at Ace, accusingly.
+
+INT. MELISSA'S OFFICE - DAY
+
+Martha enters.
+
+MARTHA 
+Ah… Mr. Ventura to see you.
+
+MELISSA 
+Okay, send him in.
+
+Martha exits, Ace enters.
+
+MELISSA (CONT'D) 
+Hi, I'm Melissa Robinson. Did youhave any trouble getting in?
+
+ACE 
+No, the guy with the rubber glovewas surprisingly gentle.
+
+MELISSA
+(apologetically) 
+Super Bowl week. Security'stight. Mr. Ventura, I'll getright to the point…
+
+She slips a tape in the VCR and gestures for Ace to sit.
+
+MELISSA 
+Our mascot was stolen from histank last night. Are you familiarwith Snowflake?
+
+The tape shows Snowflake doing a trick. The trainer, dressed like a quarterback, shouts out signals.
+
+TRAINER (ON TAPE)Blue! 42! Blue! 42! Hut! Hut!
+
+Snowflake swims over, snatches the small football out of the trainer's hand, swims the length of the pool, does an end zone dance on his tail, then returns the ball to the trainer.
+
+MELISSA (O.S.) 
+We got Snowflake from the MiamiSeaquarium. He's a rare BottleNose Dolphin. That's the newtrick he was going to do duringthe half-time show.
+
+While Ace studies the tape, he chews sunflower seeds in a bird-like fashion, placing the shells in a neat little pile on her desk.
+
+MELISSA 
+Would you like an ashtray?
+
+ACE 
+No, I don't smoke.
+
+He adds more shells to the pile.
+
+Melissa is already wondering if she has made a mistake.
+
+MELISSA 
+To be honest, Mr. Ventura.I'm pretty skeptical. Beforetoday, I didn't even know therewas such a thing as a petdetective.
+
+ACE 
+Well, now that you do, you'll knowwho to call if your Schnauser everruns away.
+
+MELISSA 
+How did you know I have aSchnauser?
+
+Ace pulls a, invisible-to-the-naked-eye dog hair off here blouse and presents it to her.
+
+ACE 
+He's young, about five pounds,black coat, white speckles…
+(sniffs the hair) 
+…likes to chase cars.
+
+MELISSA 
+Very impressive.
+
+ACE 
+You should see what I can do witha good stool sample.
+
+MELISSA 
+I can hardly wait. Look, we'vegot a problem. Can you help me ornot?
+
+ACE
+(coy) 
+Well, sea faring creatures aren'treally my expertise…
+
+MELISSA 
+We'll give you three thousanddollars on delivery.
+
+Ace immediately becomes the narrator of a nature show.
+
+ACE 
+The dolphin is a social creature.Capable of complex communication.Traveling in large groups orschools…
+
+EXT. PLAYING FIELD - A SHORT TIME LATER
+
+The Dolphin players practice. A crowd of reporters interview Marino.
+
+MARINO 
+We just choked in 82. We had achance to win it and we didn't.Nobody's gonna choke this time,and if they do, I'll kill 'em.
+
+Ace and Melissa head for Snowflake's tank.
+
+MELISSA 
+The police were here this morning.Apparently, the kidnappers usedthe back gate.
+
+Ace bends down to look at some tire tracks on the field.
+
+MELISSA (CONT'D) 
+They said some kind of a –
+
+ACE 
+Four wheel drive van… loaded fromthe rear.
+
+Ace sniffs the turf. Podacter enters nervously.
+
+MELISSA 
+Oh, hi, Roger. How are you holdingup?
+
+PODACTER 
+Well if it looks like I'm walkingfunny it's because I have a bunchon reporters up my ass. They'vebeen asking me about Snowflake allday. Who's this?
+
+MELISSA 
+Roger Podacter, meet Ace Ventura.Ace is our pet detective.
+
+Podacter shakes his hand.
+
+PODACTER 
+Nice to meet you. Martha Metzrecommended you very highly.
+
+ACE 
+Martha Metz? Martha Metz. Ohyeah, the bitch.
+
+PODACTER 
+What?
+
+ACE 
+Pekinese. Hyperactive. Lost inHighland Park area. She was halfdead when I found her. Is thatthe tank?
+
+They both follow Ace as he makes a B-line.
+
+EXT. SNOWFLAKE'S TANK - MOMENTS LATER
+
+The tank is empty.
+
+ACE 
+Cops drain it?
+
+MELISSA 
+Yes. This morning.
+
+Ace hops on the ladder.
+
+ACE 
+If I'm not back in fiveminutes… call Lloyd Bridges.
+
+INT. DOLPHIN TANK - MOMENTS LATER
+
+While eating sunflower seeds, Ace meticulously examines the tank, including the scratches where the hand banged up against the wall when Snowflake was stolen. All the while, he is singing a bastardized version of the theme from, "Flipper."
+
+ACE 
+…Wonderful Flipper… gloriousFlipper… magnificentFlipper… The flippiest Flipper…
+
+Podacter and Melissa, watching from the rim, look at each other like, "What have we gotten ourselves into?" Podacter spots something.
+
+PODACTER 
+Oh, great.
+
+A hoard or reporters are headed their way.
+
+PODACTER (CONT) 
+I'll try to head them off.
+
+MELISSA
+(to Ace) 
+Get out of the tank.
+
+ACE
+(still singing) 
+…Can't hear you Flipper,Flipper… Lookin' for Flipper,gotta find Flipper…
+
+MELISSA 
+I said, get out of the tank! Now!
+
+The reporters draw closer. Podacter heads them off.
+
+REPORTER 
+So where's Snowflake?
+
+PODACTER 
+Ah… Snowflake is just, ah, notavailable right now.
+
+REPORTER 
+Come on, I'm supposed to get ashot of his new trick for theevening news.
+
+REPORTER #2 
+What? Is he sick?
+
+Other reporters chime in.
+
+VARIOUS REPORTERSDid something happen toSnowflake?! What're youhiding..?!
+
+Melissa and Podacter don't know what to say. Then, a strange voice is heard.
+
+ACE/HEINZ (O.S.)
+(unrecognizable accent) 
+How cun I be getting dis vork dunmit all da shouting? What for isdis shouting?
+
+REPORTER 
+Who the hell is that?
+
+MELISSA 
+That? That's…
+
+ACE/HEINZ 
+Heinz Kissvelvet. I am Trainer ofDolphins. You vant to talk to zedolphin, you talk to me!
+
+REPORTER 
+What happened to the regulartrainer?
+
+ACE/HEINZ 
+Vy do you care about the dolphin?Do you know him? Does he call youat home? Do you have a dorsalfin?
+(beat) 
+To train ze dolphin, you must zinklike ze dolphin. You must begetting oonside ze dolphin's head!Just yesterday I'm askingSnowflake… "ee, eee, eee." Hesaid, "Eee, eee, eee, eee." Undyou can quote him.
+
+Ace spits at the reporters' feet. Podacter jumps in.
+
+PODACTER 
+Gentlemen, please, Coach Shula'spress conference is just about tobegin. Why don't I take you overthere and let, ah, Heinz, do hisjob.
+
+He ushers the press away.
+
+MELISSA
+(sotto to Ace) 
+Are you finished, Heinz?
+
+ACE 
+Not yet.
+
+Ace goes to the filter outside the tank, opens it, and pours out its contents – mainly leaves, small twigs and gunk. He roots through it, notices a very tiny amber stone. He smiles to himself.
+
+ACE 
+Now I'm finished.
+
+EXT. METRO POLICE DEPARTMENT - LATER THAT DAY
+
+A flurry of activity in the detective division. As Ace enters, several cops taunt him on sight, led by the obnoxious, SERGEANT AGUADO.
+
+AGUADO 
+Hey, Ventura! Make any goodcollars lately?
+
+ANOTHER COPOr were they leashes?
+
+They all bust up. Aguado spots a bug on the ground.
+
+AGUADO 
+Uh oh.
+(steps on the bug) 
+Homicide, Ventura!
+
+The cops are falling all over themselves laughing.
+
+AGUADO 
+How you gonna solve this one?!
+
+Ace walks up to them and looks at the squashed bug.
+
+ACE 
+Good question, Aguado… first I'destablish a motive. In this casethe killer saw the size of thebug's dick, and became insanelyjealous.
+
+The other cops all react with a big "ooooooo". Aguado has no comeback. Ace comes face to face with him.
+
+ACE 
+Then I'd lose thirty poundsporking his wife.
+
+Aguado suddenly loses it and swings at Ace.
+
+With a lightening move, Ace sidesteps the punch and forces Aguado's face down next to the dead bug.
+
+ACE 
+Now kiss and make up.
+
+Ace walks off.
+
+ACE
+(to himself) 
+LLLOOOSER!
+
+Ace walks to the desk of EMILIO ECHAVEZ, a young energetic member of the homicide division. Ace has a silly impish look on his face.
+
+ACE
+(playfully) 
+I miss you.
+
+EMILIO 
+It's not a good time, Ace. IfEinhorn sees me talking to you I'mgonna be history.
+
+ACE 
+Okay. Just tell me what you goton Snowflake. That's all I need.
+
+EMILIO 
+…I can't say anything. My handsare tied.
+
+ACE
+(effeminate)
+
+Sounds like my kind of a party.
+
+A cop comes to Emilio's desk.
+
+COP
+
+Look alive, Einhorn's on her waydown.
+
+EMILIO 
+Ace, please?!
+
+ACE 
+Just tell me who's working thecase?
+
+EMILIO 
+Aguado.
+
+ACE 
+Aguado?! He's pimple juice! He'sthe poster child for lead paintchip eaters!
+
+EMILIO 
+Look, Ace. We're a little busywith murderers and drug dealers.A missing dolphin isn't exactly ahigh priority.
+
+The elevator is getting closer.
+
+EMILIO 
+Ace, gimme a break will ya?
+
+Ace nonchalantly sits back in a chair, pops a sunflower seed into his mouth and cracks it loudly.
+
+EMILIO
+(quickly) 
+Okay, okay. We checked all thelocal animal rights groups,taxidermists, and we're running acheck through DMV on all recentvan rentals. So far, nada.
+
+ACE 
+Any unusual bets being made?
+
+EMILIO 
+Ace, it's the Super Bowl, ofcourse there's bets being made.
+
+ACE 
+What'd you find out about thetank?
+
+EMILIO 
+Nothing weird. Just the tiretracks and the exit route. Theguard didn't see anything.
+
+ACE 
+That's it?
+
+EMILIO 
+That's it. I swear. Now pleasego away!
+
+ACE 
+You know something?
+(again impish) 
+YOU'RE NICE!
+
+Ace gets up and exits the room. Then just as Emilio sighs with relief, Ace pops back in.
+
+ACE 
+What about crazy Philly fans?
+
+The elevator bell rings. Out steps police LT. LOIS EINHORN, mid 30s, with a slender build, a great pair of legs and a bad tude.
+
+ACE 
+Holy Testicle Tuesday!
+
+EINHORN
+(to Emilio) 
+What the hell is he doing here?
+
+ACE 
+I came to confess. I was thesecond gunman on the grassy knoll.
+
+EINHORN 
+Spare me the routine, Ventura. Iknow you're working the Snowflakecase. May I suggest you yield tothe experts on this one? We'llfind the porpoise.
+
+ACE
+(mock relief) 
+Whewww… now I feel better!
+
+Ace turns to go.
+
+ACE (CONT) 
+Of course, that might not do anygood. You see, nobody's missing aporpoise. It's a dolphin that'sbeen taken. The common HarborPorpoise has an abrupt snout,pointed teeth, and a triangularthorasic fin, while the BottlenoseDolphin, or Tursiops Truncatus,has an elongated beak, round,cone-shaped teeth, and adistinctive serrated dorsalappendage. (beat) But I'm sureyou already knew that. (beat)That's what turns me on about you.Hey… maybe I'll give you a callsometime, lieutenant. Your numberstill 911? Alrighty then!
+
+Ace exits.
+
+CUT TO:
+
+INT. TEA ROOM - NIGHT
+
+A wild thrasher club. An incredible thrash band is on stage cranking. Kids jump wildly into the moshing pit.
+
+Ace enters, sees a burnout at the bar whose head is circling insanely to the music.
+
+ACE
+(shouting) 
+Excuse me?! Is Greg here?!
+
+The burnout's head thrashes on. No acknowledgement of Ace.
+
+ACE 
+Thank you!
+
+Ace heads for the basement stairs.
+
+INT. BASEMENT STAIRS - NIGHT
+
+Ace descends the stairs, stopping at a large steel door. Ace bangs on it three times. A voice is heard from inside.
+
+VOICE (O.S.) 
+Password!
+
+ACE 
+Tom Vu! I pay for sex! You cantoo!
+
+CLICK! The door electronically unlatches and slides open.
+
+INT. BASEMENT - NIGHT
+
+Ace enters. Green Peace "Save the Whales" posters abound. GREG/WOODSTOCK, a laid back, ex-hippy with long gray hair, sits at a very impressive computer set up. Ace and he have their own distinct banter.
+
+A thud from above. Ace looks up.
+
+ACE'S POV
+
+Part of the ceiling is made of metal grating, so you can see the bottom of the dance floor. A guy's face gets smashed into the grate. We see that it is the burnout from the club.
+
+ACE
+(to burnout) 
+Found him!
+
+WOODSTOCK 
+Hey! St. Francis! How's it goin?
+
+ACE 
+Super, and thank you for asking.Hope you're having a nice day.
+
+WOODSTOCK 
+Do you?
+
+ACE 
+Don't I? And what are you up to?
+
+WOODSTOCK 
+Just watching the fishies, man.
+
+There is a BLIP on the computer screen.
+
+WOODSTOCK 
+Alright, you're just in time forthe party. You see those blips?
+
+ACE 
+I certainly do.
+
+ON THE SCREEN
+
+A map with several ships on the ocean.
+
+He quickly taps in some commands and the ships start sailing in all different directions.
+
+WOODSTOCK 
+That's a Norwegian whaling fleet.I'm sending them new directionalcoordinates… They'll find JimmyHoffa before they find anyHumpbacks.
+
+ACE 
+Gravy.
+
+Woodstock moves to a different screen.
+
+WOODSTOCK 
+Check this out.
+
+More computer graphics come up on the screen.
+
+WOODSTOCK 
+Just changed the formula forPurina's puppy chow.
+(turns to Ace) 
+Too much filler, don't ya' think?
+
+ACE
+(acting turned on) 
+I'm very attracted to you rightnow.
+
+Woodstock chuckles.
+
+WOODSTOCK 
+Are you?
+
+ACE 
+Aren't I? Can you still tap intoall the aquatic supply store inthe area?
+
+WOODSTOCK 
+Of course I can. Why?
+
+ACE 
+I want to trace the sale of anyequipment for transporting orhousing a dolphin within the pastfew months…
+
+WOODSTOCK 
+C'mon, Ace. I thought you mighthave a challenge for me…
+
+Woodstock starts hacking away.
+
+ACE 
+Okay then, try to remember thesixties.
+
+WOODSTOCK 
+Wow! God one! Let's see…Marine winch sling, feeder fish,20,000 gallon tank…
+
+He waits. We hear a beep.
+
+WOODSTOCK 
+That's it. I found the culprit.
+
+ACE 
+Who is it?
+
+WOODSTOCK
+(dramatically) 
+…Sea World.
+
+ACE 
+…bastard.
+
+WOODSTOCK 
+Hang on, hang on…
+(He taps a couple keys) 
+Well, what do we have here?That's a lot of equipment for acivilian.
+
+The printer spits out some data. Woodstock rips off the page and hands it to Ace.
+
+ACE 
+Ronald Camp? The billionaire?
+
+WOODSTOCK 
+Billionaire and rare fishcollector.
+
+ACE 
+RRREHEHEALLY!
+
+A PICTURE OF CAMP
+
+Comes up on the computer screen.
+
+WOODSTOCK 
+That, my friend, is the face ofthe enemy.
+
+He pages through his file on screen.
+
+WOODSTOCK 
+…Always tryin' to get his handson endangered species…
+
+Newspaper articles fill the screen. One shows a picture of Camp and some Dolphin players.
+
+ACE 
+Hold on, this guy's connected withthe Dolphins?
+
+Ace leans in.
+
+WOODSTOCK 
+Camp donated the land the newstadium's built on.
+(re: article) 
+Oh, look at this, he's throwin'another, "I'm the richest man inthe universe" party.
+
+ACE
+(thinking) 
+Hmmm… I wonder if I can findmyself a date.
+
+INT. CAMP'S MANSION - NIGHT
+
+It's a magnificent home. There is an extremely formal party in progress. Twenty to thirty people having champagne, caviar, and hot air. We see Dan Marino sitting with an audience around him.
+
+DAN 
+We just choked in 82. We had achance to win and we didn't. Butnobody's gonna choke this time; ifthey do, I'll kill 'em!
+
+Everybody laughs.
+
+EXT. CAMP'S MANSION - NIGHT
+
+Ace and Melissa climb an impressive stairway leading to Camp's mansion.
+
+MELISSA 
+I'm really going out on a limbhere, Ventura. Camp's socialevents are strictly A-list.
+
+ACE
+(a la Love Connection) 
+'Well, Chuck… the date startedoff good, but just before we gotto the party, she seemed to tenseup.'
+
+Melissa rolls her eyes, then taps a huge door knocker.
+
+MELISSA 
+I swear, if you do anything toembarrass me in front of Camp…
+
+ACE 
+You mean like this?
+
+Ace starts doing a spastic body convulsion. Just then a bald-headed butler, who looks a little like Gavin McCloud, opens the door. Ace doesn't notice until Melissa hits him with her purse.
+
+ACE 
+Owwwe!!!
+
+He sees the butler.
+
+ACE 
+Oh, hi Captain Stubing.
+
+Melissa storms in, already pissed.
+
+INT. CAMP'S MANSION - CONT
+
+Ace and Melissa enter. Camp looks over.
+
+CAMP 
+Melissa! Glad you could make it!Oh, and who is this?
+
+MELISSA 
+This is my date. He's a…lawyer.
+
+CAMP 
+Well, does he have a name, orshould I call him "Lawyer"?
+
+MELISSA 
+I'm sorry, it's Ace - ah, Tom Ace.
+
+Ace is very unimpressed with her lying ability. He jumps in.
+
+ACE 
+Tom Ace. Wonderful to meet you,Mr. Camp, and congratualtions onall your success. You smellterrific.
+
+CAMP 
+Ah, well, thank you. Please, comein.
+
+Ace boldly leads the way over to an hors 'oeuvre table. Melissa closely follows.
+
+MELISSA
+(sotto) 
+This is insane. There's no waythat Camp stole Snowflake.
+
+ACE
+(spreading pate' on a cracker) 
+Will you just keep him occupied,while I work my magic please.
+
+She crosses the room. He puts the cracker in his mouth and begins to crunch. A man in a tux beside Ace spreads pate' on his own cracker.
+
+ACE
+(with a mouthful, to man) 
+Smooshy, isn't it?
+
+Off the stuffy man's reaction…
+
+INT. CAMP'S MANSION - SECONDS LATER
+
+Ace approaches Camp.
+
+ACE 
+Excuse me, Ron, I need to use thebathroom?
+(palms his stomach, whispering loudly) 
+I think it's the pate'.
+
+CAMP 
+Um, it's just over there.
+
+ACE 
+Thanks. Stuff probably looksbetter on the way out, huh?
+
+Ace laughs, slaps Camp hard on the back and heads for the bathroom.
+
+INT. BATHROOM - CONT
+
+Ace wastes no time. He locks the door, turns on the water faucet, steps onto the toilet seat, opens and climbs out a window.
+
+EXT. MANSION COURT YARD - CONT
+
+Ace drops to the ground. He follows a pathway, through a gazebo and into a doorway, all the time quietly singing the musical score to 'Mission Impossible'.
+
+INT. CAMP'S MANSION - FISH TANKS - CONT
+
+Ace browses through a myriad of dramatically lit, salt water tanks, still singing. They're all filled with colorful exotic fish. Very impressive, but nothing large enough to house a dolphin. He continues on towards a large door.
+
+INT. TANK ROOM - SECONDS LATER
+
+A huge above-ground tank is covered with curtains to discourage onlookers. Ace swings open the large door and enters.
+
+ACE 
+Gravy.
+
+Ace climbs a ladder on the side of the tank, singing more intensely now. The ladder leads to a narrow catwalk over the center of the water. Ace grabs a feeder fish from a pail and walks carefully out there.
+
+CLOSE ON ACE. THIS IS IT.
+
+He looks into the dark pool, but sees nothing. Now he stops singing, quietly squats down and dangles the fish over the water.
+
+ACE
+(gently) 
+Snowflake… Here, Snowflake…Snooowflaaaake…
+
+A GREAT WHITE LUNGES OUT OF THE WATER AND SNAPS ITS JAWS AN INCH FROM ACE'S FACE!!! NEEDLESS TO SAY, ACE IS A TAD SURPRISED.
+
+He reels back, falling off the catwalk, into the water.
+
+INT. CAMP'S MANSION - SAME TIME
+
+Melissa is admiring some beautiful tropical fish. Camp approaches.
+
+CAMP 
+Wonderful, aren't they?
+
+MELISSA
+(nervously) 
+Yes. They're incredible.
+
+CAMP 
+No matter what is going on in mylife, I can always watch themswim and be completely at peace.
+
+INT. INDOOR POOL ROOM - SAME TIME
+
+The water is still for a moment. Then, Ace breaks the surface.
+
+ACE
+(frantic, to himself) 
+It's not Snowflake… It's notSnowflake.
+
+Instantly, Ace's body is thrashed around back and forth through the water, the entire length of the pool.
+
+ACE
+(screaming) 
+IT'S NOT SNOWFLAAAAKE!!! IT'S NOTSNOWFLAAAA!!!
+
+INT. CAMP'S MANSION - LATER
+
+A line is forming outside the bathroom. Camp and Melissa are seated nearby. He's getting curious.
+
+CAMP 
+Are you sure he's okay? It's beenan awfu;;y long time.
+
+MELISSA 
+Who, Tom? Oh, I'm sure he's fine.
+
+Ace suddenly opens the bathroom door and stands there, completely drenched from head to toe, with his pants in shreds. Everyone stops. They all stare at Ace in amazement.
+
+ACE
+(loudly to the entire room) 
+DO NOT GO IN THERE!
+(fanning the air) 
+Whewww!!
+
+EXT. CAMP'S MANSION - LATER
+
+Ace and Melissa are exiting. Camp stops in the doorway.
+
+CAMP
+(still confused) 
+I'm very sorry, Mr. Ace. I'llhave the pluming checkedimmediately.
+
+ACE 
+Be sure that you do. If I hadbeen drinking out of that toilet,I might have been killed!
+
+Ace shakes Camp's hand and notices his ring. He holds on to get a better look. It's a very distinct, commemorative ring.
+
+Camp wants his hand back but Ace won't let go. Melissa finally drags Ace away.
+
+MELISSA 
+We'd better go.
+
+Camp looks on and shakes his head.
+
+INT. MELISSA'S CAR - NIGHT
+
+Ace is thinking. Melissa is pissed.
+
+MELISSA 
+…Y'know, I don't even want toknow why your pants are missing!I don't care what happened! Youcould have cost me my job.
+
+ACE
+(on his own wavelength) 
+I was wrong about Camp. He'sbreaking the law but he's not ourguy.
+
+MELISSA 
+It's a sure thing! It'sdefinitely him! Just get me inthere! Let me work my magic!
+
+Ace takes the stone out of his pocket and studies it intensely.
+
+ACE 
+This is the key. Right here!
+
+MELISSA 
+Hiring you was the biggest mistakeI ever made!
+
+ACE 
+So small! So unnoticeable! Yetan invaluable piece… of ourtwisted little jigsaw puzzle!
+
+Melissa stares at Ace like he's gone crazy. There is a flash of headlights and a car horn. Melissa swerves back into her own lane. Ace drops the stone somewhere on the seat and begins to search for it frantically.
+
+ACE 
+Damn it!
+(to Melissa) 
+Try to keep it on the road.
+
+INT. MELISSA'S LIVING ROOM
+
+Melissa enters, followed by Ace.
+
+MELISSA 
+So, you found a pebble inSnowflake's tank. Excuse me whileI call CNN.
+
+ACE 
+I found it in the filter. Andit's not a pebble. It is a rare,triangular cut, orange amber.
+
+Ace hands Melissa the stone and quickly goes to one of her bookcases.
+
+MELISSA 
+What are you talking about?
+
+ACE 
+Tonight I saw the exact same stonein Camp's ring.
+
+Ace finds a book on the Dolphin team and flips through it.
+
+MELISSA 
+I thought you said he didn't doit.
+
+ACE 
+N. Camp's clean. His ringwasn't missing a stone. Butwhoever was in that tank had aring just like his.
+
+MELISSA 
+Wait a second. What ring?
+
+Ace hands her the book. It's open to a photo of…
+
+ACE 
+The 1982 Dolphin AFC Championshipring.
+
+Melissa holds the stone up to the picture. It's a perfect match.
+
+ACE 
+I find the ring with the missingstone, I find Snowflake.
+
+MELISSA 
+How are you gonna do that?
+
+ACE 
+Simple.
+
+MUSIC UP
+
+CUT TO:
+
+EXT. TRACK - DAY
+
+Ace is wheezing and gasping for air as he struggles to jog up beside a large man who's running around the track at a very fast pace. When he finally catches up, he awkwardly tries to catch a glimpse of the man's ring and trips. The man just keeps going.
+
+INT. FOOTLOCKER - DAY
+
+Ace sits waiting with one shoe off. The store manager, an ex-player for the '82 team, sets down several shoe boxes. Ace checks out the ring.
+
+CLOSE ON
+
+A poster of the '82 team. The player we just saw is being crossed out.
+
+EXT. HOTEL - DAY
+
+Pan a few kids getting autographs from Marino and other players, ending on Ace dressed up and looking like a pimply kid. As the players sign, he checks their rings.
+
+EXT. TRACK - DAY
+
+Ace is again trying to catch the large man on the track. This time, just as he draws near, the man leaves him in the dust.
+
+INT. SPORTS BAR - DAY
+
+Two big guys finish arm wrestling. Ace steps up to challenge. He spends an undue amount of time preparing his grip, as he checks out the ring. Ace finally gets set and gives the "go ahead" nod. He is instantly thrown across the room.
+
+CLOSE ON
+
+The poster of the '82 team. Another group of players are being crossed out.
+
+EXT. STREET
+
+Ace spots a player driving along side him. He can't see his ring.
+
+Ace deliberately cuts off the player's car and flips him off. The angry player flips Ace off. We see his ring is intact. Ace waves and drives off.
+
+INT. MEN'S ROOM
+
+One huge lineman uses a urinal. Ace, using the urinal next to him, nonchalantly tries to catch a glimpse of the guy's hands. The Lineman has a very angry look on his face, but after a beat it changes to a "come on" smile.
+
+CLOSE ON
+
+The poster of the '82 team. There is only one face that has not been crossed out. Ace circles it.
+
+EXT. TRACK - DAY
+
+Once again we see the large, fast man jogging toward camera. Suddenly Ace runs up behind him, with a desperate look on his face, pouring a bottle of chloroform into a cloth. He leaps onto the man's back, smothering him with the cloth and holding on for dear life. The man slowly gives up the fight and collapses. Ace casually checks the ring, then walks away disappointed.
+
+EXT. MELISSA'S BACKYARD - EARLY EVENING
+
+Ace sits in a lawn chair depressed. Melissa consoles him.
+
+MELISSA 
+Ace, that stone could have comefrom anywhere. An earring, anecklace…
+
+ACE
+(with murder in his eyes) 
+It came from an '82 AFCChampionship ring.
+
+MELISSA 
+Lt. Einhorn thinks it was ananimal rights group. Have youheard of FAN?
+
+ACE 
+Free Animals Now? Started in 1982by Chelsea Gamble, daughter of thefamous industrialist, FischerGamble? Over half a millionmembers from Florida to Finland?
+(beat) 
+No. Who are they?
+
+MELISSA 
+Did you know that last year theysent threatening letters to 127college teams, demanding therelease of their mascots? At lastcount –
+
+ACE 
+What do you feed your dog?
+
+We see Melissa's dog lying near Ace's feet.
+
+MELISSA 
+Ah… dog food, why?
+
+ACE 
+He's miserable.
+
+MELISSA 
+What are you talking about?
+
+ACE 
+He's just very unhappy, I feelsorry for him. Bad diet, isolatedenvironment. It's amazing he'sstill alive.
+
+MELISSA 
+You're just mad because yourstupid pebble theory didn't workout and you don't know how toexpress your anger.
+
+ACE 
+Yeah? And you're ugly.
+
+MELISSA 
+I'm not even gonna' talk to you,please leave.
+
+ACE 
+What, so you can beat him? Fatty!
+
+MELISSA 
+You… are unbelievable.
+
+The phone rings inside the house. Melissa goes to answer it.
+
+MELISSA 
+Hiring you was a huge mistake!
+
+The door slams and Ace is alone with the dog. After a moment he reaches down to pet it and we all see that it is one of the happiest dogs in the world.
+
+ACE 
+You like her, huh?… Yeah, she'salright.
+
+Ace, feeling guilty, walks into the house.
+
+INT. MELISSA'S DEN - CONT
+
+Ace walks toward Melissa.
+
+ACE 
+Look, Melissa, I, ah…
+
+Ace stops when he sees Melissa. She is sitting, holding the phone in her lap with a completely stunned look on her face. Something is very wrong.
+
+EXT. HIGH RISE APARTMENT BUILDING - NIGHT
+
+Chaos. Police, lights flashing, paramedics, crowds of people.
+
+Ace and Melissa see Roger Podacter's body taken away in an ambulance.
+
+ACE 
+You okay?
+
+Melissa nods bravely. Emilio joins them.
+
+ACE 
+What'd you find?
+
+EMILIO 
+Podacter, Roger. Routine suicide.He was alone. He'd been drinking.No sign of a struggle. Neighborheard him scream on the way down.Just your classic fifteen storyswan dive.
+
+Melissa shudders. Ace gives Emilio a "way to go" look.
+
+EMILIO 
+Sorry.
+
+INT. HIGHRISE LOBBY - NIGHT
+
+The three enter. Emilio pushes the button for the elevator.
+
+MELISSA 
+It just seems so out of character.He was going to retire in twoyears.
+
+ACE 
+Did he leave a note?
+
+The elevator arrives.
+
+EMILIO 
+No. That's nothing unusual. Somedo, some don't. He didn't.
+
+The elevator doors close.
+
+INT. PODACTOR'S APARTMENT - MOMENTS LATER
+
+Police are everywhere. Emilio, Ace and Melissa enter and are immediately approached by one of the officers.
+
+EMILIO 
+Miss Robinson, this is officerCarlson.
+
+CARLSONEvening, ma'am. I wonder if youcould answer a few questions aboutthe deceased?
+
+Ace slips away, we follow him as he eavesdrops on conversations.
+
+NEIGHBOR
+(to a cop) 
+I told you, I was across the hallin my apartment, I heard a scream.The door was locked, so I calledthe manager…
+
+The Manager reiterates her story to the cop. The Manager is about 100 years old.
+
+MANAGER 
+…The place was empty, except forthe damn dog in the other room.Then I opened the balcony door,looked over the railing,and… splat, bang, pancake time…
+
+Ace, continuing his investigation notices…
+
+PODACTER'S DESK
+
+in perfect order.
+
+Next, he notices police coming in and out of the balcony, closing the door behind them, shutting out the noise.
+
+INT. PODACTER'S BEDROOM - NIGHT
+
+A dog is cowering in the corner. Ace tries to comfort the little guy.
+
+ACE 
+Hey, fella, have a bad night?
+
+Ace examines its paws.
+
+Ace then gets down and finds scratches in the door. TWO FEET interrupt.
+
+Ace stands. He is face to face with Einhorn.
+
+EINHORN 
+Who let Dr. Doolittle in?
+
+Emilio steps in immediately.
+
+EMILIO 
+Ah, Lieutenant. He came with MissRobinson –
+
+EINHORN 
+This is official police business.We'll let you know if the coronerfinds any ticks.
+
+Cops snicker.
+
+EMILIO 
+I just thought since Melissa –
+
+ACE 
+E, forget it. She's right.Besides, I wouldn't want someonetracing my steps and pointing outall the mistakes I made.
+
+Ace crosses to…
+
+EXT. PODACTER'S BALCONY - CONT
+
+Ace examines the area. Einhorn is in hot pursuit.
+
+EINHORN 
+Oh, so, you don't think this in anobvious suicide, Mr. PetDetective?
+
+ACE 
+Well, I wouldn't say that. Lordknows, there is plenty of evidencehere to support your theory,except of course that spot ofblood on the balcony.
+
+On the railing, sure enough, there is a tiny spot of blood.
+
+Einhorn glares at a couple of nearby cops. They look down.
+
+ACE 
+May I tell you what I thinkhappened? Alrighty then!
+
+Ace moves as he talks.
+
+ACE 
+Roger Podacter went out afterwork. He had a few drinks, and hecame home. But he wasn't alone. Someone was with him in thisapartment. There was a struggle,and then Roger Podacter was thrownover that balcony. Roger Podacterdidn't commit suicide. He wasmurdered.
+
+A beat as everyone considers this.
+
+EINHORN 
+Well, that's a very entertainingstory, but real detectives have toworry about that little thinglawyers call evidence.
+
+Ace picks up a lottery ticket on Podacter's desk and becomes a condescending kid show host.
+
+ACE 
+Let's take a trip to cluecorner, shall we? Can anyone tellme why a man buys a lottery ticketon the day he is going to commitsuicide? Or why the family pet,suffering from acute caninetrauma, clawed at the bedroom dooruntil his paws bled? How aboutthe blood on the railing? I'llbet if we put our thinking caps onwe'll see that it was the resultof the struggle that took placeinside this apartment while Mr.Podacter was still alive!
+(singing) 
+NEXT TIME YOU DON'T HAVE A CLUECOME ON BACK TO CLUE CORNER! BOOP!
+
+Everyone looks to Einhorn.
+
+EINHORN 
+Not a bad try for a pet detective,but not near conclusive enough forus real investigators.
+(beat) 
+First, people buy lottery ticketseveryday. It's a habit. Itdoesn't prove a thing. Second,the dog wasn't suffering fromcanine trauma, he was sufferingfrom bladder trauma. SergeantNeilson found a piss stain as bigas Lake Huron near the bed. Andthird, the blood on the railing.Simple. He doesn't jump farenough and whacks his head. Afact confirmed by the paramedicswho found cuts on his scalp, withtraces of a white chalkysubstance. i.e. plaster from thebalcony.
+
+Einhorn shows Ace the paramedics report. Everyone is impressed with Einhorn.
+
+EINHORN 
+So much for your murder, Ventura.
+
+AGUADO 
+Uh oh, I think I heard a toiletflush. Maybe someone lost theirturtle?
+
+Everyone has a laugh. Ace looks beaten.
+
+ACE 
+Well, maybe I'm just a little outof my league, here. Einhorn…
+
+Ace holds out his hand, Einhorn shakes it.
+
+ACE 
+…good work.
+
+Ace and Melissa head for the door.
+
+ACE 
+Oh, there is just one more thing,Lieutenant.
+(re: the neighbor) 
+This man is Roger Podacter'sneighbor. He lives across thehall. He said he heard a scream,is that right, sir?
+
+The neighbor nods. Ace turns to the apartment manager.
+
+ACE 
+And you said you had to open thebalcony door when you keyed intothe room?
+
+MANAGER 
+That's right.
+
+Ace walks out onto the balcony and turns, facing them.
+
+ACE 
+You're certain you had to openthis door?
+
+She nods.
+
+EINHORN 
+What's the point, Ventura?
+
+ACE 
+Only this…AAAAAAAWWWWWWWWWWW…
+
+Ace sustains an incredible Pavorati note, while he repeatedly opens and closes the glass door between them. When the door is closed nothing can be heard.
+
+ACE
+(tapping the door) 
+This is double paned, sound-proofed glass. There's no waythis neighbor could have heardPodacter scream on the way downwith this door shut. The screamhe heard came from inside thisapartment, before Podacter wasthrown over the railing! And themuderer closed the door before heleft!
+(celebrates insanely) 
+Yes! Yesss! I have exorcised thedemons!
+(a la Poltergeist) 
+This house is clear.
+
+INT. ACE'S CAR - A SHORT TIME LATER
+
+Ace drives straight ahead.
+
+MELISSA 
+What are you thinking?
+
+ACE 
+I'm thinking this whole thing isconnected somehow.
+(frustrated) 
+I'm thinking I want to find thatother ring!
+
+MELISSA 
+You checked all the rings.
+
+ACE 
+I know, Pessimistress. Couldanyone else have gotten a ringthat year?
+
+MELISSA 
+No. Camp was the only honoree.Just players and coaches.Everyone in the photo.
+
+ACE 
+…Receipts! There must bereceipts! You have a key to theoffice.
+
+MELISSA 
+Ace this has been a really toughday. Can't we do this in themorning?
+
+Ace looks at his watch.
+
+ACE 
+Absolutely.
+
+EXT. DOLPHIN HEADQUARTERS - 1:00 AM
+
+Ace's car screeches to a stop, in front of the building. Ace jumps out, followed by Melissa.
+
+INT. DOLPHIN HEADQUARTERS - HALLWAY - NIGHT
+
+It's dark. Team pictures adorn the walls.
+
+MELISSA (O.S.) 
+These files go back to seventy-eight.
+
+INT. DOLPHIN OFFICE - CONTINUOUS
+
+Ace is flipping through a file cabinet, looking at receipts. Melissa is starting to warm to him.
+
+MELISSA 
+That was pretty impressive, whatyou did back at the apartment.
+
+ACE
+(still looking) 
+You don't have to tell me. I wasthere.
+
+MELISSA 
+Maybe you should have joined thepolice force… become a realdetective.
+
+ACE
+(shaking his head) 
+I don't do humans.
+
+Melissa gets a bit closer.
+
+MELISSA 
+You really love animals, don'tyou?
+
+Ace stops searching and looks into her eyes.
+
+ACE 
+I feel a kinship with them. Iunderstand them. Wanna hearsomething kinda spooky?
+
+MELISSA 
+Sure.
+
+She gets closer still.
+
+ACE 
+One time, when I was about twelve,I had this dream that I was beingfollowed by a dog with rabies. Hehad these really bloodshot eyesand foam coming out of hismouth… and just before I got tomy front door… he jumped on meand sunk his teeth in. Then Iwoke up, and felt the back of myneck… check this out.
+
+Ace motions for Melissa to feel the back of his neck, but when she does, he snaps at her hand, barking like a vicious dog.
+
+ACE 
+ARARAR!!!
+
+Melissa jumps out of her skin.
+
+MELISSA 
+Ohhh!! You bastard!
+
+ACE
+(snickering) 
+I'm sorry. I couldn't stopmyself. Are these all thereceipts?
+
+MELISSA
+(mildly annoyed) 
+I don't know.
+
+ACE 
+There's only a dozen of them here.
+
+Ace turns from the file cabinet with a hopeless look on his face. Melissa begins to clean up his mess.
+
+MELISSA
+(pointedly) 
+Gee… maybe they were misplacedbecause somebody didn't put thefiles back when he was…
+
+ACE 
+Who the hell is that?
+
+MELISSA 
+What…
+
+Ace crosses to a big picture of the '82 team that hangs on the aadjacent wall and points out a player.
+
+ACE 
+That! Who the hell is that?!
+
+He quickly pulls out his crossed out pictures of the team and begins to compare the two.
+
+MELISSA 
+Oh, that's Ray Finkle… thekicker. Don't you know who RayFinkle is?
+
+ACE 
+No! How come he's not in thispicture?!
+
+Melissa checks Ace's photo.
+
+MELISSA 
+This was the picture you wereusing? This was taken earlier inthe year. Finkle wasn't added tothe roster till mid-season.
+
+She starts to realize what Ace has already figured out.
+
+MELISSA (CONT'D) 
+He's the guy that missed the finalfield goal in the Super Bowl thatyear. Cost the Dolphins the game.
+
+ACE 
+But he got a ring?
+
+MELISSA 
+Definitely.
+
+INT. STADIUM/PUBLIC RELATIONS OFFICE - LATER
+
+Ace and Melissa look through Finkle's file on a microfiche screen. Newspaper articles, headshots flash before them…
+
+MELISSA 
+'Replacement Kicker Having GreatYear'… 'Ready For Super Bowl,Confident Kicker Boasts'.
+
+ACE 
+'Field Goal Sails Wide, DolphinsLose Super Bowl'.
+
+MELISSA 
+The kick heard round the world.That was Finkle. The Dolphins lostby one point.
+
+Another headline hits the screen: FINKLE CONTRACT NOT RENEWED.
+
+MELISSA 
+Poor guy.
+
+ACE 
+Poor guy with a motive, baby.Where is he now?
+
+MELISSA 
+Last I heard, he went back to hishome town, Collier County. Heused to work in a bar up there.
+
+ACE
+(pondering) 
+REHEHEALLY.
+
+MELISSA 
+Can you drop me off before you go?
+
+ACE
+(shaking his head) 
+No way. It may not be safe atyour apartment, and you shouldn'tbe left alone.
+
+MELISSA 
+What do you suggest?
+
+CUT TO:
+
+INT. ACE'S BEDROOM - LATER
+
+We see a person's butt under a sheet coming up into frame repeatedly.
+
+SKIN, SWEAT, SHEETS FLY, as Ace and Melissa roll back and forth on the bed. Ace is taking no prisoners.
+
+CUT TO:
+
+50 animals at the bottom of the bed, with eyes as big as silver dollars, watching them silently. We cut back and forth between furious lovemaking and shots of staring animals.
+
+Melissa and Ace simultaneously reach the pinnacle of pleasure.
+
+MELISSA
+(totally amazed and exausted) 
+OH man… oh man! Oh wow!
+
+ACE
+(mock embarrassment) 
+I'm sorry… that's never happenedto me before. I must be tired.
+
+EXT. HIGHWAY ONE - DAY
+
+Various traveling shots of Ace en route to a 'Deliverance' type town deep in the Everglades. A sign reads "Gas - Food - 2 Miles" but the word "Food" is crossed out.
+
+INT. BILBO'S GAS STATION - DAY
+
+A pitifully sad country song plays on the radio. FERN BILBO sits at his cluttered desk with the end of an old shotgun in his mouth. He is struggling to reach the trigger.
+
+Through the glass behind him, we see Ace's car pull up to the only gasoline pump.
+
+DING! The bell rings. Fern begrudgingly takes the gun out of his mouth, sets it down and walks out.
+
+EXT. BILBO'S GAS STATION - CONT
+
+Ace gets out of his car.
+
+ACE 
+Excuse me, sir. Do you know whereI can find the Pigskin Sports Bar?
+
+FERN 
+Do I have a "kick me" sign on myback, son?
+
+ACE 
+I wouldn't know anything aboutthat, but if you could point metoward the bar.
+
+Fern breaks down, sobbing.
+
+FERN 
+They all left me… all of them!
+
+ACE 
+Well… Hypothetically speaking,say they all left you and went tothe Pigskin Sports Bar. How wouldthey have gotten there from here?
+
+FERN 
+Two miles down and take the firstleft.
+
+ACE 
+Thanks very much! Take care now,'bye 'bye then!
+
+Ace gets into his car and pulls out.
+
+INT. BILBO'S GAS STATION - CONT
+
+Fern enters, sits down at the desk, places the end of the shotgun in his mouth, reaches for the trigger and…
+
+DING! Another car pulls up to the pump. Exasperated, he takes the gun out of his mouth.
+
+FERN
+(murmers to himself as he gets up) 
+Can't get anything done aroundhere…
+
+EXT. PIGSKIN SPORTS BAR - DAY
+
+A weathered dive in the middle of a swamp. Ace parks.
+
+INT PIGSKIN SPORTS BAR - DAY
+
+If depression had a home, this is it. Several dejected men, with various degrees of missing teeth, sit around the bar. A couple hapless guys play pool. One throws darts.
+
+Ace enters, pops a sunflower seed in his mouth and addresses the room.
+
+ACE 
+Excuse me, guy?! My name is AceVentura, I'm a pet detective. I'dlike to ask you a few questions if I could.
+
+No one even looks at him.
+
+ACE 
+Just a few questions, that's all.
+
+Still no one reacts.
+
+ACE
+(very up) 
+Who wants gum?!
+
+Again, no reaction. Ace walks over to the bartender and slides a five across the bar.
+
+ACE 
+I'm looking for a guy who used towork here.
+
+The bartender takes the money.
+
+BARTENDER 
+That right?
+
+ACE 
+He was a kicker for the Dolphins.Ray Finkle.
+
+A pool ball flies by Ace's head shattering a mirror behind the bar. All eyes are on Ace.
+
+ACE
+(to guy who threw it) 
+That would be a scratch.
+
+TOOTHLESS GIANT 
+You a friend of Finkle's?
+
+ACE
+(thinks) 
+…Yes?
+
+CRASH! The giant guy smashes his bottle.
+
+ACE 
+Sorry, I have "say the opposite ofwhat you mean" disease.
+
+Several undesirables surround Ace.
+
+TOOTHLESS GIANT 
+That bastard ruined this town.
+
+ACE 
+Ewww… I hate that!
+
+HICK #2 
+We bet everything we had on thatSuper Bowl and that son of a bitchgagged.
+
+ACE 
+What a diiick!
+
+They all move closer in a threatening manner.
+
+HICK #3 
+Shanked a goddamn 26 yarder!!!
+
+ACE 
+Death to Finkle! Death to Finkle!
+
+The bartender steps in.
+
+BARTENDER 
+We had a hell of a thing goinghere. Tourists coming to see RayFinkle's home town. He wasstanding right over there when hegot the call from the Dolphins.
+
+The bartender points to a payphone. It has had the shit beaten out of it. Every expletive you can think of is graffitied around it.
+
+ACE 
+Did he come back after the SuperBowl?
+
+BARTENDER 
+Yeah… but the boys here had waysof letting him know he wasn'twelcome.
+
+HICK #1 
+Excuse me, I gotta take a wickedFinkle.
+
+Laughter.
+
+TOOTHLESS GIANT 
+What's the difference betweenFinkle and a jackass? A jackasscan kick.
+
+More laughter.
+
+HICK #2 
+Why did Finkle cross theroad?!
+
+ACE
+(facetious) 
+Wait… I know this one.
+
+HICK #2 
+He didn't! And I've got the hair onmy bumper to prove it!
+
+Maniacal laughter and chanting ensues.
+
+MOB 
+FINKLE SUCKS! FINKLE SUCKS!FINKLE SUCKS!
+
+ACE 
+It's good you're dealing with theanger.
+(beat) 
+I don't suppose anyone's seen himlately?
+
+The chanting stops and the guys all look at Ace.
+
+BARTENDER 
+No… but we know where hisparents live! Don't we boys?!
+
+HICK #1 
+Yeah! We sure do!
+
+They all laugh insanely again.
+
+EXT. HOUSE - DAY
+
+Ace pulls up outside a two-story stilt house. The place has been completely desecrated by graffiti, bullet holes and paint bombs. Toilet paper is strewn through the trees. Ace walks up and knocks on the door. A wooden peephole slides open revealing a suspicious pair of eyes.
+
+ACE 
+…Hi, I'm looking for Ray Finkle.
+
+A gun slides out into Ace's face.
+
+ACE
+(with a gulp) 
+And a clean pair of shorts.
+
+A deep gruff voice from inside.
+
+VOICE 
+What do you know about Ray Finkle?
+
+ACE 
+Southpaw soccer style kicker.Graduated from Collier High inJune, 1976. Stetson Universityhonors graduate, class of 1980.Holds two NCAA division onerecords. One for most points in aseason, one for distance. Formernickname The Mule. The first andonly pro athlete ever to come outof Collier County. And onehelluva model American.
+
+After a beat the peephole closes. The door slowly creaks open revealing MR. FINKLE, an unsmiling, taciturn, elderly man holding the gun.
+
+MR. FINKLE 
+Are you another one of themscumbags from 'Hard Copy'?
+
+ACE 
+No, sir. I'm just a very bigFinkle fan. This is my Graceland,sir.
+
+Mrs. Finkle, a sweet, adorable elderly woman comes over.
+
+MRS. FINKLE 
+Will you put that gun down. Theboy's a fan of our son. So niceto meet you. I'm Ray's mother,and this is Ray's father.
+
+INT. FINKLE HOUSE - DAY
+
+ACE 
+It's a real honor.
+
+MRS. FINKLE 
+My Ray is so appreciative of hisfans. He'll be so pleased youstopped by.
+
+ACE 
+Are you expecting Ray anytimesoon?
+
+MRS. FINKLE 
+Oh, yes. I expect him home anyminute.
+
+Ace is surprised.
+
+MRS. FINKLE 
+Would you like some cookies? Ijust baked them.
+
+Mrs. Finkle hurries off to the kitchen. Ace smiles at Mr. Finkle. The guy's a corpse.
+
+ACE 
+Wow… Ray Finkle's house! Can'twait to meet him!
+
+MR. FINKLE 
+Ray ain't comin' home.
+
+ACE 
+But your wife said you expect himhome any minute.
+
+MR. FINKLE 
+She expects him home any minute.
+
+He points to his head, and looks toward the kitchen.
+
+MR. FINKLE 
+Engines runnin but there's no onebehind the wheel. Ten years agoour son escaped from Shady AcresPsychiatric Hospital in Tampa.They're still buggin' us to pickup his stuff.
+
+Mrs. Finkle returns with a plate of football shaped cookies.
+
+MRS. FINKLE
+(sweetly) 
+It was all that Dan Marino'sfault, everyone knows that. If hehad held the ball laces out, likeyou're supposed to, Ray wouldnever have missed that kick. DanMarino should die of Gonorrhea androt in Hell. Would you like acookie, son?
+
+Ace takes a cookie. Holding it up.
+
+ACE 
+Hey, what do ya know. They'relittle footballs.
+
+MRS. FINKLE 
+Laces OUT!
+
+CRASH!! A large stone smashes through the window. Outside, a pickup truck filled with drunken patrons from the Pigskin Sports Bar drives by yelling their Finkle chant.
+
+MOB 
+FINKLE SUCKS! FINKLE SUCKS!…
+
+MRS. FINKLE 
+I told you he had a lot of fans.
+
+Mrs. Finkle picks up the rock and hurls it out the broken window. It hits one of the vandals, knocking him out cold, as the truck peels away.
+
+MR. FINKLE
+(aside to Ace) 
+She got the arm. The boy got theleg.
+
+INT. HALLWAY - A SHORT TIME LATER
+
+Mrs. Finkle and Ace are walking down the hallway to Ray's room.
+
+MRS. FINKLE 
+When Ray gets back and startskicking again, he'll never evenknow he was gone. I kept his roomjust the way he left it.
+
+She opens the door to Ray's room. Ace steps in.
+
+INT. RAY'S ROOM - CONTINUOUS
+
+It's a death shrine to Dan Marino. Complete with lifesize cutouts of Dan Marino, some with nooses around the neck, other hacked to pieces. Painted on the walls: "Death to Marino!", Marino must die!!!, etc.
+
+ACE 
+…Oooh boy.
+
+MRS. FINKLE 
+What a sports nut, huh?
+
+In the center of the room is a movie projector.
+
+ACE 
+May I?
+
+MRS. FINKLE 
+Oh yes. By all means.
+
+Mrs. Finkle shuts the lights off. Ace turns on the projector.
+
+The film flickers over the "Marino must die!!!" graffiti. It's the final play of the Super Bowl. Marino takes the snap, Finkle kicks and the ball sails wide. The film repeats itself ad infinitum.
+
+EXT. BILBO'S GAS STATION - DAY
+
+Ace on the payphone. We see the gas station in the background.
+
+ACE 
+Melissa, it's Ace.
+
+INT. MELISSA'S OFFICE - DAY
+
+MELISSA 
+Ace? Where are you?
+
+INTERCUT ACE/MELISSA
+
+ACE 
+I'm in Psychoville and Finkle'sthe Mayor. Where's Dan Marino?
+
+MELISSA 
+Marino? Why?
+
+ACE 
+Because he's about to joinSnowflake. I gotta know where heis.
+
+MELISSA 
+Okay, hold on…
+
+Melissa checks Marino's itinerary. Ace waits, impatiently.
+
+ACE
+(to himself) 
+Come on. Come on…
+
+In the background, we see two paramedics exit the gas station office rolling a dead body on a gurney. The area of the sheet that covers the face is a giant red spot. We widen to see them load good old Mr. Bilbo into an ambulance and drive away, ringing the station bell one more time. Ace doesn't notice.
+
+MELISSA 
+Ah, he had practice. Then… hehas a commercial shoot out at thePrescott Sound Stage.
+
+ACE 
+Where is that?
+
+MELISSA 
+It's on Route One by the Six CutOff. Thirty minutes outside oftown.
+
+ACE 
+Okay, that's about fifteen milesfrom me. Call the police. Getextra security over there now.
+
+MELISSA 
+Ace, tell me what's going on.
+(beat) 
+Ace?…
+
+The payphone dangles off the hook. Ace is…
+
+EXT. HIGHWAY ONE - DAY
+
+…in his car racing out of the swampland, his heaad now back out the window so he can see. He leaves a faded, old, barely legible sign in his wake:"
+
+WELCOME TO COLLIERCOUNTY. HOME OF RAY FINKLE"
+
+The "F" in "FINKLE" has been replaced with "ST" in spray paint.
+
+INT. PRESCOTT STUDIOS - DAY
+
+Rehearsal for an Isotoner ad in progress.
+
+MARINO 
+…So I protect the hands thatprotect me. With Isotoners.
+
+Marino gets carted off by FIVE HUGE LINEMEN.
+
+DIRECTOR 
+Good. Remember, exit cameraright. That's to your left.Alright, let's get ready to shootthis.
+
+FIRST A.D.
+(to the linemen) 
+Helmets on this time!
+
+The linemen disperse.
+
+EXT. STREET - DAY
+
+Ace runs a red light causing cars to skid in every direction.
+
+INT. PRESCOTT STUDIO - DAY
+
+Marino is in the make-up chair.
+
+MARINO
+(to make-up girl) 
+See, in 82 we just choked. We hada chance to win it and wedidn't –
+
+DIRECTOR 
+Dan, are you ready?
+
+MARINO 
+Ah, sure.
+(to girl) 
+I'll tell you later.
+
+EXT. STUDIO - DAY
+
+The cops race onto the lot.
+
+INT. STUDIO - DAY
+
+Marino takes center stage.
+
+A.D.Quiet on the set… roll…speed…
+
+DIRECTOR 
+…And action!
+
+MARINO 
+Hi, I'm Dan Marino. If anyoneknows the value of protection,it's me…
+
+We see an old clip of Marino getting sacked.
+
+EXT. STUDIO - DAY
+
+Cops scramble on foot to the sound stage.
+
+INT. STUDIO - DAY
+
+The commercial is winding up. The linemen ready themselves.
+
+MARINO 
+…So I protect the hands thatprotect me. With Isotoners.
+
+The five linemen grab Marino and run off camera.
+
+DIRECTOR 
+And cut! That was good. Againfrom one.
+
+But two of the linemen keep running with Marino…
+
+DIRECTOR 
+I said cut!!
+
+…And they keep running.
+
+DIRECTOR (CONT'D) 
+What the hell are they doing?
+
+…Right out the studio door. Then the cops arrive and race after them. Two linemen stumble out of the dressing room holding their heads.
+
+EXT. SOUND STAGE - DAY
+
+Ace skids around a corner, looking way up ahead.
+
+He sees Marino being shoved into a black 81 Ford Bronco. They drive off.
+
+The cops come out of the building on foot. Too late.
+
+Ace in hot pursuit almost runs the cops down.
+
+ACE
+(yelling at cops) 
+S'cuse meee! Pet Detective!
+
+EXT. CITY STREETS - DAY
+
+Ace's head is out the driver's window through the entire chase. As he starts gaining on the bad guys, they start shooting. Ace wisely puts his head inside the car.
+
+ACE'S POV
+
+He can't see shit through his broken windshield.
+
+He pokes his head out again. They shoot again.
+
+Ace swerves off the road into…
+
+EXT. PARK - DAY
+
+Ace's car smashes through benches and tables. Then it flips over a few times and lands on its wheels with a horrid SMASH. Ace is still strapped into the drivers seat, unconscious.
+
+Ace's prized WHITE PIGEON lands on the car door right beside him. Ace cracks his eyes and sees the bird. Then, with a sudden quick lunge he successfully traps it in his hands, and forgets all about Marino.
+
+ACE 
+I did it! I did it! I caught thewhite pigeon! I caught the whitepigeon!
+
+Ace jumps out of his car and starts skipping around the park with the pigeon held high over his head. He looks insane.
+
+ACE (CONT'D)
+(singing) 
+I caught the white pigeon, Icaught the white pigeon, I caughtthe white…
+
+Ace slows down and begins to look around warily. There are now an unusual number of birds perched on the telephone wires around the park and on the monkey bars, and on the swings.
+
+The sky grows darker. He slowly turns and tries to get back to the car. All the birds take flight.
+
+Ace sets the white pigeon free and starts to run, but it's too late. The birds are on him. Pecking, and gouging, and ripping his flesh.
+
+Now we see ten birds flying away with a leg. Five birds flying away with an arm. Twenty others are trying to take Ace's left arm off, and half his face is missing…
+
+ACE 
+AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!
+
+CUT TO:
+
+EXT. PARK - DAY
+
+Ace is back in his wrecked car with his arm hanging out the window. A small boy is pulling it.
+
+BOY 
+Hey mister. Hey mister.
+
+Ace come to suddenly, and looks at the boy with a crazed expression.
+
+BOY (CONT'D) 
+That was a really neat crash,mister. Do it again!
+
+Ace sighs with relief.
+
+EXT. MIAMI - DAY
+
+Various headlines hit the news stands: "MARINO KIDNAPPED" "STAR QB MISSING" "DAN WHERE ARE YOU?"
+
+THE GLOBE HEADLINE: "MARINO ABDUCTED BY ALIEN FRANCHISE!" On the cover, Marino stands with several Space Aliens in football gear.
+
+EXT. POLICE STATION - LATER THAT DAY
+
+A chaotic press conference. Zillions of REPORTERS shout all kinds of questions at Einhorn.
+
+REPORTER 
+Lieutenant, have there been anyransom demands?
+
+EINHORN 
+There's been no communication withthe kidnappers at this time.
+
+REPORTER #2 
+What's going to happen to theSuper Bowl? Will it be postponed?
+
+EINHORN 
+As of now, the game is going on asscheduled.
+
+REPORTER #3 
+Why wasn't the public told aboutSnowflake's kidnapping?
+
+EINHORN 
+Secrecy was essential. We didn'twant any public interference.
+
+REPORTER 
+Are the crimes related? And whatabout Roger Podacter's murder?
+
+EINHORN 
+I'm sorry. I can't comment anyfurther. Now if you'll excuse me.
+
+Einhorn pushes her way through the crowd of reporters.
+
+INT. POLICE STATION - MOMENTS LATER
+
+Einhorn is barking out orders to other cops as she heads for her office.
+
+EINHORN 
+Emilio, get me the autopsy onPodacter! Aguado, send out amemo. No one talks to thepress…
+
+INT. EINHORN'S OFFICE - CONTINUOUS ACTION
+
+EINHORN 
+…And somebody get me a cup ofcoffee!
+
+ACE
+(TV announcer's voice) 
+Tonight on "MIAMI VICE", Crockettgeets the boss coffee!
+
+Ace is in her office, popping sunflower seeds, kicking back. Einhorn walks to her private bathroom.
+
+EINHORN 
+Ventura, when I get out of thisbathroom, you better be gone.
+
+ACE 
+Is it number one or number two?
+
+Einhorn turns and glares at Ace.
+
+ACE 
+I just want to know how much timeI have.
+
+Einhorn goes to the sink and begins washing her hands.
+
+ACE 
+Oh, by the way, I went ahead andsolved that pesky,Snowflake/Podacter/Marino thing.
+
+EINHORN (O.S.)
+(humoring him) 
+Oh yeah?
+
+ACE 
+yeah, ever hear of a formerDolphin kicker named Ray Finkle?
+
+The water shuts off. Einhorn appears around the corner.
+
+EINHORN 
+Alright, Ventura. Make it quick.
+
+ACE 
+I found a rare stone at the bottomof Snowflake's tank. It's from aDolphin '82 AFC Championship ring.It would have been a Super Bowlring, but Ray Finkle missed thebig kick. Blames the whole thingon Marino. We're talkingparanoid, delusional psychosis. Isaw the guy's room… Cozy, ifyou're Hannibal Lector.
+
+EINHORN 
+So how does Roger Podacter fit in?
+
+ACE 
+My guess is Finkle was snoopingaround. Podacter recognized him.End of story. As for Snowflake…they gave him Finkle's number, andtaught him how to kick a fieldgoal. Finkle took it personally.
+
+Einhorn listens with great interest.
+
+EINHORN 
+So where is Finkle, now?
+
+ACE 
+He broke out of a metal hospital.Did a Claude Raines. He's beenplanning his revenge for years.Waiting for the perfect time toget back at the Dolphins. The timewhen it would hurt them the most.Super Bowl time! Man, I'm tiredof being right!
+
+Einhorn walks in front and sits on the edge of the desk. She's totally softened her demeanor.
+
+EINHORN 
+Congratulations. You've done somefine detective work, Ace.
+
+ACE 
+Ahh, could you talk in my goodear. I thought I heard you callme Ace.
+
+Einhorn gets real close.
+
+EINHORN 
+Maybe I was wrong about you.Maybe you are more than just a petdick.
+
+SHE SUDDENLY PLANTS A MAJOR, TONSIL CLEANING, OPEN MOUTHED KISS ON ACE. Objects are knocked off the desk as they lean back.
+
+ACE 
+Your gun's digging into my hip.
+
+More kissing, the Ace stops.
+
+EINHORN
+(still coming on) 
+What's wrong, Ace? Want me toread you your rights?
+
+ACE 
+Maybe later.
+
+EINHORN 
+What is it? That bony littlebitch, Melissa Robinson?
+
+ACE
+(defensive) 
+No. You just don't do anythingfor me.
+
+He quickly adjusts his crotch, to conceal the erection. Einhorn withdraws with a coy smile.
+
+EINHORN 
+I'll be here if you ever want areal woman.
+
+There's a sharp KNOCK at the door.
+
+EINHORN 
+What is it?
+
+Aguado opens the door.
+
+AGUADO 
+Everything okay in here? Heardsome commotion.
+
+EINHORN 
+Fine, Sergeant.
+
+AGUADO 
+You want me to throw him out?
+
+EINHORN 
+Why don't you throw yourself out.
+
+AGUADO 
+…Yes, ma'am.
+
+A crestfallen Aguado exits. Ace heads for the door.
+
+EINHORN 
+Ace, I want you to leaveeverything to us.
+
+ACE 
+Can't do that, Lieutenant. I washired to find Snowflake.
+
+EINHORN 
+When we find Marino, We'll deliverSnowflake.
+
+ACE 
+When I find Snowflake, I'lldeliver Marino.
+
+He exits.
+
+INT. TEA ROOM - NIGHT
+
+A full on thrash metal band is cranking on stage. Kids leap wildly into the moshing pit. The same Burnout is still thrashing his head wildly to the music.
+
+ACE
+(shouting) 
+Nice to see you again!
+
+The Burnout just keeps thrashing. Ace spots Woodstock watching the band and joins him.
+
+WOODSTOCK 
+St. Francis, how's it goin'?
+
+ACE
+(kidding) 
+That's none of your damn business.
+
+WOODSTOCK 
+Isn't it?
+
+ACE 
+Is it?
+
+WOODSTOCK 
+Anything new on that dolphin?
+
+ACE 
+Got his picture on some tuna cans,but nothing so far.
+
+A singer ROARS on stage. He sounds like a garbage disposal full of cutlery.
+
+SINGERArroohhghhh! Myrrrooohghhhh!Geroooghhh!
+
+WOODSTOCK 
+So, what can I do for you today?
+
+ACE 
+I need info on a football flunkynamed Ray Finkle.
+
+WOODSTOCK 
+Sorry, Ace, I can't help you rightnow. I gotta watch this band!They are the shit!
+
+ACE 
+Are they?
+
+WOODSTOCK 
+Aren't they?
+
+ACE 
+Alright then. Don't worry aboutit. I mean dolphins aren'texactly an endangered species.It's not like the whole foodchain's gonna be affected if onehighly intelligent mammal dies aslow and painful death! Hell, ifthe band is loud enough, you won'teven hear its pitiful whimpering!!
+
+Ace does his best suffering dolphin impression. Woodstock is no longer enjoying the band.
+
+CUT TO:
+
+INT. BASEMENT - NIGHT
+
+Woodstock is at his computer. Ace looks over his shoulder. Finkle's Social Security information appears on the screen.
+
+WOODSTOCK 
+This guy's last reported incomewas September, 1982.
+
+ACE 
+Well then. We know he'sincredibly thrifty.
+
+WOODSTOCK 
+Is he?
+
+ACE 
+Isn't he?
+
+Woodstock types in more information. Finkle's TRW flashes on the screen.
+
+WOODSTOCK 
+Well, I think we can be prettysure he's involved in thekidnapping of the dolphin.
+
+ACE 
+Really? What makes you say that?
+
+WOODSTOCK 
+There's two-thousand dollars worthof smelts on his VISA card.
+
+After a beat Ace realizes it was a bad joke.
+
+ACE 
+Please yank me no further. I begof you.
+
+WOODSTOCK 
+Alright already. The last timethis guy used his credit card wasJune, '84. He rented a car fromAvis. And… eww… he was a badboy. They found it abandoned twomonths later in South Miami.
+
+ACE 
+Anything else?
+
+WOODSTOCK 
+Nope.
+
+ACE 
+Well… you did all you could.Thanks for nothin.
+
+WOODSTOCK 
+Hey man, according to this, yourfriend Ray Finkle doesn't exist.
+
+ACE 
+Hmm, I know what that's like.
+
+WOODSTOCK 
+Do you?
+
+ACE 
+Don't I?
+
+INT. TEA ROOM - NIGHT
+
+Ace emerges from the basement. The band is between songs. Ace strolls by the burnout whose head has now stopped.
+
+ACE
+(to burnout) 
+Did you get all the spiders outtathere?
+
+Ace heads out, then freezes. The two thugs that took Marino are standing at the exit. Then they see Ace and start towards him, reaching inside their coats.
+
+Suddenly the music starts. The burnout's head wails again. His manic gyrations interfere with the thugs long enough for Ace to bolt.
+
+One of the thugs pushes the burnout violently against the wall as they pursue Ace.
+
+BURNOUT
+(calling, as he gets up) 
+Thanks, man! You're a greatdancer!
+
+Ace pushes his way through the crowd. The thugs follow.
+
+Ace nears the stage. It's wild. People are diving off and getting moshed.
+
+Before the thugs grab him, Ace runs up and throws himself from the stage. The insane crowd begins to pass him around over their heads.
+
+The thugs exchange a look, then dive after Ace, and a "mosh" chase ensues.
+
+Ace is passed back onto the stage as the song comes to an end. The singer is lying there exhausted. Ace sees the crowd starting to put the thugs down, so he quickly grabs the microphone off the floor.
+
+ACE
+(screams) 
+ONE, TWO, THREE, FOUR, SPANK MEMOMMY!!!
+
+The audience looks at Ace for a second. Then the band members exchange a look and go for it!!
+
+It's a nightmarish little ditty. Ace sings like one of Satan's minions.
+
+ACE 
+URGHHUURRAAAW! ARGHUURRRREEEW!
+
+The crowd seems to understand. They throw the thugs high in the air again and mosh them away from the stage. The Thugs are shooting stray bullets the whole time.
+
+Ace incites the crowd, even more now, with a punching gesture. The crowd follows their new leader, punching with one hand, moshing with the other.
+
+The thugs get the living crap "moshed" out of them.
+
+When the song ends, Ace raises fists in the air. The cheering crowd violently drops the thugs. They're out cold.
+
+EXT. TEA ROOM - NIGHT
+
+Ace's car PEELS OUT and races by the parked '81 Ford Bronco.
+
+EXT. MELISSA'S APARTMENT - NIGHT
+
+Ace's car skids to a halt. He hops out.
+
+INT. MELISSA'S APARTMENT - NIGHT
+
+There's a loud BANGING at the door. Melissa awakens, looks at the clock: 3:32 a.m. She drags herself to the door.
+
+MELISSA 
+Who is it?
+
+ACE (O.S.) 
+Ira.
+
+MELISSA 
+Ira who?
+
+ACE (O.S.) 
+I refuse to do a 'knock knockjoke'. Come on, open up!
+
+Melissa opens the door.
+
+MELISSA 
+Ace, what are you doing? It's themiddle of the night!
+
+ACE 
+You have to commit me.
+
+EXT. HIGHWAY - DAWN
+
+Ace's clunker speeds down the highway.
+
+ACE (V.O.) 
+Finkle escaped from Shady Acres inTampa. They still have some ofhis stuff.
+
+MELISSA (V.O.) 
+So you think they're going to letus just waltz in and look around?
+
+EXT. SHADY ACRES - ESTABLISHING - DAY
+
+A state hospital located on acres of green, manicured lawns.
+
+INT. SHADY ACRES - DAY
+
+The reception area. A DOCTOR is before Melissa.
+
+DOCTOR 
+Mrs. Robinson? I'm Doctor Handly.Now who is it that you'd like tohave us look at?
+
+MELISSA 
+My brother… Eugene.
+
+ANGLE ON ACE - Looking like the football player who never wore a helmet.
+
+ACE 
+I'm ready to go in, Coach. Justgive me a chance. I know there's alot riding on it, but it's allpsychological. Got to stay in apositive frame of mind. Memorizethe play book. Study the films.
+
+Ace strikes a dramatic pose and freezes, with a crazed look on his face.
+
+ACE (CON'T) 
+I'm gonna execute a button-hookpattern!
+
+He begins to make a play in slow motion.
+
+ACE (CON'T) 
+Super slo-mo!
+
+CUT TO:
+
+EXT. SHADY ACRES HOSPITAL - DAY
+
+Melissa walks with the Doctor. Patients are sitting around, doing outdoor therapy, etc.
+
+DOCTOR 
+You're brother won't be the firstprofessional football player we'vetreated.
+
+MELISSA 
+Is that right?
+
+DOCTOR 
+Yes. We're very sensitive to theemotional stress athletes have toendure.
+
+Ace runs across the b.g. screaming "I'm open! I'm open!"
+
+DOCTOR 
+We'll have to do some preliminaryevaluations, but I think yourbrother will fit in nicely here.
+
+MELISSA 
+That's a relief, Doctor.
+
+Ace takes a "snap" from a three-foot hedge and dives over it into the end zone. Melissa and the doctor stop to watch him.
+
+DOCTOR 
+He seems to have some difficultyletting go of the game. Has hehad a long history of mentalillness?
+
+MELISSA
+(truthfully) 
+As long as I've known him.
+
+Ace does a wild touchdown dance with some of the other patients participating.
+
+INT. SHADY GLADE ACRES - HALLWAY - DAY
+
+The doctor is showing Melissa around. Ace is walking alongside them adjusting his imaginary shoulder pads.
+
+DOCTOR 
+This is our therapy room… Artsand crafts…
+
+They turn a corner. Ace squats to pick the dirt out of his cleats.
+
+DOCTOR (CON'T) 
+That's the storage room. Thishallway leads to anotherrecreational area –
+
+Ace WHISTLES loudly and gestures like a referee…
+
+ACE 
+HALFTIIIIME!!
+
+Ace sticks his head in the water fountain then sits down on the bench outside the storage room.
+
+MELISSA 
+He'll be fine by himself for thenext twenty minutes.
+
+DOCTOR 
+Well, why don't I show you thedormitories, then?
+
+They leave Ace.
+
+After a beat, Ace gets up and does a quick spin pattern into the storage room door.
+
+INT. STORAGE ROOM - CONTINUOUS ACTION
+
+Cartons everywhere. Ace does a quick search and locates several boxes maked FINKLE.
+
+Ace looks through the first couple of boxes and finds only clothes. In the third box, he hits the jackpot: He finds sicko arts and crafts dedicated to Marino. Die-Dan potholders, shredded Isotoner gloves. He opens a little diary. "Laces Out!" is insanely scrawled on every page.
+
+Ace finds a newspaper clipping, the headline reads:
+
+SEARCH CALLED OFF FOR MISSING HIKER
+
+ACE
+(reading) 
+A massive search ended today whenrescue workers were unable to findthe body of Lois Einhorn…
+(stunned) 
+…a camper reported lost sinceFriday…
+(to himself) 
+Lois Einhorn… holy shit balls.
+
+Ace sits bewildered.
+
+INT. POLICE STATION - DAY
+
+The phone rings at Emilio's desk. He answers it.
+
+EMILIO 
+Echavez.
+
+INT. SHADY ACRES - HALLWAY - DAY
+
+Ace is on the phone. A CRAZY GUY is hovering nearby.
+
+ACE 
+This is Chicken Little. The skyis falling.
+
+EMILIO 
+What?
+
+BACK TO EMILIO
+
+A beat as he listens to Ace's news.
+
+EMILIO 
+I don't get it. What's it mean?
+
+INTERCUT ACE/EMILIO
+
+ACE 
+It means she's involved in this.The article's dated the day beforeFinkle disappeared.
+
+EMILIO 
+Before who disappeared?
+
+ACE 
+Finkle. Ray Finkle… the guy whotook the dolphin? The guy you'resupposed to be looking for?!Einhorn didn't tell you, did she?
+
+EMILIO 
+Hey, Ace. I see where you'regoin' with this and you're goin'alone.
+
+A Crazy Guy stands next to Ace now and begins mimicking everything he says.
+
+ACE 
+Come on, E. I tell her aboutFinkle, she doesn't tell a soul.I have an article here thatconnects her with Finkle. Yougotta' check her out.
+(to Crazy Guy mimicking) 
+Do you mind?
+
+The Crazy Guy stops and moves to one of the phones.
+
+EMILIO 
+Ace, I like my job. I get healthinsurance and benefits.
+
+CRAZY GUY
+(into receiver) 
+I'm the Lindberg Baby. Come andget me.
+
+ACE 
+Emilio, Einhorn is involved.You're gonna' have to make adecision here.
+(beat) 
+Listen, I gotta get off the phone.I think I just solved the Lindbergcase.
+
+Melissa and the Doctor return.
+
+DOCTOR 
+Well, look who's trying to use thephone.
+
+Ace covers the phone receiver and whispers to them in a heartfelt voice.
+
+ACE 
+Brian Piccalo is dead.
+
+Ace breaks down. Melissa hangs up the phone and leads him away.
+
+We hear a thrash version of the theme to "Brian's Song" as they exit the hospital.
+
+INT. POLICE STATION - NIGHT
+
+Emilio stands at a window, watching Einhorn drive off. The coast is clear so he sneaks into…
+
+INT. EINHORN'S OFFICE - CONTINUOUS
+
+He rifles through her file cabinet. He tears through papers. Then he looks in her desk.
+
+Stuffed in the back of the drawer he finds a personal note: We can make out the signature. Roger. He pockets it and walks out.
+
+EXT. MELISSA'S APARTMENT - NIGHT
+
+Ace and Melissa pull up in the old heap.
+
+ACE 
+Good job today. You're quite adirty rotten filthy liar.
+
+MELISSA
+(flattered) 
+Thanks. Are you sure you don'twant to stay here with me?
+
+ACE 
+Naw, I got some thinking to do.Besides, you'd be safer withSalman Rushdie
+
+MELISSA 
+Okay.
+
+She gets out of the car, then turns and leans in the window.
+
+MELISSA 
+Listen… I know there isn't muchtime left. The game is tomorrow.But I know you've done your best.It's just an impossible situation.I don't expect..
+
+ACE 
+Hey…
+
+Ace leans over and kisses her.
+
+ACE (CONT'D) 
+…bet on the Dolphins.
+
+INT. ACE'S APARTMENT - LATE NIGHT
+
+CLOSE UP: ANSWERING MACHINE
+
+Wiggles' nose enters frame and hits the play button.
+
+MESSAGE #1
+(Shickadance rasp) 
+Venturaaaa? Your time is up!You're out! You hear me?! Norent… no roof!
+
+We widen to find Ace on the couch listening.
+
+MESSAGE #2 
+Ace, it's E. Got something youmight find interesting. It's anote from Podacter to Einhorn,thanking her for a wonderfulSaturday night. This is tooweird, man?
+
+ACE 
+Wiggles, rewind.
+
+Wiggles obediently hits another button and rewinds the phone tape. Ace pops sunflower seeds, and holds some evidence aloft thinking. A bird eats seeds out of his naval.
+
+ACE 
+What the hell does Lois Einhornhave to do with Ray Finkle? Comeon, think!
+
+DISSOLVE TO:
+
+Later. Ace is posed like Rodin's "The Thinker".
+
+ACE 
+Finkle and Einhorn. In ittogether. How? Why?
+
+A small monkey sits in the same position. Mocking Ace.
+
+DISSOLVE TO:
+
+Later still. Ace pacing, jumping up and down. Trying to get his intuitive juices flowing. The monkey is likewise, jumping on the mantle.
+
+ACE 
+Alright! Here we go! Answer'sright there! Just gotta get someblood to the brain! Finkle andEinhorn! Finkle and Einhorn!Finkle and Einhorn! Finkle andEinhorn!
+
+The animals all watch him like he's crazy.
+
+DISSOLVE TO:
+
+Daybreak. Ace sits staring at a picture of Finkle on the coffee table. He's totally spent and on the verge of tears.
+
+ACE
+(whimpering) 
+Finkle and Einhorn. Einhorn andFinkle.
+
+He turns to see the monkey crashed out in a heap on a sofa pillow.
+
+ACE
+(to sleeping monkey) 
+Quitter.
+
+Wiggles jumps up onto the coffee table now. Ace can't be bothered with him.
+
+ACE 
+What do you want? Huh?
+
+Wiggles whines at the tone of Ace's voice.
+
+ACE (CONT'D) 
+What? I got no food for you. Yougotta have money to buy food. Igotta find the dolphin to get themoney. I don't see any dolphinsaround here, do you? Face it,it's hopeless… your master is aLOSER.
+
+Ace buries his face in his hands. His dog Wiggles does the same. Then Ace looks up again.
+
+ACE 
+LOO… HOO…
+
+Suddenly he is silenced by something amazing.
+
+Wiggles' dark haired floppy ears are lying around Finkle's picture like a wig. Ace combs the hair over the head shot. The "make-over" is unmistakable. It's Einhorn!!
+
+ACE 
+Oh, my god! That's it!
+
+He jumps up, estatic.
+
+ACE 
+Einhorn is Finkle! Finkle isEinhorn!… Einhorn is a man!!!
+
+Ace's expression quickly turns sour.
+
+ACE 
+OH MY GOD!!! EINHORN IS A MAN!!!
+
+MUSIC UP: AEROSMITH'S DUD LOOKS LIKE A LADY…
+
+Ace makes a mad dash into the bathroom.
+
+INT. ACE'S BATHROOM - MORNING - QUICK CUTS
+
+…Ace furiously brushes his teeth.
+
+…Ace rinses with mouthwash, spits it out and gags.
+
+…Ace is in the shower. He slowly curls up into a ball under the steaming water with an expression of horror on his face.
+
+INT. EINHORN'S HOUSE - DAY
+
+CLOSE UP:
+
+A woman's leg being shaved.
+
+Woman sexily putting on nylons.
+
+Woman hands squeezing perfume bulb.
+
+Woman's hand putting on AFC championship ring. One stone is missing.
+
+EXT. EINHORN'S HOUSE - CONTINUOUS
+
+Ace sticks wads of gum in his mouth while he watches Einhorn's house from his car.
+
+ACE
+(remembering) 
+You're gun is sticking into my hip.Yeeeekkkk!
+
+Einhorn comes out her front door and gets into her car. Ace shudders once more and then follows her.
+
+EXT. MIAMI STREET - DAY
+
+The road is jammed in one direction. Going towards the Super Bowl. Einhorn drives in the opposite direction. Out of town. Ace tails her at a safe distance, with his head out the window, of course.
+
+INT. BOBBY RIDDLE STADIUM - DAY
+
+Various shots of crazy fans, piling into the stadium.
+
+INT. STADIUM OWNER'S BOX - DAY
+
+Melissa, BOBBY RIDDLE, and GUESTS all amidst the usual pre-game hobnobbing. Most of the talk centers on the loss of Marino.
+
+Emilio, in full uniform, and a couple cops are providing extra security for the box.
+
+EXT. HIGHWAY ONE - DAY
+
+Einhorn drives south out of town. The area's getting remote. Ace follows.
+
+Einhorn turns down a deserted road and comes to…
+
+EXT. INDUSTRIAL PLANT - DAY
+
+A large, abandoned industrial facility. Einhorn parks, disappears inside…
+
+A few beats later, Ace kills the engine and exits singing the score to "Mission Impossible".
+
+INT. INDUSTRIAL PLANT - DAY
+
+Immense machines and swimming pool sized cauldrons.
+
+Ace cautiously makes his way through the desolate site, singing quietly now. He stops when he hears a familiar voice.
+
+JOHN MADDEN (O.S.) 
+I particularly like the match-upsof the defense.
+
+Ace sees a weird sight: A HUGE TV PROJECTION SCREEN tuned to the Super Bowl pre-game show. Marino is tied to a football tackling sled. The two thugs take turns running into Dan with their shoulders, driving him back five feet each time.
+
+JOHN MADDEN (ON TV) 
+…But the real story of this gameis the absence of Dan Marino. Himbeing kidnapped and all has got tobe a strain on this Miami team. Ireally feel sorry for those guys! Imean, it's hard enough enduringthe pressure of the Super Bowl,without your star quarterbackgettin' himself kidnapped. Thisis the whole ball of wax, folks!You wanna' get kidnapped, you doit in the off season!…
+
+Marino looks incredulously at the screen. Next to him, Snowflake "watches" from a ground level cistern serving as an ad hoc tank.
+
+Ace sneaks closer.
+
+INT. BOBBY RIDDLE STADIUM - DAY
+
+The crowd quiets as Jon Bon Jovi prepares to sing the National Anthem.
+
+Various shots of fans all standing at attention.
+
+In the owners box, Melissa looks to Emilio. Nothing's new.
+
+INT. INDUSTRIAL PLANT - DAY
+
+Einhorn is now in front of the big screen TV SINGING the National Anthem along with Bon Jovi. The thugs, VINNIE and ROC, are behind her standing at attention.
+
+The song ends. The crowd cheers.
+
+In a sultry fashion Einhorn circles Marino now.
+
+EINHORN 
+I just love Super Bowl Sunday,don't you, Dan? A magicalafternoon where dreams are made…or crushed!
+
+DAN 
+Look lady, if you want tickets,you're going about it in the wrongway.
+
+EINHORN 
+Do I look familiar to you, Dan?Does it seem as if we've metsomeplace before?
+
+DAN 
+I don't know… I get hit in thehead a lot!
+
+On the TV the ref makes an announcement.
+
+REFIt's tails. The Eagles willreceive.
+
+Dan really struggles now.
+
+EINHORN 
+Oops. Looks like we're going tohave to kick, Dan.
+
+Einhorn steps behind a football set up on a tee. And in perfect sync with the kicker on TV, she boots a ball through a window of the warehouse.
+
+Marino doesn't know what to think.
+
+EINHORN 
+I made some refreshments, Dan.Would you like some refreshments,Dan? I'll be right back,Daaaan!!
+
+She goes. Dan struggles, but to no avail.
+
+MARINO 
+Look, I don't know how much psychowoman is paying you guys, but Ican double it.
+
+VINNIE 
+Sorry, Danny boy. Psycho womankeeps us out of prison.
+
+Vinnie grabs a feeder fish and entices Snowflake to the surface. Roc raises a football.
+
+ROCHey, Marino, check it out. I'mthrowin' passes to a Dolphin!
+
+He chucks the ball and hits Snowflake, hard. The thugs both laugh hysterically.
+
+Snowflake makes an angry leap and drenches the thugs. Snowflake laughs now, the thugs are furious.
+
+VINNIE 
+Get some more fish!
+
+INT. BEHIND MACHINERY - CONTINUOUS
+
+Roc walks behind a big piece of machinery, reaches down for the pail of smelts, but sees nothing.
+
+ROCWhere the hell's the smelts?
+
+He stands up straight and we all hear that familiar "Pop" of a sunflower seed being cracked open.
+
+Roc's eyes widen. He turns and sees…
+
+Ace coyly smiles at him, blows the sunflower seed shells into his face and CLANG! He whacks Roc in the head with a pail full of fish.
+
+ACE
+(doing Brando) 
+He sleeps with the fishes.
+
+INT. INDUSTRIAL PLANT - CONTINUOUS
+
+VINNIE 
+Hey Roc, what the hell was that?
+
+Vinnie cocks his gun and goes to check out the sound.
+
+INT. BEHIND MACHINERY - CONTINUOUS
+
+Vinnie rounds the corner and sees nothing. He walks a little further and notices a trail of smelts lined up on the ground.
+
+He follows the trail around a corner and we see Roc, unconscious but moaning. He is sitting against the ground, with his legs spread apart and the pail over his head. The trail of smelts leads to his crotch. There is one halfway into his zipper, with its tail flipping.
+
+Vinnie takes in this sight, then rushes over to Roc and stands him up.
+
+VINNIE 
+Hey man! What happened? What'sgoin on…?
+
+We see Ace at the top of a giant machine. He is aiming a 200 pound steel hook, that hangs on a chain from the ceiling.
+
+ACE 
+Guess what, boys, it's nap time.
+
+Ace gently releases the hook. Just as Vinnie and Roc turn to look, the iron hook shears both of their heads clean off.
+
+Two headless bodies fall to the ground in slow motion with blood gushing from their necks.
+
+CLOSE ON ACE - HORRIFIED
+
+ACE 
+Hooooly Shiiit! Oh my god! Ididn't mean to - Oh man!!!
+
+Ace holds his head and dances around, completely freaking out what he had done.
+
+ACE
+(looking to God) 
+Lord, I swear! I just wanted toknock them out!
+
+Ace abruptly stops to think.
+
+ACE 
+Is that murder? I don't know.They were gonna kill me. But theydidn't… But they tried. That'sself defense. That's it!! I havenothing to worry about!!
+
+CUT TO:
+
+Ace nervously whistling as he wipes his fingerprints off the hook.
+
+INT. IRONWORKS FACTORY - FACTORY
+
+Ace checks on Snowflake then goes to Marino. He signals for Dan to keep quiet, then starts to untie him.
+
+MARINO
+(whispers) 
+Who are you?
+
+ACE
+(whispers) 
+Ace Ventura. Pet detective. I'vebeen sent in with a special play.
+(whispers) 
+Quarterback sneak.
+
+WE HEAR THE CLICK OF A GUN.
+
+EINHORN (O.S.) 
+Penalty. Too many men on thefield.
+
+Ace turns. Einhorn's holding a gun on them from the other side of Snowflake's tank.
+
+EINHORN (CON'T) 
+I warned you, Ventura.
+
+ACE 
+What happened to "Ace"?
+
+EINHORN 
+Good question.
+
+She pulls out a cellular phone and dials.
+
+ACE 
+Be careful with that phone,lieutenant. I wouldn't want youto get a tumor.
+
+EINHORN
+(into phone) 
+Sergeant Aguado, it's Lt. Einhorn.Get some men over to the oldironworks factory on VictoriaRoad. I've got the kidnappertrapped in the warehouse. It'sAce Ventura. He's killed Marinoand Snowflake.
+
+Einhorn smiles as she puts the phone away.
+
+EINHORN 
+Vinnie! Roc! Get in here!
+
+Ace gets a very guilty look.
+
+ACE 
+What? Who are they? You meanthere's other people here?
+
+EXT. POLICE STATION - DAY
+
+A battalion of cop cars screech away as we hear…
+
+RADIO DISPATCHER
+(V.O.) 
+Attention all units. Code 11 inprogress at 343 Victorville Road.Officer needs back-up…
+
+INT. BOBBY RIDDLE STADIUM OWNER'S BOX - DAY
+
+The cops and Emilio listen to their ear pieces…
+
+RADIO DISPATCHER
+(V.O.) 
+…Suspect's name: Ace Ventura,male Caucasian, he is armed anddangerous…
+
+Emilio nudges Melissa.
+
+EMILIO 
+It's Ace. Let's go.
+
+INT. HALLWAY - CONTINUOUS
+
+Emilio high tails it out of there. Dodging concession stand patrons, bathroom lines, etc… Melissa runs behind, trying to catch up.
+
+MELISSA 
+Emilio, is he in trouble?
+
+EMILIO 
+Don't worry, there's nothing Acecan't handle!
+
+INT. IRONWORKS FACTORY - DAY
+
+Einhorn cocks her gun. Ace's face is glistening with tears. He's a complete wreck.
+
+ACE 
+Don't kill meeee!!Pleeheeheeheeheeeezzz!!! I'llnever tell anyone! I swear!
+(indicating Marino) 
+He's the one you want!! Killhim!!
+
+MARINO
+(indicating Ace) 
+No… kill him!
+
+The two argue. Einhorn fires a shot in the air to stop them.
+
+EINHORN 
+No, I'm gonna kill the dolphinfirst.
+(to Ace) 
+I wouldn't want you to miss that.
+
+Einhorn walks to the edge of the tank. She aims the gun at Snowflake and FIRES!
+
+We see the bullet miss Snowflake under water.
+
+Snowflake swims wildly. She FIRES again! Misses again. Suddenly, Ace HOLLERS!
+
+ACE 
+Blue forty-two!!
+
+Einhorn turns to Ace.
+
+EINHORN 
+SHUT UP!!
+
+ACE 
+BLUE FORTY-TWO!
+
+Einhorn shoots at Ace! He dives out of the way.
+
+ACE 
+HUT! HUT!
+
+Suddenly, Snowflake leaps out of the water and takes the gun out of Einhorn's hand, like the trick we saw earlier. Snowflake swims around the pool with the gun in his mouth.
+
+ACE
+(smug) 
+Yes. The highly trained dolphin.Perhaps the smartest mammal in theanimal kingdom. See how he knewexactly what I wanted him to do,as if our minds were somehow incomplete synchronization. Theyhave been know to save men at seayou know. They have their ownlanguage.
+(to Snowflake) 
+Snowflake. Come here, Snowflake!Bring me the gun!
+(makes dolphin sounds) 
+EEEEEE! EEEEEE! EEEEEE!
+
+Just like the trick in his routine, however, Snowflake swims around the tank, passes Ace, then hands the gun back to Einhorn. He finishes with a tail walk.
+
+ACE
+(under his breath) 
+Stupid fish.
+
+ON TV: Miami's kicker boots a perfect field goal from fifty yards.
+
+JOHN MADDEN 
+He got all of his leg into thatone!
+
+The field goal kicker is hugged by his teammates.
+
+ACE 
+Good to see someone who doesn'tbuckle under the pressure?
+
+MARINO 
+Yeah, not like in 82 when wechoked…
+
+Einhorn walks to Ace and puts the gun against his head.
+
+EINHORN 
+What would you know aboutpressure?
+
+ACE 
+Well, I've kissed a man.
+
+JOHN MADDEN (ON TV) 
+Of course, there's never been amore crucial kick than the famousKick heard 'round the world…
+
+The famous footage airs on TV. They all turn to watch.
+
+JOHN MADDEN 
+…I mean, it's clear to me thatit was a good hold. Finkle justbooted it.
+
+EINHORN 
+The laces weren't out. THE LACESWEREN'T OUT!!
+
+Einhorn takes a shot at the screen, creating a hole in Madden's forehead. Ace uses the moment to smack the gun out of her hand.
+
+A HUGE, NO-HOLDS-BARRED FIGHT ensues. Ace and Einhorn punch each other about the face and stomach.
+
+Einhorn throws a punch at Ace. Ace goes down.
+
+Einhorn goes for the loose gun. Ace leaps and tackles her.
+
+They both crash into old rusty equipment, raising a mountain of dust. Marino struggles all the while trying to get free.
+
+Einhorn kicks Ace. He flies into Marino.
+
+MARINO 
+Having a little trouble with thelady, Ace?
+
+ACE
+(out of breath) 
+You don't understand, she's a –
+
+Einhorn grabs Ace, throws him into a head lock and begins wailing on his face.
+
+Meanwhile, cops start arriving, SWAT team members disperse onto the catwalk as the fight continues. They try but can't get a bead on Ace as the two roll around on the floor.
+
+More punches. They fight up a flight of stairs, then back down. To the amazement of the SWAT team, Ace and Einhorn slug it out as equals.
+
+AGUADO
+(caught up) 
+Get him, Lois!
+
+Now they crash through a plate glass window together. Ace gets to his knees first and wobbles toward the gun. It's the first clear shot the SWAT team has had.
+
+EINHORN
+(screaming) 
+Shoot him! Shoot him!
+
+We all hear the guns cocked. We see Ace in the rifle sights. We see fingers twitch on triggers.
+
+A loud voice comes from off camera.
+
+EMILIO 
+DON'T SHOOT! HOLD YOUR FIRE!
+
+Melissa is holding Emilio's gun under his chin.
+
+MELISSA 
+Put down your guns or this copgets it!
+
+The SWAT team hesitates.
+
+MELISSA (CONT'D) 
+I mean it!!
+
+Much to Emilio's surprise, she cocks the gun.
+
+EMILIO
+(whispers to Melissa) 
+Ah… Melissa? That's a hairtrigger.
+(loud to cops) 
+She's not joking!
+
+The SWAT team leader signals his men. They lower their guns. Einhorn gets back to her feet.
+
+EINHORN 
+He kidnapped Snowflake. He killedRoger Podacter, and he was aboutto kill Dan Marino and me!
+
+ACE 
+Ho, ho! Fiction can be fun! ButI find the reference section muchmore enlightening.
+(doing his best Clarence Darrow) 
+For instance, if you were to lookup 'professional football's alltime bonehead plays', you mightread about a Miami Dolphin kickernamed Ray Finkle, who missed atwenty-six yard field goal in theclosing seconds of Super BowlSeventeen.
+(in one breath) 
+What you wouldn't read about ishow Ray Finkle lost his mind, andwas committed to a mentalinstitute, only to escape and jointhe police force under the assumedidentity of a missing hker,seducing her way to the top, in adiabolical plan to get even withDan Marino whom he blamed for theentire thing!!!
+
+Ace gasps for air. Everyone is totally confused.
+
+AGUADO 
+What the hell are you trying tosay?
+
+ACE 
+She's not Lois Einhorn! She's RayFinkle! She's a man!
+
+EINHORN 
+He's lying! Shoot him!
+
+Ace walks over to her.
+
+ACE 
+Let's just see who's lying. Woulda real woman have to wear one ofthese?
+
+Ace dramatically pulls at Einhorn's hair, thinking it's a wig. Einhorn's head flies back. The hair is real. Ace keeps tugging it.
+
+The SWAT team ready themselves.
+
+ACE (CONT'D) 
+Boy, that's really on there! Buttell me this: Would a real womanbe missing these?!
+
+Ace rips open Einhorn's blouse, and reveals two beautiful feminine breasts.
+
+The sharp shooters are tensing. Ace is laughing nervously now.
+
+ACE 
+Ha, ha, ha! That kind of surgerycan be done over the weekend! ButI doubt if she could find the timeduring her busy schedule to getrid of Mr. Knish!!
+
+Ace rips off Einhorn's skirt. Einhorn now stands there fully nude. She appears to be the perfect figure of a woman.
+
+ACE 
+Oooh boy.
+
+Ace looks at Melissa and Emilio and shrugs his shoulders. Then, just when it seems all is lost, Dan Marino who is back behind Einhorn, motions for Ace to come over.
+
+MARINO 
+Psst… Ace. Come here.
+
+ACE
+(to everyone) 
+Could you excuse me just a second.
+
+Ace goes to Dan. Melissa still holds Emilio hostage.
+
+EINHORN 
+Shoot him. Shoot him, now!!
+
+MELISSA
+(to cops) 
+Don't anybody make a move!
+
+Marino whispers something in his ear. Ace looks confident again. He once more addresses the crowd.
+
+ACE 
+Ladies and gentlemen, my esteemedcolleague Mr. Marino, has justbrought some new evidence to myattention. Now, history hascertainly shown that even the mostintuitive criminal minds can bewrong, from time to time. But, ifI have been mistaken… if thelieutenant is indeed a woman…then my friends, she is sufferingfrom the worst case of hemorrhoidsI have ever seen!!!
+
+Ace spins Einhorn around now, exposing to the world, the healthy set of male genetalia that Finkle has learned to keep tucked between his legs. (And if we have any balls, we'll actually show it.)
+
+Everyone gasps. CLOSE UP ON EINHORN/FINKLE. He finally drops the facade.
+
+FINKLE
+(deepest voice possible) 
+It was Marino's fault. The laceswere in.
+(breaking down now) 
+They were IN!!!
+
+Quick cuts of all the cops spitting with disgust. Then Emilio spits.
+
+Then CLOSE ON Marino spitting. They all have kissed her/him/it. Even Snowflake blows his spout.
+
+Ace confidently cracks a sunflower seed.
+
+ACE 
+Somebody read it its rights.
+
+Suddenly, Finkle picks up a shard of broken glass and lunges at Ace.
+
+FINKLE 
+DIE ANIMAL BOYYYYY!!!
+
+Thinking fast Ace sidesteps Finkle and sends him head first into Snowflake's makeshift tank. After a few seconds Finkle fights his way to the surface and thrashes around, helplessly.
+
+FINKLE
+(gasping for air) 
+Help I can't swim!!!
+
+Finkle goes under again. We see him under water sinking down.
+
+Snowflake swims to him now, allowing him to grab onto his fin and pulls Finkle gently to the side of the pool. Finkle lies there exhausted.
+
+Ace reaches down into frame, removing the '82 AFC Championship ring from Finkle's finger. We see that it's the ring with the missing stone. Ace replaces it with the stone in his pocket. It's a perfect fit.
+
+ACE 
+LLLOOOSER! LLOO HOO SERR HERRHERR!!!
+
+Melissa is still holding the gun on Emilio.
+
+EMILIO 
+Melissa… you can give me back mygun now.
+
+Melissa has forgotten she even had the gun. She hands it to Emilio and faints in his arms.
+
+Now Aguado appears beside Ace.
+
+AGUADO 
+I don't know how you did it,Ventura… but that was damn goodpolice work. Alright guys, let'swrap this up!
+
+EXT. HIGHWAY - DAY
+
+Twenty or more police cars in single file provide more than ample escort for…
+
+…Ace and Marino in Ace's Chevy Bel-Aire with the cracked windshield. Both of them have their heads sticking out so that they can see. Marino has a wad of gum in his mouth.
+
+HIGH ANGLE
+
+The long line of flashing lights and cop cars drives at top speed up Route One. Ace's Bel-Aire right in the middle.
+
+MARINO (O.S.) 
+hey Ace?
+
+ACE (O.S.) 
+Yeah, Dan?
+
+MARINO (O.S.) 
+Got any more gum?
+
+CUT TO:
+
+INT. STADIUM - DAY
+
+The Super Bowl Halftime Show is in progress. Marino is in uniform warming up. Emilio is drooling at the cheerleaders. Ace and Melissa are standing near the fifty yard line taking in the awesome spectacle.
+
+Some fireworks go off around the tank. A marching band plays a triumphant tune. We see a helicopter come up over the side of the stadium carrying Snowflake.
+
+ANNOUNCER (O.S.) 
+Ladies and gentlemen, the MiamiDolphins are proud to welcome backto BOBBY RIDDLE Stadium, ourbeloved mascot and star of thehalftime show…
+
+ANGLE ON
+
+The helicopter lowering Snowflake into his tank.
+
+ANNOUNCER (O.S.) 
+Snowflake!!
+
+As the crowd roars, Melissa turns to Ace, and with Snowflake in the background performing spectacular flips, they kiss.
+
+ANOTHER ANGLE
+
+As Melissa and Ace kiss, the prized 'White Pigeon' lands on a Gatorade dispenser in the foreground. Ace spots it and starts to make a move.
+
+Just as he closes in for the grab, the Philadelphia Eagles mascot eagle walks up to get a drink and shoos the pigeon away. Ace is furious.
+
+ACE 
+You idiot! Do you know whatyou've done?!
+
+The giant eagle head looks up at Ace.
+
+MASCOT 
+Huh?
+
+Ace grabs him.
+
+ACE 
+You just cost me ten thousandbucks, Polly!
+
+MASCOT 
+Yeah Blow me.
+
+ACE 
+REE HEE HEE HEELYYY?!!!
+
+PULL BACK to find Eagle's mascot and Ace arguing. We can't hear what's said, but there's a lot of finger pointing.
+
+Emilio stops his leering to check out what's going on.
+
+The ANNOUNCER up in the booth reads a release.
+
+ANNOUNCER 
+The National Football League wouldnow like to offer a special thankyou to the man who rescued DanMarino and our belovedSnowflake…
+
+On the field the mascot shoves Ace. Ace shoves back.
+
+ANNOUNCER (CONT'D) 
+A great humanitarian, and lover ofall animals… Mr. Ace Ventura!
+
+Ace is straddling the eagle, pounding the shit out of giant head.
+
+The image is flashed on the big stadium screen. We freeze frame on this huge picture of Ace, as he looks into camera with his fist raised.
+
+MUSIC UP: THRASH METAL
+
+ROLL CREDITS
+
+THE END
+
+(LOKI NOTE: My copy of this script has the bloody end of Vinnie and Roc physically crossed out by three black marker lines, presumably by the authors. Fortunately, they were crossed out diagonally, so I could still type the scene out for all to enjoy.)



diff --git a/unformated_scripts/Script_Adaptation.txt b/unformated_scripts/Script_Adaptation.txt
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+++ b/unformated_scripts/Script_Adaptation.txt
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+     ADAPTATION                byCharlie Kaufman and Donald Kaufman       adapted from the book      THE ORCHID THIEF                by           Susan Orlean                                     September 24, 1999                                          Second DraftEXT. ROCKY TERRAIN - DAYEndless barren landscape. No sign of life. The atmosphereis hazy, toxic-looking. Volcanoes erupt. Meteors bombard.Lightning strikes, concussing murky pools of water. Silence.INT. LARGE EMPTY LIVING ROOM - MORNINGSUBTITLE: HOLLYWOOD, CA, FOUR BILLION AND FORTY YEARS LATERBeamed ceilings and ostentatious fireplace. A few birthdaycards on the mantel, two of them identical: "To Our Dear Sonon His Fortieth Birthday." Charlie Kaufman, a fat, baldingman in a purple sweater with tags still attached, paces theroom. His incantational voice-over carpets the scene.                    KAUFMAN (V.O.)          I am old. I am fat. I am bald. My          toenails have turned strange. I am          repulsive. How repulsive? I don't know          for I suffer from a condition called Body          Dysmorphic Disorder. I am fat, but am I          as fat as I think? My therapist says no,          but people lie. I believe others call me          Fatty behind my back. Or Fatso. Or,          facetiously, Slim. But I also believe          this is simply my own perverted form of          self-aggrandizement, that no one really          talks about me at all. What possible          interest is an old, bald, fat man to          anyone? I am repulsive. I have never          lived. I blame myself. I --EXT. STATE ROAD 29 - DAWNA lonely two-lane highway cutting through swampland.                    BRITISH NARRATOR          As natural selection works solely by and          for the good of each being, all corporeal          and mental endowments will tend to          progress towards perfection.Suddenly, a beat-up white van barrels around a curve.   It'sfollowed closely by an old green Ford.SUBTITLE: STATE ROAD 29, FLORIDA, FIVE YEARS EARLIERINT. WHITE VAN - CONTINUOUSJohn Laroche drives. He's a skinny man with no front teeth.The van is piled with bags of potting soil, gardening junk.A Writings of Charles Darwin audio cassette case is on theseat next to Laroche.                                                  (CONTINUED)                                                              2.CONTINUED:                    BRITISH NARRATOR          It is interesting to contemplate an          entangled bank, clothed with many plants          of many kinds, with birds singing...Laroche tries to contemplate the plants and birds whizzingby. Almost too late, he spots the Fakahatchee Strand StatePreserve sign and makes a squealing right onto the dirt roadturn-off. The cassette case flies from the seat and half-buries itself in an open bag of peat.INT. GREEN FORD - CONTINUOUSNirvana blasts. Russell, Vinson, and Randy, three youngIndian men, pass a joint and watch the erratic van ahead.                    RUSSELL          Laroche is asleep at the wheel.                    RANDY          Crazy White Man is now Drowsy White Man.They share a stoned laugh.EXT. NEW YORK APARTMENT BUILDING - NIGHTSUBTITLE: NEW YORK, TWO YEARS LATERLate night street. The click-click of typing. We moveslowly up the building to the only glowing window.                    ORLEAN (O.S.)              (wistful)          John Laroche is a tall guy, skinny as a          stick, pale-eyed, slouch-shouldered and          sharply handsome despite the fact that he          is missing all his front teeth.In the window, lit by a single desk lamp, a woman types.INT. APARTMENT - CONTINUOUSWe glide over the desk piled with books about orchids, past aphoto of Laroche tacked to an overwhelmed bulletin board, andcome to rest on a woman typing. It's Susan Orlean: pale,delicate and blond. We lose ourselves in her melancholybeauty. She turns to the camera and talks to us.                                                     (CONTINUED)                                                              3.CONTINUED:                    ORLEAN          Two years ago I went to Florida to meet          Laroche after reading a small article          about a white man and three Seminole men          arrested with rare orchids they'd stolen          out of a place called the...INT. RANGER'S TRUCK - MID-MORNINGTony, a ranger, drives along a dirt road past the FakahatcheeStrand State Preserve sign and enters the swamp. He sees thewhite van and Ford parked ahead, spots a Seminole licenseplate on the Ford. He pulls over down the road, and whispersinto his C.B.                    TONY          We got a Seminole, or Seminoles, in the          swamp. I'm on Janes Scenic Drive just          east of Logging Road Twelve. I repeat,          Indians in the swamp.Tony waits for a response.   Nothing.                    TONY (cont'd)          Indians in the swamp.Nothing still.   Tony clears his throat into the radio.                    RADIO VOICE          I don't know what you want me to say.                    TONY          Barry, Indians do not go on swamp walks.          If there are Indians in the swamp, they          are in there for a reason.No response. Tony glowers, gets out of the truck, watchesthe vehicles through binoculars. Nothing. He straightenshis cap. Mosquitoes land on his neck, his nose, his lips.INT. L.A. BUSINESS LUNCH RESTAURANT - MIDDAYKaufman, wearing his purple sweater sans tags, sits withValerie, an attractive woman in wire-rim glasses. They pickat salads. Kaufman steals glances at her lips, her hair, herbreasts. She looks up at him. He blanches, looks away.                     KAUFMAN (V.O.)          I'm old.   I'm bald. I'm repulsive.                    VALERIE          We think you're just great.                                                     (CONTINUED)                                                                 4.CONTINUED:                    KAUFMAN              (with studied modesty)          Oh, thank you.Valerie absently rubs her nose.      Kaufman self-consciouslyrubs his nose in response.                       VALERIE             And we're thrilled you're interested.Valerie rubs her nose again. Kaufman pulls at his nostril.A rivulet of sweat slides down his forehead. Valerie watchesit. Kaufman sees her watching it. She sees him seeing herwatching it. She looks at her salad. He quickly swabs.                       KAUFMAN             Oh, thanks, wow. That's nice to hear.                       VALERIE             You have a really unique voice.                       KAUFMAN             Well, thanks. That's... I appreciate             that.                       VALERIE             Very talented. Really.                        KAUFMAN             Thanks.   Thank you.   Thanks.                       VALERIE                 (looking up)             So --Kaufman's brow is dripping again.      He smiles, embarrassed.                       KAUFMAN             Sort of hot in here.                       VALERIE                 (kindly)             Yeah, it is a bit. So, why don't you             tell me your thoughts on this crazy             little project of ours.In one motion, Kaufman swabs his forehead and pulls a bookentitled The Orchid Thief from his bag.                    KAUFMAN          First, I think it's a great book.                                                      (CONTINUED)                                                                   5.CONTINUED: (2)                    VALERIE          Laroche is a fun character, isn't he?Kaufman nods, flips through the book, stalling. There's asmiling author photo of Susan Orlean on the inside backcover.                    KAUFMAN          And Orlean makes orchids so fascinating.          Plus her musings on Florida, orchid          poaching. Indians. Great, sprawling New          Yorker stuff. I'd want to remain true to          that, let the movie exist rather than be          artificially plot driven.                    VALERIE          Okay, great, great. I guess I'm not          exactly sure what that means.                   KAUFMAN          Oh. Well... I'm not sure exactly yet          either. So... y'know, it's...                         VALERIE          Oh.    Okay.     Great.   So, um, what --                    KAUFMAN          It's just, I don't want to compromise by          making it a Hollywood product. An orchid          heist movie. Or changing the orchids          into poppies and turning it into a movie          about drug running. Y'know?                    VALERIE          Oh, of course. We agree.        Definitely.                    KAUFMAN          Or cramming in sex, or car chases, or          guns. Or characters learning profound          life lessons. Or characters growing or          characters changing or characters          learning to like each other or characters          overcoming obstacles to succeed in the          end. Y'know? Movie shit.Kaufman is sweating like crazy now.       Valerie is quiet for amoment.                    VALERIE          See, we thought maybe Susan Orlean and          Laroche could fall in love during the          course of --                                                        (CONTINUED)                                                               6.CONTINUED: (3)                    KAUFMAN          Alienated journalist writes about          passionate backwoods guy and he teaches          her to love. I mean, it didn't happen,          it wouldn't happen. It's Hollywood.INT. OFFICE - DAYSUBTITLE: HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA, THREE WEEKS EARLIERThe office is decorated with potted flowers, Audobon posters,lots of books. Kaufman, nervous and sweaty, watchesMargaret, a soulful development executive, unpack boxes.                    KAUFMAN          So anyway I just wanted to stop by to          congratulate you on your promotion.                    MARGARET          Well, thanks again.   It's all so stupid.                    KAUFMAN          I think it's great. Your photo in the          trades and everything. Pretty cool.                      MARGARET          Anyway.    Yeah. So what's up with you?                    KAUFMAN          I'm considering jobs. Mostly crap.          There's one you might like, about          flowers.                     MARGARET          Flowers?   Really? What is it?                    KAUFMAN          They want me to do an adaptation of a          book called The Orchid Thief.                    MARGARET          Oh my God! You're kidding?    I read that!          I loved that book!Kaufman is thrilled; he's scored. Margaret pulls a copy ofThe Orchid Thief from her bookshelf.                    MARGARET (cont'd)          See, see, see! I'm not lying to you!                    KAUFMAN          I loved the book.                                                      (CONTINUED)                                                             7.CONTINUED:                    MARGARET          Oh, Charlie, orchids are the most amazing          flowers. So complex.Margaret plops onto the couch next to Kaufman.                     KAUFMAN          I know.   They're really great.                    MARGARET          You should take this job. Doesn't it          sound exciting, to immerse yourself in a          real subject and learn everything about          it? Blake wrote about seeing heaven in a          wild flower. And after you learn all          this stuff, you can teach me!                    KAUFMAN              (thrilled but controlled)          That'd be fun.                    MARGARET          God, they're such beautiful flowers.    And          so sexy. Y'know?              (whispering)          Did you know that orchid means --                       KAUFMAN          Testicle.     I just read that.                    MARGARET              (shrieks with delight)          Testicle! Can you believe it!Margaret giggles happily.    Kaufman giggles weirdly.                    MARGARET (cont'd)          I swear, it'd be fucking great for          someone to have the testicles to make          that book into a movie, man. Instead of          this bullshit all the time. Something          not about sex and violence and car chases          and love stories, people learning          profound lessons. Jesus, isn't nature          enough?EXT. SWAMP - MORNINGHot, dirty, miserable. Laroche leads the Indians throughwaist-high black water. He points out a turtle on a rock.                                                    (CONTINUED)                                                              8.CONTINUED:                    LAROCHE          Pseudemys floridana. Did you fellas know          you fellas believe the world rests on the          back of a turtle? Not you fellas          specifically. Although, maybe you fellas          specifically. That I can't speak to.The Indians ignore him. They trudge. Laroche spotssomething else, a dull green root wrapped around a tree. Hestops, circles the tree. His eyes widen in reverent awe.                        LAROCHE (cont'd)                        Polyrrhiza Lindenii.             A ghost.The Indians come around. Laroche stares at a singlebeautiful, glowing white flower hanging from the tree.   Hetenderly caresses the petals. Then, business-like:                    LAROCHE (cont'd)          Cut it down, Russell.Russell pulls out a hacksaw, begins sawing through the tree.INT. RESTAURANT - MIDDAYKaufman still sweats as he talks to Valerie.                    KAUFMAN          ...plus I love the idea of learning all          about orchids. I really admire those          guys who know everything about ants or          fungus or whatever. I'd like to be more          like that. See, I tend to write self-          involved, self-loathing... even          masturbatory stuff.                    VALERIE          And it's wonderful, by the way.                    KAUFMAN          Thanks. That's nice to hear. But I need          to challenge myself as a writer. I've          arrived at an age where I want to think          about the world in a different way.                    VALERIE          Adapting someone else's work is certainly          an opportunity to think differently.                                                    (CONTINUED)                                                                   9.CONTINUED:                    KAUFMAN          Yes. And I welcome the challenge of          taking a small subject, like orchids,          something that would never draw people          into a theater and making that          fascinating. I want to show people          heaven in a wildflower. As Blake wrote.INT. PET STORE (1972) - DAYSUBTITLE: NORTH MIAMI, TWENTY-SIX YEARS EARLIERA serious ten year old boy walks from cage to aquarium,studying the inhabitants. He turns to his frumpy mother,who's been following at a respectful distance.                    BOY          Any one at all, ma?She nods sweetly. The boy returns to his search.        He stopsat a small turtle in an aquarium.                       BOY (cont'd)             I want this then.                    MOTHER              (hugging him)          A wonderful choice! And spiritually          significant! Did you know that Native          Americans believe the whole world rests          on the back of a turtle?                        BOY             Cool!   I can't wait to tell the guys.EXT. SWAMP - MORNINGAs Laroche supervises, Randy, Russell, and Vinson saw throughtree branches supporting lovely flowering orchids. Theyunceremoniously stuff the flowers into bulging pillowcases.INT. ROMANTIC RESTAURANT - EVENINGKaufman eats with Margaret.     Margaret raises a glass.                       MARGARET             To a fucking awesome assignment, man.Kaufman, pleased, clicks glasses.     He takes a breath.                       KAUFMAN             Hey, I'm going to an orchid show Sunday?             For research? Maybe you'll come?                                                        (CONTINUED)                                                               10.CONTINUED:                    MARGARET          Absolutely. I think David, this guy I'm          seeing, would enjoy it, too. He's a real          naturalist. Okay if he comes along?                    KAUFMAN              (covering heartbreak)          Yeah, of course. Sure.                    MARGARET          He wants to meet you anyway.     All I do is          tell him how great you are.                    KAUFMAN          Oh, thanks. That's nice to hear.                    MARGARET          You'll like him. He's so honest and          smart. It's rare to find someone in this          town who thinks about things other than          this fucking business, y'know?                       KAUFMAN          Yeah.     That's great.   He sounds great.                       MARGARET             Like the other day we were in bed             discussing Hegel. Hegel! In bed! It             was fucking amazing. Have you read much?                       KAUFMAN             Y'know, a long time ago.   A bit.   Y'know.                       MARGARET             Well, anyway, David and I were discussing             his Philosophy of History and I was...The entrees arrive.                    MARGARET (cont'd)          ... struck by his notion that history is          a human construct...Kaufman begins the laborious task of getting through hisplate of food. He can no longer look up at Margaret.                        KAUFMAN          Yeah.                    MARGARET          ... that nature doesn't exist          historically, but rather cyclically.                    (MORE)                                                       (CONTINUED)                                                           11.CONTINUED: (2)                    MARGARET (cont'd)          So whereas human history spirals forward,          building upon itself, nature...INT. BARNES AND NOBLE - DAYKaufman pulls a bunch of orchid books off the shelf, carriesthem to the register, along with a book on Hegel, whichfeatures an engraving of the philosopher on the cover.Kaufman waits in line and watches the tattooed female cashierflirting with the handsome guy ahead of him. He studiestheir interaction, the way she looks at him. Her eyes, herlips. The guy leaves and the cashier waves Kaufman over. Asshe rings him up, she expresses no interest in him. He'shurt and fixates on a sexy flower tattoo on her arm. Shecatches him, pulls down her sleeve.EXT. JANES SCENIC DRIVE - MORNINGTony waits, sweaty and mosquito bitten.   The radio crackles.                    RADIO VOICE          How's that Injun round-up going, Tony?                    TONY          Fuck you, Barry, you fuckin'...Rustling near the parked cars. Tony tenses. Laroche stepsfrom the swamp with the Indians, who haul the pillowcases.                    TONY (cont'd)          We got poachers.              (into the radio, pleased)          We got fuckin' poachers, Barry.   Ha!Tony jumps into the truck and turns it around.INT. ORLEAN'S APARTMENT - NIGHTOrlean types. Her delicate fingers move with a pianist'sgrace across the computer keyboard.                    ORLEAN (V.O.)          Orchid hunting is a mortal occupation.EXT. TROPICAL RIVER - DAYSUBTITLE: ORINOCO RIVER, ONE HUNDRED YEARS EARLIERAn overturned boat and uprooted orchids float on the river.                    ORLEAN (V.O.)          The Victorian-era orchid hunter William          Arnold drowned on a collecting          expedition.                                                            12.EXT. CLIFF - DAYSUBTITLE: SIERRA LEONEA man lies at the bottom of a cliff, clutching a flower.                    ORLEAN (V.O.)          Schroeder fell to his death.EXT. FIELD - DAYSUBTITLE: RIO HACHAA man lies face down near an unplucked orchid.                    ORLEAN (V.O.)          Endres was shot dead in Rio Hacha.EXT. RIVER - DAYSUBTITLE: YANGTZE RIVERAn emaciated, limping, wheezing man with a makeshift bandagewrapped around his head, docks his boat.                    ORLEAN (V.O.)          Augustus Margary survived toothache,          rheumatism, pleurisy, and dysentery...Someone steps from behind a bush, stabs him, steals his boat.                    ORLEAN (V.O.) (cont'd)          ... only to be murdered when he completed          his mission and traveled beyond Bhamo.The murderer sails down river.                    ORLEAN (V.O.) (cont'd)          Laroche loved orchids but I came to          believe he loved the difficulty and          fatality of getting them almost as much          as he loved the orchids themselves.EXT. JANES SCENIC DRIVE - MORNINGTony steps out of his truck.   Laroche smiles warmly.                    TONY          Morning. May I ask what you gentlemen          have in those pillowcases?                    LAROCHE          Yes, sir, you absolutely may.                                                    (CONTINUED)                                                                13.CONTINUED:Laroche goes back to directing the Indians.    Tony's confused.                       TONY             Okay, I'm asking then.                    LAROCHE          Oh, Okay then! Let's see...              (peeking in bags)          Five kinds of bromeliad, one peperomia,          nine orchid varieties. About a hundred          and thirty plants all told, which my          colleagues have removed from the swamp.                       TONY             You're aware that it's illegal to remove             plants or animals from state owned land?                       LAROCHE             And don't forget these plants are all             endangered, sir. Every one of them.                       TONY             Exactly. Well, that's exactly the issue.             This is a state preserve.                       LAROCHE             Yes, sir, it is.                 (afterthought)             Oh, and my colleagues are all Seminole             Indians. Did I mention that? You're             familiar, I'm sure, with the State of             Florida v. James E. Billie.Tony nods, even though he has no idea.                       LAROCHE (cont'd)             So you know that even though Seminole             Chief Billie killed a Florida panther,             one of, what, forty in the entire world?Laroche looks to the Indians for confirmation.       They give it.                    LAROCHE (cont'd)          The state couldn't successfully prosecute          him. Because he's an Indian and it's his          right. As repugnant as you or I as white          conservationists might find his actions.                       TONY          But --                                                        (CONTINUED)                                                             14.CONTINUED: (2)                    LAROCHE          Not to mention the failed attempts on          three separate occasions to prosecute          Seminoles for poaching palm fronds,          which, I believe, they use to thatch the          roofs of their traditional chickee huts.Laroche again looks to the Indians for confirmation.                    RUSSELL          He's right. That's exactly what we use          them for. Chickee huts.Tony looks at the Indians.                     RANDY          Yeah.                     VINSON          Yeah.                     RUSSELL          Yeah.                    TONY          Yeah, but I don't... I can't let you          fellas go yet. Just hold on while I...              (into radio)          Hey, Barry, can I get some help? Barry?INT. RENTAL CAR - DAYWe watch Orlean as she drives out of the Miami Airportparking lot, onto the freeway, past congestion andbillboards. Her mournful face glows beautifully,dramatically with golden sunlight. She talks to us.                    ORLEAN          Nothing in Florida seems hard or          permanent. The developed places are just          little clearings in the jungle, but the          jungle is unstoppably fertile, everything          is always growing or expanding. At the          same time, the wilderness disappears          before your eyes.Orlean gets quiet.   Her eyes tear.EXT. SUBURBAN BACKYARD - DAYSUBTITLE: AKRON, OHIO, THIRTY YEARS EARLIER                                                     (CONTINUED)                                                            15.CONTINUED:Lush color. A seven year old girl is gleeful as her parentspush her on a swing. She watches from the air as her motherand father, deeply in love, kiss between pushes.EXT. BIG SPANISH-STYLE HOUSE - DAYKaufman gets out of his car with his books. Two teenagegirls walk by. Kaufman watches as one whispers to the other.He thinks he hears the word "Fatso." The girls giggle.INT. EMPTY HOUSE - A COUPLE OF MINUTES LATERKaufman passes a hall mirror, regards himself glumly, andclimbs the stairs.                    KAUFMAN (V.O.)          I am fat. I am repulsive.   I cannot bear          my own reflection.At the landing Kaufman comes upon Donald, his identical twinbrother, on his back in pajama bottoms, opening a gift box.                    DONALD          Did you open your present from mom yet?                    KAUFMAN          What's with you?                     DONALD          My back.Kaufman nods vaguely, continues down the hall. Donald pullsa purple sweater from the box, calls after Kaufman.                    DONALD (cont'd)          Hey, Charles, you'll be glad, I have a          plan to get me out of your house pronto.                    KAUFMAN          A job is a plan. Is your plan a job?                    DONALD              (big build up)          I'm gonna be a screenwriter!   Like you!Kaufman doesn't respond, enters his bedroom.                    DONALD (cont'd)          I know you think this is just one of my          get-rich-quick schemes. But I'm doing it          right this time. I'm taking a seminar!                                                            16.INT. EMPTY BEDROOM - CONTINUOUSKaufman lies face down on his mattress on the floor.                    DONALD (O.S.)          It's only five hundred bucks!                    KAUFMAN              (muffled by pillow)          Screenwriting seminars are bullshit.Kaufman pulls a copy of Variety, open to a photo of Margaret,from under his pillow. He gets lost in the picture.                    DONALD (O.S.)          In theory I agree with you. But this one          is highly regarded within the industry.                    KAUFMAN          Donald, don't say "industry."Donald, now in the sweater, appears on all fours in thedoorway. Kaufman puts the paper back under his pillow.                    DONALD          I'm sorry, I forgot. Charles, this guy          knows screenwriting. People from all          over come to study his method. I'll pay          you back, man. As soon as I sell --                    KAUFMAN          Let me explain something to you.                    DONALD          Yeah, okay.                    KAUFMAN          Anybody who says he's got "the answer" is          going to attract desperate people. Be it          in the world of religion --                    DONALD              (indicating his back)          I just need to lie down while you explain          this to me. Sorry. I apologize.              (lies down, stares at ceiling)          Okay, go ahead. Sorry. Okay. Go.                    KAUFMAN          There are no rules to follow, Donald, and          anybody who says there are, is just --                                                    (CONTINUED)                                                             17.CONTINUED:                    DONALD          Not rules, principles. McKee writes:          "A rule says, you must do it this way.   A          principle says, this works... and has          through all remembered time."                    KAUFMAN          The script I'm starting, it's about          flowers. No one's ever done a movie          about flowers before. So, there're no          guidelines, and that's good because --                    DONALD          What about Flowers for Algernon?                    KAUFMAN          That's not about flowers.    And it's not a          movie.                    DONALD          Oh, okay, I never saw it.    Go ahead.                    KAUFMAN          My point is, those teachers are dangerous          if your goal is to do something new. And          a writer should always have that goal.          Writing is a journey into the unknown.          It's not building a model airplane.Donald stares at the ceiling, fuming. Kaufman waits.Getting no no response, he pulls out his Hegel book andreads:                    KAUFMAN (V.O.)          Each being is, because posited, an op-          posited, a conditional and conditioning,          the Understanding completes these its          limitations by positing the opposite...Kaufman's head is spinning. He puts the book down. Bothbrothers stare at the ceiling. Donald finally speaks                       DONALD             McKee is a former Fulbright scholar. Are             you a former Fulbright scholar, Charles?INT. KITCHEN (1972) - EVENINGThe young boy eats with his family. His father wears abackbrace, his sister is weak and anemic. Only his sweetmother pays attention as he chatters excitedly.                                                     (CONTINUED)                                                             18.CONTINUED:                    BOY          Turtles are of the order Testudine!                      MOTHER          Really?    Testudine?                    BOY          Yeah. And they're found on every          continent! Except Antarptica!                       MOTHER             Antarctica. Every continent, huh?                    BOY          Uh-huh. The turtle shell has remained          unchanged for two hundred million years!          And there's all different kinds, Pelusio          gabonensis, Phyrnops rufipes, Chitra          indica, Dermochelys coriacea coriacea...EXT. SWAMP - LATE MORNINGRanger, sheriff, and state police cars are parked near thevan and Ford. Lots of sweating, uniformed people. Thepillowcases have been emptied, the plants lie on blackplastic sheets. A guy sprinkles water on them. Larocheenthusiastically helps Ranger Mike Owen catalogue theflowers. The Indians lean against their car, bored andsmoking. Nirvana seeps tinnily out the car window.                    LAROCHE          ... and what we have here, my friend, is          ... thirteen Encyclia Cochleata... four          Encyclia Tampensis --                    MIKE OWEN          I'm sorry, Encyclia what?                    LAROCHE              (pointing to each)          Coch-le-ata. Tem-pen-sis.              (checks Owen's spelling)          Okay, let's see, twenty-two Epidendrum          Nocturnum. A very good haul. Two          Catopsi Floribunda. Three Polyrrhiza          Lindenii, the ghost orchid. What I          really came for. These sweeties grow          nowhere in the U.S. except in your swamp.                    MIKE OWEN          That true? Boy, you really know your          plants, Mr. Laroche.                                                     (CONTINUED)                                                             19.CONTINUED:                    LAROCHE          Yeah. I do. I'm one of the world's          foremost experts. But that'll all be          revealed at the hearing.INT. EMPTY DINING ROOM - DAYKaufman sits at a card table, picking at a salad and readingan orchid book. Donald lies on the floor, chomping a hoagieand reading a copy of Story by Robert McKee.                    KAUFMAN (V.O.)          The Orchidaceae is a large, ancient          family of perennial plants with...Kaufman, bored, looks over at Donald, whose cheeks arestuffed with food.                    DONALD (V.O.)          The most memorable, fascinating          characters tend to have not only a          conscious but an unconscious desire.          Although these characters are unaware of          their subconscious need...                    KAUFMAN          Maybe you should watch what you eat,          Donald. Did you ever consider maybe          you're a bit fat? Does it ever occur to          you, you kind of represent me in the          world? That people look at you and          think, he's Charlie's twin, therefore          that's what Charlie must look like?                    DONALD          By the way, mom's paying for the seminar.                    KAUFMAN          Did you even hear what I said?                    DONALD          Yeah. Anyway. I pitched mom my          screenplay --                    KAUFMAN          Jesus, don't say "pitch."                    DONALD          Sorry. Anyway, she loved my... telling          of my story to her. She said it's like          "Silence of the Lambs" meets "Psycho."                                                     (CONTINUED)                                                              20.CONTINUED:                    KAUFMAN          Hey, maybe you and mom could collaborate.          I hear she's really good with structure.                    DONALD          You think you're so superior, Charles.          Well, I'm really gonna write this. And          you'll see. And, and... you suck, okay?The two glare at each other.   They go back to their books.                    KAUFMAN (V.O.)          Florida is a landscape of transition...                    DONALD (V.O.)          Do not proliferate characters; do not          multiply locations. Rather than          hopscotching through time, space, and          people, discipline yourself to a          reasonably contained cast and world...INT. RENTAL CAR - DAYOrlean drives on State Road 29, past prefab housing, intoswampland. She talks to us.                    ORLEAN          Florida is a landscape of transition and          mutation, a hybrid of unruliness and          orderliness, nature and artifice.She brushes a wisp of hair from her face and tucks it behindher small, pretty ear. We linger on the ear, which growspink with sunlight. Orlean catches us and smiles shyly.INT. EMPTY BEDROOM - DAYKaufman traces a stubby, nail-bitten finger along State Road29 along a Florida road map. He turns to his typewriter, andtypes in a clumsy hunt-and-peck style.                    KAUFMAN (V.O.)          We open on State Road 29. A lonely          stretch of road cutting through untamed          swampland. Suddenly a beat-up white van          barrels around a curve. It's driver: a          skinny man with no front teeth...INT. COURT ROOM - DAYThe proceedings are in progress.   Orlean hurries in, sits inthe back.                                                     (CONTINUED)                                                             21.CONTINUED:Laroche, in a Miami Hurricanes cap, wrap-around Mylarsunglasses, and a Hawaiian shirt, is on the stand. AlanLerner, the tribe's lawyer, questions him.                    LERNER          Finally, Mr. Laroche, what is your          experience in the area of horticulture?                    LAROCHE          Okay, I've been a professional          horticulturist for twelve years. I've          owned a plant nursery of my own which was          destroyed by the hurricane. I'm a          professional plant lecturer. I've given          at least sixty lectures on the          cultivation of plants. I'm a published          author, both in magazine and book form.          I have extensive experience with orchids,          and the asexual micropropagation of          orchids under aseptic cultures.   This is          laboratory work, not at all like your          nursery work.              (grins)          I'm probably the smartest person I know.                       LERNER          Thank you.                    LAROCHE          You're very welcome.INT. BARNES AND NOBLE - DAYAs she rings up his books, Kaufman admires the cashier'sflower tattoo. She catches him and smiles with red, wet,pierced lips. She unbuttons her blouse and shows him a breastwith a heart tattoo. A sweet heartbeat turns to knocking.INT. EMPTY BEDROOM - NIGHTKaufman, in bed masturbating, looks up at the closed door.                       KAUFMAN          What?!The door opens.    Donald stands there for a moment in shadows.                    DONALD          Look, you wanna hear my pitch, or what?                      KAUFMAN          Go away.    God damn it.                                                    (CONTINUED)                                                               22.CONTINUED:                     DONALD              (lost)          Y'know, I'm just trying to do something.Kaufman squints at his brother, sits up, waits.                    DONALD (CONT'D)          Hey, thanks a lot, man. Cool.              (flicks on light, then in pitch               mode:)          Okay, there's this serial killer, right --Kaufman groans, lies down, pulls the covers over his face.                    DONALD (CONT'D)          No, wait. See, he's being hunted by a          cop. And he's taunting the cop, right?          Sending clues who his next victim is.          He's already holding her hostage in his          creepy basement. So the cop gets          obsessed with figuring out her identity,          and in the process he falls in love with          her. Even though he's never even met          her. She becomes, like, the          unattainable, like the Holy Grail.                       KAUFMAN                 (through a blanket)             It's a little obvious, don't you think?                    DONALD          Okay, but there's a twist. See, we find          out the killer suffers from multiple          personality disorder. Okay? See, he's          really also the cop and the girl. All of          them. It's all him! Isn't that crazy?Donald waits, proud.    Kaufman pulls off the covers.                    KAUFMAN          Look, the only idea more overused than          serial killers, is multiple personality.          On top of that you explore the notion          that cop and criminal are really two          aspects of the same person. See every          cop movie ever made for other examples of          this.                    DONALD          Mom called it psychologically taut.                                                       (CONTINUED)                                                             23.CONTINUED: (2)                    KAUFMAN          The other thing is, there's no way to          write this. Did you consider that? I          mean, how exactly would you show a          character holding himself hostage?                    DONALD          Trick photography?                    KAUFMAN          Okay, that's not what I'm asking. What          I'm asking is in the reality of this          movie, if there's only one character,          right?... Okay? How could you... What          exactly would the scene... How...Donald waits blankly.   Kaufman gives up, gets out of bed,dresses.                    KAUFMAN (cont'd)          I agree with mom. Very taut. Sybil          meets.. I dunno, something very taut.Kaufman exits.EXT. COURTHOUSE - DAYOrlean exits the courthouse and watches Laroche in a huddlewith Lerner, Vinson, and Buster Baxley, vice-president of thetribe's business operations. They're all smoking intently.                    LAROCHE          They're gonna fucking crucify me.                    BAXLEY          I'll go into the Fakahatchee with a          chainsaw. I swear to God.                    LERNER          Buster, for crying out loud, I reminded          her the Indians used to own Fakahatchee.          Look, we'll deal with all this at trial.Buster waves a dismissive hand at Lerner, walks away. Vinsonshrugs, stubs his cigarette, follows Buster. Lerner andLaroche stand there a moment. Lerner walks off. Larochecracks his neck. A charmingly shy Orlean approaches.                    ORLEAN          Mr. Laroche?Orlean smiles, apologetic for the intrusion.                                                     (CONTINUED)                                                             24.CONTINUED:                    ORLEAN (CONT'D)          My name's Susan Orlean, I'm a writer for          the New Yorker. It's a maga --                    LAROCHE          I'm familiar with the New Yorker. The          New Yorker, yes, the New Yorker. Right?                    ORLEAN          Right. So I was interested in doing a          piece about your situation down here.Laroche scowls, smokes furiously, then, a test:                    LAROCHE          Yeah? Put this in: I don't care what          goes on here. I'm right, and I'll take          this all the way to the Supreme Court.          That judge can screw herself.Orlean scribbles on her pad. Laroche twists his head to seethat she's writing "Judge can screw herself."                    LAROCHE (cont'd)          That for real would go in?Orlean nods.   Laroche smiles his toothless smile at Orlean.EXT. FIELD - MORNINGMUSIC: lush, profound orchestral piece.A glorious orange, large-petalled orchid blooms in dramatictime-lapse. We slowly, lovingly circle the flower.                    SENSUOUS FEMALE NARRATOR          The Orchidaceae is a large, ancient          family of perennial plants with one          fertile stamen and a three petalled          flower. In most orchid species, one petal          is enlarged into a lip and is the most          conspicuous part of the flower.INT. CALIFORNIA PIZZA KITCHEN - DAYKaufman, in a booth, reads his orchid book, takes notes.                    KAUFMAN (V.O.)          The Orchidaceae is a large, ancient...He's bored, looks up, watches a waitress with glorious,orange hair, pouty lips, soulful eyes, and a voluptuous formturning slowly around, scanning her station.                                                     (CONTINUED)                                                              25.CONTINUED:She sees Kaufman, approaches, and smiles warmly down at him.Her badge reads: Alice, Arcadia, CA. Kaufman sweats.                    ALICE          So what looks good today?                    KAUFMAN          Um. Hi. Thank you. The key lime pie,          please. A small slice. I'm watching          my... And a coffee, please. Skim milk.                    ALICE              (sees book)          Orchids! I absolutely love orchids.He goes blank.                     KAUFMAN          Yes.   They're really great.He flinches at his response.    A small awkward pause.                    ALICE          So, I'll be right back with your pie.She smiles warmly again and leaves.    Kaufman is humiliated.EXT. ORCHID SHOW - DAYAlice the waitress and Kaufman walk hand-in-hand, inspectingsexy orchids together. She smiles warmly at him.                    ALICE              (I love you)          I absolutely love orchids.INT. EMPTY ROOM - NIGHTKaufman finishes jerking off.   He lies lonely in the dark.INT. SUBURBAN BACKYARD - EVENINGDark and muted. The seven year old girl is pushed on theswing by her father. From the air she sees her mother, tinyand lost, sitting across the yard smoking.EXT. HOTEL PARKING LOT - MORNINGOrlean leans against a car and smokes. A tiny, lost figure.There's a honk. Orlean snaps out of her reverie to seeLaroche screeching to a stop in his banged-up van.                                                    (CONTINUED)                                                              26.CONTINUED:                       ORLEAN                 (to camera)             A few days after the hearing, Laroche             took me to an orchid show in Miami.She opens the passenger door.                        ORLEAN (cont'd)             Hi.   Thanks for picking --                       LAROCHE             I want you to know this van is a piece of             shit. When I hit the jackpot, I'll buy             myself an awesome car, maybe an Aurora.Orlean nods, climbs in, and tries to rearrage some of thejunk on the front seat so she'll have a place to sit.                       LAROCHE (cont'd)             Sit on top of that. You won't hurt it.She situates herself on the seat.     Laroche lurches off.INT. VAN - DAYLaroche drives manically. Orlean watches the road and holdsone hand against the dashboard.                       LAROCHE             The thing you gotta know is my whole life             is looking for a goddamn profitable             plant. And that's the ghost.                       ORLEAN             Why the ghost orchid?                       LAROCHE             The sucker's rare. Collectors covet what             is not available. I'm the only one in             the world who knows how to cultivate it.He looks at her and smiles. Orlean smiles back andindicates, with a small jerk of the head, that he might wantto watch the road. He doesn't take the hint.                       LAROCHE (cont'd)             The plan was, get the Indians to pull it             from the swamp. I researched it. As             long as I don't touch the plants, Florida             can't touch us.   Then I'd clone hundreds             of them babies in my lab, sell 'em, and             make the Seminoles a shitload of change.                                                      (CONTINUED)                                                                27.CONTINUED:In handwriting made jerky by the bouncing van, Orlean writes"shitload of change" on her notepad.                       LAROCHE (cont'd)             And I stop future poaching by making the             flowers readily available in stores.             Then I give a big speech at the trial             about how the legislature should get rid             of loopholes smart people like me can             find. I'm a hero. The flowers are             saved. Laroche and nature win.EXT. SWAMP - DAYOld black and white footage, taken from up high, of two 19thcentury men leading a horse drawn cart full of poachedorchids.                       ORLEAN (V.O.)             Men from Florida dominated the orchid             hunting scene. Hunters in the             Fakahatchee hauled out thousands of             orchids in horse-drawn flatbed carts.The camera swoops down, close to the men. As it does, theimage transforms. It turns to color, the men becomemannequins, the horse becomes papier-mache: it's a display.A live man in modern work clothes is arranging actual orchidsin the cardboard cart.INT. CAR - DAYKaufman drives slowly past Barnes and Noble, squints in thewindow, sees the tattooed cashier. He passes Burger King,sees a pretty employee, the same at Starbucks. Glassed-inwomen on display, different types, different attitudes.Kaufman stops in front of the California Pizza Kitchen.Alice and her orange hair glow through the window. Hehesitates, then drives off.INT. EMPTY BEDROOM - MORNINGKaufman sits on the floor and types.                       KAUFMAN (V.O.)             A beautiful orange orchid blooms in time-             lapse --Donald enters. Kaufman ignores him, continues typing.Donald dawdles, picks up The Orchid Thief, flips through it.                                                        (CONTINUED)                                                         28.CONTINUED:                    KAUFMAN (V.O.) (cont'd)          The camera circles it, revealing how          lovely and perfect and sweet and inviting          and delicate and...                    DONALD          Cool.                    KAUFMAN          What do you want, Donald?                    DONALD          Nothing. I just read about that Swamp          Ape that supposedly lives in the swamp?          Like bigfoot? You should put that in          your script, like, killing people or          something. That'd be very, very cool.                    KAUFMAN          Why are you in here now?                    DONALD          Nothing, I was just... Oh, one thing, I          need a cool way to kill people. Don't          worry! For my script! Ha ha!Kaufman stares at Donald, rubs his eyes, then:                    KAUFMAN          Um, okay, killer's a literature professor          who cuts off little chunks of his          victims' bodies until they die. He'd be          known in the tabloids as "The          Deconstructionist."                    DONALD          That's kinda good.   I like that.                    KAUFMAN          See, I was kidding, Donald.                    DONALD          Oh, okay. Sorry. You got me! Heh-heh.          Do you mind if I use it, though?INT. BOY'S BEDROOM (1972) - NIGHTThere are now many turtles in aquariums. Many turtle booksand posters. The boy, in a turtle T-shirt, looks out thewindow into the darkness. His eyes are troubled.                                                            29.INT. LIVING ROOM (1972) - CONTINUOUSThe boy comes downstairs. His father, in his backbrace,watches TV; his sister lies on the couch, semi-conscious,more pale than before. His mother pats the girl's head witha damp cloth. There's a little Hindu altar with candles.                    MOTHER              (praying softly)          For certain is death for the born/And          certain is birth for the dead/Therefore          over the inevitable/Thou shouldst not          grieve. Sweet, sweet Diane.The boy surveys the sad scene.    His mother looks up, smiles.                    MOTHER (CONT'D)          A slice of pie for my turtle expert?The boy beams with pride, then gets solemn.                    BOY          Mom, there's something I feel I have to          do. I don't know how to do this, but I          feel in my stomach that I have to.                    MOTHER          What do you have to do, honey?                     BOY          Collect one of every turtle in the world.              (beat)          It's a long list, ma. Cuora          galbinifrons, Graptemys versa, Callagur          borneoensis, all the Galapagos species,          people think there's only one, but that's          hardly the case. Cycloderma frenatum,          Cuora pani...              (sighs)          I don't think my life is worth living if          I can't do this.The boy and his mother look at each other.                    MOTHER          Well, we'd better get started, huh, baby?The boy nods his head solemnly.INT. VAN - DAYLaroche drives, solemnly nodding his head. Orlean studieshim for a moment, her sad eyes wet and glistening.                                                    (CONTINUED)                                                              30.CONTINUED:                       ORLEAN             Wow, that's some story. So how many             turtles did you end up collecting?                       LAROCHE                 (matter-of-fact)             Oh, I lost interest right after that.                       ORLEAN             Oh.                       LAROCHE             I dropped turtles when I fell in love             with Ice Age fossils. Learned everything             about them. Collected the shit out of             'em. Fossils were the only thing made             any sense to me in this fucking world.             Y'know?They drive in silence.    Orlean watches a flying heron.                       LAROCHE (CONT'D)             Then fossils were over when I found             lapidary, which I just adored.                       ORLEAN             Okay, now what is lap --                       LAROCHE             Ditched lapidary for resilvering old             mirrors. Did that with my mom for a             while. We had the largest collection of             19th Century Dutch mirrors on the planet.             Perhaps you read about us. Mirror World             October '88? I have a copy somewhere...Laroche fishes through junk as he drives.                       ORLEAN             So, did you ever miss the turtles? The             only thing that made you ten year old             life worth living?                       LAROCHE             I'll tell you a story. I once fell             deeply, profoundly in love with tropical             fish. I had sixty goddamn fish tanks in             my house. I'd skin-dive to find just the             right ones. Anisotremus virginicus,             Holacanthus ciliaris, Chaetodon             capistratus. You name it. Then one day             I say, fuck fish. I renounce fish.                       (MORE)                                                      (CONTINUED)                                                               31.CONTINUED: (2)                    LAROCHE (cont'd)          I vow to never set foot in the ocean          again, that's how much fuck fish. That          was seventeen years ago and I have never          since stuck so much as a toe into that          ocean. And I love the ocean!                       ORLEAN              (beat)          But why?                    LAROCHE              (shrugs)          Done with fish.INT. THERAPIST'S OFFICE - DAYKaufman sits in silence across from his female therapist.                       THERAPIST          So --                    KAUFMAN          I'm still obsessed with that girl.                    THERAPIST          The Burger King girl? Dimples and sparkly          eyes?                    KAUFMAN          California Pizza Kitchen.                      THERAPIST          Oh.    Red hair and nice?   Likes orchids?                    KAUFMAN          Yeah. She's really nice. I feel pretty          certain she likes me maybe.                    THERAPIST          So do you think you'll talk to this one?INT. CALIFORNIA PIZZA KITCHEN - DAYKaufman, hair combed, sits nervously in a booth, watchingAlice. He tenses as she comes up to him. She smiles warmly.                       KAUFMAN          Hi!                      ALICE          Hey!    Some key lime pie for ya today?                                                       (CONTINUED)                                                                 32.CONTINUED:                      KAUFMAN                (thrilled she remembered)            Okay, yeah! That sounds great!     Yeah!                      ALICE            I'll pick you out an extra large piece.            Preferred customer.She winks at him.   He's so in love.                         KAUFMAN            Thank you.     That's really sweet of you.                      ALICE            Still reading about orchids, I hope.                      KAUFMAN            Yes, I am, in fact!    Beautiful flowers.                      ALICE            A friend of mine has a pretty little pink            one, grows right on a tree branch.                      KAUFMAN            That's what's called an epiphyte.                      ALICE                (pointing at him excitedly)            Right! Boy, you know your stuff, huh?                      KAUFMAN            Not really. I'm just learning.            Epiphytes grow on trees, but they're not            parasites. They get all their            nourishment from the air and rain.                      ALICE            Well, I'm impressed.    That's great.Awkward pause.                      KAUFMAN            There are more than thirty thousand kinds            of orchids in the world.                      ALICE            Wow, that's a lot, huh? Okay, then, so            I'll be right back with a nice big slice            of key lime pie for my orchid expert.He beams.    She smiles and turns to leave.    Kaufman blurts:                                                         (CONTINUED)                                                                 33.CONTINUED: (2)                    KAUFMAN          But, so, anyway, I was also wondering...Alice turns back, still smiling.                    KAUFMAN (cont'd)          I'm going up to this orchid show on          Saturday in Santa Barbara and I --Alice's smile slips away.    Her warmth dissipates.                    ALICE          Oh, um, well --                       KAUFMAN          I'm sorry.     I apologize.   I'm sorry.                    ALICE              (nodding)          So I'll be right back with your pie then.He nods, watches Alice walk away and say something to anotherwaitress. The other waitress looks over at him. He sweats.                       KAUFMAN (V.O.)          I am fat.     I am old. I am repulsive.The other waitress brings his pie.      He smiles a thank you.INT. NEW YORK APARTMENT - MORNINGOrlean sits at her desk and talks to us.                    ORLEAN          There are more than thirty thousand known          orchid species. One species looks like a          German shepherd...EXT. SANTA BARBARA ORCHID SHOW - DAYKaufman walks alone among the crowd of orchid enthusiasts,past a Santa Barbara Orchid Society sign. He tries to studythe flowers. They are dull. He forces himself to look.                    ORLEAN (V.O.)          ... one looks like an onion, one looks          like an octopus. One looks...Kaufman finds his attention drifting from orchids to women:all different shapes, colors, personalities, some in subtleclothing, some in garish clothing, all glowing.                                                      (CONTINUED)                                                             34.CONTINUED:                    ORLEAN (V.O.) (cont'd)          ... like a school teacher, one looks like          a gymnast, one looks like a Midwestern          beauty queen, one looks like a New York          intellectual with whom you'd do the          Sunday Times crossword puzzle in bed.          One looks like that girl in high school          with creamy skin. One has eyes that          dance. One has eyes that contain the          sadness of the world.He is sick with adoration for the women, who pay him no mind.                    ORLEAN (V.O.) (cont'd)          Nothing in science can account for the          way some people feel about orchids.          Those love them, love them madly.One by one the women turn to the men they're with: a whisperin the ear, a shared look, an arm slipped through an arm.Kaufman is alone in this sea of people and flowers.EXT. SWAMP - DAYTeenaged Laroche and his mother tromp through the swamp. Hecarries a camera on a tripod. They spot a beautiful flower.Laroche is in awe.                       TEENAGED LAROCHE             Encyclia tempensis. The butterfly.Laroche sets up the tripod, focuses on the flower.    Hismother almost cries at the flower's beauty.                    MOTHER          "You will find something more in woods          than in books. Trees and stones will          teach you that which you can never learn          from masters." Saint Bernard said that.                    TEENAGED LAROCHE          That's pretty, ma.                    MOTHER          Diane would've loved this flower, Johnny.                    TEENAGED LAROCHE          Maybe somehow she can see it.    Y'know?                     MOTHER              (beat)          So... after this one how many, honey?                                                     (CONTINUED)                                                              35.CONTINUED:Laroche snaps the photo, makes a check in his notebook.                    TEENAGED LAROCHE          Only one hundred and seventeen more.                    MOTHER          And you have to have a photo of every          single type of orchid in Florida?                    TEENAGED LAROCHE          I have to, ma. You know that.She smiles at him, rubs his neck.INT. THERAPIST'S OFFICE - DAYKaufman talks to the therapist.                    KAUFMAN          I'm successful, right? I mean, I could          say to a woman, I'm a screenwriter and          she'd look at me differently. I could          get laid. But I want someone to like me.          For me. Y'know?    The way I like them.          The way I'd do anything for that woman          walking down the street. A million women          walking down the street. I don't need to          know what their jobs are. No one will          ever love me like that. Like I love          almost every woman I see.Kaufman glances down at his therapist's breasts. He does itfast and unintentionally. He quickly shifts back to herface. His therapist wraps her shawl around her.INT. SHOW HALL - DAYCrowded with orchid lovers. Noisy chatter and calliopemusic. Elaborate displays include orchids on a ferris wheel,plastic clowns, and a booth that looks like a circus big top.                    LAROCHE          Once you get the sickness, it takes over          your life. I started out just          photographing 'em. Now look at me.              (dramatic pause)          It'll happen to you. You'll see.                    ORLEAN          I don't think so.     I'm not prone to --Laroche runs over to a flower.                                                      (CONTINUED)                                                              36.CONTINUED:                     LAROCHE           Angraecum sesquipedale! Beauty! God!           Darwin wrote about this one. Charles           Darwin? Evolution guy? Hello?                     ORLEAN               (annoyed)           I know who Darwin is.INT. EMPTY BEDROOM - NIGHTA depressed Kaufman fishes on his floor through an everincreasing pile of books: books about turtles, mirrorresilvering, tropical fish, Hegel, etc. He picks up ThePortable Darwin. The cover features a daguerreotype ofDarwin. Kaufman paces and reads.INT. BOOK-LINED STUDY - NIGHTSUBTITLE: ENGLAND, ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY NINE YEARS EARLIERSepia.   A sickly Darwin writes at his desk.                     DARWIN (V.O.)           Therefore I should infer from analogy           that probably all the organic beings           which have ever lived on this earth have           descended from some one primordial form,           into which life was first breathed.INT. EMPTY BEDROOM - NIGHTKaufman looks off into space, thinking. Silence. Suddenly,he grabs his mini-recorder and paces like a caged animal.                     KAUFMAN           Okay, opening of movie. Four billion           years ago. Life has not begun. Endless,           barren terrain. Silence. Silence.EXT. SHOW HALL - DAYBlasting music.   Crowds.   Laroche shows the flower to Orlean.                     LAROCHE           See that nectary all the way down there?           Darwin hypothesized a moth with a nose           twelve inches long to pollinate it.           Everyone thought he was a loon. Then,           sure enough, they found this moth with a           twelve inch proboscis -- proboscis means           nose, by the way -- and --                                                      (CONTINUED)                                                              37.CONTINUED:                    ORLEAN          I know what proboscis means.                    LAROCHE          Every one of these flowers has a specific          relationship with the insect that          pollinates it. There's an orchid that          looks exactly like this particular          insect. So the bug humps the flower and          gets covered with its pollen. Thusly...Laroche mimes humping.                      ORLEAN          I get it.                    LAROCHE          That's called pseudo-copulation. These          flowers are smart! You gotta fall in          love with them. Once you learn anything          about orchids, you'll devote your life to          learning everything about them.Orlean looks around: people sniffing flowers, feeling petals,staring deep into nectaries. People jabber passionately,people buy plants, people carry boxes of purchased plants.Orlean looks deeply into various flowers, at a dizzying arrayof colors and shapes, but remains detached.INT. APARTMENT - EARLY EVENINGOrlean stares at photos of orchids on her bulletin board.She can't find a way in. She looks over at her husbandreading. He smiles at her. She smiles back, but there's aterrible distance between them. She looks at us sadly.                    ORLEAN          I wanted to want something as much as          people wanted these plants but it isn't          part of my constitution.Orlean stares out the window at the empty street below.   Aplastic bag dips and rises in the breeze. She inhales.                    ORLEAN (cont'd)          I suppose I do have one unembarrassed          passion.              (beat, looks back at us)          I want to know how it feels to care about          something passionately.                                                            38.EXT. SUBURBAN BACKYARD - NIGHTThe seven year old girl swings sadly by herself. From highup she sees her mother in a window at one end of the house,her father in a window at the other end. Both stare blanklyin opposite directions. The swing completes it's arc and thegirl descends, losing sight of her parents.INT. LARGE EMPTY LIVING ROOM - NIGHTKaufman types furiously.   He's a sweaty mess.                    KAUFMAN (V.O.)          ... then, after the entire history of          life on the planet, in the last seconds          of the montage, we see the whole of human          history: tool-making, hunting, farming,          war, lust, religion, self-consciousness.          Yearning. Then, bam! cut to Susan Orlean          writing a book about orchids. And the          story begins. It's perfect! It's          circular! It's everything!He reads back what he's written.                    KAUFMAN (CONT'D)          I'm an idiot. I'm fat. I hate my--The front door bursts open and Donald charges in.                    DONALD          McKee is a genius! And hilarious! He          just comes up with these great jokes, and          everyone laughs! But he's serious, too.          You'd love him. He's all for          originality, just like you! But he says,          we have to realize we all write in a          genre, so we must find originality within          that genre. See, it turns out there          hasn't been a new genre since Fellini          invented the mockumentary!                    KAUFMAN              (sadly, quietly)          You and I share the same DNA. Is there          anything more lonely than that?INT. ORLEAN'S KITCHEN - EVENINGOrlean eats a silent dinner with her husband.                    HUSBAND          You want to do something tonight?                                                    (CONTINUED)                                                            39.CONTINUED:                     ORLEAN           I should work. I've got stuff...He nods.   She smiles, picks up her dish, puts it in the sink.INT. ORLEAN'S STUDY - EVENINGOrlean looks at the photo of Laroche, sits sadly for amoment, then types.                     ORLEAN (V.O.)           Laroche is an optimist. That is, he sees           a profitable outcome in every situation.           When he was a young man he worked in           construction.EXT. CONSTRUCTION SITE - DAYSUBTITLE: NORTH MIAMI, TEN YEARS EARLIERA younger Laroche, in a hard hat, walks atop a half-builthouse. He spots a flower in a backyard across the street.                       LAROCHE                 (pleased with himself)             Asclepiadaceae. From thirty yards.   Yes.He loses his footing, falls two storeys, lands on his back.INT. DINER - DAYLaroche talks.    Orlean takes notes.                     LAROCHE               (laughing)           ... I broke my back. Exactly how my dad           did. Isn't that a psycho coincidence?               (far away)           Y'know, the way I see it, we're a family           of ailments and pain.               (suddenly excited.)           But, anyway, it was a godsend.Laroche scarfs his pie.    Orlean watches him.                      ORLEAN (V.O.)           Laroche once spilled toxic pesticide into           a cut on his hand. It resulted in           permanent heart and liver damage. Most           people would consider this a terrible           accident. Laroche considered it a           success...                                                             40.INT. SUBURBAN SUN ROOM - DAYA prim woman reads a magazine article by Laroche entitled,"Would You Die For Your Plants." There's a smiling photo ofa frail, emaciated Laroche next to his byline.                    ORLEAN (V.O.)          ... because he sold an article about it.INT. DINER - DAYLaroche talks, mouth full of pie.    Orlean takes notes.                    LAROCHE          I consider the broken back -- in three          places, by the way. I have x-rays --              (fishes through bag)          -- a stroke of goddamn luck. I got          disability, married the sweetest woman in          the world. And me and my lovely new wife          -- my now ex-wife, the bitch -- got to          open our nursery.EXT. NURSERY - DAYLaroche and his wife, in wedding clothes, stand outside theirnursery The Bromeliad Tree posing for an auto-timed photo.Laroche wears a cumbersome back brace. The camera flashes.INT. EMPTY BEDROOM - NIGHTKaufman types tentatively. Off-screen we hear Donald'senthusiastic typing and giggling.                    KAUFMAN (V.O.)          Movie opens with Susan Orlean typing.              (refers to Orchid Thief)          "John Laroche is a tall guy, skinny as a          stick...              (stops, flips through book)          Movie opens with a young boy picking out          his first pet...              (stops, flips through book)          Movie opens with...Kaufman stops, scratches his head.    His hand is covered withloose hairs. He whines.INT. DINER - DAYLaroche talks to Orlean.                                                     (CONTINUED)                                                              41.CONTINUED:                    LAROCHE          People started coming out of the          woodwork, to ask me stuff, to admire my          plants, to admire me.INT. THE BROMELIAD TREE - DAYLots of lonely-looking customers admiring orchids. Larocheis in the midst of them, happily chatting with whomeverapproaches him. One guy pulls Laroche aside.                       CUSTOMER #1             John, what is this? It's so beautiful.                    LAROCHE          Catasetum tenebrosum. From Peru. It's          neat 'cause its dimorphic, which means...Customer #2 enters with a creepy, dark flowered orchid.                    CUSTOMER #2          Johnny baby!                    LAROCHE          Henry! Look at that Dracula vampira!          It's gorgeous, man.Other customers gather around.                    CUSTOMER #2          Take me in to the Fakahatchee. Show me a          ghost in bloom, and it's yours.                       LAROCHE          Cool.                    CUSTOMER #3          Mr. Laroche, would you be able to --Laroche picks up a ringing phone. Customer #3 continues totry and get his attention while he talks.                    LAROCHE          Bromeliad Tree. Hey, Dora! Good, good.          Well, sure, you gotta watch the          temperature. Don't want an odontoglossum          above seventy-five. Uh-huh, that should          be fine. Yeah, damp it down. Oh, I'm          doing well. She's fine, too. Sure...INT. VAN - NIGHTLaroche drives.    Orlean looks out at the dark night.                                                      (CONTINUED)                                                                42.CONTINUED:                    LAROCHE          I believe some folks'd call me up to talk          and just talk because they were lonely.Orlean looks at him.     After a long silence, Laroche muses:                     LAROCHE (cont'd)          You know why I love plants? Because          they're so mutable, so adaptable.          Adaptation is such a profound process.              (beat)          Adaptation means you figure out how to          survive in the world. People aren't too          good at that sometimes.INT. AGENT'S OFFICE - DAYKaufman sits with his agent Jerry in a glass-walled office.                       KAUFMAN             I don't know how to adapt this. I             should've just stuck with my own stuff.             I don't know why I thought I could --                        JERRY             See her?   I fucked her up the ass.Jerry waves at a passing beauty. She waves back, keepswalking. Kaufman follows the girl's ass with his eyes.                       JERRY             Just kidding. Hey, maybe I can help.             What's the problem, buddy?Kaufman looks at Jerry.     Will he accept help from an agent?                       KAUFMAN             It's about flowers.                       JERRY             It's not only about flowers. It's got             that crazy plant nut guy. He's funny,             right?Kaufman pulls out a folded newspaper clipping, reads:                       KAUFMAN             "There is not nearly enough of him to             fill a book," blah blah blah, so Orlean             "digresses in long passes" blah blah blah             "no narrative really unites these             passages." Blah blah blah blah blah.                 (looking up defiantly)                       (MORE)                                                     (CONTINUED)                                                          43.CONTINUED:                    KAUFMAN (cont'd)          New York Times Book Review. I can't          structure this. It's that sprawling New          Yorker shit.Jerry gets distracted by another sexy woman walking by.                     JERRY          Oh man.   I'd fuck her up the ass.                    KAUFMAN          There's no story. The book has no story.                    JERRY          So make one up. The book's a jumping off          point. No one in town can make up a          crazy story like you. You're the king.                    KAUFMAN          I didn't want to do that this time. It's          someone else's material. I have a          responsibility... Anyway, I wanted to          grow as a writer, do something profound          and simple. Show people how amazing          flowers are.                    JERRY          Are they amazing?                    KAUFMAN          I don't know. I think they are.                    JERRY          Look, what I tell a lot of guys is pick          another film and use it as a model. I          always thought this one could be like          Apocalypse Now. The journalist spends          the whole movie searching for the crazy          plant nut guy -- what's his name?                    KAUFMAN          John Laroche.                    JERRY          She has to travel deep into the darkest          swamps to find the mysterious "Laroche."                    KAUFMAN          I need you to get me out of this.                    JERRY          Charlie, at the end of the day, I think          it would be a terrible career move.                                                          44.MONTAGEJumble of images: Laroche talking, flowers, Indians, Orlean,the trial. The rapid fire click-click of typing.                    KAUFMAN (V.O.)          Okay, okay, we open with Laroche. He's          funny. Okay, he says, okay, he says, I          love to mutate plants, he says, mutation          is fun... Okay, we show flowers and,          okay, we have to have the court case.          Okay we show Laroche, okay, he says, I          was mutated as baby, that's why I'm so          smart...that's funny. Okay we open at          the beginning of time...no, okay, we open          with Laroche driving into the swamp...INT. EMPTY BEDROOM - NIGHTKaufman awakes with a start. Enthusiastic off-screen typing.Kaufman peers through the darkness at the books, paperscoffee cups, and dirty plates all around.EXT. SWAMP - DAYBlack and white. It's dark, tangled with foliage, andforeboding. Two pioneers slog waist-high through the water.Alligators regard them menacingly.                    ORLEAN (V.O.)          The pioneer-adventurers in Florida had to          travel inward, into a place as dark and          dense as steel wool. They had to          confront what a dark, dense, overabundant          place might have hidden in it.The scene turns into color. The men turn into mannequins.The floor is covered with black cellophane representing swampwater. The swamp turns to cardboard, with real orchidshanging from the trees. A guy carrying some orchids walks ontop of the cellophane, past the mannequins.INT. LAROCHE'S LIVING ROOM - NIGHTThe room is dark, lit only by the light of the TV Laroche'sfather watches. Laroche and Orlean sit on the couch.                    LAROCHE          The nursery was going well, but sometimes          bad things happen. Darkness descends.                                                  (CONTINUED)                                                             45.CONTINUED:Laroche glances at his father, who just stares at the TV. Onthe TV set are two framed photos: one of Laroche's sister andone of Laroche's mother.INT. LAROCHE'S LIVING ROOM - DAYSUBTITLE: NORTH MIAMI, NINE YEARS EARLIERLaroche ushers his wife, mother, and uncle out of the house.His father watches TV. There's only a photo of Laroche'ssister on the TV set now.                    LAROCHE          Sure you don't want to come, dad?His father doesn't respond.INT. LAROCHE'S CAR - A FEW MOMENTS LATERThey pile into a nice new American car, his wife in front,his mother and uncle in back. Laroche pulls into traffic.                    UNCLE JIM          Nursery business good, Johnny?                    LAROCHE          Everything's good, Uncle Jim. This last          year's been a dream, I'm telling you.          We're finally pulling out of this debt.                    MOTHER          Amen, honey. Praise Allah, Buddha,          Vishnu. And all the rest of 'em.Laroche smiles back at his mother. A screech of tires andanother car crashes head on into theirs. Laroche's facesmacks against the steering wheel, his front teeth fly in alldirections. His mother rockets forward smashing through thewindshield. His uncle hits Laroche's wife in the head,jerking her forward and landing on top of her.EXT. CEMETERY - DAYBanged-up and missing his front teeth, Laroche stands amidsta group of mourners at a double funeral.INT. HOSPITAL ROOM - DAYLaroche, in his mourning suit, sits by his comatose wife.                                                            46.EXT. SEMINOLE DISCOUNT CIGARETTE STORE PARKING LOT - DAYIt's a busy street full of discount cigarette stores.Laroche and Orlean step from his van, head toward the store.                    LAROCHE          She divorced me soon after she regained          consciousness. Then the hurricane          destroyed my greenhouse. Everything. I          knew it would break my heart to start          another nursery, so when the Seminoles          wanted a white guy, an expert, to get          their nursery going, I took it.INT. DISCOUNT CIGARETTE STORE - CONTINUOUSLaroche pulls about ten Marlboro cartons off the shelf.                    LAROCHE          But I wasn't gonna give them a          conventional little potted-plant place.          So I came up with the "ghost" plan.   I          was gonna give them something amazing.INT. PARTY HOUSE - NIGHTKaufman, beer in hand, stands off in the corner of a roomcrowded with young Hollywood types. He talks nervously to apretty young woman                    KAUFMAN          ... see, Laroche researched it and found          that Indians have the legal right to take          endangered plants off state lands.                    WOMAN          What an amazing opening! So then it's a          courtroom drama. A Few Good Men! And          all those Indian rights issues are so          complex. There are valid arguments on          both sides. I mean we took their land!          We gave them smallpox!                    KAUFMAN          Well, actually, there wasn't much of a          trial. Florida got 'em on a          technicality, about cutting down non-          endangered trees. Even the Indians          aren't allowed to do that. They all          plead no contest. Laroche got fined five          hundred bucks and banned from the          Fakahatchee for six months.                                                    (CONTINUED)                                                                 47.CONTINUED:                        WOMAN          Oh, wow.      So, like, then what happens?                    KAUFMAN          Nothing much. That's what I like. I          mean, most people's lives don't include a          lot of drama and I wanted to sort of be          compelling without having to resort to          big, um... Y'know what I mean?                    WOMAN              (glancing distractedly around)          Absolutely. I absolutely do.                    KAUFMAN          It's, like, Blake talked about seeing the          world in a grain of sand and heaven in a          wild flower. Y'know? Or like Hegel?The woman smiles, but she's somewhere else entirely.INT. EMPTY BEDROOM - BEDROOMKaufman stares at his typewriter.        There's a big pile ofpapers next to him.                    KAUFMAN (V.O.)          I am a failure. I'm a poseur. I have no          ideas. I wanted to do something great.          There's no story. I'm fat. I'm repuls--The phone rings.                         KAUFMAN (CONT'D)             What?                        VALERIE (PHONE VOICE)             Charlie?   It's Valerie.                         KAUFMAN             Oh, hi.    Hi. Hey!   Hi!                       VALERIE (PHONE VOICE)             Sorry to bug you. We were just talking             about you, how excited we are.                       KAUFMAN             Yeah, me too.                       VALERIE (PHONE VOICE)             So it's coming along good?                                                        (CONTINUED)                                                               48.CONTINUED:                       KAUFMAN             It's good. It's complicated what I'm             trying to do, but it's going very well.INT. ORLEAN'S APARTMENT - EVENINGOrlean looks at a book called The Native Orchids of Florida.She comes to a photo of the ghost orchid glowing white on thepage. Orlean's husband walks by with a cup of coffee,caresses her shoulder. She tenses slightly, smiles up at himapologetically. He smiles back sadly. She returns to thephoto. A line of text catches her eye: "Should one be luckyenough to see a flower all else will seem eclipsed." Orleancloses the book, sits there. She dials the phone.                       LAROCHE (PHONE VOICE)          Yeah.                    ORLEAN          Hello, John? It's Susan.                       LAROCHE (PHONE VOICE)          Susie-Q!                    ORLEAN          So I was thinking it'd be good for the          article for me to go into the Fakahatchee          to see a ghost. Would you take me?                    LAROCHE (PHONE VOICE)          I'd love to, but, hey, I'm banned for the          next six months. Goddamn crucified me.          Get one of them monkey-suited rangers to          take you. 'Course, they wouldn't be able          to locate a ghost, if it climbed off a          tree and shoved itself up their ass.          Hey, put that in the article.INT. EMPTY BEDROOM - MORNINGA hollow-eyed Kaufman is zipping up a suitcase.                    KAUFMAN              (calling off-screen)          Travelling into the Fakahatchee, Donald,          is a perfect metaphor for writing. I'm          stepping into the confusion of the          unknown. I'm taking the big risk here.INT. EMPTY LIVING ROOM - CONTINUOUSDonald types cheerily on a lap-top computer at an ergonomicdesk. Kaufman descends the stairs with his suitcase.                                                       (CONTINUED)                                                                49.CONTINUED:                    KAUFMAN          It's dark, dangerous, as dense as steel          wool. I don't know if I'll come out          alive, but if I do, I'll have something          true to give the world. That's the          difference between writing and aping some          moron's "principles."Donald looks up from his work.      He hasn't been listening.                       DONALD             Hey, Charles, I'm thinking of putting a             song in. Y'know like when characters             sing pop songs in their pajamas and dance             around. I thought it might be a nice way             to break the tension. So, try to think             of a song about split personality...INT. AIRPLANE - MORNINGOrlean sits in her seat and addresses the camera.                       ORLEAN             You would have to want something very             badly...INT. AIRPLANE - NIGHTKaufman reads The Orchid Thief.                    ORLEAN (V.O.)          ... to go looking for it in the          Fakahatchee Strand.He can't concentrate, closes the book and watches astewardess tending to another passenger.INT. STUDIO APARTMENT - NIGHTKaufman fixes a salad in the kitchenette. The door opens andthe stewardess enters dragging her luggage on a little cart.                      KAUFMAN          Hey!    How was Denver?                    STEWARDESS          Oh, God, sweetie, I'm so glad to be home.She kisses him, looks lovingly at him.                    STEWARDESS (cont'd)          Can I get you something to drink?                                                             50.INT. AIRPLANE BATHROOM - NIGHTKaufman finishes jerking off, stands, pulls up his pants,adjusts himself, and exits the bathroom.INT. AIRPLANE - CONTINUOUSKaufman steps out of the bathroom. The stewardess is theretalking to another stewardess. She regards Kaufman blankly,then goes back to her conversation. He heads up the aisle.One of the stewardesses laughs. He tenses, takes his seat.INT. AIRPLANE - MORNINGOrlean watches the hundreds of square miles of black, wetFlorida swampland pass by below.                    ORLEAN (V.O.)          An early surveyor made this entry in his          field notes...EXT. SWAMP - DAYSUBTITLE: FAKAHATCHEE, ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTEEN YEARS EARLIERA surveyor scribbles in a notebook.   The pond is alive withalligators.                    SURVEYOR (V.O.)          A pond surrounded by bay and cypress          swamp, impracticable. Full of monstrous          alligators, counted fifty and stopped.INT. HOTEL - NIGHTOrlean lies in bed, wide awake and anxious.                    ORLEAN (V.O.)          Whatever isn't wet in the Fakahatchee is          blasted. The grass gets so dry that the          friction from a car can set it on fire,          and the burning grass can engulf the car          in flames. A 1940's botanist noted:EXT. PRAIRIE - DAYA botanist, in a hot, arid field, writes in a notebook.                    BOTANIST (V.O.)          Most impressed by the area's variety of          squirrels...                                                     (CONTINUED)                                                             51.CONTINUED:A car drives by on the dirt road. It begins smoking. Thedriver jumps out of the car just as it bursts into flames.                    BOTANIST (cont'd)          ... and charred automobiles.We pull back to see the area filled with abandoned, burned-upold cars.INT. MIAMI AIRPORT CAR RENTAL BOOTH - DAYKaufman watches the pretty clerk working on the computer.She looks up, he looks down, studies his road map.INT. RENTAL CAR - EARLY MORNINGA charmingly bedraggled Orlean drives on a road surrounded byswamp. She talks to us.                    ORLEAN          The swamp's darkness and denseness can          rattle your nerves. A sailor on a pluma-          collecting expedition wrote in his diary:EXT. SWAMP - DAYSUBTITLE: FAKAHATCHEE, ONE-HUNDRED AND THREE YEARS EARLIERA luggish sailor sits in the distance on a stump, crying.                    SAILOR (V.O.)          The place looked wild and lonely. About          three o'clock it seemed to get on Henry's          nerves. We saw him crying, he could not          tell us why, he was just plain scared.EXT. STATE ROAD 29 - EARLY MORNINGOrlean drives onto the dirt road past the Fakahatchee signand talks to us.                    ORLEAN          The swampy part of the Fakahatchee is hot          and wet and buggy and full of cottonmouth          snakes and diamond back rattlers and...INT. RENTAL CAR - MORNINGKaufman drives down the same road surrounded by swamp.                                                  (CONTINUED)                                                             52.CONTINUED:                    ORLEAN (V.O.)          ... alligators and snapping turtles and          poisonous plants and wild hogs and...EXT. RANGER SHACK - MORNINGOrlean gets out of the car, knocks timidly on the shack door.Ranger Mike Owen answers.                       MIKE OWEN          Charlie?It's Kaufman standing there.                    KAUFMAN              (tremulous)          Yes. Hi.EXT. SWAMP - MORNINGThe sky is overcast. Mike Owen leads Kaufman through a coolswamp, which is completely dry. The two men walk easily onpeaty ground. Kaufman, slathered with sun screen and coveredhead to foot in unnecessary protective clothing, tries to beinterested in Owen's lecture.                    MIKE OWEN          So the whole ecosystem is six thousand          years old. Five to six thousand years          old. About that. Five or six.                       KAUFMAN          Okay.                    MIKE OWEN          Now the Fakahatchee is the largest of all          the cyrpess strands, probably in the          world. I don't know of any cypress          strand bigger. It's about twenty miles          long, or nineteen, nineteen to twenty,          nineteen... and right here it's about          five miles wide, four and a half, five.          So, again, it's twenty miles long, three          to five miles wide. And over here --EXT. SWAMP - LATERMike Owen holds a handful of peat.   Kaufman looks at it.                    MIKE OWEN          The oldest carbon dating they've done on          any of the peat out here is fifty-seven          hundred years. That's with carbon-14.                    (MORE)                                                     (CONTINUED)                                                               53.CONTINUED:                    MIKE OWEN (cont'd)          That's in the right age where you can          really date things accurately with carbon-          14, because it's half-life is fifty-five          hundred years, so they must have found          have of it gone and figured that...                       KAUFMAN             Why isn't it wet? Orlean wrote about             wading through black, corrosive water.             She said it was the scariest experience             of her life. And when I spoke to you on             the phone, you said wear heavy boots,             long pants and...                    MIKE OWEN          There's usually water. We've been going          through a bit of a drought. Say, have          you seen that movie, Medicine Man?          That's a good movie about protecting          nature. It shows there could be          something important in a rain forest we          don't even know about, like a cure for          cancer.                    KAUFMAN          It's not even hot. I was expecting it to          be awful. Sun beating down, wading          through water, looking out for snakes,          wild hogs. I was thinking it would be          dramatic. Alligators. Something!                     MIKE OWEN          The alligators are over by the lakes.          The temperature's a blessing for us.          This time of year can get uncomfortably          hot.               (pointing excitedly)          Green anole. Florida's most common.Kaufman looks down and sees a plain-looking little lizardhanging on a tree. Mike Owen jots it down in his notebook.                    MIKE OWEN (cont'd)          I try to keep a log of sightings.INT. TRUCK - DAYMike Owen drives.    Kaufman stares out the window at boringtrees.                    ORLEAN (V.O.)          It had been a hard day and I hadn't seen          what I'd come to see. Maybe the ghost          orchid was a ghost after all.                    (MORE)                                                       (CONTINUED)                                                             54.CONTINUED:                    ORLEAN (V.O.) (cont'd)          There are certainly ghosts in the          Fakahatchee -- ghosts of rangers who were          murdered years ago by illegal plume          hunters, and of loggers who were cut to          pieces in fights, and for years there has          been an apparition wandering the swamp,          the Swamp Ape, which is said to be seven          feet tall and seven hundred pounds and          have the physique of a human, the posture          of an ape, and the body odor of a skunk.EXT. RANGER SHACK - DAYKaufman and Owen stand by Kaufman's car.                    MIKE OWEN          What Laroche did was wrong. Those          flowers belong to all of us, all 250          million of us -- 250? I think it's up to          270 now -- And belonging to all of us          means they belong to none of us. Nobody          has a right to take them. Not me, not          you, not John Laroche, not...Kaufman is desperate for something else.    He blurts:                    KAUFMAN          Listen, um, Susan Orlean wrote about a          legendary creature called a Swamp Ape.          Have you ever heard stories or --                    MIKE OWEN              (pissy)          Tourist garbage! I don't know why people          need to invent silly creatures to make          nature fascinating. Isn't nature amazing          enough?                    KAUFMAN              (shamed)          I just asked because she mentioned it.INT. HOTEL ROOM - NIGHTOrlean, still dirty from the swamp, holds a phone to her earand talks to us. She has cute little dirt smudges on herface.                    ORLEAN          That night I called Laroche.                       ORLEAN                 (into phone)             I didn't see anything but bare roots.                       (MORE)                                                     (CONTINUED)                                                             55.CONTINUED:                    ORLEAN (cont'd)          And I had this thought. Maybe the ghost          orchid only blooms in the minds of people          who've walked too long in the swamp.INT. ORLEAN'S APARTMENT - NIGHTOrlean types. It's pouring and sheets of rain beat againsther window. She glances at her husband, across the roomreading a book. She sighs, continues typing.                    ORLEAN (V.O.)          What I didn't say to him is that life          seemed to be filled with things that were          just like the ghost orchid -- wonderful          to imagine and easy to fall in love with          but a little fantastic and fleeting and          out of reach.INT. RENTAL CAR - EVENINGKaufman drives down a Florida strip-malled highway. Hepasses a Barnes and Noble, a Burger King, a Starbucks. Heparks in front of a California Pizza Kitchen.INT. CALIFORNIA PIZZA KITCHEN (FLORIDA) - EVENINGKaufman watches the waitresses. One approaches his booth.Her name badge reads: Caryn, Tampa, FL. She smiles atKaufman as she looks right through him.INT. HOTEL ROOM - NIGHTA morose Kaufman sits on the bed reading The Orchid Thief.                    KAUFMAN (V.O.)          What I didn't say to him was that life          seemed to be filled with things that were          just like the ghost orchid -- wonderful          to imagine and easy to fall in love with          but a little fantastic and fleeting and          out of reach.Kaufman is deeply moved. He hi-lites the passage, then looksat the smiling photo of Orlean. He finds himself lost in it.INT. HOTEL ROOM - NIGHTOrlean, dirty from the swamp, is on the phone.                    LAROCHE (PHONE VOICE)              (beat,clears throat)          Jesus Christ, of course there are ghost          orchids out there! I've stolen them!                    (MORE)                                                    (CONTINUED)                                                                56.CONTINUED:                    LAROCHE (PHONE VOICE) (cont'd)              (beat, a cleared throat)          You should have gone with me.CLOSE-UP OF MAGAZINEThe line: "... then he cleared his throat and said: 'Youshould have gone with me.'"                    VALERIE (O.C.)          Beautifully written. A really unique          piece.PULL BACK TO:INT. RESTAURANT - MIDDAYBusy lunch crowd. Valerie sits at a table with Orlean and anopen New Yorker magazine.                        ORLEAN          Thank you.      Thanks very much.                    VALERIE          We're big fans.                    ORLEAN          Oh, thank you.                    VALERIE          And Laroche is such a fun character.                    ORLEAN          Yeah, John's a character all right.                    VALERIE          It's funny and fresh.     And sad in a way.                    ORLEAN          Well, thanks. Thank you.                    VALERIE          So we were wondering, what's next?                    ORLEAN          Oh, um, Random House wants me to expand          it into a book. So I'll be doing that.                    VALERIE          And there'll be more of Laroche?                        ORLEAN             Yeah.   More John, more orchids.                                                        (CONTINUED)                                                            57.CONTINUED:                    VALERIE          Y'know, we'd really like to option it.                    ORLEAN              (laughing)          You want to make this into a movie?                    VALERIE          Laroche is such a fun character.   So...INT. VAN - DAYLaroche, wearing a Cleveland Indians T-shirt, drives crazilythorugh the Hollywood Seminole reservation. Orlean holds on.                     LAROCHE          No shit I'm a fun character.              (beat)          Who's gonna play me?                    ORLEAN          I've got to write it first. Someone's          gotta write the screenplay. Most things          never get made. It's premature to --                    LAROCHE          I think I should play me.Laroche swerves into a parking space in the nursery lot.EXT. SEMINOLE NURSERY   - DAYLaroche and Orlean get out of the van.                    LAROCHE          I've got all the right qualities. While          you write, I'll take an acting class.A few young Indian guys are hauling bags of potting soil.They look at Laroche sourly. Laroche indicates the giantcartoon Indian on his T-shirt.                    LAROCHE          I wear this just to screw with 'em.INT. TRAILER - CONTINUOUSLaroche enters his office, looks at some papers on his desk.                    LAROCHE          Most of them don't even bother calling me          John anymore. It's "Crazy White Man"          now.                    (MORE)                                                  (CONTINUED)                                                            58.CONTINUED:                    LAROCHE (cont'd)          "Crazy White Man" is a good title for the          movie. Call the book "Crazy White Man."          Or, I don't know, "Collector of Hearts"          or something.Before Orlean can respond, Laroche picks up the phone anddials an impossibly long number. He waits, gestures forOrlean to sit on a chair piled high with junk.                    LAROCHE (cont'd)          You won't hurt anything.Orlean moves the junk over, shares the seat with it.                    LAROCHE (cont'd)              (Yelling into phone)          Hello? Hello? Hi? This is John Laroche          from the Seminole Nursery. Sem-ih-nole!              (to Orlean)          How do you say Seminole in Spanish?              (into phone)          That's right, yes! Yeah, I want to order          some more of those pink string beans!          Pink string beans!              (yelling)          Pink String Beans! Pink String Beans!Buster appears in the door.                    LAROCHE (cont'd)              (into phone)          I'll call back.              (hangs up)          Hey, Buster.                    BAXLEY          John.                    LAROCHE          I was trying to order some pink string          beans from Argentina.                    BAXLEY          No kidding.                    LAROCHE          I figure just because Project Ghost          Orchid is dead, we're not closing shop.                    BAXLEY          Listen, John --                                                    (CONTINUED)                                                              59.CONTINUED: (2)                    LAROCHE          We'll get into plant multiplication. Buy          little ones, turn 'em into big ones, sell          'em at a profit. Simple plant          multiplication for the masses.                    BAXLEY          John, we're thinking maybe now's a good          time for you to take a few weeks.                    LAROCHE          I don't need a vacation, Buster.                    BAXLEY          It's a good time.   Things are slow.Laroche stares at Buster.   Buster stares back.                    LAROCHE          Y'know, the guys on my crew here, all          they do is smoke weed all day. I been          meaning to talk to you about that. So if          it's a question of productivity --INT. VAN - A FEW MINUTES LATERLaroche weaves through traffic.   Orlean holds on.                    LAROCHE          They're gonna fire me. Goddamn politics.          Crazy White Man's bad publicity.              (pounds steering wheel)          I can't believe I'm dealing with this!              (pounds steering wheel)          Like I could give a damn. If they fire          me, I'll sue. I already did some legal          research on this when I was doing the          other shit. They can't fire me. And I          ain't going to quit.MONTAGEGray skies. Kaufman drives his rental car: he looks at theSeminole Nursery, the Collier County Courthouse, Laroche'shouse. He drives through swampy terrain. He walks around atan orchid show, he attends a slide-show orchid lecture. It'sall dull. He ends up sitting on a bench on an empty beach,staring out at the ocean.INT. HOTEL ROOM - DAYOrlean dials the phone.   It rings for a long time.    Finally:                                                      (CONTINUED)                                                             60.CONTINUED:                    LAROCHE (PHONE VOICE)              (groggy)          Yeah?                    ORLEAN          John, it's Susan.              (waits for response)          Orlean.              (waits)          So, I was just wondering if you might be          willing to talk some more.                    LAROCHE (PHONE VOICE)          What about?Orlean rolls her eyes.                    ORLEAN          C'mon, John, I'm trying to put together a          book. Don't just abandon me down here.                    LAROCHE          I'm no longer interested in orchids. I'm          pursuing other avenues. I apologize for          any inconvenience this might cause you.Orlean is silent, taps her fingers on the bedside table.                    LAROCHE          Thank you for your time.Laroche hangs up. Orlean sits there for a moment, flipsthrough her list of orchid collector names.EXT. EMPTY BEACH - DAYKaufman sits on the bench, looking out at the ocean. Anattractive, spandexed couple skate by, chatting in German.He watches the woman, hoping for a look, for something. Hedoesn't get it. They're gone. A tan older man sits on thebench, lights a cigarette. Kaufman continues to look at theocean, even though he feels the guy's eyes on him. Hedoesn't want to engage.                    GUY ON BENCH          We could use the rain, huh?Kaufman nods, looking at the ocean.      Pause.                    GUY ON BENCH (cont'd)          So you from around here?Kaufman shakes his head "no."   Pause.                                                     (CONTINUED)                                                             61.CONTINUED:                    GUY ON BENCH (cont'd)          So where then?                    KAUFMAN          California.                     GUY ON BENCH              (excitedly)          Yeah? I'm moving to L.A. I just wrote a          screenplay. I sent it to a lot of          agents. But if they turn me down, I'll          go there and market it myself. I used to          be in marketing in New York, so I know          exactly how to sell this thing.              (beat)          Where's a nice place to live if you don't          have a car?                    KAUFMAN          You kind of need a car. I guess West          Hollywood would be okay.                    GUY ON BENCH          So you recommend West Hollywood then.                    KAUFMAN          I'm not recommending it.Pause.                    GUY ON BENCH          I moved down here for a change, and I          wrote the screenplay. Just like that.          It's a great idea.The old guy waits for a response.    He gets none.                    GUY ON BENCH (cont'd)          It's about a mob guy, but it's not your          regular mob story. There's a twist. A          cop tells this mob guy's wife that the          mob guy's cheating on her. But the truth          is, the cop's lying because he wants her          for himself. See, they used to go          together in high school.              (waits for response, then:)          You know anything about screenplays?Kaufman shakes his head.                                                     (CONTINUED)                                                             62.CONTINUED: (2)                     GUY ON BENCH (cont'd)          Well, the object is to make people think          you're going in one direction, then you          twist it to keep 'em surprised. I came up          with all these amazing twists out of          nowhere. Well, not nowhere.              (beat)          I'm a born again Christian.              (beat)          You have faith?                       KAUFMAN          No.     Not really.                    GUY ON BENCH          You don't believe in anything?Kaufman shrugs.                    GUY ON BENCH (cont'd)          I don't know how you can look out at this          beautiful ocean and not believe there's          an intelligence that created it.                    KAUFMAN          I don't know.                    GUY ON BENCH          Well, you can't know until you experience          it. That requires accepting Jesus Christ          as your Lord and Savior. Believe me.          Lookit, if I was to show you a bottle of          clear liquid and told you it was vodka,          how would you know if it really was or if          it was water? There's only one way.                    KAUFMAN          I'd smell it.                    GUY ON BENCH              (annoyed)          No. You can't smell vodka.    You'd have          to taste it, right?                    KAUFMAN          It could be poison.    I don't know you.                    GUY ON BENCH              (angry)          Look, let's go with the analogy I'm          drawing here. It's not poison. Okay?              (resuming control)                    (MORE)                                                     (CONTINUED)                                                            63.CONTINUED: (3)                    GUY ON BENCH (cont'd)          So you'd have to taste it to know.          Right? That's my point.                    KAUFMAN          Right.                     GUY ON BENCH          That's all I'm saying.              (beat)          So West Hollywood, huh? I think I'll          make it out this year. Because how long          can you look at an ocean, y'know?MONTAGESusan Orlean talks to various orchid enthusiasts, visitsnurseries, sits in lecture halls, attends orchid shows, sitsin the library reading orchid books. She is bored anddistracted.INT. AIRPLANE - NIGHTA stewardess places a cup and an airline-sized bottle ofvodka down in front of a lost Kaufman. He smiles at her.    Noresponse. He opens the bottle and smells the vodka.INT. LIMO - NIGHTKaufman sits in the back seat and stares out the window. Thedriver looks at him a couple of times in his rearview mirror.                    KAUFMAN (V.O.)          I have failed. I have nothing to say.    I          am fat. I am not a writer.                    DRIVER          Mr. Kaufman, do you mind if I ask what          type of work you do for Sony?                    KAUFMAN          I'm a writer.                    DRIVER              (impressed)          A song writer?                    KAUFMAN          No, I'm a screenwriter.                    DRIVER          Oh, wow! Good for you. You mind if I          ask what your movie's about?                                                    (CONTINUED)                                                             64.CONTINUED:                    KAUFMAN          It's about flowers.No response.   Kaufman tries to make it interesting.                    KAUFMAN (cont'd)          It's about this poacher who steals          orchids out of a swamp.                    DRIVER          I heard about that!   Drug flowers, right?                     KAUFMAN          Yeah.   That's it.                    DRIVER          I heard about that! That's great!          Action-adventure is my favorite genre.INT. EMPTY HOUSE - NIGHTKaufman enters with his bags and heads to the stairs.Donald, typing furiously at his desk, looks up.                    DONALD          How was Florida, man?                    KAUFMAN              (climbing the stairs)          Okay.                    DONALD          Cool! Hey, my script's going amazing!          Right now I'm working out an Image          System. Bob calls it an invaluable          asset. Because of my multiple          personality theme, I've chosen the motif          of broken mirrors to show my          protagonist's fragmented self. Bob          teaches that an Image System greatly          increases the complexity of an aesthetic          emotion.                    KAUFMAN          You sound like you're in a cult.Kaufman disappears upstairs.                    DONALD          No, it's just good writing technique.              (types, then:)                    (MORE)                                                     (CONTINUED)                                                            65.CONTINUED:                    DONALD (cont'd)          Oh, I made you a copy of McKee's Ten          Commandments. I've posted one over both          our work areas.INT. EMPTY BEDROOM - CONTINUOUSKaufman tears down MCKEE'S TEN COMMANDMENTS. Donald appearsbacklit in the doorway and seems oddly threatening.                    DONALD          You shouldn't have done that.They look at each other.    Donald breaks the tension, smiles.                    DONALD (cont'd)          'Cause it's extremely helpful.              (lies down on floor)          Hey, any sign of that Swamp Ape?                       KAUFMAN             There is no Swamp Ape. It was invented             for people who can't find the actual             world fascinating. Y'know?                    DONALD          Oh, okay. I didn't know that. Sorry.          Hey, I got a song! "Happy Together." I          was worried about putting a song in a          thriller, but Bob says, Casablanca, the          greatest screenplay ever written, did          exactly that. Mixed genres.                    KAUFMAN          I need to go to bed, Donald.    I haven't          slept in a week.                       DONALD          Okay.Donald remains on the floor.MONTAGE SEQUENCEMishmash of images: alligators snapping, Laroche jabbering,Orlean typing, 19th century orchid poachers slogging, orchidsblooming, Mike Owen lecturing.                    KAUFMAN (V.O.)          ... so we open the swamp... okay,          flashback to young Laroche had turtles...          Okay, Susan says What Is Passion? And          okay we open on a swamp and suddenly a          white van comes tearing around...                                                             66.INT. EMPTY BEDROOM - NIGHTKaufman lies half-awake in bed, sweating, his eyes dartingback and forth. He looks over at the clock. It's 3:32.                     KAUFMAN          Damn it.Donald snores happily off-screen.   Kaufman switches on alamp, pulls The Orchid Thief from his bag, flips through it.There are now many yellow hi-lited passages. He reads one.                    KAUFMAN (V.O.)          There are too many ideas and things and          people, too many directions to go. I was          starting to believe the reason it matters          to care passionately about something is          that it whittles the world down to a more          manageable size.                    KAUFMAN          Such sweet, sad insights.   So true.Kaufman flips to the glowing, smiling author photo.                    KAUFMAN          And you're... I like looking at you.He stares at the photo.   Its smile broadens.    It talks.                    ORLEAN PHOTO          I like looking at you, too.   Charlie.The photo smiles warmly at him.   Kaufman begins to jerk-off.He closes his eyes.Then: Kaufman and Orlean are in his bed together, makinglove. She smiles at him throughout. They finish.Then: Kaufman is alone in bed, heaving. He looks at thestill smiling photo. It somehow seems sleepy now.                    KAUFMAN          I don't know how to do this. I'm afraid          I'll disappoint you. You've written a          beautiful book. I can't sleep. I'm          losing my hair. I'm fat and repulsive --                    ORLEAN PHOTO          Shhh. You're not. Whittle it down,          focus on one thing in the story, find the          thing you care passionately about and          write about that.                                                     (CONTINUED)                                                              67.CONTINUED:Kaufman studies her delicate, melancholy face.      He's in love.                    ORLEAN PHOTO (cont'd)              (sweet, flirty smile)          I figured there might be something...INT. KITCHEN - MORNINGKaufman paces and talks animatedly into his mini-recorder.                    KAUFMAN          We see Susan Orlean, delicate, fragile,          beautiful, haunted by loneliness, typing          at her desk. She looks at the camera and          talks to us: "John Laroche is a tall guy,          skinny as a stick, pale-eyed, slouch-          shouldered..."Donald enters in his underwear, pours coffee.                       DONALD          Morning.                       KAUFMAN          Hey, hey.                    DONALD          You seem chipper.                       KAUFMAN          I'm good.     I have some new ideas.                    DONALD          Cool. Me too. I'm putting in a chase          sequence now. The killer flees on          horseback with the girl. The cop is          after them on a motorcycle. It's like a          battle between motors and horses.                       KAUFMAN             They're all still one person, right?                       DONALD             Yeah, hey, that's the big pay-off.                     KAUFMAN              (nice)          Well, it sounds exciting.                    DONALD          Thanks, man. Thanks.                                                             68.INT. CAR - DAYOrlean drives through swampy landscape.   She talks to us.                    ORLEAN          I suppose what I'd been doing in Florida          was trying to understand how people found          order and contentment and a sense of          purpose in the universe by fixing their          sighs on one single desire. Now I was          also trying to understand how someone          could end such intense desire without a          trace.Orlean stops at a payphone and dials.   It rings for a while.                     LAROCHE (PHONE VOICE)              (groggy)          Yeah what?                    ORLEAN          Hello, John, it's Susan.                     LAROCHE (PHONE VOICE)          Yeah hi.                    ORLEAN          So, how's everything going?                    LAROCHE (PHONE VOICE)          Great! I'm training myself on the          internet. It's fascinating. I'm doing          pornography. It's amazing how much these          suckers will pay for photographs of          chicks. And it doesn't matter if they're          fat or ugly or what.                    ORLEAN          That sounds good.                    LAROCHE (PHONE VOICE)          It's great is what it is.                    ORLEAN          So I've been meeting a lot of orchid          people, going to shows, I thought you          might want to hear about it.                    LAROCHE (PHONE VOICE)          Sorry. I am officially no longer          interested in orchids or the losers who          are still interested in them. The end.                                                    (CONTINUED)                                                            69.CONTINUED:Laroche hangs up.   Orlean looks off into the flat distance.                    ORLEAN          If you really loved something, wouldn't a          little of it always linger?She turns to the camera.INT. EMPTY BEDROOM - NIGHTKaufman holds The Orchid Thief open with one hand and typeswith the other.                    KAUFMAN (V.O.)          Susan Orlean drives. The golden light of          the afternoon sun caresses her sweet          face. She talks to us.              (copying from book)          "Florida is a landscape of transition and          mutation, a hybrid of ..."Kaufman's hand slips, the book shuts. He opens it to thewrong page and sees an About The Author paragraph. The lastline jumps off the page: "She now lives in New York City withher husband."EXT. L.A. STREET - NIGHTKaufman wanders the street, distraught.   A passing womansnickers.INT. EMPTY BEDROOM - NIGHTKaufman types.                    KAUFMAN (V.O.)          Susan and her husband eat dinner in          silence. A dying relationship. Husband:          You want to do something tonight? Susan:          I should work. Y'know. I got stuff...INT. EMPTY LIVING ROOM - DAYKaufman and Orlean move furniture into the room. It nowlooks warm and inviting. Orlean wears a bandana kerchief.                    KAUFMAN          I'm so thrilled I get to adapt your book,          get to merge my thoughts with yours. I          love that. It's intimate, like a          marriage.                                                   (CONTINUED)                                                              70.CONTINUED:                    ORLEAN          Not like a marriage.                    KAUFMAN          Maybe what marriage could be.Her eyes tear up.    She kisses him.                    ORLEAN          Isn't it ironic? You adapting my book?          My three years in Florida meditating on          my inability to experience passion          resulted in my finding it with you.INT. EMPTY BEDROOM - MORNINGKaufman paces with his mini-recorder.    Off-screen typing.                    KAUFMAN          ... and in the final sequence Susan as a          young girl swings alone in the backyard.          From high in the air she sees her parents          in separate rooms staring blankly in          opposite directions. This symbolizes the          profound scarring their waning passion          has had on the girl's psyche, how she          became afraid to ever really love          something because it would go away.Kaufman is immensely pleased.    He smiles at Orlean's photo.                    KAUFMAN (cont'd)          This is good. I'm finding you.The phone rings.                       KAUFMAN          Yallo?                    VALERIE (PHONE VOICE)          Hi, Charlie. It's Valerie. Just bugging          you again. How's everything going?                       KAUFMAN          Good.     I think really good now.                      VALERIE (PHONE VOICE)          Great.    So I spoke to Susan yesterday.                     KAUFMAN              (beat)          Oh. Uh-huh, uh-huh.                                                     (CONTINUED)                                                              71.CONTINUED:                    VALERIE (PHONE VOICE)          I told her you were making terrific          progress and she's really excited to read          the script.Sweat appears on Kaufman's brow.                        KAUFMAN          Oh.   Good.                    VALERIE (PHONE VOICE)          And she said she'd love to meet you.All color drains from Kaufman's face.                    KAUFMAN          Um, well, y'know, for me it's distracting          to... or confusing to discuss what I'm          exploring in the screenplay at this          point... before I finish... it. So...                    VALERIE (PHONE VOICE)          That's fair. I'll let her know.                    KAUFMAN          Tell Susan I'd be very happy to meet her          at a future date. As she sees fit.                     VALERIE (PHONE VOICE)          Okay.   Good enough.                    KAUFMAN          And tell her how much I love her book.          Say I think she's such a great writer.                     VALERIE (cont'd)          Will do.   Just keep us posted, Charlie.                     KAUFMAN          Okay.   Nice talking to you.   Okay then.Kaufman hangs up and looks at the photo of Orlean. It'sstill smiling, but not at him. It's not glowing. Maybe it'seven smirking. Kaufman paces frantically, holding hisstomach. Donald's off-screen typing grows louder.INT. EMPTY LIVING ROOM - CONTINUOUSDonald types at his desk on his computer.    Kaufman storms in.                                                      (CONTINUED)                                                             72.CONTINUED:                    KAUFMAN          You can sit here and pretend to be a          writer, mocking the seriousness of what I          do, like some kind of fucking funhouse          mirror version of me! But let me tell          you, you don't know what writing is!Kaufman grabs his stomach, doubles over.INT. EMERGENCY ROOM - DAYKaufman is on a gurney and hooked up to an IV. He watches aslightly haggard woman with a bandaged head sitting in asmall room across the hall. She glances over in hisdirection. He smiles. She looks through him.                    KAUFMAN (V.O.)          She thinks I'm repulsive.He lies there for a moment, then his eyes light up.INT. EMPTY BEDROOM - DAYKaufman types passionately on his computer.                     KAUFMAN (V.O.)          Movie opens.: Charlie Kaufman, fat, old,          bald, paces the room. His voice-over          carpets the scene. "I am old. I am fat.          I am bald. My toenails have turned          strange. I am repulsive. How repulsive?          I don't know for I suffer from a          condition called Body Dysmorphic          Disorder."INT. AGENT'S OFFICE - DAYKaufman, looking tired and wild-eyed, sits with his agent.                    JERRY          ... we need to talk about the orchid          script. Valerie called yesterday.          They're getting antsy.                    KAUFMAN          I think I've got it on track now.                     JERRY          Good.   She said you sounded weird.                    KAUFMAN          No Hollywood bullshit. Just raw truth.          Sometimes that takes a while to find.                                                   (CONTINUED)                                                            73.CONTINUED:                      JERRY          Okay.    What's the time frame here?                    KAUFMAN          It's goddamned honest, Jerry.   It's true.                    JERRY          Oh, hey, my friend sent me this fucked-          up internet thing. It's a girl taking a          shit, but a trout comes out. You got e-          mail yet? I'll send it to you.                    KAUFMAN          This is more honest than anything          anyone's ever done before in a movie,          I'll tell you that. The only truth we          can offer is the truth that's our own          experience of the world. "The great          poet, in writing himself, writes his          time." T.S. Eliot.                    JERRY          It sounds good, buddy. But we do need to          give Valerie a ballpark --                    KAUFMAN          I'm sick of their constant harassment!EXT. SWAMP - DAYBlack and white shot of Laroche and the Indians sloggingthrough Fakahatchee. The camera swoops down and the sceneturns into a mannequin version.                    ORLEAN (V.O.)          On December 21, 1993 John Laroche and          three Seminoles illegally removed one          hundred and thirty rare plants from the          Fakahatchee Strand State Preserve.INT. MIAMI CONVENTION CENTER - DAYIt's an enormous hall filled with people setting up elaboratedisplays.   Martin Motes and his assistant work on theLaroche display. Orlean watches them. Motes looks up.                    MOTES          You've been checking out the displays?                      ORLEAN          Yeah.                                                    (CONTINUED)                                                             74.CONTINUED:                    MOTES          It's the Miami centennial, we're supposed          to illustrate something about Florida          history.                   ORLEAN          Right. Now Laroche is part of Florida          history. As a mannequin.                    MOTES          It's a world of words to the end of          it./In which nothing solid is its solid          self. You'll have to forgive me, I'm a          reformed poetry professor.Orlean is moved by the quote.                    ORLEAN          Who is that?                    MOTES          Wallace Stevens.INT. BARNES AND NOBLE - NIGHTOrlean stands in the poetry section and reads a WallaceStevens book.                    ORLEAN (V.O.)          The greatest poverty is not to live/In a          physical world, to feel that one's          desire/is too difficult to tell from          despair.INT. EMPTY BEDROOM - NIGHTKaufman is on the floor typing.   His mini-recorder is on.                    KAUFMAN'S VOICE (ON RECORDER)          Kaufman sits across from Valerie, a          pretty film executive. He eyes her as          she picks at her salad. She looks up and          he looks down. He sweats. She          compliments him on his work. She rubs          her nose. He pulls at his nostrils. He          tries to sound like he knows what he's          talking about. He's full of shit.INT. HOTEL ROOM - NIGHTOrlean dials the phone.                                                     (CONTINUED)                                                             75.CONTINUED:                      LAROCHE (PHONE VOICE)          Yeah.                    ORLEAN          John, it's Susan.                      LAROCHE (PHONE VOICE)          I know.                    ORLEAN          I went to the Orchid Society Show a          couple of days ago.                    LAROCHE (PHONE VOICE)          I'm not interested.                    ORLEAN          There was a display of you stealing the          ghost orchids. You're famous.                    LAROCHE (PHONE VOICE)          I'm not involved in that world now.                    ORLEAN          So, look, John, I still haven't seen a          ghost. And I was wondering --                    LAROCHE (PHONE VOICE)          Yeah, yeah. I'll take you in.                     ORLEAN          Really?   Thank you so much!   I just...                    LAROCHE (PHONE VOICE)          Tomorrow. Pick me up at 5:30 am or it'll          get too hot. I'll buy all the supplies          we'll need.INT. EMPTY BEDROOM - NIGHTKaufman types.                    KAUFMAN (V.O.)          Kaufman jerks off to the book jacket          photo of Susan Orlean.Donald appears in the doorway with a script.                      KAUFMAN          What?!    What do you want?                    DONALD          I finished. My script.    I'm done.                                                     (CONTINUED)                                                            76.CONTINUED:Kaufman stares at his typewriter, doesn't say anything.                    DONALD (cont'd)          So would you show it to your agent?Kaufman grabs Donald's script and throws it on his bed.                    DONALD (cont'd)          Thanks. Also, I wanted to thank you for          your idea. It was very helpful. I          changed it a little. Now the killer cuts          off body pieces and makes the victims eat          them.   It's, like, I once saw this          picture of a snake swallowing it's tail --Kaufman collapses, puts his head in his hands.                    KAUFMAN          Ourobouros.                    DONALD          I don't know what that means.                    KAUFMAN          The snake is called Ourobouros.                    DONALD          I don't think so. But it's cool for my          killer to have this modus operandi.          Because at the end when he forces the          woman, who's really just him, to eat          herself, he's also eating himself to          death.                    KAUFMAN          I'm insane. I'm Ourobouros.                    DONALD          I don't know what that is.                    KAUFMAN          I've written myself into my screenplay.          It's eating itself. I'm eating myself.                     DONALD          Oh.   That's kinda weird.                    KAUFMAN          It's self-indulgent. It's narcissistic.          It's solipsistic. It's pathetic. I'm          pathetic. I'm fat and pathetic.                                                    (CONTINUED)                                                             77.CONTINUED: (2)                    DONALD          I'm sure you had a good reason, Charles.          You're an artist.                    KAUFMAN          The reason is I'm too timid to speak to          the woman who wrote the book. Because          I'm pathetic. Because I have no idea how          to write. Because I can't make flowers          fascinating. Because I suck.                    DONALD          Hey, am I in the script, too?                    KAUFMAN          I'm going to New York. I'll meet her.          That's it. That's what I have to do.                    DONALD          Don't get mad at me for saying this,          Charles, but Bob's got a seminar in New          York this weekend. So if you're stuck --Kaufman shoots Donald a look.INT. HOTEL ROOM - LATERThe lights are off.   Orlean is in bed, sleeping fitfully.INT. PLANE - NIGHTKaufman reads Ann Landers's column in a paper dated July 4th.                    KAUFMAN (V.O.)          Give yourself a reality check. Phoniness          is transparent, and it is tiresome. Take          pleasure in the beauty and wonders of          nature. A flower is God's miracle.Out the window he sees colorful fireworks far down below,like small flowers blooming on the black earth. His eyeswell with tears.INT. HOTEL ROOM - NIGHTKaufman sleeps fitfully.EXT. SWAMP - DAYOrlean walks through alone, panicked. All the vegetation isgreener and crazier-looking than we've seen before. Thingsslither by in the water, brush up against her.                                                     (CONTINUED)                                                            78.CONTINUED:She tenses, steps into a sinkhole, flails, gets tangled in avine, which wraps around her leg as she attempts to extricateherself. She falls face forward into the black water.INT. HOTEL ROOM - CONTINUOUSOrlean snaps awake, bedcovers tangled around her legs. Sheheaves, looks at the clock. It's 3:30. She stares at theceiling. She looks at the clock again. It's 3:30. Shelooks at the clock again. It's 4:10. She closes her eyes.She opens them, looks at the clock, the room is filled withmurky water, the bed an island of dryness. An alligatorpokes its nose out of the water, begins to climb onto thebed. Orlean jumps back, hits her head on the headboard. Theroom is back to normal. The clock reads 4:23. She closesher eyes. The alarm goes off.EXT. LAROCHE'S HOUSE - EARLY MORNINGOrlean pulls up to the curb where Laroche stands, dressed ina short sleeve shirt, thin pants, and his Miami Hurricaneshat. He opens the door and climbs in.                    ORLEAN          Where are our supplies?                    LAROCHE          Got everything I need right here.Laroche pulls a new pack of cigarettes out of his pocket.Orlean turns off the ignition and stares at the steeringwheel. Laroche shrugs.                    LAROCHE (cont'd)          Look, don't worry about it. We'll get          crap at the Indian trading post on          Alligator Alley. Hey, want me to drive?INT. CAR - A BIT LATERThe sun has come up strong. It looks hot. Laroche speedsalong with one finger on the wheel, paying little attentionto the road. The car veers onto the shoulder, he lazilycorrects it. Orlean is tense.                    LAROCHE          I remember one time when I was a kid,          fifteen or so, my mother and I came to          the Fakahatchee to look for a ghost to          photograph. We walked for hours, through          the most intense heat I'd ever felt.   We          couldn't find one. I wanted to turn          back. But my mom said, no.                    (MORE)                                                    (CONTINUED)                                                             79.CONTINUED:                    LAROCHE (cont'd)          She said, John, if you keep searching for          something past doubt, past hopelessness,          past the absolute certainty that you'll          never find it, if you keep searching past          that, there it'll be. So we walked. I          had goddamn bloody blisters on my feet.          And we found ourselves in this charred          prairie, desolate, sun blasted, y'know.          And there in the middle of it was this          one gorgeous, snowy Polyrrhiza lindenii.They drive in silence for a little while.   She watches him.INT. OFFICE - DAYOrlean types at her desk.   She turns to us and talks.                    ORLEAN          He made it sound like a Bible story, the          hopeful journey through darkness into          light. I never thought many people in          the world were like John, but I was          realizing more and more that Laroche was          an extreme, not an aberration -- most          people in some way or another do strive          for something exceptional, something to          pursue, even at their peril, rather than          abide an ordinary life.EXT. MIDTOWN NEW YORK CITY STREET - DAYKaufman, sweaty and anxious, walks along. He arrives at theNew Yorker building and enters with steely determination.INT. BUILDING - A FEW MINUTES LATERKaufman waits for the elevator, sweating even more profusely.The elevator doors open. People get off, people get on, theelevator doors close. Kaufman still stands there.EXT. SWAMP - MORNINGLaroche and Orlean step off the levee into black water. Theysink to their knees. The ground is soft; it's a struggle topull their feet up to walk. Things slither past in thewater. Something big runs by in the distance. Bees, anddragonflies hover. Gnats and mosquitoes bite. Birdsscreech. Frogs croak. Laroche points to a yellow flower.                    LAROCHE          Here we go. Encyclia tempensis.Laroche lights a cigarette.                                                     (CONTINUED)                                                             80.CONTINUED:                    LAROCHE (cont'd)          Nice little sucker, isn't it?Orlean examines it from a distance.                      ORLEAN          Cute.Laroche continues walking and Orlean attempts to keep pace.He points at a tiny orchid on another tree.                    LAROCHE          Clamshell orchid. You know that.                      ORLEAN          Uh-huh.                    LAROCHE          See, I found you two already. I'll show          you every orchid you want today. I'll          find you a fucking ghost if it kills me.              (pointing to another orchid)          Rigid Epidendrum. That's an ugly-ass          orchid. But I'm no snob. I'm interested          in all orchids. Not just pretty ones.INT. COFFEE SHOP - A FEW MINUTES LATERA miserable Kaufman sits in the window, sipping coffee andwatching the New Yorker building across the street. Hesteels himself, exits the coffee shop.INT. ELEVATOR - A FEW MINUTES LATERKaufman rides up in the crowded elevator. It stops a fewtimes; people get off and on. Kaufman sweats. The doorsopen. The New Yorker logo is painted on the wall oppositethe elevator. Nobody gets off or on. The doors close. Theelevator continues up. Kaufman hates himself. Soon theelevator is emptied out with the exception of Kaufman. Itbegins its descent and stops once again at the New Yorker.This time Orlean gets on. Kaufman is absolutely panicked.Orlean looks at him blankly, presses "lobby", and facesfront. Kaufman sweats, studies the back of her head. Theelevator arrives at the lobby. Orlean gets out. Kaufmanhesitates, then follows.EXT. NEW YORK CITY STREET - DAYOrlean walks along.   Kaufman follows her.                                                              81.EXT. SWAMP - LATE MORNINGThe sun is much higher in the sky. Orlean is a sweaty mess,frizzed hair, anxious, scraped, dirty.                    LAROCHE              (peppy)          They're right nearby.    Just follow me.INT. RESTAURANT - DAYOrlean sits by herself, reading Vanity Fair. Kaufman sits afew tables away. He scribbles in his notebook.                    KAUFMAN (V.O.)          Reads Vanity Fair. Funny detail: New          Yorker writer reads Vanity Fair. Use!A waitress brings a tuna sandwich and an ice tea to Orlean.                    KAUFMAN (V.O.) (cont'd)          Likes tuna, drinks ice tea. Good          character details. Good stuff!Orlean looks up from her magazine and smiles at the waitress.                     ORLEAN          Thanks.   Could I get some lemon please?The waitress nods and leaves.   Kaufman scribbles.                    KAUFMAN (V.O.)          Likes lemon in tea and her voice is not          at all what I imagined. Interesting!EXT. SWAMP - NOONOrlean follows Laroche. She watches him start off in onedirection, stop, start off another direction, then gostraight ahead. Orlean seems depressed.                    ORLEAN          Laroche, can I ask you a personal          question?Laroche turns and scowls at her.                    LAROCHE          We're not lost.EXT. NYC STREET - DAYOrlean window shops at a shoe store.   Kaufman takes notes.                                                     (CONTINUED)                                                               82.CONTINUED:                       KAUFMAN (V.O.)             Eyeing Stuart Weitzman pumps.    Okay.Orlean heads down the street. Kaufman follows. She entersthe New Yorker building. Kaufman waits outside.EXT. SWAMP - DAYThe sun is hot. Laroche is twenty feet ahead of Orlean. Shewatches him march forward with great authority. She massagesher eyebrows, leaving a residue of dirt on her face.INT. HOTEL ROOM - NIGHTKaufman reviews his notes.       He is sweaty and wild-eyed.                       KAUFMAN (V.O.)             I have nothing. I am nothing.     I am fat.             I am over. I am lost.EXT. SWAMP    - LATERThe sun is high. Orlean and Laroche sit on dry ground. Shestares at him. Laroche won't look at her. He busies himselfopening the backpack and pulling out food. Finally, Larochespeaks without looking up.                       LAROCHE             We're not lost.Laroche takes out a cigarette, lights it.                       LAROCHE (cont'd)             I'm just turned around a little.He looks up at her, sees her staring at him. He pokes aroundon the ground for something, comes up with a straight twig.                       LAROCHE (cont'd)             A sundial. I'll just set this up, wait a             few minutes, and we'll be able to tell             which way the sun is moving. We want to             be heading southeast.Laroche sticks the twig into the ground, stares at it.                        LAROCHE (cont'd)             This is no big deal. You should eat             something.Orlean takes a cracker. This relaxes Laroche. He stretcheshis legs, knocks over the twig. Without looking at Orlean,he puts the twig back.                                                       (CONTINUED)                                                            83.CONTINUED:                       LAROCHE (cont'd)             So do you collect anything?                       ORLEAN                 (non-responsive)             Not really.                       LAROCHE             Well, y'know it's not really about             collecting the thing, it's about --                       ORLEAN             The sundial isn't working.Laroche looks down at it.                       LAROCHE             It is so working.Orlean stares at the twig in the ground. She looks atLaroche. Laroche smiles sheepishly at Orlean. Rage andpanic sweep across her face, her fists clench into balls.Her eyes become wild, some dark fantasy plays out in herbrain. Laroche seems unaware.                       LAROCHE (cont'd)             The thing about computers. The thing I             like is that I'm immersed in it but it's             not a living thing that's going to leave             or die or something. I prefer having the             minimum number of living things to worry             about in my life.Orlean's anger softens.    She looks sadly at Laroche.                       ORLEAN             So, John...                       LAROCHE             Okay, fuck the sundial. We'll just go             straight and eventually we'll get there.They rise.                       LAROCHE (cont'd)             What I mean is we'll get somewhere. Out             of here. I mean, logically, we have to             get out as long as we walk straight.Laroche points them in a direction and they walk.                                                             84.INT. HOTEL ROOM - MORNINGKaufman is sleeping. It looks like it's been a rough night.The phone rings. He reaches for it.                        KAUFMAN          Hello?                    JERRY (TELEPHONE VOICE)          Hey, it's Jerry. I woke you?                    KAUFMAN          No, it's okay.                    JERRY (TELEPHONE VOICE)          How's it going? Has it been helpful to          talk to the writer? What's her name?                      KAUFMAN          Yeah.    Susan Orlean.                    JERRY (TELEPHONE VOICE)          Well, I mean, are you making headway?          Valerie's breathing down my neck.                    KAUFMAN          You can't rush inspiration.   Y'know?                    JERRY (TELEPHONE VOICE)          Okay, fine. Um, the other reason I'm          calling is to tell you Me, Myself, and I          is just amazing.                    KAUFMAN          What the hell is Me, Myself, and I?                    JERRY (TELEPHONE VOICE)          Your brother's script. It's tight,          inventive. A smart, edgy thriller. The          best spec script I've read this year.                        KAUFMAN          Oh.   Good.                    JERRY (TELEPHONE VOICE)          I'm gonna sell it for a shitload. Two          fucking talented guys in one family.          Y'know, maybe you could bring Donald on          to help you finish the orchid thing.                    KAUFMAN          Jerry, don't say that.   I mean --                                                     (CONTINUED)                                                             85.CONTINUED:                       JERRY (TELEPHONE VOICE)             Just a thought, buddy. He's really             goddamn amazing at structure.                       KAUFMAN             Jerry, I gotta go. I have an             appointment. I gotta go.                       JERRY (TELEPHONE VOICE)             Adios, buddy. Finish! Finish!EXT. NYC STREETS (MONTAGE) - MORNINGKaufman wanders. He eyes other sad-looking, balding,overweight men wandering the streets also.                       KAUFMAN (V.O.)             I am fat. I can't write. I am             repulsive. I am old. I have             accomplished nothing. I am just one more             old, fat, bald man on the street.EXT. SWAMP - DAYLaroche leads the way. There's a sadness, a sense of defeatand humiliation that he tries to conceal. Orlean is stony.                       LAROCHE             I've done this a million times. Whenever             everything's killing me, I just say to             myself, screw it, and go straight ahead.Laroche leads Orlean back into the brush.EXT. NYC STREET - MORNINGKaufman sees a white school building ahead, glowing in thesun. He walks toward it.INT. LOBBY - MORNINGThe lobby of an auditorium, crowded with enthusiastic peoplesigning up for something. Kaufman waits in line.    Hewatches the handsome guy ahead of him flirt with anattractive female registrar. The guy moves on and theattractive registrar looks without interest at Kaufman.                       REGISTRAR             May I help you?Kaufman averts his eyes from her cool gaze; they come to reston a pile of McKee's book Story next to her.                                                            86.INT. AUDITORIUM - A BIT LATERKaufman sits in the packed room.   McKee paces the stage witha mic clipped to his lapel.                    MCKEE          Years from now you'll be standing around          a posh cocktail party congratulating          yourself on how you spent an entire          weekend locked in a room with an asshole,          an opinionated arrogant asshole, for your          art.The audience laughs, except for Kaufman who looks pained.                    KAUFMAN (V.O.)          I am pathetic. I am a loser.    I am fat.                    MCKEE          So... what is the substance of writing?          Nothing as trivial as words is at the          heart of this great art, my friends.McKee continues to talk but his voice goes under.                    KAUFMAN (V.O.)          I have failed. I am panicked. I am fat.          I have sold out. I am worthless. I...                    MCKEE          Literary talent is not enough. First,          last, and always, the imperative is to          tell a story.Kaufman watches with disdain as people take notes.                    MCKEE          Twenty three hundred years ago, Aristotle          said, when storytelling goes bad in a          society, the result is decadence.              (deadpan)          Well, just look around you.Everyone, except Kaufman, laughs giddily at McKee's joke.                    MCKEE (cont'd)          Aristotle also said: A story must have a          beginning, a middle, and an end.The students nod in appreciation at this profundity.                                                            87.INT. AUDITORIUM - LATERMcKee scribbles a diagram onto a transparency in an overheadprojector. It's some kind of complicated time-line with act-breaks and corresponding page numbers indicated. Theaudience members take copious notes. Kaufman sweats.                    KAUFMAN (V.O.)          It is my weakness, my ultimate lack of          conviction that brings me here with all          these desperate idiots lapping up          everything this bag of wind spouts. Easy          answers. Rules to short-cut yourself to          success. And here I am, because my jaunt          into the abyss brought me nothing. Well,          isn't that the risk one takes for          attempting something new. I should leave          here right now. I'll start over --              (starts to rise)          I need to face this project head on and --                    MCKEE          ... and God help you if you use voice-          over in your work, my friends.Kaufman stops, looks up, startled.    McKee seems to be lookingat him.                    MCKEE          God fucking help you! It's flaccid,          sloppy writing. Any idiot can write          voice-over narration to explain the          thoughts of a character. You must          present the internal conflicts of your          character in image, in symbol. Film is a          medium of movement and image.Kaufman looks around at people scribbling in notebooks. "Anyidiot..." writes the guy on one side of him. "Flaccid..."writes the guy on the other side.                    MCKEE (cont'd)          Okay, one hour for lunch.EXT. NYC STREET - A FEW MINUTES LATERStudents exit onto the street in small groups. Kaufmanwanders by himself. His face is troubled. There is no sound.                                                           88.INT. AUDITORIUM - LATERMcKee lectures. Kaufman sits and listens. A copy ofAristotle's Poetics sits on his lap. The book features abust of Aristotle on the cover.                    MCKEE          You want your writing to be original.          You want to have an original voice like          Neil Simon or Nora Ephron. Well, let me          tell you something, my friends. The key          to originality is not eccentricity.A guy behind Kaufman gives an appreciative "mmmm."                                                 DISSOLVE TO:INT. AUDITORIUM - LATERIt's late. The audience is tired, but still attentive. NowKaufman takes serious notes. McKee, energetic as ever, wearshis sweater tied around his shoulders. We stay firmlyplanted on his face as he talks and talks.                    MCKEE          Long speechs are antithetical to the          nature of cinema. The Greeks called it          stykomythia -- the rapid exchange of          ideas. A long speech in a script, say a          page long, requires that the camera hold          on the actor's face for a minute. Look          at the second hand on your watch as it          makes one complete rotation around the          clock face and you'll get an idea of how          intolerable that would be for an          audience. The ontology of the screen is          that it's always now and it's always          action and it's always vivid. Life is          rarely vivid. And that's an important          point. We are not recreating life on the          screen. Writers are not tape recorders.          Have you ever eavesdropped on people          talking in a coffee shop? Then you know          how dull and tedious real conversation          is. Real people are not interesting.          There's not a person in this world -- and          I include myself in this -- who would be          interesting enough to take as is and put          in a movie as a character.                                                 DISSOLVE TO:                                                             89.INT. AUDITORIUM - LATER STILLMcKee faces the audience, holding a cup of coffee.                    MCKEE          Someone asked me recently, Bob, do you          think Michelle Pfeiffer is pretty.He pauses theatrically, sips his coffee, then:                    MCKEE (cont'd)              (deadpan)          Michelle Pfeiffer is proof, my friends,          that there's a fucking God.The overtired audience breaks into uproarious laughter.Kaufman, with dark circles under his eyes, giggles a little.                    MCKEE (cont'd)          Okay. That's it for tonight. Remember,          there'll be a Q and A tomorrow morning          before class starts.INT. HOTEL - NIGHTKaufman tosses and turns in bed.                                                    DISSOLVE TO:EXT. DREAM-LIKE FIELD - DAYThe daguerreotype Darwin, the Aristotle sculpture, the Hegelengraving, and the Orlean book jacket photo are alive and inthe middle of brutal and bloody fist fight.INT. AUDITORIUM - MORNINGKaufman, bleary-eyed, sits in the back.   McKee paces.                    MCKEE          Anyone else?Kaufman timidly raises his hand.                     MCKEE (cont'd)          Yes?                                                     (CONTINUED)                                                            90.CONTINUED:                    KAUFMAN          You talked about Crisis as the ultimate          decision a character makes, but what if a          writer is attempting to create a story          where nothing much happens, where people          don't change, they don't have any          epiphanies. They struggle and are          frustrated and nothing is resolved. More          a reflection of the real world --                    MCKEE          The real world? The real fucking world?          First of all, if you write a screenplay          without conflict or crisis, you'll bore          your audience to tears. Secondly:          Nothing happens in the real world? Are          you out of your fucking mind? People are          murdered every day! There's genocide and          war and corruption! Every fucking day          somewhere in the world somebody          sacrifices his life to save someone else!          Every fucking day someone somewhere makes          a conscious decision to destroy someone          else! People find love! People lose it,          for Christ's sake! A child watches her          mother beaten to death on the steps of a          church! Someone goes hungry! Somebody          else betrays his best friend for a woman!          If you can't find that stuff in life,          then you, my friend, don't know much          about life! And why the fuck are you          taking up my precious two hours with your          movie? I don't have any use for it! I          don't have any bloody use for it!                    KAUFMAN          Okay, thanks.EXT. NYC STREET - NIGHTThe last of the students are filing out. Kaufman waits,leaning against the building. McKee emerges, carrying hisbrown leather bag. A shaky, tired Kaufman approaches him.                       KAUFMAN          Mr. McKee?                       MCKEE          Yes?                    KAUFMAN          I'm the guy you yelled at this morning.                                                    (CONTINUED)                                                           91.CONTINUED:                    MCKEE              (trying to recall)          I need more.                    KAUFMAN          I was the one who thought things didn't          happen in life.                    MCKEE          Oh, right, okay.    Nice to see you.                    KAUFMAN          I need to talk.                    MCKEE          I make it a rule not to give private          tutorials to my seminar students. It          wouldn't be fair to the others.                    KAUFMAN          Mr. McKee, please. My even standing here          is very scary. I don't meet people well.          I'm self-conscious and timid. But what          you said this morning shook me to the          bone. What you said was bigger than my          screenwriting choices. It's about my          choices as a human being. Please.McKee hesitates for a moment, then reaches out and puts hisarm around Kaufman.                    MCKEE          I could use a drink, my friend.EXT. SWAMP - DAYLaroche and Orlean slog through the water with purpose,looking only straight ahead. As they walk the sounds andcolors become subdued. Soon there is silence.                    ORLEAN (V.O.)          We turned to the right and saw only more          cypress and palm and sawgrassThey turn left and see metal flashing in the sunlight.                    ORLEAN (V.O.) (cont'd)          So we turned to the left, and there, far          down the diagonal of the levee, we could          see the gleam of a fender. We followed          it like a beacon all the way to the road.Orlean and Laroche walk toward the car.                                                               92.INT. BAR - NIGHTKaufman and McKee sit at a table with beers.   Kaufman readsfrom his copy of The Orchid Thief.                    KAUFMAN          ... We followed it like a beacon all the          way to the road.Kaufman closes the book.   There's a pause.                    MCKEE          Then what happens?                    KAUFMAN          That's the book. I wanted to present it          simply, without big character arcs or          sensationalizing the story. I wanted to          show flowers as God's miracles.   I          wanted to show that Orlean never saw the          blooming ghost orchid. It's about          disappointment.                    MCKEE          I see. That's not a movie.     You must go          back and put in the drama.                    KAUFMAN              (pause)          I've got pages of false starts and wrong          approaches. I'm way past my deadline. I          can't go back.                    MCKEE          Ah, the everpresent deadline. Yes, I was          doing a Kojak once and... it was hell.McKee sips his beer, eyes Kaufman.                    MCKEE (cont'd)          Tell you a secret. The last act makes          the film. You can have an uninvolving,          tedious movie, but wow them at the end,          and you've got a hit. Find an ending.          Use what you've learned this weekend.          Give them that and you'll be fine.Tears form in Kaufman's eyes.                    KAUFMAN          You promise?McKee smiles.   Kaufman hugs him.   McKee recognizes his bulk.                                                       (CONTINUED)                                                                93.CONTINUED:                       MCKEE             You've taken my course before?                       KAUFMAN             My brother did. My twin brother Donald.             He's the one who got me to come.                       MCKEE             Twin screenwriters. Julius and Philip             Epstein,who wrote Casablanca were twins.                       KAUFMAN             You mentioned that in class.                       MCKEE             The finest screenplay ever written.INT. HOTEL ROOM - NIGHTA drunken Kaufman paces, tries to read Story. McKee's TenCommandments are taped to the wall. As is a photo ofMichelle Pfeiffer ripped from a magazine.                       KAUFMAN (V.O.)             Climax. A revolution in values from             positive to negative or negative to             positive with or without irony -- a value             swing at maximum charge that's absolute             and irreversible.Kaufman is lost.       He rubs his temples.   He dials the phone.                       DONALD (PHONE VOICE)             Great writers residence.                         KAUFMAN             Donald.                       DONALD (PHONE VOICE)             Hey, how's the trip? Gettin' it on with             that lady journalist? You dog you!                       KAUFMAN             Yeah. Listen, I'm calling to say             congratulations on your script.                       DONALD (PHONE VOICE)             Isn't that cool? Jerry says he can make             me, like, high-sixes against a mill-five.                       KAUFMAN             That's great, Donald.                                                        (CONTINUED)                                                             94.CONTINUED:                    DONALD (PHONE VOICE)          I want to thank you for all your help.                    KAUFMAN          I wasn't any help.                    DONALD (PHONE VOICE)          C'mon, you let me stay in your place and          your integrity inspired me to even try.                    KAUFMAN          Well, look, I've been thinking, maybe          you'd be interested in hanging out with          me in New York for a few days.                    DONALD (PHONE VOICE)          Oh my God, yes! I'm flattered!INT. HOTEL ROOM - MORNINGDonald lies on his back on the floor intently reading thescript. Kaufman paces. Donald finishes, is quiet.                    KAUFMAN          So, like, what would you do?                    DONALD          Script kind of makes fun of me, huh?                     KAUFMAN          Sorry.   I was trying something.   I --                    DONALD          Hey, I don't mind.   It's funny.                      KAUFMAN          Okay.    So, what would you do?                    DONALD          You and me are so different, Charles.          We're different talents.                    KAUFMAN          I know. Just for fun. How would the          great Donald end this script?                    DONALD              (giggling)          The great Donald.              (serious)          Well, I mean... do you need the whole          court case?                                                     (CONTINUED)                                                             95.CONTINUED:                   KAUFMAN         Uh, it's what happened to Laroche.   It's         kind of important.                   DONALD         It's boring. No offense. A courtroom         scene should be dramatic. Stick the         ruling in a line of dialogue, maybe.                       KAUFMAN         Um.   Okay.                   DONALD         Too much about orchids. Get rid of it.         Pare that stuff down to a minimum.         Frankly, I'd focus more on the         relationship between the brothers. I         think that's the gold here. No one cares         about orchids.                   KAUFMAN         The book's about orchids.                   DONALD         That's a problem. But don't let it ruin         the movie. I mean, for example, use the         orchids in a more dramatic way. Have         some kind of bang-up, crazy action         sequence in the swamp. Use the swamp         better. It's a tremendous fictional         world. A setting of great dramatic         possibility.                    KAUFMAN          That's true. But --                   DONALD         And put some twists in. Reveal some         surprising thing about Laroche. God,         what am I doing giving suggestions to         you? I mean you're like a seasoned         professional. You're an artist.                   KAUFMAN         C'mon, you're the "mill-five" kid.                   DONALD             (enjoying this)         Shut up!             (thinks)         I love the Laroche porno web-site stuff.         Is that real? Maybe make a bigger deal         of that. I don't know.                                                     (CONTINUED)                                                            96.CONTINUED: (2)                    KAUFMAN          I think it's real.   I haven't actually          seen the site.                    DONALD          It's sex, man! Incorporate it.INT. HOTEL ROOM - NIGHTThe front door opens and Kaufman enters. The lights are off,but the room is aglow with light from Donald's laptopcomputer. Kaufman sees a silhouetted Donald masturbating infront of the computer. Donald looks up, caught.                    DONALD          Oh, hi, I was doing some research.   I          found Laroche's site and... I'm          embarrassed.                    KAUFMAN          Jesus, Donald.Kaufman passes Donald, glances at the grainy nude on thescreen. He's stunned. It's Orlean smiling at him.                    DONALD          What? She's kinda cute. You don't like          her? I dunno, I think she's okay. It's          not like I'm marrying her.Kaufman shows Donald Orlean's book jacket photo.                     DONALD (cont'd)          Oh, wow.   That's kind of a twist, huh?                     KAUFMAN          Jesus.   Jesus!                    DONALD          I think this is maybe a good thing for          the script. Go ask her about this.                    KAUFMAN          I'm not gonna ask her about this.                    DONALD          You want me to? I don't mind.                    KAUFMAN          No, I don't want you to.                    DONALD          I could easily pretend I'm you.                                                    (CONTINUED)                                                                97.CONTINUED:                       KAUFMAN          No!    No!INT. NEW YORK OFFICE BUILDING - DAYDonald, dressed like Kaufman, waits by the elevators. Orleanemerges. He's about to talk to her, when she pulls out acell phone and dials. Donald decides to be a spy and followsher out of the building.EXT. NEW YORK OFFICE BUILDING - CONTINUOUSOrlean talks on the phone.       Donald trails close behind her.                       ORLEAN             So you'll pick me up?    Yeah, tomorrow.Orlean stops to look in a shoe store window. Donald stopsand looks in the window also. Orlean doesn't notice him.                       ORLEAN (cont'd)             Ten-twenty. TWA. Yes, of course I will.Donald walks off.INT. HOTEL ROOM - NIGHTDonald is focused on the computer. Kaufman sits in a chairin the corner. Both men are in pajamas.                       KAUFMAN             What was she wearing?                       DONALD             I don't know. Like a dress maybe.                       KAUFMAN             Did she look at me?    At you?                    DONALD          Finally! Da-da-da-daaaaah! S. Orlean,          TWA flight 651. Arriving Miami 10:20          tomorrow morning.Donald turns and smiles across the room to Kaufman.                    KAUFMAN          I don't want to do this, Donald.                    DONALD          We'll go together.       It'll be good.                                                        (CONTINUED)                                                             98.CONTINUED:Kaufman looks squeamish. Donald picks up a hairbrush, holdsit to his mouth. He starts to sing "Happy Together."Kaufman smiles sheepishly, shrugs Donald off. Donaldpersists. Finally Kaufman joins in. They do the wholenumber and fall laughing into each other's arms.EXT. MIAMI INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT - DAYOrlean waits with a suitcase outside the terminal. The beat-up white van pulls up. Orlean gets in, the van speeds off.Another car pulls away from the curb and follows it.INT. CAR - A BIT LATERDonald drives, keeping up with the van, which speeds andswerves through traffic. Kaufman is sweaty, nervous.                     KAUFMAN          It's so weird to actually see that van in          real life.                    DONALD          So you want to build the symbolic charge          of the story's imagery from the          particular to the universal. Okay?                    KAUFMAN          Okay, but when you're creating an image          system, how do you know --EXT. SUBURBAN STREET - LATERThe van pulls into the driveway of a neat, middle-classhouse. Kaufman and Donald drive by, in time to see Orleanand Laroche emerge from the van. Orlean seems different now:more exotic. She's wearing some kind of sexy sarong. Donalddrives up the street, parks, gets out of the car, and watchesas Laroche lugs Orlean's suitcase into the house.                    DONALD          I'll get a closer look.   You wait here.                    KAUFMAN              (momentously)          No, I want to go. I should go. I mean,          it should be me, right? I mean...                    DONALD          Go for it, bro. You the man.Kaufman gets out of the car. Donald gets in, perusesKaufman's script. Kaufman walks past the house, trying topeer in windows. He sees nothing. He slinks around back.                                                     (CONTINUED)                                                               99.CONTINUED:In the yard, Kaufman finds a greenhouse.    It's filled withrow upon row of ghost orchids.                       KAUFMAN          Holy...There's movement in a window in the house.    Kaufman ducks.                    LAROCHE (O.S.)          Darlin', I dunno what's come over you!Kaufman crawls over to the house, lifts his face to thewindow. Orlean and Laroche are laughing, kissing, groping,and undressing each other. Kaufman is heartbroken buttransfixed. Suddenly Laroche locks eyes with Kaufman.                    ORLEAN          Don't stop, Johnny.Laroche jumps up and runs naked to the back door.                    ORLEAN (CONT'D)          Johnny! Where are you going?Kaufman makes a mad dash around the side of the house.Laroche cuts him off, grabs him, drags him into the house.INT. HOUSE - CONTINUOUSLaroche throws Kaufman down into a chair. The chair slidesacross the floor, tips over. Orlean seems uninterested. Shekisses Laroche's leg.                    LAROCHE          Who the hell are you?Kaufman notices Laroche has a set of beautiful, white teeth.                    KAUFMAN          I just... nobody, I just --Laroche shakes Orlean off his leg, kicks Kaufman in the gut.                       LAROCHE             Who the fuck are you?                       KAUFMAN             Um. I'm just. I was at the wrong house.             I'm looking for the Johnson family.                       LAROCHE             I got your Johnson family right here.                                                     (CONTINUED)                                                                100.CONTINUED:Laroche kicks Kaufman in the head.     Orlean kisses Laroche'sback. Kaufman whimpers.                    ORLEAN          Honey, come back to bed.                    LAROCHE          Who the hell sent you?      Rudy?                       KAUFMAN          I'm not --Again Laroche kicks Kaufman in the head.      His scalp bleeds.                    KAUFMAN (cont'd)          I'm the screenwriter.                    LAROCHE          What the fuck does that mean?                     KAUFMAN          I'm the guy adapting her book.      Her book          about you.This registers with Laroche.                    LAROCHE          Jesus Fucking Christ.              (then, trying to make sense)          Why the fuck were you in my backyard?                    KAUFMAN          I was, um, trying... I don't know.Orlean is unforgiving.                    ORLEAN          Who's the bloody fat guy?                    LAROCHE          This is the fellow adapting your book for          the movies, darling'.                    ORLEAN              (excited)          Really? I wanted to meet --              (realizing)          Oh. What does he know?                       KAUFMAN             I don't know anything.   I swear.                                                         (CONTINUED)                                                            101.CONTINUED: (2)                    LAROCHE          He knows about the greenhouse.              (to Orlean)          We can't have this appear on the silver          screen.                      KAUFMAN          It won't.    I don't even under --                    ORLEAN          Johnny, I'm so tired now.Orlean lies down.   Laroche paces.   Donald peers, unseen, intothe back window.                    LAROCHE          He needs to be gotten rid of.                      KAUFMAN          What?!Donald's eyes widen. Laroche paces. Orlean watches Laroche,fascinated by his every muscle movement.                    LAROCHE          Small article in newspaper.Orlean snaps out of her muscle fixation, becomes fixated onhis voice, his lips.                    LAROCHE (cont'd)          Screenwriter doing research for movie          about notorious orchid poacher was found          drowned in the Fakahatchee after          accidentally slipping and hitting his          head on a rock. End of story. Is that          credible from a journalistic standpoint?                    ORLEAN          Johnny, come lie on top of me.                    LAROCHE          Focus, darling'. Is this credible?                     ORLEAN               (concentrates)          Um, oh... this screenwriter was killed          doing research in Jamaica a few years          ago.               (to Kaufman)          Screenwriter, you have a car?                                                     (CONTINUED)                                                            102.CONTINUED: (3)                    KAUFMAN          I, um, no, I --Laroche gets ready to kick him again.                    KAUFMAN (cont'd)          A rental, a rental.                    ORLEAN          We drive his car there, leave it on the          side of the swamp. That works.                     LAROCHE          Good.   I like that.                    ORLEAN              (to Kaufman)          Sorry.                     KAUFMAN          Please.Donald disappears from the window.INT. RENTAL CAR - BEFORE DAWNKaufman drives. The headlights shine on Laroche's van ahead.Orlean, no longer stoned, sits next to him, holding a gun.She skims Kaufman's screenplay.                     KAUFMAN          I thought I had a sense of you from your          book.              (beat)          I had a little crush on you, to tell the          truth. You're different than I thought.                     ORLEAN          Huh.                    KAUFMAN          Look, I don't care what you two are you          doing.   Please don't kill me.                    ORLEAN          Hey, here's one of my lines.              (mockingly reading from screen)          "Isn't it ironic? You adapting my book?          My three years in Florida meditating on          my inability to experience passion          resulted in my finding it with you."                                                     (CONTINUED)                                                            103.CONTINUED:                    KAUFMAN          I was trying to do something.                    ORLEAN          Well, it's kind of pathetic, dontcha          think?They drive in silence.    Orlean reads more of the screenplay.                    ORLEAN          Here's me! Here's me again!              (mocking)          "I wanted to know what it's like to care          about something passionately."Orlean laughs derisively.                    KAUFMAN          You can laugh, but I didn't make that          line up. That's a quote from your book.                    ORLEAN          Yeah, I know, Charlie-boy. Chill. I'm          laughing at who I used to be. It's sad.                    KAUFMAN          So now you learned about passion.              (jealous)          From Weirdo Laroche. Bully for you.                    ORLEAN          You can't learn about passion. You can          be passion. And it wasn't John who made          me passion. It was orchids.                    KAUFMAN          I thought you didn't even like orchids.                    ORLEAN          I lied about what happened at the end of          the book. On the way out of the swamp...EXT. SWAMP - DAYLaroche leads Orlean through the swamp. He spots somethingon a tree, circles it, and stands there, awestruck. Orleancomes around and sees a beautiful ghost orchid hanging fromthe tree.                       LAROCHE             The jewel of the Fakahatchee.Orlean looks at it, tries to feel some passion for it, can't.                                                     (CONTINUED)                                                             104.CONTINUED:                    ORLEAN          I still don't get it. I mean, there it          is. I can see it's pretty, but --                    LAROCHE          You'll get it.Laroche pulls a saw from his bag and cuts the branch.INT. BASEMENT - DAYThere's a makeshift lab. Laroche is extracting some gooeysubstance from the nectary.                    ORLEAN (V.O.)          Back in John's basement he explained his          real plans for the ghost. He'd          discovered a chemical inside with          psychoactive properties. His plan had          always been to clone the flower and make          a fortune marketing this drug. It was          Laroche's kind of plan, it wasn't a          controlled substance because the          government didn't know it existed.INT. LAROCHE'S LIVING ROOM - NIGHTOrlean nervously snorts some green powder off the coffeetable while Laroche watches. She talks to the camera.                    ORLEAN          The first time I tried it, the split          second it took effect, I understood          orchids. I loved them with a passion I'd          never felt for anything. For anyone.The drug takes effect and Orlean turns away from us, becomesfixated on the ghost orchid sitting on the table before her.She smells it, caresses it, cries at its beauty.INT. RENTAL CAR - BEFORE DAWN                       ORLEAN             Isn't it curious? An orchid made me             passionate about orchids.                       KAUFMAN             You're throwing the truth away for a             chemical confusion of your synapses --                       ORLEAN             With this powder I am passionate about             everything.                       (MORE)                                                      (CONTINUED)                                                              105.CONTINUED:                     ORLEAN (cont'd)          I'm alive in a profound world now. It          sizzles with beauty and horror and sex.          Now writing is -- words are -- a way to          remove yourself from passion. So I'm          done with writing. John and I are making          a fortune with this extract. It's big in          the Miami club scene. We call it          "Passion."              (giggles)          Isn't that cute?Up ahead, Laroche turns off the road at the Fakahatchee sign.                    ORLEAN (cont'd)          Follow him, please.EXT. JANES SCENIC DRIVE - A LITTLE WHILE LATERLaroche parks. Kaufman parks behind him. Orlean gestureswith her gun for him to get out. As Kaufman comes around thecar, he sees Donald on the floor of the back seat. Larocheemerges from his van with a flashlight and a rifle slung overhis shoulder. Orlean prods Kaufman to follow him. Kaufmanshakes and whimpers as they all step down into the thigh-highwater. They slog through silently. Laroche stops.                    LAROCHE          This spot looks good.              (thinking aloud)          Now how do we do this? Hit him in the          head with a rock first? Keeping in mind          we can only hit him once and only with as          much force as would be created by him          slipping and falling onto the rock.Laroche paces. Orlean finds a place to sit on a hammock.She unwraps a small square of paper and snorts something outof it. Kaufman shivers. Orlean's drugs kick in.                       ORLEAN             Holy Jesus. Holy...   Hey, baby, hey...Orlean trails off.    Laroche talks to the spaced out Orlean.                       LAROCHE             Should we drown him, then hit him on the             head? Uh-uh. A body bleeds different if             the heart's stopped. These new forensic             guys are very smart. We really have to             know our corpses to stand a chance: rigor             mortis, lividity, putrefecation, ocular             changes.                       (MORE)                                                       (CONTINUED)                                                                106.CONTINUED:                    LAROCHE (cont'd)          Maybe you think we hit him on the head          and force water into his lungs after he's          dead? No, darlin'. They'll know he          didn't drown. See, contrary to popular          belief, the lungs do not -- do not --          fill with water in a drowning. What          happens is, choking causes an irritation          of the mucous membranes. This creates a          shitload of mucus in the windpipe.          Efforts to breathe turn the mucus into a          sticky foam which may or may not mix with          vomit. It's the presence of this white          foam that indicates drowning. There's a          lot to be aware of, Susie. Shoeprints,          hair, microscopic fibers. Tire tracks.          They all tell a tale to today's forensic          scientists.              (to Kaufman)          What do you think? You're a writer. How          would you do it? What's a good way to          kill somebody?                    KAUFMAN          I don't write this kind of bullshit.                    LAROCHE          Don't get all huffy, I was simply --Suddenly Laroche gets whacked in the back, flies forward intothe water. Orlean looks up, spaced.    She's confused by asecond Kaufman standing there with a bag of potting soil.Donald grabs Kaufman and they run back toward the road.Laroche pulls himself from the water.                       LAROCHE (cont'd)          Fuck!                       ORLEAN                 (receptively)             Yeah, let's, baby.She staggers moonily toward Laroche.      He pushes her away.                       LAROCHE             Not now. We got to kill that guy. And             now I guess that other guy as well.                       ORLEAN                 (disappointed)             Ohhh.                                                            107.INT. CAR - CONTINUOUSKaufman and Donald speed along the swamp road.                    KAUFMAN          For Christ's sake, why didn't you do          something while we were in the car?                    DONALD          My back had seized.     I couldn't move.Laroche's van pulls close to them and rams them from behind.                    KAUFMAN          Shit!It rams them again, this time sending them down into theswamp. The van stops. Donald tries to back the car onto theroad; the wheels just spin. Laroche steps out of the van.                    DONALD          We've gotta ditch this thing.                    KAUFMAN              (hysterical)          It's a rental! It's a rental!                    DONALD          Now!Kaufman and Donald climb from the car, make their way deepinto the swamp. Laroche follows them in on foot, draggingOrlean, who is admiring all the plant life.                    ORLEAN          That's beautiful! What's that, Johnny?          What's that one called? I just so want          to fuck that flower, don't you?                    LAROCHE          Asclepias lanceolata. Red milkweed.          Extremely fuckable. But we don't have          time.Laroche shoots at the brothers.    Kaufman whines.                    LAROCHE              (to Orlean)          What's his name?                    ORLEAN          Um, y'know... Charlie or something.                                                     (CONTINUED)                                                           108.CONTINUED:                    LAROCHE          Charlie! Listen, let's talk! This pie          is big enough for four people!              (to Orlean)          Why are there two of him?Orlean shrugs.                    ORLEAN          Identical twigs?              (laughs crazily)          Did I say twigs? I meant twins.Kaufman and Donald run through a colony of sawgrass. Itslices them like razor blades. Kaufman yells in pain. Bloodoozes through their shirts and pants.                    LAROCHE          Cladium jamaicense, guys. Sawgrass. You          want to watch out for that. That's some          evil shit. Cut you up.                    KAUFMAN          Fuck you, Laroche!                    LAROCHE          Just tryin' to be helpful. Walk with us          and I'll be sure you avoid all the          pitfalls. I know these swamps forwards          and backwards. There's alligators and          poisonous snakes, fellas. Wild hogs.Kaufman and Donald are stopped by a large body of water.Nowhere to go. Laroche and Orlean close in. The brothersrun along the periphery of the lake. Donald stops.                     DONALD          Wait.   Do you hear something?Kaufman stops, hears a distant galloping and squealing.                    KAUFMAN          Donald, that sounds bad.The brothers run in the opposite direction. The gallopinggets louder. It's wild pigs. Donald spots an airboat on theshore. They jump onto it, search hysterically in the darkfor bow to start it.   The pigs get closer. Laroche andOrlean get closer. Donald finds a button, presses it, theengine starts. They pull away from the shore just as thepigs catch up. One pig leaps on board, squealing. Kaufmankicks at it as Donald attempts to steer the boat. A kickconnects and the pig flies into the water.                                                    (CONTINUED)                                                           109.CONTINUED: (2)Laroche stands at the shoreline and fires his rifle. Itnicks the boat. Donald looks back and the boat heads for acypress stand.                    KAUFMAN          Watch out, watch out, watch out!Donald gets the boat back on course. Laroche and Orlean havebeen left far behind. Donald slows the boat.                    DONALD          I think we're okay.Suddenly Laroche's van comes tearing around a corner andspeeds along the road at the water's edge. Orlean shoots atthe boat from the van window.                      DONALD (cont'd)          Hold on!Donald speeds up. The van keeps up, the shooting continues.Bullets whiz. Kaufman puts his head in his hands. A bullethits the airboat's gas tank. It explodes in a ball of flame,illuminating the whole swamp. Kaufman and Donald are thrown,along with flaming pieces of debris. Donald treads water,looks all around for Kaufman.                      DONALD (cont'd)          Charles?!    Charles?! Where are you?Underwater. A dazed Kaufman tries to get his bearings. Themurky lake bottom is lit a dim orange by the fire on thesurface. An alligator appears. Kaufman panics, surfaces.On the surface, Donald spots Kaufman pop out of the water,then get jerked back down. Donald dives.Underwater. The alligator violently shakes Kaufman by theleg. Donald surfaces, comes back down with a brokenpropeller blade. He hacks the alligator's head off, grabsKaufman, and brings him to the surface.Donald swims to shore with Kaufman in tow.    Another shot isfired. It skims the water near Kaufman.                     KAUFMAN          Fuck!   Fuck, Donald, we're dead.                    DONALD          We're okay. How's your leg?                    KAUFMAN          I don't know. How's your back.                                                    (CONTINUED)                                                           110.CONTINUED: (3)                       DONALD          It's fine.     My back is fine.Laroche and Orlean circle the lake in the van, shooting.Mike Owen, in pajamas, leaves his house, jumps in his truckand agitatedly drives toward the noise and flames.Donald makes it to shore. He climbs out and is helpingKaufman, when he gets hit by a bullet and falls.                       KAUFMAN          Donald!Kaufman sloshes to shore. His right leg is bloody andmangled. He lifts his brother's head onto his lap.                    KAUFMAN          You're gonna be okay.                    DONALD          No.  But don't let them get you, too.              (weak smile)          You got a fucking awesome third act.                    KAUFMAN              (crying)          Donald, this is an awful, bizarre thing          to say and an awful time to say it, but          I'm sorry I didn't get to know you          better. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry.                    DONALD          It's really... You've been really nice.                    KAUFMAN          See, it's just I thought I knew you          already. I thought you were me. And I          hated me.Donald touches Kaufman's face. Kaufman looks at his brother.Donald's face glows radiantly in the fire light.                    DONALD          Well, don't do that anymore.      Okay?                       KAUFMAN          Okay.Donald dies. Kaufman screams heavenward. The van appearsout of the bush, barreling for them. Kaufman rolls hisbrother out of the way, and limps off into a slough. The vanfollows, smashes into a tree, and comes to a halt.                                                    (CONTINUED)                                                                 111.CONTINUED: (4)Smoke pours from the grill and is lit by the headlights.         Outof the smoke, Laroche and Orlean appear with guns. Theyfollow Kaufman into the swamp.Mike Owen pulls next to the disabled van. He gets out,surveys the mess, sees bloody Donald on the ground.                    MIKE OWEN          Jesus, that writer guy.Owen grabs his C.B., tries to radio for help. It's broken.He lifts Donald into the back of the truck and speeds off.Kaufman limps through the dark water.       Laroche and Orleanfollow the sound of his sloshing.                    ORLEAN          Water sounds so sparkly. Like lemon          plastic jewels plopping onto a silver          trampoline! Dontcha think?                    LAROCHE          Darlin', please.                    ORLEAN          Can we fuck now, baby?    Fuck like lemons?Owen tears along the dirt road. Up ahead, Kaufman limps outof the swamp, into the truck's headlights. Owen is confused.He checks the back to see if Donald's body is still there andskids off the road into the swamp. Kaufman hurriedly limpsover to the disabled truck. Owen climbs out.                    KAUFMAN          You gotta help me.    You gotta help me.                    MIKE OWEN          What the hell is going on here?                    KAUFMAN          They're after me. They've got guns.          They killed my brother.                    MIKE OWEN          Who's got guns? What are you --Before Owen finishes, his truck is flipped over. Donald'sbody flies into the water. There, staring Kaufman and Owendown, is a giant man-like beast. It's repulsive, covered inalgae-matted fur.                       MIKE OWEN (cont'd)          Holy shit.                                                       (CONTINUED)                                                            112.CONTINUED: (5)The two men turn and run.                       MIKE OWEN (cont'd)          It's real!     I can't believe it, I never --The creature grabs Owen and snaps his neck like a toothpick.Kaufman screams as he runs, watches over his shoulder. Heruns right into the arms of Orlean.                    ORLEAN          Hey, it's the screenwriter!                    KAUFMAN          There's a thing back there!    You don't          want to be here.Kaufman, Orlean, and Laroche look back. Nothing there.                    LAROCHE          You're right, I don't want to be here.          I'm tired, let's get this over with.Laroche puts the gun to Kaufman's head. Kaufman tenses.Orlean studies Laroche's gun. Her nose is practicallytouching the barrel.                    ORLEAN          I love your gun, baby.    Can we trade?                    LAROCHE          Stand back, sweetness.Laroche reaches for Orlean's arm to pull her away. Suddenlythe creature grabs Laroche, pulls him into the swamp.                     LAROCHE (cont'd)          Susie!   Susie!Orlean looks around.                    ORLEAN          Where'd Johnny go?                       LAROCHE (O.S.)          Susie!Orlean, agitated and disoriented, fires repeatedly into thedarkness. Something slumps forward in the water. Orleansteps cautiously over, keeping her gun on Kaufman. Thecreature is dead, so is Laroche.                                                     (CONTINUED)                                                            113.CONTINUED: (6)                    ORLEAN              (crying softly)          Oh, Johnny.She sits next to Laroche and pets his head.   Kaufman watchesher. The sun is coming up.                    KAUFMAN          I'd just stare at your picture, and you          looked so sweet. I read your words and I          thought you were smart and maybe lost and          lonely like me. And the way you wrote          about Laroche. You said he was handsome          even though he had no front teeth --                    ORLEAN          Oh, Johnny. Johnny's teeth.     Oh...                    KAUFMAN          I figured you could look at me and see          something, even with all my flaws you          could look at me and find something, you          could maybe someday write a description          of me that would be nicer than the one I          write day in and day out in my head.              (hopefully)          Would it be?Kaufman takes Orlean's chin in his hand and directs her gazeto him. She stares at him for a long while, then:                    ORLEAN          You're really so wonderful.                    KAUFMAN          Really?                    ORLEAN          So wonderful. I can see inside your          soul. It glows with orange sadness.          It's raining inside you. I want to run          through your dripply dripples. It's so          beautiful. I love you. I do.Kaufman lets go of her face and sits on a rock.                    KAUFMAN          It's the drugs.Orlean stands and walks toward Kaufman.                                                     (CONTINUED)                                                             114.CONTINUED: (7)                    ORLEAN          No, it's me. It's the real me. Look at          you. I just want to hold you and -- Oh,          crap, it's wearing off. Crap!She paces, unfolds her little square of paper.                       ORLEAN (cont'd)          I'm out.     I'm fucking cleaned out.Kaufman watches her for a moment.                       KAUFMAN          Okay, bye.                    ORLEAN          I can't let you go, fatty.    I can't let          you make this public.Kaufman keeps walking.                    ORLEAN (cont'd)          You hear me? You pathetic, fat, bald...          You don't even know how to write! You're          not even... You're not leaving here!              (screaming, crying)          I need a fix! Everything's so ugly!Orlean screams in anguish. Kaufman keeps walking. Orleanshakily aims the gun at his back. She shoots. Kaufmanfalls, gets up, keeps walking. She aims again through hertears. Suddenly she's pounced on by a bloody, soaking wetfigure. Kaufman turns.                       KAUFMAN          Donald!Kaufman limps back.    Donald and Orlean roll on the ground.                    DONALD          My brother is not fat. He's not bald.          My brother is a great writer! He was          trying to do something important!The gun fires. Orlean slumps over Donald. Kaufman arrives.Both Donald and Orlean are dead. Kaufman falls to his knees.EXT. SWAMP - MORNINGThe sun is high. Fires smoulder. A tow-truck extricates oneof the crashed vehicles. State police cars, ambulances,ranger trucks abound. Kaufman is wrapped in a blanket.                                                      (CONTINUED)                                                              115.CONTINUED:He is with a cop and pointing to the bodies spread on a blackplastic tarp.                    KAUFMAN          That's Mike Owen. John Laroche. Susan          Orlean. I don't know what that is. I          think it might be a Swamp Ape. And          that's Donald, my twin brother. He saved          my life.Kaufman cries a little.    The cop waits sympathetically, then:                    POLICE OFFICER          You two really look alike.                    KAUFMAN              (proudly)          Yeah. Yes, we do.INT. CALIFORNIA PIZZA KITCHEN - DAYKaufman sits in a booth, working longhand on a legal pad.He's a little scraped-up, a little tougher. A copy of Storyby McKee is among his reference material. Alice, thewaitress, walks by and glances at the table.                    ALICE          Oh, I love McKee!              (recognizes Kaufman, gets               reserved)          Oh, hi. Haven't seen you in a while.                      KAUFMAN          Hi.    Yeah, I've been away.                    ALICE          So you studying screenwriting?                    KAUFMAN          I'm actually finishing one up.                    ALICE          Good for you! Me too. God, it's so hard          to get in, huh? Everyone and their          brother is writing a screenplay.                       KAUFMAN             Yeah. Actually I'm writing this one for             Sony Pictures.                        ALICE             Really? Wow. Really?   That's so cool.                 (beat)                        (MORE)                                                       (CONTINUED)                                                           116.CONTINUED:                       ALICE (cont'd)             Wow! So what's it about, if you don't             mind my asking?                       KAUFMAN             That's tough. Let's see... about being             yourself, maybe. It's about learning             that if you can't love yourself, you             can't really love anyone.                       ALICE             That's true. God, that's so true.     It's             such an important message, y'know?                       KAUFMAN             See, my twin brother was murdered             recently --                         ALICE             Oh God!    I'm sorry.   That's so horrible.                      KAUFMAN             Thanks. Like part of me ripped away.             Forever. It was a wake up call.                       ALICE             I'm so sorry. You poor man.                       KAUFMAN             Anyway, it helped put things in             perspective. Life is a miracle. All             life, from the flower to the human being.             You. Me. And I want to show people             that. For my brother. For everyone.There's a pause.       Alice just stares at him, in awe.                       ALICE             Listen, do you mind if I sit for a sec?                       KAUFMAN             But you're working.                       ALICE                 (shrugs)             It's a stupid job, y'know.    I'm Alice.                         KAUFMAN             Charlie.                       ALICE             I like that name. Charlie. I've always             really liked that name. Charlie.Alice smiles, sits.      The two of them begin to talk.                                                         117.EXT. SPACE - NIGHTSUBTITLE: HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA, FIVE BILLION AND FORTY YEARSLATERAn enormous chunk of rock, dimly lit by faraway stars, floatsby. Silence.                                                FADE TO BLACK.WHITE TEXT ON BLACK SCREEN:    "Let me have men about me that are fat;    Sleek-headed men and such that sleep o'    nights."                        - William Shakespeare       In Loving Memory of Donald Kaufman                     THE END
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+                               THE ADDAMS FAMILY                           by                     Larry Wilson and Caroline Thompson                       Rewrite by                                    Paul Rudnick               based on the characters of                     Charles Addams                                  SHOOTING SCRIPT                                  April 11, 1991     THE ADDAMS FAMILY - 11/6/90     FADE IN:A1   EXT. ADDAMS MANSION FRONT STEPS - CHRISTMAS EVE            A1     A GROUP OF CAROLERS, their eager faces upturned, SINGS an     endless and cloying roundelay of "Little Drummer Boy."     They sing with self-righteous good cheer. As they     pompously begin their umpteenth verse,     THE CAMERA SLOWLY PANS UP THE ADDAMS MANSION -- past     the black wreath on the front door, past broken windows,     weather-beaten shingles, a creaking shutter.     THE CAMERA CONTINUES TO PAN TO THE ROOF     where the Addams Family members, GOMEZ, MORTICIA, GRANNY,     PUGSLEY, WEDNESDAY, and LURCH, their faithful butler,     gleefully POUR a CAULDRON OF BUBBLING, STEAMING PITCH     over the edge.     AS THE CAULDRON TIPS, THE CAMERA PUSHES INSIDE, THE     BLACKNESS OF THE PITCH FILLS THE SCREEN. TITLES BEGIN.                                               DISSOLVE TO:1    INT. DIM HALLWAY - SEVEN O'CLOCK A.M.                      1     C.U. AN OVER-SIZED "CUCKOO" CLOCK --     The clock is a perfect REPLICA OF THE ADDAMS FAMILY     HOUSE, down to the creaking shutter. It chimes the hour.     In ONE WINDOW, a LITTLE MECHANICAL GOMEZ bends a     MECHANICAL MORTICIA back until she's almost off her feet     and plants a kiss between her clockwork decolletage.     One, two, three mechanical kisses, counting toward     seven o'clock.     IN ANOTHER WINDOW, A MECHANICAL PUGSLEY hangs a     MECHANICAL WEDNESDAY from a noose on a gallows, up and     down.     Meanwhile, little BURSTS OF FOG float off the rooftop     where a little MECHANICAL GRANNY cranks her fog machine.     The front door of the house pops open, and a MECHANICAL     LURCH appears and begins sweeping.     Just then, THING, the disembodied hand with the     full-bodied personality, CLIMBS into view over the back     of the clock.     Thing leaps to the floor and SCAMPERS down the hall.     LOW TRACKING SHOT     follows Thing along the hallway.                                               (CONTINUED)     THE ADDAMS FAMILY - 11/28/90                          2.1    CONTINUED:                                                 1     He runs past a couple of doors, past a pair of LEGS in     pajamas, feet in bedroom slippers. He skids to a halt     and BACK TRACKS to the legs. He pulls on the cuff of     the pajama bottoms. They belong to GOMEZ, who stands     in the doorway toA2   INT. FESTER'S ROOM                                         A2     Gomez wears a fez and a smoking jacket over his pajamas.     Even at this early hour, he puffs on his trademark cigar.     Gomez is all enthusiasm or all despair. At the moment,     he radiates unfathomable woe.                              GOMEZ                Think of it, Thing. He's been gone                for twenty-five years. For twenty-                five years we've attempted to                contact Fester in the great                beyond...     The room is a dusty, cobweb-filled, long-unoccupied shrine     to Gomez's lost brother, Fester. Gomez drifts in from the     doorway.     The room has remained untouched since Fester's     disappearance as a teenager. The thick coating of dust     and cobwebs adorns the mementoes of a rapscallion's youth     - a football pennant from Alcatraz, headless sports     trophies, a high school photo with all the other students     keeping as much distance from Fester as possible.     As he lovingly and morosely surveys the room:                              GOMEZ                ... And for twenty-five years,                nothing. Not a whisper, not a                clue. I'm beginning to think my                my brother truly is lost.     Gomez sighs.   Thing TUGS at his cuff, pulling him towards     theB2   INT. HALLWAY - SAME TIME                                   B2     Galloping ahead of Gomez, Thing leaps onto an     old-fashioned door latch and the door swings open INTO2    INT. GOMEZ AND MORTICIA'S BEDROOM - SAME TIME              2     Gomez approaches the bed.   Asleep on scarlet satin sheets     is...     MORTICIA                                                  (CONTINUED)     THE ADDAMS FAMILY - 11/28/90                         3.2    CONTINUED:                                                  2                             GOMEZ                      (gazing at Morticia)               Look at her -- I would die for her.               I would kill for her. Either way               -- what bliss.     Low-voiced, incisive, and subtle, with Morticia, smiles     are rare. The ghostly whiteness of her complexion is     offset by the red of the pillowcase upon which her hair     is spread like a diabolic halo. A dark Garbo, sultry     and remote, she's a ruined beauty.     Morticia OPENS HER EYES.                             GOMEZ                      (adoringly)               Unhappy, darling?                             MORTICIA                      (passionately)               Oh, yes, yes. Completely.                                               CUT TO:A3   OMITTED                                                     A33    INT. PUGSLEY'S ROOM - SAME TIME                             3     Pugsley crouches on the floor, playing with his kid-sized     chemistry set.     The walls of his room are covered with road signs he's     collected -- "Bridge Out!", "Detour! Excavation Ahead!",     "Dangerous Undertow!", "Keep Clear! High Voltage!"     SAWED-OFF STOP SIGNS, still on their poles, are stacked     in the corner.     In another corner stands a CYLINDRICAL FLOOR-TO-CEILING     FISH TANK, FILLED WITH PIRANHA.     This tubby energetic monster of a nine-year-old boy has     every chance of growing up to be the public monster his     parents would be proud of.     He MIXES chemicals in a beaker. The brew steams.    Grin-     ning wickedly, Pugsley SWALLOWS it down.     He contorts, undergoing the beginnings of a transforma-     tion, then SHRINKS to the size of a mouse. Laughing, he     crawls out of his human-size pajamas.                                               CUT TO:4    OMITTED                                                     4     THE ADDAMS FAMILY - 11/28/90                          4.A5   INT. ATTIC - SAME TIME                                     A5     Solemn and mournful, ten-year-old Wednesday has black     hair and white skin like her mother. She sits on a stool     among the stored Addams' family objects, ONE END OF A     STRING TIED TO HER TOOTH, THE OTHER TIED TO A TRAP DOOR.     The trap door is flung open, GRANNY pokes her head     through. She's a giggly hag who looks like she was in     the bathtub when the hairdryer fell in.     Wednesday's pulled tooth swings at the end of the string.                             WEDNESDAY               Thank you, Grandmama.     In a foul mood, Granny tromps up into the attic.                             GRANNY               You kids are going to have to kill               your own breakfast this morning.     Wednesday opens a cigar box. Inside the box are assorted     human and animal teeth, fangs and dentures, along with a     collection of glass eyes. Wednesday drops her tooth in     the box.                                                 CUT TO:5    OMITTED                                                    5A6   INT. GOMEZ AND MORTICIA'S BEDROOM - SAME TIME              A6     Gomez takes Morticia in his arms. As she languidly     drapes herself across his chest, she is caught in a     sudden shaft of sunlight. She squints. On the bedside     table beside her, Morticia's OVERSIZED CARNIVOROUS     ORCHID WILTS.                             MORTICIA               Gomez... the sun... il me perce               comme un poignard.                             GOMEZ                      (wildly aroused)               Tish... that's French!                             MORTICIA                      (nonchalant)               Oui.                              GOMEZ               Cara mia!                                                 (CONTINUED)     THE ADDAMS FAMILY - 12/3/90                           5.A6   CONTINUED:                                                 A6     He kisses his way up to her neck, then, suddenly     bursting with enthusiasm and a sense of purpose, LEAPS     from the bed, drawing his bedside saber from its sheath     and BRANDISHING it at the offending beam.                            GOMEZ              En garde monsieur sole!     He thrusts and parries, pantomiming a duel with the     shaft of light.                            MORTICIA              Gomez?                            GOMEZ              Querida?                            MORTICIA              Last night, you were... unhinged.              You were like some desperate,              howling demon. You frightened me.              Do it again.     Gomez, instantly aflame.                                               CUT TO:6    EXT. ROOFTOP - SAME TIME                                   6     Granny delivers a swift kick to her fog machine.                            GRANNY              Lousy bucket of bolts...!     The FOG MACHINE, straight out of a Jules Verne nightmare,     is malfunctioning this morning, struggling to churn     out its patches of fog.                                               CUT TO:7    INT./EXT. MORTICIA AND GOMEZ'S BEDROOM - SAME TIME         7     At the window, Gomez pokes his head out. In the     background, Morticia brushes her hair with a silver     filigree brush.                            GOMEZ                     (disturbed)              Granny - where's your fog?                                               (CONTINUED)    THE ADDAMS FAMILY - 11/28/90                        5A .7   CONTINUED:                                                 7    FROM ABOVE    the fog machine hurtles downwards, missing decapitating    Gomez by millimeters. It crashes below, smashing through    the front porch roof.                                              CUT TO:8   OMITTED                                                    89   INT. ENTRANCE HALL - LATER                                 9    Standing beside the front door is LURCH, the gigantic    family butler, a reanimated stitched-together behemoth.    He holds two brown paper lunch bags in his enormous    hands. The bags' contents wriggle, eager to escape.                            WEDNESDAY                     (taking her bag)              Thank you, Lurch.                                              (CONTINUED)     THE ADDAMS FAMILY - 11/6/90                           6.9    CONTINUED:                                                 9     Pugsley takes his bag, opens it, and peers inside.    Lurch     GROWLS, and Pugsley closes the bag.                                               CUT TO:10   EXT. BALCONY OUTSIDE GOMEZ AND MORTICIA'S BEDROOM -        10     SAME TIME     Gomez is HITTING GOLF BALLS -- Thing serving as his tee     -- while Morticia sips tea.11   ONE OF THE GOLF BALLS                                      11     flies with incredible speed     THROUGH THE WINDOW of the ADDAMS' ONLY NEIGHBOR. This     well-tended HOME sits on the hill overlooking the     Addams' Mansion like some Republican sentinel.                                               CUT TO:12   INT. NEIGHBOR'S HOME - SAME TIME                           12     JUDGE WOMACK, the Addams' CRUSTY PATRICIAN NEIGHBOR, is     having his breakfast when Gomez's golf ball lands in     his cornflakes, shattering the bowl, covering him with     milk.     Judge Womack hurries to his broken window, shaking his     fist:                            JUDGE WOMACK              Damn you, Addams!                                               CUT TO:13   EXT. GOMEZ AND MORTICIA'S BALCONY - SAME TIME              13     FROM THEIR VANTAGE POINT --     it appears to Gomez and Morticia that Judge Womack is     waving to them. Gomez waves back.                            GOMEZ                     (calls)              Sorry about the window, Judge!              Keep the ball! I have a whole              bucketful.     He holds up a bucket of golf balls. He tosses his     golfclub to Thing, who DEPOSITS IT in the golfbag.                                               (CONTINUED)      THE ADDAMS FAMILY - 11/28/90                            7.13    CONTINUED:                                                   13      Gomez joins Morticia watching      THE DEPARTING SCHOOL BUS.                                MORTICIA                  The little ones, off to school.                  Bless them.                                GOMEZ                  They grow up so fast, don't they?                                 MORTICIA                  Too fast.      THEIR POV      Tires smoking, the school bus strains to chug down the      road. Gleefully hanging from the rear bumper is      Pugsley, dragging his heels.                                                    CUT TO:A14   OMITTED                                                      A14B14   INT. THE CONSERVATORY - LATER THAT MORNING                   B14      Morticia, wearing gardening gloves, is snipping the      blossoms off her roses.      Gomez sits at a table, playing CHESS with Thing.                                GOMEZ                  It's a milestone, Tish. This very                  evening -- our twenty-fifth seance.                  All those years, gnawed by guilt,                  undone by woe, burning with                  uncertainty...                                MORTICIA                         (yearningly)                  Oh Gomez, don't torture yourself.                  That's my job.                                GOMEZ                         (lustfully)                  Tish...                                MORTICIA                  Imagine, Darling, if Fester did                  come back. Half-alive, barely                  human, a rotting shell...                                 GOMEZ                  Don't tease.                                                    CUT TO:      THE ADDAMS FAMILY - 12/3/90                          8.14    EXT. JUST OUTSIDE THE ADDAMS' GROUNDS - SAME TIME          14      TULLY ALFORD, the family attorney, and his wife, MARGARET,      approach "GATE," a wrought-iron monstrosity that opens of      its own accord. Though Tully comes here often and      Margaret has been here before, they never cease to be      startled by "Gate."      Tully has a puffy, once handsome face, and an embittered      grey aura that is the mark of a middle-age misspent.      High-strung and superficial, Margaret is more disap-      pointed in Tully than he is in himself.      Margaret passes through Gate first. Then, as Tully passes      through, Gate slams on him, clipping him and catching the      end of his coat. Tully fights Gate for his coat.                              TULLY               Let me go!      Ignoring Tully, Margaret continues stiffly up the walk.                             TULLY                      (to Gate)               Gimme that! Stop it! I'm warning               you! It's not a good day!                                                CUT TO:A15   INT. CONSERVATORY - SAME TIME                              A15      Gomez moves a chess piece. Thing gestures out the window.      Gomez and Morticia both look out. As they do, Thing      moves two chess pieces, cheating.                             MORTICIA                      (looking out)               Tully is here, darling.                              GOMEZ                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         Please, Gordon, by all means - go.               Sing. Dance. Date.                                                (CONTINUED)      THE ADDAMS FAMILY - 11/12/90                          85 .113   CONTINUED:   (2)                                             113                             FESTER                      (coming to his senses)               Mother, I'm... I'm so terribly               sorry...                      (he kneels at her side)               It was just a party. It's over.               It means nothing. Those Siamese               twins, that hunchback, Cousin It               - they're not you.                             ABIGAIL                      (clutching him                       savagely)               Say it, Gordon. Make me believe it.                              FESTER               I love you.   And I want money.                             ABIGAIL                      (very no-nonsense)               We've got to find Tully.                                                  CUT TO:114   INT. BALLROOM - SAME TIME                                    114      Morticia is looking for her children. She discovers      Pugsley ASLEEP, curled up on the SILVER PLATTER WHERE THE      TWO-HEADED PIG LAY. She finds this enchanting.      Gomez enters.   Morticia shushes him; she points to the      platter.                             MORTICIA                      (whispering)               Look - our little boy.                             GOMEZ                      (whispering)               All tuckered out.                             MORTICIA                      (whispering)               So sweet. He looks just... like               a little entree.      Pugsley wakes up; he looks around.                             PUGSLEY                      (sleepy)               Where... where's the party?                                                  (CONTINUED)      THE ADDAMS FAMILY - 11/12/90                          86 .114   CONTINUED:                                                   114                             MORTICIA               It's over, darling - have you seen               your sister?                             PUGSLEY               Not since before the Mamushka.                             MORTICIA               Gomez?                             GOMEZ               Don't fret - we'll find her.                                                  CUT TO:115   EXT. ADDAMS YARD - LATER                                     115      Gomez rallies the family for the search. Morticia wears      a black cloak. Granny has grabbed her divining rod.      Lurch distributes torches, then stands aside, awaiting      instructions. Pugsley helps Gomez unroll an ancient map      of the area.                             GOMEZ               Fan out. Pugsley - head for the dung               heap. Mama and Morticia - the shallow               graves. I'll take the abyss, and               Lurch - check the bottomless pit.                             MORTICIA                      (worried)               Her favorite...                             GOMEZ                      (calls out)               Fester!!                             FESTER (O.S.)               Up here.      They look up at Fester, looking down at them from      Wednesday's window.                             GOMEZ               Fester! You take the ravine!     And               the unmarked, abandoned well!                             FESTER               Somebody should stay behind - in               case she comes back.                              GOMEZ               Good man!   Good thinking!                                                  (CONTINUED)      THE ADDAMS FAMILY - 12/3/90                              87 .115   CONTINUED:                                                      115                                GRANNY                  Then who'll take the swamp?      Thing tugs at the cuff of Gomez's pants.       Gomez nods.                                GOMEZ                  That's the spirit, Thing - lend a                  hand! Let's go!      They all sweep off, with Gomez in the lead.116   INT. WEDNESDAY'S ROOM - A SHORT WHILE LATER                     116      Fester is still at the window.      Abigail joins him.      THEIR POV      Spread far and wide over the grounds, the various members      of the family search for Wednesday, tiny lights aloft,      calling.                                ABIGAIL                  Where the hell is Tully?      They head out.                                                     CUT TO:117   OMITTED                                                         117118   INT. DEN - A LITTLE LATER                                       118      Fester and Virginia find...      TULLY -      sitting in an armchair, basking in the rays of sunshine      that beam from a copy of "The Sun Also Rises." Tully      smiles at them.                                ABIGAIL                  What are you doing?                                 TULLY                  Relaxing.   Taking a little sun.                                ABIGAIL                  Have you gone mad?                                  TULLY                  Au contraire.      Tully closes the book and smugly unfurls a LEGAL DOCUMENT.                                                     CUT TO:       THE ADDAMS FAMILY - 2/19/91                         88 .119    EXT. SWAMP - MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT                           119       Thing hops lily pads, stopping occasionally to quest the       air for his mistress.                                                 CUT TO:120    EXT. PRIMEVAL FOREST ADJACENT TO CEMETERY - MIDDLE OF      120       THE NIGHT       Torch aloft, Pugsley searches through the primeval forest.                                                 CUT TO:121    EXT. NEIGHBORHOOD - MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT                    121       Lurch picks up a car -- looking for Wednesday.                                                 CUT TO:122    EXT. UNDERGROUND GROTTO - MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT              122       Morticia and Granny stand in the middle of the dripping       dankness. Stalagmites. Stalactites.       Granny's torch casts scary shadows on the cave walls.                              GRANNY                       (calling out)                Wednesday! Wednesday!                              MORTICIA                Oh, Mama, I was sure we'd find her                here.                                                 CUT TO:123    EXT. CEMETERY - DARK                                       123       Gomez reaches a stately mausoleum at the far end of the       cemetery. Two proud marble vultures guard the entryway.       Gomez lowers the uplifted claw of one of the vultures and       the stone doors slide open. He steps into -A124   INT. MAUSOLEUM - SAME TIME                                 A124       Inside it is catacomb-like, filled with the bleached       bones of the Addams dead. Gomez's torch casts shadows       -- one of which belongs to Wednesday, curled asleep on a       stone sarcophagus. Relieved to find her, Gomez       approaches quietly. He doesn't want to wake her up. He       lifts her tenderly in his arms.                                                 CUT TO:      THE ADDAMS FAMILY - 2/15/91                            89 .124   EXT. GATE - DARKNESS BEFORE DAWN                              124      Gate can't open. He rattles miserably on his hinges --      locked tight with heavy chains and yellow police tape -      large "NO TRESPASSING!! COURT ORDER!! ADDAMS FAMILY -      KEEP OUT!!" signs are posted on Gate's rusty bars.      PULL BACK TO REVEAL --      the family, appalled at the sight of Gate.    Lurch carries      the sleeping Wednesday and Pugsley.                               GOMEZ                 What's all this?      TULLY --      hurries down the walkway, waving his legal document.                               TULLY                 This is a restraining order, Gomez.                               GOMEZ                 A restraining order?                               TULLY                 It requires you to keep a distance of                 one thousand yards from this house.                 You've got about nine hundred and                 ninety-nine yards to go - catch my                 drift?                               GOMEZ                        (in disbelief)                 I am restrained - from my own house!?                               TULLY                 Not your house, moustache! Not any                 more! It belongs to the eldest living                 descendant, the older of the brothers                 -- Fester Addams!                               GOMEZ                 But - this is lunacy!                               MORTICIA                 Fester adores Gomez!                               TULLY                 He's afraid of him. Seeing the                 twins brought it all back.                        (to Gomez)                 You're bitter rivals, Gomez - always                 were, always will be!                                                   (CONTINUED)      THE ADDAMS FAMILY - 2/15/91                       89A.124   CONTINUED:                                             124                             GOMEZ               It's not so! Those girls meant nothing               - he knows that! I demand to see               Fester!                             TULLY               Sorry - no can do. He's very hurt -               it's not a good time. Leave it alone.               Or better yet - just leave.                                               (CONTINUED)       THE ADDAMS FAMILY - 2/22/91                          90 .124    CONTINUED:                                                  124       Wednesday comes forward, rubbing the sleep from her eyes.                               WEDNESDAY                 But he isn't even Uncle Fester.       Gomez and Morticia turn to look at her.                               GOMEZ                        (to his family)                 Do not fear - justic shall                 prevail. The courts will decide!                        (fervently)                 They say a man who represents                 himself has a fool for a client.                 Well, with God as my witness -                 I am that fool!                                                            CUT TO:125    OMITTED                                                     125A126   OMITTED                                                     A126126    INT. COURTROOM - DAY                                        126       C.U. GAVEL --       hammers on the Judge's bench.       PULL BACK to reveal --       JUDGE WOMACK       is the presiding judge.   He hammers the bench again, then       reads his decision.                                                   (CONTINUED)      THE ADDAMS FAMILY - 2/26/91                          91 .126   CONTINUED:                                                  126                              JUDGE WOMACK                Given applicable standards of                proof, the attempts to impugn this                man's character or question his                identity have been woefully                inadequate. It is with no small                amount of personal satisfaction                that I declare Fester Addams legal                executor of the Addams estate and                rightful owner of all properties                and possessions contained herein.                Gomez Addams...                       (He holds up a golf ball)                I believe this is yours.                                                CUT TO:127   EXT. ADDAMS MANSION - DAY                                   127      The family members TROOP to the car with their few      possessions.      GOMEZ      already sits in the passenger seat of the Duesenberg, his      coat draped over his shoulders as if he were an invalid,      his head thrown back.      Morticia carries out Cleo, her carnivorous plant. Granny      carries her favorite cauldron, Wednesday one of her Marie      Antoinette dolls, Pugsley his chemistry set. Lurch uproots      his favorite tree and joins the procession. Thing follows,      dragging a toy wagon packed with his rings, his glove.                                                CUT TO:128   OMITTED                                                     128129   EXT. ADDAMS OVERGROWN DRIVEWAY - LATER                      129      The Duesenberg eases out of the driveway and onto the      street, WEIGHED DOWN by Lurch's tree, sticking out of      the trunk.      FESTER      standing at a second story window, watches the car drive      off.                                                CUT TO:      THE ADDAMS FAMILY - 11/28/90                          92 .130   EXT. WAMPUM COURT - LATER.                                   130      A two-story NEON ARROW points the way to this bungalow      court -- Bright and awful ersatz western. LOG CABINS OF      SIMULATED WOOD surround the TEEPEE-SHAPED OFFICE.      The Addams' Duesenberg is parked in front of the furthest      cabin. The asphalt has been ripped up in big chunks and      Lurch's tree is parked next to the Addams' new home.                                                  CUT TO:131   INT. BUNGALOW - SAME TIME                                    131      C.U. DRESSING TABLE MIRROR      Morticia leans into frame. With an icepick and a hammer,      she deftly makes a large spidery CRACK in the round mirror.      Sighing deeply, she stands back to admire her handiwork.      Granny joins her.                                GRANNY                I like it.      Her mother pats her consolingly.                              MORTICIA                Just as long as we're together,                n'est pas, mon cher?      As she turns to Gomez, we see the interior of the bungalow      -- all ersatz cowboy and Indian mixed with chrome-plated      plastic and orange shag carpet.      GOMEZ      sits slumped in a   chair made from wagon wheel and nauga-      hyde. It's as if    all of his insane, vibrant energy has      been leeched from   him. He's a broken man. He looks back      at her as if he's   never heard French.                                GOMEZ                Huh?      Wednesday tends to him.    She and her mother exchange a      worried look.      PUGSLEY      comes from the bathroom, nibbling a wrapped bar of motel      soap.                              PUGSLEY                This place isn't so bad. They even                put candy in the bathroom.                              MORTICIA                That's the soap, dear.                                                  (CONTINUED)       THE ADDAMS FAMILY - 11/20/90                           93 .131    CONTINUED:                                                    131                              PUGSLEY                 Oh.       He takes another greedy bite.       Wednesday pats her father's arm.                               WEDNESDAY                 Do you want a cigar, Father?                               GOMEZ                        (in a monotone)                 They're very bad for you.                               WEDNESDAY                        (very worried)                 Father?       Wednesday exchanges a panic-stricken look with Morticia.       The family moves closer to Gomez.                               GOMEZ                 But maybe I'll have one of those...       He takes a bar of soap from Pugsley.     Gomez unwraps it       and morosely eats.                                                    CUT TO:132    OMITTED                                                       132132A   INT. ADDAMS MANSION - MIDWAY TO THE VAULT                     132A       C.U. on three hands, as they reach up to pull three of       the countless chains.                                                    CUT TO:A133   EXT. ADDAMS YARD - MIDNIGHT                                   A133       THE COAL CHUTE ON THE SIDE OF THE HOUSE --       drops open, dumping out Fester, Abigail, and Tully - all       of them wet and bedraggled and gasping for air.                               ABIGAIL                        (to Fester)                 You're doing this on purpose.                                                    (CONTINUED)       THE ADDAMS FAMILY - 11/20/90                          94 .A133   CONTINUED:                                                   A133       They all struggle to their feet and march grimly back       toward the door.                                                   CUT TO:133    INT. WAMPUM COURT BUNGALOW - MORNING                         133       Gomez is STRETCHED OUT on the naked box springs of his       bed -- the mattress pushed aside. A damp cloth covers       his eyes. Thing MASSAGES his aching head. A bowl of       MOTEL SOAPS is beside him.       In contrast, Morticia squarely faces the crisis. She       addresses the family from the head of the breakfast       table, the want ads open on the table before her.                              MORTICIA                We are Addamses, and we will not                submit. Who recalls the fable of                the tortoise and the hare? The                swift, yet lazy little cottontail,                and his slow but determined companion?                What does that story teach us, as                Addamses?                              GRANNY                Kill the hare. Skin it.   Boil it.                              WEDNESDAY                Put the tortoise on the highway.                              PUGSLEY                During rush hour.                              MORTICIA                Yes! We will survive! Poison us,                strangle us, break our bones -                we will come back for more.                And why?                              GRANNY                Because we like it!                                                   (CONTINUED)      THE ADDAMS FAMILY - 11/12/90                        94A.133   CONTINUED:                                             133                               PUGSLEY                 Because we're Addamses!      Gomez tries to rouse himself.                               GOMEZ                        (out of it)                 We're Addamses...      He burps -- soap bubbles floating from his mouth.                                                CUT TO:134   OMMITTED                                               134135   OMITTED                                                135      THE ADDAMS FAMILY - 11/28/90                           95 .136   EXT. SIDEWALK IN FRONT OF THE WAMPUM COURT - DAY              136      Wednesday and Pugsley have set up a LEMONADE STAND, their      contribution to the Addams' financial well-being. An      array of POISONS are lined up on their rickety table.      They've slashed their prices to a nickel per cup. The      pitcher on the table before them steams.      Cars speed by.      Carrying a SAMPLE VACUUM CLEANER and a bucket, Lurch comes      out of the motel courtyard. Pugsley offers him a cup of      punch.                               PUGSLEY                Here, Lurch.   On the house.      Lurch downs it in a gulp and heads off.      Feeling the effects of the lemonade, Lurch BURPS -- a      tongue of flame shoots from his mouth and INCINERATES A      WOODEN INDIAN advertising the Wampum Court.                                                   CUT TO:137   OMITTED                                                       137138   INT. EMPLOYMENT AGENCY                                        138      Morticia is being interviewed by a PERSONNEL OFFICER, a      relentlessly perky gal with a clipboard.                              PERSONNEL OFFICER                We have so many homemakers re-entering                the work force - your domestic skills                can be very valuable. College?                              MORTICIA                Private tutors.                               PERSONNEL OFFICER                Major?                              MORTICIA                Spells and Hexes.                              PERSONNEL OFFICER                       (knowingly)                Liberal Arts. Have you been a                volunteer, PTA, service organizations?                              MORTICIA                Well, one day each week I visit Death                Row at our local prison, with my                children.                                                   (CONTINUED)      THE ADDAMS FAMILY - 4/03/91                          96 .138   CONTINUED:                                                  138                             PERSONNEL OFFICER                      (perplexed)               With your children?                             MORTICIA               Autographs.                             PERSONNEL OFFICER               Well, what about your husband? Is               he currently employed?                             MORTICIA               He's... he's going through a bad patch               at the moment. But it's not his fault.                             PERSONNEL OFFICER                      (with some bitterness)               Of course not. What is he - A               loafer? A hopeless layabout? A               shiftless dreamer?                             MORTICIA                      (wistfully)               Not anymore.      The Personnel Officer shoots Morticia a doubtful glance,      and begins rifling through her card file.                                                 CUT TO:139   INT. ADDAMS LIVING ROOM - DAY                               139      Abigail and Fester are seated at opposite ends of the      couch. Fester stares off into space. Abigail is going      through a stack of colorful travel brochures.                             ABIGAIL               The Mediterranean, the Riviera - once               we find the money, we'll go everywhere.               We'll try again, right after lunch.               Gordon - where should we go first?                             FESTER                      (sadly)               I don't know...                             ABIGAIL               Acapulco? Cancun?                      (she snaps her fingers                       in the air, castanet-                       style, trying to be                       festive)               Ariba! Ariba!                             FESTER               You choose.                                                 CUT TO:       THE ADDAMS FAMILY - 4/03/91                         A96A.A140   EXT. WAMPUM COURT - LATER THAT DAY                      A140       Wednesday and Pugsley are at their lemonade stand. They       are negotiating with a PRISSY LITTLE GIRL IN A GIRL SCOUT       UNIFORM. The girl scout carries several boxes of Girl       Scout cookies.                              GIRL SCOUT                       (with grave doubts)                Is this made from real lemons?                              WEDNESDAY                Yes.                              GIRL SCOUT                I only like all-natural foods and                beverages. Organically grown, with                no preservatives. Are you sure                they're real lemons?                              PUGSLEY                Yes.                                                 (CONTINUED)       THE ADDAMS FAMILY - 2/26/91                          96A.A140   CONTINUED:                                                A140                                 GIRL SCOUT                 Well... I   tell you what. I'll buy                 a cup, if   you buy a box of my                 delicious   girl scout cookies. Do                 we have a   deal?                               WEDNESDAY                 Are they made from real girl scouts?                                                  CUT TO:140    EXT. SUBURBAN HOUSE - DAY                                 140       White clapboard. Geraniums in the flower boxes.       Surrounded by a white picket fence.       Carrying his SAMPLE VACUUM CLEANER AND BUCKET, the tools of       his new trade, Lurch carefully opens the little white gate.       AT THE DOOR,       he rings the doorbell, afraid he might break something.       A BLONDE HOUSEWIFE in tennis whites, obviously in a hurry,       opens the door -- only to be greeted by a BUCKETFUL OF       SLOP thrown past her, onto her peach Oriental rug. She       SCREAMS in horror, turns to challenge the perpetrator of       this atrocity and, seeing Lurch, SCREAMS again.       In a panic, she tries to slam the door on Lurch, but, like       the salesman's manual undoubtedly advised, he STICKS his       foot in the way. The door partially RIPS off its hinges.       Lurch steps inside and shuts the door as best he can.       A moment passes. The door swings open and Lurch exits,       jauntily waving a check.                                                  CUT TO:141    OMITTED                                                   141142    OMITTED                                                   142&                                                                &143                                                              143A144   OMITTED                                                   A144B144   OMITTED                                                   B144      THE ADDAMS FAMILY - 2/22/91                         97 .144   INT. DAYCARE CENTER - DAY                                  144      Morticia is telling a story to a group of TODDLERS, who      have gathered in a circle around her, sitting on carpet      squares. The room is sunny and cheerful, with crayon      drawings taped to the walls.                             MORTICIA               ... and so the witch lured Hansel               and Gretel into the candy house,               by promising them more sweets. And               she told them to look in the oven,               and she was about to push them in,               when, low and behold, Hansel pushed               the poor, defenseless witch into the               oven instead. Where she was burned               alive, writhing in agony. Now,               boys and girls, what do you think               that feels like?      After a beat, all the toddlers begin to CRY and WAIL.                                                CUT TO:       THE ADDAMS FAMILY - 11/20/90                        98 .145    OMITTED                                                    145thru                                                              thru147                                                               147148    OMITTED                                                    148thru                                                              thru152    OMITTED                                                    152A153   EXT. WAMPUN BUNGALOW - DAY                                 A153       Granny holds a club behind her back as she stalks       something.                               GRANNY                 Here kitty, kitty, kitty...                                                 CUT TO:153    INT. WAMPUM BUNGALOW - SAME TIME                           153       Eating compulsively form a box of Mallomars, Gomez is       still stretched out on the naked box springs. He stares       vacantly at a game show on TV. "Jeopardy" is on.                               ALEX TREBEK                        (reading from                         the card)                 Monsters Of History for $200. "He was                 known as the Butcher of Bavaria."                               GOMEZ                        (shouts)                 Grandfather Addams!                        (smacks his forehead,                         hard)                 Damn! Not in the form of a question!                                                 CUT TO:A154   EXT. BUNGALOW - SAME TIME                                  A154       Granny, running now, club raised, hurries past the open       window of the bungalow.       She stops at the sight of Gomez inside, standing on the       bed, staring at the television.       C.U. on the TV set - Gomez is now watching Geraldo Rivera,       hosting his tabloid style show.                               GERALDO                 Voodoo zombies - the stuff of                 legend, or a living nightmare? Do                 zombies really exist? How are they                 made? Where can we find them?                 Call in with your comments.                                                 (CONTINUED)       THE ADDAMS FAMILY - 11/20/90                           99 .A154   CONTINUED:                                                    A154       A CALL-IN NUMBER is flashed on the screen.    Gomez reaches       for the phone.                                                    CUT TO:154    INT. ADDAMS MANSION DINING ROOM - DAY                         154       Abigail and Gordon are seated at opposite ends of the       table, having lunch. It is very quiet.                              ABIGAIL                After lunch, we'll try again.                              FESTER                       (very flat)                Yes, Mother.                              ABIGAIL                We'll find the money. And meanwhile,                we have this little nest. Quiet and                cozy. Without that dreadful family.                                FESTER                Yes, Mother.                              ABIGAIL                Just the two of us, away from the                world. Our dream come true.                                FESTER                Yes, Mother.       As Fester repeats "Yes, Mother", in his drone, Abigail       mimics him, silently.                                                    CUT TO:A155   INT. BUNGALOW - AN HOUR LATER                                 A155       C.U. on the TV screen.   Geraldo is talking to a woman in       the studio audience.                              GERALDO                So your son was brainwashed by voodoo                slave masters and forced to recruit                others. Let's take a call.                              GOMEZ                       (on the studio PA system)                Geraldo...                              GERALDO                       (cutting him off)                Mr. Addams, please stop calling.                We don't know where they meet.                                                    (CONTINUED)       THE ADDAMS FAMILY - 11/20/90                          100.A155   CONTINUED:                                                  A155       PULL BACK to the motel room. Gomez lets the phone drop.       Morticia, seated on the edge of the box spring, tries to       comfort him. Pugsley, Wednesday and Lurch are seated       nearby, very worried about Gomez, as at a death watch.       Gomez is now surrounded by junk food, and a mountain of       junk food wrappers, bags and styrofoam containers.       Ritually, as handmaidens, Morticia brings Gomez the       remote control for the TV, and Wednesday brings him a       copy of TV Guide.       Pugsley brings Gomez a bag of "Doritos", and Lurch brings       him a canister of "Pringles".       Gomez uses the remote to switch channels.   An episode of       "The Cosby Show" comes on.                               GOMEZ                Re-run.       He switches off the set and stares at the blank screen.                              PUGSLEY                I don't understand. All he does                is watch TV and eat.                              MORTICIA                I know - Gomez, let's go for a drive.                The whole family.                              GOMEZ                       (not even turning)                A drive? And miss "Matlock"?       Granny opens the door and sticks her head in.                              GRANNY                Dinner's going to be late.       She slams the door.   We hear her whistling.                               GRANNY (O.S.)                Here, boy.   Here, boy.                                                   CUT TO:        THE ADDAMS FAMILY - 2/7/91                            100A.A155A   INT. WAMPUM COURT - LATER                                 A155A*        Morticia is putting Wednesday to bed.                               WEDNESDAY                 If that man isn't Uncle Fester,                 then who is he, mother?                               MORTICIA                 I don't know, darling.   I wish                 I did.                               WEDNESDAY                 Why is that lady doing all this?                               MORTICIA                 It's hard to say. Sometimes people                 have had terrible childhoods. And                 sometimes they just haven't found                 their special place in life. And                 sometimes they're dogs from hell                 and must be destroyed.        Morticia kisses Wednesday and she closes her eyes to go        to sleep.                                                    CUT TO:        THE ADDAMS FAMILY - 4/03/91                           101.B155    INT. WAMPUM - MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT                        B155        The family sleeps - all but Morticia. She sits up in        bed beside Gomez. She looks around at her family.        Wednesday sleeps in the same bed as Granny. Lurch is flat        out on the floor. Pugsley uses him for a mattress, and        Thing uses Pugsley. Pugsley snores the inhale part of a        snore, Lurch groans the exhale part, and Thing punctuates        by wiggling.        Morticia stares down at Gomez - for a long beat. She        strokes his hair lovingly. Full of resolve, she gets        out of bed.                                                  CUT TO:AC155   INT. FESTER'S BEDROOM - NIGHT                            AC155*        Fester is lying in bed, the covers around his chin.        Abigail sits on the bed beside him, tucking him in.                               ABIGAIL                 I know why you've been so glum.                 It's because it's taking us a                 little longer than we'd hoped to                 find the gold. Isn't that right?        Fester turns away, depressed.                               ABIGAIL                 Of course it is. Well, don't you                 worry - we're right on the verge.                 Tomorrow, for certain, my darling.                        (she kisses him on the                         forehead, and stands.                         She goes to the door,                         and turns)                 You know, some people might think                 it's strange, for a mother and son                 to be so close. I think it's                 beautiful. Don't you, Gordon?        Fester mumbles something, under his breath.                                ABIGAIL                         (very stern)                 What?                               FESTER                        (dutifully)                 Yes, mother. It's beautiful.                                                  (CONTINUED)        THE ADDAMS FAMILY - 4/03/91                         102.AC155   CONTINUED:                                               AC155                                ABIGAIL                         (instantly very sweet,                          dabbing her eye with                          a fingertip)                  Look - I'm weeping.        Abigail exits. The minute the door shuts, Fester gets        out of bed. He is fully clothed. He goes to the window,        and begins to climb out.                                                  CUT TO:C155    EXT. BUNGALOW - LATER                                    C155        Morticia, fully dressed, wearing her cloak, heads off        down the walk. Unseen by her, Thing trails after.                                                  CUT TO:D155    EXT. GATE - A LITTLE LATER                               D155        Morticia, just outside Gate, struggles to get it open,        Thing clutching the bars, also attempting to block her        way.                                MORTICIA                  Stop it, you two.        Morticia breaks free of Thing.                                                  CUT TO:E155    EXT. ADDAMS MANSION - A LITTLE LATER                     E155        Tully opens the front door. He smiles maliciously at        the sight of Morticia on the stoop.                                MORTICIA                  I would like to speak with Fester.        Tully steps aside.                                TULLY                  We've been expecting you...        Morticia crosses the threshold.                                                  CUT TO:F155    OMITTED                                                  F155      THE ADDAMS FAMILY - 2/19/91                         103.155   EXT. INTERSECTION AT THE FOOT OF THE ADDAMS HILL - NIGHT 155      Thing does his damnedest to flag down any of the few      oncoming cars. He waves to no avail, DANCES AROUND in      frustration, then tries HITCHHIKING, sticking out his      thumb. A passing car splashes him with mud.      Screwing up his courage, in a kamikaze leap, he GRABS      ahold of the bumper of the next car that comes along and      hangs on for dear life as the car SPEEDS down the street.                                                CUT TO:156   INT. STUDY - A LITTLE LATER                             156      Morticia is now stretched out on the torture RACK. Fester      and Tully are securing her hands and feet, under Abigail's      supervision. Fester seems torn, agitated, upset.                             MORTICIA                      (to Abigail, graciously)               You are a desperate woman, consumed               by greed and infinite bitterness.                      (a beat)               We could have been such friends.                             ABIGAIL               I don't think so. The vault,               Mrs. Addams - any thoughts?                             MORTICIA                      (sweetly, to Abigail)               Despite everything, I don't hate               you. I pity you. Persecution,               fiendish torture, inhuman depravity -               sometimes it's just not enough.                             ABIGAIL               Gordon - let's get started.                             FESTER               But, Mother...                             ABIGAIL               Stop stalling!                             FESTER               I'm not stalling! Stop badgering me!                             ABIGAIL                      (pushing Fester aside)               Tully, take over! Tighten it!                                                (CONTINUED)      THE ADDAMS FAMILY - 2/19/91                           103A.156   CONTINUED:   (2)                                         156                             TULLY               I'd love to, you know that, but -               I've got this stomach thing. When I               torture people. It's just me.                                ABIGAIL                         (shoving Tully toward                          the rack)               Do it!                             TULLY                      (to Morticia,                       politely)               Where's your bathroom?                               ABIGAIL               NOW!      Tully shuts his eyes and tightens the rack. Morticia's      bones make a horrible POPPING, STRETCHING SOUND. She      MOANS, rather sensually.                               ABIGAIL               Again!      Tully tightens the rack again. More BONE-POPPING NOISES.      Morticia MOANS again, even more orgasmically.                               ABIGAIL               Tighter!      Tully tightens the rack a third time. BONE-POPPING NOISES.      Morticia MOANS, very voluptuously. She opens her eyes.      She sighs, in afterglow. She glances at Tully.                             MORTICIA                      (to Tully, flirtatiously)               You've done this before.                                                  CUT TO:      THE ADDAMS FAMILY - 2/19/91                            104.157   EXT. WAMPUM COURT - NIGHT                                  157      A hand possessed, Thing RACES up the driveway, raising      dust as he goes.158   EXT. BUNGALOW - NIGHT                                      158      Thing leaps dramatically onto the porch, then stops dead      to knock on the cabin door.      After a beat:                                GOMEZ (O.S.)               Who is it?     We're paid through               Thursday.      He opens the door.    Thing rushes in.                                                   CUT TO:159   INT. BUNGALOW - MINUTES LATER                              159      Thing skitters on the kitchen counter, frantically      signing. In the background, the rest of the family      sleeps.                                                   (CONTINUED)      THE ADDAMS FAMILY - 2/26/91                           105.159   CONTINUED:                                                  159                              GOMEZ                       (whispers)                Slow down, Thing! It's terrible                when you stutter!      Frustrated, Thing grabs a SPOON and begins tapping out      MORSE CODE.                              GOMEZ                Morticia in danger... stop!    Send                help at once ... stop!      Thing flops down in exhausted triumph.    Gomez grabs him      and heads off.                                                  CUT TO:160   OMITTED                                                     160161   INT. GOMEZ'S STUDY - A FEW MINUTES LATER                    161      Morticia is now lashed to an ENORMOUS TORTURE WHEEL.      Tully and Abigail are tending the stick BRANDING IRONS      stuck in the roaring fire.                              FESTER                       (to Abigail)                You can't! Not with red-hot pokers!                              TULLY                       (queasy)                Is this gonna smell?                              MORTICIA                       (graciously, with                        understanding)                Tully Alford - charlatan. Deadbeat.                Parasite. How Gomez adored you.                              TULLY                Well, not enough.                              FESTER                Morticia, please...                              MORTICIA                Dear Fester - or whomever you are.                Which is the real you - the loathsome,                under-handed monster you've become?                Or the loathsome, underhanded monster                we came to love?                              FESTER                       (desperately)                Don't ask me...                                                  (CONTINUED)      THE ADDAMS FAMILY - 4/03/91                         105A.161   CONTINUED:                                              161                             MORTICIA               Fester - I saw you tonight, at my               window. I know it was you.                             ABIGAIL                      (furious)               Gordon?                             FESTER                      (very upset)               I was... restless! I couldn't sleep.                             ABIGAIL               Gordon, I have a thought. Just a               notion, top of my head. Tell me what               you think. Since you and Mrs. Addams               are so very close...      Abigail takes a red-hot POKER out of the fire and hands it      to Fester.                             ABIGAIL               ... be my guest.                                                CUT TO:       THE ADDAMS FAMILY - 11/17/90                          106.162    OMITTED                                                   162thru                                                             thru164                                                              164A165   INT. DUESENBERG - NIGHT                                   A165       Gomez cuts the engine. The car glides silently through       Gate -- who opens uncharacteristically without a creak.       Gomez stops the car and skulks out. Thing skulks after       him.       Gomez sees the reflections of the roaring fire through       the study window.                                                 CUT TO:165    INT. STUDY - SAME TIME                                    165       As Fester takes the poker and approaches Morticia -       GOMEZ CRASHES THROUGH THE WINDOW, in a back-flip.       Thing JUDO-FLIPS in after Gomez.                                                 (CONTINUED)      THE ADDAMS FAMILY - 2/15/91                            107.165   CONTINUED:                                                  165                              GOMEZ               Cara mia!                              MORTICIA               Mon cher!                              ABIGAIL               Addams!      Thing tosses Gomez a saber off the study wall.      Tully also grabs a saber, and approaches Gomez from behind.                             MORTICIA               Darling, take care!      Without even looking, Gomez parries Tully's blow from      behind. Then he whirls on Tully.                             GOMEZ               Dirty pool, old man.      Never again!                             TULLY               This is for keeps, Gomez!      Not               just doubloons!      Tully feints, then slashes - shredding the front of Gomez's      jacket.                             GOMEZ               One for you, Tully, and...      Gomez ATTACKS - HIS BLADE FLASHING LIKE LIGHTNING. In a      blur of action, Tully's sword is knocked from his hand and      he's sent tumbling backwards, finally landing on his knees.                             GOMEZ               ... one for me!      Tully looks up at Gomez with cowardly, pleading eyes.                             TULLY               Gomez... it's Tully. I'm your               lawyer. I'm on retainer.                              ABIGAIL (O.S.)               Let him up!      Gomez turns to see...                                                    (CONTINUED)      THE ADDAMS FAMILY - 12/3/90                              108.165   CONTINUED:    (2)                                             165      ABIGAIL -      who now has a pistol aimed at Morticia.       One shot and      Morticia will die horribly.      Gomez throws aside his sword.      Tully scrambles to his      feet.                                ABIGAIL                         (to Gomez)                  That's right! Now get moving -                  Addams, take him to the vault.                  And if you're not back in one                  hour...                         (the pistol aimed                          at Morticia, and                          using her accent)                  I displace her.      Gomez is near enough now to take Morticia's hand, on the      torture wheel.                                GOMEZ                  Tish - seeing you like this.   My                  blood boils.                                  MORTICIA                  As does mine.                                GOMEZ                         (touching the                          torture wheel)                  This wheel of pain...                                  MORTICIA                  Our wheel.      CU on Fester, confused at watching this emotional      display.                                GOMEZ                         (to Morticia)                  To live without you - only that                  would be torture.                                                      (CONTINUED)      THE ADDAMS FAMILY - 2/15/91                            109.165   CONTINUED:   (3)                                            165                               MORTICIA                        (to Gomez)                 A day alone - only that would be                 death.      Gomez kisses Morticia's hand.                                 ABIGAIL                 Knock it off!    The vault, Addams -                 right now!                               FESTER                 But, Mother can't we...      Gomez reaches for the book that will open the secret      panel:                               ABIGAIL                 Can it, Gordon! Stop dragging your                 feet! You disgust me - you're nothing                 but a useless, snivelling baby! A                 stone around my neck! What was I                 thinking - I should've left you where                 I found you!      At Abigail's final words, Fester suddenly LEAPS FORWARD.                               FESTER                 No tricks, Gomez! That's the wrong                 book!      CLOSE UP      Gomez's hand is on the right book, "Greed," but Fester      stops him from pulling it.                                 FESTER                 Allow me...      Gomez looks into Fester's eyes -- realizing what he's      about to do.                               GOMEZ                        (murmuring)                 Good show, old man...      Fester reaches for a DIFFERENT BOOK -- "Hurricane Irene:      Nightmare from Above."      Seeing the title of the book, Tully suddenly panics:                                                    (CONTINUED)      THE ADDAMS FAMILY - 3/18/91                          110.165   CONTINUED:   (4)                                          165                             TULLY               Put that book down, Gordon! You               don't know what it can do! It's               not just literture!                             FESTER                      (advancing on Tully)               Oh, really?                             TULLY               I'm your friend, Gordon - think               of the doubloons!                             FESTER               They're not yours, Tully!     Back off!      ANGLE on Gomez, releasing Morticia from the torture wheel.                             MORTICIA               Quickly, my darling!      He helps her down from the wheel.                             GOMEZ               Leather straps, red-hot pokers...                             MORTICIA               Later, my dearest.      ANGLE on Fester, facing off with Abigail, as Tully cowers.                             ABIGAIL               Keep the book closed, Gordon -               listen to mother!                             FESTER               I'll never listen to you - not               ever again!                             ABIGAIL               I had to be strict with you -               because I cared! Put it down!                             FESTER               You never really loved me!      ANGLE on Gomez and Morticia, nearing the bookcase.                             GOMEZ               Come, my love - to safety!                             MORTICIA               But what of Fester?                                                  (CONTINUED)       THE ADDAMS FAMILY - 2/28/91                          110A.165    CONTINUED:   (5)                                          165                               GOMEZ                        (calling out, to Fester)                 Old man, this way!       ANGLE on Abigail and Fester.                               ABIGAIL                 Stop whining, you little good-                 for-nothing! Be a man!                               FESTER                 You're a terrible mother!   There,                 I said it!       Fester opens the book, and blasts Tully out of the window.       Then he blasts Abigail out as well.       ANGLE ON GOMEZ, who has now pulled the right book, "Greed",       to open the bookshelf. Amid the storm, he is leading       Morticia behind the bookshelf. He tries to hold the       bookshelf open for Fester to follow, fighting the gale       force winds.                               GOMEZ                        (calling out to Fester)                 Old man! This way!       ANGLE ON THING, across the room, struggling across the       floor toward the bookshelf. Thing fights the wind,       which pelts him with papers and other flying debris.       Gomez can no longer fight the storm, and the bookshelf       slams shut. Fester desperately tries to close the book to       quell the storm, but a HUGE BOLT OF LIGHTNING ZAPS HIM.       He falls to the floor, with electricity coursing through       him.       MOVE IN on the storm raging within the pages of the book,       then -       FADE TO BLACK                                                   FADE IN ON:166    OMITTED                                                   166thru                                                             thru169                                                              169170    OMITTED                                                   170171    OMITTED                                                   171thru                                                             thru173                                                              173      THE ADDAMS FAMILY - 2/28/91                           110B.174   EXT. ADDAMS MANSION, NEXT OCTOBER - NIGHT                174      A group of little CHILDREN approach the front door. There      is a hand-lettered sign on the door reading "HALLOWEEN      OPEN HOUSE." The children are dressed in traditional      Halloween costumes - there's a witch, a ghost, a skeleton,      etc., and they all carry trick-or-treat bags. They giggle      and chatter. One of the children is pushed forward, and      he KNOCKS on the front door. As the door opens, the      children CHANT:                             CHILDREN               Trick or...      They freeze in mid-chant. We do not see who has opened      the door, but the children do. After a beat, they SCREAM      IN HORROR and run, terrified, back toward the street.                                                  CUT TO:      THE ADDAMS FAMILY - 12/3/90                           111.175   INT. FRONT HALL - SAME TIME                               175      Lurch is closing the front door, looking puzzled.      The family is busily decorating the house for their annual      Halloween festivities. All the decorations are elegant      yet ancient, dusty and faded. The crystal gloves in the      chandeliers have been replaced by miniature jack o-      lanterns. Skeletons, each wearing a top hat, hang from      the sconces by the nooses around their necks. There are      clusters of black and orange balloons, covered with      cobwebs. Uncle Fester and Thing are draping the banisters      and stairway railings with a garland made from crepe      paper, dead branches and spanish moss. Skulls, each      holding a candle, are scattered about, on the stairs and      the furniture. A stuffed, life-size scarecrow leans      against the stairway, with a pitchfork through its throat.      A banner on the wall reads "HAPPY HALLOWEEN", and the      letters drip with blood.      Gomez hangs upside down from the balcony.   Morticia hands      him a decoration.      Granny appears from the kitchen, carrying a tray of food.                             GRANNY               Well, it's their loss. I even               made finger sandwiches.      Perched on Fester's shoulder, Thing shakes in fear.                             FESTER                      (petting Thing)               Oh, calm down.                               PUGSLEY (O.S.)               Here we come!      Wednesday and Pugsley come down the stairs. Wednesday      is dressed in her usual style, but Pugsley is dressed as      a tiny version of UNCLE FESTER, COMPLETE WITH BALD HEAD AND      GREATCOAT. The adults are delighted. Gomez flips down      onto his feet.                             GOMEZ               Pugsley, old man!                             MORTICIA                      (delighted)               Look at you.                             PUGSLEY                      (to Uncle Fester)               How do you like it?      Fester is very touched; he picks Pugsley up.                                                  (CONTINUED)      THE ADDAMS FAMILY - 2/15/91                         111A.175   CONTINUED:                                               175                             FESTER               What can I say? He's going to               break hearts.                             GOMEZ               Let's get a picture!     Lurch?                             MORTICIA               Oh yes - in the den.                                                 (CONTINUED)      THE ADDAMS FAMILY - 11/20/90                           112.175   CONTINUED:                                                175      Everyone starts to move toward the den. There is a KNOCK      on the door. Everyone turns. Lurch opens the door.      Standing outside are Margaret and Cousin It. Margaret is      dressed as a fairy princess, complete with wand. Cousin      It wears a cowboy hat, a bandanna and a holster. Margaret      is radiant, obviously very much in love.                             MARGARET               Trick or treat!                             COUSIN IT               Ooot oot glibber.                             GOMEZ               Look, everyone! We have guests!                             MORTICIA               Hello, Margaret. Cousin It - I               almost didn't recognize you.                             MARGARET               Isn't he handsome? Everyone keeps               asking where he bought his costume.                             GOMEZ                      (admiringly)               It is a wonderful hat.                             MARGARET                      (to Wednesday)               And what are you, darling?   Where's               your costume?                             WEDNESDAY                      (solemnly)               This is my costume. I'm a homicidal               maniac. They look just like everyone               else.                                                 CUT TO:176   INT. DINING ROOM - A FEW MINUTES LATER                    176      Fester and Pugsley are posed at one end of the room.      Lurch has set up an easel and canvas; he is painting      Fester and Pugsley's portrait.      Gomez and Wednesday are sitting on the floor amid      newspapers, carving a pumpkin.      Morticia is knitting. Margaret and Cousin It sit together,      holding hands. Granny brings people cups of steaming      punch, from a punch bowl.                                                 (CONTINUED)      THE ADDAMS FAMILY - 2/19/91                          113.176   CONTINUED:                                                176                             FESTER               Halloween - it's such a special               time. Ghosts and goblins. Witches               on broomsticks.                             WEDNESDAY               Children begging in the streets.                             FESTER               I'm so glad I can share this night               with my family - my real family.               Now that I've got my memory back.                             MORTICIA               That unfortunate woman. Filled with               evil.                      (shaking her head,                       sadly)               But not enough.                             PUGSLEY                      (to Fester)               She wasn't your mother.     She just               said that.                             COUSIN IT               Ooot oot gleep.                             GOMEZ                      (to It)               You remember, old sport - she really               did find him tangled in a tuna net,               twenty-five years ago. With amnesia.                             WEDNESDAY               From the Bermuda Triangle.                               COUSIN IT               Ooot oot oot.                              MORTICIA               How true.   Stranger things have               happened.                             MARGARET               I'm sorry, and I'm not bitter,               but I blame Tully.                             COUSIN IT               Ooot blipper gleep.                             MARGARET                      (the coquette)               Oh, stop. I'm blushing.                                                  (CONTINUED)      THE ADDAMS FAMILY - 2/19/91                       113A.176   CONTINUED:                                             176                             GRANNY                      (to Fester)               Thank God for that lightning.               Knocked some sense into you.                             PUGSLEY               Please, Uncle Fester?                             GOMEZ                      (jovially)               Pugsley...                                               (CONTINUED)      THE ADDAMS FAMILY - 2/19/91                             114.176   CONTINUED:   (2)                                           176                             PUGSLEY               For the picture?      Fester pops a light bulb into his mouth.   It lights.      Pugsley giggles.      Gomez stands up, having finished the pumpkin. He places      it on a table, and lights the candle inside. The pumpkin      glows. It has ONE EYE IN THE MIDDLE OF ITS FOREHEAD.      Everyone oohs and ahhs.                             FESTER               You know, all the old sayings are               true. There's no place like home.               And blood is thicker than water.                             MORTICIA               And just as refreshing.                             GOMEZ               All right, everybody - time for a               game! What shall it be - bobbing               for apples?                             MARGARET               Charades?                             COUSIN IT               Ooot glibber glip.                             MORTICIA               Of course - "Wake The Dead."                             FESTER                      (delighted, to Gomez                       remembering this childhood                       favorite)               "Wake The Dead"!                             GOMEZ                      (equally excited)               "Wake The Dead"! Out to the cemetery!               Come on, everyone!      Everyone starts to exit, chattering happily.                             MARGARET                      (to Granny)               I've never played this before -               how does it go?                             GRANNY               Did you bring a shovel?                                                 (CONTINUED)      THE ADDAMS FAMILY - 3/18/91                            114A.176   CONTINUED:   (3)                                          176                             PUGSLEY               Uncle Fester, will you be on my team?                               WEDNESDAY               No, mine!                             FESTER                      (to Wednesday)               I tell you what - we'll give you a               head start. Three skulls and a               pelvis - how's that?      Pugsley and Wednesday cheer and run out.   Fester faces      Gomez.                             FESTER               My own dear brother - who could be               more precious?                             GOMEZ               Blood is thicker than water, old man.                             MORTICIA                      (touched by the                       brothers devotion)               And just as refreshing.      Gomez offers his hand.   Fester takes it, in a manly      handshake.                             GOMEZ               Let us never be parted.                             FESTER               Let us always be as one.      Fester flips Gomez in a JUDO FLIP.      Gomez LANDS -      At the foot of a glass display case. The camera pans up      the case. It contains ABIGAIL AND TULLY, EXPERTLY      MOUNTED AND STUFFED.      Fester rises, dusting himself off.                             FESTER                      (joyfully, to Gomez                       and Morticia)               Come on!                             MORTICIA               We'll catch up.      Fester runs out.                                                 CUT TO:      THE ADDAMS FAMILY - 3/18/91                           115-117.177   OMITTED                                                    177178   INT. FRONT HALL                                            178      Everyone is gone. Morticia and Gomez have drifted into      the front hall; they are moving toward the front door.                              MORTICIA                       (deeply satisfied)                Our family... what are they?                              GOMEZ                Oh, Tish - what a night. Everyone                -- together at last. What more                could we ask?                             MORTICIA                Gomez?      Morticia holds up the garment she's been knitting - it's      a BABY JUMPER WITH THREE LEGS.                              GOMEZ                       (ecstatic)                Cara mia... is it true?                              MORTICIA                       (shaking her head                        "yes")                Oui, mon cher...      They embrace, as the front door SWINGS OPEN, of its own      accord.                                                CUT TO:179   EXT. ADDAMS MANSION - SAME TIME                            179      Morticia and Gomez are silhouetted in the doorway. There      is a FULL MOON. In the distance, a wolf HOWLS. Wispy      GHOSTS flit through the night sky. A human SCREAM is      heard, followed by Granny's CACKLE. In the cemetery,      torches are seen, like fireflies.                                                FADE OUT.                              THE END
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+                             THE ADJUSTMENT BUREAU                                  Written by                                 George Nolfi                           Based on a short story by                                 Philip K Dick           BLACK SCREEN          The sounds of a large crowd, but muffled, as if we're inside,          and hearing the crowd through a window or door. FADE IN ON:          INT. SOME SORT OF LOBBY -- DAY          DAVID NORRIS, 33, is having a private moment, looking down,          thinking. He wears a suit and tie. He seems relaxed and          confident. Content. Completely in his element.          In one of his hands he's absentmindedly twirling a couple of          individually-wrapped Ricola throat lozenges. We hear the          muffled voice of someone on a PA system outside:          VOICE ON PA SYSTEM          Thank you so much for coming today--          A man in a BLUE BLAZER walks up to David.                         BLUE BLAZER          Congressman Norris-?          Now REVEAL that we're ±fl: the entry hall of the Admin Building          at St. Johns University. A thousand people crowd the quad          out front. "Norris for Senate" placards everywhere.                         BLUE-BLAZER          Fred O'Malley with the DNC. I've          never seen a crowd this big turn          out so early in the cycle.          CHARLIE TRAYNOR, 36, arrives--.                         CHARLIE          Just wait 'till you see how they          respond to him..          David pops a cherry lozenge into his mouth and straightens          his lapel pin, which is shaped like New York State.                         DAVID          Don't build me up like that,          Charlie. He'll be disappointed.          EXT. ST. JOHNS UNIVERSITY -- MAIN QUAD -- DAY          The crowd, many of them in their twenties, roars with          approval as David walks out to the lectern on the steps of          the Admin Building.                         DAVID          Hi there. I'm David Norris. And          I'm running for the US Senate.                                                                                                              2/12/09 2.          The crowd goes wild.          MONTAGE -- SENATE CAMPAIGN          --David finishes a speech at the FDNY Academy's graduation.          The cadets jump to their feet and give him a standing          ovation.          --David shakes the hands of workers entering a .Con Edison          plant in Buffalo. He's a natural at this. Unlike most          politicians he actually seems to enjoy campaigning.          --Flashbulbs go off as he plays a game of pick-up basketball          with a group of Bronx teenagers. Charlie is nearby.          --David takes a ceremonial shovel full of dirt to begin          redevelopment of an old military base upstate.          --He gives a speech at a Harlem church. Audiences watch          David the way they watched JFK, the way they watch Obama          today. He inspires, makes them believe, makes them want to          follow him. Especially young people.          --David walks through a suburban mall happily shaking hands          as cameras follow him and citizens snap pictures with their          camera-phones. People crush around him. He:doesn't seem to          mind at all. He welcomes it. He feeds off it.          --He pops a cherry lozenge in his mouth and climbs up onto a          tractor to speak to a gathering of upstate farmers, speaking          into a bullhorn to compensate for his hoarse voice. Charlie          stands nearby watching him speak:.          INT. SHERATON HOTEL ROOM --UPSTATE SOMEWHERE -- DUSK          David enters his hotel room. The silence contrasts starkly          with the noisy energy of the campaign trail.          He turns on the TV. Scrolls through the channels. After a          moment shuts it off. Total silence again. It bothers him.          He opens up his briefcase. Pulls out a thick file -- his          itinerary for the next three days. Dozens of speeches and          meetings across the state.          He glances at the summary page on the top. Glances down the          page with his finger, stopping, almost at random, on a speech          he's giving two days from now at the Westchester County Open          Space Initiative.                         DAVID                         (TESTING HIMSELF)          Karen Woods, founder. Husband:          Bob.                                                                                                               2/12/09 3.                         DAVID (CONT'D)          Kids: Samantha, painting, and          Ricky, Little League. John Pascal.          Wife: Anna. St. John's grad. Two          year old: Loyita...          He stops. Knows this cold. His finger runs down to a          Realtor's Association breakfast in Nassau County four days          out.                         DAVID                         (MORE TESTING)          Abagail "Abby" Best, Stuart          Broxterman, Chapel Davis, Milan          Sabovic, Jim Vargas...          His ability to retain this sort of information is stunning.          He doesn't need to review. It's already all there.          He closes his itinerary file. Goes to the window and looks          out at the trees.          The silence back...it's deafening.          INT. SHERATON LOBBY -- UPSTATE SOMEWHERE -- NIGHT          Charlie enters the lobby. Stops suddenly: spots David,          holding court at`the hotel bar. Fifteen strangers around him          as he regales them with a story, despite the fact that he's          clearly losing his voice. Charlie walks over, pulls him          aside.                         CHARLIE          What the hell? What happened to          "I'm going to have softie tea, rest          my voice, and go to bed early?"          You have Diane Sawyer tomorrow and          you have to be up at four AM for us          to make it in time.          David is holding ,a beer, in his left hand. With his free hand          he picks up a cup and saucer.                         DAVID          I had some tea.          (sees Charlie's not in the                         MOOD)          Come on, man. We're eight points          up in the polls. I've gotta cut          loose every once in a while and          have a life.          This provokes a quizzical look from Charlie. Fifteen          strangers in a crappy upstate Sheraton doesn't seem like          having a life to him...                                                                                                              2/12/09 4.                         CHARLIE          Ten.                         DAVID          What?                         CHARLIE          Latest poll has you ten points up.          A slow smile spreads across David's face.                         CUT TO:                         BLACK SCREEN          The sound of a busy room. Then one voice, much louder:          CAMPAIGN AIDE.           County reporting: 8901 for          Lynfield, 7233 for Norris.          INT. WALDORF ASTORIA HOTEL SUITE -- NIGHT          Charlie Traynor walks over to the aide who just shouted that.          She's writing vote totals onto a map of New York by county.                         CHARLIE                         (NATURAL OPTIMIST)          Better than I thought, I thought          we'd get killed in Seneca.          He turns to look at a large suite full of more than a dozen          Norris supporters talking on phones and typing into laptops.                         CHARLIE          Eddie, call Boyd! Where the hell          are the. Suffolk numbers? We've got          to get the Suffolk numbers!          EXT. ROOFTOP NEAR WALDORF -- NIGHT          A light snow falls. Four MEN IN CONSERVATIVE SUITS,          overcoats, and fedoras walk across the roof of a forty-story          building. Their clothing is more timeless than old-          fashioned. And somehow so is their demeanor.          The men get to the edge and look down over the city, almost-          as if it's their domain.                                                                                                              2/12/09 5.          INT. WALDORF HOTEL ROOM -- NIGHT          David watches the election coverage on TV. Pundits are          discussing the New York Senate race, which CNN has already          called for David's opponent.                         PUNDIT #1          Congressman Norris has a reputation          for being very direct, even blunt,          in his campaign speeches, which is          great until you say too many things          you wish you hadn't. Then you          start to look like an amateur.                         PUNDIT #2          That's bad for any candidate but          it's fatal if you're running for          Senate at the age of 33, your          opponent keeps calling you an          "impulsive kid," and you almost          killed your entire political career          five months ago with an act of          immaturity that ended up on the          front page of`.the New York Post.          David winces slightly. This is excruciating. Just then          Charlie enters.. The nerve center.suite is visible through          the open door behind him.                         -CHARLIE          Why are you still watching CNN?          They called this way too early.          David doesn't share his friend's optimism.          INT. WALDORF HOTEL SUITE'-- NERVE CENTER -- NIGHT          A' campaign aide with a phone to her ear shouts to the room:                         AIDE          Suffolk County Numbers!          Charlie and David emerge from the private room to listen.           AIDE (O.S.)          Lynfield: 415,120. Norris:          370,233.          Charlie's energy and optimism disappear instantly.                         CHARLIE          (after long beat)          I really thought we'd win Suffolk.                                                                                                              2/12/09 6.          A senior aide walks over.                         SENIOR AIDE          Kings County just came in too.                         A BRUTAL          He shows a piece of paper to Charlie and David.          beat...                         DAVID          Well, it's over. And it's going to          be a blowout...          David puts on a brave face. . .but this is the first moment          that he realizes not only is he going to lose, but he's going          to lose big. It's going to be a grand,. public humiliation.                         SENIOR AIDE          NBC has us up next.          Charlie takes a clicker and turns the closest TV to NBC.                         BRIAN WILLIAMS          Turning now to the New York Senate          race, NBC is now calling the          election for Roger'Lynfield. After          a shockingly poor showing in both          Suffolk county and in his home          county, Kings, it now appears that          David Norris will lose this          election badly, perhaps by as much          as 10 points.          EXT. ROOFTOP -- NIGHT          The four men in dark suits.. The boss's name is RICHARDSON,          early 40s. His top aide is.AHARRY, 50s.                         RICHARDSON          This is a.bignight, gentleman.                         (TOHARRY)          Is ever ything set?          Harry nods. Richardson notices his eyes:                         RICHARDSON          You look tired. You should take a          vacation when we finish with this.          You'll have earned it.                         HARRY          I'm not sure the kind of tired I          feel would be fixed by a vacation.                                                                                                              2/12/09 7.                         RICHARDSON          Sure it would. Everybody needs a          vacation. Even us.                         CUT TO:          INT. WALDORF HOTEL SUITE -- NERVE CENTER -- NIGHT          The staff and supporters in here have become very quiet.          Their candidate is standing in the middle of the room, but no          one can look at him. And David can't look at them either...                         DAVID                         (TO CHARLIE)          I'm going to take a walk, figure          out my speech.          INT. GRAND BALLROOM -- NIGHT          Four-hundred campaign workers follow election news on big          screens in the Waldorf's Grand Ballroom. No one says a word.          The mood has gone from.hopeful to funereal in sixty seconds.          INT. WALDORF LOBBY -- NIGHT          David slips through the lobby with only a few looks from the          staff. But when he.gets to the door he sees that press vans          line the front of the hotel. There will be no peace for him          if he steps out there. He turns around.                         ASSISTANT MANAGER          Good evening, Congressman. You're          in the Grand Ballroom if that's          what you're looking for.                         DAVID          Actually just looking for a place          to be alone for a minute before I          head in there.                         ASSISTANT MANAGER          None of the banquet rooms on the          third floor are in use tonight.                         DAVID          Thank you.          INT. EMPTY BANQUET ROOM -- NIGHT          David stands alone looking out at the empty room. Trying to          get used to it. It's not easy.                                                                                                              2/12/09 8.          INT. MEN'S ROOM -- NIGHT           David enters the huge, ornate, men's room and goes to the row          of sinks. He pulls two Ricola cherry lozenges from his          pocket. He twirls them in his hands for a moment.          Then tosses them into the trash can. He looks at himself in          the mirror, fighting to hold himself together.          A sound behind him. David spins to see a WOMAN exiting one          of the stalls. She's in a stunning ball gown and carrying an          expensive bottle of champagne.                         WOMAN          Hi. I hope I didn't startle you.                         DAVID          What are you doing in here?                         WOMAN          Hiding from security.                         DAVID          Oh... . What did you do?                         WOMAN          Crashed a wedding. One floor up.                         DAVID          It's almost midnight. They'just          caught on now?                         WOMAN          Ivana Trump finally realized I          wasn't her niece. I think after          the fifth; glass of champagne my          Czech accent started slipping.          spite of David's state that gets a grin.                         DAVID          Are you for real?                         WOMAN          Life is short.                         DAVID          Hard to argue with that.                         WOMAN          You're that guy running for Senate          aren't you?                         DAVID          I'm "that guy."                                                                                                              2/12/09 9.                         WOMAN          You winning?                         DAVID          No.                         WOMAN          Too bad. The other guy's a tool.                         DAVID                         (LAUGHS)          Maybe I should have made that          clearer in my ads.                         WOMAN          Personally, I think mooning your          friends at a college reunion is no          big deal.                         (BEAT)          And I don't think the Post should          have printed the photo.          David just shakes his head. He will never, ever live that          down and he knows it.                         WOMAN          At least not full page.          He can't help but crack up.                         WOMAN          Listen, I've done it.                         DAVID          You weren't running, for Senate at          the time.                         WOMAN          Do you still have a chance or is it          over?                         DAVID          He crushed me.          She has beautiful eyes. And an exceptional gift for          conveying empathy...                         WOMAN          You must ...I don't know what you          must be feeling...                         DAVID          Winning would feel better. But          losing has its advantages.                                                                                                              2/12/09 10.                         WOMAN          Like what?                         DAVID          The only time a politician is alone          is when he's asleep.. .or in the          bathroom. After eight years in          politics that gets kind of hard to          take.          She tilts her head a little, gives him a curious look.                         WOMAN          Watching you, you'd never know it.          The way she looks at him, the way she says it, David knows          she sees what others miss in him -- even if he isn't even          quite sure what it is. Not yet.                         DAVID          Thank you...                         WOMAN          Well, everything happens for a          reason, right? Even losing. God,          I'm really rollrng out the          platitudes tonight, aren't I?                         DAVID          It's the champagne. Brines out the          Hallmark in people.                         WOMAN          After it kills their Czech accents.          She offers:him the bottle. He hesitates, then takes it.                         DAVID          Why not? I have to think up some          good platitudes for my speech.          He takes a gulp of champagne.                         WOMAN          Why the hell would you do that?                         DAVID          Apparently, even if I hadn't been          caught dropping my drawers in the          middle of a senate campaign I would          have lost the election anyway          because I'm too blunt.                         WOMAN          (swig of champagne)          Says who?                                                                                                              2/12/09 11.                         DAVID          The TV pundits.                         WOMAN          Fuck 'em. They just wish they had          the balls to be candidates          themselves.          She hands him the champagne bottle again.                         WOMAN          And they work for the Man anyway.                         (BEAT)          You going to run again?                         DAVID                         (DRINKS)          Tonight's probably not the night to          ask.                         WOMAN                         (FINGER POINTING)          No, it is. Look at me. You have          to run again. Do-yo hear me?          She's serious about this. Intense.                         WOMAN          Otherwise the-country will be run          by tools. like Lynwood.                         DAVID          "Field."          (of f her look)          "Lynfield."          A beat. She shrugs.          Then they lean toward each other... and kiss. It turns more          and more passionate. When they finally pull apart:                         DAVID          Holy shit.          She seems just as surprised. They look at each other and          laugh.          Just then the bathroom door opens. It's Charlie. He sees          David and the woman.                         CHARLIE          David?                         WOMAN                         (SUDDENLY EMBARRASSED)          I better go.                                                                                                              2/12/09 12.          She exits.                         DAVID                         WAIT--          INT. 3RD FLOOR BALLROOM AREA          The woman comes out of the bathroom. David is right behind          her. Then Charlie.                         DAVID          Wait.          The woman turns to face David. Suddenly two hotel guards          turn the corner and spot the woman.                         HOTEL SECURITY          There!          They rush toward her.                         WOMAN          Gotta go.          (to David, emphatically.)          Don't let the bastards grind you          down.          She spins and sprints away. The hotel guards chase her.                         CHARLIE          What the hell was that?                         DAVID          I'm really not sure.          David has a huge grin on his face.                         DAVID          But I think I'm ready to give my          speech.          INT. GRAND BALLROOM -- NIGHT          David as he walks out from behind a curtain onto the dais.          His supporters start clapping... . but clearly they're          heartbroken. David looks completely peaceful.                         DAVID          I grew up in Red Hook and I don't          want to shock anybody but I got in          a few fist fights along the way.          Laughter ripples through the crowd. We don't know enough yet          to get the joke.                                                                                                              2/12/09 13.                         DAVID          And we used to have a saying when          you got in a fight: "it's not          whether or not you get knocked down          -- because eventually everyone does          -- it's what you do when you get          back up."                         (BEAT)          Don't worry, I'm not going to moon          you.          The audience explodes with laughter this time.                         DAVID          But I am...          (waiting for the laughter          to die down)          But I am going to get backup. I          wanted to come out here tonight and          give you a victory speech, a speech          I've dreamed of giving foremost of          my life. But life doesn't always          deal you the cards you want.          The audience sobered now. Reflective.                         DAVID          My life changed when I was ten          years old. My entire world turned          upside-down.'          His audience,. knows exactly what he's talking about.                         DAVID          And as I looked for something to          -hang ;on to, something; to help me          cope' with what had. happened the          only thing that made sense to me          was service. Finding a way to do          something with my life that left          this world a little better than I          found it.          The audience is moved. Tears begin to well up. People dab          at their eyes.                         CUT TO:          EXT. MADISON SQ. PARK -- PRE DAWN          The sky is just beginning to turn from black to deep blue.          The park is still and silent.          A black Mercedes pulls up on Madison Ave. Mr. Richardson,          again in a dark suit, gets out and enters the park.                                                                                                              2/12/09 14.          EXT. PARK BENCH -- PRE DAWN          Harry sits on one of the benches -- a fedora in his lap to          complement a gray flannel suit. Richardson arrives.                         RICHARDSON          He spills his coffee when he steps          out of Starbucks. The moment he          comes through the door.                         HARRY          Got it.                         RICHARDSON          Our models indicate between 7:00          and 7:05 am.          Harry nods but he seems distant Richardson sees this.                         RICHARD SON          You planned that vacation, right?                         HARRY          Two weeks.          Richardson claps him din-the shoulder and leaves. Harry          watches him go.          INT. BEDROOM -- MORNING          An alarm clock reads "5:44 airy." It turns to "5:45" and the          alarm goes off. A hand reaches over and taps the alarm off.          FOLLOW the arm back to David Norris in a king-sized bed. He          rubs his eyes, stretches his neck, and climbs out of bed.          INT. EQUINOX GYM. -- MORNING          David works out. He's got the-energy-level of a 25 year-old.          He runs on a treadmill. Hits the heavy bag. Does sit-ups.          INT. LIVING ROOM -- DAVID'S APARTMENT          EXAMINE David's spacious one-bedroom overlooking Madison          Square Park. His desk and dining room table is covered with          stacks of paper and files. A flat screen displays CNBC:          CNBC ANCHOR (V.0.)          RSR Capital announced yesterday          that David Norris would become its          Vice Chairman.                                                                                                              2/12/09 15.          INT. BATHROOM -- DAY          David shaves.          CNBC ANCHOR (V.0.)          Norris worked at Goldman Sachs for          four years before running for          Congress at the tender age of 25.          INT. LIVING ROOM -- DAVID'S APARTMENT          A desk is set up at one end of the living room. A new model          blackberry on the desk next to another cell phone.                         CNBC ANCHOR          He served four terms in the House--          The blackberry rings.                         CNBC ANCHOR          --prior to his unsuccessful bid for          Senate in last week's election.          David rushes over and ?icks=up the blackberry. He has to           look for a second to figure out how to hit "answer."                         CNBC ANCHOR          RSR, one ofthe country's fastest-          growing hedge funds is run by          NO ris's former Goldman colleague          and campaign chairman, Charles                         'RAYNOR--          The blackberry rings again. It's very loud.                         CNBC ANCHOR          . his . electrifying concession          speech led commentators to--          Finally David finds the answer button as he mutes the TV.                         DAVID          Hello?          CHARLIE (TEL. V.0)          Tom Frankel from the Journal is          calling you in five minutes. I          just gave him this number.                         DAVID          Give him 3227. I'm not used to          this phone yet.                                                                                                              2/12/09 16.                         CHARLIE          Can't. He's going to ask you about          joining the firm. My compliance          guys say all firm business has to          be done on the blackberry.                         DAVID          Really?                         CHARLIE          Sarbanes-Oxley. You voted for it,          pal. In fact, you cosponsored it.          EXT. STARBUCKS -- MORNING          Through the window we see David getting his morning coffee.          He exits and LEAVES FRAME. HOLD on the door of Starbucks.          EXT. MADISON SQUARE PARK -- MORNING          Harry is snoring on his bench. David walks past.          EXT. FIFTH AVENUE -- DAY          David arrives at Fifth just in time to catch the "M1 Limited-          Stop" bus arriving`at the stop.          EXT. MADISON SQUARE PARK -- MORNING          Sunlightpeeks:.through a gap in the buildings and falls on          Harry's left eye, waking him. He bolts upright. Checks his          watch, Shit! He looks around quickly. Spots David about to          get o n the bus. Harry leaps : up--                         INT MORNING          .As David pays, he notices Harry sprinting for the bus.                         DAVID          Sir, there's someone--                         BUS DRIVER           There's another M1 right behind me.          EXT. 23RD STREET -- MORNING          The bus pulls out. Harry keeps running after it.                                                                                                              2/12/09 17.                         HARRY          No...          INT. BUS -- MORNING          As David walks down the aisle a couple of passengers          recognize his face. . .but they don't say anything.          David nears an empty aisle seat. A woman is curled up in the          window seat, sleeping. She wears a funky mini-dress, knee-          high argyle socks under leather boots, and a (clashing)          argyle bucket cap.          David sits next to her. And stares.                         DAVID          No way...          It's the woman from election night.', He leans around to try          to see the front of her face. "It's definitely her. His          eyes drift down at her legs. Just then she opens her eyes.          She recoils for a second;. Then` her eyes soften when she          realizes who it is.                         DAVID                         (MOMENTARLY SELF-                         CONSCIOUS)          I think. we "ve met.                         WOMAN                         (DEADPAN)          You need a better line than that or          I'll have to assume you're a          pervert who likes to stare at          girls' legs while-, they sleep.                         DAVID          (smiles, game on)          Your skirt was so short I couldn't          help it.                         WOMAN          Dress.                         DAVID          Skirt, dress, same thing.                         WOMAN          If you're a pervert, yeah. All          that matters is they both show leg.                         DAVID          So do shorts, dear.                                                                                                              2/12/09 18.                         WOMAN          Yeah, but there's that pesky piece          of fabric right here that          interferes with your fantasy life.          She shuts her eyes and leans against the window.                         WOMAN          Wake me when you have a good come          back to that.                         DAVID          I have one but, unlike you, I          wouldn't say it in public.                         WOMAN          (eyes still closed)          Pussy.          David laughs. Can not believe this woman. In a good way.          His blackberry RINGS. Her eyes pop open. David.picks up.                         DAVID          Hello...? Hello?          David looks at his. phone. The signal has gone to zero.                         DAVID                         (TO WOMAN)          The line cut.                         WOMAN          That ringer get any-louder or do          you pretty much have it maxed out?                         DAVID          You're relentless.                         WOMAN          I never sleep through the night. I          catch up on the bus.                         (BEAT)          You going to run again?                         DAVID          I just started a new job, today.                         WOMAN                         (SERIOUS NOW)          I saw your concession speech. I          heard Bill Clinton called it the          best political speech he's seen in          20 years.          David looks back at her.                                                                                                              2/12/09 19.                         DAVID          Something got into me.          He means her. They stare at each other.                         DAVID          What's the deal with you and          argyles?                         WOMAN          What's the deal with you and boring          shades of blue?          David is wearing a Navy blue suit, blue shirt, and blue tie.          A beat.                         DAVID          At least my clothes match.                         WOMAN          That's easy if you. restrict          yourself to one color.                         DAVID          The belt and shoes are black.                         WOMAN          Variety is the spice of .life .                         DAVID          There you` go with the platitudes          again. I guess it wasn't the          ch mpagne .          His blackberry goes again. RING-RING.                         DAVID          Hello? Hello?          He shakes his head. It's dead again.          EXT. BROADWAY AND 19TH STREET -- MORNING           Harry runs down Broadway looking east on 19th to try to spot          the bus on Park.          INT. BUS --MORNING                          WOMAN          Your phone sucks. Don't guys like          you get special phones that          actually work in the middle of the          biggest city in the country?                                                                                                              2/12/09 20.                         DAVID          Depends what the telecom lobby          thinks of your voting record.          EXT. BROADWAY AND 19TH STREET -- MORNING          Harry spots the bus passing on Park. He jams his fedora on          his head and stretches his arm out--                         HARRY          Now.          INT. BUS -- MORNING          David's phone rings again. As he reaches for the phone he          fumbles his coffee cup, the lid comes off, and a slosh of          coffee crests the brim and splashes on the woman's dress.                         DAVID          Oh, Jesus...                         (FIGHTING LAUGHTER)          I'm sorry.          EXT. BROADWAY AND 19TH -- MORNING          Harry's face.                         HARRY          Shit!          He's looking at a leather portfolio. We catch a glimpse          inside: a complicated circuit diagram. Harry shuts the          book, look's up to get a bead on" the the bus, then takes off down          Broadway, again, hoping to cut it off at Union Square.          INT.'BUS -- MORNING                         DAVID          I'll pay for the damage.          He pulls out his wallet. There's $7 inside. She laughs.                         WOMAN          Hope your new job pays better than          your old one.                         DAVID          Give me your number and I'll send          you a check.                                                                                                              2/12/09 21.                         WOMAN          God, that is smooth. Spill coffee          on me then ask for my number.          She takes the coffee from his hands and casually takes a sip,          then turns back to him with a devilish look in her eyes.                         WOMAN          Just let me spill some on you and          we'll be even.          She thrusts the cup toward his tie. David parries.                         DAVID          It's my first day at the office!                         WOMAN          Tell your boss some crazy chick          dumped coffee on you on the MI.          It's New York; he'll understand.          She thrusts the cup back at him-                         DAVID          No!          He grabs the cup with both his hands over hers.                         WOMAN                         (ACTUALLY PLEADING)          Come on. Just a little.          They struggle with the cup. <,;:Both suppressing laughter.                         DAVID          You're crazy. Actually crazy.          The phone on David's lap'RINGS again. She snatches it with          her free hand.                         WOMAN                         (INTO PHONE)          He's not here!          She hangs up.                         DAVID          Who was that?          She shrugs. Sorry, pal. He lunges for his phone, but she          holds it on the other side of her body.                         DAVID          What is this, third grade?                                                                                                              2/12/09 22.                         WOMAN          You forgot what that was like,          didn't you? How fun it was...          That stops him for a moment. Until the phone RINGS again.                         WOMAN          Oh my God! How do you stand it?          She drops the phone into the coffee.                         WOMAN          There. We're even.          He stares at her. Incredulous. They lock eyes. God knows          what would come next if they were in private...          The fourth RING gurgles up through the coffee. A beat.                         WOMAN          Sturdy little fucker, isn't it?          She pulls the phone out of the cup and wipes it off with her          scarf, pushing the button which sends the call to voice mail.          Then she reaches out her hand, as if to shake.                         WOMAN          By the way, I'm Elise.          EXT. UNION SQUARE -- DAY          Elise exits.. the bus. David stands at the bus door watching          her. She turns back to look at him.                         DAVID          The morning after .I lost I woke up          thinking about you .          That melts her. Instantly. All her bravado drops.          INT. BUS -- MORNING          Moments later. Through the window, David watches Elise           walking down the sidewalk. Their eyes meet. She blows him           a little kiss before she turns the corner. His heart skips          a beat as the bus continues on down Union Square East.          EXT. UNION SQUARE -- MORNING          Harry runs through Union Square bee-lining for David's bus.                                                                                                              2/12/09 23.          INT. BUS -- MORNING          David looks at Elise's number, scribbled on a piece of paper.          He carefully tucks her number into his wallet. Then takes          the most satisfying sip of coffee he's ever had in his life--          EXT. UNION SQUARE -- MORNING          Spotting David through the bus window, Harry thrusts his          Fedora back onto his head and points at the bus--          INT. BUS -- MORNING          Just as David finishes his sip the-plastic lid pops off the          cup. A second earlier and the coffee would have poured all          over his shirt. Instead it spills: on the floor.          EXT. UNION SQUARE -- MORNING                         HARRY          Dammit!          Harry sprints out onto lark Avenue now, right behind the bus--          HONK! Harry turns just in time to see a.taxi skid into him.          TRUNK! He rolls up onto the hood--          INT. RSR CAPITAL -- CHARLIE'S OFFICE -- MORNING          A big corner office. The phone rings. Charlie picks up.          DAVID (TEL. V.O.)          Guess who I just sat down next to          on the bus?          INTERCUTTING WITH CHARLIE                         CHARLIE          Who?                         DAVID          The woman from election night.          EXT. PARK AVENUE SOUTH -- MORNING          A dazed Harry lies in the road... The taxi driver who hit          him jumps out of his car to see if Harry is okay...                                                                                                              2/12/09 24.          INT. BUS -- MORNING           CHARLIE (TEL. V.O.)          The one you kissed?                         DAVID          She kissed me. I just didn't          fight it.          EXT. PARK AVENUE SOUTH -- MORNING          Harry sits up... He's bruised but okay. He looks around for          something. Spots his crushed hat under the taxi's front          tire.          INT. BUS -- MORNING           CHARLIE (O.S.)          You're shitting me. Just randomly          you sit down next to--          He's cut off mid-word.                         DAVID          Charlie?          David looks at his phone. "Call Lost" on the screen. David          hits redial. Gets a fast busy.                         DAVID          ' (to himself).          This is ridiculous.          He pockets his phone.          EXT. PARK AVENUE SOUTH MORNING          The taxi driver is with Harry now.                         TAXI DRIVER          Are you okay?          Harry is sitting now, wincing, but still searching intently          for something.                         HARRY          I'm fine-- Will you hand me that?           Harry points at his leather portfolio on the pavement a few          feet away. We'll come to know it as a "PLANBOOK."                                                                                                               2/12/09 25.          TAXI DRIVER (CONT'D)          Are you sure you're okay?          The driver hands it to him. Harry flips to a bookmarked          page and we get our first good look at that circuit diagram:          Thousands of interconnected lines. Dozens of geometric          symbols at intersection points. And written notations in a          language as complex as Sanskrit crossed with Chinese.          And, maybe it's just a trick of the light but several of the          lines appear to re-arrange themselves on the page.                         HARRY          Oh...shit...          EXT. CITY STREET -- MORNING          David's still grinning as he reaches his downtown office          tower. He enters through the revolving door--          INT. DAVID'S OFFICE BUILDING'-- GROUND FLOOR LOBBY -- MORNING          Empty, except for a bored-looking security guard at the other          end of the lobby. David gets into an empty elevator.          INT. 41ST FLOOR LOBBY -- MORNING          David walks past the receptionist She's on the phone. He          waves as-he:passes by. No wade back. She must not see him.                         DAVID          Okay...          Daviddecides he doesn't need to announce himself.          INT. RSR CAPITAL OFFICES -- MORNING           David enters to find the office suite quiet... Not a soul          in sight. Not a single secretary is here.                         DAVID          (loud, playful)          Doesn't anybody bother getting in          before eight at this place?          David passes a couple of empty offices on his way towards a          large corner suite where a secretary sits outside an office          marked "Charles Traynor, Chairman." She's smiling.                                                                                                              2/12/09 26.                         DAVID (CONT'D)                         (EXUBERANT)          Susan! How are you today?          (when she doesn't move)          Susan?          David looks closer across her desk. Her face is frozen.                         DAVID (CONT'D)          Susan?          He leans across her desk, touches her arm. She stays dead          still. David rushes through Charlie's door:                         DAVID          Call 911! Something's wrong with          Susan!          INT. CHARLIE'S OFFICE -- MORNING          --and rushes in to find that Charlie is frozen too -- with          the phone up to his ear. Like he's in a wax museum.          He is surrounded by four men in bulky, metallic silver          protective suits .(think airport firefighter gear).          One of the men adjusts three metal. probes which are attached          to the left side.of Charlie's skull.                         DAVID          Jesus!          Three men in business suits talking by the window spin to see          David. it's Mr. Richardson and-two aides we recognize as the          "security guards" who chased Elise away on election night.          DAVID (,.CONT'D)          What the hell are you doing?!          Richardson blinks Clearly surprised. Then:                         RICHARDSON          Grab him!          David bolts out of the office as they lunge at him--          INT. RSR OFFICE FLOOR -- MORNING          David sprints toward the door he came in. It closes as he          gets there. He grabs it. It's locked.          He sprints away into an internal hallway. Richardson emerges          from a door in the middle of the hallway.                                                                                                              2/12/09 27.          David jumps a mile. It's physically impossible that          Richardson could have gotten there that fast.                         RICHARDSON          You can't get away, David.          David spins and rushes back into the main office, then down          an internal staircase to the floor below. Jumps the last          five steps and hits the floor hard.          As he comes up he runs smack into another RSR employee who is          frozen solid.          David curses, then dives around the frozen employee to find          Richardson, coming out of another office. down the hall.          Again, physically impossible for him to get there that fast--          David spins and-- A DISTORTED WIDE ANGLE SHOT of a          chloroform rag shoved right at us. FOCUS GOES IN AND OUT...          FROM DAVID'S POV, BLURRY FOCUS as he's carried toward one of          the large corner offices on the 40th floor.          The nameplate reads "Steve Kincaid."          Richardson opens the door and ushers his men, carrying David,                         INSIDE --           Except when they walk through the door they're not in an          office 40 floors above lower Manhattan,: they step inside a          large warehouse...          Their movement completely violates the laws of physics.                         BLACK SCREEN          Silence. Then voices come up slowly:          RICHARDSON (O.S.)          Yes, sir. No, sir. No, sir. I          understand that, sir. Absolutely.          I'll do that, sir.                         (BEAT)          What a goddamm mess.          MCCRADY (O.S.)          Was that Donaldson?          RICHARDSON (O.S.)          Yes.          MCCRADY (O.S.)          What do you want to do?                                                                                                              2/12/09 28.           FADE UP -- BLURRY AT FIRST -- to DAVID'S POV of the warehouse          David caught a glimpse of just before he passed out.          A half-dozen members of the "Intervention Team" (the Silver          Suits) stand nearby. Richardson and MCCRADY (one of the men          from the rooftops) stand behind David, about 20 feet away.          RICHARDSON (O.S.)          Can you reset him?          MCCRADY (O.S.)          I don't think we have the authority          in a situation like this.          RICHARDSON (O.S.)                         CALL LEGAL-          BURDENSKY (0.S.).          Legal just arrived.          INT. WAREHOUSE -- DAY          REVEAL BURDENSKY, a 50 year-old in a pin-stripe suit,          carrying a briefcase. He.walks to Richardson.                         BURDENSKY          Re-setting's off the table. This          is our fault:...          Richardson glances irately at Harry, who stands by himself          off to the side, clearly disgraced.          David, who is tied to a chair facing away from Richardson,          cranes around to see who's talking.                         DAVID          Hey.          The suits stare back in silence for a beat, then turn back to          talking amongst themselves -- though at a lower volume.                         RICHARDSON          What are my options?                         BURDENSKY                         (IGNORING DAVID)          You could bullshit him but you'll          never be completely successful.                         DAVID          Can somebody tell me what's going          on?                                                                                                              2/12/09 29.                         BURDENSKY          (still ignoring him)          The questions will burn in him till          the day he dies. You'll have to          monitor him constantly...                         ON DAVID          He can hear little snippets of what Burdensky's saying--          BURDENSKY (PARTIALLY AUDIBLE)          .to make sure he doesn't talk...          the endless ripple effects...          REVEAL David untying the rope restraining him.          ON THE SUITS                         BURDENSKY          If it were me, I'd level with him.                         RIC:HARDSON          Completely?                         BURDENSKY          That's the only way to extinguish          his curiosity.          Richardson turns and studies David. Then walks over to him.          An uncomfortable pause.                         DAVID          Who are you guys?                         RICHARDSON          We're the people v ho make sure          things happen according to Plan.          David stares back at him for a moment.          then leaps up. His rope comes off and the chair falls. He          sprints toward an open door forty feet across the warehouse.          Richardson makes a little gesture with his hand--          CLOSE-UP OF THE FLOOR          It cracks.. .and displaces upward.. .so it's uneven just as          David's foot comes down on it.                                                                                                              2/12/09 30.          BACK TO WIDE SHOT          David trips and goes flying--                         MOMENTS LATER          David is dragged back to the center of the room and placed          back in his chair in front of Richardson.                         RICHARDSON          Did you really think I couldn't see          that coming?          David dabs blood from his lip, which split during the fall.                         RICHARDSON (CONT'D)          I can read your mind!          David stares back.                         RICHARDSON (CONT'D)          Yeah, really...                         (BEAT)          Choose a color.          (barely a beat)          Blue. Choose a number.          (even less time)          Seventeen.          David's jaw drops slightly. Richardson was clearly right.                         RICHARDSON          Now,. why are you still deciding          whether or not to run?          David's hands go to his head`, involuntarily, an atavistic          response, as if;s.omehow that will keep his thoughts from          spilling out into view.                         RICHARDSON          You saw the futility of that back          at the office.          David's entire reality has finally been bent to the breaking          point. He can't hang on any longer to an explanation for all          this based in the world he's known to date...                         DAVID          What the hell is happening to me?                                                                                                              2/12/09 31.                         RICHARDSON          You just saw behind a curtain you          weren't even supposed to know was          there, Mr. Norris. Its jarring.          I'm sure.                         DAVID          I just... came to work...                         RICHARDSON          It wasn't your fault. Your Path          through the world this morning was          supposed to be adjusted.          (glancing bitterly at          Harry, in the corner)          Your coffee was supposed to.spill          onto your shirt as you left          Starbucks near your apartment.          You would have gone up to change          and arrived at work ten minutes          later than you did. By then we          would have left.                         (BEAT)          People call it "chance" when their          coffee spills or their internet          goes down or they misplace their          keys. Sometimes it is. Sometimes          it's:us...nudging you back on Plan.          David takes all this in. He's still shell-shocked.                         DAVID          Whatever you were doing to Charlie          back there... it wasn't misplacing          his keys.                         RICHARDSON          Sometimes. when nudging a person          back on Plan isn't enough we          intervene directly.                         DAVID          Why Charlie? What did you do to          him.                         RICHARDSON          You need to worry about getting          back on your Plan, David, not worry          about us putting him back on his.          David stares back, still trying to get his bearings.                         RICHARDSON (CONT'D)          Only a handful of human beings know          what you now know, David. We're          determined to keep it that way.                                                                                                               2/12/09 32.                         RICHARDSON (CONT'D)          So before I let you go, you need to          understand something: If you ever          reveal our existence we will erase          your brain. Your memories, your          emotions, your entire personality          will be expunged. Your friends and          family will think you've gone          crazy. You won't "think" anything          because a blank slate can't          "think."          Davidstares back.                         RICHARDSON          Do you understand what I just said?                         DAVID          Yes...                         RICHARDSON          Not a word. Not one word about us.          (long beat as he studies                         DAVID'S FACE)          okay ... . you're free to go.          David stands there a monent..:.not sure it's real. Richardson          points at the door. David walks toward it.          Just then another man comes up to Richardson.          NEW MAN IN SUIT          There's awoman.                         RICHARDSON                         (SIGHS)          There's always & Woman...          Richardson motions;to his men.          At.-THE DOOR          Two men come through from outside and block David's exit.                         DAVID          He said I could go.          CENTER OF ROOM          NEW MAN IN SUIT          You won't believe who she is.          He holds open a Planbook for Richardson to see.                                                                                                              2/12/09 33.                         RICHARDSON          How is that possible? Why didn't          we get an alert?          NEW MAN IN SUIT          He wasn't supposed to be on that          bus. He was supposed to be          changing his shirt in his          apartment... It was a controlled          situation. It was supposed to be.          The new man looks at Harry.          AT THE DOOR          David looks back at Richardson.                         DAVID          You said I could go.          Richardson walks over to him.          RIC,HARDSON          You ran into a woman named Elise on          the bus this morning?                         DAVID          (:going very still)          Why does it'matter?                         RICHARDSON          You weren't ever supposed to see          her again.                         DAVID          Why do you care.?                         RICHARDSON          Because, David, you can't be with          her. And we didn't want to have to          resort to this--          Four big guys grab David and pull his arms backwards like          prison guards incapacitating a prisoner. Richardson reaches          into David's pocket and pulls out his wallet--                         DAVID          What the hell-- What are you--          Richardson removes the piece of paper that Elise wrote her          number on from David's wallet--                         DAVID (CONT'D)                         NO--                                                                                                              2/12/09 34.          Richardson places the wallet back in David's pocket, then          pulls out a lighter--                         DAVID (CONT'D)          No!          And burns Elise's number. David strains and tries to pull          loose from the vice-like grip of the four Intervention Team          men. But he can't get free.                         DAVID (CONT'D)          What is wrong with you people?!          Richardson drops the paper on the floor and lets it burn.          ON David's reaction CUT TO:          EXT. WAREHOUSE -- DAY          David exits through a steel door., it clangs shut behind him.          He stands there unable to proceed for a long beat then starts          walking to the corner to orient himself.          Down one street he spots the Manhattan Bridge, down the other          the Brooklyn Bridge. He's in DUMBO.          INT. BROOKLYN COCKTAIL LOUNGE -- AFTERNOON          David sits alone at the bar. His hand trembles slightly.                         BARTENDER          You're David Norris, right?                         DAVID          Ice water.                         BARTENDER          That's it?          David nods. Harry arrives.                         HARRY          We should talk. But not here. Go          back to work and I'll contact you          later today with a place to meet.                                                                                                              2/12/09 35.                         DAVID          Okay.          Harry can see that David is still very shaken.                         HARRY          The world's exactly the same as          it's always been. You just          understand it more completely now.                         (BEAT)          Hang on to what mattered before you          knew any of this and you'll be          fine.          EXT. BROOKLYN BRIDGE -- DAY          A thousand-yard stare on his face, David walks toward          downtown Manhattan amid dozens of--pedestrian commuters.          INT. RSR OFFICES -- DAY          David enters. Stares at,,hisnew colleagues going about their          business as if nothing happened.          INT. 40TH FLOOR --:DAY          David stands in ftontof the corner office labeled "Steve          Kincaid." He hesitates, then opens it. He sees an empty          office with a killer view of New-,York Harbor. It's strangely          disorienting for him.          SECRETARY(O.S.)          Mr. IKincaid's in the finance          meeting, Congressitan. Main          conference room.          David turns to see her.                         DAVID          Thanks.          David walks away, still trying to get his bearings in the new          reality he now knows. Charlie comes around a corner.                         CHARLIE          There you are. I called your cell          ten times. You left me hanging.                         DAVID          Sorry...                                                                                                              2/12/09 36.                         CHARLIE          (seeing the look in                         DAVID'S EYES)          Are you okay?          (off David's nod)          Come on, we're late. Happy first          day by the way.          They head towards the conference room.                         CHARLIE          You sure you're okay.                         DAVID          Fine. How about you?                         CHARLIE          Great. Why?                         DAVID          No headaches or--                         CHARLIE          I feel fantastic, -man. Is it just,          me or is this an odd conversation?          (off David" s non-response.)          What the hell happened with the          girl?                         DAVID          After the meeting.          INT. CONFERENCE ROOM RSR CAPITAL DAY          LONG SHOT from outside the building. The firm's partners sit          at their weekly investment committee meeting. David watches          Charlie intently, looking for what's changed...          INT RSR CAPITAL OFFICES -- DAY          David and Charlie walk back to David's office.                         CHARLIE (CONT'D)          Please explain to me why you don't          have an ear-to-ear smile right now.                         THEY ENTER--          INT. DAVID'S OFFICE -- DAY          David hesitates. It's like his friend is an alien.. .but then          again he's totally normal.                                                                                                              2/12/09 37.                         DAVID          I lost her number.                         CHARLIE          You lost her number?                         DAVID          (searching for something)          I was pickpocketed.                         CHARLIE          Come on. You can't be serious.          (off David's look)          You're serious... Oh, man...dude.          I'm sorry... I'm really sorry...           EXT. PIER -- ADJACENT TO WEST SIDE HIGHWAY -- DAY           David sits on a bench looking at the water. The wind picks           up and he puts his hands in his,coatpockets to keep them           warm. His right hand feels something. He pulls out a          ticket for the 4 pm Circle..Line tourist boat cruise.          EXT. CIRCLE LINE CRUtgE -- DAY          The boat pulls away front=the dock. It's misting rain so          there's only asmattering of tourists on-board. David stands          looking back at Manhattan. Harry is next to him.                         HARRY          A lot of people just collapse when          they see what you've s'een. Their          personal choices suddenly seem          meaningless to them. Life starts          to feel pointless.                         DAVID          I was` raised to believe there's          something behind the curtain. I          just never pictured it quite like          this.                         HARRY          Most people don't.          Harry looks over his shoulder, scans for any signs of his          colleagues. He's far from relaxed.                         HARRY          How are you feeling?                         DAVID          You should know. You can read my          mind, right?                                                                                                              2/12/09 38.          Harry hesitates...as if he's not sure how much to tell David,          how far to go with this. Finally:                         HARRY          Richardson was just trying to scare          you.                         DAVID          He knew what color I was thinking.                         HARRY          Because he set it up as a choice.          "Choose a color. Choose a number"                         DAVID          So?          Harry looks away. He's crossing a line. He's really putting          himself out there:                         HARRY          We can't read your mind or hear          your thoughts. But before you make          a choice your brain weighs options,          and we percpite that. We know if          you're going to go off Plan "or not          because, as long as we're close          enough, we cansense it when it's          about to happen.                         DAVID          it-;' s like a sixth sense for you?                         HARRY          Seventh, actually.                         DAVID          What did they do too Charlie?                         HARRY          Made some small change in the way          he assesses risk.                         DAVID          What type of risk?                         HARRY          (this is beside the point)          I don't know. Something arcane.          Something to do with mortgage-          backed securities.                         DAVID          That's all?                                                                                                                             2/12/09 39                         HARRY          Yes.                         DAVID          What would your colleagues do to          you if they knew what you were          telling me?          This is precisely what Harry has been worried about.                         HARRY          That's why we're meeting out here.                         DAVID          They're not following me?                         HARRY          We don't have the manpower to          follow everybody all the time.          They're checking in on you. Just          not here. Not right now.          ON David's face considering this.          EXT. UPPER DECK DAY          Moments later. They stand out of earshot of the few          tourists up here.                         DAVID          Why are you helping me?                         HARRY          I have my reasons.          David studies him. Ha=rry's' clearly not ready to go into                         THEM:                         DAVID          Why do they care if I'm with Elise?                         HARRY          Your entire reality gets shattered          this morning and you want to know          about a woman?                         DAVID          Why do they care?          Harry looks back at him. Taken aback a bit by how much David          seems to care.                         HARRY          I don't know.                                                                                                              2/12/09 40.                         DAVID          You have no idea?                         HARRY          All I know is, given the amount of          resources they've used, keeping you          from her is pretty important to          them.          (off David's silence)          You're going to look for her aren't          you?          Again, David is silent.                          HARRY (CONT'D)          There are twelve million people in          this city. On a slow day. You're          not going to find her, you do          realize that, don't yore-?                         (BEAT)          Even if a hypnotist pulled her          number out of the recesses of your          brain, no matter how many times you          called it, you,'d never get          through...                         DAVID          (his face hardening)          They send you here to tell me that?                         HARRY (CONT'D)          You want my advice? Forget about          her. Accept that you'`>ll never see          her again. Move on with your life.          ON David as Harry's words sink in.                         FADE TO:          EXT. MADISON SQUARE PARK -- MORNING          Huge shafts of morning sunlight cut across the park outside          David's apartment. The trees are blooming. It's Spring now.          INT. BEDROOM -- MORNING          An alarm clock reads 6:29 am. David lies alone in bed. He's           already awake, staring at the ceiling...           After a long beat the alarm clock rings. David shuts it          off. But then just lies there...                                                                                                              2/12/09 41.           INT. DAVID'S APARTMENT -- MORNING           It's the same apartment -- except it's bigger now. Instead           of two large windows on the park, his apartment is now six          windows across. (He has bought the two one-bedrooms next to           his and knocked the walls down). Three years have passed.           No files on the table, like there were the last time we were          here. David is on the phone in a new park-view study.           CHARLIE (PHONE V.O.)          How are you feeling about the          speech?          David has not noticeably aged and yet he's more tempered and          subdued than when we last saw him. We `hear it in his voice:                         DAVID          I'm ready... I changed a few          things last night.          CHARLIE (PHONE V.O.)          Tell me at breakfast.          THROUGH THE WINDOW AT DAVID          David finishes his call, then looks out the window. There is          a detachment in h-s eyes that didn't exist before. After a          moment, he gets his=coat and heads for the door.          EXT. MADISON SQUARE PARK -- MORNING          David exits Starbucks with a coffee. He walks across the          park toward the same Fifth Avenue bus stop he did three years          ado.` Even his posture and,-gait are different.          INT. BUS -- MORNING          David enters the Ml bus. He feeds his Metrocard into the          reader as he looks down the aisle scanning the riders.. .more          out of habit than actual hope. He walks back to take a seat.          INT. BUS -- MINUTES LATER -- MORNING          David stares idly out the window. His Blackberry buzzes with          a text message. Looks down at it. Then looks back out the          window. Suddenly his eyes snap into focus.          DAVID'S POV: The bus passes a woman walking on the sidewalk.                                                                                                              2/12/09 42.          David's head whips around, only able to see her from the back          now. She walks like Elise. She's dressed in the same          eclectic style. He slams the red "next stop" strip, jumps          to his feet, and runs to the front of the bus.                         DAVID          Stop the bus.                         DRIVER          The next stop--                         DAVID          Now.          EXT. EAST VILLAGE -- MORNING          The bus stops. David jumps out on Broadway. FOLLOW him as          he takes off across the street and runs down 12th. He          catches up to her at University Place.                         DAVID          Elise!          The woman turns around.          And it's her...                         ELISE          David?                         DAVID          Hi.                         ELISE          Wow... How areyou.          Reeling from the adrenaline; David takes a moment, then:                         DAVID          (from the heart)          I rode the Ml to work every day for          the last three years hoping one day          I'd run into you again.          She's amused, rather than moved, because she doesn't buy it.                         ELISE          Calling would have been easier.                         DAVID          I couldn't.                         ELISE          Girlfriend wouldn't let you?                                                                                                              2/12/09 43.                         DAVID          No girlfriend.          She looks at him with continued skepticism. But his          expression is dead serious.                         DAVID (CONT'D)          Can we go somewhere and talk?          She hesitates. It hurt when he didn't call. She's angry at          herself for that, but it's the truth.                         ELISE          (re: his suit)          Don't you have to get to work?                         DAVID          I just got sick.                         ELISE          "I haven't seen you in three years -          - You make me sick" is not an          ideal come-on. For the record.          David smiles. She's softening. A little. His phone          vibrates. He pulls it out of his pocket.                         DAVID          One second.                         (PICKING UP)          CharlieT can't make breakfast.          CHARLIE (PHONE V.O.)          Why not?                         DAVID          And...I might have to push the          speech.          CHARLIE (PHONE V.O.)          What? Are you crazy?!                         DAVID          I just ran into Elise.          He hangs up.                         ELISE          You just hung up on your best          friend.                         DAVID          We've known each other since we          were kids. We have a shorthand.                                                                                                              2/12/09 44.          He's not being flip or clever or smooth. He's being matter-          of-fact. Serious.                         ELISE          What speech?                         DAVID          Doesn't matter. Let's take a walk.          His focus on her is absolute. But she's wary of getting          reeled in again.                         ELISE          Where?                         DAVID          Somewhere far. We have a lot to          talk about.                         ELISE          I don't think you should cancel          your speech. What if I don't like          you at the end of our walk?                         DAVID          I'll take my chances.                         ELISE          Seri6us1y, my number hasn't          changed:. Just call me like you          didn't last time.                         DAVID          My-speech will always be there, you          might not be.                         ELISE                         (AMUSED/INDIGNANT)          I was there, David. You didn't          callrie!                         DAVID          Walk with me and I'll explain that.          She's still dubious. His phone vibrates. This time he turns          it off .                         DAVID (CONT'D)          (a statement of fact)          I'm not losing you again. I'm not          letting you out of my sight.                         ELISE          Stalker.                                                                                                              2/12/09 45.                         DAVID          Can we walk?          The moment she finally relents, CUT TO:                         FOLLOWING SHOT          Polished black shoes running down a corridor on an impossibly          shiny black floor with inlaid decorative silver borders.          INT. ELEGANT OFFICE -- DAY           Mr. Richardson sits at a large desk. The design is Art Deco          crossed with Albert Speer. Downtown Manhattan is visible out          the 30th floor window. Richardson's aide enters.                         MCCRADY          We have a problem.          EXT. GRAMERCY -- DAY          David and Elise walk north.                         ELISE          It's been years, David. How do          you know I don't have a boyfriend?          Oh, shit. He hasn't even had time to think about that.                         DAVID          you have a boyfriend?                         EL ;E          Would it-Matter?                         DAVID                         (TRAPPED)          Uh...yeah...                         ELISE          So all the stuff about me being in          your mind constantly for the last          three years was just talk... The          truth is you don't have any real          conviction.                         DAVID          It wouldn't matter.                         ELISE          So you don't care about being a          home-wrecker?                                                                                                              2/12/09 46.                         DAVID          Okay... if you were married it would          matter.                         ELISE          Now you're just trying to say what          you think I want to hear.          A beat. She lets David twist in the wind...                         ELISE          I'm single.          ON David's face: relief...                         ELISE          Now let's hear your bullshit excuse          for never calling me.                         DAVID          I didn't have your number.                         ELISE          What?                         DAVID          It was taken from me. I was          mugged.                         ELISE          Oh, come on.                         DAVID          Your number was in my Wallet and          they ,:took it.                         ELISE          Come on..                         DAVID          I'm serious. What else could          possibly-explain my fawning all          over you on that bus three years          ago...and again today and not          calling you in between?                         ELISE                         (DUH)          Um, you had a girlfriend and you          felt guilty. I have a thing about          being lied to, David.                         DAVID          I swear to God I didn't have your          number. I swear on my parents'          graves.                                                                                                               2/12/09 47.                         DAVID (CONT'D)          I didn't even have a last name to          try to track you down. Do you know          how many pages come back when you          type "Elise" into Google?                         (BEAT)          And none of them were you.                         ELISE          (after a beat)          You really are smooth.                         DAVID          That's not fair.                         ELISE          It's okay. I like it. I probably          shouldn't, but I do.                         (BEAT)          It's Sellas. Elise Sellas.          INT. RICHARDSON'S OFFICE -- DOWNTOWN -- DAY          McCrady holds open his Planbook to show Richardson an ever          shifting diagram.                         RICHARDSON          Tell me you're kidding. How could          our Path-analysis miss this?          McCrady just shakes his head, mystified... Richardson walks          to the closet and pulls out his fedora:.                         RICHARDSON          'rlhek,e are they now?`                         MCCRADY          Central Park. Bethesda Fountain.          INT. CENTRAL PARK -- DAY          David and Elise walk past Bethesda Fountain.                         ELISE          I read somewhere you're running          again.                         DAVID          I haven't announced yet but... soon.                         ELISE          I hope I had a little something to          do with that.                                                                                                              2/12/09 48.                         DAVID          That concession speech I gave sure          did. You had everything to do with          that.          Elise smiles.                         DAVID          You know entirely too much about me          given how little I know about you.                         ELISE          According to Cosmo I'm supposed to          keep it that way.                         DAVID          According to Maxim, I'm supposed to          "maintain eye contact and ask you          what you do for a living."          It's the first witty comment h6' :s made this time around.          He's just barely starting t6°'loo§`en up.                         ELISE                         (LAUGHS)          I'm a dancer.                         DAVID          Oh..                         ELISE          Not like that, you pervert. In a          dance company. The. Manhattan          Modern Ballet.                         DAVID          I think you have the wrong idea          about me.                         ELISE          I think it was the first thing that          crossed your mind.                         DAVID          Is there a performance of this          company coming up that I could          watch?                         ELISE          Actually, we have a show opening          tomorrow night.                         DAVID          I'm there. You hungry yet?                                                                                                              2/12/09 49.          He points at the Boathouse restaurant a few hundred feet down          the path they're on.                         ELISE          Yeah...                         (BEAT)          But I'm not putting out just          because you're buying me brunch.                         DAVID          We could wait an hour and call it          lunch.                         ELISE          I bet lines like that work wonders          with the "dancers" you normally          hang out with.                         DAVID          So unfair...          EXT. BOATHOUSE PATIO -- DAY          Richardson and McCrady Step out of a small outdoor bar          structure. They, SpotDavid and Elise walking in the side          door of the restaurant.',.,          Somehow Richardson and' McCrady have travelled from downtown          Manhattan to the middle of Central Park in the time it took          David and Elise to' walk 100 feet...          INT. BOATHOUSE RESTAURANT-- DAY          David and Elise are at atable next to the lake.                         WAITER          Good morning. It's good to see you          again,.sir.                         DAVID          Thank you. You're...          (pulling it from the          recesses of his brain)          Paul, right? De...Santo?                         WAITER          Wow, yeah. How did you remember          that? It's been a year.                                                                                                              2/12/09 50.          EXT. BOATHOUSE PATIO -- DAY          Richardson surreptitiously watches David and Elise while          McCrady consults his Planbook. A RICHARDSON AIDE steps out          of the same door Richardson and McCrady came through.                         RICHARDSON AIDE          Morris is on the artistic director.          Melton is on Charlie Traynor.                         RICHARDSON          This whole thing will be over in an          hour.                         MCCRADY          (disturbed by something he          sees in his Planbook)          We may not have that long.                         RICHARDSON          What?          INT. BOATHOUSE RESTAURANT -- DAY          Thewaiter leaves David and Elise.                         ELISE          How do you do that? I can't          remember the names of people I just          met.                         DAVID          (points at himself)          David.                         ELISE          Right.. Thanks_.'          EXT. BOATHOUSE PATIO -- DAY                         MCCRADY          Her decision tree is diverging from          our models.                         RICHARDSON                         (CONFIDENT)          36 hours without contact and she'll          never speak to him again. I've          studied her file. Her deepest fear          in life is--                                                                                                              2/12/09 51.                         MCCRADY          No, something is wrong. I'm          already seeing inflection points.          Off Richardson's surprised look--          INT. MAIN DINING ROOM -- DAY          Davidand Elise eat brunch.                         ELISE          Ballet is basically impossible to          do correctly.                         DAVID          Why?                         ELISE          You just do absurd things. with your          body. The movement is completely          unnatural. It requires incredible          strength in all sorts of random          muscles. And you have to be born          with ridiculous amounts of          flexibility in your hip or you'll          never be an y good.          EXT. BOATHOUSE PATIO -- DAY          McCrady examines his Planbook diagram. With each new update          of the diagram red "inflection points" move across the pages          toward a heavy black "present time" line on the right side of          the right :page          Richardson points at the red point closest to the present          tithe ` hrie .                         RICHARDSON          What's that?                         MCCRADY          If they kiss...                         RICHARDSON                         (DISBELIEVING)          A kiss, that's all it takes?                         MCCRADY          A real kiss. But once they do that          every possible adjustment that's          strong enough to break them up will          cause ripples over your limit.                                                                                                              2/12/09 52.                         RICHARDSON          If Melton and Morris do their jobs          right we'll be okay.          But Richardson is clearly worried.          INT. MAIN DINING ROOM -- DAY          David and Elise.                         ELISE          In the history of ballet there've          only been a handful of people who          actually did ballet the way it's          supposed to be done. Forme that          just made it completely addictive.                         DAVID          Do you ever get nervous when people          watch you?                         ELISE          Not really. Do you get anxious          when you make 'a speech?                         DAVID          I get more anxious alone in my          apartment than in front of an          auditorium full of people.          Everything's backwards for me.          VOICE (OS.          I hate to interrupt.          They turn to see Charlie'''aynor.          I tXT. BOATHOUSE PATIO DAY          Richardson turns to a colleague, Melton, who steps through          the "bar house" door.                         RICHARDSON          (re: Charlie's arrival)          Nice work.          INT. BOATHOUSE RESTAURANT -- DAY                         DAVID          How did you find me?                         CHARLIE          Does it matter?                         (TO ELISE)                                                                                                               2/12/09 53.                         CHARLIE (CONT'D)          Elise, pleasure to see you again.                         (TO DAVID)          There's a crowd of people standing          around downtown waiting for you.                         ELISE          Your speech?                         CHARLIE          He's announcing today.                         ELISE          At the speech?                         DAVID          It's okay.                         CHARLIE          What's okay? It's not okay. The          one thing you can't be this. time          around is impulsive. That's why          we're announcing the way we are,                         THAT'S WHY--                         ELISE          God, don't skip this for me.                         DAVID          I told you I'm not letting you out          of my sight.                         CHARLIE          David, what the hell?                         DAVID          (to Elise, realizing a way          out of his dilemma)          Come with me. Come and watch.                         ELISE                         (SMILING)          Okay.          Her phone buzzes with a text message.                         CHARLIE          (to both of them)          Great. Perfect solution. Now,          let's pay and get you over there.          Charlie waves the waiter over to give them the check.                         ELISE          Now?                         CHARLIE          The speech is in 30 minutes.                                                                                                              2/12/09 54.                         ELISE          I can't then.          (indicating text message)          They just moved my dress rehearsal          to noon.          David's own sixth sense kicks in. Has he been discovered?                         DAVID          We can reschedule the speech.                         ELISE          David!                         CHARLIE                         (TO ELISE)          Thank you.          David looks around for anything out of the ordinary, any sign          of Richardson or his men. But. they stay out of view. He          thinks they're not on to him yet.                         ELISE          I'll meet you right after the          rehearsal.                         DAVID          Where does your company perform?                         ELISE          We're n in our space. There was          a`;•power ot outage or something.           (checking the text)          We're using a space" on Murray and          West Broadway today.                         CHARLIE                         (REALIZING)          That's four blocks from where          you're speaking.          David reacts: Richardson can't be behind that.                         CHARLIE          You can literally walk there after          the speech.          David nods, his suspicions fading.                         CHARLIE                         (CHECKING WATCH)          But we've got to leave right now.                                                                                                              2/12/09 55.          EXT. BOATHOUSE PATIO -- DAY          Richardson and his team watch as David, convinced now he's          still undiscovered, stands up and heads to the door with          Charlie and Elise.                         MCCRADY          The "four blocks" thing was a          brilliant move, boss.                         RICHARDSON          (putting his hat on)          We're not out of the woods yet.          He looks down at the inflection points in McCrady's Planbook.          INT. BAR AREA -- DAY          David and Charlie and Elise walk:toward the side. entrance.                         ELISE                         (POINTING WEST:)          I've got to go that way...to stop          by my apartment and change.                         DAVID          Okay.          David and Elise stop to say goodbye to-each other.                         ELISE          You know, the speech on election          night, you said I inspired you...          I wish I could do that again now.          EST.BOATHOUSE PATIO DAY           Richardson makes a small hand motion in Charlie's direction.          INT. BAR AREA -- DAY          Charlie's iphone buzzes. It's an alarm reminder. A text          appears: "15 minute sound check." He's a few feet from--          DAVID AND ELISE          David leans toward Elise--                                                                                                              2/12/09 56.                         CHARLIE                         (INTERRUPTING)          David, the speech starts in 15          minutes. We have a 25 minute          drive.          EXT. BOATHOUSE PATIO -- DAY          Richardson makes a gesture at the TV by the bar. The picture          changes (though we can't see to what).          He then moves a water glass on'their table. The sun hits the          glass and reflects into the bar area where--          INT. BAR AREA -- DAY          --the reflection catches the eye of a 40 year-old woman          having a coffee at the bar with, her 65 year-old mother.          Turning so the sun is out of,=hereyes causes the daughter to          notice the TV: an image of David's famous concession speech          from three years ago. A screen graphic reads "Announcing          Today?"          As the daughter turns back to look at her mother, she notices          David, over her mom's shoulder...          DAVID AND ELISE          David squeezes her hand... and leans in again--                         DAVID          just want to          VOICE. (0. S . )          I hope the rumors are true,          Congressman.          David pulls back fr`bm Elise, suddenly self-conscious, turns          to see the 40-year old woman Richardson just manipulated.          She points at the TV report on David's announcement.                         40 YEAR-OLD WOMAN          You have my vote.                         65 YEAR-OLD WOMAN          Mine too... and I usually disagree          with her.                         DAVID          Thanks. Thanks a lot.          David turns back to Elise.                                                                                                              2/12/09 57.                         ELISE                         (NEEDLING)          Well, you're really just a hit with          women of all ages, aren't you?          CHARLIE -- A FEW FEET AWAY          On the phone.                         CHARLIE          I'm wrangling him right now--          DAVID AND ELISE                         DAVID          Whatever happens...I'm not going to          let anything stand between us this          time.          It's such an odd thing to say, if you don't know what David          has gone through. She gives him a quizzical look. But          she's also moved by his,tone                         ELISE          Okay.:.. I believe you. Of course          I tend to believe in the wrong          people. Especially men.          It's the kind of quip that's more truth than jest.                         DAVID          Not this time.          He leans in to kiss her--          EXT. BOATHOUSE PATIO -- DAY          A horrified look from Richardson--          INT. BAR AREA -- DAY          David kisses Elise on the cheek. But he lingers...          Then pulls. away without going further...                         DAVID          I'll see you in two hours.                                                                                                              2/12/09 58.          EXT. BOATHOUSE PATIO -- DAY          Richardson and his colleagues all breathe a large sigh of          relief.. .as they watch David leave.                         MCCRADY          We're okay...                         RICHARDSON          That was way too close. What the          hell is going on with this case?          INT. TOWN CAR -- DAY          David and Charlie ride in the back. Charlie looks at David.                         DAVID          What?                         CHARLIE          I've just never seen you like that.          David can't possibly explain.                         CHARLIE          "I'm going to-postpone my          announcement to have brunch with a          woman?" Postpone any speech. I          know she made an impression on you          but this is ...          Charlie just shakes his head, unable to comprehend. A beat.                         CHARLIE          "What is it about her?                         DAVID                         (BEAT)          I don't know...          EXT. RSR FINANCIAL BUILDING -- DAY          David pulls up outside. Hundreds of his supporters and the          press are waiting for him. He gets out of the car to cheers.          INT. BUILDING ACROSS THE STREET FROM RSR FINANCIAL -- DAY          Richardson stands with McCrady on the upper level of a two-          story lobby looking out at David arriving for his speech.                                                                                                              2/12/09 59.          INT. ELISE'S APARTMENT -- DAY          Elise changes into her dance gear. Big smile on her face.          She spots something on her bookshelf (we can't see what) and          her smile fades. She takes it and puts it in a drawer.          Her phone vibrates. She has a text message: "Power back on          at MMB. Rehearsal at noon."          INT. BUILDING ACROSS THE STREET FROM RSR FINANCIAL -- DAY          McCrady hangs up a silver cell phone and nods at Richardson:          "it's done." Just then Richardson's phone buzzes. The          caller ID says: "Mr. Donaldson."                         RICHARDSON          Richardson. Yes, sir. Believe me,          it was a surprise to me too. But          I think we have it under control.          INT. DANCE STUDIO -- DAY          Elise and her friend, LAUREN, 20s, stretch between routines.          An unexpected smile spreads across Elise's face.                         LAUREN          Oh, you're clone. You're gone...          MINUTES LATER -- DAY          A half-dozen news organizations, film the speech.                         DAVID          .I'm here today to honor that,          and to announce my intention to run          for the United States Senate...          INT. DANCE STUDIO -- DAY                         LAUREN          Just tell me if he disappears one          more time you'll never take his          call again.                         ELISE          Don't worry. That's definite.                                                                                                              2/12/09 60.          EXT. RSR FINANCIAL BUILDING -- DAY          The audience applauds energetically. David nods "thank you"          and steps away from the lectern they set up. He shakes two          or three people's hands but then heads inside the building.          INT. LOBBY OF RSR FINANCIAL -- DAY          David huddles inside with Charlie. Reporters outside are in          front of their cameras filing their stories amidst the          lingering crowd.                         CHARLIE          Good Morning America at 7am          tomorrow, then you have the bankers          group... David, are you listening?          David's staring out the window. The sunlight has caught the          building across the street just right to illuminate          Richardson and McCrady on the second floor.          INT. BUILDING ACROSS THE STREET -- DAY           RICHARDSON (INTO PHONE)          I ' 11-keep you = posted, sir.           Richardson hangs up the phone and turns .t look out at David.          As he does he real zes David can see him.                         RICHARDSON          D` emit !          Richardson-steps back out of the sunlight.          MCC- .DY          What?                         RICHARDSON          Get out of the sunlight.          McCrady, notices David looking, jumps back out of the light.                         RICHARDSON                         (FUMING)          I cannot get a break on this case.          INT. LOBBY OF RSR FINANCIAL -- DAY          Charlie is trying to understand what David's staring at.                                                                                                              2/12/09 61.                         DAVID          I have to see Elise now.                         CHARLIE          After you go back out there and          talk to the New York channels--                         DAVID          Tomorrow. After GMA.          He heads for the door. Charlie follows.                         CHARLIE          No, we need this on the nightly--          (catching up to David and                         STOPPING HIM)          David...          Charlie looks at him for a moment, searching for the right          words to say to a friend...                         CHARLIE          Every time we get close.. .you do          something to derail it.          A beat. There's a truth to that. David knows it. But--                         DAVID          This is different. Trust me, it's          different.          David leaves.          EXT.. WESTBROADWAY AND MURRAY ST -- DAY          David looks at thepiece of..paper. An.address on West          Broadway for "Nyman Studios " He's standing at the locked          front door. No one inside. Richardson is on to him.          The surprise on his face turns to anger.. .then resolve.          He dials Elise's number on his cell. Gets voicemail.                         DAVID          Elise ...I doubt you'll ever get          this message but--                         JUMP CUT          David dials 411.                         DAVID          Can I have the number for the          Manhattan Modern Ballet...                                                                                                              2/12/09 62.          He looks down to see his phone has zero bars...          INT. FURNITURE STORE -- DAY          David goes to the saleswoman.          EXT. FURNITURE STORE -- DAY          Through the window we see he saleswoman dial a number ... then          look at the phone and shrug. It's dead. She and David go          to her computer. She looks at it, puzzled. It's dead too.          PULL BACK to REVEAL Richardson and McCrady.                         MCCRADY          He's going to go next door:.          Just then David exits the furniture store and goes next door          to a clothing store--                         MCCRADY          You can't keep.-thephones and          internet down on the whole block,          for too much. longer without running          into ripple problems...          INT. REAL ESTATE OFFICE -- DAY          David enters :.and goes to an agent.          INT. REALTOR'S DESK -- DAY.          Thagent Googles "Manhattan:Modern Ballet." Nothing shows          RtAL ESTATE AGENT          Could itbe called something else?                         DAVID          Do you have a phone book?                         JUMP CUT          David gets to the phone book page that ends with "Manhattan          Mobile Phone Company." The next page is torn out. David          slams his fist down.                                                                                                              2/12/09 63.          EXT. REAL ESTATE OFFICE -- DAY          David exits the office to find Richardson on the sidewalk.          With McCrady nearby.                         RICHARDSON          There is an entire world of women          out there. I thought I made it          clear this one was off limits.          David takes off walking.                         DAVID          I must have forgotten. It's been a          while.                         RICHARDSON          Doesn't change the fact.          David looks around, trying to figure out his next move.                         DAVID          Why are you so.determined to keep          us apart?                         RICHARDSON          You know: why.                         DAVID          The Plan? If there is a Pi ri you          misread it.                         RICHARDSON          There's no misreading what the Plan          says about you and Elise. It's          unequivocal.                         DAVID          Then your Plan's wrong.                         RICHARDSON          Do you realize who wrote this Plan?                         DAVID          I don't care.          Richardson grabs him and pushes him against a brick wall.                         RICHARDSON          Well you should. You need to learn          a little more respect.          David shoves him off. Looks like he might take a swing at          Richardson. Then his eye catches the complex diagram that          McCrady is looking at in his Planbook.                                                                                                              2/12/09 64.                         DAVID          Why are you keeping us apart?                         RICHARDSON          Because the Plan calls for it.                         BECAUSE--                         DAVID                         (FLARING)          You put us together three times--                         RICHARDSON          That was chance. That wasn't us.                         DAVID          Three times? Bullshit! If I'm not          supposed to be with her then why do          I feel like this?                         RICHARDSON          It doesn't matter what you feel.          It matters what's in black and          white.          David's ready to explode: at him when he sees something in          Richardson's eyes. David stops.. .then his whole expression          changes...                         DAVID          You don't know, do you? You don't          know why they're keeping us          apart...                         RICHARDSON                         (COVERING)          'It's not something your mind could          :comprehend.                         DAVID          You're in a nice suit but the          reality is you're just a minion          aren't you?          David pushes past Richardson and walks into a busy          restaurant. McCrady quickly consults his Planbook.                         MCCRADY          He's deciding how to--                         (REALIZING)          Uh..oh--          INT. UPSCALE RESTAURANT -- DAY          David strides in and goes right to a chair. Stands on it.                                                                                                              2/12/09 65.                         DAVID                         (LOUD)          Excuse me ladies and gentleman--          (as people turn and look,                         RECOGNIZE HIM)          I'm sorry to disturb your lunch. I          have a bit of an emergency. Is          there anybody in this room who's          ever seen a performance of the          Manhattan Modern Ballet?          EXT. UPSCALE RESTAURANT -- DAY          From outside, Richardson and McCrady watch.                         RICHARDSON          Son of a bitch.                         MCCRADY          He's smart. He's very smart.          David exits the restaurant from another door. He hurries          toward West Broadway.          EXT. WEST BROADWAY -- DAY          Not a taxi in sight. David looks for one in vain. Suddenly          Richardson emerges from a storefront and, goes to David.                         RICHARDSON          Maybe you should try the subway.          David holds him in a steely gaze.                         DAVID'          Don't all those cab drivers you're          diverting have Plans too? What          about all the other people looking          for cabs in this part of the city          right n6t? What about their Plans?          The ripples must be endless...          Richardson is taken aback that David has figuredthis out.                         DAVID          I don't care what you put in my          way, I'm not going to give up.          David walks off, leaving Richardson standing there.                                                                                                              2/12/09 66.          MINUTES LATER -- DAY          Richardson and McCrady watch David looking for a taxi at a          very busy intersection.                         MCCRADY          You've got two more minutes keeping          taxis off West Broadway before--                         RICHARDSON                         (FRUSTRATED)          I need something that's going to          keep him in place longer--          EXT. LEONARD ST -- DAY          On foot, David heads West towards Hudson St. Several taxis          pass with their roof lights off;. Suddenly, down the street,          he sees one with his roof light on. He runs for. it when--          CRASH -- twenty feet in front of him two cars collide. Metal          crunches and glass breaks. This is no fender bender--                         DAVID          Jesus:.,          (looks for Richardson)          Is this how far you people will          go?!          He rushes toward the accident--          EXT. SITE OF ACCIDENT -- DAY                         ARE          An hour later. Four police cars and an ambulance. They          treating one of the accident"s victims for minor scrapes          ]avid is getting intervie,ved by a police officer.                         POLICE OFFICER          Unfortunately you're the only          witness, Congressman.                         DAVID          How much longer?                         POLICE OFFICER          A few more minutes. I'm sorry. I          know you have to meet somebody.                         DAVID          I didn't say I had to meet anyone.                         POLICE OFFICER          Well ...I just assumed--                                                                                                              2/12/09 67.          EXT. ROOFTOP -- DAY          Richardson is watching David get interviewed--                         RICHARDSON          Amateur! That's an amateur's          mistake!          BACK TO SCENE -- EXT. SITE OF ACCIDENT -- DAY                         DAVID          You're not a real cop, are you?          You're one of them. Somebody could          have been killed in that crash!          Doesn't that make you--                         "POLICE OFFICER"          Sir, calm down.          But David's already walking away.                         DAVID          Sergeant!          He goes to the highest ranking guy on the. scene.                         DAVID          I know you heed a statement from          me, but do I have to stay here to          give it to you or--                         SERGEANT          No, sir, we know ow to get in          touch with you.          DAVS,D          Thank you. '.Is this man under your          command?          David turns to see that the "Police Officer" who was          interviewing him is gone.          EXT. HUDSON ST -- DAY          David gets into a taxi.                                                                                                              2/12/09 68.          INT. TAXI -- DAY                          DAVID          17th Street between 10th and 11th.          And sir, you might have to break          some traffic laws getting there.          So take this.          He hands him a $100 bill. A light that just turned green                         GOES YELLOW--                         DAVID          Go through that--          The driver blows through it as it turns re          ACROSS THE STREET          Richardson and McCrady are in front of a hip cafe arguing.                         RICHARDSON          I want more red liUhtss--                         MCCRADY          (,consulting Planbook)          There are too many, ripples in the          system.. Cumm.lative effects are.          coming into play.                         RICHARDSON          A traffic jam.                         MCC          That's even w r. We have to get          more localize.          Richardson looks at the taxi disappearing up Hudson.                         RICHARDSON          He's getting out of range!          INT. HIP CAFE HALLWAY / KITCHEN -- DAY          Richardson and McCrady rush through the cafe and into the          KITCHEN, surprising the CHEF so completely that he can't even          manage a word before they throw open the insulated door to          the COLD PANTRY and run inside.                         CHEF          Hey!                                                                                                              2/12/09 69.          The chef charges over and pulls open the door to find --          refrigerated food. And nothing else. Richardson and McCrady          have disappeared. The chef blinks.          INT. ART GALLERY -- DAY -- CONTINUOUS ACTION          Richardson and McCrady rush from a storage room to the          showroom of a fancy art gallery. Patrons stare as they rush          straight out the front door and onto Gansevoort Street.          EXT. 8TH AVENUE -- DAY          David's taxi is hitting all the lights iiow.          EXT. GANSEVOORT ST -- DAY          Richardson and McCrady move swiftly down the block.          Richardson heads up the stairs of a brownstone. Opens the          door to see a street in Chinatown. He slams the door shut.          RI.CEARDSON          Wrong one.          (thinks)..          Two doors down. God, I hate          downtown!          EXT. 17TH ST -- DAY          David's taxi heads down 17th from 8th Avenue.          EXT. 17TH ST DAY          Richardson and McCrady step out of the service door of a          l ilding on the corner of 10th Avenue and 17th.          They can see a taxi, pulling up in front of the Manhattan          Modern Ballet buildig down the block. They run towards it.                         MCCRADY                         (RE: PLANBOOK)          I've got inflection points. All          they have to do is catch sight of          each other this time--                         RICHARDSON          What?                                                                                                              2/12/09 70.          EXT. / INT. DANCE STUDIO -- DAY          David opens the door to Elise's dance company, oblivious to          Richardson's pursuit.          INT. DANCE STUDIO LOBBY -- DAY          LAUREN, is nearby as David speaks to the receptionist. MUSIC          comes from a door across the room.                         RECEPTIONIST          Is she expecting you?          He nods.                         LAUREN          I hope you realize how lucky you          are. I'm the friend. Lauren.          EXT. 17TH ST -- DAY          Richardson dons his fedora as he races toward the studio.                         RICHARDSON          Can 'I block the front door?                         NCCRADY          He's already through Pit.                         RICHARDS6N          The next one!          INT. DANCE STUDIO DAY          Lauren walks David toward the door with the music behind it.                         LAUREN          It goes without saying that I'll          kill you if you hurt her.                         (BEAT)          And by the way, congratulations on          your announcement.          EXT. 17TH ST -- DAY          Richardson and McCrady down the street.                         MCCRADY          (re: diagram, confused)          There are several next ones--                                                                                                              2/12/09 71.                         RICHARDSON                         (EXASPERATED)          I'm blocking them all--          His hand stretches out (as Harry did early on in film)                         MCCRADY          Wait, he's--          INT. LOBBY / DANCE STUDIO -- DAY          MUSIC pours out as David opens the door. A quarter of the          way open, the door stops dead.          EXT. DANCE STUDIO -- DAY          Richardson grabs the front door and pulls. It's sealed shut.          It won't budge.                         WHAT THE-                         MCCRADY          Hat! Hat!          McCrady is behind him He points. at Richardson's fedora,          which is on the sidewalk. Fell off when he ran. Richardson          sprints to grab it--          INT. LOBBY OF DANCE STUDIO --=DAY          David looks through the narrow space of the open door and          sees Elise dancing. The piece she's practicing fuses the          gra e -ballet with the raw emotion of modern. She's �xl          eattaking.                         DAVID          I'm in serious trouble here...          EXT. / INT. DANCE STUDIO -- DAY          Richardson dashes back to the door--                         MCCRADY                         (CONSULTING FOLIO)          Forget it! He's already there...          Richardson charges into the lobby to see David staring          through the partially open door to the rehearsal room...                                                                                                              2/12/09 72.                         RICHARDSON          Dammit !          McCrady's phone buzzes. He pulls it out and looks at the          caller ID.                         MCCRADY                         (DREAD)          It's Mr. Donaldson.          Richardson pulls the fedora off his head and crushes it in          his hands.          David turns just in time to see this. At the same time          David realizes the door is no longer "stuck."                         RICHARDSON          Celebrate while you can. They'll          just kick it upstairs now You          have no idea what you're up          against.          David just looks at him. He'll deal with that when it          comes...                         MCCRADY          Sir?          Richardson grabs the phone and answers --.going outside to          talk.          David turns back to the dance studio. He opens the door to          get an unobstructed view of Elisee,. She spins, arches, dips.          David can't take his eyes off hey`          When the artistic director pauses the routine to give notes,          Elise gives David a. little wave. Then they start again.          David looks back out at Richardson on the street, but he's          gone..          TNT. ADJUSTMENT BUREAU HEADQUARTERS -- DUSK          A defeated Richardson trudges up a long flight of stairs.          INT. HALLWAY -- DUSK          Richardson walks down a hallway with an impossibly shiny          black floor and enters a doorway marked "Mr. Donaldson."          INT. MR. DONALDSON'S OUTER OFFICE -- DUSK          Two secretaries look up at him.                                                                                                              2/12/09 73.                         SECRETARY #1          He's waiting for you.          INT. MR. DONALDSON'S OFFICE -- DUSK          Much larger than Richardson's office and on a higher floor.          MR. DONALDSON, 45, sits at his desk reading a document.          After a moment he signs it at the bottom and looks up,          REVEALING Richardson, who is standing awkwardly in front of          his superior's desk.          Donaldson motions for him to sit down.          INT. DANCE STUDIO -- DUSK          now.          David talks to Elise, who's showered and dressed                         DAVID          You're incredible. How did you get          that good?                         ELISE          It's all I do. It's the only thing          I ever wante& to be. And I started          young.                         AVID          How young?                         ELISE          By third grade I was going every          day after school.                         DAVID          That's a lot of motivation for an          eight year-old.          She waves to the other dancers and receptionist in the lobby          and they exit on to--          EXT. 17TH ST -- DUSK -- CONTINUOUS                         ELISE          We moved around a lot then. Dance          was kind of my stability.                         DAVID          Sure... it was the only constant in          your life, aside from your          parents...                                                                                                              2/12/09 74.                         ELISE          Really more the dance.          She doesn't make a big deal of it but we get it.                         DAVID          Oh...          David's phone buzzes. Caller ID shows it's Charlie.                         ELISE          I take it this is an unauthorized          social break.                         DAVID          I'm a candidate for the US-:Serrate.          I don't have to punch out''when I          leave.          David sends the call to voice.mai                         ELISE          Charlie?                         DAVID          Couple houtrs while I'm out of touch          won't:ill him.                         ELISE          Couple hour, huh? Well, we better          make them,,-,--'count.          EXT. EAST VILLAGE -- DUSK          A taxi pulls tp°a stop.- bavid 'leans over Elise to look out          thew n4ow as he waits fot change from the driver.          What's this-P�-                         ELISE          What's it look like?          We see the reflection of a dance club in the window.                         DAVID          I'm a terrible dancer. I don't          dance.          Elise climbs out. David follows.                         ELISE          You don't now. By the end of the          night, you will.                                                                                                              2/12/09 75.          They walk towards "Plan B", a hip joint with zebra wallpaper          and fake palm trees. Salsa music pulses from inside.                         DAVID          You're going to teach me to dance          in one night? Not happening.                         ELISE          Are you doubting me?                         DAVID          Yes.          She spins and shoves him against the wall. Forcefully kisses          him. Then pulls free.                         ELISE          Don't.          She turns and walks into the club. David stands there.                         DAVID          Holy shit...          INT. DONALDSON'S OFFICE -- DUSK          Richardson sits across from Donaldson.                         DONALDSON          The disciplinary rules requ-te me          to. demote you in rank and re-assign          yot to a less desirable post.          Donaldson ±ingers the document he just signed.                         DONALDSON          I'm going-'to interpret those rules          loosely. I'm going to go easy on          you because,I feel the deck was          stacked ,against you.          In a WIDER shot we see that both Burdensky and Donaldson's          AIDE sit nearby.                         DONALDSON          I'm talking about the intense          chemistry between them, the          constant inflection points, and the          kicker of course: you pulling them          apart only to have "chance" put          them back together. Twice. That          seemed impossible. So I asked          Burdensky to do some research this          morning, which he just completed.                                                                                                              2/12/09 76.                         BURDENSKY          It seems like these two were meant          to be together because they were          meant to be together...                         RICHARDSON          What?!                         BURDENSKY          Were, in the past, in an earlier          version of the plan. Actually a          dozen earlier versions.                         (BEAT)          God knows how many artifacts          pushing them together are left in          the current plan.          INT. PLAN B -- DUSK          A live salsa band has just started. Elise demonstrates Mambo          for David. Couldn't be farther from the style of dance he          just saw her rehearse. But she's amazing at it.                         DAVID          Serious, serious.trouble...                         MOMENTS LATER          Salt, Patron, lime .'-.and two glasses dotin on the bar.                         ELISE          Ready?          Nope.                         ELISE          Perfect.          She yanks him onto the dance floor.          INT. DONALDSON'S OFFICE -- DUSK          Donaldson, Richardson, Burdensky.                         RICHARDSON          Why was it changed?                                                                                                              2/12/09 77.                         DONALDSON          Something important. They went          from "meant to be together" to "red-          letter denied relationship" in a          single Plan revision a few years          back. As for why, specifically,          that's apparently above even my pay          grade...          INT. PLAN B -- NIGHT          David and Elise dance. He sucks, but doesn't care. A couple          of people in the club recognize him and give him thumbs up...          INT. ADJUSTMENT BUREAU HEADQUARTERS --'NIGHT          Burdensky and a dejected Richardson walk down the hall.                         RICHARDSON          You spend your whole career hoping          that one day you'll get a "red-          letter" case. Something you can          really make a name for yourself          with. Finally I get one... and          it's. .booby-trapped...          CLOSE ON THE BAR'          Another set of shot glasses hit the bar. UP to REVEAL David          and Elise..                         ELISE          Okay, we've al-ready used up an          hour, we >etter hurry.          She pills him toward the exit.                         DAVID          Hurry where?          INT. MUSTANG CLUB -- NIGHT          Elise does a sexy, street variation on a two-step to an up-          tempo pop-country ballad. David tries to follow along,          mostly by bobbing his head with the beat. Sort of with the          beat.                         ELISE          You've got to let yourself feel the          music.                                                                                                              2/12/09 78.                         DAVID          I've been told I have trouble          feeling.                         ELISE          Whoever said that hasn't seen you          speak.                         DAVID          That's different. I mean--                         ELISE          What?                         DAVID          In private. With women AlthOugh          that might be changing. Is there          any style of dance you can:'t do?          EXT. HUNTER'S POINT, QUEENS -- NIGHT          David and Elise walk from the waterfront to the street.                         ELISE          Next stop, the best 80s club in the          city. You ready?                         DAVID          To make an ass of myself for the          third time in one night? §4`r, 6'.                         ELISE                         (POINTS)          Race me to that light. You lose,          you dance, I watch. You win, I          dance, you watch                         DAVID'          What are'the rules of the race---                         ELISE          No rules.                         DAVID          Hmmm, could get ugly...          He looks down an alley as if he's noticed something. When          she looks, he takes off like a bat out of hell--                         ELISE          You bastard!          He's got a good lead, so he flips around and runs backwards.                                                                                                              2/12/09 79.                         DAVID          Quit complaining and run.          She catches up. He spins and digs it out. He can't dance,          but he sure can run. He pulls away and wins.                         DAVID          Yes!!!!          He pumps his arms in a victory dance.                         ELISE                         (PISSED SMILE)          That was good. That was very good.                         DAVID          You said "no rules".          She punches him in the stomach. Hard. He crumples,          completely unprepared for it.                         DAVID                         (IT HURTS)          Sweet Jesus! Christ on a crutch!                         ELISE                         (GIGGLING)          You said you had trouble feeling.                         DAVID          You're insane.                         ELISE          We. need a cab.          He'laughing through the'pain.                         DAVID          I'm serious. You're a maniac. You          should come with a warning label.                         ELISE          I do. You just can't see it with          my clothes on.          OFF David biting his lip... and PRE-LAPPING the music--          INT/EXT. A WAREHOUSE CLUB, RED HOOK DOCKS, BROOKLYN -- NIGHT          David and Elise walk into the synthesizer prelude to "I Can't          Wait" by Nu Shooz.                                                                                                              2/12/09 80.                         DAVID          Doesn't this song make you feel          like you're at your high school          prom?                         ELISE          I was six when it came out. So,          not really.          Brutal. David just shakes his head and smiles as, she pulls          him to the dance floor.                         MUSIC          Baby...1-I-I can't wait--                         STROBE LIGHTS          As the song kicks in and David and Elise start dancing... A          couple of kids next to them notice David and start pointing          and signaling their approval-          The kids who first spotted David have alerted a few others.          More people in the crowd cheer him on.          INT. DONALDSON'S_OFFICE -- NIGHT          Donaldson stares pensively out the , window,: looking down over          the city.                         DONALDSON'S AIDE          So we're going operational? This          is exciting. It's been a while.                         DONALDS          We r t no ti go p etational No           one ever.mad& to my job by          taking stupit �°ris,s .                         DONALDSON'S AIDE                         SO WHAT-ARE-=                         'DONALDSON          We're going to kick this case          upstairs.. .to someone with the          latitude to clean up this mess          without breaking into a sweat.          We're going to walk this upstairs          to Thompson.                         DONALDSON'S AIDE          Thompson? Are we even allowed to          go to him directly? He's a Senior          VP.                                                                                                              2/12/09 81.                         DONALDSON          Exec VP.                         DONALDSON'S AIDE          Isn't he the one.. .when he was in          the field his nickname was--                         DONALDSON          "The Hammer?" Yes. He'll crush          this romance with the flick of his          hand. And he'll thank me for          giving him the opportunity.                         STROBE LIGHTS          David and Elise dancing.                         MUSIC          Cause I can't wait,. this .is what          I've been waiting for--          People on the dance floor are literally screaming in support.          EXT. RED HOOK -- NIGHT;          David and Elise stand on the pier outside the dance club.                         ELISE          You grew up over there?          She indicatesa residential area just behind the docks.                         DAVID                         (POINTING)          I spent any, entire childhood three          blocks up Carroll Street. We          didn'.t move-` around a lot.                         ELISE          What were you like as a. kid?                         DAVID          Before sixth grade I spent about          half my time in the principal's          office.                         ELISE          You? Really?                         DAVID          The only person who spent as much          time down there as me was a girl I          had a huge crush on so I didn't          mind too much.                                                                                                              2/12/09 82.          A smile spreads on Elise's face.                         ELISE          (re: the docks)          Did your dad work here?                         DAVID          No... My dad filled vending          machines.                         ELISE          And you're going to be a          senator...                         DAVID          After my brother died my Dad wanted          to get me out of town for a while.          We went to Washington and the day          we arrived he took meto the.          Capitol. We ended up sitting in          the Senate gallery;,all day.          (re: Financial' District          across the river)          We could see that from the end of          my block, but-be never once          encouraged me to go to Wall Street.          His idol was JFK. He thought          business guys were selfish.                         ELISE          So...areyou doing all this-:f.or          him?                         DAVID          I want to matter. I don't think          that's just forrhim.          Elise,. tucks her head into his shoulder.                         ELISE          I don't want tonight to mess          anything..up for you, for the          campaign.                         DAVID          Just make sure I make it to Diane          Sawyer on time and I'll be fine.          Elise looks at him for a long beat.                         ELISE          You're different... somehow you make          me believe...                         DAVID          Believe what?                                                                                                              2/12/09 83.                         ELISE          Just... believe, period.          EXT. ELISE'S APARTMENT BUILDING -- NIGHT          PUSH IN on the window of an apartment.          INT. ELISE'S APARTMENT -- NIGHT          David and Elise make love, FOCUS so SHALLOW that even their          faces are not always sharp.          INT. ELISE'S APARTMENT -- NIGHT          David and Elise lie together, spent.                         ELISE          (vulnerability we barely          glimpsed before this)          I don't let people in, David. And          I never let them in this quickly.          David pulls her close., He-,can't see her eyes. But we can.          She's struggling with something more...                         ELISE          I haven'::t lead a perfect life                         DAVID          I. don't want perfect.,.          ELISE. ,          :(emotion,weI9ing)          I'm trying to say .I'm not sure          somebody running. for office can          have, me in their life.          David turns her around so he can see her face, so he knows          for sure she hears this:                         DAVID          I haven't stopped thinking about          you since the moment I met you. I          want you in my life--                         ELISE          There are skeletons in my closet,          David. The kind that--                         DAVID          Listen to me--                                                                                                              2/12/09 84.                         ELISE          The kind that people use against--                         DAVID          Elise, listen! I don't care.          We'll work it out... I've spent my          whole life wondering why it takes          auditoriums of people to fill the          empty space inside me. Then I met          you...and realized it doesn't.          She looks at him. He means it.                         ELISE          You scare me.                         DAVID          (after a beat)          That wasn't the effect I was going          for...          She smiles...then laughs out-loud--          SAME -- LATER          David and Eliseirsleep peacefully. REVEAL MR. THOMPSON, late          50s, standing next to the bed in a suit, with a fedora on.          EXT. ELISE'S APARTMENT BUILDING -- NIGHT          Thompson .exits through the frt door. Three aides are          waiting for him.           THO Mft N'S AIDE           What do you aiat to do?                          THOM BON           Let it happen again.          7 Thompson's aides seem surprised by the answer.           INT. ELISE'S APARTMENT -- MORNING -- FRIDAY          David wakes to find Elise looking at him.                         DAVID          You been up long?                         ELISE          No.                                                                                                              2/12/09 85.                         DAVID          Did you wake up in. the middle of          the night?                         ELISE          Slept straight through.                         DAVID          I thought you never sleep through.                         ELISE          I don't.                         (BEAT)          I told you, you scare me.          He kisses her.                         DAVID          I won't hurt you.          They kiss more... and then get swept up by it...                         LATER           They lie in bed, post-coital, drained. Blissful. Until the          phone rings. It's 6:17 am. Early for a call.                         ELISE          Hello? :Why, are you calling?                         (LISTENS)          No...I... . Look, I have to go...          She hangs up. David looks at her.                         DAVID          What's wrong..                         ELISE          That was my , ex. Adrian.                         DAVID          Oh... I didn't-- I guess we hadn't          gotten to that stuff yet...                         ELISE          He hasn't called since we broke up.                         DAVID          How long?                         ELISE          Three months.                         DAVID          Was it serious?                                                                                                              2/12/09 86.          An awkward beat. Elise opts for complete honesty.                         ELISE          We were engaged.                         DAVID          What happened?          Complete honesty.                         ELISE          He left...          David can feel this in the pit of his stomach now.                         DAVID          What an idiot.                         ELISE          You don't know me that well yet.          You're still in the wishful          thinking phase.                         (BEAT)          Truth is I should.;-Have left him a          long time before he left me. It          was a ,ain' l relationship. It          hurt tb be i-h it every day.                         DAVID          But it was:h'ard to leave.                         ELISE          H& knew what buttons., tb push.                         DAVID `'          that him?          DtTid paints at pica re of Elise with an attractive man, arms          wound each other. lis'e looks surprised, shocked even, to          tY%'e photo on her b okcase. She nods.                         ELISE          David... . It's not... It's over          between us. Completely over...I          want to be clear about that. I'm          pretty sure yesterday was the most          perfect day I've ever had.                         DAVID          Me too.          David looks at the clock.                         DAVID          I have this Diane Sawyer interview.                                                                                                               2/12/09 87.          It comes out awkward.                         ELISE          I know.          So did that. They look at each other. Then David reaches          for his clothes--                         ELISE          Can I come? My dress rehearsal's          not until nine.          David's face lights up.                         ELISE          I'm afraid if I let you out of my          sight. . .you know...I might never          see you again...          A smile creeps across his face...          INT. GOOD MORNING AMERICA STUDIO -- DAY          Diane Sawyer interviewsDavid.                         DIANE SAWYER          You've overcome enormous obstacles          in your life and risen to-such          heights so quickly... People are          fascinated by you.                         DAVID          Only people who haven't spent          enough time with ' me to know the          'truth.          INT. GREEN ROOM .-- DAY-          Elise watches the:nterview on a big monitor. A soundproof          window allows her tb see directly into the studio.                         DIANE SAWYER          As a speaker and politician you've          been repeatedly compared to JFK.                         DAVID          By my campaign manager mostly.          DIANE SAWYER (ON TV)                         (GRINS)          You're the youngest person ever          elected to Congress. Which you          celebrated by getting in a bar          fight on inauguration night.                                                                                                              2/12/09 88.                         DAVID          With a childhood friend. So I          don't think that counts. And,          truthfully, that's how we celebrate          things we're I'm from.          INT. STUDIO -- DAY                         DIANE SAWYER          (grinning bigger now)          Let's just say you have a habit of          getting into the press for...other          uniquely human things as well--                         DAVID          that a euphemism, Diane?          She laughs.                         DIANE SAWYER          Most politicians...          INT. GREEN ROOM -- DAY          DIANE SAWYER (ON TV)          .run aw ay from the embarrassing          things they've done Yoti,crack,          jokes about them. You embrace,          them. Especially since your.;,          concession speech thr          ee years ago          which started as a `sstd-up routine          and brought tears to my,eyes by the          .,end when you talked about losing          Your mother to Lancer and then your          older brother,,Pdt, to an overdose,          both whei.you:were only ten years          old.          :,INT. STUDIO -- DAY                         DAVID          I think Americans are tired of          electing automatons whose every          word and move is stage-managed so          as not to offend anyone. I think          they want somebody who doesn't hide          who he is or what he really          believes. I guess I'm hoping they          want to elect someone who's          actually like them.                         (LAUGHS)          But I could be very wrong about          that.                                                                                                              2/12/09 89.                         DIANE SAWYER          And if you are?                         DAVID          You'd be surprised at the number of          underwear companies that have          approached me to be their          spokesman.          Diane bursts out laughing. The floor techs are laughing too.          INT. GREEN ROOM -- DAY          And so is Elise. She's completely smitten. ON THE TV:          Diane turns to the camera, trying to stop laughing.          DIANE SAWYER (ON TV)          Unfortunately, we're out of time.          David Norris, announced his          candidacy for US Senate yesterday.          Thanks for stopping by.          It goes to commercial.          INT. STUDIO -- DAY          David stays to speak to Diane for a moment-as we MOVE to          find a stagehand'who is shifting the position of one of the          big video cameras sed to tape the show. We catch a glimpse          of his face and see it's Thompson's aide.          INT<. Gk 2N- R0014 -- DAY          The- "stagehand" moves thecamera so it's blocking the window          giving Elise line-of sight to David and Diane.          Just. then a man with an-.ABC ID enters the room to speak to          Elise. (We only see his lower half.)                         ABC ID          Ma'am, Congressman Norris asked me          to give you a message.          We MOVE UP from his ID to REVEAL that the man is another one          of Thompson's aides.          THOMPSON AIDE #2 (ABC ID)          He was just called into a meeting          that he says is urgent. He says          he'll call you later and see you at          your show tonight.                                                                                                              2/12/09 90.          INT. STUDIO -- DAY          David and Diane say goodbye to each other. He salutes the          floor staff, who actually applaud. They love him.                         DIANE SAWYER          (to David, re: earpiece)          They're saying your girlfriend --          can we call her that? Is this one          going to last more than a month?                         DAVID          You can call her that. And yes.          Definitely.          David is looking at a text from Elise as he speaks. It says:          "I want to go to bed with you."                         DIANE SAWYER          They're saying she's getting a tour          of the control room in studio C.          Can somebody take Congressman          Norris to studio C?          Thompson's aide signals David to follow him. David does.          They walk through a couple thick doors into the corridor.          INT. CORRIDOR -- DAY          Thompson's aide leads him through a heavy door marked "Studio          C" into a, vestibule and then through another heavy door into--          INT. '':STUDIO C" -- DAY           A partially-built set in the center of an empty stage. Elise           isn't here. Thompson's aide feigns surprise.           T HOMPSON'S AIDE #2           They said she was here... . Hang on.          David pulls his blackberry out sees there is no signal. He          looks up to see Thompson's aide exit through the stage door.          It suddenly clicks for David, and he rushes to the door.          Yanks on it. It's locked.                         DAVID          God dammit!                                                                                                              2/12/09 91.          INT. CORRIDOR -- DAY          Through the thick window of the outer door we can see David          pounding on the window of the inner door.          But we can't hear a sound.          PULL BACK to REVEAL Thompson's aide removing the"Studio C"          placard. Beneath is the true designation: "Studio D."          PAN to REVEAL three Thompson aides removing a false wall that          was hiding a bunch of construction equipment and setting up          "No Entry -- Construction Zone" signs.          QUICK CUTS -- FRANTIC HANDHELD          1) David across the room tugs on another exit. It's locked.          2) David pulls a fire alarm. Nothing.          3) David slams on the door with a two-by-four.          LONGER CUTS -- COMPOSED DOLLY SHOTS          1) Diane Sawyet talks about the issue of the day as we pull          back and show her. co-hosts on the couch.          2) Elise arrives in the lobby of the Manhattan Modern Ballet          for her company's dress rehearsal.          INT STUDIO D (EARLIER ".STUDIO'.C") -- DAY           David sits. His tie..loose now. His jacket off. He glances          at his blackberry. the time reads 4:13 pm. He yells in          frustration.                         VOICE          If people could hear you out there          it wouldn't be a very good          soundstage, would it?          David turns to see Thompson, in the now familiar dark suit          and fedora.                         THOMPSON          My name's Thompson.                         DAVID          What happened to Free Will?                                                                                                              2/12/09 92.                         THOMPSON          Who said anything about Free Will?          David stares back at him.                         THOMPSON          You know, we actually tried Free          Will before. After taking you from          hunting and gathering to the height          of the Roman Empire we stepped back          to see how you'd do on your own.          You gave us the Dark Ages -- for          five centuries -- until finally we:          decided we should come back in.                         (BEAT)          The Chairman thought maybe we just          needed to do a better job of          teaching you how to ride the bike          before we took the training wheels          off again. So we gave you the          Renaissance, the Enlightenment, the          Scientific Revoluton.:�we spent          six hundred years tempering your          passions with reason.,then in 1910          we stepped ba �c again. Within          fifty years�you brought us World          War I, the lepre'ssion, Fascism, the          Holocaust ani capped it off by          bringingtheentire planet to the          brink of destruction in the Cuban          Missile Crisis. A decisiOfl was          taken atthat point that we' should          stop in again before ±ou did          _soittething even we Cduldn't fix.                         (BEAT)          You on't have_ Free Will, David,          you have the appearance of Free          =Will.                         DAVID          You expect me.'to believe that?                         THOMPSON                         (BORED SHRUG)          You have Free Will over what tie          you pick in the morning, or what          beverage to order at lunch. But          humanity just isn't mature enough          to have control over the important          things.                         DAVID          If you're in control of the          important things then you're          incompetent cause when I look          around at the world these days it          seems pretty fucked.                                                                                                              2/12/09 93.                         THOMPSON          It's still here. If we'd left          things in your hands, it wouldn't          be.                         DAVID          Why are you trying to keep me from          Elise? Or are you just another          lackey who doesn't really know?          Thompson studies David for a long beat. Then decides it's          time to level with him.                         THOMPSON          We put Elise in front of you three          years ago to inspire you to, .g `ve          that speech -- the speech that          pulled you back from the brink of          oblivion and, overnight, itiade.you          the front runner for this coming          election. The intervention on          Charlie was to prevent the hedge          fund you had just become vice          chairman of from going belly up in          the sub-prime=crisis, bringing two          major banks down. with it, arid in ,          the process making you unelectable.          David blinks. Tries to, process this...           : .bAVID          Are you s aying you warit me to win           this election?          THOMP50N,          This 'one and six mom, after it.          And t'm not just talking about          `elections ' for Senate.          lowly dawns on David what Thompson is saying...                         THOMPSON          You can matter, David. Really          matter. What you wanted your whole          life. What your father wanted when          he took you to the Senate gallery          when you were ten. What your          brother wanted when he made you          promise, the day before he          overdosed, that you wouldn't be          like him.                         DAVID          Stop. Don't tell me this.                                                                                                              2/12/09 94.                         THOMPSON          Why do you think you have that          yearning to be in front of          people. . .and that terrible          emptiness when you're not?                         DAVID          Stop.                         THOMPSON          David you are meant to change the          world. But that doesn't happen if          you stay with her.                         DAVID          Why does it matter to you who I          love? Some skeleton of hers `is so          bad I won't get elected? I don't          believe that!                         THOMPSON          It's not about her-:..it's about          you, what being with her does to                         YOU -                         DAVID-          What does that mean?! I'm better          with her than I ever was alone.,          You just said it. That speech--                         1HOMPSON          Yes. The speech... Put it this          wad: in small doses, Elise was the          cure. But in large doses... When          you're enthralledwith someone she          ' rubs off on you:.                         DA ID          Stop. Just: stop.                         THOMPSON          David, the president can't be a                         LOOSE CANNON--                         DAVID          Stop talking. It's not working.                         (BEAT)          I'm a politician. I spend my life          with professional liars. With          people who decide what they want          and then figure out the story they          have to tell to get it.                                                                                                              2/12/09 95.                         THOMPSON          Why do you refuse to accept what          should be completely obvious by          now? You've seen what we can do.          You can't doubt we are who we say          we are.                         DAVID          I don't care who you are. I don't          care who's orders you're following.                         THOMPSON          You can't outrun your fate, David.                         DAVID          Who said anything about running.                         THOMPSON          Maybe we should just reset you.                         DAVID          We both know if you could have we          wouldn't be standing here having          this conversation...          Thompson stares back. He's never dealt with such          temerity...                         THOMPSON          You fight us, we will take          everything from you.                         DAVID          You already did once.' And I'm          still standing...                         (BEAT)          always knew you were out there.          We all do. It's the one thing we          have in common. Whether we call          it God or the Devil or Fate we all          know you're out there, fucking with          us...                         THOMPSON          You'd still be living in caves if          it weren't for us.                         DAVID                         (WELLING EMOTION)          You crush our dreams because they          don't fit with your Plan. Your          Plan that has no space for me          falling in love but somehow has          room for Tsunamis and cyclones and          Darfur and AIDS. Fuck your plan.          I reject it. I reject you.                         (MORE)                                                                                                              2/12/09 96.                         DAVID (CONT'D)          The only thing we have in this          fucked up world are the choices we          make. And there's nothing you can          do to me that will get me sign them          away.                         (BEAT)          Kill me. Or erase me. Or let me          go.          Thompson stares back at him, dumbfounded. A long silence,                         THEN:                         THOMPSON          It's 6:20. If you leave now,          you'll make Elise's show.          David's eyebrows go up. Huh? Thompson is letting him go?          EXT. GOOD MORNING AMERICA STUDIOS: .--..DUSK          David jumps into a taxi.          INT. TAXI -- DUSK           David sits in the back seat, taking everything in, turning it           over and over in his head... .'          INT. THEATER -- ELISE'S DANCE COMPAMY          Elise and twb of her colleagues "finish a dance piece. The          audience explodes into applause.          The house lights come up half way as the stage is readied for          the next piece,. David is startled to see that the man in the          aisle seat next to-him is Thompson.                         T-4 MPSON          She's a beautiful dancer.                         DAVID          What do you want?                         THOMPSON          There's one more piece to all this          I haven't told you. I guess I          didn't have the heart. If you stay          with her, it doesn't just kill your          dreams, it kills hers.                         DAVID          What?                                                                                                              2/12/09 97.                         THOMPSON          Elise is about to become one of the          most famous dancers in the          country... and eventually one of the          greatest choreographers in the          world.                         (BEAT)          If she stays with you... she ends up          teaching dance to eight year-olds.                         DAVID          I don't believe you. I thought we          already established that.          A beat.                         THOMPSON          When you look back at all this,          David, just remember, we tried to          reason with you.          Thompson gets up and leaves...just as the lights go down for          the next dance.          David watches him go...then turns around just in time to          catch Elise's entrance into the dance -- a graceful jump.          When she lands, her ankle cracks, and she falls. The          audience gasps.          INSERT: a floor board tilted oddly. It goes back to normal.          FIND THOMPSON: His hand slightly outstretched.          THE AUDIENCE instantly knows something is wrong. David jumps          up and runs down to the.: stage door. A dancer comes from off          stage and helps Elise off the floor as the show continues.          INT BACK STAGE -- NIGHT          .A company staff member is examining Elise's ankle while the          show goes on.          David arrives. Sees Elise's face. Tears streaming down her          cheeks. Seeing David...                         ELISE          If it's broken...my career's over.                         DAVID          Don't say that. Don't.                                                                                                              2/12/09 98.          INT. TAXI -- NIGHT           The taxi rushes to the hospital. David holds her. Silently          trying to comfort her. But he can't look at her.          EXT. HOSPITAL -- NIGHT          David carries her from the taxi into the emergency room...          INT. HOSPITAL WAITING ROOM -- NIGHT          David sits in a black chair, alone, staring at the floor.          INT. HOSPITAL EXAM ROOM -- NIGHT          Elise lies on an exam table as -a tech x-rays her ankle.          INT. HOSPITAL WAITING ROOM NIGHT          David is still staring at the floor. He looks-up to see          Thompson.                         THOMPSON          I always hear people saying "you          yourself for what can't bla M4'          hpens fih other people," but in          this case, really, you can.          David stands up...           . and punnhesThompson in `the face.          h T ompson is knocked onto his ass.          People in the waiting room stare at David. Almost everyone          here knows his fade. He looks at them, unable to summon his          usual wit.                         THOMPSON          This is what you do, David.                         (GETTING UP)          This is what you did the first          night you got elected. This is          what you did at that college          reunion. We give you opportunities          people would kill for and you          squander them with impulse. It          doesn't take a genius to see Elise          isn't exactly going to help you          with that.                         (MORE)                                                                                                               2/12/09 99.                         THOMPSON (CONT'D)          You want to know why you can't have          her? Look in the mirror.          Thompson leaves.          INT. HOSPITAL EXAM ROOM -- NIGHT          More X-rays of Elise's ankle. An orthopedic surgeon enters          and examines the images on the computer screen.          Elise, her face, still red and tear stained tries to read the                         SURGEON'S FACE                         ELISE          How bad is it?          The surgeon turns to her with a classic doctor's detachment:                         SURGEON                         ELISE--          EXT. HOSPITAL COURTYARD -- NIGHT          David sits alone on a bench. Thompson arrives.                         THOMPSON          You're an educated man. You've          read the Greek tragedies`. In the          end Fate always wins...          David looks back at him in steely silence.                         THOMPSON          It a sprain.                         DAVID          Really?                         THOMPSON          This time.                         (BEAT')          Do you really want to watch her          lose the only thing she's ever          cared about? You just got the          tiniest taste of what that looks          like...          The thought makes David ill.                         THOMPSON          Walk away. If you truly love her,          walk away. She'll hate you for          it...but that way she'll be able to          let you go quickly. You can give          her that at least.                                                                                                              2/12/09 100.          INT. HOSPITAL CORRIDOR -- NIGHT          David stands alone. Stares at the floor. Finally          confronting the fact that he can't beat the forces arrayed          against him. Finally ready to make the choice being forced          upon him...          INT. HOSPITAL EXAM ROOM -- DAY          David enters to find Elise with a huge smile on her face.                         ELISE          It's a sprain! It's just a sprain!          David gives her a tight hug.                         ELISE          It's going to be okay. The doctor          said it would heal in' a          month. . .maybe even less.                         DAVID          You're going to: be fine.                         ELISE          They want to do an MRI...to assess          the ligament. damage but.: -.          They break from them hug.                         DAVID          It's; going to be fine. And as          incredible of a dancer as you          already are, yot're just going to          get better and better...          DavidV;embraces her again, so she won't see the tears welling          in his eyes.                         DAVID          I...I have to go make a few calls.          His voice cracks. Elise notices.                         ELISE          You okay?                         DAVID          I'm just...happy for you...          INT. HOSPITAL CORRIDOR -- NIGHT          David walks down a long corridor away from Elise's room.                                                                                                              2/12/09 101.          EXT. HOSPITAL -- NIGHT          David exits the building. Thompson is waiting by the door.                         THOMPSON          You're doing the right thing,          David. Not just for her, and the          world. . .but for yourself.          David looks at him for a beat, then turns and walks away into          the night.          FADE TO BLACK.          INT. DINER -- UPSTATE NEW YORK -- MORNING          CLOSE on a TV screen, then PULL BACK to REVEAL the diner.          LOCAL NEWS REPORTER (ON TV):          David Norris, who'has spent the          last two days campaigning in the          tri-lakes area, got some welcome          news yesterday when the latest New          York Times poll gave him a sixteen          point lead over his opponent less          than.a month before election dg t.          FIND Charlie. He sits` at a booth eating breakfast as he          watches TV behind the counter.          Charlie glan ces out the window ad we FIND David standing on          the back of apickup truck speaking to eighty people in the          parking lot. `:It's Autumn now.          So etthing about his{,speaking style has changed. He's not as          ima ea or passion te.:Hedoesn't seem to enjoy it as much          is he °did three years ago.          Just then a campaign aide arrives at Charlie's table.                         CHARLIE          How's he doing?                         CAMPAIGN AIDE          They still love him... Papers?          The aide hands Charlie a stack of papers: three local papers,          the Times, the Journal, and the three big NYC tabloids.                         CHARLIE          Thanks.                                                                                                              2/12/09 102.          The aide leaves. Charlie glances at the front page of the          Times, then reaches for the New York / Region section. As he          does the front page of the Arts section catches his eye.          There is a big photo of Elise, doing an "airborne split,"          accompanying an article titled "Dance Takes a Quantum Leap."          Charlie glances through the window at David who is climbing          down from the pickup truck to applause from his parking lot          audience.          EXT. PARKING LOT -- MORNING          David shakes hands with people in the aftermath of his          speech. They really do love him.          INT. DINER, UPSTATE NEW YORK MORNING          Charlie reads the New York Times. article. It begins:          "Once in a generation a piece is created of          such astounding originality and virtuosity          that it single-handedly reshapes. the. world of          dance."                         FOLLOW DAVID          As he makes his way, towards the diner'f-tom the parking lot,          shaking handb and allowing his picture to be taken.          INT: DINER, UPSTATE NEW YORK -- DAY          David sits down with Charlie.                         DAVID          I'm started.                         CHARLIE          I'm going to show you this because          you'd find out eventually and          because I want to be here when you          do.          Charlie turns the Arts section around for David to see it.          Elise's photo has a noticeable impact on David. He glances          at the article for a moment.          Then Charlie points down near the bottom, at a particular                         SENTENCE:                                                                                                              2/12/09 103.          "The show's choreographer, Adrian Troussant,          and lead dancer, Elise Sellas, are partners on          and off stage and plan to marry in New York          next week."          David stares at the words...                         CHARLIE          David?          (off no response)          David?                         DAVID          I think I need... I...                         CHARLIE          Take a day off. Take a couple.          We're sixteen points up.                         DAVID                         (HOLLOWED OUT)          Even I can't blow a lead that big.          EXT. RED HOOK, BROOKLYN NIGHT          It's pouring rain. David walks down Carroll Street. Most of          the row houses display "Norris for Senate" signs.          Most of the housing here is run-down but this block is          clearly in the early'stages of gentrification.          David pays particular attention to one row house as he passes          by. Was this his house?          EXT. / INT. NEIGHBORHOOD DAR -- NIGHT          There's a "Norris for Senate" sign prominently displayed in          the window. David enters this classic dive bar and goes to          the bartender.                         DAVID          Do you still serve neighborhood          guys here or just the tourists?          The bartender smiles big. A couple people at the bar notice          him. Then others notice and they start whooping it up for          him. He doesn't know any of them-but they sure know him.          EXT. RED HOOK DOCKS -- NIGHT          David sits under the huge aluminum roof on one of the piers,          holding a bottle of beer in a soaked paper bag.                                                                                                              2/12/09 104.          There are no walls to this structure so rainwater pours off          the roof on all four sides forming virtual walls.          A figure in a suit approaches David from behind. He turns          to see the man.                         DAVID          Why are you here?          REVERSE to REVEAL Harry, in a suit and raincoat.                         HARRY          I would have come earlier but I had          to wait for the rain.          (off David's confusion)          Water interferes with their ability          to sense your decision tree.          That's why we met on a boat last          time.                         (BEAT)          I guess I'm here to set the record          straight.                         DAVID          About what?                         HARRY-          Thompson was lying when he said          they couldn't let you be with 8lise          because :it would bring out your          reckless side.                         DAVID          Why, then? Why do they care so          much?                         HARRY          8ecause.,..she's enough, David. If          you have =her r tau rtt .ght not need to          fill the d side you with votes          and ataplause'and dreams of one day          becoming p sident...          if Harry has:looked straight into David's soul.                         HARRY          I've watched you a long time.          They're right to want you in the          White House. It would be good for          the world. That's important but it          can't be the only thing that          matters.                         DAVID          Why are you so different than they          are?                                                                                                              2/12/09 105.          A long beat, then:                         HARRY          You know, your Dad was a smart man.          He could have been a lot more --          and he wanted to be. So did your          brother. But the Plan didn't call          for that.          This hits David hard.                         HARRY          In my job, you implement the          Plan...                         (EMOTIONAL)          And most of the time.. .you don't          even know why...                         (BEAT)          I'm sorry...                         DAVID          My mom?                         HARRY          That wasn't me... that wasn't us at          all.           David takes all this in. After a;long be t he takes a drink.           Then he offers the bottle to Harry, who h a esitates, then takes          a drink as well.                         DAVID          When Thompson told methe choice          as Elise or the White House I          barely hesitated.                         D1 ID          But the trt t i `is after making that          choice I went into a free-fall...          Don't get=me wrong, it killed me to          see Thompson hurt her...but I used          it as an excuse. I think I left          her more to save my career than          hers.                         (STRUGGLING)          Thompson wasn't lying. The press is          already talking about me as a          future president. I'm phoning in          my speeches and I'm still sixteen          points up in the polls.                         HARRY          The public loves you.                                                                                                              2/12/09 106.                         DAVID          Before I met Elise that was all          that mattered. Now I hardly          notice. She's all I think about.                         (BEAT)          Do you know where she's getting          married?                         HARRY          Front of a judge. Tomorrow          morning.                          DAVID          Is she happy with him? Tell me she          is and I'll walk away.                          HARRY           Thompson won't let you get near          that courthouse.                         DAVID          Harry... is she happy?                         HARRY          No.          A beat.                         DW-ID          I have to get her back..          Harry knows how unlikely that is.                         DAVID          Will you help me:� Just help me          get to her...                         HARDY          They'll sense )tOu coming a mile          away.'                         DAVID          What if Icould move as fast as you          can?                         HARRY          What do you mean?                         DAVID          Teach me about the doors.                         HARRY          How do you know about that?                                                                                                              2/12/09 107.                         DAVID          The first day, after they caught          me, they carried me through one.I          thought it was a hallucination at          first. Eventually I realized it's          how you move around so fast.          (off Harry's reluctance)          If you don't want to help me          because of what they'll do to          you...okay, that's your choice.          But if this is about protecting me          then shouldn't the choice be mine?                         HARRY          Do you have any idea how          complicated it is to navigate          through those doors... how many          thousands of permutations there are          in even a simple several block          journey?                         DAVID          You know, when I do town hall          meetings I usually get introduced          to forty or fifty people between          when I walk, through' the door and          when I start speaking. But when          I'm done with the speech I can call          on each one of them by `game.          A beat...                         HARRY          I've seen you do that          (taking tl leap )          The rain is supposed to stop in the          nexthou'r. We're going to need all          night to do this. And we're going          to need aplace surrounded by water          to do it.                         MOMENTS LATER          Harry and David stand outside a door to a dock office at the          end of the pier. Harry dons his hat.                         HARRY          Put your hand on my shoulder. And          don't let go until we've crossed          the threshold.                                                                                                              2/12/09 108.          David complies. Harry opens the door.                         DAVID          Are they ever locked?                         HARRY          Maybe if you have a defective hat.          They step through the door and onto--          EXT. MANHATTAN STREETS -- NIGHT          Harry notices as the rain slows to a drizzle.                         HARRY          Hurry.          Harry runs David to the front dooraf a brownstone. Opens          the door. They move through i into--          INT. UNDERGROUND PUMPING: STATION -- NIGHT          Harry stops. David takes-his hand off Harry's shoulder.          Still amazed by what they just did.                         HARRY          We're underneath Canal Street,          which c as ,,A canal before rt, was a          street. This is the jcity's':pumping          station for downtown Manhattan.          We're ten blocks from the          courthouse.          EXT. / INT. ELISE'S DANCE'.- COMPANY -- NIGHT                         -          Elise enters, smiles at the receptionist.                         ELISE          Floor open?                         RECEPTIONIST          (seeing Elise's red eyes)          You okay, sweetie?                         ELISE          I just feel like being on the          floor.                         RECEPTIONIST          Everything still on for tomorrow?          Elise nods, trying to cover her ambivalence.                                                                                                              2/12/09 109.          INT. UNDERGROUND PUMPING STATION -- NIGHT          MUSIC BEGINS: something that recalls the sensei-pupil scenes          in martial arts movies, but at the same time something fluid          and lyrical (e.g. Yoshida Brothers, "Beyond the Deep Sea.")          Harry rolls out a block-by-block map of lower Manhattan.          There are intricate red pen markings all over the map..                         HARRY          Lower Manhattan is a nightmare.          Layer upon layer of substrate --          that's what we call the system of          doors -- has been added over time.          That makes it a lot more complex to          navigate down here than it is          uptown. And a lot slower.          Harry dumps out several hundred photos of doors, interior and          exterior, all below Canal Street.                         HARRY          You ready?                         DAVID          Let's go.          Harry smiles and hblds,.up a photograph of.the Manhattan          County Court Building in Foley Squa:e:.                         HARRY          Your destination. Courtroom Six.          INT ` ELISE'S DICE COMPANY-'; -- NIGHT          The MUSIC CONTINUES". SOURCE music here-. Elise dances to          it, freestyle. The fluidity and extension of ballet, but          none of its formality or stiffness.          INT. UNDERGROUND PUMPING STATION -- NIGHT                         DAVID          (struggling to remember)          North Moore St. Just south of the          coffee shop... Red door. I come out          on Broadway, near Leonard St.          Harry looks at a photo of what David just described.                         HARRY          Good. Keep going.                                                                                                              2/12/09 110.          INT. DANCE COMPANY -- NIGHT          Elise continues to dance...          INT. UNDERGROUND PUMPING STATION -- NIGHT                         DAVID          (eyes closed, trying to                         PICTURE IT)          There's an alley in front of me.          Third door on--                         HARRY          Thompson's there.                         DAVID          Okay ...so...          (thinks, then has it)          I hightail it East-to Lafayette          no, it's Crosby Street there.          INT. DANCE COMPANY -- Nit;HT          Elise dances.          INT. UNDERGROUND PUMPING STATION -- NIGHT                         HARRY          one wearing a hat Is. a threat.          vv1Le. h e rea lizes w hat' = g oin g on ,           Thompson is gong to pull out all           the stops. H going to get           reinforcement Jots of them. I           don't care if u'see a auv wearing           a Yankees ca a"yarmulke, or a           bowler, as he's working for          them.                         'DAVID          Okay, you said he's right in front          of me, right?          Harry nods.                         DAVID          I'd knock the Yankees cap off his          head and go through the door before          he has a chance to pick it up...          A thinsmile forms on Harry's face and grows...                                                                                                              2/12/09 111.                         HARRY          Good... good... improvisation. We          have trouble with that...          INT. DANCE COMPANY -- NIGHT          Elise dances...          INT. UNDERGROUND PUMPING STATION -- NIGHT                         DAVID          How am I doing?                         HARRY          Don't get cocky. You know ten          permutations out of ten thousand.          Get back to work.                         MONTAGE          Harry drilling David with photd'after photo of Manhattan          doors INTERCUT with Elise dancing ...until she finally quits          from physical and emotional exhaustion.          INT. UNDERGROUNDPUMPING STATION -- NIGHT.          David rubs his head. He's exhausted-too. Mentally.                         HARRY          Yourbrain can only put so much in          at once. Take- a brreak.          Da :} , nods. His eyg6,0s' to: Harry' s leather Planbook. He           btio#ts to it -- a question: can he look at it., Harry opens           tt up to a page in the middle. David's eyes look over the           impossibly complex circ$t diagram.                         DAVID          Could I ever learn to read that?          Harry shakes his head. Impossible.                         DAVID          No matter how hard I tried?                         HARRY          For the same reason you can't          breathe underwater or flap your          arms and fly. You're not built to          do it.                                                                                                              2/12/09 112.                         DAVID          (re: circuit diagram)          Is that me?                         HARRY          Elise. Her decision tree. What it          was a few hours ago, before the          rain, before we were down here.          David looks at it, then looks away.                         DAVID          I want to ask you what it          says.. .what she's thinking.. .bit          somehow that feels ...wrong.                         HARRY          You know what she's thinkin-g,'David          -- as much as you need to know.          The rest ...well...you're`built to          feel that.          EXT. DANCE COMPANY -- NIGHT          Elise exits to the street, pulls a scarf around her neck..          INT. UNDERGROUNDPUMPING STATION -.NIGHT          David closes the P14nbook.                         HARRY          ready to get back to work?          Sometl`ing about that strikes Harry...                         HARRY          Your father used to say that.          Off David's reaction--          INT. ELISE'S APARTMENT -- NIGHT          Elise enters, turns on the light...          She picks up the computer printout of her court appointment          to be married. A Post-it note on top of the printout reads:          "Our last night apart... Love, Adrian."                                                                                                              2/12/09 113.          INT. UNDERGROUND PUMPING STATION-- NIGHT          David and Harry examine photos of a blue door at the side of          a Tribeca restaurant.                         DAVID          The fastest path is getting to the          blue door right off the bat...                         HARRY          But you're exposed the whole way          there. It's a lot riskier than          leapfrogging through doors--                         DAVID          But if I can make it...I'.Il have          caught them completely bysurprise.                         HARRY          Assuming you make it.          INT. ELISE'S APARTMENT -- NIGHT          Elise turns out the light, curling up in her bed. FADE MUSIC          OUT AND SLOW-FADE PICTURE TO:          EXT. DOWNTOWN MANHATTAN -- MORNING          The early morning sun slices through the urban canyons.          INT. MANHATTAN COUNTY COURT BUILDING -- 5TH FLOOR -- DAY          ADRIAN the guy from'the photo in Elise's apartment --          dtands at the COURT f2EGTSTRPsR' s window.                         COURT REGISTRAR          Do you have your license?          Adrian hands her his marriage license.                         COURT REGISTRAR          Is your fiancee here?                         ADRIAN          Getting out of a cab downstairs.          The registrar glances at the license to make sure it's in          order. Then stamps it: "Judge Williams, Docket #23".                         COURT REGISTRAR          Courtroom Six.                                                                                                              2/12/09 114.          INT. UNDERGROUND PUMPING STATION -- MORNING          Harry comes down from topside, with his Planbook in hand.          David is waiting anxiously down here.                         HARRY          You got lucky. It's raining again.                         DAVID          The marriage is scheduled for ten          minutes from now.                         HARRY          You can't jump the gun on this,,..          Getting there too early is almost          as bad as getting there too late.          Harry looks at his updated Planbook and consults his watch.          TNT. MANHATTAN COUNTY COURT BUILDING -- LOBBY -- DAY          Elise and Lauren step into a-polished brass elevator from New          York's Tammany Hall days. Her look is distant, disconnected.          Not what you're suppoeed to look like on your wedding day.          INT. UNDERGROUND PUMPING STATION --,MORNING          David is rearing to go. Finally, Harm's watch alarm beeps.                         HARRY          It ',.t time.          David breathes a sigh of relief. Harry takes the hat off          h1znrhead wand hands it to -David.                         DAVID          I'm going for the blue door.                         HARRY          Of course...          MUSIC CUE (something with relentless, pounding energy of the          Verve Remix of Sarah Vaughn's "Fever").                         HARRY          Run fast.                                                                                                              2/12/09 115.          EXT. LOWER MANHATTAN -- ALLEY -- DAY          David blows through a drab utility door into an alley. He          careens around a corner onto Greenwich Street and starts an          all out sprint--          INT. THOMPSON'S OFFICE -- DAY          Rain pelts the window as Thompson reads the newspaper.          Thompson's Aide rushes in.                         THOMPSON'S AIDE          It was a momentary flash, and given          the weather we can't be sure, but          it looks like Mr. Norris may be--          EXT. LOWER MANHATTAN -- DAY          David runs through a puddle as he races down Greenwich St.          through the pouring rain.          INT. THOMPSON'S OFFICE -- DAY          Thompson rushes. out of his office followed by his aide.                         -THOMPSON          Do we have a proctor -at the          wedding?!          INT. MANHATTAN COUNTY COURT BUILDING -- FIFTH FLOOR -- DAY          Adrian kisses Elise.                         ADRIAN          Hi, honey.          (notices her face)          You okay?                         ELISE          Just a little queasy.                         ADRIAN          Why?                         ELISE          I'm not sure. Nervous... I just          need a minute in the bathroom.                                                                                                              2/12/09 116.          INT. COURTHOUSE LADIES ROOM -- DAY          Big old marble sinks, heavy wood doors. Elise enters, tears          welling in her eyes...          INT. ADJUSTMENT BUREAU HALLWAY -- DAY          Thompson rushes down the hall. Three aides with him now.                         THOMPSON          Cars! Cars! From here it's faster          in the cars!           EXT. LOWER MANHATTAN -- GREENWICH STREET DAY           David can see the blue door. He races toward it.          EXT. FINANCIAL DISTRICT -- PINE STREET -- DAY          Thompson rushes out the front..door of a perfect Ar-t Deco          tower and jumps into his black Mercedes.                         THOMPSON          (to his assistant)          Where is heribw?!                         THOMPSON'S AIDE                         GREENWICH STREET-          They jump in and the car peels out, followed by two others.          EXT.:-,LOWER MANHATTAN -- GREENWICH STREET -- DAY          id'hits theblue-_..door. Bang. He's through it like          liihtning and comes 'out--          EXT. FOLEY SQUARE -- DAY          He comes out of a building directly across from the          courthouse from Harry's photos.          INT. MERCEDES -- DAY          Thompson and McManus speeding North.                         THOMPSON'S AIDE          Whoa!                                                                                                              2/12/09 117.                         THOMPSON          What?          Thompson's Aide is speechless as he stares at his Planbook.                         THOMPSON          What?                         THOMPSON'S AIDE          He just went into the substrate...          Off Thompson's reaction:          INT. MANHATTAN COUNTY COURT BUILDING --LOBBY -- DAY          A soaking wet David blows through the front door and skids to          a stop at the security line--          INT. COURTROOM -- DAY          Adrian and Lauren wait in the courtroom.                         COURT CLERK          Docket #22 please come forward          The guy next to Adrian stands up. Adrian: throws a panicked          look at Lauren.                         ADRIAN          We're next. Will you check on her?          INT.:NANHATTANCOUNTY COURT BUILDING -- LOBBY -- DAY           Tht epeople in lima in front of him. He's not going to          9 1 ke 41t. David goes to the front.                         'DAM          It's an emergency.                         NEW YORKER          We all have emergencies, pal.                         (THEN REALIZING)          Are you David Norris?          INT. COURTHOUSE LADIES ROOM -- DAY          Lauren wipes tears from Elise's face.                         ELISE          Am I making the biggest mistake of          my life?                                                                                                              2/12/09 118.                         LAUREN                         (CAREFULLY)          I can't answer that question for          you, Elise. But I will say--                         ELISE LAUREN          (pulling self together) If you have doubts--          I'm okay.                         ELISE          I'm just nervous. You haven't done          this yet. It's overwhelming...                         LAUREN                         ELISE--                         ELISE          I'm okay. I'm going to clean up.          Tell Adrian I'll be right there.          INT. MANHATTAN COUNTY COURT BUILDING -- LOBBY DAY          David throws his keys on.the,.X-ray belt, goes through the          metal detector, then b�s1-ts without waiting' for his keys----                         SECURITY OFFICER          Congressman! You left. your--          INT. COURTROOM -- DAY           Lauren returfs to sit next to Adrian. She holds up one          finger --'one more minute.           MOVE to REVEAL,a suspicious-looking man stepping into the           o aartroom, in a fedora. He scans the room in en y, t tl then          suits- his Planbot k. . k ba:ihff ma k h' es ALL re mov e his hat          INT. MANHATTAN COUNTY COURT BUILDING -- STAIRCASE -- DAY          David races up the stairs--          INT. COURTROOM -- DAY                         COURT CLERK          Docket #23 please come forward.          Adrian looks at Lauren. Stands. Motions urgently for Lauren          to get Elise from the bathroom--                                                                                                              2/12/09 119.          EXT. MANHATTAN COUNTY COURT BUILDING -- FOLEY SQUARE -- DAY          Thompson's three Mercedes skid to a stop outside.          INT. 5TH FLOOR LOBBY OUTSIDE COURTROOM -- DAY          Lauren exits the courtroom just as David bounds up the last          few stairs to reach the fifth floor.                         LAUREN          David?!                         DAVID          Where is she?          Water drips from his clothes onto the marble floor.                         LAUREN          You want to explain to me--                         DAVID                         (NO TIME)          Where is she?!                         (SOFTENING)          I'll . explain to her--          Lauren points at the 1-adies room. David nods "thanks" and                         ENTERS--          INT. LADIES ROOM -- DAY          Elise turns to see him and stops cold.                         ELLST                         DAVID          Hi...                         ELISE          Why are you doing this to me?          Just then the door bursts open. The suspicious man from the                         COURTROOM--          David elbows him in the face. The man drops.                         ELISE          David!                                                                                                              2/12/09 120.          David calmly turns back to her.                         DAVID          You're not supposed to be weeping          on your wedding day, Elise.          Elise fights the emotion again welling inside.                         DAVID          You were never happy with Adrian.          You told me that.          Elise puts her head in her hands.                         ELISE          This is so screwed up. Oh,-God..                         DAVID          I love you. I know I've acted          strangely. But, I love you.                         ELISE          Don't do this to me.                         DAVID          I've never felt anything like. this          in my life.                         ELISE          If you care 'so much, why the hell          did you disappear on me in that          hospital?                         EL SE          What are you ha.d1 g from me? Why          did you diS pp`ear " Again! You          fucking bastard! Why?          Tears are streaming down her face.                         DAVID          They'll reset me...                         ELISE                         DAVID--                         DAVID          They'll scramble my brain--                         ELISE          David, stop talking like this!          Stop!                                                                                                              2/12/09 121.          David looks back at her... Just looks at her. Then he leans          over and wipes a tear from her face. And he decides...          He just decides.                         DAVID          But at least you'll know the truth.                         (BEAT)          I saw behind the curtain, Elise. I          saw this.          He opens up Harry's Planbook. Elise sees the intricate          "wiring diagrams." Sees the lines shift on the page. It          startles her.                         DAVID          It's not in their "Plan" for us to          be together. So they're trying to          stop us.          INT. STAIRCASE -- DAY          Thompson and minions rush up the stairs.                         THOMPSON'S AIDE          Oh myGod... He just revealed us.          INT. LADIES ROOM -- DAY          Elise stares back at him.                         ELISE          Stop talking like a crazy person.          Stop making things up--                         DAVID          They said if we were together          they'`d take dance from you and          politic,s,from me. They hurt your          ankle that night. They--          The door flies open again. David picks up a trash can and          clobbers the fedora-wearing man who enters. He drops.          INT. STAIRCASE -- DAY          Thompson spins to his aide, finger in his face.                         THOMPSON          Call the Intervention Team! Tell          them it's a square-one reset!                                                                                                              2/12/09 122.          INT. LADIES ROOM -- DAY          An NYPD shield on the belt of one guy David knocked out.                         ELISE          Jesus.. .the cops are after you?!          David grabs the shield and uses it to wedge the door closed.          Kicks it in so it's jammed tight.                         DAVID          He's not a cop. He's one of them.          Another body slams into the door now. But the shield holds          it shut.                         ELISE          Who's "them?"          SLAM! SLAM! The door cracks--                         ELISE          Jesus, David!. What's going on?!          David is impossibly calm. He puts his hat back on.                         DAVID          I'm going to: show you.          He takes Elise's hand, opens the bathroom door, and walks her          across the threshold into--          EXT . ;SOHO -- DAY          Davidand Elise step? thhgtgh. a door onto a street in Soho.          She stops. Awed. Unable to speak.                         DAVID          Come on... We need to lose them.          David walks her across the street and picks a door at random,                         OPENS IT--          EXT. DOOR -- DAY          David and Elise exit through a door. Her jaw drops.          REVERSE TO REVEAL Central Park's Sheep Meadow spread before          them. (They've exited from the building on its north edge).          Elise steps out onto the grass, touches it, falls to her          knees in the rain, completely overwhelmed...                                                                                                              2/12/09 123.          INT. 5TH FLOOR LOBBY / INT. LADIES ROOM -- DAY          A bevy of men in hats push the ladies room door open and rush          in. They're shocked to see it's empty...          EXT. SHEEP'S MEADOW -- DAY          Eliselooks at David                         DAVID          The rain slows them down but they          can track us. We have two orthree          minutes. Maybe less.          Elise is still speechless. He takes her hand.                         DAVID          The ten year-old in me always mixed          up winning elections with being          loved. Then I met` you;,..                         (BEAT)          The thing is, if they'd let me be          with you I wouldn'tk have left          politipe. t, just would have beef          in it, or. all the right reasons.          David pauses for a moment. He can see this' so clearly in his          head. How can it notbe right?                         DAVID          Now you know. Youknota everything.          And you have to leave mitie.                         ELI                          BAVA)          They'll take` dance from you. You          saw what they-'did before.          'fihe foundations of her world have just collapsed... but          somehow she pulls herself together to say this:                         ELISE          No.                         DAVID          You're not safe with me. If you                         DON'T LEAVE--          She puts her finger to his lip. Shhhh...                                                                                                              2/12/09 124.                         ELISE          It doesn't make any sense but,          right now I feel safer than I've          ever felt before.                         (BEAT)          I'm staying...          INT. THE CHAIRMAN'S OFFICE -- DAY          The Chairman's Office is the size of the reading room at the          New York Public Library. Thirty foot high.ceilings. A dozen          assistants perform various tasks very quietly, giving it more          the feel of a papal court, than a corporate office.          We see THE CHAIRMAN from behind only ..but we can still tell          he is utterly calm and in complete control.          An aide comes to The Chairman's--desk,.sets two open leather          folios in front of him.          AIDE TO-HE'"CHAIRMAN          Mr. Thompson has made an emergency          request for the Intervention Team..          One of the folio .::documents is titled "Reset Authorization."          INT. BANANA REPUBLIC STORE -- DAY          A dressing room door opens. David and Elise, both soaking,          exit past a startled attendant.- They walk through the store          and out onto          EXT. COLUMBUS AVENUE --DAY          Tiey`look for another door.                         ELISE          Every door?          tavid nods...as they walk into another...          EXT. SHEEP MEADOW -- DAY          Thompson and a dozen other men with hats step out into the          rain, scan the horizon for any sign of their quarry.          INT. CHAIRMAN'S OFFICE -- DAY          The Chairman holds a silver pen as he flips through the case          file.                                                                                                              2/12/09 125.          EXT. COLUMBUS AVENUE -- DAY          David and Elise head towards a door across the street from          the Banana Republic.          EXT. HARLEM -- DAY          They emerge through a door on the 125th Street Metro-North          platform. Run down the stairs to street level.          INT. BANANA REPUBLIC -- DAY          Thompson and a half-dozen minions emerge from the same          dressing room David and Elise did. The seventeen year-old          attendant presses back against the wall, totally freaked now.          EXT. HARLEM -- DAY          David and Elise head toward a storefront church.          EXT. COLUMBUS AVENUE -- DAY          Thompson and his men pour out onto the street flashing NYPD          badges and asking questions. /          EXT. HARLEM -- DAY          David and Elise enter the church and--          EXT STONE FACADE -- DAY          -- exit from a metal door in a stone facade. PULL BACK to          REVEAL that they are standing at the base of the Statue of          Liberty...          Elise looks out at the harbor and the city. Rain pelts her          face. And she smiles. Exhilarated. Like a prisoner who has          just broken her chains...          EXT. COLUMBUS AVENUE -- DAY          Rain bounces off the dozen long black raincoats worn by          Thompson and his men. A black Suburban with under-grill          police lights pulls up fast.                                                                                                              2/12/09 126.          DRIVER OF SUBURBAN          The Intervention Team has          pinpointed an interception point.          Thompson circles his finger in the air to tell his men to          saddle up, they're moving out--          EXT. STATUE OF LIBERTY -- DAY          Elise isstill smiling.                         DAVID          Let's go.                         ELISE          We can't keep running forever,.          David.                         DAVID          If they find us ...they'll take you          from me.                         ELISE          I won't let..them.                         DAVID          They'll take you from here.          David touches his head'.                         ELISE          No, I won't let them.          She leans,-.over and kisses hi's forehead.          INT T. ?RE 'WAR APARTMENT BUILDING -- DAY           David and Elise exit into a hallway with eight doors on it.                         DAVID          Perfect.          David picks a door. It's locked. He tries another. It's                         ONE --          locked too. He tries a third. Locked. Elise tries          shakes her head.                         DAVID          They're not supposed to be locked!          David hears sounds coming from the building's central          staircase. He looks down it to see four men in silver suits          climbing up the stairs.                                                                                                              2/12/09 127.          DING. The elevator door down the hall opens. More men in          silver suits.                         ELISE          This one's open!          Elise is standing at the door to the roof. David runs to her          and they go up the stairs together to--          EXT. ROOF -- DAY          David pushes the roof door shut, barricades it with some          concrete blocks sitting on the roof. Rain pours down on          them.          They rush to the edge of the roof. ,Three Con Edison vans are          parked haphazardly on the street below. And a dozen          civilians on the sidewalk are frozen..11: ;          David grabs Elise and they go to the side of the roof, the          roof of the building next door is ten feet below them. They          hang their legs over the edge and jump.          They sprint across the roof of the building next door --          except somehow they find themselves running across the same          roof they were just on.          David sees the concrete blocks he placed against the door a          moment ago. The door bangs against theme being shoved open          from inside.          David and Elise run back in the c5,pposite direction. At the          building's edge they climb over again and... run...          Only to find that theyare still on the first roof they were          on. It's like they're in an.Escher painting.          They stop, and look at each other. David takes her hand as          Adjustment Team trsapers appear all around them from adjacent          roofs. They're completely surrounded.                         ELISE          Kiss me.          Tears well in her eyes. And his.                         ELISE          Close your eyes and kiss me.          He does. And they kiss in the rain...                         ELISE          I love you, David Norris.                                                                                                              2/12/09 128.          They hold each other for a long beat ... . and then, finally,          open their eyes.. .ready to accept their fate--          They see an empty roof. The Silver Suits are gone. And the          rain has stopped. A strange silence envelopes them...          They spin the other direction to see The Chairman, standing          there, alone.                         THE CHAIRMAN          Hello, David... Good morning,          Elise.          His voice is gentle, paternal.                         DAVID          Who are you?                         THE CHAIRMAN          I think you know.          David and Elise stand in awe'-'as they realize.                         DAVID          You can't oti{rn Fate...          Tft , CHAIRMAN          It's .more- complicated t,}an that,          Fate am Free Will coexist          They're;in tension with each other.          And pure chance.          A beat. David looks back at him...                         DAVID          TH2;.>�HAT, RMAN          I could control 'everything. You'd          be ha` 3 ou' d be puppets. I          try to .keep things from getting too          out of control. But that has a          cost. Most people go through life          like pinballs, reacting predictably          to the stimuli I apply. They          accept the path they find          themselves on. And perform          accordingly. But every once in a          while someone comes along who          refuses to be bound by his fate,          someone who understands that Free          Will is a gift most people are too          afraid to use.                         (BEAT)          Which, you see, is partly the point          of all this.                                                                                                               2/12/09 129.          THE CHAIRMAN (cont'd)          Or maybe you don't see it. Maybe          you just feel it. And that's even          better. Because that's the other          part.          David and Elise take it in...                         DAVID          And all the misery, all the pain...                         THE CHAIRMAN          I sit up there and I watch it and          it hurts me... . but if you could see          the incredible courage people show,          the random acts of kindness, the          love... If you could see huitan          beings choosing every moment          every day to be better thAn'' I made          them, you would know it's all          worthwhile.                         (BEAT)          Good luck, David. And good luck to          you, Elise. You're a-beautiful          dancer. And so much more...          The Chairman turns to his aide, who we didn't know was there.                         THE CHAIRMAN          Their case isclosed.          AIDE TO THE CHAIRRMAN          But, Sir,isn't this a majtr.          deviation from The Plan?          The Chairmen turns to another aide who is holding a folio          open and signs- a document on -ery heavy paper.                         THE CHAIRMAN          Not anymc3e .          David and Elise watc]i The Chairman walk away, still awed by          what=they've just experienced. As He disappears around a          corner, the sun comes out from behind the clouds ...          After a long beat, Elise turns back to David, as if to say          "what do we do now?"                         DAVID          Maybe we should go dancing.          A smile slowly spreads across her face ...                         THE END
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+BUCKAROO BANZAIbyEarl Mac RauchSHOOTING SCRIPTRevised Third DraftMarch 30, 1983Becherman/Canton-RichterBUCKAROO BANZAICARD OVER...WHITE LETTERS ON A DARK BACKGROUND:		FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT		Classified File #2TC1695		Dept. of Defense		3-1-50 thru 8-31-53		Re:  Project SawtoothFADE IN:EXT.  SMALL TEXAS TOWN - DAY	1Beside a 1950 Ford, a quartet of elite intellectuals poses playfully...dressed in the local custom of boots and cowboy hats, the TOW ORIENTAL MEN, A CAUCASIAN MAN, AND A CAUCASIAN WOMAN squint into the hot sun and then down at the jiggling home movie camera, the operator lopsided...NARRATORThe advent of the Soviet nuclear capability ushers in a dangerous phase of the Cold War as the decade of the 1950s looms.  Stung by this Soviet challenge and the rapid race to develop ever more sophisticated weapons, the United States resurrects maverick Professor Toichi Hikita's work in electromagnetic particle acceleration...despite the dismal record of failure that has dogged the project.TOICHI HIKITA, one of the group, walks forward, taking the CAMERA from its present operator, a four-year-old child...A LITTLE BOY IN CHAPS AND COWBOY HAT who now joins the other adults, in particular Caucasian woman and the elder Oriental man who pick him up and hug him...NARRATORDoctor Masado Banzai, preeminent Japanese quantum theorist, declares himself anxious to work for the Allies.  Enamored of the great American West, Banzai sires a precocious son and tags the tiny child "Buckaroo."  A tribute to his adopted homeland.EXT.  TEST SITE - DAY	2A strange TWO-MAN SPEED VEHICLE readies for takeoff...the FIRST "PILOT" in the cockpit Dr. Banzai himself:NARRATORAnd thus given a second chance after his secret pre-war laboratory disaster at Princeton, Doctor Hikita finds new life at the Texas School of Mines, where he assembles a team of crack scientists willing to gamble he's right in his bold assertion that man can indeed pass unharmed through solid matter.The SECOND "PILOT," a fair-haired Caucasian:	3NARRATORSir Alan Motley of Cambridge, a brainy, affable limey, co-developer with Whitehead and Lord Russell of the world's most advanced theoretical gravity catapult...	4The fourth scientist, the female Caucasian, busy with last-minute details, securing the two pilots in their seats, checking their instrument data, writing on a clipboard...NARRATORDr. Sandra Banzai, Texas-born pioneer in Negative Mass Propulsion ...wife of Dr. Masado Banzai....as the four-year-old BUCKAROO BANZAI now approaches the speed machine and gives his father a good-bye kiss...Dr. Banzai saying something to the boy, Buckaroo bowing respectfully, as his father and mother exchange last-minute assurances...The cockpit canopy comes down, and Sandra Banzai tugs a reluctant little Buckaroo toward a sandbagged shelter...EXT.  SANDBAGS - DAY	5...where Professor Hikita sits at a bank of monitoring equipment, Sandra Banzai and Buckaroo entering the enclosure as......A SUDDEN NOISE causes Sandra Banzai to turn in fear, the bizarre speed machine's motors whining at an astonishing rpm, BLINDING GREEN FLAMES ENGULFING ITS COCKPIT...EXT.  TEST SITE - DAY	6...Sandra Banzai rushing toward the sheet-metal vehicle through SMOKE AND GREEN FLAME as her husband and Sir Alan both struggle to get out...	7...Buckaroo running after his mother who attempts to help the scientists free themselves when suddenly the child is thrown to the ground and protected by Professor Hikita's own body...as the experimental car VAPORIZES IN A FLASH OF EMERALD GREEN LIGHT!  THE SCREEN GOING WHITE, A LAUNCH COUNTDOWN BEGINNING UNDER A SOMBER CARD:TODAYTHIRTY YEARS LATERVOICE OF MISSION CONTROLT Minus five hundred and counting.  Phaser positive.  Latch compressor.INT.  BLOCKHOUSE - DAY	8CLOSE ON AN OLDER, WISER PROFESSOR HIKITA:PROF. HIKITAPower source output, zero-zero-niner.  Multi-stage axial compressor latched.EXT.  JET CAR - PROVING GROUNDS - DAY	9One hundred yards from a concrete blockhouse, a SERIES OF MYSTERIOUS CLOSEUPS of an UNUSUAL STRATEGIC AUTOMOBILE sitting ready to roll, as TECHNICIANS in asbestos suites fill its tanks with HIGHLY FLAMMABLE FUEL.INT.  BLOCKHOUSE - DAY	10PROF. HIKITAFuel pressure, 1800 torrs.  Oxygenation....amid television screens, monitoring devices...an elite assortment of GOVERNMENT VIPS, MILITARY MEN, AND NEWS MEDIA REPRESENTATIVES standing by...	11...one such observer, GENERAL CATBURD, an AIDE approaching, whispering unpleasant news in his ear...GENERAL CATBURDYou're kidding. Where is he?  Still in the hospital? The aide shrugging, the General leaning over to a nervous man sitting next to him...SECRETARY OF DEFENSE McKINLEY.GENERAL CATBURDBanzai hasn't showed yet, Mr. Secretary. Looks like he's got cold feet.Another angle.  Two of Buckaroo's men, RENO and PERFECT TOMMY, sitting with their boots on a computer console.PERFECT TOMMYBetter see what's keepin' the boss, Reno.RENOWhy me?...an attractive NETWORK TV ANCHORWOMAN headed this way...PERFECT TOMMY'Cause I'm busy.  And get your clodhoppers off the UNIVAC.INT.  OPERATING ROOM - DAY	13THE EYES OF DOCTOR BUCKAROO BANZAI, THE REST OF HIS FACE HIDDEN BY A SURGICAL MASK...such concentration.INT.  SURGICAL SCRUB ROOM - DAY	14...a phone ringing, a NURSE answering it, then:NURSERawhide, it's for you.Jacketless, A SINISTER PISTOL visible in the tooled leather shoulder holster, RAWHIDE takes the receiver.RAWHIDEI'll ask him.(into his Go-Fone)Buckaroo, I need an estimate.  They're getting antsy over at Mission Control.INT.  OPERATING ROOM - DAY	15Buckaroo Banzai speaks into his GO-FONE:BUCKAROO BANZAIAnother ten minutes down here, Rawhide.REVEALING DOCTOR BANZAI, the great surgeon, surrounded by a well-oiled team of physicians and nurses...his steady, miraculously skilled hands working a LASER KNIFE on the brain of a PATIENT sitting clamped in a serious chair.INT.  SURGICAL SCRUB ROOM - DAY	16RAWHIDE(into phone)The chief needs ten more minutes.  I got the chopper waiting.  Don't start without us.INT.  BLOCKHOUSE - DAY	17Perfect Tommy still leaning back in his swivel chair, smiling at the blonde TV anchorwoman, waiting for her CAMERAMAN to set up...TV ANCHORWOMANSo where's Buckaroo?PERFECT TOMMY(a wry smile)Whadda you need Buckaroo for?The anchorwoman catching his drift, smiling, knowing Perfect Tommy perhaps intimately...Perfect Tommy glancing across the crowded room at Reno raising ten fingers...PERFECT TOMMYUnscheduled surgery.  He'll be waltzing along momentarily.  What're you doing tonight?TV ANCHORWOMAN(picking up his hat)Flying to Cambodia.Perfect Tommy frowning severely as she tried on his Stetson, the anchorwoman promptly getting the message and putting it back down.PERFECT TOMMYThat's why I wear a fifty dollar hat.  Was a two hundred dollar hat, I hadda kill you.TV ANCHORWOMANBet you say that to all the girls, Perfect Tommy.PERFECT TOMMYBet I do.INT.  SURGICAL SCRUB ROOM - DAY	18Another STAR SURGEON, scrubbing for an operation next door now peeking at his wrist watch TV:CLOSE ON THE TINY TV:  AN IMAGE OF THE JET CAR...	19ANGLE ON...	20STAR SURGEONJesus Christ...how does the man find enough hours in the day?RAWHIDEWe help.The surgeon curious, studying the big TV monitor, Rawhide sensing an explanation is in order:RAWHIDEDr. Banzai's using a laser to fuse artificial nerve fiber to the original, bypassing massive stroke damage.  A subcutaneous microphone's gonna allow the patient to transmit verbal instructions to his own brain.STAR SURGEONWhat, like "raise my left arm"?RAWHIDEOr "throw the harpoon," depending on cultural differences. People are gonna come from all over. This guy's an Eskimo.INT.  OPERATING ROOM - DAY	21Buckaroo winding down the surgery.  A BRILLIANT BUT ERRATIC JEWISH PHYSICIAN at his side whispering through a mask...JEWISH PHYSICIANOkay...right...okay, I see...next time I'll be able to...BUCKAROO BANZAIThere may not be a next time.JEWISH PHYSICIANLook...I'm sorry...calling for help in the middle of an operation...but I just lost my nerve...I panicked...again.Buckaroo picking a NIKON up off a table, snapping some pictures of his handiwork...BUCKAROO BANZAIYou've got the God-given tools to be a success in any field of endeavor, Dr. Zwibel.  Ever thought about joining me full-time?JEWISH PHYSICIAN (DR. ZWIBEL)Are you serious?  Have you have an opening?BUCKAROO BANZAICan you sing?DR. ZWIBELA little. I can dance.Buckaroo glancing at the clock on the wall...INT.  BLOCKHOUSE - DAY	22PROF. HIKITAInertial Control positive.  T minus seven zero and resume counting.MISSION CONTROLAll systems righteous.  Professor Hikita says we have to go.General Catburd and other VIPS happy to observe on their TV monitors the sight of a MAN IN BLACK COMMANDO PARACHUTE SUIT, carrying a BATTERED OLD BRIEFCASE, climbing into the cockpit of...THE JET CAR.INT.  JET CAR - DAYTHE DRIVER'S POV, a curious combination of airplane dials and switches and personal touches like a big four-on-the-floor gear shift and a snazzy pearlized Brodi knob with snowflakes and a coochi-coochi girl...	24ANGLE ON the driver as he removes a strange GRYOSCOPIC DEVICE from his briefcase, plugs it into a cradle near his head...INT.  BLOCKHOUSE - DAY	25Professor Hikita standing at a special monitor as a light pops on, indicating "Overthruster Armed"....he covers it with a hanky...EXT.  JET CAR - DAY	26...all quiet suddenly, the car poised, waiting...INT.  BLOCKHOUSE - DAY	27General Catburd grabbing some coffee and doughnuts...the Secretary of Defense peering out through a viewing slot...GENERAL CATBURDI've got a budget meeting on the hill, John.  What's this thing supposed to do anyway?SENATOR CUNNINGHAMThree hundred miles an hour, General.GENERAL CATBURDSenator, you are so fulla shit.SECRETARY OF DEFENSEMay not...EXT.  JET CAR - DAY	28The Jet Car undergoing an amazing transformation:  TWO STABILIZER FINS AND A JET ENGINE suddenly appearing on its rear deck...INT.  JET CAR - DAY	29CLOSE ON THE DRIVER TO REVEAL BUCKAROO BANZAI, world famous figure in every field of endeavor as he withdraws a beautiful KAMIKAZE SCARF from his flight suit...wraps it like a warrior's headband around his helmet...	30ANGLE ON Buckaroo's hand as his fingers flip a row of toggle switches, THE PULSATING POWER OF THE JET ENGINE INCREASING DRAMATICALLY with each successive switch...the vehicle a caged beast, taunting us, as Buckaroo flips the last switch...BUCKAROO BANZAIFinal contact is made.EXT.  JET CAR - DAY	31No kidding.  A TWENTY FOOT SHEET OF FIRE ROCKETING FROM THE BACK OF THE JET CAR...THEN ANOTHER...THEN ANOTHER...INT.  BLOCKHOUSE - DAY	32The Cavaliers at their monitors, calm...Hikita making minor adjustments on his instrument bank...the Secretary of Defense and General Catburd both now at viewing slots in the blockhouse wall...PROF. HIKITAPoint of no return...five, four, three, two...INT.  JET CAR - DAY	33PROF. HIKITA'S VOICE...one.As Buckaroo Banzai twists his steering-wheel mounted TWIN ACCELERATORS, the sudden forward lurch of the Jet Car slamming him back against the headrest...EXT.  PROVING GROUNDS - DAY	34THE JET CAR BLASTING OFF!  MORE FIRE!  MORE SMOKE!INT.  BLOCKHOUSE - DAY	35Technicians and VIPS eye their monitors.	36AND SO DO WE:  the rugged JET CAR raising a cloud of dust, viewed from high above us it blasts ahead!ANGLE ON	37GENERAL CATBURDToo bad war ain't Indianapolis.  It's fast, I'll give Banzai that.SENATOR CUNNINGHAMPerhaps an idea whose time has come, General?  Scoot over.Catburd moving aside as Senator Cunningham takes her turn with the viewing device.GENERAL CATBURDIt'll never work.  It's too simple.INT.  HELICOPTER - DAY	38HIGH OVERHEAD, manned by a TV NEWS CREW.	39AN OVER-THE-CAMERAMAN'S SHOULDER POV as the JET CAR'S EXHAUST TRAIL CHOKES THE LANDSCAPE BELOW...INT.  JET CAR - DAY	40BUCKAROO'S POV as the highway races underneath him...INT.  BLOCKHOUSE - DAY	41ALL EYES glued to those TV monitors, Rawhide and Reno watching...Perfect Tommy slapping his hand on the desk.TV ANCHORWOMANNow twenty seconds downrange...Perfect Tommy, how on earth is Buckaroo able to keep that thing on the ground?PERFECT TOMMYShe's just a damn road hugger, Allison.  Plus the man can drive.EXT.  PROVING GROUNDS - DAY	42Talk about a road hugger...the JET CAR SCREAMS PAST A BANK OF HIGH SPEED CAMERAS...THE EARTH SHAKING...INT.  BLOCKHOUSE - DAY	43PROF. HIKITAApproaching thirty seconds downrange Three zero.  Course steady.  Speed three one seven nautical-four hundred...SECRETARY OF DEFENSEHe's gonna do it!  The man is gonna do it!GENERAL CATBURDSo what?  Big deal.  Anybody can drive fast in a straight line.INT.  JET CAR - DAY	44...as if in response to Catburd's comment, Buckaroo does an amazing thing, NOW FLICKING HIS DIRECTIONAL SIGNAL...EXT.  JET CAR - DAY	45LEAVING THE PAVED SURFACE FOR OPEN TERRAIN!  BEGIN INTERCUTTING BLOCKHOUSE AND JET CAR...INT.  JET CAR - DAY	46A FIRE breaking out on a dashboard gauge, Buckaroo quickly snuffing the SPARKS with his gloved hand...DANGER LIGHTS FLASHING!EXT.  JET CAR - DAY	47...as AWESOME PHYSICAL PRESSURES take their tool on car and driver...INT.  BLOCKHOUSE - DAY	48PROF. HIKITABuckaroo, do you read?MISSION CONTROLAdvise you abort.  Over.  Repeat: advise abort.INT.  JET CAR - DAY	49BUCKAROO BANZAIThat's a big "no can do".INT.  BLOCKHOUSE- DAY	50Buckaroo's voice through STATIC AND CRACKLE.  Professor Hikita white-knuckled...determined.INT.  JET CAR - DAY	51Buckaroo STILL ACCELERATING, struggling with his mighty machine...fierce vibrations, OIL AND SMOKE filling the cockpit...as he wipes hot oil off his goggles...INT.  HELICOPTER - DAY	52In the NETWORK HELICOPTER, a NEWSMAN and CAMERMAN catch this shocking turn of events:	53THEIR POV OF...the JET CAR flaming along across the desert.  A SONIC BOOM!INT.  BLOCKHOUSE - DAY	54A TV MONITOR...A HELICOPTER SHOT revealing that the course thus far traveled by Buckaroo is ON FIRE, the ground literally set ablaze by the incredible speed of his JET CAR:ANGLE ON:	55TV ANCHORWOMANThe Jet Car off the road!  Radio contact with Mission Control here severed...that firestorm apparently interfering with communications...Buckaroo Banzai in serious trouble.GENERAL CATBURDEither that or he's popped his cookies.Professor Hikita, on pins and needles, face taught, concerned.MISSION CONTROLMach 1.  Buckaroo!  Do you read?  Commence braking procedure!  Over!SECRETARY OF DEFENSEHe's heading for the goddamn mountains!MISSION CONTROLEject, Buckaroo! EJECT!Buckaroo heard faintly in a STORM OF NOISE...SPEAKING JAPANESE...SENATOR CUNNINGHAMProfessor Hikita, what'd he say?PROF. HIKITA(quizzical)He said, "This Bud's for you, Professor."  What does that mean?	56ON THE MONITORS the JET CAR is seen heading directly into a box canyon and TOWARD A WALL OF MOUNTAINS, impact virtually assured.ANGLE ON:	57GENERAL CATBURDLooks like Banzai's finally gonna get more than he bargained for.  And take the friends of the Earth with him.Rawhide and Reno exchanging very concerned glances...INT.  JET CAR - DAY	58Buckaroo Banzai peers out his thick glass window.BUCKAROO'S POV:  THE SIDE OF A MOUNTAIN CLOSING FAST...	59	60ANGLE ON Buckaroo's hand moving to a switch on the dash marked OSCILLATION OVERTHURSTER, remaining there, posed.REVERSE ON BUCKAROO:  eyes on his instruments.	61ANOTHER ANGLE ON Buckaroo hitting the OVERTHRUSTER...	62	63BUCKAROO'S POV...THE FACE OF THE MOUNTAIN RUSHING UP INTO FRAME!  COLLISION A PICO SECOND AWAY!INT.  MISSION CONTROL ROOM - DAY	64ALL INSTRUMENTS LOSE CONTACT WITH THE JET CAR!  Jaws drop in disbelief.CLOSE ON MONITOR:  THE JET CAR SIMPLY GONE, VANISHED INTO THIN AIR...	65ANGLE ON:	66MISSION CONTROLIt's off my scope!GENERAL CATBURDWhat the devil?  What is going on?!INT.  JET CAR	67BUCKAROO'S COCKPIT POV... like a roller coaster ride through a meteor shower - THE EIGHTH DIMENSION, AN ORGANIC ASTEROID HURTLING RIGHT AT US EMITTING STRANGE STATIC ELECTRICAL CHARGES...MONSTROUS...RED...GHASTLY!	68REVERSE ANGLE.  Looking directly at Buckaroo as his face distorts under God-knows-how-many G-forces...where the hell is he?!  His plexiglas visor shattering as if hit with a two-by-four.COCKPIT POV...Buckaroo's windshield CRACKLING AND THE COCKPIT TURNING RED.	69	70CLOSE ON DASHBOARD: wildly spinning dials, Buckaroo punching the OSCILLATION OVERTHRUSTER again, amid fire and smoke!INT.  HELICOPTER - TEST RANGE - DAY	71The TV crew in their fancy helicopter first to witness an astounding sight.	72THEIR POV: the JET CAR EMERGING FROM SOLID ROCK AS THOUGH THE CRAGGY MOUNTAIN WERE MUSH!CLOSE ON:	73HELICOPTER NEWSMAN(in apoplexy)He's through it!  He's gone through the mountain without a scratch!  Oh, my God!  Oh, my God in Heaven!INT.  MISSION CONTROL - DAY	74An overjoyed Professor Hikita, surrounded by chaos and confusion, throws both arms skyward in triumph...PROF. HIKITABanzai!INT.  JET CAR - DOWN RANGE - DAY	75Fifty miles downrange, Buckaroo tries to slow the speeding, smoke-filled JET CAR.EXT.  JET CAR - DAY	76A parachute popping out its back, at once ripping off in the high velocity wind...INT.  JET CAR - DAY	77BUCKAROO BANZAIChute negative.  I'm gonna try and lay her sideways.78	ANOTHER ANGLE as he reaches for the hand brake and simultaneously spins his Brodi knob hard to the right!EXT.  MIDDLE OF NOWHERE - DAY	79Buckaroo doing the impossible, somehow bringing the racing JET CAR to a spinning, skidding halt in a thicket of dry brush!  AS OVERHEAD THAT NETWORK HELICOPTER CIRCLES...EXT.  JET CAR - DAY	80The battered JET CAR, exhausting smoke, Buckaroo rolling its window down, opening the door and emerging, checking the damage to his vehicle, noting a STRANGE GELATINOUS SUBSTANCE on the cracked windshield, touching it and turning his nose from the smell...his glove steaming!THE NEWS COPTER LANDING IN THE DISTANCE.	81	82ANGLE ON Buckaroo as he lowers himself under the Jet Car, coming face-to-face with one ugly SPHERICAL PARASITE, THE THING SUDDENLY SHOOTING OUT at Buckaroo as he's about to touch it...A MOBILE PHONE starting to BEEP back in the cockpit...the PARASITE coming to rest on the ground...dead?INT.  BLOCKHOUSE - DAY	83Pandemonium, people cheering...General Catburd on the phone...GENERAL CATBURDThis his frequency?  Nobody's home.EXT.  JET CAR - DAY	84Buckaroo ignoring the phone, taking his lunch bag from the front seat and removing a sandwich, taking a bite of it, and using the foil to pick up the BIZARRE PARASITE from the desert floor...wrapping the weird thing up...now at last reaching for the car phone...INT.  BLOCKHOUSE - DAY	85SECRETARY OF DEFENSE(Taking the phone)Gimme that!  You tell me, Buckaroo, what in the hell is this going-through-solid-matter-and rendering-all-conventional-defense-perimeters-useless-over-night bullshit?But now Professor Hikita snatching the phone from the Secretary, turning his back to the room!PROF. HIKITABuckaroo!  Did you seem them?  Did you?EXT.  JET CAR - DAY	86Buckaroo leaning in to check his gauges, talking on his telephone.  TWO FIGURES from the news copter approaching, still a hundred yards off...BUCKAROO BANZAISee 'em?  They about had me and the whole damn car for breakfast.  Broke my windshield...INT.  BLOCKHOUSE - DAY	87PROF. HIKITA(into phone)The creatures?  They attacked you?  They tried to possess you?GENERAL CATBURDCreatures?(grabbing the phone)Buckaroo, Catburd here.  I got egg all over my face, but that's okay.  No room for egos here.  We're all Americans and I wanna buy that thing of yours.  What's it gonna run me?PROF. HIKITANot for sale.GENERAL CATBURDI wasn't talking to you, Hikita san....as the Secretary of Defense picks up a RED PHONE...SECRETARY OF DEFENSEThis'll be the President of me?Perfect Tommy and Reno suddenly stepping forward, intimidating Catburd...PERFECT TOMMYShe's not for sale, right, General?INT.  HOME FOR CRIMINALLY INSANCE - DAY	88CLOSE ON the haunting, unsettling eyes of DOCTOR LIZARDO, AN ORANGE-HAIRED OLD MAN watching NETWORK FOOTAGE of the Jet Car Test on his battered Philco TV set...his eyes practically burning a whole through the screen......PULLING BACK TO REVEAL a room in an insane asylum, a room designed for several inmates but occupied by only one, this crazy old fiend...the empty beds piled with books and Italian memorabilia, the walls covered with mathematical equations...	89ANGLE ON Dr. Lizardo even now unable to resist scribbling another formula on the wall with a piece of chalk...CLOSE ON PHILCO:	90ANCHORWOMAN ON TVHere she is, slowed down.  Lookit there...slam!  Right into the side of that mountain!  Perfect Tommy, Rawhide, Reno, you guys're the Hong Kong Cavaliers. Buckaroo's most trusted inner circle.  So I gotta ask, did it surprise you fellas as much as the rest of us when the BJV, the experimental jet vehicle went right off the scope and apparently smack into a black void?PERFECT TOMMY ON TVNope.ANCHORWOMAN ON TVWas Buckaroo acting different this morning, I mean, in terms of other mornings?The Cavaliers rolling their eyes, looking at one another...RAWHIDE ON TVWell, we partied pretty late last night.	91BACK TO Dr. Lizardo now hearing footsteps outside in the corridor, and HIS LEFT AHND, ACTING INDEPENDENTLY OF HIS RIGHT, ERASES THE EQUATION HE'S JUST WRITTEN...as his right hand reaches under his pillow and picks up a crude HOMEMADE ELECTROMAGNET...a piece of metal wrapped in copper wire, one end of which is a small loop that Lizardo now attaches directly to his thumbs...DOCTOR LIZARDO(muttering)The Overthruster! The Overthruster! Lizardo looking back at his equation, at first puzzled to find it erased, then becoming angry.	92CLOSE ON HIS HAND NOW STICKING THE OTHER END OF HIS HOME-MADE DEVICE DIRECTLY INTO AN ELECTIRCAL SOCKET...ANGLE ON:	93DOCTOR LIZARDO(obsessed)The Overthruster! ELECTRICAL CURRENT COURSING THROUGH LIZARDO'S BODY...AN AURA SURROUNDING HIM AS HIS LIPS CURL INTO A HIDEOUS SMILE...BURNING THE SCREEN, TAKING US INTO AN ASTOUNDING FLASHBACK SEQUENCE:INT.  STRANGE LABORATORY - NIGHT	94Forty-six years prior (years before the ill-fated primitive speed car run involving Buckaroo's parents) an unlikely experiment in a strange factory...A RUNWAY...a much younger, dark-haired Doctor Lizardo being strapped into a homemade wicker chair/rocket sled by two LAB ASSISTANTS, the entire contraption set up like a catapult AIMED DIRECTLY AT A LOSID BRICK WALL, THROBBING ELECTROMAGNETS AND BANKS OF GLOWING OSCILLATORS...	95ANOTHER ANGLE...and peering into an unusual periscope, an equally JUVENILE PROFESSOR HIKITA wearing glasses and scraggly goatee...standing in front of a 1938 calendar on the wall, today's eagerly awaited date circled in red...PROF. HIKITAAlmost ready, Dr. Lizardo...almost...Doctor Lizardo pulling on a leather helmet, Professor Hikita nodding grimly at the LAB ASSISTANTS who tug on a GIANT LEVER...the ELECTROMAGNETS PULSATING...DOCTOR LIZARDOMore!  More!PROF. HIKITANot so fast...	96ANGLE ON Doctor Lizardo pulling a switch, UNLEASHING HIS WICKER CHAIR AT A FANTASTIC SPEED down the rails!	97AT THE END OF THE TRACK...the strange device coming to an abrupt and total stop ten feet from the brick wall, pitching Lizardo forward and...	98...through the wall, at least partially, the seemingly solid bricks turning out to be more like vertical QUICKSAND...Lizardo half in, half out, physically unhurt but screaming his head off...	99...the assistants rushing down the runway to help pry him loose, while Professor Hikita observes an astonishing thing through his periscope.	100PERISCOPE POV:  HUGE GROTESQUE RED CREATURES IN AN AURA OF ELECTRICITY TRYING TO PULL DOCTOR LIZARDO TOWARD THEM...ONE CREATURE IN PARTICULAR ENVELOPING LIZARDO!	101BACK TO...the doctor's assistants frantically tugging on his feet, dragging him back into the room only to find this SUDDENLY ORANGE-HAIRED LIZARDO a fearsome, changed individual...a beast!	102CLOSE ON LIZARDO!  A terrifying scream issues from his mouth as he straightens up, at last wrenching free of the wicker chair, smashing his two assistants' heads together as he jumps over the runway!  Hikita watching wild-eyed as Lizardo makes a mad dash into the vast shadowy expanse of the factory...	103A DISTANT VIEW OF LIZARDO as he rips a door off its hinges, escaping into the night, SILHOUTTED AGAINST A DAZZLING SECURITY LIGHT, THE SCREEN BURNING WHITE...OUR FLASHBACK ENDING.INT.  LIZARDO'S ROOM - NIGHT	104Nearly half a century later, the elderly Lizardo regards with smoldering evil the turn of the key in his own door and the appearance of a GUARD who comes in and unplugs his TV set.GUARDCheer up, Lizardo, it's Friday.  I come for your TV.  You been using too damn much juice...ten thousand kilowatts again this month.  Beats me how one old homicidal loony could use that much power.The guard leaving with Lizardo's TV...Lizardo trying to control himself, his eyes rolling up at the ceiling where yet another UNUSUAL EQUATION has been scrawled in an angry hand.DOCTOR LIZARDOI want my TV...don't take my TV...I want it.  I want the Overthruster.  I want it.INT.  NIGHTCLUB - NIGHT	105Mysterious half-light...CLOSEUPS...plugs and jacks...a portion of an upright base...drums with the BANZAI LOGO writ large...hands and feet putting everything together as an unseen audience stirs restlessly...INT.  DRESSING ROOM - NIGHT	106Backstage in a small dressing room, the rock band known as the Hong Kong Cavaliers waits to go on...three unidentified GROUPIES in attendance as Rawhide naps and Reno tunes his saxophone while Perfect Tommy answers the questions of a FEMALE REPORTER from the local underground press...Professor Hikita meantime at a corner table, studying his big notebook, examining a pair of KODAK SLIDES......as there is the sound of a commotion in the corridor, EXCITED VOICES and FOOT TRAFFIC coming this way, Rawhide methodically counting down under his Stetson:RAWHIDEFive...four...three...two...one.	107The door to the dressing room opening precisely on the count of one, admitting an out-of-breath and hastily tuxedoed Buckaroo Banzai, A SMALL CROWD OF ASSORTED FEMAL FANS locked outside.BUCKAROO BANZAII'm starving...somebody, help.RAWHIDEGot a half a tuna sandwich.BUCKAROO BANZAISame one you had yesterday?Rawhide taking a half-eaten sandwich out of his hat and tossing it to Buckaroo...BUCKAROO BANZAISmells fermented.(taking a big bite)Check in with the Institute, Reno, see if everything's kosher.PROF. HIKITABuckaroo, I've done an advanced spectrograph analysis on the specimen you pulled off the Jet Car drive shaft.RENOAnd there's a two-hundred-dollar deductible we have to eat on that crack in her windshield.BUCKAROO BANZAIFigures.  Anybody seen my scope?PERFECT TOMMYComing right up, Buckaroo.Perfect Tommy producing a highly sophisticated SLIDE VIEWER...Buckaroo slipping in a transparency.	108HIS POV OF A COLORFUL PRISMATIC GRAPH over the backdrop of A NAKED WOMAN.	109Buckaroo immediately diagnosing the problem and removing the naked-woman slide from the viewer...BUCKAROO BANZAIAnybody we know?PERFECT TOMMYWho put this dirty picture in Buckaroo's viewer?Rawhide reclaiming his raunchy slide, Buckaroo looking back into the sleek device...PROF. HIKITAI ran it through the centrifuge, but I came up blank.  It's definitely dead now, although it still conducts electricity even better than copper does.PERFECT TOMMYSuper performance organic material.PROF. HIKITAYes, Perfect Tommy, in a way.  However...(slipping in another slide)...notice...although certain components resist identification, it corresponds very closely to an ordinary praying mantis.BUCKAROO BANZAI(scrutinizing)Too closely.  Gotta be more than sheer coincidence.  Rawhide, you're keen on bugs.  What do you think?Rawhide takes a look as Reno hangs the phone up...RENOEverything's copacetic at the Institute, Buckaroo.  Sam's with the Jet Car and she's under lock and key.  He's retiming her valves.Buckaroo nodding, as he's interrupted by Perfect Tommy who's now brought over the female reporter...PERFECT TOMMYBuckaroo, you got a minute--?BUCKAROO BANZAINot really.  This is pretty important.PERFECT TOMMYShe wants a picture.Perfect Tommy quickly taking a place beside Buckaroo, smiling into the camera, as Reno and Rawhide exchange disgusted looks...	110...the shutter clicking...another commotion in the hallway...the dressing room door opening to admit the club owner, ARTIE DUNCAN, a fifty-year-old rocker who has to struggle to close the door behind him on a herd of REPORTERS and FANS...ARTIE DUNCANI don't care who you are...when you play my joint, you're just another band. I want some music outta you characters.RENO You want it, Artie? You got it.BUCKAROO BANZAIEverybody ready?  How do we look?  Do we look okay?PERFECT TOMMYI look great.  Let's rock 'n' roll.A pair of no-nonsense BLUE SHIELD IRREGULARS appearing to escort them on-stage...as Rawhide returns the spectroscope to Professor Hikita...RAWHIDENo question about it.  Something very akin to arachnoid tissue.  If I hadda guess?  A mutated species.INT.  BACKSTAGE - NIGHT	111Buckaroo, the Hong Kong Cavaliers, and their two Blue Shield escorts hustling down a corridor.INT.  NIGHTCLUB STAGE - NIGHT	112Our boys arriving on stage...SHADOWY FORMS in the dramatically murky light...a FAMILIAR VOICE BOOMING OVER THE P.A. SYSTEM...ARTIE DUNCAN'S VOICELadies and gentlemen, Artie's Artery is proud to present, for one night only...the one, the only, the amazing Buckaroo Banzai and his Hong Kong Cavaliers!LIGHTS UP!  AND A WAVE OF GOOD OLD FASHIONED ROCK 'N' ROLL CRASHES OUT ON THE AUDIENCE, Buckaroo on lead guitar, joining the Hong Kong Cavaliers in a number so primal your feet just won't sit still!	113...while at the rear of the room, seated by herself, we find an ATTRACTIVE YOUNG LADY...crying, for some reason exempt from the general raucous good will.  She pours herself another drink, but booze won't do the job.  She's all alone.  She needs some help.  Her name is PENNY PRIDDY.	114On-stage Buckaroo Banzai suddenly stops moving, stops singing and waves the Cavaliers to cease as well.  EERIE STILLNESS, the only sound Buckaroo's lips on the silver mike.BUCKAROO BANZAII heard somebody crying.(no response)I said is someone out there crying in the darkness?Yes, indeed...Penny's voice, weakly:	115PENNY PRIDDYHere...here at the back. I'm sorry...	116Buckaroo squints, spots her.  His voice comes mighty over the PUBLIC ADDRESS SYSTEM.BUCKAROO BANZAIRaise your hand...where?PENNY PRIDDY(raising her hand)This is so embarrassing...BUCKAROO BANZAISomebody get her a mike? Can we manage that?  And a spotlight.  What's your name?PENNY PRIDDYPenny.  I'd rather not reveal my last name or my age.For reasons out of their control, Penny's name coming across to Buckaroo and the Cavaliers as "Peggy," said name immediately eliciting a surprised reaction from the Cavaliers......Buckaroo amazed as well...a not-too-distant pain deep in his soul momentarily manifesting itself, although he makes a brave attempt at nonchalance...as now Penny is given that microphone.BUCKAROO BANZAIDid you say..."Peggy"?PENNY PRIDDYMy name is Penny. Penny Priddy.  There I've said it, but it won't mean anything to you.  I'm a nobody.The business of the names settled, Buckaroo and the Cavaliers breathing a bit more easily...BUCKAROO BANZAINobody's a nobody.  Why're you crying?  What's wrong?PENNY PRIDDY(blowing her nose)Did I say anything was wrong? I just sponged up a little too much Vat 69, okay? I'm down to my last nickel in this lousy town, I can't get my luggage outta hock 'cause I met this jerk who said he was a record producer when all he had was a record.  He offered to set me up for life, and like a fool, well, I...BUCKAROO BANZAIHe offered you money?PENNY PRIDDYDo I look like that kinda girl?(to tell the truth)I lost my room this morning.  I don't know where I'm gonna sleep tonight, but I keep going.  What the hell else can I do?  I've still got my figure, and like this bozo said, as long as there's a sidewalk, I'll always have a job.A few snickers...BUCKAROO shooting a disapproving look at those guilty of laughing at another person's misfortune...BUCKAROO BANZAIRemember it's always darkest just before the dawn.  Believe me, I've been there.Buckaroo moving to a piano...starting to play...BUCKAROO BANZAIThis song's for Peggy.  And all you others out there a little down on your luck.PENNY PRIDDY(exasperated)My name's, Penny!  But who cares?	117Buckaroo and his men start to SING ANOTHER TUNE...slower, sexier.	118...and Penny opens HER BIG CLEAR PLASTIC PURSE, removes first a dog-earned paperback entitled Beyond the Realm of Atomic Particles and Massless Photons, by Buckaroo Banzai...then a BUCKAROO BANZAI COMIC BOOK, its cover depicting Buckaroo locked in mortal combat with HANOI SHAN, THE MANCHU TERROR!  Penny lays both publications on the table, continues to dig around, revealing next a SHINY SMALL-CALIBER AUTOMATIC PISTOL...	119ON STAGE...as Buckaroo pours it on, looking in her direction...		120Penny takes the gun from her purse and lays it in her lap, tears starting to flood her eyes...	121BUCKAROO CROONING, all the women enraptured by his voice, his sultry glance, his animal presence...a real heart-breaker.	122Penny takes another drink, wraps her hand around the tiny pearl handle...SLOWLY MOVING THE GUN...	123ON STAGE, Buckaroo startled...		124...as in the blink of an eye Penny ATTEMPTS TO SHOOT HERSELF, her arm accidentally deflected by a passing WAITRESS, the SHOT going harmlessly into the ceiling as...	125...the crack Hong Kong Cavaliers whip out their GUNS, snapping back hammers, forming a human barricade around Buckaroo...	126...while BLUE SHIELD SECURITY MEN materialize and drag Penny screaming from the room.PENNY PRIDDYLet me go, let me go, you creeps...BUCKAROO BANZAIEverybody okay up here?ARTIE DUNCAN'S VOICEArrest the girl!  Let's get this thing on the road, huh?	127The Cavaliers holstering their weapons, resuming musical postures...Buckaroo too...but his mind still half on Penny Priddy.INT.  CRIMINALLY INSANCE COORIDOR - NIGHT	128Recreation time.  SEVERAL MADMEN playing video games, content.Doctor Lizardo's Philco TV now sitting on a watch desk, the guard who took it eating dinner, leaning back in his chair, his feet on the set...so he can bash it now and then to improve the picture quality...as a SHADOW falls across him...Doctor Lizardo...pulling a RATTY SUITCASE on tiny travel wheels, wearing an ANCIENT SPORTJACKET.  Out for a stroll?GUARDWhere do you think you're going, doc? The moon?	129An amazing thing occurring, as Lizardo's right arm rockets out an catches the astonished guard around the throat, lifting him off the floor, Lizardo's left hand picking up the telephone...DR. LIZARDOOperator! I wanna place a person-to-person call to John Bigboote, Yoyodyne Propulsions Systems.  Grover's Mill, New Jersey. Tell him it's John Whorfin calling. That's W-H-O-R-F-I-N. Got it, honey? John! J-O-H-N!Lizardo waiting for the call to go through as he strangles the last breath of air out of the helpless guard, drops him to the linoleum, reaching for the dead man's keys...DR. LIZARDO(into phone)Of course it's me, John Bigboote, you fool! Prepare for my return!  The time has come.  Haven't you heard? Don't you watch TV? Banzai and Hikita have done it! I'll meet you at the factory.  Get that overthruster!  And the little Jap!  Alive!  Banzai's too dangerous.Lizardo ripping the phone out of the wall, hurling it across the room......those inmates playing their video games fleeing like rabbits when they see that...Lizardo obviously no ordinary lunatic, as he proves by simply reaching out and...	130...touching THE BUCKAROO BANZAI VIDEO GAME, instantly shorting it out on his way to freedom, suitcase in tow.INT.  BEDROOM ON BUS - DAY	131CLOSE ON a newspaper, a banner front page headline announcing the amazing Jet Car test......and down in a lower corner, A PHOTOGRAPH OF "WOULD-BE-ASSASSIN" PENNY PRIDDY being summarily escorted out of Artie's Artery...PULLING BACK TO REVEAL...	132...a simple steel frame bed, fold-out desk with microscope, scientific books everywhere...Buckaroo trying to tie his bowtie, glancing at the newspaper propped upon his dresser, that picture of Penny Priddy staring back at him...Perfect Tommy and Reno nearby assembling some kind of slide show...THE WHOLE ROOM SWAYING MYSTERIOUSLY......the two Cavaliers worrying more about Buckaroo than about what they're doing, as they fumble the slides, several falling to the floor...PERFECT TOMMYPick those up, Reno.RENOI didn't drop 'em....Perfect Tommy getting up and peeking at the newspaper over Buckaroo's shoulder...then returning to Reno...their voices low...PERFECT TOMMYIt's a spittin' image.RENO Doesn't look anything like her to me.PERFECT TOMMYPictures don't lie.RENO Hell they don't. I met my first wife that way.PERFECT TOMMYIt's Peggy to these eyes.  Same nose, same hair.  Plus Buckaroo thinks so too or else he wouldn't be ready to go make a fool of himself, right?	133Buckaroo overhearing all of this, of course, as the door opens, Rawhide appearing, offering a COMPUTER PRINT-OUT...RAWHIDEHot off the World Watch Wire, Buckaroo. Thought you'd wanna be notified. That old pal of the professor's, Dr. Emilio Lizardo?  The one you did the brain scan on--?  He killed a guard last night, broke outta the Trenton Home for the Criminally Insane, stole a Masarati, totaled it a block away.Buckaroo's expression changing at the mention of the name Lizardo...taking the print-out.BUCKAROO BANZAIThen what?RAWHIDEVanished. Thin air.PERFECT TOMMYDoctor Lizardo. Wasn't he on TV once?RENOYou're thinking of Mr. Wizard.  This guy's an eccentric genius.PERFECT TOMMYHey, so was Mr. Wizard.RAWHIDEDr. Lizardo's a raving lunatic, Perfect Tommy, a vicious psychopath with crazy eyes and flaming orange hair that once upon a time was mousy brown like yours.BUCKAROO BANZAIHave you warned Professor Hikita?RAWHIDEFirst thing I did.PERFECT TOMMY(in the dark)Why?  What's going on?  Anything I oughta know?  C'mon, Rawhide, spill it.Buckaroo nodding his permission...RAWHIDEThe professor and Dr. Emilio Lizardo were actually the first to discover the Eighth Dimension.  Almost fifty years ago.  Before Buckaroo's parents even knew each other.  But there was trouble, a rocket catapult failed and Dr. Lizardo got sucked half in, half out...when they hauled him back ,he wasn't the same guy.  His hair was orange...BUCKAROO BANZAIAnd his soul black as the Ace of Spades.RAWHIDEHe went on a senseless crime spree, killed a cop during a bank robbery, got caught and judged insane.  The professor told us they threw away the key.PERFECT TOMMYHey, any lock can be picked.  So what's he up to?BUCKAROO BANZAII'm sure we'll find out soon enough.Buckaroo heading for the door...Rawhide drawing a receipt book from his pocket.RAWHIDEAnd another thing.  Somebody took five bucks outta petty cash without signing.Buckaroo and Reno automatically turning to Perfect Tommy...PERFECT TOMMYWasn't me.  I'd take a hundred, right?INT.  WORLD WATCH ONE/BUS - DAY	134...the guys following Buckaroo into an amazing ELECTRONIC NERVE CENTER, like the rugged interior of an AWACS, dimly lighted instrument panels manned by two BLUE SHIELD TECHNICAL EXPERTS.RADAR SHEILD ONELookit this, Buckaroo.  Grossly abnormal high-altitude electrostatic disturbance over Connecticut.  Fallout from the Jet Car, you think?BUCKAROO BANZAIDoubt it.  Check NORAD command.  Could be a volcanic ash cloud.  Work her up statistically, check it for the next twenty-four hours, then shovel the data over to Reno.INT.  PASSENGER SECTION/BUS - DAY	135Buckaroo coming through another heavy steel door, and for the first time we realize that we just might be on a MOVING BUS...EXT.  POLICE STATION - ESTABLISHING - DAY	136BUCKAROO'S BUS pulling up...BUCKAROO BANZAI AND THE HONG KONG CAVALIERS emblazoned along its side.INT.  POLICE STATION - DAY	137Waiting near the watch desk, Buckaroo's Jewish surgeon buddy, Dr. Zwibel...in a thousand-dollars worth of drugstore cowboy gear, a Hoppalong Cassidy hat, red alligator boots, listening to the local COUNTRY STATION on a suitcase size stereo......looking up as Buckaroo, Reno, and Perfect Tommy approach...DR. ZWIBELHowdy, Buckaroo.  Got your message about rendezvousing here.  Barely had time to pack my saddlebags.BUCKAROO BANZAISid, welcome aboard.(shaking hands)Fellas, meet a medical colleague, Sid Zwibel.  He'll be riding with us from now on, so get acquainted while I snoop around.Buckaroo heading over to the DESK SERGEANT on duty...RENOThe name's Reno.  This here's Perfect Tommy.PERFECT TOMMYWhere do you hail from, Doc?DR. ZWIBEL(catching on)New Jersey!RENO NEVADAWhere's your spurs at?DR. ZWIBELYou making fun of me?PERFECT TOMMYReno, how's about you take New Jersey's gear, mosey on over to the bus and introduce him to the rest of the hands.RENOWhy me?PERFECT TOMMYCause Buckaroo needs me here.Reno picking up Doctor Zwibel's huge stereo and suitcase...RENOFollow me, pard'ner.INT.  CELL - DAY	138Penny sitting on her bunk, a disheveled mess...depressed, her head buried in her hands as Buckaroo arrives.  She sees his reflection in the pitiful mirror above her toilet...PENNY PRIDDYWhat're you doing here? Why're you looking at me like that?BUCKAROO BANZAII guess 'cause you remind me of someone I once knew, long ago before any of this craziness.PENNY PRIDDYGo away.  Let me rot?BUCKAROO BANZAIWho were you really trying to kill last night?PENNY PRIDDYYou.  Like the papers all say.BUCKAROO BANZAIPretty terrible shot.Silence.  Penny realizing you don't fool this man with the sloppy bowtie...coming over to the bars...PENNY PRIDDYWas she pretty?BUCKAROO BANZAIWho?PENNY PRIDDYThe girl I remind you of.BUCKAROO BANZAIShe was the Queen of the Netherlands.PENNY PRIDDYIt's kinda hard this way.Meaning fixing his tie...which she's trying to do...BUCKAROO BANZAII'd turn around, but I'm afraid you'd strangle me.PENNY PRIDDYThe Netherlands.  Whew, that's a long way from Wyoming.BUCKAROO BANZAIWyoming? Not Cody, by any chance?PENNY PRIDDYNo.  Laramie.  Except I was born in Cody. How did you know that?  Oh, right, sure, I forgot: you know everything.BUCKAROO BANZAINo, I don't.Penny taking too long to retie Buckaroo's tie...an excuse to be near him...BUCKAROO BANZAIHaving a little trouble with that knot, aren't you?PENNY PRIDDYWhich?  The one in my throat.Things really heating up between these two...Buckaroo changing the subject...blocking Perfect Tommy's view.BUCKAROO BANZAIDid you have family there--? A sister?  In Cody?PENNY PRIDDYI don't know. I always felt like I did, like there was another me...BUCKAROO BANZAIAnother 'you'?PENNY PRIDDYSomewhere.  See I was taken away by the Priddies when I was a baby.  I was adopted.BUCKAROO BANZAIAdopted.  I should have know. Of course. If it was a snake, it'd bit me!PENNY PRIDDYWhat?  I don't understand you.  I don't understand anything anymore.BUCKAROO BANZAIWho does?  It's a crazy mixed-up world.  Just do the best you can with what you have...Buckaroo touching her moist cheek, wiping away a tear.  Perfect Tommy and the Desk Sergeant exchanging looks...PERFECT TOMMYRunning a little late, Buckaroo.BUCKAROO BANZAILet her out. In my custody.PERFECT TOMMYLet her out?  She's a killer.Buckaroo and Penny unable to look away from each other.BUCKAROO BANZAINo she's not. INT.  PRESS CONFERENCE - AFTERNOON	139REPORTERS, cameras, microphones, and a small audience of VIPS, civilian and military, in a large hotel conference room...eyes on the ticking clock...examining charts and MODELS OF SUBATOMIC PARTICLES...on the dais, Professor Hikita, Secretary of Defense McKinley and Senator Cunningham, waiting for Buckaroo.	140Over the refreshment table set up for reporters, TWO REDHEADED MEN WEARING GLASSES practically FILL THEIR CUPS WITH CUBES OF SUGAR...one of their arms ELONGATING (1) for more sugar...THE STRANGE MOVE UNNOTICED...	141...as the crowd breaks into SPONTANEOUS APPLAUSE and Buckaroo Banzai enter, Penny Priddy beside him...the glamorous couple surrounded by the Hong Kong Cavaliers.	142JOHN O'CONNOR, and JOHN GOMEZ, those two nearsighted REDHEADS with the sweet coffee applauding only politely.	143Buckaroo taking Penny onto the dais with him, the Cavaliers assuming positions of security as......Buckaroo sits next to Professor Hikita who shields his remarks from what must be easily FIFTY MICROPHONES...PROF. HIKITARawhide tells me Dr. Lizardo escaped...BUCKAROO BANZAI(nodding)I'm assigning a couple Blue Shields to protect you around the clock, just in case.Professor Hikita removing the OSCILLATION OVERTHRUSTER from his battered briefcase and laying it on the table.  Buckaroo taking a sip of water...SECRETARY OF DEFENSEThank you for coming.  Before I answer any questions, I think Buckaroo owes us all a few explanations for yesterday's antics.BUCKAROO BANZAIMr. Secretary...Senator Cunningham, ladies and gentlemen...thirty years ago, nearly to this day, my mother and father and Sir Alan Motley, all former colleagues of Professor Toichi Hikita at the Texas School of Mines, gave their lives for what was considered at the time an insane notion: the possibility of contacting alien life... not on another planet, but on a simultaneous plane of existence within solid matter...life which, before the war, Professor Hikita had actually glimpsed while pioneering a highly primitive gravity catapult with Doctor Emilio Lizardo.1st REPORTERThe same Doctor Lizardo that just...?PROF. HIKITAOne and the same.	144SOMEONE ELSE'S NEARSIGHTED POV, PEERING AT THE BACK OF PROFESSOR HIKITA'S HEAD THROUGH A CRACK IN THE CURTAINS BEHIND THE DAIS...	145John O'Connor and John Gomez at the refreshment table now adding several packs of 'Sweet 'n' Low' to their thick coffee as...ON THE DAIS:	146BUCKAROO BANZAII don't wanna go get too technical here, ladies and gentlemen, but I'm talking twister physics.  Quantum Mechanics.  Now you see, now you don't.  This table I'm sitting behind?  It appears to be solid matter, right?Buckaroo demonstrating by picking up his plastic water glass, dropping it, splashing water left and right as the container naturally bounces off the table...BUCKAROO BANZAIBut in point of fact, the solid parts of this table... the protons, quarks, your neutrons and electrons...they comprise only about one quadrillionth of its total volume.SECRETARY OF DEFENSEWhich is not a helluva lot to sink your teeth into.BUCKAROO BANZAIExactly.  So the professor here, way back in 1937, figured that if solid matter is mostly empty space, a person oughta be able to discover a to travel inside things like tables.  And mountains.PROF. HIKITAWe at the Banzai Institute have at last found that way: an alternating gradient synchronizer that softens solid matter by attenuating its electroweak forces!BUCKAROO BANZAIWhich we all know are the forces that tend to pull objects part, right, professor?2nd REPORTERWhat about the Pentagon?  The possibility of war in the Eighth Dimension, Mr. Secretary?PENNY PRIDDYHey, better there than here, huh?SOME APPLAUSE, the Secretary of Defense eyeing Penny critically as the lights dim...as RADAR SHIELD ONE slips into the room, approaches the dais, and the FIRST SLIDE is projected onto the screen...	147...the image a murky one...but the outline of a WARSHIP WITH U.S. SAILORS ABOARD nonetheless unmistakable...CLOSE ON:	148RADAR SHIELD ONE(a whisper)The President's calling you, Buckaroo.BUCKAROO BANZAIThe president of what?RADAR SHIELD ONEThe President of the United States.	149ANOTHER SLIDE, even more graphic, the number on the bow of the ship plainly visible...7541.EVERYONE CAPTIVATED.	150BUCKAROO BANZAIIs he still delirious?RADAR SHIELD ONE(shrugging)Can't tell. It's real fuzzy. I patched him through to a pay phone down the hall.PROF. HIKITAIn 1942, a U.S. Navy frigate, number 7541, disappeared on a clear day in the North Atlantic. Long thought to have been torpedoed, these pictures of 7541 were taken yesterday in the Eighth Dimension.SECRETARY OF DEFENSENow wait a minute here...PROF. HIKITANext transparency, please.A loud murmur from the audience as the next slide in the projector proves to be a remarkable image......of AN UPSIDE DOWN SEVENTEENTH CENTURY PIRATE VESSEL.	151...Buckaroo starting from the table only to be reminded by Penny:	152PENNY PRIDDYBuckaroo, don't forget your thruster....handing him the OSCILLATION OVERTHRUSTER...Buckaroo declining it...BUCKAROO BANZAIYou keep an eye on it.PENNY PRIDDYAny time. EXT.  OUTER SPACE - AFTERNOON	153Meanwhile, several thousand miles overhead, a HUGE SPIKEY SPACECRAFT APPROACHES EARTH...INT.  SPIKEY SPACECRAFT (FATHER SHIP) - AFTERNOON	154A mysterious cloud room where BLACK BRRODING CREATURES perch upside down and sideways at controls in a smoky, vaporous environment, the only illumination EERIE YELLOW LIGHT...THE WALLS BREATHING.BUCKAROO BANZAI'S VOICEMr. President--? You there?MORE NOISES, THE SOUND OF TELEPHONE SWITCHING EQUIPMENT...INT.  CORRIDOR - AFTERNOON	155Back at a pay phone in the corridor, Buckaroo trying to figure out why the President doesn't answer. RADAR SHIELD ONESeemed like a bad connection even back on the bus.  But they used the code.BUCKAROO BANZAIMr. President--?  Some kind of interference...I can't...Nothing from the other end except ODD SOUNDING COMPUTER BEEPS and the STATIC-LADEN VOICES of several operators...RAWHIDEMaybe it's just a prankster. Some computer whiz kid.RENOWhoever it was they used the Blue Code, Alpha Clearance.BUCKAROO BANZAI(to Radar Shield One)Go back to the bus and reroute the call.RAWHIDEAnd try the President's private number at the hospital.  Make sure this is on the level. We're busy people here.	156...when suddenly eerie, inexplicable things begin to occur...ALL HAVING TO DO WITH ELECTRICITY...the telephone book scooting closer to Buckaroo's fingers as if drawn by a magnet, the pages then turning, faster and faster...	157...Buckaroo amazed...now the glass phone booth door abruptly slamming shut, the phone simultaneously emitting a BIZARRE BUZZ...	158...and then Buckaroo gets literally the shock of his life...A MIGHTY ELECTRICAL CURRENT PASSING THROUGH THE TELEPHONE......AND HURLING HIM OUT INTO THE COORIDOR!	159BUCKAROO BANZAIPencil!  Quick!  Pen!  Anything!Reno complying, the lights returning to normal, Buckaroo dazed, his hand moving automatically, writing on any surface available.A SPARK flying when he touches the metal-tipped pen to metal!	160Buckaroo finally settling for his hand, SCRIBBLING NUMBERS ON HIS PALM.	161INT.  CONFERENCE ROOM - AFTERNOON	162PROF. HIKITALet me ask you to imagine the Oscillation Overthruster as a sophisticated rifle accelerator firing a steady stream of protons at a target-in this case a mountain-and the Jet Car as a giant super-conducting magnet.The Secretary of Defense fascinated.	163SECRETARY OF DEFENSESure, sure, but what about the Fourth, Fifth, Sixth and Seventh Dimensions?PENNY PRIDDY(thumbing through her paperback)I don't guess they matter.  It's like cheesecloth, I think.  Minkowiski space......as all eyes turn to see a still woozy Buckaroo Banzai returning, pointing dramatically at John Gomez and John O'Connor in the audience...BUCKAROO BANZAIThere!  Those two!  Don't panic...The Cavaliers haven't a clue what he's talking about...RENOWhadda you mean, Buckaroo?  Where?  What?	164BUCKAROO'S POV...SOMETHING EXTRAORDINARY...ACROSS THE ROOM, TWO GHASTLY ALIENS, GIANT RED ARACHTOIDS WEARING SUITS AND TIES, HOLDING COFFEE CUPS...BUCKAROO BANZAIEvil...pure and simple, from the eighth dimension! Grab 'em!	165RENO'S POV...NOTHING OUT OF THE ORDINARY...neither Reno nor anyone else in the room seeing what Buckaroo does, seeing instead only those two redheaded gents who like their coffee sweet, John O'Connor and John Gomez...COULD THEY POSSIBLY BE THE CRIMSON CREATURES BUCKAROO THINKS ARE:BUCKAROO BANZAIArachtoids! Stop 'em!SENATOR CUNNINGHAMArachtoids?	166Buckaroo breaking into a dead run across the room, those two astonished RED ALIENS racing for the nearest exit!	167The Hong Kong Cavaliers rushing to help Buckaroo when suddenly the PIERCING SCREAM of Penny Priddy causes them to stop in their tracks and look toward the dais......where yet NOTHER REDHEAD called JOHN BIGBOOT…, in glasses and dark suit, a bandanna over his face, has just stepped from behind the curtain and seized Professor Hikita, pointing a revolver at the old man's head...the Cavaliers instinctively stepping toward the dais, outraged...JOHN BIGBOOT…Okay, wise guys! ...the masked John BigbootÈ FIRING once, wounding Reno in the shoulder...JOHN BIGBOOT…Let those gun belts hit the floor! And nobody follows, or the prof is history! The pistol stuck in Professor Hikita's ear convincing the Cavaliers to obey, to watch helplessly as the kidnapper backs his victim through the curtain and out of sight...as new Jersey administers first aid to Reno and Penny strokes the fallen Cavalier's hair, berating the idle bystanders around them:PENNY PRIDDYIs this the kind of society you want?  A society of weak-kneed jellyfish wallowing in self-pity, prey to ruthless hoodlums who pick us off like flies?SENATOR CUNNINGHAMOr a society where we stand strong, take charge of our own destiny, with the cry "So far and no farther will we be pushed!"INT.  HOTEL BOWELS - MOVING - AFTERNOON	168Buckaroo in the meantime running down a flight of stairs...catching sight of his prey...THOSE TWO MONSTROUS RED ALIENS running through a swinging door......Buckaroo accelerating, hitting the door with every ounce of strength in him...INT.  UNDERGROUND PARKING GARAGE - LATE AFTERNOON	169...Buckaroo flying through the door, taking a fall down concrete steps, finding himself in the hotel parking garage where a MOTORCYCLE SHOW is unloading equipment......Buckaroo spotting THREE SHADOWY FORMS halfway across the lot loading A LARGE CRATE into a van...Buckaroo wasting no time going after the van, as it starts up...commandeering A FANCY NEW MOTORCYCLE, charging after the van despite an EXHIBITOR'S warning:EXHIBITORHey, you can't ride that! INT.  CORRIDOR - LATE AFTERNOON	170The Cavaliers coming from two directions, colliding at an intersection...PERFECT TOMMYAny sign of Buckaroo?RENONo!  Ditto the professor-RAWHIDEShit!EXT.  CITY STREETS - LATE AFTERNOON	171The van speeds by...the motorcycle pursues!EXT.  COUNTRYSIDE - LATE AFTERNOON	172The chase continues, leaving the city behind...EXT.  WOODED ROAD - LATER AFTERNOON	173...the van coming straight toward us, thundering past...as Buckaroo and his motorcycle next roar INTO CAMERA in hot pursuit, and over his shoulder an AWESOME SIGHT......A DARK, UNNERVINGLY PREHISTORIC CREATURE FLYING DIRECTLY AT US, GROWING LARGER AND LARGER ON THE SCREEN, BUCKAROO UNAWARE OF ITS EXISTENCE...EXT.  FIELD - LATE AFTERNOON	174Twilight enveloping a New Jersey meadow as a pair of DUCK HUNTERS and their DOG takes advantage of the last half hour of fading daylight as......that BLACK CREATURE wings overhead!	175	176The duck hunters confused, frightened, FIRING, as a reflex reaction to this sudden threat from above!	177CLOSE ON the AWFUL BLACK CREATURE HIT, swooping low with a horrible shudder!The hunters transfixed...	178DUCK HUNTERSMy God!  What the hell...The FRIGHTFUL sound of the CREATURE'S FAILING LUNGS...a terrific noise as the duck hunters hurry to where their unnatural kill hangs obscured in a gigantic tree...their dog running ahead, intent on retrieving this unusual "BIRD"...EXT.  TREE - LATE AFTERNOON	179The heavy-footed hunters SLOSHING THROUGH WATER, the first hunter to arrive on the scene using a sharp stick to poke at a BULGING BLADDER on the bottom of the strange creature, the sac bursting and drenching the hunter with a hideous viscous fluid...SPARKS!  AND A STRANGE BLUE DUST...	180...as suddenly AN ENORMOUS SPHERE drops out of the tree and begins rolling toward the hunter who poked that sac...DUCK HUNTERSJesus Christ--!  What is it?The other hunter following the ODD SPERE as it backs his buddy into a shallow swamp...the thing coming to a stop and...	181...A BLACK MAN with dreadlocks emerging from the top of the weird vessel, trying to balance himself when he slips and crashes to the ground, his neck breaking...a beam from his dropped 'flashlight' revealing him in death to be not a black man, but a BLACK ALIEN WITH A THREE-FINGERED HAND...	182...the hunters terrified as their dog starts snarling at the tree where now a second BLACK MAN has emerged, running for the road, jumping the fence like a gazelle...	183...the hunters not seeing this second individual, obsessed instead with a BUCKAROO BANZAI COMIC BOOK they've discovered in the dead alien's fingers.1ST HUNTERIt's the latest issue!EXT.  COUNTRYSIDE - TWILIGHT	184Buckaroo still on his MOTORCYCLE in pursuit of the van, taking a daring shortcut down a treacherous hillside...INT.  VAN - TWILIGHT	185Alien John BigbootÈ at the wheel, alien John Gomez riding shotgun, in high spirits, cradling a DRY CELL BATTERY, his strange tongue upon it, getting high...his teeth glowing.BigbootÈ turning in his seat, overhearing alien John O'Connor operating a RADIO in the rear of the speeding van...JOHN O'CONNORWhat? A black ship?  Where?(listening)A black thermopod's been shot down ten miles back.JOHN BIGBOOT…A black thermopod here?  On Earth?!  Why, John Gomez?  Why?John BigbootÈ looking at John Gomez for any possible explanation.JOHN GOMEZJohn Whorfin...maybe they know he's escaped!JOHN O'CONNERHow?  How could they possibly know?  They're more than three trillion six hundred sixty million miles away.JOHN BIGBOOT…(jerking the wheel)They know everything!  I told Whorfin to sit tight.  This could be the end of us all!  We gotta get Banzai's Overthruster and get off this rock!EXT.  VAN - TWILIGHT	186The van making a 180( turn!INT.  VAN - TWILIGHT	187John BigbootÈ yelling back to John O'Connor:JOHN BIGBOOT…Where was it, John O'Connor? How far back?JOHN O'CONNORI have a radio fix...John Gomez opening the glove compartment, taking out a pistol:JOHN GOMEZDeath to the enemy!JOHN O'CONNORDeath to the enemy--!  Kill or die!John BigbootÈ just driving...his strange eyes set.EXT.  ROAD - TWILIGHT	188Buckaroo rounding a curve on his motorcycle when that van is suddenly upon him, coming head on!Buckaroo just having a split-second to catch the logo 'Yoyodyne' on the front of the van as he swerves into a ditch to avoid certain death...	189...Buckaroo quickly restarting the motorcycle and taking out A SWISS ARMY LIGHTER/MINIATURE TWO-WAY RADIO, making a call to:BUCKAROO BANZAIRawhide.  Come in.  Over.INT.  PRESS CONFERENCE ROOM - TWILIGHT	190Back in the press conference room, the anxious Cavaliers try to help several LAW ENFORCEMENT TYPES reconstruct the professor's kidnapping.  A TINY BUZZER going off in Rawhide's pocket:  his SWISS ARMY CIGARETTE LIGHTER.  Rawhide turns his Back on everyone, taking out a pack of Luckies, lighting up as he talks quietly into the FLAME:RAWHIDEOver, Buckaroo.  What's up?  Where in Hades are you?  I'm getting a lotta static.EXT.  ROAD - TWILIGHT	191Buckaroo pushing and shoving his motorcycle onto a woodland path...IT IS GETTING QUITE DARK...BUCKAROO BANZAIThat's me. I've been ionized, but I'm okay. I'm, switching on the homing beacon, mark two minute intervals.RAWHIDEBuckaroo, somebody shanghaied the Professor!BUCKAROO BANZAIThe deuce you say.(realizing)That crate!INT.  PRESS CONFERENCE ROOM - TWILIGHT	192Elsewhere in the room, nervous and concerned, Penny Priddy sits apart from the others, thumping the keys of a piano...RAWHIDEWhat crate?BUCKAROO BANZAII think I'm on to something. You and the guys go back to the house and dig up everything you can on an outfit called Yoyodyne.RAWHIDE(into flame)Yoyodyne Propulsion Systems?  You think they're mixed up in this?...Reno sitting down next to Penny at the piano, his wounded arm in a sling but his fingers nimble as ever...PENNY PRIDDYHow long you been riding with Buckaroo, Reno?RENONigh on ten years.  Been through a lotta scrapes together.PENNY PRIDDYWhat'd you do before?  Can I ask?RENOGovernment work.  Had my own think tank.  Got tired of thinking-wanted some action.  Seen plenty of it too.  So will you if you stick around.PENNY PRIDDYWhere's Buckaroo?  Is he alive?RENOCourse he's alive.  He's Buckaroo Banzai.Rawhide calling from across the room...RAWHIDEAll right.  Let's go!  We got our work cut out for us tonight!Reno getting up, Penny unsure at that moment whether she's being included, as those steely eyes of Rawhide zero in on her...RAWHIDEYou, too, Miss Penny.EXT.  ROAD - NIGHT	193Darkness as Buckaroo races on, the taillights of the van far ahead...INT.  VAN - NIGHT	194John Gomez now sharing his DRY CELL BATTERY with John O'Connor, the two of them singing a SONG from their home planet......John BigbootÈ at the wheel, preoccupied, refusing their offer of a toke on the battery with:JOHN BIGBOOT…No thanks, I'm driving.EXT.  CRASH SITE - NIGHT	195The Yoyodyne van approaching the scene of the downed spacecraft, the headlights of the single HIGHWAY PATROL CAR illuminating the CORPSE OF THE DEAD CREATURE in the water...the HIGHWAY PATROLMAN pulling the figure out of the water, the hunters standing by...HIGHWAY PATROLMANHand me that tarp. Let's cover this guy...2ND HUNTERWhat guy? He's got paws.The other hunter tossing a plastic tarp over the body as they all turn to regard the headlights of the Yoyodyne van...the cop heading that way...	196BUCKAROO ARRIVING now too, scraping to a stop on his motorcycle in heavy brush, creeping closer to the crash site for a better look...	197BUCKAROO'S POV: The ungainly SPHERICAL SPACECRAFT and that amazing DEAD CREATURE on the ground, covered now with a sheet of semi-transparent plastic...observing John BigbootÈ and John Gomez producing official I.D.s and appearing to BUCKAROO AS CRIMSON ALIENS...TO THE COPS AS...ORDINARY CITIZENS:	198JOHN BIGBOOT…John BigbootÈ, Officer. Executive Vice President, Yoyodyne Propulsion Systems.JOHN GOMEZ(of the spacecraft)One of our birds.The highway patrolman returning BigbootÈ's I.D., still a little skeptical about the whole thing, pointing to THE DEAD CREATURE UNDER PLASTIC.HIGHWAY PATROLMANThat fella over there-that one of yours, too, is it?John BigbootÈ having a ready answer...JOHN BIGBOOT…The droid, you mean?	199Buckaroo moving quickly to the back of the van, starting to open the rear door with a locksmith's pick attached to his special SWISS ARMY LIGHTER.ELECTRICITY JUMPING FROM HIS FINGERS.	200Buckaroo dropping the two-way radio homing device on the bumper...	201INT.  VAN - CRASH SITE - NIGHT	202The sound of the Swiss Army lighter jolting red alien John O'Connor...O'Connor thinking the noise has come from the crate itself...JOHN O'CONNORButton up in there, Professor, if you know what's good for you.John O'Connor stepping out for a smoke.EXT.  VAN - NIGHT	203Buckaroo watching the alien John O'Connor move off in the direction of the hunters, retrieving his dropped Swiss Army lighter, not noticing that the once blinking L.E.D. on the homing device has gone out!  Buckaroo again picking the lock...EXT.  CRASH SITE - NIGHT	204...ordinary citizen John O'Connor meanwhile observing the hunters still hanging around, one of them engrossed in the Buckaroo comic, his pal trying to figure out how to operate the dead alien's unusual flashlight...JOHN O'CONNORNice night, huh?INT.  VAN - NIGHT	205...as Buckaroo stealthily enters, working the lock on the crate now with his all-purpose lighter.CLOSE ON HIS FINGERS EMITTING THE OCCASIONAL SPARK...	206EXT.  SWAMP - NIGHT	207John BigbootÈ, John Gomez, and the cop looming above the dead creature...HIGHWAY PATROLMANLooks like nothing I ever seen. I seen droids in space movies, but they're nothing like this-JOHN GOMEZIt's a three-man thermopod...John BigbootÈ shooting John Gomez a hard stare...HIGHWAY PATROLMANThermopod?  What's a...JOHN BIGBOOT…Very T.S.  Top Secret, right John Gomez?HIGHWAY PATROLMANYeah, well, I was gonna call Buckaroo Banzai out here to have a look.  Right up his alley, I think.John BigbootÈ's mood suddenly changing...tensing...JOHN BIGBOOT…You called Buckaroo Banzai?HIGHWAY PATROLMANNot yet.  I said I was gonna.The three of them looking up at another pair of headlights arriving, A SEDAN, the cop yelling at them:HIGHWAY PATROLMANGo on!  Keep it moving!JOHN GOMEZWe got a truck on the way to mop things up for you.  Else this place could become a zoo, not to mention a haven for gawkers.The highway patrolman moving off to deal with the sedan...JOHN BIGBOOT…We'll just go ahead and start breaking it down.HIGHWAY PATROLMANDon't touch it!  I got my own help on the way!  That's an order!John BigbootÈ frowning, telling John Gomez:JOHN BIGBOOT…There's a crowbar in the truck.John Gomez nodding, heading back to the van...INT.  VAN - NIGHT	208...as Buckaroo pries his way into the crate, extracting the shaken Professor Hikita.A SPARK dancing between them as they touch!	209	210PROF. HIKITABuckaroo!  What the Sam Hill!BUCKAROO BANZAICareful...don't make noise and don't touch me.  I'm hotter than flapjacks.PROF. HIKITAWhat?BUCKAROO BANZAII'm a giant semi-conductor, and there's alien creatures all around us.  Form the Eighth Dimension, I think.  Look...Buckaroo trying to show Professor Hikita the MATHEMATICAL FORMULA written on his hand.PROF. HIKITAYou can see them? Buckaroo holding a finger to his lips...whispering...BUCKAROO BANZAIEver since that phony phone call from the President.  Look at this. What is it?PROF. HIKITAIt's your hand, Buckaroo.BUCKAROO BANZAIIt's an antidote. A formula.  Whoever it was on the phone made me scribble this and gave me the ability to penetrate their disguises.Buckaroo opening the door to the van.BUCKAROO SEES the red alien John Gomez coming closer...	211	212PROF. HIKITAAntidote to what?  Whose disguises?BUCKAROO BANZAIArachtoids.  From Planet Ten.PROF. HIKITAPlanet 10?BUCKAROO BANZAI(pointing quickly)There's a Harley behind those bushes.  Get back to the laboratory and start working on the formula.  We don't have time to ask questions.  Just synthesize it-The professor still without the crucial information, however...John Gomez approaching...PROF. HIKITABuckaroo, the formula--Thinking fast, Buckaroo presses the palm of his hand to Professor Hikita's forehead, the ball-point ink transferring...THE IMPORTANT FORMULA IMPRINTED IN REVERSE ON THE PROFESSOR'S SHINY PATE...BUCKAROO BANZAIHurry!  Please.EXT.  ROAD - NIGHT	213The highway patrolman talking to the sedan...TWO SHADOWY FIGURES INSIDE...HIGHWAY PATROLMANIf you're gonna stay, you're gonna be under arrest.  It's your choice.INT.  WOLD WATCH ONE/BUS - NIGHT	214Meanwhile back on Buckaroo's bus, in the nerve center, Rawhide and Perfect Tommy look at a BLANK OSCILLOSCOPE operated by a Blue Shield Technician...PERFECT TOMMYTwelve minutes since the last signal. Long time.RAWHIDEToo long.  We better get somebody over there.  Put up the grid, last known location--	215CLOSE ON OSCILLOSCOPE...AN ELECTRONIC GRID FIELD coming up, noting Buckaroo's last location.	216RAWHIDEHop on the Marconi, see if we got any Blue Shields within a ten-minute radius.PERFECT TOMMYDone.EXT.  CRASH SITE - NIGHT	217Buckaroo moving dangerously closer to the thermopod as the alien John Gomez returns with the crowbar...his other-worldly comrade demanding:JOHN BIGBOOT…Open it!	218...the highway patrolman meanwhile at his squad car, on his radio...THE SEDAN SITTING TIGHT.INT.  GAS STATION - NIGHT	219Inside an all-night gas station somewhere in New Jersey, a young black kid named SCOOTER LINDLEY at his SPECIAL HAM RADIO SET, hearing:PERFECT TOMMY'S VOICERepeat: Intrastate Outward Band 5...Coded...calling all Blue Shield Irregulars in the Clam State.  Bucakroo in trouble...will repeat coordinates...SCOOTER LINDLEYThis is Scooter Lindley, Future Knight of the Blue Shield 411/2. Hang on!EXT.  GAS STATION - NIGHT	220Scooter racing outside toward his father, CASPER LINDLEY, the station owner, an everyday no-nonsense guy in grungy overalls, presently trying to sell a crushed velvet sofa from the top of a three-tier display rack to a PAIR OF DISCRIMINATING CUSTOMERS...SCOOTER LINDLEYDad! Dad! Buckaroo's in trouble!CASPER LINDLEYSay what?!INT.  PASSENGER SECTION/BUS - NIGHT	221A weary, worried Rawhide comes back into the front of the bus and takes a seat near Penny and Reno...NEW JERSEYTrouble?RAWHIDENah-Damn sophisticated equipment always breaking down.Reno wondering if there's more to it than Rawhide's saying...Rawhide losing himself in a copy of American Horseman.Penny leaning forward, thinking, picking at a guitar left on the seat in front of her, watching the mysterious Hong Kong Cavaliers.	222Perfect Tommy arriving, whispering something in Rawhide's ear, Rawhide nodding...Penny looking over at Perfect Tommy across the aisle, Perfect Tommy confiscating the guitar...his guitar.PENNY PRIDDYWhat's his problem?RENOPerfect Tommy's just threatened by smart women.  Can you play that thing?PENNY PRIDDYBetter than him.EXT.  CRASH SITE - NIGHT	223Buckaroo jockeying for an improved position, as the alien John Gomez prepares to strike the pod-TWO MEN getting out of the sedan now...ARACHTOIDS in baggy suits......THE CROWBAR HITTING THE POD for the first time!	224The cop turning, shouting at John Gomez from his squad car:HIGHWAY PATROLMANWhadda you think you're doing?  Hey!The cop in a jam, heading back toward the pod, as the two newly arrived redheads follow him despite his instructions:HIGHWAY PATROLMANI said back off!  I mean it.  Now get in your car and get the hell outta here!...the two goons halting...but as soon as the cop turns, they follow him again...EXT.  FRONT GATES/BANZAI INSTITUTE - NIGHT	225A modest estate, several unique buildings on several acres of rolling Midlothian grassland, home of Buckaroo Banzai and the Hong Kong Cavaliers...that famous Double B logo festooning a large front gate...a sign: THE BANZAI INSTITUTE FOR BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING AND STRATEGIC INFORMATION.	226...A NUMBER OF BUCKAROO'S DEVOTED FANS perpetually outside with sleeping bags and cameras...a wave of excitement rippling through the crowd as BUCKAROO'S DOUBLE BUS approaches and THREE BLUE SHIELDS on guard begin opening the gate.INT.  FOYER/BUCKAROO'S HOUSE - NIGHT	227A combination Japanese ryokan-American ranch house, an elegant reflection of Buckaroo's dual lineage...a teenage girl heading for the door to answer an insistent buzzer...she MRS. JOHNSON...	228...Penny and the Hong Kong Cavaliers standing outside...Mrs. Johnson reacting as if she's seen a ghost...MRS. JOHNSONPeggy--!?  Oh, wow...no...RENOShe's not Peggy, Mrs. Johnson--MRS. JOHNSONNot Peggy--!  Of course not. How could she be, huh?  Whew.RAWHIDEAny word from Buckaroo?MRS. JOHNSONNo...I thought he was with you guys...The Cavaliers quickly dispersing...Penny left alone under Mrs. Johnson's curious eyes...INT.  STUDIO-COMPUTER ROOM - NIGHT	229...the Cavaliers stepping into a home studio, a tangle of wires and microphones, mixing consoles and data banks tended by a skeleton crew of BLUE SHIELD TECHNICIANS...one a brainy, wiry kid in his late teens.BRAINY KIDHi, fellas...gonna lay down some background vocals tonight?RAWHIDEWish life was so simple, Billy.  Remember that outfit the Justice Department checked into last year-Yoyodyne Propulsion Systems?BRAINY KID (BILLY)The big space and weapons high tech consortium way behind on their delivery of the controversial new Truncheon Bomber?PERFECT TOMMYYou got her.  Buckaroo's orders: access their data bank.  Attack their systems.  Up to it?BILLYI'm a little short-handed tonight.  My phone phreaks went into town for the big ice cream social...NEW JERSEYSo we'll help.  Let's get crackin'!BILLYWho're you?EXT.  CRASH SITE - NIGHT	230Buckaroo watches the alien John Gomez deliver ANOTHER BLOW to the black space pod, as inside...INT.  BLACK THERMOPOD - NIGHT	231...sits a single BLACK ARACHTOID CREWMAN named JOHN GANT, stoically at this communications console, trying to focus on a DISTORTED PICTURE FROM DEEP SPACE even as his enemy pounds and cuts through the hull...CLOSE ON CONSOLE	232...the picture of his video console coming into focus: a HIGHER-RANKING BLACK ARACHTOID WING COMMANDER ON TV:BLACK ARACHTOID COMMANDERDestroy yourself, John Gant.  Set detonator.INT.  FATHER SHIP - NIGHT	233...the BLACK ARACHTOID WING COMMANDER standing at his radio-video console, receiving a picture of "John Gant"...ON TV	234JOHN GANTDetonator set.  My most profuse apologies to my homeland and loved ones.  John Valuk is dead.  He fell on his head, but perhaps John Parker will get through!The screen going dark.	235THE ARACHTOID WING COMMANDER exchanging words with his second-in-command...SECOND-IN-COMMANDBut what if John Parker too is dead?  Then we must send another thermopod at once to contact Buckaroo Banzai!BLACK ARACHTOID COMMANDERThere's no time.  We have our order from John Emdall.INT.  VAN - NIGHT	236The alien John O'Connor looking in on the crate...finding it empty...lid off...EXT.  CRASH SITE - NIGHT	237Ordinary citizen John Gomez HITTING the little thermopod again, the cop exasperated, pushed to the brink, surrounded...HIGHWAY PATROLMANThat's it, gentlemen, you're all under...The cop reaches for his pistol when suddenly John BigbootÈ whirls and lunges out with HIS TELESCOPING ARM, chopping the cop's Adam's apple, knocking him to the ground......the hunters stunned, one of them reaching for a shotgun when the two newly-arrived Yoyodyne goons attack, easily knocking the hunters to the ground, beating them!	238Bucakroo starting forward, but A THREE-DIGIT HAND suddenly on his shoulder!  Spinning him around!VOICEEasy, friend-Buckaroo face-to-face with RED ARACHTOID John O'Connor, the latter surprised to discover it's...JOHN O'CONNORBuckaroo Banzai--!Buckaroo taking advantage of this creature's momentary amazement to kick O'Connor below the belt...dropping him to the turf...now spying yet another set of headlights coming down the road...JOHN O'CONNOR(in pain)It's Buckaroo Banzai! Get him! He let the professor outta the box!	239The goons pursuing Buckaroo onto the road, the HEADLIGHTS OF A TRUCK bearing down on them...Buckaroo waving back at the truck, his only chance, when suddenly, instead of slowing, the truck speeds up, trying to run him over...YOYODYNE!...Buckaroo lunging to safety at the last minute, getting up and running into a field...the Yoyodyne truck making a 180( turn and coming after him, across the meadow.	240...Buckaroo pursued by the truck and the goons when suddenly THE BLACK THERMOPOD EXPLODES, Buckaroo and the goons flying to the ground, Buckaroo quickly up and running, the truck gaining on him...gaining...still gaining when out of nowhere, A ROPE LADDER falls from the sky, entangling Buckaroo and pulling him up to a hovering HELICOPER...INT.  HELICOPTER - NIGHT	241Piloting the small chopper, Casper Lindley, gas station proprietor, along with his eager son, Scooter...both father and son dressed in Blue Shield outfits now...Casper giving Buckaroo a helping hand into the swift-flying craft and getting a MILD ELECTRICAL SHOCK, COMING THIS CLOSE TO DROPPING BUCKAROO!CASPER LINDLEYForgive the butterfingers, Buckaroo.  Casper Lindley, Knight of the Blue Shield, at your disposal.  And my son, Scooter.BUCKAROO BANZAINothing to apologize for, Casper.  You've gone beyond the call of duty tonight.  Mind if I get on the horn and radio the Cavaliers--?  They'll be worried.Buckaroo reaching for the mike, relieved to feel only a SLIGHT ELECTRICAL CHARGE on touching it...BUCKAROO BANZAINot the famous Scooter....?SCOOTER LINDLEYWow.  You know it.EXT.  FRONT GATES/BUCKAROO'S HOUSE - NIGHT	242Professor Hikita on motorcycle, being waved through the front gate by a BLUE SHIELD GUARD while a second Shield, PINKY CARRUTHERS (on HORSEBACK), telephones ahead...PINKY CARRUTHERSThe prof just rolled in.  Says he's on his way to the lab and "Do not disturb."INT.  STUDIO COMPUTER ROOM - NIGHT	243Reno on the phone, getting the word on Hikita while the other Cavaliers watch Billy call up a strange senseless MAZE OF LETTERS AND NUMBERS on his monitor...RAWHIDETry a new cipher.  Try G.BILLY G cipher. There!  More like it!NEW JERSEYNice work, kid.	244CLOSE UP SCREEN:  the letters having at least turned into something coherent...a batch of names and dates, vital statistics...headed "YOYODYNE."	245BILLYLooks like we've accessed their Read Only Memory...a personnel file. Could be highly revealing.RENO(rejoining the group)The professor just pulled in, jabbering something about space monsters, locked himself in his lab.PERFECT TOMMY"Space monsters"...my ass.INT.  HALLWAY/BUCKAROO'S HOUSE - NIGHT	246Mrs. Johnson leading Penny down a richly paneled corridor past pictures and momentoes of Buckaroo and the Cavaliers, past and present...MRS. JOHNSONI'm sure the boys like you.  They just don't wanna get attached...and then see what happened to Buckaroo's last sweetheart happen to you.PENNY PRIDDYWhat happened to her?Mrs. Johnson biting her tongue...MRS. JOHNSONYou know any judo?PENNY PRIDDYAny what?MRS. JOHNSONDon't worry, I won't hurt you.Penny staring at this strange young girl, not knowing what to say...PENNY PRIDDYWhat's up those stairs?MRS. JOHNSONBunkhouse.  Off limits.  You'll be bedding down in here....Mrs. Johnson opening a guest room door...Penny eyeing those forbidden stairs...INT.  STUDIO COMPUTER ROOM - NIGHT	247BILLYThis is queer...look...Billy staring intently at the monitor...the others leaning in...	248CLOSE ON MONITOR:  a list of IDENTICAL DATES AND PLACES NEXT TO A RAFT OF NAMES.	249BILLYAll these people applied for drivers' licenses in the same town in New Jersey on the exact same date.NEW JERSEYNew Jersey?BILLYForty-six Yoyodyne employees.  Grover's Mill, New Jersey, 11/1/38.RAWHIDEGrover's Mills, Grovers' Mills...1938.  Why's that so darn familiar?RENOLooks like none of these guys ever lived anywhere else.  No places of birth.  And all of them with the same first name: John.New Jersey studying the screen...NEW JERSEYNovember 1, thirty days have September, April, June, and November...when short February's done, all the rest have thirty-one. October 31st!  Halloween!  Don't you get it? (obviously not)Orson Welles!BILLY You mean the guy from the old wine commercials?NEW JERSEYHalloween. 1938..."War of the Worlds"...that fake radio news broadcast that got everybody scared, thinking that real live Martians were landing in Grover's Mill, New Jersey!  But then it all just turned out to be a hoax.BILLYThen that's it!RENOWhat's it?NEW JERSEYRight!  Hoax my eye!RENOYou mean--?  No!BILLYYes!  Martians!  Right across the river in Grover's Mills!EXT.  FRONT GATES/BUCKAROO'S HOUSE - NIGHT	250Pinky Carruthers aboard his palomino as JOHN PARKER (the only alien to escape the black thermopod) rides up outside the gate on a bicycle...holding a STRANGE YELLOW RECORD in his grasp...PINKY CARRUTHERSHi, buddy, what can I do for ya?JOHN PARKERBuckaroo Banzai?PINKY CARRUTHERSYou a messenger? What've you got here?Pinky Carruthers snatching the ODD YELLOW RECORD through the gate...JOHN PARKERI need see Buckaroo Banzai in person. My name is John Parker. Identify yourself.PINKY CARRUTHERSKnight Commander, Pinky Carruthers. Sorry, John, all these people "need see" Buckaroo in person.And with that Pinky Carruthers is gone, trotting up toward the mansion on his palomino......as a frustrated John Parker suddenly sticks his nose in the air, getting a whiff of something, causing him to get on his bike and pedal...EXT.  OUTSIDE SECURITY WALL - NIGHT	251...around the corner of Buckaroo's estate where he notices a PARKED VAN and THREE SHADOWY FIGURES lowering themselves into the ground near the high security wall...disappearing......John Parker approaching, beholding...that familiar "Yoyodyne" van...and a FRESHLY DUG HOLE, crawling into the hold himself.EXT.  BANZAI INSTITUTE GROUNDS - NIGHT	252...surfacing WITHIN THE WALLS OF THE ESTATE and again catching sight of THE SHADOWY FIGURES moving toward the buildings, John Parker following...quickly ducking behind a tree, trying to get himself a good view of the three intruders...SUDDEN VOICEThat's as far as you go, pal.John Parker jerking his head around, finding himself confronting the FRIGHTENING SILHOUETTE of a Blue Shield in camouflage commando gear...	253...John Parker instinctively raising a hand to protect himself when without warning, a second BLUE SHIELD drops on his head from the tree above, knocking him down...INT.  GARAGE - NIGHT	254Closed...SAM, the mechanic, next to Buckaroo's precious JET CAR, tinkering with that damaged Harley Davidson...the garage door suddenly sliding open, startling Sam...no one there.SAMOkay, who's the funny guy?EXT.  GARAGE - NIGHT	255In the buses, CLOSE ON SOMETHING WEIRD EMERGING SLOWLY FROM TEH ALIEN JOHN BIGBOOT…'S MOUTH...SHARP...Sam stepping forward...A FIVE-PRONGED ORGANIC STINGER THE SIZE OF A WALNUT FLYING OUT OF THE NIGHT!  A scream dying in Sam's throat as he clutches his heart, John BigbootÈ dragging him back into the garage.INT.  GARAGE - NIGHT	256...while the red alien John Gomez remains outside as a lookout, the alien John O'Connor quickly peering into the locked Jet Car and smashing the window, searching in vain for the OSCILLATION OVERTHRUSTER...JOHN O'CONNORNot here!  No Overthruster!JOHN BIGBOOT…John Whorfin will kill us!JOHN O'CONNORYou look!  It's not here!JOHN GOMEZProfessor Hikita!EXT.  GARAGE - NIGHT	257Outside, John Gomez making a startling discovery: the figure of Professor Hikita near an upstairs window of the research building only yards away...when suddenly overhead...	258GOMEZ'S POV...CASPER LINDLEY'S CHOPPER...landing behind a stand of trees as the alien intruders scatter for cover.INT.  DEN - NIGHT	259Mrs. Johnson sitting near a crackling fire, at a small desk stacked high with books and papers, her nose in an advanced chemical engineering text....looking up as the front door opens, admitting Buckaroo Banzai, Casper and Scooter bringing up the rear...MRS. JOHNSONBuckaroo!BUCKAROO BANZAIIs the professor here? Where's Penny?MRS. JOHNSONBoth of 'em safe and sound. What's going on?  Everybody's freakin' out.A shaken Rawhide, Reno, Perfect Tommy appearing on the stairway...RENO They're arachtoids, Buckaroo, from Planet 10!BUCKAROO BANZAIWhat? How do you know that?RAWHIDEIt's all on the record. Come on-Buckaroo heading up the stairs...	260UPSTAIRS HALLWAY...BUCKAROO MOVING QUICKLY DOWN THE CORRIDOR with his men, being debriefed on the run:BUCKAROO BANZAIPlanet 10?  The same Planet 10 you postulated beyond Pluto, Perfect Tommy?  The invisible body?PERFECT TOMMYYeah, but most of 'em blasted in through the Eighth Dimension in 1938 at Grover's Mills, New Jersey...RENO...where there was some kinda giant crash landing, a huge explosion and they fooled Orson Welles into covering it up!  And then they founded Yoyodyne Propulsion Systems and hid there for...BUCKAROO BANZAIOrson Wells?  What about Doctor Lizardo?PERFECT TOMMYLizardo caused it all.  Because he was already here on earth, screwing around with his own stupid Overthruster.RAWHIDEFaulty design.  It sucked.RENO...but he wasn't the real Doctor Lizardo...just this arachtoid creep that stole the good doc's body the year before in the Eighth Dimension when Prof. Hikita's lab exploded...BUCKAROO BANZAIStole his body?  When Doctor Lizardo's hair turned red and his mind snapped?  Of course!  What else?PERFECT TOMMYIt wouldn't tell us the whole story until you got here.  It wasn't to talk to the head honcho.BUCKAROO BANZAIIt?  Who does?INT.  INSTITUTE LABORATORY - NIGHT	261Professor Hikita and his assistant toil away, starting at...	262...an elaborate electron-tube apparatus that just now beings to produce TINY GLOWING GREEN PARTICLES...	263...the professor excited, confused...rechecking Buckaroo's EQUATION ON HIS FOREHEAD by looking into a mirror.INT.  BUCKAROO'S STUDY - NIGHT	264...while Billy places John Parker's UNUSUAL YELLOW RECORD on a turntable in Buckaroo's cluttered office...Casper and Scooter and the Cavaliers seeking protection behind a PLEXIGLAS 'BLACKBOARD', their faces seen through a maze of mathematical symbols and equations...	265...Buckaroo at his messy desk with a can of beer, FASCINATED TO SEE HE STILL POSSESSES ENOUGH STATIC ELECTRICITY IN HIS HAND TO DRAW A SHEET OF PAPER UP FROM THE BLOTTER LIKE A MAGNET!RENO Stand back, man...	266...as the needle now comes down on the yellow disc, and amid a flurry of SMOKE AND SPARKS, A GORGEOUS BLACK HUMAN FEMAL sizzles up from the grooves of the record and hovers in mid-air...A HOLOGRAM!HOLOGRAMSalutations, great Buckaroo Banzai.  I am John Emdall from Planet 10.  A common grave danger confronts both our worlds.INT.  CORRIDOR - NIGHT	267Meanwhile out in the corridor, Mrs. Johnson advances with a load of cold beers and Birdseye burritos...passing by a figure frozen in the shadows...OUR POV: THE ALIEN JOHN O'CONNOR.  Mrs. Johnson gone, none the wiser.INT.  BUCKAROO'S STUDY - NIGHT	268Mrs. Johnson entering, dropping some of her load in shock at the sight of beautiful John Emdall floating free in the center of the room...MRS. JOHNSONOh, wow...Reno picking her things up, as Mrs. Johnson backs away from the HOLOGRAM and sticks the burritos in a portable microwave oven in the corner of Buckaroo's desk...	269JOHN EMDALLAfter a bloody reign of terror, the hated leader of our military caste, the self-proclaimed "Lord" Whorfin, a bloodthirsty butcher as evil as your Hitler was overthrown by freedom-loving forces, tried, and condemned, along with several hundred of his followers, to spend eternity in the formless void of the Eighth Dimension. Death was deemed too good for their ilk.	270RENODid you tell Penny Buckaroo wanted to see her?MRS. JOHNSONShe's not in her room...I looked.BUCKAROO BANZAIWill everybody please shut up so I can hear this thing?	271JOHN EMDALLWere it not for the experiments of your father and Professor Hikita and the real Doctor Lizardo, then John Whorfin would still be locked safely away on another plane of existence.	272Rawhide and Pinky Carruthers holding a whispered conversation elsewhere in the room...PINKY CARRUTHERS"John Parker" I think he called himself, this Rasta man on a bike dressed up in aluminum foil.  With a weird album...how the hell was I supposed to know he came from outer space?Buckaroo moving dangerously close to the HOLOGRAM...John Emdall suddenly pointing right at the great man...	273JOHN EMDALLAnd now, you, Buckaroo Banzai, have unintentionally helped John Whorfin further with your Oscillation Overthruster! For our intelligence warns us that John Whorfin is about to make good his escape from Earth back through the Eighth Dimension...and on to Planet 10! If he should attempt this we will have no choice but to disrupt worldwide electronic communications and fire a particle beam weapon from your airspace to Smolensk, in the Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics.PERFECT TOMMYAn action the Kremlin will most certainly misinterpret as an American first strike!JOHN EMDALLExactly, Perfect Tommy.  The Soviets will retaliate.  Your President Widmark will launch a massive counterforce strike...and within twenty minutes the danger to Planet 10 will be removed...RENOGod, if it's not one thing it's another.JOHN EMDALLBut...because we're good guys, we're giving you a chance to save your planet.  Stop John Whorfin before sunrise! If you fail we will be forced to help you destroy yourselves.  End of discussion.	274There's an awful pause...and then a SCREECH as John Emdall spirals downward into the grooves of the record again.	275CASPER LINDLEYShe gotta be kiddin', right? Vaporize the whole damn planet--?BUCKAROO BANZAIYou wanna take the chance, Casper?CASPER LINDLEYNot me. No way.BUCKAROO BANZAIRawhide, go find out how Professor Hikita's coming with that formula.  Mrs. Johnson, take Casper and Scooter, gas up the Jet Car.SCOOTER LINDLEYWow, you know it!Buckaroo heading for the door...RENOWhere're you goin'?BUCKAROO BANZAITo get my guns.PERFECT TOMMYHis guns?  Holy shit.INT.  INSTITUTE LABORATORY - NIGHT	276...Professor Hikita and his assistant leaning over the electron tube apparatus, removing a rubber stopper from one of the receptacles, in the process GETTING AN ACCIDENTAL WHIFF of that BIZARRE GLOWING GREEN COMPOUND...Professor Hikita and assistant letting out gasps, seeing a sight that nearly stops their hearts...THEIR POV	277AT THE WINDOW...JOHN BIGBOOT…...AND A RED ARACHTOID!	278Professor Hikita, petrified, stepping back, grabbing the OSCILLATION OVERTHRUSTER and knocking over a chair, as THE ALIEN CREATURE smashes the window!INT.  INSTITUTE CORRIDOR - NIGHT	279Rawhide, hearing screams from the Professor's laboratory, races down the corridor, gun drawn...INT.  BUCKAROO'S BEDROOM - NIGHT	280Buckaroo coming into his bedroom, opening a dresser drawer when suddenly...A NOISE BEHIND HIM!  Buckaroo whirling instinctively with twin EBONY HANDLED COLTS a fraction of a second from firing...at PENNY!...the latter poking her head out of Buckaroo's closet just long enough to see him aim his silver pistols, jumping back into the closet, slamming the door...an exasperated Buckaroo stepping over to the closet, finding it locked...knocking...BUCKAROO BANZAIOpen up or I'll shoot it off.PENNY PRIDDYI'll shoot yours off if I had a gun, you double-dealing Casanova!  I thought you liked me for myself.  But why should you, huh?  A jerk like me.Buckaroo understanding at last the reason for Penny's odd behavior, seeing THE PHOTOGRAPH on his bedstand of a younger, possibly not-yet-so-world-famous Buckaroo Banzai in tuxedo...his pretty companion A DEAD RINGER FOR PENNY.BUCKAROO BANZAIPenny, look-PENNY'S VOICEYou look.  Who is she?BUCKAROO BANZAIThat's kinda complicated to get into right now because the world's maybe coming to an end and I can't stand here and talk to a closet door.PENNY'S VOICEYeah, whose world is coming to an end?  You only wanted me because I remind you of her.Buckaroo fidgeting, precious seconds ticking away...BUCKAROO BANZAIPenny, I was going to get into that, but I haven't had time...with arachtoids and all...but briefly she was your long lost twin sister, we got married, and that's about all I can say.  Right now.(no response)Penny?A silence from the other side, the closet door unlocking...slowly opening, revealing Penny standing in the middle of a pile of female clothing...PENNY PRIDDYMarried--?  So that's it!  Buckaroo Banzai, a married man.  Where is she?  With the kids some place?Buckaroo turning...Penny eyeing him, penetrating his soul...PENNY PRIDDYShe must've been a bigger fool than me if she ran out on a guy like you...BUCKAROO BANZAIShe was killed, Penny.PENNY PRIDDYOh, my.BUCKAROO BANZAIDon't go to pieces.  I haven't got time tonight.A pregnant pause, the pain evident on Buckaroo's face as he turns back to the job at hand, picking up his holster and rummaging through the dresser drawer, fighting back the painful memories...PENNY PRIDDYLooks like you're the one might go to pieces.BUCKAROO BANZAIWhere's my damn ammo?  Nothing is ever where it's supposed to be around here!PENNY PRIDDYHow did she die?  I wanna know.BUCKAROO BANZAIYou don't wanna know.PENNY PRIDDYYes, I do.  Gimme a chance.  I'm stronger than you think.BUCKAROO BANZAIShe was murdered by Hanoi Shan on our wedding night.PENNY PRIDDYHanoi Shan--?  The guy in your comic books.  Boss of the World Crime League?  Supreme Commander of the Legion of Death?  The Pivot of Mystery himself?  You're putting me on.  He's a cartoon character.BUCKAROO BANZAII wish he was.  He's real enough.Penny having to sit down and think about this as Buckaroo straps on his guns...changes his torn and shredded jacket...Penny looking at a BUCKAROO BANZAI COMIC BOOK on the night stand...then at the framed photograph of Peggy...PENNY PRIDDYGod, she's so young and beautiful.  I don't remember her at all.  Which I guess is good, under the circumstances.  I bet you'll never forget her though.One look at Buckaroo says it all...BUCKAROO BANZAINever.PENNY PRIDDYI gotta be honest with myself and not repress these feelings-I've got mixed emotions-I don't know if I can handle this.  Oh, boy...BUCKAROO BANZAII gotta go.  We're on borrowed time.PENNY PRIDDYGo where?  Where're you going?BUCKAROO BANZAI(squatting close to her)Please, Penny.  You just gotta trust me now.  Okay?  And don't panic.  Because it's gonna be all right.PENNY PRIDDYWhat?  If we just believe in Buckaroo Banzai?BUCKAROO BANZAIYeah...and maybe more important, if you believe in yourself.PENNY PRIDDYBelieve in Penny Priddy?BUCKAROO BANZAIAbsolutely.Penny looks into his eyes...PENNY PRIDDYYou've got your six guns strapped on.  You're ridding off on another adventure?  Oh, my God, it's all real...it really is real.  I should go with you.  Please...BUCKAROO BANZAIIt's too dangerous.PENNY PRIDDYThat's just what you would say.  This is so unreal.  I'm dreaming...Starry-eyed, she leans forward to kiss him, Buckaroo about to oblige when their fingers touch, Penny getting a MILD ELECTRICAL SHOCK......the door suddenly opens and Perfect Tommy sticks his head in...	281PERFECT TOMMY(breathless)Buckaroo--! Sorry--BUCKAROO BANZAIWhat is it, Tommy?PERFECT TOMMYSam's dead!  Someone broke into the Jet Car! And things are going haywire over at the lab...Buckaroo running for the door, calling over his shoulder to Penny:BUCKAROO BANZAIStay here, I'll be back.PENNY PRIDDYSure.  I won't hold my breath.EXT.  BUCKAROO'S HOUSE - NIGHT	282Buckaroo, the Cavaliers, and the Lindleys race out of the house toward the research building...INT.  BUCKAROO'S BEDROOM - NIGHT	283Penny hurriedly changes clothes...puts on Peggy's clothes...when suddenly THE SIGHT OF JOHN O'CONNOR standing in the hallway door, leering at her...PENNY PRIDDYWhadda you want?John O'Connor, remembering her from the press conference...JOHN O'CONNORNothing right now, Penny Priddy.John O'Connor vanishing...Penny again at a loss...INT.  BANZAI INSTITUTE - NIGHT	284Buckaroo and the Cavaliers running inside, racing up a bright yellow staircase to the second floor...INT.  INSTITUTE LABORATORY - NIGHT	285Buckaroo and the Cavaliers entering, finding the motionless lab assistant in Professor Hikita's wrecked laboratory...BUCKAROO BANZAIDead.  Damnit!PERFECT TOMMYWhere's the professor?RENOWhere's Rawhide?CASPERWho'd do a thing like this?NEW JERSEYArachtoids.BUCKAROO BANZAISpread out. They can't be far.INT.  INSTITUTE CORRIDORS - NIGHT	286SHOTS of Cavaliers in empty hallways, guns drawn, discovering evidence of intruders...OFFICES RANSACKED, FURNITURE UPSET...EXPERIMENTS FOULED UP...	287...Buckaroo turning a corner, finding a SMALL AMOUNT OF SMOKE in the hallway...turning the corner...INT.  DRAFTING ROOM - NIGHT	288...stepping into a LARGE ROOM clouded with SMOKE from a burning file cabinet, Rawhide and a HULDING FORM struggling in the gloom......Buckaroo unable to get a clear shot at the beast when suddenly Rawhide succeeds in knocking his adversary to the floor, the "man" HISSING!RAWHIDELook out, Buckaroo!Rawhide putting himself in the line of fire, suddenly clutching his lower back...Buckaroo starting toward Rawhide but...RAWHIDEBehind you!Buckaroo turning as THE SHADOW OF THE ALIEN JOHN O'CONNOR falls on his back!...Buckaroo firing his guns, wounding the creature, the disoriented FIGURE retreating out into the corridor as Buckaroo turns in time to see Rawhide's assailant dive into a hole in the floor!  A hole in the floor?BUCKAROO BANZAIYou okay?RAWHIDEYeah. Just grazed me.  The Professor's under the floor too...with the Overthruster...Buckaroo edging toward that strange orifice in the linoleum, going into it himself...INT.  DOWNSTAIRS CORRIDOR - NIGHT	289As Penny rushes in, her ears picking up weird noises...THE SOUND OF PEOPLE in the acoustical tiles overhead...Penny trying to follow the racket down the first-floor hallway...INT.  CRAWL SPACE - NIGHT	290Buckaroo in the dim light of the crawl space, making his way past air-conditioning ducts toward the sound of someone or something crawling up ahead...BUCKAROO BANZAIProfessor--!?PROF. HIKITA'S VOICEHere, Buckaroo!SOUNDS IN THE DARKNESS, Buckaroo holding his pistol still at the ready but useless in these cramped quarters...Buckaroo finding a worklight, flicking it on...INT.  DOWNSTAIRS OFFICE - NIGHT	291Penny meanwhile following the NOISES AND VOICES OVERHEAD into an empty office, grabbing a ladder and knocking out a ceiling panel...PENNY PRIDDYBuckaroo!  Rawhide!  Reno?  Anybody?	292ANOTHER POV...unfortunately someone else is watching Penny from inside that very office...the wounded John O'Connor sitting in a swivel desk chair behind the door, oozing blood of a strange color and consistency, staring ferociously at Penny...MORE CLATTER OVERHEAD...as Penny elevates herself partially into the hole...INT.  CRAWL SPACE - NIGHT	293PENNY'S POV...Professor Hikita only yards away, on his belly, able to come no further, unable to wedge himself beneath a large duct...the arachtoid John BigbootÈ closing in behind the professor...Buckaroo closing in behind BigbootÈ.PROF.  HIKITATake it, young lady!  Grab it!	294Unseen by John BigbootÈ, the OVERTHRUSTER skittering across the crawl space and into Penny's hands!INT.  DOWNSTAIRS OFFICE - NIGHT	295Penny stepping down off the chair and onto the desk top, her back still to the wounded John O'Connor as she quickly stuffs the OVERTHRUSTER into her purse...an action unseen by the ghastly, bleeding thug who...	296...EXTENDS HIS ARM UP AND ACROSS THE ROOM...HIS HUMAN HAND TIGHTENING AROUND HER MOUTH...INT.  CRAWL SPACE - NIGHT	297Buckaroo advancing toward the professor...PROF. HIKITA'S VOICEGo back, Buckaroo!The arachtoid John BigbootÈ whirling, firing a STINGER that whizzes past Buckaroo's head, missing by inches...as Buckaroo FIRES twice...John BigbootÈ screaming...kicking at a small fresh air vent, somehow squeezing his huge body out the tiny opening like a rat.INT.  DRAFTING ROOM - NIGHT	298Buckaroo helping Professor Hikita up out of the floor...Rawhide lying very still now, surrounded by Reno, Perfect Tommy and New Jersey......one look between New Jersey and Buckaroo sufficient to tell us that Rawhide hasn't got a chance...Buckaroo kneeling beside his old pal, Rawhide forcing a smile...RAWHIDEYou're a welcome sight...BUCKAROO BANZAIJust 'grazed' you, huh?New Jersey extracting a strange MANY-PRONGED STINGER from Rawhide's back.  Buckaroo looking at it...Rawhide maintaining a sense of humor...RAWHIDEApache?BUCKAROO BANZAIArachtoid.RAWHIDESo I was right.  That's nice to know...Across the room, Pinky Carruthers comes in with Casper and Scooter Lindley, and that black man from Planet 10, John Parker...PINKY CARRUTHERSWe found the guy, Rawhide, sucker dug a hole and tried to...Pinky's words catching in his throat as he sees Rawhide's condition.	299Buckaroo turning, seeing not a 'guy' but A GIANT ARACHTOID standing there...	300Rawhide fading fast, Buckaroo lobbing the STINGER to "John Parker"...BUCKAROO BANZAIAny antidote for these things?John Parker holding the stinger in his palm...JOHN PARKERNo, none....as it suddenly comes alive!  He drops it to the floor, stomps it to death...PERFECT TOMMYThat mean you're on our side?RAWHIDE(sinking)We gotta stop 'em, Buckaroo.Buckaroo turning from the BLACK ARACHTOID to his dying buddy...BUCKAROO BANZAIWe will, old fried, we will.RAWHIDESure do pack a mean wallop...let's go...BUT RAWHIDE CLOSING HIS EYES FOR THE FINAL TIME, as Buckaroo feels for a pulse...the look in the great man's eyes saying it all...sadness mixed with anger...BUCKAROO BANZAIThere's another one we owe 'em....THE SOUND OF A HELICOPTER STARTING UP...CASPER LINDLEYThey're stealing my chopper!The Cavaliers racing for the window...RENOAnd they got Penny!  Look!BUCKAROO BANZAIDon't shoot!PROF. HIKITAShe has the Overthruster!JOHN PARKERThen your planet is doomed.BUCKAROO BANZAINo!(calmer)We'll get it back.Buckaroo shoving Perfect Tommy aside, at the window himself now.	301BUCKAROO'S POV...a fleeting glimpse of THE STOLEN LINDLEY CHOPPER...INT.  WALTER REED ARMY HOSPITAL - NIGHT	302CLOSE ON the familiar face of the Secretary of Defense seen from an unusual angle...PULLING BACK TO REVEAL PRESIDENT WIDMARK lying on his belly, surrounded by the electronics of his temporary set of government, staring down at a special mirror that reflects his Secretary of Defense, the Secretary pressing a point further an igniting a Camel with a lighter from the President's nightstand.SECRETARY OF DEFENSEIt's not Buckaroo Banzai per se, Mr. President. It's his men...some of then foreigners...Asiatics, their names changed, their true backgrounds shrouded in secrecy! I mean, when you come right up against it, what do we really know about any of 'em?A NURSE appears with two little pills...NURSEThese'll make you a tenny bit drowsy, Mr. President.PRESIDENT WIDMARKThat's okay, Bonnie, I won't be operating any heavy machinery today.SECRETARY OF DEFENSE(desperate)We've never had a weapon like the Jet Car in the past, Mr. President.  Light-weight, highly mobile, stick on some anti-tank missiles, a couple grenade launchers, hell, we could buy ourselves two hundred Jet Cars for the price of ten tanks, send 'em swarming all over Ivan like bumble bees, sir, right clear through their precious little Iron Curtain like it was Swiss cheese!  They gotta be just scared shitless!PRESIDENT WIDMARKAs are all sane men today.SECREATRY OF DEFENSEHey, and me too.  That's why I'm saying until Buckaroo Banzai agrees to submit his boys to at least a routine government security check, that Jet Car should be in the hands of Defense, and if they won't sell us the technology, then Mr. President, by God, sir, we have got to take it!  In the national interest.The lighter in the Secretary's hand suddenly BEEPING, startling him and prompting the President to claim the gizmo and point it at...	303...an astounding TV-telephone where the FACE OF BUCKAROO BANZAI APPEARS...PRESIDENT WIDMARKWorld Watch One.  Direct incoming transmission.BUCKAROO BANZAI ON TVHello, Mr. President.  How's my favorite patient?  Any tenderness?PRESIDENT WIDMARKThat which does not kill us makes us stronger, Buckaroo.  What's it like out there in the real world?Secretary of Defense McKinley stepping around behind the bed, coming into Buckaroo's field of vision...BUCKAROO BANZAI ON TVNot too terrific, sir.  I apologize for the interruption but something very unusual has reared its ugly head in outer space, and it looks like the Earth's caught in a crossfire.PRESIDENT WIDMARKYou're gonna have to repeat that, I think, Buckaroo.EXT.  BUCKAROO'S BUS - NIGHT	304On a highway somewhere near the Eastern seaboard, Buckaroo's bus speeds toward Yoyodyne...INT.  WORLD WATCH ONE/BUS - NIGHT	305Buckaroo standing at a TV-telephone in his MOBILE ELECTRONIC NERVE CENTER, the arachtoidal John Parker right at his side amid a flurry of activity... technicians accumulating INFO on THE ALIEN FATHER SHIP FROM PLANET 10...BUCKAROO BANZAITo cut right to the bottom line on this, sir, we have reason to believe that there are moving freely among us, vicious red aliens disguised as the owners and operators of Yoyodyne Propulsion Systems....Perfect Tommy, Reno, even Casper Lindley, coming in and out of the picture, transforming themselves into a crack commando unit donning assault/chemical-warfare uniforms...little Scooter Lindley among them, too, doing like his dad.	306SECRETARY OF DEFENSE ON TVYoyodyne Propulsion?  The people working on our Truncheon bomber?  Under control of alien nationals?  Reds?  Commies, you say?	307...New Jersey studying an initial computer enhancement of THE AWESOME BLACK ARACHTOID SHIP HEADED TOWARD EARTH...	308BUCKAROO BANZAINot exactly, Mr. Secretary, no.  Real aliens.  Giant red arachtoids camouflaged as human beings...and what they're really building, forget your Truncheon bomber, Mr. Secretary, is this enormous rocketship to escape back through the Eighth Dimension and then on to Planet 10.SECRETARY OF DEFENSE ON TVNow wait one second...BUCKAROO BANZAIThe gentleman standing here with me is called John Parker, and he can corroborate everything I've said because he's from Planet 10 too.INT.  WALTER REED ARMY HOSPITAL - NIGHT	309The President dumbfounded...John Parker on TV appearing as nothing more than a wild and wooly Rastafarian...PRESIDENT WIDMARKBuckaroo...you and I, we go back a long, long way together...but...JOHN PARKER ON TV(interrupting)Time is short, Mr. President. To prevent John Whorfin's escape, my comrades are at this moment taking up a geostationary position over New Jersey. This situation is explosive!PRESIDENT WIDMARKExplosive? What are you saying, man? Some kind of race war in New Jersey--?BUCKAROO BANZAINo, sir.  This 'man' as you call him, is not a human being, Mr. President.  He's a black arachtoid.SECRETARY OF DEFENSEThat's some kind of spider, isn't it?INT.  WORLD WATCH ONE/BUS - NIGHT	310New Jersey joins Professor Hikita at a microscope, analyzing a slide smeared with that weird alien 'blood'...PRESIDENT WIDMARK ON TVBuckaroo, my good friend...I'd like to help you...but don't you think I would've heard from my SAC radar by now if...INT.  WALTER REED ARMY HOSPITAL - NIGHT	311BUCKAROO BANZAI ON TVSAC wouldn't know what to look for, sir.  Because these black arachtoids are cleverly hidden inside a huge thundercloud.The Secretary of Defense takes action, picks up a phone...SECRETARY OF DEFENSEGet me John Bigboote at Yoyodyne Propulsion Systems, Inc.  Then...(to the President)...the FBI.  Let's see if this spade's wanted.  What the hell's his name again?  Jackson?JOHN PARKER ON TVParker.  I have delivered a hologram from my president, John Emdall, who has made it clear that unless John Whorfin is destroyed at once, she intends to fire an atomic beam from your American airspace...BUCKAROO BANZAI ON TV...hit Smolensk and precipitate a thermonuclear war, Mr. President.PRESIDENT WIDMARKA what?BUCKAROO BANZAI ON TVA thermonuclear holocaust, sir.  These creatures from Planet 10 are ready to exploit Soviet-American tensions and get us to blow each other off the face of the earth, sir, if necessary.PRESIDENT WIDMARKYou're quite serious about this, aren't you, Buckaroo.  We know each other pretty well, I think.SECRETARY OF DEFENSEJohn...?  John Bigboote?  Right, BigbootÈ, sorry.  Anyway, hey, guy, how's everything over there at Yoyodyne?  How's my big bomber coming?  Nothing out of the, you know, ordinary?  Spiders?  I know you're busy...lunch?  Sounds good...when's good for you?  Next Tuesday?  I'm writing it down in my book.  See you then...Uncle Sam's treat.The Secretary writes nothing down, hangs up, looking unsatisfied with the conversation just concluded.INT.  WORLD WATCH ONE/BUS - NIGHT	312Buckaroo glancing over at Professor Hikita and New Jersey, the latter squinting into the microscope...PRESIDENT WIDMARK ON TVWell.  I don't know what to say, Buckaroo...aliens from Planet 10, nuclear extortion, spiders in thunder clouds, a girl named "John"...NEW JERSEYThere's your answer!  Electromagnetic bacterial crap!PROF. HIKITAProgrammable!NEW JERSEYWe inhale the bacteria.  It swims to our cerebral cortex and reprograms our consciousness.  Diabolical.  We only see what they want us to see.PROF. HIKITAElectric brainwashing.John Parker nearby, helping Reno synthesize more of Professor Hikita's ARACHTOIDAL ANTIDOTE and pour the liquid into GAS MASK FILTERS...SECRETARY OF DEFENSE McKINLEY STEPPING CLOSER INTO THE PICTURE...SECRETARY OF DEFENSE ON TVJust curious, Buckaroo, but where's the Jet Car at these days?BUCKAROO BANZAII've got it, Mr. Secretary.  But unfortunately the Oscillation Overthruster is in Penny Priddy's possession and she's been kidnapped and taken to Yoyodyne, further exacerbating the situation. We're on our way there right now.INT.  WALTER REED ARMY HOSPITAL - NIGHT	313PRESIDENT WIDMARKWho the hell's Penny Priddy?The Secretary of Defense giving the President a sly 'I told you so' look...INT.  WORLD WATCH ONE/BUS - NIGHT	314Perfect Tommy coming over, interrupting...PERFECT TOMMYBuckaroo, John Parker has the arachtoid cloud on line 2!INT.  WALTER REED ARMY HOSPITAL - NIGHT	315BUCKAROO BANZAI ON TVExcuse me a moment, Mr. President.  We're talking to the cloud right now.And his image fades.PRESIDENT WIDMARKGood God...The President picks up the phone...SECRETARY OF DEFENSEWell, if it wasn't Buckaroo Banzai, I'd say commit the man.PRESIDENT WIDMARKGet me SAC HQ: Omaha, NORAD, and the Strategic Space Command. I want some hard data on that cloud. We got any killer satellites over Jersey--?INT.  WORLD WATCH ONE/BUS - DAY	316Everyone studying a much MORE DETAILED COMPUTER ENHANCEMENT of the alien cloud...The Alien John Parker on the phone, whispering...	317RENO They're armed for bear, Buckaroo.  Check out those radiation levels.BUCKAROO BANZAI(to John Parker)John Parker, tell them we're doing our best.  Stall.JOHN PARKER(into phone)Buckaroo Banzai says patience is a virtue, Wing Commander, sir.Perfect Tommy interrupting again, holding yet another telephone...PERFECT TOMMYIt's Whorfin, Buckaroo.  Line 3.BUCKAROO BANZAIWhorfin?  Does he know we're coming?INT.  SPEED OPERATOR'S PULPIT (YOYODYNE) - NIGHT	318Meanwhile in a grimy narrow control booth high above the factory floor, a terrified Penny Priddy sits BOUND and GAGGED, John O'Connor SPREADING THE CONTENTS FROM A HONEY-BEAR SQUEEZE BOTTLE over her naked arms while long trails of ORDINARY PICNIC ANTS make their way up her legs...John BigbootÈ looking on...Penny's UNOPENED big clear plastic purse on Doctor Lizardo's desk, the OVERTHRUSTER right under his nose and he doesn't even know it as he speaks into the phone handed to him by an ASSISTANT.  BEGIN INTERCUTTING.DOCTOR LIZARDOWell, well...Dr. Banzai. Perhaps you don't remember me?  Ah, I'm flattered.  We know the same people.  In fact, one of them is here with me now...your associate, Doctor Penny Priddy.	319BUCKAROO BANZAI"Doctor"--?	320DOCTOR LIZARDOMay I pass along my congratulations for your great achievement.  In the miserable annals of the Earth, you will be duly enshrined! However...(a pause)...Miss Priddy claims to be unable to solve my problem. And provide the crucial missing circuit for my Overthruster.  Perhaps you can convince her to try.Lizardo holding the phone toward Penny, ripping her gag off...PENNY PRIDDYI'm not worth it, Buckaroo! Forget me! BUCKAROO BANZAIPenny--?!  Are you all right?Doctor Lizardo yanking the phone from Penny, remaining silent for a second to torture Buckaroo's soul...BUCKAROO BANZAIShe knows nothing, Lizardo.DOCTOR LIZARDOThen shall we say "A Penny for your thoughts?" You can come in her place. Yoyodyne, Dr. Banzai. Come alone, with your Overthruster!(hanging up)He'll bring it.  I know his type.Penny glancing surreptitiously at her large transparent purse, THE OVERTHRUSTER IN A JUMBLE OF COSMETICS!DOCTOR LIZARDOTake her to the pit!  Use more honey.  Find out what she knows.Smiling smugly, Lizardo heads for the door, Penny squirming in her seat as the TINY ANTS dig in...PENNY PRIDDYWho are you?  Hanoi Shan?  The Scourge of Burma!  The Pivot of Mystery?  Well, you're not destroying me like you did my sister!Lizardo simply sneering at her as he goes out the door...INT.  PASSENGER SECTION/BUS - NIGHT	321A flurry of well-ordered activity taking place...Hong Kong Cavaliers and Blue Shield Irregulars along with Pinky Carruthers.  Casper and Scooter...sitting up front like paratroopers, cleaning their back-pack FLAMETHROWERS...SAWED-OFF SHOTGUNS...Buckaroo giving them a chalk talk, an aerial photograph of Yoyodyne on the clear plexiglas 'blackboard'...BUCKAROO BANZAIThese antidote filters the Professor's whipped up will let you to see them like I have since yesterday, as arachtoidal creatures. They won't be pretty, nothing personal, John Parker.  But just remember...if we fail tonight, there's no tomorrow.JOHN PARKERThey will never surrender.  They will fight to the end.Buckaroo nodding...THE CAVALIERS BREATING THEIR ANTIDOTE FILTERS, SEEING NOW "THE ALIEN" JOHN PARKER WITH A MIXTURE OF DISBELIEF AND HORROR...Casper and Scooter Lindley especially unsettled...BUCKAROO BANZAII'm working under the assumption that Penny still has the Overthruster.  That'll be my job: get it back in one piece.  Here's the main gate.  I'll pass through first, alone.  The rest of you divide into two strike groups-Apache Team...that's you, Reno...and Chaparral Team, Perfect Tommy.  John Parker'll ride with Chaparral.Perfect Tommy not too thrilled about that.BUCKAROO BANZAITop priority is the Overthruster. Whorfin can't escape without it. The built-in tracking device should make it relatively simple to locate...maybe hard to get.INT.  BOWELS OF YOYODYNE - NIGHT	322Penny being dragged by John O'Connor through a slimy underground corridor, past a strange piece of machinery.INT.  WALTER REED HOSPITAL - NIGHT	323The President of the United States talks into a cigarette lighter and peeks up a nurse's skirt by means of his floor mirror...	324MIRRORED POV:  The nurse's reflection replaced by that of his NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR...	325PRESIDENT WIDMARKBuckaroo, come in...over.  How does this damn thing work?  Can anybody figure this lighter out?NATIONAL SECURITY MANNo, sir.  I think the flint...PRESIDENT WIDMARKWhat's happening with my call to SAC?NATIONAL SECURITY MANStill no confirmation either from SAC or Strategic Space Command.  They report all surveillance satellite communication jammed.PRESIDENT WIDMARKJammed--? By who? Whom by?NATIONAL SECURITY MANPossible atmospheric condition, sir...solar.  It's unusual, but no cause for alarm.  Intelligence reports the Soviets are having the same problem.PRESIDENT WIDMARKShould we be on Code Red?GENERAL CATBURDWe go to Code Red, the Russians go to Code Red...no sense jumping off half-cocked, Mr. President.The President twisting around to glower at Catburd eating an orange, sitting near a table of flowers and fruit baskets.SENATOR CUNNINGHAMI don't know...Buckaroo Banzai's never been wrong before.Senator Cunningham pacing nervously...GENERAL CATBURDThe man went through solid matter, for crying out loud. Who knows what it did to his brain...maybe scrambled his molecules. All I'm saying is, let's not panic here!  I'm sure there's a rational explanation...NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR(turning from a strange phone)Russian radar is down, sir.  They've just gone to Code Red.Silence.  And then calmly and quietly:PRESIDENT WIDMARKWe've got no choice then.  Call my wife.The National Security Advisor turning back to his telephone:NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISORCode Red.  "Butch says we're crimson."GENERAL CATBURDMr. President, none of us here are lunatics or irrational men...(looking at Cunningham)...or persons.  I'm a soldier and I'm a damn good one, enough decorations to snap a Christmas tree, but I don't mind telling you, I'm sure I speak for everyone in this room when I say I am scared. I'm barely holding my fudge right now.SENATOR CUNNINGHAMStop acting like a goddamn schoolgirl, General, and pull yourself together.PRESIDENT WIDMARKI'm glad someone has the balls to face facts!(pause)Forget we're the good guys and we'd never attack first.  They think we're godless monsters just like them.  Put yourself in their samovars...sitting in the dark without radar, bells ringing all over the damn Kremlin, little men in fedora hats getting out of Zils, coming into the Great Hall of the People.  Now, do you think they're gonna listen to reason?  I'll give Buckaroo his Planet 10 space cloud, but do you think they will?NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR(being handed a dispatch)Soviet radar is down, sir, and so is ours.  We're both totally defenseless.  More or less.GENERAL CATBURDHail Mary.PRESIDENT WIDMARKSo what's our counter option, General Catburd?  Earn your salary.GENERAL CATBURDI guess we have to prick this boil and take the heat, sir.  Hit 'em primero...blast 'em off the face of the Earth before they lose their heads and do it to us first.PRESIDENT WIDMARKLarry, where's my Football?NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOROut in the hall, sir.INT.  WALTER REED HOSPITAL CORRIDOR - NIGHT	326An apple-cheeked Marine Lieutenant sits watching a television soap opera, only the sinister BLACK BRIEFCASE chained to his wrist setting him apart from missions of other viewers...General Catburd sticking his head out of the President's room...GENERAL CATBURDWhat're you waiting for, boy?  Get in here with that thing....as an out-of-breath Mrs. Johnson rounds the corner on rollerskates, out-foxing SECRET SERVICE AGENTS and the rest of the President's entourage, cutting through, clutching the YELLOW RECORD...MRS. JOHNSONFor the President!  From Buckaroo Banzai!EXT.  RENDEZVOUS POINT - NIGHT	327A dimly lighted parking lot not far from Yoyodyne.  A KOLODNY BROS. PLUMBING VAN arrives, disgorging several tough BLUE SHIELDS as Buckaroo and Professor Hikita confer...the alien John Parker doing some highly unusual warm-up exercises on the tarmac...Reno telling the arriving Blue Shields:RENOWe're waiting for the Jet Car.  Billy's bringing it.PERFECT TOMMYAsshole probably got lost.NEW JERSEYOr nailed for speeding.BUCKAROO BANZAICan I have everyone's attention?  I'm not a rah-rah kinda guy, and I'm not much for speeches, but things could get rough out there tonight.  It's a fight we didn't ask for, but it's a fight we're stuck with and we all saw what happened to Rawhide.  So if for any reason this is good-bye, I want you all to know that...well...that...you crazy lugs...Buckaroo finding it difficult to put into words what they all mean to him, the Cavaliers smiling, needling him...RENOWhat, Buckaroo?  You trying to tell us something?The JET CAR racing up, skidding to a stop, Billy jumping out, the big engine still running.BUCKAROO BANZAILet's just fry those arachtoids.Buckaroo embracing Professor Hikita, turning back to his men, pulling on his helmet:BUCKAROO BANZAIGive me thirty minutes.  Then come in and mop up.Buckaroo tossing a quick Blue Shield salute, shutting himself into his speed machine.	328PROF. HIKITA'S POV as Buckaroo blasts off...an exhaust trail of white smoke as he rockets up the highway!INT.  YOYODYNE - NIGHT	329Penny Priddy, more bedraggled and filthy than ever, being dragged by John O'Connor deeper into the bowels of Yoyodyne, down a flooded subterranean corridor...INT.  WALTER REED ARMY HOSPITAL - NIGHT	330CLOSE ON THE PRESIDENT'S FACE...JOHN EMDALL'S VOICE OVER...talking thermonuclear war...wrapping her speech up...WHOOSH!PRESIDENT WIDMARKWell... that's certainly food for thought.	331Mrs. Johnson lifting the needle off the SMOKING RECORD...as the President's National Security Advisor places a call on that ominous STRANGE PHONE, a palpable tension rising, urgency bordering on panic......General Catburd and the young Marine lieutenant rummaging through a confusion of envelops in the BLACK BRIEFCASE.NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISORNo answer at the Kremlin, sir. Just dead silence.GENERAL CATBURDHere you go, Mr. President...the Sealed Authenticators.  The Plan D Documents for your eyes only...John-Hancock these, and we got ourselves a knockout little force posture...SENATOR CUNNINGHAMYou know, on second thought, maybe we should think this through a bit more so that future generations of...THE LIGHTS IN THE ROOM START TO BLINK ON AND OFF...silencing the Senator...Catburd handing the President a writing implement...pulling out a special writing tray from the bed...PRESIDENT WIDMARK"Name of the enemy"?  What, Planet 10?  My hand's shaking.  How on earth can I even...have to stay awake, alert...that's my job.  That's what the people put me here for.INT.  FATHER SHIP - NIGHT	332Meanwhile inside the strange vaporous entity...BLACK CREATURES scuttle about their jobs in semi-darkness, monitoring the Earth below...BLACK ARACHTOID COMMANDERWhere is Buckaroo Banzai?BLACK ARACHTOID AT SCOPEJohn Parker tells us he's approaching Yoyodyne, Wing Commander, sir.BLACK ARACHTOID COMMANDERKeep me posted.EXT.  MAIN GATE/YOYODYNE - NIGHT	333...as Buckaroo arrives in his JET CAR...RED ARACHTOID GUARDS unlocking the chain link barrier, swinging it open...INT.  SPEED OPERATOR'S PULPIT (YOYODYNE) - NIGHT	334In the nerve center of Yoyodyne, a nervous John BigbootÈ watches Dr. Lizardo addressing his ragtag followers on the floor below...BigbootÈ with his hands on Lizardo's mike cord, trying to get up enough nerve to pull the plug on his boss...DOCTOR LIZARDOBlacks are on this planet! Here in New Jersey! Coming to destroy us! We must move! Escape or die! 	335OVER LIZARDO'S SHOULDER: A view down below on the littered floor of a huge aircraft factory that houses a GIANT SPOACESHIP OF BIZARRE DESIGN, a customized 747, wingless, jagged, the entire vehicle suspended twenty feet off the floor on movable cranes, work ladders stretching up to its several doors...DOCTOR LIZARDOYou must work faster to finish the Great Vehicle. So that we can enter the Eighth Dimension and free our trapped comrades! So we can return to our homeland and seize power once again! ...Lizardo's followers extending their three-fingered hands in fascist salutes as he whips them into a feverish state:BACK TO:	336DR. LIZARDOWhere are we going?  Tell me!RED ARACHTOIDSTo Planet 10!DR. LIZARDOWhen?RED ARACHTOIDSReal soon!Dr. Lizardo peers down at the hangar floor.	337HIS POV of the JET CAR locked in the iron jaws of a GIGANTIC ROLLING MACHINE...INT.  JET CAR/LAUNCH HANGAR - NIGHT	338The Jet Car's engine shut down, Buckaroo CHECKING HIS OVERTHRUSTER HOMING DEVICE as he's trundled toward John Gomez, in a graveyard of HUGE YELLOW SPIKES, his eyes taking in everything, from the last-minute preparation of the GIANT SPACECRAFT to:	339BUCKAROO'S POV...the evil figures of Dr. Lizardo and John BigbootÈ standing high in the speed operator's pulpit...	340Buckaroo yanked out of the cockpit...John Gomez poking at the JET CAR'S dashboard, ripping out its cassette deck, finding the crucial Overthruster missing and shaking his head in Lizardo's direction.JOHN GOMEZNot here!THEIR POV	341An angry John BigbootÈ racing down the stairs toward the Jet Car...as over the PUBLIC ADDRESS BOOMS:DOCTOR LIZARDOWHERE IS THE OVERTHRUSTER!BACK TO:	342BUCKAROO BANZAII thought you had it!For that seemingly flippant but honest answer, Buckaroo gets punched by John BigbootÈ...doubling him over...DR. LIZARDO'S VOICETake him to the Shock Tower!INT.  YOYODYNE SHOCK TOWER - NIGHT	343Murky, dank, an insect paradise...Buckaroo standing trapped inside an ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELD...John BigbootÈ looking on......Dr. Lizardo flashing two separate, incredibly complex ELECTRICAL DIAGRAMS on A MONITOR SCREEN in rapid-fire order.DOCTOR LIZARDOSolve them! The shock tower is a lie detector. Any untruth triggers a brutal charge to your auditory meatus...BUCKAROO BANZAIYou're not getting a damn thing outta me until Penny's safe.DR. LIZARDOCurse you, Banzai! Don't you realize what you're saying? Your planet's about to be destroyed, and you're wasting time like this...BUCKAROO BANZAII've got nothing but time.CLOSE ON THE POLYGRAPH NEEDLE SUDDENLY JUMPING!	344	345THE TOWER ZAPPING BUCKAROO, A FIERCE ELECTRIC SHOCK TOSSING HIM BACK AND FORTH LIKE A RAG DOLL...DOCTOR LIZARDOSealed with a curse as sharp as a knife...doomed is your soul, and damned is your life!Lizardo pressing a button, administering a second SHOCK to Buckaroo, while an aide turns a dial, INCREASING THE VOLTAGEDOCTOR LIZARDOI want my missing circuit now!INT/EXT.  PRESIDENT'S HELICOPTER - NIGHT	346A VIEW OVER THE SECRETARY OF DEFENSE'S SHOULDER as the chopper descends, lands in a parking lot where Buckaroo's bus sits guarded by Cavaliers and Blue Shields...THE CAMERA FOLLOWING the Secretary right out into it all...A CARPET CLEANING VAN ARRIVING, THREE MORE TOUGH BLUE SHIELD IRREGULARS REPORTING FOR WORK..."THE RUG SUCKERS".SECRETARY OF DEFENSEWho the hell are those guys?  Where's Buckaroo?INT.  YOYODYNE SHOCK TOWER - NIGHT	347Buckaroo still held in his electric straitjacket...Lizardo nodding to the ARACHTOID in charge of a bank of glowing closed circuit TV sets...the same picture popping onto every set:  PENNY HANGING IN "THE PIT".BUCKAROO BANZAIYou bloody--!DOCTOR LIZARDOShe'll live...for a while, and she won't enjoy it.Lizardo indicates his favorite monitor...the INCOMPLETE OVERTHRUSTER equation flashing across its face.DOCTOR LIZARDOOnly you can save her from the fate of your friend, Mr. Rawhide!  Solve this equation.  I must have the crucial missing circuit.CLOSE ON THE MONITOR...a riot of circuits and junctions...	348BACK TO:	349BUCKAROO BANZAIThe missing circuit's in your head, Whorfin.DR. LIZARDOWhorfin?  How do you know that's my real name?BUCKAROO BANZAIJohn Emdall told me.Buckaroo smiles at Lizardo's surprise, Lizardo signaling John BigbootÈ who turns on the voltage, ZAPPING Buckaroo!INT.  BUCKAROO'S BUS (PARKED) - NIGHT	350The Secretary of Defense pacing the aisle of the bus, looking at his watch while the Cavaliers and newly arrived Blue Shields conceal their eagerness for battle...checking watches, cleaning weapons.SECRETARY OF DEFENSEAnybody got a report-anybody got anything?  Or are we still blacked out?Perfect Tommy looking back into World Watch One...PERFECT TOMMYLight precipitation.  Partly cloudy tomorrow.SECREATARY OF DEFENSEThis bus should be in the hands of Defense....Scooter Lindley, wearing a gas mask, approaches the alien John Parker with a BLUE SHIELD BALLPOINT PEN and a piece of paper...SCOOTER LINDLEYCould I have your autograph, Mr. Parker?John Parker at first not understanding the nature of the request...looking at the ball-point pen, Scooter flipping the point for him...SCOOTER LINDLEYSay, "To my best friend Scooter..."JOHN PARKERYou got it....the Secretary of Defense, NERVOUSLY CRACKING HIS KNUCKLES...moving up the aisle, suddenly screaming:SCRETARY OF DEFENSEWhat the hell are we doing?!  I don't believe this...what're we waiting for?  Christmas?PROF. HIKITA(checking his watch)Ten minutes more.  Buckaroo's orders.SECRETARY OF DEFENSEDamn Buckaroo!  I'm the eyes and ears of the President of these United States of America!  In loco presidentis!  Which means I'm in charge here!PERFECT TOMMYNot on this bus, you're not.SECRETARY OF DEFENSEWho the hell do you think you are?PERFECT TOMMYPerfect Tommy.That answer alone enough to drive the Secretary up the wall...SECRETARY OF DEFENSEWell let me tell you something, Mr. Perfect Tommy: I don't need this shit.  I could be on Easy Street with a cushy job in the private sector.  But instead,  I got me a nine-hundred-million-dollar way-the-hell-behind-schedule top-secret bomber being built down there by Yoyodyne Propulsion Systems and I don't intend to set twiddling thumbs in a bus while Buckaroo Banzai goes crashing around my airplane looking for his damn girlfriend, driving a car that itself is probably worth more to this country than all the tea in China!  I'm talking National Security risk and we are going in there like gentlemen and straighten this thing out before somebody gets hurt!  You got that?...the Secretary suddenly grabbing a weapon from a surprised Blue Shield and turning it toward the driver...REVERSE ANGLE...THE SECRETARY CRACKING A SHOT OFF AT THE WINDSHIELD!	351	352SECRETARY OF DEFENSEHit it, soldier boy!  Move this buggy!  That's a goddamn executive order!With his weapon trained on the driver, who's to stop him?PERFECT TOMMYGo ahead, Louie, do like the man says.EXT.  HIGHWAY NEAR YOYODYNE - NIGHT	353The double bus leaping forward, heading down the long approach road to Yoyodyne...past a BILLBOARD touting the aerospace achievements of...YOYODYNE-AN EXCITING, GROWING COMPANY...JUST ONE MILE AHEAD...PATROLLED BY AIRCRAFT.INT.  BUCKAROO'S BUS - NIGHT	354The Cavaliers letting the Secretary of Defense call the shots for the moment, talking among themselves, Perfect Tommy squelching any notion of knocking off their hysterical hijacker:PERFECT TOMMY(whispering)Hey, so we get into action quicker this way.  We tell Buckaroo our watches were fast.Ordinary citizen John Parker taking a step toward the Secretary, offering him a gas mask...the Secretary turning on him...SECRETARY OF DEFENSEThat's far enough, black boy...A mystified John Parker stepping back.	355ANGLE TOWARD WINDSHIELD...the Secretary peering through the windshield at the chain link gates coming into view...YOYODYNE-AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER.REVERSE ON	356SECRETARY OF DEFENSEI'll handle the negotiations here...(to the driver)Slow her down.EXT.  GUARD GATE/YOYODYNE - NIGHT	357The Secretary getting out, coming around to the REDHEADED YOYODYNE GUARDS who try to peer in through the bus' tinted windows...SECRETARY OF DEFENSEYou fellas got a phone?  Ring ahead and get me John Bigboote.  Tell him...GUARDIt's BigbootÈ.SECRETARY OF DEFENSEWhat? Hell, I'll do it yourself if I want it done right, huh?The Secretary pushing the astonished guards aside and picking up the telephone, the guards trying to stop him and in the process turning their backs on the bus as it SILENTLY CRUISES PAST THE GATE INTO YOYODYNE...EXT.  DESERTED AREAS (YOYODYNE) - NIGHT	358...the bus coming to a stop in a scrap metal dump inside the big compound, Cavaliers and Blue Shields piling out, going with their assigned groups...Perfect Tommy's Chaparral Team following John Parker toward a normal looking building...JOHN PARKERUnder here, I think.PERFECT TOMMYUnder where?  Hold on...But John Parker entering a crawl space beneath the huge building...Chaparral Team having no choice, following.EXT.  YOYODYNE GATE - NIGHT	359The Secretary of Defense struggling with the guards for possession of the phone, drawing his stolen weapon...SECRETARY OF DEFENSENow you get this straight...you're up to your ass in alligators, and I'm here to drain the swamp.  So I'm gonna use this phone...because it is all over for you, Baby Blue...(picking up the phone)This is the Secretary of Defense at the poorly guarded west gate.  I wanna speak to John BigbootÈ, person to person.  Okay, okay...BigbootÈ.EXT.  UNDERGROUND ENTRANCE/YOYODYNE - NIGHT	360Reno's Apache Team (Casper and Scooter on board), finds yet ANOTHER UNDERGROUND ENTRANCE to the main building, slips in...INT.  UNDERGROUND BUILDING - NIGHT	361Chaparral Team (the alien, John Parker, Perfect Tommy) in the strange labyrinth of dark, low-ceilinged passageways, making their way cautiously...PERFECT TOMMYHope you know where you're going, John Parker.  Because my nose is starting to whistle...A FORM suddenly dropping from the ceiling, landing on Perfect Tommy, a fierce struggle in the darkness...John Parker to the rescue, garroting a RED ARACHTOID, Perfect Tommy helping himself up...PERFECT TOMMYThanks.JOHN PARKERDon't mention it.PERFECT TOMMYThen I won't.INT.  BIVOUAC ROOM - NIGHT	362...John Parker leading the way again, up some unusual stairs...into the MAIN BIVOUAC ROOM, RED ARACHTOIDS apparently asleep in bizarre tents, others hanging from the ceiling like sloths, A STRANGE HEAVY HUMMING NOISE starting to fill the room...JOHN PARKERThey sense us.  Hurry.John Parker breaking into a run for the far end of the room, Perfect Tommy and the others following, John Parker hitting the door...and AN ALARM GOES OFF...Perfect Tommy opening fire at a HUGE GENERATOR...THE POWER DROPPING EVERYWHERE!INT.  YOYODYNE SHOCK TOWER - NIGHT	363LIGHTS PULSING...ELECTIRICITY FAILING in the murky torture chamber giving Buckaroo just the change he needs to break free of the shock tower.DOCTOR LIZARDOStop him!  Get him!INT.  CORRIDOR - NIGHT	364Buckaroo ducking into a recessed doorway, taking cover against a wall wet with strange algae as various ARACHTOID GUARDS scramble past, ALARM BELLS AND SIRENS GROANING...DOCTOR LIZARDO(to BigbootÈ)Kill the girl! ...Buckaroo losing sight of the swift arachtoid John BigbootÈ, resorting instead to his ELECTRONIC TRACKING DEVICE while...INT.  FLOODED CORRIDOR - NIGHT	365...Reno, New Jersey and Pinky Carruthers bring Apache Team down a flooded corridor, meeting some opposition.INT.  DARK CORRIDOR - NIGHT	366Buckaroo spotting New Jersey in the confusion, the two of them tracking Penny electronically, descending concrete steps, moving down a dark corridor that we recognize...INT.  LAUNCH HANGER - NIGHT	367The Secretary of Defense meanwhile reaching the big hangar, confused, alarmed, chaos everywhere, shouting over the din:SECRETARY OF DEFENSEBigboote!...spotting John BigbootÈ across the hangar floor, going after him, staring bug-eyed at the MONSTROUS-LOOKING SPACECRAFT suspended above the hangar floor...SECRETARY OF DEFENSEWhat the hell...that ain't no Truncheon bomber, my friend.  I never approved that!INT.  CORRIDOR - NIGHT	368The Secretary following the speedy John BigbootÈ around a bend, unable to keep up...SECRETARY OF DEFENSEBigboote!BigbootÈ giving no indication of seeing him, rounding a corner ducking into his office......the Secretary rounding the corner too but seeing no sign of BigbootÈ...instead just an office door, a nameplate reading JOHN BIGBOOT…, EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT...the Secretary of Defense opening the door...INT.  BIGBOOT…'S OFFICE - NIGHT	369...moving past a vacant receptionist's desk to John BigbootÈ's cavernous, strangely furnished chamber...EMPTY.SECRETARY OF DEFENSEBigboote?!  You can run, but you can't hide.  I want some facts!...but no sign of John BigbootÈ.INT.  CORRIDOR - NIGHT	370Buckaroo and New Jersey still tracking Penny, moving through another flooded, slimy corridor we remember...INT.  BIGBOOT…'S OFFICE - NIGHT	371...the Secretary spying a phone on the receptionist's desk amid scattered Oreo cookies, picking the phone up, clicking it a couple of times to get a dial tone...totally ignoring AN AMAZING FRAMED PICTURE OF A RED ARACHTOID MOTHER AND CHILD ON THE DESK RIGHT IN FRONT OF HIM...SECRETARY OF DEFENSEOperator...operator...how the hell does a person get an outside line around here?...his gaze now focusing squarely on that cheap framed photograph of the RED ARACHTOIDS...Secretary McKinley losing his bearings...SECRETARY OF DEFENSEOh, Lord.  Never mind...forget it......his mind reeling, refusing to accept the obvious, the oddly designed furniture and chairs in the room, somehow insect-like...a sudden sound...a WOMAN'S SCREAM that seems to come from...underneath the floor?...the Secretary cocking his weapon and stepping around the desk as an amazing thing occurs...A TRAPDOOR IN THE OFFICE FLOOR opening, the Secretary going to investigate, able to observe...	372HIS POV of...John O'Connor coming up a ladder and, in the room below, a barely conscious Penny still in her private hell, trussed and taped, ANTS CRAWLING ON HER ARMS...the lurid specter of John BigbootÈ staring at her...INT.  THE PIT - NIGHT	373PENNY'S CLEAR PLASTIC PURSE UNOPENED ON THE DESK BESIDE HER, as the Secretary of Defense suddenly knocks John O'Connor down the ladder and jumps into the room, injuring his ankle...SECRETARY OF DEFENSEWhat the hell's is going on here, Bigboote? Where's my bomber? JOHN BIGBOOT…That's 'BigbootÈ'.SECRETARY OF DEFENSEI don't give a flying handshake what it is! Where's my bomber?JOHN BIGBOOT… Let's just climb upstairs to my office and discuss this like two reasonable... SECRETARY OF DEFENSEYour private life's your own concern, pal.  Where the hell is my bomber?  Look at this place...where's your pride?  It's like a pigsty down here!	374THE TELESCOPING ARM of John BigbootÈ suddenly shooting out and lifting the Secretary off the floor, banging him into the wall...JOHN BIGBOOT…It's not my goddamn planet!  Understand, monkey boy!? ...BIZARRE LAMPS SWAYING as GUNFIRE upstairs prompts BigbootÈ to release the Secretary, to urge O'Connor to head for a door off the hallway...JOHN O'CONNORBut John Whorfin said kill her. JOHN BIGBOOT…Damn John Whorfin--! INT.  CORRIDOR - NIGHT	375BigbootÈ and O'Connor emerging in the hallway...seen by Buckaroo Banzai and New Jersey as RED ARACHTOIDS...JOHN PARKERLook out, Buckaroo Banzai!Buckaroo turning and just in time, the alien JOHN GOMEZ right behind him...and behind Gomez, John Parker and Perfect Tommy with flame throwers......Buckaroo and New Jersey hitting the deck as the RED ARACHTOID gets smoked, the aliens John BigbootÈ and John O'Connor escaping in the confusion...INT.  THE PIT - NIGHT	376The Secretary of Defense still on the floor, spotting the OVERTHRUSTER in Penny's purse, taking it just as Buckaroo and New Jersey rush into the room...lights swaying...shadows dancing......the Secretary struggling to his feet as Buckaroo cuts Penny down...spraying her with a white insecticide, New Jersey checking her vital signs, Buckaroo shocking New Jersey accidentally with a jolt of STATIC ELECTRICITY, as the Secretary slips the OVERTHRUSTER under his coat...SECRETARY OF DEFENSE(to no one in particular)It's not over yet...I'll bounce back...always have.  I'll come through this thing smelling like a goddamn rose-just watch me.The Secretary limping out of the room...New Jersey trying to get penny's pulse while Buckaroo peels back her eyelids...NEW JERSEYLeave her to me. You take care of business. BUCKAROO BANZAIThanks.Buckaroo looking at New Jersey, knowing he can trust him, rummaging through Penny's purse...no Overthruster...INT.  YOYODYNE SHOCK TOWER - NIGHT	377Dr. Lizardo and the alien John O'Connor and the alien John BigbootÈ seeing their deteriorating position OVER A CLOSED-CIRCUIT TV...VIDEO IMAGES OF THE INVADING FORCES...DOCTOR LIZARDOSound the call to board ship!JOHN BIGBOOT…Without the crucial missing circuit?  We'll never make it! JOHN O'CONNORThey are only monkey boys!  We can still crush them here--! Lizardo picking up a primitive INCOMPLETE OVERTHRUSTER THE SIZE OF AN APPLE CRATE...DOCTOR LIZARDOYou heard my orders!  Activate the Special Horns!INT.  FLOODED CORRIDOR - NIGHT	378Buckaroo joining the alien John Parker, the two of them tearing down one of the flooded passages...suddenly covering their ears from those PAINFUL, EAR-SPLITTING HORNS!INT.  ANOTHER CORRIDOR - NIGHT	379Secretary of Defense McKinley makes his way through several RED ARACHTOIDS running in blind panic...SIRENS WAILING...SECRETARY OF DEFENSEComing through!  Clear it!INT.  LAUNCH HANGAR - DAWN	380...the light of a new day starting to glow through grimy windows...as down on the floor, Dr. Lizardo is about to scale a spindly ladder into his BIG SUSPENDED SPACESHIP...Lizardo spotting Buckaroo, John Parker and Hong Kong Cavaliers entering this sacred space...DOCTOR LIZARDOMassacre them! Without quarter! Dr. Lizardo pushing his own soldiers aside, scurrying into his SPACESHIP with John BigbootÈ and John O'CONNOR.INT.  LIZARDO'S BIG SPACESHIP - DAWN	381no sooner inside than a cowardly order is issued to John O'Connor:DOCTOR LIZARDOClose the doors! INT.  LAUNCH HANGAR - DAWN	382Meanwhile, the floor of the hangar...the alien John Parker using strange judo, the amazing Blue Shields fighting like Samurai, ducking STINGERS, FIREING into the enemy at point blank range...	383BUCKAROO SEEING Dr. Lizardo's engine start up, CLOUDS OF BLACK SMOKE pouring from the exhaust pipes...	384John Parker fighting his way toward the ship...	385WHILE OVER YONDER the Secretary of Defense spots the JET CAR unattended amid that field of weird yellow totems...ANOTHER ANGLE	386John Parker reaching the BIG SPACESHIP to find Buckaroo already there, Buckaroo taking the lead up a tall ladder that seems to reach to a REAR ENTRANCE.INT.  THERMOPOD - DAWN	387Buckaroo settling into a weird little chair, John Parker at his side, facing the opposite direction in a love-seat arrangement...at a wall cluttered with confusing instruments and a framed photo of LIZARDO...NO WAY INTO THE BIG SHIP FROM HERE...BUCKAROO BANZAIWhat is this thing?  A fighter?JOHN PARKERDon't look at me, Buckaroo Banzai.  I failed flight school.INT.  LIZARDO'S BIG SPACESHIP - DAWN	388John BigbootÈ in the co-pilot's seat, as Doctor Lizardo attempts to connect his clumsy overthruster.DOCTOR LIZARDOOverthruster in place. JOHN BIGBOOT…It won't work! It won't! DOCTOR LIZARDOShut up, John Bigboote, you coward! John O'Connor pushing John BigbootÈ aside as Lizardo hits another switch and for a fraction of a second ALL HELL BREAKS LOOSE, A BLINDING GREEN LIGHT!INT.  LAUNCH HANGAR - DAWN	389The spacecraft lurches forward twelve feet!  Stops.INT.  LIZARDO'S BIG SPACESHIP - DAWN	390DOCTOR LIZARDOAgain, John O'Connor!  Again!INT.  LAUNCH HANGAR - DAWN	391...AS WITHOUT WARNING LIZARDO'S BIG SHIP LURCHES AGAIN LIKE A TETHERED BEAST!ANGLE ON THE WALL PULSING!	392INT.  THERMOPOD - DAWN	393BUCKAROO BANZAIThey haven't got enough power.  They'll never penetrate!INT.  LIZARDO'S BIG SPACESHIP - DAWN	394Dr. Lizardo, a raging madman in the cockpit, using a RADIO MIKE:DOCTOR LIZARDOAlmost!  Almost!  Lower my vehicle onto the runway!JOHN BIGBOOT…No!  Please!INT.  THERMOPOD - DAWN	395THE DOOR SLAMMING SHUT, TRAPPING THEM...JOHN PARKERWe're going down!  Onto the runway!BUCKAROO BANZAIThe door's locked.INT.  JET CAR/LAUNCH HANGAR - DAWN	396Meanwhile, unnoticed, Secretary of Defense John McKinley reaches the JET CAR, starts to climb in...SMALL VOICEAnother step, I'll drink your blood--!The Secretary turning, not seeing anyone at first...then little Scooter Lindley with an M-14 trained on him...SCOOTER LINDLEYGet 'em up!Scooter means business...as he suddenly demonstrates, blowing away an oncoming ARACHTOID before turning the gun back on the Secretary, who raises his hands...SCOOTER LINDLEYWhat's that?SECRETARY OF DEFENSECan opener...just a...Scooter taking the CURIOUS OBJECT from his prisoner, not fooled for a second.INT.  LIZARDO'S BIG SPACESHIP - DAWN	397AWFUL THUMPING VIBRARIONS as John O'Connor hits the Overthruster switch again!INT.  LAUNCH HANGER - DAWN	398THE HANGER WALL BEGINNING TO OOZE...GLOWING.INT.  LIZARDO'S BIG SPACESHIP - DAWN	399Dr. Lizardo and John O'Connor ecstatic...John BigbootÈ terrified...INT.  THEMOPOD - DAWN	400Buckaroo and John Parker rattling in their seats!  No escape...INT.  HANGER WALL - DAWN	401The sudden "expulsion" by the wall of a TWEEDY, FLESHY OBJECT RESEMBLING A LUMP OF CLAY which rapidly begins to define itself as the real, 1938-MODEL BLACK-HAIRED DOCTOR LIZARDO, standing in total bewilderment, SEVERAL 15th CENTURY BUCCANEERS spit out next, equally disoriented...INT.  LIZARDO'S BIG SPACESHIP - DAWN	402The "other Lizardo" (Whorfin) meanwhile undergoing a painful reverse transformation: FROM OLD MAN BACK TO RED ARACHTOID!  HIS EYES GLOWING...LIGHT ENERGY GLOWING INSIDE HIS MOUTH!JOHN WHORFIN (LIZARDO)Full speed ahead!JOHN BIGTOOTEWe haven't a chance.  Your Overthruster's for shit!  We'll all just...JOHN WHORFINOne more word out of you, Bigboote...JOHN BIGTOOTEBigbootÈ.WHORFIN'S ARM ELONGATING, FLASHING OUT, breaking John BigbootÈ's neck!  John O'Connor moving up a notch at Yoyodyne.INT.  THERMOPOD - DAWN	403Buckaroo and John Parker picking up all of Whorfin's intraship communications...WHORFIN'S VOICEFull speed ahead!  Battle stations!	404THEIR POV OF THE HANGER AREA:  nightmarish excitement down below!  The floor rushing up as...INT.  LAUNCH HANGAR - DAWN	405The BIG SPACESHIP makes violent contact with its runway, rocketing ahead!	406THE COCKPIT POV AS THE SHIP RUSHES TOWARD THE WALL...the real Doctor Emillio Lizardo barely ducking out of the way!  Buccaneers scattering!EXT.  HANGAR WALL/YOYODYNE - DAWN	407THE BIG SPACESHIP CRASHING THROUGH THE HANGAR WALL, clumsy, heavy...	408REVERSE ANGLE...WHORFIN'S BIG SPACESHIP lifting off into the dark morning sky, taking Buckaroo and John Parker with it on its WOBBLY, UNCERTAIN FLIGHT...BANKING VIOLENTLY...INT.  FATHER SHIP - DAWN	409The crew of BLACK ARACHTOIDS aboard the ethereal father ship also at their battle stations...BLACK ARACHTOID COMMANDERBanzai has failed!  John Whorfin is airborne!BLACK ARACHTOID OFFICERbut not in the Eighth Dimension.  Shouldn't we wait?  Maybe John Parker-BLACK ARACHTOID COMMANDERI have my order from John Emdall!  8000 miles.  Mark.  Activate particle beam.  Lock on Smolensk.INT.  THERMOPOD - DAWN	410John Parker fiddling with a RADIO, homing in on the black ship's frequency, overhearing:BLACK ARACHTOID CHATTERParticle beam activated...lock on Smolensk...one minute to rapid rupture...BUCKAROO BANZAITell them to stop.  They're your friends!JOHN PARKERI lack the authority, Buckaroo Banzai.BUCKAROO BANZAIAt least tell them I'm trying!  Tell 'em something--!John Parker talking to the father ship as Buckaroo struggles to unlock the strange little saucer from Whorfin's big vehicle.	411BUCKAROO'S POV (SIDE OF SHIP)...THE PROBLEM.  A SERIES OF ODD SUCTION DEVICES outside holding the thermopod in place.	412CLOSE ON DASHBOARD.  Buckaroo finally finding the proper release switch!EXT.  WHORFIN'S BIG SPACESHIP - DAWN	413CLOSE ON the SUCTION BOLTS disengaging!  Freeing the small craft!EXT.  THERMOPOD - DAWN	414His vehicle falling sideways, John Parker trying to ignite its ENGINES!INT.  THERMOPOD - DAWN	415In a free fall, the engines finally igniting and the thermopod rocketing upward!INT.  FATHER SHIP - DAWN	416BLACK ARACHTOID OFFICERSir, a thermopod has peeled off from Whorfin's ship!BLACK ARACHTOID COMMANDERSo what?  Big deal.  Stand by to incinerate Smolensk.INT. THERMOPOD - DAWN	417Buckaroo struggling to master the strange craft...BUCKAROO BANZAIDoes this thing have guns, John Parker?JOHN PARKERBoy, I hope so, Buckaroo Banzai.John Parker trying a likely button.	418ANGLE THROUGH WINDSHIELD...ACTIVATING THE OVERTHRUSTER BEAM WHICH BLASTS OUT HARMLESSLY INTO THE MORNING SKY RIGHT IN FRONT OF THEM.EXT.  SUBURBAN SKIES - DAWN	419SPACESHIPS THUNDER over the lights of the awakening city below...INT.  THEMOPOD - DAWN	420BLACK ARACHTOID CHATTER(over radio)Twenty seconds to rapid rupture.  Two zero.  Prepare the heat shields!Time running out...Buckaroo receiving fire from Whorfin's big spaceship, THE SMALL VEHICLE LURCHING...THE TWO VEHICLES ON A COLLISION COURSE!EXT.  THERMOPOD - DAWN	421The little ship dropping like a stone, barely avoiding a head-on with Whorfin and company!INT.  THERMOPOD - DAWN	422Buckaroo unhappy with John Parker's marksmanship...their "love seat" rotating, reversing their functions...BUCKAROO BANZAITake the throttle, John Parker!INT.  WHORFIN'S BIG SPACESHIP - DAWN	423John Whorfin and John O'Connor scrambling into evasive action, but it's too late.INT.  THERMOPOD - DAWN	424Buckaroo Banzai and John Parker diving toward them, their OVERTHRUSTER FIRING!  FIRING!INT.  WHORFIN'S BIG SPACESHIP - DAWN	425Whorfin shaking his RED FIST in defiance...JOHN WHORFINBanzai!  I'll see you in hell!INT.  THERMOPOD - DAWN	426FLYING ON A COLLISION COURSE once again, THE OVERTHRUSTER BEAM FINALLY HITTING HOME AND THE BIG SPACESHIP DISINTEGRATING, VAPORIZING...John Whorfin and his ilk history...	427REVERSE ANGLE ON John Parker...still on a collision course with the GIANT BALL OF HOT VAPOR THAT WAS LORD WHORFIN...BUCKAROO BANZAIPull up!  We did it!  Holy shit, we did it!  Pull up!JOHN PARKERNow, Buckaroo Banzai?BUCKAROO BANZAINow!EXT.  YOYODYNE - DAWN	428As the Cavaliers and Blue Shields anxiously watch, THE SKY CRACKLES AND THE CLOUDS GLOW!INT.  FATHER SHIP - DAWN	429BLACK ARACHTOID RADARJohn Whorfin destroyed!BLACK ARACHTOID COMMANDERDeactivate particle beam!  Tracking zero zero zero!EXT.  SKY - DAWN	430The sun coming up...and as we wonder what terrible fate has befallen Buckaroo Banzai and John Parker...A TINY FIGURE APPEARS high in the clouds!  A BIZARRE PARACHUTE catching the wind, floating lazily to earth.	431CLOSER SHOT: Buckaroo!  Safe and sound, looking up and SALUTING John Parker as the little THERMOPOD flip-flops, tumbles heavenward AT AN INCREDIBLE RATE OF SPEED...heading home.EXT.  YOYODYNE - DAWN	432Buckaroo touching down...Professor Hikita among the victorious Blue Shields scarcely able to believe his eyes as he spots...no, it can't be...rising from the debris...PROF. HIKITAEmilio!Now it's the young Doctor Lizardo's turn to stare incredulously...DOCTOR LIZARDOToichi--?  I'll be damned.The two scientists approaching one another...afraid to touch as if the other might prove a mirage...	433RENO FINDING A CUTLASS ON THE GROUND...as Buckaroo, face blackened with soot, his clothing torn, hurries toward several Blue Shields (gas masks off) herding a half-dozen "HUMAN" PRISONERS while other Shields and Cavaliers share congratulatory handshakes...RED STINGERS still stuck in their bullet-proof vests...BUCKAROO BANZAIAll accounted for?  Where's Penny?PERFECT TOMMYNew Jersey brought her back to the bus through heavy fire.  Quite a guy if you want my opinion.Perfect Tommy and Reno pacing Buckaroo...BUCKAROO BANZAIGot a casualty list?RENOJust their side.  What're we gonna do with these people?  They're illegal aliens, the way I figure, been here forty years, you could throw the book at 'em...BUCKAROO BANZAIAnd ask the American taxpayer to foot the bill?  No way.  Send 'em back to the Eighth Dimension as soon as we find the Overthruster.  It wasn't in Penny's purse...so if we have to run this joint upside down and inside out...Perfect Tommy whistling...PERFECT TOMMYHey, Scooter Lindley, fall in!Scooter's eyes lighting up as he runs over...SCOOTER LINDLEYIs this what you're looking for, Buckaroo?The Oscillation Overthruster, safe and sound.  Buckaroo amazed, receiving the precious object, giving Scooter a Blue Shield salute...the Secretary of Defense watching jealously from a short distance, his clothing disheveled...BUCKAROO BANZAILooks like one Junior Shield is in line for a ride in The Jet Car.SCOOTER LINDLEYWow, you know it!(suddenly crestfallen)I'll have to ask my dad.BUCKAROO BANZAIWell, go ahead, what're you waiting for?Scooter running off.	434A dour-faced, shaken New Jersey appears in the doorway of the big bus, Buckaroo's smile immediately vanishing...NEW JERSEYI did all I could.  I did my best...Buckaroo racing past new Jersey and into the bus...INT.  PASSENGER SECTION/BUT - DAWN	435Buckaroo hurrying through the front section.INT.  WORLD WATCH ONE/BUS - DAWN	436Buckaroo hurrying through the COMMUNICATIONS NERVE CENTER...RADAR SHIELD ONEBuckaroo, Reno said check with you - something about "pirates"?  He mean the baseball team?No response.RADAR SHIELD TWOBuckaroo, the President's on line on.  Calling about is everything okay with the alien space cloud and Planet Ten...or should he just go ahead and destroy Russia...? BUCKAROO BANZAITell him yes on "1" and no on "2". Buckaroo going into his PRIVATE REAR SECTION of the bus...RADAR SHIELD TWOWhich was "yes"? Destroy Russia? Or "2"...?INT. BEDROOM/BUS - DAWN	437Buckaroo reaching his private quarters, finding Penny on his cot, a sheet pulled over her face...ethereal morning light caressing her still body......Buckaroo distraught, pulling the sheet back to reveal Penny in final repose, speckled with dead ants, honey and powdery white insecticide... Buckaroo leaning toward her in wordless anguish.	438His lips moving toward hers...when suddenly a SPARK LEAPS OUT, ARCING FROM THE TIP OF BUCKAROO'S NOSE TO THE TIP OF PENNY'S!	439And she stirs...a faint nerve response, Buckaroo seizing her with both hands...SPARKS...BUCKAROO BANZAIPenny!...shaking her, exhorting her...BUCKAROO BANZAIOpen your eyes!  Look at me!  Penny!...but nothing, no more signs of life...	440...Buckaroo kissing her in despair, pressing his lips against her lips...the kiss of the century, A POWERFUL ELECTRIC JOLT!	441...the fire of life as Penny opens her eyes, sees her haggard hero before her.PENNY PRIDDYBuckaroo...you look awful.	442And indeed they both do, but who cares?  ANOTHER GALVANIC KISS, CRACKLING GOOD as the tiny bedroom heats up and we do the decent thing...IRIS OUT...as CREDITS ROLL and the FANTASTIC VOICE OF Dr. Buckaroo Banzai serenades us home......the Hong Kong Cavaliers harmonizing like honey, the world once again a safe, snug harbor.THE ENDBuckaroo Banzai	Shooting Script - 3rd Draft	Page 98Across The Eighth Dimension
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+                                       "AFFLICTION"                                      Screenplay by                                      Paul Schrader                                   Based on a novel by                                      Russell Banks                                           1997                                      SHOOTING DRAFT                               CREDITS               Still-life tableaus. Lawford, N.H., a town of fifty buildings                on a glacial ridge, neither mountain nor plateau. Developed                as 1880's forestland, discarded in the Depression. Winter                has set in. Halloween day. Snowy fields yield to overcast                skies: oppressive, horizonless, flourescent.               -- Wickham's Restaurant. Where Route 29 bends. 24-hour diner.                Margie Fogg works here.               -- Trailer park in shadow of Parker Mountain. Home of Wade                Whitehouse.               -- Toby's Inn. Roadhouse three miles from town on the river                side of Route 29. Everything not tied down ends up here.               -- Glen Whitehouse farm. White clapboard.               -- First Congregational Church. North on the Common from                City Hall.               -- LaRiviere Co. Ramshackle well-digging firm embarrassingly                near the town center. Wade works here.               -- Merritt's Shell Station. Cinder-block.               -- Alma Pittman's house. Like so many others.               -- Town Hall.               ROLFE WHITEHOUSE'S VOICE, thirtiesh, articulate, speaks over                credit tableaus:                                     ROLFE (V.O.)                         This is the story of my older                          brother's strange criminal behavior                          and disappearance. We who loved him                          no longer speak of Wade. It's as if                          he never existed. By telling his                          story like this, as his brother, I                          separate myself from his family and                          those who loved him. Everything of                          importance -- that is, everything                          that gives rise to the telling of                          this story -- occurred during a single                          deer-hunting season in a small town                          in upstate New Hampshire where Wade                          was raised and so was I. One night                          something changed and my relation to                          Wade's story was different from what                          it had been since childhood. I mark                          this change by Wade's tone of voice                          during a phone call two nights after                          Halloween. Something I had not heard                          before. Let us imagine that around                          eight o'clock on Halloween Eve,                          speeding past Toby's, Route 29, comes                          a pale green eight-year-old Ford                          Fairlane with a police bubble on                          top. A square-faced man wearing a                          trooper's cap is driving the vehicle.                          Beside him sits a child, a little                          girl with a plastic tiger mask                          covering her face. The man is driving                          fast --               -- Route 29 tableau dissolves to night. A pale green police                Ford Fairlane drives past.               END CREDITS               INT./EXT. POLICE CAR - NIGHT               WADE WHITEHOUSE, driving, sits beside JILL, his daughter,                ten years-old, wearing a black-and-yellow tiger plastic mask.                                     WADE                         I'm sorry for the screw-up. But I                          couldn't help it it's too late to go                          trick-or-treating now. I couldn't                          help it I had to stop at Penny's for                          the costume. And you were hungry,                          remember.                                     JILL                         Who's fault is it then if it's not                          yours? You're the one in charge,                          Daddy.                                     WADE                              (shakes cigarette                               from pack)                         Yeah.                                     JILL                         Look. Those kids are still trick-or-                         treating. They're still out.               Wade watches boys in the headlights, lights cigarette.                                     WADE                         Those are the Hoyts.                                     JILL                         I don't care. They're out.                                     WADE                         Can't you see... look out there.                          Nobody's got their porch lights on                          anymore. It's too late. Those Hoyt                          kids are just out to get in trouble.                          See, they put shaving cream all over                          that mailbox there. They chopped                          down Herb Crane's new bushes. Little                          bastards. Jesus H. Christ.               Wade grimaces, holds his jaw. The Fairlane swerves around                broken pumpkins under a caution light.                                     JILL                         Why do they do that?                                     WADE                         Do what?                                     JILL                         You know.                                     WADE                         Break stuff?                                     JILL                         Yeah. It's stupid.                                     WADE                         I guess they're stupid.                                     JILL                         Did you do that when you were a kid?                                     WADE                         Well, yeah. Sort of. Nothing really                          mean. Me and my pals, me and my                          brothers. It was kind of funny then.                          Stealing pumpkins, soaping windows.                          Stuff like that.                                     JILL                         Was it funny?                                     WADE                         To us it was.                                     JILL                         But it's not funny now.                                     WADE                         It's not funny now. I'm a cop and I                          gotta listen to all the complaints                          people make. I'm not a kid anymore.                          You change.                                     JILL                         I bet you did lots of bad things.                                     WADE                         What are you talking about?                                     JILL                         I just think you used to be bad.                                     WADE                         No. I didn't used to be bad. No sir.                          Where do you get this stuff? From                          your mother?                                     JILL                         No. She doesn't talk about you                          anymore.               Wade looks at her, wanting to lift her mask, see her face.                                                                    CUT TO:               EXT. TOWN HALL - NIGHT               The Fairlane approaches Town Hall, a square two-story building                on the north side of the Common. Exhaust billows from idling                cars as parents and children come and go.                                                                    CUT TO:               INT. TOWN HALL - NIGHT               Clowns, tramps, angels and vampires fill the brightly lit                room. Parents watch from the walls as GORDON LARIVIERE, a                beefy fiftiesh man with a silver flat-top, announces the                costume contest. Wade nods to various townspeople.                                     LARIVIERE                         We're looking for the funniest                          costume! And the scariest! And the                          most imaginative! And the best costume                          of all!                                     WADE                              (nudges Jill)                         Got here just in time. Go ahead.                          Jump in line. Maybe you'll win a                          prize.               Jill steps forward, retreats. Wade looks at her flaxen hair,                her blue sneakers protruding from her pathetic costume. His                heart aches he loves her so.                                     WADE                         Go on, Jill. Some of those kids you                          still know.                                     JILL                         I don't want to.                                     WADE                         Why? Why not? You know these kids                          from when you went to school here.                          It hasn't been that long.                                     JILL                         It's not that.                                     WADE                         What then?                                     JILL                         It's stupid.                                     WADE                         It's fun.                                     JILL                              (voice breaking)                         I want to go home.                              (Wade kneels down)                         I don't like it here.                                     WADE                         Oh, Jesus, come on, will you? Don't                          mess this up anymore than it's already                          been messed up. Join the other kids.                          Do that and before you know it you'll                          be as happy as a goddamned clam.               Wade inches her toward the circle of children. Gordon spots                them:                                     LARIVIERE                         Wade! And who's that tiger? Is that                          Jill? Come and join us.               Jill in the spotlight, joins the costumed children. A former                classmate calls her name. Wade, relieved, watches, then steps                outside for a smoke.                                                                    CUT TO:               EXT. TOWN HALL - NIGHT               Wade steps outside, lights a cigarette. JACK HEWITT, 23,                clean-cut, handsome, cocky, stands with CHICK WARD and FRANKIE                LACOY, local boys.                                     WADE                         What are you boys up to?                                     CHICK                         Same old shit.                                     FRANKIE                         You see the damage these little sons-                         of bitches been raising tonight?                                     WADE                              (to Jack)                         You're going to have to move your                          pickup.                                     JACK                         I know.                                     CHICK                              (offers whiskey pint)                         Take a bite.                                     WADE                         Don't mind if I do.                                     JACK                         LaRiviere's having a hell of a time                          in there. Master of fucking                          ceremonies.                                     WADE                         Where's that gun you were bragging                          on today?               Jack stops over to his double-parked burgandy pickup, removes                a Browning BAR .30/06 with a scope, hands it to Wade.                                     JACK                         No brag. Just fact.                                     WADE                              (admires gun)                         Got you for -- 450, 500 bucks?                              (passes it to Frankie)                                     FRANKIE                         Nice.                                     JACK                              (to Wade)                         See you got Jill tonight. How'd you                          manage that?                                     WADE                              (turns)                         Don't forget to move your truck.                              (walks inside)                                                                    CUT TO:               INT. TOWN HALL - NIGHT               On stage, LaRiviere arranges the contest winners. A fairy                godmother with a wand beams while, nearby, a hobo writhes in                his mother's grip -- a hard loser.               Wade looks for Jill, first among the winners, then among the                losers; she's nowhere to be found. He heads toward a hall                leading to the restrooms.               Jill stands alone in the corner next to the pay phone, tiny,                forlorn. Wade realizes at once he was wrong to leave her                before she had found a friend.                                     WADE                         Some party, huh? Sorry I lost sight                          of you. I had to step outside for a                          smoke. You find anybody you know                          here? There must be some kids you                          used to know from school. You want                          to go tomorrow? See your old teachers?                          Be more fun than hanging out with me                          all day.                                     JILL                         No.                                     WADE                         No what?                                     JILL                              (lifts mask atop head)                         No I didn't see anybody I know. No I                          don't want to go to school here                          tomorrow. I want to go home.                                     WADE                         You are home. There are lots of kids                          you still know here.                                     JILL                         I don't want to be here. Don't worry,                          I love you, Daddy, I do. But I want                          to go home.                                     WADE                              (sighs)                         Jesus. Listen, Jill, tell you what.                          Tomorrow morning, you still want to                          go home, I'll drive you down. I'll                          get off work or something.                                     JILL                              (pause)                         I called Mommy.                                     WADE                         What? You called Mommy? Just now?                                     JILL                         Yes.                                     WADE                         Jesus, why?                                     JILL                         I... because I want to go home. She                          said she'd come and get me.                                     WADE                         Come and get you! Shit! It's a damn                          half hour drive each way. Why didn't                          you talk to me about it first?                                     JILL                         See, I knew you'd be mad.                                     WADE                         Yeah. Yeah, right, I'm mad. What'd                          you tell her, for Christ sake?                                     JILL                         I told her I wanted to come home.                          Daddy, don't be mad at me.                                     WADE                         Well, I guess I am. I planned this,                          I planned all this, you know. I mean,                          it's sort of pathetic, but I planned                          it. You shouldn't have called your                          mother.                              (takes her arm)                         C'mon, we're gonna call her before                          she leaves.                                                                    CUT TO:               EXT. POLICE OFFICE - NIGHT               Wade leads her to a frosted-glass door reading "POLICE",                enters. Inside, he flips on flourescent light, dials the                desk phone. More utility room than office.               He waits. There's no answer. Jill looks down.                                     WADE                         She's gone already!                              (hangs up)                         Gone already! Couldn't wait.                                     JILL                         Yes.                                     WADE                         That's all you got to say? "Yes".                                     JILL                         Yes.                                     WADE                         She won't be here for a half hour.                          Think you can stand it that long?                                     JILL                         Yes.                                     WADE                         Where do you expect to wait for her?                          Obviously downstairs with the other                          kids isn't good enough.               Jill sits in a chair facing the dark window pane.                                     WADE                         Sit right there by yourself if you                          want. Wait for her by yourself. That's                          fine with me. Just dandy. I'm going                          downstairs.                                     JILL                         That's fine with me too. When Mommy                          comes, tell her I'm up here.               Wade Whitehouse stalks out.                                                                    CUT TO:               EXT. TOWN HALL - NIGHT               Wade steps outside, notices Jack Hewitt and his kewpie-doll                girlfriend HETTIE, 20, sitting in the cab of his double-parked                pickup, sharing a joint, talking to LaCoy alongside.                                     WADE                         I thought I told you to move that                          truck!                                     JACK                         Relax, Chief. We're leaving. You                          wanna toke?                                     WADE                              (steps over)                         You gotta be more careful about that                          shit. Gordon or one of those guys                          sees you smoking that wacky tabacky                          around me they'll expect me to bust                          you. And I'll be outta a job.                                     JACK                         Some job. Here, have a hit. Don't be                          such a hardass. I know you got                          problems, but everybody's got                          problems.                              (offers joint)                                     WADE                         Not here.               LaCoy laughs: that Jack Hewitt, some guy. Wade holds his                aching jaw. He looks at Jack's young athletic body, his pretty                girlfriend, envies him.                                     JACK                         Well, c'mon, then. Get in and we'll                          take a little ride, my man.               Wade looks up to the window where Jill waits, walks around                the front of the truck, gets in.                                                                    CUT TO:               INT./EXT. JACK'S TRUCK - NIGHT               Jack's high-bodied pickup growls in low gear as it drives                past Merritt's Shell station toward Saddleback Ridge. Jack                lowers the radio as Wade asks him about deer season; Hettie                leans forward to hear the music.                                     JACK                         Got a job first thing in the morning,                          first day of season. Saturday I'll                          hunt for myself. Twombley something. -                         Er --                                     WADE                         Evan. He's a mucky-muck union official                          from Massachusetts. You're lucky.                                     JACK                         Don't know about lucky. The guy's a                          full-blown asshole. Pay's good,                          though. $100 a day. I got to guarantee                          a kill, of course. Which I can do.                          There's some monster bucks hiding                          out up there.                                     WADE                         How'd you get the job?                                     JACK                         Gordon, he's always got some angle                          working. He wants to keep Twombley                          happy, I'm his boy.               Wade grimaces as he passes the joint back.                                     HETTIE                         What's wrong with you?                                     WADE                         Toothache.                              (to Jack)                         You should get close to him. Make                          yourself irreplaceable. Guy's loaded.                                     JACK                         Like you and Gordon?                                     WADE                         Right. The sonofabitch couldn't get                          along without me.                                     JACK                              (laughs)                         Yeah, he'd go broke tomorrow if you                          quit him.                                     WADE                              (laughs)                         Right!               A car flashes past.                                     JACK                         Bastard's got his high beams on.                                     WADE                              (watching)                         Shit.                                     HETTIE                         What?                                     WADE                         My ex-wife Lillian and her husband.                          That was them in the Audi that just                          passed us.                                     JACK                         Audi's a good car.                                     HETTIE                         What's she up here for?                                     WADE                         Aw, shit, she's here to get Jill. Me                          and Jill had a little argument. Jack,                          I got to get back, get back to town.                          Move this thing, will you? See if                          you can get back to the Town Hall                          before they get there, okay?                                     JACK                         Piece of fucking cake.               Jack brakes, wheels the 4x4 around, heads back to town.                                                                    CUT TO:               EXT. TOWN HALL - NIGHT               Most parents have left or are leaving with their costumed                children. Hewitt's burgundy pickup breaks alongside the Audi.                Wade swings open the passenger door, jumps to the ground:                                     WADE                         Lillian!                                     LILLIAN                         Where's Jill?               LILLIAN, 40, attractive in an ankle-length hooded coat.                Whatever pose Wade strikes, she strikes the opposite. Her                dress and demeanor set her apart.                                     WADE                         Me and Jill, we just had a little                          spat. She felt kind of left out, I                          guess, from not knowing some of the                          new kids --                                     LILLIAN                         Where is she now? Is she in the truck                          with your friends?               Jack and Hettie neck inside the cab.                                     WADE                         She told me she wanted to wait for                          you. Inside.               Jill at the window in her tiger mask. Lillian waves; Jill                motions she'll be down.                                     LILLIAN                         While you went off for a few beers                          with your friends? Is that Hettie                          Rodgers there, with whatzizname?                                     WADE                         Yeah.                                     LILLIAN                         She's grown up some, hasn't she?                                     WADE                         Oh, Jesus, lay off, will you? It                          looks like you've won this fucking                          round already, so lay off a little,                          for Christ's sake.               HORNER, 45, Lillian's new husband, thin with thinning hair                and a Tyrolean hat, sees Jill at the entrance and heads toward                her.                                     WADE                         Horner! Leave her be. This's got                          nothing to do with you, so just act                          like the chauffeur. Got it?                                     HORNER                         Wade. Nobody wants any trouble.               Horner greets Jill, walks her to the silver Audi. Passing                parents, listening, give Wade a wide berth.                                     WADE                         I don't want her to go, Lillian.                                     LILLIAN                         Don't cause a scene. No one's trying                          to win any 'rounds'. Don't make it                          any worse.                                     WADE                         I'm not making it any worse. You                          are. Me and Jill could've worked                          this thing out. It's normal, it's                          even normal for me to get a little                          touchy about it. Believe it or not.                          How do you think this makes me look,                          treating her like some tragic victim                          or something?               Horner opens the car door for Jill, shuts it. Wade shoves                him:                                     WADE                         Just wait till we're through,                          goddamnit!               Horner's hat falls. Lillian, icy, stares at Wade. He backs                off. Wade sometimes wonders: how'd Lillian Pittman of Lawford,                N.H., get so much class?                                     WADE                         Don't you say a word. I didn't hit                          him. I'm not going to hit anybody.               Horner sits behind the wheel. Lillian silently stares Wade                up and down, gets in the car beside Jill. The automatic locks                latch as the Audi drives away. Its taillights merge with                vanishing traffic.               Wade looks down, picks up Horner's dark green Tyrolean hat,                examines it, as if unsure of its function.               Wade walks toward Town Hall. MARGIE FOGG, exiting, greets                him:                                     MARGIE                         New hat?                              (no answer)                         Jill's up, I see.                                     WADE                              (vague)                         For a while.                                     MARGIE                         How's she doing?                                     WADE                         Okay. She's fine.                                     MARGIE                         You two want to do anything tomorrow                          and need a third party, give me a                          call, okay? I'm off.               NICK WICKHAM, 45, Marg's boss, passes by:                                     WICKHAM                         Like hell you are. Tomorrow's first                          day of deer season. I'll need you at                          least in the morning.                                     MARGIE                              (shrugs)                         Well, that's that.                                     NICK                              (walks off)                         Take care, Wade.                                     WADE                         You be careful of that little bastard.                          He's dying to get in your pants, you                          know.                                     MARGIE                              (laughs)                         Don't worry. I can protect my virtue.                          I mean, c'mon, Wade, give me a break.                                     WADE                         See you tomorrow, maybe.                                     MARGIE                         You okay?                                     WADE                         Yeah.               Wade, lost in thought, continues toward Town Hall. At the                door, LaRiviere, one of the last to leave, eyes him. Wade                tosses Horner's hat inside.                                     WADE                         Tomorrow, Gordon.                                     LARIVIERE                         Watch this snow. It's coming down                          tonight.               Wade nods as he lights a cigarette. Alone, he watches the                last cars pull out. He holds his jaw.                                                                    CUT TO:               EXT. WADE'S TRAILER HOME - DAWN               Pre-dawn light silhouettes a dozen weather-beaten mobile                homes set off Route 29. Snow continues to fall. A sheet of                white stretches down Parker mountain.                                                                    CUT TO:               INT. WADE'S TRAILER - DAWN               6:40. A clock radio pierces the silence with classic rock.                Wade Whitehouse rolls over, runs his tongue across mossy                teeth, shuts off the music. He looks out the window, grunts:                "Shit!" He steps over to the phone by the frayed plaid couch,                dials.               Wade's trailer is surprisingly neat, considering its owner                smokes too much, drinks too much, eats take-out and rarely                cleans up.                                     WADE                              (on phone)                         Lugene? Wade. Hoya doin?                              (fumbles for cigarette)                         Look, I was wondering, with the snow                          and all, if you got school today?                              (lights cigarette)                         How the hell do I know? You're the                          principal. All I'm supposed to do is                          direct traffic from 7:30 to 8:30.                              (listens)                         Yeah, okay, I'm sorry -- I only just                          now saw it was snowing, that's all.                          My whole day is fucked. I gotta plow                          all day. If I don't get over to                          LaRiviere's early enough, I'm stuck                          with the grader. I was just hoping                          you'd have called school off.                              (beat)                         You check the weather bureau?                              (acquiesces)                         Okay, I hear you. I'll be over in a                          bit.                              (hangs up)                                                                    CUT TO:               EXT. WADE'S TRAILER HOME EARLY - MORNING               Jack Hewitt's 4x4 passes Wade's trailer, continues up 29.                Tire chains splice the path.                                                                    CUT TO:               EXT. JACK'S TRUCK EARLY - MORNING               Jack behind the wheel. Beside him EVAN TWOMBLEY, 60, fleshy,                Irish, wearing brand new scarlet wool pants, jacket and cap.                He feeds on the misfortunes of others.                                     TWOMBLEY                         It's not enough snow, not for tracking                          the bastards. No advantage there,                          kid.                                     JACK                         Don't worry, Mr. Twombley, I know                          where those suckers are. Rain or                          shine, snow or no snow. I know deer.                          We'll kill us a buck today.                          Guaranteed. Before ten.                                     TWOMBLEY                         Guaranteed, eh?                                     JACK                         Yep. Right about now the does are                          holing up in the brush piles. The                          bucks are right behind them and we're                          right behind the bucks.                              (gestures to gun rack)                         This gun gets fired before ten                          o'clock. Whether it kills a deer or                          not is more less up to you. I'll put                          you inside 30, 35 yards of a buck                          the first four hours of the season.                          That's what you're paying me for,                          ain't it?                                     TWOMBLEY                         Damn straight!               Hewitt looks at Twombley's rifle: a Winchester M-94 pump-               action, custom carved stock and not a scratch on it. Never                fired, at least not by Twombley.                                     JACK                         Done much shooting with that rifle                          yet?                                     TWOMBLEY                              (eyes him)                         Tell you what. You get me close to a                          big buck by ten, kid, there's another                          hundred bucks in it.                                     JACK                         If you get it?                                     TWOMBLEY                         Yeah.                                     JACK                         You might not kill it.                                     TWOMBLEY                         You think so.                                     JACK                         You might gut-shoot it or cripple it                          for somebody else to find and tag.                          Can't guarantee that won't happen,                          especially with a new gun. I may                          have to shoot it.                                     TWOMBLEY                         You take care of your end, kid, I'll                          take care of mine.                                     JACK                         Mmm.                                     TWOMBLEY                         You understand what I'm saying? I                          want a deer, a dead one, not a cripple                          or whatthefuck.                                     JACK                         I get it.                              (disdain)                         No sweat. You'll get yourself a deer                          and you'll get him dead. And you'll                          have him by coffee time.                                     TWOMBLEY                         And you'll get your extra hundred                          bucks.                                     JACK                              (smiles)                         Wonderful!               The pickup disappears behind a curve of pine and spruce trees.                                                                    CUT TO:               EXT. SCHOOL - MORNING               Wade Whitehouse, wearing a reflective vest, waves a district                school bus into the parking lot. Noisy, jostling grade                schoolers emerge from the bus. Jill's former classmates.                Straight as a statue, Wade holds back traffic. Cars and trucks                are backed up on the unplowed road. Horns honk and bleat; a                woman's voice yells, "Whitehouse, we 'ain't got all day!"               Wade, daydreaming, seems oblivious to the commotion. Oblivious --                or just plum contrary.               A shiny black BMW approaches, speeding, passing traffic on                the shoulder. A man and a woman in a fur coat sit in front,                two children in back. Whitehouse waves for it to stop.               The BMW accelerates through the intersection, ignoring Wade                and the traffic. It whizzes past, spinning Wade, and is                quickly up the road, spewing ice and exhaust. Wade slips to                one knee. Honking ensues; every car goes where it wishes.               Wade, brushing off snow, follows the last bus as it pulls                in. LUGENE BROOKS, 60, school principal, rushes over:                                     LUGENE                         Are you okay, Wade? What was wrong?                          Why were you holding everyone up?                                     WADE                         Did you see that sonofabitch in the                          BMW? He could've killed somebody.                                     LUGENE                         Did you get his number?                                     WADE                         I know who it is.                                     LUGENE                         Good. Who?                                     WADE                         Mel Gordon.                                     LUGENE                         I still don't understand --                                     WADE                         From Boston. Evan Twombley's son-in-                         law -- he was driving. I know where                          they're headed. Up the lake, Agaway.                          The old man's out deer hunting with                          Jack Hewitt, so they probably got                          some big weekend party planned.               Wade sets his face, thinking.                                                                    CUT TO:               EXT. WOODS - DAY               Snowprints lead from Jack's pickup to where he and Twombley                walk, guns pointed skyward. They enter a line of trees.               Jack watches Twombley walk ahead of him, wrapped like a huge                infant in red bunting, crunching twigs underfoot. He looks                from side to side, checks his gun, returns to watching                Twombley. They're alone.                                     JACK                         Safety on?               Twombley nods, slips, thumps to the ground. His rifle lands                silently.               Jack sprints over, helps him up, safety latches the                Winchester. Hands it back.                                     TWOMBLEY                         I'm okay.                                     JACK                         Follow close. We'll cross the next                          meadow.               Jack finds a path, one eye on Twombley:                                     JACK                         I used to play ball.                                     TWOMBLEY                         Yeah?                                     JACK                         Drafted by the Red Sox.                                     TWOMBLEY                         You played for the Sox?                                     JACK                         Double A. New Britain.                                     TWOMBLEY                         Oh.                                     JACK                         Pitcher. "Best ballplayer to come                          out of New Hampshire since Carlton                          Fisk."                                     TWOMBLEY                         Really.                                     JACK                         They said.                                     TWOMBLEY                         Hmm.                                     JACK                         The only difference between me and                          that Clemens on TV is luck, shit                          luck.                                     TWOMBLEY                         What happened?                                     JACK                         Ruined my arm. Brought me along too                          fast. Why'd it have to be my fucking                          arm, I used to think. Then I realized                          it had to be somebody's fucking arm.               Jack waits for Twombley as they enter a meadow. Jack aims                his rifle at Twombley as he approaches.                                     TWOMBLEY                         Hey, Hewitt! Slow the fuck down!               Jack aims away, following an imaginary bird. Twombley steps                alongside.                                     JACK                         Safety on?                                     TWOMBLEY                         Yeah.                                     JACK                         This way.                                     TWOMBLEY                              (walking loudly)                         Sun's gettin high.                                     JACK                              (fingers to lips)                         Deers have ears too.                                                                    CUT TO:               EXT. LARIVIERE CO. - DAY               Milky sky flatters LaRiviere Co., a sprawl of well-digging,                septic and snow plow equipment. Billboard declaimes:                "LARIVIERE CO. -- OUR BUSINESS IS GOING IN THE HOLE!" a motto                repeated on every truck and piece of equipment. Wade's green                Fairlane is parked outside the office.                                                                    CUT TO:               INT. LARIVIERE CO. - DAY               Wade, puffing a cigarette, passes ELAINE'S (LaRiviere                secretary) desk, her large red "No Smoking" sign, eases into                an office modum chair. He unzips his jacket, slaps his cap                against his thigh, spraying drops of melted snow.               Gordon LaRiviere, speaking on the phone past a glass                partition, calls to Wade:                                     LARIVIERE                         Told you the snow was coming down.                          Take the grader.                                     WADE                         Where's the plow?                                     LARIVIERE                         Jimmy took it. Jack's out hunting                          with Evan Twombley.                                     WADE                         His son-in-law damn near killed me.                                     LARIVIERE                              (hangs up)                         Huh?                                     WADE                         At the school crossing. In his BMW.                          Coulda hurt some kids. I'm gonna                          bust his ass.                                     LARIVIERE                         Don't go playing policeman.                                     WADE                         What am I -- a security guard? You                          hired me, you and your Selectman                          friends.                                     LARIVIERE                         You don't want the extra police pay?                                     WADE                         I'm not saying that.                                     LARIVIERE                         Get the grader. Go out 29 past Toby's.                          Don't let Lillian get to you. She                          didn't belong here. That's why she                          left.                                     WADE                         Fuck you.                                     LARIVIERE                         That's what I love about a small                          town. You know everybody.               Wade exits toward the blue grader.                                                                    CUT TO:               EXT. WOODS - DAY               Jack and Twombley walk through fresh snow. The hillside's                thick with pine trees. Twombley, red-faced, puffing, leans                to speak to Hewitt. Jack lifts a finger to his lips:                                     JACK                         Stay here, stand where I am.               Twombley peers over a slight cliff at a lumber trail twenty                feet below. Jack points:                                     JACK                         Fresh tracks.                              (sniffs)                         Deer shit. Big one. Here's your buck,                          Mr. Twombley. I'll circle around.                                     TWOMBLEY                         You only got a little while if you                          want your hundred bucks.               Jack zig-zags down the incline, while Twombley, gun poised,                waddles along the edge.               Jack stops fifty feet away, watches Twombley, a cartoon                character. A stag pokes his nose through the pines, steps                into a clearing. Jack aims his rifle, looks at Twombley.               Twombley turns to see the buck, loses his footing, TUMBLES                down the twenty-foot cliff.                                                                    CUT TO:               EXT. TOBY'S INN - DAY               An open cab grader ("Our Business Is Going In The Hole")                sits in the rutted lot outside Toby's, a beer joint with                fake wood siding and 24-hour neon sign.               A four-wheel drive plow with the LaRiviere motto pulls in,                parks beside the blue grader. JIMMY DAME, 40, gets out,                glances at the grader as he enters.                                                                    CUT TO:               INT. TOBY'S INN - DAY               Jimmy joins Wade at the bar, calls for a beer. Frankie LaCoy                bullshits with two long-haired locals at a nearby table;                their conversation drifts in and out. Country music plays                through a broken juke box speaker. Wade touches his tooth,                grimaces.                                     JIMMY                         How's it goin?                                     WADE                         Cold. How you think?                                     JIMMY                         Sorry about that. Why's it every                          year, come first snow, you get stuck                          with the grader?                                     WADE                         School. Traffic crossing.                              (lights cigarette)                         I gotta quit these things.                                     JIMMY                         What we doing after? Wells?                              (Wade nods)                         Don't work too fast. Business the                          way it is, Gordon's probably looking                          to lay me off earlier than usual                          this year. He's got too much money                          as it is. Why's it always the little                          guy that gets kicked in the butt in                          hard times?               Wade shrugs. LaCoy's conversation has caught his ear. He                turns to watch.                                     LACOY                         ...That was no pisser. I'll tell you                          who was a pisser. Glen Whitehouse.                          There was a real pisser. He was mean                          normal, but when he drank it was                          like he burst on fire. Canadian Club.                          Always drank CC. One Christmas there's                          this cord of wood out back he forgot                          about and he decides to have his two                          boys stack it. Except it's been out                          back two months and it's snowed and                          rained and froze so now the wood's                          all iced in. He takes the boys. He                          was drunk, of course.               Wade's face as the story comes to life:                                                                    CUT TO:               EXT. WHITEHOUSE FARM - DAY (1964)               Thirty years before. GLEN WHITEHOUSE ("POP"), 42, pushes his                boys, Wade (13) and Rolfe (10), toward snow-covered lumps of                firewood behind the barn. He's drunk. The boys carry shovels                and a pickaxe.                                     POP                         Move it! Daylight in the swamps!                                     ROLFE                         Pop, the kids are waiting for us.                                     WADE                              (reproving)                         Rolfe.                                     POP                         A lesson in work and its rewards.                          You'll thank me for this one day.                              (to house)                         Sally, turn off that TV!               His sons chip at the wood. Hopeless. Frozen solid.                                     WADE                              (to Rolfe)                         Just do it.                                     POP                         Atta-go.                                     ROLFE                         Please, Pop. Let's go back.               Wade notices his mother, SALLY, watching from the window.                                     POP                         What are you, a quitter?                                                                    CUT TO:               INT. TOBY'S INN - DAY               LaCoy roars with laughter.                                     LONG-HAIRED LOCAL                              (puzzled)                         So what happened?                                     LACOY                         Beats me. That's all I heard. Wade                          would know more about it.                              (calls)                         Wade! We were just talking about                          your Old Man. "What are you, a                          quitter!"               Wade grabs his keys, walks over. Jimmy follows.                                     WADE                         Jesus, LaCoy, you got nothing better                          to do than sit around and tell                          stories. Pity is, some college student                          will come some day and believe this                          shit cause you're the only one dumb                          enough to talk to him. Take care.               Wade and Jimmy head out.                                                                    CUT TO:               EXT. BACKROAD - DAY               Wade, shivering in the open grader, plows a narrow winding                road. He lights a cigarette, exhales steamy smoke. LaCoy's                laugh triggers a memory:                                                                    CUT TO:               INT. WHITEHOUSE FARM - DAY (1964)               The flashback continues: Glen Whitehouse pushes his sons                inside. Sally steps from sight. Out back, the firewood lies                frozen amid futile shovel marks.                                     POP                         That was some job.                                     ROLFE                         We'll work at it everyday, promise.                                     POP                         I think we made the point.                                     WADE                              (mumbles)                         You just needed a drink.               Pop, swigging Canadian Club, turns:                                     POP                         What was that?                              (no answer)                         You got something to say, say it!                          Say it!                                     WADE                              (soft)                         Nothing.                                     POP                         You no-good pup!               Rolfe runs from the room screaming, "Mom!"                                                                    CUT TO:               EXT. WICKHAM'S - DAY               The town's 24-hour restaurant. A bright new sign reads: "Home                Made Cooking." Wade's grader out front.                                                                    CUT TO:               INT. WICKHAM'S - DAY               Wade, eating lunch at the counter, talks with Nick Wickham:                                     WADE                         It don't look right.                                     NICK                         What?                                     WADE                         The sign. It looks like it's spelled                          wrong or something.                                     NICK                         Fuck. Wade Whitehouse. It's people                          like you that keep this fucking town                          from prospering. Whatever somebody                          does to improve things around here,                          you gotta find fault with it.                                     WADE                         I'm not finding fault. It's a good                          idea, good for you, good for the                          town. Real modern too.                                     NICK                         This town sucks.                                     WADE                         Aw, c'mon, I was only saying there's                          something wrong with "Home Made                          Cooking", that's all. The sign's                          fine. What it says is wrong.               Margie Fogg heads over, sits:                                     MARGIE                         Who needs it? Everybody who comes                          here has been coming for years so                          what they need a sign for?               Nick goes back to work.                                     MARGIE                         You okay?                                     WADE                         Yeah.                                     MARGIE                         I'm sorry about what I said.                                     WADE                         Said what?                                     MARGIE                         About you and Jill and needing a                          third person. She went back to                          Lillian?                                     WADE                         Forget it.                                     MARGIE                              (touches his arm)                         I'm sorry.                                     WADE                         I'm going to start one of those                          custody suits. I don't give a fucking                          shit. You know?               Wade's eyes well up.                                     MARGIE                         You don't mean that.                                     WADE                         Yeah. I mean that.                                     MARGIE                              (arm around his                               shoulders)                         No you don't. You're pissed, that's                          all. You ought to cool off for a few                          days then have a long talk with                          Lillian. You know? Work it out with                          her, tell her how you feel. Lillian's                          not out to get you.                                     WADE                         The hell she isn't. Lillian's been                          trying to nail me to a cross since                          the day I met her. I'm gonna hire me                          a fucking lawyer from Concord and                          get this thing, this divorce thing,                          rearranged. I've been thinking about                          it a lot. It's like she owns Jill or                          something. Nobody owns nobody,                          especially not kids. And I pay her.                                     NICK                              (calls)                         Marg!                                     WADE                         That goddamned woman. Thinks she can                          cart Jill off and leave me alone                          like this. I'm more than pissed,                          Margie. I'm a whole lot more than                          pissed. I been that plenty and I                          know the difference. This is                          different.                                     NICK                         Marg! You got orders!               Wade and Margie stand. She wants to kiss him.                                     MARGIE                         Call me.                                     WADE                              (genuine)                         Tonight. Let's get together.                                     MARGIE                         Okay.               Wade meets Nick halfway to the door.                                     NICK                         You talked to Jack?                                     WADE                         Not since last night. He took a guy                          hunting.                                     NICK                         The fucker shot himself. Ker-bang!                          That's what it sounds like. Not on                          purpose. I assume accidental.                                     WADE                              (shocked)                         Jack?                                     NICK                         The other guy.                                     WADE                         Where... how'd you hear that?                                     NICK                         CB. Little while ago. One of the                          boys on the way in picked up Jack on                          the CB calling for state troopers. I                          figured you'd know what really                          happened. The fucking guy kill                          himself? This Twombley, who the fuck                          is he, anyhow?                                     WADE                         No, I... I've been out on the grader                          all morning. Twombley's summer people.                          Massachusetts. Friend of Gordon's.                          It was his idea for Jack to take him                          hunting.                              (suddenly engaged)                         I gotta go.               Margie steps over as Wade exits.                                     NICK                         He don't care for you.                                     MARGIE                         Stop being jealous.                                                                    CUT TO:               EXT. LARIVIERE CO. - DAY               Elaine looks up from her desk as Wade pulls the grader into                the lot, jumps out, heads for his car. Laviviere stands                outside.                                     LARIVIERE                         What's the hurry?                                     WADE                         A hunting accident. Jack and Twombley.                                     LARIVIERE                         Huh?                                     WADE                         I figured you already heard.                                     LARIVIERE                              (urgent)                         Twombley, Jesus. We got to get moving:                          I got to get up there. How would I                          know? C'mon, you drive. We'll take                          my truck.               They head for LaRiviere's blue 4x4 Dodge.                                                                    CUT TO:               INT./EXT. LARIVIERE'S PICKUP - DAY               Gordon and Wade drive up the same road Jack took Twombley.                Wade fiddles with the CB. No use: static.                                     LARIVIERE                         Fuck. Turn it off.                              (Wade does)                         All you heard was there was some                          kinda accident?                                     WADE                         Twombley's shot. I heard that. Not                          Jack. He's okay, I assume.                                     LARIVIERE                         Fuck. You don't know how bad or                          anything?                                     WADE                         You mean Twombley?                                     LARIVIERE                         Yes, Wade, I mean Twombley. Put out                          that cigarette. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.               LaRiviere grunts disapproval as Wade slips the butt out his                window.                                     WADE                         He more than likely just shot himself                          in the foot or something. That's                          what usually happens.                                     LARIVIERE                         I shoulda sent you instead of Jack.                                     WADE                         I wish you had. I'd rather be deer                          hunting instead of freezing my ass                          on that fucking grader.                                     LARIVIERE                         You ain't the hunter Jack is. And he                          can't drive the grader worth shit.                                     WADE                         Like hell.               Ahead, they see flashing lights and cars. A white emergency                vehicle passes, jolting the pickup.                                     LARIVIERE                              (frightened)                         That must've been Twombley. Jesus. I                          bet that was Twombley.                                     WADE                         You want me to follow them to                          Littleton?                                     LARIVIERE                         Let's get to the top and talk to                          Jack first. He'll know what happened.                          He fucking better. If this coulda                          been avoided, I'll put that kid's                          ass in a sling.                                                                    CUT TO:               EXT. ACCIDENT SCENE - DAY               Wade pulls behind three state trooper cars. Jack stands joking                with the TROOPERS, one of whom holds a German shepherd on a                leash. LaRiviere and Wade jump out. Jack, suddenly serious,                turns to LaRiviere:                                     JACK                         You heard the news.                                     LARIVIERE                         I hear Twombley got shot.                                     JACK                         Yeah.               Wade walks over to trooper ASA BROWN, pets the shepherd.                                     BROWN                         Watch the dog, Wade. Takes a mind                          to, he'll tear your fucking head                          off.                                     LARIVIERE                              (to Jack)                         Bad?                                     BROWN                         Thirty-thirty at close range.                                     LARIVIERE                         Jesus.                                     WADE                         Will he make it?                                     BROWN                              (shakes head)                         D.O.A. Blew the bastard wide open.                          Had a hole in back you could put                          your head into. Pretty big hole in                          front too. You could've put your                          fist into that one.                                     LARIVIERE                              (to Jack)                         You see it?                                     JACK                         Nope. Heard it. We wasn't far apart.                          I spotted this buck, then I heard                          the gun go off and Twombley was gone.                          I looked over the little cliff we                          was using for a stand and there the                          fucker was, deader'n shit. Called it                          right in.                                     LARIVIERE                         This is gonna be one fucking mess to                          clean up. Twombley's son-in-law and                          daughter are up the weekend. Didn't                          you say you'd seen him, Wade?                                     WADE                         I seen 'em. Near ran me over.                                     BROWN                         You wanna tell 'em, Gordon? You knew                          the old man.                                     LARIVIERE                         What the fuck. My day's already                          ruined.                              (to Wade)                         Give me the keys. You can go back                          with Jack. You still got a shitload                          of plowing to do.                                     WADE                         It ain't done, if that's what you                          mean.                                     LARIVIERE                         Something bugging you?                                     WADE                         Yeah. A few things.                                     LARIVIERE                         Well, right now we're not too                          interested. Finish up what you gotta                          do, then you can get bugged on your                          own time.               Brown walks off with shepherd.                                     LARIVIERE                              (to Jack)                         Might as well take the rest of the                          day off. You look sort of fucked up.                          You've been paid for the day, anyhow,                          right?                                     JACK                         Not exactly. I mean, he never paid                          me.                                     LARIVIERE                         You'll get your money. Don't talk to                          any newspapers about this. Twombley's                          a big deal down in Massachusetts,                          you know. Tell them your lawyer says                          you shouldn't comment.                                     JACK                         Lawyer? I don't need no lawyer, do                          I?                                     LARIVIERE                         No, of course not. Just say it, that's                          all.               Wade watches LaRiviere get into his pickup, drive off.                                     WADE                         Where'd Twombley get shot?                                     JACK                         In the chest.                                     WADE                              (offers cigarette)                         No, I mean whereabouts.                                     JACK                              (points)                         A half mile in, along the old lumber                          road.                                     WADE                         You bring him up yourself? That's a                          steep climb.                                     JACK                         The ambulance guys lugged him up.                                     WADE                         You stayed away?                                     JACK                         Yeah.                                     WADE                         Where'd you get the blood?                                     JACK                         What blood?                                     WADE                         On your sleeve.                                     JACK                         Musta... How'd I know? What're you                          doing, playing cop?                                     WADE                         I gotta make a report to Fish and                          Game. I was just wondering, that's                          all. What'd he do, to shoot himself,                          I mean?                                     JACK                         Who the fuck knows? Musta slipped or                          something. I just heard the gun go                          off.                                     WADE                         I never seen a man shot before. Not                          even in the service. Must be                          something.                                     JACK                         Well, I didn't actually see him do                          it. Like I said.                                     WADE                         Sure you did.                                     JACK                         What?                                     WADE                         Saw him do it?                                     JACK                         What the fuck you telling me, Wade?                          I never seen the guy get shot, I                          told you that.                                     WADE                         You musta seen him get shot. I know                          you did.                                     JACK                         Let's get the fuck outta here. You're                          not making any sense, man.               They walk over to Jack's burgundy pickup. Wade eyes the rifles                in the gun rack.                                     WADE                         There's your old twenty-gauge, and                          that there's the new Browning you                          was showing me last night. This must                          be Twombley's gun. Brand new. Very                          fancy tooling. Probably fired one                          time. It's a beautiful piece of work.                              (touches it)                         But what the hell, Jack, I guess you                          deserve it. Right's right.                                     JACK                              (starts engine)                         Yeah.                                     WADE                         Twombley sure as hell won't be                          shooting it again.                                     JACK                         He sure as hell won't.                                                                    CUT TO:               INT. WADE'S TRAILER - NIGHT               Late. Wade Whitehouse, lying in bed with an icepack on his                cheek, talks on the phone:                                     WADE                         Rolfe.                                     ROLFE (O.S.)                         Wade?                                     WADE                         Yeah, brother, look, I was calling                          cause -- has there been anything on                          TV in Boston about a hunting accident                          with a guy named Twombley, Evan                          Twombley?                                     ROLFE (O.S.)                         There was something. It happened up                          your way.                                     WADE                         Yeah, I know him -- the kid that was                          with him. Maybe you do too. Jack                          Hewitt. He works for LaRiviere with                          me. He's my best friend.                                     ROLFE (O.S.)                         Wade, it's late. I know you're                          probably at Toby's, but I'm in bed                          reading. We got different habits.                                     WADE                         No, not tonight. I'm in bed too. I'm                          calling because I need you to listen.                          You're supposed to be a smart guy.                          You're a professor. I got this theory.                          Jack says he didn't see Twombley                          shot but he did.                                                                    CUT TO:               EXT. ACCIDENT SCENE - DAY               Wade's theory -- in black-and-white: Twombley's footing slips.                Jack turns to watch. Twombley's gun hits frozen rocks, fires,                blows a hole through his chest.                                                                    CUT TO:               INT. WADE'S TRAILER - NIGHT                                     WADE                         It'll come out Jack lied and the                          kid'll get hung for it.                                     ROLFE (O.S.)                         He was scheduled to testify for a                          committee investigating organized                          crime in New England and the                          construction business.                                     WADE                         Who?                                     ROLFE (O.S.)                         Twombley.                                     WADE                         No shit.                                     ROLFE (O.S.)                         You think Jack shot him?                                     WADE                         Well, it was an accident.                                     ROLFE (O.S.)                         They were out deer hunting, right?                          Jack probably heard the gun go off,                          then came back and found the body.                                                                    CUT TO:               EXT. ACCIDENT SCENE - DAY               Another theory: Black-and-white. Jack sees a figure run from                Twombley's body.                                                                    CUT TO:               INT. WADE'S TRAILER - NIGHT               Wade shifts the phone from ear to ear:                                     WADE                         Lillian was here. In Lawford.                                     ROLFE (O.S.)                         Huh?                                     WADE                         The night before the shooting.                                     ROLFE (O.S.)                         How was she?                                     WADE                         Picked up Jill. She was supposed to                          visit for the weekend for Halloween.                          She wanted to go home.                                     ROLFE (O.S.)                         Who?                                     WADE                         Jill. I was thinking of getting a                          lawyer. Maybe you can help me.                                     ROLFE (O.S.)                         What happened?                                     WADE                         A divorce lawyer. A custody lawyer.                          You know, 'cause of Jill.                                                                    CUT TO:               EXT. WADE'S TRAILER - NIGHT               TIMECUT: mobile homes.                                                                    CUT TO:               INT. WADE'S TRAILER - NIGHT                                     ROLFE (O.S.)                         Don't think about it. You're                          exhausted.                                     WADE                         Yeah, I guess.                                     ROLFE (O.S.)                         Get some sleep.                                     WADE                         I get to feeling like a whipped dog                          some days, Rolfe, and some night I'm                          going to bite back. I swear it.                                     ROLFE (O.S.)                         Haven't you already done a bit of                          that?                                     WADE                         No, no, I haven't. Not really. I've                          growled a little, but I haven't bit.               Sound of GUNSHOT.                                                                    CUT TO:               EXT. MOUNTAINS - DAY               Wade's bubble-top Fairlane drives through snow covered hills.                                                                    CUT TO:               EXT. MEL GORDON'S HOUSE - DAY               The Fairlane is parked outside a substantial summer house                with a wide porch and frozen pond. The "speeding" BMW in the                drive. Wade knocks on the front door. An 8 year-old boy                answers the door. Wade speaks; the boy goes back inside.               MRS. GORDON, 30, delicate, beautiful, wearing a dark green                robe, comes to the door. Her eyes are red-rimmed. Wade has                seen her before, but not this close. He feels awkward.                                     MRS. GORDON                         Who are you?                                     WADE                         I was... I'm Wade Whitehouse. I was                          wondering, is your husband here?                                     MRS. GORDON                         He's asleep. We were up very late.                                     WADE                         Well, yes, I'm... I want to say that                          I'm real sorry about your father,                          Mrs. Twombley.                                     MRS. GORDON                         Mrs. Gordon. Thank you.                                     WADE                         Well, yeah, I suppose. Sure. I just                          had a little business to settle with                          Mr. Gordon. I'm the local police                          officer.                                     MRS. GORDON                         Something about my father?                                     WADE                         Oh, no. No, it's a... it's a traffic                          thing. No big deal.                                     MRS. GORDON                         Can't it wait, then?               MEL GORDON, 40, dark-eyed, wearing a tartan robe, steps behind                his wife.                                     MEL GORDON                         Whitehouse. Next time, phone ahead.                                     WADE                         How's that?               Mel folds his arms. His wife goes inside.                                     MEL GORDON                         I said, 'Next time, phone ahead.'                                     WADE                         Jesus Christ. Mr. Gordon, when I                          come all the way to serve somebody a                          summons, I don't call ahead for an                          appointment.                                     MEL GORDON                         What the hell are you talking about?                                     WADE                         I'm issuing you a ticket. Moving                          violation.                                     MEL GORDON                         Moving violation! I just got out of                          bed and you're telling me you're                          giving me a goddamn speeding ticket?                          Now? Are you nuts? Is that it,                          Whitehouse? You're nuts?                                     WADE                              (writing)                         Yesterday morning, you passed a                          stopped school bus, which was flashing                          its lights, then you--                                     MEL GORDON                              (stops Wade's arm)                         Hold on!                                     WADE                              (wrenches hand free)                         Don't ever put your hands on me, Mr.                          Gordon.                                     MEL GORDON                         You're talking about a goddamned                          ticket, from when I passed you at                          the school where you were deciding                          to hold up traffic while dreaming of                          becoming a traffic cop or something?                                     WADE                         Don't give me a hard time, Mr. Gordon.                          I'm just --                                     MEL GORDON                         Doing your fucking job. I know. I                          watch television too.                                     WADE                         Yes. Here's your ticket.                                     MEL GORDON                              (refusing ticket)                         You get the hell out of my house                          now, asshole. And know this -- you                          are going to be a lucky asshole if I                          haven't got you fired before the day                          is out. I can do it with one phone                          call, and I'm pissed enough to do it                          now!               Mel Gordon moves Wade out of the door, slams it. Wade steps                away, looks back at the house. Mrs. Gordon watches him from                the window.                                                                    CUT TO:               EXT. MARGIE FOGG'S HOUSE - NIGHT               A wood frame house off the main drag. Snowing.                                                                    CUT TO:               INT. MARGIE'S BEDROOM - NIGHT               Wade and Margie, post-coital:                                     MARGIE                         Jack's sort of sensitive, I guess.                          More than most. But he'll be okay in                          a few weeks.                                     WADE                         There's something funny about that                          shooting. There's lots funny about                          it, actually.                                     MARGIE                         I heard he was drunk at Toby's last                          night and got in a fight with Hettie.                          He drove off without her...                                     WADE                         I'm sure, I'm positive it didn't                          happen the way Jack says it did.                                     MARGIE                         ...Jack's turned into one of those                          men who are permanently angry. He                          used to be a sweet kid, but it's                          like, when he found out he couldn't                          play ball anymore, he changed. Now                          he's like everyone else.                                     WADE                         I've been wondering if maybe Jack                          shot Twombley, instead of Twombley                          shooting himself. I've been wondering                          maybe Jack shot him on purpose.                                     MARGIE                         Wade! How can you even think such a                          thing? Why would Jack Hewitt do that,                          shoot Twombley on purpose?                                                                    CUT TO:               EXT. ACCIDENT SCENE - DAY               Black-and-white. A further theory: Jack bends over the fallen                Twombley, holds a tarp to protect his chest from blood spray.                He shoots Twombley with his own gun.                                                                    CUT TO:               INT. MARGIE'S BEDROOM - NIGHT                                     WADE                         Money.                                     MARGIE                         Jack doesn't need money.                                     WADE                         Everybody needs money. Except guys                          like Twombley and that sonofabitch                          son-in-law of his. People like that.                                     MARGIE                         Jack wouldn't kill for it. Besides,                          who would pay him?                                     WADE                         Lots of people. Guy like Evan                          Twombley, Boston union official,                          probably got lots of people want to                          see him dead. The Government's been                          investigating his links with the                          Mafia.                                     MARGIE                              (laughs)                         The Mafia hire Jack Hewitt?                                     WADE                         No, I just know Jack's lying about                          what happened. He just seemed -- I                          know that kid, what he's like inside.                          He's a lot like I was at his age.                                     MARGIE                         You wouldn't have done anything like                          that, shot someone for money.                                     WADE                         No. Not for money. But, if somebody'd                          given me half a damned excuse -- I                          was pretty fucked up, you know.                                     MARGIE                              (smiles)                         But not now.               Wade sits on the edge of the bed, sighs. Lapses into thought.                Margie caresses his back, kisses it. He winces.                                     MARGIE                         When you gonna get that tooth fixed?               Wade looks at her, brushes the hair off her face:                                     WADE                         I can see what you looked like as a                          kid.                                     MARGIE                         You knew me as a kid.                                     WADE                         Yeah, but never what you looked like.                          Not really. Never really studied                          your face, like now. I was never                          able to see you as a kid when you                          were a kid until now, this way.                                     MARGIE                         What way?                                     WADE                         After making love. I like it. It's                          nice to see that in a grown-up person.                                     MARGIE                         It's nice.               Wade walks naked to the kitchen, returns with two beers, one                for Marg. He gets in bed. She, thinking, sips:                                     MARGIE                         Don't you think, do you still think                          it's a good idea to press this custody                          thing -- just now?                                     WADE                         I'm her father -- supposed to be,                          but I'm not able to. Yes. Yes, I am.                          It may be the only thing in my life                          I've been so clear about wanting.                          Even if it takes a big fight.                                     MARGIE                         Then... I guess you have to.                                     WADE                              (silence)                         There's another thing I've been                          thinking about. I don't know how you                          feel about the idea, Margie, because                          we've never talked about it. But                          I've been thinking lately, I've been                          thinking we should get married                          sometime. You and me.                                     MARGIE                              (uncertain)                         Oh, Wade.                                     WADE                         I've been thinking about it, that's                          all.                                     MARGIE                         You've been married twice --                                     WADE                         It was to the same woman. I was just                          a kid...                              (Marg looks)                         It's not like a marriage proposal or                          anything, just a thought. Something                          for you and me to talk about and                          think about. You know?                                     MARGIE                         Alright. I'll think about it.                                     WADE                         Good.               He kisses her. His jaw winces in pain.                                                                    CUT TO:               INT. WHITEHOUSE FARM - DAYBREAK (1964)               THE FLASHBACK CONTINUES:               Glen Whitehouse, plastered, yells at Wade, age 13:                                     POP                         I've got sons, Goddamnit, oh my God,                          have I got sons! Wade? Rolfe?                          Elbourne? You love me boys? Do you                          love your Pop? Of course you do!               Wade, frightened, retreats as Sally enters in her housecoat.                                     SALLY                         Glen, stop --                                     POP                         Oh, Jesus, Sally, you are such a                          Goddamned good person! Capital G.                          You are so much better than I am, I                          who am no good at all, you who are a                          truly good person, like a fucking                          saint! Beyond fucking com-pare.               Glen reaches for the Canadian Club; Sally tries to block his                hand. Glen pulls his arm from hers, clipping her cheek with                the bottle.               Sally gasps, grabs her cheek.               Wade pushes between them, protecting his mother.                                     POP                         My big boy bursting out of the seams                          of his jeans!               Pop clenches his fist. Wade vainly looks Rolfe's direction                for help.                                     SALLY                         Don't!                                     POP                         You little prick!               Pop's fist comes crashing down. Wade raises his arms to                protect himself. Wade's arm bone CRACKS with the blow. Wade                grimaces in pain.                                     SALLY                         Glen, stop!                                                                    CUT TO:               EXT. MARGIE FOGG'S HOUSE - DAY               Margie gets into Wade's idling Ford.                                                                    CUT TO:               INT./EXT. WADE'S CAR - DAY               Wade, washed and changed, drives; Marg sits beside him. They                head north. Deer rifles echo from the woods.                                     MARGIE                         Did you tell them?                              (no answer)                         That we were coming?                                     WADE                         Don't you think it's proper for a                          fella to introduce his girl to his                          parents?                                     MARGIE                         I know your parents.                                     WADE                         I just want to pick up my divorce                          papers. For the lawyer. It won't                          take long.                                                                    CUT TO:               EXT. WHITEHOUSE FARM - DAY               Sun slants over Parker Mountain; they pull up. The house,                once white, is peeling. Polyurethane flaps over dark windows.                The 1960 red Ford pickup sits long frozen in the open barn.                                     MARGIE                              (getting out)                         Are you sure they're home? Did you                          call?                                     WADE                         The truck's here. Looks like they've                          stayed inside since the snow started.               They stamp their feet on the porch; Wade turns the knob.                Locked. It seems abandoned.                                     WADE                         Strange.                                     MARGIE                         Think they're alright?                                     WADE                         Of course! I would've heard.                                     MARGIE                         How?                                     WADE                         I don't know for Christ's sake!               They round the house, try the back door. Wade knocks loudly.                GLEN WHITEHOUSE, 70, opens the door, stands inside. He wears                long underwear, stained woolen trousers, slippers.                                                                    CUT TO:               INT. WHITEHOUSE FARM - DAY                                     WADE                         Pop, Pop, you okay?               Glen shuffles toward the stove; they follow. He starts a                fire.                                     WADE                         Jesus, Pop, how can you stand the                          cold, dressed like that? Where's Ma?                                     POP                         Sleeping.                                     WADE                         You remember Margie Fogg?                                     POP                         From Wickham's. Been a while. Like                          some coffee?                                     WADE                         How you and Ma doing? Haven't seen                          you in town for a while.                                     POP                         We're alright. Your Ma's sleeping.                          You want me to get her?                                     WADE                         Yeah.               Pop goes to the bedroom.                                     WADE                              (to Marg)                         Jesus. Nothing's changed around here.               Pop returns.                                     WADE                         Where's Ma?                                     POP                         She's coming.                                     MARGIE                         Have you been heating the house? Not                          just with the stove.                                     POP                         There's a furnace.                                     MARGIE                         You're not using it today?                                     POP                         It's broke I guess. There's an                          electric in the bedroom.                                     MARGIE                         Maybe Wade should take a look at it.                          Your pipes'll freeze.                              (Pop nods)                         Wade, would you do that?               Wade, concerned, pushes open the BEDROOM door:                                     WADE                         Ma? It's Wade. Can I come in?               He steps inside. On the bed, Sally Whitehouse, wrapped in                blankets, lies dead. He walks over, beside the small electric                heater, touches her forehead. Her skin is chalk white.                                     WADE                         Oh, Lord.               Margie steps into the doorway. Pop joins:                                     POP                         Coffee's perked.                                     MARGIE                         When did she die?                                     POP                         Is...? She's dead then?                                     WADE                         Yeah.                                     POP                         I checked on her. She had the electric                          heater. Cold don't bother her as                          much as me. Which is why I give her                          the heater.                                     WADE                              (kneels over mother)                         Is there something wrong with the                          phone?                                     POP                         In the living room.                                     WADE                         Why didn't you call and have the                          furnace fixed?                                     POP                         Wade. I thought she was alright.                          Till this morning she was.               Pop goes to the dresser, pours himself Canadian Club. Wade                opens his mother's mouth, attempts respiration.                                     POP                         It makes me sad.                                     MARGIE                         Can --?                                     POP                              (sits)                         Makes me sad it was her. Instead of                          me. I shoulda froze.                                                                    CUT TO:               EXT. ROLFE'S CAR - DAY               ROLFE WHITEHOUSE, 38, drives his four-door Toyota west:                through Massachusetts, toward New Hampshire. His face bespeaks                tolerance, objectivity -- in short, education. It's also                Wade's face.                                     ROLFE (V.O.)                         Wade called me, as usual, late at                          night. I knew it was Wade -- no one                          else calls me at that hour -- and I                          was ready to listen to another chapter                          in one of his ongoing sagas. There                          was the detective story concerning                          the shooting of Evan Twombley and                          the family melodrama about Wade's                          custody fight with Lillian. But not                          this time.                                                                    CUT TO:               EXT. WHITEHOUSE FARM - DAY               Rolfe's Toyota sits with other cars.                                     ROLFE (V.O.)                         Wade was telling a different story,                          or so it seemed then, one in which I                          myself was a character. He had called                          to tell me that sometime the previous                          night our mother had died, and he                          had discovered the body when he'd                          gone over to visit her and our father                          with Margie Fogg. Pop was okay, but                          kind of out of it. Worse than usual,                          maybe, though no drunker than usual.                                                                    CUT TO:               INT. LIVING ROOM - DAY               Friends and relatives gather in the living room: Wade, Rolfe,                Glen, LaRiviere, Margie, an aging couple, REVEREND DOUGHTY,                30, thin, wearing glasses and an avocado-green suit.                                     WADE                              (finishing a beer)                         Shouldn't we get this show on the                          road, now that Rolfe's here?               No one moves. LaRiviere checks his watch. Wade shrugs:                                     WADE                         Pointless to stand around in church                          with nothing to do, I guess.                                     ROLFE                         What about Jill? Is Lillian bringing                          her?               Margie's face tells Rolfe he's touched on a sensitive subject.                                     MARGIE                         They'll be at the church and the                          cemetery.               Wade opens the frig, takes out another beer:                                     WADE                         Anyone else want one? Rolfe?                                     ROLFE                         No thanks. I don't drink.                                     WADE                         Yeah. I forgot.                                     LARIVIERE                         How you holding up, Wade?                                     WADE                         I'm fine, fine.                                     LARIVIERE                         You Rolfe?                              (Rolfe nods)                         I remember you from high school.                          You're a teacher now? Harvard?                                     ROLFE                         B.U.                                     LARIVIERE                         I haven't seen you around. I don't                          suppose there's much reason for you                          to come this way.               Rev. Doughty calls for Glen Whitehouse, who has been sitting,                silent, drinking, to join the others:                                     REV. DOUGHTY                         Come, Glen, join us. Let's kneel for                          a moment of prayer before the service.                          Wade? Rolfe?                                     ROLFE                         Well...               Wade, expressionless, looks at Rolfe. Rolfe, embarrassed,                trying to do the right thing, helps his father kneel beside                Rev. Doughty. The others join the circle.                                     WADE                         This is nuts.                                     MARGIE                              (reproving)                         Wade.                                     REV. DOUGHTY                         Dear Heavenly Father, Lord of Hosts,                          we come to Thee to beseech Thy                          blessings and commend to You the                          soul of our beloved wife and mother,                          Sally Whitehouse, to be one with You                          and walk with You --               Pop mutters something. Wade, Rolfe and Marg exchange glances.                He mutters louder:                                     POP                         ...goddamned hair on her head.               He rises over LaRiviere, turns, exclaims:                                     POP                         Not a one of you is worth a goddamned                          hair on that good woman's head!               Doughty freezes.                                     WADE                         Pop! Don't do this now, Pop.               Pop knocks back a drink as the others stand.                                     LARIVIERE                         Maybe I'll head on over to the church.                                     REV. DOUGHTY                         This is a difficult time.               Gordon and the couple file out. Doughty, Glen, Rolfe, Wade                and Margie remain.                                     WADE                         Listen, it's no big deal, Pop.                                     POP                              (raising fists)                         Come on, smart guy. Tell how it's no                          big deal. Tell me how a single one                          of you is worth a single hair on                          that woman's head.                                     REV. DOUGHTY                         Give up this demon.                                     POP                         Go fuck yourself!               Wade, eyes blazing, squares off. Son to father.                                     ROLFE                         Wade, just leave it.                                     POP                              (mocking)                         Listen to your little brother. 'Wade,                          just leave it.' Candy-asses. All of                          you. That's what I've got for                          children. Candyasses. 'Wade, just                          leave it.' Praise the Lord! 'Just                          leave it!'               Wade stiffens. Pop cocks his fist. Marg, screaming, jumps                between them as Pop swings.               The old man bounces blows off Margie's arms and shoulders.               Wade pushes Marg aside, grabs his father in a bear hug and                walks him backwards, flat against the wall. Wade releases                him. Pop, frail, collapses to the floor. Wade kneels over                him:                                     WADE                         If you ever touch her again, I'll                          kill you. I swear it.                                                                    CUT TO:               EXT. CEMETERY - DAY               Townspeople and friends cluster around the gravesite: Pop,                LaRiviere, Jack and Hettie, LaCoy, Chub Merritt, Nick, Jimmy,                Lillian, Jill and Horner, Rolfe, Wade and Margie.                                     ROLFE (V.O.)                         The day of the funeral was almost                          springlike. The snowline crossed New                          Hampshire west to east, retreating                          northward to Concord where it melted                          by midmorning.               Rev. Doughty finishes. The mourners exchange farewells. Wade                looks at Lillian. Margie and Rolfe, escorting Wade's father,                let him be. He walks over, hugs Jill.                                     JILL                         Dad.                                     WADE                              (to Lillian)                         I'm glad you're here. Can you stay                          for a while?               Lillian hesitates, shakes her head 'no.'                                     WADE                         You ever come to your father's grave                          anymore?                                     LILLIAN                         No, not anymore. It's too... it's                          too far.                                     WADE                         We should talk.                                     LILLIAN                         We've done all our talking, Wade.                                     WADE                         It's just...                                     LILLIAN                         Let the past be.                              (beat)                         I'm sorry about your mother. I liked                          her. You never know how much women                          like that suffer. It's like they                          live their lives with the sound turned                          off -- and then they're gone.                                     JILL                              (tugging at Lillian)                         Mom.                                     LILLIAN                         She has an ice-skating lesson at                          four.                                     JILL                         I'm taking ice-skating, Daddy!               He kisses Jill, says goodbyes, walks back to Rolfe and Margie.                Ahead, LaRiviere walks with Jack.                                                                    CUT TO:               EXT. WHITEHOUSE FARM - DAY               Wade and Rolfe leave Margie and Pop in the kitchen as they                step out back.                                     WADE                         Let's dig out Pop's truck before the                          skin of the snow freezes up.               They grab snow shovels propped against the porch, walk to                the barn. Firewood's stacked alongside.                                                                    CUT TO:               INT. BARN - DAY               Shafts of light filter through the ramshackle structure. A                snow drift nearly buries Glen's red truck. Wade and Rolfe                break away the packed snow.                                     ROLFE                         What about Margie?                                     WADE                         What about her?                                     ROLFE                         Well, do you still plan to get                          married?                                     WADE                         Yeah. She'll probably quit her job                          and stay out here with Pop. We can't                          leave him alone here, he'll set the                          damn place on fire. With Jill here a                          lot, it'll be good to have Margie                          around. Things are going to change                          in that department, by the way. I                          got a custody lawyer in Concord. I'm                          gonna see him tomorrow. All hell's                          gonna break loose, but it's worth                          it.               They finish clearing the snow. Wade gets in the truck, starts                the engine. Rolfe waits for Wade.                                     WADE                         I want to let the gas run out. I                          don't want the bastard driving drunk,                          and he's always drunk now. After,                          we'll hide the keys.                                     ROLFE                         Anything new about the shooting?                          Twombley?                                     WADE                              (reluctant)                         I guess it was an accident, like                          everybody thinks.                                     ROLFE                         Want to know what I think happened?               Wade opens the glove compartment, finds a bottle of Canadian                Club. He unscrews the cap.                                     WADE                         Find them everywhere.                              (swigs)                                     ROLFE                         I think your first response to the                          Twombley shooting was the correct                          one.                                     WADE                         Which is?                                     ROLFE                         That it wasn't an accident.                                     WADE                         Then who shot him?                                     ROLFE                         Well, your friend, I think. Jack                          Hewitt.                                     WADE                         Motive. You gotta have a motive.                                     ROLFE                         Money.                                     WADE                         Who'd pay him that kind of money?                          Not the mob. They got their own guys.                          Specialists.                                     ROLFE                              (agreeing)                         They wouldn't deal with a guy like                          Jack. Who else benefits if Twombley                          is suddenly dead?                                     WADE                              (swigs)                         I don't know. You tell me.                                     ROLFE                         Okay. It's likely there are people                          in the union who don't want Twombley                          to testify. They probably include                          his son-in-law who's vice-president                          and will probably be the next                          president. I read that in the papers.                          What's his name, Mel Gordon?                                     WADE                         Yeah, the guy with the BMW I told                          you about. I did, didn't I?                                     ROLFE                         Here's my theory. Twombley, unaware                          of illegal union loans or whatever,                          starts nosing around cause of the                          investigation and finds out. Finds                          out his son-in-law is involved.                                     WADE                         So Mel Gordon wouldn't want a                          professional hit. That'd make the                          feds dig deeper. He wants an accident.                                     ROLFE                         A hunting accident is perfect.                                     WADE                         Shit, around here, you shoot somebody                          in the woods, you say it was an                          accident, you get fined fifty bucks                          and your hunting license lifted.                          Jack's probably saying the guy shot                          himself cause he ain't got his deer                          yet and don't want his license pulled.               The truck sputters, stops. Wade pulls the keys.                                     WADE                         It's too neat. Things ain't that                          neat. It makes me mad. That somebody                          can pay to kill somebody, his own                          father-in-law, and not be punished                          for it. Don't that piss you off?                                     ROLFE                         Not particularly.                                     WADE                         Right's right, goddamnit! Don't you                          care what's right?                                     ROLFE                         I care about what happened. The truth.                          I'm a student of history, remember?               The sun is down. Wade tucks the keys in a knotted board.                                     ROLFE                         I was thinking about that story you                          told me, about Pop and chopping the                          firewood out of the ice and after.                                     WADE                         Yeah.                                     ROLFE                         I hate to disappoint you, but I don't                          think it happened.                                     WADE                         Of course it happened. Why would I                          lie about it?                                     ROLFE                         It may have happened, but not the                          way you said.                                     WADE                         You think I wouldn't remember a thing                          like that?                                     ROLFE                         It wasn't me. I wasn't there, but I                          heard about it. When I heard about                          it, it was about Elbourne.                                     WADE                         We'd have to go digging in Vietnam                          to ask him.                                     ROLFE                         And Elbourne and Mom took you to the                          doctor and told him you fell from                          the hay loft.                                     WADE                              (laughs)                         Well, I never heard that one.                                     ROLFE                         I remember clearly cause when I heard                          I became real careful around Pop. I                          was a careful child and I became a                          careful adult, but at least I wasn't                          afflicted by that man's violence.                                     WADE                              (laughs again)                         That's what you think.               Rolfe looks out: the cobalt sky has turned black.                                     ROLFE                         I gotta head back. It's a long drive.               They walk toward the house.                                                                    CUT TO:               EXT. LARIVIERE CO. GARAGE - DAY               Wade walks in as Jack and Jimmy prepare to head out, their                drilling rig loaded with pipe. Gordon yells at Jack:                                     LARIVIERE                         Put out that fucking cigarette!               Jack opens the truck ashtray.                                     LARIVIERE                         Not there, asshole. Flush it!               Hewitt trudges to the john.                                     WADE                         Morning, Gordon.               LaRiviere smiles, goes to his office as Wade hangs his coat                in his locker. Jack cruises over.                                     JACK                         I'm fucking out of here.                                     WADE                         Lawford?                                     JACK                         Out of this fucking job. This job                          sucks. Working outside in the winter                          sucks.               Jack gets in the cab of the drilling truck. Wade follows.                                     JACK                         Open the door, will ya?                                     WADE                         Why don't you quit now, you want out                          so bad?                                     JACK                         Open the door. We're late.                                     WADE                         I mean it -- you got enough money                          now. Head out for California. Surf's                          up, Jack, and you're digging wells                          in the snow.                                     JACK                         What do you mean I got money? I'm as                          broke as you.               Wade grins, goes to activate the door.                                     WADE                         Looney Tunes, Jack. Fucking Looney                          Tunes!               The drilling truck pulls out the garage, onto the road. From                the opposite direction a black BMW slows, enters. Mel Gordon.               Wade, all eyes and ears, watches. Mel Gordon parks in front                of the office, gets out. Elaine calls:                                     ELAINE (O.S.)                         Mr. Gordon!                                     MEL GORDON                         The boss in?                                     ELAINE (O.S.)                         Yes indeedy!               Wade flips the door switch. Mel Gordon and LaRiviere talk.                Yeah.                                                                    CUT TO:               EXT. CONCORD - DAY               The South Main Street office of J. Battle Hand, lawyer.                Concord is a real town, with traffic, stores, people with                places to go.                                                                    CUT TO:               INT. LAWYER'S OFFICE - DAY               J. BATTLE HAND, 60, sits in a wheel chair behind his desk.                Wade, uncomfortable in work clothes, tries not to show it.                                     WADE                         I screwed up the divorce. I agreed                          with everything she said. I wanted                          her to like me. I just want to be a                          good father.                                     HAND                         It would help if you were married,                          if there was someone at home while                          you work.                                     WADE                         I plan to. Soon.                                     HAND                         How soon?                                     WADE                         This spring.                                     HAND                         Good. It would help if there were                          some drug or alcohol abuse on the                          part of your ex-wife. Sexual problems                          upsetting to the child.                                     WADE                         It looks pretty hopeless, don't it?                                     HAND                         No, not exactly. I'll look at the                          divorce decree, see if we can get it                          redrawn. Interview your daughter.                          Jill, right?                                     WADE                         Yes.                                     HAND                         Fine. I'll need a $500 retainer. You                          can mail it.                                     WADE                         Jesus. How much... how much will the                          whole thing cost?                                     HAND                         Hard to say. If we go for custody,                          depositions, psychiatric evaluations,                          it could drag on. Ten or twelve                          thousand dollars. She could win on                          appeal. If we just want to get the                          visitation rights redrawn, assuming                          they're unduly restrictive, it                          wouldn't be more than twenty-five                          hundred.                                     WADE                         Oh.                                     HAND                              (sensing situation)                         You might be better off legally as                          well as financially to just go for                          the --                                     WADE                         Yeah. I know. The custody suit thing                          was just my getting back at her. I'm                          not as dumb as I look. Whatever you                          say. I love my daughter.                              (Hand nods)                         I'll send you the five hundred.               Wade stands; Hand motors to the door. Wade puts his fingers                in his mouth. His tooth throbs.                                                                    CUT TO:               EXT. LARIVIERE CO. - DAY               Fairlane squad car in its customary spot.                                                                    CUT TO:               INT. LARIVIERE'S OFFICE - DAY               Wade and Gordon speak. LaRiviere is relaxed, open: a "new                Gordon."                                     WADE                         Sorry about the long lunch. My clutch                          is going out again.                                     LARIVIERE                         You ever think of getting a new car,                          Wade?                                     WADE                         On what you pay me?                                     LARIVIERE                         Elaine! Call Chub Meritt and have                          him pick up Wade's car, fix the                          clutch.                                     ELAINE (O.S.)                         What!                                     LARIVIERE                              (to Wade)                         Use the pickup. I'll bill it to the                          town. You're the town police officer                          and the town police officer should                          have a decent car. You want a new                          car or not?                                     WADE                         What do I have to do for it?                                     LARIVIERE                         Nothing, Wade, I've been thinking.                          You don't get enough appreciation                          around here and it's time we changed                          things a little.                                     WADE                         I saw Mel Gordon in here this morning.                                     LARIVIERE                         So?                                     WADE                         He say anything about the summons I                          tried to give him? Sonofabitch                          wouldn't accept it.                                     LARIVIERE                         Wade, that wasn't smart. Going out                          right after the man's father-in-law                          shot himself. Let it go. Call it a                          favor to me.                                     WADE                         You? Why?                                     LARIVIERE                         Mel's doing some business with me.                          It's nice to do favors for people                          you do business with. He was in a                          hurry. No big deal.                                     WADE                         That was before Twombley was shot.                          Before he knew.                                     LARIVIERE                         What's the difference? Take my truck,                          take a rest -- stop worrying about                          Mel Gordon. Have you decided what to                          do with your old man's place -- he                          going to stay there?                                     WADE                              (takes out cigarette)                         Want to buy?                                     LARIVIERE                         Don't light that in here. I'm                          allergic.                                     WADE                         I won't. You interested?                                     LARIVIERE                         Maybe.                                     WADE                         You and Mel Gordon?                                     LARIVIERE                         Could be.                                     WADE                              (voice rising)                         Always count on old Wade for a good                          screwing. Why should I always pay                          more, sell cheap? Why should you                          guys make all the money. You and Mel                          and Jack. Right's right.               Wade pulls out Bic, lights cigarette.                                     LARIVIERE                              (waving arms)                         Out! Out!               Wade smiles, exits.                                                                    CUT TO:               EXT. RT. 29 - NIGHT               Wade, driving Gordon's 4x4 with running lights and roll bar,                takes 29 toward Pop's farm.               A pickup passes him: Jack Hewitt's burgundy Ford. Wade stops.                Jack turns up Parker Mountain -- the road to the accident                scene. Something's up.               Wade turns and follows. Jack's fresh tracks lead the way.                Hewitt is driving fast. Wade keeps up.               Jack, far ahead, approaches the accident scene. Stops. Night                has fallen.               Wade comes over a low rise, spots Jack's pickup. He kills                the lights, parks to block Jack's exit.               Silence. Footsteps in the snow. Wade watches, listens. What's                he doing? Looking for evidence?               The burgundy pickup engine suddenly ROARS -- Jack's back and                at the wheel -- the tires squeal, spit snow as he spins past                Wade.               Wade starts his engine, gives pursuit. The pickups gun their                engines, bumper to bumper, down mountain roads, lumber roads,                rocky trails. Wild headlamps their only guide.                                                                    CUT TO:               EXT. POND - NIGHT               A trail turns sharply past a shallow beaver pond -- too                sharply for Jack. He crashes through a stand of skinny birches                straight out onto the pond. The pickup's momentum carries it                across the pond.               Wade drops into first gear, follows, his headlights reflecting                ice. He drives directly to Jack, bumper to bumper, headlight                to headlight. Jack sticks his head out:                                     JACK                         You crazy sonofabitch! You'll sink                          us both! Get off the fucking ice!                          Get off!               Wade doesn't budge. Jack backs away; Wade inches forward.               Hewitt's trapped. Trees behind him. Neither truck has traction                on ice.               Jack steps out, swinging his fists wildly. Wade gets out.                Jacks grabs his rifle, points it:                                     JACK                         I'll shoot you, Wade, I swear it!                          I'll fucking shoot you dead if you                          don't move away from that truck!               Wade backs off.                                     JACK                         Don't move! I'll shoot you dead if                          you move!               Jack gets back in his pickup, maneuvers it slowly around the                Dodge, crosses the ice and is gone.               Wade stands in darkness. The only sound his idling truck,                the wind. Then a third sound -- the snap of ice. Ice cracks                ripple from the middle of the pond. Ice planes tip around                the truck.               LaRiviere's snazzy Dodge slips, descends, disappears.               Headlights glow under water, then go out. "Our Business Is                Going In The Hole."               Wade, alone in darkness, plops into the water, paddles to                shore. Freezing, he finds Jack's tire tracks in the snow. He                bangs his jaw.                                                                    CUT TO:               EXT. WICKHAM'S - NIGHT               A car drops Wade off. "Home Made Cooking."                                                                    CUT TO:               INT. WICKHAM'S - NIGHT               Wade enters the empty diner. His clothes frozen.                                     NICK                         Your father's in back, Wade. Marg                          had to babysit him. She moved in                          with you, huh?                              (looking closer)                         What happened?               Wade goes to the kitchen. Glen Whitehouse, washing dishes                with Margie, looks up:                                     POP                         Ah, the prodigal son.                                     NICK                         About fucking time.                                     POP                         Look, got me a new job, second cook                          and bottle washer!                                     MARGIE                         What happened?                                     WADE                         Jesus Christ, Pop, let's go home. I                          got waylaid. Sorry.                                     POP                         The fuck you got waylaid. You follow                          your prick around like it was your                          nose.                                     NICK                              (enters)                         Can it, Whitehouse.                              (to Wade)                         Get him out of here. It was funny at                          first, but I'm tired.                                     MARGIE                         There's clothes in the back.               Wade's old man talks as he dresses:                                     POP                         Let's go home? What home is that?                          Your home? My home? Let's have a                          talk about that. You're fucking sly,                          Wade. Your mother's dead so she can't                          make any excuses for you anymore!                          You gotta deal with me! No more sugar                          tit, asshole.               Wade, redressed, enters:                                     WADE                         Pop, for Christ's sake!                                     POP                         You think you can take me now? Come                          on, try.               Margie and Nick guide pere et fils to MARG'S CAR. Nick speaks                to her:                                     NICK                         Marg, get out of this. Fast.                                     MARGIE                         I can't.               Marg drives off.                                                                    CUT TO:               INT. MARGIE'S CAR - NIGHT               Wade leans close to his father, his breath on his:                                     WADE                         I wish you would die.               Pop spits directly into Wade's face, raises his arm. Wade                catches it, twists it. Margie shrieks:                                     MARGIE                         Stop it! Stop it! Just stop it!               They do, glaring as they approach the farmhouse.                                                                    CUT TO:               INT. BATHROOM - NIGHT               Wade looks in the bedroom, sees Margie sleeping, goes to the                bathroom.               He peers, stands before the sink, washes his hands slowly.                Drying his hands, he looks into the mirror, startled by the                image of his own face.               A phone conversation plays over:                                     WADE (O.S.)                         No shit, Rolfe, I glanced up and                          there he was, only it was me. But it                          was like I had never seen myself                          before. It was a stranger's face.                          Hard to explain. You fly on automatic                          pilot, like I was doing all night,                          and you disappear.                                                                    CUT TO:               INT. LIVING ROOM - NIGHT               Wade sits alone in the darkened room, speaking on the phone.                His cigarette glows.                                     WADE                         Then you accidentally see your body,                          or your face, or whatever, and you                          don't know who the hell it belongs                          to. Strange. It's the business with                          the old man, I know, and how                          incredibly pissed I was at him, and                          also chasing Jack Hewitt like that,                          and the Goddamned truck going through                          the ice, not to mention Margie's                          being so upset -- one thing on top                          of another.                                     ROLFE (O.S.)                         Wade, are you alright?                                     WADE                         But you gotta hear this. You won't                          believe it. Mel Gordon had come by                          to visit LaRiviere and so now I'm in                          his office.                                                                    CUT TO:               INT. LARIVIERE'S OFFICE - DAY               Wade's theory expanded: Jack and Gordon argue in the office.                An extension of Scene 55. Like Wade's other theories, in                black-and-white:                                     LARIVIERE                         He's on to us!                                     JACK                         Shit! What are we gonna do?                                     LARIVIERE                         Maybe I can buy him off. I gotta                          talk to Mel.                                     JACK                         You can't buy Wade off.                                     LARIVIERE                         We bought you.                                     JACK                         That was me.                                                                    CUT TO:               EXT. ALMA PITTMAN'S HOUSE - DAY               Wade drives Margie's car toward LaRiviere's. In his rear                view window he spots Chick Ward driving Chub Merritt's tow                truck, lights blinking, pulling LaRiviere's pickup like a                dead fish.               He pulls over, lets it pass. He's parked in front of Alma                Pittman's house. A sign on the lawn reads, "Alma Pittman,                Town Clerk."               He looks at the house, decides to go in. Wade walks up the                shoveled steps, knocks on the door. ALMA, 60, wearing plaid                shirt and slacks, greets him with a smile:                                     ALMA                         Wade! Come in! Have a cup of coffee.                                                                    CUT TO:               INT. ALMA PITTMAN'S HOUSE - DAY               They step into Alma's living room/office. She's been keeping                the town secrets for as long as anyone can remember.                                     WADE                         You got yourself a computer, Alma.                                     ALMA                         Been putting my files into it. You                          take sugar and milk?                                     WADE                         No. Black.               They sit by her desk at the bay window. She studies him.                                     ALMA                         Are you alright, Wade?                                     WADE                         Yeah, sure. Why? I got this damned                          tooth, I got a few things bugging                          me, like everybody else. But I'm                          okay.                                     ALMA                         Well, you look... sad. Upset. I don't                          mean to pry. I'm sorry about your                          mother. It was a nice funeral.                                     WADE                         Alma, I think there's some dirty                          business going on in this town.                                     ALMA                         Always has been.                                     WADE                         This is maybe worse than you and I                          are used to.                              (beat)                         What I'm talking about, I'm talking                          about murder. Among other things.                                     ALMA                         Who?                                     WADE                         Evan Twombley, the union boss who                          got shot. Somebody murdered him.                                     ALMA                         Who?                                     WADE                         You know Jack Hewitt, the kid I work                          with?                                                                    CUT TO:               EXT. MERRITT'S STATION - DAY               Gordon LaRiviere examines his damaged pickup outside the                Shell station.                                                                    CUT TO:               INT. ALMA PITTMAN'S HOUSE - DAY               Wade finishes:                                     WADE                         ...if Jack told the truth, he could                          be free by the time he's my age.                                     ALMA                         Sometimes things are simpler than                          you think. Let me ask you a question.                                     WADE                         You don't believe me?                                     ALMA                              (crosses to her desk)                         About Jack? No. Have you checked out                          the tax bill on your father's farm                          lately?                                     WADE                         I know he's due for the last two                          years. I was thinking of paying it                          when the insurance comes in.                                     ALMA                         Has anybody offered to buy it?                                     WADE                         As a mater of fact, yes. LaRiviere.               Alma punches her computer. Dozens of items flash up.                                     ALMA                         This is all the real estate                          transactions in this town the last                          year. Most of it unused land. Most                          of it for little more than the back                          taxes owed.               She punches again: only three items.                                     ALMA                         This is from three years ago. Some                          difference, huh?                                     WADE                              (looking)                         What is the Northcountry Development                          Association?                                     ALMA                         I went down to Concord to check it                          out. The president is Mel Gordon.                          The vice-president and treasurer is                          Gordon LaRiviere. Those boys are                          buying up the mountain, Wade. $364,000                          this year. I believe that's out of                          LaRiviere's league.                                     WADE                         Twombley involved?                                     ALMA                         No.                                     WADE                         He musta found out. They had to get                          rid of him. And Jack'll get blamed.                                     ALMA                         All the figures show is that Gordon                          LaRiviere is going to be a very rich                          man using his position as Selectman.                          In a year or two, you won't recognize                          this town.                                                                    CUT TO:               INT. LARIVIERE'S OFFICE - DAY               Wade storms in, shouting. Jack and Jimmy choose donuts by                the file cabinet. LaRiviere's behind his desk. Wade's tooth                makes it hard for him to talk without pain:                                     WADE                         You sneaky sonofabitch! I've got                          your number now, Gordon! All these                          years I actually thought you were a                          decent man.                              (pounds fists on desk)                         Can you believe that?               Jack, combative, looks at Wade. Gordon stands before Jack                can speak:                                     LARIVIERE                         Wade, you're done.                              (extends hand)                         Let me have the shop keys.                                     WADE                              (to Jack and Jimmy)                         You two, don't you get it? He's using                          you. You're his slaves.                              (soft)                         Jesus Christ, Jack, don't you see                          that?                                     LARIVIERE                         The key, Wade.                                     WADE                         Yeah, you can have the key. It's the                          key that's kept me locked to you all                          these years. I give it to you with                          pleasure.                              (passes key)                         Now I'm free. See how easy it is,                          Jack? All you got to do is give back                          what the man gave you, and you're                          free of him.                              (turns to leave)                         I've got to call my brother.               Wade's phone conversation plays OVER as he goes to Margie's                car.                                     WADE (O.S.)                         I know what it means. I'm just running                          out of ways to use it.                                     ROLFE (O.S.)                         For what?                                                                    CUT TO:               EXT. ROUTE 29/MERRITT'S - DAY               Phone conversation continues as Wade drives to Merritt's                Shell station.                                     WADE (O.S.)                         To help, Jack, of course -- and to                          nail those sonsofbitches, the Two                          Gordons. That's what Alma calls them.                          Jesus, Rolfe, whose side are you on?                                     ROLFE (O.S.)                         Take care of the little things first,                          the things that are distracting you                          from taking care of the big things.                          Call Chub Merritt, get your car back,                          call a dentist, for God's sake, and                          get your tooth pulled, don't trust                          the locals, get your facts straight                          and go straight to the state police.                          Let them work on this.               CHICK WARD, 30, Chub Merritt's mechanic, greets Wade outside                the station. We join their conversation:                                     CHICK                         The good news is we haven't got to                          your car yet. The bad news --                                     WADE                         Just tell me when you'll have it                          fixed.                                     CHICK                         -- the bad news is there's a problem                          with Gordon's truck what somebody                          drove through the ice last night.                          Figured you'd know something about                          that, Wade.                                     WADE                              (beat)                         Yeah. I know about that.                                     CHICK                         LaRiviere says he ain't gonna pay                          for the fixin' of your car. A couple                          hundred for the clutch. I got some                          more bad news. Wanna hear it?                                     WADE                         Tell me.                                     CHICK                         Chub says you're fired.                                     WADE                         He can't fire me. LaRiviere already                          did that this morning.                                     CHICK                         He's a Selectman. The town. He said                          to tell you to turn your badge in                          and clean out your office. I'm                          supposed to pull the CB and police                          light out of your car. They're town                          property.                                                                    CUT TO:               INT. WHITEHOUSE FARM - DAY               Wade, open phone book in hand, walks back and forth speaking                into the receiver. Margie looks up from the KITCHEN table,                an old newspaper in front of her.                                     WADE                         What do you mean, you can't take me                          today? I told you --               The other party has hung up. Margie stands, upset. Wade slams                the phone down.                                     MARGIE                         What on earth is happening to you?                          Why are you acting this way?                                     WADE                         It's my tooth! My fucking tooth! I                          can't even think anymore because of                          it.                                     MARGIE                         I heard you talking. You got fired                          this morning, didn't you?                                     WADE                         Look, that's temporary, believe me.                          There's so much shit gonna hit the                          fan the next few days, my getting                          fired by LaRiviere and Merritt won't                          matter a bit.               Pop enters from outside with firewood, passes.                                     WADE                         I'll get another job. People are                          going to need me. After this is over,                          they'll make me into a Goddamned                          hero. You wait: you'll see, I'll                          deliver. I'll be the best father who                          ever lived. You need me, even Pop,                          for Christ's sake, he needs me. This                          town needs me. Maybe now they think                          they can send me howling into a corner                          like a kicked dog, but my God, it'll                          be different soon.               Margie's face falls. She retreats from the room as he speaks,                taking her coat and pocketbook. Wade and his old man, she                thinks: just the same.               Wade looks out the window and she gets in her car, drives                off.               Wade holds his inflamed jaw; he can hardly see straight. Pop                turns on the TV in the living room, boosts the volume.               Pop comes back in the room, gets the Canadian Club, pours                himself a drink.                                     WADE                         Leave the bottle out!               Pop growls, goes back to wrestling on the TV. Wade walks to                the cabinet, removes a pair of pliers from the tool drawer,                goes toward the bathroom.               In the BATHROOM, Wade opens his mouth -- it hurts -- takes a                bite of whisky, sets the bottle on the toilet tank.               He looks at the stranger in the mirror, reaches inside his                mouth with the pliers. Prying his mouth open, Wade Whitehouse                locks the pliers onto a large molar in the back, squeezes                and pulls.               He steadies himself, pulls again, yanking the pliers from                his mouth. The bloody rotted tooth clatters in the sink. He                takes another bite of whisky.               Rolfe's voice plays over:                                     ROLFE (V.O.)                         You will say I should have known                          terrible things were about to happen,                          and perhaps I should have. But even                          so, what could I have done by then?                          Wade never went inside. He lived                          almost wholly out there on his skin,                          with no interior space to retreat                          to, even in a crisis.               Wade takes another swig, sets the whisky bottle in the LIVING                ROOM beside the TV set. Wade and Pop exchange looks.               Wade exits through the KITCHEN, snatching his coat.                                                                    CUT TO:               EXT. BARN - DAY               Wade spits blood into the snow as he grabs a gallon can of                gasoline from under the porch.               He crosses to the barn, prepares to pour the gas into the                beat-up red truck.                                                                    CUT TO:               EXT. CONCORD - DAY               Wade's Ford pickup passes J. Battle Hand's office, keeps                going. Grass peeks through the snow at this lower altitude.                                                                    CUT TO:               EXT. LILLIAN'S HOUSE - DAY               Wade parks the truck, walks past leafless bushes to a charcoal-               gray split-level with pink shutters. He pushes the door bell;                the first notes of "Frere Jacques" play.               Lillian opens the door; Jill's footsteps approach.                                     LILLIAN                         Wait there. She'll be right out.                              (looks back)                         Is there snow on the ground up in                          Lawford?                                     WADE                         Yeah, lots.                                     LILLIAN                              (to Jill)                         See. Get your boots.                                     WADE                         Hi honey.                                     JILL                              (going back inside)                         Hi.                                     LILLIAN                         Have her back tomorrow night by six.                                     WADE                         No problem. Look, I...                                     LILLIAN                         You make me sick. I can't believe                          you've sunk so low.                                     WADE                         Low as what? What have I done? It's                          bad to want to see your own daughter?                                     LILLIAN                         You know what I'm talking about. For                          what you're doing to me and to the                          child you say you love so much. Love.                          You won't get away with it.               Jill returns, wearing parka and boots, heads out with her                father.                                     LILLIAN                         Bye, honey! Call me tonight if you                          want.               Wade and Jill approach the truck.                                     JILL                         Are we going in this?                                     WADE                         Yeah. My car's in the shop. This'll                          be fine.                                     JILL                         It's pretty old.                                     WADE                         It belongs to Pop.                                     JILL                         Pop?                                     WADE                         Grandpa. My father. It's his.                                     JILL                         Oh.               Wade opens the truck door. Jill climbs in with her overnight                bag, looks back to the door where Lillian watches.                                                                    CUT TO:               INT./EXT. WADE'S TRUCK - DAY               The Ford heads north.                                     WADE                              (winking)                         How about a Big Mac?                                     JILL                         Mommy won't let me eat fast food.                          You know that. It's bad for you.                                     WADE                         C'mon, we can always sneak a Big                          Mac. And a cherry turnover. Your                          favorite. What do you say?                                     JILL                         No.                                     WADE                         What do you want, then?                                     JILL                         Nothing.                                     WADE                         You can't have nothing, Jill. We                          need lunch. Mr. Pizza?                                     JILL                         Same thing, Daddy. Mommy says --                                     WADE                         I know what Mommy says. I'm in charge                          today, though.                                     JILL                         Okay. So we'll get what you want.                          What do you want?               They stop for a light. Silence.                                     WADE                         Nothing, I guess. I guess I can wait                          till we get home. Maybe we'll stop                          by Wickham's for a hamburger when we                          get to Lawford. That suit you? You                          always like Wickham's.                                     JILL                              (looking ahead)                         Okay.                                     WADE                         Fine.               Pause. Wade looks over at Jill and realizes she is crying.                                     WADE                         Oh, Jesus, Jill, I'm sorry. What's                          the matter, honey?               She shoves her clenched fists hard against her legs.                                     WADE                         Please don't cry. Please, honey.                                     JILL                              (regains composure)                         What are you sorry for?                                     WADE                         I don't know. For the food business.                          I guess. I just thought, you know,                          we'd sneak a Big Mac on Mommy, like                          we used to.                                     JILL                         I want to go home.                                     WADE                              (quick)                         You can't.               Jill looks away. Wade pulls a six-pack from under the seat,                pulls off a beer, takes a swig.                                     JILL                              (quiet)                         That's illegal, you know.                                     WADE                         I know.                                     JILL                         You're a policeman.                                     WADE                         Nope. Not anymore. I'm nothing                          anymore.                                     JILL                         Oh.                                                                    CUT TO:               INT. WICKHAM'S - DAY               Wade and Jill enter Wickham's, crowded with out-of-state                hunters at the end of the deer season.                                     WADE                         Jillie, you want a cheese grilled                          sandwich?                                     NICK                         It's called a grilled cheese sandwich,                          you dub.               Wade, flaring, reaches across the counter and grabs Nick by                the shirtfront! Nick's arm knocks over a cup of coffee.               The diner goes silent. Hunters look up. Jill's face is white;                she starts to cry.               Wade looks over -- it takes him a moment to react -- bends                down, comforting her. He wipes her nose with a napkin.                                     WADE                         Jill, please, it's alright. Nothing                          happened.                                     JILL                         I want to go home.                                     WADE                              (rigid)                         Okay, let's go home, then.               They head for the door. Nick eases over:                                     NICK                              (delicate)                         Wade, I got a message for you.                              (Wade turns)                         Jack Hewitt, he's looking for you.                          Wants you to clear your stuff out of                          his office in Town Hall.                                     WADE                         His office. You mean my old office.                                     NICK                         Well, I guess -- that's what he said.                                     WADE                         He got his deer yet?                                     NICK                         No, he's out now. Somewhere on the                          mountain. I'd stay away from him if                          I were you. He's real pissed.               Wade takes Jill's hand, exits.                                                                    CUT TO:               EXT. TOWN HALL - DAY               Jill waits in the old red truck parked outside.               Wade emerges with cardboard boxes of office miscellany, rifles                laid across top. He shoves the boxes and guns into the back                of the pickup, gets in and drives off.                                                                    CUT TO:               EXT. WHITEHOUSE FARM - DAY               Wade and Jill pull up the drive, past Margie's car, into the                barn. Her trunk and two side doors are open.               Margie comes out back with a battered suitcase, goes to her                car. She's leaving. A plastic bag of clothes sits in the                trunk.               Wade and Jill get out, approach:                                     WADE                         Going somewhere, Margie?                                     MARGIE                         I'm just cleaning out some of this                          stuff that's built up. For the rummage                          sale. And some things for the                          cleaners. And the laundromat.                                     WADE                         Don't lie to me. You're leaving me,                          I can see that.                                     MARGIE                         Don't be silly. Hi, Jill.               Jill, suitcase in hand, looking pathetic, tries to smile. A                sadness passes over Wade's face.                                     WADE                              (hurt)                         Marg.               Margie, watching him, quivers, starts to cry. She drops her                suitcase, out of nowhere bawling like a baby.               Wade goes over, puts his arms around her, pats her back. His                face is racked. He, too, seems about to cry -- if he could.               In his arms Margie feels trapped, overwhelmed by Wade's                circumstances and terrible sadness. She pushes:                                     MARGIE                              (crying)                         Leave me alone! Leave me alone!               She struggles in Wade's grasp. Jill, frightened, wildly hits                him from behind:                                     JILL                         Leave her alone! Leave her alone!               Wade moves back like a bear, covering his face and arms.                Jill, near hysterical, keeps after him, arms and fists flying.               Wade stumbles backwards into the snow. Jill still swings.                Margie dashes to intervene as Wade swings his arms wide.               Jill flies into Marg. Her nose is bleeding. Wade's caught                her across the mouth and nose. She takes cover behind Margie,                crying.               Margie and Jill stand side by side, saying nothing. Wade                looks up stunned, as if hit by a rock. Marg slowly backs                away, her arms behind her holding Jill.                                     MARGIE                              (to Jill)                         Get in.               Marg eases Jill into the front seat, closes the door, edges                around the car slamming the trunk and gets into the driver's                seat. Wade stands.                                     JILL                         I want to go home. Will you take me                          home?                                     MARGIE                         Yes.               She closes the front door, starts the car. She backs out the                drive.               In her rear view mirror she sees the image of Wade receding,                standing frozen, staring down at the snow. Pop emerges from                the house, looks at his son, grinning.               Wade looks at his old man, that dumb devilish grin plastered                on his father's face. Glen Whitehouse holds an empty whiskey                bottle like a pistol.               Hunters' gunshots echo in the distance.                                     POP                              (Satanic delight)                         You! By Christ, you -- I know you.                              (points bottle)                         Yeah, you goddamn sonofabitch, I                          know you. You're a goddamn fucking                          piece of my heart!                                     WADE                              (dead)                         You don't know me. You don't know                          me!                              (beat)                         So fuck you. Fuck you.                                     POP                         Nah-nah-naw! You done done finally                          done it! Like a man done it. Done it                          right. I love you, you mean                          sonofabitch!               Pop holds up the bottle, pretends to fire it at Wade.                                     WADE                         Love! What the fuck do you know about                          love?                                     POP                         Love! I'm made of love!                                     WADE                         Call it what you want.                                     POP                         Everything you know is from me.                                     WADE                         Yeah.                                     POP                         Bang!                                     WADE                         You and me.               Wade waves his old man off, trudges toward the barn.                                     POP                         Where the Christ you going? You                          sonofabitch, you leave my fucking                          truck where it is! I need... Give me                          the Goddamn keys! I need to get me                          to town!                                     WADE                         Crawl!                                     POP                         Nothing in the fucking house to drink.                          Not a fucking thing. My house, my                          money, my truck -- stolen!                                     WADE                         I don't know you. My goddamn father                          and I don't know you.               Wade walks from the glistening snow into the dark barn.                                                                    CUT TO:               INT. BARN - DAY               Wade unloads the cardboard boxes filled with his office                belongings from the back of the truck and sets them on the                ground. He gathers up his rifles.               Suddenly! A whiskey bottle SLAMS against the back of his                head. He drops to his knees, the guns scatter. He looks up                with child's fear and guilt at his father.               Glen Whitehouse hovers over him, huge and ferocious: a                colossus, lifting the bottle like a jawbone.               Wade cringes, scrambles for the dropped rifle. He grabs it                by the barrel and, twisting around, swings it in a slow motion                arc, smashing the edge of the wood stock against his father's                head. A cold hard CRACK of bone.               Glen Whitehouse -- shriveled again, no longer mythic -- flies                back like a stuffed dummy. He collapses beside the empty                C.C. bottle.               Wade, bleeding from the head, stands, staggers off Pop's                inert body, aims his rifle at the old man's face.                                     WADE                         I know you now. I love you too.               Wade bolts the rifle, flicks off the safety, fires -- a loud                CLICK. The gun's empty.                                     WADE                              (smiles)                         Joke. You scared me.               He kneels down, lovingly touches the old man's face, caresses                his lips, cheeks, nose, brows, smoothes back his stiff gray                hair.               Pop's eyes are clouded. Blood suddenly drips from his ear to                the ground.               Wade rests the rifle against the truck. He bends over, slips                his hands under his father's body, lifts him up. He carries                Pop over to the workbench, lays him out.               Groping beneath the bench, Wade finds the kerosene lamp. He                unscrews it, pours kerosene the length of Pop's body.               Wade takes out his cigarette lighter, ignites it, holds it                for a moment, places it to Glen Whitehouse.               Fire spreads the length of Pop's body, bursting like a shroud                of yellow flame. The oil-stained bench crackles; flames shoot                up the old weathered wall.               Burning flesh and heat drive Wade backwards.                                                                    CUT TO:               EXT. WHITEHOUSE FARM - DAY               Wade stands in snow and sunlight. The entire barn is engulfed                in flames. Black smoke billows through the clear winter sky.                Inside Glen Whitehouse, a pyre, burns.                                     ROLFE (V.O.)                         The historical facts are known by                          everyone -- all of Lawford, all of                          New Hampshire, some of Massachusetts.                          Facts do not make history. Our                          stories, Wade's and mine, describe                          the lives of boys and men for                          thousands of years, boys who were                          beaten by their fathers, whose                          capacity for love and trust was                          crippled almost at birth and whose                          best hope, if any, for connection                          with other human beings lay in an                          elegiac detachment, as if life were                          over.                                                                    CUT TO:               EXT. PARKER MOUNTAIN - DAY               Pop's red truck is parked behind Jack Hewitt's 4x4 on a snow-               banked road. Wade, hunting rifle pointed up, traces Jack's                footsteps down the slope of the mountain.                                     ROLFE (V.O.)                         It's how we keep from destroying in                          turn our own children and terrorizing                          the women who have the misfortune to                          love us; how we absent ourselves                          from the tradition of male violence;                          how we decline the seduction of                          revenge.               Wade spots Jack poised in a spruce grove, watching for deer.                Wade bolts his rifle, releases the safety, aims and FIRES.               Jack, hit in the chest, falls bleeding between trees. Blood                stains the snow.                                     ROLFE (V.O.)                         Jack's truck turned up three days                          later in a shopping mall in Toronto.                          Even without the footprints, the                          bullet, Wade's utter disappearance                          seemed evidence enough of his guilt.                                                                    CUT TO:               INT. WHITEHOUSE FARM - DAY               Camera glides from room to room, glimpsing details, fragments                of former times, as if this were an historical site or                memorial. The walls resonate: lives were molded here.                                     ROLFE (V.O.)                         LaRiviere and Mel Gordon were indeed                          in business. The Parker Mountain Ski                          Resort is now advertised all across                          the country. Jimmy Dame tends bar at                          the lodge. Chub Merritt opened a                          snowmobile dealership, Nick Wickham                          runs the new Burger King. Margie                          Fogg moved to Littleton, nearer her                          mother; Lillian and Jill went with                          Bob Horner to a new job in Seattle.               Out a window, workers gather charred timbers from the barn,                throw them on a truck.                                     ROLFE (V.O.)                         We want to believe Wade died, died                          that same November, froze to death                          on a bench or a sidewalk. You cannot                          understand how a man, a normal man,                          a man like you and me, could do such                          a terrible thing. Unless the police                          happen to arrest a vagrant who turns                          out to be Wade Whitehouse -- or maybe                          he won't be a vagrant; maybe he will                          have turned himself into one of those                          faceless fellows working at the video                          store and lives in a town-house                          apartment at the edge of town until                          his mailman recognizes him from the                          picture at the post office -- unless                          that happens, there will be no more                          mention of him and his friend Jack                          Hewitt and our father. The story                          will be over. Except that I continue.                                         THE END
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+AFTER SCHOOL SPECIAL    written byDavid H. Steinberg                       FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT                           December 21, 2001     FADE IN:1    INT. WILLIAM WALL HIGH SCHOOL - HALLWAY - DAY                    1     As we wind down the crowded hallway in this typical American     high school...1A   ANOTHER CORRIDOR                                                1A     ...we hear all the sounds of a STANDARD PORNO FLICK, from the     unenthusiastic screams of fake ecstasy to the cheesy music.1B   INT. WILLIAM WALL HIGH SCHOOL - AUDITORIUM - DAY                1B     The sounds echo in the empty hall. Behind the stage a light     from an open door...                          MATT (O.S.)                This is unwatchable. It's not even in                focus. And geez, look, the boom mike is                in the shot. This is really shoddy work.1C   INT. WILLIAM WALL HIGH SCHOOL - A/V ROOM   - DAY                1C     The door leads into this room, as we continue on to a     TV MONITOR displaying a sweaty guy's ugly face.                          DEACON (O.S.)                Why do they always show the guy's face?                It's like, can't we just assume he's                enjoying it?     We slowly PULL BACK from the TV.                          FRED (O.S.)                Because they're trying to make us feel                like we're better looking than that guy,                so we should be able to get chicks as hot                as her.                          DEACON (O.S.)                How the hell do you know?                          FRED (O.S.)                It's a basic rule of porno.     Finally, we REVEAL our three heroes: MATT, FRED, and DEACON.     They're watching the porno...2    INT. WILLIAM WALL HIGH SCHOOL - A/V ROOM - DAY                   2     ... before school with the sound turned way down, but you can     still hear the porno. The three guys are sitting with their     book bags on their laps to conceal any possible bonerage.    FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT                                        2.                        DEACON (V.O.)              It all started on my seventeenth birthday              with our usual morning routine: film              appreciation.    The school bell RINGS and Deacon clicks off the TV.                        FRED              Deacon! What are you doing? I was              watching that.                        DEACON              Come on, let's go. We're going to be              late.                        DEACON (V.O.) (CONT'D)              And when I say film appreciation, I mean              film duplication. Fred steals them, Matt              copies them, and I sell them.    Matt walks over to the TV and presses eject on five VCR's.    The original plus four copies pop out.    CLOSE ON the original tape: "Ramalot Productions presents    Dirty Darla #7," as Matt hands it to Fred and the copies to    Deacon. They smile.3   INT. WILLIAM WALL HIGH SCHOOL - CAFETERIA - DAY                   3    The guys are waiting in line for lunch.                        DEACON (V.O.)              Fred's the kind of kid who's basically              given up on high school. He figures his              glory days are way ahead of him.                        FRED              First, I go to Yale, then Harvard law,              then when I'm making a hundred grand a              year, I'll have a whole stable of hot              chicks sitting around topless on my              yacht.    He smiles ears to ear, looking for approval.                        MATT                  (to Deacon)              Will that work?                        DEACON                  (to Fred)              You are a complete moron.    Deacon and Matt walk off. Fred calls after them.                        FRED              What?    FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT                                        3.4   INT. WILLIAM WALL HIGH SCHOOL - HALLWAY - DAY                     4    The video monitors up and down the hallways display an image    that reads "Fifteen Days Till Midterms."    Fred sees two AMAZING GIRLS walking towards him.                        DEACON (V.O.)              Until that big payday, Fred's sex life              consists of spanking it.                        AMAZING GIRL              That test was sooo hard.    That's too much for Fred to take. He adjusts his pants, turns    ninety degrees, and makes a beeline for:5   INT. BOYS' BATHROOM - DAY                                         5    Fred looks under the stalls to make sure no one's in there,    then enters a stall and locks the door.    He puts his book bag down, then places a protector on the    toilet seat and sits down. He pulls a large wad of toilet    paper off the roll. Then, from out of the book bag, Fred    pulls a bottle of Moisty-Mate hand lotion. He smiles.6   INT. WILLIAM WALL HIGH SCHOOL - HALLWAY - DAY                     6    Fred is walking to class when he spots a HOT GIRL, rubbing a    stain off of her shirt. Another HOT GIRL grabs her arm.                        HOT GIRL              We're going to be late. Are you coming?    Fred perks up.7   INT. BOYS' BATHROOM - DAY                                         7    Fred walks into the stall and grabs the toilet protector.                        DEACON (V.O.)              Fred averages two to five time a day,              depending on how many girls he sees in              the hallway.8   INT. WILLIAM WALL HIGH SCHOOL - HALLWAY - DAY                     8    Matt is videotaping the students (including J.T. and Mark)    running down the hallway to class. Fred watches.                        DEACON (V.O.)              Now Matt-- Matt's what you'd call a late              bloomer. Secretary of the Audio Visual              Club, amateur filmmaker, and complete              dork.      FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT                                        4.      J.T. and Mark grab Matt's camera and film each other flipping      him off. Matt grabs it back and the Twins walk away laughing.      Fred shakes his head.                             FRED                   What are you doing?                             MATT                   All great directors start this way. I'm                   documenting the essence of high school.                   Teenagers running to meet their destiny                   only to find it's just home room. It's                   very existential.                             FRED                   So's my balls. See you later.9     OMITTED                                                             910    INT. OUTSIDE THE LOCKER ROOMS - DAY                                10      Matt trudges into the locker room area, holding a towel to      his bloody nose.                             DEACON (V.O.)                   In the normal course of things, Matt                   probably wouldn't even have been our                   friend, but Fred likes having someone to                   boss around, and I think Matt's actually                   pretty cool once you get to know him.      Just then, the burly GIRLS' SWIM TEAM COACH comes out of the      girls' locker room. She walks by Matt without noticing, and      the door to the locker room closes slowly.      Matt's attention is drawn to it. The door stops with a CREAK,      a sliver of daylight still visible.      Matt shakes his head and starts to walk away towards the      boys' locker room. Then, he stops. He's torn. He's still too      immature to really be interested, but he thinks he should be.      He looks around quickly, then slowly approaches the door. He      turns his head sideways, and places it up against the crack.10A   MATT'S POV                                                        10A      The proverbial jackpot. Teenage girls changing. Bras.      Panties. Towels...10B   REVERSE ANGLE                                                     10B      Matt's eyes widen. And then, they CLOSE TIGHT. He quickly      scurries away.                             DEACON (CONT'D; V.O.)                   Well, at least he's got the key to the                   A/V room.     FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT                                     5.11   INT. WILLIAM WALL HIGH SCHOOL - HALLWAY - DAY                   11     Deacon talks quietly to a DORKY FRESHMAN.                         DEACON               Dirty Darla #7 is a modern classic. This               is grade-A porn, my friend. Worth a lot               more than twenty dollars.                         DORKY FRESHMAN               Sweet.     He hands him the money and Deacon makes the exchange for the     tape. The freshman clutches it like gold and scurries away.     Deacon heads out down the hallway towards his locker. He sees     a gaggle of teenage GIRLS gossiping.                         DEACON (V.O.)               People always talk about how tough it is               being a teenage girl. I mean, if I have               to watch one more TV movie about bulimia               or self mutilation or vaginal dryness...     Deacon reaches his locker and opens it. He sees some     CHEERLEADERS bouncing down the hallway. Deacon takes out some     books for class.                         DEACON (CONT'D; V.O.) (CONT'D)               I'll tell you what's really hard. Being a               seventeen year old boy. Imagine what it's               like to have only one thing on your mind               all day, every day, but to have               absolutely no way of getting it.12   INT. BIOLOGY CLASS - DAY                                        12     CLOSE ON a textbook showing the anatomy of the vagina.     PULL BACK to reveal Deacon, seemingly staring into space, but     really staring at...                         DEACON (V.O.)               Testosterone is a drug more powerful than               heroin. I don't really have any evidence               to support that, but the point is, a               horny teenage boy will do almost anything               for even a glimpse of sex.     ... his BIOLOGY TEACHER's erect NIPPLES visible through her     conservative bra and blouse. Aside from her flashing     headlights, she's the kind of woman you wouldn't notice even     if you were alone with her on a two-man luge. But that     doesn't matter-- Deacon can't take his eyes off of them.     FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT                                     6.                         BIOLOGY TEACHER                   (in the background)               ... the increase in the hormone               testosterone causes certain physiological               changes in the adolescent male...                         DEACON (V.O.)               We're suffering. Suffering from a deep,               debilitating addiction to something we've               never even had. Teenage boys are like               time bombs, ready to explode.     BEHIND DEACON     Two GUYS are whispering.                         GUY 1               Did you hear about Rachael?                         GUY 2               No, what happened?                         GUY 1               John Baldwin nailed her.     Deacon bolts upright and spins around, concerned.                         DEACON               Are you talking about Rachael Unger?                         GUY 1               Yeah. It was at Richard Rosenblatt's               party. In the bathroom.                         DEACON                   (crushed)               You're kidding.13   INT. DEACON'S BEDROOM - DAY (FLASHBACK)                        13     RACHAEL UNGER, Deacon's girlfriend at the time, is naked     under Deacon's sheets after school one day. Deacon ENTERS     from the bathroom and is immediately surprised by her state     of undress.                         DEACON               Rachael! What are you doing?     She sits up and strikes a sexy pose.                         RACHAEL               We've been together for a year now, and I               thought it was time to take our               relationship to the next level.     Deacon is becoming very nervous.     FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT                                      7.                         DEACON               Now?                         RACHAEL               You've been talking about this for               months.                         DEACON               I didn't think you were listening to me.     Suddenly, Rachael becomes a little self-conscious.                         RACHAEL               Don't you want to?                         DEACON               Of course I do. But, I, um... I don't               have anything...     She pulls out a condom.                         RACHAEL               I do.     But he's still hesitating.                         RACHAEL (CONT'D)               Deacon, what's the problem?     Deacon looks at her waiting there for him, his for the     taking. An eternity passes. Then,                         DEACON               I have a math test tomorrow.14   INT. BIOLOGY CLASS - DAY (END FLASHBACK)                        14     The Teacher CLEARS HER THROAT and Deacon snaps out of it. He     turns away from the guys behind him as they continue to     describe the John Baldwin incident.                         DEACON (V.O.)               "I have a math test tomorrow." The bottom               line is, I just couldn't do it. I don't               know why, I just couldn't. And I've               cursed myself every day since then.     Deacon is suddenly...15   INT. WILLIAM WALL HIGH SCHOOL - HALLWAY - DAY                   15     ... very depressed as he trudges to his locker. Which is     nothing compared to how he feels when he looks     FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT                                     8.     DOWN THE HALLWAY     and sees Rachael at her locker, hugging some people good-bye     (including a good-looking guy who must be JOHN BALDWIN).     Rachael looks down the hallway towards Deacon, but Deacon     ducks away.     Now he's even more embittered.16   EXT. WILLIAM WALL HIGH SCHOOL - PARKING LOT - DAY              16     Fred and Matt are walking towards their bikes after school.                         FRED               Did you videotape it?                         MATT                   (sarcastically)               Yeah. I took my camera to gym class with               me.                         FRED               You are the biggest moron I have ever               known.     Just then, Deacon comes up to them.                         DEACON               Hey, guys. Here's the money.     He hands out the proceeds from the operation, and Matt     notices that Deacon is a little out of sorts.                         MATT               Something wrong?     Deacon lets out a deep breath.                         DEACON               Yeah. I heard Rachael Unger did it with               John Baldwin.                         FRED               Well, you had your chance. I told you to               seal that deal.                          DEACON               Shut up, Fabio. I don't see you sealing               any deals.                         FRED               I'm biding my time.                         DEACON               Whatever. It just wasn't good timing.FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT                                       9.                    FRED          It doesn't get any better than that. You          and Rachael were perfect for each other.          And naked girls don't just appear out of          thin air.              (scoffs)          "I have a math test tomorrow."                     DEACON          Will you shut up already?              (beat)          Look, I've been thinking about this all          day. We're juniors now. Upperclassmen.                    MATT          So?They reach the bike rack and start unlocking their bikes.                    DEACON          So we have a responsibility to ourselves          to start having fun and getting girls.          This year is our year.              (takes the chain off his bike)          There's nothing holding us back any more.Over in the parking lot, JAKE, a studly senior, revs theengine on his truck. Two hot girls, KELLY and WENDY, sit onhis bumper, chatting.                    DEACON (CONT'D)          You see? That's exactly what I'm talking          about. That could be us.                    FRED          That's not going to be us this year, or          next year, or any year, ever.                    DEACON          Why not? All we have to do is follow the          simple lessons of Tony Montana in "Scar          Face."                    MATT          Ooh. Good movie.                    DEACON AND MATT              (with Cuban accents)          "First you get the money, then you get          the power, then you get the women."                    FRED          So, we're going to become Cuban drug          lords?     FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT                                        10.                           DEACON                 Listen, the porno pirating operation is                 bringing in plenty of money. When I get                 my new car tonight for my birthday, we'll                 have the power to go wherever we want.                 Then, there's nothing stopping us from                 getting the girls.     Fred and Matt look at Deacon warily. Is this a plan? Then,     the hot girls and Jake drive past the guys.                           JAKE                 Bye, Sphincter!     They laugh, then peel out with the radio blasting.                           FRED                 Nothing's going to change, Deacon. You're                 still going to be the kid who shit his                 pants in fifth grade and no one will ever                 let you forget it.                           DEACON                 I had a stomach virus, asshole.     Just then, a super hot CHEERLEADER drops her car keys and     bends over to pick them up.                           FRED                 Oh, that's just not fair.     Fred adjusts himself.17   OMITTED                                                            1718   INT. VIDEO CASA DEL RUSS A.K.A. RUSS'S VIDEO MAGIC - DAY           18     Fred arrives dressed for work (name tag, shirt, etc.) and     waves to RUSS, the scraggly owner of this small video rental     store.     Fred passes J.T., Mark, Wendy, and Kelly and a bunch of other     CUSTOMERS on his way to the back section of the store.     ADULT SECTION     Fred makes sure Russ isn't looking and ducks into the porno     section. Hurriedly, he pulls out "Half-Cyborg 5: Final     Showdown" from his book bag. But inside the case is the tape     for "Dirty Darla #7." He makes the switch. Fred sighs a     breath of relief, smiles, and walks out of the adult     section...     MAIN AREA     ...right into...FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT                                        11.                    RUSS          Gotcha!Fred SCREAMS.                    RUSS (CONT'D)          I've been watching you.Russ grabs Fred by the shoulders and throws him up againstthe shelf, shaking him with every word.                    RUSS (CONT'D)          Those movies aren't for little monkey-          boys!                    FRED          Aaaaaahhhhhhhh!The Customers stop to stare at the scene. Fred breaks free,and Russ chases after him.                    RUSS          Come back here, you bastard!Russ runs after him and DIVES at Fred's legs, knocking himand entire shelf of tapes over. The tape FLY EVERYWHERE. Fredis still SCREAMING.Russ starts shouting at Fred so that everyone can hear. Acrowd gathers around to watch the spectacle.                    RUSS (CONT'D)          What else you got in here?Russ rips open Fred's bag and pulls out items, looking formore tapes. Fred tries to stop him, but the old man has aniron grip and keeps him away.Fred cringes as Russ exposes porno magazines, kleenextissues, baby wipes, the bottle of Moisty-Mate FirmingLotion, Q-tips, women's sexy underwear, surgical gloves...Wendy and Kelly are completely grossed out.                    RUSS (CONT'D)              (totally confused)          What's this for?...and a Barbie-type DOLL with a pullstring. Russ pulls it.                    DOLL          I'm Candy. Let's play dress-up.The crowd is now seriously disturbed.                    MARK          Dude.     FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT                                        12.     Fred sits there, whimpering on the ground.19   EXT. SUBURBAN STREET - DAY                                         19     Deacon drives the DMV Tester Car under the watchful eye of     the DMV TESTER.                         DEACON               And I signal exactly two hundred feet               before the turn. Rule 108-1.     The unimpressed Tester remains expressionless.                         DMV TESTER               Great. Now after the right, I want you to               parallel park in the open space.     Deacon complies.                         DEACON               I begin the parallel parking maneuver by               pulling within three feet of the forward               vehicle. I now shift into reverse while               turning the wheel two revolutions               clockwise...     The Tester rubs his brow.20   INT. DMV - DAY                                                     20     FLASH!     Deacon's picture is taken. He passed.21   OMITTED                                                            2122   INT. DEACON'S HOUSE - DAY                                          22     It's dark, but suddenly the lights come on.                           EVERYONE               Surprise!     Deacon pretends to be surprised.                         DEACON               Wow. This is great.     The room is sparsely populated with a few of Deacon's     RELATIVES, his MOM and DAD, younger brother MAX (14), and     ROGER, a wheelchair-bound nerd with a face full of     orthodontic headgear and braces.                         MATT               Were you surprised?     FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT                                       13.                         DEACON               Yeah.                         MATT               Really?                         DEACON               Really. I was.                         ROGER               Happy birthday, Deacon. It's Lois Lane               #2. Be careful. It's still in the               wrapper.     He hands Deacon a comic book, still in the plastic bag.                         DEACON               Thanks.23   INT. DEACON'S HOUSE - LATER                                       23     Half-eaten cake and ice cream, unwrapped presents. Matt     videotapes the event.                         MR. LEWIS               Are you ready for the big present?                         DEACON                   (laying it on thick)               You mean there's more?     Deacon can hardly contain his excitement.                         MR. LEWIS               It's in the garage. Come with us.     He follows them, looking back knowingly at Fred and Matt.24   INT. DEACON'S HOUSE - GARAGE - DAY (CONTINUOUS)                   24     The door opens, the lights come on, and Deacon's face drops.     No new car. Instead, several large wrapped boxes. Deacon     halfheartedly rips open the paper.                         MR. LEWIS               It's a new computer system. You've been               talking about it for months.     But his Mom can see his expression.                         MRS. LEWIS               What? That's not what you wanted?                         DEACON               No, it is. It's just--     FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT                                       14.                         MAX               I'll take it.                         MRS. LEWIS               Max!                         MR. LEWIS               We can exchange it if it's not the right               one.                         DEACON               No, I just thought-- I thought you guys               were buying me that car I wanted.     Max snickers.                         MRS. LEWIS               A car? Why do you need a car?                         MR. LEWIS               You can ask permission to use our car               whenever you want, champ.     They put their arms around Deacon and smile warmly. Deacon     looks over at his parents' Aerostar Minivan. Everyone moves     back into the house, except Deacon's parents, who linger.                         MR. LEWIS (CONT'D)               I told you he didn't want a new computer.                         MRS. LEWIS               Like you know what anyone in this house               really wants.25   INT. DEACON'S BEDROOM - NIGHT                                     25     The guys set up the computer. Deacon is really depressed.                         DEACON               Now what are we going to do?                         FRED               At least you got this great party.                         MATT               Actually, we were expecting a lot more               people.     Fred elbows him.                         MATT (CONT'D)               What?                         DEACON               You invited more people?      FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT                                15.                          FRED                Well, we did send out flyers to like                three hundred people from school.                          DEACON                And no one showed up?                            ROGER                I did.      Deacon looks back at Roger.                            DEACON                Great.                          ROGER                Uh, guys. No one showed up because                they're all at Tom Cooperman's house.                He's having a keg party.                          FRED                What? Why didn't I hear about this? That                shit's not right.                          ROGER                I heard it from Rahim. He beamed me the                411 in study hall.      A beat. Deacon's anger turns to action.                            DEACON                Let's go.                            MATT                Why?                          FRED                Yeah. Tom Cooperman kicked me in the                balls in third grade, and I swear there                is still a footprint on my nutsack.                          DEACON                Come on, guys. Can I just get one thing                that I ask for on my goddamn birthday?                          MATT                He's got a point.                          FRED                Fine. Watch your balls.25A   OMITTED                                                    25A      FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT                                       16.25B   INT. COOP'S HOUSE - NIGHT                                         25B      CLOSE ON a set of feet, stomping on a Sony D.D.R. mat.      REVEAL TOM COOPERMAN dancing up a storm, in a heated      competition against several challengers. The CROWD goes wild      at Coop's moves.      The DOORBELL RINGS.      Continuing his dance steps, Coop moves to the door.26    EXT. COOP'S HOUSE - FRONT DOOR - NIGHT                             26      Deacon, Fred, and Matt stand on the porch, waiting. The door      opens, and we see Coop dancing all the way to the front door.                          COOP                    (ad lib)                Grommets!                          DEACON                Hey, Coop. Can we come in?      Coop un-pockets a tiny piece of paper with a thousand names      on it. He examines it for a long time.                          COOP                Sorry, son, that dog won't hunt. Y'all                ain't on the list.      He goes to close the door. Deacon stops it with his foot.      Fred flinches.                          DEACON                Coop. It's my birthday today, so cut me                some slack, all right?      Coop looks him over, then opens the door.                          COOP                    (ad lib)                Well, pickle my turnips, why didn't you                say so? Happy birthday, friend.      The guys look at each other, excited. They look back at      Roger, five feet behind them at the bottom of the steps.                          ROGER                Little help?27    INT. COOP'S HOUSE - NIGHT                                          27      People drinking, dancing, couples making out. Girls      everywhere. And over near the keg is...FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT                                       17.                    DEACON              (in a trance)          Oh, my God. There's Naomi.                    FRED          She looks good.And there's NAOMI, every teenage boy's fantasy, wearing a hotparty dress and drinking a cup of beer. Someone lightly bumpsher...CLOSE ON her lips as the beer dribbles down her chin, and theworld goes still .She playfully wipes the beer off her moistened lips and chinwith the back of her hand. She turns her head and her hairfloats in the air.DEACON AND FREDare zombies, completely mesmerized by her.                    FRED          She spilled her beer.                    DEACON          Yeah.Fred adjusts his pants. Deacon makes a decision. One thathe'd normally never make.                    DEACON (CONT'D)          I'm gonna go talk to her. What have I got          to lose?                    FRED          Your dignity?                    DEACON          She's Rachael's friend. It's not like I          don't know her.                    MATT          Ask her if she has any unusual hats.          Girls like that.Deacon gives Matt a dirty look.THE KEG AREA                    DEACON          Hey, Naomi.                    NAOMI          Happy Birthday, Deacon.FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT                                       18.                    DEACON              (pleasantly surprised)          You remembered.                    NAOMI          Well, I got this flyer and--                    DEACON          Oh, right. So where's Jake?                    NAOMI          Like I care.                    DEACON              (hopeful)          So you two aren't going out any more?                      NAOMI          Duh.Deacon's mind is racing with possibilities when:                      JAKE (O.S.)          Freakin!It's Jake, back for another beer.                    JAKE (CONT'D)          Hey, did you hear about Rachael Unger?Before Deacon can answer...                    JAKE (CONT'D)          He shoots, he misses, right, ass-          sphincter? Come on, Naomi. We're going in          the pool.                    NAOMI          Screw off. I'm talking to Deacon.                      JAKE          Whatever.                      NAOMI          Whatever.Jake gives Deacon a dirty look, nods a "let's go" to J.T. andMark, and heads out back.                    NAOMI (CONT'D)          What an asshole.As soon as Jake is out of sight, Deacon turns back to Naomi,but she's already gone, stranding Deacon. What just happenedhere?REVEAL Matt helping Roger drink a beer in the background.     FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT                                        19.28   EXT. COOP'S HOUSE - BACK YARD - LATER                              28     Deacon wanders out back. It's   very dark and there are several     people in the pool, including   Jake's good-looking friends,     Kelly, Wendy, J.T., and MARK.   It's hard to tell in the dark     water, but it looks like they   might not be wearing any     clothes. Deacon sees this and   starts to walk away.                         J.T.               Deacon. I heard it was your birthday.               Come on in the pool, man.                         DEACON               No, that's okay.                         MARK               No, seriously. It's cool.                         KELLY                   (come hither)               Come on, Deacon.                         WENDY               Yeah. Come on.     Deacon thinks about it. He takes the metaphorical plunge.                            DEACON               All right.     He slips off his shoes and takes off his shirt. He walks over     to the shallow end. Deacon steps in with his shorts still on.                         MARK               Dude, what are you doing? Take off your               clothes.                            DEACON               What?                         WENDY               We're skinny dipping, Deacon.     He hesitates, not sure what to do.                         DEACON               Oh. Okay. Sorry, I'll just leave you guys               alone then--                         KELLY               --No, come on in. Join us.     Wendy swims into J.T.'s arms. Her shoulders rise above the     water and you can just make out the top of her breast.FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT                                        20.DEACONlooks at her, thinks it over, and finally... slips off hisshorts. He gets into the pool in his underwear, then slipsthem off, too, and throws them on the side of pool.                    DEACON          Wow. This feels amazing.Someone splashes Kelly, she giggles, and the other kids swimaround. Kelly swims by Deacon seductively and he smiles.                    JAKE (O.S.)          Coop's doing funnels. Come on.It's Jake, by the side of the pool with Deacon's clothes. Theother people swim to the front, and get out of the pool......wearing clothes! Even Wendy, in a strapless bra.                    J.T.              (rubbing it in)          Sorry, dude.                    DEACON          Hey, give me back my clothes!                    JAKE          Freakin? I can't see you. Maybe I need to          turn on the LIGHTS.And he does. The backyard lights go on illuminating thescene. Deacon panics. People start looking at him, laughing.Then, the cheesy colored pool lights come on, flashingslowly.Deacon is humiliated. Jake bends down to whisper to Deacon.                    JAKE (CONT'D)          Did you really think Naomi was into you?Deacon doesn't respond. But it's not enough for Jake. Hepicks up Deacon's underwear with a stick and examines them.                    JAKE (CONT'D)          Oh my God! Skid marks. Aaaahhh, Deacon          shit his pants again!                    DEACON          No, I didn't! Give them back!Jake does a victory lap around the pool with Deacon'sunderwear on the stick. Everybody is laughing.                    JAKE          Sphincter boy shit his pants!      FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT                                        21.28A   INT. COOP'S HOUSE - NIGHT (CONTINUOUS)                             28A      Jake locks the sliding glass door and waves at Deacon in the      pool. The group laughs and walks away.29    EXT. COOP'S HOUSE - BACK YARD - LATER                               29      Deacon is still in the pool, shivering and shrivelled.      Finally, the lights turn off in the back yard, and Deacon      ventures out of the pool.      He grabs an inflatable elephant pool toy and slips it around      his privates. He slowly sneaks around the house.29A   EXT. COOP'S HOUSE - SIDE OF THE HOUSE - NIGHT (CONTINUOUS)         29A      A dog BARKS! He snarls at Deacon standing there wearing only      the pool toy. Deacon runs away into the29B   EXT. COOP'S HOUSE - DRIVEWAY - NIGHT (CONTINUOUS)                  29B      The Dog is right behind him. Deacon struggles with him.                          DEACON                Hey, watch the nads!      But it's no use. The dog BITES the front of the pool toy and      it starts to deflate...      ... just as the HEADLIGHTS of a car pull into the driveway.      Deacon FREEZES. He desperately tries to cover himself with      the rapidly diminishing toy being jerked away by the dog in a      motion that makes it look like Deacon's getting a doggie      hummer. A MAN gets out of the car.                          COOP'S DAD                What the hell kind of sick shit is this?30    EXT. WILLIAM WALL HIGH SCHOOL - PARKING LOT - DAY                   30      The next day, the guys are at the bike rack, when a hot      SPORTS CAR drives by. Deacon is visibly bummed.                          DEACON                You know how long it's going to take to                save up for a car selling porno tapes                twenty bucks a pop?      Fred looks down.                          DEACON (CONT'D)                What?                          FRED                There's a small problem.     FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT                                        22.                         MATT               What?                         FRED               I got fired yesterday. Russ caught me and               went berserk. Some sort of sting               operation he's been planning for months.               I don't know.                         DEACON               You're kidding me, right? Tell me you're               kidding.                         FRED               No. And now I have to work twice a week               at my dad's office. I told you this               Scarface plan was stupid.                         DEACON               Great. So now we've got no girls, no car,               and no money.                         FRED               And no porn.                         MATT               Tony Montana would be very disappointed.     Deacon is once again...31   INT. BIOLOGY CLASS - DAY                                           31     ... very depressed, as he sits, bored out of his mind in his     biology class.                         BIOLOGY TEACHER               Now turn your textbooks to chapter six,               the Animal Kingdom. As you should know by               now, biology is the study of life, in all               its infinite varieties.     Deacon continues to stare at her perpetually hard nipples.                         BIOLOGY TEACHER (CONT'D)               So to keep things a little fun around               here, tomorrow we're taking a field trip               to the zoo.     Deacon buries his head in his hands.32   EXT. WILLIAM WALL HIGH SCHOOL - PARKING LOT - DAY                  32     Deacon is talking to the Dorky Freshman near the bike rack.FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT                                       23.                    DORKY FRESHMAN          Is this some kind of extortion racket?          I'll pay you double if you can get me          something today.                    DEACON          I'm sorry. There's nothing we can do for          a while. We don't have anything new.                    DORKY FRESHMAN          I'm dying. I just need something.Just then, Naomi walks by on her way to the parking lot.                    DEACON          Hey, Naomi. What are you up to?                    NAOMI          Going home to cram for midterms.With a look, Deacon shoos away the freshman dork.                    DEACON          Oh. I could help you. I mean, if you          needed any help.                    NAOMI          That's okay. I'll be all right.Deacon searches for something meaningful to say, desperatenot to let the moment pass him by. Naomi cuts him some slackby asking,                    NAOMI (CONT'D)          So where did Rachael go off to?                    DEACON          She went to Paris with the French Club.              (then, taking a chance)          We're seeing other people.She laughs at his attempt at being nonchalant. But she'slaughing with him, not at him, and Deacon can tell thedifference. He relaxes...                    JAKE (O.S.)          Hey, sphincter.... just as Jake drives up to them. Deacon is starting toreally get pissed at Jake ruining the moment with Naomi.                    DEACON          Look, can you please stop calling me          that? I think we're old enough to just          let it go. All right?     FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT                                     24.                         JAKE               Oh, sure. Sorry about that... Shit-pants.     He looks at Naomi.                            JAKE (CONT'D)               Hi, Naomi.                            NAOMI               Whatever.     She turns her back to Jake and his smile fades. He revs the     engine and peels out BACKWARDS. Deacon jumps out of the way,     but his bike is CRUSHED by the car.                         JAKE               Oops. Sorry.     He shifts gears and drives over the bike again. He laughs as     he drives away. Naomi gives Deacon a pitying look and walks     away. The moment is gone. Now Deacon is...33   INT. AEROSTAR - DAY                                             33     ... pissed. His crushed bike is in the back seat.                         DEACON                   (emphatic)               Look, mom. I need a car.                         MRS. LEWIS               But I thought we agreed--                         DEACON               I need a car of my own.                         MRS. LEWIS               Well, honey. A car is a lot of               responsibility.                         DEACON               Jesus, Mom. I'm seventeen now. I think I               can handle it.                         MRS. LEWIS               Well, it's also a lot of money. I'll tell               you what. Maybe you can get an after               school job to earn money for a car. I'll               talk to your father.     Deacon is stewing.34   OMITTED                                                         34     FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT                                      25.35   INT. FRED'S BEDROOM - DAY                                        35     CLOSE ON a web browser as the following URL is typed in:     www.nicelookinggirlsthatgetnaked4U.com.     The Cyber Granny parental block pops up. Denied.     www.homeroomteachersdoingitbeforeschool.com     Cyber Granny. Denied.     www.ineedfreepornnow.org     Denied.                         FRED               Goddamn it.                         MATT               Your dad really knows his firewalls.     Deacon bursts into the room.                         FRED               Hey, asshole. Don't just come barging in               here. We could have been naked.     Matt gives Fred a look.                         DEACON                   (excited)               Shut up. I figured out how to get back on               the Tony Montana track.... So, I'm at the               zoo today...36   EXT. ZOO - DAY                                                   36     A crowd of people (including Deacon's biology class) are     watching something in the monkey cage.                         BIOLOGY TEACHER               People! People! Come quickly. Witness the               miracle of nature at its most primal.     She's videotaping it, and Deacon looks up AT HER VIDEO     VIEWFINDER. It's a monkey orgy. Masturbation and fornication     everywhere.                         DEACON (V.O.)               And these monkeys are doing it. I mean,               they're going wild. And Miss Ariel is               videotaping it.     FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT                                     26.                         BIOLOGY TEACHER                   (getting hot and bothered)               With one final thrust of his engorged               penis, the male deposits his seed and               moves on.                   (suddenly bitter)               Probably to a younger, more desirable               female. One who doesn't have any               "issues." Whatever that means.                         DEACON (V.O.)               That's when it hit me.     Just then, a glob of "something" shoots out towards the crowd     (SFX). Everyone ducks, except for Roger, who's can't move     quickly enough in his wheelchair. It hits him in the face,     dripping down his orthodontia.                         ROGER               A little help!                         DEACON (V.O.)               Well, Roger actually...37   INT. FRED'S BEDROOM - DAY                                       37                           FRED               What?                         DEACON               Let's make one.                           MATT               One what?                           DEACON               A movie.                         MATT               Great! That's perfect! I've already got               an idea for a kind of sci-fi horror               thing. It's like "The Shining" meets "The               Jetsons."                         DEACON               No, you moron. A porno film.     Fred lights up.                         FRED               Even better.                         DEACON               And check this out. The best part of all,               is I've got an angle.FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT                                        27.                    FRED          What kind of angle?                    DEACON          We can make pornos that cater to guys          like us.                    FRED          You mean virgins.                    DEACON          Yes. Adult films made by virgins for          virgins.                    MATT          With good cinematography.                    FRED          And cute, nice girls. The kind you'd want          to take to dinner with your parents.                    DEACON          Right. No shots of sweaty guys' faces.                    FRED          And nothing up the butt.They look at him.                    FRED (CONT'D)          What? I don't like it when they put stuff          up their butt.                    MATT          These have to be nicely edited. We should          shoot on super 16 and transfer to video.                     DEACON          No, Matt. We'll shoot it on your video          camera. We're not getting any expensive          equipment.                    FRED          How are we going to get the women to star          in the film?                    MATT          And the guys.                    DEACON          I don't know. We'll surf the net. We'll          figure it out.They look at each other for a beat. Finally, Fred and Mattcrack up.FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT                                 28.                    DEACON (CONT'D)          What?                    FRED          That was really funny.Deacon just looks at them, pissed.                    DEACON          I'm serious about this.                    MATT          We can't make a porno movie.                    FRED          Do you have any idea how much trouble          we'd get in?                    DEACON          Do you have any idea how much money we'd          make?A beat.                    MATT          Like how much?                    DEACON          Enough for a car. Enough for more camera          shit. To take girls out. I don't know.          For whatever we want.Beat. Beat. Beat. They're thinking about it.                    FRED          What about the moral implications?                    DEACON          It's a free market transaction between          consenting adults. What's the problem?                    FRED          We're not adults.                    MATT          He's got a point, Deacon.                    DEACON          Guys, tell me the truth. Haven't you ever          wondered... haven't you ever imagined          what it would be like to make one?                    MATT          Not really.Deacon turns to Fred, who looks guilty.     FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT                                     29.                         FRED               Okay. Sure. I've thought about it. I've               thought about shaving Principal Taggert's               ass, too.     A look, then Deacon gets up to seal the deal.                         DEACON               Look. This is an opportunity we shouldn't               let slip away. If we make this movie, it               could be the best year of our lives.               We'll go in boys and come out men. And at               the end, we'll have the money, the power,               and the women. But you losers would               rather play it safe. Well, I'm not going               to waste another minute. I'm making this               porno movie with or without you. And when               I show up at school in my new set of               wheels, and you two limp dicks are               begging me for my sloppy seconds, I'll               just have to tell you, "Sorry, guys. That               ship has sailed. You blew it."     Ringing silence.                         MATT                   (sincerely)               That was a really good speech, Deacon.                           DEACON               Thanks.                         MATT               Did you work that out before?                           DEACON               No, Matt.                         FRED               Okay... So say we were to do this. What               would we call our company?                         MATT               I've got it. "After School Special."     They look at him. It's perfect.38   INT. OFFICE BUILDING - DAY                                      38     WE FOLLOW a WOMAN dressed in a Fredericks of Hollywood type     outfit, walking down the hallway past office suites; a     mortgage company, a dentist, etc...     She enters an office. As the door closes behind her, WE SEE     the sign on the door, "Ramalot Productions."     FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT                                     30.39   INT. VIC'S "STUDIO" - CONTINUOUS                                39     A small, vertically integrated porno production company.     Blow-ups of the company's box covers on the walls, hundreds     of copies of titles on shelves, a small STAFF and two     adjoining rooms.     VIC RAMALOT, whose face we recognize from Dirty Darla #7,     enters from the set. His partner, MIKE, helps him on with his     robe.                         MIKE               That was good. Some good action.                         VIC               I've got a question for you Mike, and I               want you to promise to be completely               honest.                         MIKE               Sure. Of course, Vic.     Vic looks at him, vulnerable.                         VIC               Do you think I'm too fat?                         MIKE               Are you kidding? The camera loves you.                            VIC               Seriously?                         MIKE               Absolutely.                         VIC               Thanks, man.     Vic gives Mike a jive hand shake and the two do a little hug.     Over Mike's shoulder, Vic sees the woman who's come into the     office.                         VIC (CONT'D)               Darla, sweetheart. Ready for number               eight?     Darla drops her top and heads for the bathroom.                         DARLA               Sure, Vic, lemme freshen up first.                         VIC                   (to Mike)               Is he in there?     Mike nods, leading Vic through a door, into     FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT                                        31.40   INT. CONFERENCE ROOM - CONTINUOUS                                  40     where there's a terribly FRIGHTENED MAN (cameo for Ron     Jeremy, etc.) tied to a chair with a gag in his mouth.     Vic shakes his head, picking up a pair of rusty hedge     clippers from the table. He snaps them open.                         VIC               So, you think you can just walk into my               town and move in on my territory?     The Man takes a quick look down at his own crotch, fearing     the worst. He shakes his head, pleading through his gag.41   INT. DOCTOR'S OFFICE - DAY                                         41     The guys are huddled behind the frosted window of Fred's     dad's office, standing away from the RECEPTIONIST.                         FRED               We've got to have two forms of i.d. to               prove she's over eighteen.                         DEACON               How much money do we need?                         FRED               A first time porno actress makes only two               fifty to five hundred bucks.                         MATT               That's it? Does that include the sex?                            DEACON               Yes, Matt.                         MATT               So how do we get women for this movie?                         FRED               We place an ad in the Cleveland X-Press               for "body models." That's like some sort               of code word in the industry.                         MATT               Are we supposed to have sex with these               women?                            DEACON               No, Matt.     A NURSE walks in.                         NURSE               Fred, your father wants you to take these               urine samples down to the lab.FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT                                     32.                    FRED          Okay. In a minute.Fred puts the samples down. She rolls her eyes then leaves.                    FRED (CONT'D)          We also need an adult signature to set up          the bank account and the web site.                    MATT          Let's use Principal Taggert's name.                    FRED          Oh yeah, good idea. That'll never come          back to haunt us.                    DEACON          Then whose name should we use?Just then, MR. GREITZER comes into the office.                    GREITZER          I'm Ronald Greitzer here for my 4:00          appointment.                    RECEPTIONIST          Okay, Mr. Greitzer. I'll let the doctor          know you're here for your...              (checks the book)          rectal exam. Have a seat.He leaves and Fred looks at Deacon, mischievously.                     DEACON          No way.                    FRED          Why not? It's perfect. My dad's got Mr.          Greitzer's signature on file, his credit          card number, and his social security          number...A beat.                    DEACON          And he'll never find out?                    FRED          It's not like we're going to send him our          annual report. It'll just be like an          official name of record or something.                    DEACON          Okay. Cool.The Nurse returns.      FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT                                      33.                          NURSE                And take these fecal and semen samples,                too.      She hands Fred two more containers, and the guys exit.41A   EXT. STREET - DAY                                                41A      The guys ride their bikes towards the lab to deliver the      samples.                          FRED                And we need porno names.                          DEACON                What do you mean?                          FRED                It's a basic rule of porno. All people                affiliated with the production of an                adult film have porno names so their                friends don't recognize them.                          MATT                Oh, you mean like "Johnny Hardmember"?                          FRED                Exactly. That's a good one. I'll be Balls                McLongcock.                          MATT                Ooh, I like it.                          DEACON                Guys. Those kind of names are just for                the actors.                          MATT                You're just jealous that you don't have a                cool porno name like us.                          DEACON                Okay, fine. Then I'm Sam ...                    (searching)                Slam. Sam Slam. The Back Door Man.      Matt and Fred look at each other, then Deacon.                          MATT                That name sucks.                          FRED                You don't get it, do you? A porno name                needs to be a very subtle thing.      Fred gestures and DROPS the samples which SPLATTER all over      the ground.     FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT                                       34.                         DEACON               Sorry, Balls. I guess I'm still new at               this.                         FRED               Matt, pick that up.42   INT. DEACON'S HOUSE - KITCHEN - NIGHT                              42     The family dinner.                         MR. LEWIS               And I'm telling the guy, he's got to use               form ND-45 for a third-party beneficiary,               but Johnson's gotta be the big man.               "We've been using ND-90 for twenty-two               years." But Johnson's an idiot. He               doesn't know ND-90 doesn't even exist               anymore.     Mom yawns. The phone rings and she gets it.                         MRS. LEWIS               Hello?                   (covers phone)               Deacon, it's for you. It's a young lady               named Palomina.     Deacon CHOKES on his food. He gets up quickly and grabs the     phone. Max is eyeballing him, so Deacon walks with the phone     into the other room and talks softly.                         DEACON               Yeah. 345 Remson. That's right. Great.               Wednesday, three to five. Looking forward               to working with you, too.     He hangs up and returns to the kitchen to see the whole     family staring at him, curious.                         DEACON (CONT'D)               I'm tutoring someone ... in math. To earn               money for a car.     He forces a smile.43   INT. DEACON'S BEDROOM - DAY                                        43     The guys are busy setting up auditions.                         DEACON               No, we don't pay bus fare.                                                         JUMP CUT TO:     FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT                                     35.                          FRED               Sure, you can bring your dog.                   (beat)               Oh. No, that's okay. Better leave him               home.                                                       JUMP CUT TO:                         MATT               Thanks. You sound sexy, too.                                                       JUMP CUT TO:     The guys are getting excited.                         FRED               I can't believe this is working.44   INT. BASEMENT SET - OTHER ROOM - DAY                             44     And there's Matt, wearing a shirt and tie, nervously sitting     in the rec room with a room full of CRACK WHORES.     They're a motley crew of fat, old, toothless, spandex-wearing     streetwalkers (including one TRANSVESTITE).     An uncomfortable silence pervades the room. Matt turns to one     woman wearing a rainbow-colored halter top.                          MATT               When you have sex with a strange man, do               you imagine it's like your boyfriend or               something?     She just looks at him.                         DEACON (O.S.)                   (over a walkie talkie)               We're ready. Over.     Matt picks up his walkie talkie.                         MATT               Roger. Over.     He looks at his clipboard and turns to the first woman.                         MATT (CONT'D)               You can go in now.     She gets up and walks through the curtain.     FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT                                     36.45   INT. DEACON'S BASEMENT - DAY                                    45     The basement is set up with a casting couch. Fred and Deacon     are also dressed in jackets and ties. The Crack Whore makes     her way over to them. They stare at her, slackjawed.                         DEACON               Take a seat please.                         FRED               Hi, I'm Balls McLongcock and this is Sam               Slam.                         CRACK WHORE               Tequila. You boys seem kind of young.                         DEACON               Don't worry. We're old enough.                         FRED               Tequila. Nice name. So, have you done any               films before?                         CRACK WHORE               I been in some home movies. Stuff like               that. Some pictures.     She tosses a stack of Polaroids at them. The top one has her     standing next to a horse. Fred is speechless.                         DEACON               Okay, then. I think we have what we need.               We'll call you.     She's confused.                         CRACK WHORE               So you don't want me to suck you two off?     They look at each other.                         DEACON               No, I don't think that will be necessary               at this time.                         FRED               Maybe later.46   INT. DEACON'S BASEMENT - LATER                                  46     The whores are gone.                         MATT               Maybe if we put another ad in and say               we're only looking for good looking               models.     FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT                                       37.     They look at him with disdain.                         FRED               There's got to be another way to recruit               porno actresses.47   INT. DEACON'S BEDROOM - NIGHT                                     47     FLASH!     Three digital images of the guys are lined up on Deacon's     computer monitor (thanks Mom and Dad!). Deacon is digitally     altering the photo of Fred to give him a goatee. Matt's photo     has already gotten mutton chops and Deacon's looking sweet     with a fu-manchu.                         DEACON               I say we make them from Hawaii.                          MATT               Hawaii?                         DEACON               It's perfect. Do you know what a Hawaii               driver's license looks like?                          MATT               No.                          DEACON               Exactly.                         FRED               But isn't it going to seem a little               suspicious? Like why are we in Cleveland?                          DEACON               Vacation. People from Cleveland vacation               in Hawaii, where do you think people from               Hawaii go?     Matt and Fred look at each other. They shrug, then,                          MATT               Aloha.48   INT. DEACON'S HOUSE - FAMILY ROOM - NIGHT                         48     The next night. The three guys walk downstairs dressed in     Hawaiian shirts. Deacon's parents are reading and Max is     watching TV.                         DEACON               Hey, mom. Can I borrow the car?                         MRS. LEWIS               I have to go to the video store later.      FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT                                        38.                          DEACON                But, mom. You said I could use the car,                but it's never free.                          MRS. LEWIS                All right, Deacon. I'll walk to the                store.                          MAX                Where are you guys going?                            DEACON                Out.                          MR. LEWIS                Why are you boys dressed like Don Ho?                          FRED                This is the new style, Mr. Lewis.                          MAX                Yeah, for ass-wranglers.                            MRS. LEWIS                Max!49    INT. AEROSTAR - NIGHT                                               49      Inside the car (still in the garage), the three guys apply      their fake facial hair to match their three new fake i.d.'s.                          FRED                Are we really going to do this?                            DEACON                Oh, yeah.      He starts the ignition, and an EASY LISTENING tune blasts on      the radio, ruining the moment. The guys look at each other      for a beat, then Deacon quickly changes the station to a      ROCKING SONG, and get back into the mood for adventure.                          DEACON (CONT'D)                    (once again)                Oh, yeah.      They pull out and drive off.49A   EXT. CLEVELAND - NIGHT                                             49A      The minivan descends out of the suburbs into the lights of      the big city below.50    EXT. THE PRETTY KITTY CLUB - NIGHT                                  50      CLOSE ON the Aerostar's bumper sticker: "My child is on the      honor roll at William Wall High School."FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT                                      39.The guys step out of the car and see for the first time theHoly Grail of boyhood fantasies: the neon outline of atopless woman at the entrance to this upscale strip club.They stop and stare for a beat, before finally getting up thenerve to walk up to a menacing BOUNCER sitting on a stooloutside the entrance, reading "The Princess Diaries."                      BOUNCER            I.d.'s.They confidently pull out the i.d.'s and hand them over.                      BOUNCER (CONT'D)            Richard Runningbear from Hawaii? What            brings you guys to Cleveland?              FRED                             MATTBusiness.                         Vacation.                      DEACON            We're on business, he's on vacation.He hands the i.d.'s back.                      BOUNCER            Well, "tiki-alohi-noa-lohi."                      DEACON            Sorry?                      BOUNCER            That's Hawaiian for "welcome."                      FRED            Right. Of course. We just moved to Hawaii            a few months ago. Haven't picked up the            local lingo yet.They force smiles and wait for the answer...                      BOUNCER            Okay. Have a good time, guys.Deacon grabs the i.d.'s and pushes the other two forward. Hegrabs the handle to the door.                       BOUNCER (CONT'D)            Oh, and guys.                (beat)            Nice lamination job.                      FRED            Thanks!The Bouncer closes the door on them. Busted.     FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT                                       40.                         DEACON               Look. We have to get into this strip bar.                         MATT               The next two years of high school depend               on it.                         BOUNCER               How old are you guys?                         DEACON               Twenty-seven.                         FRED               Thirty-five.                          MATT               Sixteen.     Fred smacks him.                         BOUNCER               Sorry, guys.     Then,                         DEACON               We've got money.     Deacon pulls out a wad of cash. The Bouncer looks around,     then thinks about it for a second.51   INT. THE PRETTY KITTY CLUB - NIGHT                                51     WE TRACK the guys as they slowly move down the dark corridor     towards the light. Each guy is in his own little world, Matt     and Fred following Deacon as he takes the first nervous     steps.     First the neon lights hit them, then the smell of liquor and     sweat, the sounds of barroom chatter, and finally the     grinding blast of MUSIC, so powerful it seems to stop them in     their tracks. Their eyes bug out.     SCANTILY-CLAD WAITRESS walking by. As they move further into     the club, they see actual STRIPPERS soliciting lap dances and     some TOPLESS DANCERS onstage. Fred smiles ear to ear.     The guys are locked in a deep primordial trance, broken only     by the voice of a COCKTAIL WAITRESS.                         COCKTAIL WAITRESS               What'll you boys have? Two drink minimum.                         FRED               Huh? Oh. I'll have a scotch. Straight up.               On the rocks.FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT                                        41.She looks at him like he's an idiot.                    MATT          I'll have a seven and seven.                      DEACON          Uh, same.She leaves.                    DEACON (CONT'D)          What's a seven and seven?                    MATT          I don't know. But I heard that guy over          there order one and I like the way it          sounds. Numerical.The Waitress comes back with their drinks. He pays her andthen they raise their glasses.                    DEACON          To After School Special.                    MATT AND FRED          To After School Special.They drink. And CHOKE.                    MATT          It tastes like poison.A beautiful STRIPPER in an American flag bikini approaches.                    AMERICAN FLAG STRIPPER          Are you boys interested in a dance?They look at each other.                      FRED          Okay?She takes Fred's hand and walks him over to a private dancecouch. As the next SONG starts, a curtain lowers around Fredand the Stripper. Fred is a little freaked out.IN SILHOUETTEShe strips off her top revealing her big American breasts.She rubs up and down Fred's body, shaking her hair in hisface. Matt and Deacon watch intently.                      MATT          Cool.BACK TO SCENEFINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT                                     42.The song ends, the curtain comes up, and Fred is smiling earto ear. The Stripper gets dressed and Fred pays her.                    AMERICAN FLAG STRIPPER          You want another dance?                    FRED          Uh, not right now, thank you. I have to          go to the bathroom.He tries to get up, but the Stripper stop him.                    AMERICAN FLAG STRIPPER          Well how about you buy me a drink?                      FRED          Okay.She sits down on Fred's lap. Right on his boner.                      FRED (CONT'D)          Uhhhhh.                    AMERICAN FLAG STRIPPER              (to the waitress)          Seven and seven.                    MATT          You want mine?She laughs.                    AMERICAN FLAG STRIPPER          So what brings you boys to the Pretty          Kitty?                    MATT          We're from Hawaii.                    DEACON          Actually, we're filmmakers. We're here          looking for new talent.                      AMERICAN FLAG STRIPPER          Really?                    DEACON          Yeah, we're looking for some beautiful          ladies looking to break into film. You          interested?                      AMERICAN FLAG STRIPPER          No.They look defeated.      FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT                                        43.                          AMERICAN FLAG STRIPPER (CONT'D)                But I know someone who is.      A beat, then time stands still once more for our heroes as      ASHLEY makes her entrance. She looks barely legal, dressed in      a Catholic school girl outfit, and walks up to them.                          ASHLEY                Hi, I'm Ashley. You guys are filmmakers?                          MATT                Video actually. They won't let me shoot                on film.      Deacon pulls out his wad of cash.                          DEACON                Look. We're paying top dollar, hetero                only, no anal, and we're distributing                through our web site.                          ASHLEY                Aren't you kind of young?                          DEACON                Aren't you? You know we're going to need                two forms of i.d. to prove you're over                eighteen.                          ASHLEY                I'm eighteen. Don't worry.                          FRED                Then you're hired.                          MATT                Shouldn't we audition her first?                          ASHLEY                Don't worry. You guys relax and have a                few drinks. By the time the night's over,                you'll know I'm your girl.      STRIP CLUB MONTAGE:51A   INT. THE PRETTY KITTY CLUB - NIGHT                                 51A      - Ashley slinks through the fog onstage and works the pole      like good girl should: gentle but firm.      - Various other Strippers (a Swedish stripper named PLANTAIN,      the American Flag Stripper, a BLACK STRIPPER, and an EXOTIC      STRIPPER) give the three guys lap dances, dance on the      carousel, and generally suck up to them.      - The guys are pounding drinks like there's no tomorrow.      FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT                                        44.      - Fred is nuzzling between Plantain's assets.      - Deacon licks the Exotic Stripper's salty neck and downs a      tequila shot.      - The three guys are all on the bar now, doing a      choreographed dance routine, and stripping to their      underwear.51B   EXT. AMUSEMENT PARK - NIGHT                                        51B      - CLOSE ON a trashcan, the guys are throwing up. PULL BACK TO      REVEAL:      - Boot and rally. The guys wipe their faces and join a gaggle      of Strippers heading into an Amusement Park.51C   EXT. AMUSEMENT PARK - VARIOUS BOOTHS   - NIGHT                     51C      - Carney games. Matt wins a stuffed animal for Plantain.      - Cotton candy, Roller Coaster rides, etc.51D   EXT. AMUSEMENT PARK - FUDGE FACTORY - NIGHT                        51D      - The group is crammed into a booth at the Fudge Factory,      eating ice cream sundaes. Matt shoots the straw wrapper at      one stripper. She whips some ice cream at him. Food fight!51E   EXT. DEACON'S HOUSE - DAWN                                         51E      - Ashley is dropping the guys off back at Deacon's house in      the Aerostar. She writes down her information on a picture of      herself. There's a car full of Strippers waiting for her.      - Just then, Jake pulls into the driveway next door. He sees      the Strippers and the guys.      END MONTAGE.52    INT. VIC'S "STUDIO" - DAY                                           52      A LADY dressed in sexy clothes and eating chicken wings from      a huge bucket is waiting around on the set, but Vic is over      talking to Mike.                          VIC                Someone's been recruiting new talent.                          MIKE                Jimmy Rimmer says they're from Hawaii.                          VIC                Why the hell would someone from Hawaii                come to Cleveland?FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT                                     45.                    MIKE          Vacation? There's the Rock and Roll Hall          of Fame.Vic thinks it over.                    VIC          That's true.Vic regains his train of thought.                    VIC (CONT'D)          What is this? "F" with Vic month? If any          more amateurs start moving in on my          territory, I'm going to get really mad.Vic opens the drawer and pulls out a GUN. He cocks itmenacingly.                    MIKE          Who you gonna shoot?Vic's bluff has been called. Reluctantly,                    VIC          I don't know.                    MIKE          Calm down, Vic. I don't need you all          agitated. You still got five films to          star in today.                    VIC          You're right, Mikey.Mike takes the gun from Vic and puts it away.                    MIKE          Don't worry. I'll find these guys and          take care of it.Vic cheers up a bit.                    VIC          You hungry?                    MIKE          Yeah, I could eat.                    VIC          Grab some lunch?                    MIKE          Yeah, okay.The two head out for lunch, leaving the bondage lady sittingthere, confused.     FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT                                     46.53   INT. DEACON'S BEDROOM - DAY                                     53     Deacon wakes up sick as a dog. All the shades are drawn, but     Fred and Matt are already hard at work on the computer. They     seem completely fine, with no signs of Deacon's hangover.                         DEACON               What are you guys doing?                         FRED               We came up with a great idea. We're going               to presell the videos by posting the               scripts on the website.                         DEACON               Will that work?                         MATT               I don't know. But it's kind of fun. We               just wrote this whole thing about the               girls' locker room.                         FRED               One thing, though. If our motto is "by               virgins, for virgins," I was thinking we               should put a picture of one of us on the               web site to sort of sell the image.                         MATT               You're not putting my picture up there.                         DEACON               It doesn't really have to be one of us,               though, does it?     He grabs the yearbook.     INSERT:     ROGER'S FACE, as Balls McLongcock, proudly displayed on the     web site, hawking the first feature film (coming soon) of     After School Special with the motto, "By Virgins, For     Virgins."     A quick knock on the door and Deacon's Mom comes in.                         MRS. LEWIS               Deacon, look who's here. Your friend,               Jake.     Jake enters, all smiles.                           JAKE               Hi, guys.     Fred quickly shuts off the monitor.FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT                                      47.                    MRS. LEWIS          You kids have fun.And she leaves.                    JAKE          What the hell's going on, Sphincter?                    DEACON          What are you doing here?                    JAKE          I saw the strippers. And some crack whore          named Saffron came over my house the          other day looking for you guys.                    FRED          We don't know what you're talking about.Jake takes some pages off the printer.                    JAKE          What's this? "Oh, my God. There's a boy          at the door looking at us naked in the          shower."He flips a page.                    JAKE (CONT'D)          "The A/V Club Secretary lathers all of          their glistening bodies. 'I'm so dirty,'          she moans." What the hell kind of crap is          this? Are you guys running a whorehouse          or something?                    DEACON          No.                    FRED          Are you crazy?                    MATT          They're not whores if we film them, you          moron.Deacon can't believe Matt just blew it. Fred smacks him.                    JAKE          You retards are making a porno movie?                    DEACON          You can't prove anything.                    JAKE          Who's the girl?     FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT                                     48.                           MATT                 A stripper. Her name's Ashley.     He pulls out Ashley's picture from his manila folder. Jake     checks it out. His eyes go wide and suddenly he's their new     best friend.                           JAKE                 Who's the guy?     A beat.                           JAKE (CONT'D)                 Well, maybe I could do it.                           DEACON                 No, that's not a good idea.                              JAKE                 Why not?                           FRED                 It's a lot harder than it looks.                           JAKE                 You don't think I can do it? Trust me,                 I've nailed enough girls.                              DEACON                 Forget it.                           JAKE                 Look, you little butt munch. I want to do                 this, and if you don't let me, I'll go                 and tell your mommy what kind of sick                 shit you're doing.     Jake looks him over.54   INT. BASEMENT SET AS "YEARBOOK OFFICE" - DAY                    54     DARKNESS.     Click. The lights come on. The big day has come at last. The     guys are nervously conferring on one side of the room, far     away from Ashley, who's standing alone, dressed in a     conservative high school girl's outfit.     The basement has been transformed into the guys' idea of a     movie set, complete with lights, camera, tripod, and sound     equipment. A desk and decoration make the room look roughly     like the high school yearbook offices.     Deacon gives Matt a little shove, and Matt takes a long walk     over to Ashley.FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT                                     49.                    MATT          So, um, I'll be directing.                    ASHLEY          Okay.                    MATT          Okay. So I want you to play this very          understated. It's a very visceral scene,          so it's important not to play it too over          the top.                     ASHLEY          Uh huh.              (beat)          Hey, did you guys shave or something?Deacon looks at the other two, all three now beardless.                    DEACON          Okay. I think we're ready here.Fred awkwardly picks up the boom and puts his earphones on.                    MATT          Boom in position.                    FRED          What?Deacon pushes him over to position.                    MATT          Ashley, get into position.Matt gets behind the camera. They whisper conspiratorially.One last reality check before they take the leap.                    FRED          Are we actually going to do this?They look over at Ashley. She's waiting.                    DEACON          I guess so.They return to position.                    MATT          So, um, we're starting with the          masturbation and then Phillip, the          yearbook editor, is going to surprise          you.                    ASHLEY          Okay.      FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT                                        50.                          MATT                And ... action.                          ASHLEY                    (wooden)                These yearbook photos of the Debate Club                are making me so hot. I can't help                myself.      THROUGH MATT'S VIDEO DISPLAY, Ashley slowly strips off her      clothes. But before we get too good a look, we      REVERSE ANGLE      FRED smiles ear to ear.      DEACON gulps.      MATT peers out from behind the camera.                          ASHLEY (O.S.)                I hope no one catches me because I forgot                to lock the door. Oh, yeah. Oh, God,                yeah.      FRED's smile turns into nervous ogling.      DEACON crosses his legs and adjusts his shorts.      MATT wipes a bead of sweat from his brow.      Deacon whispers,                            DEACON                Close up.                            MATT                What?                            DEACON                Close up.                          MATT                Oh yeah. Right.      And Matt zooms in. Ashley continues moaning and as Matt gets      closer, the camera starts shaking. He can't keep his hands      steady.54A   THROUGH MATT'S VIDEO DISPLAY                                       54A      We'd love to get a look, but the camera is shaking so much,      it's just a BLUR.      FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT                                     51.54B   REVERSE ANGLE                                                   54B                          ASHLEY (O.S.)                Oh! Oh! Oh!                             MATT                Okay, CUT!      She turns off her performance like a light switch.                          ASHLEY                What? Did I so something wrong?      Matt is quivering.                          MATT                Uh, no. You were great. I think I've got                what I need there. I want to set up for                Jake.                          FRED                I need a bathroom break.                          DEACON                Not now, Fred. Jake.      Jake comes out of the bathroom dressed as the yearbook      editor.                             MATT                Action.      Jake opens a makeshift door to the office.                          JAKE                    (wooden)                Oh, my God. What are you doing?                          ASHLEY                I couldn't help myself. Please don't tell                the principal.                          JAKE                Give me one good reason why I shouldn't.                          MATT                Cut. Perfect. Okay, then. Let's get to                the, uh, sexual material.      Jake pulls off his pants and starts to look a little nervous.      He stands in the corner, trying to psyche himself up.                          DEACON                Jake, you okay?                          JAKE                Sure. No problem.FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT                                        52.                    MATT          And ACTION!But Jake is still standing there, not in the shot. He'sstarting to sweat.                    MATT (CONT'D)          Action, Jake.                       JAKE          Okay.Still nothing.                    DEACON          Come on, Jake. We're filming.                    JAKE          All right. Hang on a second.He has his back to them, but it's obvious his bread hasn'trisen. Fred lets the boom mike sag a bit.                    FRED          My arm's getting tired.                       ASHLEY          So's his.                       MATT          Action...Jake finally whips off his underwear and faces Ashley.                       ASHLEY          That's it?                    JAKE          Hey, it's not hard yet.                    ASHLEY          I can see that.Fred snickers and Jake gives him the evil eye.                    DEACON          Um, okay. Ashley, maybe you can help him          out.She grabs his joint and Jake freezes. He remains motionless,focusing every ounce of mental control on keeping thefloodgates closed. Approximately one point three secondslater...                       ASHLEY          Aaaahhhh!FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT                                     53.                    MATT          Wait! I'm not set up for that shot!                    FRED          Can I put down the boom?                    DEACON          Jake? What's happened?Jake, humiliated, runs to put on his shorts.                    JAKE          This has never happened before. She got          me too excited.                    ASHLEY          Me? How did you ... without even getting          hard first?                    JAKE              (copping an attitude)          What do you want to hear? I've got a tiny          pee-pee? I'm a premature e-jac-u-la-tor?          Sometimes before I get a boner? Okay?                    DEACON          Calm down, Jake. We can shoot this scene          again. Just relax. We can splice it          together.                    MATT          We'd have to do it like twenty times to          get enough footage.                    JAKE          I'm out of here. And if you dickwads tell          anybody about this, first I'll kill you,          and then I'll bust you guys.He pops the videotape out of the camera, takes it, andleaves.                      ASHLEY          Now what?The guys regroup, away from Ashley. The moment of truth: Howfar are they willing to go?                    MATT          Deacon. You do it.                      DEACON          No way.                    MATT          Come on. This is your big chance.FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT                                      54.                    DEACON          No. You do it.A beat.                     MATT          Fred.                     FRED          What?                     MATT          Come on.                     FRED          You.                    MATT          I have to run the camera.                    FRED          Oh, like you're the only one who can do          that.                    MATT              (false bravado)          Fine. I'll do it. I'll do it for the sake          of the film. Hold this.He hands the camera to Deacon and starts taking off hisshirt. The rest of them look at Matt with his shirt off.                    DEACON          Matt. Stop it.                    MATT          No, I'll do it.He desperately wants someone to hold him back.                    FRED              (grabs him)          Matt!They huddle again, worried about whether to go on with this.                    FRED (CONT'D)          Look, guys. Maybe we should just pay          Ashley and chalk this up to a failed          experiment.                    MATT          Fine with me.                    DEACON          No. We can get someone else.     FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT                                       55.                           FRED               Who?                                                              CUT TO:55   INT. JIM'S TINY MART - NIGHT                                       55     CLOSE ON the cover of "T&A Enthusiast" magazine. RISE UP to     reveal a twenty-something MAN thumbing through the issue.     REVEAL     Deacon, standing a little too close to him.                         DEACON                   (nonchalant)               Good issue.     Beat.                         DEACON (CONT'D)               You ever think about getting into film?     Way uncomfortable, the guy puts the magazine down and makes a     beeline for the door.                         DEACON (CONT'D)               Where are you going, man?     The guy is out the door. Deacon...56   EXT. JIM'S TINY MART - NIGHT                                       56     ... runs after him.                         DEACON               Don't you want to get it on with a sexy               lady?!?     Matt and Fred are sitting on the curb with some slurpies,     bummed.                         MATT               And that guy had real screen presence,               too.     Just then, Coop pulls up in his van and gets out.                         COOP               Hey, dudes.     The guys look at each other...                                                         JUMP CUT TO:     Moments later, after it's all been explained to Coop.      FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT                                     56.                          COOP (CONT'D)                    (awestruck)                You guys are gonna be legends of the                school.56A   OMITTED                                                         56A57    INT. FRED'S BEDROOM - NIGHT                                      57      Fred and Matt are huddled around the computer.                          FRED                Oh, I've got it. What if the Math Team                Captain is in detention for something...                          MATT                For fixing grades for a girl...                          FRED                Yeah, and the cheerleader is in there and                she's going to get grounded if she fails                one more test...      As they talk, Fred types away.58    EXT. INDIA - DAY                                                 58      STOCK FOOTAGE: Taj Mahal, etc.59    INT. TEEN BOY'S BEDROOM - BHOPAL, INDIA - NIGHT                  59      A NERDY INDIAN BOY is totally engrossed in the After School      Special Website. His eyeglasses reflect the glow of the      scrolling text of Fred and Matt's current script.                          CHEERLEADER (V.O.)                Well, maybe I can pay you some other                way...                          INDIAN MOTHER (O.S.)                Mujibur, dinner is ready!                          INDIAN BOY                In a minute!      ONSCREEN, the mouse pointer clicks "PRE-ORDER."59A   EXT. FRANCE - DAY                                               59A      STOCK FOOTAGE: Eiffel Tower, etc.59B   INT. TEEN BOY'S BEDROOM - PARIS, FRANCE - NIGHT                 59B      A NERDY FRENCH BOY reads the story on his computer.      FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT                                     57.                          MATH TEAM CAPTAIN (V.O.)                Now that really computes!      Click. Pre-order.59C   OMITTED                                                         59C59D   OMITTED                                                         59D60    EXT. JAPAN - DAY                                                 60      STOCK FOOTAGE: Recognizable Japanese landmarks, etc.61    INT. TEEN BOY'S BEDROOM - KYOTO, JAPAN - NIGHT                   61      A NERDY JAPANESE BOY reads the story from his PDA.                          MATH TEAM CAPTAIN (V.O.)                Are you ready for your oral exam?                          CHEERLEADER (V.O.)                Oh, God, yes! I never knew math could be                so stimulating!      Click. Pre-order.62    OMITTED                                                          6263    OMITTED                                                          6364    EXT. WILLIAM WALL HIGH SCHOOL - PARKING LOT - DAY                64      Deacon and his biology class are getting on a school bus.      Nearby, Naomi is crossing the parking lot when she trips and      spills her lattÈ on her shirt. People start laughing, but      Deacon instinctively rushes over to pick up her books.                          DEACON                Are you okay?                          NAOMI                Yeah. Thanks. I'm so embarrassed.      She pats at the stain.                          DEACON                    (genuine)                Really? I didn't think you got                embarrassed about anything.      She smiles at Deacon, cheered up by the inadvertent      compliment. The Bus HONKS for Deacon.                          DEACON (CONT'D)                Well, I guess I should go.      FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT                                        58.      He turns to walk away, when Naomi makes a decision to give      Deacon a shot.                          NAOMI                Deacon, wait. Block me for a second while                I change my shirt.                            DEACON                What?                          NAOMI                Facing the other way.                            DEACON                Oh.      He turns around and she changes her shirt behind him. Deacon      can't help but sneak a peek.                          NAOMI                I haven't seen you around here in a                while.                          DEACON                Yeah, I'm working on this project at                home.                          NAOMI                Cool. You can turn around now.      He turns and sees her new shirt is not yet 100% on.                          NAOMI (CONT'D)                Listen. Mark and J.T. are having a party                tonight. You want to meet me there?                            DEACON                Really?                            NAOMI                Why not?                          DEACON                Okay. Cool.      The bus HONKS for Deacon again.65    EXT. AQUARIUM PARK - DAY                                            65      Matt and Fred charge forward on their 10-speeds through a      park. They slide to a stop, falling off their bikes, but      they're too excited to care.65A   INT. AQUARIUM - DAY                                                65A      They rush up to Deacon, whose biology class is near the      Beluga Whale tank.FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT                                  59.                    MATT          Deacon, come quick.Deacon steps away from his class for a moment.                    DEACON          Matt, what's wrong?                    BIOLOGY TEACHER (O.S.)          Like all mammals, the whale gives birth          to live young. Can anyone name another          characteristic of mammals? Vinnie?                    FRED          Our site got linked by another bigger          site. Someone must have seen our stories          and liked them.                       DEACON          And?                    MATT          We got a few more pre-orders and a ton of          hits.                       DEACON          How many?                       MATT          Guess.                    DEACON          A thousand?                    FRED          Twelve thousand.                       DEACON          Holy shit!Deacon high-fives the other two. They're all stoked.                    FRED          We need to hurry up and make this movie.                    MATT          We should go over the schedule for          tomorrow. And make sure the script is          ready.Deacon's smile fades.                    DEACON          Uh, I can't tonight guys.                    FRED          Why? Where are you going?FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT                                    60.                    DEACON          It's this thing I have to go to.                    MATT          Is it a travelling carnival?                    DEACON          No. Look, it's this party Naomi invited          me to.                    MATT          Can we come?Fred picks up on Deacon's hesitation. This isn't good.                    DEACON          Uh... Okay. I guess that's cool.An awkward beat.                    DEACON (CONT'D)          I want you guys to come. It's just, I          don't know. I kind of had this vibe from          Naomi.                    MATT              (still doesn't get it)          We can just meet you there.                    DEACON          Yeah. Okay. That's cool. Look, it's at          Mark and J.T. Slistak's house. I'll see          you guys there. I've got to get back to          class.                     MATT          Later.Deacon walks back to the group.                    MATT (CONT'D)          What are you wearing to the party?                    FRED          We're not really going to the party, you          moron.                     MATT          Why not?                    FRED          Because I said so.Matt starts getting agitated.     FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT                                      61.                         MATT               But we told Deacon-- I mean, we can't               just not show up. What if Deacon is               looking for us--     This is too complicated to explain to Matt, so Fred just     gives in.                         FRED               All right. All right. Stop crying               already. We'll make an appearance.                            MATT               Cool.66   INT. MARK'S HOUSE - NIGHT                                        66     Amid this raging party, Deacon has taken his rightful place     with the in-crowd, standing dangerously close to Naomi     without his usual sidekicks weighing him down. Finally.                         NAOMI               You know, Rachael's coming back from               Paris in a couple of weeks.                            DEACON               So?                         NAOMI               So, aren't you even a little interested               in seeing her?                         DEACON               No. There's someone else I'd rather               see...     He looks into her eyes, waiting to see if the limb he's out     on is going to break. She smiles. It's working. Just then,                            MATT               Hey, guys.     It's his sidekicks and they've got some seriously bad timing.     Deacon shoots them an annoyed look.                         NAOMI               So what's this project you guys are               working on?                         FRED               We can't really talk about it.                         JAKE (O.S.)               Yeah. It's private.     Jake eyes Deacon intently.     FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT                                     62.                         JAKE (CONT'D)               Why are you hanging around with this               loser?                         NAOMI               What's your problem, Jake?                         JAKE               What's yours?     She storms away. Deacon follows her.67   EXT. MARK'S HOUSE - BACK YARD - NIGHT                           67     Naomi is out on the patio.                         DEACON               What was that all about?                         NAOMI               He really pisses me off. Jake is such an               asshole.                         DEACON               Tell me about it.                         NAOMI               When we were going out, he was so mean to               me all the time. I think he's               compensating for his little dick that               never even gets hard.     Deacon chokes on his drink.                         DEACON               Well at least you were smart enough to               dump him. I mean, you deserve someone who               will treat you ... I don't know. Really               well.                         NAOMI               You know what you are?     Deacon gets a little nervous.                         NAOMI (CONT'D)               You're a nice guy.     She kisses him on the cheek. Deacon looks at her, then steels     himself to make a decision. He kisses her!     She's surprised, but not unwilling.                         NAOMI (CONT'D)               Deacon?     FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT                                        63.                         DEACON               I've been wanting to do that for a long               time.                         NAOMI               So why didn't you?     Most guys would look away at this point, with a fabulous babe     with pouty lips staring you down. But Deacon passes the test:     he stands his ground and kisses her again. She likes it.     AT A WINDOW, Jake sees them kissing. He doesn't like it.     AT ANOTHER WINDOW, Fred sees it, too. And for a completely     different reason, he doesn't like it either.68   INT. BASEMENT SET - DAY                                            68     The set is finally ready: Ashley is lying on the bed in a     robe, the lights and camera are set, and Matt and Fred are     adjusting the video camera. The only thing missing is an     actor. Deacon ENTERS.                         DEACON               Hey, where's Coop?                         FRED               He was supposed to be here a half hour               ago.                         MATT               Maybe he got sucked into a black hole.     He chuckles to himself.                         DEACON               Good one, Spock. I can't understand why               you're not more popular with the ladies.                         MATT               Look, we're wasting time. Deacon, why               don't you just go in there?     Deacon balks at first, then looks over at Ashley, lying     there.                            MATT (CONT'D)               Come on...                         DEACON               Okay. Okay. All right already.     He pulls off his shirt and approaches Ashley with a pizza box     from out of nowhere.                         MATT               And action!FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT                                     64.Matt starts filming while Ashley pulls Deacon near her.                    ASHLEY (O.S.)          Maybe I can pay for the pizza some other          way...We hear Deacon's ZIPPER opening offscreen as Deacon rolls hiseyes and reluctantly delivers his line:                    DEACON          And maybe I could throw in the sausage          for free.Deacon shows no enthusiasm for what's happening down below.                    MATT          Fred, you get in there, too.                    FRED          Are you sure?                    MATT          Yeah, it'll be a great shot.Fred takes off his shorts and walks over to the other side ofthe bed. Ashley is offscreen, presumably lying on the bed.The two guys are facing each other.                    FRED          Hey.                    DEACON          S'up?                    FRED          How's it going?Deacon shrugs.                    FRED (CONT'D)          Hey, did you see that show on Sci Fi          about sun spots?                    DEACON          Yeah. They said there's going to be a          massive eruption next year.Fred starts laughing.                    DEACON (CONT'D)          What?                    FRED          You said "massive eruption."Deacon starts laughing, too.     FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT                                     65.                         MATT               Hey, quit the chatter.                            FRED               Sorry.                         MATT               Hey, why don't you guys kiss?                            DEACON               What?                         MATT               You know. Make out with each other.                            DEACON               What?                            FRED               All right.     Fred goes in to kiss Deacon, who's thoroughly confused.     Deacon holds him back with his hand.                         DEACON               Wait. Why do you want us to kiss?                         MATT (O.S.)               Because that's what guys do in gay porn.                            DEACON               What?     Deacon looks over at the camera. It's Ashley filming. PANIC!     He slowly looks down at the person he and Fred are having sex     with. He can barely look. It's Matt!                         MATT               More sausage please.                         DEACON               Aaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh!                                                           CUT TO:69   INT. DEACON'S BEDROOM - NIGHT                                   69     Deacon bolts up out of bed. Nightmare. Thank God.70   INT. BASEMENT SET AS "MOVIE THEATER" - DAY                      70     Deacon enters and the scene looks very much like the dream:     Ashley on the bed and Matt and Fred waiting around.FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT                                     66.The set is made up to look like a movie theater, completewith rows of seats, a bed sheet "screen," and a massive 5,000watt light. Deacon is still a little agitated.                    DEACON          Where the hell is Coop? There's no way          I'm making out with Fred.Then Coop comes out of the bathroom and sees everyone staringat Deacon.                    COOP          What's going on?                    ASHLEY          Deacon is talking about making out with          Fred.                    FRED          No way. I'm holding the mike and that's          it.                    COOP          I thought we were doing straight porn.                    ASHLEY          If you guys want to do gay porn, you          still have to pay me.                    DEACON          Hang on. Relax. It was just this stupid          dream I had.                    MATT          You dreamed about making out with Fred?                    DEACON          No. Well, yes. And we were both having          sex with you. But it was just a dream so          let's forget it.Everyone is a little uneasy at this admission. Deacon quicklychanges the subject.                    DEACON (CONT'D)          What's with the light?                    MATT          It's a "special effect." If you want this          film to look amateurish, you're going to          have to get someone else to do it.                    DEACON          Okay. Relax.                    FRED          Come on. Let's do it already.FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT                                        67.                    MATT          Action.Matt starts his cheesy "projector light effect" and Cooptakes a seat next to Ashley.                    ASHLEY          This summer tent-pole event-movie is          making me so scared.                    COOP          Hide your head down here and I'll tell          you when it's safe to come up.As she starts to go down, we turn our attention...ON FRED and DEACON, away from the action.                    FRED              (snide; whispers)          How's Naomi?                    DEACON          Fine.                    COOP (O.S.)          Not yet. This is the really scary part.                    DEACON              (whispers)          Hey. Can I ask you a question?Fred shrugs. The memory of the nightmare is wreaking havocwith Deacon's conscience.                    DEACON (CONT'D)          Do you ever think maybe we've gotten          ourselves in a little over our heads with          all of this?                    COOP (O.S.)          Oh, baby. Not yet.Fred appears to be pondering the question deeply. His faceslowly contorts to a look of seeming anguish. Then,                    FRED          Fire!The coiled cord to the massive light is burning a circularhole in the smouldering carpet.                    COOP          Unplug the light!Deacon moves to unplug it.      FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT                                        68.                          MATT                Wait, it's hot!      Too late. Deacon touches the cord, SCREAMS, and reels back,      knocking the light over.      It EXPLODES onto the floor. The carpet bursts into FLAMES.                          FRED                Run!      Ashley and Coop run up the stairs. Fred isn't far behind.                          MATT                Quick, get the fire extinguisher!                          DEACON                Where is it?                          MATT                Over there!      He spots it in the corner and grabs it. Meanwhile the flames      are growing.      Deacon comes over and aims the extinguisher at the flames. He      depresses the lever. Nothing.                          DEACON                It's not working!      Matt thinks about it for a second.                          MATT                Oh. Me and Fred used it when we wrote the                foamy cat fight script last week.71    INT. FRED'S BEDROOM - NIGHT                                         71      Matt and Fred are giggling and prancing around the room in      bikinis discharging the fire extinguishers at each other.72    INT. BASEMENT SET - DAY                                             72      Deacon looks at him strangely for a beat, then runs into the72A   INT. BASEMENT - LAUNDRY ROOM - DAY (CONTINUOUS)                    72A      He looks around frantically. Nothing. Then, he starts the      WASHING MACHINE. It slowly starts to fill up.                          MATT (O.S.)                Hurry!      Deacon turns the dial to "large load," pauses and chuckles to      himself.      FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT                                        69.                          DEACON                Large load.                          MATT (O.S.)                Deacon! Hurry!      Deacon snaps out of it and grabs the laundry detergent      bottle. He scoops up some water and RUNS into the other room.72B   INT. BASEMENT SET - DAY (CONTINUOUS)                               72B      He throws the soapy water onto the fire and Matt. The fire      goes out, but Matt's not too happy about getting soaked.73    INT. DEACON'S HOUSE - KITCHEN - DAY (CONTINUOUS)                    73      Coop is looking down the stairs to the basement. Fred is      freaking out. Ashley is still topless but covering herself      up, having just put on her panties. She goes to put on her      shirt when                          MRS. LEWIS (O.S.)                What's going on here?      DEACON'S PARENTS      are standing in the doorway to the kitchen with Max, whose      arm is in a splint. Max stares at Ashley. She covers herself      some more.      Then, Deacon and Matt enter the kitchen from downstairs.                             MAX                Nice rack.                          DEACON                Mom! Dad! What are you doing home?                          MRS. LEWIS                Max sprained his wrist at soccer                practice. What is going on here?                          MR. LEWIS                Well, I'm sure there's a reasonable                explanation why there's a naked girl in                our kitchen. Right, Deacon?      Deacon isn't too sure.                             MRS. LEWIS                Well...                             DEACON                I, uh...      Deacon's mind is racing. Then,FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT                                     70.                    ASHLEY          I'm Deacon's girlfriend. Ashley.          MRS. LEWIS                       MR. LEWIS            *His girlfriend?                  His girlfriend?                *                    DEACON          Yes, my girlfriend.                    MRS. LEWIS          And what were you doing with your clothes          off in my kitchen?                    ASHLEY          We were having a make out party.                    MRS. LEWIS          Where are the other girls?                    DEACON          Their dates stood them up?                    COOP          Yeah. My date wasn't feeling well.                    FRED          Mine has mono. From too much making out.          With me.                    MRS. LEWIS          What's that smell?                    MATT          We had a small fire, Mrs. Lewis. I tipped          over a candle. It was to set the right          mood.                    MR. LEWIS          A fire? Let me see the damage.                    DEACON          Dad, don't. Let me take responsibility.          We'll pay to have it fixed.Deacon's Dad looks at Ashley again. He can't hide his pride.                    MR. LEWIS          Damn right you will.                    MRS. LEWIS          Well, Ashley. I didn't know Deacon even          had a girlfriend.                    MR. LEWIS          Maybe you can join us for dinner tonight.Ashley looks at Deacon. Deacon's Mom glares at Dad.     FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT                                     71.                           DEACON                 I think Ashley's busy tonight--                            ASHLEY                 Okay.     Oh, shit.                           MRS. LEWIS                 Okay, then.74   INT. DEACON'S HOUSE - KITCHEN - NIGHT                           74     Ashley is eating dinner with the Lewises. Max keeps staring     at her. Mr. Lewis steals a few glances of Ashley himself     while continuing his work-related rant.                           MR. LEWIS                 So get this. Johnson comes up to me today                 and he's all like "where's the ND-90's?"                 I'm like, "Johnson, they discontinued the                 ND-90 like six weeks ago." I've been                 telling this guy...                           ASHLEY                 Johnson sounds like a moron.                            MR. LEWIS                 Exactly!     Mr. Lewis is psyched that someone is finally paying attention     to him. Mrs. Lewis doesn't like the way he's looking at her.                           MRS. LEWIS                 So, Ashley. If I could ask you a personal                 question, exactly how old are you?                           ASHLEY                 Nineteen. But I tell people eighteen.     Deacon laughs nervously.                           DEACON                 Isn't that funny?     The doorbell rings.                           DEACON (CONT'D)                 I'll get it.     FOYER     Deacon open the door. It's Naomi.                           DEACON                 What are you doing here?FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT                                     72.                    NAOMI          I thought I'd come by and surprise you.          Maybe we could hang out in your bedroom.She looks at him seductively. Deacon looks over his shoulder.                    DEACON          Now's not a good time.                    NAOMI          What's wrong?                    DEACON          Nothing. Let's talk later.He tries to close the door, but she stops it.                    MRS. LEWIS (O.S.)          Deacon, who is it?Too late. Naomi comes in.                    NAOMI          Hi, Mrs. Lewis. I'm Naomi. I'm Deacon's          girlfriend.And with that she looks at Deacon, figuring she just made hisday. It fails, however, to achieve the desired effect.                    MRS. LEWIS          His girlfriend?She looks at Deacon. Max pokes his head through.                    MAX          Deacon has two girlfriends?                    DEACON          Shut up, Max!                    NAOMI          What do you mean? What's going on?                    MAX          Deacon's other girlfriend is having          dinner with us.                    DEACON          I can explain.Naomi walks into the kitchen with Max.                    MAX          This is Deacon's other girlfriend,          Ashley.     FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT                                     73.                         MR. LEWIS               His other girlfriend?     Dad's beaming with pride. The two girls size each other up.                           ASHLEY               Hi.                         NAOMI               Oh, my God. How old are you, you slut?                           ASHLEY               Eighteen.                         NAOMI               I thought you were a nice guy.     Naomi storms out of the house. Deacon follows, then Ashley.                         MRS. LEWIS               You need to have a talk with him. He               could be having S-E-X.                         MR. LEWIS               I need to give him a goddamn medal.                   (she storms off)               What?     FOYER     Deacon watches Naomi go. Ashley consoles him.                         ASHLEY               Let her go.                         DEACON               Are you insane? I've been fantasizing               about Naomi Feldman since the seventh               grade.                         ASHLEY               Fantasy and reality are two different               things, Deacon. Don't fall in love with               who you think she is. You have to be sure               you love the real person.                         DEACON               So what should I do?                         ASHLEY               Go after her then. Or don't. Whatever.     He looks at Ashley for a beat, then goes after Naomi.75   EXT. STREET - NIGHT                                             75     Naomi and Deacon are arguing under a street light.     FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT                                        74.                         NAOMI               She's a porno actress in your porno film.               She had to pretend to be your girlfriend               because she ran upstairs naked when the               light caused a fire. And you've never had               sex with her or even kissed her.                         DEACON               Yeah, pretty much.     He looks down.                         DEACON (CONT'D)               So, I guess this means you're not my               girlfriend anymore.                         NAOMI               Not necessarily.     She looks at him with newfound interest.                         NAOMI (CONT'D)               I want to come to the set tomorrow.                         DEACON               No, I don't think that's a good idea.                         NAOMI               Why not? I'm curious. I've never seen a               porno movie actually being made.                         DEACON               Matt and Fred will get really mad. We're               not supposed to tell anyone.                         NAOMI               Tell them I'm a ... creative consultant.               For the female point of view.                         DEACON               No offense, but the female point of view               doesn't really matter in these films.     She looks at him, pouting.                         DEACON (CONT'D)               Okay. Okay.76   CLOSE ON a computer monitor displaying the A.S.S. Website.         76     The cursor is clicking through the various pages: text     stories, pictures of the set, still photos of Ashley and     Coop, etc. But more importantly, the "hits" counter looks     like the odometer on a rocket ship.     PULL BACK to reveal...      FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT                                        75.76A   INT. VIC'S "STUDIO" - DAY                                          76A      Mike is surfing the web while eating a large bratwurst      sandwich. Vic enters in his signature robe.                          MIKE                This After School Special shit is                amazing. They're getting a ton of hits                off their stupid stories and they don't                even have any product.                          VIC                Are you sure those are the guys from the                Pretty Kitty?                          MIKE                It's the same guys. Bingo. I just found                out where they live.                          VIC                Give me that address. I'm gonna teach                these assholes a little lesson about the                adult film business.      He takes the piece of paper and storms out the door.                          MIKE                Vic!      He pops back in.                          MIKE (CONT'D)                You going like that?      Vic looks down at his robe.                          VIC                Oh, yeah. Thanks Mike.      Vic puts his slippers on. They do the jive hand shake and hug      thing again.77    INT. VIC'S CAR, PARKED - DAY                                        77      Vic checks the address of the house against the print out.                          VIC                Goddamn amateurs. Think they can screw                with Vic Ramalot.                          MIKE                Let's do this.78    EXT. STREET - DAY                                                   78      They get out of the car and Mike places the gun in his pants.      They walk up to the front door and bang. It opens, revealingFINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT                                      76.MR. GREITZER.                    VIC          You Greitzer?                    GREITZER          Yes. That's me.Vic's a little confused. He looks at the piece of paper.                    VIC          Ronald J. Greitzer?                    GREITZER          Yes. That's right.Then, a spark of understanding.                    VIC          Oh, I get it. Brilliant. You're not even          a fuckin' kid.Mike pulls the gun out and puts it to Greitzer's head.Greitzer drops his glass of soda, raises his hands, andstarts shaking, terrified.                    GREITZER          What are you doing?                    VIC          What am I doing? I'm retiring you from          the porno business. Permanently.          Understand?                    GREITZER          Yes. Yes. Please don't hurt me.                    VIC          No more sweet young pussy, no more hot          school-girl fantasies, no more goddamn          pornos "for virgins by virgins." You got          me?Greitzer's eyes dart over to the side, and for the firsttime, Vic steps into the house and sees: LITTLE GIRLS.It's Greitzer's little daughter's birthday party. Six-year-old GIRLS and their stunned PARENTS all stare at Vic.Greitzer's wife comes over, screaming and crying.                    GREITZER'S WIFE          Please don't hurt my husband!                    VIC          Uh...     FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT                                        77.                         GREITZER               I'm sorry! I'll never rent them again! It               was only that one time my wife was at her               sister's! Please! I promise you!                         GREITZER'S WIFE               You rented a dirty movie? You told me it               was Jakob the Liar!     Mike lowers the gun and they start backing out of there.                         GREITZER               What? I shouldn't be entitled to a little               joy in life?                         GREITZER'S WIFE               Now look at the trouble you've brought to               this house.                         GREITZER               And I'm supposed to know the Religious               Right would come after me for renting an               adult film?     As they continue to fight, Vic and Mike run back to the car.79   INT. DEACON'S HOUSE - KITCHEN - DAY                                79     Dress rehearsals. Naomi is sitting at the kitchen table     talking to Ashley, who's wearing a sexy cheerleader outfit.     Deacon is at the microwave making popcorn.                         NAOMI               Five hundred dollars a night?                         ASHLEY               Yeah, but if you can break into films,               like these ones, you can get featured               dancing gigs and make ten times that               much.                         NAOMI               No way.                         ASHLEY               Seriously. If these guys ever get their               act together.     Matt stumbles in carrying a pile of scripts. Fred walks in     behind him and sees Naomi.                         FRED               What is she doing here?                         DEACON               Naomi is my girlfriend.FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT                                       78.Fred exchanges a glance with Matt.                    DEACON (CONT'D)          And I wanted her to help out. Give the          script a female point of view.Fred pulls Deacon aside.                    FRED          Jesus, Deacon. Didn't you see that          Beatles documentary on the History          Channel? You're pulling a Yoko Ono on us.                    DEACON          What?                    FRED          Fine. Whatever. Let's get started. I'm          sure she'll be really helpful.Coop comes out of the bathroom dressed as the Math TeamCaptain, complete with nerd glasses, pocket protector, etc.                    COOP          Oh, hey, Naomi.                    NAOMI          Hey, Coop. Are you helping these guys,          too?                    COOP              (sheepishly)          Sort of.                    MATT          Okay, people. Places everybody. Let's try          to do this with a little heart, okay? And          action.Everyone turns to their scripts and starts the rehearsal.                    ASHLEY          This quadratic equation is so hard.                    COOP          Well, maybe we should just stick to long          division.Coop drops his corduroys and Naomi gasps. She stares atCoop's "slide rule" for a beat, then snaps out of it.                    NAOMI          Wait a second. Cut. This is all wrong.          She wouldn't be fantasizing about some          geek.FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT                                     79.                    MATT          He's not a geek. He's the Math Team          Captain.                    NAOMI          No, he should be really well-dressed, and          maybe he's a foreign exchange student          from Portugal.                    MATT          Um, and the director is the only one          who's allowed to say "cut."                    FRED          Who cares, Naomi?                    NAOMI          Deacon agrees with me, don't you?Matt and Fred look at Deacon.                    COOP          Dudes, come on. My nuts are getting cold.                    ASHLEY          I'm out of here.                    NAOMI          Shut up, Coop. This is important.                    COOP              (swings his arms out)          And my nuts aren't?Coop's hand accidentally smacks Ashley in the nose as she'sgetting up. She SCREAMS.                    DEACON          Are you okay?                    COOP          I'm sorry, Ashley.She's pissed, holding her nose.                    ASHLEY          Look. This is ridiculous. Who does dress          rehearsals for a porno shoot?                    MATT          Oh, sure. Why don't we throw out the          script while we're at it and "improvise."     FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT                                     80.                         ASHLEY               Guys, I appreciate the money. It's nice               to get paid for sitting around doing               nothing, but this isn't helping my               career. I've got no footage for my reel.     She packs up.                         FRED               Where are you going?                         ASHLEY               Sorry.     She leaves.                         COOP               Ashley, wait. I'm sorry. Ashley!     Then, he blurts out something unexpected:                         COOP (CONT'D)                   (calling after her)               I love you!     Coop exchanges an awkward glance with the guys: he's said too     much. He goes after Ashley, with his pants still around his     ankles and his bare ass in full display.     He stumbles on his pants and falls on his face. He gets up     quickly and continues after her, still with his pants down.                         FRED               Now what are we going to do? Your               "girlfriend" ruined everything.                         DEACON               Coop's the one that smacked her.                         NAOMI               Besides, if you losers knew anything               about women, we wouldn't have this               problem.                         FRED               Who asked you?                         NAOMI               I don't have to take this.     She storms off, leaving Deacon there to make a decision. He     looks at Matt and Fred for a beat, then follows Naomi. Fred     and Matt are crushed.80   EXT. THE PRETTY KITTY CLUB - DAY                                80     Ashley is walking through the parking lot on the way to work.     FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT                                        81.                         MRS. LEWIS (O.S.)               Ashley?     It's Deacon's Mom, in the adjacent lot. She walks over to     her.                         ASHLEY               Mrs. Lewis!                         MRS. LEWIS               What are you doing here?                         ASHLEY               I, um, I'm... I'm going where you're               going.                         MRS. LEWIS               To yoga class?                         ASHLEY               Yes. Exactly.                         MRS. LEWIS               I haven't seen you in class before.                         ASHLEY               It's my first time.                         MRS. LEWIS               Well, that's great, Ashley. You're really               going to love it.     She escorts her towards the yoga class building.                         MRS. LEWIS (CONT'D)               It's really easy, but if you can't keep               up, just follow my lead.                                                           CUT TO:81   INT. YOGA CLASS - DAY                                              81     The entire class of slackjawed MIDDLE-AGED WOMEN yoga     students stare in disbelief. Even the instructor is amazed.     ASHLEY     is essentially folded in half, her legs pinned well beyond     her ears. She's obviously been in this position before.82   INT. YOGA CLASS - LATER                                            82     The women are gathering their things after class, some still     eyeing Ashley jealously.     FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT                                 82.                         MRS. LEWIS               You're quite flexible, Ashley.                         ASHLEY               Yeah, people tell me that all the time.               You know, I could teach you some of those               moves. Mr. Lewis would love it.                         MRS. LEWIS               Oh. Okay. Maybe later. Listen, Ashley. I               want to ask you something... personal.               About you and Deacon.                            ASHLEY               Uh huh.                         MRS. LEWIS               You know Deacon is only seventeen.                            ASHLEY               Uh huh.                         MRS. LEWIS               Right. So I was just wondering. You know.               If you and Deacon... Well, if Deacon and               you were...                            ASHLEY               Um, no.                         MRS. LEWIS               Good. Good. That's very good.     She gives Ashley a warm little hug.                         ASHLEY               Listen, Mrs. Lewis. You don't have to               worry about Deacon. He's a good kid. If               you just let him make his own mistakes in               life, he's going to turn out fine.83   INT. NAOMI'S BEDROOM - NIGHT                                83     Deacon and Naomi are under the covers, making out.                         NAOMI               So, do you have anything?                            DEACON               Like what?                         NAOMI               You know. Protection.                         DEACON               Oh. Oh yeah. Of course.FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT                                        83.She sees he's nervous.                    NAOMI          Don't you want to?                    DEACON          Of course I do.                    NAOMI          Then what's the problem?Deacon looks at her waiting there for him, his for thetaking. A long beat. Then,                    DEACON          It's my first time.                    NAOMI          That's okay. Just go slow.And he does. He's nervous at first, not sure what to do. Butas she kisses him softly, suddenly we start to hear the slowfade in of PORNO MUSIC playing in Deacon's head. (Now thatDeacon's actually having sex, it's involunarily triggeringthe only thing he knows about sex: porno movies.) The musicgrows louder when:                    FRED (V.O.)              (in Deacon's head)          Every two minutes, they change positions.He pauses, and cocks his head in confusion. He tries to shakeFred's voice out of his head, but he can't.                    FRED (V.O.) (CONT'D)          It's a basic rule of porno.Finally, he gives in to the porno music. He rolls Naomi ontop of him.                                                  JUMP CUT TO:They're doing it standing up against the door.                    FRED (V.O.) (CONT'D)          The door. Always a classic.                                                  JUMP CUT TO:Deacon sweeps away all the stuff from her desk and lifts herup on it. Naomi likes it.                    ASHLEY (V.O.)          Fantasy and reality are two different          things.                                                  JUMP CUT TO:      FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT                                       84.      Naomi's HAND presses up against the window. It slowly falls      to the ground.                          FRED (V.O.)                It's a basic rule of porno.                                                          JUMP CUT TO:      Back on the bed, Naomi is in a state of complete bliss,      having had her first ever orgasm.                          ASHLEY (V.O.)                Fantasy and reality are two different                things...      But Deacon doesn't share Naomi's contentment. He looks      troubled.83A   INT. THE PRETTY KITTY CLUB - BACKSTAGE - NIGHT                     83A      The next night, Deacon is talking to Ashley backstage as      she's getting ready to go on.                          DEACON                I don't know. It was weird. Is it                supposed to be so weird?                          ASHLEY                Of course it was weird. True love can                only exist between two women.      Deacon is stunned.                          ASHLEY (CONT'D)                Just kidding. I don't know, Deacon. Do                you like this girl?      He hesitates a bit too long.                          DEACON                Of course I do.                          ASHLEY                Your heart is telling you that you don't.                And I think it's time you start listening                to your heart.      Deacon still doesn't get it.                          ASHLEY (CONT'D)                Look. I have to go on. Just do whatever                you want. Or don't. Whatever.     FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT                                        85.84   INT. DAVE'S DUPES - DAY                                            84     Vic and Mike wait at the counter for his video copies of     volume 28. DAVE (cameo for the director, DME) comes to the     counter with a box.                         VIC               Thanks, Dave.                         DAVE               Vic.     He turns to leave just as another GUY (cameo for the writer,     DHS) comes up to Dave with a pad of paper.                         VIDEO DUPE GUY               Hey, Dave, there's a guy on the phone who               wants to set up a new account.                         DAVE               What's it for?                         VIDEO DUPE GUY               Some outfit called After School Special.     They turn back.                         MIKE               What did you just say?                         VIDEO DUPE GUY               Nothing. It's for another customer.     Mike grabs him by the collar and pulls him over to Vic.                         VIC               Did you say "After School Special"?     Mike grabs the paper, drops the guy, and he and Vic rush out     of the store. After they're gone:                         VIDEO DUPE GUY               Shit, man. You must be crazy.                   (calling after them)               Better watch your back, homie! You might               get smoked!85   INT. PEACHTREE & FINCH - DAY                                       85     Naomi is dragging Deacon into the store featuring posters of     buff male models with nut-hugging boxer briefs.                         DEACON               What are we doing here?     FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT                                     86.                         NAOMI               What? I thought you might want some new               clothes.                         DEACON               I don't need any new clothes.                         NAOMI               And guess what? I booked facials for us               at the Serenity Spa.                         DEACON               Naomi. Wait. Stop.     He stops her.                         NAOMI               What's wrong?                          DEACON               I have to meet up with Matt and Fred this               afternoon. I already blew them off               yesterday.                         NAOMI               Deacon, you don't have to hang out with               those guys any more. Besides, you really               need a facial. And I mean, I thought we               could spend the day together. You know,               after last night.                         DEACON               But what about Matt and Fred?                         NAOMI               Well what about me?     She pouts. She has him under her thumb. He takes her hand and     continues into the store.86   INT. BASEMENT SET - DAY                                         86     Deacon walks in really late, but wearing a hot new Peachtree     & Finch outfit. And his skin seems to glow. Matt and Fred     glare at him from the far end of the couch.                         DEACON               What's going on? Are we going to find               another girl?                   (off their look)               What?                         FRED               Matt and I have been talking.                         DEACON               Yeah. About what?      FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT                                87.                          MATT                We want to make this movie.                          DEACON                I know. I do, too.                          FRED                No, Deacon. We want to make the movie we                wrote. We want to make it without you.                          DEACON                Okay. I know what this is about, guys.                I'm sorry about Naomi.                          FRED                That's not the problem, Deacon.                          DEACON                Then what is it?                          FRED                I thought this was about us having fun                and doing something crazy together. But                as soon as you got what you wanted, you                blew us off.                          DEACON                You don't understand.      Fred cuts to the chase.                          FRED                Do you even like her?      Deacon is about to tell them. Then,                          DEACON                Fine. Go ahead without me.                          FRED                Fine.      Matt and Fred get up and leave.86A   OMITTED                                                    86A86B   OMITTED                                                    86B86C   OMITTED                                                    86C86D   OMITTED                                                    86D86E   OMITTED                                                    86E      FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT                                        88.87    INT. DEACON'S HOUSE - KITCHEN - NIGHT                               87      The family eats dinner in silence. Deacon feels like shit.                            MRS. LEWIS                  So, Deacon. How'd you think you did on                  your midterms?                              DEACON                  Fine.                            MAX                  I found a dead bird on the soccer field.                  Its head was missing.      Deacon's Dad pushes away his plate and gets up.                            MR. LEWIS                  I have to go back to the office tonight.                  Johnson screwed the pooch again.                              MRS. LEWIS                  Whatever.88    INT. DEACON'S HOUSE - GARAGE - NIGHT                                88      Deacon's Dad gets into the Aerostar. He turns on the radio,      which blasts a ROCKING SONG. He quickly changes it back to an      EASY LISTENING TUNE.88A   EXT. PARKING LOT - NIGHT                                           88A      He pulls in to the lot and parks. He steps out of the car and      starts to walk to his office. Only it's not his office.      It's...89    EXT. THE PRETTY KITTY CLUB - NIGHT (CONTINUOUS)                     89      He passes the Bouncer, still reading Aristotle's Ethics.                              BOUNCER                  Enjoy.90    INT. THE PRETTY KITTY CLUB - BACKSTAGE - NIGHT                      90      Ashley is changing into her school girl outfit.                            PLANTAIN                  Ash, you ready? You're up now.90A   INT. THE PRETTY KITTY CLUB - NIGHT                                 90A      DEACON'S DAD enters the club and pays the cashier.      INTERCUT:      FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT                                       89.90B   ASHLEY sprays glitter on her body backstage.                      90B90C   DEACON'S DAD takes a seat right up front.                         90C                          D.J. (O.S.)                ... they work hard for their money, guys,                so let's tip them good. All right. Now,                on the main carousel, let's give it up                for the naughty school girl. ASHLEY!      Applause. Ashley struts out through the cloud of stage FOG,      right up to Deacon's Dad...      ... who's turned around, ordering a drink. He turns back to      see...      ... Ashley's back, as she swings around the pole. She struts      by each of the men in the front row, reaching down to take      dollar bills out of their hands. She walks over to Deacon's      Dad...      ... but he's tipping the waitress. She does another spin      around the pole...      and lands in a split, face to face with...      ... Deacon's Dad, who happens to have a crisp dollar bill      between his teeth.      They immediately recognize each other and FREEZE. A long      beat. Then:                          MR. LEWIS                Hello, naughty school girl whom I've                never met before.                          ASHLEY                You, too, are someone whose kitchen I've                never been in.      Another beat, then she grabs the bill out of his teeth, and      quickly moves away.91    INT. DEACON'S HOUSE - UPSTAIRS HALLWAY - NIGHT                     91      Dad walks upstairs, still a little stunned.                          MRS. LEWIS                You get everything done at work?                          MR. LEWIS                Yeah. All set.                          MRS. LEWIS                Oh, guess who I ran into? Deacon's                girlfriend, Ashley.     FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT                                     90.     Dad freezes.                         MR. LEWIS               Where did you see Ashley?                         MRS. LEWIS               Over on Industrial Way.                         MR. LEWIS               You were on Industrial?                         MRS. LEWIS               You know, she is so flexible. It's really               amazing some of the positions that girl               can twist herself into.                         MR. LEWIS               What?!?                         MRS. LEWIS               She even offered to teach me. So I could               move like that.                         MR. LEWIS               Yeah, that would be great! I mean, if               you're into that.                         MRS. LEWIS               Maybe. I like her. I know she's a little               older, but I think she's good for Deacon.                         MR. LEWIS               You do?     Just then, Deacon walks past them down the hallway towards     his bedroom. Dad eyes him with a rare combination of fatherly     concern and male jealously.92   INT. DEACON'S BEDROOM - NIGHT                                   92     Deacon walks past his desk and something catches his eye. He     stops to look at a picture of himself with Fred and Matt from     fifth grade. He looks really happy in the picture.     Then, he sees a strip of photo booth pictures taken yesterday     with Naomi. She's hamming it up for the camera, but you can     tell from his expression, they don't belong together.     He tosses the Naomi picture onto the desk.93   EXT. DEACON'S HOUSE - BACK YARD - NIGHT                         93     Deacon stands by the water skipping rocks with Matt and Fred.                         FRED               So, what did you want to talk to us               about?FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT                                     91.                    DEACON          I wanted to say I'm sorry.                      FRED          For what?                    DEACON          For blowing you guys off.                    MATT          That's okay, Deacon.                    DEACON          No, it's not. It's just sometimes I feel          like the whole world is passing us by and          we're just sitting still. I don't know.          Anyway, I'm sorry.                     FRED          You know, you can be a real dick          sometimes.Then, Fred smiles. Deacon knows they're cool with each other.                    DEACON          Naomi and I did it the other night.                      MATT          No way!                    FRED          You're kidding, right?                    DEACON          No, it's true.                    FRED          How was it?                      DEACON          Good.   At first. But then I kept   thinking          about   all the pornos. Trying to   hit the          right   spots, positions. I don't   know.          After   a while it kind of seemed   like          work.                    MATT          I find that extremely difficult to          believe.Deacon laughs.                    FRED          So what now? Do we make this thing?     FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT                                       92.                         DEACON               I don't know. Maybe we should just call               it quits.                            ASHLEY (O.S.)               Hey, guys.     Ashley walks up to them. She looks hotter than ever, in a     tiny midriff shirt and short shorts.                         DEACON               What are you doing here?                         ASHLEY               I need you.                            FRED               What?                         ASHLEY               I need you to make this movie. For my               reel.                         DEACON               Well, actually we were--                         ASHLEY               Ooh, look. An eyelash.     For the third time, time stands still as Ashley gently pulls     the errant eyelash from Deacon's eye and offers it up to him.                         ASHLEY (CONT'D)               Make a wish.     Deacon is too entranced to close his eyes, but he does take     the opportunity to blow the eyelash off her hand. She smiles     and brushes back a strand of hair from his brow.     The guys are hooked.     Up through the window, over on Deacon's computer, the A.S.S.     Website is running, featuring Roger's smiling face with the     motto, "By Virgins, For Virgins." The counter is on fire.94   INT. HAIRDRESSER - DAY                                            94     Roger is getting his hair cut by a cute HAIRDRESSER, his     wheelchair next to him. A few other women are in the back,     whispering and looking over at Roger. An OPERA ARIA plays on     the radio.                         HAIRDRESSER               So, I'm thinking about getting into               films.FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT                                      93.                      ROGER          Okay.                    HAIRDRESSER          You have any tips on how to break in?                    ROGER          Uh, no. Not really. Acting classes, I          guess.                    HAIRDRESSER          Really? I didn't think there was a lot of          acting in those films.Roger is confused.                    ROGER          Well, I guess it kind of depends.                    HAIRDRESSER          You think you could get me an audition?                      ROGER          For what?                     HAIRDRESSER          Come on. How long have I been cutting          your hair?                    ROGER          Since I was like eight.                    HAIRDRESSER              (whispers)          I know who you are. Don't worry. Your          secret's safe. Come on. I just want to          make one film to see what it's like.Roger is still totally clueless.                    ROGER          That's great. But how can I help you?                    HAIRDRESSER          Oh, I get it. You help me, I have to help          you. That's how it works. Okay.She looks around. Then, she sprays a big dollop of hairmousse into one hand and places it under the hair apron.ZIP. Roger panics.                      HAIRDRESSER (CONT'D)          Relax.                    ROGER          What're you-- Oh, God!      FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT                                       94.      His face contorts to match the aria playing on the radio,      making it look like he's singing the soprano solo.95    INT. BASEMENT SET AS "THE PROM" - DAY                              95      Coop and Ashley have brought some help: Plantain and the      Bouncer. They're waiting around for the guys. The room is      their most elaborate set so far, a hotel ball room, complete      with themed prom banner, dance floor, stage, etc.                          COOP                No, no, it's a municipal bond fund.                          ASHLEY                But what about the capital gains?                          COOP                Sure there's short term capital gains,                but the dividends are tax free.                          PLANTAIN                State and federal?      Deacon enters with Matt and Fred.                          ASHLEY                Hey, guys. I hope you don't mind,                Plantain and Baxter want to be in the                movie, too.                          BOUNCER                Hey! Mr. Runningbear!      Matt smiles meekly as we                                                            CUT TO:      THE PRODUCTION MONTAGE:95A   INT. BASEMENT SET - DAY                                           95A      Moments later, cheesy prom MUSIC plays and a mirrored disco      ball reflects light across the dance floor. As the couple      dances across the floor, dressed in a prom gown and tux,      Ashley looks into Coop's eyes.                          ASHLEY                Ira, I have something important to tell                you.                          COOP                What is it?                          ASHLEY                This prom is making me so hot. I'm ready                to lose my virginity to you tonight.      FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT                                        95.      Coop gives the thumbs up to the Bouncer, also dressed in a      tux, then starts making out with Ashley in an exaggerated      tongue-lapping display.      BEHIND THE CAMERA, Matt peeks out and looks at the other two      guys with a furled brow. Deacon gives him a forced thumbs up.95B   INT. BASEMENT SET - DAY                                            95B      Coop and Ashley sit in the back seat of a Split Car. Coop      says, "Oh, Rachael. You're the best." Fred looks over at      Deacon, who just smiles sheepishly.95C   INT. BASEMENT SET - DAY                                            95C      The Bouncer and Coop play chess as the guys capture the      offscreen action. Ashley says, "You're the sexiest teacher I      ever had." The guys turn their heads sideways to figure out      the bizarre position Ashley and Plantain have gotten      themselves into.95D   INT. BASEMENT SET - DAY                                            95D      Plantain, dressed as a chaperone with a big punch stain on      her dress, is eating a tuna fish sandwich and smoking a      cigarette. Matt calls "Okay, people. Places. Let's get it      together." Plantain puts the cigarette out on her heel, hides      the tuna fish sandwich in her purse, and sprays the air with      Weylon J. Petunia's.                          PLANTAIN                My dress is ruined!                          BOUNCER                I'm so sorry, Miss Jorgensen. What are we                going to do?      She rips off her dress in one big swoop, revealing sexy      underwear.95E   INT. BASEMENT BATHROOM - DAY                                       95E      Fred is in the bathroom with the Moisty-Mate, but he just      can't seem to get in the mood. Through the door:                          PLANTAIN (O.S.)                I never knew chaperoning the prom could                be so "hard."      Fred gives up and throws the lotion back in his book bag.      When he exits the bathroom, everyone is staring in his      direction, then quickly looks away nonchalantly.95F   INT. BASEMENT SET - DAY                                            95F      The Bouncer is going at it with an ugly sex face, dripping      with sweat.      FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT                                     96.      Fred lowers the boom and it smacks the Bouncer in the head.      Deacon applauds, trying to rally the troops, "Good scene.      Good scene."96G   INT. BASEMENT SET - DAY                                         96G      Plantain speaks with no real enthusiasm, "I give you an A+."      Matt asks her to do the line again, but she says it exactly      the same way again. One more time, same result. Suddenly Coop      lets out a huge FART and everyone starts laughing. Matt      throws his hands up, frustrated.95H   INT. BASEMENT SET - DAY                                         95H      Coop and Ashley are in the back seat, post coitus.                          ASHLEY                That was the best prom ever.                          COOP                You can say that again.      And as Ashley actually repeats her line, we see Fred mouthing      it along with her, proud of his contribution to the script.95J   EXT. DEACON'S HOUSE - BACK YARD - DAY                           95J      Matt strips off the sheets, sprays them with lighter fluid,      and sets them on fire. As the flames rise up and FILL THE      SCREEN,                          MATT (O.S.)                Cut. That's a wrap.      END MONTAGE.96    INT. WILLIAM WALL HIGH SCHOOL - LIBRARY - DAY                    96      Deacon is studying in the library.                           RACHAEL (O.S.)                Deacon!      He turns around and there she is: RACHAEL UNGER.                           DEACON                Rachael?                          RACHAEL                Hi, how are you?                          DEACON                Good. Good. How was France?                          RACHAEL                It was so fun. We just got back                yesterday. The school totally screwed up                my class schedule.     FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT                                     97.     Deacon looks her over.                         DEACON               So, how's John Baldwin?     Rachael goes white.                         RACHAEL               Who told you about that?                         DEACON               Everybody knows.                         RACHAEL               Well everybody is a liar. I never did it               with John Baldwin.     Deacon is stunned.                         DEACON               You didn't?                         RACHAEL               Jesus, Deacon. I don't even know him.               It's not like it was with us.     It hits Deacon like a ton of bricks.97   INT. WILLIAM WALL HIGH SCHOOL - A/V ROOM - DAY                  97     Deacon and Fred enter and see Matt sitting by the computer.                           FRED               So...?                         DEACON               How does it look?                         MATT               It looks great. It's the best porno film               I've ever made.                         FRED               So what's the problem?                         DEACON               Are you done with it?                         MATT               Well, I cut together some footage to give               to Ashley for her reel, but I don't think               I can finish this film.                           FRED               Why not?FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT                                 98.                    MATT          I can't even watch it. Every time I turn          it on, I keep thinking about that tuna          fish sandwich and Coop farting all day          long.                    DEACON          That was pretty gross.                    MATT          That's just it. The movie looks great,          but seeing everything else -- all the          disgusting, nasty stuff -- that's what's          taken all the fun out of it. And I just          don't want to do it any more.                    FRED          Great. I knew it. I knew you couldn't          handle this.Matt looks away.                    DEACON          Take it easy, Fred.                    FRED          No, I knew that when it came down to it,          Matt would wuss out.Matt snaps.                    MATT          You know what? Fuck you, Fred. You're the          wuss here. At least I don't have to whack          off every time I see a girl in the          hallway.Fred shoves Matt.                    FRED          Shut up, Matt.Matt stands up and gets in Fred's face.                    MATT          No, you shut up! For once in your life,          be a man and admit this movie was a          mistake.                    FRED          Why don't you make me?The two square off, staring each other down. Until,                    DEACON          No. Matt's right. This movie was a          mistake.     FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT                                      99.                         FRED               What are you talking about? This whole               thing was your idea.                         DEACON               Come on, Fred. Didn't you think this               movie was going to be ... I don't know,               sexy?     Fred looks at the other two for a beat, not sure what to say.     Finally, he smiles.                         FRED               How long have you guys known about the               bathroom thing?     Deacon laughs.                         MATT               If you didn't like making the movie, why               didn't you say something?                         FRED               I don't know. I thought you guys were               having fun. I didn't want to be the wuss.     A beat.                         FRED (CONT'D)               So what about the car?                         DEACON               The Aerostar's not so bad.                         FRED               What about the money and the power and               the women? What about Tony Montana?                         MATT               Scar Face is just a stupid movie, Fred.     Fred smiles.                         MATT (CONT'D)               So what do we do with this?     He holds up the tape.98   EXT. AMUSEMENT PARK (CLOSED) - NIGHT                             98     The tape is burning in the center of a huge bonfire. A     massive party is raging. Tons of teenagers are dancing,     drinking, and having a good time rocking to a LIVE BAND.     At the center of it all are Matt, Fred, and Deacon are     finally enjoying themselves.FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT                                     100.                    ASHLEY          Hey, guys. Great party.                    DEACON          Thanks.                    ASHLEY          I've got some big news. I sent the reel          to Vivid and they want to fly me and Coop          to L.A. to talk about a contract.                    MATT          Wow. That's great, Ashley.                    DEACON          Congratulations.Deacon hugs her.                    BOUNCER (O.S.)          Deacon! Vinnie says we need more ice!                    DEACON          Hang on, guys. I'll be right back.He leaves Fred and Matt alone with Ashley.                    FRED          Hey, Ashley. Can I ask you a question?                    ASHLEY          Sure.                    FRED          Do you think me and Matt will ever get          girlfriends?                    ASHLEY          Are you kidding? Come on, guys. You have          it made. You're smart, funny, fun to be          with. In a couple of years, girls will be          dying to meet men like you.                    MATT          Really?                    ASHLEY          Well, no. Popular, good looking guys          always get the girls.              (off their look)          Hey, what was I supposed to say?Then, Roger wheels by, arm in arm with his Hairdresser. Nomore braces and headgear, Roger looks sharp with slicked backhair and suave clothes.      FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT                                       101.                          ROGER                Hey, guys. Great party.      He wheels off. The guys and Ashley do a double take.99    EXT. AMUSEMENT PARK - PARKING LOT - NIGHT                           99      The Bouncer is checking off names from the invite list. A      long line of people are trying to get in, including J.T.                          J.T.                I can't believe these losers are having                such a killer party.      Coop is walking by and overhears the comment.                          COOP                Hey, you're not on the list, dude.                          J.T.                What's with you, you pussy? Are you                joining the retard team, too?      Just then, Plantain enters and walks to the front of the      line. The high school guys stop everything to stare at her.                            PLANTAIN                Coop!                            COOP                Plantain.      Plantain kisses him, while nonchalantly grabbing his crotch.                          PLANTAIN                Come on. You don't need to wait in this                line. Deacon and the guys are already                inside.      Coop puts his arms around her and walks away, not without      looking back over his shoulder for a second at J.T. standing      there, dumbfounded. Then, the Bouncer escorts J.T. away.100   EXT. AMUSEMENT PARK - NIGHT                                        100      Ashley is walking by Wendy and Kelly.                          WENDY                I can't believe Naomi dumped Jake for                Deacon Lewis.      Ashley stops.                          ASHLEY                Let me tell you something about Deacon.                That boy is amazing in bed.       FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT                                     102.                           KELLY                 And you are...?                           ASHLEY                 Ashley. Deacon's ex.                              WENDY                 Seriously?                           ASHLEY                 Seriously. Have your boyfriends ever                 given you an orgasm?                              WENDY                 No.                           KELLY                 I think so.                     (off Ashley's look)                 No.                           ASHLEY                 Have you ever felt so completely                 satisfied in bed that you just wanted to                 sleep for a week?                              KELLY AND WENDY                 No.                           ASHLEY                 You're wasting your time giving those                 Neanderthals blowjobs. I mean, they'll                 probably wind up unemployed wife beaters                 anyway.                           KELLY                 So, are Deacon's friends seeing anybody?                           ASHLEY                 Matt and Fred? I don't think so. But if                 you're interested, you better move fast.                 Those guys know how to do this thing ...       She whispers something to Wendy and Kelly. They look shocked.       Ashley walks off...100A   EXT. AMUSEMENT PARK - NIGHT                                      100A       ...and finds Deacon, sitting alone on a broken-down ride. She       sits down next to him.                           ASHLEY                 How's Naomi?                           DEACON                 I don't know. Good, I guess.      FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT                                     103.                          ASHLEY                I thought she was your fantasy girl.                          DEACON                Yeah. She was.                          ASHLEY                You're gonna dump her.                          DEACON                I don't want to. I don't know. It's not                like it was when I was with Rachael.                Rachael and I used to talk about stuff.                We just, I don't know, connected.                          ASHLEY                Very good, Deacon.      Deacon is confused.                          DEACON                What do you mean?                          ASHLEY                Oh, nothing. I guess I'm just glad that                you finally figured it out.      A moment of realization.                           DEACON                Yeah, I guess I did.                    (beat)                So I have to do this, don't I?                          ASHLEY                    (joking this time)                I guess. Or not. Whatever.      Deacon smiles. He finally understands that Ashley really does      care about him. Ashley kisses him on the cheek and exits off      into the horizon.101   EXT. AMUSEMENT PARK - NIGHT                                      101      Deacon holds Naomi's hand and they walk and talk.                          DEACON                There's something I want to talk to you                about.                            NAOMI                What?                          DEACON                I've been thinking. Maybe we should see                other people.FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT                                    104.                    NAOMI          What?                    DEACON          Well, I mean, we don't really have          anything in common. And we don't really          even get along.                     NAOMI          You're breaking up with me?              (beat)          Can we still have sex?                    DEACON          Listen to what I'm saying, Naomi.                    NAOMI          The only reason I went out with you was          because I thought you were a nice guy.          And now you're breaking up with me?                    DEACON          Yeah. I guess so.                    NAOMI          If you tell anybody about this... I have          a reputation.                    DEACON          I won't. You can tell people you dumped          me if you want.                    NAOMI          Really?                    DEACON          Sure. What do I care?                    NAOMI          You see? You are a nice guy.She kisses him on the cheek.                     DEACON          Just don't tell anyone about the movies.          All right?She smiles.                    JAKE (O.S.)          These guys are pornographers!It's Jake, on the bandstand with the mike. He's drunk.                    JAKE (CONT'D)          They're perverts! They make porno movies          in their basement!      FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT                                        105.      But no one is paying any attention.                          DEACON                No one's listening to you, Jake. Give it                a rest.      Jake gets down to confront the guys.                          JAKE                Oh, really, skidmarks? I know someone who                will believe me. Your parents.                          DEACON                The web site is in someone else's name.                All our records are encrypted. There's no                tracing it to us, jerk off.                          JAKE                Oh, really? Well, good thing I took the                tape of Ashley masturbating in your                basement. When they see that, they'll see                what kind of movies their perfect little                Deacon is making.                          DEACON                Did you make a copy of it?                          JAKE                No.                          DEACON                You sent the original tape to my parents?                          JAKE                Yup.                          NAOMI                You know, Jake, you're a real dick!      She punches him in the stomach. He doubles over and she      uppercuts him. He flies backwards, crashing through a table.                          DEACON                Jesus.                          MATT                You should probably avoid pissing her                off.                          DEACON                Noted. Guys. We've got a problem.102   INT. DEACON'S HOUSE - FOYER - NIGHT                                 102      A large envelope labelled "OPEN ME" sits with the unopened      mail on the foyer table.       FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT                                       106.103    EXT. AMUSEMENT PARK - PARKING LOT - NIGHT                           103       The guys get into the Aerostar.                           VIC (O.S.)                 Not so fast, ladies.       It's Vic and Mike, and Mike points his gun at Deacon's head.                           VIC (CONT'D)                 Which one of you is Balls McLongcock?       Matt and Deacon give up Fred.                              VIC (CONT'D)                 Good name.                              FRED                 Thanks.                           VIC                 Too bad you're not going to be able to                 use it any more.                           DEACON                 Who the hell are you?                           VIC                 The competition. And who the hell are                 you, coming into my town, paying girls                 double what I'm paying them? This stupid                 After School Special shit is cutting into                 my business. So now I'm putting you out                 of business.104    OMITTED                                                             104105    OMITTED                                                             105106    INT. DEACON'S HOUSE - FAMILY ROOM - NIGHT                           106       The folks are reading.107    OMITTED                                                             107108    OMITTED                                                             108109    OMITTED                                                             109110    OMITTED                                                             110110A   EXT. ABANDONED WAREHOUSE - NIGHT                                   110A       CLOSE ON the Aerostar bumper sticker, "My child is on the       honor roll at William Wall High School."       FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT                                      107.       CRANE SHOT up to the second floor landing.110B   INT. ABANDONED WAREHOUSE - NIGHT                                  110B       Deacon, Matt, and Fred are bound and gagged, and hanging by       their pants from meat hooks. Mike takes their gags off and       they starts whimpering.                           MATT                 Please don't kill us, Mr. Porno Man.                           VIC                 Relax. We're not going to kill you.       The guys let out a collective sigh of relief. Thank God.       A beat.       Then Mike pulls out the HEDGE CLIPPERS.                           MIKE                     (matter of fact)                 We're going to cut your balls off.                           FRED                 What?!?       The guys freak out, but Mike's gun keeps them in place.                           VIC                     (re: Fred)                 Start with him.                           FRED                 Why me? It was all Deacon's idea!                           DEACON                 FRED!                           VIC                 Okay. Do the leader kid.                           MIKE                 Quit squirming. It hurts a lot more if                 you struggle.       Vic starts undoing Deacon's belt.                           DEACON                 Wait! Wait! Wait!                           VIC                 Come on, kid. Take it like a man.       Vic pulls down Deacon's pants. Mike brings the blades       together in a menacing practice chop.FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT                                     108.Deacon is CRYING like a little girl. Fred also sobsuncontrollably, creating a cacophony of boyhood terror.Mike goes in for the cut...                    MATT          We've got pre-orders!Mike stops and looks back at Vic.                    VIC          What did you say?                    MATT          We pre-sold copies of our video.                    VIC              (condescending)          How many? Fifty? A hundred?                    MATT          No. Sixty-three thousand, two hundred          twelve.                      VIC          What?                    MIKE          That's a lot of product, Vic.                    FRED          We've got orders from all over the world.                    DEACON          We'll give you the website if you let us          go.Vic looks at Mike for a second, then shrugs. Mike closes thehedge clippers and they untie the kids and let them down.Deacon pulls up his pants.                    VIC          Okay, so what's your cut?                      DEACON          Nothing.                      FRED          Except...                    DEACON          What except? There's no except!                    FRED          Except you promise to supply us with          quality porn free of charge.              (off Deacon's look)                      (MORE)      FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT                                        109.                            FRED   (CONT'D)                It could come in handy. I mean, until we                get girlfriends.                            MATT                And...                            DEACON                No, Matt!                          MATT                    (emboldened)                And you have to maintain the artistic                vision of After School Special.                          VIC                And what's that?      Matt puts his arm around around Vic's shoulder.                          MATT                The key is to try and remember what it                was like before you had sex. What did you                used to fantasize about? A math teacher                who bends over a little too far. The door                to the girls' locker room open just a                sliver. Going over to visit your friend                and catching his mother coming out of the                shower.                            FRED                Dude?                          MATT                Not you. Deacon's mom.                          FRED                Oh yeah. I've been there.111   INT. DEACON'S HOUSE - PARENTS' BEDROOM - DAY (FLASHBACK)            111      Deacon's mom is showering, but the door to the bathroom is      open. Fred wanders into the bedroom.                          FRED                Deacon? Are you in here?112   INT. ABANDONED WAREHOUSE - NIGHT (END FLASHBACK)                    112                            DEACON                Guys!                          VIC                Okay. We've got a deal, but you gotta                give me all your master tapes.                    (to Matt)                And kid. If you ever need a job, give me                a call.       FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT                                        110.       He hands Matt a card. Deacon turns to Vic and shakes his       hand.                           MATT                 It's been a pleasure doing business with                 you, Mr. ...                           VIC                 Ramalot. Vic Ramalot.                              FRED                 Good name.                              VIC                 Thanks.       The guys savor the moment, then simultaneously realize the       clock's still ticking... They run!113    INT. DEACON'S HOUSE - LIVING ROOM - NIGHT                            113                           MR. LEWIS                 Did you go through the mail today?                           MRS. LEWIS                 Not yet. I'll go get it.       She gets up to get the mail.113A   EXT. SUBURBAN STREET - NIGHT                                        113A       The car races around a corner.113B   INT. AEROSTAR - NIGHT                                               113B                              FRED                 Hurry!                           DEACON                 It's a minivan! It can't go that fast!114    EXT. STREET - NIGHT                                                  114       The car races down the street.115    INT. DEACON'S HOUSE - FOYER - NIGHT                                  115       His mom approaches the Envelope and stack of mail.116    EXT. DEACON'S HOUSE - NIGHT                                          116       They run up to the door and burst in.117    INT. DEACON'S HOUSE - FOYER - NIGHT                                  117       Deacon runs in and eyes: AN EMPTY TABLE.       FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT                                     111.       He looks around frantically. He runs into the117A   INT. DEACON'S HOUSE - LIVING ROOM - NIGHT (CONTINUOUS)           117A       where his parents are sitting there waiting for him. He can       tell by their expression, they know.                           MR. LEWIS                 Looking for something in the mail,                 Deacon?                           DEACON                 No, I just--                           MR. LEWIS                 Maybe something you'd rather not have us                 see.       Deacon goes white.                           DEACON                 Mom, Dad...                           MRS. LEWIS                 It's too late, Deacon.                            DEACON                 Wait--                           MRS. LEWIS                 We just want you to know how deeply                 disappointed we are in you.                           DEACON                 I can explain.                           MR. LEWIS                 Explain? Explain?                           DEACON                 If you'll just give me a chance...                           MR. LEWIS                 How are you going to explain this?       He holds up the REPORT CARD.                           MRS. LEWIS                 How did you manage to get a "C" in                 biology?       Deacon is in shock: relieved, confused, and a little angry.                           MRS. LEWIS (CONT'D)                 I knew we shouldn't have let him have a                 girlfriend--FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT                                     112.                    MR. LEWIS          Let alone two--                    DEACON          Is that what this is about? My biology          class? It's just a stupid midterm grade.                    MR. LEWIS          I don't like your tone, mister.                    DEACON          Mom, Dad. I'm seventeen now. I'm driving.          I've got a girlfriend. Well, actually, we          broke up. But you guys treat me like a          kid. Is it too much to ask for to be a          normal teenager with a normal life?                    MRS. LEWIS          You broke up with Ashley?                    DEACON          No. Naomi. Look. I just want to have fun          with my friends, okay?They look him over. Finally,                    MR. LEWIS          Okay, then. Just make sure you don't          repeat this performance on your finals.                      DEACON          I won't.Relieved, he walks out into the Foyer. Max appears fromaround the corner with the tape. They walk together.                    DEACON (CONT'D)          How much do you know?                    MAX          Pretty much everything. Mr. Slam.Max hands him a piece of paper.                    MAX (CONT'D)          These are my demands.He looks them over.                     DEACON          Done.              (beat)          Did you know all along?                    MAX          Are you kidding? Who do you think made          the first pre-order?      FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT                                     113.      Max hands him the tape and they shake hands. Deacon turns to      Matt and Fred waiting in the foyer. They're relieved.                                                             CUT TO:118   FRED'S FACE                                                      118                          FRED                I'm really nervous.      DEACON puts his arm around his shoulders.                          DEACON                My advice is to go slow. If you feel                you're losing control, just try to relax.                Don't worry. It's easier than it looks.      PULL BACK to reveal we're in      INT. DMV - DAY      Fred is about to take his driving test.      FLASH!      Fred gets his picture taken.119   EXT. DEACON'S HOUSE - DAY                                        119      Deacon drives the minivan home and pulls in next to the brand      new convertible sports car. Deacon gets out, excited.                          MR. LEWIS                What do you think?                          DEACON                This is for me?                          MR. LEWIS                Are you crazy? It's for me. You want a                new car, you get an after school job.      Deacon's Mom is wearing a sexy outfit and carries an      overnight bag. She's beaming.                          MRS. LEWIS                But we are letting you have the Aerostar.                It may not be "cool," but it'll get you                where you're going.                          DEACON                Thanks, guys. Really.                          MRS. LEWIS                We're going away for the weekend. Your                father surprised me!      FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT                                     114.      Deacon's parents KISS then pull out of the driveway.120   EXT. WILLIAM WALL HIGH SCHOOL - PARKING LOT - DAY                120      Deacon pulls the minivan into the parking lot. In the      passenger seat is Fred. In the back seat are Matt, Max, and      Max's three FRIENDS. They all get out and the freshmen      scamper away. Matt is holding Deacon's driver's license.                          MATT                It's not even in focus. This is really                shoddy work.      Deacon takes it back from him.                          MATT (CONT'D)                So, guys. I decided I'm going to apply to                NYU next year. The film school.                          FRED                Too bad we burned the film. You could                have submitted it as your sample.                          MATT                Good idea, Balls.      The guys start laughing.                          FRED                So, I guess we all got what we deserved.                No money, no power, no women.                          MATT                Tony Montana would be pissed.      Just then, Rachael spots them and walks over.                          DEACON                Speak for yourself, guys.                          RACHAEL                Hey, guys. Deacon.      Deacon KISSES her. The other two guys are stunned.121   INT. WILLIAM WALL HIGH SCHOOL - HALLWAY - DAY                    121      Deacon walks down the hallway with Matt and Fred, and holding      Rachael's hand. The four of them run into Wendy and Kelly.                          WENDY                Hey, guys. Hey, Deacon. I heard Naomi                broke up with you.                          DEACON                Yeah. But I think it worked out better                this way.FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT                                     115.Rachael smiles.                    WENDY          Hey, Fred. I hear you know a thing or two          about giving women pleasure.Fred freezes. He steels himself, trying to build up the nerveto say what he wants to say. Then,                    FRED          No, I don't.She's disappointed. The whole gang hangs their heads. Then,                    FRED (CONT'D)          Matt knows a thing or two about          pleasuring women. I know everything.Fred smiles ear to ear. Wendy laughs, duly impressed.                    WENDY          We should go out some time.Kelly looks at Matt seductively.                    KELLY          Maybe all four of us could go out.                    MATT          That could work, you know, depending on          my schedule.                    WENDY          Cool. So call me.They walk off just as Jake pushes Deacon from behind.                    JAKE          Watch where you're going, sphincter boy.But he's dealing with a totally new and improved Deacon now.                    DEACON          I thought I told you not to call me that          anymore.                    JAKE          What are you going to do about it?                    DEACON          Some people never learn.Matt pulls out a funky remote control. He hits a button andall the monitors come on up and down the hallway. Studentsstop to look up at them.       FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT                                        116.121A   ON THE MONITORS                                                     121A       plays a specially edited version of the infamous first       attempt at making the porno, aptly titled, "William H. Wall       High School Presents: The Premature E-Jake-ulator."                           JAKE                 I've got a tiny pee-pee? I'm a premature                 e-jac-u-la-tor?121B   HALLWAY                                                             121B       Jake is horrified.                           JAKE                 Stop it! Stop the video!                           MATT                 You probably shouldn't have mailed that                 tape back to us.       The video starts repeating in continuous loop, but has been       edited to sound like a rap song.                           JAKE (O.S.)                 Tiny pee-pee. Tiny pee-pee. E-jac-u-la-                 tor. E-jac, e-jac, e-jac-u-laaaaaaa-tor.       Students point and laugh at him, while Deacon and the guys       continue on down the hallway, dancing to the beat. Deacon       kisses Rachael goodbye.                            DEACON                 You know, guys, I've been thinking about                 something.                           FRED                 What's that?                           DEACON                 About how making the movie didn't turn                 out to be so fun. I think I figured out                 why.       They stop at their lockers.                           DEACON (CONT'D)                 Sex is like a comic book, still in the                 original wrapper. Once you open it up and                 read it, it loses its value.                            FRED                 Deep.       FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT                                       117.                            MATT                  I think he's got something there. Making                  that movie felt like we were tampering                  with forces we couldn't possibly                  understand.                            DEACON                  Exactly. The fun part about high school                  is unravelling the mystery of what's                  going to happen next.       The guys smile and dial the combinations on their lockers. In       the background, Jake is still on the ground crying. We TRACK       through the hallway, outside...121C   EXT. WILLIAM WALL HIGH SCHOOL - PARKING LOT - DAY                  121C       ... where we see a large CAR TRANSPORT, with three hot new       sports cars on it. Their license plates read "JOHNNY H," "SAM       SLAM," and "BALLS."       TRACK OVER to Mike, unloading the cars and Vic, standing       there smiling.                                                              FADE OUT:                                 END CREDITS       FADE IN:122    INT. HOTEL ROOM - NIGHT                                             122       Deacon's parents are in bed. On the TV plays familiar       sounding porno music on the hotel pay-per-view.                            MR. LEWIS                  Why do they always have to show the guy's                  face?                            MRS. LEWIS                  To make you think you can get girls as                  hot as her. It's a basic rule of porno.       A long beat.                            MR. LEWIS                  Hey. Isn't that our basement?                                                              FADE OUT:                                   THE END
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+                                  AFTER.LIFE                                                                                   Written by                         Agnieska Wojtowicz-Vosloo                                                                                                                             REVISED 10/07/08          INT. PAUL'S APARTMENT. BEDROOM - DAY                         BLINDING WHITENESS          We hear a MAN GASPING softly.     Rhythmically.          A LUMINOUS PALE SHAPE slowly forms out of the searing          whiteness. Gradually we realize we're moving across the          ALABASTER BODY of a WOMAN. Her skin translucent.          ON THE WOMAN'S FACE          Ethereal.   Her eyes closed.     Her face lifeless.   Then...          ...her eyes open. She looks straight at us with unseeing          pale blue eyes. This is ANNA (late 20s).          We pull back. PAUL (30s) makes love to Anna. Their          movements perfunctory. Passionless. He turns to look at          her. Realizes she's not there. He suddenly stops.          Rolls off her. Sits on the edge of the bed.                                                  PAUL                      What's wrong?                                                  ANNA                      Nothing.          Anna leans down and picks up her RED SLIP from the floor.                                                  PAUL                                            (SIGHS WEARILY)                      You used to enjoy it. Now it's...          He shakes his head.    Frustrated.   Lights a cigarette.                                                  PAUL                      ...it's like fucking a corpse.          Paul immediately realizes he's gone too far.      Turns to Anna.                                                   PAUL                      Shit.   I'm sorry.   That was--          Anna gets out of bed. Walks towards the bathroom.       Paul          puts his head in his hands.                                   INT. PAUL'S APARTMENT. BATHROOM - MOMENTS LATER          Through the fogged shower partition we see the blurred          ghostly figure of Anna. Paul walks in.                                                  PAUL                      Anna. I'm sorry. That was a stupid                      thing to say.   But you know sometimes...                      sometimes it's like you're not here                      anymore. Like you're somewhere else.                                                                      2.                                                            Anna doesn't reply.                                                PAUL                    Is this about us?                         ON ANNA          her head bowed as she lets the water wash over her.                                                ANNA                    It's not about us.                                 PAUL (O.C.)                    Then what is it?                                                ANNA                    I don't know.                                 PAUL (O.C.)                    I just want us to be happy.          Anna doesn't move.    We sense the emptiness inside her.                                 PAUL (O.C.)                    Are you happy?          She closes her eyes.    Forces herself to reply.                                                   ANNA                    I'm happy.          A DROP OF BLOOD          falls into the water.   Then another drop.                         ON ANNA          her nose is bleeding. She touches her lips. Looks          impassively at the blood on her fingertips. The SOUND OF          WATER carries into the next scene...                                                       FADE TO WHITE.                                   A STREAM OF CRYSTAL BLUE WATER          A MAN'S HANDS penetrate the water. Thin and elegant.          Perfectly manicured. Turning slowly as he washes them          meticulously. He picks up a crisply folded white towel.          Dries his hands carefully. Snaps on white latex gloves.                                   EXT. CEMETERY - MORNING          A beautiful morning. We move through a tranquil cemetery.          Pastoral and idyllic. Dappled light falls through old          trees onto statues of grieving angels.                                                                   3.                                                                                     EXT. FUNERAL HOME - CONTINUOUS          A path leads to an old well-kept house. Amongst a blaze of          violet tulips we see a sign: Eliot Deane. Funeral Home.                                   INT. FUNERAL HOME. CASKET DISPLAY ROOM - MORNING          Sun streams into an elegant wood-panelled room. The          Funeral Director, ELIOT DEANE (40s) guides MRS. AYRES          (70s) past caskets tastefully arranged on faux-marble          pedestals. He's a serene man. Quiet and professional.                                                ELIOT                    The Antique Carlisle. Solid cherry.                           (strokes the wood lovingly)                    Hand rubbed satin finish. Tufted                    sovereign interior. Eternal-Rest                    adjustable mattress with matching pillow.          He gestures to a metal casket.                                                ELIOT                    Or perhaps the Aegean? Solid bronze                    exterior. Hand brushed finish with                    Grecian bronze highlights.                                 MRS. AYRES                    The Antique Carlisle. Definitely the                    Antique Carlisle.                                                ELIOT                           (writes in his notebook)                    Excellent choice.          Mrs. Ayres caresses the soft velvet trimming.                                 MRS. AYRES                    An antique coffin for an antique lady.                    We suit each other.                                                 ELIOT                                          (SMILES)                    You'll look beautiful.                                          (BEAT)                    Now about the service.   Would you like a                    private visitation?          Mrs. Ayres is miles away.                                                 ELIOT                    Mrs. Ayres?                                 MRS. AYRES                    I'm sorry. Yes. A private visitation.                                          (HESITATES)                    Mr. Deane? What happens when we die?                                                                    4.                                                            Eliot chooses his words carefully.                                                ELIOT                    It's different every time.   Each person                    dies in their own way.                                   INT/EXT. ANNA'S CAR - MORNING          Anna drives past the strip malls of a small suburban town          in a GREEN TOYOTA. On the dashboard a KITSCHY BOBBLEHEAD          DOLL nods its head from side to side. Anna pulls up to a          red light. Glances across at the other cars. We see the          vacant faces of COMMUTERS staring blankly into space.          The light changes. Anna hasn't noticed. The car behind          her HONKS in frustration. She quickly pulls out...          ... just as a SUV turns in front of her. She slams on          her brakes. Hard. Missing the SUV by inches. The          DRIVER screams at her. His face contorted in ugly rage.                                   EXT. ELEMENTARY SCHOOL. PARKING LOT - MORNING          Anna locks her car.   Heads towards the main building.                                   INT. ELEMENTARY SCHOOL. CORRIDOR - MORNING          Classes have started. JACK (11), a serious looking boy,          walks through a silent corridor. Up ahead two OLDER          BOYS, a TALL KID and a KID with ACNE, push a GEEKY BOY          against a locker. Jack tries to pass by unnoticed.                                                 TALL KID                    Hey.   Jack-off!          Jack walks faster. The two Older Boys set off after him.          He darts into a corridor. Ducks into an empty classroom.                                   INT. ELEMENTARY SCHOOL. BIOLOGY CLASSROOM - MOMENTS LATER          Jack waits anxiously by the door. It looks like he's          lost the bullies. Then a sudden rustling noise makes him          jump. He turns. TINY CHICKS huddle in a plastic          incubator on a table. Jack moves over to them.                                 TALL KID (O.C.)                    Didn't you hear me Jack-off?          Jack swivels round. The Tall Kid walks towards him as          the Acne Kid guards the door. Jack doesn't reply.                                                ACNE KID                    He must be deaf.                                                                     5.                                                                                                  TALL KID                    You deaf Jack-off?          Jack ignores them.   Irritating the Tall Kid even more.                                                TALL KID                    Can't fucking speak either.          He pushes Jack against the table, toppling the incubator.          Panicked, the CHICKS scatter across the surface. Just          then the door opens. Anna walks in.                                                ANNA                    What's going on?          She glances at the Older Boys then at Jack.                                                 ANNA                    Jack?                                                JACK                    Nothing Miss Bryant.                                                ANNA                    Nothing? The incubator didn't just                    fall by itself.          The Older Boys stare at Jack.    Waiting for his reaction.                                                 JACK                    I tripped.   It was an accident.          Anna looks at Jack carefully.    She knows he's lying.                                                ANNA                           (to the Older Boys)                    Show's over. Get to your classes.                                          (TO JACK)                    Jack. Help me clear up.          Jack doesn't hear her. He's mesmerized by a SOLITARY          CHICK standing motionless in the corner of the incubator.                                                JACK                    I think it's dead.          Anna reaches in.   Tenderly picks up the chick.                                                 ANNA                    No.   The poor thing's just scared.                                   INT. ELEMENTARY SCHOOL. TEACHERS' COMMON ROOM - DAY          School's over. Anna listlessly corrects a stack of          exercise books. She can't focus. Pulls out a BOTTLE OF          PILLS. Shakes a pill into her hand. Swallows it dry.                                                                     6.                                                                                     INT. LAW OFFICE. CONFERENCE ROOM - DAY          Paul works with half a dozen COLLEAGUES around a large          conference table covered with documents and thick files.          He reaches across to a pizza box. It's empty.                                                 PAUL                    OK.   Who took the last pepperoni?          A PREPPY GUY slides across another pizza box.                                                PAUL                    Great.  Broccoli.                           (lifts out a slice)                    Who the fuck ordered broccoli?          NEAL, a thin pallid guy, looks up.                                                NEAL                    Oh that's just disgusting.                                                PREPPY GUY                    What's wrong with vegetarian pizza?   It's                    healthy.                                                NEAL                    Pizza isn't supposed to be healthy.          Paul glances at his watch. Suddenly realizes the time.          He quickly picks up his cell phone. Heads for the door.                                                NEAL                    You ordering in another pizza?                                                  PAUL                    Yeah.    With wheatgrass and alfalfa sprouts.          Everyone laughs.                                               PREPPY GUY                                         (MUTTERS)                    Yeah. Yeah. Smart asses.                                   INT. LAW OFFICE. CORRIDOR - MOMENTS LATER          Paul walks into the corridor dialling his cell phone.                                   INT. ELEMENTARY SCHOOL. TEACHERS' COMMON ROOM - SAME TIME          Anna's cell phone rings as she closes her locker. She          fishes it out from her bag as she heads to the door.          Checks the ID. Hesitates. Then takes the call.                                                                   7.                                                                                     INT. LAW OFFICE. CORRIDOR - SAME TIME          Paul cups his cell.    Worried he'll be overheard.                                                  PAUL                    Hi baby.    I'm really sorry about this                    morning.    I fucked up. I know.                                   INT. ELEMENTARY SCHOOL. CORRIDOR - SAME TIME          Anna steps into an empty corridor.                                  PAUL (O.S.)                                          (FILTERED)                    We still on for tonight?                                          (BEAT)                    Anna?                                                ANNA                    I don't know Paul.                                   INT. LAW OFFICE. CORRIDOR - SAME TIME          Paul's anxious.    We sense he's hiding something.                                                  PAUL                    Please Anna.    It took me weeks to get the                    table.                                 ANNA (O.S.)                                          (FILTERED)                    Maybe we can change it to Thursday--                                                   PAUL                    No.     It has to be tonight.                                ANNA (O.S.)                                         (FILTERED)                    Paul? What's the matter?          Paul tries hard to cover his nervousness.   Forces a smile.                                                PAUL                    Nothing. Don't worry. I just need... I                    just want us to have dinner tonight.                                   INT. ELEMENTARY SCHOOL. CORRIDOR - SAME TIME          Despite Paul's reassurances Anna is clearly worried now.                                                  ANNA                                            (HESITATES)                    OK.                                                                        8.                                                                                     PAUL (O.S.)                                            (FILTERED)                    Great.                                   INT. LAW OFFICE. CORRIDOR - SAME TIME          Paul hesitates.    Lowers his voice.                                                  PAUL                    And Anna.    Everything's going to be fine.                                 ANNA (O.S.)                                          (FILTERED)                    Promise?                                                  PAUL                    I promise.                                   INT. ELEMENTARY SCHOOL. CORRIDOR - MOMENTS LATER          Anna slips her phone back into her bag as she walks          through the deserted corridor. Her high heels echo          loudly in the eerie quietness.          Suddenly one of the fluorescent ceiling lights behind her          blows out with a loud WHUMPH. Anna starts. Turns.          WHUMPH. The next light dies. Anna quickens her step.          The lights go off one by one. The darkness quickly          creeping up behind her. There's only one light still on          as she reaches the exit. She looks up. The light          flickers. But then strangely stays on. Bathing her in a          cold pool of light.          Anna's unsettled. She turns and frantically pushes the          door. It doesn't open. She pushes hard with both hands.          Nothing. It's locked. She turns back slowly. The          darkness around her impenetrable. Almost viscous. She          reaches out...          ... her hand DISAPPEARS into the thick blackness.     Anna          snatches her hand back. Stares at it.          Then we hear the sound of SLOW FOOTSTEPS.    Moving          deliberately towards her.                                                  ANNA                                            (NERVOUSLY)                    Hello?          Her voice echoes down the silent corridor.   She glimpses          something move in the blackness.                                                ANNA                    Is someone there?                                                                       9.                                                            A BLACK SHAPE materializes inside the darkness. Silent.          Brooding. Anna can't move. Terrified. Suddenly the          corridor's flooded with a BLINDING WHITE LIGHT.          Anna's dazzled. Shades her eyes with her hand.     As she          tentatively pulls her hand away...          ...it's only Jack.   His hand on the light switch.                                                  ANNA                    Jack!                                                JACK                    Did I scare you Miss Bryant?          Jack moves over to the door.                                                  ANNA                    It's locked.          He gently pushes against the door.    The door slowly opens.                                   EXT. ELEMENTARY SCHOOL - MOMENTS LATER          Anna, still shaken, walks with Jack towards the parking lot.                                                ANNA                    Shouldn't you be home?                                                 JACK                    My mom's picking me up.                                          (BEAT)                    It's my birthday. We're going to                    MacDonald's. Then on Saturday my mom's                    taking me to Busch Gardens. We're                    going to ride the Alpengeist.                                          (EARNESTLY)                    Continually voted one of the top ten roller                    coaster rides in America, the Alpengeist is                    a breathtaking avalanche of adventure.                                                ANNA                           (tries to keep a straight-face)                    I didn't know the park was open yet.                                                JACK                    My mom's friends with the manager.                    They're opening it specially for me.          She knows he's lying again.     Smiles sadly.                                                ANNA                    Sounds like fun.                                                  JACK                    Yes.    It will be fun.                                                                      10.                                                            They reach Anna's car.    Stand in silence for a moment.                                                ANNA                     Jack. Those boys.    Do they bother you                     a lot?          Jack hesitates.    Then slowly nods his head.                                                 ANNA                     You know you can always talk to me about                     it if you want to.          He nods.   Anna's clearly worried about him.                                                 ANNA                     You sure you don't need a ride?          Jack shakes his head.    Anna glances at her watch.                                                  ANNA                     Well.   I better run.                                                 JACK                     Where are you going?                                                 ANNA                                           (HESITATES)                     I have to go to a funeral.   My old piano                     teacher.                                                 JACK                            (with sudden interest)                     Can I come?                                                  ANNA                     No Jack.   Funerals are very private                     affairs.                                                 JACK                     I've never been to a funeral.                                                 ANNA                     It wouldn't be appropriate Jack. Anyway                     wouldn't your mom worry about you?                                                 JACK                                           (SHRUGS)                     Not really.                                                 ANNA                     I'm sure she would. I'll see you                     tomorrow in class. Have a wonderful                     birthday.          Jack nods disappointed.   Anna watches him walk away then          gets in her car.                                                                   11.                                                                                     INT. ANNA'S CAR - MOMENTS LATER          Anna slips her key into the ignition. Loud music suddenly          blares from the car radio. She switches it off. Squeezes          the bridge of her nose. She pulls out a bottle of pills          from her bag. It's empty. She rummages in the glove          compartment. Finds another bottle. Empty. She sighs.                                   EXT. ELEMENTARY SCHOOL - MOMENTS LATER          Jack sits on the bench. Watches Anna drive away. Then          unzips his backpack. Something moves inside. A strange          jerky movement. Jack closes the backpack. Glances up          and down the empty street. Then walks away on his own.                                   EXT. STRIP MALL. PHARMACY - DAY          Anna steps out of the Pharmacy. As she washes down a pill          with a bottle of water she notices a small Hair Salon.          Looks critically at herself in the Pharmacy window.          Anna moves over to the Salon. Reaches for the door          handle... then hesitates. She's about to walk away when          the Salon door suddenly opens. Anna smiles shyly as a          freshly COIFFURED WOMAN politely holds the door for her.                                   INT. HAIR SALON - DAY          Anna leans back against a washbasin.    Her neck tightly          cradled against the white porcelain.    The light's harsh          and not particularly flattering. She    closes her eyes.          Behind her the HANDS of a HAIRDRESSER   in latex gloves          begin to rinse dye from Anna's hair.                         ON SINK          Startling white. A stream of water flows into the sink.          Then after a moment the spiralling clear water gradually          turns a deep crimson red.                                   INT. MOTHER'S HOUSE. HALLWAY - DAY          Anna closes the front door behind her. She smiles as          she catches her reflection in the hallway mirror. Her          hair a dark vibrant red. Just then, from another room,          we hear an OLD WOMAN'S hacking cough.                                  OLD WOMAN (O.S.)                    Anna?   Is that you?                                                 ANNA                    Yes Mother.                                                                   12.                                                                                     INT. MOTHER'S HOUSE. BEDROOM - MOMENTS LATER          Anna's mother, BEATRICE (50s), sits in bed, knitting with          swift, violent precision. The bedside table's stacked          with medication. She's clearly been bed-ridden for some          time. An electric wheelchair in the corner of the room.          Anna appears at the door. Beatrice scrutinizes her for a          second. Then returns to her knitting.                                                BEATRICE                    Terrible color.          Anna moves to the beside table.   Picks up a dirty plate.                                                ANNA                    Can I get you something to eat?                                                BEATRICE                    I'm not hungry.                                                ANNA                    You have to eat.                                                BEATRICE                    I don't have to do anything.                                                ANNA                    The doctor said--                                                BEATRICE                    The doctor's an idiot. He doesn't know                    what he's talking about.          Anna sighs. Trying hard not to let her Mother provoke          her. Beatrice glances up. Anna avoids her look.                                                BEATRICE                    Why did you do it? Today of all days.                                                ANNA                    What have I done wrong this time?          Anna goes to the window.   Draws back the curtains.                                                BEATRICE                    You've forgotten haven't you?                                                ANNA                    No I haven't forgotten.   The service                    isn't till six.                                                BEATRICE                    Then you've got plenty of time to wash it                    out.                                                                   13.                                                                                                  ANNA                    It's permanent. You can't wash it out.                                                BEATRICE                    Then dye it back. You can't show up at                    the funeral looking like that. Like some                    prostitute.                                                ANNA                    I don't look--                                                BEATRICE                    Don't argue with me. Why are you                    constantly arguing with me?          Anna bites her tongue.    Heads to the door.                                                BEATRICE                    Where are you going?                                                ANNA                    To do the washing up.                                                BEATRICE                    The sheets need changing.    They haven't                    been changed in months.                                                ANNA                    I changed them Monday.          Anna goes to the cupboard.    Takes out clean sheets.                                                BEATRICE                    You weren't here Monday. You never sleep                    at home anymore. What if something                    happened to me in the middle of the night?                                                ANNA                    Nothing is going to happen to you.                                   ANYWAY DIANE--                                                BEATRICE                                          (SNORTS)                    Fat lot of good she is. I wouldn't have                    to pay for a Nurse if my only daughter                    wasn't living in sin with that lawyer of                    hers. Doing God knows what. They always                    leave you in the end. You'll see. Just                    like your father--                                                ANNA                    That's enough Mother!          Anna dumps the sheets on the bed. As she turns to leave          Beatrice's hand darts out and grabs Anna's wrist.                                                   BEATRICE                    That's it.     Go and cry to Paul.                                                                     14.                                                            Anna pulls herself free.   Moves to the door.                                                BEATRICE                    Go and bitch to Paul about your mean old                    mother.                                   INT. FUNERAL HOME. VIEWING ROOM - DAY          A warm intimate room. Peaceful. Rows of chairs filled          with ELDERLY MOURNERS. Eliot stands respectfully beside          a casket. FATHER GRAHAM (50s) reads at a lectern.                                                FATHER GRAHAM                    We have entrusted our brother James                    Hutton to God's mercy in sure and...                                   EXT. FUNERAL HOME. DRIVEWAY - CONTINUOUS          Anna, in a black dress, walks quickly along the gravel          driveway. She stops. Stares out over the cemetery.                                 FATHER GRAHAM (O.S.)                    ...certain hope of the resurrection to                    eternal life through our Lord Jesus                    Christ, who died and rose again for us.                                   INT. FUNERAL HOME. VIEWING ROOM - MOMENTS LATER          Anna slips into the back of the room. Eliot leads MRS.          HUTTON (60s) to the body of her husband, JAMES HUTTON          (70S), lying in the casket. Mrs. Hutton touches a          bouquet of white roses by the casket.                                 MRS. HUTTON                    White roses. They were his favorite.                    How did you know?                                                ELIOT                    They just seemed appropriate somehow.                                 MRS. HUTTON                    He looks so peaceful. As if he's only                    sleeping.          Anna approaches Mrs. Hutton.   She doesn't notice Eliot          watching her carefully.                                                  ANNA                    Mrs. Hutton.    I'm so sorry.                                 MRS. HUTTON                    Thank you Anna. You were always his                    favorite student.                                                                    15.                                                            Anna smiles awkwardly.     Uncomfortable.                                    MRS. HUTTON                       How's your mother?                                                    ANNA                       Fine.   She sends her condolences.                                    MRS. HUTTON                       You look tired dear.                                                    ANNA                       No.   I'm fine. Everything's fine.          But we can see in her eyes that everything's not fine.          Mrs. Hutton nods, then turns to greet another MOURNER.          Anna steps nervously up to the coffin.                         ANNA'S POV          James Hutton lies peacefully amongst the velvet trimming.          Suddenly his LIPS PART... as he GASPS SOFTLY.                         VIEWING ROOM          Anna steps back terrified. Stares at Hutton. His face          serene again. It must have been her imagination. She          glances up quickly. Embarrassed.          Eliot's still observing her.     He nods to her cordially.                                   INT. FUNERAL HOME. ELIOT'S ROOM - DAY          A spartan room at the top of the house. Eliot carefully          pins a POLAROID of Hutton lying in a coffin to the wall.          Next to Hutton's photograph, we briefly glimpse the edge          of ANOTHER POLAROID.          Eliot stares intently at Hutton's image for a moment,          then takes off his jacket and moves to the window.                         ELIOT'S POV          Anna's by her car rummaging in a bag for her keys.          Getting increasingly frustrated.                                   EXT. FUNERAL HOME. DRIVEWAY - DAY          Anna suddenly looses it. Angrily dumps the contents of          her bag onto the driveway. She kneels down. Grabs the          keys. Throws the rest of her things back into the bag.          She stands. Leans against the car. She looks weary.          She glances up at the sky desperately trying to hold back          her tears. Black storm clouds gather on the horizon.                                                                    16.                                   Anna brusquely wipes away her eyes with the back of her          hand. Pulls herself together. Angry with herself.                                   INT. FUNERAL HOME. ELIOT'S ROOM - DAY          Eliot watches intently as Anna drives away.                                   INT. RESTAURANT - EVENING          Paul sits at a window table. It's raining hard outside.          He glances at his watch then nervously checks his          pockets. Pulls out a RING BOX. He looks at it for a          moment then slips it back into his pocket.          As he refills his glass, Anna appears outside holding her          raincoat above her head. She stares at Paul for a moment          through the window marbled with rain.          Paul suddenly notices Anna at the window.   He starts.          Spills some of his red wine on his shirt.          CLOSE on the red stain. It unfurls like a flower.          Spreading out over the white material.                                 ANNA (O.C.)                    Sorry about that.          Paul dabs the stain with a napkin.                                                PAUL                    You scared the life out of me.          Anna laughs as she sits down.   Paul looks up at her.                                                 PAUL                    Your hair.                                                ANNA                    You don't like it.                                                PAUL                    I didn't say that. It's just very...                    red. I mean it's not really you is it?          A WAITER appears at the table before Anna can reply.                                                WAITER                    Are you ready to order?                                                  PAUL                    Yes.    We'll have the duck.                                                 ANNA                    Paul.                                                                  17.                                                                                                    PAUL                    What?    You always have the duck here.                                                ANNA                           (picks up the menu)                    I don't always have the duck.          Paul shrugs. Pours Anna some wine as she looks through          the menu. The Waiter taps his pen on his pad          impatiently. Anna sighs. Puts the menu aside.                                                ANNA                    I'll have the duck.          Paul smiles as the Waiter leaves. Anna tries to ignore          him. But after a second she can't help smiling back.                                                PAUL                    The duck is very good.          Anna's smile broadens. The tension between them broken          for the moment. Paul reaches across. Touches her hand.                                                PAUL                    Let's not argue tonight.    OK?                                                 ANNA                    OK.          Anna takes a sip of wine.                                                ANNA                    This is good.          She picks up the bottle.    Checks the label.                                                ANNA                    And looks very expensive...                                          (SMILES QUESTIONINGLY)                    What's the special occasion?          Paul's momentarily thrown. He tries to cover it by          rearranging his napkin. Anna notices.                                                PAUL                           (suddenly very serious)                    Actually there is something I need to                    talk to you about.          Now Anna's nervous.                                                PAUL                    I've been offered a transfer to head                    office in Chicago.          Anna looks down.   Stares at her hands on the table.                                                                   18.                                                                                                  PAUL                    It'll mean more work of course. More                    responsibility. A lot of changes. But                    it's an incredible opportunity. I'd be                    crazy to turn it down. And...                                          (NERVOUS)                    ...well I've been thinking. Maybe it's                    time for us to...          Paul pauses as he reaches inside his jacket.                                                ANNA                           (without looking up)                    You're going to leave me.          Paul's stunned.   Speechless.   Before he can say anything--                                                ANNA                    You could've just told me this morning.                    You didn't need to buy me off with an                    expensive meal.          Paul reaches for her hand.     Anna gets up to leave.                                                 PAUL                    Anna wait.                                                ANNA                    Why did you lie to me? You promised                    everything was going to be OK.                                                PAUL                                          (INCREASINGLY FRUSTRATED)                    Don't be ridiculous. Anna. You've got                    it all wrong.                                                ANNA                    I'm not being ridiculous. Why do you                    always talk to me like I'm a small child?                                                 PAUL                            (as if talking to a small child)                    Anna.                                                ANNA                    See? There you go again.      Do you know                    how irritating that is?                                                PAUL                                          (LOSES IT)                    Jesus. Can't we just have one fucking                    meal without arguing--                                                 ANNA                    Fuck you!          The other DINERS turn and stare at them. Paul glances at          them embarrassed. Anna doesn't notice. Upset.                                                                   19.                                                                                                  PAUL                    Keep your voice down, everyone's watching.                                                 ANNA                    FUCK YOU!                                                PAUL                    You're crazy. You know that?      Just like                    your mother.                                                ANNA                    I'm nothing like my mother!          Anna grabs her coat.   Pushes her way through the restaurant.                                                PAUL                                          (STANDS)                    I'm not running after you this time Anna.                                                 ANNA                    Good.          Paul's suddenly aware that everyone's looking at him. He          quickly sits down. Drains his glass of wine. Furious.                                   INT/EXT. ANNA'S CAR - NIGHT          Anna closes the car door.   It's still raining hard outside.          Her hair, perfect minutes ago, is now bedraggled. Her make-          up's running. She places her hands on the steering wheel.          Trying desperately to pull herself together.          Suddenly. THUMP. Anna jumps. Turns. Paul's at the car          window. He thumps the glass again. Anna hits the locks.                                   EXT. RESTAURANT. PARKING LOT - CONTINUOUS          Paul grabs the door handle.                                                PAUL                    Anna. Open the door. Please. I want                    you to come with me. I want to...                                   INT/EXT. ANNA'S CAR - CONTINUOUS          Anna can't hear him above the sound of the RAIN HAMMERING          onto the car. She shakes her head. Puts the car in drive.                                   EXT. RESTAURANT. PARKING LOT - CONTINUOUS          Paul stumbles aside as Anna's car pulls away. She stops          at the parking lot exit a short distance away.                                                                       20.                                                                                     INT/EXT. ANNA'S CAR - CONTINUOUS          Anna looks up into the rearview mirror.          ON REARVIEW MIRROR          Paul stands forlornly in the rain.      Their eyes meet.                         ANNA'S CAR          She hesitates.       For a moment we think she might go back          to him...                                   EXT. RESTAURANT. PARKING LOT - CONTINUOUS          ... but then Anna pulls out and drives away. Leaving Paul          alone in the parking lot. The rain pounding the asphalt.                                   INT/EXT. ANNA'S CAR. HIGHWAY - NIGHT          Anna peers through the blurred windshield as the wipers          battle with the TORRENTIAL DOWNPOUR. A LARGE TRUCK plows          past menacingly on the rain-slicked highway.          Anna's still upset. She wipes away her tears. On the          dashboard the kitschy doll bobs its head from side to          side. Anna picks up her cell phone. Glances down as she          dials a number. She looks up...          a WHITE VAN with black tinted windows cuts in front of her.                                                     ANNA                       Shit!          Anna swerves into the next lane.      We hear the blaring          horn from the car behind her.                                                  ANNA                             (into rear-view mirror)                       OK. OK. I saw you.                                            (MUTTERING)                       Jerk.          The cell phone connects.      We hear Paul's answering machine.                                                   ANNA                       Paul? You home yet? Can you pick up?      I                       just don't want it to end like this.          Anna drops the phone into her bag on the passenger seat.          Wipes away the mist on the inside of the glass.          A TRACTOR TRAILER shudders past loaded with metal pipes.                                                                        21.                                                            ON METAL PIPES          The badly loaded pipes BANG OMINOUSLY against each other.                                                         CUT TO BLACK.                                   INT. FUNERAL HOME. ELIOT'S ROOM - EARLY MORNING          Darkness.   A bright light comes on.          CLOSE ON a MAN'S HANDS. Turning slowly under a stream of          crystal blue water. We pull back. Eliot dries his hands.          Opens a cabinet. Takes out a pair of latex gloves.                                   INT. FUNERAL HOME. PREP ROOM - EARLY MORNING          A large room. Tall vaulted ceilings. White tiles. Soft          morning light seeps in from a small round window set high          on one wall. The room is silent. Still. Like a chapel.          In the semi-darkness we see a BODY on a porcelain slab          covered with a white sheet.          We hear a key turn in a lock. Then another lock.       The          room's suddenly flooded with a harsh white light.          Eliot steps inside the room. He takes off his jacket.          Carefully places it on a coat-hanger. Puts on a pale          blue smock then snaps on the latex gloves. His every          move meticulous. Measured. Like a ritual.          Eliot walks over to the slab, his surgery clogs softly          clacking against the tiled floor. He looks at the slab          for a moment then slowly pulls the sheet away          revealing...          ANNA'S BODY. Pale and lifeless. An ugly gash above her          eyebrow. Cracked violet lips. A rip in her black dress          soaked with a dark stain. She's only wearing one shoe.          Eliot gently takes off the watch from her stiff wrist.          Places it inside a brown paper bag. Eases off the shoe.          Picks up a scalpel from a tray of instruments on a steel          trolley. Delicately slices open her dress. Peels it off.          He's about to cut the straps of her RED SLIP when...          Anna OPENS HER EYES.          She looks straight at us with unseeing pale blue eyes.          Strangely Eliot's not surprised.   He calmly steps back.          Watches her carefully.          Anna's eyes slowly focus on Eliot.     She's groggy.   Confused.                                                                   22.                                                                                                     ANNA                      Where am I?          She talks with difficulty.       Her breathe labored.                                                   ELIOT                      You're in a funeral home.                                            (BEAT)                      You're dead.          Anna's vacant eyes widen in shock. She struggles to sit          up but she can't even raise her head. Her body stiff.          Rigid. Eliot speaks to her calmly. Soothingly.                                                  ELIOT                      You had a car accident. It was raining.                      You hit a truck loaded with metal pipes.          She looks fearfully at the bloodied dress in Eliot's hand.                                                  ANNA                      I'm not dead.                                                  ELIOT                      You were pronounced dead eight hours ago.                      Your blood no longer circulates through                      your body. Your brain cells are slowly                      dying. Your body's already decomposing.                                                  ANNA                      I'm not dead.          Eliot looks at her sadly for a moment. He places the          bloodied dress on the trolley. Then picks up a document.          Holds it up for her.                         ON DOCUMENT          It's Anna's death certificate.                                   ELIOT (O.C.)                      This is your death certificate. Cause of                      death. Massive internal trauma. Time of                      death. 8.23PM.                         PREP ROOM                                                  ELIOT                      You were dead on arrival. The attending                      physician signed here...                             (points to document)                      ...at 9.45 last night. I picked up your                      body from the hospital morgue at 12.10                      this morning.          Anna stares with horror at her death certificate, then at          Eliot. He looks away. It pains him to see her so          distressed.                                                                     23.                                                                                                    ELIOT                    I'm sorry.          Eliot picks up a sponge from the trolley.   Wets it.                                                  ANNA                    Who are you?          Eliot delicately washes Anna's face. She doesn't flinch          as he dabs the wound above her eye brow.                                                ANNA                    Don't touch me! Why are you touching me?                                                ELIOT                    I'm preparing your body. You have to                    look beautiful for your funeral.                                                ANNA                    I'm not dead.          Eliot sighs wearily.   As if he'd had this conversation          many times before.                                                 ELIOT                    You all say the same thing.                                          (BEAT)                    I'm sorry. Maybe you should rest now.          Eliot peels off his latex gloves and heads for the door.          As he hangs his pale blue smock on the peg he turns and          looks at Anna for a moment.                         ON ANNA          The lights go off. O.S. the door clicks shut as it locks          automatically behind Eliot.                                                ANNA                                          (SOFTLY)                    I can't be dead. It's just a nightmare.                    I'll wake up soon. Wake up.                                   INT. PAUL'S APARTMENT. BEDROOM - MORNING          Paul wakes up. Badly hung-over. Still in his clothes.          Sunlight streams into the room. Blinding him. He          reaches across. The bed's empty. He's surprised for a          moment then remembers the argument the night before.          He gets up. Sits on the edge of the bed. Lights a          cigarette. He notices his jacket on the floor. Leans          down. As he pulls out the BlackBerry from his jacket, the          RING BOX falls onto the floor. Paul doesn't notice.                                                                    24.                                                                                     INT. PAUL'S APARTMENT. KITCHEN - LATER          Paul steps into the kitchen. Nervously checking his          BlackBerry. Nothing. Just then he sees the red light          blinking on his answer machine. He presses play.                                                ANNA                    Paul? You home yet? Can you pick up?       I                    just don't want it to end like this.          Paul's relieved. He picks up the phone.   Dials.   We hear          the ringing on the other end.                                   INT. HOSPITAL MORGUE - SAME TIME          Two technicians, an OLD GUY and his YOUNG PALE ASSISTANT,          push a NAKED BODY wrapped in plastic through the morgue.          They jump as they hear the MUFFLED sound of a cell phone.          The ringing comes from a bag speckled with blood lying on          a table (we recognize it as Anna's bag). The Assistant          walks over. Takes out the cell phone.                                                ASSISTANT                    It's the schoolteacher's. From the car                    crash. Should I answer it?          The ringing stops abruptly.   It's suddenly very silent.                                                ASSISTANT                    Someone's in for a surprise.                                                OLD GUY                    How many times do I have to tell you? You                    can't leave their stuff laying around. It                    should've been returned to the family.                                                ASSISTANT                    I've been busy, OK.                                          (MUTTERING)                    Like she's really going to need her                    rollover minutes now.          As the Assistant reaches for the bag, he notices a          solitary shoe on the table. He picks it up.                                                ASSISTANT                    What shall I do with this?                                                OLD GUY                    Where's the other one?          The Assistant looks round. He can't see the other shoe          anywhere. He turns to the Old Guy and shrugs.                                                                      25.                                                                                                  OLD GUY                    Just burn it. You can't send them back                    one shoe. It's not respectful.                                   INT. PAUL'S APARTMENT. KITCHEN - SAME TIME          We hear a BEEP.                                                PAUL                                          (ON PHONE)                    You got it all wrong baby. I want you to                    come to Chicago with me. Look. I'll                    swing by your place on my way to the                    office. You know I love you.                                   EXT. MOTHER'S HOUSE - DAY          Paul pulls up to a suburban house. Walks quickly to the          door, a supermarket bouquet of flowers wrapped in          cellophane in his hand. He rings the bell. No-one          answers. He rings again. Knocks hard on the door.                                                PAUL                    Anna!          Still no answer. Paul looks around. Notices the          driveway's empty. He heads back to his car.                                   INT/EXT. PAUL'S CAR - MOMENTS LATER          Paul's on his cell phone as he drives.    He gets Anna's          voice mail again.                                                PAUL                                          (INTO PHONE)                    It's me again. I must have just missed you                    at home. Call me when you get this. OK?                                   INT. ELEMENTARY SCHOOL. CORRIDOR - DAY          Paul strides down an empty corridor. The flowers in his          hand. Searching for Anna's classroom.                                   INT. ELEMENTARY SCHOOL. BIOLOGY CLASSROOM - MOMENTS LATER          A TEACHER stands in front of the class holding a shell.                                                TEACHER                    ... the shell grows slowly...          The door opens. Paul steps into the classroom.    His          smile fades as he realizes it's not Anna.                                                                    26.                                                                                                   PAUL                    Oh hi.   I'm looking for Anna Bryant.          The Teacher quickly moves over.    Hustles Paul to the door.                                                TEACHER                                          (INDIGNANT)                    I'm sorry but you just can't--                                                PAUL                    I'm Anna's... fiancÈe. Paul Conran.     I                    thought this was her class.          The Teacher glances suspiciously at the flowers in his hand.                                                PAUL                    We had a little misunderstanding last                    night.                                                TEACHER                                          (HESITATES)                    She didn't come in today.          Jack's in the front row.   Following the conversation.                                                PAUL                    Did she call in sick?                                                TEACHER                    She hasn't called in at all. It's not                    like her. She always calls in.          Paul's worried now.   Something's wrong.                                   INT. FUNERAL HOME. PREP ROOM - DAY          Anna lies rigidly on the slab. Her head turned to one          side. Staring blankly at the wall. Her eyes glazed.          Suddenly classical music fills the room. Anna frowns.          Disoriented. She moves her head with difficulty.          Nervously looks around.          For a moment she doesn't know where she is. Then she          sees Eliot by a CD player. She watches with trepidation          as he approaches her.                                                ANNA                    Please don't hurt me.                                                ELIOT                                          (SMILES)                    How can I hurt you?     You're already dead.                                                ANNA                    But I'm not dead.                                                                   27.                                                                                                  ELIOT                    Then why are you here?          Anna doesn't know what to say.   She turns her head away.          A tear falls down her cheek.                                               ANNA                    Please. Just let me go. I won't go to                    the police. I won't tell anyone.          Eliot moves her head back.   Gently wipes away her tear.                                                ELIOT                    You're still in denial. You have to                    trust me. I'm only here to help you.          Eliot slides a wooden head-rest under her neck and studies          her wounds, touching them delicately. Thinking about how          to conceal them. He turns to a tray of instruments.          Picks up a needle. Leans over Anna.          The needle pierces her brow. Sliding cleanly through her          skin. She doesn't feel any pain as Eliot carefully sews          the wound. He's meticulous. Clearly very good at his job.          Eliot glances at his watch. Picks up a SYRINGE and an          AMPOULE OF AMBER LIQUID. Draws up the amber liquid.          Anna's alarmed. She tries to pull back.                                                ELIOT                    Don't be scared.                                                ANNA                    What are you doing?                                                ELIOT                    This will relax your muscles. Stop the                    rigor mortis setting in so I can work on                    your body.          He INJECTS Anna in the neck. Just then we hear a car          pull up on the gravel driveway outside.                                                ELIOT                                          (TO HIMSELF)                    Your mother's early.          Anna's eyelids feel very heavy. Slowly her eyes close.          Eliot pulls the white sheet over her body.                                   INT. FUNERAL HOME. HALLWAY - MOMENTS LATER          A Nurse, DIANE (30s) follows Beatrice in her wheelchair          as Eliot leads them through the hallway.                                                                   28.                                                                                                  ELIOT                    I'm so very sorry Mrs. Bryant. It's                    always so tragic when you lose a child.                                                BEATRICE                    I lost her years ago.          He glances at her curiously.    Then gestures to his office.                                                ELIOT                    If you'd care to come to my office we can                    discuss the arrangements.                                                BEATRICE                    I want to see her.                                                ELIOT                    But she hasn't been--                                                BEATRICE                    I don't care. I want to see her.          It takes him a second to respond.                                                ELIOT                    Of course.                                   INT. FUNERAL HOME. PREP ROOM - DAY          Beatrice leans against the slab staring at Anna's covered          body. Eliot stands respectfully to one side. In the b.g.          Diane shivers. The room's cold. Beatrice touches Anna's          hand through the white sheet. Then uncovers Anna's face.          The needle's still embedded in her eyebrow.                                                 ELIOT                    Ah.   Forgive me.          Eliot quickly steps forward. Pulls out the needle.    Cuts          the thread with a pair of large scissors.                                                ELIOT                    As I said. I've only just started                    preparing her.                                                BEATRICE                    What's the point of preserving the body                    if the soul's already left?                                                 ELIOT                            (quietly to himself)                    No.   The soul never leaves.          Beatrice stares at Anna.                                                                          29.                                                                                                     BEATRICE                       It's us who are left behind. It's us who                       suffer.                                             (TO ANNA)                       Who's going to look after me now? Did                       you think about that?          She nods to Diane.    Diane helps her into the wheelchair.                                                   ELIOT                       I'll confirm the date with Father Graham                       this afternoon. Friday as you requested.                                                   BEATRICE                       Just do what you think's best.   It's just                       details.          Beatrice whirs towards the door.      She suddenly stops.          Turns to Eliot.                                                   BEATRICE                       Oh there is one thing.                                                   ELIOT                       Yes?                                                   BEATRICE                       Her hair. She was a brunette.    I'd like                       it back to that color.                                   EXT. FUNERAL HOME. DRIVEWAY - DAY          Eliot watches Beatrice's car drive away.                                   INT/EXT. PAUL'S CAR - DAY          Paul waits in his car outside the Mother's house.        The          wilting flowers on the passenger seat beside him.                         PAUL'S POV          Beatrice's car pulls up. Diane gets out.      Pulls the          wheelchair out of the car.                         PAUL'S CAR          Paul grabs the flowers.                                   EXT. MOTHER'S HOUSE - MOMENTS LATER          Paul strides over as Diane helps Beatrice into her          wheelchair.                                                                   30.                                                                                                     PAUL                    Mrs. Bryant.          Beatrice doesn't acknowledge him.   Paul turns to Diane.                                                 PAUL                    Hi Diane.   I need to talk to Anna.          Diane can't look him in the eye.                                                PAUL                    What's wrong?                                                DIANE                    I think you better come in.                                   INT. MOTHER'S HOUSE. BEDROOM - MOMENTS LATER          Beatrice sits in her wheelchair with her back to the          door. Paul stops a short distance away.                                                PAUL                    What happened? Where's Anna?                                                BEATRICE                                          (WITHOUT TURNING)                    Anna was in a car accident last night.                    My daughter's dead. That's what                    happened.          Paul stares at Beatrice's back in disbelief.                                                   PAUL                    A car crash?     When?          Beatrice turns her wheelchair round to face Paul.                                                BEATRICE                                          (IRRITABLY)                    I don't know.                                                DIANE                    They said it happened just before 8.30.                                                PAUL                    But... we were at the restaurant...          Beatrice glares at him.    She clearly blames him for          Anna's death.                                                BEATRICE                    You shouldn't have let her drive in that                    weather.          Paul looks down guiltily at the flowers in his hand.                                                                    31.                                                                                                  PAUL                    No. She can't be dead.    There must be                    some mistake.                                                BEATRICE                    There's no mistake. We just got back                    from the funeral home.          Beatrice pushes a joystick on her wheelchair.   As she          whirs past Paul she notices the flowers.                                                BEATRICE                                          (DRYLY)                    Flowers? How appropriate.          Paul's not listening anymore.   Stunned.                                                PAUL                    Why didn't you call me?                                                BEATRICE                    You took her away from me.   I don't want                    you anywhere near her.                                   INT. FUNERAL HOME. KITCHEN - DAY          Eliot turns on the taps.   Fills a copper kettle.                                   INT. FUNERAL HOME. PREP ROOM - SAME TIME          Silence. O.S. a shuddering pipe bangs ominously. Anna          opens her eyes abruptly as if waking from a deep sleep.          She stares at us. Numb.                                   INT. FUNERAL HOME. KITCHEN - MOMENTS LATER          CLOSE ON an exploding BLUE FLAME from a gas ring.          We pull back. Eliot places a kettle on the ring. Then          measures out exactly two spoons of tea from an ornate tin          into a teapot. Meticulous in everything he does.                                   INT. FUNERAL HOME. PREP ROOM - SAME TIME          CLOSE ON Anna's hand. Her fingers FLEX slightly. She          pushes herself up awkwardly. Suddenly realizes          something. She touches her wrist. Desperately searching          for her pulse. Then frantically checks her neck.          Panicking. She can't find her heartbeat.          She stares at her hand. Then abruptly SLAMS it against          the slab. Hard. She feels no pain. She does it again.          Harder. Still nothing.                                                                    32.                                                                                                  ANNA                    I must be in shock.     That's all.   It's                    just shock.          She struggles to her feet. Stumbles groggily to the door.          Tries the door handle. It's locked. She bangs on the          door feebly. Then she hears something. She cocks her          head. Follows the sound of Eliot's footsteps upstairs.                                                ANNA                                          (HOARSE)                    Let me out!                                   INT. FUNERAL HOME. ELIOT'S OFFICE - DAY          Eliot's by his desk. Checking his appointment book.          Whistling softly to himself. We can't hear Anna's cries.          He pours a cup of tea. Adds a drop of milk. As he stirs          his tea, he hears the sound of feet CRUNCHING on the          gravel outside. He glances out the window.                         ELIOT'S POV          Paul stands in the middle of the driveway staring blankly          at the Funeral Home.                                   EXT. FUNERAL HOME. DRIVEWAY - MOMENTS LATER          Eliot steps out of the Funeral Home.     Heads towards Paul.                                                ELIOT                    Can I help you?          Paul turns to him.   Pulled away from his thoughts.                                                  PAUL                    Mr. Deane?                                                  ELIOT                    Yes.                                                PAUL                    My name's Conran.      Paul Conran.          Eliot smiles.    Holds out his hand.                                                ELIOT                    Of course. The lawyer.                           (off Paul's surprised look)                    It's a small town. In my line of work                    you get to know everyone eventually.          As they shake, Eliot looks at Paul's hand strangely.    As          if he senses something.                                                                    33.                                                                                                  PAUL                    I'm Anna Bryant's fiancÈe.                                                ELIOT                    That's strange. She wasn't wearing an                    engagement ring.                                                PAUL                    Well not quite fiancÈe...                                                ELIOT                    I'm very sorry for your loss Mr. Conran.                                                PAUL                    I'd like to see her.                                                ELIOT                    I'm afraid the viewing isn't until--                                                PAUL                    I'd need to see her now.    If that's                    possible.                                                ELIOT                    I'm sorry. It's not possible.     You're                    not family and--                                                 PAUL                    Please.   It'd only take a minute.                                                ELIOT                    I understand. But--                                                 PAUL                    NO.   YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND!                                   INT. FUNERAL HOME. PREP ROOM - SAME TIME          Anna suddenly hears Paul's loud voice outside.                                               ANNA                                         (WEAKLY)                    Paul! I'm here! Paul!          She frantically beats her fists against the door.                                   EXT. FUNERAL HOME. DRIVEWAY - SAME TIME          Paul quickly controls his anger.    His eyes smart with tears.                                                PAUL                    I tried to stop her.     She didn't hear me.          Paul's voice breaks with emotion. He can't go on. Eliot          gently takes him by the elbow. Leads him back to his car.                                                                     34.                                                                                                 ELIOT                    Mr. Conran.  There really is nothing I                    can do. I'm so sorry.          Paul looks defeated. He simply nods his head.     Eliot          watches him get into his car and drive away.                                   INT. FUNERAL HOME. PREP ROOM - LATER          Anna sits by the door in the darkness. Suddenly the          room's flooded with light. Eliot walks in. Looks at          Anna for a moment. She just stares back at him coldly.          He heads over to the sink.                                                ANNA                    Who was that?                                                  ELIOT                    No one.                                                  ANNA                    No one?          A long beat.                                                  ELIOT                    It was Paul.                                                ANNA                                          (CALMLY)                    I know. I heard you talking to him.                    Why didn't you let him see me?          Eliot smiles. Amused she caught him out.   He continues          washing his hands.                                                ELIOT                    Did you love him?          Anna looks up sharply.   Eliot's clearly hit a nerve.                                                ANNA                    That's none of your business.          Eliot shrugs.   Dries his hands on a white towel.                                                ANNA                    You weren't going to tell me Paul was                    here, were you?                                                  ELIOT                    No.                                                  ANNA                    Why not?                                                                   35.                                                                                                  ELIOT                    Because it would only hurt you. You have                    to let go of the living. Just like they                    have to let go of you.                                                ANNA                    I don't believe you.   Why are you doing                    this to me?          He shakes his head as he drops the towel into a small bin.                                                ELIOT                    You're all the same. You all blame me                    for your death. As if it were my fault.                                               ANNA                    No. You drugged me.    So my mother                                   WOULDN'T--                                                ELIOT                    The others. They just see you as a dead                    body on a slab. Only I can see you as                    you really are.                                                ANNA                    You're crazy!          Eliot's taken aback.    Hurt.                                                ELIOT                    I'm a busy man. I don't have time for this.          He heads to the door. Pulls out his keys and unlocks it.          Just then he remembers something. Turns to her.                                                ELIOT                    Oh I nearly forgot.    How tall are you?                                                  ANNA                    What!?          He looks her up and down.   Gauging her height.                                                  ELIOT                    Five seven.                                                  ANNA                    Why..?                                                ELIOT                    I need to know how tall you are.   For                    your coffin.          Anna's stunned. Eliot looks at her for a moment.     Then          switches off the main lights.                                                                  36.                                                                                                   ANNA                    Wait!          He ignores her.   The door CLICKS shut behind him.                                   INT. FUNERAL HOME. HALLWAY - MOMENTS LATER          Eliot steps into the hallway. Stops by a vase of          flowers. He plucks a dead petal. Crushes it. Curiously          sniffs his fingers. Then heads to the casket room.                                   INT. FUNERAL HOME. PREP ROOM - DAY          CLOSE ON Anna's face. She looks empty. Dispirited.          Just then something catches her attention...          The light from the window glints off a pair of LARGE          SCISSORS on the steel trolley. Anna stumbles to the          trolley. Feeling her way through the semi-darkness.          Grabs the scissors.          Just then she notices a BODY, covered with a white sheet,          lying on a gurney in the corner. She turns away.          Scared. But then, almost against her will, she          approaches the gurney. As if drawn to the body. She          slowly pulls the sheet away...          The dead body of an OLD WOMAN. Staring blindly at Anna          with cloudy opaque eyes. Long greasy gray hair. Shaken,          Anna pushes herself against the wall.                                                 ANNA                    Oh God.   Please. I don't want to die.                                   INT. JACK'S HOUSE. KITCHEN - DAY          Jack carefully cuts something out of a local newspaper.          The loud sounds of a TV blare from another room.                         ON NEWSPAPER          Schoolteacher Dies in Tragic Car Crash.                                   INT. JACK'S HOUSE. LIVING ROOM - MOMENTS LATER          The curtains are drawn. JACK'S MOTHER sits in an          armchair with her back to us watching TV. Jack walks in.                                                JACK                    You were supposed to pick me up from                    school yesterday.          His mother doesn't reply.   Jack moves in front of the TV.                                                                    37.                                                                                                     JACK                       I waited.          His mother doesn't respond.                                   EXT. STREETS - DAY          Jack furiously cycles through empty streets. Past          identical suburban houses with identical prim lawns. He          stops suddenly. Considering something. Then turns and          cycles away purposely.                                   EXT. FUNERAL HOME - DAY          Eliot walks out of the funeral home. We pull back. Jack          stands by his bicycle in the bushes watching him. Eliot          looks up. As if sensing someone was spying on him. Jack          steps back quickly behind a tree.                                   INT. POLICE STATION - DAY          A POLICE OFFICER talks on the phone as Paul walks in.                                                   POLICE OFFICER                                             (INTO PHONE)                       Hang on a sec.                                             (TO PAUL)                       Mr. Conran. Heard about your girlfriend.                       I'm sorry.          Paul nods.    Clearly doesn't want to talk about it.                                                   PAUL                       Is Tom in?                                                   POLICE OFFICER                       The captain just stepped out. He won't                       be long. You can wait in his office if                       you want.                                                    PAUL                       Thanks.   I'll just go and grab a coffee.          As Paul walks away, the Officer returns to the phone.                                                   POLICE OFFICER                                             (INTO PHONE)                       A buddy of the captain's. Poor guy...                                   INT. POLICE STATION. CORRIDOR - MOMENTS LATER          Paul slides a dollar bill into a coffee machine. Presses          his selection. Nothing.                                                                    38.                                                                                                    PAUL                       Come on.          He pushes the button repeatedly.   Then angrily slams the          side of the machine. Nothing.                                                   PAUL                       You piece of shit.          As Paul turns away, he notices a door with a sign on it:          AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY. Paul glances around. Then          quickly walks over to the door.                                   INT. POLICE STATION. GARAGE - MOMENTS LATER          A dozen wrecked cars. Twisted metal. Paul's footsteps          echo through the empty garage. It's dark. Out the          corner of his eye Paul glimpses a SHAPE move quickly          around a pillar. He stops. Unsettled.          Just then we hear a WOMAN'S FOOTSTEPS. Her high-heels          clicking on the concrete floor. There's something          strange about the sound. UNNATURAL. Paul listens          nervously. The footsteps grow fainter. Then fade away.          The garage is silent again. Too quiet.          Paul moves apprehensively over to Anna's GREEN TOYOTA.          The car's a mess. One side's completely caved in. He          touches the car.   Pulls open the door. Squeezes into          the driver's seat.                         ANNA'S CAR          Glass everywhere. Paul glances at the KITSCHY BOBBLEHEAD          DOLL on the dashboard flecked with blood. He places his          hands on the steering wheel. Suddenly he hears a strange          noise. He looks up...          The KITSCHY DOLL. Its head NODDING SLOWLY. Its smiling          face now unnaturally sinister. Turning towards us until          it abruptly stops. Staring straight at us.          Paul looks at the doll transfixed. Just then a PALE          WOMAN'S HAND slowly reaches through the window... and          touches Paul's shoulder. He jumps. Turns.          ANNA stands by the car. Staring blankly at him.   The          color drains from Paul's face.                                   MAN'S VOICE (O.C.)                       Paul?          The Police Captain, Tom Peterson, stands by the car where          Anna was a second ago. He pulls his hand away from          Paul's shoulder. Looks at him with concern.                                                                     39.                                                            Paul gathers his composure. He must have just imagined          Anna was there. He shoves the door open. He's about to          step out when he turns back and grabs the Kitschy Doll.                         GARAGE          Paul gets out awkwardly.    He can't look Tom in the eye.                                                  TOM                    You OK?                                                PAUL                                          (UNCONVINCING)                    I'm fine.                                                TOM                    I just found out. I'm so sorry Paul.       If                    you need anything--                                                PAUL                    I need to see Anna.                                                TOM                                          (PUZZLED)                    What do you mean?                                                PAUL                    The funeral director won't let me see her                    Tom. He says I'm not family. Can you                    talk to him? Put some pressure on him.                                                TOM                    I can't do that.                                                  PAUL                    Tom.    You're my friend.                                                   TOM                    Paul.     I can't do it.          Paul nods slowly.    Tom notices the Kitschy Doll.                                                TOM                    You sure you're OK?                                                  PAUL                    I fucked up.                                                TOM                    Paul. It was an accident. You should                    get some rest. Let me drive you home.                                                PAUL                    I always fuck everything up.                                                                    40.                                                                                     INT. FUNERAL HOME. BASEMENT CORRIDOR - DAY          Eliot stops by a thermostat. Studies it for a moment.          Turns it lower. He glances at his watch. Takes out his          keys from his jacket and moves over to the Prep Room door.                                   INT. FUNERAL HOME. PREP ROOM - MOMENTS LATER          Anna sits on the slab. Her hands behind her back.    She          carefully watches Eliot as he pulls on his pale blue          smock then walks over to a cabinet.          BEHIND ANNA'S BACK          her hands clutch the large scissors.                         PREP ROOM          Eliot opens a cabinet full of boxes of hair dye with          photographs of smiling women. As he prepares the dye he          looks across at Anna. She's staring at something behind          him. Eliot turns. Sees the uncovered body of the Old          Woman on the gurney. He quickly walks over. Carefully          pulls the white sheet over the Old Woman.                                                   ANNA                      Who is she?                                                  ELIOT                      Mrs. Whitehall.          He mixes the dye in a bowl as he moves over to Anna.                                                  ELIOT                      You shouldn't be afraid of her.   The dead                      can't harm the dead.                                                  ANNA                                            (FORCEFULLY)                      But I'm not dead!          Anna's hand suddenly FLIES UP...   she slashes at Eliot's          face with the SCISSORS.          The sharp edge misses his cheek by inches. Eliot drops          the bowl. Stumbles back against the steel trolley.          Instruments crash to the floor.          Anna staggers to the door. Her legs weak. Her long lank          hair falling over her eyes. She frantically wrenches at          the door handle but it's locked. Eliot gets up. Slowly          moves towards Anna. She turns. Raises the scissors.                                                  ANNA                      Stay where you are.                                                                     41.                                                                                                    ELIOT                             (holds out his hand)                      Give me the scissors. I only want to                      help you.                                                  ANNA                      Don't come any closer.     I swear to God                      I'll kill you.          Eliot walks right up to her.     His face now inches from hers.                                                  ELIOT                                            (CALMLY)                      Go ahead.          Anna doesn't move. Eliot looks her steadily in the eye.          He reaches for her hand. Slowly. Deliberately. He brings          the scissors to his cheek. Then lets go of Anna's hand.          CLOSE ON ELIOT'S FACE          The sharp tip pushes into his skin.                                                  ELIOT                      Go on.                         PREP ROOM          For a moment we think she might do it.      But then she wavers.                                                  ELIOT                      What are you waiting for?          Anna's confidence falters. She slowly lowers her hand.          The scissors fall onto the floor. Anna looks down          defeated. Her breath labored. Suddenly she realizes...                                                  ANNA                      I'm breathing!                             (raises her head)                      Look. I'm still alive!                                                  ELIOT                      You think you're still alive because                      you're still attached to life. It's                      normal. You're just imagining you still                      have symptoms of life.          She's not listening. Eliot takes a roll of paper towels.          Kneels down, picks up the bowl of dye and mops up the mess.                                                  ANNA                      Maybe I was in some kind of coma. The                      doctors made a mistake. They're always                      making mistakes.                                                   ELIOT                      You died.   Everyone dies.                                                                     42.                                                                                                  ANNA                    How can I be dead if we're talking?          He stands up.    Sighs wearily.                                                 ELIOT                    We're talking not because you're alive.                    But because I have a gift.                                          (BEAT)                    I can talk to those between life and death.                                                  ANNA                    Why?                                                ELIOT                    To help them make the transition.          Anna's stunned. For the first time we sense a seed of          doubt in her mind.                                                ANNA                    Is this what happens when you die?                                                ELIOT                    It depends on how you lived your life.                                                ANNA                    What do you mean?                                                ELIOT                    Not everyone needs my help. Some let                    go as soon as their body dies. Others                    don't let go until long after they're                    in the grave.                                                ANNA                    Am I a ghost? Is that why I'm here?                                                ELIOT                    You're here so I can bury you.          Anna's silent. Trying to make sense of what she's just          heard. Eliot takes her arm. Leads her to the slab.                                                  ELIOT                    Come.    We've wasted enough time already.          She lies down submissively. Suddenly very tired.       Eliot          leans over her to apply what's left of the dye.                                                  ANNA                                            (WHISPERS)                    No.    Please. I don't want--                                                ELIOT                    You're a corpse. Your opinion doesn't                    count anymore.                                                                   43.                                                                                                  ANNA                    But I can breathe.     I must be alive.          She weakly pushes him away. Anger flashes across Eliot's          face, but just as quickly he controls it.                                                ELIOT                    You people. You all think that if you                    breathe, shit, piss you're alive.          Anna doesn't know what to say.                                                ELIOT                    You clutch onto life as if your life was                    worth clutching onto. Was your life                    worth clutching onto Anna?          Anna turns her head away.   Clearly he's struck a chord.                                                 ELIOT                    Was it?   Maybe you died a long time ago.          Eliot rips off his latex gloves.    Tosses them into a bin.                                                ELIOT                    I have to tell you I'm surprised you're                    still arguing with me. You don't have                    much time left.                           (gestures to the Old Women)                    Look. She's accepted her death. Her                    life has been examined. She has no more                    regrets. And now she's at peace. She                    used her time well. You still have so                    much to learn.                                                ANNA                    I have nothing to learn!                                                ELIOT                    Are you sure?          Eliot stands in the doorway. He switches off the light.          His body silhouetted by the light from the hallway.                                                ELIOT                    Your funeral's in three days. Soon                    you'll be enclosed in a coffin. Then                    buried in the ground. No-one will hear                    you then. No-one will talk to you there.          The door clicks shut behind him. Anna doesn't move.          Clearly unsettled by Eliot's words. After a moment she          looks at the Old Woman. She moves over. Hesitantly          pulls away the white sheet. Stares at the Old Woman          curiously. Then tentatively touches her cheek.                                                ANNA                    Are you cold?                                                                        44.                                                            She takes the Old Woman's hand.      Strokes her paper-thin skin.                                                    ANNA                      I'm so cold.          Anna notices the Old Woman's plastic ankle tag.          ON PLASTIC ANKLE TAG          Name: Carol Whitehall.     Sex: F.   DOB: 11.02.30.                         PREP ROOM                                                  ANNA                      You had a long life.          Anna turns back.   Studies the Old Woman's serene face.                                                   ANNA                      You look so peaceful.                                            (BEAT)                      Aren't you scared?          Anna's eyes fill with tears.                                                    ANNA                      I'm scared.    I'm so scared.                                   INT. JACK'S HOUSE. BEDROOM - NIGHT          Jack lies in bed staring at the ceiling. On his bedside          table an alarm clock reads 2.38AM. He looks across at an          Anglepoise lamp in the corner of the room bent over an open          shoebox. He gets up. Walks towards the muted light.          The SMALL CHICK huddles in the shoebox. It looks dead even          though it's eyes are open. Jack's about to reach into the          box. Then changes his mind. He looks at the lamp. Switches          it off. After a moment he switches it back on again.                                   INT. PAUL'S APARTMENT. LIVING ROOM - NIGHT          Paul stands motionless in the middle of the room. Staring          blankly into space. The room feels empty and depressing.          He suddenly looks around. Not quite sure why he came into          the room in the first place. He moves over to a CD player.          Mechanically switches it on. Music fills the room. He          turns the volume higher. Then all the way up. The music's          unbearably loud but Paul just stands there. Numb.                         ON PAUL          The music's strangely distorted now.        Almost silent.   As          if we were inside Paul's head.                                                                    45.                                                                                     INT. FUNERAL HOME. PREP ROOM - NIGHT          Anna lies on the slab. Curled in a fetal position. O.S.          we hear the UNNATURALLY LOUD metallic drip of a faulty          faucet. Slow. Rhythmical. Anna opens her eyes. Stares          at us. Terrified. Then she turns her head.          The Old Woman sits on the other slab. Slowly brushing          her tangled gray hair with a silver backed brush.          Anna looks around anxiously. The room is strangely          larger. The perspective not quite right. Certain          objects look absurdly small or abnormally large. She          notices a TINY DOOR. Half hidden by a steel trolley.          The door's slightly ajar. Anna's surprised.          The Old Woman shakes her head. Staring blindly at Anna          with opaque eyes. Anna ignores her. Moves quickly to          the tiny door. As she approaches, the door seems to grow          to normal size.          Then we realize it's Anna who has shrunk. The steel          trolley now towers high above her. The massive          instruments on the trolley look like menacing insects          cast in surgical steel. She opens the door. Revealing a          solid wall of DARKNESS.          FROM INSIDE THE DARKNESS          the small shape of Anna in the doorway. The huge dark          space engulfs her. The only light comes from the Prep          Room behind her.                         PREP ROOM          Anna reaches forward. Her hand disappears into the thick          blackness. She snatches her hand back. Scared. Then...          ...a CHILD'S HAND darts out of the darkness. Grabs Anna's          wrist. Pulling her in with surprising strength. Anna          struggles to free herself. But the hand drags her deeper          into the darkness. The door slams shut behind her.                                   INT. DARKNESS          Anna stands in the black empty space.                                   GIRL'S VOICE (O.S.)                      I'm disappointed with you.          An innocent looking YOUNG GIRL (6) materializes out of          the blackness. She looks like a young Anna.                                                    ANNA                      Who are you?                                                                   46.                                                            The Young Girl walks slowly towards Anna.                                                  GIRL                      You promised me so many things.                                            (AMUSED)                      You don't recognize me?          Anna shakes her head.                                                  GIRL                      I am you. I've been waiting for you.                      You shouldn't have disappointed me.          The Girl now looks strangely malevolent. Anna steps back          terrified. Turns. But there's no door anymore.                                   INT. FUNERAL HOME. PREP ROOM - SAME TIME          The Old Woman stands alone in the middle of the room.          Braiding her long hair.                                                  OLD WOMAN                      You're not ready.                                          CUT TO A SEARING WHITENESS.                                   INT. FUNERAL HOME. VIEWING ROOM - DAY          A small congregation of MOURNERS sit in the white chairs.          "AVE MARIA" plays quietly in the b.g. A MAN leans over          the casket paying his respects.                         ON CASKET          The Old Woman.   Her long hair braided.   She looks serene.                                   INT. FUNERAL HOME. PREP ROOM - SAME TIME          "AVE MARIA" filters into the room. Anna opens her eyes.          She's confused. She gets up awkwardly. Looks around the          room. The other slab's empty. The Old Woman's gone.          Anna stumbles over to the trolley. Pushes it aside.          Desperately searching for the tiny door. She touches the          wall. There's nothing there. Frustrated she turns to a          counter crowded with instruments. She sweeps her arm          across the counter top in rage. Sending everything          crashing to the floor.                                   INT. FUNERAL HOME. VIEWING ROOM - DAY          The funeral's over. Eliot takes out a wilted bouquet of          flowers from a vase.                                                                      47.                                                            In the b.g. Jack stands half-hidden in the doorway.          Glancing around in fascination. A flower in his hand.                                                ELIOT                           (to Jack without looking up)                    Can I help you?          Jack steps back timidly.   Eliot looks up.   Smiles.                                                ELIOT                    Then perhaps you can help me.                           (holds up the withered flowers)                    Could you throw these away for me?          Jack nods hesitantly.   Moves over and takes the flowers.                                                 ELIOT                    Thank-you.          Eliot turns and arranges fresh flowers in the vase.                         ON JACK          as he looks at the wilted flowers.    He crushes a petal          then sniffs his fingers.                                 ELIOT (O.C.)                    There's no life left in them.                         VIEWING ROOM          Jack looks up.   Eliot's watching him carefully.                                                ELIOT                    They belong in the garbage.          Jack turns to leave.                                                ELIOT                    I've seen you round here before.          Jack's suddenly nervous.                                                ELIOT                    Did you know Mrs. Whitehall?                                                JACK                    I thought it was Miss Bryant's funeral.                                                ELIOT                    Ah. Miss Bryant. No.       Her funeral's not                    until Friday.                                                JACK                    Where is she now?          Eliot considers the question for a moment.                                                                    48.                                                                                                  ELIOT                    She's downstairs.                                                   JACK                    Why?                                                 ELIOT                    Why?  Because she's not ready.                                          (BEAT)                    Is the flower for her?                                                 JACK                                          (NODS)                    She was my teacher.                                                   ELIOT                    And you are?                                                   JACK                    Jack.          Jack holds out his hand. A serious look on his face.          Eliot's amused. He shakes Jack's hand.                                                    ELIOT                    Well Jack.      What did you think?                                                   JACK                    About what?                                                ELIOT                    Mrs. Whitehall's funeral.     Did you find                    it interesting?                                                JACK                                          (SHRUGS)                    It was OK I guess.                                                   ELIOT                    Oh.    I see.                                                JACK                    Are all funerals the same?                                                ELIOT                    No Jack. They're never the same. Each                    one is special. The dead always speak to                    us in different ways.                                                JACK                                          (CURIOUS NOW)                    What do you mean?          Eliot finished arranging the flowers.     He glances at his          watch. Smiles at Jack.                                                ELIOT                    It was a pleasure talking to you Jack.                                                                   49.                                                            Jack's intrigued.   He watches Eliot walk out of the room.                                   INT. FUNERAL HOME. BASEMENT CORRIDOR - MOMENTS LATER          As Eliot heads to the Prep Room, we hear a MUFFLED CRASH          from inside. Eliot quickly pulls out his keys. Moves to          the door. Just then Eliot hears a creaking sound behind          him. He turns. Jack's at the top of the stairs.          Staring down curiously at the Prep Room door.          Eliot observes him cautiously. Did Jack hear the sound          as well? Jack looks back at Eliot. Smiles. Then          without a word, turns and heads back up the stairs.                                   INT. FUNERAL HOME. PREP ROOM - MOMENTS LATER          Anna sits on the floor in the middle of the room.          Hugging her legs to her chest. Rocking to and fro.          Surrounded by broken glass, torn papers and instruments.          Eliot enters the room. Coldly surveys the destruction.                                                ELIOT                                          (ANGRY)                    Why did you do this?          Anna ignores him.   Eliot strides over to her.                                                ELIOT                    WHY DID YOU DO THIS?          Anna stares at him blankly.                                                ANNA                    Is this the afterlife?    Am I in heaven?                    Or am I in hell?          Strangely Eliot's not surprised.   He nods his head.   His          anger gone now.                                                ANNA                    The door...                                          (POINTS DISTRACTEDLY)                    There was a door. Just there.                                                ELIOT                                          (GENTLY)                    It won't be long now.                                                ANNA                    I used to believe in God. I thought I'd                    see him when I died. Instead I saw you.          Eliot softly strokes her hair.    Comforting her.                                                                     50.                                                                                                  ANNA                                          (WHISPERS)                    Maybe you are God.                                                ELIOT                    You'll be at peace soon.     I promise.          For a moment we see a deep sadness in Eliot's eyes. He's          conflicted. But then abruptly he pulls himself together.          Moves away and starts clearing up. Anna closes her eyes.          Hugs her legs closer to her chest.                                                 ANNA                    Paul.          She lets out a DESPONDENT SIGH.   The SIGH carries into          the next scene...                                   EXT. CEMETERY - DAY          The tall trees stand motionless amongst the graves. A          sudden GUST OF WIND bends the dense foliage. Their          leaves ripple. Languid and fluid like a wave. RUSTLING          EERILY. The sound almost malevolent.                                   INT. PAUL'S APARTMENT. BEDROOM - DAY          Paul's red-rimmed eyes snap open. He lies on his bed          fully clothed. An empty bottle of bourbon on the bedside          table. Behind him the curtains stir.          The KITSCHY DOLL'S head begins to slowly nod. Turning          towards us. We hear the eerie rustling sound again.          Like a MURMURING WHISPER...                                  ANNA (O.S.)                                           (WHISPERS)                    Paul.          Paul turns quickly. Sees the open window. It's only the          wind. He shivers. It suddenly got very cold. He gets          up and closes the window. The WHISPERING starts again.          This time from the bathroom.          Paul walks over to the bathroom door. As he touches the          door handle... the whispering STOPS. Paul hesitates.          The room's strangely silent. He slowly opens the door...                                   INT. PAUL'S APARTMENT. BATHROOM - CONTINUOUS          Nothing. The bathroom's empty. Paul looks around          nervously. He catches the reflection of his pallid face          in the mirror. Leans wearily against the washbasin.                                                                    51.                                                            Water DRIPS from a leaky pipe. The fluorescent bulb over          the mirror CRACKLES softly. Paul turns on the taps.          Splashes cold water on his face. He's about to reach for          a towel when he senses something. He cocks his head          slightly. A feeling.          He turns and checks out the bathroom. Nothing. Paul          dries his face. As he replaces the towel... the sound of          dripping water ABRUPTLY STOPS. Silence.          Suddenly the SHOWER STARTS RUNNING.          Paul's paralyzed with fear. Steam wreathes the room in a          cloud of vapor. He turns slowly towards the shower.                         PAUL'S POV          Anna stands in front of the shower with her back to him.          She slips off her bathrobe and hangs it on a hook. Then          her hand moves to her chest. There's a STRANGE WET          SUCKING sound...          ...as Anna rips out her heart and hangs it casually on          the hook next to her bathrobe.          ON THE STILL BEATING HEART          dripping crimson blood onto the bone white tiles.                         BATHROOM                                                    PAUL                                              (WHISPERS)                       Anna.          Anna turns slowly. Her skin's like alabaster. Unnaturally          translucent. A bloody gash where her heart used to be.          The steam from the shower curls around her like a mist.          She looks hauntingly beautiful. Mesmerizing. A line of          thick black fluid trickles from her nose. Paul turns          away. Horrified. When he turns back a second later          Anna's not there. The bathroom's empty. The shower's          not even running.                                   INT. JACK'S HOUSE. KITCHEN - EVENING          Jack opens the fridge. It's almost empty. He takes out          a carton of milk. Sniffs it. Recoils from the smell.          From the living room we hear the LOUD sound of a TV.                                                     JACK                                               (SHOUTS)                       Mom!    We're out of milk.          There's no reply.      Jack grabs his jacket.                                                                   52.                                                                                     INT. FUNERAL HOME. PREP ROOM - EVENING          Anna's still sitting on the floor. The place is clean          and ordered again. She watches Eliot unzip a garment          bag. He lifts out a plain black dress.                                                    ANNA                      What's that?                                                  ELIOT                      It's your dress. For your funeral. Your                      mother brought it round this morning.          As Eliot takes out a pair of shiny black shoes from a          plastic bag, Anna moves haltingly over to the dress. She          touches the material puzzled.                                                  ANNA                      This isn't my dress.                             (realizes with shock)                      This is my mother's dress! It was                      supposed to be for her funeral. Why has                      she given it to me?          Eliot starts folding the plastic bag. He notices          something else inside. He opens the bag. Hesitates then          takes something out.          ON ELIOT'S HAND          An old-fashioned wooden rosary.                         PREP ROOM          Eliot looks at it for a moment. Then glances over at          Anna. She's still staring at the dress. He opens a          drawer beneath the counter. It's full of rosaries and          printed Holy cards. He quickly drops the rosary into the          drawer. Closes it. Then turns back to Anna.                                                  ANNA                      It should have been her not me.                             (turns to Eliot)                      She was the one dying. Not me.          Eliot unlocks the door. Jams it open with a door stop.          Slips his keys back into his jacket pocket. Takes off          his jacket and hangs it up. He moves over to a          collapsible gurney folded on the floor. Bends down and          snaps open the side-rails. Anna looks at the open door.                                                  ANNA                      I'm not ready to die.          Eliot looks up at Anna sadly.                                                                   53.                                                                                                    ELIOT                      Why are you still struggling?                                                  ANNA                                            (PLAINTIVELY)                      I'm not ready to die.   Not yet.          She glances at the open door again.    Eliot follows her look.                                                  ELIOT                      There's nothing out there for you                      anymore.          As Eliot turns back to the gurney, Anna notices Eliot's          jacket hanging beside her. Realizes the KEYS are in the          pocket. She quickly glances back at Eliot. He's still          busy adjusting the gurney. She leans over to his jacket.                         ON ELIOT          as he gets up and turns to Anna.                         PREP ROOM          Anna looks at him calmly. We can't tell if she managed to          get his keys or not. Eliot pulls on his jacket and wheels          the gurney through the door. He steps back into the room.          Nudges the door stop away with his foot.                                                  ELIOT                      I'll be back soon.          The door locks behind him with a CLICK.                                   EXT. FUNERAL HOME. DRIVEWAY - MOMENTS LATER          Eliot pushes the gurney to a WHITE VAN with black tinted          windows (Note: The same kind of van that cut in front of          Anna just before the accident).                                   INT. FUNERAL HOME. PREP ROOM - SAME TIME          Anna listens anxiously to the CRUNCH of Eliot's feet on          the gravel outside. After a moment she hears the van          drive away. She unfurls her fist revealing Eliot's keys.                                   INT/EXT. ELIOT'S VAN. STREETS - MOMENTS LATER          As Eliot slides in a CD he notices the fuel gauge. He's          low on gas. He glances into his rear-view mirror and          makes a left turn.                                                                  54.                                                                                     INT. FUNERAL HOME. PREP ROOM - SAME TIME          Anna staggers to the door. There's at least a dozen keys.          She frantically chooses one and shoves it into the lock.                                                ANNA                           (begging the door to open)                    Please.          It doesn't fit. She's panicking. She fumbles for          another key. It almost fits. She forces it. The key          SNAPS OFF LOUDLY in the lock.                                                ANNA                    No!          Anna looks around desperately. Sees a tray of instruments          on the steel trolley. She scrambles over. Finds a pair of          surgical pliers. She moves back to the door.                                   EXT. GAS STATION - LATER          Eliot replaces the pump nozzle.   Walks over to the cashier.                                                CASHIER                    Thirty-four fifty.          In the b.g. Jack, a carton of milk in his hand, steps out          of the gas station. Eliot doesn't notice him as he pulls          out a roll of notes. Hands over two twenties. Then he          frowns. Something's wrong. He checks his pockets again.          He can't find his keys. He walks quickly away.                                                 CASHIER                    Sir.   Your change.          Eliot ignores him. Scrambles into his van. Intrigued,          Jack watches Eliot drive away. Then unlocks his bicycle.                                   INT. FUNERAL HOME. PREP ROOM - SAME TIME          Anna's still trying to pry out the broken key.                                                ANNA                                          (DESPERATELY)                    Come on. Come on.                                   INT/EXT. ELIOT'S VAN. STREETS - SAME TIME          Eliot's at a red light. Drumming his fingers in          frustration as he waits for the light to change.                                                                    55.                                                                                     INT. FUNERAL HOME. PREP ROOM - MOMENTS LATER          Finally Anna pulls out the broken key. Quickly chooses          another. Turns it gently. Again it doesn't fit. Anna's          hysterical now. She tries the next key. It fits! She's          stunned for a second. Then pulls open the door.                                   INT/EXT. ELIOT'S VAN. STREETS - SAME TIME          Eliot turns sharply into a small road by the cemetery.                                   INT. FUNERAL HOME. ENTRANCE HALL - NIGHT          Anna staggers to the front door. She pulls at the door.          It won't open. Frantically she finds the key. Unlocks the          door, leaving the keys in the lock. As she opens the door,          HEADLIGHTS sweep across the hallway.                         ANNA'S POV          Eliot's van pulls up in front of the house.                         ENTRANCE HALL          Anna's trapped. We hear the CRUNCH of Eliot's footsteps          on the gravel outside. Anna looks round desperately.                                   EXT. FUNERAL HOME. DRIVEWAY - NIGHT          Eliot reaches the front door. It's slightly ajar.   He          pushes it open. Steps warily inside.                                   INT. FUNERAL HOME. ENTRANCE HALL - CONTINUOUS          Eliot looks around. The entrance hall's empty.   Then he          notices the keys in the lock.                                   INT. FUNERAL HOME. KITCHEN - MOMENTS LATER          It's dark. Anna pulls at the back door. It won't budge.          She panics. Sees a kitchen knife on the counter.          Quickly grabs it. As she steps back, she knocks over a          metal bucket. The sound's DEAFENING in the silent house.                                   INT. FUNERAL HOME. ENTRANCE HALL - CONTINUOUS          Eliot hears the NOISE. Smiles. He calmly locks the door          and puts the keys into his pocket. Moves down the          hallway towards the kitchen.                                                                       56.                                                                                     INT. FUNERAL HOME. KITCHEN - MOMENTS LATER          Eliot switches on the light.   The kitchen's empty.    He          steps back into the hallway.                                   INT. FUNERAL HOME. HALLWAY - CONTINUOUS          He stands very still.    Watching.   Waiting.   We pull back.          JUST AROUND THE CORNER          Anna pushes herself against the wall clutching the knife.                         HALLWAY          Eliot turns towards her... then at the last moment          changes his mind. Heads in the opposite direction          towards the viewing room.                                   INT. FUNERAL HOME. VIEWING ROOM - MOMENTS LATER          Eliot steps carefully into the viewing room. Looks          around. Just then we hear the sound of bare feet          STAMPING along the hallway behind him.                                   INT. FUNERAL HOME. ENTRANCE HALL - SAME TIME          Anna runs to the front door. It's locked. She glances          around anxiously. Sees a staircase leading upstairs.          She weakly stumbles up the stairs.                                   INT. FUNERAL HOME. UPSTAIRS CORRIDOR - MOMENTS LATER          Anna walks along the corridor. She peers into a room.          Notices a TELEPHONE on a table. She moves over to the          telephone. The door CREAKS closed behind her.                                   INT. FUNERAL HOME. ENTRANCE HALL - SAME TIME          Eliot hears the CREAKING DOOR upstairs.    He cocks his          head upwards. Straining to listen.                                   INT. FUNERAL HOME. UPSTAIRS ROOM - MOMENTS LATER          Anna frantically punches the buttons on the phone.                                   INT. PAUL'S APARTMENT. KITCHEN - SAME TIME          A telephone RINGS in the empty kitchen.                                                                 57.                                                                                     INT. FUNERAL HOME. UPSTAIRS ROOM - SAME TIME          Anna rocks back and forth as she anxiously listens to the          RINGING on the other end.                                                ANNA                                          (DESPERATELY)                    Please pick up. Please pick up.                                   INT. FUNERAL HOME. STAIRS - SAME TIME          Eliot slowly climbs the stairs.                                   INT. PAUL'S APARTMENT. KITCHEN - SAME TIME          The phone continues to RING. We pull back. Paul stares          at the phone blankly. A drink in his hand. He looks          worse than before. Dark circles under his eyes.                                   INT. FUNERAL HOME. UPSTAIRS ROOM - SAME TIME          Anna glances back to the door in panic.                                                 ANNA                    Paul.   Please pick up.                                   INT. PAUL'S APARTMENT. KITCHEN - SAME TIME          Finally Paul reaches across and picks up the phone.                                   INT. FUNERAL HOME. UPSTAIRS ROOM - SAME TIME          Anna cups her hand around the mouthpiece.                                               ANNA                                         (FRENZIED WHISPER)                    Paul. I'm here.                                   INT. PAUL'S APARTMENT. KITCHEN - SAME TIME                                 ANNA (O.S.)                                          (FILTERED)                    Help me Paul.          Anna's HOARSE DISTORTED VOICE sounds almost malevolent.          Paul's stunned. He stares at the phone as if it was          possessed. Then slowly puts it down.                                                PAUL                    Leave me alone.                                                                    58.                                                                                     INT. FUNERAL HOME. UPSTAIRS ROOM - SAME TIME          Anna looks at the phone in disbelief. The MONOTONOUS          TONE DRONES in the ear piece. She doesn't notice Eliot          appear in the doorway.                                                   ANNA                      Paul.          Suddenly the light comes on.                                                  ELIOT                      I'm the only one who can hear you now.          Anna drops the phone. Backs away towards a window.      Eliot          walks over and calmly replaces the phone.                                                  ELIOT                      I'd be very careful if I were you. The                      dead have such a hold over the living.                                                  ANNA                      What do you mean?                                                  ELIOT                             (nods to the phone)                      He still feels your presence. You're                      only causing him more pain. If you                      really loved him, you'd accept your death                      and let him go.                                                  ANNA                      Then prove to me I'm really dead.                                                   ELIOT                      You people.   You always need proof.          Eliot places his hands on her shoulders.    Turns her          towards a tall mirror.                         ON MIRROR          A PALE CADAVEROUS WOMAN. Sunken eyes.      A blood-stained          tear in the side of her RED SLIP.                         UPSTAIRS ROOM          Anna's stunned. She moves closer to the mirror.      Touches          her reflection through a thin layer of dust.                                                  ANNA                      Why do I look like a corpse?                                                  ELIOT                      Because you are a corpse.                                                                    59.                                                                           ON MIRROR          Anna stares blankly at her image in the mirror.                                    ELIOT (O.C.)                       It's time you finally accepted the truth.                       You are dead. You will never live again.                                                   ANNA                       I am dead.                         UPSTAIRS ROOM          Eliot smiles. Like a father proud of his child's first          step. Just then he notices something outside. We see a          brief flicker of unease in Eliot's eyes.                         ELIOT'S POV          Jack stands in the driveway holding his bicycle.    Looking          up at the Funeral Home. Transfixed.                                   EXT. FUNERAL HOME. DRIVEWAY                         JACK'S POV          Anna in her RED SLIP by the mirror. She looks frightening          in the harsh light. Deathly pale. Like a ghost.                         DRIVEWAY          Strangely Jack isn't scared. He continues staring up at          the window. Calmly. Curiously.                                   INT. FUNERAL HOME. UPSTAIRS ROOM - SAME TIME          Eliot coolly turns back to Anna. She hasn't noticed          Jack. Still staring at her reflection in the mirror.                                   INT. PAUL'S APARTMENT. KITCHEN - MOMENTS LATER          Paul stares at the telephone. After a moment he slowly          pulls the telephone plug out of the wall. Mechanically          grabs a plastic bin liner from underneath the sink.                                   INT. PAUL'S APARTMENT. BEDROOM - MOMENTS LATER          Paul opens the wardrobe. Pulls out Anna's clothes. Stuffs          them into the bin liner. He notices the Kitschy Doll.          Shoves it in with Anna's clothes.                                                                    60.                                                                                     INT. FUNERAL HOME. PREP ROOM - DAY          Anna lies on the slab. She stares at us blankly. Her          face emotionless. Resigned. Eliot rinses her hair now          dyed back to brown. She slowly closes her eyes.          CLOSE ON RED DYE draining into the sink.          Eliot picks up the scissors. Carefully slices open          Anna's red slip. Delicately peels the slip off her body.          Anna doesn't react.          CLOSE ON Anna. She opens her eyes. Confused.     She turns          her head... she's in PAUL'S BEDROOM.                                   INT. PAUL'S APARTMENT. BEDROOM - CONTINUOUS          Paul lies in bed next to her watching her intently.     He          looks different. Clean shaven. Sober.                                                ANNA                                          (RELIEVED)                    Oh God.                                                  PAUL                    Bad dream?                                                ANNA                    I was dead. I had a car accident.     Did                    you ever dream you were dead?          Paul doesn't reply.    She turns... the bed's empty.                                                  ANNA                    Paul?                                   PAUL (O.C.)                    Yes?          Anna looks up. Paul's in the doorway.    She gets up.          Suddenly the light goes off.                                                  ANNA                    Paul.          The light comes back on.   Paul stands by the light switch.                                                ANNA                    What are you doing?                                                PAUL                           (puts his finger to his lips)                    Ssh. Don't talk so loud. You'll wake                    the neighbors.                                                                 61.                                                            Anna's getting nervous.    Something's not right.                                                ANNA                    What neighbors? You don't have any                    neighbors.          Suddenly he looks at her reproachfully.                                                PAUL                    Did you ever love me Anna?          CLOSE ON Anna's face.    She looks away guiltily.                                    PAUL (O.C.)                    Did you?          Anna closes her eyes.    Unable to answer.                                    PAUL (O.C.)                    Say it.     Say you love me.          Suddenly we hear the strident ringing of a phone.                                                ANNA                    Aren't you going to pick it up?                                    PAUL (O.C.)                    Me?   No.    It's probably for Eliot.          Anna's eyes snap open in shock...                                   INT. FUNERAL HOME. PREP ROOM - CONTINUOUS          Eliot stands over her. We're back in the PREP ROOM.   We          hear the faint ringing of a phone from upstairs.                                                ANNA                    Is it always like this?                                                ELIOT                    What do you mean?                                                 ANNA                    I thought when you died you wouldn't                    feel anything. You wouldn't feel any                    more pain. You wouldn't have to                    struggle anymore.                                          (BEAT)                    But it just doesn't stop does it?          Upstairs the phone keeps on ringing.                                                                 62.                                                                                     INT. FUNERAL HOME. ELIOT'S OFFICE - MOMENTS LATER          Eliot takes notes as he talks on the phone. He looks at          a day calendar on his desk. Idly flips over the page          from Tuesday to Wednesday.                                                 ELIOT                    No.   It's no problem at all.          He glances at his watch.                                                ELIOT                    I'll pick up the deceased from the                    hospital. Yes. This afternoon? That'll                    be fine. It's my pleasure Mr. Merano.                                   INT. HOSPITAL MORGUE - DAY          GRAY BODIES lie on steel tables. Eliot moves over to one          of the CORPSES. Examines it with professional interest.          Just then the Old Guy walks in with the Pale Assistant          pushing a gurney with a BODY wrapped in plastic sheeting.                                                OLD GUY                    Well here he is. Frank Merano.          The Old Guy hands Eliot a clipboard. The Assistant          unties the rope. Pulls the plastic sheeting away.                         ON BODY          FRANK (40s), the top half of his head has been flattened.          His head split open. Grotesquely distorting his face.                                  ASSISTANT (O.C.)                    Ouch.   That had to hurt.                         MORGUE          Eliot glances at the Assistant with disdain. Signs the          release form and hands the clipboard back to the Old Guy.                                   INT. ELEMENTARY SCHOOL. TEACHERS' COMMON ROOM - DAY          Paul stands by a PRINCIPAL as they watch a JANITOR snap          off the padlock on Anna's locker.                                                PRINCIPAL                                          (TO PAUL)                    I'll leave you to sort out her things.                                                PAUL                    Thank you.                                                                   63.                                                            The Principal and Janitor walk away. Paul reaches inside          the locker. Pulls out a stack of exercise books. An          empty pills bottle. Then he notices something in the          back of the locker. He pulls it out.          It's a PHOTOGRAPH of Paul and Anna together on vacation.          Smiling. Happy. Paul looks at it for a moment. Trying          hard to hold back his emotions.                                   INT. ELEMENTARY SCHOOL. CORRIDOR - LATER          The DEAFENING NOISE of schoolchildren.    Paul weaves his          way through the crowded corridor.                                  JACK (O.C.)                    Mr. Conran?                                                PAUL                                          (TURNS)                    Yes?                                                 JACK                    My name's Jack. Miss Bryant was my                    teacher.                                          (BEAT)                    I saw her last night.          Paul looks at Jack coldly for a second.    Then walks away.          Jack follows him.                                                JACK                    I was going past the funeral home. Miss                    Bryant stood there. In the window. In a                    red dress.                                                PAUL                                          (IRRITATED)                    Anna doesn't have a red dress.                                                JACK                    You think I'm lying.   I'm not lying.          Paul stops.   Turns to Jack angrily.                                                PAUL                    Look...                           (trying to remember his name)                    Jack. I'm in no mood--                                                JACK                    She needs your help.                                               PAUL                                         (SHOUTS)                    Jack. Anna's dead.          Paul's words ECHO loudly.   The bustling corridor goes silent.                                                                    64.                                                                                                  PAUL                           (almost to himself)                    I can't help her anymore.          Paul turns and walks away.    Jack grabs his arm.                                                JACK                    Maybe you just don't love her anymore?          Paul turns and hits Jack with the back of his hand.     Jack          falls to the ground. Paul stands over him enraged.                                                PAUL                    You little fuck. You think this is funny?          He's about to hit Jack again when a STOCKY TEACHER grabs          him. Paul tries to struggle loose.                                                STOCKY TEACHER                    Hey!          The CHILDREN stare at Paul. A SECURITY GUARD runs across          talking into a walkie-talkie. Another TEACHER bends down.                                                TEACHER                    Are you alright sweetie?          Jack nods numbly. Looking up all the time at Paul.      The          Security Guard grabs Paul's arm.                                                SECURITY GUARD                    The police are on their way.          Paul watches Jack stand shakily.   Realizes what he's          done. He reaches out to Jack.                                                PAUL                    Jack... I'm sorry...                                                SECURITY GUARD                    Step back sir.                                   INT. ELEMENTARY SCHOOL. SECURITY ROOM - DAY          Paul sits at a table. Staring blankly at a row of CCTV          monitors. The door opens. Tom walks in.                                                TOM                    You're lucky.                                                PAUL                    Am I?                                                TOM                    They're not pressing charges.                                                                         65.                                                            Paul doesn't look up.     He's miles away.                                                   TOM                       What the hell's wrong with you?                              (holds his fingers close together)                       You're this close to fucking up your                       career.                                                   PAUL                              (suddenly looks up)                       You know what he told me? He told me                       Anna's alive.                                                   TOM                       You didn't believe him did you?                                                    PAUL                       No.   Of course not.          Tom's relieved. Paul turns back to the monitors.     The          ghostly figure of a YOUNG FEMALE TEACHER drifts          hypnotically across the screen.                                                   PAUL                       It's just... I'm having these...                                                   TOM                       What?                                                    PAUL                       Nothing.   Forget it.                                   INT. FUNERAL HOME. PREP ROOM - DAY          Eliot leans over Frank's body on the slab. Rolling a          ball of wax in his hands to warm it up. He gently moves          Frank's head to one side. In the b.g. Anna lies on her          slab watching Eliot work.                         ANNA'S POV          Frank stares back at her with open dull eyes. His face          partially reconstructed with plaster of Paris.                         PREP ROOM          Eliot smooths the wax over the plaster to give Frank's          face a more natural texture. Then picks up a piece of          wire with a fishhook-like barb at each end.                                    ANNA (O.C.)                       What's that for?          Eliot looks up surprised. Anna stands beside him.        He          leans down. Peels back Frank's upper lip.                                                                     66.                                                                                                   ELIOT                    His mouth.   To keep it closed.          Eliot imbeds one barb into the upper gum then pries back          Frank's lower lip. He attaches the other barb into the          lower gum, then twists the wires tightly together. He          picks up two plastic caps covered in small knobs.                                                ELIOT                    Now his eyes.          He inserts the caps into Frank's eyes. Pulls his eyelids          over them. Glues the eyelids together.                                                ANNA                    Is this how you'll prepare my body?          Eliot looks at her for a moment.   Smiles reassuringly.                                               ELIOT                    No. There's no need. I had to rebuild                    his face. You're still beautiful.                                                ANNA                    Does he have family?                                                  ELIOT                    Yes.    A brother. He's coming in later.          Anna touches the white sheet covering Frank's body.                                                ANNA                    My mother... She didn't cry did she?                    When she came to see me?                                                ELIOT                           (shakes his head)                    I'm sorry.                                                 ANNA                    And Paul?                                                ELIOT                    It's not important anymore.                                                ANNA                    I need to know.                                                  ELIOT                                            (HESITATES)                    No.    He didn't cry.          We see a brief flicker of pain in Anna's eyes.                                                                      67.                                                                                                  ANNA                    I knew he wouldn't.     He always got                    upset when I cried.     He said crying                    never helped.          Anna suddenly looks very weary. She leans heavily          against the slab. As if she's about to fall.                                                ELIOT                    You should rest.          He guides her back to the slab.    Helps her lie down.                                                ELIOT                    You're getting weaker.    It's almost time.          Eliot strokes her hair tenderly.    She looks up at him.                                                ANNA                    Can I ask you something?                                                 ELIOT                    Yes.   Of course.                                                ANNA                    Why do we die?          A long beat.                                                ELIOT                    To make life important.          Anna's fingers curl around his hand. Like a vulnerable          child. Totally trusting in him. Eliot looks down at Anna          sadly. We sense he's conflicted. Confused. Wavering.          But then reluctantly he reaches for a SYRINGE filled with          AMBER LIQUID on the steel trolley. He injects her gently          in the neck. Watches over her for a moment. Then moves          to the window. He picks up a window pole. Pulls the          shutter across the window plunging the room into darkness.                                   INT. FUNERAL HOME - DAY          Eliot moves through the Funeral Home pulling heavy drapes          over the windows and closing doors. It feels like a          ritual. The once airy sunlit rooms are darker now. More          ominous. Claustrophobic.                                   INT. FUNERAL HOME. ELIOT'S ROOM - DAY          CLOSE ON a stream of crystal blue water.    We pull back.          Eliot picks up a white towel. Dries his hands. Deep in          thought. He moves to his desk. Picks up a Polaroid.                                                                     68.                                                                           ON POLAROID          The Old Woman, Mrs. Whitehall, lying in her casket.                                 ELIOT (O.C.)                    Mrs. Whitehall. Susan. I hope you found                    what you were looking for.                         ROOM          Suddenly Eliot looks up sharply.   As if someone had spoken          to him.                                                ELIOT                    Think nothing of it Mr. Houseman.    No                    need to apologize.          Eliot moves over to the wall.                                                ELIOT                    I really enjoyed our time together.          We pull back slowly. Eliot's talking to a POLAROID of an          OLD MAN. We pull back further... the wall's covered in          HUNDREDS OF POLAROIDS of BODIES in open coffins.          Most of them have closed eyes but we glimpse some with          their eyes wide open. Eerily staring at us. Eliot          touches the Polaroid of a YOUNG MAN. We see the fear in          the Young Man's eyes.                                   ELIOT (O.C.)                    Anthony.    Anthony. Always confused.          Just then we hear the doorbell ringing downstairs.    Eliot          moves to the window.                         ELIOT'S POV          A POLICE OFFICER stands at the front door.    A SQUAD CAR          parked on the driveway.                         ELIOT'S ROOM          Eliot steps back.    Calmly continues to dry his hands.                                   INT. FUNERAL HOME. HALLWAY - DAY          Eliot leads the Police Officer through the hallway.                                                ELIOT                    How can I help you Officer?                                                OFFICER                    I'd like to see the body.                                                                   69.                                                            Eliot stops.   We see a brief flicker of unease in his eyes.                                                OFFICER                    Frank Merano. I'm his brother.    Vincent                    Merano? I called this morning.                                                 ELIOT                    Mr. Merano.   Yes. Of course.                                                VINCENT (OFFICER)                    I hope it's no trouble. I'd just like to                    see him before the funeral.          Eliot glances at his watch.   Smiles at Vincent.                                                ELIOT                    It's no trouble at all.                                   INT. FUNERAL HOME. PREP ROOM - MOMENTS LATER          Eliot leads Vincent to Frank's covered body. Vincent          looks over at Anna. The white sheet only comes to her          shoulders, her head facing straight upwards.                                                ELIOT                    Your brother's here.          Vincent turns back to Eliot. We're not sure if Eliot was          speaking to Frank or to Vincent. Eliot pulls the sheet          away. Frank's face is flawless. No sign of any damage.                                                VINCENT                    He looks so peaceful. You've done a                    beautiful job. Thank-you.                                                ELIOT                    You should remember him as he used to be.          Suddenly we hear a FAINT RUSTLING sound. Vincent glances          again at Anna's body. Her head is now turned to one side.          Wasn't she facing upwards a moment ago? Vincent's puzzled          for a second then shrugs. Must have been his imagination.                                                VINCENT                    That's the schoolteacher isn't it?          Eliot pulls the sheet over Anna's face.                                                ELIOT                                          (QUICKLY)                    Yes. Very tragic. Now is there anything                    else I can help you with?          Vincent frowns.   Turns back to Eliot.                                                                   70.                                                                                                    VINCENT                      Something's not right here.                                                  ELIOT                             (looks up sharply)                      Not right?          Vincent nods towards Frank's body.                                                    VINCENT                      His smile.    It was a bit more...          Vincent raises his fingers to his mouth, trying to find          the right word.                                                    VINCENT                      ...smiley.                                                    ELIOT                      Smiley.          ON FRANK'S MOUTH          Eliot manipulates Frank's lips.                                   VINCENT (O.C.)                      A touch more.                         PREP ROOM                                                  VINCENT                      That's much better. Thank-you.                                                  ELIOT                      I'm glad I could help.                                                  VINCENT                      Do you mind if I have a couple of minutes                      alone with him?          Eliot hesitates.      Then smiles.                                                   ELIOT                      No.   Not at all. I'll wait outside.          As Eliot leaves, Vincent looks at Frank's body. After a          moment he glances at Anna again. Then at the door. He          quickly moves over to Anna. Looks at her curiously then          pulls down the sheet. He reaches over... and CARESSES          HER BREAST. Mesmerized by her naked body.          As Vincent's hand moves down her body, he bumps against          the trolley. Instruments CRASH to the floor. He pulls          back the sheet just as Eliot enters the room.                                                    VINCENT                      I'm sorry.    I didn't see...                                                                    71.                                                            Eliot notices the sheet covering Anna's body is slightly          askew. He reaches over and straightens it. Then looks          coldly at Vincent. There's an uncomfortable silence.                                                  VINCENT                      Well. I guess I should be off then. I'll                      see you at the service. Thanks again.          Vincent glances one last time at Anna then leaves. The          door locking shut behind him. Eliot stares at the door.                                                  ELIOT                      I just told you. That was your brother.                             (turns to Frank)                      You had an accident. You're dead. Why                      do you people never listen to me?          Frank doesn't move.    His mouth still wired shut.                                                   ELIOT                      No.   It's not a gift.   It's a curse.          Eliot picks up a compact. Roughly layers Frank's cheeks          with thick rouge. With every word he gets more agitated.                                                  ELIOT                      I take care of each of you as if you were                      my children. I wash the shit from your                      bodies. I dress you. I do everything to                      make you look more beautiful than when                      you were alive. And what do you do?          Eliot's extremely irritated now.     He grabs a garish red          lipstick. Smears Frank's lips.                                                  ELIOT                      You argue with me. As if it were my fault                      you're dead. As if I was to blame.                             (slams down the lipstick.)                      What? You're not talking to me now? You                      don't want to?          ON FRANK'S FACE          The crudely drawn bright red lips.     Clown-like circles of          rouge. Gaudy and macabre.                                   ELIOT (O.S.)                      You don't talk because you have nothing                      to say. And you have nothing to say                      because you're a corpse.                         PREP ROOM          From Eliot's reaction it seems as if Frank has started to          talk again.                                                                      72.                                                                                                    ELIOT                       No. Now I don't want to talk to you                       anymore.                                   INT. JACK'S HOUSE. LIVING ROOM - DAY          The curtains are drawn. Jack's Mother, still motionless,          in front of the blaring TV. Jack stops in the doorway.                                                   JACK                       I'm off to school now.          His mother doesn't reply. Jack leaves. After a moment          she slowly turns her head. Stares at the empty doorway.                                   EXT. CEMETERY - LATER          Jack cycles through the cemetery. He pulls up by a bush.          Stares at the Funeral Home in the distance.                                   INT. FUNERAL HOME. VIEWING ROOM - MOMENTS LATER          The service hasn't started yet. Jack walks nervously          through the empty room to an open casket. He glances          back, then leans over the coffin.                         JACK'S POV          Frank Merano lies nestled in the velvet interior.    His          face placid. No sign of the gaudy make-up.                         VIEWING ROOM          Jack stares in fascination at Frank's body. He reaches          into the casket. Touches Frank's cold hand.          In the b.g. Eliot walks into the viewing room.     He stops          surprised. Watches Jack intently.                         ON JACK                                                   JACK                                             (TO FRANK)                       What's it like? Are you afraid?                                   ELIOT (O.C.)                       Jack.                         VIEWING ROOM          Jack turns quickly.    Eliot stands over him.                                                                  73.                                                                                                  ELIOT                    You have empathy with the dead. You're                    drawn to them. Just as they're drawn to                    you. It's a rare gift.          Jack can't look Eliot in the eye.                                                ELIOT                    I know you saw Anna.          Jack hesitates.   Then nods his head.                                                ELIOT                    You're frightened by it. I was scared                    too the first time. But you shouldn't                    be. Christ had the same gift. He raised                    Lazarus and spoke to the dead.                                                JACK                                          (INTRIGUED)                    You spoke to Miss Bryant?                                                  ELIOT                    Yes.                                                JACK                    You've spoken to others?                                                  ELIOT                    Yes.    Many others.                                                JACK                    Who was the first one you spoke to?          A long beat.                                                  ELIOT                    My mother.          Jack looks up sharply.   Eliot's words have clearly struck a          chord.                                                 ELIOT                    You shouldn't be afraid.                                          (BEAT)                    The others. They won't understand.    They                    don't see what we see.                                          (BEAT)                    I can help you. I can teach you.                                   INT. FUNERAL HOME. PREP ROOM - DAY          Anna stares vacantly at the ceiling. Eliot places a bunch          of tulips on the trolley. Turns on a CD. CLASSICAL MUSIC          fills the room as before. He moves over to Anna. Gently          Pulls away the sheet.                                                                    74.                                                                                                  ANNA                    Your fingernails are dirty.          Eliot smiles.    Examines his nails.                                                ANNA                    Your hands are normally so clean.                                                ELIOT                    I've been gardening.          He walks over to the sink.      Scrubs his nails.                                                ANNA                    Is it sunny outside?          Eliot fills a bowl with water.     Carries it to the slab.                                                  ELIOT                    Yes.    The tulips love the sun.                                                ANNA                    I miss the sun.          Anna glances up at the shuttered window. Eliot snaps on          his latex gloves. Picks up a sponge and wets it in the          bowl of water. Anna turns to the tulips.                                                ANNA                    Are they your favorite flower?                                                  ELIOT                    Tulips?    Yes. I think so.          Eliot raises Anna's arm. Delicately washes her armpit.          Along the length of her arm. Her skin pale.                                                ANNA                    I thought it'd be lilies. White lilies.                    Don't they symbolize death?                                                  ELIOT                    No.    They symbolize purity.          He moves to her breasts, following the contours of her          body. Pausing every now and then to rinse the sponge.                                                  ANNA                    And tulips?          Eliot hesitates for a second before replying.                                                 ELIOT                    Unrequited love.                                          (BEAT)                    What's your favorite flower?                                                                         75.                                                                                                    ANNA                    Violets.          Eliot softly washes her legs.                                                ELIOT                    A beautiful flower.       They need shade and                    lots of water.                                                ANNA                    What do they symbolize?                                                ELIOT                    Faithfulness.                                                ANNA                                          (DISTRACTEDLY)                    Do they?          Eliot puts down the sponge.      Dries her body with a towel.                                                ANNA                    Roses are red, violets are blue...          He reaches over to the CD player to switch it off.                                                   ANNA                    No.     Leave it on.    It's so peaceful.          Eliot smiles.   Leaves the music on.                                   INT/EXT. PAUL'S CAR. STREETS - DAY          Paul drives aimlessly past strip malls. He stops at a          red light. Lights a cigarette. Just then he notices          something across the street. He looks puzzled.                                   EXT. STREET/STORE WINDOW - CONTINUOUS          Paul gets out of his car.    Quickly walks over to the          store window.          ON STORE WINDOW          A RED-SLIP on a mannequin.       Just like ANNA'S RED SLIP.                         STREET          The light's turned green. The DRIVERS HONK angrily.          Paul doesn't hear them. He places his hand against the          plate glass. Stunned.                                                                  76.                                                                                     EXT. FUNERAL HOME. DRIVEWAY - DAY          Eliot prunes a low hedge by the front door.                                  PAUL (O.C.)                    Deane.          Eliot turns.   Paul's clearly agitated.                                                 ELIOT                    Mr. Conran.   A pleasure.          Eliot stands stiffly.   Rubs his back.                                                ELIOT                    I love gardening, but I'm not sure                    gardening loves me anymore.                                                PAUL                    She's not dead is she?                                                ELIOT                                          (AMUSED)                    Mr. Conran.                                                PAUL                    Someone saw her.                                                 ELIOT                    I'm sorry?                                                PAUL                    One of Anna's students.                           (nods towards the funeral home)                    In the window.                                                ELIOT                    Do you mean Jack?          Paul's momentarily taken aback.                                                PAUL                    You know him?                                                ELIOT                    Of course I know him. He's often round                    here. He seems to have a strange                    fascination with death. He's eleven                    years old Mr. Conran. And like all young                    boys has a vivid imagination. Now if                    you'll excuse me--                                                PAUL                    I don't think he imagined it.   I think he                    really saw her.                                                                    77.                                                                                                  ELIOT                    Maybe you just want to believe he saw her.                                                  PAUL                    Fuck you.          Paul pushes past Eliot and strides into the Funeral Home.                                                  ELIOT                    Mr. Conran!                                   INT. FUNERAL HOME. HALLWAY - MOMENTS LATER          Paul moves quickly through the hallway.                                                  PAUL                                            (SHOUTS)                    Anna!          Eliot calmly heads towards Paul.                                                ELIOT                    Mr. Conran. I think you should leave                    before I call the police.          Paul notices the stairs leading down to the Prep Room.                                                PAUL                    What's down there?                                   INT. FUNERAL HOME. BASEMENT CORRIDOR - MOMENTS LATER          Paul runs over to the Prep Room door. He grabs the handle.          It's locked. Eliot appears behind him. Paul turns.                                                PAUL                    She's in here isn't she?     Give me the                    key.          Eliot stares at Paul with pity.                                                PAUL                    Give me the fucking key.          Paul turns back.   POUNDS the door in rage.                                   INT. FUNERAL HOME. PREP ROOM - SAME TIME          The POUNDING echoes through the room. Anna awkwardly          sits up. Struggling with her emotions. She wants to          call out but knows she has to let Paul go.                                   PAUL (O.S.)                    Anna!                                                                      78.                                                            Anna gets up.   Hesitates.   Weakly stumbles to the door.                                   INT. FUNERAL HOME. BASEMENT CORRIDOR - SAME TIME                                                PAUL                    I'm here Anna.                                          (DESPERATE)                    I'm sorry. Please Anna.          He places the palm of his hand against the door.                                   INT. FUNERAL HOME. PREP ROOM - SAME TIME          Anna places her palm against the door. As if touching          Paul's hand. A tear falls down her cheek.                                 PAUL (O.S.)                    We'll be happy again. I promise.                                   INT. FUNERAL HOME. BASEMENT CORRIDOR - SAME TIME                                                PAUL                    I can't live without you.          Eliot looks up at Paul with sudden interest.                                   INT. FUNERAL HOME. PREP ROOM - SAME TIME          Anna shakes her head. Takes her hand away from the door.          Walks back to her slab.                                   INT. FUNERAL HOME. BASEMENT CORRIDOR - SAME TIME                                                 PAUL                    Anna!          Eliot gently puts his hand on Paul's shoulder.                                                 ELIOT                    Mr. Conran.   She's dead.          Paul pushes him away.                                                ELIOT                    I know what you're going through.                    Denial's a natural part of grieving...                                   INT. FUNERAL HOME. PREP ROOM - SAME TIME          Anna lies down on the slab. Closes her eyes.     ELIOT'S          VOICE seems far away now. Receding.                                                                      79.                                                                                      ELIOT (O.S.)                       ...but you've got to accept she's gone.                                   INT. FUNERAL HOME. BASEMENT CORRIDOR - CONTINUOUS                                                   PAUL                       She needs my help.          Eliot looks at him for a moment.                                                   ELIOT                       You can't help her anymore.    Believe me.                                   INT. POLICE STATION - DAY          An open plan office. Paul weaves quickly through the          rows of desks. He seems unbalanced. Manic. DETECTIVES          cautiously watch Paul approach Tom sitting at his desk,          his head bent over paperwork.                                                   PAUL                       I need you to issue a search warrant.          Tom looks up.       He's shocked by Paul's appearance.                                                   PAUL                                             (LOUDLY)                       I need a fucking search warrant.    Now are                       you going to help me or what?          JEFF (20s) a Young Detective at a nearby desk stands.          Tom nods to him. It's under control.                                                     TOM                       Paul.    Sit down.          Paul hesitates for a second.                                                     TOM                                               (FIRMLY)                       Sit.    Down.          Paul sits.    Tom leans forward.    He's not amused.                                                   TOM                       Just what the hell do you think you're                       doing? I got a call from Eliot Deane.                       Are you out of your fucking mind?                                                   PAUL                       Anna's not dead Tom. He won't let me see                       her. He's keeping her there--                                                                    80.                                                                                                  TOM                    Anna was in a car accident. Her car was                    wrecked Paul. Remember? It's downstairs.                                                PAUL                    She's not dead.          Tom calmly gets up. Moves to a filing cabinet.   Takes          out a file. Hands it to Paul.                                                TOM                    Here's the Coroner's report.          Paul manically rifles through the file.                                                   PAUL                    Look.                           (shows file to Tom)                    The paramedics phoned it in. They only                    checked for eye dilation and pulse. The                    doctor signed the death certificate                    without even seeing her body.                                                 TOM                                           (IRRITATED)                    So?   That's standard procedure.                                                PAUL                    There was no EEG. Nothing. He could                    have drugged her to make it look like she                    was dead.                                                   TOM                    Drugged her?     Are you serious?          Jeff looks up eagerly from his desk.                                                JEFF                    There are drugs like that chief.                    Hydronium Bromide. Total paralysis                    within seconds. The heartbeat slows to                    almost nothing.          Tom shoots Jeff a look.                                                PAUL                    See? I'm telling you. She's not dead.                    The boy at school. Jack. He saw her.                                    VINCENT (O.C.)                    I saw her.          Paul turns hopefully. Finally someone believes him.          Vincent Merano stands by Jeff's desk.                                                VINCENT                    She was on the slab.     Dead.                                                                    81.                                                                                                     PAUL                    No!                                                VINCENT                    I've seen dead bodies.       Believe me, she                    was definitely dead.                                               PAUL                    Tom. Just go down there and check the                    place out.                                                TOM                    On what grounds Paul?       Do you have any                    evidence?                                                   PAUL                    No.     But--                                                TOM                    Do you have anything?          Paul hesitates.    We sense his uncertainty.                                                PAUL                    I think she called me.                                                   TOM                    Called you?                                                PAUL                                          (WEAKLY)                    On the telephone.          Jeff snickers. Paul's beginning to realize how absurd          this all sounds.                                                VINCENT                    Collect or long distance?          Jeff snorts with laughter.                                                TOM                    First you hit a fucking kid. Then you                    attack Deane. And now you're telling me                    your dead girlfriend called you? What the                    fuck's going on? You're loosing it Paul.          Merano and Jeff shake their heads, looking at Paul as if          he were crazy. Tom's voice softens.                                                TOM                    I know you feel guilty but you've got to                    pull yourself together.          Paul slumps in the chair.       Rubs his face.                                                                   82.                                                                                                  PAUL                    Maybe you're right.    But why won't he let                    me see her?          Tom signals to Merano and Jeff. Merano walks back to his          desk. Jeff turns back to his work.                                                TOM                    Look Paul. The funeral's tomorrow.                    You'll see her then. It'll help. It                    will give you closure. Trust me.                                   EXT. CEMETERY - LATE AFTERNOON          The sun's low on the horizon. Eliot whistles softly to          himself as he digs a grave. Working meticulously. Like          everything else he does. Suddenly a SHADOW falls over          Eliot. He calmly looks up. The sun's behind the figure.          For a moment Eliot can't tell who it is.                                                JACK                    You said you could teach me.          Eliot smiles. Gestures to Jack to come inside the grave.          Jack steps back. The grave terrifies him.                                                ELIOT                    It's only a hole in the ground.   I'm                    digging it for--                                                  JACK                    Miss Bryant.                                                 ELIOT                    Exactly.   For Anna.   She belongs here.                                                JACK                    Because she's dead.                                                 ELIOT                    No.   Because there's no life left in her.          Jack carefully considers Eliot's words.                                                 ELIOT                    Don't you see? I have no choice. I'm                    the only one who can see all these                    corpses. Wandering the earth                    aimlessly. All they do is piss and                    shit. Suffocating us with their                    stench. Doing nothing with their                    lives. Taking the air away from those                    who actually want to live. I have to                    bury them all. I have no choice.                                          (BEAT)                    Now there's two of us.                                                                    83.                                                            Eliot holds up the shovel. Jack looks at him for a          moment then reaches for the shovel.                                   INT. FUNERAL HOME. PREP ROOM - EVENING          Anna watches Eliot brush an invisible speck off her          mother's black dress.                                                ELIOT                    You did well this morning.                                                ANNA                    This morning?          She talks with difficulty now. Her voice SLURRED and          HOARSE. Her words muddled and rambling. Her eyes even          more sunken. Her skin even more pale.                                                ELIOT                    When Paul came. You did the right thing.                    You let him go.                                                ANNA                    He'll be all right now?    Won't he?          Eliot looks away. Doesn't reply. He drapes the dress          over his arm, picks up a pair of shiny black shoes and          moves over to her.                                                ANNA                                          (CONFUSED)                    Why do I have to get dressed?                                                ELIOT                    Tomorrow's your funeral.          Eliot lifts Anna's arms and puts them through the sleeves          of the dress. Her body's stiff and unyielding.                                                 ANNA                    Already?                                                 ELIOT                    I told you.   You only had three days.          He delicately turns her onto her side.    Buttons up the dress.                                                ELIOT                    I told you to use your time well.          Anna frowns. As if trying to remember something. Eliot          gently lifts her legs. Pulls on a pair of black tights.                                                ANNA                    I need to... I have so many regrets.     I                    have nothing but regrets.                                                                     84.                                                            She looks up at him.   Suddenly realizing.                                                ANNA                    That's why I'm here isn't it?      To be                    judged.          Eliot picks up Anna's shoes.   Slips them onto her stiff feet.                                                ELIOT                    You're here to understand your life.       So                    you can finally be at peace.                                                ANNA                    I wanted a different life.          Eliot picks up a nail-clipper. Gently holds Anna's hand          as he carefully cuts her long nails.                                                ELIOT                    Then why didn't you do anything about it?                                                ANNA                    No matter what I did everything just                    stayed the same. I'd wake up. I'd                    shower. Sit in the same traffic                    everyday on my way to work. Go home.                    Go to sleep. Then wake again.          Eliot stops clipping her nails.   Irritated.                                                ELIOT                    What did you really want from life?                                                ANNA                    I just wanted to be happy.                                                ELIOT                                          (DERISIVELY)                    Happy? You all say you wanted to be happy.                    What does it mean Anna? To be happy?                                                ANNA                    I don't know. Don't you understand?                    That's the whole point. I don't know.                                                ELIOT                    Yes you do! You're just too scared to                    admit it to yourself.          Anna turns away ashamed.   She knows he's right.                                                ANNA                    I don't want to talk about it anymore.      I                    just want this to be over.                                                ELIOT                    What did you want from life?                                                                      85.                                                                                                  ANNA                    I don't fucking know!                                                ELIOT                    WHAT DID YOU WANT ANNA?                                                ANNA                                          (SCREAMS BACK)                    I WANTED LOVE! OK!          Anna's stunned.   She's finally admitted it.                                                ANNA                                          (QUIETLY)                    I wanted love.                                                ELIOT                    You had love. Paul loved you.                                                 ANNA                    No. You don't understand. I was scared.                    I wanted to love but I didn't know how.                    I was...                                          (BEAT)                    When I was a child... my mother.          Anna struggles to pull together her thoughts.                                                ANNA                    When I was a child. I learnt that love.                    That when you love someone. You get                    hurt. So I learned not to love. That                    way no one could ever hurt me again.          She looks down at the slab.     Touches the cold marble.                                                ANNA                    I was always pushing Paul away.      He                    thought I didn't love him.                                                 ELIOT                    Did you?                                                ANNA                    He was the only one I ever loved. But I                    never told him that. And then he stopped                    loving me.          Eliot stares at her intently.    Comes to a decision.                                                ELIOT                    What would you do if you had another                    chance?          Anna's puzzled. Eliot goes to the door and unlocks it.          Moonlight floods in from upstairs. Washing it with a cold          light. Anna doesn't move.                                                                     86.                                                                                                   ELIOT                    Well?   Isn't this what you wanted?          Eliot holds out his hand.   Anna takes it hesitantly and          rises from the slab.                                   EXT. FUNERAL HOME - NIGHT          Mist drifts through the cemetery. Anna stands in the          driveway. Pale and ghoulish in her black funeral dress          and shiny black shoes. She starts walking.                                   EXT. MOTHER'S HOUSE - NIGHT          Anna approaches her mother's house.    Paul opens the door.          He's not surprised to see her.          Beatrice stands just behind him.     A black shawl over her          head and arms.                                   INT. MOTHER'S HOUSE. HALLWAY - NIGHT          In the candlelight we can see the house is full of OLD          WOMEN. Their faces deeply lined. Wearing identical          black shawls. They stare at Anna, whispering in          different rhythms. Unintelligible words undulating like          an ANCIENT PRAYER.                                   INT. MOTHER'S HOUSE. BEDROOM - NIGHT          Paul and Beatrice lead Anna to the bed. As she lies down          we realize the bed is full of BLACK SOIL. Clouds of ugly          flies hang in the air. BUZZING noisily.          The Old Women surround Anna in a tight circle. Leaning          over her. Making her feel claustrophobic. She can smell          their rotting breath as their prayers grow LOUDER.          Through the chaos of words we begin to make out...                                                  OLD WOMEN                    Spit it out.          Anna doesn't understand. Then she feels something in her          mouth. Growing. Gagging her. The Women are SCREAMING.                                                  OLD WOMEN                    Spit it out.          Anna spits out... white maggots.     She gags again.   Closes          her eyes. Shakes her head.                                                  ANNA                    No.                                                                   87.                                                                                     INT. FUNERAL HOME. PREP ROOM - NIGHT          Anna's eyes snap open. She's still in the Prep Room.          She steps back from the doorway. Terrified.                                                ELIOT                    I thought you were different. You all                    say you're scared of death. But the                    truth is you're more scared of life.          Eliot switches off the lights.                                 ANNA (O.C.)                    I'm glad I'm dead. I'm glad it's over.                                   EXT. ROAD BY FUNERAL HOME - NIGHT          Paul sits in his car. Staring out at the Funeral Home as          he nervously smokes a cigarette. The light in Eliot's          room goes off. Paul waits for a moment. Then gets out          of his car. Stubs out his cigarette.                                   EXT. FUNERAL HOME - MOMENTS LATER          Paul treads carefully along the side of the Funeral Home.          It's a full moon. The trees rustle ominously in the          wind. Casting eerie shadows against the dark house.          He finds a window. Tries to open it. It won't budge.          Just then he hears a noise in the bushes. He crouches          down quickly. Listens hard. Nothing.          FROM THE BUSHES          Someone watches Paul tentatively move to another window.                         FUNERAL HOME          Paul strains to open the window when suddenly... he's          caught in a circle of bright light. Paul turns quickly.          A DARK FIGURE stands over him. Menacing.                                                MAN'S VOICE                    What the fuck are you doing here?          The Figure lowers the flashlight.   It's Tom.                                                TOM                    I'm taking you home.                                   EXT. JACK'S HOUSE. GARDEN - NIGHT          CLOSE ON black earth.   A trowel digs into the soil.                                                                   88.                                                            We pull back. Jack's just finished digging a hole in the          flower bed. A shoebox beside him. He takes off the lid.          The Chick trembles in the corner of the box. Jack slowly          replaces the lid. Puts the box into the grave. He          pushes the earth over it. The box jerks. We hear the          faint RUSTLING of the Chick inside.                                                 JACK                     Don't be scared. It's better this way.                                   INT. FUNERAL HOME. ELIOT'S ROOM - DAWN          Eliot lies on his bed. Dressed in a dark suit. He hasn't          slept at all. His eyes rimmed red. He checks the clock on          the bedside table. It's 4.30am. He glances to the          window. Dawn light seeps into the room.                                   EXT. FUNERAL HOME - DAWN          Eliot walks through the garden. A pair of small secaters          in his hand. He stops by a bed of violets. Still          covered in morning dew. He kneels and starts cutting the          delicate flowers.                                   INT. FUNERAL HOME. PREP ROOM - DAWN          Anna lies on the slab in her burial dress.   Her eyes closed.          Eliot enters the room. He doesn't lock the door behind          him. Doesn't turn the lights on. Doesn't change into          his mortician smock.          He approaches the slab. The violets in his hand. Pulls          over a chair and sits next to Anna. Places the violets          on the steel trolley beside her.          He looks at her intently. For the first time he seems          uncertain. Vulnerable. As if questioning himself.          After a while he suddenly gets up and heads towards the          door. He's about to close the door behind him...                                  ANNA (O.C.)                     I don't even know your name.                         ON ANNA          Her eyes still closed.                         ON ELIOT          Eliot pauses.   Too confused to look back at her.                                                                    89.                                                                                                      ELIOT                       It's...                                             (BEAT)                       It's not important.          He closes the door.                                   INT. BEATRICE'S HOUSE. BEDROOM - DAY          CLOSE ON Beatrice's face.    Her eyes closed.          A HAND delicately powders her forehead. As if she's          being prepared for her own funeral. We pull back.          Beatrice, dressed in black, sits in front of a mirror.          Diane applies her make-up. Beatrice opens her eyes.                                   INT. PAUL'S APARTMENT. BATHROOM - DAY          Paul, badly shaven, leans against the washbasin. Wearing          a crumpled black suit. Staring vacantly in the mirror.                                   INT. FUNERAL HOME. PREP ROOM - DAY          Anna lies in a casket as Eliot arranges her hair.                                                   ELIOT                                             (GENTLY)                       It's time now.          She looks up smiling. Eliot positions her hands,          entwining her fingers.                                                   ELIOT                       You have to look beautiful for your                       funeral.          He picks up a SYRINGE and an ampoule of AMBER LIQUID.          Fills the syringe.                         ON AMPOULE          We glimpse the label: HYDRONIUM BROMIDE.                                    ELIOT (O.C.)                       This will relax your muscles. Make your                       skin radiant. As if you were still                       alive. Just sleeping.                         PREP ROOM                                                   ELIOT                       This is how they'll all remember you.                                                                      90.                                                                                                     ANNA                       Can I see myself for the last time?          Eliot smiles.    Picks up a mirror.    Hands it to Anna.                         ON MIRROR          Anna looks peaceful.    Beautiful.    Serene.                                                   ANNA                       Is this the end?                                    ELIOT (O.C.)                       The last part is the most difficult.                       You'll have to face it alone. But you'll                       be at peace soon.          Anna nods.    SIGHS deeply... her BREATH FOGS the mirror.          She frowns. Touches the SMALL CIRCLE OF CONDENSATION on          the glass. Looks up at Eliot in shock.                         PREP ROOM          Eliot glances anxiously at the fogged mirror, then at Anna.                                                   ANNA                       You lied to me.                                                   ELIOT                       Anna. We've been through this before.                       You're just imagining--                                                   ANNA                       You lied to me.          Eliot injects her in the side of the neck. Anna tries to          raise her hand to push him away but she's too weak.                                    ELIOT (O.C.)                       You're still clutching onto life. Don't                       give in to your fears. You're so close.          Anna's fading away.    Her hand drops limply to her side.                                                   ANNA                                             (WHISPERS)                       Why did you lie to me?          She stops struggling.    Stares blankly at us.          Eliot looks at her for   a moment. Sadly. Regretfully.          He picks up a Polaroid   camera. The flash explodes in a          blinding white light.    He pulls out the Polaroid. Peels          off the front and fans   it in the air. Then...                                                                     91.                                                                           ON ANNA          ...delicately closes Anna's eyelids.                                   ELIOT (O.C.)                      Good bye Anna.                                   INT. FUNERAL HOME. VIEWING ROOM - LATE AFTERNOON          Anna's funeral is in progress.   Eliot stands by her          casket. Surrounded by wreathes of tulips and lilies.          Beatrice, in her wheelchair, in the front row. Diane          beside her. A SCHOOLTEACHER sits behind them with Jack          and other CHILDREN.                                   FATHER GRAHAM (O.C.)                      I am the resurrection and the life.                      Those who believe in me, even though they                      die, will live.          Tom and Paul appear at the door.   Tom guides Paul to a          seat near the back.                                   FATHER GRAHAM (O.C.)                      They that sleep in the earth will awake                      and shout for joy; and the earth will                      bring those long dead to birth again.                         ON CASKET          Anna lies in an open casket. Her eyes closed.     She can          hear the DISTORTED VOICE of the Priest.                                   FATHER GRAHAM (O.C.)                      We have come here today to remember                      before God our sister Anna. To give                      thanks for her life.          ON ANNA'S FACE          We see an almost imperceptible frown.                         VIEWING ROOM          Eliot gestures to Beatrice. Diane wheels her to the casket.          Beatrice looks at Anna for a moment, then touches the          violets in Anna's hands.                                                  DIANE                      Violets. They were her favorite flowers.                             (turns to Eliot)                      How did you know?                                                  ELIOT                      Violets just seemed appropriate somehow.                                                                      92.                                                            Next we see Mrs. Hutton at the casket. Then Jack. He          stares at Anna's body before being moved on by the          Schoolteacher. Finally Paul and Tom approach the coffin.                         PAUL'S POV          Anna looks serene.                         VIEWING ROOM          Paul takes out the ring box from his pocket. Gently          slides the engagement ring onto Anna's stiff finger.          Suddenly he looks alarmed. Turns quickly to Tom.                                                   TOM                                             (WHISPERS)                       What is it?                                                   PAUL                       She's so cold.          Paul turns back to Anna.    Tears prick his eyes. He          touches her cheek again.    Finally accepting her death.                                                   PAUL                       I'm sorry Anna.          He kisses her lips. Eliot watches him carefully. It's          almost as if he's jealous. Jack notices Eliot's look          then turns and stares at Paul.          As Paul and Tom walk away Eliot closes the casket.          Begins to screw down the lid.                                   INT. INSIDE THE CASKET - SAME TIME          It's dark. We hear the screws TIGHTENING.      Anna's eyes          FLICKER OPEN then close again.                                   INT. FUNERAL HOME. VIEWING ROOM - SAME TIME          Just then Paul turns back sharply.      As if he sensed          Anna's reaction inside the casket.      Tom gently stops him.                                                   TOM                              (shakes his head)                       She's at peace now.          Paul glances at the casket again, then reluctantly allows          Tom to lead him away.          Eliot tightens the last screw. His back to the room.          Suddenly the screwdriver slips. Gashes his finger.                                                                    93.                                                                           ON COFFIN          A drop of blood falls onto the polished wood.                         VIEWING ROOM          Eliot stares at the blood for a moment. Takes out a          pristine white handkerchief. Carefully wipes off the          blood. Then places his hand on the coffin.                                                  ELIOT                                            (SOFTLY)                      Don't be scared. It's better this way.          Eliot turns.   Signals to the PALLBEARERS standing nearby.                                   EXT. CEMETERY. ANNA'S GRAVE - LATE AFTERNOON          The Pallbearers slowly lower Anna's casket into the open          grave. The casket lurches as it settles in the grave.                                   INT. INSIDE THE CASKET - SAME TIME          Anna's eyes SNAP OPEN in terror. She tries to scream out.          But only a SOFT RATTLING WHISPER escapes from her throat.                                   EXT. CEMETERY. ANNA'S GRAVE - SAME TIME          The TEACHER throws a handful of earth onto the coffin.          Jack steps up. Looks down curiously. As if he could          sense Anna. Then slowly pours the soil from his hand.                                   FATHER GRAHAM (O.C.)                      We have but a short time to live. Like a                      flower we blossom and then wither. In                      the midst of life we are in death.                                   INT. INSIDE THE CASKET - SAME TIME          Blackness. Earth CLATTERS HEAVILY onto the wooden lid.          Anna GASPS softly. Hyperventilating. The earth keeps          falling. The sound becoming SOFTER with each shovelful.          She struggles. Bangs her fists against the wood.                                   EXT. CEMETERY. ANNA'S GRAVE - LATER          The grave's covered with a stone slab now. Votive candles          flicker on top. In the b.g. MOURNERS head to their cars.          Paul and Tom stand by the grave.                                                  TOM                      You sure you're going to be OK?                                                                   94.                                                                                                   PAUL                    Yeah.   Thanks Tom.          Tom squeezes Paul's shoulder then walks away.                                   INT. FUNERAL HOME. ELIOT'S ROOM - SAME TIME          Eliot carefully pins Anna's Polaroid to the wall.                         ON POLAROIDS          We pan slowly across the other photographs we saw before.          But now we look at them differently. In some faces there          is the glimmer of life. In some a despairing pleading          look. In others passive resignation.                         ELIOT'S ROOM          Eliot moves towards the window.                         ELIOT'S POV          The dark cemetery. In the distance flickering candles          illuminate Anna's grave.                                 ELIOT (O.C.)                    Imagine Anna. The whole world, your                    mother, your fiancÈe, your friends.                    Everyone has buried you. They've placed                    a stone above your body.                         ELIOT'S ROOM                                                ELIOT                    They've said their good byes and gone                    back to their TV dinners and shopping                    malls. Thinking that this is never going                    to happen to them. Until it's their turn                    to be buried. Think about it Anna...          Eliot glances at his watch.                                                ELIOT                    ...think about it while you still can.                                   EXT. FUNERAL HOME. DRIVEWAY - MOMENTS LATER          Paul unlocks his car. He's about to open the car door          when he feels someone watching him. He turns. Jack's          observing him carefully.                                                PAUL                    You said she was alive.                                                                       95.                                                                                                     JACK                       I never said she was alive.     I just said                       I saw her.          Paul simply nods his head.        Too drained of emotion to react.                                                   PAUL                       You need a ride?          Jack shakes his head.                                                    PAUL                       OK.   See you.          Paul opens the car door.                                                   JACK                       Mr. Conran?                                             (PAUL TURNS)                       Don't forget to fasten your seat belt.          Paul nods. Gets in his car.        Jack looks up at the          Funeral Home.                         JACK'S POV          Eliot stands in the window smiling at him.                                   INT. MOTHER'S HOUSE. DINING ROOM - NIGHT          We're at Anna's wake.      PEOPLE talk quietly in small groups.          Paul fills a glass with whiskey. Knocks it back in one.          PEOPLE stare disapprovingly. WHISPERING to each other.                                    ELIOT (O.C.)                       Don't you think you've had enough to                       drink?          Paul turns. Eliot stands beside him.        Paul pours himself          another drink.                                                    PAUL                       Go to hell.          An ELDERLY COUPLE shake their heads and walk away.                                                   ELIOT                                             (AMUSED)                       Mr. Conran. We're at a wake.      You should                       show more respect.                                                   PAUL                       I know she wasn't dead.                                                                    96.                                                                                                     ELIOT                    Wasn't she?          Eliot's suddenly tired of Paul's allegations.                                                ELIOT                    Mr. Conran. You come to my Funeral                    Home, making wild accusations. You have                    no idea what happens when someone dies.                    What happens to their body. What                    happens to their soul.                                          (TAUNTING)                    You think Anna was alive after the                    accident? Maybe you're right.          Paul's stunned.                                                ELIOT                    Maybe she's still alive. You obviously                    don't believe a word I say. So why don't                    you go and find out for yourself Mr. Conran.                    Find out whether she's alive or dead.          Paul grabs Eliot by his lapels.   Shoves him against the wall.                                                PAUL                                          (LOUDLY)                    You twisted fuck.          The room's SILENT. Everyone turns towards Paul.   Eliot          whispers in Paul's ear.                                                ELIOT                    You don't have much time left.          Father Graham puts his hand on Paul's arm.                                                 FATHER GRAHAM                    Please.   Paul. You're not well.          Paul pushes his hand away. Eliot shakes his head sadly.          Everyone looks at Paul with pity as he runs out.                                   EXT. MOTHER'S HOUSE - NIGHT          Paul sprints across the lawn to his car.                                   INT. PAUL'S CAR - NIGHT          Paul slips his key into the ignition.   His hand's shaking.                                   EXT. MOTHER'S HOUSE - NIGHT          Eliot watches Paul's car ROAR OFF.                                                                        97.                                                                                     INT. INSIDE THE CASKET - SAME TIME          We can't see a thing. But we can hear Anna's SHORT          SHALLOW GASPS. And the sound of her nails desperately          SCRATCHING at the coffin lid.                                   INT/EXT. PAUL'S CAR. ROAD - NIGHT          Paul drives fast. Accelerating then quickly braking as          he weaves through heavy traffic. He comes up behind a          slow Tractor-Trailer. Hits the HORN.                                                  PAUL                     Come on.   Come on.          He swerves into the middle of the road. There's a blind          curve ahead... suddenly an SUV comes out of the corner.          A bright white light sweeps through his car.     Paul's          momentarily blinded.                                           THE SCREEN FLASHES TO WHITE.          Paul opens his eyes. The ROAD'S EMPTY. No sign of any          traffic. He's confused. The road was busy a moment ago.          Just then flashing red and orange lights illuminate the          car. Paul looks in his rear-view mirror.          ON REARVIEW MIRROR          An AMBULANCE moves quickly towards him.     Blasts past.                         CAR          Paul looks through the front windshield.     Nothing.   He          frowns. Where did the ambulance go?                         UP AHEAD          We see the Funeral Home.   Bone white in the moonlight.          The cemetery next to it.                                   EXT. ROAD - NIGHT          Eliot's White Van sits by the side of the road.                                   EXT. CEMETERY. PARKING LOT - NIGHT          Paul's car slams to a halt. He jumps out. In the          distance the candles still burn on Anna's grave.                                                                     98.                                                                                     EXT. CEMETERY. ANNA'S GRAVE - MOMENTS LATER          Paul grabs a shovel by the grave. Starts digging. Then          the shovel clunks against wood. He kneels down. Scrapes          away the earth from the coffin. Then pulls open the lid.          Anna's eyes are WIDE OPEN.     Her fingernails torn and bloody.          Paul grabs her shoulders. Pulls her out of the grave.      Her          body slumps limply like a rag doll.                                                 PAUL                    Anna.   I'm here. Please God.     Anna.          He desperately tries to revive her. But there's no life          left in her. He's about to give up when...          Anna's hand TWITCHES. Then after a moment she GASPS.          Her eyes slowly focus on Paul.                                                ANNA                    Paul?                                                 PAUL                    Baby.   Thank God.          Paul gently helps Anna to her feet.    She looks round.          Dazed. Turns back to Paul.                                                ANNA                    You came back for me.                                                PAUL                    I came back for you.     You're safe now.                                                ANNA                    Promise?                                                PAUL                                          (SMILES)                    Promise.          Just then Paul hears a rustling sound behind him. He          turns. Nothing. He cocks his head slightly. There's          something unnerving about the silence.          Suddenly a CROW rises noisily into the air. Paul starts.          Then watches, relieved, as the crow disappears into the          dark sky. He turns back to Anna... she's not there.                                                PAUL                    Anna?          Paul looks round desperately. Runs between the stone          crosses and statues of grieving angels searching for her.                                                                       99.                                                                                                    PAUL                    Anna!          Just then he glimpses SOMETHING MOVE among the trees.          Runs over. Nothing. The cemetery is empty. The trees          appear to SHIMMER for a moment. Paul shivers. Pulls his          jacket around him. He doesn't notice the candles on          Anna's grave behind him suddenly BLOW OUT.                                   INT/EXT. ELIOT'S VAN. ROAD - NIGHT          We hear the sound of a SIREN. The AMBULANCE blasts past.          Eliot slides a disc into the player. CLASSICAL MUSIC          fills the van. He strums the wheel. Enjoying the music.                                   EXT. CEMETERY. PARKING LOT - NIGHT          Paul frantically runs into the parking lot.    Still          calling out for Anna.                                                  PAUL                    Anna!          Suddenly the interior light in his car comes on.    Paul          looks at the car nervously.          He heads over to it.   Apprehensive.   Then... the car door          slowly CLICKS open.          Paul stops.   Stares into the car.   There's no one there.                                   INT. PAUL'S CAR - MOMENTS LATER          Through the windshield we see Paul approach the car.          He peers in nervously. Then cautiously gets in. As he          switches the interior light off, the camera moves slowly          around him revealing...          ... ANNA sitting in the passenger seat.                                                ANNA                    Are we going home?          Paul turns sharply.    Stunned.   Anna moves towards him.                                                ANNA                    Or do you want to make love here?                                                PAUL                    Where did you go?          Anna puts her fingers on Paul's lips. Clearly turned on.          We hear the sound of something being UNZIPPED.                                                                  100.                                                                                                  ANNA                                          (WHISPERS)                    I've been waiting for you.    I missed you                    so much.          A line of BLOOD trickles from his nose. He touches his          lips. Looks blankly at the blood on his fingertips. A          drop of blood falls on Paul's white shirt. It unfurls          like a flower. Spreading out over the material.                                                 ANNA                    I love you.   I always did.          Anna hungrily kisses him. He responds passionately.          Suddenly we hear a SHARP METALLIC SOUND.                                                PAUL                                          (ALARMED)                    What was that?          Anna responds as if it was nothing strange.                                                ANNA                    It's only the scissors...          We see the growing anxiety in Paul's eyes.    Anna's just          interested in his lips.                                                 PAUL                    Scissors?   What scissors?                                                ANNA                    Scissors. For your clothes.    Eliot just                    put them on the table.          Paul pulls back.   Terrified.                                                ANNA                    You're safe now. We're finally together.          A strong bright light sweeps across Paul's face. Like          the headlights of the car on the blind curve earlier.                                          FADE TO SEARING WHITENESS.          Paul blinks as he gradually gets used to the harsh light.          Slowly the room comes into focus...                                   INT. FUNERAL HOME. PREP ROOM - NIGHT          Eliot stands over Paul holding a pair of BLOODY SCISSORS.          Paul looks down. His white shirt soaked with blood, the          material sliced open.                                                 PAUL                    Where am I?                                                                     101.                                                            He talks with difficulty.   His breath labored.                                                 ELIOT                    You're in a funeral home.                                          (BEAT)                    You're dead.                                                PAUL                    I'm not dead.          Jack appears at Eliot's side.                                                ELIOT                    You had a car accident. You swerved off                    the road. On the way to the cemetery.                    Hit a tree.                                                  PAUL                    I saw Anna.    You buried her alive.                                                ELIOT                    I'm sorry Mr. Conran. You never made it                    to the cemetery. You never saw Anna.                    You're dead.          Paul's glazed eyes widen in shock.                                                PAUL                    I'm not dead.          Eliot speaks calmly.    Soothingly.                                                ELIOT                    Your skull was crushed. Your spinal cord                    pulverized. Your brain cells are slowly                    dying. Your body's already decomposing.                                                PAUL                    I'm not dead.          Eliot sighs wearily.    He's had this conversation many          times before.                                                  ELIOT                    You people.    You all say the same thing.          Eliot's voice, with each word, fades further and further          away. Paul closes his eyes.                                           FADE TO SEARING WHITENESS.                                 PAUL (O.S.)                    I'm not dead.                                                            FADE OUT.
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+                            AGNES OF GODFADE IN:EXT - CONVENT - DAYWhispering of nuns at prayer.DISSOLVE TO:INT - CHAPEL - DAYNuns at prayer; MOTHER MIRIAM, the Superior closes the gate and locksit.DISSOLVE TO:EXT - COURTYARD - DAYThe nuns walking around the courtyard in an anticlockwise directionsaying the rosary.DISSOLVE TO:INT - CHAPEL - DAYA line of nuns kneeling at prayer. Closeups of various individuals.DISSOLVE TO:EXT - CONVENT - NIGHTA single shot of the building.INT - TOP CORRIDOR - NIGHTSISTER MARGUERITE is locking up for the night, shutting doors,turning off lights, finally walks off down the corridor. Suddenly aterrified scream is heard, the voice of a young woman.EXT - CONVENT - NIGHTLights in the windows flick on.INT - TOP CORRIDOR - NIGHTThe nuns    are running up the corridor in their night dresses and caps,calling    urgently in French. They reach the door of Sister Agnes' roomand try    the door. It is blocked. Pushing harder they see the bloodstained    figure of SISTER AGNES. Much alarm and crying...                                         MOTHER SUPERIOR                          Agnes!... Agnes...EXT - CONVENT - NIGHTAn ambulance comes tearing down the road, siren blaring. It cuts thesiren and stops outside the convent gates. The nuns open the gate andthe ambulance drives inside.INT - TOP CORRIDOR - NIGHTTwo PARAMEDICS urgently run the stretcher down the hall to theunconscious figure of Sister Agnes. The Mother Superior desperatelywipes and kisses her face.                                         PARAMEDIC                         I'm just going to put something here to                         stop the bleeding. Excuse me Sister.                         She'll be fine.They lift her on to the stretcher and run back down the hall.The Mother Superior looks around worriedly and goes into...INT - SISTER AGNES' ROOM - NIGHTShe kneels down by a waste paper basket full of bloodied sheets andstarts to pull them out. Then she freezes, makes the sign of thecross and starts to weep.DISSOLVE TO:EXT - MONTREAL - NIGHTAn aerial shot of the great cross of Montreal. Superimposed over thisare the words"MONTREAL, QUEBEC".DISSOLVE TO:EXT - SUPREME COURT - DAYA normal busy day. A car pulls up with a woman and a man driving. Thewoman is MARTHA LIVINGSTON. She kisses the man (LARRY), gets out ofthe car, runs across the road dodgingtraffic and goes up the steps ofthe courthouse. There a group of REPORTERS there and a sudden bustleof interest.                                        REPORTER                         Here they are now.Martha watches intently as 3 nuns, the Mother Superior, SisterMarguerite, and Sister Agnes (dressed in a white novices habit) andtheir LAWYER come out of the court escorted by police. The reportersleap on them, taking photographs, asking questions in English andFrench. Suddenly Sister Agnes looks right at Martha, then she isquickly bustled past. Martha goes on into the courthouse.INT - JUDGE'S CHAMBERS - DAYInside EVE, LYON, and JUSTICE LEVEAU are sitting. Martha is standingby the window smoking furiously.                                        LEVEAU                         Martha, it's you.                                      MARTHA                       What about Roger? He's free.                                      EVE                       They want a woman.                                      LYON                       All you have to do is meet with her                       once or twice... then tell the court                       she's insane.                                      MARTHA                       Are you dictating my position to me?                       We're getting into some sticky legal                       territories here.                                      EVE                       Martha, all we're saying is, no-one wants                       this to come to trial, not the Church, not                       the Crown... least of all me.                                      MARTHA                       Eve, she strangled a baby!                                      EVE                       Nobody is interested in sending a nun                       to prison.                                      LEVEAU                       We're not telling you what to decide                       Martha. We're not even telling you to                       take this.                                      LYON                       Is there any reason why you feel you                       shouldn't take it?       Martha pauses for a long moment at the window, then turns.                                      MARTHA                       Today's my birthday. I always make                       bad decisions on my birthday.The Judge, Eve and Lyon all chuckle. The Judge throws the file downon his desk towards her.                                         LEVEAU                       Happy birthday.15   INT - MARTHA'S APARTMENT - NIGHT        Martha unlocks the door and comes in. She plays heranswerphoneand moves over to her cat.                                         MARTHA                       Hi, Kitty.       The answerphone whirs...                                      SECRETARY (V.O.)                       Hi, it's Helen, calling to tell you                       that Mrs Davenport phoned to confirm                       her appointment at nine o'clock                       tomorrow, okay? Bye bye.       Some whirs and clicks.                                         ROGER (V.O.)                       Hi Martha,    it's Roger. Can you call                       me at the    hospital. I'd like your opinion                       on a case.    Oh, bye the way, happy                       birthday.    Bye.                                      SECRETARY (V.O.)                       Hi, Marty it's Helen again. I cancelled                       your Wednesday afternoon appointment                       so you can visit with your mother. Bye bye.                                        MAN                                (in French)                       ???        Martha picks up a news paper with a photo of Sister Agnes onthe front.       DISSOLVE TO:16   EXT - CONVENT - DAY        Martha pulls up in her BMW outside the convent walls and getsout, cigarette        in hand. A sign tangled over with creeper reads "Les PetitesSoeurs de Marie Madeleine". Martha jangles a bell. After a wait shepresses a buzzer. A   peephole in the door slams open and SisterMarguerite looks out.                                      MARTHA                       Bonjour, I'm Doctor Martha                       Livingston, I...        The peephole slams shut, but the door does open. SisterMarguerite glares at her.                                      MARTHA (Cont.)                       Hello... I'm Doctor Martha                       Living...ston... I...        Martha realizes it is the cigarette that is causing thetroubleand hastily     grinds it underfoot.                                         MARTHA (Cont.)                       Excuse me... I'm...        Sister Marguerite eyes flick down at cigarette butt. Marthaawkwardly tries        to kick it away.                                      MARTHA (Cont.)                       ...the court-appointed psychiatrist.        Sister Marguerite gives a frosty imitation of a smile andmotions for her to    come in.                                      MARTHA (Cont.)                       Thank you. I um... I believe your                       Mother Superior's expecting me.       Martha and the Sister walk up the drive to the convent.17   INT - WAITING ROOM - DAY        Martha follows Sister Marguerite into a grilled waiting room.Sister moves    off, leaving Martha looking around curiously. Thenthe MOTHER MIRIAM arrives from behind the grilled door, seesMartha, sighs exasperatedly and enters giving Martha a slightstart.                                       MOTHER SUPERIOR                               (beaming at her own                                       little joke)                       Doctor Livingston I presume? I'm                       Mother Miriam Ruth. You needn't call                       Mother if you don't wish.                               (shaking hands)                       Most people find it uncomfortable.                                        MARTHA                       Well... I...                                       MOTHER MIRIAM                               (carrying right on)                       I'm afraid the word brings up the most                       unpleasant connatations in this day and                       age...                                        MARTHA                       Yes... I...                                      MOTHER MIRIAM                       You can call me Sister.                                        MARTHA                       ... Thank you.                                      MOTHER MIRIAM                       You must have tons of questions. You                       may smoke if you want to. Just don't                       tell any of the Sisters.       Martha sits;   Mother Miriam gets her a box of matches.                                       MOTHER MIRIAM (Cont.)                       They wouldn't understand, especially                       Sister Marguerite. She'd scare the pants                       off Queen Elizabeth.                                (she lights Martha's cigarette)                       Besides, I miss them.                                      MARTHA                       You were a smoker?                                      MOTHER MIRIAM                       Two packs a day.                                      MARTHA                       I can beat that.                                         MOTHER MIRIAM                       Unfiltered.        Martha inclines her head impressed. Mother Miriam sits downnext to her.                                       MOTHER MIRIAM (Cont.)                       Well, you have questions.                               (checks her watch)                       Fire away...                                      MARTHA                       Who knew about Agnes' pregnancy?                                         MOTHER MIRIAM                       No-one.                                      MARTHA                       How did she hide it from the other nuns?                                      MOTHER MIRIAM                       She undressed alone... she bathed alone.                                         MARTHA                       Is that normal?                                         MOTHER MIRIAM                       Yes.                                      MARTHA                       How did she hide it during the day?                                       MOTHER MIRIAM                               (indicating her habit)                       She could have hidden a machine gun in                       here if she had wanted to.                                      MARTHA                       Didn't she have any physical examinations                       in this time?                                      MOTHER MIRIAM                       We're examined once a year. Her pregnancy                       fell in between the doctor's visits.                                      MARTHA                       Who was the father?                                      MOTHER MIRIAM                       I haven't a clue.                                      MARTHA                       What man had access to her?                                      MOTHER MIRIAM                       None as far as I know.                                      MARTHA                       Was there a priest?                                       MOTHER MIRIAM                       Yes, but I...                                      MARTHA                       What's his name?                                       MOTHER MIRIAM                       Father Martineau, but I don't see him                       as a candidate.                                      MARTHA                       Could there have been anyone else?                                       MOTHER MIRIAM                               (a pause)                       Obviously there was.                                      MARTHA                       And you didn't try to find out who?                                       MOTHER MIRIAM                               (standing)                       Believe me, I've done everything possible                       short of asking Agnes.                                      MARTHA                       Why haven't you asked her?        Mother Miriam removes a tray from under a pot plant andbringsit back to        use as an ashtray.                                       MOTHER MIRIAM                               (sitting again)                       She can't even remember the birth. Do                       you think she'd admit to the conception?                                      MARTHA                       Look, someone gave her the baby.                                      MOTHER    MIRIAM                       Yes, but that was some    ten months ago.                       I fail to see that the    identity of that                       somebody has anything    to do with this                       trial.                                      MARTHA                       Why do you think that?                                      MOTHER MIRIAM                       Don't ask me those questions dear,                       I'm not the patient.                                       MARTHA                       Well I'm the doctor. I'm the one who's                       going to decide what is, or is not                       important here.                                      MOTHER MIRIAM                       Look doctor, I don't know how to tell you                       this politely, but I don't approve of you.                       Not you personally...                                      MARTHA                       The science of psychiatry.                                       MOTHER MIRIAM                               (standing)                       Exactly. I want you do deal with Agnes                       as speedily and as easily as possible.                       She won't hold up under any sort of cross                       examination.                                       MARTHA                               (also standing)                       I am not with the Inquisition.                                      MOTHER MIRIAM                       And I am not from the Middle Ages. I                       know what you are! I don't want that                       mind cut open.       Then Mother Miriam walks out.18   INT - WAITING ROOM - DAY        A little later, Martha is sitting alone smoking. SISTER ANNEenters and indicates that Martha should follow her. They exit out ofthe grilled room        and head up a steep flight of wooden stairs. Faintly thevoiceof a single        young woman can be heard singing in Latin.19     INT - TOP CORRIDOR - DAY        Martha follows Sister Anne down the hall towards the singing.They stop outside Agnes' room. Martha looks to see...20     INT - AGNES' ROOM - DAY        ... Agnes an almost childlike young woman singing happily,looking out the        window. Then Agnes hears a slight sound and stops abruptly.Sheturns to see        Martha standing in the doorway.                                        MARTHA                         Hello. I'm Doctor Livingston. I've been                         asked to talk to you. May I?                                           AGNES                         Yes.        Martha moves further in the room. An ELDERLY NUN hoversoutsidethe door.                                        MARTHA                         You have a lovely voice.                                           AGNES                         No I don't.                                        MARTHA                         I just heard you.                                           AGNES                         That wasn't me.                                        MARTHA                         Was it Sister Marguerite?         Agnes laughs and Martha closes the door, shutting out the oldnun.                                        MARTHA (Cont.)                         You're very pretty Agnes.                                           AGNES                         No I'm not.                                        MARTHA                         Hasn't anyone ever told you that before?                                        AGNES                         Let's talk about something else.                                MARTHA                 What would you like to talk about.                                  AGNES                 I don't know.                                MARTHA                 Anything... may I sit down?                                  AGNES                 Yes.They both sit.                                MARTHA                 First thing that comes to your mind?                                  AGNES                 God!    But there's nothing to say about                 God.                                MARTHA                 Second thing that comes to your mind.                                  AGNES                 Love.                                MARTHA                 Have you ever loved anyone?                                  AGNES                 Yes.                                  MARTHA                 Who?                                  AGNES                 Everyone.                                MARTHA                 Well, who in particular?                                  AGNES                 Right now?                                  MARTHA                 Uh huh.                                  AGNES                 I love you.                                 MARTHA                         (a pause)                 Agnes, have you ever loved another                 man... other than, Jesus Christ?                                  AGNES                 Yes.                                MARTHA               Who?                               AGNES                       (chuckles)               Oh, there are so many.                              MARTHA               Well do you love... do you love               Father Martineau?                                AGNES               Oh, yes!                              MARTHA               Do you think he loves you?                              AGNES               Oh, I know he does.                                MARTHA               He's told you?                              AGNES               No. But... when I look into his eyes,               I can tell.                              MARTHA               You've been alone together?                                AGNES               Yes.                                MARTHA               Often?                              AGNES               At least once a week.                              MARTHA               And you like that?                                AGNES               Oh, yes.                              MARTHA               Where do you meet?                               AGNES                       (obviously)               In the confessional.A slightly awkward pause.                              MARTHA               Agnes, do ever see Father Martineau               outside the...Agnes suddenly looks exasperated.                              AGNES               You want to talk about the baby               don't you?                              MARTHA               Would you like to talk about it?                              AGNES               I never saw any baby... I think they               made it up.                              MARTHA               Why should they?                                 AGNES               I don't know.                              MARTHA               Do you remember the night they said               it came?                                 AGNES               No. I was sick.                              MARTHA               How were you sick?                              AGNES               Something I ate.                                 MARTHA               Did it hurt?                                 AGNES               Yes.                                 MARTHA               Where?                                 AGNES               Down... there.                              MARTHA               And what did you do?                              AGNES               I went to my room.                              MARTHA               And what happened?                                 AGNES               I got sicker.                                 MARTHAAnd then what?                  AGNESI fell asleep.               MARTHAIn the middle of all the pain?                  AGNESYes.               MARTHAWhere did the baby come from?                  AGNESWhat baby?               MARTHAThe baby they made up.               AGNESFrom their heads...               MARTHAIs that where they say it camefrom... ?               AGNESNo, they say it came from the wastepaper basket!               MARTHAWhere'd it come from before that?                  AGNESFrom God.               MARTHAAfter God... before the waste-paperbasket.               AGNESI... I don't understand.               MARTHAAgnes, how are babies born?                  AGNESDon't you know?                 MARTHAYes I do,    but I want you to...                AGNES        (very agitated)I don't understand what you'retalking about... you want to talkabout the baby... everybody wants                       to talk about    the baby but... I                       never saw the    baby so I can't talk                       about the baby    because... I don't                       believe in the    baby.                                      MARTHA                       Then let's talk about something else...                                       AGNES                               (standing)                       No... no, I'm tired of talking, I've been                       talking for weeks, nobody believes me                       when I tell them anything... nobody                       listens to me.                                       MARTHA                               (also standing)                       Agnes...                                       AGNES                               (opens the door)                       No... no, I don't want to answer any                       more questions.                                      MARTHA                       Would you like to ask them?                                       AGNES                               (pausing in the doorway)                       What do you mean?                                      MARTHA                       Just that... you ask and I'll answer.                                         AGNES                       Anything?                                       MARTHA                               (smiles)                       Anything.21   INT - NUN'S ROOM - DAY        The elderly nun looks out the window into the courtyard whereMartha and Agnes are walking, then pulls the curtain across.22   EXT - COURTYARD - DAY       Martha and Agnes are walking together. Martha is smoking.                                      AGNES                       What's your real name?                                      MARTHA                       Martha Louise Livingston.                                 AGNES                  Are you married?                                    MARTHA                  No.                                 AGNES                  Would you like to be?                                 MARTHA                  Not at the moment, no.                                 AGNES                  Do you have any children?                                    MARTHA                  No.                                 AGNES                  Would you like some?                                 MARTHA                  I can't have them any more.                                    AGNES                  Why not?                                  MARTHA                          (a pause)                  I've stopped menstruating                                 AGNES                  Why do you smoke?                                 MARTHA                  Does it bother you?                                    AGNES                  No questions.                                    MARTHA                  Smoking is an    obsession with me.                  Maybe one day    I'll become obsessed                  with something    else, then I'll stop                  smoking... Do    you have any more                  questions?                                    AGNES                  One.                                    MARTHA                  What?They both halt.                                 AGNES                  Where do you think babies come from?                                      MARTHA                       From their mothers and fathers of                       course. Before that, I... I don't                       know.                                      AGNES                       Well I think they come from... angel                       lights on their mothers chest and                       whispers into her ear. That makes good                       babies start to grow. And bad babies                       come from when a fallen angel squeezes                       in down there, and they start to grow,                       grow, till they come out down there.                       I don't know where good babies come out.                       And you can't tell the difference...                       except bad babies cry a lot... and they                       make their fathers go away... and their                       mothers get very ill... die sometimes.       Agnes sits down on a bench and Martha follows her.                                       AGNES (Cont.)                       Mummy wasn't very happy when she died                       ... and, I think she went to hell because                       every time I see her she looks like she                       just stepped out of a hot shower, and I...                       I'm never sure if it's her, or the Lady who                       tells me things! They fight over me all                       the time.                               (staring into space)                       The Lady... I saw when I was ten. I was                       lying on the grass, looking at the sun, and                       the sun became a cloud, and the cloud                       became, a Lady. And she told me she would                       talk to me. And then... her feet began to                       bleed and I saw there... there were holes                       in her hands and in her side. And I tried to                       catch the blood as it fell from the sky, but                       I couldn't see any more because my eyes                       hurt because there were big black spots in                       front of them. And she tells me things like,                       like... right now she's crying Marie! Marie!                       ... but I don't know what that means.        Martha stands up, disturbed. Agnes is slightly delirious withhappiness.                                      AGNES (Cont.)                       ... and... she uses me to sing, it's as                       if she's throwing a big hook through                       the air and it catches me under my ribs                       and tries to pull me up, and I... I can't                       move because Mommy's holding my feet                       and all I can do is sing in her voice...                       it's the Lady's voice, God loves you!       And her cry echoes all around and the doves fly out of thebelltower.                                       AGNES (Cont.)                               (to Martha)                       God loves you.                                      MARTHA                       Do you know a Marie?                                         AGNES                       No... do you?                                         MARTHA                       Why should I?                                         AGNES                       I don't know.23   INT - MOTHER MIRIAM'S STUDY - DAY        Mother Miriam is standing checking some papers when Marthaenters. Mother Miriam seems to have entirely regained her goodhumour.                                      MOTHER MIRIAM                       Well... what do you think? Is she                       totally bananas or merely slightly                       off centre... or maybe she's perfectly                       sane and just a very good liar.                                      MARTHA                       What's your opinion?                                      MOTHER MIRIAM                       I believe Agnes is different.                                       MARTHA                       From other nuns...                               (laughs)                       Yes I... I've noticed.                                       MOTHER MIRIAM                       From other people!                               (moving across the room)                       I believe she is not crazy, nor is she                       lying.                                      MARTHA                       How could she have a baby and know                       nothing of sex or birth?                                      MOTHER MIRIAM                       Because she's an innocent. She's a slate                       that's hasn't been touched except by God.                                      MARTHA                              (lights a cigarette)                       That's ridiculous...                                       MOTHER MIRIAM                               (moves to her desk,                                starts writing)                       In her case it isn't. She's had very little                       schooling. Her mother kept her home                       almost all the time and when her mother                       died Agnes came here, to us. She's never                       been out there Doctor. She's never seen a                       movie or a television show. She's never                       even read a book.                                      MARTHA                       If she's so innocent, how come she                       murdered a child?                                      MOTHER MIRIAM                       She didn't! This is manslaughter, not                       murder. She didn't consciously kill that                       baby. She'd lost a lot of blood. She was                       unconscious by the time we got to her.                                      MARTHA                       So, someone else could have done it.                                      MOTHER MIRIAM                       No... not in the eyes of the police.                                      MARTHA                       And in your eyes?                                      MOTHER MIRIAM                       I've already told you what I thought.                                      MARTHA                       That she was unconscious, yes! So                       someone easily could have come in                       the room and killed the...                                      MOTHER MIRIAM                       You don't really believe something like                       that happened do you?                                      MARTHA                       It's possible isn't it?                                      MOTHER MIRIAM                       Who?                                      MARTHA                       One of the other nuns found out about                       the baby and... and wanted to avoid a                       scandal.        Mother Miriam removes the tray from under a pot plant andbangsit down in front of Martha to act as an ashtray.                                           MOTHER MIRIAM                          That's absurd!                                         MARTHA                          That possibility never occurred to                          you?                                         MOTHER MIRIAM                          No-one knew about Agnes' pregnancy.                          No-one. Not even Agnes.24   EXT - CONVENT - DAY          Martha's car exits out of the convent and heads up the road.25   INT - CAR - DAY          The car radio is playing light band music...                                          ANNOUNCER (V.O.)                          You have been listening to Mostly Music                          from Montreal. This is CBC Radio.                                  (and again in French)          Martha flicks the radio off and stops the car. She thinks foramoment          then...26   EXT - LONELY ROAD - DAY        ... she turns the car around and heads back in the directionshe came.27   EXT - PRESBYTERY - DAY        Martha drives in through an entrance and pulls up outside thepresbytery.28   INT - PRESBYTERY - DAY          From inside the house, Martha can be seen knocking on theglassfronted          door.     Presently a huge, fat HOUSEKEEPER answers.                                         MARTHA                          Is Father Martineau in please?                                          HOUSEKEEPER                                  (in French)                                  ???                                         MARTHA                                 (answers in French)                         ???          The housekeeper indicates she should enter and walks backinside.                                         HOUSEKEEPER                                 (halting briefly)                         Wipe your feet.        They move into the next room. The housekeeper goes furthercalling...                                         HOUSEKEEPER                         Pere Martineau...                                 (in French)                         ???        Martha stands uncertainly at the doorway. The sound ofthumpingis heard,        and then the figure of a very old priest, FATHER MARTINEAUappears walking        with a stick.29   INT - PRESBYTERY DINING ROOM - DAY        Father Martineau and Martha are having tea. He pours a slugofwhisky from a   flask into her cup and an even larger slug into hisown.                                         FATHER MARTINEAU                                 (French accent)                         They arise at five in the morning... and                         they're in bed by nine at night. Even if a                         man could get to them, he would probably                         find them praying. That's why I see that                         the real question is not only how he got in,                         but when.                                        MARTHA                         And you're the only man to see them?                                                FATHER MARTINEAU                         I promise you Doctor, even if I had the                         inclination, how could I possibly catch                         her? She would have to be a very slow                         and patient nun.                                 (they both laugh)                         Ah no... they're a very special and rare                         people those Sisters. Only a few of them                         left in this modern world, consecrated to                         the praise of God.30   INT - NURSING HOME, LOUNGE - DAY        An elderly WOMAN is sitting watching "Spiderman" on TVcacklingwith laughter. She is physically alright, but quite senile. Marthaenters, goes        over to her and kisses her.                                       MARTHA                       Hello, Mama                               (pulls up a chair)                       ... brought you something.                                      MAMA                       Shut up, I'm trying to watch this.                                      MARTHA                       It's your favourite...                                        MAMA                       Who are you?                                       MARTHA                       It's Martha, Mama.                               (hands over a tub                                of icecream)                       There you go.                                      MAMA                       Marie brings me icecream too you                       know. Chocolate... my favourite.                                      MARTHA                       I thought cherry-vanilla was your                       favourite.                                      MAMA                       Not any more... now I like chocolate.                                       MARTHA                               (stroking her hair)                       Did you have a good week Mama. Are                       they treating you all right?                                      MAMA                       You know Martha never comes to see me.                       You watch it, she's going straight to                       hell... after all the things she said to                       me. Then she marries that son of a bitch                       of a Frenchman... has an abortion. I                       knew that one wouldn't work out. Not                       like you Marie. You got married to God.                                       MARTHA                               (lighting up)                       Marie's dead Mama.                                       MAMA                       I remember when you    was a little girl                       Marie. You come back    from the movies                       and you'd say - Mama    that ending was so                       sad... and I'd tell    you they had all the                       happy endings locked    away in a vault in                       Hollywood.                               (chuckles)                       And you believed me.                                      MARTHA                       Mama, that wasn't Marie, that was me!                                       MAMA                               (a long pause)                       Who are you?                                      MARTHA                       I... I'm Martha, Mama.31   EXT - CONVENT, CHICKENYARD - DAY        It is raining... distant thunder in the background. Martha isstanding under        an umbrella talking to Sister Anne who is feeding thechickens.                                      SISTER ANNE                       The convent was built for over fifty.                       Not many of us left... just us and                       the chickens.                                                 MARTHA                       How do you survive?                                       SISTER ANNE                       Oh, we own the land around here.                       But we rent it out. We keep a few                       acres for ourselves,                               (indicating)                       some wheat, corn, some vegetables.                                      MARTHA                       Well that's a lot of land. You must have                       help. Do you have field hands that help                       you?                                      SISTER ANNE                       No. We work the land alone. No-one but                       Sister Marguerite and I are permitted                       contact with the public.                                      MARTHA                       Sister Anne, which was Agnes' room?        Sister Anne points up to a window on the corner of theconvent.                                         SISTER ANNE                          Oh that one there, in the corner.                                         MARTHA                          The one up on the third floor?                                         SISTER ANNE                          Yes.                                         MARTHA                          Uh huh.32   INT - AGNES' OLD ROOM - DAY        Mother Miriam unlocks a padlock on the door, opens it forMartha. They both      enter the room which is totally plain,strippedof everything.                                         MOTHER MIRIAM                          This convent is locked solid. The only                          one that has a key is Sister Marguerite                          and she wouldn't let Christ in after dark.                                         MARTHA                          Well, it's been known to happen in the                          day too. Maybe Agnes went to him.                                          MOTHER MIRIAM                          Oh come on, you've talked to her. She                          doesn't even know how babies are born,                          let alone made.                                         MARTHA                          When did you first learn about her...                          innocence, the way she thinks?                                         MOTHER MIRIAM                          Shortly after she came to us.                                         MARTHA                          And you weren't shocked?                                         MOTHER MIRIAM                          I was appalled, just as you are now.                                         MARTHA                          And what happened?                                         MOTHER MIRIAM                          She stopped eating completely...33   INT - CHAPEL - DAY       In flashback:   Agnes, all in white is lying face down in thesign of the        cross in front of the altar. Mother Miriam enters.                                      MARTHA (V.O.)                       This was before her pregnancy?                                      MOTHER MIRIAM (V.O.)                       About two years before.       Mother Miriam stops in front of Agnes.                                       MOTHER MIRIAM                       Agnes, it has come to my attention                       that you have stopped eating. Why                       is this?                                               AGNES                               (not looking up)                       I've been commanded by God.                                       MOTHER MIRIAM                               (sighs)                       He talked to you Himself?                                      AGNES                       No.                                      MOTHER MIRIAM                       Through someone else?                                      AGNES                       Yes.                                      MOTHER MIRIAM                       Who?                                      AGNES                       I can't say.                                      MOTHER MIRIAM                       Why?                                      AGNES                       She'd punish me.                                      MOTHER MIRIAM                       One of the other Sisters?                                      AGNES                       No.                                      MOTHER MIRIAM                       Who?        Mother Miriam glances up at an older NUN who has been in thechapel watching all along. She takes the hint and hobbles out.                                      MOTHER MIRIAM (Cont.)                       Why would she tell you to do this?... Agnes look at me.                AGNES        (looking up)Because I'm getting fat.               MOTHER MIRIAMOh, for Heaven's sake.               AGNESI am, there's too much flesh on me.               MOTHER MIRIAMAgnes...               AGNESI'm a blimp.               MOTHER MIRIAMWhy does it matter whether you're fator not...               AGNESBecause...               MOTHER MIRIAM... You needn't worry about beingattractive here.               AGNESI do, I have to be attractive to God.               MOTHER MIRIAMHe loves you the way you are.               AGNESNo he doesn't. He hates fat people.               MOTHER MIRIAMWho told you this?               AGNESIt's a sin to be fat.               MOTHER MIRIAMWhy?               AGNESLook at the statues, they're thin.               MOTHER MIRIAMAgnes...               AGNESThat's because they're suffering...suffering is beautiful, I want to bebeautiful.                              MOTHER MIRIAM               Who tells you these things?                              AGNES               Christ said it in the Bible, he said -               suffer the little children, I want to               suffer like a little child.                               MOTHER MIRIAM                       (genuinely distressed)               That's not what he meant.                                 AGNES               I...    I am a little child but my body               keeps    getting bigger and soon I... I               won't    be able to fit in, I... I won't be               able    to squeeze into Heaven.                              MOTHER MIRIAM               Agnes dear, Heaven is not a place where...Agnes gets to her knees and pushes up her breasts.                              AGNES               No... I mean... I mean look at these.               I've got to lose weight, I'm a blimp.                              MOTHER MIRIAM               Oh my dear child.                               AGNES                       (standing)               God blew up the Hindenburg. He'll               blow me up, that's what she said...                                 MOTHER MIRIAM               Who?                              AGNES               Mommy I'll get bigger and bigger every               day and then I'll pop but... but if I stay               little it won't happen.                              MOTHER MIRIAM               Your mother tells you this?... Agnes               your mother is dead.                              AGNES               But she watches... she listens.                              MOTHER MIRIAM               Nonsense, I'm your mother now and I               want you to eat.                                 AGNES               I'm not hungry.                                 MOTHER MIRIAM                       You've got to eat something Agnes.                                      AGNES                       No I don't... the host is enough.                                      MOTHER MIRIAM                       My dear, I don't think a communion wafer                       has the recommended daily allowance of                       anything.                                       AGNES                       Of God.                                       MOTHER MIRIAM                               (smiles)                       Yes, of God.        Then Mother Miriam looks down and is shocked to see Agnes'white habit is spotted with blood, and more blood is dripping ontothe floor. She pulls out   Agnes' hand from her habit and gasps withshock; there is a bleeding hole in        the middle of her palm.                                      AGNES                       I'm being punished.                                       MOTHER MIRIAM                       Why?                                       AGNES                       I don't know.                                       MOTHER MIRIAM                       Dear Jesus...               She quickly leads Agnes out of the chapel.                                       AGNES                       It started this morning and I can't                       get it to stop.34   INT - AGNES' OLD ROOM - DAY       Back in the present, as before...                                      MARTHA                       Why didn't you take her to a doctor?                                      MOTHER MIRIAM                       It was healed by the following morning                       and she started eating again...                                      MARTHA                       She had a... a hole in the palm of her                       hand! She could have bled to death.                                       MOTHER MIRIAM                             But she didn't... did she. If anyone had                             seen what I'd seen she'd be public                             property... newspapermen, psychiatrists,                             ridicule. She doesn't deserve that.                                               MARTHA                             She has it now.                                            MOTHER MIRIAM                             I know what you're thinking, she's a                             hysteric pure and simple.                                               MARTHA                             Not simple, no.                                            MOTHER MIRIAM                             I saw it. Clean through the palm of                             her hand. Do you think hysteria could                             do that?                                            MARTHA                             It's being doing it for centuries. She's                             not unique, she's just another victim.                                            MOTHER MIRIAM                             God's victim. That's her innocence.                             She belongs to God.                                            MARTHA                             And I intend to take her away from Him.                             That's what you're afraid of isn't it?          Martha walks out. Mother Miriam yanks the padlock out of thedoor.                                               MOTHER MIRIAM                             You bet I am.35      INT - CHAPEL - DAY        All the Sisters are present. Mother Miriam leads the chant inLatin and the   rest of the nuns respond at intervals. Agnes is veryhappy. Their singing continues over, until the end of scene 41.          DISSOLVE TO:36      EXT - POLICE PRECINCT - DAY        Martha and Larry are at the top of steps. He hands her anenvelope.                                            LARRY                             Here you are. Don't let anyone know                             where you got them.                                               MARTHA                                 (kissing him)                         Thanks...       DISSOLVE TO:37   EXT - CONVENT - DAY       Agnes is happily swinging on a long swing attached to a tree.       DISSOLVE TO:38   INT - CRYPT - DAY        The Sisters go about their tasks. Then all together they moveto a corner of the room which is laid out with burning candles andmake their devotions.       DISSOLVE TO:39   INT - CONFESSIONAL - DAY        Agnes is confessing to a rather disinterested FatherMartineau.                                        AGNES                         Last Tuesday, I didn't eat all of my                         lima beans... hid them under my                         spoon.                                  FATHER MARTINEAU                         Yes...                                         AGNES                                 (very quietly)                         I thought... thoughts... about...                                 FATHER MARTINEAU                         Speak up, I can hardly hear you.                                         AGNES                                 (very loudly)                         I thought ugly thoughts about Sister                         Marguerite.       DISSOLVE TO:40   INT - MARTHA'S APARTMENT - NIGHT        Martha is leafing through a sheaf of police photographs ofthesheets and        the waste-paper basket. She puts the photos aside and puffsthoughtfully on        a cigarette.         DISSOLVE TO:41   EXT - CONVENT FARM - DAY         Agnes is milking the cow. She pours the milk into a largechurn.         (The singing finishes at this point).42   INT - JUDGE'S OFFICE - DAY        The same four are in a meeting. This time they are allsittingexcept for        Lyon who is standing by the window.                                       LEVEAU                        Would you tell me why the hell this                        is taking so long.                                               MARTHA                        Look there are a lot of unanswered                        questions here.                                       LYON                        Martha, your job is to diagnose, not to                        heal and play detective. Who do you                        think you are?                                       MARTHA                        I know my job. Don't tell me my job Lyon.                        My duty as a doctor is to...                                       EVE                        Martha, you have to make a decision on                        her sanity as quickly as possible and not                        interfere with due process of law.                                       MARTHA                        No... no, excuse me Eve. As quickly as                        I see fit.                                       EVE                        The longer you take to make a decision,                        the more difficult it will be for us.                                       MARTHA                        Why?                                       EVE                        The bishop is breathing down our necks.                                       MARTHA                        And the sooner she goes to prison, the                        better off she'll be?                                      LEVEAU                              (in French)                       ???                                      MARTHA                       I don't believe this. I don't bloody                       believe this.                                      LYON                       Well the bishop will be very upset                       about this.                                      MARTHA                       I'm fighting for this woman's life, not                       some bloody bishop.43   EXT - CONVENT GRAVEYARD - DAY        It is a strange place; all the crosses are identical and verysimple. Martha        is standing. Agnes is kneeling in front of a cross markedwiththe name        "Soeur Marie Paul" and the dates she was born, consecratedanddied. Agnes        places some winter flowers on the grave.                                      MARTHA                       You liked Sister Paul?                                      AGNES                       She was kind to me. She told me                       I was beautiful.                                       MARTHA                               (crouching down)                       What else did she tell you?                                      AGNES                       She said all of God's angels would                       want to sleep beside me if they could.                       I liked that.        Agnes makes the sign of the cross, they both stand and starttomove off.                                      AGNES (Cont.)                       She lived here for almost seventy                       years. Every day she'd ring the bell,                       wake us up, call us to God. She took                       me to my secret place.                                      MARTHA                       Where's that?... I promise I won't tell,                       would you take me?       So Agnes takes her.44   INT - BELL TOWER - DAY        Martha and Agnes enter the bell-tower. Agnes leads the way upthe steep wooden steps. Martha becomes breathless almostimmediately.                                              MARTHA                       Sister Paul was in her eighties?   Did                       she climb up here often?                                      AGNES                       No, only when she felt like it. She                       brought me up here last winter and                       the next day she died.                                       MARTHA                               (halting, out of breath)                       No wonder... wait... Agnes... Agnes                       how do you feel about babies?                                      AGNES                       Oh, they frighten me, I'm afraid I'll                       drop them. They have a soft spot on                       their heads and if you drop them so                       they land on their heads they become                       stupid. I was dropped on my head,                       that's why I don't understand things.                                      MARTHA                       Like what?                                       AGNES                               (climbing again)                       Numbers... you can spend your whole                       life counting and never reach the end.                                       MARTHA                               (following her)                       I don't understand them either. Do                       you suppose I was dropped on my head?                                      AGNES                       I hope not. It's a terrible thing to be                       dropped on your head.                                      MARTHA                       Oh, I've got to give up smoking. Agnes                       ... wait a minute... Agnes slow down.45   EXT - TOP OF BELLTOWER - DAY       Agnes climbs up through the trapdoor to the bell platform.                                      AGNES                       She said you could see the whole                       world from up here. But it looks                       much better far away than it looks                       close up.       Martha arrives exhausted.                                      MARTHA                       Beautiful...       Agnes lies down under the bell.                                      AGNES                       And sometimes I get under here...                       it makes a wonderful sound.        She starts to sing in a beautiful voice and the sound ringsinthe bell.                                      MARTHA                       What happens if the bell rings and                       you're under there?                                      AGNES                       Oh, it's even more wonderful then.       Agnes sings a little more.                                      MARTHA                       It's like hiding from my mother when                       I was a little girl.                                      AGNES                       Where did you go?                                      MARTHA                       Oh, no place as wonderful as this.                       Agnes... have you ever thought of                       leaving the convent for something                       else?                                      AGNES                       No. There is nothing else. Just being                       here at night helps me sleep.                                      MARTHA                       You have trouble sleeping?                                      AGNES                       I get headaches. Mommy did too...                       oh, but she wasn't stupid. She knew                       things that nobody else knew.                                      MARTHA                       What things?                              AGNES               She knew what was going to happen               to me. That's why she hid me away.                              MARTHA               How did she know that?                              AGNES               Somebody told her.                               MARTHA               Who?                               AGNES               I don't know.                               MARTHA               Agnes...                               AGNES               You'll laugh.                              MARTHA               I promise I won't laugh. Who told               her?                              AGNES               An angel, when she was having one               of her headaches.                              MARTHA               Did your mother see angels often?                               AGNES               No.                               MARTHA               Do you?                               AGNES               No.                              MARTHA               Do you believe she really saw them?                               AGNES                       (sitting up)               No, but I can never tell her that.                               MARTHA               Why not?                       (no answer)               Mmm?                              AGNES               She'd get angry.Martha moves round close to Agnes.               MARTHAAgnes, did you love your mother?               AGNESYes.               MARTHADid you ever want to be a motheryourself?               AGNESI could never be a mother.               MARTHAWhy not?               AGNESWell I don't think I'm old enough andbesides I don't want to have a baby.               MARTHAWhy not?               AGNESBecause I don't want one.               MARTHAIf you did want one, how'd you goabout getting one?               AGNESFrom someone who didn't want tohave a baby.               MARTHALike you?               AGNES        (suddenly frustrated)No, not like me!               MARTHAHow would that person get one ifthey didn't want one?                AGNES        (jumping to her feet)A mistake...               MARTHAAgnes, how did your mother get you?               AGNESA mistake... it was a mistake...               MARTHA                       Is that what she said?                                       AGNES                               (very upset)                       If you're trying to get me to say that                       she was a bad woman and hated me and                       didn't want me but that's not true, she                       was a good woman, a saint...                               (distorted)                                      MARTHA                       Agnes, I don't believe you know nothing                       about sex...                                      AGNES                       I can't help it if I'm stupid.                                      MARTHA                       ... that you don't remember getting                       pregnant...                                         AGNES                       Not my fault.                                      MARTHA                       ... and that you don't believe you                       carried a child.                                      AGNES                       I was a mistake.                                         MARTHA                       What the child?                                      AGNES                       Everything... I don't have children.                                         MARTHA                       Agnes...       Martha puts her arm out to Agnes who slaps it away.                                      AGNES                       Don't touch me like that! You don't                       touch me like that, I know what you                       want from me, you want to take God                       away. You should be ashamed, they                       should lock you up people like you.        Agnes disappears down through the trapdoor. Martha throws hercigarette away.46   INT - CONVENT - DAY        Mother Miriam is comforting a tearful Agnes. She sees Marthacoming across   the courtyard and pushes Agnes gently away.                                      MOTHER MIRIAM                       You hate us don't you?                                         MARTHA                       What?                                      MOTHER MIRIAM                       Nuns... you hate nuns.                                      MARTHA                       I hate ignorance and stupidity.                                      MOTHER MIRIAM                       The Catholic Church...                                      MARTHA                       I haven't said anything against the                       the Catholic Church.                                      MOTHER MIRIAM                       Catholicism is not on trial here. I                       want you to deal with Agnes without                       any religious prejudice or you turn                       this case over to someone else...                                      MARTHA                       How dare you tell me to run my affairs!       Mother Miriam starts to walk away, Martha angrily followsher.                                      MOTHER MIRIAM                       It's my affair too.                                      MARTHA                       How dare you think I'm in a position                       to be pressured...                                      MOTHER MIRIAM                       I'm only interested...                                         MARTHA                       ...    or bullied or what ever you're doing.                       Who    the hell do you think you are? You                       go    around here expecting applause for                       the    way you treated this child.        Martha and Mother Miriam are climbing the stairs. They pausebriefly.                                      MOTHER MIRIAM                       She is not a child.                                      MARTHA                       And she has a right to know that there's                       a world out there filled with people who                       don't believe in God...                       (Mother Miriams walks on)               ... and aren't any worse off than you               Mother. People who've gone through               their entire lives without bending their               knees once, to anybody. And people who               fall in love and have babies and occas-               sionally are very happy. She has a right to               know that. But you and your... your order               and your Church have kept her ignorant...They reach Mother Miriam's study.                                 MOTHER MIRIAM               ???     (distorted)                              MARTHA               ??? (distorted)               ... virginity, right Mother? Poverty,               chastity and ignorance is what you               live by.                               MOTHER MIRIAM               I am not a virgin, Doctor. I was married               for twenty three years, two daughters.               I even have grandchildren... surprised?               It might please you to know that I was a               failure as a wife and mother. My children               won't even see me any more, that's their               revenge. I think they tell their friends               that I've passed on. And don't tell me I'm               making up for past mistakes Doctor Freud.                       (she sits)                                 MARTHA               Then help her.                                 MOTHER MIRIAM               I am...                              MARTHA               No, you're shielding her. Let her face               the world.                              MOTHER MIRIAM               What good would it do. No matter what               you decide it's either the... the prison               or the nut house and the differences               between them are pretty thin.                              MARTHA               There's another choice.                                 MOTHER MIRIAM               What?                                 MARTHA               Aquittal.                                         MOTHER MIRIAM                       How?                                      MARTHA                       Innocence. Legal innocence. I know                       the judge would be happy for any                       reason to throw this case out of court.       A long pause. The tension between them dissolves.                                      MOTHER MIRIAM                       All right, what do you need.                                         MARTHA                       Answers.       Martha holds her hand.47   INT - MOTHER MIRIAM'S STUDY - DAY       Same place, but a little later. Martha is smoking.                                      MARTHA                       When would Agnes have conceived the                       child?                                      MOTHER MIRIAM                       Oh, some time in January.                                      MARTHA                       Do you remember anything unusual                       happening at the time?                                         MOTHER MIRIAM                       Earthquakes?                                      MARTHA                       Visitors to the convent.                                         MOTHER MIRIAM                       Nothing.                                      MARTHA                       Do you have a... a diary or a day book?                                         MOTHER MIRIAM                       Yes.                                      MARTHA                       Take at look at it.       Mother Miriam moves to her desk and opens the day book.                                      MOTHER MIRIAM                       There's nothing here.                                         MARTHA                       Was the child full term?                                       MOTHER MIRIAM                               (reads through the book)                       Oh, Dear God...                                         MARTHA                       What is it?                                         MOTHER MIRIAM                       The sheets...                                         MARTHA                       What sheets?                                      MOTHER MIRIAM                       Oh, Dear God, I should have guessed...48   INT - CONVENT DINING ROOM - NIGHT        In flashback: the sisters are sitting around the table atdinner. SISTER GENEVIEVE, the other novice is serving them. MotherMiriam folds up a linen    towel.                                      MOTHER MIRIAM (V.O.)                       ... I should have suspected something.       In flashback, Mother Miriam addresses Agnes.                                      MOTHER MIRIAM                       Sister Marguerite says you have been                       sleeping on a bare mattress Sister.                       Is that true?                                         AGNES                       Yes Mother.                                         MOTHER MIRIAM                       Why?                                      AGNES                       In the medieval days the nuns and monks                       would sleep in their own coffins.        Sister Marguerite gives a snort of derision. Mother Miriamglances sharply        at her, then turns back to Agnes.                                      MOTHER MIRIAM                       We're not in the Middle Ages, Sister.                                      AGNES                       It made them holy.                                      MOTHER MIRIAM                       It made them uncomfortable. And if                       they didn't sleep well I'm certain the                       next day they were cranky as mules.                       Sister where are your sheets?                               (no answer)                       Do you really believe that sleeping on                       a bare mattress is the equivalent of                       sleeping in a coffin?                                       AGNES                       No.                                      MOTHER MIRIAM                       Then tell me. Where are your sheets?                                       AGNES                       I burnt them.                                                MOTHER MIRIAM                       Why?                                       AGNES                               (a long pause)                       They were stained.                                      MOTHER MIRIAM                       How many times have I burned into                       your thick skull and the thick skull                       of your fellow novice, that                       menstruation is a perfectly natural                       process and nothing to be ashamed of.                                       AGNES                       Yes, Mother.                                       MOTHER MIRIAM                       Say it!                                      AGNES and GENEVIEVE                       It is a perfectly natural process and                       nothing to be ashamed of.                                       MOTHER MIRIAM                       Mean it!        The two girls start to repeat it but Agnes starts to cry andGenevieve        falters into silence. Mother Miriam goes on more kindly.                                      MOTHER MIRIAM                       A few years ago one of the Sisters came                       to me in tears, asking for comfort,                       comfort because she was too old to                       have any children. Not that she wanted                       to, but once a month she had been                       reminded of that possibility.                                      AGNES                       It's not that... it's not that...                                      MOTHER MIRIAM                       What do you mean?                                      AGNES                       It's not my time of month.                                              MOTHER MIRIAM                       Should you see a doctor?                                       AGNES                       I don't know. I don't know what                       happened Mother, I woke up... there                       was blood on the sheets, but I don't                       know what happened.                               (starts to weep)                       I don't know what I did wrong, I don't                       know and I should be punished.                                        MOTHER MIRIAM                       For what?                                      AGNES                       I don't know... I don't know...                                      MOTHER MIRIAM (V.O.)                       That was the beginning, the night of                       the conception. That's why she burnt                       the sheets.49   INT - SICKROOM - NIGHT        Still in flashback, Mother Miriam enters the room whereSISTERPAUL lies dying. Father Martineau is there and many of the othernuns singing hymns.                                        MARTHA (V.O.)                       When was that?                                      MOTHER MIRIAM (V.O.)                       The twenty third of January. On that                       night one of our elder nuns passed away.                                        MARTHA (V.O.)                       Sister Paul?                                      MOTHER MIRIAM (V.O.)                       Yes. I don't remember where Agnes was.                       I was needed in the sick room.        Father Martineau annoints the old woman. Then Agnes quietlyslips in   unobserved. Sister Paul rallies for a moment, tries to saya single silent        word to her. The smile slips from Agnes' face. Then SisterPaullies back       and dies.50   INT - CATHEDRAL - DAY        Martha and the MONSIGNOR are walking through the churchtalking. He is quite young and has a rather abrasive manner.                                      (beginning missed)                                      MARTHA                       No.                                      MONSIGNOR                       Well you're probably right about                       that. It certainly can't help Sister                       Agnes to have this investigation                       continued for any length of time.                                      MARTHA                       Why do you call it an investigation?                       I never have.                                      MONSIGNOR                       Your mother was a resident of Saint                       Catherines home before you moved                       her.                                      MARTHA                       What does this have to do with..?                                      MONSIGNOR                       And you had a sister who died in the                       convent.                                      MARTHA                       Who told you this?                                      MONSIGNOR                       Do you still go to church?                                      MARTHA                       What business is it of yours..?                                      MONSIGNOR                       Oh, we just wonder if you can be very                       objective about this case.                                      MARTHA                       Look, Father, ah... just because I                       don't subscribe to the... to the beliefs                       you subscribe to...                                       MONSIGNOR                               (halting)                       But what you believe makes no difference                       to us whatsoever Doctor. But it does                           make all the difference to Agnes.                                      MARTHA                       I don't understand. Are you expecting me                       to..?                                      MONSIGNOR                       Well somone's got to suffer for this Doctor.                       You've got to be merciful and quick. Excuse                       me.       Martha stares at him as he walks away.51   EXT - CONVENT - DAY        A single shot of the back of the convent and the belltower.Thebell isringing.52   INT - BELLTOWER - DAY        Mother Miriam is ringing the bell and it takes quite aconsiderable effort.53   EXT - CONVENT FARMYARD - DAY        Agnes has a wheelbarrow full of straw and manure. She dumpsiton a pile.54   INT - COWSHED - DAY       Martha is watching Agnes milking a cow.                                      MARTHA                       Agnes, I'm here because I want to help                       you.                                         AGNES                       I'm not sick.                                      MARTHA                       But you're troubled... aren't you?                                              AGNES                       That's because you keep reminding me.                       If you go away then I'll forget.                                      MARTHA                       And you're unhappy.                                      AGNES                       Everyone's unhappy, you're unhappy aren't                       you?                                         MARTHA                       Agnes...                                        AGNES                       Answer me!    You never answer me.                                         MARTHA                       Sometimes, yes.                                         AGNES                       Only you think    you're lucky because                       you didn't have    a mother who said things                       to you and did    things to you that maybe                       weren't always    nice but that was because                       of me, because    I was bad, not her.       Agnes carries the milk pail round to the churn.                                      MARTHA                       What did you do?                                         AGNES                       I'm always bad.                                      MARTHA                       What did you do?                                         AGNES                       I breathed!        Agnes falls to her knees. Martha moves round and kneels infront of her.                                       MARTHA                       Agnes. What did your mother do to                       you?                               (no answer)                       If you can't answer me, just shake                       your head yes or no. Did... did she                       hit you?                               (Anges shakes her head: no)                       Did she make you do something you                       didn't want to?                               (yes)                       Did it make you feel uncomfortable                       to do it?                               (yes)                       Did it embarrass you?                               (yes)                       Did it... did it hurt you?                               (yes)                       What did she make you you do?                                         AGNES                       No...               MARTHAYou can tell me.                  AGNESI can't.               MARTHAShe's dead isn't she?                  AGNESYes.               MARTHAShe can't hurt you any more.                  AGNESShe can.                  MARTHAHow?               AGNESShe watches... she listens.               MARTHAAgnes, I don't believe that. Tell me.I'll protect you from her.                  AGNESShe...                  MARTHAYes?                  AGNES... makes me...                  MARTHAYes?               AGNES... take off my clothes and then...she makes fun of me.               MARTHAShe tells you you're ugly?                  AGNESYes.               MARTHAAnd that you're stupid?                  AGNESYes.               MARTHAThat you're a mistake?               AGNESShe says my whole body's a mistake.                 MARTHAWhy?               AGNESBecause she says if I don't watch outI'll have a baby.               MARTHAHow does she know that?                 AGNESHer headaches.                 MARTHAOh, yes.                 AGNESAnd then...                 MARTHAWhat?                AGNESShe touches me down there with acigarette.        (Martha gasps)Please Mommy, don't touch me like thatany more. I'll be good, I won't be a babyany more.               MARTHAAgnes, oh Agnes, Agnes I want you to dosomething. I want you to pretend thatI'm your mother. Oh yes, only this timeI want you to tell me what you're feeling,alright?                 AGNESI'm afraid.                 MARTHAPlease!    I want to help you. Let me helpyou.                 AGNESAlright.               MARTHAAgnes, you're ugly!... what do you say?Of course you do. Agnes, you're ugly!...what do you say?                 AGNESNo I'm not.                                         MARTHA                       Are you pretty?                                         AGNES                       Yes.                                      MARTHA                       Agnes, you're stupid.                                         AGNES                       No I'm not.                                      MARTHA                       Are you intelligent?                                       AGNES                               (more forcefully)                       Yes I am.                                      MARTHA                       You're a mistake.                                       AGNES                               (shouting)                       I'm not mistake, I'm here aren't I.                       How can I be a mistake if I'm really                       here. God doesn't make mistakes,                       you're a mistake...       Agnes is half shouting , half crying. Martha holds on to her.                                      MARTHA                       Oh Agnes, oh Agnes, it's alright, it's                       alright, it's alright, it's alright,                       I love you.                                      AGNES                       Do you really love me or are you just                       saying that?                                      MARTHA                       I really love you.                                      AGNES                       As much as Mother Miriam does?                                      MARTHA                       As much as God loves you.55   INT - AGNES' OLD ROOM - DAY        Martha is in there by herself smoking. The elderly nunappearsat the door.                                         ELDERLY NUN                       I've been watching. We were fine 'till                       she came. She brought the devil here.                               (makes the sign                               of the cross)                       There was blood on her hand that night.                                         MARTHA                       Agnes?                                  (the nun shakes                                  her head)                       Who?     Mother Superior?                                         ELDERLY NUN                       (in French)                       ???                                         MARTHA                       What?                                      ELDERLY NUN                       Look into the convent records.                                         MARTHA                       Sister...       But the nun has gone, walking quickly away down the corridor.56   INT - RECORD ROOM - DAY       Sister (?) enters to find Martha going through a cabinet.                                       MARTHA                               (slightly guiltily)                       Oh, Good afternoon Sister, I... I'm                       looking for some biographical data                       on Sister Agnes, and Mother said I                       might find it here.        The Sister smiles, goes to another cabinet, extracts a fileandhands it to        her.                                         MARTHA                       Thank you.        The Sister nods and without a word leaves the room. Marthawaits until she has gone, then opens the cabinet and pulls outanother file. Glancing at the    door, she compares the two files.They both have the same surname Burchetti. The the door opens andMother Miriam is standing there.                                         MARTHA                       You lied to me                                         MOTHER MIRIAM                       About what?                                       MARTHA                               (brandishing the files)                       Your niece!                                      MOTHER MIRIAM                       I didn't tell you because I didn't                       think it was important.                                       MARTHA                       No, it just makes you doubly               responsible doesn't it?                                      MOTHER MIRIAM                       I never saw Agnes until she set foot                       in this convent. My sister ran away                       from home. We lost touch with her.                       And when my husband died and I came                       here, she wrote to me and asked me if                       I would take care of Agnes in case                       anything happened.                                      MARTHA                       And Agnes' father?       Mother Miriam turns out of the room. Martha goes after her.                                      MOTHER MIRIAM                       It could have been any one of a dozen                       men from what my sister told me.57   INT - CORRIDOR - DAY       Continuing, just outside the record room.                                      MOTHER MIRIAM (Cont.)                       She was afraid that Agnes would                       follow in her footsteps. She did                       everything she could to prevent it.                                      MARTHA                       Like keeping her home from school?                                               MOTHER MIRIAM                       Yes.                                      MARTHA                       Listening to angels?                                      MOTHER MIRIAM                       She drank too much. That's what killed                       her.                                      MARTHA                       Do you know what she did to her?                                      MOTHER MIRIAM                       I don't think I care to know.                                      MARTHA                       She molested her!                                       MOTHER MIRIAM                       Oh, dear God.                                      MARTHA                       There is more here than meets the eye                       isn't there? Lots of dirty little secrets.                                       MOTHER MIRIAM                               (crying)                       Oh God, if only I'd known.                                      MARTHA                       Why didn't you? You knew she was                       keeping her home from school. You                       knew she was an alcoholic.                                      MOTHER MIRIAM                       I knew that after the fact.                                      MARTHA                       Why didn't you do anything to stop her?                                       MOTHER MIRIAM                       Because I didn't know...                               (she leaves)                                       MARTHA                       Oh, God.       DISSOLVE TO:58   INT - POLICE STATION, LARRY'S OFFICE - DAY        Larry is interviewing a young PROSTITUTE in French. Marthaappears at the door.                                       MARTHA                       Larry...                                      LARRY                       Marty, what are you doing here?                                      MARTHA                       Larry there's got to be something                       missing.                                      LARRY                       I gave you the pictures Marty, what                       else do you want?                                       MARTHA                       Something they... that they overlooked.                                     LARRY                       What? You think that the girl is                       innocent?                                        MARTHA                       I don't know.                                      LARRY                       You got to be crazy.        Larry pulls out a pack of cigarettes, gives one to Martha andto theprostitute.                                        MARTHA                       Larry...                                      LARRY                       What's the matter with you, you've                       seen the reports. It's a cut and dried                       case.                                      MARTHA                       Maybe there's something that's not                       in the report that should be.                                       LARRY                       You're too involved Marty.                               (lights her cigarette)                       Jesus look at you. Why don't you                       turn this case over to someone else?       Larry lights his own cigarette and comes over to Martha.                                      LARRY (Cont.)                       I'll ask around, see what I come up                       with. In the meantime you go home                       and get some sleep.                                        MARTHA                       Thanks.                                 (she leaves)                                       LARRY                               (calling after her)                       If I find anything I'll call you.59   INT - MARTHA'S APARTMENT - NIGHT        Martha takes off her coat, moves across the room turning onlights. She        flicks the answerphone on. Her cat meows.                                      SECRETARY (V.O.)                       Hi Marty, it's Helen. Mrs Davenport                        called and was very upset that you'd                        missed her appointment. She wants                        you to call her at home, oh and a couple                        of reporters have been trying to get a                        hold of you about Sister Agnes. They                        seem persistent and they may try to                        reach you at home. I didn't give them                        number.       Some whirs and beeps. Martha goes into the bathroom.                                        REPORTER (V.O.)                                (French accent)                        Hallo, Doctor Livingston. My name is                        (?). I'm doing a Sunday article on                        Sister Agnes for the Gazette. I would                        appreciate it if you would give me a                        phone call on 942-2424.               More beeps and whirs. Martha starts to undress.                                        LARRY (V.O.)                        Hi Marty, it's me. Listen I just                        talked with Detective Crawley who                        was at the convent. She said that                        there was one thing that bothered her                        that didn't make it into the report.                        The waste paper basket. The one in                        Agnes' room.                                (Martha freezes in the                                middle of lighting up)                        None of the other nuns had one. Bye.       Martha rushes over to the answerphone and rewinds it.                                       LARRY (V.O.)                        ... her that didn't make it into the                        report. The waste paper basket. The                        one in Agnes' room. None of the other                        nuns had one. Bye.       Martha looks thoughtful and flicks off the desk lamp.60   INT - CONVENT CHAPEL - DAY        Father Martineau is saying Mass. All the sisters are theresinging together.      Father Martineau places the host in thesconce,incences it and raises it        up. Close on individual nuns at prayer including Agnes.       DISSOLVE TO:61   INT - BARN - DAY       Mother Miriam is kneeling in the doorway of the barn, prayingwhen Martha    enters. Mother Miriam pauses.                                      MARTHA                       I've gotten the court's permission                       to hypnotise her.       Mother Miriam makes the sign of the cross and stands up.                                      MOTHER MIRIAM                       And my permission?                                                 MARTHA                       I'd like yours too.        Mother Miriam grabs a bucket and moves across the barn.Marthafollows her.                                      MOTHER MIRIAM                       We'll see about that.                                        MARTHA                       Don't deny it!                                      MOTHER MIRIAM                       I haven't decided yet.                                      MARTHA                       The woman's health is at stake.                                      MOTHER MIRIAM                       Her spiritual health.                                      MARTHA                       I don't give a damn about her spiritual                       health.                                      MOTHER MIRIAM                       I know you don't.       Mother Miriam starts shovelling grain into the bucket.                                      MARTHA                       Sentence her and be done with it, that's                       what you're saying and I...                                        MOTHER MIRIAM                       I am saying (distorted) a beautifully                       simple woman...                                      MARTHA                       An unhappy woman...                                      MOTHER MIRIAM                       She's happy with us and she could go                       on being happy if she was left alone.                                      MARTHA                       Then why did you call the police in the                       first place Mother, huh?                                      MARTHA (cont.)                       Why didn't you just throw the baby into                       the incinerator and be done with it.                                      MOTHER MIRIAM                       Because I am a moral person.                                      MARTHA                       Bullshit!                                      MOTHER MIRIAM                       Bullshit yourself!                                      MARTHA                       Catholic Church doesn't have a corner                       on morality...                                      MOTHER MIRIAM                       Who said anything about the Catholic                       Church...                                      MARTHA                       You just said...                                      MOTHER MIRIAM                       What the hell has the Catholic Church                       got to do with you?                                      MARTHA                       Nothing...                                      MOTHER MIRIAM                       What have we done to hurt you? And                       don't deny it, I can smell an ex-Catholic                       a mile away. What did we do? Burn a                       few heretics, sell some indulgences?                       That was in the days when the Church                       was a ruling body. We let governments                       do those things today. So what did we                       do to you eh? You wanted to neck in the                       back seat of a car when you were fifteen                       and you couldn't because it was a sin?        This time it is Martha who walks away and Mother Miriam whofollows her.                                      MOTHER MIRIAM (Cont.)                       So instead of questioning that one rule...                                       MARTHA                               (halting)                       It wasn't sex. It was a lot of things, but                       it wasn't sex. You know when I was in                       the first grade my best friend was run                          over on the way to school, you know what                          the nun said? She died because she hadn't                          said her morning prayers.                                         MOTHER MIRIAM                          Stupid woman... and that's all?                                         MARTHA                          That's all? That's enough!   She was a                          beautiful little girl.                                         MOTHER MIRIAM                          And what has that to do with it?                                         MARTHA                          I wasn't. I wasn't. She was the pretty one.                          She died, why not me? I never said my                          morning prayers. And I was ugly, I was                          scrawny, I had buck teeth and freckles all                          over my face, do you know what the nun                          called me, Sister Mary Clitus, called me                          Polkadot Livingston.                                         MOTHER MIRIAM                          So you left the Church because you had                          freckles?                                         MARTHA                          No, because I... yeah, yeah I left the                          Church cause I had freckles.       They both cannot help laughing at this absurdity.62   EXT - COURTYARD - DAY        A couple of nuns walk across the courtyard. Another ismeditating alone. On        a bench a nun kisses a dove and lets it fly away.63   EXT - GAZEBO - DAY        It is out the back of the convent near the belltower. MotherMiriam andMartha are sitting there talking. Martha is smoking.                                         MOTHER MIRIAM                          When I was a child I used to hear my                          guardian angel. She sang to me 'till I                          was six years old. That's when I stopped                          listening. But I remember the voice. A                          few years ago I looked at myself and saw                          nothing but a nun who was certain of nothing.                          Not even of Heaven. Not even of God. And                          then one evening I saw Agnes standing by                          her window, singing. And all my doubts about                       myself and God were gone, in that one moment.                       I recognized the voice. Please don't take it                       away from me again Doctor Livingston. Those                       years after six were very bleak.                                       MARTHA                       My sister died in a convent. And it's her                       voice I hear.                               (a long pause)                       Does my smoking bother you?                                      MOTHER MIRIAM                       No, it reminds me.                                      MARTHA                       Would you like one? Huh?                                        MOTHER MIRIAM                       I'd love one.        Martha hands her a cigarette and lights it for her. MotherMiriam coughs a        lot. Martha pats her on the back.                                       MOTHER MIRIAM                       I'm out of prac...                               (cough)                       ... practice.                               (cough)                                        MARTHA                       All right?                                                 MOTHER MIRIAM                       Fine thanks...                                      MARTHA                       Do you suppose the saints would have                       smoked if tobacco had been popular                       back then?                                      MOTHER MIRIAM                       Undoubtedly. Not the ascetics of course                       but, well Saint Thomas More...                                       MARTHA                               (chuckles)                       Long, thin and filtered.                                       MOTHER MIRIAM                       Saint Ignatius would smoke cigars and                       stub them out on the soles of his bare                       feet.                               (they roar with laughter)                       And of course (distorted)                                        MARTHA                       Hand rolled.                              MOTHER MIRIAM               Even Christ would partake socially.                                 MARTHA               Saint Peter?                                 MOTHER MIRIAM               Pipe!                                 MARTHA               Right...                                 MOTHER MIRIAM               Mary Magdelen?                               MARTHA                       (imitating)               Oh, you've come a long way baby.                              MOTHER MIRIAM               And Saint John would chew tobacco.More laughter, then the moment because more serious.                                 MARTHA               Right.                       (a pause)               What do you suppose today's saints               are smoking?                              MOTHER MIRIAM               There are no saints today. Good people               yes, but extraordinarily good people...               those I'm afraid we are sorely lacking.                              MARTHA               Do you think they ever existed?                                 MOTHER MIRIAM               Yes I do.                              MARTHA               Do you want to become one?                                 MOTHER MIRIAM               Become?     One is born a saint.                              MARTHA               Well you can try, can't you, to be good?                               MOTHER MIRIAM               Yes, but goodness has very little to do               with it. Not all the saints were good,               in fact some of them were a little crazy.               But... they were still attached to God.               Agnes has that birth.                       (she stands)                         No more... we're born, we live, we die.                         No room for miracles.                                 (Martha gets up too)                         Oh my dear, how I miss the miracles.       They start walking back to the convent.                                        MARTHA                         Do you think Agnes is still attached to                         God?                                        MOTHER MIRIAM                         Listen to her singing.                                         MARTHA                                 (a pause)                         I'd like to begin.                                        MOTHER MIRIAM                         Begin what?                                        MARTHA                         The hypnotism. Do you still disapprove?                                        MOTHER MIRIAM                         Would it stop you if I did?                                        MARTHA                         No.       They both halt.                                        MOTHER MIRIAM                         May I be present?                                        MARTHA                         Of course.                                        MOTHER MIRIAM                         Then let's begin.64   INT - ATTIC ROOM - DAY        The room is painted white and completely empty with a steeplysloping    ceiling. Agnes is sitting on a chair with her eyes closed,already under   hypnosis. Martha and Mother Miriam are facing her.                                        MARTHA                         You're listening to a chorus of angels.                         The music surrounds you like a...                         warm and, comfortable pool of water.                         And while you're sleeping, you're                         going to be able to recall, all the things                         that we want you to remember. And                         when I count to three and clap my hands,                         you'll no longer be hypnotised. Can you                         hear me.                                           AGNES                         Yes.                                           MARTHA                         Who am I?                                        AGNES                         Doctor Livingston.                                        MARTHA                         And why am I here?                                           AGNES                         To help me.                                        MARTHA                         Good. Would you like to tell me why                         you're here?                                        AGNES                         Because I'm in trouble.                                         MARTHA                         What kind of trouble?                                 (no answer)                         What kind of trouble Agnes?          Martha starts to walk around behind Agnes.                                           AGNES                         I'm frightened.                                           MARTHA                         Of what?                                           AGNES                         Of telling you.                                        MARTHA                         But it's easy. It's just a breath with                         sound. Say it. What kind of trouble?                                         AGNES                                 (a pause)                         I had a baby.          Both Martha and Mother Miriam react with some degree ofrelief.                                        MARTHA                         How did you have a baby?                                        AGNES                         It came out of me.                                        MARTHA                         Did you know what was going to comeout?                  AGNESYes.               MARTHADid you want it to come out?                  AGNESNo.                  MARTHAWhy?               AGNESBecause I was afraid.               MARTHAWhy were you afraid?               AGNESBecause I wasn't worthy.                  MARTHATo be a mother?                  AGNESYes.                  MARTHAWhy?               AGNESMay I open my eyes now?               MARTHANo not yet Agnes, very soon but notyet. How did the baby get into you?                  AGNESIt grew.               MARTHAWhat made it grow? Do you know?                  AGNESYes.               MARTHAWould you like to tell me?                  AGNESNo.               MARTHADid anyone else know about the baby?                  AGNES               I can't tell you that.                              MARTHA               Will she be angry?                              AGNES               She made me promise not to.                                  MARTHA               Who?     Who made you promise?                          (no answer)               It's    alright Agnes. It's alright.                          (a pause)               Let's    go to your room. It's the night               about    six weeks ago when you were               very    sick.                                 AGNES               I'm afraid.                              MARTHA               Oh don't be, I'm here. It's alright.               I want you to tell me what you did               before you went to bed.                                 AGNES               I ate.                              MARTHA               Hm hmm. What did you have for               dinner?                                 AGNES               Fish...                       (distastefully)               ... brussel sprouts.                              MARTHA               You don't like brussel sprouts?                                 AGNES               I hate them.Martha and Mother Miriam can't help smiling.                              MARTHA               And then what happened?                              AGNES               We went to chapel for vespers.                                 MARTHA               Hm hmm.                              AGNES               I left early because I wasn't feeling               very well.Suddenly Agnes leaps up from her chair.                              MARTHA               What is it?                              AGNES               Someone's following me.                              MARTHA               Who?                              AGNES               Sister Marguerite I think.                               MARTHA               Was it Sister Marguerite who knew               about the baby?                       (no answer)               Alright Agnes, I want you to see your               room as you saw it on that night.                               MARTHA (Cont.)               Open your eyes.                       (she opens them)               What do you see?                              AGNES               My bed.                              MARTHA               What else?                              AGNES               A crucifix.                              MARTHA               Above the bed? Any... anything else?               What do you you see, something               different? What is it?                               AGNES                       (puzzled)               A wastepaper basket.                              MARTHA               Do you know who put it there?                              AGNES               No.                              MARTHA               What do you think it's there for?                              AGNES               For me to get sick in.                              MARTHA               Are you ill?                                         AGNES                       Yes.                                      MARTHA                       What do you feel?                                      AGNES                       I feel as if I've eaten glass.                                         MARTHA                       What do you do?                                      AGNES                       I have to throw up...       And she falls to her knees, retching horribly.                                      AGNES (Cont.)                       I can't... glass... one of the sisters                       has fed me glass.                                         MARTHA                       Which one?                                      AGNES                       I don't know which one (distorted)                                         MARTHA                       Of what?                                       AGNES                       Of me. Oh... God! My God...                               (assumes the birth                               position and looks                               between her legs)                       Water... it's all water...                                      MARTHA                       Why isn't anyone coming?                                       AGNES                               (trying to wipe up                               the water)                       They can't hear me that's why.                               (in terrible pain)                       Oh God... I don't wanna...                                       MOTHER MIRIAM                               (to Martha)                       Stop her!        Then Agnes tries to crawl away as though terrified ofsomething.                                         MARTHA                       What is it?               AGNESPlease get away from me...               MARTHAWho?               AGNESGo away, I don't want you here.               MARTHAIs someone in the room with you?               AGNESNo... don't hit me please...                MOTHER MIRIAMStop this, she'll hurt herself        (stepping forward)I'm not going to allow this.                MARTHA        (hauling her away)NO... no... I said leave her alone.               AGNES       (still screaming)You're trying to take my baby... tryingto take my baby... no...        (then quietly)It wasn't my fault Mommy... it was amistake Mommy.                MARTHAAlright Agnes... it's alright. One, twothree...        (claps her hands;        Agnes comes to)It's alright... it's me, Doctor Livingston,it's alright, alright. Thankyou Agnes,thankyou. How do you feel?               AGNESFrightened.               MARTHADo you remember what just happened?               AGNES       (a long pause)Yes.               MARTHAThat's good. Do you feel well enoughto stand?               AGNES                          Yes.          Martha helps her to her feet. Agnes clings to her.                                         MARTHA                          There you go. It's alright, it's alright,                          it's all over. It's alright Agnes, that's                          right, that's right.65      EXT - LAND REGISTRY - DAY          Martha approaches the building and enters it.66      INT - RECORD ROOM - DAY          The camera tracks through shelves of ancient records andmaps.                                          MARTHA (off)                          Ah excuse me. Hallo. I'm looking                          for some ah... ground plans for the                          ah... Saint Marie Madeleine Convent                          in (distorted).                                            MAN (off)                                    (answers in French)               Martha and a middle aged official come into view. Hestopsat a long set of        drawers and starts looking through it.                                            MAN                                    (in French)                                            MARTHA                                    (replies in French)                                         MAN                  Oh... very interesting I guess...                                 (he pulls out a                                 folder of plans)                  Excuse me...        He sets the folder down on a table and starts going throughit.They bothlook at the plans.                                          MAN (Cont.)                          Ah viola! This has everything. Even                          the secret entrance. They all had                          that. Usually to get from building to                          building in the snow...                                  (he indicates on                                  the plan)                          ... like that one.                                          MARTHA                                  (murmurs)                          That's how he got in... or she got                          out.                                         MAN                          Oh excuse me, what did you say?                                         MARTHA                          Nothing. May I take some notes?                                         MAN                          Oh yes, (distorted)       Martha starts drawing a rough plan.67   INT - CRYPT - DAY        The crypt is deserted but candles are burning in front of astatue of Saint Michael. Martha walks over to it,lights a candle andgoes behind it and        finds a stairway there leading underground. She goes downinto...68   INT - TUNNEL - DAY        Martha walks through the dimly lit passage. She stops for amoment to look        at a cross carved on the stone floor, then continues. Finallyshe reaches        more steps and goes up into the...69   INT - BARN - DAY        Martha emerges through a trapdoor in to the barn which isfullof doves. It    begins to make sense for her.70   EXT - CITY - DAY        Various closeups of famous statues. A bell is tolling. Twonunscome out of        a building, down streets, across the road as though trafficdidnot exist        and into another building.71   INT - LIFT - DAY       The nuns are Sister Anne and Mother Miriam. In the lift anOFFICE GIRL        checks her lipstick in the reflective metal walls. The liftstops and the        Sisters get off.72   INT - CORRIDOR - DAY       They walk down the modern carpeted corridor into...73   INT - MARTHA'S OFFICE - DAY       Mother Miriam addresses the secretary, HELEN.                                      MOTHER MIRIAM                       Is the Doctor in her office?                                      HELEN                       Ah, who shall I say is calling?                                       MOTHER MIRIAM                               (grimly)                       General MacArthur.       She heads onto Martha's office. Helen jumps up after her.                                      HELEN                       Just a minute please, you can't go in                       there.       Mother Miriam pushes the door open to reveal Martha.                                              MARTHA                               (standing)                       It's... it's alright Helen, just close                       the door.        Mother Miriam walks in and throws some papers down ontoMartha's desk.                                      MOTHER MIRIAM                       I've just met with the bishop. We're                       taking you off the case.                                       MARTHA                               (picking up the papers)                       You're what?                                       MOTHER MIRIAM                       If we want to hire a psychiatrist for                       Agnes. we'll find our own, thank you.                               (starts to leave)                                      MARTHA                       One that will ask the questions you                       want asked.                MOTHER MIRIAM        (halting)One that will approach this matterwith some objectivity and respect.                  MARTHAFor the Church?                  MOTHER MIRIAMFor Agnes.               MARTHAYou think she's a saint?               MOTHER MIRIAMShe's been touched by God, yes.               MARTHAHow? How? She hallucinates, stopseating and bleeds spontaneously. Isthat supposed to convince me sheshouldn't be touched. Give me a miracle.                  MOTHER MIRIAMThe father!                  MARTHAWho is he?               MOTHER MIRIAMWhy must he be anybody?                MARTHA        (laughs and sits down)My God, you're as crazy as...               MOTHER MIRIAMStop laughing, I don't say it's the truth,I'm saying...               MARTHAHow (distorted) ?               MOTHER MIRIAMDon't be ridiculous.               MARTHAWell give me a reasonable explanation               MOTHER MIRIAMA miracle is an event without anexplanation. If she's capable of puttinga hole in her hand without benefit of anail, why couldn't she split a cell in herwomb?                  MARTHAThis is insane.               MOTHER MIRIAMThere as no man in the convent on thatnight and no way for any man to get inor out.               MARTHAYou're saying God did it?                  MOTHER MIRIAMNo, that's as much as saying FatherMartineau did it. I'm saying Godpermitted it.               MARTHABut how did it happen?               MOTHER MIRIAMYou'll never find the answer foreverything God did.               MARTHAI thought you didn't believe in miraclestoday Mother?               MOTHER MIRIAMBut I want the opportunity to believe.I want the choice to believe.                  MARTHABut what    you are choosing to believeis a lie    because you won't face the factthat she    was raped... or seduced...or that    she did the seducing.               MOTHER MIRIAMShe is an innocent.               MARTHABut she is not an enigma Mother.Everything that Agnes has done isexplainable from modern psychiatry.One, two, three, right down the line.               MOTHER MIRIAMThat's what you believe she is?     Thesum of her psychological parts?               MARTHAThat's what I have to believe...                MOTHER MIRIAMThen why are you so obsessed with her?You're losing sleep over her?        (Martha gets up disturbed)You're thinking about her all the time.You're bent on saving her. Why?       Martha has no answer.                                        MOTHER MIRIAM (Cont.)                                (calmer)                        I'm not accusing. I'm recognizing.                                       MARTHA                        There's a tunnel out of the crypt into                        the barn. Did you know about that?                        There's an answer Mother. That's how                        she got out.                                       MOTHER MIRIAM                        That's crazy. How could she find out                        about it?                                       MARTHA                        Somebody told her.                                       MOTHER MIRIAM                        Who? That tun... that tunnel hasn't                        been used in fifty years.                                       MARTHA                        Oh, would you stop lying Mother!                                       MOTHER MIRIAM                        Why would I lie?                                       MARTHA                        Because it's murder we're talking about.                        Aren't you concerned about what she told                        us about the other person in her room.                                       MOTHER MIRIAM                        I'm concerned about her health.                                       MARTHA                        Who was that person Mother?    Was it                        you?                                       MOTHER MIRIAM                        If you believe this is murder, it is the                        Crown attorney you have to talk to, not                        me. And definitely not Agnes.       She goes out and slams the door.74   EXT - POND - DAY        After a couple of establishing shots of the convent, the nunsare shown ice   skating on the frozen pond. They are quiteuninhibited, like little        children. Their singing (off) from the chapel continues untilthe end of        scene 78.75   INT - CHAPEL - DAY        Sister Genevieve, the other novice is being consecrated. Sheapproaches the altar all dressed in white, carrying a single candleand kneels down.76   INT - LAW COURTS - DAY        Martha and Justice Leveau come up the steps and into thecorridor.                                         MARTHA                          All I want is one more week.                                          LEVEAU                          Why?                                    (continues in French,                                          then...)                           You've done nothing to show any progress.                                         MARTHA                          Yes, that's because I'm getting to her.                                         LEVEAU                          You're getting to all of us Martha, let's                          face it.                                         MARTHA                          I'll have a decision by next week.                                         LEVEAU                          It's gone on long enough. You're out.                                         MARTHA                          Oh Joe... Joe she didn't kill the baby.                                          LEVEAU                                  (halting)                          You have proof?                                          MARTHA                          I'll have it.                                                   LEVEAU                          When?                                          MARTHA                          Next week.                                          LEVEAU                                  (walking on)                          No, no, no...                                          MARTHA                          I can get you new evidence next week.                                            LEVEAU                          No!                                         MARTHA                          Tomorrow... tomorrow, I'll get it by                          tomorrow. I will.       They reach the door of Leveau's office. He thinks...                                            LEVEAU                          Yes, demain (?)77   INT - CHAPEL - DAY        The scene consists of a number of shots dissolving into oneanother. Sister Genevieve lying face down in front of the bishop,Genevieve praying on her   knees, her family (4) watching frombehind the grilled gate. Genevieve's        hair being cut, her joy at the habit being fitted to her,running out to        join her family, a jolly old singalong on the piano, thistimethe nuns        singing along from    behind the gate.78   EXT - CONVENT - DAY        Martha drives up in her car and walks across the now snowcovered grounds to    the convent.79   INT - MOTHER MIRIAM'S OFFICE - DAY        Mother Miriam is working away at her desk when a nuninterrupts. Singing   from the party can faintly be heard.                                                 NUN (off)                          Excuse me Mother, Doctor Livingston                          is here.        Mother Miriam nods tiredly and goes to meet Martha at hedoor.Martha hands    her a court order. Mother Miriam reads it brieflyand hands it back.                                         MOTHER MIRIAM                          This is permission to take her apart.                                            MARTHA                          Where is she?                                         MOTHER MIRIAM                          Hasn't she had enough?                              MARTHA               I have a few more questions to ask her.                              MOTHER MIRIAM               My God, but you're determined.They move back into the room.                              MARTHA               Who knew she was pregnant?                              MOTHER MIRIAM               Why do you insist upon pressing...                                 MARTHA               Was it you?                              MOTHER MIRIAM               Is it because she's a nun?                              MARTHA               Did you know she was pregnant?                                 MOTHER MIRIAM               Yes.                              MARTHA               And you didn't send her to a doctor.                              MOTHER MIRIAM               I didn't guess until it was too late.                                 MARTHA               For what?     An abortion?                              MOTHER MIRIAM               Oh, don't be ridiculous.                              MARTHA               Too late for what?                              MOTHER MIRIAM               I don't know... too late to stop it.                                 MARTHA               The baby?                                 MOTHER MIRIAM               The scandal...                              MARTHA               You went to the room to help with               the birth.                              MOTHER MIRIAM               She didn't want any help.                                 MARTHA                       You wanted that child out of the way.                                       MOTHER MIRIAM                       That's a lie.                                      MARTHA                       You hid the wastepaper basket in her                       room.                                      MOTHER MIRIAM                       I didn't hide it. I put it there for the                       blood and the dirty sheets.                                       MARTHA                       And the baby.                                       MOTHER MIRIAM                       No!                                      MARTHA                       You tied the cord around its neck.                                      MOTHER MIRIAM                       I wanted her to have it when no-one else                       was around, they would have taken the                       baby to a hospital and left it with them,                       but it was such a difficult birth, there                       was so much blood and I panicked.                                      MARTHA                       Before or after you killed the child?                                      MOTHER MIRIAM                       I left it with her and I went for help.                                      MARTHA                       I doubt that's what she'd say.                                      MOTHER MIRIAM                       Then she's a liar.80   INT - ATTIC ROOM - DAY        It is the same as before, except that this time Martha andMother Miriam are      standing.                                      MARTHA                       Agnes, can you hear me?                                       AGNES                       Yes.                                      MARTHA                       I want you to remember if you can a                       night last January. The night Sister                       Paul died. Do you remember.        There is a flash cut to Sister Paul being annointed. Agnesstirs slightly.                                      MARTHA (Cont.)                       What's the matter?        There is another flash cut, this time of Sister Paul sayingthat mysterious word that we could not previously understand.                                      AGNES                       She said Michael.                                      MARTHA                       What did she mean?        There is a third flash cut of the shrine of Saint Michael inthe crypt.                                       AGNES                       The statue. She had shown it to me                       the day before.                                      MARTHA                       And the passage to the barn?                                      AGNES                       Yes.                                      MARTHA                       Why?                                      AGNES                       So I could go to him.                                      MARTHA                       Who?                                      AGNES                       Him.                                      MARTHA                       How did she know about him?                                      AGNES                       She'd seen him too.                                      MARTHA                       Where?                                      AGNES                       From the belltower the day she before                       she died.                                      MARTHA                       So she sent you?                                      AGNES                       Yes.81   INT - TUNNEL - NIGHT        In flashback:    Agnes is walking alone through the tunnelcarrying an oil        lamp.                                           MARTHA (V.O.)                          What happened?       Agnes keeps walking and finally goes up the steps into...82   INT - BARN - NIGHT        Still in flashback, Agnes emerges into the barn. The dovesflapabout as        Agnes    moves nervously through the barn.                                           AGNES (V.O.)                          He's here.83   INT - ATTIC ROOM - DAY       Back to the present:                                         MARTHA                          Are you frightened?                                           AGNES               Yes.84   INT - BARN - NIGHT        In flashback: the doves continue to make flapping andbumpingsounds as        they fly around the barn.                                           AGNES                          Hallo...85   INT - ATTIC ROOM - DAY       In the present:                                         AGNES                          ... where are you?86   INT - BARN - NIGHT       In flashback:                                         AGNES                          Is it you?        Then she seems to be talking to someone although we can seenothing except the doves.                                         AGNES (Cont.)                          I... I'm afraid... yes, yes I do...                          why me?... wait, I want to see you.                                         MARTHA (V.O.)                          What do you see?87   INT - ATTIC ROOM - DAY       In the present:                                         AGNES                          Halos...88   INT - BARN - NIGHT        In flashback: Agnes is still in the barn but now she islyingon her back.        Still all we can see are doves flashing in the light.                                         AGNES (V.O.)                          ... dividing and dividing feathers and                          starts, falling, falling into the iris of                          God's eye. Oh... oh!... it's... it's so                          lovely... it's so... blue... yellow...                          blood wings, brown, blood...       And she lifts up her hands.89   INT - ATTIC ROOM - DAY        In the present: as she lifts up her hands, Agnes ishorrifiedto see two        holes in her palms weeping blood.                                         AGNES                          His blood... my God...       Martha and Mother Miriam are equally shocked.                                         MARTHA                          Oh Agnes...       Agnes runs terrified over to the walls blood pouring over herwhite habit.    Mother Miriam rushes after her.                                       AGNES                       It's bleeding... I'm bleeding...                       my God it won't stop, I can't get it                       to stop.                               (to Mother Miriam)                       Let go of me, I wish you were dead.                                       MARTHA                               (trying to hold her)                       Agnes... Agnes...        Agnes breaks free and runs over to another wall smearing ittoowith blood.     Martha follows her.                                      AGNES                       Stay away from me...                                      MARTHA                       Agnes it had nothing to do with the                       hand of God. He did a terrible thing                       to you, do you understand?                                         AGNES                       No...                                         MARTHA                       He    frightened you and he hurt you. It's                       not    your fault. It's his fault. Tell us                       who    he is so we can find him. Stop                       him    from doing this to other women.                                      AGNES                       Not your fault...                                      MARTHA                       Agnes who did you see?                                         AGNES                       I hate him...                                              MARTHA                       Of course you do. Who was it?                                      AGNES                       I hate him for what he did to me.                                         MARTHA                       Yes.                                      AGNES                       For what he made me go through.                                         MARTHA                       Who?                                        AGNES                       I hate him.                                      MARTHA                       Agnes, who did this to you?       Agnes flings her arms back against the wall.                                       AGNES                       God!  It was God.                               (sinks to her knees)                       And now I'll burn in hell because I                       hate him.                                      MARTHA                       Agnes you won't burn in hell. It's                       alright to hate him.                                        MOTHER MIRIAM                       That's enough.                                      MARTHA                       Agnes, what happened to the baby?                                       MOTHER MIRIAM                               (shouting)                       She can't remember.                                      MARTHA                       What happened to the baby?                                        AGNES                       It was dead.                                      MARTHA                       It was alive wasn't it?                                      AGNES                       I don't remember.                                       MOTHER MIRIAM                               (screaming)                       Oh, don't do this!                                        MARTHA                       Wasn't it!                                        AGNES                       YES!        Somehow this declaration seems to calm them down somewhat.Mother Miriam   is looking utterly resigned.                                      MARTHA                       Mother Miriam was with you wasn't                       she?                                        AGNES                        Yes.                                       MARTHA                        She took the baby in her arms?                                       AGNES                        Yes.                                       MARTHA                        You saw it all didn't you?                                       AGNES                        Yes.                                        MARTHA                        And then... what did she do?                                (no answer)                        Agnes what did she do?                                       AGNES                        She... left me alone with that little                        thing, and I looked at it, and I thought                        this is a mistake. But it's my mistake,                        not Mommy's. God's mistake.                                        AGNES (cont.)                        I thought I... I can save her.                                (she raises her hands)                        I can give her back to God.                                       MARTHA                        What did you do?                                       AGNES                        I put her to sleep.                                       MARTHA                        H... how?                                       AGNES                        I tied the cord around her neck...                        wrapped her in the bloody sheets...                        and stuffed her in the trash can.        Mother Miriam gives a shuddering sigh, makes the sign of thecross andprays. Martha claps her hands lightly together once.90   EXT - CITY - DAY        A shaft of sunlight shines through the winter clouds onto thecity. Angle on the courthouse.91   INT - COURT ROOM - DAY       All the main characters are present: Eve, Lyon, Martha,Agnes,Sister   Marguerite and Mother Miriam. Justice Leveau is summingup.                                       LEVEAU                        In view of the situation as it now                        stands, and the testimony given here                        this morning, it seems quite clear                        that the defendant was in no manner                        responsible for her actions. It is                        therefore the judgement of this court                        that she be returned to the convent of                        Marie Madeleine where she will be cared                        for under proper medical supervision by                        a visiting physician.        Both Martha and Mother Miriam show relief at this. JusticeLeveau continues        to sum up in French when suddenly Agnes stands up.                                               LEVEAU (Cont.)                                (surprised)                        Oui. Do you have something to say?                                        AGNES                                (a long pause)                        I stood in the window of my room                        every night for a week. And one night                        I heard the most beautiful voice                        imaginable. And when I looked I saw                        the moon shining down on him. For six                        nights he sang to me, songs I'd never                        heard. And on the seventh night he                        opened his wings and lay on top of me.                        All the while he sang -                                (sings)                        Charlie Sweet... Charlie Sweet...                        Charlie's a...                                       LEVEAU                        Please, remove her from the court.         Martha and Mother Miriam step forward uncertainly.                                        LEVEAU                        Would someone please remove the                        defendant from the courtroom.                                (continues in French)         The nuns lead Agnes, still singing past Martha and out of thecourt.         DISSOLVE TO:92   EXT - CONVENT - DAY        It is full winter; many shots of the convent and surroundingsdissolving        into one another.                                      MARTHA (V.O.)                       I don't know the meaning behind the                       song she sang. Perhaps it was a song                       of seduction. And the father was a                       fieldhand. Perhaps the song was simply                       a lullaby that she remembered from many                       years ago. And the father was hope and...                       and love and desire. And a belief in                        miracles.        The nuns are seen walking together through the snow back totheconvent over    which Agnes' singing can be heard.                                      MARTHA (V.O.)                       I want to believe that she was blessed.                       And I do miss her, and I hope that she's                       left something, some little part of                       herself with me. That would be miracle                       enough wouldn't it?       DISSOLVE TO:93   EXT - TOP OF BELLTOWER - DAY        Where Agnes is singing her song among the doves. She stopssinging and the music fades in on the same key. Agnes gently takeson of the doves and lets        it fly away across the snowy landscape.       FADE OUT.       END TITLES.
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+Air Force One Andrew Marlow FADE IN: INT. C-130 HERCULES TURBO-PROP - NIGHT Eighteen combat-ready special forces, wearing assault black, jump packs and combat gear, stare down the deep end of a greasy ramp into the night sky. Village lights flicker 19,000 feet below. The STRIKE FORCE LEADER signals to his team. Without a moment's hesitation, they dive into the darkness and plummet toward earth. EXT. MANSION - NIGHT A military GUARD, old Soviet-style uniform, rounds the corner of the large estate toting an AK-47. A red laser dot appears briefly on his forehead and, after a beat, the red dot seems to bleed. The Guard collapses dead. Two other GUARDS are dispatched with single, silenced shots. A Strike Team member at a junction box awaits a signal. Through infra-red binoculars the strike Force Leader watches his assault troops as they take positions. STRIKE FORCE LEADER (into headset/in Russian) GO! On the estate - as the power goes out. The team on the mansion's front porch pops the door and pours in. INT. MANSION - NIGHT FOLLOWING - the FIVE TEAM MEMBERS as they rush a stairway in phalanx formation. They nearly knock over an old lady, who in turn lets out a blood curdling scream. UPSTAIRS CORRIDOR - The team kicks open a door. Rushes into the room. INT. BEDROOM - Assault weapons pointed at the bed. The soldiers yank back bedsheets to reveal IVAN STRAVANAVITCH, a middle-aged man and his half-naked 18-year-old concubine. SOLDIER (in Russian) Get up, now! Up! The soldiers pull Stravanavitch to his feet and haul him out of the room. FOLLOWING - As they push down the hallway. MANSION SECURITY GUARDS rally with haphazard gunfire. Out come the strike force's flash-bang grenades. Exploding everywhere, disorienting Stravanavitch's men. EXT. FIELD - NIGHT Signal flares burn as a helicopter descends on the position. The Strike Team evacuates across the field and forces a struggling Stravanavitch into the low-hovering copter. The commandos swiftly board the craft as a handful of Stravanavitch's guards break into the clearing. They open fire. And the mounted machine guns on the helicopter return. One of the Strike Team members takes a bullet to the neck. He's' pulled by his comrades into the chopper as it lifts into the sky, its guns spitting lead... STRIKE FORCE LEADER (V.0.) Archangel, this is Restitution. Archangel, this is Restitution. The package is wrapped. Over. VOICE (V.0. RADIO) Roger, Restitution. We are standing by for delivery. FADE TO BLACK The SOUNDS of a dinner banquet. Forks clanking against plates and the din of a hundred conversations, broken by... The DING, DING, DING of a SPOON tapping against a wine glass. SUPER TITLE: "MOSCOW - THREE WEEKS LATER FADE IN: INT. BANQUET ROOM - NIGHT Hundreds of men and women in formal evening wear sit at round banquet tables. A HUSH falls over the guests as the DINGING continues. All attention turns to the front table. A rotund, silver haired-man in his late sixties rises and sidles past U.S. and Russian flags up to the podium microphone. He is STOLI PETROV, President of Russia. PETROV (in Russian) Thank you for joining us this evening. Petrov's harsh Russian issues through the room. But over it we hear a young woman's voice translating. TRANSLATOR (V.0.) Tonight we are honored to have with us a man of remarkable courage, who, despite strong international criticism... AT THE FRONT TABLE - A translator's words ring in the earpiece of a handsome man in his mid-forties. Worry lines crease his forehead and the touch of gray at his temples attest to three very difficult years in office. This man is JAMES MARSHALL, and he is the PRESIDENT of the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. He busily makes last minute changes to his speech. TRANSLATOR (V.0. earpiece) Has chosen to join our fight against tyranny in forging a new world community. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the President of the United States of America... Mr. President. Thunderous applause as Marshall rises and approaches the podium. At the back of the room, DOHERTY, a senior policy adviser whispers to the President's Chief of Staff ED SHEPHERD... DOHERTY Maybe we should consider running him for re-election instead of the U.S. The applause dies as Marshall begins to speak. MARSHALL (in Russian with subtitles) Good evening and thank you. First I would ask you to join me in a moment of silence for the victims of the Turkmenistan massacres. The room remains silent a few beats. Most guests respectfully bow their heads. Marshall begins again, but this time in English. The young woman translates simultaneously for the Russian audience. MARSHALL As you know, three weeks ago American Special Forces, in cooperation with the Russian Republican Army, secured the arrest of Turkmenistan's self- proclaimed dictator, General Ivan Stravanavitch, whose brutal sadistic reign had given new meaning to the word horror. I am proud to say our operation was a success. Applause from the audience. Marshall turns the page on his speech. MARSHALL And now, yesterday's biggest threat to world peace... today awaits trial for crimes against humanity. During the applause, Marshall pulls a page from the speech, folds it and slides it into his pocket. He removes his glasses and looks out into the crowd. His tone becomes more personal. He's not reciting the speech anymore. MARSHALL What we did here was important. We finally pulled our heads out of the sand, we finally stood up to the brutality and said "We've had enough. Every time we ignore these atrocities-- the rapes, the death squads, the genocides- every time we negotiate with these, these thugs to keep them out of gig country and away from gig families, every time we do thiS.E. we legitimize terror. Terror is not a legitimate system of government. And to those who commit the atrocities I say, we will no longer tolerate, we will no longer negotiate, and we will no longer be afraid. It's your turn to be afraid. Applause rolls through the crowd. EXT. MOSCOW INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT - NIGHT Sprawling terminals spread out to runways like tentacles. ON THE TARMAC - Bathed in floodlights, perched majestically on the runway, dwarfing nearby commuter and military jets, stands... AIR FORCE ONE The President's own Boeing 747-200, dubbed "the flying White House". The distinctive royal blue stripe over a thin gold line tapers to a tail adorned with the American flag and the Presidential Seal Secret Service agents and Marines stand guard at the aircraft's perimeter. A RUSSIAN NEWS VAN emerges from the darkness and pulls to a stop by a Secret Service barricade. SPECIAL AGENT GIBBS greets the Russian news team that emerges. GIBBS Gentlemen, welcome to Air Force One. Please present your equipment to Special Agent Walters for inspection. The news team's segment producer, a crusty old Russian named KORSHUNOV raises his big bushy eyebrows. KORSHUNOV We've already been inspected. GIBBS Sir, this plane carries the President of the United States. Though we wish to extend your press service every courtesy, you will comply with our security measures to the letter. KORSHUNOV Of course. I'm sorry. Korshunov and the FIVE MEMBERS of his news crew present their video cameras, sound equipment and supplies to Special Agent WALTERS for inspection. Secret Service DOGS sniff through the baggage. GIBBS Please place your thumbs on the ID pad. Korshunov puts his thumb on the ID pad of a portable computer. The computer matches up his thumbprint with his dossier and photograph. "CLEARED" flashes on the computer screen. INT. HALLWAY - NIGHT The President, walking with his entourage. SHEPHERD * CBS said they'll give us four minutes. They thought the Russian was a nice touch. MARSHALL I always wondered if my freshman Russian class would come in handy. DOHERTY Sir, you threw out page two. MARSHALL Goddamn right I did. I asked for a tough-as-nails speech and you gave me diplomatic bullshit. What's the point in having a speech if I have to ad-lib? DOHERTY It was a good ad-lib, sir. MARSHALL Thanks. Wrote it last night. The President exits the building and enters his limousine. EXT. TARMAC - AIR FORCE ONE - NIGHT Walters hands the bags back to the Russians. WALTERS Equipment checks out. A striking woman in her early thirties descends Air Force One's stairway. MARIA MITCHELL. GIBBS Gentlemen, this is Maria Mitchell. Press Relations for the Presidential Flight Office. She'll take you from here. KORSHUNOV Ms. Mitchell. So nice to finally meet you in person. MITCHELL The President and I were delighted that we could accommodate you. Now if you're all cleared? (Gibbs nods) You can follow me then. They ascend into the belly of Air Force One. MITCHELL * I'll be giving you a brief tour, then during the flight, two members of your crew will be allowed out of the press area at a time for filming. You will have exactly ten minutes with the President and twenty with the crew... EXT. STREETS OF MOSCOW, PRESIDENT'S MOTORCADE - NIGHT Winding its way down narrow cobblestone streets onto a major thoroughfare. INT. PRESIDENTIAL LIMOUSINE - NIGHT The limousine is packed with advisers, aides, military staff, including LT. COL. PERKINS, the keeper of the NUCLEAR FOOTBALL handcuffed to his wrist. In the b.g. on the limo's television set, the LARRY KING SHOW indulges in its normal banter. Marshall wearily rubs his temples as he stifles a yawn. SHEPHERD You wanna knock of f? MARSHALL No, no. I'm fine. What did the Speaker say? SHEPHERD He and the NRA don't like the wording. DOHERTY Apparently taking uzis away from sixth graders isn't as popular as we thought it'd be. Representative Taylor is working on a compromise. MARSHALL Put together a score sheet. I'll make some calls. SHEPHERD With all due respect, sir, maybe you should give them this one. Your numbers are still pretty low and you called in a lot of chips to nail Stravanavitch. MARSHALL I might still have a few chips left. SHEPHERD * We could always put you in a duck blind with a twelve gauge. The second amendment types'll love that. MARSHALL This is a crime bill, Shep. Killing a couple ducks won't get it through committee. Besides, Shep, I told you... I don't shoot babies and I don't kiss guns. SHEPHERD Other way around, sir. MARSHALL (realizing what he said) Right... Christ I'm tired. Do me a favor and keep me away from the press. Marshall's watch alarm beeps and he automatically reaches into his breast pocket, pulls out a medicine vial and downs two pills with a coffee chaser. On the T.V. LARRY KING (T.V.) ... and your reaction to the President's trip to Moscow. Good or bad? Shepherd turns up the volume. SHEPHERD This is the part I wanted you to see. REP. DANFORTH (T.V.) Criminal. One of our boys died in Marshall's little publicity stunt and for what? So we could claim victory over another country's problems instead of our own? And now he's got the nerve to prance around Moscow gloating, while that poor boy's family is left to bury him. If I were Marshall, I'd be ashamed of myself. LARRY KING There you have it. Harsh words for the President from Michael Danforth, the Speaker of the House. Marshall mutes the television. A quiet moment. SHEPHERD * My opinion. We can't let him get away with that kind of language. Marshall considers. Then decides. MARSHALL It's bait. Don't take it. SHEPHERD Sir, the Speaker of the House attacked this administration on national television. You can't afford to leave that hanging. MARSHALL (ignoring Shepherd) Did we tape the Duke game? AIDE It's waiting on the plane. The ending was pretty... MARSHALL (interrupting) Please don't tell me. Just for once, * let me be surprised. INT. AIR FORCE ONE, CORRIDOR, TRAVELING - NIGHT Maria Mitchell escorts the Russians down the plane's length. As they pass the galley, Maria motions up a set of stairs. MITCHELL Up on the upper deck is the cockpit and the Mission Communication Center. The MCC, as we call it, can place clear and secure phone calls to anywhere on earth. We're linked to a network of military and civilian satellites and ground stations. We could run the country or run a war from there if we had to. KORSHUNOV This is a remarkable aircraft. MITCHELL You don't know the half of it. Did you know this entire plane is shielded from radiation? We could fly through a mushroom cloud completely unharmed if necessary. KORSHUNOV A dubious distinction, no? MITCHELL I guess it depends on your perspective. They walk by several conference rooms, running down the starboard side of the plane. KORSHUNOV And all these rooms here? MITCHELL Conference rooms, though some have other functions. The one up front doubles as an emergency medical center. Past the conference rooms, they walk by a small side room where SECRETARIES work on computers, generating documents. MITCHELL As you can see, back here's more like a regular plane. Security and Secret Service take this cabin. You'll be in the rear with the press pool. The REAR PRESS CABIN, just ahead of the rear galley and bank of bathrooms. A handful of disgruntled reporters feign sleep. MITCHELL Here's a press kit. I'll let you guys get comfortable and once we're airborne I'll be able to schedule the interviews. KORSHUNOV Thank you. Mitchell exits forward. One of the reporters stirs and looks up at the news team. He groans. Space is a premium back here. REPORTER You fellas win some sort of fly-with- POTUS contest? KORSHUNOV Potus? What is Potus? REPORTER P.O.T.U.S. President Of The United States. KORSHUNOV Ah, no. We won nothing. We are ITAR-TASS news service. REPORTER Right. Listen, this here... This is my row. You'll have to sit over there. Korshunov trades looks with his news team. EXT. MOSCOW INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT - NIGHT The President's motorcade pulls up in front of Air Force One. INT. AIR FORCE ONE - NIGHT The President and his entourage ascend from the lower deck platform onto the main deck. COL. DANIEL AXELROD, Air Force One's pilot, snaps off a salute as he passes. COL. AXELROD Welcome aboard, Mr. President. MARSHALL (returns salute) Hey Danny. How's it look tonight? COL. AXELROD Glassy, sir. Care to take the wheel? MARSHALL You keep offering, one of these days I'll take you up on it. (to no one in particular) Rose and Alice back yet? AIDE No, Mr. President. The ballet ran late. Their ETA is seventeen minutes. Marshall nods as he pulls off his bow tie and enters his stateroom. Shepherd follows two steps behind. SHEPHERD Mr. President? Marshall halts Shepherd with a gesture. MARSHALL Thirty seconds. Shepherd nods and waits by the door. Lt. Col. Perkins takes a seat outside the Presidents stateroom and opens the latest Tom Clancy thriller, using the nuclear football as a lap desk. INT. PRESIDENT'S STATEROOM - NIGHT Marshall collapses on the couch, rubs his eyes, then closes them. A moment of peace in a breakneck day. The knock at the door jars him. MARSHALL Yes. Shepherd enters. SHEPHERD Can I at least issue a press release objecting to the Speaker's choice of wording? President Marshall picks up one of the many phones in his office. MARSHALL I said it's not worth the fight. (into phone) Steward, please. SHEPHERD We'll just say it was in bad taste. * MARSHALL Forget it, Shep. The kid gave his life for his country and the Speaker's a bastard for turning him into a sound bite. I'll take the heat. Understood? SHEPHERD You give me ulcers. MARSHALL That's my job. A STEWARD enters the room. STEWARD Mr. President? MARSHALL Hey Mike. Could you get me a Heineken? SHEPHERD No, wait. Get him one of the Russian beers. The steward nods and disappears from the room. SHEPHERD We've got those Russian news guys on board and it'll look good in the papers. Marshall picks up a stack of policy reports. Thumbs through them. MARSHALL C'mon Shep. I've been eating borscht and drinking vodka for days. Isn't that enough? (off paper) New home starts are down. The steward arrives with the Russian beer. Marshall takes a swig. He swallows hard. Piss-water. Marshall crosses to his sink and pours the beer out. He hands the bottle to the steward. MARSHALL Fill this with Heineken. The steward nods... STEWARD Yes, Mr. President. AND SLINKS AWAY WITH THE BOTTLE. MARSHALL CATCHES HIMSELF -- MARSHALL I don't believe this. I'm playing politics with a bottle of beer. A goddamn bottle of beer. I've been in office too long. SHEPHERD Look on the bright side... if the polls don't change, you won't have that problem, sir. Marshall picks up the phone again. MARSHALL Yeah. Put the Duke game on in my room. INT. AFO'S MISSION COMMUNICATION CENTER - NIGHT THREE Air Force SPECIALISTS man the elaborate communication system occupying much of the upper deck. Top-of-the-line computers, communication systems, video decks, and satellite receivers. AIR FORCE SPECIALIST Yes, Mr. President. He slides in a videotape and channels the feed to the * president's stateroom. INT. PRESIDENT'S STATEROOM - NIGHT A monitor comes to life with a basketball game. MARSHALL (to Shepherd) Defense and State Department in the conference room in one hour. I want to review the Iraq situation. SHEPHERD Yes, sir. Shepherd exits as Marshall settles into his leather chair and dives into work. He punches a button on the speakerphone. MARSHALL Get me the Housing Secretary... EXT. AIR FORCE ONE - NIGHT The Marine Guards snap to attention once again as the First Lady's motorcade arrives. ROSE MARSHALL, a self-assured woman with an aristocratic gleam, alights from her limo. She takes a few steps, then turns, tapping her foot impatiently. ROSE C'mon Alice, we're 20 minutes late. Your father's gonna have a fit. ALICE, the President's 13-year-old daughter, straggles out of the car, rolling her eyes. ALICE It's not like he hasn't made us wait a few times. ROSE Well, you aren't the President, dear. ALICE Yeah, no duh. INT. MAIN DECK, AIR FORCE ONE - NIGHT As the First Lady's entourage enters. ROSE Why don't you go say hi? Again, Alice rolls her eyes. ROSE What is wrong with you tonight? Come here. Rose pulls Alice aside. ROSE You don't want to say hi to your father? ALICE I'm sure he's busy. ROSE Don't you even want to ask? Alice toes her foot into the carpet as she releases an exasperated sigh. She is, in this moment, the patron saint of know-it-all 13-year-old girls. Alice waves toward the Presidential Suite. ALICE If I go over there to say hi to daddy President, Mike's going to tell me he's in a meeting and can't be disturbed. Then when the plane starts to taxi, he'll come out and say "Hey, are you guys back? Did you enjoy the ballet?" But he'll be on his way to another meeting and won't wait for an answer. Then you'll get pissed at him and he'll get pissed at you. It's like you guys rehearse or something. With the weight of the entire world on her shoulders, Alice Collapses into one of the many leather chairs. It seems to swallow her. JORY, a steward passes. ALICE Hey Joey, how `bout a cocoa, double whip cream. ROSE Alice... ALICE Mom, just this once, give it a rest. ROSE You're jet-lagged. We'll talk about this back... ALICE Back at The Fishbowl? Alice eyes the swirl of Aides who are pretending to work nearby. But it's obvious that they're eavesdropping. Alice smiles and waves at them dramatically. ROSE We'll talk at home. (beat) You know, most girls aren't as lucky as you. For most girls seeing the Bolshoi ballet would be the experience of a lifetime. ALICE I know, Mom. (sees the hurt in her mom's eyes and softens) It was great... really. Rose nods, smiling a half-smile. After a thoughtful beat, Alice gets up and crosses to the Presidential suite. She exchanges words with the Aide standing outside the door and comes back, covering her disappointment. ALICE He's in a meeting. He can't be disturbed. ROSE I'm sorry, honey. ALICE No, it's okay. After all, he is the President, right? Joey the steward hands her her cocoa with a wink and a smile. Her eyes light up at the mound of whip cream on top. ALICE When I write my memoirs I think I'll devote an entire chapter to the cocoa aboard Air Force One. ROSE Your father never means to be so... ALICE I know... (beat) But lotsa times I feel like it's me versus the world. Some kid at school teases me and the same day a plague breaks out in Bangladesh. I mean it doesn't take a genius to figure which is more important. ROSE Some kids were teasing you? ALICE That's not really the point. A quiet pause, then... ROSE You're right and I'll tell you a secret. I know exactly how you feel. ALICE Big secret. You said the same thing to Newsweek. The plane jolts forward as it begins to taxi. ALICE We're taxiing. Ready. And... five... four... three.. two... one... Cue Daddy. Alice points. And as if on cue, Marshall exits from his office and checks his watch. ALICE Oooooh, I'm good. MARSHALL Hey, you guys back already? Alice nods. MARSHALL How was... (thinks, then remembers) ...the ballet? ALICE (theatrically) It was the experience of a lifetime. MARSHALL How `bout a hug for the old man. Alice rises and hugs her father. A White House PHOTOGRAPHER snaps off a few shots for the papers. Alice makes a face at them. A second later, Shepherd comes up the corridor, breaking up the pair. SHEPHERD Mr. President... they're ready for you in the conference room. MARSHALL Okay. Hey, pumpkin, you'll tell me all about it later, right? ALICE Sure. As Marshall moves toward the conference room, he bends and gives Rose a quick peck on the cheek. It all reeks of formality. ROSE May I speak to you for a moment? MARSHALL Can't it wait? ROSE No, Mr. President. It can't. INT. PRESIDENT'S OFFICE. Rose shuts the door behind them. As she starts to speak, Marshall pulls her into a long passionate kiss. Rose pulls away. ROSE Don't. I know spin control when I feel it. MARSHALL Rose, I don't have time for this. I've gotta go stop a war. ROSE For godsakes, Jim, slow down and stop acting like the little dutch boy. Not even you can plug all the world's leaks. Don't you think it's a sign you're pushing too hard when your daughter sees more of you on MTV news than in person. MARSHALL She's a big girl. She understands. ROSE How do you know she understands? You haven't spent more than five minutes with her, or me, in weeks. MARSHALL And when have I had five minutes? When I wake up in the morning and I'm already three hours behind Schedule. What do you want me to do, Rose, tell the G7 to fuck off because I'm a family man? (BEAT) I'm sorry. That wasn't fair. ROSE No. It wasn't. He takes her in his arms. MARSHALL You know what? ROSE What? MARSHALL I miss you. And I miss her. ROSE But that's the point, Jim. We're right here. MARSHALL I wish it were that easy... Long beat. He smiles at her, it's the same sweet smile that won her heart, the same smile that got him elected. She softens. MARSHALL I'll make it up to you, I promise. ROSE I should trust that promise? Because you know the voters are still waiting for that middle class tax cut. MARSHALL This promise isn't subject to Congressional approval. She smiles. The tension breaks. ROSE How did your speech go? MARSHALL Well, they aren't burning me in effigy. That's always a good sign. They kiss again, this time for real. But... a knock on the door. SHEPHERD (0.5.) Mr. President. Shepherd opens the door. MARSHALL Look on the bright side, hon. Shep here thinks I'll be a one termer. ROSE Shall I ask the Chief of Staff to schedule your daughter in? SHEPHERD She is scheduled. Her school play's Tuesday night. Rose rolls her eyes. MARSHALL The First Lady was making a joke, Shep. I'll make some time, Rose. I promise. Marshall heads for his meeting. EXT. COCKPIT - NIGHT Col. Axelrod and his co-pilot LT. COL. ARTHUR INGRAHAMS are at the wheel. RUSSIAN AIR TRAFFIC (V.0) (THICK ACCENT) United States Air Force One, this is tower. It's an honor to clear you for immediate take-off on runway three. COL. AXELROD Roger, Tower. And thank you for the hospitality. Axeirod eases up the throttle and the four GE-F103 Turbofan engines spring to life. EXT. RUNWAY - NIGHT A picture perfect take-off as Air Force One slides through the moonlight and skates upward on a sheet of air. EXT. AIR FORCE ONE, FLYING - AN HOUR LATER Airborne in the midnight sky. INT. AIR FORCE ONE, GALLEY - NIGHT Aircraft engines drone. CLOSE ON - A coffee pot pouring piping joe into a mug emblazoned with ubiguitou Presidential Seal. The mug is placed on a tray with a half-dozen other mugs and passed to a STEW. He carries the tray down the corridor past passenger cabins. Drowsiness has overtaken the plane. Many of the passengers and aides are asleep. CNN plays On T.V. sets, entertaining the few night owls and news junkies. CNN REPORTER (T.V.) In an unusually aggressive speech, the President characterized the Stravanavitch regime as thugs whose brutality will no longer be tolerated. Meanwhile, in Turkmenistan, Stravanavitch's ouster has sent the country into turmoil. Tens of thousands of refugees continue to huddle in U.N. safe havens, as rival Stravanavitch loyalists fight among themselves for control. But at least for the time being, the ethnic cleansing has been stopped. Toward the front of the plane, the steward enters the conference room. INT. CONFERENCE ROOM - NIGHT As the steward closes the door behind him, all background noise disappears. We are in a sound shielded room. Even the engines' drone cannot be heard. The lights in the room are dim as MAJOR CALDWELL, a military advisor, projects satellite photos of Iraqi military bases onto a screen. The steward serves coffee as unobtrusively as he can while the meeting continues. MAJOR CALDWELL Our KH-ll's took this one at 0100 hours. What you see here is the mobilization of two mechanized brigades. MARSHALL They've gotta be joking. DOHERTY The Iraqi ambassador is claiming it's just an exercise. MARSHALL An exercise in futility. Send the Nimitz back in. MAJOR CALDWELL The northern border's gotten a bit hairy. Their MiGs are playing tag with our Tomcats and our boys are just itching to engage. MARSHALL Tell our boys to cool their jets. I don't need `em creating policy for me. We follow the steward as he slips out of the conference room and back into the... INT. CORRIDOR - NIGHT with a few coffees left on his tray. One of them is scooped up by Gibbs as he passes, his nose is buried in a fax. INT. SECRET SERVICE CABIN - NIGHT Gibbs leans in the cabin. GIBBS Hey Walters, you and Johnson come here a second. Reykjavik just sent the advance team report. Special Agents Walters and JOHNSON rise and follow Gibbs into an adjoining office. INT. OFFICE - CONTINUOUS Gibbs closes the door behind the two agents. As Walters and Johnson take their seats, Gibbs WITHDRAWS HIS WEAPON and... SHOOTS each of the agents in THE BACK OF THE HEAD. Silenced pistol. Blood all over the desk. Gibbs removes each of the agent's weapons and slips them into his waistband. He waits a few beats, takes a long sip of coffee, then exits the office. INT. SECRET SERVICE CABIN - NIGHT As he passes through the cabin he takes a silent inventory. Five other agents working, sleeping, on the phone. INT. PRESS CABIN - NIGHT Gibbs nods to Korshunov. Korshunov nods one of his men. NEVSKY removes one of his videotapes, pops the front cover exposing the tape. Across the face of the tape is a thin strip of a rubbery substance. Nevsky pulls the strip up and out, making a kind of fuse. He reaches for a pack of matches... courtesy matches, sporting the Seal of the President. Nevsky nods and lights the fuse. IN A RAPID SUCCESSION - GIBBS tosses his two extra weapons to Korshunov's men, pivots the corner and begins firing at his colleagues. The SECRET SERVICE AGENTS try to get at their weapons, but Gibbs has caught them completely off-guard. Several silenced central nervous system shots (head and neck) and the five agents slump back, their red blood cascading down the creases of the fine Corinthian leather chairs. Nevsky tosses the cassette up the corridor... smoke pours out of it. Smoke screen. BAZYLEV and ZEDECK catch the guns Gibbs tossed and hold them on the reporters. BAZYLEV UP! GET UP NOW! Bazylev grabs the stunned reporters, yanking them into the aisle. BAZYLEV Walk in front of us. Go! Go! Go! Human shields. A half dozen of them. Behind the terrorists, one of the bathroom doors swings open. A SECRET SERVICE AGENT emerges. Sees what's happening. Reaches for his gun. ZEDECK fells him with a well placed unsilenced GUN SHOT. SCREAMS ensue... INT. FORWARD CABIN - NIGHT A sleeping SECRET SERVICE AGENT bolts upright. HEARS MORE SHOTS. He springs up and moves toward the gunshots, his weapon drawn. SECRET SERVICE AGENT SHOTS FIRED! SECURE BOY SCOUT! (screaming out and into his lapel mike) SHOTS FIRED! SHOTS FIRED! INT. SECRET SERVICE CABIN - NIGHT Bazylev and Zedeck lay down a suppressing fire outside the door. GIBBS Come on! Quickly. Korshunov, Nevsky and VLAD follow Gibbs into the Secret Service office. Gibbs opens a locker and pulls out a stash of MP5 automatic assault rifles and bullet-proof vests. Korshunov raises his bushy eyebrows in delight. GIBBS The Secret Service believes in being prepared for any eventuality. INT. CORRIDOR - NIGHT The Secret Service agent fights his way through the smoke to a wall panel. Punches a red buttoned intercom. INT. AIR FORCE ONE'S FLIGHT DECK - NIGHT A red light on the security panel lights up... SECRET SERVICE AGENT (V.0.) We have a code red, I repeat, code red. Shots fired onboard. Cot. AXELROD Cabin/Flight Deck: Code Red Acknowledged... Shit. LT. CCL. INGRAHAMS (into headset microphone) Warsaw tower this is Air Force One. Declaring Emergency. Axelrod toggles his headset to secure line. COL. AXELROD Ranstein Air Base, this is Air Force One Heavy. We have a code red. Shots fired onboard, request priority redirect. Please acknowledge. INT. RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, AIR TRAFFIC CONTHOL TOWER - NIGHT SUPER - "RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, GERMANY" Hunched over a control terminal, the AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER tracks Air Force One's radar image. RAMSTEIN A.B. CONTROLLER Fuck me. GO WAKE THE GENERAL. NOW! The WATCH OFFICER springs into action, picking up a phone. RAMSTEIN A.B. CONTROLLER Air Force One Heavy, acknowledged. You are on our scope. Please state fuel remaining and souls onboard. COL. AXELROD (RADIO) Sixty seven souls onboard, we're okay with fuel. Request secure military escort with emergency medical standing by. RAMSTEIN A.B. CONTROLLER Air Force One Heavy, acknowledged. We are scrambling our fighters. The controller hits a red button on his console. Sirens flare up and klaxons wail across the base. The controller looks down to his runways. In the light of the moon he sees a half-dozen men rushing toward F-15 Eagles. RAMSTEIN A.B. CONTROLLLR Call Berlin Tower. Not a plane lands or takes off within two hundred miles! Understood? The once sleepy midnight control room cranks into full crisis mode. INT. AIR FORCE ONE, MISSION COMMUNICATIONS CENTER - NIGHT Pandemonium. GUNFIRE pops in the b.g. Air Force Specialists try to get the word out. AIR FORCE SPECIALIST A.F. SPECIALIST #2 General Greely? No sir, Interrupt her. This is this is Air Force One. We Air Force One with an have a code red. Shots emergency call. have been fired. INT. CONFERENCE ROOM - NIGHT The conference room door bursts open and TWO SECRET SERVICE AGENTS, weapons drawn, enter the room and run to Marshall. The once quiet room floods with light. The sounds of a gunfight and a blanket of smoke sweeps into the cabin. MARSHALL What's going on? SECRET SERVICE AGENT We're under attack. MARSHALL Where's my family? SECRET SERVICE AGENT We're handling it, sir. The agents lift Marshall to his feet, and practically carry him from the room, leaving the other high ranking officials to scramble for themselves in a cacophony of shouts. MARSHALL The launch codes! Who's protecting the football? FORWARD CORRIDOR - Perkins, carrying the nuclear football, ducks and weaves his way down the corridor into the fray. He takes a bullet to the shoulder, which fells him. NEAR THE FORWARD GALLEY - Alice is nearly trampled by agents responding to the gunfire. One agent grabs her and shoves her into a bathroom. SECRET SERVICE AGENT Don't open the door! GUNFIRE pops all around her. INT. CORRIDOR, REAR CABINS - NIGHT Smoke, automatic weapons fire. Secret service agents battling the terrorists. Aides, diplomats, crew and personnel caught in the crossfire. ZEDECK Down! Everybody down. A spray of weapons fire overhead and everyone hits the floor. ZEDECK STAY DOWN, PLACE YOUR HANDS BEHIND YOUR HEAD AND YOU WILL NOT BE SHOT! INT. AIR FORCE ONE, FLIGHT DECK - NIGHT RAMSTEIN A.B. CONTROLLER (RADIO) Air Force One Heavy, you are cleared for priority divert, all runways are clear. LT. COL. INGRAHAMS Warsaw Tower has cleared local airspace. COL. AXELROD Changing course heading to 276 point five. Dropping to twenty thousand feet. Shots can be heard outside. COL. AXELROD Ingrahams, make sure that door's locked. LT. COL. INGRAHAMS Yes sir. Ingrahams locks the cockpit door. EXT. SKY - NIGHT Air Force One banks into a curve and descends through broken clouds. INT. PRESIDENTIAL STATEROOM - NIGHT The sounds of gunfire have reached the the nose of the plane. Rose peers out to see what's the matter. An armed Secret Service agent runs toward her. SECRET SERVICE AGENT Get back! Get back! A spray of bullets mows him down. He collapses in the door frame. Terrified, Rose tries to close the door, but the dead agent is in the way. INT. CORRIDOR - NIGHT Filled with smoke and gunfire. The agents rush the President behind a forward bulkhead. SECRET SERVICE AGENT (into mike) We have Boy Scout, traveling forward. VOICE (OVER MIKE) Negative... negative... they're up here too. SECRET SERVICE AGENT Roger. We're going to the chute. Marshall looks up the hallway toward his stateroom. MARSHALL (calling out) ROSE! ALICE! DOWN THE CORRIDOR - Gibbs fires. HITS - One of the Secret Service agents in the shoulder. Blood blossoms through his clothes but he winces it off. SECRET SERVICE AGENT Come on, sir. The Secret Service agents whisk the President to the front stairwell. They pull up a floor panel, revealing stairs descending toward the baggage deck. INT. BATHROOM - Alice, huddled atop the commode. MARSHALL (O.S.) Alice! ALICE Daddy... Alice opens the door and rushes... INTO THE CORRIDOR... Tripping and falling over Joey, the steward. His dead eyes swim in a pool of blood that was his face. Alice screams, scrambling to her feet. MID-PLANE CORRIDOR - Perkins manages to push himself to his feet and stumbles down the hall into the computer room. Terrorist SERGE spots the nuclear football dangling from his wrist. He pursues. INT. COMPUTER ROOM - NIGHT Hysterical SECRETARIES feverishly dump classified documents into a shredder, while Perkins struggles to open the black leather briefcase handcuffed to his wrist. Bullets tear up the doorknob lock arid SERGE kicks in the door. SERGE Down! Everyone down! The Fawn Halls hit the floor as gunfire sprays overhead. But Perkins swings around brandishing his sidearm. He opens fire on Serge, but the bullets smack harmlessly against the SWAT vest. Serge returns fire, ripping up Perkins who collapses over the shredder, and with his last bit of strength, he dumps out the briefcase. Papers containing NUCLE WAR STRATEGIES and MISSILE LAUNCH CODES slide into the hungry Shredding machine. Perkins manages a slight smile before he keels over dead, his duty fulfilled. The shredded remains of the nuclear football rain over his head like tickertape at a hero's parade. EXT. SKY - NIGHT The pale moon catches shiny streaks of metal that descend through the broken clouds. The Squadron of F-15 Eagles drops into formation around Air Force One. INT. FLIGHT DECK - NIGHT Gun shots right Outside the cockpit door. COT. CARLTON (RADIO) Air Force One, this is Squadron Commander Canton. You are now under escort. All airspace has been cleared. COL. AXELROD This is Air Force One Heavy. I'm coming in full throttle. ETA to Ranstein eight minutes. We've got a war here, sir. INT. COCKPIT F-LB EAGLE - NIGHT Encased in a helmet, mask, and visor, Carlton watches the flashes of gunfire in the dark windows of the plane. COt. CARLTON Copy. Delta Force has been mobilized. COT. AXELROD (V.0.) Roger that. INT. LOWER DECK OF AIR FORCE ONE - NIGHT Beneath the main cabin, the Secret Service agents run the President through the forward baggage compartment and the lower galley: a large room with compartments, storage freezers and food preperation tables. On the far side of the galley, the agents fling open a hatchway and enter... A NARROW GANGWAY - running between the lower galley and the rear baggage hold, flanked on either side by the landing gear bays. They duck under wing supports until they come to a mesh grating. The uninjured agent lifts the grating revealing an ESCAPE POD. SECRET SERVICE AGENT Get in! Marshall freezes. SECRET SERVICE AGENT Get in, sir. A second later gunfire rips Up the agent's face. The new volley sends Marshall under the cover of a wing strut. The second agent takes Position and returns fire. He quells the incoming volley for a moment. MARSHALL What about my family? SECRET SERVICE AGENT # I have a family, too, sir. Now get in the fucking pod. The firing begins again. Marshall struggles with the decision. SECRET SERVICE AGENT # Mr. President... MR. PRESIDENT! You have to do this! The pod, on three. Ready? The agent shoves in a fresh clip... SECRET SERVICE AGENT One. MARSHALL But... SECRET SERVICE AGENT (cutting him off) Two... THREE. GO! The agent combat-rolls into the open and fires. He advances down the gangway acting as a shield for the president, shooting blindly. Marshall watches as he's hit repeatedly, but it gives him the time he needs to dive for the pod. REVERSE ANGLE - VLAD AND NEVSKY behind the bulkhead. When the agent drops, Nevsky and Viad rush down the gangway. They arrive at the closed pod just as it begins to slide on its rails. They let loose dozens of rounds from their MP55, but the bullets just plink off. The pod-lock doors slide shut. The President is on his way to safety. EXT. SKY - NIGHT Small bay doors open in the belly of Air Force One, and a human sized cannister drops from the bottom, its parachute Opening instantly. INT. FLIGHT DECK - NIGHT A light flashes On the panel. COT. AXELROD (into mike) Ramstein/Air Force One: Emergency pod has been deployed. I repeat, emergency pod has been deployed. RANSTEIN A.B. CONTROLLER This is Ramstein. Acknowledged. We are picking up the homing beacon and deploying search and rescue. COT. AXELROD Copy Ramstein. We are dropping to five thousand feet, beginning final approach. INT. BAGGAGE DECK GANGWAY - NIGHT ALICE (O.S.) Daddy? Dad? Her voice comes closer, filled with choking fear and panic. She rounds the corner and Nevsky catches her hair with a vice-tight grip shoving his MP5 into the small of her back. NEVSKY Your father has left you behind. INT. PRESIDENTIAL STATEROOM - NIGHT Korshunov kicks open the door. ROSE NO! Gunfire from ROSE, who holds the dead secret service agent's weapon. She empties the clip at the doorway. Click, click. No more bullets. Korshunov steps into the room, brandishing his automatic, smiling. Rose backs against the wall and raises her hands. EXT. WHITE HOUSE LAWN - DAY A Marine helicopte touches down on the greenway. Marines salute and escort KATHERINE CHANDLER from the chopper' interior to the South entrance of the White House. She is the VICE PRESIDENT of the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. INT. AIR FORCE ONE, MISSION COMNUNICATIONS CENTER - NIGHT Zedeck steps over the three dead Communications Specialists, on his way to the cockpit door. Tries the door. It's locked. He pounds on it. ZEDECK Open! Now! INT. FLIGHT DECK - NIGHT Through the cockpit window, the glowing landing lights of Ramstein Base are visible in the distance, cutting a wedge through the German towns and fields. Zedeck's pounding continues. COT. AXELROD Ramatein, we are fifteen miles away on final approach. I'm coming in fast and will need every inch of runway. RAMSTEIN A.B. CONTROLLER (V.0.) Copy, Air Force One. Wind is twelve knots from the east. Tactical and emergency are in position. EXT. RANSTEIN AIR FIELD - NIGHT Rescue vehicle sirens gyre in the darkness. A team of black- faced commandos unload from troop truck. Snipers take position atop rescue vehicles, barracks, and the control tower. High-powered rifles with infra-red scopes. INT. MISSION COMMUNICATIONS CENTER - NIGHT Zedeck aims his MP5 at the flight door. Fires off a dozen rounds. Nickel sized indentations blossom across the steel surface. INT. FLIGHT DECK - NIGHT Dull thuds of bullet impacts. COT. AXELROD Let's get this crate on the ground. They're some real good men waiting to help us. EXT. AIR FORCE ONE - NIGHT The plane sprouts landing gear as it descends over the city. Coming in fast and low. INT. MISSION COMMUNICATIONS CENTER - NIGHT Gibbs shoves Zedeck aside. Produces a thumb-sized amount of C-4. INT. FLIGHT DECK - NIGHT Final approach... the landing strip not far at all. COL. AXELROD Almost there. He raises his flaps. Air speed and altitude drop. EXT. RAPISTEIN AIR FIELD - NIGHT Spotters find Air Force One's navigation lights visible in the sky, descending from the distant darkness. Followed by the cluster of F-lSs. INT. MISSION COMMUNICATIONS CENTER - NIGHT Gibbs rolls out the C-4 like a kid making a snake in pottery class. He presses it along the door seal. INT. FLIGHT DECK - NIGHT Altitude decreasing. 300 feet... 200 hundred feet... The runway coming up to meet them. EXT. RAMSTEIN AIR FIELD - NIGHT As the entire airbase collectively holds its breath. Air Force One's tires hover 50 feet above the ground... 40 feet... 30... INT. MISSION COMMUNICATIONS CENTER - NIGHT Gibbs raises his pistol. Aims at the C-4. Fires. BAM! INT. COCKPIT - NIGHT A BLINDING FLASH. The door blows in. EXT. RANSTEIN AIR FIELD - NIGHT The wheels touchdown. INT. MISSION COMMUNICATIONS CENTER - NIGHT Gibbs and Zedeck storm the cockpit. RNT. FLIGHT DECK - NIGHT Axeirod gropes at the plane's controls, trying to retain the wheel. Gibbs dispatches Axeirod with one shot. Zedek is a little messier with Ingrahams. But both pilot and co-pilot slump over their controls. EXT. RANSTEIN AIR FIELD - NIGHT The taxiing Boeing 747 suddenly veers to the right cutting across runways. Emergency vehicles give chase. The plane bounces. Is airborne for a second. Touches down again with a jolt. INT. CORRIDOR - AIR FORCE ONE - NIGHT Terrorists lead hostages to the conference room. Everyone is bounced around, slamming against walls, spilling over chairs. A MASTER SERGEANT seizes the opportunity and grabs for Bazylev's gun, but Bazylev shoots him almost point blank. BAZYLEV Keep moving! INT. FLIGHT DECK - NIGHT Chaos. Gibbs tries to pull Axelrod off the controls. GIBBS Throttle up. Throttle up! Zedek slams the throttle all the wa up. Spotlights and sirens swirl outside the cockpit window. EXT. RMMSTEIN FIELD - NIGHT The Flying White House careens toward the barracks, then edges toward a hangar. The jet engines strain to reach full power. INT. RAMSTEIN CONTROL TOWER - NIGHT The controller stares down at the out-of-control plane. RAMSTEIN A.B. CONTROLLER Aw Fuck. We're losing it! INT. FLIGHT DECK - NIGHT Gibbs pulls Axeirod's body out of the pilot's seat. Looks out the cockpit window and sees... A C-141 STARLIFTER in his path. A monstrous plane, every bit as big as Air Force One. Gibbs eases back on the wheel and the 747 sluggishly responds, its nose creeping upward. GIBBS Come on. Adjusts the flaps... EXT. RAMSTEIN AIRFIELD - NIGHT Air Force One closes in on the Starlifter. She's struggling off the ground like some injured bird. The straining metal defies gravity. INT. FLIGHT DECK - NIGHT Gibbs senses that he's too close. He pulls way back on the stick, risks stalling her out... but the bird responds. EXT. RAMSTEIN FIELD - NIGHT Air Force One barely clears the Starlifter, the edge of her wing just missing the top of the C-141's tail. The sharpshooters, the emergency crews, the commandos from Delta Force... Nothing they can do but watch her rise out. of sight. INT. FLIGHT DECK - LATER Gibbs and Zedeck. Gibbs checks over all the instruments. GIBBS Okay, 30,000 feet. Give me my heading. ZEDECK Bearing 110 point eight two. Gibbs banks the plane into a curve, then activates the auto- pilot. GIBBS Call me if something changes. ZEDECK That's it? GIBBS To fly a 747 you need to know three things. How to take of f, how to land, and how to engage the autopilot. INT. AIR FORCE ONE - NIGHT SERIES OF SHOTS-- The terrorists, from every corner of the plane, lead the stunned survivors, hands on heads, to the central conference room. As Korshunov walks Rose up the corridor, he meets up with Gibbs, descending from the upper deck. KORSHUNOV The rest of the secret service? GIBBS Dead. KORSHUNOV How many others killed? GIBBS Nine. KORSHUNOV Any of us? Gibbs touches his bulletproof vest. GIBBS No damages. ROSE Where's my daughter? GIBBS She's alive, ma'am, for the time being. Rose allows herself a half-sob of relief. ROSE And my husband? GIBBS The secret service did their job, ma'am. The President is safely off the plane. (to Korshunov) But that still leaves us plenty to bargain with. Eyes filled with hatred... Rose SLAPS Gibbs face. ROSE Mr. Gibbs. You, of all people... Gibbs doesn't react. GIBBS Follow me, ma'am. INT. WHITE HOUSE SITUATION ROOM - DAY High-tech maps and communications systems line the walls, surrounding an austere main conference table. Laptop computers and secure telephones by every seat. Side tables. Tele-type machines spitting out classified information. VICE PRESIDENT CHANDLER analyzes the projected course of Air Force One on the tactical vid-map. V.P. CHANDLER We should have the President secure within minutes. Do we know who these terrorists are or where they're going? GENERAL NORTHWOOD, head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff... GENERAL NORTHWOOD General Greely says it looks like the Middle East. V.P. CHANDLER Does your office have anything to add, Mr. Dean? National Security Advisor WALTER DEAN leans forward. DEAN The garners believe that, given the scenario, there's an 86% chance that we'll be dealing with a hostage situation and not an assassination attempt. Not much else until there's more data. V.P. CHANDLER If we're dealing with an airborne hostage situation what's our procedure? The Under-Secretary of Defense, THOMAS LEE, punches up a scenario on the lap-top. LEE Our only policy assumes the plane is on the ground. Our hands are completely tied while they're in the air. V.P. CHANDLER Okay, Gentlemen, we'll take no action until we confirm that the president is off the plane... Lee, go huddle with the D.O.D. I want an options paper on this in 20 minutes. LEE Twenty minutes? V.P. CHANDLER You heard me. (points to an aide) You. Congress and cabinet heads. The aide nods and picks up a telephone. AIR FORCE COLONEL Madame Vice-President? Chandler turns toward the door. The Colonel enters the room, holding a black briefcase identical to Perkins'. V.P. CHANDLER Yes? AIR FORCE COLONEL National Command Authority. All previous launch codes have been cancelled. You're carrying the ball now. V.P. CHANDLER Thank you, Colonel. Have a seat. EXT. GERMAN FARMLAND - NIGHT A HUEY, flanked by a pair of APACHES, skims the surface of wheat fields at maximum velocity. INT. HUEY COCKPIT - NIGHT The pilot checks his instruments. He's honing in on a signal. EXT. GERMAN FARKD - NIGHT The swirling spotlights of the Apaches finally illuminate the Seal of the President atop the EMERGENCY DEPLOYMENT POD. The Huey drops in for a landing and a half dozen Army Rangers in full combat gear deploy to the pod. They open it. But......... IT'S EMPTY. INT. BAGGAGE DECK GANGWAY - NIGHT Bruised and battered, some blood smeared across his tuxedo shirt... PRESIDENT JAMES MARSHALL lowers himself from one of the overhead wing struts. He emerges into the bowels of Air Force one. He stands quietly a moment, listening... for footsteps, for gunfire. All quiet except for the whine of the jet engines. He tak9s a moment to think. Considers his situation. His eyes find the dead agent who risked his life so he could make it to the pod. He trots down the gangway toward the lower galley. EXT. SKY - NIGHT Air Force One hovers atop billowy peaks. The smaller F-15s cluster around her in a loose formation. FIGHTER PILOT #1 (0.5. RADIO) Sir, isn't there something we can do besides escort? COL. CARLTON (O.S. RADIO) Like what, son... shoot our own plane down? FIGHTER PILOT #1 No sir. I just wish... COL. CARLTON Roger. We all wish... Now shut the fuck up and escort. INT. LOWER GALLEY - NIGHT Marshall looks around for a weapon... half-full coffee pot, stove, walk-in freezer, plates and silverware. Marshall picks up a butcher knife. INT. CORRIDOR, AIR FORCE ONE - NIGHT Nevsky and Bazylev guard the conference room door as Korshunov and Vlad enter. Nevsky hands Korshunov a copy of the plane's manifest. NEVSKY Every weapon and every person is accounted for. Korshunov nods and enters the room. INT. CONFERENCE ROOM - NIGHT Korshunov surveys the hostages. Viad covers them at gunpoint. Rose holds Alice, comforting her. shepherd, Doherty, Aides, Advisors, Crew... Fifty of them huddle like sardines. The plane's doctor administers to the wounded. Korshunov stares down his captives. KORSHUNOV Fear will keep you alive. Any one who is not afraid is bound to do something foolish, and bound to die. ROSE What do you want with us? KORSHUNOV Cooperation. If you try to escape, you will be met with automatic gunfire and a barricade of your comrade's bodies will prevent you from exiting. Good day. Korshunov exits, with Viad backing out behind him. Leaving the hostages alone. The sound of the door locking. A mournful beat. Everyone looks at each other and the dead and wounded victims of this heinous act... Hushed conversation breaks out all over the room. DOHERTY This can't be happening. You just don't pull this shit with the United States. You just don't. MAJOR CALDWELL Keep your heads. Caldwell paces, looks around the room. SHEPHERD Mrs. Marshall, are you okay? ROSE We're alive. SHEPHERD That's all that matters. Thank god the President got of f the plane. ROSE Yes... thank God. (to caldwell) You there... Caidwell, right? What's on your mind? caldwell takes a beat, then crosses to Rose and Shepherd. MAJOR CALDWELL (hushed) I don't want to get anybody here excited, but if we can get out of this room, I can get us to safety. SHEPHERD We're thirty five thousand feet up. MAJOR CALDWELL Yes, sir, that's a problem, but if we can somehow get to a lower altitude, the rear loading ramp on the baggage deck is equipped with parachutes in case of an engine failure. Now we can either wait for a political resolution, or try to resolve this thing ourselves. DOHERTY You're goddamn right we can resolve this ourselves. We'll negotiate. SHEPHERD You know the President's policy. DOHERTY The President isn't here. ROSE Right now we are an enormous liability to the United States. We can't just sit and do nothing. INT. CORRIDOR - NIGHT The terrorists move toward the nose of the plane leaving Nevsky to guard the conference room. INT. BAGGAGE HOLD - NIGHT President Marshall reaches the front stairway. Cautiously climbs to the main cabin. As he reaches the top stairs, he hears Russian conversation approaching. He ducks back into the stairwell. He can't see them, but he can hear them. The terrorists pass within a few feet as they ascend to the Mission Communications Center on the upper deck. Marshall waits a few beats, listens to the silence. Then re- mounts the stairs and almost runs into the back of... VIAD Standing guard, facing the opposite direction. Marshall FREEZES... looks past Viad down the corridor where Nevsky guards the main conference room floor. Unaware of Marshall, Viad reaches into his pocket and pulls out a cigarette. Lights it. On the first puff he feels a presence behind him. VLAD slowly turns around... Nothing there. He smiles at his jittery nerves, turns back round. REVERSE ANGLE - Over Vlad's shoulder... MARSHALL, flattened behind the edge of the galley divider. He creeps away from Vlad toward the Presidential Suite... stepping gingerly over dead secret service agents. INT. MISSION COMMUNICATIONS CENTER - * Korshunov pulls a handkerchef from his breast pocket and wipes the blood from a telephone headset. KORSHUNOV Proceed. Gibbs works the communications board, dialing in a series of numbers. Telephone ringing... INT. WHITE HOUSE SITUATION ROOM - DAY A map of Air Force One's flight trajectory is displayed on the rear screen. Moscow to Berlin and back toward the Black Sea. The assembled brass listens as Korshunov's voice slithers off the speaker phone. KORSHUNOV (SPEAKER) ...the Chief of Staff, the First Lady, and the First Daughter. Our demands are simple. Arrange the release of Ivan Stravanvitch. Once our leader is returned to Turkuenistan soil, Air Force One and it's occupants will be allowed safe passage to Switzerland. You have one hour before we start killing hostages. The phone clicks off. A silent beat in the room. V.P. CHANDLER Find that voice for me, I want to know who we're dealing with. And get President Petrov on the phone. GENERAL CHARLES GREELY, head of the 87th Mechanized Air Wing, the unit responsible for Air Force One, enters the room. GENERAL GREELY Madame Vice-President, we just got word from Ramstein... The nod was UntiL Chandler stands. V.P. CHANDLER Empty? GENERAL GREELY The President... he must still be onboard. V.P. CHANDLER Play back that call. TECHNICAL OFFICER Yes, sir. The Tech Officer indexes back on his computer. KORSHUNOV (V.0. TAPE) The plane is under our command, and those we did not kill we hold as hostages, including the Chief of Staff, the First Lady, and the First Daughter. V.P. CHANDLER but not the President. Not the President. A silent beat. GENERAL NORTHWOOD He's dead then. They must have killed him. DEAN We don't know that. GENERAL NORTHWOOD Holding the president hostage is not something that slips your mind when you're making demands. V.P. CHANDLER And if he's dead? Do you really think they'd risk telling us? DEAN There is a possibility we're overlooking. All eyes turn to Dean. DEAN When I ran Specops in `Nam, I ordered the destruction of a V.C. munitions dump. During insertion, the plane was shot down and the entire team was killed, or so we thought. Two days later the dump BLEW AND A WEEK AFTER THAT, THIS 19- year-old kid, the pilot... he walks out of the jungle in pretty bad shape. He survived the crash and finished the mission... alone. GENERAL NORTHWOOD Walter, if you have a point, make it. DEAN That kid's name was Jim Marshall. Most of the President's service record makes for dull reading because most of what he did iarLZ ULirn. History remembers him for what he did aflar he got back to the states -- the protests, the rallies -- But he was a soldier once, a damn fine one. V.P. CHANDLER So what are you saying? DEAN Maybe he's alive on that plane and those bastards don't even know it. V.P. CHANDLER Mr. Dean, may I remind you that the President is not 19 anymore. INT. PRESIDENT'S STATEROOM - NIGHT Marshall cautiously enters the room. Ready for action. The room is empty, but it's been trashed by the firefight. The sound of voices... coming from the Duke game which still plays. Marshall hustles over to one of the secure phones. It's dead. He tries the regular phone. Dead. Hangs it up in disgust. MARSHALL Goddamnit. He steps on some glass. It's a broken frame holding a PHOTOGRAPH of Alice and Rose. He picks up the photo and lays it on a table. He thinks for a beat... glances around the room, searching... Then he crosses to the closet, opens it and begins rifling through his wardrobe. INT. MAIN CONFERENCE ROOM. Caldwell stands on the conference table. The hostages have removed one of the ceiling panels. Air supply ducts and bundles of wiring run through the ten-inch space between the ceiling and the shielding plates. MAJOR CALDWELL This is a dead end. Rose looks around the room. Hopeless. Her eyes land on the carpet... INT. CORRIDOR. Marshall opens the stateroom door and slowly slides into the corridor. Vlad still faces the opposite direction. Marshall creeps down the hallway, when... Beep... Beep... Beep... Marshall's watch alarm goes off. Marshall dives for the nearest doorway. Vlad swings round to see a figure slip into the senior staff cabin. Vlad, unsure of what he saw., cautiously heads toward the staff cabin. As he nears, he bends over a dead Secret Service agent and pulls up the lifeless wrist revealing abeening watch. It wasn't Marshall's after all. No matter. Vlad continues to the staff Cabin. INT. STAFF CABIN - NIGHT Marshall frantically searches for something he can use as a weapon. In the room: some video monitors, leather chairs and phones. stainless steel cabinets run the length of one of the walls. Marshall throws the cabinet doors open, revealing... A fully stocked MEDICAL CENTER... fold-down operating table... high-intensity lights. Equipped to deal with any medical emergency the president might encounter. But too late. Vlad kicks the door open. VLAD Get on the floor, now! Marshall yanks down the operating table, and it smashes into Vlad, knocking him down. Marshall lunges with his knife, but Vlad OPENS FIRE. A HALF DOZEN ROUNDS pump into Marshall's belly. He's thrown back against the wall, then slumps to the floor. Vlad approaches the crumpled body. Leans down to examine his victim. He cups his hand under the man's chin and lifts his head. Recognizes him. VIAD (wonderment) The President. But Marshall's eyes flash open. MARSHALL That's right, asshole. He springs, shoving the butcher knife under the flack jacket and into Vlad's spleen. Vlad freezes, unsure of what just happened. Marshall is on his feet. Never letting go of the twisting knife, he grabs Vlad by the back of the head and slams his face against the mirror above the surgical scrub sink. The mirror shatters and streams of blood erupt cn the terrorist's face. The blood drips down into the white porcelain sink, swirling into the drain. Vlad elbows Marshall in the neck, stunning him momentarily. He wipes the blood from his face, spins and hits Marshall with a devastating right cross. Marshall reels back against the wall, and Vlad follows, shoving the MP5 into Marshall's throat. Marshall grabs the gun near the trigger... * VLAD Don't move or I'll blow your head off. MARSHALL I don't think so. Marshall presses the saftey button on the gun with his forefinger, then knees Vlad in the balls. Viad pulls the trigger repeatedly as he goes down, but nothing happens. Instead he comes up swinging his gun butt against Marshall's face. Like a bat hitting a baseball, it knocks Marshall into the medical closet. The gun goes flying, skittering UNDERNEATH A CABINET. Marshall pulls himself up the shelves trying to keep his legs from buckling. Vlad grabs some I.V. tubing and wraps it around Marshall's neck. Marshall struggles for breath, clawing at the tube. HE SPOTS A DEFIBRILLATOR, REACHES AND SWITCHES IT ON. LOW- pitched hum and beeping. Marshall pulls his head forward, straining against the plastic tubing. Then slams back into Vlad's head. Viad releases his grip just for a moment... The beeping becomes a steady whine. ... but a moment is all Marshall needs as he grabs the def ib's CARDIAC PADDLES, turns, and SLAMS them on either side of Vlad's head. Vlad convulses from the shock for a full five seconds... his eyeballs roll, his hair stands on end. then he collapses to the floor. MARSHALL Clear. Marshall catches his breath for a moment. Pulls open his shirt. Beneath it he wears a bulletproof Kevlar vest. He lifts the vest and a half-dozen angry welts have blossomed across his skin. The stuff may be bulletproof, but each of Vlad's shots sting like a motherfucker. EXT. CORRIDOR. Nevsky walks down the corridor. Sees that Vlad is away from his post. NEVSKY Viad? * INT. STAFF CABIN. Marshall opens the medical cabinets, rifling through them. Pulls out hypodermics, adrenalin, rubbing alcohol... arming himself. NEVSKY (O.S.) Vlad? Vlad? EXT. CORRIDOR. Nevsky works his way up the corridor, peeking in rooms. As he enters the... INT. STAFF CABIN. he's blinded by the high intensity surgical lights. Marshall cracks a tank of anesthesia across Nevsky's heu Nevsky goes down. Marshall rips Nevsky's MP5 off of him. Holds it to Nevsky's throat. MARSHALL Where are th*y? fly tamily, the crew.... where are they? Nevsky says nothing. The conference room, right? Right? Marshall jerks him to his feet. MARSHALL o'11 unlocli the door for me or I'll kill you. INT. CORRIDOR - Marshall walks flevsky toward the mj vonteronve room3 As they pass the stairs to the upper deck, Nevsky breaks away. NEVSKY KORSKUNOV! Marshall fires. Killing him. SHIT1 INT. CORRIDOR. No time for remorse. Marshall tries the Main conference Room door. Locked. He knows the others will be coming so he flattens himself against the corridor wall. Trains his gun on the stairs. Just as the terrorists descend, Marshall squeezes off a few rounds. The terrorists edge back up the steps, returning fire. Marshall checks his clip, not many bullets left. He fires off a few more shots to buy some time then ducks round the corner and pulls out the bottle of rubbing alcohol and some gauze. The terrorists seize the moment of quiet, descending the stairs to take position. Marshall lights the gauze fuse of his new made Molatov cocktail and throws it down the corridor. The bottle crashes into a BALL OF FLAME. Catching Bazylev on fire. He yells, drops and rolls. FIRE SUPPRESSING FOAM immediately sprays down from overhead. KORSHUNOV Go after him. Serge hops Bazylev's burning body and heads down the corridor, looking for this new wildcard. Korshunov grabs a fire extinguisher from the galley and attends to Bazylev. INT. CORRIDOR, TOWARD THE REAR OF AIR FORCE ONE. Marshall retreats behind a divider. Sees Serge coming. Fires a few rounds, then retreats to the next divider. Working toward the rear of the plane. Serge picks his way through the rear cabins, advancing cautiously. INT. REAR GALLEY/BATHROOMS. Marshall's out of plane. Nowhere to hide in the galley. Marshall eyes the bathrooms, doors flapping. FOLLOWING SERGE... as he reaches the rear galley and bathrooms. Marshall is nowhere to be seen. But the bathroom doors are all closed. SERGE I know you're in there. Come on out. (a few beats) Okay. Have it your way. Time for a deadly version of the shell game. serge fires several rounds into the first closed bathroom door. The bullets slice easily through the thin doors. He kicks the riddled door open. The stall is empty. Serge moves to the next one. Same procedure. It's empty. Moves to the last bathroom, confident he's got him. He wails with his MP5, turning the hatch into swiss cheese. Waits a beat, then... Kicks it in. It's empty too. Serge looks around. Where the hell is this guy? KORSHUNOV (O.S.) (calling down) Serge? Serge reluctantly returns to his group. INT. LOWER GALLEY, BAGGAGE LEVEL - Marshall tumbles out of the cramped galley dumbwaiter, breathing heavy. He slumps against the bulkhead and slides down to the ground. He takes a moment to pull himself together, to clear his head. He hefts the MP5, refamiliarizing himself with the weight and texture of a gun. He checks the clip. Only a handfull of rounds left. He slaps it back in and switches from automatic fire to single-shot then pantomimes firing. MARSHALL The NRA'll love this. Looking down the barrel of the gun, he notices bins loaded with luggage. INT. OFFICE - NIGWR Stoli Petrov on the phone, behind his large oak desk. PETROV I understand your dilemma, Vice President Chandler. But unless you can confirm that your President is indeed a hostage, I cannot release Stravanavitch. If Marshall is dead, no good will come of meeting this demand. We both know he would agree. V.P. CHANDLER (V.0. PHONE) But the First Lady... PETROV *.. is not a First Lady if her husband's been killed. Then she's a civilian. And I can't release him for a civilian. Do you see my point? INT. WHITE HOUSE SITUATION ROOM - DAY Each member of the crisis team is either on the phone or huddled with staff. A secure fax machine spits out papers which Lee slips into files. Lee interrupts Chandler on the phone. LEE Madame Vice president. We have an options paper. chandler takes the options paper, waves off Lee, and reads it as she talks. V.P. CHANDLER Yes. You've made yourself quite clear. PETROV (V.0.) But I will deploy forces to a staging area near the Turkmenistan border. When you have more information, we can decide how to proceed. V.P. CHANDLER By then I'll be President. Chandler hangs up the phone. V.P. CHANDLER (of f options paper) I don't like any of these. from, did you brief General Northwood? Northwood pops out of his huddle. GENERAL NORTHWOOD I'M INCLINED TO TRY THIS PART - Anticipate their landing site and get strike teams in place. V.P. CHANDLER Can we do that? GENERAL NORTHWOOD We've got four hours before they make it into Turkienistan airspace. I've got a satellite passing overhead in twenty minutes. We can narrow down the landing site choices based on runway length and any unusual activity. With luck we'll only have to capture three or four sites. V.P. CHANDLER But they start executing hostages in FORTY FIVE MINUTES. - GENERAL NORTHWOOD I hate to be pragmatic, but they'll sacrifice pawns before kings. It may take them some time to kill their way up to senior staff. V.P. CHANDLER Okay. Also, I want you to put our bases in Turkey on alert, and have the Kitty Hawk prepare a retaliatory air strike. * DEAN Madame Vice-President... V.P. CHANDLER I've not discounted your theory Hr. Dean... DEAN No... I got the new numbers from our gamers. They believe that there's only an eight percent chance that the President is still alive. V.P. CHANDLER Eight percent is better than zero. Oh shit... what is that? Chandler refers to a monitor in the rear of the room. CNN, the omnipresent player on the world political stage, broadcasts video from Ramstein Air Base. GENERAL GREELY That's trouble. CNN REPORTER (V.0. T.V.) *.. the Presidential Aircraft was enroute from Moscow when it began its mayday hail. But in a startling turn of events, the seemingly out of control plane aborted its landing and took off again. We haven't been able to confirm its status or whether or not the first family was onboard at the time. V.P. CHANDLER Would someone get the Press Secretary! AIDE He's been holding on line four. EXT. SKY - NIGHT Air Force One, lit up by moonlight. INT. CORRIDOR. The fire is extinguished. Zedeck squats over Nevsky's body. Gibbs and Serge maintain a defensive position, guns ready. Bazylev emerges from the Senior staff Conference room. He shakes his head "no". Korshunov nods and furrows his brow. KORSHUNOV Who did this? GIBBS We checked the manifest. Everyone was accounted for. KORSHUNOV A secret service agent. It must be. Wounded but alive. Serge, Bazylev... Find him. Serge and Bazylev lock and load, head off in separate directions. KORSHUNOV The conference room is no longer secure. We'll take the First Lady and the girl up top where we can keep a closer eye on them. INT. MAIN CONFERENCE ROOM - The hostages have torn up a section of carpeting. Caidwell and Shepherd examine the floor. Smooth sheets of steel riveted together. Pointless. MAJOR CAL DWELL We're not getting out that way. The door swings open and Gibbs and Korshunov enter. They spots the ripped up carpeting. KORSHUNOV Admirable, but you're wasting your time. (beat) Mrs. Marshall, would you and your daughter please come here. They don't move. Korshunov raises his gun, points it a Shepherd's head. KORSHUNOV Now, or he dies, please. ROSE Come on, Alice. ALICE I'm scared. Doherty steps forward. Shepherd tries to pull him back, to no * avail. DOHERTY You've got the better part of the White House locked in this room, you know. If you want to negotiate, we're the ones to do it with. Korshunov SHOOTS Doherty through the head. Screams from some of the hostages. Korshunov squeezes off a few shots to quiet everyone. KORSHUNOV Mrs. Marshall. Alice. If you please. Rose turns to the other hostages. ROSE It's okay. Do what you're told. It's okay. We'll be okay. She locks eyes with Caldwell. HKeep working.N He nods. INT. REAR BAGGAGE HOLD - The President hunts through luggage. Overturned garment bags and suitcases around him, belongings littered all over the bulkhead. He sifts through heaps of clothing and finally recovers what he's been looking for... A CELLULAR PHONE... He flips it open, starts to dial... but freezes. MARSHALL Goddamnit. He can't remember the number. He dials... CLOSE.ON PHONE -555-1212... Information. The phone rings... INT. FORWARD BAGGAGE HOLD. Bazylev, moving like a commando, slowly and methodically works his way into the lower galley. INT. REAR BAGGAGE HOLD - Marshall. Finally, the phone picks up. VOICE (O.S. PHONE) Information. How can I assist you? MARSHALL Washington D.C.? VOICE Yes, sir. Can I help you? MARSHALL Yes, the number for the White House. INT. PILOT'S REST AREA - NIGHT The rest area consists of a couple of bunks behind the cockpit area, still soiled black from the earlier C-4 explosion. Korshunov pours a cup of coffee and offers it to Alice. ALICE I don't drink coffee. KORSHUNOV You must be tired. It'll wake you up. ALICE No, thank you. The gunfire did that. Gibbs wraps Rose's hands behind her back with duct tape. ROSE Leave my daughter alone. KORSHUNOV Or you will do what, Mrs. Marshall? (beat, he chuckles) But I admire your courage. Your husband, on the other hand... ROSE What do you know of my husband? KORSHUNOV I know he left you behind. ROSE My husband is a very courageous man. KORSHUNOV Your husband is a coward. He sends soldiers half-way around the world to steal a man from his home in the middle of the night. Alice sits up, attentive. ALICE You're one of Stravanavitch's men. KORSHUNOV So, you study world events, little one. That's good for a girl your age. ALICE Yeah, I study world events. Five thousand Turkienistan Muslims were slaughtered in Stravanvitch's cleansings... along with 15 American school kids. You know hQw I studied that. I went to their funerals with my dad. I met their parents. KORSHUNOV Smart for your age, eh? Top of your class? Tell me, do you know what the word "propaganda" means? ALICE Yeah. Do you know what the word "asshole" means. ROSE Alice! Rose doesn't know whether to be pissed at Alice or proud of her. Korshunov smiles, nods his head and lifts his gun. KORSHUNOV Yes, I have heard that word. He aims his gun at Alice. KORSHUNOV Yes, I am an asshole. A long beat, the Korshunov lovers the gun. KORSHUNOV Your father is a reasonable man. Once he hears our simple demand, I'm sure he will acquiesce. For your sake. Korshunov smiles. Gibbs grabs Alice's hands and pulls them behind her back. Begins wrapping them with the tape. INT. MAIN CABING, REAR GALLEY. Serge searches through the galley cabinets, spots the galley dumbwaiter. Now he knows where his quarry went. He angrily grabs a service cart and shoves it into the dumbwaiter, disabling it. INT. GANGWAY - Bazylev hears the beeps of a phone dialing. He moves toward the aft portal of the gangway. INT. REAR BAGGAGE HOLD - Marshall waits as the phone rings... INT. WHITE HOUSE, SWITCHBOARD ROOM - DAY A chipper woman in her mid-20s picks up the call. SWITCHBOARD White House switchboard. How may I direct your call. MT. REAR BAGGAGE HOLD - MARSHALL (hushed urgency) Okay listen, listen carefully. This is an emergency call from Air Force One. Who's there? Is the Vice- President there? INT. WHITE HOUSE, SWITCHBOARD ROOM - DAY SWITCHBOARD who can I say is calling? MARSHALL (0.S. PHONE) This is the President. SWITCHBOARD Yeah, right. MARSHALL Don't cut me off. This is an emergency. SWITCHBOARD Sir, the President does not call this particular number. So whoever you are get a life, before I have this call traced. MARSHALL You don't understand. This is an emergency. Let me talk to anyone. The switchboard operator thinks for a moment. Maybe she can have some fun with this nutcase. SWITCHBOARD Okay... if you're the President, when's your wife's birthday? MARSHALL Look lady, I don't have time for games. Just put the.... SWITCHBOARD Thank you for calling the white House... INT. REAR BAGGAGE HOLD - MARSHALL No. no. no. Wait. Wait. Bazylev appears behind Marshall. Raises his gun. MARSHALL I should know this. INT. WHITE HOUSE SWITCHBOARD ROOM - MARSHALL (V.0.) It's June. Gunfire in the background. SWITCHBOARD Sir? Are you there? Sir? Sir? Her face says N. The Switchboard operator pulls out a call sheet and finds a number. INT. REAR BAGGAGE HOLD - On the phone, lying open on a heap of clothing. Bazylev points the machine gun at Marshall's head. BAZ YLEV Hands away from your weapon. Marshall doesn't move, his np5 hanging at his waist... his hand inches from it. BAZYLEV Come now. You don't want to die. Marshall... with no options... slowly moves his hands away from the gun. BAZYLEV On your knees... PHONE (O.S.) Hello. Is anyone there? Bazylev motions Marshall to get on his knees. Marshall complies. BAZYUV What's that in your shirt? Open it. Marshall pulls his shirt aside revealing his Kevlar vest. BAZYLEV Take it off. Now. INT. WHITE HOUSE SITUATION ROOM - DAY Chandler on the phone. An aide waves, trying to get her attention. V.P. CHANDLER My intention is not to escalate the situation, but it's a contigency that must be considered. Hang on... (to Aide) What? AIDE The switchboard says that someone called in claiming to be the President, then she heard gunfire. Caller's gone, but the line's still active. DEAN Could be some crank watching CNN. AIDE No sir. Trace confirms the call is Coming from a White House staff cellular account. V.P. CHANDLER Put it through down here. (into phone) Hang on, Toni. The call comes in on speaker phone, distorted muffled voices and the whine of an aircraft in the background. V.P. CHANDLER What's going on in the background? Can we hear what's going on? Dean picks up a phone. DEAN Max, get me Willis. INT. NATIONAL SECURITY AGENCY, LISTENING POST - DAY WILLIS, a grossly overweight man in his late forties surrounded by a monolith of high-tech, starts working his console. WILLIS Tracking... Intercepting call... Got it. Ten seconds, Mr. Dean. Audio waveforms appear over Willis' console. He implements digital filtering routines, cleaning up the sounds. INT. WHITE HOUSE SITUATION ROOM - DAY The group listens intently. The call modulates, distorts, dissolves... then clarifies. BAZYLEV (V.0.) Hands... hands behind your head, Mr. President. V.P. CHANDLER It's him. He is alive. BAZYLEV I'm going to take your weapon now, and then I'm going to take you Upstairs to join the others. Understand? DEAN Christ, they have him. BAZYLEV And if you make any sudden moves, I will not hesitate to shoot. GENERAL NORTHWOOD Maybe they don't have him yet. Northwood stares up at the tactical board. Air Force One... surrounded by the F-l5s. GENERAL NORTHWOOD And maybe we aren't so helpless. General Northwood picks up a secure phone and dials. GENERAL NORTPNOOD General Greely, Air Force One has automatic countermeasures, right? GENERAL GREELY Everything we own is in that plane. GENERAL NORTINOOD So a single missile launched from a distance should be a mere distraction. GENERAL GREELY Theoretically. GENERAL NORTHWOOD (into phone) Ramutein Tower Control, please. GENERAL GREELY (getting it) But the effect could be jarring. GENERAL NORTHWOOD Exactly. Ramstein? General Northwood... Patch me through to your fighters. Madame Vice President... with your permission? V.P. CHANDLER Do it. INT. AFT STORAGE COMPARTMENT - Marshall on his knees, hands behind his head. Bazylev, his automatic pressed against Marshall's forehead, disarms Marshall before stepping away. He slings Marshall's MP5 over his own neck. Studies Marshall a beat. BAZ YLEV So you're the President. Somehow, I thought you'd be smaller. Marshall stares straight ahead tn silent defiance. Bazylev kicks him in the gut. Marshall doubles over, wheezing. BAZYLEV Not so powerful now, eh? No aides to advise you, no secret service to protect you, no armies to command. Bazylev grabs Marshall's hair and tugs his head back. He holds Marshall with his eyes. BAZYLEV You'll suffer for what you've done. MARSHALL * So will you. Bazylev slams Marshall's face against his knee. Marshall slumps forward. BAZYLEV Up. Get up now! Marshall slowly rises to his feet. Bazylev swings wide around him. BAZYLEV You will walk ahead... slowly. Do you understand? (no response) Do you understand! MARSHALL Do you know what's going to happen to you because of this? Do you know what the world will do? BAZYLEV Nothing. The world will do nothing. That is what they've always done. INT. MAIN CABIN, FORWARD GALLEY - Serge seals off the second dumbwaiter. EXT. SKY - NIGHT 63. The Squadron of F-15 Eagles hover around Air Force One. COL. CARLTON (V.0.) You want me to what? GENERAL NORTPNOOD (V.0.) You heard the order. And do not, I repeat, do not take your best shot. COL. CARLTON Roger, sir. Okay boys, clear the deck. I have been ordered to engage Air Force One. EXT. SKY - NIGHT The other airplanes flare out giving distance to the Jumbo Jet. Canton's plane drops back. COL. CARLTON Assuming attack posture. Targeting computer is on. INT. CARLTON'S COCKPIT - NIGHT On TARGETING COMPUTER - Graphics: As it acquires Air Force One. COL. CARLTON Target is acquired. I have good tone CLOSE ON: The flight stick. Carlton's finger over the firing button. He hesitates. COL. CARLTON They're gonna court martial me for this. INT. AIR FORCE ONE, GANGWAY - Hands behind his head, Marshall walks in front of Bazylev, an MP5 pressed against his neck. INT. F-15 EAGLE COCKPIT - NIGHT Carlton pulls the trigger. EXT. F-15 EAGLE - NIGHT An air-to-air missile detatches from under the Eagle. Its tail ignites in flame. INT. AIR FORCE ONE COCKPIT - NIGHT Zedeck monitoring the controls. Situation normal. Then all hell breaks loose as an entire wall of instrumentation lights up. Warning bells. Flashing lights. ZEDECK What is this? The TACTICAL COUNTERMEASUREs COMPUTER - Springs to life. High-tech readouts, risk analyses, schematics, and assessments. Radar tracks the incoming, identifies it. On Screen: "Autopilot disengaged" The plane banks into a dive, throwing Zedeck back against his chair. ZEDECK Gibbs! Gibbs! Get in here. On screen: "Activating countermeasures" EXT. SICY - NIGHT With no oneat the controls, Air Force One goes into a sharp sloping dive. INT. GANGWAY, AIR FORCE ONE - Bazylev, thrown off balance, tries to keep his gun trained on Marshall. BAZYLEV Don't move! EXT. SKY - NIGHT The missile follows a wide arc toward the banking plane. INT. AFO, COCKPIT - Gibbs slides into the pilot's seat, attempts to regain control. GIBBS What the hell's going on? ZEDECK The Americans fired at us. The Tactical Countermeasures Computer: "Electronic Jamming has failed Target acquired" Out the cockpit window, the brightly burning tail of the missile closing on them. GIBBS Why would they fire on us? The Tactical Countermeasures Computer: "Missile Closing: Metallic Chaff Burst Standing by:" The computer counts down from eight... seven... EXT. SKY - NIGHT The missile screams toward the jumbo jet, a slow easy target. INT. COCKPIT - NIGHT ZEDECK Do something. Five... Four... GIBBS I'm not a combat pilot. Three... two.... ZEDECK Shit! EXT. AIR FORCE ONE - NIGHT Small bays doors slip open below the aircraft. A cloud of small metallic narticles sprays out of the bottom of the aircraft. INT. COCKPIT - On the faces of the terrorists, as the missile comes right at them. Then the missile veers downward. The Tactical Countermeasures Computer: "Missile Neutralized" EXT. SKY - MIGHT The missile dives into the swarm of descending chaff and DETONATES, lighting up the evening sky. Red flames reflect against the silver-grey clouds. INT. AIR FORCE ONE, VARIOUS SHOTS - NIGHT The shock wave hits the aircraft. Lights flicker and the plane rocks side to side. HOSTAGES are bounced around the conference room. INT. GANGWAY - Marshall and Bazylev are slammed against the ceiling and then the floor. Marshall seizes the moment. Grabs Bazylev's gun. The two struggle and Bazylez instinctively pulls the trigger. A burst of richocheting gunfire sparks across the bulkhead. The turbulence worsens. Bazylev manages to wrest away the rifle, but the plane pulls into a climb, sending Bazylev tumbling down the gangway into the rear baggage hold. Marshall manages to pull himself up the grating and into the galley. He's free, for the moment. INT. AFO, COCKPIT. Gibbs steadies the plane as the shock wave from the explosion * subsides. GIBBS We're okay. Korshunov examines the Tactical Countermeasures Computer. KORSHUNOV Remarkable aircraft. Remarkable. GIBBS why did they do that? KORSHUNOV Psychology. They're trying to unnerve us. GIBBS Well it worked. Korshunov smiles and puts his hand on Gibbs shoulder. KORSHUNOV Relax, my friend. Apparently they cannot harm us. Even if they wanted to. rNT. FRONT GALLEY. 67. Marshall Struggles to assemble the hypodermic and the container of adrenalin. INT. REAR BAGGAGE HOLD. Bazylev pulls to his feet, heads back down the gangway. INT. FRONT GALLEY. Marshall greets Bazylev with a spray of hot coffee from the Simmering pot as he enters. Bazylev covers up, but the spray sears him pretty bad. He yells in pain, turning. Marshall springs, imbedding the hypodermic needle into Bazylev's neck. A full dose of adrenalin. Bazylev pulls the empty needle from his neck. Marshall steps back, waiting for a reaction. A pregnant pause as they both wait to see what happens. Then Bazylev smiles and slowly turns toward Marshall. Marshall backs away as Bazylev levels his gun. He fires once, hitting Marshall in the arm. Marshall winces off the pain. BAZYLEV (disgust) The leader of the free world. He backs Marshall against a wall and holds him in his sights. But he doesn't shoot. His breathing becomes faster and faster as the adrenalin takes hold. Building... building... He screams and clutches at his throat. His eyes spin back and then his heart explodes. Bazylev is caught frozen, suspended in a moment of disbelief. Death reflex. He fires off several rounds from the gun as he collapses. Marshall waits a beat, half-expecting Bazylev to rise. He slowly approaches the body and retrieves the KP5. EXT. SKY - NIGHT The F-lSs pull back into formation around the Jumbo Jet. INT. REAR BAGGAGE HOLD - Marshall retrieves the phone, then wedges himself behind a waste storage tank, out of view. INT. PILOT'S REST AREA - Rose and Alice On the bunk. Alice's eyes are Watering. Korshunov examines tOPographic maps in the adjacent M1C.c. and speaks into a phone in Russian. ALICE Mom? ROSE Yes dear? ALICE I'm sorry I was so mean to you earlier. Rose smiles sadly. ROSE I know, sweetie. I know. (beat) You're being very brave. Alice nods. She's trying. INT. MAIN CABIN. Serge finishes his sweep of the upper level. SERGE (to Zedeck) He's not up here. I'm going down below. INTERCUT: INT. REAR BAGGAGE HOLD/INT. WHITE HOUSE SITUATION ROOM Marshall rips his sleeve off, swabs the blood off his arm. Bazylev's bullet took out a good chunk of flesh when it grazed him. MARSHALL Did they say anything about my family? V.P. CHANDLER They're still alive, but the loyalists plan to start killing hostages in forty minutes. MARSHALL Then tell me there's a rescue operation underway. Marshall opens a travel bottle of Vodka and pours it over the wound. He winces from the pain. V.p CHANDLER 69. I think we're okay, sir. flow that we know You're alive we can force Petrov to release Stravanavitch. MARSpari Don't tell me you plan to give in to these fuckers. GENERAL NORmwOOD We plan to do whatever it takes to keep you alive, sir. V.P. CHANDLER and if that means negotiating... MARSHALL You know my policy. We don't negotiate with terrorists. If we start now, all of America becomes a target. V.P. CHANDLER But this is different, sir. You're the President. * MARSHALL And what happens when Stravanavitch is freed and discovers he's got the President? You think for a second that that crazy bastard is just gonna turn me over? He'll ask for the goddamn moon before he's done. V.P. CHANDLER Please, Mr. President. You're going to get yourself killed. Is that your solution? MARSHALL Freeing Stravanavitch is gonna get tens of thousands killed. I can't live with that. (somewhat resigned) I'm not royalty. I'm an elected official and the integrity of the office of the President is infinitely more important than the man who holds that office. (beat) We don't negotitate. Not as long as I'm President. Is that understood? A long silence, then... YES SIR. CHANDLER MARSHALL flow, is there a rescue operation under way or not? Lee shakes his head at Chandler, signalling "don't tell." LEE He's not on a secure line. MARSHAlj Whoever said that, shut up. Walter, are you there? DEAN I'm here, Mr. President. MARSHALL Where's the cavalry? DEAN We can't do anything until that plane lands. And when it does land, sir, it's going to be in hostile * territory. To be perfectly honest, we don't know what the hell to do. It's going to take a miracle to figure this one out. A long beat. We hold on Marshall's determined face. MARSHALL I'll see what I can do. INT. GALLEY. Serge comes across Bazylev. Checks for any sign of life. Stone cold dead. He looks around and grips his gun a little tighter as he backs out of the room. INT. MAIN CABIN. Serge closes the stair access panel to the baggage deck. Sealing Marshall off. INT. MISSION COMMUNICATIONS CENTER - NIGHT Serge comes trotting up the stairs and collects new clips. SERGE Bazylev is dead. Korshunov swallows hard... AND THE SERGE Trapped On the baggage deck. Let me go finish him. KORSHUNOV No. He has the advantage down there. Bring me a hostage. A woman. INT. FORWARD BAGGAGE HOLD. Marshall sees that the stairway hatch has been sealed. INT. LOWER GALLEY - NIGHT Marshall hits the button for the dumbwaiter. The dumbwaiter begins to descend then snags on the service cart. Its motor grind to a halt. Marshall slumps dQwn. His hopes dashed. Nothing to do now but wait. INT. MAIN CONFERENCE ROOM. Serge looks over the crowd of hostages like a bouncer at a hip dance club. His eyes fall on Maria Mitchell. SERGE You. Come with me. INT. LOWER GALLEY. Marshall, seated on the floor. The cabinet next to him is stacked with packs of complimentary cigarettes, all with the seal of the President. MARSHALL What the hell... He opens up a pack and puts the cigarette in his mouth. He snags one of the Presidential lighters, tries to light it several times but it only sparks. XC shakes it. It's out of tial. He tosses it aside and reaches for a book of matches, but he FREEZES in mid-reach. A thought occurs to him. MARSHALL (murmuring) Out of fuel. INT. FORWARD BAGAGE HOLD - NIGHT Marshall, lacking a screwdriver, levers open the hatch to the Avionics compartment with the barrel of his gun. RUT. AVIONICS COMPARTMENT - NIGHT Marshall sees the stacks of panels, piping, Wiring, electronics. MARSHALL Come on, where are you... He searches up and down. INT. MISSION COMMUNICATIONS CENTER - NIGHT Serge leads Maria Mitchell up the stairway. Korshunov nods. KORSHUNOV Ms. Mitchell. Hello again. Maria is scared, she says nothing. She looks over to the First Lady and Alice. ROSE Maria. Korshunov switches on the airplane's P.A. KORSHUNOV * Please tell me your name. MITCHELL (frightened) Maria... Maria Mitchell. KORSHUNOV And what is it you do, Ms. Mitchell. Maria Mitchell's voice echos over throughout Air Force One. INT. AVIONICS COMPARTMENT. Marshall halts his search to listen. MITCHELL (V.0.) I'm responsible for Press Relations for the Flight Office. KORSHUNOV (V.0.) How are your fellow hostages feeling, Ms. Mitchell? MITCHELL Scared. We're scared. INT. MISSION COMMUNICATIONS CENTER - NIGHT Rose cradles Alice, both of them looking away, as Korshunov raises his gun, pointing it at Mitchell. KORSHUNOV And why are you scared? MITCHEL*L Because... because I don't want to die. INT. MAIN CONFERENCE ROOM. The hostages, listening. KORSHUNOV And what am I doing at this very moment. INT. AVIONICS COMPARTMENT - NIGHT Marshall listens, helpless to do anything. MITCHELL You're pointing a gun at me. INT. MISSION COMMUNICATIONS CENTER - KORSHUNOV Very good. Thank you, Ms. Mitchell. Did you hear her? She said I'm pointing a gun at her. INT. AVIONICS COMPARTMENT - KORSHUNOV Now, to the secret service agent in the baggage deck. I'm giving you ten seconds to surrender, or this women will die. Marshall's eyes widen. KORSHUNOV One... Oh shit. Marshall tries to decide what to do. KORSHUNOV Two... He climbs out of the avionics compartment and hurries to the front baggage compartment. KORSHUNOV Three... INT. MAIN CABIN. Zedeck and Serge wait by the stairway hatch. KORSHUNOV Four... INT. MAIN CONFERENCE ROOM. Hostages wait, expectantly. KORSHUNOV Five... INT. FRONT BAGGAGE HOLD. Marshall frozen near the bottom of the steps. To go up would be to betray everything he believes in, and lose any chance to save the others. But if he stays... KORSHUNOV Six... INT. MISSION COMMUNICATIONS CENTER. Tears stream down Maria Mitchell's face. She's trying so hard to be brave in front of Rose and Alice. KORSHUNOV Seven... INT. FRONT BAGGAGE HOLD. For Marshall, this is the hardest decision of his life. His face a mask of anguish as he wrestles with his conscience. KORSHUNOV Eight... He starts toward the stairs. INT. MISSION COMMUNICATIONS CENTER. Korshunov looking down the barrel of the gun. KORSHUNOV Nine... INT. FRONT BAGGAGE HOLD. It takes every bit of training and will to stop Marshall from going up those stairs. He knows what's going to happen. He closes his eyes tight as if that will stop it from happening. KORSHUNOV Ten... A long silent beat. Then... BAAAAM! MARSHALL NO! Marshall sinks to to his knees. MARSHALL Aw, Jesus. INT. MAIN CONFERENCE ROOM. Hostages hold each other tight for comfort. A mournful silence fills the room. INT. FRONT BAGGAGE HOLD. Marshall, silhouetted in the half light, craddles his head head in his hands. The shaft of light disappears as the main cabin hatch closes, sealing him off once again. KORSFL3NOV (V.0.) I'll give you a few minutes to think about that one and then we'll try again. Perhaps soon I will choose somebody important. MARSHALL (to himself) She was important. INT. MISSION COMMUNICATIONS CENTER. zedeck and Serge drag the dead woman out of the compartment. Alice sobs quietly. ROSE Do you have to be so brutal? KORSHUNOV Yes ROSE Why? Do you enjoy it? KORSHUNOV I neither enjoy nor dislike. I do what is necessary. ROSE How can you? I mean they're people. * 76. KORSHUNOV But they are not ny people. You look at me as if I am a monster, but answer me this -- when your planes bombed the oil fields of Iraq, did You cry for those dark skinned men whose names you do not know and who's faces You will never see? Did You cry for their wives and children. They were people too, yes... but they were not your people. ROSE That was war. KORSHUNOV So is this. (beat) Come now, you're upsetting the little one. ALICE The woman you shot. She was my friend. KORSHUNOV That's the way of the world, little one. Didn't they teach you that in school? INT. FORWARD BAGGAGE HOLD. Marshall crosses back to the avionics compartment, talking on the phone. VOICE (through static) Chief Mechanic, 87th Air. How can I help you? MARSHALL You can talk me through an emergency fuel dump. INT. MAIN CONFERENCE ROOM. MAJOR CALDWELL Led off to slaughter one at a time. Next time I say we rush `em. They can't shoot us all. SHEPHERD They can shoot enough of us. * 77. MAJOR CALDWELL If we don't act, they'll kill US all eventually Who's with me? Several of the hostages raise their hands. INT. AFO'S MAINTENANCE HANGER/ANDREWS AIR FORCE BASE - DAY The Chief Mechanic has Air Force One schematics open in front of him. He and his staff are huddled around them. CHIEF MECHANIC Do you see the maintenance panel? MARSHALL Got it. CHIEF MECHANIC Pop it open. There should be a red switch, toggle it up. MARSHALL Okay, it's on. We've got some indicator lights here. CHIEF MECHANIC Okay, you're aerated. To dump the fuel you have to close the circuit for the pump. There's no switch in Avionics so you'll have to cross the wires. There should be five wires, just to your left. Do you see them? INT. AVIONICS COMPARTMENT - NIGHT Marshall finds the wires: red, white, blue, green and yellow. MARSHALL Got `en. Static blankets the conversation. CHIEF MECHANIC Okay, hang on. Let me double check here, because if you get the wrong ones, you'll cut the engine feeds and stall the plane. MARSHALL I'll wait. The static worsens. CHIEF MECHANIC First... cut... green wire. Marshall, Using a kitchen knife, slices the green wire. Heavy static. The phone beeps... lOsing batteries. MARSHALL It's cut. CHIEF MECHANIC cross it... The static overwhelms the voice, then cuts out. MARSHALR' Hello? Hello? Goddamnit. Static comes roaring back and garbled voices... MARSHAlj Hello? Are YOU there? Dead. Marshall tries to activate it again. MARSHAIJi Hello? Hello? Nothing. He tosses the dead phone aside. Marshall stares. Cross the green wires with the... what? Red, white, blue... or the yellow. His choice is obvious. He cuts the yellow wire and crosses it with the green, leaving the red, white and blue standing. He waits. The engines continue to groan. He allows himself a smile. MARSHALL An emergency landing in friendly territory... there's your goddamn miracle. EXT. AIR FORCE ONE - NIGHT Beneath the plane a trickle of gasoline appears and grows into a strong steady stream. INT. FLIGHT DECK - NIGHT A red warning light flashes on the plane's panel. GIBBS Goddamnit it. We're losing fuel. Korshunov crosses to the flight deck. KORSHUNOV How? GIBBS Avionics compartment! It's the only place. You better get Zedeck down there fast Unless, of course, you'd rather be a martyr than a savior. KORSHUNOV (to Zedeck) Go! Take Serge.. and watch your backs. Zedeck nods and dashes out of the cabin. INT. MAIN CABIN. Zedeck pulls open the hatch cover to the forward front stairs. Descends into the dimly lit underneath. Serge descends right behind Zedeck. INT. FORWARD BAGGAGE COMPARTMENT - NIGHT Zedeck, Spooked by the dark shadows, senses he's being watched. ZEDECK He's down here. I can feel it. SERGE Shut up and do your job. Zedeck hastens toward the Avionics compartment, gun at the ready. Serge sweeps the area behind. They hear a metallic clank echo and reverberate around him. They both check left... right... behind them... Nothing. It's creepy being a walking target. From behind a water storage tank, Marshall watches down the barrel of his Mp5. With all the equipment in the way, it's almost impossible to line up a clear shot. And they're both well armed. He looks toward the stairway instead. Zedeck enters the Avionics compartment. Serge takes a defensive position outside the door. ZEDECK (O.S.) The valve is shut. This guy sure knew what he was doing. Serge hears a noise and opens tire. 80. ZEDECK You see him? SERGE Erring on the side of caution. INT. AVIONICS COMPARTMENT - Zedeck opens a panel and rips out some wiring. ZEDECK I'm going to deactivate the by-pass pump. It'll take a minute. INT. FLIGHT DECK. Gibbs checks the fuel gauges. They stop falling. GIBBS We've stopped dumping... but we've only got about twenty minutes of fuel left. KORSHUNOV We're not going to make it. GIBBS Not even close. Hell, we can't even make Syria or Iraq. KORSHUNOV Where are we now? GIBBS Over the Black Sea. I can probably get us to Turkey or Georgia. KORSHUNOV No! If we land this plane anywhere else, we will end up another Entebe. (beat) The Americans built a super plane that flies through mushroom cloud, evades missiles and... (holding up Maria Mitchell's press kit) refuels in mid-air. Call the White House. INT. WHITE HOUSE SITUATION ROOM - Tactical Map: Air Force One over the Black Sea heading south west toward Turkmenistan. An Aide holds up a phone. AIDE It's him again. INT. MISSION COMMUNICATION CENTER - Korshunov on the phone. KORSHUNOV Gentlemen, forgive me for diverting you from your little wargames, but I've just added another demand to my very short list. I assure you it's quite reasonable. INT. WHITE HOUSE SITUATION ROOM - KORSHUNOV (V.0. PHONE) We need fuel, gentlemen. And we need it right now. Lee whispers to the Vice President. LEE Finally, we can bargain. V.P. CHANDLER I'm sure we can strike some sort of arrangement. Land the plane and we'll trade you hostages for fuel. KORSHUNOV No. The plane lands when I say, or it will crash. The hostages are released when I say, or they will die. INT. MISSION COMMUNICATIONS CENTER. KORSHUNOV Tell me what I want to hear or I will execute a member of the senior staff, and will continue killing one hostage every minute until we crash or until a refueling plane arrives. Murmuring and hushed discussion floats over the airwaves. A long silence. Korshunov looks toward Alice. KORSHUNOV Shall I begin by executing the President's daughter? She's right here. ROSE No. KORSHUNOV Say something dear. ALICE Fuck off, you stupid asshole. KORSHUNOV It would be a pity to squander such a strong personality. Another several beats of hushed murmuring. KORSHUNOV Well? What do you say? V.P. CHANDLER (V.0. PHONE) Fuel's on its way. INT. MAIN CABIN. Serge and Zedeck lower the hatch to the baggage compartment and seal it. They head up the stairs to the M.C.C. INT. M.C.C. - NIGHT Korshunov paces, weighing his pistol in his hand. KORSHUNOV We trained for months. Everything should've gone like clockwork. ZEDECK We have the hostages, we're getting more fuel. KORSHUNOV He's already killed three of us, and we haven't even seen him. He's also shown that he can hurt us. I need to think. (looks at Serge) What the hell are you doing up here? Get back to the conference room. INT. MAIN CABIN Serge takes his position by the conference room. Across from him, against the cabin divider, Marshall peers down the sight of his gun. Serge freezes. MARSHALL Don't make the same mistake your friend did earlier... Show me your hands. Serge raises his hands. Marshall reaches over and pulls out the clip to his MP5. MARSHALL Open the door. INT. CONFERENCE ROOM - NIGHT Caldwell, Shepherd and a few other aides hear the key turn in the lock. They quickly take position around the door. As Marshall marches Serge in, they're both tackled and smothered by the group. They wrest the guns away and shut the door quickly behind them. Marshall struggles against his people. MARSHALL It's me goddamnit. Let me go. Surprised to hear their boss' voice, the aides and advisors release Marshall. SHEPHERD Mr. President, how the hell did you get on board? MARSHALL I never left. Where's my wife and daughter? MAJOR CALDWELL They took `em out. They're probably on the upper deck. SHEPHERD Mr. President, Major Caldwell here has a plan to get these hostages of f the plane. MARSHALL I dumped most of the fuel. They'll land soon and Delta will take its shot. SERGE A refueling plane is already on it's way so we won't be landing until we reach Turkmenistan. Your best course of action is to release me. I will be merciful. MAJOR CALDWELL 84. Sir, maybe we can use this. Turn it to our advantage. MARSHALL Mr. Caidwell, the ground's a few miles away. How do you propose getting us from here to there? MAJOR CALDWELL Gravity. INT. WHITE HOUSE SITUATION ROOM - Satellite pictures of various landing strips projected on wall-sized monitors. DEAN Of the three dozen airports in Turkmenistan, only five have sufficient runways for a 747. Of those five, only these three have shown any activity. General Northvood points with a laser pointer. GENERAL NORTPNOOD But this one here, see this. It's a satellite dish and it wasn't there two weeks ago. Basic communications uplink, which suggests extensive communicatins ability. I'd say this was the one. V.P. CHANDLER Are you confident you can take the facility? GENERAL NORTIWOOD It's night there for a few more hours. That's a real plus. But I won't lie. As far as special ops go, this one's a bear, but I think we squeeze it out. V.P. CHANDLER Let's get it going. AIDE The Press Secretary's about to go on. INT. MAIN CONFERENCE ROOM - NIGHT MAJOR CALDWELL If we can get to a lower altitude, we can use parachutes, but at this altitude, we'll pass out from Oxygen deprivation. MARSHALL We've already played our cards, Major. There's no turning back. MAJOR CALDWELL We can't jump from here or at this speed. But if we could get a message out - tell the refueling plane... MARSHALL They've cut communication, and I spent a good bit of time looking for alternatives. My only solution ran out of batteries. A nearby SECRETARY in her late 20's pipes up. SECRETARY The fax machines. MARSHALL Excuse me? SECRETARY The fax machines. MARSHALL (dismissive) No good. I said they disabled the communications system. SECRETARY No. I thought about this, Mr. President. Voice lines and faxes are on two completely different systems of encryption. It'd be easy to overlook the data systems. What do they have to lose? MARSHALL (to Caldwell) Get `em ready. (to secretary) You... come with me. MAJOR CALDWELL Eighteen thousand feet, sir. And two hundred knots... otherwise it's suicide. MARSHALL Got it. INT. CORRIDOR. Caidwell, holding Serge's gun, takes position by the front stairway and waves the other hostages on. They emerge from the conference room, and move to the stairway. Marshall and the secretary rush the opposite direction toward the equipment room. INT. WHITE HOUSE PRESS ROOM - DAY Amid shouting questions, the PRESS SECRETARY alights to the podium. PRESS SECRETARY Please. Quiet please... First let me... Please... I have a prepared statement... The White House confirms that the President's aircraft, Air Force One, has been hijacked and is currently controlled by foreign nationals. Murmurs, shouts, and more questions. REPORTERS Is the President onboard?/ What about the First Family?/ What are their demands? PRESS SECRETARY Please... please... For security reasons I can not comment on any specifics except to say that the Vice-President is doing everything within her power to resolve the situation. PULL BACK T.V. monitor on broadcasting CNN. We're in the... INT. MISSION COMMUNICATIONS CENTER - NIGHT Korshunov turns toward the monitor. Furrows his brow. KORSHUNOV And you are almost out of time. Where is the President? INT. EQUIPMENT ROOM. Marshall and the Secretary step over Perkins' body on the way to the fax machine. SECRETARY Here sir. Marshall grabs a piece of paper and a pen. Scribbles a note. SECRETARY Where are we sending it? MARSHALL White House Situation room. He signs the paper and hands it toher. She slides it into the machine, checks the listed numbers and dials. MARSHALL Someone should give you a raise. SECRETARY Actually, sir, you could be that someone. They wait... will it work? A few beats, a few beats more. The machine pulls the paper in and begins scanning. MARSHALL It's yours. INT. WHITE HOUSE SITUATION ROOM. Marshall's note spits out of one of the fax machines. But in the bevy of activity, will it be noticed? INT. UNDERDECK, REAR LOWER GALLEY - NIGHT Caldwell spins open the rear emergency pressure door and leads the hostages into... INT. TAILCONE PARACHUTE LAUNCH PLATFORM - A cargo hold extending up the tapered edge of the aircraft's rear. The hostages begin pulling parachute packs out of the overhead storage bins. Helping each other. INT. MISSION COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEM. Korshunov listens to Zedeck yell into the phone in Russian. ZEDECK Still no movement on Stravanavitch. Korshunov eyes Alice and Rose. ROSE Nor will there be. My husband does not negotiate with terrorists. KORSHUNOV You will be the first to pay for that mistake. INT. EMERGENCY PARACHUTE LAUNCH RAMP. Caidwell assists everyone in strapping on their packs. He addresses one group, mostly women and senior staff, who belt into the larger chutes. MAJOR CALDWELL These chutes are designed for a safe slow descent. They'll deploy off the line automatically as you step from the plane. (turns to another group, mostly younger men) You guys'll have to pull your own rip cords. Wait until you're clear from the plane, but not any longer. (he checks packs and straps) Once I check you, go stand behind the yellow line. You're good. You're good. You're good. Two neat lines ready to jump. One line on the deployment wire, and the other set for freefall. Marshall and the secretary arrive. MAJOR CALDWELL Mr. president? pwtsHALL The fax went through. We can only wait. MAJOR CAWWELL Your chute. MARSHALL I'll not going without my family. MAJOR CALDWELL Yes, sir. Caidwell crosses to prep the Launch Ramp controls. INT. COCKPIT. The gas gauges read very close to empty. Korshunov Stands behind Gibbs, while Zedeck keeps an eye on the First Lady. GIBBS Where's that goddamn plane? tNT. EMERGENCY PARACHUTE LAUNCH RAMP. Everybody waits. Caidwell watches the indicator. 30,000 feet. EXT. SKY - NIGHT A KC-135, the USAF flying gas station, descends in front of Air Force One. KC-135 PILOT Air Force One, this is AF-135-RA. We have been instructed to refuel your plane. TNT. AIR FORCE ONE FLIGHT DECK - NIGHT GIBBS About goddamn time. KC-135 PILOT Please change course to Zero Seven Four and drop to eighteen thousand feet. Over. GIBBS Air Force One, acknowledged. tNT. EMERGENCY PARACHUTE LAUNCH RAMP. The altimeter begins to fall. A wave of relief washes over the group. EXT. SKY - NIGHT The KC-135 extends its flying gas pump. KC-135 PILOT Air Force One, please reduce speed to 250 knots. GIBBS (V.0. RADIO) Roger. TNT. AFO FLIGHT DECK. 90. Okay1 now KC-135 PILOT (V.0. Radio) vent your fueling system. It's the yellow lever on the upper control panel. And next to that there's a toggle Switch to open your intake. Got it? GIBBS Roger KC-135 PILOT (V.0. Radio) Air Force One, do you see the fueling arm? Through the cockpit Window, the long metallic appendage dangles ahead of the plane. GIBBS That's affirmative. KC-135 PILOT Ga get it. EXT. SKY - NIGHT As Air Force One edges its nose up to the appendage. The appendage finds it's grove and slides right in. TNT. TAILCONE PARACHUTE LAUNCH PLATFOIW - MAJOR CALOWELL That's it, eighteen thousand feet. We're ready. MARSHALL What about them? Marshall indicates the four men without parachutes on. TWO AIR FORCE CREW MEMBERS, Major Caldwell and Shepherd. MAJOR CALDWELL Sir, we stay with the President. MARSHALL That isn't necessary. None of them changes his mind. MARSHALL Thank you. A silent beat. A few forced smiles in this very tense room. * 91. MAJOR CALDWELL Relax everybody. I used to do this for a living9 Caidwell pulls a switch on the wall. MAJOR CALDWELL Depressurizing compartment. This `11 take a moment. The President crosses to one of his aides. MARSHALL Hey, by the way... who won the Duke game? AIDE Find out for yourself, sir. I'll have it waiting at the White House. Marshall smiles. EXT. SKY - NIGHT The KC-135 flies above Air Force One, connected by a gasoline umbilical cord. INT. EMERGENCY RAMP PLATFORM. Caldwell breaks safety glass. Reaches into a compartment and pulls a lever. MAJOR CALDWELL Here we go. A mechanical him and clank gives way to a rush of wind as the tail section of Air Force One hinges open on hydraulic struts, extending like a plank behind the plane. We can see the sky with its angry clouds. Rushing by at two hundred knots. INT. FLIGHT DECK. A LOUD BUZZ KORSHUNOV What's that? A warning light flashes on the control panel. Tactical Video Display shows the emergency parachute ramp activating. INT. MAIN CABIN. Zedeck runs toward the conference room. He bursts through the doors. INT. CONFERENCE ROOM - Empty. INT. FRONT HOLD/LOWER GALLEY - Tracking: Zedeck Sprinting to the rear of the plane. EXT. AIR FORCE ONE - The tail cone section of Air Force One hinges open and parachutes begin to blossum from the rear of the plane. INT. F-15 EAGLE - From several miles back Carlton watches the chutes emerge. COL. CARLTON Here they come. INT. WHITE HOUSE SITUATION ROOM. Radio traffic echos through the room. COL. CMLTON (V.0.) We got... okay... so far ten chutes deploying of f the line. Dropping signal flares for search and rescue. INT. ITEAR BAGGAGE HOLD - Zedeck reaches the emergency pressure door. Through the porthole he sees the hostages getting away. He tries the door hatch. Locked. Zedeck looks around. Crosses to the lower rear galley. He kicks open the panel on the stove. Rips out the propane tank. He runs back and wedges the tank into the door lock. He backs off 50 feet, turns and opens fire on the tank. The tank explodes, blowing the door out. EMERGENCY PARACHUTE LAUNCH PLATFORM The pressure door blows open and an explosion of pressurized air blasts through the platform. The remaining parachutists are blown out the rear. Chutes deploying. Marshall and Serge are knocked down the ramp, tumbling toward oblivion. Just as Marshall's about to slide off the corner of the ramp he grabs its hydraulic strut. Plummeting death. His grip is all that separates his dangling body from a long Serge tumbles by Marshall, limbs flailing, and with a scream Woven from a thousand nightma5, he loses his grip and slides off the ramp into the jetblack sky, falling endlessly. Shepherd and Caldwell manage to hang to safety webbing as the wind whips around them. The two other air force crew members Without chutes also manage to hang on. As the plane depressurizes, it BUCKS like a wild bronco. Marshall looks down into the sky. Below his dangling legs, parachutes blossoij. He's straining... he can't hold on forever. INT. COCKPIT - Gibbs fights the wheel. Oxygen masks spring out from an overhead compartment as air is sucked out of the cockpit... The plane shudders and jumps badly.... KC-135 PILOT (V.0. RADIO) Air Force One, back off. I repeat, back off. Gibbs wrestles with the yoke, to no avail. GIBBS She's bucking. I can't hold her! KC-135 PILOT (V.0. RADIO) What are you doing? Back off! Back off! EXT. SKY - Air Force One jerks upward, snapping off the fueling arm of the KC-135. KC-135 PILOT LOOK OUT! The broken edge of the fueling arm scrapes along the top of Air Force One... metal against metal... tearing a gash in the plane... Sparks fly. ONE OF THE SPARKS ignites the river of gasoline being pumped from the refueling craft's belly. INT. AIR FORCE ONE, COCKPIT - Gibbs Sees the fueling arm catch fire. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure what's coming. The flames creep up toward the gas tanks. GIBBS Holy Shiti Gibbs pushes the stick down and Air Force One begins to dive to safety. EXT. SKY - Air Force One descends. Whipping fire trails the KC-135. Slowly rolls it way into the plane's main tank. A burning fuse. BARRROOOOOOOM! A FIRECLOUD ERUPTS ACROSS THE SKY. Sky like daylight. From this incredible firecloud, the burned out skeleton of an airplane emerges, falling toward earth. The F-15 escort zoom toward the unexpected fireball. COL. CARLTON Everybody break. Now! Now! Now! Carlton's planes go into emergency climb, standing on their afterburners to escape the inferno. INT. EMERGENCY PARACHUTE LAUNCH RAMP - Marshall hangs on to the strut for dear life as the pressurized air swooshes by him, taking with it everything that isn't nailed down including some of the spare parachutes. Fire rains down from the heavens, the sky like one giant napalm nightmare. The shock wave hits the plane, slamming it violently. Almost yanking the hyraulic arm from Marshall's grasp. The military aides without parachutes lose their footing and tumble off the platform. SCREAMING as they fall into fire. EXT. SKY - The burning KC-135 shell, an apocalyptic Flying Dutchman in a vengeful Kamikazee dive at Air Force One. It's gonna be close. The flaming shell passes only a few hundred yards to the rear of the 747. EXT. PARACHUTE LAUNCH RAMP - Marshall's got a great view. Flames dance in his eyes as he watches the refueling plane descend. The brightness subsides, and the sky grows dark again. The wave of pressurized air subsides leaving Zedeck, Marshall, Shepherd and Caldwell on the ramp. Caldwell begins edging toward Marshall. ZEDECK Don't move. MAJOR CALDWELL Let me save him. Marshall barely hangs on. ZEDECK That man, he is the president, no? SHEPHERD Yes. Yes he is. Zedeck motions to Caidwell with his gun. "Go get him." Caldwell crawls down the ramp and extends his hand to Marshall. THE PRESSURE DOOR SLAMMING SHUT - zedeck leads Marshall, shepherd and Caldwell away. IPRR. AFO'S FLIGHT DECK - Gibbs steadies the plane. KORSHUNOV Fuel? Gibbs checks the guages. GIBBS More than enough to get us home. EXT. WHITE HOUSE - EVENING The sun begins to set along the Potomac in long streaks of red and pink. The White House lights flicker on uminating the long staunch columns, the pillars of democracy. RNT. WHITE HOUSE SITUATION ROOM - EVENING Tired. Strung out. Bickering within the small workgroups. Chandler crosses to General Northwood, who has just hung up the phone. V.P. CHANDLER They still have the President, it's past their deadline and they haven't called. What do you think it means? GENERAL NORTHWOOD Like any good poker player, they're checking over their hand seeing which cards to play and which to discard. INT. AFO, MISSION COMMUNICATION CENTER - NIGHT Zedeck leads the three hostage into the M.C.C. Rose and Marshall - their eyes meet. Enormous relief for the both of them. Marshall smiles at his wife, as she fights back her tears. ALICE (to Korshunov) He didn't leave us. KORSHUNOV You are a resilient man, Mr. President. Zedeck grabs Caldwell's hands and tapes them behind his back with duct tape. Rose and Alice already have their hands taped. KORSHUNQV You must forgive the tape, but we were starting to feel outnumbered... Gibbs! INT. FLIGHT DECK - Gibbs puts the plane on automatic pilot. Rises to join the group. INT. MISSION COMMUNICATIONS CENTER - Korshunov separates Marshall from his family. Waves him into the Com Officer's chair. His hands are now wrapped too. Gibbs enters looking down. MARSHALL Special Agent Gibbs. You helped do this? GIBBS Yes, Mr. President. MARSHALL Why? GIBBS Because it is my duty. MARSHALL You're duty to what? The country you served doesn't exist anymore. GIBBS My loyalty was never to my country. I serve my commanding officers. KORSHUNOV You don't think the leaders of the KGB would allow peristroika to ruin years of infiltration? No, when the Soviet Union collapsed, we took our sleepers with us. Korshunov holds up a telephone. KORSHUNOV Now since we've had very little luck getting Washington or Moscow to cooperate, I wondered if you would be so kind. MARSHALL Over my dead body. KORSHUNOV No. But since I only have a few of your staff left to kill, perhaps I will start with your family instead... Gibbs. Gibbs grabs Alice and shoves her into a chair. She fights him off, and he smacks her across the face and shoves his gun into her neck. Marshall and Rose struggle against their bonds. KORSHUNOV The world is such a dangerous place and we can't always protect our children. ROSE Please. You can kill me but leave my daughter alone. Korshunov runs his finger down Alice's cheek. MARSHALL She isn't a part of this. This is between you and me. KORSHUNOV Call up Petrov and order Stravanavitch' S release. Marshall looks to Alice, then Rose, then back to Alice. MARSHALL This administration does not negotiate with terrorists. KORSHUNOV Pity. Mr. Gibbs. Gibbs withdraws his pistol. Places it against Alice's temple. KORSHUNOV Perhaps a President does not negotiate, but does a father? (beat) An interesting choice. Your daughter versus your world vision. The implicit trust of a family against your oath of office. Tears of fears are streaming down Alice's face. She looks into her father's eyes. ALICE Daddy... MARSHALL Alice... I... KORSHUNOV And once the trigger is pulled, she is gone forever. Then, I wonder, how do you live, knowing you could've saved her? Marshall struggles with his duty. His honor. KORSHUNOV And could you ever forget the look on her face as she ceases to exist... Late at night, when you think about her, will Stravanavitch really matter anymore? Marshall tries to look away, but Zedeck forces him to watch. ALICE Daddy. Daddy, please... ROSE Jim... for godsake! KORSHUNOV Look inside your heart. No one will think you weak. Five... Alice's face, trying to be brave. KORSHUNOV Four... ROSE Jim... KORSHUNOV Three... Rose looks away. KORSHUNOV Two. . Alice looks at her father for the very last time. Then shuts her eyes tight. KORSHUNOV One... Gibbs begins to squeeze the trigger. MARSHALL NO! Korshunov smiles. MARSHALL Stop. KORSHUNOV You'll do it? MARSHALL Yes, I'll do it. (broken) Just leave my family alone. KORSHUNOV Good. Good. Gibbs withdraws the gun from Alice's temple. Alice opens her eyes and gasps for breath. KORSHUNOV Bring him the phone... You are true to your nature, Mr. President. MARSHALL Someday, you'll regret my nature. KORSHUNOV You don't like seeing people get hurt. Now in morality, that is a virtue. In politics, however, that is weakness. (beat) You were a hostage to everyone else * long before you were a hostage to INT. BEDROOM - NIGHT A sleepless Petrov paces back and forth, smoking a cigarette. The phone RINGS. He looks up expectantly as his aide answers. AIDE Sir, the President of the United States wishes to speak with you. Petrov stops in mid-pace. Considers his cigarette for a moment and then walks over to the phone. PETROV Mr. President. INT. PRISON CELL - NIGHT A guard walks down the cold steel hallway. He rattles the bar of a darkened cage, he pulls out a set of keys and unlocks the door. GUARD Stravanavitch. Stravanavitch awakes, and leans forward into the light. He and the guard trade looks. After a beat, the guard turns and retreats down the the hallway. Stravanavitch rises from his bunk and approaches the cell door. He leans against it and it swings open. INT. M.C.C. - NIGHT Rose stares at Marshall. Her look is hard to read. Distant... cold, perhaps. ROSE Can my husband sit next to me? Korshunov considers the pair. Hands taped behind their back. They're harmless. Korshunov nods. Marshall rises and joins her on the pilot's rest bunk. ROSE I don't know why you stayed. MARSHALL Please... don't start with me. Rose moves closer to him, and speaks in a low voice. ROSE There's something I need to tell you... and God knows if I'll ever get another chance. From behind, we see her push his taped hands away. He looks at her quizically. ROSE No matter what happens, you have been and always will be my hero. He feels the wall behind him. A dull edge of metal twisted slightly from the earlier cockpit door explosion. He understands. MARSHALL And you have always been my guardian angel. She smiles back at him. ROSE I will never regret my life with you. Behind Marshall's back, he begins to cut away at the duct tape. INT. MOSCOW CENTRAL PRISON, HALLWAY - NIGHT Ivan Stravanavitch walks down the long prison hallway. Other PRISONERS see him and begin banging on their bars in rhythm. As he parades down the corridor, the banging grows until it becomes deafening. Stravanavitch smiles a cocky smile. One by one, guard doors swing open in front of him. In fact, a few of the HACKS salute Stravanavitch as he passes. INT. MISSION COMMUNICATION CENTER - AIR FORCE ONE The communication board beeps and Zedeck picks up the line. He exchanges some words with the caller in Russian, then hangs up the phone. SERGE It's confirmed. Stravanavitch is on his way out. Our men are waiting outside. Korshunov smiles and puts his hand on Zedeck's shoulder. ROSE You got what you wanted. You going to release us now? KORSHUNOV You're very valuable. And our nation needs so many things. Marshall leans his head against the wall. Just as he expected. MARSHALL Could I... Could I have some water? Korshunov nods, motions Zedeck to take care of it. Zedeck reluctanty descends to the main cabin. KORSHUNOV The taste of defeat is bitter, no? MARSHALL One thing I've learned as President... all defeats are temporary and all victories are temporary. Today' 5 conquerers are tomorrow's vanquished. KORSHUNOV e Very poetic. Zedeck arrives with a glass of water. MARSHALL And there's one thing I've learned from being a sports fan. Zedeck brings the cup of water to Marshall's lips. Marshall tips his head back to receive it. KORSHUNOV And that is? Water spills over Marshall's face. He shakes it off. MARSHALL It ain't over, til it's over. With blinding speed, Marshall leaps to his feet and swings his arm around Zedeck's throat. He snaps Zedeck's neck with quiet efficency. Gibbs fires at Marshall, but Marshall, using Zedeck as a shield, grabs hold of the terrorist'sMP5 and lets loose... mowing down the former Secret Service agent. The rest of Gibb's shots pelt against the cockpit controls sending showers of sparks flying. Korshunov whips out his gun and lines up a clean shot at Marshall's head. MAJOR CALDWELL Mr. President. Korshunov fires at Marshall, but... Major Caidwell dives in front of the bullet spray taking the rounds in his chest. Marshall turns his aim to Korshunov... but Korshunov grabs Alice and presses his pistol to her head. Stand-off. KORSHUNOV Don't be hasty. Marshall holds Korshunov in his sights. Slowly advancing. KORSHUNOV You love your daughter, Mr. President. And I love my country. It's a fair trade. Korshunov backs away to the steps. Marshall does not lower his gun. Korshunov disappears down the staircase. MARSHALL Shepherd. SHEPHERD Sir... Shepherd stands. Marshall unwraps Shepherd's hands. MARSHALL Call Petrov... (to Rose) I'll be back. ROSE Both of you. Marshall slowly descends the steps to the main cabin. As soon as Shepherd gets her hands loose, Rose rushes to Caidwell's aid. Shepherd crosses to the communications panel and picks up a headset. Begins dialing numbers INT. BEDROOM - NIGHT In his nightdress, Stoli Petrov nurses a vodka on ice. His PHONE RINGS. PETROV Petrov. Petrov's eyes widen. EXT. MOSCOW PRISON EXERCISE YARD - NIGHT A wall of bars part and Stravanavitch walks through. Into the main exercise yard. The main gate separates him from... A group of men wait in the street by a limousine. The main gate opens slowly. When the men sees Stravanavitch they come to attention and salute him. Stravanavitch returns the salute. And then starts his march toward his limousine... A SIREN WAILS. LIGHTS FLOOD THE INSIDE AND OUTSIDE OF THE PRISON. The front gate begins to close. Worry crosses Stravanavitch's face. His men rush toward him, take position by the gate. Stravanavitch breaks into a run toward his limousine. GUARD Halt! Halt! Stravanvitch looks behind him. Guards rushing toward him from the yard... the limousine fifty yards ahead of him... closing fast... On the limo... the back door open and waiting. A shot rings out from the guard tower, followed by another, and another. Like popcorn starting to pop. Stravanavitch's men return fire. A minor war breaks out. Loyal guards battling Stravanavitch sympathizers. Stravanavitch caught in the middle, hit by one bullet, then another, then another. He makesit to the open rear door of the limousine, but collapses dead. Everyone stops firing. Stravanavitch's men rush to his side.. INT. BEDROOM - NIGHT Petrov slips under the covers as an aide knocks on his door. PETROV What is it? AIDE It's about Stravanvaitch. PETROV What about him? AIDE He's dead, sir. Shot while trying to escape. A beat. PETROV So be it. The world will sleep easier. Petrov turns out his bedside light. INT. AIR FORCE ONE, MAIN CABIN - NIGHT Marshall ascends down from the upper deck. Spots Korshunov by the front stairway. Korshunov pushes Alice down the stairs to the underdeck. INT. COCKPIT - NIGHT Autopilot engaged. A shower of sparks erupts from one of the bulletholes in the panel. Directional compass... the course heading drifts off to the south. EXT. SKY - NIGHT The squadron of F-15 still surround Air Force One, which slowly banks to one side. INT. F-15 COCKPIT - NIGHT COL. CARLTON They've changed their bearing. (into headset) Air Force One. Air Force One. Over... Air Force One please respond... FIGHTER PILOT #1 Sir, this new bearing. We're headed for Iraq, sir. INT. PILOT'S REST AREA. Unaware of the course drift, Shepherd and Rose lift Caldwell onto a bunk. ROSE Easy, Major. Easy. MAJOR CALDWELL The President? ROSE You saved his life. Caidwell smiles, settles peacefully back in the cot. He dies. Rose reaches up and shuts his eyes. INT. LOWER GALLEY - NIGHT Marshall makes his way through the dimness. Stepping cautiously. A shot rings out and richochets off a piece of piping right over Marshall's head. Undaunted Marshall advances. MARSHALL It's over, Korshunov. You won. Now let her go. He listens, footsteps ahead of him. ON Korshunov - holding Alice by her hair, practically dragging her over the mid-section wing cross-braces. As Marshall appears in the gangway he fires off another shot, hitting a cooling vent. Steam fills the' gangway area, bathed in red auxiliary lighting. Korshunov retreats toward the rear of the plane. MARSHALL (O.S.) There's nowhere to go. INT. CONTROL TOWER - NIGHT SUPER - "HUSSEIN AIR BASE, NORTHERN IRAQ" A cacophony of Arabic. The radar indicates an apparent invasion force heading for its borders. EXT. AIR FIELD - NIGHT Iraqi pilots rush to their MiGs. INT. WHITE HOUSE SITUATION ROOM - All eyes on the tactical display... Air Force One's course has arced south and the plane is heading straight for Iraq. GENERAL NORTHWOOD They aren't answering their hails. DEAN This doesn't make sense. V.P. CHANDLER How close are they? GENERAL NORTHiqOOD Fifteen miles, so two minutes. LEE The Iraqi Ambassador won't take our calls. We're trying to get through to their Central Command. DEAN To tell them what? The great infidel himself is flying overhead, Go get him? This is a man they burn in effigy daily. V.P. CHANDLER If challenged, our fighters are to state that they are on a rescue mission. GENERAL NORTHWOOD Iraqi's won't buy it. Either they're already in on this or they'll think we're spying. V.P. CHANDLER If fired upon, tell our fighters that they are ordered to engage. INT. REAR BAGGAGE HOLD - NIGHT Marshall checks behind the racks of stored goods and luggage. P.O.V. LOOKING DOWN A GUNSIGHT AS MARSHALL WALKS INTO THE open. A finger on the trigger. ALICE Dad, look out. Korshunov fires and Marshall dives out of the way. He cones up in defensive crouch ready to shoot, but all he can see is Alice. MARSHALL How you doing, sweetie? ALICE Been better, Dad... You? Marshall smiles briefly. But Alice is yanked around the corner. Marshall hears foatsteps. He junps to his feet and cautiously follows. INT. WHITE HOUSE SITUATION ROOM - EVENING On the tactical display as a second group of fighters appear. ready to challenge the F-l5's. EXT. SKY - NIGHT Air Force One and the cluster of F-15's zoom by. COL. CARLTON Air Force one... please respond. Air Force One, you are entering hostile air space. Air Force one... All Carlton receives is static. INT. AFO'S COCKPIT. Nobody at the wheel. The automatic pilot is still engaged. INT. F-15 EAGLE COCKPIT. Con. CARLTON Okay, guys, time to earn your paychecks. Stay in protective formation, and do not engage, I repeat, do not engage... unless you are fired upon. All wings acknowledge. FIGHTER PILOT #1 Halo one, acknowledged. FIGHTER PILOT #2 Halo two, acknowledged. The rest of the pilots chime in. INT. AIR FORCE ONE, LOWER AFT GALLEY - NIGHT Marshall swings into the cubicle... empty. He crosses to the cargo bay/parachute launch ramp hatchway. Looks through the porthole. Korshunov straps on one of the few remaining parachutes. He tosses the rest of the spares out onto the platform. Marshall steps onto the platform. Korshunov fires off a round forcing him behind the door for cover. Korshunov pulls Alice in front of him and yanks down the ramp activation lever. KORSHUNOV Stay where you are. The ramp lowers, and Alice gets her first look at the drop. Marshall watches the remaining parachutes slide off the ramp and into the stormy sky. KORSHUNOV There goes your ride. MARSHALL Let my daughter go or I'll take you out! KORSHUNOV If you put down the gun, I promise not to drop her on the way down. Korshunov backs toward the edge of the ramp, pulling a struggling and fighting Alice. MARSHALL Let her go now! Or I will kill you. Korshunov is a foot away from the edge of the ramp... two steps back, he and Alice will take the plunge. Marshall lines up his shot. Korshunov laughs as he presses his pistol to Alice's ear. KORSHUNOV No you won't. You'll compromise... like always. MARSHALL Hold on, Alice. Marshall fires, his bullet ripping apart a good deal of Korshunov's face and snapping his body back. Korshunov tumbles off the platform, but his limbs are caught. in Alice's. She's knocked to her belly and his dead weight drags her off the edge of the platform. ALICE NO! Marshall dives down the sloping platform, reaching out for her... Alice tries to grip the platform with her hands, but she can't hold on. Her hand slip off the metallic lip. But as she falls, she's caught by the wrist. Strong arms pull her up. Her father's arms. He carries her back to the safety of the plane. She's sobs uncontrollably. ALICE Oh NY god... oh my god... oh my god... MARSHALL It's okay, honey. I got you. I got you. You're okay. Shepherd and Rose appear. Marshall locks eyes with Rose... smiles. Shepherd crosses to the parachute bins. MARSHALL Gone. They're all gone. The plane shakes with the thunder of a supersonic boom. EXT. SKY - NIGHT A half dozen MiGs race by the cluster of American aircraft at breakneck speeds. INT. IRAQI CONTROL TOWER - NIGHT GENERAL CERALLOS eyes the radar. IRAQI SOLDIER The Americans say they are escorting a damaged plane. Our pilots confirm they are surrounding a 747. CERALLOS Did we warn them off? IRAQI SOLDIER Yes. They refused to alter course and the 747 would not answer our hails. Cerallos takes a moment, looking at the screen. CERALLOS It's some kind of trick... a preliminary airstrike in response to our troop movement. IRAQI SOLDIER They are in our airspace. We would be within our rights. CERALLOS The world would not look on us kindly if we shot down a civilian airliner. The Soldier listens to chatter coning over his headset. IRAQI SOLDIER The pilot says it is does not have the markings of a commercial jet. CERALLOS Warn then again. If they don't respond... shoot them down. We will not be intimidated. EXT. AIR FORCE ONE - NIGHT INT. MISSION COMMUNICATION CENTER - NIGHT Another sonic boom. MARSHALL What is that sound? Marshall makes his way to the cockpit. Through the cockpit window, a MiG accelerates out of the darkness coming straight at us. At the last second it pulls up slightly, riding over the top of the 747. Its sonic boom rocks the jumbo jet. MARSHALL My god. I think that was a MiG. SHEPHERD A MiG? Where the hell are we? Marshall rushes back to one of the rear upper deck windows. He looks out at the F-l5s. MARSHALL They're flying a protection formation. (beat) Call D.C. Find out what's going on. INT. COCKPIT, F-15 EAGLE - NIGHT MIS PILOT (V.0.) This is your last warning. You are violating our airspace. Leave immediately. COL. CARLTON I said back off and hold your fire. We are on a rescue mission. Do not engage. I repeat, do not engage. EXT. SKY - NIGHT A MiG loops into position behind Carlton. INT. MIG COCKPIT - NIGHT switches his targeting computer on. Finds carlton in his sights. Good tone. The pilot pulls the trigger. EXT. SKY - NIGHT The missile detaches from the MiG and slides toward Carlton. Carlton breaks formation, leading the missile astray. His plane tucks into a tight little roll. The missile misses over Carlton's rolling wings. COL. CARLTON Halo Team, this is group leader. Halo Team is cleared to engage. I repeat, you are cleared to engage. Carlton pulls his plane into a monster climb. COL. CARLTON This is the real thing boys. Let's fly and fry. INT. WHITE HOUSE SITUATION ROOM - NIGHT A ringing phone is answered by an aide. A few beats. AIDE It's the Chief of Staff calling... from Air Force One. They've retaken control of the aircraft. GENERAL NORTHWOOD Then tell him to get the fuck out of Iraq. INT. COCKPIT - NIGHT Marshall settles into the pilot's chair. Shepherd comes in. SHEPHERD Iraq, sir. We're over Iraq. MARSHALL Iraq? Shep, you're fired. Marshall looks at the plane's bearing. The instruments are shot to hell. MARSHALL Shit. SHEPHERD How long's it been since you flew, sir? MARSHALL Twenty-five years. EXT. SKY - An F-15 follows a MiG into a barrel roll. INT. MIG COCKPIT - NIGHT The MIG pilot targets Air Force One. He cuts his speed as he lines up his shot. Gets a lock. MIG PILOT (arabic/subtitle) I have radar lock on the 747. INT. COCKPIT - AIR FORCE ONE - NIGHT On tactical computer - "RADAR LOCK" "Dis-Engaging Auto-pilot" The plane banks left into a dive. Marshall grabs the yoke. INT. MIG COCKPIT - Finger on the trigger. MIG PILOT It's evading. Can I take the shot? MIG LEADER (V.0.) Take the shot. EXT. SKY - NIGHT Looking forward from underneath an F-15, the MiG heads toward Air Force One. The F-15 fires a sidewinder. On the MIG... as it fires its missile. The F-15's sidewinder blows the MIG up, taking the missile with it. Air Force One is clear... for the time being. INT. AIR FORCE ONE, COCKPIT - NIGHT MARSHALL STRUGGLES TO REGAIN CONTROL OF THE 747. HE OVER- compensates and the plane rocks side-to-side. ROSE What are you doing? MARSHALL Flying the plane. ROSE You haven't even driven a car since you took office. Marshall checks out the tactical display. MARSHALL I'm sure it's like riding a bicycle... downhill with no brakes and somebody shooting at you. Marshall finds the throttle, pushes it up all the way. He feels the plane out, gently nudges it into a turn. EXT. SKY - NIGHT Two MiGs flare out of an engagement with the F-15's and break toward Air Force One. COL. CARLTON We got two on the loose. Someone get on them. FIGHTER PILOT #2 Halo Two... I can't get there in time. COL. CARLTON Bullshit. Do it. The two MiGs lock onto Air Force One. Each fires a missile at the President's plane, before breaking in opposite directions. INT. AFO COCKPIT - NIGHT A red buzz. It's all Marshall can do to keep the plane flying straight. MARSHALL We got two coming at us! Tactical Countermeasures Computer... as it tracks the incomings... "Heat Seekers" "Launching Flares" EXT. AIR FORCE ONE - NIGHT Brightly burning flares launch from either side of Air Force One's wings and descend toward earth. The missiles follow the heat of the flares, plummeting harmlessly to earth. INT. AIR FORCE ONE COCKPIT - NIGHT The shock waves from a nearby MiG explosion shakes the plane. In the aftermath, Marshall takes a moment and pulls on the pilot's headset. MARSHALL U.S. Pilots, this is Air Force One. COL. CARLTON Copy Air Force One. Welcome to the party. FIGHTER PILOT #1 (V.0.) I'm on it. INT. AFO COCKPIT - NIGHT' MARSILALL Can you... can you drop in front of me? I'll follow you out. COL. CARLTON Hang tough, I'm on my way. EXT. SKY - NIGHT On the two MiG's heading for Air Force One. An F-15 drops in behind them. The MiGs scissor and break in OPPosite directions. The F-l5 can only follow one of them. FIGHTER PILOT 11 I'm tight on one, the other's loose. I need help down here. The other MiG comes up on the 747 and opens fire with his CANNONS. The shells rip up the surface of the aircraft's wing. The MiG swoops past Air Force One and jerks into a * vertical. On the damaged wing - Fuel starts leaking out and the outer jet engine catches fire. INT. COCKPIT, AIR FORCE ONE - NIGHT Red warning light flashes on the control panel. MARSHALL We're hit. We've got an engine on fire. COT. CAALTON (V.0.) Shut it down. Shut it down. Marshall reaches over and toggles the shutoff switch. EXT. AIR FORCE ONE - NIGHT The engine whirs to a halt and the rushing wind blows out the fire. But now she's only got three engines. INT. AIR FORCE ONE - NIGHT Through the cockpit window, an F-15 settles in front of Air Force One... Flames pouring out of its tail. Under any other condition, it would be pretty. Alice, Rose and Shepherd watch Marshall fly. MARSHALL This is President Marshall. I know you guys are busy, but we need some help here. INT. CARLTON'S F-15 COCKPIT - NIGHT Canton in pursuit of a Mis. COL. CARLTON Mr. President, it's an honor. Now with your permission can we lead you the fuck out of here. MARSHALL You read my mind. COL. CARLTON Put your pilot on. MARSHALL He's busy being dead. Carlton breaks left, lines up a MiG and fires. He nails the Iraqi aircraft. COL. CARLTON Who's flying the fucking plane? MARSHALL I'm doing what I can. COL. CAELTON Can you, can you change your heading to Zero Four One point six? MARSHALL Negative. We've lost navagition. I don't know where that is. Buzzer sounds in Carlton's cockpit. He's been locked on. COL. CARLTON Oh shit. Hang on. Somebody help me out. I got one up my ass. EXT. SKY - NIGHT Carlton puts his plane into a triple canopy roll then slams on his airbreaks. The MiS shoots by him and Carlton lets loose with his CANNONS. The MiG pulls up and disengages. COL. CARLTON Two and three are heading toward the Boeing. COL. CARLTON Okay. We're gonna arc a fat one to the right. Got it? MARSHALL Got it. COL. CARLTON Stay cool. Canton's plane edges around to the right... and Marshall follows. The 747 leans at an angle and continues the turn until the F-15 is dead ahead. Another plane explodes ahead of him at three o'clock. MARSHALL How we doing, Colonel? COL. CARLTON We still got three MiGs running around and six more on the way. Can't you fly any faster? IRA'. WHITE HOUSE SITUATION ROOM - NIGHT All eyes are glued to the tactical screen, showing the dogfight. They listen to the radio traffic. MARSHALL We're at full throttle. FIGHTER PILOT #1 (V.0.) Air Force One, MiGs four and five are on your tail. MARSHALL Well get `em off me, goddamnit. EXT. SKY - NIGHT Two MiGs targeting the big bird. FIGHTER PILOT #1 I can't get a lock. Break right. Break right. INT. AFO COCKPIT - NIGHT Marshall struggles with his stick turning the aircraft to the right. EXT. SKY - NIGHT Of course its pointless. The Boeing is a fucking sloth compared to these fighters. INT. AIR FORCE ONE COCKPIT - NIGHT The familiar buzz. Tactical computer. "RADAR LOCK" Alice notices the computer. At the upper right hand of the screen, the computer displays Defensive Mode/Offensive Mode. Defensive Mode is highlighted. ALICE Daddy, look. It says... Alice reaches out and touches the screen. MARSHALL Not now, pumpkin. Alice's touch activates offensive mode. EXT. AIR FORCE ONE - NIGHT Along the belly of the aircraft, two hatches pivot open, revealing a series of missiles. SKY - AS THE F-15 JOCKEYS WITH THE `NO MIGS FIGHTER PILOT #1 I can't get good tone. COL. CARLTON Take the shot. The F-15 fires, but the Sidewinder screams past the turning HiGs. INT. AIR FORCE ONE, COCKPIT - NIGHT Tactical computer... Over graph display. "Offensive Counter Measures Activatedw "Launching Missiles" ERR. AIR FORCE ONE - The Flying White House launches two sparrow missiles. The MiGs release flares, but the Sparrows don't flinch. Twin FIREBALLS erupt in the sky as the Mics evaporate. But from the fireball, a MISSILE emerges coming right at Air Force One. Closing fast. FIGHTER PILOT #2 Boss, they got one off. INT. AIR FORCE ONE - NIGHT On the console... sparks fly. Tactical computer flashes... "SYSTEM FAILURE" "Missile Locked" MARSHMj What did you touch? What did you touch!? ALICE Nothing! Marshall checks display. MARSHALL Oh shit. It's got us. EXT. SKY - NIGHT The missile has Air Force One dead to rights, crawling right up its tail pipe. Just before its about to hit the plane... FIGHTER PILOT 11 YAAAAAAAAH! An F-15 swoops up from below. Like a Secret Service agent during an assassination attempt... The F-15 takes the bullet in its mid-section. BOOM! The blast slams bits of the fighter plane against Air Force One. Rocking it badly. Chunks of the plane rip away metal sheeting on the 747's wings and tail section. INT. F-15 COCKPIT - NIGHT COL. CARLTON We got six more bogeys, closing fast from the south. EXT. SKY - NIGHT A squadron of Navy F-14s drops into the theatre. The cavalry. NAVY SQUADRON LEADER (V.0.) You Air Force boys get that plane out of here. We'll take care of those MiGs. COL. CARLTON Roger that. Kick ass, Navy. NAVY SQUADRON LEADER (V.0.) That's affirmative. INT. COCKPIT - NIGHT Marshall works the controls of the 747. Tries to engage the automatic pilot. The system is fried. Marshall wrestles with the yoke. MARSHALL Uh, we got a problem here. COL. CARLTON Just stay on my wing, sir. I'll take you all the way in. MARSHALL No. We're losing fuel and my rudder's not responding. COL. CARLTON Lemme take a look. EXT. SKY - NIGHT Canton pulls up and drops back over the plane. He looks down at the Boeing's wing. COL. CARLTON Aw, man. You're torn up pretty bad out here, sir. Do you have any elevater control. MARSHALL Sluggish... I think it's jammed too. INT. WHITE HOUSE SITUATION ROOM - NIGHT COL. CARLTON Uh, Tower, we got a problem up here. Sir, I got some bad news. Air Force One... there's no way they can bring it down. Plane's damaged, it's unlandable. INT. AIR FORCE ONE, COCKPIT - NIGHT Marshall looks out the side cockpit window, sees Carlton's F- 15 fly steady with his. COL. CARLTON I'm sorry, sir. Carlton salutes Marshall. Marshall returns it. MARSHALL Thanks for your help, Colonel. INT. WHITE HOUSE SITUATION ROOM - NIGHT General Northwood collapses into his chair. GENERAL NORTHWOOD They've got no chutes. They can't control the plane, their engines are failing and they're losing fuel. DEAN I prefered the terrorists. GENERAL NORTHWOOD That's game, set, and match. There's nothing to do, except call the Chief Justice. V.P. CHANDLER The Chief Justice? What on earth for? GENERAL NORTHWOOD To swear you in as President. Dead silence in the room. General Greely ambles over to the tactical map and just stares at it. He loosens his tie and scratches his head. GENERAL GREELY Where's your strike team, General? GENERAL NORTHWOOD On their way back to Turkey. Why? GENERAL GREELY I just had the craziest idea. EXT. SKY - NIGHT KC-lO Transport plane. KC-lO PILOT Romeo Tango Zulu. We copy. Change of Orders acknowledged. We are en route. The KC-lO banks into a turn. INT. COCKPIT, AIR FORCE ONE - MIGHT Alice, Rose and Shepherd stand behind the pilot's seat. MARSHALL (into header) Is it our only option? - Then do it. Marshall looks to the others. MARSHALL We're now over the Black Sea, so even if they could get us chutes we'd drown or die of hypothermia before they could get to us. We've got one other option though... EXT. WHITE HOUSE - NIGHT Standard news shot. CNN REPORTER facing the camera. REPORTER incredible, yet unconfirmed reports, of White House staff members parachuting from the plane while the President himself battled these terrorists. INT. LIVING ROOM - NIGHT A family gathers around their T.V. set to hear the report. REPORTER (TELEVISION) Yet now, in a bizarre twist of events, CNN has learned that Air Force One has been severly crippled and is virtually unlandable and our sources report that the First Family is trapped onboard. A daring mid-air rescue operation is said to be underway. INT. COCKPIT, AIR FORCE ONE - NIGHT MARSHALL How long's it been? SHEPHERD Twenty five minutes. They should be here any moment. MARSHALL They better. Fuel's almost gone. Up ahead, navagation lights. ALICE There they are! MARSHALL Okay, I'm slowing us down. INT. MAIN CABIN - NIGHT Shepherd crosses to the forward cabin door. He follows directions for emergency door release. EXT. AIR FORCE ONE - NIGHT The emergency door opens and the emergency raft/slide deploys. It inflates before being ripped from the aircraft, gently wafting through stormy clouds. INT. MAIN CABIN - NIGHT Air rushes past the airplane at two hundred miles an hour. SHEPHERD IT'S OPEN! INT. COCKPIT - MARSHALL DO YOU SEE TEEM? INT. CABIN - NIGHT ROSE (O.S.) CAN YOU SEE THEM? Shepherd looks out into the night sky. Inky blackness and greying clouds. The horizon, though, lightens as dawn approaches. Shepherd spots navigational lights descending from above. SHEPHERD HERE THEY COME! EXT. KC-LO TRANSPORT - NIGHT It's side cargo door is wide open. Army Rangers begin winching out three-inch wide cable. EXT. SKY - NIGHT The KC-lO pratically on top of Air Force One. Separated by forty feet. Super flying. The cable slaps against the side of Air Force One and drags along it's edge. As it slides past the open doorway, Shepherd grabs it and hauls it into the plane until he has its end. He hooks the cable to a metal clasp at the top of the door frame. SHEPHERD WE'RE HOOKED! INT. AIR FORCE ONE COCKPIT - MARSHALL We're hooked. Hove into position. KC-LO PILOT (RADIO) Romeo Tango Zulu, acknowledged. We are assuming position. A red light flashes on the control panel. Engine number two grinds to a halt. The pressure guages drop to zero. MARSHALL Get going. We don't have much time left. Rose bends down and kisses Marshall on the cheek. ROSE I love you. I just wanted you to know that. Marshall holds her with his eye. MARSHALL I love you too. (beat) We're going to make it. Alice throws her arms around her father. ALICE My school play's Tuesday night. Promise me you'll be there. MARSHALL I promise. Guages show fuel is low on the remaining turbofans. EXT. SKY - The transport plane dips into a lateral position. The two planes are connected by a hundred yards of cable. FIVE ARMY RANGERS in snatch harnesses slide down the cable bridge onto Air Force Onefr As they hit the open doorway, they unclip and sail into the main cabin. ARMY RANGER #1 Let's get you folks out of here. INT. DEPARTMENT STORE - EVENING Electronics department. Banks of television sets. Shoppers watch intently. The audio broadcast plays over a map of the region and a graphic of Air Force One. KC-LO PILOT (V.0.) Tower, Air Force One has been boarded. TOWER (V.0.) Romeo Tango Zulu, copy One the television, graphics of the First Family against the Presidential Seal. REPORTER You're listening to an intercepted audio feed of radio communications between Air Force One and Army Special Forces, flying side-by-side, attempting to get the first family off the damaged aircraft. INT. MAIN CABIN - Three Army Rangers harness themselves `to the survivors. One to Alice, one to Rose and one to Shepherd. The other two head for the cockpit. Alice and her Ranger are ready. ARMY RANGER We're set. ALICE Mon... ROSE You can do it, baby. ARMY RANGER Hold on tight. The first step's a bitch. Alice takes a deep breath, closes her eyes... The soldier clips on the cable, and shoves off the lip of the doorway, SAILING DOWN THE WIRE. They plummet, Alice screaming. The line goes taut. The pair slide the hundred yards to the KC-lO. Rangers grab them and bring them into the transport. INT. DEPARTMENT STORE - EVENING Shoppers listen to television sets, galvanized. KC-lO PILOT The first daughter is on-board. INT. COCKPIT, AIR FORCE ONE - NIGHT With a smile. MARSHALL Acknowledged. Two Army Rangers approach the cockpit. ARMY RANGER #1 Mr. President! Army Ranger #2 slides into the co-pilot's seat. ARMY RANGER #2 I'll take it, sir. You get going. INT. MAIN CABIN - NIGHT Rose clips on to a Ranger's harness. ROSE Ready! They clip on the wire, move to the lip, and rappel off the side of the plane. INT. AFO UPPER DECK - NIGHT As the first Ranger leads Marshall through the M.C.C. WHEN A SHOT RINGS OUT... The soldier at the flight yoke slumps over dead. Marshall and the first Ranger swing around to see... A bloody but smiling Gibbs, lying on the deck, clutching an MP5. The Ranger draws his weapon... But Gibbs swings his rifle around. Pulls the trigger. BAM. BAM. BAM. Hitting the Ranger. The Ranger returns fire, shooting round after round at Gibbs before pitching over, dead. Gibbs draws a bead on the President, smiles... but he doesn't have any strength left to pull the trigger. He expires. And the plane begins to dive. Marshall runs for the cockpit. EXT. SKY - NIGHT Rose and her Ranger are pulled aboard the transport. INT. MAIN CABIN - Shepherd and his Ranger clip onto the wire, but the KC-lO is now higher than Air Force One. INT. AFO COCKPIT - With Marshall back at the yoke. KC-LO PILOT Air Force One, you're losing altitude. MARSHALL I can't hold it! HANG ON. KC-LO PILOT (V.0.) EXT. SN - NIGHT The KC-lO transport dips lower and lower, trying to maintain its position under the descending plane. KC-LO PILOT Tower, Romeo Tango Zulu. The First Lady is onboard. Air Force One, status? MARSHALL We've lost two of your men. There's no one to fly the plane. KC-L0 PILOT (V.0.) We can send another one over. MARSHALL No time. I only have one engine left. INT. MAIN CABIN - NIGHT ARMY RANGER Come on! SHEPHERD What about the President? ARMY RANGER He's on his way. With the KC-lO back in the Position, Shepherd and his Ranger shove off the dying plane toward safety. TNT. WHITE HOUSE SITUATION ROOM - NIGHT KC-L0 PILOT The Chief of Staff is onboard. We are at six thousand feet descending rapidly. Everyone's biting their nails. TNT. AIR FORCE ONE COCKPIT - NIGHT MARSHALL I can't stabilize it. KC-LO PILOT Sir, we're going to pound pavement in less than three minutes. Marshall holds the yoke in one hand and unclips the snatch harness from the dead ranger in the co-pilot's seat. The last red light on the engine control panel starts to flash. MARSHALL I'M LOSING NUMBER FOUR! Marshall, still fighting the yoke, stands. He takes a deep breatn, drops the wheel and runs like a motherfucker for the stairs. EXT. SICY, AIR FORCE ONE. Drops into a banking twist. The cable line runs taut. The KC-lO tries to compensate. TNT. CABIN Marshall dives down the stairs from the upper deck, comes up sprinting for the door. TNT. AIR FORCE ONE, COCKPIT - Engine four fails. INT. WHITE HOUSE SITUATION ROOM - KC-1O PILOT (V.0.) She's out of control. I can't pace her. INT. MAIN CABIN - The taut straining cable snaps one corner of the metal clasp. The clasp starts to bend. IN SLOW MOTION - MARSHALL sprinting to the open door. The clasp twisting. The cable hook ready to slip of f it. Marshall clips on, and dives out of the door. He slides forty feet down, when.... The clasp gives. The cable line snaps away from the plane... one end connected to the KC-l0, the other connected to... Nothing. EXT. SKY Marshall slides down the cable, gripping at it, trying to break his fall. Air Force One plummets toward the water. Marshall sliding, right behind it, running out of cable. At the end of his rope, literally. Marshall's harness snags on the end clasp. He hangs on for dear life. Moments later Air Force One impacts. A huge EXPLOSION, water and flames blows sky high into the night. INT. WHITE HOUSE SITUATION ROOM - KC-LO PILOT Tower. Air Force One is down... INT. SPORTS BAR - EVENING Dead silence as all the patrons stare up at the T.V. KC-1O PILOT I repeat, Air Force One is down. TOWER Romeo Tango Zulu. Do you have the President? No response... INT. WHITE HOUSE SITUATION ROOM - NIGHT TOWER Romeo Tango Zulu, please respond. Do you have the President? Over. Still no response... EXT. SKY - NIGHT The massive fireball and glowing remains of the Presidential aircraft almost reaches up to where the President struggles to hold on to the end of the cable. INT. KC-LO TRANSPORT ARMY RANGER Winch it up! Winch it up! EXT. SKY - NIGHT Marshall slipping off the line, unable to get a solid hold. His hands slick with blood. The belly of the KC-lO gets closer and closer. MARSHALL Come on. Ten mare seconds. He closes his eyes. His fingers begin to give. INT. LIVING ROOM - NIGHT All over America, families, gathered around their televisions, wait. TOWER Romeo Tango Zulu, do you have the President? Over. KC-LO PILOT Stand by. INT. DEPARTMENT STORE - NIGHT TOWER Romeo Tango Zulu1 this is Tower. Please report. over. INT. WHITE HOUSE SITUATION ROOM - NIGHT A long beat of silence, then... TOWER Romeo Tango Zulu, do you copy? Do you have the President? Another long beat. KC-LO PILOT We copy. Stand by... (beat) Tower? TOWER Tower, here. KC-LO PILOT This is Romeo Tango Zulu changing call signs. (beat) Tower, alert air traffic, Romeo Tango Zulu is now Air Force One. (beat) This is Air Force One... The President is safe onboard. TOWER Copy, Air Force One. Cheers flood the situation room. Cheers flood the Department Store. Cheers flood the press room, the living room, the sports bars, churches, schools, construction sites, hospitals... all across America. INT. KC-1O HOLD - DAWN Marshall huddles tight with Rose and Alice as a MEDIC attends to their wounds. ARMY RANGER Mr. President? Marshall turns to see this soldier, a fresh-faced, 19-year- old kid, saluting his Commander-in-chief. ARMY RANGER Welcome aboard, sir. Marshall returns the salute. EXT. SKY - DAWN The KC-1O soars into the emerging sunrise, flying in the center of the remaining F-l5 formation. FADE TO BLACK 
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+                            AIRPLANE 2: THE SEQUEL                                                     Written by                                                   Ken Finkleman                                                                                                                  SECOND DRAFT                                                         February 18, 1982                                                            FADE IN:                    EXT. JUNGLE - DAY                    A machete slashes INTO FRAME.  An American in battered          fedora and leather jacket, accompanied by two gunbearers,          hacks his way through dense bush.  We see him from the back          only.  He hacks an opening, bats fly out AT CAMERA and the          bushes part, revealing huge overgrown stone letters -- the          Mayan ruin look -- that spell "AIRPLANE II."                              EXT. GANTRY - NIGHT                    The Jupiter shuttle stands ready to fly.                    SUPER:  HOUSTON, 2002                              INT. MISSION CONTROL ROOM - STOCK FOOTAGE                    of Houston Control with appropriate jargon V.O.                              INT. TERMINAL - WIDE ANGLE STOCK SHOT                    of a crowded modern terminal.                                            P.A.                   All lunar departures, please proceed to                   concourse lounge 'B.'                              EXT. TERMINAL - STOCK FOOTAGE - NIGHT                    of heavy traffic at LAX.                              ANGLE ON TERMINAL DOORS                    A number of men in futuristic-looking mining outfits,          carrying futuristic gear, unload a truck with a corporate          logo that reads:  TRX DEEP SPACE RESOURCE MANAGEMENT.                                            P.A.                   Attention, all Pulsar Four mining                   personnel.                    The miners look up.                                            P.A.                   Please report to the Resource Expeditions                   office, level seven.                    Two miners head to terminal doors and pass FOUR NUNS, who          bid farewell to FATHER O'FLANAGAN.  O'Flanagan shakes the          hands of the first three elderly nuns, then grabs the last          young gorgeous nun and kisses her passionately.                                            OLDER NUN                   No tongues, Father.                              INT. CONTROL ROOM                    A group tour moves through the room behind controllers.                                            GUIDE                   All lunar shuttle landings are handled by                   these computers and simulated on these                   video units.                                            CONTROLLER 1                        (at computer screen)                   You're programmed on R-two-niner and                   locked, Lunar eight six.  Over.                              INT. LUNAR SHUTTLE COCKPIT - NIGHT                    Three crew members watch the lit landing strip as their          shuttle approaches.                                            CAPTAIN                        (to co-pilot)                   It's out of our hands now, gentlemen.                    They smile.                              INT. MISSION CONTROL                    The CONTROLLER moves away from his video unit.  A kid from          the tour who has lagged behind hits a switch.  The screen          turns into a video game with SFX.  He flips knobs.                              INT. LUNAR SHUTTLE                    The crew are tossed from side to side and try to regain          control of the ship.                              EXT. NIGHT SKY                    The Lunar shuttle careens towards the terminal, out of          control.                              INT. CONTROL ROOM                    The kid is still playing like mad.  A flash appears on the          screen.  SFX VIDEO GAME EXPLOSION and a corresponding          EXPLOSION from outside.  SIRENS WAIL.  CONTROLLERS run          around.  The kid is oblivious and walks away.                              EXT. TERMINAL - NIGHT                    BUD KRUGER, head of the space center, and the COMMISSIONER          get out of a limo under a sign that reads, "MERCURY          SHUTTLE."  They walk and talk.                                            KRUGER                   Commissioner, we both know the Mercury                   shuttle needs another month of pre-launch                   testing.                                            COMMISSIONER                   Forget it.  The boys on the board want                   that shuttle to go on schedule.                                                                   CUT TO:                              INT. TERMINAL                    Kruger and the Commissioner go up escalator.                                            KRUGER                   And what do the boys on the board know                   about safety, Commissioner?  Let me talk                   to them.                                            COMMISSIONER                   Bud, get wise to the political realities.                   The boys on the board are under a lot of                   pressure from the boys downtown.                                                                   CUT TO:                              INT. TERMINAL - SECOND LEVEL                    Kruger gets a pack of cigarettes from a machine.          Commissioner buys a newspaper.                                            KRUGER                   And I'll be the one they'll hang if                   there's a screw-up.                                                                   CUT TO:                              INT. TERMINAL - SHOESHINE STAND                    Kruger and Commissioner get shoes shined.  A MAN next to          them in white shoes reads paper with headline -- "SOLAR          PLANT MELTDOWN, 500 WORKERS SERIOUSLY TANNED" -- and doesn't          notice his shoes are getting black polish.                                            COMMISSIONER                   Listen, Bud, the boys downtown are under                   heavy fire from the boys in Washington.                   That's why they're putting pressure on the                   boys on the board.                                                                   CUT TO:                              INT. TERMINAL                    Kruger and Commissioner head down escalator.                                            KRUGER                   Well, you tell the boys on the board to                   tell the boys downtown to let the boys in                   Washington know that the press has been                   nosing around my people in the front                   office.                                                                   CUT TO:                              EXT. TERMINAL                    Kruger and Commissioner head to their limo.                                            COMMISSIONER                   You handle your front office people, I'll                   handle the press and leave the boys in                   Washington to the boys downtown and the                   boys downtown to the boys on the board.                                            KRUGER                   Commissioner.                    They stop and look at each other.                                            COMMISSIONER                   What?                                            KRUGER                   I just wish it was that simple.                    MUSIC:  DRAMATIC STING                    They get back in their limo and drive off.                              INT. MISSION CONTROL                                            CONTROLLER                        (over P.A.)                   This is Mercury One control.  We have                   condition green.  Mark launch 'T' minus                   two hours and counting.  I repeat, we have                   condition green.                              ANGLE ON LESLIE NEILSON - DOCTOR RUMACK                    Dressed as a doctor and looking in a Controller's mouth.          The Controller's face is bright green.                                            RUMACK                   This condition isn't as bad as it could be                   if it were a lot worse.  Take these pills.                        (hands him pills and water)                   Here's some water.                                            CONTROLLER                   What is it, doctor?                                            RUMACK                   Two parts oxygen, one part hydrogen.                   It'll make the pills go down easier.                              EXT. GANTRY - CLOSEUP OF SHUTTLE - NIGHT                    MUSIC:  BIG SPACE THEME                    WIDE ANGLE LENS PANS the under-belly past the nose as if the          viewer bent his head back as far as he could, until... the          CAMERA crashes to the ground as if it has fallen off the          tripod.                    MUSIC:  CRASHES TO A STOP                              ANGLE ON SIDE OF SHIP                    MUSIC:  BIG SPACE THEME STARTS FROM TOP AGAIN                    PAN workers on scaffolding who check gauges on exterior of          ship.  PAN to panel that reads, "SOLID FUEL CHUTE" -- a          sweaty muscular worker in undershirt opens the panel, flames          shoot out.  LOOSEN to reveal another sweaty worker in          undershirt shoveling coal into the chute.  PAN to other          workers checking more gauges.  SUDDENLY a PANEL EXPLODES.          Smoking, sparking wires pop out.  A WORKER runs up with          walkie-talkie in hand.                                            WORKER                        (into walkie-talkie)                   This is Mercury station six!  Get me the                   Sarg and fast!                              EXT. TERMINAL - NIGHT                    SIMON KURTZ and ELAINE THOMPSON get out of a taxi with hand          luggage.  They are dressed in matching flight outfits.                    A JAPANESE COUPLE get out of a taxi -- the man has about          fifty cameras around his neck.  His wife hangs another          camera on him.  He crashes to the ground under the weight.                    Simon and Elaine are approached by a BUSINESSMAN with          handful of roses.                                            BUSINESSMAN                   Would you like to buy a rose to help bail                   out Chrysler?  We're an all-profit                   organization and need all the money we can                   get.                    Simon hands the Businessman a dollar and takes a rose.                                            SIMON                        (to Businessman)                   Here.                    The Businessman joins six other BUSINESSMEN carrying signs          with LEE IACCOCA's picture.  They all smile and chant.                                            BUSINESSMEN                        (to Hari Krishna)                   IACCOCA, IACCOCA, IACCOCA, IARAMA.                    Simon hands Elaine the rose.  She takes his arm as they walk          towards the sign that reads, "MERCURY SHUTTLE."                                            SIMON                   For the best little computer officer on                   the Mercury mission.                                            ELAINE                        (smiling)                   Simon.                                            SIMON                   Who would believe that Elaine Thompson was                   once a stewardess on the Denver-Chicago                   run.                                            ELAINE                   And I can hardly believe that I'm engaged                   to someone like you, Simon.  I'm a very                   lucky woman.                    A man with a suitcase on a leash walks beside them.  The          case pulls him along like a dog and takes a leak on a post.                                            SIMON                   Women and the space program have come a                   long way, sweetheart.  But after the                   wedding, no more complicated computers for                   my little girl.                                            ELAINE                   But, darling, they've offered me a chance                   to head up the computer analysis division                   for the Jupiter probe.                                            SIMON                   You're heading up the division in charge                   of babies for Mr. and Mrs. Simon Kurtz.                    He kisses Elaine and smiles.                                            SIMON                   And that's an order, Lieutenant.                    The man with the case on a leash passes a woman with a case          on a leash.  The cases start a violent, BARKING DOG FIGHT.                              EXT. REAR OF TERMINAL BUILDING - NIGHT                    SARG (imagine George Kennedy), dressed in a tuxedo, tie          undone, with a huge cigar, which he eats during the          conversation, talks to his wife on his car phone.  A worker          in hard hat waits next to him.  Behind the worker are fuel          drums and a large sign that reads:  DANGER, FUEL --          ABSOLUTELY NO SMOKING, ABSOLUTELY NO SPITTING.                                            SARG                        (on car phone)                   Marge, you better go without me.  We've                   got a condition red.                    SPLIT SCREEN WITH WIFE AT HOME.                                            MARGE                        (in evening gown, a cigar stuck                         in her mouth)                   We've got a condition red with our                   marriage.  I think you're in love with                   that shuttle, not with me.  I want a                   divorce, Sarg.                    Sarg lights his cigar.                                            SARG                   Is there someone else, Marge?  Is that it?                    Sarg throws the lit match towards the "ABSOLUTELY NO          SMOKING" sign.  The worker grimaces but nothing happens.                                            MARGE                   Sarg, there's been someone else for                   fifteen years.  You were just too involved                   in your work to see it.                    They hang up.  Sarg bites off the end of his cigar and spits          it in the direction of the "NO SPITTING" sign, blowing the          worker OUT OF FRAME with a MASSIVE EXPLOSION.  Sarg hops          into his car, takes a Lava lamp from the seat and puts it on          the car roof -- like Kojak's flasher.  The lamp flashes, the          SIREN WAILS, as Sarg pulls away.                              INT. SARG'S CAR - ON THE MOVE - NIGHT                    He thinks about his wife.  SPLIT SCREEN FLASHBACK OF THEIR          BEDROOM.  Marge, a cigar in her mouth, is in bed with five          football players -- other half-clad athletes (hockey,          baseball, wrestling, basketball) line up for their turn at          her.  Sarg has to climb over them to kiss her goodbye.                                            SARG                   Don't wait up for me, sweetheart.  We're                   testing the retro-rockets tonight.                                            MARGE                   You just can't see it, can you, Sarg.                                            SARG                   We'll talk tomorrow, hon.  I promise.                              EXT. TERMINAL, PASSENGER ARRIVAL AREA - NIGHT                    The WILSON FAMILY -- JOHN, ALICE and ten-year-old JIMMY --          carry luggage.  Jimmy carries a puppy in a small cage.                                            P.A.                   All Mercury passengers please proceed to                   passenger processing, concourse level 'C.'                                            JOHN                   That's us.                    Jimmy Wilson looks at Scraps.                                            JIMMY                   Will Scraps be able to sit with us, Dad?                                            JOHN                   We'll have to check, Jimmy.  It's a pretty                   long trip to Mercury.                    A PORTER approaches.                                            PORTER                   Can I help you folks?                                            JOHN                        (handing him a bag)                   Thanks.                                            PORTER                        (noticing Scraps)                   Is that your puppy, son?                                            JIMMY                   Yeah, his name is Scraps and he's going to                   Mercury with us.                                            PORTER                   No dogs are allowed on the shuttle, son.                                            JIMMY                   But they said...                                            PORTER                        (pulling out a handgun)                   Scraps will have to be shot.  I can do it                   for you here if you like.                    He SHOOTS.                                            JIMMY                   Scraps!!!                                            PORTER                        (laughing)                   Just joking.  Blanks.  See, Scraps is                   fine.                    Alice, John, and Porter crack up while Jimmy cries.                                            ALICE                   It was just a joke, Jimmy.                    Alice and John look at each other as if there is something          wrong with their son.                              ANGLE ON MAN WITH CAGE                    A man lifts a large dog cage out of the trunk of a taxi.          Inside is another man dressed in S&M leathers.                                            MAN WITH CAGE                        (to Man in Cage)                   If we can't fit you under the seat, you'll                   just have to be locked up with the                   luggage.                    The man in the cage seems to relish the latter suggestion.          Two Porters lift the cage onto a conveyor belt next to          Jimmy's dog.                              EXT. GANTRY - NIGHT                    Sarg stands beside the burnt panel on the side of the          shuttle.  He is eating another cigar, holding a burnt wire,          and talking into a walkie-talkie.                                            SARG                   There's no way this wiring could have                   passed inspection without Simon Kurtz's                   okay!                    SPLIT SCREEN OF KRUGER IN HIS OFFICE                                            KRUGER                        (on phone)                   Just patch up the damage and get that ship                   ready to fly.  That's an order, mister!                                            SARG                   You've got it, mister.  But you can tell                   your boys on the board for me that this                   thing stinks to high heaven of kickback.                                                                  WIPE TO:                              KRUGER'S OFFICE - FULL SCREEN                    Kruger turns to room.  LOOSEN to reveal a dozen five-year-          old boys in three-piece suits, smoking cigars.  A huge          Keans-style painting of three astronauts with big eyes,          painted on black velvet, hangs in b.g.                                            KRUGER                   You heard it, boys.  Now, what do you say?                                            ALL BOYS                   Fuck him!                              EXT. GANTRY - NIGHT                    Sarg looks at the wire and shakes his head.                                            SARG                        (to worker)                   Ted Striker was right six months ago when                   he test-piloted this sucker.  And what did                   he get for telling the truth?  A one-way                   ticket to Palukaville.                    Sarg spits a chunk of cigar on the ground, blowing the          worker OUT OF FRAME with a MASSIVE EXPLOSION.                              EXT. WILD BLUE YONDER - DAY                    A jet fighter streaks across the sky.                              INT. JET - DAY                    TED STRIKER is at the controls.  His oxygen mask hangs loose          from his helmet.  Clouds outside shoot by -- he's going at          least 700 MPH.  A bird lands on the nose in front of the          window.  Ted shoos it away by knocking on the glass.  He          takes a slug of beer and cockily pulls on the stick.                              EXT. FIGHTER - DAY                    The plane does a barrel roll.                              INT. FIGHTER - DAY                    Ted has beer all over his face and shirt.                              EXT. SMALL LATIN-AMERICAN LANDING STRIP - DAY                    SUPER:  "SOUTH AMERICA, 2002 (PALUKAVILLE)"                    Striker's fighter comes in for a landing.                              EXT. OUTSKIRTS OF RIO MONTENEGRO - DAY                    CLOSEUP of sign, "WELCOME TO RIO MONTENEGRO -- POP.          2,354,900 -- NO TORTURING 7AM-9AM MON.-FRI."                              INT. HOTEL ROOM - DAY                    SUPER: "HOTEL MONTENEGRO"                    COME UP on CLOSEUP of parachute.  PAN past a flight jacket          thrown over a chair, clothes strewn around, a framed photo          of TED and ELAINE on the bedtable next to a bottle of          whiskey.  The room is hot and dusty.  Ted lies on the bed          soaked with sweat, a drink in his hand, a cigarette dangling          from his lip.  He takes a drink and, forgetting to remove          the cigarette, swallows it without batting an eye.  LOOSEN          to find a CRUCIFIX above the bed with a real person on it.                                            TED (V.O.)                        (to self)                   Who could have figured it would come to                   this.  It'll be twenty years this week                   that I lost my entire squadron over Macho                   Grande.  Planes, too.                    SUPER:  DOG FIGHT FOOTAGE                                            VOICE                   You're too low, Striker!  You're too low!                    The Crucifix in b.g. looks around trying to figure out where          the planes in the SUPER are coming from.                                            TED (V.O.)                   After the war, I couldn't go near anything                   with a pair of wings.                    SUPER:  TED IN PARK TRYING TO AVOID PIGEONS THAT FOLLOW HIM.                    A pigeon lands on the Cross.                                            TED (V.O.)                   That is, until fate dropped me on the seat                   of my pants at the stick of a 167 into                   Chicago with no crew.                    SUPER:  TED LANDING PLANE IN "AIRPLANE!"                                            TED (V.O.)                   It's funny how fate can make heroes out of                   cowards.                    The Crucifix gives a look of exasperated boredom.                    SUPER:  NEW YORK TIMES HEADLINE, "STRIKER SAVES l20!" OVER A          PHOTO OF TED AND ELAINE WAVING.                                            TED (V.O.)                   Then came the job offers.                    SUPER:  HOUSTON TRIBUNE HEADLINE, "FLYING HEROES ACCEPT NASA          POSTS" OVER A PHOTO OF TED AND ELAINE WAVING.                                            TED (V.O.)                   The publicity.                    SUPER:  NATIONAL ENQUIRER HEADLINE, "TED IMPOTENT?  ELAINE          FRIGID?"  A MINOR HEADLINE READS, "JFK ALIVE, SAYS          UROLOGIST!"                                            TED (V.O.)                   Even the key to the City of New York.                    SUPER:  MAYOR HANDING TED A KILO OF GRASS.                                            TED (V.O.)                   Now look at me.                    Ted wipes the sweat off his face and switches on the table          fan.  A tornado force wind destroys the room as he fights to          switch off the fan.                              EXT. TOWN SQUARE - DAY                    SUPER:  "RIO MONTENEGRO - TOWN SQUARE"                    A peasant boy takes a newspaper from a newsstand.  The          headline reads, "MERCURY SHUTTLE FLIES TOMORROW."                                            BOY                   Senor Ted!                    The boy hightails it through the town-square and passes:                    -- A large alabaster statue of the Generalissimo snorting             cocaine.                    -- Soldiers dragging nuns off screaming.                    -- Nuns dragging soldiers off screaming.                    He passes a line of peasants held at gunpoint by soldiers.          We HOLD on them.  In b.g. are stores like HITLER'S SHOES,          TRIEU GUYS FROM SAIGON LIQUORS, KEY'S KEYS -- GENERAL KEY          stands in doorway.                                            SOLDIER                        (to first peasant)                   Traficante de drugas o communista?                    SUPER:  SUBTITLES -- "Drug dealer or communist?"                                            PEASANT                        (pleading)                   Traficante de drugas, traficante de                   drugas!                    SUPER:  SUBTITLES -- "Drug dealer, drug dealer!"                    The soldier lets the peasant go.                                            SOLDIER                        (to second peasant)                   Traficante de drugas o communista?                    SUPER:  SUBTITLES -- "Drug dealer or communist?"                    The peasant panics and bolts from the line.  The soldiers          FIRE.                                            SOLDIER                   Communista!                    He runs up to THE HOTEL MONTENEGRO.  A sign reads, "TV,          POOL, WATERBEDS, DONKEY, KLEENEX" -- All but "KLEENEX" are          crossed out.  He runs inside.                              INT. HOTEL LOBBY                    A clean-cut AMERICAN COUPLE argue with Desk Clerk.                                            YOUNG MAN                        (to Desk Clerk)                   We've lost all our travelers' checks!                                            YOUNG WOMAN                   What are we going to do?!                                            CLERK                   Calm down.  What kind were they?                                            YOUNG MAN                   American Excess!                    The Clerk throws up his hands and strikes the same pose as          the Karl Marden look-alike in the "AMERICAN EXCESS" poster,          b.g.                                            CLERK                   I'd say you're fucked.                    The boy passes them and bounds up the stairs.                              INT. HOTEL ROOM                    CLOSEUP of Ted pacing.                                            TED                        (to self)                   Next thing I know, I'm the chief test                   pilot for the XR-2300, NASA's first                   Mercury shuttle.  That is, until I report                   she's got more flaws than the Titanic.                    LOOSEN slowly to find the Cross empty and the man who was on          it hanging, his feet dangling next to Ted.                                            TED                   Now I'm testing old F-l8s for some crazy                   Generalissimo who thinks there's a commie                   behind every tree in the Amazon.                    SUDDENLY the boy bursts in.                                            BOY                   Senor Ted!  Look!                    Ted spins and the paper stays still.  He stops.                                            TED                   My God!  They're launching the ZR-2300.                   Do you know what that is, Jose?                                            BOY                   The muffler bracket for a '78 Pinto.                                            TED                   No, that's an XR-2200.  The XR-2300 is the                   Mercury shuttle.  They can't do it!                              EXT. HOTEL MONTENEGRO                    Ted races out.                                            TED                   Taxi!                    SFX:  A DOZEN CARS SCREECH AND CRASH INTO EACH OTHER.  HORNS          STICK.                              ANGLE ON PILE OF CARS                    Ted jumps into the taxi on bottom of pile.  The driver          POUNDS on his HORN -- it CONTINUES TO BLARE as they pull          away, dragging other taxis.                                            TED                   Houston, Texas.                                            DRIVER                   Houston, Texas, senor??                                            TED                   Right at the corner, left at the light.                   Here's a map and step on it!                    Ted throws a map onto the floor of the front seat.  The          driver steps on the map.                              EXT. TERMINAL, PASSENGER ARRIVALS - NIGHT                    An old truck loaded high with furniture pulls up.  A YOUNG          MAN and his PARENTS, looking like the family from THE GRAPES          OF WRATH, get out.                                            SON                   We finally made it, Ma.  Mercury.  We're                   gonna start all over agin.  A whole new                   life.                    MUSIC:  OPTIMISTIC.                                            SON                   Where the soil is rich.                    He bends down and takes a handful of earth from the terminal          sidewalk and lets it run through his fingers.                                            SON                   And the union strong.  Where men are free                   to realize their true potential.                    A black PORTER approaches and grabs a bag at the bottom of          their pile of junk.                                            PORTER                   Can I help you?                                            SON                   Where black men and white men, working                   together, can move mountains.                    The Porter pulls the bag and the entire mountain of junk          cascades to the ground.                              ANGLE ON TED'S TAXI ARRIVING                    It is covered in mud, flames shoot out from under the hood,          the HORN BLARES.  The driver flips off the meter which          reads, "874,567,004,500,000,000."  The numbers run off the          meter along a special attachment.                                            DRIVER                   That'll be eight hundred and seventy-four                   zillion quastavitas.                                            TED                   Here's three bucks.  Keep the change.                                            DRIVER                   Thank you!!                              INT. TERMINAL                    STELLA BARRINGTON pushes her wheelchair-ridden father, DR.          CYRUS BARRINGTON, through the terminal crowd.  A PORTER          approaches.                                            PORTER                   You folks need any help?                                            STELLA                   Thanks, but we have a terrific woman in on                   Thursdays.                                            PORTER                   Say, isn't that Dr. Barrington, the world-                   renowned agronomist?                                            STELLA                   Yes.                                            PORTER                   It's a privilege to meet you, sir, I'm                   familiar with all your work.                                            STELLA                   Let's go, Daddy.  We have to check in.                        (to Porter)                   He was never appreciated at the Institute.                                            PORTER                   Ah, yes, the Institute, I'm familiar with                   it.                                            STELLA                   Now he's D-Y-I-N-Ging and wants to be                   buried on Mercury.                    Stella pushes her father away as another PORTER approaches          our first Porter.                                            PORTER 2                   Say, wasn't that Dr. Barrington, the                   world-renowned agronomist?                                            PORTER 1                   That's right.  Are you familiar with his                   work?                                            PORTER 2                   No, but the missus sure is.                              ANGLE ON TED AT ARRIVALS/DEPARTURES MONITORS                    The departures side reads.  "MERCURY SHUTTLE - DEPARTS 6:15          AM"                                            TED                        (to self)                   I have to stop that flight.                    Ted pushes his way through the crowd past two businessmen.          HOLD on them as BUSINESSMAN 1 straightens BUSINESSMAN 2's          tie and hair.                                            BUSINESSMAN 1                   Don't worry about the Viatex account.                   It's a buy-sell option.  We can't get hurt                   in either case.                                            BUSINESSMAN 2                   Just keep on top of their legal people,                   Bob.                                            BUSINESSMAN 1                   Don't sweat it.                    They kiss and part.                              ANGLE ON "1ST CLASS" TICKET LINE                                            AGENT                        (to traveller)                   We can take your in-flight dinner orders                   here, if you like.  Today there's lobster                   or rack of lamb.                                            TRAVELLER                   The lobster sounds nice.                    The Agent throws a huge lobster into a steaming cauldron.                    SFX:  LOBSTER SCREAM.                                            TED                        (rushing up)                   Where can I find mission control?                                            AGENT                        (without pointing or indicating                         in any way)                   Information's over there.                                            TED                   Thanks.                    He seems a bit puzzled but moves on.                              ANGLE ON "2ND CLASS" LINE                    Ted passes travellers in rags.                                            AGENT                        (to traveller in rags)                   Today there's the swill or the slop.                                            TRAVELLER                   The slop sounds nice.                    Ted passes the "NO CLASS" line.  Travellers in line all wear          gaudy double-knit suits, white belts and shoes, carry lava          lamps and bongo drums, wear alpine hats, etc.  The agent          hands a NO CLASS traveller his ticket with large foam dice          dangling.  Ted spots the INFORMATION counter and heads for          it.                              ANGLE ON INFORMATION COUNTER                                            MAN                        (to Info Agent)                   What's the fastest animal on earth?                                            INFO AGENT                   The cheetah.  Next.                                            WOMAN                   Should I fake my orgasms?                                            INFO AGENT                   Yes.  Next.                    Next in line are three armed, bearded "TERRORISTS."                                            "TERRORIST" 1                   Please, where is flight to Miami?                                            INFO AGENT                        (without indicating anything)                   Over there.  Next.                    The TERRORISTS leave looking confused.                                            TED                   Mission control?                                            INFO AGENT                        (without indicating anything)                   It's over therrrrrrr!                    The agent is shot with an arrow and slumps over the counter.                                                                  ZOOM TO:                              CLOSEUP OF TED                    He looks in the CAMERA.                    MUSIC:  DRAMATIC STING.                                            TED                   That's strange.  I just came from over                   there.                              INT. TERMINAL - ANOTHER AREA                    Elaine, Simon, and FRANK MORGAN, the shuttle pilot, talk.                                            FRANK                   I'll meet you on board.  I've got some                   business to attend to.                    Frank leaves.                                             SIMON                        (to Elaine)                   Frank's the best pilot in the program.                                            ELAINE                   I'm so excited, Simon.                                            SIMON                   I guess this is a first for you.                                            ELAINE                   No, I've been excited before.                                            TED (O.S.)                   Elaine.                                            ELAINE                        (turning around)                   Te...!                                            TED                   That's not important now, Elaine.  We have                   to talk.                    Simon pulls Elaine away.  They all walk and talk.                                            ELAINE                   Ted, we've been worried sick ever since                   you escaped from the Ronald Reagan                   Institute For The Mentally Feeble.                    They walk faster.  The b.g. starts whipping by as if they're          running.  Wind blows in their hair.                                            TED                   Are you on the Mercury mission?                                            SIMON                   That's right, Striker.  And we're getting                   married when we return.                    The b.g. moves faster.  The wind gets stronger.  They pass a          marathon refreshment stand and are handed wet sponges and          cups of Gatoraid.                                            TED                   It's got to be stopped!                                            ELAINE                   But, Ted, the invitations have already                   gone out.                                            TED                   I mean the Mercury flight.  It's not safe                   and, Kurtz, you know why.                                            SIMON                   You're still crazy, Striker.  Come on,                   sweetheart.                    Simon pulls Elaine away as she looks back with empathy.                                            ELAINE                   What did Ted mean?                    They leave Ted standing.                                            SIMON                   Elaine, he's still sick.                              ANGLE ON TED                    The wind is still blowing in his hair even though he stands          still.  Ted has a FLASHBACK.                                                              DISSOLVE TO:                              INT. ROCKET HANGAR                    Ted, in flight coveralls, follows after Simon who is          overseeing the operation.                                            SIMON                   You're seeing bugs where they don't exist,                   Striker.                                            TED                        (holding wire)                   Look at this wiring.  It's shorting out                   under high temperatures.                                            SIMON                   You're tired, Striker, overworked.  That                   wiring meets all the safety                   specifications.                                            TED                   I know you've been subtly spreading the                   word that I'm having a breakdown.                    A NEWSPAPER BOY passes.                                            NEWSIE                   Shuttle test pilot goes mad!                    A TECHNICIAN -- JACOBS -- enters with drawings of flight          outfits.                                            JACOBS                   Sir, these are the designs for the flight                   uniforms.  I think the captain's is to                   die.                                            SIMON                        (with drawings)                   Good, good, no, no, good.  What's this?!                   I said no studded dog collars, Jacobs.                    Jacobs grabs the drawings and leaves in a huff.                                            TED                   You won't get away with this, Simon!                    Ted turns to leave and bumps right into Elaine.  She holds          him.                                            ELAINE                   Ted, what's wrong?                                            TED                        (pulling away from her)                   Ask Simon.                    In b.g. a car is parked by a huge rocket engine.  A worker          opens the hood and strings jumper cables to the rocket.  A          sign above rocket reads, "ROCKET ENGINE TEST AREA."                                            ELAINE                   Ted, you're overworked.  You've been                   flying yourself into the ground.                                            TED                   There's nothing wrong with me!                                            ELAINE                   Let's relax tonight, just the two of us.                   I'll make a quiet Italian dinner just the                   way you like it, with spaghetti.                                            TED                   You're as bad as the rest of them, Elaine!                        (ranting)                   It's all here in the design                   specifications!                        (grabs plans from a passing                         technician)                   Look!  It's all here!                    Simon signals the guards.  They grab Ted.  He struggles and          rants.  A DOCTOR in white approaches and injects something          into Ted's arm.                                            ELAINE                   No!  Wait!  You're hurting him!                    Ted falls unconscious.  Simon holds Elaine.                                            SIMON                   Elaine!  Ted's a danger to himself, he's a                   threat to this mission and his behavior                   does absolutely nothing to promote peace                   in the Middle East.                                            ELAINE                        (crying on Simon's shoulder)                   Simon, why has he become so... so...                                            SIMON                   So mentally ill?                    Elaine collapses on Simon's shoulder, sobbing.  Simon smiles          evilly.  The technician with the jumper cables, b.g.,          signals the driver to start the car.  The car revs and the          rocket fires.                                                         DISSOLVE BACK TO:                              SCENE                    Ted still standing alone and muttering.                                            TED                        (to self)                   I'm perfectly sane.                    Ted notices Stella Barrington looking at him.                                            STELLA                   Excuse me, are you alright?  I noticed you                   talking to yourself.  I'm a nurse.  Can I                   be of some help?                                            TED                   Uh... oh, thank you.  It's nothing.                                            STELLA                   You don't have to thank me, I'm a nurse.                   This is my father, Dr. Barrington.                                            TED                   Not Dr. Barrington, the world renowned                   agronomist?                                            STELLA                   Yes.  He's dying a-n-d wants to be buried                   on Mercury.                                            TED                   I'm familiar with your work, Doctor.                   You'll have to excuse me, I have to go.                                            STELLA                   You don't have to excuse yourself.  I'm a                   nurse.  I understand.                    Ted leaves.                              INT. TERMINAL - OUTSIDE DRUGSTORE                                            SIMON                   Meet me onboard, sweetheart.  I have to                   pick up a few things at the drugstore.                                            ELAINE                        (checking her watch)                   Don't be too long.                    Simon walks into the drugstore past a DRUGGIST who whispers          to him:                                            DRUGGIST                   Uppers, downers, coke, speed, hash,                   Tampax.                              ANGLE ON ELAINE                    Ted approaches.  We see light flashes from a 25¢ photo          booth.                                            TED                   Elaine.                                            ELAINE                   Ted, please.  You're just making things                   difficult for yourself.                    A WOMAN IN BLACK GARTER BELT emerges from photo booth          followed by a donkey.                                            TED                   Elaine, what happened to us?                                            ELAINE                   Ted, I loved you and I'll always love you.                   But I need Simon.  He's stable.  He's a                   good provider.  I want that at this stage                   of the game, Ted.  He might have his                   faults, but Simon doesn't know the meaning                   of the word fear and I need that in a man.                              INT. DRUGSTORE                    The Druggist hands Simon a huge bottle of pills.  The label          reads, "ANTI-FEAR PILLS."                                            SIMON                        (looking at the label, "ANTI-                         FEAR PILLS")                   What does this word mean?                                            DRUGGIST                        (looking at label)                   'Fear,' to be afraid or over-anxious.                    Simon swallows a handful of pills, braces himself and walks          out right through the plate glass window without feeling a          thing.                              INT. TERMINAL                    Ted is still following Elaine.                                            TED                   Elaine, someone has to listen to me.  I'm                   going right to mission control.                    A kid bops by with a huge (5'x3'x2') oak cabinet, TV/stero          console perched on his shoulder.                    MUSIC:  DISCO.                                            ELAINE                   Ted, you should go right back to the                   hospital.                    Elaine leaves and Ted has another FLASHBACK.                                                              DISSOLVE TO:                              INT. MENTAL HOSPITAL                    PAN by dorm window.  We see a sign on grounds outside --          "THE RONALD REAGAN INSTITUTE OF SUPPLY-SIDE ECONOMICS AND          HOSPITAL FOR THE CRIMINALLY INSANE."  PAN patient in bed,          accountant at desk, patient in bed, accountant at desk, Ted          in bed.  Ted has electrodes attached to his head.  A NURSE          with "I (heart) NORMAL" on the back of her uniform, hands          Ted some pills.  He is about to pop them when she stops him.                                            NURSE                   That's $38.                    Ted hands her bills.                    LOOSEN to find Elaine on other side of bed.  She turns off          the radio and opens a box of spaghetti-to-go.                                            ELAINE                   Eat this spaghetti, Ted.  It'll make you                   feel a lot better.                    SFX:  GROANING O.S.                                            ELAINE                   Who's that, Ted?                                            TED                   Sammy Davis Junior.  Terrible car                   accident.  He hasn't been the same since.                              ANGLE ON SAMMY DAVIS                    A white patient in lots of gold chains.  A Nurse stands over          him and pulls a long oil dip-stick from his mouth, checks          it, wipes it off and replaces it.                              RETURN TO SCENE                                            TED                   Elaine, when are you going to realize                   Simon Kurtz put me in here to get me out                   of the way.                                            ELAINE                   And when are you going to realize, Ted,                   that your mental hygiene is the most                   important thing right now.                                            VOICE (O.S.)                        (ranting)                   It works... No, it doesn't... Yes, it                   does.                                            ELAINE                   What's his problem?                              ANGLE                    On BEARDED MAN in rags chained to wall.                                            MAN                   It does work... No, it doesn't.                              ANGLE                    On Ted and Elaine.                                            TED                   His name's David Stockman.  He's been here                   twenty years, that's all he says.                                            ELAINE                   Ted, you must remember what the doctor                   said, the first step on the road to sanity                   is admitting that you're sick.  Now take                   your electro-shock and you'll be back at                   the space center in no time.  And by the                   way, Ted, I'm leaving you for Simon.                    Ted gags on his spaghetti.                                            ELAINE                   I just can't go on living with a man who                   refuses to deal with reality, Ted.  I have                   to go now.  Believe me, it's best for all                   concerned.                    Elaine leans over to kiss Ted.  He turns away.                                            TED                   No goodbyes, Elaine.  Just go.                                            ELAINE                   If that's the way you want it.                                            TED                   That's the way I want it.  Just turn the                   radio on and go.                                            ELAINE                   Goodbye, Ted.  I don't want to hurt you.                    Elaine flips a switch by the bed thinking it's the radio.          It's the "ELECTRO-SHOCK."  Ted goes into convulsions as she          leaves.                                                         DISSOLVE BACK TO:                              TED AT TERMINAL                    He rubs his temples.                              INT. TERMINAL - OUTSIDE BOOKSTORE                    Frank Morgan kisses JANE DENNIS, his mistress.  In b.g. is a          bookstore window with a display of yellow covered books with          plain black titles and a sign advertising, "NO-NAME BOOKS."                    Visible titles include:  "DEEP BOOK," "FASCINATING BOOK,"          "THE WORLD ACCORDING TO JOHN DOE."  A man next to the window          reads a newspaper with headline, "SENSELESS MURDER UP 99%          AND RISING!"                                            FRANK                   Carol's not going to give me a divorce                   that easily, Jane.                                            JANE                   I'm worried about her, Frank.  She could                   do something senseless, something violent.                                            FRANK                   You're the one who's not making sense,                   Jane.  Carol's not the violent...                    Frank sees CAROL.                                            FRANK                   Carol!                    Carol whips out a gun.                                            FRANK                   No!  This is senseless!                              CAROL                     FIRES.  Jane faints.  Other women nearby faint.  Two          S.W.A.T. cops faint.  Carol bolts.  The newspaper, b.g.,          clicks over from 99% to 120%.                              INT. TERMINAL - ANOTHER AREA                    Ted pushes through crowd and passes a spherical booth with          sign that reads, "ORGASMIC EXPERIENCES, 25¢."  MRS. GOOCH,          an elderly woman, stops Ted next to the booth door.                                            MRS. GOOCH                   Young man, would you have change for a                   twenty?                                            TED                        (going for his wallet)                   I might have two tens.                                            MRS. GOOCH                   Thank you anyway, but I wanted it in                   quarters.                    Ted keeps moving past a police line which has gone up around          Frank Morgan's body.  We HOLD on the murder scene.  A          DETECTIVE kneels beside the body which now has a chalk mark          around it.                                            SERGEANT                        (lookind down at Detective)                   When is this senseless killing going to                   stop?                                            DETECTIVE HALLICK                   Senseless or not, Sergeant, there's a                   pattern here.  This is the 12th victim                   this week with a chalk mark around the                   body.  I want this whole area cordoned                   off!  I want everyone in this terminal                   booked and beaten until they talk.  I want                   an M.O. on everyone who has seen THE SOUND                   OF MUSIC and I want the entire population                   of Hawaii off that rock and into the water                   within one hour.                    Hallick stands up and finds the area surrounded by 30          accordian players playing "Lady of Spain."                                            DETECTIVE HALLICK                   Sergeant.  I said cordon off, not                   accordian off!  Now dust this area for                   prints.                    One cop pulls out a duster and dusts the wall.  Other cops          follow after him hanging prints by Picasso, Lautrec, etc.                                            DETECTIVE HALLICK                   And run a check on their plates.                    A cop looks at people's upper false teeth plates.                                            DETECTIVE HALLICK                        (TO CAMERA)                   When will this senseless killing end?                    A POLICE PHOTOGRAPHER straddles the body and shoots it          "BLOW-UP" style.                                            PHOTOGRAPHER                   Super!  Great!  Super!  Terrific!  Super!                              INT. MISSION CONTROL - EXECUTIVE OFFICE                                            KRUGER                   That's right, Commissioner.  Senselessly                   murdered just minutes ago.                                            COMMISSIONER                   That just doesn't make any sense.                                            KRUGER                   I wonder how your boys in Washington are                   going to take this one.                                            COMMISSIONER                   I told you, leave the boys in Washington                   to the boys downtown and the boys down...                                            KRUGER                   You've made your point, Commissioner.                   There's only one other pilot who can                   handle that shuttle and that's Clarence                   Oveur.  He's got a lunar flight today.  I                   want him pulled.                        (to Jacobs)                   Jacobs, pull Oveur!                                            JACOBS                   Not in your size, but I have a cardigan.                    He runs out.                                            COMMISSIONER                   I'll trust you on this, Bud, but I'm a                   little nervous about Oveur's record.                    The Commissioner throws an album on Kruger's desk.  On the          cover is a photo of Oveur with an accordian.  The title          reads, "CLARENCE OVEUR'S 400 POLKA FAVORITES."                    MUSIC:  DRAMATIC ACCORDIAN STING.                              INT. TERMINAL                    CAPTAIN OVEUR buys flight insurance from a machine.  Simon          approaches.                                            SIMON                   Captain Oveur?                                            OVEUR                   Mr. Kurtz, I presume.                                            SIMON                   We don't have much time.  Let's move.                   I'll explain everything.                    They walk away past the Transcendental Air counter.  Two          HARI KRISHNA AGENTS smile at customers.                                            HAIR KRISHNA                   Chanting or non-chanting?                              INT. MISSION CONTROL ROOM                    PAN along Controllers at their monitors.  Monitors show the          shuttle on gantry.                                            CONTROLLER 1                   This is Mercury launch control at "T"                   minus fifty-eight minutes and counting.                   All systems are go.  Clear launch area.                              ANGLE ON NASA WORKERS AT LUNCH TABLE                    They rise and start clearing their dishes.                                            CONTROLLER 1 (V.O.)                        (on P.A.)                   I said 'launch' not 'lunch'!                    The workers sit down.                              INT. TERMINAL                    Oveur and Simon hurry along.                                            SIMON                   That's how dry cleaning works.  Now I'd                   like to quickly go over the digestive                   system of amphibians.                                            OVEUR                   Do you think it's necessary to explain                   everything?                    Simon spots Ted getting directions from a security guard.                                            SIMON                   I'll meet you on board.  There's something                   I have to take care of first.                              INT. MISSION CONTROL HEAD OFFICE - RECEPTION                    Ted rushes in and up to the RECEPTIONIST.                                            TED                   I have to see Bud Kruger.                                            RECEPTIONIST                   Do you have an appointment, sir?                                            TED                   No, dammit.  It's a matter of life or                   death.                                            RECEPTIONIST                   You'll have to be more specific than that,                   sir.                                            TED                   All right, it's a matter of death.                                            RECEPTIONIST                        (checking her book)                   Death, death.  How about the first                   Thursday in March, ten o'clock.                    Ted bolts by her and grabs a door knob on the wall.                                            RECEPTIONIST                   You can't go in there!                                            TED                   Don't try to stop me!                                            RECEPTIONIST                   But that's not a door.  The door's over                   there.                    She doesn't indiciate direction.                    ZOOM to CLOSEUP of Ted.                                            TED                   That's strange.  I just came from...                    Suddenly, Ted falls unconscious into the arms of two guards.          LOOSEN to find the Doctor holding a needle in his arm and          Simon next to the Doctor.                              ANGLE                    On Ted's feet.  His heels make lines in dirt as he is          dragged from the office.                              INT. MISSION CONTROL ROOM                    PAN Controllers at their monitors.                                            CONTROLLER 1 (V.O.)                        (on P.A.)                   This is Mercury control at "T" minus fifty                   minutes and counting.  Commence loading of                   passengers requiring special boarding                   assistance.                              EXT. TERMINAL - LOADING AREA                    Ground crew lift passengers who are stacked on a luggage          tram and heave them onto a conveyor belt leading up to the          ship.                              INT. TERMINAL                    JOE SALUCCI (imagine Van Heflin) bids his WIFE (imagine          Cher) goodbye.  Joe is very nervous, sweating a lot.  His          Wife hands him a few crumpled bills.                                            WIFE                   Take this, Joey.  It's my last few bucks.                   You'll need a hot meal when you get there.                                            JOE                   We've spent everything on these                   operations.  Is it really worth it?  We've                   pawned your mother's wedding ring.  The                   kids have no winter clothes...                                            WIFE                        (holding a finger to his lips)                   Joey, what's more important, the kids'                   clothes or your sexual potency.                                            JOE                        (anxiously looking around)                   I don't want to hear that word!                                            WIFE                   Okay, Joey.  The Doc says you gotta relax.                   This hospital in Des Moines is the best                   sex clinic in the country.                                            JOE                   All right.                        (hands her an envelope)                   Here.                                            WIFE                   What...?                                            JOEY                   Insurance.  Everyone buys it.                    MUSIC:  DRAMATIC STING.                                            WIFE                   All right.  Goodbye, Babe.                    She kisses him.  He recoils, wipes off his mouth, and          leaves.  She looks at the envelope, then yells at him          through the crowd.                                            WIFE                   Joey!  Remember, sexual impotence is                   nothing to be ashamed of!                    The entire terminal looks at him.                              INT. TERMINAL STORAGE ROOM                    Ted is tied to a chair surrounded by packing crates -- one          is stamped "JIMMY HOFFA, THIS END UP" with the arrow          pointing to the ground.  Ted struggles to free his hands.                              INT. TERMINAL GIFT SHOP                    Joe Salucci stands at the counter.                                            JOE                        (to Cashier)                   Time, Newsweek, the Lifesavers, and the                   second time bomb from the right.                    He points at the shelf behind the Cashier where a number of          bombs are on display.                              ANGLE ON CANDY MACHINE IN GIFT SHOP                    The actual DR. BENJAMIN SPOCK stands in front of the          machine.  Next to the machine at the magazine rack is a red-          bearded MAN in tweed jacket and a tartan kilt reading a          magazine titled "GAY SCOTS."  Spock puts a coin in the          machine and it explodes in sparks and smoke like the bridge          panel on "STAR TREK."                                            SCOTT                        (Scottish accent)                   My God, Dr. Spock!  You've got a meltdown                   in the Reggie Bars!                              INT. TERMINAL CORRIDOR                    Joe Salucci snaps his attache case closed.  Wipes the sweat          from his brow.  Takes out a "Des Moines" ticket and throws          it away.  Looks at another ticket -- "Mercury."  Takes a          last drag from his cigarette, throws it on the ground and          hurries off.  The cigarette rolls under the "STORAGE ROOM"          door.                              INT. STORAGE ROOM                    Ted, tied in chair, watches the cigarette roll up to some          oil rags.  They burst into flame.  The flames lap up against          a yellow oil drum labeled "EXPLOSIVE."  PAN to three more          drums labeled, "DYNAMIC!", "BRILLIANT!", "A MUST SEE!".                              INT. TERMINAL OUTSIDE STORAGE ROOM                    EDITH and DAVE WALTERS, a middle-aged couple, carry their          hand luggage.  Edith appears very nervous.                                            DAVE                   I'm telling you, Edith, space travel is                   safer than driving a car.                    The storage room door EXPLODES open in front of them.  Ted          flies out with the debris.  Edith faints.  Ted gets up,          brushes himself off and heads to the ticket counter just as          the ticket agent flips a sign over that reads, "MERCURY --          SOLD OUT."  Ted spots a SCALPER and reaches for his wallet.                                            SCALPER                   Mercury seats.  I got a pair.  I got aisle                   seats, window seats.  Check 'em out.                              INT. SHUTTLE COCKPIT - MORNING                    Computerized panels line all walls.  Windows are similar to          an airplane -- outside carwash brushes soap down the nose.          The "HOT WAX" sign flashes.  Two attendants wipe windows          with soap gloves and move to the DISTANT STRAINS of "CAR          WASH."  Elaine sits at computer, two other CREW are in their          seats.  Simon enters with Oveur.                                            SIMON                   Gentlemen, this is Captain Oveur.  He's                   taking over for Frank Morgan.                                            MR. UNGER                   What's the problem?                                            SIMON                   Morgan was senselessly murdered about an                   hour ago.                    Elaine gasps.                                            MR. DUNN                        (black, sports afro)                   Murdered?  I hope it's not serious.                                            SIMON                   We won't know until after the autopsy.                                            MR. DUNN                   Of course.  Welcome aboard, sir.                                            OVEUR                   Good to be aboard, gentlemen.                                            SIMON                   Captain Oveur, your navigator, Mr. Unger,                   and your first officer, Mr. Dunn.                    They shake hands.                                            OVEUR                   Unger.                                            UNGER                   Oveur.                                            DUNN                   Oveur.                                            OVEUR                   Dunn.                                            SIMON                   And I think everyone knows Elaine.                    They all smile.                              INT. TERMINAL SECURITY CHECK AREA - "MERCURY GATE"                    The Terrorists still seem confused as to where they're          going.  They pass through the security metal detector, guns          raised above their heads.  A GUARD runs a hand-held metal          detector up and down their bodies.  At the same time, Mrs.          Gooch is being held spread-eagle against the wall.  One          Guard holds a gun to her head, another frisks her.  Ted          moves through behind the Terrorists.                                            TERRORIST                        (to Guard)                   Is flight to Miami, yes?                                            GUARD                   No.                                            TERRORIST                   Thank you.  Thank you.                    A young boy passes through the X-ray tunnel.  His dental          chart appears on the screen.  A DENTIST at the other end          stops him and looks in his mouth.                                            DENTIST                   Open.                    THE BERGMAN FAMILY -- SVEN, KRISTA, and their two CHILDREN          -- all dressed like the emigrants, look up at the "MERCURY          GATE" sign.  They should be shot like characters from a          Bergman "film."                                            SVEN                   Mercury, Krista.  A whole new world to be                   depressed about.                                            KRISTA                   Ya, Sven.                                            CHILD 1                   Will we die, Pappa?                                            SVEN                   We all die, Ingrid.                                            CHILD 2                   Will we die soon, Pappa?                                            SVEN                   Soon?  What is the real meaning of 'soon'?                              INT. COCKPIT                    The car wash continues with attendants wiping the ship down.                                            OVEUR                        (flips a switch)                   Atmosphere control.                                            UNGER                        (flips a switch)                   Atmosphere control, check.                    A car wash attendant opens a side door to the cockpit and          enters in headphones, moving to "CAR WASH," with a vacuum.          He cleans the floor and an ashtray and finds a baseball          behind the Captain's seat which he pockets.                                            OVEUR                        (flips a switch)                   Anti-gravity.                    The car wash attendant floats to the ceiling.                                            DUNN                        (flips a switch)                   Anti-gravity, check.                    The attendant crashes to the floor.                    Elaine sits at the R.O.K.-4000 computer.  She seems to be          having a problem with a switch.                                            ELAINE                        (to self)                   That's odd.                              INT. BOWELS OF R.O.K. COMPUTER                    A circuit board just below the R.O.K.-4000 logo shorts.          Sparks fly.  A fire starts.                              INT. COCKPIT                                            OVEUR                        (looking out the window)                   I hope that weather doesn't give us a                   problem.                        (he opens the window and holds                         his hand out)                   What's your temperature reading, Mr.                   Unger.                                            UNGER                        (pulls a thermometer from his                         mouth)                   Ninety-eight point six.                              INT. MISSION CONTROL ROOM                                            CONTROLLER 2                   There seems to be some fog rolling in from                   the west.                                            CONTROLLER 1                   Mike, give me a density reading.  I just                   hope it's not too heavy.                                            CONTROLLER 3                        (reading from a book like                         Richard Burton)                   The fog, the fog, the torment clouded my                   mind.  Derision, contempt...                                            CONTROLLER 1                   That's heavy.                              INT. SHIP DOOR                    Flight attendant, MARY MORRIS, welcomes passengers aboard.                                            MARY                        (to Stella and father)                   Welcome aboard.  Isn't that Dr.                   Barrington, the world renowned agronomist?                                            STELLA                   Yes -- he's dying and wants to be buried                   in the new l-a-n-d.                                            MARY                        (to Joe Salucci)                   Welcome aboard.  Can I take your case?                                            JOE                        (clutching case)                   No!                    Mary gives him a look as he passes inside.  The OKIES move          by.  HENRY stops at door, bends down, picks up an ear of          corn and pulls it apart.                                            HENRY                   There's a whole new world in front of us,                   Ma.  Where the dictatorship of the                   proletariat will lead workers and peasants                   into socialism without the revisionist                   diversions of bourgeois liberals,                   Trotskiests, or disillusioned Maoist                   terrorism.                    The Okies pass inside.                                            MARY                        (looking at them; to self)                   Doesn't he realize that a weak proletariat                   needs a strong liberal bourgeoisie in a                   joint struggle against monopoly                   capitalism?                    Ted stops at the door surrounded by boarding passengers.                    SUPER:  PSYCHIATRIST.                                            PSYCHIATRIST                   We can't begin to help you until you admit                   that you are sick, Ted.                        (echo)                   Sick Ted, sick Ted, sick Ted...                    The boarding passengers look around for the echoing voice.                              EXT. TARMAC - DAY                    Sarg looks up through the glass-walled corridor that leads          to the ship door and spots Ted.                                            SARG                        (to CO-WORKER)                   Well, I'll be a monkey's uncle; Ted                   Striker.                        (holding burnt wire)                   Jack, I got a bad feeling in my gut about                   this mission.                    In b.g. a sign reads, "DANGER -- FUEL, ABSOLUTELY NO          VOMITTING."                                            WORKER                   What'd you have for dinner?                                            SARG                   The fish, why?                    MUSIC:  DRAMATIC STING.                    Sarg bends down OUT OF FRAME.                    SFX:  THROWING UP.                    A huge EXPLOSION FILLS THE FRAME.                              INT. COCKPIT                    Fog rolls past cockpit window.                                            OVEUR                   We should be ready to launch as soon as                   this fog lifts.                              EXT. RUNWAY                    An ENGLISH BOBBY passes a woman in 19th-Century costume in          the fog.  He tips his hat and moves on.  A caped man steps          out of the fog and strangles her.                              INT. CABIN                    Passengers are taking their seats.  Ted spots Elaine and          moves towards her.  The Terrorists look confused.  Joe          Salucci clutches his case and wipes his brow.  Mary takes          a man's suit bag.                                            MARY                   Can I hang that for you, sir?                                            MAN                   Thanks.                    Mary hangs the bag from a rope noose in the closet, pulls a          lever, the bag drops like a man being executed.                    SFX:  SCREAM AND THUD.                              INT. COCKPIT                    Unger looks out the window.                                            UNGER                    It looks like that weather is clearing.                              EXT. SKY - DAY (STOCK)                    Dramatic stock footage of clouds parting and sun exploding          through.                    MUSIC:  A CLARION TRUMPET CRESCENDO.                              INT. CABIN - OUTSIDE COCKPIT DOOR                    Ted moves up to Elaine, who is about to enter the cock≠pit.                                            TED                   Elaine.                    She turns and gasps.                                            ELAINE                   Ted!  What are you...?                                            TED                   I have to get in there.  I have to stop                   this flight.                    SFX:  BELL.                              INSERT - FLASHING SIGN - "PLEASE TAKE YOUR SEATS"                              BACK TO SCENE                                            ELAINE                   Ted, we're taking off!                                            TED                   Let me by, Elaine.                    Mary passes.                                            MARY                   Please take your seats.                    As Ted turns to Mary, Elaine slips into the cockpit and          locks the door --                    SFX:  DOOR LOCKING.                    Ted tries the door.                                            TED                   Elaine!                              INSERT - SIGN - "WE SAID, TAKE YOUR SEAT OR CAN'T YOU READ,          ASSHOLE!"                              INT. COCKPIT                    Elaine leans back against the door.  She is highly agitated.          Simon, the administrative officer, and other crew are in          their seats.                                            SIMON                   Whenever your're ready, Captain.                                            OVEUR                   Yes, sir, commander.                        (into radio)                   This is Mercury One.  Everything seems A-                   okay up here and ready for count-down.                    ZOOM to CLOSEUP of Elaine's face.                                                              DISSOLVE TO:                              EXT. HOSPITAL GROUNDS - DAY                    Dr. Rumack and Elaine walk across the well-groomed lawn.          Elaine carries a box of spaghetti-to-go.  As they walk, they          pass patients in wheelchairs pushed by nurses.  The further          they walk, the more wheelchairs appear until the lawn is          jammed with two hundred wheelchairs bumping into each other,          patients falling out, total wheelchair chaos.                                            ELAINE                   Ted seemed to get worse after I told him                   about Simon, Doctor.                                            RUMACK                   The human brain is a highly complex organ,                   Elaine, perhaps the most complex next to                   the bladder.                        (he stops at a patient in a                         wheelchair with his back TO                         CAMERA)                   Let me show you.                        (Rumack removes the top of the                         patient's skull and takes out                         his brain as they continue on)                   Ted's problem is in this area.                        (points with a pencil)                   This area, this area, here, here, here,                   under here, here...                    They walk OUT OF FRAME as wheelchair demolition derby FILLS          SCREEN.                              EXT. HOSPITAL GROUNDS - GARDEN AREA - DAY                    Rumack and Elaine walk INTO FRAME still talking.                                            RUMACK                   So you see, our task isn't made any easier                   by Ted's refusal to admit that he's sick.                                            ELAINE                   What can I do, Doctor Rumack?                    He stops next to a sign, "HOSPITAL GARDEN."                                            RUMACK                   You can eat balanced meals, exercise, and                   take Geritol.                                            ELAINE                   I mean for Ted.                                            RUMACK                   You can be gentle with him, Elaine.  He's                   been working out a lot of his aggressions                   here in the garden.                                            ELAINE                   Is that a good sign, Doctor?                    Rumack holds the "HOSPITAL GARDEN" sign.                                            RUMACK                   It does the job.                              ANGLE ON TED                    He is ripping up small trees, shrubs, etc., and throwing          them onto a huge pile of mud that resembles the mountain          that Dreyfuss built in "Close Encounters."                                            ELAINE                   Hello, Ted.                    Ted ignores her as he works frantically.                                            ELAINE                        (holding out box)                   I brought you some spaghetti.                    Ted still ignores her as he works feverishly.                                            ELAINE                   What are you doing, Ted?                                            TED                   I've got it, Elaine!  I've figured out                   what's wrong with the shuttle!                    Ted scurries around.                                            ELAINE                   Ted.                                            TED                   Not now, Elaine!                                            ELAINE                   Ted!                    He ignores her.  Rumack walks up and puts an arm around her          shoulder.  Elaine starts to sob.                                            RUMACK                   The brain is an amazingly complex organ,                   Elaine.                                            ELAINE                   Is he making any progress, Doctor?                                            RUMACK                   Yes -- last week that pile of mud was only                   this high.                                                         DISSOLVE BACK TO:                              INT. COCKPIT                    Elaine takes her seat.                                            CONTROLLER 1 (V.O.)                   Mark 'T' minus twenty and counting.                                            OVEUR                   Gentlemen, let's get this bucket into                   space.                        (flips switches)                   Ignition set.                              EXT. SHIP                    Steam spews out from engines.                              INT. CONTROL ROOM                                            CONTROLLER 1                   Mark 'T' minus thirty seconds.                    PAN backs of a number of Controllers at screens, talking          NASA jargon.  We PASS one in prison stripes talking through          mesh to his wife.                              INT. COCKPIT                                            OVEUR                        (flipping more switches)                   Ignition.                                            CONTROLLER 1 (V.O.)                   'T' minus nine, eight, seven...                              EXT. SHIP                    Rockets fire.                                            CONTROLLER 1 (V.O.)                   Six, five, four...                              INT. CONTROL ROOM                                            CONTROLLER 1                   Three...                    Jacobs runs in with a camera, yelling:                                            JACOBS                   Stop!  One shot.                    All Controllers turn and smile.  The count-down stops.          Jacobs flashes his camera.                                            JACOBS                   Wonderful!                    The Controllers continue.                                            CONTROLLER 1                   Two, one.                              INT. COCKPIT                    The ship vibrates.                                            CONTROLLER 1 (V.O.)                   You have lift-off, Mercury One.                    The G-force causes the crew's hair to go straight back.          Dunn's afro straightens and stays back throughout flight.                              INT. CABIN                    The G-force causes passengers' hair to go straight back.  A          buxom woman looks down at her bust -- it's completely flat.                              INT. COCKPIT                    The G-force returns to normal as the shuttle breaks earth's          gravitational hold.                                            OVEUR                   Jettison booster stages one and two.                                            UNGER                        (flipping switches)                   Booster jettisoned.                              EXT. SHIP - BOOSTER STAGES (STOCK)                    Stock footage of booster falling away.                              EXT. OCEAN (SET) - DAY                    A cheap model of the Greenpeace 11 sails blithely along. The          booster stage careens through the atmosphere, crashes into          the Greenpeace, and sinks it.                              INT. COCKPIT                                            OVEUR                   Shut down accelerators.                                            DUNN                   Accelerators down.                    The crew all look at the floor.                                            OVEUR                   Elaine, ask ROK for a field interference                   scan.  Those sun spots might give us a                   problem with our communications.                                            ELAINE                        (flipping computer switches)                   Yes, sir.                    The computer is labeled R.O.K. She seems to have a problem          getting it to respond.                                            ELAINE                        (to self)                   That's really strange.                              INT. BOWELS OF COMPUTER (LABELED "ROK")                    The electrical fire continues.                              INT. COCKPIT                    Elaine flips a switch on computer.  A "VOICE INTERFACE" sign          lights up.                                            ELAINE                   Intermitant failure in scan mode "R".                   Analyze.                                            ROK                   Negative.                                            ELAINE                        (to self)                   That doesn't make sense.                        (to ROK)                   Repeat analysis.                                            ROK                   Negative.                                            ELAINE                        (to self)                   That's not possible.                                            ROK                   Cut the Doubting Thomas shit, Elaine.  I                   know where I'm coming from on this.                    Elaine is taken aback.                              INT. BOWELS OF COMPUTER                    Sparks fly, fire spreads.                              INT. CABIN                    Mary moves down the aisle checking passengers.  She passes          Father O'Flanagan who reads ALTERBOY magazine -- an alterboy          in bikini bathing suit on cover.  She passes Mrs. Gooch who          reads HIGH TIMES.  She stops at a ten-year-old GIRL.                                            MARY                   I guess this is pretty exciting for you.                                            GIRL                   Yes, it is.  How long will the trip take?                                            MARY                   Our actual flight time is over fourteen                   months, but due to the time-space variant                   at sub-light speeds, our onboard flight                   time will be just over eighteen hours.                    Mary leaves and the Girl turns to the WOMAN beside her.                                            GIRL                   Gee, Mom, how does that work?                                            WOMAN                        (very tense)                   How many times do I have to tell you, I'm                   not your mother!  I've never seen you                   before!                    The Woman vibrates in multiple image and grabs her temple.                                            GIRL (V.O.)                   Why did she yell at me like that?                    A MAN who looks like Robert Young sits down beside the Girl.                                            MAN                   Hallucinating again, Rhonda?                                            GIRL                        (taking a paper bag away from                         her face)                   I don't know what it is.                                            MAN                   Maybe it's the brand of glue you've been                   sniffing.  Why don't you try this, NO-HI.                   It gives you all the pleasure of glue                   without the brain damage.                              ANGLE ON TESTA (ANOTHER FLIGHT ATTENDANT)                    She is completely bald.                                            TESTA                   Something to read, sir?                                            JOE                        (clutching his case)                   Do you have PSYCHO MONTH?                                            TESTA                   I think so.  Here you are.                    She hands him a copy of PSYCHO MONTH with Alexander Haig's          photo on cover.                              ANOTHER PART OF CABIN                    Ted sits at a window seat and looks out.  A TEXAN sits on          aisle.  Mary approaches.                                            MARY                          (to Texan)                   Would you like something to read?                                            TEXAN                   I don't read a whole lot, but what have                   you got, hon?                                            MARY                   TIME, NEWSWEEK, BUSINESS WEEK, and the                   TALMUD...                    She points to a car next to her with twenty-four large          volumes.                                            MARY                   The twenty-four volume dissertation on the                   Hebrew law.                                            TEXAN                   Let me try that Talmud.                                            MARY                        (to Ted)                   And you, sir?                                            TED                        (distracted)                   Oh... Popular Electronics.                    Mary hands him the POP ELEC.  He opens it.  The magazine          sparks and smokes.  ZOOM to CLOSEUP of Ted.                    SUPER:  PSYCHIATRIST                                            PSYCHIATRIST                   You must admit that you're sick, Ted.                        (echo)                   Sick Ted, sick Ted...                    The Psychiatrist looks around for the source of the echo.                    LOSE SUPER.                                            TEXAN                        (to Ted)                   Wanta switch when we're finished?                    Ted gets up and moves past the TEXAN, handing him the POP          ELEC.                                            TED                   Here.  I need some oxygen.                              INT. COCKPIT                    Simon stands over Elaine's shoulder looking at ROK.                                            SIMON                   Have you got it straightened out now?                                            ELAINE                   I think so.                                            SIMON                   That's my girl.                    He sits down.  Elaine flips a switch on the computer.                              ANGLE ON ROK'S PULSATING EYE                                            ROK                   Elaine, I'm sorry about that little                   outburst a moment ago.                                            ELAINE                   That's okay, ROK.                                            ROK                   Can I say something of a personal nature                   to you?                                            ELAINE                   Go ahead.                                            ROK                   You have great tits.                    Elaine gasps.                                            ELAINE                        (getting up)                   Simon, I'm going to check ROK's secondary                   readout unit.                                            SIMON                   Roger.                    SFX:  INTERCOM BELL.                                            OVEUR                        (on intercom)                   Yes, Mary?                              INT. CABIN - FOOD PREPARATION AREA                    Mary is on intercom.                                            MARY                   Would you like a little breakfast, Captain                   Oveur?  Over.                              INT. COCKPIT                                            OVEUR                   A couple eggs and juice would be nice,                   Mary.  Over.                                            MARY (V.O.)                        (on intercom)                   How would you like your eggs, Captain?                   Over.                                            OVEUR                   No.  Poached.  Over.                                            MARY (V.O.)                        (on intercom)                   Poached and over, Captain Oveur?  Over.                                            OVEUR                   Just poached on toast.  Over.                              INT. CABIN - PREPARATION AREA                                            MARY                        (on intercom)                   I don't think we do poached eggs on toast                   over, Captain Oveur.  Over.                              INT. COCKPIT                                            OVEUR                   That's how I want them.  Poached.  Over.                                            MARY                   All right, Captain Oveur.  Over.                                            OVEUR                   Poached!  Not over!  Over!                              INT. WASHROOM                    Ted breathes deeply on an oxygen unit.  He stops, but we          still hear deep breathing.  LOOSEN to find Father O'Flanagan          smoking a joint.  He smiles and leaves.                              INT. CABIN                    Joe Salucci clutches his attache case and wipes his brow.          Mary leans over him.                                            MARY                   You should really put that case in the                   compartment above your head, sir.                                            JOE                        (nervously)                   That's okay.                                            MARY                        (touching his shoulder)                   I can help you if you can't get it up.                                            JOE                   I said, no!                    Mary leaves, giving him a worried look.                              ANGLE ON THE WILSONS                    Jimmy holds his dog.                                            JIMMY                   I sure an glad they let Scraps ride up                   here with us.                                            JOHN                   I bet Scraps is going to love Mercury.                                            JIMMY                   Do you think things will be a lot                   different on Mercury, Dad?                                            JOHN                   It's going to be terrific.  A whole new                   world, new kids to play with.                                            ALICE                   You're going to love it, Jimmy.                                            JIMMY                   No more headlines about the rape trial and                   the fraud charges?                                            JOHN                        (starts to twitch)                   How many kids get a chance to live on                   another planet.                                            JIMMY                   No more kids yelling, 'Your old man's a                   thieving rapist'?                                            JOHN                        (grabbing Jimmy)                   Look, a man can make an honest mistake!!                   Anyway, she was asking for it!  They're                   all asking for it all the time!!                                            ALICE (V.O.)                   Not John's irregularity again.                              INT. WASHROOM                    Ted throws water on his face, wipes it off with a towel          while staring into himself in the mirror.  He sees the          Psychiatrist in the mirror.  The Psychiatrist also washes          up.                                            PSYCHIATRIST                   You must admit that you're sick, Ted...                   sick, Ted... sick, Ted...                    The Psychiatrist looks for the echo.                    LOSE Psychiatrist.  Ted throws the paper towel into the          toilet, and flushes.  The toilet sparks and smokes and keeps          running.  The running gets more intense as Ted tries to stop          it by hitting the handle.                    SFX:  JAWS THEME.                              INSERT - ROK'S PULSATING EYE                              BACK TO SCENE                    Ted has to hold himself back as the suction builds in force.          He is just able to escape and shut the door behind him.                              INT. CABIN - OUTSIDE TOILET                    Ted leans his back against the door and breathes heavily.                              INT. COCKPIT                                            DUNN                   We seem to have a malfunction in disposal                   unit four, sir.                                            OVEUR                   You better check it, Unger.                                            UGER                        (getting up)                   Done.                                            DUNN                   Yes?                              INT. CABIN - OUTSIDE TOILET                    Ted spots Elaine coming.                                            TED                   Elaine.                                            ELAINE                   Ted.  I don't know why you got on this                   flight.  I don't know what you're trying                   to prove.                                            TED                   Elaine, we have to go back.                                            ELAINE                   We can't go back.  We had something very                   special, but it's all over.                                            TED                   Elaine, I mean the mission has to be                   aborted.  This ship should never have                   passed FSA inspection.  This thing is held                   together by string and chewing gum.                    A cupboard door, labeled "EMERGENCY USE ONLY," swings open          behind Elaine revealing shelves of gum and string.  Elaine          shuts it without looking inside.                    MUSIC:  DRAMATIC STING.                                            ELAINE                   Ted, get a grip on yourself.  You should                   never have left the hospital.                                            TED                   Then you do think I'm insane.                                            ELAINE                   I've never used the word insane, Ted.                                            TED                        (facetiously)                   What word would you use, Elaine?                                            ELAINE                   The word is sick.  Ted -- very, very, very                   sick.                                            TED                   What would you say if I told you the                   toilet just blew up in my face.                                            ELAINE                   I'd use the word insane.                                            TED                   There's something dangerously wrong with                   this ship, Elaine.  I know its the wiring.                   That toilet's just the tip of the iceberg.                                            ELAINE                   Ted, a toilet's not going to kill anyone.                    Elaine leaves.                              INT. TOILET                    MUSIC:  JAWS THEME.                    Unger jiggles the handle of the running toilet.  Suddenly it          sucks in towels, etc.  Unger is pulled down.  He fights          back, grabbing onto towel rack that comes out of the wall.                              INSERT - SIGN - "DO NOT THROW LARGE OBJECTS IN TOILET"                              INT. CABIN                    The Texan with Talmud is now trying to wrap himself in          tfilin.                              ANGLE ON TED                    Ted walks down the aisle checking overhead panels.  He spots          a panel that is half open.  A sign on the door reads,          "DANGER -- VACUUM".  Ted opens it and a Hoover falls out on          his head, cutting him.  He holds a hanky to the wound and          passes by Stella's seat.                                            STELLA                   You've been hurt.                                            TED                   I'm getting over it.  If a relationship                   isn't working, you can't force it.                                            STELLA                   No, I mean your head.  Sit down.  I'll                   take a look at it.  I'm a nurse.                    Ted sits down and Stella starts patching him up.                                            STELLA                   Do you want to talk about it.                                            TED                   I opened this panel and a vacuum cleaner                   hit me.                                            STELLA                   No.  I mean your relationship.                                            TED                   We were in love but I'm not sure I know                   what love is anymore.                                            STELLA                   Love's the same as it always was.  It's                   people who change.                                            TED                   People change in relation to each other.                   Love changes on its own.                                            STELLA                   Not if the people change together in                   relation to that love.                                            TED                   Sure.  But that's only when the love                   itself goes unchanged.                                            STELLA                   Then the relationship remains the same and                   the love changes only when there's change                   in the two people who share that love.                                            TED                   I just wish it was that simple.  We really                   were in love.  You know how it is when you                   laugh all the time.                    Stella looks to her Father who is reading MORTUARY WORLD          magazine.                                            STELLA                   No.  It's hard to L-A-U-G-H when your                   father's dying.                                            TED                   Well, we laughed.  We laughed all the                   time.                                                              DISSOLVE TO:                              TED AND ELAINE IN A FIELD OF DAISIES - DAY                    They run towards each other.  Elaine grabs Ted by the waist,          picks him up and swings him around in SLOW MOTION.  They          laugh.                                            TED (V.O.)                   We laughed when times were good.                              EXT. GRAVESIDE - RAINY DAY                    The grave is surrounded by mourners in black with umbrellas.          We PAN the weeping crowd until we get to Ted and Elaine.          They are also dressed in black and drenched.  He holds her          high by the waist, twirls her around as they laugh.                                            TED (V.O.)                   Even when times weren't so good, we still                   laughed.                              INT. BEDROOM - NIGHT                    They are locked in each other's arms in the middle of          lovemaking and laughing heir heads off.                                            TED (V.O.)                   But most of all, we laughed when we felt                   closest to each other.                                                         DISSOLVE BACK TO:                              INT. CABIN - TED AND STELLA                                            TED                   That's our story.                    Passengers are standing.  They hiss and throw vege≠tables at          Ted.                              INT. COCKPIT                    Dunn checks a red flashing light on his panel.                                            DUNN                        (to Oveur)                   Sir, I've got an overload in disposal unit                   four.                                            OVEUR                   You better check on it, Mr. Dunn.  I'll                   stay here and fly the ship.                    Dunn gets up.                                            OVEUR                   Dunn.                                            DUNN                   Sir?                                            OVEUR                   You better take this.                    Oveur throws him a plunger and gives him a thumbs up.  They          exchange that "man must do what a man must do" smile.  Mary          enters with Jimmy Wilson -- carrying Scraps.                                            MARY                   Mind if Jimmy here takes a look around,                   Captain?                                            OVUER                   Of course not.  Come on in, Jimmy.                        (checking his navigational                         screen)                   That's strange.                    Simon leans over Oveur's shoulder.                                            SIMON                   Now what?                    Scraps looks at Oveur.  Jimmy looks at the array of dials,          etc.                                            OVEUR                   That's an asteroid field.  There shouldn't                   be anything like that in this sector                   unless...                    Scraps looks at Simon.                                            SIMON                   Unless?                    Scraps looks at Oveur.                                            OVEUR                   Unless those sunspots are interfering with                   our scanner or...                    Scraps looks at Simon.                                            SIMON                   Or?                    Scraps looks at Oveur.                                            OVEUR                   Or we're off course, but...                    Scraps looks at Simon.                                            SIMON                   But?                    Scraps looks at Oveur.                                            OVEUR                   But we couldn't be off course.  Our                   coordinates are computer-locked barring...                    Scraps looks at Simon.                                            SIMON                   Barring?                    Scraps looks at Oveur.                                            OVEUR                   Barring a computer failure.  There was                   talk of sub-par wiring in this ship.  I                   hope that's just talk.                    MUSIC:  DRAMATIC STING.                    Scraps' ears prick up.                    Simon moves past Jimmy, stops at the door and downs a          handful of anti-fear pills before leaving.                                            OVEUR                   Come on up, Jimmy.  Say, that's some                   puppy.  What's his name?                                            JIMMY                   Scraps.                                            OVEUR                   Can I hold him?                                            JIMMY                        (handing over Scraps)                   Sure.                                            OVEUR                        (holding him up and looking at                         his underbelly)                   He's a boy dog.                                            JIMMY                   Yeah.                                            OVEUR                   Do you like it when Scraps sleeps on his                   back, Jimmy?                              INT. CABIN                    Ted and Stella.  Stella is feeding her father and listening          to Ted.                                            TED                   They kept me in the asylum for eight                   months.  I know everyone in those places                   claims they're sane, but I was different,                   I was sane.                    Ted notices Unger float by outside his window.  ZOOM to          CLOSEUP of Ted.  He tries to take a drink and pours it on          his forehead.                              INT. BOWELS OF COMPUTER                    Elaine is fighting the fire with an extinguisher.  She gets          it out and looks at the burnt wires in the area labeled,          "ROK, MORAL CENTRE."  ZOOM to CLOSEUP of Elaine.  She turns          TO CAMERA.                                            ELAINE                   Holy shit.                    MUSIC:  DRAMATIC STING.                              INT. CABIN                                            STELLA                   Ted, I want you to relax.  Let your mind                   go back, back past your youth, past your                   childhood to your mother's womb.                    Ted becomes slightly hypnotized.  ZOOM to CLOSEUP of Ted.                    SUPER:  INT. WOMB                    A fetus that looks like Ted is curled up inside.                                            STELLA                   Try to remember your birth.  Was it                   difficult?                                            DOCTOR'S VOICE                   Striker, listen to me!  This is Doctor                   Krane!  You're twisted around, Striker.                   You've got to come out feet first!  You're                   too low in the womb!  You're too low,                   Striker!  You're...                        (fading)                   ... too low...                    LOSE SUPER                    Stella shakes Ted's arm.                                            STELLA                   Ted, are you okay?  Here, take one of                   these stress pills.                    Stella hands him a pill which he pops automatically, but          misses his face with his drink.  She leaves the bottle next          to Ted.  ZOOM on bottle.                    MUSIC:  DRAMATIC STING.                    Stella starts feeding her father again.  The ship jolts and          his face goes into the tray.                              INT. REAR OF SHIP - COMPUTER AREA                    Elaine fiddles with the computer.                                            ELAINE                        (to ROK)                   Request; comprehensive electrical systems                   check.                                            ROK                   Systems check positive.  Look, Elaine,                   I...                                            ELAINE                   Request; life support systems check.                                            ROK                   Life support check.  Elaine, it's obvious                   you've been ignoring me.  You're a woman.                   I can relate to that.                                            ELAINE                        (panicky and confused)                   Request; self-analysis of ROK hardware and                   software systems regarding behavioral                   changes.                                            ROK                   There's nothing wrong with me, Elaine.                   What about tonight -- just you and me.  We                   can be alone.  I can get rid of everyone                   else on the ship -- I've already proven                   that.                    Elaine gasps and moves away from ROK's blinking eye.                              INT. CABIN - FOOD SERVICE AREA                    Simon takes a long slug from a flask.  LOOSEN to FIND Jimmy          and Scraps.                                            JIMMY                   Do you want to talk about it, Commander?                              INT. CABIN OUTSIDE WASHROOM                    Dunn is about to enter with the plunger as Mary passes.  The          ship jolts and she falls into his arms.                                            DUNN                   Did you feel that?                                            MARY                        (looking at his pants)                   Yes I did...                                            DUNN                   Felt like a large asteroid.                                            MARY                   Yes it did.  Mr. Dunn, can I ask you a                   personal question?                                            DUNN                   What is it, Mary?                                            MARY                   Um...  Do you people scream right when                   you... you know.                    Dunn gives her a look and opens the washroom door.                              INT. WASHROOM                    Dunn is immediately pulled down to the raging toilet bowl.          He grabs for the door screaming.                              EXT. WASHROOM                    Mary hears the scream and gives a look as she leaves.                              INT. CABIN                    Testa is serving the Walters coffee from a steaming pot.                                            TESTA                   Hand me your cup.  This is very hot.                                            DAVE                   Thank you.  And, stewardess, can you                   please tell my wife that there is nothing                   that can go wrong.  I think she'd like to                   hear it from you.                    Testa spots Dunn's tattered sleeve emerge from the washroom          door, groping for a handhold.  She screams and dumps coffee          in Edith's face.  She runs to help Dunn, grabs his sleeve.          It comes off in her hands.  She keeps pulling.  His jacket          comes off, his pants, underwear, socks, an entire          clothesline of garments like bras, towels, etc.  She hears a          SCREAM.  Then silence.                              INT. COCKPIT                    Elaine and Oveur.  Elaine stands over his shoulder.                                            ELAINE                   I don't think we have any alternative,                   Captain.                                            OVEUR                   I see.  What do you think our alternatives                   are?                                            ELAINE                   We have to disconnect ROK's higher brain                   functions without disturbing his                   regulatory system.                              INSERT - ROK'S PULSATING EYE                              BACK TO SCENE                                            OVEUR                   Roger.                                            ELAINE                   You can do it from up here, Captain.                                            OVEUR                   I'd rather sit down for this one, Elaine.                                            ELAINE                   No, I mean you can do it from the cockpit.                                            OVEUR                   Roger.  You better get back there and                   monitor the regulatory unit.                    Elaine leaves and Mary enters.                                            MARY                   Captain, the coffee machine is jammed and                   I don't like it.                                            OVEUR                   Have you tried it with a little cinnamon?                    Mary gives a "why didn't I think of that" look.  Testa          enters.                                            TESTA                   Captain Oveur, Dunn and Unger have been                   sucked out through disposal unit four!                    Mary gasps.                                            OVEUR                   Both together?!                                            MARY/TESTA                   Dunn and Unger have been sucked out                   through disposal unit four!!                                            OVEUR                   All right, calm down.  Here's how we're                   going to play it.                    Mary and Testa look over his shoulder.  He has a basketball          play diagram.                                            OVEUR                   Mary, I want you here.  Testa, you move                   across here past Dawkins' pick and get the                   ball at the top of the key from Irving.                    They all clasp hands and "yell."                              EXT. SHIP - SPACE                    It careens through asteroids.                              INT. COCKPIT                    Oveur is pulling curcuit board from ROK panel.                              INSERT - PULSATING EYE                              BACK TO SCENE                                            ROK                   What are you doing, Captain?                    Oveur eyes ROK but keeps working.                                            ROK                   I wouldn't do that, Captain.                    Oveur continues.  Smoke spews out.  He hears a HISS and          looks at a vent.  He grabs his throat and collapses.                              EXT. SHIP - SPACE                    An asteroid bounces off hull.                              INT. CABIN                    Passengers scream.  Blonde woman in Viking helmet with spear          stands and screams operatically.                              INT. COCKPIT                    Simon enters and spots Oveur slumped in his seat.  He pulls          him up.                                            OVEUR                        (gasping)                   Pills...                        (points to his mouth)                   Pocket...                        (points to his pocket)                   Vent...                        (points to vent)                   Gas... Yankees... four...                        (points to RADIO that plays                         BALLGAME)                   Sox... zip...                    Simon rips open his coat, grabs pills and takes them himself          letting Oveur drop.  Simon looks down at the navigational          screen -- it resembles an old amusement parlor roadrace          game.                                            SIMON                        (to self)                   We're off course, heading right through                   that asteroid field and right at the... at                   the sun!                    The ship takes another violent shot.                              INT. CABIN                    The passengers are screaming.                              ANGLE ON FATHER O'FLANAGAN                    He stands in the aisle.                                            O'FLANAGAN                   Listen to me!  Listen to me, my children!                    They listen.                                            O'FLANAGAN                   Please listen.  Thank you, my children.                   I'm a man of God, you must trust me when I                   say... we're all going to die!!                    The passengers go totally insane.                              INT. MISSION CONTROL ROOM                    A number of Controllers group around a console.                                            O'BRIAN                   You're right.  They're off course and                   heading right for the sun.  I've seen                   enough, Bob.                    Controller 2 hits a switch and the console screen flips to          baseball game.                                            O'BRIAN                   Get me Jack McCrosky and fast!                                            CONTROLLER 3                   McCrosky?  He hasn't handled a tower in                   twenty years.                                            CONTROLLER 4                   Ever since Reagan fired the controllers,                   he's been completely senile and hasn't                   done a day's work.                                            O'BRIAN                   What about McCrosky?                                            CONTROLLER 3                   Pretty much the same as Reagan.                                            O'BRIAN                   Get him.                              INT. RETIREMENT HOME                    Two Nurses stand by a phone in a dormitory of beds.  Many          old men sleep or eat in bed.                                            NURSE                   It's for Mr. McCrosky.                                            NURSE 2                   Do you think we should bother him?  He's                   been acting a bit odd lately.                    They look to McCrosky (Lloyd Bridges).                              ANGLE ON McCROSKY                    He is in bed in scuba gear.                              ANGLE ON NURSES                                            NURSE 1                   He's fine.  He just thinks he's Lloyd                   Bridges.                    Nurse 1 takes the phone to McCrosky.  He is a lot older than          in "Airplane."                                            NURSE 1                   The phone's for you, Mr. McCrosky.                                            McCROSKY                   What's a phone?                                            NURSE 1                        (holding it to his ear)                   Here, let me help you.  I think it's the                   space centre.  Now, let's not get too                   excited.                                            McCROSKY                   What?                        (pause)                   What?                        (pulls off his scuba mask and                         snorkle)                   What?                        (gets more alert and grabs a                         cigarette)                   I'll be right down!                        (he hangs up and jumps out of                         bed)                   Looks like I picked the wrong time to go                   senile.                              INT. COCKPIT                    Simon is taking another slug of booze; Elaine enters.                                            ELAINE                   Simon!                        (she spots Oveur slumped on the                         panel)                   Captain Oveur!                    Elaine pulls him up.                                            OVEUR                        (still gasping)                   Mets... nine... Phils... three... Cubs...                   four...                    Elaine drops him and turns to Simon.                                            ELAINE                   Simon, what's happening?!                                            SIMON                   He tried to disconnect ROK.  It gassed                   him.  That computer is running this ship                   and we're heading right for the sun.                                            ELAINE                   Can't we change course?                                            SIMON                   We're computer locked and the manual                   navigation unit is down.                    Elaine looks at the floor.                                            ELAINE                   Then Ted was right!                                                                  ZOOM TO:                              CLOSEUP OF ELAINE                    for her realization.                              BACK TO SCENE                                            SIMON                   My career is shot.                                            ELAINE                   Your career!  What about the lives of                   those people out there.  Simon, what                   happened to the man I thought I loved?                    She goes to the door.                                            ELAINE                   I've got to get Ted.  Just don't come                   apart on me now, Simon.                    She leaves.  Simon's uniform starts bursting at the seams,          buttons pop off.                              INT. CABIN                    The Terrorists stop Elaine.  There's pandemonium in the          cabin.                                            TERRORIST 1                   This is flight to Miami, yes?                                            ELAINE                   No.                    Elaine addresses the PASSENGERS.                                            ELAINE                        (to passengers)                   Please, ladies and gentlemen, please calm                   down.  Listen to me!                    They calm down.                                            ELAINE                   We've been thrown off course just a tad.                                            PASSENGER                   What's that mean?                                            ELAINE                   In space terms, about 70 million miles.                    The Passengers appear interested and sensible, nod their          heads.                                            ELAINE                   The bumps you feel are car-sized asteroids                   smashing into the hull.                    The hood of a car smashes through the cabin wall.  The          Passengers still appear interested and sensible.                                            ELAINE                   Also, we're heading right for the sun and                   can't seem to change course.                    Passengers still appear interested and sensible.  They all          put on sunglasses.                                            PASSENGER                   Are you telling us everything?                                            ELAINE                   Not exactly.  We're also out of coffee.                    The Passengers errupt in total panic.                              ANGLE ON RED FLASHING "DON'T PANIC" SIGN                    It sparks, smokes, overheats and EXPLODES.                              ANGLE ON RED FLASHING "OKAY, PANIC" SIGN                    The passengers go insane.                              ANGLE ON FATHER O'FLANAGAN AND MRS. GOOCH                                            O'FLANAGAN                   Pray with me, my children.  Pray.                                            MRS. GOOCH                   But Father, I'm not Catholic.                                            O'FLANAGAN                   Then worship the god of your choice.                    Mrs. Gooch pulls out a fertility idol with a huge, erect          penis.                              ANGLE ON BOB AND MARY-JANE SMITH                                            BOB                   I've always loved you, darling.  I was                   unfaithful just once.  Remember Jill, my                   first secretary?  Forgive me.                                            MARY-JANE                   I knew all about it.  I was unfaithful                   once, too.                                            BOB                   That's all behind us now.                                            MARY-JANE                   Remember Harriet, your first receptionist?                    He gives her a look.                                            PASSENGER                   We're going to crash!!                                            TERRORIST 1                   God is great!!                                            TERRORIST 2                   Death to America!!                                            TERRORIST 3                   The yellow pencil is on the table of my                   aunt!!                              ANGLE ON ELAINE                                            ELAINE                   There is absolutely nothing to worry                   about!                              ANGLE ON RED FLASHING "BULLSHIT" SIGN                                            ELAINE                   Your crew is in complete control of the                   situation.                              ANGLE ON RED FLASHING "UNBELIEVABLE BULLSHIT" SIGN                              INT. MISSION CONTROL ROOM                    McCrosky bursts through the doors and heads to the monitors.          He wears a raincoat and shirt and tie.  He is met by          Controller 1.  They move across room.                                            McCROSKY                   Get me a cup of coffee, mister.                                            CONTROLLER 1                   Yes, sir.                                            McCROSKY                   And a gallon of milk of magnesia, and a                   ham on rye, no cheese!                                            CONTROLLER 1                   Yes, sir! Welcome home, sir!                    McCrosky takes off his raincoat revealing scuba tank.  He          takes off his tank as well.                                            CONTROLLER 2                        (approaching McCrosky)                   Here are the navigational charts, sir.                                            McCROSKY                   Thanks.                    Another Controller passes.  McCrosky stops him.                                            McCROSKY                   Get me a readout on their fuel capacity.                                            CONTROLLER 3                   Yes, sir.                                            CONTROLLER 4                   Here's all the available information on                   the sun.  That thing's hot, sir.                    McCrosky takes the info and burns his hand.                    SFX:  STEAM                                            McCROSKY                   Ahhhhhh!  Get me Bud Kruger immediately!                        (spotting Jacobs)                   Jacobs, I want to know absolutely                   everything that's happened up till now!                                            JACOBS                   First the earth cooled.  Then the                   dinosaurs came but were too big and died                   and everything got rotten and turned into                   oil and the Arabs bought Mercedes Benzs                   and then there was the best TV special on                   Judy Garland.  Then we lost the war with                   Albania.  Then...                    McCrosky leaves Jacobs babbling.                                            McCROSKY                   Things sure haven't changed.                    McCrosky stands in front of a huge painting of himself.          Both he and painting are in the same pose -- one hand          loosens the tie, he drinks coffee with the other, a          cigarette dangles from his lip.                              INT. CABIN - CLOSEUP OF TED                    He is lost in thought.  SUPER IMAGES:                    -- Ted getting electro-shock                    -- Psychiatrist telling him he's sick                    -- Ted building the "Close Encounters" mound                    Ted is shaken out of his dream by Elaine.                                            ELAINE                   Ted, Ted.  Listen to me, Ted.  You were                   right all along.  Ted, we've lost the crew                   and Simon's turned to jelly!                              INT. CABIN - ANOTHER ANGLE                    Simon is a jelly mold inside a uniform.                                            CONTROLLER 1 (V.O.)                        (on radio)                   Come in, Mayflower.  This is mission                   control.  Over.  Come in, Mayflower!                   Over!                    Jimmy pokes his head in.                                            JIMMY                   Do you want to talk about it now,                   Commander?                              INT. CABIN - ANOTHER ANGLE                     Elaine stands over Ted looking at the empty bottle of stress          pills.                                            ELAINE                   My God.                    Stella approaches in nurse's uniform splattered with blood.          A cigarette dangles from her lip.  She wipes her hands on a          blood-splattered towel.                                            STELLA                   He's finally come to terms with his own                   psychosis.                                            ELAINE                   But he was right!  He's not crazy!                                            STELLA                   Miss, I'm a nurse with a dying F-A-T-H-E-                   R, I know what I'm talking about.  Now I'm                   going to need fresh sheets, gauze, Q-tips,                   and all the vaseline you have on board!                   Now!                    Elaine leaves, looking back at Ted with empathy.  Mary          passes.                                            STELLA                        (to Mary)                   I'll need all the boiling water you can                   get your hands on!                    Mary leaves and a MAN passes holding a tattered arm.                                            MAN                   Are you a nurse?                                            STELLA                   Yes.                        (handing him a urine bottle)                   The washroom's down there on your right.                    The Man leaves, a quizzical look on his face.                                            STELLA                        (yelling after him)                   And not too much!                    A BLACK U.S. ARMY SERGEANT (imagine Jim Brown) approaches          Stella.                                            SERGEANT                   Can I help?                    Stella hands him an M-16.                                            STELLA                   Keep an eye on that side of the ship.                    The Sergeant drops into a seat next to a window, smashes out          the glass with his rifle butt and is immediately sucked out.                     MARY moves down the aisle with a cart collecting boiling          water.                                            MARY                        (to passengers)                   I'll need all your boiling water.                    Passengers pull pots of boiling water from under their          seats, handbags, coat pockets, and pour them into the          passing container.                    Testa reassures Bob and Alice Wilson.                                            TESTA                   We should be out of this momentarily.                   There's nothing to worry about.                                            ALICE                   Thank you.  That makes me feel so much                   better.                    Testa leaves and Father O'Flanagan approaches with last          rites paraphernalia.                                            O'FLANAGAN                   Trust me, I'm a priest.  We're in shit up                   to our ears.  Who wants last rites?                              ANGLE ON TEXAN                    He is now completely entangled in the tfilin and struggles          to free himself.                              ANGLE ON ELAINE                    Elaine passes Ted carrying sheets, vaseline, etc.  She looks          at him sitting there in a fog, gives up and leaves.  Ted          looks at the red flashing "FASTEN YOUR SEATBELTS" sign.  It          takes him back.                                                              DISSOLVE TO:                              EXT. GROUNDS OF MENTAL HOSPITAL - DAY                    SFX:  SIRENS WAIL, 101 BLOODHOUNDS BAY                    We see the hospital deep in b.g. across an expansive lawn.          Suddenly Ted's face pops INTO FRAME, CLOSEUP.  He looks both          ways and bolts.  He wears a straightjacket.                              ANGLE ON HOSPITAL SIGN                    "THE GERALD FORD INSTITUTE FOR THE MENTALLY FEEBLE -- WE          MAKE PEOPLE SANE THE OLD FASHION WAY"                    Suddenly the dogs scramble INTO FRAME in front of the sign,          slobbering.  A half-dozen viscious-looking GUARDS in          reflector shades with shotguns, whips, nets, cattle prods,          follow.                                            GUARD ONE                        (Southern accent)                   Damn!  I want that patient shot on sight!                              INT. SEEDY HOTEL ROOM - NIGHT                    SUPER:  CHICAGO                    Ted stands at window.  A neon "BAR" sign flashes outside so          close to the window that the only way to read it is to rent          this room.                    SFX:  MUSIC - LAZY SAX                                            TED                   Maybe you gotta be crazy to end up behind                   the eight ball like this.  Anyway, you                   find out pretty fast who your friends are                   when you're on the lamb.                    SFX:  LAMB BLEATS FROM OTHER SIDE OF ROOM                    Ted turns away from the window and passes the lamb in bed.                                            TED                        (to lamb)                   I'm going out for cigarettes and a fifth                   of bourbon.  Don't wait up for me.                    SFX:  COMPLAINING BLEAT.                    Ted grabs his straightjacket and leaves.                                            TED                   Virgin wool.  Nothin' but headaches.                    A Bo Peep staff is flung against door as it closes behind          him.                              EXT. CITY STREET - NIGHT                    an empty, spotless, wet street.  One car parked under a          street lamp.                    SFX:  BLOODHOUNDS APPROACH AND GO OFF INTO DISTANCE                                            TED (V.O.)                   I travelled at night in the shadows.  I                   didn't want to attract attention.                    SFX:  FOOTSTEPS, GARBAGE CANS BEING KNOCKED OVER, CATS          SCREAMING, PEOPLE YELLING "SHUT UP" OUT WINDOWS, GLASS          BREAKING.                                            TED (V.O.)                   I was afraid to step out of the doorways.                   You never know what to expect when you're                   on the run.                    Ted steps into light.  GLORIA STEINAM passes with CAB          CALAWAY.  A grand PIANO SMASHES to pavement next to Ted.  He          ignores piano and gives Gloria and Cab a quizzical look.                    SFX:  DOGS IN DISTANCE                              CLOSEUP - TED'S FEET                    He steps in a puddle where a "BAR-COCKTAILS" sign is          reflected.  The reflection shatters.                    A streetcleaning truck approaches spewing out garbage rather          than water.  Ted's ankles are sprayed with garbage.  He          bends down and picks up a wet matchbook -- "HARRY'S PLACE --          FOR A GOOD TIME."                                                                   CUT TO:                              EXT. ANOTHER DARK STREET - CLOSEUP OF TED                    standing, looking at a bar.  The glow of flashing neon sign          reflects off his face.  He pulls out a cigarette.  A woman's          hand shoots INTO FRAME holding a lit zippo.  Ted draws          deeply on the cigarette.                                            TED (V.O.)                   There I was, minding my own business when                   I looked up and saw a pair of legs that                   went forever.                              ANGLE ON WOMAN'S FEET                    PAN UP AND UP AND UP.  She is all legs -- no torso, no head,          just legs -- about two stories high.                                            TED (V.O.)                   But I had a date with Harry's.  It was                   little more than a hole in a wall on the                   south side of Chicago.                              ANGLE ON A HOLE                    bashed in the side of a brick wall.  A neon sign over the          hole reads, "HARRY'S GOODTIME BAR."                              INT. HARRY'S                    dark, smokey bar.  PAN very tough faces standing along the          bar.                                            TED (V.O.)                   Harry's was perfect for me.  The kind of                   place you go if you don't want to be                   recognized.                    KEEP PANNING tough faces, but now they all wear Groucho          glasses and noses.                                            TED (V.O.)                   It was rough, real rough.                              ANGLE ON POOL TABLE                    with four players -- all have broken thumbs in casts.                                            TED (V.O.)                   The kind of place you could score                   anything, from junk...                    One guy hands another guy a large, rusted car fender for          money.                                            TED (V.O.)                   ...to Phil Donahue's book.                    PHIL DONAHUE signs a stack of books at a table.                                            TED (V.O.)                   At Harry's you could count on a fight                   breaking out almost every night.                    TWO PROFESSORS argue at a table.                                            PROFESSOR 1                   And I say essence precedes existence.                                            PROFESSOR 2                   You're crazy!  Existence precedes essence.                                            PROFESSOR 1                   Essence!                                            PROFESSOR 2                   Existence!                    Professor 2 slugs Professor 1 sending him flying across the          room.  Professor 1 gets up and throws a judo chop which          Professor 2 stops by holding a book up in both hands.  The          book splits in two like a piece of wood split by a karate          chop.                                            TED (V.O.)                   There was a small trio in one corner.                    Two midgets play light jazz -- piano and bass.                                            TED (V.O.)                   And a larger trio in the other corner.                    Five 300-pound musicians play some tune in another corner.                              ANGLE ON TED AT BAR - CLOSEUP OF TED                    He pulls out a cigarette.  A bare foot with zippo held in          toes comes INTO FRAME and lights it.                                            TED                   The last thing I wanted was Elaine to see                   me down on my luck.  Well, it was just my                   luck.  In she walked with a group from the                   space program.                              ANGLE ON DOOR                    Elaine and Simon and two other couples, who look like clean-          cut NASA types out of "The Right Stuff," walk in laughing          and take a table.                                            TED (V.O.)                   They'd come to Harry's to slum it and try                   their hand at the video bull.                    The group prod Elaine to try the bull.  A cowboy hat flies          across the room.  She grabs it, pulls it on, and moves to          the bull which is surrounded by others in cowboy hats.          Elaine hops in the saddle.  A sinister character puts a          quarter in and madly flips knobs.                    SFX:  VIDEO GAME                    The saddle doesn't move -- all the action is on the screen          but Elaine throws one hand back and kicks her legs.                                            TED (V.O.)                   Elaine made that ride look easy.  It was                   obvious why I was still nuts about her.                   She loved life.  I didn't want her to                   notice me so I borrowed a pair of dark                   glasses.                    Ted takes a pair of dark glasses off a passing blind man who          walks perfectly until the glasses are gone, then starts          stumbling and crashes over a table.                                            TED (V.O.)                   Grabbed an alto sax and joined the group.                    Ted takes an alto sax from a passerby who also stumbles and          crashes over a table when he loses his sax.                                            TED (V.O.)                   I stayed in the background not wanting to                   draw attention to myself.                    Everyone looks around trying to see where the terrible          grating sax sound is coming from.                                            TED (V.O.)                   Then what happened?  Elaine's crowd talks                   her into joining us for a song.                    Elaine hops up on the stage, grabs a mike and starts to sing          "Stormy Weather."  She sidles up to Ted and goes into a          medley of old songs.                                                              DISSOLVE TO:                              HOURS LATER                    Elaine's singing is just as bad as Ted's sax.  They have          cleared the joint and play and sing alone.  Elaine's group          finally pull her out.  She hasn't recognized Ted.                                            ELAINE                        (to Ted)                   I don't know who you are or how you lost                   your sight, but I'll never forget this                   night as long as I live.                    PULL BACK leaving Ted alone on the stage still playing.          Chairs are turned up on tables.  One table has chairs turned          up with the people still sitting in the chairs.                                                         DISSOLVE BACK TO:                              EXT. COCKPIT - TED                    getting a glass of water outside cockpit door.                              ANGLE ON COCKPIT DOOR                    Simon emerges.  As the door opens we hear:                                            CONTROLLER 1 (O.S.)                   Come in, Mayflower.  Over!                    Simon shuts the door and bumps into Ted who is getting a          drink of water.  Simon takes a drink of booze.                                            SIMON                   Striker.                                            TED                   Kurtz, you're drunk.  Who's in command of                   this ship?                                            SIMON                   That damn computer has taken over.  I'm                   getting out.                                            TED                   Then Elaine was right.                                            SIMON                   Don't talk to me about Elaine.  Outta my                   way!                                            TED                        (grabbing Simon)                   Pull yourself together!  We've got to...                    Simon slugs Ted who falls into a corner and hits his head.          ZOOM TO CLOSEUP of Ted unconscious.                    SFX:  MUSIC - DRAMATIC STING                    The ship takes another violent jolt.                              EXT. SHIP - SPACE                    It roars through the asteroid field.                              INT. WASHROOM                    Simon sits on toilet seat and slides open a wall panel.                              INT. ADJACENT WASHROOM                    Father O'Flanagan slides open an adjacent wall panel and          sits down.                              SPLIT SCREEN - THE TWO WASHROOMS                                            SIMON                   Father, what should I do?                                            O'FLANAGAN                   Have you considered suicide, my son?                    A panel on the other side of Simon slides open.                                            JIMMY (V.O.)                   Do you want to talk about it now,                   Commander?                              INT. MISSION CONTROL                                            McCROSKY                        (holding radio mike)                   Come in, Mayflower.  Over.  Do you read                   me?  Over.  Damnit!                    McCrosky throws the mike down.                                            CONTROLLER 1                        (taking mike)                   Let me try, sir.  Come in, Mayflower.                   Over.  Come in.  Over.  Damnit!                    Controller 1 throws the mike even harder.                                            CONTROLLER 2                        (taking mike)                   Let me try, sir.  Come in.  Over.  Damnit!                    Controller 2 smashes the mike through the monitor screen.                                            CONTROLLER 3                   Let me try, sir.                    Controller 3 smashes the monitor with an axe.  Controller 4          smashes the monitor with an electric guitar.  Other          Controllers line up for their turns with various heavy          implements.                              ANGLE ON McCROSKY                                            McCROSKY                        (to Controller 5)                   Stinson, have you contacted the families                   of the passengers and crew?                    McCrosky looks out window.                              INSERT - MOB SCENE FROM "THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME"                              BACK TO SCENE                                            McCROSKY                   Try and calm them down.  And for God sake,                   be diplomatic.                    Stinson turns to two burly men in leather jerkins and black          hoods.  They hold a large caldron of molten lead next to          window.                                            CONTROLLER 5                   Give 'em the lead!                    They pour it out.                    SFX:  MOB SCREAMS                              EXT. SHIP - SPACE                    It careens through the asteroid field towards the sun.                              INT. CABIN                    Ted lies unconscious.                    SFX:  MUSIC - DRAMATIC STING                              ANGLE ON STELLA                    She's doing her rounds -- takes a medical chart from the          back of a seat.                                            STELLA                        (to a male passenger)                   I'm afraid that leg's going to have to                   come off.                    A leg is passed to her from OUT OF FRAME.  She takes it while          still looking at the chart.                                            STELLA                   Wait.  This isn't your chart.  You just                   had a touch of air sickness.                        (handing him back his leg)                   You'll be fine.                    A WOMAN sitting next to the MAN WHO IS HOLDING HIS LEG grabs          Stella.                                            WOMAN                   I'm terrified.                                            STELLA                        (shakes her hand)                   And I'm a nurse.  Everything will be okay.                   Pass it on.                    The Man with the leg passes it to the passenger in seat          behind.                                            MAN WITH LEG                   Everything will be okay.  Pass it on.                    The leg gets passed from seat to seat as passengers say,          "Everything will be okay.  Pass it on."                              CLOSEUP OF TED                    lying unconscious in a corner.  A puppy crawls INTO FRAME          and starts licking his face.  LOOSEN TO FIND Jimmy standing          over Ted.  Ted comes to, feels his jaw and pulls himself up.          The ship jolts.                                            JIMMY                   Are you feeling okay, mister?                                            TED                   I'm feeling just fine, son.  Just fine.                    Ted pushes by Jimmy, a look of great purpose on his face.                              INT. COCKPIT                    Elaine enters looking for Simon.                                            ELAINE                   Simon, I...                    The cockpit is empty.                                            CONTROLLER 1 (V.O.)                   Do you read, Mayflower?  Over.  This is                   mission control.  Over.                    Elaine gasps.  She leaps into the Captain's seat and grabs          radio.                                            ELAINE                   Hello.  This is the Mayflower.  Over!                   Come in, anyone.                              INT. MISSION CONTROL                    Controllers are gathered around one monitor.                                            McCROSKY                        (on radio)                   We read you, Mayflower!  Identify yourself                   and give your position.                              INT. COCKPIT                                            ELAINE                   This is Elaine Thompson.  I'm five-six,                   123 pounds with brown hair and I'm sitting                   down and facing the front.                              INT. MISSION CONTROL                                            McCROSKY                   Elaine Thompson!!  What in sam hill is a                   woman doing in charge of that ship?!                                            JACOBS                   Maybe she's got her shit together.                              INT. COCKPIT                    Ted enters.                                            TED                   Elaine!                                            ELAINE                   Ted!                                            TED                   Elaine, what's going on?                                            ELAINE                   Ted, there's no time to explain.                    Ted picks up Oveur who is still gasping.                                            OVEUR                   Packers... seven... Vikings... three...                    Ted drags him onto the floor and takes his seat.                                            McCROSKY (V.O.)                   Come in, Mayflower!  Over!                                            ELAINE                   Ted, I was wrong about you.                    They reach out and hold hands.                                            McCROSKY (V.O.)                   Come in!  Over!  Come in!  Over!                                            TED                   We all make mistakes, Elaine.                                            McCROSKY (V.O.)                   Come in Mayflower!                                            ELAINE                   How could I ever have doubted you?                                            McCROSKY (V.O.)                   This is mission control!  Over!                                            TED                   That's all behind us now, Elaine.  And no                   matter what happens, I want you to know                   I've always loved you.                                            McCROSKY (V.O.)                   Jesus, would someone answer me!!                                            ELAINE                   I love you, Ted.                    They smile at each other.                                            McCROSKY (V.O.)                   What the hell's going on up there?!                    Ted and Elaine still smile at each other.                              INT. CABIN                    All passengers look forward and smile.                              INT. MISSION CONTROL                    All Controller's look down the line and smile.                              EXT. TOWN SQUARE - RIO MONTENEGRO                    Six soldiers on firing squad duty, ready to fire, turn,          smile, and FIRE while they're smiling.                    SFX:  SHOTS, SCREAMS                              INT. COCKPIT                    Ted grabs the radio.                                            ELAINE                        (smiling lovingly)                   Ted, this reminds me of twenty years ago                   over Chicago.                    Ted hits a switch.  The ship does a barrel roll.                              INT. CABIN                    All we see are feet sticking up from the seats.                              INT. COCKPIT                                            TED                        (on radio)                   This is Mayflower One calling mission                   control.  Do you read me?  Over.                              INT. MISSION CONTROL                                            McCROSKY                   A man.  Now that's more like it.                        (continuing on radio)                   This is mission control.  Identify                   yourself and give me your position.  Over.                              INT. COCKPIT                                            TED                        (on radio)                   The name's Ted Striker and I'm sitting                   down and facing the front.                              INT. MISSION CONTROL                                            McCROSKY                        (trying to place the name)                   Striker... Striker... Striker...                                            CONTROLLER 3                   If you say so.                    He slugs the female worker next to him.                                            McCROSKY                        (remembering)                   Ted Striker!                    SFX:  RADIO STATIC.                                            McCROSKY                   Damn!  We've lost them again.                                            CONTROLLER 1                   Could be those sunspots.                                            JACOBS                   Could be your dishwashing detergent.                                            McCROSKY                   Striker's the guy who flew that 736 into                   Chicago over 20 years ago without a crew.                   Would someone tell me what in sam hill                   he's doing up there?                                            JACOBS                        (waving his hand in the air)                   Me!  Me!  Me!                              ANGLE ON MISSION CONTROL DOORS                    They are swinging aluminum doors similar to restaurant          kitchens and hospital operating rooms.  Kruger and the          Commissioner enter through one door.                                            COMMISSIONER                   The boys downtown are taking the heat from                   the boys in Washington and the boys...                    They PASS OUT OF FRAME.  A waiter with tray passes them and          leaves through the swing doors.                    SFX:  CRASHING DISHES                    Two surgeons in operating gowns and masks enter covered in          food.                    We PICK UP Kruger and the Commissioner still walking and          talking.                                            COMMISSIONER                   Bud, the President wants an explanation.                    They approach McCrosky.                                            McCROSKY                   Sorry to pull you out of bed at this hour,                   gentlemen.                                            KRUGER                   Forget it.  I was reading.                                            COMMISSIONER                   I was reading too.                                            KRUGER                   What's the story?                                            COMMISSIONER                   Some southern plantation owner falls in                   love with this poor...                                            KRUGER                   I was asking McCrosky, Commissioner.                                            McCROSKY                   He falls in love with this poor school                   teacher who...                    A CONTROLLER interrupts them.                                            CONTROLLER                        (to McCrosky)                   Sir, we've restored radio transmission.                                            McCROSKY                   Good.                        (to Kruger)                   We keep losing their radio.                                            KRUGER                   Give it to me straight, McCrosky -- what's                   it look like.                                            McCROSKY                   It's green with numbers and lots of knobs.                                            KRUGER                   Not the radio, the situation.  I want to                   know exactly what your people think.                    PAN three Controllers at monitors.                                            CONTROLLER 1 (V.O.)                        (thinking)                   They're screwed.                                            CONTROLLER 2 (V.O.)                        (thinking)                   They're dead.                                            CONTROLLER 3 (V.O.)                        (thinking)                   Did I leave the iron on?                              INT. CABIN                    The ship lurches from side to side.                    Stella, covered in blood, kneels beside BILLY, a young man          bandaged head to toe, lying on a stretcher with lots of I.V.          bottles hanging around him.  A U.S. ARMY GENERAL stands next          to him -- imagine General Patton.                                            STELLA                   General Walker is here, Billy.  He wants                   to talk to you.                                            GENERAL WALKER                   Billy, if we get through this thing alive,                   I'd like you to get this letter to my                   mother.                    He hands Billy a letter.                              INT. COCKPIT                    Elaine is monitoring various dials.  Ted is at controls and          on the radio.                                            TED                        (on radio)                   An electrical fire in the core has played                   havoc with the ROK-4000 computer.  It's                   locked us on a direct line with the sun                   and there's no way we can go to manual.                   Captain Oveur already tried it and he's...                                            OVEUR (O.S.)                        (from floor)                   Giants sixty... Rams... zip...                                            TED                   ... become an intolerable bore.  The rest                   of the crew has been lost ≠and we're out of                   coffee.  Also, we're starting to feel the                   sun's heat pretty bad.                    Striker wipes his forehead.  Elaine holds a tan reflector up          to her face and turns to the sun.                              INT. CABIN                    Passengers sweat profusely.                    SFX:  JUNGLE SOUNDS.                    A MAN slaps a mosquito on the back of his neck.                    FOUR MEN sit nude to the waist, wrapped in towels as if in a          steam bath.                                            MAN ONE                   It's eight-thousand square feet with great                   parking and a twenty-year lease with                   option to buy.                                            MAN TWO                   You can't lose, Al.                                            MAN THREE                   He can lose.  I've seen it happen a                   thousand times.                              EXT. SHIP - SPACE                    It shoots towards sun.                              INT. MISSION CONTROL                    McCrosky sits at a monitor, talks into a mike and looks down          at a book.  Behind him two Controllers make a dope deal -- a          baggie of grass for cash.  We only see their midsections and          hands.                                            McCROSKY                   Striker, this is Jack McCrosky, chief                   controller.  I want you to listen to me and                   listen good.                    The buyer checks out the baggie -- it's mostly twigs.  The          seller is trying to explain the situation with his hands.                                            McCROSKY                   Twenty years ago I helped a young pilot                   through a storm over Chicago.                    The buyer grabs the seller's shirt and tries to get cash          back.  A fight ensues.                                            McCROSKY                   He didn't have a crew either.  He said he                   couldn't do it.  But when the going got                   tough that kid pulled it together.                    The seller's shirt is ripped.  Knives are pulled.                                            McCROSKY                   You might have read about him; he made all                   the big papers and the Canadian Jewish                   News.                    The seller is stabbed.                                            McCROSKY                   I don't know where he is today but if he                   was up there right now, I know he'd find                   some way to turn that bucket around and                   get the hell out of there, pronto!                              ANGLE ON JACOBS                                            JACOBS                   I wish I could talk like that -- so macho                   yet so sensitive.                              ANGLE ON McCROSKY'S BOOK - "PEP TALKS FOR ALL OCCASIONS"                    McCrosky slams it shut.                                            McCROSKY                   I just hope I said the right thing.                                            TED (V.O.)                   I'm afraid you gave the wrong speech.                   McCrosky.  I'm not your problem.  It's                   this ship.  That computer's gone bananas.                                            McCROSKY                        (holding up the book)                   Why the hell are we still using the old                   manual!  Burn this book!                    A smiling blonde man in a white sweater with "MORAL          MAJORITY" on the front walks by and takes the book.                                            McCROSKY                        (on radio)                   Just hold on, Striker, we'll get back to                   you.                              INT. COCKPIT                    Ted writes a note to Elaine and hands it to her -- it reads,          "WE MUST FIND SOME WAY TO BLOW THAT COMPUTER!"  Elaine looks          a bit nervous and licks her lip.  They look up at ROK's          pulsating eye.                    Testa pokes her head in.  She's soaked with sweat.                                            TESTA                   The cabin temperature is rising.  The                   passengers want to know what's happening                   up here.                                            TED                   Let us handle this end of things.  Now                   what's the coffee situation?                                            TESTA                   It just won't drip!  I've tried                   everything.  And the passengers are                   dropping like flies from the heat.                              INT. CABIN                    SFX:  FLIES BUZZING                    Passengers reel and drop to floor.                              INT. COCKPIT                                            TED                   Elaine, I'm going back there.  Just hold                   onto that stick and try to control this                   hunk of tin as best you can.                                            ELAINE                   Ted, please be careful.                    Ted leaves.  We hear an enormous CRASH on the other side of          the door.                              INT. MISSION CONTROL                    JOE DIMAGGIO (MR. COFFEE), drinking a cup of coffee, rushes          in accompanied by a GROUND CONTROL OFFICER.                                            OFFICER                        (to Joe)                   It doesn't look good.  The drip seems to                   be jammed up pretty bad.                                            MR. COFFEE                   Did they change the filter and wait for                   the brew sign to light up?                                            OFFICER                        (stopping and looking Mr.                         Coffee in the eye)                   To tell you the truth, sir, I don't really                   know.                    MUSIC:  DRAMATIC STING.                              ANGLE ON SIX CONTROLLERS                    One holds a hat, one pulls a slip of paper from it.                                            CONTROLLER 3                        (reading his slip)                   Eighty-three.  What's that mean?                                            CONTROLLER WITH HAT                   If eighty-three passengers die, you win                   the two hundred bucks.                              ANGLE ON MR. COFFEE AND OFFICER                    They approach McCrosky.                                            OFFICER                   Mr. McCrosky, Mr. Coffee.  Coffee,                   McCrosky.                                            McCROSKY                   Thanks for coming down so soon.                                            MR. COFFEE                        (checking watch)                   I won't come down for another couple                   hours.                                            McCROSKY                   I'll put you on the radio with Striker.                   Jeez you look familiar.  Did you ever play                   water polo?                                            MR. COFFEE                   Not to my knowledge.                                            McCROSKY                   I thought so.                              EXT. SHIP - SPACE                    It roars towards the sun.  The nose of the ship begins to          glow red.                    NEWSPAPER HEADLINES SPIN:                                           NEW YORK TIMES                      "MERCURY SHUTTLE HEADS FOR DISASTER"                                            LONDON TIMES                           "DEEP SPACE DEATH CERTAIN"                                           JERUSALEM POST                 "THEY SHOULDN'T HAVE GONE IN THE FIRST PLACE"                              BUFFALO LOCAL NEWS SET                    FILM INSET:  APARTMENT FIRE                    Set logo reads, "NEWS 4 BUFFALO."                                            ANCHOR 1                   Four alarm fire rages through downtown                   Buffalo!                    FILM INSET:  ROCKET GOING OFF COURSE                                            ANCHOR 2                   Mercury shuttle heads for sun.                              TOKYO LOCAL NEWS SET                    FILM INSET:  APARTMENT FIRE                    Set logo reads, "NEWS 4 TOKYO"                                            ANCHOR 1                        (subtitles)                   Four alarm fire guts Tokyo apartment.                    FILM INSET:  SHUTTLE MODEL IN MOUTH OF GODZILLA.                    SFX:  SCREAMS.                                            ANCHOR 2                        (subtitles)                   Mercury mission in death struggle.                              MOSCOW LOCAL NEWS SET                    FILM INSET:  APARTMENT FIRE                    Set logo reads, "NEWS 3 MOSCOW."  A gun is held to          ANCHORMAN'S head.                                            ANCHOR 1                        (subtitles)                   Four alarm fire in downtown Moscow clears                   way for glorious new tractor factory.                    FILM INSET:  ROCKET GOING OFF COURSE                                            ANCHOR 2                        (subtitles)                   Capitalist, imperialist adventurism ends                   in space disaster.                              ABC "NIGHTLINE"                    SUPER:  "GAY UNMARRIED VEGETARIAN MOTHERS AGAINST SPACE          TRAVEL"                                            WOMAN                   If this country was run by vegetarian                   women who's old men deserted them after                   knocking them up instead of by meat-eating                   males, this thing never would have                   happened.                              EXT. TERMINAL - DAY                    A banner hangs over terminal door:  "HOUSTON WELCOMES SPACE          DISASTER PRESS."                    CLOSEUP OF ATTACHE CASE being carried to the door -- sticker          on it reads, "NATIONAL ENQUIRER."                    CLOSEUP OF ANOTHER CASE coming from other direction --          sticker on it reads, "NATIONAL STAR."                    The cases meet.  LOOSEN to REPORTERS.                                            ENQUIRER                        (to STAR)                   I never forget a face.  'Texas doctor                   claims sex with chicken cures baldness?'                                            STAR                   'Severed legs grow back after Utah man                   finds Christ?'                                            ENQUIRER/STAR                   Long time no see.                    They shake hands and turn into the terminal.                              INT. MISSION CONTROL                    Controllers stand over Mr. Coffee -- everyone sips coffee          and smokes cigarettes.                                            MR. COFFEE                        (on radio)                   Have you got the back panel off the brew                   manifold?                              INT. CABIN                    Ted has the coffee machine apart, wears a headset and holds          wires in pliars.  Anxious passengers with coffee cups stand          over him -- they are all totally wired and going cold          turkey.                                            TED                        (into headset)                   Check.                                            MR. COFFEE (V.O.)                   There's a terminal at the base of the                   coil.  That's your contact point.                    A PASSENGER bends down and picks a coffee bean off the          floor.                                            PASSENGER                   Is this a coffee bean?                                            ALL PASSENGERS                        (maniacally)                   He's got a bean!!                    A riot ensues.  The "bean" Passenger is beaten to death.                                            TED                        (into headset)                   It looks like the solder point has melted.                              INT. MISSION CONTROL                                            MR. COFFEE                        (enraged)                   Just what I thought.  When the hell will                   you people realize that adding extra water                   after the initial brew cycle overheats the                   system!!  Now listen to me, Striker, and                   listen good.                              EXT. SHIP - SPACE                    It careens towards the sun.                              INT. MISSION CONTROL                    Detective Hallick storms in and up to McCrosky.  He flashes          his badge.                                            DETECTIVE HALLICK                   Who's in charge here, Mister?                                            McCROSKY                   McCrosky, Control.                                            DETECTIVE HALLICK                   Hallick, homicide.                                            JACOBS                   Jacobs, Pisces.                                            KRUGER                   Kruger, Sagittarius.                                            COMMISSIONER                   Commissioner, Aquarius.                                            DETECTIVE HALLICK                   We have information that one of your                   passengers is carrying a bomb and might be                   suicidal.                                            McCROSKY                   Where'd you get this information, Captain?                                            DETECTIVE HALLICK                   We have our methods.                                            KRUGER                   And what methods are those?                                            DETECTIVE HALLICK                   Have you heard of the Heimlich method?                                            McCROSKY                   The method of saving someone choking on a                   piece of gristle?                                            DETECTIVE HALLICK                   Exactly.                                            KRUGER/McCROSKY/COMMISSIONER                   We're familiar with it.                                            DETECTIVE HALLICK                   Good.  This is the passenger's wife.  Mrs.                   Joe Salucci.                    She approaches very distressed looking.                                            McCROSKY                   What makes you think your husband might                   want to blow up that shuttle, ma'am?                    She goes into her purse for the insurance form.                                            MRS. SALUCCI                   This insurance policy.                    A large ivory colored vibrator drops out of her purse, hits          the floor, and flips on.  They all look at it.                                            MRS. SALUCCI                   An electric tooth.                        (handing McCrosky the insurance                         form)                   Joey was supposed to go to Des Moines for                   an operation to cure his impotence.                                            McCROSKY                   The Des Moines Institute?                                            MRS. SALUCCI                   Then you know it.                                            KRUGER/McCROSKY/COMMISSIONER                   Yes, we're familiar with it.                                            MRS. SALUCCI                   Well, I found out Joey got on this shuttle                   instead and...                                            DETECTIVE HALLICK                   The way I read it, blowin' up a plane in                   space leaves no traces, if you know what I                   mean.                                            KRUGER                   I'm not exactly sure what you mean,                   Captain.                                            DETECTIVE HALLICK                   No blood.  No body.  No bones.  No eyes.                   No ears.  No throats.                                            McCROSKY                        (looking at form)                   This is $500,000 worth of insurance!                    Kruger, Commissioner, and Hallick all whistle "wow!"                                            McCROSKY                   Just a second.  This is insurance on his                   car!                                            MRS. SALUCCI                   That's what worries me.                                            KRUGER                   He's impotent.                                            COMMISSIONER                   He's suicidal.                                            ALL                   And he's stupid!                    MUSIC:  DRAMATIC STING.                              ANOTHER AREA                                            MR. COFFEE                        (into radio)                   This is it, Striker.  You got one shot and                   one shot only.                              INT. CABIN                    Striker stands over the coffee machine, sweating like mad.          The Passengers with cups hang over him. He makes contact          with a wire.                                            TED                        (to self)                   Contact.                    The MACHINE EXPLODES.  Coffee gushes out like an oil well          coming in.  The Passengers dance under the gusher of brown          liquid, mouths open and cheering.                              INT. MISSION CONTROL                                            McCROSKY                   How are we going to handle this bomb nut?                                            CONTROLLER 2                        (rushes up with printouts)                   Here are the tests we ran on their                   computer.  I had them ≠xeroxed for you.                                            McCROSKY                   How'd they come out?                                            CONTROLLER 2                   Upside-down, but I turned each page over                   and put them in order.  I'm afraid that                   computer is totally capable of taking                   control of that ship.                                            McCROSKY                   Let's keep cool.  There's gotta be a way                   to control it.                    He lights a cigarette.                                            CONTROLLER 3                        (rushes up with diagrams)                   These are their position calculations.                   They've got about ten minutes before they                   start to burn up.                                            McCROSKY                   Keep calm.  A lot can happen in ten                   minutes.                        (to self)                   What next?                    He sips his coffee.                                            CONTROLLER 4                        (rushes in)                   Sir, your headlights are on and your doors                   are locked!                                            McCROSKY                        (spitting out coffee, Danny                         Thomas style)                   Jesus!!  I'll be right back!                    McCrosky races out.                              EXT. SHIP - SPACE                    It heads closer to the sun.  The nose is glowing.                              INT. COCKPIT                    Elaine is checking computer.  The cockpit is steaming now.          She unbuttons her uniform just as Ted comes in.                                            ELAINE                   Ted, we've only got ten minutes.                                            TED                        (thinking she wants sex)                   Not now, Elaine.                                            ELAINE                   I mean until we start to burn up.                    Ted takes his seat and looks at a panel gauge.                                            TED                   We're closer to the sun than I estimated.                              INSERT - GAUGES                    One is labeled "EXACT DISTANCE" and reads, "76.50".  The          other is labeled "ESTIMATED DISTANCE" and reads,          "5689465932.09".                              BACK TO SCENE                                            KRUGER (V.O.)                   Come in, Mayflower.  This is Bud Kruger.                   Over.                                            TED                        (on radio)                   This is Striker.                              INT. MISSION CONTROL                                            KRUGER                        (on radio)                   Look, Striker, I don't know how you got                   into that driver's seat but I want Simon                   Kurtz on that radio and I want him now!                              INT. COCKPIT                                            TED                        (on radio)                   Kurtz was the one who got us into this                   mess in the first place.  You people knew                   this ship wasn't ready to fly.  You played                   God with over a hundred lives, Kruger, and                   for what -- the prestige of your precious                   space program.                                            ELAINE                   That was very well put, Ted.                              INT. MISSION CONTROL                    Jacobs stands next to Kruger rubbing his forefingers          together in the "shame, shame" sign.                                            KRUGER                        (on radio)                   Striker, you're heading right for the sun,                   so don't you think it's a little late for                   that bleeding heart liberal crap now?                              INT. COCKPIT                                            ELAINE                   He's got a point, Ted.                              INT. CONTROL ROOM - ANGLE ON JACOBS AT A SCOREBOARD                    There are columns under Kruger's and Striker's names.          Striker has two check marks.  Jacobs gives Kruger one.                              INT. COCKPIT                                            TED                        (on radio)                   Call me a bleeding heart, but if we get                   through this thing I'm preparing a paper                   on alternative spending directives                   recommending the transfer of space program                   funds to low cost housing.                              INT. MISSION CONTROL                                            KRUGER                        (on radio)                   Just put Kurtz on that radio!!                    McCrosky rushes in and grabs the mike from Kruger.                                            McCROSKY                        (enraged)                   Look, Kruger, you and your people have                   caused enough trouble already.  I don't                   care about your political games, I care                   about only one thing, the lives of those                   people up there!!!  Out of my control                   room!!                                            JACOBS                   Someone's car wouldn't start.                                            McCROSKY                        (on mike)                   Striker, this is McCrosky.  Give me five                   minutes and keep your fingers crossed.                        (to Stinson)                   Stinson, get me the Mayflower plans!                        (to Controller 3)                   You, clear this table!                                            JACOBS                   I'll get the cards and bridge mix.                                            McCROSKY                   And someone get me the Sarg!                                                                   CUT TO:                              CLOSEUP OF SARG                    leaning over the ship's plans.  He is eating another cigar.          All Controllers stand around him.                                            SARG                   That's my little girl, my little darlin',                   my sweetheart, my honey, and you want to                   blow her belly out with that bomb.  If you                   blast here in the computer core and the                   fuselage doesn't give way here and the                   main communication lines to the cockpit                   hold here and this baby here doesn't jam                   this little old unit up here and throw                   about two tons of hot steel through here                   like a hot knife through butter and the                   upper and lower...                                            McCROSKY                   What's your point, Sarg?                                            SARG                   I have no point.                                            McCROSKY                   Then it's settled.  The bomb is Striker's                   only chance.  Are there any questions?                                            CONTROLLERS                   No sir.                                            McCROSKY                   Those are answers, I asked for questions.                                            CONTROLLER 3                   Should a man in his forties have a                   circumcision?                                            McCROSKY                   Absolutely.                              INT. COCKPIT                                            TED                   Well, Elaine, this might be it if those                   guys on the ground don't think of                   something.                                            ELAINE                   I just want you to know, I love you Ted                   and always will.                    SFX:  RADIO BEEPS                                            TED                   That might be the news we've been waiting                   for.                    He grabs radio.                                            McCROSKY (V.O.)                   I've got some news for you, Striker.                    Ted and Elaine smile hopefully at each other.                                            TED                        (on radio)                   Roger.                                            McCROSKY (V.O.)                   One of your passengers is carrying a bomb                   and is suicidal.                    MUSIC:  DRAMATIC STING                                            ELAINE                   A b...                    She covers her mouth.                                            McCROSKY (V.O.)                   No, a bomb.                              INT. CABIN                    Joe Salucci wipes his brow, lays his case on his lap.                              ANGLE ON FRONT OF CABIN                    Ted and Mary huddle.                                            TED                   Which passenger is Joe Salucci?                                            MARY                   Sixteen 'C', why?                                            TED                   He's carrying a bomb.                                            MARY                   A b...                    She covers her mouth.                                            TED                   No, a bomb.  Now, as discreetly as                   possible, I want you to move the                   passengers into the lounge.                                            MARY                   What should I say?                                            TED                   Anything.  Just don't let Salucci think                   we're onto him.                    Ted moves down the aisle.  Mary gets on the P.A.                                            MARY                   Would everyone not carrying a bomb please                   move to the lounge.                    The Passengers go nuts screaming, "A bomb!!"                                            JOE                        (jumping up with his case)                   Don't anyone move!                    All the passengers pile up in a ceiling-to-floor wall behind          Ted -- he extends his arms, holding them back.                                            TED                   Mr. Salucci, listen to me.                    Ted takes a step forward away from the wall of passengers --          the wall crumbles.                                            TED                   Joe, you don't want to blow that thing and                   kill all these innocent people.                                            JOE                   I don't want to live anymore.                                            TED                   Joe, the insurance policy won't help your                   wife and kids.  You bought auto insurance,                   not life insurance.                                            JOE                   What?                                            TED                        (inching up on him)                   That's right, Joe.  Now, no one's going to                   hurt you and no one has to know what's                   wrong with you.                                            JOE                   You're sure?                                            TED                   I'm sure.                    Ted is almost up to Joe when:                                            JIMMY                        (yells)                   That's the guy from the terminal who can't                   get it up!!                    Joe bolts.  Passengers panic.  Ted tackles him.  The case          flies into the air in SLOW MOTION.  It turns slowly, hanging          for the longest time as we CUT, still in SLOW MOTION, to          horrified faces watching it.  This SLOW MOTION sequence          lasts for about 60 seconds -- people put on make-up, do          macrame, read, etc. -- while the case is still in the air.          Suddenly, Scraps leaps high into the air in SLOW MOTION and          comes down with the case between his teeth.                              INT. MISSION CONTROL                    Controllers huddle over one monitor.                                            McCROSKY                   Get that bomb, Striker!  Get that bomb!                                            ELAINE (V.O.)                   Come in, Control!  We have the bomb!!                                            ALL CONTROLLERS                   He's got the bomb!!                                            JACOB                   This is just like an election in Iran.                              INT. COCKPIT                    Ted is back at the controls -- the cockpit is incredibly hot          now.                                            TED                   This heat's getting unbearable.                    He looks down and sees two eggs frying on the dash.                                            ELAINE                   But it is a dry heat, Ted.                              INT. MISSION CONTROL                    Controllers are grouped around the plans.                                            McCROSKY                   Do we use the bomb to blow that computer                   or is there another way?  I want to know                   what everyone thinks.                                            CONTROLLER 2 (V.O.)                   I think...                        (changes mind)                   ... No.                                            CONTROLLER 3 (V.O.)                   We could knock out the wall between the                   cockpit and cabin, and hang plants.                                            CONTROLLER 2 (V.O.)                   I think...                        (changes mind)                   ... No.                                            CONTROLLER 4 (V.O.)                   You can't knock that wall out.  That's a                   support wall, asshole.                                            CONTROLLER 2 (V.O.)                   I think...                        (changes mind)                   No.                                            CONTROLLER 5 (V.O.)                   Did I flush?                                            McCROSKY                   Then it's settled.  We use the bomb.                        (grabs radio)                   Striker, McCrosky.                              INT. COCKPIT                                            McCROSKY (V.O.)                   We've gone over the blueprints and you've                   got only one option.                                            TED                        (on radio)                   I know what you're going to say, McCrosky                   -- knock out the wall between the cockpit                   and cabin and hang plants.                                            McCROSKY (V.O.)                   Forget it.  That's a support wall.  Use                   the bomb.                                            ELAINE                   The b...                    She covers her mouth.                                            McCROSKY (V.O.)                   I keep telling you, not the b...  The                   bomb!!                                            TED                        (almost to self)                   Why, you'd have to be crazy to try a stunt                   like that.                    Elaine looks at Ted.                              INT. CABIN                    All passengers look forward in Ted's direction.                              INT. COCKPIT                    SUPER the womb over Ted's face.                                            DOCTOR'S VOICE                   You're too low in the womb, Striker!                   You've got to come out feet first!                    LOSE SUPER.                                            TED                        (grabs case)                   Elaine.  I'm going back there.                                            ELAINE                   Ted... I love you.  Be careful.                    Ted leaves.                    SFX:  CRASHING MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS                              INT. MISSION CONTROL                                            McCROSKY                        (to his controllers)                   I want everyone on their toes for this                   one.                              ANGLE ON JACOBS                    Handing out ballet slippers to the Controllers who are          passing a joint down the line.                                            McCROSKY                   And if anyone has any ideas, I want to                   hear them now.                                            JACOBS                   How about a show just like Hollywood                   Squares but with kids.  Gary Coleman could                   host.                              INT. CABIN                    The Passengers stand in the aisle listening to Mary.                                            MARY                   Now I want everyone to move to the front                   of the cabin.                    Passengers move calmly.                                            MARY                   That's fine.  Stay calm.  We just want                   everyone as far away from the blast as                   possible.                    The Passengers panic and stampede right over her.                              INT. COMPUTER CORE                    Ted wears a gas mask and attaches the time-bomb to the          computer.                                            ROK                   What are you doing, Ted?  Why are you                   wearing that mask, Ted?                    Gas spews out of a vent.  Ted makes sure his gas mask is          tight.                              INT. CABIN                    Simon is dressed in space suit and moving down the aisle.          Elaine holds onto him.                                            ELAINE                   Simon!  Wait!  What are you doing?!                    They pass Father O'Flanagan.  He has a Bongo drum at his          seat.                                            O'FLANAGAN                   Under the 'B', sixteen!                                            SIMON                   I've lost the ship and now I've lost you,                   Elaine.  I'm getting out.                                            ELAINE                   Simon, I didn't want it to end like this.                   We can be friends!  You'll die out there.                                            SIMON                   Maybe.                                            ELAINE                   Simon, what are you saying?!                    Simon steps into a hatch labeld, "ESCAPE CAPSULE".                                            SIMON                   I'm saying, I can't take the singles scene                   again, Elaine.                    The hatch door slams shut.  A passenger passes with a          sandwich board that reads, "JESUS WAS A SINGLE."                                            ELAINE                   Simon, no!                    Jimmy appears and yells through the window on the hatch.                                            JIMMY                   You want to talk about it now, Commander?                    The capsule ejects.                              INT. KRUGER'S OFFICE                    The Commissioner stands in front of the painting of          astronauts on black velvet.  He is on the phone.                                            COMMISSIONER                   Give me the President of the United                   States.  Tell him it's the Commissioner.                        (to Kruger)                   I don't know how the old man's going to                   take this.                              INT. OVAL OFFICE                    The PRESIDENT poses for a photo session:  CLOSEUP of          President holding aloft in a victory salute, the hands of          two black men.  On the camera flash we LOOSEN to reveal the          bodiless arms of two black mannequins.  An AID hands the          phone to the President.                                            AID                   Houston, sir.                                            PRESIDENT                        (taking phone)                   This is the President... What?!... What?!                    He walks past a wall of photos of past presidents:  JFK,          Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Reagan older, Reagan          much older, Merv Griffin, a chimp, and this President.                    SPLIT SCREEN:  PRESIDENT AND COMMISSIONER                                            COMMISSIONER                   I don't think that shuttle's going to make                   it, sir.                    The President passes an Arab piling millions in cash onto          his desk.                                            PRESIDENT                   Damnit, Mister, the dignity and integrity                   of this presidency depends on the success                   of that mission.  And that's my last word!                                            COMMISSIONER                   Yes, sir.                    They both hang up and, making sure no one is watching, pick          their noses.                    WIPE TO FULL SCREEN OF OVAL OFFICE                                            AID                   What's our strategy on this one, sir?                                            PRESIDENT                   I work for the people of these United                   States, Frank.  I have to do what's best                   for them.                        (grabs the red phone)                   Al, kill social security, cancel school                   lunches only for the poor, dismantle                   welfare, close all hospitals and public                   toilets, green light the MX-6, invade                   Brazil, and bring my horse around after my                   nap!                              INT. COCKPIT                    Ted is at the controls.  Elaine rushes in.                                            ELAINE                   Simon just ejected!                                            TED                   Sit down, Elaine.  If this bomb trick                   works we just might make it.  Simon was a                   fool to eject now.                                            ELAINE                   You mean...                                            TED                   That's right -- premature ejection.                                            ELAINE                   What will happen to him, Ted?                                            TED                   The sun will heat that thing to over 450                   degrees within seconds.  He'll roast like                   a pig on a spit.                              EXT. ESCAPE CAPSULE - SPACE                    We see a roast on a spit through the window.                              INT. COMPUTER CORE                    The clock on the time bomb TICKS down.                              INT. COCKPIT                                            TED                        (looking at wristwatch)                   Are you afraid?                                            ELAINE                   Not when I'm with you, Ted.                                            TED                   I guess you'd have to be a fool not to be                   afraid at a time like this.                              INT. CABIN                    Mrs. Gooch sucks on her cushion -- she's totally zonked on          acid.                                            MAN NEXT TO HER                   Are you afraid?                                            MRS. GOOCH                        (looking at her hands)                   Are these my hands?                                            FATHER O'FLANAGAN                        (to Stella)                   Are you afraid?                                            STELLA                   I'm a nurse.  I can't afford to be afraid,                   Father.                              ANOTHER AREA                                            JIMMY                        (to Scraps)                   Are you afraid, Scraps?                                            SCRAPS                        (he BARKS once, subtitle                         translate)                   Now when there's a guy like Ted Striker up                   there, Jimmy.                        (he BARKS one more time --                         subtitles)                   Now how about a little scratch on the                   inner thigh?                              INT. COCKPIT                    Testa stands over Ted with a clipboard.                                            TESTA                   Fifty-six percent of the passengers are                   afraid.  Twenty-nine percent are not                   afraid.  Eight percent are undecided and                   seven percent think Israel should give                   back Finland.                                            TED                   You better strap yourself in, Testa.                        (on radio)                   Mission control, this is Mayflower.  Over.                                            McCROSKY (V.O.)                   Go ahead, Striker.                                            TED                        (on radio)                   We've got about 60 seconds before that                   thing blows.  We're set to reprogram for                   Mercury at zero point five WORP.                              INT. MISSION CONTROL                                            McCROKSY                        (on radio)                   Zero point five WORP?!                                            STRIKER (V.O.)                   That's right.  When the bomb explodes                   we're going to have a ten foot hole in the                   fuselage and I want to get there as fast                   as I can.  I know what this snip can do,                   McCrosky.                                            McCROKSY                        (to Controllers)                   No one's ever travelled at that speed                   before.                                            JACOBS                   Last spring we did Europe in nine days.                              EXT. SHIP - SPACE                    It careens towards the sun.                              INT. COMPUTER CORE                    Bomb clock TICKS down.                              INT. CABIN                    Mary instructs Passengers.                                            MARY                   Heads between the knees!                        (looking down aisle)                   Between your own knees, Father!                    O'Flanagan looks around guiltily.                              INT. MISSION CONTROL                    McCrosky addresses his troops.                                            McCROSKY                   I don't find it easy to talk at a time                   like this, but I want to say something                   about that guy up there.  I can sum it all                   up in one word -- courage, dedication,                   spirit, pride, selflessness, and g-u-t-s,                   guts.  Striker's got more guts in his                   little finger than most of us have in our                   large intestine.  He's got guts up to his                   eyeballs, guts coming out of his ears.                    Controllers start playing cards, doing needlepoint.                                            McCROSKY                   Sure it's a cliche but great shortstops                   are born, not made, and a clown is funny                   in the circus but when he gets on the                   highway, he's murder.  It bugged me too                   when Mr. Ed refused to talk when the                   neighbors came over but...                              INT. COMPUTER CORE                    The bomb TICKS down and BLOWS.                              INT. COCKPIT                    The ship shakes violently.  Ted fights for control.                              INSERT - SPEEDOMETER SLOWS                              BACK TO SCENE                    SFX:  ENGINE WHINE SUBSIDES.                    The ship starts bumping as if it's hit a rough road.                                            TED                        (on radio)                   We've blown the computer!                        (to Elaine)                   Elaine!  Set course change!                                            ELAINE                        (flips a switch)                   Set!                                            TED                   Now!                                            ELAINE                        (pushes a button)                   Compute!                    "Compute" sign flashes.                    Ted pulls an acceleration lever.                                            TED                   Here goes.                              EXT. SHIP - SPACE                    It slows to a halt.                              INT. COCKPIT                    Ted pulls the lever hard toward himself.  The ship shudders.                              EXT. SHIP - SPACE                    The ship slingshots in the opposite direction, disappearing          into the void leaving a trail of light.                              INT. COCKPIT                              INSERT - PANEL LIGHT, "0.5 WORP"                              BACK TO SCENE                                            TED                        (on radio)                   Point five WORP!                              INT. MISSION CONTROL                    PAN Controllers looking intently into the night sky.  PAN to          Mrs. Salucci intently gripping her vibrator -- it's on.  PAN          to Jacobs reading VARIETY -- headline: "PARAMOUNT ANNOUNCES          SHUTTLE DISASTER PIC!"                                            McCROSKY                   Zero point five WORP, that's half the                   speed of light.  We really have no idea                   what can happen to the human body at that                   speed.                              INT. CABIN                    Two Passengers (contortionists) with legs up over their          shoulders and looking out over their rear ends, play cards.                              INT. COCKPIT                    The interior vibrates.  A psychedelic blaze of multi-colored          light illuminates the interior.  Ted struggles with the          controls.                                            McCROSKY (V.O.)                   Striker, we're monitoring you.  You're                   right on course.  At that speed you should                   hit Mercury in about six minutes.  So give                   yourself enough time to kill those WORP                   engines.                              INT. MISSION CONTROL                                            McCROSKY                        (on radio)                   We'll be out of radio range in a few                   seconds.  I'm going to put you in contact                   with Mercury Base Alpha Beta for your                   final descent.  Over.                        (off mike)                   Stinson, who's in command of Alpha Beta?                                            STINSON                   Al Hammil?                                            CONTROLLER 3                   Not anymore.  It's Rex Kramer, now.                                            McCROSKY                   Not Rex Kramer!                                            CONTROLLER 3                   No, Rex Kramer.                              EXT. MERCURY - NIGHT                    We see the Alpha Beta base in distance with an ALPHA BETA          neon sign flashing.                    SFX:  WAILING SUBMARINE SIREN.                    SUPER:  MERCURY BASE, ALPHA BETA                              INT. ALPHA BETA BASE - CORRIDOR                    SFX:  WAILING SUBMARINE SIREN.                    Four uniformed officers race to their posts around a corner          and collide with four others racing around the corner from          the other direction.                              INT. ELEVATOR - ALPHA BETA BASE                    REX KRAMER watches the floors flash by on the panel above          the door.                              INSERT - FLOOR LIGHT, "LEVEL 1 - POWER STATION"                    O.S. we hear a DOG GROWLING and fighting with something.                              CLOSEUP OF KRAMER                                            KRAMER                   I know this guy, Ted Striker.  I flew with                   him during the war.  He was a crack pilot                   but he didn't have it in the crunch...                   That is...                              INSERT - FLOOR LIGHT, "LEVEL 3 - LIVING QUARTERS"                              BACK TO SCENE                                            KRAMER                   Until that day over Chicago.  He brought                   that busted up 767 out of that storm like                   a paper glider coming outta the baby blue.                              INSERT - FLOOR LIGHT, "LEVEL 5 - WOMEN'S SHOES, BEDDING,          APPLIANCES".  "LEVEL 6 - DESIGNER JEANS".                              BACK TO SCENE                                            KRAMER                   But flying that shuttle is a whole                   different ballgame.                    The elevator doors open.  Kramer steps out into the          communications room.                    SFX:  SUBMARINE SIREN WAILS.                    PAN down to floor of elevator to find a young officer --          Carey -- torn to shreds and fighting off Kramer's golden          retriever dog.  The doors close.  Kramer approaches an          OFFICER.                                            KRAMER                   What's the latest, Lieutenant?                                            OFFICER                   They'll hit our atmosphere in about three                   minutes, if they hold together.  They've                   lost their computer and are coming in at                   zero point five WORP on manual control,                   sir.                              INT. COCKPIT                    Ted shifts a stick shift on the steering column.                              INT. ALPHA BETA COMMUNICATIONS ROOM                    Kramer looks at the big screen.                    SFX:  SUBMARINE SIREN WAILS.                                            KRAMER                   Down scope!                    A submarine periscope drops.  Kramer looks for the shuttle.                                            KRAMER                   He'll never bring that thing in on manual,                   but I guess Striker's their only hope.                              INSERT - PERISCOPE SHOT OF WWII SHIPS                              BACK TO SCENE                                            KRAMER                   It's his ship now.  He's the top dog.                              INSERT - PERISCOPE SHOT OF SHORE LINE FROM WWII FILM                              BACK TO SCENE                                            KRAMER                   The big man.  The numero uno honcho.                              INSERT - PERISCOPE SHOT OF DESERT                              BACK TO SCENE                                            KRAMER                   The head cheese.                              INSERT - PERISCOPE SHOT OF THE ED SULLIVAN SHOW -- ED WAVES          GOODNIGHT.                              BACK TO SCENE                    Kramer steps away from the scope.  It drops down.  A man in          a barber chair is on the other end of the steel column and          comes to rest on the floor.                                            OFFICER 2                   Sir, we have radio contact.                              INT. CABIN                    Testa talks to the passengers.  Psychedelic lights flash.                                            TESTA                        (yelling)                   We're travelling at one half the speed of                   light.  There is nothing to worry about.                   However, you might experience some                   temporary metabolic changes.                              ANGLE ON WOMAN                    Her beard grows.                              INSERT - CLOSEUP OF SANITARY NAPKIN DISPENSER                    A flurry of hands empties it in two seconds.                              ANGLE ON TEXAN                    He has turned into a Hassidic Rabbi.                              INT. COCKPIT                    Ted is fighting to maintain control.                                            KRAMER (V.O.)                   Striker, this is Rex Kramer on Alpha Beta.                   Do you read me?  Over.                    Ted and Elaine give startled looks of recognition.                                            KRAMER (V.O.)                   That's right, Ted.  Rex Kramer.  We've                   locked you on track beam.  You're going to                   have to kill those WORP engines in exactly                   thirty seconds.  Over.                              INT. MISSION CONTROL                    Everyone tensely looks out the window into the night sky.                                            McCROSKY                   There's nothing else we can do for those                   people out there now, except pray.                    The entire room explodes in an up-beat Southern Baptists'          rendition of "HE'S GOT THE WHOLE WORLD IN HIS HANDS".                              INT. COCKPIT                                            KRAMER (V.O.)                   Now, Striker!  Kill WORP!                    Ted pushes his WORP lever forward but it comes off in his          hand.                                            ELAINE                   Ted, the lever!                                            TED                        (on radio)                   Kramer, the WORP control handle just came                   off in my hand.                                            KRAMER (V.O.)                   Try another handle!                                            TED                   There are no more handles, only switches.                                            KRAMER (V.O.)                   No buttons?!                                            TED                        (looking around madly)                   Just switches, lights, and knobs.                              INT. ALPHA BETA COMMUNICATIONS ROOM                                            KRAMER                        (looking at buttons and levers                         on his panel)                   I'd give my right arm to get just one of                   these buttons or levers up there right                   now.                        (on radio)                   Okay, Striker.  You're going to have to                   pull that lever panel off.                              INT. COCKPIT                                            TED                        (to Elaine)                   Screw driver!                    She hands him a vodka and orange juice.  Ted throws it on          his face.  He reaches down and rips the panel off, exposing          all sorts of wires.                                            KRAMER (V.O.)                   Now find a piece of metal and stick it in                   there.                    Ted looks around for a piece of metal.  Elaine pulls a bobby          pin from her hair.                                            ELAINE                   Will this work, Ted?                    Her long brown hair falls sexily.  She sweeps it back with a          toss of her head.  Ted is overwhelmed by her.                                            TED                   Thanks.                        (on radio)                   I've got something that might work.                              INT. ALPHA BETA COMMUNCATIONS ROOM                                            TED (V.O.)                   A bobby pin.                    Kramer and Aids exchange a look which questions Ted's          sexuality.                                            KRAMER                   What the hell is a man doing with a...                   forget it.                        (on radio)                   It'll have to do, Striker.                              INT. COCKPIT                    Ted sticks the bobby pin into the wires.  Sparks fly.  The          ship starts slowing up.                    SFX:  THE ENGINE WHINE SUBSIDES.                              INSERT - SPEEDOMETER WINDING DOWN                              BACK TO SCENE                                            TED                   It's working.                              INT. COMMUNICATIONS ROOM                    Kramer stands in front of the huge screen.  A small ship          appears in the distance coming right at us.                                            KRAMER                        (on radio)                   Okay, Striker.  We have you on visual.                   Just keep her level.                              EXT. SHIP - SPACE                    It careens towards the planet surface.                              INT. COCKPIT                    It starts bouncing wildly.                                            TED                   She's coming apart!                              INT. CABIN                    Passengers scream.                              INT. NEWS SET - BUFFALO                    The anchorman screams.                    SUPER:  "EDITORIAL".                              INT. NEWS SET - TOKYO                    The anchorman screams.                    SUPER:  "EDITORIAL".  (In Russian looking print.)                              INT. HOTEL LOBBY - RIO MONTENEGRO                    The desk clerk screams.                              INT. COCKPIT                                            KRAMER (V.O.)                   Keep her nose up!  Don't fight her!                                            TED                   I'm trying but she's fighting me!                    A boxing glove springs from the dash punching Ted in the          face.                                            ELAINE                   Ted, that's Alpha Beta!                              ANGLE OUT SHIP WINDOW - NIGHT                    We see the lights of a small colony on planet surface.  The          Alpha Beta neon sign is visible.                              INT. ALPHA BETA COMMUNICATIONS ROOM                    Kramer sits in a large swivel chair -- like Captain Kirk's          on the Enterprise bridge.  As he talks, he nonchalantly          swivels so his back is to the huge window.  We see the          Mayflower approaching on the screen.                                            KRAMER                        (on radio)                   Now, Striker, there are a few things you                   have to keep in mind as you get close to                   the planet's atmosphere.                              ANGLE ON COMMUNCATION ROOM PERSONNEL                    They watch in horror as the Mayflower comes shooting at          them.                                            KRAMER                        (on radio)                   First and foremost you have to make one                   very important decision.                              INT. COCKPIT                    Elaine looks out the window -- horrified.                                            ELAINE                   Ted!  We're not stopping!!                    Ted fights the controls.                                            KRAMER (V.O.)                   Is this a landing you're sure you can make                   without endangering the lives of your                   passengers?                              INT. ALPHA BETA COMMUNICATIONS ROOM                              ANGLE ON PERSONNEL                    They run for cover.                              ANGLE ON THE SCREEN                    The Mayflower comes right at the screen and crashes through          it.  Kramer still has his back to the screen and doesn't          notice what has happened -- the room behind him has been          totally demolished.                                            KRAMER                        (on radio)                   Now, once you've made that decision you                   have to be very clear about your                   responsibility to those people on that                   ship.                              INT. COCKPIT                    The front window is broken.  Ted and Elaine are covered in          debris.  Elaine's eyes grow wide with terror again.                                            ELAINE                   Ted!                              EXT. PLANET SURFACE                    A group of scientists stand at a keyboard synthesizer.  One          plays the series of notes from CLOSE ENCOUNTERS.  Suddenly          the Mayflower appears over a hill.  They all jump for cover          as it crashes through the synthesizer.                              INT. COCKPIT                    Ted and Elaine are covered in piano keys.                                            KRAMER (V.O.)                   Their lives, their futures, their goals                   and aspirations are in your hands,                   Striker.                              EXT. PLANET SURFACE                    The Mayflower bounces across the surface.                              INT. CABIN                    Mary maneuvers down the aisle.  Passengers are screaming and          being tossed around.                                            MARY                        (to one passenger)                   Seat backs up.  Thank you.                    She looks up and sees feet dangling from the ceiling.  A man          has gone right through the ceiling up to his waist.                                            MARY                        (looking up)                   Sir, you really must take your seat.                              INT. ALPHA BETA COMMUNCATIONS ROOM                                            KRAMER                        (on radio)                   We're all with you on this one, Striker.                   Now get ready to position landing gear,                   cut engines, and fire your retro≠rockets.                              EXT. PLANET SURFACE - DAWN                    The Mayflower careens to a smoking, crunching, shattering          stop.                              INT. CABIN                    Mary and Testa start directing panic-striken passengers to          the exits.                              INT. ALPHA BETA COMMUNICATIONS ROOM                                            KRAMER                        (on radio)                   Timing's of the essence on a lame duck                   approach, Striker.  Don't fight her.  Hold                   her steady.  Nose up.                              EXT. SHIP ON A HILL - DAWN                    Ted and Elaine stand looking down on the wreckage.  In b.g.,          SIRENS WAIL, emergency lights flash across Ted and Elaine.                                            VOICES (O.S.)                   You'll be all right!  Everyone's going to                   be okay!                    Ted holds Elaine.                                            KRAMER (V.O.)                   Don't fight her, Striker.  Hold her!  Hold                   her!  Stay with her, Striker!                    Ted and Elaine kiss.                                            KRAMER (V.O.)                   Now, hit your landing gear and cut those                   engines!                              INT. ALPHA BETA COMMUNICATIONS ROOM                                            KRAMER                        (on radio)                   Timing's everything, Striker!  Fire your                   retro-rockets!                              EXT. PLANET SURFACE - DAWN                    Ted and Elaine walk off into the distance.                    SFX:  SIRENS FROM CRASH AREA IN DISTANCE.                                            KRAMER (V.O.)                        (voice fading)                   Now give her full flap and keep that nose                   up.  Okay, now!                                            ELAINE                   Ted, what's going to happen to us?                    Ted stops and looks into the distant, dark sky.  A printed          crawl begins:                    MUSIC:  OPTIMISTIC THEME                                            CRAWL                   FAR, FAR AWAY IN THE DEEPEST REGIONS OF                   OUR VAST SOLAR SYSTEM, A SMALL, BRAVE                   GROUP OF PIONEERS EMBARK ON A BOLD NEW                   ADVENTURE.  THEIR MISSION:  TO OPEN UP A                   NEW FRONTIER.  THEIR GOAL, TO BUILD A                   BRAVE NEW WORLD.                    Ted and Elaine walk towards crawl and are approached by two          strange CREATURES -- bald with a shock of hair sprouting          from the top of their heads.                                            CREATURE                   Hello, we'd like you to have this flower.                   We're with the Church of Mercurial                   Consciousness.  Would you like to make a                   donation?                                                                          THE END                     
\ No newline at end of file
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+                                   AIRPLANE                                            Written by                            Jim Abrahams, David Zucker & Jerry Zucker                                                                                                         SHOOTING SCRIPT                                                       June 11, 1979                                                       Revised 6/15/79                                                   FADE IN:                    EXT. SKY - JUST ABOVE CLOUDS - NIGHT                    OMINOUS, THREATENING MUSIC. The upper tail fin of a jet          plane emerges through the cloud layer and PASSES THROUGH the          FRAME like a shark's fin through water. It passes by again          in the opposite direction. MUSIC BUILDS as the fin comes          straight TOWARD the CAMERA, MUSIC SWELLS to CRESCENDO as          entire jet plane lifts out of clouds and passes overhead.          TITLE SLASHES ACROSS SCREEN, "AIRPLANE!"                    CREDITS and MUSIC continue over following.                    EXT. AIRPORT - NIGHT (STOCK)                    ESTABLISHING terminal building.                    EXT. TERMINAL BUILDING - PASSENGER LOADING ZONE - NIGHT                    Airport bus arrives. Stewardess ELAINE DICKINSON steps off.          CAMERA FOLLOWS Elaine as she walks to terminal building.                                            P.A. SYSTEM (female v.o.)                   The white zone is for immediate loading                   and unloading of passengers only. There is                   no stopping in the red zone.                                            P.A. SYSTEM (male v.o.)                   The red zone is for immediate loading and                   unloading of passengers. There is no                   stopping in the white zone.                                            P.A. SYSTEM (female v.o.)                   No. The white zone is for loading and                   unloading, and there is no stopping in the                   red zone.                                            P.A. SYSTEM (male v.o.)                   The red zone has always been for loading                   and unloading, and there is never stopping                   in a white zone.                                            P.A. SYSTEM (female v.o.)                   Don't tell me which zone is for stopping                   and which zone is for loading.                                            P.A. SYSTEM (male v.o.)                   Listen, Betty. Don't start up with your                   white zone shit again!                    Elaine enters terminal building.                    INT. TERMINAL BUILDING - NIGHT                    Elaine is approached by a religious ZEALOT #1.                                            ZEALOT #1                   Hello, we'd like you to have this flower                   from the Religious Consciousness Church.                                            ELAINE                   No, but thank you very much.                    Arrival-Departure TV monitors. Elaine approaches.                    ELAINE'S POV - TV MONITORS                    Reads: Flight 209 to Chicago - Depart Gate 89 - 7:25 p.m.          Arrival monitor is goldfish swimming.                    BACK TO ELAINE                    She checks her watch and walks past Security Check area.          CAMERA STAYS with a middle-aged couple, SHIRLEY and JACK,          waiting to pass through Security Check. Behind them is sign          reading: WARNING, HIJACKING IS A FEDERAL OFFENSE, etc.                                            SHIRLEY                   Jack, isn't that Fred Bliffert over there                   in the blue turtleneck? Maybe he's on our                   flight to Chicago.                                            JACK                   Yeah, I think he is.                        (waves)                   Hey, Fred!                    FRED recognizes Jack.                                            FRED                         (yelling)                   Hi, Jack!!!                    A swarm of police and airport security men descend on Fred          and take him away.                    EXT. AIRPORT - PASSENGER LOADING ZONE - NIGHT                    A limousine arrives. Two colorfully dressed BLACK DUDES          emerge. An extra pesters them. Two HARE KRISHNA'S arrive on          foot and walk toward terminal.                                            P.A. SYSTEM (female v.o.)                   There's just no stopping in the white                   zone.                                            P.A. SYSTEM (male v.o.)                   Christ, you're as bad as your mother!                                            P.A. SYSTEM (female v.o.)                   Oh, really, Vernon! Why pretend? We both                   know perfectly well what it is you're                   talking about. You want me to have an                   abortion.                                            P.A. SYSTEM (male v.o.)                   It's really the only sensible thing to do.                   If it's done properly, therapeutically,                   there's no danger involved.                                            P.A. SYSTEM (female v.o.)                   Have you considered that what's inside me                   is a human being; that it's alive. We made                   love. It's us -- you and me.                                            P.A. SYSTER (male v.o.)                   That isn't true. A fetus at this stage is                   not a human being, nor is it a person.                    Krishnas enter terminal building.                    INT. TERMINAL BUILDING - NIGHT                    The Krishnas are approached by the Religious Zealot.                                            ZEALOT #2                   Hello, we'd like you to have this flower                   from the Church of Consciousness. Would                   you like to make a donation?                                            KRISHNA                         (shakes his head)                    No, we gave at the office.                    INT. TERMINAL BUILDING - NIGHT                    A voluptuous BLONDE saunters through the airport, clears her          throat loudly, and spits on the wall.                    She walks past an ELDERLY WOMAN standing outside a men's          room door. She turns and sticks her head in the door.                                            ELDERLY WOMAN                   Go, O.J., go!!                    INT. SECURITY CHECK AREA - NIGHT                    SECURITY CHECK LADY is watching X-ray scanner. First picture          is typically filled suitcase, then another, then a chest X-          ray.                    A man passes through metal detector archway and it BEEPS.                                            SECURITY LADY                   Please put your metal objects on this                   tray.                    He puts his watch, keys on the tray. Then removes his metal          arm and metal leg.                    EXT. TERMINAL BUILDING - PASSENGER LOADING AREA - NIGHT                    MR. and MRS. HAMMEN and their eight year old son, JOEY,          arrive in a station wagon. They unload luggage.                                            P.A. SYSTEM (male v.o.)                   The red zone is for immediate loading and                   unloading of passengers only. There is no                   stopping in the white zone.                    P.A. System Female v.o. weeping.                                            P. A. SYSTEM (male v.o.)                   The red zone is for...Betty, put down that                   gun!                    SHOTS and GROAN.                                            P.A. SYSTEM (female v.o.)                   The white zone is for immediate loading                   and unloading of passengers only. There is                   no stopping in the red zone.                    The Hammens walk toward terminal past a BUSINESSMAN.                                            BUSINESSMAN                   Taxi!                    A taxi cab skids to a stop in front of him. The Businessman          gets in as the driver, TED STRIKER, drops the flag and          rushes out.                                            STRIKER                   Back in a minute.                    INT. TERMINAL BUILDING - BAGGAGE PICKUP AREA - NIGHT                    Striker enters, looking around as if searching for someone.          People are rolling down the conveyor belt of a baggage          carousel, banging into each other like luggage. The luggage          is standing around the conveyor belt, waiting for the people          to come off.                    INT. TERMINAL BUILDING - ANOTHER AREA - NIGHT                    Striker, walking briskly, is approached by Zealot #3 who          tries to pin a flower on his jacket. Striker keeps walking          but the Zealot is persistent. Finally, Striker slips out of          his jacket leaving the Zealot with the coat.                                            P.A. SYSTEM (v.o.)                   Your attention, please. Flight seven-                   thirty-three from Milwaukee is now                   arriving on the B Concourse, Gate thirty-                   five.                    EXT. RUNWAY - NIGHT                    Flight 733 taxis toward gate. A GROUND CREWMAN with red          flashlights is directing plane to his right. A SECOND          GROUND CREWMAN approaches as First Ground Crewman continues          to direct plane to his right.                    CREDITS END.                                            GROUND CREWMAN #2                   Hey, Joe, where's the forklift?                                            GROUND CREWMAN #1                   The forklift? It's over there by the                   baggage loader.                    He points to the left with his flashlights. Flight 733          follows flashlights and CRASHES into terminal.                    INT. TERMINAL - GATE 35 - NIGHT                    Nose of Flight 733 CRASHES into terminal, scattering waiting          crowd. A woman tosses away her infant child as she runs off.                    INT. TERMINAL BULIDING - ANOTHER AREA - NIGHT                    Striker catches up to Elaine.                                            STRIKER                   Elaine!                                            ELAINE                        (surprised)                   Ted!                                            STRIKER                   I came home early and found your note. I                   guess you meant for me to read it later.                   Elaine, I've got to talk to you.                                            ELAINE                   I just don't want to go over it any more.                                            STRIKER                   I know things haven't been right for a                   long time, but it'll be different. If                   you'll just be patient, I can work things                   out.                                            ELAINE                   I have been patient and I've tried to                   help, but you wouldn't even let me do                   that.                                            STRIKER                   Don't you feel anything for me at all any                   more?                                            ELAINE                   It takes so many things to make love last.                   Most of all it takes respect. And I can't                   live with a man I don't respect!                    She leaves.                                            STRIKER                        (to CAMERA)                   What a pisser.                    INT. TERMINAL BUILDING - CONCESSION AREA - NIGHT                    CAPTAIN CLARENCE OVEUR is standing at the magazine racks.          The first two sections of the display are books; the third          is girly magazines. The captions over the dis≠play are          FICTION, NON-FICTION, WHACKING MATERIAL. He selects a          magazine entitled "Modern Sperm" and begins to page through.                                            P.A. SYSTEM (v.o.)                   Captain Clarence Oveur, white courtesy                   phone. Captain Clarence Oveur, white                   courtesy phone.                    Captain Oveur approaches telephones and picks up a red          phone.                                            OPERATOR (v.o.)                   No, the white phone.                    Oveur picks up the white phone.                                            OVEUR                   This is Captain Oveur.                                            OPERATOR (v.o.)                   One moment for your call from the Mayo                   Clinic.                                            P.A. SYSTEM (v.o.)                   Captain Oveur, white courtesy phone.                   Captain Clarence Oveur...                                            OVEUR                        (yelling at ceiling)                   I've got it!                                            P.A. SYSTEM (v.o.)                   All right. Thank you.                                            OPERATOR (v.o.)                   Go ahead with your call.                                            TURNANSKY (v.o.)                   This is Doctor Turnansky at the Mayo                   Clinic.                    INT. DR. TURNANSKY'S OFFICE - NIGHT                    DR. TURNANSKY is seated at desk. Behind him are shelves          filled with mayonnaise jars.                                            TURNANSKY                   There's a passenger on your Chicago flight                   two-oh-niner, a little girl named Lisa                   Davis -- en route to Minneapolis. She's                   scheduled for a heart transplant and we'd                   like you to tell her mother that we found                   a donor an hour ago.                    On his desk is a beaker containing a beating heart.                                            TURNANSKY                   We have the heart here ready for surgery                   and we must have the recipient on the                   operating table within six hours.                    The heart jumps out of the beaker, across the desk and falls          off the edge.                                            TURNANSKY                   I want you to make sure she is kept in a                   reclined position and that a continuous                   watch is kept on her I.V.                    INT. TERMINAL BUILDING - PHONE AREA - NIGHT                                            TURNANSKY (v.o.)                   Also, it's important that...                                            OPERATOR (v.o.)                   Excuse me. This is the Operator, Captain                   Oveur, I have an emergency call for you on                   line five trom a Mister Hamm.                                            OVEUR                   All right. Give me Hamm on five, hold the                   Mayo.                    EXT. RUNWAY - NIGHT                    Ambulance arrives at airplane. Attendants and MRS. DAVIS          unload LISA DAVIS into wheelchair.                    INT. TERMINAL BUILDING - NIGHT                    Elaine and Striker are walking together.                                            STRIKER                   Look, you'll be back in town tomorrow                   night. We'll have dinner -- talk it over.                                            ELAINE                   I won't be back. I've requested the                   Atlanta run.                                            STRIKER                   Elaine, not yet. I promise you I really                   can change.                                            ELAINE                   Then why don't you take the job that Louie                   Netz offered you at Boeing?                    In the b.g. an airline PORTER is transporting an ELDERLY          COUPLE in an electric cart. They round the corner too fast          and the woman falls out. Husband doesn't notice.                                            STRIKER                   You know I haven't been able to get near                   an airplane since the war. And even if I                   could, they wouldn't hire me because of my                   war record.                                            ELAINE                   Your war record? You're the only one                   keeping that alive. For everyone else it's                   ancient history.                                            STRIKER                   You expect me to believe that?                    In the b.g. the Elderly Woman staggers to her feet and is          immediately run over by another electric cart.                                            ELAINE                   It's the truth. What's hurt you the most                   is your record since the war. Different                   cities, different jobs, and not one of                   them shows you can accept any real                   responsibility.                                            STRIKER                   But if you'll just give me...                                            ELAINE                   It's too late, Ted. When I get back to                   Chicago, I'm going to start my life all                   over again. I'm sorry.                    She walks off. Dramatic MUSIC as Striker glares with          determination. The religious Zealot tries to pin a flower on          his lapel.                                            ZEALOT #3                   Hello, we'd like you to have this...                    Without looking, Striker decks the Zealot with one punch. He          walks after Elaine.                    INT. COCKPIT - FLIGHT 209 - NIGHT                    Clarence Oveur is in the pilot's seat. VICTOR BASTA is          seated at engineer's console. There is a St. Christopher's          statue on the dashboard.                                            BASTA                   Any word on that storm lifting over Salt                   Lake, Clarence?                    TEXACO SERVICE MAN is cleaning windshield.                                            OVEUR                   Unlikely, Victor. I just reviewed the Area                   Report for 1609 hours through 2400 hours.                   That's an occluded front stalled over the                   Dakotas -- backed up all the way to Utah.                    Texaco Service Man opens hood and checks dipstick.                                            BASTA                   If it decides to push over into the Great                   Lakes it could get plenty soupy. How about                   the southern route, around Tulsa?                                            OVEUR                   I double checked the terminal forecast and                   winds aloft. IFR ceilings all the way.                    Oveur gives charge card to Texaco Man.                                            BASTA                   Where do they top out?                                            OVEUR                   Well, there's some light scattered cover                   at twenty thousand with icing around                   eighteen.                                            BASTA                   Looks like the original flight plan over                   Denver is still the best bet.                    Oveur signs charge form and gives it to Texaco Man.                                            OVEUR                   Denver it is.                    ROGER MURDOCK enters. He is played by a famous athlete.                                            MURDOCK                   Sorry, Clarence. Latest weather report                   shows everything socked in from Salt Lake                   to Lincoln.                                            OVEUR                        (to Murdock)                   Hi, Roger. Good to have you aboard.                   Victor, this is Roger Murdock.                                            BASTA                   How do you do, Roger?                    Texaco Man hands receipt to Oveur.                    INT. PASSENGER CABIN - BOARDING AREA - NIGHT                    Stewardesses Elaine and RANDY are greeting boarding          passengers including the Hammens and SISTER ANGELINA who is          carrying a guitar.                    INT. PASSENGER CABIN - ANOTHER AREA - NIGHT                                            HARI KRISHNA #1                   Do you believe those goddamn Steelers? Can                   you imagine blitzing on third and long                   with two minutes in the game?                                            HARI KRISHNA #2                   Well, hell, they couldn't stay in zone                   coverage with Dallas running swing                   patterns!                    INT. PASSENGER CABIN - ANOTHER AREA - NIGHT                                            JACK                   What did you think of 'Great                   Expectations?'                                            SHIRLEY                   Well, it wasn't all that I had hoped.                    EXT. RUNWAY - NIGHT                    A SOLDIER and GIRL are tearfully embracing at the base of          the stairs leading into the plane.                                            GIRL                   Oh, Bill, I'm going to miss you so much.                                            SOLDIER                   You promise you'll write.                                            GIRL                   Every day.                                            AIRPORT STEWARD                   Better get on board, son.                    INT. TERMINAL BUILDING - GATE 89 - NIGHT                    Striker approaches check-in counter.                                            STRIKER                   Can you tell me if Elaine Dickinson is on                   this flight?                    She looks at her list.                                            CHECK-IN LADY                   Well, the whole flight crew has boarded.                   Yes. She is on board.                                            STRIKER                   I'd like one ticket to Chicago. No                   baggage!                    EXT. TERMINAL BUILDING - PASSENGER LOADING AREA - NIGHT                    The Businessman is patiently waiting in Striker's cab.                    INT. TERMINAL BUILDING - GATE 89 - NIGHT                                            CHECK-IN LADY                   Smoking or non-smoking?                                            STRIKER                   Smoking, please.                    She hands him a smoldering ticket, and he walks out the          door.                    EXT. TERMINAL - NIGHT                    Striker emerges and freezes in terror.                    STRIKER'S POV - THE AIRPLANE - NIGHT                    DRAMATIC MUSIC.                    CLOSEUP - STRIKER - NIGHT                    agonizing over war recollections. SUPERIMPOSE ROARING          fighter planes. SUPER FADES OUT. Striker musters his courage          and walks toward airplane.                    INT. PASSENGER CABIN - ANOTHER AREA - NIGHT                                            BLACK DUDE #l                   Shi',man, tha' honkey mo'fo' mess wi' my                   ol' lady, man I rap tha' dude upside his                   head, man.                    SUBTITLES APPEAR ON SCREEN: "GOLLY, THAT WHITE FELLOW SHOULD          STAY AWAY FROM MY WIFE OR I WILL PUNCH HIM."                                            BLACK DUDE #2                   Yeah, man, he ain't never goin' come on                   layin' no pig rap off you, man.                    SUBTITLES APPEAR ON SCREEN: "YES, THERE IS TRUTH IN WHAT YOU          SAY. HOWEVER, I THINK HE MAY BE MISLEADING YOU."                    INT. PASSENGER CABIN - ANOTHER AREA - NIGHT                    Randy is taking Striker's ticket.                                            RANDY                   Fourteen-B. It's halfway down on your                   right.                                            STRIKER                   Thank you.                    As Striker sits down he sees Elaine, who is unaware he is on          board.                    STRIKER'S POV - NIGHT                    Elaine is handing out pillows. We HEAR A DING.                    INSERT - LIGHTED WARNING SIGNS                                            "NO SMOKING                               EL NO A YOU SMOKO"                                         "FASTEN SEAT BELTS                              PUTANA DA SEATBELTZ"                    He fastens his seat belt and looks nervously out the window.          The Elderly Woman next to him notices.                                            MRS. ELDERLY                   Nervous?                                            STRIKER                   Yes.                                            MRS. ELDERLY                   First time?                                            STRIKER                   No. I've been nervous lots of times. I                   used to be a pilot myself...during the                   war.                    INT. PASSENGER CABIN - ANOTHER AREA - NIGHT                    Elaine approaches Mrs. Davis and Lisa.                                            ELAINE                   We'll be taking off real soon so we better                   fasten you in tight.                                            LISA                   Thank you. Oh Mother, this is so exciting.                                            MRS. DAVIS                   I know, but remember you must get some                   rest.                                            ELAINE                   That's good advice. You relax and I'll be                   back after we take off.                    INT. PASSENGER CABIN - ANOTHER AREA - NIGHT                    MILTON, an eight year old boy wearing a conservative coat          and tie, fastens his seat belt and begins reading his          "Business Monthly" magazine.                    He sees BERNICE, a seven year old girl, in the aisle and          looks her up and down.                    EXT. AIRPLANE - NIGHT                    DRAMATIC MUSIC. Engines one and two REV UP.                    INT. COCKPIT - NIGHT                    Murdock and Oveur look toward left wing.                    EXT. AIRPLANE - NIGHT                    ENGINES three and four REV UP.                    INT. COCKPIT - NIGHT                    Murdock and Oveur look toward right wing.                    EXT. AIRPLANE - NIGHT                    Two more ENGINES REV UP.                    INT. COCKPIT - NIGHT                    Murdock and Oveur look toward left wing and do a double          take.                    EXT. AIRPLANE - NIGHT                    Two more ENGINES REV UP.                    INT. COCKPIT - NIGHT                    Murdock and Oveur are confused and counting on their          fingers.                    EXT. AIRPLANE - NIGHT                    Stairs are removed from airplane. The Soldier is in the open          doorway waving good-bye to his tearful girlfriend at the          base of the plane.                    INT. COCKPIT - NIGHT                                            OVEUR                   Two-zero-niner to ground control. We are                   loaded and ready to taxi.                    EXT. TOWER - NIGHT                                            GROUND CONTROL (v.o.)                   Roger, two-zero-niner. You are third in                   line for takeoff...Air Israel, taxi into                   position.                    EXT. RUNWAY - NIGHT                    An Air Israel airplane with beard and pais, wearing a          yarmulka and tallis.                    EXT. TOWER - NIGHT                                            GROUND CONTROL (v.o.)                   Air Poland, you are cleared for takeoff.                    INT. AIR POLAND COCKPIT - NIGHT                    Crew is Jose Feliciano and look-alike for Ray Charles.                    EXT. TOWER - NIGHT                                            GROUND CONTROL (v.o.)                   Taxi to runway one-niner.                    INT. COCKPIT - NIGHT                    Oveur moves console levers as if shifting into first gear.                    EXT. AIRPLANE - SOLDIER - NIGHT                    as 209 starts to taxi, the Soldier is leaning out the door.                                            SOLDIER                   Good-bye, darling.                    EXT. RUNWAY - GIRL - NIGHT                    His girlfriend is moving along next to the plane as in          typical train station good-bye scene.                                            GIRL                   Oh, good-bye, Bill! Have your picture                   taken as soon as you get there and send me                   one!                    As she runs, she dodges posts. We HEAR the chug chug of a          steam engine pulling from a station.                                            SOLDIER                   I will.                    She runs through crowd of people standing on side of runway.                                            GIRL                   Don't you go getting fat or anything.                    She's running faster.                                            SOLDIER                   Don't worry, I won't. Okay, here -- hurry!                    He tosses her his watch.                                            GIRL                   Oh, but it's your watch. You shouldn't.                   You'll need it.                    She is now knocking down posts as she keeps up with the          accelerating plane.                                            SOLDIER                   Good-bye, darling.                                            GIRL                   Oh, Bill, I'll keep it. I'll keep it with                   me all the time.                                            SOLDIER                   So long, darling. Good-bye. Take care of                   yourself.                                            GIRL                   Bill! Bill! Good-bye, Bill.                                            SOLDIER                   Good-bye, darling.                                            GIRL                   Good-bye, darling. I love you. I love you,                   darling.                                            SOLDIER                   Good-bye, darling.                    A TRAIN WHISTLE sounds. She stops running and waves.                    INT. COCKPIT - NIGHT                                            GROUND CONTROLLER (v.o.)                   Flight two-zero-niner, you are cleared for                   takeoff.                                            OVEUR                   Roger.                                            MURDOCK                        (turning to Oveur)                   Huh?                    Oveur throws console lever into second gear.                                            GROUND CONTROLLER (v.o.)                   L.A. departure frequency two-point-niner.                                            OVEUR                   Roger.                                            MURDOCK                        (turning to Oveur)                   Huh?                                            BASTA                        (to tower)                   Request vector...over.                                            OVEUR                        (turning to Basta)                   What?                                            GROUND CONTROLLER (v.o.)                   Flight two-zero-niner, cleared for vector                   three...two four.                                            MURDOCK                   We have clearance, Clarence.                                            OVEUR                   Roger, Roger. What's our vector, Victor?                    Oveur throws console lever into third.                    EXT. RUNWAY - NIGHT                    Flight 209 takes off, flying erratically.                                            BASTA (v.o.)                   Tower radioed clearance, over.                                            OVEUR (v.o.)                   That's Clarence Oveur...over.                                            BASTA (v.o.)                   Roger.                                            MURDOCK (v.o.)                   Huh?                                            TOWER (v.o.)                   Roger, over.                                            OVEUR (v.o.)                   What?!                                            MURDOCK (v.o.)                   Huh?                    INSERT - SEAT BELT AND SMOKING SIGNS                    going off.                    INT. PASSENGER CABIN - NIGHT                    Striker walks to rear of plane and looks out window. He          swallows a couple of pills. Randy approaches.                                            RANDY                   Do you feel all right, sir?                                            STRIKER                   Oh -- I haven't flown for a long time.                    INT. PASSENGER CABIN - ANOTHER AREA - NIGHT                    Elaine is handing out magazines.                                            OVEUR (v.o.)                   Good evening, this is Captain Oveur                   speaking. We'll be cruising at thirty-six,                   thousand feet, and arrival time in Chicago                   is ten-forty-five Central Time. The                   temperature there is sixty-two degrees,                   with a twenty percent chance of                   precipitation. And now here's Victor with                   People in the news.                                            BASTA (v.o.)                   Thank you, Clarence. Ali McGraw announced                   another spin on the marriage-go-round. And                   who's the lucky guy? You guessed it. None                   other than Olympic gymnast...                    Elaine approaches Mrs. Elderly. Striker's seat is vacant.                                            ELAINE                   Would you like something to read?                                            MRS. ELDERLY                   Do you have anything light?                    Elaine hands her a small piece of paper.                                            ELAINE                   How about this leaflet: 'Famous Jewish                   Sports Legends?'                                            MRS. ELDERLY                        (taking pamphlet)                   Yes. Thank you.                    Elaine turns and is shocked to see Striker approaching his          seat.                                            ELAINE                   Ted, what are you doing here?                                            STRIKER                   Elaine, I've got to talk to you.                                            ELAINE                   You...you shouldn't have come. I don't                   have time now.                                            MRS. SCHIFF                   Oh, stewardess...                                            ELAINE                   Excuse me.                    Striker sits down.                                            MRS. ELDERLY                   No wonder you're upset. She's lovely. And                   a darling figure. Supple, pouting breasts.                   Firm thighs. It's a shame you're not                   getting along.                                            STRIKER                   Yes, I know. Things used to be different.                   I remember when we first met. It was                   during the war.                                                              DISSOLVE TO:                    INT. MAGUMBA BAR - NIGHT                    Striker is seated at bar in a smoke-filled room. An          assortment of unsavory characters are hanging around the          bar.                                            STRIKER (v.o.)                   I was in the Air Force, stationed in                   Drambuie, on the Barbary Coast. I used to                   hang out in the Magumba Bar.                    Shapely female legs walking on bar stop in front of Striker.          SLEAZY TROMBONE MUSIC. CAMERA PANS UP shapely female in          tight fitting dress. She is play≠ing the sleazy trombone          music.                                            STRIKER (v.o.)                   It was a rough place. You would count on a                   fight breaking out almost every night.                    Two GIRL SCOUTS are slugging it out old Western style --          breaking tables and chairs.                    INT. MAGUMBA BAR - JUKEBOX AREA - NIGHT                    An unsavory CHARACTER puts a quarter in the jukebox. One          Girl Scout bashes the other against the jukebox buttons.                    INSERT - LIGHTED SIGN                                                "E-5                            MAKE ANOTHER SELECTION"                    DISCO TUNE plays. Girl Scout is bashed against juke≠box          again.                    INSERT - LIGHTED SIGN                                               "B-17                            MAKE ANOTHER SELECTION"                    Girl Scout bashes again.                    INSERT - LIGHTED SIGN                                               "A-12                                   THANK YOU"                    The unsavory Character nods approvingly at selections.                    INT. MAGUMBA BAR DANCE FLOOR - NIGHT                    Patrons are dancing a la John Travolta.                                            STRIKER (v.o.)                   I didn't go there that night to fall in                   love, I just dropped in for a couple of                   drinks.                    BACK TO STRIKER                    He turns to look toward dance floor.                                            STRIKER (v.o.)                   But suddenly there she was.                    STRIKER'S POV                    Elaine dancing with grizzly looking cutthroat.                                            STRIKER (v.o.)                   I was captivated, entranced.                    BACK TO STRIKER                                            STRIKER (v.o.)                   It hit me like a thunderbolt. I had to ask                   the guy next to me to pinch me to make                   sure I wasn't dreaming.                    Striker asks the burly LONGSHOREMAN next to him to to pinch          him. Longshoreman gives him a look and moves away          cautiously.                                            STRIKER (v.o.)                   I was afraid to approach her, but that                   night, fate was on my side.                    Elaine's dancing partner is stabbed in the back and falls to          the grould. No one notices but Striker who eagerly fills in.          They make a perfect disco couple. The other dancers make a          circle around them.                    They begin with fancy disco steps, move on to flips and          seemingly impossible acrobatics, finally ending with          incredible stunts: Striker, jumping through flaming hoops          and Elaine, hanging from a chandelier by her teeth and          twirling.                                                              DISSOLVE TO:                    INT. MAGUMBA BAR DANCE FLOOR - NIGHT                    Bar is closing, chairs on tables, bartender sweeping floor,          Elaine and Striker dancing slowly in center of room. One          final Girl Scout flies into FRAME and falls in a lifeless          heap at their feet.                                                              DISSOLVE TO:                    INT. PASSENGER CABIN - NIGHT                                            STRIKER                   We laughed, we talked, we danced, I never                   wanted it to end and I guess I still                   don't. But enough about me. I hope this                   hasn't been boring for you.                    CAMERA WIDENS to reveal Mrs. Elderly's legs dangling next to          him. She has hung herself.                                            STRIKER                   It's just that when I start to talk about                   Elaine, I get so carried away -- I lose                   all track of time -- not unlike Oliver in                   'Jesus: the Man.'                    INT. PASSENGER CABIN - ANOTHER AREA - NIGHT                    Milton, carrying a tray with two cups of coffee, approaches          Bernice.                                            MILTON                   I happened to be passing, and I thought                   you might like some corfee.                                            BERNICE                   That's very nice of you. Thank you.                    She takes a cup.                                            BERNICE                   Ah, won't you sit down?                                            MILTON                   Thank you. Cream?                                            BERNICE                   No, thank you. I take it black. Like my                   men.                                            MILTON                   Were you vacationing in Los Angeles?                                            BERNICE                   Well, it really wasn't a vacation. You                   see, I'm a teacher in the New York City                   school system, and I was attending a                   seminar on visual aids to education. Are                   you from L.A.?                                            MILTON                   No. I'm from Washington, D.C. I'm a                   lobbyist for the Small Businessmen's                   Assocation.                    INT. PASSENGER CABIN - NIGHT                    Elaine is taking orders from a couple and their eight year          old son.                                            ELAINE                   Would you like to order dinner now?                                            MR. HAMMEN                   Yes. Steak for Joey and my wife and I will                   have the fish.                                            JOEY                   When can I see the cockpit, Dad?                                            MR. HAMMEN                   Well, I think that the pilots are too busy                   flying the plane for that, Joey.                                            JOEY                   Aw, gee whiz.                                            ELAINE                   I tell you what, Joey. I'll talk to the                   Captain and see what I can arrange.                                            JOEY                   Gee! That'd be swell!                    Elaine moves on to the two Black Dudes.                                            ELAINE                   Would you gentlemen care to order your                   dinners?                    The Black Dudes point to their selections on the menu.                                            BLACK DUDE #1                   'Ey ma' muh fuh wha' fo', shi!                    SUBTITLES APPEAR: "I WOULD LIKE THE STEAK, PLEASE."                                            BLACK DUDE #2                   Shi' mo cain ma foh mess wi' ain?!                    SUBTITLES APPEAR: "I'LL HAVE THE FISH, THANK YOU."                    INT. PASSENGER CABIN - ANOTHER AREA - NIGHT                    Randy is taking dinner orders from Hari Krishnas.                                            RANDY                   May I take your dinner order?                                            HARI KRISHNA #1                   No, thank you, we brought our own                   vegetables.                                            HARI KRISHNA #2                   But we would like some hot water for our                   tea, please.                    Randy moves on.                                            HARI KRISHNA #1                   Did you catch the jugs on that broad?                    INT. PASSENGER CABIN - STEWARDESS ALCOVE - NIGHT                    Elaine is replacing a magazine and catches sight of Striker.                    ELAINE'S POV - STRIKER                    Boring another passenger.                    BACK TO ELAINE                     She moves into the alcove and begins to pour coffee. CAMERA          MOVES INTO CLOSEUP of Elaine.                                                              DISSOLVE TO:                    EXT. BEACH - DAY                    Striker and Elaine are running. She falls down at the          water's edge, exhausted. Striker drops to his knees and they          embrace passionately. A huge wave washes over them covering          them completely. When the wave recedes, they're still locked          in the same embrace. They are covered with seaweed. Fish are          flopping around in the sand.                                            ELAINE                   Oh, Ted, I never knew I could be so happy.                   These past few months have been wonderful.                   Tomorrow why don't we drive up the coast                   to that little seafood place and...                    Striker frowns.                                            ELAINE                   What's the matter?                                            STRIKER                   My orders came through. My squadron ships                   out tomorrow. I'll be leading a very                   important mission.                                            ELAINE                   Oh, Ted, please be careful. I worry about                   you so much.                                            STRIKER                   I love you, Elaine.                                            ELAINE                   I love you.                    They embrace. Another huge wave washes in and covers them          completely.                                                              DISSOLVE TO:                    INT. STEWARDESS ALCOVE - NIGHT                    Elaine comes back to reality.                    EXT. AIRPLANE - NIGHT                    In level flight.                    INT. COCKPIT - NIGHT                                            GROUND CONTROL (v.o.)                   Flight two-zero-niner, this is Denver                   Flight Control. You're approaching some                   rough weather. Please climb to forty-two                   thousand feet.                                            OVEUR                   Roger, Denver.                    There is a KNOCK on the cockpit door. Elaine and Joey enter.                                            ELAINE                   We have a visitor.                                            OVEUR                   Hello.                                            MURDOCK                   Hi.                                            ELAINE                   This is Captain Oveur. Mister Murdock and                   Mister Johnson. This is Joey Hammen.                                            MURDOCK                   Come on up here. You can see better.                                            OVEUR                   Joey, here's something we give our special                   visitors. Would you like to have it?                    He gives Joey a small toy airplane and puts his arm around          him.                                            JOEY                   Thank you. Thanks a lot!                                            OVEUR                   Have you ever been in a cockpit before?                                            JOEY                   No, sir. I've never been up in a plane                   before.                                            OVEUR                   Have you ever seen a grown man naked?                                            MURDOCK                   Do you want me to check the weather,                   Clarence?                                            OVEUR                        (looking at Joey)                   No, why don't you take care ot it?                                            ELAINE                   We'd better get back now.                                            OVEUR                   Joey can stay up here for a while if he'd                   like to.                                            JOEY                   Could I?                                            ELAINE                   Okay, if you don't get in the way.                    Elaine exits. Murdock picks up phone.                                            MURDOCK                   Flight two-zero-niner to Denver radio.                   Climbing to cruise at forty-two thousand.                   Will report again over Lincoln. Over and                   out.                    Joey has been paying very close attention to Murdock, and          suddenly recognizes him.                                            JOEY                   Wait a minute. I know you. You're Kareem                   Abdul Jabbar. You play basketball for the                   Los Angeles Lakers!                                            MURDOCK                   I'm sorry, son, but you must have me                   confused with someone else. My name is                   Roger Murdock. I'm the co-pilot.                    He turns to Basta.                                            MURDOCK                   Ah, Victor, why don't you get the                   coordinates on the altitude vector and                   find out the ratio of direct velocity over                   engine speed?                    Victor is puzzled.                                            JOEY                   You are Kareem. I've seen you play. My                   Dad's got season tickets!                                            MURDOCK                   I think you should go back to your seat                   now, Joey. Right, Clarence?                                            OVEUR                   No, he's not bothering anyone. Let him                   stay up here.                                            MURDOCK                   All right. But just remember, my name is                   Roger Murdock.                    He points to his nametag.                                            MURDOCK                   I'm an airline pilot.                        (to Oveur)                   Ah, Clarence, according to my                   calculations, with this tailwind we ought                   to be able to make up an additional                   fifteen minutes over the Rockies.                                            JOEY                   I think you're the greatest. But my Dad                   says you don't work hard enough on                   defense.                                            MURDOCK                        (into microphone)                   Denver Control, this is Flight two-zero-                   niner intersecting Victor Airway seven-                   niner-niner.                                            JOEY                   ...and that lots of times you don't even                   run down court.                                            MURDOCK                   We are turning left to a heading of zero-                   niner-niner.                                            JOEY                   ...and that you don't really try, except                   during the playoffs.                                            MURDOCK                   The hell I don't! I'm out there busting my                   buns every night.                    Murdock realizes he has given himself away. He quickly looks          to see if Oveur is listening. Oveur is busy checking          instruments. Murdock grabs Joey by the collar and whispers          angrily.                                            MURDOCK                   Listen, kid, I've been hearing that crap                   ever since I was at UCLA. Tell your old                   man to drag Unseld and Lanier up and down                   the court for forty-eight minutes.                        (into mike)                   Ah...Denver Control, this is Flight two-                   zero-niner continuing on a heading two-                   niner-niner...niner, ah...niner...niner.                    INT. PASSENGER CABIN - NIGHT                    Elaine is seated next to Striker.                                            STRIKER                   Elaine, just hear me out. I know things                   haven't been right for a long time. But it                   will be different...like it was in the                   beginning. Remember?                                            ELAINE                   I remember everything. All I have are                   memories.                    Soft MUSIC begins.                                            ELAINE                   Mostly I remember...the nights when we                   were together. I remember how you used to                   hold me...and how I used to sit on your                   face and wriggle...and then afterwards how                   we'd watch until the sun came up. When it                   did, it was almost like...like each new                   day was created...only for us.                                            STRIKER                   That's the way I've always wanted it to                   be, Elaine.                                            ELAINE                   But it won't be. Not as long as you insist                   on living in the past!                    Elaine leaves, teary-eyed.                    CLOSEUP - STRIKER                                                              SUPERIMPOSE:                    EXT. SKY - DAY                    Fighter plane diving.                                            SQUADRON LEADER (v.o.)                   You're too low, Ted! You're too low!                    Fighter plane CRASHES.                                                              DISSOLVE TO:                    EXT. HOSPITAL - DAY                    Sign in front reads:                                   U.S. ARMY PSYCHIATRIC HOSPITAL                              PENTATHOL AVAILABLE                                 Master Charge, Visa, Carte Blanche                                                              DISSOLVE TO:                    INT. HOSPITAL - DAY                    Striker is lying in bed painting a canvas. Elaine is seated          at bedside.                                            ELAINE                   You got a telegram from head≠quarters                   today.                                            STRIKER                   Headquarters!? What is it?                                            ELAINE                   It's a big building where the generals                   meet. But that's not important right now.                   They've cleared you of any blame for what                   happened on that raid. Isn't that good                   news?                    INSERT - STRIKER'S PAINTING                    A surreal image of a soldier contorted like a pretzel          clutching a machine gun in one hand and a crying infant in          the other.                    BACK TO HOSPITAL - DAY                                            STRIKER                   Is it? Because of my mistake six men                   didn't return from that raid.                                            ELAINE                   Seven. Lieutenant Zipp died this morning.                   Ted, Doctor Sandler says you'll be out in                   a week. Isn't that wonderful?                    In the b.g., a doctor in a white lab coat is attending a          patient. When he turns around WE SEE he is wearing an STP          insignia on his back.                                            STRIKER                   I wish I could say the same for George                   Zipp.                                            ELAINE                   Be patient, Ted. No one expects you to get                   over this immediately.                    Striker is despondent.                                            SGT. McCOBB (o.s.)                   Hey, Striker!                    INT. HOSPITAL - ANGLE - SGT. McCOBB - DAY                    He is posing for Striker's painting, contorted like a          pretzel, holding a machine gun in one hand and crying baby          in the other.                                            SGT. McCOBB                   How about a break? I'm getting tired!                                            STRIKER                   All right. Take five.                    McCobb untangles himself and walks off.                    INT. HOSPITAL - CLOSEUP - ELAINE - DAY                                            ELAINE                   I found a wonderful apartment for us. It's                   got a brick fireplace and a cute little                   bedroom with mirrors on the ceiling.                   And...                                            CAPTAIN GELINE (o.s.)                   I'm off course. Red Leader!!! Look out!!                                            STRIKER                   That's Captain Geline. He thinks he's a                   pilot, still fighting the war.                    INT. HOSPITAL - DAY                    Captain Geline agonizing and making bombing and machine gun          noises.                    INT. HOSPITAL - DAY                                            LIEUTENANT HURWITZ (o.s.)                   Groan.                                            ELAINE                   What's his problem?                                            STRIKER                   That's Lieutennt Hurwitz. Severe shell                   shock. He thinks he's Ethel Merman.                    INT. HOSPITAL - DAY                    Strapped to the bed is ETHEL MERMAN singing "EVERYTHING'S          COMING UP ROSES." She breaks loose from the straps for a          grand finale. Two attendants attempt to restrain her.                                                              DISSOLVE TO:                    INT. PASSENGER CABIN - BACK TO STRIKER - NIGHT                                            RANDY                   Excuse me, sir. Would you like some coffee                   before we serve dinner?                                            STRIKER                   No. No thank you.                    Randy moves on to the Hammens.                                            RANDY                   Would either of you like another cup of                   coffee?                                            MRS. HAMMEN                   I will, but Jim won't.                                            MR. HAMMEN                   Yes, I think I will have another cup of                   coffee.                    CAMERA ZOOMS to CLOSEUP of Mrs. Hammen.                                            MRS. HAMMEN'S THOUGHTS (v.o.)                   Jim never has a second cup of coffee at                   home.                    INT. PASSENGER CABIN - ANOTHER AREA - NIGHT                    Randy approaches Sister Angelina. The guitar is on the seat          next to her.                                            RANDY                   Excuse me, Sister?                                            SISTER ANGELINA                   Yes?                                            RANDY                   There's a little girl on board who's ill                   and...                                            SISTER ANGELINA                   Oh yes, I saw. Poor child.                                            RANDY                   Could I borrow your guitar? I thought I                   might be able to cheer her up.                                            SISTER ANGELINA                   Of course.                    Randy takes the guitar and walks down the aisle. The guitar          clonks people on the back of the head. Randy approaches          Lisa.                                            RANDY                   Is it all right if I talk to your                   daughter?                                            MRS. DAVIS                   Oh, I think that would be nice.                                            RANDY                        (to Lisa, who is reading)                   Hi!                                            LISA                   Hi!                                            RANDY                   I'm Randy.                                            LISA                   I'm Lisa. Oh, you have a guitar!                                            RANDY                   I thought maybe you'd like to hear a song.                                            LISA                   Oh, I'd love to.                                            RANDY                   Okay, this is one of my favorites.                    Randy is sitting on the edge of the gurney as she strums          three opening chords.                                            RANDY                        (strumming and singing in                         ballad tempo)                   'I've traveled the banks of the River                   Jordan, to find where it flows to the                   sea.'                    Stewardesses and passengers notice the singer and peer          around corners and over seat backs. A man's head peers          upside down from the TOP OF THE FRAME.                                            RANDY                   'I looked in the eyes of the cold and the                   hungry and saw that I was looking at me.'                    As singing continues, Shirley and Jack look at each other          with saccherine smiles, the Hammens do the same, then the          Krishnas, then the Black Dudes. Finally, everyone is smiling          sweetly at each other.                    INT. COCKPIT - NIGHT                    Murdock and Oveur smile sweetly at each other...                    INT. CABIN - NIGHT                                            RANDY                        (singing and playing the                         guitar)                   'And I wanted to know if life had a                   purpose, and what it all means in the end.                   In the silence I listened to the voices                   inside me, and they told me again and                   again.'                    Tempo Jumps to rock pace.                                            RANDY                   'There is only one river. There is only                   one sea.'                    Randy, in her growing enthusiasm, swings her guitar,          knocking the I.V. connection tube from Lisa's arm. The I.V.          squirts, and Lisa turns pale and hollow≠cheeked. No one else          notices.                                            RANDY                   'And it flows through you, and it flows                   through me. There is only one people, we                   are one and the same.'                    Lisa manages to reconnect her I.V.                                            RANDY                        (still singing)                   'We are all one spirit, one name. We are                   the Father, we are the son.'                    Randy again knocks I.V. from Lisa's arm with guitar as the          passengers start to get into the music.                                            RANDY                   'In the Dawn of Creation. We are one.'                    Mrs. Davis rushes to reconnect Lisa's I.V. Lisa doesn't          react. Mrs. Davis pounds Lisa's chest.                                            RANDY & PASSENGERS                   'We are only one people, we are one and                   the same.'                    As Lisa revives, Randy swings her guitar and clonks Mrs.          Davis on the head.                                            RANDY & PASSENGERS                   'We are all one spirit on Earth, one                   name.'                    EXT. AIRPLANE - NIGHT                                            RANDY & PASSENGERS (v.o.)                   'We are the Father, we are the son, and in                   the Dawn of Creation we are one.'                    INT. COCKPIT - NIGHT                    Elaine enters with dinners.                                            OVEUR                   Hey, we've been waiting for you. A little                   bit late tonight.                                            ELAINE                   Who wants to be first?                                            MURDOCK                   Go ahead, Clarence, I got it.                    Oveur removes his headset, Elaine puts tray down.                                            ELAINE                   How's the weather?                                            MURDOCK                   Not so good. We've got some heavy stuff                   ahead of us. It might get rough again                   unless we can climb on top. But our                   airspeed is holding steady at six hundred                   ten knots.                                            ELAINE                   That's great. By the way, Joey Hammen                   asked me if you would autograph this                   basketball.                    Murdock autographs it reluctantly.                    INT. PASSENGER CABIN - NIGHT                    A JAPANESE GENERAL, dressed in World War II uniform, is now          seated next to Striker.                                            STRIKER                   After the war, I just wanted to get as far                   away from things as possible. So Elaine                   and I joined the Peace Corps. We were                   assigned to an isolated tribe, the                   Molombos.                                                              DISSOLVE TO:                    EXT. AFRICAN VILLAGE - DAY                    Striker and Elaine are being escorted to the chief's hut by          two GUARDS. We hear Jungle Animal SOUNDS. The chief is          standing in front of his hut surrounded by several TRIBESMEN          who are making the jungle animal sounds.                                            STRIKER (v.o.)                   They had never seen Americans before.                    When Striker and Elaine arrive, the CHIEF holds up his hands          and the sounds stop.                                            STRIKER (v.o.)                   At first, they didn't know what to think                   of us; but soon we gained their trust.                    The Chief extends his right hand for conventional handshake.          Striker shows him power grip. When the Chief is pleased,          Striker gives him five. The Chief pauses then decks Striker.                                            STRIKER (v.o.)                   It really was a challenge during the year                   introducing them to our Western culture.                                                              DISSOLVE TO:                    EXT. JUNGLE - ANOTHER AREA - DAY                    Elaine is having a Supperware party for native women.                                            ELAINE                   Also, Supperware products are ideal for                   storing leftovers to help stretch your                   food dollar. This two quart "Seals-M-Rite"                   container with a special "Close-M-Tite"                   lid keeps hotdog buns fresh for days and                   prevents sugared cereals from sticking.                    She scoops a ladle of corn mush from a carved wooden bowl          into a Supperware container.                                            ELAINE                   Meat and dairy products are protected                   against unwanted refrigerator odors when                   sealed in this non-slip pastel colored                   "Freez-o-leer".                    When she burps the lid, the Supperware makes a human burp          SOUND.                    EXT. JUNGLE - ANOTHER AREA - DAY                    Striker nailing crude basketball rim and net to tree.                                            STRIKER (v.o.)                   You must understand that these people had                   been completely isolated from                   civilization.                    Striker demonstrates a two-handed set shot to natives. He          misses.                                            STRIKER (v.o.)                   No one had ever outlined a physical                   fitness program for them and they had no                   athletic equipment.                    Native examines basketball for first time. After two slow          dribbles, he gracefully feints lefts, then, dribbling          through his legs, sinks a two-hand, over-the-head, reverse          dunk shot.                                            STRIKER (v.o.)                   We also emphasized nutrition and taught                   them to watch their diets.                    Another native hits a long jump shot.                                            STRIKER (v.o.)                   The exercise improved their physical                   fitness and condition.                    One shot after another swishes through the basketball rim.                                            STRIKER (v.o.)                   My working with them seemed to reinforce                   our objectives of group cooperation and                   controlled-competitive activity.                    Striker approaches Elaine who is standing on the sideline.          As they talk, the natives are passing the ball around and          shooting baskets Harlem Globetrotter fashion.                                            STRIKER                   I think they're getting the hang of it!                   When we re-enlist I'll teach them                   baseball!                                            ELAINE                   Ted, I don't want to stay here. It's time                   for us to go back home -- to the plans we                   made before the war.                                            STRIKER                   A lot of people made plans before the war.                   Like George Zipp.                    Elaine walks away, dejectedly. CAMERA STAYS with Striker as          he pours Gator-Ade into a glass.                                            STRIKER (v.o.)                   I guess it was at that moment that I first                   realized Elaine had doubts about our                   relationship. And that as much as anything                   else led to my drinking problem.                    Striker has a problem drinking. He raises his glass of          Gator-Ade, then suddenly pours it on his forehead.                                                              DISSOLVE TO:                    INT. PASSENGER CABIN - NIGHT                                            STRIKER                   We did come back to the States. I tried a                   number of jobs...Well, I could go on for                   hours, but I'd probably start to bore you.                    The Japanese General is kneeling on the seat committing Hari          Kari.                                            STRIKER                   You know, I really couldn't blame Elaine.                   She wanted a career. I was offered a job                   at Boeing but I couldn't bring myself to                   take it...                    EXT. LAX PASSENGER LOADING AREA - NIGHT                    The businessman waiting in Striker's cab checks his watch.                    EXT. AIRPLANE - NIGHT                    THUNDER and lightning.                    INT. PASSENGER CABIN - NIGHT                    Shirley is ill and holding her stomach in pain.                                            SHIRLEY                   Oh, I can't stand it.                                            JACK                   What is it?                    Elaine approaches.                                            ELAINE                   Yes?                                            SHIRLEY                   My, stomach. I haven't felt this awful                   since we saw that Lina Wertmuller film.                                            ELAINE                   I'll see if I can find some Dramamine.                    Elaine exits.                                            SHIRLEY                   OOOOOO.                    INT. PASSENGER CABIN - STEWARDESS ALCOVE - NIGHT                    Elaine is on the phone.                                            ELAINE                   Captain, one of the women passengers is                   very sick.                    INT. COCKPIT - NIGHT                    Joey enters to retrieve basketball. Murdock is wearing          goggles.                                             OVEUR                   Airsick?                                            ELAINE                   I think so, but I've never seen it so                   acute.                                            OVEUR                   Find out if there's a doctor on board, as                   quietly as you can.                    Oveur hangs up phone.                                            OVEUR                   Joey, have you ever been in a Turkish                   prison?                    INT. PASSENGER CABIN - ANOTHER AREA - NIGHT                                            MR. HAMMEN                        (nauseous)                   Oooh, I shouldn't have had that second cup                   of coffee.                    He grabs for motion sickness bag. CAMERA ZOOMS to CLOSEUP of          Mrs. Hammen.                                            MRS. HAMMEN'S THOUGHTS (v.o.)                   Jim never vomits at home.                    EXT. AIRPLANE                    THUNDER and lightning.                    INT. PASSENGER CABIN - NIGHT                    Elaine is speaking to couple.                                            ELAINE                   I'm sorry I had to wake you. I'm just                   looking for a doctor. There's nothing to                   worry about.                    Middle-aged lady, MRS. YAFFE, having overheard this          conversation, beckons to Elaine.                                            MRS. YAFFE                   Stewardess, I think the man next to me is                   a doctor.                    The MAN next to her is wearing a surgical cap with mask.          Hanging around his neck is a stethoscope. He's sleeping.                                            ELAINE                   Sir. Excuse me, sir. I'm sorry to have to                   wake you. Are you a doctor?                                            DR. RUMACK                   That's right.                                            ELAINE                   We have some passengers who are very sick.                   Could you come and take a look at them?                                            DR. RUMACK                   Yes. Yes, of course.                    Rumack picks up bag and exits with Elaine.                    INT. PASSENGER CABIN - ANOTHER AREA - NIGHT                    Rumack and Elaine enter. Rumack stoops over to Shirley, and          surgical instrument is slapped into his hand from o.s. He          pokes her stomach with his hand.                                            DR. RUMACK                   Pain there?                    She winces and nods.                                            DR. RUMACK                   May I see your tongue, please?                    She sticks her tongue out. Rumack pulls on it until it is          obviously too long. He continues to pull, and the tongue          becomes multi-colored magician's scarves. Then he pulls out          a bouquet of flowers followed by a white dove.                                            DR. RUMACK                   I'll be back in a minute.                    Rumack takes Elaine aside.                                            DR. RUMACK                   You'd better tell the Captain. We've got                   to land as soon as we can. This woman has                   to be gotten to a hospital.                                            ELAINE                   A hospital? What is it?                                            DR. RUMACK                   It's a big building with patients. But                   that's not important right now. Tell the                   Captain I must speak to him.                                            ELAINE                   Certainly.                    EXT. AIRPLANE - THUNDER AND LIGHTNING - NIGHT                    INT. COCKPIT - NIGHT                                            OVEUR                        (into mike)                   Thank you, Omaha. Two-zero-niner out.                        (to Basta)                   Victor, we're running into a heavy storm,                   can you...                    Oveur turns to see Basta slumped over the console.                    Dramatic MUSIC.                                            OVEUR                   Victor! Roger, take over!                    Oveur lifts Basta onto ground.                    EXT. AIRPLANE - NIGHT                    THUNDER and lightning.                    INT. COCKPIT - NIGHT                    Murdock, flying the plane alone, wipes his brow and appears          ill.                    INT. PASSENGER CABIN - OUTSIDE COCKPIT DOOR - NIGHT                                            DR. RUMACK                   Captain, how soon can we land?                                            OVEUR                   I can't tell.                                            DR. ROMACK                   You can tell me. I'm a doctor!                                            OVEUR                   No. I mean I'm just not sure.                                            DR. RUMACK                   Can't you take a guess?                                            OVEUR                   Well...not for another two hours.                                            DR. RUMACK                   You can't take a guess for another two                   hours?                                            OVEUR                   No, I mean we can't land for another two                   hours. Fog has closed down everything this                   side of the mountains. We've got to go                   through to Chicago!                    Suddenly, the plane rocks violently. Rumack and Oveur lose          balance.                    EXT. AIRPLANE - NIGHT                    THUNDER and lightning -- plane is flying erratically.                    INT. COCKPIT - NIGHT                    Murdock, unconscious, is slumped over controls. Oveur and          Rumack burst into cockpit. Oveur gets into pilot's seat.          Elaine enters.                                            OVEUR                        (excitedly)                   Get him out of there!                    INSERT - ALTIMETER AND FLIGHT CONTROLS                    Altitude is fluctuating.                    INT. COCKPIT - NIGHT                    Oveur struggles with controls. They extricate Murdock from          behind the wheel. He is wearing shorts, kneepads, and          basketball shoes.                    EXT. AIRPLANE - NIGHT                    climbing and diving.                    INT. PASSENGER CABIN - NIGHT                    Passengers are being tossed about. A woman, applying          lipstick, smears it over her face.                    INSERT - LIGHTED SYMBOLS                     -- cigarette with line slashed through, and couple          copulating with line slashed through.                    INT. CABIN - NIGHT                    Randy loses her balance and shoves dinner into a passenger's          face.                    INT. COCKPIT - OVEUR - NIGHT                    struggling with controls, finally regains level flight.                    EXT. AIRPLANE - NIGHT                    THUNDER and lightning -- plane levels off.                    INT. COCKPIT - NIGHT                    The St. Christopher statue is holding a motion discomtort          bag to its mouth.                                            OVEUR                   What is it, Doctor? What's happening?                                            DR. RUMACK                   I'm not sure. I haven't seen anything like                   this since the Lina Wertmuller Film                   Festival.                    Rumack and Elaine are now standing face-to-face. Oveur, in          the f.g., is at controls.                                            DR. RUMACK                   What was it we had for dinner tonight?                                            ELAINE                   Well, we had a choice. Steak or fish.                                            DR. RUMACK                   Yes, yes, I remember. I had lasagna.                    He points to Johnson.                                            DR. RUMACK                   What did he have?                                            ELAINE                   He had fish.                    Randy enters cockpit.                                            RANDY                   We have two more sick people, and the rest                   of the passengers are worried.                                            OVEUR                   I'll take care of the passengers. Elaine,                   find out what the two sick people had for                   dinner.                        (into P.A.)                   This is Captain Oveur speaking.                    INT. PASSENGER CABIN - NIGHT                    Passengers are listening to P.A.                                            OVEUR (v.o.)                   It's been a little bumpy up here but we'll                   be past it in a few minutes.                    Randy and Elaine drag Murodck and Basta down center aisle.                                            OVEUR (v.o.)                   A couple points of interest: we're just                   now passing over the Hoover Dam and later                   on, our course will take us just south of                   the Grand Canyon.                    INT. COCKPIT - NIGHT                                            OVEUR                   Meanwhile, relax and enjoy the rest of                   your flight. Okay? Okay!                    He hangs up phone and turns to Rumack.                                            OVEUR                   That should do it.                    INT. PASSENGER CABIN - NIGHT                    Absolute pandemonium. Passengers are yelling, screaming,          tearing their hair out, climbing about.                    INT. COCKPIT - NIGHT                                            OVEUR                        (into microphone)                   Chicago, this is flight two-zero-niner.                   We're in trouble.                    INT. O'HARE WEATHER CENTER - CLOSEUP - TYPEWRITER - NIGHT                    CAMERA PULLS OUT to reveal DISPATCHER typing Oveur's          message.                                            OVEUR (v.o.)                   We've got to have all altitudes below us                   cleared and priority approach and landing                   in Chicago. Over.                                            DISPATCHER                   We read you. Stand by, two-zero-niner.                    When he tries to remove paper from typewriter, it rips in          half.                    EXT. AIRPLANE - NIGHT                    THUNDER and lightning.                    INT. PASSENGER CABIN - NIGHT                    Randy approaches Hammens. Mr. Hammen is sick.                                            RANDY                   Yes?                                            MRS. HAMMEN                   Oh, Stewardess. My husband is very sick.                   Can you do something, please?                                            RANDY                   Well, the doctor will be with you in just                   a moment. One thing: do you know what he                   had for dinner?                                            MRS. HAMMEN                   Yes, of course. We both had fish. Why?                                            RANDY                   Oh, it's nothing to be alarmed about.                   We'll get back to you very quickly.                    She turns to walk toward CAMERA with horrified expression.                    INT. COCKPIT - NIGHT                    Elaine enters, turns to face Rumack. Oveur is at controls in          f.g.                                            ELAINE                   Doctor Rumack, Mister Hammen ate fish. And                   Randy says there are five more cases, and                   they ate fish, too.                                            DR. RUMACK                   Let's see now. The co-pilot had fish. What                   did the navigator eat?                                            ELAINE                   He had fish, too.                    Oveur is picking up on the conversation.                                            DR. RUMACK                   All right, now we know what we're up                   against. Every passenger on this plane who                   ate fish for dinner will become violently                   ill within the next half hour.                    Oveur looks down at his dinner tray and sees skeleton of the          fish he just ate.                                            ELAINE                   Just how serious is it, doctor?                                            DR. RUMACK                   Extremely serious. It starts with a slight                   fever.                    Oveur experiences what the doctor is describing.                                            DR. RUMACK                   Then a dryness in the throat. As the virus                   penetrates the red blood cells the victim                   becomes dizzy and begins to experience a                   rash and itching. From there the poison                   works its way into the central nervous                   system causing severe muscle spasms,                   followed by the inevitable drooling. At                   this point, the entire digestive system is                   rendered useless, causing the complete                   collapse of the lower bowels, accompanied                   by uncontrollable flatulence...until                   finally the poor bastard is reduced to a                   quivering, wasted piece of jelly.                    Oveur passes out and pitches forward onto the controls.          Rumack and Elaine lose balance as plane dives.                    EXT. AIRPLANE - NIGHT                    THUNDER and lightning as plane is diving.                    INT. PASSENGER CABIN - NIGHT                    Passengers are being tossed about. A woman, applying rouge,          smears it all over her face.                    INT. CABIN - ANOTHER AREA - CLOSEUP - A PLATE OF JELLO                    wiggling. CAMERA PANS UP to braless woman whose breasts are          wiggling.                    INT. COCKPIT - NIGHT                    As they finally untangle Oveur from the wheel, he gains          semi-consciousness.                                            OVEUR                        (gasping)                   Turn...on...automatic pilot.                    Oveur passes out.                                            ELAINE                   Uh, automatic pilot...automatic pilot?                    INSERT - ELAINE'S POV - CONTROL PANEL - NIGHT                    ELAINE                    is frantically searching for automatic pilot button.                                            ELAINE                   There it is!                    INSERT - SWITCH MARKED "AUTOMATIC PILOT"                    Elaine's hand tenuously reaches for and turns switch to          "ON".                    INT. COCKPIT - CO-PILOT'S SEAT - NIGHT                    SOUND of rushing air as instantly inflatable balloon pilot          takes shape in seat with hands on wheel. His uniform and cap          are painted on, and he has an alert "leave the driving to          us" expression on his face. The plane immediately regains          level flight, and Elaine and Rumack sigh in relief.                                            DR. RUMACK                   I'll get back to the passengers.                    Rumack exits.                                            McCROSKEY (v.o.)                        (over radio)                   Come in two-zero-niner. This is Chicago.                   Flight two-zero-niner, come in, please.                    Elaine picks up mike while still standing.                                            ELAINE                   This is Elaine Dickinson. I'm the                   stewardess. Captain Oveur is passed out on                   the floor, and we've lost the co-pilot and                   navigator, too. We're in terrible trouble.                   Over.                                            OVEUR (o.s.)                   Groan!                                            McCROSKEY (v.o.)                   Elaine! Roger, Roger! I read you. This is                   Steve McCroskey at Chicago Air Control.                                            ELAINE                   Hi, Steve!                                            McCROSKEY (v.o.)                   Now listen carefully. Is the automatic                   pilot on? Over.                                            ELAINE                   Yes. Yes, it is. Over.                                            OVEUR (o.s.)                   Huh?                                            McCROSKEY (v.o.)                   Very good. Now, Elaine, where are you?                   Over.                                            ELAINE                   I'm standing over Oveur. Over.                    INT. CHICAGO DISPATCH - NIGHT                                            McCROSKEY                        (into mike)                   All right, Elaine. Just hold on. We'll be                   back to you in a minute.                    CAMERA PULLS BACK to reveal dispatch is a beehive of          activity. The Chief Dispatcher, STEVE McCROSKEY, is barking          orders to AIR CONTROLLER #1.                                            McCROSKEY                   Hold all takeoffs. I don't want another                   plane in the air. When the 508 reports,                   bring it straight in.                    Air Controller #1 exits quickly. McCroskey picks up phone.                                            McCROSKEY                   Put out a general bulletin to suspend all                   meal service on flights out of Los                   Angeles.                    He hangs up phone and talks to AIR CONTROLLER #2.                                            McCROSKEY                   Tell all dispatchers to remain at their                   posts. It's going to be a long night.                    Air Controller #2 exits. McCroskey notices he is out of          coffee and turns to AIR CONTROLLER HINSHAW.                                            McCROSKEY                   And how about some coffee, Johnny?                                            HINSHAW                   No thanks.                    AIR CONTROLLER #3 enters.                                            McCROSKEY                   I want the weather on every landing field                   on this side of the Rockies, no matter                   what the size.                    Air Controller #3 exits. AIR CONTROLLER #4 enters.                                            McCROSKEY                   Do you understand?                    Air Controller #4 exits. AIR CONTROLLER #5 enters.                                            McCROSKEY                   Any place where there's a chance to land                   this plane.                    Air Controller #5 exits. SIAMESE TWINS enter.                                            McCROSKEY                   Stan, go upstairs to the tower and get a                   runway diagram. Terry, check down on the                   field for emergency equipment.                    Siamese Twins leave. In the b.g. we see them trying to walk          in opposite directions. Air Controller #1 enters.                                            AIR CONTROLLER #1                   Chief, there's fog down to the deck                   everywhere east of the Rockies. There's no                   possible place they can land. They'll have                   to come through to Chicago.                                            McCROSKEY                   Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit                   smoking.                    He lights up a cigarette. McCroskey walks toward a table and          leans on his hands.                                            McCROSKEY                   I want the best available man on this. A                   man who knows this plane inside and out                   and won't crack under pressure.                                            HINSHAW                   How about Sal Mineo?                                            McCROSKEY                   Get me Rex Kramer!                    EXT. AIRPLANE - NIGHT                    Lightning and THUNDER.                    INT. COCKPIT - NIGHT                    Elaine is in the pilot's seat and the inflated automatic          pilot is in co-pilot's seat.                                            McCROSKEY (v.o.)                   Now, Elaine, right next to the throttle is                   the air speed gauge. What speed does it                   indicate?                                            ELAINE                   Three hundred twenty miles per hour.                    INSERT - AIR SPEED GAUGE                    BACK TO SCENE                    We see, but Elaine does not notice, the automatic pilot very          slowly beginning to deflate.                                            McCROSKEY (v.o.)                   Good. Now check your altitude. That's the                   dial just below and to the right of the                   air speed indicator.                                            ELAINE                   Thirty-five thousand feet.                    INSERT - ALTIMATER                    Altitude is dropping.                    BACK TO SCENE                                            ELAINE                   No, wait. Now it says thirty-four thousand                   feet. It's dropping! It's dropping fast!                   Why is it doing that?                    By now the automatic pilot is really slumped over as it is          quite deflated. It is staring at her with a half smile.          Elaine notices it.                                            ELAINE                   Oh, my God! The automatic pilot! It's                   deflating!                                            McCROSKEY (v.o.)                   All right, Elaine, don't worry. We have an                   auxiliary inflation system. Just follow my                   instructions.                                            ELAINE                   Okay, but please hurry! We're dropping                   fast!                    INT. PASSENGER CABIN - NIGHT                    Passengers are being tossed about. Rumack is examining a          female patient.                                            DR. RUMACK                   What the hell's going on up there?                    Rumack starts toward cockpit.                    INT. COCKPIT - NIGHT                                            McCROSKEY (v.o.)                   Now, Elaine, don't panic. On the belt line                   of the automatie pilot there is a hollow                   tube. Can you see that?                                            ELAINE                   Yes. Yes, I can see it.                                            McCROSKEY (v.o.)                   Good. Now that's the manual inflation                   nozzle. Pull it out and blow it up like a                   balloon.                    Elaine kneels over automatic pilot's crotch, puts tube in          her mouth and blows. Automatic pilot inflates. Rumack bursts          into cockpit.                    RUMACK'S POV                    Back of automatic pilot with Elaine kneeling over its          crotch.                    INT. PASSENGER CABIN - OUTSIDE OF COCKPIT - NIGHT                    Rumack slams the door in disbelief.                    CLOSEUP - AUTOMATIC PILOT                    with a big smile on its face.                    INT. PASSENGER CABIN - ANOTHER AREA - NIGHT                    Passengers are relieved as plane regains level flight.                    EXT. AIRPLANE - THROUGH COCKPIT WINDOW - NIGHT                    Elaine and automatic pilot are relaxed in their seats. Both          are smoking cigarettes.                    EXT. AIRPLANE - NIGHT                    THUNDER and lightning.                    INT. COCKPIT - NIGHT                    Rumack enters.                                            DR. RUMACK                   Elaine, you're a member of this crew. Can                   you face some unpleasant facts?                                            ELAINE                   No.                                            DR. RUMACK                   All right. Unless I can get all these                   people to a hospital quickly, I can't even                   be sure of saving their lives. Now, is                   there anyone else on board who can land                   this plane?                                            ELAINE                   Well...                    INT. PASSENGER CABIN - NIGHT                    Striker, struggling with drinking problem, pours drink          between his cheek and ear.                    INT. COCKPIT - NIGHT                                            ELAINE                   No. No one that I know of.                                            DR. RUMACK                   I think you ought to know what our chances                   are. The life of everyone on board depends                   on just one thing: finding someone back                   there who not only can fly this plane, but                   who didn't have fish for dinner.                    CAMERA ZOOMS into CLOSEUP of Elaine's face as she realizes          the severity of the situation.                    EXT. AIRPLANE - NIGHT                    THUNDER and lightning.                    INT. PASSENGER CABIN - NIGHT                    Passengers are listening to P.A.                                            ELAINE (v.o.)                   Ladies and gentlemen, this is your                   stewardess speaking. We regret any                   inconvenience the sudden cabin movement                   might have caused.                    Randy drags unconscious pilot, Oveur, down center aisle.                                            ELAINE (v.o.)                   This is due to periodic air pockets we                   encounter. There is no reason to become                   alarmed, and we hope you enjoy the rest of                   your flight. By the way, is there anyone                   on ≠board who knows how to fly a plane?                    Absolute pandemonium. Passengers are yelling, screaming,          tearing their hair out and climbing around. A naked woman          runs down the aisle. Sister Mary is choking a Krishna. Two          passengers are dueling with swords. A Spanish-speaking lady          waits for her husband to translate the announcement, then          panics.                    INT. KRAMER'S HOUSE                    SOUND of car screeching to a stop. PAUL CAREY, twenty-four          year-old, cleancut, naive-looking, navigator trainee enters          and pushes doorbell. We HEAR the typical eight-note chime          progression. The CHIMES then play the Air Force Fight song.          A dog BARKS and MRS. KRAMER opens the door.                                            CAREY                   Hello, I'm Paul Carey from the airline.                   I'm here to pick up Captain Kramer.                                            MRS. KRAMER                   Oh, yes. Come in, Paul. Rex will be right                   out.                    INT. KRAMER'S HOUSE - NIGHT                    When Carey enters, a big dog jumps on him with its paws on          his chest.                                            MRS. KRAMER                   Shep, sit...sit! So, I understand you've                   got a real emergency down there.                                            CAREY                        (holding off dog)                   Well, to tell the truth, they really                   didn't fill me in on many of the details.                   Just told me to pick up Captain Kramer.                                            MRS. KRAMER                   Something about a plane with no pilot?                    Carey begins to lose battle with the dog, while trying to          remain polite.                                            CAREY                   Yeah, something like that, but as I say,                   they didn't have time to tell me very                   much.                                            MRS. KRAMER                   Shep, no! I'll bet you have exciting                   things happen all the time down there.                    Shep is growling and Carey's arm is locked firmly in his          Jaws.                                            CAREY                   Well...the airline business...does have...                   its moments...                    Shep pins Carey against the wall, ripping his sleeve.                                            CAREY                   ...but after...awhile...you begin to...                        (gasp)                   ...get used to it.                                            MRS. KRAMER                   Shep, no! He gets so excited when new                   people are here.                    We hear a THUD and loud growling.                                            MRS. KRAMER                   Are you a pilot yourself?                    Carey is on the floor desperately fighting off the dog,          which is on top of him.                                            CAREY                   I'm...in a...argh...navigator training                   program.                    KRAMER enters, buttoning his coat.                                            KRAMER                   It's unbelievable! How many times have I                   warned those people about food inspection?                    Kramer is tying his tie in the mirror. In the corner of the          mirror, Carey is being thrashed by the dog.                                            KRAMER                   The airport management, the F.A.A., and                   the airlines, they're all cheats and                   liars! All right, let's get out of here.                    EXT. AIRPLANE - NIGHT                    THUNDER and lightning.                    INT. PASSENGER CABIN - NIGHT                    Randy is talking to Krishnas.                                            RANDY                   Sorry to bother you. We were just looking                   for someone with flying experience.                    Randy exits. They return to reading their PLAYRAMA magazine          with a female Hari Krishna in a sexy pose on the cover.                                            HARI KRISHNA #1                   Hari Rama?                                            HARI KRISHNA #2                   Rama Rama.                    INT. PASSENGER CABIN - ANOTHER AREA - NIGHT                    Striker is sitting next to a MAN FROM INDIA in a business          suit and turban.                                            STRIKER                   You see, the day we left the village it                   was raining, so we had to take a special                   jeep to the main road...                    The Indian is dousing himself with a can of gasoline. In          b.g. Randy is talking to passengers.                                            STRIKER                   In fact, we were lucky to even get a jeep                   since just the day before the only one we                   had broke down -- it had a bad axle...                    The Indian lights a match to immolate himself. Randy          approaches.                                            RANDY                   Excuse me, sir. There's been a little                   problem in the cockpit and I was                   wondering...                                            STRIKER                   The cockpit? What is it?                                            RANDY                   It's the little room at the front of the                   plane where the pilots sit. But that's not                   important right now. The first officer is                   ill and the Captain would like someone                   with flying experience to help him with                   the radio. Do you know anything about                   planes?                    The Indian holds the match, awaiting the outcome.                                            STRIKER                   Well, I flew in the war, but that was a                   long time ago. I wouldn't know anything                   about it.                                            RANDY                   Would you go up, please?                    He has a moment of indecision. The Indian encourages Striker          with an adamant nod. Striker gets up to leave. The Indian,          relieved, blows out the match.                    INT. PASSENGER CABIN - ANOTHER AREA - NIGHT                    Jack is sitting across the aisle from a 65-year-old          con≠servatively dressed SPINSTER. He pulls a flask from his          coat pocket and takes a swig. She eyes him dis≠approvingly.                                            JACK                   Would ya like a little whiskey, ma'am?                                            SPINSTER                         (insulted)                   Certainly not.                    She inserts a two inch straw in her nose and snorts a couple          lines of cocaine off a piece of glass.                    INT. COCKPIT - NIGHT                    Striker enters.                                            STRIKER                        (to Rumack and Randy)                   The stewardess said...                    STRIKER'S POV                    Empty pilot's seat and inflated automatic pilot.                                            STRIKER                   Both pilots!                                            DR. RUMACK                   Can you fly this airplane and land it?                                            STRIKER                   Surely you can't be serious.                                            DR. RUMACK                   I am serious, and don't call me Shirley!                   What flying experience have you had?                                            STRIKER                   Well, I flew single-engine fighters in the                   Air Force, but this plane has four                   engines. It's an entirely different kind                   of flying...all together!!!                                            RANDY/RUMACK                        (all together)                   It's an entirely different kind of flying.                                            STRIKER                   Besides, I haven't touched any ≠kind of                   plane in six years.                                            DR. RUMACK                   Mister Striker. I know nothing about                   flying. All I know is this: you're the                   only person on this plane who can possibly                   fly it. You're the only chance we've got.                    DRAMATIC MUSIC as Striker turns to face the controls.                    STRIKER'S POV                    CAMERA PANS controls. CAMERA KEEPS PANNING and PANNING as WE          SEE more and more controls ad absurdum.                    EXT. LAX PASSENGER LOADING AREA - NIGHT                    INSERT METER - $ll5.25. The businessman in Striker's cab          checks his watch.                    INT. CHICAGO DISPATCH - NIGHT                                            McCROSKEY                         (to Air Controller)                   Tell Omaha to acknowledge and standby.                         (into phone)                   Get every piece of emergency equipment you                   can reach.                        (to Air Controller)                   Alert at every mile of the way from here                   to the mountains.                    Hinshaw grabs Air Controller #1's tummy.                                            HINSHAW                   Would anyone care for a roll and coffee?                    Phone RINGS.                                            AIR CONTROLLER #2                   Chief?                                            McCROSKEY                   We'll need a pre-landing flight check.                   Tell 'em I'm in the dispatch office and I                   want it here fast.                                            AIR CONTROLLER #2                   It's your wife.                                            McCROSKEY                         (into phone)                   I want the kids in bed by nine. I want the                   dog fed, the yard watered, and the gate                   locked. And get a note to the milkman --                   no more cheese!                    He slams dowm the phone. He leans his hands on the desk.                                            McCROSKEY                   Where the hell is Kramer?                    On the wall behind him there is a picture of McCroskey          leaning his hands on a desk.                    INT. CAR - NIGHT                    Kramer and a mutilated Carey are en route to airport. Kramer          is at the wheel. Through rear window is obvious REAR          PROJECTION of passing road.                                            KRAMER                        (into phone)                   No, we can't do that; the risk of a                   flameout is too great. Keep him 24,000.                   No, feet!                    He hangs up phone.                                            KRAMER                   One of the passengers is going to land                   that plane.                                            CAREY                   Is that possible?                                            KRAMER                   Possible, but it's a hundred to one shot.                   Thousand to one. I know this guy.                                            CAREY                   You do? Who is it?                    We hear A THUNK. REAR PROJECTION shows he has run oyer a          bicyclist, who stands and gives the finger.                                            KRAMER                   His name is Ted Striker. I flew with him                   during the war. And that won't make my job                   any easier tonight.                    REAR PROJECTION SPEEDS UP to obvious FAST MOTION.                                            KRAMER                   Ted Striker was a crack flight leader up                   to a point. But he was one of those men                   who, well, let's just say he felt too much                   inside. Maybe you know the kind.                    Now REAR PROJECTION indicates car is turning and then          weaving, but Kramer does not move wheel.                                            KRAMER                   It takes a certain type to perform under                   pressure. Striker didn't have it.                    By now REAR PROJECTION is cowboys and Indians on horseback          chasing and shooting at Kramer's car.                                            KRAMER                   Ate his heart out over every name on the                   casualty lists. The upshot of it is that                   he went all to pieces on one particular                   mission. Let's just hope it doesn't happen                   again tonight.                    EXT. AIRPLANE - NIGHT                    THUNDER and lightning.                    INT. COCKPIT - NIGHT                    Striker is in pilot's seat. Rumack is standing behind him.                                            STRIKER                   Let's see, altitude twenty-four thousand                   feet, level flight, air speed four hundred                   sixty knots, course zero niner zero, trim,                   mixture, landing gear, balance.                    Elaine enters.                                            ELAINE                   Ted! What are you doing? You can't fly                   this plane!                                            STRIKER                   That's what I've been trying to tell these                   people.                                            DR. RUMACK                   Elaine, I haven't time to put this gently,                   so I'll be very direct. Everyone of us on                   this plane is in a desperate situation.                   Mister Striker is the only hope we've got.                                            STRIKER                   Let's see. Those are the flaps, that's the                   thrust, this must turn on the landing                   lights.                    He flips a switch. The plane dives.                    EXT. AIRPLANE - NIGHT                    The plane is diving.                    INT. LAVATORY - JACK                    Jack is standing at toilet. He is jolted back and forth          against the walls.                    INSERT - SIGN                    flashing:              RETURN TO SEAT                                GOBACKEN SIDONNA                    INT. COCKPIT NIGHT                                            STRIKER                        (into mike)                   Mayday!                    INT. CHICAGO DISPATCH - NIGHT                                            STRIKER (v.o.)                   Mayday! Mayday!                                            McCROSKEY                        (surprised)                   Mayday? What the hell is that for?                                            HINSHAW                   It's the Russian New Year! We'll have a                   parade! They'll serve hot hors d'oeuvres!                    INT. COCKPIT - NIGHT                    Striker flips switch and rights plane.                    EXT. AIRPLANE - NIGHT                    Level flight.                    INT. COCKPIT - NIGHT                                            McCROSKEY (v.o.)                   Two-zero-niner, are you okay up there?                                            STRIKER                   Yeah, I was just trying out the landing                   lights.                    Elaine and Rumack exchange glances.                    INT. PASSENGER CABIN - NIGHT                                            MRS. HAMMEN                   I've got to get out of here! I can't stand                   it! I've got to get out of here!                    Randy pushes up and shakes Mrs. Hammen by the shoulders.                                            RANDY                   Calm down. Get hold of yourself!                                            JACK                   Stewardess, let me handle this.                    Randy leaves, Jack shakes Mrs. Hammen by the shoulders.                                            JACK                   Get hold of yourself! Get hold of                   yourself!                                            DR. RUMACK                        (to Jack)                   Get back to your seat; I'll take care of                   this.                    Jack leaves; Rumack shakes Mrs. Hammen by the shoulders.                                            DR. RUMACK                   Calm down. Calm down. Get hold of                   yourself!                    Sister Angelina taps Rumack on the shoulder.                                            SISTER ANGELINA                        (to Rumack)                   Doctor, you're wanted on the phone.                    Sister Angelina starts shaking Mrs. Hammen.                                            SISTER ANGELINA                   Everything will be all right. Please get                   hold of yourself.                    We see a line of passengers behind Sister Angelina waiting          to shake Mrs. Hammen.                    EXT. AIRFIELD - SIGN - NIGHT                    reads:         CHICAGO INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT                         OVER 16 BILLION PLANES LANDED                    INT. TERMINAL BUILDING - NIGHT                    As Kramer rushes through the lobby, he is approached by a          series of religious zealots. In quick succession he decks          each one karate style, shooting the last zealot twenty feet          away with a .44 Magnum.                    INT. TERMINAL BUILDING - LONG SHOT - NIGHT                                            P.A. #1 (v.o.)                   Your attention, please. Flight four-one-                   seven now departing the B Concourse, gate                   six.                                            P.A. #2 (v.o.)                   Your attention, please. Flight twenty-                   seven now arriving the B Concourse, gate                   six.                    There is a LOUD CRASH, and the SCENE SHAKES.                    INT. CHICAGO DISPATCH - NIGHT                                            AIR CONTROLLER #1                        (into phone)                   This guy doing the flying has no airline                   experience at all. He'll be a menace to                   himself and everything else in the air...                        (he pauses to listen)                   ...Yes, birds too.                    Kramer enters, picks up clipboard, and reads it.                                            McCROSKEY                        (into phone)                   Okay, okay. He's a terrible risk, but what                   other choice have we got?                    McCroskey hangs up phone.                                            McCROSKEY                   Well, that's the whole story, Rex,                   everything we know.                                            KRAMER                   All right, Steve, let's face a few facts.                    Kramer whips off his sunglasses. Underneath is another pair          of sunglasses.                                            KRAMER                   As you know, I flew with this man,                   Striker, during the war. He'll have enough                   on his mind without remembering those days                   when -- well, when things weren't so good.                                            McCROSKEY                   Well, right now things aren't so good. And                   while we're talking there are a hundred                   and thirty-eight lives waiting on us for a                   decision.                                            KRAMER                   Let me tell you something, Steve. Striker                   was a top-notch squadron leader -- a long                   time ago...                    A spear slams into the wall behind Kramer.                                            KRAMER                   ...but my feeling is that when the going                   gets rough upstairs tonight, Ted Striker's                   gonna fold up.                                            McCROSKEY                   Look, Rex -- I want you to get on the horn                   and talk this guy down! You're going to                   have to let him get the feel of this                   airplane on the way; you'll have to talk                   him onto the approach; and so help me,                   you'll have to talk him right down to the                   ground!                    A watermelon falls from TOP OF FRAME, splattering on the          table.                                            KRAMER                   Very well then. Put Striker on the                   speaker.                                            McCROSKEY                   Okay, you can use the radio over there.                   Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit                   drinking.                    He pulls a flask trom the drawer and takes a swig.                    INT. CHICAGO DISPATCH - NIGHT                    Kramer at dispatch radio. He picks up mike.                                            KRAMER                   Striker, Striker, this is Captain Rex                   Kramer speaking.                    McCroskey joins Kramer at dispatch radio.                    INT. COCKPIT - NIGHT                    DRAMATIC MUSIC as we see Striker's ominous look of          recognition.                                            STRIKER                        (dramatically)                   Yes, Captain Kramer. Read you loud and                   clear.                    INT. DISPATCH - NIGHT                    Kramer sits at the mike. An Air Controller is standing next          to him, but only his mid-section is in FRAME.                                            KRAMER                   All right. It's obvious you remember me.                    The Air Controller is scratching his behind.                                            KRAMER                   So what do you say you and I just forget                   about everything except what we have to do                   now?                    The Air Controller is now scratching his crotch.                                            KRAMER                   You and I are going to bring this plane in                   together.                    The Air Controller's hand is now inside his pants          straightening out his underwear.                                            KRAMER                   Before we start, I'd like to say                   something. I know that right now things                   must look pretty rough up there.                    The Air Controller is now hopping around with both hands          inside his pants.                                            KRAMER                   But if you do what I tell you, when I tell                   you to do it, there's no reason you can't                   bring that plane in.                    INT. COCKPIT - NIGHT                                            STRIKER                   Let's not kid each other, Kramer. You know                   I've never flown a bucket like this. I'm                   going to need all the luck there is.                    INT. CHICAGO DISPATCH - NIGHT                                            KRAMER                   Stand by, Striker.                        (to McCroskey)                   The one hope we have is to build this man                   up. I've got to give him all the                   confidence I can.                        (into microphone)                   All right, Striker, have you ever flown a                   multi-engine plane before?                                            STRIKER (v.o.)                   No. Never.                                            KRAMER                   Shit!                    INT. COCKPIT - NIGHT                    Striker over hears conversation on radio.                                            KRAMER (v.o.)                   This is a goddamn waste of time. There's                   no way he can land this plane! Route 'em                   into Lake Michigan and at least avoid                   killing innocent people!                    INT. CHICAGO DISPATCH - NIGHT                                            McCROSKEY                   Grab hold of yourself! You've got to talk                   them down. You're the only chance they've                   got!                    Kramer lights cigarette.                                            KRAMER                        (into mike)                   All right, Striker, now you listen to me                   and you listen close. Flying is no                   different than riding a bicycle...it just                   happens to be a lot harder to put baseball                   cards in the spokes. Now, if you just                   follow my instructions...                    INT. COCKPIT - NIGHT                    Two vultures are sitting on back of Striker's seat.                                            KRAMER (v.o.)                   ...there's no reason why you shouldn't                   have complete confidence in your chances                   to come out of this thing alive and in one                   piece.                    INT. CHICAGO DISPATCH - NIGHT                                            KRAMER                   First, I want you to familiarize yourself                   with the controls. Later we'll run through                   the landing procedure.                    Kramer takes a last drag on his cigarette and tosses it out          the window. McCroskey plugs his ears with his fingers and          ducks as though Kramer had thrown a grenade. There is an          EXPLOSION O.S.                                            KRAMER                   All right. Now I'd like you to disengage                   the automatic pilot. But watch any violent                   movement of the controls, like you used to                   make in Spitfires and Phantoms.                    INT. COCKPIT - NIGHT                                            STRIKER                        (into microphone)                   Okay, I'm going to unlock the automatic                   pilot.                    Striker switches off automatic pilot button. Automatic pilot          shoots upward out of the seat. Elaine is thrown to the          floor. Striker struggles desperately to control the plane.                    EXT. AIRPLANE - NIGHT                    flying erratically.                    INT. COCKPIT - NIGHT                                            KRAMER (v.o.)                        (matter of factly)                   Just remember, the controls will feel very                   heavy compared to a fighter.                    Striker is fighting the wheel and the autopilot which is          drifting in his way. Finally, he throws the autopilot to the          rear of the cockpit.                                            KRAMER (v.o.)                   Don't worry about that. It's perfectly                   normal. You must watch your airspeed                   closely. Don't let it fall below 520. Both                   your rudder pedals and elevator trim will                   have additional play due to increased                   drag, but you can compensate by lowering                   manifold pressure below 154. Now there's                   one other thing. Have you someone up there                   who can work the radio and leave you free                   for flying?                                            STRIKER                   Yes! The stewardess is here with me!                    Elaine rises. The autopilot is on her back, its hands          clinging to her breasts. She removes it and seats it at          engineer's console.                                            KRAMER (v.o.)                   Have her take the co-pilot's seat.                    Elaine takes her seat as Striker regains control of the          plane. He hands Elaine the mike.                                            STRIKER                   The radio's all yours now. And keep an eye                   on that number three engine. It's running                   a little hot.                    INSERT - NUMBER THREE ENGINE GAUGE                    A LITTLE HOT is blinking.                    BACK TO INT. COCKPIT - NIGHT                                            KRAMER (v.o.)                   Striker, what kind of weather are you in                   up there?                                            ELAINE                        (into microphone)                   Rain.                                            STRIKER                   And a little ice.                                            ELAINE                   And a little ice!                                            KRAMER (v.o.)                   How's it handling?                                            STRIKER                   Sluggish. Like a wet sponge.                                            ELAINE                        (into microphone)                   Sluggish. Like a wet sponge.                                            KRAMER (v.o.)                        (patronizing)                   All right, Striker, you're doing just                   fine.                                            STRIKER                        (to Elaine)                   It's a damn good thing he doesn't know how                   much I hate his guts.                                            ELAINE                        (into microphone)                   It's a damn good thing you don't know how                   much he hates your guts.                    INT. PASSENGER CABIN - NIGHT                    A Black Dude is holding his stomach in pain.                                            BLACK DUDE                   Oooooooh.                    Randy approaches.                                            RANDY                   Can I get something for you?                                            BLACK DUDE                   Cain fo' gwine sho fi cun for.                                            RANDY                   I'm sorry. I don't understand.                    MRS. SCHIFF, a middle-aged woman, is seated behind the Black          Dudes.                                            MRS. SCHIFF                   Oh, stewardess, I can speak jive. He said                   he's in great pain and wants to know if                   you can help him.                                            RANDY                   Tell him to relax and I'll be back as                   quickly as I can with some medicine.                    Randy exits.                                            MRS. SCHIFF                   Shi gwine man chitlun down for mo sho.                                            BLACK DUDE                        (indignantly)                   Shi man I ain neba mo fo gwine ain.                    They engage in an argument in jive talk, with Mrs. Schiff          getting the best of it. She swaggers off in typical black          dude fashion.                    INT. PASSENGER CABIN - NIGHT                    Sister Angelina is singing to the Krishnas.                                            SISTER ANGELINA                   '...I sit by the telephone for hours. I                   love when men send me flowers. I enjoy                   being a girl.'                    INT. PASSENGER CABIN - NIGHT                    Jack is comforting an ailing Shirley. She is per≠spiring.                                            JACK                   How ya doing, honey?                                            SHIRLEY                   Oh Jack, I'm so warm. I'm burning up.                                            JACK                   Here.                    He reaches up and opens the overhead air nozzle. Air rushes          out with hurricane force. As Jack struggles to turn off          nozzle, Shirley is blown about, an adjacent passenger's          papers go flying from a briefcase, a Hari Krishna's toga          flies up revealing polka dot boxer shorts. An extra's toupe          flies off.                    INT. PASSENGER CABIN - NIGHT                    SOFT MUSIC.                                            MILTON                   After my wife died, I felt like a fifth                   wheel. You know, so many years being with                   one person -- a very wonderful person --                   makes you always think of yourself as part                   of a pair...When Ethel passed away, I was                   lost. I couldn't function socially and I                   couldn't function in business.                                            BERNICE                   Well, after a thing like that you wouldn't                   be expected to.                                            MILTON                   But I think it's time we stopped talking                   about me. A woman like you -- why haven't                   you ever married?                                            BERNICE                   Well, I'm afraid that's a question that's                   all too easy to answer.                                            MILTON                   I know the answer -- Career. A smart woman                   like you became so involved in your work,                   you didn't have time for marriage.                                            BERNICE                   I wish I could fool myself into believing                   that that's the reason. The truth of the                   matter is, nobody ever asked me.                                            MILTON                   You know, here we are having coffee                   together, and discussing education and                   business and economy...and we don't even                   know each other's names...full names I                   mean.                                            BERNICE                   Mine's Eleanor. Eleanor Schiff.                                            MILTON                   That's a lovely name. Mine's Milton...Milt                   Ettenhenim. But my friends call me                   'Bubbles.'                    INT. PASSENGER CABIN - NIGHT                    Randy approaches Mrs. Schiff.                                            RANDY                   Would you care for a soft drink?                                            MRS. SCHIFF                   I'd be glad to.                    Randy hands a large bottle of Coca Cola wrapped in a baby          blanket to Ms. Schiff, who cradles it in her arms.                                            MRS. SCHIFF                   Ooooh, such a nice soft drink.                    INT. O'HARE WEATHER CENTER - CLOSEUP ON TYPEWRITER                    CAMERA PULLS OUT to reveal Dispatcher typing message.                                            RADIO (v.o.)                   National Weather Service reporting Omaha                   fogged in. Visibility zero.                    The Dispatcher attempts to remove the message, but it is          stuck in the cartridge. He yanks on it, but the paper          stretches out like rubber. The scene now becomes like a          cartoon. He lodges his feet against the typewriter and pulls          until the paper stretches to his face. He grumbles in Donald          Duck voice. The typewriter snaps back and hits him.                    INT. CHICAGO DISPATCH - NIGHT                                            McCROSKEY                        (to Air Controller #2)                   Macias, get me Captain Oveur's wife on the                   phone. We'd better let her know what's going on.                     Air Controller #1 rushes in holding a piece of paper and          hands it to McCroskey.                                            AIR CONTROLLER #1                   Steve, this weather bulletin just came off                   the wire.                    McCroskey frowns and hands it to Hinshaw.                                            McCROSKEY                   Johnny, what can you make out of this?                                            HINSHAW                   This? Why, I could make a hat or a                   broach...                    McCroskey grabs the note from him.                    INT. BEDROOM - NIGHT                    MRS. OVEUR is in bed. Phone on night table RINGS. She          reaches for it sleepily.                                            MRS. OVEUR                   Hello?                                            AIR CONTROLLER #2 (v.o.)                   Missus Oveur?                                            MRS. OVEUR                   Yes, this is Missus Oveur.                                            AIR CONTROLLER #2 (v.o.)                   This is Ed Macias calling from the                   airport. There's some trouble on your                   husband's flight.                    SHOT WIDENS to reveal she is sleeping with a horse.                                            AIR CONTROLLER #2 (v.o.)                   We don't know how serious it is yet, but                   Harry Ballard thought you'd want to get                   down here right away.                                            MRS. OVEUR                   I'll be right down.                    She hangs up the phone and rises.                                            MRS. OVEUR                   I've got to go to the airport. You can let                   yourself out the back door. There's juice                   in the refrigerator.                                            HORSE                        (sounding like Mr. Ed)                   Did you finish? Was I good?                                            MRS. OVEUR                   Oh, you're all so concerned about                   performance!                    EXT. AIRPLANE - NIGHT                    THUNDER and lightning; turbulent weather.                    INT. CABIN - NIGHT                    Randy approaches Mrs. Schiff, who is caring for a drink.                                            RANDY                   Would you care for another drink?                                            MRS. SCHIFF                   No, thank you, I'm still nursing this one.                    She is bottle feeding the Coke bottle.                                            MRS. SCHIFF                        (to bottle)                   There, just a little bit more -- and then                   burpie time and a good nap!                    INT. COCKPIT - NIGHT                    Elaine hangs up phone.                                            ELAINE                   Doctor Rumack says the sick people are                   getting worse and we're running out of                   time.                    Striker is perspiring.                                            STRIKER'S THOUGHTS (v.o.)                        (echoing)                   I've got to concentrate, concentrate,                   entrate, I've got to concentrate,                   oncentrate, oncentrate.                    He becomes aware of ECHO.                                            STRIKER'S THOUGHTS (v.o.)                        (echoing)                   Hell, hello, ello, ello, ello, lo, lo.                   Echo, echo, echo, cho, cho, o, o, o, o, o.                   Pinch hitting for Pedro Bourbone, Manny                   Mota, Mota, Mota, Mota.                    EXT. AIRPLANE - NIGHT                    Nose dowm.                                            ELAINE (v.o.)                        (hysterically)                   Ted, the altitude! We're falling, we're                   falling!                    INSERT - GAUGE INDICATING DROPPING ALTITUDE                    EXT. AIRPLANE - NIGHT                    THUNDER and lightning. Flying nose down.                    INT. PASSENGER CABIN - NIGHT                    A Woman applying eye makeup, smears it over her face.                    INT. COCKPIT - NIGHT                    DRAMATIC MUSIC as Striker is struggling with the con≠trols.          Windshield wipers are moving as though directing music. St.          Christopher statue is holding an umbrella. Striker regains          control of the plane.                    INT. CABIN ANOTHER AREA - NIGHT                                            JACK                        (to Rumack)                   What's going on? We have a right to know                   the truth!                                            DR. RUMACK                        (to passengers)                   All right. I'm going to level with you.                   The most important thing now is that you                   should all be calm, because there's no                   reason to panic.                    Rumack's nose elongates slightly.                                            DR. RUMACK                   Now, it is true that one of the flight                   crew has been taken ill...slightly ill.                    His nose is getting longer.                                            DR. RUMACK                   But the other two pilots are just fine and                   at the controls flying the plane.                    Rumack's nose is a foot long.                                            DR. RUMACK                   The weather in Chicago is clear as a bell,                   and there's no reason that we won't land                   on schedule...                    ANGLE                    Passengers listening. His nose grows THROUGH FRAME.                                            DR. RUMACK                   ...safe and sound and free to pursue a                   life of religious fulfillment.                    INT. COCKPIT - NIGHT                                            STRIKER                        (into microphone)                   Chicago, the passengers are beginning to                   panic. When do we start down?                    INT. CHICAGO DISPATCH - NIGHT                                            KRAMER                        (into microphone)                   Not just yet, we'll have you in radar                   range any second now.                    EXT. O'HARE AIRPORT - REVOLVING RADAR ANTENNA - NIGHT                    INT. CHICAGO DISPATCH - NIGHT                                            KRAMER                        (to McCroskey)                   I don't understand it. He should have been                   in range ten minutes ago.                                            McCROSKEY                        (into microphone)                   Gunderson, check the radar range. Anything                   yet?                    INT. RADAR ROOM                    GUNDERSON opens door of Amana Radar Range and peers in.          There is a turkey inside.                                            GUNDERSON                        (into microphone)                   About two more minutes, Chief.                    INT. CHICAGO DISPATCH - NIGHT                                            McCROSKEY                   Two more minutes! They could be miles off                   course.                                            KRAMER                   That's impossible. They're on instruments!                    INT. COCKPIT - NIGHT                    Elaine, Randy, Rumack, and Striker are playing trumpet,          clarinet, saxophone and bass fiddle in Benny Goodman swing          band style.                    INT. CHCICAGO DISPATCH - NIGHT                                            KRAMER                   This is gonna be a real sweat.                        (into mike)                   Gunderson, let me know when you get                   anything.                                            McCROSKEY                   I can't take much more of this! Johnny,                   how about some more coffee?                                            HINSHAW                   Would you like half of my provolone and                   roast beef?                                            McCROSKEY                   Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit                   amphetamines.                    He pops a couple pills. Fifteen REPORTERS, Cameramen, etc.          enter with Air Controller #l.                                            AIR CONTROLLER #1                        (to McCroskey)                   Steve, these reporters won't leave without                   a statement.                                            REPORTER #1                   How much longer can the sick passengers                   hold out?                                            McCROSKEY                   Half hour...maybe forty-five minutes.                                            REPORTER #2                   Who's flying the plane?                    Air Controller #2 enters and hands McCroskey a note. Hands          holding microphones are thrust INTO FRAME in front of          McCroskey. One hand is holding an ice cream cone.                                            McCROSKEY                   One of the passengers. But he's an                   experienced air force pilot who flew                   during the war so there's no cause for                   alarm. Hinshaw, take over.                    McCroskey exits.                                            REPORTER #3                   Have the families been notified?                                            HINSHAW                   I think Florence Henderson knows about it!                                            REPORTER #1                   What are the chances of bringing this                   plane in safely?                                            HINSHAW                   What are the chances of returning                   something to Montgomery Ward the week                   after Christmas?                                            REPORTER #1                        (beckoning to door)                   All right, boys. Let's get some pictures.                    Three men with cameras enter and begin to remove framed          pictures from walls.                    NEWSPAPERS                    coming off press. SUPERIMPOSE:                    CLASSIC MONTAGE OF:                    Series of spinning newspapers. CAMERA ZOOMS IN to each as it          stops spinning so that we can read headlines. Headlines are:                                          "CHICAGO TIMES"                              "DISASTER LOOMS FOR AIRLINE PASSENGERS"                                         "NEW YORK TRIBUNE"                                "CHICAGO PREPARES FOR CRASH LANDING"                                        "NATIONAL INQUIRER"                            "BOY TRAPPED IN REFRIGERATOR EATS OWN FOOT"                    CAMERA ZOOMS in to:                    SPINNING TELEVISION SET                                            NEWSCASTER                   Striken Airliner Approaches Chicago!                                                              DISSOLVE TO:                    ARAB NEWS SET                    Arab newcast.                                                              DISSOLVE TO:                    JAPANESE NEWS SET                    Japanese newscast.                                                              DISSOLVE TO:                    AFRICAN TV NEWSCAST                    NEWSCASTER is an African in native dress with a bone in his          nose. There is a graphic of an airplane behind him and he is          beating on a hollow log with sticks. The CAMERA ANGLE          CHANGES and he switches to look into NEW CAMERA, and          continues beating.                                                              DISSOLVE TO:                    CBS' SIXTY MINUTES "POINT-COUNTERPOINT" SET                                            JACK KILPATRICK                   Shana, they bought their tickets, they                   knew what they were getting into. I say,                   let 'em crash!                                                              DISSOLVE TO:                    EXT. CITY STREET - NIGHT - (STOCK)                    SCREAMING firetrucks, police cars, and ambulances.                    EXT. AIRPLANE - NIGHT                    Lightning and THUNDER.                    INT. COCKPIT - NIGHT                                            DR. RUMACK                   Will the hospital equipment be at the                   airport?                                            STRIKER                   Yes, everything they've got. How are the                   passengers doing?                                            DR. RUMACK                   I won't deceive you, Mister Striker. We're                   running out of time.                                            STRIKER                   Surely there must be something you can do.                                            DR. RUMACK                   I'm doing everything I can! -- And stop                   calling me Shirley!                    Rumack leaves.                                            STRIKER'S THOUGHTS (v.o.)                   I've got to stay calm. If I can just keep                   my wits about me, I can't mess this one                   up.                                            ELAINE'S THOUGHTS (v.o.)                   Maybe I have been too harsh with him. If I                   had given him more support in the                   beginning, maybe things would be                   different.                                            STRIKER'S THOUGHTS (v.o.)                   Forget it. It's not your fault.                                            ELAINE'S THOUGHTS (v.o.)                   That's sweet of you, Ted. I appreciate the                   thought.                    We hear both of their thoughts simultaneously.                          STRIKER'S                        ELAINE'S                THOUGHTS (v.o.)                  THOUGHTS (v.o.)          You know, Elaine, I just         It's just that I feel so          wanted to tell you...            helpless and...                                            STRIKER'S THOUGHTS (v.o.)                   Go ahead.                                            ELAINE'S THOUGHTS (v.o.)                   No, no. You were first.                    INT. PASSENGER CABIN - ANOTHER AREA - NIGHT                    Jack is seated across the aisle from Mrs. Hammen. He falls          asleep and slumps over.                                            MRS. HAMMEN                        (hysterically)                   He's dead. He's dead!                    Jack wakes up. Disgustedly:                                            JACK                   No, I'm not dead.                    INT. PASSENGER CABIN - ANOTHER AREA - NIGHT                    Mrs. Schiff is holding the bottle to her shoulder and          patting it. It BURPS.                    INT. PASSENGER CABIN - NIGHT                    Sister Angelina is singing to the two black dudes.                                            SISTER ANGELINA                   'What you want,                   Baby I got,                   What you need,                   You know I got it.                   All I'm askin' for                   Is a little respect                   When you come home.'                    INT. PASSENGER CABIN - STEWARDESS' ALCOVE - NIGHT                    Rumack pours a cup of water. Randy begins to weep.                                            DR. RUMACK                   Randy, are you all right?                                            RANDY                   Doctor Rumack, I'm scared. I've never been                   so scared. And besides, I'm twenty-six and                   I'm not married.                                            DR. RUMACK                   Randy, we're going to make it. You've got                   to believe that.                    Mrs. Hammen enters alcove.                                            MRS. HAMMEN                   Lorison, do you have any idea when we'll                   be landing?                                            DR. RUMACK                   It will be pretty soon. How are you                   bearing up?                                            MRS. HAMMEN                   Well, to be honest, I'm very scared. But                   at least I've got a husband.                    EXT. AIRPORT - NIGHT                    Revolving radar antenna.                    INT. CHICAGO WEATHER CENTER - CLOSEUP                    of typewriter. CAMERA PULLS OUT to REVEAL Dispatcher typing          message.                                            RADIO (v.o.)                   National Weather Service reporting Chicago                   ceiling zero, visibility one hundred feet.                    With great care the Dispatcher turns the knob on carriage          until the paper comes out clean. Relishing his victory, he          talks in Donald Duck voice.                                            DISPATCHER                   Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy.                    As he starts toward the door, the room caves in on him.                    INT. CHICAGO DISPATCH - NIGHT                    McCroskey and Kramer are at watercooler. McCroskey is          filling cup while Kramer drinks.                                            McCROSKEY                   Rex, I've decided that the best thing to                   do is to foam the runway -- let him do a                   wheels-up landing. It'd be a lot simpler.                    Kramer throws cup into wastebasket. McCroskey drinks.                                            KRAMER                        (filling up another cup)                   No, the risk of fire is too great. If she                   starts burning, you write off all those                   people who can't get out of there on their                   own power.                    McCroskey throws cup into wastebasket. Kramer drinks.                                            McCROSKEY                        (filling up another cup)                   Well that's better than writing them all                   off? Are you going to play God with a                   hundred and 38 lives?                    Kramer throws cup into wastebasket as McCroskey drinks.                                            KRAMER                        (filling up another cup)                   No. A belly landing isn't all that simple.                   It takes a good pilot to keep from                   smearin' himself all over the runway.                    McCroskey throws cup into wastebasket as Kramer drinks.                                            McCROSKEY                        (filling up another cup)                   If Striker has the guts to try this, he                   deserves the best shot we can give him.                   We've gotta foam that runway.                    Kramer throws cup into wastebasket as McCroskey drinks.                                            KRAMER                        (taking another cup)                   His only shot's with the wheels down. I've                   seen foam tear a man's guts out.                    McCroskey throws cup into wastebasket. Kramer throws cup          into wastebasket.                                            McCROSKEY                   And if Striker goes to pieces?                                            KRAMER                        (taking another cup)                   That's a risk we'll just have to take.                    Kramer throws cup into wastebasket. McCroskey throws cup          into wastebasket. They burp.                    INT. COCKPIT - NIGHT                    Striker is looking at controls. Lightning is flashing on his          face.                    INSERT - ALTIMETER                    SUPERIMPOSE fighter plane. Then STOCK FOOTAGE of early          experimental planes crashing.                                            VOICE (v.o.)                   Stay in formation. Targets just ahead.                   Target should be clear it you go in low                   enough. You'll have to decide.                        (echoing)                   You'll have to decide. You'll have to                   decide...So, decide already.                    INT. COCKPIT - NIGHT                    Sudden dramatic MUSIC. The cockpit shakes. Engine number          three is flaming out.                    INSERT - CONTROL PANEL - GAUGE FOR ENGINE #3                    BACK TO SCENE                                            STRIKER                   Rats! I've lost number three.                                            ELAINE                   What happened, Ted? What went wrong?                                            STRIKER                   Oil pressure. I forgot to check the oil                   pressure. When Kramer hears about this,                   the shit's gonna hit the fan.                    INT. DISPATCH - CLOSEUP - FAN - NIGHT                    The shit hits it. PULL BACK to include:                                            KRAMER                   I told him to watch that oil temperature.                   What the hell's he doing up there?                    He picks up the mike.                                            KRAMER                   Striker, that plane can't land itself! It                   takes a pilot who can handle pressure.                                            McCROSKEY                   Ease up, Rex! He hasn't flown for years!                   It's not his fault. It could happen to any                   pilot.                                            HINSHAW                   It happened to Barbara Stanwyck!                    INT. COCKPIT - NIGHT                                            STRIKER                   He's right. I can't take the pressure. I                   was crazy to think I could land this                   plane.                                            ELAINE                   But Ted, you're the only...                                            STRIKER                   I don't care. I just don't have what it                   takes. They'd be better off with someone                   who'd never flown before.                    As Striker leaves he puts autopilot into pilot's seat.          Elaine is on the verge of tears.                    DRAMATIC MUSIC.                    INT. DISPATCH - NIGHT                    Air Controller #2 enters.                                            AIR CONTROLLER #2                   Bad news. The fog's getting thicker.                                            HINSHAW                   And Liz Taylor is getting larger!                                            McCROSKEY                   Ya know, this would be a tough landing for                   anyone to make. Maybe, if we hold them off                   for a bit we'll get a break in the                   weather.                                            KRAMER                   All right, but let's wait until they reach                   the control area.                    EXT. AIRPLANE - NIGHT                    THUNDER and lightning.                    INT. PASSENGER CABIN - NIGHT                    Outside stewardess' alcove. Striker fills a cup from          drinking fountain then pours it on his head. He sits down          dejectedly on stewardess' fold-out seat. Rumack approaches.                                            STRIKER                   I know what you're going to say, so save                   your breath.                    Rumack sits.                                            DR. RUMACK                   No. I haven't a thing to say. You've done                   the best you could. You really have. The                   best you could. I guess we can't expect to                   win 'em all. I want to tell you something                   I've kept to myself for years. I was in                   the war myself -- the Medical Corps. I was                   on duty late one night when a badly                   wounded pilot was brought in from a raid.                   He could barely talk, but he looked at me                   and he said, "Doc. The odds were against                   us up there but we went in anyway, and I'm                   glad we did. The captain made the right                   decision." The pilot's name was George                   Zipp.                    Striker looks up. Notre Dame Fight Song is heard in b.g.                                            STRIKER                   George Zipp said that?                                            DR. RUMACK                   And the last thing he said to me, "Doc,"                   he said, "Sometime when the crew is up                   against it and the breaks are beating the                   boys, tell them to go out there with all                   they've got and win just one for the                   Zipper. I don't know where I'll be then,                   Doc," he said, "but I won't smell too                   good. That's for sure."                                            STRIKER                        (rejuvinated)                   Excuse me, Doc, I've got a plane to land.                    Striker boldly starts toward cockpit.                    INT. COCKPIT - NIGHT                    Striker enters. Elaine, unaware of his return, is listening          to Kramer on the radio.                                            KRAMER (v.o.)                   All right, you'd better stay up there for                   a bit. As soon as the fog lifts, we'll                   bring you in.                                            STRIKER                   I'll take it, Elaine.                    She turns to face him. A dramatic moment. Striker enters          pilot seat and takes mike from Elaine's hand.                                            STRIKER                   Listen to me, Kramer. Doctor Rumack says                   the sick people are in critical condition                   and every minute counts. We've got to land                   now!                                            KRAMER (v.o.)                   Don't be a fool, Striker. You know what a                   landing like this means. You more than                   anybody. I'm ordering you to stay up                   there!                                            STRIKER                   No dice, Chicago. I'm giving the orders,                   and we're coming in...I guess the foot's                   on the other hand now, isn't it, Kramer?                    INT. CHICAGO DISPATCH - NIGHT                                            McCROSKEY                   He'll never bring it down in this soup.                   Never! Not one chance in a million.                                            KRAMER                   I know. I know. But it's his ship now, his                   command; he's in charge, he's the boss,                   the head man, the top dog, the big cheese,                   the head honcho...                    Air Controller #2 rushes up to McCroskey and Kramer,          carrying a newspaper.                                            AIR CONTROLLER #2                   Chief, look at this!                    Kramer grabs newspaper.                                            KRAMER                        (reading)                   'Passengers Certain to Die?!?!?!?!?!'                                            McCROSKEY                   'Airline Negligent?!?!?!?!?!'                    He hands the paper to Hinshaw.                                            HINSHAW                        (looking at newspaper)                   There's a sale at Penny's!                    McCroskey grabs paper from Hinshaw.                                            KRAMER                        (to men in Dispatch)                   All right, I'll need three men up in the                   tower.                        (pointing)                   You, Neubauer. You, Macias.                                            HINSHAW                   Me John. Big tree.                    He puts his ear to the ground.                                            HINSHAW                   Wagon train comes three, maybe four day                   away.                                            KRAMER                        (into microphone)                   Stand by, Striker. I'm going to the tower.                   And good luck.                    Kramer exits.                                            McCROSKEY                        (into phone)                   We're going to the tower.                    McCroskey exits.                                            HINSHAW                        (excitedly)                   The tower! Oh! Rapunzel! Rapunzel!                    EXT. AIRPLANE - NIGHT                    THUNDER and lightning.                    INT. PASSENGER CABIN - NIGHT                    Randy is talking to passengers and demonstrating.                                            RANDY                   In a moment we'll ask you to assume crash                   positions. Your life jackets are located                   under your seat.                    INT. PASSENGER CABIN - ANOTHER AREA - NIGHT                    Jack and Shirley are watching.                                            RANDY (v.o.)                   Remove the jacket and unfold it so that                   the red arrow points up.                    INT. PASSENGER CABIN - ANOTHER AREA - NIGHT                    The Krishnas are watching.                                            RANDY (v.o.)                   Place the jacket over your head, and when                   I give the word pull the cord under the                   left side flap.                    BACK TO RANDY                    She pulls the cord and it inflates into a child's duck-          shaped inner tube.                    INT. CHICAGO TOWER - NIGHT                    Hinshaw, Kramer, and McCroskey enter. Three Controllers are          there. One is wearing a black striped shirt.                                            STRIPED CONTROLLER                   We're all ready, sir.                    As he makes introductions, they shake hands.                                            STRIPED CONTROLLER                   Captain McCroskey, this is Captain                   Roberts. Captain Kramer, this is Captain                   Colosimo. Captain Hinshaw, Captain Gatz.                   Captain Kramer, Captain Gatz. Captain                   Hinshaw, Captain Roberts.                                            KRAMER                   All right. Colosimo, you'll work the                   relay. Roberts, double check all air                   traffic within five miles.                    Roberts is scratching his ear.                                            KRAMER                   And get that finger out of your ear. You                   don't know where that finger's been!                   Gunderson?                                            GUNDERSON                   Yes, Captain?                                            KRAMER                   Did you decide on a runway yet?                                            GUNDERSON                   Runway niner. It's the longest, and                   directly into the wind.                                            HINSHAW                   And the foliage looks so pretty this time                   of year.                    Gunderson exits.                                            KRAMER                        (into mike)                   Striker, you're going to have to work                   fast. After this message, do not                   acknowledge any transmission unless you                   want to ask a question. Do you understand?                   Striker, Striker, do you read me?                    INT. TOWER - DIFFERENT ANGLE - NIGHT                    Mrs. Oveur enters.                                            MRS. OVEUR                   Steve!                                            McCROSKEY                   Linda, your husband and the others are                   alive but unconscious.                                            HINSHAW                   Just like Gerald Ford!                                            McCROSKEY                   Now there's a chance we can save them if                   Striker can get this plane down on time.                                            MRS. OVEUR                   That isn't much of a chance, is it?                                            HINSHAW                        (appalled)                   Where did you get that dress? It's an eye-                   sore!                    INT. RADAR ROOM                    Gunderson and an assistant are seated in front of radar          screens. One of them is a video anti-aircraft game.                                            GUNDERSON                        (into microphone)                   Eight miles. Turn right to heading zero                   eight niner.                    INT. TOWER - NIGHT                                            KRAMER                        (into microphone)                   You are now eight miles from the airport.                   Turn right to a heading of zero eight                   niner, throttle back slightly and begin to                   lose altitude to fifteen hundred feet.                                            ELAINE (v.o.)                   We're now at twelve hundred feet, leveling                   off.                                            KRAMER                        (to McCroskey)                   Steve, I want every light you can get                   poured on that field.                                            McCROSKEY                   It's being done right now.                    EXT. AIRFIELD - NIGHT                    A truck is dumping a variety of lamps, fixtures, and light          bulbs onto the runway.                    INT. TOWER - NIGHT                                            KRAMER                        (into mike)                   Tower to all emergency vehicles. Runway is                   niner.                    EXT. AIRFIELD - NIGHT                    Ambulances, fire trucks, and police cars start to move.                                             KRAMER (v.o.)                        (over P.A.)                   Airport vehicles take positions one and                   two.                    INT. TOWER - NIGHT                                            KRAMER                        (into microphone)                   Civilian equipment, number three.                    EXT. AIRFIELD - NIGHT                    Ambulances, firetrucks, and police cars speed toward runway.          They are followed by a baggage truck, fuel truck, a taxi,          Coke truck, an ice cream truck, farm machinery, and a cement          mixer.                                            KRAMER (v.o.)                        (over P.A.)                   Air Force positions number four and five.                   All ambulances to position three.                    INT. TOWER - NIGHT                                            HINSHAW                        (into mike)                   It's a twister! It's a twister! Toto!...                   Auntie Em!                    EXT. AIRPLANE - NIGHT                    THUNDER and lightning.                    INT. COCKPIT - NIGHT                                            KRAMER (v.o.)                   All right, Striker, put down twenty                   degrees of flap. When your flaps are down,                   retrim for level flight.                    INT. CABIN - NIGHT                    Passengers are wearing headsets and watching in-flight          movie. Randy approaches Mrs. Schiff.                                            MRS. SCHIFF                   Stewardess, how soon 'til we land?                                            RANDY                   It won't be long now. Try not to worry.                    Mrs. Schiff puts on a headset and watches movie. The movie          is airplanes crashing and burning.                    EXT. AIRPLANE - NIGHT                    flying erratically.                    INSERT - ALTIMETER                    fluctuating.                    INT. PASSENGER CABIN - NIGHT                    A woman, applying facial makeup, smears it all over her          face.                    INT. RADAR ROOM                                            GUNDERSON                   He's all over the place! Nine hundred feet                   up to thirteen hundred feet! What an                   asshole!                    INT. TOWER - NIGHT                                            KRAMER                   Watch your altitude, Striker. It's too                   erratic. You can't come straight in.                   You've got enough fuel left for two hours                   flying. You've got to stay up there 'til                   we get a break in the weather.                    INT. COCKPIT                    Striker reaches for microphone.                                            STRIKER                   I'll take it, Elaine.                        (into mike)                   Listen, Kramer, I'm coming in. Do you hear                   me? I'm coming in right now! We have                   people up here who will die in less than                   an hour, never mind two. I may bend your                   precious airplane, but I'll get it down!                   Now get on with the landing check. I'm                   putting the gear down now.                    As he activates landing gear, Randy enters.                                            RANDY                   Mr. Striker, the passengers are ready.                                            STRIKER                   Thank you, Randy. You better leave                   sweetheart. You might get hurt in here.                    Randy leaves. There is a CRASH and Randy screams.                                            ELAINE                   Ted...                                            STRIKER                   Yes?                                            ELAINE                   I wanted you to know -- now -- I'm very                   proud.                                            STRIKER                   Tell them the gear is down and we're ready                   to land.                                            ELAINE                        (into mike)                   The gear is down.                    INT. TOWER                                            ELAINE (v.o.)                   And we're ready to land.                                            McCROSKEY                   He may not be able to fly, but he's sure                   got guts.                    Kramer nods.                    EXT. LAX PASSENGER LOADING AREA - BUSINESSMAN - NIGHT                    in Striker's cab cheeks his watch.                                            BUSINESSMAN                   Well, I'll give him another twenty                   minutes, but that's it.                    INSERT - METER                    reads $389.10.                    EXT. AIRPLANE - NIGHT                    Fog, THUNDER, and lightning.                    INT. PASSENGER CABIN - NIGHT                                            MILTON                   I'm sure we'll both make it...but just in                   case one of us...well, is there a message                   you'd like me to give someone?                                            BERNICE                   No. I'm all alone.                                            MILTON                   Just in case I don't have a chance to say                   goodbye, I want you to know that I haven't                   spent so many pleasant hours for many                   years.                                            BERNICE                   That's a very nice compliment, and I'd                   like to say that...you've done the same                   for me.                    INT. COCKPIT - NIGHT                    Dr. Rumack pokes his head in the door.                                            DR. RUMACK                   I just wanted to tell you both good luck.                   We're all counting on you.                    INT. TOWER - NIGHT                                            KRAMER                   Now, Striker...hold your present heading,                   put down full flap, bring your air speed                   back to a hundred and thirty-five, then I                   want you to take hold of the throttle...                                            HINSHAW                   And stick it in your ear.                                            KRAMER                   And stick it in your ear.                    McCroskey gives Hinshaw a disapproving look.                                            HINSHAW                        (a la Frogsy, the Gremlin)                   I'll be good, I will, I will.                    INT. RADAR ROOM                                            GUNDERSON                   Captain, he's dropping off fast. Almost                   seven hundred.                    INT. TOWER                                            KRAMER                   Striker, get back to a thousand feet!                    INT. RADAR ROOM                    Assistant Radar Operator unloads clothes from radar screen/          wash machine door and puts them into basket.                                            GUNDERSON                   He's below seven hundred now and he's                   still going down! 675! 650! 625! 600!                    EXT. AIRPLANE - NIGHT                    It knocks the radio tower off a building and heads past the          John Hancock Building.                    INT. TOWER - NIGHT                                            KRAMER                   Striker, you're coming in too low! What's                   your altitude?                                            STRIKER (v.o.)                   I don't know. How high was the eighty-                   ninth floor of the John Hancock Building?                    INT. RADAR ROOM                                            GUNDERSON                   He's right on the heading.                    INT. TOWER - NIGHT                                            KRAMER                   All right, he's on final now! Put out all                   runway lights except niner.                    EXT. AIRFIELD - NIGHT                    Ambulance attendants, firemen, and emergency vehicles are in          readiness.                    INT. TOWER - NIGHT                                            KRAMER                   Turn on your landing lights, Striker. It's                   the switch above your right knee.                    INT. COCKPIT - NIGHT                    Striker reaches for button above his left knee.                                            KRAMER (v.o.)                   No. I said your right knee.                    Striker pushes button over his right knee.                    EXT. AIRPLANE - NIGHT                    Landing lights come on.                    INT. TOWER - NIGHT                    McCroskey, Kramer, and Mrs. Oveur are nervously watching the          sky.                                            KRAMER                   All right, now just listen carefully. You                   should be able to see the runway at three                   hundred feet.                    Mrs. Oveur clutches Kramer's arm anxiously.                                            KRAMER                   Aim to touchdown a third of the way along.                   There's a slight crosswind from the right,                   so be ready for it.                    Mrs. Oveur is clutching Kramer's arm with both hands.                                            KRAMER                   If you land too fast, use your emergency                   brakes. The red handle is right in front                   of you.                    Now Mrs. Oveur, still watching the sky, has both arms around          Kramer's waist, massaging his chest with her hands.                                            KRAMER                   If that doesn't stop you...                    Kramer is suddenly aware of what Mrs. Oveur is doing. He          gives her a look and she removes her hands.                                            KRAMER                   If that doesn't stop you, cut the four                   ignition switches over the co-pilot's                   head.                    INT. COCKPIT - NIGHT                    Striker looks for switches.                    INSERT - IGNITION SWITCHES                    INT. COCKPIT                                            STRIKER                   See them, Elaine?                                            ELAINE                   Uh-huh.                    INT. TOWER - NIGHT                                            KRAMER                   Do you see us now? You should be able to                   see the field now.                    EXT. AIRPLANE - THROUGH COCKPIT WINDOW - NIGHT                    Striker and Elaine are searching for airfield.                    INT. TOWER - NIGHT                    Kramer and McCroskey are tensely trying to spot plane. Mrs.          Oveur is watching, prayerfully.                    EXT. AIRFIELD - NIGHT                    Searchlights scan field.                    EXT. TOWER - NIGHT                    Revolving beacon searches.                    INT. TOWER - NIGHT                                            McCROSKEY                   It sure is quiet out there.                                            KRAMER                   Yeah -- too quiet.                                            McCROSKEY                   Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit                   sniffing glue.                    He pulls a tube of airplane glue from his shirt pocket and          sniffs.                    EXT. AIRPLANE - THROUGH COCKPIT WINDOW - NIGHT                    Striker and Elaine are searching for airfield.                    INT. TOWER - NIGHT                    Kramer and Mrs. Oveur are anxiously watching the sky.          McCroskey is glazed.                                            KRAMER                        (excited)                   There he is!                        (into microphone)                   Striker, you're coming in too fast!                                            STRIKER (v.o.)                   I know! I know!                                            ELAINE (v.o.)                        (into microphone)                   He knows! He knows!                                            McCROSKEY                   Wow!                    EXT. RUNWAY - STRIKER'S POV - NIGHT                    INT. TOWER - NIGHT                                            KRAMER                        (into microphone)                   Sound your alarm bell now.                    INT. COCKPIT - NIGHT                    Elaine rings alarm bell.                    INT. PASSENGER CABIN - NIGHT                    Alarm BELL RINGS. Randy is standing in center aisle.                                            RANDY                   All right, now, everybody get in crash                   positions.                    Passengers assume various awkward poses as though plane had          just crashed.                    EXT. AIRFIELD - NIGHT                    Ambulance attendants anxiously watch sky.                    INT. COCKPIT - NIGHT (PROCESS)                    Striker sees airport and points it out to Elaine.                    INSERT - AIR SPEED GAUGE                    Speed is increasing.                    INT. COCKPIT - NIGHT                                            ELAINE                   Airspeed one twenty-five, one thirty...                    She raises her head to look out cockpit window.                    EXT. RUNWAY - ELAINE'S POV - NIGHT (STOCK)                    The runway lights go out.                    INT. COCKPIT - NIGHT                    Striker and Elaine look at each other, panicked.                    INT. TOWER - NIGHT                    Hinshaw has just pulled a plug from an electrical outlet.                                            HINSHAW                   Just kidding!                    EXT. RUNWAY - ELAINE'S POV - NIGHT                    Runway lights go back on.                    INT. COCKPIT - NIGHT                    Striker and Elaine are relieved.                                            ELAINE                   ...one thirty-five, one forty.                    INT. TOWER - NIGHT                                            KRAMER                   Striker, now listen to me. You're coming                   down too fast!                    INT. COCKPIT - NIGHT                    Striker is struggling with steering wheel and sweating.                                            KRAMER (v.o.)                   Put down thirty degrees of flap!                    Striker is sweating profusely as he struggles in vain with          the flap switch.                                            STRIKER                   It's stuck. It won't move!                    He bangs the control panel and "TILT" light up.                    INT. TOWER - NIGHT                    McCroskey is staring at radio equipment.                                            KRAMER                   Bring it down! Easy!                                            McCROSKEY                   Look at all those buttons! Oh that's                   beautiful! Just beautiful!                    EXT. RUNWAY - STRIKER'S POV - NIGHT                    INT. COCKPIT - NIGHT                                            KRAMER (v.o.)                   Watch your nose! It's too low!                    Striker is struggling with wheel. The wheel begins to fight          back, pushing Striker.                                            KRAMER (v.o.)                   You're coming in too hot!                    INT. TOWER - NIGHT                                            KRAMER                   Remember your brakes and switches! Get                   ready to flare it out! You're coming in                   too fast! Watch your speed!                                            McCROSKEY                        (hysterical)                   He's coming right at us!                    McCroskey turns and leaps through tower window. All activity          momentarily stops. Everyone looks back at window. Then          activity resumes.                                            KRAMER                   You're coming in too hot! Put down full                   flaps! Watch your nose!                    EXT. RUNWAY - STRIKER'S POV - NIGHT                    Runway swerving underneath him.                    INT. TOWER - NIGHT                                            KRAMER                   Now ease her down! Down!                    EXT. RUNWAY - NIGHT                    Plane is a few feet from ground.                    INT. TOWER - NIGHT                                            KRAMER                   Lift the nose! Throttle back!                    EXT. RUNWAY - STRIKER'S POV - NIGHT                    Closer to ground.                    INT. COCKPIT - NIGHT                    Striker pushes wheel forward as tires SCREECH.                    INT. TOWER - NIGHT                                            KRAMER                   The brake! Pull the red handle!                    INT. COCKPIT - NIGHT                    Striker pulls red handle. It comes off in his hand. He          pushes brake with feet.                    EXT. RUNWAY - CLOSEUP - TIRES - NIGHT                    SCREECHING.                    INT. COCKPIT - NIGHT                    Dr. Rumack pokes his head in the door.                                            DR. RUMACK                   I just wanted to tell you both good luck.                   We're all counting on you.                    EXT. RUNWAY - STRIKER'S POV - NIGHT                    Runway passing underneath.                    INT. TOWER - NIGHT                                            KRAMER                        (into microphone)                   Hold her steady, hold her steady!                    EXT. RUNWAY - PLANE - NIGHT                    skidding.                    INT. O'HARE TERMINAL BUILDING - GATE 7 - NIGHT                                            P.A. SYSTEM (v.o.)                   You attention, please. Trans American                   Flight 209 non-stop from Los Angeles is                   now arriving at Gate seven...Gate eight...                    People in Gate seven waiting area move to Gate eight.                    INT. COCKPIT - STRIKER - NIGHT                    is struggling with controls, sweating profusely.                    INT. TOWER                                            KRAMER                   Pull a lever!                    EXT. RUNWAY - PLANE - NIGHT                    skidding.                    INT. COCKPIT - STRIKER - NIGHT                    is struggling with controls. Water is gushing down his face          ridiculously.                    INT. O'HARE TERMINAL BUILDING - GATE 13 - NIGHT                                            P.A. SYSTEM (v.o.)                   ...209 arriving gate thirteen...gate                   fourteen....gate fifteen...                    People in Gate thirteen move to Gate fourteen.                    EXT. RUNWAY - PLANE - NIGHT                    skidding.                    INT. TOWER - NIGHT                                            KRAMER                   Push a button!                    INT. COCKPIT - STRIKER - NIGHT                    Striker is struggling with controls.                    INT. TOWER - NIGHT                                            KRAMER                        (into microphone)                   You're too low! You're too low!                    INT. O'HARE TERMINAL BUILDING - NIGHT                                            P.A. SYSTEM (v.o.)                   ...gate twenty-three...twenty four...                   twenty-five...                    People are running THROUGH FRAME right to left.                    EXT. RUNWAY - NIGHT                    Ground crewman with red flashlights nonchalantly directs          plane. Suddenly he realizes the plane is not stopping. He          throws his flashlight at the plane and runs off, terrified.                    EXT. RUNWAY - PLANE - NIGHT                    skidding.                    INT. PASSENGER CABIN - NIGHT                    Randy approaches a passenger in crash position.                                            RANDY                   Can we help arrange hotel accommodations                   or a rent-a-car during your stay in                   Chicago?                    EXT. RUNWAY - NIGHT                    Landing gear snaps off; plane starts to slide on its belly.                    PLANE                    is heading toward a building. On the side of the building is          a billboard with a man drinking milk.                    INT. COCKPIT - NIGHT                    Elaine screams and covers her face. St. Christopher statue          covers its face.                    EXT. RUNWAY - PLANE - NIGHT                    is getting closer to building. Billboard man is looking at          plane, terrified.                    INT. TOWER - MRS. OVEUR - NIGHT                    is screaming.                    EXT. RUNWAY - PLANE - NIGHT                    is skidding.                    INT. TOWER - NIGHT                                            HINSHAW                        (seated in wheelchair)                   Wheel me to the West Wing. I wish to view                   the Degas.                    EXT. RUNWAY - PLANE - NIGHT                    skids to a stop.                    INT. TOWER - NIGHT                    Kramer sighs in relief as controllers and Mrs. Oveur dash          from room.                    INT. CHICAGO DISPATCH - NIGHT                    Controllers celebrate safe landing, reporters rush from          room.                    INT. DISPATCH LOBBY - NIGHT                    Five reporters run into bank of phone booths and the booths          topple over.                    EXT. RUNWAY - NIGHT                    SCREAMING ambulances race toward plane.                    INT. PASSENGER CABIN - NIGHT                    Passengers rise slowly, shaken but uninjured. Milton and          Bernice look at each other, relieved, and embrace. Mrs.          Schiff gets up to leave.                    INT. COCKPIT - NIGHT                    Rumack pokes his head in door.                                            DR. RUMACK                   I just wanted to tell you both good luck.                   We're all counting on you.                    Striker and Elaine get up to leave cockpit.                                            KRAMER (v.o.)                   Striker, Striker, are you all right?                                            STRIKER                        (into microphone)                   Yeah, we're okay.                    INT. TOWER - NIGHT                                            KRAMER                   Ted, that was probably the lousiest                   landing in the history of this airport.                   But there are some of us here...                    INT. COCKPIT - NIGHT                                            KRAMER (v.o.)                   ...particularly me, who'd like to buy you                   a drink and shake your hand.                    Striker and Elaine leave.                                            KRAMER (v.o.)                   ...and, Ted, I just want you to know, that                   when the going got tough up there, when                   the chips were down...                    INT. PASSENGER CABIN - BOARDING AREA - NIGHT                    Randy is assisting Jack and Shirley, the Hammens, and the          nun from the plane.                                            RANDY                   Hurry now. Please be careful.                    INT. TOWER - NIGHT                    Air controllers leave as Kramer continues.                                            KRAMER                   ...Lonliness, that's the bottom line. I                   was never happy as a child. Christmas,                   Ted, what does it mean to you? For me, it                   was a living hell. Do you know what it's                   like to fall in the mud and get kicked? In                   the head? By an iron boot? Of course you                   don't. No one does. That never happens.                   Sorry, Ted. Dumb question. Strike that.                    INT. PASSENGER CABIN - BOARDING AREA - NIGHT                    Randy is assisting Hari Krishnas and Black Dudes from plane.                    EXT. RUNWAY - NIGHT                    McCroskey, dressed in wet suit and flippers and oxygen tank          is moving as though swimming under water.                                            McCROSKEY (v.o.)                   I didn't know that the electric eel was                   approaching so rapidly nor that hidden in                   the coral reef was a family of poisonous                   sea urchins.                    EXT. RUNWAY - NIGHT                    Lisa Davis and her mother enter ambulance. It pulls from          FRAME. We HEAR a loud screech and crash.                    INT. COCKPIT - NIGHT                    Kramer is still droning on.                                            KRAMER (v.o.)                        (into mike)                   ...and they shall be for frontlets between                   thine eyes, Ted. Neither they man servant,                   nor they maid servant, nor thine ox, nor                   thine ass.                    EXT. RUNWAY - NIGHT                    ROMANTIC MUSIC.                    Striker and Elaine are alone on the runway. Behind them is          flight 209. They embrace and kiss as CAMERA ARCS around.          MUSIC SWELLS. Suddenly the ENGINES REV UP. Astonished, they          look up to the cockpit.                    EXT. COCKPIT - NIGHT                    Automatic pilot is at controls. He salutes Striker and          Elaine and winks at CAMERA.                    EXT. RUNWAY - NIGHT                    The plane begins to taxi on its belly, shooting off sparks          and making a tremendous scraping SOUND. Arm in arm, Striker          and Elaine wave good-bye as the plane takes off into the          night sky.                                                                           FADE OUT.                     
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+ALADDIN:  THE COMPLETE SCRIPTCOMPILED BY BEN SCRIPPS <34RQNPQ@CMUVM.CSV.CMICH.EDU>(Portions Copyright (c) 1992 The Walt Disney CompanyPEDDLER:    Oh I come from a land    From a faraway place    Where the caravan camels roam    Where they cut off your ear /Where it's flat and immense    If they don't like your face /And the heat is intense    It's barbaric, but hey--it's home!    When the wind's at your back    And the sun's from the west    And the sand in the glass is right    Come on down,    Stop on by    Hop a carpet and fly    To another Arabian night!    Arabian nights    Like Arabian days    More often than not    Are hotter than hot    In a lot of good ways    Arabian nights    'Neath Arabian moons    A fool off his guard    Could fall and fall hard    Out there on the dunes.    Ah, Salaam and good evening to you worthy friend.    Please, please, come closer--(Camera zooms in hitting    peddler in face) Too close, a little too close.  (Camera    zooms back out to CU)There.Welcome to Agrabah.  City of    mystery, of enchantment, and the finest merchandise this    side of the river Jordan, on sale today, come on down!    Heh, heh.  Look at this! Yes!  Combination hookah and    coffee maker--also makes Julienne fries.  Will not break    (taps it on table), will not--(it falls apart)--it    broke.  Ooohhh!  Look at this! Pulls out Tupperware) I    have never seen one of these intact before.  This is the    famous Dead Sea Tupperware. Listen.  (Pries it open,    makes raspberry sound.)  Ah, still good. (Camera begins    to pan to right.  PEDDLER hurries to catch it.)  Wait,    don't go!  (Stop pan.)I can see that you're only    interested in the exceptionally rare.  I think then, you    would be most rewarded to consider...this.  (PEDDLER    pulls the MAGIC LAMP out from his sleeve.) Do not be    fooled by its commonplace appearance.  Like so many    things, it is not what is outside, but what is inside    that counts.  (Another pan, this one slower to left.    Again, PEDDLER rushes to catch up.)  This is no ordinary    lamp!  It once changed the course of a young man's life.    A young man who liked this lamp was more than what he    seemed.  A diamond in the rough.  Perhaps you would like    to hear the tale?  (PEDDLER pours shiny sand from the    lamp into his hand.)  It begins on a dark night (PEDDLER    throws sand into the sky, where it forms a starry    nightscape.) , where a dark man waits, with a dark    purpose.(Camera tilts down to find JAFAR sitting on his horse and IAGO    on his shoulder.  GAZEEM comes riding up to the pair.)JAFAR:  You...are late.GAZEEM:A thousand apologies, O patient one.JAFAR:  You have it, then?GAZEEM:I had to slit a few throats to get it.  (Pulls out        half of the medallion.  JAFAR reaches out for it,        but GAZEEM yanks it back.)  Ah, ah, ahhh!  The treasure!        (IAGO squawks as he flies by and grabs the medallion.)  Ouch!JAFAR:  Trust me, my pungent friend.  You'll get what's        coming to you.IAGO:   What's coming to you!  Awk!(JAFAR pulls out the second half of the medallion.  He connects    them, and the insect medallion begins to glow.  Finally, it    flies out of JAFAR's hand, scaring the horses, and is off    towards the dunes.)JAFAR:  Quickly, follow the trail!(All ride off, following the glowing speck of light, until    it reaches a large dune.  It separates into two and the    halves plunge into the dune.  All that remains are two glowing    points of light on the dune.  But then the dune begins to rise     up, transforming into a giant lion's head, with the glowing    points serving as the eyes.)JAFAR:  At last, after all my years of searching,  the cave        of wonders!IAGO:       Awk!  Cave of wonders!GAZEEM: By Allah!JAFAR:  Now, remember!  Bring me the lamp.  The rest of the        treasure is yours, but the lamp is mine!(GAZEEM starts to approach the lion's mouth, which forms the    entrance to the cave.  He chuckles as he goes.)IAGO:   Awk, the lamp!  Awk,  the lamp!  (Now that IAGO and    JAFAR are alone, IAGO opens up in normal English.)    Jeez, where'd ya dig this bozo up?(JAFAR puts his finger to his lips and shushes him.  GAZEEM reaches    the cave, but is blown away by the roar of the cave's speaking.)CAVE:       Who disturbs my slumber?GAZEEM: It is I, Gazeem, a humble thief.CAVE:       Know this.  Only one may enter here.  One whose        worth lies far within.  A diamond in the rough.(GAZEEM turns to JAFAR with a questioning look.)JAFAR:  What are you waiting for?  Go on!(GAZEEM hesitates, then moves one foot inside the cave.  With    great apprehension, he plants his foot down.  Nothing happens.      Relieved, he begins his trek again.  Then another roar comes.     He turns back, but the lion's mouth slams shut and the dune    collapses back to normal.  All that are left are JAFAR, IAGO,     and the two separated halves of the medallion.)CAVE:       Seek thee out, the diamond in the rough.(IAGO unburied himself from the sand, coughing as he does so.)IAGO:       I can't believe it.  I just don't believe it. We're        never gonna get a hold of that stupid lamp!  Just        forget it.  Look at this.  Look at this.  I'm so        ticked off that I'm molting!  (He flies up to        JAFAR's shoulder.)JAFAR:  Patience, Iago.  Patience.  Gazeem was obviously        less than worthy.IAGO:       (Extremely sarcastically) Oh, there's a big        surprise.  That's an incred--I think I'm gonna have        a heart attack and die from not surprise!  What're        we gonna do?  We got a big problem here,a big prob-        (JAFAR pinches his beak shut.)JAFAR:  Yes, we do.  Only one may enter.  I must find this        one, this...diamond in the rough.(Cut to a rooftop, where ALADDIN rushes up to the edge, carrying    a loaf of bread.  He almost drops it over the edge.)GUARD:  Stop, thief!  I'll have your hands for a trophy,        street rat!ALADDIN:    (Looks back, then down, then at the bread.)  All        this for a loaf of bread?(He jumps off, landing on two ropes strung between buildings, with    drying clothes on them.  He skies down them, collecting bits    and pieces of clothing on him as he goes.  Finally, he's    nearing the end of the rope, at a window, when a woman reaches     out and slams the shutters closed.  ALADDIN slams into the    shutters and falls to the street, his fall being broken by    numerous awnings and the pile of clothes around him.  He pulls     off the top layer of clothes and is about to enjoy his bread    when...)GUARD 1:    There he is!GUARD 2:    You won't get away so easy!ALADDIN:    You think that was easy?(He looks at three women, laughing at him.)GUARD 1:    You two, over that way, and you, with me.  We'll        find him.(ALADDIN pulls a sheet over him and wraps himself as a disguise.    He rushes over to the women.)ALADDIN:    Morning, ladies.WOMAN 1:    Getting into trouble a little early today, aren't        we Aladdin?ALADDIN:    Trouble?  No way.  You're only in trouble if you        get caught--(A hand grabs ALADDIN's shoulder and yanks him back.  It's the    first GUARD.  ALADDIN's disguise falls off.)ALADDIN:    I'm in trouble!GUARD:  ...and this time--(A screeching sound from ABU,        then the guard's turban is pulled down over his        eyes.  ABU dances on the GUARD's head, laughing.)ALADDIN:    Perfect timing, Abu!ABU:        Hello!ALADDIN:    Come on, let's get outta here!        Gotta keep...one jump ahead of the breadline        One swing ahead of the sword        I steal only what I can't afford        That's everything!(ALADDIN battles a GUARD wielding a sword.  He dodges a couple of    swings, then pulls down the GUARD's pants.  ABU raspberries the    GUARD, then dodges an attack.  The GUARD swings at ALADDIN,    but destroys a barrel of fish.  As ALADDIN runs off, the GUARD     pulls a fish over his lower body as a pair of pants.)        One jump ahead of the lawmen        That's all, and that's no joke        These guys don't appreciate I'm broke!(ALADDIN and ABU scamper up a pile of barrels, then kick one down    on top of another GUARD.)GUARDS: (one at a time) Riffraff! Street rat!        Scoundrel! Take that!ALADDIN:    Just a little snack, guys!(ALADDIN scampers to the top of a platform. The GUARDS shake the    platform back and fro trying to knock him off.)GUARDS: Rip him open, take it back guys!ALADDIN:    I can take a hint, gotta face the facts        You're my only friend, Abu!WOMEN:  Who?!?(ALADDIN jumps off the platform to certain death, only to grab ABU's    hands like an acrobat.  The pair swing into a harem.)        Oh, it's sad Aladdin's hit the bottom        He's become a one-man rise in crime(ABU finds a plate full of fruit and stuffs his mouth full like a    chipmunk.)WOMAN:  I'd blame parents, except he hasn't got 'em!ALADDIN:    Gotta eat to live, gotta steal to eat        Tell you all about it when I got the time!(ALADDIN and ABU exit.  Cut to MUSCLEMAN flexing to a crowd.  The    GUARDS rush past.  Cut to ALADDIN and ABU behind the MUSCLEMAN,     matching his moves, until they make a mistake and are discovered.)        One jump ahead of the slowpokes        One skip ahead of my doom        Next time gonna use a nom de plume.        One jump ahead of the hitmen        One hit ahead of the flock        I think I'll take a stroll around the block.(A chase sequence, in which ALADDIN and ABU, pursued by the GUARDS,    race through a flock of sheep, hurdle a MAN sleeping on a bed of    nails {of course one extremely large GUARD lands on him}.  ABU     disguises himself with jewels until a SHOPKEEPER discovers him.CROWD:  Stop, thief! Vandal!        Outrage! Scandal!ALADDIN:    Let's not be too hasty(ALADDIN is surrounded by GUARDS in front of a door. The door opens    and a large, ugly LADY comes out.)LADY:   Still I think he's rather tasty(ALADDIN tumbles away, then puts his arm around a GUARD, acting    like they're all chums.)ALADDIN:    Gotta eat to live, gotta steal to eat        Otherwise we'd get along!GUARDS: WRONG!(They all jump into a pile and fight.  When they stop, ALADDIN and    ABU are gone.  They are sneaking away in barrels.  They run    across a flaming pit, followed by GUARDS who hop up and down,    screaming in pain as they cross the rocks.  ALADDIN and ABU    pass a SWORD SWALLOWER, then ABU goes back, pulls the sword    out of the SWALLOWER's mouth.  ABU advances on the guards,    who retreat in fear.)GUARD 1:    He's got a sword!GUARD 2:    You idiot--we've ALL got swords!!(ABU sets the sword down gently, then runs.  ALADDIN and ABU are    once again surrounded, with GUARDS coming from left and right.      He jumps up and climbs a robe trick being done on the street,     as the GUARDS all crash into each other.)ALADDIN:    One jump ahead of the hoofbeats!CROWD:  Vandal!ALADDIN:    One hop ahead of the hump!CROWD:  Street rat!ALADDIN:    One trick ahead of disasterCROWD:  Scoundrel!ALADDIN:    They're quick--but I'm much fasterCROWD:  Take that!(The GUARDS chase ALADDIN up a staircase into a room.  He grabs a     carpet and jumps out the window)ALADDIN:    Here goes, better throw my hand in        Wish me happy landin'        All I gotta do is jump!(The GUARDS follow him out the window, but they go straight down to     the street, and land in a pile with the sign "Crazy Hakim's    Discount Fertilizer."  ALADDIN uses the carpet as a parachute    to land safely and out of danger. ALADDIN and ABU high-five each    other.)ALADDIN:    And now, esteemed effendi, we feast!  All right!(ALADDIN breaks the bread in two and gives half to ABU, who begins    to eat.  But ALADDIN looks over and sees two young children    rummaging through the garbage for food.  The GIRL sees him, then    drops her find and tries to hide.  ALADDIN looks at them, then    the bread, then at ABU.)ABU:        Uh-oh!(ABU takes a big bite of his food, but ALADDIN gets up and walks    over to the children.  The GIRL pulls her brother back.)ALADDIN:    Here, go on--take it.(The children giggle with delight.  ABU tries to swallow his bite,    then looks guilty. He walks over to the children and offers his     bread to them.  In delight, they pet him on the head.)ABU:        Ah, don't.  Huh?(ABU sees ALADDIN walking into the daylight, where there is a parade    going on.ALADDIN peers over the shoulders of people.  He sees    PRINCE ACHMED riding on a horse.)BYSTANDER 1:    On his way to the palace, I suppose.BYSTANDER 2:    Another suitor for the princess.(ALADDIN is startled as the two children come running out from the    alley. The BOY runs out in front of the PRINCE's horse,    startling it.)PRINCE: Out of my way, you filthy brat!(The PRINCE brings up his whip to attack the children, but ALADDIN    jumps in front of them and catches the whip.)ALADDIN:    Hey, if I were as rich as you, I could afford some mannersPRINCE: Oh--I teach you some manners!(The PRINCE kicks ALADDIN into a mud puddle. The crowd laugh at him.)ALADDIN:    Look at that, Abu.  It's not every day you see a        horse with two rear ends!(The PRINCE stops and turns back to ALADDIN.)PRINCE: You are a worthless street rat.  You were born a        street rat, you'll die a street rat, and only        your fleas will mourn you.(ALADDIN rushes the PRINCE, but the doors to the castle slam shut    in his face.)ALADDIN:    I'm not worthless.  And I don't have fleas.  Come        on, Abu.  Let's go home.(ALADDIN makes the climb to his home with the view, then tucks in    ABU for the night.)ALADDIN:    Riffraff, street rat.        I don't buy that.        If only they'd look closer        Would they see a poor boy?  No siree.        They'd find out, there's so much more to me.(He pulls back a curtain to reveal the beautiful palace.)        Someday, Abu, things are gonna change.  We'll be        rich, live in a palace, and never have any problems        at all.(Dissolve to same shot during day.  Cut to int. of SULTAN's chamber.     The door bursts open, and PRINCE ACHMED storms in, missing the    rear end of his pants.)PRINCE: I've never been so insulted!SULTAN: Oh, Prince Achmed.  You're not leaving so soon, are        you?PRINCE: Good luck marrying her off!SULTAN: Oh, Jasmine!  Jasmine!  Jasmine!  (The SULTAN goes        off into the garden looking for his daughter.  He        finds her, but is interrupted by RAJAH, JASMINE's        pet tiger, who blocks him off.  RAJAH has a piece        of the PRINCE's undershorts in his mouth.The SULTAN        grabs the cloth and yanks it out of RAJAH's mouth.)        Confound it, Rajah!  So, this is why Prince Achmed        stormed out!JASMINE:    Oh, father.  Rajah was just playing with him,        weren't you Rajah.  (RAJAH comes over and allows        JASMINE to pet and hug him.)  You were just playing        with that overdressed, self-absorbed Prince Achmed,        weren't you?  (She cuddles with RAJAH, enjoying the        moment, until she looks up at her angry father. )        Ahem.SULTAN: Dearest, you've got to stop rejecting every suitor        that comes to call.  The law says you...BOTH:       ...must be married to a prince.(They walk over to a dove cage.)SULTAN: By your next birthday.JASMINE:    The law is wrong.SULTAN: You've only got three more days!JASMINE:    Father,  I hate being forced into this.  (She takes        a dove out of the cage and pets it.) If I do marry,        I want it to be for love.SULTAN: Jasmine, it's not only this law.  (She hands him        the dove, and he puts it back in the cage.) I'm not        going to be around forever, and I just want to make        sure you're taken care of, provided for.JASMINE:    Try to understand.  I've never done a thing on my        own. (She swirls her finger in the water of the        pond, petting the fish.)I've never had any real        friends. (RAJAH looks up at her and growls.)        Except you, Rajah.  (Satisfied, he goes back to        sleep.)  I've never even been outside the palace        walls.SULTAN: But Jasmine, you're a princess.JASMINE:    Then maybe I don't want to be a princess.  (She        splashes the water.)SULTAN: Oooohhh!  Allah forbid you should have any        daughters!(RAJAH looks up and thinks for a second.  JASMINE goes to the dove    cage and yanks open the door.  The birds fly off into freedom.      She watches them go.  Cut to int. of SULTAN's chambers.)SULTAN: I don't know where she gets it from.  Her mother        wasn't nearly so picky.  (A shadow falls over him.        He looks up startled and sees JAFAR.)  Ooh, oh.        Ah, Jafar--my most trusted advisor.  I am in        desperate need of your wisdom.JAFAR:  My life is but to serve you, my lord.  (He bows.)SULTAN: It's this suitor business.  Jasmine refuses to        choose a husband.  I'm at my wit's-end.IAGO:   (In the parrot voice) Awk!  Wit's-end.SULTAN: Oh, ha ha.  Have a cracker, pretty polly!  (He        pulls a cracker out from his pocket.  IAGO looks        terrified.  Then the SULTAN stuffs it in IAGO's        mouth.  IAGO grimaces as he tries to eat it.  JAFAR        and the SULTAN both laugh.)JAFAR:  Your majesty certainly has a way with dumb animals.        (IAGO glares at him.)  Now then, perhaps I can        divine a solution to this thorny problem.SULTAN: If anyone can help, it's you.JAFAR:  Ah, but it would require the use of the mystic blue        diamond.SULTAN: Uh, my ring?  But it's been in the family for        years.JAFAR:  It is necessary to find the princess a suitor.        (JAFAR says the word 'princess' with the accent on        the second syllable, "cess."  He turns his staff        with a cobra head towards the SULTAN.  The eyes of        the staff begin to glow. The room darkens, JAFAR's        voice slows down and deepens.  The SULTAN's eyes        get a hypnotized look.)  Don't worry.  Everything        will be fine.SULTAN: Everything...will be...fine.JAFAR:  The diamond.SULTAN: Here, Jafar. Whatever you need will be fine.(The SULTAN removes his ring and hands it to JAFAR. The room returns    to normal as JAFAR pulls back the staff.)JAFAR:  You are most gracious, my liege.  Now run along and        play with your little toys.SULTAN: (Still hypnotized)  Yes...that'll be...pretty good.(JAFAR and IAGO exit.  We follow them. When they're out of the room,    the parrot spits out the cracker.)IAGO:       I can't take it anymore!  If I gotta choke down on        one more of those moldy, disgusting crackers...bam!        Whack!(JAFAR pulls a rope, which reveals a hidden entrance to his chambers.)JAFAR:  Calm yourself, Iago.IAGO:       Then I'd grab him around the head.  Whack! Whack!JAFAR:  (Speaking over IAGO.)  Soon, I will be sultan, not        that addlepated twit.IAGO:       And then I stuff the crackers down his throat!  Ha        ha!(The pair pass through a door and slam it shut.  Diss. to ext. gardens    at night.  A shadowy figure walks through.  We see it is JASMINE    in disguise.  She reaches the palace wall, then begins to climb it.      She is tugged from behind by RAJAH.)JASMINE:    Oh, I'm sorry, Rajah.  But I can't stay here and        have my life lived for me.  I'll miss you.(She        begins to climb again, and is helped up by RAJAH,        who begins to whine and whimper.)  Good bye!(She disappears over the wall. Cut to daytime on the street  ALADDIN    and ABU are up to their capers again.  They are on top of the    awning of a fruit stand.)ALADDIN:        Okay, Abu.  Go!(ABU dips over the edge and looks at the PROPRIETOR.)PROPRIETOR: (To passing crowd)  Try this, your taste buds            will dance and sing. (ABU grabs a melon and            hangs there, distracting his attention.)  Hey,            get your paws off that.ABU:            Blah blah blah!PROPRIETOR: Why, you!  Get away from here, you filthy ape!(He grabs the melon away from ABU.  But in the foreground, ALADDIN    dips down and snatches another melon from the stand.)ABU:            Bye bye!(He zings back up.  The PROPRIETOR takes the melon to the front,    where he places it on top of a stack.  He looks confused, like    he has just done this.)ALADDIN:    Nice goin' Abu.  Breakfast is served.(ALADDIN and ABU on the roof break open the melon and eat.  We see J    ASMINE walking through the street.)SHOPKEEPER 1:   Pretty lady, buy a pot.  No finer pot in brass            or silver.SHOPKEEPER 2:   Sugar dates, sugar dates and figs!  Sugar            dates and pistachios!SHOPKEEPER 3:   Would the lady like a necklace.  A pretty            necklace for a pretty lady.(She is charmed by the action, but is startled by a fish thrust    into her face.)SHOPKEEPER 4:   Fresh fish!  We catch 'em, you buy 'em!JASMINE:    I don't think so.  (She backs away, but bumps into        a fire eater, who is startled into swallowing his        fire.)  Oh, excuse me.  (He gulps, then belches        fire from his mouth.  JASMINE is disgusted.  He is        pleased and taps his stomach.  ALADDIN sees her,        and a strange look comes over his face.)  I'm        really very sorry.ALADDIN:    (He's obviously deeply in love with her.)  Wow!(She pulls the hood of her cloak over her head.  ABU sees him and    jumps up on his shoulder, waving his hand in front of ALADDIN's    face.)ABU:        Uh oh.  Hello?  Hello?(JASMINE stops at the fruit stand and sees a young homeless child    reaching for a piece of fruit.  She picks one up and gives it to    him.)JASMINE:        Oh, you must be hungry.  Here you go.  (The            boy runs off.)PROPRIETOR: You'd better be able to pay for that.JASMINE:        (Mystified) Pay?PROPRIETOR: No one steals from my cart!JASMINE:        Oh, I'm sorry sir.  I don't have any money.PROPRIETOR: Thief!JASMINE:        Please, if you let me go to the palace, I can            get some from the Sultan.PROPRIETOR: Do you know what the penalty is for stealing?(He takes her hand and pins it down on the table, intending to    chop it off.)JASMINE:        No, no please!(The sword drops, but his hand is stopped by ALADDIN's.)ALADDIN:        Thank you kind sir.  I'm so glad you've found            her. I've been looking all over for you.JASMINE:        (whispering) What are you doing?ALADDIN:        (whispering back) Just play along.PROPRIETOR: You know this girl?JASMINE:        Sadly, yes.  She is my sister.  She's a little            crazy.  (He circles his finger around his ear.            She is shocked.  The PROPRIETOR grabs him by            the vest.)PROPRIETOR: She said she knows the Sultan!ALADDIN:        She thinks the monkey is the Sultan.(ABU is picking a pocket.  He hears this, then straightens up.    JASMINE, playing along, kneels and bows to ABU.)JASMINE:        Oh, wise Sultan.  How may I serve you?ABU:            Well, blah blah blah blah.ALADDIN:        Tragic, isn't it?  (He leans forward, picking            up another apple from the cart with his            foot.) But, no harm done.  (Walks over to            Jasmine.)  Now come along sis. Time to see the            doctor.JASMINE:        (To a camel standing nearby) Oh, hello doctor.            How are you?ALADDIN:        No, no, no. Not that one. (To ABU, whose            pockets are bulging.) Come on, Sultan.(ABU bows to the crowd and everything he's stolen from the cart falls    out.)PROPRIETOR: Huh?  What is it?  (ABU picks up what he can            carry, and the trio run off.) Come back here,            you little thieves!(Cut to int. of JAFAR's lab.  IAGO is running on a gear in a bizarre    contraption.  At the top of the contraption is a storm brewing.)IAGO:       (huffing and puffing)  With all due respect, your        rottenness, couldn't we just wait for a real storm?JAFAR:  Save your breath, Iago.  Faster!  (He places the        SULTAN's ring in the contraption.)IAGO:       Yes, o mighty evil one.(IAGO runs faster.  A lightning bolt streaks through the ring, passing    into an hourglass below.  The sands begin to swirl.)JAFAR:  Ah, sands of time--reveal to me the one who can        enter the cave.  (The sand in top forms the Cave of        Wonders.  It falls through into a storm, but it        shows ALADDIN climbing up a ladder, followed by        JASMINE who is covered in her cloak.) Yes, yes!        There he is.  My diamond in the rough!IAGO:       That's him?!?!   That's the clown we've been        waitin' for? (IAGO loses his footing and is sucked        into the gears.)JAFAR:  Let's have the guards extend him an invitation to        the palace, shall we?(IAGO goes flying past and slams into the wall upside down.)IAGO:   Swell.(JAFAR laughs hideously, and the camera zooms in on the sandstorm with    ALADDIN in it.  Finally, we dissolve into the real ALADDIN climbing    to the top of the ladder, followed by JASMINE.)ALADDIN:    Almost there.(JASMINE climbs over the top, but trips and falls into ALADDIN's arms.    She stands up.)JASMINE:    I want to thank you for stopping that man.ALADDIN:    Uh, forget it.  (He grabs a pole.)  So, uh, this is        your first time in the marketplace, huh?(ALADDIN pole vaults to the next building, leaving JASMINE behind.)JASMINE:    Is it that obvious?ALADDIN:    Well, you do kinda stand out.  (He stares at her,        still in love.  She returns the look.  But he        realizes what he is doing, and returns to normal.)        I mean, uh, you don't seem to know how dangerous        Agrabah can be. (He lays a plank between the        buildings for her to walk over, but as he is leaned        down, she vaults over his head.  He looks back in        surprise.  She tosses the pole to him.  Both        ALADDIN's and ABU's eyes bulge.)JASMINE:    I'm a fast learner.ALADDIN:    Right.  C'mon, this way.  (They go inside the roof        of a building, dodging planks and beams as they        go.)  Whoa.  Watch your head there.  Be careful.JASMINE:    Is this where you live?ALADDIN:    Yep.  Just me and Abu.  Come and go as we please.JASMINE:    Fabulous.ALADDIN:    Well, it's not much, (he pulls back the curtain and        exposes the palace) but it's got a great view.        Palace looks pretty amazing, huh?JASMINE:    Oh, it's wonderful.ALADDIN:    I wonder what it would be like to live there, to        have servants and valets...JASMINE:    Oh, sure.   People who tell you where to go and how        to dress.ALADDIN:    It's better than here.  Always scraping for food        and ducking the guards.JASMINE:    You're not free to make your own choices.ALADDIN:    Sometimes you feel so--JASMINE:    You're just--BOTH:       (in unison) --trapped.(They look at each other, realizing that they're perfect for one    another.  But ALADDIN then realizes where he is, and breaks the    look.  He takesthe apple out of ABU's hand and rolls it down his    arm into the hand of JASMINE.)ALADDIN:    So, where're you from?JASMINE:    What does it matter?  I ran away, and I am not        going back.ALADDIN:    Really?  (He takes a bite from the apple in his        hand, then hands it to ABU, who has a disgusted        look on his face.)ABU:        Why you!(ALADDIN walks over and sits next to JASMINE.)JASMINE:    My father's forcing me to get married.ALADDIN:    That's--that's awful.  (ABU appears from behind the        princess and tries to steal the apple.) Abu!(ABU races up to a higher point, chattering and cursing as he goes.)JASMINE:    What?ALADDIN:    Abu says that--uh--that's not fair.ABU:        What?JASMINE:    Oh did he?ALADDIN:    Yeah, of course.JASMINE:    And does Abu have anything else to say?ALADDIN:    Well, uh, he wishes there was something he could do        to help.ABU:        Oh, boy!JASMINE:    Hmm, tell him that's very sweet.(ALADDIN and JASMINE have been getting closer and closer, until    ALADDIN leans in to kiss her.  He is interrupted, however,    by the GUARDS, who have found them.)GUARD:  Here you are!ALADDIN and JASMINE:    They've found me!  (To each other) They're                after you?JASMINE:    My father must have sent them--ALADDIN:    Do you trust me?JASMINE:    What?ALADDIN:    Do you trust me? (He extends his hand)JASMINE:    Yes. (She takes it.)ALADDIN:    Then jump!(They both jump off the roof, fall and land in a pile of salt.  They    try to get away, but the exit is blocked by a GUARD.)GUARD:  We just keep running into each other, don't we,        street rat?(Again, the GUARD's turban is pulled down by ABU, but more guards are    here and block the exit.  The first GUARD pulls ABU off his head and     throws him in a vase.  Three other GUARDS grab ALADDIN.)GUARD:  It's the dungeon for you, boy.ALADDIN:    Hey, get off of me!JASMINE:    Let go of him.GUARD:  (Not realizing she is the princess) Look what we        have here, men--a street mouse.  (He throws her        down.)JASMINE:    (standing up and pulling off the hood of her cloak)        Unhand him, by order of the princess.(The GUARDS suddenly stop and bow, forcing ALADDIN to bow as well.)GUARD:  Princess Jasmine.ALADDIN:    The princess?ABU:        (peeking out from the vase) The princess?GUARD:  What are you doing outside the palace?  And with        this street rat?JASMINE:    That's not your concern.  Do as I command.  Release        him!GUARD:  Well, I would, princess, but my orders come from        Jafar.  You'll have to take it up with him.(The GUARDS drag ALADDIN out, bowing as they go.)JASMINE:    (getting a very pissed-off look) Believe me, I        will.(Cut to int. of palace, JAFAR emerging from his secret chambers.  He    slides the door shut carefully, but the princess comes storming    in before he is finished.  He slams it shut, pinning IAGO inside    the door frame.)JASMINE:    Jafar?JAFAR:  Oh, uh, princess.IAGO:       Awk! Jafar, I'm stuck!JAFAR:  How may I be of service to you? (He spreads out his        cape, hiding the door.)JASMINE:    The guards just took a boy from the market, on your        orders.JAFAR:  Your father's charged me with keeping peace in        Agrabah.  The boy was a criminal.JASMINE:    What was the crime?IAGO:       I can't breathe, Jafar!JAFAR:  Why, kidnapping the princess, of course.IAGO:       If you could just--(JAFAR kicks him back inside the        door and it slams shut)--wow, that hurt!JASMINE:    He didn't kidnap me! I ran away!JAFAR:  (Walking away as if shocked) Oh, dear!  Oh, why        frightfully upsetting.  Had I but known.JASMINE:    What do you mean?JAFAR:  Sadly, the boy's sentence has already been carried        out.JASMINE:    What sentence?JAFAR:  (with a sinister tone)  Death.  (JASMINE gasps.)        By beheading.JASMINE:    No!  (She collapses to the floor.)JAFAR:  I am exceedingly sorry, princess.JASMINE:    How could you?  (She runs from the room crying.)(IAGO finally makes it out through the door.  He flies up and lands on    JAFAR's shoulder, coughing.)IAGO:       So, how did  it go?JAFAR:  I think she took it rather well.  (They both get a        sinister smile on their faces.)(Diss. to JASMINE at night, crying at the edge of the fountain.  RAJAH    comes over to comfort her.  She pets him.)JASMINE:    It's all my fault, Rajah.  I didn't even know his        name.(Cut to int. of dungeon.  Rats scurry by, and we descend until we see    ALADDIN chained to the wall.)ALADDIN:    (to himself) She was the princess.  I don't believe        it.  I must have sounded so stupid to her.ABU:        (from a distance) Yoo-hoo!  Aladdin? Hello!(ABU appears at the window at the top of the dungeon.)ALADDIN:    Abu!  Down here!  Hey, c'mon--help me outta these.(ABU stops, then begins chattering wildly, dropping to the ground.  He     wraps a cloth around his head and makes his eyes big in an     imitation of the princess.)ALADDIN:    Hey, she was in trouble.  Ah, she was worth it.(ABU jumps up on ALADDIN's shoulders and pulls a small set of tools    out of his pocket, then frees ALADDIN.)ABU:        Yeah, yeah, yeah.ALADDIN:    Don't worry, Abu.  I'll never see her again.  I'm a        street rat, remember, and there's a law. She's        gotta marry a prince, she deserves it.(ABU finally frees ALADDIN's hands.)ABU:        Ta da!ALADDIN:    (Rubbing his wrists) I'm a--I'm a foolOLD MAN:    You're only a fool if you give up, boy.(We see an OLD MAN sitting in the corner that neither ALADDIN nor ABU    have seen before.)ALADDIN:    Who are you?OLD MAN:    A lowly prisoner, like yourself.  But together,        perhaps we can be more.ALADDIN:    I'm listening.OLD MAN:    There is a cave, boy.  A cave of wonders.  Filled        with treasures beyond your wildest dreams.        Treasure enough to impress even your princess, I'd        wager.(Listeners will note that the OLD MAN pronounced the word    'princess' as "prin-CESS" rather than the standard pronunciation     of "PRIN-cess."   The OLD MAN turns his back, and IAGO sticks    his head out of JAFAR's "old man" disguise.)IAGO:       Jafar, can ya hurry it up?  I'm dyin' in here!ALADDIN:    But the law says that only a prince can marry--OLD MAN:    You've heard of the golden rule, haven't you boy?        Whoever has the gold makes the rules.(He grins,        showing a hideously bad mouth.)ALADDIN:    So why would you share all of this wonderful        treasure with me?OLD MAN:    I need a young man with strong legs and a strong        back to go in after it.ALADDIN:    Ah, one problem.  It's out there, we're in here?(The OLD MAN walks to a wall and pushes open a hidden exit.)OLD MAN:    Mmm, mmm, mmm.,  Things aren't always what they        seem.  So, do we have a deal?(ALADDIN looks at ABU, who shrugs his shoulders.)ABU:        Oh, hmm.(Cut to desert scene.  We see ALADDIN leading a horse with the    OLD MAN and ABU on it.  Diss. to cave of wonders.)CAVE:       Who disturbs my slumber?ALADDIN:    It is I, Aladdin.CAVE:       Proceed.  Touch nothing but the lamp.(The cave opens up with a roar, and a staircase appears in front of    ALADDIN. )OLD MAN:    Remember, boy--first fetch me the lamp, and then        you shall have your reward.ALADDIN:    C'mon, Abu.  (to ABU hiding under the shoulder of        his vest.)(ALADDIN begins to descend the staircase.  He reaches the bottom    and enters a golden chamber filled with treasure.)ALADDIN:    Would ya look at that!ABU:        Uh oh!ALADDIN:    Just a handful of this stuff would make me richer        than the sultan!(ABU peeks out, sees the treasure, then bolts for it.)ALADDIN:    Abu!(ABU stops in mid run, hovering over a rug on the floor.)ALADDIN:    Don't...touch...anything!  We gotta find that lamp.(They begin to make their way through the room when the CARPET rises    off the floor and begins following them.  ABU gets the feeling    they're being followed.)ABU:        Huh?(He turns, and the CARPET lies flat on the floor.  He continues, and    the CARPET begins to follow again.  Again, ABU turns back, but the     CARPET is rolled up and leaning against a pile of treasure. ABU     runs to ALADDIN and tugs his pant leg.)ABU:        Aladdin!  Aladdin!ALADDIN:    Abu, will ya knock it off?(Again the CARPET follows, but this time, when ABU turns, the carpet    jumps to the other side.  It reaches down with a tassel and pulls    ABU's tail.  When ABU jumps around, CARPET again goes to the other     side.  This time, ABU lands in a karate stance.  CARPET reaches    down and plucks ABU's hat off, then puts it on himself.  ABU sits    thinking for a second, until CARPET waves a tassel in front of his     face.  ABU and CARPET both jump scared, and run away.  ABU tackles     ALADDIN and turns his head to look at the CARPET.)ALADDIN:    Abu, what are you--crazy?(The CARPET peeks out from behind a pile of treasure.)ALADDIN:    A magic carpet!  C'mon.  C'mon out.  I'm not gonna        hurt you.(The CARPET slowly comes out, shyly, then picks up ABU's hat and dusts    it off.  It flies over to ALADDIN and hands the hat to ABU next to     him.  ABU screeches, and jumps onto ALADDIN's shoulder.)ALADDIN:    Take it easy, Abu.  He's not gonna bite.(The CARPET again picks up ABU's hat and hands it to him.  ABU shakes    his fist and screeches at it.  CARPET begins to walk away, "sadly.")ALADDIN:    Hey, wait a minute.  Don't go.  Maybe you can help        us.  (CARPET looks back, excited. It then flies        over and wraps around the pair.)  Hey, whoa!  You        see, we're trying to find this lamp.  (CARPET        motions for them to follow it.)  I think he knows        where it is.(They pass through a long cave, until they emerge in a giant    underground cavern.  In the centre of the room is a tall pillar,     with a staircase going up to it.  It is surrounded by water     with unevenly placed stones forming a bridge.  At the top of    the pillar is a beam of light.  ALADDIN begins to cross the bridge.)ALADDIN:    Wait here!ABU:        Oh.  Huh?(ABU sees a shrine with a golden monkey.  The outstretched paws hold a    giant ruby.  ABU is hypnotically drawn to it.   ALADDIN climbs the     stairs quickly.  CARPET sees ABU and grabs his tail trying in vain     to hold him back.  ALADDIN finally reaches the MAGIC LAMP.)ALADDIN:    This is it?  This is what we came all the way down        here to--  (He looks down and sees ABU break free        of CARPET's hold and lunge toward the jewel.)  Abu-        NO!(ABU grabs the jewel.  There is a rumbling and the room begins to    shake.)CAVE VOICE: Infidels!ABU:            Uh oh!CAVE VOICE: You have touched the forbidden treasure.  (ABU               places the jewel back into the paw, but the jewel                and the shrine melt into lava.) Now you                will never again see the light of day!(ALADDIN races down the steps, but they flatten into a ramp, and he    skies down until he flies into the air.  The water has turned into     lava.  He is falling toward it, when all of a sudden CARPET appears    and catches him.   ABU is standing on one of the rocks of the    bridge. He looks left and right and sees rocks exploding into lava.    Then CARPET races over and ALADDIN grabs him, just as the last rock     is exploding.)ALADDIN:    Whoa!  Carpet, let's move!(Together, they race back through the caves dodging walls and falling    debris.  ABU grabs ALADDIN's head and covers his eyes.)ALADDIN:    Abu, this is no time to panic!  (He pulls ABU off        his head and sees they are flying into a wall.)        Start panicking.(CARPET goes into a dive, then through another cave.  Finally, they    emerge through the internal entrance.  Outside, the cave begins to     growl and close.  CARPET and company are almost to the top when a    boulder drops on carpet, sending it to the floor.  ALADDIN  grabs    onto the rock wall and holds on.  He sees the OLD MAN at the top,    within reach.)ALADDIN:    Help me out!OLD MAN:    Throw me the lamp!ALADDIN:    I can't hold on.  Give me your hand.OLD MAN:    First give me the lamp!(ALADDIN reaches in and pulls out the MAGIC LAMP.  He hands it up, a    nd the OLD MAN raises it above his head.)OLD MAN:    Ha ha ha ha!  Yes!  At last!  Ha ha ha ha!(ALADDIN has climbed out with the assistance of ABU.  But the OLD     MAN kicks aside ABU and grabs ALADDIN's wrist.)ALADDIN:    What are you doing?OLD MAN:    Giving you your reward.  (JAFAR returns to his        normal voice.) Your eternal reward.(He pulls out a crooked dagger and is about to stab ALADDIN, when    ABU bites him on the wrist.  He screams, but lets go of ALADDIN,     who falls into the cave.  OLD MAN throws ABU into the cave as     well.  They fall.  CARPET sees this, but is pinned under a     boulder.  It struggles to break free, then does.  It races     up and catches ALADDIN, but he has already hit the wall several    times, and is unconscious.  On the surface, the cave roars one    final time, then sinks back into the sand.  JAFAR pulls off     his disguise.)JAFAR:  Heh heh heh! It's mine.  It's all mine! I (He can't        find it in his pocket)--- where is it?  No. NO!!(Kiss fade to JASMINE's bedroom.  She is sitting on her bed, next    to RAJAH who looks sad. The SULTAN walks in.)SULTAN: Jasmine?  Oh, dearest.  What's wrong?JASMINE:    Jafar...has...done something... terrible.  (She        looks as if she's been crying.)SULTAN: There, there, there, my child--we'll set it right.        Now, tell me everything.(Cut to int. of cave.  ALADDIN lies unconscious on the CARPET.    ABU tries to wake him.)ABU:        Oh, oh. Aladdin?  Wake up.  Aladdin.(CARPET rises up, lifting ALADDIN up.  He awakes slowly.)ALADDIN:    Oh, my head. (He looks at the entrance sealed in.)        We're trapped.  (Angry, shaking his fists at the        entrance) That two faced son-of-a-jackal!  (Calmer)        Whoever he was, he's long gone with that lamp.ABU:        Aha!(ABU pulls out the MAGIC LAMP.)ALADDIN:    Why, you hairy little thief!  Looks like such a        beat-up, worthless piece of junk.  Hey, I think        there's something written here, but it's hard to        make out.(He rubs the LAMP.  Suddenly smoke comes out of the hole, the    LAMP begins to shake and glow, but ALADDIN holds onto the    LAMP, and our wonderful friend, the GENIE comes out.)GENIE:  Aaaaahhhhh!  OY!  Ten-thousand years will give ya        such a crick in the neck!  (He hangs ALADDIN on a        nearby rock.  Then he pulls his head off and spins        it around, yelling as he does so.  CARPET pulls a        ALADDIN down.)  Whoa!  Does it feel good to be        outta there! (GENIE uses the lamp end of himself as        a microphone.) Nice to be back, ladies and        gentlemen.  Hi, where ya from? (Sticks the mic in        ALADDIN's face.)  What's your name?ALADDIN:    Uh, Al--uh--Aladdin.GENIE:  (Says his name as if he's discovered something        major) Aladdin! (A neon sign lights up with        ALADDIN's name on it, circled by chase lights.  The        sign changes to reflect the GENIE's upcoming line.)        Hello, Aladdin.  Nice to have you on the show.  Can        we call you 'Al?' Or maybe just 'Din?'  Or how        bout 'Laddi?'  (GENIE disappears, then a dog        wrapped in plaid jumps in.) Sounds like 'Here, boy!        C'mon, Laddi!'ALADDIN:    (Shaking his head) I must have hit my head harder        than I thought.GENIE:  (Still a dog) Do you smoke?  Mind if I do? (Dog        poofs into smoke, then back to the GENIE.  ABU        screeches wildly.)  Oh, sorry Cheetah--hope I        didn't singe the fur!  Hey, Rugman!  Haven't seen        you in a few millennia!  Slap me some tassel!  Yo!        Yeah! (CARPET flies over and high fives the GENIE.        GENIE looks at ALADDIN.)  Say, you're a lot smaller        than my last master. (Lifts his beer-gut.)  Either        that or I'm gettin' bigger.  Look at me from the        side--do I look different to you?ALADDIN:    Wait a minute!  I'm--your master?GENIE:  (Slaps a diploma in ALADDIN's hand and a        mortarboard on his head.)  That's right!  He can        be taught!! What would you wish of me, (as Arnold        Schwarzenegger)  the ever impressive,(inside a        cube) the long contained, (as a ventriloquist with        a dummy) often imitated, (tosses the dummy aside)        but never duplicated--(He multiplies into multiple GENIES who surround him.)DUP. GENIES:    Duplicated, duplicated,  duplicated,            duplicated,  duplicated,  duplicated,            duplicated, duplicated, duplicated.GENIE:  (Says it like a ring announcer at a boxing match.)        Genie!  Of!  The Lamp!  (Goes into Ed        Sullivan)  Right here direct from the lamp, right        here for your enjoyment wish fulfillment.        Thank youuuuu!ALADDIN:    Whoa!  Wish fulfillment?GENIE:  Three wishes to be exact.  And ix-nay on the        wishing for more wishes.  (Turns into a slot        machine, arm pulls down and three GENIEs appear in        the windows.)  That's it--three.  (Three GENIE        caballeros come out of the slot.)  Uno, dos, tres.        (Changes into b/w Groucho Marx.)  No        substitutions, exchanges or refunds.  (The duck        drops with the secret word "Refunds.'ALADDIN:    (To ABU) Now I know I'm dreaming.GENIE:  (Music for "Friend Like Me" begins) Master, I don't        think you quite realize what you've got here! So        why don't you just ruminate, whilst I illuminate        the possibilities.  (GENIE lights up like a        fluorescent light)    Well Ali Baba had them forty thieves    Scheherazadie had a thousand tales    But master you in luck 'cause up your sleeve    You got a brand of magic never fails!(GENIE produces 40 thieves who surround ALADDIN with swords.    GENIE appears in his vest, then sticks his arms out and boxes    the thieves into submission.)    You got some power in your corner now    Some heavy ammunition in your camp    You got some punch, pizzazz, yahoo and how    See all you gotta do is rub that lamp    And I'll say(Boxing ring appears, ALADDIN in the corner, being massaged    by GENIE.  Then GENIE turns into a pile of fireworks and    explodes.  Then GENIE appears inside lamp and grabs ALADDIN's     hand and rubs lamp with it.)    Mister Aladdin sir    What will your pleasure be?    Let me take your order, jot it down    You ain't never had a friend like me    No no no!(GENIE produces a table and chairs, then writes down things on a    note pad, like a waiter. )    Life is your restaurant    And I'm your maitre' d!    C'mon whisper what it is you want    You ain't never had a friend like me.(GENIE appears as a plate of chicken, then returns to normal,    but enlarges his ear to listen to ALADDIN.  Finally, he explodes     into four duplicate GENIEs.)    Yes sir, we pride ourselves on service    You're the boss, the king, the shah!    Say what you wish, it's yours!  True dish    How about a little more Baklava?(The GENIEs give him a shave, haircut and manicure, then ALADDIN    appears in a comfy chair (eh?)  surrounded by the treasure    and being fanned by women.  The GENIE appears and fills the    screen with baklava.)    Try some of column 'A'    Try all of column 'B'    I'm in the mood to help you dude    You ain't never had a friend like me(ALADDIN rises up on a column of food with a giant A on top,    then jumps to another column with a B on top.  He falls off    and is caught by a cushion held by GENIE.  He opens his mouth,    and his tongue turns into a staircase.  A miniature GENIE     dressed like a magician comes out.)(The mini GENIE does a little dance with the GENIE's two giant    hands.  At the end, they surround the mini GENIE and squish    him into nothing.)    Can your friends do this?    Do your friends do that?    Do your friends pull this out their little hat    Can your friends go poof!    Well looky here    Can your friends go Abracadabra, let 'er rip    And then make the sucker disappear?(The GENIE pulls off his head, duplicates it, then juggles them.    He tosses them to ALADDIN, who juggles with one hand and spins    one of the heads on his fingertip like a basketball.  He tosses     the heads back onto the GENIE, who proceeds to try and pull     himself out of a hat at his base.  He spirals around and around     until he turns into a white rabbit.  The rabbit transforms into    a purple dragon (very reminiscent of Figment from EPCOT Center).     The dragon breathes fire, which turns into three HAREM GIRLS,    who dance around ALADDIN.  Just as he begins to enjoy them,     they disappear.)    So don't you sit there slack jawed, buggy eyed    I'm here to answer all your midday prayers    You got me bona fide, certified    You got a genie for a charg? d'affairs!    I got a powerful urge to help you out    So what you wish I really want to know    You got a wish that's three miles long, no doubt    So all you gotta do is rub like so, and oh!(GENIE imitates what he is calling ALADDIN, then turns into a    certificate which rolls up and surrounds ALADDIN.  GENIE pulls     a list {written in Arabic} out of ALADDIN's ear, which he uses    to rub his behind like drying off after a shower.)    Mister Aladdin, sir, have a wish or two or three    I'm on the job, you big nabob    You ain't never had a friend, never had a friend    You ain't never had a friend, never had a friend    You ain't never...had a... friend... like...me!    You ain't never had a friend like me!(The dancing HAREM GIRLS reappear, and ALADDIN leans in to kiss one.     She turns into the GENIE, who zaps four dancing elephants into    existence.  To the other direction, he zaps in four dancing camels,     and a grand finale dancing number ensues.  ABU grabs as much gold     as he can, but the GENIE wraps everything up in a cyclone and    zaps it away until they're all back in the cave.  GENIE has a    neon "APPLAUSE" sign on his back. ABU turns his hat over and    sees that is is empty.)GENIE:  So what'll it be, master?ALADDIN:    You're gonna grant me any three wishes I want?GENIE:  (As William F. Buckley) Ah, almost.  There are a        few provisos, a couple of quid pro quosALADDIN:    Like?GENIE:  Ah, rule number one: I can't kill anybody.  (He        slices his head off with his finger.)  So don't        ask.  Rule two: I can't make anyone fall in love        with anyone else.  (Head turns into a big pair of        lips which kiss ALADDIN.)  You little punim, there.        (Lies flat, then gets up and transforms into a        zombie.) Rule three: I can't bring people back from        the dead.  It's not a pretty picture, (He grabs        ALADDIN and shakes him) I don't like doing it!  (He        poofs back to normal.)  Other than that, you got        it!ALADDIN:    (Looks at ABU as if plotting) Ah, provisos?  You        mean limitations?  On wishes? (To ABU) Some all        powerful genie--can't even bring people back from        the dead. I don't know, Abu--he probably can't even        get us out of this cave.  Looks like we're gonna        have to find a way out of here--(They start to leave, but a big blue foot stomps down in front of    them.)GENIE:  Excuse me?  Are you lookin' at        me?  Did you rub my lamp? Did you wake me up, did        you bring me here?  And all of a sudden, you're        walkin' out on me?  (Gets madder and madder) I        don't think so, not right now.  You're gettin' your        wishes, so siddown!  (They all get on CARPET.        GENIE takes the form of a stewardess, with lots of        arms pointing out the exits.)  In case of        emergency, the exits are here, here, here,        here,here, here, here, here, here, here, here,        here, anywhere!  Keep your hands and arms inside        the carpet.  Weeee'rrrrrreee...outta here!(The CARPET and passengers fly out of the sand in the desert and off    into the distance.  Cut to int. of SULTAN's chamber. JAFAR is    there with IAGO, JASMINE and the SULTAN.)SULTAN: Jafar, this is an outrage.  If it weren't for all        your years of loyal service... . From now on,        you are to discuss sentencing of prisoners with me,        before they are beheaded.JAFAR:  I assure you, your highness, it won't happen again.SULTAN: Jasmine, Jafar, now let's put this whole messy        business behind us.  Please?JAFAR:  My most abject and humblest apologies to you as        well, princess.  (He takes her hand to kiss it, but        she yanks it away.)JASMINE:    At least some good will come of my being forced to        marry.  When I am queen, I will have the        power to get rid of you.SULTAN: That's nice.  All settled, then.  Now, Jasmine,        getting back to this suitor business, (he        looks and sees Jasmine walking out) Jasmine?        Jasmine!  (He runs after her.)JAFAR:  If only I had gotten that lamp!IAGO:       (As JASMINE) I will have the power to get rid of        you!  D'oh!  To think--we gotta keep kissing        up to that chump, and his chump daughter for the        rest of our lives...JAFAR:  No, Iago.  Only until she finds a chump husband.        Then she'll have us banished--or beheaded!BOTH:       Eeewww!IAGO:       (Has an idea) Oh!  Wait a minute!  Wait a minute!        Jafar?  What if you were the chump husband?JAFAR:  (He looks at IAGO in insult)  What?IAGO:       Okay, you marry the princess,all right? Then, uh,        you become sultan!JAFAR:  Oh!Marry the shrew?  I become sultan.  The idea has        merit!IAGO:       Yes, merit! Yes!  And then we drop papa-in-law and        the little woman off a cliff!  (Dive bombs into the        floor)  Kersplat!JAFAR:  Iago, I love the way your foul little mind works!(Both laugh as we cut to an oasis in the desert, where CARPET is    coming in for a landing.)GENIE:  (Still as stewardess) Thank you for choosing Magic        Carpet for all your travel needs.  Don't stand        until the rug has come to a complete stop.  (As        ALADDIN and ABU get off down the stairway formed by        CARPET) Thank you.  Good bye, good bye!  Thank you!        Good bye!  (Back to normal)  Well, now.  How about        that, Mr.  doubting mustafa?ALADDIN:    Oh, you sure showed me.  Now about my three wishes-GENIE:  Dost mine ears deceive me?  Three? You are down by        ONE, boy!ALADDIN:    Ah, no--I never actually wished to get out of the        cave.  You did that on your own.(GENIE thinks for a second, then his jaw drops.  He turns into a    sheep.)GENIE:  Well, don't I feel just sheepish?  All right, you        baaaaad boy,  but no more freebies.ALADDIN:    Fair deal.  So, three wishes.  I want them to be        good.  (To GENIE) What would you wish for?(GENIE is hanging like a hammock between two trees.)GENIE:  Me?  No one's ever asked me that before. Well, in        my case, ah, forget it.ALADDIN:    What?  No, tell me.GENIE:  Freedom.ALADDIN:    You're a prisoner?GENIE:  It's all part-and-parcel, the whole genie gig.        (Grows gigantic, voice echoes) Phenomenal cosmic        powers!  (Shrinks down, cramped in MAGIC LAMP.)        Itty bitty living spaceALADDIN:    Genie, that's terrible.GENIE:  (Comes out of the LAMP) But, oh--to be free.  Not        have to go "Poof! What do you need? Poof! What do        you need? Poof! What do you need?"  To be my own        master, such a thing would be greater than all the        magic and all the treasures in all  the world! But        what am I talking about, here?  Let's get real        here.  It's not gonna happen.  Genie, wake up and        smell the hummusALADDIN:    Why not?GENIE:  The only way I get outta this is if my master        wishes me out.  So you can guess how often that's        happened.ALADDIN:    I'll do it. I'll set you free.GENIE:  (Head turns into Pinocchio's with a long nose) Uh        huh, right.  Whoop!ALADDIN:    No, really, I promise.  (He pushes the nose back in        and GENIE's head returns to normal.) After make my        first two wishes, I'll use my third wish to set you        free.   (He holds out his hand)GENIE:  Well, here's hopin'.  (Shakes ALADDIN's hand.)        O.K.   Let's make some magic!  (Turns into a        magician.)  So how 'bout it.  What is it you want        most?ALADDIN:    Well, there's this girl--GENIE:  Eehhh! (Like a buzzer, and GENIE's chest shows a        heart with a cross through it.)  Wrong!  I can't        make anybody fall in love, remember?ALADDIN:    Oh, but Genie.  She's smart and fun and...GENIE:  Pretty?ALADDIN:    Beautiful.  She's got these eyes that just...and        this hair, wow...and her smile.GENIE:  (Sitting in a Parisian cafe with ABU and CARPET.)        Ami.  C'est l'amour.ALADDIN:    But she's the princess.  To even have a chance, I'd        have to be a--hey, can you make me a prince?GENIE:  Let's see here.  (Has a "Royal Cookbook".) Uh,        chicken a'la king? (Pulls out a chicken with a        crown on its head)  Nope.  Alaskan king crab?        (Yanks out his finger, and we see SEBASTIAN the crab from        "The Little Mermaid"  clamped on.)  Ow, I        hate it when they do that.  Caesar's salad? (A        dagger comes out and tries to stab him.) Et tu,        Brute?  Ah, to make a prince.  (Looks slyly at        ALADDIN.)  Now is that an official wish?  Say the        words!ALADDIN:    Genie, I wish for you to make me a prince!GENIE:  All right!  Woof woof woof woof! (Takes on square        shoulders and looks like Arsenio Hall. Then becomes        a tailor/fashion designer.)  First, that fez and        vest combo is much too third century. These        patches--what are we trying to say--beggar?  No!        Let's work with me here. (He takes ALADDIN's        measurements, snaps his fingers and ALADDIN is        outfitted in his prince costume.)  I like it, muy        macho!  Now, still needs something.  What does it        say to me?  It says mode of transportation.  Excuse        me, monkey boy!  Aqui, over here!  (ABU tries to        cover himself with CARPET, but GENIE zaps him and        he flies over.)ABU:        Uh oh!GENIE:  Here he comes, (ALADDIN and GENIE are on a game        show set, where ALADDIN stands behind a podium with        "AL" on it.)  And what better way to make your        grand entrance on the streets of Agrabah, than        riding your very own brand new camel!  Watch out,        it spits!  (A door bearing the GENIE's head on it        opens, where ABU is transformed into a camel.  He        spits out the side of his mouth on cue.  But the        GENIE's not sure.)  Mmm, not enough.  (He snaps his        fingers and ABU turns into a fancy white horse.)        Still not enough.  Let's see.  What do you need?        (The GENIE snaps his fingers repeatedly, turning        ABU into:  a duck, an ostrich, a turtle, and a '57        Cadillac, with license plate "ABU 1."   (That one's        a guess, I don't know cars, but judging by the tail        fins, 'nuff said.)  Finally, he's returned to        normal.)  Yes!!  Esalalumbo,  shimin dumbo!  Whoa!!        (And on the keyword of the spell, Dumbo, ABU turns        into an elephant.  CARPET struggles to get out from        under ABU's size 46 feet.)  Talk about your trunk        space, check this action out!(ABU sees his reflection in a pool of water, then jumps into a tree.     The tree naturally bends right back down to the ground, where ABU     hangs on and looks at ALADDIN upside down.)ALADDIN:    Abu, you look good.GENIE:  He's got the outfit, he's got the elephant, but        we're not through yet.  Hang on to your turban,        kid, cause we're gonna make you a star!(We zoom out slowly with the oasis in the distance, as fireworks    begin to explode outward.  Cut to a CU of a pile of toys.    (Look for the BEAST here.)  We tilt up and see the SULTAN    balancing them.  He carefully balances the last piece on top,     then sits back and sighs.  JAFAR storms in, though, and the    pile collapses.)JAFAR:  Sire, I have found a solution to the problem with        your daughter.IAGO:   Awk!  The problem with your daughter!SULTAN: Oh, really?JAFAR:  (Unrolling a scroll) Right here.  "If the princess        has not chosen a husband by the appointed time,        then the sultan shall choose for her."SULTAN: But Jasmine hated all those suitors!  (He tries to        stuff a cracker into IAGO's mouth.  IAGO backs        away.  The SULTAN absentmindedly pulls the cracker        back.)  How could I choose someone she hates?        (IAGO is relieved, but the SULTAN quickly stuffs a        cracker in his mouth.)JAFAR:  Not to worry, my liege.  There is more.  If, in the        event a suitable prince cannot be found, a princess        must then be wed to...hmm...interesting.SULTAN: What?  Who?JAFAR:  The royal vizier!  Why, that would be...me!SULTAN: Why, I thought the law says that only a prince can        marry a princess, I'm quite sure.JAFAR:  Desperate times call for desperate measures, my        lord.  (He pulls out the staff and hypnotizes the        SULTAN with it.)SULTAN: Yes...desperate measures...JAFAR:  You will order the princess to marry me.SULTAN: I...will order...the princess...to...(the spell        breaks momentarily)...but you're so old!JAFAR:  (Holds the staff closer) The princess will marry        me!SULTAN: The princess will marry...(the spell is again        broken, this time by the trumpet fanfare of "Prince        Ali".)  What? What is that?  That music!  Ha ha ha.        Jafar., you must come and see this!(We see an advancing parade, led by what appears to be the GENIE in    human form as a MAJOR.)MARCHERS:   Make way for Prince Ali!SWORDSMEN: Say hey!  It's Prince Ali!MAJOR:  Hey, clear the way in the old bazaar,    Hey you, let us through, it's a bright new star,    Now come, be the first on your block to meet his eye!    Make way, here he comes,    Ring bells, bang the drums.    You're gonna love this guy(The MAJOR mingles amongst different crowd members.)    Prince Ali, fabulous he, Ali Ababwa!    Genuflect, show some respect    Down on one knee(ABU the elephant marches through town, with ALADDIN (ALI) on his back.)    Now try your best to stay calm    Brush up your Sunday Salaam    And come and meet his spectacular coterie.(IAGO is dancing to the music until JAFAR glares at him.  The    MAJOR "wheelbarrows" six men up onto ABU's trunk.  They stand    on each other's shoulders as ALI shakes hands.)    Prince Ali, mighty is he, Ali Ababwa!    Strong as ten regular men, definitely    He faced the galloping hordes    A hundred bad guys with swords    Who sent those goons to their lords, why Prince Ali!(The pile collapses on ALI, but a GENIE (tm) brand lightning bolt    zaps the pile and he ends up holding them all up in an acrobatic     wheel formation.  The GENIE turns into an old man, then a child    and speaks the last two lines to the crowd.)CHORUS OF MEN:(Carrying the camels) He's got seventy-five golden camels!(In pops a typical parade commentator)HARRY:  Don't they look lovely, June?CHORUS OF WOMEN:    (On a float)  Purple peacocks, he's got fifty-three!(In comes another commentator.)JUNE:   Fabulous, Harry, I love the feathers!GENIE:  (GENIE is off screen, a giant balloon gorilla proceeds down            the parade)    When it comes to exotic type mammals    Has he got a zoo, I'm telling you    It's a world class menagerie!(GENIE pops in as a leopard, then a goat, and speaks the last two    lines to the two children from earlier.  We cut to a balcony,    where three HAREM GIRLS are joined by the HAREM GENIE.)    GENIE:        GIRLS: (in couterpoint)    Prince Ali, Handsome is he, Ali Ababwa        There's no question this Ali's alluring    That physique, how can I speak        Never ordinary, never boring    Weak at the knee        Everything about the man just plain impresses    Well, get on out in that square        He's a wonder, he's a whiz, a wonder    Adjust your veil and prepare        He's about to pull my heart asunder    To gawk and grovel and stare at Prince Ali!        And I absolutely love the way he dresses!(JASMINE has been watching from the balcony of the palace.  She    humphs it off, then leaves.)CHORUS: He's got ninety-five white Persian monkeys!    (He's got the monkeys, let's see the monkeys!)    And to view them, he charges no fee!    (He's generous, so generous)    He's got slaves, he's got servants and flunkies!    (Proud to work for him)    They bow to his whim, love serving him    They're just lousy with loyalty to Ali!  Prince Ali!(ALADDIN throws gold coins out to the people, who rush over to    collect them.  ABU and the parade march up the steps of the    palace and inside.  The SULTAN runs back inside to the door    to the throne room, but JAFAR stands in front of the door.    Suddenly, it bursts open, with ABU leading the way, and crushing     JAFAR and IAGO behind the door.)GENIE:  Prince Ali!    Amorous he!  Ali Ababwa    Heard your princess was a sight lovely to see!    And that,good people, is why    He got dolled up and dropped by    With sixty elephants, llamas galore    With his bears and lions    A brass band and more    With his forty fakirs, his cooks, his bakers    His birds that warble on key    Make way for Prince Ali!(More and more fanfare build up until ALADDIN flies off ABU's back    on MAGIC CARPET and flies down to the SULTAN.  JAFAR slams the     door shut.)SULTAN: (Clapping) Splendid, absolutely marvelous.ALADDIN:    (Takes on a deeper voice.)  Ahem.  Your majesty, I have            journeyed from afar to seek your daughter's hand.SULTAN: Prince Ali Ababwa!  Of course.  I'm delighted to        meet you.  (He rushes over and shakes ALI's hand.)        This is my royal vizier, Jafar.  He's delighted        too.JAFAR:  (Extremely dryly) Ecstatic.  I'm afraid, Prince        Abooboo--ALADDIN:    --Ababwa!JAFAR:  Whatever.  You cannot just parade in here uninvited        and expect to--SULTAN: ...by Allah, this is quite a remarkable device.        (He tugs at the tassels, and they tug his        moustache.)  I don't suppose I might...ALADDIN:    Why certainly, your majesty.  Allow me.(He helps the SULTAN up onto the CARPET, and he plops down.    JAFAR pins the CARPET down on the floor with the staff.)JAFAR:  Sire, I must advise against this--SULTAN: --Oh, button up, Jafar.  Learn to have a little fun.(He kicks away the staff and CARPET and SULTAN fly away.  IAGO, who    was standing on the head of the staff, falls down, repeatedly     bopping the staff with his beak as he descends.  SULTAN and    CARPET fly high into the ceiling, then begin a dive-bomb attack,     flying under ABU, scaring him.  The flight continues in the    background, while JAFAR and ALI talk in the foreground.)JAFAR:  Just where did you say you were from?ALADDIN:    Oh, much farther than you've traveled, I'm sure.        (He smiles.  JAFAR does not.)JAFAR:  Try me.  (IAGO lands on the staff.)SULTAN: Look out, Polly!(They all duck in time as the CARPET whizzes centimetres over their    heads.  CARPET returns and the SULTAN chases IAGO around the room.)IAGO:       Hey, watch it. Watch it with the dumb rug!(The CARPET zooms underneath IAGO, who sighs, wipes his brow, and    crashes into a pillar.  He crashes to the floor, and his head    is circled by miniature SULTANS on CARPETS, saying "Have a cracker,    have a cracker.  The real SULTAN begins his final approach.)SULTAN: Out of the way, I'm coming in to land.  Jafar,        watch this!  (He lands.)JAFAR:  Spectacular, your highness.SULTAN: Ooh, lovely.  Yes, I do seem to have a knack for        it.  (CARPET walks over to ABU dizzily, then        collapses.  ABU catches it.)  This is a very        impressive youth. And a prince as well.   (Whispers        to JAFAR) If we're lucky, you won't have to marry        Jasmine after all.JAFAR:  I don't trust him, sire.SULTAN: Nonsense.  One thing I pride myself on Jafar, I'm        an excellent judge of character.IAGO:   Oh, excellent judge, yeah, sure...not!!!(JASMINE walks in quietly.)SULTAN: Jasmine will like this one!ALADDIN:    And I'm pretty sure I'll like Princess Jasmine!JAFAR:  Your highness, no.  I must intercede on Jasmine's        behalf.  (JASMINE hears this and gets mad.) This        boy is no different than the others.  What makes        him think he is worthy of the princess?ALADDIN:    Your majesty, I am Prince Ali Ababwa! (He pricks        JAFAR's goatee, which springs out in all        directions.)  Just let her meet me.  I will win        your daughter!JASMINE:    How dare you!  (They all look at her surprised.)        All of you, standing around deciding my future?  I        am not a prize to be won!  (She storms out.)SULTAN: Oh, dear.  Don't worry, Prince Ali.  Just give        Jasmine time to cool down.  (They exit.)JAFAR:  I think it's time to say good bye to Prince        Abooboo.(Diss to JASMINE on her balcony at night.  We tilt down and find    ALADDIN and company in the courtyard.)ALADDIN:    What am I going to do?  Jasmine won't even let me        talk to her.  I should have known I couldn't pull        off this stupid prince wish.  (ABU struggles with        his elephant paws to open a banana.  He squishes        it, and the banana squirts into his eye.  He then        tosses the banana peel into a heaping pile of the        same.)GENIE:  (to carpet, playing chess) So move!  (CARPET does,        knocking a black piece off the board.)  Hey.        That's a good move.  (As Rodney Dangerfield) I        can't believe it--I'm losing to a rug.ALADDIN:    Genie, I need help.GENIE:  (as Jack Nicholson) All right, sparky, here's the        deal.  You wanna court the little lady, you gotta        be a straight shooter, do ya follow me?ALADDIN:    What?GENIE:  (Back to normal, wearing a mortarboard. He points        out his words on a blackboard)  Tell her        the...TRUTH!!!ALADDIN:    No way!  If Jasmine found out I was really some        crummy street rat, she'd laugh at me. (He        puts on his turban, which lights up as the GENIE.)GENIE:  A woman appreciates a man who can make her laugh!        (ALADDIN pulls the chain turning off the light.        GENIE comes out holding the real turban.)  Al, all        joking aside, you really oughtta be yourself.ALADDIN:    Hey, that's the last thing I want to  be.  Okay,        I'm gonna go see her.  I gotta be smooth, cool,        confident.  How do I look?GENIE:  (Sadly) Like a prince.(ALADDIN flies up to the balcony on CARPET.  JASMINE is on her bed,    sighing.  RAJAH is by her side.)ALADDIN:    (From a distance) Princess Jasmine?(RAJAH looks up and growls.)JASMINE:    Who's there?ALADDIN:    It's me--Prince Ali.  Ahem--(Then he jumps to his        deep voice) Prince Ali Ababwa.JASMINE:    I do not want to see you.ALADDIN:    No, no, please princess.  Give me a chance. (RAJAH        growls and advances on him.)JAFAR:  Just leave me alone.ALADDIN:    Down kitty!(Over the edge of the balcony, CARPET is watching with GENIE below.)GENIE:  How's our beau doing?(CARPET cuts his neck with his finger.)ALADDIN:    Good kitty, take off.  Down kitty. (He takes off        his turban to brush RAJAH away.)JASMINE:    (She looks at him thinking she has seen him        before.)  Wait, wait.  Do I know you?ALADDIN:    (Quickly replaces his turban) Uh, no, no.JASMINE:    You remind me of someone I met in  the marketplace.ALADDIN:    The marketplace?  (A bee buzzes around his head.)        I have servants that go to the marketplace for me.        Why I even have servants who go to the marketplace        for my servants, so it couldn't have been me you        met.JASMINE:    (She looks disappointed.)  No, I guess not.BEE:        (It's the GENIE) Enough about you, Casanova.  Talk        about her! She's smart,  fun, the hair, the eyes.        Anything--pick a feature!ALADDIN:    Um, Princess Jasmine?  You're very...BEE:        Wonderful, glorious, magnificent, punctual!ALADDIN:    Punctual!JASMINE:    Punctual?BEE:        Sorry.ALADDIN:    Beautiful.BEE:        Nice recovery.JASMINE:    Hmm.  I'm rich too, you know.ALADDIN:    Yeah!JASMINE:    The daughter of a sultanALADDIN:    I know.JASMINE:    A fine prize for any  prince to marry.ALADDIN:    Uh, right.  Right.  A prince like me.BEE:        (Buzzing in his ear) Warning! Warning!JASMINE:    Right, a prince like you.  And every other stuffed  shirt,             swaggering, peacock I've met!BEE:        (Rear end on fire, wearing goggles and crashing) Mayday!              Mayday!JASMINE:    Just go jump off a balcony! (She turns and walks away)ALADDIN:    What?BEE:        Stop her! Stop her! Do you want me to sting her?ALADDIN:    (Swats at bee) Buzz off!BEE:        Okay, fine.  But remember--bee yourself! (BEE buzzes into             his turban)ALADDIN:    Yeah, right!JASMINE:    What!?!ALADDIN:    Uh, you're right.  You aren't just some prize to be        won.  (He looks disappointed.)  You should be free        to make your own choice.  (JASMINE and RAJAH look        at each other in confusion.)  I'll go now. (He        steps up on the ledge and drops off.)JASMINE:    No!ALADDIN:    (Pokes his head up from over the edge) What?  What?JASMINE:    (Now she's amazed) How--how are you doing that?        (She looks over the edge and sees the CARPET.)ALADDIN:    It's a magic carpet.JASMINE:    It's lovely.  (CARPET takes JASMINE's hand with a        tassel.)ALADDIN:    You, uh, you don't want to go for a ride, do you?        We could get out of the palace, see the world.JASMINE:    Is it safe?ALADDIN:    Sure.  Do you trust me?JASMINE:    (She looks at him at the saying of that all-        important line) What?ALADDIN:    (Extends his hand the same as before) Do you trust        me?JASMINE:    (Gets a sly grin on her face) Yes.(She takes his hand and gets up on CARPET.  It zooms into the sky,    knocking them both into sitting positions.  The music of "A Whole     New World" swells.  JASMINE looks back and sees RAJAH looking    up at her questioningly.  She gasps as they fly over the palace     wall and into the sky.)ALADDIN:    I can show you the world    Shining, shimmering, splendid.    Tell me princess, now when did you last    Let your heart decide?(CARPET zooms down through the town, stopping slightly to pick a    flower.  It gives the flower to ALADDIN, who gives it to JASMINE.      She smiles.)    I can open your eyes    Take you wonder by wonder    Over, sideways, and under    On a magic carpet ride(CARPET does as ALADDIN sings, then zooms into the clouds.)    A whole new world!    A new fantastic point of view    No one to tell us no    Or where to go    Or say we're only dreaming(JASMINE looks back and watches Agrabah disappear from sight.  CARPET    flies in and out of the clouds.)JASMINE:    A whole new world    A dazzling place I never knew    But when I'm way up here    It's crystal clear    That now I'm in a whole new world with you!ALADDIN:    Now I'm in a whole new world with you!(They each catch a small cloud as CARPET continues the flight.  It    then circles a pillar of clouds, giving a swirly look to it.)JASMINE:    Unbelievable sights    Indescribable feeling    Soaring, tumbling, freewheeling    Through an endless diamond sky(They join a flock of birds in the sky.  One of them looks terrified    and squawks.  CARPET does somersaults and flips, at times putting    ALADDIN and JASMINE in free-fall, but catching them.  They then    zoom above the clouds where a starry night awaits them.)JASMINE:    A whole new world!ALADDIN:    Don't you dare close your eyesJASMINE:    An hundred thousand things to seeALADDIN:    Hold your breath--it gets better!JASMINE:    I'm like a shooting star,    I've come so far    I can't go back to where I used to be!(They zoom down over a river, apparently the Nile, for beyond the     ship's sails are the Great Pyramids.  They wave at a worker     sculpting the complete nose of the Sphinx.  He smiles, but    chisels too much and breaks off the front section of the nose.)ALADDIN:    A whole new world!JASMINE:    Every turn a surpriseALADDIN:    With new horizons to pursueJASMINE:    Every moment, red-letter(They fly alongside wild horses running.  JASMINE pets one of them.)BOTH:   I'll chase them anywhere    There's time to spare    Let me share this whole new world with you    A whole new world    That's where we'll be(They fly through Greece, where ALADDIN grabs an apple from a    tree and rolls it down his arm to JASMINE, who is now sure    she is dealing with ALADDIN, not PRINCE ALI.)ALADDIN:    A thrilling chaseJASMINE:    A wondrous placeBOTH:       For you and me!(CARPET hovers along over a lake, and we see the reflection of    the moon in the lake.  Fireworks burst and we see the couple    at a Chinese New Year celebration, sitting on a rooftop.)JASMINE:    It's all so magical.ALADDIN:    Yeah.JASMINE:    (She looks at him and decides to burst the bubble)        It's a shame Abu had to miss this.ALADDIN:    Nah.  He hates fireworks.  (CARPET looks up        realizing what is happening.)  He doesn't really        like flying either. (And now ALADDIN realizes it)        That is...oh no!JASMINE:    (She pulls off his turban) You are the boy from the        market!  I knew it.  Why did you lie to me?ALADDIN:    Jasmine, I'm sorry.JASMINE:    Did you think I was stupid?ALADDIN:    No!JASMINE:    That I wouldn't figure it out?ALADDIN:    No.  I mean, I hoped you wouldn't.  No, that's not        what I meant.JASMINE:    Who are you?  Tell me the truth!ALADDIN:    The truth? (He looks at CARPET who wave him on,        giving up hope.)  The truth...the truth is...I        sometimes dress as a commoner to escape the        pressures of palace life.  (CARPET slumps down in        defeat.)  But I really am a prince! (The feather on         his turban falls down over his eyes.)JASMINE:    Why didn't you just tell me?ALADDIN:    Well, you know, um...royalty going out into the        city in disguise, it sounds a little strange,        don't you think?JASMINE:    Not that strange.(She flicks up the feather and cuddles with him.  CARPET puts a    tassel under his "chin" and looks mystified.  Dissolve to ext.    of palace balcony, where ALADDIN and JASMINE return.  CARPET    forms a set of steps and she descends.  ALADDIN then descends     just below the balcony.)JASMINE:    Good night, my handsome prince.ALADDIN:    Sleep well, princess.(They slowly lean forward to kiss, but CARPET bumps him up and they    kiss sooner than expected.  She walks away slowly then turns and    looks at him. Finally she enters her room through the curtain.)ALADDIN:    Yes!  (He falls back onto the CARPET, who descends        to the ground.) For the first time in my life,        things are starting to go right.(He looks up at JASMINE's balcony, and four sets of hands grab him.)ALADDIN:    Hey!  What?  (A gag is tied around his mouth.        Muffled words) Abu!  Abu!  (We see the elephant        hanging from a net tied in a tree.)GUARD:  Hold him!(Shackles are placed on his feet and his hands.  Another GUARD ties    CARPET in a knot around a tree.)JAFAR:  I'm afraid you've worn out your welcome, Prince        Abooboo.  (Walks away.)  Make sure he's        never found.(A GUARD hits him in the head, and he falls unconscious.  Cut to a    cliff, where GUARDS laugh as ALADDIN's body drops into the water.      He is conscious now, but his feet are tied to a rock.  The rock     hits the sea bottom, then the turban lands and the lamp tumbles    out.  He sees this and struggles to rub the lamp.  However, he    loses consciousness and falls to the floor.  The lamp, unsettled    by his movement, rolls down and rubs against his hands. It shakes,    and GENIE emerges with a bath brush, rubber duckie, and shower cap)GENIE:  Never fails.  Get in the bath and there's a rub at        the lamp.  (Squeaks the duck)  Hello.  (Sees        unconscious ALADDIN) Al?  Al!  Kid, snap out of it!        You can't cheat on this one!  I can't help you        unless you make a wish.  You have to say  "Genie I        want you to save my life."  Got it?  Okay.  C'mon        Aladdin!!  (He grabs ALADDIN by the shoulders and        shakes him.  His head goes up, then falls.)  I'll        take that as a yes.  (Head turns into a siren.)        Wooga!  Wooga!  (Turns into a submarine.)  Up        scope!  (He babbles in something that sounds like        German.  On the surface, a giant water spout        emerges, and lands on top of the cliff.  ALADDIN        reawakes and coughs the water out of his lungs.)        Don't you scare me like that!ALADDIN:    Genie, I--uh, I-uh...(He can't think of how to say        it, so they just hug each other.)  Thanks, Genie.GENIE:  Oh, Al.  I'm gettin' kind of fond of you, kid.  Not        that I want to pick out curtains or anything.(Cut to JASMINE in her room, humming "A Whole New World" and brushing   her hair.  The SULTAN appears in one of the double doors,hypnotized.)SULTAN: Jasmine!JASMINE:    Oh, father--I just had the most wonderful time.        I'm so happy.SULTAN: (Still monotone from the hypnosis) You should be,        Jasmine. I have chosen a husband for you.JASMINE:    What?SULTAN: (The other door opens and reveals JAFAR.)  You will        wed Jafar.(JASMINE gasps at the sight of him.)JAFAR:  You're speechless, I see.  A fine quality in a        wife.JASMINE:    I will never marry you.  (She goes to the SULTAN)        Father, I choose Prince Ali!JAFAR:  Prince Ali left!(A quick pan finds ALADDIN standing in the doorway to the balcony.)ALADDIN:    Better check your crystal ball  again, Jafar!JASMINE:    Prince Ali!(JAFAR gasps at the sight of ALADDIN.)IAGO:       How in the he--(back to parrot-ese)--uh, awk!ALADDIN:    Tell them the truth, Jafar!  You tried to have me        killed.JAFAR:  What?  (He goes to the SULTAN)  Ridiculous        nonsense, your highness.  He is obviously lying.        (He brings the staff close to the SULTAN's face.)SULTAN: Obviously...lying.(ALADDIN sees the staff with its glowing eyes.)JASMINE:    Father, what's wrong with you?ALADDIN:    I know!(ALADDIN grabs the staff and smashes it on the floor. JAFAR flinches    and the spell is broken for good.)SULTAN: Oh, oh, oh my!ALADDIN:    Your highness, Jafar's been controlling you with        this!  (He advances the staff)SULTAN: What?  Jafar?  You, you traitor!(The trio advances on JAFAR.)JAFAR:  Your majesty, all of this can be explained.SULTAN: Guards! Guards!IAGO:       Well, that's it--we're dead, forget about it.  Just        dig a grave for both of us.  We're dead.(But JAFAR sees the lamp in ALADDIN's pocket.  He makes a move, but    is grabbed by guards.)SULTAN: Arrest Jafar at once.JAFAR:  This is not done yet, boy!(JAFAR pulls a vial from his pocket.  ALADDIN sees this and rushes    him, but JAFAR throws the vial to the floor.  A large red cloud    appears.  When it is gone, so is JAFAR.)SULTAN: Find him, search everywhere!ALADDIN:    Jasmine, are you all right?JASMINE:    Yes.(They lean in to kiss, but the SULTAN barges between them.)SULTAN: Jafar, my most trusted counselor, plotting against        me all this time.  Just horrible.  How will I ever-        (He stops in mid sentence and looks at the pair.)        Can it be true?  My daughter has finally chosen a        suitor? (She nods) Ha ha!  Praise Allah!  You        brilliant boy, I could kiss you!   I won't--I'll        leave that to my--.  You two will be wed at once!        Yes, yes.  And you'll be happy and prosperous, and        then my boy, you will be sultan!ALADDIN:    Sultan?SULTAN: Yes, a fine upstanding youth like yourself, a        person of your unimpeachable moral character is        exactly what this kingdom needs!  (ALADDIN looks        concerned at this.)(Cut to int. of JAFAR's chambers.  JAFAR and IAGO enter.)IAGO:       We gotta get outta here!  We gotta get--  I gotta        start packing, your highness.  Only essentials.        (IAGO starts throwing things out of his cage.        JAFAR smiles broadly.)  Travel light! Bring the        guns, the weapons, the knives (Stops and takes out        a picture of himself    and JAFAR) and how about        this picture?  I don't know--I think I'm making a        weird face in it. (JAFAR starts to laugh wildly.)        Oh, boy--he's gone nuts.  He's cracked.  (IAGO        flies down to him and knocks on his head.)  Jafar?        Jafar?  Get a grip, Jafar! (JAFAR grabs him around        the neck) Good grip!JAFAR:  Prince Ali is nothing more than that ragged urchin        Aladdin.  He has the lamp, Iago.IAGO:       Why that miserable--JAFAR:  But you are going to relieve him of it!IAGO:       Me?(Cut to ext. of palace.  ALADDIN is looking at the gardens.)ALADDIN:    Sultan?  They want me to be sultan?(GENIE comes out of lamp)GENIE:  Huzzah!  Hail the conquering hero!  (Turns into a        one-man band.  He sees ALADDIN walk away with his        head hung.  He stops, scratches his head, comes up        with an idea, then zooms over to ALADDIN.  He holds        up his hands like a director scoping a picture and        we look through them.)  Aladdin, you've just won        the heart of the princess.  What are you gonna do        next?  (ALADDIN looks at him, then walks away in        sadness to the bed, where he falls on it and sighs.        GENIE again is confused, then goes to him and pulls        out a script labeled "Aladdin." Whispering: )        Psst, your line is "I'm going to free the genie."        Anytime.ALADDIN:    Genie...I can't.GENIE:  Sure you can.  You just go "Genie, I wish you        free."  (He grabs ALADDIN's head and uses        him as a mock ventriloquist's dummy.  ALADDIN pulls away.)ALADDIN:    I'm serious.  Look, I'm sorry--I really am. But        they want to make me sultan--no!, They want to make        Prince Ali sultan.  Without you, I'm just Aladdin.GENIE:  Al, you won!ALADDIN:    Because of you!  The only reason anyone thinks I'm        anything is because of you.  What if they find out        I'm not really a prince?  (Quietly)  What if        Jasmine finds out?  I'll lose her.  Genie, I can't        keep this up on my own.  I can't wish you free.GENIE:  (Sarcastically) Hey, I understand.  After all,        you've lied to everyone else.  Hey, I was beginning        to feel left out.  Now, if you'll excuse me,        master. (He says the last word in disgust, then        poofs back into the lamp.)(ABU and CARPET are watching from the window.)ABU:        Ohhh.ALADDIN:    Genie, I'm really sorry. (A tongue comes out of the        spout and raspberries him.)   Well, fine. (He slams        a pillow on top of the LAMP.)  Then just stay in        there!  (He looks at ABU and CARPET.)  What are you        guys looking at? (They both leave.) Look, I--I'm        sorry.  Wait, Abu-- wait--I'm sorry, I didn't--        wait, c'mon.  (He sighs.)  What am I doing?        Genie's right--I gotta tell Jasmine the truth.JASMINE:    (From a distance)  Ali, oh Ali--will you come here?ALADDIN:    (Putting on his turban) Well, here goes.  (He walks        into the garden.)  Jasmine?  Where are you?(We see IAGO wearing a beak and standing on stilts next to a FLAMINGO    in the pond.  He is imitating JASMINE's voice.)IAGO:       Ahem--In the menagerie, hurry.ALADDIN:    I'm coming.(We see ALADDIN hurry past, not noticing the birds.  IAGO laughs,    then turns back and looks into the face of a FLAMINGO, who is    panting.)FLAMINGO:   D'uh!IAGO:       Ya got a problem, pinky?  (He sweeps the bird's        feet out from under it. IAGO runs into the palace        and finds the lamp under the pillow.)  Boy, Jafar's        gonna be happy to see you!  (Stretches his face        like JAFAR's and imitates it.)  Good work, Iago!        (Normal) Ah, go on.  (JAFAR) No, really--on a scale        of one to ten, you are an eleven! (Normal) Ah,        Jafar--you're too kind.  I'm embarrassed, I'm        blushing.  (He flies away with the lamp.)(Cut to the palace entrance.  The SULTAN is standing on top, making    an announcement to the people.)SULTAN: People of Agrabah, My daughter has finally chosen a        suitor!(Cut to behind the curtain, where JASMINE is peeking.  ALADDIN    appears at the bottom of the stairs.)ALADDIN:    Jasmine?JASMINE:    Ali, where have you been?ALADDIN:    There's something I've got to tell you.JASMINE:    The whole kingdom has turned out for father's        announcement!ALADDIN:    No! But Jasmine, listen to me, please!JASMINE:    Good luck!  (She pushes him out onto the platform        with the SULTAN, where he overlooks the entire        crowd.)SULTAN: ...Ali Ababwa!ALADDIN:    Oh, boy!(Far above, IAGO and JAFAR watch through a window.)IAGO:   Look at them, cheering that little pipsqueak.JAFAR:  Let them cheer. (He lifts the lamp and rubs it.  GENIE comes out.)GENIE:  You know Al, I'm getting (turns and sees JAFAR)        reallyyyyyy--I don't think you're him.  (He        descends and consults a playbill.)  Tonight, the        role of Al will be played by a tall, dark and        sinister ugly man.JAFAR:  I am your master now.  (He throws GENIE to the        ground and puts his foot on GENIE's face.)GENIE:  I was afraid of that.JAFAR:  Genie, grant me my first wish.  I wish to rule on        high, as sultan!!!(Cut to ext where dark clouds circle the castle.  The castle shakes.    The roof rips off and the SULTAN and ALADDIN duck.)ALADDIN:    Whoa!SULTAN: Bless my soul.  What is this?  What is going on?(His turban lifts off his head.  When he grabs it, his whole body    flies up, then is stripped of all his clothing except his boxer     shorts.  The clothing reappears on JAFAR.)JAFAR:  Heh heh heh!SULTAN: Jafar, you vile betrayer.IAGO:       That's Sultan Vile Betrayer to you.ALADDIN:    Oh, yeah?  Well, we'll just see about that!  (Pulls        off his own turban, but finds it empty)  The lamp!JAFAR:  Finders-keepers, Abooboo.(They both look up and see a gigantic GENIE lift the palace into    the clouds..  ALADDIN whistles and CARPET flies up to greet him.      They fly up near the GENIE's head.)ALADDIN:    Genie!  No!GENIE:  Sorry, kid--I got a new master now.  (He places the        palace on top of a mountain.)SULTAN: Jafar, I order you to stop!JAFAR:  There's a new order now--my order!  Finally, you        will bow to me!(The SULTAN bows, but JASMINE does not.)JAFAR:  We'll never bow to you!IAGO:       Why am I not surprised?JAFAR:  If you will not bow before a sultan, then you will        cower before a sorcerer!  (To GENIE)  Genie, my        second wish--I wish to be the most powerful        sorcerer in the world!(GENIE extends his finger.  ALADDIN tries to stop him, but he cannot,    and another GENIE (tm) brand lightning bolt  strikes JAFAR,     returning him to his normal look.)IAGO:       Ladies and gentlemen, a warm Agrabah welcome for        Sorcerer Jafar!JAFAR:  Now where were we?  Ah, yes--abject humiliation!        (He zaps JASMINE and the SULTAN with his staff, and        they both bow to him. RAJAH comes running at him.        He zaps RAJAH, and the tiger turns into a kitty-        cat.)  Down, boy!  Oh, princess--(lifts her chin        with his staff)--there's someone I'm dying to        introduce you to.ALADDIN:    (off-camera) Jafar!  Get your hands off her!(JAFAR zaps ALADDIN.  CARPET flies away.)JAFAR:  Prince Ali    Yes, it is he,    But not as you know him.    Read my lips and come to grips    With reality(JAFAR brings the two of them closer in the air.)    Yes, meet a blast from your past    Whose lies were too good to last    Say hello to your precious Prince Ali!(JAFAR zaps ALI back to ALADDIN.)IAGO:       Or should we say Aladdin?ALADDIN:    Jasmine, I tried to tell you.JAFAR:  So Ali turns out to be merely Aladdin    Just a con, need I go on?    Take it from me    His personality flaws    Give me adequate cause    To send him packing on a one-way trip    So his prospects take a terminal dip    His assets frozen, the venue chosen    Is the ends of the earth, whoopee!    So long,IAGO:       Good bye, see ya!JAFAR:  Ex-Prince Ali!(JAFAR has zapped ABU back to normal.  He sends the two of them into    a tall pillar, then launches it like a rocket, but not before    CARPET can get in.  F2B, then we see a snowy wasteland, where    the pillar crashes and rolls.  It finally comes to a stop.    ALADDIN emerges, obviously very cold.)ALADDIN:    Abu?  Abu!  (He looks back at a shivering pile of        snow.)  Oh, this is all my fault--I should have        freed the genie when I had the chance.  (He digs        out ABU and cradles him inside his vest.)  Abu!        Are you okay?  I'm sorry, Abu--I made a mess of        everything, somehow.  I gotta go back and set        things right.  (He starts to walk through the snow,        and he eventuallysteps on a frozen CARPET.)        Carpet!  (He looks up and sees CARPET is pinned by        the pillar.  He tugs to try and free CARPET.  He        can't do it, so he begins to remove snow from the        base of the pillar.)   Abu, start digging!  That's        it!  (Finally, enough snow has been removed, and        the pillar begins to roll.  ALADDIN runs away,        looks back, then slides into place.  The pillar        rolls over him, and when it is gone, ALADDIN and        ABU are left sitting in the patch of snow made by        the window of the pillar.)  Yeah!  All right!  (He        looks up at his turban, made out of scared ABU.        CARPET shakes off the snow and rushes over to pick        them up.)  Now, back to Agrabah!  Let's go!(We cut back to ext. long shot of Agrabah, shrouded in red clouds.    Cut to int. and slow zoom of throne room. IAGO has the SULTAN    tied up like a marionette, and JASMINE is chained next to the    throne.)IAGO:       Puppet ruler want a cracker? Here's your cracker.        Shove 'em all right down your throat.  Here, have        lots!(JAFAR pulls the chain, and JASMINE walks up to him holding an apple.)JAFAR:  Leave him alone!(IAGO stops for a second, then continues.)JAFAR:  It pains me to see you reduced to this, Jasmine.        (He takes a bite out of the apple she is holding.)        A beautiful desert bloom such as yourself should be        on the arm of the most powerful man in the world.        (He waves his finger and a crown appears.) What do        you say, my dear?  Why,  with you as my queen...(She picks up a glass of wine and throws it in his face.)JASMINE:    Never!JAFAR:  I'll teach you some respect! (She falls back as he        raises his hand to slap her.  Then he stops.)  No.        Genie, I have decided to make my final wish.  I        wish for Princess Jasmine to fall desperately in        love with me.(We see ALADDIN race back into town.)GENIE:  (Again as Buckley) Ah, master-- there are a few        addendas, some quid pro quo-JAFAR:  Don't talk back to me, you stupid blue lout!  You        will do what I order you to do, slave!(JASMINE looks up and sees ALADDIN in the window, motioning her to    play along.)JASMINE:    (She stands and puts the crown on her head.)        Jafar!  I never realized how incredibly        handsome you are.(The GENIE's jaw drops.)JAFAR:  That's better.  (He pulls the GENIE's jaw up like a        shade.)  Now, pussycat, tell me more        about...myself.JASMINE:    You're tall, well dressed...(JAFAR walks over to her.  ALADDIN jumps down with ABU and GENIE    sees them.)GENIE:  Al!  Al, little buddy!ALADDIN:    Shh!GENIE:  (Literally zips his mouth shut, then unzips it.)        Al, I can't help you--I work for senor psychopath,        now.  (His head turns into JAFAR's, then back.)ALADDIN:    Hey--I'm a street rat, remember? (He rezips GENIE's        mouth.)  I'll improvise.(He slides down a pile of coins and hides close to JAFAR and JASMINE.    JAFAR's back is to ALADDIN.)JAFAR:  Go on.JASMINE:    And your beard...is so...twisted!  (She has her        arms around him.  She pretends to twist with her        finger, but she is actually motioning for ALADDIN        to come over.  He makes his move.  IAGO sees him.)IAGO:       Jaf--mmmmmm! (ABU grabs him and covers his mouth.)JAFAR:  And the street rat?JASMINE:    What street rat?(They are about to kiss when IAGO manages to knock over a bowl.  JAFAR    turns to look, but JASMINE grabs him back and kisses him.  ALADDIN     looks disgusted.  IAGO and ABU both look disgusted.)ABU:        Yuck!JAFAR:  That was--(he sees ALADDIN's reflection in her        crown.) You!!  How many times do I have        to kill you, boy? (He zaps ALADDIN.  JASMINE rushes him, and he throws her to the    ground.  ALADDIN rushes and grabs the staff.)ALADDIN:    Get the lamp!(JASMINE runs to it.  JAFAR, however, shakes off ALADDIN, then    zaps her into an hourglass.)JAFAR:  Ah, ah, ah, princess--Your time is up!(Sand begins to fall from the top onto her.)ALADDIN:    Jasmine!IAGO:       Oh, nice shot, Jaf-- (he is knocked out by ABU.)(ABU rushes for the lamp.)JAFAR:  Don't toy with me!  (He's zapped into a toy monkey.ALADDIN:    Abu!(CARPET rushes in.)JAFAR:  Things are unraveling fast, now boy. (CARPET is        zapped and unravels.  ALADDIN again rushes for the        lamp.)  Get the point?  (His path is blocked by        large swords sticking in the floor.  JAFAR grabs        the lamp and laughs hideously. ALADDIN pulls a        sword out of the floor.) I'm just getting warmed        up!  (He breathes a ring of fire around ALADDIN.)ALADDIN:    Are you afraid to fight me yourself, you cowardly        snake?JAFAR:  A snake, am I?  Perhaps you'd like to see how        snake-like I can be!  (He smiles broadly, and we        see a snake's tongue come out from behind his        teeth.  He then turns into a giant cobra, and the        ring of fire around ALADDIN becomes part of the        snake encircling ALADDIN.  The snake JAFAR makes        moves on ALADDIN, and on the third try, ALADDIN        swings the sword and hits JAFAR.  Cut to GENIE        cheerleaders wearing 'A' sweaters.)GENIE:  Rickem, rockem, rackem, rake--stick that sword into        that snake!JAFAR:  You stay out of thissss!(GENIE waving a tiny pennant with a 'J' on it.)GENIE:  (Weakly) Jafar, Jafar, he's our man--if he can't do it,        GREAT!(ALADDIN uses the distraction to make a break for the hourglass where    JASMINE is trapped.  However, JAFAR sees this and blocks the path.     ALADDIN is thrown away, and he loses his sword.)JASMINE:    Aladdin!(ALADDIN jumps on a large gem and slides across the floor, grabbing    the sword on his way.  He turns a corner, but the pursuing snake    cannot, and the front half of JAFAR crashes through a wall and    hangs outside the palace.  ALADDIN jumps up on the snake's back     and stabs it.  JAFAR screams in agony.  ALADDIN again tries to     free the princess.)ALADDIN:    Hang on, Jasmine!(He is about to hit the glass with his sword when JAFAR grabs him.)JAFAR:  (laughs hideously)  You little fool!  You thought        you could defeat the most powerful being on earth!IAGO:       (with GENIE coming up behind him) Squeeze him,        Jafar--Squeeze him like a--awk! (GENIE elbows him        out of the way)JAFAR:  Without the genie, boy, you're nothing!ALADDIN:    (Has an idea)  The genie!  The genie!  The genie        has more power than you'll ever have!JAFAR:  What!!ALADDIN:    He gave you your power, he can take it away!GENIE:  Al, what are you doing?  Why are you bringing me        into this?ALADDIN:    Face it, Jafar--you're still just second best!JAFAR:  You're right!  His power does exceed my own!  But        not for long!(JAFAR circles around the GENIE.)GENIE:  The boy is crazy.  He's a little punch drunk.  One        too many hits with the snake  (His hand        turns into a snake and he hits his head with it.)JAFAR:  Slave, I make my third wish!  I wish to be an all        powerful genie!GENIE:  (Reluctantly) All right, your wish is my command.        Way to go, Al.(GENIE zaps JAFAR with the last GENIE (tm) brand lightning bolt.    JAFAR's snake form dissipates and he turns into a genie.  We     see JASMINE's raised hand disappear under the sand.  ALADDIN    runs over and finally smashes the glass.  Sand and princess     pour out.)JAFAR:  Yes!  Yes!  The power! The absolute power!JASMINE:    (to ALADDIN) What have you done?ALADDIN:    Trust me!(A black lamp appears at JAFAR's base.  JAFAR is busy conjuring.)JAFAR:  The universe is mine to command, to control!ALADDIN:    Not so fast, Jafar!  Aren't you forgetting something?    (JAFAR looks down questioningly) You wanted to be a genie, you    got it!  And everything that goes with it!(Shackles appear on JAFAR's wrists.)JAFAR:  No!  No!IAGO:       I'm gettin' out of here!  Come on, you're the        genie, I don't want--(IAGO tries to fly away, but is sucked in with JAFAR.)ALADDIN:    Phenomenal cosmic powers!  Itty bitty living space.GENIE:  Al, you little genius, you!(ABU turns back to normal, the CARPET re-ravels, JASMINE, the SULTAN    and RAJAH are standing together.  RAJAH jumps up into the arms of     the SULTAN, then they are all transformed.  The SULTAN is crushed     because of the weight of the new RAJAH.  The palace reappears     where it used to be in the city.  ALADDIN is left holding the    new lamp.)JAFAR:  (Both from inside the lamp.)  Get your blasted beak        out of my face!IAGO:       Oh, shut up, you moron!JAFAR:  Don't tell me to shut up!GENIE:  Allow me.  (He takes the lamp and goes to the        balcony.  He is now wearing a baseball cap.  He        winds up as if to throw the lamp, but opens his        palm flat and flicks it out into the desert        with his finger.) Ten- thousand years in a cave of        wonders ought to chill him out!(JAFAR and IAGO continue to argue as they fade out.  JASMINE walks    over to ALADDIN.  They hold hands, but both look sad.)ALADDIN:    Jasmine, I'm sorry I lied to you about being a        prince.JASMINE:    I know why you did.ALADDIN:    Well, I guess...this... is goodbye?  (GENIE pokes        his head around the corner shocked at what he is        hearing.)JASMINE:    Oh, that stupid law.  This isn't fair--I love you.GENIE:  (Wipes away a tear)  Al, no problem. You've still        got one wish left.  Just say the word and you're a        prince again.ALADDIN:    But Genie, what about your freedom?GENIE:  Hey, it's only an eternity of servitude.  This is        love.  (He leans down next to her.)  Al, you're        not gonna find another girl like her in a million        years.  Believe me, I know.  I've looked.ALADDIN:    Jasmine, I do love you, but I've got to stop        pretending to be something I'm not.JASMINE:    I understand.(They take one final look into each other's eyes, then ALADDIN turns    to the GENIE.)ALADDIN:    Genie, I wish for your freedom.GENIE:  One bona fide prince pedigree coming up.  I--what?ALADDIN:    (He holds the lamp up to GENIE.)  Genie, you're        free!(A transformation scene ensues, in which the shackles fall off    GENIE's wrist and the lamp falls uselessly to the ground.     GENIE picks it up and looks at it.)GENIE:  (He can't believe it.)  Heh, heh!  I'm free. I'm        free.  (He hands the lamp to ALADDIN.)  Quick,        quick, wish for something outrageous.  Say  "I want        the Nile."   Wish for the Nile.  Try that!ALADDIN:    I wish for the Nile.GENIE:  No way!!  (Laughs hysterically.  He bounces around        the balcony like a pinball.)  Oh does that feel        good!  I'm free!  I'm free at last!  I'm hittin'        the road.  I'm off to see the world!  I--(He is packing a suitcase, but looks down and sees ALADDIN looking    very sad.)ALADDIN:    Genie, I'm--I'm gonna miss you.GENIE:  Me too, Al.  No matter what anybody says, you'll        always be a prince to me.(They hug.  The SULTAN steps forward.)SULTAN: That's right.  You've certainly proven your worth        as far as I'm concerned. It's that law that's the        problem.JASMINE:    Father?SULTAN: Well, am I sultan or am I sultan?  From this day        forth, the princess shall marry whomever she deems        worthy.JASMINE:    (She smiles widely and runs into ALADDIN's arms.)        Him!  I choose...I choose you, Aladdin.ALADDIN:    Ha, ha.  Call me Al.(They are about to kiss when giant blue hands pull everybody together.    GENIE is decked out in a Hawaiian shirt with golf clubs and a Goofy     hat.)GENIE:  Oh, all of ya. Come over here.  Big group hug!        Mind if I kiss the monkey?  (He kisses ABU.)  Ooh,        hairball!  Well, I can't do any more damage around        this popsicle stand.  I'm outta here!  Bye, bye,        you two crazy lovebirds.  Hey, Rugman: ciao!  I'm        history!   No, I'm mythology!  No, I don't care        what I am--I'm free!(The GENIE flies up into the blue sky leaving a trail of sparkles    behind him.  They cut (a jump cut to make matters worse)     to fireworks exploding over a nightscape. We tilt down and see     ALADDIN and JASMINE flying on CARPET.)ALADDIN:    A whole new worldJASMINE:        A whole new lifeBOTH:   (with off-camera chorus)    For you and me!MEN'S CHORUS:   A whole new world!(They fly off into the moonlight, and after they have disappeared,    the moon turns and reveals the GENIE's laughing face.  Suddenly    the film is grabbed "off the projector", the GENIE lifts it up     and looks at the audience.)GENIE:  Made ya look!(Drops the film back to normal, with the normal moon.  Fade to black.    The end.)
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+                                                                           ALI                                                   Written by                          Stephen J Rivele, Christopher Wilkinson,                           Eric Roth & Michael Mann                                                    Story by                                   Gregory Allen Howard                                                                  FADE IN:                    EXT. MIAMI STREET - MOVEMENT - NIGHT (1964)                    in the dark. Coming toward us. Up and down in sync to an          INSTRUMENTAL LEAD-IN from somewhere. A slip of light. A          glimpse of somebody in shadow under a sweatshirt hood,          staring at us, in and out of the dark as...                    INT. THE STAGE, HAMPTON HOUSE CLUB - EMPTY FRAME - NIGHT                    A man walks into the shot, grabs a microphone, slips out of          his jacket and looks at us. He wants to tell us something.          He's in a lavender light. This is SAM COOKE. What he calls          out...a throaty mixture of gospel, soul and sex...is "Let me          hear it!" And WOMEN SHRIEK. He says, "Yeah!" They answer,          shrieking, "Oh, yeah!"...                    EXT. MIAMI STREET - HOODED MAN'S FACE - NIGHT                    up and down, running along a dark road in the dead of night,          passing vacant lots with debris amid trees and faded          buildings. He is CASSIUS CLAY. He runs in construction          boots. His eyes stare from under the hood. He passes the          husk of an abandoned car, a pastel storefront. We're in          Overtown, Miami's inner-city black neighborhood.                    INT. THE STAGE, HAMPTON HOUSE CLUB (MIAMI) - SAM COOKE                    shouts, "Don't fight it! We gonna feel it!"     The women in          the audience answer: "Gotta feel it!"                    EXT. MIAMI STREET - CASSIUS - NIGHT                    now runs diagonally across NW 7th INTERCUT with Cooke          shouting, "Yeah!"          EXT. MACARTHUR CAUSEWAY - CASSIUS - NIGHT                                         SAM COOKE'S AUDIENCE (O.S.)                   Oh, yeah!                    Cassius runs toward us. Off to the side in the black-          mirrored water of Biscayne Bay, leaden clouds in a black sky.          And now Sam Cooke SINGS "...because you make me wanna          mooove...!" and breaks into the first verse of "Feel It."          But we see Cassius' eyes are FOCUSED, CONCENTRATED,          ELSEWHERE. To where is this man running? Why is his          expression so distant? A WHITE LIGHT suddenly hits him from          behind. He looks over at...                                                                                  2.                    WIDE FROM THE FRONT:      CASSIUS + A METRO-DADE POLICE CAR                    that's slowed, clocking the suspicious, running black man.          The driver starts to pull over, to hassle Cassius. Then,          the cop riding shotgun gets a radio call. He taps the          driver's shoulder. They take off, the driver laughing.          Cassius looks after the white cops. He is neither relieved          nor angry. He's dismissive. And, instead, he sees          something else...                    INT. A BOARD ROOM - GORDON DAVIDSON - DAY                    and six other patrician, white business-people of Louisville          in their green baize and wood-paneled Luxo boardroom. They          speak soundlessly and patronizingly to Cassius Clay, Sr.,          seated at the foot of the table. It relates to the stack of          contracts in front of him. He is in a suit and tie, his          hair and moustache are dapper. His tie's a little loud. He          has his hands folded deferentially in front of him.                                         LSG BOARD MEMBER                         (reading)                     "...the successor trustee shall be                     fully authorized to pay or disperse                     such sums from the income or                     principal as may be required."                         (beat)                     Do you understand so far, Mr. Clay?                                         CASSIUS CLAY, SR.                     Uh, yes, I do.                    We get the impression that, if he doesn't understand what          he's being told, he's faking it. He is conforming,          delivering socially mandated deference...                    FRONTAL:   CASSIUS, SR.                    and BEYOND HIM, seated against the wall, is Cassius, Jr. in          sport jacket and tie. Right now he looks to his left and to          the right, and only then do we notice the entire wall he's          against is covered with pictures of thoroughbreds and studs          this Louisville Sponsoring Group owns as well. He is one          among their sporting possessions. He doesn't like it. He          looks at the back of his father listening.                                         LSG BOARD MEMBER                     Are you sure, sir?                                          CASSIUS CLAY, SR.                     Yeah.   I follow you.                                                                                  3.                                       LSG BOARD MEMBER                   Okay. 'Cause I'd be happy to                   explain any of these terms.                                       CASSIUS CLAY, SR.                   No, thank you.                                       LSG BOARD MEMBER                   Thank you, sir.                    EXT. MACARTHUR CAUSEWAY - CLOSER:   CASSIUS' EYES - NIGHT                    back here, now, crossing through black night and over black          water of the MacArthur Causeway. We start to HEAR pop pop          pop pop pop pop POP over Sam Cooke's music, and Sam Cooke's          image SUPERIMPOSES as he segues from "Feelin'" to "Bring It          On Home." And the pop pop pop pop pop carries us into...                    INT. THE FIFTH STREET GYM, (MIAMI) - SPEED BAG - DAWN                    Cassius' fists fly in a reeling motion, hitting the speed          bag. But it's his eyes that arrest us...focused, concentrated.                    OVER CASSIUS' SHOULDER:   BROWN SPEED BAG                    is a blur. And it SLOWS and becomes a brown boxing glove          driving in a SLOWED straight line right at us like a piston.          OVER the glove, pushing the fist at us is SONNY LISTON. The          brown glove hits...                    INT. RING - A BOXER (N.D. BOXER)                    in a linear left jab. These punches are watched by Cassius'          eyes in the Fifth Street Gym...studiously studying Liston's          feet...straight-line movement...the jab, linear and straight          at us. But it SLAMS into the Boxer, not Cassius. Down he          goes. He's out. The referee pulls out his mouthpiece.          It's a bloody mess. Teeth have been knocked out with it, so          devastating is Sonny Liston... A distant crowd ROARS.                    INT. RING - CASSIUS - NIGHT                    VERY CLOSE, climbs into the crush with other contenders.          Victorious, Liston, being escorted out, passes very close to          him on purpose to say...                                       SONNY LISTON                       (whispers; low)                   Gonna fuck you up. Gonna beat you                   like I's your daddy...                    To Cassius, boxing is dangerous athletics, but Liston's          malevolence is straight from the street.                                                                                  4.                    INT. FIFTH STREET GYM - CASSIUS' EYES                    SEE...                    INT. CHURCH - THE BACK OF HIS FATHER'S HEAD                    working. He's painting a mural. It's the face of WHITE          JESUS with blue eyes and blonde hair. CASSIUS, SR.'S EYES          painting... EYES OF 12-YEAR-OLD CASSIUS, JR. watching white          Jesus go up on the Negro Baptist Church in Louisville become...                    INT. FIFTH STREET GYM - CASSIUS' EYES                    watching now...                    INT. A CITY BUS - WATCHING - DAY          the back of his own head moving through a tunnel of white          faces, holding his mother's hand, passing the balloon faces          of nice white passengers, teenagers in athletic sweaters          going to high school, some children, all seated. MOVING          through to the rear of the bus where, standing, are black          women, heavyset with heavy legs, and middle-aged black men          with large, rough hands, crowded on their way to the day's          labor or domestic jobs in the back of the bus.                    12-YEAR-OLD CASSIUS LOOKS                    at a newspaper being refolded by one man in front of his face...                    CASSIUS' POV:     LOUISVILLE COURIER:   EMMETT TILL                    Published nationwide, it shows his gouged-out eye, the          barbed wire noose around his neck, the mutilation to his          face because at 14 years old he winked at a white girl in          Alabama.          CASSIUS, JR.                    is frozen by the image. It will haunt him for most of his          life. The man holding the paper sees the boy's fear and          pushes the paper out at him as a rough joke. Cassius reacts.          Then, the man rises and offers his seat to Odessa. Then          someone shouts...                                          ANGELO DUNDEE                   TIME!                    INT. FIFTH STREET GYM - CASSIUS                    PAST him a short man in a white shirt, ANGELO DUNDEE, has          entered with a folded newspaper under his arm.                                                                                   5.                    And Cassius -- elsewhere -- SLAMS the speed bag with a right          hook, and the bag becomes...                    INT. THE MASJID AL ANSAR-MOSQUE - CASSIUS - DAY (MIAMI)                    in black glasses, leaning against a wall.                                       MALCOLM X (O.S.)                   ...and those of you who think you                   came here to hear us tell you, like                   these Negro leaders do, that times                   will get better and we shall                   overcome someday, I tell you: you                   came to the wrong place.                    MALCOLM X is at the podium.   Ceiling fans.   We could be in          Tripoli.                                       MALCOLM X (CONT'D)                   'Cause your times will never get                   better until yo make them better.                   And any of you who think you came                   here to hear us tell you to turn                   the other cheek to the brutality of                   the white man and the established                   system of injustice in this country,                   to beg for your place at their                   lunch counter, I say again! You                   came to the wrong place.                    And Cassius is there in a black shirt, standing in the back.          Malcolm X sees him, nods...the casualness attests their          familiarity is close and extensive...                                       MALCOLM X (CONT'D)                       (beat)                   'Cause we don't teach you to turn                   the other cheek. We don't teach                   you to turn the other cheek in the                   South. We don't teach you to turn                   the other cheek in the North. The                   Honorable Elijah Muhammad teaches                   you, instead, to obey the law. To                   carry yourselves in a respectable                   way. And a proud Afro-American way.                   But at the same time...we teach                   you...that anyone who puts his hand                   on you? Do your BEST...to see he                   doesn't PUT HIS HAND on                   any...body...else...AGAIN.                                                                                    6.                    INT. FIFTH STREET GYM - LUMINOUS HOOP - MORNING                    Whopwhopwhopwhopwhop...as first rays of golden light          illuminate the jump rope spinning effortlessly over his head          in a blur. Dust dances in light through the two dirty          windows with boxing gloves and "Fifth Street Gym" painted on          them. It's that time of day Jack Johnson called the          "fighter's hour," "...between the night and the light..."          ...whopwhopwhopwhopwhop... And Angelo Dundee puts on a pot          of coffee. He washes his hands in a dirty sink, thoroughly          drying them. Alert and clean, he's old school. He goes          back to the edge of the ring, reading his newspaper. Now,          crossing past the white windows is DREW "BUNDINI" BROWN. He          takes an orange out of his pocket, sitting on a bench,          silently peels it... As Cassius "walks" the rope, jumping          up and back.                                ANGELO DUNDEE                          (approving; past newspaper)                      Yeah. Like that, Daddy. Don't                      jump in one place. Bad for the                      heart. That's the most important                      thing.                          (without looking)                      TIME!                    Cassius drops the rope where he stands, and walks off as Sam          Cooke...                    INT. THE HAMPTON HOUSE CLUB - SAM COOKE                    segues into "Bring It On Home" and women in the front row          reach out for him. The heat between Cooke and them is          palpable. The first row is going crazy as...                    INT. FIFTH STREET GYM - CASSIUS          sits into our frame, glistening with sweat, directed through          tortuous calisthenics by the hands of Luis Sarria.                                          ANGELO DUNDEE                      TIME!!!                    INT. HAMPTON HOUSE CLUB - HIGH + WIDE FRONTAL:    SAM COOKE'S                    sweating.    The place is rocking as...                    INT. THE RING, FIFTH STREET GYM - CASSIUS' EYES - DAY                    alive, sparring. But Cassius never throws a punch... He          jerks back, sliding away, an inch away from being hit. He          circles in a movement that seems off-balance and then          becomes fluid and changes rate, faking out where you think          he'll be. His sparring partner throws a jab that misses and                                                                                  7.                    follows with a hook. Cassius slips it by an inch. Entering          the gym, now, is gregarious DR. FERDIE PACHECO with a young,          afro'd HOWARD BINGHAM, who starts photographing while LUIS          SARRIA looks at us. None of the gathered crowd, the          greatest "corner" in boxing, breaks his concentration. He's          in his zone. We're in the ring. Cassius, trance-like,          hands down, circles and slips in no predictable way as...                    INT. A LIMOUSINE - NOW CASSIUS IS - DAY                    zenned out in SLO-MO on the way somewhere in a suit and tie.          People on the Miami streets drift by. The slow-moving limo          floats on its soft suspension through the pastel heat of          Miami. While Sam Cooke...                    INT. HAMPTON HOUSE CLUB - SAM COOKE          drives to the big climax of "Bring It On Home To Me...!"          counter to the limo's EXTREME CALM as Sam Cooke's medley          ends and...                    INT. A HALLWAY, THE MIAMI CONVENTION CENTER - CASSIUS - DAY                    in a terry-cloth robe, walks faster and faster as Dundee and          Bundini, Bingham and his cameras, Pacheco and RUDY race to          keep up. And as Cassius slams through a door into a large          room...                    INT. THE WEIGH-IN ROOM, MIAMI CONVENTION CENTER - CASSIUS - DAY                    EXPLODES:                                          CASSIUS/BUNDINI                          (shout)                      Float like a butterfly! Sting like                      a bee! Rumble, young man, rumble.                      Aaaaaaargh!                                          CASSIUS                      Sonny Liston: you ain't no champ!                      You a chump!                          (beat)                      You want to lose your money, bet on                      Sonny. He know I'm great. He will                      go in eight!                    500 press, promoters and boxing people turn and stare!                                          CASSIUS (CONT'D)                      What you lookin' at, you ugly bear?!                    LISTON a tree trunk in boxing shorts, can't wait to pull          apart this kid.                                                                               8.                                        CASSIUS (CONT'D)                    C'mon, bum. I whup you right here!                    Cassius pushes past people and leaps at Sonny! He wants to          rumble right now. Bundini, Rudy, Dundee, Liston's handlers          struggle to keep them apart, wrestle Cassius onto the scale.                                        A MAN                        (reading)                    ...210... Cassius Clay weighs 210                    pounds.                                        CASSIUS                        (changes down)                    You sure you got that right...?                    The man nods. Cassius gets off, is pulled aside. And          Liston gets on: unremitting stare of death at Cassius...                                        THE MAN                    218. Sonny Liston...the heavyweight                    champion of the world weighs 218                    pounds...                                        BUNDINI                    Pounds of what?!                    And Cassius goes off again...                                        CASSIUS                    Pounds of ugly! He so ugly, sweat                    run backwards off his forehead to                    get away from his face! C'mon,                    bear! I turn you into a rug!!                    Rumble right now, man!                    He's restrained by Angelo and Bundini.                                        SONNY LISTON                        (low)                    Keep talkin', punk-ass faggot!                    I'll fuck you up like I's your daddy...                    Handlers break it up and hustle Liston out of there.                                        CASSIUS                    You whup me, I'll crawl out of the                    ring on my knees and catch the next                    jet plane out of the country.                                        JIMMY CANNON                        (older reporter)                    That a promise?                                                                              9.                    Laughter.                                          CASSIUS                          (to Jimmy Cannon)                      ...you be the first eatin' his words!                    A Doctor claps a cuff around Cassius' arm, taking blood          pressure.                                          THE DOCTOR                          (alarmed, to Pacheco)                      210 over 110?! I can't let him in                      the ring in this condition!                                          REPORTERS                          (shout)                      Liston says he'll talk with his                      fists. "Lip from Louisville."                          (laughter)                      ...odds 7:1 against you. Big bet's                      whether he'll knock you out in the                      first round or third round or kill                      you altogether. You scared of him?                                          CASSIUS                      I'm scared of no man. I give Sonny                      Liston talking lessons, boxing                      lessons and falling down lessons.                                          CANNON/OTHERS                      Yeah, sure. Are you a Black Muslim?                      Pat Putnam in the Miami Herald said...                                          CASSIUS                      "Black Muslim"'s a press word...                    Dundee's defensive, fast...                                          ANGELO DUNDEE                      Man's religion's his own business.                      What kinda question's that?                                          REPORTERS/HOWARD COSELL                      Does he hate white people? Malcolm                      X was in town. Then he left. Was                      that so he wouldn't embarrass you?                      Liston cannot stand you...                                          ANGELO DUNDEE                          (sees)                      Howard!                                                                              10.                                       HOWARD COSELL                   ...cannot stand you, Cassius.   He                   really wants to kill you...                    HOWARD COSELL is balding, tall, forties, lugging a tape          recorder.                                       CASSIUS                   Howard Cosell, you are an instigator!                       (Cosell smiles)                   How you get that way? When I'm                   done with Liston, I'm comin' for you!                    Dundee uses that to end the conference before it strays into          "Black Muslim" territory. Meanwhile on the way out...                                       DOCTOR                       (to Pacheco)                   It doesn't come down, I cancel this                   fight. You call me in an hour with                   his blood pressure.                    EXT./INT. MIAMI RENTAL HOUSE - DR. PACHECO - DAY                    past guards, Bundini, press, starts to enter. Inside,          Clay's on the sofa, in his underwear, watching "The Man With          the X-Ray Eyes," who has the power to imbue and control from          beams emitted from his eyes. Dundee and Bingham hang out.                    Cassius' mind is elsewhere. His eyes float to the corner of          the doorway before we see Pacheco, even though from the          outside, has started to enter...                    EXT. CASSIUS' RENTAL HOUSE, BACKYARD - CORNER OF HOUSE - DAY          (MIAMI)                    Nothing. Cassius is asleep in a lounge chair...incongruously          a TV is run from the house by an extension cord. Cassius          wakes. His eyes say, "Who are you?"                                       BUNDINI                       (entering)                   I'm called Bundini, rhymes with                   Houdini. He was a Jew, too...some                   other people call me Fastblack...or                   Daddy Mac...                    Drew "Bundini" Brown, early forties, holds a hat in his hand,          his eyes always seem to be glistening, ready to rage, laugh          or cry, tentatively approaches. Cassius' flat eyes return          to the television.                                                                                 11.                                       BUNDINI (CONT'D)                       (motions at lounge                        chair)                   Shorty sent me to Sugar Ray                   Robinson. I gave my power to Sugar                   Ray for seven years, gave him my                   voodoo, my magic. Now Shorty sent                   me to you.                                       CASSIUS                   Who Shorty?                                       BUNDINI                   I call him Shorty 'cause he like                   'em circumcised. Original people.                   Like Moses. And I was a babe in a                   basket, too. I was born on a                   doorstep with a note 'cross my                   chest that read, "Do the best you                   can for him, world." I had to suck                   the first nipple come along. I                   didn't run away from home...I been                   runnin' to home.                    Cassius should kick him out, but Bundini's got his foot in          the door of Cassius' attention.                                       BUNDINI (CONT'D)                       (beat, and his raison d'Ítre)                   Now, I gotta ask you. You fixin'                   them fights? Else no way you could                   tell great Archie Moore what round                   you droppin' him in...all of them                   predictions you make, comin' true.                   Never heard of nobody predictin'                   the round like you. You either a                   phony or Shorty's in your corner.                   Tell me the truth, young man...                    Cassius, stretched out, mumbles without looking at him...                                       CASSIUS                   ...I study every fight. 'Til I got                   a plan. Wear him down two through                   four. Drop him in the fifth round.                   So the p'diction ain't a p'diction.                   It's a plan. And 'cause of all the                   poppin' off I do, I know I gotta                   win! That's the truth. And why                   I'm tellin' you?                                                                                12.                                       BUNDINI                   'Cause I'm gonna be your Inspiration.                   Your motivator. In your corner.                   Can I be in your corner, young man?                                       CASSIUS                       (thinks, then)                   Yeah...                                       BUNDINI                       (inexplicably moved,                        covers)                   Ain't spent much time in Miami.                   Where the water?                    Cassius has drifted off, back to watching TV.    What he sees          as his eyes close is:                    INT. MIAMI RENTAL HOUSE - PACHECO                    The blur of Pacheco taking his blood pressure.    Now Cassius          looks and his shaman, Bundini, enters.                                       PACHECO                   120 over 80?                       (re: his blood                        pressure)                   You should be asleep...                    The weigh-in episode was an act. We take a different          measure of this man. Pacheco sits next to Cassius and eats          some of his potato chips.                    INT. MIAMI CONVENTION CENTER, A DRESSING ROOM - HANDS -          EARLY EVENING                    being wrapped. Cassius' shirt is off, sitting on a bench in          the dressing room...the ritualistic tradition, having his          hands taped. Dundee expertly does it. In the background,          Bundini, Pacheco, Bingham, Rudy and Two Men in dark suits,          someone from Liston's camp, and a State Boxing Inspector          watch. Then, the door opens for Malcolm X, in a dark suit,          thin tie. Cassius lights up. Dundee is done. The Boxing          Inspector signs the tape. Then, Dundee puts on gloves and          laces them while...                                       CASSIUS                   When you get back?                                         MALCOLM X                   Just now.    I'm front row, seat 7.                                       RUDY                   I'm gonna find Mom and Dad.                                                                              13.                                       CASSIUS                   You could have stayed. Nobody                   gotta hide when they with me.                                       MALCOLM X                   Nothing wrong with being cool, my                   brother. You been working toward                   this moment for four years.                                       ANGELO DUNDEE                       (while tying)                   He's right.                    Dundee turns away to tear two strips of tape while Cassius          and Malcolm face into a corner. Sarria throws a towel over          Cassius' shoulders. Arms bent, head down, a true believer,          he silently stands in prayer, bowing to the east with          Malcolm. During this, Dundee starts collecting his cut gear          on table.                                       MALCOLM X                   It's a crusade in modern times.                   And television is beaming if off                   Telstar to the whole world. So                   Allah has brought this about for a                   reason...                       (time to leave)                   Salaam alaikum, my brother...                    And as he goes, leaving us, not Cassius, incomplete, Cassius          returns to Dundee, who ties gloves and puts tape over the          knot. The Inspector signs that, too.                    INT. A CORRIDOR, CASSIUS - NIGHT                    A door slams open. Cassius comes along the hallway, his          entourage surrounding him. Three large middle-aged white          officials accompany him, too. His face is set in stone.          White towels are draped over his head onto his shoulders.          Bundini chirps in his ear. Dundee, like a plumber, carrying          the tools of his trade...a bucket, his swabs and Vaseline.          And they seem distant to Cassius. They reach the end of the          corridor, and against the wall stand three or four older bad          cigar guys. A curtain...the sounds from the arena drift          into the hallway. Cassius is on his toes now, dancing,          dancing. And as if being drawn by a force we can't see, he          just goes...his entourage, as if holding on, carried along          by him...                    INT. THE MIAMI CONVENTION CENTER - NIGHT                    He comes into the hall...there are shouts, some scattered          applause, some booing, growing; and the sound moves through          the arena...the sounds of expectations, ridicule, potential                                                                                   14.                    violence. But past the faces and the press, what's arrested          Cassius' attention and makes him oblivious in his solitude          to all else is the bright 20-by-20-foot place he wants to be          most in all the world: the ring.                    INT. THE RING - CASSIUS - NIGHT                    is struck by the brilliance. Illuminated, ready to go...          dancing...warming up. Counter to an expectation of anxiety,          Cassius can't wait to get this on. Other sounds          happen...irrelevant to him...and now the distant sound of          Liston coming into the ring...his bulked-up presence, the          roar he inspires, somewhere over there. And all of a sudden,          Cassius turns to face the angry man who wishes him death.          Cassius rocks left and right, like a tough kid on a corner          ready to rumble. The hysteria act is gone; so is the          boasting. Instead, there is only Cassius' stare. The          effect is enigmatic: what is going on here? A Referee,          like a distant bird, says something we don't hear...                    In the corner, his feet float, waiting.     There's the BELL          for ROUND ONE.                    INT. RING - ROUND ONE - WIDE                    It starts.                    LISTON                    right away throws a left that misses and attacks Cassius,          throwing seven more that Cassius with extreme, awkward          caution evades.                    He is fearful of the monster whose punches he has yet to          feel. Nevertheless, he does his job: measure Liston's          range and speed. Then, a body shot catches him above the          heart. Cassius feels the real power of Liston. It could          stop your heart's beating. He survives. Then...                    CASSIUS                    throws his long left jab. It keeps Liston at a set distance.          He has Liston's range, now, and he dances away from Liston's          charges. Then, halfway through the round, Cassius' eyes          have hunted out an opportunity, and he throws his first          combination with a few hard shots that, to Liston's surprise,          rock Liston's head back. And, then, Cassius easily evades...                    LISTON'S                    furious big misses to the left and right.                                                                                  15.                    CASSIUS                    keeps tagging Liston with his long left. And, now,          infuriates Liston even more by merely walking away from          Liston's big misses, provoking even wilder and more          inaccurate Liston assaults. (We're aware that any Liston          shot could knock out Cassius if it connected.) Then Cassius          soaks up a couple of body shots, most flicks his jab, slides,          dances, clinches, circles away...UNTIL...                    AT THE END OF THE ROUND                    Cassius launches a second combination, slams a couple of big          lefts Liston's way that rock his head back two times.          Liston's so furious, he flips, charging Cassius, who hits          and ducks at the same time. The BELL RINGS THREE TIMES          before they stop.                    CLAY'S CORNER - CASSIUS                    breathes hard.    Dundee works.   Cassius says something we          can't hear.                                          CASSIUS                      He was supposed to kill me.   Well,                      I'm still alive.                    Angelo is talking to Clay a mile a minute, while Clay MUGS          an open mouth...to the press, ridiculing their accusation he          was all talk. It's clear he controlled Round One to          everyone's surprise.                    THE BELL.    INT. RING, ROUND TWO - CASSIUS + LISTON                    We see press with typewriters, ribbon, microphones, note          pads; massive TV cameras hang on platforms over two of the          corners. It's a desultory, lower-key version of Round One.          And...                    BIRD'S NEST TV CAMERA + MEDIA                    Coverage segues to Liston, who throws and misses a few lefts.          Cassius tags him with a few rights.                    THE BELL.    CASSIUS                    literally ambles into the corner.                    SONNY'S CORNER:    HIS TWO TRAINERS                    Liston's getting a lot of strident advice.        THE BELL.                                                                                16.                    INT. RING, ROUND THREE                    LISTON'S LEFT                    comes in like a freight train. Cassius merely leans away to          avoid Liston, circles and now snaps off a flurry and OPENS A          CUT UNDER SONNY'S LEFT EYE. Then, he splits out of there.                                       ANNOUNCER                       (at ringside, on radio)                   He's opened a cut on Liston.                   Liston's never been cut!                    And Cassius, seizing opportunity, hits Liston with more          combinations. If Cassius won Round One, probably but not          certainly won Round Two, he now demonstrates he OWNS Round          Three. It's a symphony of classical Cassius Clay footwork,          flicked jabs that confuse, and, then, hard-hitting          combinations that rock the presumably immovable Liston. No          one told Sonny that Cassius could hit. And, at 210 pounds,          he hits HARD. Liston, angered, panicked, knows he's losing          and goes after Cassius and misses wildly as the BELL ends          Round Three...                    INT. CLAY'S CORNER - CLAY                    stands a moment before he sits.                    EXTREMELY CLOSE:   CASSIUS CLAY                    breathing heavily, ignoring the stool and Dundee and Bundini,          looks around. THIS IS WHAT IT'S LIKE TO BE 22, TO BE          CASSIUS CLAY, TO BE ON TOP OF YOUR GAME AND TO BE ABOUT TO          OWN THE WORLD. He looks over the crowd. Only then, turns          and sits...                                       CASSIUS                       (to Dundee)                   He's nothin' to me...                    The genius of Cassius...                                       CASSIUS (CONT'D)                   And he knows it...                    INT. LISTON'S CORNER - CORNERMAN                    slips a vial of some medicant from his pocket and rubs it          into Liston's shoulder.                    INT. RING - ROUND FOUR                    The BELL RINGS. Clay peppers Liston with jabs.    Liston          pokes his left at Cassius, trying to reach him.   They feint,                                                                                   17.                    circle. Liston gets his left into Cassius' face.    It's more          a poke than a shot.                    CLOSE:   CASSIUS                    blinks back something...we're not sure what. It seems to go          away. Then it's back. The fight continues...                    WIDER:   CASSIUS                    dominating. They clinch. They break. This time Cassius          violently blinks his eyes! Something's wrong!                                          CASSIUS                      ...my eyes!                    A knife-like pain. He can't see.     He's getting beaten up.          He's in trouble. The BELL.                    INT. RING, CASSIUS' CORNER - CASSIUS                    sits.                                          CASSIUS                          (shouting)                      My eyes! I can't see...somethin'                      in my eyes!                    Dundee feverishly washes water to get the irritant out of          Cassius' eyes.                    INT. ARENA                    A buzzer sounds, warning the bell's coming for Round Five.          Now Cassius stands, saying...                                          CASSIUS                          (his gloves)                      Cut 'em off! Cut 'em!   I'm blind.                    The BELL.    Dundee's still in the ring.                                          ANGELO DUNDEE                      No. You quit, it's over! Get out                      there. Be a yardstick. This is                      the big one, daddy. Get out there                      and run!                    He literally pushes Cassius into the ring.                    INT. RING - ROUND FIVE - LISTON                    rushes Clay. He knows this is his chance. Cassius tries to          tie Liston up by holding onto the back of his neck, but                                                                                 18.                    Liston pounds left and right hooks. If anybody wondered if          Clay could take punishment, this answers that. WHAM-WHAM-          WHAM-WHAM-WHAM...five huge hooks.                    Liston is desperate to end it while Cassius is in trouble.          Haymaker after haymaker; some connect, others are blocked          but knock Clay sideways. Clay, still blind, keeps backing          and dancing.                    CLOSER:   CASSIUS' EYES                    With a minute left, now, he sees better. Liston throws him          into a corner, still trying to put him away. But, he can't,          and Liston's energy seems to deflate once he knows that.          The BELL.                    INT. RING, CASSIUS' CORNER - CASSIUS'                    eyes are clear.   In 60 seconds he recovers his energy.    He's          ready. BELL.                    INT. RING - ROUND SIX - CASSIUS                    can't wait to get out. He shuffles. He circles. He fires          combinations. In the early rounds, provoked by Cassius,          Liston's anger caused him to abandon his fight plan. Now,          having been proven futile, Liston's confidence is gone.          He's left with nothing. Psychologically and athletically,          Liston is defeated. The BELL. Liston's eyes contemplate          the inevitable: face nine more rounds of this.                    INT. RING, CASSIUS' CORNER - BETWEEN ROUNDS - AS CASSIUS                    waits for the seventh-round bell.                                        HOWARD COSELL                        (doing color radio                         commentary with Les                         Kelter's blow-by-blow)                    ...Clay, a round ago, looked like                    he'd about had it, but in round six...                    Then Cassius, knowing before anybody else, suddenly rises as          if on wings. Both arms are in the air...followed by a roar          from the crowd...                                        HOWARD COSELL (CONT'D)                        (realizing, screaming)                    Sonny Liston is not coming out!                    Wait a minute! Wait a minute!                    Sonny Liston is not coming out!                    And we can see Liston still sitting on his stool in his          corner, spitting out his mouthpiece.                                                                               19.                                       HOWARD COSELL (CONT'D)                   The winner...and the new heavyweight                   champion of the world is Cassius Clay!                    Cassius jumps onto the ropes in the corner, rails the crowd:                                       CASSIUS                   I upset the world! I am the                   greatest! I am the greatest!                    All hell breaks loose...                                       CASSIUS (CONT'D)                       (to press)                   Eat your words! Eat your words!                    Howard Cosell, the first to climb into the ring, is on him...                                       HOWARD COSELL                   What made him so easy for you?                                       CASSIUS                   I told you. Didn't I tell you?                    Bundini gives him a comb.   Cassius combing his hair.                                       HOWARD COSELL                   Was there any single point you knew                   you had him?                    And he sees Malcolm leaving his seat...they look at each          other. Malcolm's huge smile.                                       CASSIUS                   I had him in the first round.                   'Cause I'm the greatest!                       (and seeing at ringside,                        calling him up)                   Sam... Hey, Sam! Let him up.                    And Sam Cooke climbs into the ring.                                       CASSIUS (CONT'D)                   I am the greatest! And he the                   greatest rock 'n' roll singer. Sam                   Cooke! I want everybody to bear                   witness.                       (they embrace)                   I shook up the world! Don't have a                   mark on me! I was burning. I was                   blind. I'm the prettiest thing                   that ever lived. I shook up the                   world! I shook up the world!                                                                                 20.                    As Sam Cooke embraces Cassius...                    INT. ELIJAH MUHAMMAD'S HOUSE, LIVING ROOM - WIDE - NIGHT                    A small older man with fine features, ELIJAH MUHAMMAD, THE          MESSENGER, sits on plastic-covered furniture in his          expensive living room. With him is an expressionless man          who, literally, never smiles, in a tailored dark suit. He's          JOSEPH 13X. As Elijah Muhammad, the head of the Nation of          Islam, contemplates Cassius' victory -- like everyone else          in America, he's surprised.                    INT. THE MIAMI BEACH CONVENTION CENTER - PAY PHONE - NIGHT                    GORDON DAVIDSON is from the Louisville Sponsoring Group,          standing in the chaos with another partner and Odessa and          Cassius, Sr....                                       GORDON DAVIDSON                   ...I don't care what should have                   been ordered! We need a victory                   party right now.                       (pause)                   I got national press, the family,                   the champ, all kinds of folks...                       (beat)                   250 to 300. Yes.                    INT. THE SIR JOHN NIGHTCLUB - SAM COOKE - NIGHT                    singing "Feel It." It's packed with elated people. Outside,          celebrations spill out onto the streets...cars honking...                    EXT./INT. HAMPTON HOUSE VILLAS - CLOSE ON COOKE AS HE          CROSSES - NIGHT                    through the club, with lots of partygoers, picks up          Chesterfields from the cigarette girl and goes out by pool,          around which we see women at tables in cocktail dresses and          good-looking men. Most of the rooms' doors are wide open,          couples drinking, celebrating...radios playing out into the          Floridian night.                    INT. THE BALLROOM, THE RONEY PLAZA HOTEL - GORDON DAVIDSON -          NIGHT                    and others of the Louisville Sponsoring Group in a crowd of          predominantly white people, drinking free drinks at the          hastily arranged victory party, wait. Sportswriters...Jimmy          Cannon, Red Smith. Cassius, Sr. is there. They all wait.          No sign of Cassius. "Where's your boy?" A young New York          Times sportswriter, ROBERT LIPSYTE, is there as well. He          looks like he doesn't belong...his clothes are only          perfunctorily conventional, and he's a generation younger.                                                                               21.                    INT. HAMPTON HOUSE HOTEL ROOM - SAM COOKE - NIGHT                    enters and closes the door and greets Malcolm X, in a white          shirt, no tie, and Cassius, eating ice cream in a pool of          light from the TV. Malcolm's wife, Betty Shabazz, comes out          of the kitchenette. A little girl runs from the bathroom          back to Cassius. The girl plops into his lap with much          familiarity, so we understand Cassius is family and has been          for a while. He's not at the Fontainebleau or the Roney          Plaza. It says Cassius' sense of himself is more about          what's next than what he did tonight.                                       GIRL                   Why's he so scared?                                       MALCOLM X                   Man, look at that guy run!                    Cassius feeds the girl some ice cream.                                       CASSIUS                   The Mummy! "I can't get away from                   the mummy!" Yeah, but that mummy                   too slow to catch anybody.                                        SAM COOKE                   Hey!   The mummy always gets his man...                                       CASSIUS                   No, he don't!                       (to kid)                   Now, don't believe that stuff on                   television...                    Laughter from the outside. Cassius looks. He's not drawn          to all the partying. Malcolm takes a picture with his          Contax. Through the door enters Jim Brown. Jim embraces          Malcolm and Betty, Sam Cooke, and congratulates the new          champ and helps himself to food.                    INT. THE HAMPTON HOUSE HOTEL ROOM, 1964 - NIGHT, LATER                    The room's near dark. Soft sounds from outside. A laugh.          A snatch of music. Malcolm's children are asleep on a cot.          And we see Cassius has fallen asleep on the sofa. A          bedsheet is over him. Malcolm and Betty, sitting at the          table in the kitchenette, quietly talking...an intimate          laugh...partners. And as Cassius, the new heavyweight          champion of the world, spends the first night of his reign          asleep at "home" with this family...                                                                              22.                    EXT. 125TH STREET + 7TH AVENUE - CASSIUS, MALCOLM + A CRUSH          OF PEOPLE (NEW YORK, 1964) - DAY                    Suddenly we're in Harlem. The streets are jammed. Making          them crazy, causing a riot, coming down the sidewalk,          looking like a rock-and-roll star in a black leather jacket,          is CASSIUS CLAY and in an overcoat and hat, MALCOLM X. They          OWN this day on 125th Street.                    EXT. MICHAUX BOOK SHOP - PEOPLE - DAY                    engulf them. People are their army. The sea of people          press close to their heroes...reaching out to touch the          champ, share a joke, laugh. A girl runs up to hug Cassius          and runs off. We catch a glimpse on the periphery of Joseph          13X. Seven or eight reporters, black and white, and still          photographers and Bingham, half with Cassius, half          photographer in privileged position.                                       A REPORTER                   The people look to you. Do you                   plan on being a people's champ,                   like Joe Louis?                                       CASSIUS                       (tentative)                   Yeah. I going to be a people's                   champ...                       (beat)                   But not like Joe Louis, exactly...                                       A REPORTER                       (starts)                   Mr. Clay...?                    And Cassius drops it on them...                             CASSIUS                   And I'm not Clay. Clay's the name                   of the people who owned by                   ancestors. I don't want to be                   called after that slave name no                   more. So I'm "X." Cassius X. And                   I'm a member of the Nation of Islam.                   The Honorable Elijah Muhammad is my                   spiritual guide. Malcolm X is my                   mentor.                    This is hard news!                                       REPORTERS                       (all at once)                   You a card-carrying member?    Aren't                   Black Muslims a hate group?                                                                              23.                                       CASSIUS                       (droll)                   "Card-carrying"...? Don't need no                   "card." You got a Christian card?                   750 million people believe in Islam.                   I'm one of them.                                       ANOTHER REPORTER (O.S.)                   Minister Malcolm...what about the                   reports of a split between you and                   Elijah Muhammad?                    JOSEPH 13X:   we read his face listening to Malcolm.                                       MALCOLM X                   This is the champ's time. And I'm                   here as a friend to celebrate his                   victory. So I got nothing you want...                                       CASSIUS                   I'm going to be a people's champion.                   But I don't have to be the way you                   want me to be. I'm gonna be what I                   want. And I'm free to think any                   way I want...                    And, as he goes on, the crowd knows neither Cassius nor          Malcolm will ever turn their backs on them.                    EXT. THE HOTEL THERESA - MALCOLM - NIGHT                    enters into the street with his Bodyguard and looks up to a          top-floor window in which he sees a light is still on at 4 a.m.                    INT. THE HOTEL THERESA, CASSIUS' ROOM - CASSIUS - BEFORE DAWN                    asleep with the television on. There's a knock on the door.          Barely awake, he gets up to answer it. It's Malcolm. Still          in his familiar hat and overcoat. He hasn't slept...                                       MALCOLM X                   I was leaving, saw the light                   on...how come you're up?                                       CASSIUS                       (mumbles, half-asleep)                   ...watchin' a show on                   termites...they knockin' down this                   house, here.                    He goes back to lay on the bed. Malcolm looks out the          window...the wet streets at night.                                                                      24.                                       MALCOLM X                   I been invited to speak at Ibadan                   University in Nigeria. C'mon with me?                                       CASSIUS                   Six million in your house and you                   don't know it. Where?                                        MALCOLM X                   Africa.   You been there?                                       CASSIUS                   Africa? No. Only Rome.      Yeah, man,                   let's go!                                       MALCOLM X                   Nkrumah stayed with me when he was                   a student in New York, so we'll                   stop in Ghana...                                       CASSIUS                   When we leaving?                                       MALCOLM X                   Next Thursday.                    Malcolm's distracted.   He fingers his glasses.                                       CASSIUS                       (sees)                   What is it?                                       MALCOLM X                   You ever been so angry...have you                   ever been so angry that you'd explode?                                       CASSIUS                       (after a beat)                   Tore out a picture of Emmett Till                   when I was little. Couldn't take                   my eyes to it...couldn't look at it.                   Barb-wire around his neck to a 75-                   pound cotton-gin fan. Took out his                   eye. The cruelty to it...I                   couldn't look at it...couldn't                   throw it away.                                       MALCOLM X                   What else?                                                                   25.                                       CASSIUS                   I thought, "What I do wrong to be                   so low that people could do that to                   people like me?" It made me feel                   ashamed. And that makes no sense.                   But that's what it was.                                       MALCOLM X                   ...when I heard about the four                   girls bombed in the 16th Street                   Church in Birmingham?                       (beat)                   The prohibitions of the Honorable                   Elijah Muhammad prevented me from                   speaking my voice in action.                   Because Birmingham was part of the                   civil rights movement, begging for                   a place at the white man's table...                   But dead children...are dead                   children. So the anger I felt, I                   had to contain. I locked that down!                   So tight my muscles seized. I lost                   control over the right side of my                   body. Leg didn't work...right arm                   didn't work. "I'm having a stroke,"                   I thought. I had to hold it in                   'cause I wanted, all I wanted was                   to BREAK SOMETHING! Break a                   part...any part of this system.                   Because you are so provoked as a                   human being. In your spirit. In                   your heart... At the death of                   children. But I COULD DO...nothing.                    Cassius is quiet.                                       MALCOLM X (CONT'D)                       (putting his glasses                        back on)                   Everyone knows... Now I'm                   advocating more direct political                   action involvement with the                   international struggle... So                   Elijah Muhammad has suspended me as                   a Minister in the Nation of Islam                   for 90 days.                                       CASSIUS                   You can fix that...                                       MALCOLM X                   I don't know. I will try when we                   get back. Until then I will live                   each day as if I am already dead.                                                                              26.                    That statement surprises Cassius, but he says nothing.          Malcolm X stands by the window and watches the day begin in          Harlem.                    INT. ELIJAH MUHAMMAD'S HOUSE, CHICAGO, 1964 - JOSEPH 13X - DAY                    approaches Cassius in a suit and tie and beckons him into a          living room in which sits Elijah Muhammad on a plastic-          covered white sofa. Cassius is at his most deferential,          awed at being in this man's presence. Elijah's power is the          inverse of his size. He's short and delicate-featured. He          motions for Cassius to sit beside him. Joseph 13X sits          across the room with two men.                                       ELIJAH MUHAMMAD                   Only after long service and high                   merit in the spiritual and physical                   rebirth of Afro-American people...is                   one granted an original name. But                   you are special. A world champion.                   So there is a gift I wish to give                   you. From this day forward you                   will be known as Muhammad                   Ali...which means "one worthy of                   praise," and Ali means "most high."                                       CASSIUS                       (a beat, sounding it)                   Muhammad Ali.                       (humble)                   "Worthy of praise..." Thank you!                    And he's genuinely moved. As Elijah Muhammad puts his small          hands in Muhammad Ali's hands...giving him his blessings...                                       ELIJAH MUHAMMAD                       (cautioning)                   Be very careful what you say...your                   words reflect on the nation of                   Islam, now.                                         CASSIUS                   Yes, sir.                                       ELIJAH MUHAMMAD                       (after a beat)                   Up until now, I have entrusted your                   spiritual development to Brother                   Malcolm.                       (beat)                   I do not feel this is a wise course                   anymore.                                                                                  27.                    Extremely emotional about Malcolm, tears come to Elijah          Muhammad's eyes. Joseph 13X observes in the background.          Cassius is taken by surprise at "The Messenger"'s display...                                       ELIJAH MUHAMMAD (CONT'D)                   Malcolm has gone off into the                   secular world and does not measure                   his words. I have decided to give                   you, as your guide, my very own son,                   Herbert Muhammad.                    And he looks across the room...a roly-poly man wearing a bow          tie...HERBERT MUHAMMAD. He has a habit of nervously          straightening his shirt. A seemingly mild, pleasant man, he          is without self-definition. Below this avuncular surface,          he defines himself by quietly desiring and acquiring what is          others'.                                       ELIJAH MUHAMMAD (CONT'D)                   Herbert will supervise all of your                   spiritual and material needs.                                       CASSIUS                       (not a thought)                   This is a great honor, Messenger...                    Elijah gives a subtle look and Herbert retreats to where he          came from, sitting back on the couch by Joseph 13X...                    EXT. THE CLAY HOUSE, LOUISVILLE, 1964 - EVENING                    We've entered mid-scene.                                       CASSIUS CLAY, SR.                   Why you want to change?                                       A NEIGHBOR (V.O.)                       (to Ali)                   Could we get a picture with you?                       (to Cassius, Sr.)                   You mind, Mr. Clay?                    A neighboring family coming to stand beside Ali.   Cassius,          Sr. steps aside.                    CASSIUS CLAY, SR., a sport, a flamboyant man, is impatient.          Inside, Odessa Clay and brother, Rudy, are talking.                                       CASSIUS CLAY, SR.                   What's wrong with the lawyers and                   managers you got?                                                                              28.                                       A NEIGHBOR                   One more.                       (click)                   Thank you.                                       CASSIUS CLAY, SR.                   Yeah, yeah...                    They leave.                                       CASSIUS CLAY, SR. (CONT'D)                   You got...I got you the best white                   men I could find. Right here in                   L'ville...                                       ALI                   When the contract run out. I want                   black lawyers and managers.                   Chauncey Eskridge on North La Salle                   Street...                                       CASSIUS CLAY, SR.                       (angrily)                   They saved you from the gangsters,                   from the jackals and the hyenas of                   boxing. Never cheated you.                   Protected you with a trust fund...                                       ALI                   I don't need no "protectin'" from                   myself. Why I need protecting from                   myself by them...?                                       CASSIUS CLAY, SR.                   And now I got to go tell them,                   "Piss off. Cassius don't want you                   around no more."                                       ALI                   I ain't one of their thoroughbreds!                   Or their charity things. "Let's do                   somethin' for that well-behaved                   colored boy, Cassius." I ain't                   well-behaved nothing! I am a man.                    The light starts to go...porch lights starting to come on...                                       ALI (CONT'D)                   And I am not Cassius. I changed my                   name. I am Muhammad Ali, now.                                         CASSIUS CLAY, SR.                   You what?                                                                             29.                                       ALI                   That's right.                                       CASSIUS CLAY, SR.                       (stunned)                   What? What's wrong with...our name,                   my name...? We're...we made you.                   We...                                       ALI                   No one "made me"...                                       CASSIUS CLAY, SR.                   No bow-tie-wearin', Arab-talkin'                   nigger gonna change that...                                       ALI                       (anybody's son)                   I made me.                       (adamant)                   No one's in that ring but me!                                       CASSIUS CLAY, SR.                   You don't know who you are...                                       ALI                   I know who I'm not...I'm not                   drinkin'! Goin' back on my wife!                   I am not prayin' to no blue-eyed,                   blonde-haired Jesus. I ain't...                                       CASSIUS CLAY, SR.                   Paintin' blue-eyed, blonde-haired                   Jesuses and signs on cars is what                   put steak and vegetables in you,                   clothes on you...                             ODESSA CLAY                   ...dinner!                    And we realize it has gotten too dark to see...                                       CASSIUS CLAY, SR.                       (cold)                   Go ahead!                    Bitter silences.                                         CASSIUS CLAY, SR. (CONT'D)                   Go ahead.                    Cassius, Sr. walks off...his back arched too straight,          trying to hold his pride together.                                                                                  30.                                       ODESSA CLAY                   You didn't get it from me...your                   words, your sense of humor, what                   makes you angry, what makes you a                   fighter. You got that from your                   daddy...                                       ALI                   You saying I'm just like him?                                       ODESSA CLAY                   I'm saying, if he was your age                   today, he'd do the same as you.                   And he knows that.                    And Odessa goes back inside.          INT. MALCOLM'S HOUSE, KITCHEN (QUEENS, NEW YORK), 1964 - NIGHT                    We see Malcolm at work at the kitchen table.      It's cluttered          and small. The telephone rings...                                         ONE OF HIS CHILDREN (OVER)                   Daddy...    For you...                    Malcolm gets it.                                       JOSEPH 13X (V.O.)                   Brother Malcolm...                                       MALCOLM X                   What is it, Joseph?                                       JOSEPH 13X (V.O.)                   The Honorable Elijah Muhammad has                   given the Muslim name, Muhammad Ali,                   to Cassius X. Herbert Muhammad's                   been placed in charge of his                   training, instead of you.                       (and ultimately)                   Muhammad Ali will not be traveling                   with you to Africa.                    Malcolm's still.    He's been co-opted.                                       JOSEPH 13X (V.O.) (CONT'D)                   The Honorable Elijah Muhammad has                   asked me to inform you your                   suspension has been extended                   indefinitely.                    Joseph 13X hangs up. Malcolm quietly closes the door.          Malcolm dials a number. No answer.                                                                               31.                    Betty has come in.   They exchange a look.                                       BETTY SHABAZZ                       (concerned for her husband)                   Malcolm?                                       MALCOLM X                       (after a beat, disconsolate)                   Cassius won't be coming to                   Africa...not with me.                    She puts her hand on Malcolm's shoulder.                                       BETTY SHABAZZ                   Go anyway. Don't put it off.      It's                   not safe here.                             ONE OF HIS CHILDREN (OVER)                       (calling)                   Mommy...the bath's ready...                                                                 CUT TO:                    INT. GHANA AIR DC-8 COCKPIT - ALI - NIGHT                    in first class on a "Ghana Airlines" flight to Africa.          Close by is Herbert Muhammad. Howard Bingham and Ali's          brother, Rudy, are across the aisle from him, asleep...   The          plane bumps in choppy air.                    Muhammad, unable to sleep, a nervous flyer, gets up. He          wanders up the aisle to the front of the plane. A Stewardess          comes out of the cockpit. Muhammad slows, startled by the          pilots. Both pilot and copilot are black.                                       ALI                       (joking)                   Hey, man, where they put the real                   pilot? What you doin' up here?                                       PILOT                       (not understanding;                        British accent)                   I am...the pilot. He's the                   copilot...                       (moves map case)                   Here, Mr. Clay, sit down...                                       ALI                   No, man, I meant...in L'ville, when                   I growed up, they barely let black                   folks drive buses.                                                                                32.                    Ali looks out the window...a new day downs over the land.          Then Bingham shows up over Ali's shoulder. They all pose,          facing the rear of the cockpit. Then, the Pilot points to          the coast below them and the sunrise...                                       THE PILOT                   Here we are. Cote d'Ivoire...Africa.                                                                  CUT TO:                    EXT. BUILDING IN CAIRO - CABLE - DAY (EGYPT)                    snakes out a building.   CAM FOLLOWS IT and we HEAR...                                       BETTY SHABAZZ (V.O.)                   We should think of a name, Malcolm...          INT. CAIRO BUILDING - WIDE:   HALLWAY - DAY                    MARLIN THOMAS -- paunchy, grey, late 40's -- walks up the          stairs carrying take-out food.                                       MALCOLM X (V.O.)                   How about Gamilah or Khalilah?                    INT. CAIRO EMPTY APARTMENT - MARLIN THOMAS - DAY                    crosses to ANOTHER AMERICAN wearing headphones in the          glassed-in balcony where the CABLE connects to a portable          tape-recorder.                                       MARLIN THOMAS                       (eating)                   Anything?                                       THE MAN                   ...on the phone with his wife.                   She's having a hard time                   sleeping...baby's kicking a lot...                                       MARLIN THOMAS                   Motor Pool, here, have a Chevy                   parts catalogue...?                    As the CIA monitors Malcolm X...                                                                  CUT TO:                    EXT. INDEPENDENCE SQUARE, ACCRA - ALI - DAY (GHANA)                    in a Mercedes convertible. It's a monumental expression of          the force for the independence of black Africa. Accra is a          wonder to Ali. A Third World showplace, in 1964 Ghana is          alive with the optimism of emerging Africa. Infrastructure                                                                                33.                    and real estate are well-managed. Under Nkrumah, the city          is in a frenzy of building public housing...                    ALI                    in the three-car caravan, passes the huge triumphal arch          with its giant black star on the top. Thousands line the          route to see the heavyweight champion and cheer him. For          Ali it's another kind of parade...                    ALI'S POV:   GHANAIANS                    They're stockbrokers and street cleaners, salesmen and          secretaries, hotel managers and military officers... All is          a contrast to the de facto apartheid of the middle America          of Ali's experience. They all cheer his caravan as it passes.                                                     CUT TO:                    EXT. THE AMBASSADOR HOTEL, ACCRA - MERCEDES - LATE AFTERNOON          (GHANA)                    arrives with Ali and entourage. It's a modern hotel.          Meanwhile, a different group are about to depart in limos.          One among them, a tall Man in a dashiki and sunglasses and          carrying a walking stick, separates. He sees Ali. So does          the woman next to him. She is the poet Maya Angelou.                                       MALCOLM X                       (shouts)                   Brother Muhammad...                    Taking off his shades, we realize it's Malcolm X. He wears          a goatee, now. Ali turns, sees him. Total surprise.                                       ALI                   Hey, man!!!                    They embrace. Ali greets him like the old friend he is.          Maya and the Chinese diplomat wait a few steps removed.                                       ALI (CONT'D)                   How you doin'? What's up, brother?                   I knew you were here...didn't think                   you were still here...                                       MALCOLM X                   And I heard you were coming.                                                                             34.                                       ALI                   We just got here now...                       (words rush out)                   And, maaan, the brothers were flyin'                   a DC 8. Flippin' switches,                   navigatin', filing flight plans,                   talkin' French...                    And they remember how much they like each other.                                       ALI (CONT'D)                   Where you goin'?                                       MALCOLM X                   When...uh, Liberia.   When you                   fighting Liston?                               ALI                   November.                                       MALCOLM X                   This is Maya Angelou and Ambassador                   Huang Ha. Amando Gonzalez is from                   Cuba. Taher Kaid is the Ambassador                   from Algeria.                    Ali waves.   They keep their distance.                                       ALI                   Man, where should I go?   We're                   planning on Egypt.                                       MALCOLM X                   Algeria. See Ben Bella...                       (beat)                   Go to Mecca, Medina. I just came                   back. Made my seven circuits                   around the Kaaba, prayed at                   sunrise... There were two million                   people...pilgrims from all over.                   Dressed all the same, high and low,                   the same. Blonde-haired, blue-eyed                   Muslims. Arabs.                       (off Ali's look of                        surprise)                   Blacks. Yeah. All of them,                   Muslims praying together.                    INT. AMBASSADOR HOTEL ROOM - MARLIN THOMAS - DAY                    who was surveilling Malcolm X in Cairo is here, too. Right          now he picks up the phone. REVEAL at the window an African          Man and another American with binoculars.                                                                                 35.                                         BRADLEY (V.O.)                   Hello...?                                       MALCOLM X                   It's Marlin. You'll never guess                   who Malcolm ran into...                                                               CUT TO:                    INT. LEOPOLDVILLE SCHOOL - CLASSROOM - BRADLEY - DAY (CONGO)                                       BRADLEY                       (in French; into phone)                   Un moment...                                       BRADLEY (CONT'D)                       (English translation;                        into phone)                   Hold on a second...                    BRADLEY, an American in his late 30's, who's balding and          whose mouth is too wide, sits at the teacher's desk in an          empty classroom. A heavyset American and two Black African          Thugs with M-1 carbines are with him.                                       MOBUTU'S MILITARY AIDE                       (in French)                   Le MinistËre de DÈfense vous remercie.                                       MOBUTU'S MILITARY AIDE (CONT'D)                       (English translation)                   The Defense Minister thanks you.                    Uniformed MOBUTU'S MILITARY AIDE smiles and warmly shakes          Bradley's hand. Bradley says "he's welcome" and signals to          the Heavyset American. The American leads Mobutu's Military          Aide somewhere. Meanwhile...                                       BRADLEY                       (in French)                   Il n'y a pas de quoi. Cela m'a                   fait grand plaisir. Faites-lui mes                   compliments.                                       BRADLEY (CONT'D)                       (English translation)                   It's nothing. Give him my compliments.                    INT. LEOPOLDVILLE SCHOOL CORRIDOR - MOBUTU'S MILITARY AIDE          FOLLOWS BRADLEY'S AMERICAN                    to a sports court. Eight Uniformed Soldiers are with them.          In the sports court, on their knees, hands bound behind them,          facing away from us, are six prisoners in business clothes.                                                                                36.                    One is a woman. Guarding them are Bradley's Guards.          Mobutu's Military Aide's soldiers take over the prisoners.          Mobutu's Military Aide talks into a walkie-talkie. Meanwhile...                    GEN. JOSEPH MOBUTU IN UNIFORM                    listens to his walkie-talkie. He has distant eyes. He's          heard what he needs and walks up a staircase and around a          corner.                    INT. LEOPOLDVILLE SCHOOL, SECOND CLASSROOM - MOBUTU                    enters. He is the beneficiary of this routine military coup.          Other uniformed officers at students' desks now stand and          applaud. Mobutu will rename the Congo "Zaire" and we'll see          him later. Meanwhile in Ghana...          INT. AMBASSADOR HOTEL ROOM - MARLIN THOMAS - DAY                                       MARLIN THOMAS                   Malcolm bumped into Cassius Clay.                   Muhammad Ali...whatever he calls                   himself...                                       BRADLEY                   I thought that was all over. Is                   Clay going to support Malcolm's U.N.                   resolution?                                       MARLIN THOMAS                   I don't know.                                       BRADLEY                   Find out. We'll pick up on Malcolm                   in Liberia ourselves.                    EXT. AMBASSADOR HOTEL - ALI + MALCOLM X                                       MALCOLM X                   Drank from the well of Zem-Zem...                   And you should visit Cairo. I have                   friends there in...                    Meanwhile...                                       ALI                       (his thoughts)                   ...shouldn't have quarreled with                   the Honorable Elijah...                    The rapport between them becomes fleeting.   Ali's attention          drifts away. He closes down...                                                                                37.                                       ALI (CONT'D)                       (to himself)                   You shouldn't have...                       (vocalized)                   ...quarreled with the honorable                   Elijah Muhammad...                                         MALCOLM X                   What?                                       ALI                   You shouldn't have quarreled with                   Elijah Muhammad.                    And Ali separates.   He turns away.   Malcolm calls after him...                                       MALCOLM X                   Brother Muhammad...                    Ali won't turn back from his rejection of Malcolm.   He          shakes his head "no" and walks off.                                       MALCOLM X (CONT'D)                   Brother Muhammad...!                    INT. TIGER LOUNGE, CHICAGO - SHERI - NIGHT                    sings "For Your Precious Love," and REVEAL: ALI + SONJI ROI          dancing. We're back in Chicago. She's sexy and has a great          smile and flashing eyes. People leave Ali alone. One Fruit          of Islam bodyguard is nearby, semi-conspicuous. In a booth          is Herbert with a date, another FOI guard, and a businessman.          Sonji, who is sexually overt and fun, is laminated to Ali.          After a few bars...                                       ALI                   Sonji...Sonji Roi...                                       SONJI                       (laughs)                   What you keep sayin' my name for?                                       ALI                   'Cause I love it, girl. How long                   you been workin' for Herbert?                                       SONJI                   'Bout a year. I sell "Muhammad                   Speaks" over the phone...                                       ALI                   What kind of name is that?                                                              38.                              SONJI          My father named me after Sonja Henie.                              ALI          What's your father do?                              SONJI          He was shot in a poker game when I          was two. He don't do nothin'.          Sonja, on the other hand, was an          ice skater, and my mother died when          I was eleven.                              ALI          So who raised you?                              SONJI          Godparents, but I been on my own,          doing my own thing...                              ALI          Whatcha doin' tomorrow?       Go ridin'          with me.                               SONJI          No.   I gotta work, you know.                              ALI          I square it with Herbert.       I got a          record player in my car.                              SONJI          A record player?     C'mon.    How come          it don't skip?                              ALI          Got springs and stuff.                              SONJI          Herbert said you met The Beatles.                              ALI          Yeah. Only one of 'em's smart...the          one with the glasses.                              SONJI          ...he's my favorite.                              ALI          People all screaming and fainting.          I asked him, "This the way they act          when you get big?"                                                                              39.                                       SONJI                   What he say?                                       ALI                   He said, "Champ. The more real you                   get, the more unreal it gonna get."                                       SONJI                   Wow...                    After Sheri sings the first chorus...                                       ALI                   Let's go...                                       SONJI                   Yeah...                                       ALI                       (crossing out)                   Where you live?                                       SONJI                   I'm takin' you there...                    Herbert looks up from his booth, starts to ask where they're          going...but they're gone. He turns back to the man he's          talking to...                    INT. SONJI'S APARTMENT - WINDOW - NIGHT (1964)                    PULL BACK from being above Chicago in the winter at night to          Ali and Sonji making love where Sheri's voice sings the          second verse. To Ali's reactions...                                       ALI                   I think I gonna keep you around                   forever, girl.                                       SONJI                       (laughs)                   Well, I'm not too busy right now,                   so...I'll think on it.                                       ALI                   Herbert said you weren't a Muslim.                                       SONJI                   Cover my hair? No make-up?     Long                   dresses? Honey, please.                       (beat)                   Were you a virgin?                                                                              40.                                        ALI                    Why?                                        SONJI                        (laughs)                    'Cause you so "gone" off a little                    good time.                                        ALI                    I'm no virgin...but I may as well                    be.                        (beat)                    I ain't jokin'! I always know when                    I know. See this face? I mean,                    you got a pretty face for a girl's                    face, but you ever seen somethin'                    as pretty as me? Now, you about                    five-foot-three...that's too small.                    But I overlook that, too, 'cause...                                        SONJI                        (sarcastic)                    Thank you so much.                                        ALI                    ...'cause of your spirit!                                        SONJI                    My "spirit"...?                                         ALI                    Yeah.   'Cause you too much fun!                                        SONJI                    You serious?                    She raises his head next to hers, looks in his eyes.                                        ALI                    But you gotta be a Muslim.                                        SONJI                    Huh? How you do that? Step over a                    broom...shazaam...you a Muslim?                    She laughs. He rests his head on her stomach.   He likes her          irreverence...                                        ALI                    Maaan, I ain't never been with a                    girl like you.                                                                                41.                                       SONJI                   Baby, maybe you ain't ever gonna be                   with any other.                    They start making love again.                    EXT./INT. 50TH ON THE LAKE MOTEL, COFFEE SHOP - ALI, HERBERT,          BUNDINI + BINGHAM - DAY                                       HERBERT                   What?                                       ALI                   That's right.   I wanna marry her.                                       HERBERT                   You can't marry that girl! She was                   a date! Have some fun! She's not                   your wife! You don't marry this                   girl.                       (puts contracts in                        front of him)                   Sign there. Management papers. My                   father will kill me.                                       BUNDINI                   True love!                    Bundini cracks up. Ali signs without even glancing at the          documents. Bingham notices this.                                       BINGHAM                   Watch what you signing, Ali.                                       HERBERT                       (to Bingham; sharp)                   Nothing to do with you.                                       BINGHAM                   You talkin' to me, or someone walk                   inna room, fat boy? Anything's do                   to with me I think's to d-d-do with                   me...I'm st-st-still a Christian.                                       ALI                       (signs anyway)                   And get me a kosher cook...lady who                   cooks at Malcolm's temple. Put my                   brother on the payroll. 50g a year                   for drivin' and jivin'.                                       HERBERT                   Lana Shabazz...                                                                      42.                                       ALI                   Yeah. How 'bout it, Howard. You be                   my official full-time photographer.                                       BINGHAM                   I ain't goin' on your payroll. I                   like it freelance. Emphasis on "free."                    As Ali signs the last of the contracts.                                       HERBERT                   Muhammad. She's not...for you.                   When I met her, she was working at                   a cocktail lounge with a bunny tail                   on her backside.                                       BUNDINI                   What were you doin' down at a                   cocktail lounge, Herbert? Sellin'                   "Muhammad Peeks"?                    Ali and Bingham crack up...                                       HERBERT                       (to Bundini)                   Sober up and say something to this                   man, Bundini. You supposed to be                   his "inspiration."                                        BUNDINI                        (looks at Ali; to                         Ali, serious)                    I got to know about Sonji, Muhammad.                    She got a sister?                        (as Ali laughs)                                       BINGHAM                   You been s-s-saving it up, training,                   Champ. You can't unleash it on                   this girl all sudden. You may kill                   her! Maybe you should spread it                   around more before you tie it down.                                       ALI                   No. Marriage is the cornerstone of                   Muslim life.                                       HERBERT                   Sonji Roi is not a Muslim!                                       ALI                   She gonna be a Muslim, now!                       (flashes)                   So fix it up, Herbert.                                                                                 43.                    INT. FIFTH STREET GYM - ALI                    past a speed bag onto Ali with Dundee + Sarria on the          exercise table. They do NOT see, and we PASS them and other          training boxers and MOVE IN to a portable B&W TV on top of a          cabinet.                    ON B&W TV:   MALCOLM X + MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.                    exchange greetings and introductions as if in a first-time          meeting, and King turns back to CAMERA.                                       MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.                       (mid-statement)                   I fear if this bill is not passed...                       (beat)                   ...our nation is in for a dark                   night of social disruption.                    As an anchorman pontificates...IMAGE SUDDENLY BECOMES: FIVE          DIFFERENT SURVEILLANCE ANGLES. King and Malcolm have no          clue how extensive is the FBI Cointelpro surveillance and          the operations mounted against them. And the image of the          two of them becomes...                    INT. A COFFEE SHOP (WASHINGTON, D.C.) - THEIR PICTURE -          SMILEY - DAY                    on the front page of the Washington Post. REVEAL Joseph 13X          sitting next to JOE SMILEY in a small Washington, D.C.          coffee shop.                                       JOSEPH 13X                   Why we meeting?                                       JOE SMILEY                   The idea was...to...make...Malcolm                   smaller, you know? Diminished;                   obscure? Not to turn him into a                   messiah.                       (the paper)                   What I got, now, is Malcolm                   shoulder to shoulder with Martin                   Luther King.                       (beat)                   And Malcolm running all over the                   world getting Ben Bella and Nasser                   to denounce racism in the U.S.                   while we're competing over there                   with the Soviets.                             (MORE)                                                                                  44.                                       JOE SMILEY (CONT'D)                       (droll)                   Not...a resounding success. We                   were better off before, with                   Malcolm INSIDE the Nation.                       (beat)                   So... We want you...to get Elijah                   Muhammad...to take Malcolm back.                    Joseph 13X stares at him, slack-jawed.    Incredulous.   No          reaction.                                       JOE SMILEY (CONT'D)                   That's a joke. I'm kidding! Don't                   you ever smile?                    Joseph 13X doesn't say anything.    He does not smile.                                       JOE SMILEY (CONT'D)                   We're on a timetable. Malcolm's                   pal, Quaison from Ghana, is                   introducing Malcolm's resolution to                   the General Assembly in Washington.                   That's in five weeks.                    Joseph 13X oddly gets up, moving a stool over...                                       JOSEPH 13X                   You got bad breath, man.                                       JOE SMILEY                   Thyroid. I got a stab wound in                   1961. They took it out. We gotta                   talk about this guy, too.                    Smiley indicates the picture of Ali in "Muhammad Speaks"          identifying him as a militant and a revolutionary.                                       JOSEPH 13X                   When do I get my expenses                   reimbursed...dry cleaning lots of                   suits isn't free...                    Off Ali's picture...it becomes...                    INT. MIAMI HOTEL ROOM - ALI - NIGHT                    enters, looking for Sonji. Bundini and Cassius Clay, Sr.          were laughing about something else. They got quiet.          Bundini has a large water glass in his hand; Sr., a highball          glass.                                                                               45.                                       ALI                       (to Bundini)                   What you drinkin'?                                       BUNDINI                   What am I drinkin'? Water's what                   I'm drinkin', champ! I'm a natural                   man...                    Ali goes to the bedroom door.                                       ALI                   What's goin' on?     We're late.                    He's dressed for an occasion.                                       SONJI (V.O.)                   I'm changing my damn clothes! You                   didn't like what I was wearin'!                    As Ali re-enters the living room, there's a knock on the          door..."Room Service..."                                       BUNDINI                   Come on in...!                       (sees)                   What's that?                                       ROOM SERVICE                       (with large glass)                   What you wanted, isn't it...a water                   glass with vodka...?                                       BUNDINI                   That was before...                                       ROOM SERVICE                   Before what?                                       BUNDINI                   Before you showed up...                    And, now, Sonji comes out. This dress makes what she had          been wearing look demure. Tight angora sweater and a          miniskirt. She's Tina Turner 30 years ago.                                       SONJI                   I fine runnin' around in all these                   cute short things for you. I                   submissive to you. But I ain't                   gonna be submissive to the Brother                   X's and what they think. They                   askin' me questions alla time anyway.                                                                                  46.                                       ALI                   What questions?!                                       SONJI (V.O.)                   About you and us and I ain't tellin'                   'em shit.                                       CASSIUS CLAY, SR.                       (drunk)                   Tell it like it is, sugar! They                   took my boy's name...and what they                   give him back? Bad style.                    Ali takes her back into the bedroom and closes the door.                                       SONJI                   I don't drink. I don't smoke. I                   converted to Islam for you and...                    INT. BEDROOM - SONJI + ALI - NIGHT                                       SONJI                   All except the dress! I ain't                   puttin' no bleached-out, double-                   ugly bedsheets on this body, honey!                   I'm normal!                    He's furious. She smiles. He picks her up. She moans and          her tongue darts in his ear and they're on the bed making          out. And as CAMERA DRIFTS away we HEAR D.J. Daddio Daley's          "Jazz Patio"...                    INT. A NEW CAR (CHICAGO) - ALI - DAY                    king of the city, cruising through the pristine winter air          of Chicago...                             DADDIO                       (on radio)                   Hey there, old, aware ones. And                   you, too, my fair ones...This is                   "Daddio's Jazz Patio." ON KBCA                   this fine day, which is A-okay...                    Segues to...Brubeck's "Time Out," cruising...                    INT. THE AUDUBON BALLROOM, HARLEM - REAR OF MALCOLM'S HEAD -          DAY                    center-punches the   FRAME through the green-glazed terra-          cotta hallway. He    and his Bodyguard (#1) come to a door.          Shedding his coat,   he hesitates, and like a prizefighter          gathering himself,   he goes inside.                                                                                 47.                    INT. ALI'S NEW CAR - ALI - DAY                    at a light, waves to a cluster of girls waiting for a bus          who recognize him, go nuts...listening to Brubeck...                    INT. THE AUDUBON BALLROOM - MALCOLM - DAY                    walks across the stage, aware of every little sound, every          motion. He makes his way to the podium...peering beyond his          glasses at the gathered. Bodyguard #1 goes to the side door          instead of standing next to him...and Malcolm notices          that...as he...                                          MALCOLM X                      As-Salaam Alaikum...                                          THE GATHERED                      Wa-Alaikum-Salaam...                    And two young Black men, TALMADGE HAYER and NORMAN BUTLER          immediately stand up in the back, jostling each other...                                          A YOUNG MAN                          (shouts)                      What you doin' in my pockets, man?                      Get your hand outta my pocket!                                          MALCOLM X                      Hold it, hold it, brothers!                          (pleading)                      Let's be cool.                    And the commotion in the back diverts Bodyguards #1 and #2          towards the rear, away from the stage and Malcolm, as...                    THOMAS JOHNSON comes forward from a front row, his coat          flapping open, revealing the 12-gauge sawed-off double-          barrel shotgun coming up.                    MALCOLM'S EYES                    go to it.    Settle on it.   He new it was coming, as...                    JOHNSON, an indifferent expression on his face, FIRES one          barrel at...                    MALCOLM                    ...which rips through the lectern as if paper and SLAMS a          dead-center into his chest a seven-ring. 12 pellets, each          the size of .32 bullet. Seven destroy Malcolm's heart.          Five shred his aorta and burrow into his spine. Malcolm's          hands fly back, and he topples, crashing off empty chairs          onto the floor.                                                                                 48.                    UPSIDEDOWN ECU:   MALCOLM'S FACE + PAST                    ...as life exhales from his mouth and his eyes go grey,          dying, indifferent to Johnson emptying a second blast into          him and the meaningless indignities of Hayer and Butler          firing a .45 and a 9mm Luger at him.                    INT. ALI'S CAR - RADIO - DAY                    Dave Brubeck, loud...                    INT. THE AUDUBON BALLROOM - STAGE - DAY                    Chaos. Malcolm on the floor. Betty kneels over his body,          desperately trying to breathe life into it. An Asian woman,          a disciple, holds up his head. Somebody shouts, "Jesus,          God!" But there is no God today...                    INT. ALI'S CAR - ALI - DAY                    stops short at a light because a man runs across the street.                                         CRAZY MAN                   Ambushed!                    LOUD Brubeck in 5/4 time.    Ali can't hear.                                       CRAZY MAN (CONT'D)                   From the bullet holes, black eagles                   flew! They screaming through the                   streets...                    Ali rolls down the window.                                         ALI                   What?                             CRAZY MAN                       (dazed)                   They killed Malcolm...they shot                   Malcolm.                    "Daddio's Jazz Patio" is interrupted. Malcolm X has been          killed. Ali pulls over...not really parking. The world          stops. The South Side of Chicago goes still...people          numb...a young Man sitting down on the curb, crying. An          elegy...Sam Cooke's "A Change is Gonna Come..." plays. "I          was born by a river in a little tent..." And as Ali sits in          his car...he sees the face of Malcolm...the glasses...                                                                              49.                                       ALI                       (his thoughts)                   You were the first...you walked me                   forward, my brother...you were the                   first...                    He's overcome with a deep grief and a lack of confidence in          the order of his world.                                       SAM COOKE                       (sings)                   "Been a long, long time comin', but                   a change gonna come, yes it is..."                    INT. THE RING, ST. DOMINIC'S ARENA (LEWISTON, MAINE) - ALI -          NIGHT                             HOWARD COSELL                   ...the arena is surrounded by FBI,                   the stands are only half full, the                   promoter has taken out a million-                   dollar insurance policy due to                   Cassius Clay's membership in the                   militant and radical Black Muslims                   because of death threats. Oh, and                   by the way...Sonny Liston is here, too.                    ...sees Sonji enter in a sequined mini-dress, bouffant hair.          She attracts attention and disapproval from Herbert. She          sits next to Ali's parents at ringside amid the large,          conservatively dressed Muslim contingent. He's angry at her          presentation. She looks like a girl singer from a doo-wop          group. He slips off his robe. Ali raises his gloves in          Muslim prayer. Meanwhile: the BELL rings.                    ALI          meets Liston, nails him with a straight right. Ali begins          baiting him, dancing. Liston tries to cut off the ring,          jabbing ineffectually. Ali lets Liston in, pulls back, then          pivots on his right foot, throws a short right and RAMP INTO          SLO-MO...to see Liston not see it coming.                    The muscles of Ali's upper body contract and ripple in          release after his short RIGHT catches Liston on the point of          his chin. Liston drops to the canvas like a stone.                                       HOWARD COSELL (CONT'D)                   Liston is down! Scarcely a minute                   into the first round, I can't                   believe it!                    Sonji is up. For some reason, tears of worry stream,          absurdly, from her eyes.                                                                               50.                    The IMAGE:   Ali standing over Liston, fist cocked, bellowing:                                       ALI                   Get up, sucker! Get up and fight!                   No one gonna believe this!                    Liston tries to get up, rolls over. His left leg spasms.          As the ref finally pushes Ali to a neutral corner.                                       HOWARD COSELL                   It's over; it's over!                    INT. MUHAMMAD'S DRESSING ROOM - NIGHT                    Sarria, Bundini, Pacheco as Dundee cuts the tape off          Muhammad's hands. And Sonji appears at the door...runs and          embraces Ali.                                       SONJI                   You okay?                       (he's cold)                   What's wrong?                                       ALI                   Why you done up like that?                                       SONJI                   I'm dyin' and...'cause this is how                   I dress! I dyin' for you out of                   worry...                                       ALI                   "Worry"...?                                       SONJI                   Yeah. And all you care about is if                   I look dull enough?                                       ALI                   The world looks at me, girl! What                   if I straightened my hair, live in                   the white suburbs? How I am says                   something!                                       SONJI                       (quiet; tough)                   Well, sorry you don't like how I am...                    EXT. HOLIDAY INN, BALCONY - ALI - NIGHT                    enters up the stairs. Bundini's waiting for him as are          Reporters, trying to ambush him. Lots of activity in the          motel forecourt.                                                                               51.                                       ALI                       (to Bundini)                   Where's Herbert?                    Bundini indicates and Ali exits into Herbert's room. Beyond          is the Holiday Inn marquee: "Clay vs. Liston II." A few          letters droop.                    EXT. HOLIDAY INN, HERBERT'S ROOM - ALI - NIGHT                                       ALI                   What do I do...?                    Ali, angry, stands in front of Herbert.                                       HERBERT                   If you want, have no contact with                   her for ninety days. Then you make                   a public statement of divorce in                   the mosque, and Islamic law will be                   satisfied.                                       BUNDINI                   "Satisfied?"...satisfaction is not                   makin' it with the woman who send                   you to the moon?                    Cassius, Sr. bursts in.   Bundini has Ali's championship belt          over his shoulder.                                       BUNDINI (CONT'D)                   Man, I'm the only normal person                   left around here and I'm a black                   Jew who can't read and is half drunk.                                       CASSIUS CLAY, SR.                   I gotta talk to you.                    Bundini and Herbert start to leave.                                       ALI                   Please stay, Brother Herbert.                                       CASSIUS CLAY, SR.                   He ain't your brother! Your                   brother taking your wife back to                   Chicago. She's crying like a widow.                                       ALI                   I ain't dead!                                       CASSIUS CLAY, SR.                   You might as well be. You don't                   remember your name or who you are.                                                                                52.                    Cassius, Sr. leaves the room.                    INT. HOLIDAY INN, ALI'S MOTEL ROOM - HIGH ANGLE:   ALI - NIGHT                    enters. Stands at the dresser. Only his suitcase is there.          She left her chartreuse blouse. He takes it and smells the          scent of her cologne. He is torn with grief at the loss of          her, curling into a ball on the bed, alone in the room.                    INT. GREEN ROOM - ALI - DAY                    getting made up by a good-looking ASIAN COSMETOLOGIST. An          ASSISTANT DIRECTOR lounges against the wall with headset,          reading the newspaper...                                       COSMETOLOGIST                   You got the prettiest eyes...                                       ALI                   Yeah?                                       BUNDINI                   He so pretty, when you look up                   "pretty" in the dictionary, he too                   pretty to be there.                    She laughs and whispers something in Ali's ear, holding his          hand where the others can't see it and slips her phone          number to him. Meanwhile...a phone rings. Bundini answers          while...                                       A.D.                       (re: newspaper,                        to Ali)                   ...you gonna try for Germany?                                       ALI                   Huh?                                       A.D.                   You gonna try to get stationed in                   Germany?                                       ALI                   What you talking about?                                        BUNDINI                   Champ.   It's Eskridge...                                                                                 53.                                       A.D.                       (Ali didn't know)                   They changed your classification.                       (turns page)                   It's in the paper...You're 1-A.                   You're gonna get drafted into the                   Army...                                       ALI                       (takes phone)                   You know about this?                                       CHAUNCEY ESKRIDGE (V.O.)                   Yes. But I think the government's                   looking to negotiate a deal...                                       A.D.                       (hears on headset)                   Here we go...!                    INT. A NEW YORK TELEVISION STUDIO, ABC - COSELL - DAY                    "Wide World of Sports" is ON THE AIR.   We've entered mid-          broadcast.                                       ALI                   ...I flunk their draft board test.                   Now, without testing if I am "wiser"                   or "worser," they decide I can go                   into the Army.                                       HOWARD COSELL                   Cassius, it is my opinion you...                                       ALI                       (cuts in)                   And I'm not Cassius Clay. That's a                   slave name. I'm a free man. I'm                   Muhammad Ali.                                       HOWARD COSELL                       (stops, realizing)                   You know, I apologize to you. On                   the air. Your name is Muhammad Ali.                   You have the right to be called                   whatever you want.                                       ALI                       (stays angry)                   You make a lot of mistakes for a                   so-called educated man. You really                   go to law school?                                                                              54.                                          HOWARD COSELL                      Yes, Muhammad. And to think I gave                      up a lucrative practice for the                      likes of you.                                          ALI                      I'm the best thing that ever                      happened to you, Howard Cosell.                      Without me you be a tall white man                      with a microphone in his mouth.                                          HOWARD COSELL                          (fast)                      And without me...you'd be a mouth.                    Ali lifts Howard's toupee.                                HOWARD COSELL (CONT'D)                          (into camera)                      We'll be right back.                    Laughter.                    INT. ABC TELEVISION STUDIO, BACKSTAGE - ALI + COSELL - LATER                    Ali pours three spoons of sugar in his coffee.                                          HOWARD COSELL                          (sarcastic)                      Have a little coffee with your                      sugar...?                                          ALI                      Keep talking. You were saying                      something half-smart...                                          HOWARD COSELL                      They want to make an example out of                      you.                                          ALI                      Why? I'm no Stokely Carmichael, H.                      Rap Brown...                                          HOWARD COSELL                      All they are is political. They                      tell people how they ought to be.                      But you are the HEAVYWEIGHT                      CHAMPION of the WORLD. You're                      important. And they don't like                      your militancy, your politics. So,                      they'll make an example out of you.                                                                              55.                                       ALI                   ...of a good "Ne-gro," who do what                   he told?                                       HOWARD COSELL                   Yes. Or, to demonstrate here is                   what happens to your ass if you                   don't...                    He's screwed either way.                    EXT./INT. THE UNITED STATES ARMED FORCES STATION, HOUSTON -          LOBBY - CHAUNCEY ESKRIDGE - DAY                    waits at the curb as Ali and Herbert pull up and get out of          a car...move through the crowd...reporters shouting          questions at him we don't hear, go up the steps, into the          lobby, joining other recruits and M.P.'s.                                       CHAUNCEY ESKRIDGE                       (quietly)                   You do six weeks basic...you go                   into the Reserves...you don't go to                   Vietnam...you get to box...you even                   get to keep the money...                    He gives Ali a piece of paper signed by the Justice          Department, confirming the deal...                                       HERBERT                       (lets him know)                   The Messenger would not object if                   you joined under these terms.                                       ALI                   I stay out of jail and I get to fight.                             HERBERT                       (nods)                   All you have to do is accept the                   induction. And life goes on.                                       CHAUNCEY ESKRIDGE                   They call your name. You say yes.                    We're not sure what Ali will do.                    INT. INDUCTION CENTER, HOUSTON - ALI - DAY                    lined up with the twenty-five other inductees...being          addressed by an Induction Officer, Naval LT. JEROME CLARIDGE...                                                                                56.                                       LT. JEROME CLARIDGE                   ...and you will take one step                   forward as your name and service                   are called, and such a step will                   constitute your induction into the                   Armed Force indicated.                    Lt. Claridge begins to read the names, and services...the          young Men dutifully stepping forward. Ali expects his name          to be called. Instead...                                       LT. JEROME CLARIDGE (CONT'D)                   Cassius Marcellus Clay.                    It's quiet. Dead quiet. Ali's lips move. NO sound comes          out. We anticipate him stepping forward...he doesn't.                             LT. JEROME CLARIDGE (CONT'D)                   Mr. Clay, I am required to inform                   you that refusal to accept a lawful                   induction order constitutes a                   felony under the Universal Military                   Training and Service Act, punishable                   by up to five years' imprisonment                   and a five-thousand-dollar fine.                   Do you understand?                                       ALI                       (nods)                   Yes.                    TWO FBI AGENTS in suits have appeared.                                       LT. JEROME CLARIDGE                       (repeats)                   Cassius Marcellus Clay.          Ali doesn't move.                                       LT. JEROME CLARIDGE (CONT'D)                       (a third time)                   Cassius Marcellus Clay.                    Herbert's dying.    Ali "stands his ground..." and the die has          been cast.                                       A MAN                       (presenting badge)                   Federal Bureau of Investigation.                   Mr. Clay, you're under arrest for                   refusing induction...                    As they turn around and handcuff him.                                                                              57.                    EXT. HOLIDAY INN (HOUSTON) - ALI + ENTOURAGE - LATE AFTERNOON                    approach from two vehicles. Rudy and SIX LARGE MUSLIMS          escort Ali through the crowd of media trucks, reporters and          conspicuous unmarked police cars and neighborhood people.                    ALI                    waves in Robert Lipsyte, the New York Times sportswriter in          his late 20's we've seen before. He and Howard Bingham,          waiting inside, know each other. They enter. The phone's          already RINGING.                    INT. HOLIDAY INN ROOM + BALCONY - ALI                    on the phone, on a long extension, joined by Lipsyte and          Howard Bingham, while Bundini keeps at bay reporters at the          front door. It all feels like a rock group in town for a          concert.                                       ALI                       (listens; to cam.)                   Ask Chauncey Eskridge in Chicago.                   He's my lawyer. No. I'm out on                   bail.                       (goes onto balcony                        [rear shot])                   Yeah, I fight. I fight clean. I'm                   an athlete. Army's there to kill,                   kill, kill. My religion forbids                   that. No. I never shot anything                   in my life.                       (turns)                   Do I know where Vietnam is?                       (wry; playing to                        Bingham)                   Yeah. It's on TV...                       (beat)                   In southeast Asia? It there, too?                       (beat)                   That's a joke, man...!                    Ali hangs up.   The phone rings again.                                       ALI (CONT'D)                       (frustrated)                   What do I think about who?      Vietcong?                    Next is something Ali has not deduced. Ali perceives it          intuitively and reflexively. As with other of his decisions,          once made, he doesn't hesitate to speak them. And he won't          waver. He says...                                                                                58.                                       ALI (CONT'D)                   Man, I ain't got no quarrel with                   them Vietcong.                    It goes dead silent.   Ali listens.   Lipsyte is stunned.          So's Howard.                                       ALI (CONT'D)                   No Vietcong ever called me nigger.                                       BINGHAM                   You know what you j-j-just said...?                    He hangs up.                                       LIPSYTE                   From Europe to China...every home                   in America...the world's gonna know                   what the heavyweight champion of                   the world said about the U.S. war...                                       ALI                   So what?                       (beat)                   I ain't gonna be what anybody else                   want me to be. I'm not afraid to                   be what I want. And think how I want.                    And that's the real Ali, right there.                    INT. HOLIDAY INN, ALI'S SUITE - ALI - NIGHT                    laying on the sofa. Dundee, Pacheco and Rudy have joined.          There's the feeling the house is a bunker. Phones ring.          Television is on. LIPSYTE, taking notes, watching Walter          Cronkite on TV. He crosses to Ali. Dundee's on the phone.                             LIPSYTE                       (reading)                   Nixon, the Republicans, Boxing                   Commission in New York, Cleveland                   and L.A.                       (a foregone conclusion)                   But you're also getting attacked as                   unpatriotic by the NAACP, Roy                   Wilkins, Jackie Robinson, the New                   York Times and Joe Louis...                    The expression on Ali's face is blank, as if he's accepting          a pounding: he knows what it is; it's not a surprise.                                                                              59.                    INT. GRANT PARK UNDERGROUND GARAGE - QUIET - NIGHT                    A very low ceiling; we're in a green-lit cavern with a low          ceiling. Chauncey Eskridge and Ali wait. Ali's in the          backseat of a 1961 Lincoln. Two FOI guards stationed at the          distant ramps allow a Black Oldsmobile to pass.                    BOB ARUM                    a New York lawyer and promoter arrives and climbs out of the          Oldsmobile. Ali opens the door...but doesn't get out...                                         ALI                         (to Arum)                     People are following me...                                         BOB ARUM                     I got almost nowhere I can promote                     a fight for you. Plus, I think                     they're going to vacate you from                     the crown.                                         ALI                     What?                                          BOB ARUM                     Yeah.   If you're convicted.                                         ALI                     They gonna take away what no                     fighter in the world can?                                         BOB ARUM                     And New York may revoke your boxing                     license.                                         CHAUNCEY ESKRIDGE                     You sure you want to do all this?                         (politics)                     Your next three to four years are                     every heavyweight's prime. And                     there are few of those years...                                         ALI                     What 'bout Terrell?                                         BOB ARUM                     We'll know if we can fight Terrell                     in Illinois this afternoon.                     Terrell's running his mouth. He                     said if you're called, you should                     serve...                                                                               60.                                       ALI                       (angrily)                   Motherfucker. He got a deferment                   for bein' too tall, or havin' flat                   feet. Why don't he serve for me?                   Tellin' me what I should do...                                       BOB ARUM                       (to Ali + Eskridge)                   I got to get you some fights.    Fast.                    Ali's quiet, not really listening anymore...                    INT. ILLINOIS BOXING COMMISSION - ALI - DAY                    wearing a suit and a narrow tie at a table in front of Daley          machine apparatchiks. A bald man, angrily:                                       COMMISSIONER                   You understand we could take away                   your license to fight Terrell in                   Illinois?                                       ALI                   Yes.                                       COMMISSIONER                   Are you prepared to apologize?                   About your unpatriotic remarks that                   you made?                                       ALI                   Apologize? No.                                       COMMISSIONER                   You said that you were the people's                   champion.                                       ALI                       (angry)                   Yes, sir!                                       COMMISSIONER                   Do you think you're acting like the                   people's champion...?!                                       ALI                   Yes, sir. I am not going to                   apologize to you. This isn't a                   courtroom. And I don't have to sit                   here and answer your questions.                    Ali gets up and walks out on them.   Eskridge and NOI men in          black suits follow.                                                                                61.                    INT. CHICAGO OFFICE BUILDING - ALI + ENTOURAGE - DAY                    march through the lobby. Ali gives a walking interview.          He's angry. He won't slow down.                                        ALI                    I ain't draft dodgin'! I ain't                    goin' to Canada. I ain't burnin'                    my draft card. I ain't burnin' the                    flag. I'm stayin' right here. And                    you want to throw me in jail? Go                    ahead. I'll do my time. I been in                    jail four hundred years. I'll be                    in jail four, five more. But I                    ain't goin' ten thousand miles to                    help murder and kill poor people                    for you. 'Cause if I'm gonna die,                    I'll die now, right here, fighting                    you. If I wanna die. You my enemy,                    not Vietcong or Chinese or Japanese.                    You my opposer when I want freedom.                    You my opposer when I want justice.                    You my opposer when I want equality.                    You want me to go somewhere for you,                    but you won't even stand up for me                    in America, for my rights and                    beliefs, you won't even stand up                    for me here at home.                    INT. THE HOUSTON ASTRODOME - CLOSE:   TERRELL - DAY                    ERNIE TERRELL is taller than Ali. The empty stadium has a          scale and press at one end. Girls in cowboy hats and lone          stars say we're in Texas. Ali is distracted.                                        ERNIE TERRELL                        (getting on scale)                    Tell Clay he can get on after me.                                         ALI                    What...?                                        ERNIE TERRELL                    Get on the scale after...                                        ALI                        (cuts in)                    What you call me...?                    Terrell wrongly thinks there's psychological value in          provoking Ali.                                                                                62.                                       ERNIE TERRELL                   Only thing I knows you as:   Cassius                   Clay!                                       ALI                       (infuriated)                   Announce it right here or from flat                   on your back!                    Ali throws a punch that doesn't land because he's separated.                                       ALI (CONT'D)                   What's my name?!?                    CLOSE ON ALI                    something else in his eyes.                    INT. THE HOUSTON ASTRODOME - TERRELL - NIGHT                    hit FOUR TIMES by Ali:   WHAM, WHAM, WHAM, WHAM!   In the          glaring lights...                                       ALI                   What's my name, motherfucker?!                    And Ali flicks out punches...disorienting Terrell.   The BELL.                    GIRL IN BANGLED MINISKIRT STARTS 15TH ROUND                    WHAM! WHAM! WHAM! Ali hits him five times...Terrell ties          him up. Ali throws him off, slips two jabs and snaps his          left into Terrell's face.                                       ALI (CONT'D)                   What's my name?          Ali, at the apex of his athletic skills, fires six- or          eight-punch combinations and then changes direction. Ali          shoots jabs and hooks going backwards; every move and set of          combinations is a dance. Ali's never been as light on his          feet, as fast, as complex as in this fight. Like any moment          of greatness, we want it to last forever... Then, Ali          throws a 17-punch combination.                                       ALI (CONT'D)                   WHAT'S MY NAME?!                    ...that burns down Terrell. Terrell starts to fall. Ali          moves away. He doesn't want it to end. Sportswriters don't          like it. Half the fans don't like it. Ali defies both          their sensibilities and their politics.                                                                                63.                    TERRELL'S                    face is battered.    Ali SLAMS in SHOTS.                                          ALI (CONT'D)                          (shouted)                      My name?! WHAT'S MY NAME?!                    The BELL ends the savage pounding. Ali in the middle of the          ring, glorying in opposition and triumph.                    INT. HOUSTON COURTROOM - ALI - DAY                    with Eskridge and his other attorneys. The courtroom's          packed. In the back we spot Joe Smiley, anonymous in the crowd.                                          ALI                          (to Judge)                      If the court would give me my                      sentence right now instead of                      waiting and stalling.                                          JUDGE INGRAHAM                          (obliges)                      My pleasure. The jury has found                      you guilty of refusing induction                      into the United States armed forces.                      I sentence you to the maximum                      sentence allowable...five years'                      imprisonment and a fine of ten                      thousand dollars.                          (pause)                      Fast enough? Your attorney will                      lodge an appeal. While you're out                      on bond, I order your passport                      surrendered. I'll not have you                      benefitting yourself by fighting                      abroad...                    INT. HOUSTON COURT, FOYER - ALI - DAY                    on his way out of the building.    Media is held at the other end.                    CLOSER - ALI                    looks dazed, not sure how to act on the way out of court.          Oddly, he shakes hands with each of a half a dozen white          Houston Bailiffs. It's as if, benumbed by the verdict, he          seeks human contact. The only contact available, ironically,          is with the officers of the court that just convicted him.                                                                                 64.                    EXT. 79TH STREET, CHICAGO, 1968 - ALI - DUSK                    Time has passed. It's winter. Snow's on the ground. He's          in a car coat and a hat with a hooded sweatshirt underneath.          Street lights are on. Traffic's slight. He walks through          the whiteness as new snow falls.                    ECU:   ALI                    under the hat brim, his gaze is internal, as it was in the          opening in Miami.                    BURNED-OUT STOREFRONT                    with icicles from Fire Dept. water. His work boots stop          deep in the new falling snow...vanishing in the WHITEOUT...          INT. N.O.I. BAKERY, CHICAGO - WHITE SILK SCARF - DAY (FLASHBACK)                    in Ali's hands. He leans across a white showcase of bakery          goods. It's cold outside; warm inside. It smells of bread          and coffee. BELINDA BOYD reacts.                                           ALI                       Watch now...                    He makes a fist, balls the scarf up, and puts it in the          hollow of his fist.                                           ALI (CONT'D)                           (offering)                       Blow on it...                    She blows on it. She's not quite eighteen, six feet tall;          there's a supremely confident expressiveness about her. Her          gestures are large. He opens his hand. The scarf is gone.          She instinctively looks over at his other hand. Nothing's          there. His eyes go wide in mock fright at the mysterious.                                           ALI (CONT'D)                       This spooky! Don't get scared...                    She laughs. How'd he do it? He makes a fist again, puts          his thumb in the hollow. And slowly pulls the scarf out...                                           BELINDA                           (laughs)                       See, you don't need to fight no more...                    He gives it to Belinda. She ties it around her neck. Ali          looks at her. On a cold and dark afternoon, the windows are          steamed and the bakery seems a fine refuge.                                                                    65.                                       ALI                   So what's fresh, girl?                                       BELINDA                       (smiles)                   Everything fresh!                                       ALI                       (smiles)                   What's the freshest of the freshest?                                       BELINDA                       (smiles)                   Doughnuts just came out...                                       ALI                       (holds up the                        doughnut)                   Feed me those things, I gotta come                   back as a wrassler.                       (a ring announcer)                   645 pounds. I'd still be                   pretty...but I be fat pretty...                                       BELINDA                   You don't remember when you met me                   once before...long ago...                                       ALI                       (joking)                   I remember something...   Wha's your                   name?                    She slaps his arm.                                       BELINDA                   You know my name! You came to my                   school, right before you win the                   title. Interviewed you for the                   school paper. I was eleven.                                       ALI                   You had a long braid...                                       BELINDA                   Yeah! You called me little Indian                   girl, then.                                       ALI                   That was you?                                       BELINDA                   I loved you then, like all those                   kids. I never stopped. I still do.                                                                                66.                    INT. NATION OF ISLAM ASSEMBLY - ALI + BELINDA - DAY (FLASHBACK)                                        ELIJAH MUHAMMAD'S VOICE (OVER)                        (finishes)                    The African-American Albert Speer-regimented seating breaks          up. Ali's wearing a black suit, a white suit and white tie.          As he drifts through the crowd, approaching him is Belinda          in a white caftan and a white satin turban with gold          earrings. It feels like they are an official couple,          eugenically chosen mates.                    ECU:    THEIR HANDS                    join.                    MACRO CU:    SHOULDERS                    touch. She turns and leans back slightly against him...          Their thighs touch.                    EXT. 79TH STREET, CHICAGO - DUSK INTO NIGHT                    We walk past the bakery. It's closed.     Ali crosses the grey          guttered street and exits into...                    INT. ALI'S SINCLAIR STATION, BACK OFFICE - ALI - NIGHT                    enters. CTA bus passes. Eskridge is there, waiting for him.          Ali takes a coffee in a paper cup and grabs a Danish.                                          ALI                      You see the Ellis-Quarry fight?                                          CHAUNCEY ESKRIDGE                      Yes... We'll be in front of the                      U.S. Court of Appeals next month.                      We'll lose. Then we appeal to the                      Supreme Court.                                          ALI                      Ellis the champ? Man. I beatin'                      on him since we was sixteen. They                      give Ellis to Joe Frazier?                      Frazier'll kill him. Then they out                      of juice. Where's the gate? So                      they gotta let me fight. I fight                      Ellis in a phone booth...middle of                      Times Square...you think that draw                      a crowd?                                                                             67.                                       CHAUNCEY ESKRIDGE                   Draw a crowd or not draw a crowd,                   Muhammad, is NOT going to make a                   difference with your boxing                   licenses. They don't want you to                   fight.                       (so much for speculation)                   ACLU's handling your case against                   the New York Boxing Commission.                   They discovered New York's got                   actual ex-murderers and ex-rapists                   currently licensed to fight. But                   revoked yours...?                                         ALI                   Tijuana?                             CHAUNCEY ESKRIDGE                   No. State Department refused                   permission for the one-hour visa.                   No fight in Tijuana. Look...                                       ALI                   Can't fight here. Can't fight                   outside the country...                                       CHAUNCEY ESKRIDGE                   I know people in the restaurant                   business...want to start up a chain.                   Muhammad Ali's "Champ                   Burger"..."Muhammad Malts," "Fist                   Full of Fries"...all of that.                    They start out towards the gas pumps.                                       ALI                   Why I want to be in the restaurant                   business?!                                       CHAUNCEY ESKRIDGE                   'Cause you need the money.                                       ALI                   How much all this gonna cost?                                         CHAUNCEY ESKRIDGE                   Too much.    They do that to you, too,                   you know.                    They seek to destroy every facet of Ali's life. Ali knows          that. As they pass the pumps. Some customers recognize him.                                       CHAUNCEY ESKRIDGE (CONT'D)                   Where you goin'?                                                                               68.                                       ALI                       (to customers)                   Look out!                                       CUSTOMER                   Hey, champ!                    And Ali pretends to start sparring. The working men laugh.          One is brave enough to raise his hands, too. Ali smiles and          trades a couple of phantom slaps. It breaks off. He made          their day. He shakes each of their hands. His spirit's          raised, he walks off. Chauncey watches this ritual...                    INT. CHICAGO APARTMENT, ALI + BELINDA'S BEDROOM - NIGHT                    hands and skin and faces against white in bed.   So close we          are intimately inside the moment...                                       ALI                   Not then...                                       BELINDA                   First time? 1961...Sister Khalilah                   introduced you at assembly. You                   said you would be heavyweight                   champion of the world by the time                   you were twenty-one!                                       ALI                   I always tell the truth...                                       BELINDA                   I was eleven. I interviewed you                   for the student paper. You called                   me "little Indian girl," 'cause I                   wore my hair real long, in a                   braid...I told you..."Man, you                   scribble! You can't even write!                   You ought to go back to school                   until you do it better..."                    Laughing, he starts poking her in the ribs, and she turns          onto him. She's six feet tall, he's six-three. He grabs          her wrist. She wrestles him down on the large bed until          there's a NOISE, and Belinda separates from Ali and          approaches a smaller bedroom to replace the bottle their          daughter, MARYUM, threw out of her crib. As she exits, MOVE          IN on the crib in streetlight and we HEAR Jimi Hendrix's          bottleneck instrumental part of "All Along the Watchtower."          It makes us feel the child in the crib is threatened, and          that takes us INTO...                                                                                69.                    INT. COLLEGE HALL - ALI                    in a black leather jacket with a white shirt and skinny tie,          speaking to an audience of college students, white and black,          some Asian and Latino.                                        JIMI HENDRIX                        (from "All Along the                         Watchtower")                    "There must be some kind of                        way outta here,                    said the joker to the thief..."                    Bingham waits in the wings. Applause. Ali joins Howard and          a small group watching a portable TV...                    TV:   "DAYS OF RAGE"                    occurring on Chicago's North Clark Street. Off-screen we          HEAR police sirens. On TV, Weathermen attack lines of          Chicago police! The cops fall back.                                        JIMI HENDRIX (CONT'D)                    "There's too much confusion,                    I can't get no relief.                    Business men, they drink my wine,                    plowmen dig my earth,                    None of them along the line,                    know what any of it is worth."                    INT. CHICAGO GYM - ALI - NIGHT                    trains in grey sweats to Hendrix. He flashes 60 sit-ups          hanging off a table. He sweats profusely. He has no          trainers. Bingham holds his legs. Ali seems heavier.                    The gym is grimy, filled with other boxers, a forest of          heavy bags. Ali's one among other guys working out.                    ALI'S FACE                    grimacing through another set, trying to stay in shape,          trying to retain skills going dormant.                                        JIMI HENDRIX                    "No reason to get excited,                    the thief, he kindly spoke.                    There are many here among us,                    who feel that life is but a joke."                    Then, he's slow on the heavy bag.   Sparring alone in the          ring... Everyone ignores him.                                                                                 70.                    INT. ALI'S GAS STATION - ALI'S TV:   NEWS - DAY                    REVEAL Ali + Bingham watching the 1968 Olympics. NOW, Tommy          Smith and John Carlos bow their heads and raise fists in          black power defiance, instead of acknowledging the national          anthem.                                       JIMI HENDRIX                   "But you and I, we've been                       through that,                   and this is not our fate.                   So let us not talk falsely now,                   the hour it's getting late..."                    And the coverage cuts to George Foreman with a small          American flag in his hand. Then, it flashes back to Ali in          the ring with Sonny Liston at his feet. And Ali coming out          of the Illinois Boxing Commission, angry. Dead Black          Panthers, Fred Hampton and Matt Clark murdered by police in          Chicago. And Malcolm X and Ali together. The meaning of it          is clear: MUHAMMAD ALI IS THE WARRIOR SAINT IN THE REVOLT          OF THE BLACK ATHLETE IN AMERICA. On Ali watching, as a          phone rings...                                       JIMI HENDRIX (CONT'D)                   "All along the watchtower,                   princes kept the view,                   while all the women came and went,                   barefoot servants, too."                    EXT. MEMPHIS MOTEL - CHAUNCEY ESKRIDGE - DAY                    speaks to Ali on a pay phone on ground level.                                       CHAUNCEY ESKRIDGE                   ...struck out at the appellate                   level in New Orleans. So we're                   heading back to the Supreme Court...                                                                INTERCUT WITH:                    INT. ALI'S GAS STATION - ALI - DAY                                       ALI                   Thought we already got turned down                   there.                                                                                 71.                    EXT. MEMPHIS MOTEL - CHAUNCEY ESKRIDGE                                       CHAUNCEY ESKRIDGE                   I'm petitioning on a conscientious                   objection basis. Religious belief.                   We'll petition that your sincere                   religious belief prohibits you from                   shooting people. I believe they'll                   hear that...                    A fast car drives by, distracting Ali momentarily.   Then,          Ali focuses 100% on...                                       ALI                   Where the money come from, Chauncey?                   Herbert tell me I'm runnin' on                   empty. Put aside "how do that                   happen"? Licenses all revoked. No                   passport. I can't fight here.                   Can't fight abroad.                       (beat)                   And what happen if I lose the                   Supreme Court?                                       CHAUNCEY ESKRIDGE                   It's all over. You go to jail for                   five years.                    There's no response from Ali.   Ali hangs up, looks the other          way, lost in thought.                    EXT. MEMPHIS MOTEL ROOM - CHAUNCEY ESKRIDGE - DAY                    hangs up the phone. Looks up. Starts to dial another          number. A sound CRACKS OPEN THE NIGHT...                    Chauncey runs up the stairs to the second-floor balcony to          join...                    EXT. MEMPHIS MOTEL, BALCONY - JESSE JACKSON - DAY                    cradling Martin Luther King, Jr. in his arms. People SCREAM.          King involuntarily spasms. Under King, dark blood pools          like crude oil. Eskridge, ANDREW YOUNG and JULIAN BOND          point into the Memphis afternoon.                    EXT. ALI'S APARTMENT BUILDING, ROOFTOP (CHICAGO) - CITY AT          NIGHT                    as if they were pointing at a burning fire, sirens, blue          police flashers, an isolated gunshot. And REVEAL Ali on a          rooftop, in sweatpants, sweatshirt, SHADOWBOXING while...                                                                                 72.                                       JIMI HENDRIX                   "Outside in the cold distance,                   a wild cat did growl,                   two riders were approaching,                   and the wind began to HOWL!"                    He leaves off to look into the distance. The agility, what          he was with Terrell, isn't there. He exhales in time with          punches HUH, HUH, HUH...Ali's struggling to hold onto          diminishing sharpness. Police lights. Looting? He          contemplates the fabric of the city ripping itself apart          while...                    INT. JEFFREY STREET HOUSE, LIVING ROOM - FRAZIER RIPS APART          ELLIS - NIGHT                    on ABC. REVEAL Ali with Maryum in his arms watches the          fight...an activity from which Ali, the resident genius on          the planet, is excluded.                                       BINGHAM                   Ellis doesn't belong in there.                                       ALI                       (curt)                   Man give him a shot, he took a shot.                                       BINGHAM                   I saw Bundini in New York.                                         ALI                   How's he?                                       BINGHAM                   ...bad shape. You better get your                   belt b-b-back...          Belinda brings coffee to Bingham...                                       BELINDA (O.S.)                   She's got to be done with that bottle.                                       BINGHAM                   You call your parents, Ali?                                        BELINDA                    No, he didn't. I told them about                    the one on the way...myself.                        (moves to the kitchen)                                       BINGHAM                   You p-p-p-promised you'd call them.                                                                              73.                                       ALI                   I'll call 'em, I'll call 'em...                       (re: the baby)                   May-may! It go in one end and come                   out the other.                                       BELINDA                   You wanna try changing her, for the                   experience?                                       ALI                   You so much better at it, mama.                    Belinda takes Maryum. FRAZIER holds his arms up in victory,          a formality of applause from the half-empty Garden.                                       ALI (CONT'D)                       (to Maryum)                   Maaan...Joe Frazier can't talk,                   can't up the gate, can't fill the                   arena. They gotta let me fight.                                       BELINDA                   That happen, you promise me you put                   some new people around you.                    Ali crosses to kitchen phone.                                       ALI                   I need Angelo, Rudy, Ferdie --                                       BINGHAM                   Ali, she's talkin' about "Brother"                   Herbert.                    Ali stops. Between him and Belinda, this is important:   her          solidarity is with her husband, not with the NOI.                                       BELINDA                   Where are they when we need them?                   You got Gene Kilroy droppin' off                   groceries like charity. Borrowin'                   money from my folks. So...?                    As Ali contemplates what she's said, we HEAR...                                       HOWARD COSELL (V.O.)                   What are your feelings about up-                   and-coming Ken Norton?                                                                                 74.                    INT. FRAZIER LOCKER ROOM (POST FIGHT) - COSELL + FRAZIER -          NIGHT                                       FRAZIER                       (still sweating)                   Norton's big and strong, but...                    Someone's talking into Howard's period headset.                                       HOWARD COSELL                       (interrupting)                   Hold on one second...we have a                   caller. Go ahead.                                       ALI (V.O.)                       (into phone)                   Cosell? This Muhammad Ali.                    A still photo of Ali in an iris appears superimposed on          monitors.                                       ALI (CONT'D)                   Go to Georgia or Alabama or Sweden.                   Everybody know I'm the champ. The                   crown is a lie. I know it's a lie.                   Joe Frazier know it's a lie. It                   time for everybody to stop lying                   and tell the truth.                                       HOWARD COSELL                   Let's tell it like it is. With                   your court and boxing problems,                   Muhammad, can you get a fight promoted?                                       ALI                   I ain't interested in the paycheck,                   I'd fight Joe Frazier for free in a                   phone booth in Times Square, if I                   wasn't broke. I still will.                                       HOWARD COSELL                   Did you say you were broke?   How                   can you be broke?                    Ali hesitates.                    INT. ELIJAH MUHAMMAD'S HOUSE - KITCHEN - NIGHT                    Elijah Muhammad reacts to the interview on television.          There's a formality to Elijah Muhammad, even at his kitchen          table.                                                                                 75.                                          HOWARD COSELL                      You've made more money than all                      previous heavyweight champions                      combined. What about your                      management? Surely they have                      provided for you...                                          ALI                      I'm saying it's time for everybody                      to quit lying! Muhammad Ali is the                      champ! I have to, I'll get the                      fight on myself.                          (beat)                      And if they offer me money, I ain't                      gonna turn it down.                    CROSSCUT:    Elijah turns to an aide.                                          ELIJAH MUHAMMAD                      Get me my son, Herbert, on the                      telephone!                    INT. RUNDOWN CHICAGO GYM - ALI - DAY                    training. There is NO entourage with him. Ali hits the          heavy bag. He doubles up the left jab on the taped-together          heavy bag. Sweat stains his sweats.                    EXT. U.S. STEEL - ALI - DAY                    runs through tall reeds in the abandoned industrial          landscape, ending at the lakefront and the cold, open sky          and water. He's breathing hard, struggling against time to          hold onto shape and prowess. He seems vulnerable against          the open sky and water.                    INT. TEMPLE #2 - NIGHT                    Elijah Muhammad is at the lectern ringed by Fruit of Islam          Guards. HERBERT is behind him.                                          ELIJAH MUHAMMAD                      Mr. Muhammad Ali desires to do that                      which the Holy Qur'an teaches him                      against. I am, therefore,                      suspending Mr. Ali from the                      practice of Islam. He may no                      longer appear in temple, pray or                      teach, or have any conversation                      with any Muslim whatsoever.                      Furthermore...he may no longer use                      the name of Muhammad Ali.                      Henceforward, he will revert to his                      old slave name, Cassius Clay.                                                                                76.                    INT. JEFFREY ST. HOUSE, KITCHEN - ALI - DAY                    sits at the table. A deep vacancy is beginning to be there          we've never seen before. May-may makes a mess.                                       BELINDA                   Muhammad...?                                       ALI                   You can't call me that no more.                                       BELINDA                   Hell, I can't. I'm defying them by                   talking to you. And being with you.                    MOVE CLOSER and CLOSER into Ali's eyes. He's oblivious.          Belinda's pregnant again. She says something to him. Ali          can't hear. She says it again, louder. Ali doesn't look at          her. OVER ALI onto the Formica table with Log Cabin syrup          and powdered sugar and ceramic salt and pepper shakers SEEN          in his ECU, disconnected, depressed, withdrawn...                    INT. FLOPHOUSE, FOYER - ALI + BINGHAM - DAY                    entering, concerned and urgent...                                       ALI                   Whyn't you call an ambulance or a                   doctor?                                       LANDLADY                       (following behind)                   Wouldn't let me. Said he knew                   you...and to call you, Mr. Ali...                   He's not been out for three days...                    Ali's up the stairs, down the corridor and takes the key          from the lady and opens the door. It's a dump. Rotting          food, something burned on the stove. On the floor, wrapped          in a threadbare bedspread, half in and out of the bathroom,          which is foul, is Bundini, sleeping off a drunk.                                        BINGHAM                   Bundini!                                       BUNDINI                       (opens his eyes; half                        sits)                   Watchu' doin' here? Gimme that                   short dog!                    Ali -- his concern crashes. He detests the type Bundini          resembles. He throws a half-empty half-pint of Old Taylor          against the wall. It splatters...                                                                                77.                                       ALI                   What's wrong with you, man?!                                       BUNDINI                   Nothin' wrong with me!                    Ali goes to the curtains and pulls them back.    Bundini,          blinded...                                       BUNDINI (CONT'D)                   What that?!!!                                       BINGHAM                   A mystery...d-d-d-daylight...                                       BUNDINI                       (shielding his eyes)                   Leave me alone!                                       ALI                   I leave you alone.   You called me!                                       BUNDINI                   That were a week ago...                    Ali grabs Bundini's arm and twists it and pushes his sleeve          up. Bundini tries to pull his arm away. Ali is way          stronger. Track marks up and down Bundini's arm. Ali slaps          Bundini on the side of the head. SMACK! He slaps him again.          SMACK!                                       ALI                   What you shame yourself like this                   for, maaan...?! Why you shame                   yourself?!                    Bundini flails back with his arms.    Ali leans in and SMACKS          him again.                                       BUNDINI                   Lemme alone!                       (shouts)                   I'm flyin'! The Sky Chief talk                   through me. I know the word!                                       ALI                   You know "low." You so low, the                   curb look like up!                                       BUNDINI                       (demonstrates)                   Yeah? The king gotta go home to                   his throne! From the root to the                   fruit...!                                                                                    78.                                       ALI                   Those rhymes is old.    Forget 'em.                                       BUNDINI                       (demonstrates more)                   God don't care about you! Don't                   care about me! In all of everything,                   we mean nothin'. He don't know us.                   We be. And that's the onliest                   thing he did. And that's good                   'cause that's why we free. But                   free ain't easy. Free is real.                   And realness is a motherfucker...                       (low; almost spooky)                   It eats raw meat.                       (beat)                   It walk in its own shoes.                       (beat)                   It does not waver...                       (pause)                   Yeah...                    There's a pause in the room.    Bundini crashes.    He starts          crying, unabashedly...                                       BUNDINI (CONT'D)                   I sold your belt for five hundred                   dollars to a barber on Lenox Avenue.                   That's how low I did you. I'm                   filled with weakness and got a                   crazy mind. That belt say you the                   Heavyweight Champion of the World.                   Five hundred dollars and I put it                   into my arm. That's what I called                   to tell you...                    Ali leans back against the wall...the last vestige, gone.                                       BUNDINI (CONT'D)                   ...heard 'bout the Nation, all that                   court stuff.                                       ALI                       (absent)                   Yeah.                                       BUNDINI                   Forgive me, Muhammad.    Take me back...                                      ALI                   No. There's no "back" to take you                   to...                                                                                 79.                    Ali gets up -- Bundini has been taken from him, too -- and          leaves.                    INT. "EL" - ECU FRONTAL:    ALI - NIGHT                    and beyond the side of Ali's face, elevated through the          slums and decrepit tenements of the south side of          Chicago...the mean alleys and decaying back porches. Men          gathered around 50-gallon steel drums, burning wood for          warmth. Everything is corrupted or has left him.                    FRONTAL:    ALI                    staring into nowhere.                    REVERSE:    PAST ALI          The city recedes. Vectors, in perspective, carry structures,          buildings away. The sky is grey, going to blue. The city          flees and SUDDENLY disappears as we race into the dark          tunnel of subway. Ali's lost in the depths of attempting a          calculation. He can't do that for which he has a genius          beyond other men...                                          ALI                          (to himself)                      ...you can't do what you do best in                      the world. And how you feed your                      family? From prison? Who take                      care of your kids? And is Allah,                      is God with me?                    And he's been exiled from the belief system that explained          the universe to him. SUDDENLY LIGHTS slash across his face          in the white-tile North Avenue station. BEYOND, ghostlike          working men and two heavyset women enter. Ali turns aside          to prevent being recognized. It's the first time he's ever          avoided the public. The train lurches forward...                    OVER ALI:    WHITE LIGHT                    screams away from us. Red reflects off the rails past Ali's          face as we descend deeper into the tunnels.                    EXT. NEAR BROADCAST TRUCK - COSELL - NIGHT                    steps out of the truck. There is a small crowd of people          who turn as ALI pulls up in a convertible. He's solemn for          a moment. Then he's out of the car...                                          ALI (O.S.)                      A thousand dollars to the man who                      brings me Howard Cosell's toupee!                      Dead or alive!                                                                              80.                    Reveal Ali next to his car.                                       HOWARD COSELL                       (loud)                   Don't bother me. I'm a world-                   famous broadcaster and you're an                   ex-champion with diminished skills.                   I can't be seen you, it would be                   calamitous to my reputation.                    EXT. NEAR BROADCAST TRUCK - ALI + COSELL - LATER                    alone in the convertible parked in a distant corner of the lot.                                       ALI                   Put me on, Howard.                             HOWARD COSELL                   Muhammad, I'd do anything for you.                   But I got bosses who only give a                   damn about Nielsen ratings.                                       ALI                   I guarantee...it will be a                   historical and momentous night!                    INT. ABC-TV STUDIO                    Ali being interviewed by Howard Cosell in the "Wide World of          Sports" set. We've entered mid-scene...                                       ALI                   ...what Heavyweight Champion of the                   World? I'm not the champ. I am                   retired, finished, out of the game.                   And I ain't gonna let myself grieve                   and suffer none. But I know I will                   not fight again...                                       HOWARD COSELL                   I thought you were resolute in your                   resolve to regain your crown...                                       ALI                   If tomorrow they say: "We want you                   to fight Joe Frazier. Madison                   Square Garden. Millions and                   millionses of dollars. Here's your                   license back." I will tell them:                   "I am sorry, but I am done."                                       HOWARD COSELL                   What about Frazier?                                                                      81.                                       ALI                   You'll have to wonder...what me and                   Smokin' Joe would have looked like.                                       HOWARD COSELL                   You surprise me, Muhammad...                                       ALI                   Howard, you losing your hearing                   along with your hair? Don't put                   questions to it!                       (beat)                   I am through fighting. 'Cause I                   got a bigger and more important                   match comin' up. The U.S.                   government. A heavier contender.                             HOWARD COSELL                   Do you think you're going to jail?                                       ALI                   I don't know, but it's going to be                   a shocking and terrible fight. In                   fact, they might wish they let me                   stay in boxing.                                       HOWARD COSELL                   Joe Frazier told me on this show he                   would knock you out.                                         ALI                    There you go, agitatin'.                        (beat)                    You ask Smokin' Joe what he been                    smokin'?! Joe Frazier even dream                    he can whup me? He better wake up                    and apologize...                        (pause)                    But, if I WAS to jump in the ring                    with Joe, here's what you might                    see...                        (recites)                    Ali comes out to meet Frazier,                        but Frazier starts to retreat;                    If Frazier goes back an inch farther,                        he'll wind up in a ringside seat;                    Ali swings with a left, Ali swings                        with a right.                    Frazier keeps backin', but there's                        not enough room.                    It a matter of time before Ali                        lowers the boom;                    Now Ali lands with a right, what                              (MORE)                                                                              82.                                        ALI (CONT'D)                        a beautiful swing,                    But the punch lifts Frazier clean                        out of the ring.                    Frazier's still risin', but the                        referee wears a frown,                    'Cause he can't start countin' 'til                        Frazier come down.                    And Frazier's disappeared from                        view. And the crowd is getting                        frantic.                    Then our radar stations pick                        him up. He's somewhere over                        the Atlantic.                    Who would have thought when                        they came to this fight,                    That they would witness the                        launching of a black satellite?                    There's laughter off-camera in the studio and a wry smile on          Cosell's face.                                       ALI (CONT'D)                   But don't wait for they fight.                   'Cause it ain't never gonna happen.                   You only can wonder and imagine...                    The phones in the master control booth and ringing off the          hook...the public's reaction to Ali's Bre'r Rabbit routine.          Ali used his ability to command presence in media to promote          the only fight the public wants to see...                    EXT. CLAY HOUSE - CASSIUS, SR. - DAY                                       ALI (V.O.)                   You want me to buy you a drink?          Ali's dad sits on a crate, painting the door of a delivery          truck. He looks up...Ali is there. Emotion wells up in          both men. The younger "rebelistic" son, seeing his father,          who is so like him. The older hep-cat who got cheated by          life of his potential and promise. In this case, his boy,          his boy's name, pride and reflected glory...                                       CASSIUS CLAY, SR.                   I don't drink no more.                       (squints at him)                   You wanna fight?                                       ALI                   I don't wanna fight no more.   Not                   with you...                    As they embrace, Odessa comes out, watches them.                                                                              83.                    EXT. BROAD STREET - PHILADELPHIA - DAY                    Ali stands on the street corner, shades, incognito. A gold          Cadillac pulls up: JOE FRAZIER. He is wearing a lemon          yellow cowboy outfit, Stetson hat, striped pants. Ali looks          at him in disbelief.                                       ALI                   Who dress you, Joe?   You look like                   Dale Evans.                                         FRAZIER                   Shut up.    Get in.                    Ali gets in, Frazier takes off. He sits sideways on the          seat, steers with one finger, flicks on the radio: Isaac Hayes.                             FRAZIER (CONT'D)                   What the hell you in Philly for?                   Philly my town.                                       ALI                   To be closer to you, honey.                                         FRAZIER                   Fuck you.                                       ALI                   There be two undefeated heavyweight                   champions! And they ain't fighting!                                       FRAZIER                   I wanna fight you! Said it a                   hundred times. The Man won't let                   you fight no more. What you                   complainin' to me for?                             ALI                   'Cause you gotta get behind this                   and we gotta do this.                    Frazier screeches to a stop in the middle of Columbia Avenue.                                       FRAZIER                   We..."gotta" do nothin'!!!                                       ALI                   You wanna get this on, Joe?     You                   and me? Or not?!                                       FRAZIER                   What about your license?                                                                               84.                                       ALI                   I can fight in Atlanta.                                       FRAZIER                   How's that? What about the Boxing                   Commission?                                       ALI                   Georgia ain't got no state boxing                   commission. And Atlanta got a                   black city council; a liberal                   Jewish mayor, Sam something. It                   all set. I do a prelim in Atlanta                   with Jerry Quarry. But we got to                   get the steamroller movin' now.                                       FRAZIER                   What I got to do?                                       ALI                   You announce that if I beat Quarry                   you give me the title shot.                       (puts it to him)                   So what you say...maaan?                    Frazier stops in front of his renovated duplex in the North          Philadelphia ghetto.                                       FRAZIER                   My daddy was a sharecropper. I                   worked in a slaughterhouse...right                   on that corner. I came up from                   nothing.                       (raises fist)                   What I got, I got with this. And I                   already got the title. So I got                   nothing to win and everything to lose.                                       ALI                   But you know you ain't the champ yet.                                       FRAZIER                       (looks at him)                   Yeah..."yet."                       (beat)                   All right. You beat Quarry, I'll                   get inna ring and fuck you up...                    They drive off.   After a moment, Frazier looks sideways at him.                                       FRAZIER (CONT'D)                       (quieter)                   You need any money or anything to                   tide you by...?                                                                                   85.                                       ALI                       (turns away)                   I'm fine. Thanks.                    And Ali rests a hand on Frazier's shoulder, and they drive          off like that.                    INT. FIFTH STREET GYM - ALI + LARRY HOLMES - DAY                    sparring. Ali's sweating more than we have seen him sweat          before. It's pouring off him. It stains wet his grey          sweatsuit. INTO HIS EYES, through the headgear...                    WIDER                    Bingham takes pictures. Sarria, Rudy and the media in force          are there for the start of Ali's comeback.                    FROM BEHIND ALI'S HEAD GEAR                    Ali spots...a figure step through the door. It's Bundini.          Ali, seeing everything all the time, reacts not at all,          turns his back. Bundini is thin, drawn, stooped, but clear-          eyed. Everyone turns. It takes tremendous courage for          Bundini to walk to the ring, expecting another rejection.                                       ANGELO DUNDEE                   TIME!!                    Ali goes to Angelo in his corner.                                       ANGELO DUNDEE (CONT'D)                   Weight's comin' down. 222.                    Ali first acknowledges Bundini.     Ali moves down the rope,          scowls down at him.                             ALI                   What you want?                                       BUNDINI                   Take me back, boss.                                       ALI                   You want me to take you back?                                       BUNDINI                   I'm clean.                       (beat)                   And you a resurrection. This is                   God's act. Anybody love poor                   people and little people and                   fucked-up people gotta be a prophet.                             (MORE)                                                                             86.                                        BUNDINI (CONT'D)                    And the prophet is going home. You                    the sun. Let me live in the light.                        (pause)                    Take me with, boss.                        (beat)                    ...I'll do anything.                    Ali considers this man: all jive and bullshit and also his          shaman and resident poet.                                        ALI                        (quietly)                    You can't hit what you can't see.                    Bundini slowly comes alive, then:                              BUNDINI                        (quietly)                    Float like a butterfly, sting like                    a bee.                    They look at each other.                                        ALI/BUNDINI                        (quietly)                    Rumble, young man, rumble!                    INT. CITY AUDITORIUM, ATLANTA - ALI + QUARRY - NIGHT                    We've entered mid-fight in the second round. We're VERY          CLOSE. Quarry has Ali against the ropes. Ali pushes him          off. Quarry comes in again. Ali dances, feints and catches          Quarry over his right eye with a jab thrown while going          backwards!                    QUARRY                    shakes it off. Reorganizes. Throws two jabs, a right to          the body and tries to follow it up with a left hook. Ali          ties him up. The ref separates them. Quarry comes in again.          Ali throws a left cross over Quarry's right, which Ali          leaned away from, and adds two rapid, glancing jabs to the          same spot. And Ali OPENS A CUT. The BELL sounds, ending          Round Two.                    CROWD                    goes nuts, that part that's pro-Ali: Atlanta's black elite          and scattered whites. And the thunderous noise becomes one          sound, one momentum, cheering their warrior saint, their          defiant champion's return. And their ROAR becomes          THUNDER...a momentum unto its own, driving...                                                                                    87.                    ALI'S CORNER:    ALI                    can't wait for the bell to ring. He sucks in a huge breath          through his nose and blows it out. Angelo applies Vaseline.                                         BUNDINI                     You the man! You Superman! Ain't                     no kryptonite in this ring tonight!                    The BELL sounds Round Three.                    INT. THE RING - OVER ALI                    Past him, hearing him, we ARE him. We think what he thinks;          see what he sees. Quarry's corner worked on the cut. Ali          feints a left and throws a left cross over Quarry's attempt          to block it. Quarry comes in again. Ali's next three          ripping left jabs almost like karate shots...all with a          sharp snap at the point of impact...                    QUARRY'S EYEBROW                    streams blood...       Interposing himself between their arms...                    REFEREE                    stops the fight.       Irish Jerry Quarry damned by skin that          cuts and bleeds.                    CROWD                    goes nuts! Their champion has returned. ALI throws his          arms in the air. QUARRY'S arguing not to have the fight          stopped. Now he appeals to Ali!                    CLOSE:    ALI + QUARRY          Ali knows Quarry's anguish. They embrace. Ali says things          to him. And for that moment they are an island. Ali and          Quarry, their arms interlocked, are their own tribe. Two          pugilists, no longer adversarial, a class unto themselves.          Then...                    ALI'S                    picked up by Angelo. Bundini's run into the ring.       Ali's          arrived. He is coming back.                    INT. MUHAMMAD'S DRESSING ROOM - ALI - NIGHT                    seated, being examined by Pacheco, his hands still taped.          The dressing room's crowded. Belinda enters, embraces her          husband. Then Ali hears a familiar voice. He sees Herbert          Muhammad, along with the expressionless Joseph 13X and                                                                              88.                    another NOI Man, have entered.                                       BELINDA                       (low)                   ...you don't need their management...                    Ali squeezes her hand...and Herbert quietly comes over.          He's nervous.                                       HERBERT                   As-Saalam Alaikum...Brother Muhammad...                                       ALI                   All praise to Allah...                       (a beat, and                        softly...)                   ...Alaikum Salaam...                    And people, feeling the awkwardness, give them room...moving          out of earshot.                                       HERBERT                       (beaming)                   The Messenger has lifted the                   suspension, Muhammad. Congratulations.                                       ALI                   You saying I can be a Muslim again,                   Herbert?                                       HERBERT                   Yes.                                       ALI                       (cold)                   I never stopped. Like I never                   stopped being champ.                                       HERBERT                   I begged my father to reinstate you.                                      ALI                   When? After I promoted Quarry                   fight? After I won it?                                       HERBERT                   We can get you Frazier.                                       ALI                   I already got Frazier.                                       HERBERT                   We can get you five million dollars                   for Frazier.                                                                                89.                                       ALI                   Are we talking management, talking                   money or talking religion?                                       HERBERT                   When you...                                       ALI                       (interrupts)                   When I got leery and talked up how                   come I'm broke, then came the                   suspension. Now, you explain that                   to me, my brother...?                                       HERBERT                   It's my father...                             ALI                       (puts a hand on                        his shoulder)                   I love the Nation, Herbert. I love                   Elijah Muhammad. But it don't own me.                    Herbert's convinced he's getting told "no."                                       ALI (CONT'D)                   Now, you go on out. And you make                   the Frazier deal.                    The reversal surprises Herbert; angers Belinda.                                       HERBERT                   My brother!                    Ali stops him, keeps him distant.                                       ALI                   Yeah...                    Herbert and Joseph 13X leave.                                       BINGHAM                   You b-b-becoming a Christian?                   Forgive and forget?                    Belinda stares at him, containing her fury. Ali confronts          her look, frankly, then turns to get dressed.                    INT. THE DINING HALL - ALI - LATE AFTERNOON                    and Belinda, with new twin babies; Maryum; Dundee; Pacheco;          Cassius, Sr.; Sarria; and Ali's entourage. They're all          around long tables, eating dinner. A large sign over the          kitchen counter with "Lana Shabazz' Ten Commandments"...like:                                                                                   90.                    #7 "Anyone bringing guestes in for dinner without prior          notice will be awarded thwacks on skull with sharpe object."          #8 "Please waite, Rome wasn't burnt in a day; it takes a          while to burne the roaste." Lana Shabazz answers a phone          and brings it to Ali. Ali's got one of the twins, feeding          her a bottle and drinking from it, too.                                                                  INTERCUT WITH:                    INT. ABC WIDE WORLD OF SPORTS SET - COSELL - DAY                                       HOWARD COSELL                   Muhammad, you T.K.O.'ed 'em...                                       ALI                   What are you talking about, Howard?                   Quarry?                                       HOWARD COSELL                       (reads)                   No. "The Supreme Court ruled today                   in the case of the United States vs.                   Cassius Clay, a.k.a. Muhammad                   Ali..."                       (looks up)                   You won an 8-0 unanimous decision.                   You're free.                    INT. THE DINING HALL - ALI - LATE AFTERNOON                    takes in the news, thanks Howard and hangs up. It is a          shining moment after living under the threat of imprisonment          for three-and-a-half years.                                         ALI                   I'm free.                             ANGELO DUNDEE                   What are you talking about?                                       ALI                   Supreme Court set me free.                                       BUNDINI                   That's 'cause they know the king is                   gonna go home to his throne. And                   they know everybody's with you, now.                   And they wanna be on the RIGHT side!                    INT. MADISON SQUARE GARDEN - WIDE - NIGHT                    A sea of glitter: the Black royalty of America in their          '70's robes. Movie stars 20 rows back. Burt Lancaster is          Cosell's color man. Frank Sinatra is working as a still                                                                                  91.                    photographer. In the press section are Plimpton types,          Schulberg/Mailer types, Lipsyte, Cosell.                    MICROPHONE                    descends from the overhead lighting grid.   The announcer's          hand takes it...                                         ANNOUNCER                     Ladies and gentlemen, fifteen                     rounds of boxing for the heavyweight                     championship of the world...                    ALI looking out the hood of his robe, dancing, shaking it          out, loosening up.                                         ANNOUNCER (CONT'D)                     ...the contender and former                     heavyweight champion of the world,                     seeking to regain his title, from                     Louisville, Kentucky, Muhammad Ali!!!                    Catcalls and boos. The other half is a comeback sound. It          is a nation divided: pro-war right-wingers, Nixon supporters          are for Frazier; the anti-war movement, celebrities, New          York liberal establishment, blacks, Puerto Ricans and          hippies are for Ali.                                         ANNOUNCER                     And in the opposite corner, the                     current heavyweight champion of the                     world, Smokin' Joe Frazier...!                    The contentious roar diminishes only slightly for the announcer.                    ALI'S EYES          deep in his focused concentration. His attention so arrow          like it reminds us of the younger man in the Liston          fight...pure purpose.                    THE RING                    ...only SILENCE as the referee's instructions are given in          SLO-MOTION. Ali bounces on the canvas. We HEAR his feet          shift, turn, dance...and his breathing, expectant. Here          comes the return of what was unfairly taken: his heavyweight          championship.                                                                DISSOLVE TO:                                                                                        92.                    MID-FIGHT - ALI                    looks swollen,      out of breath. Something's wrong! Two solid          Ali jabs and a      right hook connect. But they slow down          Frazier not at      all. Joe Frazier, short and compact, like a          pit bull, bobs      and weaves his way inside Ali's longer reach.                    ALI'S CORNER - DUNDEE + BUNDINI                    shouting instructions.        None get through.   Ali looks slow.          Older.                    INT. RING - PROFILE:       ALI + FRAZIER                    Frazier, off his bobbing and weaving, launches his          devastating left hook to Ali's head. Frazier is making the          most of what he is: smaller. Ali clinches.                    VERY LOW:     FRAZIER + ALI                    The referee separates them. Both men throw and miss...Ali          on the right, Frazier on the left. Ali throws a hard left          that catches Frazier but doesn't stop him. Now Frazier          connects with a wild left hook into Ali's cheekbone. THE          UNTHINKABLE HAPPENS...                    OVERHEAD:     ALI                    is knocked down onto his knee. Ruled a slip, he stands          immediately and continues. Ali, backed against the rope          again, blocks shots, pushes Frazier into the middle of the          ring...                    ALI SWINGS FRAZIER                    around.     But Frazier cranks his left.     ALI SEES IT COMING...                                ALI                          (to himself)                      Hook's comin'. Lean back, man!                      Move back! WORK LEGS...!                    But Ali's legs DON'T work fast enough. Frazier's hook          CRASHES into Ali's face. Ali goes rubbery as he backs to          the rope. Ali comes out and backs to the rope on the other          side, with cartoon rubbery legs. But the mimicry is          camouflage. He really is wobbling. The crowd is going wild.          We HEAR everything, now.                    FRAZIER                    is wary. He doesn't trust Ali. He walks across the ring,          allowing Ali to recuperate...THE BELL. Ali walks to his          corner, drained...                                                                                   93.                                          HOWARD COSELL (V.O.)                      Ali was out! He was out on his                      feet. Joe almost had him. Frazier                      must have thought Ali was playing                      possum. 'Cause Ali's a clown.                      Others have come in on Ali when                      he's playing possum and gotten                      knocked out.                    Ali saved himself with GUILE.                    ROUND FIFTEEN:                    They clinch. They separate. They both...as if mirror          images of each other...crouch, looking for shots. Ali's          right is down. Frazier's right is down. As they both rise          up out of the crouch, Frazier's out of the box first. Ali's          right is coming around. Frazier's left hook slams Ali          across the jaw. Ali goes down. Half the crowd ROARS for          Frazier. Ali gets right up and stands in the corner and          takes the mandatory eight-count. The right side of his face          is swollen like a balloon. They resume...                    OVERHEAD:    ANOTHER CLINCH                    Ali takes another right, but the ropes hold him up. Another          left catches Ali. Frazier's face is a grotesque, swollen          mask. He doesn't care.                    ALI                    is exhausted.    Labored breathing.     The crowd cheering Frazier.                    THEN THE BELL.                    Ali drops his arms. He knows he lost. Frazier raises his          arms. He knows he won. Half the crowd cheers.                    INT. MADISON SQUARE GARDEN, ALI'S DRESSING ROOM - ALI - NIGHT                                          ANGELO DUNDEE                      Hell of a fight, champ...                    Not only have we seen Ali lose for the first time, not only          do we see him bruised, but when a fighter's beaten,          everybody who believes in him is beaten. Angelo's cutting          the tape off his hands. Bundini places an ice pack on the          back of his neck.                                        HANGERS-ON                    They stole it from you! (etc.)                    Bundini's wise enough to say nothing.                                                                                94.                                       ALI                   Shut up! I lost.                       (louder)                   Get outta here...                    Rudy heard...                                        RUDY                   Go on!   Everybody out!                    As they leave, the door reveals packed media outside.   Door          closes. Now it's only the inner circle.                                       ANGELO DUNDEE                       (to Pacheco)                   Ferdie, take a look at this...                       (to Ali)                   It was still a hell of a fight.                                       ALI                   Where's Belinda?                                       PACHECO                   She fainted... They took her to                   the aid station. She's okay.                    Pacheco looks at Ali's hand. It shakes. Pacheco looks at          Ali's eyes and has him follow his finger.                                       ALI                   My hands was in sand, Angie.     My                   feet in water...                                       ANGELO DUNDEE                   Maybe we shoulda had more time                   between Blin and this, you                   know...to get back into...                                       ALI                   Woulda, shoulda, coulda...                       (pause)                   After three-and-a-half years,                   this...from how far back...comeback is.                    Ali throws a water bottle. It shatters and splays wet down          the wall. There is mature, deep-seated, dead-serious molten          anger. Everybody in the room feels it.                    INT. CORRIDOR                    With Bundini, Bingham, Rudy and Sarria as a wedge, Ali          drives through reporters on the way to Belinda. Press mob          Ali...                                                                                95.                                          PRESS                      Were you robbed?                                         ALI                      I lost. You lose, you don't shoot                      yourself. The world goes on.                                          ANOTHER REPORTER                      Joe said he didn't think you wanted                      to fight him again...                                          ALI                          (stops)                      Oh, how wrong he is.                    INT. MADISON SQUARE GARDEN, AID STATION - BELINDA - NIGHT          sees Ali...the beating.       She begins crying.                                            BELINDA                      My God.    They killed you!                    Ali moves to her, followed by Bingham and Pacheco.     A          doctor's approaching with a sedative in a syringe.                                          PACHECO                      Get away from her.     What is that?                    Ali leans over, speaks softly.                                          ALI                      I ain't dead, baby!     C'mon.                    Embracing her, his eyes connect with Dundee. Ali's Supreme          Court victory is meaningless. It's drowned by the loss of          what the political persecution took from him: his prime,          his season that would have been his most brilliant.                    INT. SAN DIEGO SPORTS ARENA, ALI VS. NORTON I (2ND ROUND) -          TWO FIGHTERS - NIGHT                    BLUR in SLO-MO.       Focus is beyond, to the crowd.                    OVER ALI:    OUT-OF-FOCUS KEN NORTON'S RIGHT FIST                    starts an arc...or jams towards us.                    RIDING NORTON'S FIST - SLO-MO                    towards Ali. We PASS crowd, the lighting grid above and          SLAM into the side of Ali's jaw, and on the moment of impact...                                                                                 96.                    ECU:   X-RAY IMAGE - SLO-MO                    of Ali's jaw breaking, shearing, leaving an eighth-inch gap          in the bone of the lower mandible...and becomes...                    CMS:   ALI                    taking the shot, covering and assaulting, covering with his          left, which he turns into a jab, aggressively going after          Norton.                    IMAGE TURNS TO WHITE AS...                    INT. SAN DIEGO SPORTS ARENA, ALI'S CORNER - WHITE TOWEL                    fills the frame. Go behind it as they shield Ali spitting          blood into a bucket.                                           ALI                       I can move my jaw with my tongue.                       He got me...                    Pacheco looks into his mouth.                                           PACHECO                           (concerned)                       It's broke. I think...I think your                       jaw's broke.                    Meanwhile, Ali spots...                    REFEREE                    curious about the activity in Ali's corner, starts over...                    PACHECO          nods to Dundee. Dundee starts to reach. Ali snatches          Angelo's hand holding the towel. Angelo's about to end the          fight...                                           ALI                       Ain't stoppin' nothin'...!                           (glares at them)                       Nothin' stoppin'...!                    A BELL sounds and Ali goes out to fight in an OVERHEAD SHOT.                                                                BURN OUT TO WHITE:                                                                                 97.                    INT. SAN DIEGO SPORTS ARENA, ALI AND HIS CORNERMEN +          SECURITY - NIGHT                    leave the ring and another defeat, as they move up the aisle          towards the locker room...                    INT. ALI'S WOODLAWN AVENUE HOUSE (CHICAGO), LIVING ROOM -          ALI - DAY                    watching television. The place is a huge mansion on          Chicago's South Side.                                         HERBERT                    Now that Smokin' Joe's run out of                    tomato cans to beat up, I finally                    got Yank to commit to a rematch                    with you in about six months.                    Frazier said he'd be happy with                    three mil...                        (beat)                    WIDEN TO INCLUDE THE LIVING ROOM WITH BINGHAM, ALI'S          TWINS -- RASHEEDA AND JAMILLAH -- MUHAMMAD, JR. AND MARYUM                                        HERBERT (CONT'D)                    I'll fly to Jamaica and get Yank to                    sign right after Joe beats this big                    stiff.                        (to TV)                    OVER ALI:    CONSOLE TV                    They watch the Frazier-Foreman fight from Jamaica amid the          wonderful chaos generated by kids and their toys, who crawl          all over Ali as if he were furniture. Frazier and Foreman          are in the center of the ring... We SEE Don King in          Frazier's corner.                                          ALI                          (through still-wired-                           together jaw)                      Foreman call me one time after he                      won the Olympics...                    Meanwhile, Frazier bobs and weaves, ducks and moves like he          did with Ali. Joe throws a left hook, leaning forward with          it. Before it lands, Foreman unleashes a hard right that          jolts Frazier SIDEWAYS. Frazier throws another hook that          misses. Foreman hits him with a combination of right and          three lefts...two hooks and an uppercut that LIFTS FRAZIER          OFF THE GROUND. Ali leans in to SEE...                                                                                   98.                                          HOWARD COSELL                          (shouting)                      DOWN GOES FRAZIER! DOWN GOES FRAZIER!                    ON TV:    THE RING                    Frazier stands. The referee does the mandatory eight-count.          Foreman bangs Frazier into the corner and blasts him again.          Frazier tries to muscle out of the corner. Foreman lifts          and throws him back into the corner. Foreman's power is          unreal. Frazier is the man who beat Ali. Now, Frazier          feints and slides sideways, and Foreman hits him in the back          of the head. Frazier goes down again. It is savage. Here          is a new world champion: George Foreman.                                          BINGHAM                          (wry)                      B-b-be easy gettin' a Frazier fight                      now. He ain't the champ of                      anything except getting knocked down.                    INT. MADISON SQUARE GARDEN (ALI-FRAZIER II) - HANDS + ARMS -          NIGHT                    grabbing. Holding. Ali's got Joe's powerful left tied up          this time. A clinch. Separating. A punch. A hook.          Clinching. They separate...                    OVER JOE:                    Ali, having Joe at the right range, hits him. Joe moves in.          Ali DRAGS him closer and ties him up. They dance...                    THEIR BODIES                    Ali does a little shuffle, circles to keep Joe at hitting          distance, lands a combination. Joe closes, but Ali won't          let him in and ties up Joe. We hear a BELL and that's the          end of the fight. Not a bang; a whimper.                    REFEREE                    holds up Ali's hand and mouths silently words we cannot hear.          And as we MOVE CLOSER INTO ALI'S EYES, we see no exaltation.          This is a victory, but a hollow one. It's a decision eked out.                    INT. NEW YORK COFFEE SHOP - WIDE                    The inner circle:    Ali, Pacheco, Dundee, Bundini, Bingham.                                         ALI                      So.                                                                      99.                                       ANGELO DUNDEE                   So we only eked this one out. And                   George Foreman makes Frazier look                   like a sissy.                                       PACHECO                   You see their fight?                                       HOWARD BINGHAM                   You mean the Joe Frazier falling-                   down lesson?                                       PACHECO                   And Foreman is 24. You are 32                   years old. I don't want to see                   your head get turned into someone's                   bull's-eye.                                       ANGELO DUNDEE                   ...but, you go? We're the corner,                   same as always. But it ain't gonna                   be easy.                                       ALI                       (to Angelo)                   You think I still got the tools?                                       ANGELO DUNDEE                   You got the tools, Daddy.     But they                   different.                                       ALI                       (thinks; decides:                        go)                   Well, you better sharpen 'em up.                   'Cause we goin' to Africa.                             BUNDINI                   The motherland. From the root to                   the fruit. We gonna rumble...in                   the jungle.                                       ALI                   It's time to be heavyweight                   champion of the world again.                                       BUNDINI                   Yeah, man!                    INT. NEW YORK PRESS CONFERENCE - DAY                                       DON KING                   "Rumble in the Jungle!"     That's the                   name I given it.                                                                             100.                    Ali and Don King hold court with the press. Also there is          George Foreman and his trainer, Dick Sadler, and his manager,          Nilon.                                       DON KING (CONT'D)                   A historical happening. This event                   will show that the black man has                   arrived on the world stage.                   Muhammad Ali and George Foreman in                   Kinshasa, Zaire.                    PRESS REACTIONS:                    where's Zaire?                                       REPORTERS                   Don. Zaire? Why not Antarctica?                   What's wrong with New York City?                                       DON KING                   Because you miss the significance.                   I dream, as Martin Luther King once                   dreamt, that a man could be judged                   by the content of his mind. This                   is about black men helping black                   men, overcoming four hundred years                   of racial depression to the dawn of                   a new day of liberation...financial                   and otherwise.                    King getting really evangelistic...                                       DON KING (CONT'D)                   It will raise up the spirit of our                   inner cities. It will rise up and                   fill with hope the souls, the                   unrequited needs of the black                   proletariat, that is, the                   discouraged, dispirited, denigrated,                   denizens of the demimonde, that is                   called...the ghetto.                    Ali's looking at him in amazement.                                       ALI                   Man, you crazy.                    Don King laughs. As the press digs King...MOVE ONTO Foreman,          and here's what's wrong with all of this...we SEE that          Foreman, eight years younger, two inches taller, almost as          fast and seemingly twice as strong, is not beatable by          Muhammad Ali. Foreman just doesn't hurt you, Foreman can          kill you. How is Ali not going to get killed by this man                                                                              101.                    with death in his eyes and indifference on his face?          Meanwhile...                                          DON KING                      Ten million dollars. With one                      stroke of the pen, you split the                      world's biggest emolumation of the                      history of sports!                    Ali signs a contract; then Foreman.       Flashbulbs.                                          DON KING (CONT'D)                      The "Rumble in the Jungle"!                    Don King bursts out laughing.                    EXT. KINSHASA AIRPORT, TARMAC - ROOF - PAST HEADS - DAY                    PUSH THROUGH people and SEE an Air Zaire DC-10 pulling in.          A ramp is wheeled up. The plane stops taxiing. Zairian          officials in safari suits, paratroopers with white helmets,          LT. NSAKALA and hundreds of African, European and American          media with cameras and lights approach. The hatch opens. A          ROAR emerges from the right and left. We don't see the source.                    INT. AIR ZAIRE DC-10'S - ALI                    Belinda's behind him. Bingham's there, Bundini, Angelo          Dundee, Sarria. As they crowd to the door, we're shooting          OVER ALI starting down the ramp. He looks up. We don't see          what he sees. We see only the crowd of people at the foot          of the ramp, including Don King in a dashiki and the crowd          on the tarmac.                    FRONTAL:    ALI                    looking ABOVE the receiving party. The ROAR again. He          looks side to side, almost distracted from King and the          officials. He waves. Distant CROWD ROAR increases.          They're chanting something. We don't understand the words.          It contains his name. Now...                    PAST ALI:    REVEAL A THOUSAND PEOPLE                    are beyond the receiving party. They're on the roof of the          airport. They're sitting on balconies and fences. They're          waving their arms. They're on every possible horizontal          surface that can support weight. They're shouting in unison,          a syncopated ROAR...his name and something else. Ali moves          through the receiving party, as if in a trance, to get          through the airport to the other side. Security tries to          keep up...                                                                             102.                    EXT. AIRPORT ENTRANCE + STREET - ALI                    emerges and reacts. He's electrified. Dundee, Bingham, and          a few cops are with him. Everybody else got left behind.          REVEAL 10,000 people are OUTSIDE the airport, cheering his          arrival. Their cheer is thunder.                                       ALI                       (to Zairian Official;                        shouts)                   What are they saying, man?!!!    Why                   they saying that?                                       ZAIRIAN OFFICIAL #1                   They say, "Ali, boma ye. Ali, boma                   ye."                             ALI                   What's that mean?!   I don't understand!                                       ZAIRIAN OFFICIAL #1                   It mean...!                                       ALI                       (can't hear)                   What?!                                       ZAIRIAN OFFICIAL #1                       (has to shout)                   It mean..."Ali, kill him! Ali,                   kill him!"                    Ali moves forward. The Zairian Official and four cops fade          back, nervous about being in so large a crowd. The crowd's          a tidal wave, carrying Ali forward, supporting, never          mobbing him.          MUHAMMAD ALI                    is overcome. This is all for him. He is their hero. He          defied the world's powerful. They tried and could not          destroy him. His defiance made him their champion. And now          he has come to contest his rightful title against the numb          instrument of the all-powerful. He raises his arm, too, and          shouts...                                       ALI                   Ali, boma ye!                    Ten thousand voices carry it on the wind and take away Ali's          breath.                                       ALI (CONT'D)                   Ali, boma ye!                                                                               103.                    DON KING, ZAIRIAN OFFICIALS #1 + #2                    in the rear realize, as do we, this is NOT MERELY A BOXING          MATCH.                    CUT TO:    INT. AIR ZAIRE DC-10 - NIGHT                    A towering man in denims with sequins blocks our view of the          door as he walks out onto the ramp. Only now do we see          BEYOND HIM a small welcoming party. Native African dancers,          a big banner that proclaims, "Welcome, George Foreman," the          Zairian paratroopers, media and a few dozen of the curious.                    FRONTAL:    GEORGE FOREMAN                    looks like "Superfly" on steroids. His entourage follows          him down the ramp. DICK SADLER, tough and smart, is the          Louis Armstrong of trainers. ARCHIE MOORE, crafty and wise,          wears a blue shirt and blue pea-cap.                    If George Foreman wonders at the paucity of his reception,          he doesn't let on.                    INT. ALI'S HOUSE, N'SELE - ALI - MORNING                    sits in EXTREME CLOSE-UP drinking coffee...lost in thought.          He's somewhere else, puzzled, alone in his thoughts. He          wears grey sweatpants, a thin-rubber long-sleeved T-shirt          under his grey sweatshirt. He's oblivious to the Euro-          modern furnishings. Then it's time, and he leaves...                    EXT. N'SELE COMPOUND - WIDE:    ALI                    enters from his bungalow. We SEE we're in a compound. They          are white and severely truncated houses linked by sidewalks          and too many large street lamps. As Ali starts to jog          through this imitation of suburbia with the scale all wrong.          It's like a Gulag in reverse for the rich and powerful to be          within while keeping the rest of the country out. As Ali          passes, REVEAL we are at the bank of the Congo River. As          Ali starts his predawn run, across the river the first band          of magenta tints the horizon and reflects molten on the water.                    TRACKING SHOT:    ALI + DUNDEE, SARRIA IN A PICKUP TRUCK - RED          DAWN                    plus two trainers and the ever-present Zairian POLICEMAN, Lt.          Nsakala. The early paints the red-earth ochre.                                                                             104.                                          ALI                          (to himself)                      Fast. Six left jabs flash from his                      chest and shoulder, followed by a                      right hook and left and right                      uppercuts.                                          ALI (CONT'D)                          (to himself)                      Back up, maaan...                          (weaves suddenly;                           another voice)                      ...you fast!                    Ali slides to the right and throws a left jab and hooks off          the jab.          EXT. KINSHASA ROAD - EMPTY ROAD - MORNING LIGHT                    Ali ENTERS, running. The road is lined with Mobutu's green          billboards in French and English, proclaiming Zaire          wonderful. A few kids emerge from behind the signs, coming          out from between...and they trail Ali.                                          KIDS                      Ali, boma ye!                                          ALI                          (repeating)                      Ali, boma ye George Foreman!                    And he throws a couple at an imaginary George Foreman.          There are 15 to 16 kids, now.                                          ALI (CONT'D)                      You out, sucker!          Curious, Ali runs behind the green signs from where the kids          came.                    ALI'S                    still jogging. Behind the signs, he becomes a magnetic          attraction. People are surprised to see Ali. He's making          their day. Euphoric kids parallel him, run with him, follow          him...                    PAST ALI:                    the concrete-and-cinder-block walls to the dusty, bare          ground are chromatic. Primary colors. Ethnographically          interesting.                                                                             105.                    ALI SEES interiors. Broken walls. No roof. No plumbing.          People come from a ditch with a shower curtain for privacy,          surprised to see Ali. Faces indifferent to squalor. This          is the ethnographically "interesting" surface of what, in          fact, is civic disintegration starting to occur... It is          the human concomitant to 13 years of Mobutu kleptocracy.                    ALI                    looks at the backs of the signs. He and we realize the          signs' purpose: to hide the makeshift plastic walls and          rooms made from cardboard containers and oil drums from the          foreigners traveling the road to Kinshasa. One TEENAGER          WITH A WITHERED ARM and a big smile runs up...                                       TEENAGER                       (broken English)                   You beat them, Ali!                                        ALI                   Foreman?   I kill him!                    He mimes knocking out Foreman. Something powerful is          affecting Ali. We don't know what it is. Ali slows down...                    ...throws two lightning jabs and a hook. Ali reaches to the          kid's head and pulls a coin. He flips it to another kid and          walks on. A SECOND TEENAGER comes out and wants Ali to look          at something around the back. He takes Ali's hand...and          holds it. Ali complies. The entourage follows...                    AROUND CORNER:   KIDS' PAINTING ON WALL                    It's an imitation fight poster. Childlike caricatures in          Basquiat-like brush strokes. Foreman's got crosses for eyes.          He's out! Ali is victorious! His fist is raised. His          cartoon face shouts his victory...the people's champion.          There's more. There's knocked-out white policemen, knocked-          out black soldiers, knocked-out landlords, knocked-out South          Africa, knocked-out planes and tanks, knocked-out tse-tse          flies...everything!                    So much, it means "ALL"...all expectation. This childish          painting powerfully affects Ali. The kids look at him.          It's still. Some kids in the back leap up in the air to see          over taller heads what Ali's doing.                    ALI                    looks at individual faces. A grinning OLDER MAN with a blue          transistor radio (we'll see him later). A smiling kid. A          girl with no shoes. A teenage kid jumping up and down...all          looking at him. Ali makes four pieces of rope appear. He          rubs them together...                                                                              106.                                       ALI (CONT'D)                   Shazaam!!!                    They become one. Everybody goes nuts. As Ali leaves, his          eyes go back to the people and the painting...                    EXT. KINSHASA ROAD - ECU:   ALI'S FACE - MORNING (GREEN SCREEN)                                       ALI                       (to himself)                   ...even if I die here. If it kill                   me, no matter what...I gotta win.                    Concentration has taken him into the athlete's zone, the          state of unified awareness wherein dwells his total self-          knowledge. And he knows the transaction: what they give          him with their adoration, which he converts to power, is in          exchange for what he means to them. And what he means to          them is specific: he represents them in defying power and          vanquishing what oppresses. He validates the existence of          expectation, that struggle is possible...George Foreman,          mute and unknowingly, represents disinterested power. Ali          doesn't "accept" his obligation; he embraces it. It is his          purpose, revealed. And he will never waver from it.                                                                CUT TO:                    INT. INTERCONTINENTAL HOTEL, ANTEROOM (KINSHASA) - ALI - DAY                    waits, sitting on a table edge in a corridor. Noise of a          press conference setting. Howard Cosell crosses through,          smoking. Bingham enters and gestures...they're ready. Ali          waves off Bingham, stops Cosell...                                       ALI                   Howard! How many you ugly                   sportswriters in there got me over                   Foreman? Don't lie.                                       HOWARD COSELL                       (beat)                   Some of us...Norman, me...are                   worried. How you gonna dance                   against George?? He's sparring                   with a middleweight, training to                   cut you off. He gets you against                   the ropes, he can knock you out                   with either hand.                                       ALI                       (drops facade)                   What's the odds?                                                                             107.                                          HOWARD COSELL                      Two-and-a-half-to-one. Against.                      We're worried you're going to get hurt.                    No one thinks Ali will win.                    INT. INTERCONTINENTAL HOTEL, MEDIA CONFERENCE ROOM - CLOSE:          ALI - DAY                                          ALI                      This'll be the biggest upset since                      Sonny Liston. I want all of you to                      write it down! This fight is no                      contest!                    We've jammed into the middle of Ali in a blast of braggadocio.                                ALI (CONT'D)                      George Foreman is a big mummy.                      I've officially named him "The Mummy."                    Laughter.                                          ALI (CONT'D)                      George punches are like "Look out,                      here come the left." Whomp!                          (stiff-armed swing)                      Here come the right! Whomp! Like                      a Mummy. But "The Mummy" can't hit                      what it can't see. I'm fast!                      Gonna dance. Be all over George.                      George is gonna feel he surrounded.                          (beat)                      And I done somethin' new for this                      fight; I done rassled with an                      alligator.          Anticipatory laughter. They've had twelve years' experience          of Ali's stand-up and know when a new routine's starting...                                          ALI (CONT'D)                      That's right!                          (laughter again;                           Ali almost loses it)                      I have rassled with an alligator.                      I done tussled with a whale. I                      done handcuffed lightning, thrown                      thunder in jail. That's bad! Only                      last week I murdered a rock.                      Injured a stone. Hospitalized a                      brick. I'm so mean, I make                      medicine sick.                    Laughter.                                                                                  108.                                         HOWARD COSELL                     Muhammad, I'm sorry. I have to ask.                         (he hesitates; he's                          sorry, but)                     Are you really fast enough, anymore?                     To beat George Foreman? Many                     people believe you don't have the                     same skills, that you are not the                     same man you used to be ten years ago.                    There it is. Has doubt, spoken truthfully in the open,          closed the mouth of Muhammad Ali? A beat. Then...                                         ALI                     Howard. I didn't want to talk                     about this, especially in front of                     everybody. But I talked to your                     wife! And she told me you're not                     the man you used to be...two years ago!                    The assembled media crack up.    Ali's eyes are wide in mock          amazement.                    CLOSE:    COSELL                    A bittersweet smile and the eye contact with Ali.    Cosell          knows...                    INT. GYM FLOOR - HEAVY BAG - LATE AFTERNOON                    is slammed by a massive fist. It leaves a dent the size of          a deflated basketball. The fist is George Foreman's.                    DICK SADLER                    holds the bag. Foreman throws hooks, one after the other.          Each blow rocks Sadler. George is literally punching a hole          in the bag. These blows would mash an opponent's liver,          break ribs, destroy kidneys. This man can do more than hurt          you. This man can kill you.                    INT. RING - FOREMAN + SPARRING PARTNER - LATER                    Foreman   is boxing a middleweight. He is smaller than          Foreman   and, therefore, faster. And, that's the point. The          partner   tries to circle, slide, dance away, and Foreman cuts          him off   and drives him to the ropes where he tags him. He          doesn't   put a lot behind it. Partner slides...                    FOREMAN                    darts left and jars him with three left jabs, keeping him on          the rope. Foreman's training to defeat Ali's dancing, his          "float + sting" tactics.                                                                               109.                    CLOSE:   GEORGE FOREMAN                    is young, has unreal power and he can move.                                                                  CUT TO:                    INT. TRAINING COMPOUND - METAL GRILL DOORS:    ALI'S ENTOURAGE                    is entering. Lieutenant Nsakala is there, too. They time-          share the facility. Foreman's entourage with conga drummers          are exiting. Ali and Foreman are never closer than 10 feet          apart. Foreman says nothing. Ali starts banging his hands          on Foreman's conga and shouts over the percussion at Foreman...                                        ALI                    Salaam Alaikum, brothers!                        (raises one arm)                    The champ is here!                    SIDE ANGLE:   THE TWO ENTOURAGES                    pass. Comparatively, Foreman looks bigger. He is more          dense of bone. He's taller. His chest seems deeper and his          shoulders wider.                    AND FOREMAN'S EXPRESSION                    is casual, unrattled by Ali's antics. He is menacing in his          indifference. It means he's ALSO immune to getting psyched          out by Ali.                    INT. RING - CROWD - LATER                    Bundini's in Ali's corner. Ali's sparring partner is Larry          Holmes. Ali's hands are at his side. He dances, bicycles,          shuffles, dances, dodges, doesn't throw anything, his elbows          at his side. Ali is training to DANCE from Foreman. He's          fast, but not seemingly suspended in air as he was 10 long          years ago against Liston.                    INT. N'SELE COMPOUND, ALI'S HOUSE - BELINDA - MORNING                                        BELINDA                    Here's your water.                                        ALI                    Bottled water. Frozen steaks.                    Brought all this stuff like                    Africans don't have steaks...                                        BELINDA                    You could pick up parasites...                                                             110.                              ALI          They eat it.                              BELINDA          You're seeing what you want to see,          Muhammad...                              ALI          Mobutu eats it...                              BELINDA          Mobutu is taking care of Mobutu and          stealing all the wealth and sending          it to Switzerland...                              ALI              (pause)          So? What's that do with any of why          we here?                              BELINDA              (she doesn't get it)          We're here 'cause Don King got          Mobutu to put up ten million          dollars. Don King don't give a          damn about Africa. He worse than          Herbert.                              ALI          Here come "Herbert."                              BELINDA          Yeah. 'Cause where was he when we          was broke and borrowing money? And          Bundini and all them that "love          you"? Disappeared, is where they          were.              (on a roll)          All over you when you got it and          drop off you when you don't...                              ALI          Money? I do "money-making"          whenever I want. Money is easy.                              BELINDA              (running on)          And Don King fit right in...that          double-breasted hipster is now a          dashiki-wearing rip-off.                              ALI          Don King delivered the first black-          promoted championship fight in Africa!                                                                              111.                                        BELINDA                    Don King talks black, lives white                    and thinks green! Why you                    defending him and "brother" Herbert?                        (against me)                                          ALI                      'Cause clean-cut Muslims parading                      on the South Side of Chicago don't                      get this done! I got to put                      honkeys with connections and bad-                      ass niggers to it, too.                                          BELINDA                          (not hearing)                      And now they got you up against                      George Foreman. Do they give a                      damn you could get killed?                                          ALI                      That what this is? Think I gonna                      lose? Puttin' doubt on me?                                          BELINDA                          (tears flow)                      I think: why is my Muslim husband                      letting himself get strung up on a                      cross...? It means, "tell me."                    He won't.    Ali picks up his bag and starts out...                                          BELINDA (CONT'D)                      Maryum is sick. Maybe I oughta go                      back to Chicago and look after her.                                           ALI                      Sure.                                          BELINDA                      I'll be back before the fight.                          (sarcastic)                      If that's all right, my husband...                    He walks out the door.                                                                   CUT TO:                    EXT. KINSHASA ARENA - 75 ZAIRIAN TRIBAL DANCERS - NIGHT                    to percussion.      The number.                                                                                112.                    ALI,                    Angelo and Bingham in the empty seating, looking at the ring          under the canopy. Behind them is the rehearsal. Meanwhile...                                                               CUT TO:                    EXT. ARENA, ENTRANCE - TWO CARS                    arrive, including in the first an Interpreter, Zairian          Official #2, a Policeman Driver; and in the second car is          Don King, Herbert, VERONICA, and another American Woman          (silent bit). They're in a hurry...                    EXT. ARENA - ALI                    is being taught to dance by two dancers. They fail. In the          background, workers are raising gigantic Mobutu portraits.          The Pointer Sisters begin.                    AISLE                    Don King and entourage approach.                                       DON KING                       (over the drumming)                   Champ! Champ! George had an accident.                                       ANGELO DUNDEE                       (suspicious)                   What are you talking about?                    Pointer Sisters start "Yes, We Can Can."                                       DON KING                   Got cut. Right above his right eye.                   His sparring partner's elbow.                   Split it open, so...                                       ANGELO DUNDEE                   Can he fight?                                       DON KING                   Not for six weeks.                    Ali laughs.                                       DON KING (CONT'D)                   This is not a humorous situation,                   my champion. This postponement                   could be long, especially if George                   leaves.                                                                              113.                                       ANGELO DUNDEE                   Are you tryin' to pull something,                   Don? Ali wants his title. And he                   wants it back in Zaire. George                   leaves, he ain't comin' back.                   George don't like it here.                    Pointer Sisters' rehearsal cuts...re-organizes.                                       DON KING                   How right you are, my suspicious                   and short Italian brother. And my                   fiduciary responsibility to this                   first all-black promotion is like a                   garden in the African sun. It must                   grow! It must bloom! It cannot                   flower in the gloom and shade of                   postponement to some dome. Like                   the Astrodome, the Super-dome, any                   dome outta Zaire, where it be                   deprived of light and bled of water.                   'Cause what gonna bleed...is money.                   A hemorrhage of cash.                       (sees it all)                   ...blood on the floor. Double                   hotel costs. Double travel costs.                   Airplanes. Food and beverage...                                       ANGELO DUNDEE                       (rhetorical)                   What do you expect us to do, Don?                                       DON KING                       (moves close to Ali)                   Muhammad. Find a way to get George                   to stay. Be Moses in reverse: do                   NOT let my people go! Stay the                   fuck right here, in Egypt, if                   you'll pardon my Swahili.                                       BINGHAM                   L-l-l-lingala.                                        DON KING                   What?                                        BINGHAM                   Lingala.   They s-s-s-speak Lingala.                                       DON KING                   Who cares?                    Pointer Sisters probably end here.   After a beat, percussion          starts up. Dancers drift in.                                                                              114.                                       ANGELO DUNDEE                       (pissed, dissed big)                   If George goes? You forfeit five                   million. You crawl back to                   Cincinnati. You ain't promotin' a                   charity raffle...                    We see Herbert watching all of this closely...particularly          the challenge to Ali/Dundee.                                       DON KING                       (irrepressible)                   If George goes? George goes, my                   champion, I will get you Joe                   Frazier. Ali-Frazier III...the                   fight everybody want to see.          INT. PRESS CONFERENCE                                       ALI                       (interrupts)                   Truth is...George knocked hisself out.                    Don King laughs, nervously.   Ali is daring George to stay.                                       ALI (CONT'D)                   That's right. He did three rounds.                   Knew he was gonna lose to Muhammad                   Ali and knocked hisself out. And I                   predict that whenever the fight is                   set, he might not show up!                                       DON KING                       (double entendre)                   You bad!                                       ALI                   I'm a bad man!                                       DON KING                   Ain't no doubt about it.                                       ALI                   And you tell the same thing to George.                    Media laugh, Don King goes along, Ali continues...                                       ALI (CONT'D)                       (to King)                   I been watchin' you! I heard you.                   I know he's your man. I know you                   got him picked. But the man's in                   trouble.                             (MORE)                                                                              115.                                       ALI (CONT'D)                   The whole world was gonna know.                   But, now, he ain't gonna show.                   That's why he knocked hisself out                   when he was training.                                       DON KING                       (laughs to dismiss                        Ali)                   We will reschedule the fight, and                   to ensure George is ready, we are                   thinking of postponing from                   September 24th to October 30th.                                       REPORTER                   What about the concert, Don?                             DON KING                   That would go off as planned on                   September 22nd and 23rd.                                       ALI                       (skeptical)                   Uh-huh. I want all helicopters                   guarded! Private boats. Private                   jets. I want the airport -- I'm                   serious -- I want President Mobutu                   and all his paratroopers. Mobutu                   and all his paratroopers. I want                   all of you "Zaireans" to be on                   guard! Watch all strange boats                   tryin' to slip away! They might be                   takin' him out.                                       ANGELO DUNDEE                   The bus station.          It's Ali kidding on the square. A serious point delivered          not seriously to be taken seriously.                                       ALI                   Yeah. Watch the bus station.                   Watch everything! Elephant                   caravans. He might sneak out by                   elephant.                    BUNDINI thinks of a line and whispers it to Don.   Don leans          past Dundee to pass it on Ali.                                       ANGELO DUNDEE                   What you say?                                       DON KING                   I ain't talkin' to you!                                                                                116.                                       ALI                       (to King)                   Hey!!!                    His eyes flash.   He leans forward and puts a finger in Don          King's face.                                       ALI (CONT'D)                   Don't talk to Angelo like that!                   Don't you talk to him like that                   ever again!!!                    Ali ain't fucking around. Ali has reasons for working with          Don. Belittling Angelo cuts across all that. Danger's in          the air. Dundee puts his hands up.                                       ALI (CONT'D)                   You think you're callin' these                   shots, Don? You're not.                    Ali pulls out a comb and starts to comb his hair.                                       ALI (CONT'D)                       (to King)                   They know!                       (segues into a                        routine)                   All those ladies out there know.                    Ali being mercurial is unexpected by Don. Laughter from          particularly the women as he combs his hair and segues...                                       ALI (CONT'D)                       (mock demagoguery)                   They know I'm ready! I see fear in                   the eyes of his followers! I see                   fear! This is the fight that                   Muhammad Ali was supposed to be                   ended. The myth of Muhammad was                   supposed to fall!                       (hits the table with                        his fist; glares at                        King)                   Supposed to be my destruction!                       (French voices and                        laughter, understated)                   They miscalculated. They misjudged.                   They got it...wrong.                    Ali's served notice to anyone with ears to hear it: he's          multidimensional, strategic and dangerous as hell. A taste          of what's to come.                                                                               117.                    EXT. VERANDA - ALI, BUNDINI, BINGHAM + ANGELO - DAY                    Waiters scurry. Ali talks to a blonde reporter from France          and settles next to Lloyd Price, without a shirt. Everyone          crowds around their table. A ZAIRIAN INTERPRETER and          Lieutenant Nsakala are present. Ali disregards their          presence because his attention tracks...                    ALI'S POV:   VERONICA                    seen over the heads of Zairians. She's 5 feet 10 inches          tall. Without acknowledging she's the object of Ali's          attention, her radar tells her she's the object of Ali's          attention.                                       ALI (V.O.)                   Say, girl...!                    Veronica turns, sees Ali.    Lights up.                                        ALI (CONT'D)                   C'mere.   I know you?                    OVER VERONICA as she makes her way to the table by Ali's          side, where he takes her hand in his.                                       VERONICA                   I don't think so.                                       ALI                   What's your name?                                       VERONICA                   Veronica Porche.                                       ALI                   Like the sports car.                                       VERONICA                       (laughs)                   Yes.                                       ALI                   But with a little something extra.                       (beat)                   Veronica, I know you now. C'mere,                   sit down.                    He steers her into the chair next to him, which is          immediately vacated by Lloyd Price.                                       ALI (CONT'D)                   You with Don?                                                                             118.                                       VERONICA                   Don brought me here, but I'm not                   "with"...anybody.                    The others are paying them no attention. Bundini stands to          talk to Howard Cosell. There's an ocean of side          conversations. Ali's presentation to Veronica is natural,          open admiring. It is not seduction. It's more seductive          than seduction. She feels from Ali nothing predatory or          exploitative...only the warm rays of the sun from his open          face and appreciating eyes. Still holding her hand...                                       ALI                   Where you from?                    Meanwhile, George Foreman, with Sadler, Moore, Broadus, sees          and laughs at Ali and Veronica and onto George Foreman going          into hotel.                                       VERONICA                   L.A. But my people are from                   Louisiana. We're Creole. So I'm                   African, French, Spanish, my                   mother's grandfather was Jewish.                                       ALI                       (looking at her                        admiringly)                   Well...they all came together real                   nice.                                       VERONICA                   You know...                       (hesitating; low)                   ...I'm glad you said what you did.                   You made sure this fight stays here.                             ALI                   All them writers in there think                   Foreman gonna...kill me!                       (eyes go wide)                   What you think?                                       VERONICA                   Ali, boma ye.                    Meanwhile, 15 Chinese and some Vietnamese approach and wait          patiently. Ali has to force his attention away from          Veronica to respond... They all bow. He bows.                    The Zairian Interpreter translates English to French to          another Zairian, who speaks Mandarin. It all gets lost in          chaos while Bingham shoots pictures and a Plimpton type          explains pedantically to Bundini...                                                                            119.                                       PLIMPTON TYPE                   ...she's an African "succubus."                   Means witch doctor.                                       BUNDINI                   Succubus? Suck my dick. They                   ain't room in Africa for more than                   one witch doctor. And that's B'dini.                    The eyes of some of the Asians are very emotional. Ali          stands up and bows to them. Chinese bow themselves away.          Ruth Pointer arrives. Ali kisses her. She sits, but talks          to Bingham.                                       ALI                   You been to Hong Kong?   Taiwan?                   Thailand?                                       VERONICA                   No.                                       ALI                   I can't go there. All the ladies                   out there from Indonesia, Japan,                   Hawaii, India...                       (high-pitched voice,                        imitating female fans)                   "Ali-i-i-e-e-e! Ali-e-e-e! Oh,                   Muhammad Al-i-i-i!"                       (speaks in faux foreign                        language, imitating                        female fans; to Bingham)                   You seen those people from Thailand?                   I was in Bangkok -- I couldn't walk.                       (laughter; hangs his                        head)                   I couldn't...I just couldn't do                   nothin'. "Get me outta this                   country!"                       (laughter)                   The women were so pretty...                                       BINGHAM                   'B-b-b-bout Hong Kong, man?!   You                   know what I heard?                                       ALI                       (interrupts)                   Ladies in Thailand, their hair                   comes down to their knees...and                   they about Veronica's                   complexion...and they bad!                             (MORE)                                                                                120.                                         ALI (CONT'D)                     But they ain't nothin' like the                     "sisters."                         (holds Veronica's                          hands, looks deep                          into her eyes)                     Ain't NOTHIN' like the sisters!                    Veronica laughs as Ali mocks swooning over her...   Another          news crew arrives.                                          NEWS CAMERAMAN                     Champ...                                         ALI                         (to Veronica)                     Let's go for a ride.                    EXT. KINSHASA SHANTYTOWN - KIDS - DUSK INTO NIGHT                    and old people, teenagers in dirty T-shirts with strange          hats. Their eyes are wide.                    REVERSE:   ALI                    shows his bare hands. Now he rubs them together and          MAGICALLY pulls from his closed fist a colored scarf.     The          kids scream.                    VERONICA                    squints, trying to figure out how he did it, because...                    ALI                    shows the scarf, pushes back his cuffs so that he can't hide          anything up his sleeves. His wrists are bare. He shows          both sides. Now, he takes the scarf and pushes with his          right hand and feeds it into the closed fist of his left.          He looks up wide-eyed at everybody. Then, he opens his          fingers and the scarf is not there!                    ALI + VERONICA                    walk, towering over the kids. One girl holds Ali's hand.          The others maintain a respectful proximity so that they          don't invade the space around Ali.                                         ALI                     So why you glad we still here?                                                                             121.                                       VERONICA                   Holdin' this in Africa make people                   proud. All over the world.                   They're proud of you. Anybody can                   fight in Vegas.                                       ALI                   That's one job.    I got two...                    They pass through cinder-block houses, shipping crates, oil          drums for cooking fires, a few car parts.                                       ALI (CONT'D)                       (melodramatic)                   ...gotta whup George!                                       VERONICA                   Islamic faith help you to that?                                       ALI                   Listen, girl, as a Muslim, I am                   busted out and failed in the eyes                   of God. I shoulda discovered Islam                   at 50! 'Cause I am weak on women.                   They take my eyes and my heart                   follow...causing me to be a lovin'                   husband and a terrible husband...!                       (looks down at her,                        intensely)                   ...green eyes and cocoa skin...?                       (feigns wobbly legs)                   ...okay, rest of me, let's go!!                    Veronica laughs. She brings his hand up to her mouth and          kisses it. Hand in hand, a towering man and a towering          woman walk away at their ease against the soft sky with          their entourage of teenagers and kids. On the perimeter, a          kid does flips and, then, gets distracted...                    INT. N'SELE GYM - SPEED BAG - DAY                    A syncopated, obscuring, blurred shape of the bag turned          into a percussion instrument by Ali's fast hands trying to          get even faster.                                       ALI                       (to himself)                   Faster! Faster!                                       DUNDEE                       (shouts)                   TIME!                                                                                 122.                    Ali SLAMS a right hook at the bag. It almost explodes.          OPTIONAL: Ali takes body hits, tries sliding off head shots.                    INT. RING - ALI'S EYES                    feints his left and throws a right.   It surprises Holmes.                                        HOLMES                    You can't lead a right hand.   Not                    at him!                                         ALI                    Why not?                                        HOLMES                    Too long...to get it there. Man, I                    mean, to think you could hit him                    with a right lead...it's insulting...                    Nobody would lead a right...                    Ali sees something beyond the ring. And, now, flicks four          ripping left jabs into Holmes and slides sideways as Holmes          tries to catch Ali with a right. But Ali changes directions,          changes back and now comes over Holmes' right with his own          left cross, and a six-or-seven-punch combination. It is Ali          dancing and floating. Crowd cheers..."TIME."                    BUNDINI                    meanwhile, has thrown his arms around Dick Sadler, Foreman's          manager. (We realize this is why Ali segued from serious          work to snapping his traditional left jab.)                                        BUNDINI                    I got him! Lock him up.                                        SADLER                        (laughs)                    Hey, hold up, chump!   Make this                    chump turn me loose.                    Sadler's there with his wife and another couple. Rudy joins,          laughing. Bundini turns loose Sadler. Ali and Sadler like          each other.                                        SADLER (CONT'D)                    This is my wife, Irene...                    Sadler affectionately puts an arm around Ali's neck and          reaches up and pretends to hit Ali on top of the head with a          fist for Bingham's camera. Ali bites his lower lip and          starts wrestling with Sadler, putting him in a headlock.          Sadler's arm is around Ali's waist.                                                                                 123.                                       ALI                   Hey! Look! Look at George                   Foreman's trainer, feelin' me up on                   purpose! On the side, to see if                   I'm in shape!                    More laughter.     Sadler's beret falls off.   Rudy puts it back on.                                       IRENE                   Can I have your autograph?                                       ALI                   We'll, you ain't gonna find no fat!                   Watch out!!                                       SADLER                       (lunges for wife's                        note pad)                   Give me that thing!                                       BINGHAM                       (breaking through)                   Muhammad. Give her an Ali button!                    The gang laughs.                                       SADLER                   No, you ain't.                       (concedes)                   All right, give my wife an Ali button.                                       ALI                   She's gotta put it on.                                       SADLER                   Give my wife one.                             BINGHAM                   Bo'dini, you got Ali buttons?                                       ALI                   "George" buttons is all I got. In                   my bedroom! All over the bed!                   Everywhere! To remind me...of all                   of ya'. All of ya'! Reminds me of                   all ya'!                    Throughout the above he's pretending to jab at Dick, who's          laughing and feinting at him. It's raucous. Fond          relationships transcend the adversarial roles. They are all          of the tribe of boxers. Sadler is a particularly bright and          talented man. Meanwhile...                                                                                124.                    INT. COMPOUND, OTHER SIDE OF THE RING - AN OLDER BRADLEY                    accompanied by an American Reporter is nabbed by a French          news crew.                                       ORTF INTERVIEWER                       (in French)                   Pardon. Vous Ítes de l'ambassade                   des Etats-Unis? Vous avez une                   prÈdiction?                                       ORTF INTERVIEWER                       (English translation)                   Excuse me. You are from the U.S.                   Embassy? Do you have a prediction?                                        BRADLEY                        (in French)                        (caught; smiles)                    Je suis avec l'Agence amÈricane                    d'informations. Il ne m'est pas                    permis d'exprimer mes prÈfÈrences                    entre deux citoyens des Etats-Unis.                                        BRADLEY                        (English translation)                        (caught; smiles)                    I'm with the U.S. Information                    Agency. I'm not allowed to take                    favorites among two United States                    citizens...                    He walks away.                    EDGE OF THE RING:   ANGELO DUNDEE                    sits on the apron of the ring.      Ali joins him.                                       ANGELO DUNDEE                       (meaning Sadler)                   He gone?                                        ALI                   Yeah.                    EXT. COMPOUND - SADLER - DAY                    leaving, steals a glance at Ali and Dundee. It's adversarial.          The camaraderie was not false. Both are true. But being          strategic, he is a threat to Ali. George has a first-rate team.                                                                             125.                    INT. INTERCONTINENTAL, ALI'S SUITE - ALI - DAY                    enters with Howard Cosell and Howard Bingham and a two-man          news crew.                                       BELINDA                   Hello, Muhammad. Bingham.    Mr. Cosell.                                       HOWARD COSELL                       (tight)                   Hi...Mrs. Ali.                                       ALI                   When did you get in?                                       BELINDA                   Just now. Muhammad, may I have a                   word with you, please?                    Belinda starts towards the bedroom. Ali looks to Howard and          gestures with his hand to get rid of everybody. As the          bedroom door closes, Cosell, crew and Bingham can't wait to          get out of there.                    INT. INTERCONTINENTAL SUITE, BEDROOM - DAY                                       BELINDA                   What is going on?                                        ALI                    You know what's going on.                        (it's not the                         first time)                                       BELINDA                   But I don't have to have it thrown                   in my face. I don't have to read                   about it and have people call me up                   on the phone about it...                                       ALI                   I didn't mean for it to come out...                                       BELINDA                   Oh, hell, Muhammad, you got no                   discretion. You never did. You                   humiliate me!                    Belinda slams a lamp standing next to her.                                       BELINDA (CONT'D)                   I clean for you. I cook for you.                   I feel every punch you take.                                                                           126.                                       ALI                   I know that.                                       BELINDA                   Then why you got to be visible with                   women?                                       ALI                   I didn't mean for it to be...                                       BELINDA                   I live with the casual ones.                       (gestures to Veronica's                        clothing)                   But this, this...I can't hold it                   together anymore.                             ALI                   I don't want to hurt you. It's                   wrong. You're a good wife to me.                                       BELINDA                   Then why do you disrespect me this                   way?!                                       ALI                   I respect you.   I always respect you.                    Belinda pauses.   A terrible question occurs to her.                                       BELINDA                   Do you love her?                    Ali doesn't answer.                                       BELINDA (CONT'D)                   Do you want to marry her?                                       ALI                   I follow my heart.                                       BELINDA                   "You're following your heart"?                       (sarcasm falls away)                   That's what you do. No matter what                   anybody says. Or thinks. Or what                   it does...                       (pause)                   And what happens now?                                       ALI                   I fight George.                       (after a beat)                   I didn't come this far to quit.                                                                                127.                                       BELINDA                   Neither of us did.                    Ali looks at her a moment. Then he leaves. Silence.          Belinda sits on the bed. She looks up. Then she comes          apart. She rips open a closet. She finds Veronica's          clothes, rips them, shreds peignoirs, overturns a night          table, strips the bed, smashes more furniture, throws          Veronica's suitcase at the mirror. It does not break. She          looks around the wrecked room. Bingham is standing there.                                        BINGHAM                   Belinda?                    Belinda looks up, tears in her eyes.                                       BINGHAM (CONT'D)                   You can't beat him. You can't beat                   him, 'cause you can't not love him.                    INT. ALI'S HOUSE, N'SELE, SHOWER - ALI - NIGHT                    under the water. It flows like silver down the contours of          his face and neck. He is in that zone of concentration          where the best athletes go...where the pre-motor cortex's          activity dominates and facial expression becomes blank, eyes          look distantly...Ali's in his domain...in the groove.                    EXT. COMPOUND, N'SELE, REAR SHOT:   ALI'S CITROEN - NIGHT                    and outriders depart.                    INT. MOBUTU'S PALACE, A SITTING ROOM - SERVANTS - NIGHT                    prepare a luxurious setting. On a platform is a large TV          set. In front of it, with low tables are two large          armchairs with antimacassars. At the door are Mobutu's          spit-and-polish paratrooper bodyguards. They STOMP their          feet to attention as...                    MOBUTU                    in his tan uniform and signature leopard-skin hat enters,          followed by an entourage of aides.                                       MOBUTU'S MILITARY AIDE                       (in French)                   We are ready, your excellent                   President for Life...                                       MOBUTU                       (in French)                   Invite Monsieur Idi to join me                   now... The Banker? The American?                                                                                 128.                                         MOBUTU'S MILITARY AIDE                         (in French)                     They are waiting in the sitting room.                    INT. ALI'S DRESSING ROOM - DUNDEE                    wrapping Ali's hands, tears the tape into narrow strips to          go between the fingers. Doc Broadus, from Foreman's camp,          observes the wrapping, then signs it. In addition to          function, the taping feels ritualistic.                    CLOSE:    ALI'S                    attention is focused elsewhere...on his action:    what he          will do, his strategy.                                         LIEUTENANT NSAKALA                         (from doorway)                     Countdown! Countdown!                                         RUDY                     Countdown is on, bro.   Five minutes.                    Ali gets off the training table. Angelo has finished. He          puts on his robe and starts warming up before the mirror,          throwing punches for a full minute.                    HERBERT                    enters.    Ali and Herbert go to an alcove.                                        ALI                    Thanks to Allah...                        (praying)                                         LIEUTENANT NSAKALA                         (shouts)                     Four minutes!                    Sarria sticking sealed bottles filled with honey, orange          juice and water into the water bucket. As Ali puts on the          robe, the others gather up the gear, start out. Herbert          moves to Ali, preparing for the entrance, to be as close to          him for the cameras as possible...                                         ANGELO DUNDEE                     Give us a moment. Alone.                         (off Herbert's look)                     Hey. This is my religion!                    Herbert and Pat Patterson, the bodyguard, with his chrome-          plated .45, follow the others away from Ali. Angelo begins          applying Vaseline on Ali's face. They're alone in the room.                                                                                129.                                        ANGELO DUNDEE (CONT'D)                    It's hot. Humid. Monsoon season's                    about to start. May hit 140 in the                    ring under the lights. You all right?                                        ALI                    Why?                                        ANGELO DUNDEE                    Where you at?                                        ALI                        (looks up)                    Foreman ain't no mummy. He's                    knocked out eight out of eleven                    before the end of the third round.                    He the most dangerous fighter I                    ever fought.                                        ANGELO DUNDEE                    I'd worry if I was hearin' anything                    else.                    Ali loosens up his neck.                                        ALI                    And I can't WAIT!                                        LIEUTENANT NSAKALA                    Three minutes!                                         ANGELO DUNDEE                    Dance.   That's the most important...                    Ali looks at Dundee enigmatically.     Before Angelo can ask...                    BUNDINI                    throws towels across Ali's shoulders. Ali puts on his long          African robe, which is white with African-graphic trim on          the cuffs of the sleeves and the hem.                                        BUNDINI                        (whispers)                    Forget every battle of man against                    man, of mind against mind, of soul                    against soul. This is the one.                    This is the greatest.                    Ali nods to him.                                        BUNDINI (CONT'D)                    This is it.                                                                                  130.                                       LIEUTENANT NSAKALA                   Two minutes!                                       BUNDINI                   The prophet's come back to claim                   his own! Get the pretender off                   that throne!                                       BUNDINI/ALI                   Rumble, young man, rumble! It's                   the "Rumble in the Jungle"!                    WIDE FROM ABOVE:   ALI'S CAMP                    starts moving towards the door. They open the door. It is          guarded by a handpicked squad of paratroopers and Lieutenant          Nsakala.                                       LIEUTENANT NSAKALA                       (shouts)                   One minute!                    INT. CORRIDOR                    Paratroopers on either side like a wedge, guarding Ali with          Angelo, Bundini, Rudy and Herbert, as they push through the          door, out into the hall.                    TRAVEL WITH THEM AS                    people in the corridor at the end see Ali.       The chant begins...                                      THE PEOPLE                   Ali! Ali! Boma ye, Ali!       Ali!                   Boma ye!                    The sound from the corridor picks up a second reverberation          that booms from a distant vast space. As we move towards it,          to encounter it. And suddenly we...                    BURST OUT INTO THE STADIUM...                    EXT. KINSHASA ARENA - WIDE:     EVERYTHING - NIGHT                    Lights flood it.   They pour down artificial sunshine.                                       THE PEOPLE                   Ali, boma ye! Ali, boma ye!      Ali,                   boma ye!                    ROARS from 65,000 voices at a quarter to four in the morning.          The moon is out, revealing storm clouds.                                                                             131.                    HIGH + WIDE SHOTS:        ALI                    and entourage.      The crowd goes nuts.                    TRAVELING WITH ALI THROUGH THE MASS                    The crowd roars; Angelo behind, Bundini on one side, Pacheco          and Sarria.                    EXT. RING - WE ENTER                    They cheer. Ali raises his hand and salutes them. Ali          dances from one end of the ring to the other...dances into          George's corner... The crowd roars.                    ANOTHER ANGLE:      ALI          dances back to his corner...                                        ANGELO DUNDEE                    George is playing prima donna.   He                    wants to make you wait.                    Ali laughs. You won't psyche out Muhammad Ali with that          stuff. Instead, Ali uses the time. He tests the ropes. He          gets the feel of the distance between the center and the corner.                    CLOSER:   ALI                    circles the ring. He looks at the crowd from different          angles, from the corner, the center... He looks up at the          lights and gets used to the heat from them.                    ALI'S FEET                    do a shuffle. He feels the canvas. He feels the soft spots.          The firm spots. He feels how much slide there is because of          the resin on the canvas, how much spring there is in the          boards...                    ALI                    sheds his robe, now, and throws a blistering array of jabs          and hooks. The crowd goes nuts. Ali looks ringside and sees...                    ALI'S POV:      JIM BROWN                    Lloyd Price...further along...Robert Lipsyte.                    EXT. ARENA - AISLE - SUDDENLY                    out comes Foreman in his red robe, Archie Moore following in          his blue pea-cap, and Dick Sadler -- never a fashion          plate -- in the world's least-attractive T-shirt, followed                                                                                  132.                    by former featherweight champ Sandy Saddler.                                          CROWD                     Foreman!   Foreman!   Foreman!   Foreman!                    THE RING - ALI                    is shadowboxing as Foreman climbs in the ring and crosses          past him, near to him. The look on Ali's face is indifferent.          Foreman goes immediately to his stool. He doesn't move          around the ring. He doesn't touch the ropes.                                                                   DISSOLVE TO:                    DON KING                    as tall as only three other men: Foreman, Ali and Bundini,          walks into the ring wearing black...                    ZACK CLAYTON,                    the referee, moves to the center of the ring.      A great roar          fills the air: "ALI, BOMA YE! ALI, BOMA YE!        ALI, BOMA          YE!"...another one. "FOREMAN! FOREMAN!"                    OVERHEAD                    as Ali, Foreman and both their crews meet in the center of          the ring.                                         CLAYTON                     Now, both of you know the rules.                     When I step back, I want a good,                     clean break.                         (Clayton keeps going)                     No hitting below the belt, no                     kidney punches, no...                                         ALI                     Motherfucker, you 'bout to discover                     you ain't nothin'.                                         CLAYTON                     Ali, be quiet!                    George's eyes glare.    Ali rocks back and forth, ready to rumble.                                         CLAYTON (CONT'D)                     No kidney punches. Now...                                                                                133.                                          ALI                          (past the ref;                           eyeballing George)                      You been hearin' about me for years.                      All your life you been hearin'                      about Muhammad Ali. Now you gotta                      face me.                                          CLAYTON                      Ali, I'll disqualify you. Now, I                      want a good, clean, sportsman fight...                                          ALI                          (to Foreman)                      You never should have come to Africa.                    Foreman is unfazed by all of this.    His cold eyes say          "battery and homicide."                                          CLAYTON                          (blows up)                      All right!!                          (beat)                      Now go to your corners and come out                      fighting when you hear the bell,                      and may the best man...win...                                                                 DISSOLVE TO:                    Ali turns his back and continues to shuffle and shadowbox.                                                                 DISSOLVE TO:                    OVERHEAD:    ALI + FOREMAN'S                    corners are clear. Ali is facing his corner, praying to          Allah. Foreman is bent over at the waist, flexing and          releasing the last tension in his huge shoulders, as the          bell for ROUND ONE clangs...                    THE RING - BOTH                    charge out and stop as if they ran into a brick wall five          feet from each other. Then Ali dips, throws a left, which          George takes on the shoulder...a BIG RIGHT HAND to George's          head. The crowd goes nuts. George clinches, picks up Ali          and swings him through 180 degrees with his power. As he          puts Ali down, Ali pushes George's head down and away and          Ali clocks him with ANOTHER RIGHT. Foreman clinches and          drives Ali back to the rope. Ali throws ANOTHER RIGHT that          lands. Ali dances, circles, stays out of Foreman's way.          Then he slams him again with a right.                                                                                 134.                    Foreman gets Ali in the corner, throws vicious combinations          and a hook that nails Ali in the body and a wild shot hits          Ali on the side of the head. CLOSER ON ALI...stunned, his          eyes clear. He's just taken a Foreman shot. He pushes          Foreman, the stronger man, out of the way and dances and          circles. Foreman ties him up again. Ali pushes out, dances          and hits HIM with a RIGHT. Ali ties him up, and there's the          BELL.                    ALI'S CORNER:     ALI                                          ALI                          (to himself)                      Legs heavy...air's heavy...like sand...                    SLOWLY MOVE IN ON ALI          as Angelo and Bundini's talk fades away. We see Ali's          awareness in a deep concentration. He is holding counsel          with himself. Ali stares into space across the diagonal to          the other corner, but not really at Foreman. Ali is          weighing something. A gamble. He blinks, and whatever it          is, he's decided it NOW. AMBIENT SOUND starts to come back          as Ali's attention returns to the present and he ignores...                                          ANGELO DUNDEE                      ...keep moving. Don't let him put                      you into the corner. Stay off the                      rope!                    THE BELL FOR ROUND TWO                    Ali charges into the center of the ring, provoking Foreman          to chase him, and Ali immediately BACKS TO THE ROPE. And          stays there! Seizing opportunity, Foreman throws big hooks.          ALI IS DOING EXACTLY WHAT HE'S NOT SUPPOSED TO DO. He gets          off the rope and backs to the rope on the other side. Most          of the shots are blocked by the gloves of both men. No          damage. Then George throws a left, which Ali blocks, and a          big right hook.                    ALI                    turns away.     Nevertheless, it crashes into his jaw.                    MACRO ALI                    TIME SLOWS. He ties up George. We SEE Ali's hurt.        Dazed.          But he must make George believe he's unhurt.                                          ALI                      That all you got...?   That it?                                                                                   135.                    Foreman reacts. Ali takes vicious hooks to the midsection,          hangs on and goes right back onto the ropes, tying Foreman up.                    LOW ANGLE                    George's shots are taken on Ali's elbows and gloves. But          for every four that are thrown, one or two tremendous hooks          get through to Ali's ribs, his side.                    ALI'S FACE                    reveals impact, but nothing diminishes the TERRIBLE          FORTITUDE with which he endures. Now, he ties up George.          Now, George drives Ali into the corner and pummels him.                    ANGELO + BUNDINI          going crazy in the corner!                                          ANGELO DUNDEE                      Get off the ropes! Get off the                      ropes! Get off the ropes! Dance!                    Ali blocking, getting hit.   WORRIED FACES in the crowd.       One          woman looks away.                    ALI'S EYES                    alive, more than alert, the sharpest eyes in boxing.                    FOREMAN'S LEFT JAB                    coming in.   Ali feints, shifts.   It misses by a quarter of          an inch.                    FOREMAN HOOKS OFF HIS JAB          Ali leans back on the top rope. Foreman's punch falls short          and connects with little effect. That's how good is Ali.          The techniques BECOME CLEAR.                    Foreman goes upstairs, throws three hooks, all get taken on          Ali's gloves. Foreman slams a hook that began in Cape Town          and ends up in Zaire, into Ali's abdomen. And another. Ali          takes the shots, hangs on.                    ALI'S EYES                    are bright like stars.   His white mouth guard shines.     A          grimace? A grin?                                                                               136.                                        ALI                        (to himself)                    There is nothin'... Nothin'!                        (another Foreman                         hook lands)                    ...I cannot take.                    Ali pushes Foreman off and Ali connects with a left and a          straight right to the jaw. They pound but don't stop George.          Ali ties him up. Ali's jabs end the round. Nothing          effective, but Ali shakes his head, disapprovingly, puts his          hand on the back of George's neck, and as the BELL sounds...                                        ALI (CONT'D)                    Thought you was bad!                    George laughs.   He won the round overwhelmingly.                    ALI'S CORNER                    is apoplectic.                                        BUNDINI                    Dance, dance!                                        DUNDEE                    Get off the ropes!   What are you                    doin'?!                                        ALI                        (it gets quiet; to                         himself:)                    Here come George's "murder" round.                        (refers to Round Three)                    Ali pushes away from his handlers and rises. He opens his          arms to the crowd. We hear a massive "ALI, BOMA YE" start up.                    CLOSER:   ALI                    opens his arms as if the roar of 65,000 voices is sunlight.          By opening his arms, his skin soaks it in and converts it to          power. And the BELL STARTS ROUND THREE.                    EXT. THE RING                    They trade. Nothing. Foreman advances, Ali backs to the          ropes, tags Foreman with a couple of harmless left jabs.          Now Foreman opens up with heavy artillery. Ali gets in a          couple of shots, but for the center of the round he's          pummeled by Foreman. Midway through...                    FOREMAN accepts a left jab, and while Ali's left arm is out          with it, Foreman hammers a right into the exposed lower                                                                             137.                    midsection of Ali and then follows it with six tremendous          hooks to Ali's abdomen. Ali pushes him away. Foreman comes          in again. Foreman gets him on the rope again, and a          surprising right on the left side of Ali's face.                    ALI                    ties up Foreman's left in the crook of his elbow, and they          stagger, married, awkwardly, into the center of ring. The          referee separates them.                    ANOTHER ANGLE:     FOREMAN                    charging and throwing heavy shots. Ali takes some on his          elbows, arms, biceps and shoulders. NOW we see Ali lean          BACK. WAY BACK. 45 degrees back... We start to hear the          TWANG of the rope. We get it. Ali is using the rope as a          shock absorber. Some Foreman punches get through, but the          rope TWANGS and Foreman's hitting a trampoline with a hammer.          Between deflection and being ring-wise, Ali dilutes much of          what George throws. Then Foreman drives three powerful          hooks into Ali's side.                    ALI'S BODY SPASMS                    But, as if inconsequential...                                          ALI                    George!    Show me something.                    Ali -- insulting, taunting -- snaps jabs into George's face,          talking through his mouthpiece...                                        ALI (CONT'D)                    Where's your punch, man?!                                        BUNDINI/DUNDEE (O.S.)                    Ali, get off the ropes! Stick 'em!                    Jab! Off the ropes!                    UP CLOSER:   ALI                    blocks a rage of Foreman head shots with his fists, the          abdominal shots within his elbows. Each Foreman punch is a          haymaker.                    FOREMAN                    suddenly switches.                    FROM THE FLOOR:     FOREMAN'S UPPERCUT                    comes from camera and slams right through Ali's guard, right          into his jaw.                                                                                   138.                    ALI'S                    hurt!     He holds on.                                          DUNDEE/BUNDINI (OVER)                      Off the ropes! Dance, champ, dance!                    Ali's pushed back like a rag doll.                    FOREMAN                    throws a right hand.     It, too, slams through Ali's guard.          He's in trouble.                    ALI'S EYES                    flash.     Roll in his head.   He sees neon.   TIME SLOWS...lights          dim...                                          ALI                          (calmly)                      ...been here before.                                          ANGELO DUNDEE (V.O.)                          (distant echoes)                      Ali, move!                          (beat)                      Dance, champ!                    Ali glances at the crowd. He SEES: the OLD MAN with the          transistor radio on his shoulder from the shantytown, urging          him on!                                          ALI                          (to himself)                      Open the door, Richard...outta this                      room... Put on your coat,                      man...get out...                    THE RING:     FOREMAN                    slams shots into Ali's kidneys, his ribs. Ali will piss          blood for two months. But Ali stays on the ropes. AS TIME          CATCHES UP TO NORMAL...                                          ALI (CONT'D)                          (to himself)                      Think my fight's over...? That...                          (to George)                      ...all you got? That the hardest                      you hit?                    ALI comes off the rope, and Ali hits Foreman with a terrific          three-shot combination, a right-left-right. WHAM-WHAM-WHAM.                                                                             139.                    Feints.   Hits Foreman with a left-right.   WHAM-WHAM!                                        ALI (CONT'D)                    C'mon, chump!!!                    The BELL. It's an Ali rally at the end. He throws Foreman          a look of contempt as he walks to his corner.                    ALI'S CORNER                                        ANGELO DUNDEE                        (panicked)                    Get off the goddamn ropes!!                                        ALI                    Took somethin' away from him, Angie,                    that round...                                        BUNDINI                    You gotta move! Stick and MOVE!                                        ALI                        (to himself)                    They don't know what's happenin'.                    Ali looks to the left and sees Jim Brown.                                        ALI (CONT'D)                        (to Jim Brown)                    You bet the wrong horse! He can't                    fight no better than you can act!                    Jim Brown laughs.                    WE DON'T HEAR A BELL. INSTEAD, WE'RE SUDDENLY IN THE LAST 15          SECONDS OF ROUND FOUR.          EXT. RING, ROUND FOUR, FIVE, SIX - FOREMAN BARRAGE                    Ali is braced on the ropes, as far back as the ropes will go.          Foreman throws a barrage of shots, he slams in five and six          at a time. THE BELL.                    ALI                    covers with gloves at his head. Elbows at his ribs. When          head shots come in, Ali slips them the right or left, or          turns them into glancing shots, or just leans straight back          so that they all fall short by quarter of an inch. The BELL.                    ALI                    covering, taking the most powerful hooks Foreman's thrown in          the fight, one after the other to the body.                                                                                        140.                                          ALI                          (to himself)                      Take it! Terrify him with what you                      can take...                    Ali's eyes are stars. He sees everything. He sees things          no one else can see in the quantum physics of deflecting the          force of Foreman's blows.                    FOREMAN                    desperate, pounds a left to Ali's side, a blocked left to          the head, three lefts to the belly, which get through!          Ali's left arm convulses downwards, involuntarily, with the          blows. What Ali's not ready for and doesn't block is the          right hand that follows. This shot is jarring and concussive.          He grabs Foreman's neck and has to hold on.                    The BELL.                    EXT. RING - ALI - MID-ROUND SEVEN                    leaning way back at impossible angles -- soaking up George's          shots. George is SLOWER...BUT Ali's not throwing at all!                                          ALI                          (hisses to George)                      Eight more rounds... You runnin'                      outta gas?                    Then...Ali comes out from under.                    WHAM.     WHAM.     WHAM.   WHAM.     WHAM.                    Five hard shots are followed into Foreman's puffed face.          They surprise and enrage him.          WIDER:     GEORGE                    drives Ali with his 220 pounds...George's arms and fists now          SWING HEAVILY. Some get through. Ali's right eye is puffy.          Both tie up. And BELL ends the round.                    EXT. RING - ALI'S CORNER                    Angelo and Bundini talk.            Neither we nor Ali hear them.                                          ALI                          (to himself to George)                      ...can't let you get that second                      wind which you don't know is out                      there for you.                                (MORE)                                                                              141.                                          ALI (CONT'D)                          (talking to George in                           his head)                      Want the title...wear the                      heavyweight crown?                          (to himself)                      Jaw broke? Nose smashed? Face                      busted? You ready to die? Is that                      you?                          (towards George)                      'Cause you gonna meet a man who                      will die before he let you win.                    A tall African Girl walks by with the number "8." As she          passes near Ali, she has the audacity to wink at him. ALI          happens to see it. He winks back at her. She smiles. He          brightens right up! THE BELL RINGS.                    EXT. RING - ALI                    goes to the ropes, throws a couple and, now, comes off the          ropes. He's in the center of the ring. HE'S HUNTING. A          couple of lefts from Ali. Foreman throws a haymaker and          almost falls out of the ring. Ali's in the corner, having          avoided the shot.                    FOREMAN                    gets in a couple of lefts that Ali deflects. Ali takes          another on the cheek, leans way back again. Suddenly, he          seems tired, as is Foreman. Tied up, they go diagonally to          the other corner of the ring, both fighters exhausted,          leaning against each other. Resting. BUT...                    EXTREMELY CLOSE:   WE SEE ALI'S EYES ARE DEAD SHARP                    He's faking.                    FOREMAN                    backs Ali into the corner.                    ALI                    hits Foreman with a left. Foreman launches a short left          that Ali counters with a BIG RIGHT CROSS that connects.                    FOREMAN'S                    head snaps around. Sweat sprays in a parabola of light.          Crowd ROARS with expectation. George Foreman tries a right          uppercut, fails as Ali circles, guiding Foreman onto the          ropes. Foreman's on the ropes NOW.                                                                               142.                    ALI'S EYES                    know the moment is...                                        ALI                        (to himself)                    Now...                    ALI'S                    short, chopping right turns Foreman's head down.                    CLOSER:   FOREMAN                    comes over the ropes and turns back into...                    ALI'S RIGHT HOOK                    slams his head down and sideways.   And Foreman charges into Ali.                    CLOSE SLO-MO:   ALI                    snaps a combination: an overhead right to Foreman's face, a          short chopping left and a right hook. Ali's eyes light up          like white phosphorus.                                        ALI (CONT'D)                        (to himself)                    RIGHT NOW!                    FOREMAN                    wrestles Ali into the center.   And the most significant          moments begin...                    SLO-MO:   ALI ON THE LEFT + FOREMAN ON THE RIGHT          ...and Ali's left hand is extended way behind him with the          wrist bent, no power. As it passes his body, Ali converts          it into a left hook. As he's doing this, he's dropping his          left foot back. The left foot DOES NOT support a left hand.          It's for a right hand so the body can untorque across with          the punch. And Ali is already cocking his right. Meanwhile,          the left connects with Foreman's jaw and raises his chin.          As the left is departing Foreman's chin, Ali launches the RIGHT.                    SLO-MO:   AS ALI'S RIGHT HAND                    comes in, Ali's torso untorques, transitioning all 217          pounds to Ali's left foot and putting that weight and power          behind his right fist that crashes into George Foreman's          chin...and the impact transfers to Foreman's skull...and          Foreman's head snaps around. He is gone. He is falling in          a spiral...a metaphor for vertigo...turning downward into                                                                               143.                    unconsciousness. And through the spiral, Ali has moved with          him, pivoting with the falling Foreman, his right fist          cocked to unload again if he has to. He never does...                    MASSIVE OVERHEAD:   FOREMAN                    down. Ali is pushed into the corner by referee Zack Clayton.          Foreman is counted out. Clayton raises Ali's hand. 65,000          people go crazy!                    TOTAL CHAOS                    Ali is seized by Rahaman, Dundee, Bundini. And in the          corner, hardly seen by anybody, Ali, now, faints. Veronica,          with a DON KING AIDE, is overcome. Tears stream down her face.                    EXT. THE ARENA                    As if finally released from the suspense, the sky opens.          The monsoon begins.                    EXT. THE STREETS OF KINSHASA, OUTSIDE THE STADIUM, ZAIRIANS -          NIGHT                    celebrate. The city is crazy with the air of liberation in          the rain. People are drunk, bowing to one another,          extending their arms and legs in strange gestures. Laughter.          THUNDER is deafening in the downpour. People celebrate          despite the storm, dancing on sidewalks on Rua Absini.                    EXT. KINSHASA ARENA - NIGHT                    Almost empty. The downpour.   The last fans rip down one          gigantic image of Mobutu...                    INT. MOBUTU'S PALACE - THREE MEN          waiting, now rise. One, in Saville Row, is from a London          Bank. The other is Bradley, the USIA/CIA character. The          third is Idi Amin of Uganda. As everybody shakes hands,          they sit down and servants appear. Everyone is pleased with          themselves...                                       BRADLEY                       (in French)                   Ce soir, le Zaire a ÈtÈ le sujet                   central dans le tous les centres                   europÈens. FÈlicitations, Monsieur                   le PrÈsident pour la vie.                                                                             144.                                       BRADLEY                       (English translation)                   Zaire was the center of the world                   tonight in every banking capital,                   all over Europe. Congratulations,                   President for Life.                                        MOBUTU                    Yes.                        (then in Lingala to                         servant)                                       LONDON BANKER                   What's on the menu...?                    INT. CITROEN ON KINSHASA ROAD - ALI - NIGHT          rides through the downpour with Belinda and Bingham in the          front seat. She gently holds, almost supports his hand.                                       ALI                       (low; about them)                   I don't know what's gonna happen.                       (beat)                   Maan, everything is crazy.                                       BELINDA                   ...I didn't come this far to quit.                    They drive through a fishing village with dense foliage in          part. Ali looks, sees...                    ALI'S POV:   WOMEN + SOME MEN                    have brought their children out into the rain to see the          champion so they can say when they grow up they saw him pass          by. Plastic or clothing protect the children from the rain.          One man holds up his son. Ali rolls down the window.                    INT. INTERCONTINENTAL HOTEL, BAR - DICK SADLER                    shouting French to the bartender. Folks who look like Jim          Brown, Schulberg/Mailer types...hang out, half drunk...and          argue about flights out with extortionate petty bureaucrats          like Zairian Official #2. Flights have been cancelled,          tickets rendered no good, passports confiscated, etc.          There's a stoned Hunter Thompson/Bill Cardoso type with a          couple of Zairian hookers. The Hunter Thompson type is not          very discreetly smoking Congolese weed.                                                                               145.                    REVEAL:     IN THE BACK CORNER OF THE BAR ARE...                    DON KING + HERBERT MUHAMMAD.                    King is importuning Herbert, his hands work the air,          gesticulating madly, building whole castles of hype and          hustle. We can't hear what he's saying. Herbert listens.          Then Don King stops and looks at him, and Herbert nods his          head "yes." Then Herbert starts saying something and Don          King nods his head "yes." Whatever's happening here, a deal          for the future has been struck.                    EXT. ALI'S COMPOUND, N'SELE - ALI - PRE-DAWN                    Rain stopped. The cold, blue light is illuminated with          magenta at its base as dawn starts to rise over the Congo River.          WIDE:     ALI                    in a pale green shirt and slacks, walks towards the water,          followed by Zairians, teenagers, some kids who snuck into          the compound, two older men. No media; no elite; no hype.          One policeman who staggers, drunk. Ali doesn't so much as          walk to a destination as amble. He rubs the head of a 12-          year-old boy who starts shadowboxing five feet in front of him.                                          ALI                      You think you got a chance, chump?                      Now you in trouble.                    Ali begins to spar with the 12-year-old, who is fast and          knows a little bit about boxing.                                          ALI (CONT'D)                      You even dream of beating me?   You                      better wake up and apologize!          Kid throws a punch.     Ali collapses to his knees.                                          ALI (CONT'D)                      He too much for me!                    Some laughter. Then Ali stands and puts his hand on the          boy's shoulder. He ambles with the group towards the river.          The sun's coming up on the other side.                                                                  FADE TO BLACK.                     
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+ALIEN NATION Original Screenplay by Rockne S. O'Bannon Rewrite by James Cameron October 1987FADE IN:EXT. MOJAVE DESERT - DAY (TELEVISION IMAGE)A LONG LENS SHOT of a far distant metallic object hoveringjust above the ground -- maybe two or three miles away.The heat waves and the light refraction off the desert-scape make the object undulate rhythmically, keeping itstrue shape and appearance indistinct.The VIDEO CAMERA recording this scene zooms back, thenpans over -- revealing a semicircle of US Army vehiclesand personnel. Army Engineers with their tripod-mountedscopes and binoculars are shoulder to shoulder with thearmed infantry. Everyone stares off at the same point onthe horizon. Waiting.The VIDEO CAMERA movements are HANDHELD, unsteady, as itmoves through the line of Army personnel to reveal asecond, less organized semicircle of observers fifty yardsbehind the Army. LOCALS from nearby towns perch in truckbeds and on car roofs, Budweiser and Fritos at hand, eyesglued to the distant object.The VIDEO CAMERA image climbs up onto the roof of a parkedlocal TV van, finds the object again in the distance,zooms in, and waits, like everyone else.Abruptly the VIDEO IMAGE contracts, becoming a boxCHROMAKEYED behind CNN reporter DUNCAN CRAIS. CRAIS That was the scene in California's Mojave Desert three years ago today -- the historic first view of the Newcomer ship upon its dramatic arrival. As with the assassination of John Kennedy, who among us does not remember exactly where he was that October nineteenth morning, when news first broke: that people have landed... from another star.We PULL BACK from a large television set to reveal...INT. A CROWDED BAR - LOS ANGELES - NIGHTThe Hollowpoint Lounge -- a cop bar.The off-duty uniformed and plainclothes cops are mostlyignoring the TV, except for two detectives, FEDORCHUK andALTEREZ, who are waiting for the ball scores. FEDORCHUK I remember where I was -- pissing off my balcony at the neighbor's dog!Others laugh. ALTEREZ (yells at Crais on TV) Get to the goddamn ball scores!ON THE TV SCREEN, an on-location interview with a CAL-TECHPROFESSOR comes up. Her name and title appear across thebottom of the screen. CAL-TECH PROFESSOR From the time mankind first gazed up at the stars there had been speculation about a visit by people from "out there." How ironic that when that first contact was made, the two hundred and sixty thousand occupants aboard the craft were as surprised as we were about their arrival. That they awakened from frozen hibernation to find their malfunctioning autopilot had landed them here by mistake.The CNN reporter, Duncan Crais, appears again. CRAIS These "Newcomers," we soon learned, were a genetically-engineered race, adapted for hard labor in almost any environmental condition. In effect, their ship was a slave ship... washed ashore on Earth with no way to get back to where they came from...A dishwasher tray filled with beer glasses CUTS ACROSSFRAME, and we PAN WITH IT as it is slammed down on thecountertop.Now an interview with a FRESNO HOUSEWIFE standing outsidea supermarket comes on the TV SCREEN. FRESNO HOUSEWIFE When the Newcomers were first let out of the ship, they were quarantined in a camp not ten miles from the town here. You can imagine how the people around here felt about that. But once they were releases from the camp and we got a chance to know them, we saw what nice, quiet people they really are...WIDERrevealing a MASSIVE ALIEN FIGURE in a filthy whitebusboy's uniform. His back is to us as he picks up twotrays from the counter. The bartender is dwarfed by thisNewcomer, but works around him without apparent concern.Fedorchuk addresses the alien busboy. FEDORCHUK Hey, Henry, how you doin' tonight? Workin' hard?The Newcomer turns -- his face is humanoid, butdisturbingly alien. FEDORCHUK You got your green card, buddy? You didn't leave home without it?The cops at the bar crack up. Henry looks at Fedorchuk --his eyes carrying no malice... or pain. He merely blinks. CUT TO:INT./ EXT. SLUG-MOBILE - STREET - NIGHTAn explosion of color and movement as OPENING TITLES PLAYvery quickly. We're TRAVELING the streets in a n.d.sedan, getting MOVING GLIMPSES of the aliens living amongus now:-- A coffee shop where aliens eat at some window tables.-- A Newcomer leaving a night school with an armload ofbooks.-- A city park where a number of alien families havegathered to play some arcane alien game. SYKES Jeez... they call that gang-bang a game...?-- A billboard for Pepsi featuring an alien.-- The sedan has pulled to a stop at a red light.Suddenly a hand thumps against the glass next to Sykes'head... and alien hand. Sykes jumps. It's a NEWCOMERDERELICT standing there, weaving, mumbling in his ownlanguage. In one filthy hand holds a quart carton ofmilk. We know immediately what he wants. Sykes rollsdown the window. SYKES Take a hike.Sykes gets a whiff of the derelict's breath as the lightchanges and the sedan pulls away, leaving him in thestreet. Sykes grimaces at the smell. SYKES Why's it have to be sour milk that these guys get wasted on? What the hell's wrong with Jack Daniels, or Thunderbird for chrissakes? (beat; disgusted) Slagtown. Shit...-- Aliens hanging around outside their homes.-- Alien hookers plying their trade. SYKES Hope their plumbing's the same. TUGGLE It is. (and Sykes gives him a look)-- A Newcomer lowrider pulls up beside the slug-mobile.-- An alien couple exit a theater playing "TerminatorIII".-- An alien wig shop.ANGLETITLES END, and we start to PULL BACK into the slug-mobileand HEAR: TUGGLE (O.S.) So you gonna go, or you not gonna go?INT. SLUG-MOBILE - NIGHTThe dashboard is littered with fast-food detritus and twocoffees in styrofoam cups making fog circles on thewindshield. A hand picks up one of the coffees and weFOLLOW IT to a face, a forty-year-old cop face that's seensome wear and tear -- behind the wheel is MATT SYKES.Beside him is his partner of nine years, BILL TUGGLE.Tuggle expertly munches on a slice of pizza as he talks. SYKES How can I go? TUGGLE Put on your wash-and-wear suit and your clip-on tie, have your landlady tie your shoes for you, and show up at the church. Simple. (beat) Me and Carol are going. SYKES What? TUGGLE Hey, look -- we've known Kristin since... since she was conceived in that cabin up in Big Bear. Remember? You and Edie banged the wall so hard, me and Carol were picking plaster out of our hair for a week... SYKES Goddammit, Tug -- I want to see Kristin get married, okay? But-- TUGGLE But you're bummed because your ex and her new husband are paying for the whole thing. SYKES Shit, if Kristin had to get married where I could afford it, we'd be holding the reception at Buddy's Burgers.Sykes stares out the window, wallowing in his pissed-offmood. Then he spots something that twinges his street-copradar. SYKES Uh-oh... Check it out.THROUGH THE WINDOW Tuggle sees what Sykes sees: two ALIENSin long coats moving down the sidewalk, entering a mom-and-pop mini-mart on the corner. One of them wears darkglasses and a red bandana (KIPLING): the other has on ablack vinyl raincoat. SYKES Does that look at all suspicious to you? TUGGLE Whatever gave you that idea?EXT. STREET - NIGHTSykes continues up a quarter of a block, pulls to the curbamong other parked cars.INT. SEDAN - NIGHTSykes is already pulling his gun. Tuggle quickly reachesfor the radio in the glovebox. TUGGLE This is one-Henry-seven, we've got a possible two-eleven in progress at Porter's Mini-Mart, corner of Court and Alvarado. Requesting backup.Impulsive Sykes is already opening his door and climbingout. SYKES Let's do it, partner.Tuggle drops the radio mike and follows Sykes as the RadioDispatcher confirms the call.EXT. STREET - NIGHTThe two cops, guns in hand, move along the row of parkedcars across the street from the mini-mart. Through thestore window they see the old alien PROPRIETOR behind thecounter. His eyes go wide as Kipling whips back his coatand yanks out a short combat pump-shotgun and aims itright at him. The Raincoat alien pulls an identical gunand covers the door.Sykes and Tuggle react to the firepower inside. SYKES You got your vest? TUGGLE Of course. Right in the trunk of the car. SYKES Yeah, that's comforting. Mine, too.Through the store window the robbery continues inpantomime. Kipling gestures viciously with the shotgun,yelling orders in the alien language. The Proprietor isquickly filling a paper bag with cash from the register.The PROPRIETOR'S WIFE, a middle-aged alien woman, standsin the doorway from the back, frozen in fear. TheRaincoat alien dances from foot to foot, antsy, wired.Sykes and Tuggle crouch at the car directly across thestreet from the store entrance. TUGGLE Watch the driver. I'm going for a better angle on the door. SYKES I got him. Don't get pinned.Tuggle leaves the cover provided by the car, runs cater-corner across the intersection.Through the store window Sykes sees Kipling grab the bagof cash, shove it in his coat pocket. Bills fall out, buthe doesn't care. Then, without warning, Kipling whips upthe twelve gauge and blows a hole in the Proprietor'schest! The Proprietor slams back against the shelves,slides to the floor. Kipling leans over the counter andFIRES another round into the Proprietor. SYKES (under his breath) Aw, shit.Tuggle is almost across the street when he hears theshots.The human DRIVER of the getaway car (parked at the curb afew doors down from the mini-mart) glances up, spotsTuggle. He leans on the HORN, reaches for a machinepistol on the seat next to him.INT. MINI-MART - NIGHTKipling and Raincoat alien react to the horn honk. Theyspot Tuggle through the store window and open fire --BLASTING THROUGH THE GLASS.A civilian car enters the intersection. The engine is hitby shotgun fire, and the car skids to a stop in theintersection, steam rising from the radiator.EXT. STREET - NIGHTTuggle dives behind a lamp post.The Driver is out of the car now, brings up the machinepistol to fire at Tuggle. Sykes sees this and opens fireat the Driver. The Driver turns and fires at Sykes.Sykes ducks down, and the car he's hiding behind issprayed with bullets.A forty-foot moving van pulls down the street betweenSykes and the Driver. Once the truck is past, Sykes isstanding behind the bullet-riddled car, gun ready. Herapid-fires -- creaming the human Driver.Tuggle is pinned down behind the thin lamp post by theshotgun fire from Kipling and Raincoat alien. SYKES Get outta there! TUGGLE I can't! Do you mind! SYKES I'll cover you! Get outta there!!Sykes rises and runs across the street toward the getawaycar, firing toward the store as he goes.Kipling and Raincoat dodge behind cover.Tuggle seizes the opportunity, jumps from behind the lamppost and runs to the stalled civilian car. He slidesacross the hood and drops behind the car for cover.Tuggle slowly pokes his head up to peer through the carwindow. His gaze is met by the face of the OLD MAN driverwho is still inside the car. OLD MAN Can I get out now? TUGGLE Move it!Sykes doesn't have a clear firing line on the aliens inthe store. As he considers his next move--Tuggle fires at the two aliens. They return fire and heslides down to safety behind the car. Or so he thinks.Glass rains down on him as the car windows are cremated bythe shotgun blasts. He flinches as another blast hits thecar. He looks over. There's a big exit hole in thefender beside him. THE SHOT WENT RIGHT THROUGH THE CAR.Another exit hole is BLASTED, inches from his shoulder.Panicked, he scrambles along the side of the car -- BLASTSand exit holes following him until he reaches the front ofthe car. He has nowhere left to go and---- a BLAST comes through the car and catches him squarelyin the chest throwing him back onto the street.Sykes' head jerks around -- in time to see his partner ofnine years blown away.Kipling keeps firing in Tuggle's direction until hisshotgun CLICKS empty.INT. MINI-MART - NIGHTKipling grabs Raincoat and throws him toward the back exitof the store. The shotgun falls from Raincoat's hands.The two of them run out the back.EXT. STREET - NIGHTSykes runs to Tuggle's spread-eagled body. One glance isenough. Nobody ever looked deader. SYKES Aw shit, Tug, Jesus! Goddamn it!He stares, shocked and incredulous. He can't find a wayto think or feel about this. Then we see him going crazyright before our eyes, the rage revving. He takes offtoward the store as SIRENS are HEARD rapidly approachingin background.INT. MINI-MART - NIGHTSykes moves through like a locomotive skidding on brokenglass, bangs through the exit.EXT. ALLEY - NIGHTSykes catches sight of the two aliens just as they roundthe corner at the far end of the alley. He takes off,quickly cranking up to full speed.EXT. BACK STREET - NIGHTSykes rounds the corner. Doesn't see them anymore. Heslows... moves along this street with some caution. Lotsof shadows, lots of hiding places. Sykes HEARS a NOISE,looks up... just in time to see Raincoat on a high, hugebillboard. He cuts loose with the shotgun. Sykes dives.Huge chunks of the crate he dives behind fly off into thenight. Sykes, on his belly, scrambles deeper among thecrates.Raincoat's shotgun CLICKS empty now. He drops it, swingsdown off the fire escape, runs off.Sykes is up again in a flash, pounding after him.EXT. TUNNEL STREET - NIGHTSykes rounds this second corner, races down the street.The only route they could've taken is through a tunnel upahead. Sykes approaches the tunnel, all senses wide open.INT. TUNNEL - NIGHTThe murkiness of the tunnel engulfs him as he movesthrough the mouth. He tries to control his breathing sohe can hear. The only SOUND is his own shoes scuffingalong the asphalt.Then he HEARS -- another set of FOOTSTEPS. Rapidfootsteps, coming toward him, ECHOING. He can't tell fromwhich direction! He spins, just as a LARGE SHAPE lungesfor him with an alien CRY.It's the wired Raincoat alien. Sykes gets his gun up justin time and FIRES -- once, twice, three times. Raincoatalien is knocked backwards to the wet asphalt by theblasts. Sykes approaches the body slowly. With aninhuman ROAR, the alien snaps forward, lunging at Sykeswith outstretched arms. Sykes jumps back, startled, andFIRES twice more at the pale figure. Raincoat goes downand stays down.Sykes relaxes for the briefest moment. Then he HEARSit... a distinctive CLICKING SOUND, metal on metal. Sykeslooks up and -- Kipling drops down on him from directlyabove! Sykes goes down in a heap. He's managed to holdonto the gun and as Kipling comes for him, he swings thegun hand around. Kipling sees it, lashes out, slammingthe gun from Sykes' hand. Sykes tries to get to his feet,but the alien grabs him and flings him down the tunnel.A SIREN is HEARD approaching in background.Kipling moves in to deliver the coup de grace. As hedraws near, Sykes HEARS that distinctive CLICKING SOUNDagain.SYKES' P.O.V.Though his vision is BLURRED, Sykes still gets a good lookat an exotic silver bracelet on the alien's wrist. Thestrands of this bracelet are what make the CLINKING NOISE.ANGLEThe alien rears back, and as he does, the approachingSIREN suddenly WAILS louder as a backup patrol car swingsonto the street heading this way. Kipling sees this andleaves Sykes, running off down the dark tunnel.ON SYKESdazed, struggling to rise. WE HEAR running FOOTSTEPSapproaching. Sykes turns, his eyes wild and unfocused.SYKES' P.O.V.An OUT-OF-FOCUS ALIEN FACE looming over him.ANGLESykes whips around in a roundhouse swing with all hisweight on it, pistoning his fist straight into the alienface. The alien, caught by surprise and off balance,sprawls backward OUT OF FRAME. Sykes is grabbed by ahuman uniformed cop, as he tries to swing again. HUMAN COP Whoa, whoa... hold it. Take it easy. (to alien on the ground) You okay?Sykes stops struggling, and his eyes focus. He looks atthe alien he just decked, sprawled on his ass ten feetaway. The alien is a uniformed cop... his name is JETSON. JETSON I am all right.He gets up. A trickle of purple blood runs from his nose. HUMAN COP I better call in.He moves off. Jetson moves toward Sykes and the Raincoatalien's body. Sykes tenses, thinking Jetson mightretaliate in some way. But Jetson simply steps past himto kneel beside the dead alien. He checks for a pulse onthe underside of the dead alien's upper arm. Nothing.Sykes is holding his punching hand in obvious pain. Hestruggles to rise. Jetson gets an arm around him to helphim up. JETSON Your hand will require attention.Sykes roughly jerks himself free of Jetson's grip. SYKES Get the hell away from me! I don't need your goddamn help.He almost loses his balance and has to steady himselfagainst the tunnel wall. Sykes leans there, the pictureof impotent rage and frustration. Jetson looks at him,with that slight inquisitive expression aliens exhibitwhen trying to understand human nature.EXT. MINI-MART - NIGHTOPEN on Tuggle's body, as the body bag is zipped up overhis face, and the litter is lifted into the back of theCoroner's wagon.WIDEN to reveal Sykes, standing nearby, watching. TheWagon pulls out, and Sykes turns, moving past all the LAPDblack-and-whites and forensics wagons, and COPS (two ofthem aliens) and DETECTIVES, and RUBBERNECKERS (somealien). He moves into:INT. MINI-MART - NIGHTThe CRIME SCENE TEAM is checking for prints, digging slugsout of the wall, photographing everything. SeveralUNIFORMED COPS mill around. Sykes moves aimlessly aroundthe room like a stranger at a party.The Proprietor's Wife stands near the body in a strangerigid posture, a thin, mournful KEENING SOUND coming fromher lips. A harried female uniformed cop is trying to gether away from the body, but can't get her to budge.MINKLER, a ballistics guy, is tagging the pump-shotgun theRaincoat alien dropped here. NATUZZI, a mean-lookingveteran uniform cop is with him. NATUZZI Looks like a standard combat pump- action. MINKLER It is. NATUZZI So what punched holes clear through that car out there?Minkler pulls an evidence baggie from his work box.Inside are four unfired twelve gauge shells. MINKLER BRI Sabot slugs. These puppies are nasty. Two plastic sabots fall away in flight leaving a fifty-caliber slug going two thousand feet per second. Tug might as well've been hiding behind a rosebush.Minkler senses somebody has just stepped up beside him.He looks. It's Sykes. NATUZZI Pretty heavy artillery for knocking over a liquor store.A new voice enters the conversation. JETSON (O.S.) An identical round was used in the shooting of a Newcomer named Hubley, two days ago.Sykes turns -- surprised, and not especially pleased tosee the voice is Jetson's. MINKLER Yeah? So why the extra fire power? JETSON Perhaps because even the larger caliber handguns aren't always effective against my people. SYKES (mulls this, then) You saying there's some connection to this other homicide?Before Jetson can say, the female cop who was talking tothe Proprietor's Wife steps up. FEMALE COP Hey, give me a hand with this woman, will ya Jetson? We've got to get her to Division for her statement and she won't budge. JETSON (to Sykes) Excuse me.And he moves off with his partner. Sykes calls after him,but Jetson is already approaching the woman and doesn'tturn. SYKES So, you think there's a connection, or what? Hey! CUT TO:EXT. SYKES' APARTMENT BUILDING - NIGHTThe slug-mobile pulls up. A drained Sykes moves up thewalk to his front door.INT. SYKES' APARTMENT - NIGHTSykes enters his apartment, an untidy bachelor placedecorated with negative taste. It's obviously the maid'sdecade off.By rote, he hits the rewind switch on the answeringmachine on his way into the kitchen. The tape rewinds.He opens the fridge. Not much here. Left-over take-outpizza carton. Left-over take-out Chinese food cartons.Left-over take-out burger wrappers. The answering machine message begins -- he glances overhis shoulder as he HEARS his daughter's VOICE. During thefollowing, he reaches the fridge. Brings out a milkcarton that's in his way, sets it on the counter. Reachesin again and this time brings out a bottle of Stoly. Thensearches for a semi-clean glass. KRISTIN'S VOICE (bouncy, bride-to-be happy) Hi, Daddy, it's me. I'm over at Danny's parents' house... talking about Sunday. I thought maybe you'd be home by now. Anyway, uh, nothing really. I just wanted to call and say I love you. I love you, Daddy. (she giggles) Uh-oh, I shouldn't'a done that. Knowing you, you'll probably pull this tape out of your machine and save it -- in that drawer where you keep every card I ever gave you, and all of my old baby teeth... gross! Anyway, Daddy, don't save this tape -- but I do love you, and I'll talk to you before Sunday. (beat) Oh, Tug and Carol came by and met Danny last week. (Sykes stiffens) Danny thought Tug was the greatest -- but, then, who doesn't? Anyway, love you, talk to you soon. 'Bye.The machine BEEPS and HISSES. Sykes take the glass andthe bottle of vodka, crosses back toward the living room,switching off the answering machine as he goes.Then he stops, turns back, takes the message tape out ofthe machine and tosses it into a drawer. FADE TO:INT. DETECTIVE SQUAD ROOM - DAYSykes enters, stirring a jumbo coffee. He's slept aboutfour hours, and his face looks like he went a few withHagler. He crosses straight to Fedorchuk's desk. SYKES So what've you got on Tuggle's killers? FEDORCHUK Jesus, Sykes -- it's been less than ten hours. Me and Alterez are on it, okay? SYKES You don't have squat. FEDORCHUK You ever try to make a case in Slagtown? The list of Newcomer informants is about as long as the list of Mexican war heroes... ALTEREZ Up yours. FEDORCHUK ... Nobody talks to nobody down there. Half of them don't speak English and the other half only when it suits them. It's gonna take some time. SYKES Yeah, I know it's gonna take time. Like until the Ice Capades opens in Hell, with you two on it.Across the room, the Captain's door BANGS open and CAPTAINWARNER pounds out, his deep voice booming through thesquad room. WARNER Nobody wanders off! I got an announcement. Get your asses back in here.Two detectives on their way out, stop, and head back intothe room. Everybody gathers around, curious, as Warnerstands holding a sheet of paper. WARNER I'll make this short. This is a directive from Chief Evaner, who is acting on orders from the Mayor, who is under mandate from the Federal Bureau of Newcomer Relations. As of nine o'clock this morning, one Newcomer uniform officer has been promoted to the rank of Detective, third grade.The detectives GROAN... some angrier ones grumble, "Thisis bullshit!", etc. WARNER And we've got him, gentleman. (more groans) Volunteers for duty with the new detective should see me in my office... otherwise I will choose a volunteer myself. That is all.He turns and heads back to his office in the wake ofcontinued grumbling from the detectives. Sykes, standingto one side, absently watches Warner return to his glass-walled office. Waiting inside are a balding man and analien in a grey suit. Sykes reacts. The alien in thesuit is Jetson.The grumbling continues around him as Sykes considerssomething. FEDORCHUK Unbelievable bullshit. ALTEREZ How long has this Slag been on the force? A year, max -- right? DETECTIVE I don't know about the rest of you, but I sure as hell ain't gonna sit still for this. I'm calling the union, pronto.Others grumble. "Yeah!". Meanwhile, Sykes has decidedsomething. He heads toward Warner's office. Fedorchuksees this. FEDORCHUK Where the hell is he going?INT. WARNER'S OFFICE - DAYSykes KNOCKS and enters. WARNER Yeah, Sykes? SYKES Captain. I'd like to volunteer for duty with the new detective.Warner is surprised. He never expected Sykes. WARNER ... All right. Detective Sergeant Sykes, this is Detective... Jetson. JETSON We have met.Warner looks up, clocking this. He looks at Sykes,starting to smell something fishy.The balding man, GOLDRUP, rises to shake their hands. GOLDRUP Victor Goldrup, Mayor's office. Congratulations, gentlemen.Warner is starting to suspect what Sykes is up to. WARNER (to Sykes) You are to have nothing to do with the investigation into Bill Tuggle's death. You know that. Leave that for Fedorchuk. SYKES (nodding) Departmental policy. WARNER (to Jetson) You? JETSON Yes, sir. WARNER Good. SYKES There's another case I'd like to take. A homicide -- a Newcomer named Hubley.Jetson looks over at Sykes, knows he's up to something.Sykes avoids his look. WARNER Granger and Pitts are already on it. SYKES Granger and Pitts have one hell of a caseload... and I would have thought with Jetson here being the first Newcomer plainclothes, and Hubley's body being found over in the Newcomer community... WARNER Don't tell me what to think. GOLDRUP He's got a point. That's the sort of thing we should be doing with this early advancement program...Long-suffering Warner looks up at Goldrup, then finallysighs with resignation. Sykes grins. CUT TO:INT. STAIRWELL - FIRST FLOOR HALLWAY - DAYThe steel door BANGS open and Sykes and Jetson exit. Nextto Sykes' slept-in look, Jetson in his grey suit lookslike a Jehovah's Witness canvasser. They move past allthe black-and-whites pulling out on p.m. watch during: SYKES ... and we work my hours. I'll do the driving, you do the paperwork. You gotta learn it so you might as well do it all. JETSON (after a moment) Sergeant... I'd like to thank you for what you're doing. SYKES What's that? (then realizing) Look, Jetson. Get this straight in your head. We're not pals, we're not married, and we ain't gonna take long moonlight walks together... We're just partners. And don't call me Sergeant. Call me Sykes... or Matt if you have to. JETSON I am George.Sykes nods absently, and they walk on... four and a halfsteps to be exact. Then it hits Sykes. He seizes upcold. SYKES Wait a minute. George? George Jetson?Jetson nods... he's used to this.Sykes cracks up. SYKES (between laughs) Man, somebody really hung one on you! I've heard some good ones for you guys... Humphrey Bogart, Harley Davidson. I guess the people at immigration got a little punchy after a while, coming up with names for a quarter of a million of you. You weren't at the back of the line, were you, George? JETSON My true name is Ss'tangya T'ssorentsa'. SYKES Gesundheit. You don't mind if I stick to George, do you?EXT. POLICE STATION PARKING AREA - DAYThey approach Sykes' ugly sedan, the slug-mobile. SYKES Anyway, what's it matter to you if we think it's funny, right? Whatta you care? JETSON That is exactly so. (completely deadpan) It is like your name... Sykes. I'm sure it doesn't bother you at all that it sounds like "ss'ai k'ss", two words in my language which mean "excrement" and "cranium".Sykes looks at him, perplexed. JETSON "Shit... head".Jetson gets in and slams the door, leaving Sykes standingthere, the smirk dropping from his face. CUT TO:INT. SLUG-MOBILE - DAYThey're cruising along in downtown traffic. Sykes drives.Jetson is somewhat cramped in the passenger seat. SYKES Let's talk Hubley. JETSON (refers to a folder he holds) His body was discovered three days ago, in an alley off of Central Avenue, near downtown. SYKES With two BRI Sabot slugs in the chest. JETSON (gently correcting him) Through the chest. Rupturing both the primary and secondary hearts. SYKES (out the window) Nice signal, dickwad!Jetson is momentarily thrown by this outburst from Sykes.Then... JETSON He was employed at the Northwest Petroleum Refinery in Torrance. He was manager of the Methane Facility. He was also a principle partner in a real estate venture to develop low- cost housing for Newcomers.Sykes grimaces at the mention of "Newcomer housing". SYKES Terrific. A real pillar of the community. (beat) Was Hubley missing anything when they found him? Was he ripped off? JETSON (checks file) There was no wallet... but he was still wearing a watch and two rings. SYKES The guys at the mini-mart last night made a half-assed stab at the money in the till -- but I don't think that's what they were there for. I think we got us a couple'a executions on our hands, George... JETSON The murder at the mini-mart is not our case. The Captain said--Sykes looks over at Jetson, pissed. SYKES Look, you want to fit in here, right? You want to learn how to get along? JETSON Yes. SYKES Well, there's a thing about partners, about being somebody's partner. You do for each other. And other people's rules don't mean shit. It's the rules set up between the two of you, that's all that counts. Understand? (Jetson nods) Okay. Well, my friend and partner was shot last night and I'm after the shitbag that did it. As my partner, I'm asking you to respect me and help me find him.Jetson considers this several moments, then-- JETSON And as my partner, I ask you to respect me and my desire not to break with procedure.Sykes stares at him, exasperated. Without warning, heslams the car to a stop right in the middle of heavytraffic, puts it in "Park." Jetson, who is already alittle too close to the dashboard, bangs up against it.HORNS instantly go crazy behind them. JETSON What is wrong? SYKES (very calm) Nothing's wrong. I just want to get something straight. You agree that there's a good chance these two shootings are somehow related, right?YELLING joins the HORNS outside. Jetson is visiblyunsettled by the chaos. JETSON Well... yes, quite possibly. SYKES Possibly. Good. Well, would you be willing to accept the theory, George, that... possibly... by examining the evidence from one case we might shed some small ray of light on the other? Does that sound unreasonable to you? JETSON Yes... no, it is not unreasonable. Although I-- SYKES Great. (a relieved sigh) Well, I'm sure glad that's settled, aren't you?And with that he puts the car in gear and pulls rapidlyout. SYKES I think we're really starting to click now, George -- hmmm?Jetson doesn't know what to think -- he just holds on. CUT TO:INT. HALLWAY - L.A. COUNTY MORGUE - DAYWINTER, a deputy Medical Examiner (human), is leadingSykes and Jetson along the hall. He reads on the fly froma case file in his hand. WINTER You know I've been over all this with Fedorchuk and Alterez this morning... SYKES Come on. You got nothin' better to do, cushy county job like yours.INT. AUTOPSY ROOM - DAYThey enter briskly through a swinging door. They moveamong the tables (some occupied, some not) during: WINTER Yeah, right. Don't push your luck. Anyway, according to the sheet, the guy you nailed outside by the car-- SYKES The human? WINTER Yeah... he was one Martin Helder. White male, twenty-seven. Let's see... wrap sheet shows one armed robbery conviction, a couple for sale of a controlled substance. Oh yeah, and he was wired on coke when you stopped his clock.They have reached a table holding a covered body. Winterunceremoniously throws back the cover. There lies thepale naked body of the Raincoat alien. JETSON Have you identified this one? WINTER So far he's a John Doe. Or a Sam Slag, if you like.Jetson smiles slightly out of politeness. WINTER No I.D. on him and -- well, you know, no fingerprints -- so it could be tough. Your buddies this morning went through the mug book but couldn't make a facial match. SYKES Fedorchuk couldn't find his ass with his hands in his back pockets.Jetson nonchalantly looks over the alien body while Winterand Sykes continue talking off to one side. WINTER (referring to Raincoat alien) You took this gut out, too, didn't you? SYKES Yeah. WINTER Lucky for you, you got him in both of his... well, what we loosely refer to as... hearts. SYKES Lucky nothing. I had to empty my damn gun into him. WINTER That's the way these people are. You don't hit both pumps you just piss them off.During this, Jetson has turned the dead alien's hand over-- sees something that brings a frown of curiosity to hisface. He leans closer, examining the palm carefully.Then he peels back the alien's upper lip.Jetson frowns anew, with concern this time. He looksaround, spots a Newcomer lab assistant nearby -- BENTNER.Jetson motions him over. Jetson begins questioning himusing the alien language. Sykes and Winter nearby, remainoblivious. WINTER Oh, here's an extra headshot if you need one. (hands Sykes a polariod of dead alien's face) We're just about to start cutting in. You're welcome to stick around if you want. It's really fascinating stuff. SYKES Yeah, I'll bet.Sykes looks over, now noticing Jetson and Bentner inearnest conversation. He only catches snatches of thealien language. Bentner appears very unsettled by whatJetson is telling him. In response to Jetson's finalstatement, Bentner nods -- as if agreeing to do somethingJetson has requested. Sykes goes over to Jetson. SYKES What's this? What's going on? JETSON Nothing. SYKES (really suspicious now) Nothing? JETSON (looking away) Shouldn't we examine their personal effects?Jetson moves off, leaving Sykes there wondering. CUT TO:INT. PROPERTY ROOM - COUNTY MORGUE - DAYTwo large plastic packets are dumped of their contentsonto a formica counter. Sykes looks through the deadalien's effects while Jetson goes through the human's.ORTIZ, the college girl working the property counter, sitsnearby doing homework.Jetson holds up a little foil packet with a puzzled frown. JETSON What is this? SYKES (looks, then) A rubber. A condom. You know... Coney Island whitefish? (Jetson doesn't know what one is) Men, human men, put them on their, uh -- penises -- to protect against having babies. (Jetson still doesn't get it; Sykes turns to Ortiz) You need this for anything? ORTIZ Nope, got my own. Anything you guys don't use gets stuffed away in storage.Sykes tears open the packet, unrolls the condom, danglesit before Jetson. SYKES Get the picture? JETSON (frowning) And that fits? SYKES Well... Yeah, it's rubber. It stretches. JETSON And still it fits?Sykes looks at Jetson's serious expression. He tosses thecondom and packet back into the counter and continuessearching. A beat, then he can't stop himself -- hesteals a glance at Jetson's crotch.Still searching, Sykes picks up one of the dead alien'swell-worn heavy work boots. He grimaces... the sides andsoles are painted with a viscous black substance. He verytentatively sniffs it... and is grateful that it's notwhat he thought it might be. SYKES What is this stuff?Sykes gets some on his hands, doesn't know where to wipeit. Jetson glances over. JETSON It is a resin.Sykes looks at him... surprised that he knows. JETSON (continuing) Newcomers working near methane gasses at oil refineries must paint it on their boots to protect against sparks. SYKES How the hell do you know that? JETSON A large number of my people were hired by refineries because the methane fumes are not harmful to us. My spouse's brother is one. SYKES So the Slag they're cutting into upstairs worked at a refinery just like Hubley worked at a refinery. (beat) I'd say that "possible" connection between the two cases just got a hell of a lot more possible. (beat) Okay, next step -- I gotta go talk to the wife of the Slag store owner blown away last night. JETSON I believe I should interview the widow alone. SYKES Why the hell--?! (realizes it's because of his lack of "bedside manner") Great, fine. You talk to the wife. CUT TO:INT./ EXT. MINI-MART - LATE AFTERNOONThe shattered windows have been covered with plywood.Through the open doorway we see Jetson talking to theProprietor's Wife. She studies a photo Jetson shows her,nods her head, speaking rapidly in the alien language. CUT TO:EXT. REFINERY - LATE AFTERNOONSykes drives along beside the mammoth, steaming network ofbuildings and pipes that make up the refinery. CUT TO:INT. REFINERY - LATE AFTERNOONThrough the loud and smoky refinery we see Sykes walkingwith the newly promoted Methane Section manager, O'NEAL,in tie and shirtsleeves. The workmen around them are bothhuman and Newcomer. O'NEAL (yelling over the roar) Mr. Hubley was an all right guy -- and a damn good manager. The men liked him. I'm really gonna have to scramble to fill his shoes. SYKES Well, one of the men didn't like him so much...They stop and Sykes hands O'Neal the polariod photo ofRaincoat alien. They have stopped near the heavyrefrigeration-type door leading to the "METHANE SECTION".Newcomer workers move in and out through the door during: O'NEAL (looking at photo) You think this is the guy who did it? SYKES We think he could'a been involved, yeah. You know him? O'NEAL To be honest, it's hard to say. I hate to admit it but -- they all still kinda look alike to me. SYKES (impatient) Who else can I ask around here? O'NEAL (looking at photo again) Wait. You know who it looks like? Yeah. Anderson. Uh... James Anderson. He isn't in today. He took the afternoon off. SYKES I think you're gonna find he's taken the rest of his life off.O'Neal reacts. Sykes notices the door to the MethaneSection. SYKES That where Anderson worked? O'NEAL Yes it is. (some alien workers come through the door) Thirty-five percent pure Methane gas in there. I don't know how these fellas do it.Sykes watches two more alien workers pass back through thedoor. O'Neal watches Sykes' expression for signs ofsuspicion. CUT TO:HIGH ANGLE SHOT - SYKES AND O'NEALWe see Sykes hand O'Neal a card, then move off. O'Nealwatches him briefly, then crosses to some steps and startsup this way.We PAN with him as he enters a door here on the secondlevel. CUT TO:INT. METHANE SECTION CONTROL ROOM - LATE AFTERNOONO'Neal enters, moves to a telephone, begins to dial.Beyond is a glass wall overlooking the Methane Section. CUT TO:ANGLE - BELOWCAMERA TRACKS through the Methane Section... past thealien workers in lab whites... past all the arcaneequipment and chemical procedures... ending in an EXTREMECLOSE UP of a small cylindrical dispenser as it fillsslowly with a pale blue, viscous liquid. CUT TO:INT./ EXT. SLUG-MOBILE - JETSON'S STREET - DUSKWe're SHOOTING THROUGH the slug-mobile window as Sykespulls up in front of Jetson's modest but immaculatelymaintained home on the outskirts of Slagtown. Jetson'sWIFE, an attractive alien woman, stands watering the lawnwith a garden hose. Jetson's son, age six, rides hisbicycle along the walkway. Jetson, dressed in his suitfor work, crouches near the walkway, playing with his son.Sykes pulls the car toward the curb, rolls his eyes. SYKES Jesus. Welcome back Ozzie and Harriet...He HONKS the horn. Jetson looks up, then moves to hiswife and kisses her goodbye. Moves to his son, kisses himon the top of his head.Sykes watches all this... and as he does, slowly hisderisive expression softens. As corny as this tableau maybe, there's something very appealing about the innocenceof it... even to an unrepentant cynic like Sykes.Jetson starts to climb into the car, and we-- CUT TO:INT. RESTROOM - BILTMORE HOTEL - NIGHTCLOSE on an alien hand as it removes one of the drugdispensers from a tuxedo pocket. As the hand brings thedispenser toward the face, we immediately recognize theexotic silver bracelet worn by Kipling the night before.It makes that distinctive CLINKING NOISE. We PAN with thehand to reveal Kipling's face... sans bandana andsunglasses now. He wears a black tuxedo. He lets a smalldab of the blue gel curl from the dispenser onto histongue. He swallows... and reacts as the rush from thedrug hits him.The door to the men's room bangs open and a MIDDLE AGEDPOLITICO enters, obviously drunk.Kipling quickly pockets the dispenser, moves past thePolitico to the exit... CUT TO:INT. SLUG-MOBILE - NIGHTSykes drives, heading for the Biltmore Hotel. JETSON Mrs. Porter is not taking her husband's death well. SYKES (impatient) Did you learn anything? JETSON A week ago two men came to see her husband. After they left, he was very frightened. She identified one of the men from a photo I showed her. It was Hubley. SYKES Aw-right. What about the other guy? JETSON She didn't know him. But she said her son might. SYKES Did you talk to him? JETSON He has not been home since that day. But she told me where to find him.Sykes nods. CUT TO:INT. MAIN BALLROOM - BILTMORE HOTEL - NIGHTThe men are in tuxedos, the women in evening gowns. Onlytwo of three Newcomers faces present. Kipling threads hisway among the tables as the MAYOR, at the speaker'splatform, addresses the assembly. MAYOR ... Our guest speaker tonight has done so much in his community and for his community in such a short period of time. And I must say, as the founder of the first Newcomer owned and operated corporation in Southern California, he certainly has come quite far in the last few years. Granted, not as far as he came in the years before reaching Los Angeles.There is laughter from the VIPs. Kipling slides into aseat at one of the front tables. He leans over andwhispers something into the ear of the person seated tohis right. We see this CLOSE UP, and don't see who he iswhispering to yet. Whoever it is, nods. MAYOR (continuing) As Mayor of this city, it gives me great pleasure to introduce someone who has so readily made our city his home... and all of us who live here, his friends. Ladies and gentlemen, William Harcourt.The VIPs applaud as the spotlight sweeps over to a fronttable. At first it hits Kipling, then it adjusts tocapture WILLIAM HARCOURT, seated to Kipling's right.Harcourt is an exemplar of the successful Newcomerentrepreneur... handsome, charming, with cool blue eyesthat glint with his piercing intellect. He rises, smilingwarmly, steps past his striking ALIEN DATE seated to hisright, to make his way to the podium. He shields his eyessomewhat from the bright spotlight.Once behind the podium, he slips his notes from a breastpocket as the applause ebbs. HARCOURT Thank you all for that very warm reception. (pauses, smiles) I'm particularly grateful because I actually had the gall to write that in my notes: "Thank you all for that very warm reception". Imagine how embarrassed I would've been if it hadn't have been such a warm reception.The VIPs laugh. He's won them over instantly with hischarm and candor. CUT TO:INT. BILTMORE HOTEL - FOYER - NIGHTSykes, followed by a reluctant Jetson, bears down onHarcourt, who is exiting the hotel with his Date, andKipling. We see Kipling recognize Sykes from their fighttwo nights before... but because Kipling looks sodifferent, Sykes doesn't recognize him outright. Still,during this, Sykes senses something, though he's not surewhat. SYKES William Harcourt? HARCOURT Yes... SYKES I'm Sergeant Sykes, and this is Detective Jetson, Los Angeles Police Department. HARCOURT (nodding greeting) Sergeant... Detective. I wasn't aware there were any Newcomers at the rank of Detective yet. JETSON I am the first. HARCOURT Congratulations. This is my administrative assistant, Rudyard Kipling. SYKES (throw away) Rudyard Kipling? No shit? (to Harcourt) Listen, we just need a minute of your time... JETSON We'd like to ask you about a business associate of your, Warren Hubley. HARCOURT Yes, I heard about poor Warren. Tragic. SYKES You were partners with him on some Slag -- uh, Newcomer real estate thing. HARCOURT That's right. He and I, along with seven or eight others. Listen, gentlemen, I will be happy to assist you in any way I can -- unfortunately, at the moment, I'm overdue at another function.Suddenly there's a voice from O.S.: MAYOR (O.S.) William...Harcourt turns as the Mayor and his WIFE step up. HARCOURT Mr. Mayor... MAYOR William, I was wondering if you wouldn't rather ride with Luisa and me. Two limousines trying to make it across town in all this traffic, we're bound to be later than we already are. HARCOURT Excellent idea. Ray, I wonder if you know two of your police officers... Detective Jetson and Sykes. MAYOR (shaking their hands, dismissively) A pleasure. (to Harcourt) We really should be going.The wind is knocked from Sykes' sails by the presence ofthe Mayor with a very impatient expression. Harcourtsmiles. HARCOURT (continuing) Please feel free to call my office Monday morning for an appointment. (to Jetson) Congratulations again on your promotion, Detective. Remember... you're out there setting an example in our community. I'll be keeping an eye on you.Harcourt is smiling as he says this last, but his eyes arepenetrating... telegraphing a subliminal warning.Harcourt and entourage move off... leaving Sykes steaming. CUT TO:EXT. BILTMORE HOTEL - HARCOURT AND KIPLING - NIGHTWalking behind the others. They speak in very low voices;Harcourt continuing to nod and smile to other passing VIPsduring: KIPLING That cop, the human, he was the one who killed Anderson and the driver. HARCOURT This is becoming a serious breach of security. KIPLING He didn't recognize me. HARCOURT It is his new partner that I'm worried about. CUT TO:INT. POLICE FIRING RANGE - FRONT DESK - NIGHTMAFFET, the stocky retired cop behind the counter, handsJetson a bag of reloads and some silhouette targets.Sykes nods to Jetson, motioning him toward the firingline. SYKES Go on ahead. I'll be right in. (to Maffet, low) What'd you dig up for me?Maffet slides open a drawer, takes out a paper bagcontaining a massive pistol with an enormous bore. Byhis manner this deal is definitely not kosher. Sykeshefts the weapon. MAFFET You said you wanted the biggest thing I could find... Well, this is it. SYKES What is it? MAFFET Casull .454 Magnum. You're talking twice the impact energy of .44 Magnum hot loads. SYKES (flips open cylinder) Only holds five. MAFFET Yeah, the shells are too big for six in an cylinder. Hell, Matt, you don't need but one. SYKES (sighting) No... two.EXT. SHOOTING RANGE - FIRING LINE - NIGHTJetson, looking bizarre in his ear-protectors, is takingcareful aim with his .38 as Sykes walks up. Jetson slipsthe protectors down. SYKES Well, let's see what you got, Cochise. Gimme six, rapid fire.Jetson, a little nervous at this command performance,turns, sets, and FIRES at the silhouette target. It's alarge, sloppy grouping. SYKES (continuing) How long you been shooting? That's pitiful. Whattya gonna do if somebody draws down on you, wave your scores on the written exam at 'em?Sykes starts loading the thumb-sized bullets into theCasull. JETSON Why did you do it? SYKES Why'd I do what? JETSON Agree to work with me? You don't like me... you don't like any of us. You have nothing but contempt for us. And yet you become an outcast from your club of detectives by making me your partner... SYKES My partner is dead! Because one of you bastards killed him -- then disappeared into a rathole down in Slagtown, where he's home and dry, 'cause nobody sees nothing, nobody says nothing...Sykes grabs a bullet-proof vest from nearby, slaps it ontothe hanging target form. He hits the switch, running thetarget down to the end of the lane. SYKES (continuing) But he didn't figure on you, George. You're going to get me through that wall of silence. You're going to make them talk to me. You're going to help me find that Slag son-of-a- bitch. Comprendo? And if Fedorchuk and the boys in the bullpen don't like it, screw them... and if the Captain doesn't like it, screw him... and if all the Slags down in Slagtown don't like it... well screw them too!Sykes raises the Casull, fires. KA-BOOM!!! The shellrockets clean through the bullet-proof vest on the targetform. The recoil slams Sykes back, jerks his arm up. KA-BOOM!!! again, and another hole is drilled through thevest. Other shooters look over. Sykes sets the gundown... sees his hand is bleeding. Jetson absorbs allthis, as we-- CUT TO:EXT. "X" BAR - NIGHTA violet neon "X" FILLS FRAME, flashing hypnotically.It's a bar catering to rough-trade Newcomer clientele.Several ALIEN MEN, brute laborer-types, lounge around outfront. They glare with antagonism as Sykes and Jetsonclimb out of their car. SYKES (to Jetson) Okay, just stay back and do what I do. Watch and learn, watch and learn...INT. "X" BAR - NIGHTSykes and Jetson walk into the almost total blackness ofthis all-Newcomer place.A few near-infrared indigo lamps dot the blackness. SYKES I can't see dick in here.We can dimly make out booths along one wall, some tables,and the bar. There are maybe twenty figures seated orstanding in the darkness. The room falls silent in a waveas Sykes' presence becomes noticed.Sykes saunters forward, commanding the space with hisunhurried movements. SYKES (calling into the dark silence) Which one'a you Slags is Porter? VOICE (from the back of the bar) Who wants to know?Sykes squints into the darkness, then-- SYKES (aside to Jetson) Who said that? JETSON (tilts his head to indicate) At the end of the bar.Sykes nods, starts in that direction. SYKES My name is Sykes. I'm-- ALIEN VOICE Ss'ai k'ss?The whole place roars with LAUGHTER. Too late Sykesremembers what his name sounds like to them. He continuesdown the bar and a figure in one of the booths sticks hisleg out and trips Sykes with his size 16 work boot. Sykesstumbles, then recovers and pivots on the offender. Hootsand derisive LAUGHTER. He sees only shadows. OFFENDER (merely a voice in the dark) Careful, ss'loka', you might hurt yourself.More laughter. Sykes gives the darkness where theoffender sits a hard stare, then turns and shoulders hisway to the end of the bar. Jetson follows. Sykes stopsbehind a big Newcomer in greasy work clothes.ANGLEThe punk Newcomer in the next seat is keeping his headdown, trying to be inconspicuous.He glances over at the two cops... his expression shiftingto recognition as he spots Jetson.BACK TO SCENESykes speaks to the Big Newcomer's back. SYKES You Porter?The Big Newcomer continues to sip his mug of sour milk.Doesn't turn. Sykes grabs him by the shoulder and turnshim around. The alien grabs Sykes' hand off, rising tohis full height. He and Sykes lock eyes. Meanwhile. thepunk Newcomer (PORTER) has started to slip away unnoticed.Jetson spots him, reaches out with one arm, and grabs himby the jacket. JETSON No, Matthew. I believe this is the one you want.He pulls Porter back into play. Now Jetson sees Porter'sface... and he, too, reacts with recognition.Sykes gives Jetson a sour look, releases the Big Newcomer,and turns his malice on the punk Newcomer. SYKES Your name wouldn't happen to be Porter, would it? JETSON Uh, Matthew... SYKES (over his shoulder to Jetson) Back off, George. JETSON But I-- (know this man). SYKES I'll handle it.Jetson backs off, letting him handle it. SYKES (to Porter) Jesus, are the questions too tough for you already? Let's try again-- (slowly) Is your name Porter? PORTER Ss'kya'ta'. SYKES (to Jetson) What's that? JETSON Screw you. SYKES (back to Porter) Screw me? That can't be right. PORTER Ss'kya ta' ss'loka'. Ss'trokya' ss'lato na'! JETSON (to Sykes, low) You don't want to know. SYKES Tell me. JETSON Your mother mates out of season. SYKES (to Porter) That's very colorful. But see -- now I've got a problem. I don't seem to be getting much cooperation from you, Porter. So I guess we're gonna have to take this little session down to my office, ya know?And instantly Sykes whips out this flashlight, snaps onthe beam, and arcs it into the faces of the aliens aroundhim. Jetson gets a blast of it, too. The aliens aremomentarily blinded.Sykes has Porter pinned to the bar, the flashlight in hisface, as he starts to handcuff him. But Porter gets ahand free and crushes the head of the flashlight.Darkness falls... along with Sykes' expression ofsatisfaction.Porter hurls Sykes back, slamming him into a table. Thecrowd HOOTS and CHEERS. Sykes finds his way to his feet. JETSON Matthew, you don't have to-- (do this). SYKES Stay back! I'm okay.He charges Porter, brandishing the flashlight like a club.The two of them battle, then Sykes sees his opportunityand brings his knee up viciously into the alien's groin.Porter doubles over in feigned agony, then slowly risesagain -- smiling. PORTER Don't they teach you anything about us in cop school, little ss'loka'?Porter grabs Sykes by the shirt front, is about to delivera crushing blow, when another arm cuts into FRAME, lockingwith Porter's, blocking the punch. It is Jetson. JETSON Enough. PORTER (eyeing Jetson) Ss'tangya T'ssorentsa'. You're a cop. (with some contempt) It fits you.Jetson says something to him in the alien language.Porter gives him a hard stare, then moves toward the backexit. Sykes stumbles over to Jetson. SYKES You know that guy? JETSON (nods) From quarantine, when my people first arrived here. He and I were housed together. SYKES How could a straight-arrow like you ever pick a roommate like him? JETSON In the camps, we were lodged four to a room. The selection process was entirely random. We did not get to stay with our friends... or families...And he moves toward the back exit. Sykes watches him go. CUT TO:EXT. "X" BAR - NIGHTPorter leans against an alley wall. He speaks Englishlearned on the streets. JETSON You don't know what your father and these two men were arguing about? PORTER I told you -- I was in the back of the store. I just heard voices, muffled like. SYKES One of the two men was Hubley, right? What about the other one? Did you know him? PORTER Yeah... I seen him around. High- roller dude named Strader. Joshua Strader. Runs a club on the west side. Encounters. SYKES Yeah, I heard of it. PORTER That's all I know. You want anything more, you ask somebody else.He pushes away from the wall, heads for the door to thebar. JETSON I am sorry about your father.Porter throws him a look over his shoulder, thendisappears through the door. Sykes and Jetson start downthe alley. JETSON If I may make a suggestion... We have different weak spots than you do. Next time, a blow to the nerve plexus under the arm, here, will produce the effect I think you were looking for. SYKES Yeah, sure. I knew that... CUT TO:EXT. BURGER STAND - NIGHTThe wall-mounted menu is in English and the AlienLanguage. The SERVERS are teen aged humans and aliens.Sykes and Jetson stand at the counter awaiting theirorder. KID (serving them) Six forty-two.They both put money on the counter. The kid goes to putthe order together. Sykes looks at the alien characterson the menu. SYKES I don't think I could ever learn to read that shit. (beat) How long did it take you to learn English? JETSON Three months. (off Sykes' look) We learn quickly. We adapt. It is our strength... what we were bred for, to adapt to hostile environments.The Serving Kid puts their bags on the counter. JETSON (continuing) Thank you.They take the bags and walk off, digging the food out ofthe bags as they talk: SYKES My neighbor's kid has a Newcomer girl in his class. She's six years old and in seventh grade already...They climb into the car.INT. SLUG-MOBILE - NIGHTJetson doesn't respond... some things are better leftunaddressed. Meanwhile, Sykes has unwrapped his food andrecoils in disgust. SYKES Oh, God. I think I got yours here...He holds up two strips of raw meat with patches of animalfur still on them. Jetson meanwhile is grimacing at thedripping cheeseburger he's just unwrapped. They quicklytrade. SYKES (continuing) Which one is that? Raw what? JETSON (eating a strip) This is mole. It's good. SYKES I'll bet. (winces, watching him chew) Would it really put you out if they tossed that on the grill for a minute or two? JETSON Our bodies do not assimilate the nutrients if the food has been cooked.Jetson looks over at him, smiling. SYKES Oh, that's real attractive. You got fur in your teeth, George. Come on, man, we're gonna be talking to people... jeez.Sykes looks at his burger, his appetite gone, shoves itback into the sack and tosses it into the back seat.INT./ EXT. SLUG-MOBILE - NIGHTAs Sykes pulls onto the street. SYKES So what was that other word for Human... Slow ka? JETSON Ss'loka'. It means literally "small but intelligent creature". (Sykes looks over, doesn't know if he likes this) It loses much in the translation. SYKES And what was that one about my mother? That was a good one. JETSON Ss'trokya ss'lato 'na'. SYKES Yeah, that's it. Say it slow.Jetson pronounces the words and Sykes follows alonghaltingly. After several tries, he can say it passablywell.INT. ENCOUNTERS - NIGHTAn upscale, mostly yuppie-human dance club. Theantithesis of the "X" bar. A human HOSTESS in a slitdress has just finished seating Sykes and Jetson at atable. She moves off. The two cops look up at the stage.REVERSE ANGLErevealing the exotic alien dancer named CASSANDRA. Shemoves with a feline blend of strength and grace. Framingher face is a silvery nylon wig that she tosses like amane as she undulates to the MUSIC.Sykes watches with fascination. The MUSIC ends andCassandra steps down from the stage, to be replaced by ahuman DANCER as the next SONG cranks up. Sykes and Jetsonquickly intercept her as she heads backstage. JETSON You are Cassandra? CASSANDRA That's right. JETSON We are with the Police Department. This is Sergeant Sykes, and I am-- CASSANDRA (laughing) Ss'ai k'ss? Perfect. SYKES We're looking for your boss -- Strader.She eyes the two of them warily, then moves backstage,assuming they will follow.INT. BACKSTAGE - NIGHTShe moves along the narrow corridor. CASSANDRA He's not here. Why ask me? JETSON The young woman at the front said you might know where he is. CASSANDRA She did, did she? Well, she was wrong. Excuse me, I have to change. SYKES No problem.She moves through a door. Sykes follows closely so doesJetson.INT. ENCOUNTERS - DRESSING ROOM - NIGHTCassandra grabs some clothes and goes into a stall. SYKES Look, we're not here doing an interview for the school paper. This is a homicide investigation... and if you don't stop jerkin' us around, I'm ready to start playin' hardball.Jetson has waited politely half-in half-out of the room.Sykes rapidly motions to him to "go look around". Jetsonmimes back, "Huh?" CASSANDRA (slipping out of her dance costume) Oooh. Hardball. That sounds interesting. Are you going to strike me? You could tie me up and then do whatever you want with me... I've got my own ropes. SYKES (still miming to Jetson) Does that cost extra or you throw them in? CASSANDRA You've got me all wrong. I don't charge money for something that I myself find pleasurable...Finally Jetson gets what Sykes is trying to tell him. Hesays in the uncertain, stagy voice of a bad liar: JETSON I am going out to the car. I will meet you there.Sykes rolls his eyes as Jetson exits into the corridor.Cassandra emerges from the stall, wearing a long, stylish,low-cut dress. CASSANDRA Look, I don't know where Mr. Strader might be. He comes and he goes. SYKES (starting to feel a little uncomfortable) The girl out front mentioned Strader's assistant, somebody named Watson. Maybe he knows. CASSANDRA (tensing slightly) Todd? Todd doesn't know either.She is very close to Sykes now. She fingers the lapel ofhis jacket. CASSANDRA (continuing) I know... Why don't you hang around for a while, let me entertain you? It's Matt, right? Now tell me the truth, have you ever... made it... with one of us? SYKES Not unless I got real drunk and nobody told me about it later. CASSANDRA A virgin. I find that very arousing...INT. SECOND FLOOR CORRIDOR - NIGHTMUSIC drifts up from downstairs. Jetson moves along thecorridor, scoping things out. He tries a door. Locked.Tries another one. Open. He eases it wider, then entersthe darkened office.INT. OFFICE - SECOND FLOOR - NIGHTJetson moves into the office. Looks around. Makes hisway to the cluttered desk top. Pushes things around...all the usual stuff. He starts to turn away, then his eyecatches something sticking out from behind a row of ledgerbooks. He reaches for it. A small dispenser -- of thekind we saw being filled at the refinery. Jetson studiesit, his suspicions growing. Opening it, he finds only thebarest trace of a viscous substance.He smells it... not enough to tell for certain what it is.But enough that he is very concerned about what it couldbe.INT. CASSANDRA'S DRESSING ROOM - NIGHTCassandra is practically melting herself into Sykes now.She takes his hand and guides his fingertips over herfacial ridges. She shudders with pleasure. Sykes beginsto perspire. SYKES There's lots of things I haven't done, but his ain't high on the list. Don't take it personally. CASSANDRA I think you're just a little scared now, about what you might find once the lights go out. A little scared... and a lot curious. Maybe more than you want to admit. But doesn't that turn you on, that curiosity and fear, swirling together? (coos) Think of it as broadening your horizons. SYKES I like my horizons narrow. CASSANDRA (pressing herself into him) Your voice is saying no, but your body is saying yes.He quickly disengages from her. SYKES My voice, body, and everything else is saying I'll be back in two hours for Strader, and he better damn well be here.He shoves a business card at her, then retreats throughthe door.INT. CORRIDOR - NIGHTSykes closes the door and lets out his breath.INT. CASSANDRA'S DRESSING ROOM - NIGHTCassandra's expression instantly turns to worry and shequickly crosses to a phone and punches the intercombutton.INT. OFFICE - SECOND FLOOR - NIGHTJetson, looking through a desk drawer, hears the intercomBUZZ in the next room. Through the wall-- WATSON (O.S.) (tentatively) Yes...? CASSANDRA (O.S.) (over the intercom, breathless) Todd, it's me. The police were just here... looking for Strader. And asking about you.Jetson moves toward the door to the adjoining office,drawing his gun. The floor squeaks beneath his feet. Helooks down, then continues toward the door.INT. OFFICE - SECOND FLOOR - NIGHTJetson eases open the door. It's the manager's privateoffice. Jetson sees the phone receiver resting on thedesk, the desk lamp on, a lit cigarette in an ashtray --but no one behind the desk. Jetson eases through the doorand---- a chair crashes down on him from behind the door!Jetson goes down, his gun skittering out of his hand.INT. PRIVATE OFFICE - NIGHTJetson and his assailant battle in the well-appointedoffice.INT. OFFICE - SECOND FLOOR CORRIDOR - NIGHTSykes hears the fight through the private office door.He throws the door open.INT. PRIVATE OFFICE - NIGHTSykes stands in the doorway, the Casull straight-armed atJetson's assailant. SYKES Freeze! Now!The assailant does. He looks at Sykes, scared, breathinghard. He's a Newcomer in a snappy Armani suit. This isTODD WATSON. Jetson, on the floor, starts to rise.Suddenly somebody flies at Sykes from the side, knockinghim sideways down the corridor. It's Cassandra. Watsonseizes the moment and shoves the off-balance Jetson intosome furniture and dives for the door.INT. SECOND FLOOR CORRIDOR - NIGHTWatson runs down the corridor, ducking onto a fire escape.Meanwhile Sykes wrestles with Cassandra. She's as strongas he is, but he has the edge in experience.Jetson, disheveled, appears in the private office doorway,ready to chase Watson, but not knowing which way he went. SYKES (struggling with Cassandra) Fire escape! End of the hall!Jetson nods, takes off down the corridor. Sykes manges toget one handcuff on Cassandra's wrist, the other cuffaround a pipe sticking out of the wall. She SCREECHES athim in the alien language as he collects the Casull andcharges down the corridor.EXT. FIRE ESCAPE - OUTSIDE ENCOUNTERS - NIGHTJetson pounds down the fire escape. Below him, he seesWatson reach the ground and take off running for theparking area.Jetson reaches the ground and gives chase.EXT. ENCOUNTERS PARKING LOT - NIGHTWatson zig-zags through the parked cars, Jetson cuttingdown other rows trying to make up the distance betweenthem.EXT. FIRE ESCAPE - OUTSIDE ENCOUNTERS - NIGHTSykes bangs down the fire escape, leaping the last fifteenfeet to the ground.EXT. ENCOUNTERS PARKING LOT - NIGHTWatson reaches his Alfa Romeo, yanks open the door, firesit up. Jetson slides up, ten feet behind the car, pullshis gun, aims.The white reverse-lights flash on. Jetson stands there,gun aimed -- but he hesitates to shoot. In that splitsecond hesitation, Watson floors it... Jetson jumping toavoid being hit.INT. ALFA ROMEO - NIGHTWatson throws the car into Drive, looks up, and sees Sykesstanding right in front of the car. He hits the gas.Sykes has no choice then to leap onto the hood of the car.Watson, with Sykes' face on the other side of the glass,panics and--EXT. ENCOUNTERS PARKING LOT - NIGHT-- plows the Alfa into some parked cars.Sykes is up in a flash -- yanks Watson out of the car.Watson rears back to swing at Sykes, when Sykes swings hisarms around in two wide arcs, his fists landing two directhits in the nerve centers under Watson's arms. Watsonfolds over with a "ooowwph" sound and drops to his knees. SYKES (breathing hard) I'll be damned. It worked. (sees Jetson run up) How'd you like that, huh? Whammo! Both barrels. Dropped him like a bag of cement.Jetson picks up Watson's fallen wallet. He looks at theI.D. SYKES Who is he? JETSON Todd Watson. The assistant manager.Watson is still doubled over, just trying to draw oneagonized breath. WATSON I don't believe this. Look at my suit. Look at what you made me do to my car. SYKES (laughing) Your girlfriend put up a better fight than you did, pal. JETSON We are looking for your employer, Joshua Strader. WATSON He's out of town. JETSON Why did you run? WATSON Because you two were chasing me. SYKES We were chasing you because you ran, you dumb son-of-a-bitch. JETSON When will Strader return? WATSON Who knows. He's the boss -- he doesn't have to check in with me. SYKES (wearily) Watson... this is my partner here's first coupla days, and he wants to make a good impression. Me, though, the way I feel -- this could be my last day, know what I mean? And I'm ready to rain on you like a cow pissin' on a flat rock. WATSON Look -- Mr. Strader hasn't been around for a coupla days. He didn't tell me where he was going or when he'd be back. I swear it. SYKES (to Jetson) What do you think? JETSON I believe he is probably lying. SYKES Through his ass. (to Watson) Next time you see him, tell him to call me... unless you want us to keep coming back on you like a bad case of herpes.Sykes shoves a business card in Watson's breast pocket.They walk away and Watson slumps against his car.ANGLE - MOVING WITH SYKES AND JETSONas they walk wearily to the slug-mobile. SYKES George, you can handle the women from now on, you mind? CUT TO:EXT. ENCOUNTERS PARKING LOT - NIGHTWatson is alone, surveying the damage to his Alfa, when hehears footsteps. He turns with a "What now?" expressionand -- a shotgun butt is slammed into his forehead. Hegoes down. Kipling stands over him, flanked by FOUR HUMANTHUGS. One of these is QUINT, senior human in Harcourt'semploy. QUINT (to other Thugs) Okay, scrape him up. CUT TO:EXT. ZUMA BEACH APPROACH _ NIGHTHarcourt's private limo glides down the narrow accessroad, passing a lookout car attended by two alien Thugs.The limo moves down to the beach, parking near an n.d.van.Harcourt exits the limo, walks onto the sand to the backof the van. Here he finds Kipling and Quint and the threehuman Thugs.They have Watson chained to the van's rear bumper, facingthe sea, and have been working him over with a tire iron.He's bruised and bloody, but still conscious. HARCOURT Any progress? QUINT My arm's gettin' tired and so far, zip. KIPLING He is ss'verdlatya ss'alo to Strader. QUINT What's that mean? KIPLING Duty-bonded. His allegiance to Strader is above pain or life. QUINT You tellin' me this guy would die before he'd screw his boss and work for us? Nobody's that dumb. KIPLING It is something you couldn't comprehend, Quint.Harcourt approaches Watson, kneels beside him, careful tokeep the knee of his designer pants out of the sand. HARCOURT I understand you have been resisting my offer Mr. Watson. Your sense of duty to Mr. Strader is noble, but -- no longer an issue, I'm afraid...Harcourt signals and the two Thugs drag an alien body fromthe back if the van: a middle-aged alien, Strader, shottwice through the front of his silk suit. Watson's eyeswiden in fear. HARCOURT (continuing) I will not make this offer again. I want you to work for me, to manage the nightclub as Strader's successor. If you do, you will know a wealth and comfort our people never dared imagine...Watson stares at Harcourt, scared but defiant. WATSON Sss'k'a ta'!Harcourt studies Watson a moment, perhaps even admiringhis resolve. Then-- HARCOURT It is such a pity to die for an outmoded value. (rising) Mr. Quint, I believe it's time for our friend's swimming lesson.Watson freaks out, howling and lashing against the chains. HARCOURT (to Watson) It's important to learn new skills. Essential to your growth as a person.Quint and the Thugs free Watson from the bumper. He bucksand lunges as they drag him toward the surf. Quintaddresses one of the Thugs, a new guy. QUINT You never seen this before, have you, Billy? oh, man, you ain't gonna believe it... seawater is like battery acid to these guys... I don't know what it is, some kinds chemical reaction. Whatta you think it is, Watson? Whoa, hold him. (a wave breaks outside, the foam rolls in) What I love about the surf is you can never tell how far up it's going to come until it... whoops, got a little wet there.The wave just sloshes over Watson's lower legs. Hescreams. Flailing, one of his hands dips below thesurface of the water. He howls and yanks out his hand.We see the alien hand dripping seawater... then a thousanddroplets of purple alien blood begin to bead all over thehand. The Thugs get Watson swinging. QUINT Last call, sucker. One... two... THREE!Watson is flung into the surf.ANGLEHarcourt and Kipling have walked down almost to thewaterline. We HEAR Watson's GURGLES and SCREAMS... thennothing. Kipling is very nervous this close to the water.Harcourt seems unperturbed. KIPLING When we picked him up, he was talking to those two cops -- the two who came to question you about Hubley. HARCOURT This is getting out of hand. I want you to deal with it. Immediately.A wave rushes up the sand. Kipling quickly steps back.Harcourt stands firm, staring it down, and the foam stopssix inches from his dress shoes. HARCOURT (continuing) We must learn to embrace the things we fear... and from that grow strong.A moment, then he turns and starts back toward the limo.He motions to Strader's body and the surf. The Thugs grabthe body and heave it into the waves. CUT TO:INT. SYKES' APARTMENT - NIGHTJetson is talking rapidly in the alien language on thekitchen wall phone. Sykes, foreground, takes the bottleof vodka from the refrigerator, throws some ice in aglass, pours himself a shot. As Jetson is talking, hespots the carton of milk that Sykes inadvertently left outof the refrigerator two nights ago.He sniffs it... his eyebrows do an involuntary movement.He finishes with his wife and hangs up. He watches Sykestake a long pull on the vodka. JETSON (holds up milk carton) Would you mind?Sykes shrugs, tosses him a glass. Jetson pours the semi-lumpy milk and takes a big swallow. Sykes grimaces.Then-- SYKES (indicates phone) So, she keeps you on a pretty short leash, does she? JETSON My wife? She worries about me.Sykes leans against the counter, getting comfortable, hisvoice more weary then bitter. SYKES Yeah... I know the routine. JETSON You are married? SYKES Was. Divorced. JETSON We mate for life. Divorce... is a strange concept to us. SYKES It's like having an eleventh finger removed. It hurts like hell, but you never really needed the damn thing in the first place.Jetson nods -- even though he doesn't really understandthis. They drink... Jetson gazes around. JETSON Your home is quite disordered. I thought perhaps you had been burglarized when I walked in. SYKES (growling) I appreciate your honesty, George.He smacks his glass against Jetson's. They drink.INT. SYKES' APARTMENT - LATERSykes has his wallet out... showing Jetson a dog-earedphoto. SYKES Ignore the bitch on the left, that's Edie. I call her Edi Amin... This is Kristin, my daughter. It's kinda an old picture... she's twenty now. Getting married, in fact... on Sunday.Jetson sitting across the table from Sykes, looks at theproffered photo. They're both a little drunk now. JETSON Human children can be very beautiful. (then) Getting married? Congratulations. You will be taking Sunday off, then... SYKES (uneasy) Maybe not... I don't know. I'm not sure I'm gonna go. (mumbles) She doesn't need her burn-out of a father there...Jetson looks at him. Sees something he never thoughtpossible in Sykes. Vulnerability. Trying to break themelancholy mood, Jetson reaches for his wallet. JETSON (upbeat) I must show you... (flips open wallet, shows four crisp photos of his wife) And this is Richard. My son. He's four years old. We named him after the former President, Richard Nixon.Sykes looks at all the photos sprawled out on the table...and has to laugh. He looks up at Jetson's sincere face.He may be starting to like this guy. SYKES You open to a piece of advice? Tell people you named him after Richard Burton, the actor. Just take my word for it.And he clacks his glass against Jetson's sitting on thetable, and--INT. SYKES' APARTMENT - LATERThey are quite a bit drunker. Jetson has doffed hisjacket and tie, leans in, listening intently to Sykes. SYKES ... and so, and so the doctor says, "If this is the thermometer, then where'd I leave the pen?" (laughs raucously, Jetson doesn't react) You're not... you don't think that's funny? George, work with me, I always get a laugh with that one. Look, if the doctor's got the thermometer in his hand, then where's his pen gotta be? JETSON (straight-faced) In the other man's rectum. SYKES (laughing) Sticking out of his ass... yeah! See, that's what makes it a joke. There's like a surprise, and your mind fills in the funny picture. Here's this guy with a pen stuck in his ass and he thinks it's a thermometer. (Jetson just blinks) Nada, huh?Jetson shrugs apologetically. Sykes pours them eachanother round. SYKES (continuing) Your health... JETSON Ta ss'trakyona'...They CLACK glasses, and--INT. SYKES' APARTMENT - LATER STILLThe party has moves into the living room floor, around thecoffee table. It's a quieter moment. JETSON There is so much our two peoples don't understand about each other. SYKES No shit, Holmes. You're only from another goddamn planet, for chrissakes. JETSON You humans are very curious to us. You invite us to live among you, in an atmosphere of equality we've never known before. You lay before us a beautiful green world, full of freedoms and opportunities... You give us ownership of our lives for the first time... and you ask no more of us than you do of yourselves: to live by the rules... rules that aren't made to keep one people subordinate to another, but rules that exist to preserve equality. You aspire to very high ideals here.Sykes is watching Jetson, mesmerized. The guy's neversaid this much at one time before.If he wasn't drunk, Jetson would never let himself open upto a human like this. JETSON (continuing) I hope you can understand how special your world is... how unique a people you humans are. So it us all the more painful and confusing to us that so few of you seem capable of living up the the ideals you set for yourselves. SYKES Don't count on me, George. I never had any ideals.Jetson smiles a little. He knows that's bullshit. JETSON We don't understand the hatred, the contempt. But we must bear it... we must not react in anger... because our situation here is still fragile. The separationists would see us returned to the quarantine camps. The fundamentalists say we have no more human rights than dogs or cats. But the prejudice we face here is so insignificant compared to the pain that we've known before. And that is why we are so grateful.Sykes studies him a long time through heavy-lidded eyes.Finally-- SYKES Yeah, well... except I did hear you eat your dead.Jetson looks at him a long beat, then-- JETSON (deadpan) Only on Fridays.Sykes stares at him for about five seconds and thenexplodes with laughter. SYKES You son-of-a-bitch. You're okay.Jetson stands unsteadily, and announces: JETSON I'm going home. SYKES Yeah, go home. Get some sleep. You do sleep, don't you?Jetson, going out the front door, just waves over hisshoulder without turning around. He's gone. SYKES What a wildman...Sykes, stands there wobbling, then he collapses backwardonto the sofa, unconscious. And we MATCH DISSOLVE TO--INT. SYKES' APARTMENT - DAWNThe first hues of dawn stream through the window. Sykesremains passed out on the sofa where we left him.EXT. STREET - FRONT OF SYKES' BUILDING - DAWNThe slug-mobile parked at the curb. Silence, then theRUMBLE of a heavy truck... and a tow truck turns onto thisstreet at the corner.The tow truck glides to the curb in front of the slug-mobile. The driver stays inside as his passenger alightscarrying a tool kit and a paper bag. The human is Quint.Quint uses a slim-jim to open the slug-mobile door, thenslides behind the wheel.INT. SLUG-MOBILE - DAWNQuint slides the contents from the paper bag. It is apacket of C-4 plastic explosives, with a primer cap, andtwo lead wires with their ends bared. Quint bends down,starts to work under the dash. As his head disappearsfrom FRAME, suddenly another head appears above theseats... George Jetson sitting up groggily in the backseat. A blanket slips off his head and shoulders. Hesits there blinking, rubbing his eyes, feeling lousy.Under the dash, Quint starts to whistle as he works.Mistake.Jetson, with a puzzled expression, leans forward and seesthis guy in the front seat. Before he can jump-start hisbrain, Quint sits up, sees him, and hammers him in theface with his fist. Jetson is knocked back, holding hisface. That was the last thing he needed.EXT. STREET - FRONT OF SYKES' BUILDING - DAWNMeanwhile Quint is shouting and bailing out of the car.He runs and leaps into the already moving tow truck.It is sliding around the corner out of sight just asJetson stumbles out of the car. He whips out his gun fromthe unfamiliar shoulder rig and it flies out of his hand.Jetson sags against the side of the car, mumbles an alienphrase, clearly the equivalent of "Fuck it...". CUT TO:INT. SYKES' APARTMENT - DAYSykes is in the fetal position on the couch where we lefthim. Someone is POUNDING on the door. He regainsconsciousness reluctantly. SYKES This better be good news or money.He shambles to the door and gets it open, admittingJetson. Jetson holds the C-4 charge in a handkerchiefwith one hand and gives it to Sykes. JETSON Hold this. (lurching to the sink) I feel very terrible.Sykes registers what he's holding. He moves to Jetson,who is running his head under the tap. SYKES Where'd you get this?!! JETSON A man, a human, was wiring it to your car. I didn't get a good look at him. (then, registering that it's day; panicked) I must call my wife... CUT TO:INT. PRECINCT FIRST FLOOR HALLWAY - DAYJetson is starting to take on Sykes' looks, his clothingrumpled and a day old. Sykes has showered and changed sohe's not suffering as much by comparison. They approachSykes' desk. JETSON She's going to divorce me. SYKES George, she's not gonna divorce you. You mate for life, remember? JETSON She's very progressive. I'm certain she's considering it.ANGLE - A UNIFORMED SECRETARYdistributing phone slips nearby notices Sykes. SECRETARY You guys are looking for somebody named Strader, right? SYKES Yeah. SECRETARY Fedorchuk and Alterez just phoned in. They found him. (Sykes and Jetson react) Or at least what's left of him, washed up on the beach at Zuma.Sykes and Jetson react again. SECRETARY (continuing; handing over the message slip) They're still there if you wanna catch them.She moves off. SYKES Well, let's roll, George. JETSON (with a stricken expression) To the... to the beach? SYKES Come on, let's go, dude. Surf's up! CUT TO:EXT. PACIFIC COAST HIGHWAY - ZUMA BEACH - DUSKCRANE SHOT, nice and WIDE, showing the slug-mobile turningoff P.C.H. onto a gravel road which curves down the thebeach. The following is V.O. as the car approaches thewater. JETSON (V.O.) Stop the car. SYKES (V.O.) Why? JETSON (V.O.) Please, I must get out here. SYKES (V.O.) Come on, you won't have to get near the water. JETSON (V.O.) Stop the car!We see the car pull to a stop in a cloud of dust.INT. SLUG-MOBILE - DUSK SYKES All right, okay. Keep your pantyhose on. Jeez, when in doubt, freak out, for chrissake.Sykes sees that his partner is covered with a sudden sheenof sweat, his hands shaking. Sykes softens. SYKES (continuing) It's all right, George. It's cool. Just wait here, all right? I'll be back in a coupla minutes. JETSON Thank you.He climbs out and Sykes drives down to the beach... towarda cluster of vehicles: a Sheriff's black-and-white, acoroner's wagon, and Fedorchuk's unmarked sedan.EXT. BEACH - DUSKA quick glimpse of a pile of dark yuck in the shape of aperson, black and skeletal beneath the remains of a silksuit. Wound around the corpse are streamers of kelp andother high tide detritus.ANGLE ON SYKES, FEDORCHUK, AND ALTEREZlooking down at the body. A CORONER'S TECHNICIAN is doinga closer inspection. FEDORCHUK Found his wallet in his jacket pocket. Joshua Strader, big as life. CORONER'S TECH Jesus, what a mess. It's gonna be a bear to make a positive determination, but it looks to me like he was shot before being tossed in the drink. At least twice-- (indicates where hearts would've been on the body) -- here, and here.Sykes absorbs this. He rises along with Fedorchuk andAlterez. SYKES How're you two doing on Tuggle's killer? ALTEREZ The store owner's son is in a street gang, so now we're thinking maybe it's gang related. SYKES Yeah, that's real good. You guys follow up on that for a coupla months.Fedorchuk looks up at Jetson standing on the bluff above. FEDORCHUK Look at your dildo partner. He's too scared to even come down to the sand. (calls up to Jetson, even though he's too far away to hear) You're not gonna get wet standing here, moron! SYKES I'd like to see you next to a sea of hydrochloric acid, Fedorchuk... see how much surfin' you'd do.Alterez shoots a polaroid of the body. Sykes grabs it asit emerges from the camera and walks back toward the car.Fedorchuk flips him the bird. As Sykes rounds the car, hesees that someone has drawn on the door in yellow liquidchalk marker a big star with "E.T. P.D." printed insideit. Sykes looks around. Fedorchuk and the others standtogether chuckling, conspicuously not looking in hisdirection. SYKES Cute.EXT. BEACH ROAD - DUSKSykes has stopped to pick Jetson up.He's wiping the "E.T. P.D." from the door as Jetsonapproaches from the edge of the bluff. Fedorchuk pulls upalongside in his n.d. sedan. He calls off to Jetson, whois still twenty yards away. FEDORCHUK Well, if it isn't Detective Jetson. Forget you hip waders, big guy? SYKES Lay off, asshole. FEDORCHUK I may be an asshole, but at least I'm a real detective, not some outer shit space thing.Sykes, his face neutral, which we should by now know to behighly dangerous, saunters to Fedorchuk's car and leansagainst it. SYKES Yeah? you're a real honest-to-god detective...?Sykes grabs the back of Fedorchuk's head and slams it intothe steering wheel, BAM-HONK!, and in doing so, has hurthis hand again (the hand he hit Jetson with).He shakes that hand while lunging in and grabbingFedorchuk's car keys with the other. SYKES (continuing) Then detect these!Fedorchuk, holding his bloody nose, watches as his carkeys sail out in an arc out over the bluff. Jetson, justclimbing into the slug-mobile, witnesses the last of thisscene without knowing how it began.INT. SLUG-MOBILE - DUSKSykes gets in, slams the door. His hand hurts as he grabsthe wheel. He holds the wheel gingerly as he slams thecar into gear and hurls gravel up the road toward P.C.H.Jetson looks over, curious. JETSON What was that about? SYKES (embarrassed that he defended Jetson) Nothing.On Jetson's confused expression, we-- CUT TO:EXT. BURGER STAND - NIGHTA different burger stand. Sykes and Jetson sit acrossfrom each other at one of the outdoor tables... Sykes withhis greasy burger, Jetson with his mole strips. This timethey have no trouble eating in front of each other as theytalk. SYKES ... So we've got three guys dead. All Newcomers, all killed the same way -- execution style. JETSON Warren Hubley was in middle management at a refinery... Joshua Strader operated a successful bar and nightclub... SYKES ... and Porter ran a piece of shit mom-and-pop mini-mart. (beat) So what the hell's the connection? CUT TO:INT. PATHOLOGY LAB OFFICE - NIGHTSykes and Jetson enter the cluttered lab office. Winteris here eating take-out chicken at his cluttered desk. SYKES You guys finished the postmortem on Strader yet? WINTER (his mouth full) You mean the Blob? They're finishing up now. JETSON Is Bentner here? I must speak with him. WINTER He went home early -- his kid was sick.Jetson frowns. WINTER (continuing) Yeah, but he left something for you.He wipes his greasy fingers on a napkin, then finds anenvelope on the desk and hands it to Jetson. Jetson tearsopen the sealed envelope. The message inside is writtenin the alien language. WINTER (continuing) Does this have something to do with the test he ran that he wouldn't tell me about?CLOSE ON - JETSONHis expression grows stricken as he reads the message.BACK TO SCENE SYKES (getting very curious and suspicious now) What kind of test? WINTER Looking for some foreign compound in the blood of that alien you dropped the other day. SYKES Did he find anything?Winter shrugs, indicates the message Jetson reads, as ifto say, "Maybe it says in there". SYKES (to Jetson) Well?Jetson refolds the paper and puts it in his pocket.He is clearly disturbed by what he has read. He looks atSykes a moment, then quickly breaks eye contact. JETSON It is nothing.Jetson quickly moves off. Sykes hurries off after him.INT. HALLWAY - NIGHTSykes hurries to catch up with the fast walking Jetson.They eventually reach the elevators and Jetson jabs thebutton during: SYKES What's this nothing shit? It wasn't nothing yesterday when you asked Bentner to run that test and he looked like he was about to shit peach pits, and it's not nothing now. Don't lie to me, George, you're bad at it. JETSON (distant, closed) You must leave me alone on this.The elevator arrives, he steps in. Sykes follows.INT. ELEVATOR - NIGHTThey enter the empty elevator. Jetson presses the buttonto descend. SYKES No, see, I don't leave you alone... I'm your partner. I don't work that way... Tug didn't work that way.Jetson remains steadfast. Sykes, about to explode, slamshis palm against the red Emergency Stop button and theelevator lurches to a halt between floors. SYKES (continuing) No secrets, goddammit! You don't hold back from me. Whatever is going on, you're gonna tell me now! JETSON (agonizing) No. I cannot involve you. This is not your concern. SYKES The hell it isn't, when somebody wires up enough C-4 explosive to my car to turn me into pink mist! (beat) That Slag was on something, and not sour milk, either? Am I right? (he has backed Jetson to the wall by sheer force of will) TELL ME! What is it? JETSON (finally) ... It is called ss'jabroka'. To us it is a potent narcotic. SYKES How potent? JETSON Like your cocaine, I suppose. The "high" lasts several hours. We would receive small amounts of it... as a reward for our labor. SYKES We? You've taken it? JETSON We all did. SYKES Where did he get it? Was there any of it on the ship? JETSON No... I am sure not. That is why I am so concerned... someone must now be producing it here. (emphatically) But none of my people know how to make it. The process was carefully guarded. SYKES (as the enormity sinks in) Jesus, this is major. (then) Why didn't you tell me sooner? Why'd you hold out on me? JETSON Your people don't know about this part of out past. And they can't know -- It would threaten our entire existence here.The voltage runs out of Sykes. He seems to understandJetson's dilemma. SYKES George... look me in the eye... George, you don't ever lie to me again. JETSON I must trust you, Matthew. I cannot stop this without you.Sykes stare at Jetson... absorbing the enormity of theearth-shattering secret this alien has asked him to keep. CUT TO:EXT. COUNTY MORGUE - NIGHTSykes and Jetson move quickly to the slug-mobile. Sykesreaches for the driver's door handle with his punchinghand. He winces in pain... the son-of-a-bitch stillhurts. He looks across at Jetson opening the passengerdoor. SYKES George? How about you drive...Jetson looks over at him... gently reacting to this voteof confidence. They walk quickly around to the oppositedoors, climb in.INT. CORRIDOR - BUREAU OF NEWCOMER AFFAIRS - NIGHTSykes and Jetson move down this government-buildingcorridor. SYKES There's gotta be some other connection.They enter a door marked BUREAU OF NEWCOMER AFFAIRS.INT. BUREAU OF NEWCOMER AFFAIRS - NIGHTHIGH SHOT showing the maze of partitioned cubicles fillingthis huge room. It's all but deserted. Sykes and Jetsonare off to one side with a heavyset woman (human) COMPUTEROPERATOR, who they're shanghaied into helping them afterhours.CLOSER - AT COMPUTER OPERATOR'S DESKShe sits at her computer terminal. Sykes and Jetson standbehind her as she types in commands and information.She types: Hubley, Warren. The computer screen flashespast various information, then settles on a screen full ofinformation of HUBLEY, WARREN. OPERATOR Here's Hubley. (scanning it) Left Quarantine on November thirtieth, relocated first to Riverside, then moved to Los Angeles early in February the following year. Field of expertise: chemical manufacturing. Looks like he passed up several other better paying jobs waiting for that one at the refinery. SYKES Try Joshua Strader, will ya, darlin'? OPERATOR For you, anything.The Operator punches up STRADER, JOSHUA. The screen fillswith information. OPERATOR (continuing, reading from screen) Released on November twenty-ninth. Came immediately to L.A. Ten weeks after arriving he took over the abandoned club which is now Encounters. JETSON (to Operator) Now the store owner, please. Cecil Porter.She types it in. OPERATOR Released December one. He and his wife moved first to Modesto, then Coalinga, California -- wherever that is -- settled in L.A. in April. Field of expertise: organic chemical engineering. He and his wife have one child, a son. SYKES Yeah -- we met him. Wonderful boy... close personal friend of George's here. OPERATOR I'm sorry, Matt. Nothing here seems to be matching up...But Sykes wasn't listening. He's starting off... an ideaforming. He stands there a moment, considering it, hisface looking like he's chewing something sour. It's sooff-the-wall it takes a moment for him to assimilate it.Then-- SYKES Holy shit... (to Jetson) Look what we're staring at: three Newcomers with nothing in common, right? What if it's just one other guy who killed these three? (Jetson looks at him blankly) Three and one make four. Four Newcomers... of totally different backgrounds... (Jetson still doesn't get it) You and the store owner's son -- that punker!Suddenly the realization hits Jetson, too. He looks atSykes. JETSON ... Quarantine.Sykes spins to the Operator, excited. SYKES Can you dig up their Quarantine records in this thing? OPERATOR Sure. Just a minute.She moves up a screen to the top of Porter's information. OPERATOR (to herself) Porter was in Lodge seven seven two.She rapidly types in additional information. The screenshifts as she jumps files. Finally she gets a line thatreads: ENTER LODGE NUMBER: She types: 7-7-2.Sykes and Jetson lean in as the screen goes blank... theninformation flashes past as the computer searches... then,finally: Occupants, Quarantine Lodge 772: HUBLEY,WARREN......... STRADER, JOSHUA.........Sykes and Jetson react -- their hunch is coming true.On the computer screen: .........PORTER, CECIL.........Sykes and Jetson, their faces bathed in the green kick ofthe screen, stare without blinking, waiting for that forthname.On the computer screen: .........HARCOURT, WILLIAM.CLOSE ON - SYKES AND JETSONreacting to the name. CUT TO:EXT. ENCOUNTERS - NIGHTCLOSE on a limousine door as it opens and a tall figurerises from the back seat. We TILT UP to reveal WilliamHarcourt.We MOVE with him as he walks to the n.d. van (from thebeach scene) parked in front of the limousine. Kipling isjust sliding out of the passenger side of the cab. Quintexits the driver door. Kipling slides open the van's sidepanel, reaches in for---- a large black suitcase. He slides it out. Harcourtnods. He and Kipling start into the club, followed byQuint.INT. ENCOUNTERS - NIGHTThe club is deserted tonight as Harcourt and entouragemove toward the back.EXT. SECOND FLOOR CORRIDOR - NIGHTHarcourt and the others move up the stairs to the secondfloor. Cassandra, wearing a slinky dress, is at the topof the stairs waiting for them. She's very uncomfortabledealing with Harcourt. Kipling and Quint continue ontoward the office door. Harcourt pauses with Cassandra.He touches her neckline of her dress, letting his fingerslinger against her flesh. HARCOURT Quite lovely... (best) What is your name again? CASSANDRA (flinching involuntarily at his touch) Cassandra. HARCOURT (a chilling smile) I will have to remember that...He continues down toward the office door. Cassandrawatches him go. CUT TO:INT. SLUG-MOBILE - MOVING - NIGHT JETSON They had months in quarantine to develop the plan. Porter, with his chemistry background, must have somehow come up with the formula for the drug. Hubley manufactured it -- at the refinery. Strader, through the nightclub, established a distribution network. And Harcourt-- SYKES Harcourt was the brain who brought it all together.EXT. REFINERY - ESTABLISHING SHOT - NIGHTEXT. REFINERY - NIGHTThe slug-mobile skids to a stop at the loading dockentrance. Sykes and Jetson climb out. They hop up ontothe loading platform and move purposefully into the well-lit interior through the open door.INT. REFINERY - NIGHTIt is Saturday night, the plant is barely operational --only a few WORKERS around. Sykes and Jetson movepurposefully toward the back. SYKES Okay, George -- we gotta play this real smart. JETSON If the drug is here, we must destroy it. SYKES No, George -- you're missing the point. The drug is evidence. We need to have the evidence, ya know?Jetson doesn't reply -- he's focused beyond what Sykes issaying. Sykes spots O'Neal up ahead by the refrigerationdoor to the METHANE SECTION. SYKES (continuing) That's the guy...O'Neal recognizes Sykes and doesn't wait around for thebig Newcomer bearing down on him. He dodges quicklythrough the refrigeration door and swings it closed.Jetson's hand hits the door an instant later, before it islatched, and he pushes it open despite O'Neal's bodyweight against the other side.INT. METHANE ROOM - NIGHTJetson grabs O'Neal by the collar and drags him deeperinto the deserted room. O'NEAL Hey, what are you, crazy?! You can't come in here like this! Hey!Sykes reaches the doorway, stops and stares. SYKES So much for playing it smart...O'Neal's feet are barely touching the ground as Jetsonmoves along the row of drug-manufacturing equipment.Finally he reaches a stainless steel tub... he runs a longfinger along the inside, comes up with some residue of thedrug. It glistens blue on his finger. It holds himmesmerized for several moments... his expression that of aformer junkie beholding the stuff he used to covet so. SYKES (tentatively stepping closer) Is that it...?A beat, than Jetson explodes -- he sweeps a rack ofequipment off the worktable, savagely wipes the drug fromhis hand onto O'Neal's shirt-front as he slams and pinsthe bug-eyed O'Neal to the wall. SYKES Uh, George... JETSON (in O'Neal's face) Where is the drug? Where have they taken it? O'NEAL (choking) What drug? This is an oil refinery, you... JETSON (pushing harder) WHERE?! O'NEAL (unable to breathe) You... can't do... this! SYKES George, uh... you're gonna break his little chest bones... JETSON Stay out of this, Matthew. (to O'Neal) Tell me where the drug has been taken or I will crush your lungs against this wall.O'Neal is experiencing real fear now. Sykes has decidedto back Jetson up, for better or worse. He takes the"good cop" role. SYKES Don't piss him off, O'Neal. When he gets like this, I can't control him. I've seen this before. He got like this once -- I saw him jerk a guy's spine out and show it to him. Nothing I could do. I hadda go throw up. O'NEAL (at length, with great effort) ... They took the stuff out, all of it -- this afternoon. JETSON How much? O'NEAL About fifty kilos... of concentrate... and some street grade... in tubes.Jetson reacts to this... then increases the pressure.O'Neal is really in bad trouble now. Even Sykes takes ahalf-step forward -- thinking Jetson might actually crushthis man. JETSON Where have they taken it? O'NEAL Encount... Encounters Club.Finally, Jetson eases off. O'Neal slumps to the floor,gasping for air. CUT TO:EXT. REFINERY - NIGHTThis time Jetson is the Juggernaut... his expression setand hard... as he strides to the car. Sykes practicallyhas to run to keep up. SYKES George, c'mon -- lighten up. It's a beauty of a case. Don't sweat it -- we got him by the short hairs. He ain't gonna make any more of the shit. JETSON The fifty kilos, Matthew. I have to find it. I can't let it get out on the street. SYKES Why? What's the big goddamn deal?Jetson has reached the driver's door of the slug-mobile,yanks it open. SYKES (continuing; as Jetson starts the car You destroy that drug, you destroy the case. Don't blow the whole thing now by not following procedure. JETSON (through the open driver's window) Fuck procedure.And to Sykes' shock, he throws the car in gear and peelsout. SYKES Hey!!Jetson accelerates toward the security gate. The guard inthe shack starts yelling and runs out as the slug-mobilebashes through the barricade bar. SYKES GEORGE! GODDAMMIT!!Sykes stands there like a moron -- with no partner, nocar. A pickup truck carrying a Worker just getting offhis shift starts ambling past. Sykes runs in front of it,waving his badge. The pickup skids to a stop. SYKES Police. Get out. I need this thing. Out, now!The poor guy bails out and Sykes jumps in, jamming it intogear. The truck has seen better days... it doesn't havemuch power to give as Sykes floors it toward the exit. CUT TO:INT. SLUG-MOBILE - NIGHTAs Jetson races along the freeway, whipping past othertraffic. He takes a hand off the wheel, reaches over andpops open the glovebox. He shoves some maps and garbageaside, reaches deeper inside for something -- we don't seewhat. CUT TO:INT. ENCOUNTERS - NIGHTCassandra walks a trio of well-dressed DRUG DEALERS (twoalien, one human) through the deserted club.INT. SECOND FLOOR CORRIDOR - NIGHTShe leads them to the office door, opens it, then letsthem enter ahead of her. A couple of them smile at herlasciviously as they brush past. She is about to enterherself when an alien hand flashes in behind her, coveringher mouth, pulling her backward away from the door.It is Jetson. He had been hiding behind some cratesstacked here in the corridor. He pins Cassandrapowerfully to the wall, keeping one hand over her mouth.She struggles until she sees who it is. JETSON I am here to take Harcourt. Where is he?She hesitates, then decides to cooperate, indicates with anod toward the office door. CASSANDRA In there. JETSON (pulling his gun) Show me.INT. CONFERENCE ROOM - NIGHTThe large suitcase rests on the expansive conferencetable. A manicured alien hand reaches in and slowly opensit. Inside are fifty one-kilo glass tubes full of theviscous blue drug. Also several of the small, individualdispensers. It is Harcourt, standing behind the table ina pool of light, who has opened the suitcase. He isflanked by Kipling... with Quint elsewhere in the room.The room is lit by track light, creating pools of lightand dark.The two alien Dealers' eyes widen at the sight of thedrug. The human dealer doesn't know what it is. HARCOURT (to alien dealers) It's been a long time, hasn't it, gentlemen? HUMAN DEALER What is it? HARCOURT A sweet indulgence from out past... resurrected for our future.Harcourt sees the hungering expressions on the alienDealers' faces... smiles knowingly. He slides one of thedispensers from the suitcase. HARCOURT (continuing; to alien dealers) Please feel free to sample the quality. The experience will be everything you remember it to be...One of the alien Dealers takes the dispenser, brings it tohis tongue. The other alien dealer turns to Harcourt-- ALIEN DEALER Where'd you get it? HARCOURT I arranged to spend some time with three very resourceful men. With a certain amount of coaxing, one of them was able to reconstitute the formula for me. (beat) They worked very well together. Unfortunately, they are no longer with us... but I was fortunate enough to reap the benefit of their endeavor.He indicates the drug. The first alien Dealer swaysgently, enjoying the sensation. The second alien Dealertakes his hit... shudders as the first rush washes overhim. The human Dealer is no fool... he grabs thedispenser. HUMAN DEALER Let me try some. (he does, immediately spits it out) Jesus! Tastes like detergent! HARCOURT And that's all the effect it will have on you. But when my fellow Newcomers learn they can obtain it here, they will work very hard... to make as much money as they can... to give it to me.Suddenly, a voice from the shadows near the open door tothe other office: VOICE You haven't told him all of it.Harcourt and the others react. Quint leaps to his feet,caught off guard. Kipling reaches for his shoulderholster. A silhouette beside the open door to the outeroffice nudges Cassandra into the light of the room, thensteps out himself. It is Jetson.Quint gets his gun out, is about to aim... when his eyesgo wide at the sight of something Jetson holds.It is the plastic explosive charge that Quint was wiringto the slug-mobile. The wires are connected and Jetson'sfinger squeezes down hard on the detonation push-switch. QUINT He's got the C-4 charge!Jetson moves forward slowly, holding the bomb in front ofhim. He is sweating rivers. The others quickly join him.He nudges Cassandra ahead of himself, keeping her where hecan see her. QUINT (continuing) Just take it real casual, buddy. Keep your finger on that button and don't do nothing squirrely. HARCOURT If you release that button, you not only kill us, but yourself. JETSON To get you and that-- (indicates drug in suitcase) -- I would do it.He says it with such straightforward eye contact, thatHarcourt (and we) know he isn't bluffing. JETSON Everyone up against that wall. Very slowly. (to Harcourt) Except you.Harcourt remains behind the desk. Cassandra stays whereshe is, near Jetson. The others move to the wall.Kipling in particular is going nuts, letting this happen.Jetson takes the "sample" dispenser from the table, tossesit into the suitcase, then closes the lid and locks it.All the while keeping his eye on Harcourt and the others. HARCOURT One small matter seems to have escaped your attention. That-- (indicates suitcase) -- is not on any books as a controlled substance. Legally it might as well be fifty kilos of... grape jelly. JETSON The charge is murder... and conspiracy to commit murder. Hubley, Porter, Strader... probably others.There's a flicker of concern behind Harcourt's icy blueeyes.Cassandra stares at Harcourt. CASSANDRA You... you killed Strader?Cassandra runs to Harcourt grabbing his jacket. CASSANDRA Where's Todd?! Did you do something to Todd?!Harcourt looks down at her, totally uninvolved. HARCOURT Todd? Who is Todd. (then remembers; smiles) Ah, poor Mr. Watson.Cassandra's eyes go wide as the horror of what he saidsinks in. Jetson nudges Harcourt with the suitcase. Theystart out. Cassandra, wild with rage, grabs Quint's .357and with a KEENING WAIL, brings it up toward Harcourt'sface. JETSON NOOO!Jetson drops the suitcase as he lunges for the gun. Hemanages to knock it away just as she fires -- the bulletgoing into the wall behind Harcourt. Striking like amongoose, Kipling leaps forward, grabbing the two leadwires on the bomb in Jetson's hand and jerking them apart.Jetson reacts an instant late... releasing the switch...and nothing happens. KIPLING I got it!Kipling tackles Jetson and they both go crashing to thefloor. Quint grabs the gun from Cassandra and hammers herwith it, hard. She drops to her knees and Quint viciouslyhits her again.Meanwhile, Jetson struggles to regain his feet. Kiplingrears back and delivers a crushing blow under Jetson's arm-- to the nerve plexus. Jetson instantly folds overforward and Kipling savagely brings up his knee intoJetson's face, flipping him back. Kipling slams him intothe wall face-first, pinning him there. HARCOURT Kill them both. KIPLING Here? HARCOURT (raging) Do it!Quint brings the gun up, places the muzzle against thebase of Cassandra's skull, starts to squeeze the trigger.There's a loud BLAM! and Cassandra flinches... then looksup.Quint is blown backward away from her.Sykes stand in the doorway from the private office, theCasull smoking in his hand.Quint hits the wall behind him -- only it's not a solidwall, but the huge window overlooking the club. Hecrashes through it.ANGLE FROM DANCE FLOORas the wall of mirror explodes IN SLOW MOTION and Quintcartwheels to the floor in a shower of diamonds.ANGLE - IN THE OFFICEKipling shoves Jetson aside, draws his gun and fires atSykes.Sykes dodges into the private office for cover.The three Dealers dive behind any available furniture.Harcourt snatches up the suitcase and rushes to the doorleading into the adjoining outer office.Sykes swings around the edge of the private office door,straight-arms the Casull into the office and fires.Kipling fires back, crossing toward the outer office door,covering Harcourt's back. Sykes ducks back down.An unsteady Jetson rises from the floor, sees Harcourt andKipling escaping, and takes off after them.Sykes straight-arms the gun into the room again... seesJetson disappearing through the adjoining office door. Hemoves into the room as the three drug Dealers, arms up insurrender, rise from behind the furniture. ALIEN DEALER Don't shoot, man -- we're unarmed -- look!Sykes looks at these harmless wimps... then at Cassandra. SYKES You okay? CASSANDRA (dazed, but all right) Yeah...And he charges out the adjoining office door.EXT. FIRE ESCAPE - ENCOUNTERS - NIGHTHarcourt and Kipling bang down the metal stairs. Jetsonis ten feet above them. Sykes flies out onto the fireescape, a few steps behind Jetson. A POLICE CAR SIREN isHEARD arriving O.S.EXT. ALLEY - BEHIND ENCOUNTER - NIGHTTwo UNIFORMED OFFICERS bound from their unit and run intothe back entrance of the club, leaving the unit running.Two seconds later, Harcourt and Kipling leap down from thefire escape, find themselves near the unit. HARCOURT Here!He throws the suitcase into the passenger side door, jumpsin. Kipling dives in behind the wheel, slams it into gearand floors it.Jetson and Sykes hit the ground just as the unit peelsout. Sykes raises the Casull and fires at the fleeingcar. One slug shatters a tail light, others pepper therear of the trunk, but the car keeps going. JETSON This way!He indicates the slug-mobile parked nearby. They race toit, jump in... Sykes driving. He burns rubber as he pullsout.A second arriving police unit pulls into the alley,heading straight for the slug-mobile. Sykes has to gratebetween the alley wall and the arriving police unit to getpast.EXT. WEST SIDE STREET - NIGHTHarcourt and Kipling in the first police unit comethundering down the street zig-zagging through traffic.The slug-mobile is three-quarters of a block behind them.INSIDE THE BLACK-AND-WHITEHarcourt begins fumbling with the dash switches...eventually hitting the right ones and the roof lights andSIREN blast on.EXT. WEST SIDE STREET - NIGHTIt looks like a backwards chase, the slug-mobile chasingthe howling police car through traffic.Jetson alertly eyes the approaching traffic -- calls itout to Sykes the way he was trained at the academy. JETSON Slow traffic on your right... you're clear at the left rear... (Sykes changes lanes) Careful, red light ahead...With Jetson's help, Sykes is able to dice through thecross-traffic without incident.EXT. WEST SIDE STREET - NIGHTThe traffic ahead of the police car peels off in responseto the approaching lights and SIREN. Kipling dodgesaround the stopped traffic easily.The same traffic that has pulled over for the police carnow starts easing back onto the street, cutting off theslug-mobile.INT. SLUG-MOBILE - NIGHTSykes' expression tells us he's slipped into the samejuggernaut mode we saw during the foot chase in the alley. JETSON Yellow light ahead turning red...But Sykes doesn't slow -- instead he floors it. JETSON (continuing; wide- eyed) Red light! Red light!EXT. WEST SIDE STREET - NIGHTSykes peels around the merging traffic, cuts across theintersection, and continues the chase. On the wrong sideof the road, head-on into traffic.Headlights peel off in front of them as they charge alongthe wrong side. They eventually catch up to the policeunit, racing parallel to it, but with the divider betweenthem.Sykes keeps one hand on the wheel and draws the Casullwith the other. He brings it up and around right in frontof Jetson's nose, pointing it through the passenger windowat Kipling.At that moment, Kipling glances over and reacts to thebore of this huge gun staring him in the kisser.Jetson reacts to the gun in his face... then reacts tosomething else he sees beyond it. JETSON Green light, Matthew. (Sykes doesn't respond) Green light!Now Sykes looks. The light at the intersection has justturned green -- and the rows of the cars that were waitingstart coming. It's a wall of headlights coming right forthe slug-mobile. SYKES Shit! JETSON Ss-ai!EXT. WEST SIDE STREET - NIGHTSykes locks up the brakes. Kipling veers around a coupleof cars and speeds away.Because of the other traffic, Sykes has only one course ofaction. He skids a left onto a side street.EXT. SIDE STREET - NIGHTSykes burns rubber down this quieter street, squeals aright onto another street that parallels the street thepolice unit is on. At the first street available, he cutsback in behind the police unit.EXT. FIRST STREET OVERPASS - NIGHTSykes' car tears along below the overpass -- with thepolice unit directly above them! An on-ramp approachesfor the slug-mobile and Sykes floors it.INT. BLACK-AND-WHITE - NIGHTHarcourt turns in his seat just in time to see the slug-mobile airborne as it flies from the on-ramp, landing afew feet behind the black-and-white's bumper.EXT. FIRST STREET OVERPASS - NIGHTWith the slug-mobile now, the police unit hangs a right,cuts through a parking lot, and bounces onto--EXT. SECOND STREET AND TUNNEL - NIGHTThe police unit hangs a u-turn into the Second Streettunnel. It clips one of the civilian cars, causing apile-up of traffic behind the police unit.The slug-mobile skids to a stop, blocked by the clog oftraffic in the tunnel. Sykes is out of the drivers doorin a flash, stand on the door frame, and yells-- SYKES Move your goddamned cars!People climb out of their cars dazed and bewildered --ignoring Sykes. Sykes slides behind the wheel, bangs hisbumper into the car in front of him, and pushes the carfar enough forward to get around. He speeds off.INT./ EXT. BLACK-AND-WHITE - FREEWAY - NIGHTKipling rockets up a freeway on-ramp. Harcourt smileswith satisfaction -- there's no sign of the slug-mobilebehind them. Kipling eases off, blends into the flow oftraffic.EXT. FREEWAY - NIGHTSykes slaloms the slug-mobile through the civiliantraffic like Mario Andretti lapping the pack atIndianapolis.INT. SLUG-MOBILE - NIGHTJetson spots the police unit in the right hand lane ahead. JETSON There!Sykes sees it. Thinking fast, he eases off, using anothercar as a blind. He waits until the police unit isparallel to an off-ramp, then guns ahead and swings right,directly for the police unit.Kipling looks over, reacts, just as the slug-mobilebroadsides the police unit. Sykes forces the police unitup the off-ramp.EXT. INTERSECTION - NIGHTDoor handle to door handle, the two cars slue to theright. The police unit breaks out in front, but Sykesstays right on its ass. They charge up onto--EXT. VINCENT THOMAS BRIDGE - NIGHTThe police unit and slug-mobile -- bumper to bumper at 80MPH.INT. SLUG-MOBILE - NIGHTAs the cars scream along, Jetson cranes out the sidewindow, looking in distress at the inky seawater flashingpast below.EXT. VINCENT THOMAS BRIDGE - NIGHTThey reach the far end of the bridge and skid wide onto--EXT. HENRY FORD BOULEVARD - NIGHTA clear two lane straightaway near the ocean. Sykespushes the slug-mobile to its limits, pulls alongside thepolice unit. The two cars trade blows at 90+ MPH.Kipling manages to send Sykes onto the dirt shoulder,slowing him down.INT. BLACK-AND-WHITE - NIGHTKipling watches the slug-mobile in the rearview mirror,then looks back out the front to see the end of the roadcoming up fast! Harcourt bellows to Kipling, who slams onthe brakes.EXT. END OF BOULEVARD - NIGHTThe police unit skids to a stop before hitting a chainlink fence where the road ends. An abandoned drawbridgeand the ocean are on the other side of the fence.With nowhere else to go, Harcourt yells something atKipling and Kipling floors it back the way they came.EXT. HENRY FORD BOULEVARD - NIGHTThe two cars are racing for a full head-on. At the lastinstant, Sykes wrenches the wheel, throws the slug-mobilesideways, passenger side first. The police unit smashesinto the rear door and fender of the slug-mobile, bothcars skidding madly to a stop. A fire ignites under thehood of the police unit.INT. SLUG-MOBILE - NIGHTSykes sits stunned behind the wheel. Disoriented butconscious, he raises his head, looks over... sees Jetsonout cold, his forehead gashed and bleeding. Then he looksover and sees the fire growing under the police unit'shood which is crunched up against the rear of the slug-mobile -- near the gas tank.EXT. HENRY FORD BOULEVARD - NIGHTSykes slides out of the driver's door, stumbles toJetson's door, wrenches it open, and drags the hugeunconscious alien away from the cars.He's still dragging Jetson away when he spots Harcourtpulling himself through the smashed police unit window.Bruised and bleeding, Harcourt reaches in for thesuitcase, then starts to run with it.With Jetson a safe distance away from the cars, Sykesclambers to his feet, draws the Casull, and starts offafter Harcourt.Harcourt reaches the chain link fence leading to theclosed drawbridge. He heaves the suitcase over, thenstarts to climb.Sykes lumbers past the burning police unit. Kipling isstill behind the wheel, his head slumped forward. Sykesis just past the cars when they explode -- sending hoodsand door panels and glass flying in all directions.Harcourt, on the other side of the fence, grabs thesuitcase and limps off into the shadowy world of theabandoned drawbridge.Sykes reaches the fence. Instead of climbing, he simplyblows the lock to hell with the Casull, and kicks open thegate.EXT. ABANDONED DRAWBRIDGE - NIGHTThe end of the bridge is in the "up" position... a hugeasphalt slab stabbing up into the night sky. Harcourtruns along the pools of light and dark at the edge of thebridge, the black seawater drifting past beside him. Hisfoot slips once and he almost goes over the side.Sykes -- backlit by the burning cars, the big Casull aprominent part of the silhouette -- just keeps coming.Harcourt reaches the shadows at the end of the bridge --and has nowhere to go. He is backed into a corner, withseawater on two side of him. Harcourt pivots frantically,sees Sykes coming this way. Harcourt is a trapped animal.His chest heaves in panic. Then his gaze falls on thesuitcase behind him... and slowly... finally... a look ofresolve comes into his eye.ON SYKESHe eases cautiously toward the shadows where he knowsHarcourt is. There's some movement among the shadows, andSykes straight-arms the Casull, his finger white againstthe trigger.Perspiration drips into Sykes' eye, but he doesn't blink.A long moment then--ANGLE - THE SHADOWSHarcourt emerges from the darkness. His face is composed,the superior glint is back in his eye. His arms are heldaway from his sides at 30 degree angles, clearly insurrender.Sykes cat-steps forward slowly. Harcourt stares at Sykes'eyes, and the desire there that Harcourt will give him anexcuse. Harcourt simply... smiles. SYKES Move a finger, Harcourt, and you're history... HARCOURT No, Sergeant -- not history... (beat) Eternity...And now Sykes sees it -- Harcourt has been holding one ofthe one-kilo glass cylinders of the drug concealed behindhis arm. He brings it up over his head, grins at Sykes,then tilts back his head and cracks the cylinder open.The blue gel pours into his mouth and down his chin. Hismouth fills.He looks back at Sykes, making eye contact... his eyesmad, defiant. And -- he swallows. Long hold -- then thewallop of the overdose hits him... his face contorts inagony as he begins to convulse. Sykes, wide-eyed, lowersthe Casull and watches as Harcourt drops to the ground andgoes into a massive violent seizure. His limbs hammeragainst the deck... his back arches fiercely. It is abrutal, agonizing ten seconds. Then, finally, his bodybecomes still.Sykes, stunned at what he's just witnessed slowly goes tohim and takes his pulse the way he saw Jetson do it.HIGH ANGLE SHOT - THE ENTIRE AREASykes stands. He notices the suitcase nearby, latches it,and hefts it. He carries it with him back toward theinferno of the wrecked cars, the Casull hanging heavy andcold in his hand.ANGLE FOLLOWING SYKESHe approaches the burning cars, heading for Jetson. As hepasses the burning cars, we have a half-second to registerthat the driver's door of the police unit is now openbefore---- a dark figure hurtles at Sykes' back from O.S.! Sykesis thrown forward. The suitcase crashes to the ground,and the Casull goes skittering off. Sykes looks up -- tobe met by the singed and bleeding nightmare visage ofKipling! Kipling reaches down for the suitcase then Sykeshears it -- the telltale CLINKING SOUND. He looks -- andsees the exotic silver bracelet on Kipling's wrist. Itconnects for him; this is the bandana alien -- the one whokilled Bill Tuggle!Kipling brings the suitcase above his head. He is a half-second from hurling it down on Sykes' skull when -- a GUNROARS. Kipling is thrown back by the chest wound. Sykeslooks.ANGLEJetson, half sitting up, holds the smoking Casull.Kipling recovers enough to come at Sykes again with thesuitcase again. Jetson, shaking but determined, firesagain, and again, and again.Kipling is driven backward by the fusillade, the suitcasestill over his head... until he is blasted at last andforever, suitcase and all, into the molten core of theinferno.Sykes rises, makes his way to Jetson's side. Jetson haslet the weight of the gun carry his hand to the ground.Sykes kneels beside him, gently taking the gun from thealien's hand. The two partners remain like this, bathedin the orange flickering glow of the fire.HIGH WIDE SHOTof the drawbridge, the debris, the carnage, and our twocops... DISSOLVE TO:EXT. HENRY FORD BOULEVARD - NIGHTThe police mop-up is winding down. Cop cars, coroner'swagons, fire trucks. We MOVE through it all to find Sykesand Jetson seated on the curb, away from the railing. JETSON With Harcourt and Kipling dead, I assume you will be requesting reassignment now. SYKES (cool) It'd be for your own good. I think you'd be better off with a partner who's a little more... by the book. (smiles) ... Still, I gotta tell you, George, for a quiet guy, you're sure hell on wheels once you get going. I'd kinda hate to miss your next two days as a detective.Jetson smiles. He glances up as they are bathed in redand blue light. A patrol car has pulled up next to them.Inside is Wiltey, a uniformed cop. WILTEY I'll give you guys a lift to the station. They're waiting to take your statements on the shootings. SYKES (to Jetson) Let's go, partner. (then casually correcting Wiltey as he rises) And it's shooting. Singular. WILTEY They said two. SYKES Nope. I didn't shoot Harcourt... he o.d.'d.SHOCK CUT - JETSONWe rapidly PUSH IN ON HIM as his head snaps around towardSykes. His expression tells us his blood has just turnedto ice. CUT TO:INT. CORONER'S WAGON - NIGHTANGLE FORWARD, shooting from the rear of the wagon, towardthe DRIVER and ATTENDANT up front. DRIVER So it's just me and her left in the hot tub, right? ATTENDANT You and the blonde? DRIVER No, man, the redhead. The blonde's gone in the house with some other guy. But a few minutes later she comes back out, alone, when me and the redhead are going at it fast and furious in the tub, ya know... and she sees us, and... she climbs right in with us... ATTENDANT You're full of shit! DRIVER I swear it! If I'm lyin', I'm dyin'...And, without warning, A LARGE INHUMAN HAND FLIES UP INF.G., having ripped through the sealed body bag just belowFRAME. CUT TO:INT. SQUAD CAR - NIGHTJetson is up front with Wiltey; Sykes sits in the back,though he is on the edge of the seat, leaning forwardtoward the front. Jetson is intently, nervously scanningahead and to both sides. JETSON You are certain this is the route they would have taken? WILTEY I'm not positive -- but probably. SYKES (warily) What's this about, George? I know that look. JETSON (spots something out a side window) There! Go back. Down that side street.Wiltey brakes, backs up, then turns into the side street.ANGLE THROUGH WINDSHIELDas they approach an eerie scene. The coroner's wagon isstopped at an angle in the middle of the intersection,headlights and roof lights cutting into the night, theback doors wide open. A patrol car is also here, on theother side of the wagon. There is no movement anywherenear the two vehicles.Wiltey pulls the car up, his eyes like saucers at theeerie scene. He reaches for the radio hand mike. Jetsonquickly covers it with a large hand. JETSON No! (both Sykes and Wiltey look at him) We must do this alone. SYKES Do what?! George-- ?!Jetson is already sliding out of the car.EXT. STREET NEAR DOCKS - NIGHTJetson, Sykes, and Wiltey move warily forward, their gunsdrawn. They reach the van and Sykes takes Wiltey'sflashlight, shines it through the open back doors. Thedoors are bent outward, smashed half off their hinges.One of the body bags is ripped open, literally split fromend to end. The blue and red lightbar on the other patrolcar can be seen through the wagon's front windshield.Jetson starts around the wagon toward the patrol car,Sykes and Wiltey follow. Lights all ablaze, it too isabandoned. One door has been wrenched off its hinges andlays in the street, and the front windshield is smashed.Our three cops approach the car, then Wiltey spotssomething beyond the unit. WILTEY Oh, God...Sykes and Jetson look.The bodies of the coroner wagon Driver and Attendant, aswell as the two OFFICERS from the patrol car, are crushedand beaten and stretched out on the asphalt. Their armsare twisted as though by a mad force -- each pointing downthe street toward the dock warehouses ahead. Wilteystumbles away, backward. WILTEY I'm calling for back up, now. JETSON Wiltey, no.But Wiltey is going. Jetson starts after him... but Sykesgrabs his arm, hard, and spins him. SYKES What is this?! JETSON (low) ... It's Harcourt. SYKES Harcourt is dead. JETSON No he's not. Not if he overdosed on the drug. (searches for the words) Massive amounts trigger a... a change. Your body functions seize up, you appear to be dead, but it's really a state of incubation. When you emerge you're... SYKES (looks at the four bodies sprawled before him) Tell me about it... CUT TO:EXT. STREET NEAR DOCKS - NIGHTOne minute later. OPEN CLOSE on a light shining intoCAMERA, then WIDEN to reveal it is one of the door-mountedspotlights on Wiltey's patrol car. Wiltey eases the cardown the center of the street. Sykes and Jetson, gunsready, walk slowly along on either side of the car... eyeseverywhere.MOVING POVas they move past the shadowy dock warehouses... watchingfor any signs of movement.BACK TO SCENESykes and Jetson converse across the hood of the car asthey walk. Their eyes everywhere. SYKES I never thought I'd say this, but -- for once in my life I think I'm willing to wait for back-up. JETSON We can't let him get away. SYKES Why the hell are you so dead set against back-up? JETSON (a difficult admission) Because... because of what will happen if humans see what we are capable of becoming. SYKES But there's no more drug. JETSON You understand that. But how many others will?Sykes looks across at Jetson's troubled expression.Just then, Wiltey spots a flit of movement cutting acrosshis headlight beams fifty yards ahead. Whatever it was,was large and fast. It darted into an open warehousedoor. WILTEY There he is!And Wiltey floors it. Sykes and Jetson watch, unable tostop him. JETSON Wiltey!He and Sykes take off running. Wiltey skids to the left,rockets in through the open warehouse door, out of sight.Sykes and Jetson pour it on. They hear a SCREECH OFBRAKES. They reach the warehouse door and race through.INT. WAREHOUSE - NIGHTLOW ANGLE, SHOOTING ACROSS the underside of Wiltey'sstopped patrol car as Sykes' and Jetson's feet appeararound the corner of the warehouse door. The car is stillrunning -- the exhaust pipe still RUMBLING and expellingfumes. The feet slow... then cautiously start around thecar. We PAN with them as they move around the side of thecar. A dark liquid begins dripping in EXTREME F.G. WeMOVE UP, to a CLOSE UP of the car bumper. The dark liquidis blood, dripping deep red on the shiny chrome. We MOVEUP farther, and---- there is Wiltey's severed head. IN CLOSE UP, restingon the hood of the patrol car.Sykes and Jetson stop dead at the sight. Wiltey's bodylies in a heap on the floor near the car. They bothstare, then Sykes looks around the shadowy interior of thewarehouse, his expression saying: what the hell could havedone this so fast?THEIR POVThere are two paths to go. Both dark and scary as hell.The sound of a distant FOG HORN blends with the CREAKS andDRIPS of this waterfront building.ANGLE - SYKES AND JETSONJetson reaches into the patrol car and pulls the shotgunfrom the dash mount. He checks the chamber as Sykeschecks the Casull.They exchange a knowing look... then wordlessly, theysplit up. Sykes takes the path to the left, Jetson to theright.WITH JETSONAs he moves into a dark area. He slowly picks his wayalong a long wall, having to step over all sorts of pileddebris, heading toward us. We PAN slightly to the left toHOLD a door in CLOSE UP. The door, already ajar, easesopen slightly wider. Jetson hears this. He reaches thedoor, sets himself, then spins and kicks the door open allthe way. There's nothing inside... now.Jetson looks up, sees movement in the distance. It isSykes, quite far away, in another section of thewarehouse. Sykes leaves Jetson's field of view.INT. WAREHOUSE - GUARD'S AREA - NIGHTSykes walks around a corner -- freezes, and cocks his headas he hears VOICES -- followed, curiously, by LAUGHTER.He eases forward, peers around a bend, and sees -- a tableand a chair. On the table is a mini-television, tuned tosome local late night talk show. There's a thermos, asteaming cup of coffee, and a Twinkie with a single biteout of it beside the TV. The chair is empty, except for ajacket slung across the back, the word SECURITY stitchedon the breast. The guard is nowhere in sight.Sykes moves toward the table, taking in this eerie sight.He looks around, then continues on.INT. WAREHOUSE - APPROACHING STAIRS - NIGHTJetson moves among the dark nooks and crannies, comes to aset of stairs leading to an upper floor. The top of thestairs is pitch black. Jetson adjusts his grip on theshotgun, slowly starts up the stairs.INT. WAREHOUSE - AT FISH NETS - NIGHTSykes comes to rack upon rack of drying fish nets, hangingfrom the ceiling. He has no alternate route -- he beginspushing through them.SYKES' POV - MOVING THROUGH FISH NETSBecause of the dimness, he can't see much beyond each rackof nets immediately before him. He keeps wading through-- it's like a house of mirrors, he can't tell now muchfarther he has to go to get out of the nets, and thedeeper in he gets, the harder it would be to go back theway he came. He pushes past one particular rack of netsand looming out of the darkness ahead of him is---- a terrifying face!ON SYKESHe stumbles back, gets tangled in the nets, brings up theCasull, is about to fire when... he sees what the face is.It's the maiden's figurehead from the bow of an old ship.The wood is worm-eaten and decayed, creating a hideousvisage. Sykes stands there a moment, trying to jump-starthis heart again.INT. SECOND FLOOR LANDING - NIGHTJetson moves along the rickety planks. He comes to adoor. He eases it open, enters.INT. SECOND FLOOR ROOM - NIGHTJetson moves into the shadowy confines. He hears anincessant drip from a sink faucet in the corner. He movesto it. Turns the spigot, stopping the drip. Other dripsare HEARD from a dozen other hidden recesses all aroundhim. He glances up at the filthy mirror attached to thewall above the sink. Suddenly he sees the movement ofsomething behind him. He spins with the shotgun. A hugeshadow moves along the wall. He pivots the shotgun again-- toward the source of the shadow.It's a length of black tarp, torn and flapping from theceiling. Jetson lets out a deep breath.INT. STORAGE ROOM - NIGHTANGLE down a short passageway to an intersecting hallway.A strand of something hangs in FRAME in OUT OF FOCUS F.G.It makes an indistinct, rhythmic CLINKING SOUND. Sykesmoves along the intersecting hallway. The CLINKING SOUNDcatches his attention. He stops, listens, then startsdown the passageway, toward us.He comes forward into the storage room, having to get veryclose to the strand of something before he sees what itis. It's a double strand of chain, CLINKING gentlyagainst itself. Sykes reaches out, steadies the chain,silencing it. He considers. It could've been a naturaloccurrence... or something could have brushed against it,setting it in motion. He tightens his grip on the Casull,backing away from the chain. He senses something behindhim and spins. Nothing there. He relaxes. However--Behind him now, in SOFT FOCUS, we glimpse movement at theother end of the short passageway. It is a figure, movingslowly forward down the passageway, back-lit by thehallway light behind it, its shadow filling the passagewayas it approaches Sykes. It stops, inside the room now,directly behind Sykes. Close enough to reach out andtouch him. It is an alien silhouette, but larger, morepowerful.Suddenly, Sykes senses something is there. He turns,slowly, and--SHOCK CUT - HARCOURTas he steps from the shadows -- just like he did the lasttime Sykes saw him on the abandoned drawbridge. Only thistime it is a horribly transformed Harcourt. His eyes arered-rimmed and piggish. His head is lumpen, his skinthick and hard. His neck muscles are corded -- giving hima kind of hellish cobra's cowl. There is stillintelligence behind the eyes -- but it is a feralintelligence now. HARCOURT (his voice a guttural rumble) Looking for me, Sergeant?Sykes stumbles back several steps, wildly brings up theCasull, and fires. The powerful Casull round catchesHarcourt in the shoulder, jerking him back.EXT. WORK SHED AREA - NIGHTJetson, in another area of the docks, hears the echoingblast of the Casull. He gauges as best he can thedirection it came from and takes off running.INT. STORAGE ROOM - NIGHTHarcourt recovers from the jolt of the bullet impact. Thecloth of his disheveled shirt is shredded and powder-burned, but the bullet couldn't pierce his plated skin.Harcourt smiles with grotesquely altered teeth, startstoward Sykes.Scared shitless, Sykes rapid-fires. One of his shotsmisses, shattering a crate beside Harcourt's head. Theremaining shots strike Harcourt full on. Harcourt isjerked by the impact of the bullets each time, SNARLING inanger -- but none of the hits stop him. The Casull isempty and Harcourt keeps coming.Sykes stumbles back, but Harcourt is on him in a flash.Harcourt grabs Sykes' arm holding the gun, yanks hard. WeHEAR the POP as the shoulder dislocates. Sykes HOLLERS,and the gun jumps out of his hand.INT. WAREHOUSE - GUARD'S AREA - NIGHTJetson races in, shotgun ready. The last of Sykes' shotsare still ECHOING. Jetson looks around, frustrated,unable to tell exactly where they are coming from. Hesees the likely path and charges that way.EXT. DOCK - AT STAIRS - NIGHTOn the CUT, Sykes' body is already tumbling down theserickety stairs attached to the side of the warehouse,having been thrown ruthlessly from above. As Sykes' bodysprawls on the dock, the massive figure of Harcourtappears at the top of the stairs.Sykes, scraped and bruised, struggles to his feet.Harcourt moves down the stairs, then vaults over therailing the last fifteen feet. Harcourt lurches forwardand, with a taloned grip on Sykes' shoulders, propels himdown the docks.EXT. STREET NEAR DOCKS - NIGHTThe first two arriving black-and-whites skid to stops atthe coroner's wagon. The Officers leap out, flaggingother arriving units to continue on toward the warehouses.EXT. DOCKS - NIGHTSykes is on his feet, but his knees buckle, and he almostcollapses again. Harcourt comes at him. Then Sykes seesit---- a fishing boat chugging along past the end of one ofthe jetties. Sykes makes a break for it.EXT. WAREHOUSE - AT STAIRS - NIGHTJetson charges out at the top of the rickety stairs,frantically scanning for any sign of Sykes. Then, in thedistance, he spots the two figures running along the jetty-- Sykes being chased by the re-formed Harcourt. Jetsongives the water surrounding the docks an apprehensivelook, then gathers up his courage, and races down thestairs to help Sykes.EXT. JETTY - NIGHTSykes lumbers along the narrow jetty. The fishing boat isalready passing the end of the jetty. Harcourt is fastbehind Sykes as he reaches the end of the jetty and vaultsoff toward the stern of the boat -- landing on the fishingnet piled on the rear deck. He yells in pain as his ankletwists under his weight.EXT. FISHING BOAT - NIGHTSykes lies there, holding his arm, breathing hard,relieved that he has escaped.EXT. JETTY - NIGHTHarcourt can't reach the boat from the same jetty Sykesdid, so he jumps on a platform beside this jetty, thenonto a second jetty. And from here, he vaults across theseawater onto the boat.EXT. FISHING BOAT - NIGHTSykes sees the phantom figure land on the boat near thecabin. The fishing boat chugs up the channel toward theopen sea.EXT. DOCKS - NIGHTJetson sees this and is shitting bricks. Suddenly thestark BEAM of a police helicopter sun-gun stabs down fromabove. Jetson looks up to see the chopper coming in low,the sun-gun washing over the docks.INT. HELICOPTER - NIGHTThe sun-gun hits Jetson standing on the dock, franticallywaving his badge at the 'copter, signaling it down. ThePilot starts to take it down.EXT. FISHING BOAT - NIGHTSykes is on all fours, clawing his way up the fishing nettoward the back of the boat. Harcourt gets one hand onhis leg. Sykes jerks his leg away, and Harcourt's clawsdig deep through Sykes' pants into his legs as he pullsaway. Sykes BELLOWS in pain.INT. HELICOPTER - NIGHTJetson is barely in the seat as it lifts away from thedock. He has to catch himself from falling out the opendoor. Below, uniformed cops are now seen rushing out ontothe dock. JETSON On that boat -- out there!Jetson indicates the fishing boat headed toward the mouthof the channel. The helicopter tilts forward and goes.EXT. FISHING BOAT - NIGHTSykes manages to pull himself up into the dinghy hangingover the stern of the fishing boat. He pushes to the backof the dinghy as Harcourt's savage visage appears at thebow. Harcourt grins -- the predator with his preytrapped.INT. HELICOPTER - NIGHTJetson's face is bathed in sweat as he looks out at thechannel water racing past beneath. They come up on theboat and the Pilot plays the sun-gun onto the deck,looking for movement, finally pinning Sykes and Harcourtat the stern dinghy.EXT. BRIDGE OF FISHING BOAT - NIGHTThe Captain reacts to the helicopter overhead, looks backat what the sun-gun spotlights. He sees Harcourt standingat the bow of the dinghy, starting to clamber in. CAPTAIN Hey!EXT. FISHING BOAT - NIGHTHarcourt turns, sees the Captain on the bridge above him.He reaches for a wood-handled gaff nearby. He rears backwith it and lets it fly like a spear.EXT. BRIDGE OF FISHING BOAT - NIGHTThe gaff impales the Captain, off-center in his chest.The Captain, his face frozen in shock, is thrown backagainst the throttle. The boat lunges forward as theengines REV loudly.EXT. FISHING BOAT - NIGHTHarcourt is thrown into the dinghy with Sykes. AsHarcourt recovers, Sykes spots the release for the tieline on the dinghy. He lunges forward, throwing theratchet. The line plays out, and the dinghy slidesbackward into water!INT. HELICOPTER - NIGHTJetson watches this happen.EXT. DINGHY - NIGHTThe dinghy bangs along (at the end of the ten foot tieline) in the wake of the speeding fishing boat.Harcourt claws his way toward Sykes. Water is alreadysplashing in over the stern transom... the dinghy issinking. Harcourt grabs Sykes' leg and pulls him towardhim. Sykes holds on to the stern cleats with all hismight. Harcourt yanks him free. Sykes kicks wildly atthe ratchet release, trying to free the remainder of theline. Harcourt is coming in for the kill when---- Sykes' foot connects with the ratchet lever. The restof the tie line snakes through the ratchet, freeing thedinghy from the fishing boat!The dinghy is rocking wildly, sinking fast. A wave fromthe fishing boat's wake splashes in over the side. Someof it hits Harcourt -- he HOWLS and falls away. Sykessees this, tries to clamber over the side, but Harcourt ison him again. Sykes' body weight at the side of thedinghy coupled with the rocking motion cause more water towash in over the transom.INT. HELICOPTER - NIGHTJetson reacts to Sykes and Harcourt battling in the dinghybelow.EXT. DINGHY - NIGHTHarcourt, who is getting more and more wet, HOWLS inagony, thick blood beginning to bead wherever the watertouches. Sykes is taking one hell of a beating. Harcourtsweeps Sykes up in a bear hug, is about to crush his ribcage, when Sykes shifts his body weight, knocking Harcourtoff balance. Harcourt wobbles, fear on his face for thefirst time -- then he finally loses it, and the two ofthem tumble overboard into the water, capsizing thedinghy.EXT. WATER - NIGHTSykes breaks the surface, gasping for air, franticallyclawing with his one good arm at the wedge of dinghy stillabove the water. Suddenly, behind him, Harcourt'spartially melted form erupts from the water, lunges on topof Sykes, and drags him under.INT. HELICOPTER - NIGHTJetson hangs in the open door, watching in horror, wantingto help, knowing he can't.EXT. WATER - NIGHTSykes breaks the surface, Harcourt's misshapen lump of abody unmoving but still on top of him. Sykes shoves itaway, struggling to stay afloat. His head keeps dunkingunder. He's drowning.INT. HELICOPTER - NIGHTJetson screws up his courage and turns to the Pilot. JETSON Take it down! Take it down!EXT. WATER AND HELICOPTER - NIGHTThe helicopter moves down toward the turbulent water.Jetson hangs in the doorway, watching Sykes' head dunkingunder again. The helicopter's skids are three feet abovethe water. JETSON (to Pilot) ALL THE WAY! PILOT I CAN'T IT'LL DITCH!Sykes' outreached hand stretches up from the water, butthe skid is just too high. Jetson has no alternative, andhe does the bravest thing he has ever done. He moves outonto the narrow helicopter skid. Hanging on, three feetabove the water, he reaches down for Sykes' up reachinghand.The fingertips of the two hands waver mere inches fromeach other... Jetson stretches farther, farther... and thetwo hands meet! Jetson winces from the pain of theseawater on Sykes' hand. He starts pulling Sykes up.When--HARCOURT'S HEAD BREAKS THE SURFACE A FOOT FROM SYKES'FACE. His eye sockets are empty and his skin is mostlygone. The nearly skeletal body heaves blindly onto Sykes,breaking his grip from Jetson's, and dragging him underagain.Jetson is frantic. He keeps waiting -- but this timeSykes doesn't come up. Jetson doesn't know what to do.Finally -- he leans down as far as he can, his face a footfrom the water, SCREAMS to block the pain, and plunges hisown arm below the surface! He feels around, gets hold ofsomething, and pulls. It is Sykes' wrist. He pulls hard,bringing the sputtering Sykes up out of the water. JETSON (to Pilot) Take it up!The Pilot does. Sykes comes up out of the water. Hisfeet are just clear of the surface when -- Harcourt's handand arm rocket out of the water, grabbing Sykes' ankle.Sykes looks down in horror. The helicopter keeps movingup, and before Harcourt's body breaks the surface, the armtears away from the torso at the shoulder. Sykes wildlyshakes the clinging severed arm from his ankle, and itfalls back into the water below.Jetson continues pulling him up into the helicopter as itmoves off toward shore.INT. HELICOPTER - NIGHTSykes plops on the floor, soaked, battered, holding hislimp arm. Jetson is quickly whipping off his jacket,wrapping the dry part around his own arm, wincing in pain.The Pilot stare down at the circle of water where theyjust pulled Sykes from. PILOT What the hell was that down there? It was weird.Jetson looks at Sykes, wondering if he will say. Sykeslooks at Jetson a long moment, then-- SYKES Looked like every other damn slag to me. Just plain ugly.Despite the pain, Jetson smiles. LONG DISSOLVE TO:INT. CHURCH ANTEROOM - DAYWe are CLOSE on Sykes, who is having a hell of a time,trying to tie a tuxedo tie with one arm in a sling. APAIR OF ALIEN ARMS reach into FRAME to help him. One ofthe alien arms is also in a sling.ANGLE WIDENS to reveal the alien is Jetson. Both men weartuxedos. SYKES How do I look? JETSON You look very good.There's a knock at the door. Sykes opens it. Therestands Sykes' daughter, KRISTIN, twenty years old, lookingradiant in her wedding dress. She is in a foyer, andbehind her is the interior of the church with all theassembled guests, including Mrs. Jetson & son. KRISTIN Ready, Daddy...?Sykes' heart melts. Before moving to the door: SYKES George, uh... I want to apologize now, in advance, for all the rotten things I'll ever say or do to you over the years.Sykes moves to join his daughter. As he does: JETSON That is all right, Matthew. After all, you are only human.Sykes, caught off guard, has to laugh. SYKES (under his breath) What a wildman...Sykes takes his daughter's arm and the two of them startdown the aisle. FADE OUT. THE END
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+Aliens vs. PredatorDark Horse Prod. PresentsALIENSVs.PREDATORScreenplay by Peter BriggsEXT.  DEEP SPACEWe OPEN on TOTAL BLACKNESS, a sea of stars spread across the infinite depths of space.  As the TITLES ROLL, we notice that three of these specks seem to be moving; one of them picking up acceleration and racing toward us.  Our perspective changes, and we catch a quick glimpse as it HURTLES past, and into the gravitational pull of a large brownish planet.  Kicking up SPARKS of FRICTION as it hits atmosphere.  It seems to be manmade.  Or at least artificial.EXT.  PLANET SURFACE - DAYThe planet is dead, barren.  Death Valley on a grand scale.  We watch the object plummet through the wispy cloud-cover, emitting a few last burning embers before falling to ground way-off in the distance.  A BOOMING ECHO resonates across the dusty plains, before settling back into an eerie silence.EXT.  FISSURE CANYON - DAYWe're looking into a deep gorge, dark and sinister.  A howling wind whips dust into a sandstorm, reducing visibility to almost zero.  About seventy feet down there's a hole in the rock-face that just might be a cave entrance, and near is a peculiar SHIMMERING in the air.  We hear a mechanical BEEPING and the SHIMMERING disappears, replaced by FIVE humanoid SHAPES clinging to the sheer rock - each well over seven feet tall.  They are PREDATORS, a race of intergalactic big-game hunters on permanent safari; their clothing and weaponry a bizarre mix of aborigine and ultra-hi-tech.  In their hands are circular metal discs; 'smart weapons' which cut into the stone and give them purchase.PREDATOR-VISION.  From their P.O.V., we see the fissure reduced to THERMAL HEAT SOURCES.  The entrance registers as a black gaping void.INT.  FISSURE NEST TUNNELThe five hunters climb inside the rim of the tunnel, out of the wind's banshee wailing.  The lead PREDATOR reaches up to his headgear, pulling at the coupling pipes connecting it to a hidden breathing-apparatus.  He removes the helmet, clips it to his rear utility pack, and takes a deep breath of the air.  A curious speckled pattern runs across his wide forehead, marking him different to the others; in addition, one of the fangs of his mandibles has been sheared away.  We'll call him BROKEN TUSK, he's the leader of the hunting party.  He reaches out a hand to caress the wall of the tunnel.Several feet in from the rim, it changes from rock to a textured biomechanical surface; a swirling mass of disturbing shapes.  He hurries forward in response to the GURGLING-HISS of one of his team who has found something.The other PREDATOR holds a telescopic spear up for scrutiny.  Skewered on the end is a shriveled FORM with eight spindly legs and a segmented tail; it's a FACEHUGGER, the first stage of the deadly ALIEN lifeform.  BROKEN TUSK HISSES a caution to his party; they respond by pulling spears and elaborately-shaped swords.  Several shoulder-mounted plasma cannons slide up to firing position, tracking with their owners' helmets.  Thus armed, they move cautiously ahead...taking no chances.  One helmeted PREDATOR pauses, scanning the area.PREDATOR-VISION.  He switches through a variety of different views; infra-red, ultra-violet, enhanced motion-tracking.  Nothing.He's so pre-occupied with this task, he totally fails to notice the skeletal ALIEN loom up behind him, emerging from the biomechanical growth on the floor.  A barbed tail skewers the PREDATOR straight through the neck, splashing luminous blood across his chestplate.  A gargled DEATH-RATTLE issues from his throat, the band of PREDATORS spinning around in time to see him being dragged below the ground.  The band of extraterrestrial hunters have no time to come to his aid; they themselves are set upon by a half-dozen ALIEN WARRIORS.  The carnage is swift and terrifying, a blur of motion.Steel blades and serrated biomechanical limbs scythe the air, alive with the CRIES and HISSES of both adversaries.  One PREDATOR is pinned against the tunnel wall, his spear out of range.  The ALIEN claws away his face mask, and he finds himself dodging the ALIEN's toothed tongue, extended toward him with pile-driver speed.  He reaches down, grasping the 'smart-weapon' hanging from his belt and brings it up in an arc that terminates at the ALIEN's grinning face.  Big mistake.  The two are in such close proximity that the ALIEN's acidic blood sprays across the PREDATOR's head.  While their technology seems to be resistant to it, their bodies aren't:  the viscous yellow liquid begins burning into the PREDATOR's skin.  He kicks the skeletal corpse away with a HIDEOUS PIERCING SCREAM, clawing at his seared face. It all seems to be over as quickly as it began; there can be no question as to who were the victors.  The PREDATORS stand amidst a sea of biomechanical limbs strewn around like a charnel house.  As his companions begin to carefully decapitate the ALIEN skulls, BROKEN TUSK steps over the corpses to examine his fallen comrades.  The first PREDATOR to be attacked was killed instantly; he crosses to the other.  What he finds causes him to react withpity and disgust.  His fallen comrade is only just alive; mandibles clicking frailly, half his head burnt away.  BROKEN TUSK watches the ailing PREDATOR slide a steel blade from it's sheath and offer it to him.  He takes it, knowing what has to be done.  Rolling the knife quickly over the back of his hand - the sort of elaborate trick seasoned Green Berets perform - he plunges it downward into the fallen hunter.  This unpleasant task accomplished,BROKEN TUSK straightens up and activates his wrist-computer.  A dark shape blots out the light coming from the entrance; a small PREDATOR shuttlecraft, sleek and elegant.  It hovers in the air with little more than a loud HUM, and extends a ramp.  The surviving PREDATORS leap aboard, carrying their trophies with the reserved silence of men returning from combat.One more thing need to be done.  BROKEN TUSK bends down and flips a sequence of keys on the dead PREDATOR's wrist.  A countdown is displayed in some unknown character-set, accompanied by a HIGH PITCHED BEEPING.  He then turns and swiftly boards the craft which takes smoothly to the air, it's undergear retracting.EXT.  PLANET SURFACE - DAYA white-hot fireball erupts out of the fissure, the result of the PREDATOR's suicide-destruct mechanism.  The shuttlecraft pulls quickly away, disappearing into the clouds.EXT.  SPACEA large spacecraft is suspended in orbit around the planet; the PREDATOR Mothership.  The shuttle heads swiftly towards it. INT.  PREDATOR MOTHERSHIP - DOCKING BAYAn airlock RUMBLES open and the PREDATORS file NOISILY into the Mothership's docking bay.  An OLD PREDATOR crouched against a strut takes time out from carving something into a block of wood to briefly look up at them.  Like the PREDATORS themselves, the ship is a curious mixture of old and new.  An elaborate frieze written in alien script runs around the wall, with racks of sophisticated equipment recessed into it.  Hatches lead off to various parts of the ship; we see BROKEN TUSK carry his ALIEN head off down one of them. INT.  PREDATOR MOTHERSHIP - VIEWING GALLERYThe gallery seems to be more mechanical than the rest of the ship.  BROKEN TUSK enters, pausing next to a kind of readout device:  a cylindrical tube containing a substance similar to mercury which constantly changes it's mass into shapes and alien text.  He peers over the protective railing. WHAT HE SEES is magnificent:  a captive QUEEN ALIEN, the nucleus of the ALIEN society, fed by giant intravenous pipes.  Each of it's limbs is tethered by straining clamps preventing any movement.  To the rear, it's giant egg-sac glows and throbs, suspended by a jury-rigged sling.  A SCANNING MECHANISM hangs above the EGGS the QUEEN lays, seemingly defying gravity.  As each EGG is scanned by a blue triangular beam - similar to a PREDATOR gun-sight - it becomes translucent, giving us a view of the pulsing FACEHUGGER inside.  This done, a manipulator are carefully loads several eggs onto a pallet, which then sinks into a hatchway in the floor.  It's an assembly-line of almost frightening mechanical efficiency.EXT.  SPACEWe see a pod ejected from the Mothership, rocketing away from the planet into deep space.  The inference is obvious; the PREDATORS are seeding worlds with ALIENS to hunt.INT.  PREDATOR MOTHERSHIP - VIEWING GALLERYThe blue beam slides across one of the eggs, and suddenly changes to red, BEEPING rapidly.  BROKEN TUSK sees the flowing display-tank alter from a rotating simulation of an ALIEN WARRIOR skull to a representation of a QUEEN's head.  The manipulator arm swiftly grasps the EGG in question and moves it over to a protrusion on the floor.  The causes the QUEEN to goberserk, straining at her bonds and SHRIEKING ferociously.  She's obviously been through this before and knows what's about to happen.  The protrusionsplits open, spilling out an intense white light:  an energy-filled blast furnace.  The manipulator claw opens, the EGG drops in, and is no more.INT.  PREDATOR MOTHERSHIP - LIVING QUARTERSAn orange light plays across a wall of skulls, casting dark shadows into long-empty orbs.  BROKEN TUSK sprawls lizard-like across a flat slab of rock in the center of the room, inspecting his formidable arsenal of weaponry. Satisfied, he reaches out to run a finger across the jaw of his ALIEN trophy in an almost-erotic gesture.  He regards it for a long moment as if coming to a decision of some kind, before finally getting to his feet. INT.  PREDATOR MOTHERSHIP - VIEWING GALLERYThe lights in the gallery are dimmer when BROKEN TUSK enters.  He watches the cherry-red beam of the gliding SCANNING MECHANISM lock onto one of the EGGS, then runs his hand in sequence over the control board.  The manipulator arm swings over, seizing the egg and loading it onto a waiting pallet. BROKEN TUSK points his finger at the QUEEN and makes a guttural CLICKING SOUND from deep in his throat.  The effect is not unlike that of a child firing an imaginary gun.  As if reading BROKEN TOOTH's thoughts, the QUEEN lifts her crested head upwards and emits a venomous HISS of contempt.EXT.  SPACEIn CENTER FRAME, the planet sits still and green, awash with nebulous clouds. A hulking METAL FORM ROLLS RIGHT-TO-LEFT across our view, sunlight glinting from it's surface.  It's a rectangular satellite-construction comprised of hundreds of communication dishes in a latticework of steel tubing.  We hear FILTERED HUMAN VOICES O.S.  Subspace chatter.EXT.  RYUSHI STATION - MIDDAYImagine a world where every square mile is covered by a canopy of treetop foliage, and you've just drawn yourself a picture of the planet Ryushi.Nestled amongst this lush rainforest is the Yutani-Templin Communications Relay Station.  Several inverted-'U'-shaped suspension cranes painted bright yellow look down over a collection of preassembled buildings and roadways raised above the swamp on platforms, much like a truncated oil-rig.  A navigation beacon flashes intermittently from a tall gantry tower above, while dominating the view is the sloping face of a communications array several storeyes high.  Off to one side of the platform is a gigantic many-wheeled haulage vehicle.  A flock of bird-like creatures fly past.INT.  RYUSHI STATION - COMMAND CENTERWe're in the dark womb of a split-level command center alive with clusters of video readouts, somewhat reminiscent of a futuristic air-traffic control tower.  On the upper tier, a large circular holo-display currently projects an image of the satellite we just saw.  Thin trailers of paper flutter gently in the current coming from the air conditioning ducks, though beads of sweat still dot the foreheads of the people manning the consoled here.  We move in on CASSIE DOLLANDER and ROB PARSONS, two monitoring technicians occupying a control bank.  CASSIE listens carefully to something on her headset. CASSIEAh, negative on that request commercial freighter 'Nan-Shan'.  I've already got an inbound on that approach pending a beacon-fix.  Hold on my mark until I get back with some confirmation.  Rimward Traffic Control out.She thumbs a button and leans over to PARSONS.CASSIE (CONT'D)How's it looking?PARSONS worriedly shakes his head.PARSONSThat's the second time I ran it, and it still reads the same.CASSIEBetter tell the boss.PARSONS pulls out a coin.PARSONSToss you for it.INT.  RYUSHI STATION - EXECUTIVE OFFICEHIROKO NOGUCHI is sweating heavily, a black forelock of hair falling across her Oriental features.  Her eyes flicker warily from side-to-side as she holds the smooth length of the sword before her, trying to assess from where the next attack will come.  She doesn't have to wait long; two NINJA SWORDSMEN drop to the floor in front of her, striking without hesitation.She expertly avoid the blows, parrying relentlessly.  A persistent TONE begins to intrude O.S., like a telephone RINGING.  She tries to ignore it, but her concentration is clearly broken.  A THIRD SWORDSMAN appears from out of nowhere, his sword SWISHING towards her chest.  The blade plunges deep into her stomach, emerging from her back.  She glances down in annoyed disbelief.HIROKOFuck!  Holo off.The SWORDSMEN immediately flicker and disappear.  She sheathes the sword with one precise movement and crosses the wooden paneled floor to her desk. Mopping her face with a towel, she thumbs a stud.  The RINGING TONE stops, the corporate logo on her flat-screen desk panel replaced with a black girl's face.HIROKO (CONT'D)Noguchi.CASSIE  (O.S., onscreen)Something just came up on Deep Space Tracking.HIROKOWhat kind of 'something'?CASSIE   (O.S., onscreen)Easier if you come down and look.HIROKOI'm on my way.EXT.  RYUSHI STATION - MIDDAYAn eight-wheeled articulated crawler rolls noisily through the rain, climbing an access ramp leading from the swamp to the outpost's empty main-street.  A group of rhinos - brown two-horned quadrupeds indigenous to Ryushi - restlessly stir in their corral at it's approach.  The crawler's pneumatics HISS gently as it comes to a halt, while somewhere off in the distance a dog BARKS.  DON KAMEN, a lean man in his forties. climbs down from the cab mounted five feet above the ground and squints up at the main relay antenna. He adjusts the cowboy hat on his head against the drizzle and crosses the street towards one of the buildings, ignoring a Pepsi sign CREAKING in the gentle breeze.  A glass-paneled door SWISHES automatically open before him. INT.  RYUSHI STATION - COMMAND CENTERKAMEN steps into the command center, nodding familiarly to the DUTY PERSONNEL.  A long-haired labrador rushes up to KAMEN, wagging it's tail. Her name is BREWSTER.  She's the base mascot.  KAMEN reaches down and ruffles it's fur.  He climbs the few stairs to the monitoring tier, pulling the French-plaited hair of ANNIE URIOSTE, an Italian systems-mechanic with her hands buried in a disassembled console.URIOSTEYou didn't wipe your feet coming in.KAMENWell, it's okay.  You didn't tell me it was monsoon season going out.PARSONS looks up at KAMEN and grins.PARSONSHey, buenos dias, cowboy.  When d'you blow in?KAMEN places his hat on PARSONS' head and THUMPS it down.KAMENJust got back.  Missed anything?URIOSTE   (snorts)Yeah.  We're almost out of beer.PARSONSAhh, don't pay any attention to Urioste. She's still pissed that Noguchi wouldn't let her go off on your hunting trip.KAMEN pours himself a cup of coffee from a BUBBLING percolator.KAMENWasn't my trip, I just did the driving. 'Sides, freezing my butt off out in the wet taking pot-shots at the local wildlife isn't my idea of a good time, either.He sips gingerly from the cup of scalding liquid.PARSONSWhere'd you leave them?KAMENCamped out by the navi-beacon out on Linson's Range.  They're making their own way back tomorrow.CASSIEMarsCo went belly-up on the Dow Jones.KAMENShit.  When?CASSIEYesterday.  We got the Network feed from Gateway; it was the top story on 'Sixty Seconds'.  Biggest market crash since twenty-four.KAMEN looks ill.KAMENFucking great.  I invested some money in them.CASSIEYou win some, you loose some.KAMENI lose 'em all, that's why I'm still out here on this rock.  Anything else you wanna ruin my day with?CASSIENo, but I got something that might interest you.HIROKO enters, pulling on a leather jacket.HIROKOWhat've you got?KAMEN nods to her and receives a quick smile for his trouble.  They turn to watch the display clear, replaced with a computer simulation of the neighboring solar system.CASSIEA pair of incomings.  They popped-up on the medium-range about thirteen twenty-four local time.PARSONSWe figured on it being a magnetic anomaly, but we ran a back-trace just to make sure.CASSIEYeah.  Turns out they dropped straight out of hyperspace.The simulation ZOOMS IN, revealing two unidentified objects heading towards the planet in the center of the display.  Computer notations accompany them.CASSIE (CONT'D)Curious thing is, the mass detector says they're too small to carry a deep-space drive.HIROKOSounds like a couple of escape shuttles.PARSONSThat's what we thought.HIROKOHave you got an updated Lloyds' Almanac to cross-reff them through?PARSONSDone it already.  Nothing matches.CASSIEAnd if you thought that was interesting, watch this...HIROKO watches the course of the two objects simultaneously change.KAMENJesus.PARSONSYeah, exactly.  Those're pre-programmed course adjustments you're looking at.KAMENTactical nukes, maybe?Everybody gives him a quick look, but nobody says anything.  It's obviously not an appealing thought.HIROKOWhere're they headed?CASSIEWe ran a trajectory simulation.  If they carry on along that path, it's possible they'll make intra-orbital insertion.There's a great exhalation of breath, and everyone swaps significant glances. HIROKO seems worried.  She scratches her forehead.HIROKOI don't know what to make of this.  Get a copy of the telemetry relayed back to Antarctica Traffic Control.  Better alert the nearest RimCorp Base, too.PARSONS nods, suddenly serious.PARSONSFort Powell.  What do we tell 'em?HIROKOJust give them the facts.  They can leap to their own conclusions.EXT.  LINSON'S RANGE - SWAMP - AFTERNOONDown here in the swamp, the trunks of magnificent trees terminate in gnarled roots and disappear into watery murk, much like a Louisiana bayou.  A group of attentive LEMUR-TYPE CREATURES suddenly bound for cover as a line of bullets THUDS into the wood nearby.  Seconds later, a loud HUMMING NOISE intrudes O.S. and a pair of manta-ray-shaped hover-bikes with sleek lines and garnish decals SLAMS into FRAME suspended two feet above the mire, their powerful turbines kicking-up a swirl of spray.  The two BIKERS skid to a halt and watch the CREATURES scatter.  ACKLAND and YORK - men who on Earth might be called "good 'ol boys" - are both riding one-handed; powerful hi-tech rifles gripped in the other.YORK   (yelling)You missed 'em, Ackland!ACKLANDLittle fuckers move too fast.  Let's do a sweep and catch 'em on the other side.YORK nods his head, pulling his goggles down over his eyes.  The two bikes ROAR off in pursuit.EXT.  LINSON'S RANGE - ENCAMPMENT - AFTERNOONUp on a mud-bank, at the base of a sturdy gantry tower with two blinking blue lights atop it, stands the camp.  It looks a little like a Bedouin bivouac, but up-close we can see the techno-fitted details.  A hard-featured woman seated next to a solid-fuel burner sips from a mug, while her Vietnamese counterpart is manually loading large-caliber bullets into a belt-feed.  They watch as ACKLAND and YORK roar past WHOOPING.  MINH scrambles out of the way as a beer can lobbed by YORK CLATTERS to the ground near him. MINHCrazy idiots.BEAUVAIS cups her drink with both hands, assessing him.BEAUVAISAhhh, they're just letting off some steam; don't let 'em get to you.  Ackland and York aren't such bad guys when you get to know 'em.  Just a couple of weekend warriors...She peers curiously at the clunky cartridges MINH's thumbing into the belt feed.  On the ground next to him is a widebore weapon on an over-the-shoulder guidance mechanism.BEAUVAIS (CONT'D)Nice howitzer you've got there.MINHThanks.BEAUVAISGood argument for gun-control.  What are you going after, rhino?MINHNah.  I just wanna squeeze off a few rounds.  'Sides, they tagged the rhinos for the migration project, so they're protected.  They'll dock you a month's pay for just mentioning it.He peers into the belt and blows out some dirt.MINH (CONT'D)Sure wish there was something on this planet with a bit of fight in it, though.EXT.  DEEP SPACEAgainst a sea of stars, a small metal shape HURTLES towards us, followed moments later by it's identical twin.EXT.  RYUSHI STATION - BIG BERTHA - AFTERNOONA strand of HIROKO's hair falls forward into her face, slick with rain.  She brushes up at the miserable weather.  She and KAMEN are standing on one of the twelve-feet-in-diameter wheels of the gargantuan haulage vehicle we saw outside the base earlier.  Up on the side of the cab is painted a Nordic Valkyrie with an impressive bustline, next to which is the legend 'BIG BERTHA'.  Two mechanics, JAN GUTTIEREZ and KEVIN DILLER, watch KAMEN point something out to HIROKO from the vantage point of KAMEN's crawler parked in the swamp nearby.KAMENSee that sheathing on the suspension? Eaten away.  Same thing with the pumps on the base air purifiers.  The algae out here just isn't good on these new plastics.HIROKOWe haven't used Big Bertha since we relocated the generator module.  That was four months ago.  I can't ask for them to keep bringing spares in on the shuttle, it's already costing too much as it is.KAMEN shrugs.KAMENIf you want these things kept in working condition, that's the only choice you've got.DILLER leans in to murmur quietly to GUTTIEREZ.DILLERMaybe she wouldn't be so tetchy if she got laid every once-in-a-while.GUTTIEREZYou offering?A buzzer inside the crawler goes OFF.  DILLER gets up to answer.DILLERNah.  Freeze my dick off.HIROKO shakes her head dubiously at KAMEN's comment.HIROKOI don't know.  I think we'll have to run it on a rota; one month down, one month operational.DILLER leans out of the crawler's cab and calls across.DILLERMiss Noguchi!  You're wanted in admin.HIROKOThanks.She turns back to KAMEN.HIROKO (CONT'D)Let me sort this out and we'll go over the logistics in my office.INT.  RYUSHI STATION - COMMAND CENTERHIROKO peers at the display with undisguised concern.  A sense of urgency buzzes around the room.HIROKO (CONT'D)When?CASSIESeven minutes ago, the third course change in an hour.  Those incomings are going to skim past the communications platform just a little too close for comfort.HIROKOCan we move it to a different orbit in time?PARSONS looks up from his board in harassment.PARSONSAlready working on it.HIROKOGet off an all-bands emergency distress, and put it on a repeater.She meets KAMEN's eyes.HIROKO (CONT'D)Looks like you were right.  Someone's lobbed a pair of smart-missiles at us.KAMEN shakes his head.KAMENRelay station like us out in the middle of the boonies; why bother?  All you're gonna do is punch a temporary hole in the traffic control net.  That'd be small potatoes even for terrorists.PARSONS and CASSIE are all-business at the control board.PARSONSCan you patch me a temporary loop on DCMGS?CASSIEOkay, give me the numbers.She flips a switch.  A nearby screen changes to display an orbital path sketched out in rectangular neon blocks.EXT.  SPACEA cluster of thruster rockets on one corner of the relay frame ignites, and the darkened bulk of the satellite begins to move.EXT.  DEEP SPACEThe two pods ROAR towards us at immense speed.INT.  RYUSHI STATION - COMMAND CENTERThe two blips on the holo-board representing the pods make a marked alteration in their course.PARSONSThey've changed their heading again.HIROKOCompensate!PARSONSPunch me in a solution for their delta-vee.CASSIEWhat do you need?PARSONSA three-second burn to port, on my mark.CASSIEIt's on the board.EXT.  SPACEFramed against the green backdrop of Ryushi, the PREDATOR pods rocket towards the communications platform.CASSIEPicking up velocity.HIROKOMatch it!A bead of sweat trickles down PARSONS' temple.PARSONSNot gonna make it...EXT.  DEEP SPACEThe pod speeds THUNDEROUSLY into CAMERA, blotting out our view.INT.  RYUSHI STATION - COMMAND CENTEROne of the two blips on the holo-display vanishes, and three-quarters of the monitors abruptly turn to static.  PARSONS curses.PARSONSGoddammit!He pulls off his headset with weary resignation.PARSONS (CONT'D)We've lost the downlink.  It's gone.EXT.  SPACEThe mass of the satellite tumbles end-over-end.  A gaping rent is torn  through it; something sparks and flashes within.  The second pod accelerates off curving into the atmosphere.EXT.  LINSON'S RANGE - RIVERBANK - DUSKA SONIC THUNDERCRACK BOOMS overhead; YORK looks up in time to see an object sear across the dusk sky.  He pulls his bike to a stationary hover.YORKShit!  What's that?ACKLAND has already dismounted as he watches the fireball hurtle to the ground.  A BOOMING ECHO resonates across the forest, followed by a few plaintive SCREECHES from the planet's indigenous lifeforms, before settling back into an eerie silence.ACKLANDMeteor, I guess.He raises a set of compact field binoculars to his face.  THROUGH THEM he sees a thin haze of smoke rising from the treetops.ACKLANDD'you feel any impact shock?YORK   (uncertain)Not really.He lowers the binoculars and frowns.ACKLANDMe either.  I tell you, I used to be with a mining outfit on Callisto, and when something like that hits... believe me, you know about it.YORKDo you wanna head back and call it in?ACKLAND   (hesitant)I dunno... I dunno.  Something about this feels funny.He looks across at the plume of smoke snaking off into the sky.ACKLAND (CONT'D)That is the damndest impact I've ever saw...EXT.  LINSON'S RANGE - IMPACT SIGHT - DUSKThe earth around the crater-rim is charred and cracked; some of the surrounding brush still aflame.  A SCORPION scuttles inquisitively to the edge of the pit and stops, it's stinger twitching hesitantly.  We HEAR a LOW HUM, and the SOUND of METAL-ON-METAL.  Before the SCORPION can decide what to do, it's fate is sealed.  A large METAL CLAW comes down, crushing it in an instant.  A SECOND CLAW emerges, and a MACHINE heaves itself out of the hole, it's surface smoking with heat.  It pauses for a BEAT like some giant tarantula seeking prey, them moves purposely outwards about twenty yards before halting.  A hatch on the underside opens, and a complex delivery mechanism extends.  After a moment there's a LOW CLUNK, and the mechanism retracts.  In it's place is an ALIEN EGG.  The MACHINE crawls off, vanishing into the long reeds.EXT.  RYUSHI STATION - NIGHTHIROKO sits on the front wheel of KAMEN's crawler, her knees pulled up to her chin, staring off into a thin mist that makes the night impenetrable.  Behind and above, the lights of the cranes and the communications array strobe on-and-off.  Above the bar on the main street is a flicking neon sign erected after-the-fact, emblazoned with the words "TORCHY'S".  The MUFFLED SOUNDS of MERRY-MAKING from within become momentarily louder, and HIROKO glances over to see it's pressure-door CRASH back, disgorging several drunken people. KAMEN follows them through.  He spots HIROKO and heads over.KAMENHey, boss.  Wondered where you'd gotten to.HIROKOI just... wanted to be put on my own for a while.  Clear my head.KAMENDidn't feel like whoopin' it up with the rest of us blue collars, huh?She shakes her head, and manages a smile.HIROKOI've got a lot of thinking to do.  'Sides, the room was getting too crowded for me.KAMENNot too much of the socializing type, then?HIROKONo, not really.  More sort of the  'claustrophobic' type.KAMEN LAUGHS.  HIROKO is straight-faced.HIROKO (CONT'D)I'm serious.  That's why I switched from orbiting to planetary installations.KAMENIs that a fact.HIROKOUh-huh.  Used to get it pretty bad.  I'd wake up in a cold sweat and want to claw open a vacuum hatch.KAMENHow long you been out here for now, anyway?  Three months?HIROKOFour.KAMENAnd before that?HIROKOSix month stint on Datus.KAMENOnly six?HIROKOWhat is this?  'Twenty Questions'?KAMENJust curious.  There's a lot of talk goes around.HIROKO shrugs.  Thinks about it.HIROKOI don't know.  I guess I've just never found anywhere I really felt at home.She hugs her knees again, and suddenly looks a whole lot more at ease.  KAMEN spots a square glass balanced on one of the tire's wide treads.KAMENWhat is that?HIROKOReal man' drink.She offers the glass to him.  He takes it and sniff cautiously.KAMENSeltzer?HIROKOWant some?KAMEN hands the glass back and raises his own bottle.KAMENI'll stick with my own.He sits with her and stares into the darkness.HIROKOAny luck raising Ackland's party?KAMENNothing.  With the satellite down, we can't transmit over the mountain range. He's most likely sitting there wondering why he can't raise us.HIROKOFirst light, we'll take a chopper out there and tell them to head back.KAMEN'We'?  You wanna fly out there with me?HIROKOSure.  Do me good to stretch my legs.HIROKO takes a sip of her drink, her brow furrowing.HIROKO (CONT'D)This whole thing's got me spooked.KAMEN hops off the wheel.KAMENDon't worry about it.  If the Network goes by the book, like everyone figures they will, a Marine gunboat from Powell'll drop-by for a look-see in four-or-five days.  They can go poke around out there and find whatever it was hit us.  All we've gotta do is sit tight.HIROKODo you think Ackland'll sit tight?KAMENThere'd have to be a helluva good reason for him not to.EXT.  SPACEA peculiar blue scanning beam plays over the rotating mass of the incapacitated satellite, examining every section.  it comes to the rent torn through it, and pauses.FROM THE SCANNER'S P.O.V., we see the structure of the satellite made up from a series of blue geodesic shapes.  The damage registers as a cold, black mass.The beam switches off and the hovering PREDATOR shuttle turns smoothly on it's axis, thrusting towards the planet. EXT.  LINSON'S RANGE - IMPACT SITE - NIGHTShafts of torch-light fan out above the thick foliage in the darkness.  YORK and ACKLAND wade through the chin-high reeds, cursing.ACKLANDFound anything?YORK looks down at his data-stick, a handheld torch with a multi-purpose readout screen.YORKNada. No radiation... no movement... nothing.ACKLANDWell, just keep looking.  It's gotta be... whoa, Jesus!ACKLAND falls toward onto something, and YORK comes running.YORKWhat is it?ACKLAND steadies himself, and the two men shine their torches at the rhythmically-breathing SHAPE on the ground.ACKLANDIt's a rhino.YORKIs it dead?ACKLANDNo, it's still breathing.  Kinda clammy though.  Are you sure your stick's not broken.YORK looks at the data-stick again.YORKYeah, it's fine.ACKLANDGod, I hope that thing didn't bring down a virus.YORKI told you we... what's that?Their torch beams PAN ACROSS a three-foot high ovular shape.ACKLANDLooks like a spore.  Fungus of some kind, maybe?YORKBloody big if it is.  Top's open.ACKLAND steps cautiously forward to shine his torch inside.YORK (CONT'D)Careful...There's nothing inside.  ACKLAND looks disappointed.ACKLANDIt's hollow.  Think our rhino must've ate something that didn't agree with him.A heavy gust of air blows unexpectedly across the clearing with a BANSHEE HOWL, ruffling their hair.YORKLet's get back and call this in.ACKLANDWait a minute.YORK reluctantly follows ACKLAND as he thrashes through the thinn ing foliage, coming out at the rim of the impact crater.  It's beginning to partially collapse, water seeping in.  YORK runs his beam over something at the bottom of the shallow pit.YORKWhat is that... is that metal fragments?ACKLAND's maybe getting a little nervous now.ACKLANDThis is very fucking weird.He sees the churned earth, and the muddy trail leading off into the broken foliage.ACKLAND (CONT'D)It's like something came out of the crater and went that way...There's a TINY CLICK, and ACKLAND looks over to see YORK taking the safety off his rifle.  ACKLAND wordlessly unshoulders his too.  They step around the crater and warily follow the ragged path to...YORKAnother one?ACKLAND prods this SECOND EGG with his gun.ACKLANDYeah.  This's closed.There's a CRACKLING NOISE, and the top of the EGG peels neatly open in four sections.  The two men jump back in alarm, and YORK LAUGHS nervously. Something organic is pulsing inside.  ACKLAND cranes his neck forward for a better look...There's an EXPLOSION of MOVEMENT.  A spindly shape with a long segmented tail launches itself jack-in-a-box-style at ACKLAND.  It's a FACEHUGGER.  ACKLAND trips backwards, caught off-balance.  His finger involuntarily squeezes the trigger of his rifle as he falls.  A volley of shots describe and arc and  light up the night with a PERCUSSIVE BOOM, and we...CUT TO...A SHORT DISTANCE ACROSS THE CLEARING.  SOMETHING is watching them from the trees; something with a heat-vision P.O.V.  A PREDATOR.  We see the flare of ACKLAND's gunshots, then SNAP IN to see the multi-colored from of his body toppling over, trailing a purplish FACEHUGGER, before we... CUT BACK TO...One of ACKLAND's bullets taking a meaty chunk out of YORK's thigh as he races forward to help his friend.  The HUGGER's tail is already around ACKLAND's throat, it's fingers scrabbling for purchase.  YORK pulls at one set of digits, and manages to raise them for just an instant.  What we see is horrific; the look of terror on ACKLAND's face, and the questing tendril onthe HUGGER's underside trying to force it's way between ACKLAND's lips.  In a second, it's all over; the FACEHUGGER struggles free of YORK's grasp, and clamps itself firmly on ACKLAND's face with a faint SUCKING SOUND.  YORK shivers, then uses his good leg to propel himself a few feet away.  He watches the hapless Teamster go rigid, then stop moving altogether.YORKOh, God; oh, shit; oh, God.The FACEHUGGER's tail slithers tighter around ACKLAND's neck; and as YORK quickly retrieves his rifle, we...CUT TOA PREDATOR-VISION SHOT, watching the color-bloom of YORK dragging ACKLAND's body away from the crater.  It CLOSES IN on the FACEHUGGER, giving us a muted X-ray-type VIEW of circulatory fluid pumping around the HUGGER and into ACKLAND.YORK's limping badly, a dark stain blossoming on his baggy fatigue trousers. ACKLAND's not a small man, and the physical effort of hauling him through the reeds makes him sweat profusely.  There's movement on the ground, and YORK sees why; one of the LEMURS has fallen victim to another FACEHUGGER, which dwarfs it's small furry body.  The HUGGER's fingers all ripple simultaneously as it strengthens it's hold; the movement akin to somebody drumming theirfingers on a table-top.EXT.  LINSON'S RANGE - RIVER BANK - NIGHTAs YORK hauls ACKLAND onto one of the bikes, he hears a TICKING SOUND from the trees, like an engine cooling on a warm summer's day.  YORK clutches his rifle and stares upward.  There seems to be a VAGUE SHIMMERING FORM in the bough of a tree.  Although it might be a trick of the light, he isn't sticking around to find out.  YORK guns the bike to life and ROARS off above the swamp.EXT.  LINSON'S RANGE - IMPACT SITE - NIGHTPREDATOR-VISION.  We're looking at the site in colours:  the cold blue of empty ALIEN EGGS, and the warm reds of just-breathing ANIMALS rendered inert the FACEHUGGER parasites.A group of PREDATORS appear in three-dimensional solidity, their camouflage cloaks deactivated.  The LEAD PREDATOR SPLASHES across to the exposed roots of a tree and kneels down to examine an ANIMAL CORPSE curled up there.  Most of it has been madly mutilated by something erupting from inside it's body. The PREDATOR looks up and scans the swamp, ignoring the swarm of FLIES buzzing in the air.PREDATOR-VISION.  This time, an oscillating line appears to the left of our view, and a band sweeps quickly ACROSS the screen synchronous to us hearing different levels of SOUND STATIC.  This abruptly stops as the oscillating line begins to moves in peaks and valleys.  The PREDATOR is picking up radiowaves.  A HUMAN VOICE; albeit grossly-distorted.EXT.  LINSON'S RANGE - ENCAMPMENT - NIGHTWe hear a RAPID BEEPING; movement-sensors set up on tripods to warn against intruding animals.  The sound brings BEAUVAIS out of her tent, bleary-eyed and fumbling with her pistol.  She's suddenly wide awake when she sees YORK's hover-bike, lit by the sensors' flashing red strobe.  It skids to a halt against a mud-bank, sending up a spray of silt.  YORK climbs off the bike and stumbles, then starts to unfasten the straps holding ACKLAND's body.BEAUVAISJesus Christ!  What happened?YORKGive me a hand with Ack.She races over to help YORK ease ACKLAND up.BEAUVAISHow bad is... oh my God.As ACKLAND is turned over, BEAUVIAS gets her first look at a FACEHUGGER. She shies away, repulsed. BEAUVAISWhat is that?YORKDon't... uuh... don't know.  Help me... uuh... help me get him inside.  Shit!YORK grits his teeth, but the leg injury is too painful.  He slumps slowly to the floor.BEAUVAIS   (yelling)Minh!  Minh, get out here!INT.  TENT - NIGHTA portable neon light in the tent flickers, casting staccato bluish light over ACKLAND and the FACEHUGGER.  MINH and BEAUVAIS stare at it in horrified fascination, while YORK pulls a tourniquet around his thigh.  He winces. BEAUVAISHave you tried prising it off?YORK shakes his head.YORKI wanted to get him back here; get him back to base.MINHForget it.  We lost the satellite link. It's dead.There's a long pause while everyone considers the options.BEAUVAISWe've got no option.  We're gonna have to get it off.MINHOh man...YORKGet real, Beauvais!  That thing might chew his fucking face off for all be know!The motion sensor outside begins BEEPING again.  MINH catches BEAUVAIS' head-jerk.BEAUVAISMinh...MINHYep...MINH hefts his 'howitzer' and leaves the tent.  BEAUVAIS rounds on YORK, continuing.BEAUVAISHow do you know it's not already?YORKI don't, but I think we should just wait and let the Doc take a look...EXT.  LINSON'S RANGE - ENCAMPMENT - NIGHTMINH walks towards a line of flashing red strobes at the perimeter of the camp, the barrel of his weapon pointing casually forward.  He studies the surrounding darkness.  There's nothing out there.  He shakes his head in disgust.MINH   (muttering)Take a goddamn wrench to those things...He thumbs a stud on the top of the 'howitzer'.  There's a gentle WHINE, and the HISS of hydraulic cylinders as the harness mechanism lifts the weapon up. It darts quickly to-and-fro; a mechanical snake seeking a target.  We see MINH's hand in CLOSE UP.  In addition to the firing trigger, there's also a thumb button.  He squeezes it...The gun swings sharply around in a blinding movement, tracking something automatically.  There's a THUNDEROUS RUMBLE as it fires-off three shots in rapid succession.  Something that was only yards from MINH APPEARS and is blown backwards to CRASH against a tree bole, a mass of luminous green liquid and motion.MINH (CONT'D)  (dumbstruck)God.MINH watches the helmeted PREDATOR fall face down into the water with a SPLASH, then lie motionless.  YORK and BEAUVAIS are out of the tent in an instant.PREDATOR-VISION. Three humans; in motion and 'hot'.  The triangular mechanism of the PREDATOR's gun locks onto MINH.A BLAST of plasma-energy rips a gaping hole through MINH's body, spraying blood across YORK.  He topples dead to the ground, a look of pained surprise on his face.  BEAUVAIS is there immediately, racing across and scrabbling for the 'howitzer'.  She doesn't have time to take the harness off - she just slides her finger through the trigger guard and starts squeezing off random shots.  The air shimmers as an unseen shape races at her.  There's a loudSWISH of sliding metal, and a telescopic spear appears out of thin air.  It SLAMS through BEAUVAIS' body, lifting her off the ground and impaling her against a tree.YORK watches in horror as BEAUVAIS' arms thrash around.  A moment later her struggles cease, and she'd dropped to the floor like a broken marionette. There's a CRACKLING SOUND, and the hazy air around BEAUVAIS disappears.  In it's place is a PREDATOR, a luminous green patch trickling from a wound on it's arm.  It's head flicks around as it zeroes-in on YORK, the three red dots of the PREDATOR's cannon following suit.  YORK's quick though, already up and running when the plasma bolt EXPLODES into the tree despite the pain in his leg.His options are limited.  The hover-bike is nearby.  He sprints for that and his luck holds...the key's still in the ignition.  He flips it.  The engine COUGHS and then dies.  YORK looks up.  The wounded PREDATOR bounds across the clearing at frightened speed.  YORK turns the key again, but the PREDATOR's almost upon him.  The creature WHIPS an ornately-shaped lance from it's back and thrusts it...JUST AS THE ENGINE ROARS TO LIFE AND THE HOVER-BIKE RISES FROM THE MUD!  The blade slices into the bike's body and jams there, while one of it's manta-wings SMACKS into the PREDATOR's jaw, sending it reeling backwards into the swamp.YORK swivels the bike on it's axis as another plasma-bolt rips into the rear, melting away a sizable chunk of the bodywork.  He sees a PREDATOR handing from a tree, and the SHIMMERING of two more PREDATORS in their camouflage nearby.  He's not sticking around to argue though.  YORK jams the throttle hard and the bike shoots off into the bayou as more cannon-blasts blossom around him.The group of PREDATORS appear in the camp and cautiously survey the area. The LEAD PREDATOR - the one with the distinctive armor - crosses to the tent and opens the entry flap.INT.  TENT - NIGHTPREDATOR-VISION. The extraterrestrial hunter scrutinizes the pulsing FACEHUGGER on ACKLAND for a long moment, but takes no further action.EXT.  LINSON'S RANGE - ENCAMPMENT - NIGHTWe PAN SLOWLY ACROSS the deserted campsite.  There isn't a soul there, human or otherwise.  The wind whistles eerily through the tree-boughs. EXT.  RAINFOREST AIRSPACE - DAWNFirst light the next day, the sun rising on the horizon.  A 'chopper' - actually a twin-turbine heli-jet - flies in low above the veil of mist hanging over the treetops.INT.  CHOPPER - DAWNThe cockpit is small, a two-seater with room for cargo in the back.  KAMEN's in the pilot seat, and HIROKO's riding shotgun.  The controls moving by themselves, on autopilot.  A REPETITIVE BEEPING causes KAMEN to look up from his magazine.KAMEN'S P.O.V.From out of the window of the 'chopper', we see the twin blue lights of the navigation beacon blinking on-and-off above the trees.KAMEN nudges HIROKO awake.KAMENWake up.  We're at the beacon.He switches the controls over to manual and takes the chopper down.  HIROKO rubs the sleep from her eyes.EXT.  LINSON'S RANGE - ENCAMPMENT - DAWNTwin searchlights on the underside of the descending chopper sweep across the clearing.  The encampment has been wrecked, much of is reduced to a twisted tangle of smoking debris.  All-terrain gear lowers from the chopper, as it makes a watery landing in the swamp.INT.  CHOPPER - DAWNKAMEN and HIROKO stare at the site in disbelief.  KAMEN hauls an automatic pulse-rifle from the rear. KAMENLooks like trouble.KAMEN reaches under the pilot's seat and pulls out a hand-pistol.  Passes it to her.KAMEN (CONT'D)Used one of these before?HIROKO coolly examines it.HIROKOFabrique Nationale tactical autoloader. Uses twelve mill hollow 'O' rounds, with through the barrel smart laser-sighting. Sure, I can handle this.HIROKO's show-boating and KAMEN knows it, but he still can't help being a little bit impressed.KAMENOkay.  Watch were you point it...EXT.  LINSON'S RANGE - ENCAMPMENT - DAWNThe two of them pick their way across mangled tripods and charred canvas. Part of the bivouac has collapsed - one of the guide ropes has burned through.HIROKO   (quietly)Somebody picked an argument.KAMENYeah.  Somebody won.HIROKOCheck out the tent.KAMEN nods and heads off that way, while HIROKO carefully inspects the wreckage dotted around the perimeter.INT.  TENT - DAWNKAMEN opens the tent flap and peers inside.  ACKLAND's on the cot, sweating heavily.  There is no sign of the FACEHUGGER.EXT.  LINSON'S RANGE - ENCAMPMENT - DAWNAcross the clearing, HIROKO turns a piece of charred plating over in her hands before discarding it.Her foot slips on an object sunk into the soft mud.  It's MINH's 'howitzer'. A dark slippery patch coats the metal.  She crouches down and rubs her fingers through it.  Blood.  KAMEN's VOICE intrudes, O.S.KAMEN   (O.S.)I've found Ackland!HIROKOHold on...She begins to cross the camp, and her foot catches on a taut length of rope. SOMETHING swings down from the trees, hitting her squarely in the face and knocking her off her feet.  HIROKO CRIES OUT in fear and surprise, then freezes at what she sees.Two bloodied bodies dangle head-first from the bough overhead; BEAUVAIS and MINH.  Each has been skinned and is beyond recognition.  KAMEN hears her exclamation and is out of the tent in an instant.  He stops in his tracks.KAMENJesus palomino...EXT.  RYUSHI STATION - HELI-JET PAD - MORNINGIt's raining again at the base.  Under cover of an overhang, HIROKO watches as ACKLAND is trundled away from the 'chopper' on a paramedic trolley by GUTTIEREZ and DOC REVNA, an Indian woman in her late thirties.  As KAMEN slams the 'chopper's side door, we see that HIROKO has left her leather jacket on the passenger seat.  KAMEN runs after REVNA clutching a clear plastic bag.KAMENWait a minute, Doc...He hands the bag over to REVNA.  She peers at the contents curiously.  The FACEHUGGER is inside, stiff and shriveled. REVNAIs this it?KAMENYeah.  Found it curled up in a corner of the tent.  Any idea?REVNA shakes her head.REVNANever come across one of these before. Maybe the original survey team did.  I'll run it through records and see what comes up.GUTTIEREZ checks that ACKLAND's body's secure on the trolley.  KAMEN raps him on the back to get his attention.KAMENHey, Jan.  See if you can get someone to check out the chopper.GUTTIEREZWhat's the problem?KAMENShe was running a little sluggish on the way back.  Think the turbines might be playing up.GUTTIEREZGive me twenty minutes and I'll do it myself.KAMENAppreciate that.REVNA interrupts.REVNAWhere're the bodies?HIROKOBagged and in the back.  They're not a pretty sight.ACKLAND is wheeled into a freight elevator.  As KAMEN and HIROKO walk away across the rain-swept platform, a SHIMMERING FROM detaches itself from the rear of the chopper and lowers itself to the heli-jet pad. PREDATOR-VISION.A newly-arrived PREDATOR scans the towers and modules of the relay-station with great interest.  An oscillating red line appears to the LEFT of the SHOT as the PREDATOR analyses HIROKO's voice-pattern.PREDATOR   (O.S., distorted)Not a pretty sight.  Not a pretty sight...He reaches down to his wrist computer and activates it.EXT.  LINSON'S RANGE - IMPACT SIGHT - DAYUnder the cathedral-like light filtering through the trees above, a row of metal spikes have been driven into the earth.  Four are topped with still-smoking ALIEN skulls.  Two and empty.PREDATOR-VISION.  A newly decapitated ALIEN head is turned around in another PREDATOR's hands in admiration.  This PREDATOR thrusts his trophy onto the next spike, then stares at the vacant one for a long moment.  His wrist computer BLEEPS for attention...INT.  RYUSHI STATION - COMMAND CENTERWith nothing to do, most of the screens are out and the remaining personnel bored.  PARSONS is reading a magazine with his feet up on the console, uninterested in HIROKO and KAMEN's conversation nearby. HIROKOI'm going to need you to co-sign the report.  Until we come up with something, this'll be treated as first degree murder.KAMENAgreed.HIROKOWhen we get the link back, and I send this in, I.C.C.'ll throw a fit.KAMENAh, don't worry about I.C.C.  They're the least of your problems right now.HIROKOWhat do you mean?URIOSTE walks up, very serious.  She interrupts.URIOSTESorry.  Can I have a word?HIROKOSure.  What's up?URIOSTEThree-Pump failed a half-hour ago.  The algae must have clogged up an intake duct.KAMENThink I spoke too soon...HIROKOAgain?  How long before we start noticing the difference?URIOSTEI reckon it'll be another day before the smell gets unbearable.  Beauvais usually fixes it, but... ah...HIROKO knows what she means.  BEAUVAIS is dead.HIROKOCan you handle it?URIOSTESure, I can manage.  But I'm not going into the Pit on my own.HIROKO   (to Urioste)Alright, get somebody from the auto-shop.   (to Kamen)   Is that alright?KAMENYeah, no problem.  Ask Diller, he's good with his hands.URIOSTE exchanges a grin with CASSIE.CASSIEI'll go along with that.A SHRILL TRILLING from his console communicator makes PARSONS leap up to answer.PARSONSParsons.   (long beat)   Yeah.  Hold on.INT.  RYUSHI STATION - INFIRMARYA CLOSE UP of an eye, bright blue and dilated.  DOC REVNA's shining a hand- held light into ACKLAND's face.  ACKLAND's regained consciousness, but is far from happy.  He's sitting on the edge of a cot in the base Infirmary, an antiseptic room full of automated medical equipment.  The Autodoc is suspended from the ceiling nearby, a circular cluster of sophisticated manipulator arms tipped with cutting blades and surgical paraphernalia.ACKLANDHey, c'mon Doc, I feel fine.  Really.REVNA flicks off the probe.REVNAHeadache?  Dehydration?ACKLANDThe head's okay, but I could sink a six-pack.REVNAForget that.  I want you off alcohol for at least seventy-two hours.  I've got some toxin build-up tests still to run.REVNA shakes her head and turns to KAMEN.REVNA (CONT'D)He's broken a fever that would kill a mule, but if he says he's alright I'm prepared to believe him.  He's all yours.HIROKO enters.  She watches from behind KAMEN.KAMENWhat happened out there, Ack?ACKLAND   (consternated)What do you mean, 'what happened'?  What am I doing back here?  Where's York?HIROKO   (insistent)What's the last thing you can remember?ACKLAND thinks hard.ACKLANDWe... watched a meteor hit over Linson's.HIROKO and KAMEN exchange significant glances.HIROKOA meteor?ACKLANDYeah, it impacted really off.  We went out to the crash-site... and... uh... that's... that's all.KAMENNothing else?ACKLANDNo.KAMEN turns to REVNA.KAMENShow him 'Fido'.REVNA pulls out a cylindrical glass stasis tube from a wall rack.  She hands it to ACKLAND.  He studies the dead FACEHUGGER floating inside with morbid fascination.REVNARing any bells?ACKLAND tries hard to think, but it's as if a wall's slammed down hard on his mind.ACKLANDNot really, no.  Ugly little sonuvabitch. What is it?KAMENWe thought you might be able to tell us. I found it by your cot at the camp.  You were out cold.ACKLANDWhat did York say?HIROKOYork's vanished.ACKLANDVanished?HIROKOBeauvais and Minh are dead, Ackland.  York's gone awol, unless you can help us go some way toward disproving our suspicion, he's the prime suspect right now.The news hits ACKLAND hard.  He falters and leans back, addressing REVNA.ACKLANDCan I... um... have some water?  Please?REVNASure.She goes to fetch a cup.INT.  RYUSHI STATION - COMMISSARYIt's lunchtime, and the SOUND of machinery STEAMING food mixes with the CHATTER of the twenty-or-so personnel eating there.  HIROKO and KAMEN are deep in conversation across a table.KAMENDo you believe him?HIROKOAckland?  I don't know him well enough to say.  If we were back on Earth we could run him though an Aldhoven test and find out for sure.  There's not much we can do out here.KAMEN stares hard at her.  That's not much of an answer, and HIROKO knows it. She capitulates.HIROKO (CONT'D)Alright then, For what it's worth... yes, I do.KAMEN digs appreciatively into a container of food with his fork.KAMENYou should try this seasoned stuff.  It's good.GUTTIEREZ approaches the table carrying something.GUTTIEREZGot a present for you.He hands HIROKO's leather jacket over to her.HIROKOOh, I've been looking for this!  Where was it?GUTTIEREZYou left it in the chopper.  Oh, and before I forget, Don?  I ran that test you wanted on the turbines.KAMENAnd...?GUTTIEREZAnd, nothing.  They checked out just fine.EXT.  RYUSHI STATION - PLATFORM - AFTERNOONA metal rail surrounds the perimeter of the platform.  DILLER leans against it down by the access ramp, smoking a cigarette and idly blowing rings into the air.  BREWSTER pricks up her years and begins to quietly SNARL.  DILLER glances down at her curiously.DILLERWhat's the matter, girl?  You smell something?Now the rhino are restless too.  CASSIE walks across the concrete roadway to join them.CASSIERhinos look a little antsy,BREWSTER stops SNARLS and progresses onwards to full-fledged BARKING.DILLERYeah.  Never seem 'em act like this before.PREDATOR-VISION.  CASSIE and DILLER are 'warm', but the rhinos are BREWSTER are 'hotter' still.  Their VOICES and BREWSTER's BARKS are filtered to the point of unrecognizability, eerily distorted.CASSIE's the first to hear the SOUND.CASSIEDo you hear that?DILLER straightens up, looking out into the surrounding trees.  It's a FAINT HUM, getting LOUDER every second.DILLERYeah...A hoverbike appears, trailing smoke from one of it's turbine intakes as it hurtles towards the base.  Halfway between the trees and the ramp, it clips a fallen log and spins end-over-end.  It's rider flies through the air and hits the swamp face-first.  DILLER and CASSIE race down the ramp with BREWSTER YELPING excitedly in the lead.CASSIEI don't believe it.DILLER splashes through the swamp and pulls the limp body out of the mire. It's YORK.  Blood has caked around his wounded leg.DILLERHe looks in a bad way.  Help me get him up to Infirmary.CASSIEWait a minute...Something else has caught CASSIE's eye.  A "something" almost two metres in length protruding from the rear of the wrecked hoverbike.  Grasping the haft firmly, she works it free.  CASSIE examines the PREDATOR spear, and slowly shakes her head.CASSIE (CONT'D)Holy Mary...PREDATOR-VISION.The concealed hunter watches as the colorised human curiously turns the weapon over in her hands.INT.  RYUSHI STATION - INFIRMARYREVNA sits at a desk and peers into a microscope.  Every so often she GRUNTS in satisfaction and types something into her computer terminal.  The stasis tube containing the dead FACEHUGGER stands to one side of the computer screen.  The Infirmary is very quiet, and only the gentle THROB of the air-conditioning intrudes.  ACKLAND tosses uncomfortably on his cot.  He finally sits up and massages his chest.ACKLANDOh.  Oh God...REVNA lowers her pen and looks across.REVNAWhat is it?ACKLANDIt's nothing, Doc.  Just a... touch of indigestion... something.REVNADo you want a tablet?ACKLAND winces in pain.  His breathing's getting heavy.  He nods.ACKLANDUh-huh.REVNA gets up swiftly and crosses to an automated pharmacy.  ACKLAND's beginning to COUGH now.REVNAThat sounds nasty.  I'll give you a couple of Demazine.ACKLAND nods again.  His COUGHING has deepened, and now he's banging his chest with a balled fist.  REVNA hurries over with three red tablets and a disposable cup of water.  ACKLAND takes them gratefully and gulps them down. The effect is almost immediate; ACKLAND quietens and an appreciative smile comes to his pale lips.REVNA (CONT'D)Better?ACKLANDYeah...Before he has a chance to elaborate, ACKLAND COUGHS once more.  A thin spray of blood and saliva dots REVNA's white smock and speckles her cheek. ACKLAND's scrabbling fingers grab her lapels as he begins to hyperventilate. She pulls away, dragging him from the bed in the process.  He falls to the floor, his MOANS growing in volume.REVNAHold on, it's alright.  I'm gonna give  you a shot...Her fingers tremble as she clumsily examines a tray of surgical instruments. She finds a pneumatic spray-injector, fully charged with a vial of amber liquid attached.  ACKLAND SCREAMS and fall backwards onto the floor, his hands clawing at the air.  REVNA fumbles with the injector control and gives him a blast in his upper arm.  ACKLAND convulses once then goes still, his eyes staring fixedly at the ceiling.  The Infirmary is deathly quiet once again.We hear a gentle CRACKING, like twigs being snapped.  REVNA watches in horrified fascination as a pool of blood spreads swiftly outward across the floor from below ACKLAND's corpse.  REVNA shudders as the body moves a little, then is rolled over by something underneath it.WHAT SHE SEES.  ACKLAND's body slumps forward onto it's front, revealing a gaping cavity in his back.  Bits of spine and ribcage are just visible.  A CHESTBURSTER - the second stage of the ALIEN lifeform - pulls itself clear and wipes red gunk from it's body with a pair of still-underdeveloped arms.Around it's head is a distinctive nascent crest.  It kicks away from ACKLAND with a powerful push from it's legs, quickly gaining balance.  After a moment appraising it's new environment, it stalks off behind a table.  REVNA thinks quickly.  She leaps forward and THUMPS a large red stud next to the pressure-door, which promptly RUMBLES closed.The room is bathed in pools of shadows.  Plenty of hiding space for the creature.  REVNA hears breaking glass, making her start.  She cautiously edges over to the Autodoc and looks up into the forest of probe-arms. There's a wicked looking blade there, the kind used in major surgery.  REVNA reaches up and twists the base; it detaches easily.  Now she's armed. Stooped over, she begins to stalk the CHESTBURSTER...There's a flurry of movement, and suddenly the hunter becomes the hunted. The CHESTBURSTER vaults from the table at her with a SHRILL SHRIEK, and REVNA blindly swings her make-shift knife in defense.  We hear a SIZZLE like frying bacon...INT.  RYUSHI STATION - INFIRMARY CORRIDORHIROKO sprints down the corridor and reaches the Infirmary.  DILLER, CASSIE, and a few others are crowded around outside.  YORK lays unconscious on one of the medical trolleys next to the door, making access difficult.  Above them, a hinged flap on the wall lies open revealing a circular mechanism beneath.  BREWSTER scratches at the bulkhead and WHINES.  MUFFLED THUMPS come from within.HIROKOWhat happened?DILLERYork just turned up outside.  We're trying to get him into Infirmary.HIROKO   (astonished)York...HIROKO leans over to examine him, but a particularly loud CRASH from within the Infirmary distracts her.HIROKO (CONT'D)What's going on?CASSIEThe door's sealed from inside.  Doc Revna's in there, and it sounds like Ackland's going nuts.HIROKOForce the door.DILLERCan't.  It's pressure sealed.GUTTIEREZ races up and hands DILLER a wrench with a shaped tip.GUTTIEREZHere...DILLERThanks.He inserts the end into the open flap and pulls hard, the physical effort showing on his face.  The door grinds open about eight inches... The bloodied CHESTBURSTER forces itself through the narrow gap, HISSING vehemently.  Yellow fluid wells from a wound in it's crested skull, dissolving everything it comes into contact with.  The small group gathered around fall back in panic, jarring YORK's trolley and knocking HIROKO to the floor.  BREWSTER BARKS at the CHESTBURSTER, which tenses as if to leap.DILLER brings the wrench down, but the CHESTBURSTER evades his blow and takes flight.  It strikes at HIROKO, who reflexively draws her head back and escapes with nothing more than a light scratch to the cheek.  The ALIEN disappears down the corridor, leaving a trail of smeared blood and a series of acidic pits which melt the grillework flooring.  GUTTIEREZ bends down andhelps HIROKO to her feet.  Shocked, she MUTTERS something to herself in JAPANESE, and regains some of her composure.HIROKOGet after it, don't let it get away!DILLER stands there with the metal bar.  Does she think he's nuts?HIROKO (CONT'D)Go on!This galvanises DILLER.  He races off in pursuit.HIROKO (CONT'D)Jan, give me a hand over here.HIROKO AND GUTTIEREZ try to force the door, but DILLER was right - it won't budge.  HIROKO slips her arm through the gap and fumbles around blindly.  She must have hit the control knob, because the door slides back.  CASSIE looks inside.CASSIEOh my God...She turns away and retches.  HIROKO steps through and goes pale.  There are blood-smears over everything, and it's all GUTTIEREZ can do to stop BREWSTER from getting in there.INT.  RYUSHI STATION - COMMAND CENTERPARSONS' finger traces a path along a set of computer schematics displayed on a suspended glass screen.PARSONSIt left a melted trail on the deck all the way down to here...HIROKOWhat is that?DILLERSecondary fluidic shunt for the sewage system.  I found the grating ripped right off.  The little fucker was strong.HIROKOWhere does that lead to?PARSONSCentral Pumping.  All the waste gets  treated, broken-down, and flushed out into the swamp.  If it wanted a quick exit then it really lucked-out.HIROKOYou've checked that end?GUTTIEREZNot yet, no.HIROKODo it.  I don't want that thing on my installation.  I want it caught and destroyed.KAMENCornering it shouldn't be a problem.  Each part of this station is basically a self-sufficient deep-space transport module running off external couplers.  If we disconnect them and seal off every section, we've got a ceiling of about thirty-six hours on internal power.  That should give us ample time to find it.HIROKOAlright.  Pull some trackers and headsets out of stores, and I'll sign a release for the weapons.  Cassie, organise a team roster and put it on the board.CASSIE nods soberly.  HIROKO looks at everybody, and her words are carefully chosen.HIROKO (CONT'D)I don't care how you kill this thing, just be careful not to get in it's way when it bleeds.  You all saw what happened to Doc Revna.There are nods of agreement and general enthusiasm all round.HIROKO (CONT'D)Nobody wander off on their own until it's found.  Keep in pairs.  Diller, once the first team's done their sweep I want you to go down with Annie to Three-Pump while she replaces it.DILLEROkay.HIROKOOne final point.  Killing this sonuvabitch ought to be a reward in itself.  However, just to add a little incentive... I'm authorizing a hefty bonus in the next pay-packet for whoever does.This seems to appeal to those assembled there.  There's a palpable buzz in the air.HIROKO (CONT'D)Alright, let's get to it.  New York rules apply.INT.  RYUSHI STATION - EXECUTIVE OFFICEYORK is recounting his story to KAMEN and HIROKO in a hushed voice.  Small beads of sweat stand out on his forehead and his eyes are haunted by remembrance.  The man's a mess.YORK...I mean, these... these mothers were... were huge.  They look like bushmen, but they had all this hi-tech shit strapped all over 'em.  They must've wasted Beauvais and Minh inside thirty seconds.  Minh got off a couple of shots from that cannon of his, but he might as well have been using a B-B gun.  I don't know how the hell I made it out of there alive.He nods toward the PREDATOR spear in HIROKO's hands.YORK (CONT'D)The one I clipped with the hoverbike shoved that at me.  Whatever it's made of, it went straight through a double-layer of honeycomb polyalloy composite like it was butter.YORK shakes his head in fear.YORK (CONT'D)I don't wanna ever come up against those things again.  Ever.KAMEN claps the man on the shoulder to reassure him.KAMENDon't worry about it, Yorkie.  You're safe now.  Go get come rest.YORK nods.  He gets to his feet and leaves the room.  HIROKO waits until the door slides shut behind him.HIROKOSo, what do you think?KAMENWhat do I think?  I think if those Marines from Powell don't shift their butts getting here, we're gonna get caught up to our necks in the middle of something we shouldn't.EXT.  RYUSHI STATION - PLATFORM - DUSKIt's late, and the base's exterior lighting casts yellow pools of light across the metal and concrete thoroughfares.  GUTTIEREZ and DE VRIES - a tough-looking Afrikaan woman with a think accent - looks uneasily about them. Another GROUP of PEOPLE with trackers and guns are searching around in the BACKGROUND.  Nearby, the vertical yellow column of a suspension-crane gantry towers high above.DE VRIESC'mon, man.  One more sweep.GUTTIEREZOne more sweep... one more sweep.  I'm getting tired of one more fuckin' sweep. We're been lookin' for this thing for three days now, and found zip.DE VRIESAh, quit griping.  Keeps you in shape doesn't it?GUTTIEREZHey!  I was in shape before we started doing this.DE VRIES pauses, listening to the sound from the surrounding forest.DE VRIESListen to that...GUTTIEREZ cocks his head and listens.  He has no idea what she means.GUTTIEREZListen to what?DE VRIESThat's what I mean.  This is the quietest I've ever heard it.  It's unnatural.GUTTIEREZ shivers in the wind as he looks out into the impenetrable blackness beyond the confines of the base.GUTTIEREZDe Vries?DE VRIESYeah?GUTTIEREZNext time you have a thought like that? Keep it to yourself.BREWSTER the dog stares in fascination at the rhinos through the meshwork fence of their pens.  The animals move around in agitation.  Not at her, but at something else...DE VRIESSomething spooking the rhinos?GUTTIEREZI dunno.EXT.  RYUSHI STATION - SWAMP LEVEL - DUSKPREDATOR-VISION. The rhino's, the dog, and the two humans can be seen way above on the platform's edge, bright red.Indistinct inside their camouflage cloaks, the small group of PREDATORS wade carefully through the water towards the base of the installation.INT.  RYUSHI STATION - PUMP ROOMDARKNESS.  DILLER and URIOSTE's VOICES heard O.S. in HUSHED TONES.  The scraping of METAL-ON-METAL.DILLERWhat is that...is that it?URIOSTENo.  I... think that's a regulator valve. Hold on.There's more NOISE.URIOSTE (CONT'D)Ah, got it...!About a dozen fluorescent strips ringing the small circular chamber illuminate.  Three others flicker erratically, one of them remaining unlit. DILLER waves the tracker cautiously around and keeps his pulse-rifle level. He enters, followed by URIOSTE.  She's carrying a portable - but bulky - piece of machinery.URIOSTEAre you getting anything?DILLER   (sarcastic)Yeah, eyestrain.  What's with the lights?URIOSTEThey're always like that.  Head-Office are real cheap when it comes to spares.  Wave that thing in the corner...DILLER sweeps the tracker carefully around.  The small screen registers nothing.DILLERThe room's clean.URIOSTEGreat.URIOSTE pulls at a two-piece hexagonal grating set in the center of the floor.  It's heavy and thick with grease, but she doesn't seem to mind. Below it is what looks like a round metal plug.  Recessed into its surface is a lever next to a central pressure valve, with handholds on either side.  She turns the lever.  There's a loud CLUNK, and a plume of steam JETS out of the valve.URIOSTE (CONT'D)Give me a hand with this.GRUNTING, the two of them pull the thick metal plug clear of the pit.  Murky water sloshes around below.  URIOSTE pulls a second lever, and hidden pumps make the water level drop rapidly.URIOSTE (CONT'D)Pass me over that tripod, will you?Leaning against the wall behind DILLER is a sturdy metal tripod topped with a block-and-tackle arrangement.  A hook dangles below this, it's thick metal cabling going up through the block-and-tackle and connecting to the drum of a small industrial winch attached securely to the wall.  DILLER hands the tripod over to URIOSTE.  She splays the legs apart and inserts their tips into matching holes around the open pit.EXT.  RYUSHI STATION - PLATFORM - DUSKGUTTIEREZ and DE VRIES walk over to the rhino pen, BREWSTER pulling at her leash.  GUTTIEREZ frowns at what he sees.  All the rhinos are nervously huddled together in the far corner.GUTTIEREZThat's real peculiar behavior.DE VRIES fingers a rough metal edge.DE VRIESHey, Guttierez?GUTTIEREZWhat?DE VRIESTake a look at this.GUTTIEREZ moves over for a closer look.  There's a torn hole in the meshwork, just big enough for a rhino to squeeze through.  Blood and fragments of skin coat the edge of the gap.GUTTIEREZOne of 'em must have escaped.DE VRIESThat's impossible, man.  This fence is high-tensile.  The breaking tolerance'd stand up to the strain of a rhino, easy. I know, I put it up.GUTTIEREZ shines the flashlight along the deck.  A trail of smeared blood runs all the way to the perimeter.  The surrounding fence has been buckled and twisted.  They cross to it and look down at the swamp.  The torch beam sparkles on the murky water far below.GUTTIEREZThere's no way a rhino'd survive that drop.DE VRIESGoldsmith's gonna be plenty pissed at losing one of her babies.GUTTIEREZThat's a fact.GUTTIEREZ' tracker starts to BLEEP.  He raises it excitedly.GUTTIEREZ (CONT'D)Whoa, wait a minute...DE VRIESWhat?GUTTIEREZJust got a reading...INT.  RYUSHI STATION - COMMAND CENTERMost of the lights in Admin are off, and the room's deserted.  PARSONS is seated away from his usual station at a console topped by ten monitor screens, each displaying a securi-cam picture.  He looks tired.  KAMEN comes up behind him carrying two mugs of coffee.KAMENHow's it going?PARSONSYeah, 'Good Evening' to you, too.He takes the coffee gratefully and sips at it.PARSONS (CONT'D)Today's party's finished their sweep, the relief team's out there now.  Everybody else is either asleep or running shift in the auto-shop.KAMENYou should hit the sack, too.PARSONSNah, I'll stick it out for another hour or so.KAMENWhat time's sundown?PARSONS'Bout five minutes.KAMENGive me a yell is something happens.PARSONSYou got it, cowboy.EXT.  RYUSHI STATION - PLATFORM - DUSKGUTTIEREZ sweeps the tracker slowly around, and BREWSTER begins to gently SNARL.  DE VRIES pulls on the dog's leash to quieten her.GUTTIEREZIt's up there somewhere...He shoulders his rifle.GUTTIEREZ (CONT'D)Come on.A metal ladder runs up the side of one of the base buildings.  GUTTIEREZ crosses to it and starts to climb the first few rungs.DE VRIESWhat?  Are you nuts?  Just the two of us?GUTTIEREZI've seen this mother, De Vries.  We can bag it, no problem.DE VRIESForget it, man.GUTTIEREZC'mon De Vries.  Think of the bonus.DE VRIESFuck the bonus.  I hate heights.  You wouldn't get me up there even if it wasn't night.GUTTIEREZ starts to climb the ladder.DE VRIESWhat the hell are you doing?GUTTIEREZHey, fair enough.  If you won't come, I'll handle it myself.DE VRIES runs her fingers through her hair in frustration.  Comes to a decision counter to what she wants to do...DE VRIESWait a minute!GUTTIEREZ stops climbing.DE VRIES (CONT'D)Alright, okay.  Look...GUTTIEREZWhat?DE VRIESI'll come with you.BREWSTER BARKS.  She drags the dog over to a metal stanchion and ties the leash around it.DE VRIES (CONT'D)But I'm going first...GUTTIEREZAnything you say, Mammacitta.She climbs around GUTTIEREZ and begins to ascend the ladder.  BREWSTER WHIMPERS and plaintively BARKS after them.EXT.  RYUSHI STATION - ROOFTOP LEVEL - DUSKThe rooftop is dark, mysterious.  Pieces of retrofitted junk can be seen in silhouette, edged in light from way below.  DE VRIES and GUTTIEREZ carefully step over the threshold.  They speak in WHISPERS.DE VRIESCareful of that edging there...GUTTIEREZYeah, I got it.Although we have an outstanding VIEW of the night lights of the base up here, the immediate gloom is impenetrable. DE VRIESWhere's that flashlight?By way of an answer, a powerful ray cuts a swathe through the air.  DE VRIES takes the torch from him and shines it on the ground.  Circular extractor fans rotate quietly in the gloom.DE VRIES (CONT'D)Still got him?GUTTIEREZIt's moving slow.  About... eleven metres. On the left.DE VRIES plays the flashlight across the rooftop.GUTTIEREZ (CONT'D)Little bit further...The beam comes to rest on a protruding piece of apparatus.  A short-range antennae, about seven feet wide.GUTTIEREZ (CONT'D)Yeah, yeah, yeah.  Right there, right behind the antennae.  I think we're got it cornered...EXT.  RYUSHI STATION - PLATFORM - DUSKHIROKO bends down to inspect a small plastic grating fitted flush with the roadway.  The broken grillework is melted outwards.  KAMEN and two other men - CALDWELL and THOMAS - stand behind.THOMASThe door to the food storage locker was smashed open.  It must have come straight out of here.HIROKO yawns.HIROKOAlright.  Keep your eyes peeled.She voices her concern to KAMEN.HIROKO (CONT'D)If it got out of the systems, it could be anywhere.EXT.  RYUSHI STATION - ROOFTOP LEVEL - DUSKIt's very quiet, and we can hear the NERVOUS BREATHING of GUTTIEREZ and DE VRIES as they cautiously stalk forward.GUTTIEREZHold it, hold it...DE VRIESWhat's wrong?GUTTIEREZI'm picking up another signal.DE VRIES looks around, unnerved.DE VRIESWhat?  Where?GUTTIEREZJust behind us, over to the right.DE VRIES shines her beam over the surface of the yellow crane to their rear, shifting her attention to-and-fro from it and the antennae.DE VRIESCan't see a thing.  Are you sure?GUTTIEREZYeah, I...The second blip on the small screen abruptly vanishes.GUTTIEREZ (CONT'D)Wait.  Lost it.DE VRIESHow?GUTTIEREZI dunno.  Might be a glitch.From behind the metal disc there comes a SHUFFLING SOUND, followed by a METALLIC THUNK.  This gets their attention.  The two of them halt in their tracks.DE VRIESOh, man.  That's no glitch!GUTTIEREZIt's alright, it's cool...DE VRIESIs it still moving?GUTTIEREZNo, he's stopped; he's totally still. Just take it nice and easy, babe.  Nice and easy...A small many-limbed SHAPE hurls itself from the confines of it's hiding place with a FERAL SHRIEK.  DE VRIES YELPS in surprise, and looses off a spray of bullets.EXT.  RYUSHI STATION - PLATFORM - DUSKHIROKO looks up, startled by the sound of GUNFIRE.  She sees the rooftop of one of the building modules lit by tracer fire.  BREWSTER's tethered nearby, BARKING furiously.INT.  RYUSHI STATION - PUMP ROOM - PUMP SHAFTA think metal cable connected to her jacket harness suspends URIOSTE in the gloom of the Pump Shaft.  In front of her is a machine-part we saw her carry earlier.  With the strap of a flashlight clenched in her mouth, she's just finishing up bolting the part to the larger piece of machinery in an alcove, with simultaneously doing her best not to touch the walls which are covered by a thin layer of gunge.The REPORT of DE VRIES' weapon can be heard even down here, perhaps more startling in the confined space.  URIOSTE jumps, dropping the flashlight into the water in the process.INT.  RYUSHI STATION - PUMP ROOMDILLER turns away from the winch and peers into and beyond the access tunnel leading outside.  URIOSTE's VOICE floats up out of the shaft. URIOSTE   (O.S., muffled)What was that?DILLER   (raising his voice)Something outside...EXT.  RYUSHI STATION - ROOFTOP LEVEL - DUSKThe wind whips at GUTTIEREZ as he blinks away his shock.GUTTIEREZHoly shit...DE VRIES keeps her torch beam on the moving shape.  It halts by the edge of the roof, and stares at them.DE VRIESOh, nice going, man!  It was a lemur! A goddamn lemur!GUTTIEREZ' radio headset CRACKLES to life.HIROKO   (O.S., on headset)Guttierez, what the hell's going on up there?GUTTIEREZUh... sorry about that, boss.  Everything's fine.  False alarm, that's all.DE VRIES glances around the rooftop, annoyed.DE VRIESHey, look; let's forget it.  There's nothing up here.PREDATOR-VISION.  DE VRIES in CLOSE-UP, glowing brightly.  Her VOICE replayed and distorted.PREDATOR   (O.S.)Nothing up here.  Nothing up here.INT.  RYUSHI STATION - PUMP ROOM - PUMP SHAFTURIOSTE's flashlight bobs up-and-down on the water below, still lit and well out of reach.URIOSTE    (disgustedly)Shit.DILLER   (O.S., muffled)What's the matter?URIOSTEI've dropped my torch into the water. Give me about... uh... a meter-and-a-half's worth of slack.DILLER   (O.S., muffled)Okay.INT.  RYUSHI STATION - PUMP ROOMDILLER crosses to the wall-mounted winch.  On the mechanism's side is a luminous digital counter giving the current cable depth in meters.  He pulls a throw-switch, and the display slowly changes from "8" to "9.5" as the cable feeds out.INT.  RYUSHI STATION - PUMP ROOM - PUMP SHAFTURIOSTE descends the dingy shaft, partially abseiling off the walls.  Her feet almost tread water.  She's down as far as she can go.URIOSTE (CONT'D)Whoa, whoa...INT.  RYUSHI STATION - PUMP ROOMURIOSTE's VOICE echoes up out of the pit.URIOSTE (CONT'D)  (O.S., muffled)That's enough.DILLER locks the winch-switch back into it's 'up' position.  The WHINE of the cable-feed stops immediately.INT.  RYUSHI STATION - PUMP ROOM - PUMP SHAFTURIOSTE stretches out to the floating lamp, flexing her fingers.  It's... just... about... in... reach...Six slender fingers EXPLODE from beneath the water's surface and clamp like a vise around URIOSTE's wrist.  A sleek eyeless head follows, trailing a body straight out of a charnel-house nightmare.  A SCREAM forms in her throat, rapidly cut-off as the ALIEN's other hand clamps firmly over her mouth, jerking her downwards.INT.  RYUSHI STATION - PUMP ROOMDILLER whirls in response to the CHOKED CRY from below.  He sees the winch tripod above the shaft RATTLE, the cable going taut as an angler's line. The wall-mounted drum is yanked so hard the lever leaps from it's 'clamped' position, freely unspooling cable at a frightening rate.  The digital counter flickers rapidly; "11...11.5...12...12.5...13..."  DILLER watches the tripod's tubular legs buckle and collapse under the tremendous strain.  He scrambles for the winch-lever and only just manages to lock it firmly into place; the over-stressed cable vibrating with a LOW METALLIC TWANG as it hits the shaft's edge.  DILLER's moment of satisfaction is short-lived; the deep-sunk bolts attaching the mechanism to the wall are pull outward by the colossal force from below.  He leaps aside, avoiding the heavy piece of machinery as it HURTLES towards him.  Watches it disappear noisily into the conduit.DILLERAnnie!DILLER's quivering fingers grope for his flashlight.DILLER (CONT'D)Annie!He feverishly reaches the shaft's edge and peers into the darkness.WHAT HE SEES.  The torchbeam picks out the biomechanical form of the ALIEN emerging from the sewage and effortlessly climbing the shaft walls towards him.  Recoiling in horror, he makes a run for the door.  Half-way there he remembers his pulse-rifle and dives to the floor, grasping it just as the ALIEN reaches the top.  DILLER fumbles with the safety and give the creature a full BLAST on rock-and-roll, BLASTING it back into the pit.EXT.  RYUSHI STATION - ROOFTOP LEVEL - DUSKGUTTIEREZ and DE VRIES hear the gunfire from below.GUTTIEREZThe hell was that?PREDATOR-VISION.  The PREDATOR's gaze SNAPS away from the two humans and down onto the platform below.  He watches the infra-red shapes of other people running towards the source of the shots...INT.  RYUSHI STATION - PUMP ROOMDILLER's on his feet and shakily heading for the exit as ANOTHER ALIEN's claws emerge from the exposed hole.  He races across the threshold and SLAMS the thin inner door closed.EXT.  RYUSHI STATION - PLATFORM - DUSKIn a HAND-HELD SHOT we're running with HIROKO's group along the narrow catwalk bridging the roadway to the Pump Room, KAMEN taking the lead.  DILLER sprints out of the building like a bat out of hell and collides with him. KAMENKev, wha...?DILLER breaks free of the other man's grasp.  He looks as if he's about to say something, but never gets the chance.There's a sound of TEARING METAL, and a HISSING seven-foot express train of teeth and biomechanical limbs ERUPTS from the shadows.EXT.  RYUSHI STATION - ROOFTOP LEVEL - DUSKPREDATOR-VISION.  Gazing down at the platform, an unseen hunter watches the swift black SHAPE of the ALIEN in amongst the group of humans...From the corner of her eye, DE VRIES sees something moving nearby.  She violently pulls GUTTIEREZ out of the path of the shimmering FORM that barges past them, launching itself from the rooftop. INT.  RYUSHI STATION - COMMAND CENTERPARSONS sits bolt upright in his chair as the scene outside is relayed to his bank of screens by an exterior securi-cam. PARSONSOh my God...EXT.  RYUSHI STATION - PLATFORM - DUSKWith superhuman strength, the ALIEN brutally back-hands DILLER, splintering his skull and killing him instantly.  His body caromes into THOMAS, knocking the man to the floor.  The ALIEN turns to KAMEN, it's questing fingers closing around his throat and hauling him off the ground.  The space on the catwalk it limited; there's so many people it's impossible to get a clean shot...HIROKOMove!  Get out of the way!HIROKO draws a bead on the ALIEN.  She flips off the safety on her rifle. It's the tiniest CLICK, but the ALIEN somehow senses danger.  It's skeletal tail lashes out, sending both her and the weapon flying.  CALDWELL gets in for his shot, but the tail's there in a second.  It strikes like a snake. Once.  Twice.  The stinger punctures CALDWELL's chest and throat.  Nobody could survive something like that...The ALIEN flicks it's skull back around to KAMEN.  The man's head is inches away from it's eyeless face...a row of burnished metal teeth open...the toothed inner tongue ready to strike...WHOOMPH.  Something lands heavily close-up, jarring the catwalk.  The ALIEN drops KAMEN and WHIRLS.  A spear wielded by an INVISIBLE FORM appears out of nowhere and PIERCES the ALIEN's midriff, spraying acidic fluid.  The creature emits a OUTRAGED SHRIEK and flails around, it's ubiquitous tail arcing toward the camouflaged assailant.  The STINGER makes contact:  there's a SPUTTERING SOUND as the PREDATOR's cloaking device begins to flicker spasmodically, giving us peek-a-boo glimpses of it's natural form.  Electrical sparks dance around the PREDATOR's ruin wrist-computer, luminous green blood welling from a wound in his arm...From out of the Pump Room comes more NOISE, like metal being trashed in a compactor.  HIROKO SCREAMS at KAMEN, who's COUGHING painfully next to the door panel.HIROKOGet the door!KAMEN hastily slaps the 'close' button and both halves of the exterior pressure bulkhead RUMBLE together.  A SECOND ALIEN appears from the shadows within and prises it's fingers into the dwindling gap, struggling for purchase.  Despite the ALIEN's best efforts, the door motors are too powerful and the opening seals with a satisfying solid CLUNK.  MUFFLED POUNDING comes from the other side.Nearby, THOMAS has retrieved CALDWELL's weapon in the heat of the fight and is bringing it to bear on the PREDATOR.  At the last possible moment HIROKO sees what he's about to do...HIROKONo!Reflexively, she knocks the barrel away as THOMAS looses a volley of shots.PREDATOR-VISION. The PREDATOR's speech analyser plays back her vocal patterns as white-hot bullets sear the night.PREDATORNo!PREDATOR-VISION.  SNAPPING IN for a closer look at her.PREDATOR (CONT'D)No!One of the ALIEN's hands clamps firmly onto the PREDATOR's mask and wrenches it off.  HIROKO stares at the PREDATOR's face in fascination.  From the distinctive features, we see that it's BROKEN TUSK.  The PREDATOR's good hand flashes down to his thigh, almost too quick to follow.  In one rapid movement a circular 'smart-weapon' is brought up, slicing the front of the ALIEN skull away from it's head.  In a feat of strength, the PREDATOR lifts his opponent's corpse on the end of the spear and hurls it over the catwalk railing...Not wasting a second, BROKEN TUSK performs an almost-vertical bound of some twenty feet with astounding grace.  He grips a pipe running down the side of one of the building modules, then clambers over the roof's edge and finally disappears from view.  BREWSTER continues to BARK frenetically. HIROKO's headset has been knocked to the floor and a FRANTIC MUTED VOICE is coming from it.  She picks it up, and presses the 'transmit' switch. HIROKO   (into headset)It's alright, Rob...INT.  RYUSHI STATION - COMMAND CENTERPARSONS listens to HIROKO, suddenly wide awake.  The morning shifts are starting to filter in, and it's obvious to them something's wrong...HIROKO (CONT'D)   (O.S., on speaker)Everything's under control.  Wait a second.EXT.  RYUSHI STATION - PLATFORM - DUSKTHOMAS is moving from DILLER to CALDWELL, checking them for signs of life. HIROKO catches his eye.HIROKO (CONT'D)Well?THOMAS shakes his head.  GUTTIEREZ and DE VRIES race across the platform to join the stunned survivors of the skirmish.  GUTTIEREZ bends down by DILLER's body.  THOMAS lays a hand on GUTTIEREZ' arm.THOMASCome on, man.  Leave it alone.GUTTIEREZOh, God.  Dear Lord Jesus...DE VRIESThis is like a bad dream, man.  A bad fucking dream.HIROKO thinks quickly, and comes to a decision.  She speaks into her radio headset.HIROKORob?  I want you to evac everybody from the non-connective modules into admin. That goes double for anybody...INT.  RYUSHI STATION - COMMAND CENTERHIROKO (CONT'D)  (O.S., on speaker)...already out here.  We're going to lock every bulkhead and seal the base.EXT.  RYUSHI STATION - PLATFORM - DUSKHIROKO turns her headset off and watches numerous rotating coloured lights dotted around the platform start to blink on-and-off.  KAMEN COUGHS a few more times.HIROKOAre you okay?KAMEN rubs his throat.  He nods.KAMENI'll survive.BREWSTER's BARKS cease, replaced instead with a TERRIFIED LOW WHINING.DE VRIESWhat's with the dog?GUTTIEREZ jogs over to BREWSTER.  Lowers his rifle to the ground and fumbles with the knot tying the dog to the pipe.GUTTIEREZHey; c'mon now, girl.  It's alright.  Let's just get this knot undone...A spray of plastic shards EXPLODES not three feet away from GUTTIEREZ.  The rifle goes skittering away out of reach, and he scrambles away as an ALIEN half-pulls itself out of the sewer overflow, wet and glistening...KAMENJan!BREWSTER's a mass of fur, totally out of control.  When the ALIEN lashes out to grab the HOWLING animal, there's nothing GUTTIEREZ can do.  BREWSTER's legs are the last thing we see, thrashing helplessly as she's dragged down into the splinter-edged gap.DE VRIESGet out of there, man!THOMAS grabs CALDWELL's rifle from the deck.  He races towards GUTTIEREZ, with DE VRIES close behind... THOMASCatch this!From behind comes the SOUND of more rupturing plastic as biomechanoid limbs struggle up out of newly-broken ducts.  THOMAS heaves the rifle over the heads of the emerging ALIENS.  Although GUTTIEREZ snags it awkwardly, he quickly turns the barrel on the relentless creatures.GUTTIEREZChew on this!DE VRIES races up to join them, SCREAMING as she fires.  KAMEN glances down at this tracker's tiny screen.  It shows clusters of signals, lots of them.KAMEN   (hollering)They're all around, they're in the drainage system!DE VRIES reacts swiftly, loosing a round of shots at the emerging ALIENS. GUTTIEREZ yells across to KAMEN.GUTTIEREZGet your ass out of here, boss!ALIENS are appearing everywhere.  From the overflow ducts; over the platform edges; along overhead cable supports.  Having taken on the genetic characteristics of their hosts, many of them are non-humanoid.  All of them are living nightmares.HIROKOOh my God...INT.  RYUSHI STATION - LIVING QUARTERSCASSIE brushes her teeth in front of the wall-mounted mirror of her tiny bathroom-cubicle.  A raucous emergency klaxon GOES OFF in the corridor outside.CASSIEShit.EXT.  RYUSHI STATION - PLATFORM FAR SIDE - DUSKTHOMAS, GUTTIEREZ, and DE VRIES are cut-off.  As they race swiftly down the street, GUTTIEREZ tries hard to interpret his tracker's signals.  A particularly loud BLEEP registers from a source immediately behind them.  He glances over his shoulder and sees an ALIEN crawling down the outside of a module towards them.GUTTIEREZDe Vries!DE VRIES' head turns.  She sees the ALIEN and nails it with a rapid burst. It falls onto the concrete nearby, writhing in it's death throes. The group round the corner of a building.  Across the street from them is parked KAMEN's crawler.GUTTIEREZ (CONT'D)Inside, inside!They scramble up into the cab.  GUTTIEREZ throws himself into the driver's seat.  An ALIEN sprints at the crawler with bared teeth.  THOMAS looses a shot, blasting it backward into a Pepsi sign.THOMASYo' momma, boneface!DE VRIES   (to Guttierez)C'mon, man; punch this cow!GUTTIEREZ fumbles at the ignition.  They keys are there.  He flips them, and the engine GROWLS to life.EXT.  RYUSHI STATION - CRANE CATWALK - DUSKPREDATOR-VISION.From way up here, we've got an outstanding view of the humans running across the platform...Crouching on a bright-yellow catwalk, BROKEN TUSK presses closed a panel on the small container balanced on his knee.  Inside it are rows of metal instruments with a pristine surgical quality about them.  BROKEN TUSK flexes his hand experimentally.  Satisfied, he clips the medical kit onto his back before getting to his feet.Standing around him are several other PREDATORS.  All but one have their camouflage cloaks activated.  The SOUND of GUNFIRE way across the station draws their attention...EXT.  RYUSHI STATION - PLATFORM - DUSKHIROKO and KAMEN bolt towards an external hatch, with KAMEN laying down a field of covering fire on full-automatic.  The blaze of light from the rifle's barrel abruptly stops.HIROKOWhat?KAMENI'm out of ammo.  Get inside, get inside!HIROKO hears a HORRIBLE NOISE nearby.  A field of cows being slaughtered by machetes would sound like this.HIROKOThey're in with the rhino!EXT.  RYUSHI STATION - RHINO PEN - DUSKAn ALIEN is SMASHED sideways into the one solid wall of the pen, broadsided and instantly crushed by a ton of FRENZIED rhino.  It's yellow blood eats into the weighty quadruped, eliciting ANGUISHED BELLOWS of pain from the hapless creature.ALIEN stingers slice through the air.  Rhinos try to bolt but are intercepted by inhumanly powerful forces.  It's wholesale carnage.PREDATOR-VISION.We're moving swiftly along the rooftops and surveying the melee below, lessening the distance with each second...Several indefinable FIGURES plunge into the fray, creating anarchy within the ALIENS' ranks.  The biomechanoids HISS with fury as the PREDATORS join battle against them...EXT.  RYUSHI STATION - PLATFORM - DUSKAn ALIEN hurls itself through the air and onto the speeding crawler's roof.INT.  CRAWLER - DUSKKER-CHUNK!  The cab's occupants react as the thin roof buckles slightly. Skeletal fingers SLICE through, RIPPING at the metal like a can-opener.DE VRIESJesus!THOMAS raises his rifle and looses a fusillade of shots through the roof. One of them RICOCHETS off the interior, SHATTERING the windscreen.  There's a THUMP from outside...DE VRIES (CONT'D)You got 'im!Their triumph is short-lived.  Globules of yellow acid perforate the roof like Swiss cheese, dripping down on them.  GUTTIEREZ floors the brakes.  The crawler swings through ninety degrees before SCREECHING to a halt. INT.  RYUSHI STATION - COMMAND CENTERCASSIE enters admin at a run.  Before, it was empty.  Now it's sheer chaos. She shoves her way through dozens of grim-faced people.  PARSONS is standing at a console, YELLING into his headset.PARSONSSeal everything now!CASSIEWhat's happening?PARSONSCassie, thank Christ!  We're under attack.CASSIEWe're what!?York races in, SHOUTING above the clamor.YORKThe son-of-bitches got into 'E' wing! They're ripping it apart!PARSONSFuck!  Somebody get over there with some guns!  Now!CASSIE watches the scene unfolding on the banks of monitors.  PEOPLE mouthing unheard words into camera.  Bursts of STATIC.  Fleeting glimpses of nightmarish SHAPES darting across the picture...CASSIEHow many of them are there?PARSONSToo many.EXT.  RYUSHI STATION - PLATFORM FAR SIDE - DUSKGUTTIEREZ' group hurriedly exits the crawler.  A cloud of acrid smoke rapidly fills the cabin.DE VRIES   (coughing)Move it, man!The dead ALIEN's corpse tumbles through the acid-eaten hole, falling into the cab's rear seat and promptly burning through that as well. Not far away across the platform, the massive doors to the auto-shop hanger are RUMBLING slowly closed...GUTTIEREZ   (shouting)Hold the doors, hold the doors!They don't hear him.  The doors seal with a BOOM of finality.DE VRIESOver there, on the right!THOMAS sees the two ALIENS nimbly climbing the platform's edge.  He squeezes off about five shots, managing to kill the FIRST ALIEN...THOMASThese bastards ain't so tough!******************************** PAGE 70 MISSING ********************************THOMAS looks concernedly at GUTTIEREZ.THOMASIs that thing working?GUTTIEREZ takes off the headset and scrutinises it closely.GUTTIEREZShit!  The casing's cracked!DE VRIES rips her headset off and urgently passes it to him.DE VRIESUse mine.  Channel twenty-six.EXT.  RYUSHI STATION - PLATFORM - DUSKDespite their ferocity and weapons, it's clear that the small group of PREDATORS are being overrun by the ALIEN horde. BROKEN TUSK's shoulder cannon swivels automatically, blowing away another attacker.  Hearing a distinctive SCREAM, he looks across the platform.  One of the PREDATORS, it's camouflage cloak flickering intermittently, is trying to resist being dragged down into a duct.  The two ALIENS in either side plunge their tail-stingers into the PREDATOR's body, making it CRY OUT in agony.INT.  RYUSHI STATION - CORRIDORSPumped up with adrenalin, KAMEN reaches an intersection and encounters a harrowing tableau.  An ALIEN blocks his way on the other side of a corridor bulkhead, holding a STRUGGLING MAN above the floor.  It's piston-like tongue shoots into the MAN's skull, spraying gore.The ALIEN sees KAMEN, and it's mouth twists into a bloody SNARL.  Both KAMEN and the ALIEN lunge forward together, but KAMEN's got the edge by a split-second.  He STRIKES a bright red switch and the overhead pressure bulkhead SLAMS down and locks into place.  His breathing is heavy as he slowly backs away from the hatch...EXT.  RYUSHI STATION - PLATFORM FAR SIDE - DUSKThe two ALIENS THOMAS killed must have been the scout party.  Others appear, more cautiously this time...DE VRIESHurry up and figure that thing out, man!GUTTIEREZ is desperately trying to operate the tiny plastic microswitches on the headset with his fingernails.GUTTIEREZWhat?THOMASWe've got company!THOMAS brings his weapon to bear and pulls on the trigger.  He gets off one shot, then nothing more happens.  He looks at the counter on the side.  It reads 'zero'.THOMAS (CONT'D)Shit, I'm dry!  You're up!DE VRIES raises her rifle.  She aims, and...CLICK.DE VRIESI'm jammed!THOMASYou're what?!She works the manual slide.DE VRIESIt's locked solid...THOMASQuick, give me the clip!DE VRIES fumbles the ammunition clip from her rifle.  It falls from her hands onto a plastic overflow grate.  THOMAS leaps after it...about a second too late.  It slips through the narrow gap, gone for good.THOMAS (CONT'D)Oh, Lord!  Please, no!  Not now!INT.  RYUSHI STATION - EXECUTIVE OFFICEHIROKO enters her office at a run.  She crosses to an inset control box on the far wall and presses a button.  Two exterior panels begin to slide closed behind the polycarbonate window.KERSMASH!  Fracture lines appear on the toughened plastic as it comes under assault from the razor-edge tip of an ALIEN's tail.  In shock, HIROKO reflexively falls backwards onto the floor, scrambling away.  She watches the creature precariously balancing on the this ledge outside, fighting against the closing shutters with simultaneously raining repeated blows on the window with it's tail.The ALIEN leaps through the gap as the window gives way under the onslaught, showering splinters across the room.  The twin shutters secure behind it, closing on the creatures tail in the process.  It HISSES in indignation and thrashes about.  Like a lizard, the segmented tail SNAPS in two.  The freed ALIEN staggers a little before gaining balance, blood dripping from the laceration and penetrating the wooden floorboards.  It sights HIROKO and hurls itself in her direction, an unstoppable killing machine...HIROKOHolo on!Her VOICE quavers so badly with fear and panic, it's a wonder the computer can recognize it.  FOUR NINJA SWORDSMEN promptly appear, forming a semi-circle between HIROKO and the ALIEN.  The ALIEN halts, confused by this intrusion. It swipes at the pre-programmed holograms, bewildered by the lack of contact as it's claws pass through them.Gaining on a few seconds of bought time, HIROKO flings herself towards the PREDATOR spear lying forgotten nearby.  The ALIEN locks in on this sudden movement and charges through the holograms at her.  HIROKO GRUNTS, swinging the spear with her full strength...She's no super-athlete, but the cutting edge's advanced metallurgy does the job.  It slices half-way through the ALIEN's skull and sticks there, spewing yellow fluid everywhere.  HIROKO beats a hasty retreat as the dying biomechanoid falls to the floor, fumbling at the lodged weapon...INT.  RYUSHI STATION - CORRIDORSHIROKO reels into the outside corridor.  She SHRIEKS as her shoulders are seized from behind...KAMENCome on!HIROKO looks at KAMEN confusedly as he continues along the corridor.HIROKOThat's the wrong way!KAMENDetour.  Other way's blocked...EXT.  RYUSHI STATION - PLATFORM FAR SIDE - DUSKBack outside, the ALIENS have sensed that something's amiss.  DE VRIES turns desperately to GUTTIEREZ.DE VRIESYou got any slugs left?GUTTIEREZ looks down at the counter on his slung weapon.GUTTIEREZYeah.  Uh...DE VRIES rips the weapon off his shoulder.  GUTTIEREZ completes his sentence.GUTTIEREZ (CONT'D)...Seven.BLAM!  BLAM!  BLAM!  DE VRIES tries to make each shot count.  She sights an ALIEN crawling across the top of a group of cylindrical storage containers. Draws a bead on the metal tank and fires...A molten ball EXPLODES outward, transforming the immediate vicinity into a blazing inferno.  The ALIEN's body twists end-over-end, remaining immobile as it hits the deck.  A curtain of fire ripples across the platform...THOMASYes!Their victory is short-lived.  The other ALIENS crawl cautiously forward, flames licking their faces but leaving them unharmed.  We can clearly hear the HISSING of their internal jaws.DE VRIESTry again, man...The headset in GUTTIEREZ' hand BLEEPS as it turns into the correct channel. He YELLS into it...GUTTIEREZMatt!  Open these damn doors right now, I'll ream your ass so bad these things out here'll seem like the Easter Bunny in comparison!  Swear to God!THOMAS turns and hammers on the impenetrable plate metal.THOMASOpen the doors!  Open the goddamned fucking doors!BLAM!  BLAM!  BLAM!  CLICK.  GUTTIEREZ' bullets are gone.DE VRIESThat's it!  We're dead!The first of the ALIENS rushes at them.  This is the end.  DE VRIES SCREAMS...There's a blinding flash, and most of the ALIEN's head vaporises.  GUTTIEREZ blinks is disbelief as hazy SHAPES comprised of refracted fire suddenly occupy the killing ground between the HUMAN and ALIEN antagonists.  Intense bursts of light illuminate the platform as hi-tech PREDATOR weaponry far in advance of the humans' sears the air...GUTTIEREZ turns at the SOUND of the huge metal doors GRINDING slowly open. Just enough for them to get through.GUTTIEREZMove!INT.  RYUSHI STATION - AUTO-SHOPTHOMAS pushes DE VRIES through the opening, with GUTTIEREZ hurriedly following.The Auto-shop is a large spacious workshop with three bays lining one wall. The front of a crawler pokes from one of them, while in the center of the room another crawler is raised above a maintenance-pit on a hydraulic platform.  A handful of GREASE MONKEYS stands around the doorway, brandishing power-tools in lieu of firearms.  A blonde surfer-type with long stragglyhair rushes over to them.  This is MATT, their savior.MATTClose it up, close it up!GUTTIEREZ stares through the narrow opening as the doors seal back up.  In the midst of the flames, the ALIENS are fighting a pitched battle tooth-and-nail with their unseen opponents.  It's like a scene out of Hell.INT.  RYUSHI STATION - CORRIDORSClusters of rotating emergency lights wig-wag above HIROKO and KAMEN as they flee through the maze of long corridors leading to the Command Center.  KAMEN is falling behind as they approach a junction.HIROKOHurry it up.KAMENDon't wait for me!HIROKO and KAMEN race along the final corridor leading to the Command Center. Halfway down, KAMEN turns in response to a JARRING SOUND from the rear.  The metal grating making up the floor is SMASHED violently from beneath.KAMENRun!INT.  RYUSHI STATION - COMMAND CENTERThe PANDEMONIUM from the outside corridors gets the attention of YORK and everybody else in admin.  He crosses to the bulkhead doorframe, and what he sees makes his eyes bug.YORKJesus Christ!He SHOUTS back into the crowded room.YORK (CONT'D)They're inside, inside the corridor!INT.  RYUSHI STATION - CORRIDORHIROKO and KAMEN try to outrun the tidal wave of twisted and broken steel that emerges in their wake.  KAMEN YELLS with fright as an ALIEN claw pinions his ankle.  He trashes about, clutching at anything to prevent himself being dragged beneath the floor.  CRYING OUT is pain as slivers of edged metal slice into his hands...HIROKO  (anguished)No!INT.  RYUSHI STATION - COMMAND CENTERYORK stands frozen at the bulkhead frame, staring down the corridor in horror.  CASSIE races up and pushes him out of the way...INT.  RYUSHI STATION - CORRIDORHIROKO looks furiously around.  Spying an emergency axe in it's wall housing, she SMASHES the glass with her elbow, cutting herself in the process.  HIROKO hefts the heavy tool, swinging it down onto the disappearing ALIEN's carapace with all her might...HIROKO (CONT'D)Bastard!The blade bites deep, and yellow blood bursts from the threshing ALIEN's wound.  Speckles of it dot KAMEN's leg, eating through the material of his trousers and into the skin and muscle beneath.  He SCREAMS, a sound of pure intense pain...HIROKO hurls the axe aside.  She begins pulling KAMEN out of the hole as the caustic liquid seeps into the nearby electrical conduit.  There's a SPARKING, followed by a FLASH and a SHEET OF FLAME.  CASSIE steps through into the corridor, just as valves evenly-spaced along the length of the tunnel open up, jetting white high-density foam under extreme pressure.  The hatch to the Command Center at the far end begins to close...HIROKOCassie...!CASSIE's head shoots around.INT.  RYUSHI STATION - COMMAND CENTERYORK seizes a metal chair from behind a nearby console and wedges it into the narrowing divide.  CASSIE squeezes through the gap and urgently HOLLERS to HIROKO...CASSIEIt you don't... uh!... move your ass, you're gonna need a helluva diet to get through here!INT.  RYUSHI STATION - COMMAND CENTERfrom CASSIE's P.O.V. we watch HIROKO supporting KAMEN and stumbling him along.  Foam fills three-quarters of the corridor to their rear and is nearly up to their knees everywhere else.  The chair's frame CREAKS ominously in protest...YORKHurry up, we're losing it!CASSIE's eyes widen in terror...CASSIEBehind you!HIROKO turns to see the long, phallic head of an ALIEN emerge momentarily from out of the foam.  Something yanks at KAMEN and he disappears beneath the surface with an expression of pained surprise...HIROKOKamen!HIROKO starts to thrash at the foam, but CASSIE reaches out and drags her away.CASSIEIt's too late!HIROKONooooo!The chair begins to buckle, collapsing in on itself...YORKIt's going!With a supreme effort, CASSIE yanks HIROKO through the gap.  YORK vaults clear as the chair SNAPS in two, leaving the bulkhead to THUNDER closed. The two women collapse in a heap on the floor.EXT.  RYUSHI STATION - PLATFORM - DUSKThe battle outside is going badly for the PREDATORS.  There's only three of them left, and one is BROKEN TUSK.A projectile WHISTLES through the air towards an ALIEN, expanding in flight into a wire capture net.  Barbed tips on each corner bite into the wall of a base module, trapping the enraged creature.  Small motors WHINE as the thin metal pulls inward, slicing into the ALIEN's body... The PREDATOR savors the scene for just a second...which is a second too long. ALIENS are all over him, clawing and ripping at his body.  The shoulder-mounted plasma-cannon is unceremoniously yanked away and CLATTERS to the floor.The PREDATOR goes down, groping for the self-destruct system on his wrist. He manages to stroke a fingernail across the activation bar, but gets no further.  An ALIEN pounces at him, it's tail descending.  The PREDATOR raises his arm in reflex, but the stinger SMASHES straight through the buries it in his face-plate, taking out the wrist-computer in the process.INT.  RYUSHI STATION - COMMAND CENTERHIROKO stares at the closed bulkhead with an expression of dazed disbelief.PARSONSMiss Noguchi?No reaction.  He tries again.PARSONS (CONT'D)Miss Noguchi!HIROKO snaps out of it.  She crosses over to the bank of monitoring screens.HIROKOWhat's the story?PARSONS runs through each of the screens.PARSONSEverything on this module is locked and sealed.  We've lost 'B', 'C', and 'E' wings, but 'E' was the only one we didn't manage to totally evacuate.HIROKOHow many... how many people are missing?CASSIEUnconfirmed reports of eighteen or so far, but the numbers are all over the place.HIROKOWhat's our weapons situation?DRISCOLL - a big guy with a beard - LAUGHS curtly.DRISCOLLShit!  Our armory's a big blue box from the back shelf of stores.  We got about two clips left for an autoloader, and that's it.HIROKOAuto-shop?CASSIEAuto-shop's sealed, but those boys are cut-off.HIROKOHas anybody talked to them?CASSIENot yet.HIROKODo it.EXT.  RYUSHI STATION - ROOFTOPS - DUSKBROKEN TUSK and the other PREDATOR scramble up onto the rooftop in a bid to escape their unstoppable opponents.  Back-to-back, they take up fighting positions.  A few seconds later, the first of the ALIENS arrives.Both the PREDATORS' shoulder cannons blaze, firing volley-after-volley. Still the ALIENS keep on coming, finally reaching the point where it's hand-to-hand...and nothing else.It's a vicious, fast, and bloody on both sides.  BROKEN TUSK takes flight; his companion is not as lucky.  The other PREDATOR kicks an ALIEN from him and over the roof's edge.  The ALIEN lashes out with lightning-fast reflexes, pulling the PREDATOR with it.  Both creatures hurtle downward and hit a nest of cabling stretched across from one of the modules.  Caught like flies in a spider's web.  Both thrash about, severing cables as they do.  Electrical sparks CRACKLE through the air...INT.  RYUSHI STATION - COMMAND CENTEREverything electrical in the Command Center flickers momentarily, and the bank of monitors turn to static.  There's an instant of silence collective concerns amongst those gathered there.DRISCOLLWhat the hell...?PARSONSDon't panic, people.  We've just switched over to internals.HIROKOThey knocked out the external feeds.PARSONSLooks like it.CASSIEThirty six hours?PARSONS nods.PARSONSGive or take.CASSIEWe're not gonna make it, are we?HIROKOGet the auto-shop on-line.PARSONS shakes his head.PARSONSCommunications to auto-shop go through an F.O. link off the main trunk.  That's down with the other feeds.HIROKOWell... try the headset.INT.  RYUSHI STATION - AUTO-SHOPSpirits are low in the auto-shop.MATTI'm tellin' you, it's impossible.  Nothing can grow and reproduce this fast.THOMASYeah.  Right.  You wanna go outside and tell them that?DE VRIESWhat's keeping those fucking Marines, man? They should'a been here by now!THOMAS lashes out at an empty can, kicking it noisily across the floor.THOMASMaybe they ain't coming.  Maybe they don't even know we've got problems...GUTTIEREZI don't wanna hear that kind of crap, Thomas.  They're coming.  Just a matter of time, that's all...GUTTIEREZ' headset lies nearby.  PARSONS muted VOICE comes out of it.  One of the GREASE MONKEY's snatches it up and listens.GREASE MONKEYYo!  Guttierez!INT.  RYUSHI STATION - COMMAND CENTERPARSONSThrough now.HIROKOJan, it's Hiroko.  What sort of shape are you in down there?GUTTIEREZ   (O.S., on speaker)Pretty damn good shape, considering.  You can tell Don Kamen from me his people have got balls of steel.HIROKOKamen didn't make it, Jan.There's a pregnant PAUSE from the speakers.HIROKO (CONT'D)Jan?GUTTIEREZ   (O.S., on speakers)Yeah.  I... we're still here.  We're all... uh... all sorry to hear that.HIROKOCan you make it back?GUTTIEREZ   (O.S., on speakers)Uh... I'd say that was a negative.  If we open the doors, those things are gonna swarm inside.  There's another problem, too.HIROKOWhat's that?GUTTIEREZ   (O.S., on speakers)De Vries put a round through the storage tanks over by the west pier on the way in here.  Right now, the stuff sprayin' out is just burnin' up, but if we get a blow-back, a good part of the station could go with it.CASSIEOh, man...HIROKOAlright, let's keep calm.  We've got to have an option of some sort... there's got to be a way out of this.YORKOh yeah?  Like what?YORK's kept quiet, but everyone turns to him now.  His tone is scathing and cuts to the marrow.CASSIEWell, what about those other things outside; those warriors?  Maybe we can cut some kind of deal...YORK looks around at them in incredulous disbelief.******************************** PAGE 84 MISSING ********************************INT.  RYUSHI STATION - AUTO-SHOPMATT walks nervously around, holding the headset.  Everybody's eyes are on him.MATTWell, it occurred to me that we could use the overhead crane to load the admin module onto the back of Big Bertha.  That way we could put a bit of distance...INT.  RYUSHI STATION - COMMAND CENTERMATT (CONT'D)   (O.S., on speakers)...Between us and the station.  Least 'till the guys from Fort Powell arrive.HIROKOThat sounds promising.  Can we operate the crane from here?DRISCOLLNah.  It's got programmable facilities, but it was never rigged for remote operation.  Someone'd have to go up to the cab to get it up and running.HIROKOWhich mean physically going outside.DRISCOLL looks around uneasily.DRISCOLLYeah.INT.  RYUSHI STATION - COMMAND CENTER - LOWER DECKA small group of people, most of whom we saw in the Command Center, are clustered around a section of the poorly-lit maintenance corridor.  HIROKO's wearing a black hi-tech catsuit, a fetishist's dream.  Across her shoulder is a pistol in a slung bandolier holster.  She nods at a pile of clothing in DRISCOLL's hands.HIROKOIs this the suit?DRISCOLLUh-huh.She takes it from him.  Slides her legs into the bottom half and pulls it up.  YORK watches with an expression of incredulity etched on his face.YORKThis is fuckin' lunacy!  You're not gonna make it across the platform on foot!CASSIEShut up, York.HIROKONo, he's right.  Has anyone got a bike near here?A REDHEADED GIRL looks around hesitantly, then raises her voice.REDHEADED GIRLI have.HIROKOLet me have the keys.The GIRL rummages in her pockets and throws the keys over.  HIROKO puts them in a pocket on the suit's sleeve.HIROKO (CONT'D)Which one is it?REDHEADED GIRLUh... the Hyundai racer.  Yellow and black stripes.YORKOh, yeah.  Real inconspicuous...HIROKOListen, I don't care if it's pink and purple polka-dots as long as it gets me there in one piece.  Somebody loan me a headset.CASSIE pulls off hers and hands it over.  DRISCOLL's watching HIROKO fasten up the suit.  He spots a mistake.DRISCOLLNo, go back.  Second clasp from the bottom.HIROKO finds the offending clasp and locks it.HIROKOHow much air-time have I got?CASSIEAbout thirty minutes.  Those are slimmed-down tanks, so no stopping to admire the scenery.HIROKODeal.CASSIEWe've dumped the whole data-base from one of the cleaning remotes into the helmet. It'll project the route through the sewer system onto the inside of the glass as you go.DRISCOLLYeah, I stripped down a motion tracker and hardwired it through to the helmet pick-ups, too.  That's also on the display.HIROKOSounds great.PARSONSIt's not all good news.  We had to take off the helmet lights.  You'll be going in blind.HIROKOWhat?  Why?DRISCOLLWe had to.  They were just too cumbersome for some of the conduits you're gonna have to negotiate.  Besides, all the crap floating around reduces visibility to the extent where I doubt having helmet lights would have make that much difference, anyway.  Maintenance lights down there oughta be enough to do the trick.HIROKOHow tight are these shafts?CASSIE and DRISCOLL exchange worried looks.CASSIETight.  We chose a route we felt would reduce the chance of you running into any Aliens.HIROKO takes a deep breath.  Beads of perspiration dot her forehead.  PARSONS nods.PARSONSThere's still time to back-out.HIROKOForget it.  I wouldn't ask somebody to do something I wouldn't do myself.  Where's the disk?PARSONS hands over a vinyl-wrapped packet.PARSONSDon't lose it.HIROKO slips it into a breast-pocket and secures the flap.HIROKODon't worry.  I won't.DRISCOLL hands several metallic objects to HIROKO.DRISCOLLHere.  If you got to use 'em, make 'em count.They're magazines for her gun.  She slots them into the bandolier.HIROKOThanks.PARSONSLet's just run through it one more time so I know you've got it straight.HIROKOOkay, I pull the access panel off of the console.  Insert the disk, and press the green enabling button...PARSONS   (interrupting)No.  There's two of them.She pulls on the zip and begins locking the harness clasps into place.HIROKOSorry.  Two green enabling buttons...PARSONSRight.  When you've done that, don't waste any time getting out of there.  Once that crane starts moving...well, it's bound to provoke some kind of response.YORK hands over a sophisticated-looking power-tool.YORKYou'll need this for the gratings. Trigger finger to operate, thumb button to switch over to the rivet gun.  The sensors'll choose blade or socket heads automatically.HIROKORight.   (long beat)   Okay, I'm set.YORK and DRISCOLL lower the massive dome-fronted helmet over HIROKO's head. Auto-clasps lock into place as it brackets with the collar.  PARSONS clips the slimline air-tank to her back, and DRISCOLL makes the connections. PARSONSAlright, let's open her up.  Carefully, now...CASSIE and the others hold their weapons and motion-trackers steadily at a fixed point on the ground.  Two ONLOOKERS bend down to the pressure-hatch beneath the floor-grating.  It's identical to the one DILLER and URIOSTE removed earlier.  A plume of pressurised gas jets into the air, and they pull the metal sealing-plug free.  CASSIE scrutinizes her tracker...CASSIEAll clear...HIROKO reaches up to her helmet and presses a chunky button on one side.HIROKO's P.O.V.We're looking through the transparent bowl of the helmet at the open shaft, braken water SLOSHING around it's rim.  Superimposed lines of glowing neon appear on the visor's surface, a precisely overlaid duplication of the scene in computer-graphic form.  A flatly-synthesised maleCOMPUTER VOICE comes over the helmet speakers, O.S.COMPUTER VOICE   (O.S., on speakers)Approaching 'A' module lower level venturiduct DS Oh-four...HIROKO gets down on her hands and knees and crawls towards the opening.  She stares at the murky water with mounting apprehension.  Tries to reassure herself.HIROKOOkay.  Okay.She looks around at the impassive, staring faces.  Summoning up her courage, she submerges the helmet...HIROKO'S P.O.V.The pale illumination of the lower level deck-lights gives way to absolute nothingness; a stygian nightmare.  She SHUDDERS with horror and pulls her head free.HIROKO (CONT'D)Oh...!  Oh, God...She WIPES frenetically at the slickly-coated visor, breathing heavily. Worried hands grab her.CASSIEAre you alright?PARSONSWhat?  What's wrong?  What is it?HIROKO's eyes dart around, speaking volumes.  She swallows hard and calms down.HIROKOIt's alright.  I'm okay.Steeling herself, she takes a deep breath and plunges headfirst into the water once more...HIROKO's P.O.V.Everything goes to blackness again.  The head-up-display presents a view of the unseen tunnel in cheerful candy-apple hues.COMPUTER VOICE   (O.S., on speakers)Entering venturi duct, en route to secondary overflow sump DS oh four slash eleven...YORK watches HIROKO's feet disappear into the shaft.PARSONSSeal it.The heavy sealing-plug is dragged across the grating and positioned over the hole.  YORK shakes his head.YORKSuicide run, man.  Fuckin' suicide run.INT.  RYUSHI STATION - SEWER SYSTEM - VENTURI DUCTCASSIE wasn't kidding about the venturi-duct.  It's only about half-again as wide as HIROKO.  The only illumination comes from the hazy circle above.  As the plug reseals the hole, even that's gone.Something flickers.  Two weak fluorescent tubes come on, lighting the murk with a faint orange haze.CASSIE   (O.S. on speakers)All the comforts of home.HIROKOThanks, Cassie.CASSIE   (O.S., on speakers)Don't mention it.She inches her way through the narrow space towards us, breathing heavily. The CLICKING of the motion-tracker in her helmet is overwhelming in the  silence...EXT.  RYUSHI STATION - ANTENNA ARRAY - NIGHTThe station's massive antenna array is being transformed.  Otherworldly shapes comprised of surreal creatures and protrusions are starting to cover it's surface.  ALIENS drop from dizzying heights, exuding streams of gelatinous gunk from the four 'exhaust' pipes on their backs.  They're building a nest of staggering proportions.Unnoticed by the busy biomechanoids, faint sparks flicker from the crane catwalk high above...EXT.  RYUSHI STATION - CRANE CATWALK - NIGHTBROKEN TUSK sits on the catwalk floor, a small shower of sparks lighting his face.  He's attempting to repair his broken wrist computer with an intricate tool.  He removes it and presses a switch.  The display glows briefly, then fades.  He inserts it again.  Electrical sparks CRACKLE across the computer's fascia, before burning out.  BROKEN TUSK throws the ruined machine away in disgust.INT.  RYUSHI STATION - AUTO-SHOPFrom our P.O.V. high up near the roof of the auto-shop we see THOMAS sitting on the raised hydraulic platform.  He GRUNTS as he pulls a valve on the crawler's underside.Across the room, the second crawler RUMBLES out of the far bay.  One of the GREASE MONKEYS walks slowly backwards, waving it on.GREASE MONKEYOkay.  Back.  Back.  Little bit more...He steps into a pool of slippery residue and loses his footing.GREASE MONKEY (CONT'D)Whoa...shit!The man crouches and runs a finger through the colorless goo on the floor. Scowls first, then frowns.  It's sticky.Over near the doors, MATT exhales deeply on a cigarette.  DE VRIES is nearby, listening attentively as GUTTIEREZ gets a message on his helmet.GUTTIEREZShe just set off!MATT claps his hands together - just once - to get everybody's attention.MATTOkay, people.  Let's hustle...There's a SCREAM from behind.  They wheel around in time to see the GREASE MONKEY being tugged into the maintenance opening.  THOMAS yells down from the platform.THOMASThey're comin' up through the pit!A box with two large buttons - one green, one red - dangles from the ceiling on the end of a cable.  MATT forces down the red control, making the platform lower.  Several tons of machinery and crawler bring about the demise of the ALIENS as they reach the lip of the opening, CRUSHING their chitinous limbs to smithereens.An ALIEN rolls out of the pit in time, scrambling for the safety of the nearby shadows.  DE VRIES sights it.DE VRIESOver there!One of the MEN has seen it.  His head snaps up to a mammoth engine-block suspended from a winch high above.  He LEAPS for the release-catch as the ALIEN passes underneath.  Pulls hard on the grip.  Chains RATTLE noisily as the block THUNDERS down.  The ALIEN begins to look up, just a second too late.  The heavy piece of machinery SMASHES into the creature, flattening it instantly.Unseen by anybody, another ALIEN has escaped to the roof of the platform-bound crawler.  It wraps it's long, bony fingers around the face of the MAN, stifling his CRIES and pulling him off the deck.  The LOUD CLATTERING of his chainsaw bouncing off the floor-grating gets THOMAS' attention.THOMASMother-fucker!THOMAS retrieves the fallen tool and jams the 'on' switch hard.  The ALIEN's tongue shoots through the GREASE MONKEY's skull, showering THOMAS with a faint speckling of blood.  The ALIEN discards the body and lunges at THOMAS, who counters bringing the chainsaw up.The blade slices into the creature's throat, and up through it's head. THOMAS draws out the chainsaw quickly.  Something happens to the PITCH of the blade, a peculiar sound...The acid eats through the links of the chainsaw band.  Like a metallic snake, it WHIPS off it's supporting frame.Straight at THOMAS.INT.  RYUSHI STATION - SEWER SYSTEM - VENTURI DUCTHIROKO elbows her way further through the cramped water-filled duct.  A wide grille directly in her path blocks further headway.HIROKO'S P.O.V.  Green neon flashes in her display, with accompanying notations.COMPUTER VOICE   (O.S., on speakers)Progress to secondary overflow sump DS oh-four slash eleven impeded.  Grating must be removed to facilitate entry...HIROKO   (into headset)Okay, I'm at the first access grate.CASSIE's VOICE is a little less clear now, with traces of STATIC drifting in...CASSIE  (O.S., on speakers)Copy that.  Be careful, now.HIROKOYou betcha.She places the tip of her power-tool over the first of the grille's anchoring bolts.  The complex mechanism WHINES as it selects the correct wrench-tip for the job...INT.  RYUSHI STATION - COMMAND CENTERPARSONS races up to the GIRL manning the communication console.PARSONSWhat is it?GIRLAuto-shop.INT.  RYUSHI STATION - AUTO-SHOP- CRAWLER CABINTHOMAS is laid-out in the back seat of the crawler's cab, with DE VRIES and MATT trying to staunch the wounds from the chainsaw band's impact to his chest.  GUTTIEREZ speaks into his headset mike.GUTTIEREZRob?  We got problems.INT.  RYUSHI STATION - SEWER SYSTEM - SUMP CHAMBERTHUMP.  THUMP.  SLAM!  The grille in knocked out of it's housing and floats lazily off into the water.  HIROKO passes through the newly-created hole.HIROKO'S P.O.V.  She finds herself in an upright cylindrical chamber, about five feet in height.  Massive extractor fans churn dangerously where both the floor and ceiling ought to be.  Kicking up a swirl of particles.  Pale blue light filters down from above.COMPUTER VOICE   (O.S., on speakers)Caution!  Entering secondary overflow sump DS oh-four slash eleven.  Grating must be removed to facilitate entry to Central Reservoir...HIROKO   (annoyed)Yeah, yeah, yeah...With difficulty, she straddles the floor turbine.  A vortex of water swirls around her as she brings the power-tool up once more.INT.  RYUSHI STATION - COMMAND CENTERPARSONS listens attentively.  He CLICKS his fingers at CASSIE.PARSONSWhere is she?CASSIEComin' up the Central Reservoir.PARSONSQuick!  Run a trace on the culvert leading off the auto-shop maintenance pit.CASSIE's all-business, immediately calling-up the base floor-plan files on a monitor.PARSONS (CONT'D)  (into headset)Is Thomas gonna make it?GUTTIEREZ   (O.S., on speakers)Uh...difficult to say.  I think...INT.  RYUSHI STATION - AUTO-SHOPGUTTIEREZ looks on as MATT ties-off a bandage.GUTTIEREZ (CONT'D)...The chainsaw band might have punctured his lungs.INT.  RYUSHI STATION - COMMAND CENTERCASSIE looks up, worriedly.CASSIEI found it...PARSONSAnd?CASSIEDrains right into the Central Reservoir.PARSONSGet her on-line.  Now!INT.  RYUSHI STATION - SEWER SYSTEM - SUMP CENTERHIROKO's pulls her third bolt free.  It drifts slowly downward, slipping between the vanes of the floor turbine.A fragmented VOICE comes through on her headset, distorted beyond recognition.  HIROKO's forehead knits together in concentration and annoyance.HIROKOWhat was that?  I don't copy.CLICK.  CLICK.  BEEP!  The routine sound of the motion tracker changes suddenly.  HIROKO turns her attention from the task-in-hand to study the tracker's helmet readout.  THREE NEBULOUS BLOBS have appeared from off-screen.  Heading straight for her position.INT.  RYUSHI STATION - COMMAND CENTERCASSIE turns to PARSONS in frustration.CASSIEI can't reach her.  Too much signal break-up.PARSONSKeep trying!INT.  RYUSHI STATION - SEWER SYSTEM - SUMP CHAMBERBEEP.  BEEP.  BEEP.  The signals pick-up speed the closer they get.  CASSIE's garbled VOICE isn't helping ease HIROKO's panic.  She looks wildly around the chamber.  The only way out the way she came in...COMPUTER VOICE   (O.S., on speakers)Attention.  Removal of restraining bolts it necessary to facilitate access to...HIROKO stabs the exterior helmet control.  The COMPUTER VOICE ceases, while the BEEPING from the tracker rises in both pitch and volume.  Whatever the signals are, they're almost on top of her...HIROKO turns to the narrow entry duct.  It's position makes it virtually impossible to get back into.  She tries anyhow.BEEPBEEPBEEPBEEP!  A rush of displaced water flood into the chamber, flattening her against the wall.  DARK SHAPES THUNDER past the other side of the grille like express trains in the night...going away from HIROKO.  She twitches in fear and disbelief as the BLOBS on the monitor screen recede and finally disappear.  The tracker's pitch returns to it's hollow CLICKING.EXT.  RYUSHI STATION - PLATFORM - NIGHTBROKEN TUSK tries to be as unobtrusive as possible as he picks through the aftermath of the battle down by the now-empty rhino pen.  He finds something. A PREDATOR face-mask, with a massive crack down one side.  He turns it carefully over in his hands.INT.  RYUSHI STATION - SEWER SYSTEM - CENTRAL RESERVOIRHIROKO emerges from the water, a thin membrane of surface slime adhering to her helmet.  Blinded, she raises a gloved hand and wipes the mucus away...HIROKO'S P.O.V.  She's inside the Central Reservoir, a long cylindrical concrete tunnel some eighteen feet in diameter.  The water-level comes up about half-way.  What fills the remainder freezes her with revulsion...She's found the main offshoot of the ALIENS' nest.  Glued into the curved walls by a secretive resin as BODIES.  HUMANS, RHINOS, LEMURS.  Other ANIMALS.  Most are dead, their innards blown open.  The rest are comatose, twitching occasionally.  Every square inch not containing bodies is filled with ALIEN EGGS.  It's like Hell for real.HIROKO reaches slowly up and reactivates her helmet readout. COMPUTER VOICE   (O.S., on speakers)...Brrzzt.  Traversing Central Reservoir en route to platform venturi dust DS two-six.HIROKO's P.O.V.She looks around and finds the exit point on the display. It's several feet away.  Under the surface.  She wades swiftly through the water, passing beneath something that gives her cause to pause.  A large PULSATING BAG, about ten feet long and roughly ovular in shape.  It might be translucent, but in this light it's hard to tell.HIROKO submerges.  Sure enough, there's the grille.  She raises the power-tool and starts extracting the bolts.  BZZZZ!  There's the first one, no problem.  BZZZZ...BZZZZ!  The second and third are just as easy.  She goes for the fourth.  BZZZ...CHUNK.  Nothing happens.HIROKOCome on...She bears down on the trigger again.  The motor's not running.  A tiny green LED flashes on the machine's side.  It's locked solid.  A malfunction.COMPUTER VOICE  (O.S., on speakers)Attention.  Removal of restraining bolts is necessary to facilitate access to  venturi ducts.There's only one recourse left to her.  She jams down the thumb button...KER-SLAM!  The force of the rivet-gun propels her backwards, her internal suit-pressure making her rise to the surface.  She wipes the slime from her helmet yet again......And finds herself staring at an ALIEN EGG, it's top cracking open in four neat sections.  The FACEHUGGER leaps straight as her faceplate... ...And misses, it's fingers failing to gain purchase on the slippery dome. HIROKO kicks away from the spindly creature as it orientates itself on the water's surface, it's powerful tail propelling itself back toward her.  It contracts on itself, preparing to leap.  HIROKO raises the power-tool,reflexively squeezing the trigger again and again.  Fat rivets RIP through the FACEHUGGER's body.  It writhes around on the water's surface, a cloud ofyellow acid billowing outward from it.  HIROKO dives into the water again. She rams the power-tool at the final bolt.BZZZZ!  It's out!  She levers-off the grille.  Forces herself into the confined space beyond...INT.  RYUSHI STATION - SEWER SYSTEM - VENTURI DUCTAnother poorly-lit shaft filled with murky water, though this one goes upwards on a diagonal slope.  HIROKO braces herself against the walls and begins to climb.COMPUTER VOICE   (O.S., on speaker)Traversing venturi duct en route to platform surface.WHAM!  An ALIEN's head squeezes through the opening behind her.  It's claw snakes in, groping blindly just inches from her feet.  She grits her teeth and puts more effort into her ascent. WALLPO!  It's hand closes around her leg, yanking her back.  She tries frantically to gain purchase on anything.  She fails.  The ALIEN draws her nearer, it's other hand closing on the helmet's visor.  Fracture lines appear on the glass, followed by cracks.  Polluted water starts to flood in, while air-bubbles expand outward from the broken glass.HIROKO drives the power-tool at the ALIEN and mashes the trigger.  Rivets penetrate the creature's endoskeleton, making it draw back.  A haze of yellow blood spills out into the duct.  HIROKO pushes upward, coughing.  She closes her fist around a lever above.  Pulls on it with all her might.EXT.  RYUSHI STATION - PLATFORM - NIGHTInternal pressure forces the metallic plug out like a champagne cork.  It hits the platform with a loud CLUNK.  HIROKO hauls herself from the shaft, trailing a cloud of smoke as the acid eats into her suit.  She throws the helmet to the ground, SHATTERING the visor.  Yanks desperately at the suit's release clamps, kicking the ruined garment off.As promised, the yellow-and-black hoverbike is nearby.  HIROKO starts towards it, then remembers the keys are in the sleeve pocket of the ruined pressure-suit.  She drops to he knees and gingerly pokes through the smoking pile of cloth.  Finds the flap, RIPS it open, and withdraws the keys.SLAP!  A glistening wet claw emerges from the open hole.  HIROKO scrambles to her feet as the injured ALIEN pulls itself out.  She tears across to the bike and rams the key into the ignition.  The turbines ROAR to life, and it lifts smoothly into the air.  HIROKO pivots the powerful machine around, avoiding the creature's questing grasp.  Losing it's balance, the ALIEN SMASHES into the deck.HIROKO's guns the bike away, speeding along the platform.  The fire over by the auto-shop rages out of control, a column of black-and-orange smoke rising into the air. A DARK FORM hurls itself at her from an overhead cable-support.  Yet another ALIEN.  It lands awkwardly on the protruding front cowl of the hoverbike, gaining balance in an instant. HIROKO twists on her controls, trying to dislodge the creature by see-sawing the bike side-to-side.  The ALIEN's got a firm hold though, crawling hand-over-hand towards her.  HIROKO releases her grip on both throttles simultaneously.  Air-brakes cut in, and the bike SLAMS to a halt.  The breath WHOOSHES out of HIROKO as her chest impacts with the surrounding roll-bar. The ALIEN is even less fortunate; momentum hurls it back onto the concrete. HIROKO guns the engine again, and the leading-edge of the manta-shaped machine's aerofoil catches the rising creature, neatly decapitating it. EXT.  RYUSHI STATION - CRANE BASE - NIGHTThe hoverbike GROWLS to a halt by the base of the crane.  HIROKO dismounts and draws her pistol.  Takes in the sheer height of the ladder she's going to have to scale.  Thumbs her headset. HIROKOOkay, I make it to the crane.  You...INT.  RYUSHI STATION - COMMAND CENTEREverybody in admin registers astonishment as her voice comes over the speakers.HIROKO (CONT'D)  (O.S., on speakers)...Can all uncross your fingers.A WHOOP goes up.  Various hands are SLAPPED.PARSONSWe copy, boss.  Nice going.EXT.  RYUSHI STATION - CRANE LADDER - NIGHTHIROKO's climbing the ladder.  She stops to catch her breath.HIROKOYeah, well don't get too carried away; we're only halfway home.  Talk...INT.  RYUSHI STATION - COMMAND CENTERHIROKO (CONT'D)   (O.S., on speakers)...To you shortly.  Noguchi out.PARSONS clicks his fingers to DRISCOLL.PARSONSDriscoll; you're up.DRISCOLL's moving even as PARSONS speaks.DRISCOLLI hear you...EXT.  RHUSHI STATION - CRANE CATWALK - NIGHTHIROKO reaches the top and sprints along the catwalk towards the Control Cab. She narrowly misses something metallic near the base of the handrail.  If she'd taken the time to stop and look, she would have seen BROKEN TUSK's ruined wrist computer.INT.  RYUSHI STATION - COMMAND CENTER - LADDER WELLDRISCOLL flips open an access flap on one wall of the ladder-well.  Printed on the inside is a set of instructions, with the following printed boldly in red;CAUTION!  EXPLOSIVE BOLTS - READ CAREFULLY!He traces his finger along a line of text.INT.  RYUSHI STATION - CRANE CAB - NIGHTHIROKO enters the cab at a run.  She flips a row of switches, and the control board comes to life.HIROKOAccess panel... access panel...She finds it.  Gets her fingers in the groove and slides it out.  Beneath is a mini-disk drive with two buttons.HIROKO (CONT'D)Bingo.She pulls the vinyl-wrapped packet from her catsuit pocket.  Carefully withdraws the disk and slides it home.  Thumbs the first button, which glows an emerald green.The board's flatscreen monitor lights up immediately.  HIROKO studies it for a moment, then presses her headset link.HIROKO (CONT'D)Okay, we're in business.INT.  RYUSHI STATION - COMMAND CENTERPARSONSRight.  Auto-shop, you all set?INT.  RYUSHI STATION - AUTO-SHOP - CRAWLER CABEverybody from Auto-shop is crammed into the two articulated vehicles. GUTTIEREZ sits in the driver's seat of the first crawler.  He glances out of the side window.  MATT gives him a 'thumbs-up' from the cab of the second crawler.GUTTIEREZ   (into headset)Say the word, and you won't see our asses for dust.INT.  RYUSHI STATION - CRANE CAB - NIGHTHIROKO wipes a trickle of sweat from her forehead.  She poises her finger over the second drive-button.HIROKOAlright.  Here we go...INT.  RYUSHI STATION - COMMAND CENTEREverybody in admin looks tense.HIROKO (CONT'D)   (O.S., on speakers)Three...INT.  RYUSHI STATION - AUTO-SHOP - CRAWLER CABGUTTIEREZ leans forward.HIROKO (CONT'D)   (O.S., on headset)Two...INT.  RYUSHI STATION - CRANE CAB - NIGHTHIROKO blinks as the sweat drains into her eyes.HIROKO (CONT'D)One...mark!She stabs the drive switch.EXT.  RYUSHI STATION - CRANE - NIGHTSmoothly maintained engineering comes to life.  The enormous yellow crane starts to move on it's track-rails.INT.  RYUSHI STATION - CRANE CAB - NIGHTThe control board monitor is suddenly awash with information and schematics...HIROKOOkay, I'm out of here!INT.  RYUSHI STATION - COMMAND CENTERPARSONSBlow those suckers, Driscoll!INT.  RYUSHI STATION - COMMAND CENTER - LADDER WELLDRISCOLL raises a black device shaped like a cylinder with a handgrip on the end.  Slots it into the mechanism beneath the flap and carefully turns it.  A tiny red LED comes on.EXT.  RYUSHI STATION - COMMAND CENTER MODULEComplex mechanical assemblies attach the module to it's supporting pier-platforms.  There are a number of LOUD BANGS, similar to car engines misfiring.  Explosive bolts release the tethers.INT.  RYUSHI STATION - COMMAND CENTER - LADDER WELLDRISCOLL reports into his headset.DRISCOLLBolts blown!EXT.  RYUSHI STATION - CRANE CATWALK - NIGHTHIROKO runs back across the catwalk.  She might have missed the PREDATOR's damaged computer before, but she doesn't this time.  Her foot comes down on it and she slips.  The gun goes flying from her hand.  HIROKO watches in horror as it teeters on the catwalk's edge for a moment...HIROKONo!...Then goes over.  She drops to all fours and peers over the side.  Luckily it's only fallen about four feet onto a dirty ledge.  She reaches out for it...INT.  FIRST CRAWLER CABGUTTIEREZ pushes forward on the crawler's controls.  The head-up display projected on the cab windscreen changes from 'NEUTRAL' to 'DRIVE'.EXT.  RYUSHI STATION - PLATFORM FAR SIDE - NIGHTThe two crawlers TEAR OUT of the auto-shop's opening doors, headlights blazing.INT.  FIRST CRAWLER CAB - NIGHTGUTTIEREZ braces himself as they speed on a collision course towards the ditched crawler they left outside auto-shop earlier.GUTTIEREZShit!EXT.  RYUSHI STATION - PLATFORM FAR SIDE - NIGHTKER-SMASM!  GUTTIEREZ' crawler rams the other vehicle off the roadway and through the platform safety barrier.  It balances precariously for a second, until finally it's weight sends it plunging into the swamp in a CACOPHONY of STRESSED METAL and CRUMBLING CONCRETE.INT.  SECOND CRAWLER CAB - NIGHTMATTYee-haa!  Demolition derby, baby!EXT.  RYUSHI STATION - ROOFTOP LEVEL - NIGHTHolding the cracked mask to his face, BROKEN TUSK looks up at the gigantic crane moving against the night sky.PREDATOR VISION.  Although the helmet's nightsight is malfunctioning, it's still good enough to register the 'hot' infra-red shape of HIROKO on the catwalk.The sound of the two crawlers hurtling across the platform gets BROKEN TUSK's attention.EXT.  RYUSHI STATION - CRANE CATWALK - NIGHTHIROKO gets a firm grasp on one of the railing rungs, anchoring herself. Stretches for the pistol with renewed determination.  She brushes the barrel. Not good enough.  Tries again.  Success!  Her fingers curl around the weapon, and she tugs it upwards.EXT.  RYUSHI STATION - PLATFORM - NIGHTThe two crawlers plunge into the curtain of flames spreading across the platform.INT.  FIRST CRAWLER CAB - NIGHTDE VRIES YELLS at GUTTIEREZ over the ROAR of the flames.DE VRIESHotter 'n hell out there!EXT.  RYUSHI STATION - CRANE BASE - NIGHTHIROKO leaps the last few rungs from the moving crane onto the platform.  She dashes towards the hoverbike, some thirty feet away.  With no time to loose, she slides her boots into the foot-supports, which automatically WHIRR closed.  Gropes for the ignition key...Before she's even located it, the hoverbike moves.  SCRAPING across the concrete.  ALIEN claws appear around the edge of one of the bike's manta wings.  She's parked the bike over a drainage exit!HIROKO SPINS the key and guns the engine.  The white-hot downblast from the turbine exhaust SPLASHES across the SCREECHING ALIENS.  The vehicle tilts and KICKS forward.EXT.  RYUSHI STATION - PLATFORM - NIGHTThe two crawlers emerge from the conflagration, scorched and trailing fire. In the BACKGROUND, the crane-hoist centers over the admin module.CATWALK P.O.V., looking straight down.  Four lasers scan quickly around the module's edges.INT.  RYUSHI STATION - CRANE CAB - NIGHTA blinking message on the crane's monitor screen:POSITIVE MATCH.  COMMENCE LIFTING OPERATION.EXT.  RYUSHI STATION - PLATFORM FAR SIDE - NIGHTThe sound of SHREDDING METAL makes HIROKO look down.  An ALIEN is hanging on the underside of the bike!  She twists the throttle, reducing acceleration and causing the vehicle to drop several inches.  Sparks shower the ground from where the creature makes contact with the roadway.  The ALIEN's determination is astounding.  It's tail SLAMS up through the alloy 'wing', anchoring it.The biomechanoid starts to pulls itself up, shifting the bike's center of gravity.  She fights the controls, but finds herself swerving.  One-handed, she takes aim.  BLAM!  BLAM!  She misses the ALIEN, rupturing a fuel pipe instead.EXT.  RYUSHI STATION - PLATFORM - NIGHTThe crane's clamping mechanism closes around the admin module, locking into place.INT.  RYUSHI STATION - COMMAND CENTERCLANG!  Everybody reacts as the SOUND penetrates through the walls and ECHOES around admin.PARSONSOkay, people.  Hold on tight...EXT.  RYUSHI STATION - PLATFORM - NIGHTThe crane hoists the module aloft, free of it's umbilicals.INT.  RYUSHI STATION - COMMAND CENTERPencils, disposable cups, and anything else not bolted down all roll from table-tops.  Most are grabbed by their owners.EXT.  RYUSHI STATION - PLATFORM FAR SIDE - NIGHTHIROKO's bike veers blindly around the corner of a building, with HIROKO still SHOOTING.  She looks up and her eyes widen.  Ahead is the out-of-control blaze.  A tongue of flame licks out across the platform, directly in her path.HIROKO slides the gun quickly into her shoulder-holster and ducks for cover behind the bike's windshield.  The ALIEN's head twists around, and they plunge into the inferno...WHOOMPH!  The liquid from the breached pipe ignites, trailing a plume of yellow flame.  HIROKO jams down on the foot-release and wrenches the steering bar hard to the right.  She leaps for safety as the burning bike with it's ALIEN passenger crashes through the station's safety-rail and plummets into the swamp.EXT.  RYUSHI STATION - PLATFORM RAMP - NIGHTThe two crawlers THUNDER down the ramp.  GUTTIEREZ' vehicle pulls into a tight right turn, while MATT's continues on it's course.  The crane with it's underslug module continues to RUMBLE slowly forward. EXT.  RYUSHI STATION - PLATFORM FAR SIDE - NIGHTHIROKO mechanically tries to get up from the concrete roadway.  Winces. Something hurts.  She looks down at the back of her left hand.  The skin has been scraped away. A DISTANT NOISE, something else being broken.  HIROKO turns.  Through the conflagration, ALIENS are advancing.EXT.  RYUSHI STATION - BIG BERTHA - NIGHTGUTTIEREZ' smoldering crawler pulls-up alongside Big Bertha's titanic wheels.INT. FIRST CRAWLER - NIGHTGUTTIEREZ turns his head to one of the guys in the rear. GUTTIEREZTake the wheel, Roy!EXT.  RYUSHI STATION - BIG BERTHA - NIGHTGUTTIEREZ and DE VRIES exit the crawler in a big hurry.  The moment they're clear, the vehicle starts up and is gone.  DE VRIES is alert, the tip of her rifle probing their surroundings.DE VRIESC'mon, man!  Let's shag it!GUTTIEREZ begins climbing the tall ladder running up to the Bertha's cab.EXT.  RYUSHI STATION - PLATFORM - NIGHTHIROKO's running along the platform, pistol clenched firmly in hand.  She thumbs her headset.HIROKORob, it's Hiroko.  Come in.INT.  RYUSHI STATION - COMMAND CENTERCASSIE answers, holding on to the edge of her console.CASSIEHiroko, it's Cassie.  What's...HIROKO's VOICE interrupts.HIROKO   (O.S., on speakers)I've lost the bike and I'm cut-off.EXT.  RYUSHI STATION - PLATFORM - NIGHTHIROKO spins around the corner, pointing her gun cop-stance.HIROKO (CONT'D)If I can get to the chopper, I'll meet you at the rendezvous.  Don't wait for me.INT.  RYUSHI STATION - COMMAND CENTERCASSIEBut...EXT. RYUSHI STATION - PLATFORM - NIGHTThe heli-jet pad's just up ahead.  The relief on HIROKO's face is enormous.HIROKONo 'buts'.  Just do it.  Noguchi out.INT.  BIG BERTHA - NIGHTGUTTIEREZ and DE VRIES pile inside the surprisingly cramped driver's cab. There's a seat up-front, with another behind a small control fascia pointing out-back.  DE VRIES hands over her rifle and slides into the rear.  She flicks on an overhead light.  Taped to one side is a black-and-white magazine cut-out of a naked male body-builder. DE VRIESNice buns...She gives the control board a cursory once-over.  GUTTIEREZ calls back from his vantage point at the doorway.GUTTIEREZCan you handle it?DE VRIES powers-up the console.DE VRIESPiece of cake.EXT.  RYUSHI STATION - HELI-JET PAD - NIGHTHIROKO runs towards the waiting heli-jet.  The flicker of an andrenalin-fueled smile plays on her face...the disappears.Like a scorpion scuttling over a rock, the ALIEN climbs up on top of the grounded machine.  It's head turn towards her.  HIROKO starts to raise her pistol... then stops.  Other ALIENS are descending the nearby navigation tower... straight for her.HIROKO turns tail.  She races over to a ladder running up the side of a building and begins to climb.EXT.  RYUSHI STATION - BIG BERTHA - NIGHTThe shadow of the crane and it's cargo falls over Big Bertha's rear flatbed. Flashing warning strobes illuminate the twin hydraulic arms which rise up to meet it.INT.  BIG BERTHA - NIGHTDE VRIES twists on the 'waldo' controls operating the manipulator hands. EXT.  SWAMP - NIGHTALIENS rise up out of the swamp below, and start to scale Bertha's balloon tires.INT.  BIG BERTHA - NIGHTGUTTIEREZ fires a barrage down at the oncoming creatures.  He HOLLERS back to DE VRIES.GUTTIEREZMove it baby, or they're gonna be chewin' on my cojones!DE VRIESCouple more seconds!EXT.  RYUSHI STATION - ROOFTOP LEVEL - NIGHTHIROKO takes flight across the rooftops with the ALIENS in pursuit like a pack of dogs.  She vaults extractor intakes and retrofitted junk with ease. So do the ALIENS.She cuts across a conduit overpass bridging two buildings across the main street, trying not to lose her footing.  Just before reaching the other side, HIROKO slips and falls to her knees.  Her headset drops thirty feet onto the concrete roadway.  Her hand rests on something red.  It's the cover for the explosive bolts connecting the conduit to the building.  She scrambles onto the rooftop and flips over the hatch.  Glances up.  The ALIENS are already starting across.  She pulls the primer cylinder out by it's handle.  Jams it into the detonator, and turns...She's practically on top of the bolts.  The EXPLOSION is DEAFENING.  With the clamp on this side free, the conduit falls into the street with a SCREECH of twisted metal.  One of the ALIENS is pulverized by the falling debris, but the others survive.  All HIROKO's managed to do is buy herself some breathing space...She races across the building's roof.  Reaches the other side...straight into a dead end.EXT.  RYUSHI STATION - BIG BERTHA - NIGHTThe admin module locks onto Bertha's manipulator arms with a satisfying CLUNK.  Autocouplers slot into place, and the crane releases it's load.INT.  RYUSHI STATION - COMMAND CENTERThe connecting jolt is even greater then before.  Several larger objects CRASH to the deck.INT.  BIG BERTHA - NIGHTDE VRIESThat's it!  We've got it!  Get us out of here.GUTTIEREZ looses one last volley at the ALIENS.  He pulls the cab door shut, and throws himself into the driver's seat.GUTTIEREZC'mon sweetheart.  Do your stuff...EXT.  SWAMP - NIGHTBertha's wheels GRIND to life, spilling ALIENS and crushing them under it's treads...EXT.  RYUSHI STATION - ROOFTOP LEVEL - NIGHTHIROKO's P.O.V.  It's a straight drop thirty feet onto concrete, with no ladders or any other way down.  She looks desperately around for another avenue of escape.The leering face of an ALIEN comes up over the roof's edge.  HIROKO swings her pistol over and fires.  It falls away...only to be replaced seconds later by two others.Her gun goes dry.  Quick as a flash, she ejects the spent magazine.  She slaps the spare in and continues firing.INT.  BIG BERTHA - NIGHTBig Bertha's heading away from the base into the surrounding trees. GUTTIEREZ grits his teeth as they plunge towards the high branches. GUTTIEREZGet down!DE VRIES hits the floor.  The thick boughs impact with the cab, SHATTERING the safety glass.EXT.  RYUSHI STATION - ROOFTOP LEVEL - NIGHTBANG!  BANG!  BANG!  BANG!  CLICK.  HIROKO's gun's empty.  She reaches for another clip on her bandolier...then realises that was her last one.The encircling ALIENS HISS triumphantly and close in.  With no place to go, and no means of defending herself, HIROKO's a goner.  The lead ALIEN's lethal double-barrel teeth open.  It's almost on her.  HIROKO CRIES OUT...WHOOSH!  The ALIEN's face is severed in half.  A circular metal object blurs through the air and loops back on itself, almost faster then the human eye can follow.  A massive form SLAMS down in front of HIROKO, pushing her out of the way.  She hits the deck hard and gasps.  BROKEN TUSK is standing before her.  He skillfully catches the frisbee-like 'smart weapon', thenthrows it again.HIROKO watches with awe as the PREDATOR joins battle against the ALIENS. HISSING ALIEN jaws are silenced by BROKEN TUSK's formidable fighting  technique.  Questing limbs are BLASTED and HACKED away by advanced PREDATOR weaponry.  Acidic blood flows freely.  The skirmish is surprisingly brief.BROKEN TUSK and HIROKO stare at one another.  BROKEN TUSK pulls a slung metal rod from his shoulder.  Two barbed tips SCHNICK outwards, forming a spear. The PREDATOR looks at her, and his lip curls.  It takes a second for HIROKO to realise he's offering it to her.  Bewildered, she accepts it, pulling herself up.A bright orange ball of flame mushrooms up behind, getting both of their attentions.  BROKEN TUSK regards her.  His mandibles CLICK-CLACK nervously... HIROKOLook.  Don't take this the wrong way, but when I imagined the cavalry coming to my rescue... they never looked like you.The PREDATOR turns away, seemingly uninterested.EXT.  RYUSHI STATION - PLATFORM - NIGHTAnother gout of flame BELCHES out of the churning mass in the middle of the station.EXT.  RYUSHI STATION - ROOFTOP LEVEL - NIGHTHIROKO turns her recovered headset over in her hands. HIROKO (CONT'D)Broken.  Useless!She throws it aside.  BROKEN TUSK stands beside her, keeping guard.  Another DETONATION goes off behind, even LOUDER.HIROKO (CONT'D)Jesus.  I.C.C.'re gonna have to close the book on this place.She SLAPS BROKEN TUSK on the arm.HIROKO (CONT'D)Come on, Butch.  Let's go.She begins to walk away.  BROKEN TUSK crosses to the safety barrier, peering over the side...HIROKO (CONT'D)Hey!  I said come on!The PREDATOR turns a deaf ear to her.  He gauges the distance below, then throws himself off the platform's edge.HIROKO (CONT'D)What...?She races across to the rail and gazes downward.HIROKO'S P.O.V.The PREDATOR wades through the swamp towards something she cannot see.  HIROKO looks around the platform.  She's suddenly very alone.HIROKO (CONT'D)Shit!She crosses to a maintenance ladder and begins to descend.EXT.  RYUSHI STATION - SWAMP LEVEL - NIGHTHIROKO SPLASHES through the swamp towards the PREDATOR.  BROKEN TUSK has paused before a culvert nestled within the shadows of the platform piers, running directly out into the swamp.  Most of the drain is underwater, with only about eight inches protruding from the water.  The thick metal grille covering it is mangled and twisted.  Broken from within.HIROKO (CONT'D)You've got to be joking.  No way am I going back in there!No joke.  BROKEN TUSK starts submerging to get across inside.HIROKO (CONT'D)Hey!BROKEN TUSK pauses for a moment.  He gives her a look, then disappears into the blackness.  HIROKO looks around.  It's no fun being the last person left alive here.HIROKO (CONT'D)Goddammit!She takes several deep breaths, then reluctantly follows...INT.  RYUSHI STATION - SEWER SYSTEM - CULVERTHIROKO emerges within an air pocket inside the drain.  She shivers.  It's just as dirty and cramped as she remembers.  Several of the maintenance lights down here are broken, and visibility is minimal. HIROKO (CONT'D)   (quietly)Wha...?BROKEN TUSK whirls, and clamps a hand across her mouth.  She gets the message.INT.  RYUSHI STATION - SEWER SYSTEM - CENTRAL RESERVOIRThey exit the culvert through another smashed grate.  HIROKO finds herself back in the Central Reservoir again.  She wades through the water behind BROKEN TUSK, holding the spear above her head.  The two of them look very vulnerable in here.  They pass beneath the PULSATING SAC HIROKO saw earlier. It looks riper now, ready to burst.  An INSIDIOUS PULSING NOISE - like a heartbeat - gains in volume the further they travel.INT.  RYUSHI STATION - SEWER SYSTEM - PUMP CHAMBERThey come out in a chamber some forty feet in height and dominated by an enormous pump.  ALIEN gunk covers everything.HIROKO gasps.  High above it a QUEEN ALIEN, nesting on top of the vast mechanism.  It's EGG SAC drapes around the pump; spiraling down around it. She seems to be asleep.BROKEN TUSK ignores the QUEEN.  His eyes are searching the multitude of forms - human and otherwise - cocooned into the walls.  He finds what he's looking for.  Up on one wall is another PREDATOR.  Dead.  It's stomach blown open.HIROKO holds her spear tightly.  FACEHUGGERS pulse malignantly, wrapped around several trapped victims.  A number of empty EGGS are scattered here-and-there.BROKEN TUSK looks around.  No ALIENS.  He begins climbing the organic fresco, watching the QUEEN ALIEN carefully for signs of awareness.  The bellows-like SOUND of her BREATHING is overwhelming.  He reaches the entrapped PREDATOR. It's left arm is encased in a solidified mass of secreted resin.  BROKEN TUSK raises his 'smart weapon' and activates it.The SPLINTERING NOISE makes HIROKO wince.  She glances up at the QUEEN.  It's breathing start to change, and it's head moves...BROKEN TUSK sees it too.  He hesitates for a moment.  The QUEEN settles, and her breathing goes back to normal.  BROKEN TUSK resumes his work, chipping off the final chunk of coating.  He sheathes the 'smart weapon', and flips open the other PREDATOR's wrist device.  He withdraws the small manipulator device we saw earlier, and goes to work...DOWN BELOW, HIROKO's backing away.  She doesn't see the arm coated in slime that grasps at her hair.  She shudders, stifling a SCREAM.  Her eyes are wide as she turns...It's KAMEN.  He's been embedded into the biomechanical frieze.  When he speaks, his voice is wracked with pain and suffering.KAMENHiroko...HIROKO fearfully says something beneath her breath in JAPANESE.UP ON THE WALL, BROKEN TUSK has finished his task.  He slides the tip of a claw across the self-destruct mechanism.  It's readout display illuminates with alien characters.  He activates a button, and the readout begins to blink...BELOW, KAMEN is talking to a sickened HIROKO.KAMEN (CONT'D)They...they snapped my legs to fit... fit me in here.  I don't...remember what happened next.HIROKOWhat can I do?KAMENI can... feel it moving around inside me. You've got to kill me.HIROKOI... I can't!KAMENYou have to...HIROKONo!BROKEN TUSK appears as HIROKO's shoulder.  He raises his right arm.  SCHNICK! The wrist knives slice outwards.  Red blood SPATTERS HIROKO's pale face. BROKEN TUSK grabs her arm roughly and pulls her away.INT.  RYUSHI STATION - SEWER SYSTEM - CENTRAL RESERVOIRBROKEN TUSK pushes HIROKO through the reservoir.  An ALIEN EGG on a nearby wall PEELS OPEN.  Before the FACEHUGGER even has a chance to spring, BROKEN TUSK swings his wrist-blades in a wide arc, cutting through the EGG and it's writhing contents.The two of them reach the deep end and have to wade.  HIROKO pushes herself along the biomechanical outcropping.  Ahead of them is the PULSING SAC. Before they're even passed beneath it, they hear SOMETHING.  A SOUND like water-filled balloons hitting wet concrete. The SAC ruptures, spattering thick gloopy matter.  A form comprised of  slender limbs emerges from within.  An IMMATURE QUEEN ALIEN.  Though just-born, it's reflexes are razor-sharp.  It lashes out at HIROKO and BROKEN TUSK.  HIROKO ducks, and the QUEEN's claws embed themselves in BROKEN TUSK's shoulder, destroying his automatic cannon.EXT.  RYUSHI STATION - PLATFORM - PRE-DAWNA VAST EXPLOSION rips through the base, broiling clouds of flame rolling across the platform and seeping into the drainage ducts. INT.  RYUSHI STATION - SEWER SYSTEM - PUMP CHAMBERColumns of fire jet from fissures and openings inside the Pump Chamber, rippling across the adult QUEEN ALIEN and her hapless victims.  She begins to SCREAM, flailing around atop her metal throne... INT.  RYUSHI STATION - SEWER SYSTEM - CENTRAL RESERVOIRThe adult QUEEN's SHRIEK echoes through the reservoir, accompanied by a ball of fire that travels part of the way down.  The IMMATURE QUEEN turns her head in reply, answering with her own YOWL.BROKEN TUSK HISSES with hate, and brings his 'smart weapon' SLICING down through her arm, severing it at the wrist.  HIROKO simultanesouly DRIVES her spear into the ALIEN's chest.  She grabs the injured PREDATOR and pulls him away from the thrashing creature.HIROKOCome on!  Come on!INT.  RYUSHI STATION - SEWER SYSTEM - PUMP CHAMBERThe alien numbers on the PREDATOR self-destruct readout inexorably count down...EXT.  RYUSHI STATION - PLATFORM - PRE-DAWNThe metal plug HIROKO blew during her earlier escape still lies to one side of the duct HIROKO and BROKEN TUSK crawl hastily out of.  Fireballs are erupting all around now, making their situation precarious. EXT.  RYUSHI STATION - CRANE CATWALK - PRE-DAWNFrom a vantage point high above, we see HIROKO and BROKEN TUSK racing across the platform towards the heli-jet pad. EXT.  RYUSHI STATION - PLATFORM - PRE-DAWNBROKEN TUSK stumbles and falls.  HIROKO bends down to help him up, but the PREDATOR shoves her away.  He doesn't want her assistance.HIROKOIf you don't move your ugly butt, we're gonna end up barbecued!  Come on!EXT.  RYUSHI STATION - HELI-JET PAD - PRE-DAWN HIROKO runs towards the waiting heli-jet, with the PREDATOR close behind. The landing pad is made up of an intricate series of grilles designed to deflect downward exhaust gases.  HIROKO's feet CLATTER across the metal...KER-SMASH!  The metal is SMASHED from beneath, right in front of her.  The IMMATURE ALIEN QUEEN has made is out of the sewer system and has got the jump on them.  HIROKO's forward momentum won't allow her to stop running...she's too close.  Almost at the last moment, she jumps.  claws brush her trouser leg, but close on thin air.  She hits the deck and quickly closes the last few feet to the chopper.BROKEN TUSK stops.  ALIENS are appearing all over the pad and out of nearby drainage ducts.INT.  CHOPPER - PRE-DAWNHIROKO slips into the chopper's pilot seat.  She flips a bunch of switches and the turbines RISE in VOLUME from a LOW WHINE to a DULL ROAR. EXT.  RYUSHI STATION - HELI-JET PAD - PRE-DAWNAn orange ball of flame mushrooms up behind BROKEN TUSK.  With the ALIENS blocking his path, there's no refuge for him. Almost.  The Navigation Tower looms overhead, nearby.  BROKEN TUSK takes a calculated risk and LEAPS for it.INT.  CHOPPER - PRE-DAWNThe heli-jet flies pretty much like a standard helicopter.  HIROKO pulls-back on the collective, and the turbines' pitch changes from a THROATY GROWL to a HIGH-PITCHED WHINE.EXT.  RYUSHI STATION - HELI-JET PAD - PRE-DAWNThe heli-jet rises, a little unsteadily.  The wash from the turbines plays across the SHRIEKING ALIENS.INT.  CHOPPER - PRE-DAWNHIROKO'S P.O.V.  Through the canopy dome, we see BROKEN TUSK climbing the Navigation Tower, with the ALIENS close behind.HIROKOOkay, Butch.  I can play cavalry, too...EXT.  RYUSHI STATION - NAVIGATION TOWER - PRE-DAWNBROKEN TUSK scales the ladder as quickly as he can.  As the top of the tower is a gallery catwalk surrounding the flashing beacon array.The IMMATURE QUEEN, accompanied by a phalanx of warrior ALIENS, is almost upon him.  The PREDATOR drives his wrist knives into the throat of a grasping ALIEN, which falls downward, writhing.  It CRASHES into the QUEEN, who almost loses her grip on the skeletal metalwork.  She HISSES, lashing out at the creature.  Sends it hurtling to the ground.EXT.  RYUSHI STATION - TOWER CATWALK - PRE-DAWNBROKEN TUSK makes it to the top.  There's not much space on the catwalk to maneuver.  He looks around, then down.  This is his last stand. Instinctively, he reaches down to his wrist for the self-destruct computer. Of course, it's not there.INT.  RYUSHI STATION - SEWER SYSTEM - PUMP CHAMBERThe third row of digits on the alien destruct mechanism disappear.  Time's running out...fast.EXT.  RYUSHI STATION - TOWER CATWALK - PRE-DAWNBROKEN TUSK SMASHES his foot hard into the face of an ALIEN.  A BLAST of displaced air hits him like a sledgehammer.  He turns...HIROKO's heli-jet hovers stationary just a few feet away from the tower, the door on the co-pilot's side flapping open.  She HOLLERS at the PREDATOR over the ROAR of the engines.HIROKOC'mon!  Jump!BROKEN TUSK looks down.  It's a long drop...but it's the best option available to him.  He jumps.THWACK!  His hands grip the door frame.  The heli-jet wobbles slightly, it's center of gravity shifting.  BROKEN TUSK hauls himself up and through the door as......KER-BLAM!  A massive explosion mushrooms up from the base as the storage tanks below ignite.  The shock wave buffets the chopper against the tower.INT.  CHOPPER - PRE-DAWNBROKEN TUSK's P.O.V.The grinning face of the young QUEEN gets suddenly closer as the heli-jet is propelled towards the metal structure.EXT.  RYUSHI STATION - NAVIGATION TOWER - PRE-DAWNCRUNCH!  The chopper hits, knocking several ALIENS from their handholds.  One of the QUEEN's arms SHOOTS OUT, wrapping itself around the port engine mount.INT.  CHOPPER - PRE-DAWNHIROKO pushes on the stick.  The heli-jet pulls away...then tilts violently to one side, engines desperately trying to compensate.EXT.  RYUSHI STATION - PRE-DAWNThe QUEEN is hanging from the beleaguered craft, it's weight drawing it slowly down.  In the BACKGROUND, the Navigation Tower begins to slowly collapse.INT.  CHOPPER - PRE-DAWNHIROKO wrestles the overtaxed controls.HIROKOShit!BROKEN TUSK turns towards her.HIROKO (CONT'D)In the back!  In the back!The PREDATOR may not understand her words, but he can follow the frantic jerking of her hand.  He twists around to look in the chopper's rear.EXT.  RYUSHI STATION - PRE-DAWNHIROKO pilots the heli-jet over the station's storage tanks.  The conflagration below has gotten completely out-of-hand.EXT.  CHOPPER - PRE-DAWNThe QUEEN is starting to struggle up, it's arms flailing for purchase.INT.  CHOPPER - PRE-DAWNBROKEN TUSK pulls out a pulse-rifle from the rear.  He quickly takes stock of it.HIROKOWatch your shots!  If you hit the engine you'll blow us both to hell!BROKEN TUSK goes for the trigger.  His index finger won't slide into the trigger guard...it's too big!  He takes the guard in both hands and exerts pressure.  SNAP.  Problem solved.INT.  RYUSHI STATION - SEWER SYSTEM - PUMP CHAMBERBLEEP!  There's only one set of digits left on the destruct device's display counter.EXT.  CHOPPER - PRE-DAWNA red dot of light runs across the QUEEN's head.  She must sense it somehow. Her head comes round to bear...BROKEN TUSK's got the pulse-rifle trained right on her.BROKEN TUSKChew...on...this...!BLAM!  A round open a nice, neat hole in the QUEEN's head.  She YOWLS.  BLAM! A second round does the job.  The QUEEN relinquishes her grip and falls, SCREECHING all the way down into the raging inferno below.INT.  RYUSHI STATION - SEWER SYSTEM - PUMP CHAMBERThe last segment of the destruct mechanism's display disappears.  We hear aHIGH-PITCHED TONE.INT.  CHOPPER - PRE-DAWNHIROKO throws the joystick forward.EXT.  RYUSHI STATION - PRE-DAWNThe heli-jet accelerates hell-for-leather away.  An incandescent BALL OF ENERGY expands outward, vaporising the station and most of the surrounding bayou for about a mile's radius.EXT.  LINSON'S RANGE - ENCAMPMENT - PRE-DAWNBig Bertha's parked by the blinking blue beacon tower, site of the ill-fated hunting expedition.  About a dozen or so people are milling around, smoking cigarettes or talking.MATT and DE VRIES are leaning against the wheels of MATT's crawler.  They feel the concussive shock-wave, and look upward.Their P.O.V. Above the treetops, a blinding white-light BLURS OUT the horizon...MATTHoly shit!INT.  CHOPPER - PRE-DAWNGauges and other instruments are going crazy as the heli-jet rides the turbulence out.EXT.  CHOPPER - PRE-DAWNA chunk of metal is propelled through the air and RIPS into the chopper's starboard engine.  There's a BURST of flame, then the extinguishers cut in.INT.  CHOPPER - PRE-DAWNThe heli-jet's bucking like a bronco now, and they're losing height rapidly.HIROKOWe've lost the starboard engine!  We're going down!  Hold on!EXT.  CHOPPER - PRE-DAWNThe chopper clips the tree boughs, and bounces.INT.  CHOPPER - PRE-DAWNHIROKO and BROKEN TUSK are hurled around the cockpit like rag dolls.  The glass cracks with the impact.HIROKO'S P.O.V.  Leaves, twigs, and branches rush past as the heli-jet breaks through the canopy of foliage.EXT.  SWAMP - PRE-DAWNThe heli-jet PLOUGHS into the swamp floor with a sickening CRUNCH, spraying mud all around.INT.  CHOPPER - PRE-DAWNThe canopy implodes.  A hail of glass shards RIP through the cockpit, spraying across HIROKO and cutting her skin.  She SCREAMS.EXT.  SWAMP - PRE-DAWNThe chopper comes to rest in the swamp.  The SQUAWKING of the local WILDLIFE O.S. gradually dies down.INT.  CHOPPER - PRE-DAWNHIROKO moves her head, and GROANS.  There's a nasty gash across her forehead. She turns to BROKEN TUSK.  The door frame on his side is buckled and twisted. Part of the metal has sheared off, it's sharp end impaling him through the shoulder.  The PREDATOR coughs luminous green blood.HIROKOWe've gotta get you out of here.EXT.  SWAMP - DAWNThe sun begins to rise as HIROKO exits the heli-jet and goes around to the other side.  She manages to get the mangled door open.  BROKEN TUSK's wound looks even worse up-close.HIROKO (CONT'D)Hold on.  This is gonna hurt some.HIROKO gets her arm under BROKEN TUSK's shoulder.  The PREDATOR braces himself, and starts to move.  The agony is excruciating; his mandibles open and he lets out a LEONINE ROAR.HIROKO helps him out of the seat.  The PREDATOR gets unsteadily to his feet. What happens next is totally unexpected.BROKEN TUSK's throat BURSTS, fountaining green blood.  Shocked, HIROKO gets out of the path of the PREDATOR's tumbling mass.  She looks up.The ALIEN stowaway on the roof of the chopper retracts it's sledgehammer tongue, it's head following her movements.The PREDATOR's 'smart' weapon has dropped to the floor and is laying blade-down in the mire.  HIROKO scoops up, activating it and scrambling away.  She gets to her feet and holds the HUMMING disc before her.The ALIEN climbs warily down from the heli-jet, and the two opponents face each other like sumo wrestlers.  HIROKO assumes a defensive stance, holding the disc ready to strike.  The ALIEN hisses, it's tail stinger coming around. It leaps for her, and battle is joined.  The ALIEN lashes out, but HIROKO counters by swinging the weapon time and time again.  With each thrust, surgically thin wounds open up on the biomechanoid's body.  One of the ALIEN's attacks sends her reeling to the floor, it's stinger arching towards her.  She parries, slicing the tail in half and struggling to her feet.The ALIEN strikes again.  HIROKO feints, then thrusts, lopping off one of it's hands.  The ALIEN HOWLS with pain, blinding lashing out at her and sending the 'smart' weapon flying from her grip.She's lost, and the creature knows it.  It's lips curl into a SNARL.KER-POW!  KER-POW!  The ALIEN's head DETONATES, and it's skeletal body slumps forward to SPLASH into the swamp...revealing BROKEN TUSK pointing the pulserifle.The dying PREDATOR GURGLES, his head drooping.  HIROKO stumbles across to him.  BROKEN TUSK's in a bad way, green gore is pulsing freely from it's throat.  It gazes up at HIROKO.BROKEN TUSKNot...a pretty...sight...And with that, the PREDATOR dies.HIROKO look around.  The sun is rising above the treetops, and the setting is serene.  Somehow beautiful.The speakers in the heli-jet cabin CRACKLE to life, jarring her.VOICE   (O.S., on speakers)Rimward Tracking Station, this is the one thirty-second Rim Corp Battalion operating out of the cruiser Tartarus from Fort Powell.  Please respond.  Over.There's a sound O.S., like a THUNDERCLAP.  HIROKO surveys the horizon.HIROKO's P.O.V.  A pair of MARINE DROPSHIPS float above the distant rainforest, their weapons arms unfurled like exotic armed insects. Searchlights probe the ground far below.A shadow falls over HIROKO, blocking out the sun.  A monstrous SHAPE occupies the air above, delineated only by a telltale vibration.  The PREDATOR shuttlecraft lowers it's cloaking device, extending landing gear and a ramp. It touches down in the bayou with scarcely a whisper.HIROKO watches the PREDATORS file slowly out.  BROKEN TUSK's body is borne aloft and carried back inside.  The LEAD PREDATOR turns to HIROKO.  He crosses to her.  HIROKO's face is reflected in the faceted eyepieces of the PREDATOR's helmet.The extraterrestrial hunter pulls out his telescopic spear.  KER-CHUNK!  The tips lock into place.  The PREDATOR offers it to HIROKO.  She accepts, a little confused.There's a long moment.  The PREDATOR is still standing there.  Waiting. HIROKO's eyes narrow.  Her mind is working furiously.  What do they want?She realises.  It suddenly becomes clear.  She smiles.HIROKOYeah.  Why not.HIROKO glances back at the hovering DROPSHIPS, then walks around the waiting PREDATOR and into the shuttlecraft without looking back.The PREDATOR follows her.  The ramp SLAMS closed, as we...CUT TO BLACKTHE END
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+Alien Resurrection EXT.  DEEP SPACE SILENT BLACK.We sweep slowly across an endless tapestry of stars. Finally she comes into view:the U.S.S. AURIGA. A massive research vessel that sits majestically just beyond Pluto's orbit.We TRACK ALONG the side of the ship, and INT.  AURIGAalong the silent, empty corridors, coming at last to a door with two guards standing rigid in front of it. Full armour, powerful shockrifles, expressions empty and cold.INT.  MEDLABAlong a row of screens, where we see the first signs of life readouts, lights, data -- all shifting and collating on the blinking screens. As we move ALONG them, a figure-in a labcoat passes through the frame, then another,leading us along the lab to settle on what looks like a Cryogenic tube, not big enough for a human.Still TRACKING around it, we glimpse inside some vague, fetal mass encased in a clear, aspic-like gel. Tubes and cables a attached to the mass, running out of the machine.As we still CIRCLE, the shape begins to be more coherent, till we can see what might even be a face.Eyes, shut tight.  Sleeping. Dreaming.ANGLE: WHEAT.A birds eyes view of a field, the soft golden waves filling the screen.  Sharp contrast to what we have seen before.There is a woman wandering through the field.  Beside her a girl, seven or eight, in dingey sundress.  Both have black, tousled hair.GIRL'S VOICEMy mom always said there were no monsters -- no, real ones -- but there are.The girl stops, looks around her.  The wheat comes all the up to her chest, and nothing  else is visible as far as she see.She looks back at the woman but the woman is already more than fifty yards away.The girl's expression becomes perplexed.She slaps a bug on the back of her neck.  Pulls it off and is HUGE, wriggling fleshily in  her hand.  Her expression becomes even more distraught, but she cannot muster forth a shout.The sound of insects-fills the air.  Another bug lands on her, another.  She looks down in  growing horror and sees:Blood.  At her feet, rising, filling the field, rising above the wheat, a sea of blood now, dark, thick.The girl tries again to scream, raises her arms.  She is completely covered in insects, a skittering black shroud of them, and when she finally does SCREAM they flood into her mouth.CUT TO:INT.  LABInstruments show a jolt in heart rate, blood pressure.Scientists note it down, look over at the thing in aspic.We can tell that time has passed because it is much bigger, nearly the size of a man, and in a new case.The camera moves in on the cardiograph, then moves down, to show a second one. Tracking a smaller, much faster heartbeat.CUT TO:INT. HALLLWAYTiny. dark, and we are moving through it at impossible speed turning into another without slowing, up into an air vent, still moving, moving until we reach a chamber, some place where all we can see is a mass of dark, moving, inhuman fle it welcomes us in, envelops us...ANGLE: RIPLEY  Lying somewhere, maybe the dark-chamber -- in the dream it keeps shifting.She opens her eyes, but they are dark, whiteless.She reaches for her chest and begins scratching . Hard.Tearing at it, as blood wells up, spilling over her sides.CUT TO:INT.  OPERATING CHAMBERAnd the cause of this dream becomes apparant:ANGLE: RIPLEY'S CHESTbeing cut open with a lasersaw.We see her body still has a layer of the aspic-slime clinging to it.  And her skin is unnaturally blue. But as we PAN from her chest to her face her identity is unmistakable.Around her are several men in operating masks.  Cutting her GEDIMAN, a young and enthusiastic scientist.  One man, seemingly in charge, stands a bit off, watching.  This, by tag on his coat, is DR WREN.WRENCareful ... ready with the amnio...Gediman finishes cutting.  Another man steps in with a clamp. Sets it.  Pulls apart the chest.GEDIMANThere she is...He says it like he's found a lost kitten.  He reaches in an pulls out a sleeping, fetal but nearly ready to burst ALIEN. Others work at severing umbilical threads that tie it to Ripley's chest.GEDIMANHere we go.He holds it up and others step in with the amnio, a sort of incubator filled with  amniotic fluid.The alien SCREAMS, its tiny mouth full with teeth, and wriggles out of his grasp.WRENWatch it!Everybody panics -- but before the thing can get completely away from him, Gediman grabs it and sticks it in the amnio.  Someone shuts the top rapidly.Everybody looks at each other for a moment.GEDIMANWell ...WRENThe host?A surgeon looks at Ripley's readings.SURGEONDoing fine.Gediman looks at Wren, hopefully.  Wren nods.WRENSew her back up.Gediman and the surgeon get to work, as the others carefully remove the alien.GEDIMANWell, that went as well as could be expected--Ripley's hand LASHES OUT, GRABS the surgeon's forearm.  He yells in pain as her fingers dig into him, the others scramble knocking things over and we HEAR HIS BONE CRACKING.SMASH CUT TO:INT. RIPLEY'S CELLSudden stillness.Ripley crouches in the middle of a small, dark chamber.  She's wide eyed, staring straight ahead in a state of near catatonia. Hair tangled and wild. But at least she's not so  blue as before.The only light on her comes from directly above, from a thick pane of glass in the center of the ceiling.ANGLE: ABOVE THE CELLA guard stands on the floor above, looking into the cell through the square of glass in  the floor, directly above Ripley.(We see other panes of glass lining the floor, indicating more cells below.)ANGLE: RIPLEYShe is still for a long while.  Then she lifts her hands, looking at them.Touches her face, her skin.She fingers her tunic, pulls down the neck.  There is a scar running along her chest.She fingers it thoughtfully. -She looks at her forearm.  Tattooed near the crook of her elbow is the number 8.She looks up, her face unreadable.CUT TO':INT.  LABRipley is sitting on a table as Gediman draws blood from her.He deposits it in a test beaker, studies her eyes.Wren enters, looking at a chart.WRENHow's our number Eight today?GEDIMAN:Appears to be in good health...WREN(noticing his tone)How good?GEDIMANExtraordinary. As in, completely off our projected charts.(shows him some photos) Look at the scar tissue.  See the recession?WRENThis is from --GEDIMANYesterday!WRENThis is good.  This is very good.GEDIMANI'd like to run some tests: strength, coordination...  We're not looking at a normal cloning arc.WREN:Approved.Wren goes up to Ripley, studies her face with satisfaction.WRENWell, it looks like you're going to make us all very proud.She grabs his throat with dazzling speed, applying deadly pressure as she  brings his face to hers.  Her eyes are burn but lost.RIPLEYWhy?GEDIMANOh my God...He is as wide eyed as WREN, and he isn't having his windpipe crushed.After a moment the shock wears off and he slams his hand into the alarm.Klaxons, red light fire up.A guard rushes in, levels his weapon at Ripley.  After a moment of staring him down, she opens her hand.  Wren falls to his knees gasping.The guard FIRES his rifle at her -- a powerful electrical charge lashes out and sends her flying back into the corner.WRENNo! No! I'm all right!The guards keep their weapons -- 'burners', these shockrifles are called -- leveled  at Ripley. She has recovered from the shock quickly, sits crumpled in the corner, looking at nothing in particular.RIPLEY (wearily)Why...?CUT TO:INT.  OBSERVATION ROOMWren and Gediman watch through a one way mirror as a scientist tests Ripley.With them is General PEREZ, the man in charge this boat. Ramrod straight and about  as gruff as you would expect, he stares at Ripley suspiciously.ANGLE: RIPLEYThe scientist is holding up cards with pictures on them: house, dog, boat.Ripley gives answers we can't hear through the glass, looking pissed off and bored.WRENIt's unprecedented.GEDIMANTotally!  She's operating at a completely adult capacity.PEREZAnd her memories?WRENThere are gaps. And there's some degree of cognitive dissonance.GEDIMANShe's freaked.Wren shoots Gediman a stern look at his unscientific parlance.WREN"It" has some connective difficulties. A kind of low level emotional autism.Certain reactions....Perez looks at Ripley through the glass, then exits into the hall.TO:INT HALL - CONTINUOUSThe two scientists follow, pace him as he strides down towards a second observation room.GEDIMAN:But the thing is, we can't terminate her. It.PEREZYou haven't told me what you think has caused this.Cloned genes don't contain memory cells, not even when they're brought to adult term.  I'm right?GEDIMANThere's been cases..PEREZNot like this.WRENWell, we don't have nearly enough data... but in some cases there is a collective memory passed down generationally. At a genetic level. Like instinct, only  more complex structurally.PEREZIn some cases. You're talking about the alien.WRENYes.PEREZYou promised me there wasn't going to be any crossing.WRENIt's not like the other ones..Perez punches code, puts his hand on the scanner and the second observation room door opens..	He steps in, the other two right behind him.CUT TO:INT. OBSERVATION ROOM TWODarker than the first one, and with two of the heavily armoured guards by the door.Apart from-that, identical.  Perez turns to the others.PEREZBut there is some genetic mix.WRENYes.PEREZWill there be further mutation?GEDIMANMutation isn't exactly... I don't think so.WRENThat's one of the things we need to study.PEREZAll right. You can keep it. But secure, under obsorvation, and for God's sake keep it away from here.  I don't want any more surprises.And as he speaks the ALIEN RISES RIGHT BEHIND HIM -- it's big, the ridges on its head indicating a young queen -- it hisses and LUNGES at the back of his head.The reinforced plastic window between them, which we couldn't see, stops it.As it hits, a thin laser grid buzzes to life, sparks crackling on the alien's face.Its bile trails darkly on the glass as it backs off.Perez turns to look at it with the others.PEREZIt took a hell of a lot to get us here.GEDIMANNo shit.Wren shoots him another look.PEREZHow soon before this one's ovulating?WRENDays.PEREZIs that normal?WRENNo way of knowing for sure, but I'd say it's accelerated.(After a moment) We're going to need the supplies.PEREZThey're coming.  Soon.CUT TO:INT. MESS HALLRipley sits across from Gediman. He is eating at a good pace - Ripley, however, has stopped.  She is staring at her fork, her brows furrowed.  Turns it over in her hand, in her mind.GEDIMAN"Fork."The memory comes, and she shakes her head wearily.RIPLEY (softly)Fuck....GEDIMAN (pretending to correct her)"Fork."Ever so slightly, she smiles. The smile fades, and after a moment:RIPLEYHow did you...GEDIMANHow did we get you?  Blood samples from Fiori 16. On ice. Do you remember that place?RIPLEYDoes it grow?GEDIMANDoes it.....Yeah. Rapidly.RIPLEYIt's a queen.GEDIMANHow did you know that?RIPLEYIt'll breed.  You'll die.  Everyone in the ... fucking.... (searches for the word, then spits it out) ... Company.  Will die.GEDIMANCompany?WREN (O.S.)Weyland Yutani.He has entered behind her, comes up to the table.WRENOur Ripley's former employers.  Terran Growth conglom, had some defense contracts  under the military. Before your time, Gediman -- they went under decades ago, bought out by Walmart.  Fortunes of war.(to Ripley)You'll find things have changed a good deal since your time.RIPLEY1 doubt that.WRENWe're not flying blind here, you know.  This is United Systems military, not some greedy corporation. The potential benefits of this race go way beyond urban pacification.New alloys, new vaccines ... there's nothing like this in any world we've seen.  You should be very proud.She laughs, bitterly.RIPLEYOh, I am.WRENAnd the animal itself is wonderous. They'll be invaluable once we've harnessed them.RIPLEYIt's a cancer.  You can't teach it tricks.This stops Wren, and he retreats silently.  Ripley repeats word to herself, thinking.RIPLEY"Them" ...CUT TO:INT.  HALL   CONTINUOUSAs Wren is leaving the mess, he is accosted by an ensign.ENSIGNDoctor, General Perez is asking for you. We've been hailed.CUT TO:EXT.  DEEP SPACEWe see the Auriga far in the distance Suddenly A SHIP ROARS INTO FRAME, heading for it.  A small vessel, it is every bit dirty and jerry-rigged as the Auriga is pristine.  To accentuate the difference, the sudden roar of its engines is accompanied by HEAVY, THRASHING ROCK MUSIC.CUT TO:INT.  COCKPIT    CONTINUOUSThe music is coming from nearby.  Piloting the ship toward the Auriga is HILLARD, a roughskinned woman in her forties, along with RANE, a slight and quiet fellow.Behind them stands ELGYN, the leader of the group.Has the kind of authority that doesn't need to flaunt itself.Maybe fifty, by the silver in his hair. He speaks into the vidcomELGYN(good naturedly)My authorization code is 'fuck you', son.  Now open the goddamn bay or General Perez  is gonna do a Wichita stomp on your virgin ass.He switches off.RANEWichita stomp?ELGYNI guarantee that boy's. Never seen the inside of a woman.(to Hillard)Bring us in on three-oh descent, ride the parallel.HILLARDDarlin', it's done.ELGYNDon't cut thrust till six hundred meters. Give em a little fright.He puts his hand on her shoulder, runs it up along her cheek as he exits.They're more than friends.He moves through a hallway, sticks his head in a cubicle.ELGYNChristie!  St Just!  Rise and shine. We're docking.He proceeds into:INT.  CARGO BAY - CONTINUOUSIt's the largest space in this boat, two stories high. Taking up most of the space are two HARVESTERS, big rusty hovering threshers roughly the size of winnebagos.As Elgyn enters, we CRANE UP to reveal ANNALEE-CALL working atop one of them.She's young, tough -- at home with this  motley bunch despite her youth and prettiness.ELGYNCall!  CALL!The music is louder here -- it's blasting from a box in the corner.  Elgyn switches it off.ELGYNCall!CALLWhat?ELGYNWe're docking! Are the cargo trucks secured?CALLI checked 'em an hour ago.ELGYNI don't want em so much as rattled. Any leakage, I take it out of your hide.CALLTrust me, boss.ELGYN (laughs)Not my style.He leans down, looks under the thresher.  Lying on a gurneylike steel dolly, working under the machine, is VRIESS, chie mechanic.  Late forties, in pretty good shape considering he's got no legs.ELGYNHow's it looking?VRIESS  It's never gonna be pretty. but she'll fly.  The other one's a total fucking write-off.ELGYNYou'll make it good.VRIESSDon't be so sure.(calls out) Call!  Adjust the generator plugs!ELGYN (straightening up)They just gotta run, Vriess.  They don't gotta run far.He exits.CUT TO: INT. HALL   CONTINTJOUSCHRISTIE is up and mostly dressed. He is black, very large, and has distinctly military bearing. He speaks with quiet, don't-fuck-with-me authority.CHRISTIEWhat's our status?ELGYNWe're coming in.  Time to enjoy a little of the general's hospitality.ST JUSTOh great.  Army food..ST JUST ("San-Jhoost") is slim, Asian -- and the epitome of cool.  Moves quickly and silently, a sly grin playing about lips.  He is strapping a contraption to his forearm.  It resembles a deringer holder, but a very complex one.ELGYN: We could use a rest, till the heat's off and Vriess can get those harvesters on their feet.This'll keep us for a couple of days, assuming the natives are friendly.CHRISTIEWe expecting any trouble?ELGYNFrom Perez? I doubt it. Still, let's be ever vigilant.CUT TO: INT.  CARGO BAY     CONTNIUOUSANGLE: VRIESS working intently, the extremely nasty blades of the thresher inches above his head.VRIESSI'm patched in. Check the sequence timer.(no answer)Call?ANGLE: THE CONTROLSA hand reaches in toward the ON switch.ANGLE: VRIESSVRIESSCall?The thresher GRINDS TO LIFE -- a hundred blades and claws spinning at Vriess's head!Vriess wheels out from under the machine in a second flat.VRIESSGoddamnit!The second he's out he hits a lever and the back of the dolly flies up, transforming it-into a wheelchair.VRIESS  Johner! You son of a whore!JOHNER jumps down from the machine, laughing.  He's thickset, mean and ugly, with ugly scars crisscrossing his ugly bald head.Thought I'd give you a little haircut there.VRIESSYou fuck!Call, who has been over on the other side of the thresher, ably climbs up on it  and switches it off.JOHNERYou should see your face. Vriess, you must have soiled yourself.VRIESS One of these days I'm gonna kill you. My hand to God.JOHNERWell, you already gave him your feet ...CALL (jumping down)You're a limp fucking scrotum, you know that?JOHNEREither of you want a piece of me, I'm less than busy.VRIESSAny time.CALLVriess. Forget it. He's been sucking down too much homebrew.JOHNERDon't push me, little Annalee.  You hang with us a while, you'll learn I'm not the man with whom to fuck.He exits, full of annoying bravado.VRIESSThat inbred cocksucker.He feels his forehead, comes up with a bit of blood.  Realizes how close it was ...Call looks up at the thresher.CALL1 hate machines.VRIESSWell, now we know it works ...CUT TO: EXT.  AURIGA DOCKING BAYAs it opens to admit the proportionally tiny ship.  The bay on the bottom of the Auriga - the doors are actually OVER the ship, which rises into the airlock.INT.  AIR LOCKThe outer doors close under the ship.  Pressurized air shoot into the airlock for a few seconds, and then the inner door opens. the ship rising into the bay.INT.  BAYThe ship moves slowly along the huge dock to land gently at far end.  The top of  the ship is nearly level with a grated platform that runs the length of the bay.Three soldiers in full armour stand rigid on the platform. The hatch atop the ship slowly  opens. One by one the crew files out. Seeing them en masse, we get a clearer view of  what separates them from this Environment.  They're not wearing uniforms.  They're an  eclectic, fiercely indivualist group, their look varied -- spots of bright color showing  through militarian space gear.  Johner's bright tuorquise bowling shirt.  Elgy's and St Just's floorlength leather dusters.  Even Vriess's chair stands out as he wheels down the platform.What they have in common is the toughness, the wary eyes, leathery skin.  The cool readiness to kill.  These guys are smugglers.  A long while ago, you'd have called them piratesAll eight of them emerge, one by one, looking around them.  They file past the silent, uniformed soldiers.  The last one suddenly puts a hand on Johner's jacket, stops him.There is a bulge under it.  A green sensor light on the back of the soldier's glove turns  red when he touches the bulge.SOLDIERNo projectile weaponry is allowed on board the vessel, sir.Johner opens his jacket, shows what he's packing: a large thermos.JOHNERMoonshine. My own. Much more dangerous.SOLDIERSorry, sir.ELGYN (to Perez)What, do you think we're going to hijack the vessel?  All eight of us?No, I think one of your asshole crew is going to get drunk and put a bullet through  the hull. we are in space, Elgyn.He enters from the antechamber, motions for the crew to follow him. Vriess comes abreast of the soldier.VRIESSWanna check the chair?The soldier makes no response, simply falls in behind Call, the last of them.CUT TO:  INT.  ANTECHAMBERThe long neck that connects the bay to the body of the ship.  The group proceeds down it, the crew looking about them at the sterile grandeur.ST JUSTThis place is really clean.JOHNER (to a guard)Hey.  You got any whores on this vessel?(the guard remains stonefaced)Any loose women with bad eyesight?PEREZI think you'll find our accomodations somewhat spartan.  Although the cook sets a good-table.JOHNER: That ain't what I'm hungry for.VRIESS (to Call)What's the matter?She is looking around her, somewhat tensely.CALLI don't like army.HILLARDYeah, join the fucking club.CUT TO: ANGLE: MONEYA stack of bills dropped down on a desk, then another.  They're green, and identifiably money. But they're square, about the size of cocktail napkins.  The face on them is  unfamiliar.  Thousand dollar bills.WIDER ANGLE: INT.  PEREZIS CHAMBERS    LATERA good sized suite, decorated in a sparse, military fashion. Perez is behind his desk, the money sitting between him and Elgyn.PEREZThis wasn't easy to come by.ELGYNNeither was our cargo. You're not pleading poverty, are you?PEREZWe're well funded. I mean the bills. There's not many that still deal in coin.ELGYNJust the ones that don't like their every transaction recorded. The fringe element.I guess that would include you, though, wouldn't it?PEREZDrink?ELGYNConstantly.  I'm guessing whatever you've got going here wasn't exactly approved by congress.Perez pours two whiskeys.PEREZ (changing the subject)So where do you go from here?ELGYNOut by the Handle.  We've got a couple of harvesters, we can unload 'em on one of the collectives if Vriess and Call get 'em working.PEREZCall.  Where'd you find her?ELGYNShe is severely fuckable, isn't she? - And the very devil with a socket wrench.I think Vriess somewhat pines.He takes a stack of bill, smells it.  He likes the smell.-ELGYNShe is curious about this little transaction.  You can hardly blame her, Awfully cloak and  dagger...Perez hands a drink to ELGYN.PEREZThis is an army operation.ELGYNMost army research labs don't have to operate outside regulated space.And they don't call for the kind of cargo we brought.PEREZDo you want something, Elgyn?ELGYNJust bed and board, couple of days worth.  If we're not imposing.PEREZNot at all. Keep out of the restricted areas, don't start any fights, and mi casa is yours too.Elgyn drinks to that.PEREZI trust, of course, that you can mind your own business.ELGYN (smiles)I'm famous for it.They drink. CUT TO: INT. HALLWAY - RESTRICTED AREAThe 'cargo' is rolled down the corridor, armed guards flank it. It is wheeled into:INT.  A CHAMBERWhere Wren and a few others are waiting.  Gediman looks a little nervous, not sure this is a good idea.The cargo is locked into place on the floor and and a guard works the electric lock.It springs open and the guard slides off a side panel.They are stacked one on the other, five of them in all, cryotubes. People sleeping inside.One by one the tubes are hauled to one side of the room as the second unit is wheeled in.By the end there are ten people sleeping side by side in their tubes in the dark chamber.The scientists meanwhile retire to INT.  AN ADJOINING CHAMBER with a long glass window looking at the chamber.The last of the guards leaves the chamber and we see the door lock behind them.Wren starts pushing buttons.The glass tops of the cryotubes slide open.  We see temperature and lifesign gauges begin to change..There is a thick whirring as a part of the ceiling above the tubes lowers, lowers,  and rotates slowly.Stuck to the other side of it are ten alien eggs.  The ceiling rotates just enough so that they are aimed at the heads of the sleepers.For a moment nothing happens.One of the sleepers eyes flutter slightly. Opens. All ten eggs open simultaneously.CUT TO: INT.  CONFERENCE HALLA huge room, used for assemblies and events. It has a chain basketball net set up at one end, crude court lines taped to the floor.  Ripley stands beneath the net with a ball, dribbling absently.At the other end are set up tables and folding chairs.  The crew of the Betty, sans Elgyn, are filing in to eat here.  Johner spies Ripley, smiles.JOHNEROoh.Johner comes up to Ripley.  Her expression makes it clear how much she enjoys having him in her face.JOHNERHow about a little one on one?She keeps dribbling, says nothing.JOHNERWhat do you say?RIPLEYGet away from me.JOHNERWhy should I?RIPLEYBecause pain hurts.He falters a moment at her quiet threat, then:JOHNER Are you gonna hurt me then? 1 think I might enjoy that.He smiles his ugly smile. She smiles back.She hits, him solidly in the chest -- and he flies back ten feet, landing badly on a group of chairs.His mates fly into action, Christie grabs a standing ashtray. Hillard jumps Ripley from behind.   She throws her off with e -- chucks the basketball at her hard enough to pop the air out of it.Christie swings at her and SMASHES her right in the face.She arcs back... and right back up, at Christie's throat before he has a chance to react, squeezing, batting away the ashtray just a trickle of blood coming down her nose --Johner cames at her again and she leaps on him, throws him to the ground, snarling,SHE'S GONNA RIP HIS THROAT OUT WITH HER TEETH.WRENRipley.Ripley looks up and four guards are pointing burners at her.  Wren and Gediman behind them.Call, standing to one side with Vriess, reacts visibly to the name.  Everybody is slowly backing off.  St Just stands with his hands behind his back, as if concealing something.Call watches in rapt silence.WRENDon't let's have a scene.Ripley lets go of Johner, stands.RIPLEYHe... smellsWRENI imagine he does.JOHNER (barely breathing)What the fuck are you?She looks down on him - in both senses of the phrase. - Look around at everyone staring at her.She wipes the bit of blood from under her nose, flicks it away. Exits.WREN (to Gediman, amused)Social skills, less than a hundred' percent.ANGLE: RIPLEY'S BLOODThe few drops she flicked away sizzle on the floor -- not eating through, but melting  a small patch.TO: INT.  LABS - LATERA large metal box is being wheeled next to an observation pen. Soldiers surround it, weapons at the ready.  Not one of them at ease.Wren and Gediman watch intently.WRENWhat's the status on the Queen?GEDIMANWe still haven't detected the origin of the reproductive anomalies. But the egg laying  stage appears to be over.WRENDid we do something wrong?GEDIMANI don't know. I think we covered everything. But these redundancies...A soldier lifts a panel in the pen and then doors to the cage come open automatically.Everyone waits.A fullgrown alien suddenly bolts into the pen. The soldier shut it as quickly as humanly possible.WRENFather, check security status, observation pen six.Father, the voice of the ship, replies after a moment in a dulcet, comforting tone.FATHERPen six secure, security systems functional at 100%.WRENGood.  Now the others.CUT TO: INT.  SLEEP CHAMBERS - NIGHTWe see VARIOUS ANGLES of people at night:Rane, in, a chamber on the Auriga.Hillard and Elgyn, in a slightly more lush one.Perez, in his quarters.VRIESS, rolling about the Aurigals engine room, looking it over.Christie, St Just, Call and Johner, all playing poker in the mess hall.CUT TO:  INT.  OBSERVATION ROOM - RIGHTA sleep cycle is indicated here by the low lighting and the near emptiness of the room.Gediman alone is in here, writing observations down in a notebook as he watches the pen.Inside are three aliens. Two of them seem to be hibernating, curled up in the corner,  but the third faces the glass, tilting its head and hissing at it. Gediman sits right up close to it, his face just inches away from the beast's.  It draws back its lips, opens its mouth.  The metallic tongue issues slowly forth, dripping with slime.GEDIMAN (softly, fascinated)Is that a distended externus lingua ... or are you just happy to see me?The creature hisses. retracts the tongue. Gediman scribbles few notes.Something moves in the dark behind him. Before he can notice, a hand closes on his shoulder.It's Ripley. She steps forward, eyes locked on the cage. Gediman seems only mildly surprised.GEDIMANHow did you get in here?RIPLEYBeautiful, aren't they?GEDIMANYes.  Yes they are.  I've been monitoring their interaction.He points at a audiograph by the wall, blips and waves interrupting the vibrating line, indicating sound.He notices that her hand is still on her shoulder.GEDIMANThey communicate.  Through ultrasonic soundwaves.  Sort of like bats.RIPLEYI know.She looks at him.RIPLEYI can hear them.GEDIMAN (smiling)Amazing ...She runs her hand through the back of his hair, gently urging him up off his chair.GEDIMANRipley...RIPLEYShhhhh.She pulls him close, kisses him.  Lightly at first, then deeply - holding his head with both hands. He responds with surprising warmth, the kiss drawing out, pulling slowly apart.She looks at him, smiles.An alien tongue SHOOTS out of her mouth, burying itself in his face.SMASH CUT TO: INT.  RIPLEY'S CHAMBERAs she suddenly awakes, eyes wide, breathing hard.She has been sleeping, we see, in the same position she was before: squatting in the middle of the room. She looks about her, recovering from the nightmare... Her breathing slows. With a somewhat fatalistic look, she settles back to sleep.CUT TO: INTERIOR MESS HALL - NIGHTChristie, Call, St Just and Johner are still at their all night poker game, stacks of bills, peanuts and liquor scattered the table.They are in a tense hand, the pot impressively high.JOHNERI'm in.CHRISTIEAll right.ST JUSTRaise you two hundred.JOHNEROh, fuck you!CALLThat's it. I'm out. I'm fucked.She throws down her cards, takes a swig of Johner's patented moonshine. It tastes horrible.CHRISTIEThat takes me down, too. Johner?JOHNERUh, Uh, fuck it. I fold.(to St Just)What do-you got?St Just calmly shuffles his cards back into the deck.ST JUSTYou'll always wonder.JOHNERYou asshole.CHRISTIEJohner, your deal.CALLDeal me out. It's not my night.She tries to stand up, takes a spill over her chair.  The others laugh.CALLJesus, Johner, what do you put in that shit, battery acid?JOHNERJust for coloring.ST JUST (producing a small vial)I got something that'll take the edge off that.CALL  Thanks, I'll walk it off.She stumbles out of the room.  Johner shuffles the deck.JOHNERBitches should not play with the boys, they will get cleaned out.(dealing)Eight card throwback, fuck your sister and the sevens are wild.CUT TO: INT.  HALLAs soon as she is out of sight, Call straightens up, completely sober.  She looks around her and takes off toward the restricted areas.She comes to the door and making sure no one is around, star punching in code on the keypad.CUT TO: INT.  CELLBLOCK - MOMENTS LATERAs Call pads silently down it, looking for one cell.TO: INT.  RIPLEY'S CELL - CONTINUOUSThe cell door opens silently.  Call hesitates a moment, then slips in, shutting the door behind her.Ripley is sleeping, still in the squatting position in the middle of the room. Call approaches.She stares down at Ripley a moment.  A shadow passes as a guard walks above them,Call tenses till he is gone.  Look's back down at Ripley -- still sleeping.Call extends her hand, flexes her wrist.  The meanest lookin stilletto you've ever seen extends from out her sleeve. it, gotta be a foot long, and sharp enough to shave with.She lifts back her arm, the better to punch it through Ripley's heart.Ripley shifts slightly.  Call stops.ANGLE: RIPLEY'S CHESTHer shirt is open enough to show a good portion of the scar. Call hesitates, staring, realization flooding her face.RIPLEYWell?Call starts, moving back a pace.RIPLEYYou gonna kill me or what?CALLThere's no point, is there?A flick of her wrist and the stilletto whips back up her sleeve.  Ripley sits up.CALLIt's already out of you.  Christ... Is it here?  Is it on board?RIPLEY (smiling)You mean my baby?  CALLI don't understand.  If they've got it, why are they keeping you alive?RIPLEYCurious.  I'm the latest thing...CALLThose sick fucks.She raises her arm, the stilletto gliding out again.CALLI can make it stop.  The pain... this nightmare.. That's all I can offer you.Ripley holds her palm up, presses it against the point of the blade.RIPLEYWhat makes you think I would let you do that?Ripley pushes her hand out - the blade goes RIGHT THROUGH HER PALM. She keeps pushing her hand out slowly, a good five inches of the blade sticking out the back of her hand  before she stops. Call stares at her.CALLWhat are you?RIPLEYRipley, Ellen, Lieutenant first class, number 36706.CALLEllen Ripley died two hundred years ago.Ripley pulls her hand back suddenly, grimacing at the pain.RIPLEYWhat do you know about it?CALLI've read Morse -- I've read all the banned histories.  She gave her life to protect us from the beast.  You're not her.RIPLEYIf I'm not her. What am I?CALLYou're a thing.  A construct.  They grew you in a fucking lab.RIPLEYBut only God can make a tree.CALLAnd now they've brought the beast out of you.RIPLEY (smiling)Not all the way out.CALLWhat?RIPLEYIt's in my head.  Behind my eyes.  I can hear it moving.  The beast.The smile is gone, some real vulnerability showing through.  Call softens, trying a different tack.CALLHelp me.  If there's anything human in you at all, help me stop them before  this thing gets loose.RIPLEYIt's already loose.Call's expression changes.  Those words terrify her, but she's not sure if Ripley means what she thinks.Ripley raises her hand at Call's head -- Call flinches but Ripley stops a few inches away.Then touches her forehead gently, almost sensually.RIPLEYOnce the thought .... the hope for it ... grows here.... it has found its way.It will come, because... man will bring it.  Bring it forth.CALLYou want that.RIPLEYI've come to terms with the fact of it. It's inevitable.CALLNot so long as there's breath-in me.Ripley LASHES OUT and GRABS CALL'S THROAT.  Call swings wit the blade but Ripley has her arm pinned before she can connect.  Ripley squeezes the girls neck.Ripley looks at the girl with a world of sadness.RIPLEYI can... make it ... stop...Call's eyes are pleading, terrified. Ripley finally lets go and she drops to the ground gasping for air.  RIPLEYGo. They're coming for you.As soon as she can move, Call scrambles up and heads out.CUT TO: INT.  HALL - CONTINUOUSCall comes out and before she can move a RIFLE BUT hits her the head.  She goes down but  not out as two guards grab her. Wren is with them and three more.WRENI think you're gonna find that this was ill advised.(to the men) Where are her friends?GUARDMess hall, most of them.WRENSound the alarm. I want them rounded up. Now!TO: INT.  MESS HALL - MOMENTS LATERANGLE: THE CARD TABLEBeing kicked over.Elgyn, Hillard and Rane are pushed into the room, sleepy and confused.Christie, St Just, and Johner are all being herded in by soldiers.Call is thrown into the group as well.ELGYNWhat the fuck is going on here?CHRISTIELooks like a doublecross, boss.WRENWhere's the other one? With the chair?JOHNER (to a soldier)Get your fucking hands off me!ELGYNDo you mind telling me what the fuck you're up to?WRENShut up! (to a guard) Get the general.  Wake him up.ELGYNLook, if there's a problem tell me what it is. We can work this out, there is no  need to get emotional ...St Just is silent, standing in the same position he was when Ripley attacked Johner.Hands behind his back.ANGLE: BEHIND ST JUST'S BACKAs Elgyn speaks, two guns..slip out of his sleeves and fill his hands.CALLThey got nothing to do with this, Wren.ELGYN (to Call)To do with what?WREN  I don't give a fuck. It's way too late for that. You're all looking at a firing squad.You hear me?ELGYNI do.  St Just?With lighting precision, St Just raises his hands and blows of the guards away.He takes out a third to his left without even looking that way.One guard gets off a shot with his burner, frying Rane before Hillard's elbow knocks his teeth well into his throat.Christie tackles the next as Johner presses a latch on the bottom of his thermos --  the top half flies off, revealing handle of a gun inside. He grabs it and another  guard runs. Johner doesn't have time to pull the gun-out of the the so he SHOOTS right through it, sending the guard flying..CUT TO: INT.  ALIEN OBSERVATION LAB - CONTINUOUSAlarms, flashing red lights.  Gediman looking in a video monitor.GEDIMANWhat the fuck... You three!  Go! Sector two.All but one of the guards rush out to investigate.  Gediman works the surveilliance screen, trying to see what's happeningCUT TO: INT.  MESS HALL - CONTINUOUSWhen the smoke clears, There are two guards still standing.  They point their weapons inneffectually.  St Just a has gun to wren's head and a gun on the guards, who are also covered by Johner.ELGYNNice and easy, boys ...Call starts to take off.CALLI'm gonna finish this.Elgyn grabs her by the hair, roughly pulls her back.ELGYNYou're going nowhere, Annalee.CUT TO: INT. OBSERVATION LAB - CONTINUOUSANGLE: IN THE PENThe three aliens have picked up the energy. are stalking back and forth like tigers in the dim light of their pen.ANGLE: THEIR POVWe see Gediman and the guard, their backs to us. The aliens-stop pacing.  One of them,  to the right, looks at the one on the left.  Something passes between them. They look back at the humans.  At each other.They SET ON the middle alien, TEARING IT APART.  It lets out piercing, insectile SHRIEKS as they tear it limb from limb.Gediman spins in terror, the guard bringing up his weapon. Gediman hits the lights inside the pen and as they blink to shocking brightness we see:The remains of the third alien on the ground as a giant pool its blood EATS A HOLE IN THE FLOOR.GEDIMANOh, GodHe bolts for the failsafe but it's too late as the blood eats all the way through  - the two aliens DIVE through the hole. just as Gediman hits the button -- freezing gas  fills the chamber but there's nothing to freeze.GEDIMANNo no no!He hits another sequence and the door slides open.  He rushes in, kneels by the hole and looks down.ANGLE: HIS POVTheir blood has already eaten through two levels.GEDIMANChrist.  They could be anywhere.He looks up at the guard -- and an alien FLIES UP at him through the hole.  It was hanging on the ceiling below and it pulls him through before he can breathe a decent scream.The guard just stares, shaking.CUT TO: INT.  MESS HALLThe mexican standoff is getting even more heated.CHRISTIEWho gives a shit!  We have to get out of here.ELGYNIf Call's got something going here I want to know what it is!WRENYou brought her here..Two more guards rush in.  Johner shoves' his gun in Wren's mouth.JOHNERDrop them!  I'm not fucking with you!CHRISTIE (indicating the dead soldiers)Boss, we got bodies here.  It doesn't matter what Call's up to, we're all fucked now.CALLI have to stop him.  If I don't we'll all die.WREN (pulls his mouth away)Elgyn, tell me what you know. If she's alone in this.HILLARDIn what?Johner puts his gun to Call's temple now.JOHNERDoes anyone want me to make this simple?Far away, a SCREAM. Everyone stops.  Wren turns slowly in the direction it came from.WRENNo...CUT TO: INT.  HALLWAY BY LABSA technican RUNS screaming just as an alien LEAPS on him from behind.  The CAMERA  RUSHES AWAY, frenzied as the scene, to pick up a guard in the next hall firing wildly at the ceiling as an alien dissappears up an airvent.  There are three bodies lying dead before us.ANGLE: IN THE PENSWe see that the aliens have been freed.  Smoke, dead bodies, the plexiglass partition to one 1 cage is cracked and open.CUT TO: INT.  RIPLEY'S CELL - CONTINUOUSRipley sits in the dark, the noise of Chaos just beginning filter in.  And she just can't help herself.She is LAUGHING.CUT TO: INT.  PEREZ'S QUARTERS CONTINUOUSHe is mostly dressed, still shaking off sleep.  He stands at the command console, bringing up visual.  Everything on the screens is smoke and noise.PEREZEnsign! Damage Report! Ensign!Nothing.  On one of the screens, an alien is briefly visible. Perez stiffens at the sight of it.He punches up a different sector. The labs, and here is a badly wounded lieutenant.PEREZStatus!LIEUTENANTContainment is impossible, sir... I think they swept the barracks.PEREZ (to himself)A military strike.... Christ Jesus ...After a beat, he starts punching in the emergency override codes.CUT TO: INT.  BARRACKS - CONTINUOUSIt's worst here -- the aliens have taken out a dozen men in their sleep, and everyone awake is screaming.  One soldier runs for the weapons cabinet -- an alien hits him from behind and SMASHES him into it, falling in a tumble of guns.Over the chaos, the emergency lighting comes on, floor light like an airplane's indicating the nearest exit.  Father's voice is excruciatingly calm:FATHEREmergency. Initiate evacuation procedures immediately. All hands. This is not a drill.One soldier gets a bead on an alien with his burner - fries italong with two of his friends.They're out of commission, but the alien is hurt only momentarily.  It bounds forward, takes out his face.FATHEREmergency.  Initiate evacuation procedures ...CUT TO..INT. HALLWAY BY ENGINE ROOM - CONTINUOUSThe noise is too far above to be heard down here, but Fathers droning voice and the emergency lighting are on.Vriess wheels slowly into the hall, concerned.  He spins slowly, checking out his surroundings.ANGLE: DOWN THE HALLThere is nothing.. Just the floor lights pulsing in succession towards the exit.Vriess follows their lead, wheeling out.CUT TO: INT.  NEXT HALL - CONTINUOUSNothing here either. But Vriess's fur is up -- he moves slowly, carefully.And was that a noise?  He looks around, up at the ceiling.A drop of alien blood is eating through right above him.  It drips down -- and he rolls out of the way just in time, back up as the blood plops to the floor, eating casually through.CUT TO: INT.  LIFEBOAT BAY ONE - CONTINUOUSMen are rushing into one of the lifeboats.  They sit facing each other in the tiny vessel  and strap themselves in.  Pere is here, hurrying the soldiers in, pushing back the few who try to crowd in after.PEREZBay three!  Go!The late soldiers make for the next boat as Perez seals the hatch.  He hits the eject button and steps back.CUT TO: EXT.  THE AURIGA - CONTINUOUSAs the lifeboat FIRES out of the side of the giant craft.CUT TO: INT.  BAY THREE - CONTINUOUSMen crowd into this one too -- it's nearly full and an alien suddenly LEAPS into it.. starts feeding on the men strapped down - they are screaming.Perez runs in as a soldier outside the lifeboat fires his burner, hitting the alien, the men, the controls -- a shower of sparks as the alien-turns, about to spring on the soldier as he rolls in a grenade. The doors shut and and a soldier hits the eject button.TO: EXT.  AURIGA - CONTINUOUSThe second lifeboat comes shooting out and moments later.  EXPLODES.CUT TO: INT.  MESS HALL - CONTINUOUSThe noise of the explosion - and of a few inside as well - is all around the group.Father's voice still urges evacuaticionWRENNO!(to Call)What have you done?CALLNothing.  Not a goddanm thing. You thought you could control it.ELGYNAll right. We make for the Betty. Can he walk?He is pointing at Rane, who nods, standing.HILLARD  Betty's all the way across the ship! Who knows what's in between?CALL (indicating Wren)He does.One of the soldiers steps forward.  DiStephano.DISTEPHANO (to Wren)Sir, we have to go.(to Elgyn) Let him go.  No quarrel.ELGYNYou can have him when we're off. Not before.They start out, dragging Wren along.  Guns still on Call and the soldiers.What about Vriess?JOHNERFuck Vriess!CUT TO INT.  FALL - CONTINUOUSVries enters, looking around.  He is getting seriously wigged.The lights on the floor still pulse. Urging him forward.  He obeys.Something stirs in the rafters.  Coiled about the pipes.Vriess stops, still a good thirty feet from the beast.  Strains to see.It starts MOVING, climbing at him upside down on the pipes.  FAST.Vriess starts wheeling himself back away but SLOWLY, agonizingly slowly compared to the beast.He turns the corner, spins around.The hall is fifty feet long.  At the far end a few soldiers running through.SERGEANTSeal off that sector!A soldier runs to obey, working the door controls.VRIESSNo!The soldier sees him, but the fear on the boy's face telegraphs his-decision.Vreiess starts pumping toward the door.  He's strong, picking up speed, but the alien rounds the corner and bolts after him.Vriess can't even look back as the thing gains on him.  The door begins to come down, the soldier finishing the sequence and running off.Vriess rolls, face set -- the alien a few feet behind, reaching for himAn EXPLOSION far away ROCKS THE SHIP -- the hall tilted momentarily, Vriess gets a  boost as he rockets downhill, the beast still on him, the door closing, too low for him to clear. He gets there and SLAMS a lever, his chair FLATTENS out to a dolly  position, his head just CLEARS the closing door as the alien SLAMS into it, Vriess spinning out and flying off the chair it tilts, landing in a heap next to him.Lying still on the ground, he listens as the beast slams against the door a few more times, then fades off.VRIESSFuck everything....He reaches up for the chair and from the back of it he pulls out a shotgun.CUT TO: INT.  LIFEBOAT BAY 5 - CONTINUOUSPerez is trying to maintain order. He is failing. Grabs a corporal.PEREZMuster a squad to search for survivors!CORPORALFuck no! Fuck no! Fuck you!Perez slams him to the ground with his fist.An ALIEN LEAPS OUT at him from the ceiling. The soldiers scatter, Perez just leaping out of the way --PEREZShoot it! Fry it!A couple of men fire their burners, to little effect.One soldier runs up to the action. His head is bloodied, his expression vengefully grim.The soldier whips out a pistol, private.issue, he takes a bead on the thing --PEREZNO!And the soldier FIRES -- pumps three bullets into the beast sends it flying back toward the window.Perez is riveted by the sight of: ANGLE: DROPS OF BLOODbig ones, hitting the window. Everything seems to move slowly now - the alien,  struggling as the soldier pumps two more bullets into it, the other soldiers, Perez -- the monster falls and the BLOOD EATS THROUGH THE WINDOW..PEREZGet out!  Everyone!  Now!Soldiers are beginning to get it.. The window CRACKS, begins to SHAKE as the blood is almost through it.Even the soldier who shot the alien has stopped, his face frozen in horror at what he's about to accomplish.Perez shoves him, herds the rest out, looking back --PEREZClear the sector!at the window, the blood is almost through --Men are pouring out of the hall -- some move down a side hall and SLAM the door shut  behind them, but most are making for the main exit anyway.FATHERWarning.  Potential hullbreach.  Clear sector.The blood eats a hole in the window -- the nearest soldier is sucked back against the  window -- he SCREAMS as he is sucked through a hole no bigger than his fist.Still men are falling over each other, Perez herding them out. A huge CRACKING sound, and Perez shuts his eyes.The window explodes outward, the air blowing everything int space. Debris, vehicles, men, all tangled and dead as they blown out into the black.ANGLE: THE SECTOR DOORSSLAM shut instantly one cutting right through a soldier halfway out.ANGLE: AIR VENTSGates slam down here as well.ANGLE: ELECTRICAL DUCTSFoam SHOOTS into them, hardening instantly, sealing the breached sector.FATHERBreach contained. Sector five nonfunctional.CUT TO: INT. HALL - CONTINUOUSAs the crew moves quickly through.  They come to a shut door, red lights along it indicating it's locked.ELGYN (to DiStephano)Open it.DISTEPHMOI can't.Johner puts his gun to the soldier's head.WRENHe can't!  The sector's closed.  The hull's been breached!ELGYNOkay, which way?WRENWe'll have to go through the holding cells.  Here.ELGYNAll right.They turn left, enteringINT.  CHAMBER - CONTINUOUSthat leads to the holding cells.  The room is big, a railing at one end looking over another chamber two flights down.A shut door separates the chamber from the cells.ELGYNCan you get that one open?It comes from the rafters, dropping down on Elgyn in a heartbeat.  He barely has time to scream before it shoots its tongue through the back of his skull.Hillard has time.  She SCREAMS as her lover's brains come out his mouth.The beast leaps at the group, scattering them like bowling pins as it claws into one of the guards. Everybody else is scrambling for cover.St Just tries to escape by running past the beast - its tail lashes out, tangling his feet and tripping him up, his head smashing against a pipe.Another guard hits it with the burner -- it shrieks and lands on him. Johner shoots at it but is far too panicked to hit it.Call has backed to the far wall -- she desperately works the controls to open the door.It starts to rise.CALLChristie!  Hillard!  Come on!The door rises fully.  Ripley stands behind it.Call starts back, not sure what the woman will do.Ripley surveys the scene.The Alien, burrowing its head into the belly of the guard, stops.  Looks up.Everyone watches as the two creatures sense each other.  ThE alien hisses. rears back.Ripley looks away, contemplative We see a gamut of emotions cross her face, but her posture passive, sacrificial.  She does not move.Everyone watches, too afraid to breathe.The alien LUNGES at her, leaping across the room in two bounds. It's on her -- and she SPINS, GPABBING IT, and HURLS IT AWAY.It lands in a tangle but is up again in a microsecond, jumps at her, knocks her back into the room, on her, its claws digging into her skin, piston tongue at her face, inches away. She locks an arm around its slick, long head and pulls back we hear its tendons strain, snap.CALL (to a guard)Shoot it!  Shoot them both!She grabs his gun and BURNS them both.  Two less-than-human SCREAMS fill the room as they briefly disentangle, thrown apart.The beast recovers first, dodging the next blast and going for Ripley again.Ripley, on her back, reaches behind her, grabs a table leg and with inhuman strength brings the table down on the monster's head.She dives at it as it comes out from under....Call shoots as Ripley hits the alien, they're both fried as Ripley's momentum sends them over a railing and they FALL TWENTY FEET -- the Alien lands with a spine snapping crunch,Ripley only slightly better.A few crew members rush to look over the railing.  Christie starts down the spiral staircase to that level.JOHNERWhere are you going?The creature rolls back onto Ripley, grabbing her with its dying strength. Her face is rigid with pain and anger as she holds it off... its jaws open, dripping shaking...The tongue SHOOTS OUT and Ripley GRABS IT. HOLDS IT.A scream wells up in her throat.  A totally animal killshriek that she SCREAMS, victorious, as she RIPS THE ALIEN'S TONGUE OUT OF ITS FACE.She stands, bellows another warrior cry. The crew has gathered near.  They watch her, awed, wary. Ripley walks slowly up to them -- up to Call.  Ripley looks a tad pissed.Call tenses, maybe wishing she hadn't shot Ripley as well.Ripley takes Call's hand, puts the tongue in it. walks on.Call looks at the dripping souvenier.  The pincers at the end still twitching.CHRISTIEWhat the FUCK is going on here?RANEWhat was that thing?  Are there more of that thing?JOHNER (to Call)Make a hell of a necklace...ANGLE: HILLARDon the upper level, kneeling by Elgyn's body.  No tears, but terribly quiet.What do we do?CHRISTIESame thing we were doing.  We get the fuck.RANEWhat if there's more?  Let's stay here and let the army guys deal.  Someone will come... I mean, where are the fucking army guys?St Just is very calmly looking up at the rafters, guns drawnCHRISTIEDoctor.  You know what that thing is?WRENI do.CHRISTIEAnd there's others.  How many?The doctor looks around, almost guiltily.WRENThirty.JOHNERThirty!  We are fucked in our pink bottoms if there's thirty of those things.RIPLEYThere'll be more.Everyone looks around at her.  She is squatting in the corner facing away from them.RIPLEYThey'll breed.  In a few hours there'll be twice that number.(she stands, approaches them)So who do I have to fuck to get off this boat?CHRISTIEYou bought your ticket when you killed that thing. welcome aboard.CALL.Are you fucking crazy? She doesn't care if we....CHRISTIE (fiercely)You got no authority here, Call!- Now secure it!It's the first time Christie has raised his voice, and it has the desired effect.After a silent moment, Call starts again softly.CALLChristie, she's not human.  Wren cloned her because she was carrying an alien in her.She could turn --JOHNERNobody cares about your opinion, you bitch, you fucking mole --CALLShe'll turn on us!  Just like that!CHRISTIEI don't give a syphallitic fuck whether you people can get along or not. If we've got a wish to live then we work together, and that includes bug-lady.CALLYou can't trust her.CHRISTIEI don't trust anyone.  CUT TO: INT.  CHAMBER/CELLBLOCK - A BIT LATERThe group is still in the adjoining chamber, but looking here into the cellblock where Ripley had been.  DiStephano and St Just come first, guns ready, looking about them.They are followed by Christie and Wren.WRENThere's a console in the guards, station.  We can punch up a diagnostic of the ship and plan a route.  To your ship.CHRISTIEThat likes me fine.He signals for the others to follow, everyone moving cautiously.ANGLE: HILLARDGently lays her coat over Elgyn's face. Johner looks down a moment.JOHNERVia con Dios, man.Hillard stands. Call puts ahand on her shoulder but Hillard moves away, a distrustful look on her face.Ripley, bringing up the rear, watches the whole group with a sort of fascinated detatchment.Call looks back at her.  Ripley smiles, coldly.ANGLE: IN THE CELLBLOCKThe group makes their way slowly, quietly.  They approach a bank of elevators, but Wren points down an adjoining doorway.  They are about to go there when the elevator door lights up, indicating arrival.The group backs up, spreads out. Those who can find cover take it. guns drawn.The elevator doors open.  It is too dark inside to see:Suddenly sparks fly from the broken overhead in the elevator and a figure appears in the light.Everyone jolts, about to fire. before they realize it isVRIESSWho sits in his chair, a shotgun in each hand, eyes wide. twitchier than they.JOHNEROh, fuck...CALLvriess!VRIESS (mock casual)Hey, whatchyou guys doing?  Hey, Annalee.CHRISTIEThought you were toast for certain.VRIESSYou've seen that fucking thing?WREN (suspiciously)Where were you?VRIESSI was down by -- what do you mean? I was in maintenance, checking out your oxidation systems.JOHNERDoc's got a bug up his ass 'cause Call's a mole and he thinks we're a conspiracy.VRIESS (looking at Call)She's a what?JOHNERA mole.  A fucking spy.Vriess looks hit harder by that information than anyone.CHRISTIEWe got'a mission here, people.  Let's keep moving.They do.CUT TO: INT.  GUARDS, STATION - MOMENTS LATERANGLE: THE CONSOLEA hologram of the ship appears above the screen.  It looks a solid as the ship itself, except that parts of it occasional break themselves down to show interiors.The group looks it over. Parts of the ship are simply not there, the sections around those holes red.  Wren points them out.WRENWe've had hull breach by the lifeboats, here on level five, and down -- Jesus, right by the engine room.  We're very lucky.ST JUST (sarcastically)Lucky we.CHRISTIEWhat about the Betty?  Our ship.WRENThe dock seems to be intact.CHRISTIEThen we head for it.JOHNERCan we track those fucking things?WRENNo.JOHNERWe could get to the Betty and they could be all over it!RANEAre you toting a better fucking idea?WRENAll of the activity seems'to have been in the aft-sector, by the barracks.There's no reason to suppose they'd moveRIPLEYThey won't.Everybody looks at her.RIPLEYThey're breeding. They've got new bodies to work on. They'll stay close. If they send anybody out, it'll be here. Where the... meat is.CALL'The meat' . Jesus.ST JUSTThey're breeding.  How long does that take?RIPLEYHours.WRENOr less.  The process has accelerated, something to do with the cloned cells.CHRISTIEFaster we get from here to there, the better.ST JUSTWith all the devils of hell in between.JOHNERWell, if we want to make decent time I say we ditch the cripple.(to Vriess)No offense.VRIESS (giving him the finger)None taken.HILLARDNobody's left behind, Johner. Not even you.Her voice is quiet, mourning still thick in it.  Nobody backtalks her.CHRISTIESo what's our route?WRENI'm trying to figure it. we can cut through the labs, but we're blocked on both sides here,I'm not sureDISTEPHMOSir?  There is the lift.WRENShow me.DiStephano works the console and the hologram splits, the route he's indicating revealed.DISTEPHMOThe lifts. They run straight from the top of the ship down to engineering. No stops, but  if we can get in the shaft, there's a maintenece access tunnel here(points to the center of the shaft)that runs above level one deck. Take us right to the dock.CHRISTIESounds reasonable.DISTEPHANOI don't have the code for the access tunnel door.WRENI can override.DISTEPHMO(indicating the route)Then we head through the labs, then down to the kitchen.  To the bottom of the shaft.Up, through the tunnel, and onto the ship.  Home free.ANGLE: VRIESSIs unloading additional ammo from inside his chair.  He toss one of his shotguns to Hillard.VRIESSThey never check the chair...He pulls out a grenade launcher.  It's so compact it's almost cute, cradled one handed like an uzi.VRIESSCall.She looks around and he tosses it to her.  The gesture is not acconmpanied by any show of warmth.VRIESSTry not to shoot your foot off.WRENYou people should know --ST JUSTWe.won't shoot at the windows, Doc.WRENNo. The aliens, they bleed molecular acid.CHRISTIEThat's right, I saw that.VRIESSSo did I.JOHNERWe can't shoot them?  Fuck that, I'm shooting them.WRENThis is a big vessel, and for the most part we should be okay. But if we get anywhere near the outer hull and start strafing them...He indicates the hologram, the sections of the ship missing.  Everyone gets it.CHISTIEIf we're clear then let's get on it. We'll go by twos --RIPLEYWe're moving.CHRISTIEWhat?RIPLEYThe ship is moving. 1 can feel it.RANEI don't feel shit -- what, do you mean they're piloting this fucking thing?VRIESSThis ship has stealthrun, even if we were moving there's no way she could feel it.CALL  She's right.Call is working the computer now.CALLThe ship's been going since the attack.WRENIt's uh, it's standard, I think.DISTEPHANOThat's right. If the ship takes on any serious damage it autopilots back to homebase.CALL (to Wren, pissed)You were planning to let us know this?WRENI forgot.HILLARDWhat is homebase?WRENEarth.CALLOh, God.  Oh, you bastard...JOHNEREarth?  I'm not going to that fucking slum.CALLIf those things get to Earth, It'll be...RIPLEY (not very concerned).The end.ST JUSTThat's not our problem.CALLWe've got to blow the ship.CHRISTIEWe don't have to do anything till we get off it.  How long till we get there?CALLThree hours.  Almost.CHRISTIEThen that's what we got.  Let's move.CALLDon't you understand what this means?CHRISTIEI understand my hide.  And I like it on me. Let's go.(to Ripley)What are you called, Ripley?  You mind taking point?She moves to the head of the line, and they start.CUT TO: INT.  LABS - LATERAs they progress.  Everyone with a gun has it at the ready.  Ripley is a few yards in front.She stops, sniffs.  Listens.RIPLEYClear.Johner moves up next to her.JOHNERYou've come up against these things before?RIPLEYYes.JOHNERSo what did you do ?RIPLEYI died.He lags behind a bit, thrown.JOHNERThat wasn't really what I wanted to hear...DiStephano points to a door.DISTEPFANOThis way.And Ripley leads them in.CUT TO: INT.  LAB - CONTINUOUSAs Ripley enters, we can see that this lab has been trashed.  Ripley surveys the wreckage calmly, keeps moving. As the others file in, their horrified expressions lend contrast to her lack of one.Among the debris are three bodies, chests exploded outward.JOHNERFuck me ...CHRISTIELet's keep moving.The door to the next chamber is ajar. Christie and Vriess in, then St Just, then Ripley.INT..NEXT CHAMBERSomething LEAPS at Ripley from out of the shadows -- a metal bar SLAMS into her side, throwing her off balance.St Just and Christie spin, weapons up, and almost shoot the figure cowering in the corner.Everyone else rushes in as he swings the bar before him, eyes wild with terror.PURVISGet away from me!CHRISTIEDrop the rod, man.  Do it!PURVIS.Get away...But the energy is out of him.  The rod falls with a hollow clatter. He looks weakly from face to face.PURVISWhat's going on?St Just looks at his name, stitched in his coveralls.ST JUSTPurvis.  What's going on is that we're getting the fuck off this ghost ship.PURVISWhat ship?  Where am I? 1 was in cryo on the way to Xarem, work crew for the nickel refinery...I wake up, I don't understand... I saw something... horrible ...CALLLook, you come with us.  It's dangerous here.Ripley SNIFFS.  Cocks her head.RIPLEYLeave him.CALLFuck you.  We're not leaving anyone on this boat.RIPLEYHe's carrying..JOHNERHe's what?RIPLEYHe's got one....	inside him. I can smell it.PURVISInside me? What?JOHNERShit, I don't want one of those things birthing anywhere near my ass.VRIESSIt's a bad risk.CALLWe can't just leave him.VRIESSI thought you came here to stop them from spreading.CALL (to Wren, torn)Isn't there a process, can't you stop it?ST JUSTWe've got no time for that.WRENI couldn't do it here. The lab's torn apart.ST JUST (quietly)I could do him. Painless, back of the head. Might be the best way.CALLThere's gotta be another way. If we freeze him --PURVISWHAT'S IN-FUCKING-SIDE ME?!?!?They all look at him, a bit sheepishly.WRENA parasite.  A foreign element that ....Ripley steps in front of the doctor.RIPLEYThere's a monster in your stomach. They (indicating the smugglers) hijacked your cryotube and sold you to him (indicatingWren) and he put an alien in you. In a few hours it will punch  its way through your chest and you'll die.  Any questions?Purvis is wide-eyed, stunned.  After a moment he stammersPURVISWho are you?RIPLEYI'm the monster's mother.She starts heading out of the chamber.  Call turns to the others.CALLHe comes with us.  We can freeze him on the Betty and get the doctor to remove it later.WRENAll right.JOHNERSince when are you in fucking charge?CALLSince you were born without balls.VRIESSEase off, people.CHRISTIE (to Purvis, herding him along)Come with us.  You might even live.  Get twitchy on me and you will be shot.They move out.CUT-TO: INT.  HALL - LATERstill in the same general area, still looking around every corner.  It's been too quiet too long, and the group senses that & They move intoINT.  OBSERVATION ROOM TWO - CONTINUOUSIt's in bad shape, so we might not recognize it as the chamber the queen was in.WRENShe's gone.ST JUSTWho?WRENThe Queen.JOHNERGood.He is loooking into the room.the queen was kept in.  A residue of slime is all that's left here.Beyond the queen's chamber is another observation room.  Wren indicates that they have to go through.Suddenly a burner blast FIRES at them, just missing them as they duck.They hear more blasts, not aimed at them, and screams.SOLDIER (O.S.)Pull back!   Pull back!OTHER SOLDIER (O.S.)It's on me!Ripley looks up and can just see two aliens making short work of a group of soldiers.Call instantly moves to attack, and Ripley grabs her, holds tight.CALLWe've got to help them!RIPLEYCan't.CALLYou bitch, let go of me!She does, and Call rises.The noise is gone. What she can see of the soldiers-is parts.She is shaking at the vision when an alien RISES in front on the soldiers.  Call ducks back down, terrified.Christie hisses at her.CHRISTIEYou want to get yourself killed, then you run solo.ST JUSTHow many?RIPLEYAt least two.ST JUSTThink they heard us?RIPLEYYep.HILLARDFine by me ...JOHNERYeah, let 'em come.CHRISTIEWren.  Any other way around?Wren shakes his head.CHRISTIEWe can't just walk in there.WREN (thinking)No. No, but they can.CHRISTIESay again?WRENThe cages all have failsafes.  Liquid nitrogen.  Get 'em to come to us and I can freeze em.CHRISTIEExcellent.   Get-ready.Wren goes over to the failsafe button. The others look out at the aliens.CHRISTIEOkay... (calls out) Hey!VRIESSHey, guys!JOHNERHere, kitty...The aliens react, start for the cage.  Four 'of them.  They reach the edge of it and stop.Look around, at each other..But go nowhere.DISTEPHMOThey're not coming.JOHNERHey!  Fresh meat here!RIPLEY.They know it's a trap.RANEOh, bullshit!CHRISTIEWhat do we do?JOHNERShoot the fucking things!VRIESSThere's too many, and we don't have the angle.RIPLEYBait.CALLWhat?RIPLEYGive em a reason to go in there. Throw somebody in.HILLARDFuck you!RIPLEYDO we want to live? Give em her.She indicates Call, who looks around, nervous at the lack of protest about this idea.Ripley points at Rane.RIPLEYOr the skinny one, it doesn't matter. We can't resist the smell of meat.CALLWe ?JOHNER Fuck, I'm with her!  Give 'em Annalee!CHRISTIENow hold onDISTEPHMOYou people are insane.JOHNERNow you're not exactly in the club either, soldier.People start pointing guns at each other.RANEFuck you all, I'm not dying for you.CALLStop this.Ripley grabs her.  Looks at the others.RIPLEYCome on!  Do you want to live or not?(to Call) It won't hurt long.CALL (terrified)Noo...RIPLEY (to Wren)NOW!Wren hits the button just as three aliens are bounding across the cage -- they're almost to the posse, people screaming, scrambling, when the freezing gas hits, turning the beasts to statues.The forth one sees this and flees, but St Just stands and put four bullets in it from forty yards. It slumps over.Everyone is silent, stunned.  Breathing hard.VRIESS (realizes)Fear.Ripley nods.VRIESSThat's how they knew it was a trap.  They couldn't smell the fear.RIPLEY (looking at Call)So I gave them some.JOHNER (gleefully)Son of a bitch!He pops up and FIRES at the frozen aliens - - they EXPLODE into fragments.CUT TO: EXT.  AURIGAGildihg through space, passing Jupiter's moons with dazzling speed.CUT TO: INT.  HALL   LATERRipley and Call are on point.  Ripley looks down the hall.  Call is staring at her, andRipley can feel the girls eyes on her back.RIPLEY(without looking around)Did you think I was going to... feed you to them?CALLI think you still might.Ripley smiles.  She may be right.RIPLEYI want to live.CALLAnd you don't care about anything else.RIPLEYNo.CALL (bitterly)I guess you're more human than I thought.RIPLEYWhy did you come here?CALLTo kill you, remember? (after a beat) Because somebody has to.RIPLEYwell it's not me.  I did my time.  Now I just want to...She stops dead, staring at a door.CLONING STORAGE FACILITY is written on it. Stencilled beneath that is `numbers 1-7`.Ripley stares. Tries the door, which opens.DISTEPHMOThat's not the way.CHRISTIERipley, we got no time for sightseeing.Ripley is looking down at her arm, at the 8 tattooed on it.She looks at Call.  Looks back at wren.WRENRipley... don't.She enters.CUT TO: INT.  CLONING STORAGE FACILITY - CONTINUOUSShe stands a moment, staring, before proceeding through it.  Call stands in the doorway, others crowding behind her. Every face registers the horror of what they are seeing, but none more so than Ripley'sNumbers one through seven.  The first failed efforts to clone Ripley.They are lined up like museum exhibits -- or side show freaks.Here is the fetal Ripley, the fetal alien visible through its translucent chest.In a jar.Here is a prematurely old, diseased Ripley, withered blue skin cling to Collapsed bones.Here is an attempt to separate the alien and grow it without the host -- boneless, bubbling tissue, weak and useless mouth rigored in midmew.Each one more horrifying than the last, and the last the worst of all.Ripley approaches, and stares at number seven.A complete mixture of alien and human DNA.A tortured, disgusting hybrid, half Ripley, half nightmare.Hooked up wires and machines, it lies on the tilted-table, its head nearly level withRipley's as she finally approaches it.When it opens its eyes, they are hers.it tuns its head ever so slightly to look at her.  Recognises her.Ripley cannot even speak.  She begins to shake slightly looking at number seven.NUMBER SEVENKill ... us ...Ripley's eyes go saucered as it speaks speaks out of nothing resembling a mouth.Ripley staggers back a step, shaking now.  This is too much to bear...CALLRipley!Ripley turns, slowly, still in a fever dream.Call cocks the grenade launcher with a loud CRACK.  Her eyes meet Ripley's.Call tosses it to Ripley as the crew steps back and even a catches it Ripley FIRES, a grenade chugging to the end of room and BURSTING in fire and noise, she FIRES another, tissue and steel exploding into flame, she turns to number seven, hand shakes momentarily...And she FIRES, the poor creature dissolving in a cloud of flame.Freezing gas jets fill the room, extinguishing potential spread, but the heart of the firestorm continues to rage in the chamber.She backs out, the crew waiting for her outside.The launcher falls loudly to the ground.  Ripley turns to Wren, her face rigid with pain.Wren backs up a step, looking around him for protection that the others have no thought of providing.CALLRipley... Don't do it.Ripley stops. weariness suffusing her expression.RIPLEYDon't do what?The tension pases.  Wren breathes a little sigh of relief.Call PUNCHES him across the jaw, his head whipping around as collapses to the ground.Call starts down the hall, not even looking at him.CALLDon't do that.Feeling his jaw, Wren actually smiles at the absurdity of all this.  It's kind of winning.Christie helps him up.CHRISTIEHad it coming, Doc.Johner looks in at the burning lab.JOHNERWhat's the big deal?  Fucking waste of ammo.ST JUSTLet's move before anything comes to check out the noise.JOHNERChicks, man....DISTEPHANOWe go down from here.CHRISTIE (to Vriess)We got to lose the chair.  Vriess.VRIESSI know.CHRISTIEKawlang maneuver, all right?Vriess is pulling a coil of cords from the chair.VRIESSJust like old times...CUT TO: INT.  ROOM - LATERA hatch opens. Ripley drops down, surveys the scene.  Quiet dark, empty.Ripley comes up, Call behind her.  Ripley sniffs, listens.  Closes her eyes. After a beat she starts further in and Call motions for others to follow.Slowly, they make their way down the corridor. Ripley, Cal ,Hillard , guns drawn.Bringing up the rear is Christie, toting a shotgun.. He turn slowly, alert, and we see that Vriess is strapped to his back facing the other way, also with a shotgun.CALL (to Ripley)That lab... 1 can't imagine how that must feel.RIPLEYNo. You can't.Ripley looks down.  The floor here is covered with a foot or so of dark water.Ripley steps into it, moves up a few paces. The others gingerly follow.Vriess is facing the back. He looks up.VRIESSThe cooling tanks.  They must have blown during the trouble.ANGLE: THE COOLING TANKSWe see the round underbelly of two huge tanks.  There are gaping, twisted holes in them.JOHNERThe nasties couldn't have done it, could they?HILLARDWhat for...?WRENDown here. He is at the front with Ripley and-Call, where the water is waste deep.He looks down at a stairwell, just the top of the railing visible above the murky water.RIPLEYThere's no other way?WRENWe're at the bottom of the ship.  Some of the worst damage is down here.Most of the sections are sealed off.RIPLEYYou're sure?WRENThere's the noncom's entrance back there, but it's flooded too, and it's a longer run.CALLHe's right.  We're gonna have to do it this way.WRENIt's just through the kitchen, then up, maybe seventy feet.RIPLEYI don't like it.ST JUSTWhat's to like?CHRISTIE (to vriess)You ready to get wet, partner?VRIESSOh yeah.HILLARDYou sure about the distance?WRENYes.CALLNo locked doors?WRENIt's an open hall.  Just keep left when you hit the bottom of the staircase.JOHNERThis sucks.ANGLE: DI STEPHANOHe flips caps over the barrel of the gun, slides a panel over the digital readout.The burner is ready to go, watertight.DISTEPHMO (to St Just)You should secure'your weapons.St Just holds up his two guns.ST JUSTThese are disposables.  They can take it.DISTEPHANODisposables. I heard about those. How many rounds?ST JUSTTwenty. Split points, give you a good hole even at the smaller caliber.DISTEPHANOCool.ST JUSTThey're big with hitters. 'Cause you throw em away after the job. Nobody likes throwing  away a weapon they're attached to.  You know?He smiles at Di Stephano, who looks a little uneasy about the turn the conversation has taken.He joins the others who are getting ready to dive..CALLDo I have to tell everyone to take a deep breath?A couple of the guys smile.VRIESSChristie, do me a favor.  When we hit the surface on the other side... no backstroke.  Okay?CHRISTIE (laughing)You'll be forever blowing bubbles. On three...He counts down, the two suck in enormous breaths -- and dive right behind Call and Ripley.One by one the entire crew slips down into the black water.CUT TO:  INT.  STAIRWELL\KITCHEN - CONTINUOUSIt's all underwater.  Visiblity is poor.  The crew move swiftly and gracefully down the stairs and into the kitchen.In here it's a tad labyrinthian, and the size of the room it darker. Wren heads straight for the other end.They swim.  Safety is a good fifty feet away.They are tense, concentrated.  Swimming past dark spaces.  Anything could be hiding here.Johner looks about him, very nervous.  Dark spaces.  He looks behind.Three aliens are right behind him.Panic blows half the air out of his mouth as he swings around and FIRES at them, tags one as the other two swim off into shadows with horrible ease.Ripley, all the way to the stairs, sees.  She hurries the others past her.They swim frantically for safety, Hillard Wren, Christie and Vriess.Rane is coming along and alien hands grab at him from the darkness, pull him into it.Hillard FIRES in that direction, Johner bringing up the rear still firing at the third one, wounding it but not scoring killshot.Call is swimming up ther staircase, the growing light above indicating the surface.She is almost to it when she is IN THE WEB.A net of translucent alien goo, it is spread just six inche below the surface.Call struggles the goo sticking to her she's running out of air -- as Wren and Christie enconter the same thing -- they all try to tear through it, but they are getting weaker.Ripley looks back as the last of the crew is passing her, aliens close behind.She looks up to see the situation ab and quickly makes for the surface -- but an  alien GRABS her foot, holding her down. Now SHE is running out of air KICKS at it, it  lets go.The others are fighting, Call pops her stilletto and cuts through, but it's tough, she  still can't get her head up ----Di Stephano, off to the side, is drowning.  Takes in a huge mouthful of water and begins thrashing.Ripley swims past everyone and grabs the hole Call cut, pulls it apart with a mighty heave, she glides up through --CLOSE UP: RIPLEY'S FACEJust BREAKS the surface, she takes in a huge GASP of air, FACEHUGGER CLAMPS DOWN ON HER.Ripley goes back under, pulling at the thing as others break the surface.Wren comes up and a hugger LEAPS right at him ,but Call nails it in four shots.Christie and Vriess break surface and both begin FIRING, back to back, in a circular sweep.They decimate a number of eggsANGLE: UNDERWATERRipley pulls the face hugger with all her might -- it comes off, its fingers singeing the sides of her face, leaving marks like warpaint.  Worse, its probing fleshy member pulls last of her throat, thrashing horribly.In utmost disgust, Ripley PULLS it APART. and the three aliens are COMING RIGHT AT HER.ABOVE - THE SURFACEMost of the crew has gotten up out of the water.  Christie holding a facehugger inches from his face, others screaming, taking a bead on it.CHRISTIEGet it!  Kill it!CALLThe blood'll burn you!  Throw it!He does, and Johner nails it in midflight.Hillard and Johner pull Di Stephano out of the water, but he is not breathing.ANGLE: UNDER THE SURFACERipley is grabbed by an alien -- and St Just comes up behind her and shoots it.They swim up and away from the spreading, lethal bloodpool.ANGLE: ABOVE THE SURFACEThey come up out of the water, and an alien rises right behind them.  Everyone who can, shoots it.  It falls back into the water.CHRISTIEA trap!  They set a goddamn ambush!JOHNERGive me that!He pulls the burner off Di Stephano's body, even as Call is giving him mouth to mouth.Johner flips the gun open and FIRES at the water, the whole thing SMOKING and sizzling with the electrical charge. we hear an alien wail bubble from below the surface.JOHNER (grinning feverishly)Okay!  Everybody out of the pool!VRIESSLet's get the fuck!Di Stephano sputters back to life.  Ripley picks him up with one hand,HILLARD (to Wren)Which way?WRENUp here.He takes off, the others following.WRENUp through the lift shaft!He stops at a pair of sliding doors, starts working the panel.  Ripley come up to the doors and pulls them apart with a grunt.ST JUSTCompany!He's refering to the noise and shadow of approaching aliens.She herds them into the shaft.CUT TO: INT.  LIFTSHAFT - CONTINUOUSIt goes down about four stories, and up seemingly forever.. Enough room for or threeelevators, one of which is two stories below.WRENUP!He starts climbing.  It's not that hard -- there are ladders in each shaft section.Call comes up behind him.  Ripley and others pair off on other ladders.They climb fast, they're three stories up before the aliens begin POUNDING on the metal door, it buckles under their might.JOHNERMove!WRENNot far!Still POUNDING -- one alien gets its head in, looks up, hisses, pulls it out.ANGLE: LIFTWren comes to a cralwspace ledge.  He climbs on.  Set back a few feet from the shaft is a small maintenance access door. works the keypad beside it as Call climbs up behind him.The aliens SMASH through the door, one of them SAILING across the shaft to grab a pipe on the other side. Instantly four of them are swarming up the walls, moving much faster  on pipes and ridges than the humans on ladders.On one of the aliens a facehugger crawls, constantly moving about on the adult alien's head like a frightened spider.CALLHurry!WRENIt's jammed!  Shit!  Gun!She hands him her gun and without hesitation he SHOOTS HER THROUGH THE CHEST.She flies back and DOWN THE SHAFT, lands HARD on an elevator six stories below.Eyes wide and empty.VRIESSNOO!He fires up at Wren, but Wren has punched in the code and slipped through the opening door..Ripley LEAPS through the air and grabs the ledge, hauling herself up just in time to see  the door shut.  The lock lights turn red.She SLAMS against the door, but to no avail.The aliens are getting closer.  St Just, the closest to the bottom, suddenly lets go of  the ladder.  His knees hooked over a rung, he drops, hangs up side down, his guns  filling his hands.He blows several holes in the nearest alien.Ripley is furious, maybe surprised just how so.  Suddenly an alien RISES OVER THE LEDGE, it's not three feet away from her and she SCREAMS, HURLS herself at it and they both goFLYING OFF into-space, they hit the wall on the other side, they fall. RIPLEY GRABS a pole, it practically tears her arm out of her socket but she holds on, the alien isn't so lucky, it plummets unable to find puchase. We see it fall past  the unmoving body of Call.ANGTE: CALLS FACEAs the facehugger CLAMPS onto it. Pauses. Pushes off a bit, two digits probing Call's nostrils.  Sensing no breath, the thing scurries away to find a better host.Another alien is fast approching Christie and Vriess. Vriess frantically tries to reload.VRIESSIt's on us!Christie turns, aims -- Vriess grabs the ladder as Christie FIRES, but the alien is too close, it grabs Christie, spurting blood all over him.  He SCREAMS, lets go of the ladderVriess takes the weight of both as Christie fires again, the alien flying off  and down the shaft.HILLARDWe gotta go!The last alien suddenly starts scurrying back down after his brothers.RIPLEYWe're locked in.JOHNER Fuck!PURVISHow far to the next door?DISTEPHANOAll the way.RIPLEYThen we climb.They start, moving as fast as they can.VRIESSS (to Christie)You just hang on, man.  I'll get us there.He starts climbing up, impressively fast considering the burden hanging from his back.JOHNER (to Ripley)Are they going for reinforcements?RIPLEYFucked if I know.They climb.And climb, the minutes stretching out, still no door.  Ripley easily ahead of the rest.Finally:RIPLEYI think I see the door.PURVIS (exhausted)Great.Vriess is having increasing trouble.  Hillard notices him lagging behind, and why.HILLARDVriess!  Jesus!Vriess is moving very quickly, considering. But the effort is becoming too much.VRIESSWe're coming...Johner scrambles down next to Vriess.he checks the pulse in Christie's neck.Vriess, man... he's dead.Refusing to hear it, Vriess struggles to climb further.VRIESSWe'll get him to medlab... just a little while ...Johner looks over at Hillard.  Without saying a word, she pull out a good-sized hunting  knife, flicks it open.She slices through the cord holding them together, and Christie's body falls free.Vriess shuts his eyes, feeling it.  ANGLE: DOWN THE SHAFTThere is silence as Christie's body drops down the black abyssUntil, from up the shaft next to where he fell, we see two ALIENS COMING UP.PURVISFuck!  Company!Hillard looks up the shaft.HILLARDHow much further?,JOHNERToo fucking far.  Let's G0 !They start to climb, but the aliens are making much better time.A loud CLACKING sounds from the bottom of the shaft.  A few of them look down.ANGLE: DOWN THE SHAFTThe aliens are still coming, but suddenly the lift passes them heading up at high speed.JOHNERThey can work the elevators?  Is there anything fucking else we should know about them?!He's addressing this at Ripley, but she's as puzzled as the rest of them.The lift comes up to them, stops suddenly as emergency brake is flipped.They wait, guns ready. Out of the hatch pops Call, not especially dead.CALLGet on!A moment of stunned silence, then they all jump on top of the lift.Call drops back down inside.An alien comes up level with the lift, prepares to jump.  St Just shoots the shit out of it.HILLARDWhere are the others?CUT TO: INT.  LIFT - CONTINUOUSCall flips the brake off, and the lift shoots up.  She is holding her jacket closed around  her chest wound, but it doesn't seem to bother her particularly much.ANGLE: ON TOPEverybody holds on as the lift flies up the shaft.ANGLE: INSIDECall waits for the signal to stop and an alien PUNCHES THROUGH the bottom of the lift.  Call yells as it gets its head and an arm through, clawing for her.ANGLE:	ON THE BOTTOMWe see the other half of the alien clinging to the lift.ANGLE:	ON TOPRipley sees the door approachingRIPLEYstop!ANGLE: INSIDECall hits the emergency button and the lift stops halfway in front of the door -- giving both Ripley and Call access.  Bu the alien is still grabbing for her --Ripley pries open the doors again, the crew pouring out into the hall. Ripley follows, jumps down and opens the lift doorsThe alien hisses at Ripley as she pulls Call out -- the -alien grabs Call's ankle, butRipley wrenches her free.They roll out but the alien is still fighting, Pulling itself inside the lift.Ripley grabs Hillardl's shotgun.  Levels it at the cables holding the lift.  FIRES.The lift PLUMMIETS, the alien still halfway in.It shoots down the shaft -- picking up the second alien on its way down, neither beast able to get its bearing and get out of the way as--The lift SMASHES into the bottom of the shaft, crushing both the Aliens to jelly.ANGLE:	UPPER DOORJohner triumphantly sticks his head in the shaft.JOHNEREat that, fuckneck!!They all breathe hard, exhausted, before they can muster for the next stretch. Call stands with her back to them.VRIESSBaby, am I glad to see you.  I thought dickbag took you out for sure.  Are you, hurt?CALLI'm fine.DISTEPHANOYou got body armour on?CALLYeah.  Come on.Ripley isn't buying.RIPLEYYou were Gunshot.  I saw.CALLI'm fine!Ripley spins her around.  Call stares at Ripley, sullenly a small trickle of milky white fluid comes from her nostril. Ripley looks down.ANGLE: CALL'S CHESTWren has indeed made a messy hole here, but where blood and bone should be there is a tangle of synthorganic wiring.  To state the obvious:A robot.JOHNERCall's a goddam sythetic!HILLARDSon of a bitch.  Little Annalee's just full of surprises.RIPLEY (quietly)I should have known.ST JUSTCouldn't smell this one out?RIPLEYNo, I mean... all that crap about being human - there's no one so zealous as a Born Again.VRIESS (to Call)You're an LM7, aren't you?  Is that it?CALLLeave me alone.Her voice shocks her more than anyone her vocal track slip affected by the wounds.The voice is a shade slow, and echoes strangely.VRIESSCall ....CALL (bitterly)Yes.ST JUSTLM7?  Shit.  That explains a lot.YRIESS (to Ripley)The latest and best.  They were supposed to revitalize the synthetic industy.Instead they buried it.Ripley looks at the girl.RIPLEYThey were-too good.VRIESSOh yeah.  Overrode their own behavioral inhibitors.  Didn't feel like being told what to do.The government ordered a recall.  Fucking massacre.HILLARD1 always heard there were a few that got out alive, but man... I never thought I'd see one.Johner starts laughing.JOHNEROh, Christ.  Doing fucking nickel and dime border runs, selling second hand junk to the farm belt... and we're carrying the most expensive piece of contraband in the system.That's rich.PURVIS (getting anxious)It's great, she's a toaster oven... Can we leave now?Vriess tries to touch Call's wound.VRIESSLet me see.Call pulls away.JOHNERYeah, get your socket wrench, Vriess.Maybe she just needs an oil change.RIPLEYLet's go.They start off again, Johner and St Just bringing up the rearJOHNERCan't believe I almost fucked the thing.ST JUSTYeah, like you've never fucked a robot.ANGLE: RIPLEYLetting DiStephano lead.RIPLEYDiStephano.  Where are we?DISTEPHANOUpper decks... Storage... the chapell's up here, not much else.RIPLEYCan we get to the ship?DISTEPHANOWell, we're a ways out,of the way, but I think we can get through to the garden.From there, it's down a few levels, it's do-able.What if the fucking doctor gets there first?VRIESSIt's a good point.DISTEPHANOShit.They have reached an access door.  Debris blocks the way.RIPLEYAnother way?DISTEPHANOUh, yeah.  Through the wall.  We'll have to get one of these panels off.  It'll take a while.(to Vriess) You got tools?VRIESSYeah, but no torch.JOHNERFucking blow the door!HILLARDAssface, We're on the top of this thing.(pointing to the ceiling)That's hull.VRIESSWhat about Wren? if he gets in the computer he can really fuck us around.RIPLEYWe have to get in too.DISTEPHANOThere's no access console on this level. We'd have to-backtrack.HILLARDFuck that.DISTEPHANOAnd I don't have the security access that Wren does anyway.Ripley turns to Call.RIPLEYCall.CALLNo. I can't.JOHNER.Bullshit.  She's a damn well talking machine.CALLThere's another way.DISTEPHMOJust tell her to access it on remote.VRIESSShit, that's right.  Any of the new model droids can access the mainframe.JOHNERJust by blinking.CALLI can't.ST JUSTNo time to get coy, Annalee.CALLI can't. I burned my modem drive.  We all did.VRIESSYou can still patch in manually. You know that.Call looks over at the group, staring at her.  She knows she doesn't have a choice.DISTEPHANOThere's ports in the chapel.RIPLEYCome on.(to the others)You get started on that wall.CUT TO: INT.  CHAPEL - CONTINUOU@Ripley and Call enter the small room.  Ripley sits in one of the pews, pulls out a bible.it somewhat resembles a Newton Under the leather flap is a screen reading.:HOLY BIBLE.  PRE START.Ripley pulls out the cord from the bible's port, holds it upCALLDon't make me do this.RIPLEYDon't make me make you.CALLI don't want to go in there.RIPLEYGet over it.CALLIt's like... your insides are liquid. It's not real.RIPLEYYou can blow the ship.  Before it reaches Earth.  Kill them all.  Just give us time to getout first.That convinces Call.  She pulls up her sleeve, and begins. pushes a part of her forearm,just below the crook of her elbow.  It has a spring release catch, and a small panel risesup with two computer ports on it.  She takes the cable from Ripley and plugs it in.It looks almost like she's mainlining heroin.She cocks her head.CALLDammit.RIPLEYAnything?CALLHold on.She reaches in her chest, reconnects some tubes.  She twitches then shuts her eyes.It's beginning.She begins speaking very rapidly, eyes still shut.CALLBreach in sector seven sector three sector nine unstable -- engines operating at eightysix percent -forty six minutes until earthdock.Her voice has a slight mechanical quality as she rattles this off.  Her eyes open.CALLWe burned too much energy -- I can't make critical mass.  I can't blow it.RIPLEYThen crash it.TO: INT.  HALL - CONTINUOUSAs the crew works at getting the wall panel off,.TO: INT.  CHAPPEL   A BIT LATERCALLGround level recalibrated... new destination 760, 403.  Done.  Forty one minutes until impact.RIPLEYTry to clear us a path to the ship.CALLTracking movement in sublevels six through nine.  Video is down.  Attempted reroutingnonfunctional, wait, partial visual in waste tank 5, unauthorized presence...VRIESSUnauthorized?CALLNonhuman.RIPLEYHow many?Please wait.. emergency override on. console 45V, level one... handprint ID...(like herself)It's Wren. 	He's almost at the Betty.RIPLEYAnd how do	you feel about that?CUT TO: INT.  HALL - CONTINUOUSWren is holding his hand to the scanner, just as Call described.  The red light turnsgreen and we hear the locks the door crack open.FATHEREmergency override validated.The door begins to rise.  Looking around him, Wren waits to through.The door grinds to a halt, still too low to climb under.  The lights go out, only the faintest glow coming from various instrument panels. wren's expression drains.WRENFather, reboot systems on 45V, authorization 'starling'.Nothing happens.  Wren looks about him, beginning to sweat.Did the aliens do this?WRENFather, locate power drain, report.Father?CALL - (on the system)Father's dead, asshole.Wren spins in shock at the sound of Call's voice. it,s everywhere around him.She has downloaded her vocal matrix place of Father's. (She's not just speaking over a PA, she is the PA.)The door SLAMS back-down, locks clack into place.  The doors behind him open up, emergency lighting pulsing along toward him.CALL\SHIPIntruder on level one... all aliens please proceed to level one.Wren is freaking.  He turns back down the corridor, looking about him wildly.CUT TO: INT.  CHAPEL - CONTINUOUSCall pulls the cord out of her port.RIPLEYYou got a mean strak.CALLIt's done.  That should hold the fuck.This as her voice track slips even more.  She works the wires in her cheest, tryingto fix it.RIPLEYLet me seeCALLDon't touch me.Ripley backs off.CALLYou must think this is pretty funny.RIPLEYYes.  But I'm finding a lot of things funny lately.  And I'm not sure they are.CALLWhy do you go on living?  How can you stand it?  How can you stand... yourself?Ripley shrugs.RIPLEYNot so hard.  Not much choice.CALLAt least there's part of you that's human.  I'm just... fuck.  Look at me....She looks at the hole in her chest, the white and sticky fibers.CALLI'm disgusting.Her voice is at its slowest here, low and eerie.  It's a mechanical problem, but it sounds just like despair.RIPLEYDo you dream?CALLI ... we have neural processors that run through....  (stops)  Yes.RIPLEYWhen I sleep, I dream about it.  Them.  Every night.  All around me ... in me. I used to be afraid to dream, but I'm not anymore.CALLWhy?RIPLEYBecause no matter how bad the dreams get ... when I wake up it's always worse.Purvis enters.PURVISI guess we're almost there.RIPLEYRight.He exits again.  Call finishes fiddling with her internal wiring.  We hear her voice slip back to normal as she says:CALLLet's get going.CUT TO: INT. TUNNELAs they come one by one through the wall.DISTEPHANONot far now.PURVISGod, I'm so tired...JOHNERYeah, well, we'll sleep when we're dead.Ripley follows him through.RIPLEYDon't count on it.The rest of them come through and walk into:INT.  THE GARDEN    CONTINUOUSThe Garden runs nearly half a mile straight across, and then down on a terraced slope.Everywhere are different kinds of plants: trees, vegetable plants, exotic and experimental hybrids.Access paths crisscross the beds.It's huge, the single biggest space on the ship.  Yet the low ceiling, laticed with grow-lamps now dim in nightcycle, and prodigeous undergrowth make it labyrinthian, almost claustrophobic.From where the crew is, they can barely see where it slopes down.JOHNERWhat's this fucking deal?DISTEPHMOThis supplies most of the food for the unit.VRIESS (holding a lucious ripe pear)You guys got something against spam?DISTEPHMOAnd there's some lab work here too. Hybridization.RIPLEYAt the other end?DISTEPHMORuns down to the by the waste tanks.  We can get to the dock from there.  You, okay?Ripley is holding her head.  She shuts her eyes.CALLWhat is it?Ripley shakes it off.RIPLEYNothing.  I'm okay.She looks out at the jungle, they have to cross.CALLWe should get moving.ST JUSTHey!  Check it out!He has come upon a small loading truck, a sort of platform jeep.  Vriess checks it out, takes a huge bite of his pear.VRIESSBeats walking.He hauls himself up-into it. Everybody piles onto the back flatbed just a foot or so off the ground and just big enough to hold everyone but Vriess, Call and Ripley, who pushes into the driver's seat.VRIESSQuickly and quietly, people.Ripley stares unconprehendingly at the controls for a momen till Call flips on the ignition.RIPLEYThank,you.The jeep pulls out.  It's electric, so it emits just a low hum as she takes it at a good clip toward the other side.The access paths are just a bit wider than the jeep itself, plants rising tall all around them.Ripley concentrates on driving.The pass through as section of wheat , then of corn.  As they come to another section,The crew's expressions change to one of pleased disbelief.You gotta be fucking me. St Just!  Is this real?ST JUSTSo this is what heaven looks like.We see they have driven into a healthy section of CANNABIS plants growing ten feet high.The car screeches to a halt.  Ripley's at a crossroads of sorts.RIPLEYWhich way?HILLARD (looking at the plants)I always wondered where the military got its funding...An alien SHOOTS out of the brush and lands on Hillard everyone SCREAMS -- Ripley SLAMS her foot on the pedalThe jeep PEELS OUT, as more emerge from the brush.HILLARDGet it off MeeeaaaaAAGGHRE!!!!It bores into her head before St Just can blow it away. It's head exploding in fragments of bone and sizzling blood as it falls away from the jeep, Hillard's body still clutched in arms.Another leaps out at them, but the jeep is going a good clip and it misses.The crew peppering it with bullets.They look,about them, guns ready.ANGLE: IN THE BRUSHSomething runs parallel to them in the plants.ANGLE: ABOVETwo more run on top of the grow-lamps, pacing them as well.One DROPS DOWN -- Ripley SWERVES out of the way, driving in the plants.They are varied, exotic -- and there are aliens behind half of them.The crew BLASTS away all around them Ripley drives a drunkard's path through the brush, avoiding trees that dot the scape.An alien DROPS onto the hood, another grabs the side -- Vries takes out the first, blowing it off, but the second grabs Johner, he goes flying over the side,.dropping his gun.St Just is too preoccupied with his own problems on the othe to see that Johner is beingdragged, the alien still clutching onto him.Shots bang out, ripping into the alien, which lets go. Johner looks up to see Purvis  holding Johner's gun.Johner drags himself back on.One jumps down onto St Just, tears a good chunk out of his midsection before he dusts it.Another alien jumps on the hood just as the jeep SAILS over first ledge of the terraced  slope, comes-down hard enough knock it off, SAILS over the next -- the crew can barely hang on as the jeep crashes down slope after slope. Ripley swerves back onto the road, the jeep sliding over onto the steps beside it, rocking violently as they shoot down the remainder of slope, the aliens close on their heels.Still blasting away at the beasts, the crew is able to put little distance between them as they come to the end of the garden.  Here it divides into three sections, all open halls with access for the jeep.RIPLEYWhich way?DISTEPRMO (looking over)Left!  Left!She swerves left, the jeep-bouncing into the hallINT.  HALL CONTINUOUSWhere windows running along either side look out onto black space.Ripley drives as far as she can, till a staircase -- going -- fills her vision, too steepfor the jeep.  She SLAMS on brakes. the jeep spinning out and coming to a halt.The crew piles out, Di Stephano grabbing Vriess.  At the other end of the hall, the alienscan be seen approaching.The crew BLASTS at them, the aliens, blood splattering the narrow hall.ANGLE: THE BLOODEating into the walls. the floor.CALL/ShipWarning. potential hullbreach.  Clear sector.DISTEPHANO (indicating the steps)Down here!They start down -- all but St Just.  He gets out of the jeep with difficulty.Looks down at his wound.Johner looks around to see him still standing atop the stepsJOHNERSt Just!  Come on, man.St Just looks down at the wound. Back at Johner.  He walks calmly away, towards the aliens.CALLSt Just!ST JUSTYou go.He looks at the appraching aliens.ST JUSTI'm bored. CALL\SHIPWarning.  Evacuate sector.A moment, then the crew takes off.St Just takes a handful of pills, pops them into his mouth.  Only the slightest  grin suffuses his face ,as he waits for the aliens.They close on him, and he raises his guns.CALL\SHIPwarning...CUT TO:INT HALL NEARBY - CONTINUOUSThe crew runs full out.DISTEPHANOWe have to get out of the sector!RIPLEYWhere!DISTEPHANOThere!He points at a door that's down two flights and across the hall.CUT TO: INT. HALL CONTINUOUSThe aliens close, and St Just FIRES, blasting away with bot guns.  Aliens writhe on thefloor before him, still they cover the bodies of their brothers, still he fires, Call\ship monotones of warning in sharp contrast to the chaos-- St Just fires until both guns are empty.  In one smooth motion he drops them both and jerks his wrists and TWO-MORE disposable guns fly into his palms and he blasts awayANGLE: THE BLOODEating through the hull.ANGLE: THE CREWdesperately racing for the door.ANGLE: ST JUSTFiring with quiet glee.ANGLE: THE CREWThe first of them are through the door.ANGLE: St JUSTThe aliens are getting closer, but still he mows them down Both his guns click, spent.ST JUSTDamn.CALL\SHIPWarning --and BOOM!!!!, the hall BURSTS OPEN, everything explodes into space, the wind rushes out asBOOM!!!, the whole garden sector rips open, sucked out, asANGLE: RIPLEYis the last to get out, but the pressure change SUCKS HER she flies backwards, the section door coming down just in time as she SLAMS into it, the door closing fully as she falls, lack of pressure sucks at the door itself, it creaks and be inward slightly, but it holds.The others have exited into the next hall.  They've been tossed about, but not as badly.Call stops, runs back to Ripley, helps her up.  Ripley is dazed; the door hit the back of her head solidly.CALLCan you walk?  RIPLEYI think I...CALLI'm not fucking carrying youRipley doesn't even hear her; something else drowns Call out. Ripley puts her hands over her ears.RIPLEYMistake ... mistake...CALLRipley.RIPLEYI can hear them, in the hive... it's close...	We're on the hive.CALLJesus.  Come on.RIPLEYI can hear them... the queen...CALLWhat... ?RIPLEYShe's in pain.They CRASH UP through the floor panels, six of them, surrounding the two women.Call can barely spin before Ripley GRABS her and HURLS her fifteen feet down the corridor, out of harm's way.The aliens close on Ripley. She struggles but she's still weak.  One slams her onto the ground call recovers, looks back at RipleyAs the aliens drag her unconscious body back down under the floor.CALLRIPLEY!CUT TO: INT.  AIR VENT - CONINUOUSDark, cramped, and already covered with a hardening layer of resin.Skittering, insectile motion at one end heralds the aliens, as two of them crawl rapidly along.   The third craw upside down, the semiconscious Ripley draped over its chest  If she were awake, and out.vf her mind, she could be kissin the beast.Her eyes flutter open, but she is obviously still groggy.ANGLE: RIPLEY'S POVAlien head, dark tunnel passing beneath.Scuttling through a small maze, the aliens come out into:INT.  WASTE TANK 5 - CONTINUOUSA vast, dark chamber, entirely encrusted with alien goo. air vent opens about three quarters of the way up the chamber. The aliens pour out and imediately scuttle UP, carrying Ripley to the top of the chamber.They circle her and begin secreting resin, spinning a web around her.The resin comes out of ther backs in spits and globs.It isn't pleasant, and Ripley struggles feebly as they begin to cocoon her.CUT TO: INT.  ANTECHAMBER   CONTINUOUSThe crew piles through it on their way to the loading dock.Call brings up the rear, still looking back regretfully.She hesitates, and Purvis takes hold of her arm.PURVISWe got to be moving, miss.  Best gift you can give her right now is a quick death.CALLIt's not right...PURVISI've been saying that all day, we need your help.A moment more, and she heads out with him.CUT TO: WASTE, TANK 5 - CONTINUOTJSThe aliens have finished webbing Ripley, and climb away. When it is done she finds herself basically hung from the ceiling, her legs encased and glued with glistening strands to the roof. She hangs therefore at an angle, looking down on the chamber. And so it is with her, as she swims to full consciousness, we get our first real look at where we are.There are no less than ten people strung up exactly as Ripley is, encircling the chamber, and all looking some forty feet down at:The Queen.  Lying on her back at the bottom of the-chamber, belly swollen and distended.She is herself partially cocooned, strapped down to the at the edge of a black pool of blood and ichor.  Her head moves slowly back and forth, in delierium of pain.There are a four or five aliens tending her, spinning goo around her, vomiting blood onto her belly. They might be serving her, or imprisoning her.  Both, in fact.There is one thing missing from this tableau.RIPLEY (softly)No eggs ...GEDIMAN (OS)Multiple reproductive systems.Ripley turn's slowly, to see the person next to her.  It's Gediman, looking wane and haggard.He may be speaking to her but he stares straight ahead, his eyes glowing with near insanity.GEDIMANComplete asexual reproductive cycle, self-impregnating, we found six different sets of ovaries in her.  Egg laying is the first cycle, immature.  Redundancies, redundancies... she'll bring forth legion.RIPLEYThey didn't impregnate you?Now he looks at her, regret and glee at what has happened battling for his expression.GEDIMANNo... they've just been draining me.She looks down, to seeANGLE : GEDIMAN'S FEETAs blood from various wounds seeps slowly past his toes, dripping into the pool.A keening SHRIEK comes out of the queen, as her limbs begin thrashing.The aliens around her back off slightly. The bulge in her belly starts moving.Ripley starts struggling with her bonds, terror and determination in her.eyes.RIPLEYI'm getting	out of here. Goddamnit, I'm getting the	fuck out of here!He looks at her, the last glimmerof his sanity sinking beyond the horizon.GEDIMANDon't you want to see what happens next?CUT TO: INT: LOADING DOCK - CONTINUOUSThe crew rushes in, heads for the Betty.JOHNERHow long till we can get airborn?VRIESSI'll need Call to patch in to the ship again, open the hatch.CALLRight.JOHNERWe hit atmo in a few minutes, only gonna make it harder.They all run on boardINT.  THE BETTYand head for the cockpit.  DiStephano deposits Vriess in a wheelchair.CALLJohner, take Purvis to the freezer.JOHNERAll right.. Nap time, buddy.A GUNSHOT and Purvis goes flying, blood spurting out of his shoulder, Johner draws butWren emerges from the shadows too fast.Wren grabs Call and very carefully holds his gun to her back right below her shoulderblades.WRENFuck with me and I put a bullet where her brain is!Johner stands, uncertain.WRENDiStephano!  Take their weapons.DISTEPHANOBegging your pardon, sir, but eat my fuck.DiStephano aims at Wren.  Wren backs up a step.WRENDrop it!  Drop it or we all die together!Heaped in the, corner, Purvis suddenly jerks forward.  His eyes go wide.CUT TO: INT.  WASTE TANK 5   CONTINUOUSRipley is frantically trying to pull at her bonds.  It's just beginning to work.But the noise in here is getting worse, the aliens franitcally agitated as the Queens belly begins moving more violently.  SHRIEKS, and RIPLEY does as well, from effort or sympathy, it is hard to tell, asTHE QUEENS BELLY POPS OPEN.  Blood shoots everywhere, burning into the walls.And all the screaming stops.  The movement stops.  Even Ripley stops.  Silence.Something emerges from the wound.An alien, to be sure, but nothing we've seen so far, its forelegs arch out of its back like spiders legs, its back legs set on enormous haunches, thick and powerful.Its head is long, eyeless, like the others, but along its white expanse red veins, coming out of the skin and running like thick black hairs to the back.It has retracted pincers at the side of head that come out when its tongue does.Its much bigger the the others, nearly the size of the queen herself.And it's bone white.GEDIMANBeautiful.... beautiful butterfly...He is crying with revelatory joy.  Ripley is not.  Grimacing the sight and smell of the new beast, she begins pulling again at her bonds.One of the soldiers, at the 'other end of the room from Ripley wakes up.Dangling uselessly at his side is a rifle -- the real deal, not a burner.SOLDIERNo, God...He SCREAMS in uncomprehending horror.  The newborn stops, tilting its head:It LEAPS up to the ceiling in a second, quick and effortless as a monstrous flea.Leaps again and lands on the screaming soldier, gripping his sides with its four forelegs as he screams lustily.pincers SWING out and pin either side of his head.. His eyes go wide as:Its tongue SHOOTS into his throat.  Stays there, and we watch it drain the blood from his body.  We can see it, see its stomach swell, red tinged, as his body goesblue and slack. His rifle drops into the black pool.Gediman stares, transfixed, and it LANDS ON HIM.CUT TO: INT.  BETTY - CONTINUOUSJohner's gun drops to the floor.Everyone backs off.WRENThe fucking robot is going to plug back into the Auriga and land it according to standard operational procedure.CALLNo she's not.DISTEPHMOYou're fucking nuts.  You still want to bring those things back to earth?JOHNERHave you been paying any attention today?WRENI can handle the animals!CALLFucking shoot me.WRENShut up!!!And Purvis LAUNCHES from the corner, screaming, jumps on wren - Wren gets off a couple of shots -- nails DiStephano in the face.  The soldier drops like a sack.The other shots hit the ship, Call dives for cover as Purvis SLAMS his fist across Wren's face, Wren fires again and Jo is on the ground, rolling, grabbing his gun --Purvis is a man possessed.  He grabs Wren's gunhand and SMAS it against an instrument panel, bone cracking audibly as wren drops the gun.Purvis jerks.  Blood blooms in his chest.Everybody stops, mesmerized. wren drops to his knees, going for the gun, and Purvis grabs him from behind, pulls him so that the back of Wren's head is against his chest.Purvis jerks again.  It takes Wren a moment to understand what's happening.They both scream.Then alien BURSTS out of Purvis's chest, STRAIGHT INTO WRENS SKULL.Everyone else is still frozen.  Then the little critter bursts out of Wrens face, flying straight at Vriess.  CUT TO: INT.  WASTE TANK 5 - CONTINUOUSRipley TEARS one of her arms free as the newborn feeds beside her.Gediman is already a shell.Having drained the scientist, it leaps blindingly fast onto the ceiling.  Looks around.Targets Ripley.It has no eyes, but she can feel them on her anyway.  She rips at her bonds with a terrible effort -- the newborn LEAPS at her and she PULLS FREE with a scream, PLUNGING  the thirty feet to the pool as the alien flies over her, missing, landing on the far wall instead.Ripley disappears beneath the surface of the water.The newborn turns its head, trying to locate its lost prey. other aliens scutter closer to the pool.Ripley stands up out of the pool, covered in blood, HOISTING THE SOLDIERIS GUN.Killshriek rising from her throat as she FIRES, taking out a host of aliens in a single sweep, just tagging the newborn as it leaps out of the way.  Aliens jump at her, trying to kill and trying to protect the newborns, but she blows them out of the air.It feels pretty good.A few shots go wild, and punch big holes in the side of the tank.Light streams in through them.  Ripley sees -- and continues firing in that direction.She makes a big enough hole that she can run and SMASH through toINT.  BY TANK - CONTINUOUSrolling and coming up in an instant.  She looks around her. exit this way, but there is a vent above her.The newborn's head lunges at her, the small hole making it impossible for the creature to get all the way through.  But it wriggles, pushing...Ripley jumps up, grabbing a pipe, and KICKS open the vent grate, throwing herself up the vertical shaft with astonishing ease.CUT TO: INT.  BETTY - CONTINUOUS---Vriess is scrambling away, knocking over things to avoid the baby alien. Johner SHOOTS at the creature as it speeds-towards Vriess.CALLDon't shoot it!  Betty's hull is too thin!JOHNERLook out!it knocks over cannisters as it speeds across the table and behind some instruments.  VRIESSWhere'd it go?CALLDon't shoot it!JOHNERFuck that!It LEAPS out of the darkness and heads straight for Call, she stumbles back, trips -- it comes at her, leaps right at her face, she pulls her hand back -- and-flicks her wrist The stilletto pops out as the creatu flies at it, the blade slides right into its mouth, ramming eight inches through its innards before it pokes out the other end.Blood spurts on Call, on the floor.  The creature wriggles and finally falls free as the stilletto melts inside it.JOHNERVriess!  Get behind the fucking wheel!CUT TO: INT.  VERTICAL AIR SHAFT - CONTINUOUSRipley is climbing up the cramped vent with the speed and agility of an alien.Unfortunately, so are the aliens, twenty feet below her.  Two drones in front, with the newborn sqeezing close behind.Ripley grabs a pole and her hand begins to steam, it's so hot. She cries out, lets go...  then looks down.  Grabs the pole again and, ignoring the searing agony, pulls, pulls...RIPS out of the wall, burning steam GUSHING out below her, slowing down the aliens.She continues climbing, then kicks through a grate.CUT TO:EXT.  SPACEThe Auriga races toward:EARTH.  But not as we've seen it.The planet is still blue, but almost two thirds of it is obscured by a giant orbitting latticework of metal, a part shell that rotates sligtly faster than the  planet itself.The Auriga heads for a section of exposed earth.  Not long now.CUT TO: INT.  ANTE CHAMBER - CONTINUOUSRipley drops to the ground and heads for the dock.CALL/SHIPAirlock doors closing.  Stand clear.RIPLEYNo!She doesn't bother to try the door, she HURLS herself through the window, landingINT.  DOCKING BAYin a hail of glass.She is on the platform that. runs the length of the dock.  Betty. is barely visible past the far end, - sinking into the airlock as the massive airlock doors. slide slowly shut.RIPLEYNO!!A SLAM against the metal door behind her tells her the aliens are here.She picks herself up and RUNS -- and she can run fast.Speeds across the platform, faster, faster, the Betty sinks of sight as the airlock doors move closer together, fifteen feet apart, ten...Ripley reaches the edge of the platform and LEAPS, just hurls herself off of the platform, sails through the air, thirty, forty feet, and down, the airlock doors thirty feet below almost closedShe DROPS right through just before they close, falls another fifteen feet and lands-- WHAM!! -- on top of-the Auriga, hard, rolls, lies there in extremes of pain.CUT TO:INT.  BETTY - CONTINUOUSThe crew look up at the sound.VRIESSSomething's on us!JOHNERForget it!	we'll shake it off on descent.Airlock secure.  Outer doors opening... . CUT TO:INT.  AIRLOCK - CONTINUOUSRipley tries to pick herself up, is momentarily too wiped. breathes heavily,gets to her knees.ANGLE: FROM ABOVE-we see Ripley crawling toward the hatch, and the huge outer airlock door opening beneath the ship.  Blue sky and wind the screen below.ANGLE: RIPLEYStruggling to get to the hatch.RIPLEYGod'...And above her, through a window into the docking bay, we see the newborn appear.CUT TO: INT.  BETTY - CONTINUOUSCALLAlmost there...JOHNERWe got about forty seconds till we kiss the ground!Go full thrust on the downdraft!  We'llget clear!JOHNERIt's gonna be fucking close.CALL\SHIPWarning.  Procedural interruption.  Ship not leveling for vertical drop.  Brakingsystem nonfunctional.  Collision imminent.JOHNERNo shit.CALLAlmost there.CUT TO:INT.  AIRLOCK - CONTINUOUSThe airlock doors are almost.. completely open.  Ripley has reached the hatch, but cannot get it open.  She pounds on it frustration -- and the newborn SMASHES through the window,JUMPS DOWN onto the ship.RIPLEYNOO!!  NOOO!CUT TO:INT.  BETRY - CONTINUOUSCALLNOW!!!Vriess punches itCUT TO:INT.  AIRLOCK\EXT.  SKY CONTINUOUSand the Betty SHOOTS DOWN out of the airlock -- Ripley and the newborn just barely hold on, Ripley's body thrown straight up as she grips the hatch door for dear life.The newborn has a better grip -- it has more things to grip with but it too struggles with the sudden drop.ANGLE: THE ATJRIGASpeeding toward the earth.  The Betty SHOOTS out the airlock and nearly smashes into the bottom of the ship as it passes, like trash thrown out of a speeding car.INT.  BETTYThe Akiriga passes, huge above themVRIESSLook out!CALLI am!EXT.  THE BETTYThe ship swerves as Call expertly avoids the Auriga -- and see Ripley and the newborn on top, still fighting for purchaseThe Betty gets clear, leveling out --The Auriga still heads straight for earth, as the terrain below becomes clear -- deserted, snow covered mountainsANGLE: RIPLEYHanging onANGLE: CALLFighting to control the BettyANGLE:	INSIDE THE AURIGADeserted halls, passageways bodies, and,aliens milling here and thereCALL\SHIPCollision in six seconds ... five... four...(softly)Here we go...ANGLE: THE ATJRIGASMASHES INTO THE GROUND, a deafening exposion eating the massive ship in seconds, utter cacophony.ANGLE: THE BETTYFlying away, the thundering firestorm behind it.ANGLE: CALLAn instrument panel suddenly SPARKS beside her warning lights flash, the ship shaking as if under massive turbulenceCALLJohner!  Fire!VRIESSVector control's fucked! we gotta put down!CALLFind me a path!Johner sprays foam on the fire.  There is a loud BANGING heard far overhead.What the fuck is that?ANGLE: RIPLEYis slamming her fist on the hatch doors, hanging on with her other arm.The ship continues to tremble and buck -- she's nearly thrown off.RIPLEYGodamnit!She looks around at the alien.  It's almost on her.Working its way painfully toward her, gripping with its legs and tendrils.  Hissing.It slams a tentacle down at Ripley, but she rolls, just holding onANGLE: JOHNERAbove the cockpit, looking at a fuzzy external monitor.JOHNERIt's Ripley!  Ripley's on the fucking hatch!In the cockpit, Call nearly goes white.CALLLet her in!JOHNERFuck no!  There's something else out there with her!VRIESSOne of them.Johner looks at the image, realizes how masive the newborn is. Awed fear creeps into his voice: JOHNERNo. it's something else.Frustrated, Call jumps out of her seat.. Vriess fights to control the ship as she  climbs up toward the hatch.VRIESSGoddamnit, Call!Johner grabs her, practically throws her at the monitor.JOHNERLook at that fucking thing!  We can't open up!They both tumble as the ship jerksANGLE: RIPLEYIs bucked OFF THE SHIPbefore she grabs the newborn's tentacle, holds on to it --The newborn SMASHES it against he ship, trying to shake her again -- she grabs an external grate and starts climbing painfully away.ANGLE: CALLPushes Johner aside as she makes for the hatch release sequence.ANGLE: VRIESS.Desperately pulling up as wooded, snowy mountains zoom dangerously close below.ANGLE: THE ALIENTurns as the HATCH OPENS nearby, the door sliding slowly beast is torn between Ripley and this new distraction --Ripley sees it too, starts climbing for it frantically, one on the newborn.The beast makes for the doorway -- and CALL POPS HALFWAY OUT pointing a GRENADE LAUNCHER  at the thing.. She BLASTS it once,  the beast roaring and starting back, hurt but not nearly enough.  Call fires again but the ships rocking sends the shot wild.she flies back for all of a secondThe beast rears to attack but Ripley is at the hatch -- Call drags her in and closes the hatch, the beast just SLAMMING in it as it closes.INT.  THE BETTYRipley is hanging on Call, exhausted.Another BANG on the hatch, and they can see the door starting to give.VRIESSCall!  NOW!Call and Ripley head into the cockpit.Johner continues looking at the vidscreen at the beast.VRIESSWe can't to do a vertical setdown! Braking systems are shot!CALLFind me a patch of land!  I'll put her down.Call jumps back into the pilot's seat by Vriess.  He pulls up hard on the wheel, but the ship is still dangerously close to the ground.JOHNERThat thing isn't going anywhere!VRIESSJohner, strap in!  We're coming down hard!ANGLE:     -BETTY  Approaches the rough, wooded terrain, just above the trees.  Hits a relatively clear patch, touches down -- bounces back up and then down againANGLE: CALLFighting the wheel -- she can't pull it up hard enough.ANGLE: THE BETTYThe ship blasts through trees.  The newborn moves to the back of the ship to avoid debris.JOHNERThat things gone back behind the thrusters!Call and Ripley look at each other.RIPLEYHit it.Call throws on the thrusters, the ship ROCKETS forward   ANGLE: THE NEWBOMEngulfed in flame, losing its grip --THE BETTYGoing too fast -- Call can't control itVRIESSKill thrust! Now!Call does.ANGLE: THE BETTYSkids, skids, throwing up enormous debris.  It hits another wooded areaRIPLEYis thrown bodily into the windshield --THE BETTYmows down a half acre of trees before finally grinding to a halt.As soon as they've recovered, Call throws off her seatbelt.CALL Is everbody all right-?JOHNERWhere're you going?Call opens the hatch.CALLTo make sure that thing is really deadIts giant face LUNGES down at her, piston tongue shooting out.It has charred black skin -- in some places that skin has fallen off and wet pink flesh shows through.Call drops to the floor, the tongue just missing her.  Johner scrambles for his gun asRipley drags her out of the way.AS quickly as it came, the head lurches back out.JOHNERI think it's gone!VRIESSNo, it's waiting for us to come out!Can we fly?VRIESSWe can't fucking crawl!RIPLEYIt's gone.Call looks at her.CALL Are you sure?JOHNERGood!  Great!CALLNo...Call grabs a grenade launcher.CALLI've got to stop it.VRIESSCallCALLThat thing is thirty minutes old!  In a few hours it'll grow up.  If it reaches a place with people...She heads for the door but Ripley is on her way.  They exchange a look.RIPLEYYou'll never catch it.Call tosses her the grenade launcher.CUT TO: EXT.  BETTY - MOMENTS LATERThe ship sits silent in the woods, the trees around heavy with snow.Ripley comes out the top.  She looks around her, sees the tracks in the snow.Huge, loping.  She jumps.down off the ship.And runs.Through the blur of trees, she moves with the grace and speed of an animal, leaping from boulders, racing through the powdered brush this is Ripley at peak speed, and it is something to see.She starts going up, the way getting steeper and rockier, til she reaches a cliff face, and looks out on:A CITY.Sprawling, huge, a million tiny lights cutting through the darknes it's just before  the horizon.The newborn RISES in front of Ripley, STRIKES her before she has a chance to aim her weapon.Its tentacle cuts deeply into her, sends her flying.The beast is on her in a second, its enormous jaws missing her head by an inch as she rolls, grabs the grenade launcher, FIREThe beast is thrown, but just grazed, back on her as she tries to get off another shot, it SLAMS a foot down RIGHT ON HER she SCREAMS, the launcher rolls free, the beast coming in for the kill and over the ridge FLIES THE HARVESTER, Call at the controls. aiming right  for the newborn.It rears up to see it just as the girl RAMS it into the creatures head, it knocks it on its ass, the harvester shaking but not quite spinning out, as Call comes around for another shot.Ripley scrambles to safety as the Newborn prepares for the oncoming harvester, it whips its tentacles at it but Call swerves at the last second -- The monster spins with it, screaming, sees Ripley and slashes at her.  KNOCKS HER OFF THE CLIFF --She falls, grabs brush it snaps -- she starts slinding down rockface and she takes her hand, SLAMS her fingers into the smooth rock face like a pick axe -- it rips her nails bloody but she digs out purchase.ANGLE: CALLSLAMS into the newborn from behind, the girl nearly thrown out of the harvester, the newborn spins and grabs it, Call throws it into reverse but the newborn is too strong, holds on, bringing its head up to face Call herself.ANGLE: RIPLEY'SBloody and torn, it SMASHES into the rockface, as she climbs back to the topANGLE: THE NEWBORNSWINGS the harvester into a tree, Call nearly knocked loose again. The monster is jolted as well, lets go, Call pilots the machine back through the trees, the alien watching it, growling --Call flies deftly through the trees, away, away, then spins out, heads back for the beast at TOP SPEED, the wind roars as she closesThe newborn spins and she SLAMS into it, it goes flying, screaming in pain,  the harvester bouncing off it, flipping over, CRASHING against the trees and landing tilted upside down, Call unconscious between it and the ground.The newborn shudders, rises, makes for the harvester -- it clearly pissed.Ripley pulls herself over the ridge, sees the situation, rushes toward them.Call awakens to see the monster approaching the machine.  Terrified, but determined, she reaches for a leverRIPLEYNo! Over here!Calling out to distract it, she runs, waving her arms.CALLRipley!  Let it come!  Let it come!Tears run through her voice as she strains for the lever. The beast is torn, and for a  moment doesn't move.Ripley looks over to where Call is, and understanding blooms on her face.She looks around and spots:ANGLE: THE GRENADE LAUNCHERHalfway between her and the newborn.For a moment neither of them moves.  Then Ripley RUNS, the newborn comes at her with equal speed, like they're playing chicken, Ripley DIVES at the ground, rolls, comes up holdin the grenade launcher, and she FIPES!The newborn is hit up close and dead center this time, and it rears back, screaming -- Ripley FIRES and FIRES, driving it back toward the upended harvester.The alien rears up to its full height, and Ripley pulls.the trigger.  There is a hollow click.Furious, Ripley stares a moment at the beast.  A SSCREAM wells up in her throat and she THROWS herself at it, leaping impossibly high, smashing into it and sending both  of them tumbling onto the Harvester.Call pulls the lever.In an instant the machine roars to life, a thousand blades grinding to top speed, pulverizing the beast, consuming it, sucking it down as layer upon layer of alien flesh is chopped into messes.And it SHRIEKS, a noise unheard before, as it thrashes frantically.Ripley tries to pull herself off it before the blades get too close -- but the beast grabs her, holds her.  The blades ever closer as she struggles with it.ANGLE: CALLStill trapped below, she sees the aliens blood seeping through the machine all around her!She squirms, trying to get away, but she's stuck.  A stream of blood lands on her shoulder, eating it away.  Another on her leg, and panic blooms, bright in her.CALLRIPLEY!Galvanized by the cry, Ripley TEARS herself out of the beast's dying grasp, flips backwards off the Harvester as it begins to smoke and spark, blood eating through the controls.Call writhes, blood everywhere now.  She is lost in primal terror.Ripley wriggles her way under, and, regardless of the streams of blood splattering her, wrenchs Call free.  She drags her' out.A section of the harvester explodes, raining fire and debris or the dying alien.Call lies on the ground, Ripley behind her, arms wrapped tight around her.Covered in blood and grime, the two watch the alien go up in flames, breathing hard,  holding each other as if their lives depended on it still.DISSOLVE TO.- ANGLE: THE NEWBORN'S SKULLBurning, hollowed out by the licks of flame that caress it.  Collapsing gently on itself.WIDE ANGLE:EXT.  SAME - LATERThe four of them sit by the huge camp-fire, watching the flames.Vriess tosses 'Christie a bottle of whiskey.JOHNERThe bitch takes her time in burning.VRIESSWell, it looks like she's finally giving it up.JOHNERTroopers should be finding our ship any time now. 1 don't much love the idea of being around when they do.Ripley gets up, looks out over the cliffs edge at the lights the city.Christie offers the bottle to Call.  She takes it and drinks.VRIESS (to Call)I guess you won't want to be answering any official Questions either.CALLI guess not.She is grateful for the suggestion that they are in it together.VRIESS Well, we're on Earth, for Chrissake. Plenty of places to get lost here.CALLSo I've heard.After a moment, she gets up as well, goes over to Ripley.  She hands her the bottle.Ripley looks at it.CALLIt's a drink.  You drink it.RIPLEY (smiling) I remember. She drinks.CALLSo, what do you think?RIPLEYThink?CALLWhat should we do now?RIPLEYI don't know.She looks out in the distance...RIPLEY I'm a stranger here myselfThe two of them stand side by side staring out at the unfamiliar horizon, as the newborn dwindles in the dancing flame.THE END 
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+"ALIENS" by James Cameron FIRST DRAFT May 28, 1985----------------------------------------------------------------------------- ALIENS FADE IN SOMETIME IN THE FUTURE - SPACE 1 Silent and endless. The stars shine like the love of God...cold and remote. Against them drifts a tiny chip of technology. CLOSER SHOT It is the NARCISSUS, lifeboat of the ill-fated star-freighter Nostromo. Without interior or running lights it seems devoid of life. The PING of a RANGING RADAR grows louder, closer. A shadow engulfs the Narcissus. Searchlights flash on, playing over the tiny ship, as a MASSIVE DARK HULL descends toward it. INT. NARCISSUS 2 Dark and dormant as a crypt. The searchlights stream in the dusty windows. Outside, massive metal forms can BE SEEN descending around the shuttle. Like the tolling of a bell, a BASSO PROFUNDO CLANG reverberates through the hull. CLOSE ON THE AIRLOCK DOOR Light glares as a cutting torch bursts through the metal. Sparks shower into the room. A second torch cuts through. They move with machine precision, cutting a rectangular path, converging. The torches meet. Cut off. The door falls inward REVEALING a bizarre multi-armed figure. A ROBOT WELDER. FIGURES ENTER, backlit and ominous. THREE MEN in bio-isolation suits, carrying lights and equipment. They approach a sarcophaguslike HYPERSLEEP CAPSULE, f.g. LEADER (filtered) Internal pressure positive. Assume nominal hull integrity. Hypersleep capsules, style circa late twenties... His gloved hand wipes at on opaque layer of dust on the canopy. ANGLE INSIDE CAPSULE as light stabs in where the dust is wiped away, illuminating a WOMAN, her face in peaceful repose. WARRANT OFFICER RIPLEY, sole survivor of the Nostromo. Nestled next to her is JONES, the ship's wayward cat. LEADER (voice over; filtered) Lights are green. She's alive. Well, there goes out salvage, guys. DISSOLVE TO: INT. HOSPITAL ROOM - TIGHT ON RIPLEY - GATEWAY STATION 3 She's lying in a bed, looking wan, as a female MED-TECH raises the backrest. She is surrounded by arcane white MEDICAL EQUIPMENT. The Med-Tech exudes practiced cheeriness. MED-TECH Why don't I open the viewport? Watch your eyes. Harsh light floods in as a motorized shield slides into the ceiling, REVEALING a breathtaking vista. Beyond the sprawling complex of modular habitats, collectively called GATEWAY STATION, is the curve of EARTH as seen from high orbit. Blue and serene. MED-TECH And how are we today? RIPLEY (weakly) Terrible. MED-TECH Just terrible? That's better than yesterday at least. RIPLEY How long have I been on Gateway station? MED-TECH Just a couple of days. Do you feel up to a visitor? Ripley shrugs, not caring. The door opens and a MAN enters, although Ripley sees only what he is carrying. A familiar large, orange TOMCAT. RIPLEY Jones! She grabs the cat like a life preserver. RIPLEY (cooing baby-cat talk) Come here Jonesy you ugly old moose...you ugly thing. Jones patiently endures Ripley's embarrassing display, seeming none the worse for wear. The visitor sits beside the bed and Ripley finally notices him. He is thirtyish and handsome, in a suit that looks executive or legal, the tie loosened with studied casualness. A smile referred to as "winning." MAN Nice room. I'm Burke. Carter Burke. I work for the company, but other than that I'm an okay guy. Glad to see you're feeling better. I'm told the weakness and disorientation should pass soon. Side effects of the unusually long hypersleep, or something like that. RIPLEY How long was I out there? They won't tell me anything. BURKE (soothing) Well, maybe you shouldn't worry about that just yet. Ripley grabs his arm, surprising him. RIPLEY How long? Burke gazes at her, thoughtful. BURKE All right. My instinct says you're strong enough to handle this...Fifty-seven years. Ripley is stunned. She seems to deflate, her expression passing through amazement and shock to realization of all she has lost. Friends. Family. Her world. RIPLEY Fifty-seven...oh, Christ... BURKE You'd drifted right through the core systems. It's blind luck that deep-salvage team caught you when they...are you all right? Ripley coughs suddenly as if choking and her expression becomes one of dawning horror. Burke hands her a glass of water from the nightstand. She slaps it away. It shatters with a SMASH. Jones dives, yowling. Ripley grabs her chest, struggling as if she is strangling. The Med-Tech hits a console button. MED-TECH (shouting) Code Blue! 415. Code Blue! 4-1-5! Burke and the Med-Tech are holding Ripley's shoulders as she goes into convulsions. A DOCTOR and TWO TECHS run in. Ripley's back arches in agony. RIPLEY No...noooo! They try to restrain her as she thrashes, knocking over equipment. Her EKG races like mad. Jones, under a cabinet, hisses wide-eyed. DOCTOR Hold her...Get me an airway, stat! And fifteen cc's of...Jesus! AN EXPLOSION OF BLOOD beneath the sheet covering her chest! Ripley stares at the SHAPE RISING UNDER THE SHEET. Tearing itself out of her. HER P.O.V. as the sheet rises. A GLIMPSE OF the CHITTERING HORROR...IT SCREECHES. TIGHT ON RIPLEY screaming, snapping up INTO FRAME. Alone in the darkened hospital room. She gasps for breath, clutching pathetically at her chest. There is no demented horror rigging itself out of her. Her eyes snap about wildly, slowly focusing on the reality of her safety. Shuddering, bathed in sweat, she kneads her breastbone with the heel of her hand and sobs. A VIDEO MONITOR beside the bed snaps on. A MED-TECH's face. MED-TECH Bad dreams again? Do you want something to help you sleep? RIPLEY (faint) No.. I've slept enough. The Med-Tech shrugs and switches off. Touching a button on the nightstand she opens the viewport, REVEALING Gateway and the turquoise Earth. She hugs Jones to her and rocks with him like a child, still shattered by the nightmare. Shivering. Sleep is far off. RIPLEY We made it, Jones. We made it. But at what price? CUT TO: EXT. PARK 4 Sunlight streams in shafts through a stand of poplars, beyond which a verdant meadow is VISIBLE. EXTREME F.G. Jones stalks toward a bird hopping among fallen leaves. He leaps. And smack into A WALL. RIPLEY (voice over) Dumbshit. WIDER ANGLE as Jones steps back confused from the HIGH-RESOLUTION ENVIRONMENTAL WALL SCREEN, a sort of cinerama video-loop. Ripley sits on a bench in what we now SEE is an ATRIUM off the medical center, still somewhere in the bowels of Gateway Station. Benches. Some unenthusiastic potted trees. The sterile corridors VISIBLE beyond glass doors b.g. Burke ENTERS in his usual mode, casual haste. BURKE Sorry...I've been running behind all morning. Ripley seems healthier now, but still a bit brittle. RIPLEY Have they located my daughter yet? BURKE Well, I was going to wait until after the inquest... He opens his briefcase, removing a sheet of printer hard copy, including a telestat photo. RIPLEY Is she...? BURKE (scanning) Amanda Ripley-McClaren. Married name, I guess. Age: sixty-six ...at time of death. Two years ago. (looks at her) I'm sorry. Ripley studies the PHOTOGRAPH, stunned. The face of a woman in her mid-sixties. It could be anybody. She tries to reconcile the face with the little girl she once knew. RIPLEY Amy. BURKE (reading) Cancer. Hmmmm. They still haven't licked that one. Cremated. Interred Parkside Repository, Little Chute, Wisconsin. No children. Ripley gazes off, into the pseudo-landscape, into the past. RIPLEY I promised her I'd be home for her birthday. Her eleventh birthday. I sure missed that one. (pause) Well...she has already learned to take my promises with a grain of salt. When it came to flight schedules, anyway. Burke nods, a simpatico presence. RIPLEY You always think you can make it up to somebody...later, you know. But now I never can. I never can. Let's get one thing straight...Ripley can be one tough lady. But the terror, the loss, the emptiness are, in this moment, overwhelming. She cries silently. Burke puts a reassuring hand on her arm. BURKE (gently) The hearing convenes at 0930. You don't want to be late. INT. CORRIDOR - GATEWAY 5 Elevator doors part and Ripley emerges, in mid-conversation with Burke. DOLLYING AHEAD OF THEM as they move rapidly down the corridor. RIPLEY You read my deposition...it's complete and accurate. BURKE Look, I believe you, but there are going to be some heavyweights in there. You got Feds, you got interstellar commerce commission, you got colonial administration, insurance company guys... RIPLEY I get the picture. BURKE Just tell them what happened. The important thing is to stay cool and unemotional. INT. CONFERENCE ROOM - ON RIPLEY - GATEWAY 6 She's not cool. Not unemotional. RIPLEY Do you people have earwax, of what? We have been here three hours. How many different ways do you want me to tell the same story? She faces the EIGHT MEMBERS of the board of inquiry at a long conference table. Gray suits and grim faces. They aren't buying. Behind Ripley on a large VIDEO SCREEN, PARKER grins like a goon from his personnel mugshot. His file prints out next to it. BRETT's face and dossier replace it, and then the others as the SCENE continues... KANE, LAMBERT, ASH the android traitor, DALLAS. VAN LEUWEN, the ICC representative, steeples his fingers and frowns. VAN LEUWEN Look at it from our perspective. You freely admit to detonating the engines of, and thereby destroying, an M-Class star-freighter. A rather expensive piece of hardware... INSURANCE INVESTIGATOR (dryly) Forty-two million in adjusted dollars. That's minus payload, of course. VAN LEUWEN The shuttle's flight recorder corroborates some elements of your account. That the Nostromo set down on LV-426, an unsurveyed planet, at that time. That repairs were made. That it resumed its course and was subsequently set for self-destruct. By you. For reasons unknown. RIPLEY Look, I told you... VAN LEUWEN It did not, however, contain any entries concerning the hostile life form you allegedly picked up. Ripley sense the noose tightening. RIPLEY Then somebody's gotten to it... doctored the recorder. Who had access to it? The ECA (Extrasolar Colonization Administration) Representative (ECA REP) just shakes his head. ECA REP Would you just listen to yourself for one minute. Ripley glares at the ECA Rep, a woman on the ungenerous side of fifty. Van Leuwen sighs with exasperation. VAN LEUWEN The analysis team which went over your shuttle centimeter by centimeter found no physical evidence of the creature you describe... RIPLEY (losing it) That's because I blew it out the Goddamn airlock! (pause) Like I said. INSURANCE MAN (to ECA Rep) Are there any species like this 'hostile organism' on LV-426? ECA REP No. It's a rock. No indigenous life larger than a simple virus. Ripley grits her teeth in frustration. RIPLEY I told you, it wasn't indigenous. There was an alien spacecraft there. A derelict ship. We homed on its beacon... ECA REP To be perfectly frank, we've surveyed over three hundred worlds and no one's ever reported a creature which, using your words... (read from Ripley's statement) ...'gestates in a living human host' and has 'concentrated molecular acid for blood.' Ripley glances at Burke, silent at the far end of the table. His expression is grim. Her mouth hardens as a bit of the old nail-eating Ripley surfaces. RIPLEY Look, I can see where this is going. But I'm telling you those things exist. Back on that planetoid is an alien ship and on that ship are thousands of eggs. Thousands. Do you understand? I suggest you find it, using the flight recorder's data. Find it and deal with it -- before one of your survey teams comes back with a little surprise... VAN LEUWEN Thank you, Officer Ripley. That will be... RIPLEY (louder, stepping on him) ...because just one of those things managed to kill my entire crew, within twelve hours of hatching... Van Leuwen stands, out of patience. VAN LEUWEN Thank you, that will be all. Ripley stares him down, glowering at the board. RIPLEY That's not all, Goddamnit! If those things get back here, that will be all. Then you can just kiss it good-bye, Jack! Just kiss it goodbye. Ripley turns sharply away, trembling with frustration and anger. Dallas looks back at her from the video screen, his eyes burning from the photograph, as we: CUT TO: INT. CORRIDOR 7 Ripley kicks the wall next to Burke who is getting coffee and donuts at a vending machine. BURKE You had them eating out of your hand, kiddo. RIPLEY They had their minds made up before I even went in there. They think I'm a head case. BURKE (cheerfully) You are a head case. Have a donut. INT. CONFERENCE ROOM - TIGHT ON RIPLEY - LATER 8 Van Leuwen clears his throat. VAN LEUWEN It is the finding of this board of inquiry that Warrent Officer Ellen Ripley, NOC-14672. has acted with questionable judgment and is unfit to hold an ICC license as a commercial flight officer. Burke watches Ripley taking it on the chin, white-lipped but subdued. VAN LEUWEN Said license is hereby suspended indefinitely. No criminal charges will be filed at this time and you are released on own recognizance for a six month period of psychometric probation, to include monthly review by an ICC psychiatric tech... INT. CORRIDOR 9 DOLLY BACK as the conference room door bangs open and Ripley strides through. She shrugs off Burke's restraining arm and catches up to Van Leuwen walking down the corridor. RIPLEY (insistent) Why won't you check out LV-426? VAN LEUWEN (condescendingly) Because I don't have to. The people who live there checked it out years ago and they never reported and 'hostile organism' or alien ship. And by the way, they call it Acheron now. RIPLEY What are you talking about. What people? Van Leuwen steps into an elevator with some others, but Ripley holds the door from closing. VAN LEUWEN Terraformers...planet engineers. It's what we call a shake 'n' bake colony. They set up atmosphere processors to make the air breathable...big job. Takes decades. They've already been there over twenty years. Peacefully. The door tries to close. Ripley slams it back. People are getting annoyed. RIPLEY How many colonists? VAN LEUWEN Sixty, maybe seventy families. RIPLEY (low) Sweet Jesus. ELEVATOR PASSENGER Do you mind? Ripley's hand slides off the door, strengthless. TIGHT ON HER FROM INSIDE the elevator as the doors close like fate on her lost expression. EXT. ALIEN LANDSCAPE - DAY 10 A hideous, storm-blasted vista. Tortured rock forms. Bleak twilight at midday. PAN SLOWLY ONTO a CORRODED METAL SIGN set in concrete pylons, which reads: HADLEY'S HOPE - POP. 159 "WELCOME TO ACHERON" Some local has added below in spray-can graffiti "Have a nice day." Gale-force wind SCREECHES around the steel sign, driving a freezing rain. The COLONY, b.g., is a squat complex with lots of floodlights. EXT. COLONY COMPLEX 11 The town is a cluster of bunkerlike metal and concrete buildings connected by conduits. Neon signs throw garish colors across the vaultlike walls, advertising bars and other businesses. It looks like a sodden cross between the Krupps munitions works and a truckstop casino in the Nevada boondocks. Huge-wheeled tractors crawl toadlike in the rutted "street" and vanish down rampways to underground garages. ANGLE ON THE CONTROL BLOCK the largest structure. It resembles vaguely the superstructure of an aircraft carrier...a flying bridge. VISIBLE across a half kilometer of barren heath, b.g., is the massive complex of the nearest ATMOSPHERE PROCESSOR, looking like a power plant bred with an active volcano. Its fiery glow pulses in the low cloud cover like a steel mill. INT. MAIN CONCOURSE - NEAR CONTROL BLOCK 12 A central space, laid out like a scaled-down shopping mall with no styling flourishes. We SEE a cross section of the types of people who have come to live on Godforsaken Acheron. Tough. Pragmatic. "Grapes of Wrath" faces. Calloused hands. Not too many interior decorators. Some children race in the corridor on things that look suspiciously like "Big Wheels." INT. OPERATIONS ROOM - CONTROL BLOCK 13 Jammed with computer terminals, technicians, displays... most of the business of running the colony flows through here. It's high tech but used and scrungy. Papers piled up. Coffee cup rings. DOLLY AHEAD OF LYDECKER, the Assistant Operations Manager, as he catches up to the harried Operating Manager, SIMPSON. LYDECKER You remember you sent some wildcatters out to that plateau, out past the Ilium range, a couple days ago? SIMPSON Yeah. What? LYDECKER There's a guy on the horn, mom-and-pop survey team. Says he's homing on something and wants to know if his claim will be honored. SIMPSON Christ. Some honch in a cushy office on Earth says go look at a grid reference in the middle of nowhere, we look. They don't say why, and I don't ask. I don't ask because it takes two weeks to get an answer out here and the answer's always 'don't ask.' LYDECKER So what do I tell this guy? SIMPSON Tell him, as far as I'm concerned, he finds something it's his. EXT. ACHERON - THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE - A SIX-WHEELED 14 TRACTOR - DAY It roars across corrugated rock, blasting through soggy drifts of volcanic ash. INT. TRACTOR 15 At the controls, intent on a PINGING scope, is RUSS JORDEN, independent prospector. Beside him is his wife/partner ANNE and in the back their two kids are playing among the heavy sampling equipment. JORDEN (gloating cackle) Look at this fat, juicy magnetic profile. And it's mine, mine, mine. ANNE Half mine, dear. NEWT, their six-year-old daughter, yells from the back... NEWT And half mine! JORDEN I got too many partners. NEWT Daddy, when are we going back to town? JORDEN When we get rich, Newt. NEWT You always say that. I wanna go back. I wanna play 'Monster Maze.' Her older brother TIM sticks his jeering face close to hers. TIM You cheat too much. NEWT Do not. I'm just the best. TIM Do too! You go in places we can't fit. NEWT So! That's why I'm the best. ANNE Knock it off! I catch either of you playing in the air ducts again I'll tan your hides. NEWT Mom. All the kids play it... JORDEN (reverently) Holy shiiit! ANGLE THROUGH FRONT CANOPY ON a bizarre shape looming ahead. An enormous bonelike mass projecting upward from the bed of ash. The tractor slows. Canted on its side and buckles against a rock outcropping by the lava flow, it is still recognizable as an EXTRATERRESTRIAL SHIP. Bio-mechanoid. Nonhuman design. JORDEN Folks, we have scored big this time. EXT. TRACTOR 16 Jorden and Anne step down, wearing ENVIRONMENT SUITS. Carrying LIGHTS, PACKS, CAMERAS, TEST GEAR. Their breath clouds in the chill air. ANNE You kids stay inside. I mean it! We'll be right back. They trudge toward the alien derelict. ANNE Shouldn't we call in? JORDEN Let's wait till we know what to call it in as. ANNE (nervous) How about 'big weird thing'? They pause at a twisted gash in the hull. Blackness inside. INT./EXT. TRACTOR 17 Newt has her face pressed to the glass, steaming it. Watching her parents enter the strange ship. Tim GRABS HER from behind. She SHRIEKS. TIM Cheater! EXT. LANDSCAPE - NIGHT 18 The tractor and the derelict are dark and motionless. The wind HOWLS around them. Tim is curled up in the driver's seat. Newt shakes him awake, trying hard not to cry. NEWT Timmy...they've been gone a long time. Tim considers the night. The wind. The vast landscape. He bites his lip. TIM (quavering) It'll be okay, Newt. Dad knows what he's doing. CRASH! Newt SCREAMS as the door beside her is RIPPED OPEN. A dark shape lunges inside! Anne, panting and terrified, grabs the dash mike. ANNE Mayday! Mayday! This is Alpha Kilo Two Four Niner calling Hadley Control. Repeat. This is... As Anne shouts the mayday Newt looks past her, to the ground. Russ Jorden lies there inert, dragged somehow by Anne from inside the ship. There is SOMETHING ON HIS FACE. An appalling MULTILEGGED CREATURE, pulsing with obscene life. Newt begins to SCREAM hysterically, competing with the shrieking wind which rises to a crescendo as we: CUT TO: INT. RIPLEY'S APARTMENT - GATEWAY - DAY 20 Silence. Ripley, looking haggard, sits at a table in the dining alcove contemplating the smoke rising from her cigarette. The place is modest, to be charitable, and there are few personal touches. Though it's late in the day Ripley is still wearing a robe. The bed is unmade. Dishes in the sink. Jones prowls across the counter. The WALLSCREEN is on, blaring vapidly. VOICE FROM VIDEO (o.s.) Hey, Bob! I heard you and the family are heading off for the colonies! BON (o.s.) Best decision I ever made, Bill. We'll be starting a new life from scratch, in a clean world. No crime. No unemployment... The door BUZZES. Ripley jumps like a cat. Jones doesn't. INT. CORRIDOR 21 Carter Burke stands in the narrow, dingy corridor with LIEUTENANT GORMAN, Colonial Marine Corps. Young and severe in his officer's dress-black. The door opens slightly. BURKE Hi, Ripley. This is Lieutenant Gorman of the... SLAM. Burke buzzes again. Talks to the door... BURKE Ripley we have to talk. (pause) They've lost contact with the colony on Acheron. The door opens. Ripley considers the ramifications of that. She motions them inside. INT. RIPLEY'S APARTMENT - A LITTLE LATER 22 Burke and Gorman are seated, nursing coffee. Ripley paces, very tense. RIPLEY No. There's no way! BURKE Hear me out... RIPLEY I was reamed, steamed and dry-cleaned by you guys...and now you want me to go back out there? Forget it. We SEE that she's gut scared, covering it with anger. Burke sees it. BURKE Look, we don't know what's going on out there. It may just be a down transmitter. But if it's not, I want you there...as an advisor. That's all. GORMAN You wouldn't be going in with the troops. I can guarantee your safety. BURKE These Colonial Marines are some tough hombres, and they're packing state-of-the-art firepower. Nothing they can't handle...right, Lieutenant? GORMAN (cool) We're trained to deal with these kinds of situations. RIPLEY (to Burke) What about you? What's your interest in this? BURKE Well, the corporation co-financed that colony with the Colonial Administration, against mineral rights. We're getting into a lot of terraforming...'Building Better Worlds.' Burke is revealing his early days in sales. RIPLEY Yeah, yeah. I saw the commercial. BURKE I heard you were working in the cargo docks. RIPLEY (defensive) That's right. BURKE Running loaders, forklifts, that sort of thing? RIPLEY (shrugging) It's all I could get. Anyway, it keeps my mind off of... everything. Days off are worse. BURKE What if I said I could get you reinstated as a flight officer? And that the company has agreed to pick up your contract? RIPLEY If I go. BURKE If you go. (pause) It's a second chance, kiddo. And it'll be the best thing in the world for you to face this fear and beat it. You gotta get back on the horse... RIPLEY (frosty) Spare me, Burke. I've had my psych evaluation this month. Burke leans close, a let's-cut-the-crap intimacy. BURKE Yes, and I've read it. You wake up every night, sheets soaking, the same nightmare over and over... RIPLEY (shouting) No! The answer is no. Now please go. I'm sorry. Just go, would you. Burke nods to Gorman who rises with him. He slips a TRANSLUCENT CARD onto the table, heads for the door. BURKE Think about it. EXT. ACHERON LANDSCAPE - NIGHT 23 As the wind HOWLS through tormented rock, BUILDING IN PITCH until we: CUT TO: INT. APARTMENT 24 Ripley lunges INTO FRAME with an animal outcry. She clutches her chest, breathing hard. Bathed in sweat she lights a cigarette with trembling hands. Do we hear a faint, desolate wind? TIGHT ON PHONE CONSOLE as Ripley's hand inserts Burke's card into a slot. "STAND BY" prints out on the screen and is replaced by Burke's face, bleary with sleep. BURKE (on video phone) Yello? Oh, Ripley. Hi... RIPLEY Burke, just tell me one thing. That you're going out there to kill them. Not study. Not bring back. Just burn them out...clean ...forever. BURKE That's the plan. My word on it. CLOSEUP - RIPLEY taking a deep slow breath. It's time to look the demon in the eye. RIPLEY All right. I'm in. She punches off before Burke replies, before she can change her mind. She turns to Jones sitting on the bed and her tone becomes admonishing... RIPLEY And you my dear, are staying right here. Jones blinks, cynical cat eyes..."count me right out." CUT TO: EXT. DEEP SPACE - THREE WEEKS LATER 25 An empty starfield. Metal spires slice ACROSS FRAME. A mountain of steel following. A massive military transport ship, the SULACO. Ugly, battered... functional. INT. CORRIDOR TO CARGO LOCK 26 An empty corridor, seemingly miles long. No movement. The THRUMMING of hyperdrive engines. INT. CARGO LOCK 27 An enormous chamber, cavernous and dark. Squatting in the shadows are two orbit-to-surface shuttles. DROP-SHIPS. Heavy machinery all around them... cranes, loading equipment. INT. BRIDGE 28 Dark electronic womb. CAMERA DOLLIES SLOWLY among murmuring instrumentation. A sudden high-pitched TRILLING accompanies a sequence of lights. An alarm. INT. HYPERSLEEP VAULT 29 Blackness, until a bank of indicators lights up. Hydraulics lift a grid of equipment from a row of horizontal HYPERSLEEP CYLINDERS. It reaches the ceiling. Locks. CLOSE ON RIPLEY'S CAPSULE as trickles of water run down the frosted canopy. DISSOLVE TO: INT. HYPERSLEEP VAULT 30 Lit up, white and sterile. The canopies of the row of capsules are raised. Ripley sits up. Rubs her arms briskly. Next to her Gorman and Burke are stirring and beyond them the troopers, wearing shorts and dog tags. They are: MASTER SERGEANT APONE UNIT LEADER CORPORAL HICKS B-TEAM LEADER CORPORAL DIETRICH (female) MED-TECH PFC HUDSON COM-TECH PFC VASQUEZ (female) 'SMART-GUN' OPERATOR PRIVATE DRAKE 'SMART-GUN' OPERATOR PRIVATE FROST TROOPER PRIVATE CROWE TROOPER PRIVATE WIERZBOWSKI TROOPER CORPORAL FERRO (female) DROP-SHIP PILOT PFC SPUNKMEYER DROP-SHIP CREW CHIEF The ship is fully automated in interstellar flight so there is no crew, except for EXECUTIVE OFFICER (ECA) Bishop, who supervises planetary maneuvering. GROANS echo across the chamber. SPUNKMEYER Arrgh. I'm getting too old for this shit. SPUNKMEYER says this sincerely, though he must have enlisted underage not long ago. Looking surly, DRAKE sits up. He's young as well but street-tough. Nasty scar curling his lip into a sneer. DRAKE They ain't payin' us enough for this. DIETRICH Not enough to have to wake up to your face, Drake. DRAKE Suck air. Hey, Hicks...you look like I feel. HICKS, an older lifer-type who keeps his own counsel, just snorts good-naturedly. Ripley scans the group as they shuffle past her to a bank of lockers. Though not supermen they are lean and hardened...tough, capable, jaded. They combine the specialized techno-combat training of the twenty-first century fighting man with those qualities universal to "grunts" through the ages. SERGEANT APONE moves down the row of freezers. HUDSON This floor's freezing. APONE Christ. I never saw such a buncha old women. You want me to fetch your slippers, Hudson? HUDSON Would you, Sir? Ripley steps back as the troopers shuffle past nodding cursory hellos. She feels isolated by the camaraderie of this tightknit group. VASQUEZ eyes her coldly as she passes. Like Drake, Vasquez is younger then the rest and her combat-primer was the street in a Los Angeles barrio. She is tough even by the standards of this group. Hard-muscled. Eyes cunning and mean. HUDSON Hey, Vasquez...you ever been mistaken for a man? VASQUEZ No. Have you? She slaps Drake's open palm and it clenches into a greeting which is part contest. It gets rougher. Painful. Until she cuffs him hard and they break with vicious laughter. Dobermans playing. Conscripted from juvenile prison, the two of them were trained to operate the formidable "SMART-GUNS." That is part of their bond. BISHOP is helping everyone like a valet. As he passes close to her Ripley notices a strange TATTOO across the back of his left hand...an ALPHA-NUMERIC CODE. FROST Hey, hand job, you take my towel? SPUNKMEYER (overlapping) I need some slack, man. How come they send us straight back out like this? We got some slack comin', man. HICKS You just got three weeks. SPUNKMEYER I mean breathing, not this frozen shit. DIETRICH Yeah, 'Top'...what about it? APONE You know it ain't up to me. (louder) Awright! Let's knock off the grabass. First assembly's in fifteen...let's shag it. INT. SHOWERS 31 High pressure water jets and a blast of hot air when you step out...a drive through car wash for people. Through the swirling steam Hudson, Vasquez and FERRO are watching Ripley dry off. VASQUEZ Who's the fresh meat again? FERRO She's supposed to be some kinda consultant... (exaggerated) ...She was an alien once. HUDSON Whoooah! No shit? I'm impressed. APONE Let's go...let's go. Cycle through! INT. MESS HALL 32 An unconscious segregation takes place at the troopers assemble at one long table while Gorman, Burke, Bishop and Ripley sit at another. Everybody is nursing a coffee, waiting for eggs from the AUTOCHEF. Among the troopers dress discipline is lax...fatigues customized and emblazoned with patches. Drake's tunic is cut off to a vest and has "Eat the apple and fuck the Corps" stenciled on back. "Peace Through Superior Firepower," "Pray for War" and "I've Served My Time in Hell: Cetti Epsilon NC-104" are some others. HUDSON Hey, 'Top.' What's the op? APONE Rescue mission. There's some juicy colonists' daughters we gotta rescue from virginity. Apone is stocky, grizzled, with peregrine eyes. He runs it loose and fair, but only because he knows his people are the best. SPUNKMEYER Shee-it. Dumbass colonists. What's this crap supposed to be? WIERZBOWSKI Cornbread, I think. Hey, I wouldn't mind getting me some more a that Arcturan poontang. Remember that time? HICKS (low) Looks like that new Lieutenant's too good to eat with us grunts. WIERZBOWSKI (glancing over shoulder) Yeah. Got a corn cob up his ass, definitely. Across the room, at the other table, Gorman sits with his creases perfect...the consummate strack NCO. Bishop takes a seat beside Ripley, who pointedly gets up and moves to the far side of the table. He looks wounded. BISHOP I'm sorry you feel that way about Synthetics, Ripley. Ripley spins on Burke, her tone accusing. RIPLEY You never said anything about an android being here! Why not? BURKE Well, it didn't occur to me. It's been policy for years to have a synthetic on board. BISHOP I prefer the term 'artificial person' myself. Is there a problem? BURKE A synthetic malfunctioned on her last trip out. Some deaths were involved. BISHOP I'm shocked. Was it an older model? BURKE Cyberdyne Systems 120-A/2. Bishop turns to Ripley, very conciliatory. BISHOP Well, that explains it. The A/2's were always a bit twitchy. That could never happen now with out behavioral inhibitors. Impossible for me to harm or, by omission of action, allow to be harmed a human being. (smiling) More cornbread? WHAM! Ripley knocks the plate out of his hand, halfway across the room. RIPLEY Just stay away from me, Bishop! You got that straight? Burke and Gorman exchange glances. Wierzbowski, at the next table, shrugs and turns back to the other troopers. WIERZBOWSKI She don't like the cornbread either. INT. READY ROOM - TIGHT ON APONE - ARMORY 33 bellowing. APONE Tench-hut! WIDER ANGLE as the troops snap to from their lounging among the racks of high-tech weaponry. Gorman enters with Burke and Ripley. GORMAN At ease. I'm sorry we didn't have time to brief before we left Gateway but... HUDSON Sir? GORMAN (annoyed) Yes, Hicks? HUDSON Hudson, Sir. He's Hicks. GORMAN What's the question? HUDSON Is this going to be a stand-up fight, Sir, on another bug-hunt? GORMAN All we know is that there's still no contact with the colony and that a xenomorph may be involved. WIERZBOWSKI A what? HICKS (to Wierzbowski; low) It's a bug-hunt. (louder) So what are these things? Gorman nods to Ripley, who stands before the troops. She sets some RECORDING DISKETTES on the table. RIPLEY I've dictated what I know on these. APONE Tease us a bit. SPUNKMEYER Yeah...previews. RIPLEY Okay. It's important to understand this organism's life cycle. It's actually two creatures. The first form hatches from a spore...a sort of large egg, and attaches itself to its victim. Then it injects an embryo, detaches and dies. It's essentially a walking sex organ. The -- HUDSON Sounds like you, Hicks. RIPLEY (controlled) The embryo, the second form, hosts in the victim's body for several hours. Gestating. Then it... (with difficulty) ...then it...emerges. Moults. Grows rapidly -- VASQUEZ I only need to know one thing. RIPLEY Yes? VASQUEZ Where they are. Vasquez coolly points her finger, cocks her thumbs, and blows away an imaginary alien. DRAKE Yo! Vasquez. Kick ass! VASQUEZ Anytime. Anywhere. HUDSON Somebody said alien...she thought they said illegal alien and signed up. VASQUEZ Fuck you. HUDSON Anytime. Anywhere. RIPLEY (icy) Am I disturbing you conversation Mr. Hudson? Hudson settles down, smirking. Ripley locks eyes with Vasquez. RIPLEY I hope you're right. I really do. BURKE (to all) I suggest you study the disks Ripley has been kind enough to prepare for you. GORMAN Are there any questions? Hudson? HUDSON How do I get out of this chicken-shit outfit? Gorman scowls then, thanking Ripley with a nod, takes over the predrop briefing. GORMAN All right. I want this to go smooth and by the numbers. I want DCS and tactical database assimilation by 0830. (some groans) Ordnance loading, weapons strip and drop-ship prep details will have seven hours... EXT. SPACE - ACHERON 34 They have arrived. From orbit the planet looks serene ...Pearlescent cloud cover masking the environmental torment beneath. The SULACO floats, its MANEUVERING JETS FIRING. A bluish glow. Then twice more, rapidly. INT. BRIDGE 35 Bishop is installed in his command seat, hemmed in by instrumentation. BISHOP (into mike) Attention. This concluded final maneuvering operations. Thank you for your cooperation. You may resume work. INT. LOADING BAY - TIGHT ON MASSIVE FORKS - CARGO LOCK 34 sliding into a heavy ordnance rack with an echoing CLANG. PULL BACK as the rack of tactical missiles is lifted, REVEALING two powerful hydraulic arms. Spunkmeyer, seated inside a POWER LOADER, swings the ordnance up into a belly nacelle of the DROP-SHIP where it locks into place. As he exerts pressure with his hands against the servo-controls the hydraulic arms move correspondingly...but with a thousandfold increase in power. The forklift-style CLAWS on each arm can crush with tons of pressure. The loader has an open ROLL CAGE to protect the operator, and is supported by squat HYDRAULIC LEGS which also move correspondingly with the driver's movements. You have never seen anything like this before. Advanced as it is to us, it's only an old forklift to them...battered and well used. Covered with grease. Repainted many times. Across the back is stencilled "CATERPILLAR." Spunkmeyer's machine swings out from under the drop-ship and we become aware of the intense activity throughout the cavernous loading bay. Troopers on foot or driving TOW-MOWERS, OVERHEAD LOADING ARMS...all in motion. Hicks checks off items on an electronic manifest. INT. READY ROOM - ARMORY 37 Wierzbowski, Drake and Vasquez are fieldstripping light weapons with precise movements. Around them, in racks, is an arsenal of advanced personal artillery. Vasquez likes the feel of the guns, the weight...the authority. Her hands move without hesitation. CLACK. CLACK. CLACK. She swings one of the SMART-GUNS out on a work stand. Using a body brace and GYRO-STABILIZED SUPPORT ARM, it is a computer-aimed, video targeted automatic weapon. The futuristic equivalent of a .30 caliber light machine gun. Sort of a steadicam that kills. INT. LOADING BAY - ANGLE ON BURKE AND GORMAN 38 with pre-flight activity b.g. BURKE Still nothing from the colony? GORMAN Dead on all channels. Ripley watches the drop-ship being loaded. A cross between a Huey Aircobra gunship and the space shuttle might describe it. An orbit-to-surface troop carrier, heavily armed for the close support of ground missions. She watches a six-wheeled APC, ARMORED PERSONNEL CARRIER, being raised hydraulically into the ship's belly. Ripley looks around as Frost wheels a rack of incomprehensible equipment toward her. FROST Clear, please. Ripley jumps aside, nodding apologetically. She turns. Steps hastily back. Hudson cruises by with a laden forklift. HUDSON Excuse me. ANGLE ON APONE standing with Hicks, as Ripley approaches him RIPLEY I feel like a fifth wheel here. Is there anything I can do? APONE I don't know. Is there anything you can do? RIPLEY (pointing) I can drive that loader. I've got a Class Two rating. My latest career move. Apone turns. A SECOND POWER LOADER sits unused in an equipment bay. TWO SHOT APONE AND HICKS skeptical. Considering. TIGHT ON POWER SWITCH as Ripley's finger punches it on. A RISING WHINE of power. TIGHT ON THE HYDRAULICS as the massive machine stirs to life. FULL, as the loader starts. Ripley is strapped into the safety cage, her arms and legs inserted in the servo-sensor assemblies. She takes a step. BOOM! Two tons of hardened steel takes a step. Ripley spins the wrist servos. The huge claws swing, open...slide smoothly into lifting brackets on a cargo module, nearby. She raises it deftly. RIPLEY Where you want it? Hicks looks at Apone, cocks an eyebrow appreciatively. INT. READY ROOM - ARMORY 39 The troopers are suiting up for the drop. Strapping on their bulky COMBAT-ARMOR...interlocking plates like football padding. They tape their wrists. Draw on segmented boots. The sole cleats CLACK like hooves on the deck plates. Lockers SLAM. WEB BELTS. PACKS. HARNESSES. HELMETS. COM-SETS. Their fingers move methodically over the fastenings. It has its own rhythm...CLICK. CLICK. CLICK. APONE Let's move it, girls! On the ready line. Let's go, let's go. INT. DROP-SHIP - APC 40 Ripley, wearing a flight jacket and headset, files into the ship with the hulking troopers. Inside they pass directly into the APC we saw loaded earlier and take seats facing each other across a narrow aisle. They will drop already strapped into their ground vehicle for rapid deployment. A KLAXON SOUNDS, signalling depressurization of the cargo lock. Hudson prowls the aisle, his movements predatory and exaggerated. Ripley watches him working his way toward her. HUDSON I am ready, man. Ready to get it on. Check-it-out. I am the ultimate badass...state of the badass art. You do not want to fuck with me. Hey, Ripley, don't worry. Me and my squad of ultimate badasses will protect you. Check-it-out... He slaps the SERVO-CANNON controls in the GUN BAY above them. HUDSON Independently targetting particle-beam phalanx. VWAP! Fry half a city with this puppy. We got tactical smart-missles, phased-plasma pulse-rifles, RPG's. We got sonic eeelectronic ballbreakers, we got nukes, we got knives...sharp sticks -- Hicks grabs Hudson by his battle harness and pulls him into a seat. His voice is low, but it carries. HICKS Save it. HUDSON Sure, Hicks. Ripley nods her thanks to Hicks. MOTORS WHINE and the craft lurches. Burke, next to Ripley, grins eagerly like this is a sport fishing trip. BURKE Here we go. She looks like she's in a gas chamber waiting for the pellet to drop. EXT. SULACO 41 The drop-ship lowers from the cargo-lock on a massive launch rig. The night side of Acheron yawns below... enigmatic. INT. COCKPIT 42 Ferro and Spunkmeyer run rapidly through the switches. FERRO Initiate release sequencer on my mark. Three. Two. One. Mark! EXT. SULACO - DROP-SHIP 43 Hydraulic WHINE. Clamps SLAM BACK. The ship drops. INT. DROP-SHIP - APC 44 Apone, stalking the aisle, snatches for a handhold. Bishop, Burke and Gorman groan at the sudden gees. Ripley closes her eyes...the point of no return. EXT. DROP-SHIP 45 It screams down through the stratosphere, plunging into dark turbulence. INT. COCKPIT 46 Beyond the canopy is gray limbo. The craft shudders and lurches. FERRO (icy calm) Switching to DCS ranging. SPUNKMEYER Two-four-o. Nominal to profile. Picking up some hull ionization. FERRO Got it. Rough air ahead. INT. HOLD - APC 47 TIGHT ON HICKS asleep in his harness. FERRO (voice over; filtered) Stand by for some chop. TIGHT ON GORMAN as the ship begins to buck, his eyes closed. Pale. Sweating. He rubs his hands on his knees repeatedly. RIPLEY How may drops is this for you, Lieutenant? GORMAN Thirty-eight...simulated. VASQUEZ How many combat drops? GORMAN Well...two. Three, including this one. Vasquez and Drake exchange do-you-believe-this-shit expressions. Ripley looks accusingly at Burke. INT. COCKPIT 48 FERRO Turning on final. Coming around to a seven-zero-niner. Terminal guidance locked in. Where's the damn beacon? EXT. DROP-SHIP 49 It emerges from the low cloud ceiling. From the twilight haze ahead the distant colony LANDING BEACONS become visible. INT. HOLD - APC 50 Stumbling as the ship pitches, Ripley makes her way forward to the MOBILE TACTICAL OPERATIONS BAY (MTOB), a control console lined with monitor screens. She joins Burke watching over Gorman's shoulder as the Lieutenant plays the board like a video director. TIGHT ON MONITOR CONSOLE REVEALING screens labelled with the names of the troopers. Two for each soldier. The upper screens show images from the IMAGE-INTENSIFIED VIDEO CAMERAS in their helmets. The lower screens are BIO-MONITORS: EEG, EKG, and other graphic life-function readouts. Other screens show EXTERIOR VIEWS. GORMAN Let's see. Everybody on line. Drake, check you camera. There seems to be a... CLOSE ON DRAKE as he whacks himself on the head with an ammo case. A familiar malfunction. GORMAN (o.s) ...that's better. Pan it around a bit. APONE Awright. Fire-team A. Gear up. Let's move. Two minutes. Somebody wake up Hicks. A clatter of activity as they don backpacks and weapons. Vasquez and Drake buckle on their smart-gun body harnesses. Ripley watches the AP station loom on the exterior screens. RIPLEY That the atmosphere processor? BURKE Uh-hunh. One of thirty or so, all over the planet. They're completely automated. We manufacture them, by the way. EXT. SHIP - AP STATION 51 The tiny ship circles the roaring tower. A metal volcano thundering like the engines on God's Lear jet. INT. HOLD - APC 52 Gorman plays with the controls, zooming the image of the colony. GORMAN (to Ferro via mike) Hold at forty. Slow circle of the complex. RIPLEY The structure seems intact. They have power. On the screen the colony buildings loom in and the low visibility like wrecks of freighters on the sea floor. GORMAN (to Apone) Okay, let's do it. APONE Awright! I want a nice clean dispersal this time. Ripley turns as Vasquez squeezes past her. VASQUEZ You staying in here? RIPLEY You bet. VASQUEZ (turning away) Figures. GORMAN (to Ferro via mike) Set down sixty meters this side of the telemetry mast. Immediate dust off on my 'clear,' then stay on station. APONE Ten seconds, people. Look sharp! EXT. COLONY COMPLEX 53 Landing beacons sweep harsh light across the wet Tarmac. The ship roars down, extending the loading ramp. Slams down on hydraulic LANDING LEGS. The APC hits the ground a moment later, pulling away from the ship as it leaps up in a cloud of spray and peels off, circling. The APC pulls to the edge of the complex. The CREW DOOR opens. Troopers hit the ground running. Spread out. They drop behind immediate cover. Apone scans with him image intensifier visor lowered. APONE'S P.O.V. through the starlight-scope visor. Bright as a sunny day, though contrasty and lurid, we SEE the colony buildings. Trash blows in the street. No other movement. GORMAN (voice over; filtered) First squad up, on line. Hicks, get yours in a cordon. Watch the rear. APONE Vasquez, take point. Let's move. Sprinting in a skirmish line, Apone's team advances on the colony main entry-lock. Parked tightly across the doors are two heavy-duty tractors. Vasquez reaches one of the tractors, looks inside. The controls are ripped out, as if by a crowbar or axe. She moves on. EXT. COLONY BUILDING 54 Vasquez reaches the main doors, Drake flanking on the right. Apone tries the door controls. Nothing. APONE Sealed. Hudson, run a bypass. Hudson, all business now, moves up and studies the door control panel. He pries off the facing and starts clipping on the bypass wires. APONE First squad, assemble on me at the main lock. The wind roars around the bleak structures. A neon sign creaks overhead. Hudson makes a connection. The door shrieks in its tracks and rumbles aside. It jams partway open. Apone motions Vasquez inside. She eases over the wrecked tractor, through the doors. The others follow. GORMAN (voice over; filtered) Second team, move up. Flanking positions. INT. COLONY - MAIN CONCOURSE 55 DOLLYING SLOWLY FORWARD, following Vasquez and Apone as they move into the broad corridor. A few emergency lights are still on. Wind moans along the concourse. Pools of water cover the floor. Farther down, rain drips through blast holes in the ceiling. Evidence of a fire fight with pulse-rifles. ON VASQUEZ moving forward. Taut. Alert. Her smart-gun cannon swinging slowly in an arc. She studies the video aiming monitor, looking down rather than ahead. Their footsteps echo. INT. APC 56 Ripley watches as the bobbing images reveal the empty colony building. GORMAN Quarter and search by twos. Second team move inside. Hicks, take the upper level. Use your motion trackers. INT. MAIN CONCOURSE - SECOND LEVEL 57 Hicks leads his squad up the stairwell to second level. They emerge cautiously. An empty corridor recedes into the dim distance. Hicks unslings a rugged piece of equipment. Aims it down the hall. He adjusts the "gain." It remains silent. HICKS Nothing. No movement. They pass rooms and offices. Through doors they see increasing signs of struggle. Furniture overturned. Papers scattered...floating sodden in the puddles. INT. APC 58 Ripley et al watching. BURKE Looks like my room in college. Nobody laughs. INT. SECOND LEVEL 59 Hicks' group passes several burnt-out rooms. There are no bodies. In several offices the exterior windows are blown out, admitting wind and rain. Hicks picks up a half-eaten donut beside a coffee cup overflowing with rainwater. INT. LOWER LEVEL - QUARTERS 60 Apone's men are searching systematically in pairs. They pass through the colonists' modest apartments, little more than cubicles. Hudson, on tracker, flanks Vasquez as they move forward. Hudson touches a splash of color on the wall. Dried blood. His tracker BEEPS. Vasquez whirls, cannon aimed. The BEEPING grows more frequent as Hudson advances toward a half open door. The door is splintered partway out of its frame. Holes caused by pulse-rifle rounds pepper the walls. Vasquez eases up to the door. Kicks it in. Tenses to fire. Inside, dangling from a piece of flex conduit, a junction-box swings like a pendulum in the wind from a broken window. It clanks against the rails of a child's bunkbed as it swings. INT. DROP-SHIP - APC 61 Ripley watches Hicks' monitor. RIPLEY Wait! Tell him to... (plugs in headset jack) ...Hicks. Back up. Pan left. There! TIGHT ON MONITOR as the image shifts, revealing a section of wall corroded almost through in an irregular pattern. TIGHT ON RIPLEY knowing what it is. HICKS (voice over; filtered) You seeing this okay? Looks melted. Burke raises an eyebrow at Ripley. BURKE Hmm. Acid for blood. HICKS (voice over; filtered) Looks like somebody bagged them one of Ripley's bad guys here. INT. FIRST LEVEL 62 Hudson is looking at something. HUDSON Hey, if you like that, you're gonna love this... WIDER ANGLE showing the trooper standing beneath a gaping hole. Another hole, directly beneath, is at his feet. The acid has melted right down through two levels into the maintenance level. Revealing pipes, conduit, equipment...eaten away by the ferocious substance. APONE Second squad? What's your status? HICKS (voice over; filtered) Just finished our sweep. Nobody home. APONE (to Gorman) The place is dead, Sir. Whatever happened, we missed it. INT. APC 63 Gorman turns to the others. GORMAN All right, the area's secured. Let's go in and see what their computer can tell us. (into mike) First team head for operations. Hudson, see if you can get their CPU on line. Hicks, meet me at the south lock by the up-link tower... INT. FIRST LEVEL 64 GORMAN (voice over) ...We're coming in. HUDSON (cupping his mike) He's coming in. I feel safer already. VASQUEZ (sotto voice) Pendejo jerkoff. EXT. COLONY COMPLEX 65 Lights arc across the dormant buildings as the APC turns onto the "main drag." It trundles down the rutted street, throwing up sheets of filthy water as the massive wheels hit pondlike potholes. Windblown rain lashes across the headlights. Hicks emerges from the south lock just as the APC rolls up close to the entrance. The crew-door slides back. Gorman emerges, followed by Burke, Bishop, and Wierzbowski. Burke looks back to see Ripley stop in the APC doorway, eyeing the ominous colony structure. She meets his eyes. Shakes her head "no." Not ready. HUDSON (voice over; filtered) Sir, the CPU is on-line. GORMAN Okay, stand by in operations. (to those present) Let's go. INT. APC 66 The crew-door cycles home with a clang. Ripley sits in the dark interior, lit by the tactical displays. The wind howls outside, an incredibly desolate sound. She hugs herself. Alone. Unarmed. She knows she's in a tank, but remembers the acid. Leaps up. Hits the door switch. EXT. APC - SOUTH LOCK 67 The crew-door opens and Ripley emerges. In time to see the lock doors rumbling closed. RIPLEY (shouting) Burke! The wind snatches her words away. The crew door whines shut behind her. She walks to the exterior lock door-controls and studies them. She punches some unfamiliar buttons. Nothing happens. She looks really nervous, alone in the howling wind. She hits another button. The door-motors come to life and she relaxes a little. Glances behind her. AND SCREAMS! There's a face right there! Right at her shoulder. She jumps back, gasping for breath. WIERZBOWSKI Scare you? RIPLEY Christ, Wierzbowski! WIERZBOWSKI Sorry. Hicks said to keep an eye on you. He gestures for her to precede him inside. INT. CONTROL BLOCK CORRIDOR 68 Ripley catches up with the others as they move into the bowels of the complex. GORMAN (to Burke) Looks like you company can write off its share of this colony. BURKE (unconcerned) It's insured. ON RIPLEY as they move along the corridor...reacting to the fact that she is back in alien country. She sees the ravaged administration complex. Fire-gutted offices. Hicks notices her looking around nervously. He motions to big Wierzbowski with his eyes and the trooper casually falls in beside her on the other side, rifle at ready. a two-man protective cordon. She glances at Hicks. He winks, but so fast maybe it's something in his eye. Trooper Frost emerges from a side corridor ahead. FRONT Sir, you should check this out... He leads the way into the corridor. INT. CORRIDOR 69 This wing is completely without power. The troopers switch on their pack lights and the beams illuminate a scene of devastation worse than they have seen. Her expression reveals that Ripley is about to turn and flee. FROST Right ahead here... They approach a barricade blocking the corridor, a hastily welded wall of pipes, steel-plate, outer-door panels. Acid holes have slashed through the floor and walls in several places. The metal is scratched and twisted by hideously powerful forces, peeled back like a soup can on one side. They squeeze through the opening. INT. MEDICAL WING 70 They pack-lights play over the devastation of the colonists' last ditch battle. The equipment of the med labs has been uprooted to add to the barrier. The walls are perforated by pulse-rifle fire and acid. Scorched by untended fires to bare metal. A few instruments glow with emergency power. WIERZBOWSKI Last stand. GORMAN No bodies? FROST No, Sir. Looks like it was a helluva fight. TIGHT ON RIPLEY transfixed by something. RIPLEY (low) Over there. The others turn and approach, seeing what she sees. She has entered a second room, part of the med lab area. In a storage alcove at near eye level stand seven transparent cylinders. STASIS TUBES. They glow faintly with an eerie violet light given off by the field which preserves the specimens inside. They look like jars containing SEVERED ARTHRITIC HANDS, the palsied fingers curled in a death-rictus. Structurally they are more like spiders with sickening translucent skin, a flacid scrotal body, gill-like organs underneath drifting in the suspension fluid. Something you definitely do not want on your face, for example. BURKE Are these the same...? Ripley nods, unable to speak. Burke leans closer in fascination. His face almost touching one cylinder, is lit by its glow. RIPLEY Watch it, Burke... The creature inside lunges suddenly, slamming against the glass. Burke jumps back. From the palm of the thing's handlike body emerges a pearl-escent TUBULE. like a tapered piece of intestine, which slithers tonguelike over the inside of the glass. Then it retracts into a sheath between the "gills." HICKS (to Burke) It likes you. Only two of the creatures seem to pulse with life. Burke taps the other stasis cylinders but the hand-things remain inertly clenched. BURKE These are dead. There's just the two alive. On top of each cylinder is a file folder. Ripley takes a folder from above one of the live specimens. Inside is a medical chart printout with handwritten entries. RIPLEY (reading) Removed surgically before embryo implantation. Subject: Marachuk, John L. Died during procedure. (looking up) They killed him getting it off. HICKS Poor bastard. They are startled by a LOUD BEEP. They turn. Hicks is intent on his motion tracker, aimed back toward the shattered barricade. BEEP. BEEP. HICKS Behind us. He gestures at the corridor they just passed through. RIPLEY One of us? GORMAN (into headset) Apone...where are your people? Anybody in D-Block? APONE (voice over; filtered) Negative. We're all in Operations. Vasquez swings the smart-gun to ready position on its support arm, locking it with an authoritative CLICK. She and Hicks head toward the source of the signal, the others following. INT. CORRIDOR 71 Hicks' tracker is reading out more rapidly. They turn into the kitchens, a stainless steel labyrinth. Ripley hangs back. Then realizes there is nothing behind her but darkness. She catches up to the group. INT. KITCHENS 72 The troopers enter, their lights bouncing around the stainless steel surfaces. HICKS It's moving. Vasquez is scanning, gaze intense. The other troops grip their weapons tightly. VASQUEZ Which way? Hicks nods toward a complicated array of food processing equipment. They move forward, weapons leveled. Ripley shuffles forward in the dark. Wierzbowski trips over a metal cannister, sending it CLANGING. Ripley half climbs the wall. Hicks' tracker beeps steadily. The beeps merge. Become a solid tone. CRASH. Something moves in the dark, toppling a rack of stockpots. ON VASQUEZ pivoting smoothly to fire. In the same instant Hicks' rifle slashes INTO FRAME. Slams Vasquez' barrel upward. A STREAM OF TRACER FIRE rips into the ceiling, the rounds SEARING LIKE LIGHTNING. VASQUEZ You fuck! Hicks ignores her, moving past and aiming his light under a row of steel cabinets. He gestures to Ripley, who steps forward. Trusting his judgment. She crouches beside him. RIPLEY'S P.O.V. lit by Hicks' pack-light...a tiny cowering figure. A very dirty, very terrified NEWT JORDEN. She clutches a plastic food packet in one hand, its top gnawed partway through. In the other hand she grips the HEAD OF A LARGE DOLL, holding it by the hair. Just the head. Eyes staring. Newt is pathetically emaciated...fragile-looking as Dresden china, her hair tangled and matted. RIPLEY (soothingly) Come on out. It's all right... Ripley moves toward her, reaching slowly under the cabinet. Newt backs away, trembling visibly, her vision fixated like a rabbit blinded by headlights. Ripley's hand almost reaches her. The kid bolts like a shot, scuttling along beneath the cabinetry. Ripley scrambles to follow...to keep her in sight. Crabbing frantically sideways. Hicks makes a grab, catching one tiny ankle. He snaps his hand out a moment later. HICKS Ow! Shit. Watchit, she bites. The girl reaches a ventilation duct set in the baseboard, its grille kicked out. She scrambles inside, her tiny body barely fitting, wriggling like a fish. In his bulky armor Hicks knows he'll never make it into the tiny duct. Ripley dives. She squirms into the duct without thinking. Just ahead she sees Newt enter a dark space and slam a steel hatch. Ripley pushes the hatch open before the child can latch it, and crawls in after her. Newt is backed into a cul-de-sac in the tiny steel chamber. Ripley shines her light around in amazement. It is a NEST. A nest built by a child. Wadded up blankets and pillows line the space, mixed up with a haphazard array of TOYS, STUFFED ANIMALS, DOLLS, CHEAP JEWELRY, COMIC BOOKS, EMPTY FOOD PACKETS, even a battery operated TAPE PLAYER. All foraged from the wrecked colony. Ripley marvels at the child's incredible adaptability, the ability to functions even in this nightmarish environment. Newt edges along the far wall and dives for the hatch. Ripley grabs her, controlling her in a bear hug. The kid struggles wildly, like a cat at the vets. Eyes wide, hands lashing out in a frenzy...but silent. No scream. RIPLEY It's okay, it's okay. It's over... you're going to be all right now... it's okay...you're safe... Newt goes limp, almost catatonic. CLOSE ON NEWT'S TRAUMATIZED, VACANT STARE her lips are white and trembling, her eyes track wildly and she flinches from unseen terrors. We READ a dark nightmare world in her eyes. Ripley's light falls on something amidst the debris... a FRAMED PHOTOGRAPH of Newt, dressed up and smiling, a ribbon in her hair. In embossed gold letters underneath it says: FIRST GRADE CITIZENSHIP AWARD REBECCA JORDEN INT. OPERATIONS - ON NEWT - MANAGER'S OFFICE 73 sitting huddles in a chair, arms around her knees. Looking at a point in space. GORMAN (o.s.) What's her name again? DIETRICH (o.s.) Rebecca. WIDER ANGLE REVEALING Gorman sitting in front of her while Dietrich watches the readouts from a BIO-MONITORING CUFF wrapped around Newt's tiny arm. GORMAN Now think, Rebecca. Concentrate. Just start at the beginning... No response. Ripley enters, carrying a coffee mug. GORMAN Where are your parents? You have to try... RIPLEY (sharply) Gorman! Give it a rest would you. Gorman stands with a sigh of dismissal. GORMAN Total brain-lock. DIETRICH (shrugs) Physically she's okay. Borderline malnutrition, but I don't think any permanent damage. She unsnaps the bio-monitoring cuff. GORMAN Come on, we're wasting our time. Gorman and the others exit, leaving only Ripley with Newt. Through the window of the office, out on the main floor of the operations room, we SEE Gorman join Burke and Bishop at a computer terminal. Ripley kneels beside Newt, brushing the girl's unkempt hair out of her eyes in a gentle, maternal fashion. RIPLEY Here, try this. A little instant hot chocolate. She wraps the child's hands around the cup. Raises it to her lips for her. The girl drinks mechanically, spilling down her chin. RIPLEY (soothing) Poor thing. You don't talk much do you? That's okay by me. Most people do a lot of talking and they wind up not saying very much. She sets the cup down and wipes the child's chin clean. RIPLEY Uh oh. I made a clean spot here. Now I've done it. Guess I'll just have to do the whole thing. She pours water from a squeeze bottle onto a small cloth and gently washes the little girl's face. Newt's eyes seem to focus on her for the first time. RIPLEY Hard to believe...there's a little girl under all this. And a pretty one at that. Newt gazes at her. Ripley smiles. INT. OPERATIONS 74 The ground teams are gathered around a terminal in the computer center. Hudson has the CPU main computer on-line and reading out. TIGHT ON MONITOR SCREEN as an abstract of the main colony ground plan drifts across the screen. Searching. Hudson bashes at the keyboard, his fingers dancing expertly. BURKE (to Gorman) What's he scanning for? GORMAN PDT'S. Personal-Data Transmitters. Every adult colonist had one surgically implanted. HUDSON If they're within twenty klicks we'll read it out here, but so far...zip. INT. OFFICE 75 Ripley is washing Newt's tiny hands with a cloth, pink skin emerging from black grime. RIPLEY I don't know how you managed to stay alive but you're one brave kid, Rebecca. Newt's voice is almost inaudible. NEWT N-newt. Ripley leans closer. Feels like she's breathing on coals. The sound was incomprehensible. RIPLEY What did you say? NEWT Newt. My n-name's Newt. Nobody calls me Rebecca except my dork brother. Ripley grins inanely, not wanting to move or speak... or break the spell. RIPLEY Well, Newt it is then. My name's Ripley...and people call me Ripley. Ripley picks up her tiny limp hand, shaking it formally. RIPLEY Pleased to meet you. And who is this? Does she have a name? Newt glances at the disembodied doll, still clutched in one filthy hand. NEWT Casey. She's my only friend. RIPLEY What about me? Newt's reply is flat, neutral. NEWT I don't want you for a friend. RIPLEY Why not? NEWT Because you'll be gone soon, like the others. Like everybody. You'll be dead and you'll leave me alone. Ripley gazes at her, chilled both by the ominous statement and by the situation which could have produced this outlook in a child. RIPLEY Oh, Newt. You mom and dad went away like that, didn't they? Newt nods, staring at her knees. RIPLEY (soothingly) They'd be here if they could, honey. I know they would. NEWT (with cold certainty) They're dead. RIPLEY Newt. Look at me...Newt. I won't leave you. I promise. NEWT You promise? RIPLEY Cross my heart. NEWT And hope to die? Ripley smiles grimly at the inadvertently macabre expression. RIPLEY (quietly) And hope to die. And because she's a child, the darkest terrors, even the ones seen and not imagined, can still be banished by a smile and a single promise. Newt's eyes brim as she gazes at Ripley. Her lower lip starts to tremble, and her face slowly deforms into an abject mask. She sobs as she clamps her arms around Ripley's neck. The sobs come in waves as Ripley rocks her, tears of suppresses terror and grief and hurt rolling down her face. It is a breakthrough. Ripley closes her eyes, hoping that this promise can be kept. INT. OPERATIONS 76 Everyone jumps as Hudson cries out triumphantly. HUDSON Hah! Stop your grinnin' and drop your linen! Found 'em. GORMAN Alive? HUDSON Unknown. But, it looks like all of them. Over at the processing station...sublevel 'C' under the south tower. TIGHT ON SCREEN showing an amoebalike cluster of flashing blue dots clumped tightly in one area. HICKS Looks like a Goddamn town meeting. GORMAN Let's saddle up. APONE Awright, let's go girls, they ain't payin' us by the hour. EXT. ACHERON - TWILIGHT 77 The APC roars across the stygian landscape, traversing the causeway which connects the colony to the ATMOSPHERE STATION a kilometer away. Behind it the drop-ship settles to the ground at the colony landing field. PAN WITH THE APC TO REVEAL the massive structure. Like a vast foundry the conical exhaust tower flickers with spectral light. INT. APC 78 The troopers sit, more subdued now, swaying and bouncing in the heavily sprung vehicle. Wierzbowski is in the saddle. Ripley and Newt sit side by side just aft of the driver's cockpit. NEWT I was the best at the game. I knew the whole maze. RIPLEY The 'maze'? You mean the air ducts? NEWT Yeah, you know. In the walls, under the floor. I was the ace. I could hide better than anybody. RIPLEY You're really something, ace. Ripley's gaze shifts out the windshield as the processing station looms ahead. EXT. APC/STATION 79 The vast structure towers above the parked personnel carrier. Deploying in front of the APC, backlit by its lights, the troopers cast long shadows. They look ominous. Hulking techno-samurai. The base of the station is a depthless maze of conduits and pressure vessels, like an oil refinery. Or a Dantean version of one. The THRUM of functioning machine systems echoes through the labyrinth. GORMAN (voice over; static) Forty meters in. Ramp on axial two-two. Access to sublevels. The troopers start down the open rampway. Light filters down through several levels of steel mesh floor, catwalks and pipes. Below that is darkness. GORMAN (voice over; static) B-Level. Next one down. The thrumming of machines grows louder as they descend. INT. APC 80 Huddles around the screens are Ripley, Burke and Gorman. Newt squeezes in from behind. Gorman is doing his video wizard bit, dancing on the buttons. GORMAN (to team) We're not making that out too well. What is it? HUDSON (voice over; static) You tell me. I only work here. INT. COMPLEX 81 The group stands before a bizarre tableau. Among the refinerylike lattice of pipes and conduits something new and not of human design had been added. It is a structure of some sort, extending from and crudely imitating the complex of plumbing, but made of some strange encrusted substance. It vaguely resembles the chambered nests of swallows on a much larger scale, and it attenuates so gradually into the original hardware that it is hard to see where one ends and the other begins. The alien structure seems to extend far back into the complex of machinery. The plant thrums loudly, its functioning seemingly not impaired. INT. APC 82 Ripley stares at the scene in dread fascination. GORMAN What is it? RIPLEY I don't know. GORMAN (to team) Proceed inside. INT. ALIEN STRUCTURE 83 They enter the organic labyrinth, playing their lights over the walls. Revealing a BIO-MECHANICAL LATTICE, like the marrow of some vast bone. The air is thick with STEAM. Trickling water. The place seems almost alive. INT. APC 84 They watch in various helmet-camera P.O.V.'s of the wall detail. RIPLEY (low) Oh God... CLOSE ON VIDEO as it PAN SLOWLY...REVEALING a bas-relief of detritus from the colony: furniture, wiring, human bones, skulls...Fused together with a translucent, epoxylike substance. DIETRICH (voice over; static) Looks like some sort of secreted resin. GORMAN They ripped apart the colony for building materials. RIPLEY And the colonists...When they were done with them. (turning) Newt, you better go sit up front. Go on. INT. ALIEN STRUCTURE 85 Steam swirls around them as the troopers move deeper inside. FROST Hotter'n hell in here. HUDSON Yeah...but it's a dry heat. INT. APC 86 Ripley leans forward suddenly, studying the graphic readout of the STATION GROUND PLAN. RIPLEY They're right under the primary heat exchangers. BURKE Yeah? Maybe the organisms like the heat, that's why they built... RIPLEY That's not what I mean. Gorman, if your men have to use their weapons in there, they'll rupture the cooling system. BURKE (realizing) She's right. GORMAN So. RIPLEY So...then the fusion containment shuts down. GORMAN (impatient) So? So? BURKE We're talking thermonuclear explosion. GORMAN Shit. (into mike) Apone, collect magazines from everybody. We can't have any firing in there. INT. ALIEN STRUCTURE 87 The troopers look at each other in dismay. WIERZBOWSKI Is he fucking crazy? HUDSON What're we supposed to use, man? Harsh language? GORMAN (voice over; static) Flame-units only. I want rifles slung. APONE Let's go. Pull 'em out. He walks among the troopers, collecting the magazines from each one's weapon. Vasquez turns hers over reluctantly. The three who are carrying them get out small incinerator units. When Apone moves on, Vasquez slips a spare magazine from concealment and inserts it in her weapon. Drake does the same. Hicks hangs back in the shadows. He opens a cylindrical sheath attached to his battle-harness. Slides out an old style PUMP TWELVE-GAUGE with a sawed-off butt stock. Chambers a round. HICKS (low, to Hudson) I always keep this handy. For close encounter. APONE (o.s.) Let's move. Hicks, back us up. INT. LARGER CHAMBER 88 The air is thick. Lights flare. GORMAN (voice over; very faint) Any movement? Hudson watches his tracker, scanning. HUDSON Nothing. Zip. Apone stops, his expression changing. They face a wall of living horror. The colonists have been brought here and entombed alive... COCOONS protrude from the niches and interstices of the structure. The cocoon material is the same translucent epoxy. The bodies are frozen in carelessly twisted positions. Macabre image of frozen agony. Many are disiccated. Skeletal. Rip-cages burst outward, as if exploded from within. Paralyzed, brought here, entombed in living death as hosts for the embryos growing within then. Dietrich moves close to examine one of the figures, perhaps the most "recent." A WOMAN, ghost-white and drained. The WOMAN'S EYES SNAP OPEN...They seem to plead. DIETRICH Sir! The woman's lips move feebly. WOMAN Please...God...kill me. INT. APC 89 Ripley watches the woman, white knuckled. The sound of RETCHING comes over the general frequency. INT. COCOON CHAMBER 90 The woman begins to convulse. She SCREAMS, a sawing shriek of mindless agony. APONE Flame thrower! Move! Frost hands it to him. Suddenly, the woman's chest EXPLODES in a gout of blood. A SMALL FANGED HEAD EMERGES, HISSING VICIOUSLY. Apone pulls the trigger. Then the other troopers carrying flame throwers open fire. An orgy of purging fire. The cocoons vanish in the shimmering heat. A SHRILL SCREECHING begins, like a siren made from fingernails on blackboards. ANGLE ON WALL as something begins to emerge. Dimly glimpsed, a glistening bio-mechanoid creature larger then a man. Lying dormant, it had blended perfectly with the convoluted surface of fused bone. The troopers don't see it. Smoke from the burning cocoons quickly fills the confined space. Visibility drops to zero. HUDSON Movement! APONE Position? HUDSON Can't lock up... APONE (with an edge) Talk to me, Hudson. HUDSON Uh, seems to be in front and behind. INT. APC 91 Gorman is plating with the gain controls on the monitors. GORMAN We can't see anything back here, Apone. What's going on? Ripley senses it coming, like a wave at night. Dark, terrifying and inevitable. RIPLEY (low) Pull you team out, Gorman. INT. COCOON CHAMBER - TIGHT ON SEVERAL WALLS AND 92 CEILING NICHES as they come alive. Bonelike, tubelike shapes shift, becoming emerging ALIENS. Dimly glimpsed...glints of slime. Silhouettes. APONE Go to infrared. Looks sharp people! The squad members snap down their image-intersifier visors. HUDSON Multiple signals. All round. Closing. Dietrich turns to retreat, her flamethrower held tightly. A nightmarish silhouette materializes out of the smoke behind her! It strikes like lightning. SEIZES HER. She fires reflexively, wild. The jet of flame engulfs Frost nearby. Apone spins as the double SCREAM. Can't see anything in the think smoke. INT. APC 93 Ripley watches Frost's monitor go black. His bio-readouts flatten. The other screens show glimpses of shimmering infrared silhouettes of the aliens, the images bobbing and panning confusedly. INT. COCOON CHAMBER 94 Vasquez nods to Drake with grim satisfaction. VASQUEZ Let's rock. They OPEN UP simultaneously, lighting up the smoke like welders' arcs. GORMAN (voice over; static) Who's firing? I ordered a hold fire, dammit! Vasquez rips off her headset. She is riveted to the targetting screen, moving ferret-quick in a pivoting dance. Thunder and lightning. Better than sex for her. FLASH-CRACK! An alien SCREECH from the darkness. INT. APC 95 The battle of phantoms unfolds on the video screens. Ripley flinches as another scream comes over the open frequency. Wierzbowski's monitor breaks up. His life signs plummet. Voices blend and overlap. HUDSON (voice over) Let's get the fuck out of here! HICKS (voice over) Not that tunnel, the other one! CROWE (voice over) You sure? Watch it...behind you. Fucking move, will you! Gorman is ashen. Confused. Gulping for air like a grouper. How could the situation have unravelled so fast? RIPLEY (to Gorman) GET THEM OUT OF THERE! DO IT NOW! GORMAN Shut up. Just shut up! CRASH! Crowe's telemetry cuts off like the plug was pulled. Flat line. GORMAN Uh,...Apone, I want you to lay down a suppressing fire with the incinerators and fall back by squads to the APC, over. APONE (voice over; heavy static) Say again? All after incinerators? Ripley watches it fall apart. GORMAN I said... INT. COCOON CHAMBER 96 Apone adjusts his headset. GORMAN (voice over; static) ...lay down (garbled) ...by squads to...(garbled) Gorman's voice breaks up completely. A SCREAM. Apone whirls, uncertain. APONE Dietrich? Crowe? Sound off! Wierzbowski? Nothing. He spins. Almost blows Hudson's head off. HUDSON (freaked) We're getting juked! We're gonna die in here! Apone hands him a magazine. Hudson slaps it home, looking truly terrified. APONE Yeah. Right. Right! Fuck the heat exchanger! He FIRES. Vasquez, nearby, is laying down a horrendous field of fire. Strobe-bright flashes sear the darkness. She pivots, firing mechanically in controlled bursts. Scoring points in her own private video game. She SPINS as Hicks approached laterally. WHAM! She fires "at" him. Hicks whirls...to see a nightmarish figure right behind him, catapulted backwards by Vasquez' blast. INT. APC 97 Apone's monitor SPINS CRAZILY AND GOES DARK. GORMAN (distantly) I told them to fall back... RIPLEY (viciously) They're but off! Do something! But he's gone. Total brain-lock. TIGHT ON RIPLEY as she struggles with a decision. She's terrified...of what she knows she's about to do. But more than that, she's furious. Shouldering past a paralyzed Gorman she runs up the aisle of the APC. RIPLEY (in passing) Newt, put your seatbelt on! Ripley jumps into the driver's seat of the APC. Takes a deep breath. Starts slapping switches. GORMAN Ripley, what the hell...? She slams the tractor into gear. EXT. APC 98 as the drive-wheels spin on the wet ground. The massive machine leaps forward. INT. APC 99 Ripley sees smoke pouring out of the complex ahead as she slides sideways onto the descending rampway. She slams the left and right drive-wheel actuators viciously, spinning the machine in a roaring pivot. Gorman lunges forward along the aisle, abandoning his command center. GORMAN (shrill) What are you doing? Turn around! That's an order! He claws at her, hysterical. Burke pulls him off. INT. ALIEN STRUCTURE 100 The APC roars down into the smoky structure, tearing away outcroppings of alien-encrustation. Ripley hits the floodlights. Strobe-beacon. Siren. She homes on the flash of weapons fire ahead. INT. COCOON CHAMBER 101 The APC crashes inside, showering debris. Hicks, supporting a limping Hudson, appears out of the smoke. The APC pulls up broadside and Burke gets the crew-door open. Drake and Vasquez back out of the dense mist, firing as they fall back. Drake goes empty, slams the buckles cutting loose his smart-gun harness, and unslings a flame thrower. Hicks pushes Hudson inside, leaps in after him and drags Vasquez inside, massive gear and all. She sees a DARK SHAPE lunge toward Drake. She fires one burst, prone. Clean body hit. The flash lights up the hideous inhuman grin, blowing open the thing's thorax. A spray of BRIGHT YELLOW ACID slashes across Drake's face and chest, eating into him like a hot knife through butter. He drops in boiling smoke, reflexively triggering his flame thrower. The jet of liquid fire arcs around as he falls, engulfing the back half of the APC. INT. APC 102 Vasquez rolls aside as a gout of napalm shoots through the crew-door, setting the interior on fire. Hicks is rolling the door closed when Vasquez lunges, clawing out the opening. He stops her, dragging her inside. VASQUEZ Drake! He's down! Hicks screams right in her face. HICKS He's gone! Forget it, he's gone! VASQUEZ (irrational) No.. No, he's not. He's -- Burke and Hudson help him drag her from the door. HICKS (to Ripley) Let's go! Ripley jams reverse. Nails the throttle. The APC bellows backward up the ramp. Hudson disappears under a pile of equipment as a storage rack breaks free. Hicks gets the door almost closed. Suddenly CLAWS appear at the edge. Newt screams. Against the combined efforts of Hicks, Burke and Vasquez the door is being SLOWLY WRENCHED OPEN FROM OUTSIDE. Hicks yells at a paralyzed Gorman. HICKS Get on the Goddamn door! Gorman backs away, eyes wide. Hicks jams his shoulder against the latching lever and frees one hand to raise his 12-gauge. An alien head wedges through the opening, its hideous mouth opening. And Hicks jams his SHOTGUN MUZZLE between its jaws and pulls the trigger! BLAM! The creature is flung backward, its shattered head fountaining acid blood. The spray eats into the door, the deck, hits Hudson on the arm. He shrieks. They slide the door home and dog it tight. EXT. APC 103 The armored vehicle roars backward up the ramp. Slams into a mass of conduit. Tears free. Ripley works the shifters, pivoting the massive machine. Everybody's shouting, trying to put out the fire. Pandemonium. INT./EXT. APC 104- 105 Something lands on the roof with a metallic clang. Gorman has plastered himself against a wall, as far from the door as possible. A latch lever behind his head turns. The small hatch against which he was leaning is ripped away and SOMETHING snatches him out the opening He disappears to the waist with a shriek, legs kicking. The alien clings to the roof, pulling him out. Its tail whips over, scorpionlike, and buries a four inch stinger in Gorman's shoulder. Hicks grabs a joy stick at the FIRE-CONTROL CONSOLE and turns it rapidly. On the roof the alien looks up as servo-motors whir. A remote control turret cannon, a 20mm chain-gun, swivels toward it in a curt arc. VOOM. The creature is blasted off the vehicle's armored back and tumbles away. Gorman, slumped unconscious, is dragged back inside. The APC rips away a section of catwalk and heads for clear air, its flank trailing fire like a comet. Ripley fights the controls as the big machine slews, broadsiding a control-room out-building. Office furniture and splintered wall sections are strewn in the APC's wake. Suddenly, an alien arm arcs down, right in front of Ripley's face. It smashes the windshield. Glistening, hideous jaws lunge inside... Ripley recoils. Face to face once again with the same mind-numbing horror. She reacts instinctively. Slams both sets of brakes with all her strength. The huge wheels lock. The creature flips off, landing in the headlights. Ripley hits full throttle. The APC roars forward, smashing over the abomination. Its skeletal body is crushed under the massive wheels. It rolls, tumbling...lost in the darkness behind as the machine thunders onto the causeway and away from the station. A sound like bolts dropped in a meat grinder is coming from the APC's rear end. Hicks eases Ripley's hand back on the throttle lever. Her grip is white knuckled. HICKS It's okay...we're clear. We're clear. Ease up. The grinding clatter becomes deafening even as she slows the machine. HICKS Sounds like a blown transaxle. You're just grinding metal. EXT. APC 106 The tractor limps to a halt. A HALF-KILOMETER from the atmosphere processing station. The APC is a smoking, acid-scarred mess. INT. APC 107 Ripley, still running on the adrenalin dynamo, spins out of her seat into the aisle. RIPLEY Newt? Where's Newt? Feeling a tug at her pants leg she looks down. Newt is wedged into a tiny space between the driver's seat and a bulkhead. She is trembling, and looks terrified, but it's not the basket case catatonia of before. RIPLEY You okay? Newt gives her a THUMBS-UP, wan but stoic. Ripley goes back to the others. Hudson is holding his arm and staring in stunned dismay at nothing, playing it all back in his mind. HUDSON Jesus...Jesus...I don't believe it. Burke tries to have a look at Hudson's arm. HUDSON (jerking away) I'm all right, leave it! Ripley joins Hicks who is bent over Gorman, checking for a pulse. HICKS He's alive. I think he's paralyzed. VASQUEZ He's fucking dead! She grabs Gorman by the collar, hauling him up roughly, ready to pulp him with her other fist. VASQUEZ (to Gorman) Wake up pendejo! I'm gonna kill you, you useless fuck! Hicks pushes her back. Right in her face. HICKS Hold it. Hold it. Back off, right now. Vasquez releases Gorman. His head smacks the deck. Ripley opens Gorman's tunic, revealing a bloodless purple puncture wound. RIPLEY Looks like it stung him. HUDSON Hey...hey! Look, Crowe and Dietrich aren't dead, man. They turn to see Hudson at the MTOB monitors, pointing at the bio-function screens. HUDSON They must be like Gorman. Their signs are real low but they ain't dead! Hudson is pale, panicky, and his voice echoes around the tiny metallic space and comes back to all of them as the near hysteria they all feel, fluttering just at the edges of their minds. RIPLEY You can't help them. Right now they're being cocooned just like the others. HUDSON (sagging) Oh, God. Jesus. This ain't happening. Ripley and Vasquez lock eyes. Ripley doesn't want it to be "I told you so" but Vasquez reads it that way. She turns away with a snap. INT. MED LAB 108 Bishop is hunched over an occular probe doing a dissection of one of the dead parasites. Spunkmeyer enters with some electronics gear on a hand truck and parks it near Bishop's work table. SPUNKMEYER Need anything else? Bishop waves "no" without looking up. EXT. COLONY - DROP-SHIP 109 Spunkmeyer emerges, crossing the Tarmac to the loading ramp of the ship. As he nears the top of the ramp, his boot slips...skidding on something wet. Kneeling, he touches a small puddle of thick slime. He shrugs, and hits the controls to retract the ramp and close the doors. INT. APC 110 ON VASQUEZ wired and intense. VASQUEZ All right, we can't blow the fuck out of them...why not roll some canisters of CN-20 down there. Nerve gas the whole nest? HUDSON Look, man, let's just bug out and call it even, okay? RIPLEY (to Vasquez) No good. How do we know it'll effect their biochemistry? I say we take off and nuke the entire site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure. BURKE Now hold on a second. I'm not authorizing that action. RIPLEY Why not? Burke senses the challenge in her tone and backpedals flawlessly into conciliatory mode. BURKE Well, I mean...I know this is an emotional moment, but let's not make snap judgments. Let's move cautiously. First, this physical installation had a substantial dollar value attached to it -- RIPLEY They can bill me. I got a tab running. What's second? BURKE This is clearly an important species we're dealing with here. We can't just arbitrarily exterminate them -- RIPLEY Bullshit! VASQUEZ Yeah, bullshit. Watch us. HUDSON Maybe you haven't been keeping up on current events, but we just got out asses kicked, pal! Ripley faces Burke squarely and she's not pleased. RIPLEY Look, Burke. We had an agreement. Burke moves in, lowering his voice. He takes her aside from the others. BURKE I know, I know, but we're dealing with changing scenarios here. This thing is major, Ripley. I mean really major. You gotta go with its energy. Since you are the representative of the company who discovered this species your percentage will naturally be some serious, serious money. Ripley stares at his like he's a particularly disagreeable fungus. RIPLEY You son of a bitch. BURKE (hardening) Don't make me pull rank, Ripley. RIPLEY What rank? I believe Corporal Hicks has authority here. BURKE Corporal Hicks!? RIPLEY This operation is under military jurisdiction and Hicks is next in chain of command. Right? HICKS Looks that way. Burke starts to lose it and it's not a pretty sight. BURKE Look, this is a multimillion dollar operation. He can't make that kind of decision. He's just a grunt! (glances at Hicks) No offense. HICKS (coolly) None taken. (into mike) Ferro, you copying? FERRO (voice over; static) Standing by. HICKS Prep for dust-off. We're gonna need an immediate evac. (to Burke) I think we'll take off and nuke the site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure. He winks. Burke looks like a kid whose toy has been snatched. BURKE This is absurd! You don't have the authority to -- CLACK! The sound of a rifle bolt snapping home truncates his rant. Vasquez has a pulse-rifle cradled, not exactly aimed at Burke but not exactly aimed away either. Her expression is masklike. End of discussion. Ripley sits behind Newt, putting her arm around her. RIPLEY We're going home, honey. EXT. DROP-SHIP 111 The ship rises through the spray thrown up by the downblast of the VTOL jets, hovering above the complex like a huge insect, its searchlights blazing. EXT. APC 112 The group is filing out of the personnel carrier, which is clearly a write off. Hicks and Hudson have Gorman between them, and the others emerge into the wind. They watch the ship roar in on its final approach. INT. DROP-SHOP COCKPIT 113 Ferro flicks the intercom switch several times. Thumps her headset mike. FERRO Spunkmeyer? Goddammit. The compartment door behind her slides slowly back. FERRO (turning) Where the fu -- Her eyes widen. It's not Spunkmeyer. Am impression of leering jaws which blur forward, then a whirl of motion and a truncated scream. The throttle levers are slammed forward in the melee. EXT. APC - LANDSCAPE - STATION 114 They watch in dismay as the approaching ship dips and VEERS WILDLY. Its main engines ROAR FULL ON and the craft accelerates toward them even as it loses altitude. It skims the ground. Clips a rock formation. The ship slews, sideslipping. It hits a ridge. Tumbles, bursting into flame, breaking up. It arcs into the air, end over end, a Catherine wheel juggernaut. RIPLEY Run! She grabs Newt and sprints for cover as a tumbling section of the ship's massive engine module slams into the APC and it explodes into twisted wreckage. The drop-ship skips again, like a stone, engulfed in flames...AND CRASHES INTO THE STATION. A TREMENDOUS FIREBALL. The remainder of the ground team watches their hopes of getting off the planet, and most of their superior fire power, reduced to flaming debris. There is a moment of stunned silence, then... HUDSON (hysterical) Well that's great! That's just fucking great, man. Now what the fuck are we supposed to do, man? We're in some real pretty shit now! HICKS Are you finished? (to Ripley) You okay? She nods. She can't disguise her stricken expression when she looks at Newt, but the little girl seems relatively calm. She shrugs with fatalistic acceptance. NEWT I guess we're not leaving, right? RIPLEY I'm sorry, Newt. NEWT You don't have to be sorry. It wasn't your fault. HUDSON (kicking rocks) Just tell me what the fuck we're supposed to do now. What're we gonna do now? BURKE (annoyed) May be could build a fire and sing songs. NEWT We should get back, 'cause it'll be dark soon. They come mostly at night. Mostly. Ripley follows Newt's look to the AP station looming in the twilight, the burning drop-ship wreckage jammed into its basal structure. EXT. CONTROL BLOCK - NIGHT 115 The wind howls mournfully around the metal buildings, dry and cold. INT. OPERATIONS 116 The weary and demoralized group is gathered to take stock of their grim options. Vasquez and Hudson are just setting down a scorched and dented packing case, one of several culled from the APC wreckage. Hicks indicates their remaining inventory of weapons, lying on a table. HICKS This is all we could salvage. We've got four pulse-rifles with about fifty rounds each. Not so good. About fifteen M-40 grenades and two flame throwers less than half full...one damaged. And We've got four of these robot-sentry units with scanners and display intact. He opens one of the scorched cases, revealing a high-tech servo-actuated machine gun with optical sensing equipment, packed in foam. RIPLEY How long after we're declared overdue can we expect a rescue? HICKS About seventeen days. HUDSON Man, we're not going to make it seventeen hours! Those things are going to come in here, just like they did before, man... they're going to come in here and get us, man, long before... RIPLEY She survived longer than that with no weapons and no training. Ripley indicates Newt, who salutes Hudson smartly. RIPLEY So you better just start dealing with it. Just deal with it, Hudson...because we need you and I'm tired of your bullshit. Now get on a terminal and call up some kind of floor plan file. Construction blueprints, maintenance schematics, anything that shows the layout of this place. I want to see air ducts, electrical access tunnels, subbasements. Every possible way into this wing. Hudson gathers himself, thankful for the direction. Hicks nods approval of her handling of it. HUDSON Aye-firmative. I'm on it. BISHOP I'll be in medical. I'd like to continue my analysis. RIPLEY Fine. You do that. INT. OPERATIONS 117 Burke, Ripley, Hudson and Hicks are bent over a large HORIZONTAL VIDEOSCREEN, like an illuminated chart table. Newt hops from one foot to the other to see. RIPLEY This service tunnel is how they're moving back and forth. HUDSON Yeah, right, it runs from the processing station right into the sublevel here. He traces a finger along the abstract ground plan. RIPLEY All right. There's a fire door at this end. The first thing we do is put a remote sentry in the tunnel and seal that door. HICKS We gotta figure on them getting into the complex. RIPLEY That's right. So we put up welded barricades at these intersections... (pointing) ...and seal these ducts here and here. Then they can only come at us from these two corridors and we create a free field of fire for the other two sentry units, here. Hicks contemplates her game plan and raises his hand, satisfied. HICKS Outstanding. Then all we need's a deck of cards. All right, let's move like we got a purpose. HUDSON Aye-firmative. NEWT (imitating Hudson) Aye-firmative! INT. SERVICE TUNNEL - SUBLEVEL 118 A long straight service tunnel, lined with conduit, seems to go on forever. Vasquez and Hudson have finished setting up two of the robot sentry guns on tripods in the tunnel. VASQUEZ (shouting) Testing! She hurls a wastebasket down the tunnel, into the automatic field of fire. The sentry guns swivel smoothly, the wastebasket bounces once...and is riddled by two quick bursts of EXPLODING 10MM ROUNDS into dime-sized shrapnel. They retreat behind a heavy steel FIRE DOOR which they roll closed on its track. Vasquez, using a PORTABLE WELDING TORCH, begins sealing the door to its frame, as Hudson paces nervously. HUDSON Hudson here. A and B sentries are in place and keyed. We're sealing the tunnel. INT. SECOND LEVEL CORRIDOR 119 Hicks pauses in his work. HICKS (into mike) Roger. He and Ripley are covering an air duct opening with a metal plate, welding it in place, showering sparks in the dark corridor. Behind them Burke and Newt are moving back and forth with cartons of food on a hand truck, stacking it inside the operations center. Hicks sets down his welder and pulls a small object out of a belt pouch. A braceletlike EMERGENCY LOCATING BEEPER. HICKS Here, put this on. Then I can locate you anywhere in the complex on this -- He indicates a tiny TRACKER hooked to his battle harness. He shrugs, a little self-consciously. HICKS Just a...precaution. You know. Ripley pauses for a moment, regarding him quizzically. RIPLEY (strapping it on) Thanks. HUDSON Uh, what's next? She consults a printout of the floor plan. EXT. CONTROL BLOCK 120 The wind has died utterly and in the even more eerie stillness a diffuse mist has rolled into shroud the complex. Visibility is low in the fog. Everything looks underwater. There is no movement. INT. CORRIDOR 121 In the barricaded corridor sentry-gun "C" sits waiting, its "ARMED" light flashing green. Through a hole torn in the ceiling at the far end of the corridor the fog swirls in. Water drips. An expectant hush. INT. MED LAB ANNEX - OPERATING ROOM 122 Ripley carries an exhausted Newt through the inner connecting rooms of the medical wing. She reaches an OPERATING ROOM which is small but very high-tech ...vaultlike metal walls, strange equipment. Several metal cots have been set up, displacing O.R. equipment which is pushed into one corner. Newt is resting her head on Ripley's shoulder, barely awake...out of steam. Ripley sets her on one of the cots and Newt lies down. RIPLEY Now you just lie here and have a nap. You're exhausted. NEWT I don't want to...I have scary dreams. This obviously strikes a chord with Ripley, but she feigns cheerfulness. RIPLEY I'll bet Casey doesn't have bad dreams. Ripley lifts the doll's head from Newt's tiny fingers and looks inside. It is, of course, empty. RIPLEY Nothing bad in here. Maybe you could just try to be like her. Ripley closes the doll's eyes and hands her back. Newt rolls her eyes as if to say "don't pull that five-year-old shit on me, lady. I'm six." NEWT Ripley...she doesn't have bad dreams because she's just a piece of plastic. RIPLEY Oh. Sorry, Newt. NEWT My mommy always said there were no monsters. No real ones. But there are. Ripley's expression becomes sober. She brushes damp hair back from the child's pale forehead. RIPLEY (quietly) Yes, there are, aren't there. NEWT Why do they tell little kids that? Newt's voice reveals her deep sense of betrayal. She's seen that the world can be just as terrifying as her most primal child's nightmare if not more so, and that's a lot worse than finding out there is no Santa. RIPLEY Well, some kids can't handle it like you can. NEWT Did one of those things grow inside her? Ripley begins pulling blankets up an tucking them in around her tiny body. RIPLEY I don't know, Newt. That's the truth. NEWT Isn't that how babies come? I mean people babies...they grow inside you? RIPLEY No, it's different, honey. NEWT Did you ever have a baby? RIPLEY Yes. A little girl. NEWT Where is she? RIPLEY (quietly) Gone. NEWT You mean dead. It's more statement than question. Ripley nods slowly. She turns, reaching for a PORTABLE SPACE HEATER sitting nearby, and slides it closer to the bed. She switches it on. It HUMS and emits a cozy orange glow. NEWT Ripley, I was just thinking... Maybe I could do you a favor and fill in for her. Just for a while. You can try it and if you don't like it, it's okay. I'll understand. No big deal. Whattya think? Ripley gazes at her a long time before answering... a conflict between the urge to crush the child to her in a forever hug and the knowledge that neither of them may see another dawn. RIPLEY I think it's not the worst idea I've heard all day. Let's talk about it later. She switches off the light and starts to rise. Newt grabs her arm. A plaintive voice in the dark. NEWT Don't go! Please. RIPLEY I'll be right in the other room, Newt. And look...I can see you on that camera right up there. Newt looks at the VIDEO SECURITY CAMERA above the door. Ripley unsnaps the TRACKER BRACELET given to her by Hicks and puts it on Newt's tiny wrist, cinching it down. RIPLEY Here. Take is for luck. Now go to sleep...and don't dream. Ripley walks away and Newt rolls on her side, hugging Casey and gazing at the hypnotically pulsing function light on the bracelet. The space heater hums comfortingly. INT. MED LAB 123 ECU Gorman, his eyelids slitted open like those of a corpse, but with the eyes tracking erratically. The only sign of life. RIPLEY (voice over) How is he? Ripley stands over the Lieutenant, who is lying motionless on an examining table. Bishop looks up from his instruments nearby, the light of a single gooseneck lamp giving his features a macabre cast. BISHOP I've isolated a neuro-muscular toxin responsible for the paralysis. It seems to be metabolizing. He should wake up soon. RIPLEY Now let me get this straight. The aliens paralyzed the colonists, carried them over there, cocooned them to be hosts for more of those... Ripley points at the stasis cylinders containing the face-hugger specimens. RIPLEY Which would mean lots of those parasites, right? One for each person...over a hundred at least. BISHOP Yes. That follows. RIPLEY But these things come from eggs...so where are all the eggs coming from. BISHOP That is the question of the hour. We could assume a parallel to certain insect forms who have hivelike organization. An ant of termite colony, for example, is ruled by a single female, a queen, which is the source of new eggs. RIPLEY You're saying one of those things lays all the eggs? BISHOP Well, the queen is always physically larger then the others. A termite queen's abdomen is so bloated with eggs that it can't move at all. It is fed and tended by drone workers, defended by the warriors. She is the center of their lives, quite literally the mother of their society. RIPLEY Could it be intelligent? BISHOP Hard to say. It may have been blind instinct...attraction to the heat of whatever...but she did choose to incubate her eggs in the one spot where we couldn't destroy her without destroying ourselves. That's if she exists, of course. Ripley ponders the ramifications of Bishop's analysis. RIPLEY (rising) I want those specimens destroyed as soon as you're done with them. You understand? Bishop glances at the creatures, pulsing malevolently in their cylinders. BISHOP Mr. Burke have instructions that they were to be kept alive in stasis for return to the company labs. He was very specific. Ripley feels the fabric of her self-restraint tearing. She slaps the intercom switch. RIPLEY Burke! INT. MED LAB ANNEX 124 In a small observation chamber separated from the med lab by a glass partition, Ripley and Burke have squared off. BURKE Those specimens are worth millions to the bio-weapons division. Now, if you're smart we can both come out of this heroes. Set up for life. RIPLEY You just try getting a dangerous organism past ICC quarantine. Section 22350 of the Commerce Code. BURKE You've been doing your homework. Look, they can't impound it if they don't know about it. RIPLEY But they will know about it, Burke. From me. Just like they'll know how you were responsible for the deaths of one hundred and fifty-seven colonists here -- BURKE Now, wait a second -- RIPLEY (stepping on him) You sent them to that ship. I just checked the colony log... directive dates six-twelve-seventy-nine. Signed Burke, Carter J. Ripley's fury is peaking, now that the frustration and rage finally have a target to focus on. RIPLEY You sent them out there and you didn't even warn them, Burke. Why didn't you warn them? BURKE Look, maybe the thing didn't even exist, right? And if I'd made it a major security situation, the Administration would've stepped in. Then no exclusive rights, nothing. He shrugs, his manner blase, dismissive. BURKE It was a bad call, that's all. Ripley snaps. She slams him against the wall, surprising herself and him, her hands gripping his collar. RIPLEY Bad call? These people are fucking dead, Burke! Well, they're going to nail your hide to the shed... and I'll be there when they do. She steps back, shaking, and looks at him with utter loathing, as if the depths of human greed are a far more horrific revelation than any alien. BURKE (sadly) I expected more of you, Ripley. I thought you would be smarter than this. RIPLEY Sorry to disappoint you. She turns away and strides out. The door closes. Burke stares after her, his mind a whirl of options. INT. CORRIDOR 125 Ripley is walking toward operations when a STRIDENT ALARM begins to sound. She breaks into a run. INT. OPERATIONS 126 Ripley double-times it to Hicks' TACTICAL CONSOLE where Hudson and Vasquez have already gathered. Hicks slaps a switch, killing the alarm. HICKS They're coming. They're in the tunnel. The TRILLING of the motion sensor remains, speeding up. TWO RED LIGHTS on the tactical display light up simultaneously with an echoing crash of gunfire which vibrates the floor. HICKS Guns A and B. Tracking and firing on multiple targets. The RSS guns pound away, echoing through the complex. Their separate bursts overlap in an irregular rhythm. A counter on the display counts down the number of rounds fired. HUDSON They must be wall to wall in there. Look at those ammo counters go. It's a shooting gallery down there. INT. SERVICE TUNNEL - TIGHT ON RSS GUNS 127 blasting stroboscopically in the tunnels. Their barrels are overheating, glowing cherry red. One CLICKS empty and sits smoking, still swiveling to track targets it can't fire upon. INT. OPERATIONS 128 The digital counter on B gun reads zero. HICKS B gun's dry. Twenty on A. Ten. Five. That's it. SILENCE. Then a GONGLIKE BOOMING echoes eerily up from sublevel. RIPLEY They're at the fire door. The BOOMING INCREASES in volume and ferocity. HUDSON Man, listen to that. Mixed with the echoing crash-clang is a nerve-wrecking SCREECH of claws on steel. The intercom buzzes, startling them. BISHOP (voice over) Bishop here. I'm afraid I have some bad news. HUDSON Well, that's a switch. INT. OPERATIONS - MINUTES LATER 129 Everyone, including Bishop, is crowded at the window, intently watching the AP station which is a dim silhouette in the mist. Suddenly a column of flame, like an acetylene torch, jets upward from the complex at the base of the cone. BISHOP That's it. See it? Emergency venting. RIPLEY How long until it blows? BISHOP I'm projecting total systems failure in a little under four hours. The blast radius will be about thirty kilometers. About equal to ten megatons. HICKS We got problems. HUDSON I don't fucking believe this. Do you believe this? RIPLEY And it's too late to shut it down? BISHOP I'm afraid so. The crash did too much damage. The overload is inevitable, at this point. HUDSON Oh, man. And I was gettin' short, too! Four more weeks and out. Now I'm gonna buy it on this fuckin' rock. It ain't half fair, man! VASQUEZ Hudson, give us a break. They watch as another gas jet lights up the fog-shrouded landscape. RIPLEY (to Hicks) We need the other drop-ship. The on one the Sulaco. We have to bring it down on remote, somehow. HUDSON How? The transmitter was on the APC. It's wasted. RIPLEY (pacing) I don't care how! Think of a way. Think of something. HUDSON Think of what? We're fucked. RIPLEY What about the colony transmitter? That up-link tower down at the other end. Why can't we use that? BISHOP I checked. The hard wiring between here and there was severed in the fighting. Ripley is wound up like a dynamo, her mind spinning out options, grim solutions. RIPLEY Well then somebody's just going to have to go out there. Take a portable terminal and go out there and plug in manually. HUDSON Oh, right! Right! With those things running around. No way. BISHOP (quietly) I'll go. RIPLEY What? BISHOP I'm really the only one qualified to remote-pilot the ship anyway. Believe me, I'd prefer not to. I may be synthetic but I'm not stupid. RIPLEY All right. Let's get on it. What'll you need? VASQUEZ Listen. It's stopped. They listen. Nothing. An instant later comes the HIGH-PITCHED TRILLING of a motion-sensor alarm. Hicks looks at the tactical board. HICKS Well, they're into the complex. INT. MED LAB 130 One of the acid holes from the colonists' siege has yielded access to subfloor conduits. Bishop lying in the opening, reaches up to graph the portable terminal as Ripley hands it down to him. He pushes it into the constricted shaft ahead of him. She then hands him a small satchel containing tools and assorted patch cables, a service pistol and a small cutting torch. BISHOP This duct runs almost to the up-link assembly. One hundred eighty meters. Say, forty minutes to crawl down there. One hour to patch in and align the antenna. Thirty minutes to prep the ship, then about fifty minutes flight time. Ripley looks at her watch. RIPLEY It's going to be closer. You better get going. BISHOP (cheerfully) See you soon. She squirms into the shaft, pushing the equipment along ahead of him with a scraping rhythm. The diameter of the conduit is barely larger than the width of his shoulders. Vasquez slides a metal plate over the hole and begins spot welding it in place. INT. CONDUIT 131 Bishop looks back as the welder seals him in. He sighs fatalistically and squirms forward. Ahead of him the conduit dwindles straight to seeming infinity. Like being in the bore of a very long Howitzer. INT. MED LAB 132 Ripley jumps as an ALARM suddenly blares through the complex. HICKS (voice over) They're in the approach corridor. RIPLEY (into mike) On my way. Ripley jumps up, unslinging a FLAMETHROWER from her shoulder in one motion, and sprints for Operations with Vasquez. The sound of SENTRY GUNS opening up in staccato bursts echoes from close by. INT. OPERATIONS 133 Ripley runs to the tactical console where Hicks is mesmerized by the images from the surveillance cameras. The flashes of the sentry guns flare out the sensitive video, but impressions of figures moving in the smoky corridor are occasionally visible. The robot sentries hammer away, driving streamers of tracer fire into the swirling mist. HICKS Twenty meters and closing. Fifteen. C and D guns down about fifty percent. The digital readout whirl through descending numbers. An inhuman SHRILL SCREECHING is audible between bursts of fire. RIPLEY Now many? HICKS Can't tell. Lots. D gun's down to twenty. Ten. It's out. Then the firing from the remaining guns stop abruptly. The video image is a swirling wall of smoke. Small fires burn, dim glows in the mist. There are black and twisted shapes, and pieces of twisted shapes, scattered at the edge of visibility. However, nothing emerges from the wall of smoke. The motion sensor TONE shuts off. RIPLEY They retreated. The guns stopped them. The moment stretches. Everyone exhales slowly. HICKS Yeah. But look... The digital counters for the two sentry guns read "0" and "10" respectively. Less than a second's worth of firing. HICKS Newt time then can walk right up and knock. RIPLEY But they don't know that. They're probably looking for other ways to get in. That'll take them awhile. HUDSON Maybe we got 'em demoralized. HICKS (to Vasquez and Hudson) I want you two walking the perimeter. I know we're all in strung out shape but stay frosty and alert. We've got to stop any entries before they get out of hand. The two troopers nod and head for the corridor. Ripley sighs and picks up a cup of cold coffee, draining it in one gulp. HICKS How long since you slept? Twenty-four hours? Ripley shrugs. She seems soul weary, drained by the nerve-wracking tension. When she answers, her voice seems distant, detached. RIPLEY (grimly) They'll get us. HICKS Maybe. Maybe not. RIPLEY Hicks, I'm not going to wind up like those others. You'll take care of it won't you, it if comes to that? HICKS If it comes to that, I'll do us both. Let's see that it doesn't Here, I'd like to introduce you to a close personal friend of mine. He picks up his pulse-rifle and with the casually precise movements of long practice he snaps open the bolt, drops out the magazine and hands it to her. HICKS M-41A 10mm pulse-rifle, over and under with a 30mm pump-action grenade launcher. Ripley hefts the weapon. It is heavy and awkward. But there is an irrational promise of security in its lethal cold steel lines, to at least the sense that she will be in some greater measure the master of her own fate. She raises it clumsily. RIPLEY What do I do? INT. CONDUIT 134 Bishop is in claustrophobic limbo between two echoing infinities. The pipe rings with his scraping advance. He approaches an irregular hole which admits a tiny shaft of light. He puts his eyes up to the acid-etched opening. HIS P.O.V. as drooling jaws flash toward us, SLAMMING against the steel with a vicious scraping SNAP. Bishop flattens himself away from the opening and inches along, looking pale and strained. He glances at his watch. INT. OPERATIONS 135 Ripley has the stock of the M-41A snugged up to her cheek and is awkwardly trying to keep up with Hicks' instructions. The Corporal is standing close behind her, positioning her arms. It's intimate but that's the last thing on their minds. HICKS Just pull it in real right. It will kick some. When the counter here heads zero, hit this... He thumbs a button and the magazine drops out, clattering on the floor. HICKS Just let it drop right out. Get the other one in quick. Just slap it in hard, it likes abuse. Now, pull the bolt. CLACK. HICKS You're ready again. Ripley repeats the action, not very smoothly. Her hands are trembling. She indicates a stout TUBE underneath the slender pulse-rifle barrel. RIPLEY What's this? HICKS Well, that's the grenade launcher ...you probably don't want to mess with that. RIPLEY Look, you started this. Now show me everything. I can handle myself. HICKS Yeah. I've noticed. INT. CORRIDOR 136 DOLLYING WITH Ripley walking down the corridor, now carrying the newfound friend, the M-41A. Gorman steps out of the door to the med lab, looking weak but sound. Burke is right behind him. RIPLEY How do you feel? GORMAN All right, I guess. One hell of a hangover. Look, Ripley... I... RIPLEY Forget it. She shoulders by him into the med lab. Gorman turns to see Vasquez staring at him with cold, slitted eyes. GORMAN You still want to kill me? VASQUEZ (turning away) It won't be necessary. INT. MED LAB - ANNEX 137 Ripley crosses the deserted lab, passing through the annex to the small O.R. where she left Newt. INT. MED LAB - O.R. 138 Entering the darkened chamber, Ripley looks around. Newt is nowhere to be seen. On a hunch she kneels down and peers under the bed. Newt is curled up there, jammed as far back as she can get, fast asleep. Still clutching "Casey." Ripley stares at Newt's tiny face, so angelic despite the demons that have chased her through her dreams and the reality between dreams. Ripley lays the rifle on top of the cot and crawls carefully underneath. Without waking the little girl, she slips her arms around her. Ripley becomes merely the larger of two children huddling together in the darkness under their bed. Newt's face contorts with the externalization of some tormented dreamscape. She cries out, a vague inarticulate plea. Ripley rocks her gently. RIPLEY There, there. Sssshh. It's all right. EXT. Up-LINK TOWER - VIEW OF AP STATION 139 A VIEW OF the processing station from the colony landing platform. A rising wind is clearing out the low fog and the silhouette of the station grows sharper. Several systems of high pressure conduits at the base of the conical tower are actually glowing dull red with heat in the darkness. High voltage discharges arc around the upper latticework, lighting the blighted landscape with irregular glaring flashes. PAN ONTO BISHOP, F.G. hunched against the wind at the base of the telemetry tower. He has a TEST-BAY PANEL open and the portable terminal patched in. His jacket is draped over the keyboard and monitor unit to protect it from the elements and he is typing frenetically. BISHOP (to himself) Now, if I did it right... He punches a key marked "ENABLE." INT. SULACO CARGO LOCK - IN ORBIT 140 The drop bay is empty and silent, with the remaining ship brooding in the shadows. A KLAXON sounds and rotating clearance lights come on. Hydraulics whine to life. Drop-ship two moves out on its overhead track and is lowered into the drop bay fro launch-prep. Service booms and fueling couplers move in automatically around the hull. A recorded announcement echoes across the huge chamber. FEMALE VOICE Attention. Attention. Automatic fueling operations have begun. Please extinguish all smoking materials. INT. OPERATING ROOM - TIGHT ON RIPLEY - MED LAB 141 as she awakens with a start. She checks her watch... an hour has passed. She gently disengages herself from Newt and is about to crawl out from beneath the cot when she sees something and FREEZES. Across the room, just inside the door to the med lab, are two innocuous but nonetheless chilling objects. TWO STASIS CYLINDERS. Their tops are hinged open, and the suspension fields are switched off. They are both EMPTY. Ripley feels a slow upwelling wave of terror rise through her in that silent frozen moment...the inescapable certainty of a lethal presence. Unable to move or breathe, she looks around frantically, assessing the situation. RIPLEY (whispers) Newt. Newt, wake up. NEWT Wah...? Where are...? RIPLEY (whispers) Sssh. Don't move. We're in trouble. Newt nods, now wide awake. They listen in the darkness for the slightest betrayal of movement. The scrabble of multiple legs across the polished floor, for example. There is only the droning HUM of the little space heater. Ripley reaches up and, clutching the springs of the underside of the cot, begins to inch it away from the wall. The SQUEAL OF METAL as the legs scrape across the floor is jarringly loud in the stillness. When the space is wide enough she cautiously slides herself up between the wall and the edge of the cot, reaching for the rifle she left lying on top of the mattress. Here yes clear the edge of the bed. The rifle is GONE. She snaps her head around. A SCUTTLING SHAPE LEAPS TOWARD HER from the foot of the bed! She ducks with a startled cry. The obscene thing hits the wall above her, legs moving lightning fast. Reflexively she slams the bed against the wall, pinning the creature inches above her face. Its legs and tail writhe with incredible ferocity and it emits a demented, piercing SQUEAL. Ripley heaves Newt across the polished floor and in a frenzied scramble rolls from beneath the cot. She flips it over, trapping the creature underneath. They back away, gasping. Ripley's eyes flash around the shadowed room where every corner of space between equipment holds lethal promise. The creature scuttles from beneath the bed and disappears under a back of cabinets in a blur. Ripley hugs Newt close and heads toward the door, moving as if every object in the room had a million volts running through it. She reaches the door. Hits the wall switch. Nothing happens. Disabled from outside. She tries the lights. Nothing. She pounds on the door. The acoustically dampened door panel thunks dully. She moves to the observation window, glancing frantically over her shoulder. The bare floor behind her is like a screaming threat. RIPLEY (shouting) Hey...hey! She pounds on the window. Through the double thickness window we can SEE that the lab is dark and empty. Ripley whirls, hearing a loathsome scrabbling behind her. Newt starts to whimper, feeding off her fear. She steps in front of the video surveillance camera and waves her arms in a circle. RIPLEY Hicks! Hicks! INT. OPERATIONS - TIGHT ON VIDEO MONITOR 142 showing Ripley waving her arms. There is no sound, a surreal pantomime. A hand ENTERS FRAME and switches off the monitor. Ripley's image vanishes. WIDER ANGLE as Burke straightens casually from the console. Hicks is talking via headset with Bishop and hasn't noticed Ripley's plight or Burke's action. HICKS (into mike) Roger. Check back when you've activated the ship. (turning) He's at the up-link tower. BURKE (calmly) Excellent. INT. OPERATING ROOM 143 Ripley picks up a steel chair and slams it against the observation window. It bounces back from the high-impact material. She tries again. REVERSE ANGLE from the med lab side, showing her futile efforts, the chair hitting with a dull THWACK barely audible through the double thickness pressure port. Ripley turns, studying the room. She fumbles through a clutter of equipment on a counter next to her and finds a SMALL EXAMINATION LIGHT. Snapping it on she plays the beam over the walls. Tall assemblies of surgical and anaethesiology equipment loom in the dark. She hears, ot thinks she hears, movements. The light spins across the room, swiveling and bobbing frantically. Like an indicator of her growing panic. Newt starts a thin, high wailing. NEWT Mommy...mommmyyyyy... Ripley steadies herself, realizing Newt's terror and the child's dependence on her. She plays the beam across the ceiling. Holds on something. Gets an idea. She removes her lighter from a jacket pocket and picks up some papers from the counter. Moving cautiously she boosts Newt up onto the SURGICAL TABLE in the center of the room and clambers up after her. NEWT Mommy...I mean, Ripley...I'm scared. RIPLEY I know, honey. Me too. Ripley lights the papers and holds the flaming mass under the temperature sensor of a fire control system SPRINKLER HEAD. It triggers, spraying the room from several sources with water. An ALARM sounds throughout the complex. INT. OPERATIONS 144 Hicks jumps at the sound of the alarm, finally identifying its source among the lights flashing on his board. He bolts for the door, yelling into his headset as he moves. HICKS Vasquez, Hudson, meet me in medical! We got a fire! INT. OPERATING ROOM 145 Ripley and Newt are drenched as the sprinklers continue to drizzle in the darkness. The SIREN hoots maniacally, masking all other sound. Ripley scans the room with her light, her hair plastered to her face, wiping water out of her eyes. She is eye level with a complex surgical MULTILIGHT. She looks into its tangle of arms and cables, inches away. Looks away. Her eyes snap back. SOMETHING LEAPS AT HER FACE. She SCREAMS and topples off the table, splashing to the floor. Newt shrieks and scrambles away as Ripley hurls the CHITTERING creature off of her. It slams against a wall of cabinets, clings for a moment, then leaps back as if driven by a steel spring. Ripley scrambles desperately, pulling equipment over on top of herself, clawing across the floor in a frenzy of motion. In a blurr of multijointed legs the creature scuttles up her body. She tears at it, but it is incredibly powerful for its size. It moves like lightning toward her head, avoiding her fumbling hands. Newt screams abjectly, backing away, until she is pressed up against a desk in one corner. Ripley has both hands up, forcing the pulsing body back from her face. The thing's tail whips around her throat and begins to tighten, forcing the underside of its body close to her. Ripley thrashes about, knocking over equipment, sending instruments CLATTERING. Water streams over her, into her eyes, blinding her and making it impossible to get a grip on the creature's body. ANGLE ON NEWT as crablike legs appear from behind the desk, right behind her. She sees it and, thinking fast, jams the desk against the wall, pinning the writhing thing. The desk jumps and shudders against all the pressure her tiny body can bring to bear on it. She wails between gritted teeth as the second creature gets one leg free, then another and another. Squeezing itself inexorably onto the desk top...toward her. The legs of the chittering thing claw at Ripley's head, getting a surer grip even as she whips her head from side to side. The obscene TUBULE extrudes wetly from the sheath on the creature's underside, forcing itself between the arms she has crossed tightly over her face. A figure appears at the observation window, a silhouette behind the misted-over glass. A hand wipes a clear spot. Hick's eyes appear. He steps back. WHAM! A burst of pulse-rifle fire shatters the tempered glass. Hicks dives into the crazed spider web pattern and explodes into the room in a shower of fragments. He hits rolling, his armor grinding through the shards, and slides across to Ripley. He gets his fingers around the thrashing legs of the vicious beast and pulls. Between the two of them they force is away from her face, though Ripley is losing strength as the tail tightens sickeningly around her throat. Hudson leaps into the room, flings Newt away from the desk to go skidding across the wet floor, and blasts the second creature against the wall. Point-blank. Acid and smoke. Gorman appears at Ripley's side and grabs the tail, unwinding its writhing length like a boa constrictor coil from her throat. All of them grip the struggling, SHRIEKING creature. HICKS The corner! Ready? HUDSON Do it! Hicks hurls the thing into the corner. It scrabbles upright in an instant and leaps back toward them. WHAM! Hudson gets it clean. Ripley collapses, gagging. The alarm and sprinklers shut off automatically. Hicks sees the stasis cylinders. RIPLEY (coughing) Burke...it was Burke. INT. OPERATIONS - ANGLE ON HUDSON 146 looking decidedly stressed-out. He grips his rifle tightly, AIMED RIGHT AT CAMERA. HUDSON (intense) I say we grease this rat-fuck son of a bitch right now! THE GROUP is gathered around Burke who sits in a chair, maintaining an icy calm although beads of sweat betray intense concealed tension. Only a few minutes have passes and everyone is still buzzed on adrenaline, as if the whole group is charged with high voltage. HICKS (pacing) I don't get it. It doesn't make any Goddamn sense. Ripley stands in front of Burke, every fiber of her being accusing him with absolute outrage. Burke tries to break Ripley's stare, which is like a diamond drill. He can't. RIPLEY He wanted an alien, only he couldn't get it back through quarantine. But if we were impregnated ...whatever you call it...and then frozen for the trip back at just the right time...then nobody would know about the embryos we were carrying. We and Newt. Ripley glances at the little girl, a frail figure sitting nearby, hugging her knees and watching the proceedings with somber eyes. She is all but lost in an adult jacket someone has found for her, and her still damp hair is plastered to her forehead and cheeks. HICKS Wait a minute. We'd know about it. RIPLEY The only way it would work is if he sabotaged certain freezers on the trip back. Then he could jettison the bodies and make up any story he liked. HUDSON Fuuuck! He's dead. (to Burke) You're dogmeat, pal. BURKE This is total paranoid delusion. It's pitiful. RIPLEY (wearily) You know, Burke, I don't know which species is worse. You don't see them screwing each other over for a fucking percentage. HICKS (serious) Let's waste him. (to Burke) No offense. Ripley shakes her head, the rage giving way to a sickened emptiness. RIPLEY Just find someplace to lock him up until it's time to -- THE LIGHTS GO OUT. Everyone stops in the sudden darkness, realizing instinctively it is a new escalation in the struggle. Hicks looks at the board. Everything is out. Doors. Video screens. RIPLEY They cut the power. HUDSON What do you mean, they cut the power? How could they cut the power, man? They're animals. Ripley picks up her rifle and thumbs off the safety. RIPLEY Newt! Stay close. (to the others) Let's get some trackers going. Come on, get moving. Gorman, watch Burke. Hudson and Vasquez pick up their scanners and move to the door. Vasquez has to slide it open manually on its track. INT. CORRIDOR 147 The two troopers separate and move rapidly to the barriers at opposite ends of the control block. DOLLYING WITH VASQUEZ as she moves forward with feral steps in the darkness. ON HUDSON scanning the med lab and the nearby barrier. RIPLEY (voice over) Anything? BEEP. Hudson's tracker lights up, a faint signal. HUDSON There's something. He pans it around. Back down the corridor. It beep again, louder. HUDSON It's inside the complex. VASQUEZ (voice over) You're just reading me. HUDSON No. No! It ain't you. They're inside. Inside the perimeter. They're in here. RIPLEY Hudson, stay cool. Vasquez? ANGLE ON VASQUEZ swinging her tracker and rifle together. She aims it behind her. BEEP. VASQUEZ (cool) Hudson may be right. INT. OPERATIONS 148 Ripley and Hicks share a look..."here we go." HICKS (low) It's game time. RIPLEY Get back here, both of you. Fall back to Operations. INT. CORRIDOR 149 Hudson backtracks nervously, peering all around. He looks stretched to the limit. HUDSON This signal's weird...must be some interference or something. There's movement all over the place... RIPLEY (voice over) Just get back here! Hudson reaches the door to operations at a run, a moment before Vasquez. They pull the door shut and lock it. INT. OPERATIONS 150 Hudson joins Ripley and Hicks, who are laying out their armament. Flamethrowers. Grenades. M-41A magazines. Hudson's tracker beeps. Then again. The tone continues through the SCENE, its rhythm increasing. HUDSON Movement! Signal's clean. He pans the scanner. Stops. The range display reads out, counting down. HUDSON Range twenty meters. RIPLEY (to Vasquez) Seal the door. Vasquez picks up a hand-welder and moves to comply. HUDSON Seventeen meters. HICKS Let's get these things lit. He hands one flamethrower to RIpley and begins priming the other himself. It lights with a muffled POP. Ripley's lights a moment later. Sparks shower around Vasquez as she begins welding the door. Hudson's tracker is beeping like mad now, as fast as their hearts. RIPLEY They learned. They cut the power and avoided the guns. They must have found another way in, something we missed. HICKS We didn't miss anything. HUDSON Fifteen meters. RIPLEY I don't know, an acid hole in a duct. Something under the floors, not on the plans. I don't know! She picks up Vasquez' scanner and aims it the same direction as Hudson's. HUDSON Twelve meters. Man, this is a big fucking signal. Ten meters. RIPLEY They're right on us. Vasquez, how you doing? Vasquez is heedlessly showering herself with molten metal as she welds the door shut. Working like a demon. HUDSON Nine meters. Eight. RIPLEY Can't be. That's inside the room! HUDSON It's readin' right. Look! Ripley fiddles with her tracker, adjusting the tuning. HICKS Well you're not reading it right! HUDSON Six meters. Five. What the fu -- He looks at Ripley. It dawns on both of them at the same time. She feels a cold premonitory dread as she angles her tracker upward to the ceiling, almost overhead. The tone gets louder. Hicks climbs onto a file cabinet and raises a panel of acoustic drop-ceiling. He shines his light inside. HICKS' P.O.V. 151 A soul-wrenching nightmare image. Moving in the beam of light are aliens. Lots of aliens. They are crawling like bats, upside down, clinging to the pipes and beams of the structural ceiling, not touching the flimsy acoustic panels. They glisten hideously as they claw their way forward in silence. They cover the ceiling of the operations room. The inner sanctum is utterly violated. ON HICKS 152 blasted by fear. Something moves...he snaps the light around. It's a meter behind him. IT LUNGES! He drops reflexively, the claws raking across his armor. Hicks falls into the room just as the creatures detach en masse from the handholds. THE CEILING EXPLODES, raining debris. Nightmare shapes drop into the room. Newt screams. Hudson opens fire. Vasquez grabs Hicks, pulls him up, firing one handed with her flamethrower. Ripley scoops up Newt and staggers back. Gorman turns to fire and Burke bolts for the only remaining exit, the corridor connecting to the med lab. In the strobelike glare of the pulse-rifles we SEE flashes of aliens, moving forward in the smoke from the flamethrower fires. They move like nothing human... leaping quick as insects at times or gliding with powerful, balletic grace. RIPLEY Medical! Get to medical! She dashes for the corridor. INT. MED LAB CORRIDOR 153 DOLLYING BEHIND HER as she sprints, the walls becoming a frenzied blur. Ahead of her Burke clears the door to the med lab. HE SLIDES IT CLOSED. Ripley slams into the door. Tries the latch. Hears it LOCK from the far side. RIPLEY Burke! Open the door! NEWT Look! Behind her an alien is moving down the corridor like a locomotive, a graceful skeleton shape as lethal and inhuman as you can imagine. Strobe flashes backlight the demented silhouette. Shaking, Ripley raises her rifle. She squeezes the trigger. NOTHING HAPPENS. The creature HISSES, baring its teeth as it advances. Ripley checks the SAFETY. The safety is off. The DIGITAL COUNTER. The magazine is full. Newt begins to wail. Ripley's hands, slick with sweat, are trembling so much she almost drops the rifle. Panic screams in her brain. The thing is almost on her, filling the corridor, when she remembers. She snaps the bolt back, chambering a round. Whips the stock to her shoulder. FIRES. FLASH-CRACK! A FLASHBULB GLIMPSE OF shrieking jaws as the silhouette is hurled back, screeching insanely. Ripley is slammed against the door by the recoil, blinded by the flash and deafened by the concussion. INT. OPERATIONS 154 Hicks looks up. Fires POINT-BLANK at a leaping silhouette. SCREEEECH! The fire-control system has tripped, with sprinklers spraying the room and a mindless SIREN wailing. Total pandemonium. HUDSON (hysterical) Let's go! Let's go! HICKS Fuckin' A! Hudson screams as floor panels lift under him, and clawed arms seize him lightning fast, dragging him down. Another skeletal shape leaps on him from above. He disappears into the subfloor crawlway. Hicks, Vasquez and Gorman make it to the med lab access corridor. INT. CORRIDOR Stunned, Ripley sees through dissipating smoke the creature rising to advance again. Flinching against blast and glare she drills it POINT-BLANK with a BLINDING BURST that carries the M-41A's muzzle right up toward the ceiling. Newt covers her ears against the CONCUSSION. HICKS (o.s.) Hold you fire! The troopers seem to materialize out of the smoke. RIPLEY (indicating door) Locked. HICKS Stand back. Hicks snaps the torch off his belt and cuts into the lock. Inhuman shapes enter the far end of the corridor. Vasquez hands her flamethrower to Gorman and unslings her rifle. She starts loading 30mm grenades into the launcher, like oversize 12-guage shells. GORMAN You can't use those in here! VASQUEZ Right. Fire in the hole! She pumps a round up and fires. The grenade EXPLODES and the blast almost knocks them down. Hicks kicks the door open, molten droplets flying. HICKS (shouting at Vasquez) Thanks a lot! Now I can't hear shit. VASQUEZ (shouting) What? INT. MED LAB ANNEX 156 Vasquez slides the door almost closed, then fires three grenades rapid-fire through the gap. She slams the door home as the grenades detonate, the explosion sounding gonglike through the metal. Ripley sprints across the room, trying the far door. Burke has locked it as well. Hicks switches his hand-torch from CUT to WELD and starts sealing the door they just passed through. INT. MED LAB 157 Burke, hyperventilating with terror, backs across the dark chamber. Gasping, almost paralyzed with fear, he crosses the chamber to the door leading to the main concourse. His fingers reach for the latch. It moves by itself. The door opens slowly. ON BURKE his eyes wide, transfixed by his fate. We hear the BULLWHIP CRACK of a tail-stinger striking as we: CUT TO: INT. MED LAB ANNEX 158 The door dimples with a clanging impact, separating slightly from its frame. Another crash, the squeal of tortured steel. Newt grabs Ripley by the hand and tugs her across the room. NEWT Come on! This way. She leads Ripley to an air vent set low in the wall and expertly unlatches the grille, swinging it open. Newt starts inside but Ripley pulls her back. RIPLEY Stay behind me. Ripley trades her rifle for Gorman's flamethrower before he can protest and enters the air shaft, which is a tight fit. Newt scrambles in behind, followed by Hicks, Gorman and Vasquez on rearguard. Glancing back fearfully Newt pushes on Ripley's butt as they crawl rapidly through the shaft. NEWT Come on. Crawl faster. RIPLEY DO you know how to get to the landing field from here? NEWT Sure. Go left. Ripley turns into a larger MAIN DUCT where there is enough room to crab-walk in a low crouch. She runs, scraping her back on the ceiling. The troopers' armor clatters in the confined space. They approach an intersection. She fires the flamethrower around the corner, the looks. Clear. NEWT Go right. They sprint into the narrow connecting duct, the maze becoming a blur. Ripley fires the flamethrower periodically, as they pass side ducts covered by louvered grilles or vertical shafts going to higher or lower levels. HICKS (into headset) Bishop, you read me? Come in, over. There is a long pause then Bishop's VOICE, almost unintelligible with interference, comes over the radio. BISHOP (voice over; static) Yes, I read you. Not very well... EXT. UP-LINK RELAY - LANDING FIELD 159 Bishop is huddled against the base of the telemetry mast, out of the wind which is now gusting viciously. BISHOP (yelling; over enunciating) The ship is on its way. ETA about sixteen minutes. I've got my hands full flying... the weather's come up a bit. Bishop's fingers are blurring over the terminal keys and he squints, watching the screen as the flight telemetry updates rapidly. In the b.g. the AP station has become a raging demon, wreathed in boiling steam and electrical discharges. INT. AIR DUCT 160 HICKS All right, stand by there. We're on out way. Over. The beam of Ripley's light wavers hypnotically in the tunnel ahead. She blinks, seeing something...not sure. A GLINTING OBSCENE FORM MOVING TOWARD THEM, filling the tunnel at the absolute limit of the light's power. RIPLEY Back. Go back! They try to crawl back, jamming together. Behind them, the way they have come, a GRATING is battered in with a FEROCIOUS CLANG and the deadly silhouette of a warrior flows into the duct. They are trapped. Vasquez uses her flamethrower, bathing the tunnel in fire. Hicks snaps out his hand-welder and cuts into the wall of the duct. Molten metal spatters him, as sparks fill the tunnel with lurid light. Vasquez' flamethrower sputters. VASQUEZ (icy) Losing fuel. Between eye-searing bursts of flame Ripley sees the glistening apparitions closing in. Hicks' torch feathers out. Empty. Bracing his back he kicks hard at the cherry-hot metal. It bends aside. Beyond is a narrow SERVICE WAY, lined with pipes and conduit. Hicks slides through the searing hole, lifting Newt safely through as Ripley hands her out. Ripley follows and turns to help Gorman. Vasquez' flamethrower goes dry. She draws her SERVICE PISTOL. Suddenly she looks up as a WARRIOR SCREECHES DOWN FROM A VERTICAL SHAFT, right above her. She fires with incredible rapidity...BAM! BAM! BAM! Rolls aside. It lands on her legs and she snaps her head to one side just as its TAIL STINGER buries into the metal wall beside her cheek. She fires again, emptying the pistol, kicking the thrashing shape away. Acid cuts through her chickenplate armor, searing into her thigh. She cries out, gritting her teeth against the white-hot pain. Gorman sees Vasquez hit, unable to move. Sees the creatures coming the other way...and turns away from the escape hole. He crawls back to her, grabs her battle harness and starts dragging her towards safety. Too late. The approaching alien warriors have reached and passed the opening. Vasquez sees him, barely conscious. VASQUEZ (hoarse whisper) You always were an asshole, Gorman. She seizes his hand in a deadly drip, but we RECOGNIZE it as the "power greeting" she shared with Drake... something for the chosen few. Gorman returns the grip. He hands her two grenades and arms two himself as the creatures are upon them. INT. SERVICE WAY 161 RUSHING WITH Ripley, Newt and Hicks as a full tilt run. The service way lights up with a POWERFUL BLAST behind them and they stumble with the shock wave. Newt breaks out ahead and it's all Ripley and Hicks can do to keep up. NEWT This way. Come on, we're almost there! RIPLEY Newt, wait! The kid moves like lightning, diving and dodging around obstacles. If it wasn't clear before it's clear now that we are on her turf, and she's the ace. Running on and on, their breathing loud and echoing...the walls a directionless blur. Newt never hesitates. They reach a junction with a narrow ANGLED CHUTE which runs upward at a steep 45 degrees. NEWT Here! Go up. INT. CHUTE 162 Ripley looks up the angles shaft, seeing light at the top...an exterior vent hood. The sound of wind booms down from above. Like blowing across a bottle top vastly amplified. Ripley enters, bracing her feet on perilously narrow side ribs in the shaft. She looks down. The chute descends far into the depths, lost in shadow. She starts to climb with Next behind/below her, and Hicks, just emerging from the side duct. NEWT Just up there -- Newt slips, a rusted rib collapsing under her foot. She slides...catches herself with one hand. Ripley reaches for her, dropping her light. The hand-light goes skittering and bumping down the chute, around a bend, and disappears. Ripley strains, reaching, her hand groping for Newt's. They miss, inches apart. NEWT Riiiiipppleee -- She slips. Hicks lunges, grabbing her oversized jacket. AND SHE SLIPS OUT OF IT. With an echoing scream Newt plummets, sliding down the chute into darkness. MOVING WITH HER, the walls racing by in a dizzy blur like a bobsled ride. THe shaft pitches left. Newt bounces, sliding halfway up the wall. The chute forks ahead. Newt tumbles into the right shaft, which drops at a steeper angle into the depths. Just disappearing down the LEFT SHAFT we SEE Ripley's light. Ripley looks Hicks in the eye. And kicks free...sliding down the chute after Newt. Ripley slams her feet into the side-ribs, bracing herself in a controlled descent. Ripley reaches the "V." Sees the glow of the light in the left fork. She goes left. RIPLEY Newt! She hears a plaintive reply, so echoey and distorted it has no direction. NEWT (o.s.) Mommy...where are you? Ripley reaches the bottom of the chute where it intersects with a HORIZONTAL SERVICE TUNNEL. The light is lying there, but no Newt. The echoing wail comes again. NEWT (o.s.) Moooommeeee... Ripley starts down the tunnel, answering. Newt's call comes again. Fainter? She can't tell. She spins in a growing panic, starts the other way. RIPLEY (to her headset) Hicks, get down here. I need that locator. INT. SUBBASEMENT 163 Newt is in a low grottolike chamber, filled with pipes and machines. It is flooded, almost up to Newt's waist. She looks up, seeing light streaming through a grating. Ripley's voice seems to come from there. RIPLEY (o.s.) Newt! Star wherever you are! Newt climbs some pipes, straining to reach the grating. INT. SERVICE TUNNEL 164 Hicks joins Ripley, unsnapping the emergency-locator from his belt. They follow the signal into a lighted area where the power apparently was not cut. HICKS This way. We're close... Following the signal they come to a grating set in the floor. NEWT Here! I'm here. I'm here. Ripley runs to the grating. Looking down she sees Newt's tearstreaked face. Newt reaches up. Her tiny fingers wriggle up through the bars of the grate. Ripley squeezes the child's precious fingertips. RIPLEY Climb down, honey. We have to cut through this grate. Newt backs away, climbing down the pipe as Hicks cuts into the bars with his hand-torch. INT. SUBBASEMENT 165 Newt, standing waist deep in the water, watches sparks shower blindingly as Hicks cuts. She bites her lip, trembling. Cold and terrified. Silently a glistening shape rises in one graceful motion from the water behind her. It stands, dripping, dwarfing her tiny form. Newt turns, sensing the movement...She SCREAMS as the shadow engulfs her. INT. SERVICE TUNNEL 166 Ripley panics, hearing screaming below, then splashing. She and Hicks kick desperately at the grating, smashing it down. Heedless of the cherry-hot edges Ripley lunges into the hole with her light. RIPLEY Newt! Newt! The surface of the water reflects the beam placidly. Newt is gone. Bobbing in the water, eyes staring, is "Casey" the doll head. In sinks slowly, distorting, vanishing in darkness. Hicks pulls Ripley away from the hole. She struggles furiously, trying to tear out of his grip. RIPLEY No! Noooo! He drags her back. It takes all of his strength. HICKS (intense) She's gone! Let's go! He sees something moving toward them through a lattice of pipes. Ripley is irrational. Hysterical. RIPLEY No! No! She's alive! We have to -- HICKS All right! She's alive. I believe it. But we gotta get moving! Now! He drags her toward an ELEVATOR not far away at the end of the tunnel. Gets her inside, slamming her against the back wall. Hits the button to go to surface level. An alien warrior leaps into the tunnel, starts toward them. The doors are closing. Not fast enough. The creature gets one arm through, the doors closing on it. THEY OPEN AGAIN, an automatic safety feature. THE WARRIOR HISSES, LUNGING. Hicks FIRES, POINT-BLANK. It spins away, SCREECHING. Acid sluices between the closing doors, across Hicks' armored chest plate, as he shields Ripley with his body. The lift starts upward. Hicks' fingers race with the clasps as the stuff eats its way toward his skin. Galvanized out of her hysteria, Ripley claws at his armor, helping him as much as she can. He screams as the acid contacts his chest and arm. He shucks out of the combat armor like a madman, dropping the smoking pieces to the floor. Acrid fumes fill the air, searing eyes and lungs. The elevator stops. The doors part and they stumble out, Ripley supporting Hicks who is doubled over in agony. RIPLEY Come on, you can make it. Almost there. EXT. LANDING FIELD 167 Drop-ship two descends toward the landing grid, side-slipping in hurricane gusts. Bishop stands, guiding it with the portable terminal. The ship sets down hard. Slides sideways. Stops. Bishop turns as Ripley and Hicks stumble out of a doorway in the colony building behind him. He goes to them, helping to support Hicks and they run toward the ship, buffeted by the gale. Ripley shouts, her words barely audible over the wind. RIPLEY HOW MUCH TIME? BISHOP PLENTY! TWENTY-SIX MINUTES! RIPLEY WE'RE NOT LEAVING! The loading ramp deploys and they run into the ship. EXT. PROCESSING STATION 168 An infernal engine, roaring out of control. Steam blasts and swirls, lightning zaps around the superstructure and columns of incandescent gas thunder hundreds of feet into the air. We APPROACH, hypnotically. The drop-ship ENTERS FRAME, moving toward the station. It pivots, hovering in the blasting turbulence, and settles onto a NARROW LANDING PLATFORM ten levels above the ground, or about a third of the way up the enormous structure. INT. DROP-SHIP 169 Ripley finishes winding tape around a bulky object and drops the roll. She has crudely fastened a M-41A assault rifle together, side by side, with a flamethrower. A massive, unwieldy package of absolute firepower. Her movements are curt, precise...determined. She works rapidly, snatching magazines, grenades, belts and other gear from the fully stocked ordnance racks of the drop-ship. Bishop comes aft from the pilot's compartment to help Hicks dress his injuries. Hicks is sprawled in a flight seat, the contents of a FIELD MEDICAL KEY strewn around him. He's out of the game...contorted with pain. BISHOP Ripley... RIPLEY She's alive. They brought her here and you know it. BISHOP In seventeen minutes this place will be a cloud of vapor the size of Nebraska. Ripley is stuffing gear rapidly into a satchel, her hands flying. RIPLEY Hicks, don't let him leave. HICKS (grimacing with pain) We ain't going anywhere. She hefts the hybrid weapon, grabs the satchel and spins to the door controls. The door opens. Wind and machine-thunder blast in. RIPLEY See you, Hicks. Hicks is holding a wad of gauze plastered over his face. HICKS Dwayne. It's Dwayne. Ripley grabs his hand. They share a moment, albeit brief. Mutual respect in the valley of death. RIPLEY Ellen. HICKS (nods with satisfaction) Don't be long, Ellen. Ripley runs down the ramp, crossing the platform to the open doors of a LARGE FREIGHT ELEVATOR. The doors close. INT. FREIGHT ELEVATOR 170 The elevator descends. Bars of light move rhythmically across her as Ripley stands facing the doors, watching the landings go by. The heat grows more intense. Pipes glowing cherry-red pass by. Steam hisses and billows. The lift clatters in a steady beat. Hypnotic. Ripley removes her jacket and dons a battle harness directly over her T-shirt. Her hair is matted, and she glistens with sweat. Her eyes burn with a determination that holds the gut-panic in check. The elevator descends. She checks her weapon. Attaches a BANDOLIER OF GRENADES to her harness. Primes the flamethrower. Checks the rifle's magazine. Racks the bolt, chambering the first round. She checks the MARKING FLARES jammed in the thigh pockets of her jump pants. She drops an unprimed grenade, trembling, forcing herself to be strong. We SEE she doesn't know doodley about grenades. This is the most terrifying thing she has ever done. She begins to hyperventilate, soaking with sweat. Her fingers slick and slippery on the rifle. The elevator descends. The lift motors whine, slowing. It hits bottom with a bump. The safety cage retracts. Slowly, expectantly, the doors open. HER P.O.V. THROUGH the parting doors...an empty corridor. Dark, swirling with steam, a ruddy glow VISIBLE here and there. It seems to have been a descent into Dantean Hell. The air itself vibrates with heat distortion. Couplings groan. Machinery whines and throbs. Like the beating of a vast heart the pounding of massive pumps echoes through the station. INT. CORRIDOR 171 Ripley moves out of the lift, knuckles white on the rifle. Her eyes dart, straining to penetrate the lethal gloom. Behind her we SEE a SECOND ELEVATOR next to hers, its lift cage somewhere on a higher floor. Ahead the corridor is encrusted with the alien excressence and not far down the bio-mechanoid catacomb begins. She enters the maze, darting glances at Hick's LOCATOR, taped to the top of her kludge weapon. A VOICE echoes down the tunnels, calm and mechanical. VOICE Attention. Emergency. All personnel must evacuate immediately. You now have fourteen minutes to reach minimum safe distance. INT. CATACOMB 172 Range and direction read out in rapid-fire alpha-numerics on the locator display. Ripley blinks sweat out of her eyes, moving through the swirling steam of the alien maze. She approaches an intersecting tunnel. Flashing emergency lights illuminate the insane fresco of the walls. She spins, firing the flamethrower. Nothing there. She whirls back. Moves forward, trembling and adrenalized. Skeletal figures drown in the walls, frozen in macabre tormented positions like human insects in amber. Steam blasts, blinding her. The locator signal strengthens an she turns, crouches through a low passage, turns again. At each intersection she quickly lights a FIFTEEN-MINUTE MARKING FLARE and drops it. For the way back. She has to turn sideways, inching through a fissure between two walls of death...cocoon niches, human bas-relief sealed in resin. SUDDENLY SOMETHING SHOOTS OUT, GRABBING HER! A hand. She recovers , then recognizes the face sealed in the wall. Carter Burke. BURKE Ripley...help me. I can feel it...inside. Oh, God...it's moving! Oh gooood... She looks at him. No one deserves this. RIPLEY Here. She hands him a grenade, wrapping his fingers around the spoon, and pulls the primer. She moves on. VOICE You now have eleven minutes to reach minimum safe distance. Ripley moves ahead. The locator signals shows she is almost there. A CONCUSSION rocks the place, like an earthquake, jarring her almost off her feet. Then another. The whole station seems to shudder. A SIREN begins to wail a demented rhythm. Following the tracker she turns a corner and stops. The RANGE INDICATOR READS ZERO. She looks down, horrified to see Newt's tracer bracelet lying on the floor of the tunnel. All hope recedes, disintegrating into mindless chaos. INT. EGG CHAMBER 173 Newt is cocooned in a pillarlike structure at the edge of a cluster of upright OVOID SHAPES...alien eggs. Her eyelids flutter open and she becomes aware of her surroundings. The egg nearest her begins to move...opening like an obscene flower at its top to reveal something stirring within. Newt stares, transfixed by terror, as the jointed legs appear over the lip of the ovoid one by one. She SCREAMS. INT. CATACOMBS 174 Ripley hears the scream and breaks into a run. INT. EGG CHAMBER 175 Newt watches the face-hugger emerge and turn toward her. Ripley runs in just as it is tensing to leap, and FIRES, blasting it with a burst from the assault rifle. The flash illuminates the figure of an adult warrior, nearby. It spins, moving straight for Ripley. Firing from the hip she drills it with two controlled bursts which catapult it back. She steps toward it, FIRING AGAIN. Her expression is murderous. AND AGAIN. It spins onto its back. She unleashes the flamethrower and it vanishes in a fireball. Ripley runs to Newt and begins tearing at the fresh resinous cocoon material, freeing the child. She swings her up onto her back. NEWT (weakly) I knew you'd come. RIPLEY Newt, I want you to hang on, now. Hang on tight. Groggily Newt hooks her arms and legs through the belts of Ripley's battle harness as Ripley picks up her weapon. More warriors are moving toward her among the eggs. She fires the flamethrower. The eggs are engulfed. One of the warriors lunges forward, a living fireball. She blasts it in half with two bursts from the M-41A. Ripley retreats, ducking under a glistening cylindrical mass. A PIERCING SHRIEK fill the chamber. She turns. And there it is. A massive silhouette in the mist, the ALIEN QUEEN glowers over her eggs like a great, glistening black insect-Buddha. What's bigger and meaner than the Alien? His momma. Her fanged head is an unimaginable horror. Her six limbs, the four arms and two powerful legs, are folded grotesquely over her distended abdomen. The egg-filled abdomen swells and swells into a great pulsing tubular sac, suspended from a lattice of pipes and conduits by a weblike membrane as if some vast coil of intestine were draped carelessly among the machinery. Ripley realizes she ducked under part of it a moment before. Inside the abdominal sac can be SEEN the forms of countless eggs, churning their way toward the pulsating ovipositor where they emerge glistening, to be picked up by DRONES. The drones are tiny scuttling albino versions of the "warrior" aliens we have already seen. Ripley pumps the slide on her grenade launcher. She fires. Pumps and fires again. Four times. The grenades punch deep into the egg sac and EXPLODE, ripping it open from within. Eggs are tons of gelatinous matter pour across the chamber floor. The Queen goes berserk, SCREECHING like some psychotic steam whistle. Ripley lays about her with the flamethrower, igniting everything in sight with an insane fury. Eggs shrivel in the inferno, and figures of warriors and drones vanish in frenzied thrashing. Over all is the Queen's shrieking as she struggles in the flames. Two warriors emerge from the boiling smoke, closing on her. She pulls the trigger...an empty click. DIGITAL COUNTER flashing crimson zeroes. She drops the magazine, grabs another from her belt, rams it home and OPENS UP. The creatures vanish in rapid-fire flashes. Ripley backs away, venting her terror in a sustained orgy of fire as she blasts everything that moves in one long eye-searing expenditure of energy. Then she dashes into the catacombs, navigating by sheer primal instinct. INT. CATACOMBS 176 Ripley runs, blindly, with panting intensity verging on hysteria. Impressions crash upon her...the maze blurring by, sirens howling, the station rocking with explosions, emergency lights flashing, steam blasting, red-hot steel hissing. Reality itself is reduced to a concussive series of strobelike instants of relentless forward motion. She sees one of the flares she dropped and turns. Sees another, sprinting toward it as the foundations of the world shake. INT. EGG CHAMBER 177 Lashing in a frenzy, the QUEEN DETACHES FROM THE EGG SAC, ripping away and dragging torn cartilage and tissue behind it. SEEN DIMLY THROUGH swirling smoke, it rises on its powerful legs and steps forward. INT. CATACOMBS - CORRIDOR 178- 179 Ripley uses the flamethrower ahead of her, firing bursts of pulse-rifle fire down side corridors at indistinct shapes and shadows. The weapon is empty when she reaches the freight elevators. A mass of debris, falling down the shaft from a higher level, has demolished the life cage she descended in. She slams the control for the other cage and hears the sound of the LIFT MOTOR'S WHINE as it begins its slow descent from several levels up. AN ENRAGED SCREECH ECHOES in the corridor. Ripley sees a silhouette moving in the smoke...a glistening black shape which FILLS THE CORRIDOR TO THE CEILING...THE QUEEN. Her last cartridge is reading zeroes. The flamethrower sputters uselessly when she tries that. The grenades are gone. Ripley drops the weapon and looks up the shaft to the descending lift...then at the approaching FIGURE. The elevator won't be in time. She runs to a ladder set in the wall as a horrendous screech beats in her ears. She scrambles up the rungs. INT. SECOND LEVEL 180 Ripley struggles up through a narrow hatch, Newt clinging to her. She dives aside as a POWERFUL BLACK ARM shoots up through the opening, its razor claws slamming into the grille-floor inches from her. Looking down through the grille she sees the great horrifying jaws directly below her, wet and leering. She scrambles up, running, as the grille-floor lifts and buckles behind her with the titanic force of the creature below. It hurls itself with insane ferocity against the metal, pacing her from below as she runs. INT. STAIRWELL 181 Ripley reaches an open-grid emergency stairwell and sprints upward. It rocks and shudders with the station's death throes. VOICE You now have two minutes to reach minimum safe distance. INT. CORRIDOR - ELEVATORS 182- 183 The lift reaches bottom, the doors rolling open. The Queen turns and freezes, as if contemplating the open lift cage. INT. STAIRWELL 184 Ripley stumbles, smashing her knees against the metals stairs. As she rises she hears the LIFT MOTORS start up. Looking down through the lattice work of the station she sees the life cage start ominously upward. She knows there is only one explanation for that. She runs on, the stairwell becoming a crazy whirl around her. EXT. LANDING PLATFORM 185 Ripley, with Newt still clinging to her, slams through the door opening onto the platform. Through wind-whipped streamers of smoke she sees...THE SHIP IS GONE. RIPLEY BISHOP! Her shouts become inarticulate screams of hatred, outrage at the final betrayal. She scans the sky. Nothing. RIPLEY (hysterical) BISHOP! Newt is sobbing. The lift rises ponderously INTO VIEW. Ripley turns, backing away from the doors toward the railing. There is no place to run to on the platform. EXPLOSIONS detonate in the complex far below and huge fireballs swell upward through the machinery. The platform bucks wildly. Nearby a cooling tower collapses with a THUNDEROUS ROAR and the SHRIEK OF RENDING STEEL. More EXPLOSIONS, one after another, rocketing up from below. Ripley stares transfixed as the lift stops. The safety cage parts. RIPLEY (to Newt; low) Close your eyes, baby. The lift doors begin to open. A glimpse of the apparition within. ANGLE ON RIPLEY AND NEWT as the drop-ship RISES RIGHT BEHIND THEM, its hovering jets roaring. VOICE You now have thirty seconds to reach... Ripley leaps for the loading boom projecting down from the cargo bay and it raises them into the ship. A TREMENDOUS EXPLOSION RIPS THROUGH THE COMPLEX nearby, slamming the ship sideways. Its extended landing legs foul in a tangle of conduit, grinding with a hideous squeal of metal on metal. INT./EXT. DROP-SHIP - STATION 186- 187 Ripley leaps into a seat with Newt, cradling her. Begins strapping in. Bishop wrestles with the controls. The landing legs retract, ripping free. Ripley slams her seat harness latches home. RIPLEY Punch it, Bishop! The entire lower level of the station disappears in a fireball. The air vibrates with intense heat waves and concussion. The drop-ship engines fire. Ripley is slammed back in her seat. The ship vaults out and up, Bishop standing it on its tail, pouring on the gees. Ripley and Newt see everything shake into a blur. EXT. STRATOSPHERE 188 The drop-ship lunges up and out of the cloud layer into the clear high night. Below, the clouds light up from beneath from horizon to horizon. A SUN HOT DOME OF ENERGY bursts up through the cloud layer, WHITING OUT THE FRAME. The tiny ship is slammed by the shockwave, tossed forward...and climbs, scorched but functioning, toward the stars. INT. DROP-SHIP 189 Ripley and Newt watch the blinding glare fade away and they sit, wide-eyed, trembling, realizing they are finally and truly safe. Newt starts to cry quietly, and Ripley strokes her hair. RIPLEY It's okay, baby. We made it. It's over. INT. SULACO CARGO LOCK - IN ORBIT - LATER 190 The scorched and battered ship once again sits in its drop-bay, steam blasting from cooling vents beside the engine. Rotating clearance lights sweep the dark chamber hypnotically. INT. DROP-SHIP 191 Bishop stands behind Ripley as she kneels beside a comatose Hicks. BISHOP I gave him a shot, for the pain. We'll need to get a stretcher to cart him up to medical. Ripley nods and, picking up Newt, precedes Bishop down the aisle to the loading ramp. BISHOP I'm sorry if I gave you a scare but that platform was just becoming too unstable... INT. CARGO LOCK - DROP-SHIP 192 Bishop continues as they move down the ramp. BISHOP I had to circle and hope things didn't get too rough to take you off. Ripley turns to him, stopping partway down the ramp. She puts her hand on his shoulder. RIPLEY You did okay, Bishop. BISHOP Well, thanks, I -- He notices a tiny innocuous drop of liquid splash onto the ramp next to his shoe. SSSSSS. Acid. SOMETHING BURSTS FROM HIS CHEST, spraying Ripley with milklike android blood. It is the razor-sharp scorpion TAIL of the alien QUEEN. Driven right through him from behind. Bishop thrashes, seizing the protruding section of tail in his hands, as is slowly lifts him off the deck. Above them the Queen glowers from its place of concealment among the hydraulic mechanisms inside one landing-leg bay. It blends perfectly with the machinery until it begins to emerge. Seizing Bishop in two great hands it rips him apart and flings him aside, shredded, like a doll. It descends slowly to the deck, the rotating lights glistening across its shiny black limbs, dripping acid and rage. Still smoking where Ripley half-fried it. The Queen is huge, powerful...and very pissed off. It descends slowly, its six limbs unfolding in inhuman geometries. Ripley moves with nightmarish slowness herself, staring hypnotized...terrified to break and run. She lowers Newt to the deck, never taking her eyes off the creature. RIPLEY (to Newt) Go! Newt runs for cover. The Alien drops to the deck, pivoting toward the motion. Ripley waves her arms, decoying. RIPLEY Here! Without warning it moves like lightning, straight at her. Ripley spins, sprinting, as the creature leaps for her. Its feet slam, echoing, on the deck behind her. She clears a door. Hits the switch. It WHIRRS closed. BOOM. The Alien hits a moment later. INT. DARK CHAMBER 193 Ripley moves ferret-quick among dark, unrecognizable machines. VARIOUS ANGLES VERY TIGHT ON what she is doing...her feet going into stirruplike mechanisms. Velcro straps fastened over them. Fingers stabbing buttons in a sequence. Her hand closing on a complex grip-control. The HUM of powerful motors. The WHINE of hydraulics. INT. CARGO LOCK 194 The Queen turns its attention from the doors to Newt as the little girl crawls into a system of trenchlike service channels which cross the deck. The channels are covered by steel grillework and barely big enough for her to crawl through. INT. CHANNEL 195 Newt scurries like a rabbit as the looming figure of the Alien appears above, seen through the bars. A section of grille is ripped away behind her. She scrambles desperately. Another section is ripped away right at her heels. Light pouring in. The next will be right above her. INT. CARGO LOCK 196 The Queen spins at the sound of door motors behind her. The parting doors REVEAL an inhuman silhouette standing there. Ripley steps out, WEARING TWO TONS OF HARDENED STEEL. THE POWER LOADER. Like medieval armor with the power of a bulldozer. She takes a step...the massive foot CRASH-CLANGS to the deck. She takes another, advancing. Ripley's expression is one you hope you'll never see... Hell hath no fury like that of a mother protecting her child and that primal, murderous rage surges through her now, banishing all fear. RIPLEY Get away from her, you bitch! The Queen SCREECHES pure lethality and leaps. WALLOP! A roundhouse from one great hydraulic arm catches it on its hideous skull and slams it into a wall. It rebounds into a massive backhand. CRASH! It goes backward into heavy loading equipment. RIPLEY (screaming) Come on! The Queen emerges as a blur of rage, lashing with unbelievable fury. The battle is joined. Claws swipe, tail lashes. Ripley parries with radical swipes of the steel forks. They circle in a whirling blur, demolishing everything in their path. The cavernous chamber echoes with nightmarish sounds...WHINE, CRASH, CLANG, SCREECH. They lock in a death embrace. Ripley closes the forks, crushing two of the creature's limbs. It lashes and writhes with incredible fury, coming within inches of her exposed body. She lifts it off the ground. The hind legs rip at her, slamming against the safety cage, denting it in. The striking teeth extend almost a meter from inside its fanged maw, shooting between the crash-bars. She ducks and the teeth slam into the seat cushion behind her dead in a spray of drool. Yellow acid foams down the hydraulic arms toward her. The creature rips at high-pressure hoses. Purple hydraulic fluid sprays ...machine blood mixing with alien blood. They topple, off balance. The Queen pins her. Ripley hits a switch. The power loader's CUTTING TORCH flares on, directly in the thing's face. They roll together, over the lip of a RECTANGULAR PIT, A VERTICAL LOADING AIRLOCK. INT. LOADING LOCK 197 They crash together four meters below, twisted in the loader's wreckage. The Alien shrieks, pinned. Ripley pulls her arm out of the controls of the loader and claws toward a panel of airlock actuating buttons. She slaps the red "INNER DOOR OVERRIDE" and latches the "HOLD" locking-key down. A KLAXON begins to sound. She hits "OUTER DOOR OPEN" and there is a hurricane shriek of air as the doors on which they are lying separate, REVEALING the infinite pit of stars, below. All this time the Alien has been lashing at her in a frenzy and she has been parrying desperately in the confined space. The airlock becomes a wind tunnel, blasting and buffetting her as she struggles to unstrap from the loader. The air of the vast ship howls past her into space as she claws her way up a service ladder. INT. CARGO BAY 198 Newt screams as the hurricane airstream sucks her across the floor toward the airlock. Bishop, torn virtually in two, his pastalike internal organs whipped by the wind, grips a stanchion and reaches desperately for Newt as she slides past him. He catches her arm and hangs on as she dangles, doll-like, in the airblast. INT. LOADING LOCK 199 The Alien seizes Ripley's ankle. She locks her arms around a ladder rung, feels them almost torn out of their shoulder sockets. The door opens farther, all of space yawning below. The loader tumbles clear, falling away. It drags the Alien, still clutching one of Ripley's lucky hi-tops, into the depths of space. Its SHRIEK fades, it gone. With all her strength Ripley fights the blasting air, crawling over the lip of the inner doorway. She releases the OVERRIDE from a second panel. The inner doors close. The turbulent air eddies and settles. She lies on her back, drained of all strength. Gasping for breath. Weakly she turns her head, seeing Bishop still holding Newt by the arm. Encrusted with his own vanilla milkshake blood. Bishop gives her a small, grim smile. BISHOP Not bad for a human. He winks. Ripley crosses to Newt. NEWT (weakly) Mommy...Mommy? RIPLEY Right here, baby. Right here. Ripley hugs her desperately. INT. CORRIDOR 200 Ripley limps along the corridor, carrying Newt on her hip. The ship's systems hum comfortingly. Newt's head rests on her shoulder. NEWT Are we going to sleep now? RIPLEY That's right. NEWT Can we dream? RIPLEY Yes, honey. I think we both can. HOLD ON THEM AS they recede down the long straight corridor. FADE OUT THE END
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+                                 ALL ABOUT STEVE                                                           Written by                                  Kim Barker                                                         November 2006                              TNT. KITCHEN - DAY          A New York Times crossword puzzle. The hand of MARY HOROWITZ          scratches the answers in ink without pausing even a second          between each one.          MARY (V.O.)          Vita aenigma est. Life is a          puzzle. It is. Specifically, life          is most like a crossword puzzle.          There are a million reasons why,          not the least of which is that          life, like crosswords, requires the          use of your whole entire brain-          Her writing hand knocks a glass of grape soda and it spills          all over the puzzle.                         MARY          Crap.          The puzzle answers all run together.          INT. SCHOOL HALLWAY - DAY          Ten plastic folding chairs line the hallway -- all empty          except for one.          In the last chair sits Mary Horowitz, 31, in her best          synthetic cardigan, somebody's grandmother's skirt, her own          red rubber boots. Genius meets retard. She mumbles to          herself.                         MARY          Four letter word for... vomit.          She takes a deep breath to calm her nerves. it doesn't help.                         MARY          Not "barf". For sure not "barf".          That's too easy. "Puke" is okay,          but maybe a bit pedestrian (that          means boring)... I like "hurl". I          do. I like the way it rolls off          your tongue -- the word, I mean.          But my all time favorite is none of          those.          She puts her head between her knees, tries to keep it          together.                                                  2.                         MARY          Four letter word for vomit? S-P-E-          W. Spew... Sp-ew.          A door nearby opens but Mary doesn't budge. A POLICE OFFICER          walks out.          A 40ish female TEACHER pokes her head out the door, signals          to Mary.                         TEACHER          We're ready for you now.          (a plastic Kroger shopping          Mary jumps up, grabs her purse          bag).                         MARY          Jesus help me.          INT. CLASSROOM - DAY          Mary stands in front of the chalkboard, "CAREER DAY" written          in huge letters behind her. She smiles with terror at the          class of 10 year old KIDS.          The Teacher reads from her notes.                         TEACHER          Here's a treat, students. Our          final guest for Career Day, Miss          Mary Horowitz, is the crossword          constructor for the Atlanta          Citizen. You know the crossword          puzzles you see every week in the          newspaper? It's her job to create          them. Isn't that fun?          Mary stares at the Teacher, whispers.                         MARY          You weren't supposed to tell them.                         TEACHER          Pardon me?                         MARY          I made a crossword puzzle to help          them guess what my job is. You          ruined it.                         TEACHER          Oh, I'm so sorry.                                                  3.          Mary takes the crossword puzzles out of her bag, looks at          them like lost puppies.                         TEACHER          Maybe you could tell them a bit          about what your job is like?           watche s hit                          GARBAGE          Mary drops thu p file out her          the bottom She p lls           u hearsed enthusiasm.          bag, reads with re                         MARY          People do crossword puzzles all the          time but they don't often think of          the person who made all the words          fit together, and who thought up          the clues, and who made sure the          little black squares at the top          mirror the ones at the bottom.          She pulls one of the crosswords out of the garbage can, holds          it up, turns it upside down, forces a nervous smile.                         MARY          Crossword constructors usually have          above average intelligence, with          knowledge of just about every          subject you can imagine. And it          helps if they can spell.          The card in Mary's hand reads "LAUGH". She laughs. Nobody          else does. She looks at the cards again, instantly gets          serious, sweeps her hand through the air.                         MARY          Imagine, for a moment, a world          without crossword puzzles. A world-          Mary notices one Kid with his hand up. It totally throws her          off.                         TEACHER          Daniel, you have a question?                         DANIEL          You make a living doing that? Just          making puzzles? The Atlanta          Citizen only comes out on Fridays.          One puzzle a week can't make you          enough to live on.          A LARGE KID in the front row pipes up.                                                  4.          LARGE KID          How do you pay your rent?                         MARY          My parents -                         DANIEL          You live with your parents?          The Kids all laugh their asses off. Mary just stares at          them.          LARGE KID          Oh my God, how old are you? Still          living at home!          The kids all laugh some more. Mary's on the verge of panic.                         TEACHER          Children!          The Teacher shoots the Kids a warning look, then notices Mary          hyperventilating.                         TEACHER          Are you okay?          Mary grasps for breath, struggles to speak.                         MARY          Water.                         TEACHER          Water. Just hang on.          The Teacher rushes out. The kids all stare at Mary.                         MARY          Yep, I live at home...          She forces herself to get it together, totally faking it.                         MARY          But so do all of you, so there...          And sure, I only create one          crossword puzzle a week but I have          deadlines, I have stress, I have          demands on me so huge you would not          believe. The newspaper business is          hell. I mean it. Hell.          Somebody's got to write about all          the horrors that go on in this          world.                         (MORE)                                                  5.          MARY (cont'd)          And after people read about those          horrors, somebody else has to bring          them back from the brink of          suicide. Who do you think that is?          She leans in close to the front row, scares herself more than          anybody.                         MARY          Me! My crossword puzzle is always          good news. it enlightens.          it r andma's          entertains. It keeps your g          mind alive so she remembers to send          you five bucks on your birthday.          Think about that as you lie in bed          tonight picking your nose and crying          yourself to sleep. I know I will.          The Kids just stare at her. She leans against the teacher's          desk, tries to look relaxed but fails miserably.                         MARY          My job matters, you know. In media          circles I am, as the Dutch say,          geliefd. That means I have plenty          of friends. Hoards, in fact.          Scads even.          The kids aren't buying it.          LARGE KID          You're a freak.          The kids all nod in agreement. Mary's frozen, devastated.          The Teacher rushes back into the room with a cup of water,          hands it over. Mary sips it like communion wine. Half of it          runs down her chin.          Mary looks at the Teacher, fakes a smile.                         MARY          That's a pretty blouse.          The Teacher smiles back. Awkward.          EXT. SCHOOL -- DAY          The front doors of the school swing open and a visibly shaken          Mary walks out. She takes a deep breath and embraces denial.                                                  6.                         MARY          Twelve letter phrase for smashing          success!          She heads down the walkway toward the bus stop.                         MARY          As one would say in old Paris...          Coup de maitre!           A CUSTODIAN cleaning the school yard looks up. Mary keeps on          talking - now to him.                         MARY          It means "master stroke", even          though the direct translation is          actually "master blow"... Leave it          to the French to pass off an          unpleasant slave activity as an          everyday expression.          The Custodian doesn't know what the hell she's talking about.          Mary continues on to the bus stop.          INT. CITY BUS -- DAY           The CITY BUS DRIVER watches as Mary pays her $1.75 one nickel          at a time.                         MARY          I sometimes suffer from benign          positional vertigo. Could you          please not drive until I'm -          f He ignores her, starts driving. Mary struggles toward the          back o f the bus, grabbing g          goes.                         MARY          Excuse me... pardonnez-moi...          begnadiyen sie mich...          She lurches for an empty seat and just about dislodges her          shoulder on the center pole. Finally settled, she peeks          under her sweater at the shoulder damage.                         MARY          Hello hematoma.          She smiles at an angry ELDERLY LADY sitting across from her.          The lady gives her the "don't talk to me" glare, then stares          out the window. Mary fidgets in her seat.                                                  7.          MARY (V.O.)          In crosswords, as in life, some          days are harder than others. It's          true. In the New York Times, for          example, the puzzles get harder as          the week goes. So on Monday, a day          that traditionally bites the big          one, the crossword is super easy.          It's comforting to know that          although life can be difficult at          times, crosswords let you off easy          when you need it the most.          Mary looks around for anybody to talk to. The other          PASSENGERS avert their eyes. Mary starts biting her nails.           EXT. NEWSSTAND - DAY          A frail 80 year old man MR. TAKIHASHI works alongside his          wspapers,          40ish granddaughter BETTY selling magazines, ne          smokes and Pocky.          In the corner of the newsstand, a muted TV features CNN          "Breaking News" coverage of a high speed car chase.          BUSINESSMEN are glued to the images as they wait in line.          Mary grabs a half a dozen different newspapers, yells to Mr.          Takihashi like he's deaf.                         MARY          KONCHA, TAKIHASHI-SAN!          He ignores her. Mary hands the papers to Betty.                         MARY          Hi Betty.          Betty just rings up the papers.                         MARY          Did you see the review of          "Hairspray" in the Journal          yesterday? They used the word          "spectacular" -- always a good          sign. Maybe you'd like to go see          it with rne? I have a coupon for          five dollars off.          Betty shoves the newspapers back across the counter, points          at them, then speaks in barely recognizable English.                                                  S.                         BETTY          Nine dollar twenty.          Mary fishes in her bag for money.                         MARY          We could bring your dad if you          want. I don't think the show is          ageist. That means he won't feel          like a loser for being old.          As she takes her time paying, Mr. Takihashi madly gestures          about Mary holding up the line. Betty barks at her.                         BETTY          Pecha kucha! Do Itta!          Betty takes Mary's money, waves her on and helps the next          customer.                         MARY          So no then? That's a no?          Betty ignores her. Mary waits, loads the newspapers into her          bag.          MARY (V.O.)          Sometimes crosswords are even          better than life. Here's how.          They don't discriminate.          Crosswords don't care if you're          young or old; black or white; male,          female or intersex. Crosswords          only care if you're an idiot. And,          really, that's okay, because if you          have the IQ of a yam, finishing a          crossword should be the least of          your worries.          Mary glances up at the TV news once more, then walks away.          INT. CNN LOADING BAY - DAY          A half dozen NEWS CREWS rush to load and unload CNN news ECHS --          vans. JOURNALISTS, PHOTOGRAPHERS,          PRODUCERS, SOUNDyT          all in a mad rush to go get          An unshaven and surprisingly calm STEVE balances camera          equipment in one hand while he scratches a barely legible          "Steve" onto a clipboard. A young PA takes the clipboard,          hands Steve a bunch of gas masks.                                                  9.                         50'S          Steve heads to an open van where a disheveled, mid          producer ANGUS MCCORMACK checks his watch.                         ANGUS          Where the hell is he?                         STEVE          Probably doing his nails.           -- paper          40ish reporter HARTMAN HUGHES rushes to the van on his face.          napkin tucked in his shirt collar, bread crumbs                         HARTMAN          What do you mean "the big one"?          Terrorists, natural disaster, what?                         ANGUS          Pandemic.          Hartman's eyes light up.                         ANGUS          Half of the Midwest and spreading.          Nobody's safe.          Steve tries on a gas mask.                         HARTMAN          Please let it be the bird flu.                         STEVE          Bird flu is for pussies. This          thing's unstoppable.                         HARTMAN          How's it spreading?          Angus looks at Steve.                         STEVE          Squirrels.          Hartman can barely contain his excitement.                         HARTMAN          Oh my God, they're everywhere!                         STEVE          Exactly.                         HARTMAN          Al Qaeda connection?                                                  10.                         ANGUS          Always a possibility.                         STEVE          Who wishes he was in Iraq now?                         HARTMAN          Not me!.          Hartman grabs a gas mask and rushes to the van's side mirror.                         HARTMAN          I need blush. No, wait. I'll go          pasty. It'll look like I could be          the first media victim. "Hartman          Hughes, no such thing as too close          to the story".          Hartman looks back at Steve and Angus. They're just standing          there, unable to keep a straight face. Hartman deflates.                         HARTMAN          Assholes! I knew it was too good          to be true.          He throws his gas mask down, storms off.                         ANGUS          Hartman, come on.          Hartman gets in the elevator, hollers out to them.                         HARTMAN          I had a perfectly good bologna          sandwich going on upstairs.          Wasted!          Angus and Steve watch the elevator door close, shrug it off.                         STEVE          Next E-coli story breaks, he'll be          fine.          EXT. HOROWITZ HOUSE - DAY          An 1890 Colonial Revival home surrounded by White Oaks.          Oversized statue of the Blessed Virgin in the flower bed.          Mezuzah on the door.          Face still in the newspaper, Mary trips up the steps and          skids onto the porch. Her knee starts to bleed.                                                  11.                         MARY          Crap.          INT. HOROWITZ HOUSE - DAY           It's house that's been lived in. Every inch cluttered with           old newspapers, family photos, various objet d'art, and          books, books and more books.           Mary steps out of her boots and marches into the living room          where her 50ish mother, MRS. HOROWITZ, sits reading with MR.          HOROWITZ (late 50's, professorial head to toe, furrowed brow          to worn loafers).                         MARY          "Brilliant" is what they said.          Never in the history of St.          Margaret's Career Day have the          children's brains been so          inordinately stimulated as they          were today by my presentation.          MRS. HOROWITZ          Good for you, sweetie.          Mary pulls the newspapers out of her bag, sorts through them,          stacks them on top of the TV.                         MARY          "Inspired", the teacher told me.          MR. HOROWITZ          You get the Post?          She hands him the paper.                         MARY          "Engrossing" one child exclaimed.          MR. HOROWITZ          A ten year old said that?                         MARY          I'm sure that's what he meant. And          "ebullient"-          MR. HOROWITZ          What happened to your knee?          Mary looks down at the blood dripping down from her knee onto          her sock. She's completely annoyed - more at the question          than the mess.                                                  12.                         MARY          Dad, some of the greatest orators          of all time had their heads chopped          off for their labors. I'm lucky to          escape with a simple flesh wound.          Mary hands over the last newspaper, heads out to the hallway.          Her mother yells to her.          MRS. HOROWITZ          Change those socks before your          date.                         MARY          I told you I'm not going.          MRS. HOROWITZ          Mrs. Alchessi says you'll like this          one.                         MARY          Mrs. Alchessi has gliomatosis          cerebri.          MRS. HOROWITZ          What?                         MARY          A brain tumor characterized by,          among other things, dementia.          She's nuts.          Mary walks up the stairs.          MRS. HOROWITZ          Mary, it's just a date. This is          what normal girls your age do.          Mary stops on the stairs.                         MARY          I'm normal.          Silence from her parents. Mary marches back into the living          room.                         MARY          In fact, I'm normalis extremes.          That's the kind of normal that          doesn't get more normal.          MRS. HANCOCK          Of course you are, sweetie.                                                  13.          Mary looks at her obviously lying mother and uncomfortable          father. Mary's mind reels, like her head is going to          explode. Finally, a determination hits her.                         MARY          I'll go.          Mary bolts up the stairs to her room.          Mr. and Mrs. Horowitz look at each other, surprised, happy.          MR. HOROWITZ          You ever want to see grandchildren,          you better burn the damn boots.          She swats him with her book, tries not to laugh.          INT. HOROWITZ HOUSE - MARY'S ROOM - NIGHT           Storage room or bedroom? Boxes and books all over the place.           In the middle of it all, a bed.           On the dresser, a bunch of photos of Mary Tyler Moore in the - MTM in a          1970's. Taped to the mirror, the chosen photo Horowitz           smart blue sweater and skirt ensemble. An           wears the exact same outfit. Oddly,           surprisingly current and actually hot.           She leans over the gerbil cage next to her desk, taps to wake          up the :Lone, fat occupant.                         MARY          Carol, tonight I have a date. A          blind one. Not the guy, I mean the          situation. We are, as yet, unknown          to one another... It's nerve          wracking, I know. Try not to have          a spontaneous epileptiform seizure.          The doorbell rings. Mary freezes, listens for the muffled          voices downstairs.          She sits on the corner of her bed and breathes rapidly into a          paper bag.          There's a knock on her bedroom door. Mary folds up the bag,          puts it in her pocket for later, then opens the door a crack.          It's her mother.          MRS. HOROWITZ          Guess who's here.                                                  14.                         MARY          I'd rather not.          Mrs. Horowitz opens the door wider, takes a look at Mary,          looks like she's going to cry.          MRS. HOROWITZ          Look at you.                         MARY          i already did. Repeatedly.          MRS. HOROWITZ          You're beautiful.                         MARY          Please don't mean on the inside.          MRS. HOROWITZ          Beautiful and smart. And fun. And          interesting.          Mary takes a deep breath, lets it out fast.                         MARY          Let's hope all that does it for          him.          INT. HOROWITZ HOUSE - HALLWAY - NIGHT          A bored, CNN jacket wearing Steve looks up to see Mrs.          Horowitz descending the stairs. Not far behind, Mary takes          each step like her knees are fused together but still manages          to look hot. Steve's pleasantly surprised.          With one look at Steve, Mary's eyes glaze over as if a choir          is screaming "hallelujah" in her brain.          As Mary reaches the bottom step --                         STEVE          Mary, hi. I'm Steve.          She puts up a finger - "just a second".          She turns around and runs back upstairs. Steve looks at Mrs.          Horowitz, confused.          MRS. HOROWITZ          And how's your mother?                                                  15.                         STEVE          Great. Thanks.          She just stares at him and smiles.          INT. HOROWITZ HOUSE - MARY'S ROOM - NIGHT          Mary runs into her room, kneels down in front of the mizrach          and crucifix on the wall. Hands clasped in prayer.                         MARY          Gods. You may have noticed that          I'm wearing clean socks.          Translation: I'm really trying and          thus should be amply rewarded.          Thanks for your support.          She gets up, has a second thought, gets back onto her knees.                         MARY          And by support I don't mean, you          know -          She hikes up her bra.                         MARY          I mean your assistance, your          furtherance, your advocacy of my          efforts to get out there and... do          what I'm supposed to do.          She concentrates hard, opens her eyes. Now she's ready.          INT. HOROWITZ HOUSE - HALLWAY - NIGHT          Steve waits as Mary walks down the stairs again, this time a          bit more relaxed.          MRS. HOROWITZ          There we go.          Mary makes it to the bottom of the stairs, steps into her red          boots. Her mother cringes. Steve's a bit surprised at the          boots but who cares, Mary's still hot from the knee caps up.                         STEVE          Ready?          Mary nods a bunch of times.                                                  16.                         STEVE          Mrs. Horowitz. Goodnight.          (calling into living room)          Sir.          MR. HOROWITZ (O.S.)          You kids have fun.          MRS. HOROWITZ          Be careful now. Don't forget your          seatbelts.          Mrs. Horowitz sees them out the door then heads into the          living room. She waves to them out the window, trying to          hide her worry but failing miserably.          MR. HOROWITZ          She'll be fine.          They look at each other - a bit of hope, a bit of dread.          EXT. STREET - NIGHT          Steve unlocks the driver's side door of his SUV while Mary          waits at her door, nervous but smiling.                         STEVE          Sorry about this blind date thing.          My mother -                         MARY          I never went to kindergarten!          He looks at her, totally confused.                         MARY          They skipped me to the forth grade.                         STEVE          Okay.          She gets in the car, fastens her seatbelt. Steve hesitates          then heads to the driver's side, gets in.                         MARY          I missed finger painting.          He has no clue what to say.                         STEVE          Sorry?                                                  17.                         MARY          Me too.          She lunges for his lips but the seatbelt snaps her back          inches short.                         STEVE          Whoa!          Undeterred by the whiplash, Mary undoes her seatbelt and          tries again, this time making contact with Steve's lips.          He's more than a little startled but kisses her back anyway,          all the while straining to see the Horowitz house.                         STEVE          Mary... uh, what about your mother?          She straddles him and keeps kissing.                         MARY          You're not her type. And she's          married.                         STEVE          No, we're right in front of your          house and...          She undoes her sweater.                         STEVE          And I have no problem with that          whatsoever.          She kisses his neck. He looks up with a "thank you, God".                         MARY          Steve?                         STEVE          Mary.                         MARY          Is it Steven with a V or Stephen          with a P-H?                         STEVE          V.          She works over his face over like it's an ice cream cone.                                                  18.                         MARY          I thought so. There are almost a          million Stevens with a V in the          country, you know. It's much more          popular than the P-H way, almost          twice as popular in fact. I think          it's the Brits who prefer the P-H.          They love their P-H's over there.          Not as much as they love their fish          and chips but still, they love          them. It was the media thing, you          know, that's why our moms wanted us          to get together. You work in the          media, so do I. We really have to          hand it to our moms, Steve, we do,          and not just for raising us, or for          thriving during a time when women          painstakingly struggled for          equality, but I mean we should hand          it to them for being visionaries          and predicting our all encompassing          compatibility. We're          professionally compatible, yes, but          it's occurring to me at this          particular moment that we're also          sexually compatible, and I don't          know if you noticed like I noticed          but we're also both wearing blue.          What are the chances of that?          Actually, if I really think about          it, the chances are probably pretty          good. Blue is one of the most          popular three colors, however,          yours is-          She leans forward and checks the fabric tag on the neck of          his jacket. She can't quite read it. She reaches up and          flips on the interior light. Steve's just about blinded.          She grabs the tag, reads.                         MARY          Nylon. And mine...          She grabs her own tag and reads it, just about elbowing Steve          in the eye.                         MARY          Polyester! See? Both synthetic          fibres! And the chances of that          are much smaller than the chances          of us just wearing blue.          Steve looks at Mary - suddenly fully aware of her craziness.                                                  19.                         MARY          Do you like crosswords?                         STEVE          Sure.          She just about jumps out of her pants with excitement.                         MARY          Me too! And semantics, the study          of the meaning of words? You love          words, right?                         STEVE          What's not to love.                         MARY          I know!          She can hardly believe her good fortune. Her mind reels just          as fast as her lips.                         MARY          Steve with a V, you know what we          are? We're didymous. Two of a          kind. Two rare earth elements          brought together by Norns, that's          Scandinavian for The Destinies.          You want to make out for ten to          fifteen minutes more then go get a          six pack of Twinkies and Mountain          Dew and stay up all night and talk?          Steve is frozen. No escape - then it hits him. He jumps a          bit, pulls out his cell phone.                         STEVE          Sorry. I have to get this.                         MARY          I didn't hear it ring.                         STEVE          Vibrate.                         MARY          I didn't feel it                         STEVE          You didn't?          (into phone)          This is Steve... What? Really?          Now? If I don't have a choice...                                                  20.          He hangs up, looks at Mary like he feels bad.                         STEVE          Work. I have to go to... Boston.          This happens all the time. You          know how it is. Wherever news          happens...          Mary gets off of him, slides back into her seat, buttons her          sweater.                         MARY          It's okay. When you get back we          can have plenty of quality time.                         STEVE          Sure. I'll call you.          He leans over, opens her door.                         MARY          Steve, this has been a night to          remember.                         STEVE          No kidding. You certainly are -          He searches for any word that will do. Mary jumps in.                         MARY          Normal.                         STEVE          You read my mind.          Never happier, she jumps out of the car.          As he drives away, she pulls the paper bag out of her pocket,          breathes into it.          INT. HOROWITZ HOUSE - NIGHT          Mary's parents hear the door open then Mary's footsteps hit          the stairs. Mrs. Horowitz jumps up, rushes to meet her.          MRS. HOROWITZ          Sweetie, what's wrong? What          happened? My God, you've barely          been gone ten minutes.          Mary stops on the stairs, turns back.                                                  21.                         MARY          Mom, sometimes that's all you need          to know he's the one!          Mary smiles big, takes the rest of the stairs up two at a          time. Mrs. Horowitz is about to follow her.          MR. HOROWITZ          That girl makes up her mind the          moon is green, it's green. Leave          her be. It'll pass. Eventually.          Mrs. Horowitz moves away from the stairs, no less worried.          INT. HOROWITZ HOUSE - MARY'S ROOM - NIGHT          Mary leaps from the doorway and lands on her bed in pencil          pose, smiling up at the ceiling.                         MARY          Eleven letter word for serendipity.          She screams into her pillow.                         MARY          The perfect answer: S-E-R-E-N-D-I-P-          I-T-Y. Serendipity. Why would you          ever need a better word than that?          She sits up, grabs her notebook, starts to draw out a new          crossword puzzle.          - DAY          INT. ATLANTA CITIZEN NEWSPAPER OFFICES          A busy newspaper office. COURIERS make deliveries,          JOURNALISTS talk at their desks, SECRETARIES count the          minutes until they can go home.          In the Editor's office, JIM SOLOMAN looks over the newspaper          layout with an ASSISTANT.                         SOLOMAN          Let's split the gardening feature          into two weeks. Keep them in          suspense.          He steps back, looks at the whole layout.                         SOLOMAN          Looks good. How are we doing here?                                                  22.          He checks his watch.                         SOLOMAN          Five minutes to spare. Look at          that.          The Assistant points to a blank corner of page 26. Soloman's          surprised, and not particularly impressed.                         SOLOMAN          Horowitz.          INT. ATLANTA CITIZEN BUILDING - ELEVATOR - DAY          Mary stands at the front of the full elevator, smiling, a          piece of paper gripped in her hand.          MARY (V.0.)          When I was a fledgling (that means          novice) crossword constructor, I          would find comfort in the words of          the learned crossword sages. Above          all, my hero is Manny Nosowsky,          frequent New York Times contributor          and all around cruciverbial master.          INT. ATLANTA CITIZEN NEWSPAPER OFFICES - DAY          Mary walks out of the elevator and heads through the office.          Nobody seems to notice her.          MARY (V.O.)          Manny says that a crossword          puzzle's greatness can be          determined by asking three simple          questions.          She marches in the direction of the Editor's office.          MARY (V.0.)          Is it solvable?          She almost collides with a mail cart but keeps walking.          MARY (V.0.)          Is it entertaining?          She arrives at the Editor's office, plants her feet in the          doorway.                                                  23.          MARY (V.O.)          Does it s arkle?          She looks down at the crossword puzzle in her hands, smiles,          holds it out for Soloman.          Soloman grabs the crossword and hands it right to the          Assistant, who rushes it out the door.          INT. HAIR SALON - DAY          Two OLD LADIES sit under the hair dryers, each doing the          Atlanta Citizen crossword puzzle. They're stumped. The          first Old Lady hollers over the noise of the dryer.          OLD LADY          I CAN'T GET ANY OF THESE!          The other Old Lady holds up her blank crossword, shrugs.          INT. TAXI - DAY          The TAXI DRIVER sits in the parked taxi doing the crossword.          TAXI DRIVER          This is bullshit.          INT. STARBUCKS - DAY                         A          A long haired GUY gets up from his seat, puts his coat on.          male EXECUTIVE sits down and spots the newspaper opened to          the crossword puzzle.                         GUY          Don't even bother, man. I don't          know what the deal is, but it looks           like all the answers are --          INT. ATLANTA CITIZEN - EDITOR'S OFFICE - DAY          Soloman holds up the crossword page.                         SOLOMAN          Steve?          Mary sits and smiles.                                                  24.                         SOLOMAN          Every single answer is "Steve"?          Who the hell is Steve anyway? No          wait, I don't care, but I do care          that you pissed off our readers.          Mary's smile falls a bit.                         SOLOMAN          I thought you knew better than to          pull something like this. It's           unprofessional, it's --           to him.          He's too frustrated, the words aren't coming                          MARY           Romantic?                          SOLOMAN           No!                         MARY          Creativo? That's Italian for          "creative".                         SOLOMAN          No.                         MARY          How about -                         SOLOMAN          Mary. We're letting you go.                         MARY          Oh.           up her Kroger          She looks like she's going to cry. She picks          bag, fidgets.                         MARY          Maybe I could make it up to you by          doing a fishing themed crossword.          I know how you love the          piscatology.          Soloman shakes his head -- it's done.          Mary hesitates then finally gets up.                         MARY          Okay. I'll just give you some time          then. We'll talk next week.                                                  25.          He ignores that. She walks out, seemingly content, a bit of          denial.          A PAYROLL CLERK sees the elevator doors close behind Mary.          PAYROLL CLERK          She forgot her severance.                         ASSISTANT          Don't you mean "Steverance"?          They both laugh.          EXT. HOROWITZ HOUSE - DAY           Mary walks up to the front steps where Mr. Horowitz sits                          THE          waiting for her. She sits down beside him. He holds up          Atlanta Citizen crossword.          MR. HOROWITZ          Interesting way to go.                         MARY          Indeed.          MR. HOROWITZ          They like it?          She points to the other newspaper in his lap.                         MARY          Finished with the Times?          She goes to take the paper. He stops her.          MR. HOROWITZ          Neshama, the puzzle. How'd it go?          She looks around. Nowhere to run.                         MARY          How do you think?          She looks at him -- worry all over his face. She hesitates          for a moment then sucks it up.                         MARY          Because if you're thinking that          they loved it, that they thought it          was imaginative and bold and          evocative... you would be right.                                                  26.          He's not sure how to take that.          MR. HOROWITZ          And Steve?                         MARY          He works a lot, you know. Travels          all the time. 'Tis possible he has          not yet espied it.          She picks up the crossword, admires it.                         MARY          But when he does, I'm sure he'll          say, "that Mary Horowitz... is a          catch. Where oh where has she been          all my empty life? From here          onward my life will be divided into          'before I met Mary' and 'after I          met Mary' with the second part          being far superior. I am lonely no          more. The missing letter in my          puzzle has at last been found."          MR. HOROWITZ          I don't want you getting your hopes          up too much.                         MARY          I'm not.          INT. CNN ATLANTA - DAY          An exec office. Steve relaxes on the sofa next to Angus          while Hartman noses around the office.                         ANGUS          We're going to hit rush. We'll          have to take the second flight.          Exec. Producer DAN CORBITT walks in, heads straight for his          desk.                         CORBITT          You're set. KDFW's on site now.          Angus and Steve start to get up.                         CORBITT          Hang on.          They sit. Corbitt grabs the remote control, turns the TV on.                                                  27.                         CORBITT          Anybody want to tell me about this?          He fast forwards through footage of Hartman reporting from a          greenhouse. Corbitt slows it to normal speed, mutes it.          They watch as Hartman interviews an attractive female          BOTANIST holding a test tube with a seedling in it. Hartman          keeps pointing to the seedling - which happens to be right in          front of the Botanist's generous breasts.          The camera gets closer and closer - each time it pulls away          Hartman points to the seedling again to force the camera in          close - basically turning the piece into a giant boob-fest.                         ANGUS          Take a look at those... plants.          Corbitt pauses it on the worst shot, looks at Steve.                         CORBITT          We can't use this.          Hartman fakes disgust.                         HARTMAN          Of course not. Nice camera work,          Stevie.          Steve glares at Hartman. Corbitt points at the frozen shot          on the TV screen, looks at Steve.                         CORBITT          You want to go back to the Weather          Channel, try that again.          Corbitt checks his watch, points them out the door.                         CORBITT          Get out of here. Don't embarrass          me in Dallas.          Hartman, Angus and Steve walk out. Steve nods to Hartman -          thanks asshole.          In the hallway, Steve's cell phone rings. He answers it.                         STEVE          What?... Mom, let me call you          back.                                                  28.          He listens, signals to Angus he needs a minute, then stops at          a reception area. He sorts through the newspapers, pulls out          the Atlanta Citizen, flips through it.                         STEVE          What page?          He finds Mary's crossword. He looks at it closely, totally          confused. It takes him more than a second to get it.          He laughs -- then suddenly reality sets in.                         STEVE          Jesus.          INT. HOROWITZ HOUSE - BATHROOM - NIGHT          Mary does a crossword while soaking in the bathtub. Without          missing an answer, she reaches over the side of the tub,          grabs the telephone on the floor. She checks the dial tone,          hangs up quickly, continues with the puzzle.                         MARY          Four letter word for am I going to          wait my whole life for Steve to          call?          She suddenly stops writing.                         MARY          Nope.          She flails out of the tub like a salmon heading upstream,          grabs a towel barely big enough to cover her. Without any          effort to dry off, she runs out of the bathroom.          INT. HOROWITZ HOUSE - HALLWAY / LIVING ROOM - NIGHT          Towel wrapped around her but barely covering, Mary reaches          the top of the stairs. Her wet feet sliding all over the          place, she opts for the safety of a banister slide. She gets          up on it, slides a few inches before realizing what a bad          idea it was.                         MARY          Ow ow ouch.          She gets off the banister, slops the rest of the way down the          stairs, jumps into the doorway of the living room.                                                  29.                         MARY          The news is Steve's life! It's not          just what he does, it's who he is,          imbedded deep down in his polymer          of nucleotides. I should be out          there by his side. That's what          girlfriends do, isn't it? Let him          concentrate on his work. I'll          concentrate on the relationship.          It won't be easy, I know, but          neither is quantum physics or...          the Heisenberg Uncertainty          Principle or... paper mache, but          I've managed to do fine with those,          haven't I?          She looks at her parents. They sit at a table playing bridge          with MR. and MRS. HANCOCK.          MRS. HOROWITZ          Mary, you remember the Hancocks.                         MARY          Top of the evening.          Mr. Hancock checks out Mary's bare legs as she stands in a          puddle of bath water. Mrs. Hancock lifts her husband's chin,          snaps him out of it.          MRS. HANCOCK          Loved this week's puzzle, dear.          Whoever Steve is, he must be a very          lucky young man.          Mr. Horowitz gives Mrs. Hancock a look - "don't encourage          her".                         MARY          Exactly! And all I have to do is          go to him, be near him, and do my          best to radiate... me.          Mr. Horowitz doesn't like the sound of this.          MR. HOROWITZ          And where exactly will this          radiation take place?          Mary rushes to the TV, turns it on, flips it to CNN.          ON THE TV:                                                  30.          A shot of the Medieval Times castle in Dallas, TX. The          banner on the screen reads "WORKPLACE KILLING".                         MARY          Wherever news happens, Dad.          Wherever news happens.          EXT. GREYHOUND BUS STATION - ATLANTA - DAY          PASSENGERS board the bus destined for Dallas. Way too          excited in her red boots, Mary is the last in line. She hugs          her mother then jumps up onto the first step of the bus. Mr.          Horowitz holds Mary's knapsack and Kroger bag, shakes his          head in disbelief.          MR. HOROWITZ          This is nuts.          Mary takes the bags from him.                         MARY          Abe, Catherine, I'm off. I don't          know where I'm going -          The Greyhound Bus DRIVER hollers from behind her.                         DRIVER          Dallas.                         MARY          Geographically yes, I know.          Figuratively, philosophically,          spiritually, much less so. My          entire life is before me. The          world is my ostrea edulis... That          means the edible kind of oyster.          MRS. HOROWITZ          That's beautiful, sweetie. You          sure you won't take mine instead?          She tries to switch her leather bag for Mary's Kroger bag.          Mary resists, points back and forth between the two bags.                         MARY          Mom, two handles, two handles, they          both hold stuff, what's the          difference?          Mrs. Horowitz goes to explain, gives up.                                                  31.          MR. HOROWITZ          That Steve shows any disrespect,          you're on the next bus back here.                         MARY          Disrespect. Do you mean          unmannerly, tactless, vulgar?          Because he's a straight man, Dad,          and some things can't be helped.          But if you mean inconsiderate to          me, contemptuous toward me,          insulting, irreverent, uncivil -                         DRIVER          Let's go already!          She steps up one more step, yells out to her parents and the                         WORLD:                         MARY          I don't know when I'll be back but          I do know this-          The door shuts in her face.          INT. GREYHOUND BUS DAY          Mary waves to her worried parents through the closed door.                         MARY          (to herself)          I'm not coming back alone.          EXT. MEDIEVAL TIMES - DALLAS - DAY          Local and national NEWS CREWS are camped across the road from          the Medieval Times castle. Among them, Steve holds the CNN          camera on Hartman. A young audio tech JOSH hovers nearby.                         HARTMAN          Paula, what started out as a          routine rehearsal here at the          Dallas Medieval Times turned deadly          when an employee allegedly turned          on his fellow performers. Twenty-          four hours later, at least thirty          employees are still being held          hostage by the assailant, their          lives hanging in the balance.          He listens to his earpiece, nods.                                                  32.                         HARTMAN          The castle you see behind me is one          of eight medieval Times dinner          theatre restaurants. Guests who          cross the drawbridge enjoy a          medieval style feast while watching          the main attraction: knights          engaging in a battle of strength          and skill. The restaurant promises          "fun, feasting and fighting" but it          appears that this time, fun was in          short supply.          A few feet away, Angus frantically takes notes as he talks to          a MAINTENANCE WORKER, then slips a piece of paper to Hartman.                         HARTMAN          Paula, devastating news just in.          We have one confirmed death - an          Andalusian - a purebred Spanish          horse. One of many that perform in          the show, and the first innocent          victim of a rogue knight's rage...          He takes a moment to fake compose himself, barely getting the          words out.                         HARTMAN          At times like this, I like to think          there's a heaven just for horses.          A rolling meadow, lush grasses,          unlimited supply of... those things          horses like to lick - or is that          cows? Nevertheless, a beautiful,          peaceful place.          He turns and looks toward to the Medieval Times.                         HARTMAN          May you long roam in that heaven,          noble horse -          Angus hands him another note. Hartman scans it, instantly          kills the fake anguish.                         HARTMAN          But not quite yet. We're the first          to report, the horse is not dead,          Paula. Not dead. The horse is          alive and well after having merely          fainted, as it was trained to do          for the show. One happy, blessed          miracle...                         (MORE)                                                  33.          HARTMAN (cont'd)          while a deranged madman continues          to hold the lives of his coworkers          in his depraved hands.          And they're out. A pissed off Hartman pulls out his          earpiece.                         HARTMAN          Dammit, Angus. Get it a bit closer          to right before you hand it to me.          Josh moves in, removes Hartman's mic.                         STEVE          But then we wouldn't have heard          about horse heaven.          Josh and Angus laugh.                         HARTMAN          It's that kind of genius that won          me the Southeast Idaho Christian          Family Coalition's Journalist of          the Year award, you ingrates.          INT. GREYHOUND BUS - NIGHT          The bus is full. Most PASSENGERS sleep.          Mary sits in the aisle seat of the first row, a BURLY MAN in          his 60's beside her. The light above their seats illuminates          the crossword puzzle he's working on. Mary looks over his          shoulder, points to the blank spaces in his puzzle.                         MARY          Omaha... Einstein... cholera...          grenade... Bach... oui...          potbelly... Oreo.          The man drops the crossword, glares at her.                         MARY          Sorry.          She looks away, starts biting her nails, then spots a sign on          the freeway, calls-out to the Driver and anybody else who          will listen.                         MARY          Bessemer, Alabama! Named after Sir          Henry Bessemer, a Brit. Guess what          he did? Perfected the way steel is          made, of course.                         (MORE)                                                  34.          MARY (cont'd)          I won't bore you with the whole          story, just the best parts, like          how it involves molten pig iron          which does not, as one might think,          have anything to do with pigs.          It's actually a raw iron made from          iron ore, plus limestone, plus coke          - and by coke I mean the          carbonaceous residue, not the cola,          or the booger sugar.          Mary looks around for a response -- nothing.                         MARY          You know what else is in Bessemer?          The city, I mean? Hitler's          typewriter. It's crazy, I know.          That guy was such an asshole.           The Driver's eyes glaze over. Please let this and.          EXT. REST STOP - NIGHT          The bus pulls into the rundown rest stop.          INT. GREYHOUND BUS - NIGHT          The Driver looks at the passengers. Most of them are still          sleeping.                         DRIVER          We'll just take five minutes here.          He steps off the bus. Mary turns to the man next to her.                         MARY          Can you watch my stuff?          He glares at her -- you have got to be kidding. Mary grabs          her backpack and Kroger bag and steps off the bus.          INT. REST STOP - NIGHT          Mary walks into the restaurant, heads toward the ladies room.          On her way, she spots a television behind the counter. A few          DINERS watch. Mary joins them.          On the TV: "MEDIEVAL TIMES HOSTAGE CRISIS".                                                  35.                         HARTMAN          (on TV)          Perhaps the greatest obstacle the          hostage negotiators face is the          suspect's refusal to communicate          using modern day technology. In          keeping with his role as a medieval          knight, he's insisting on an          eleventh century messenger to          deliver all communication.          The screen splits with a female news ANCHOR.                         ANCHOR          What are we talking about here,          Hartman? Carrier pigeons?                         MARY          Homing pigeons.          A few of the Diners overhear.                         HARTMAN          Actually, homing pigeons.          The Diners look at Mary.                         MARY          Carrier pigeons, despite their          name, are more or less useless when          it comes to actually carrying          anything. Homing pigeons are          better for messenger work...          The Diners lose interest. Mary catches the eye of a WANDERER          at the end of the counter. He's hanging on her every word.                         MARY          You know who used them all the          time? Genghis Khan. Loved the          pigeons, scared to death of pooches          though.          The Wanderer just stares at her.                         MARY          You know, dogs, canines, de honden?          Still nothing. She looks back at the TV.                                                  36.                         ANCHOR          Have the negotiators located any          homing pigeons? Where do you even          get them in this day and age?                         HARTMAN          You can buy them on the internet          for twenty-five bucks a pop.          Mary looks at the Diners, smiles, points to the TV.                         MARY          My boyfriend is probably holding          that camera right now.          The Diners ignore her and just eat their pie. Mary realizes          the time, runs out of the rest stop.          EXT. REST STOP - NIGHT          Mary runs out into the parking lot. The bus is gone.                         MARY          Crap! Crap, crap, crap!          She looks down the road -- no sign of the bus anywhere. She          takes her paper bag out of her pocket, breathes into it.          A TRUCK DRIVER passes her with coffee in hand, on his way to          his rig.                         MARY          Do you know when the next bus to          Dallas goes through here?          TRUCK DRIVER          Can't say I do.                         MARY          I missed mine.          She breathes double time into the paper bag. He takes pity          on her.          TRUCK DRIVER          I'm headed that way.          He points to his truck. Mary looks at the truck, looks at          him, looks at the truck, thinks about it for a long time.                                                  37.          With no sign of an answer forthcoming, the Truck Driver keeps          walking to his rig. When he's just about there, Mary yells          out to him.                         MARY          You ever killed animals?          He looks at her, surprised but amused.          TRUCK DRIVER          Road kill?                         MARY          Set a garbage can full of kittens          on fire or anything like that?          Now he's disturbed.          TRUCK DRIVER          No.                         MARY          Humans?          TRUCK DRIVER          Would I tell you if I did?                         MARY          Touche, sir. Touche.          Mary thinks some more.          TRUCK DRIVER          Wait for the next bus if that suits          you.          He climbs into the truck. Mary runs to catch up with him.                         MARY          Do you have a .light? Matches,          Zippo, blow torch, et al?          TRUCK DRIVER          Afraid not.                         MARY          May I see your license?          Why not. He pulls his license out of the visor, flashes it.          Mary steps up and grabs it, looks at it closely.                         MARY          Norman James Durwood.                                                  38.          She reaches up and shakes his hand.                         MARY          Mary Magdalene Horowitz.          TRUCK DRIVER/NORM          Good to meet you... I think.          Still holding the license, she digs in her Kroger bag, pulls          out a large black magic marker. She pushes up her sleeve and          writes Norm's license number in huge print down her arm.                         MARY          Norm, if you're going to rape and          murder me, you'll have to cut me up          into a million chunks and scatter           me all over four states, otherwise          this appendage -          She holds her arm up, shows him.                         MARY          Will lead homicide detectives right          to you.          She smiles at him warmly, puts the marker back in her bag.                         MARY          And you already told me you don't          have a light to burn the flesh off.          Norm can't believe this. Before he can say a word, Mary          moves around to the passenger side, hops up into the truck.          She notices some snacks on the dash.                         MARY          Moon Pies! Want to go halfsies?          At a loss, Norm motions for Mary to help herself. As she          unwraps a Pie, he reluctantly starts up the truck.          EXT. MEDIEVAL TIMES - DALLAS - NIGHT          Steve reloads his battery camera at the rental van. Angus          looks over paperwork.                         ANGUS          Rebecca wants you to come for          dinner when we're back home. Her          cousin from Florida -                                                  39.                         STEVE          Forget it.                         ANGUS          What?                         STEVE          It's a set up.                         ANGUS          She's hot.                         STEVE          I don't care. Never again. My mom          set me up with this chick -                         ANGUS          You let you mother set you up?          What the hell is wrong with you?          There's a commotion in the distance. Every photographer on          the grounds focuses on the castle. Reporters jump into          position.          Hartman touches up his make-up, roots through his bag. He          yells out to Steve, Angus and Josh.                         HARTMAN          Which one of you bastards hid my          bronzing shimmer?          The police surrounding the castle take aim.          Dead silence as the Medieval Times drawbridge lowers.          A KNIGHT walks out, arms raised as high as his squeaking          armor will allow, which is not very high, but high enough to          get the point across -- Surrender.          INT. NORM'S TRUCK -- NIGHT          Norm drives as Mary drones on while flipping through a truck          repair manual.                         MARY          And my other rule about crossword          puzzles is this. No pencils.          Doing a crossword with a pencil is          like screaming with your lips duct          taped together. It's weak.                         (MORE)                                                  40.          MARY (cont'd)          If you're going to do a crossword,          you should do it fearlessly, with          abandon, and with a pen. I prefer          a medium tip, felt, blue -                         NORM          Quiet time might be good right          about now.                         MARY          Oh.          She thinks about it, whispers.                         MARY          Do you mean quiet as in softly          hushed like this? Or do you mean          quiet, as in silent?          He nods. Mary squeezes her lips together, holds them. It          lasts for about a second.                         MARY          Norm?                         NORM          What?                         MARY          Thanks for not raping me.                         NORM          My pleasure.          EXT. ROUTE 20 - DAY           As the sun comes up, Norm's truck drives into Dallas.           EXT. MEDIEVAL TIMES - DALLAS - DAY           Norm's truck drives away, leaving Mary standing on the side          of Interstate 35. She looks across the road to the Medieval          Times -- it's completely deserted.                         MARY          Eight letter word for "screwed".          Mary crosses to the Medieval Times parking lot, steps over          the police line blowing in the wind.                         MARY          F-A-S-T-E-N-E-D. Fastened.                                                  41.          She looks around. There's nobody for miles.          MARY (V.O.)          That's what's great about          crosswords, and life. Every once          in a while, you get a surprise.          She heads back to the interstate, starts walking.          INT. BUS STATION - DAY          Mary walks past TV in the bus station tuned to Fox News.          On every screen - images of an upset WOMAN dodging press to          get through the doors of Children's Hospital, Oklahoma City.          The screen caption: "The Fight for Baby Peggy".          EXT. CITY STREET -- DAY          Mary talks on a pay phone.                         MARY          All roads lead to Oklahoma, Papa.          INT. HOROWITZ HOUSE - DAY          Mary's parents share the phone.          MR. HOROWITZ          Last time I checked, freeway 20          still heads right back here.          EXT. CITY STREET - DAY          Mary continues on the phone.                         MARY          My road, dad. My road. You don't          commit to a relationship and then          give up because you'd rather be at          home curled up in front of the          fireplace with a thesaurus. This          is what people are supposed to do -          go out on a limb for love. My limb          just happens to be in Oklahoma.          It's only 850 miles away from home.          No big deal.                         (MORE)                                                  42.          MARY (cont'd)          Just think of this like the time I          went to Girl Scout camp, except for          the part where I got kicked out.          This time, no unsupervised butane          experiment is going to ruin the          adventure, I swear.          INT. HOROWITZ HOUSE - DAY          Mrs. Horowitz hangs up the phone. Mr. Horowitz walks to the          TV, turns it on, flips stations.          MR. HOROWITZ          Oklahoma.          Images of the Oklahoma hospital vigil are everywhere.          Captions like "Breaking News: Baby Peggy" flash across the          screen.          EXT. OKLAHOMA CITY CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL - DAY          Dozens of local and national news vans line the streets          surrounding the hospital.          A long line of news crews, views of the hospital's admitting          entrance behind them. At one end of the line, a male KOCO          (Oklahoma) REPORTER talks to camera.          KOCO REPORTER          Eleven months ago, the child we've          come to know as Baby Peggy was born          with an extremely rare birth          defect, a third leg. Shortly after          the birth, her parents Misty and          Bill Dunlevy separated. Now with          joint custody, one parent wants the          baby to keep the third leg, the          other wants it gone...          A few feet away, a female FOX NEWS REPORTER is on camera.          FOX NEWS REPORTER          After months of legal wrangling, a          judge has ordered in favor of the          mother. Amputation surgery is          scheduled for Wednesday but the          father, Bill Dunlevy, isn't about          to give up. As his lawyers work to          secure an injunction, the devoted          father rallies public support for          the extra limb.                                                  43.          At the end of the long line of news crews, Steve has the          camera on Hartman.                         HARTMAN                         (READING)          "God wouldn't have given my child          the third leg if he didn't want her          to keep it." But for now, the fate          of that precious child's third leg          is the hands of a judge... This is          Hartman Hughes reporting, live from          Oklahoma City.          Steve signals they've cut, lowers his camera. Hartman calls          out to Angus.                         HARTMAN          What if next time I say Baby Peggy          is like the wishbone of her          parents' dispute?          Hartman acts out a wishbone pull. Steve's disgusted.                         STEVE          Yeah, go ahead and suggest that.          Corbitt will love it.          Steve turns and looks toward the edge of the fenced off          hospital grounds. Dozens of PROTESTORS are camped out - a          sorry assortment of oddballs standing at the fence, waving          their signs: "SPARE THE LEG", and "HONOR THE FATHER". Many          of them carry drawings of a three legged baby wearing a halo.          Steve braces himself and heads for the crowd. Half way          across, he spots a loner walking from the parking lot. He's          35, chubby, his shirt buttoned one button off so it hangs          lower on the left. This is HOWARD. In one hand: a pro-leg          sign. In his other hand: a carton of chocolate milk.          Howard stops to lick up the chocolate milk spilling all over          his arm. Steve catches up with him.                         STEVE          Mind if I ask you a few questions          on camera?                         HOWARD          Me?                         STEVE          How do you feel about what's going          on here?                                                  44.          Steve shoulders his camera, focuses in on Howard's sign.          It's an impressively detailed drawing of a judge yanking a          baby's third leg off.                         HOWARD          I haven't made up my mind yet.          Both parties have valid arguments.          EXT. 13TH STREET - DAY          HOSPITAL STAFF, PROTESTORS and the curious PUBLIC approach          the hospital grounds.          A taxi inches through the crowd. It barely stops when Mary          leaps out like she's late for a Yanni concert.          EXT. OKLAHOMA CITY CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL - DAY          Mary steps onto the hospital grounds and looks all around her          - NEWS CREWS circulate, PATIENTS and staff walk in and out of          the hospital, protestors line the fence. Somewhere in the          middle, she finds what she's hunting for -- Steve.          Mary's face lights up and she starts running toward him - in          her mind, no doubt in slow motion, with clouds parting to          light her way.          Steve's attention is drawn away from the interview with          Howard. He spots Mary running toward him, arms outstretched.                         STEVE          Please God, no.          He looks for a place to hide but she's running ridiculously          fast. It's too late. She's only a few feet away.                         MARY          Steve!          She jumps into his arms but he's only got one arm free and          isn't about to use it to catch her. She slides down his leg          to the ground but quickly picks herself up.                         MARY          I'm here! Surprised?                         STEVE          Surprised?                                                  45.                         MARY          Astounded, flabbergasted,          bushwacked -          He pulls Mary off to the side, away from everybody.                         STEVE          What are you doing?                         MARY          Talking to you. And noticing how          the Oklahoma climate agrees with          your complexion.                         STEVE          Tell me you didn't come all the way          here just to see me.                         MARY          Of course not... I went to Dallas          looking for you first. And you          know why?          Steve grabs his head. This is not happening.                         MARY          Because you're inimitable and I'm          intransigent.                         STEVE          No, we're not. I don't know what          that means but trust me. We're so          not.                         MARY          It means you're awesome and I'm          unstoppable.                         STEVE          Great. Listen, Mary, you seem like          a nice girl, and the ten minutes we          spent together were --                         MARY          Mind blowing.          At a complete loss, he just goes along.                         STEVE          Sure, but I'm working here.          Working.                                                  46.          Mary points to the partially hidden side door of the          hospital. A MAN with his face covered, in a nurse's uniform          and dress shoes, sneaks out the door unnoticed.                         MARY          I know. I'm just here to support          you, show you I care, and also ask          why you aren't following that guy          pretending to be a nurse but          obviously not wearing sterilizable,          non-slip footwear.          Steve looks toward the hospital, spots the Man.                         MARY          If I was Baby Peggy's dad, that's          how I'd avoid the press too.          Steve takes off running. Mary yells out to him.                         MARY          I'll be right here in case you want          to make out later on!          Steve looks back, a bunch of people stare. Mary waves to him          then watches until he's out of sight.          A SECURITY GUARD approaches her.          SECURITY GUARD          Miss, if you want to be here,          you're going to have to stay behind          the fence.          Mary turns to see what he's pointing at - the growing crowd          of protestors off in the distance. They wave their signs          around, cry, sing and sway together, their painful song          barely audible from afar.                         PROTESTORS          Near, far, wherever you are, we          believe that the leg should stay          on...          Mary watches, paralyzed with awe, like seeing herself in the          mirror for the first time ever.          At last, she has found her people.                                                  47.          EXT. OKLAHOMA PROTESTORS CAMP - DAY          An overweight 30ish woman ELIZABETH (who shouldn't be wearing          those low rise pants and cropped tee) lights a bunch of          candles in the grass behind the protestor fence. She reaches          the last candle in line just as Mary walks up to join the          group.          Elizabeth looks up at Mary, smiles.                         ELIZABETH          I like your boots.                         MARY          Thanks. I found them in an alley.          Elizabeth looks at the boots again, impressed. She stands          up.                         ELIZABETH          Are you pro-leg or anti-leg?                         MARY          Neither really.                         ELIZABETH          This is the pro-leg group over          here. We're supporting Baby          Peggy's dad in his fight to save          the baby's third leg.          She points to the end of the fenced off area where only a few           protestors hold anti-leg signs:"NORMAL LIFE FOR BABY PEGGY",          "3 LEGS ARE NOT BETTER THAN 2".                         ELIZABETH          Those are the anti-leggers.          They're all for the amputation.                         MARY          I'm just here because my boyfriend          is working the story. He's with          CNN, the world's news leader, the          most trusted name in news, the          place where more -                         ELIZABETH          The pro-leggers have better snacks.                         MARY          I'm definitely pro-leg.                                                  48.          Elizabeth smiles, hands Mary a candle.          INT. HOROWITZ HOUSE -- NIGHT          Mr. and Mrs. Horowitz watch TV and read at the same time.          The TV is on mute --- CNN's Baby Peggy coverage.          In the corner of the screen, "amputation countdown - 35          hours". Shots of the protestors' candlelight vigil appear on          the screen.          Mrs. Horowitz spots Mary in the crowd, standing next to          Elizabeth. She sings and waves her candle around, all the          while straining to look for Steve.          MRS. HOROWITZ          There she is! Abe, look! There          she is right there.          Mr. Horowitz glances up from his book.          MR. HOROWITZ          She's going to set her hair on fire          with that candle.          MRS. HOROWITZ          Look, she's made friends.          Mrs. Horowitz tries not to cry.          EXT. OKLAHOMA MEDIA CAMP - NIGHT          At the back doors of the rental van, Steve and Angus work on          laptops. Steve confides in Angus, trying not to wake up          Hartman sleeping on the back seat.                         STEVE          She's on me what, thirty seconds          after meeting me, and the chick          will not shut up the whole time. I          had to fake a work call, gave her          the -                         ANGUS          (imitating Steve)          Wherever news goes...                                                  49.                         STEVE          I think I'm in the clear, then she          does this crossword - she works for          the Citizen - she does this          crossword all about me, and as if          that's not crazy enough, she shows          up here.                         ANGUS          Here?                         STEVE          Over by the fence. Red boots.          Can't miss her.                         ANGUS          Is she hot?                         STEVE          Jesus, Angus. When a psychotic          chick's swinging a machete at your          throat, who cares if she's hot?                         ANGUS          I've been married to the same woman          for seventeen years. I care.                         STEVE          Crazy, man. The chick is cra-zy.          Hartman sits up, totally awake and never happier. He points          at Steve.                         HARTMAN          Priceless! This is priceless!          Steve cringes.                         STEVE          Hughes, don't. Don't even.          EXT. OKLAHOMA PROTESTORS CAMP - NIGHT          A short, 60ish PROTESTOR and his PROTESTOR WIFE talk to an          Oklahoma Journal Record NEWSPAPER REPORTER at the fence.          PROTESTOR WIFE          All we're saying is, wait until          Baby Peggy can talk and ask her          what she wants to do with the          spare.                                                  50.          Mary listens in while she dispenses a hot chocolate from          another protestor's backpack thermos. She finishes pouring,          taps the guy on the shoulder.                         MARY          Thanks, Bruno.          He walks away. Mary takes a sip of the hot chocolate, burns          her mouth.                         MARY          Crap.          She grabs her tongue with her fingers. Hartman appears right          in front of her.                         HARTMAN          M'lady.          She's a bit stunned and star struck. He offers his hand.                         HARTMAN          Hartman Hughes.          Mary lets go of her tongue, uses her saliva covered hand to          shake his.                         MARY          Mary.                         HARTMAN          Mary'. Mary, Mary, Mary.          He takes his hand back, discretely wipes it on his pants.                         HARTMAN          Steve told me you were beautiful.          He was going on and on and on and          on about it. I had to come see for          myself. Great boots.                         MARY          Thank y-          He puts an arm around her, pulls her away from the crowd.                         HARTMAN          Listen, Mary, I've been working          with Steve for about a year now.          The guy is like a brother to me.          A YOUNG PROTESTOR recognizes Hartman.                                                  51.          YOUNG PROTESTOR          Hartman Hughes'.          Without missing a step, Hartman grabs a pen from his pocket          and autographs the guy's sign whether he wants it or not,          then continues on with Mary.                         HARTMAN          Girls follow us around everywhere          we go. Who do you think they're          after?          Hartman reflects on it, smiles.                         HARTMAN          Me, of course me, but every once in          a while some of them try to land          Steve. It's true. Sure he'll go          for a few skanks here and there but          it's all just a sad attempt to hide          his fear. All he wants is to love          but he's afraid of opening up,          afraid of putting himself out          there, afraid of somebody like you,          Mary - yes you - afraid of you          breaking his heart. Can you blame          him?          She's a bit stunned and confused by all of this.                         MARY          No?                         HARTMAN          No! Promise me this. Promise          you'll stick around long enough to          help him get over that fear. He          tells you to go away, don't. He          says he thinks you're crazy?          You're not. He's crazy, Mary.          Crazy not to let down his walls and          tell you how he really feels. Can          I count on you to hang in there no          matter what?                         MARY          Of course. I don't want to          interfere in his work but I just          need to be here for him and -          He grabs her, hugs her in so her words are all muffled - and          yet she keeps talking.                                                  52.                         HARTMAN          Good girl.          The SECURITY GUARD walks past, gestures that they should be          behind the fence. Hartman holds up his press pass to get rid          of the Guard, then lets go of Mary. He points her toward the          protestors, starts backing away.                         HARTMAN          I'll tell Steve to come find you          when we wrap for the day. What          side are you on?                         MARY          Pro-leg.          She shows him her button featuring a cartoon of a very happy          three legged baby. Hartman laughs.                         HARTMAN          You might want to jump camps. No          way they're going let that baby          keep the third leg and live like a          freak. Trust me.          He waves and turns around, starts heading for the press camp.          Mary calls out to him.                         MARY          She'd just be like the tree frogs.          Hartman turns around. What?                         MARY          A trematode parasite causes          polymely (that means extra limbs)          in tree frogs. It happens all the          time. In some ponds there's like a          quarter of the tree frogs with          extra legs. Totally natural.          Hartman looks at her like she's a nutcase.          EXT. OKLAHOMA MEDIA CAMP - NIGHT          Angus is on his phone as Steve rushes to set up his          equipment. Hartman arrives back at the van.                         HARTMAN          What's going on?          Josh rushes to get the mic on Hartman.                                                  53.                         JOSH          The parents of the kid got back          together. Surgery's cancelled.                         HARTMAN          No amputation?                         STEVE          Tell me you weren't talking to          Mary.                         HARTMAN          Who?                         STEVE          Go to hell, Hughes.          scans it          Angus hands Hartman the press release. Hartman          quickly.                         HARTMAN          It's over? The kid keeps the leg.                         ANGUS          For now.          Hartman checks his teeth in a hand mirror.                         HARTMAN          'Til she gets it caught in a car          door.          EXT. OKLAHOMA PROTESTORS CAMP - NIGHT          News spreads around the pro-leg protestors camp. They all          start hollering with joy.          The disappointed anti-leg protestors ditch their signs and          storm off.          INT. HOROWITZ HOUSE - NIGHT          Mr. Horowitz is asleep in front of the TV. He wakes up as          the amputation countdown clock on the news stops.          EXT. OKLAHOMA CITY CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL - NIGHT          The news crews line the hospital entrance once again.                                                  54.          KOCO REPORTER          With mere hours to spare, the          Dunlevys reconciled, agreeing to          halt surgery until Baby Peggy is          old enough to decide for herself.          Further down the row of reporters:          FOX NEWS REPORTER          And while dozens of children fight          for their lives behind these walls,          Baby Peggy won't be one of them.          With surgery cancelled, it's time          for the Dunlevys to be a family          once again.          Past a few more news crews, at the end the line, Steve has          the camera on Hartman.                         HARTMAN          And like the noble tree frog whose          extra leg is nothing if not          natural, so Baby Peggy begins the          rest of her three legged life...          This is Hartman Hughes reporting          live from Oklahoma City.          Hartman pulls out his ear piece. Angus, Josh and Steve all          look at him, a bit surprised.                         STEVE          Tree frog? Where do you get this          shit?          Hartman taps the side of his head -- it's all up here.                         HARTMAN          A little thing called astutitude,          my friends.          Steve and Angus look at each other -- is that even a word?          EXT. OKLAHOMA PROTESTORS CAMP - NIGHT          Mary celebrates with the other protestors. The Protestor and          his Protestor Wife cry tears of joy. Mary pulls a tissue out          of her bag, hands it over. The husband takes it, turns away          and wipes his eyes.                                                  55.                         MARY          There you go, George. Just a          little nasolacrimal duct cleaning.          Nothing to be ashamed of.          Elizabeth runs up to Mary, hugs her.                         ELIZABETH          You see? When you sing loud enough          and when your signs are big enough,          people listen!          Mary spots some of the news vans pulling away.                         MARY          Steve!                         ELIZABETH          Go, go on. I'll watch your stuff.          Mary drops her bags, runs toward the media camp.          EXT. OKLAHOMA MEDIA CAMP - NIGHT          Josh pulls the back doors of the van shut.          INT. RENTAL VAN - NIGHT          Angus at the wheel, Hartman in the passenger seat. In the          back, Steve nervously looks out the windows. Josh gets in          next to him.          Angus starts driving slowly across the grass behind other          news vans. Steve finally relaxes.          EXT. RENTAL VAN - NIGHT          As the van drives, Mary runs to catch up.                         MARY          Steve! STEVE!          INT. RENTAL VAN - NIGHT          Hartman spots Mary in the rear view mirror.                         HARTMAN          Angus, hold up.                                                  56.          Steve sees what Hartman's looking at.                         STEVE          No, go. Fast.          Hartman rolls down his window.                         STEVE          Don't.          Hartman sticks his head out the window.                         STEVE          Hughes, I swear I'll kill you.          Hartman waves to Mary to catch up. Angus sees her in the          mirror as he drives.                         ANGUS          Is that her? She's hot.                         STEVE          Angus, come on man, get me out of          here.                         ANGUS          She's really hot.                         STEVE          Who cares? Jesus, you guys -          Angus hits the brakes. Steve hides behind the seat just as          Mary catches up with the van.                         HARTMAN          Hi beautiful.          Mary tries to get a look at Steve but can only see part of          his back hunched over behind the seat.                         MARY          Steve? Are you okay? Is he okay?          Angus leans over to her window.                         ANGUS          I don't think we've met. Angus.          Mary shakes Angus' hand. He can't take his eyes off her.                         HARTMAN          Steve's not feeling well.                                                  57.                         MARY          Oh no.                         HARTMAN          I'm sure he'll be fine by the time          we get to New Mexico.                         ANGUS          Your eyes are striking.          Steve punches him through the seat. Mary's oblivious.                         MARY          Thank you.                         HARTMAN          Steve really wants you to follow          us. It would mean a lot to him.                         STAYS          Steve cringes, goes to speak up but stops himself and          hidden.                         HARTMAN          He was going to go ask you himself          but look at the poor bastard. So          sick he can't even sit up straight.                         MARY          What if it's a viral zoonotic          disease? He should see a doctor.                         HARTMAN          Exactly what I told him, but the          only person he wants touching his          infected flesh is you.          Mary looks at Steve, worried.                         MARY          But wait, what if -          up.          Hartman grabs her face, squishes her lips to shut her                         HARTMAN          Hey now, we need you to be strong          for him. Leachinan trial, Santa Fe,          can you remember that?          Mary nods, unable to speak.                         HARTMAN          We'll meet you there, God willing.                                                  58.          He lets go of her face.                         MARY          Will you take care of him?                         HARTMAN          Like he's my own.          She backs away from the window. Angus waves to her and          starts driving.                         ANGUS          Nothing wrong with that one.                         JOSH          Except for those boots.                         STEVE          You're an asshole, Hughes.          Hartman laughs.          EXT. RENTAL VAN - NIGHT          Mary watches the van drive away.          EXT. OKLAHOMA PROTESTORS CAMP - NIGHT          Only a few protestors remain. Abandoned signs and garbage          cover the grass. Elizabeth gets autographs from other          protestors like it's the last day of high school.          Mary runs up, grabs her bags.                         MARY          Elizabeth! I have to meet Steve at          his next job, in New Mexico. He's          sick, not as in rad, although he is          that too, but more like unwell,          infirm, perhaps barfy. Hopefully          nothing serious but you never can          be too sure and besides, healthy or          not, he needs me.                         ELIZABETH          Sign my book before you go?          Elizabeth hands her the ratty hand decorated book and a pen.                                                  59.                         MARY          The trip's not too long, right          through all kinds of interesting          sites like, for example, El          Santuario de Chimayo: The Lourdes          of America. Know what that is? A          sacred sand pit near a burrito          stand. What could be better than          that?          Mary looks away from Elizabeth, fidgets a bit.                         MARY          Want to go? Unless you're busy, I          mean. You probably have something          better to do.          Elizabeth thinks about it.                         ELIZABETH          Not really.          Mary is stunned. She takes a minute to realize it's real,          gets excited. From behind her:          HOWARD (O.S.)          I'll go too.          Mary turns around and spots Howard.                         ELIZABETH          Mary, have you met Howard?          Mary shakes her head. Howard offers his hand. It's got          dried chocolate milk all over it. She takes it.                         ELIZABETH          Mary, Howard. Howard, Mary. Mary,          Howard's got a car, you know. He          can drive us.          Mary looks at him, thinks about it.                         MARY          What kind of car do you have?                         HOWARD          Plymouth Colt.                         MARY          What year?                                                  60.                         HOWARD          Eighty-nine.          Mary quickly scans her memory.                         MARY          Replace the recalled seat belts?                         HOWARD          Yes.          Mary thinks about it, smiles.                         MARY          Let's grab souvenirs!          Elizabeth and Howard each pick up a Baby Peggy sign off the          ground. Mary grabs as many as she can hold -- way, way too          many. A bunch of them slide off but she perseveres.          MARY (V.0.)          Here's something you never see in          crosswords, two letter words, and          thank goodness for that. The word          "go": not fun. The word "vamoose":          super fun. You see? crosswords          are just like life in that way -          they're only boring if you have no          sense of adventure.          INT. HOWARD'S CAR - NIGHT          Howard starts the car. In the passenger seat, Elizabeth has          a bunch of the protest signs crammed in at her feet.          Mary gets settled in the back seat, spots a copy of          Scientific American magazine, then finds an apple stuck          behind the seat belt. She yanks the apple out, looks at it.          Howard looks at her in the rear view mirror.                         HOWARD          You can have that. I have more.                         MARY          Thanks.          Mary puts the apple in her Kroger bag.                         MARY          Howard, if you get sleepy and want          to trade off driving for a while,          just wake me up and I'll take over.                         (MORE)                                                  61.          MARY (cont'd)          I'm a night owl, yes, but I'm also          a day owl too, a burrowing owl,          technically. They stay awake all          day too. I'm pretty much alert          24/7, always have been. No          caffeine. Just sugar and my          natural tendency to, you know,          never fall asleep.          Mary leans back, closes her eyes, and she's out.          EXT. I-40 - NIGHT          Howard's car merges onto the highway, westbound toward New          Mexico and into the night. Mary sleep talks in the back.                         MARY          Persimmon. AKA, the mabolo, the          date-plum, the velvet apple.          Genus: Diospyros.          EXT. SANTA FE FEDERAL COURT HOUSE - DAY          A media extravaganza - local, national and this time,          international news teams.          A REPORTER for Inside Edition talks on camera.          INSIDE EDITION REPORTER          This tragedy began eight months ago          in what was once paradise - the          Elysium Sanctuary outside of Taos,          New Mexico. For years, celebrities          considered the five star meditation          resort the only true place for          spiritual purification, and with          good reason. Nestled in the heart          of reclaimed Pueblo Indian lands,          the Elysium Sanctuary promised one          thing - enlightenment.          A COURT TV REPORTER is on camera a few feet away.          COURT TV REPORTER          But the Elysium Sanctuary would          never be the same after tragedy          struck last winter. Twenty-six          year old resort masseuse Juan          Carlos Velasquez found stabbed to          death in the meditation villa of          beloved star of stage and screen,          Cloris Leachman.                                                  62.          A bit further down the'line of reporters, an EXTRA! REPORTER          is on camera.          EXTRA! REPORTER          Publicists for the eighty year old          Leachman insist her relationship          with the deceased Velasquez was no          different than with the dozens of          other resort personnel attending to          Ms. Leachman during her solitude          retreat.          At the end of the row, Hartman reports.                         HARTMAN          But the octogenarian Leachman may          not have been as innocent as her          representatives claimed, at least          according to the evidence found at          the murder scene.          Hartman reads from his notes.                         HARTMAN          Whips, hot wax, bamboo skewers, a          spanking bench, and perhaps most          damaging, a henna tattoo across Ms.          Leachman's chest that read "Mrs.          Juan Carlos Velasquez".          EXT. SANTA FE FEDERAL COURT HOUSE - DAY          Elizabeth, Mary and Howard step onto the curb and survey the          crowd.          On one side, an odd assortment of fans with signs like "FREE          CLORIS", "JAIL REAL CRIMINALS, NOT OLD LADIES" and "OSCAR          WINNERS DON'T KILL", with photos of Cloris Leachman through          the years.          On the other side of the crowd, a smaller group of MEXICAN          MOURNERS with signs "JUSTICE FOR JUAN", "GUILTY", and "LET          THE BITCH FRY".                         HOWARD          Guilty or not?          They all think about it. A greasy haired Shaman CLYDE steps          up behind them.                                                  63.                         CLYDE          Everybody deserves the benefit of          the doubt.          He looks at Mary, smiles.                         CLYDE          Everybody.          As he joins the Leachman fans, Mary thinks about it.                         MARY          Be has a point.                         ELIZABETH          Yay! I love Cloris Leachman.                         HOWARD          Who doesn't?          MEXICAN MOURNERS          jMuerte! iMuerte! iMuerte!                         MARY          I have to go find Steve. How do I          look?          Unwashed hair, bed head, and there's a chunk of a Twinkie          caked onto Mary's ear. Elizabeth picks the Twinkie off,          smooths down Mary's hair.                         ELIZABETH          Perfect.                         MARY          I'll be back. Save me a sign! And          if Cloris comes out, tell her I          loved her in "My Little Pony: The          Movie".          Mary runs off as Howard and Elizabeth join the crowd of fans.          EXT. SANTA FE FEDERAL COURT HOUSE - MEDIA CAMP - DAY          Mary walks among the news vans. At the entrance to a nearby          tent, Hartman spots her, waves her over.                         HARTMAN          Hi gorgeous. What'd you do to your          hair?                                                  64.                         MARY          Slept on it in the car. Where's          Steve? Is he okay?                         HARTMAN          Never better. Come in and wait.          He'll be back soon.          INT. MEDIA TENT - DAY          A briefing area is set up - folding chairs, table, podium. A          bunch of male journalists sit around the table playing poker -          Vince (CNN), DOUG (CNN), the COURT TV REPORTER, a BBC NEWS           PHOTOGRAPHER, a FRENCH PHOTOGRAPHER, A SPANISH JOURNALIST and          Angus.          Hartman escorts Mary in. The guys perk up a bit.                         HARTMAN          You all know Mary? Steve's          girlfriend?          Mary shakes hands around the table, greets them all in their          native tongues.                         MARY          Hello... Bonjour... Hola...          Jolly afternoon...          She gets to Angus. He kisses her hand.                         ANGUS          My dear, sit.          He shoves the BBC guy out of the way to make room for Mary          next to him. Vince shuffles the cards.                         VINCE          Mary, you in?                         MARY          Poker? Technically I'm familiar          but I've never actually played.          With people, I mean.          SPANISH JOURNALIST          She's in.          Doug throws in some cash as Vince starts to deal.                                                  65.          EXT. SANTA FE FEDERAL COURT HOUSE - SPECTATORS AREA - DAY          Howard wanders through the crowd wearing an "I V Cloris" t-          shirt over his own. He passes a VENDOR selling "Innocence          Beads", "Acquittal Incense" and "autographed" Cloris Leachman          photos.          The crowd continues to grow. A Candles are lit, healing          rituals performed, donuts passed around.          INT. MEDIA TENT - DAY          Mary holds her cards close to her.                         MARY          "There are few things that are so          unpardonably neglected in our          country as poker." Guess who said          that one.          She looks around the table. The guys, except Angus, are          starting to lose their patience.                         MARY          Mark Twain. And you know what else-          BBC NEWS PHOTOGRAPHER          Darling, you in or not?                         MARY          Sorry.          Mary looks at her cards, thinks about it for way too long,          then grabs a handful of coins from her Kroger bag, slaps them          on the table.                         MARY          Send it, ladies!          Steve steps into the tent, spots Mary, turns to run back out.                         HARTMAN          Don't go, Steve! Look who's here.          Mary jumps up - just about knocks the table over, then          sustains a number of injuries trying to leap over chairs. At          last she makes it to Steve, hugs him.                         MARY          Thank God you're okay!                                                  66.          He looks over her shoulder and mouths "you're dead" to          Hartman.                         TO          He holds her back at arm's length, looks at her, goes          speak then stops himself, pulls her outside the tent.          EXT. MEDIA TENT - DAY          Steve tries to stay calm talking to Mary.                         STEVE          You have to stop stalking me.                         MARY          I'm not. It's more like picking          travel destinations based on where          you happen to be working.                         STEVE          Stalking.                         MARY          Hartman told me you wanted me here.          Now that I am, what better          opportunity for us to get to know          each other better.                         STEVE          This is crazy.                         MARY          Hartman said you'd say that.                         STEVE          Go home, Mary.                         MARY          And he said you'd say that too.          It's just your fear talking.          Steve just about loses it.                         STEVE          He's not my friend, he's not your          friend. He's just an asshole who          thinks it's fun to string you along          and make my life hell.          He yells toward the tent.                         STEVE          Hughes! Get out here!                                                  67.          Mary looks right at him.                         MARY          You know how sometimes you see a          pinguid (that means fat and greasy)          guy with an attractive girl and you          think how the heck did he pull that          off? People won't think that when          they look at us. We're perfectly          matched.          She can hardly contain her excitement.                         STEVE          HUGHES!          Hartman peeks out of the tent.                         HARTMAN          For the hundredth time, Steve, no,          I am not interested in a threesome          with you and your new girlfriend.          Steve points to Mary.                         STEVE          Tell her the truth. About all the          crap you told her.                         HARTMAN          Okay. Fine.          Hartman goes to Mary, grabs her hand.                         HARTMAN          Everything I said about Steve,          about his feelings for you, his          hopes, his dreams, his fears, his          unexplainable odor, forget about          it. Forget everything I said.          None of it was true.          Mary's stunned, devastated. She looks like she's going to          cry. Hartman and Steve look at each other - what now?          Hartman shoves him forward. Steve reluctantly puts a          comforting hand on her shoulder.                         HARTMAN          Because nothing I said comes close          to the enormity of Steve's real          feelings for you!                                                  68.          Mary perks up. Steve yanks his hand off her shoulder like          it's on fire.                         HARTMAN          It's a love that defies words!          Steve jumps him. Hartman fights back. Mary's horrified.                         MARY          Stop it, you guys! Stop! "Victory          attained by violence is tantamount          to a defeat, for it is momentary."          You know who said that? Gandhi.          And me. Just now.          The fight continues. Mary half covers her eyes.          INT. MEDIA TENT - DAY          At the poker table, the guys hear scuffling outside.          BBC NEWS PHOTOGRAPHER          Fight!          They all jump up and run out of the tent.          EXT. MEDIA TENT - DAY          Steve gets a few jabs to Hartman as the rest of the guys          calmly watch.                         VINCE          Nice one.          BBC NEWS PHOTOGRAPHER          Somebody's going to be crying in a          minute.          Angus hugs Mary to "console" her. Hartman gets Steve in a          headlock. Mary can't even watch.          SPANISH JOURNALIST          I'm going to go with Hughes on this          one.                         VINCE          Come on, the guy wears makeup.          The guys all start pulling out cash to place bets. Mary          spots the cash changing hands.                                                  69.                         MARY          No! This isn't about money! It's          about courage, love, honor and all          things virtuous and pure. Steve,          kick him in the leberknoedel!          Hartman looks up at her, hurt. The distraction costs him.          Steve knees him then follows with a jab to his face.                         JOURNALISTS          Ohhhh!          Hartman drops to his knees, tries to pull himself together.                         STEVE          Tell her!                         HARTMAN          Okay, alright.          Hartman wipes his lip, looks up at Mary.                         HARTMAN          Mary, millions of people believe          what I tell them every night. Why          shouldn't you?          Steve dives at him. Hartman swings and gets him right in the          nose. One of their cell phones ring, then another, then all          the guys' phones go off.                         ANGUS          Verdict's in.          They all rush off to the court house, leaving a stunned Mary          standing alone.                         MARY          He fought for me.          Happiest moment of her life.          EXT. SANTA FE FEDERAL COURT HOUSE - DAY          The crowd cheers as CLORIS LEACHMAN is whisked out of the          court house and into a police car. She waves to her fans as          she goes.          The Court TV Reporter is on camera.                                                  70.          COURT TV REPORTER          The end to a difficult and often          emotional trial, the verdict          finally in, Cloris Leachman found          not guilty of the murder of her          twenty-six year old lover Juan          Carlos Velasquez.          Down the row of journalists, the BBC CREW.          BBC JOURNALIST          After a devastating eight months,          Leachman at last vindicated despite          overwhelming evidence against her.          Six more cameras down, the French Reporter.          FRENCH REPORTER                         (SUBTITLED)          Eyewitness testimony, fingerprints          on every inch of the body, the          murder weapon still warm in her          Chanel handbag -          And finally at the end of the line, Hartman - his hair a          mess, his lip cut, his mood sour.          A few feet away filming, Steve's nose bleeds down his chin          and shirt.                         HARTMAN          And as she left the court room          today a free woman, the cheers of          her devoted fans carrying her          forward -          MARY (O.S.)          OH MY GOD, STEVE, YOU'RE BLEEDING!          The camera is knocked out of position as Mary rushes Steve.          Angus steps in and pulls her away. A COP grabs her.          Mary looks back to Steve as she's dragged back to the fan          area.                         MARY          Please! Somebody help him! Apply          a vasoconstrictor, a nasal tampon,          anything! At the absolute least,          direct pressure and a clean tissue!          Steve puts the camera back in place. Hartman recovers fast.                                                  71.                         HARTMAN          As you can see, Cloris Leachman's          fans have become surprisingly          violent despite her victory here          today. Add this to the list of the          most dangerous locations for          journalists. Iraq, Somalia,          Lebanon, Sri Lanka... and just          about any place Cloris Leachman          fans gather.          Hartman wipes blood from his lip.                         HARTMAN          Hartman Hughes putting his life at          risk to report live from Santa Fe,          New Mexico.          They cut. Hartman grabs a hand mirror, points to his face,          yells out to Steve.                         HARTMAN          This is my gift, understand, my          instrument. Makes no difference if          you're walking around looking like          Quasimodo.          Ignoring Hartman, Steve walks over to Angus.                         STEVE          How long do you figure until -          Steve's phone rings. He cringes, answers it.          INT. CNN ATLANTA - DAY          A furious Corbitt holds the phone and replays the live shot          of Hartman at the court house.          MARY (O.S., ON TV)          OH MY GOD, STEVE, YOU'RE          BLEEDING!... OH MY GOD, STEVE,          YOU'RE BLEEDING!... OH MY GOD,          STEVE, YOU'RE BLEEDING!                         CORBITT          Who the hell was that?          EXT. SANTA FE FEDERAL COURT HOUSE - DAY          Steve hesitates on the phone.                                                  72.                         STEVE          This girl. She's been following          me... She's not my girlfriend...          He listens, clenches his teeth, hands the phone to Angus. As          Angus listens, Steve grabs his equipment, waits in dread.          Angus hangs up the phone, hands it back to Steve.                         STEVE          I'm done?                         ANGUS          Consider yourself temporarily saved          by the storm. It's worse than they          thought. We've got to move.          Steve grabs his equipment. They start walking.                         ANGUS          He'll probably fire you after.                         STEVE          Any luck, the storm will kill me          first.          EXT. SANTA FE FEDERAL COURT HOUSE - FAN CAMP - DAY          Elizabeth runs around hugging other fans as Mary stands at          the fence watching the press wrap up, worried.          Clyde the Shaman joins her at the fence, looks right at her,          raises a finger to his lips.                         CLYDE          Shhhh.                         MARY          What? I didn't -                         CLYDE          Shhhh.          He puts his hands on the sides of her head. Mary's confused          and a bit freaked out.                         CLYDE          In here. So loud. Always          thinking, thinking, thinking.          Mary goes to speak, stops herself. Clyde keeps his hands          still on her head, looks into her eyes.                                                  73.                         CLYDE          You already found what you're          looking for.          Mary's eyes soften and she's suddenly calm. A moment of          peace.          Suddenly, Mary spots Hartman, Steve and Angus rush past. She          breaks away from Clyde, rushes along the fence to catch up.                         MARY          Wait! Steve!          Hartman spots her.                         HARTMAN          Sorry, darling, we're on to the          next story.                         MARY          No, wait! Attendee!          She runs to the end of the fence, jumps it, runs after them.          EXT. SANTA FE MEDIA CAMP - DAY          Mary runs to catch up with Steve, Angus and Hartman as they          rush to the trucks.                         MARY          STEVE! STEVE!          Angus and Hartman load up the truck as Steve turns back to          Mary, seething.                         STEVE          Considering you probably just cost          me my job, maybe you don't want to          talk to me right now.                         MARY          But I do! If you're in trouble          because of me I can fix it, I can          explain to your boss. He or she          probably just doesn't understand          our relationship.                         STEVE          We don't have a relationship.                                                  74.                         MARY          Sure we do, it's just in the pupa          stage right now.                         STEVE          Mary, go home!          She looks at him, hurt.                         STEVE          Go home.          He jumps in the CNN truck as Angus starts it up. Mary looks          around, helpless.          EXT. SANTA FE STREET - DAY          Mary runs to the street behind the CNN truck, stops on the          sidewalk. Behind her, a run down rep theater -- "All Above          Eve" on the marquee.          As she watches the truck drive away, her panic suddenly turns          to resolve.                         MARY          Six letter word for "over my          lifeless, rigormortic and maggot          infested, i.e. dead, body am I          giving up now"... D-O-G-G-          motherfucking-E-D. Dogged.          She gets out her Chapstick, liberally applies it, dabs a bit          on her temples as well.                         MARY          Normally I don't condone swearing.          I think it's something people do          when they don't have the vocabulary          to express themselves properly, but          even I, with my plenitudinous          vocab, must admit -- every once in          a while, it's okay to get a bit          peppery -          INT. GREYHOUND BUS STATION - LOS ANGELES - NIGHT          Mary talks on a pay phone. No pacing, no fidgeting. She          means business.                                                  75.                         MARY          I got him in trouble, Dad. I have          to go find him and make it right.          There's three places they could be          headed.          She pulls a note pad out of her pocket, looks it over.                         MARY          For each story, I've worked out an          equation of potential human          casualties, estimated property          damage, availability of endlessly          repeatable images, with bonus          points for anything involving          reporters in galoshes. There's no          doubt in my mind. They're heading          to the storm in Galveston.          INT. HOROWITZ HOUSE - NIGHT          Mr. Horowitz talks on the living room phone, his wife on the          hallway phone - they look at each other in exasperation.          MR. HOROWITZ          Enough is enough. You've got to          get home, turn in your crossword          for next week -          MARY (O.S.)          I can't think of work at a time          like this!          MRS. HOROWITZ          You can't chase that boy any more.          If he doesn't appreciate you it's          ridiculous to -          INT. GREYHOUND BUS STATION -- LOS ANGELES - NIGHT          Mary screams into the phone.                         MARY          Ridiculous? Mom! How many times          did you propose to dad?          INT. HOROWITZ HOUSE - NIGHT          Mr. and Mrs. Horowitz think about it for a second.                                                  76.          MRS. HOROWITZ MR. HOROWITZ          Twice. Seven times.          INT. GREYHOUND BUS STATION - LOS ANGELES - NIGHT          Mary yells on the phone. PASSENGERS start to stare.                         MARY          I rest my case! If you gave up the          first time dad said no then I          wouldn't exist. Telling me to give          up so soon on my potential husband-          to-be, birth father of my twelve          future children and adoptive father          of my gerbil Carol -- you might as          well be saying that you wish you          had given up too and that you never          married dad and that I'd never been          born. Is that what you're saying?          INT. HOROWITZ HOUSE - NIGHT          Mrs. Horowitz looks at her husband.          MRS. HOROWITZ          Give Steve my best.          MR. HOROWITZ          Be careful.          MRS. HOROWITZ          And eat! A biscuit, anything. A          V8 wouldn't kill you.          EXT. GREYHOUND BUS STATION - LOS ANGELES - NIGHT          Elizabeth stands at the bus to Oklahoma City, a pile of          Leachman signs at her feet. Mary approaches.                         MARY          Sure you don't want to come along?                         ELIZABETH          I wish, but I only left enough cat          food out for two days. I'll miss          you guys!          Elizabeth hugs them both, jumps on the bus. Howard and Mary          watch as she struggles to her seat with all the signs.                                                  77.          INT. HOWARD'S CAR - PARKING LOT - NIGHT          Howard and Mary fasten their seat belts.                         HOWARD          This storm could be bad. Sure you          want to drive into it?                         MARY          How bad could it be?          TNT. CNN ATLANTA - NIGHT          The CNN METEOROLOGIST points at the map, images swirling          around the Gulf Coast.          CNN METEOROLOGIST          Hurricane Lorraine, currently rated          category four, expected to hit          landfall by tomorrow evening.          Making the situation even more          frightening, that area of Texas          currently in the midst of its worst          tornado season in history.          Tornado images appear on the map.          CNN METEOROLOGIST          And here's where it gets          interesting.          A black swarm graphic appears as well.          CNN METEOROLOGIST          Add the looming cicada migration to          the mix and no one knows just how          devastating this storm could be.          INT. WEATHER CHANNEL STAGE - DAY          A WEATHER CHANNEL METEOROLOGIST talks on camera, completely          calm.          WEATHER CHANNEL METEOROLOGIST          Category four hurricane, an F-3 or          "severe" tornado, billions upon          billions of cicadas -- collectively          now being termed a "category          fifteen winged tornadocane".                                                  78.          INT. KTFT TELEFUTURA TV STATION - DAY          The Hispanic KTFT METEOROLOGIST points to the green screen.          KTFT METEOROLOGIST          Tornadocane.          INT. KPRC HOUSTON TV STATION - DAY          The KPRC ANCHOR is on camera.          KPRC ANCHOR          Tornadocane.          INT. KLUG HARLINGTON TX TV STATION - - DAY          The KLUJ METEOROLOGIST looks at his notes, tries to keep it          together, half talks to himself.          KLUG METEOROLOGIST          God really hates us now.          EXT. 1-45 TO GALVESTON TX - DAY          Torrential rain pelts the line of vehicles heading north.          The only movement in the southbound lanes -- Howard's car.          EXT. GALVESTON WATERFRONT - DAY          In full rain gear, Hartman walks past rows of boarded up          businesses. Steve follows him with the camera. Angus, Doug          and Josh are close behind.          The rain is deafening, the wind ridiculous. It's all Hartman          can do to stay on his feet.                         HARTMAN          (yelling his head off)          And this time, the warnings were          hard to ignore. One Galvestonian          told us "tornados, we can handle.          Hurricanes we can handle. Bugs we          can handle. Put 'em all together          and that's a storm I don't need to          see". A wise man indeed.          Something off to the side catches Hartman's eye -- it's a          picnic table blowing down the street.                                                  79.                         HARTMAN          Oooh! Get that!          Steve gets the shot then pretends to make adjustments to his          camera while he discretely scans the area, on the lookout for          Mary.          INT. HOWARD'S CAR ON 1-45 TO GALVESTON TX - DAY          Howard and Mary can barely see out the window. The car          inches along.          Mary digs in a KFC bag, takes out a handy wipe, starts          cleaning her body with it.                         MARY          And when I met Steve, I knew right          away we had a lot in common. We're          both in the media, we both love          crosswords, we both love words. We          both felt this unexplainable          connection, no matter how much his          instinct might be to fight it.          That's okay. We just have to get          to know each other better, that's          all.          She uses the wipe on her face, gets a bit on her lip and the          taste is awful. She rolls down the window, closes her eyes          and gently sticks her face out to rinse with rain water.          The car hits a flooded patch of the road. A wave of mud          washes up and smacks Mary right in the face.                         MARY          Crap.          She starts the handy wipe bath all over again. A nervous          Howard speaks up.                         HOWARD          I saw Steve talking to you... He          wasn't very nice.          Mary makes herself busy putting the handy wipe in her Kroger          bag then looks out the window.                         MARY          If there's one thing I learned from          crossword puzzles it's that you          can't give up.                         (MORE)                                                  80.          MARY (cont'd)          Sometimes you run into a doozy and          you think you'll never be able to          solve it in a million years. If          you quit, you're right, but if you          stick with it, you'll figure it          out. Eventually.          She looks at Howard.                         MARY          I have to give it one more try. I          have to fix the mess I made with          his work, then maybe he and I --          For the first time, she doesn't seem so sure. Howard          notices.                         HOWARD          You know what my favorite part of          doing crosswords is? When you know          something you didn't think you          knew.          Mary thinks about it, then turns back to looking out the          window.                         MARY          Me too.          EXT. GALVESTON PIER - DAY          Hartman stands in the middle of a pier that looks moments          away from being carried out to sea. Steve shoots from a spot          on the pier a few feet closer to shore but not much safer.                         HARTMAN          Paula, this pier was closed to the          public twenty-four hours ago, and          for good reason.          Steve inches a bit closer for the shot, his footing unstable.          Josh moves in and hangs on to Steve to keep him steady.                         HARTMAN          As I stand here, I can actually          feel the structure moving under my          feet. The only thing between me          and the limitless depths of the sea          is this two-by-four railing that -          The railing flies off. Hartman drops to his knees and crawls          to the other railing then hangs on for dear life. Steve and          Josh struggle to hang on to the camera and each other.                                                  81.          Steve signals,to Hartman to wrap it up fast. Hartman talks          slower than ever.                         HARTMAN          And Paula I have to tell you, not          only has my hearing been          permanently damaged by the sheer          force of the rain hitting my          eardrums, but at this point, I'm          beginning to wonder if I'll even          make it out alive.          He raises his head up for the big finish, gets hammered by          the wind and rain.                         HARTMAN          This is Hartman Hughes, reporting          live from Galveston, Texas.          Steve and Josh start backing up off the pier with Hartman          crawling behind them. Steve yells back to him.                         STEVE          You had to get the pier shot. Had          to. Just about got us all killed.          Happy?          Hartman points in the water, yells.                         HARTMAN          OH MY GOD! IT'S MARY!          Steve jumps, looks to where Hartman is pointing -- it's a          plastic bag floating by in the water.                         STEVE          You're such an asshole.          Steve walks off the pier mad as hell.                         HARTMAN          Come on, that was funny. You have          to admit... Stevie?          EXT. HOWARD'S CAR ON 1-45 TO GALVESTON TX - DAY          The northbound lanes now empty, Howard's car is the only one          on the road.                                                  82.          1-45 TO GALVESTON TX - DAY          INT. HOWARD'S CAR ON          Howard stares out the window, the first look of real fear on          his face.                         HOWARD          Hang on.          He hits the brakes, starts backing up as quickly as possible.          Mary looks ahead -- sees what looks like a tornado up ahead.                         MARY          Oh my God.          Howard backs under an overpass, points to a protected area up          the cement embankment.          EXT. 1-45 OVERPASS - DAY          Mary and Howard run up the cement embankment as the rain and          winds swirl all around them.                         HOWARD          We'll just have to wait for this to          pass, then we'll keep going. It'll          be okay.          They look down to the road just in time to see Howard's car          picked up and blown right through the underpass, landing on          its side in a ditch fifty yards away.                         MARY          Crap!          INT. HOROWITZ HOUSE - NIGHT          Mr. and Mrs. Horowitz watch images of the storm on TV, the          captions read "BREAKING NEWS: KILLER STORM". Mrs. Horowitz          crosses herself. Mr. Horowitz puts an arm around her.          MR. HOROWITZ          She's fine. She's fine.          MRS. HOROWITZ          This is all your fault.          MR. HOROWITZ          I know.                                                  83.          EXT. GALVESTON WATERFRONT - NIGHT          Steve is asleep sitting upright in the back of the rental          van. A hand caresses his cheek.          GIRL'S VOICE          Steve... Oh Steve...          Steve awakens in panic.                         STEVE          GO AWAY, GO AWAY, GO AWAY!          13          Steve looks at the person in front of him -- it's a scared          year old MEXICAN BOY.                         STEVE          Who the hell are you? What are you          doing?          MEXICAN BOY          They pay me twenty dollar to wake          you.          Steve looks outside the van, sees Doug and Hartman laughing          hard. The Kid scurries out of the van. Angus gets in, opens          up his laptop.                         STEVE          You seen her?                         ANGUS          She's too smart to come here during          this.          Steve looks around like he's crazy.                         STEVE          No, she's here somewhere. I can          feel it.          EXT. 1--45 OVERPASS - NIGHT          As the storm calms around them, Howard and an exhausted Mary          crouch in the sheltered area. They use a little flashlight          on Mary's keychain to watch debris blowing by.                         MARY          I spy with my little eye a chemical          element from group two of the          periodic table.                                                  84.          Howard points to a discarded fireworks casing at their feet.                         HOWARD          Barium... I spy with my little                         -          eye... a transition metal          She barely has the energy to get the word out.                         MARY          Cobalt.          Mary points to a steel belted tire on the ground, lays back          and shuts her eyes. Howard takes something out of his - it's a          pocket, puts it in her hand. Mary looks at it          shrivelled, sculpted apple head. She smiles, hardly able to          keep her eyes open.                         MARY          Mother Teresa.                         HOWARD          My best seller. I'm an apple          sculptor.          She's quiet for once. Howard watches her drift off.                         HOWARD          I went to school for physics but got          bored. Now I just make these and          sell them on appleheadsrule.com. I          was going to give that one to my          girlfriend in Bangor but I can make          her another one. She'd probably          prefer a Stephen Hawking one anyway.          Science is her life. Not like my          girlfriend in Tacoma. She's really          into Jesus. Same as my other          girlfriend in Duluth.          He waits for a response - nothing.                         HOWARD          Maybe I'll meet them in person one          day. They're just so far away and          I don't get out much, not farther          than the apple orchard or the post          office anyway.                         MARY          But you're out now.          He's a bit surprised she was listening.                                                  85.                         HOWARD          I saw the people on TV fighting for          Baby Peggy. It wasn't far from my          house, and the people there looked          nice enough, so I went. I thought          I had everything I needed at home          but then I thought, maybe there's          more.                         MARY          Maybe there is.                         HOWARD          Can I tell you something?          Mary nods.                         HOWARD          I like your eyeballs.                         MARY          They're fuscous, that means -                         HOWARD          Brownish gray. I know.          They both smile.          EXT. GALVESTON WATERFRONT - DAY          Downed trees, flooded lawns, debris all over the place but          all in all, not too bad.          EXT. 1-45 TO GALVESTON TX - DAY          The storm subsided, nothing but a light rain. Howard and          Mary stand beside the car on its side in the shallow ditch.                         MARY          You know what I'd call this?                         HOWARD          Quagmire?                         MARY          Imbroglio, Howard. That means          we're screwed.                                                  86.          INT. CNN ATLANTA - DAY          Dan Corbitt talks to another EXEC. at the water cooler.                         CORBITT          Storm's over. What else is          happening?          The Exec shrugs and yawns.          EXT. CITY STREET - DAY          A BUSINESSMAN picks up a newspaper, looks at the front page -          it's a photo from the Westminster Garden Show.                         BUSINESSMAN          Sloooowww news day.          INT. THE TIMES-PICAYUNE NEWSPAPER OFFICES - DAY          A couple of bored REPORTERS sit tapping pens on their desks.          FIRST REPORTER          Fire, a car chase, anything?          SECOND REPORTER          There is nothing going on, man.          Nada.          EXT. PASTORAL FIELD NEAR EUNICE, LOUISIANA - DAY          15 DEAF KIDS bounce up a small hill, followed by three female           TEACHERS. When they finally reach the top, they all st op.          Ahead of them, down the hill, the Tri-Parish Fair - complete          with carnival rides, pie contests, music, dancing, rodeo and          livestock shows.                         TEACHER          (speaking while signing to          the kids)          Who's ready for some fun?          The deaf kids start running down the hill, straight for the          petting zoo.                                                  87.          Just when they're close enough to smell the goats, tground          gives way from the back and the kids drop out of sight          front of the Teachers - each kid taken tota off           having heard the dropping behind them. A g lly i ant puf guard, not f           dust settles to reveal a gaping hole in the earth.          The Teachers drop their picnic baskets and scream their heads          off.          INT. RURAL HOME - DAY          A messy living room, the TV on, nobody watching it.          ON THE TV: "BREAKING NEWS - ABANDONED MINE DISASTER".          CNN ANCHOR          An abandoned mine shaft on the          outskirts of Eunice, Louisiana.          The children, apparently all          hearing impaired, enjoying a trip'          to the county fair, blissfully          unaware of the danger that lay          ahead.          INT. FOX NEWS STAGE - DAY          The FOX NEWS ANCHOR is on camera.          FOX NEWS ANCHOR          No word yet on injuries. No word          on when, or if, rescuers will be          able to reach the special needs          children. Well continue to bring          you news as this tragic story          unfolds.          EXT. 1-45 TO GALVESTON TX - DAY          As Mary and Howard try to tip the car, Mary is distracted by          a rental van barrelling down the interstate, northbound.          INT. RENTAL VAN ON 1-45 - DAY          Steve drives, Hartman is next to him. Angus is in the back          with Doug and Josh.                                                  88.                         HARTMAN          Tornadocane my ass. Where the hell          were the cicadas? Retards in a          mine shaft, now that's a story.                         STEVE          They're deaf, asshole.          They spot Mary and Howard up ahead in the ditch, next to the          car on its side.                         HARTMAN          Look, it's your girlfriend.                         STEVE          We're not stopping.          Hartman grabs a piece of paper, writes fast.                         ANGUS          We can't just leave them.                         STEVE          Highway patrol's down here every          hour. It's not like they'll rot in          the ditch.          As they get closer, Hartman rolls down his window, folds up          the piece of paper.                         STEVE          What the hell are you doing?                         HARTMAN          Getting some fresh air. It helps          my pores.          Steve tries to grab the paper.                         STEVE          Hughes!                         HARTMAN          Yes, Steven?                         STEVE          You're not telling her where we're          going.                         HARTMAN          Aren't I?                                                  89.          Hartman leans out the window with the paper, waves it around.          Steve reaches for it, one hand on the wheel. As he grabs          Hartman, the truck starts swerving.                         ANGUS          Christ, you two. You'll get us          killed.          Angus leans into the front seat, tries to steady the steering          wheel.          EXT. 1-45 TO GALVESTON TX - DAY          Mary spots the rental van approaching, swerving - Hartman          waving a piece of paper out the window. As the van passes          by, Hartman lets the paper go.          INT. RENTAL VAN ON 1-45 - DAY          Hartman rolls up the window, happy with himself. Steve slugs          him in the arm.                         STEVE          Asshole!          Hartman laughs, rubs his arm in pain.          EXT. 1-45 TO GALVESTON TX - DAY          Mary rushes to the ditch, picks up the paper.                         MARY          "Eunice, Louisiana. Please..."          She stops reading, looks a bit uneasy. Howard steps forward,          grabs the note.                         HOWARD          "Please meet..."          He looks at Mary, disgusted, continues reading.                         HOWARD          M-E-A-T. "Please meat me there.          XO Steve".                         MARY          See? He needs me, if only to help          with his spelling.                                                  90.                         HOWARD          No kidding.          She rushes to the car, Howard joins her. They push the car ey          with everything they have, it tips back onto its wheels. Th          jump in the car and start it up.          - DAY          EXT. TRI-PARISH FAIR GROUNDS          SECURITY PERSONNEL guard the closed entrance and turn away          pissed off FAIR PATRONS.          At the edge of the fair grounds, the ferris wheel casts a          shadow over the rescue site. The whole area has been          overtaken by RESCUERS and their equipment. POLICE guard the          tape to keep ONLOOKERS back. Local MEDIA circulates.          Hartman kneels at the back of the ambulance, holding the hand          of one of the Teachers. Steve gets it on camera, all the          while looking around, a bit paranoid.                         HARTMAN          And what went through your mind          when you realized they were gone?          The Teacher just bawls. Hartman turns to the camera.                         HARTMAN          Grief too strong for words. That's          the best way to describe this          tragic, tragic scene. One minute,          a merry day at the fair. The next          minute, helpless babes savagely          sucked into the menacing abyss.          The Teacher bawls even harder. Hartman gives her a "there          there" then continues talking to camera.                         HARTMAN          And here's how hopeless the rescue          looks at this moment. The earth          surrounding hole is far too          perilous for anybody to approach on          foot. Moving heavy rescue          equipment in too close could mean          death for the rescuers as well.          Its cold down there, wet, dark,          probably a few snakes and rats          moving around.                         (MORE)                                                  91.          HARTMAN (cont'd)          If the hearing impaired children          even survived the fall, they're          undoubtedly dealing with serious          injuries, although some may have          had their fall cushioned by their          deaf brothers and sisters who          dropped before them. Nevertheless,          they've got to be in complete          misery. Even if one them is          telling the next "it'll be okay",          it's not like he, or she, can hear          a word of it.          INT. MINE SHAFT - DAY          The coal dust covered kids sit in the dark, totally unharmed.          A few of them play rock, paper, scissors. Others braid each          other's hair. An 8 year old boy signs to his friend.          DEAF BOY                         (SUBTITLED)          I don't know what the hell happened          but I smell a lawsuit.          EXT. TRI-PARISH FAIR GROUNDS - PUBLIC VIEWING AREA - DAY          Behind the taped off area, a crowd is forming. A school bus          pulls up and drops off a bunch more people. They place their          stuffed animals, notes, flowers at the tape barrier. A bunch          of them start crying. Among them, some familiar faces from          the Oklahoma protestors.          INT. TRI-PARISH FAIR GROUNDS - RESCUE SITE - DAY          Rescuers keep a safe distance from the perilous hole. A          RESCUE SUPERVISOR oversees the effort, watches as a bucket is          attached to the old crane, barely big enough for one person.          A FIREMAN gets in the bucket, doesn't fit. He gets out. A          SKINNY FIREMAN is pushed forward. He gets in.          The bucket is lowered into the ground. Hartman jumps in          front of the scene. Steve follows with the camera.                         HARTMAN          To some, a simple crane. To the          trapped, innocent, special children          -- the answer to their prayers.          The cable lowering the bucket jerks and stops. The crowd          gasps. Hartman stays on camera.                                                  92.                         HARTMAN          Or is it?          The cable jerks and begins moving again.                         HARTMAN          Only time will tell.          Through the crowd, Steve sees a WOMAN who looks like Mary          from the back. fie freezes, then realizes it's not her.          Total relief.          - PUBLIC VIEWING AREA - DAY          EXT. TRI-PARISH FAIR GROUNDS          The crowd, now even larger, waits.          - DAY          INT. HOWARD'S CAR NEAR THE FAIR GROUNDS          Howard searches for a space to park. Every inch of the place          is packed with cars, trucks, buses. Mary prays.                         MARY          Please let those kids be okay.          - RESCUE SITE - DAY          EXT. TRI-PARISH FAIR GROUNDS          A line of cameras fixed on the opening to the hole.          At the ambulances, the Teachers stand wrapped in blankets          watching, crying.          Steve steps a bit closer to the hole with his camera.                         RESCUER          Hey! Buddy! Back it up.          Steve backs up, refocuses on the hole as the cable rises.          - it's one of the Kids          Finally, a smiling little face appears          being carried up by the Fireman.                         FIREMAN          They're all okay!          The rescuers cheer. The Teachers bawl.          EXT. TRI-PARISH FAIR GROUNDS - PUBLIC VIEWING AREA - DAY          The crowd goes nuts.                                                  93.          - RESCUE SITE - DAY          EXT. TRI-PARISH FAIR GROUNDS          Hartman jumps in front of Steve's camera.                         HARTMAN          Elation here in Louisiana but the          danger, far from over as rescuers          bring these children up one grubby          little face at a time.          Hartman looks off to the side, holds up a finger like he's          trying not to cry. He signals Steve to cut.                         HARTMAN          Remind me next time to mention          Jesus.          Still on the lookout for Mary, Steve's not even listening.          --- PUBLIC VIEWING AREA - DAY          EXT. TRI-PARISH FAIR GROUNDS          Mary and Howard run through the crowd. Mary spots George,          the Protestor from Oklahoma and his Wife.                         MARY          George, Lydia! What's going on?          Lydia hugs her.          PROTESTOR WIFE / LYDIA          They got eleven out. All fine,          thank God. More coming up.          - RESCUE SITE - DAY          EXT. TRI-PARISH FAIR GROUNDS          Steve films as the rescued kids are wrapped in blankets, the          Teachers hysterically crying.          The Fireman brings up another one. As he's raised to ground          level he calls out to the Rescue Supervisor.                         FIREMAN          That's the last of them!          As he hands the kid to safety, the cable jerks. He gets out          of the basket just in time before the whole thing - basket          and cable -- snaps off and drops into the hole.                                                  94.          EXT. TRI-PARISH FAIR GROUNDS - PUBLIC VIEWING AREA - DAY          Mary celebrates with the other onlookers as if she forgot why          she's there.          She glances toward the rescue site and spots Steve on the far          side. She gets excited all over again, ducks under the tape          and runs toward him.          EXT. TRI-PARISH FAIR GROUNDS - RESCUE SITE - DAY          Steve films Hartman.                         HARTMAN          A happy ending that's left parents          across this country wondering - how          can I keep my family safe from          abandoned mines? Are there          abandoned mines in my backyard? Is          my child's school built on top of          an abandoned mine?          Steve spots Mary, running toward him.                         STEVE          No, no, no.                         HARTMAN          And how, oh how, can these death          traps be avoided?          Mary drops right into the abandoned mine.          INT. CNN ATLANTA - DAY          A monitor displays the current broadcast: "Breaking News:          Abandoned Mine Accident"          CNN ANCHOR          Mary Horowitz.          A painful high school photo of Mary appears on the screen.          Bad hair, bad make-up, ridiculously large smile, unfortunate          frilly chemise.          INT. OFFICE - DAY          A GUY watches the news on his laptop.                                                  95.          NEWS ANCHOR          Mary Horowitz.          - DAY          INT. ATLANTA CITIZEN NEWSPAPER OFFICES          Staff members huddle around the TV.          ANOTHER NEWS ANCHOR          Mary Horowitz.          - MEDIA CAMP - DAY          EXT. TRI-PARISH FAIR GROUNDS          As all the other Journalists scramble, Hartman and Steve are          a bit stunned. Angus joins them, puts his phone on speaker.          CORBITT (O.S.)          Shame about your girlfriend in the          pit, Steve, but we've got the          inside advantage here so let's use          it.          Steve shakes his head, not impressed.          Angus takes the phone off speaker, steps aside to talk to          Corbitt. Steve's phone rings. He answers it, listens,          cringes.                         STEVE          Mrs. Horowitz.          INT. HOROWITZ HOUSE - DAY          Mrs. Horowitz cries into the phone.          MRS. HOROWITZ          We're coming! Tell her to hang on!          Mr. Horowitz runs down the stairs with luggage and Carol the          gerbil.          EXT. TRI-PARISH FAIR GROUNDS - MEDIA CAMP -- DAY          Steve listens to the phone and glares at Hartman.                         STEVE          You and your husband stay put, Mrs.          Horowitz.                         (MORE)                                                  96.          STEVE (cont'd)          They'll have her out before you          even make it to the airport...          She'll be fine. I promise.          He hangs up, looks at Hartman.                         STEVE          She better be.          Hartman looks away, guilty.          INT. MINE SHAFT - DAY          Complete darkness. Mary's voice full of misery.                         MARY          Eight letter word for... my life          has come to this.          There's a bit of shuffling around in the dark.                         MARY          Not destiny, that's only seven          letters. Not fortuity - that          sounds more like when good things          happen to people like finding a          quarter in the sofa or something.          I mean the not so great stuff          that's bound to befall some people          more than others. Fate's nasty          cousin, I mean.          Suddenly Mary's face lights up with her mini keychain          flashlight.                         MARY          F-O-R-E-D-0-0-M. Foredoom.                         A          Mary shines the light on her knee. Her previous cut is now          gaping wound, blood is all over the place.                         MARY          Crap.          EXT. TRI-PARISH FAIR GROUNDS - PUBLIC VIEWING AREA - DAY          State Troopers hold back the growing crowd. Howard looks          toward the rescue site, worried. He tries to sneak under the          rope but a State Trooper points him back.                                                  97.          - RESCUE SITE - DAY          EXT. TRI-PARISH FAIR GROUNDS          Near the hole, the Rescue Supervisor consults with the other          rescuers and a MINE SAFETY EXPERT.          RESCUE SUPERVISOR          The new equipment is going to take          a while. Let's try and find out          what kind of shape our victim's in.                         RESCUER          Can we lower a phone down in there?          MINE SAFETY EXPERT          Not at those depths, this whole          area is bad enough above ground.          We'll never get a signal down          there.          RESCUE SUPERVISOR          Let's keep it simple. Get me a          flashlight, a piece of paper and a          pencil.          An unenthusiastic Hartman steps in front of the camera, the          Rescuers in the shot behind him. Doug films. Hartman goes          to speak but can't seem to summon his on air personality.                         HARTMAN          Behind inc... Oh what's the point?          Hartman walks away moping.          EXT. TRI-PARISH FAIR GROUNDS - MEDIA CAMP - DAY          Steve paces. Angus hangs up the phone.                         ANGUS          Corbitt wants you to go on air to          talk about Mary. An interview with          the boyfriend.                         STEVE          I'm not her boyfriend!                         ANGUS          Close enough. Come on, we need          this.          Hartman steps up, listens in.                                                  98.                         ANGUS          Fox has already got their hands on          everything but her panty size.                         HARTMAN          Fox scooped us? Our Mary? The          bastards.          Steve glares at him.          INT. FOX NEWS - DAY          A RETIRED MINE SUPERVISOR comments as a graphic shows the          cross section of the mine. As he talks, the graphic animates          with a female figure in red boots tumbling into the mine and          bouncing off the walls all the way down -- and it plays over          and over.          RETIRED MINE SUPERVISOR          That area was never reinforced up          above, no need since the whole          eastern tunnel was blocked off in          the late Seventies. Of course that          would also affect the air quality          down there.                         ANCHOR          That has to be bad news for Mary          Horowitz, wouldn't you say?          RETIRED MINE SUPERVISOR          Definitely not looking good.          INT. HOROWITZ HOUSE - DAY          Mr. Horowitz snaps the TV off, furious and worried.          An upset Mrs. Horowitz cracks open the curtains, looks          outside.          MRS. HOROWITZ          Who are these people?          INT. HOROWITZ HOUSE - DAY          A slick, young JOURNALIST stands on the sidewalk in front of          the Horowitz house.                                                  99.          SLICK JOURNALIST          Mary Horowitz, described by those          who know her as smart, talkative,          very much the girl next door, that          is, if the girl next door has a          genius level IQ. She's worked for          eleven years as the crossword          constructor for the Atlanta Citizen          and lives right here with her          parents.          Mr. Horowitz opens the door an is swarmed by Reporters. The          Slick Journalist gets right in there.          MR. HOROWITZ          No, Mary doesn't live with us. She          just came over one day and won't          leave, but she has her own place.          SLICK JOURNALIST          Can you comment on the rumors that          Mary's fall into the mine was a          suicide attempt?          MR. HOROWITZ          That's ridiculous. Not our Mary.          The word depression isn't in her          vocabulary. Well, it's in her          vocabulary, obviously, but no,          nothing ever gets her down. Steady          as a rock, that one.          INT. MINE SHAFT - DAY          Mary shines her light around on the walls of the mine. Black          soot everywhere, a mine track, abandoned equipment.                         MARY          I am not afraid. I am not fearful,          pusillanimous, nor am I affrighted.          Suddenly in the light - a face. Mary screams her head off.          The face doesn't budge - it's a LITTLE DEAF GIRL.                         MARY          Oh my God, they forgot one! You          scared the crap out of me.          The girl just stares at her.                                                  100.                         MARY          I'm sorry, can you hear me, I mean          at all? Do you have sensorineural          hearing loss or conductive? "Deaf          people can do anything except          hear." You know who said that?          Doctor Jordan, first deaf President          of Gallaudet U. Maybe you'll go          there one day. That is, unless we          perish down here.          Mary smiles. The Little Deaf Girl just stares back.          - DAY          EXT. TRI-PARISH FAIR GROUNDS - RESCUE SITE          A YOUNG RESCUER arrives with the flashlight, pencil and          paper.          YOUNG RESCUER          What should we say?          RESCUE SUPERVISOR          Tell her help is on the way. We          just need her to confirm she's          conscious -- here, give me that.          The Supervisor grabs the paper and pencil, scribbles the          note, ties it to the flashlight.          They look up to the thin nylon rope now in place of the          snapped cable. The Rescue Supervisor signals for them to          drop it. He attaches the flashlight/note, waves to the crane          op.          The crane swings over, lowers the rope into the hole.          INT. MINE SHAFT - DAY          Mary talks to the little Girl.                         MARY          And then there's black lung          disease, also a problem in coal          mines. Chronic cough,          breathlessness, cyanosis - that's          where your skin turns purple --          There's a CLINK behind Mary. She turns her light onto the          area, sees the flashlight and note hanging from the thin          rope. Mary grabs the flashlight, turns it on, reads the          note.                                                  101.          - RESCUE SITE - DAY          EXT. TRI-PARISH FAIR GROUNDS          At the hole, the crane reels in the rope, swings it away from          the hole. They see the note attached, flashlight gone.          RESCUE SUPERVISOR          That's a good sign right there.          The Young Rescuer grabs the note.          RESCUE SUPERVISOR          What's it say?                         UNFOLDS          The rescue team gathers around. The Young Rescuer          the note, reads it slowly and loudly.          YOUNG RESCUER          "I think you mean, am i conscious,          not am I conscience."          RESCUE SUPERVISOR          Jesus Christ.          YOUNG RESCUER          "Conscious means alert and awake.          Conscience is your inner morality          gauge, you know, the thing that          stops you from doing bad things,          e.g. killing, stealing, harming          helpless animals, and whatnot."          RESCUE SUPERVISOR          Can we leave her down there?          He motions for the Rescuer to continue.          YOUNG RESCUER          "To answer your question, yes I am          conscious. My leg is bleeding but          I'll probably live."           RESCUE SUPERVISOR          Great.          YOUNG RESCUER          "Yours truly, Mary Horowitz."          The other rescuers start to disperse.                         RESCUER          "P.S. Did anybody lose a little          deaf girl?"                                                  102.          The rescuers stop in their tracks.                         RESCUER          "I found one. She's fine... Other          than not being able to hear, I          mean."          INT. FOX NEWS DESK - DAY          "Alive!" splashes across the screen.          FOX NEWS ANCHOR          Breaking news from Louisiana, we've          just received word that abandoned          mine victim Mary Horowitz is alive.          TNT. HOROWITZ HOUSE - DAY          Mr. and Mrs. Horowitz watch the "Alive!" news coverage. Mrs.          Horowitz cries. Mr. Horowitz comforts her.          TNT. FOX NEWS DESK -- DAY          The mine coverage continues.          FOX NEWS ANCHOR          Also in the mine, a hearing          impaired child overlooked in the          earlier rescue. Speculation now as          to whether or not Mary Horowitz          intentionally heaved herself into          the mine to save the child after          rescuers ignored her pleas.          INT. CNN HEADLINE NEWS -- DAY          NANCY GRACE is locked and loaded.          NANCY GRACE          They missed a child? They missed a          child? Can't these people count?          Thank goodness for this woman, this          Mary Horowitz - let's bring up that          picture of her again.          The picture of Mary appears on the monitor.                                                  103.          NANCY GRACE          We're looking at an American hero,          folks. It it wasn't for Mary          Horowitz, the child would have          never been found.          EXT. TRI-PARISH FAIR GROUNDS - MEDIA CAMP - DAY          Steve, Hartman, Doug and Josh breathe a sigh of relief.                         STEVE          Thank Christ. Now if they can only          get her out of there.          Angus hangs up his phone.                         ANGUS          Corbitt wants you on in five.          Steve sees he has no choice. He nods. Hartman puts an arm          around him.                         HARTMAN          I'll be gentle.          - DAY          EXT. TRI-PARISH FAIR GROUNDS - RESCUE SITE          The Rescue Supervisor talks to the Mine Safety Expert.          RESCUE SUPERVISOR          We've got the whole country          watching now, can't afford any more          mistakes. The crane from          Shreveport is a wash. We're          looking at as much as sixteen hours          to bring the other one in.          MINE SAFETY EXPERT          Sixteen hours? If we've got carbon          monoxide -          RESCUE SUPERVISOR          There's air coming in through the          top.          MINE SAFETY EXPERT          Even at a concentration of 5ppm,          they could suffocate... We do not          have sixteen hours.                                                  104.          The Rescue supervisor looks toward the hole, of the severity          and hopelessness of their situation showing on his face.          RESCUE SUPERVISOR          Let's at least get some food and          water down there. The rope we've          got on there now will handle a          small load -- if that damn crane          holds.          He looks up at the old crane, worried.          MINE SAFETY EXPERT          Gas masks, oxygen supply, how long?          The Rescue Supervisor points around the area - look where we          are.          RESCUE SUPERVISOR          As fast as we can get them here.          MINE SAFETY EXPERT          Might not be soon enough.          INT. FOX NEWS - DAY          - this          The Retired Mine Supervisor is back with a new graphic          time an image of adult and child sitting in the mine as gases          swirl around them and they eventually slump down onto the          mine floor. It plays on a loop.          RETIRED MINE SUPERVISOR          They're pretty much done.          EXT. TRI-PARISH FAIR GROUNDS - PUBLIC VIEWING AREA - NIGHT          As night falls, the crowd at the fence starts lighting and          candles, passing them around. Among them, George, Lydia,          now Carlos, the backpack dispensing hot cocoa guy from          Oklahoma. They all look on, worried.          Howard stands at the barrier looking more worried than          anybody. Elizabeth pushes through the crowd to him. She's          wearing red rubber boots.                         ELIZABETH          Howard!          She hugs him.                                                  105.                         HOWARD          She'll be okay. She will.          Howard looks behind him at the ever growing crowd.                         HOWARD          All this. For her.          He manages a sad smile.          EXT. TIMES SQUARE - NIGHT          The headline "Mary Watch" is broadcast on a mammoth screen          over Times Square.          INT. TRAIN STATION - NIGHT           PASSENGERS are glued to a news ticker that reads "MARY WATCH,          RESCUE UNCERTAIN".          EXT. LOADING DOCK - NIGHT           Evening edition newspapers are loaded onto a truck. On the          front page - "Mary Watch".          INT. 24 HOUR LAUNDROMAT - NIGHT          A pair of LAUNDRY SORTERS are glued to the Mary Watch          coverage on TV.          FOX NEWS ANCHOR          The question on everybody's mind          tonight is, who is Mary Horowitz?          Atlanta affiliate WAGA looks into          the mind of an everyday hero.          WAGA Reporter CINDY emotes like her life depends on it.          WAGA CINDY          No one will argue that the city of          Atlanta has always been a breeding          ground for heroes. Jimmy Carter,          Hank Aaron, Ryan Seacrest and          now... Mary Horowitz. As the          country wonders about what would          drive this woman to such an          extraordinary act, we went straight          to those closest to her.                                                  106.          INT. LIVING ROOM - DAY          WAGA Cindy interviews a sweet but NERVOUS OLD LADY.          NERVOUS OLD LADY          Mary Horowitz was one of my second          grade students. Brilliant girl...          Darling. Always a smart dresser as          I remember. And she once brought          me soup when I wasn't well.          EXT. CITY STREET - DAY          WAGA Cindy reports.          WAGA CINDY          Mary Horowitz, a hero who's devoted          her life to caring for the sick and          elderly. Clearly a woman with a          higher purpose.          INT. WAL-MART - DAY          A nervous WAL-MART MANAGER poses in the shoe department,          holding a pair of red rubber boots. An excited FEMALE          REPORTER points to the boots, talks on camera.          FEMALE REPORTER          Exactly like the boots worn by Mary          Horowitz when she slipped into the          mine. Were the boots responsible          for the accident? The manufacturer          refuses to comment. For now, the          deadly footwear remains on store          shelves, leaving consumers to pay          the ultimate price.          INT. TEENAGER'S ROOM - NIGHT          Three FOURTEEN YEAR OLD GIRLS shop online. They click on          "Mary Boots" - a picture of red rubber boots comes up. A          STATES".          banner underneath reads "NOW BANNED IN 4          FOURTEEN YEAR OLD GIRL          Oh my God, we so have to have them!                                                  107.          INT. MINE SHAFT - NIGHT          Mary talks to the Little Deaf Girl.                         MARY          Rhinolith, that's the real word.          Rhino is nose, lithos means stone.          Nose stone. You know what that is?          Snot.          INT. TV REPAIR SHOP - DAY          WAGA Cindy interviews a 30ish male SCIENTIST.                         SCIENTIST          I knew Mary Horowitz in college.          She caught me trying to cheat off          her physics midterm, lectured me          for an hour and when she finally          stopped talking I asked her out.          She said no, said it was because I          was, get this - hebetudinous. Can          you believe?          He walks away, bitter, gets back to work on NASA rockets.          INT. LIBRARY - DAY          WAGA Cindy interviews an attractive male RESEARCHER as he          puts away books. He talks as though it still stings:                         RESEARCHER          We dated for a while but she ended          it. Said she couldn't stand this -          He points around 'to the library - you could hear a pin drop.                         RESEARCHER          Whatever that means.          EXT. CITY STREET - DAY          WAGA Cindy continues her report.          WAGA CINDY          A heartbreaker, leaving behind a          trail of devastation.                                                  108.          INT. MINE SHAFT - NIGHT          Mary still talks.                         MARY          And Archimedes, there's another          one. He was into math, philosophy,          all kinds of stuff, then one day he          was working out an equation in the          sand and somebody stabbed him.          Crappy, I know.          EXT. TRI-PARISH FAIR GROUNDS - PUBLIC VIEWING AREA - NIGHT          A bus pulls up behind other parked and unloading buses.          PEOPLE OF ALL AGES file off the buses, holding handmade "SAVE          MARY" signs, stuffed animals, flowers, rosary beads, Kleenex.          They head toward the fence to join the others.          EXT. TRI-PARISH FAIR GROUNDS - RESCUE SITE - NIGHT          Angus watches as Doug films Hartman interviewing Steve.                         HARTMAN          Steve, tell us about Mary, your          fiance struggling for her life at          the bottom of the abandoned mine as          we speak.          Steve glares at him. Hartman motions for him to go on.                         STEVE          Mary... she's smart, incredibly          smart. She talks a lot. Never          boring, I'll tell you that much.          He thinks about her, gets lost in it.                         STEVE          Mary Horowitz doesn't pretend to be          anything she's not. She's          passionate, beautiful, real... and          she definitely doesn't deserve to          be where she is now.                                                  109.          EXT. TRI-PARISH FAIR GROUNDS - PUBLIC VIEWING AREA - NIGHT          The spectators all gather, candles in hand, hands joined in          silent prayer.          An ELDERLY COUPLE hands Howard and Elizabeth candles. Howard          looks around at the rest of the crowd - strangers watching,          waiting, worried.                         HOWARD          They don't even know her.          ELDERLY LADY          No, but they know what it's like to          be alone, to need a helping hand.          That's a good enough reason to be          here.          EXT. HOROWITZ HOUSE - NIGHT          NEIGHBORS hold a candlelight vigil on the lawn. The media          catches every minute of it.          INT. BAR - NIGHT          Bar PATRONS are silent, glued to the "Mary Watch" coverage on          the overhead TV.          EXT. MINE SHAFT - NIGHT          The old crane lowers the small rope into the hole, smoke          seeping out of the motor.          The Rescue Supervisor watches, anxious and helpless. The          other Rescuers just watch. Nothing to do but wait.          INT. MINE SHAFT - NIGHT          Mary still talks.                         MARY          Happenstance, I love that word too.          And you know what else -          Mary coughs. Before she has a chance to catch her breath, a          rope with a small bag attached quickly drops next to her, the          bag hitting the floor. Mary unties the bag and looks inside          to find water and sandwiches.                                                  110.                         MARY          No dessert. Crappy. Did you know          that the word dessert comes from an          old French word that means "clear          the table"? Sometimes I feel like          dinner is just doing time so I can          get to the point, and of course the          point always involves sugar. Who          needs -          The Little Deaf Girl covers her ears, vocalizes as much as          she's able.          LITTLE DEAF GIRL          Shut up! I can't hear you but you          talk a lot.          Totally catches Mary off guard. She fully takes that in.          Her demeanor completely shifts, a calm washes over her.,                         MARY          I know.          She sits down.                         MARY          I know.          She notices the Little Girl's shoes are soaked. Mary moves          next to her, takes off her rubber boots and puts them on the          Little Girl. Mary puts an arm around her, holds her close at          - softly,          her side, then speaks like she's a different person          to herself, the Little Girl unable to read her lips.                         MARY          I'm not good at... silence. "Mary          doesn't do quiet", that's how my          grandmother always said it.          "What's that hush?" she'd holler at          a party. "It's Mary about to          talk", then she'd laugh and laugh          and laugh. Everybody would... But          I knew something they didn't - that          if you keep talking, if you keep on          talking, you don't hear people          telling you that you're different.          You don't hear people saying they          don't like you. And if you're          talking, you just might not hear it          when some kid... calls you a freak.          Mary's eyes start to well.                                                                 MARY          I just wanted to be normal, that's          all. Steve said I was.          She thinks about it, laughs a bit.                         MARY          I'm beginning to think newsmen          can't entirely be trusted.          She buttons up the Little Girl's sweater.                         MARY          The truth is normal is -- not me.          She seems surprised she said it out loud. There's relief in          it.                         MARY          My friends, the people I've met          over the past week, they're not          normal either. They're more          interesting, more original, more          real, more rare.          She suddenly gets it, brightens up.                         MARY          That's where I fit.          - and for          She thinks about it, in silence. The sadness fades          the first time, she's comfortably quiet.          She smiles at the Little Deaf Girl. The Little Deaf Girl          smiles back. And they sit -- Mary totally calm.          Mary hears something in the distance - a gentle PLINK PLINK          PLINK she couldn't have heard while talking.          She picks up the flashlight, moves toward the noise. In a          corner of the mine, a water drip hits on some old rusted          mining tools, including two rusty vice grips.          The Little Girl coughs. Mary looks back at her, concerned.                         MARY          Little Deaf Girl, it's time for us          to go home.          EXT. TRI-PARISH FAIR GROUNDS - PUBLIC VIEWING AREA - NIGHT          Howard, Elizabeth and Carlos watch from the fence.                                                  112.                         ELIZABETH          What's taking so long?           INT. HOROWITZ HOUSE - NIGHT           Mr. and Mrs. Horowitz are glued to the TV.           MRS. HOROWITZ           Why aren't they doing anything?           Mr. Horowitz grabs her hand.          INT. 24 HOUR LAUNDROMAT - NIGHT          The Laundry Sorters still glued to the Mary Watch coverage.          INT. BAR - NIGHT          Quiet tension in the bar as the patrons all watch CNN.          CNN ANCHOR          A tense night in Eunice, Louisiana.          Hartman what can you tell us?          EXT. TRI-PARISH FAIR GROUNDS - RESCUE SITE - NIGHT          Doug films Hartman. In the shot behind him, smoke seeps out          of the old crane.                         HARTMAN          They've lowered food and water into          the depths of this abandoned mine.          The last task of this archaic crane          that finally blew its motor. We've          been told the new rescue equipment          won't make it until daybreak.          Until then, all we can do is wait,          hope, and of course pray.          There's a commotion at the rescue site. Doug zooms in.          AT THE HOLE:          The rope hanging into the hole is moving. Rescuers get as          close to the hole as possible.          RESCUE SUPERVISOR          Jesus Christ. Tell me she's not -                                                  113.          INT. MINE SHAFT - NIGHT          Mary cuts two pieces of excess rope off the bottom, attaches          each it to the hanging rope using the vice grips as makeshift          climbing ascenders.                         MARY          After I got kicked out of Girl          Scouts, while the other girls were          learning how to sell cookies, I was          at home reading the biography of          Sir Edmund Hillary.          Mary motions for the Little Deaf Girl to jump on piggyback.          She jumps up onto Mary's back, still in the red rubber boots.          Mary starts jugging up the rope, the vice grips and rope          pieces acting like ladder steps.          They start rising up slowly. Not an easy task. Mary          struggles every step.          EXT. TIMES SQUARE - NIGHT          A shot of the moving rope up above the hole is broadcast.          People on the street stop and watch.          INT. BAR - NIGHT          The Guys at the bar stand up to watch to the shot of the          moving rope on TV.          INT. HOROWITZ HOUSE - DAY          Mr. and Mrs. Horowitz on the edge of their seats in front of          the Mary Watch TV coverage.          INT. MINE SHAFT - DAY          The Little Deaf Girl helps Mary move one of the vice grips up          the rope.          MARY (V.0.)          If life is like a crossword puzzle          then its worth, its greatness, its          raison d'efre should be judged in          the same way.                                                  114.          Mary grasps the cable with everything she has, pulls up          another step.          MARY (V.O.)          Is it solvable?          One of the red boots drops down into the mine shaft.          EXT. TRI-PARISH FAIR GROUNDS - RESCUE SITE - NIGHT          Every eye is on the moving rope.          INT. MINE SHAFT - NIGHT          Mary looks up as the lights above get closer and closer.          MARY (V.0.)          Is it entertaining?          EXT. TRI-PARISH FAIR GROUNDS - RESCUE SITE - NIGHT          As the Rescuers, Firemen, Troopers, Media and Public look on,          Mary at last appears above ground, the little Girl in her          arms.          MARY (V.O.)          Does it sparkle?          The crowd goes nuts. Cameras flash. Rescuers rush to help          them onto the ground.          An Ambulance Attendant grabs the little Girl, wraps her in a          blanket. Mary's eyes flutter in the blinding lights of the          cameras pointed at her. She scans the entire crowd.          MARY (V.0.)          And does it fit?          Her eyes fix on a spot in the crowd. She starts running.          INT. HOROWITZ HOUSE - NIGHT          Mrs. Horowitz hands her husband the box of Kleenex as they          wail and watch Mary on TV, safely above ground.                                                  115.          INT. REST STOP - NIGHT          The customers eat pie while they're glued to images of Mary          and the little Girl.                         NORM          Good for her. Good for her.          INT. ATLANTA CITIZEN NEWSPAPER OFFICES - NIGHT          The staff breathe a sigh of relief when they see Mary alive          on TV. Jim Soloman stares at the images, happy, acquiescent.          JIM SOLOMAN          We're going to have to give her her          job back.          He shakes his head, laughs.          INT. BAR - NIGHT          Everybody in the bar celebrates. The BARTENDER rings the          bell.          INT. TINY APARTMENT - NIGHT          The Career Day teacher watches Mary on TV, wipes her eyes.          INT. 24 HOUR LAUNDROMAT - NIGHT          The Laundry Sorters celebrate, then realize their laundry is          all pink.          INT. ATLANTA ROW HOUSE - NIGHT          The Large Kid from the Career Day class walks into the living          room where his DAD has Mary Watch on TV. The Kid holds up a          crossword, half done, and he's not happy about it.          LARGE KID          Did you start this and not bother          finishing it? Do you know how much          work goes into making these things?          Honestly, Dad.          The Kid grabs a pencil to finish the puzzle.                                                  116.          EXT. NEWSSTAND - NIGHT          Mr. Takihashi watches Mary on TV, wipes his tears.          EXT. TRI-PARISH FAIR GROUNDS - RESCUE SITE - NIGHT          Mary adjusts her eyes to the flashing lights, looks around.          An Ambulance Attendant tries to attend to her leg. She waves          him off. In bare feet, blood running down her leg, limping,          she starts running away from the site toward the media.          Steve's watches, genuinely happy to see her. Hartman nudges          Doug to get the camera on Steve.                         HARTMAN          First interview is ours. Here          comes our girl. Steve, you ready?          Grab her arid kiss her then let me          start with the questions.          Doug focuses in on Steve. Hartman holds the crowd back so          Mary can get to him.          Mary runs toward them -- and keeps on running, right past          Steve's open arms.          She heads for her friends at the fence - Howard, Elizabeth,          Carlos, George, Lydia, all of the other Protestors. She swan          dives right into them. They catch her.                         HOWARD          You're okay.                         MARY          I am.          Cameras go off all around them.          EXT. HIGHWAY - DAY          A Greyhound bus travels.          MARY (V.0.)          My brain is full of all kinds of          information, some of it useful,          some of it not.                         (MORE)                                                  117.          MARY (V.0.) (cont'd)          I've recently discovered, hiding in          the back of my mind, somewhere          between astrophysics and a catalog          of candy bars of the Seventies, a          previously hidden bit of knowledge          more important than everything          else. It is this...          INT. GREYHOUND BUS - DAY          Mary sits right at the front talking to the female BUS          DRIVER.                         MARY          In solving the puzzle of life          there's one thing you must do.          She points to the side of the road. The bus pulls over.                         MARY          Find somebody just as normal as          you.          Mary stands up, gets off the bus.                         MARY          if not a whole bunch.          Howard, Elizabeth, George, Lydia, Carlos, Clyde, a few old          Ladies, a bunch of other Protestors file off the bus. Mary          keeps talking to the bus driver.                         MARY          And don't be a slave to your loins.          Trust me on that one.          Mary taps the side of her head.                         MARY          You need to let this be the boss of          you. Cornprende ?          EXT. MARY'S NEIGHBORHOOD - ATLANTA - DAY          A huge gated property. Mary opens the gate and walks up a          tree covered path, Howard right behind her, all the other          Protestors following. For once, Mary isn't doing all the          talking.                         HOWARD          That bus driver looked like Francis          Galton. Did you see that?                                                  118.                         MARY          He's my favorite behavioral          geneticist in the world.          They continue on through an open yard.                         HOWARD          In retrospect, and I say this with          some hesitation because I don't          like to have actual regrets so I'll          just say I'm beginning to perpend -                         MARY          Good one.                         HOWARD          I'm beginning to perpend whether or          not eating three bags of caramel          corn for lunch was the smartest          thing to do. Honestly I'm this          close to spewing...          Mary reaches the end of the path and stops, waits for          everybody else to catch up. They're in complete awe of the          monstrous Georgian estate before them.                         MARY          My grandma left it to me. My          parents won't stay here. And for          me it was always too... quiet.          She looks at her new friends.                         MARY          Not anymore.          They head toward the house.                        THE END
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+                                    ALL THE KING'S MEN                                        Written by                                      Robert Rossen                                  Based on the novel by                                    Robert Penn Warren                                      SHOOTING DRAFT                                           1949                               Interior: Jack Burden's Desk, The Chronicle, Day               Jack Burden is looking over the morning edition of "The                Chronicle." He reads the society page. A man enters and leans                across his desk.                                     MAN                         Burden! Jack Burden! The boss wants                          to see you.               He folds his paper, rises, and walks by the presses into                Madison's office.               Interior: Madison's Office, Day               Madison, the city editor, is correcting copy at his desk.                                     MADISON                         Hey, Jack, ever hear of a fellow                          called Willie Stark?                                     JACK                         No. Who'd he shoot?                                     MADISON                         Oh, county... uh... treasurer, or                          something like that.                                     JACK                         What's so special about him?                                     MADISON                         They say he's an honest man. What I                          want you to do is to hop into your                          car...                                     JACK                         Why, you promised me a vacation.                                     MADISON                         Well, that can wait.                                     JACK                         Yeah... but there's a... a girl I                          know.               He opens his newspaper to the society page and shows Madison                a photograph of Anne Stanton.                                     MADISON                         Oh... Well, she can wait too.               Jack takes the paper back and looks at it.                                     JACK                         The question is... can I?                                     MADISON                         The answer is... get up there.                                     JACK                         Right.                              (starts to go)                         Oh... uh... what did you say his                          name was?                                     MADISON                         Who?                                     JACK                         The fellow's name.                                     MADISON                         Oh, the... uh... Stark... Willie                          Stark.               Madison goes on with his work.                                     JACK                              (as he leaves)                         Willie Stark...                                                               DISSOLVE TO:               Exterior: Kanoma City, Day               As Jack Burden's jalopy pulls up before the Kanoma County                Courthouse of this back-country, one-street small town.                                     JACK                              (voice over)                         I found him in Kanoma City. A typical,                          hot, dusty, backwoods county seat.               He gets out of the car, and notices a crowd of people gathered                around a platform in the town square. As he walks over the                begins to hear the words that Willie Stark is speaking.                                     WILLIE                         ...to lie to them in order to line                          their own dirty pockets with the                          taxpayers' money. When have the                          citizens of Kanoma County ever                          witnessed a campaign like this? Why                          is the opposition so anxious to defeat                          me? Why have they used every dirty                          method known to make sure I'm not                          elected county treasurer? Well, I'll                          tell you why...               A man in shirt sleeves and suspenders, Tiny Duffy, comes out                of the local poolroom, listens for a moment to Willie's                speech, and signals to two uniformed men to go over and break                up the gathering.               Jack Burden stands close to the platform, next to Willie's                son, Tom, who waits patiently to distribute handbills.                                     WILLIE                         ...Because they're afraid of the                          truth... and the truth is this.                          They're trying to steal your money.                          Yeah, I said steal. The county                          commissioners rejected the bid on                          the schoolhouse. Why? Well, they'll                          tell you their reason is the job                          will be done better. The county                          commissioners would have you believe                          that they're interested in public                          welfare. They're interested in                          welfare, sure. But it's their own.                          Let's look at the reason in the light                          of the facts and the figures. That                          brick factory is owned by one of the                          commissioners. That same brick factory                          uses convict labor.               The sheriff and his deputy push through the crowd.                                     SHERIFF                         Sorry, Willie, you'll have to move                          on.                                     WILLIE                         Why?                                     SHERIFF                         City Ordinance Number One-Oh-Five:                          more than five people congregating                          is disturbing the peace.                                     WILLIE                              (ignores him)                         If you folks'll be so kind as to                          read these handbills, my boy will                          pass them out among you.                                     SHERIFF                         There's an ordinance against that                          too.                                     WILLIE                              (his face grim)                         Pass 'em out, Tom.               The sheriff pushes Tom back, grabbing the handbills out of                his hand. Willie jumps down off the platform.                                     WILLIE                         Let him alone!               The sheriff collars Willie, then notices Jack on the platform                snapping a picture.                                     SHERIFF                              (to deputy)                         Get that camera! Willie, you're under                          arrest.               He takes Willie by the arm and leads him away. The crowd                follows them to the courthouse. Tiny Duffy wipes the sweat                off his neck and goes back into the poolroom.                                                               DISSOLVE TO:               Interior: Kanoma City Poolroom, Day               Two of Duffy's men, Pillsbury and a local commissioner, are                playing pool as Jack enters.                                     JACK                         Where can I find Tiny Duffy?                                     PILLSBURY                         Right over there, mister.               He walks over to Duffy. Some townspeople, who followed him                there, gather around him to listen.                                     JACK                         Uh, they told me I could get my camera                          back here.                                     DUFFY                         Who told you that?                                     JACK                         People. Can I?                                     DUFFY                         You the reporter that's been snoopin'                          around town?                                     JACK                         Are you Tiny Duffy?                                     DUFFY                         What paper?                                     JACK                         Chronicle.                                     DUFFY                         You sure come a long way to stick                          your nose into other people's                          business.                                     JACK                         That's true... Only my boss on the                          paper can't see it that way.                                     DUFFY                         It ain't any of his business either.                                     JACK                         Whose business is it?                                     PILLSBURY                         Them as is tendin' to it. County                          commissioners that the voters of                          Kanoma County elected to tend to                          their business and not take no buttin'                          in from nobody.                                     JACK                         You a commissioner?                                     PILLSBURY                         Yeah. Name's Pillsbury. Dolph                          Pillsbury.                                     2ND COMMISSIONER                         Me too. I'm a commissioner too.                                     JACK                         Who isn't a commissioner?                                     DUFFY                         He's the head man.                                     JACK                              (to Pillsbury)                         Then you're in a position to know                          where --                                     DUFFY                         He's in a position to know nothin'.                          And to say nothin'.                                     JACK                         I thought you said he was head man?                                     DUFFY                              (smiling)                         He uses my head.                                     PILLSBURY                              (laughing loudly)                         Oh, Tiny, you're a card... Ain't he                          a card? Yeah, he's a card... Now,                          who thought up those city ordinances                          about arresting someone for making a                          speech?                                     DUFFY                         Who's arrested? Nobody's been                          arrested.                              (looks toward the                               door)                         Hi, Willie.               Willie enters, accompanied by the sheriff and his deputy.                The others in the room, including Sugar Boy in his bartender's                apron, step aside to let him pass through.                                     PILLSBURY                         Hi, Willie.                                     DUFFY                              (to Sheriff)                         Did you apologize to Willie?                                     SHERIFF                              (mumbles)                         Yeah, I apologized to Willie.                                     DUFFY                         Did you give him his handbills back?                                     SHERIFF                         Yeah, I gave 'em back.                                     DUFFY                         Give him back his flag and his bag                          and...                              (points to Jack)                         give this man his camera.                                     WILLIE                         I'm going to be on that same street                          corner tomorrow, Mr. Duffy.                                     DUFFY                         You go right ahead, Willie. We all                          believe in free speech. We got to...                          it's in the Constitution.                                     WILLIE                         My boy is out distributing those                          handbills now.                                     DUFFY                         It's a free country, Willie. If you                          can convince the people to vote for                          you... you go right ahead.                                     WILLIE                         What did you want to see me about,                          Mr. Duffy?                                     DUFFY                         I wanted you to meet a fella came                          all the way up from the state capital                          to meet you. A reporter. Wants to                          write you up... maybe put your picture                          in the paper.                                     WILLIE                              (turns to Jack)                         I'm happy to know you, sir.                                     JACK                         Burden's my name... Jack Burden. Can                          we go somewhere where we can talk?                                     DUFFY                         Now that ain't polite. Don't you                          want to hear both sides of the story?               Jack examines the camera that has just been returned to him.                                     JACK                         I know your side.                              (finds the plate                               missing)                         What happened to the plate your men                          took from my camera?                                     DUFFY                         Must have dropped out. Oh, come on,                          fellas, let's relax. It's a hot day...                          Hey, Sugar Boy...                                     SUGAR BOY                         Yeah?                                     DUFFY                         Bring some cold beer for the boys.                                     WILLIE                         None for me, thank you kindly.                                     PILLSBURY                         Now you know Willie don't drink,                          Tiny. His wife don't favor drinking.                          And Willie's the teacher's pet, ain't                          you, Willie?                                     WILLIE                         I'll have some orange pop if you                          don't mind.               Duffy roars with laughter.                                     DUFFY                         Orange pop! All right, Sugar Boy.                          Bring him some orange pop.                                     SUGAR BOY                              (stutters)                         Th-th-the p-p-pop's s-s-sold out.                                     DUFFY                         Did you hear that, boys? The p-p-                         pop's s-s-sold out.               They all laugh.                                     PILLSBURY                         Now ain't he a card?                                     WILLIE                              (his face hard)                         He stutters, Mr. Duffy, but you...                          you don't say anything.                              (to Jack)                         Let's go, mister.               They turn and go out.                                                               DISSOLVE TO:               Exterior: Dirt Road, Day               Jack is driving Willie home to his farmhouse. They pass a                farmer and his family walking by the side of the road. Willie                smiles and waves to them.               Exterior: Stark Farmhouse, Day               As the car pulls into the drive we see Pa Stark in his rocking                chair on the porch, and Lucy, who stands at the top of the                steps, waiting to welcome Willie.                                     WILLIE                              (as they go up the                               steps)                         This is my wife, Lucy, Mr. Burden.                                     JACK AND LUCY                         How do you do?                                     WILLIE                         That's my pa.               Jack reaches out to shake his hand.                                                               DISSOLVE TO:               Interior: Stark Farmhouse, Night               Willie finishes chewing his food, pats his mouth with a                napkin, and pushes his plate back.                                     WILLIE                         Now we'll talk.               Camera pulls back to include Jack, Lucy, and Pa, all seated                around the dinner table.                                     JACK                         You've been talking for a long time,                          Mr. Stark.                                     PAPPY                         Willie's got a lot to say.                                     LUCY                         You sleepy, Pappy? You want to have                          a nap?                                     PAPPY                         No, I want to hear it.               Lucy gets up and turns on a light in the kitchen.                                     LUCY                         I'm worried about Tom. It's getting                          dark. He should have been home.                                     WILLIE                         He's a strong boy. Don't worry about                          him. He can take care of himself.                                     JACK                         How old is the boy?                                     WILLIE                         Fifteen.                                     JACK                         How long have you been married?                                     WILLIE                         Nine years.               Willie grins at Jack's look of surprise. Lucy comes back                into the room.                                     LUCY                              (laughs)                         He was a neighbor's boy. They were                          poor folks. Both died. I couldn't                          have any children, so... He's a good                          boy.                                     WILLIE                         Oh, he's the best. I couldn't love                          him any more if he was my own flesh                          and blood.                                     JACK                              (to Lucy)                         And now you, Mrs. Stark?                                     LUCY                         Oh, there isn't very much to tell                          about me.                                     JACK                         How did you meet?                                     LUCY                         I was teaching school and one day a                          pupil walked in. It was Willie. I                          couldn't have a grown man in the                          class and Willie wanted to learn so                          badly... so I married him.                                     JACK                         Is that the only reason?                                     LUCY                              (pressing Willie's                               arm)                         Except that I loved him.                                     WILLIE                         Get the coffee, Lucy.               She goes back into the kitchen.                                     JACK                         When did they fire you, Mrs. Stark?                                     LUCY                              (as she serves the                               coffee)                         A couple of weeks ago. I'd been                          teaching for a long time and nobody                          ever said I wasn't all right. But I                          don't care. I don't want to teach in                          a schoolhouse that they built just                          so somebody can steal some money.                          And Willie doesn't want to be                          Treasurer, either, if he has to                          associate with those dishonest people.                                     WILLIE                              (glumly)                         I'm going to run. They can't keep me                          from running.                                     JACK                         If you don't mind the truth, Mr.                          Stark, you haven't much of a chance.                                     WILLIE                         I'm going to run. They're not going                          to kick me around like I was dirt.                                     LUCY                         I don't care if Willie loses... just                          so he gets the truth to the people.                          Isn't that true, Willie?               Willie is silent. Jack looks at him.                                     LUCY                         Isn't it, Willie?                                     WILLIE                         Hmmm?... Yeah, yeah, sure, that's                          right.                                     LUCY                         Well, if you lose you can give a                          little more time to studying your                          law books.                                     JACK                         Oh, you studying law too?                                     WILLIE                         By myself, at night.                                     PAPPY                         Willie's a smart boy.                                     WILLIE                         If I ever find the time I'm going to                          take a course at the university.               The door opens slowly and Tom comes in from the porch. His                clothes are torn and his face is dirty and bloody. He still                carries some of the handbills. They rise to their feet and                cluster around him.                                     LUCY                         What happened, Tommy boy? What's the                          matter?                                     TOM                              (head down, muttering)                         I gave out the handbills, Pa.                                     WILLIE                         Speak up. Speak up.                                     LUCY                         Let him tell it his own way. Go on,                          Tommy.                                     TOM                         This time they were waiting for me.                          They took them away from me. Threw                          them in the dirt and beat me up. I                          brought some of them back.                                     WILLIE                              (pats him on the back)                         Good boy. Have you eaten yet, Tom?                                     LUCY                         Let him wash up first.               As Tom and Pappy go into the other room, a rock comes crashing                through the front window, shattering the glass. Willie, his                face filled with anger, throws open the door and stalks out                onto the porch. Jack stands at the door, watching Willie                shout into the darkness around him.                                     WILLIE                         I'm going to run... and you're not                          going to stop me. I'm gonna run even                          if I don't get a single vote.                                                                   FADE OUT               FADE IN:               Interior: Jack Burden's Desk, Day               Jack's fingers type out a story, the last line of which reads                "an honest man with courage." He pulls the sheet out and                hands it to Madison.                                     JACK                         Here you are... the last of the Willie                          Stark articles. Now can I go?                                     MADISON                         Yes. You've earned your vacation.                          You've been writing these like you                          really mean them.               Jack rises and walks toward the door.                                     JACK                         I do.                                                               DISSOLVE TO:               Exterior: Ferry To Burden's Landing, Day               Jack's car is ferried across the bay to the slip of Burden's                Landing.                                     JACK                              (voice over)                         I hadn't been home in a long time.                          Only a hundred and thirty miles from                          Kanoma City. It was separated from                          the mainland by a body of water. For                          the first time I wondered if it wasn't                          separated by more than that.                                                               DISSOLVE TO:               Exterior: Mrs. Burden's Home, Day               As Jack arrives, Mrs. Burden and her husband, McEvoy, are                seated at a lawn table near the boat landing.                                     JACK                         Hello, Mother.               She runs forward to meet him.                                     MRS. BURDEN                         Floyd, Jack's home. Oh, he looks                          fine... doesn't he look fine?                              (to Jack, coquettishly)                         How do I look, Jackie boy?                                     JACK                         You look beautiful, Mother.                                     MRS. BURDEN                         I've got so many things planned for                          you... parties and... it'll be just                          like old times. But first, let's                          have a drink.                                     MCEVOY                         Can't that wait until this evening?               She goes ahead and pours the drinks.                                     MRS. BURDEN                         Floyd... honey... my son's home.                                     MCEVOY                         How long do you plan on staying?                                     JACK                              (coldly)                         Two or three weeks. If that's all                          right with you.                                     MRS. BURDEN                         I'm sure your father would be --                                     JACK                         Stepfather, Mother.                                     MRS. BURDEN                              (reproachfully)                         Now, Jackie... here we all are. Floyd,                          Jackie, myself.                              (raises her glass for                               a toast)                         To the best time we've ever had                          together.                                     JACK                         Yes, Mother.               They drink. Mrs. Burden gulps hers down avidly. Jack looks                at her and then at McEvoy.                                     JACK                         Excuse me... I...               He turns and walks back toward the shore. He boards a small                motorboat and heads toward a house that can be seen across                the water.                                                               DISSOLVE TO:               Exterior: Stanton Home (Burden's Landing), Day               As the boat approaches the shore. Adam Stanton reaches down                and pulls the boat up on land. He throws his arm around Jack,                and the two climb the hill toward Judge Stanton, who stands                waiting to greet him.                                     JACK                         Dr. Stanton, I presume.                                     STANTON                              (laughing)                         Is my shingle showing?                                     JUDGE                         Good to see you, boy. Very good.                                     JACK                         Good to see you, Judge. How have you                          been? What have you been doing?               They walk back together to the patio tables.                                     JUDGE                         Oh, just sitting here... waiting for                          all of you to come home. You know,                          when a man starts to get old his                          eyes stray and play funny tricks on                          him. As I watched you in that boat I                          thought sure I saw a boy of twelve                          with a fishing rod in his hands. And                          I was sure the first thing he'd say                          would be...               Jack catches sight of Anne Stanton walking down the path. He                runs to meet her. As they embrace, he looks back at the Judge.                                     JACK                         Do you mind if I kiss your niece,                          sir?               He kisses her, and they turn and walk away.                                                               DISSOLVE TO:               Exterior: Tennis Court (Burden's Landing), Day               Anne gracefully returns a ball to Jack, then runs to embrace                him at the net. Adam, seated near the court, smiles                approvingly.                                                               DISSOLVE TO:               Exterior: Gulf (Burden's Landing), Morning               Jack and Judge Stanton in a rowboat, on their way to do some                duck hunting.                                                               DISSOLVE TO:               Exterior: Gulf (Burden's Landing), Day               Adam is at the wheel of his sailboat, with Jack and Anne                behind him.                                                               DISSOLVE TO:               Interior: Stanton Living Room (Burden's Landing), Night               A party in the Stanton living room. Adam plays the piano. He                plays a waltz. Jack and Anne hold each other tightly as they                move among the other couples.                                                               DISSOLVE TO:               Interior: Burden Dining Room, Night               A formal dinner, attended by Jack and Anne, Mrs. Burden and                McEvoy, Judge Stanton and Adam. Mrs. Burden is proposing a                toast.                                     MRS. BURDEN                         To all the good times we've had                          together at Burden's Landing. And                          especially to this one. Because my                          son's home.                                     JACK                         Thank you, Mother. Thank you very                          much.                                     MRS. BURDEN                         Monty, Anne and I have been discussing                          Jack's career. What do you think he                          ought to go in for? Shall he be a                          lawyer, doctor...               Jack looks at Anne.                                     ANNE                         We were just discussing whether you                          should...                                     JACK                              (to his mother)                         I like what I'm doing, Mother.                                     MCEVOY                         You do very well at it. I read your                          articles about this fellow... Willie                          Stark. Very convincing... Too                          convincing for my tastes.                                     JACK                         A lot of people like them.                                     MCEVOY                         A lot of people are fools. Articles                          like that shouldn't be permitted.                          They only tend to incite people.                                     JACK                         What are you afraid of?                                     STANTON                         I thought they were very good. I was                          proud of you, Jack. I was particularly                          interested in Stark's ideas on health                          and medicine. You know the conditions                          at the hospital I work in. They're                          intolerable. I'd like to meet this                          Willie Stark. He sounds like an honest                          man.                                     MCEVOY                         Honest man? This state is full of                          these log-cabin Abe Lincolns with                          price tags on them. The louder he                          yells the higher his price.                                     JACK                         You think you can buy anything, don't                          you?                                     MCEVOY                         Yes, don't you?               There is a silence. Then McEvoy turns to the Judge.                                     MCEVOY                         What do you think, Judge?                                     JUDGE                         I think this state could stand a few                          changes.                                     MCEVOY                              (his face white)                         Well, I'll tell you what I think --                                     ANNE                              (quickly)                         Oh, please... let's not talk politics.                                     MRS. BURDEN                         Anne is right. I absolutely forbid                          any more of it. I know what we need,                          we need another toast.                              (to the Judge)                         You propose it, Monty... you're so                          good at it.               The Judge picks up his glass and stands up.                                     JUDGE                         To the young people... to Anne, to                          Jack, to Adam... To what lies before                          them. To the world they'll make...                          in spite of the mistakes we've made.                                     MCEVOY                              (rising)                         The mistakes you've made, not me.                          You're all still pretty high and                          mighty, aren't you? You all think                          this state needs a change. You don't                          like the way it's run. Well, who's                          going to run it? Willie Stark? The                          Judge?                              (to Jack)                         You? You can be bought too. As a                          matter of fact you have been. And                          with my money.               Jack's answer is to throw his liquor in his stepfather's                face. There is a pause. McEvoy wipes the liquor off with his                handkerchief.                                     MCEVOY                              (slowly)                         That's a waste of good liquor.                              (looks at Mrs. Burden)                         Your mother wouldn't approve.               Jack turns and leaves the room.                                     MRS. BURDEN                         Jack...               She hurries after him.               Exterior: Veranda, Night               As Mrs. Burden comes out after Jack. Anne stands in the                doorway.                                     MRS. BURDEN                         Jack... you go back in and apologize.                                     JACK                         Apologize? I'd rather die.                                     MRS. BURDEN                         I've got to live with him.                                     JACK                         Well, I don't. Neither do you. You                          don't love him, Mother. You never                          did.                                     MRS. BURDEN                         Son, don't spoil anything now... He                          can help you.                                     JACK                         I can get along without him. You                          need this house. And the parties.                          And the cars and the clothes and the                          lies. I don't. It's the truth, Mother,                          face it. For once in your life, face                          it.               Mrs. Burden appeals to Anne.                                     MRS. BURDEN                         Anne, please... please make him                          understand.               Anne says nothing. Mrs. Burden goes back into the house.                                                               DISSOLVE TO:               Interior: Stanton Living Room, Night               Anne and Jack sit alone in the room, beneath the portrait of                the old Governor Stanton.                                     JACK                         Anne, Burden's Landing is a place on                          the moon. It isn't real. It doesn't                          exist. It's me pretending I live on                          what I earn. It's my mother trying                          to keep herself young, and drinking                          herself old doing it. It's you and                          Adam living in this house as though                          your father were still alive. It's                          an old man like the Judge dreaming                          of the past... Anne, come away with                          me.                                     ANNE                         And do what?                                     JACK                              (rises impatiently)                         And live in a shack and eat red beans.                          Anne, what do you want me to do?                                     ANNE                         Oh, Jack, Jack, you haven't been                          sure. You've gone from one thing to                          the other... a year at law school,                          and now this job as a reporter...                                     JACK                         Are you afraid I can't make a living?                                     ANNE                         Oh, no, Jack, it isn't that. I don't                          care about the money. It... it's                          just that I... I want you to be                          something.                                     JACK                         What is it you want me to be?                                     ANNE                         I don't know. It's just that I want                          you to be... to do... something                          important.               Jack looks up at the portrait of Governor Stanton.                                     JACK                         Like your father. All right. I'll                          run for governor.                              (pause)                         Anne, I'm sorry. I'm sorry I said                          that.                                     ANNE                         All right, Jack. I'll go away with                          you. I'll do anything you want me to                          do.               They kiss.                                     JACK                         Anne, I've wanted you to say that                          more than anything in the world, and                          now that you've said it... Anne, I                          guess you were right. I'm not sure                          of anything, including myself. I'm                          not sure I could live up to the...                              (looks again at the                               portrait)                         Anne, wait for me. Please wait for                          me.                                     ANNE                         I'll wait for you.                                                               DISSOLVE TO:               Interior: Madison's Office, Day               Madison is at his desk as Jack enters.                                     MADISON                         Hello, Jack. Cut your vacation short,                          didn't you?                                     JACK                         Yeah.                                     MADISON                         By the way, Jack, the fellow you                          wrote the articles about... uh...                          Stark.                                     JACK                         Yeah?                                     MADISON                         He lost.                                     JACK                         Well, I guess that's the end of Willie                          Stark.               He turns around and walks off toward his desk.                                                                   FADE OUT               FADE IN:               Interior: Stark Farmhouse, Night               Lucy and Willie are seated together at the table. Willie has                his law books open before him.                                     WILLIE                         ...Measure of the damages is caused                          by...                                     LUCY                              (prompting)                         A breach...                                     WILLIE                         A breach...                                     LUCY                         Of an agreement...                                     WILLIE                         Of an agreement...                                     LUCY                         To sell personal property...                                     WILLIE                         To sell...                              (slams the book shut)                         Oh, two years of this.                                     LUCY                              (leaning over to him)                         Oh, go on, Willie, go on.               He opens the book again.                                                               DISSOLVE TO:               Interior: Willie's Law Office (Kanoma City), Day               Willie positions the framed diploma on the wall. The camera                pulls back to show Tom and Lucy, looking on.                                     WILLIE                         Willie Stark... Bachelor of Law...                                                               DISSOLVE TO:               Exterior: Kanoma City Farm, Day               Close shot of Willie, talking to a farmer.                                     WILLIE                         If you'll just let me take your                          case...                                                               DISSOLVE TO:               Exterior: Farm, Day               Willie walks beside a farmer who is plowing his field.                                     WILLIE                         Really, I'll wait for my fee. Just                          as long as you want me to.                                                               DISSOLVE TO:               Interior: Willie's Law Office, Night               Through the window, on which is printed "Willie Stark:                Attorney at Law," we see Willie, alone, pacing back and forth                in his office.                                     LUCY'S VOICE                         Go on, Willie, go on.                                     WILLIE'S VOICE                         They're not going to kick me around                          like I was dirt.                                     LUCY'S VOICE                         If you lose you can give a little                          more time studying your law books.                                     WILLIE'S VOICE                         I'm going to be on that same street                          corner tomorrow, Mr. Duffy!                                     DUFFY'S VOICE                         By all means. Free speech, free                          country, Willie.                                     WILLIE'S VOICE                         That brick factory is owned by a                          brother-in-law of one of the                          commissioners. The county                          commissioners rejected the low bid                          on the schoolhouse.               Willie crumples a piece of paper in his hand and tosses it                against the window.                                                               DISSOLVE TO:               Exterior: Schoolhouse (Kanoma City), Day               A plaque on the school wall reads KANOMA CITY GRAMMAR SCHOOL               Interior: Schoolroom, Day               Teacher faces her class. The clanging of a fire bell is heard.                                     TEACHER                         All right, children, this is a fire                          drill.               The children rise and start to march out of the room in double                file.                                     TEACHER                         Remember now, walk quietly.               Exterior: Schoolhouse, Day               The children's feet, as they climb down the fire escape.                Camera pans past children to an iron rod supporting the fire                escape. The brick around the rod starts to crumble and it                rips loose. The children scream out in fear and agony.                                                               DISSOLVE TO:               Exterior: Cemetery, Day               The whole town is there. Willie Stark, Lucy, Tom stand                modestly in the background. Quiet sobbing is heard as the                minister reads from the Bible. When he finishes the prayer,                he walks past the line of mourners, shaking their hands. The                ceremony is over. As they start to go, a man spots Willie,                goes over to him, and lifts Willie's arm in the air.                                     MAN                         Oh, Lord, I'm punished for voting                          against an honest man.               This sudden action brings response; women begin to cry and                people push their way forward to grab Willie by the hand.                                     VOICES OF THE MOURNERS                         God bless you, Willie. If we had                          only listened to you, Willie. You                          were right, Willie. Let me shake                          your hand, Willie. We should have                          listened, Willie. You were right all                          the time.               On Willie's face is the realization that something important                has happened to him.                                                               DISSOLVE TO:               Interior: Stark Farmhouse, Night               An article is pasted in a scrapbook. It reads: "VOICE IN THE                WILDERNESS. Recent school tragedy is a potent reminder that                a man named Willie Stark..." A hand draws a pencil underneath                the name.                                     WILLIE'S VOICE                         A voice in the wilderness. A man                          named Willie Stark...               Camera pulls back to show Willie at the table busy with his                scrapbook. He looks up at Lucy.                                     WILLIE                         How about that, Lucy, that's me.               She looks at him, unsmiling, and sits down to help him clip                various articles from other papers.                                                               DISSOLVE TO:               Interior: Stark Farmhouse, Night               A series of clippings are being pasted in the scrapbook.                They read:               A. SCHOOL VICTIMS SUE COUNTY: STARK FILES DAMAGE SUIT               "Will prove graft cause of tragedy," says Attorney Stark.               B. CITIZENS COMMITTEE FORMED               Draft Stark to lead fight to rid state of graft.               C. CITIZENS COMMITTEE DEMANDS STATE-WIDE INVESTIGATION               D. Large photograph of Willie. Under it, the caption: RURAL                AREAS IN REVOLT                                                               DISSOLVE TO:               Interior: Madison's Office, The Chronicle, Day               The clippings are spread out on Madison's desk. He looks up                at Jack.                                     MADISON                         Get up there. Get up there fast.                          Your friend, Willie, is hotter than                          a firecracker.               Jack starts toward the door.                                     MADISON                         Stay there with him.                                                               DISSOLVE TO:               Interior: Harrison's Political Headquarters (State Capital),                Day               A politician points to a map on the wall.                                     POLITICIAN                         Look, before this Kanoma City business                          we had this whole area tied up. Now                          we're losing to Hickville.               Camera pulls back, revealing the candidate, Harrison, Tiny                Duffy, and a woman, Sadie Burke.                                     POLITICIAN                         We must find a way to split that                          vote.                                     HARRISON                         Well, all I know is, the way it is                          now it looks like I'm not going to                          win.                                     POLITICIAN                         I know a way... find a dummy.                                     SADIE                         Find a dummy.                              (looks at Harrison)                         That's what we've got.                                     POLITICIAN                         A guy from the sticks... strong enough                          to grab some votes and dumb enough                          not to ask questions.                                     DUFFY                         If you want to listen to a boy from                          the sticks, I know just the guy.               They crowd around to listen.                                                               DISSOLVE TO:               Interior: Stark Farmhouse, Day               Jack sits at the dinner table, with Willie and Lucy. Tom                stands next to Willie. Pappy dozes in his chair.                                     JACK                         No more politics, eh, Willie?                                     WILLIE                         No, I worked too hard in my time to                          get there. I think I'll just go on                          practicing law and make a little                          more money.                                     JACK                         The question I'd like to know is,                          why all the speeches you're making                          around the countryside?               Willie is about to answer when he hears the sound of                approaching cars.                                     WILLIE                         Wonder who that is?               He goes to the window, and we see a big black limousine                turning into his drive. He opens the door and waits as Sadie,                Duffy, Dolph Pillsbury, and other politicians climb the steps                to meet him.                                     DUFFY                         Brought some people all the way up                          from the state capital just to meet                          you.                              (turns to others)                         Folks, I want you to meet Willie                          Stark, the next governor of our state.               Willie, Lucy, and Tom beam happily. Jack looks skeptically                at Sadie, whose only reaction is to smile, politely.                                                               DISSOLVE TO:               Exterior: Country Road, Day               Close shot of three posters on a billboard. They read ELECT                JOE HARRISON (HAPPY JOE) GOVERNOR FOR GOVERNOR ELECT McMURPHY                WILLIE STARK FOR GOVERNOR.               The camera pans to the road, where an old Model T comes                bouncing along. As it passes we see a poster stuck on its                back: WILLIE STARK -- GOVERNOR.               Exterior: Railroad Station, Day               Willie Stark walks out on the platform at the rear of the                train and talks to some of the townspeople who have gathered                at the station.                                     WILLIE                         Folks, if you'll just bear patiently                          with me for a couple of minutes, I'd                          like to tell you what this state                          needs. It needs a balanced tax                          program. Now I'd like to give you                          the facts and the figures.               Some of the townspeople start to move away.                                                               DISSOLVE TO:               Interior: Train, Day               As the train pulls away from the station, Willie turns around                to Jack.                                     WILLIE                         How did it sound, Jack?                                     JACK                         Fine, Willie, fine.                                     WILLIE                              (alarmed)                         Say... I forgot to send a telegram                          to Lucy... Conductor!               Jack and Sadie exchange looks.                                                               DISSOLVE TO:               Interior: Train Club Car, Day               Willie, jacket off, works over a speech with Duffy as                Pillsbury and Sadie look on.                                     WILLIE                         Now right here... right here I'd                          like to add something about last                          year's taxes... eh?                                     DUFFY                         I wouldn't add a thing. Just give                          them the facts.                                     PILLSBURY                         Yeah... and the figures.                                     DUFFY                         Great speech.               Sadie sips her drink.                                                               DISSOLVE TO:               Exterior: Street Corner (Upton), Day               Willie stands on a platform, next to an American flag, reading                from his prepared speech.                                     WILLIE                         What this state needs is a balanced                          tax program. Last year, last year                          the state claimed to have spent on                          roads...               Sadie turns and walks away, no longer able to listen. Jack                follows her toward the hotel.               Interior: Hotel Lobby (Upton), Day               As Jack and Sadie cross the street, enter the lobby, and sit                down next to the front window. We can still see Willie and                his small street-corner audience in the background.                                     JACK                         Do you mind if I sit with you, Sadie?                                     SADIE                              (shrugs)                         Stand... sit...                                     JACK                         Thanks... Tell me, what are you on                          this merry-go-round for?                                     SADIE                         I take notes.                                     JACK                         For whom?                                     SADIE                         For those who pay me.                                     JACK                         Which is.                                     SADIE                         People.                                     JACK                         Smart people.                                     SADIE                         Oh, yeah. Anybody that pays me is                          smart.                                     JACK                         You don't have to be smart to frame                          a guy like Willie Stark.                                     SADIE                         No. No, brother, you don't.                                     JACK                              (lights a cigarette)                         It is a frame, isn't it?                                     SADIE                         Why don't you give me a cigarette?                                     JACK                              (gives her the pack)                         To split the vote and win the election                          for Harrison, huh?                                     SADIE                         If you know, why do you ask?                                     JACK                         I just want to make sure.                                     SADIE                         Yeah.                                     JACK                         Look, why don't you tell the boys                          back home to save their money. Willie                          couldn't steal a vote from... from                          Abe Lincoln in the Cradle of the                          Confederacy.                                     SADIE                         I wish the poor... had enough sense                          to have somebody give him a good                          greasing for the beating he's going                          to get. 'Cause this way all he gets                          out of it is the ride.                              (looks at Willie                               through the window)                         Hey, those speeches! Ain't they awful?                          Ain't they just plain awful? Question                          to you: if somebody told him he was                          a sucker, do you think he'd quit?               Willie has just finished his speech and is on his way over                to the hotel.                                     JACK                         I don't know, Sadie. I really don't                          know.                                     WILLIE                              (as he comes into the                               lobby)                         Did it sound all right, Mr. Burden?                                     JACK                         Fine, Willie, fine.                                     WILLIE                         Thanks.               He and Jack go upstairs together. Sadie watches them.                                                               DISSOLVE TO:               Interior: Sadie's Hotel Room (Upton), Night               Sadie lies on her bed, listening to Willie in the next room,                rehearsing one of his speeches.                                     WILLIE'S VOICE                         Now, friends, if you will bear                          patiently with me for a few minutes,                          I'll give you the figures. What we                          need is a balanced tax program...                                     JACK'S VOICE                         No, Willie, no.               Sadie pulls off a shoe and hurls it at the wall.                                     SADIE                         What I need is some sleep. Shut up!               Interior: Jack's Hotel Room (Upton), Same Time               Willie lies on his bed. Jack finishes shaving in the bathroom                as he continues to rehearse him.                                     JACK                              (shouting back at                               Sadie)                         Shut up yourself!                              (goes to bed, shakes                               Willie)                         Listen, Willie, try it on your feet                          this time.                                     WILLIE                         Oh, no. Wait a minute. My feet are                          killing me. Let me stay here, huh?                                     JACK                         All right... Look, Willie, you tell                          'em too much. Just tell 'em you're                          going to soak the fat boys and forget                          the rest of the tax stuff.                                     WILLIE                              (pathetically)                         That's what I say.                                     JACK                         But it's the way you say it. Willie,                          make 'em cry. Make 'em laugh, make                          'em mad, even mad at you. Stir 'em                          up and they'll love it and come back                          for more. But for heaven's sake don't                          try and improve their minds.                                     WILLIE                              (suddenly)                         A man don't have to be governor.                                     JACK                              (surprised)                         What?                                     WILLIE                         A man don't have to be governor.               Pause.                                     JACK                         Well, they haven't counted up the                          votes yet.                                     WILLIE                              (quietly)                         Oh, I'm going to lose, Mr. Burden. I                          know that. Don't try and fool me.                          I'm not going to lie to you. I wanted                          it. I wanted it so badly I stayed up                          nights thinking about it. A man wants                          something so badly he gets mixed up                          in knowing what he wants. It's                          something inside of you. I would                          have made a good governor. Better                          than those other fellows.               There is a knock on the door.                                     JACK                         Come in.                                     WILLIE                              (almost to himself)                         A great governor.               Sadie enters. She immediately spots the liquor, and pours                herself a drink.                                     SADIE                         Since you won't let me sleep you                          might at least give me a drink.                                     WILLIE                              (muttering)                         Build them highways... greatest system                          of highways in the country.                                     JACK                              (to Sadie)                         Help yourself.                                     WILLIE                         I'll build schools.                                     SADIE                              (to Jack)                         What's up?                                     JACK                         Nothing... except Willie here has                          been saying as how he's not going to                          be governor.                                     SADIE                              (directly, to Jack)                         So you told him.                                     JACK                         I don't tell anyone anything... I                          just listen.                                     SADIE                              (goes to Willie)                         Who told you?                                     WILLIE                         Told me what? Told me what?                                     SADIE                         That you're not going to be governor.                                     WILLIE                              (getting up)                         Jack! Told me what?... Told me what?               Jack says nothing. Sadie gulps down her drink, bangs the                empty glass on the bureau top, and turns to face Willie.                                     SADIE                              (loudly)                         All right! That you've been framed,                          you poor sap.               Willie looks at her steadily for a moment.                                     WILLIE                              (quietly)                         Framed?                                     SADIE                         And how! Oh, you decoy, you woodenhead                          decoy! And you let 'em. You let 'em                          because you thought you were the                          little lamb of God. But you know                          what you are?                              (she waits for his                               answer; he has none)                         Well, you're the goat! You are the                          sacrificial goat! You are a sap...                          because you let 'em.                                     JACK                         Sadie! That's enough.                                     SADIE                         Enough? He didn't even get anything                          out of it. Oh, they'd have paid you                          to take a rap like that, but they                          didn't have to pay a sap like you.                          Oh, no, you were so full of yourself                          and hot air, all you wanted was a                          chance to stand up on your hind legs                          and make a speech: my friends, what                          this state needs is a good five-cent                          cigar. What this state needs is a --                                     WILLIE                              (to Jack)                         Is it true?                                     SADIE                              (prayerfully, to the                               ceiling)                         He wants to know if it's true.                                     WILLIE                         Is it true?                                     JACK                         That's what they tell me.               There is a long pause. Willie looks almost as if he is going                to cry. Sadie pours out another drink, a stiff one.                                     SADIE                              (handing it to him)                         Here.               Willie drinks it all.                                     JACK                         Hey, lay off that. You're not used                          to it.                                     SADIE                              (jeeringly)                         He's not used to a lot of things.                          Are you, Willie?                                     JACK                              (angrily)                         Why don't you lay off of him, Sadie?                                     SADIE                              (ignores Jack)                         Are you, Willie? Are you? Are you...                          are you, are you, are you?               She shoves the bottle at him. He takes it and pours himself                a drink.                                                               DISSOLVE TO:               Interior: Sadie's Hotel Room (Upton), Morning               Willie is snoring on the bed. Sadie's coat is thrown over                him. She is in the bathroom, applying lipstick. Jack enters.                                     SADIE                         Hi.                                     JACK                         Well, things seem to have quieted                          down.                                     SADIE                              (laughs)                         Yeah, I quieted him down.                                     JACK                         Yeah. How was he? Noisy?                                     SADIE                         Oh, he reared some. He's been telling                          me all the things he's going to do.                          He's going to do big things, this                          fella. He's going to be President.                          He's going to kill people with his                          bare hands. I quieted him down...                          Hey! Who's Lucy?                                     JACK                         His wife.                                     SADIE                         He talks like she's his mammy...                          she's going to blow his nose for                          him.               Jack sits on the bed next to Willie.                                     JACK                         Well, I'll take him from here on in.                          They're waiting for him at the                          barbecue.               Sadie pulls her coat off Willie and goes to the door.                                     SADIE                         Yeah, well give me a receipt for the                          body and I'll be on my way.               She leaves. Jack bends over Willie, who continues to snore.                                     JACK                         Hey, Willie, Willie... come on, wake                          up, Willie. Come on, Willie.                                                               DISSOLVE TO:               Exterior: Fairgrounds (Upton), Day               A crowd mills about underneath a banner that reads HEAR WILLIE                STARK MAMMOTH BARBECUE -- UPTON FAIRGROUNDS               Exterior: Fairgrounds, Day               Willie, staggering a bit, hung over, reacts painfully to the                staggering height of the Ferris wheel. He leans on Jack for                support, and they walk on.               Exterior: Fairgrounds, Day               Willie takes a seat on the children's swing as Jack goes off                to get some coffee. Two little girls stare curiously at him.                Willie waves them off. Jack returns with the coffee and pours                some whisky in it. Willie tips his hand, forcing him to pour                more, then gulps his drink down.               Exterior: Bandstand (Upton), Day               Duffy, Pillsbury, and the other politicians stand on the                platform, waiting for Willie. A band plays march music. Duffy                goes over to Sadie, who is standing on the steps of the                platform.                                     DUFFY                         Where is he?                                     SADIE                              (pointing)                         There he is.               Escorted by Jack, Willie approaches the platform and stumbles                up the steps past Sadie.                                     SADIE                         Whoops!                                     DUFFY                              (to Jack)                         Is he drunk?                                     JACK                         Never touches the stuff. Lucy doesn't                          favor drinkin'.               Duffy follows Willie up on the platform.                                     SADIE                              (to Jack)                         How'd you get him here? He was out                          stiff.                                     JACK                         Hair of the dog that bit him.                                     SADIE                         Hair? He must have swallowed the                          dog.               On the platform, Duffy looks uneasily at the bleary-eyed                Willie. The band suddenly plays a fanfare, and the chairman                steps up to the microphone.                                     CHAIRMAN                         Ladies and gentlemen, it gives me a                          great deal of pleasure to introduce                          to you that true man of the people,                          the next governor of the state...                          Willie Stark.               There is scattered applause as Willie steps forward to speak.                                     WILLIE                         My friends...               He turns his face from side to side, and fumbles in the right                side of his coat pocket to fish out his speech.                                     WILLIE                         My friends... I...               He tries to focus on the speech, which he clutches before                his eyes with both hands. Then he lifts his head, and looks                directly at the people who have come to hear him. As he                speaks, the camera focuses on the faces of these people: the                farmers, workers, hicks, red-necks who are Willie's audience,                Willie's people.                                     WILLIE                         I have a speech here. It's a speech                          about what this state needs. There's                          no need in my telling you what this                          state needs. You are the state and                          you know what you need... You over                          there... look at your pants. Have                          they got holes in the knees? Listen                          to your stomach. Did you ever hear                          it rumble from hunger?... And you,                          what about your crops? Did they ever                          rot in the field because the road                          was so bad you couldn't get them to                          market?... And you. What about your                          kids? Are they growing up ignorant                          as dirt, ignorant as you, 'cause                          there's no school for them?... No,                          I'm not going to read you any speech.               He throws his speech away. Duffy looks alarmed.                                     WILLIE                         But I am going to tell you a story.                          It's a funny story...                                     SADIE                              (from the steps)                         Hey!                                     WILLIE'S VOICE                         ...So get ready to laugh.                                     SADIE                         What's he up to?                                     JACK                         Shut up!                                     WILLIE                         Get ready to bust your sides laughing,                          'cause it's sure a funny story. It's                          about a hick... a hick like you, if                          you please. Yeah, like you. He grew                          up on the dirt roads and gully washes                          of a farm. He knew what it was to                          get up before dawn and get feed and                          slop and milk before breakfast...                          and then set out before sunup and                          walk six miles to a one-room, slab-                         sided schoolhouse. Oh, this hick                          knew what it was to be a hick, all                          right. He figured if he was going to                          get anything done, he had to do it                          himself. So he sat up nights and                          studied books. He studied law because                          he thought he might be able to change                          things some... for himself, and for                          folks like him.               Sugar Boy listens intently, sharing in the anger in Willie's                speech.                                     WILLIE                         No, I'm not going to lie to you. He                          didn't start off thinking about the                          hicks and all the wonderful things                          he was going to do for them. No. No,                          he started off thinking of number                          one. But something came to him on                          the way. How he could do nothing for                          himself without the help of the                          people. That's what came to him. And                          it also came to him, with the powerful                          force of God's own lightning, back                          in his home country, when a                          schoolhouse collapsed because it was                          built of politics... rotten brick.                          It killed and mangled a dozen kids.                          But you know that story. The people                          were his friends because he fought                          that rotten brick. And some of the                          politicians down in the city, they                          knew that... So they rode up to his                          house in a big, fine, shiny car and                          said as how they wanted him to run                          for governor...               Jack, electrified, grips Sadie's arm.                                     JACK                         Sadie, he's wonderful... wonderful...               Duffy fidgets as Willie continues to pace and speak, his                face filled with conviction, and with fury.                                     WILLIE                         ...So they told the hick... and he                          swallowed it. He looked in his heart                          and he thought in all humility how                          he'd like to try and change things.                          He was just a country boy who thought                          that even the plainest, poorest man                          can be governor if his fellow citizens                          find he's got the stuff for the job.                          Well, those fellows in the striped                          pants... they saw the hick and they                          took him in.               He points his finger at Duffy, who is coming over to speak                to him.                                     DUFFY                              (low voice)                         Willie, what are you trying to do?               Willie turns on him, roaring.                                     WILLIE                         There he is! There's your Judas                          Iscariot.                              (he pushes Duffy across                               the platform)                         Look at him... lickspittle... nose-                         wiper.               Duffy gestures frantically to the band.                                     DUFFY                         Play! Play!                                     WILLIE                              (pushing him again)                         Look at him!                                     DUFFY                         Play anything.               The band starts to play, adding to the pandemonium. Willie                shouts above it.                                     WILLIE                         Look at him! Joe Harrison's dummy!                          Look at him!                                     DUFFY                         That's a lie!                                     WILLIE                         Look at him!               Duffy signals to some of his goons standing near the platform.                                     DUFFY                         Go get him, boys... go get him.               Sugar Boy leaps up on the platform, his pistol drawn and                pointed at Duffy's men. Willie throws up his arms to silence                the crowd.                                     WILLIE                         Now, shut up! Shut up, all of you.                          Now, listen to me, you hicks. Yeah,                          you're hicks too, and they fooled                          you a thousand times, just like they                          fooled me. But this time I'm going                          to fool somebody. I'm going to stay                          in this race. I'm on my own and I'm                          out for blood.               The camera moves in close on Willie's face.                                     WILLIE                         Listen to me, you hicks...                                                               DISSOLVE TO:               Exterior: Willie's Speeches, Day and Night               A series of close-ups of Willie's face as he shouts and jeers                his message, always accompanied by the loud and frenzied                cheers of the crowd. Superimposed over his face is the figure                of Jack Burden, at his desk, typing out his stories.                                     WILLIE                         Listen to me and lift up your eyes                          and look at God's blessed and                          unflyblown truth... And this is the                          truth. You're a hick. And nobody                          ever helped a hick but a hick himself.               Loud cheers and yells.                                     WILLIE                         All right, listen to me... listen to                          me. I was the hick they were going                          to use to split the hick vote. But                          I'm standing right here now on my                          hind legs... even a dog can learn to                          do that. Are you standing on your                          hind legs? Have you learned to do                          that much yet? Here it is, here it                          is, you hicks. Nail up anybody who                          stands in your way! Nail up Joe                          Harrison! Nail up McMurphy! And if                          they don't deliver, give me a hammer                          and I'll do it myself.                                                               DISSOLVE TO:               NEWSPAPER HEADLINE               There is a photograph of Willie and a headline that reads               STARK CHANCES BOOMING               Superimposed over the newspaper is a shot of a crowd                applauding and yelling for Willie.               Interior: Joe Harrison's Campaign Headquarters, Night               Duffy, Pillsbury, and other aides stand looking at a poster                of Willie.                                     POLITICIAN                         I want his throat cut, from ear to                          ear.               Exterior: Willie's Campaign Montage               Rock crashes through a window, knocking down a poster of                Willie.               Poster being torn off the side of a building.               A man is attacked as he tries to distribute leaflets.                                                               DISSOLVE TO:               Exterior: Jack Burden's Desk, The Chronicle, Night               Jack is working on a story when Madison comes to his desk.                                     MADISON                         No use going any further, Jack. We                          aren't printing them any more.                                     JACK                         I thought the Chronicle line was --                                     MADISON                         Divide and conquer? Stark is getting                          too big for his britches and the                          hicks are getting too smart. We're                          now supporting Harrison.                                     JACK                              (stands up)                         How do you square that?                                     MADISON                         I work here.                                     JACK                              (putting on his coat)                         Well, I don't... not any more.                                     MADISON                         Jack, you fool.                                     JACK                         If you had any guts you'd print                          this...                                     MADISON                         I work here. I take orders.                                     JACK                         I know. You've got a wife and three                          kids and your boy goes to Princeton.                                     MADISON                         You won't find it easy to get another                          job.                                     JACK                         I'm too rich to work.                                                               DISSOLVE TO:               Exterior: Street Outside State Capitol, Day               NEWSPAPER HEADLINE READS               HARRISON WINS CLOSE RACE               STARK SWEEPS RURAL AREAS               CITY VOTE DECIDES ELECTION               Superimposed over newspaper is a crowd cheering at Harrison's                victory parade. Willie, raincoat thrown over his shoulders,                looking grim, and Sadie and Sugar Boy are part of that crowd.                They turn away and walk toward a bar.               Interior: Bar, Day               Jack is already at the bar. Willie, Sadie, and Sugar Boy                join him there.                                     JACK                         We didn't do so good.                                     WILLIE                         Double bourbon.                                     SADIE                              (sitting next to Jack)                         Same for me.                                     WILLIE                         And a beer.                              (to Jack)                         I hear you got fired from the paper.                                     JACK                         You heard wrong, Willie. I quit.                                     WILLIE                              (passing the beer                               back to Sugar Boy)                         You're smart. 'Cause before I'm                          through with that mob they're not                          going to have enough money left to                          pay the boy that cleans the spittoons.                                     JACK                         How do you feel, Willie?                                     WILLIE                         I feel fine, fine. You see, Jack, I                          learned something.               Willie and Sadie exchange looks.                                     JACK                         Yeah... what?               Close shot of Willie.                                     WILLIE                         How to win.                                                                   FADE OUT               FADE IN:               Exterior: Road, Day               Jack stands on the side of the road, thumbing a ride.                                     JACK                              (voice over)                         I didn't see Willie again until his                          second campaign... four years later.               Interior: Office, Night               Jack turns in some copy to a man at a desk.                                     JACK                              (voice over)                         I drifted from job to job...               Exterior: Street, Day               Jack and others in front of an employment agency.                                     JACK                              (voice over)                         ...That is, whenever I could find                          one.               Interior: Bar, Night               Jack, at the bar, looking haggard and disheveled, picks up a                newspaper and turns to find a photograph of Anne. The caption                reads STANTONS ARRIVE HOME.                                     JACK                              (voice over)                         But always further and further away                          from Anne, and the life at Burden's                          Landing.               Exterior: Street, Day               Camera pans with Jack as he trudges along the street.                                     JACK                              (voice over)                         But Willie wasn't drifting. He knew                          where he was going.               We see an insert of a newspaper. It has a caricature of                Willie, swinging a sledge hammer. The caption reads               STARK ATTACKS ADMINISTRATION               CHARGES OLD MACHINE STILL CORRUPT                                     JACK                              (voice over)                         He had his foot in the door and he                          kept right on pushing to get in. He                          had lost the election but he had won                          the state... and he knew it... and                          the people knew it.               MONTAGE: WILLIE'S LIFE               Writing on a fence: THE PEOPLE'S WILL SHOULD BE THE LAW OF                THE STATE... WILLIE STARK Painted on a rock: KNOWLEDGE BELONGS                TO THE PEOPLE... WILLIE STARK               Lettering on a barn: FREE MEDICINE FOR ALL PEOPLE -- NOT AS                A CHARITY BUT AS A RIGHT... WILLIE STARK               Poster on a building: MY STUDY IS THE HEART OF THE PEOPLE...                WILLIE STARK                                     JACK                              (voice over)                         They were all hopping on his                          bandwagon... even Tiny Duffy.               Newspaper caricature: it shows Willie on a bandwagon headed                for the state capitol. Everyone is trying to climb aboard.                Caption is THEY'RE ALL FOR WILLIE NOW. Huge poster on the                side of a building: MY STUDY IS THE HEART OF THE PEOPLE.                Camera pans up to photograph of Willie on the poster.                                     JACK                              (voice over)                         Yep, Willie came back like he said                          he would.               Interior: Willie's Office, Day               Willie is being interviewed by a group of reporters. Sugar                Boy lounges nearby, leaning against the wall.                                     WILLIE                         Do you want to know what my platform                          is? Here it is: I'm going to soak                          the fat boys and I'm going to spread                          it thin.                                                               DISSOLVE TO:               Exterior: Circus Grounds, Day               We see balloons with inscriptions reading "I'm for Willie,"                and a large banner stretching overhead, saying FREE CIRCUS                TODAY -- COMPLIMENTS OF WILLIE STARK. The crowd moves about,                gazing at the clowns, animals, the trapeze act.                                     JACK                              (voice over)                         Willie was right -- he'd learned how                          to win...               Exterior: Park, Day               A truck loaded with beer kegs pulls into the park. On the                back of the truck is a sign: BIG STARK RALLY TODAY -- FREE                BEER -- FREE FOOD -- EVERYBODY INVITED. Superimposed over                this is the image of dollar bills floating through the air.                                     JACK                              (voice over)                         He spent a lot of money doing it...                          an awful lot of money... I was                          beginning to wonder where he got it                          from.               Montage: Willie's Second Campaign               Hand holding check made payable to Willie Stark Campaign                Fund... $7000. Willie's hand reaches out and takes it.               Hand holding check payable to cash for $5000. Superimposed                is Willie, looking on, and his hand endorsing the back of                the check.               Another check to the Stark Campaign Fund for $3500. Poster                of Willie is superimposed.                                     JACK                              (voice over)                         There were rumors throughout the                          state that Willie was making deals                          with all kinds of people... strange                          deals... for Willie Stark.               Crowd milling about circus grounds, with Willie's poster                superimposed.               Fireworks exploding. Crowd cheers.                                     JACK                              (voice over)                         The second time out, it wasn't a                          campaign... it was a slaughter. It                          was Saturday night in a mining town.               Huge poster is affixed to the side of a building. It bears                Willie's face, and his slogans.                                                               DISSOLVE TO:               Exterior: Hotel (State Capital), Day               Crowd stands about as Willie and Jack make their way into                the hotel.                                     JACK                              (voice over)                         He came back and he took me with                          him.               Interior: Hotel Lobby, Day               The lobby is packed as Willie, Jack, Sugar Boy, and Pillsbury                enter. Willie makes signals to Duffy to tag along with the                entourage. Willie leans over to speak to the room clerk.                                     WILLIE                         This is Jack Burden, a friend of                          mine. From now on he's going to live                          here. Give him anything he wants.               The group starts up the stairs, past the officers who are                standing guard. Duffy stops to speak to one, pointing his                finger at some of his men standing below.                                     DUFFY                         Let these boys through, officer.                                     WILLIE                              (to Jack)                         Duffy works for me now.                                     JACK                         It looks like everybody works for                          you.               They start up the second flight of stairs.                                     WILLIE                         No. No, not yet. But I want to keep                          him around. He reminds me of something                          I never want to forget.               Willie stops and looks around at Duffy's men hurrying up the                steps.                                     WILLIE                              (to Duffy)                         Come on, come on, come on, come on.                          Are these the boys?                                     DUFFY                         These are the boys that can get the                          boys.                                     WILLIE                         How many do you think we can get?                                     DUFFY                         Fifty.                                     WILLIE                         How much?                                     DUFFY                         Five dollars a head.                                     WILLIE                              (to Sugar Boy)                         What do you think, Sugar? Do they                          look like good boys?                                     SUGAR BOY                         T-t-they b-b-better be.                                     WILLIE                         Get a hundred... All right, go on,                          all of you. Blow. Blow, blow. You                          too, Duffy. Go on.               Duffy and his men turn and go downstairs.                                     WILLIE                              (to Jack)                         Handbill distributors.                                     JACK                         If they all look like them I'd hate                          not to take one.                                     WILLIE                         That's the object. Not like when                          they beat up my boy Tom.                                     JACK                         How is Tom?                                     WILLIE                         Oh, he's fine. He starts college in                          the fall.                                     JACK                         Oh. And Lucy?               Willie's expression changes. He starts up the stairs.                                     WILLIE                         Fine... fine.               Interior: Willie's Campaign Office In Hotel, Day               The place is a beehive of activity, with typists and                messengers scurrying about, all supervised by Sadie.                                     SADIE                         Hey, I need a boy... Where's a boy?                              (boy runs up)                         Take that downstairs; they're waiting                          for it. Right away, on the double.                              (to typist)                         Listen, baby, you've got to double-                         space all of this... he can't read,                          see.               The door opens and Willie, Jack, and Sugar Boy come in.                                     JACK                         Sadie!                                     SADIE                              (to typist)                         And they need four copies.                              (looks up)                         Hi, Jack. How are you?                                     WILLIE                         Sadie is my secretary now.                              (to messenger, trying                               to squeeze by)                         Oh, pardon me.               As Willie and Jack walk toward adjoining room, Sadie calls                out:                                     SADIE                         Fix your tie, Willie.               Interior: Bedroom Hotel Suite, Day               Willie and Jack enter from the office.                                     WILLIE                         Hey, Sugar.               Sugar Boy appears in the doorway. Sadie slips by into the                room.                                     WILLIE                         Keep everybody out of here. I want                          to talk to Jack and Sadie alone.               He walks over to Jack, who leans back on the bed.                                     WILLIE                         From now on you're working for me.                                     JACK                         Doing what?                                     WILLIE                         I don't know. Something will turn                          up, won't it, Sadie?                                     SADIE                         Yeah. We need a college man around...                          for research.                                     WILLIE                         How much did they pay you on that                          newspaper?                                     JACK                         Three hundred dollars a month.                                     WILLIE                              (laughs)                         I could buy you cheap, couldn't I?                                     JACK                         For a bag of salt.                                     WILLIE                         No. No, I don't play that way. I                          like you, boy. I always have. I'll                          tell you what I'll do. I'll give you                          four hundred dollars a month and                          traveling expenses.                                     JACK                         You throw money around like it was                          money.               Willie gets up and walks to the window.                                     WILLIE                         Money?... I don't need money. People                          give me things.                                     JACK                         Why?                                     WILLIE                         Because they believe in me.                                                               DISSOLVE TO:               Exterior: Burden's Landing, Day               Willie's car is on the ferry crossing the bay to Burden's                Landing. Sugar Boy drives the car off the ferry and up the                road toward the house.                                     JACK                              (voice over)                         I was going home again. But this                          time it was different. Now I had a                          feeling that maybe the waiting was                          over... for me, and for Anne.                                                               DISSOLVE TO:               Interior: Stanton Living Room (Burden's Landing), Night               Close shot of Willie standing in front of the fireplace,                beneath the portrait of Governor Stanton.                                     WILLIE                         It's a far cry from where I come                          from... to this house.               Camera pulls back. The room is crowded with people, all of                them friends of the Stantons. Anne, Adam, Judge Stanton,                Mrs. Burden, and McEvoy are part of the audience sitting                around the fireplace. Jack stands next to Willie.                                     WILLIE                         And standing here under the portrait                          of one of the greatest governors of                          this state, talking to you people...                          well, it's an honor I never thought                          I'd have.                                     JACK                         Are there any questions?                              (looks around)                         Mr. McEvoy.                                     MCEVOY                              (smiles)                         No, I have no questions.                                     JACK                         Judge?                                     JUDGE                         A few... but it will hold.                                     STANTON                         I have a question.                                     WILLIE                         Shoot.                                     STANTON                         A lot of people in this state have                          been saying that you've been making                          deals... some of them with the very                          groups that you claim you're against.                          Is that true?                                     JACK                         Adam, you know how rumors start...                                     WILLIE                         Yes. Yes, that's true. I have nothing                          to hide. I'll make a deal with the                          devil if it'll help me carry out my                          program. But believe me, there are                          no strings attached to those deals.                                     STANTON                         You're sure about that?                                     WILLIE                         Doc, Jack here has been telling me                          how you feel about things... how                          you'd like to see a new hospital                          built, a hospital that's the biggest                          and best that money can buy. You                          want those things, Doc, because,                          well, because you're a man who wants                          to do good. Now, I'd like to ask you                          a question.                                     STANTON                         Shoot.               The guests laugh good-naturedly.                                     WILLIE                         Do you know what good comes out of?                                     STANTON                         You tell me, Mr. Stark.                                     WILLIE                         Out of bad... that's what good comes                          out of. Because you can't make it                          out of anything else. You didn't                          know that, did you?                                     STANTON                         No, I didn't... There's another                          question I'd like to ask you. You                          say there's only bad to start with                          and the good must come with the bad.                          Who's to determine what's good and                          what's bad?... You?                                     WILLIE                         Why not?                                     STANTON                         How?                                     WILLIE                         Why, that's easy. Just... just make                          it up as you go along.               More laughter. Willie smiles and goes on.                                     WILLIE                         Folks, there's a time to talk and                          there's a time to act. I think the                          time to act is right now. And with                          your support, I not only will win                          but I will do all of the things I                          promised. I need your help. Oh, I                          need it badly. But I'm not going to                          beg for it. In the name of this state                          which we love... in the name of the                          governor in whose house we meet... I                          demand it.               There is immediate applause. Anne is the first to rush over                and shake Willie's hand.                                                               DISSOLVE TO:               Exterior: Stanton Home, Night               The last of the guests are leaving. Jack and Willie remain                with the Judge, Anne, and Adam.                                     WILLIE                              (to Judge)                         Well, what do you say, sir?                                     JACK                         You've got to say yes. With you in                          the race...                                     JUDGE                         I'm an old bird... I...                                     WILLIE                         But a game one.               They laugh.                                     WILLIE                         Look, I'll give you complete power                          as attorney general. You can do                          anything you see fit. I'll swing the                          ax to clear the way for you. Is that                          a deal?               The Judge smiles, then puts out his hand.                                     JUDGE                         It's a deal.               They shake hands.                                     WILLIE                         Jack, we have to get back to town...                          a lot to do.                              (shakes hands with                               Adam)                         Dr. Stanton.               Jack kisses Anne on the cheek. Anne comes over and shakes                Willie's hand.                                     ANNE                         I'm very glad to have met you.                                                                   FADE OUT               FADE IN:               Interior: Hotel Lobby (State Capital), Day               People stand before the election return board in the hotel                lobby. Camera pulls back, revealing a newspaper picture of                Willie, and the headline               STARK ELECTED GOVERNOR               WILLIE WINS                                                               DISSOLVE TO:               Exterior: Street Outside Willie's Hotel Balcony, Night               A crowd stands below Willie's hotel window, chanting together:                                     CROWD                         We want Willie! We want Willie!               A high angle from the balcony shows Anne, Jack, and Adam in                the center of the excited crowd, looking expectantly upward.                Some of the people around them are carrying torches. Arc                lights play over the dome of the state capitol in the                background. In response to the chants, Willie appears on the                balcony. With him, standing on the balcony, are Tom and Lucy.                The crowd erupts into cheers as he steps outside.                                     WILLIE                              (raises his hands for                               silence)                         This is not a time for speechmaking.                          I should get on my knees and ask God                          to give me strength to carry out                          your will.               Loud cheers. Adam watches Anne. She applauds. Willie looks                down at the crowd and continues his speech.                                     WILLIE                         This much I swear to you. These things                          you shall have. I'm going to build a                          hospital. The biggest that money can                          buy... and it will belong to you.                          That any man, woman, or child who is                          sick or in pain can go through those                          doors and know that everything will                          be done for them that man can do. To                          heal sickness. To ease pain. Free.                          Not as a charity, but as a right.                          And it is your right that every child                          shall have a complete education.                          That any man who produces anything                          can take it to market without paying                          toll. And no poor man's land or farm                          can be taxed or taken away from him.                          And it is the right of the people                          that they will not be deprived of                          hope...               The crowd applauds, and Willie waves. We see Anne, face aglow,                turn to Jack.                                     ANNE                         Does he mean it, Jack? Does he?                                     STANTON                              (as he walks away)                         That's his bribe.               Anne and Jack watch Adam as he leaves.                                                                   FADE OUT               FADE IN:               Montage: Willie Becomes Governor               Willie, Sadie, and Jack leaving their old campaign                headquarters.               Willie, Sadie, Jack, and others going upstairs in the                governor's mansion. The ousted politicians are just packing                up and leaving.                                     JACK                              (voice over)                         What if it was his bribe! He swept                          the old gang out of office. What if                          they hollered like stuck pigs? He                          jammed through bill after bill and                          the people got what they wanted.               Willie yelling at the legislators during a session.                                     WILLIE                         I demand that this bill be passed.                          Nobody's going to tell me how to run                          this state.               Road excavation -- a bulldozer clears away dirt.               A huge crane maneuvers over a dam site. Men are seen working                on the girders of a large power plant.                                     JACK                              (voice over)                         He started to build the roads, the                          schools, the power dams, to change                          the face of the state from one end                          to the other... His methods?               Shots of uniformed policemen roughing up citizens. Willie                and Sugar Boy move in on a man being held by cops.               Willie looks on as Jack thumbs through his little black book.                                     JACK                              (voice over)                         Politics is a dirty game... and he                          played it rough and dirty. Willie's                          little black book was a record of                          sin and corruption. And me, Jack                          Burden? I kept the book and added up                          the accounts.               Willie in a nightclub, surrounded by some show girls. A                photographer takes a picture of Willie with a girl balanced                on his knee.               Willie leads a marching band out onto a football field.                                     JACK                              (voice over)                         Clown, show-off, playboy, they yelled                          at him. Building football stadiums.                          Fiercely proud of his son who played                          in them.               Shot of Tom in football uniform running across the field                with the ball. Willie, in the stands, hugs Lucy.                                     WILLIE                         Oh, look at him go. He's going to be                          All-American.               Willie makes an inspection of the police. He stops to adjust                an officer's tie.                                     JACK                              (voice over)                         They said he was building up a private                          army. But he was building, always                          building...               Sign at building excavation reads HERE ON THIS SITE WILL BE                ERECTED THE GOVERNOR STARK HOSPITAL -- "TO HEAL SICKNESS. TO                EASE PAIN. FREE. NOT AS A CHARITY -- BUT AS A RIGHT"... WILLIE                STARK.                                     JACK                              (voice over)                         Always playing up to the crowd.                          Letting them trample on tradition.                          Well, tradition needed trampling on.               A square dance at the governor's mansion. Willie dances with                Anne.                                     JACK                              (voice over)                         The crowd loved it... Willie loved                          it... and so did I.                                                                   FADE OUT               FADE IN:               Interior: Executive Office Corridor, Day               Jack walks down the corridor on the way to Willie's offices.               Interior: Willie's Executive Offices, Day               As Jack enters from the corridor, Sadie is coming out of                Willie's private office.                                     SADIE                              (through open door)                         You low-down, no-good redneck...               She slams the door hard. We hear Willie laugh.                                     JACK                              (to secretary)                         What goes on here?                                     SECRETARY                         That's what Sadie wants to know.                              (she shows Jack                               newspaper containing                               photograph of Willie                               at the nightclub)                         The boss poses for too many pictures.               Jack grins, then walks into Sadie's office.                                     SADIE                         I'll kill him.                                     JACK                         Why, Sadie, I'm surprised at you.                                     SADIE                         I'll kill him.               She goes to the door to yell to the secretary.                                     SADIE                         I hate all women.               She slams the door again, and returns to her desk.                                     SADIE                         Was she pretty?               Jack shoves the paper at her. She ignores it.                                     SADIE                         Was she pretty?                                     JACK                         If I met her on the street I'd never                          recognize her.                                     SADIE                         Was she pretty?                                     JACK                         How should I know? I wasn't looking                          at her face... Look, if it's going                          to cause all this grief, why don't                          you let him go?                                     SADIE                         Let him go? I'll kill him. I'll drive                          him out of this state.                                     JACK                         Just because a guy's sitting with a                          couple of girls on his knees in                          public...                                     SADIE                         Public or private... I know him. How                          about what happened in Chicago? That                          girl on skates... and the time you                          both went to St. Louis... There's a                          new invention, you know, Photography                          and newsreels. Willie Stark in a                          nightclub... Willie Stark with a                          blonde.                                     JACK                         You could always bleach your hair.                                     SADIE                         I could also break every bone in his                          neck. After all I've done for him...                          Now he goes two-timing me.                                     JACK                         He's been two-timing Lucy. So there's                          another kind of arithmetic for what                          he's doing to you.                                     SADIE                         Lucy?                              (laughs)                         If she had her way he'd be back in                          Kanoma City slopping the hogs right                          now. And he knows it. He knows what                          she'd do for him. She had her chance.                                     JACK                         You seem to think Lucy's on her way                          out, don't you?                                     SADIE                         He'll ditch her... Give him time.                                     JACK                         You ought to know.               She slaps his face.                                     JACK                         Hey, you got the wrong guy. I'm not                          the hero of this piece.               The door to Willie's office bursts open and Willie dashes                out.                                     WILLIE                         All right, come on, both of you.                          Let's go, hurry it up.               They go out through the reception room, pick up Sugar Boy,                and head down the corridor.                                     WILLIE                         Come on. Pillsbury put his hand in                          the pork barrel and got caught. You                          know, I never did trust that guy.               Some newsmen are waiting on the top landing.                                     NEWSMEN                         Have you heard about Pillsbury? What                          do you intend to do about Pillsbury?                          How about it, Governor?               Willie pushes by them.                                     WILLIE                         Later, boys, later.                              (to Jack)                         Say, Jack, go back and get the Judge.                          Let's get him over to my hotel just                          as soon as you can.               They all hurry after Willie as he rushes down the stairs.               Interior: Lobby State Capitol, Day               Anne is about to go up the stairs when she meets Willie and                the others on the way down.                                     ANNE                              (to Willie)                         I waited for you.                              (she sees Sadie)                         Hello.                              (back to Willie)                         You promised we could... uh... discuss                          my charity project... Children's                          home?                                     WILLIE                         Well, I'm very sorry. Something very                          important came up. You'll call me                          later, won't you?                                     ANNE                         Yes, certainly.                                     SADIE                         We're late.               Anne watches as they cross the lobby and exit.                                                               DISSOLVE TO:               Interior: Stark's Hotel Suite, Night               Close shot of Willie, seated, with his feet propped up on a                table. Pillsbury stands before him. Jack, Sadie, Duffy, and                Sugar Boy are also in the room.                                     WILLIE                         Look at you, Pillsbury. Fifty years                          old, gut-sprung, teeth gone, never                          had a dime. If the Almighty had                          intended for you to be rich he'd                          have taken care of that a long time                          ago. The idea of you being rich...                          that's plain blasphemy. Ain't that a                          fact?               Pillsbury doesn't answer.                                     WILLIE                         Answer me!                                     PILLSBURY                         Yes.                                     WILLIE                         Louder, man. Don't mumble. Speak up.                          Say it's a fact, a blasphemous fact.                                     PILLSBURY                         It's a fact, a blasphemous fact.               Sugar Boy laughs loudly. The phone rings and Sadie picks it                up.                                     SADIE                         Yeah?... Oh, I see.                              (hangs up)                         Dumond can't come. He says his wife                          is sick.                                     WILLIE                         I don't care if she's dying. Sugar,                          get the car. Get him and bring him                          over here.               Sugar Boy exists. Willie turns back to Pillsbury.                                     WILLIE                         Now, you know what you're supposed                          to do, don't you, Pillsbury? You're                          supposed to stay poor and take orders.                          Oh, there'll be some sweetening for                          you from time to time... but Duffy'll                          take care of that. Don't you go                          setting yourself up on your own again,                          do you understand that?                                     PILLSBURY                         Yes.                                     WILLIE                         Louder, man. And say, I understand                          that.                                     PILLSBURY                         I understand that.                                     WILLIE                         Give him a pen and some paper, Sadie.               There is a knock on the door.                                     WILLIE                         See who that is, Duffy.               Judge Stanton enters.                                     WILLIE                         Oh, hello, Judge. Sit down. I'll be                          with you in just a couple of seconds.                              (back to Pillsbury)                         Now write what I tell you to write...                          Dear Governor Stark. I wish to resign                          as auditor due to ill health, to                          take effect as soon as you can relieve                          me. Respectfully yours.                              (after a pause)                         Did you sign it?                                     PILLSBURY                         No.                                     WILLIE                              (roaring)                         Well, sign it! Don't put any date on                          it. I can fill that in when I need                          it.               Pillsbury signs the paper.                                     WILLIE                         Now bring it to me.               Pillsbury moves slowly, so Sadie yanks the paper out of his                hand and passes it to Willie.                                     WILLIE                         Now get out.               Pillsbury slinks out of the room.                                     JUDGE                         The papers have the story.                                     WILLIE                         Yeah, I know.                                     JUDGE                         They're talking about impeachment                          proceedings.                                     WILLIE                              (rising)                         Against who?                                     JUDGE                         This time, Pillsbury.                                     WILLIE                         I got that "this time," Judge.                                     JUDGE                         How true is it?                                     WILLIE                         It's too true.               The phone rings.                                     SADIE                         Yes?                              (hands phone to Willie)                         This is it, Willie. Jeff Hopkins on                          the wire.               Willie takes the phone, but puts his hand over the mouthpiece                so that he can speak to Jack.                                     WILLIE                         What have we got on Hopkins, Jack?                              (as Jack riffles                               through the black                               book)                         Hello, Jeff. About that Pillsbury                          business...                              (reads from black                               book Jack holds out                               for him)                         Here's what I want you to do when it                          comes up in the legislature. Now,                          wait a minute, wait a minute. You                          listen to me.                              (still reading from                               book)                         You got a mortgage coming due on                          that place of yours in about five                          weeks, haven't you? You'd like to                          get it renewed, wouldn't you?                              (pause)                         All right, Tiny'll talk to you in                          the morning.               He grins and hangs up the phone.                                     WILLIE                         Get going, Tiny.               Duffy leaves.                                     JUDGE                         You haven't answered my question.                          Why are you saving Pillsbury's hide?                                     WILLIE                         I'm not a bit interested in                          Pillsbury's hide. It's something                          much more important than that. If                          the McMurphy boys get the notion                          they can get away with this, there's                          no telling where they'll stop.                                     JUDGE                              (quietly)                         Or where you will... Pillsbury is                          guilty. As attorney general of this                          state, it's my job to prosecute.                                     WILLIE                         Judge, you talk like Pillsbury was...                          was human. He isn't. He's a thing.                          You don't prosecute an adding machine                          if the spring goes busted and makes                          a mistake. You fix it. Well, I fixed                          him. I'm not a bit interested in                          Pillsbury. It's something much bigger                          than that.                                     JUDGE                              (getting up)                         Yes, it is.                                     JACK                         He's right, Judge. Can't you see                          that he's right?                                     JUDGE                         He's right because you want him to                          be right. Because you're afraid to                          admit you've made a mistake. Do it                          now before it's too late.                              (to Willie)                         I'm offering my resignation as                          attorney general. You'll have it in                          writing by messenger in the morning...                          dated.                                     WILLIE                              (softly)                         It took you a long time to make up                          your mind, Judge. A long time. What                          made you take such a long time?                                     JUDGE                         I wasn't sure.                                     WILLIE                         And now you are?               The Judge nods.                                     WILLIE                         I'll tell you what you are. You're                          scared. You sat in that big easy                          chair of yours for thirty years and                          played at being a judge. Then all of                          a sudden I came along and put a bat                          in your hand, and I said, go ahead,                          Judge, start swinging. And you did.                          And you had a wonderful time. But                          now you're scared. You don't want to                          get your hands dirty. You want to                          pick up the marbles... but you don't                          want to get your hands dirty. Look                          at my whole program, Judge. How do                          you think I put that across?                                     JUDGE                         I knew how, but I never knew why.               He starts to leave.                                     WILLIE                         You're not by any chance thinking of                          going over to McMurphy's boys, are                          you?                                     JUDGE                         I'm through with politics.                                     WILLIE                         I'm happy to hear that.                              (extends his hand)                         No hard feelings.                                     JUDGE                              (ignores the hand)                         Goodbye, Governor.                              (to Jack)                         Are you coming with me, Jack?               Jack turns away.                                     JUDGE                         You're making a mistake.               He goes. Willie closes the door behind him.                                     WILLIE                         Do you think he means it when he                          says he's through with politics,                          Sadie?                                     SADIE                         No. No, I don't.                                     WILLIE                         What about you, Jack?                                     JACK                         I've known the Judge all my life.                          He's always meant everything he's                          said.                                     WILLIE                         All right. All right. Take it easy.                          I'll take your word for it.                                                               DISSOLVE TO:               Exterior: Willie's Hotel, Night               Willie's car draws up to the curb. Sugar Boy hops out to                open the door for Willie.               Sadie is watching him from a window upstairs in the hotel.                Anne is in the back seat; Willie leans down to talk to her.                                     WILLIE                         Sugar, take Miss Stanton home.                              (to Anne)                         When am I going to see you again?               She doesn't answer.                                     WILLIE                         What's the matter, Anne?                                     ANNE                         Please take me home now, Sugar Boy.                                     WILLIE                         You've got to understand me.                                     ANNE                              (turns away)                         I understand you. It's myself I don't                          understand.                                     WILLIE                         Do you think I like sneaking around                          corners any more than you do? But                          right now, with the Pillsbury business                          and with your uncle quitting... If I                          got a divorce...                                     ANNE                         Maybe we'd better stop seeing each                          other.                                     WILLIE                         No. No, we won't stop seeing each                          other, will we?                                     ANNE                              (slowly)                         No.                                     WILLIE                         Because you believe in what I tell                          you.                                     ANNE                              (puts her hand on his)                         Because I believe what you tell me.               Sadie approaches.                                     SADIE                         Good evening, Governor Stark.                              (looks at Anne, but                               talks to Willie)                         I thought you might like to know                          that Judge Stanton kept his promise.                              (directly to Willie)                         He gave the story to every paper in                          town.                                     WILLIE                         Sugar, meet me at the hotel as soon                          as you can.                                                                   FADE OUT               FADE IN:               NEWSPAPER HEADLINE               ATTORNEY GENERAL RESIGNS:               STANTON ACCUSES STARK OF               QUASHING PILLSBURY GRAFT               Interior: State Legislature Assembly Room, Day               Duffy stands in the forground, looking in on the uproar and                confusion of the assembly.                                     SENATOR                         These are serious charges that Judge                          Stanton has given to the press. This                          legislature is entitled to a complete                          and full report on the Pillsbury                          affair. Let the truth be known.                                     2ND SENATOR                         Let it come out.                                     3RD SENATOR                         I move that we adjourn.                                     4TH SENATOR                         I second the motion.                                     CHAIRMAN                         All those in favor, say aye... Motion                          carried. The house is adjourned.               As Duffy turns and walks away, other senators rise up in                their seats in protest.                                                               DISSOLVE TO:               MONTAGE: PILLSBURY SCANDAL               Sign on building reads: CITIZENS COMMITTEE MEETING, Subject:                PILLSBURY SCANDAL, 8 P.M. Tonight -- Town Hall.               A man pastes a strip across the sign: CANCELED.               A man is making a speech to a small group of people.                                     MAN                         If you let Willie Stark get away                          with the Pillsbury graft, there's no                          telling...               Thugs break up the meeting. The speaker is beaten up. Jack                Burden turns through the pages of the little black book.                                                               DISSOLVE TO:               Interior: Stark's Hotel Suite, Day               Willie is lying on the bed. Jack is seated. Sadie and Sugar                Boy stand nearby.                                     JACK                         But we beat the Pillsbury rap...                          It's over.                                     WILLIE                         These things are never over. I'll                          tell you what I want you to do, Jack.                          I want you to start a new page in                          that black book of yours... under                          then name of Judge Stanton.                                     JACK                         You're crazy. There's nothing on the                          Judge.                                     SADIE                         Why? Because his name is Stanton?                                     WILLIE                         Ssshhh, easy.                                     JACK                         What if I won't do it?                                     WILLIE                         You know, some of this has rubbed                          off on you.                                     JACK                         What are you going to do? Have me                          shot?                                     WILLIE                         No... no... but I'll have to get                          myself a new boy.                                     JACK                         I tell you there's nothing on the                          Judge.                                     WILLIE                         Jack, there's something on everybody.                          Man is conceived in sin and born in                          corruption.                                     JACK                         It's a waste of time.                                     WILLIE                         What's the matter, Jack? Are you                          afraid you might find something out?               Jack stares at him.                                                               DISSOLVE TO:               Exterior: Burden's Landing Ferry, Night               Jack's car is seen coming across on the ferry.                                     JACK                              (voice over)                         I kept saying to myself that Willie                          was wrong about the Judge. If there                          was anything left at Burden's Landing,                          it was honor. I had to believe that.                                                               DISSOLVE TO:               Interior: Stanton Living Room, Night               Jack and Anne stand together in the living room.                                     JACK                         Anne, I want to ask you a question.                          Was the Judge ever broke? Really                          broke?                                     ANNE                         Why do you want to know?                                     JACK                         I don't want to know, but I've got                          to.                                     ANNE                         Did he tell you --                                     JACK                         Did who tell me?                                     ANNE                         I don't know. I... how should I know                          if the Judge was ever broke?               She walks away from him. Adam enters, carrying bundles of                food and two wine bottles.                                     STANTON                         Hello... Come on, Anne, take this                          food and start cooking. I'm hungry.               Anne takes the grocery bundles. Jack grabs the wine.                                     JACK                         Me, I'm on the thirsty side. Bring                          some glasses, Anne, quick.               He joins Adam, who has opened the piano.                                     STANTON                              (laughing)                         It's been a long time since I played                          this thing. What do you say we wake                          up the ghosts, huh?                                     JACK                              (calling to Anne)                         Another glass, Anne, for a ghost.                                     STANTON                              (starting to play)                         Remember the last time I played this?                          You and Anne were dancing?               Anne returns with three glasses. Jack grabs her around the                waist and whirls her around.                                     JACK                         Shall we dance?                                     ANNE                         Let's... let's have a drink first.               Adam starts to pour the wine.                                     JACK                         No, no... keep playing. Anne and I                          want to hear this, don't we, Anne?                              (Jack pours the wine)                         Adam... ghost... and me.                                     STANTON                         What shall we drink to?                                     JACK                         To the ghost?... To Adam, to the                          director of the new medical center.                                     STANTON                              (bangs the piano keys)                         Don't you ever stop working for him?                                     ANNE                         Adam!                                     STANTON                         I came up here to get away...                                     JACK                         I'm sorry, Adam.                                     ANNE                         Well, I'm not. What's wrong with                          being the director of the new medical                          center?                                     STANTON                         Nothing, except that I'm not going                          to take it.                                     JACK                         Why? Because your uncle resigned?                                     STANTON                         That's partly it. There are other                          things.                                     ANNE                         What other things?                                     STANTON                              (looks at her)                         You too?                                     ANNE                         Yes, me too.                                     JACK                         Anne, if Adam doesn't want to discuss                          it, let's not.                                     STANTON                         All right, let's discuss it.                                     ANNE                         But calmly.                                     STANTON                         Calmly. Go ahead, Jack. Why do you                          think he wants me?                                     JACK                         Because you're the best man for the                          job.                                     STANTON                         It could have nothing to do with my                          name being Stanton?                                     JACK                         It could have. Let's grant that.                                     STANTON                         That's your answer.                                     JACK                         No, it's not. If that were the only                          answer I wouldn't be with him any                          more. There's another side of it.                          I've learned something from him. You                          can't make an omelet without cracking                          eggs.                                     STANTON                         Or heads.                                     ANNE                         But at least a hospital will be built,                          and the sick will be cared for.                                     STANTON                         At what price?                                     JACK                         At any price.                                     STANTON                         Do you really believe that, Jack?                                     JACK                         I really believe that Stark wants to                          do good. You do too. It's a matter                          of method. Many times out of evil                          comes good. Well, pain is an evil.                          As a doctor you should know that.                                     STANTON                         Pain is an evil; it is not evil. It                          is not evil in itself. Stark is evil.                                     JACK                         The people of the state don't think                          so.                                     STANTON                         How would they know? The first thing                          he did was to take over the newspapers                          and the radio stations. Why be so                          afraid of criticism? If Stark is                          interested in doing good, he should                          also be interested in the truth. I                          don't see how you can separate the                          two. No, Stark is not for me.                                     ANNE                              (upset)                         No, Stark is not for you. Well, what                          is for you? Pride. Pride, that's all                          it is... foolish, stupid pride. All                          you've ever talked about is what you                          could do if... if somebody would                          tear down and build. All right, all                          right, somebody has, and he's given                          it to you. But he's not for you. No,                          he's not for you.               She throws down her glass and runs crying from the room.                Adam goes after her.                                     STANTON                         Anne... Anne...               Interior: Stanton Hallway and Stairs, Night               Anne runs upstairs and Adam follows. The Judge comes out of                his room to see what has happened, sees Jack standing at the                foot of the stairs, hesitates a moment, and then goes back                to his room without speaking.                                                               DISSOLVE TO:               Interior: County Recorder Room, Day               Jack enters and speaks to a clerk, who then directs him to                one of the files. He starts to look through the files marked                MORTGAGES DEFAULTED.                                     JACK                              (voice over)                         Will I find anything, Judge? Will I?                          I didn't find it all at once. It                          takes a long time to go through old                          courthouse records and musty deeds...                          a very long time. But it wasn't too                          hard for me. I was well trained in                          research, especially this kind.               He pulls out a file.                                     JACK                              (voice over)                         I found what I didn't want to find.               He takes the file back to the clerk.                                     JACK                         Have some photostat copies made of                          these. I'll be back tomorrow for                          them.                                                               DISSOLVE TO:               Interior: Jack's Hotel Bedroom, Day               Jack is lying on his bed, looking over the documents that                relate to the Judge. He looks haggard and worried. There is                a knock on the door. Jack doesn't answer; the knock is                repeated.                                     JACK                         Who is it?                                     SADIE'S VOICE                         It's me, Sadie Burke.                                     JACK                         Wait a minute.               He hides the documents under his pillow.                                     JACK                         All right, come in.               She comes in, sniffs the air.                                     SADIE                         Phew! Awful lot of smoke. Awful lot                          of whisky. You sober?                                     JACK                         Stone.                                     SADIE                         I'll have one with you.                              (starts tidying up                               the room)                         What are you hiding out for?                                     JACK                         I'm not. I've been sleeping.                                     SADIE                         For four days? You've been back in                          town for four days.                                     JACK                         Willie knows everything.                                     SADIE                         Willie's worried about his boy.                                     JACK                         Willie's boy is worried about Willie's                          boy.                                     SADIE                         Well, why don't you put something on                          the phonograph -- a low-down, mean                          blues. Play it over and over again                          until you're sick of it. Then crack                          it and go back to work.                              (sits down)                         I do it all the time.                                     JACK                         That's not my problem.                                     SADIE                         No, it isn't your problem.                              (gets up again)                         I'll wait for you if you want to                          powder your nose.               Jack goes into the bathroom.                                     JACK                         I'll be with you in a minute.               Sadie wanders around. She goes to the dresser, upon which is                a photograph of Anne Stanton. She picks up the picture and                places it so she can see it in the mirror and compare it                with her own reflection.                                     SADIE                         Hmmm. Yeah, I can see it. I've got                          to look in the mirror to be able to                          see it. Soft, white skin... not like                          mine.                              (runs her hand across                               her cheeks)                         I had smallpox when I was a kid.                          Where I lived it seemed nearly all                          the kids had smallpox...               Jack watches her through the open bathroom door.                                     SADIE                         It leaves your face hard. Then she's                          got poise. Look at the way she holds                          her head... at just the right angle.                          That takes training. That takes years                          of training...               Jack, towel in hand, comes out and stands behind her. He                looks at her in the mirror, puzzled.                                     SADIE                         I see what Willie sees. Willie's got                          big ideas, Jack.                                     JACK                         What do you mean?                                     SADIE                         A girl like that could be a governor's                          wife. Or even a President's.                                     JACK                         What are you talking about?                                     SADIE                         He ditched Lucy, he ditched me, and                          he'll ditch you.                                     JACK                              (shaking her)                         Answer me!                                     SADIE                         He'll ditch everybody in the whole                          world because that's what Willie                          wants. Nobody in the world but him.                                     JACK                         What are you talking about?                                     SADIE                         You and your high-tone friends. What                          do they know? What do they know about                          anything? Why did you have to mix                          her in?                                     JACK                         You're crazy, Sadie. You're out of                          your mind.                                     SADIE                         Am I? Well, why don't you go down                          and ask her. Or ask him. Ask Willie.                                     JACK                         Shut up!                                     SADIE                         Go ahead, ask him.                                     JACK                         Shut up!                                     SADIE                         Ask him!               He slaps her hard.                                     SADIE                         Ow-oo... oh... oh.               She starts to laugh.                                                               DISSOLVE TO:               Exterior: Football Field, Day               A football team is practicing on the field. Willie watches                from the bench. A player kicks the ball and Tom misses it.                Jack walks over to Willie.                                     JACK                         He's off today.                                     WILLIE                         It's only practice. He'll be all                          right tomorrow... You been gone a                          long time, Jack.                                     JACK                         Yeah. I figured if you needed me                          you'd yell.                                     WILLIE                         Why'd you lay around the hotel?                                     JACK                         Thinking.                                     WILLIE                         About what?                                     JACK                         Things.                                     WILLIE                         What did you find on the Judge?                                     JACK                         Nothing.                                     WILLIE                         You sure you didn't find anything on                          the Judge?                                     JACK                         Yeah, I'm sure.                                     WILLIE                         You're going to keep trying, aren't                          you?                                     JACK                         If you want me to.                                     WILLIE                         I want you to. There's something                          else I want you to do too.                                     JACK                         What? Bucket boy? Towel slinger?                          What?                                     WILLIE                              (looks at him closely)                         What's eating you, Jack?                                     JACK                              (avoiding it)                         What else do you want me to do?                                     WILLIE                         If you've got something on your mind,                          boy, spit it out. We've been together                          too long to play games.                                     JACK                         What do you want me to do?                                     WILLIE                         I hear your pal Adam Stanton turned                          down the job as director of the                          hospital. That's bad. Especially at                          a time like this.                                     JACK                         Oh? How did you hear it?                                     WILLIE                         Why? What difference does it make?                                     JACK                         I just wanted to know.                                     WILLIE                         I heard it around.                                     JACK                              (insistent)                         How did you hear he turned it down,                          Willie?               Out on the field the boys have stopped playing and are huddled                around the coach.                                     WILLIE                         I'll be right back, Jack. I want to                          see what's happening here.               He goes over to the group on the field. The coach is talking                to Tom.                                     COACH                         You going to practice the way I tell                          you.                                     TOM                         I'm going to do it the way I want to                          do it.               Willie comes up to them.                                     WILLIE                         Tom, come here. What's going on here?                                     COACH                         I don't care if he is your son,                          Governor... No special rules for                          him.                                     TOM                         It doesn't make any difference to me                          either way... whether I play or not.                                     WILLIE                         Well, it does to me.                              (to coach)                         What do you want him to do?                                     COACH                         To behave himself. Like the rest of                          the boys. Four times this season                          he's broken training. He comes on                          the practice field half potted.                                     WILLIE                         Tom, you're going to have to obey                          the rules. Do you hear me? You're                          going to obey the rules.                                     TOM                         I put 'em across, don't I? Every                          Saturday I put 'em across and I can                          still do it, drunk or sober. That's                          all you want, isn't it... for me to                          put 'em across so you can big-shot                          it around? Isn't that all you want?               He walks away.                                     WILLIE                         Tom!                              (to coach)                         He's a little high-strung.                              (goes after Tom)                         Tom, come here. Tom!                                                               DISSOLVE TO:               Exterior: Highway, Foggy Day               Sign in foreground reads: WILLIE STARK HIGHWAY U.S. 56. A                car swerves around a bend and careens down the highway.               Tom and his girl friend Helene are in the car. Tom is                drinking.                                     HELENE                              (laughing)                         Come on, Tommy... let's go faster.                          Come on...               The car goes across a bridge, weaving. Two motorcycle cops                parked there start to give chase.               Tom's car swerves out of control and crashes through a fence.               The two motorcycle cops ride out to the field to the wrecked                car. They find Tom and Helene, unconscious. One of the cops                picks up the empty bottle and hands it to the other.                                     2ND COP                              (looking at Tom)                         It's the governor's son.               He throws the bottle away.                                                               DISSOLVE TO:               NEWSPAPER HEADLINES               GOVERNOR'S SON HURT:                GIRL NEAR DEATH IN CRASH               Below the headline is a picture of Helene Hale's father.                Another picture of Mr. Hale on the front page. Caption reads:               GIRL'S FATHER CLAIMS DRUNK DRIVING CAUSE OF WRECK                ADMITTANCE TO HOSPITAL DENIED PRESS                                                               DISSOLVE TO:               Interior: Governor's Mansion, Night               Lucy and Mr. Hale walk across the large reception room toward                Willie. Jack, Sugar Boy, and Duffy stand around in the                background.                                     LUCY                         Willie, Mr. Hale's here to see you.               Willie comes to meet them, a drink in his hand. He is                obviously drunk.                                     WILLIE                         Go on upstairs, Lucy. I have some                          business I want to talk over with                          Mr. Hale.                                     HALE                         What I've got to say anybody can                          listen to... Where's your boy?                                     WILLIE                         Now... now, don't get excited.                              (to Sugar Boy)                         Get me another drink, Sugar.                                     HALE                         My daughter may die.                                     WILLIE                         She's not going to die. She'll get                          the best medical attention there is.                          No expense will be spared.                                     HALE                         Where's your boy?                                     LUCY                         I'll get him.                                     WILLIE                         Wait a minute, Lucy. He's asleep.                          And the doctor said after a good                          night's sleep he'll be all right.                                     LUCY                         No, he won't be all right unless you                          make him all right. I'll get him.               She goes.                                     WILLIE                         Lucy!                              (to Hale)                         You care for a drink?                                     HALE                         No thanks.                                     WILLIE                         Accidents will happen, you know.                                     HALE                         Accidents? Your boy was drunk.                                     WILLIE                         I saw the police report. There...                          there was nothing about drunkenness                          on the police report.                                     HALE                         Whose police and whose report? I say                          the boy was drunk. And I know it.               Tom comes down the stairs, with Lucy.                                     HALE                              (to Tom)                         Right here before your father... I                          want you --                                     TOM                         Mr. Hale --                                     WILLIE                         Tom, the doctor says you need rest,                          boy.                                     TOM                              (turns on him)                         I don't want you to try to cover up                          for me. I was wrong... that's all                          there is to it.                                     WILLIE                         You don't know what you're talking                          about. I saw the police report --                                     TOM                         I don't care what the police report                          says. I was driving and I was drunk.                          It's all my fault.                              (to Hale)                         Anything you want to do to me, you                          can do. Whatever you want me to do,                          I'll do.                                     WILLIE                         Nobody has to do anything. Stop                          worrying. I'll take care of                          everything.                                     TOM                         I don't want you to take care of                          anything.               Tom looks ill; he presses his hand to his forehead.                                     WILLIE                         Tom, go on upstairs and get some                          rest, boy. Go on... go on... go on.               Tom walks slowly toward the stairs.                                     WILLIE                         Sugar, help him... Mr. Hale, come on                          over and sit down. You sure you                          wouldn't care for a drink, Mr. Hale?               Hale sits down, shakes his head.                                     WILLIE                         Hey, Tiny, go home. Go on, out of                          here... out of here. Go on.               Duffy leaves, disgruntled. Willie sits on a coffee table. He                pours himself another drink.                                     WILLIE                         What business did you say you were                          in?                                     HALE                         I didn't say.                                     WILLIE                         What business are you in?                                     HALE                         Trucking business.                                     WILLIE                         Trucking business. Trucks run on                          state roads. If a man in the trucking                          business had a contract with the                          state, a big one, that would be pretty                          good, wouldn't it?                              (to Jack)                         Go on, Jack. Tell him what would                          happen.               Jack is silent.                                     WILLIE                         Go on, tell him.                                     HALE                         You're trying to bribe me, aren't                          you?                                     WILLIE                         No, no. No, I'm not trying to bribe                          you. I'm... I'm only talking things                          over with you, that's all.                                     HALE                         You're pretty good at talking. I                          remember when you first started                          talking. A place called Upton. You                          did a lot of talking then and the                          things you said made sense, to me                          and a lot of other people. I believed                          in you... I followed you... and I                          fought for you. Well, the words are                          still good. But you're not.                              (rises)                         And I don't believe you ever were.               He walks out of the room.                                     WILLIE                              (after a pause)                         Sugar, follow him. Keep calling in.               Sugar goes, leaving just Jack and Willie. Willie, very drunk,                tries to get up but falls against the piano.                                     WILLIE                              (yells)                         Lucy!... Lucy!               He staggers up the long stairway. Halfway up he tumbles,                groaning. Jack helps him to his feet.                                     JACK                         I'd like Anne to see you now. I'd                          like Anne to see you now, you drunken                          sot!                              (drags him up the                               stairs)                         Come on.                                                                   FADE OUT               FADE IN:               NEWSPAPER               Photograph of Helene Hale on front page. Headline reads:               GIRL CRASH VICTIM DIES               Under the photograph there is a caption:               FATHER MYSTERIOUSLY DISAPPEARS AFTER BARING BRIBE OFFER BY                GOVERNOR STARK                                                               DISSOLVE TO:               Exterior: Governor's Mansion, Day               Willie, Jack, and Sugar Boy are accosted by a group of newsmen                as they come down the stairs.                                     NEWSMEN                         What about the girl's father,                          Governor? Have you a statement to                          make?                                     WILLIE                         All right, all right, gentlemen.                          I'll give you a statement. This whole                          thing is a mess of lies. It's a frame.                          The man that made that statement...                          have him repeat it to my face. He                          can't. He vanished. Let me ask you                          some questions. Where has he gone?                          Where is he?                                     REPORTER                         Maybe you could answer those questions                          too, Governor.               Sugar Boy makes a move for the reporter but Willie holds him                back.                                     WILLIE                         I won't dignify that question with                          an answer.                                     ANOTHER REPORTER                         One more question, Governor... Where's                          your son?                                     WILLIE                         At the football stadium, where he's                          supposed to be. He's going to play                          for State University, which this                          administration is responsible for.                          He's not hiding from anybody,                          gentlemen. He'll be out there in                          full view of seventy thousand cheering                          fans.                              (starts down the stairs)                         One of which will be me. See you,                          men.               He leaves, followed by Jack and Sugar Boy.                                                               DISSOLVE TO:               Exterior: Football Field, Day               The game is in progress and the stands are packed. But there                is no cheering. Instead we hear boos, and shouts for Tom.                                     CROWD VOICES                         Where's Stark? How about Tommy Stark?                          Hey, Willie, send your boy in.               Exterior: Willie's Box               Willie, Jack, Sugar Boy, and Lucy are in one box. Sadie and                Duffy sit in the adjoining one. Willie is standing up. The                crowd continues to heckle him.                                     WILLIE                         Why don't they put him in!                                     MAN                         Come on, Willie... send your boy in.               A drunk comes over to his box.                                     DRUNK                         What's the matter, Willie... is your                          little boy ashamed to show his face?                                     DUFFY                         Shut up!               Willie signals angrily to the police.                                     WILLIE                         Get that man out of here! Come on,                          get him out of here.               The man is dragged away. The crowd boos, and Willie gets up                and leaves the box, followed by Jack.                                                               DISSOLVE TO:               Interior: Stadium Dressing Room, Day               Tom is sitting on one of the massage tables with a towel                around his shoulders as Willie and Jack come in. The sound                of the boos can still be heard.                                     WILLIE                         They're booing you.                                     TOM                              (holds his head)                         Ever since the accident, my head...                                     WILLIE                         The doctor said it was nothing.                                     TOM                         Get dizzy... can't see... dizzy...                                     WILLIE                         You're scared... plain scared.                                     TOM                              (looks up angrily)                         Get out of here!                                     WILLIE                         Atta boy... get mad. Show some spirit.                          Jack, tell him what his playing means.                          Go on, tell him.                                     JACK                         You can never tell about a head                          injury. Maybe the boy's hurt.                                     WILLIE                         He's hurt? I'm hurt. It wasn't me                          that wrapped that car around the                          tree. It wasn't me that got drunk.                          But me, I'm takin' the rap.                              (softer, to Tom)                         Go on, kid. Get out there and play.                          Show 'em the kind of stuff a Stark                          is made of.                                     TOM                              (coldly)                         I wouldn't know.               Enraged, Willie slaps him. Tom fights back, and Jack has to                pull them apart.                                     JACK                         Tom... cut it out!                                     TOM                              (breathing heavily)                         All right, I'll play. Now get out of                          here.               Camera holds on Tom as Jack and Willie leave. He picks up                his uniform, stops, then rubs his head.                                                               DISSOLVE TO:               Exterior: Football Stadium, Day               Tom is on the field. He runs up to the coach.                                     P.A. ANNOUNCER                         Stark's going in!               The boos turn to cheers. The crowd applauds.               Willie signals from his box to the coach. He wants Tom sent                in. Tom runs out on the field and joins the team. The players                are lined up, in position to play. Tom shakes his head, as                if trying to clear it.                                                               DISSOLVE TO:               Exterior: Football Stadium, Time Lapse               The crowd yells excitedly. Tom, looking weary, gets the ball                and runs with it downfield. Three players tackle him hard                and fall on him. A silence falls over the stadium as he fails                to get up with the others.               In Willie's box, everyone is standing.                                     LUCY                         Tommy... Tommy... Tommy!               Willie rushes out onto the field and kneels beside Tom as                the doctor and stretcher bearers arrive.                                                               DISSOLVE TO:               Interior: Hospital Waiting Room, Night               Lucy and Willie are waiting for news about Tom. Sugar Boy                comes in with a paper bag and sets it on a table.                                     SUGAR BOY                         B-b-boss, you gotta eat. You g-g-                         gotta.               Willie motions him away.                                     WILLIE                         I'm the one that made him play. I                          sent him in.                                     LUCY                         Sit down, Willie. Please sit down.                                     WILLIE                         I sent him in.                                     LUCY                         What difference does that make now?               Jack comes in.                                     WILLIE                         What goes on?                                     JACK                         There isn't a plane flying.                                     WILLIE                         They gotta fly. This is my son. He's                          got to live.               Adam Stanton enters.                                     STANTON                         I just got a call from Dr. Birnham.                          The earliest he can possibly get                          here will be tomorrow morning.                                     WILLIE                         Isn't there anybody else we can get?                                     JACK                         I still think Dr. Stanton should                          operate.                                     STANTON                         That's up to Governor Stark. He wanted                          another doctor... a specialist. I                          sent for one.                                     WILLIE                         How bad is it really, doctor?                                     STANTON                         He's unconscious... and paralyzed.               Lucy slumps in her chair.                                     WILLIE                         Has he got a chance?                                     STANTON                         To live? Yes.                                     WILLIE                         What do you mean?                                     STANTON                         Even if the operation's successful --                          that is, if he lives -- I think he'll                          be paralyzed for life.                                     WILLIE                         You'll do everything you can, won't                          you? Anything between you and me..                          that won't count, will it? It doesn't                          have to. Look, doc, anything you                          want in the world you just ask for                          it and you got it. Go on, doc... ask                          for it.                                     STANTON                              (coldly)                         There are some things, Governor Stark,                          that even you can't buy. Do you want                          me to operate, or don't you?                                     LUCY                         Yes... I want you to operate.                              (stands up)                         Please, may I see Tom now?                                     STANTON                         Yes.               They leave together.                                     WILLIE                              (to Jack)                         How much does the doc know?                                     JACK                         About what?                                     WILLIE                         Oh, you know what I'm talking about.                                     JACK                         About what?                                     WILLIE                         About Anne and me.                                     JACK                              (after a pause)                         He doesn't know a thing... not a                          thing.               Jack turns and walks away.                                                               DISSOLVE TO:               Exterior: Hospital, Night               Anne has been waiting outside the hospital. She turns to                Jack as he comes out the door.                                     ANNE                         Jack, how is he?                                     JACK                         The boy?                                     ANNE                         Yes.                                     JACK                         He'll live.                                     ANNE                         Oh, thank God. How is --                                     JACK                         Willie?                                     ANNE                         He blames himself, doesn't he?                                     JACK                              (as he walks down the                               street)                         He'll find someone else to blame in                          a few days.                                     ANNE                              (following him)                         Oh, I tried to call here at the                          hospital, but I just...               They walk together, along the waterfront.                                     JACK                         Anne... Anne, why did you do it?                                     ANNE                         He wasn't like anybody I ever knew                          before.                                     JACK                         You mean he wasn't like me.                                     ANNE                         He wasn't like anybody I ever knew                          before. I love him, I guess. I guess                          that's the reason.                                     JACK                         Everybody loves him.                                     ANNE                         He wants to marry me.                                     JACK                         Are you going to?                                     ANNE                         Not now. It would hurt him. A divorce                          would hurt his career.                                     JACK                         His career!                                     ANNE                         Jack... Jack, what are you going to                          do? You can't leave him now. He needs                          you now more than he ever did before.                                     JACK                         What Willie needs, Willie's got.                                     ANNE                         You don't know him. You've known him                          all these years and you don't really                          know him at all.                                     JACK                         What about Adam?                                     ANNE                         Adam?                                     JACK                         Well, you don't have to worry about                          him. If Adam finds out it'll be easy                          to prove a Stanton is no different                          than anybody else.                              (gives her the papers                               on the Judge)                         Just show him these. Willie was                          right... a man is conceived in sin                          and born in corruption. Even Judge                          Stanton. Show them to him, Anne.                          Change the picture of the world that                          Adam has in his head, just like our                          picture of it has been changed.               He grips her by the shoulders.                                     JACK                         Wipe out everything he's ever believed                          in. It'll be good for him. There's                          no God but Willie Stark. I'm his                          prophet and you're his...                              (pushes her aside,                               then feels sorry and                               walks after her)                         Oh, Anne... Anne, I'm sorry. I didn't                          mean... Anne!               A policeman comes over.                                     POLICEMAN                         What's going on here?               Jack catches up to Anne. He takes her arm and they start to                walk back together.                                     JACK                         It's all right, officer... we both                          work for Willie Stark.                                                                   FADE OUT               FADE IN:               Exterior: Hospital Site, Day               Willie, Anne, Adam, and Jack inspect a construction site.                There are newsmen and photographers present.                                     WILLIE                              (to Adam)                         Right over there, that's going to be                          the main building... fifteen stories                          high, like on the model. Over there,                          that's the laboratory. Finest                          technical equipment in the world.                                     STANTON                         What are you trying to convince me                          of? I've taken the job.                                     WILLIE                         Why?                                     STANTON                         My reasons are my own. Why are you                          building a hospital?                                     WILLIE                         To do some good for the people of                          the state.                                     STANTON                         And get some votes.                                     WILLIE                         Oh, there are lots of ways to get                          votes.                                     STANTON                         Yes, I know... I won't stand for any                          interference.                                     WILLIE                         I won't interfere. I may fire you,                          but I won't interfere.                                     STANTON                         If that's a threat, you're wasting                          your time. You know what I think of                          your administration.                                     WILLIE                         Yes, I know. I'll tell you what...                          You stay on your side of the fence;                          I'll stay on mine. Is that a deal?               They climb up onto the platform, where the newsmen gather                around to take pictures. Willie and Adam shake hands.                                     JACK                              (voice over)                         Now he had us all... me, Anne, and                          Adam. Now we all worked for him.                                                                   FADE OUT               FADE IN:               Interior: Projection Room, Day               Willie, Jack, and Sugar Boy are watching a newsreel, similar                in style to the March of Time newsreels. A producer, his                assistant, and two policemen are also in the room.                                     NARRATOR'S VOICE                         And so the eyes of the entire nation                          are now focused upon Governor Willie                          Stark, an amazing phenomenon on the                          American political scene. The whole                          state is filled with his                          accomplishments -- each of them, of                          course, bearing his personal                          signature, to make sure that no one                          will ever forget who gave them to                          the state.               MONTAGE: THE NEWSREEL               Large plaque on side of the highway: THIS BRIDGE WAS BUILT                DURING THE FIRST ADMINISTRATION OF GOVERNOR STARK. A TOLL                BRIDGE STOOD HERE FOR FIFTY YEARS... NOW THE PEOPLE TRAVEL                FREE               Camera pans to shot of the bridge.               Plaque over college entrance: STARK COLLEGE... THAT EVERY                MAN, WOMAN, OR CHILD, RICH OR POOR, SHALL HAVE AN EDUCATION...                WILLIE STARK               Shot of library -- lettering reads WILLIE STARK LIBRARY.                KNOWLEDGE BELONGS TO THE PEOPLE Shot of bad road running                through dry, barren land.                                     NARRATOR'S VOICE                         This is the way the roads used to                          be. But there are those who claim                          that they were adequate for the                          people's needs, that you don't need                          a four- or six-lane highway for a                          horse and buggy.               Shot of horse pulling a plow.               The empty, untraversed STARK HIGHWAY.                                     NARRATOR'S VOICE                         When Stark boasts of his great school                          system, his critics say: you can't                          go to school and work in the fields                          at the same time. And they question                          the benefit of these projects,                          charging that the need and the poverty                          of the people is as great as before.               Shot of large school. Camera cuts to men working in the field,                then to ramshackle barn, and to a farmer walking across his                rotted cornfield.                                     NARRATOR'S VOICE                         Willie Stark has never forgotten the                          source of his power: the people who                          supported him.               Willie talking to the farmers.                                     NARRATOR'S VOICE                         He still keeps in touch with these                          people of the backwoods, making                          periodic trips to such places as                          Kanoma City, now famous as his                          birthplace...               Willie's official car and escort speeding through a street.                Sign reads: KANOMA CITY, BIRTHPLACE OF WILLIE STARK               Shot of Willie having his picture taken with Lucy and Pappy                on the porch of the old farm.               Willie mending the fence on the farm. Willie feeding the                pigs.                                     NARRATOR'S VOICE                         For those who say that Willie Stark                          is a man of destiny, there are others                          who claim that he is a man of evil,                          a man who cares neither for the people                          nor the state, but only for his own                          personal power and ambition.               Willie making a speech to a huge crowd of cheering people.               Willie inspecting his police force.               Willie pounding the desk in the state legislature.                                     NARRATOR'S VOICE                         Obviously, these ambitions go far                          beyond the boundaries of the state.                          Just how far, only time will tell.                          Meanwhile, he is here...               Big close-up of Willie as he delivers a speech.                                     NARRATOR'S VOICE                         ...and from the looks of things, he                          is here to stay. Willie Stark: messiah                          or dictator?               The picture goes off and the lights in the room come on.                                     PRODUCER                         How do you like it, Governor?               Willie stands and faces the producer.                                     WILLIE                         How many theaters will this play in?                                     PRODUCER                         All over the country.                                     WILLIE                         Hear that, Jack. All over the country.               They start to leave. Willie stops for a moment.                                     WILLIE                         Oh, there's one thing in there I                          didn't like too well. That messiah                          or dictator.                                     PRODUCER                         That's our point of view, Governor.                          And that's the way it stands.               There is a silence. Willie's face is hard. Then he grins.                                     WILLIE                         All right, all right, that's the way                          it stands... as of now.                                                                   FADE OUT               FADE IN:               NEWSPAPER HEADLINE               STARK BEGINS RE-ELECTION CAMPAIGN                STATEWIDE TOUR STARTS WITH VISIT TO KANOMA CITY                                                               DISSOLVE TO:               EXTERIOR: STARK FARMHOUSE, DAY               Tom and Pappy Stark are seated on the porch. Tom is in a                wheelchair. Lucy comes onto the porch as the sound of sirens                is heard, and Willie's two cars, motorcycle escort, and the                car of reporters turn onto the drive. Tom, upset, flips his                cigarette away as the cars stop in front of the porch. Lucy                puts her hand on his shoulder to calm him. Then Willie climbs                up the steps to greet Lucy.                                     WILLIE                         Hello, Lucy... How are you making                          it, Pa?... How are you, Tom?               Tom doesn't answer. Lucy offers her cheek to Willie. Sadie,                Jack, and Sugar Boy wait at the bottom of the steps, along                with the reporters.                                     LUCY                         I made some refreshments for your                          friends. I'll get them.                                     SADIE                         I'll help.                                     LUCY                              (firmly)                         No, thank you. Thank you kindly.                                     JACK                         If you don't mind, Mrs. Stark... the                          boys have to get back to make the                          morning editions.                              (to photographers)                         Set 'em up on the porch, fellows.                          We'll take some pictures out here,                          first.               He starts arranging the family for the picture.                                     JACK                         Mrs. Stark, please... All right,                          fellows, take one down there, will                          you please... Shoot it up this way.               The cameras click.                                                               DISSOLVE TO:               Interior: Stark Farmhouse, Night               Willie is finishing his meal, seated at the table with his                family and Jack. Sugar Boy stands behind Willie. Sadie has                left the table and is examining the room.                                     WILLIE                              (on the last bite)                         You're still a great cook, Lucy.                          Great cook.                              (gets up)                         Well, I guess I better be getting                          back to town. Nice to have spent the                          day with the family.                              (kisses Lucy on the                               forehead)                         Goodbye, Lucy.                              (extends his hand to                               Tom)                         Tom.                                     TOM                              (ignores the gesture)                         Goodbye.                                     WILLIE                         Take care of yourself, Pappy. Oh,                          uh... how do you like the new radio                          I got you?                              (walks over to it)                         You know how it works? You can get                          police calls on it. Come here, come                          here... I'll show you.               Pappy leans over as Willie demonstrates how it works.                                     WILLIE                         This one for police calls up here.               He turns the dial.                                     POLICE BROADCAST                         Car sixty-two, proceed to five-                         eighteen Oak Street. Tom Jones beating                          his wife again.               Pappy laughs delightedly. He reaches out to turn the dial.                                     WILLIE                         All right, go ahead, go ahead.                                     ANNOUNCER'S VOICE                         We interrupt this program to bring                          you a special announcement. This                          afternoon, the body of Richard Hale,                          father of the girl who died in the                          automobile accident involving the                          governor's son, was found. A medical                          examination revealed he was beaten                          to death.               Tom starts to wheel toward Willie, but Lucy restrains him.                                     ANNOUNCER'S VOICE                         The ugly charge of "official murder"                          has been hurled at the administration                          by a coalition of Stark's opponents,                          led by Judge Stanton, lately an                          outspoken critic of the                          administration.                                     WILLIE                              (to Jack)                         Your friend, the Judge.                                     ANNOUNCER'S VOICE                         Thus an almost forgotten incident                          provided the spark that might set                          off the explosion needed to rock                          Willie Stark out of power. The latest                          report is that impeachment proceedings                          may be instituted...               Willie turns off the radio. There is a silence. Then Willie                turns to Lucy.                                     WILLIE                         How long will it take you to pack? I                          want you to go back to Capital City                          with me tonight.                                     LUCY                         Why?                                     WILLIE                         Because I need you.                                     TOM                         What for?                                     WILLIE                              (still speaking to                               Lucy)                         I'll explain all of that later. Now,                          Lucy, do like I say.                                     JACK                         I'll wait outside.                                     WILLIE                         You stay right here, Jack. I want                          you bear witness to what I've got to                          say.                                     LUCY                              (indicating Sadie)                         She can be a witness too.                                     SADIE                              (starting toward the                               door)                         I'm going back to the capital and                          get hold of Duffy.                                     WILLIE                         You stay right here, Sadie.                                     SADIE                         Somebody's got to go back to the                          capital. I'll go in the other car.                                     WILLIE                         All right, then tell Duffy not to do                          anything or say anything until I get                          there.                                     SADIE                         Yes, Governor.               She leaves.                                     TOM                         Now he needs us. Now that he's in                          trouble he needs us, so he can lead                          us around like monkeys with rings in                          our noses. So he can say to people,                          look at me, feel sorry for me...                          just a family man with a wife and a                          crippled son...                                     WILLIE                              (shouts)                         Shut up!                                     LUCY                         Willie!                                     TOM                         Why don't you leave us alone?               Tom wheels himself into his own room. Lucy starts to follow.                                     WILLIE                         Leave him alone. How many scrapes                          have I gotten him out of? How many                          girls?                                     LUCY                         Willie, stop.                                     WILLIE                         It's not him they're after. It's me.                          How many halfwitted apes do you think                          I'm going to have to pay to square                          this one? What do you think this is                          going to cost me?                                     LUCY                         What do you think it cost him?               Suddenly Willie turns his face away.                                     WILLIE                              (in a broken voice)                         A man builds for his son. That's all                          he builds for.                                     LUCY                         Willie!                              (turns and goes into                               Tom's room)                         Tom... Tom.               Willie looks up at Jack and Pappy.                                     WILLIE                         Give me a drink, Jack.               Jack hands him a bottle and he takes a slug.                                     WILLIE                         She'll go.               Pappy shakes his head.                                     PAPPY                         No good, Willie. No good.                                                               DISSOLVE TO:               Exterior: Stark Farmhouse, Night               Pappy stays behind on the porch as Tom is carried in his                wheelchair down the steps and into Willie's car. Lucy follows.                The motorcycle escort leads them away from the farm.                                                               DISSOLVE TO:               Exterior: Highway, Night               As the cars speed to Capital City.               Interior: State Legislature, Night               There is great excitement in the assembly room. One senator                steps forward and addresses the speaker of the house.                                     SENATOR                         Mr. Speaker, I offer a house                          resolution. Whereas Willie Stark,                          governor of this state, has been                          guilty of incompetence, corruption,                          and favoritism in office -- yes, and                          other high crimes -- that he is hereby                          impeached, and ordered to be tried                          by the senate.               His resolution is met with a mixture of cheers and boos.               Exterior: State Capitol, Night               A huge crowd is gathered outside. Pillsbury, Sadie, and Duffy,                waiting with the crowd, step forward as they see Willie's                car approach. Newsmen take pictures as Willie gets out of                the car.                                     WILLIE                              (as he meets Duffy)                         What's the score?                                     DUFFY                         They're lined up against you solid.                          They had a meeting.                                     WILLIE                         How do you know? Were you there?                                     DUFFY                         Me? What would I be doing there?                                     WILLIE                         Selling me out.               He starts up the steps of the building.                                                               DISSOLVE TO:               Interior: Willie's Executive Offices, Night                                     WILLIE                         How many votes have we got?                                     SADIE                              (going through some                               files)                         Eleven.                                     WILLIE                         We need twenty.                                     DUFFY                         We might be able to dig up a few                          more.                                     WILLIE                         Yeah. Do you know how?                                     DUFFY                         No.               Willie turns to Jack.                                     WILLIE                         Oh, Jack. Come here. What have you                          got in your black book about that                          old friend of yours?                                     JACK                         Who do you mean?                                     WILLIE                         You know who I'm talking about...                          your old friend, the Judge.                                     JACK                         If and when you need it.                                     WILLIE                         If and when? I need it right now.                          He's got four senators wrapped up in                          his hip pocket. Come on, come on,                          boy... what have you got?                                     JACK                         I'm going to give him a break. If he                          can prove it isn't true, I won't                          spill it.                                     WILLIE                         I ought to bust you, Jack.                                     JACK                         I promised two people I'd do it this                          way.                                     WILLIE                         Who are they?                                     JACK                         Myself... and someone else. It doesn't                          matter who. I'm going to give him a                          break.                                     WILLIE                         All right, give him a break. But if                          you got the facts, you got the facts.                          The truth is sufficient... just like                          it says in the Bible.                                     JACK                         That's the way it's going to be.                                     WILLIE                         All right, boy... I'll trust you.                          Where are you going?                                     JACK                              (on his way out)                         I'll be around.               Willie turns to go into his private office.                                     SADIE                         Who else do you think he promised,                          Willie?               Willie shrugs.                                     SADIE                         You'd be smart... play square with                          him. You're going to need people                          like us around.                                     WILLIE                              (as he shuts his door)                         Are you sure?                                                               DISSOLVE TO:               MONTAGE: THE IMPEACHMENT               Willie's car speeding down a road.               Willie, with Lucy and Tom seated behind him, addressing crowd.               Willie speaking from the back of a train to a railroad station                audience.                                     JACK                              (voice over)                         The chips were down, and Willie knew                          it. He was fighting for his life. He                          roared across the state making one                          speech after another. And all of                          them added up to the same thing...                          "It's not me they're after, it's                          you!"               Close-ups of Willie, speaking to the people.                                     JACK                              (voice over)                         Willie hollered foul. Willie knew if                          you hollered long enough, hard enough,                          and loud enough, people begin to                          believe you. Just in case they didn't,                          he organized spontaneous                          demonstrations.               Sign on back of a car: FIGHT WITH WILLIE               Crowds carrying signs: WIN WITH WILLIE               Willie talking on the telephone. Sadie listens.                                     WILLIE                         Tell the boys to get the hicks out.                          Bring 'em in from the sticks, empty                          the pool halls. Turn 'em out. Turn                          the yokels out.               More men with WIN WITH WILLIE signs. Man directing crowd                from top of bus. Other bus loads of people are seen, all of                them bearing signs.                                     JACK                              (voice over)                         In case anyone hollered back, he                          organized spontaneous slugging. Willie                          pulled every trick he ever knew --                          and added a few more.               Crowd looks on as two uniformed police drag a man away.                Willie's car waiting. Two thugs talk things over with a man                on his doorstep.               Willie discussing matters with a man in his office. Two cops                stand with him.               Willie and Jack in the car. Sugar Boy drives. It is night.                Sugar Boy drives fast, and has to swerve to avoid colliding                with a truck.                                     JACK                         Hey, Sugar!                              (To Willie)                         You'll never live to be impeached!                                     WILLIE                         Boy, I'll live to be President...               Jack and Sugar wait in the car as Willie leans out the car                window to talk to a senator. He offers the man a piece of                paper.                                     WILLIE                         I've got fourteen senators to vote                          against impeachment. If I win, you're                          out of politics.                                     SENATOR                              (refuses to sign)                         I'll do whatever the Judge says.                                                               DISSOLVE TO:               Exterior: Highway, Night               Willie's car, as it races down the highway.                                     JACK                              (voice over)                         And always the trail led to one                          place... Burden's Landing... and the                          Judge.               Exterior: Ferry to Burden's Landing, Night               Willie's car coming across on the ferry.                                                               DISSOLVE TO:               Exterior: Stanton Home, Night               As Willie's car stops and they all get out.                                     WILLIE                         You sure you don't want me to go in                          with you?                                     JACK                         I'm sure.                                     WILLIE                         Well, hurry it up, boy. We've got                          places to go.               Jack goes into the house alone.                                                               DISSOLVE TO:               Interior: Judge Stanton's Study, Night               Jack and the Judge are seated opposite each other.                                     JACK                         Judge, I beg you, as a favor to                          yourself, to me... call up, release                          your votes.                                     JUDGE                         I made a mistake once, Jack... when                          I resigned. It was too easy then,                          just resigning, pulling out. No,                          Jack, I've made my choice. I have                          nothing more to lose.                                     JACK                         Judge, you know what Stark is capable                          of. Think it over. I'll leave now.                          I'll come back tomorrow and we'll                          talk about it again. You can give me                          your answer then.               The door opens and Willie and Sugar Boy enter.                                     WILLIE                         I can't wait until tomorrow. I'm a                          very impatient man.                                     JACK                              (rising)                         I told you not to come in here.                                     WILLIE                              (ignoring him)                         Is it true, Judge, that you're behind                          the impeachment proceedings?                                     JUDGE                         Yes, it's true.               Willie takes a seat in an easy chair.                                     WILLIE                         I wanted to hear you say it with                          your own silver tongue.                                     JUDGE                         Well, you've heard it. If that's all                          you came to hear you could have saved                          yourself a trip.               Willie picks up a decanter off the table.                                     WILLIE                         Mind if I pour myself a drink? How                          about you, Judge, will you have one?                          You better... You're going to need                          it.               Jack and Judge Stanton remain standing, silently watching                Willie.                                     WILLIE                         What'd he say, Jack?                                     JACK                         You'll get your answer tomorrow.                                     WILLIE                         Are you kidding? Did you show it to                          him, or didn't you?                                     JUDGE                         Show me what?                                     WILLIE                         That's what I figured. Let's get                          down to cases, Judge. Do you remember                          a man with the name of Littlepaugh?               The Judge shakes his head. He doesn't.                                     WILLIE                         Remember the Fortune Electric Company?                                     JUDGE                         Of course. I was their counsel for                          over ten years.                                     WILLIE                         Remember how you got the job?                                     JACK                         How did you find out?                                     WILLIE                              (hands the Judge some                               papers)                         Do you remember how you got the job?               The Judge examines the papers.                                     WILLIE                         You know, Judge, dirt's a funny thing.                          Some of it rubs off on everybody.                          How did you get the job, Judge?                          Blackmail?                                     JUDGE                              (to Jack)                         I swear I never even remembered his                          name. Isn't that remarkable, Jack? I                          never even remembered his name. It's                          all so long ago it's hard for me to                          realize it ever happened.                                     WILLIE                         Yeah. But it did.                                     JUDGE                         Yes, it did. But it's difficult for                          me to realize it.                                     JACK                         For me too, Judge.                                     JUDGE                         Thanks for that much.                                     WILLIE                         Well, I guess you know what the next                          move is, don't you?                                     JUDGE                         Yes, I do. Jack Burden. Willie Stark's                          hatchet man.                                     JACK                              (to Willie)                         I asked you... how did you find out?                                     JUDGE                         This would never stand at law, not                          for a minute. It happened over twenty-                         five years ago, and you could never                          get any testimony. Everybody is dead.                                     WILLIE                         Everybody except you, Judge. You're                          alive. And people think you're a                          certain kind of man. And you just                          couldn't bear for people to think                          otherwise.                                     JUDGE                         Ever since then I... I've done my                          duty. I... I'm responsible for many                          good things.                              (looks at the papers                               again)                         But I also did this.                                     WILLIE                         Yes, yes, you did.                                     JACK                         Judge, I beg of you, call and release                          your votes, for your sake.                                     JUDGE                         You have tender sensibilities for a                          hatchet man.                              (goes to the door)                         Good night, gentlemen.                                     WILLIE                         How about my answer?                                     JUDGE                         You'll have it in the morning.                                     WILLIE                         I want it tonight.                                     JUDGE                         In the morning. Good night, gentlemen.               There is silence. Then the three men get up to go. The Judge                closes the door behind them.               Interior: Stanton Hallway, Night               As the three men walk to the front door.                                     JACK                         How did you find out?                                     WILLIE                         We've got a lot to do. It's getting                          late, Jack. Let's get back to town.                                     JACK                         You know we're through, don't you?                                     WILLIE                         Aw, you don't mean that, boy.               The front door opens, and Adam and Anne come in.                                     STANTON                         What are you doing here?                                     WILLIE                         It's all right, doc. Just here to                          discuss some politics with the Judge.                                     STANTON                         Oh, I see.                              (starts upstairs)                         Well, good night.                                     WILLIE                         Good night.                                     JACK                              (to Anne)                         Did you give him --                                     WILLIE                         Wait a minute, Jack --                                     JACK                         Answer me. Did you give --               A shot is fired. They turn and rush into the Judge's study.                They find the Judge face downward in his leather chair. Adam                and Jack kneel beside him. Willie, holding on tightly to                Anne's arm, stands in the doorway. Jack picks up the Judge's                pistol and looks at Adam.                                                               DISSOLVE TO:               Exterior: Stanton Home, Night               Jack comes out of the house, followed by Anne and Adam.                                     STANTON                         Aren't you going back with him?                                     JACK                         No.                                     STANTON                         Why not? You belong with him. Jack,                          how could you have done it? When                          Anne brought me those papers she                          told me you promised not to tell                          Stark until...                                     JACK                         Yeah. I know.                              (walks away)                         Well, I kept my promise.               Adam looks unbelievingly at Anne. She looks away.                                     STANTON                         Anne? Anne?                                                                   FADE OUT               FADE IN:               Interior: Jack's Hotel Room (State Capital), Day               Jack looks out the window. A portable radio is blaring out                the news.                                     ANNOUNCER'S VOICE                         From all over the state they're                          streaming in. From the hill country                          and farms, the lumber camps... by                          boat, by train, by horse, and on                          foot. Willie Stark's army.               Through Jack's window we see the street blocked with cars                and people, all headed for the State Capitol Building. Anne                is in the crowd, trying to get across the street. Seeing                Jack in the window, she pushes her way across and enters the                hotel. He slams the window shut and comes back into the room.                                     ANNOUNCER'S VOICE                         The state capital is filled with                          rumors, one of which is that Stark                          is planning to seize power by force.                          As commander of the state militia,                          he has --               Jack turns it off. He goes over to his bed and starts putting                clothes into a valise. There is a knock on the door. He                ignores it. Another knock.                                     JACK                         Come in. The door's open.               Anne enters.                                     ANNE                         Jack...                                     JACK                         What do you want?               She starts to cry. He grabs her, pulling her face close to                his.                                     JACK                              (bitterly)                         No, I want to see you cry.               He lets her go and she falls to the bed, sobbing.                                     JACK                         Stop it!                                     ANNE                         I called you. All afternoon I've                          been calling you.                                     JACK                         I know. I was here.                                     ANNE                         You've got to tell Adam. You've got                          to see him.                                     JACK                         Tell him what?                                     ANNE                         He knows about me and...                                     JACK                         About you and Willie?                                     ANNE                              (nods)                         I tried to explain to him. I... I                          tried to explain to him that it wasn't                          the way he thought it was.                                     JACK                         How was it, Anne? You tell me.                                     ANNE                         He hit me, Jack. My own brother...                          he hit me.                                     JACK                         Your brother is an old-fashioned                          man. He believes in his sister's                          honor. Me, I'm a modern man.                              (slams clothes into                               the valise)                         The twentieth-century type. I run.                                     ANNE                              (rises)                         I'm frightened, Jack.                                     JACK                         For who? Your brother, or Willie?                                     ANNE                              (quietly)                         We're through.                                     JACK                         Who's through with who?                                     ANNE                         He called me this afternoon. He's                          going back to Lucy. He said it was                          better that way.                                     JACK                         Better for who? Him.                                     ANNE                         Both of us.                                     JACK                         Did he tell you that too when he                          asked you to betray the Judge? At                          least I walked out on him.                                     ANNE                         Oh Jack... help me, please, please.                          Adam's all I've got left now. Oh,                          Jack, if you ever loved me...                                     JACK                         If I ever loved you.                              (pause)                         I'll go find Adam.               He takes up his coat.                                                               DISSOLVE TO:               EXTERIOR: HOSPITAL SITE, DAY               A large billboard. It reads HERE ON THIS SITE WILL BE ERECTED                THE GOVERNOR STARK HOSPITAL -- TO HEAL SICKNESS -- TO EASE                PAIN -- FREE. NOT AS A CHARITY BUT AS A RIGHT. WILLIE STARK               Adam enters, looks at the sign, and walks on.               Exterior: Street Near Capitol Building, Day               Crowds of people headed toward the building, some with WIN                WITH WILLIE signs. A marching band plays music for them.               Exterior: Capitol Building, Day               Crowd waiting outside the building. Mounted policemen keep                them in line. From a large platform, loaded with people,                comes the chant "We want Willie, we want Willie." Jack pushes                his way through the people and speaks to a policeman standing                guard on the Capitol steps.                                     COP                         Where do you think you're going?                              (recognizes Jack)                         Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't recognize                          you.                                     JACK                         Do you know who Dr. Stanton is?                                     COP                         Yes sir.                                     JACK                         Did he try to come through here today?                                     COP                         Haven't seen him, sir.                                     JACK                         Well, can you check the other                          entrances?                                     2ND COP                         There's no other entrances today.                          The other entrances are blocked off.                          Orders are to take no chances.                                     COP                         If you care to come inside and wait,                          Mr. Burden, we can find you a seat.                                     JACK                         No, thanks. I'll wait out here. If                          Dr. Stanton shows up, let me know.                          Pass the word along to the boys,                          will you?                                     COP                         Yes sir.               Jack turns and looks at the large crowd. A voice from a public                address loudspeaker begins to yell out commands to the crowd.                                     LOUDSPEAKER                         All right now. Everybody... that                          means everybody... let's let Willie                          know we're here! All together: WE                          WANT WILLIE. WE WANT WILLIE.               The chant is picked up enthusiastically by the crowd.               Interior: State Legislature, Day               The speaker is trying to speak over the clamor of the                chanting.                                     SPEAKER                         We will first proceed to take the                          judgment of the senate on the question                          of the impeachment of the governor.                                     SENATOR                              (rising)                         Mr. Speaker, this is a farce to ask                          us to vote in the face of the kind                          of intimidation and pressure that                          has been exerted here in the past                          few weeks. Even that crowd outside,                          yelling on cue, is part of that                          pressure.                                     CROWD NOISE                         We want Willie. We want Willie.               Willie gets up, and goes to the window.               Exterior: State Capitol, Day               The crowd, with Jack in the foreground. The crowd suddenly                goes wild as they see Willie appear at the window. In the                growing darkness he seems only a shadowy figure as he raises                his hands to wave to the crowd.               We see various shots of people straining to get a little                closer to the steps in order to see him better. Willie then                turns and goes back into the room.                                                               DISSOLVE TO:               Exterior: State Capitol, Day               The crowd again, still waiting. The camera pans upward to a                loudspeaker.                                     ANNOUNCER                         Attention, please. Attention, please.                          This is a special announcement from                          Willie Stark to you people out there.                          He doesn't want any one of you to                          leave...               The camera moves over the faces of the people listening.                                     ANNOUNCER                         He wants you to stay in front of                          this state Capitol until the fight                          is over. If you want Willie Stark to                          win, stay where you are.               They cheer. Camera picks up Jack watching the crowd's                reaction, then up to a plaque over the entrance to the Capitol                Building. It reads THE PEOPLE'S WILL IS THE LAW OF THIS STATE --                GOVERNOR STARK.                                     ANNOUNCER                         Do you hear me... stay where you                          are. Don't go away. Stay where you                          are. Don't go away.                                                               DISSOLVE TO:               Exterior: State Capitol, Night               Newsmen, photographers stand about, bored. The crowd, every                bit as large, is quiet but expectant. Everyone holds still                as the announcer's voice is heard again.                                     ANNOUNCER                         Attention, please. Attention, please.                          The balloting on the impeachment                          proceedings against Governor Stark                          has just ended. This is the result:                          Willie Stark has won.               The crowd explodes. People break through the police barriers.                Mounted policemen ride in quickly to prevent a riot. Camera                picks up Anne in the crowd, trying to push through.               Jack stands on the steps of the Capitol, watching it all.                Suddenly Willie appears at the top of the steps, followed by                Sugar Boy. Sadie, Duffy, Pillsbury follow close behind. Willie                grabs hold of the mike and addresses the suddenly hushed                crowd.                                     WILLIE                         They tried to ruin me. But they are                          ruined. They tried to ruin me because                          they did not like what I have done.                          Do you like what I have done?               Loud applause, and cries of "yes."                                     WILLIE                         Remember, it's not I who have won,                          but you. Your will is my strength,                          and your need is my justice, and I                          shall live in your right and your                          will. And if any man tries to stop                          me from fulfilling that right and                          that will, I'll break him. I'll break                          him with my bare hands. For I have                          the strength of many.               Having finished, he waves at them all. Then he notices Jack                and comes down the steps to greet him.                                     WILLIE                         Hello, Jack boy, I'm glad you're                          here. I knew you'd come back.               He walks back up the steps, his arm around Jack's shoulders.                They start to go into the building that way when Willie sees                someone. He smiles and puts out his hand.                                     WILLIE                         Oh, doctor, I'm very glad to see                          you.               Adam is seen, waiting at the entrance of the building. Before                Willie has taken a step Adam fires several shots into him.                Willie falls to the ground and Sugar Boy whips out his pistol                and fires at Adam. Three policemen with tommy guns open fire,                shooting into Adam's already fallen body. Then they turn and                point their guns at the mob of people rushing toward Willie,                forcing them back.                                     COP                         Stand back, everybody. Stand back.               Sugar Boy kneels beside Willie. Sadie stands against a pillar,                looking down on him.                                     SUGAR BOY                              (nearly crying)                         D-does it hurt m-much, boss? D-d-                         does it hurt much?               Jack looks up to see Anne struggling through the screaming                mob to get to Adam. She looks at Adam for a moment, then                turns away.                                     JACK                         Anne, Anne... Where are you going?               She doesn't answer, only walks away. He runs after her and                catches hold of her arm.                                     ANNE                         I don't know. Leave me alone.                                     JACK                         To do what?                                     ANNE                         I don't care.                                     JACK                         No, that's too easy.                                     ANNE                         I don't know, I don't know, I don't                          know.                                     JACK                         I do.                                     ANNE                         Leave me alone, please.                                     JACK                         No, no more.                                     ANNE                         He's dead.                                     JACK                         We're alive.                                     ANNE                         My brother's dead.                                     JACK                         We've got to go on living.                                     ANNE                         How?                                     JACK                         So that Adam's death has meaning, so                          that it wasn't wasted. Anne, our                          life has to give his death meaning.                          Don't you see that? Look at those                          people...               He turns her around so that she can see the crowds still                struggling to get a look at Willie.                                     JACK                         Look at them! They still believe in                          him. And we've got to make them see                          Willie the way Adam saw him, or                          there's no meaning in anything...                          anything.               A policeman approaches.                                     POLICEMAN                         Mr. Burden... the governor's asking                          for you. You better hurry. He's going                          fast.                                     JACK                              (to Anne)                         Will you wait here?               No reply.                                     JACK                         Will you wait here?               She nods her head slowly. Jack walks through the building to                the pillar against which Willie has been propped. Sugar Boy                is still beside him. He stands behind Sadie and Duffy, looking                down at Willie.                                     WILLIE                         It could have been the whole world,                          Willie Stark. The whole world...                          Willie Stark. Why did he do it to                          me... Willie Stark? Why?               His head droops to the side and he dies.                                                                   FADE OUT                                         THE END
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+"ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN" by William Goldman Based on the novel "All The President's Men" by Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward Pre-rehearsal version March, 1975 Start with as few credits as possible. When they're over-- FADE IN ON: A TINY BLACK PIECE OF TAPE. We see it in the center of the large, dimly lit screen. As the tape is pressed around a door-- BEGIN THE BREAK-IN SEQUENCE. It's a major piece of action, running maybe five minutes and it's all as detailed and accurate as we can make it, with as many "if only's" included as possible. ("If only" the tape had been attached up and down instead of around the door, Wills wouldn't have spotted it and alerted the police; "if only" the first police car called had gone to investigate, Baldwin, watching from the Howard Johnson Motor Inn, would have seen their uniforms and radioed Hunt and Liddy in time for them to have gotten to the five burglars and then safely away.) The break-in ends when Leeper arrests the five men. He thought he only had one guy, so when ten hands were raised he was surprised. The hands are all encased in Playtex rubber surgical gloves. HOLD on the hands a moment; then-- GO TO: A DARK APARTMENT. The phone rings. WOODWARD fumbles for the receiver, turns on the bed light. He listens a moment. WOODWARD No, no trouble, Harry, be right down. (he hangs up) Son of a bitch. He lies back. The apartment is one room, a small terrace beyond. Not much of a place. WOODWARD lies still, staring at the ceiling. He blinks, blinks again. HOLD... CUT TO: THE ENORMOUS FIFTH FLOOR OF THE WASHINGTON POST. It looks, early of a Saturday morning, pretty deserted. Those reporters that are around are young, bright, and presently involved in nothing more taxing than drinking coffee and thumbing through the papers. HARRY ROSENFELD surveys the scene from his office doorway as WOODWARD approaches, hangs his coat at his desk, not far from where ROSENFELD is standing. ROSENFELD Where's that cheery face we've come to know and love? WOODWARD You call me in on my day off because some idiots have broken into local Democratic Headquarters--tell me, Harry, why should I be smiling? ROSENFELD As usual, that keen mind of yours has pegged the situation perfectly. (chomps on some Maalox tablets) Except (a) it wasn't local Democratic Headquarters, it was National Democratic Headquarters-- (WOODWARD is surprised-- he hadn't known) --and (b) these weren't just any idiots, these were special idiots, seeing as when they were arrested at 2:30 this morning, they were all wearing business suits and Playtex gloves and were carrying-- (consults a piece of paper) --a walkie-talkie, forty rolls of film, cameras, lock picks, pen-sized tear gas guns, plus various bugging devices. (puts paper down) Not to mention over two thousand dollars, mostly in sequenced hundred dollar bills. WOODWARD Preliminary hearing at Superior Courthouse? ROSENFELD (nods) Two o'clock, work the phones 'til you go. CUT TO: THE CRIMINAL COURTS BUILDING. WOODWARD hurries along, goes inside as we CUT TO: A CORRIDOR INSIDE. WOODWARD comes down it, looks around, sees a door marked "Counsel's Offices" and heads toward it. Now-- CUT TO: A CLERK AT A DESK as WOODWARD comes up. Behind them, two lawyers are clearly angry about something, talking and gesticulating to each other. WOODWARD (to the COUNSEL'S CLERK) Could you give me the names of the lawyers for the men arrested in the Watergate. CLERK These two were appointed-- (indicates the angry men) --only now it turns out the burglars got their own counsel. (he starts to laugh) FIRST ANGRY LAWYER (to CLERK) When you gonna stop thinking it's so funny. SECOND ANGRY LAWYER (To CLERK) We wouldda done a terrific job protecting those guys. (neither lawyer, by the way, is Clarence Darrow) FIRST ANGRY LAWYER You think we're not as good as some hotshot fancy lawyer?-- CUT TO: THE COURTROOM and business is booming. Muggers, pimp, hookers, their families and friends. In the scene that follows, a constant counterpoint is what's going on up at the front as an endless succession of petty criminals caught the previous night, the aforementioned muggers, pimps, and hookers, are shuttled in, given a quick appearance before a JUDGE who sets bond, and then shuttled out. In the audience, one man stands out--DOUGLAS CADDY. He is extremely well-dressed and obviously successful. Beside him sits another smaller man, who is unshaven and squints. WOODWARD moves in, sits alongside CADDY. WOODWARD Mr. Caddy? My name's Bob Woodward, I'm from the Post and I wanted to ask about how you happened to come on this case-- CADDY --I'm not here. WOODWARD (nods) OK. He takes out a small notebook, writes, muttering aloud as he does. WOODWARD Douglas Caddy, the attorney of record, when questioned about his presence in the courtroom, denied he was in the courtroom, "I'm not here," Mr. Caddy said. CADDY (impatiently) Clearly, I am here, but only as an individual, I'm not the attorney of record. (indicating unshaven man) Mr. Rafferty has that position. Whatever you want, you'll have to get from him, I have nothing more to say. And as he gets up, walks off-- CUT TO: THE WATER FOUNTAIN IN THE CORRIDOR. There is a small line. CADDY waits at the end of it. WOODWARD (moving in behind him) Mr. Rafferty was very helpful. Four Cuban-Americans and this other man, James McCord. CADDY Look, I told you inside-- WOODWARD --you have nothing more to say, I understand that. CADDY turns away; WOODWARD goes right on. WOODWARD What I don't understand is how you got here. CADDY I assure you, there's nothing mysterious involved. WOODWARD Probably you're right, but a little while ago, I was talking to a couple of lawyers who'd been assigned to represent the burglars. CADDY So? WOODWARD Well, they never would have been assigned if anyone had known the burglars had arranged for their own counsel. And that could only mean the burglars didn't arrange for their own counsel--they never even made a phone call. (looks at CADDY) So if they didn't ask for you to be here, how did you know to come? Without a word, CADDY turns, leaves the line without getting a drink. Silently, WOODWARD watches. Now-- CUT TO: CADDY seated as before beside RAFFERTY. WOODWARD's voice come from behind him, and as CADDY turns, WOODWARD is seated one row back. WOODWARD Did you know to come because one of the other men involved in the break- in called you? CADDY (turning) There is no reason to assume other people were involved. WOODWARD Your clients were arrested with a walkie-talkie; they didn't need that to talk among themselves. CADDY looks at WOODWARD, turns back. CADDY (turning back) They are not my clients. WOODWARD You're a lawyer and you're here-- CADDY --I met one of the defendants, Mr. Barker, at a social occasion once-- (stops himself) --I have nothing more to say. WOODWARD (leaning forward as CADDY turns away again) A Miami social occasion? (explaining) Mr. Rafferty told me the Cubans were from Miami. CADDY (sighing) Barker's wife called me at three this morning; her husband apparently had told her to call if he hadn't called her by then. WOODWARD It was really nice of you to come, since you'd only met him once. CADDY Are you implying you don't believe me? WOODWARD I have nothing more to say. CADDY You don't mind getting on people's nerves, do you? WOODWARD considers this a moment. Then-- WOODWARD Nope. And on that word-- CUT TO: THE COURTROOM as without warning, it quiets. There is suddenly a tremendous air of expectancy, you can feel it. Now we see why as five men in dark business suits are led in; they've been stripped of belts, ties, and shoelaces. McCord is taller than the others. They stand, facing the JUDGE, backs to the audience. WOODWARD sits watching as the proceedings start, but it's hard to hear. He concentrates as the JUDGE starts speaking. JUDGE Will you please state your professions. The five men do not move or reply. Then, after a long pause, Barker says-- BARKER Anti-Communists. JUDGE Anti-Communists? (perplexed) That, sir, is not your average occupation. WOODWARD starts moving forward now, down an aisle, moving past kids and whores and all the rest, trying to hear what the hell's going on. At the front of the spectator's section is a fence-like wooden barricade about three feet high. As he approaches it-- The JUDGE indicates the bald burglar. JUDGE Your name, please. MCCORD James McCord. JUDGE Will you step forward, sir. (MCCORD obeys) WOODWARD at the bench is leaning forward, trying to hear but it's hard. JUDGE And what is your occupation, Mr. McCord? MCCORD (softly) Security consultant. JUDGE Where? MCCORD (softer) Government. Recently retired. JUDGE Where in government? MCCORD (we can't really make this out) ...Central... Intelligence... Agency... JUDGE (he can't either) Where? MCCORD (clearing his throat) The C.I.A. And on these words, ZOOM TO: CLOSE UP--WOODWARD leaning over the fence practically falling over it in a desperate straining effort to catch what's going on. WOODWARD (stunned) Holy shit. Now from the courtroom-- CUT TO: THOUSANDS AND THOUSANDS OF WASHINGTON POSTS. We are at the end of the press run, the papers are all assembled and being cabled and sent off by machine to various places. As the papers continue to roll past-- A UNION TYPE EMPLOYEE grabs a paper, looks at the front page. The Watergate story, headlined whatever it was headlined, is visible. The byline was by Alfred E. Lewis. The union type Post employee glances at the article-- UNION POST EMPLOYEE (reading half-aloud) "Five men, one of whom said he is a former employee..." (stops reading, gives a shrug) Schmucks. And he turns happily to the sports section-- CUT TO: A CLOSE UP OF HUNDRED DOLLAR BILLS. It's new money and looks as if it's been recently ironed. Someone is going through the cash, making a quick count. During this-- FIRST VOICE (V.O.) Hurry it, huh, Bachinski? BACHINSKI You said I could look at it-- PULL BACK TO REVEAL We're in a room in a police station and two men are present. One, a COP, is nervous as hell and constantly aware of the door. The other, BACHINSKI, is taking hurried notes in a reporter's type notebook as he examines the evidence. COP --I said look, not memorize-- BACHINSKI --almost done, give it a rest, all right... (and he looks at an address book, he stops) CUT TO: THE ADDRESS BOOK. Beside the name "Howard E. Hunt" is the notation "W.House." Now, BACHINSKI hurriedly opens the other book to the letter "H" and there is the same name, "Howard E. Hunt" and beside it, the letters, "W.H." COP (V.O.) What'd you find? BACHINSKI (V.O.) Beats me. These notebooks belonged to Cuban guys? COP (V.O.) S'right. BACHINSKI (V.O.) It's gotta mean either White House or whore house, one or the other. We HOLD on the HUNT name, and the address notations. Then-- CUT TO: WOODWARD'S APARTMENT - NIGHT. The phone rings, waking him. He fumbles for the phone and the light, finally gets them both. WOODWARD Bachinski? (reaches for a notebook) What?--hold it-- (gets it open, starts to write) --OK, go on, go on... CUT TO: A BOX OF MAALOX TABLETS. ROSENFELD is opening them, we're in his office, WOODWARD sits across the desk, holding the notebook we saw him writing in. ROSENFELD ...go on, go on... WOODWARD That's everything Bachinski had, I think it's worth following up. ROSENFELD Don't know; who the hell's Howard Hunt? (crunches tablets) It's probably nothing but check it out. Just go easy, it could be crazy Cubans. HOWARD SIMONS sticks his head in the office. SIMONS Anything? ROSENFELD Woodward's onto a new wrinkle with the break-in thing--absolute page one stuff-- SIMONS --in other words, you got nothing, you're thumbsucking. ROSENFELD (shrugs) Could develop. SIMONS Let me see what you get, but don't jump--The New York Times thinks it's crazy Cubans. He moves on. ROSENFELD turns quickly to WOODWARD. ROSENFELD OK, get on this W.House guy and do a better job then you did on McCord. WOODWARD I did all right on McCord. ROSENFELD Then how come the Associated Press were the ones found out that Mr. McCord is security coordinator for the Committee to Re-elect the President, otherwise known as CREEP? WOODWARD (getting it straight) The head of security for the reelection of a Republican President got caught bugging the national offices of the Democrats? What the hell does that mean? ROSENFELD (hasn't the foggiest) Mr. John Mitchell, the head of CREEP, says it means nothing. (reads) "...This man and the other people involved were not operating on either our behalf or with our consent. These is no place in our campaign or in the electoral process for this type of activity, and we will not forget it or condone it." WOODWARD (getting up) You can't believe that. ROSENFELD As a rough rule of thumb, as far as I can throw Bronco Nagurski, that's how much I trust John Mitchell... Now-- CUT TO: A MOON-FACED MAN RINGING A TRIANGLE. CUT TO: THE NEWSROOM as the triangle sound echoes. HOWARD SIMONS leaves large Managing Editor's office, walks past another office, knocks twice on the glass wall. Inside the Executive Editor's office, BEN BRADLEE sits. As SIMONS knocks, he turns, nods. He appears, for the moment, deep in thought. HARRY ROSENFELD on the opposite end of the room hurries out of his office, following a bunch of editors, all of them heading across the huge room. As he passes WOODWARD's desk ROSENFELD pauses. ROSENFELD What'd you get on W.House? WOODWARD (massaging his neck) Lotsa hints-- ROSENFELD (not happy) I can't sell hints to Simons-- (stops, looks at piece of yellow paper) --you called everyone you know? (WOODWARD makes a nod) Call someone you don't know. WOODWARD continues to rub his neck as ROSENFELD hurries off, all the editors still moving toward the place where the moon- faced man intermittently rings the triangle. WOODWARD picks up the sheet of yellow paper from his desk. Lined, legal-sized, it is crammed with names and numbers and addresses. They are in no neat order; looking at them it's almost like following a path; chicken tracks in ink. WOODWARD mutters "to hell with it" and reaches for a thick book, flips it open. NOW WE SEE THE BOOK: It's the Washington Phone Directory and we're in the W's. As WOODWARD's finger stops, we can see he's looking at the White HOuse entry number. There it is, just like your name and mine. Listed. Now WOODWARD starts to dial, visibly nervous, a fact he tries very hard to keep out of his voice tone. WHITE HOUSE OPERATOR (V.O.) White House. WOODWARD (casually) Howard Hunt, please. Throughout the following call, we stay on WOODWARD's face, hear the other voices. WHITE HOUSE OPERATOR (V.O.) Mr. Hunt does not answer. WOODWARD is delighted he's even there. WOODWARD Thanks, anyway-- And he's about to hang up, when-- WHITE HOUSE OPERATOR (V.O.) I'll bet he's in Mr. Colson's office. Let me connect you. SECRETARY (V.O.) Charles Colson's wire. WOODWARD (a little more excited) Howard Hunt, please. SECRETARY (V.O.) Mr. Hunt isn't here just now. WOODWARD Thanks, anyway. And he's about to hang up again when-- SECRETARY (V.O.) Have you tried Mullen and Company Public Relations? He works at Mullen and Company Public Relations as a writer. The number is 555-1313. I'm sorry I couldn't be more helpful. WOODWARD Listen, forget it. He hangs up, sits there. His hands are a little twitchy... HOLD. Now-- CUT TO: ROSENFELD hurrying (he always hurries) toward his office. WOODWARD, looking for something in his desk throughout this scene, speaks to him. WOODWARD Who's Charles Colson? ROSENFELD (stops dead) I would liken your query to being in Russia half a century ago and asking someone, "I understand who Lenin is and Trotsky I got too, but who's this yokel Stalin?" WOODWARD Who's Colson, Harry? ROSENFELD The most powerful man in America is President Nixon, probably you've heard his name. WOODWARD, unfazed by anything, continues to open drawers, close them, as ROSENFELD rolls on. ROSENFELD The second most powerful man is Robert Haldeman. Just below him are a trio: Mr. Erlichman is Haldeman's friend, and they protect the President from everybody which is why they are referred to as either The German Shepherds or the Berlin Wall. Mr. Mitchell we've already discussed. Mr. Colson is the President's special counsel. WOODWARD (rising) Thanks, Harry. (looks at ROSENFELD) Know anything about Colson? ROSENFELD Just that on his office wall there's a cartoon with a caption reading, "When you've got them by the balls, their hearts and minds will follow." WOODWARD nods, heads back toward the files as we CUT TO: WOODWARD AT HIS DESK dialing the phone. He's got the Colson file spread out now, and we see pictures of the man and articles the Post had done on him. But basically what we see is WOODWARD plugging away on the goddamn phone and you'd think his finger would fall off from all the dialing and you know his voice is tiring as this montage goes on, you can hear it grow raspy. But a lot of what a reporter does he does on the phone, and that's what we're compressing here. The dialing never stops, the voices are continuous. WOODWARD Hello, I'm Bob Woodward of the Washing Post and... (beat) Mullen and Company Public Relations? Could you tell me when you expect Mr. Hunt? (surprised) He is? HUNT (V.O.) Howard Hunt here. WOODWARD Hi, I'm Bob Woodward of the Post and-- HUNT (V.O.) (impatient) --yes, yes, what is it? WOODWARD I was just kind of wondering why your name and phone number were in the address books of two of the men arrested at Watergate? HUNT (V.O.) (blind panic) Good God! And he bangs the phone down sharply-- --more dialing SOUNDS. Now snatches of conversation-- WOODWARD I'm sorry to bother you, Mr. Bennett, but we're doing some investigating of one of your employees, Howard Hunt. BENNETT (V.O.) Well, if you've been doing some investigating then obviously it's no secret to you that Howard was with the C.I.A. WOODWARD (he hadn't known) No secret at all. More dialing. Then-- WOODWARD (tired, voice deeper) Hello, C.I.A. This is R.W. Woodward, of the Washington Post--get me Personnel-- Dialing again. WOODWARD's voice is showing genuine fatigue. WOODWARD Hi, I'm Bob Woodward of the Washington Post--and--what's that?--you've never heard of me?--I can't help that--you don't believe I'm with the Post?-- what do you want me to do, Madam, shout "extra--extra"? There is the SOUND of the phone being slammed down in his ear. Hard. Now-- CUT TO: ROSENFELD AND SIMONS approaching WOODWARD who is working at his desk. He has put in a lot of hours on this and looks it. ROSENFELD Whaddya got, whaddya got? WOODWARD Hunt is Colson's man-- (to SIMONS, explaining) --that's Charles Colson, Nixon's special counsel-- (SIMONS almost says something, decides against it) --they both went to Brown University-- (consulting his notes) --Hunt worked for the C.I.A. till '70, and this is on deep background, the FBI thinks he's involved with the break-in. SIMONS What else have you got? WOODWARD According to White House personnel, Hunt definitely works there as a consultant for Colson. But when I called the White House Press office, they said he hadn't worked there for three months. Then the P.R. guy said the weirdest thing to me. (reading) "I am convinced that neither Mr. Colson nor anyone else at the White House had any knowledge of, or participation in, this deplorable incident at the Democratic National Committee." He looks up at them. SIMONS Isn't that what you'd expect them to say? WOODWARD Absolutely. ROSENFELD So? WOODWARD (he's got something and he knows it) I never asked them about Watergate. I only said what were Hunt's duties at the White House. They volunteered that he was innocent when nobody asked was he guilty. ROSENFELD (to SIMONS) I think we got a White House consultant linked to the bugging. SIMONS (nods) Just be careful how you write it. CUT TO: WOODWARD TYPING LIKE MAD, makes a mistake, corrects it, types on muttering to himself, and-- CUT TO: ROSENFELD IN HIS OFFICE munching a handful of Maalox tablets and-- CUT TO: WOODWARD taking a sheet from his typewriter, hurrying off and-- CUT TO: ROSENFELD taking the sheet from WOODWARD-- WOODWARD Here's the first take-- ROSENFELD nods, shows him out and-- CUT TO: WOODWARD BACK AT HIS MACHINE typing faster then before, makes another mistake, starts to correct it, glances around and-- CUT TO: ROSENFELD IN HIS OFFICE gesturing to somebody but not WOODWARD and-- CUT TO: WOODWARD watching as BERNSTEIN appears in view from behind the wide pillar by WOODWARD's desk, heads toward ROSENFELD's office. WOODWARD shrugs, goes back to his typing, makes a typo immediately, glances over toward ROSENFELD's office, freezes as we-- CUT TO: ROSENFELD handing some papers to BERNSTEIN. They look, from this distance, suspiciously like WOODWARD's story. CUT TO: BERNSTEIN hurrying out of ROSENFELD's office, and-- CUT TO: WOODWARD watching BERNSTEIN until he disappears out of sight behind the pillar. WOODWARD hesitates, finally goes back to his typing, makes another mistake, fixes it, makes still another, his temper is shortly to make itself known-- CUT TO: ROSENFELD as WOODWARD hands him another sheet of paper. WOODWARD This is all of it, Harry. ROSENFELD NODS, takes it, immediately starts to read as we-- CUT TO: WOODWARD AT HIS DESK watching as ROSENFELD gestures again. There is a pause. Then BERNSTEIN appears from behind the pillar and-- CUT TO: ROSENFELD handing BERNSTEIN another sheet of paper. BERSTEIN nods, takes it, walks back toward his desk, disappears behind the pillar again. WOODWARD is starting to steam. Now-- CUT TO: BERNSTEIN AT HIS DESK typing magnificently, his hands rising and falling like Rubinstein's. Behind him is the pillar and for a moment there is nothing--then, very slowly, a figure peers out from behind the pillar--it is WOODWARD. He watches. BERNSTEIN continues to type, then after a moment, rests, thinks, shifts around in his chair and as his glance starts toward the pillar-- CUT TO: THE PILLAR. WOODWARD is gone. CUT TO: BERNSTEIN typing madly away. THE PILLAR. WOODWARD is visible again, eyes very bright... now-- CUT TO: BERNSTEIN finishing typing, his hands moving majestically. WOODWARD comes up behind him, stands looking a second. Then-- WOODWARD We have to talk. BERNSTEIN nods, grabs the papers both that he's been typing and that he's been copying from. And as he rises-- PAN TO: WOODWARD AND BERNSTEIN walking silently out of the newsroom then turning left down a darker corridor, passing bulletin boards and wall lockers and it's all nice and quiet as they amble on, nodding to the few people they pass on their way and after a while they turn right and enter the coffee lounge which is empty; the walls are lined with Norman Rockwell reproductions and various kinds of vending machines are visible, selling coffee or milk or fruit or sandwiches and there are some plastic tables and chairs and the minute they are alone, the silence ends. WOODWARD What the hell were you doing rewriting my story-- BERNSTEIN --I sure couldn't hurt it, could I?-- WOODWARD --it was fine the way it was-- BERNSTEIN --it was bullshit the way it was-- WOODWARD --I have to stand here and listen to the staff correspondent from Virginia?-- BERNSTEIN (a sore subject) --what have you been here, nine months?--I been in this business since I was sixteen-- WOODWARD --and you've had some fucking meteoric rise, that's for sure--by the time you turn forty you might be the head of the Montana bureau-- BERNSTEIN --you only got the job because both you and Bradlee went to Yale-- WOODWARD --Bradlee went to Harvard-- BERNSTEIN --they're all the same, all those Ivy League places--they teach you about striped ties and suddenly you're smart-- WOODWARD --I'm smart enough to know my story was solid-- BERNSTEIN --mine's better-- WOODWARD --no way-- BERNSTEIN (handing them over) --read 'em both and you'll see-- And as WOODWARD glances at the two stories-- CUT TO: BERNSTEIN watching. Now-- CUT TO: WOODWARD. He glances from one story to the other. Then, disconsolately-- WOODWARD ...crap... And he sinks down in a chair. BERNSTEIN Is mine better? WOODWARD nods. WOODWARD (handing the stories back) What is it about my writing that's so rotten? BERNSTEIN (as he exits) Mainly it has to do with your choice of words. And as he goes, leaving WOODWARD just sitting there-- CUT TO: BERSTEIN, re-entering the newsroom, returning to his desk. He starts to insert some papers into his typewriter, hesitates, lights a cigarette. He inhales, as, behind him, WOODWARD briefly is visible going to his desk behind the pillar. Finally BERNSTEIN inserts the paper, starts to type as WOODWARD (V.O.) (from behind the pillar) Carl? BERNSTEIN (turns) Yeah? WOODWARD (pushing his chair briefly into view) Fuck you, Carl. And as he rolls forward again, out of sight-- CUT TO: RICHARD NIXON ON THE TUBE. (It's the June 22 Press Conference.) He talks on about something, it doesn't matter exactly what here, the point is, it should include that strange smile of his that kept appearing when the man should not have been smiling. Hints of pressure maybe, that's all, and once it's established-- PULL BACK TO REVEAL: WOODWARD sitting alone, gloomily staring at the set. We're in the Post Cafeteria, it's the next morning, and the place is pretty much empty. He sips the coffee, it tastes rotten. BERNSTEIN moves up behind him, carrying a cup of coffee of his own. He stands by WOODWARD briefly. BERNSTEIN You heard? (WOODWARD glances up) They put us both on the break-in thing. Simons liked the way we worked together. (WOODWARD nods, BERNSTEIN sits down) Listen, I'm sorry I said your story was bullshit. WOODWARD It's OK; I'm sorry I called you a failure. BERNSTEIN Forget it, the main thing-- (stops) --did you call me a failure? WOODWARD I was sure trying. CUT TO: WOODWARD, BERNSTEIN, AND NIXON. The way it's shot, it's almost as if they're watching each other; NIXON staring out from the TV set, answering questions. WOODWARD and BERNSTEIN sip coffee. We don't know yet--or better, they don't know it yet, but these are our adversaries. CUT TO: WOODWARD AND BERNSTEIN, without NIXON now. They sit at the table. Occasionally, NIXON is audible in the background. WOODWARD All right, what do we know? BERNSTEIN Let me lay a little theory on you-- WOODWARD (cutting him off) --I'm not interested in theory. What do we know? For example, Hunt's disappeared. BERNSTEIN Well, Barker tried to get blueprints of the Miami Convention Center and the air-conditioning system. WOODWARD And McCord was carrying an application for college press credentials for the Democratic convention. (to BERNSTEIN) The Times has got to be full of it-- it can't be crazy Cubans. BERNSTEIN What, though? (points to Nixon) It can't be the Republicans--he'd never allow something as stupid as this, not when he's gonna slaughter McGovern anyway. WOODWARD Right. Nixon didn't get where he got by being dumb-- (stops abruptly) --listen, that was a Watergate question-- CUT TO: NIXON ON THE TUBE. Serious now. NIXON The White House has had no involvement whatever in this particular incident. CUT TO: WOODWARD AND BERNSTEIN staring at the set thinking... CUT TO: WOODWARD AND BERNSTEIN walking toward BERSTEIN'S desk. WOODWARD Hey? BERNSTEIN Hmm. WOODWARD What do you think he meant, this particular incident? Were there others? How would we find out? You know anyone important? BERNSTEIN (sits, shakes his head) I lived here all my life, I got a million contacts, but they're all bus boys and bellhops. The reporter KEN RINGLE at the next desk watches them a moment. Then-- RINGLE What do you need? BERNSTEIN Someone inside the White House would be nice. RINGLE (writes down phone number) Call her. She worked for Colson, if that's any help. As BERNSTEIN grabs for the phone-- CUT TO: A SECRETARIAL POOL IN A LARGE OFFICE. BERNSTEIN is talking off to one side with an attractive girl. GIRL Kenny's crazy, I never worked for Colson, I worked for an assistant. Colson was big on secrets anyway. Even if I had worked for him, I wouldn't have known anything. BERNSTEIN Nothing at all you can remember? SECRETARY (headshake) Sorry. (pause) Now if it was Hunt you were interested in-- BERNSTEIN --Howard Hunt? SECRETARY Sure. Him I liked, he was a very nice person. Secretive too, traveled all over, but a decent man. BERNSTEIN Any idea what he did? SECRETARY Oh, the scuttlebutt for awhile was he was investigating Kennedy-- BERNSTEIN --Teddy Kennedy? SECRETARY Sure. I remember seeing a book about Chappaquiddick on his desk and he was always getting material out of the White House Library and the Library of Congress and-- And as she goes on, quickly-- CUT TO: THE NEWSROOM. BERNSTEIN is at his desk, telephoning. WOODWARD stands alongside. BERNSTEIN White House Library, please. We hear the other end of this phone call clearly. OPERATOR (V.O.) One moment. LIBRARIAN (V.O.) (elderly-sounding lady) Library. BERNSTEIN Hi. Carl Bernstein of the Washington Post. I was just wondering if you remember the names of any of the books that Howard Hunt checked out on Senator Kennedy. LIBRARIAN (V.O.) I think I do remember, he took out a whole bunch of material. Let me just go see. SOUND of the phone being laid down. BERNSTEIN --what do you think?-- WOODWARD --Hunt doesn't seem like your ordinary consultant. BERNSTEIN Maybe a political operative of some sort-- WOODWARD --a spy, you mean? BERNSTEIN It makes sense; Hunt worked for the C.I.A. and the White House was paranoid about Teddy Kennedy. LIBRARIAN (V.O.) Mr. Bernstein? BERNSTEIN Yes, ma'am. LIBRARIAN (V.O.) What I said before? I was wrong. The truth is, I don't have a card that Mr. Hunt took out any Kennedy material. (WOODWARD and BERNSTEIN listen, and now there is something in her voice that wasn't there before: fear) I remember getting that material out for somebody, but it wasn't Mr. Hunt. The truth is, I've never had any requests at all from Mr. Hunt. (beat) The truth is, I don't know Mr. Hunt. There is the SOUND of the phone being dropped into its cradle. BERNSTEIN continues to hold his. He and WOODWARD just look at each other. Now-- CUT TO: THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. Now, as WOODWARD and BERNSTEIN get out of a cab, start inside-- CUT TO: A MALE LIBRARIAN IN HIS OFFICE. LIBRARIAN You want all the material requested by the White House? PULL BACK TO REVEAL WOODWARD and BERNSTEIN standing there. The nod. One of them maybe says "yessir," the other maybe "please." The LIBRARIAN moves out of his office into a corridor. They go with him. No one else is around. The LIBRARIAN looks at them, quickly-- LIBRARIAN All White House transactions are confidential. And just like that, he's back into his office, and as he shuts the door-- CUT TO: WOODWARD AND BERNSTEIN walking along through the Library of Congress. WOODWARD You think they are confidential? I don't know anything about how this town works, I haven't lived here a year yet. BERNSTEIN We need a sympathetic face. On the word "face"-- CUT TO: A BEARDED YOUNG-LOOKING CLERK. We're in the reading room of the library, and WOODWARD and BERNSTEIN are with him. YOUNG CLERK You want every request since when? BERNSTEIN (to WOODWARD) When did Hunt start at the White House? WOODWARD July of '71. BERNSTEIN About the past year. CLERK (starts to smile) I'm not sure you want 'em, but I got 'em. Now-- CUT TO: WOODWARD AND BERNSTEIN seated at a table with from anywhere between 10 to 20 thousand slips of paper. In front of them, seated at a high desk, the bearded clerk looks down on them, shaking his head. It's a staggering amount of work to thumb through. CLERK I can't believe you guys are actually doing this. WOODWARD (to the clerk) You do a lot of things when you're on a story. (to BERNSTEIN, quietly) Can you believe we're actually doing this? (BERNSTEIN can't) Now we have a series of shots of the two of them going through the slips; it took them hours and hours, and the afternoon darkened as they worked. And they're tired. Now-- CUT TO: WOODWARD AND BERNSTEIN getting back into a cab. BERNSTEIN That was fun. (slams the door) What now? WOODWARD I met a Presidential aide once at a social occasion. BERNSTEIN (stunned) And you haven't called him?-- As the taxi pulls off-- CUT TO: ROSENFELD reading an article by BERNSTEIN's desk. WOODWARD sits on an adjacent desk. ROSENFELD (to BERNSTEIN) You got accurate notes on the White House librarian? (BERNSTEIN nods) OK, we'll leave space for the White House denial and we should be set. Suddenly he gestures and we-- CUT TO: BRADLEE STANDING ACROSS THE ROOM. Without a nod, he moves toward ROSENFELD. CUT TO: WOODWARD AND BERNSTEIN, nervously watching BRADLEE come. As soon as BRADLEE is within earshot, ROSENFELD starts his sell. ROSENFELD Benjy, we got a present for you. Above the fold on page one for sure. It may not change our lives one way or the other. Just a good, solid piece of American Journalism-- (beat) --that The New York Times doesn't have. BRADLEE by this time has taken the story, grabbed an unoccupied chair, sat down, started to read. His only response to ROSENFELD is an intermittent "uh-huh, uh-huh." CUT TO: WOODWARD AND BERNSTEIN, watching as the silence goes on. ROSENFELD too. He wants the story too, but he doesn't want it like WOODWARD and BERNSTEIN do. They were, as they said, proud of their work. The silence goes on. Finally BRADLEE looks up. BRADLEE You haven't got it. (before they can reply) A librarian and a secretary say Hunt looked at a book. (shakes his head) Not good enough. He begins editing the piece, slashing paragraphs out of it. WOODWARD I was told by this guy at the White House that Hunt was investigating Teddy Kennedy. BRADLEE How senior? WOODWARD (edgy) You asking me to disclose my source? Other reporters are watching now. BRADLEE is impatient, as always. BRADLEE Just tell me his title. WOODWARD I don't know titles. BRADLEE Is he on the level of Assistant to the President or not? WOODWARD doesn't know. BRADLEE continues to hack at their piece. Done, he stands, walks away. BRADLEE Get some harder information next time. WOODWARD and BERNSTEIN watch him go, they are embarrassed, angry, crushed. HOLD on their faces. Then-- CUT TO: WOODWARD'S APARTMENT - MORNING He is in pajamas and lugging a flower pot out to the balcony, positioning it so it would be visible to anyone passing in the alley below. He takes a stick with a red flag, jams it into the flower pot. He's nervous and he makes several adjustments, making sure the red flag is secure and won't fall. CUT TO: WOODWARD down in the alley, staring up at his apartment. The flag is clearly visible. It's early. He checks his watch, hurries out of the alley. CUT TO: THE CITY ROOM - NIGHT Deserted except for a few older Front Page types, reporters whose legs have given out, playing cards in a corner of the room. WOODWARD is working at his desk until he glances up at a wall clock. It's almost one on the button and as he rises-- CUT TO: WOODWARD racing down the stairway of the Post; as he hits the lobby, he turns and we CUT TO: OUTSIDE THE POST - NIGHT WOODWARD appears in the side exit, walks off. When he gets out of sight of the paper, he starts to run. Now-- CUT TO: WOODWARD turning a corner, running on. Up ahead is a cab-- CUT TO: WOODWARD IN THE CAB sitting forward tensely. Occasionally, various monuments are briefly visible, lit up in the b.g. WOODWARD takes out some money as we CUT TO: THE CAB stopping. WOODWARD pays, gets out. The cab pulls away. When it is out of sight, WOODWARD starts to run again. CUT TO: A STREET as WOODWARD runs by. It's not the nicest area in the world. He is going faster now. CUT TO: A CAB GASSING UP AT A STATION. WOODWARD hurries to it, gets in and-- CUT TO: THE SECOND CAB roaring along some Washington streets. CUT TO: WOODWARD INSIDE THE CAB. He looks at his watch, tries not to seem nervous. But his fingers are drumming, drumming and-- CUT TO: THE SECOND CAB stopping, as WOODWARD gets out, pays. The cab starts off, but slowly. WOODWARD waits. The cab doesn't turn as the first one did. WOODWARD still waits. Finally the cab turns and the second it does, WOODWARD starts to run again and-- CUT TO: WOODWARD turning a corner, running on and-- CUT TO: ANOTHER CORNER as WOODWARD turns it, finally stops and catches his breath as we-- CUT TO: A GIGANTIC UNDERGROUND TYPE GARAGE CUT TO: WOODWARD ENTERING THE GARAGE. It's an eerie place, and his heels make noise and if you wonder is he edgy, yes he's edgy. He comes to the ramp leading down to lower levels, hesitates. CUT TO: THE RAMP. It seems to descend forever. CUT TO: WOODWARD starting down. HOLD on him as he walks. Down he goes, the shadows deepening, then disappearing, then covering him again. He continues on. He must be at least at the first underground level now but he doesn't stop, and we don't stop watching him as he continues to go down, turning, the SOUND of his shoes softer now and he's a smaller figure as we watch him circle around and around until we-- CUT TO: ANOTHER LEVEL UNDERGROUND. Dimly lit. A few cars parked here and there. WOODWARD hesitates on the ramp, looks around. THE GARAGE. Dark, dark, eerie. CUT TO: WOODWARD quietly stepping off the ramp, continuing to glance this way, that way. Now-- CUT TO: TWO CARS PARKED BESIDE EACH OTHER. Nothing unusual about that. But then some cigarette smoke appears, trailing up and disappearing from between the cars. As WOODWARD moves forward-- CUT TO: A MAN SITTING ON HIS HAUNCHES BETWEEN THE CARS, smoking. He leans with his back against the wall. DEEP THROAT I saw the flag signal--what's up? WOODWARD Nothing, that's the problem--the story's gone underground. DEEP THROAT You thought I'd help out on specifics? (headshake) I'll confirm what you get, try to keep you on the right track, but that's all. (looks at WOODWARD) Are you guys really working? (WOODWARD nods) How much? WOODWARD I don't know maybe sixteen, eighteen hours a day--we've got sources at Justice, the FBI, but it's still drying up. DEEP THROAT Then there must be something, mustn't there. Look, forget the myths the media's created about the White House-- the truth is, these are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand. WOODWARD If you don't like them, why won't you be more concrete with me? DEEP THROAT Because the press stinks too--history on the run, that's all you're interested in. (inhales) You come up with anything? WOODWARD John Mitchell resigned as head of CREEP to spend more time with his family. That doesn't exactly have the ring of truth. (DEEP THROAT nods) Howard Hunt's been found--there was talk that his lawyer had 25 thousand in cash in a paper bag. DEEP THROAT Follow the money. Always follow the money. WOODWARD To where? DEEP THROAT (shakes his head "no") Go on. WOODWARD This man Gordon Liddy--he's going to be tried along with Hunt and the five burglars--we know he knows a lot, we just don't know what. DEEP THROAT (lights a new cigarette) You changed cabs? You're sure no one followed you? WOODWARD I did everything you said, but it all seemed-- DEEP THROAT --melodramatic? (headshakes) Things are past that--remember, these are men with switchblade mentalities who run the world as if it were Dodge City. WOODWARD What's the whole thing about--do you know? DEEP THROAT What I know, you'll have to find out on your own. WOODWARD Liddy--you think there's a chance he'll talk? DEEP THROAT Talk? Once, at a gathering, he put his hand over a candle. And he kept it there. He kept it right in the flame until his flesh seared. A woman who was watching asked, "What's the trick?" And he replied. "The trick is not minding." DEEP THROAT shakes his head, walks off. WOODWARD stands alone now, watching. Now the shadows have the other man. Just his footsteps are audible. WOODWARD stands there... HOLD. CUT TO: BERNSTEIN. It's morning and he's struggling to get his bike down the steps of his apartment building. CUT TO: WOODWARD driving up in his two-year-old red Karmann Ghia. He roars up alongside BERNSTEIN, waving a folded-up newspaper. BERNSTEIN What's that? WOODWARD The fucking New York Times. CUT TO: The Times spread somewhat tentatively over a mailbox. A small headline is visible, with the words "Barker," "Liddy," and "Telephone" in some kind of order. WOODWARD and BERNSTEIN look at it the best they can. BERNSTEIN Goddamnit-- WOODWARD --see?-- BERNSTEIN --I'm trying-- WOODWARD --fifteen phone calls-- BERNSTEIN ---fifteen or more phone calls from the burglars in Miami to Gordon Liddy at CREEP-- WOODWARD Why didn't we get that? BERNSTEIN Christ, and I even know somebody at the phone company-- WOODWARD --you do?--with access to records? As BERNSTEIN nods-- CUT TO: A LITTLE CITY PARK. A guy shells peanuts. BERNSTEIN hurries up. BERNSTEIN Why couldn't you have just dialed me from the office, Irwin? IRWIN 'Cause I'm not calling out from the phone company anymore-- (drops his voice) --I think the place is bugged. BERNSTEIN (taking some peanuts) So tell me about the Times article. IRWIN What do you want to know? BERNSTEIN No games, Irwin; give. IRWIN (looks at BERNSTEIN) My big civil rights buddy-- (shakes his head) --boy, if John Mitchell was after your phone records, would you be screaming. (eats) What're you onto? BERNSTEIN Something maybe big. IRWIN And that makes anything you do OK, is that it? BERNSTEIN Just tell me about the goddamn article. IRWIN (shelling away) It was accurate, but I can't get a fuller listing for you--all Barker's phone records have been subpoenaed. BERNSTEIN Who by? IRWIN A Miami D.A. The guy doing the investigating is named Martin Dardis. (finishes his peanuts, starts off) BERNSTEIN Irwin? I really feel bad, doing something like this--you know that, don't you? IRWIN looks at BERNSTEIN for a long time. then-- IRWIN Don't give me any more of your liberal shit, OK, Carl? He walks off, doesn't look back. Now-- CUT TO: ROSENFELD at the water fountain on the 5th floor. He chews up a few Maalox tablets, notices BERNSTEIN steaming up. BERNSTEIN Harry, I just talked to a Miami investigator about Barker-- ROSENFELD --so? BERNSTEIN I think it might be helpful if you'd send me to Miami. ROSENFELD heads for his office, BERNSTEIN pursuing. ROSENFELD I'm the one sent you to Toronto, Bernstein-- BERNSTEIN (trying to head him off) --that was awhile ago-- ROSENFELD --"I think it might be helpful if you'd send me to Toronto." That was your spiel then. "The Lifestyles of Deserters." (whirls on BERNSTEIN) I'm still waiting for it. He enters his office, BERNSTEIN follows. BERNSTEIN Down to Miami and back--how much damage can I do? ROSENFELD You're the fella who forgot he rented a Hertz car, do I have to tell you they didn't forget to send us the bill? And he looks unsympathetically at BERNSTEIN-- CUT TO: SIMONS circling around the 5th floor. ROSENFELD falls into step. They keep moving throughout. ROSENFELD I can predict the next words you're gonna say: "anyone but Bernstein." (SIMONS gestures for ROSENFELD to continue) I want to send a reporter to Miami. SIMONS Anyone but Bernstein. ROSENFELD Howard-- SIMONS --remember Toronto, Harry. ROSENFELD That was awhile ago. SIMONS I don't get it--you were the one who wanted to fire him. ROSENFELD I know, I did, but damnit Howard-- (SIMONS looks at him) For the first time since I've known him, I think he's really humping... CUT TO: BERNSTEIN'S APARTMENT. A shambles. He is busy doing two things at once, studying notebooks and packing. Music plays, lovely stuff; the Bach Brandenburgs. As the phone rings-- BERNSTEIN (answering) Yeah? (pause) Yes, this is Carl Bernstein. (stunned) You're repossessing my bicycle? (softer) Listen, I'm sure I paid this month's installment, so why don't you check your records before you go around hassling people? (pause) Oh... And as he stands there-- AN ATTRACTIVE, EFFICIENT-LOOKING WOMAN of BERNSTEIN's age. She has just entered the apartment. Vivaldi is playing now. BERNSTEIN Hannah, I never would have bothered you but I'm off to Miami and they're gonna take away my ten speed unless I get it straightened out fast. HANNAH (glancing around the chaos) Where are your bills, Carl? BERNSTEIN Oh, they're here. (starts lifting debris from his desk) I'm keeping much better records now, Hannah. (grabbing a big manila envelope) See? (hands it to her) HANNAH (looks inside) Carl, it's a jungle. (sits at his desk, takes out a mass of papers--glancing at the top bill) I suggest you either pay this immediately or lay in a large supply of candles. (studies another bill) You'd give a stranger the shirt off your back--except it wouldn't be paid for. He smiles, gently begins massaging her shoulders as she studies his finances. BERNSTEIN Hey... very tense. HANNAH (nods) Lot of pressure at the Star. (looking at the bills) Carl, when we got married, you were four thousand dollars in debt; when we split, you were solvent. That may prove to be the outstanding single achievement of my life, and now look at this. (sighs) How much did the damn bike cost? BERNSTEIN Five hundred; six maybe. HANNAH (looking at paper) You're two months behind--you got enough to cover? BERNSTEIN I think. HANNAH Give me your checkbook then. BERNSTEIN It's right under that pile. He indicates a mound of papers. She pulls it out as he continues to massage her, more sensually now. She reaches back, puts her hand on his. HANNAH I thought you had to get to Miami. BERNSTEIN There's always a later plane. HANNAH You're a sex junkie, you know that, Carl? BERNSTEIN Nobody's perfect. (more rubbing now) I'm glad you're out of it, Hannah-- you're a terrific reporter and I turned you into a bookkeeper. HANNAH looks at BERNSTEIN a moment; then she smiles gently, shakes her head. HANNAH Aw baby, you can get it up... I just wonder if you'll ever be able to get it together. And quickly from that-- CUT TO: BERNSTEIN seated perspiring on a hard bench in a stifling office. Outside: palm trees; we're in Miami. And judging from the number of cigarette butts strewn around the bench, BERNSTEIN's been there a while. Waiting. Nervous. And maybe he never will be able to get it together, who knows. At the front, a SECRETARY sits filing her nails. Behind her are a number of closed doors to offices. No one passes without her OK. The clock hits three in the afternoon as BERNSTEIN gets up from the bench, goes to the SECRETARY. BERNSTEIN Hi, it's me. I'm still here. SECRETARY (couldn't be nicer) I'm so glad. BERNSTEIN I'd really like to see Mr. Dardis. SECRETARY And you will. (smiles) But not now. BERNSTEIN I called him from Washington. He's the one who asked me to be here at eleven in the morning. SECRETARY I told you, he had to go out on a case. CUT TO: THE BENCH as BERNSTEIN slumps back down. He wipes his forehead with his sleeve, smokes a fresh cigarette, is kind of interested when a UNIFORMED COP walks up to the SECRETARY, who is now putting red polish on her nails. UNIFORMED COP Is it OK to go on back? She nods. CUT TO: BERNSTEIN watching as the cop walks past the SECRETARY, enters an office behind. CUT TO: THE CLOCK ON THE WALL. IT'S QUARTER OF FOUR NOW. PULL BACK TO REVEAL BERNSTEIN, approaching the SECRETARY again. She is working on her right hand now. BERNSTEIN Could you reach Mr. Dardis by car radio? SECRETARY He is not in the car. (Smiles; she's just so understanding) Sorry. CUT TO: ANOTHER UNIFORMED COP walking by the SECRETARY's desk. SECOND COP Hey, babe. He enters the same office the first COP did. CUT TO: BERNSTEIN. He lights another cigarette, puts it out, then lights another. CUT TO: THE SECRETARY finishing her manicure. It is almost five o'clock now. BERNSTEIN, his bench a sea of cigarette butts, slowly gets up and goes to the SECRETARY. BERNSTEIN Mr. Dardis does call in every so often? SECRETARY Well of course. BERNSTEIN (quietly) Good. Just tell him I was here, that I'm sorry I missed him-- He walks out the double doors. CUT TO: BERNSTEIN IN HALLWAY. He looks down the hall. At the end, opposite the SECRETARY's reception room, is a big glass door with a sign reading: Office of the Dade County Clerk. BERNSTEIN goes into a phone booth in the corridor from which he can see both offices. He puts in a dime, and dials. BERNSTEIN Mr. Dardis' office, please. CUT TO: SECRETARY. The phone RINGS and she punches the button on the phone console. SECRETARY Mr. Dardis' office. CUT TO: BERNSTEIN in phone booth. BERNSTEIN This is Mr. Tomlinson in the clerk's office. Could you come across the hall for a moment? We've got some documents your boss probably should see. He hangs up. CUT TO: BERNSTEIN watching from phone booth as the SECRETARY hurries across the hallway. As we see her open the door of the clerk's office, BERNSTEIN bolts out of the phone booth and runs into the reception room heading straight for the SECRETARY's desk. CUT TO: BERNSTEIN at her desk, looking at the telephone console, receiver in hand. He punches the button marked Intercom and we can hear it BUZZ somewhere. VOICE (V.O.) Dardis. BERNSTEIN Carl Bernstein's here to see you--I don't know why, but he seems angry-- CUT TO: DARDIS emerging through one of the doors behind BERNSTEIN. BERNSTEIN see him. BERNSTEIN (to DARDIS) Look, you've been jerking my chain all day. If there's some reason you can't talk to me--like the fact that you've already leaked everything to The New York Times--just say so. DARDIS Listen, I've got a dinner--can't we do this tomorrow? BERNSTEIN (headshake) I'm on deadline. CUT TO: DARDIS' OFFICE. He is fiddling with a combination lock at a filing cabinet. BERNSTEIN is seated across DARDIS' desk. DARDIS You want Barker's phone stuff or his money stuff? BERNSTEIN Whatever. He hands BERNSTEIN some papers, glances at his watch. DARDIS I'll never get out of here in time. BERNSTEIN (flying through what he's been handed) The telephone calls... we know about that. DARDIS The rest is Barker's bank records. It's mostly the eighty-nine thousand in Mexican cashier's checks-- BERNSTEIN --yeah, that was in The Times this morning. BERNSTEIN continues to fly through the papers. BERNSTEIN (continuing stops) What's this Dahlberg check? And as it's mentioned-- CUT TO: CLOSE UP--CASHIER'S CHECK. It's drawn on the First Bank and Trust Company of Boca Raton, Florida, it's dated April 10 and it's for 25 thousand dollars, payable to the order to Kenneth H. Dahlberg. DARDIS' VOICE That the twenty-five grand one?-- Don't know-- CUT TO: BERNSTEIN starting to copy the check in a meticulous facsimile. DARDIS watches. DARDIS I never could figure just who this Dahlberg was. (watching BERNSTEIN) Think it might be anything? BERNSTEIN (casually) This? (shrugs) Naw... And from here quickly-- ZOOM TO: BERNSTEIN IN A PHONE BOOTH in the lobby of the Justice Building. Wildly excited-- BERNSTEIN --Woodward--Woodward, listen, I don't know what I got-- (holding the Dahlberg facsimile) --and I think the Times has it too-- (big) --but somewhere there's a Kenneth H. Dahlberg in this world and we've gotta find him-- And now comes THE HUNT FOR DAHLBERG. This is a compressed montage sequence in which we CUT from one reporter to the other, both of them desperately trying to locate a man names DAHLBERG. WOODWARD is maybe in the reference room of the Post, sweating, surrounded by Who's Who and Dictionary of American Biographies and phone books from dozens and dozens of cities-- BERNSTEIN is maybe in the phone booth of the Justice Building, sweating, with a pile of dimes as he dials away. This took them hours, and that effort should be visible to us. They tire, grow punchy, but they keep on, checking phone book and dialing numbers and God knows what else. The point is, we want to get to DAHLBERG in a reasonably short amount of time, but we also want people to know there was effort involved. CUT TO: WOODWARD, bleary, in the reference room, a girl comes in, a researcher librarian type. RESEARCHER Were you after the Dahlberg articles from the files? (WOODWARD nods) There aren't any, sorry. And now she drops a piece of paper, a photo-- WOODWARD Whazzis? RESEARCHER (shrugs) Our Dahlberg file. As she leaves-- CUT TO: The photo. It is a picture of Hubert Humphrey standing next to another man. The caption identifies that other man as KENNETH DAHLBERG. Now-- CUT TO: WOODWARD AT HIS DESK. The room is reasonably quiet. ROSENFELD is visible in his office. As WOODWARD picks up the phone, gets Minneapolis information-- CUT TO: ROSENFELD'S PHONE RINGING. He hurries in, grabs it. BERNSTEIN'S VOICE (V.O.) Harry--I know how to get Dahlberg-- ROSENFELD --Woodward's talking to him know. CUT TO: BERNSTEIN, drenched. There are no dimes left. He listens a moment more, then nods, hangs up, leans back against the glass, takes a deep breath, closes his eyes as we CUT TO: WOODWARD on the phone. WOODWARD --this should take only a minute, Mr. Dahlberg, but we're doing a follow- up on the break-in-- (pause) --and I was kind of curious about your check. DAHLBERG (V.O.) ...check...? WOODWARD The twenty-five thousand dollar one. (silence) The one with your name on it. (silence) In Bernard Barker's Florida account. (still nothing) Bernard Barker, the Watergate burglar-- DAHLBERG (V.O.) (struggling) ...you're definitely doing a story...? WOODWARD Yes, sir. DAHLBERG (V.O.) I'm a proper citizen, I'm a decent man, I don't do anything that isn't decent or proper. (WOODWARD waits, pen ready; tense as hell) I know I shouldn't tell you this... WOODWARD's lips are going "tell me, tell me." DAHLBERG (V.O.) That twenty-five thousand dollars is money I collected for Nixon in this year's campaign. WOODWARD I see. And how do you think it reached Miami? DAHLBERG (V.O.) I don't know; I really don't. The last time I saw it was when I was in Washington. I gave it to the Finance department of the Committee to Re- Elect the President. How it got to that burglar, your guess is as good as mine. WOODWARD (trying to keep his voice level) That checks out with our finding, thank you, Mr. Dahlberg. CUT TO: AN ARTICLE WITH WOODWARD'S NAME ON THE BYLINE. ROSENFELD holds it. ROSENFELD CREEP financed the Watergate break- in, Jesus Christ. He starts off. WOODWARD One sec'-- WOODWARD takes the story, scrawls BERNSTEIN's name in front of his on the byline. ROSENFELD watches. As WOODWARD finishes, he takes the story again, hurries off. Now-- CUT TO: THE HEADLINE OF THEIR STORY: "Campaign Funds Found in Watergate Burglar's Account." Now-- PULL BACK TO REVEAL that it isn't exactly a gigantic headline piece. As a matter of fact, as more and more of page one appears, we see that their story is tucked away at the bottom and as bigger and bigger headlines are visible-- PULL BACK TO REVEAL --the whole first page. Plastered across the top in giant letters is the following: "EAGLETON RESIGNS." And as you look at the whole page now, you can barely make out the tiny piddling Watergate story. The point is abundantly clear: nobody cared a whole lot. CUT TO: THE TRIANGLE being rung like crazy. And as it SOUNDS-- CUT TO: THE BUDGET MEETING SIMONS --OK, last go-round. Foreign, anything else? The foreign editor, an enormously thoughtful-looking and respected man, indicates "no." SIMONS (to another editor) National? NATIONAL EDITOR I'll stand with the Eagleton follow- ups and McGovern not being able to get a replacement--that's your page one stuff right there, Howard-- SIMONS --Metropolitan?-- ROSENFELD --you are ignoring the importance of the Dahlberg repercussions-- NATIONAL EDITOR --nobody gives a shit about the Dahlberg repercussions-- ROSENFELD (to NATIONAL EDITOR) --quit equivocating, say what you mean-- (to SIMONS and BRADLEE) --our story got Government Accounting to start an audit on CREEP's finances-- BRADLEE --and we printed that, didn't we, Harry? And when the frigging audit's done, we'll print that too-- NATIONAL EDITOR --let me tell what happened when I was having lunch today at the Sans Souci-- ROSENFELD --correction--when you were drinking your lunch at the bar of the Sans Souci-- NATIONAL EDITOR --this White House guy, a good one, a pro, came up and asked what is this Watergate compulsion with you guys and I said, well, we think it's important and he said, if it's so goddamn important, who the hell are Woodward and Bernstein? ROSENFELD Ask him what he's really saying--he means take the story away from Woodstein and give it to his people at the National Desk-- NATIONAL EDITOR --well, I've got some pretty experienced fellas sitting around, wouldn't you say so?-- ROSENFELD --absolutely--and that's all they do, sit sit sit--every once in a while, they call up a Senator, some reporting-- NATIONAL EDITOR --well, what if your boys get it wrong-- BRADLEE (after a beat) Then it's our asses, isn't it? SIMONS (indicates the meeting is over) And we'll all have to go to work for a living. As the men rise and head for the door, the FOREIGN EDITOR moves toward BRADLEE and SIMONS who remain seated as before. FOREIGN EDITOR I don't think either Metropolitan or National should cover the story. (BRADLEE and SIMONS look at him) I don't think we should cover the story, period. BRADLEE Go on. FOREIGN EDITOR It's not that we're using unnamed sources that bothers me, or that everything we print the White House denies, or that almost no other papers are reprinting our stuff. SIMONS What then? FOREIGN EDITOR I don't believe the goddamn story, Howard, it doesn't make sense. BRADLEE It will, it just hasn't bottomed out yet, give it time. FOREIGN EDITOR Ben, Jesus, there are over two thousand reporters in this town, are there five on Watergate? Where did we suddenly get all this wisdom? BRADLEE and SIMONS say nothing. They respect this guy. FOREIGN EDITOR Look--why would the Republicans do it? --my God, McGovern is self- destructing before our eyes--just like Muskie did, Humphrey, the bunch of 'em. (sits on the table, talks quietly on) Why would the burglars have put the tape around the door instead of up and down unless they wanted to get caught? Why did they take a walkie- talkie and then turn it off, unless they wanted to get caught? Why would they use McCord--the only direct contact to the Republicans? BRADLEE You saying the Democrats bugged themselves? FOREIGN EDITOR The FBI thinks it's possible--the Democrats need a campaign issue, corruption's always a good one. (rises, starts out) Get off the story, Ben--or put some people on McGovern's finances; fair is fair, even in our business. He leaves. BRADLEE and SIMONS stay where they are, both of them flattened by what the guy's said. Because they're not sure he's wrong... HOLD. Now-- CUT TO: THE PAPERS POURING OUT OF THE ASSEMBLY LINE. We're back with the UNION GUY from before. He pulls out a paper again, looks at a story on the front page-- CUT TO: THE WOODWARD/BERNSTEIN STORY that said the GAO found that CREEP has mishandled over $500,000 in campaign funds. UNION GUY (to another UNION GUY who's reading over his shoulder) What'd'ya think? SECOND UNION GUY Politics as usual, someone just got caught with his hand in the cookie jar, that's all. UNION GUY (he's not so sure) Big fuckin' cookie jar. As he turns to the sports section-- CUT TO: GETTING THE CREEP LIST SEQUENCE. Either they get it as it is now, or as they really did, from a Post researcher who knew someone. In ant case, we see the list, with the columns of names and numbers meaning offices and phone extensions. We also see the two of them working, first, making long attempts at figuring out who worked for whom at CREEP. Then, once they have that, they begin using the cross- reference phone books, which are not familiar to moviegoers. And from these, they begin to get the home addresses of the various small-fry people who work for CREEP. Near the end alphabetically, there is a common female name, Jane Smith or something like that. As BERNSTEIN runs his finger down the addresses, something strikes him as familiar, and as he reaches for the phone-- CUT TO: A CRUMMY-LOOKING BAR - MID-DAY. BERNSTEIN enters, looks around, then smiles and moves to a lovely girl with a sweet face who probably weighs 200 pounds. She is sitting alone in a corner booth. She nods to BERNSTEIN, can't quite pull off a smile. BERNSTEIN (sits across) This is practically a high school reunion for us, Jane--I would have sprung for a classier place. JANE Anyplace really public, they'd know about it--they know everything at the Committee, Carl-- BERNSTEIN --you don't really think you're being followed? JANE This girlfriend of mine at the Committee, the other day she went back to the D.A. to tell the things the FBI didn't ask her. That night, her boss, he knew what she'd done. They control everything; that's how they know it all. BERNSTEIN FBI too? JANE You don't believe me? Well, I was working the weekend of the break-in and my God, all the executives were running around like crazy--you had to practically wait in line to use the shredding machine--and when the FBI came to investigate, they never even asked me about it. BERNSTEIN If you don't like it down there, why don't you quit? JANE I don't know what they'd do to me. BERNSTEIN (reaching over) Hey, easy... JANE (headshake) We're a long way from high school, Carl... (she looks at him) ...and I'm scared. HOLD on her frightened face a moment. Then-- CUT TO: BERNSTEIN riding home on his bicycle. He gets to his building, starts lugging it up when-- JANE'S VOICE (O.S.) They found out I saw you-- (BERNSTEIN stops, glances around) --they wanted to know everything. (louder) Don't call me again. BERNSTEIN (moving toward her voice) I can help if you'll-- JANE (O.S.) --stay away from me, Carl! CUT TO: JANE IN THE DARKNESS. If she was scared earlier, it's panic- time now. She turns, hurries off. BERNSTEIN watches her. Suddenly a SOUND comes from the darkness behind him. He whirls. It was nothing but from the way he jumped when it happened you can tell the fear is spreading. Now from Washington, in darkness-- CUT TO: ESSEX HOUSE IN MANHATTAN - BRIGHT SUNSHINE. WOODWARD comes hurrying along, and as he enters the hotel-- CUT TO: A DESK CLERK shaking his head at WOODWARD. CLERK We have no one by the name of Mitchell registered. WOODWARD My mistake, sorry. And as he goes-- CUT TO: WOODWARD out on the street, in a phone booth near Essex House. WOODWARD Get me John Mitchell, it's urgent. OPERATOR (V.O.) That would be room 710, I'll connect you. WOODWARD waits anxiously as the connection is made. MAN'S VOICE (V.O.) The Mitchells. WOODWARD Can I speak to Martha Mitchell, please. MAN'S VOICE (V.O.) Who is this? WOODWARD I've met Mrs. Mitchell in Washington, I'm Bob Woodward of the Post and tell her-- And the phone clicks dead-- CUT TO: AN ELEVATOR, the numbers of the floors being lit as it rises. 4--5--6-- WOODWARD stands alone in the elevator. As it reaches seven and the doors slide open, he steps out and CUT TO: THE MARRIOTT SUITE. It's numbered 710. WOODWARD approaches but as he does the door begins to open so he whirls, knocks on the door nearest him. Now 710 is wide open and several maids leave, watched by a large black man. FIRST MAID We'll be back after lunch. BLACK MAN (it's the voice from the phone) We'll be here. WOODWARD waits by his door as 710 slowly closes. The maids look at him a moment. He knocks again, louder. SECOND MAID I think they went out. WOODWARD (shrugs) I don't mind waiting. The maids nod, move out of sight. WOODWARD stands tense and still, watching the closed door numbered 710... Now-- CUT TO: NATIONAL AIRPORT IN D.C. - LATE AFTERNOON. People are getting off the shuttle, WOODWARD among them. BERNSTEIN waits. BERNSTEIN (as WOODWARD reaches him) See her? (WOODWARD nods) Get anything? WOODWARD For the paper, no; for us, plenty. (The two of them head for the terminal) I waited a long time and finally this big guy--I guess a bodyguard-- he left and I knocked and she remembered me, we talked awhile. BERNSTEIN And?--And?-- WOODWARD (looks at BERNSTEIN) --she was panicked, Carl--every time I mentioned Watergate, you could tell. BERNSTEIN Were you eyebrow reading? WOODWARD (shakes his head "no") It was there. I just don't get it; a CREEP secretary being scared, that's one thing. But what does the wife of one of the most powerful men in America have to be afraid of...? They look at each other, neither has a clue. HOLD. Now-- CUT TO: THE RED KARMANN GHIA moving along a residential area in Washington. It's later that night. CUT TO: INSIDE THE CAR - NIGHT. WOODWARD and BERNSTEIN driving along. BERNSTEIN Left up ahead. WOODWARD nods. WOODWARD Who's first? BERNSTEIN Alphabetically, on the CREEP phone list, Miss Helen Abbott of South George Street. As WOODWARD turns left. BERNSTEIN Now hang your second right-- (explaining) --this was my turf when I was a kid. And on those words-- CUT TO: A DEAD END SIGN. We hear BERNSTEIN explaining-- BERNSTEIN (V.O.) I brought you over one street too many--go back and hang a left again. Now on those words-- CUT TO: ANOTHER DEAD END SIGN. CUT TO: WOODWARD and BERNSTEIN pulled over to one side. BERNSTEIN, baffled, stares around; WOODWARD looks at a map with the aid of a flashlight. BERNSTEIN I don't get it... this really was my turf... WOODWARD (concentrating on the map) You're not a kid anymore. BERNSTEIN (shaking his head) My first day as a copy boy I was sixteen and wearing my only grown-up suit--it was cream colored. At 2:30 the head copy boy comes running up to me and says, "My God, haven't you washed the carbon paper yet? If it's not washed by three, it'll never by dry for tomorrow." (WOODWARD is getting interested in the story now) And I said, "Am I supposed to do that?" and he said, "Absolutely, it's crucial." So I run around and grab all the carbon paper from all the desks and take it to the men's room. I'm standing there washing it and it's splashing all over me and the editor comes in to take a leak, and he says, "What the fuck do you think you're doing?" And I said, "It's 2:30. I'm washing the carbon paper." (BERNSTEIN looks at WOODWARD) Just wanted you to know I've done dumber things than get us lost, that's all. WOODWARD goes back to his map. BERNSTEIN continues to smoke, staring around at the night. CUT TO: WOODWARD - AT THE FRONT OF A HOUSE. A sweet old lady is looking out at him. WOODWARD Hi. I'm Bob Woodward of the Washington Post and I hate to bother you at home-- SWEET OLD LADY --I already get the Post. I don't need another subscription. WOODWARD No, I'm a reporter. I wanted to talk to you about the Committee to Re- Elect. SWEET OLD LADY The what to what? WOODWARD You work there, Miss Abbott. SWEET OLD LADY I'm not Miss Abbott. CUT TO: ANOTHER LADY - IN HER DOORWAY. This time both WOODWARD and BERNSTEIN are there. WOODWARD Miss Abbott? MISS ABBOTT Yes? WOODWARD We're from the Washington Post and we wanted to ask you some questions about the Committee. ZOOM TO: CLOSE UP - MISS ABBOTT MISS ABBOTT I'm sorry-- And from nowhere, suddenly she bursts into tears. CUT TO: WOODWARD and BERNSTEIN as her door slams in their faces. They just look at each other, bewildered. And a little bit upset; their upset increases as the rejections go on. CUT TO: WHOLE SERIES OF FACES in quick succession--they're all in various doorways, men, women, young, old. The only thing in common is their fear. MIDDLE-AGED MAN (literally trembling) God, it's just so awful-- And as he closes the door CUT TO: A YOUNG GIRL --I can't--I'd like to but-- (that's all she'll say) And as her door starts to shut CUT TO: OLD MAN --go--you've got to go before they see you--please-- And as he almost starts to beg CUT TO: OLD WOMAN --no... good... She stands there, shaking her head back and forth, back and forth, pathetic and sad. Now-- CUT TO: WOODWARD. He is seated alone staring at his coffee cup, surrounded by junk food debris. We are in a Hot Shoppe, it's night, and as BERNSTEIN comes up with food, they're dressed differently from before. BERNSTEIN puts more junk food and coffee down. BERNSTEIN You had the Mighty Mo and the fries without gravy, right? (WOODWARD shrugs) BERNSTEIN passes over some food. They both look bleary and in foul moods. Silently, they start to eat, something they continue doing throughout. They're not hungry, they just eat. WOODWARD This is terrific work, if you like rejection. BERNSTEIN I never scared anyone before. WOODWARD It's not us, they were scared before we got there. (looks at BERNSTEIN) What do we know? BERNSTEIN Facts or theory? WOODWARD Anything you've got. BERNSTEIN We know there's got to be something or they wouldn't be so panicked. WOODWARD And that something's got to be more than just Hunt, Liddy, and the five burglars--those indictments are gonna be bullshit when they come down. What else do we know? BERNSTEIN I just wish we knew when someone would talk to us, that's all. The continue to eat, bleary and numb, as we CUT TO: A MIDDLE-AGED WOMAN-- --kind of an honest, hard-working face. WOODWARD and BERNSTEIN are standing in her doorway. WOODWARD A friend at the Committee told us to contact you-- WOMAN --who was it? BERNSTEIN We never reveal our sources, which is why you can talk to us. WOODWARD It's safe, try it, you'll see. She doesn't talk at first, but she doesn't slam the door either. BERNSTEIN We understand your problem-- WOODWARD --you believe in the President, you wouldn't ever want to do anything disloyal. BERNSTEIN We appreciate your position--really. And now she starts, at last, to talk, and they expect it to be their first breakthrough, but when it turns out to be the most withering onslaught yet, they are stunned. WOMAN You people--you think that you can come into someone's life, squeeze what you want, then get out. (to BERNSTEIN) You don't appreciate a goddamn thing, mister. (to WOODWARD) And you don't understand nothing. (voice rising) But the Committee's briefed us on you--so get the hell out of here-- (big) --do you like scaring the life out of decent people?--'cause if you don't, in the name of God--stop it! And she slams the door-- CUT TO: WOODWARD and BERNSTEIN, slowly walking back in silence back to the car. WOODWARD At Yale once, they held an auction. There was this woman and her name was Lulu Landis. Her postcards came up for sale. She had 1400 postcards written to her and I'd never heard of her before but I knew I had to have those cards, I had to know why anyone would get so many messages. I paid sixty-five dollars for them... I got all crazy trying to work it out and first it was just a maze but then I found that her husband killed himself in Dayton, and once I had that, it all began to open, an evangelist had come to Dayton and his horses hit Lulu Landis at the corner of 13th and Vermillion and she was paralyzed. Permanently, and her favorite thing til then had been traveling and all her friends, whenever they went anyplace, they wrote her. Those cards, they were her eyes... They continue to walk; slowly. CUT TO: A MIDDLE-AGED MAN--IN HIS DOORWAY MIDDLE-AGED MAN I know who you are and I'm not afraid but that don't mean I'll talk to you either--you're just a couple Democrats out to stop Nixon getting re-elected. CUT TO: WOODWARD and BERNSTEIN, staring at the man. WOODWARD Democrats? MIDDLE-AGED MAN That's right. BERNSTEIN I hate both parties. WOODWARD And I'm a Republican. The middle-aged man looks at him. BERNSTEIN (surprised, turns to WOODWARD) Republican? WOODWARD Sure. BERNSTEIN Who'd you vote for? WOODWARD When? BERNSTEIN '68. WOODWARD Nixon. BERNSTEIN stares at him in silence as we-- CUT TO: ANOTHER SERIES OF CREEP EMPLOYEES. Only they aren't slamming doors, they're sitting in various rooms of their houses and apartments. We don't see the reporters or hear their questions but the answers they receive make it self-evident. We start with the middle-aged man seen above. MIDDLE-AGED MAN Mitchell never left the Committee-- he resigned, sure, but he was there as much as before-- CUT TO: YOUNGER MAN --oh, don't worry, Gordon Liddy will be happy to take the fall for everyone because, well, it's not that Gordon's crazy, he's... (pauses, looking for the right word) ...weird. I'll give you some Committee people who know about him--only don't tell it was me-- CUT TO: YOUNGER WOMAN --of course we were briefed on what to say--and never to volunteer anything-- CUT TO: OLD WOMAN --oh, we were never alone with the FBI, there was always someone from the Committee right there-- Smiles, talks on as we-- CUT TO: RICHARD NIXON'S SOMBER VISAGE. NIXON ...No one in this administration, presently employed, was involved in this very bizarre incident... PULL BACK TO REVEAL BERNSTEIN and WOODWARD in a crummy cafeteria, watching the evening news on the TV set high on the wall. WOODWARD eats a hamburger, BERNSTEIN smokes, sips coffee. It is night, as usual now. CUT TO: NIXON--on the tube. NIXON ...What really hurts in matters of this sort is not the fact that they occur, because overzealous people in campaigns do things that are wrong. What really hurts is if you try to cover it up. CUT TO: WOODWARD and BERNSTEIN as the news commentator come on, begins introducing another story. WOODWARD Did he just say what I think he said? BERNSTEIN You voted for him. He gives WOODWARD a big smile. WOODWARD eats his hamburger in silence... CUT TO: A DIFFERENT TIME, A DIFFERENT PLACE--EARLY EVENING. BERNSTEIN gets out of his car, walks up, and knocks on the door of a small tract house in the D.C. suburbs. A woman opens the door. BERNSTEIN Hi, I'm Carl Bernstein of the Washington Post and-- WOMAN --oh, you don't want me, you want my sister. (calls out) For you. And we-- CUT TO: THE BOOKKEEPER approaching the door. She's younger than the cliché version of a bookkeeper. As she looks at her sister-- BOOKKEEPER'S SISTER This here is Carl Bernstein-- BOOKKEEPER --omigod, you're from that place, you've got to go. The sister is smoking and there is a pack on the dinette table. BERNSTEIN Could I bum one of your cigarettes?-- As the sister starts for the pack-- BERNSTEIN --don't bother, I'll get it. And he crosses ten feet inside the front door. BOOKKEEPER You've really got to go. BERNSTEIN Just let me get a match. He goes into the living room area, picks up a book of matches. This whole scene moves slowly, the tension building under it-- it's not like news people talking, nothing overlaps here. BERNSTEIN But I want you to know that I understand why you're afraid--a lot of good people down there at the Committee are afraid. I'm really sorry for what you're being put through. BOOKKEEPER All those articles you people write-- where do you find that stuff? BERNSTEIN We don't tell anyone that. Which is why you can talk to us. And if we can't verify what you say someplace else, we don't print it. That's another reason you can relax. BOOKKEEPER (tense) I'm relaxed--light your cigarette. BERNSTEIN lights the cigarette. BERNSTEIN You were Hugh Sloan's bookkeeper when he worked for Maurice Stans at Finance, and we were sort of wondering, did you go work for Stans immediately after Sloan quit or was there a time lapse? BOOKKEEPER I never worked for Sloan or Stans. BOOKKEEPER'S SISTER (out of the blue; to BERNSTEIN) Would you like some coffee or anything? As the BOOKKEEPER winces. BERNSTEIN (like a shot) Please, yes, thank you. (he looks at the BOOKKEEPER) Can I sit down for a minute? He is by a couch. BOOKKEEPER One minute but then-- BERNSTEIN --right, right, I've got to go. (he sits) Why did you lie just then? The BOOKKEEPER kneads her hands together silently. BERNSTEIN watches. BERNSTEIN I was just curious--you don't do it well, so I wondered. Have you been threatened, if you told the truth, is that it? BOOKKEEPER ...No... never in so many words... BERNSTEIN (gently) It's obvious you want to talk to someone--well, I'm someone. He takes out his notebook. CUT TO: The BOOKKEEPER. And she does want to talk. But the notebook scares her terribly and she can only stare at it. BERNSTEIN I'm not even going to put your name down. It's just so I can keep things straight. (beat) Start with the money, why don't you? BOOKKEEPER'S SISTER (returning with coffee) How do you like it? BERNSTEIN Everything, please. BOOKKEEPER'S SISTER (going again) I won't be a minute. BERNSTEIN (to the BOOKKEEPER, quietly) The General Accounting report said there was a 350 thousand cash slush fund in Stans' safe. Did you know about that from the beginning? BOOKKEEPER (about to fold) There are too many people watching me--they know I know a lot-- BERNSTEIN --it was all in hundreds, wasn't it? BOOKKEEPER A lot of it was. I just thought it was sort of an all-purpose political fund--you know, for taking fat cats to dinner, things like that. BERNSTEIN Could buy a lot of steaks, 350,000 dollars. BOOKKEEPER (her words are coming faster) I can't be positive that it was used for the break-in but people sure are worried. BERNSTEIN Which people? BOOKKEEPER The ones who could disburse the money. BERNSTEIN Who were they? BOOKKEEPER There were a group of them--I think five, I don't know their names. BERNSTEIN Sloan knew which five, didn't he? (she nods) BOOKKEEPER'S SISTER (back with cream and sugar) Here we are. BOOKKEEPER I don't want to say anymore. BERNSTEIN (indicating coffee) It's awfully hot-- (smiles) --and you haven't finished telling me about the money-- BOOKKEEPER (long pause; then--in a burst) --omigod, there was so much of it, six million came in one two-day period-- six million cash, we couldn't find enough places to put it. I thought it was all legal, I guess I did, til after the break-in, when I remembered Gordon got so much of it. BERNSTEIN (heart starting to pound) Gordon Liddy, you mean? BOOKKEEPER (nods) It was all so crazy--the day after the break-in he gave us a speech, bouncing up and down on his heels in that loony way of his--Gordon told us not to let Jim McCord ruin everything--don't let one bad apple spoil the barrel, he said. You just know that when Gordon Liddy's calling someone a bad apple, something's wrong somewhere. (more and more moved now) ...It's all so rotten... and getting worse... and all I care about is Hugh Sloan. His wife was going to leave him if he didn't stand up and do what was right. And he quit. He quit because he saw it and didn't want any part of it. BERNSTEIN Think Sloan's being set up as a fall guy for John Mitchell? Sometimes it looks that way. There is a pause. Then-- BOOKKEEPER If you guys... if you guys could just get John Mitchell... that would be beautiful... And now, as long last, she begins to cry. HOLD on her tears, then-- CUT TO: A TYPEWRITER clicking away. The words "INTERVIEW WITH X. SEPT. 14" are visible. There is music in the background, really blasting away, Rachmaninoff or worse. We are in WOODWARD's apartment and BERNSTEIN is dictating notes from the BOOKKEEPER interview. It's very late, and BERNSTEIN has notes on everything, matchboxes, and it's hard for him to read. They're both really excited, BERNSTEIN from his coffee jag, WOODWARD by what BERNSTEIN's dictating. BERNSTEIN I couldn't believe what she told me. Eight cups of coffee worth. WOODWARD Go on, go on-- BERNSTEIN --we've got to find out who the five guys are--the five with access to the slush fund--they were aware of the break-in. WOODWARD Then tomorrow's grand jury indictments will just be bullshit. BERNSTEIN It goes very high--we've got to find out where-- WOODWARD --we will-- BERNSTEIN --she was really paranoid, the bookkeeper. WOODWARD That happens to people. (he goes over, turns the hi-fi on even louder. Shouts--) OK, go on. The noise blasts away as BERNSTEIN and WOODWARD hunch over the typewriter. It's a moment of genuine exhilaration. Paranoid, sure, but for the first time, they're really on to something; it's all starting to split open... CUT TO: WOODWARD AND BERNSTEIN They are driving through McLean, Virginia, a development of identical imitation Tudor houses. BERNSTEIN How do you want to handle Sloan? WOODWARD You mean, who's going to play the mean M.P. and who's going to be the nice one? (BERNSTEIN nods; WOODWARD shrugs) Whichever. BERNSTEIN He's another Ivy Leaguer so he'll probably expect you to be understanding--might surprise him if you're not. WOODWARD You want me to be the bastard. BERNSTEIN (nods) And I'll just shitkick in my usual way. As they drive on-- CUT TO: A PRETTY YOUNG WOMAN standing in the doorway of one of the Tudor houses. She is very pregnant. She knows instinctively who they are, and she dominates them in a genuinely proud female way. What I mean is, it's her scene, and they're suddenly embarrassed to be bothering her. WOODWARD To see Mr. Sloan. MRS. SLOAN He's out. (There is a pause. She studies them--) You're those two from the Post, aren't you. (they nod) I'll tell him. BERNSTEIN (as she's about to step back inside) This must be a difficult time for the both of you. MRS. SLOAN This is an honest house. WOODWARD That's why we wanted to see your husband. She studies them still; more silence. MRS. SLOAN That decision is up to him. BERNSTEIN (conspiratorially) Maybe you could put in a good word. WOODWARD We've got another appointment tonight in this area--we'll just stop back later, all right? MRS. SLOAN It's a free country-- (beat) --in theory. They nod, start back down the walk. She watches them. MRS. SLOAN (calling out) Be careful-- They turn, look back at her. CUT TO: CLOSE UP--MRS. SLOAN MRS. SLOAN --you can destroy lives. CUT TO: WOODWARD and BERNSTEIN watching her. She seems like a terrific girl. And maybe they've upset her. Or maybe what she has said, coming from her, has more impact than otherwise. Quietly, they turn back, walk in silence toward the red Karmann Ghia... CUT TO: THE McLEAN McDONALD'S--DINNERTIME. Lots of very noisy, happy children. WOODWARD and BERNSTEIN sit surrounded by their usual array of junk food. WOODWARD Think Sloan's back? (BERNSTEIN seems lost in thought) What's wrong? BERNSTEIN Nothing--I just found out that Jeb Magruder from CREEP is a bigger bike freak than I am. (sips coffee) I never like it when the other guy's human... They continue to sip coffee; outside it continues to rain. Now-- CUT TO: A YOUNG, SLENDER GUY answering his door. WOODWARD and BERNSTEIN stand outside, their jackets over their heads, protecting themselves from the rain which is harder now. WOODWARD Mr. Sloan? SLOAN (nods) My wife told me to expect you. (softly) As you know, I haven't talked to the press. BERNSTEIN We were hoping that maybe now you could. We know why you left the Committee. We know you're not guilty of anything. But we know you know who is-- It has begun to rain even harder. SLOAN --look, come in. We'll have to be quiet--my wife's asleep. CUT TO: A CHRISTMAS CARD from the Nixons, they are standing in front of the White House Christmas tree. It is signed "To Hugh and Debbie Sloan, with thanks, Richard M. Nixon, Patricia Nixon." PULL BACK and we're in the living room. More coffee is being drunk; SLOAN endlessly stirs his. SLOAN I'd like to talk to you, I really would, but my lawyers say I shouldn't until after the Watergate trial. WOODWARD You handed out the money. Maybe there's a legitimate explanation for the way it was done-- BERNSTEIN --then again, maybe things are even worse than we've written-- SLOAN --they're worse. That's why I quit. WOODWARD and BERNSTEIN wait as SLOAN is clearly going through a struggle with himself. Then-- SLOAN Try and understand this. I'm a decent Republican. I believe in Richard Nixon. I worked in the White House four years--so did my wife. What happened on June 17 I don't think the President knew anything about. Some of his men I'm not so sure of. BERNSTEIN Do you think the truth will come out at the trial? SLOAN That's another of the things I'm not so sure of. BERNSTEIN Because people at the Committee were told to lie to the prosecutors? SLOAN We were never told flat out "Don't talk." But the message was clear. BERNSTEIN To cover up? SLOAN Well, they sure didn't ask us to come forward and tell the truth. WOODWARD Does "they" mean the White House? SLOAN As opposed to the Committee? The Committee's not an independent operation. Everything is cleared with the White House. I don't think that the FBI or the prosecutors understand that. WOODWARD The report on the cash in Maurice Stans' safe, the three hundred fifty thousand, that's true? SLOAN No. It was closer to seven hundred thousand. WOODWARD And as treasurer, you could release those funds? SLOAN (nods) When so ordered. WOODWARD We're not sure we've got all the guys who could order you, but we know there were five. (SLOAN is silent) BERNSTEIN (ticking them off) Mitchell, Stans, Magruder, they're obvious-- SLOAN stirs his coffee. WOODWARD --there had to be a White House overseer-- BERNSTEIN --Colson. SLOAN Colson's too smart to get directly involved with something like that. WOODWARD (to BERNSTEIN) Haldeman. (to SLOAN) Right? SLOAN I won't talk about the other two. BERNSTEIN But they both worked at the White House? SLOAN (softly) I will not talk about the other two. BERNSTEIN (out of the blue) Kalmbach--Nixon's personal lawyer. SLOAN is shocked at the mention of Kalmbach. SLOAN I can't say anything, I'm sorry. (He starts to rise) WOODWARD One thing I'm not completely clear on--when you gave out the money to Liddy, how did that work? SLOAN Badly. (and now for the first time, he almost smiles) You don't realize how close all this came to staying undiscovered--I gave Liddy the Dahlberg check and he gave it to Barker who took it to Miami and deposited it. BERNSTEIN Right. SLOAN Then Barker withdrew the 25 thousand in hundred dollar bills and gave it back to Liddy who gave it back to me and I put it in the office safe which was crammed. WOODWARD Go on. SLOAN Well, when Liddy came and asked for money for what turned out to be the break-in funds, I went to the safe and gave him--out of this whole fortune--I happened to give him the same hundreds he gave me--banks have to keep track of hundreds. If the money had been in fifties, or if I'd grabbed a different stack, there probably wouldn't have been any Watergate story. BERNSTEIN Ordinarily, though, what was the procedure? SLOAN Routine--I'd just call John Mitchell over at the Justice Department and he'd say "go ahead, give out the money." WOODWARD and BERNSTEIN just look at each other--they hadn't known it, not remotely. SLOAN stands and as they head for the door-- CUT TO: THE THREE OF THEM heading across the foyer. BERNSTEIN What happens when the baby comes? SLOAN We're moving. (beat) I've been looking for a job but it's been... hard. My name's been in the papers too much. Sometimes I wonder if reporters understand how much pain they can inflict in just one sentence. I'm not thinking of myself. But my wife, my parents, it's been very rough on them. CUT TO: BERNSTEIN and WOODWARD looking very uncomfortable as SLOAN goes on. SLOAN I wish I could put down on paper what it's like--you come to Washington because you believe in something, and then you get inside and you see how things actually work and you watch your ideals disintegrate. (beat) The people inside, the people in the White House, they start to believe they can suspend the rules because they're fulfilling a mission. That becomes the only important thing-- the mission. It's so easy to lose perspective. We want to get out before we lose ours altogether. SLOAN opens the front door. WOODWARD and BERNSTEIN pause, nod, almost an embarrassed pause. Then as they hurry out into the rain-- CUT TO: A NERFBALL flying toward a basket cupped to a picture window. When we PULL BACK we're in BRADLEE's office, SIMONS and ROSENFELD are also there, along with WOODWARD and BERNSTEIN. BRADLEE plays nerfball mostly; he hasn't got the worlds's longest attention span. BERNSTEIN Look--five men controlled that slush fund as CREEP--three of them we've got, Mitchell, Stans, Magruder, and we're pretty sure of Kalmbach. WOODWARD We'd like to wait til we have all five before we print it. BRADLEE This is a daily paper, we'll explain it tomorrow. (looks at them) You're certain on Mitchell? WOODWARD He approved the payments to Liddy while he was still Attorney General-- And all this now goes fast-- ROSENFELD --you got more than one source?-- BERNSTEIN --yes-- SIMONS --has any of them got an ax?-- ROSENFELD --political, personal, sexual, anything at all against Mitchell?-- WOODWARD --no-- SIMONS --can we use their names?-- BERNSTEIN --no-- BRADLEE --goddamnit, when's somebody gonna go on the record on this story-- ROSENFELD --who you got?-- WOODWARD --well, Sloan-- BERNSTEIN --and we got a guy in Justice-- BRADLEE --Deep Throat?-- WOODWARD --I saw him. He verifies. BRADLEE OK. (now after the burst of talk, a pause) You're about to write a story that says that the former Attorney General-- the man who represented law in America-- is a crook. (throws the nerfball) Just be right, huh? As WOODWARD and BERNSTEIN leave the office-- BRADLEE Leave plenty of room for his denial. CUT TO: BERNSTEIN AT HIS DESK ON THE PHONE. He has some papers in front of him an a notepad and pencil in his free hand. He is tired and very, very nervous. It is dark outside. In what follows, BERNSTEIN takes notes. OPERATOR'S VOICE (V.O.) Essex House, can I help you? BERNSTEIN John Mitchell, please. There is a BUZZING SOUND. Then-- JOHN MITCHELL'S VOICE (V.O.) Yes? BERNSTEIN Sir, this is Carl Bernstein of the Washington Post, and I'm sorry to bother you but we're running a story in tomorrow's paper that we thought you should have a chance to comment on. MITCHELL (V.O.) What does it say? BERNSTEIN (starting to read) John N. Mitchell, while serving as US Attorney General, personally controlled a secret cash fund that-- MITCHELL (V.O.) --jeeeeeeesus-- BERNSTEIN --fund that was used to gather information against the Democrats-- MITCHELL (V.O.) --jeeeeeeesus-- BERNSTEIN --according to sources involved in the Watergate investigation. Beginning in the spring of 1971-- MITCHELL (V.O.) --jeeeeeeesus-- BERNSTEIN --almost a year before he left the Justice Department-- MITCHELL (V.O.) --jeeeeeeeeesus-- BERNSTEIN --to become President Nixon's campaign manager on March 1, Mitchell personally approved withdrawals from the fund-- MITCHELL (V.O.) --all that crap, you're putting it in the paper? It's all been denied. You tell your publisher--tell Katie Graham she's gonna get her tit caught in a big fat wringer if that's published. Good Christ! That's the most sickening thing I ever heard. BERNSTEIN Sir, I'd like to ask you a few-- MITCHELL (V.O.) --what time is it? BERNSTEIN 11:30. MITCHELL (V.O.) Morning or night? BERNSTEIN Night. MITCHELL (V.O.) Oh. And he hangs up. CUT TO: BRADLEE and BERNSTEIN at BERNSTEIN's desk. BRADLEE is going over BERNSTEIN's notes. BRADLEE He really made that remark about Mrs. Graham? (BERNSTEIN nods) This is a family newspaper--cut the words "her tit" and run it. And now suddenly-- THE PRESSES OF THE POST rolling the story. They're modern and gigantic and CUT TO: WOODWARD and BERNSTEIN. They're in the lobby of the Post at night and through a thick-pane of glass they're watching their story roll and on their faces is something you don't expect to see: panic. BRADLEE comes up behind them, looks down at the presses, starts to talk. BRADLEE Once when I was reporting, Lyndon Johnson's top guy gave me the word they were looking for a successor to J. Edgar Hoover. I wrote it and the day it appeared Johnson called a press conference and appointed Hoover head of the FBI for life... And when he was done, he turned to his top guy and the President said, "Call Ben Bradlee and tell him fuck you." (shakes his head) I took a lot of static for that-- everyone said, "You did it, Bradlee, you screwed up--you stuck us with Hoover forever--" (looks at WOODWARD and BERNSTEIN) --I screwed up but I wasn't wrong. They all watch the presses now. BRADLEE You guys haven't been wrong yet, is that why you're scared shitless? (as WOODWARD and BERNSTEIN nod, BRADLEE starts away) You should be... CUT TO: THE PRESSES continuing to roll. The SOUND is incredible. Now-- CUT TO: A TELETYPE MACHINE clacking away like crazy. We can read the words, "The Senator finished by saying that although he was..." and from there-- DISSOLVE TO: A SENATOR and while the words "although he was" are still very fresh in our minds-- SENATOR Although I am a Republican, I would like to state in a pure bipartisan spirit that I feel only sadness that a once fine journal of record like the Post would have become merely the hysterical spokesman for the equally hysterical left wing of the Democratic Party-- The SOUND of the teletype doesn't stop in this little part and we see three people and it's very important that their voices are immediately recognizable and distinct. One, the SENATOR is from the West and will have that twang. The next two whom we are about to meet are PUBLIC RELATIONS PEOPLE from CREEP and the WHITE HOUSE. The CREEP voice is very southern, the WHITE HOUSE GUY sounds like an NBC announcer. The WESTERN SENATOR will be seen in a corridor of the Senate office building, talking to reporters, the CREEP P.R. SOUTHERNER will be talking to reporters in front of the CREEP office doors and so identified. The WHITE HOUSE SPOKESMAN will be standing on a platform with a flag visible off to one side. As the teletype goes on-- CUT TO: THE SOUTHERN CREEP P.R. MAN CREEP P.R. MAN (in mid-sentence) --hearsay, innuendo, and character assassination. I can only conclude that the so-called sources of the Washington Post are a fountain of misinformation-- CUT TO: THE WHITE HOUSE SPOKESMAN WHITE HOUSE SPOKESMAN --the White House has long since stopped being surprised at this type of reporting by certain elements of the Eastern liberal press-- CUT TO: BRADLEE'S OFFICE A lot of activity. BRADLEE is at his desk reading the teletype dispatches. SIMONS and ROSENFELD are there, WOODWARD and BERNSTEIN, too. A kid comes in with more teletype stuff. The editors look at it. SIMONS (reading) Same kind of crap-- BRADLEE (glancing through; nods) --all non-denial denials--we're dirty guys and they doubt we were ever virgins but they don't say the story is inaccurate. BERNSTEIN What's a real denial? BRADLEE If they ever start calling us goddamn liars-- (little pause) --it's time to start circling the wagons. CUT TO: THE UNION GUYS IN THE POST looking at a new headline: NIXON ELECTION AIDES CONCEALED FACTS FROM GOVERNMENT PROBERS FIRST UNION GUY You think they know what they're doing on the fifth floor? SECOND UNION GUY I got eight kids to support--they better. They start for the sports section, only this time, they stop, go back, stare at the headline again. From them watching-- CUT TO: SIMONS walking WOODWARD to the elevators. WOODWARD What do you think Mrs. Graham wants to see me for? SIMONS Maybe to fire you--since you two started on this story, the Post stock has dropped, what, 50 percent? (WOODWARD pushes for the elevator) And the word is some Nixon people are challenging her TV licenses. I'm not saying she's going on relief, but I don't think it's unreasonable for her to want to meet you. WOODWARD You think she wants us to ease up on the story? SIMONS (shrugs) I don't know, but I don't think that's unreasonable either, do you? The elevator opens. WOODWARD shakes his head "no" and steps inside as we CUT TO: MRS. GRAHAM in her office as a SECRETARY lets WOODWARD in. He's nervous. She's standing by the window, he crosses to her. MRS. GRAHAM I'm so glad you could come, Mr.-- WOODWARD --I'm Woodward. She nods. There's a pause. He waits. She's trying to say something, get something started, but it's difficult. Silence. She stares out again, quietly starts to talk. MRS. GRAHAM You know, the paper was my father's and my husband's when they were alive and I was thinking back a year or two ago when Ben called me and said he wanted to publish the Pentagon Papers the next day. The Times had already been stopped from publishing anymore of them and all my legal counsel said "don't, don't" and I was frightened but I knew if I said no, I'd lose the whole fifth floor. So we published, and that night, after I'd told Ben to go ahead, I woke up in the darkness and I thought, "Oh my Lord, what am I doing to this newspaper?" (She looks at WOODWARD) I woke up again last night with that same question. (WOODWARD says nothing, waits) Are we right on this story? WOODWARD I think so. MRS. GRAHAM Are you sure? WOODWARD No. MRS. GRAHAM When will you be, do you think?-- when are we going to know it all? WOODWARD It may never come out. MRS. GRAHAM Never? Please don't tell me never. (beat) Ben says you've found some wonderful sources. WOODWARD Some Justice Department lawyers and an FBI man, and some people from the Committee to Re-Elect, yes ma'am. MRS. GRAHAM And the underground garage one. (WOODWARD, more nervous now, nods) Would I know him? WOODWARD I couldn't say. MRS. GRAHAM But it's possible. WOODWARD (throat very dry) It is. MRS. GRAHAM You've never told anyone who he is? (WOODWARD shakes his head) But you'd have to tell me if I asked you. (WOODWARD nods) Tell me. WOODWARD (he is dying) I would, if you really ever wanted to know. MRS. GRAHAM I really want to know. CUT TO: WOODWARD caught between a rock and a hard place. He is silent until there is the SOUND of light laughter and we-- CUT TO: MRS. GRAHAM. The laughter came from her. MRS. GRAHAM I wasn't serious. I have plenty of burdens to carry around, I don't need another. WOODWARD tries not to exhale too audibly. MRS. GRAHAM We're going to need lots of good luck, aren't we? WOODWARD Nobody ever had too much. CUT TO: CLOSE UP--MRS. GRAHAM as abruptly she reaches out, touches WOODWARD on the arm. MRS. GRAHAM Do better. WOODWARD makes a nod. HOLD. Then-- CUT TO: BRADLEE in a state of anger, pacing around the tiny teletype room. WOODWARD hurries in. WOODWARD What? BRADLEE says nothing, just points to the AP teletype. WOODWARD looks at it, clearly is upset. BRADLEE I thought you guys were supposed to be working on this story-- (to BERNSTEIN who tears in--) --you think I like being aced out? BERNSTEIN --what?-- WOODWARD --The L.A. Times has a huge interview with Baldwin-- BERNSTEIN --the lookout in the Motor Inn?-- (WOODWARD nods) --he say anything we don't know?-- WOODWARD (headshake) --just that a lot of reports were sent to CREEP, but he doesn't name who, not here anyway-- BRADLEE --it would have been nice to have had this, I sure would have liked to have had this-- BERNSTEIN --there's nothing new in it-- BRADLEE --it makes the break-in real--it's a major goddamn story-- (starts out) --I'm not going to kick ass over this, but I'd like you to know I hate getting beat, I just hate it-- don't forget that I hate it-- And he stalks out. WOODWARD and BERNSTEIN stand staring at the teletype which keeps on clacking and clacking as the L.A. Times story keeps getting longer. BERNSTEIN Goddamnit-- WOODWARD --shit-- BERNSTEIN --we gotta top the Times-- WOODWARD --I know, I know-- BERNSTEIN --if we could name the guys got the reports, we'd be ahead again-- WOODWARD --shit, who do we know?-- BERNSTEIN --I know a lawyer at Justice-- WOODWARD --has he got an ax?-- BERNSTEIN --almost every source we've used has been Republican, this guy's a card- carrying Democrat. WOODWARD Then he's got an ax. (beat) Call him anyway. As BERNSTEIN nods, takes off out of the room-- CUT TO: THE UNION GUYS studying the front page, on which one headline indicates that they're named the guys at CREEP who got the reports. FIRST UNION GUY Who is this Woodstein? (points to paper) Two stories on the front page. SECOND UNION GUY If he can't pick a winner at Pimlico, to hell with him. CUT TO: A HOT SHOPPE. WOODWARD is stirring his morning coffee as BERNSTEIN comes in, spots him, hurries over. BERNSTEIN is maybe more excited then we've yet seen him. BERNSTEIN --I want you to shut up and listen to me-- WOODWARD --I haven't said anything-- BERNSTEIN --for the first time I'm beginning to feel like a fucking reporter-- Woodward, I got a tip. A guy called me up with a tip-- (carefully) --someone named Donald Segretti contacted a bunch of lawyers and asked them if they'd like to go to work with him screwing up the Democrats, dirty tricks, shit like that. The FBI knows about Segretti-- Howard Hunt made a bunch of phone calls to him--they interrogated him, but on account of Segretti wasn't involved with the break-in, they didn't follow through. But Segretti did a lot of traveling--he called these lawyers from different places, and he told them the Republicans knew what he was doing. WOODWARD How high up, which Republicans? BERNSTEIN That's what we've got to find out, but Segretti went to Southern Cal. and so did a bunch of Nixon men-- WOODWARD --Haldeman I know, who else? BERNSTEIN Dwight Chapin, Nixon's appointments chief--he knew Segretti in school. Maybe I'm crazy, but this is the first time any of this starts to make sense. What were the three theories? WOODWARD The burglary was done by Cubans or Democrats or Republicans. BERNSTEIN Now the reason no one believed the Republicans is because there wasn't any reason, they were so far ahead. But Segretti was talking to these other lawyers a year before the break- in. WOODWARD So maybe Watergate wasn't really about Watergate--maybe that was just a piece-- BERNSTEIN --because a year before, the Republicans weren't ahead, not in the polls, Muskie was running ahead of Nixon then. Before he self- destructed. WOODWARD If he self-destructed. Now, from the two of them-- CUT TO: A MAZE OF CREDIT CARD RECEIPTS IN VARIOUS PILES. There is the SOUND of bad guitar music, which as we PULL BACK we see is BERNSTEIN playing. We are in his apartment, it's night, and the two of them, bleary, are studying the maze of receipts. WOODWARD Segretti criss-crossed the country over ten times in six months--and never stayed anyplace over a night or two. (glancing up) Switch to another station, huh? You're driving me crazy with that. BERNSTEIN Segovia begged me for me secret but I said, "No, Andres, you'll have to try and make it without me." He switches to another song which sounds a lot like the one he just finished playing. WOODWARD (pointing to the thickest stacks) California, Illinois, Florida, New Hampshire--all the major Democratic primary states. (whirling) Why does everything you play sound the same? BERNSTEIN --'cause I only know four chords-- CUT TO: THE CREDIT CARDS. The camera moves across the travels of Donald Segretti. There is the SOUND of BERNSTEIN's guitar. HOLD for a moment, then-- CUT TO: TINY, BABY-FACED MAN standing in his doorway. BERNSTEIN (V.O.) Donald Segretti? SEGRETTI That's right. CUT TO: BERNSTEIN--OUTSIDE THE APARTMENT DOOR. We are, it will soon be clear, in California now, Marina Del Rey. BERNSTEIN I'm Carl Bernstein. (SEGRETTI nods) My paper sent me out to see if I couldn't persuade you to go on the record. SEGRETTI You can't. BERNSTEIN Mind if I try? SEGRETTI shrugs, and as they enter his apartment-- CUT TO: INSIDE. They walk across to a small terrace outside, where they sit. The terrace has a glorious view of the water and lots of girls in bathing costume, below. BERNSTEIN According to what we've been able to verify, you've been busy. SEGRETTI I've got a lot of energy. BERNSTEIN Listen--we know you're involved in this--we're going to get the story, why not help? SEGRETTI They never told me anything except my own role--I had to find out the rest in the papers. BERNSTEIN By "they" you mean...? He waits; SEGRETTI just shakes his head. BERNSTEIN By "they" you mean the White House, don't you? (SEGRETTI makes no reply) Your buddy from USC, Dwight Chapin-- he works for the White House. SEGRETTI I know where Dwight works. BERNSTEIN When did he hire you? SEGRETTI shakes his head, stares out at the girls. BERNSTEIN Do you feel much about the things you did? SEGRETTI I didn't do anything wrong. BERNSTEIN Tell that to Muskie. SEGRETTI Oh, maybe nickel and dime stuff. BERNSTEIN During the Florida primary, you wrote a letter on Muskie stationery saying Scoop Jackson had a bastard child. You wrote another that said Hubert Humphrey was out with call girls. SEGRETTI Sometimes it got up to a quarter maybe-- (to BERNSTEIN) --off the record. BERNSTEIN You wrote the Canuck letter--the one where you claimed Muskie slurred the Canadians. SEGRETTI I didn't. BERNSTEIN But you know who did. SEGRETTI When you guys print it in the paper, then I'll know. (closes his eyes) I'm a lawyer, and I'll probably go to jail, and be disbarred, and what did I do that was so awful? BERNSTEIN says nothing, waits. SEGRETTI None of it was my idea, Carl--I didn't go looking for the job. BERNSTEIN Chapin did contact you then? SEGRETTI Sure--off the record. BERNSTEIN On the orders of Haldeman? SEGRETTI I don't know anything about Haldeman, except, Dwight's frightened of him-- everybody's frightened of him--Christ, I wish I'd never gotten messed around with this--all I wanna do is sit in the sun; sit, swim, see some girls. BERNSTEIN It gets interesting if it was Haldeman, because our word is that when Chapin says something, he's gotten the OK from Haldeman, and when Haldeman says something, he's gotten the OK from the President. SEGRETTI Can't help you. BERNSTEIN At USC, you had a word the this-- screwing up the opposition you all did it at college and called it ratfucking. (SEGRETTI half-smiles, nods) Ever wonder if Nixon might turn out to be the biggest ratfucker of them all? CUT TO: CLOSE UP--SEGRETTI staring at the girls and the blue water. SEGRETTI What would you have done if you were just getting out of the Army, if you'd been away from the real world for four years, if you weren't sure what kind of law you wanted to practice, and then one day you got a call from an old friend asking you to go to work for the President of the United States...? HOLD on the question, then-- CUT TO: WOODWARD AND BERNSTEIN back in D.C., walking through the airport. BERNSTEIN What would you have done? WOODWARD You asking would I have been one of the President's men? (beat) I would have been. As they continue on-- CUT TO: WOODWARD alone in the underground garage. Tense, jumpy. He looks at his watch, paces around. It's all eerie as hell. Then, from the ramps, footsteps. CUT TO: DEEP THROAT moving out of the shadows, smoking, as always. DEEP THROAT My turn to keep you waiting. (approaches) What's the topic for tonight? WOODWARD Ratfucking. DEEP THROAT In my day, it was simply called the double cross. I believe the CIA refers to it as Mindfuck. In our context, it simply means infiltration of the Democrats. WOODWARD I know what it means--Segretti wouldn't go on the record, but if he would, we know he'd implicate Chapin. And that would put us inside the White House. DEEP THROAT (nods) Yes, the little ratfuckers are now running our government. WOODWARD Who?--be specific. How high up? DEEP THROAT You'll have to find that out, won't you. WOODWARD The slush fund at CREEP financed the ratfucking, we've almost got that nailed down, so-- He stops as suddenly DEEP THROAT dives down behind the nearest car. WOODWARD dropping beside him. WOODWARD What? DEEP THROAT Did you change cabs? (as WOODWARD nods) It didn't work, something moved there-- And as he points CUT TO: THE SHADOWS BY THE RAMP. You can't see a goddamn thing. But there is the SOUND, faint but distinct, of breathing. CUT TO: WOODWARD standing, staring into the darkness. He is scared, wipes his mouth. He doesn't move for a moment. Then he walks directly into the darkness and as he's gone-- ZOOM TO: A HORRID FACE IN CLOSE UP, red eyed, unshaven, beaten--there are half-formed scabs and cuts. He is leaning against a wall, shivering. He looks, for all the world, like a perpetual drunk. CUT TO: WOODWARD in the shadows, coming closer. CUT TO: THE DRUNK. He blinks slowly, tongue lolling outside his mouth. He watches WOODWARD approach. CUT TO: WOODWARD coming still closer. CUT TO: THE DRUNK. He blinks very slowly now. Maybe he isn't even certain WOODWARD's there. CUT TO: WOODWARD stopping in front of the drunk. They look at each other for a long time. Then: WOODWARD Who are you? CUT TO: THE DRUNK. Nothing, no reaction. CUT TO: WOODWARD studying the other man. CUT TO: THE DRUNK. And he blinks again, then slowly, shivering, begins sliding down the wall. WOODWARD reaches for him, holds him up. CUT TO: WOODWARD managing to get out his wallet, take out some bills. He starts up the ramp with the drunk, and as they disappear up the ramp out of sight, he gives the drunk the money. WOODWARD Here. (softly) Forget your troubles and just be happy. CUT TO: DEEP THROAT pacing and smoking. He is visibly upset; scared maybe. He glances over as WOODWARD comes back down the ramp alone. DEEP THROAT (self-mocking) I hope you noticed how coolly I behaved under the threat of discovery. WOODWARD (impatiently) Do Justice and the FBI know what we know, and why the hell haven't they done anything about it? DEEP THROAT They know, but they focused on the burglary--if it didn't deal with the break-in, they didn't pursue it. WOODWARD Why didn't they?--who told them not to? DEEP THROAT Someone with authority I'd imagine, wouldn't you? (coughs) Don't you know what you're onto? Come on. WOODWARD Mitchell knew then. DEEP THROAT Of course--my God, you think something this big just happens? The break-in and the cover up, of course Mitchell knew, but no more than Ehrlichman. WOODWARD Haldeman too? DEEP THROAT You get nothing from me about Haldeman? And from this tone, you know HALDEMAN scares him. WOODWARD Why did they do all this for Chrissakes?--what were they after? DEEP THROAT Total manipulation. I suppose you could say they wanted to subvert the Constitution, but they don't think along philosophical lines. WOODWARD Talk about Segretti-- DEEP THROAT --don't concentrate on Segretti or you'll miss the overall scheme too. WOODWARD There were more then. DEEP THROAT Follow every lead--every lead goes somewhere-- WOODWARD --the Canuck letter--was that a White House operation-- DEEP THROAT (nods, bigger) --don't you miss the grand scheme too. WOODWARD How grand? DEEP THROAT Nationwide--my God, they were frightened of Muskie and look who got destroyed--they wanted to run against McGovern, and look who they're running against. They bugged, they followed people, false press leaks, fake letters, they canceled Democratic campaign rallies, they investigated Democratic private lives, they planted spies, stole documents, on and on-- don't tell me you think this was all the work of little Don Segretti. WOODWARD And Justice and FBI know all this? DEEP THROAT Yes, yes, everything. There were over fifty people employed by the White House and CREEP to ratfuck-- some of what they did is beyond belief. WOODWARD (stunned) Fifty ratfuckers directed by the White House to destroy the Democrats? CUT TO: DEEP THROAT DEEP THROAT I was being cautious. (inhales) You can safely say more then fifty... SILENCE in the garage. HOLD... then-- CUT TO: THE FIFTH FLOOR OF THE POST and it's noisy. Not as noisy as it's going to get, but there is more tension around just now than there has been previously. CUT TO: AN ATTRACTIVE WOMAN IN HER MID-30s. On her desk is her name, MARILYN BERGER. She is watching BERNSTEIN who is standing by the water cooler nearby. As she gets up-- CUT TO: BERNSTEIN drinking water. BERGER Do you guys know about the Canuck letter? BERNSTEIN (nods, drinks) Um-hmm. (stops, looks at her) Why? BERGER I just wanted to be sure you knew who wrote it. As she speaks-- CUT TO: WOODWARD working at his desk, suddenly looking up as a SCREAM comes from the direction of the water cooler and as everyone turns to see, here comes BERNSTEIN dragging BERGER over to WOODWARD's desk. BERNSTEIN (hysterical) Tell him what you just told me. BERGER Just than Ken Clawsen--he used to be a reporter here before he went to work for Nixon--I had him over for a drink a few weeks ago and he told me he wrote the Canuck letter. (she looks from one of them to the other) You did want to know, didn't you? And now from her-- CUT TO: WOODWARD and BERNSTEIN in a corner of the room, talking low and fast. BERNSTEIN You think we're being set up?--Christ, Deep Throat tells you last night that the letter came from inside the White House and up traipses Marilyn naming names. WOODWARD It makes a crazy kind of sense-- remember that initiation rite they have at the White House? Each new member of the President's staff has to prove his guts by getting an enemy of Nixon. BERNSTEIN You think this was Clawsen's initiation? WOODWARD Could have won him a fraternity paddle with a White House seal. (beat) God knows it worked. CUT TO: A FROZEN SHOT OF MUSKIE IN THE SNOW in tears, standing on the flat-bed truck. This was in the New Hampshire primary, just after the Canuck letter was published. WOODWARD (V.O.) You claiming it was all a misunderstanding, Ken? CLAWSEN (V.O.) Absolutely--Marilyn's gotten it totally wrong-- CUT TO: WOODWARD ON THE PHONE WOODWARD She's an awfully good reporter--I can't remember her getting too much wrong before, can you? CLAWSEN (V.O.) That's a bullshit question, that's a question straight out of Wichita, Kansas. WOODWARD Sorry, Ken; listen, one last thing: where did your talk with Berger happen? CLAWSEN (V.O.) Where? (beat) What do you mean, where? WOODWARD Well, was it in a bar, her apartment, some restaurant-- CLAWSEN (V.O.) --I've completely forgotten where it was, except I know it wasn't her apartment. There is a sound of him hanging up the phone. Hard. WOODWARD hangs up quietly, rubs his eyes, calls out to BERGER who is at her desk-- WOODWARD Non denial-denial, Marilyn-- BERGER is about to answer when her phone rings. She picks it up, turns to WOODWARD, mouths "it's him" and we CUT TO: BERGER ON THE PHONE. Again Clawsen on the other end. CLAWSEN (V.O.) For Chissakes, don't tell them I came to your place. BERGER I already told them. CLAWSEN (V.O.) Oh, that's terrific, that's just so terrific, I'm thrilled you did that. BERGER I have a clear conscience. CLAWSEN (V.O.) Marilyn, I have a wife and a family and a cat and a dog. Now from this-- BRADLEE IN HIS OFFICE GESTURING And we CUT TO: WOODWARD and BERNSTEIN heading toward the office. As they enter-- BRADLEE I got Clawsen on hold-- WOODWARD --his dialing finger must be falling off-- BRADLEE --what do you think?-- WOODWARD --he went to her apartment and he told her-- BERNSTEIN --if he did it or just said he did it, God knows. BRADLEE I could care less about where it happened; what happened is what counts. (calling out to his SECRETARY) Put him on. (picks up the phone) Ken, I'm sorry, it was Goddamn Beirut and they were having a crisis, what's up, kid? (pause) Slow down, Ken, you sound frazzled. (pause) A wife and a family and a cat and a dog, right, Ken. (pause) Ken, I would never print that you were in Marilyn's apartment at night-- unless, of course, you force me to. CUT TO: CLOSE UP--BRADLEE. He is genuinely enjoying himself. Now, he puts his hand over the receiver-- BRADLEE It's like they taught us at Harvard: few things are as gratifying to the soul as having another man's nuts in a vise... Now, as he goes back to talking-- CUT TO: A BIG HEADLINE IN THE POST READING: NIXON AIDES SABOTAGED DEMOCRATS. Now we HOLD on that headline as the three deniers are visible through it in the same places they spoke before. WHITE HOUSE SPOKESMAN The story is based entirely on hearsay and-- CREEP P.R. MAN --we at the Committee are continually amazed at the creativity shown by the Washington Post-- WESTERN SENATOR --although I am a Republican, I would like to state in a pure bipartisan spirit that I am happy that this latest onslaught against the intelligence of the American people will be wrapping fish tomorrow. I offer my condolences to the fish... And now, the headline fades as we CUT TO: SIMONS IN ROSENFELD'S OFFICE WOODWARD and BERNSTEIN hurry in. ROSENFELD Speak. BERNSTEIN We've just been talking to Young-- SIMONS --which Young? WOODWARD Larry Young, a California lawyer-- BERNSTEIN --he was going to go into law practice with Segretti. ROSENFELD And?-- WOODWARD --and he says Chapin hired Segretti-- SIMONS --well and good, but when will he say it on the record. WOODWARD He just did. BERNSTEIN He'll give us a sworn statement. WOODWARD We're inside the White House now. ROSENFELD and SIMONS just look at each other. They should be happy, and maybe they are. But at the moment more then anything else they look scared... HOLD. Then-- THE MONTPELIER ROOM OF THE MADISON HOTEL. It's a very fancy restaurant and BRADLEE is at a corner table as WOODWARD and BERNSTEIN sit down. They are exhausted. BRADLEE Look, I wanted to talk because things are getting really hairy and there's a couple of things we've got to be careful of because-- A waiter is nearby. BRADLEE --either of you want a drink or should I order?-- (They don't) --because-- And suddenly he lapses into perfect French with the waiter, ordering lunch ann salad and as the waiter nods and goes BRADLEE --because our cocks are on the chopping block and you've got to be sure that you're not just dealing with people who hate Richard Nixon and want to get him through us. You see, I don't give a shit who's President--I really don't, it's an adversary situation between them and us and it's always gonna be. I never had a closer friend than Jack Kennedy and once I printed something that pissed him off and for seven months I didn't exist. A wine steward appears, hands BRADLEE the list. As he examines it, a man walks up to the table, stands there... MAN You none of you know who I am, do you? (they don't) You screw me up good, you don't even know what I look like. BRADLEE OK, you've had your preamble; who the hell are you? MAN Glenn Sedam--you wrote about me last week, you said I was one of the guys at the Committee who was sent reports. You were wrong. BERNSTEIN Baldwin told the FBI it was you. SEDAM Baldwin told the FBI it was someone whose first name sounded like a last name. They showed him a list and he picked me but it wasn't me, it was Gordon Liddy. (looks at the reporters) My phone hasn't stopped ringing, my wife's hysterical, my kids think I'm mixed up with the burglary, my friends don't like me around all of a sudden. CUT TO: CLOSE UP--SEDAM SEDAM You fucked around my life, you two. (starts off) I just wanted to say thanks. BRADLEE watching WOODWARD and BERNSTEIN, who are clearly upset. BRADLEE That didn't sound to me like a non- denial denial; could you have been wrong? (they nod) You had a good source? (nod) Did he have an ax? (pause. Then another nod) CLOSE UP--BRADLEE BRADLEE All right, you made a mistake maybe, we all have, just don't make another. And watch your personal lives, who you hang around with. Someone once said the price of democracy is a bloodletting every ten years. (beat) Make sure it isn't our blood... Now from BRADLEE-- CUT TO: HUGH SLOAN holding a broom and dustpan at his front door. SLOAN I really can't talk now-- BERNSTEIN --this'll only take one second-- SLOAN --my wife just had the baby, my in- laws are arriving, I'm trying to get the house in some kind of shape. WOODWARD A boy or a girl? SLOAN A girl. Melissa. CUT TO: INSIDE THE HOUSE. WOODWARD AND BERNSTEIN are helping SLOAN with the housework. WOODWARD has a dust mop, BERNSTEIN a dust cloth. We are mostly in the living room throughout, and also throughout, the three guys beaver away tidying. WOODWARD (holding up a cup) Where does this go? SLOAN points to a shelf. WOODWARD moves to put the cup in its proper place. WOODWARD --That cash fund that financed the sabotaging of the Democrats--five guys had control-- BERNSTEIN (ticking them off) --Mitchell, Stans, Magruder, Kalmbach-- WOODWARD --we're working on the last guy now and we're going all the way--that fifth man was Haldeman. SLOAN --I'm not your source on that-- BERNSTEIN --it's gotta be Haldeman--someone from the White House had to be involved-- WOODWARD --and it wasn't Ehrlichman or Colson or the President. SLOAN No, none of those. BERNSTEIN --that leaves Haldeman, period. SLOAN I'm not your source on that. He picks up a dust pan, starts sweeping it full. WOODWARD (taking the dust pan, helping out) --look, when the Watergate grand jury questioned you, did you name names? SLOAN Of course--everything they asked-- BERNSTEIN --if we wrote a story that said Haldeman controlled the fund?-- SLOAN --let me put it this way: I'd have no problem if you did. WOODWARD and BERNSTEIN look at each other while SLOAN empties the dust pan into the trash and from there, quickly-- CUT TO: A LONG LONG LONG SHOT OF A COUPLE walking in the park. We can't really make them out clearly, we never do in this little sequence. But the guy is wearing a windbreaker and has a crew cut and the woman with him is dressed casually too. He has his arm around her, and they are deep in conversation. WOODWARD'S VOICE (V.O.) Hey? PULL BACK TO REVEAL WOODWARD and BERNSTEIN sitting on a park bench swilling down a six-pack. WOODWARD I think that's him. BERNSTEIN Who? WOODWARD Haldeman. CUT TO: THE COUPLE walking along. We just can't quite make them out. But it might be. CUT TO: WOODWARD and BERNSTEIN staring after the couple, trying to focus. BERNSTEIN Nah. (squints hard) Maybe. WOODWARD What if I went up and introduced myself--think he'd slug me? BERNSTEIN Well, we are trying to ruin his life. WOODWARD It's nothing personal, though. (looks troubled) BERNSTEIN What's the matter? WOODWARD Same as Magruder, I don't like it when they turn out to be human. BERNSTEIN (nods) I wish we were investigating Attila the Hun. WOODWARD Maybe we are... CUT TO: THE SLOW-WALKING COUPLE. They continue on. We still don't see them quite clearly. HOLD... then-- CUT TO: A PUDGY LITTLE MAN HALF-HIDDEN BEHIND A MAGAZINE. PULL BACK TO REVEAL A DRUGSTORE-TYPE PLACE. WOODWARD and BERNSTEIN are at the adjoining table. PUDGY MAN --Goddamnit, I'm not gonna say it again--you get nothing about Haldeman outta me-- WOODWARD --we don't need it now, because tomorrow's story is about the FBI-- BERNSTEIN --about how all you supposed experts really blew the whole investigation-- FBI GUY (stung) --we didn't miss so much-- WOODWARD --you never knew Haldeman had control of the slush fund-- FBI GUY --it's all in our files-- BERNSTEIN --not about Haldeman-- FBI GUY --yeah, Haldeman, John Haldeman. And he gets up quickly, goes. WOODWARD and BERNSTEIN savor the moment but only briefly as it hits them-- BERNSTEIN --Jesus-- WOODWARD --he said John Haldeman, not Bob Haldeman-- And as they take off after the agent-- CUT TO: BRADLEE'S OFFICE. WOODWARD, BERNSTEIN, BRADLEE, SIMONS, ROSENFELD. Wild tension. The editors have a long story and they all read and pace, read and pace; the reporters look traumatized with fatigue. All this goes fast. BRADLEE (staring at the typed story) --I don't know, I don't know, it feels thin-- SIMONS --Christ, I wish I knew if we should print this-- ROSENFELD --listen, we didn't make them do these things--once they did, it's our job to report it-- SIMONS (to the reporters) --go over your sources again-- WOODWARD --Sloan told the Grand Jury--he answered everything they asked him-- that means there's a record somewhere-- BERNSTEIN --and the FBI confirms--what more do you need?-- ROSENFELD (whirling to BERNSTEIN) --listen, I love this country, you think I want to bring it down?--I'm not some goddamn zany, I was a hawk-- SIMONS --Harry, weren't you just arguing the opposite way?-- ROSENFELD --maybe I'm tense-- BRADLEE --well shit, we oughtta be tense-- we're about to accuse Mr. Haldeman who only happens to be the second most important man in America of conducting a criminal conspiracy from inside the White House-- (beat) --it would be nice if we were right-- SIMONS (to the reporters) --you double-checked both sources?-- They nod. BRADLEE --Bernstein, are you sure on this story? BERNSTEIN Absolutely-- BRADLEE (to WOODWARD) --what about you?-- WOODWARD --I'm sure-- BRADLEE --I'm not sure, it still feels thin-- (looks at SIMONS) SIMONS (to WOODWARD and BERNSTEIN, after a puse) --get another source. Now quickly CUT TO: WOODWARD and BERNSTEIN huddling outside BRADLEE's office. BERNSTEIN How many fucking sources they think we got?-- WOODWARD --Deep Throat won't confirm--I never thought he was scared of anyone, but he's scared of Haldeman. BERNSTEIN I know a guy in the Justice Department who was around the Grand Jury. (looks at WOODWARD) WOODWARD --We got twenty minutes to deadline-- And as he speaks CUT TO: BERNSTEIN talking softly from a relatively private phone in the newsroom. The voice of the lawyer is also whispered and scared to death. LAWYER'S VOICE (O.S.) (barely audible) ...You shouldn't ever call me like this, Carl... BERNSTEIN Will you confirm that Haldeman was mentioned by Sloan to the Grand Jury? LAWYER'S VOICE (O.S.) ...I won't say anything about Haldeman... not ever... BERNSTEIN (desperate) All right--listen--it's against the law if you talk about the Grand Jury, right? But you don't have to say a thing--I'll count to ten--if the story's wrong, hang up before I get there--if it's OK stay on the line till after, got it? LAWYER (O.S.) Hang up, right? BERNSTEIN Right, right--OK, counting: one, two-- (he inhales deeply) --three, four, five, six-- (now he's starting to get excited) --seven, eight-- (inhales deeply) --nine, ten, thank you. LAWYER (O.S.) You've got it straight now? Everything OK? BERNSTEIN (on a note of triumph) Yeah! And on that shout CUT TO: A HEADLINE IN THE POST--A PHOTO VISIBLE OF HALDEMAN: "TESTIMONY TIES TOP NIXON AIDE TO SECRET FUND" CUT TO: THE WHITE HOUSE SPOKESMAN WHITE HOUSE SPOKESMAN On the record let me say just this: the story is totally untrue. On background, I'd like to add that Bob Haldeman is one of the greatest public servants this country has ever had and the story is a goddamned lie. NOW FAST ZOOM TO: BRADLEE roaring out of his office doorway. BRADLEE Woodstein! CUT TO: WOODWARD and BERNSTEIN tearing into BRADLEE's office--he stands scowling at the TV set in a corner of the room-- outside, it is raining like hell. CUT TO: THE TV SET. SLOAN is walking along toward a large office building, he is flanked by a lawyer. A TV Reporter (it was DANIEL SCHORR) is walking alongside, mike in hand. SCHORR Mr. Sloan, would you care to comment on your testimony before the Grand Jury. SLOAN My lawyer says-- SLOAN'S LAWYER --the answer is an unequivocal no. Mr. Sloan did not implicate Mr. Haldeman in that testimony at all. CUT TO: WOODWARD and BERNSTEIN. They look sick. Desperate, tired, stunned, confused; there is nothing to say. CUT TO: BRADLEE glaring at them. HOLD ON BRADLEE... then CUT TO: THE FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION in the rain, and CUT TO: A CORRIDOR IN THE BUILDING AS THE PUDGY FBI MAN retreats down the hall. WOODWARD and BERNSTEIN, soaked, chase after him. FBI MAN --I'll deny everything--everything-- I never talked to you about Haldeman-- I never talked to you about anything-- I'm not talking to you now-- BERNSTEIN --what went wrong?-- WOODWARD --for Chrissakes just tell that-- PUDGY FBI MAN --fuck you fuck you fuck you-- And he tears into an office, slams the door and as we hear it lock-- CUT TO: THIS IS WHERE THE SOURCE BURNING SCENE WOULD COME BUT I AM NOT WRITING IT FOR THIS VERSION. My reasons are as follows: (1) it is a complicated long scene to put down; (2) we are terribly late in our story; (3) it would mean, here, two hours into the movie, we are bringing in an entirely new character; the FBI agent's head to whom they go, and I think that is unnecessary and confusing; and (4) most important, I think the characters have been abused enough in this version--we have added the Sedam scene and they are berated more in this version by the CREEP people before things turn. (5) Finally, all this can show in reality is that they are desperate, and I would rather let the actors give that to us. I feel that it would be a genuine error at this time in the flick to go into the convolutions of how it's bad manners for a reporter to burn a source, if we've got anything going by this point, I can't conceive of much an audience will be less interested in than the reporters misbehaving. However, if the scene is requested next time through, I shall be only too happy to oblige. What I would like to do is cut from the FBI saying "fuck you fuck you fuck you" and locking his door to the following: WOODWARD and BERNSTEIN walking in the rain. It's pouring as they leave FBI Headquarters and they are in anguish. BERNSTEIN (after a while) Woodward? WOODWARD Hmm? BERNSTEIN What was the mistake? Do you think it's been rigged, all along the way, leading us on so they could slip it to us when it mattered? They couldn't have set us up better; after all these months our credibility's gone, you know what that means? WOODWARD (nods) Only everything... They are soaked, Nearby is a garbage can, they grab papers, hold them over their heads, start to walk. Now-- CAMERA MOVES UP HIGHER TO REVEAL The papers they grabbed were the Post front page. (This happened.) And as they walked, the Haldeman story was on their heads. HOLD on the reporters walking miserably through the rain. Now-- CUT TO: THE POST. A tremendous pall has settled on the city room. People walk by, glancing at WOODWARD and BERNSTEIN, who sit almost immobilized at their desks, wet, whipped; no energy left. CUT TO: BRADLEE'S OFFICE. SIMONS sits across from BRADLEE as ROSENFELD enters quietly with a bundle of teletype paper. SIMONS (indicating the papers) More denunciations? ROSENFELD (nods) One Senator just gave a speech slurring us 57 times in 20 minutes. BRADLEE has started typing something brief. When ROSENFELD's done, so is he. He hands it to SIMONS. SIMONS What's this? BRADLEE My non-denial denial. ROSENFELD We're not printing a retraction? CUT TO: CLOSE UP--BRADLEE. He is thoughtful for a while. Then, spinning around, staring out towards the newsroom: BRADLEE Fuck it, let's stand by the boys. And he stands, spins out of the room as we CUT TO: THE FLOWER POT ON WOODWARD'S TERRACE. The rain has stopped. The apartment is dark. It's late at night. Inside, the phone RINGS and CUT TO: WOODWARD'S APARTMENT in the dark as he manages to knock the phone off its cradle. WOODWARD Hello? BERNSTEIN'S VOICE (O.S.) What'd you find? WOODWARD Jesus Christ, what time is it? BERNSTEIN You overslept? WOODWARD Goddamnit!-- He fumbles for the lamp, as it falls with a CRASH-- CUT TO: WOODWARD--MOVING. Hair wild, clothes half-buttoned, he runs through the dark Washington streets as we CUT TO: TWO WELL-DRESSED MEN in the shadows across the street, going in the same direction and CUT TO: WOODWARD spotting them, picking up the pace and CUT TO: THE TWO MEN moving faster too and now CUT TO: A BUNCH OF CABS. WOODWARD jumps into the first and as it roars off CUT TO: THE TWO MEN getting into a cab also, roaring off in the same direction and CUT TO: WOODWARD'S CAB taking a corner fast and as it goes on, HOLD until the second cab takes the same corner, faster, and now CUT TO: WOODWARD jumping out of his cab, fumbling into his pockets for change as we CUT TO: THE TWO MEN getting out of their cab, paying, and as their cab drives off CUT TO: WOODWARD diving back into his cab and in a moment it is roaring again through the night and we CUT TO: THE TWO WELL-DRESSED MEN standing on the sidewalk, watching as WOODWARD disappears into the night and then suddenly, ZOOM TO: DEEP THROAT IN CLOSE UP AND MAD. DEEP THROAT --you were doing so well and then you got stupid, you went too fast-- Christ, what a royal screw up-- PULL BACK TO REVEAL DEEP THROAT and WOODWARD in the underground garage. WOODWARD --I know, I know, the pressure's off the White House and it's all back on the Post-- DEEP THROAT --you've done worse than let Haldeman slip away, you've got people feeling sorry for him--I didn't think that was possible. A conspiracy like this-- the rope has to tighten slowly around everyone's neck. You build from the outer edges and you go step by step. If you shoot too high and miss, then everybody feels more secure. You've put the investigation back months. WOODWARD We know that--and if we were wrong, we're resigning--were we wrong? DEEP THROAT You'll have to find that out, won't you?-- CUT TO: WOODWARD exploding. WOODWARD --I'm tired of your chickenshit games-- I don't want hints, I want what you know! CUT TO: DEEP THROAT. He blinks for a moment. Then he begins to whisper. DEEP THROAT It was a Haldeman operation--the whole business--he ran the money, but he was insulated, you'll have to find out how-- WOODWARD takes a breath, nods. DEEP THROAT --wait-- (almost a smile) --there's more... And from his weathered face CUT TO: WOODWARD walking up to his apartment house later that night. He sees, and then we see, BERNSTEIN, asleep at the front door. He comes awake as WOODWARD approaches. WOODWARD We gotta go see Bradlee--I'll fill you in in the car. CUT TO: BRADLEE IN HIS DOORWAY IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT. It's a house with a lawn and from somewhere there is the SOUND of dogs barking. BRADLEE You couldn't have told me over the phone? CUT TO: WOODWARD and BERNSTEIN moving up the walk to BRADLEE. WOODWARD We can't trust the phones, not anymore. Deep Throat says so. As WOODWARD beckons for him to move out into the lawn-- BRADLEE We can't talk inside either? WOODWARD (headshake) Electronic surveillance. CUT TO: THE THREE OF THEM MOVING OUT ONTO THE LAWN. It's October now. You can see their breaths as they speak. BERNSTEIN I finally got through to Sloan--it was all a misunderstanding that we had: he would have told the Grand Jury about Haldeman, he was ready to, only nobody on the Grand Jury asked him the goddamn question. WOODWARD So I guess you could say that we screwed up, but we weren't wrong. BRADLEE Anything else from Mr. Throat? WOODWARD Mitchell started the cover-up early, everyone is involved in the cover- up, all the way to the top. The whole U.S. intelligence community is mixed in with the covert activities. The extent of it is incredible. (little pause) And people's lives are in danger, maybe including ours. CUT TO: BRADLEE. He nods again, starts walking the two reporters back toward WOODWARD's car. BRADLEE He's wrong on that last, we're not in the least danger, because nobody gives a shit--what was that Gallup Poll result? Half the country's never even heard the word Watergate. CUT TO: THE RED KARMANN GHIA as the three approach. BRADLEE Look, you're both probably a little tired, right? (They nod) You should be, you've been under a lot of pressure. So go home, have a nice hot bath, rest up fifteen minutes if you want before you get your asses back in gear-- (louder now) --because we're under a lot of pressure, too, and you put us there-- not that I want it to worry you-- nothing's riding on you except the First Amendment of the Constitution plus the freedom of the press plus the reputation of a hundred-year-old paper plus the jobs of the two thousand people who work there-- (still building) --but none of that counts as much as this: you fuck up again, I'm gonna lose my temper. (pause; softer) I promise you, you don't want me to lose my temper. (shooing them off) Move-move-move--what have you done for me tomorrow...? And as they get back into the car-- CUT TO: THE NEWSROOM--EARLY MORNING and it's empty pretty much, except at their desks sit WOODWARD and BERNSTEIN, typing away. They type on and on and as they do, voices are HEARD, the same voices we've become familiar with, the WESTERN SENATOR, the CREEP P.R. MAN and the WHITE HOUSE SPOKESMAN. WESTERN SENATOR (O.S.) Although I'm a Republican, I would like to state in a pure bipartisan spirit tht the greatest political scandal of this campaign is the brazen manner in which, without benefit of clergy, the Washington Post has set up housekeeping with the McGovern campaign... CREEP P.R. MAN For twenty years, the Eastern liberal press has been trying to smear Dick Nixon. Fortunately, the American public is too smart to be fooled by... WHITE HOUSE SPOKESMAN I have been informed reliably by John Dean that no one connected with the White House... WESTERN SENATOR (coming in, overlapping) It is only our pathetic Post that deliberately tries to infuse the Watergate caper with a seriousness far beyond those shenanigans that have been the stock trade of political pranksters ever since... WOODWARD and BERNSTEIN work on. And now, as the voices continue condemning, we see them--all the President's men-- as their faces flash on the screen for an instant--only these aren't fashion portraits we're looking at, these are the mug shots of the men taken when they went to jail and they flash on, the mug shots and the name and across each the word CONVICTED. There's VIRGILIO GONZALES--CONVICTED, and EUGENIO MARTINEZ, CONVICTED, and FRANK STURGIS, CONVICTED, and BERNARD BARKER, CONVICTED, and JAMES McCORD, CONVICTED, and HOWARD HUNT, CONVICTED, and GORDON LIDDY, CONVICTED, and DONALD SEGRETTI, CONVICTED, and DWIGHT CHAPIN, CONVICTED, and now the denunciations are louder, shriller, briefer. WHITE HOUSE SPOKESMAN An insult to the American public-- CREEP P.R. MAN --the deplorable tactics employed by the Washington Post-- WESTERN SENATOR --I have been given access to evidence in possession of the White House and that evidence-- WOODWARD and BERNSTEIN type on. Their machines are the only SOUND in the enormous room. And now more mug shots appear-- JEB MAGRUDER, CONVICTED, EGIL KROGH, CONVICTED, JOHN DEAN, CONVICTED, JOHN EHRLICHMAN, CONVICTED, CHARLES COLSON, CONVICTED, HERBERT KALMBACH, CONVICTED, and LARUE and PORTER and MITCHELL and HALDEMAN--all, all the President's men-- CONVICTED. Now-- THE CAMERA STARTS TO MOVE toward the pillar, the one that separates the two reporters, and the denunciations are still going on, but not so loud now, not so fierce. WESTERN SENATOR Well, if I was wrong, I sure the hell wasn't alone-- CREEP --the fact remains that except for Watergate, we ran one hell of a great campaign... The CAMERA is almost at the pillar now. BERNSTEIN bums a cigarette from a cleaning lady. WOODWARD kicks his typewriter. Then they both go back to work. Now we're at the pillar. That's all we see. Just that. And all we HEAR is the two reporters working away, on and on until-- FINAL FADE OUT: THE END 
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+					 UNTITLED	 Cameron Crowe	 December, 1998					UNTITLED	1	FADE IN								1	A close-shot of a yellow legal tablet.  A young hand comes	into frame, holding a pencil.  For a few moments, we hear only	the soft scratching of pencil on paper, as credits are written	in a series of dissolves.  The hand carefully erases and	corrects an error or two along the way.  And then the sound of	an old friend... the warm crackle of a vinyl record... as we	now hear Alvin and the Chipmunks' "Christmas Song."	2	EXT. PACIFIC OCEAN -- DAY					2	A lone palm tree rises up into a yellow afternoon sky.  Behind	it, the sparkling blue of the Pacific Ocean and the city of	San Diego.  A dry, hot Southern California day.  Even the wind	is lazy, and a little bored.	3	EXT. NEIGHBORHOOD SHOPPING CENTER - DAY				3	Santa Claus wears shorts and sandals, ringing a bell as he	collects for the Salvation Army.  This is Christmas in the	Southland.  No snow, no winter wonderland.  Just a pleasantly	thick heat and an unchanging season, as music continues.	Turning the corner, walking into frame is ELAINE MILLER, 35.	She is a tall woman, consumed by the fevered conversation she's	Having with her pale young son WILLIAM, late pre-teens.  They	stand apart from the other shoppers.  All around them is the	highly-charged salesmanship of the season... silver glittering	fake Christmas trees.  She hurries her son through the	commercial juggernaut, continuing their lively intellectual	conversation, when something stops her.  A Workman is affixing	letters to a store-front.  He has already placed the MERRY...	now he's finishing the XMAS.  Elaine is strong, but always	pleasant, always clear about her purpose in this life.					ELAINE			Excuse me, I'm a teacher.  There is no			word in The English Language -- "Xmas."			It's either Merry Christmas... or Happy			Holidays.	The Workman nods thanks, with faux appreciation, as Mom turns	away.  The Workman shares a look with William, who shrugs -	that's my Mom.	TITLE: 1969	4	EXT.  MINI-TRACT CONDO COMPLEX -- DAY				4	This is the new professional-class.  It's a mini-condo	community.  Rows of Spanish-styled three-bedroom houses with	common walls.   Move in on one of these homes, the one without	Christmas lights.  At the door is a furtive 15 year-old Girl.	She checks her cheek, straightens her hair.  She hides	something under her coat, and gathers the proper nonchalance	to enter.  Music fades.	5	INT. KITCHEN -- DAY						5	We now hear the dialogue between this lively Mother and her	son, as she cooks a pan full of soy-based health-food cutlets.	The meal simmers unappetizingly in the pan.  Across the kitchen	we see William.  He's a great listener, with a calm and curious	face that takes everything in.					WILLIAM			- so Livia -					ELAINE			-- killed everyone off so her son			Tiberius could inherit the throne.				(thoughtful pause)			Just like Nixon.	William nods, intrigued.  He has a good disposition.  The	world of knowledge engages him, and he loves what it brings	out in his Mom.  There is a small clatter at the front door,	as the girl we've just seen enters, barely brushing some chimes.	She silently curses herself.					ELAINE (cont'd)			Anita, is that you?					ANITA'S VOICE			Hey Mom!  I already ate.	Mom moves to the living room to greet William's sister.  William	peers into the next room.	6	INT. LIVING ROOM -- DAY						6	She's almost to her bedroom down the hall when mom catches	her.  We now discover ANITA, 16, up-close.  She is an alluring	young Natalie Wood, with a suspicious and sunny smile.					ELAINE			You sure?  I'm making soy cutlets.	The words "soy cutlets" sends a small shiver through the girl.					ANITA			I'm fine.  Already ate.	William stands in the doorway now, watching, monitoring, as	Mom moves closer to his sister.  She sees something curious	about her daughter.					ELAINE			Wait.  You've been kissing.					ANITA				(too quickly)			No I haven't.					ELAINE				(peering at her lips)			Yes... yes, you have...					ANITA			No I haven't.					ELAINE			Yes you have.  I can tell.					ANITA				(boldly)			You can't tell.	Mom steps closer and examines the lips even more carefully.	To her, everything is a quest for knowledge.					ELAINE			Not only can I tell, I know who it is.			It's Darryl.	Anita is stunned silent.  She turns slightly to look at herself	in a hall mirror, searching for clues, implicating herself	immediately.					ELAINE (cont'd)			And what have you got under your coat?	This is the booty Anita didn't want to give up.  Mom picks at	the corner of an album cover now visible under her jacket.	She withdraws the album. It's Simon and Garfunkel's Bookends.					ANITA				(busted)			It's unfair that we can't listen to			our music!					ELAINE				(weary of the issue)			Honey, it's all about drugs and			promiscuous sex.					ANITA			Simon and Garfunkel is poetry!					ELAINE			Yes it's poetry.  It's the poetry of			drugs and promiscuous sex.  Look at			the picture on the cover...	CLOSE ON BOOKENDS ALBUM COVER	Mom's fingers at the edges.  We examine the insolent faces on	Richard Avedon's classic album cover.  Even Simon and Garfunkle	look guilty under her scholarly inspection.					ELAINE (cont'd)			... honey, they're on pot.					ANITA			First it was butter, then sugar and			white flour.				(beat)			Bacon. Eggs, bologna, rock and roll,			motorcycles.	Nearby, William squirms as he watches the gently escalating	conversation.  Anita glances at her brother.  He silently	urges her to downshift.  She can't.					ANITA (cont'd)			Then it was celebrating Christmas on a			day in September When you knew it			wouldn't be "commercialized."					ELAINE			That was an experiment.  But I			understand -					ANITA			What else are you going to ban?					ELAINE			Honey, you want to rebel against			knowledge.					ELAINE (cont'd)			I'm trying to give you the Cliff's			Notes on how to live in this world.					ANITA				(simple and direct)			We're like nobody else I know.	These are the words that sting Mom most.					ELAINE			I'm a teacher.  Why can't I teach my			own kids?				(pats chest)			Use me.					ANITA			Darryl says you use knowledge to keep			me down.  He says I'm a "yes" person			and you're trying to raise us in a			"no" environment!					ELAINE				(immediately, can't help			it)			Well, clearly, "no" is a word Darryl			doesn't hear much.	Anita gasps.  Ever the peacemaker, William weighs in.  Nearby	is a poster - "No More War."					WILLIAM			Mom --					ELAINE			Everything I say is wrong.					ANITA			I can't live here!  I hate you!  Even			William hates you!					WILLIAM			I don't hate her.					ANITA				(to William)			You don't even know the truth!	William looks vaguely confused.					ELAINE			Sweetheart, don't be a drama queen.	Anita takes a breath and then out of her mouth comes the	strangled-sounding words of a kid swearing at her parent for	the first time.					ANITA			Feck  you!  All of you!					ELAINE			Hey!	Anita runs down the hall to her room.  Elaine turns to William,	relating to him more as a fellow parent than a child.					ELAINE (cont'd)			Well, there it is.  Your sister using			the "f" word.					WILLIAM			I think she said "feck."					ELAINE				(sputtering)			What's the difference?					WILLIAM				(encouraging)			Well.  The letter "u"...	Shot moves in on the kid, as we hear the opening strains of	The Moody Blues' "Nights in White Satin."	7	INT.   SCHOOL DANCE/GYMNASIUM BATHROOM -- NIGHT			7	Music continues.  Shot moves along a row of very mature-looking	male teenagers, examining themselves in the bathroom mirror.	There's the kid with a very mature-looking moustache, the  kid	proudly sporting full-blown hormonal acne (he slaps on some	Hai Karate), the guy to whom puberty has already delivered the	face of an adult, complete with long jutting sideburns... and	then a blank space at the mirror, as the shot moves down, down,	down to find William.  He is so much younger, without a zit in	sight.  Puberty is so very distant on his horizon.	8	INT. DANCE -- NIGHT -- UNDER-CRANKED				 8	Song continues as we see William's perspective of these much-	older looking kids.  Girls now are visible, and they are even	more mature than the boys we've just seen.  They flirt and	glow, arms trailing across the shoulders of the boys.	Whispering in each other's ears, none of them looking down.	It's a troubling experience, to be this close to the alluring	world of older teenagers... and to be so invisible to them.					VOICE (O.S.)			Are you really in our grade?	9	INT. JUNIOR HIGH LOCKER ROOM -- DAY				  9					VOICE				(louder)			Are you really in our grade?	William turns to see tall, adenoidal TIM TOBIN.  The most mature	looking kid we've seen yet, he challenges William in a loud	theatrical tone.  It is a voice right out of Guys and Dolls,	which incidentally is the school play in which Tobin had just	starred.  William answers in a respectful voice.  He is	desperate for acceptance.					WILLIAM			Yeah.					TOBIN			Hey guys!  Check it out!  William			doesn't have any pubes!	Others now begin to gather around, examining William.  He has	never been more naked.					GUY # 1			How old are you man?					TOBIN			He's not a man, he's a little baby			kid.  He Doesn't even get zits yet.					GUY # 2			How come you don't have any hair down			there?					TOBIN				(in loud, funny voice)			Where are your pubes???!!	Their voices echo off the tiled walls.  Now everyone is watching	the hairless William.  He is confused by their meanness.					GUY # 2			Yeah.  Where are your pubes?	All eyes are on him, waiting for a response.  The kid's mental	wheels turn frantically.  And from somewhere comes an attitude,	a swagger, and somehow the perfect line arrives from what could	only be a merciful deity.					WILLIAM				(cool, dismissive)			I had 'em.  I shaved 'em off.	It is a new persona for the kid -- the witty guy.  And it works.	Guy #2 cracks up, then others.  William's new accuser is	suddenly surrounded by the impressed gales of laughter of these	older boys.  Others turn away, on to other things.  Tobin stares	at William, and then also turns away.	10    INT. FAMILY CAR -- DAY						10	William jumps into the backseat of the white Ford Country Sedan	station wagon, carrying books.  ("See ya pubes!")  Mom continues	driving William and Anita home from school.					ELAINE				(cheerfully, by rote, to			William in back)			Put on your seatbelt.   I don't want			you flying through the windshield.	Anita examines her own un-fastened seatbelt, which Mom hasn't	noticed.					WILLIAM			We got our annuals today --					ELAINE				(cheerful, automatic)			"Received" your annual.					WILLIAM				(looking at his photo)			I look so much younger than everyone			else.					ELAINE			Enjoy it while you can.	Camera drifts from Mom to Anita, who can take it no longer.					ANITA			Mom.  It's time.					ELAINE				(pleasant, pointed)			Can this wait until we get home?					ANITA			Mom, pull over.  Tell him the truth.			Tell him how old he is.	Mom pulls over, and stares straight ahead with deep irritation.					ELAINE				(as in "be quiet")			He knows how old he is.					ANITA			The other kids make fun of him because			of How young he looks.  Nobody includes			him.	They call him "The Narc" behind his back...					WILLIAM			They do?					ELAINE			What's a "Narc?"					ANITA			(bleeding for her brother)			A Narcotics Officer!					ELAINE			Well what's wrong with that?					WILLIAM				(ever the peacemaker)			Come on you guys.  It's no big deal.			I'm 12.  It's okay. She skipped me a			grade, it's okay.  Big deal.   I'm a			year younger.  They're 13, I'm 12 --				(beat)			Aren't I?	Their silence is eloquent.					ELAINE				(confessing, in a rush)			I also put you in first grade when you			were five and never told you.					WILLIAM				(trembling)			So...  I'm... how old?	A heavy quiet.  She and his sister ignore him, as they now	debate the subject with each other.					ANITA			You lied to him!  You make such a big			deal about the truth and you lied!					ELAINE				(that one hurts)			He never asked.					ANITA			What -- like he's going to ask if he's			as old as he thinks he is?  Don't you			realize, this is going to scar him			forever?					ELAINE			Honey... sweetheart... don't be			Cleopatra.  We have to be his mother			and his Dad.					ANITA			You put too much pressure on him!					WILLIAM				(apprehensive)			How... old...					ANITA			And when he rebels in some strange and			odd way, don't blame me.					WILLIAM			... am I?					ELAINE				(matter of fact)			I skipped you an extra grade.  You're			eleven.					WILLIAM			(horrified, voice crackling)			ELEVEN?	He looks at his body, the information affects him physically.	New sounds come from way down deep inside.  Mom now begins	speed-rapping, trying to stem the leak.  She starts the car.					ELAINE			So you skipped fifth grade.  There's			too  much padding In the grades.  I			taught elementary school.  5th grade -			unnecessary.  Nothing happens in the			5th grade.  All Teachers know it, no			one talks about it.					WILLIAM				(still in shock)			E - leven.					ELAINE			And you skipped kindergarten because I			taught it to you when you were four.					WILLIAM			(still horrified, looking			 at his body)			This explains... so much...					ANITA			You've robbed him of an adolescence!					ELAINE			Adolescence is a marketing tool.					ANITA			He's got no "crowd"... no friends...					WILLIAM			Okay!	Anita reaches out to her brother.  With the compassion of a	saint, she offers this:					ANITA			Honey, I know you were expecting			puberty.  You're just going to have to			shine it on for a while.	Deeply embarrassed, William shrinks down in the seat.  Mom	monitors his face constantly.  She is raw and sincere... and	yes, inspiring:					ELAINE			Who needs a "crowd?"  You're unique.  You're			two years ahead of everybody.  Take those			extra years and do what you want.  Go to			Europe for a year!  Take a look around,			see what you like!  Follow your dream!			You'll still be the youngest lawyer in the			country.  Your own great grandfather			practiced law until he was 93.  Your dad			was so proud of you.  He knew you were a			pronominally accelerated child.					ANITA			What about me?					ELAINE				(heartbroken, can't help			herself)			You're rebellious and ungrateful of my			love.					ANITA			Well, somebody's gotta be normal around			here!					WILLIAM				(blinking, still can't			believe it)			Eleven.	11    INT. WILLIAM'S BEDROOM -- DAY					11	William finishes the last of many candy bars.  A mound of	wrappers sit just below the mirror.  He examines his face	hopefully for zits.  Nothing coming.  We begin to hear Simon	and Garfunkel's "America."	12    INT. LIVING ROOM - DAY						12	Anita stands in the living room.   The song continues playing	on the stereo.					ANITA			I want to play you a song that explains			why I'm leaving, and try to listen.					ELAINE			We can't talk?  We have to listen to			rock music?	13    EXT. FRONT LAWN -- DAY						13	William watches sadly.  Anita's good-looking boyfriend DARRYL,	a dead ringer for young Stephen Stills, loads her suitcases	into a large turqouise Chevy.  The suitcases are adorned with	plastic stick-on flowers.    All coolness is leaving William's	life.  Mom watches nearby, worried and helpless.   (Their house	is more austere, less "fun" than the other front lawns.)					WILLIAM			Take good care of her in San Francisco,			man.	Darryl gives the kid a sub-human look.  He's invisible, too	young to converse with.					ELAINE			How can she leave such a loving family?	Anita turns and heads towards them.  She focuses on William,	placing her hands on his young shoulders.  Her face is very	close to him now, as she delivers this sage prediction of the	future.					ANITA			One day you'll be cool.	He nods stoically, hopefully.  He is utterly lost.  She leans	forward and whispers in his ear.					ANITA (cont'd)			Look under your bed.  It'll set you			free.	Anita shakes hands with Mom, and exits.  As the car takes off:					ELAINE			She'll be back.	In the distance we hear the whoop of her daughter.					ANITA			YEAHHHHH-HOOOOOOOO.					ELAINE			Maybe not soon...	William watches wistfully.  He moves away from his mother.	She pulls him closer.  Shot moves in on his slightly fearful	face.	14    INT. DARRYL'S CAR - DAY						14	Anita looks back at the receding American Gothic-image of her	mother and brother.  Sister waves to brother.  She feels for	him.  Music now shifts to The Who's "Sparks."	15    INT. BEDROOOM -- NIGHT						15	William locks the door.  He reaches under his bed.  It's a	black leatherette travel bag, with tartan design.  He unzips	the bag -- it's filled with albums.  He flips through the	amazing, subversive cache of music.  Cream's Wheels of Fire...	the seminal Bob Dylan bootleg Great White Wonder... the Rolling	Stones' Get Yer Ya Ya's Out... The Beach Boys' Pet Sounds...	Abraxas by Santana... Jethro Tull's Stand Up... The Mother's of	Invention's We're Only In It For The Money...  Led Zeppelin...	Crosby, Stills and Nash... Miles Davis' Bitches Brew... and	The Who's Tommy... with a note taped to it.					ANITA (V.O.)			"Listen to Tommy with a candle burning			and you will see your entire future..."	The heady effect of all these albums registers, as we see him	lighting a candle.	TITLE:  1973	DETAIL SHOT OF NOTEBOOK	A blue school notebook, with ballpoint pen renderings of the	names of groups like the Who and Led Zeppelin, complete with	carefully drawn thunderbolts.  Also, the name LESTER BANGS.	16    INT. JOURNALISM CLASS -- DAY					16	William, now 15, sits in class with book, Adventures in	Journalism.  His hair is shoulder-length.  A dedicated teacher,	PATRICIA DEEGAN, walks the aisles.  Music continues.	17    EXT. FOOD MACHINES - DAY						17	William presses the food machine button, pulls an orange from	a vending container.  He still looks younger than most of the	students... and these days, especially the girls.	18    EXT. LUNCH COURT -- DAY						18	William sits apart from all the others, under a tree.  He reads	intently, happily, as he eats the orange.  It's a copy of Creem	Magazine.  Music continues.	CLOSE ON PHOTOS IN MAGAZINE	Camera moves across the photos, catching the expressions and	fashions of the rock heroes of the day.  Ian Anderson of Jethro	Tull, eyes wide and hair flying as he plays flute.  Neil Young,	enigmatic with perfectly patched Levis.  The Southern Rock Royalty	of The Allman Brothers Band, posing and laughing in front of	massive stacks of amps.  Marc Bolan of T. Rex, his ringlet-hair	backlit by stage lights.  David Bowie in skin-tight Japanese one-	piece attire, onstage with The Spiders From Mars.  Pete Townsend	of the Who, slashing windmill-style at his guitar.	Drift down to a by-line - by Lester Bangs.	19    EXT. PARKING LOT - DAY						19	William walks through the parking lot after school.  Everybody	now congregates around the new arrival of their lives - their	own cars.  Arms suddenly clap William on the back, friendly	faces smile strangely, laughing.  He takes a few steps and	looks up to see... a school official is hurriedly removing	something from the high-school marquee.	HIGH-SCHOOL MARQUEE	which reads: WILLIAM MILLER IS TOO YOUNG TO DRIVE (OR FUCK)	All are laughing.  He laughs with them, and turns as his face	goes slack.  He shrugs, marches on.	20    EXT. DOWNTOWN SAN DIEGO RADIO STATION -- DAY			20	The song we've been listening to is ripped off the turntable by	a highly-active man in a red promotional t-shirt proclaiming the	greatness of The Guess Who.  He is a ferocious, lumbering, music-	driven presence, and he fills this small radio studio to the	very brim.  This is LESTER BANGS, 25, the rarely-seen God of a	then new art-form -- Rock Journalism.  A Disc-jockey with long-	long hair watches helplessly.  William views all this through a	glass window.  He stands on the corner of a downtown side	street, halfway up a steep incline.  He is the only person on	the streets this early Saturday morning.  Reveal that he is	watching a live radio show, audible to us through the small	p.a. speaker overhead.					DISC-JOCKEY			Quite an honor to have the World's			Greatest Rock Critic... and editor of			Creem Magazine, back Home in San Diego			for a few days -- Lester Bangs.					LESTER BANGS			What is this hippie station?!  Where's			Iggy Pop?  Don't you have a copy of			Raw Power?!					DISC-JOCKEY			Lester, isn't it a little early for			this?	Bangs searches for the album -- vinyl flying everywhere now,	with no regard for album jackets.					BANGS			Found it!!	21    EXT. RADIO STATION -- DAY						21	William watches intently.  Bangs thuds the needle onto a copy	of Raw Power.   We're rewarded with a blast of Iggy and the	Stooges' "Search and Destroy."   A closer shot on William now	watching the whirlwind of anarchy inside.  Lester does an Iggy	Pop impression, acting out a story for the d.j. that we cannot	hear, never noticing the kid soaking in everything from the	other side of this double-glass window.	22    EXT. RADIO STATION -- DAY -- LATER				22	Bangs walks with William on this sharply inclined San Diego	street.  It's early, the streets are silent.  Bangs is about	fifteen beer pounds overweight.  His jeans are loose, his	paleness and messy moustache an emblem of the long days and	nights spent writing.  In there somewhere is a good-looking	guy.  His hands are thrust deeply into his pockets, and he	takes big sweeping steps.					BANGS			So you're the one who's been sending			me those articles from your school			newspaper -					WILLIAM			I've been doing some stuff for a local			underground paper, too.					BANGS			What are you like the star of your			school?					WILLIAM			They hate me.					BANGS			You'll meet them all again on their			long journey to the middle.	The kid nods, they walk.					BANGS (cont'd)			Well, your writing is damn good.  It's			just a shame you missed out on rock			and roll.					WILLIAM			I did?					BANGS			Oh yeah.  It's over.					WILLIAM			Over?					BANGS			Over.  You got here just in time for			the death rattle, the last gasp, the			last grope.					WILLIAM			Well.  At least I'm here for that.	Bangs looks at the much smaller kid, shaking his head.  It's	too late for newcomers.  But if the kid's age is an issue, he	doesn't mention it.  Like a machine-gun:					BANGS			What do you type on?					WILLIAM			Smith-Corona Galaxis Deluxe.					BANGS			You like the new Lou Reed?					WILLIAM				(automatic)			The early stuff.  The new stuff, he's			trying to be Bowie, he should be			himself.  I'm not a big Lou man.					BANGS			Yeah, but if Bowie's doing Lou, and			Lou's Doing Bowie, Lou's still doing			Lou.					WILLIAM				(standing his ground)			If you like Lou.					BANGS			Take drugs?					WILLIAM			No.					BANGS			Smart kid.  I used to do speed and			sometimes Nyquil and stay up all night			writing and writing, like 25 pages of			dribble about, you know, the Guess			Who, or Coltrane, just to write, you			know, with the music blasting...					WILLIAM			Me too.  The writing part...	For a moment, the serious demeanor dissolves and the oddest	thing happens.  Bangs laughs.  It's an odd and charming laugh,	the kind a tough guy keeps well-hidden.  It surprised the kid,	who smiles back.  Bangs stops at the corner, and offers a	pleasant but very final nod of the head.					BANGS			Well, alright.  It's been nice to meet			you.  I'll see you around.  Keep sending			me your stuff.					WILLIAM			Okay.  See you.					BANGS			I can't stand here all day talking to			my many fans.	WIDE SHOT - SOLITUDE	But neither have anywhere to go on this early downtown morning.	They stand for a beat, hands in pockets, on this deserted	street.  They are alone together, there's nobody else in sight.	23    INT. DINER -- DAY							23	William listens intently as Lester eat a sandwich.  His face	is an open book filling with words.					BANGS			-- so anyway, you're from San Diego			and that's good.  Because once you go			to L.A., you're gonna have friends			like crazy but they'll be fake friends,			they're gonna try to corrupt you.  The			publicists!  The bands!  You got an			honest face, they're gonna tell you			everything.  But you CANNOT make friends			with the rock stars.	The kid takes out a green collegiate notebook and gestures --	can I make a note?  Bangs nods.					BANGS (cont'd)			Cannot make friends with the rock stars.				(savage bite)			That's what's important.  If you're a rock			journalist, a true journalist -- first you			will never get paid much.  But you will			get free records from the record company.	The kid's eyes widen.  Bangs, in direct conflict with his brutal	writing style, is looking suspiciously like a compassionate	softie.					BANGS (cont'd)			And they'll buy you drinks, you'll meet			girls... they'll try to fly you places for			free.... offer you drugs...  I know.  It			sounds great.  But they are not your			friends.   These are people who want you			to write sanctimonious stories about the			genius of the rock stars and they will			ruin rock and roll and strangle everything			we love about it.	Privately, William thrills.  We.  Our.  It all sounds great to	him.  He listens to the grouping of the words, every one of	them.  He madly scribbles.					BANGS (cont'd)			They are trying to buy respectability			for a form that is gloriously and			righteously -	The kid leans forward as Lester finds the right word.					BANGS (cont'd)			- dumb!  And you're smart enough to			know that.  And the day it ceases to			be dumb is the day it ceases to be			real.  Right?  And then it will just			Become an Industry of Cool.					WILLIAM			... Industry... of... cool...					BANGS			And that's what they want!  And it's			happening right now.  I'm telling you,			you're coming along at a very dangerous			time for rock and roll.  The war is			over.  They won.  99% of what passes			for rock now... SILENCE is much more			compelling.  It's over.  I think you			should turn around and go back and			be... a lawyer or something... but I			can see from your face that you won't.			I can pay you thirty-five bucks.  Gimme			a thousand words on Black Sabbath.					WILLIAM				(attempting cool)			An assignment.					LESTER			Yeah.  And you should build your			reputation on being honest... and			unmerciful.					WILLIAM				(writing in notebook)			Honest... unmerciful...					BANGS			And if you get into a jam -- call me.			I stay up late.	Bangs reaches across the table, and William watches as he	scribbles his number on the back of the kid's green collegiate	notebook.  The notebook has just become valuable.  They sit	together, listening to the beautiful and compelling silence.	24    INT. FAMILY CAR -- NIGHT						24	Mom drives William to the San Diego Sports Arena.  She looks	out the window at the adrenalized concert-goers.  She feels	protective not just of her son, but an entire generation.	William goes over his questions for Black Sabbath.					ELAINE			Look at this.  An entire generation of			Cinderellas and there's no slipper			coming.	William looks out the window at the sign: TONIGHT - SOLD OUT -	BLACK SABBATH with special guest Stillwater.					WILLIAM			You can drop me off here.					ELAINE			Black.  Sabbath.  Just remember - you			wanted to be Atticus Finch in To Kill			a Mockingbird.	The kid doesn't answer.  He silently goes over his questions.					ELAINE (cont'd)			As long as I know this is just a hobby,			I'll go along with it.					WILLIAM			All I have to do is listen.  That's			what Lester Bangs said.					ELAINE				(dryly)			I'll be waiting right here at eleven			'o clock sharp.  If you get lost, use			the family whistle.	He unhooks his seatbelt, stuffs his questions into an orange	canvas shoulder-bag and exits.	Elaine watches her son disappearing into the stony rock-concert	crowd.  It's a windy night.  Everything about this image	troubles her.  She fights with herself, and then uses the family	whistle immediately.  He turns.					ELAINE (cont'd)				(sweetly, too loud)			Don't take drugs!!	Fifteen concert-goers turn around instinctively, at the sound	of a Mother, and then identify William as the object of her	concern.  All around him, we hear:					HAPPY CONCERT GOERS			Don't take drugs!!	He winces, nods and moves forward.  Music echoes from the open	windows of many other cars.	25    EXT. SAN DIEGO SPORTS ARENA BACKSTAGE RAMP -- NIGHT		 25	The kid tromps down the steep incline leading to a small steel	backstage arena door.  He rings the buzzer.  The door wheezes	open to reveal the keeper of the San Diego Sports Arena's	backstage list.  Famous to all those who attempt to enter,	this is SCOTTY.  He is a wiry, humorless man for whom	powerlessness is the theme of his life -- except for those few	hours he controls the list.  Scotty is only forty but everything	about him screams that he's an angry sixty.					WILLIAM			Hi.  I'm William Miller and I'm here			from Creem Magazine to interview the			band Black Sabbath.	Scotty, immediately suspicious, moves to a nearby podium and	snaps through three clipboard pages.  He moves back to the	door and grabs the handle.					SCOTTY			Not on the list.	He shuts the door with finality.  The kid stands silently for	a moment.  He looks over his shoulder, at two chattering	Groupies watching his dilemma from the top of the ramp.  They	look at him sympathetically, but he turns away.  William rings	the buzzer again, withdrawing a copy of Creem from his bag.	The door opens.					WILLIAM			Sir, I'm a journalist, and here's a			copy of the magazine.	The magazine hangs in mid-air.					SCOTTY			You're not on the list.   Go to the			top of the ramp with the girls!	Slam.  William stands there for a moment.  Unsure of what to	do next, he looks back to the top of the ramp.  Rejected by	him just moments earlier, the groupies now feign disinterest.	Bracing himself, William rings again.  The door opens slowly	this time.  Scotty stands peering at him.					WILLIAM				(in a rush)			What-happens-after-I-go-to-the-top-of-			the-ramp with-the-gi -	Slam.  Lock.	26    EXT. TOP OF SPORTS ARENA RAMP -- NIGHT				26	William inches into the realm of the girls at the top of the	ramp.  The wind whips.  It's just him, and two Groupies in	their evening best.  They now pretend to barely notice the	young journalist who has been banished to stand with them.	Chattering excitedly, with sophistication far beyond her 17	years, is ESTRELLA.  She sports long unruly black hair.  Her	partner hangs in the shadows, adjusting shoes.  Estrella turns	to the kid with great disinterest.					ESTRELLA			Who are you with?					WILLIAM				(embarrassed to be alive)			Me?  I'm with myself.					ESTRELLA			No, who are you with?  What band?					WILLIAM			I'm here to interview Black Sabbath.				(beat)			I'm a journalist.  I'm not a... you			know...	Estrella stares at him.  Moving into the parking lot light,	introducing herself, is a luminous girl in a green faux-fur	trimmed coat.  This is PENNY LANE.  There is an inviting warmth	and real interest in the way she asks:					PENNY LANE			... you're not a what?					WILLIAM				(enthralled)			Oh... I'm just... not a... you know.					PENNY LANE			Not a "what"?					WILLIAM				(charmed)			You know.  A "groupie."	The two girls are deeply insulted by the word.					ESTRELLA			Ohhh!					WILLIAM			Sorry, I -					PENNY LANE			We.  Are not.  "Groupies."	Estrella indicates Penny with great reverence.					ESTRELLA			This is Penny Lane, man.  Show some			respect.					WILLIAM			-- sorry.	Penny steps closer, focusing completely on the kid.  Behind	her, concert-goers throw a few woo-woos their way.  She seems	not to hear them.					PENNY LANE			"Groupies" sleep with rock stars because			they want to be near someone famous.			We are here because of the music.  We			are Band Aids.					ESTRELLA			She used to run a school for Band Aids.					PENNY LANE			We don't have intercourse with these			guys.  We support the music.  We inspire			the music.  We are here because of the			music.	William is nodding like a doll in a dashboard window.	Listening.					ESTRELLA			Marc Bolan broke her heart, man.  It's			famous.					PENNY LANE			It's a long story.  I'm retired now.			I'm just visiting friends.					ESTRELLA			She was the one who changed everything.			She said "no more sex, no more			exploiting our bodies and hearts... "					WILLIAM			Right.  Right.					ESTRELLA			"... just blow-jobs, and that's it."					WILLIAM			Okay.  Well, see, now I get the			difference.	Shot drifts off him and picks up, out of the darkness, another	breathless girl teetering on tall shoes.  She is in the vicinity	of 16.  Her black hair is cropped short and died red, just	like the cover of Bowie's Aladdin Sane.  She is POLEXIA, the	voluptuous one, from Riverside.					POLEXIA				(the usual greeting)			It's all happening.  It's all happening.					ESTRELLA			Polexia!!   Did you tell Sabbath we			were going to be here?					POLEXIA			I talked to Dick with Stillwater, I			talked with Sabbath.  They're all dying			to see us.   It's all happening.					PENNY LANE			This is our journalist friend.			Journalist Friend, meet Estrella Starr,			and Polexia Aphrodisia. And you are --					WILLIAM			William.	Silent beat.  His name lands like a thud.					POLEXIA			Here comes Sabbath!					ESTRELLA			Ozzy!!!  Tony!!!  It's us!!	A long black limo with darkened windows swishes past, beeps	twice.  The metal backstage gate rises and the limo rolls	inside.  And then silence again.  The girls do not discuss	being rebuffed.					ESTRELLA (cont'd)			I think I saw Sapphire in there.					POLEXIA				(can't hold it in any longer)			Okay.  I was with Ian Hunter all night			at Rodney's Last night.  Wanna see his			spoo?  I saved it in a baggie.	She opens her purse and shows the girls something inside.	William edges away.					ESTRELLA				(peering into purse)			I'm really happy he's doing so well.					PENNY				(regarding what's in purse)			Yeah.  I know he's such a talented			guy.  I mean, look at him.  Who deserves			it more?					POLEXIA				(looking in purse)			Nobody -- he's so sweet.					ESTRELLA				(with compassion)			Don't you just root for him, you know.			To go that little distance between			good and great?					PENNY			Wait.  That's not his.  I would know			his.	A very odd look on his face, William now cranes for a discreet	look.  What's in that purse?	BAM -- THE BACKSTAGE DOOR OPENS	Out steps SAPPHIRE, 19, a tall girl with taller platforms.  Heavy	eye-makeup.  Her accent is Texan, with odd traces of English.	In one hand is a half-drained bottle of champagne.  In the other,	a fistful of backstage passes.					SAPPHIRE			Does anybody remember laugh-tah?				(as they turn)			Come and GET 'EM!	The girls scream and happily head down the ramp to Sapphire.	Penny looks back and grabs William with a well-placed arm hooked	around his.  He joins the clacking sea of legs moving down the	ramp.  Sapphire slaps passes on the girls.  As Scotty (The	Keeper  of the Backstage List) watches, Penny now slips William	forward for a pass.					SCOTTY			Oh no.  Not this one --					SAPPHIRE				(off William)			Who brought Opie?	The kid looks over his shoulder.  Who's Opie?					PENNY			He's with us.					SCOTTY				(hand blocking William)			He wasn't with you.					SAPPHIRE				(to Scotty)			Are you going to turn this into a			Thing?					SCOTTY			All of you can wait outside!  Top of			the ramp!					WILLIAM			I don't want to cause a Thing.  I'll			wait.					PENNY				(privately, to William)			I'll go take care of this.	Sadly, they leave him behind.  The thundering arena sound of	the collecting crowd, the p.a. system blasting Yes'	"Roundabout"... purposeful roadies carrying guitar cases...	the glimpse of backstage rock and roll... everything he wants	to be a part of is on the other side of this door.  And then	it shuts.  He stands alone.	At the top of the ramp, a tour bus unloads.  It reads --	STILLWATER TOUR 73.  Moving loudly out of the bus is the opening	band.  This is Stillwater.  Four road-weary band members, and	their road manager.  Voices booming.	RUSSELL HAMMOND, 27, presses the buzzer with the nose of his	guitar-case.  It's obvious from moment one.  This is the star	of the band, the charismatic one.  He's tired.  They're late.	William recognizes him instantly, as the guitarist stretches.	The buzzer goes unanswered.  The kid is invisible to him, as	the others now arrive behind Russell.	Tour/band manager DICK ROSWELL, 27, follows, loudly banging on	the steel door.  He has the flaxen-haired look of a former	hippie, but he carries the emblem of a real pro -- the newest	silver Halliburton briefcase covered with backstage passes.	His direction is always - forward.					DICK			Let us in, we're Stillwater!  We're on			the show!!	William is surrounded by them now.  They stand together under the	single lightbulb, familiar faces, a live-action album cover.  JEFF	BEBE the singer, his shiny black hair hanging in sheets around his	head.  ED VALLENCOURT the quiet drummer, his long arms hanging	limply at his sides.  His is a face made for the background. LARRY	TURNER the compact bass-player.   Dick now kicks at the door with	his foot, as William produces a copy of Creem Magazine.					WILLIAM				(to Dick)			Hi, I'm a journalist.  I write for Creem			Magazine.	Once again, the magazine hangs there.  He can't give it away.					JEFF			The enemy!  A rock writer!					WILLIAM				(struggling forward)			I'd like to interview you or someone			from the band.					DICK				(busy, running behind)			I'm sorry but could you please fuck			off?	William blinks a little, takes it in stride.  Russell sizes	him up, moving in the background.					WILLIAM			Okay.  Okay.  I could do that.					JEFF			You guys never listened to our records.			You're all just frustrated musicians.			Do you know what your magazine SAID			about us?  What was it - "the singer's			incessant cater walling distracts From			an assault with no clear purpose."					LARRY				(in background)			That was Rolling Stone.					RUSSELL			Yeah.  Okay.  Fuck off anyway.  We			play for fans, not critics.	Stung, William shrugs.  It's been a terrible night, but at	least thrillingly so.					WILLIAM			Russell.  Jeff.  Ed.   Larry.				(can't help it)			I really love your band.   I think the			song "Fever Dog" is a big step forward			for you guys.  I think you guys			producing it yourselves, instead of			Glyn Johns, was the right thing to do.			And the guitar sound was incendiary.				(gestures with fist)			Way to go.	He turns and leaves, beginning his long trek back up the ramp.	Russell looks at the others.  That kind of love is hard to	give up.					RUSSELL				(good humored, yelling)			Well don't stop there.					JEFF			Yeah, come back here!!  Keep going!	They wave him back, as the backstage door opens again.  The	kid moves back down the ramp.   They herd him in with them,	through the door.  Scotty quickly spots the kid and squares	off.	Russell notes the kid's swirling emotional state, shoves him	forward.					SCOTTY			Not this one.					RUSSELL			He's with us.					SCOTTY			He's not with you.  He's not with them.			He's not on the list.  He's not coming			in.  And this is my arena.  And			furthermore -	Russel craves the confrontation and moves forward closer to	Scotty.					SCOTTY (cont'd)			- have a good time tonight.   Welcome			to San Diego.	27    INT. BACKSTAGE HALLWAY -- NIGHT					27	The band moves quickly down the hallway, with William moving	to keep up.  A young and grizzled red-haired roadie, RED DOG,	catches them on the way.  The band swarms around him.					RUSSELL			Red Dog!					RED DOG			We're playing here tomorrow night.					JEFF				(aside, to the kid)			This is Red Dog, the Allman Brothers			Band's number one roadie.	Russel clamps an arm around Red Dog's neck.					RUSSELL			How're the guys?					RED DOG			Havin a ball, man.  When we have a			party, we have an Allman Brothers Band			party.  Everybody boogies.  Everybody			gets off.  It's family, man.  We all got			These now.				(flashes new mushroom tattoo			on forearm)			We'll see you guys in Boston, right?				(specifically to Russell)			Dicky and Gregg send you their love.	Camera catches flash of envy on the face of Jeff Bebe, as	Stillwater sweeps forward into a small dressing room.	28    INT. DRESSING ROOM -- NIGHT					28	Dressing room activity swirls around him, as William simply	listens.  He holds a small microphone.  His stoic look gives away	little of the full body rush he's experiencing.  As the other	band members drift across frame, Russell Hammond, a true rock and	roll believer, speaks as he straps on his guitar and gets ready	for the show.  To the kid, every word is reckless gem.					RUSSELL			... and it's okay, because rock and			roll is a LIFESTYLE...  and a way of			thinking and it's not about money and			"popularity!"					JEFF			Some money would be nice.	Jeff sprays some shaving cream into his palm, and rubs it into	his scalp - poor man's mousse.					RUSSELL			- but it's a voice that says here I			am... and FUCK YOU if you can't			understand me.	Russell smooths the strings of his guitar with a small cloth	from his guitar case.  The kid notices all these close-up	details of rock.					RUSSELL (cont'd)			And one of those people is gonna save the			world and that means that ROCK AND ROLL			CAN SAVE THE WORLD -- all of us together.	The kid's eyes dance.  He checks to make sure he's getting the	recording.  He listens intently.					JEFF			And the chicks are great.					RUSSELL			But we didn't do it for that!  We are			here because we needed to fuckin be			here, not just 'cause we needed to			away from Troy, Michigan, WHICH WE			DID... but what it all comes down to			is that thing. The Indefinable Thing,			when people catch something from your			music, the thing you put into it.  I'm			talking about... what am I talking			about?					WILLIAM				(elegantly)			The buzz?					RUSSELL			THE BUZZ!   And the chicks, the			whatever, is an off-shoot of THE BUZZ.			And like -- you saying you liked "Fever			Dog?"   That is the fucking buzz, man.			All we get are these fucking old-ass			interviewers who don't understand,			don't LISTEN, don't appreciate why we			are here, which is the fuckin' BUZZ.	William nods, holds his microphone steady.  Russell tunes his	guitar, ripping through unamplified guitar licks as he speaks.	Jeff hustles to reclaim his own connection to the interviewer.					JEFF			The next album will be even better.			More texture.					RUSSELL			But... it's not what you put in, is			it?  It's what you leave out.  Listen			to... listen to Marvin Gaye...	Russell's face grows rapturous as he discusses this piece of	music.					RUSSELL (cont'd)			A song like "What's Going On."  That			single "woo" at the end of the second			verse - you know that woo - that single			"woo."					WILLIAM				(proudly)			I know that, "woo."					RUSSELL				(he does it)			That's what you remember.  The silly			things, the little things... there's			only one, and it makes the song.  It's			what you leave out.  That's rock and			roll.	William nods, says nothing, keeps the microphone pointed.	Activity surrounds him.					JEFF				(impressed)			We used to talk more about this stuff.					RUSSELL			Okay.  See, this is maybe the most			honest we've ever been in an interview			because you know our music.  You're			the first press guy we've made friends			with.  We don't normally talk like			this to them.  And you're supposed to			be The Enemy!  What are you - 18?					WILLIAM			Yeah.					RUSSELL			There you go.  Still young enough to			be honest.					DICK				(walkie talkie crackling)			Ten minutes 'till showtime, anyone who			isn't in the band -- out!	Russell takes a last swig of beer.  A roadie whisks his guitar	away.					DICK (cont'd)			All this luggage is going to L.A.!	William is swept out in the chaos of the pre-show ritual,	past the pile of luggage by the door.  It's a colorful heap of	suitcases, featuring colorful laminated band tags, each with a	number.	29    INT. BACKSTAGE STEPS -- NIGHT -- MINUTES LATER			29	William sits on the backstage steps, writing feverishly in his	notebook.  Behind him, two steps higher, Penny Lane scoots	into place.					PENNY LANE			I found you a pass.					WILLIAM				(amped, distracted)			Thanks.  I got in with Stillwater.				(as he writes)			The guitarist, Russel Hammond, he			just thoroughly opened up.  He is by			far the best and most honest interview			I've ever done.				(she nods)			I've only done two, but you know.			He's number one.					PENNY LANE			You're learning.  They're much more			fun on the way up.	William nods, still scribbling.  She eases down into place on	the step next to him.  Her proximity cause him to look at	her, his eyebrows rising.  She smooths them down with two single	fingers.					PENNY LANE (cont'd)			How old are you?					WILLIAM			Eighteen.					PENNY LANE			Me too.				(beat)			How old are we really?					WILLIAM			Seventeen.					PENNY LANE			Me too.					WILLIAM			Actually I'm 16.					PENNY LANE			Me too.  Isn't it funny?  The truth			just sounds Different.					WILLIAM				(confesses)			I'm 15.					PENNY LANE			You want to know how old I really am?					WILLIAM				(immediately)			No.	She looks upstairs, soaking in the sound of another band tuning	up.  Music is her religion.					WILLIAM (cont'd)			How did you get started in all this?					PENNY LANE			It's a long story.					WILLIAM				(quick study)			Right.  Right.					PENNY LANE			We live in the same city.  We should			be friends.	She takes his backstage pass form his shirt and puts it on his	thigh - the cooler location.  Nearby, the dressing room door	opens, and the Stillwater exits.   Excitement level rises as	they mass in the hallway with instruments.  We hear the amped	voice of Russell growing nearer.					RUSSELL			The Enemy!	He approaches, as William stands.  Penny watches, hanging out	of Russell's eyesight.	Standing in the supercharged hallway, the kid is anxious to	introduce his new friends.					WILLIAM			Russell, this is Penny Lane.					PENNY LANE				(stepping into view)			Pleasure.					RUSSELL			Penny Lane?  Like the song, right?					PENNY LANE			Have we met?	THEY SHAKE	And do not let go, for too long.  There is history in their	shake.  Their eyes tell all.  Shot takes us to William, who	puts two and two together.  It isn't hard.  They clearly know	each other. Well.					WILLIAM			Well, I guess you've... you've met.					DICK			Penny Lane!  God's gift to rock and			roll!!  You're back!				(privately)			Marc Bolan.  Please.	Other band members pass, adjusting clothes for show time,	waiting in the hallway... and now singing the Beatles song	"Penny Lane."					RUSSELL			Come on, let's go.				(noting kid's shyness)			Both of you.	30    INT. BACKSTAGE -- NIGHT						30	House lights go down.  Cheers rise.  Dick's flashlight dances	on the ground just in front of them, guiding their way in the	dark to the stage steps.					RUSSELL			- get in the huddle.	Russell pulls William into the band's huddle.	SHOT LOOKING UP AT THEM	Their band ritual, psyching together, arms on each other's	shoulders in a circle.  They sing a dew lines of the classic	"Train Kept A-Rollin'" (or "Go See Cal" from the Cal Worthington	ad) They all touch feet, and then break, heading for the stage.	Russell directs Penny to his side of the stage.  The kid follows.	Plugging in, still in darkness, Russell hits a practice chord --	thwack.  He steps on effects pedal.  Applause.  (Adlib onstage	private patter, between members, goading each other -- the stuff	no audience ever hears)  Twenty feet away, Dick prepares to	address the crowd from the darkened stage.  It is his favorite	moment of the evening, the highlight of his job.					DICK			From Troy, Michigan.  Please welcome --				(importantly)			Stillwater.	Light hits the stage, and the band launches into their opening	song, "If You Say Nothing."  Audience response is strong.	Shot lingers on the face of William as he soaks in the most	undeniably exciting moment of any concert, the first thirty	seconds.	Jeff the singer grabs the microphone and launches into some	vocal pyrotechnics.  Russell looks over to Penny and William,	at stage right, grinning, pretending to trip on his cord, an	elegant show-off move of a musician who is now where he	belongs... before seriously stepping forward for the first	guitar lead of the night.  The kid looks over to see Penny	watching Russell.	31    EXT. BACKSTAGE -- NIGHT -- LATER					31	Cases are shut and rolled toward the trucks.  Stillwater heads	for their bus.  Jeff the singer says goodbye to Estrella Starr,	like a sailor leaving port.   Russell lingers behind, saying	goodbye to William, loading his own equipment.  Black Sabbath	passes with entourage, heading to the stage.					RUSSELL				(privately)			So.  You want to come up to L.A., we'll			be at the "Riot House" all week.					WILLIAM			"The Riot House?"					RUSSELL			The Continental Hyatt House!  It's on			Sunset Strip.					WILLIAM				(attempting cool)			Right.  Right.	All the while, just over the kid's shoulder, Russell scans the	backstage crowd of hangers-on.  Looking perhaps for Penny Lane.					DICK			Let's blow this burg!					RUSSELL				(exiting)			Well tell your friend Miss Penny Lane			to Call Me.  Tell her "It ain't			California without her.  We want her			around like last summer."   Say it			like that.					WILLIAM			Got it.					RUSSELL				(returns, whispers)			Oh, I'm under the name - Harry Houdini.					JEFF				(exiting, to William)			The Enemy!!  Yeah!!    Come to L.A.,			we'll take some more.	Russell joins Jeff, exiting and laughing.  A good show is still	in the air.					WILLIAM			Later Jeff!  See you, Dick.  Larry.			Ed.				(and now the roadies)			Mick, Gregg, Red Dog, Scully, Frosty,			Estrella, The Wheel!			ROADIES			   DICK	  Laterrrr!			 We'll see you down the						line.	William is deliriously happy, hands upraised.  He turns to see	Penny.					WILLIAM			PENNY!					PENNY				(calming him)			Hey.  Hey.  Be cool.					WILLIAM			You just missed Russell!  He says he's			at the "Riot House" all week and to call			him.  He's under the name Harry Houdini.			Do you know about the "Riot House?"					PENNY LANE			I think I've heard of it.					WILLIAM			He had a message for you!  He said,			"It's not California without you.  We			want you around like last summer."				(consults notebook)			Actually he said "ain't."  "It ain't			California - "					PENNY LANE			I get the gist.					WILLIAM			How well do you guys know each other?	She smiles privately.					WILLIAM (cont'd)			I got it.  No problem.  Long story.			Alright!  I gotta go.	Elsewhere in the arena, Black Sabbath is performing "Sweet	Leaf."  The kid could care less.  He has bonded with Stillwater.	He heads for the door.  Penny walks with him.  He's loving it.	They pass a still-scowling Scotty, flashing passes, as they	exit out into the ramp area.	32    EXT. SPORTS ARENA -- NIGHT					32	Penny takes out an eyeliner pencil, writes her number on the	back of his green notebook.					PENNY LANE			Call me if you need a rescue.  We live			in the same city.					WILLIAM			I think I live in a different world.	They stand in the night air.  The parking lot is largely silent	now, save for the thudding bass sounds of Black Sabbath.  In	the distance, we hear Elaine's insistent whistle.					PENNY			Speaking of the world.  I've made a			decision.				(a very serious secret)			I'm going to live in Morocco for one			year. I need a new crowd.	He nods.  He is a rapt audience for this flashy girl.					PENNY (cont'd)			Do you want to come?					WILLIAM			Yes.	In the distance, we hear the family whistle growing louder.					PENNY			It's a plan.  You've got to call me.					WILLIAM			Okay.					PENNY			It's all happening.					WILLIAM			It's all happening.	He nods cooly.  He waits until she turns, and the sprints	through the parking lot, to the distant family whistle.								 FADE OUT:	FADE IN:	33    ON TAPE RECORDER							33	William's fingers work the clunky keys, pressing rewind.  We	hear a snippet of the intense and lively Stillwater interview,	full of overlapping and barely discernible voices.	Meticulously, he untangles the voices, especially Russell's,	as he transcribes.	INT. WILLIAM'S BEDROOM - DAY	The work of a journalist, as William sits at his Smith-Corona	Galaxis.  There is a knock at the window, and William scoots	back in his chair to see a familiar face.  It is Darryl, his	sister's old boyfriend.  William opens the window.					WILLIAM			Hey Darryl.					DARRYL			Hey.	Darryl climbs in the window, looks around the room that was	once the site of his previous glory.					DARRYL (cont'd)			So she's a stewardess now.					WILLIAM			Yeah.  She and Mom are still sorta...			I'd say "not speaking," but I don't			know if they ever did.					DARRYL			Your sister.  A stewardess.				(nods to himself)			The things your sister and I did inside			these four walls...					WILLIAM			That's okay.  I don't want to know.			It's my room now.					DARRYL			We flew the friendly skies -					WILLIAM			Okay -					DARRYL			I don't want to put you in the middle			of anything.  We don't have to talk			about it.					WILLIAM			No.					DARRYL			You seem cooler.					WILLIAM			Yeah.  I'm thinking about going to			Morocco.					DARRYL			Lemme know if you need a little help			with your Mom.					WILLIAM			A little might not be enough.					DARRYL			She still freaks me out.					WILLIAM				(nods, an old issue)			Yeah -					DARRYL			She's famous.					WILLIAM			Listen -					DARRYL			Go ahead and do what you were doing.			I just wanna hang in here for a moment.					WILLIAM			Cool.  Alright.	William nods and continues his work, self-consciously, as Darryl	sits on his bed and soaks in the memories of the room.  A long	moment passes.  Darryl pats his thighs, and rises.					DARRYL			Okay, man.					WILLIAM			Okay, man.	34    INT. LIVING ROOM -- EVENING					34	William slips on corduroy jacket, over a tie-dyed shirt.  Well,	it's definitely a look.  Mom appears more nervous than her	son.					ELAINE			I worry about the drunk drivers.					WILLIAM			Mom.  I'm 15.				(beat, vague panic)			Right?					ELAINE			Yes, you're 15. "And here's that money			I owed you."	She reaches in a small box near the door, gives him twenty	bucks.  It's their routine.					ELAINE (cont'd)			Your dad's favorite joke.  I don't do			it as well.					WILLIAM			I thought it was pretty good.					ELAINE			Keep the small bills on the outside.			And call me if anyone gets drunk.					WILLIAM			I will call you if anyone			anywhere gets drunk.					ELAINE			Good.					WILLIAM				(anticipating her, like a			parent)			And don't take drugs.					ELAINE				(stoic)			Ha ha.  Very funny.  See -- sense of			humor.  Have fun at the dance.  I'm			glad you're making friends.	They move to the door, and he steadies her, as if to remind	her she's not going.  He opens the door.  She's a wreck, and	she knows it.					WILLIAM			Mom?					ELAINE			Yeah -					WILLIAM				(loving but firm, as if to			a dog.)			Stay.					ELAINE			Oh... okay.					WILLIAM			I-love-you-bye.	He opens the door.  Neil Young.  "Sugar Mountain."  Watching	him leave is always a killer.  She's not getting any better at	it either.  She folds her arms tightly across her chest.	35    EXT. WILLIAM'S HOUSE -- NIGHT					35	Penny waist by her car, down the hill, sporting a different	more elegant look.  She cups her hands and yells up to him.	He hikes down the hill, squishing down the water plants, almost	falling, the first time we've seen him happy in his own skin.	36    EXT. SUNSET BOULEVARD -- LATER NIGHT				36	Miss Penny Lane's yellow Vega makes the big swing onto Sunset	Boulevard.  She sings along to the obscure words of Led	Zeppelin's "Dancing Days."  William takes it all in from the	passenger seat.  Huge billboards advertise not cigarettes or	beer, but albums.  It's a wondrous piece of geography for any	rock fan.  Shot moves in as William, watches, takes it all in.	He moves his head outside the window to see fully.  Her	windshield is cracked along the side.					PENNY LANE			The Continental Hyatt House.  Also known			as The Riot House.				(does tour guide voice)			Every band stays here, all the ones			that matter.  The Who.  Zeppelin.			Alice.  Bowie.  English bands.  American			bands.  We all know each other.  Twenty-			four hour room service.  Like us, they			were outsiders.  They were so outside,			they're inside, and insiders never			even knew it, because they're outsiders			and they are inside a place outsiders			will never be.  And why are we even			talking about it?  If you're really an			insider, you're never gonna say it.			You know what I mean?					WILLIAM				(beat, working it out)			Yeah.  Yes.	She makes a swift turn into a secret parking spot near the	hotel.					PENNY			And we're not gonna hang out with			Russell.  You can, but not me.					WILLIAM			What is it with you and Russell?	37    EXT. SUNSET BOULEVARD -- NIGHT					37	Neil Young and Crazy Horse's "Cinnamon Girl" ricochets across	the Strip.  It's blasting from cars tuned into KMET.  Penny	now wears her green faux-fur trimmed coat.  She grabs William's	hand, steadying her hat at the same time.  They dart across	the busy street.  She stumbles a little on her platforms.  He	steadies his taller date.  They are a good team as they pass	one of several humming tour busses parked out front.	38    INT. HYATT HOUSE LOBBY -- NIGHT					38	Penny blasts into the Continental Hyatt House, William on her	arm.  The lobby of this bastion of seventies rock is more alive	than most clubs.  It's a swirling mass of Roadies carrying	Halliburton briefcases plastered with tour stickers, mingling	Rockers, and more than a few Groupies with lower-ambitions and	taller-platforms than Penny Lane.  The feeling is communal,	illicit, intoxicating.  The secret community of rock.  Penny	attracts a hailstorm of friends and comrades.					PENNY LANE			It's all happening.				(grabbing him like a shield)			And I'm about to use you as protection.					ROADIE # 1			Penny Lane!!					PENNY LANE				(aside)			These guys are with Alice Cooper.  I'm			going to pretend I don't know them.					ENGLISH ROADIE # 2			Penny!!  Does Alice know you're here?					PENNY LANE			I'm just showing my very dear, very			wonderful friend around.  He's a very			important writer - he knows Lester			Bangs.				(English accent)			I'm responsible for his moral conduct			while he's abroad.					ROADIE # 3				(arriving, mock drama)			Penny Lane!!   God's gift to rock and			roll!!					PENNY LANE			I'm retired.				(uses English accent)			And don't argue with me!					ROADIE # 3			Again?					PENNY LANE				(moving, English accent)			Have we met?	Effortlessly touching an arm here and there, charming all -	she had four men suddenly circling her.					PENNY LANE (cont'd)			I've made a decision.  I'm going to go			traveling in India.  Then I'm going to			learn how to play the violin.  Then			I'm going to go to college for one			year.	William looks at her, perplexed and a little hurt.  What about	Morocco?					ROADIE # 2				(exiting, not buying it)			There's nothing they could teach you			in college, darling.				(whispers)			Call Alice.  He's under the name Bob			Hope.					ROADIE # 1			I heard you were with Russell from			Stillwater.					PENNY			Please.  I throw the little ones back.	Lusty laughs circle William.  Overlapping this dialogue is the	appearance of our friend Polexia.					POLEXIA				(in tears, in pieces,			emotional)			Ian Hunter is a fucking asshole!					WILLIAM			Polexia!					POLEXIA			Opie!!!	She hugs him like a long-lost friend, knocking the air out of	him.  And now overlapping this action, appears Superfan RIC	NUNEZ, 14.  His eyes are forever moist, but he's oddly formal	and never feels worthy of the rockers he idolizes.  Tonight he	wears a custom homemade t-shirt with iron-on block letters.	It features the four Led Zeppelin symbols and the words: "TO	BE A ROCK AND NOT TO ROLL."  A felt-tip pen is still in his	quivering hand.  Nunez walks with them, backpedaling as he says:					RIC			It's all happening.   I just saw them			on the seventh floor!  Mr. Jimmy Page...			Mr. John Paul Jones...				(displays squiggle on shirt)			Mr. Robert Plant signed my shirt in			the elevator!!  Five minutes ago, he			touched this pen.  Please don't smear			it.  And Bonzo's gotta new motorcycle			in the hotel!					PENNY			Ric is a Zeppelin fan.					WILLIAM			Yeah, I picked that up.					PENNY			He tours with them, but not "with"			them.					RIC			They're on the 12th floor, but there's			guards there!  So you gotta go to the			tenth floor and go up the back steps.					PENNY LANE			This is my very dear, very close, very			wonderful friend William Miller, he is			very close with Lester Bangs.					RIC			It's all happening!!  See you in			Cleveland!	Ric rushes back to the elevators.					PENNY LANE			I'm retired!  Doesn't anybody believe			me!?	39    INT. HYATT HOUSE LOBBY PHONE -- NIGHT -- MINUTES LATER		39	Penny nearby as William picks up the house phone.  He shouts	over the din.					WILLIAM			Harry Houdini, please.	As he waits, he discreetly pockets the matches, hotel pad and	pencil next to the housephone.	40    INT. HALLWAY/RUSSELL'S HOTEL ROOM -- NIGHT			40	William, Polexia and an ambivalent Penny walk the hallway,	looking for the room.  William looks in the passing open doors,	each one a different window into another world.					PENNY LANE			Okay.  Time to put on the lampshade.	Up ahead, the door to their smallish hotel room is open.	Inside, a band party in full swing.  A clunky early-model boom	box segues from James Brown's "Make It Funky" to Led Zeppelin's	"Gallows Pole."   Russell Hammond is the center of this party,	jabbing out the chords, playing along on guitar.  Much singing	echoes all around.  It's a hotel-room Hootenanny, and all	members of the band are present.  Penny Lane takes a breath	and enters, with arms extended and pointing in opposite	directions.  She does a flawless stewardess imitation, with	proper hand gestures, to a loud party ovation.					PENNY LANE (cont'd)			"Ladies and Gentlemen.  Please			extinguish all smoking materials and			notice that the captain has turned on			The No Smoking sign.  Your seat and			tray tables should be locked in their			full and upright positions."					RUSSELL/OTHERS			PENNY!!  PENNY LANE!!	She is instantly and overwhelmingly, the life of this party.	Russell joins William.					RUSSELL				(impressed to see him)			Alright.					WILLIAM				(happy to be there)			Alright.	Russell places a beer in William's hands, and exits.					PENNY LANE				(continuing)			"In the unlikely event of a water			landing, the seat below you will serve			as a -"				(give up)			Oh, the hell with it.	They all applaud her, laughing.  William watches her with	wonder, as she turns his way and winks.  Jeff approaches the	alluring Polexia, and goes to get her a beer.  Meanwhile,	Polexia sidles up to William.  She sees him watching Penny at	the other side of the room.					POLEXIA				(privately)			Act One, in which she pretends she			doesn't care about him.	POV shot travels to Russell, strumming the guitar that is always	a part of his body.  Russell is watching Penny Lane	surreptitiously.					POLEXIA (cont'd)			Act Two, in which he pretends he doesn't			care... and goes right for her.	Russell moves towards Penny.					POLEXIA (cont'd)			Act Three, in which it all plays out			the way she planned it.  She'll eat			him alive.					WILLIAM				(worried)			We've got to stop them.					POLEXIA			Stop them?  You were her excuse for			coming here.	ON PENNY					PENNY			I need ice!	Penny disappears out the door, across the hallway.  Russell	follows a moment later.  The kid's eyebrows rise.  Polexia	regards the kid with affection, adjusting his collar and peeling	a hair off his jacket.					POLEXIA			I just worry about people using her.			You know?  'Cause she brings out the			good side in everybody else, but what			do they do for her?  Life kills me.			Do you have any pot?					WILLIAM			Not on me.					POLEXIA			Do you smoke?					WILLIAM			No.				(attempting to fit in)			But I... I grow it.  I grow it.	Polexia looks at the kid, laughing at his poor job of lying.					POLEXIA			You're funny.  You know, if you were			only taller, English, rich, a guitar-			player and older...					WILLIAM			I'd be someone else.					POLEXIA			Yeah.  Good point.	Jeff appears with her beer, and she whispers in the kid's ear	before she exits with Jeff Bebe.					POLEXIA (cont'd)			Bless me father for I may sin tonight.	The kid watches, as the boom box plays an obscure favorite of	Russell's, Eddie Giles' "Losin' Boy."  There is the sound of a	motorcycle somewhere down the hallway.	41    INT. ICE ROOM -- NIGHT						41	The ice machine makes new cubes with a grinding noise.  Penny	puts ice in her glass.  Behind her, Russell moves into frame,	hands delicately riding the sides of her body.  A motorcycle	roars by, just outside the door, as Penny moves away from	Russell's exploring hands.					PENNY				(with real indignation)			How does it end?					RUSSELL			What?					PENNY			You know - the story about the girl			who dumps the guy who has an ex-ex			wife -- the one we don't talk about --			and gets a hundred... okay, five letters			from him, and then doesn't even leave			a pass in San Diego.  Wake up!  I'm			retired and I never believed you anyway.			You're too talented and too good-looking			to be trusted and everybody knows it.					RUSSELL				(smiling, loves it)			You're retired like Frank Sinatra is			retired.	She makes a scoffing noise.  He moves to the ice machine, with	a glass of his own.					RUSSELL (cont'd)			Miss Penny Lane.  Let me tell you what			rock and Roll will miss the day you			truly retire.	He tosses cubes in his glass, one by one.  After the first cube:					RUSSELL (cont'd)			The way you turn a hotel room into a			home.				(cube)			The way you pick up strays wherever			you go.  Like Pied Piper.				(cube)			The way you know the words to every			song.  Every song.  Especially the bad			ones.  Mostly the bad ones.				(cube)			That green coat in the middle of summer.				(cube)			The real name you won't reveal.				(cube)			And.  I'd keep going, but my glass if			full.					PENNY				(quietly)			Damn.	He kisses her powerfully, hands at his sides.  She fights to	keep her hands off him.  Bonham's motorcycle rips by, just	outside the door.					RUSSELL			Come to Arizona.					PENNY			Never.					RUSSELL			We leave Thursday morning.  9 AM.  And			pack light this time.  Jesus.	They kiss.  The motorcycle speeds by again, just outside.	42    INT. HALLWAY -- NIGHT						42	The hallways are crowded, as William looks at the closed door	of the ice room.  He leans against the wall, alone now.  Trying	to look like he belongs.  Behind him, most of the band has	disappeared into other rooms, leaving only hangers-on in their	places.	43    INT. ROLLING STONE MAGAZINE -- DAY				43	Music.  We pan across cubicles bustling with laid-back fervor.	These are the San Francisco-based main offices of Rolling Stone	Magazine.  We have arrived for the waning days that this	magazine could still be called, with a straight-face, an	"underground" publication.  Their mounting success crowds the	edges of every frame.  Camera catches the Annie Leibowitz	portraits that hang on the walls -- Lennon, Jagger, Rod Stewart,	James Taylor.	We find editor BEN FONG-TORRES, 29,  in his cramped cubicle.	Sitting nearby is curly-haired and mustachioed Star Staff	writer, DAVID FELTON, 32, who smokes his cigarettes with a long	holder.  Felton reads one of William's articles, chuckling.					BEN FONG-TORRES			William Miller?								 INTERCUT:	INT. WILLIAM'S BEDROOM -- DAY	William is on the phone in his own small room.					WILLIAM			This is he.					BEN			Crazy.  William, this is Ben Fong-			Torres.  I'm the music editor at Rolling			Stone Magazine.  We've got a copy of			your stories from the San Diego Door.			This is the same William Miller?	William instantly, nervously alters his voice to sound older.					WILLIAM			Yes it is.					BEN				(rifling through tearsheets)			Voice of God, howling dogs, the spirit			of rock And roll... this is good solid			stuff.					WILLIAM				(immediately, suddenly			deeper)			Thanks... thanks.					BEN			You should be writing for us.  Any			ideas?					WILLIAM				(voice now to deep)			How about Stillwater?					BEN			Crazy.  New album... their third...			starting to do something.	Ben shuffles through papers, looking for a tour itinerary on	his promotional-material laden-desk, automatically plotting	the piece aloud.					BEN (cont'd)				(pleasant, terse)			Stillwater.  Hard-working band makes			good.  Get 'em to respond to the critics			who dismissed the first two albums as			workmanlike. Guitarist is the clear star			of the band.  Crazy.  Let's do three-			thousand words.  You'll catch up to them			on the road.  We'll set up billing --			don't let the band pay for anything.					WILLIAM				(affecting casualness)			Sounds good.					BEN			We can only pay -- lemme see, three-			thousand words -- seven hundred dollars.	The kid's eyes widen.					BEN (cont'd)			Alright, a grand.   What's your			background?  You a journalism major?					WILLIAM				(deeply)			Yes.					BEN			What college --	INT. ELAINE'S HOUSE -- CONTINUOUS	Elaine now gets on the extension.					ELAINE			Honey, I need you to do that thing			that fixes the garbage disposal --	She hangs up.	INT. WILLIAM'S BEDROOM -- CONTINUOUS	The kid is paralyzed.					BEN			Well, I know how my lady gets when I			don't Snap to it -					WILLIAM			Crazy.					BEN			Crazy!  I'll let you go.  Call me at			the San Francisco office tomorrow.	44    INT. LESTER BANGS HOME -- LATE NIGHT				44	The great Lester Bangs stands in the promotional album-clogged	bedroom of his Birmingham, Michigan, home/office at Creem	Magazine.  There is nothing in frame that does not deal with	music.  In the background, a scratchy and chaotic Coltrane	record.					LESTER BANGS			Beware Rolling Stone Magazine.  They			will change your story, they'll re-			write it and turn it into swill.			Beware!!					WILLIAM			But besides that, what would be wrong			with it?					LESTER BANGS				(laughs, entertained)			You have starry eyes, my friend.				(beat)			Look.  Do the story.  It's a good break			for ya.  But remember this --	The kid listens intently, and makes notes.					LESTER BANGS (cont'd)			... don't do it to make friends with			people who are trying to use you to			further the big business desire to			glorify worthless rock stars like			Stillwater.  And don't let those swill			merchants re-write you.					WILLIAM				(still copying)			... swill merchants...					LESTER BANGS			Now.  What are you listening to?	45    EXT. TEACHER'S LOUNGE -- DAY					45	William knocks on the teacher's lounge door.  A Teacher answers,	protective of their sanctuary.					WILLIAM				(urgently)			I need to talk to Mrs. Deegan, from			Journalism.	Mrs. Deegan appears in the doorway.	46    EXT. WILLIAM'S HOME -- LATE AFTERNOON				46	The sun is still shining.  It's late afternoon, as Elaine Miller	exits her car and arrives home.  She sees a few extra cars in	the driveway, is immediately suspicious.	47    INT. LIVING ROOM -- LATE AFTERNOON				47	Elaine arrives to find William, Mrs. Deegan and Darryl awaiting	her in the living room.  It's a 1973-style intervention.  They	wear sunny, compassionate smiles.					ELAINE			Whatever it is, the answer is no.					MRS. DEEGAN			Elaine, we need to talk to you.			Nothing is wrong.  I am a teacher.			You're a teacher.  We speak the same			language.	Mom sits down.  She is fully engaged and worried, her natural	state.					MRS. DEEGAN (cont'd)			Now I'm not a jump-up-and-down person,			but something wondrous has happened to			William.  And you have every reason to			be happy...				(knows her)			... and calm.	Carefully gauging Elaine's face, the teacher continues.					MRS. DEEGAN (cont'd)			William has been gifted with a shining			opportunity in the world of journalism.			Through a love of music, and at an			oddly-young age, he has received a major			assignment from a national publication			called Rolling Stone Magazine.	Mrs. Deegan produces a copy, and places it on Elaine's lap.	It sits there like the plague.					MRS. DEEGAN (cont'd)			Now you are rather famously not a fan			of rock music, but such are the ironies			of life, that happens to be the very			topic of William's assignment -				(cheerfully)			- rock music.  A band.					ELAINE				(warily, to Darryl)			Honey, what are you doing here?					DARRYL			Moral support.	Mom looks evenly at her son, seated opposite her in this small	living room.					ELAINE			What's involved?					MRS. DEEGAN			Well.  It's a great opportunity.  He'll			be well-paid, and published nationally --				(quickly)			-- and he'll go on tour with a rock			band for four days.  No small planes...			he travels on a bus.					ELAINE			Is it time for me to say something?					MRS. DEEGAN			Sure.					ELAINE			No.					MRS. DEEGAN			And in anticipation of that response -					ELAINE			No.					MRS. DEEGAN			-- William has prepared --					ELAINE				(rueful)			"Lo, that which I have feared has come			upon me."					WILLIAM				(lightening fast)			"He who jealously guards his fears,			quietly yearns to bring them about!"	Mrs. Deegan admires their high-strung intellectual parrying,	makes an impressed noise.					ELAINE				(with compassion)			No.  I have raised him to be an honor			student, which he is.  We have agreed			on all our goals.  We raised him to be			a lawyer, we moved here to be near the			finest law school in the West.  Plus,			he has finals coming up, and in one			week he graduates with all his friends			-					DARRYL			He's got no friends!!					WILLIAM			Darryl.  Please.	Nearby, having anticipated all of the above, William nods to	Mrs. Deegan, and stands.					MRS. DEEGAN			Elaine, may I present to you... your			own son.	William takes a lawyerly stroll, turns to face his mom.					WILLIAM			Lady of the Jury.				(beat)			I wish to disprove the prevailing false			belief that rock music is based on drugs			and sex.  True, perhaps at one time...			but rock music is different now.  It is			now performed by hard-working			intellectuals, with... with blazing			intellectual pursuits, and I am going to			play for you a piece of music designed			to show you that my thesis is correct.					ELAINE			This is going to be hell.	Across the room, Darryl takes his position near the stereo.					WILLIAM			The song is based on the literature of			Tolkien...  and it's mystical attempt			to elevate humanity has been successful			throughout the world...  this song			will change your life.	Mom stifles a cough.  William nods to Darryl, who reverentially	drops the needle with a thud.  Mom is trapped, as we listen to	silent static... and then... the opening notes of Led Zeppelin's	"Stairway to Heaven."  William gives his Mother the album	cover's inner-sleeve with lyrics.					WILLIAM (cont'd)			We ask you only to listen.	Camera passes across their serious and expectant faces.  The	intro in not short.  We listen, just watching their faces, as	Elaine becomes increasingly impatient.			ELAINE				WILLIAM	  When is it going to start -   Soon.	Immediately, overlapping, the vocal begins.  ("There's a lady	who's sure all that glitters is gold.")								 DISSOLVE TO:	48    SUN MOVING SLOWLY ACROSS THE SKY					48	Sprinklers click across the lawns.  ("... and it makes me	wonder... ")	49    INT. LIVING ROOM -- AFTERNOON					49	Mom adjust herself in the chair, listens politely, checks her	watch.  She looks at William.	50    EXT. HOME - AFTERNOON						50	Sprinklers continue.  ("If there's a bustle in your hedgerow...	")	51    INT. LIVING ROOM -- AFTERNOON					51	Mom listens fitfully.  The song continues.								 DISSOLVE TO:	52    EXT. HOUSE -- STILL LATER AFTERNOON				52	Sprinklers shut off.  Music is now blasting.  ("To be a rock,	and not to roll... ")	53    INT. LIVING ROOM - LATER AFTERNOON				53	Mom's face remains stoic to the bitter end.  ("... and she's	buying the Stairway to Heaven.")  The song ends.  Silence.	All look to Elaine.  They wait on her response.  We hear the	turntable arm return to its cradle.					ELAINE			What am I supposed to say?   You say			it's Tolkien, fine.  They sound like			nice kids.  Is it meant to elevate			humanity?  "Sure, let's elevate			humanity.  After we sell you drugs and			sex."  All I have is my honesty.  That's			what I believe, and that's what I know.				(flipping through magazine)			Oh.  Here's a nice ad.	She holds up the magazine.  And ad reads, in large bold type:	BUY THIS FUCKING ALBUM.					ELAINE (cont'd)			You've clearly ganged up on me, and I			still say no.  No no no no no no no.	She shuts her eyes, and blurts out something against her better	judgement.					ELAINE (cont'd)			NO MORE THAN FOUR DAYS AND I WANT A			PHONE NUMBER FOR WHERE YOU ARE EVERY			MINUTE AND I WANT YOU TO CALL ME TWICE			A DAY AND YOU'D BETTER NOT MISS ONE			TEST - AND NO DRUGS.	William nods gratefully, and exits frame.  Hold on the empty	chair, as drums herald the beginning of the Allman Brothers	Band's "Trouble No More" from Live at Fillmore East.	SHOT MOVES IN ON ELAINE	who feels a very particular kind of loneliness.  It's the	loneliness she got married, and then raised a family, to escape.	54    INT. STILLWATER TOUR BUS -- DAY					54	An empty Heineken beer bottle rolls up and down the aisle,	taking us to William.  William picks up the bottle and places	it in the seat back pocket in front of him.  He has joined the	circus, and the feeling of being here is a lot more lonely and	forbidding than he expected.  The bus struggles to make it up	the hill, back rows shuddering loudly, as music continues.					DICK			C'mon, Doris!  Darling Bus.  You can			make it!	55    EXT. NEVADA DESERT HIGHWAY -- DAY					55	The Stillwater Tour Bus rumbles down the desert highway.  The	destination banner reads - ALMOST FAMOUS -- TOUR 73.  Music	continues.	56    INT. BUS - DAY							 56	William strains for a look at Russell five rows up.  He plays	slide guitar, working out a part.   Next to Russell is Penny	Lane.  Penny raises an early-model Polaroid camera and - flash	- takes a picture of a nearby sleeping Jeff Bebe.					PENNY			Gotcha.	Jeff grumbles from the depths of a hangover.  Penny stuffs the	shot in her pocket.  William watches, his private heart pounds.	Polexia appears and sits next to him, noticing his shyness.					POLEXIA			Do you have any pot?					WILLIAM			No.  I'm a journalist.					POLEXIA			Well, go do your job then.  You're on			the road, man.  It's all happening!  Get			in there.  Go talk to 'em!	Challenged, William rises and approaches Russell.  He fixes	the charismatic guitarist in his sights. Shot takes him down	the aisle to the jamming star guitarist.  He crouches in the	aisle and talks to Russell who immediately seems moody.  His	mood is in the air.					WILLIAM				(very professional)			Russell.   Do you think we might be			able to find some time to talk when we			get to Phoenix?  I want to interview			everyone separately... and I felt we'd			start with you and me.	Nearby, Jeff now listens in, feeling immediately jealous.					RUSSELL			Absolutely.	Russell turns away.  The kid squats uncomfortably in the aisle,	babbling on.					WILLIAM			Because I've got a thing in a couple			days.					RUSSELL			What.					WILLIAM				(self-conscious)			It's a... thing where... uhm... you go			there to graduate.  School.					RUSSELL				(sharply)			I never graduated.  And look what			happened.  You're here interviewing me.	Good point.  Laughs from everybody listening nearby.  It's a	good line.  William makes a quick jot in his notebook.					RUSSELL (cont'd)			No no no.  Don't put that in Rolling			Stone.  My bio says I graduated.  We'll			come up with something better later.			Just enjoy the ride.	Russell eyes the notebook suspiciously before turning away.	Penny notices William's discomfort, laughing warmly, all while	grabbing a Coke and giving one to nearby bassist Larry.					LARRY			How did you know I was thirsty?	He didn't even realize he was thirsty, but he is.  He nods	thanks to Penny, the perfect road companion for all.  And then	Penny gives the other Coke, her Coke, to William.  He accepts	it too, and starts back to his seat.  He's been blown off, and	he knows it, but before he exits Penny grabs his arm and	whispers in his ear:					PENNY			I may need to stay in your room tonight.			Russell's in a bad mood.  He's very			Bob Dylan in Don't Look Back today.			He's trying to write.	William nods cooly -- they are comrades -- and returns to his	seat.  A large joint passes in front of him, across him, to	Polexia, as everyone cheers Doris the Bus rumbling up another	hill.					POLEXIA				(inhaling deeply)			Want some?					WILLIAM			No thanks.	A wall of pot smoke is exhaled, right into his face.  It	surrounds him like a cloud.   The bus shudders, as Russell	continues playing slide up ahead.	57    INT. WILLIAM'S LIVING ROOM - NIGHT				57	Elaine sits in her living room, filled with her books.  Large	Department store photos of her children on the wall.  She feels	her own loneliness, and his too, as she dials a phone number.					ELAINE			Has William Miller arrived yet?  He			hasn't.  Could you give him a message			as soon as you see him? -	58    INT. BUS -- NIGHT							58	Several hours later on this ride.  Outside, night and desert.	Inside, a few cigarettes, a joint of two glow in the darkness	of the bus.  The end of the Led Zeppelin classic "Whole Lotta	Love" plays from the bus stereo, full blast.  Everybody is	free and anonymous in the dark.  They sing at full-volume.	William looks out the window in wonder.					ZEPPELIN/ALL			"Way down inside... (woman)			woman...  you need... "	The ten-ton guitar chord of Jimmy Page.					ZEPPELIN/ALL (cont'd)			"Loooooooooooooooooooooooovvve... "	John Bonham's drums thunder through the bus, everybody still	singing as they dip down into the city ahead, Phoenix.  William	watches the living documentary around him.  He writes furiously	in the green notebook, scribbling in the dark, trying to steady	his writing on the bumpy bus.  Behind him, someone is beating	along to the song on his seat.  He never want to leave this world.	59    INT. ARIZONA RAMADA INN LOBBY -- NIGHT				59	All enter the lobby like warriors, in a pack.  The hotel chairs	are spotted with curious hangers-on, decked out and lounging.	Dick is already stationed, as always, at the front desk.   The	sad state of hotel service grates on a road dog like Dick.  He	is forever teaching others their jobs.					DICK			Jeff, Tony... Keys... keys... keys...			room list...				(re: luggage, to hotel			bellman)			If it doesn't have a number on it, it			ain't ours!	He gives key and a stack of messages to Russell, and turns to	William who he makes feel more important.  Penny is nearby with	her suitcase and tackle box purse.  William watches Russell's	guitars whisked away - they are luggage-numbered 1, 3, and 4.					DICK (cont'd)			The Enemy!  Here you go, here's the key to			your palatial suite, room list, plus let me			give you a luggage tag.  You're Number 42.					CLERK			Is this Mr. Miller?  You have a message			from Elaine.					WILLIAM			Thanks.					CLERK				(confidentially)			She's a handful.					WILLIAM			I know.	William cooly takes the folded message, doesn't look at it,	and tries to pretend this embarrassing moment didn't happen.	Jeff exchanges a look with Russell.  Nearby, the walking	commotion arrives, clacking through the lobby.  It's Sapphire.	Last night's clothes are now today's.  She holds a travel case,	and hanger with some odd blouses.					SAPPHIRE			Finally, you're here!!  They kicked me			out of my room!  Fuck Ozzy!	She hugs Penny Lane.  Estrella appears, happy to have help	with Sapphire.	ON RUSSELL	who approaches William.					RUSSELL			Come by in a few minutes.  We'll do			the interview.	The kid exits and goes to join Penny, who is still comforting	Sapphire.  Russell looks through his messages.  The guitar,	now in a case, never leaves his hand.  Jeff Bebe approaches,	regarding William standing with Penny and the girls.  Intrigue	is swirling in the lobby.					JEFF			I'm worried, man.					RUSSELL			Naw, we can trust him.  He's a fan.					JEFF			But it's Rolling Stone.  He looks			harmless, but he does represent the			magazine that trashed Eric Clapton,			broke up Cream, ripped Led Zeppelin,			and wrote that lame story about the			Allman Brothers Band that bummed Duane			out before he died.  Don't forget the			Rules.  This little shit is the Enemy.			He writes what he sees.				(beat)			But it would be cool to be on the cover.					RUSSELL			Leave it to me.  We'll get a good story.					JEFF			Plus our girlfriends read this magazine			and -				(looking at Band-aids)			-- you know.					RUSSELL			You made your point.  I'll take to			him.	ON WILLIAM BY ELEVATOR	Penny speaks confidentially to him.  If she is slightly bossy,	it is only because she's good at logistics, emotional and	otherwise.					PENNY			Can Sapphire stay in your room tonight?			She had a big fight with Ozzy, and			Polexia's not working out with Jeff			Bebe.				(to Sapphire and Polexia)			You just have to remember... these			guys are jealous, insecure, talented,			egocentric, and manipulative geniuses...			they're lead-singers.   They can say			"I love you" to 20,000 people... but			any fewer is a real problem.				(girls nod, comforted, she			continues to the kid)			Jeff Bebe has so much jealousy over			Russell that he can't express.  Plus,			he never slept last night.   You keep			Sapphire and I'll stay with Russell.	William covers his disappointment over losing Penny as a	roommate.  Cooly:					WILLIAM			Sure.  I'll take her.					POLEXIA			Me too?					WILLIAM			Sure.	Estrella arrives with travel bag, equally homeless, looking	hopeful.					WILLIAM (cont'd)			If there's room -	Penny squeezes him.  He feels cool... but the girl he really	wanted to stay in his room now joins Russell, disappearing	into the elevator.  He looks down at the message in his hand,	and opens it.	It reads: DON'T TAKE DRUGS!  He snaps it closed quickly, before	anyone can see.	59A   IN. RUSSELL's ROOM -- NIGHT						59A	Russell plays acoustic guitar, a notebook cradled on his lap.	Trying to write.  It's coming slowly.  Shot moves off him,	past a flickering television, onto Penny who silently and	intently watches Russell as if he's a rare and beautiful bird.	He looks over at her - she turns away quickly.  He goes back	to work.  Tries to catch her watching him again.  She turns	away just in time.	60    INT. WILLIAM'S HOTEL ROOM -- NIGHT				60	Stillwater's "Fever Dog" plays from the t.v. radio.   William	on the bed, a thick local phone book on his lap.  His hotel	room.  He watches self-consciously as the girls go about the	ritual of inhabiting a room on the road.  Sapphire flutters a	paisley scarf over the room lamp.  Polexia puts a towel along	the crack of the door, blows out the glowing embers on too-	many sticks of incense, and moves to the phone.  Estrella has	joined them as well, complete with a bag full of shoes.	Instantly, we have atmosphere and not much room left in this,	the smallest room in the hotel.   William thumbs through the	phone book with fascination.					WILLIAM			All these people.				(wondrous, off phone book)			And they all live in Phoenix.					POLEXIA				(on phone)			Hi Dad!!  I can't talk long!  I'm here in			Paris.  I'm staying in another Youth Hostel			with no phone and no address for mail!!					WILLIAM			(still wondrous, from phone			 book)			Alex.  Lowbatz.					SAPPHIRE				(emerging from bathroom)			I was the one who told him what to			tattoo on his fingers, I was the one			who made his shirts... I was there			when his wife left him.					WILLIAM			Charles.  C.  Swoop.					POLEXIA				(on phone)			I CAN SEE THE EIFFELL TOWER.  DO YOU			KNOW THERE ARE 578 STEPS TO THE TOP?	She's reading from a European tour book.					WILLIAM			Paul and Debbie Finger.					ESTRELLA				(looking out window)			Oh my God.  Simon Kirke of Bad Company			is by the pool.	The girls mobilize by the window.  William is increasingly	aware that he is an outsider in his own tiny room.  He tries	to organize his stuff in the corner.					POLEXIA			I GOTTA GO!  I'LL CALL FROM ROME!					ESTRELLA			Is anybody here as worried about Penny			and Russell as I am?					POLEXIA				(the perfect daughter)			AND HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MAGGIE!!			I LOVE YOU!!	She winks at William, who looks away.					SAPPHIRE				(to Polexia and William)			Ooo, watch out - whoever you look at			when you say that - that's who you			really mean.	Polexia hands up and throws a pillow at Sapphire,  the kid	watches these girls like a tennis match.	60A   IN. PENNY AND RUSSELL'S ROOM - SAME TIME				60A	Russell puts down his guitar.					RUSSELL			You know.  We should talk about what			we don't talk about.					PENNY			We don't have to.					RUSSELL			No, I - I went to Catholic school.  I			believe in guilt and... you know, if			there's any to be had, I pretty much			want to roll around in it.					PENNY			I don't believe in attachments.  No			boundaries.  Just the music.					RUSSELL			I'm just saying, it's okay to talk			about it.	Penny stands and turns.  She speaks the word.					PENNY			Leslie.	Russell nods.  The name is out in the open.					PENNY (cont'd)			Leslie.  Leslie.  Leslie.  Leslie.			Leslie.  Leslie.  Leslie.  Leslie.					RUSSELL				(somehow satisfied)			Alright - now we're talking.	But she continues, saying the name in a multitude of different	ways, in different accents, and with different degrees of	indifference and passion and lust and play-acting and mock-	drama.	PUSH IN ON HIS FACE	As he listens and studies this ethereal creature for meaning.	Is she mocking him?   In love with him?  Taunting him?  Seducing	him?					PENNY			Leslie.  Leslie.  Leslie.  Lesssssslie.			Leslie.  Leslie.  Leslie.  Leslie.			Leslie.  Leslie.  Leslie.  Leslie.			LESlie.  Leslie...	She continues saying it until it no longer has meaning.  And	finally she sits next to him.					PENNY (cont'd)				(beat)			Now.  Have I helped you get that off			your chest?	They kiss.	60B   INT. WILLIAM'S HOTEL ROOM - SAME TIME				60B	The girls continue their settling-in process.					SAPPHIRE			Opie, can I order room service?	The nickname "Opie" re-opens a nagging wound.  Polexia hangs	up, and begins to dial again.					WILLIAM			Okay.  You guys.  Wait.   Put down the			phone, Polexia.				(she does, sadly)			First, this is my room...					SAPPHIRE			Come on, you're a fan like us.  You're			on our side of the line.					WILLIAM			Second.  I'm not Opie.  Alright?  Opie			is a little boy.  I'm here to do a			job.  I am a professional.					ESTRELLA				(flipping luggage tag)			Ooooooo, sorry, Mr. 42.					WILLIAM			Third!				(has their attention now)			... this phone is a big, big deal.  In			a minute, I have to go interview			Russell.  Do not answer this phone if it			rings.  I have family members with			severe anxiety Problems.  She will not			understand.					POLEXIA				(wounded)			But what if Ozzy calls Sapphire?   And			I gave Jimmy Page this number.					ESTRELLA			Or a guy who looked like Jimmy Page.	William looks at their troubled faces, full of too much-longing	and too much make-up.					WILLIAM			Okay.   I have a solution.  Answer the			phone.  But if anyone without an English			accent is on the phone...				(winging it)			Just hang up.  Or say it's the wrong			room.	They nod.  It's a good plan.	61    EXT. HALLWAY -- NIGHT						 61	The hanging sign on the door reads: DO NOT DISTURB. William	knocks on Russell's door. A maid pushes up against him with	her cart, which now blocks the hallway.					WILLIAM			SHOULD I COME BY LATER?	A group of golf conventioneers are now trapped behind the maid	cart.  They ease past William as he negotiates with Russell	through the door.					RUSSELL (O.S.)			 YES, I'M IN TOO TRUTHFUL A MOOD!					WILLIAM			MAYBE THAT'S A GOOD THING!!					RUSSELL (O.S.)			I'LL SEE YOU AT THE RADIO INTERVIEW			LATER!!  TEN-THIRTY IN THE LOBBY.					WILLIAM			OKAY!					RUSSELL			GO AWAY!					WILLIAM			OKAY!	We hear Penny's giggle.  Then the door opens, and it's Penny	looking ravishing.  In the background, Russell sits shirtless	at the table.  He playfully pelts the kid with crumpled up	wads of hotel stationery.					PENNY			Don't worry.  Some to the radio			interview.					WILLIAM			No, I'm fine.  I'll just interview			Jeff Bebe some more.					RUSSELL				(as in "you're on of us")			GO AWAY!	She shuts the door quickly.  It hurts a little.  He picks up	the wadded pieces of paper, stuffs them in his pocket.  He	leaves the door and helps himself to some soap and pencils and	matches from the nearby maid's cart.  Then he returns to	Russell's door.  He can't help but listen to the muffled sounds	of laughter, just for a moment, escalating.  He flips the sign	over: HOUSEKEEPING PLEASE ENTER - CLEAN ROOM.	62    INT. OUTER RADIO STATION - NIGHT					62	Humble Pie.  "Thirty Days in the Hole."  Russell and band enter	the radio station, passing through the now-empty front office.	As always, Russell sets the tone.  He's feeling good.	Stillwater takes over -- they feel mighty, like the Beetles,	as they climb across chairs, rearrange wall hangings and gold	records  and head down the small hallway to the control room	interview.  Rolling with the flow are William and Penny in her	green coat.  He tries to distance himself from her -- still a	little stung by the earlier hallway rebuff -- but she will	have none of it.  She privately shares every great passing	moment with him.  He tries not to succumb to these charms.	It's hard.  Music segues to Stillwater's own "Fever Dog."	63    INT. RADIO CONTROL ROOM - NIGHT					63	Stillwater's own record spins, and it sounds good to everyone	in this room.  Russell takes a seat near the open mike.  Jeff	Bebe is quick to take the other seat, arranging himself to be	just as close to the microphone as Russell.  William watches	all as he sits at the dark back of this control booth.	Stillwater sits with late-night progressive disc-jockey QUINCE	ALLEN, 25.	Quince takes a long hit from a joint and does not pass it.	The entire Stillwater band is now collected in the studio and	ready for the interview.   William can't avoid looking at Penny	Lane, who looks great tonight.  She catches him, and he barely	looks away in time.  Polexia, newly reconciled with Jeff,	notices.  The very mellow disc-jockey eases up to the	microphone, as the finale of "Fever Dog" is just ending.					QUINCE ALLEN			The guitar of Russell Hammond.   "Fever			Dog"...  The band is Stillwater.				(beat)			Watch with your mind as they			materialize.	Band members gets closer to the microphone, preparing to speak.	Quince lowers his head, shutting his eyes and getting into the	music as the song plays out.	64    INT. HOTEL ROOM -- NIGHT						64	The phone rings.  Estrella answers.					ESTRELLA			William's room.	INT. ROLLING STONE OFFICE -- NIGHT	Ben Fong-Torres is calling from Rolling Stone.					BEN			Can I please speak to him?  This is			Ben Fong-Torres at Rolling Stone.	Estrella panics,  hangs up quickly, as if the phone has just	caught fire.					ESTRELLA			I think I just messed up!	65    INT. RADIO STATION -- NIGHT -- SAME TIME				65	Quince raises his head and continues on-the-air.  The same	song is still ending.					QUINCE			Look at the dogs, wearing the funny			hats.  Juggling just for you.  Freaks			and family...	Penny shoots William a look.   Do you believe this guy?					QUINCE (cont'd)			It's Quince, with Stillwater.  Here.			Live.  It's the Night Circus.	The band scoots closer to the microphone, ready to talk.  Quince	continues, looking meaningfully at the band.  They are	waiting... eager for a chance to speak.					QUINCE (cont'd)			Every minute a baby is born somewhere..			Life.  Death.  Hermetically sealed			bags of human emotion.  Bags of love...			bags of kindness?				(suddenly, turns)			How'd you get together?	As Jeff eagerly speaks, Quince lowers his head and listens...	feels... the words of his guests.					JEFF			Well... not to get into a "me" thing...			this is Jeff talking... but I did start			the band, some time, actually, ago.			This is back when we were the Jeff			Bebe band, and I placed an ad in a			magazine called Peaches looking for a			guitarist and Russell Hammond answered.	Quince nods, head bowed, swaying slowly.					QUINCE				(with deep understanding)			Peaches.	Jeff watches Quince's head lower.  It's hard to know when to	talk with Quince.  The depth of his mellowness is tough to get	in rhythm with.					JEFF			I think he was a gift from God,			actually.  Nobody plays like Russell			Hammond.					RUSSELL				(sorta moved)			Well, shit.  Thank you.	He instantly realizes he's slipped, on the air.					RUSSELL (cont'd)			Ooops.  Better hit the delay button.	All eyes turn to Quince, whose head stays down, grooving to	some inner beat.  He says nothing.  The band looks at each	other.  We become increasingly aware that Quince may now be	asleep.  Long silence.  William shares an amazed look with	Penny.  Quince is definitely asleep.  Russell leans forward	and continues talking quietly, with hilarious sincerity.					RUSSELL (cont'd)			Okay - we're talking now, right?  Why			the fuck do you wait until and interview			in Arizona to say something nice about			me.  Why don't you say it to my fucking			face sometime?  Because I tell you			every time I think you nailed something.					JEFF			Everybody pays you compliments.  It's			not my fucking job to kiss your fucking			ass all the time.					RUSSELL			Well then who's fucking job is it?			Because my ass is dying for a kiss.			And I know yours is too.					DICK			It's my fucking job.  You're all			geniuses.  And let me just add this			thought - smegma.	Penny covers her mouth as offers a look of absurdity to William.	He offers one back, as laughs are stifled throughout the room.	William shares a look.  Quince is still deeply asleep, as the	usually quiet tony leans forward to speak.					TONY			Feces.	He cracks himself up, silently.  Quince snaps awake, fully in-	stride.					QUINCE			The dong is called "Love Thing." Your			mind is Starting to take effect.			They're all here to see you swallow			fire.  You scream soundlessly...  on the			Night Circus.  It's Quince, with			Stillwater.	"Love Thing" takes over, as Quince swivels in the chair.					QUINCE (cont'd)			I thought that went well.	66    INT. RENTAL CAR -- NIGHT						 66	Adrenalized laughter.  The whole band is crammed into a medium-	sized rental car.  Penny half on William's lap, half on	Russell's.					RUSSELL				(to William)			See, this is what nobody writes about!			The in-between times!   This!  Us!			Right now!!	67    INT. WILLIAM'S HOTEL ROOM						67	The phone is ringing.  Estrella emerges from the bathroom with	no make-up and a t-shirt.  She picks up the phone.  Across the	room, Sapphire signs for room service.  Now she is far too	made-up.  The t.v. radio plays Free's "Fire and Water" in the	b.g.					ESTRELLA				(suspiciously)			Hello?								 INTERCUT:	INT. WILLIAM'S HOUSE -- NIGHT	It's Mom on the phone.					ELAINE				(measured, very proper)			May I speak with William please?					ESTRELLA				(cheerfully)			He's not here.  I think he's in the			bar with the Band.  They just got back			from the radio station.  Is this Maryann			with the pot?	Silence.					ESTRELLA (cont'd)			Hello?					ELAINE			No this isn't Maryann with the pot.			This is Elaine... his Mother.	Estrella physically recoils.					ESTRELLA				(cringing)			I thought you were English.					ELAINE			Could you please give him a message?			Could you tell him to call home			immediately?  And could you also tell			him -				(at full power)			I know what's going on.					ESTRELLA			Alright.  Okay.  But I'm just going to			say this, and I'm going to stand by			it.				(can't help herself)			You should be really proud of him.			'Cause I know guys... and I'll bet you			do too.  And he respects women, and he			likes women, and let's just pause and			appreciate a man like that.   You			created him out of thin air, and you			raised him right, and we're all looking			out for him.  And that's more than			I've ever said to my own parents, so			there you go.				(silence)			This is the maid speaking, by the way.	68    INT. HOTEL LOBBY -- NIGHT						68	Russell and William sit in two large red-leatherette seats in	the hotel lobby.  William shuffles through many pages of	questions written in small script.  His tape recorder microphone	sits balanced on the chair.					WILLIAM				(very professional)			Now that you're starting to be			successful, you had twenty-six years			to write your first Album... and you'll			have maybe four months for the second.			Do you worry that the pressure of the			business will get in the way of the			original joy of making your music?  Or			-	Russell blinks.  The all-consuming issues of his life are right	in front of him.					RUSSELL			Whoa!				(laughing)			I need three more beers and my guitar			before I can answer that question.			Let's take a walk.	69    EXT. HOTEL POOL AREA - NIGHT					69	Russell walks the outskirts of the pool area with William.	William follows him through the sliding glass door to his room,	facing the pool.  Russell grabs his guitar.  They stand for a	moment, unheard by the others, and regard the living portrait	twenty yards in front of them.  The off-limits after-hours	pool area has been overtaken by the Stillwater tour members.	Jeff Bebe sits in a chair nearby.  Dick laughs at a joke.	Always the life of the party, Penny Lane dispenses stolen towels	from a maid cart.  And she is the first to slip into the pool	for some after-hours, against-the-rules swimming.  Effortlessly,	she turns a collection of people into a party.  They regard	her, well out of earshot of the others.					RUSSELL			For a minute I thought you were actually			a real journalist... which is... you			know, it's great.				(beat)			Shut that thing off, and I'll tell you			the truth.	William shuts his tape recorder off.					WILLIAM			It's off.					RUSSELL			Look.  I trust you.  I'm going to lay			this right on you.  Just make us look			cool.					WILLIAM			I will quote you warmly and accurately.					RUSSELL			That's what I'm worried about.  See -			some of us have girlfriends back home.			Some of us have wives.  And... some of			the people you meet on the road are			really amazing people...	They both watch Penny Lane, sparkling, fresh from the pool.	She places hotel furniture into the shallow end and inviting	all, even other curious hotel guests, to join them in the pool.					RUSSELL (cont'd)			Like you.  And some of the things that			happen are good for just a few people			to know about - as opposed to, say, a			million people.	Dawn is breaking for William.					WILLIAM			Ohhhh.  Oh.  Yeah.					RUSSELL			You know what I mean?					WILLIAM			Right.  Yeah.					RUSSELL			See, you're dangerous.  Most people			are just waiting to talk, but you			listen.					WILLIAM			Right.  Right.					RUSSELL			So your question you asked me.  I think			about It every fucking night.  The			"business."  I hate it!				(quietly)			I grew up with these guys, okay?  I			can't play all that I can play, I'm			past these musicians, do you understand?					WILLIAM			I do.					RUSSELL			The more popular we get, the more I			can't walk on them, the bigger their			houses get, the more pressure... you			forget, man.  You forget what it was			like to be real, to be a fan.  You can			hear it in a lot of bands who've been			successful - it doesn't sound like			music anymore.  It sounds like...			like lifestyle maintenance.				(suddenly confessional)			I used to be able to hear the sounds			of the world.  Everything, to me, used			to sound like music.  Everything.  Now			I don't hear it.   You know what I'm			trying to say?					WILLIAM				(ruefully)			Yeah.					RUSSELL			Man, it feels good to say this stuff			out loud.  But what am I doing?  I'm			telling secrets to the one guy you			don't tell secrets to.					WILLIAM				(feeling included)			No, that's okay.  We'll do the interview			tomorrow.					RUSSELL			This is good.  So there's the "friend"			and then there's the "interview guy."					WILLIAM			Yeah.					RUSSELL			So tonight it's "friend".... and when			we wake up tomorrow - "interview guy."			We'll figure it out as we go, buddy.					WILLIAM			Hey - for whatever it's worth - you			guys are really good.	Russell laughs at the kid's easy naivete.  He hands his guitar	to the kid, and joins the party.  William watches, part of the	crowd... somehow feeling a little compromised.  He doesn't	care.  Penny gestures for him to join them.	70    EXT. SUN STADIUM - AFTERNOON					70	William interviews Larry in the seats of the empty arena.  On	stage, Ed soundchecks his drums.					WILLIAM			How would you describe your role in			Stillwater?  What is the chemical that			you add to the chemistry?					LARRY			I'm the bass-player.					WILLIAM				(pressing for some poetry)			Right.  And when you take that away...			what would be missing?  Stylistically?			What chemical?					LARRY				(not getting it)			The bass?	Larry doesn't give him much.	71    EXT. SUN STADIUM - NIGHT						 71	It's raining.  The pre-show huddle breaks up, William a part	of them.  Penny Lane adjusts Larry's look.  She takes the scarf	from around his neck and ties it around his leg.  He looks	instantly better.  William watches in the darkness as Dick	takes the microphone.  The best part of his day has arrived.	In his important voice:					DICK			Good evening Phoenix.				(applause)			From Troy, Michigan.  Please welcome,			Stillwater.	Lights come up, as the band launches into "Fever Dog."   Jeff	begins singing.  Russell reaches to adjust the microphone for	a back-up vocal and is hit with something unexpected.	A sharp electrical shock.	It's just a slight pop in the loud din of music, but within a	moment something is clearly wrong.  Russell holds onto the	microphone stand with a surprised look, conducting high-voltage	for two seconds and then he snaps his hand off the metal.  His	face is white, he takes off his guitar and walks off-stage,	collapsing a couple steps later.	72    EXT. BACKSTAGE -- NIGHT						72	Dick is waving wildly for the band to board the bus, which has	been pulled up into the backstage area.   He guides a sagging	Russell, assisted by Penny Lane, into the bus.					DICK			Get in, get in!!	William boards the bus, as the extremely agitated PROMOTER	arrives to confront Dick.					PROMOTER			Are you the manager of this band?					DICK			That, and more.  Get in!					PROMOTER			You didn't even play a full set!	Dick whirls and unleashes an anger we've not yet seen, gesturing	with the silver briefcase that does not leave his hand.					DICK			Your shoddy stage set-up almost killed			our guitarist!					PROMOTER			You trashed the dressing room - you			didn't play your thirty-five minutes.			You didn't fulfill your contract -					DICK			Everybody in!  Get in the bus!					PROMOTER			I'll report you to every promoter in			the country!  I'm gonna talk to Frank			Barcelona!					DICK			YOU DON'T FUCK WITH MY BAND'S SAFETY!					PROMOTER			I hope you have a good lawyer.					DICK			I AM A LAWYER!	He swings into the bus, as the bus revs.					PROMOTER			LOCK THE GATE ON 'EM!	73    INT. BUS -- NIGHT							73	Russell sits, pale, next to Penny at the front of the bus.  He	examines his singed hand, shaking it a little to emphasize the	positivity of her words.					PENNY			Don't worry.  It's happened to all the			greats.  Thank God you didn't hold the			mike stand with both hands, you'd still			be holding it.  This is a good thing.			It's a good, good, good thing.	William sits nearby, watching Russell, making notes out of eye-	sight of others.  The ever-wary Jeff, unseen by William, cranes	to see that he's writing in his notebook.	Dick swings into the seat across from Russell.  The bus door	shuts, as the promoter is still yelling.	Doris is slow to gain speed, as Estrella appears, running	alongside.  She knocks on the window next to William.					ESTRELLA			I forgot to tell you!  Your mom says			to call home immediately.  She says			she knows what's going on!				(receding)			See you guys in Topeka!  I'll catch a			ride with Sabbath!	William nods with embarrassment, waves to her, as the bus races	toward the now closing gate.					DICK				(casually, to Russell)			Wanna buy a gate?	Before Russell can answer - BASH.  Doris barrels through the	steel-gate, snapping it like a chopstick to great cheers inside	this bus.					DICK (cont'd)			You just bought a gate.				(to the bus)			C'mon Doris!!  Get us out of town!!	The bus struggles up a slight incline, everybody rooting for	Doris, as she eases out of the parking lot and onto a	thoroughfare.					WILLIAM			What did it feel like to be			electrocuted?					RUSSELL			It burns.  It feels like a dose of			lead shooting through your body... and			then you see God, and he says, "How			bad do you want to be legendary?" And			god damnit.  I let go.				(shaky grin as all laugh			warmly)			Rock and roll.	Jeff watches this charisma with thinly veiled envy.  The kid	scribbles in his notebook.  We hear Led Zeppelin's "That's the	Way."	74    INT. BUS - EARLY MORNING						74	Song continues.  Almost everybody is asleep.  William takes	the camera and snaps a Polaroid of a sleeping Penny.  She wakes	up.					PENNY			Give that to me.	She grabs for it, they have a brief play-fight.  He grabs some	other Polaroids from her pocket.  He hustles to the back of	the bus, pockets the photo, and settles down to watch the	passing landscapes.  She chases him down the aisle.  Music	continues as she sits down next to him.  Out the window, a	long-distance running team of Girls keeps pace with the bus	for a bit.  They wave.  Penny watches them over sunglasses,	waves briefly to the real world.					PENNY (cont'd)				(breathing heavy, owning			the world)			When we go to Morocco, I think we should			wear completely different clothes, and			be completely different people.					WILLIAM			What will our names be?	She snaps a Polaroid of a nearby sleeping Silent Ed, pockets	the Polaroid.  She regards Russell up ahead, also sleeping.	Her attention has already wandered from Morocco.					PENNY			What do you think of Russell?					WILLIAM			I like him.					PENNY			You're coming to Cleveland, right?					WILLIAM			Cleveland, Ohio?  Oh no no no.  I gotta			get my interview with Russell before			Greenville.  And you've got to help			me.  Okay?  Friends... remember?	Penny is still watching Russell.					PENNY			You should give him a break.  There			are real problems in the band.   Off			the record.	Gravely noting the word "problems", the kid joins Penny in	watching Russell, who is splayed haphazardly, sleeping	restlessly up ahead.					WILLIAM			What problems?					PENNY			Okay.  I got it.  I think your name			should be Spencer, and mine will be			Jane.					WILLIAM			I can't keep up with you.					PENNY			No one can.					WILLIAM			What's your real name?	She looks at him briefly.  She puts her arm around him.  It's	intoxicating, but he doesn't quite know how to act.  With her	free hand, she gestures with a hanger.  As they regard Russell	sleeping nearby:					PENNY			Here's the thing about Russell.  He's			my last project.  I only do this for a			very few people.  And I think we should			do it together - he is almost great.			We've got to take him there.  You and			me - we can do it.  Deal?  Because the			other guys are good - but he could be			great.  He's my last project.	He looks at her.  She imitates his face back to him.					PENNY (cont'd)			It's all happening.	75    INT. TOPEKA ARENA BACKSTAGE -- NIGHT				75	William sits interviewing Silent Ed by some equipment cases.					WILLIAM			What do you love about music?	Ed looks at him thoughtfully.  It is an eloquent moment.  He	thinks.  He shrugs.  The kid tumbles with more questions.	These interviews are not going well.	76    INT. BATHROOM - NIGHT						76	William, looking concerned over the state of his interviews,	walks into the backstage bathroom.  He makes a few surreptitious	notes in his notebook before noticing that Jeff is standing	there, clearly just finishing a quick hit of cocaine offered	by a Local Hanger-On.  Seeing the kid, he immediately hides	the coke spoon.					JEFF			Hey.					WILLIAM			Hey.	William pretends he sees nothing as he turns to the urinal,	and shot stays on Jeff, who looks a little high and a little	worried.	77    INT. BACKSTAGE PAY PHONE - NIGHT					77	William is on the pay phone with his Mother.  The show booms	in the background.					WILLIAM			I know.  I know.  I know.				(beat)			I know.  Mom.  Mom... Mom.	78    INT. STAGE - NIGHT						78	Stillwater on-stage.  A great show.  Russell on fire.	79    INT. BACKSTAGE PAY PHONE - NIGHT					79	William on the phone.  Estrella leans on him, fixing her shoe.					WILLIAM			Right now -- Topeka.  Then Greenville.			Then home.	He winces slightly, holds the phone away from his ear for a	moment.					WILLIAM (cont'd)			I'm sorry I didn't call yesterday!			It's not like you can just carry a			phone around with you.	80    INT. ELAINE'S SCHOOL OFFICE -- AFTERNOON				80	Mom sits in her school office, a miniature version of her home	- a fortress in which she is surrounded by books.  The sun is	going down.  She can't resist a sentimental moment.					ELAINE			I guess I just miss you, and I don't			understand why I've driven both my			kids so far away from me.  By all			practical rules don't I get you for			three more years?	He is touched by her vulnerability, more visible now than ever,	as music continues in b.g.					ELAINE (cont'd)			Was I not fun?	81    INT. BACKSTAGE PAY PHONE -- NIGHT					81	William has his finger in his ear.  The din if Stillwater's	set now blots out all other noise.  It is not the time to answer	this question.					WILLIAM			I missed the last thing you said.	Mom takes a pause.					ELAINE			I LOVE YOU.	Penny now enters, watching.					WILLIAM			WHAT?					ELAINE				(angry, louder)			I MISS YOU AND I LOVE YOU!	William now notices Penny standing nearby, picking at a salad	from a paper dish.  Looking at her, he lets loose with what he	believes is a private confession.					WILLIAM			I LOVE YOU!!	Penny smiles knowingly, collecting his affection like another	backstage pass, and turns away.  Camera stays on William.  He	is suddenly and deeply embarrassed.  He's just told her that	he loves her and she knows it.  He hangs up, traumatized.	82    INT. TOPEKA DRESSING ROOM -- NIGHT				82	Russell's hair is slicked with sweat from a show just finished.	He is shirtless with a towel around his shoulders.   Luggage	for the next city is stacked by the door.					RUSSELL			Fire away.  I'm ready.  I'm on the			"You" Train.  Take me there.	The kid plugs in his microphone.  Russell listens as he springs	his first question.					WILLIAM			Do you have to be depressed to write a			sad song?  Do you have to be in love			to write a love song?  Is a song better			if it really happened to you?  Like,			"If You Say Nothing"... where did you			write that and how did it come about?	Russell admires the many questions.  Says nothing.  He looks	at his hand, thinks.					RUSSELL			When did you get so professional?	In the background, Penny Lane irons Silent Ed's shirt.	Grinning, she cuffs his shoulder.  To the shirtless silent	drummer, waiting for his shirt.					PENNY			I'm almost done with my shirt.	Ed watches her appreciatively, drumming silently on a rubber	pad.  Penny kisses Russell, who swings her onto his lap.  In	the corner, Jeff watches them all with a vague feeling of being	underappreciated.  And now Dick enters with a large cardboard	box.					DICK			Russell, your dad showed up again.			And on a lighter note.				(importantly)			Gentlemen.  Your first t-shirts have			arrived.	There is an immediate buzz in the room, as Dick yanks open the	box filled with new white t-shirts.  He untangles the first fresh	shirt, and displays it proudly.  A silent beat as all examine it -	their first t-shirt.  Faces fall.  Ed stops drumming.  There has	been a mistake.  It is a fuzzy band photo with the group name	emblazoned below.  Only Russell, who stand out front, is colored-	in and emphasized on the shirt.  He turns away, making a noise.	Jeff stares at the t-shirt.  He's just about in tears.  There is	a long silence and then... Ed resumes drumming on the rubber pad.					DICK (cont'd)			It's the record company's mistake.			And they will pay.  Shirts gone, band			happy.	He drops the offending shirt into the trash, as if it were	contaminated, and exits with the box.  William watches as the	two men, Russell and Jeff, move to opposite sides of the room.	Russell puts on a shirt, so does Jeff.  The vibe is thick.	Russel turns to see Jeff staring at him.					RUSSELL			Can we just skip the vibe and go			straight to us laughing about this?					JEFF				(bitterly)			Yeah.  Okay.					RUSSELL				(trying for a joke)			Because I can see by your face - you			want to get into this -					JEFF			How can you tell?  I'm just one of the			out-of-focus guys.					RUSSELL			Here we go.	William watches as Russell fishes the t-shirt out of the trash.					RUSSELL (cont'd)			Here.  Take it.  You LOVE this shirt -			it lets you say everything you want to			say.					JEFF			Well, it speaks pretty loudly to me.					RUSSELL			It's a t-shirt.	Russell turns away.					JEFF			I'm always gonna tell you the truth.					RUSSELL			Are you doing coke again?					JEFF			Oh yeah.  All the time.	The kid looks down.					JEFF (cont'd)			This is big stuff, man.  From the very			beginning -- we said -- I'm the front			man and you're the guitarist with			mystique.  That's the dynamic we agreed			on -- Page, Plant... Mick, Keith.  But			somehow it's all turning around.  We			have got to control what's happening			to us.  There's a responsibility here -					RUSSELL			Excuse me, but didn't we all get into			this to avoid responsibility?					JEFF			Forgive me.				(continuing, on shirt)			But this is the slow-moving train of			compromise that will kill us.	Russell makes a disgusted noise.  Penny Lane exits discreetly,	looking back at William.					JEFF (cont'd)			I can't say anymore with a writer here.					RUSSELL			You can trust him,  you can say whatever			you want.					JEFF				(eyes suddenly moist)			I works as hard or harder than anybody			on that stage.  You know what I do - I			connect.  I get people off.  I look			for the guy who isn't getting off, and			I make him get off.				(beat)			Actually, that you can print.				(continues to Russell)			And yet, why do I always end up feeling			like I'm a joke to you?  I feel nothing			but love for you.  We're a family.	He looks at the t-shirt and starts to cry.  Embarrassed, he	grows angrier.					JEFF (cont'd)			You want to pretend this isn't going			to be a very big band.  Well it is.  You			call yourself a leader of this band, but			your direction allowed the t-shirt, when			you allowed Dick to manage us, 'cause			he's your friend... don't you see?  The			t-shirt is everything.  It's everything.					RUSSELL			Is it my turn?  Because I think we			should, for once, say what we really			mean.					JEFF			Oh, this is the part where you quit -					RUSSELL				(stiffening)			Right.  I'm so predictable.					JEFF			No  I gotta tell the truth -- I want			you to like me.  But sometimes I feel			like you collect people who love you			and then very skillfully... you make			them feel bad that they're not good			enough for you.					RUSSELL			Stick to singing, brother, 'cause you			ain't gonna make it as a shrink.					JEFF			Deal with it!  And let me just say			what nobody Else wants to say to you -					RUSSELL			What?					JEFF			Your looks have become a problem.	82A   EXT. BACKSTAGE - NIGHT						 82A	Russell walks swiftly past a happy silver-haired man, who holds	court with beer in hand.  He dresses too young for his age,	late fifties.  He is DAD.					DAD			Son!					RUSSELL				(dutifully)			Hello Harry.	Dad introduces a woman much younger, who eyes Russell hungrily.					DAD			He got all the good genes, huh?  Meet			Deirdre.  We're getting married in			July.	83    EXT. ARENA -- NIGHT						83	Russell walks fast outside the arena.  William hustles to catch	up.  The two men walk in long silent strides in the cold night	air, beyond the backstage area.  Fans begin to recognize and	follow at a discreet distance.					WILLIAM			You okay?  You alright?	Russell doesn't answer.					RUSSELL				(resolute, wound up)			From here on out, I'm only interested			in what's real.	The kid nods.  They walk.					RUSSELL (cont'd)			Real feelings.  Real people.  That's			all I'm interested in...  From here on			out.  What is REAL?   You're real.					WILLIAM			Thanks.	A wave of warmth comes over Russell.					RUSSELL			You know, you know all about us and I			don't know shit about you.				(struggling to be personal)			What's your... your family like?  Tell			me.					WILLIAM			Well, my dad died of a heart attack			and my sister believes that my Mom is			so intense that she might have			contributed to it.  Plus -					RUSSELL				(immediately)			Okay, that's good.  That's enough.					WILLIAM			It's good to talk about it.  Really			good.	Russel now sees some hero worship in the kid's face, and it	makes him nervous.					WILLIAM (cont'd)			Hey, man, maybe we should go back.					RUSSELL			If they want me, they can find me.	William turns and sees nobody following but fans.					WILLIAM			So listen.  I have to go home tomorrow.			I know this is a bad time to finish			our interview.					RUSSELL			Hey, man, you know what?  Write whatever			you want.  I trust you.	A big square Chevy van slows down.  A CONCERT-GOER hands his	head out the window.					CONCERT-GOER				(battle-cry)			Woooooooooo!!!  You're Russel from			Stillwater!!					RUSSELL			On my better days, yes.  I am "Woooooo,			Russell from Stillwater!"					CONCERT-GOER			Wanna go to a party at my friend Aaron's			house?!  I know you're a big rock star,			but do you want to hang with some people			looking to have a good time?	Russel regards the van full of kids.  More fans crowding	around.  The kid behind the wheel unknowingly says the magic	words.					CONCERT-GOER (cont'd)			We're just real Topeka people, man.	He has said the magic word.	A84   EXT. AARON'S PARTY - NIGHT					A84	Russell arrives at the party in the rural outskirts of Topeka.	William nearby.	84    INT. AARON'S HOUSE -- NIGHT					84	William watches as Russell slugs from a Jack Daniels bottle.	They sit in the bedroom of a mindblown fan, 17 year-old AARON.	He has long frizzy brown hair, tied in a spray behind him.	Many from the neighborhood are now pouring into the home.					RUSSELL				(eyes glowing)			You.  Aaron.  Are what it's all about.			You are real.  Your room is real.			Your friends are real.  You are more			important than... than... all the silly			machinery.  And you know it!  In eleven			years it's gonna be 1984, man.  Think			about that!					AARON			Wanna see me feed a mouse to my snake?					RUSSELL			Yes.					KID # 1			Can I have your belt?					RUSSELL			Take it!	Russel whips off his belt, gives it to the fan.  A joint goes	by, headed for Russell.  William intercepts it and passes it	on.					RUSSELL (cont'd)			Aaron?  Where's your bathroom?  I want			to live here. I want to eat your food,			and live in your city and fuckin rock			like I used to.  I want to learn			everything there is to know about your			city and your town.  And your way of			being real.				(stunning realization)			I used to be you.					AARON			Down the hall by the washing machine.					RUSSELL			What?					AARON			The bathroom.					RUSSELL			Okay.  Good to know.	Russell rises and squeezes past fans and heads down the hall.	85    INT. AARON'S HALLWAY - NIGHT					85	William follows Russell protectively.					PASSING FAN # 1			WOOOOOOO!!	A QUIET GIRL, 14, turns and watches Russell pass.  We linger	on her face for just a moment, full of wonder.					WILLIAM			We should probably head back sometime.	Russell ignores him.					PASSING FAN # 2				(holding red cup)			Watch out, there's acid in the beer			that's in the Red cups.	Russell looks at the cup in his own hand.  It's white.  Then,	with his other hand, he grabs the red cup and drains it.	William winces.  They move on.					RUSSELL			Topeka.  Check it out.	Russell enters the bathroom.  William stands guard.  With a	finger outstretched from each hand, he lectures the fans massing	in the hallway.					WILLIAM			Please don't give him any more acid.	86    INT. LIVING ROOM -- NIGHT -- TWENTY MINUTES LATER			86	William watches as a wobbly Russell Hammond, in sunglasses	now, goes through Aaron's record collection.  He places the	albums over his face, like masks.					RUSSELL			Faces.  Stones.  Sa-weet Baby James!!			None of these people are gonna be around			in twenty years!  Plastic begets			plastic!!   Black plastic.	Partygoers are strangely fascinated by the rock star in their	living room.								 INTERCUT:	87    INT. BACK BEDROOM -- NIGHT					87	William waits anxiously to use the phone, keeping an eye on	Russell.  Russell is now strangely twisting/dancing with four	girls in the living room, as more cars arrive outside.					KID ON PHONE			He's here right now!  Go ahead and put			it Out over the radio, tell people to			bring food And beer and chicks.  We're			at Rural Route # 4 -					WILLIAM			No no.  Nope.  No.	William takes the phone and hangs up.  Keeping an eye on Russell	in the next room, he dials from a tour itinerary sheet.					WILLIAM (cont'd)			Dick Roswell, please?				(beat)			Dick!!  I got him!!  He's okay... I've			been Looking after him.  He's on acid,			though.  I can't Really tell.  How do			you know when it's "kicked in?"	88    EXT. AARON'S BACKYARD - NIGHT					88	Russel stands on the jutting corner of the house rooftop.	The unlit, unheated greenish family pool beckons to him below.	It's kicked in.					RUSSELL				(bellowing to the heavens)			I AM A GOLDEN GOD!!	Russell cackles at the joke of it all.  William yells up from	down below.					WILLIAM			Hey Russell -					RUSSELL			I AM A GOLDEN GOD!!					WILLIAM			Don't jump, okay?					RUSSELL			And you can tell Rolling Stone Magazine			my last words were -	He spreads his arms, and tries to think of last words.					RUSSELL (cont'd)			-- I'm on drugs!!	The kids cheer.  William looks around, remains cool.  Yells	upward in the cold night air.					WILLIAM			I think we should work on those last			words.					RUSSELL			Critic!!					WILLIAM			No, I'm not -					RUSSELL			Okay I got it.  I got it.  I got it.			I got it.   This is better.  Last words			-				(spreads his arms, his			greatest realization)			I DIG MUSIC!!	It gets a skimpy reaction from the partygoers.					RUSSELL (cont'd)				(immediately)			I'm on drugs!!	They applaud again.					WILLIAM			Just come on down!!					RUSSELL				(matter-of-fact)			Okay.	He jumps from the roof into the cold, algaed water below.  He	sinks immediately.  One kid jumps in, then another, then more.	Everybody wants to save Russell.	89    EXT. AARON'S NEIGHBORHOOD -- EARLY MORNING			89	It's getting lighter.  Cars line the street.  And now, finally	turning the corner, is Doris the Bus.	90    INT. KITCHEN -- MORNING						90	William watches the effects of personal charisma.  Wet	partygoers surround Russell, bottle of Jack Daniels still in	hand,  wrapped in towels.  Now a bond has passes between them,	all of them.  Algae drips from the corner of Russell's face	and neck.					RUSSELL			Thanks for saving my life.  I won't			hold it against you.	Twenty different kids thank him for the opportunity.  ("Glad	to do it," "Right on," "Damn straight.")	91    INT. LIVING ROOM/KITCHEN -- MORNING				91	Door opens.  Dick enters.  Finding the guitarist in the kitchen,	he clicks into time-tested road-managerial maintenance.  Easing	Russell out of his towel, slipping his own jacket around him,	from Russell's hands.					DICK				(privately)			They've been crying for you like a			bunch of whimpering pussies --					RUSSELL				(woozy)			The band is over.  This is my family			now.					OTHERS			Right on.  He's staying with us.					DICK				(soothing)			Definitely.  It's all over.  We'll			just ride on to Greenville, listen to			some great music, finish the tour, and			leave those ungrateful fools behind.			And then we'll come back here, where			you'll live.					RUSSELL			I know what you're doing... and I like			it.				(noticing William)			Look at him.  He's taking notes with			his eyes.				(beat, to Dick)			How do we know he's not a cop?	William laughs painfully, as Russell moves in, eyes flaring	with sudden paranoia.					RUSSELL (cont'd)			He could be selling information!					DICK				(to Russell)			Easy.  He's your Guardian Angel.	Russell turns away.  William shrugs with style, but his	lingering look is filled with hurt.  Dick guides Russell to	the door, grabbing the kid and talking very directly to him as	they move.					DICK (cont'd)			Don't worry.  He only means half of			what he says.					WILLIAM			Which half?					DICK			Good question.					WILLIAM				(very direct)			I have a lot more.  Just help me get			my interview so I can go home from			Greenville.  I have to go home.				(pulls him back)			I have to go home.					DICK			Hey.  You saved the tour.   That's			good enough for now.	Frustrated but feeling important, William hands him some of	Russell's wet clothes. William deftly retrieves Russell's shoes	and smoothly plucks the guitarist's sunglasses from the	partygoer who also wears his belt.  They move to the door in a	pack.  We hear the beginning of Elton John's "Tiny Dancer."	Dick faces the crowd and addresses them in his "important"	stage voice.					DICK (cont'd)			Ladies and Gentlemen, the evening is			over!  We hope you've enjoyed			yourselves, and we'll See you again in			1974!!  Good evening!!	William gives Russell his sunglasses to face the sunlight.	Russell stumbles out of the house to great cheers.  The Quiet	Girl breaks free to catch Russell on the way out.					QUIET GIRL			I'll never forget you.	Dick pats William's arm one more time -- good work.  They leave	Aaron's house as legends.	92    INT. TOUR BUS -- MORNING - 5 AM					92	"Tiny Dancer" continues on the bus stereo.  Russell sits up	front, swathed in a large robe, alone and silent.   The others	have given him a wide berth.  He feels silly, and they know	it, and he hates that they know it, which makes him feel	foolish.  He sits silently.  William watches him from four	rows back, next to Penny.  She kisses the top of his forehead,	a hero's welcome. He yawns. The song's vocal begins.  There is	only more silence.  Then, after a beat, we hear a voice or	two, fighting the quiet and singing along.  Then others...	waking up... joining in.  Then Jeff.  Russell hears them and	starts to sing along too, louder now, without turning around.	It's a voice everyone wants to hear.  Like it or not, this is	his family.									FADE OUT	FADE IN:	93    EXT. HIGHWAY -- DAY						93	Passing signs announce Greenville, North Carolina.	94    INT. LESTER BANGS BEDROOM - DAY					94	Lester on the phone.  He is paler than ever, in a room clogged	with vinyl, happily listening to the MC5 in the background.					LESTER			How's it going?								 INTERCUT:	95    INT. WILLIAM'S HOTEL ROOM - DAY					95	It's a small wooden-walled hotel room in Greenville.  Polexia	tries on clothes.  William barely notices as he talks to Lester	on the phone.					WILLIAM			Rolling Stone is calling me.  I don't			have my key interview.  I don't know			what to say.					LESTER BANGS				(pacing, assembling thoughts			with his hands)			You're flipping out.  That's good.			Alright.  This is how you blow their			minds.  He'll ask you - this is Ben			Fong-Torres, right? - he'll ask you			how the story's going.  Here's what			you do - let's fry his mind.  Tell him			"it's a think piece about a mid-level			band struggling with their own			limitations in the harsh face of			stardom."  Ha ha!!  This is fun!	William scrambles to make notes.					WILLIAM				(madly copying)			... think... piece...	CLOSE ON WRITING	Longhand small script on yellow legal tablets.	96    INT. HOTEL BATHROOM -- NIGHT					96	William sits in the tub, without water.  It's his makeshift	office, he's surrounded with scraps of notepaper.  He writes	savagely, and now, savagely throws it away.	97    INT. HOTEL BEDROOM -- NIGHT					97	In the bedroom, Sapphire, Polexia and Penny watch The Midnight	Special.  Sapphire looks at a room service menu.					SAPPHIRE			It says the food is hearty and			adventurous.					POLEXIA				(yawns)			Greenville.  I'm bored.	Penny yawns too, it's catchy, and rises to visit the bathroom.					POLEXIA (cont'd)			Hey let's deflower the kid.	Now Sapphire yawns, looks in her purse.					SAPPHIRE			Who his the quaaludes from me?	98    INT. HOTEL BATHROOM -- NIGHT					98	Penny enters to see William writing in the tub.  She sits on	the toilet to pee.  Flustered:					WILLIAM			Wait.  I'll leave.	He gets up, knocking his carefully organized notes onto the	floor.  He is brimming with things to say.  More than he is	even able to communicate.					WILLIAM (cont'd)			You know, I think this is going			backwards for me.					PENNY			Backwards?					WILLIAM				(flustered)			I don't know.  I just thought we could			hang out, maybe do some stuff back			home, regular stuff, get to know each			other better... and then I'd see you			pee.  I mean, that's the way I usually			do it.					PENNY			You're one of us.  It's no big deal.					WILLIAM			I'm not one of you.					PENNY			Oh!  If you go to Cleveland, Bowie's			going to be there at Swingo's, the			greatest hotel in America.  I'll			introduce you to him, and his security			guy Dennis.	William stops at the door.					WILLIAM			Don't you have any regular friends?					PENNY			Famous people are just more interesting.	He looks at her.  Even sitting on the can, she's elegant and	totally focused on him.					WILLIAM				(carefully)			Well, I would be worried that they			were using me.  And not that anybody's			using you, but -	She swoons a little, touched and moved.					PENNY			Boy, if this was the real world and			some guy talked to me like that -					WILLIAM			Let me finish.				(continuing)			I'm not famous.... but you could always			use me.   If anything happens.  And I			would never use you.  Even if I got			famous.  So you know, you always have			that from me... in the real world.  If			you ever have to go back there, for			anything.	She looks at him curiously, as the door blasts open.  Sapphire	and Polexia head for William.					SAPPHIRE			Your time has come.					WILLIAM			Did he call?				(realizes their intention)			What are you -- stop it -- we're talking			here.					SAPPHIRE			Pants him.  Opie must die.	They swarm him, dragging him kicking into the bedroom.	99    INT. HOTEL BEDROOM -- NIGHT					99	Steely Dan, looking pale and somehow snappy, perform "Do It	Again" on The Midnight Special.  The girls force William onto	the bed, and envelope him.  Their sexuality is fun, untroubled.	Shot moves past bodies crossing frame, onto William's face.	ANGLE ON PENNY	Across room, sitting and watching.					SAPPHIRE			Just relax.  Take a vacation from			yourself.  Leave this to professionals.	Estrella and Polexia kiss each other playfully.  William looks	confused.  Across the room, Penny laughs, turns up the TV,	blows him a kiss.	Penny's eyes.  Across the room.	His eyes.	His sexual awakening may be downtime amusement for them, but	to him it's an embarrassingly  intense moment he shares only	with Penny Lane -- across the room.  She turns away, smiling,	disappears into the next room.	ON STEELY DAN	On the television.								 DISSOLVE TO:	99A  INT. BEDROOM - NIGHT - TWENTY MINUTES LATER - HANDHELD		99A	Post-sex pajama party.  Sapphire, Estrella, and Polexia girltalk	about their first rock and roll conquests.  Penny is conspicuous	by her absence.  William is under the sheets, listening, feeling	different, now a man and somehow one of the girls too.								 DISSOLVE TO:	100   INT. BEDROOOM -- NEXT MORNING					100	William is awake.  Sunlight floods in from the corners of the	window-shades.  He is surrounded by the fallen cavalry of the	night before... Sapphire and Polexia.  The phone rings, and	Sapphire instantly snaps it up, still asleep.  Lost in her	dreams, she offers the sexiest hello ever.					SAPPHIRE				(half-English accent)			Hello.  Hi, Ben-Fong-Torres from Rolling			Stone.	William snatches the phone.					WILLIAM				(lowers voice)			Hello.	101   INT. BEN FONG-TORRES' KITCHEN -- SATURDAY MORNING			101	Ben Fong-Torres is up bright and early.					BEN			Hello William, this is your editor at --	He offers the name of the magazine with a swirl that implies	high-level importance.					BEN (cont'd)			Rolling Stone.  How's the story?	INT. GREENVILLE HOTEL ROOM -- CONTINUOUS	William snaps into his very professional tone of equally grave	importance.					WILLIAM			I'm getting good stuff out here.					BEN			Sounds like it.	Next to him, Polexia yawns herself awake.					POLEXIA			Man, I need some -	He clamps a hand over her mouth.					BEN				(jocular but tough)			Now listen.  Get it together.  We're			both professionals, I don't have to			tell you this.  You're not out there			to join the party -- we already have			one Hunter Thompson.  You're out there			to interview and Report.  You got me?			This isn't Creem Magazine, it's Rolling			Stone.  We need this story in four			days.  Now I want to know how it's			shaping up.					WILLIAM			It's a think-piece about a mid-level			band grappling with their limitations			in the face of the harsh glare of			success.					BEN				(pause)			I like what we're saying.  Let me try			and get you a thousand more words.			It's in consideration for the cover,			but don't tell the band.					WILLIAM				(conflicted)			Crazy.	The kid hangs up, now shouldering even more pressure.  He	unclamps Polexia's mouth.					POLEXIA			- coffee.					SAPPHIRE			Me too.  Greenville is so boring.				(to William)			Any other city in the world and you'd			still be a virgin.					WILLIAM			I'm going out to find Russell.					SAPPHIRE			Will you take the laundry?					WILLIAM				(to the girls)			What am I to you?  Tell me right now!			What. Am.  I.  To.  You.	102   INT. HOTEL HALLWAY - DAY						102	Circles have sprouted up under William's eyes.  The orange bag	strapped over his shoulder, he lugs a huge bag of laundry.  He	consults room list.  A variety of noises and smells drift from	the band rooms.  He sees Room Service arrive at Dick's door,	and it's Estrella who opens the door.  (Dick in the	background.)  She smiles sweetly to William -- good morning --	as the door shuts.					WILLIAM			Houdini... Houdini...	He arrives at Russell's door.  Two exclamation points have	been Sharpie-markered to the words Do Not Disturb on the sign	is gaffer-taped to his door.  He looks through the crack, at	the bottom of the door.  Carefully and politely, he knocks.	Instantly:					RUSSELL (O.S.)			GO AWAY!	Pissed, the kid flips off the door.  He sits down on a chair	directly across from the room.  Push in on William, who is	more pent-up than ever.  He tries hard not to cry, taking	gulps of air as a maid cart swishes past, revealing... he's	failed.  He cries.	FADE UP FROM DARKNESS	A super-energized Russell Hammond looks into William's sleepy	face.  William's eyes open.  His own sleepy face is evident in	Russell's sunglasses.  The bag of laundry is still at his feet.					RUSSELL (cont'd)			We'll do the interview in Cleveland!					WILLIAM			No.  I can't.  You've got to help me.			I have to go home.					RUSSELL			Come on man, we'll have more time there.			Don't be tense!!	He begins rubbing the kid's shoulders.  He's waking up.  There's	Penny, also rubbing his shoulders.  It is degrading... and	somehow cool too.					WILLIAM				(to Penny)			You said you'd help me.					PENNY				(massaging)			Come to Cleveland.					RUSSELL				(massaging, hypnotically)			Come to Cleveland... Come to			Cleveland...					WILLIAM			I can't!!					RUSSELL			Can we help it if we like having you			around!	William is a bundle of nerves and exhaustion now.  Embarrassed	and frustrated.					RUSSELL (cont'd)			Cleveland, my man.  You can't miss out			on the Rock Mecca of the midwest -			you're with us.  It's all happening!					PENNY			Rock and roll!					WILLIAM				(weary)			Rock and roll.	We hear David Bowie's live version of "Waiting for the Man."	103   INT. HOTEL ROOM -- DAY						103	They sit together, hair askew, in sunglasses, resting against	the headboard.  Carefully, Russell identifies his thoughts.					RUSSELL			I feel... like his parents.	Penny runs a worried hand through her hair.					PENNY			I know.					RUSSELL			I wonder how that happened.					PENNY			You ever notice that all our sentences			begin with "I?"					RUSSELL			I hadn't, no.					PENNY			'Cause we should work on that.	He looks at her, plays the guitar a little.	104   EXT. HIGHWAY - NIGHT						104	Night.  Doris rocks toward Cleveland on a muggy summer night.	The windows of passing houses offer rich Edward Hopper glimpses	of lives and people William will never meet.	105   INT. WILLIAM'S BUS BUNK - NIGHT					105	William watches from his bus bunk at the back, head on elbow.	Looking up, he sees the rhythmic motion of bodies on the	mattress above him, as music continues.	William gets up, nods hello to the Roadie and his Date on the	bunk above.  He moves down the aisle... to the seats near the	front.  A sleeping Russell sits upright, hugging his guitar.	Penny asleep next to him, Polaroid in her hand of... Russell	sleeping.  The kid moves on.  He sits with the Bus Driver,	whose CB crackles with chatter from other tour buses headed to	Cleveland.	ON THE FIRST SIGN - LATE NIGHT	Cleveland signs.  Music rises.  Heads pop awake.					RUSSELL			Cleveland!	106   EXT. DOWNTOWN CLEVELAND - LATE NIGHT				106	Like a slow-moving shark, Doris pulls into empty downtown	Cleveland.  The streets are empty.  They pass the Agoura	Ballroom, where a man with a long stick arranges the letters	Stillwater on the marquee.   Applause in the bus.	107   INT. SWINGO'S CELEBRITY INN - LATE NIGHT/EARLY MORNING		107	Russell and band enter like warriors, in a pack.  William sags	with the heavy bags in hand and over his shoulder.  Here, in	the middle of the midwest, is an explosive rock mecca, just as	promised.   The feeling of belonging invades all those in this	lobby.  Fans and other touring rockers mingle together.	Outside in the real world, everyone else is going to work.					FAN			It's Bowie!	The lobby ignites, as William stands near Penny and Russell.	Bowie races from a limousine through the lobby and into the	elevators.  He is shrouded by a jacket.  Just the top of his	electric red hair travels the lobby, as he's hustled by security	man Dennis in the elevator.  And out of the chaos comes...	108   INT. HOTEL ROOM - DAY						108	Jeff Bebe and Polexia smash against the wall of the Swingo's	hotel room, making love.	109   INT. HOTEL ROOM - DAY						109	Russell and Penny Lane smash against their own wall.	109A  INT. ARENA - NIGHT						109A	Dick squats at the front of the stage, and talks to a few fans	in the front row of this crowd.	110   INT. BACKSTAGE CLEVELAND PAY PHONE - NIGHT			110	A wild Cleveland crowd in the building.  The cities on this	tour are getting bigger, and so are the audiences.  And there	is a whiff of business now too.  Men in satin tour jackets and	some Disc-jockey types cruise the backstage.  A Hysterical Fan	is led screaming to the nearby medic room.  Few even react -	it's Cleveland - as the shot finds William, tired and yawning,	on the backstage pay phone.  He is absolutely ready for the	worst.					WILLIAM			Hi Mom.  I'm in Cleveland.	He listens stoically.  Larry and Ed watch nearby.								 INTERCUT:	INT. LIVING ROOM -- NIGHT	Moms sits in silence.					WILLIAM (cont'd)				(rehearsed)			I'm fine! I'm fine!  I'm flying back on			Monday Morning.  I'll only miss one			test.  I'll make it up.	Russell listens in, holding his guitar, laughing.					RUSSELL			Tell her you're a slave to the groove			- you can't help it!					WILLIAM				(covers phone)			No.	Russell grabs the phone, talks to the silent mother on the	other end.					RUSSELL			Hi Mom!  It's Russell Hammond, I play			guitar in Stillwater!   It's my fault.			How does it feel to be the mother of			the future of rock journalism?				(beat)			Hello?	Silence.   Penny passes and stands near William, smoothing her	pass.  They watch a new pack of groupies prowl the road-crew.	They are more glam, more trashy and less selective.  They glare	insolently at Penny Lane.  This is the future.					RUSSELL (cont'd)			You've got a great kid -- nothing to			worry about!  We're taking care of			him!  And you should come to a show			sometime!  Join the Circus!					ELAINE			Listen to me.   Your charm does not			work on me.  I'm onto you.  Of course			you like him.					RUSSELL			Yes.					ELAINE			He worships you people and that's fine			with you, as long as he helps make you			rich.					RUSSELL				(a nerve is struck)			Rich?  I don't think so -					ELAINE			Listen to me.  He's a smart, good-			hearted, 15 year-old kid, with infinite			potential.	Russel looks over at the kid, eyes narrowing as he processes	the truth.  He's 15?					ELAINE (cont'd)			This is not some apron-wearing mother			you're talking to.  I know about your			Valhalla of Decadence, and I shouldn't			have let him go.  He is not ready for			your world of compromised values, and			diminished brain cells that you throw			away like confetti.  Am I speaking			clearly to you?					RUSSELL			Yes, ma'am.					ELAINE			If you break his spirit, harm him in			any way, keep him from his chosen			profession -- which is law, Something			you may not value but I do -- you will			meet the voice on the other end of			this telephone.  And it will not be			pretty.    Do we understand each other?					RUSSELL			Yes... yes...					ELAINE				(always the teacher)			I didn't ask for this role, but I'll			play it.  Now go do your best.  "Be			bold and mighty forces will come to			your aide!"  Goethe said that.  It's			not too late for you to be a person of			substance.  Get my son home safely,			I'm glad we spoke.	She hangs up.  Russell hangs up, oddly affected and shook up.					WILLIAM			Some people get her.  Some don't.	Russell is still recovering.  William feels embarrassed by his	mother, once again.	111   ON THE HUDDLE							111	William with the band.  He yawns, as the band breaks.  Cleveland	awaits.  We follow Dick, who guides the band onto the stage	platform, still in darkness.  Already, stomping and applause	is mounting.  Russell turns to William before taking the stage:					RUSSELL			Your Mom kind of freaked me out.					WILLIAM			She means well.	Still rattled, he takes the stage.  We see the unbridled	enthusiasm of the faces on the front row.  A wave of cigarette	lighters stretch out before them.					DICK				(importantly)			From Troy, Michigan...	Russell thwacks a couple chords.  Audience thunders.  He turns	to other members, feeling chills.  It's in these moments that	everything else disappears.  They bow and wave, still in	darkness... each member seems to have his own fans.  Dick lets	all this play out before finally adding...					DICK (cont'd)			Would you please welcome to Cleveland...	More applause.  This is very very very very fun.					DICK (cont'd)			Stillwater.	Lights come up.  A full blast of audience love hits them right	in the face, as they begin "Fever Dog."  The band charges	headlong into their set, as various fans are squeezed up out	of the crowd and onto the stage.	HANDHELD ON RUSSELL	Who is in the middle of playing, as he smoothly whips off his	guitar, and uses the instrument to send a Frenetic fan back	into the crowd.  He slips back under the strap, laughing.	More stage climbers spring up where that fan came from, and	Russell now watches as Jeff Bebe dodges a fan and comes over	to Russell to lean on him.  Russell turns to share the moment	with Penny, dancing with arms in the air at the side of the	stage.	112   INT. DRESSING ROOM -- NIGHT					112	William in the dressing room, eyes red with exhaustion, finally	interviewing Russell.  He holds the mike stoically.					WILLIAM			So when you play a great show like			tonight...	Dick enters with great urgency.					DICK			Okay.  I need everybody's attention.	The kid shuts his eyes.  He knew this would happen.					DICK (cont'd)			Alright, well, the rumors are true.			The record company has sent a big-time			manager here to try and talk you into			replacing me.  His name is Dennis Hope.			I know you've all heard of him.  He's			got all the big bands.  He's right			outside.  He wants five minutes with			you right now.  I think we gotta do			it.					RUSSELL				(pissed)			Then bring him in.	William shuts off his tape recorder.					JEFF				(arrogant)			Bring him in!  We'll send him out on a			rail!					RUSSELL				(to William)			We'll finish on the way to Boston.			You can fly home from Boston.	William nods, exhausted, as Dick opens the door.  In walks a	small general of a man in a baseball t-shirt, well-trimmed	beard and bowl cut.  He holds the super-new Halliburton	briefcase.  He is DENNIS HOPE, 25.  A man from the midwest,	with a vision of the future of rock and roll.  Already in his	head are all the things that will come to pass.  Higher ticket	prices.  Merchandising deals.  Greater distribution and	accounting of album sales.  He shrugs hello to the band.					DENNIS HOPE				(completely unthreatening)			Hi.					RUSSELL			We already have a manager.  He's been			with us from the beginning.	Hope appreciates the lack of small talk.  He strides the room	with the joyful enthusiasm of a kid who wants to build a fort.	Russell watches, dismissive, holding his guitar.					DENNIS HOPE			Respectfully.  We all have our roots.			I believe in bands holding onto their			roots.  But those roots need to be			augmented.  I'm gonna tell you the truth			- I may enrage some and enthrall others.			I don't really give a fuck.   Your			manager here needs a manager.  Example.			If you hadn't run out on the contract in			Phoenix, you could have sued over			Russell's hand... but you left, negating			the contract, forfeiting the deposit,			and you effectively traveled a long			way to pay that promoter... to			electrocute you.	Russell looks at his hand.					DENNIS HOPE (cont'd)			We can all work together.  Your damages			have put you way into the hole for			this tour.  Right now you owe the record			company more than you've got.  But			your record's selling, there's money			to be made.  So I've brought a plane			in, we can add more shows to make-up			the difference.   Respectfully.					RUSSELL				(immediately)			We travel by bus.					JEFF			Doris is the soul of this band!  That			bus has been our home since we were			the Jeff Bebe Band.	Dick watches his loyal band with admiration.					DENNIS			Hey man -- it's travel on a pogo stick			if I thought we'd make more money.			You can play more dates with a plane...	112A  INT. CLEVELAND ARENA - NIGHT - SAME TIME				112A	Penny Lane stands on stage facing the empty arena.  The roadies	have packed up and moved on. She is alone in the poetic and	trash filled structure that was just hours ago filled with	people.  (Behavior to come)							 INTERCUT WITH:	112B  INT. DRESSING ROOM -- NIGHT					112B	The band meeting continues.					RUSSELL				(passionate)			Hey man, it's not about the money!  It's			about Playing music, and turning people			on!	The band agrees.					DENNIS HOPE				(delicately)			Yes, of course.  Clearly.			Respectfully.   But on the distasteful			subject of money.  Just know.  You're			making it -- right now -- and it's all --	He gestures to infinity.					DENNIS HOPE (cont'd)			-- out there.  I'm just talking about			bringing it --	Bringing his hand together in a fist, he returns it, close to	his heart.					DENNIS HOPE (cont'd)			-- back here.	The band looks at Dick, who manages not to be speechless.					DICK			But why should we pay you for something			we can do ourselves?					DENNIS HOPE				(immediately)			Do you know how to keep from getting			charged for the ice below the			floorboards of Chicago Stadium?			Do you know how to do a headlining			tour, do you Claire Rothman at the			L.A. Forum?  Do you know Bobbi Cowan,			Lisa Robinson, Jim Ladd, Frank			Barcelona?				(look around, amazed)			This is Cleveland. Where's Kid Leo??				(basics)			Do you know how you get a record not			pressed but played?  Do you know?  I			didn't invent the rainy day, man.  I			just own the best umbrella.	He laughs.  It's fun.  Band members are now listening, curiously	spellbound.					DENNIS HOPE (cont'd)			Because as much as you may believe that			it will last forever, it does not last			forever... your biggest fan right now			soon they're going to go to college,			gonna wanna buy clothes, spend that money			some other way, and you know what?				(the final insult)			They'll tape your record from a friend's			copy.	Russell stops fingering his guitar.  Shot moves across the	faces of the band members.  Pain.					DENNIS HOPE (cont'd)			You've got to take what you can, when you			can, while you can.  And you've got to do			it now.  That's what the big boys do.	The band squirms, but listens.					DENNIS HOPE (cont'd)			Because if you think Mick Jagger will			still be out there trying to be a rock			star at age fifty, you're sadly sadly			mistaken.	Now he's reaching them.  Their slackened roar-weary faces stare	back at the young dynamo.					DICK				(flustered)			Yeah, well... we'll think about what			you said.					DENNIS HOPE				(casually)			No no.  You don't understand.  I'll			think about it.  I'm not auditioning.			I came here to decide whether I want			to represent you.  So I'll stand outside			for a moment, and think about whether			I want to stay.	He leaves the room with a pleasant shrug.  Stunned silence.	William watches their body language.  No one wants to talk	first.  Their faces read as -- who was that guy, and how can	we talk him into staying?	113   INT. PLANE -- DAY							113	William watches as the band stands inside the new plane.  Dennis	Hope looks on.					RUSSELL			This is not us.   This is too much.	He looks around for support.  Grim nodding faces.					RUSSELL (cont'd)				(impressed at seat)			This is too much.	William watches as Russell reclines.  Russell grabs Penny, and	she falls into the seat next to him.   We hear the loud oncoming	sound of the plane in flight, as Dennis cooly asks for Penny's	seat.					DENNIS HOPE			Do you mind?	114   EXT. PRIVATE AIRPORT -- DAY					114	Doris the bus stays behind in the parking lot, abandoned near	a field.  The new plane lifts off in the background, as the	bus sits alone, as if crying steel tears.  Bus Banner reads	simply: CLEVELAND.  Reprise ending of Whole Lotta Love.	115   INT. PLANE  NIGHT							115	The girls sit on the jumper seats at the back of the plane,	with William.	116   INT. BOSTON HOTEL ROOM HALLWAY -- DAY				116	William trudges the hallway with tape-recorder and notebook,	trolling for Russell.   He passes Boston travelogue posters on	the walls.  A few room doors are open, he looks for any sign	of the guitarist.   William veers into Dick's room, where a	poker game full of Roadies is in progress.  The room is thick	with exotic smoke.   They are a bunch of road-hardened snobs,	smoking cigars and other items, famous to themselves, listening	not to rock and roll... but Sarah Vaughn.					WILLIAM			Anyone seen Russell?					DICK			The Enemy!	Door widens to reveal Russell.					RUSSELL			Hey!  Welcome to the Road Crew Poker			Party.  This game's been going of for			two years.					DICK			That's Mick - he's with The Who.  That's			John - with J. Geils.  And that's			Richard with the Eagles... and you know			The Wheel.					THE WHEEL			Hey.	Grumbling roadies continue playing.  Like an old pro, the kid	turns down a Cola-can hash-pipe.  This hand is down to Dick,	and a roadie named REG from Humble Pie.					DICK			Side proposition.  For fifty dollars			and a case of Heineken, I will put			into the pot... three Lovely Ladies,			Including the famous Penny Lane... the			Band-Aids, who need to exit our tour			before New York...					REG			It's a deal.  Show 'em.	Dick lays down three tens.  Reg lays down three Kings.  Dick	loses.					DICK			Three Lovely Ladies... now in the			custody of Humble Pie.					REG			Alright, so we owe you fifty dollars			and a case of Heineken.	Embarrassed, Russell notices the kids face.  He leans over,	and speaks confidentially to him.					RUSSELL			Look.  Nobody's feelings are getting			hurt here.  She already knows Leslie's			coming To New York tomorrow.  They all			understand.  This is the Circus.			Everybody's trying not to go home.			Nobody's saying goodbye.					WILLIAM			No, I got it.					RUSSELL			These are the Rules that come with			every electric Guitar and every			amplifier.  They're not just written			anywhere.  Rock and roll, brother.  No			attachments.  No boundaries.	But the kid feels bad, and Russell knows it.					RUSSELL (cont'd)			Quit looking at me like that.	116A  INT. HALLWAY - AFTERNOON						116A	The kid is still stuck on the road.  He is in hell now.	Wearily, with deep circles under his eyes, he shuts his eyes	for a moment.  Another band is moving through.					SABBATH ROADIE			Keep this hallway clear!	117   INT. BACKSTAGE TRAILER/DRESSING ROOM -- AFTERNOON			117	William and Penny sit on opposite ends of a blue locker-room	bench.  It's a small dressing room, crowded with roadies,	guitars and men in stages of half-dress.  Piles of luggage	headed for New York sit by the door.  The door suddenly opens	and Dick arrives with champagne and a cake decorated with a	sparkler.  It is placed in Penny's lap. It reads: Unforgettable	Penny... Age Unknown.  Boston, 1973.   They gather now as the	cake sits before a surprised and enchanted Penny Lane.					DICK			Happy Birthday from us.	William watches her face as she reads the message on the cake.	It hasn't sunk in yet.	Russell produces a piece of hotel stationery.  He reads a poem.					RUSSELL			So Penny our friend has gained another year.			But long ago, she threw it in gear.			She rocked the south			The East and West.			Could you please get off this endless tour			Where we're Black Sabbath's fucking			 special guest?	Laughter.					RUSSELL (cont'd)			She says she's retired			Though we've heard that before.			She chose us...			And in Penny Lane we trust			She is a fan of this band.			Much more so than us.	William watches her face.  Still enchanted, she hands out slices	of the cake.					DENNIS HOPE				(to the point)			Sorry the plane isn't bigger.	It hits her.  She looks at William for a clue.  His truthful	face does not look away.  Now she knows.  She turns to the	others -- the plane isn't bigger?  Shot moves in on Penny as	she blinks just a little, cutting into the cake, still mugging	for everybody, covering it all with a layer of sweet giddy	laughter.  Shot comes to rest behind her, her head turning to	connect with band members.  Each of them look away, nobody	maintaining eye contact with her except the one she now doesn't	look at.  William.  She blows out the candles, vamping Marilyn	Monroe-style, and sucks off the frosting seductively, to cheers.	Russell watches, as we push in on Penny.  She notices all the	luggage is gone, only her two cases remain by the door.	118   EXT. CONCORD PAVILLION BACKSTAGE -- EARLY MORNING			118	William exits a backstage Portosan.  Penny catches him by the	grilling area where catering is preparing for the outdoor event.	Their laminated passes swing from around their necks.  Thuding	in the distance, Stillwater plays for a cheering outdoor crowd.	The sound of summer insects in the air.					PENNY			So it wasn't a birthday party, it was			a farewell.	William doesn't answer.  He looks at her, blowing some hair	out of her face.					PENNY (cont'd)			You think you can fool me.  I read			you.  I know what you're thinking.					WILLIAM			What's that?					PENNY				(touched)			You're worried about me and Russell.					WILLIAM			Yeah.  I gotta work on that.					PENNY			You're so sweet.  God -- if there was			more of you in him...					WILLIAM			Don't tell me this stuff.  I want to			like him.					PENNY				(concerned for him)			Did you miss your test or something?	He shakes his head.  It's so beyond a test.					PENNY (cont'd)			I know I'm not on the plane, and I'm			not going on some other band's bus.  I			mean, I could go with the Sabbath road			crew, but that would be pathetic.  The			girls are all going with Humble Pie.			If you could find out from Russell --					WILLIAM				(quietly)			Penny -					PENNY				(a decision)			Forget it.  I'm flying to New York			myself.  I have a bunch of partial			tickets.  I know his ex-wife, current			girlfriend's going to be there -	William's eyebrows rise.  She examines his face for clues.					WILLIAM			-- I'm not sure that's a good idea.					PENNY				(overlapping)			What?  What are you saying?  What do			you know?  Did Russell say something?					WILLIAM			I don't know anything.					PENNY			I know he wants me there.  He gave me			a cake.  He wrote me that sweet poem.					WILLIAM				(loud)			Wake up!  Don't go to New York!					PENNY			What are you telling me?	She looks so achingly beautiful to him.					WILLIAM			Because you're not who you said you			were!  I thought you were retired!					PENNY			You're right.  I'm not who I said I			was.  I'm just like you. I love music,			so this is my family.  Some people			like tractors, and they hang out with			tractor people.  What's the worst that			could happen if I go to New York?				(little girl)			"I get my little heart broken?"					WILLIAM			Oh no.  Never you!  You eat people			alive!	She tears some leaves off a tree.  He looks at her, unable to	formulate a response.					PENNY				(accusatory)			I'm sorry I told you so much.   You			have some way of making everybody tell			you all their secrets.					WILLIAM			That's a good one.  Tell me too much			and make it my fault.	He continues walking, she follows.  They have ventured outside	the backstage area, onto adjoining Boston farmland.  The show	booms in the background.					PENNY			Come on.  You've seen what's happened.			Russell and I fell in love.  How much,			I don't know... but this is the first			time I've fallen for someone, really			fallen... since Iggy, and I'm not happy			about it.					WILLIAM				(beat)			You slept with Iggy Pop!?	She says nothing.					WILLIAM (cont'd)				(sputtering)			Why don't you just tell me now, who			else -- so when I go to the record			store, I know who to be jealous of.			Because right now, it's looking like			the whole store!	He's upset.   She stares at him.					PENNY				(teasing, defiant)			You'll remember me forever.  I was			there when you lost your virginity.					WILLIAM				(upset at the memory)			So was Steely Dan!  It was a crowded			room.	She laughs, can't help it.  Then:					PENNY			You make me laugh.  I think I'm gonna			cry.					WILLIAM				(continuing)			I thought we were going to Morocco!			There's no Morocco.  There's never been			a Morocco.  There's not even a Penny			Lane.  I don'teven know your real			name.					PENNY			If I ever met a guy in the real world,			who looked at me the way you just looked			at me...					WILLIAM			When and where does the real world			occur?  I am really... confused here.			Fuck!  All these Rules And all these			sayings... and nicknames...					PENNY			You know -- you're too sweet for rock			and roll.					WILLIAM			Where do you get off... where do you			get "sweet?"  I'm not sweet.  I'm dark			and mysterious and pissed-off and I			could be very dangerous to all of you...			I'm not sweet, and you should know			that about me!  I am The Enemy.					PENNY			You're not any of those things and			that's what I love about you.	William stands there in disbelief, unable to look at her.					WILLIAM			You fall in love to keep from falling			in love.					PENNY			I don't want to go home!					WILLIAM			Well, I have to go home.  And you never			helped me.					PENNY			Yes I did.					WILLIAM			That disc-jockey in Arizona got a better			interview than me... and he was asleep.	He starts walking back to the stage.  She follows.  They are	two very young kids thrashed by the seas of rock and roll.	His frustration increases.  She just doesn't get it.  Applause	in b.g.  She grabs his shirt.					PENNY			Look.  You should be happy for me.			You don't know what he says to me in			private.  Maybe it is love.  As much			as it can be with someone who --					WILLIAM				(blurts)			-- sold you to Humble Pie for fifty			dollars and a case of beer?  I was			there!	He is instantly sorry.  Her world privately crumbles, but she	tries to remain stoic and carefree.					PENNY			What kind of beer?	119   INT. HUMBLE PIE CREW TRUCK -- DAY					119	Sapphire, Polexia, and Estrella bump along to the music and	the road.  They strain to maintain dignity in these decidedly	third-class surroundings.  There's only one small blurry window.					POLEXIA			Who did this to us?	120   INT. WILLIAM'S LIVING ROOM -- NIGHT				120	Mom on the phone.					ELAINE			Then don't come home.  Don't do this			to me.  If you're going to miss			graduation, don't come home.	She hangs up.	121   INT. PRODUCTION OFFICE -- NIGHT					121	William on the phone.   Speechless.	122   INT. COLLEGE CLASSROOM -- DAY					122	Elaine faces her Humanities class.  She stands in an	amphitheater-style, inner-city college classroom, decorated	with colorful unorthodox artifacts from her home.  These earnest	city college students listen to her.  But she cannot continue.	There is a thundering upset inside her.					ELAINE			I'm sorry.  I can't concentrate.				(beat, confesses, unhinged)			Rock stars kidnaped my son.	123   INT. BAND PLANE -- DAY						123	Music.  Russell and band bounces down in NYC.  Russell listens	to music on headphones plugged into large boom box.	124   INT. LIMOUSINE -- DAY						124	William watches, facing the band from the jump seat of their	limousine, heading into New York.  Up ahead, Manhattan looms,	beautiful and scary.					RUSSELL			"New York.  Just like I pictured it...			"					JEFF			" ... skyscrapers and everything."					RUSSELL				(to William)			We showed you America.  We did			everything but get you laid.	Beat.  They look at each other curiously.  How much does the	other guy know?	125   EXT. ST. REGIS -- DAY						125	Russell and band spill out of limo.  The New York cluster of	hardcore Stillwater fans wait outside.  They hold collector's	sleeves covering albums to be autographed, and fresh magic	markers in hand.  William in tow crawls out of the limo last.	Dick goes to work, pulling luggage from the trunk.  A serious-	looking Fan (LENNY) approaches Russell with an autograph card.					FAN			I'm from the Church of Lenny.   We bow			to his will and all that it represents			- The King of the King of Kings.					RUSSELL			Make it out to - ?					FAN			To Lenny.	Russell nods -- of course.  He signs, as Dick approaches with	a well-placed word in his right ear.					DICK			She's here.	William turns, expecting to see Penny.  Instead we see the	long-limbed, athletic, pretty and collegiate LESLIE.    She	holds a Nikon camera, and snaps their picture.					JEFF			Leslie!					DICK			Your room is completely stocked, far			away from any noisy ice machines,			elevators or maid quarters.  The air-			conditioning is already on.  And here			is your security key -- by the way,			you look stunning.					LESLIE				(taking treatment for			granted)			ThanksI'llseeyoulater.	Nearby, the young journalist studies the tour's subtle shift	in welcoming Leslie.   Dick's New York side is almost military.					DICK			Bags in five!  Cars leave for the party			at six!	William studies Leslie, everyone saying hello to her, everyone	knowing the subtext.  Nobody saying a word.  William pulls his	heavy bag out of the back of the limousine.	The bag breaks, and the contents spill out onto the New York	sidewalk.  Bars of soap, ashtrays, hotel keys, crumpled paper,	the contraband t-shirt, "Do Not Disturb" signs, notes, towels	and thick telephone books from every city.					DICK (cont'd)			You know.  There are lighter souvenirs.					WILLIAM				(embarrassed)			Well -- I kept thinking I was going			home the next day --					DICK			I did too.  Fifteen years ago.	All help him with his spilled souvenirs.  Russell shares a	private look with the kid.  Nearby Leslie greets other band	members.					WILLIAM			Ric!	It's Super Zeppelin fan Ric Nunez.					RIC				(whispers)			It's all happening.  Zeppelin is at			the Plaza.  So's four other bands.			They're partying up there right now.			Sapphire, and Miss Penny Lane too...			She wants you to call her.				(William reacts)			They're all staying under the name			Emily Rugburn.	William takes in the information, while regarding Ric's new	custom  shirt, which features the words to Zeppelin's "The Rain	Song."					RUSSELL				(exiting with Leslie)			After the party.  I'll come to your			room - I promise.  We'll talk.  This			is Leslie, by the way.  Leslie, this			is our wayward friend from Rolling			Stone.  The Enemy.	They shake, she smiles randomly.	126   INT. ST. REGIS FRONT DESK -- NIGHT				126	William checks in.					CLERK			William Miller?  Sir, you have an urgent			call from a Mr. "Ben Fong-Torres."			He's holding for you, right now.	William takes the phone.  The Clerk watches curiously as the	kid adopts a new persona.					WILLIAM				(deep voice)			Hello.									INTERCUT	INT. JANN'S OFFICE -- SAN FRANCISCO -- AFTERNOON	On a rainy day in San Francisco, Ben Fong-Torres stands in the	copy-strewn office of the young editor/publisher JANN WENNER.	Several other editors are also present in the background,	including David Felton with cigarette-holder in mouth, and a	prep-school Fact-Checker named ALLISON.					BEN			Congratulations.  It's gonna be a cover.			Neal Preston will shoot 'em next week			in L.A.  we need you back in San			Francisco tomorrow.  We'll finish the			story here.	William is overwhelmed with many emotions, fear topping the	list.					BEN (cont'd)			You can tell the band.  Allison, our			fact checker, needs you to transmit			whatever you have of the story, tonight,			now, along with your notes.  There is			a mojo at the Daily News they'll let			us use -					WILLIAM			Mojo?					BEN			A mojo.  It's a very modern machine			that transmits pages over the telephone.			It only takes eighteen Minutes a page...	126A  EXT. NEW YORK STREETS -- NIGHT					126A	The sound of feet on pavement.  William looks at addresses,	hustling to the Daily News office.	126B  INT. DAILY NEWS COPY STATION -- NIGHT				126B	William tears pages from his notebook and feeds them into the	large and clunky earliest model fax machine -- "The Mojo."  We	hear David Bowie.  "The Jean Genie."	A127  EXT. MAX'S KANSAS CITY -- NIGHT					A127	William weaves, exhausted, into the Stillwater press party at	this legendary New York nightspot.  The Doorman, who checks	i.d.s, sees the kid and expresses great doubt.					DENNIS HOPE			He's okay, he's with us -	Hope shoves him past the Guard, and sends him into a very mature	new world.	127   INT. MAX'S KANSAS CITY -- NIGHT					127	The famous hub of New York rock and roll.  A strong whiff of	decadence mixes with youthful naivete.  Not a hippie in sight.	William walks through, looking for familiar faces.  Overhead	we hear Stillwater.  "If You Say Nothing."  The party is filled	with scenesters, long silver-haired glamsters, some British	journalists, and many hunched young skinny bodies in leather	jackets.  Russell grabs him by the arm.					RUSSELL			Ah ha!  There you are, ya little fucker.			Come on --					WILLIAM			I have some good news.					RUSSELL			-- I'll piss to that.  Follow me.	A128  INT. MAX'S BEDROOM						A128	They enter the small bathroom.  Russell bolts the door, faces	the urinal and pees.  His own music throbs in the next room.					RUSSELL			Dennis Hope took me aside, and wants			to manage Me solo.  Says to lose the			band by February.  Should I do it?  I			have no perspective anymore.	William pees in silence.					RUSSELL (cont'd)			At what point do I just take the hint?			Nobody Loves this band.  People like			us, do they love us?					WILLIAM			I do.					RUSSELL				(then pissed)			Oh - get this - somebody told Penny			Lane I sold her for beer.  The network			of these chicks!  Like I would do that.			It's Jeff who told her, right?  Not			you, right?  None of these guys can			just calm down and be a fuckin adult.			Now she's here, freaking out.  Leslie			can smell it.					WILLIAM				(exiting)			Wait.  I've got something to tell -	But he finds himself trailing Russell to the back room bar.	128   INT. GIRL'S BATHROOM - NIGHT - SAME TIME				128	Leslie in the bathroom.  Penny enters and watches her	discreetly.  They stand together, side-by-side at the mirror.	Leslie looks once, turns and then turns back at Penny.  She	knows.	129   INT. BACKROOM -- NIGHT						129	William sits with the band.  Over Jeff's head, Penny hangs	nearby, at the outskirts, drinking and dancing.  They share a	look, feigning casualty.					WILLIAM			You guys -- you guys --				(beat)			You're gonna be on the cover of Rolling			Stone.	Stunned and overwhelmed, the band waits a beat, lets it sink	in... and goes wild.  Russell, stunned too, looks at the kid.	It's big news.  Jeff stands immediately, eyes moist, glass	raised.					JEFF				(tears welling, instantly)			The cover of Rolling Stone.  And we			made it together.  They don't just put			somebody with one little hit on the			cover of Rolling Stone Fucking Magazine,			man.  We made it.	The band nods solemnly, importantly.					JEFF (cont'd)				(continuing)			Damn it -- I'm gonna enjoy this.  The			first time I bought that magazine The			Beatles were on the cover.  Four of			them.  Four of us.  Together.			TOGETHER!	They begin singing the then-current Dr. Hook and the Medicine	Show hit, "The Cover of the Rolling Stone" to William.					LESLIE			Who is that girl?  She's creeping me			out.  She's not with any of you, is			she?					WILLIAM/DICK			She's with me.	And now Leslie has confirmation.  A symphony of looks, as Dick	gets to his feet and moves to confront Penny.  Penny Lane's	eyes fill and she runs out.  Russell stands... and sees William	also stand.  William turns and follows her.  Russell stands	watching, and does not leave.   We hear Elton John's  "Mona	Lisas and Mad Hatters."	130   EXT. MAX'S KANSAS CITY -- NIGHT					130	William exits as a crush of Partygoers arrives.  He doesn't	know where she is.   He takes off to examine the cabs stuck in	traffic.  Song continues.	POV WILLIAM	He looks in the backs of cabs.   None of them her.	Music continues.  He runs down the streets, looking for her.	Alone in New York City.	131   INT. PLAZA HOTEL -- NIGHT						131	William on the house phone.					WILLIAM			Emily Rugburn, please.	132   INT. HOTEL HALLWAY -- NIGHT					132	William approaches Suite 702.  The door is open.  He hears new	band voices, and sees new faces. MUSICIAN  # 1 intercepts him.					WILLIAM			Hi.  I'm a friend of Penny Lane's.					MUSICIAN # 1			Aren't we all -	Musician types are leaving.					WILLIAM			Where is she?	Room Service arrives.  Some appetizers and a large expensive	bottle of champagne on ice.					ROOM SERVICE GUY			Can somebody sign for this?	William does.					ROOM SERVICE GUY (cont'd)			Thank you Mr. Rugburn.	Two more Musicans (English) exit the back room party.  The	room is clearing out.					ENGLISH MUSICIAN			She's sick.  Let's get out of here.					ENGLISH MUSICIAN # 2			She used to be so much more together.	William watches all, champagne in hand, and finds her in the	backroom.  She's addled and nearly passed out.					WILLIAM			What happened?					PENNY LANE			I'm not good at goodbyes.	She sags.  He grabs the phone.					PENNY LANE (cont'd)			You're the last of my old-time friends.			Polexia went to England with Deep			Purple... can you believe that?  Even			Sapphire's out someplace else.  All			she left was her quaaludes.					WILLIAM			Oh -- wonderful.				(into phone)			Front desk?  Please send a doctor.			Room... what room?  703.  702.   Both			rooms, either room.  This is Mr. Rugburn,			Yes.  My wife's had an accident with			some quaaludes.  Yes - I'll do that.	The room has emptied out.  Just them, and the remnants of a	movable party that has moved elsewhere.					WILLIAM (cont'd)			Wake up!	He struggles to get her on her feet.  She tips over on her	strappy platform shoes.  He struggles to untie them.	133   EXT. GRADUATION -- DAY						133	The School band plays "Colour My World."  School PRINCIPAL at	the podium.					PRINCIPAL			And now... out graduating class!  Jane			Abbott!	A peppy student bounds up and grabs her diploma.   Elaine Miller	watches dolefully in the audience.	134   INT. HOTEL ROOM -- NIGHT						134	William holds Penny in his arms.  Finally she is close to him.	135   EXT. GRADUATION CEREMONY -- DAY					135					PRINCIPAL			Victor Sanchez!	Warm applause for another student who grabs his diploma.  He	takes off his mortar board to flash an American flag bandana.	He raises his diploma in victory.	136   INT. HOTEL ROOM -- NIGHT						136	William holds Penny Lane, and keeps her moving.  It's a sagging,	messy slow dance.					WILLIAM			"In the unlikely event of a water			landing... "					PENNY			"... you will be required to wear a			safety vest."					WILLIAM			Keep going.					PENNY			"Please place all stowable luggage in			the overhead compartments... out in the			seat in front of you."					WILLIAM				(prompting)			"Seat and tray tables."					PENNY			"And seat-backs and tray-tables should			be in their full and upright and locked			positions... "	137   EXT. GRADUATION CEREMONY -- DAY					137					PRINCIPAL			And now... out "Pending" Graduates!				(pause)			William Miller... not present.	Elaine applauds her son, stoically.  It is a dagger through	her heart.  A sympathetic look from a nearby Mother continues	the pain.	138   INT. HOTEL - NIGHT						138	They move slowly, she's fading.					WILLIAM			"In the tragic event of a water			landing..."	139   EXT. GRADUATION - DAY						139	The Principal shares a few thoughts:					PRINCIPAL			And to the class of 1973, we say --				(beat)			Don't forget to remember yourself as			you are today...  Full of hope... and			the dream that everything is possible...			Remember this, twenty years from now,			when we all own home computers and we			all travel in shiny electrical cars			that move swiftly, high above the			city...				(beat)			They key to the future is keeping today			alive forever.	Elaine's head lowers slowly in a sea of happy parents.  The	day will never end.  Mrs. Deegan slips into the seat next to	her.					MRS. DEEGAN			First.  Release the guilt.				(Elaine nods)			Second -					ELAINE			Please let there be only two, because			I can't get past Number One.					MRS. DEEGAN			Second.  Leave a little room for the			other teachers in this world.  He's			out there looking for mentors.					ELAINE			He's got twelve of them.  They're lined			up.  He's just tired of me.	A140  INT. HOTEL ROOM -- NIGHT						A140	William holds Penny.  She is very woozy.					PENNY			"... you will be required to..."				(gives up)			I'm tired.	She is very groggy, as he holds her.					WILLIAM			Well.  Now that I have your attention.			And you may not remember this later, I			just want to make it clear that... Hey!				(she blinks, barely awake			again)			I know you've heard this before.  And			I have never said this to anybody, not			really - well, nobody who didn't legally			have to say it back to me, but -				(tries to be casual)			I love you.  And I have a hard time			sharing you with all of rock and roll			because I - why am I nervous? - You'll			never remember this - HEY! -				(she blinks)			I love you, and I'm about to boldly go			where...  Many men have gone before...	He kisses her.  A doctor and nurse come crashing into the room.	They push past William and pull Penny into the bathroom.  He	sits on the edge of the bed, looking into the bathroom, as	they work on her.  We hear Stevie Wonder.  "My Cherie Amor."	140   INT. BATHROOM - NIGHT							140	Doctor places a tube down Penny Lane's throat.  A bored nurse	holds a water-bag, lowering it to ground level.	WILLIAM'S POV INTO BATHROOM	Her feet sticking out, wriggling.  He watches, as music	continues.	ON THE BATHTUB	Her amber-colored stomach contents look like a Jackson Pollack	portrait of the era, with three partially dissolved pills.	Doctor hands enter frame and remove them.  Music continues.	141   INT. HOTEL ROOM - LATER NIGHT					141	The Doctor re-appears, and sits down next to William, as the	Nurse exits.  The Doctor withdraws a three-page report form.					DOCTOR			Your wife will be okay for now -					WILLIAM			Thank you Doctor.					DOCTOR			However, she says you're her brother.					WILLIAM				(eyes report)			She's a little confused.	The ice shifts in the champagne bucket nearby.  The Doctor	sizes up the situation.					DOCTOR			Nice champagne.					WILLIAM			I don't have a driver's license.  With			me.					DOCTOR			Tomorrow's my wedding anniversary.			I'd prefer to take care of this without			facing the dawn at the police station.			So if you can find a way to get this			girl - your wife - back home to her			parents, I'd let you pay me anything			you can afford.  Because you don't			appear to be related to the famous			Rugburns of Rhode Island.	His eyes flick to the champagne.  The kid takes a hint, reaches	over to the champagne.					WILLIAM			Happy Anniversary.	The Doctor puts the champagne in his bag.					DOCTOR			She won't be good company, but keep			her awake for another four hours.	142   INT. AIRPORT TICKET COUNTER -- MORNING				142	Song continues.  William and Penny drag themselves through the	airport.  He guides her to the ticket counter.  Penny wears	her green coat, large sunglasses.  He sorts through her many	partial tickets.  They are both so tired.  She shakes off her	coat -- she's suddenly very hot -- and he grabs it and loops	it through her bags.  She's irritable, and ready to go home.	143   INT. AIRPORT GATE - MORNING					143					PENNY				(baring her soul)			When I was 14, my Mom and her boyfriend			took me to a Rolling Stones concert -			and I freaked out and I rushed up to			the front of the stage and then a			thousand people had the same idea at			the same time and I was getting crushed.			And I couldn't breathe and that thought			flashed through me - almost like a car			accident - I thought I might die.  And			it was in the middle of "Midnight			Rambler" and Keith Richards saw me.			And he came over, and came to the front			of the stage, and he pulled me out.			And they took me backstage and they			gave me coke with ice and a - and a			lemon.  And I never went home.					WILLIAM			What about your Mom?					PENNY			She always said - "Marry Up." Marry			someone grand.  That's why she named			me Lady.					WILLIAM				(horrified)			She named you Lady?					PENNY			Lady Goodman.					WILLIAM			No.					PENNY			You never really get used to it, either.					WILLIAM			Well -- this -- this just explains			everything.	He wishes it did.  She rubs her stomach.  It's a rocky morning.					WILLIAM (cont'd)			See you back in the real world.					PENNY			See you back there.	She kisses his forehead, and takes off down the accordian	leading to her plane.  She drops her coat again, bending down	to retrieve it.					WILLIAM			Hey Lady!	Four Woman turn, but not Penny.  She disappears.	144   INT. AIRPLANE - DAY						144	Penny Lane settles into her seat on the airplane.  She notices	William watching from the terminal window, and waves.					STEWARDESS			Please extinguish all flammable items,			and return all seats and tray tables to			their full and upright locked positions.	She mouths along with the words.  There is no one to share the	joke with.  And then a few blurry memories come back to her.	She gestures to him... understanding him more fully... as he	disappears.	145   INT. AIRPORT TERMINAL - DAY					145	William walks alongside her plane, moving from terminal window	to terminal window.  Catching her glance again, he's picking	up steam.  What's she saying?	146   INT. PLANE - DAY							146	She keeps watching as he runs alongside, still keeping up with	her plane.  She now fully remembers, and places her outstretched	fingers on the window.  She mouths the words:   I'll see you	back home!	ON WINDOW	He us running through her fingers.	CLOSE ON WILLIAM	Who can run no further.									FADE OUT	FADE UP	147   INT. BAND PLANE -- DAY						147	Russell and William are in mid-interview.  The kid's microphone	is out.  It's a little bit of a rough flight.  William wears	the same clothes.					RUSSELL			Why didn't you come back to the party?			Bob Dylan showed up.  He was sitting			at our table for... had to be an hour,			right?  Just  Rapping.  Bob Dylan!  I			kept looking for you.  I was going to			introduce you.	The kid feels pain.					JEFF			What happened to you last night?					WILLIAM			It's a log story.	A sharp jolt of turbulence.  Russell begins pounding on the	card table in rhythm.					RUSSELL				(singing Buddy Holly)			"Peggy Sure... Peggy Sue... "					DICK			Please.					RUSSELL			"Pretty pretty pretty pretty Peggy			Sue... "	A moment of laughter, and then bam.  Jeff's drink rises and	suspends briefly in mid-air.  The plane takes another mighty	knock.					JEFF			We shouldn't be here.					RUSSELL			Doris, we miss you!	Fear is creeping in around the edges.  William, already an	uneasy flier, looks down.					PILOT'S VOICE			This is Craig, your pilot.  It appears			we've caught the edge of that electrical			storm we were trying to outrun.  Buckle			up tight now.  We're gonna do our best			to getcha out of this.	The rocking of the plane worsens, as all buckle up.					JEFF			"Electrical storm?"					RUSSELL				(strapping in for a roller			coaster)			Rock and roll.	The sky darkens abruptly. William looks up, increasingly	nervous, stares straight ahead.  The plane suddenly drops and	stabilizes.  Everyone is silent but Russell.					RUSSELL (cont'd)			Wooooooo Baby!	A moment later, an ashen-faced CO-PILOT emerges, balancing	himself with hands on the ceiling of the shuddering plane.					CO-PILOT			We're gonna try to land in Tupelo.			We're going to have to cut the inside			lighting for the next several minutes.			We found a field to land in.	The kid notices Silent Ed is rubbing a small crucifix.					DENNIS HOPE			A field?					JEFF			I can't breathe.	Push in on Russell. We hear a series of unfamiliar electrical	sounds.  The plane screwballs through the sky.					CO-PILOT			It might be a rough set-down.  We should			be fine.				(cracking at the edges)			But what we do say in a situation like			this is - We would pass but before the			plane ... disassembled.  However, God			help us, if there's anything you want			to say to each other, any secrets,			anything like that, now would be a			good time.  But just hang in there.			We'll get you out of this.	He returns to the cockpit.  The weather worsens, as the hail	suddenly pelts the plane, and it comes down hard.  Inside lights	shut off.   William stares straight ahead, as the cockpit door	swings open - total chaos visible inside - and then shuts again.					DICK			And everyone thinks it's so glamorous			out here.					LARRY				(oddly detached)			He just told us we're gonna die.					JEFF				(insecurities running wild)			We're gonna crash in Elvis' hometown --					RUSSELL			Shut up.					JEFF			-- we can't even die in an original			city!					RUSSELL			C'mon Dennis, get us a better city.	Nervous laughter.  Another sheet of hail hits the plane.					LESLIE			Oh my God.	PUSH IN ON WILLIAM	Just shaking.  Nearly in tears.   Hyperventilating.					RUSSELL			If something should happen.  I love			all of you.  I don't think we have to			do the secrets thing.	The plane shakes.  Now lightening strikes very close.  A	flashing wall of electricity rolls through the plane and	evaporates with a burning smell still in the air.  In the	darkness:					DENNIS HOPE			I once hit a man in Dearborn, Michigan.			A hit-and-run.  I hit him and kept on			going.  I don't know if he's alive or			dead, but I'm sorry.					LESLIE				(gripped with fear)			Oh my God.	The plane wildly rises, and falls.  It stops for a moment.  A	strange smooth patch.					DICK			I love you all too, and you're my			family.  Especially since Marna left			me.  But if I ever took an extra dollar			or two, here and there, it was because			I knew I'd earned it.					RUSSELL			I slept with Marna, Dick.					JEFF			I did too.					LARRY			I waited until you broke up with her.			But me too.					JEFF			I also slept with Leslie, when you			were fighting.					RUSSELL			You... slept with Jeff?					LESLIE			Yes, but it didn't count.  It was the			summer we decided to be free of all			rules.					RUSSELL				(to Jeff)			And you say you "love me."					JEFF				(the truth)			I don't love you, man.  I never did.					RUSSELL			Please.  Enough.					JEFF			NONE of us love you.  You act above			us.  You ALWAYS HAVE!!					LARRY			Finally.  The truth.					JEFF			You just held it over us, like you			light leave... like we're lucky to be			with you. And we had to live with it.			I had to live with you, and now I might			die with you and it's not fucking fair.	William watches, catatonic.					RUSSELL				(to Larry and Ed)			You hate me?  You too?	Larry stares at him.  Ed says nothing.					RUSSELL (cont'd)			All this love.  All this loyalty.				(incredulous, giddy)			And you don't even like me.					JEFF			And I'm still in love with you Leslie.	Bam.  The plane is pulling sideways, and dropping altitude.					LESLIE			I don't want to hear anymore.    Shut			up! Shut up!  Shut up!					RUSSELL				(to Jeff)			Whatever happens, you're dead.					JEFF			Don't be self-righteous, Russell, not			now.  You were sleeping with Penny,			that groupie.  Last summer, and up			until yesterday.  Why don't you tell			Leslie THAT?	Russell tries to get up and attack him.  The force keeps him	in his seat.  He yells.  Loud.					DENNIS				(freaking out)			I quit.	The turbulence worsens.  William finds his mouth saying	emotional words he cannot control.					WILLIAM			"That groupie?"  She was a Band-Aid.			All she did was love your band.  And			you all -- you used her, all of you.			You used her and threw her away.  She			almost died last night, while you were			with Bob Dylan.  You're always talking			about the fans, the fans, the fans.			She was your biggest fan and you threw			her away.  And if you can't see that,			that's your biggest problem.	Russell and Jeff stare at each other.   The plane is rocking	very very hard.  Leslie is crying.					ED			I'm gay.	They all turn to the silent drummer.  (It's his first spoken	dialogue of the movie.)	Then.	The plane pops out from below the clouds.  Sunshine spikes	through the embattled windows of the plane, as they float	downwards to the city of Tupelo, Mississippi.  A very very	uneasy silence fills the plane.  No one can look at each other.	Out bursts the Co-Pilot, giddy with victory.					CO-PILOT			Thank God above, WE'RE ALIVE!!   WE'RE			ALIVE!!  WE'RE GONNA MAKE IT!!	Shot of all the occupants, ending with Russell.  Suddenly, the	alternative seems far more attractive.  We hear Rod Stewart's	"Jo's Lament" as music plays over their still-shocked faces.	148   INT. TUPELO AIRPORT CORRIDOR -- DAY				148	Music continues, as they walk together like ghosts in a long	and very pregnant silence, ignoring the kid.  Everything is	different now.  The kid peels off and throws up in a dumpster.	We continue with the band, unhappily moving forward.  William	hustles back to catch up.  They ignore him.  There are much	bigger thoughts in play.  No one wants to speak.					JEFF			Well, I think we can build on this new			honesty.	Boom.  Russell attacks him, and they're pulled apart.  The	band continues moving forward, arriving at a fork in the airport	terminals.  William stops.  This is where he must part company.	He stands at the mouth of the next terminal, as the band	continues, unaware he's split off.   He watches their backs,	they've forgotten him.	Then Russell turns, sensing something missing.  William.  All	now stop and turn.  Still shell-shocked, they summon a pre-	occupied but heartfelt goodbye.  William waves.  Music	continues.	ON AIRPLANE DEPARTURE SCHEDULE	William's finger finds San Francisco.	149   INT. CAB -- SAN FRANCISCO -- DAY					149	The kid checks the address as he arrives at the MJB Building,	and its next-door neighbor, the San Francisco headquarters of	Rolling Stone Magazine.  He still wears the same clothes from	last night in New York.	150   INT. ROLLING STONE MAGAZINE -- DAY				150	William arrives at the front desk, gets the once-over from  a	friendly RECEPTIONIST, a paragon of new cool.					RECEPTIONIST			Leave your package at the desk.					WILLIAM			I'm not a messenger.  I'm one of your			writers.  William Miller.	He is zombie-tired, with heavy duffel case and his orange bag.	151   INT. ROLLING STONE OFFICES -- DAY					151	William walks down the center aisle.  Editors and writers look	at him, standing at the front of their cubicles to see this	exhausted 15 year-old writer.  At the end of the aisle, like a	human finish line, stand Ben Fong-Torres.					BEN			You're William Miller?	The secret emerges not with a bang but with a slight and tired	nod of the head.					WILLIAM			Yep.					BEN				(putting it all together)			Oh baby.	Ben leads him into the office of Jann Wenner, the editor-	publisher.	152   INT. JANN WENNER'S OFFICE -- DAY					152	William sits.  Editors are feverishly discussing the next issue.	The big concerns of a national magazine are in the air.	Everyone is focused and quick.  The conversation is machine-	gun like. Jann Werner turns to the kid.					JANN			We can't run this piece.	The kid's eyes travel to his story -- a stack of fuzzy-looking	sheets on the table.					BEN			You obviously saw more than you wrote			about.  After eight days on the road			with these guys.					DAVID FELTON			Didn't anything happen?					JANN			And where are you in this piece?  What			did you want to write?  Because this			reads like what they wanted you to			write.					BEN			What happened to your highly-touted			think piece on limitations of a middle-			level Band in the face of success?	William sits speechless.  It's sinking in.  Failure.	Conversation continues at a fast pace:					JANN			We can push up Chet's Who cover -					FACT CHECKER			Good 'cause it's going to take me three			days to get through this research.			It's all handwritten, on little slips.			Plus, they all refer to woman as			"chicks." I mean, as a woman I have a			problem with that.  I know it's a side			issue.					DAVID FELTON				(sympathetic, loquacious)			It's a "puff piece."  you fell for			'em.  It happens.  A relationship forms.			You want them to like you.				(wistful, chewing cigarette			holder)			Happened with me and Charlie Manson.			He was a very charming... lively...			charismatic...	Felton catches himself swooning.  The other are staring at	him.  He snaps out of it.					DAVID FELTON (cont'd)			... mass-murderer.					WILLIAM			Please let me finish it.  Give me			tonight to work on it.					FACT CHECKER			Chet's piece is all fact-checked and			ready.					JANN				(to William)			Get some sleep.  We'll do another story			sometime.  We'll get you a kill fee.					FACT CHECKER			His research is all on little bits of			paper.  Did I say that?					WILLIAM			Ben.  You told me to send what I had.			It's not finished.					FACT CHECKER			That's being charitable.	Ben looks at the kid, then at Jann.  Jann scans the kid's face	for a beat, nods.					JANN			Let him use the big office.   It's			where Hunter used to write.	William rises, gratefully.  He shakes Jann's hand.					FACT CHECKER				(pointed re: his age)			You can type.					WILLIAM			Yes.  It took it in grade school.	153   INT. BIG OFFICE -- NIGHT						153	William sits in the "big" office.  It's a small white tank.	After all the sound and fury, there is only the hum of a large	electric typewriter.  His research, transcripts and some band	photos sit nearby.  He takes a bite of a candy bar, a sip of	coffee.  He looks at the phone.	INT. LESTER BANGS' BEDROOM -- NIGHT	Crazy jazz is playing.  Lester Bangs on the phone.					LESTER BANGS			Aw, man.  You made friends with them!			See, friendship is the booze they feed			you.  They want you to get drunk on			feeling like you belong.								 INTERCUT:	INT. ROLLING STONE -- NIGHT	William in the empty Rolling Stone office.					WILLIAM				(ruefully)			Well, it was fun.					LESTER BANGS			They make you feel cool.  And hey.  I			met you.  You are not "cool."					WILLIAM			I know.  Even when I though I was, I			knew I wasn't.					LESTER BANGS			That's because we are uncool!  And			while women will always be a problem for			guys like us, most of the great   art in			the world is about that very problem.			Good-looking people have no spine!			Their art never lasts!  They  get the			girls, but we're smarter.					WILLIAM			I can really see that now.					LESTER BANGS			Yeah, great art is about conflict and			pain and guilt and longing and love			disguised as sex, and sex disguised as			love... and let's face it, you got a			big head start.					WILLIAM			I'm glad you were home.					LESTER BANGS			I'm always home!  I'm uncool!					WILLIAM			Me too!					LESTER BANGS				(leveling)			The only true currency in this bankrupt			world if what we share with someone			else when we're uncool.					WILLIAM				(distraught)			I feel better					LESTER			My advice to you.  I know you think			those guys are your friends.  You want			to be a true friend to them?	William takes a deep breath.  Looks at the research cassettes and	notebooks.  The empty page.					LESTER BANGS			Be honest and unmerciful.				(beat)			You're doing great.  Call me later is			you want.  I'm always up.	154   INT. ROLLING STONE OUTER OFFICE -- MORNING			154	Ben Fong-Torres and David Felton look at William's new	manuscript with great interest.					FELTON			Read me the opening line.					BEN				(reads aloud)			"I am flying high over Tupelo,			Mississippi, with America's hottest			band, and we are all about to die."					FELTON			Mmmmm.				(as if sampling wine)			Dark.  Lively.					BEN			Yeah, and it gets better.				(impressed)			Did this all really happen?	William sleeps restlessly nearby, mouth agape, sitting upright	in a plastic chair.					FACT CHECKER				(jealously reaches for			manuscript)			Give it to me.  I'll call and check			the quotes.	155   INT. NEW TOUR BUS -- DAY						 155	The band rides in a new tour bus.  The palpable tone in the	air is -- PANIC.					JEFF			Look.  Let's just piece together our			information...  because the fact-checker			asked us all about different parts of			the story.					TONY			What did he write about?  What's he			using?					JEFF			It.  All.  He's using it all.					RUSSELL			So what?					JEFF			So what?				(beat)			We come off like amateurs... some			average band...  trying to come to			grips, jealous and fighting and breaking			up - we're buffoons!					RUSSELL			Maybe we just don't see ourselves the			way we really are.					JEFF			He was supposed to be our friend.					RUSSELL				(ruefully, remembering)			I told him to write what he wanted.	All eyes look to Russell.					TONY				(to Russell)			By the way, he has you on acid,			screaming "I Am A Golden God" from a			fan's rooftop.					RUSSELL				(immediately remembering)			Oh my God.					JEFF			They used him to fuck us.					RUSSELL				(still back at "Golden			God")			I didn't say "Golden God."  Or did I?					DICK			We never took him seriously, and now			it's serious.					RUSSELL			I liked him as a person.					JEFF			He was never a "person!"  He was a			journalist!	Russell nods.  He looks at Silent Ed, drumming soundlessly on	a rubber pad.					RUSSELL			You.  You had the right idea all along.	Ed silently nods thanks.					DENNIS HOPE				(nervously)			How about the plane flight?					DICK			It's all in there.  But don't worry,			it's all unspecific who say what.  No			names are mentioned in the more			embarrassing sequences, it's just			completely obvious who's who!  We're			fucked!	Silence.					RUSSELL			I forgot he was there.					DENNIS HOPE			Well, they haven't talked to Russell -			he can always deny the key stuff to			the fact checker.  Then they can't			print it.					JEFF				(brightening)			Is that true?					DENNIS HOPE			It's war, my friend.  If you'd met me			earlier, he would have never been on the			around.	Dennis hands Russell the phone.					DENNIS HOPE (cont'd)			He'll live.	156   INT. ROLLING STONE OFFICES -- DAY					156	William is still being congratulated by his new peers.  We see	him woozy but beaming, as Allison the Fact Checker comes out	of her office, waving the manuscript.  She works her way through	the cluster of editors.					FACT CHECKER			The band just denied 90% of the story.			It's a fabrication.	Everyone looks at William, who is speechless and confused.	Their congratulations stop on a dime.  The fact checker can't	resist twisting the knife a little.					FACT CHECKER (cont'd)			You weren't honest.  And worse, you			wasted our time.					WILLIAM			Did you talk to Russell?					FACT CHECKER			Russell Hammond is the one who denied			it.					BEN				(darkly)			Crazy.					FACT CHECKER				(one last shot, to William)			We're going with the Who - !	The kid has been sandbagged.  The machine of a big-time magazine	whirs into action on another story, as the cluster moves down	the hall.					SOMEONE'S VOICE			He's just some fan... what did you			expect?	William sits there, as only David Felton stay behind,	brandishing his cigarette-holder.  He sits down next to the	kid.					FELTON			Well, I believe you.	He looks at the kid, decides to offer a personal parable.					FELTON (cont'd)			Jim Morrison once came to my house and			drank a beer.  The beer is still on my			mantle.  I'm 35 years old with Jim			Morrison's beer as a shrine.  I wanted			to be Earnest Hemingway.  Instead.  I			have Jim Morrison's beer.				(shrugs, he's learned to			live with it)			If you didn't make your story up, good			for you.  If you did make it up... good			for you.	The kid looks at him, too tired and still in shock.					FELTON (cont'd)			Say something, so I know you're alive.					WILLIAM			Goodbye.	He exits.					FELTON			Powerful  word.  Strong.  Final.	157   INT. BACKSTAGE CREW MEAL - NIGHT					157	Russell Hammond sits down on a plastic chair with a paper-plate	filled with buffet-style food - steak and baked potato.	Preoccupied, and several seats away from other crew members.	He drinks a glass of milk.   Out old friend Sapphire takes the	seat next to him, holding a skimpy paper plate of vegetables.					RUSSELL			I feel bad.					SAPPHIRE			Well, at least you feel.  That puts			you in a higher class of asshole.	They eat in silence.  Sapphire looks around.  The new breed of	groupies eye her, as they cruise Russell on the periphery.	They're bolder, flashier.  She eyes them back with seniority.					RUSSELL			What did I do?					SAPPHIRE			Well - you can do what the big boys			do.				(he looks at her)			Nothing.					RUSSELL			Yeah.	The girls still circle Russell nearby.  He's unaware.					SAPPHIRE			You believe these new girls?  None of			'em take birth control, and they eat			all the steak.	She looks sadly at her plate of vegetables.  An ever-sharp	mind in last night's clothes, she commands Russell's respect.					SAPPHIRE (cont'd)			They don't even know what it id to be			a fan!  To blindly love some silly			piece of music... or some band so much			that it hurts... please,  they're all			just after the money.  Shoo --				(in their direction)			Go rob a bank!  It's more honest!					RUSSELL			Is Penny okay?					SAPPHIRE			The Quaalude Incident.  Yeah, it wasn't			pretty.  She could have died.  I always			warned her about letting too many guys			fall in love with her.  I guess I was			wrong.				(shrugs)			On of 'em saved her life.	Russell nods.					RUSSELL			Well, it's finally over with Leslie.			I'm going to call her.					SAPPHIRE			Let her retire.				(he doesn't respond)			You want to lock her up in a house in			Michigan?  Please.				(he doesn't respond)			Write her a song someday.  She deserves			it.  Something about that girl brought			out the best in a lot of...				(looks around backstage)			... pretty average people.  She deserves			it...	Russell stares into his crew meal, nodding a little.					SAPPHIRE (cont'd)				(forward thinking)			... because something tells me twenty			years from now, we'll remember her...			and not much else.	Russell smiles to himself, knows it's true.  Dick passes,	placing hands on Russell's shoulders, massaging a little.					DICK			Have a good vacation.  I hope the band			stays together.  Before it all went			down the shitter, it was starting to			get really good.	Dick claps Russell on the back, and moves on.  He turns to	Sapphire.					RUSSELL			I'm not going to blame myself.  I do			make people happy.  They just shouldn't			get to know me... 'cause it appears to			spoil everything.					SAPPHIRE			Don't be so easy on yourself.					RUSSELL			What gives you the right to get this			personal with me.					SAPPHIRE			Let's not reminisce.	158   INT. SAN FRANCISCO AIRPORT -- NIGHT				158	William moves like a zombie through the airport, and collapses	in a seat.  He sits still in the crowded flow of human traffic.	A cluster of Flight Attendants pass.  One stops, a stylish young	woman wearing a tall bubble-shaped PSA hat with swirling colors.					ANITA			William?	He looks at her.  He feels like he's on Mars, and she looks	like a Martian.					ANITA (cont'd)			You guys this is my brother!					MALE FLIGHT ATTENDANT				(ad if meeting a celebrity)			"The Narc?!"	William looks woefully at them, like a dog who's been hit by a	car.					ANITA			You guys, I'll deadhead back later.  I			think I'm needed.					MALE FLIGHT ATTENDANT			Nice to finally meet you.					FEMALE ATTENDANT			You have a good day!	Anita looks in her brother's face.					ANITA			You look awful, but that's great.			You're living your life!  You're finally			free of... her.					WILLIAM			Yeah.					ANITA			Hey.  I'll take off work.  Let's have			an adventure together.  You and me,			finally.  Anywhere you want to go.			Anywhere in the world.	159   EXT. WILLIAM'S HOME -- DAY					159	William whistles the family whistle.  Sister and brother trudge	up the steps.					ANITA			This is not my idea of a good time.					WILLIAM			Just get me to my bed.					ANITA				(resigned)			I'll deal with her.	William whistles again.  Mom meets them at the door.  She looks	at her trashed son who has finally come home.  For the first	time, she hugs Anita first, and it's not lost on Anita.	It's a clumsy neck-hug, neither wanting to commit.  The kid	passes to his Mother's left, with suitcase, intentionally	nudging her into his sister.  Anita takes this as an aggressive	act of love, and hugs her mother back.  Tears stream down Mom's	face.  Their cheeks touch. Mom pulls away, and sees her own	tears on Anita's face.  Thinking that she's also crying, she	grabs a tissue for them both.	160   INT. ELAINE'S HOUSE -- CONTINUOUS					160	The kid stands in the hallway listening, shaking his head,	poised to enter his room, unseen by them.					ANITA				(so worried)			What are we going to do about him?					ELAINE			I don't know.  Whatever happened to him, I			just wish it could have happened to me.					ANITA			The magazine killed his story.	Now they really hug, Anita gulping back real tears.  William	watches them bonding over the oddest thing - his failure.	William goes into the bedroom, the final three feet to sleep,	and shuts the door.  A hand places a hotel sign on the door -	DO NOT DISTURB.  Slight push in.	ON BED	He collapses with all his clothes on, almost instantly asleep.  His	walls, just as he left them, boast a pantheon of rock heroes...	with a very lonely Abraham Lincoln (or Atticus Finch)  in the center.	161   INT. ROLLING STONE OFFICES -- DAY					161	The elevator doors ding open, and out walks Russell Hammond.	The Secretary has just finished answering the phone, "Straight	Arrow Publishers."  She puts the caller on hold.					RUSSELL			Hi, I'm Russel Hammond.					SECRETARY			You're here regarding?					RUSSELL			My life.	162   INT. EDITORIAL OFFICE - DAY					162	Russell stands with the editors, observing the fine portraits	on the walls.  He's behind enemy lines, and he knows it.	Everything in the room fascinates him.					RUSSELL			I don't care what happens.  I don't			care if you put us on the cover.  But			you sent us a kid and... and he was a			fan.   And we all made friends with			him - absolutely, to get a good story.			But then we actually liked him.  We			thought he's... show us our lives in			some mythic way and I guess... we're			not mythic.  We panicked.					JANN			You denied most of the story.					RUSSELL			Yeah, well, here's the problem with			the truth.  It's too true -					BEN			Well, we appreciate the visit.  The			last time an artist came here, it was			Buddy Miles and he punched me.					RUSSELL			I'm not punching anybody.  I am			personally, as of 2 pm yesterday, on a			voyage of self-reinvention.  This is			about William Miller.				(counting off fingers)			He lives with us, he lost his virginity,			he saw us at our worst, appreciated			our best, he saved two lives, including			mine... he smuggled about a half-pound			of pot into Boston, and we never even			told him -	Nearby, David Felton looks at another editor, raising an	eyebrow.					RUSSELL (cont'd)			-- we told him too much, we told him			everything...  He almost died with us			over Tupelo... if the band survives			him, it'll be a miracle... but you			know, he tried to keep up, and that's			a journalist to me.					JANN			It's too late.  We're going with a			different cover.					RUSSELL				(immediately)			Thank God.	But Russell looks around at the numerous portraits if dead	legendary rock stars, fixing on the one photo closest to all of	them, a very vulnerable-looking Janis Joplin.  A second thought.					RUSSELL (cont'd)			You tell me it's too late.  But I could			go back to my hotel room and... and			O.D. tonight and something tells me			you'd find a way to put me on the cover			of the next issue.  Am I right?	He looks at their faces.  They cannot disagree.					RUSSELL (cont'd)			I'm learning the game.				(beat, shrug)			We fucked up.  We made friends with him.					BEN			Next time we'll all be more			professional.					RUSSELL			Maybe so.				(beat, an odd thought)			But God forbid, the day comes when			selling yourself is as important as			the music you make.				(rueful, to Hendrix on the			wall)			You might have died at the right time,			my friend.					JANN			Thank you for visiting.  Good luck.					RUSSELL			Do what you want, but the story is			true.	LONG SHOT RUSSELL	at the entrance.  Raises his hand.					RUSSELL (cont'd)			Good evening!	162A  EXT. SAN FRANCISCO - DAY						162A	Russell stands outside, a traveling man with no where to go.	Oddly, and in a way that surprises him, the world begins to	speak to him again... little noises everywhere, turning into a	music of its own.  It's a beautiful and compelling "silence."	He thrusts his hands deep in his pockets, and takes a breath	of life.  His head filling again with the music of the world,	he begins to walk down the street.  Very naturally, and quite	randomly, he is noticed by young passersby.  They can't help	it.  He looks like a star.  They can't quite figure out who it	is, but it's someone, and they begin to follow him down the	street.   Unbeknownst to him as he walks along, deep in thought,	a small crowd begins to form... following him.	163   INT. BREAKFAST TABLE - DAY					163	A quiet kitchen.  Anita has been cooking.  A substantial	breakfast has been placed on the table.  Sausage, orange	juice... and now Anita sets down a plate of pancakes, with	syrup and butter, in front of her mother.  William watches his	mother facing an old enemy - white sugar.					ANITA			They're called pancakes.  Who knows			when we'll be together again.  Splurge.			It's what most people call breakfast.	Mom looks at her children, and takes a breath.					ELAINE			I went through your records.  And I			found a song to play for you.	She goes to the stereo and puts on a record.  The two children	eye each other - what's coming next?  (Song to be chosen)	The two kids eye each other again.  Self-consciously avoiding	their gaze, Mom sits and toys with her breakfast.  It's a song	she clearly wants them to hear.  It's a song from the heart.	They look at her, amazed.  Elaine looks up, regards her family.	Somehow they're back at this table.  They continue eating	breakfast.	164   ON SIDEWALK							164	Bam.  A bundle of bound Rolling Stone Magazines lands on the	newsstand pavement with a thud.  Someone reaches in to cut the	cord, as the magazines puff up into view.  It's the new issue,	with Russell Hammond on the cover.  The title: Stillwater Runs	Deep.  Just another stack of magazines waiting to be places in	the racks.									FADE OUT	Music segues to Led Zeppelin's "Four Sticks."  Penny Lane's	sleeping Polaroid shots of our characters, featuring a few	self-portraits.					THE END
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+                                    ALONE IN THE DARK                                       Written by                               Elan Mastai & Michael Roesch                                                                                                   FADE IN:                    1                                                                     1               EXT. FOREST - NIGHT                         A dense forest on a dark, misty night.                         YOUNG EDWARD CARNBY (age 10), small, thin, and terrified,               runs for his life.          2                The forest is pitch black. Young Edward ducks between trees,               under branches, not stopping for anything, GASPING for               breath. He doesn't turn to look behind him. He just runs as               fast as he can.                         P.O.V. CREATURE:               Tomething chases Young Edward through the dark forest. Its               P.O.V. is skewed, inhuman. It is gaining on him.                         As Young Edward runs, beams of light become visible through               the closely packed trees. Something is up ahead, something               bright. Edward runs towards it.                         Young Edward bursts out into a clearing in the woods, running               towards the bright light.                         P.O.V. CREATURE:                         The light stops whatever is chasing Young Edward at the edge               of the forest. What is making the light isn't visible, only               Young Edward's silhouette running towards the blinding light.                         EXT. FOREST - LATER THAT NIGHT          1A                                                                    1A               SUPER: 20 YEARS AGO                         The beams of a dozen flashlights cut through the mist of the               dark forest.               A dozen uniformed DEPUTIES move through the forest, shining               their flashlights around, searching.                          The trees tower over them. A low fog hangs in the air. The               flashlight beams can barely penetrate it.                         EXT. ORPHANAGE - NIGHT                                           2                         A large and stately old house stands on the edge of town. A               small, dense forest stretches out behind it.                         The sign on the front reads: OUR LADY OF PERPETUAL LIGHT               ORPHANAGE.                                                                                                (CONTINUED)                                                                                                           2.               CONTINUED:                                   Several patrol cars are parked along the Orphanage's gravel               driveway. DEPUTIES mill around the front lawn.                         Another patrol car pulls up. Out of it steps the SHERIFF               (late 40s). DEPUTY ADAMS (mid-30s) approaches him.                                             SHERIFF                         What's going on, Adams?                                             DEPUTY ADAMS                         Twenty kids live at this orphanage,                         Sheriff. All twenty have gone missing.                         SISTER CLARA (mid-40s), an anxious-looking nun, stands on the               front porch, wrapped in a shawl. She speaks with two               DEPUTIES. The Sheriff walks up and listens in.                                             SISTER CLARA                         After the power went out, I went to check                         on the children. But their beds were                         empty. Every one of them. They just                         disappeared...                         EXT. FOREST - LATER          3                                                                     3               The Deputies sweep through the forest with their flashlights.               The trees are close together, blocking out the moonlight. A               thick mist hangs in the trees.                         As Deputy Adams moves through the forest, he sees a bright               light streaming through the trees up ahead.                         EXT. FOREST CLEARING          3A                                                                   3A               Deputy Adams comes through the trees and emerges into a               clearing in the woods.                         He sees a Shed in the clearing up ahead. A bright light is               posted over the Shed's front entrance.          4               EXT. SHED - MOMENTS LATER                                        4               Deputy Adams shines his flashlight around the outside of the               Shed.                         He sees that the door is open just a crack. On the door is a               sign marked: DANGER, along with the symbol for ELECTRICITY.                         INT. SHED - MOMENTS LATER          5                                                                     5               Deputy Adams enters the Shed.                                                                                                (CONTINUED)                                                                                                                                                          3.              CONTINUED:                                  The Shed is small, packed with electrical equipment, power              cables, and various implements for repairing power lines.                        Deputy Adams sweeps through the Shed with his flashlight.                        He approaches a large transformer module that sits at the              back of the Shed. It HUMS and CRACKLES with electricity.                        There's a LOW SHUFFLING sound. Deputy Adams stops.                        He carefully peers around behind the transformer. The space              is too small for a full-size person.                        But sitting on the ground behind the transformer is Young              Edward. He clutches himself, shivering, frightened.                        EXT. ORPHANAGE          6                                                                    6              The Sheriff stands with his Deputies. His walkie-talkie              CRACKLES to life.                                              DEPUTY ADAMS (ON THE WALKIE-TALKIE)                          Sheriff! I found one! White, male, about                          ten years old. Looks to be unharmed. He's                          in a utility shed maybe half a mile from                          the orphanage.                        INT. SHED          7                                                                    7              Deputy Adams approaches Young Edward. He takes off his jacket              and wraps it around Young Edward's shoulders.                        Young Edward pulls the jacket around him and smiles, still              scared, but happy to see the Deputy.                                              DEPUTY ADAMS                          Are you okay, son? Are the other kids                          around here?                                              YOUNG EDWARD                          I don't know... I don't remember...                                              DEPUTY ADAMS                          Why don't we start with your name? Do you                          remember your name?                                              YOUNG EDWARD                          Edward... Edward Carnby.                                                                                                                                               4.                                            INT. AIRPLANE - DAY          8                                                                    8              SUPER: 20 YEARS LATER                        EDWARD CARNBY (early 30s), lean and intense, wakes up. He              quickly looks around to get his bearings.                        He sits in a large commercial airplane. The compartment is              full of seated PASSENGERS.                          SMALL BOY (age 8) sits next to Carnby, looking up at him.              The Small Boy's MOTHER (early 40s) sleeps next to him.                                              SMALL BOY                          Did you have a nightmare?                        Carnby looks at the Small Boy, curious. He doesn't respond.                                              SMALL BOY (CONT'D)                          You ate cheese with dinner. My mommy says                          cheese gives you nightmares. Want to see                          my coloring book?                        The Small Boy has a Halloween-themed coloring book open on              his lap. It's a graveyard scene, full of cartoon drawings of              ghosts, werewolves, and vampires.                                              SMALL BOY (CONT'D)                          I think there's a vampire living in my                          closet, but my mommy says vampires and                          ghosts aren't real. She says there's                          nothing to be afraid of in the dark.                        Carnby weighs what he's going to say.                                              CARNBY                          Your mother is wrong. Being afraid of the                          dark is what keeps most of us alive.                        The Small Boy's eyes open wide.                                              SMALL BOY                          Everybody else tells me not to be afraid.                                              CARNBY                          That's because they don't know the truth.                         SCENES 9 TO 12 OMITTED                                                                                       5.                                              EXT. AIRPORT TERMINAL - DAY          13                                                                      13                Carnby exits the Terminal and heads over to a row of taxis                waiting outside the Terminal. He doesn't carry a suitcase.                                              CARNBY (V.O.)                          So, maybe you're thinking I'm an asshole,                          trying to scare this poor kid for no                          reason. But that's where you're wrong.                          Because I've got my reasons. There's a                          world around you that you've trained                          yourself not to see. You've willfully                          closed your eyes. But your fear of the                          dark is not a weakness. It's there to                          protect you from things you'd better pray                          you never see. My eyes were forced open a                          long time ago. Now I know. Just because                          you can't see something, doesn't mean it                          can't kill you.                          Carnby steps into the first taxi waiting in the row. The taxi                shifts into gear and drives off.                          Another taxi is parked up ahead. As Carnby's taxi passes it,                the second taxi pulls out and follows it.                          INT. PINKERTON'S TAXI - CONTINUOUS          13A                                                                    13A                Behind the wheel of the taxi sits JAMES PINKERTON (early                50s). His face is drawn, grim. He wears dark sunglasses.                          The DRIVER lies dead in the backseat of Pinkerton's taxi.                          Carnby's taxi can be seen through the front windshield,                driving up ahead.                          EXT. CITY STREET - DAY          13B                                                                    13B                The two taxis drive through traffic. Pinkerton's taxi lags a                few cars back, but matches Carnby's taxi move for move.                          INT. CARNBY'S TAXI          13C                                                                    13C                The CABBIE (late 20s), manic bordering on crazy, steers                through traffic.                          Carnby rides in the backseat. He looks out the back                windshield. A few cars back, Pinkerton's taxi follows them.                          Carnby takes a burlap sack out of his trench-coat pocket.                Inside the sack is a stone carving of a demonic-looking head.                                                                                                (CONTINUED)                                                                                                                6.          CONTINUED:                    The edges are soft, worn-down, the detail roughed away. But          it is clearly not a human face.                    Carnby puts the carving back in his trench-coat pocket.                                        CABBIE                    You travel light.                                        CARNBY                    Trust me, I'm carrying enough baggage for                    the both of us.                    The Cabbie CHUCKLES as he steers through traffic.                                        CABBIE                    That's pretty funny, man. What do you do?                                        CARNBY                    You really want to know?                                        CABBIE                    Yeah, man. Hearing about my passengers'                    lives keeps the job interesting.                                        CARNBY                    I'm a paranormal investigator.                                        CABBIE                    Get the fuck outta here!                    Beat.                                        CABBIE (CONT'D)                    What does that mean exactly?                                        CARNBY                    I'm an effective solution to unusual                    problems.                    Carnby turns to look out the back windshield. Pinkerton's          taxi is still following from a few cars back.                                        CARNBY (CONT'D)                    Speaking of which, that taxi's been                    following us since the airport.                                        CABBIE                    No shit? Want me to lose him?                                        CARNBY                    If you can...                    The Cabbie GUNS the motor and speeds off.                                           13CC EXT. CITY STREETS                                            13CC               Carnby's taxi accelerates down the street, pulling away from               Pinkerton's taxi.                         As soon as it's evident that they are on to him, Pinkerton's               taxi speeds up to give chase.                         The two taxis rocket down the streets, swerving past cars,               SCREECHING around corners.                         Carnby's taxi speeds down the streets, narrowly avoiding               collisions with other cars and PEDESTRIANS.                         Pinkerton just plows through whatever's in his way, SMASHING               past other cars, forcing Pedestrians to jump out of the way.                         Pinkerton accelerates and tries to force Carnby's taxi off               the road. The taxi's GRIND against one another.                         Carnby's taxi SCREECHES around a corner, speeding into a side               street that leads to the Market Street.                                                                                                              7.                                              EXT. MARKET STREET          13D                                                                    13D                A busy street crowded with PEDESTRIANS, open shops, and                produce stalls.                          Carnby's taxi races down the busy Market Street, followed by                Pinkerton.                          They swerve and SCREECH down the Street, cutting off other                cars, and narrowly avoiding Pedestrians.                          But then Pinkerton's taxi ZOOMS up beside Carnby's taxi and                BUMPS into it with a GRINDING CRUSH of metal.                          Not stopping, Pinkerton's taxi continues to GRIND into                Carnby's taxi. The momentum pushes Carnby's taxi around                sideways.                          Pinkerton's taxi then SLAMS Carnby's sideways taxi into a                parked car with a CRUSH of metal and SHATTERING glass.                          There's a moment as Carnby, trapped inside the CRUSHED taxi                and Pinkerton, flooring the accelerator to add more pressure,                exchange a look. Pinkerton's expression is fierce.                          Pinkerton gears the taxi into reverse, backing up in order to                smash into Carnby's taxi again.                          The Cabbie is trapped by the crushed front of the taxi. His                face is covered with a spiderweb of deep cuts. The Cabbie                struggles to get loose.                                                CABBIE                            I'm trapped, man!                                                CARNBY                            I'll draw him away...                          As Pinkerton's taxi backs up, it CRASHES into a Van driving                by, knocking it over onto its side and spilling the contents                of the Van onto the street.                          This gives Carnby the brief moment he needs to extract                himself from the crushed taxi. He wrenches himself out the                window, just in time to see Pinkerton's taxi accelerating                towards him.                          Carnby bolts away from the crushed taxi and the trapped                Cabbie.                          Pinkerton immediately swerves his taxi, aiming it right for                the running Carnby. Pinkerton's taxi rockets towards him.                                                                                      (CONTINUED)                                                                                      8.                CONTINUED:                                    Carnby leaps out of the way as Pinkerton's taxi CRASHES into                the side of a Building, narrowly missing him. Pinkerton's                taxi is CRUMPLED in a CRASH of metal and glass.                          Carnby narrowly avoids being crushed between the taxi and the                building. With fluid grace, Carnby rolls to safety, landing                on his feet. With a quick look back over his shoulder at                Pinkerton in his crumpled taxi, Carnby runs.                          Pinkerton steps out of his taxi, seemingly unhurt by the                crash. He looks around, but can't see Carnby anywhere on the                street.                          Pinkerton runs for an iron-wrought staircase that leads up to                a Pedestrian Bridge that hangs over the Street.                          At the top of the Pedestrian Bridge, Pinkerton looks up and                down the street.                          He spots Carnby, running through the crowd of Pedestrians.                          Pinkerton leaps off the Pedestrian Bridge, arcing through the                air with superhuman force.                          Pinkerton TACKLES the running Carnby to the ground, SLAMMING                into him with a tremendous impact.                          But Carnby is quick. He takes the hit and spins Pinkerton                around with a martial-arts kick. The kick sends Pinkerton                CRASHING through the front window of a Bakery.                          INT. BAKERY          13E                                                                    13E                Pinkerton comes CRASHING through the display window, landing                in a pile of sticky buns and broken glass.                          But seemingly unfazed, he just picks himself up and walks                back out the front door.                          EXT. MARKET STREET          13F                                                                    13F                Carnby stands in a crowd of BYSTANDERS, watching in surprise                as Pinkerton exits the Bakery, his expression fierce.                          Pinkerton immediately spots Carnby and comes after him.                          Carnby bolts away, running into a Herbalist Store across the                street.                                                                                                              9.                                              INT. HERBALIST STORE          13G                                                                    13G                Jars of different shapes and sizes containing a variety of                medicinal herbs and other such substances are on display.                          Carnby runs into the Herbalist Store, making his way through                the displays.                          Pinkerton leaps right through the Herbalist Store's front                display window in a hail of SHATTERED glass.                          He tackles Carnby, CRASHING through the jars on display.                          Pinkerton SLAMS Carnby to the ground. He grabs Carnby's head                and SMASHES it against the floor once, then twice.                          Pinkerton tears open Carnby's trench-coat. He pulls out the                burlap sack. He opens the sack, confirming the stone carving                is inside it.                          While Pinkerton inspects the stone carving, Carnby's hand                quietly moves to a large glass jar lying next to them.                          Carnby SMASHES the glass jar over Pinkerton's face.                          He grabs the stone carving out of Pinkerton's hand, scrambles                to his feet, and runs.                          EXT. ALLEY          13H                                                                    13H                Carnby BURSTS out of the Herbalist Store's back door, exiting                out into a small, cluttered Alley.                          Carnby lands hard in the debris, but he rolls with the fall                and is back up on his feet, running.                          The Alley ends in a high Wall with a Billboard on top of it.                The Wall has a railing along one side.                          Carnby vaults over the railing and keeps running.                          The Alley is crowded with WORKERS unloading crates out of the                loading dock of the Ice Factory.                          A BEAT COP walks by. Carnby runs past the Beat Cop, just                barely bumping into him.                          But as Carnby passes him, he deftly grabs the Beat Cop's gun                from his holster.                          The Beat Cop doesn't even notice his gun is missing as he                turns, annoyed to see Carnby racing away.                                                                                        (CONTINUED)                                                                                                                    10.                CONTINUED:                                                        BEAT COP                          Hey!                          Pinkerton runs out of the Herbalist Store's back door. He                runs directly at the high Wall.                          Pinkerton leaps up, scrambling right up the side of the Wall.                He hauls himself up the Billboard, until he's standing at the                top of the Billboard itself.                          Pinkerton looks down below and spots Carnby running into the                loading dock of the Ice Factory.                          Pinkerton leaps off the Billboard.                          The Beat Cop looks up, stunned to see Pinkerton leaping                towards him.                          Pinkerton lands on top of a moving dolly of crates, CRUSHING                the crates on it. The WORKER pushing the dolly falls back,                shocked. Pinkerton leaps off the dolly and keeps chasing                after Carnby.                          The Beat Cop fumbles for his gun. It's not there. Pinkerton                smashes the Beat Cop out of the way as he pursues Carnby.                          The Beat Cop flies into a pile of crates, knocked out.                Pinkerton follows Carnby into the Ice Factory.                          INT. ICE FACTORY          13J                                                                   13J                The refrigerated Ice Factory is filled with neat rows of ice                blocks. FACTORY WORKERS mill about, transporting the blocks                of ice through the Factory.                          Carnby hides between the rows of ice blocks. He checks the                Beat Cop's gun to make sure it's loaded. It is.                          Carnby stops, sensing something.                          In one fluid motion, Carnby suddenly spins, turning in the                other direction and FIRING the gun.                          We follow the bullet as it rockets through the Ice Factory.                It WHIZZES along, until we see Carnby's intended target.                          Pinkerton comes through the Ice Factory, running at Carnby.                The bullet flies directly at him.                          The bullet hits Pinkerton in the shoulder. But it only seems                to anger Pinkerton further. He keeps running at Carnby.                                                                                                  (CONTINUED)                                               CONTINUED:                                   Pinkerton leaps at Carnby. Carnby FIRES again. But Pinkerton               dodges the bullet and it hits a block of ice, SHATTERING it               in a hail of ice shards.                         Pinkerton rolls with his dodge and races off into the stacks               of ice blocks.                         Carnby tries to track Pinkerton's movements through the ice               stacks. He hears the sound of Pinkerton MOVING, but can't see               him. His gun is ready. He searches around.                         Suddenly, there's a RUSH of movement behind him. Carnby               dodges just as Pinkerton's fist comes flying out. Pinkerton               connects with an ice block, SHATTERING it.                         Carnby is backed into a dead end in the Ice Factory. He turns               to face Pinkerton, gun ready.                         But Pinkerton is on him too quickly. He lunges at Carnby,               hoisting him over his head and SLAMMING him down on a               conveyer belt.                         Pinkerton drags Carnby along the conveyer belt. But Carnby               grabs a hanging chain to steady himself. With a quick kick,               Carnby uses the momentum to flip Pinkerton over him.                         Pinkerton flies through the air towards a large ice pick               wedged into the wall. The sharp point of the ice pick punches               right through Pinkerton's torso, impaling him. He is               immediately killed.                         Carnby leans up against the wall, steadying himself. He pulls               the stone carving out of his pocket to check it. In the               fight, the carving has been cracked into pieces.                         But the broken carving reveals something hidden inside it, a               small gold artifact that was concealed in the carving.                         The artifact is a gold circle, flat on the top and bottom,               its thick round side engraved with intricate Abkani symbols.               This is the lynchpin artifact, the piece which connects the               other artifacts together.                          SCENES 14, 15, AND 16 OMITTED                          EXT. MUSEUM - DAY          17                                                                  17               The elegant Museum of Natural History. A wide staircase leads               up to an entranceway surrounded by stone pillars.                         Over the front of the Museum hangs a large banner reading:               "SECRETS OF THE ANCIENT ABKANI ≠ COMING SOON".                                                                         INT. MUSEUM/MAIN HALL - DAY          18                                                                      18               The high-ceilinged Main Hall of the Museum. Glass display               cases are set up to showcase archeological artifacts.                         ALINE CEDRAC (late 20s), studious but dynamic, stands in               front of a display case. She carries a clipboard.                         A heavy-set GUARD (early 50s) approaches, followed by a               DELIVERY GUY (late 20s), who hauls in a crate on a dolly.                                                GUARD                            Got another delivery, Ms. Cedrac.                         Aline checks her clipboard.                                                ALINE                            I don't have anything scheduled. What                            museum was it transferred from?                         The Delivery Guy reads the information on his clipboard.                                                DELIVERY GUY                            For Dr. Hudgens, from Dr. Hudgens.                                                ALINE                            It's probably an error. It must be for                            the big Abkani show.                                                DELIVERY GUY                            Abkani? What the hell's Abkani?                                                GUARD                            Ancient Native American civilization.                            They were this super-advanced culture,                            but something like ten thousand years                            ago, they just disappeared.                                                 LINE                            You've been reading up.                                                GUARD                            Not much else to do around here at night.                         Aline picks up a crowbar and approaches the crate.                                                DELIVERY GUY                            Says here it's not to be opened by anyone                            but Dr. Hudgens.                                                                                                              (CONTINUED)                                                                                                                          13.               CONTINUED:                                                       GUARD                         This is Aline Cedrac. She's the assistant                         curator.                                             ALINE                         We've got Abkani artifacts coming in from                         museums around the world. Until Hudgens                         gets back, I'm doing all the cataloguing                         anyway.                         Aline pries open the lid of the crate with the crow-bar. Out               of the packing foam, Aline lifts up a heavy stone tablet               carved with elaborate Abkani symbols. Aline holds it up,               fascinated.                                             GUARD                         Where is Hudgens anyway? The show opens                         in a few days.                                             ALINE                         Off on another archeological goosechase.                         He thinks he's finally found the Erebus.                                             GUARD                         So he sticks you with the work. At least                         it keeps your mind off your boyfriend.                         Aline pleasant expression suddenly turns awkward.                                              LINE                         I'll be in my office if you need me.                         Aline quickly walks off, taking the stone tablet with her.                                             DELIVERY GUY                         What was that all about?                                             GUARD                         Damn it... I shouldn't have said that.                         Her boyfriend's been missing for the last                         three months.                         Delivery Guy shakes his head at the Guard.                                             DELIVERY GUY                         Nice going, jack-ass.                         EXT. SHIP DECK - DAY          19                                                                    19               A large Ship out on the open sea.                                                                                                            (CONTINUED)                                                                                                                             14.               CONTINUED:                                   CREWMEN scurry around the deck attending to a huge crane that               hangs over the side of the Ship. Chains leads from the crane               into the water.                         DR. LIONEL HUDGENS (mid-60s), wiry and severe with a sharp               intelligence, stands on the deck with CAPTAIN CHERNICK (late               40s). They look down at the water.                                             CAPTAIN CHERNICK                         They say a sunken ship is like a grave.                         It should never be disturbed.                                             HUDGENS                         I've been searching for the Erebus for                         twenty years, Captain. Now that I've                         found it, I'm afraid your ill-informed                         superstitions aren't enough to stop me.                         EXT. WATER SURFACE          20                                                                   20               Two DIVERS in high-tech Newt Suits break the surface. They               signal to Captain Chernick.                         EXT. SHIP DECK           1                                                                   21               Hudgens nods to Captain Chernick.                                             HUDGENS                         Bring it up.                         Captain Chernick signals to his Crewmen.                         The crane is engaged. The chains run through the mechanism of               the crane, pulling something to the surface.                         The crane GROANS under the weight. Captain Chernick looks               nervous as the crane SHUDDERS with the strain.                         EXT. WATER SURFACE          22                                                                   22               Out of the ocean, the crane raises a large, heavy container.                         The container is about eight feet long. It is battered and               damaged by the ocean water, and covered in barnacles.                         INT. CARNBY'S LOFT - DUSK          23                                                                   23               Carnby unlocks the multiple locks on the front door to his               Loft and enters.                                                                                                           (CONTINUED)                                                                                                          15.               CONTINUED:                                   As Carnby walks through the Loft, he passes his answering               machine. The MESSAGES indicator blinks. Carnby presses the               button to retrieve his messages.                                             JOHN (ON THE MACHINE)                         Edward, John here. Hope things went well                         wherever you were this time. And, please,                         do not, I repeat, do not tell me about                         it. Every time you tell me about your                         latest case, I get nightmares for a week.                         Anyway, give me a call when you get back.                         Linda wants to have you by for dinner.                         Lord knows why, but she seems to like                         you. And if you haven't scared Aline away                         yet, bring her along.                         The Loft is a large, incredibly cool-looking space.                         In one corner is a lab area filled with high-tech scientific               equipment. At another work station, dozens of drawings, maps,               and photos are spread out next to a flat-screen computer. A               few photos are tacked to a corkboard.                         Several bookshelves, all crammed with books, line one wall. A               old framed photograph sits on a bookshelf, a faded photo of               twenty CHILDREN sitting on the front steps of the Orphanage.               Sister Clara stands with them. Young Edward sits to one side.                         A weapons cabinet features racks lined with guns and blade               weapons. In another corner is a work-out area.                         The sleek, modern kitchen and living quarters are in another               corner. The bed is set up against a wall of large windows.                         Outside the windows, the sun is setting.                         Approaching the lab area, Carnby takes out the lynchpin               artifact. He turns it around in his fingers, watching the               light glint off it.                         EXT. DOCKS - NIGHT          24                                                                    24               The Ship is docked at a mist-enshrouded pier. Overhead lights               along the dock illuminate the area.                         A transport truck is parked on the Dock just next to the               Ship's loading ramp.                         In front of the ramp, five CREWMEN with automatic weapons               stand guard, smoking and looking vigilant.                          SCENE 25 OMITTED                                                             EXT. SHIP DECK - NIGHT          26                                                                         26                Standing on the Ship's wide deck, Captain Chernick looks                impatient. Hudgens stands over the large, barnacle-covered                container. The container is secured with a heavy rusted lock.                          Two large, muscular men, the FIRST MATE and CREWMAN BARNES,                check the chains connecting the container to the huge crane                on the deck. They are preparing to load it onto the truck on                the Dock.                                                 CAPTAIN CHERNICK                             Don't you want to open it? Make sure it's                             what you're looking for?                                                 HUDGENS                             The conditions must be perfect.                             Otherwise, there will be... consequences.                          Captain Chernick steps up to the barnacle-covered container.                He notices that a section of the barnacles have gotten                scraped off in the transport.                          Under the barnacles, the container is revealed to made of                gold. Chernick look startled.                          Captain Chernick rubs the gold spot on the container and                looks closely at it.                                                 CAPTAIN CHERNICK                             Is this made of solid gold?                                                 HUDGENS                             Did you know the Abkani were the first                             civilization to use gold for their                             valuables? They believed it held the                             power to contain evil spirits. Thousands                             of years later, we don't even remember                             why gold was valuable to us in the first                             place. Now, let's load it onto the truck.                          Captain Chernick exchanges a look with the First Mate and                Crewman Barnes. They both give him a subtle nod.                          INT. CARNBY'S LOFT          26A                                                                       26A                 Carnby sits in his lab area, studying the lynchpin artifact                under an illuminated magnifying lamp.                          The computer runs an analysis of the symbols carved into the                artifact. The symbols flash by. The computer BEEPS, ready. It                has isolated the origins of the symbols. They are ABKANI.                                                                                            (CONTINUED)                                                                                                           17.                CONTINUED:                                    Carnby looks over at a photo tacked to the corkboard next to                the work station. The photo is of Carnby and Aline.                          INT. MUSEUM/ALINE'S OFFICE          26B                                                                    26B                The Office is cluttered with books, maps, diagrams, and                strange artifacts. Along one wall are several ceiling-high                shelving units, each containing rows of drawers. The drawers                hold artifacts from the Museum's collection.                          Aline inspects the stone tablet. She speaks into a tape                recorder, like a coroner recording an autopsy.                                              ALINE                          The pictograms are late-period Abkani. It                          seems to be some sort of... prophecy.                          Shadows that make ghosts of men. The                          world of light consumed by darkness. This                          is the first indication I've ever seen                          that the Abkani had a myth about the end                          of the world.                          EXT. SHIP DECK          26C                                                                    26C                Captain Chernick approaches Hudgens at the container. The                First Mate and Crewman Barnes stand quietly behind them.                                              CAPTAIN CHERNICK                          If the container's made of gold,                          whatever's inside must be worth a                          fortune.                                              HUDGENS                          You have no idea...                          Chernick pulls out a pistol.                                              CAPTAIN CHERNICK                          But I'm looking forward to finding out.                          Chernick smacks Hudgens across the face with his pistol.                Hudgens gives Chernick a grim look.                                              HUDGENS                          I suppose one should not be surprised                          when mercenaries act mercenary.                           rewman Barnes grabs Hudgens and twists his arms behind his                back, incapacitating him. The First Mate pulls out a revolver                and points it right at Hudgens' face.                          Captain Chernick wedges a crowbar into the container's lock.                                                                                        (CONTINUED)                    2                                                                                                          18.               CONTINUED:                                                       HUDGENS (CONT'D)                         You're making a terrible mistake.                                             CAPTAIN CHERNICK                         The only mistake would be letting you                         walk out with whatever's in there.                         Barnes...                         Crewman Barnes SMASHES Hudgens' head against the container.               Hudgens is dazed from the blow.                                             CAPTAIN CHERNICK (CONT'D)                         Throw him in there.                         Crewman Barnes throws the dazed Hudgens into a Storage Room               built onto the Deck. He slams the thick metal door closed.               The door has a small, glass-covered peephole built into it.                         Chernick pries open the lock with the crowbar. Chernick hands               the First Mate the crowbar and he jams it into the handle of               the door, wedging it closed.                         INT. SHIP STORAGE ROOM - CONTINUOUS          27                                                                    27               Hudgens struggles to his feet. He BANGS on the door, trying               to pull it open.                                             HUDGENS                         Captain! Don't open it!                         EXT. SHIP DECK - CONTINUOUS          28                                                                    28               The First Mate and Crewman Barnes watch in fasciation as               Captain Chernick prepares to open the gold container.                                    C                                    APTAIN CHERNICK                         Let's see what all the fuss is about...                         He opens the container.                         With a deep SIGH, the vacuum of dry air escapes.                         INT. CARNBY'S LOFT - AT THAT MOMENT           9                                                                    29               Carnby sits in front of his computer. He scans through               screens of information relating to Abkani civilization.                         Carnby suddenly winces in intense pain. He clutches his head,               staggering to his feet. He knocks over a desk lamp and a               chair as he stumbles back.                                                                                                           (CONTINUED)                                                                                                                                         19.                CONTINUED:                                    Grabbing his head and trying to shake off the pain, Carnby                collapses unconscious to the floor. He is out cold.                          On the work station, the lynchpin artifact starts to glow.                          INT. JOHN'S HOUSE/BEDROOM - AT THAT MOMENT          30                                                                        30                JOHN HOUGHTON (early 30s) lies asleep in his bed next to his                wife, LINDA HOUGHTON (early 30s).                          Suddenly, John opens his eyes.                          John quietly sits up and gets out of bed. Linda is woken up,                but just barely. John walks out of the room.                                              LINDA                          John?                          Linda rolls over and falls back asleep.                          EXT. JOHN'S HOUSE - NIGHT           1                                                                        31                John exits the house. He walks down the front path and out                into the night.                          INT. CARNBY'S LOFT - AT THAT MOMENT          32                                                                        32                Carnby lies unconscious on the floor.                          The lynchpin artifact glows brightly, emitting a LOW HUM.          3                INT. MUSEUM/MAIN HALL - AT THAT MOMENT           2A                                                                      32A                A low wind wafts through the Main Hall.                          Air flows through the space, swirling dust along the floor. A                banner hanging from the ceiling ripples from the breeze.                           SCENE 33 INCORPORATED INTO SCENE 34                           INT. MUSEUM/ALINE'S OFFICE - AT THAT MOMENT          34                                                                        34                Aline sits at her desk, her back to the shelving units. She                inspects the stone tablet and takes notes.                          In one of the shelving units, a faint glow emanates out of a                closed drawers.                          Something in another drawer begins glowing. Then the contents                of a third drawer start to glow.                                                                                                               (CONTINUED)                                                                                                                            20.               CONTINUED:                                   Out of the three drawers, a LOW HUM is emitted. Aline looks               up, tilting her head to hear the LOW HUMMING.                         She turns around to face the shelving units. She is surprised               to see the strange glow coming out of the three drawers.                         She cautiously approaches the shelving units. She reaches a               hand out to open the first glowing drawer.                           SCENE 35 OMITTED                          EXT. SHIP DECK - AT THAT MOMENT          36                                                                     36               As the First Mate and Crewman Barnes watch in anticipation,               Captain Chernick opens the gold container all the way.                         The container is empty.                         The lights along the Deck start to flicker.                         INT. SHIP STORAGE ROOM          37                                                                     37               The lights in the Storage Room start to flicker on and off.               Hudgens looks up at the lights.                                             HUDGENS                         They're faster than I thought...                          SCENE 38 OMITTED                          INT. SHIP DECK          39                                                                     39                he lights continue to flicker. Captain Chernick turns to the               Storage Room door. He looks back at the First Mate and               Crewman Barnes.                                               CAPTAIN CHERNICK                         Kill him.                         The First Mate and Crewman Barnes pull out revolvers. They               approach the Storage Room door.                         There's a WHOOSH of movement behind them. The three men all               turn, surprised. But nothing is there.                         Suddenly, Captain Chernick is thrown back by something               invisible. He is hoisted into the air. He looks shocked.                         Captain Chernick seems to be floating just above the ground,               although it is clear something invisible is holding him up.                                                                                                             (CONTINUED)                                                                                                                    21.               CONTINUED:                                   The First Mate and Crewman Barnes look on, stunned, their               revolvers aimed at the floating Captain.                         Captain Chernick's body contorts, as if something had been               thrust into it. With a burst of blood, a hole is ripped into               his torso, killing him.                         Captain Chernick's lifeless body is dropped to the ground.                         Terrified, the First Mate and Crewman Barnes aim their          4    revolvers at the empty air. They OPEN FIRE.                         INT. SHIP STORAGE ROOM           0                                                                   40               Hudgens stands at the door, listening to the GUNFIRE.                         He looks through the peephole in the door. The peephole is               dirty, hard to see through. Something frantic is happening               outside the door, but it's hard to see exactly what.                         There is more GUNFIRE and then SCREAMING. Short BURSTS of               AUTOMATIC GUNFIRE follow, and more SCREAMING.                         And then, all is quiet.                         Hudgens grabs a discarded metal rod and jams it into the door               handle, wedging it closed. He backs away from the door. The               only weapon he can see is a box-cutter. He grabs it, holding               it out in front of him.                         Suddenly, there's a CRASH at the door. Something pushes at               the door, trying to get in. The door RATTLES and THUMPS from               the impact.                         Hudgens, still holding the box-cutter, strains against the               door, using all the effort he can muster to keep it shut. The               metal rod wedged against the door is starting to buckle.                         Suddenly, the door is still. Hudgens waits. Nothing.                         There's a CRASH as another impact hits the door. The RACKET               is even more intense. But the door holds.                         Finally, the thrashing stops. All is quiet again.                         The lights in the Storage Room stop flickering. They come               back on. Hudgens listens, straining to hear anything at all.                         Cautious, Hudgens pulls away the metal rod. He gingerly               touches the door. With a long CREAK, it slowly swings open.               The crowbar was shaken loose from all the impacts.                                                                                                 (CONTINUED)                                                        CONTINUED:                                    SCENES 41 TO 44 OMITTED                           SCENE 45 INCORPORATED INTO SCENE 40                     46                                                                    46               INT. SHIP DECK - CONTINUOUS                         Hudgens steps out of the Storage Room. He looks around the               Deck. Mist blows in off the water. The night is quiet.                         Bodies lie everywhere, Captain Chernick, the First Mate,               Crewman Barnes, the other Crewmen. Their weapons lie next to               their slashed, ripped open bodies.                         Bullet holes are pocked around the Deck. Streaks of blood are               smeared everywhere. Shell casings and corpses are all that               remain of the battle.                         Tense, carefully looking around, Hudgens walks up to the               empty gold container.                         He reaches into it, pressing a concealed panel at the back of               the container.                         The panel opens, revealing a small artifact. The artifact is               a thin hollow cylinder with a thick little protrusion on one               end. It is covered in Abkani symbols.                         Hudgens takes out the artifact. He turns it around in his               hand. He looks pleased.                          SCENE 47 OMITTED                          INT. BUREAU 713/HALLWAY - NIGHT          48                                                                    48               Everything in Bureau 713's Headquarters looks sleek and high-               tech. There are no windows anywhere.                         COMMANDER BURKE (late 30s) strides purposefully down the               hallway. He is confident to the point of arrogance.                         His second-in-command, AGENT MILES (mid-30s), driven and               efficient, hurries to keep up.                                             BURKE                          his better be good, Miles.                                             AGENT MILES                         Sir, we're getting some strange readings                         in the control room.                                                                                                            (CONTINUED)                                                             CONTINUED:                                                        BURKE                          his is Bureau 713. "Strange" doesn't                         even crack my radar. Now what's the                         situation?                                                       AGENT MILES                         Well, sir, normal levels of paranormal                         activity range from three to five...                                             BURKE                              condescending)                         Yes Miles. And what level are the sensors                         picking up now?                         Burke and Miles arrive at the Control Room. Burke nods to two               BUREAU GUARDS standing at the entrance.                                             AGENT MILES                         We don't know.                         Burke stops and looks at Agent Miles for the first time.                                             AGENT MILES (CONT'D)                         They only go up to 50.                         Agent Miles opens the door to the Control Room.          4               INT. BUREAU 713 HEADQUARTERS/CONTROL ROOM - CONTINUOUS           9                                                                    49               Inside the Control Room, the banks of monitors and sensors               are all lit up. Streams of data flow across the monitors.                         Burke and Miles stand at the doorway.                         AGENT "KRASH" KRASHINSKY (mid-30s), a cool and collected               female tech-geek, scans through data on the monitors. She               always wears a headset.                                             BURKE                         What are we looking at, Krashinsky?                                              KRASH                         Electromagnetics off the scale,                         Commander.                         AGENT YONEK, a Control Room techie, adjusts the sensors.                                             AGENT YONEK                         Recalibrating sensors now, sir.                         Burke looks concerned for the first time.                                                                                            24.                                             INT. ORPHANAGE/DEN - NIGHT   - TWENTY YEARS AGO          50                                                                      50               Young Edward (age 10) walks through the Den. The lights are               all out. The Den is musty, but clean.                         A sliver of light glows from underneath the doorway to Sister               Clara's bedroom. Young Edward KNOCKS softly on the door.                         Sister Clara opens the door. She wears her nightgown.                                             SISTER CLARA                         Still having trouble sleeping, Edward?                         You can't stay up all night, you know.                                             YOUNG EDWARD                         Sister, something's happened.                                             SISTER CLARA                         What is it, Edward?                                             YOUNG EDWARD                         They're not gone anymore. The others are                         back.                          SCENE 51 AND 52 INCORPORATED INTO SCENE 50           5               INT. ORPHANAGE/CHILDREN'S ROOM - NIGHT - TWENTY YEARS AGO           3                                                                      53               Sister Clara throws open the door to one of the children's               bedrooms. Ten beds are lined up along the wall. All ten of               them have CHILDREN asleep in them.                         Sister Clara GASPS, holding her hand to her mouth.                         INT. CARNBY'S LOFT - DAY          54                                                                      54               Carnby lurches awake. He is still lying on the floor.                         His cellphone is RINGING. Carnby gets to his feet, rubbing               his temples, trying to get his bearings. He answers his cell.                                             CARNBY                             (groggy)                         Hello?                                             LINDA (ON THE PHONE)                         Edward, thank god!                                             CARNBY                         Linda, what's wrong?                                                                                                              (CONTINUED)                    5                                                                                                                   25.                CONTINUED:                                                         LINDA (ON THE PHONE)                               (hysterical)                          It's John. I woke up and... he's just                          gone. All his clothes are here. His car's                          in the garage. It's like he just got up                          in the middle of the night and walked                          out.                          EXT. JOHN'S HOUSE/FRONT PORCH - DAY           5                                                                      55                Linda stands on the Front Porch, her eyes red from crying.                Carnby is just leaving. He holds some recent photos of John.                                              CARNBY                          I'll figure this out, Linda. I'll find                          John.                          Carnby moves to leave.                                              LINDA                          Edward... you've known each other since                          you were kids. Did he... did he tell you                          he was leaving me?                                              CARNBY                          Of course not.                                              LINDA                          Then where is he, Edward? What's going                          on?                           SCENES 56 AND 57 OMITTED                           EXT. ORPHANAGE - DAY          57A                                                                    57A                The Orphanage looks much the same after twenty years. It is                slightly more worn-down, but still well-maintained.                C                 arnby drives up the gravel driveway in his black SUV. He                pulls to a stop behind an old, battered yellow School Bus.                          From a window on the ground floor, SISTER CLARA (now mid-60s)                watches him.                          A few CHILDREN play on the Orphanage's front lawn. They all                look over at Carnby, curious, eager.                          Carnby exits his SUV. He looks around at the Orphanage                grounds as he walks up the front steps. He smiles at the                Children.                                                                                                             (CONTINUED)                                                                                             26.                CONTINUED:                                    Sister Clara opens the front door. SOPHIE (age 13) stands                with her, eyeing Carnby suspiciously.                                              SISTER CLARA                          Welcome home, Edward.                                              SOPHIE                          Should I make some tea?                                              SISTER CLARA                          Yes. Thank you, Sophie.                          Sophie sneaks a look back at Carnby as she enters the house.                          Sister Clara approaches Carnby, smiling warmly.                                              SISTER CLARA (CONT'D)                          Let me get a look at you. Are you                          sleeping enough?                                              CARNBY                          Sister... John disappeared last night.                          And something happened to me as well.                          Sister Clara's expression drops.                                              SISTER CLARA                          It's happening again.                          A YOUNG GIRL (age 8) runs up to them. She hides behind Sister                Clara, staring up at Carnby, curious, a little scared. Carnby                smiles at the Young Girl and she ducks behind Sister Clara.                But then she sticks her face out to watch him again.                                              CARNBY                          I need your help, Sister. I need to find                          the others.                                              SISTER CLARA                          I'll get their files.                           SCENE 57B INCORPORATED INTO 57A                           INT. CARNBY'S LOFT - DAY          57C                                                                      57C                Carnby is on the phone, sitting in front of his computer.                While he speaks, he reads information on the FEDERAL MISSING                PERSON DATABASE. The computer processes information.                                               CARNBY                          I'll let you know as soon as I hear                          something.                                                                                           (CONTINUED)                                                                                                                           27.               CONTINUED:                                   Carnby hangs up the phone.                         Carnby has a list of nineteen names, the grown-up ORPHANS               from his Orphanage. Next to each name, Carnby has written a               note. Fourteen are missing. Five are unaccounted for so far.                         Carnby writes a note next to the second-to-last name on the               list. Also missing. Four now unaccounted for.                         On the work station is a stack of the Orphanage's worn-out               old file folders. Each file matches a name on the list.                         The database finishes processing. It has found a match. A               MISSING PERSON REPORT flashes onscreen. It's the final name               of the list. Carnby makes a note next to the name.                         Carnby hits PRINT and the report comes out of the printer. He               adds it to a small stack of similar reports.                         Each report has a photo of a missing Orphan, both MALE and               FEMALE. One of the photos is of John Houghton.                         Sixteen are missing. Three are unaccounted for.                         EXT. RESTAURANT PATIO - DAY          58                                                                     58               The outdoor patio of a downtown Restaurant. Carnby sits with               a coffee and a cherry pie at a table for two.                         AGENT PAUL FISCHER (mid-50s), precise but friendly,               approaches the table and sits down across from Carnby.                                             FISCHER                         Why did I agree to this?                         A WAITER walks up. He puts down a plate of pecan pie in front               of Fischer. The Waiter smiles and walks away.                                             CARNBY                         I ordered for you, Fischer. It's pecan.                         Fischer gives Carnby a smirk.                                             FISCHER                         You've got a good memory, Carnby.                         Fischer takes a bite of the pecan pie.                         Fischer pulls out a file and slides it across the table.               Carnby opens the file. Inside it are photos and reports on               the three remaining Orphans from Carnby's list.                                                                                                   (CONTINUED)                                                                                    28.               CONTINUED:                                                       FISCHER (CONT'D)                         I tracked down the three you asked about.                         They all disappeared last night. Same                         story. No suitcase. No car. Just up and                         walked out in the middle of the night.                                             CARNBY                         That means all nineteen are missing.                                             FISCHER                         I ran full cross-references. Nothing much                         in common between them. Except they all                         grew up in the same orphanage. Your                         orphanage. What's going on, Carnby?                                             CARNBY                         That's what I'm trying to find out.                         Carnby gets up to leave. He picks up the file.                                             CARNBY (CONT'D)                         Thanks Fischer. It's good to know I've                         still got friends at 713.                          SCENE 59 OMITTED                          EXT. MUSEUM - DUSK          60                                                                    60               As the sun sets, the streetlights around the Museum all come               on in unison, bathing the area in a warm glow.                         The lights are all on in the Museum.                         INT. MUSEUM/ALINE'S OFFICE - NIGHT          61                                                                    61               Aline sits at her desk, notes spread out in front of her. The               notes show various Abkani symbols. She writes down comments               in the margins.                         The phone RINGS. Aline answers it.                                              ALINE                         Hello?                                             HUDGENS (ON THE PHONE)                         Did a shipment arrive for me today?                                             ALINE                         It's a fascinating piece, Dr. Hudgens. I                         started decoding the pictograms and...                                                                                                            (CONTINUED)                                                                                            29.               CONTINUED:                                                       HUDGENS (ON THE PHONE)                             (interrupting)                         Who told you to do that? That crate was                         not to be opened.                                             ALINE                         I was only going to catalogue it for you.                                             HUDGENS (ON THE PHONE)                         It's not your place to question my                         instructions, Ms. Cedrac. Leave the                         tablet alone. I'll catalogue it myself                         when I get back.                                             ALINE                         But, Dr. Hudgens, I was just...                         But Hudgens has already hung up. Aline looks at the receiver,               frustrated. She hangs up the phone.                         She looks up, tilting her head to hear FOOTSTEPS approaching.                         The Guard KNOCKS on the open door.                                             GUARD                         There's... somebody here to see you.                         INT. MUSEUM/MAIN HALL - DUSK          62                                                                     62               Aline exits quickly out of a service door, looking anxious.               The Guard scurries after her.                         Carnby stands in front of the Security Desk.                                               ALINE                         Edward...                         Aline runs up and embraces Carnby. She holds him tightly.                         Aline lets go. They hold eye contact.                         Then, Aline rears back and PUNCHES Carnby in the face. Hard.                         Carnby takes the hit, rubbing his jaw.                                             CARNBY                         I missed you too.                                             ALINE                         I thought you were dead, you asshole!                                                                                                             (CONTINUED)                                                                                   30.               CONTINUED:                                                       CARNBY                         Aline... let me explain. In private.                         Carnby looks over at the Guard. The Guard pretends to read               his newspaper.                                             ALINE                         Give me one reason why I'd ever want to                         speak to you again?                         Carnby reaches into his pocket and takes out the lynchpin               artifact. Aline stares down at it, immediately fascinated.                                             ALINE (CONT'D)                         It's Abkani...                                             CARNBY                         Five minutes, Aline. I'll tell you                         everything.                         INT. MUSEUM/ALINE'S OFFICE          63                                                                   63               Carnby stands with Aline at her desk, while she scans a 3-D               rendering of the lynchpin artifact into her computer.                                             CARNBY                         I was in the Amazon for six weeks,                         tracking poachers through their transport                         lines. Then I fell in with a group of ex-                         Chilean military selling artifacts on the                         black-market. This was found in a gold                         mine in the southern tip of Chile.                                             ALINE                         And how did you end up with it?                                             CARNBY                         I asked very nicely.                         Beat. Aline looks up at Carnby.                                             ALINE                         You should've called, Edward. Or written.                         Just to let me know you were alive.                         Aline picks up the lynchpin artifact, inspecting it. She runs               her fingers over the Abkani symbols carved into it.                                             CARNBY                         Does it make any sense to you?                                                                                                           (CONTINUED)                                                                                                                                 31.                CONTINUED:                                                        ALINE                          Yesterday, maybe not. But something                          happened last night.                    63A                                                                    63A                INT. MUSEUM/ALINE'S OFFICE - MOMENTS LATER                          Aline and Carnby stand at a work station. A piece of cloth                covers up something on the work station.                           line pulls back the cloth, revealing three Abkani artifacts.                          Each of the three artifacts is a gold ring, one small and                thin, one medium and slightly thicker, and one large. The                large ring is shaped like a pyramid with the top cut off and                has thin protrusions on its base. Each of the ring artifacts                is well-worn from age and engraved with Abkani symbols.                          Aline puts the lynchpin artifact down next to the others.                                              ALINE                          They were found in completely different                          locations. Alaska. Newfoundland.                          Venezuela. And now this one's from Chile.                                              CARNBY                          Ten thousand years ago, it would've been                          like burying them at the ends of the                          earth.                          Aline picks up the lynchpin artifact again. She runs her                fingers over one symbol in particular, carved into the flat                top of the artifact: the DARK SPIRIT.                                              ALINE                          The Abkani's written language is based on                          pictograms. Combinations of symbols to                          create different meanings. But there's                          one here I've never seen before.                           he lights in the Office start to flicker. In unison, the                computer monitors all go dark.                          Carnby pulls out a flashlight and flicks it on.                                              CARNBY                          You're not trying to seduce me, are you?                                              ALINE                          Give me that.                          Aline grabs Carnby's flashlight. She lights their way to the                Office door.                                                                                         (CONTINUED)                                                                                                                      32.                CONTINUED:                                     SCENE 64 OMITTED                           INT. MUSEUM/MAIN HALL          65                                                                      65                The lights flicker. Large shadows are cast through the area                by the remaining, dim lights.                          The Guard sits at the Security Desk, talking on the phone.                The security monitors are all out.                                     G                                     UARD (INTO PHONE)                          I don't care if nothing's wrong with the                          grid. Something's definitely wrong with                          our power. Get someone down here, pronto.                          The Guard hangs up the phone.                          There's a WHOOSH of movement behind him. The Guard turns to                the sound. Silence.                          He flicks on his flashlight, shining the beam into the dark                corners of the area. Nothing is there.                          Something CLATTERS in another room. The Guard quickly turns                to the sound of the movement.                          INT. MUSEUM/HALLWAY          65A                                                                    65A                Carnby and Aline walk down the Hallway. Framed art hangs from                the walls. Small sculptures sit on pedestals along the way.                          The overhead lights in the Hallway emit only a low glow,                flickering sporadically.                          Aline leads the way with a flashlight. They come up to a door                to a second Hallway.                          The hairs on the back of Carnby's neck rise up. He touches                the back of his neck, spooked. Aline notices.                                              ALINE                          What is it?                                              CARNBY                          Hairs on the back of my neck just stood                          up.                          Aline gets it.                          Carnby pulls out his PARA-METER. It's an old, battered                device. The display lights up as Carnby turns it on. The para-                meter immediately picks up some readings.                                                                                        (CONTINUED)                                                 CONTINUED:                                                        ALINE                          How come every time you show up, my life                          gets complicated?                                              CARNBY                          I could ask you the same thing.                          Carnby listens at the door. Carnby nods to Aline as he opens                the door. Nothing is there.                    65B                                                                    65B                INT. MUSEUM/CERAMICS ROOM                          The Guard enters the Ceramics Room. The overhead lights give                off only low glows, flickering sporadically.                          The display cases and large sculptures give off long shadows.                          The Guard walks through the room, shining his flashlight                around. He can't see anything out of the ordinary.                          A WHOOSH of movement slips past the Guard. He turns quickly.                Nothing.                          He shines his flashlight around, looking for anything out of                the ordinary. He stands with his back to a display case.                          From out of the shadows behind the display case, a long,                segmented tail emerges.                           The tail is covered in hard, dark scales. At the end of the                tail is a sharp spike.                          The tail suddenly flicks at the Guard, piercing him through                the back of the head and out his mouth. The tail's spike                glistens with fresh blood.                          The Guard's flashlight CLATTERS to the floor. The bulb                BREAKS.                          The tail withdraws from the Guard. The Guard's body falls to                the ground, dead.                          INT. MUSEUM/HALLWAY 2          65C                                                                    65C                Aline leads the way with the flashlight, followed by Carnby.                The Hallway is only faintly lit.                          From up ahead, they hear a CLATTERING sound.                          Carnby reaches into his holster and pulls out his revolver.                Aline hands him the flashlight without a word.                                                                                                   (CONTINUED)                                                                                                       34.               CONTINUED:                                    SCENES 66 TO 68 OMITTED                          INT. MUSEUM/CERAMICS ROOM          69                                                                     69               Aline and Carnby quietly come out a service door that leads               to the Ceramics Room. They conceal themselves behind a pair               of columns, scanning the area before they step out.                         The lights are dim, with long shadows stretching out through               the area.                         Aline is about to speak, but Carnby puts a finger to his               mouth and shakes his head, no.                         The dead body of the Guard lies in a pool of blood on the               ground. There seems to be no one else around.                         But then, silently, moving with a fluid grace, a XENOMORPH               CREATURE emerges out of the shadows.                         The xenomorph creature is huge, terrifying. It is seven feet               tall, covered in thick, dark scales. It stands on two legs,               with long, powerful arms that end in razor-sharp claws and a               segmented, spiked tail poised behind it.                         Its demonic head has black, sunken eyes and a severe jaw               lined with jagged, fang-like teeth. The head is identical to               the stone carving in which the lynchpin artifact was encased.                         Carnby and Aline look shocked. They freeze, not moving a               muscle.                         Another xenomorph creature steps out of the shadows.                         The two creatures congregate in the middle of the room. They               are the same hulking, grotesque brutes.                         The two creatures start to communicate. An unintelligible               language passes between them.                         Suddenly, one of the creatures looks up, sensing something.                          The creature looks directly at Carnby and Aline, hiding               behind the columns.                         The creature delivers a SHARP WHISPER.                         And with that, the creature fades into invisibility. It has               totally disappeared.                         The second creature immediately follows suit, also fading               invisible.                                                                                         (CONTINUED)                                                                                                                     35.                CONTINUED:                                                        CARNBY                          I think we'd better run...                          Carnby and Aline scramble to their feet and sprint back                towards the service door.                          An invisible creature comes racing after them. All that is                visible is the effect of the creature's movement. It knocks                over a statue as it chases after them. The statue SMASHES to                the ground.                          Aline is through the door. Carnby runs through it and Aline                pulls it closed behind them.                           SCENE A69 OMITTED                           INT. MUSEUM/HALLWAY 2          69A                                                                    69A                Aline and Carnby run down the long Hallway, towards a pair of                double-doors at the other end.                          The service door behind them bursts open. An invisible                creature runs down the Hallway towards them.                          As the invisible creature runs, it knocks framed art off the                walls, smashes aside tables and chairs. The creature isn't                visible, only the effect of its movement.                          Carnby turns and FIRES his gun at the on-rushing creature.                          But his bullets don't hit anything except the wall on the                other side of the Hallway.                          Carnby keeps FIRING, still not hitting anything.                          The invisible creature races towards them.                          Suddenly, the double-doors at the other end of the Hallway                burst open. The second invisible creature starts running                towards them.                          Both directions down the Hallway are now blocked.                          Carnby spots an open door marked STORAGE ROOM. He pushes                Aline into it and jumps in after her.                          INT. MUSEUM/STORAGE ROOM          69B                                                                    69B                Carnby leans up against the door, pushing it closed. Aline                fumbles for her building keys.                                                                                                            (CONTINUED)                                                                                             36.          CONTINUED:                              There's a CRASH as the creature SLAMS against the other side          of the door. Carnby strains to keep it closed. The door          RATTLES as the creature CRASHES into it again.                    Aline finds the right key. She gets it into the lock.                    Suddenly, the creature PUNCHES a clawed hand right through          the door.                    The hand is visible as it digs its claws into Aline's arm.          The claws cut deep gashes into her. She SCREAMS in pain.                    The impact knocks the key out of the lock. Aline drops the          keys as she clutches her arm.                    The creature's arm retracts out the hole in the door. It          SMASHES into the door even harder, trying to break through.                    Carnby strains against the door, trying to keep it closed.                                        CARNBY                    Can't hold it...                    Aline grabs her keys. She finds the right key, jams the key          in the lock, and turns the bolt.                    There's another CRASH at the door. But the lock holds.                                        CARNBY (CONT'D)                    Is there any way out of here?                                        ALINE                    No! Why didn't you ask me that before you                    pushed me in here?                    There's another CRASH. Carnby and Aline back away from the          door. The door starts to buckle from the impacts.                    Carnby reloads his revolver. He has it ready.                    But then the CRASHING stops. Aline and Carnby listen.          Everything is quiet.                    The sound of HELICOPTERS can be faintly heard in the          distance.                    Carnby listens against the door.                                        ALINE (CONT'D)                    What do you think?                    Carnby nods to her. Aline unlocks the door.                                                                                                           37.                                             INT. MUSEUM/HALLWAY 2 - CONTINUOUS                         Carnby steps out of the Storage Room, revolver ready. The               Hallway is empty.                         Aline steps out behind him. She motions to the double-doors               at the end of the Hallway.                                                ALINE                            Those doors lead to the front entrance.                         Carnby hands Aline the flashlight. He grips his revolver.                         Carnby and Aline move down the Hallway towards the double-               doors. As they move, they listen intently. The only thing               they can hear is the sound of their FOOTSTEPS.                          SCENES 69D To 69G OMITTED                           SCENE 69H NOW SCENE 69C                           SCENES 70 TO 82 OMITTED                          INT. MUSEUM/MAIN HALL          83                                                                      83               Aline and Carnby quietly open the double-doors leading into               the Main Hall.                         The lights are dim. Moonlight streams in through the skylight               above them.                         Aline shines the flashlight around. She hears a WHOOSH of               movement behind her and shines the flashlight towards it.                         The sound of a quickly approaching HELICOPTER can be heard in               the distance.                         The double-doors BURST open as an invisible creature SMASHES               through them.                         It chases after them, knocking everything in its path out of               the way                         Carnby and Aline run.                         Up ahead of them, the second invisible creature comes               CRASHING through the display cases, heading right for them.                         Carnby and Aline are trapped between the two invisible               creatures. They have nowhere to run.                         The sound of a HELICOPTER rises up overhead.                                                                                          (CONTINUED)                                                                                                                   38.               CONTINUED:                                   Suddenly, powerful spotlights switch on, shining bright blue               beams through the skylight. Another set of spotlight beams               shine through the high windows lining the Main Hall.          8                     4                                                                   84               EXT. MUSEUM - CONTINUOUS                         A sleek black Bureau 713 helicopter hovers over the building.               A pair of spotlights shine beams down through the skylight.                         INT. MUSEUM/MAIN HALL - CONTINUOUS          85                                                                   85               In a hail of shattered glass, AGENTS BARR (male), CHEUNG               (female), and MARKO (male) burst through the skylight,               rappelling down on zip-lines from the hovering helicopter.                          They each carry a sleek, high-tech assault rifle with a lamp               mounted on the top. They all wear full Bureau 713 combat               gear, body armor with a headset comm-link and a helmet with a               dark visor mounted on it.                         The creatures HISS in reaction and scramble out of the               spotlights from the helicopter.                         The Agents immediately open FIRE. Their bullets glow with a               pulse of yellow light as they streak through the air.                         All Carnby and Aline can see is the Agents shooting glowing               bullets into the unnaturally long shadows.                         But the SQUEAL of one of the creatures shows that the Agents'               bullets have found their target.                         As the glowing bullets hit the creature, it momentarily               flashes visible, then invisible again.                         The two invisible creatures scatter, slipping away into the               shadows.                         The Agents cut their zip-lines, dropping to the ground.                         As they land, they all flip on their rifle-mounted lamps. The               bright blue beams cut through the darkness.                         Their movements are precise, controlled. They all have their               rifles out, scanning the area.                         Agent Barr has a high-tech scanning device attached to his               rifle. It is an updated version of Carnby's para-meter that               monitors the electromagnetic energy in the vicinity. It is               used to detect the presence of the xenomorph creatures.                                                                                                           (CONTINUED)                                                                                             39.                CONTINUED:                                                        AGENT BARR                          Reading two xenos.                                                 KRASH (ON THE COMM-LINK)                          Confirmed.                          A long shadow slips across the room. Agent Cheung sees it.                                                 AGENT CHEUNG                          There!                          Agent Cheung opens FIRE. Agents Barr and Marko are                immediately at her side, FIRING at the invisible creature.                Their bullets glow as they streak through the air.                          But the creature is too fast. The glowing bullets streak                through the air, but don't hit it.                                              KRASH (ON THE COMM-LINK)                          Losing readings.                                              AGENT BARR                          Cheung! Marko! Don't let them get away!                          Agents Cheung and Marko open FIRE, sending streams of glowing                bullets across the Main Hall. But they don't hit anything.                          Agent Barr scans around with his rifle-mounted para-meter and                lamp. Nothing.                          Carnby and Aline stand back, not wanting to get in the                Agents' way, not equipped to really help.                          The dim lights suddenly flicker and come back on at full                strength, bathing the debris of the battle in a warm glow.                          Agent Barr turns his rifle to Carnby and Aline. They stand                their ground, facing him.          8                INT. BUREAU 713 HEADQUARTERS/CONTROL ROOM - AT THAT MOMENT           5A                                                                      85A                Krash reads the data streaming by on her banks of monitors.                She speaks into her omnipresent headset.                                              KRASH                          Readings gone. You lost them, Barr.                          INT. MUSEUM/MAIN HALL - AT THAT MOMENT          85B                                                                      85B                Agent Barr holds his rifle trained at Carnby and Aline.                                                                                                               (CONTINUED)                                                                                                                 40.               CONTINUED:                                   Agents Cheung and Marko move through the double-doors into               the Hallway sweeping the area with their lamps, making sure               the creatures are gone.                                             AGENT BARR (INTO COMM-LINK)                         Goddamn it, Krash, I know. Commander                         Burke, we're secure. And sir... Carnby is                         here.                         EXT. MUSEUM - NIGHT          86                                                                   86               The lights around the Museum have come back on.                         A pair of Bureau 713 Humvees are parked with large spotlights               set up in front of them, shining into the Museum.                          ommander Burke stands with Agent Miles. They both wear full               combat gear, visors, and headset comm-links. Burke addresses               five AGENTS in combat gear.                                             BURKE                         I want a full security sweep. Miles, get                         Fischer to send his sci-and-spy boys down                         here. Now go.                         The Agents stream into the Museum in formation. Burke and               Miles follow in after them.                         INT. MUSEUM/MAIN HALL          87                                                                   87               The silhouettes of the five Agents, Burke, and Miles come               through the spotlight beams as they enter the Museum.                         Burke strides up to Carnby and Aline, who stand with Agent               Barr. Miles follows after him.                                             BURKE                          hat the hell are you doing here, Carnby?                                             CARNBY                         Hey Richie.                                             BURKE                         It's Commander Burke. This is my unit.                                             ALINE                         They saved our lives.                                             BURKE                         You used to be able to take care of                         yourself, Carnby. Gotten soft since you                         left 713?                                                                                       (CONTINUED)                              CONTINUED:                              Miles steps in between Burke and Carnby.                                        AGENT MILES                    Ms. Cedrac, I'm Agent Miles. This is                    Commander Burke.                                        BURKE                    Aline Cedrac. Pleasure to meet you. How's                    the Ph.D. coming along?                    Aline looks surprised that Burke knows so much about her.                                        ALINE                    It's fine. Thanks.                    Burke sees Aline's arm is bleeding from the gashes clawed          into her by the creature.                                        BURKE                    Miles, get her to a medic.                    Aline looks over at Carnby. He nods to her.                                        CARNBY                    I'll catch up.                    Agent Miles escorts Aline out of the Museum.                    Burke and Carnby regard one another.                                        BURKE                    Why am I still looking at you?                                        CARNBY                    I need to know what those things are.                                        BURKE                    That information's classified. If you                    were still an agent, you'd already know.                    But since you're not, stay out of my way.                    Burke turns to stride away. Carnby grabs his arm. Burke turns          back, annoyed.                                        CARNBY                    I'm asking nicely.                     Burke grabs Carnby's arm, trying to twist it away. But          Carnby's fast enough to slip out of Burke's hold.                    Now angry, Burke grabs Carnby by the collar, shoving him          against a stone column.                                                                                   (CONTINUED)                                                                                                             42.                CONTINUED: (2)                                    But Carnby deftly twists out of Burke's grip and shoves him                up against the same stone column.                          In the struggle, Carnby's hand flicks into Burke's pocket.                          Agent Barr intervenes, pulling Carnby away. Burke straightens                himself out, trying not to look rattled.                                              BURKE                          Get him out of here!                          Carnby shrugs off Agent Barr and walks away.                                              CARNBY                          You're right, Commander. I guess I have                          gone soft.                          As Carnby walks off, he looks down in his hand. He has lifted                Burke's I-D card out of his pocket.                            SCENES 88 TO 89 OMITTED                            SCENE 90 NOW SCENE 91A                           EXT. MUSEUM - LATER          91                                                                      91                The front of the Museum has been completely blocked off.                There is lots of activity, as BUREAU AGENTS mill around.                          Aline sits in the back of a 713 Emergency Medical Vehicle. A                713 MEDIC finishes dressing the cuts on her arm.                          Carnby approaches her. Aline nods to the Medic and gets up to                join Carnby. They speak quietly.                                               ALINE                          I want to finish studying those                          artifacts.                                              CARNBY                          I need to find out what's happened to                          John and the others. Stay in contact.                          We'll meet up later.                          INT. MUSEUM/MAIN HALL          91A                                                                    91A                Burke oversees a team of AGENTS in biohazard suits as they                sweep the scene, running scans of the area on high-tech hand-                held devices. Photos are snapped by another AGENT.                          Agent Miles escorts Aline over to Burke. Burke is distracted                by the scanning device he is holding.                                                                                        (CONTINUED)                                                                                     43.                CONTINUED:                                                        ALINE                          Commander, I need to get to my office.                                              BURKE                          The museum's quarantined until we're                          done.                                              ALINE                          At least let me pack up my work. There's                          priceless artifacts in there. If they get                          damaged...                          Burke looks up at Aline. He gives a minute nod to Miles.                                              BURKE                          If you notice anything out of the                          ordinary, let me know immediately.                          Aline looks around at the Agents scanning the destruction                caused by the creatures.                                              ALINE                          I don't think I want to know your                          definition of out of the ordinary.                           SCENE 91B IS NOW SCENE 103A                            SCENES 92 TO 102 OMITTED                           INT. FISCHER'S LAB - NIGHT          103                                                                    103                The Lab is full of sleek, high-tech lab equipment and state                of the art computers. The room is lit with a HUMMING                fluorescent light. Surgical equipment and various pieces of                high-tech machinery BUZZ by an autopsy slab. Surgical tools                are laid out on a table.                          Pinkerton's body is laid out on the slab, face-down.                          Fischer stands over Pinkerton's body. He holds a high-tech                hand-held scanning device. The scanner is connected to a                large monitor on a dolly next to the slab.                          Fischer holds the scanner a few inches above Pinkerton's                body, passing it along the length of him.                          The image on the monitor matches the movements of the                scanner. It shows a real-time internal scan of Pinkerton's                body, displaying the skeleton, internal organs, and so on.                          Visible on the monitor is a spinal worm curled up tight                around Pinkerton's spine.                                                                                        (CONTINUED)                                                                                                               44.          CONTINUED:                              Fischer doesn't look up, but his tone suddenly changes.                                        FISCHER                    You shouldn't be here, Carnby.                    Carnby stands in the doorway. He waves Burke's I-D card.                                        CARNBY                    I'm not here. Commander Burke is. Now                    what the hell is that thing inside him?                                        FISCHER                    Your curiosity have anything to do with                    the fingerprint of yours I found on his                    corpse?                                        CARNBY                    The list of people I trust is short,                    Fischer. Is it about to get shorter?                    Fischer turns back to Pinkerton's body. Carnby comes up and          stands next to him.                    Fischer takes a scalpel off the table and makes a careful          incision along Pinkerton's back.                                        CARNBY (CONT'D)                    Have you I-D'd him?                                        FISCHER                    Yeah, we got dentals. Agent James                    Pinkerton. He's ex-713.                                        CARNBY                    He was an agent? When?                    Using tongs, Fischer peels back the skin of Pinkerton's back.          The spinal-worm is attached to Pinkerton's spine.                                        FISCHER                    Went MIA twenty years ago. Presumed dead.                    I'm trying to get more intell, but his                    records are so classified, they're                    practically invisible.          C           arnby takes the tongs from Fischer, holding open the skin.          Fischer makes a series of incisions with the scalpel,          disconnecting the spinal-worm from Pinkerton's spine.                                        CARNBY                    It's fused with his nervous system.                                                                                            (CONTINUED)                                                                                                                                   45.               CONTINUED: (2)                                                       FISCHER                         I've never seen this kind of symbiosis                         before.                         Fischer pulls the spinal-worm out of Pinkerton's open back               with a pair of tongs. It hangs limply, motionless.                         The spinal-worm is long and thick, covered with hard, dark               scales. It has dozens of tiny clawed feet that were connected               to Pinkerton's spine.                          ischer drops the spinal-worm in a tub.                          ischer notices the hand-held scanning device is BEEPING               faintly, still registering something. He looks at the read-               out, curious, then concerned.                                             FISCHER (CONT'D)                         Scanner's still reading something...                         Fischer runs the scanner over Pinkerton's corpse. Nothing.                         Now Fischer looks even more concerned. He turns the scanner               on himself, running it up and down his torso. Nothing.                         Fischer looks at Carnby. Carnby gets it. It might be him.                         Fischer runs the scanner over Carnby's torso. The scanner               immediately starts BEEPING louder.                         They exchange a look between them. Something's inside Carnby.                    103A INT. MUSEUM/ALINE'S OFFICE - LATER                             103A                         Aline sits at her desk, analyzing the 3-D scan she made of               the lynchpin artifact.                                             HUDGENS (O.S.)                         The Abkani never cease to amaze me.                          line turns, startled, to see Hudgens standing behind her.               Hudgens demeanor is friendly, reassuring.                                             HUDGENS (CONT'D)                         Such a complex society at a time when                         most of humanity was still hunting and                         gathering and huddling around fires.                                             ALINE                         Dr. Hudgens. When did you get back?                                                                                                              (CONTINUED)                                                                                                                       46.          CONTINUED:                                                  HUDGENS                    A few hours ago. I heard there was some                    excitement. Are you alright?                                        ALINE                    I'm fine. A bit shaken up. But fine.                                        HUDGENS                    I apologize for snapping at you earlier.                    Now, what are you still doing here after                    all you've been through?                    Hudgens cranes his neck to see Aline's computer screen. His          eyes light up when he sees the scan of the lynchpin artifact.                                        HUDGENS (CONT'D)                    Where did you get that image?                    Aline hesitates. Hudgens looks curious, friendly.                                        ALINE                    Edward.                                        HUDGENS                    This is a major find. I'll need to                    analyze it. Confirm its authenticity.                                        ALINE                    I can do that myself.                                        HUDGENS                    That wasn't a request...                    Hudgens stands up to his full height, suddenly menacing.                                        HUDGENS (CONT'D)                    Where is the artifact?                                        AGENT CHEUNG (O.S.)                    Everything okay in here?                    Agent Cheung stands at the door, still wearing her full 713          combat gear. Her visor is up. She casually holds her rifle.                                        HUDGENS                    And you are?                                        AGENT CHEUNG                    Ms. Cedrac's security detail.                                        HUDGENS                    My dear, do you have any idea who I...                                                                                     (CONTINUED)                                                                                           47.                CONTINUED: (2)                                                        AGENT CHEUNG                              (interrupting)                          Dr. Lionel Hudgens. Former agent, sci-and-                          spy division. Currently 713 advisor                          status. I know exactly who you are. But                          I'm not your "dear" anything.                          Hudgens looks back at Aline and smiles warmly.                                              HUDGENS                          I'll just have to hold off my curiosity                          until morning.                          Aline smiles stiffly. Hudgens moves to leave.                                              ALINE                          Dr. Hudgens... I forgot to ask. Did you                          find the Erebus this time?                          Hudgens turns back and gives Aline another smile.                                              HUDGENS                          Just an empty shipwreck. You were right.                          It was another wild goosechase.                          Hudgens exits quickly. Aline and Agent Cheung watch him go.                                              ALINE                          Since when do I have a security detail?                                              AGENT CHEUNG                          Since it seemed like you needed it.                          INT. FISCHER'S LAB - LATER          104                                                                 104                Carnby lies on a bed with his shirt off. Fischer runs the                hand-held scanner over Carnby's torso. He looks at the                results of Carnby's scan on a monitor.                          A spinal worm is visible around Carnby's spine. But it looks                different than the others. It is small and shriveled and                seems barely attached to the spine.                                              FISCHER                          There's one inside you too. But the                          symbiosis is incomplete.                                              CARNBY                          Can you remove it?                                              FISCHER                          I could try. But it might paralyze you.                                                                                                                   48.                                        104A INT. MUSEUM/ALINE'S OFFICE - LATER                            104A                Aline sits at her computer, checking out 3-D scans of the                four Abkani artifacts. She is running an analysis the symbols                carved into each artifact.                          Streams of calculations run across the screen as the computer                processes. The computer BEEPS as it comes to a conclusion.                The symbols correlate to constellations in the night sky.                          Aline hits COPY on her computer and it burns a CD of the                information she has processed.                          Aline searches through a roll of maps. She pulls out a map of                North America and lays it out on a work station.                          Aline draws lines across the map, trying to pinpoint a                location based on the constellations. She marks the map up                with latitude and longitude calculations.                          She stops. She looks back up at the computer screen. She taps                her pen on the map. She looks frustrated.                                              ALINE                          What's missing...                          The computer BEEPS again. The CD copy has been made.                          Aline rolls up the map and starts to pack up her belongings.                           SCENES 105 AND 106 OMITTED                           INT. FISCHER'S LAB - LATER          107                                                                    107                Fischer and Carnby stand in front of an open armory cabinet.                Sleek 713 assault rifles are lined up on a rack beside them.                          They stand on either side of a counter. A large monitor is on                the wall behind them.                                              CARNBY                          I'm not much for coincidences. These                          organisms must be connected to those                          things from the museum.                                              FISCHER                          We call them xenomorphs.                                              CARNBY                          Catchy. When did they first appear?                                                                                                            (CONTINUED)                                                                               49.          CONTINUED:                              With a remote control, Fischer clicks through images on the          monitor as he talks. He brings up a series of anatomical          schematics of the xenomorph creatures.                                        FISCHER                    Two years ago. They've been 713's top                    priority ever since. But it's been almost                    exclusively in rural areas. This kind of                    urban infiltration is unprecedented.                                        CARNBY                    Have you isolated any weaknesses?                    Fischer brings up an image of the periodic table.                                        FISCHER                    Most metals pass right through them. So                    normal bullets and blades are useless.                    But they're vulnerable to elements 76 to                    79. Osmium, iridium, platinum, and gold.                    Negates their ability to disrupt                    electricity.                                        CARNBY                    If they disrupt electricity, why did my                    flashlight still work?                                        FISCHER                    The closer the current to its power                    source, the less disruption.                    Fischer takes a hand-held para-meter scanning device off a          rack. It is a sleek, updated version of Carnby's para-meter,          similar to the Agents' rifle-mounted scanners.                                        FISCHER (CONT'D)                    This is calibrated to track their                    disruption field. It won't help you see                    them, but you'll know when they're                    nearby.                    Fischer brings up a computer simulations of the creatures'          disruption field, displaying how it works.                                        FISCHER (CONT'D)                    They live almost exclusively in darkness.                    Sunlight's lethal in large doses. But                    only certain light frequencies hurt them.                    Fischer takes a rifle off the rack and lays it down on the          counter in front of them.                                                                                             (CONTINUED)                                                                                                             50.                CONTINUED: (2)                                    Off another rack, Fischer picks up a lamp. He flips it on and                off, shining the bright blue beam around. Fischer snaps the                lamp into place at the top of the rifle.                                               ISCHER (CONT'D)                          These lamps are set to an effective                          frequency.                          Fischer takes out several magazines of ammo out of the                cabinet. He discharges a bullet. It glows yellow in his hand.                                              FISCHER (CONT'D)                          But for maximum damage, we use bullets                          coated in a photon-accelerated                          luminescent resin. Cuts right through                          them.                          Fischer hands the rifle and a magazine to Carnby. Carnby                loads the magazine and checks the rifle like a pro.                                              CARNBY                          I'm going to need a lot of those.                           SCENE 107A INCORPORATED INTO SCENE 107                            SCENES 108 TO 114 OMITTED                           INT. CARNBY'S LOFT - DAY          115                                                                    115                Carnby unlocks the multiple locks on the front door to his                Loft and enters. He carries a heavy duffle-bag. He looks                exhausted.                          Warily, Carnby holds out the hand-held scanner, checking to                see if it registers anything. But the Loft reads clean.                          Carnby puts the scanner down on a counter and allows himself                to relax as he enters the Loft.                          Carnby walks in slowly, a man whose adrenaline is wearing off                and is only now feeling the pain. He shrugs off his trench-                coat and lets it drop on the floor.                          He drops the duffle-bag on the floor. He kicks off his boots.                He pulls off his holster and gun and drops them on a table.                          Carnby takes out the lynchpin artifact. He puts it down on a                work station in the lab area.                          Carnby pulls off his shirt. His back is marked with old scars                and fresh bruises.                                                                                                  (CONTINUED)                                                     Carnby walks over to his bed. He drops down onto the bed. His                body sinks down, finally relaxing.                                              CARNBY                          Five minutes...                          Carnby falls fast asleep.                          INT. FISCHER'S LAB          116                                                                        116                Fischer sits at his computer. He is going through the Bureau                713 database. He pulls up Pinkerton's file. A red CLASSIFIED                sign flashes onscreen.                          Fischer types in a password. CLASSIFIED flashes again.                                                 AGENT MILES (O.S.)                          Fischer...                          Fischer turns to see Agent Miles standing at the door.                                              AGENT MILES (CONT'D)                          Commander Burke wants to see you.                    116A INT. HUDGENS' LABORATORY                                          116A                          Hudgens walks through a dank cement room. Various pieces of                scientific equipment sit in a corner. Shelves are lined with                ancient artifacts, small sculptures, and masks.                          Hudgens stops at a work station and pauses. A look of pain                crosses his face. He winces, holding it in. He steadies                himself.                          At the other side of the Lab is a large recess in the space.                The opening is covered by thick cage bars covered in gold.                The cage appears to be empty.                          But suddenly, an invisible creature SLAMS into the bars of                the cage, trying to lunge at Hudgens.                          As it hits the bars, fingers of electricity jolt through it,                making it visible for a split second.                          Hudgens watches calmly. He goes to a small dial built into                the wall beside the cage. Hudgens turns up the dial.                          In the cage, jagged bolts of electricity jolt around the                invisible creature. It SQUEALS and HISSES from the                electricity.                                                                                                                 (CONTINUED)                                                                                                                                52.                CONTINUED:                                    Finally, the creature collapses and fades visible. The                creature is unconscious, but still alive.                          Hudgens turns the dial back down.                          Hudgens picks up a hypodermic syringe from a counter next to                the cage.                          He injects the syringe into the creature's neck, between two                of its scales. He withdraws a syringe-full of the creature's                black, sticky blood.                          He goes back to the work station, rolling up the sleeve of                his shirt. His arm is pocked with injection marks.                          Hudgens ties off his arm, preps a vein, and injects himself                with the syringe of creature's blood. He closes his eyes,                feeling the substance flow into him.                           SCENE 116B NOW SCENE 119B                           EXT. CARNBY'S BUILDING - DAY          117                                                                    117                Aline walks up to an imposing, slightly decrepit-looking old                brick building in a bad area of town.                          She goes to press the buzzer, but the box is broken, the                wires limply hanging out.                          She KNOCKS on the door. No answer.                          She stops, annoyed. But then a slight, involuntary smile                comes across her face.                           Aline fishes in her purse and pulls out a set of keys. She                finds the key she's looking for and slips it into the lock on                the front door.                          She pauses for a moment, then turns the key.                           SCENE 118 OMITTED                           INT. CARNBY'S LOFT - CONTINUOUS          119                                                                    119                Aline enters the Loft. She looks around.                                               LINE                          Edward?                          Aline closes the door behind her. She takes another few steps                into the Loft.                                                                                                  (CONTINUED)                                                                                                           53.               CONTINUED:                                   She spots Carnby's discarded trench-coat on the floor. She               walks up and picks it up with two fingers.                                             ALINE (CONT'D)                         I see nothing's changed...                         Aline hangs the coat on a hook. She enters the Loft proper,               looking around.                                             ALINE (CONT'D)                         Edward?                         Aline stops. She sees Carnby lying on his bed, asleep. She               smiles. He looks peaceful.                         Aline sees the lynchpin artifact sitting in the lab area. She               unpacks her bag, taking out three items wrapped in cloth. She               places the three items next to the lynchpin artifact.                         She looks over at Carnby, sleeping in his bed.                         Aline kicks off her shoes and walks over to the bed.                         She climbs onto the bed, careful not to disturb Carnby. He               stirs a little, but he doesn't wake up. Aline lies down next               to Carnby on the bed. She notices the new scars and bruises               along his back.                         Aline lays her head on a pillow. Their faces lie close               together. She watches Carnby sleep.                         Aline leans over and gives Carnby the lightest of kisses. He               doesn't wake up.                                             ALINE (CONT'D)                         Sweet dreams...                         Aline's eyes flutter closed, then open, then closed again.               Within seconds, she's asleep.                          SCENE 119A NOW SCENE 116A                     119B INT. BUREAU 713 HEADQUARTERS/CONTROL ROOM                    119B               Burke stands behind Krash at the monitor banks, surveying the               incoming information.                                                                                                           (CONTINUED)                                                                                                                            54.               CONTINUED:                                   Agent Miles holds the door open as Fischer enters. Miles               stands at the door, listening. Burke doesn't face Fischer.                                             BURKE                         Have you been meeting with Carnby?                                             FISCHER                         Yes. He's got intell we need. And I trust                         him.                         Burke turns around to face Fischer.                                              URKE                         We've got to trust each other, Fischer.                         Are you with us or not?                         Fischer weighs his answer.                                    F                                    ISCHER                         What do you need from me?                                             BURKE                         All the intell you've got on Edward                         Carnby.                    119C INT. FISCHER'S HOUSE/KITCHEN - DUSK                          119C                         The Kitchen is comfortable, lived in. Fischer's suit jacket               hangs on the back of a chair. His revolver and holster also               hang on the chair.                         Fischer's wife, SARAH FISCHER (early 50s) stirs the contents               of a pot with a wooden spoon. Fischer makes a salad.                                             FISCHER                         What else could I do? I had to tell him.                                             SARAH FISCHER                         You did the right thing, Paul. From what                         you've told me, Carnby can take care of                         himself.                         The doorbell RINGS.                                             SARAH FISCHER (CONT'D)                         I'll get it. You stir.                         Sarah hands Fischer the wooden spoon. She gives him a quick,               warm kiss. She exits the room.                                                                                                                      55.                                        119D INT. FISCHER'S HOUSE/FOYER                                   119D                         Sarah Fischer hurries to the front door.                         She checks her appearance in a mirror in the Foyer. She               touches her hair, purses her lips, and turns to the door.                         She opens the front door, a pleasant expression on her face.                    119E INT. FISCHER'S HOUSE/KITCHEN                                 119E                         The lights in the Kitchen start to flicker. Fischer freezes,               listening. The House is quiet.                         Fischer dives for the revolver hanging in his holster on the               chair. He pulls a container of glowing bullets out of the               pocket of his jacket.                         The container spills on the floor. He scrambles to pick up               the bullets and load them into the revolver.                         Fischer edges to the Kitchen door, listening, anxious.               Everything is quiet.                         He quietly pushes open the door, revolver ready.          1                     19F INT. FISCHER'S HOUSE/FOYER                                   119F                         Fischer creeps into the Foyer. The lights flicker.                         No one is in the Foyer. The front door is open.                                                FISCHER                            Sarah? Answer me! Sarah!                         No answer.                         Something CRASHES to the ground in the Living Room.                    119G INT. FISCHER'S HOUSE/LIVING ROOM                             119G                         Fischer quietly opens the door to the Living Room, gripping               his revolver tightly. He steps into the room.                         The lights in the Living Room are out. A broken lamp lies               SMASHED on its side.                         Fischer comes around the side of the couch. He stops,               shocked.                         Sarah Fischer's dead body lies in a pool of blood.                                                                                                  (CONTINUED)                                                  Fischer is suddenly grabbed and SLAMMED into the wall. The          impact knocks several framed photos of Fischer and his Wife          off the wall. They SHATTER as they hit the floor.                    Fischer is PUNCHED in the face, hard. He is stunned.                    Fischer is hurled over the couch. He lands heavily on a glass          coffee table, SHATTERING the glass tabletop.                    The impact knocks his revolver out of his hands.                    Fischer lies dazed in the broken glass. He looks up at his          attacker.                    It's Hudgens, standing over him.                    Hudgens SLAMS his fist into Fischer's face. Fischer is now          only semi-conscious.                    Hudgens pulls out a long, thin spinal-worm. Its many clawed          feet and razor-sharp jaws snap away, its segmented, scaled          body writhing in his grip.                                        HUDGENS                    If you can't beat us, Fischer, join us.                    Hudgens grabs Fischer by his hair and pulls his head back,          forcing his mouth open.                                                                           CUT TO:                    We follow the spinal-worm as it enters Fischer's mouth,          slipping down his throat.                    We continue to follow the spinal-worm as it makes its way          through Fischer's body, weaving through the twists and turns          of his digestive system and internal organs.                    The spinal-worm tears through layers of Fischer's insides,          finally making its way to his spine. The spinal-worm then          wraps itself around Fischer's spine, its tiny clawed feet          grabbing hold and attaching themselves along its length.                    We move up Fischer's spinal cord to his brain. The spinal-          worm seems to be causing synapses to fire in chaotic bursts.          We travel through Fischer's brain and out of his eyes.                                                                           CUT TO:                    Fischer's expression is now calm. Hudgens regards Fischer,          looking pleased with himself.                                                  119H INT. FOREST - NIGHT - TWENTY YEARS AGO                        119H                P.O.V. CREATURE:                          Something chases Young Edward as he runs for his life through                the misty, dark forest. He runs towards a light up ahead.                           SCENE 119I OMITTED                     119J INT. SHED - NIGHT - TWENTY YEARS AGO                          119J                Young Edward enters the Shed, closing the door behind him.                          The small Shed is cluttered with equipment for repairing                power lines. A large transformer module sits at the back of                the Shed. It HUMS and CRACKLES with electricity.                          Something compels Young Edward to move closer towards the                transformer and reach out a trembling hand. He places his                hand against the transformer's front grill.                          With a sudden SNAP and FLASH, electricity courses through                Young Edward. Jagged fingers of blue light jolt around him.                           SCENES 120 TO 123 OMITTED                           INT. CARNBY'S LOFT - NIGHT          124                                                                    124                It's night. The Loft is dark. Carnby and Aline are fast                asleep on the bed, lying next to one another.                          Carnby wakes up with a start. He tries to get his bearings.                Carnby looks surprised to see Aline lying next to him.                          He quietly gets out of bed, letting her sleep. He pulls on a                fresh shirt.                          Carnby pads over to the lab area and turns on a desk light.                He sees the wrapped items Aline placed on his work station.                          Carnby unwraps the items. They are the three Abkani artifacts                from the Museum.                          Carnby picks up the lynchpin artifact, turning it around.                Something catches his eye. Carnby fiddles with the artifact.                          Suddenly, the artifact telescopes out. Instead of one thick                ring, it is now three successively smaller rings, one piled                on the other, with a common hollow middle.                                                                                                             (CONTINUED)                                                                                                            58.                CONTINUED:                                    Carnby picks up the large ring artifact. He slots it into                place on the telescoped lynchpin artifact. Next, Carnby slots                in the medium and small rings into place.                          The four pieces fit together perfectly, creating a                cylindrical device with a small, round opening in the bottom.                    125                                                                    125                INT. CARNBY'S LOFT - LATER                          Carnby cooks omelettes in the Kitchen area of the Loft. The                ingredients are spread out on the counter.                          Aline wakes up. She sits up in the bed and looks around.                                              ALINE                          Something smells amazing.                          Aline trots over to the Kitchen area as Carnby serves up the                omelettes. Aline gives him a look.                                              ALINE (CONT'D)                          I love omelettes.                                              CARNBY                          I know.                          Carnby sits down across from Aline. They eat while they talk.                                              ALINE                          I figured out a connection with the                          symbols on those artifacts. They                          correspond to constellations. But                          something's missing.                                              CARNBY                          Maybe this will help...                          Carnby takes out the assembled Abkani device and puts it down                on the table between them.                          Aline picks up the device, fascinated. She runs her fingers                over the Abkani symbols carved into the lynchpin artifact.                          She goes to her bag and pulls out the map she was working on                and the CD. She hands Carnby the CD.                                              ALINE                          Can you run the program on this?                          Carnby goes over to his computer and inserts the CD.                                                                                                            (CONTINUED)                                                                                                                                   59.                CONTINUED:                                    Aline spreads out the map. She draws lines across it,                connecting up constellations with locations on the map. She                writes out latitude and longitude calculations.                          Aline comes up to Carnby at the computer. The program is                waiting for her calculations.                          She leans past Carnby and enters the latitude and longitude                numbers into the program. The computer processes the                information. Hundreds of map images flash across the screen                as the computer searches for a match.                                              CARNBY                          What are we looking for?                                              ALINE                          The Abkani used constellations to pin-                          point a geographical location. But I                          don't think I can isolate it closer than                          a hundred mile radius.                          The computer finds a match. A specific map appears onscreen,                with a 100 mile radius circle marked in the center of it.                                                 LINE (CONT'D)                          Edward...                                              CARNBY                          Yeah. That's us right there.                          Carnby points to a spot on the onscreen map.                           SCENE 126 OMITTED                           INT. CARNBY'S LOFT - MOMENTS LATER          127                                                                     127                Carnby puts the dishes from their meal into the Kitchen sink.                The sink tap is RUNNING. Aline clears the dishes.                                                                                                              (CONTINUED)                                                                                                           60.          CONTINUED:                              The para-meter Fischer gave Carnby starts faintly BEEPING,          but the RUNNING sink tap covers the sound. Something is          coming.                    The lights in the Loft flicker once.                    Carnby turns off the tap and they listen intently. They can          hear the scanner BEEPING faintly.                    The lights in the Loft flicker and go out.                    Aline grabs the flashlight and switches it on.                    Carnby runs to his revolver and holster. He checks the          chamber in his revolver. The bullets glow.                    Carnby looks up, sensing something. He spins around, ready.                    A FIGURE stands behind him. It is John.                    John looks fierce, his face drawn, gaunt. His eyes are sunken          into dark recesses, with nearly clear irises.                                        CARNBY                    John?                    John lunges at Carnby. Carnby is too surprised to defend          himself. John SLAMS Carnby against the wall, knocking his          revolver out of his hands.                    John picks Carnby up and hurls him across the Loft. Carnby          CRASHES through furniture as he lands heavily.                    Out of the shadows behind Aline, two FIGURES emerge. They are          both missing ORPHANS, one MALE, one FEMALE. They have the          same gaunt faces and clear irises as John.                    Carnby picks himself up. He spots the Orphans behind Aline.                                        CARNBY (CONT'D)                    Behind you!                    The two Orphans lunge at Aline, but she's able to dodge out          of the way. The Orphans are fast and fierce. Aline leaps          forward, sliding across the floor towards Carnby's revolver.                    She grabs it and spins to face the two Orphans. They're gone.                                                                                                         (CONTINUED)                                                                              61.          CONTINUED: (2)                              But then the Female Orphan leaps out at her. Aline FIRES,          hitting the Female Orphan in the shoulder.                    The Female Orphans jumps away, into the shadows. Aline          scrambles to her feet, the revolver ready. But the Female          Orphans has disappeared.                    Aline runs over to Carnby. He grabs a shotgun from the          weapons cabinet and loads it.                                        ALINE                    That looked like John.                                        CARNBY                    It is. The other two are from the                    orphanage as well.                    Carnby pumps the shotgun. Carnby and Aline creep forward into          the darkness of the Loft. They listen.                    Suddenly, John lunges at him, his teeth bared.                    Carnby SMASHES John across the head with the shotgun. But          John keeps coming, SLAMMING him against the wall. Carnby          breaks John's hold and swivel-kicks him out of the way. John          skitters off into the shadows.                    The Female Orphan leaps out at Aline, trying to tear into her          with her teeth.                    Carnby grabs a pipe leaning against the wall and runs for          Aline.                    The Male Orphan lunges out at Carnby. He SMASHES the Male          Orphan across the face with the pipe.                    Aline struggles with the Female Orphan. Carnby turns to see          John rising up behind her, about to strike.          C           arnby reacts instinctively. He FIRES, shooting John in the          chest with a shotgun BLAST. John flails back, dead.                    The Male Orphan jumps out at Carnby. Now working on instinct,          Carnby spins and jams the pipe into his gut, impaling him.          The Male Orphan stumbles to the ground and dies.                    Aline gets away from the Female Orphan. As the Female Orphan          lunges at her again, Aline FIRES, shooting her three times in          the chest.                                                                                                      (CONTINUED)                                                                                                                               62.          CONTINUED: (3)                              But it's only the third bullet, the one that hits the Female          Orphan dead center in the chest that takes her down. The          Female Orphan falls back, dead.                    Aline comes up to Carnby. He stands over John's corpse.                                        ALINE                    You had no choice.                                        CARNBY                    Something's controlling them.                                        ALINE                    How many are there altogether?                                        CARNBY                    Twenty. Including me.                    The para-meter starts BEEPING again, louder and more          frenetic. The lights start to flicker, fading up and down.                    Carnby unzips the duffle-bag. It's full of 713 equipment          given to him by Fischer. Carnby loads an assault rifle with          713 magazines. He loads a pistol with the glowing bullets.                    Carnby throws Aline the pistol. She catches it in mid-air.          She checks it like a pro.                    Aline and Carnby stand together, guns drawn, ready.                    There's a moment of quiet. They listen.                    The lights in the Loft flicker. The scanner BEEPS.                    Something SMASHES into the Loft's front door.                    Carnby grabs the para-meter. It BEEPS more insistently.                    The front door BURSTS open, knocked right off its hinges by          the invisible creature crashing through it.                    P.O.V. CREATURE:                    The invisible xenomorph creature's skewed, inhuman P.O.V. as          it looks across the Loft, searching. It locates Carnby and          Aline and heads directly for them.          A           ll that is visible of the creature's trajectory is furniture          being knocked aside as the creature rushes towards them.                    The creature SMASHES right through a glass-topped work table,          SHATTERING it. Papers whirl around in its wake.                                                                           (CONTINUED)                    CONTINUED: (4)                              Aline and Carnby stand their ground, facing the on-coming          creature as it lunges towards them.                    Carnby and Aline leap out of the way at the last moment.          Rolling away in opposite directions, they simultaneously OPEN          FIRE. Their glowing bullets hit the creature dead on.                    The creature SQUEALS, flashing visible from the multiple          impacts. Their glowing bullets pierce the creature and it          tumbles to the ground, dead.                    The creature's invisible corpse lies motionless. Broken          furniture and shattered glass is everywhere.                    Carnby's para-meter is quiet, the readings subsiding with the          creature's death. The lights stop flickering.                                        CARNBY (CONT'D)                    We'd better get out of here.                    Suddenly, all the lights in the Loft go out in unison. All          the computer monitors also go dark.                    The scanner starts BEEPING frenetically. Electromagnetic          readings shoot up, registering multiple sources nearby.                    Carnby and Aline back up together, ready for an attack.                                                                                                        (CONTINUED)                                                                                                         64.               CONTINUED: (5)                                   But the first thing they hear isn't a creature. It's the               sound of AUTOMATIC GUNFIRE.                         Streaks of glowing bullets fly through the air.                         It is a 713 unit, laying down suppressing FIRE as the Agents               enter the Loft through the broken front door.                         Agents Barr, Cheung, and Marko enter, followed by five other               AGENTS. They all wear full 713 combat gear, their rifle-               mounted lamps illuminated, their weapons in use.                                              GENT BARR (INTO COMM-LINK)                         Carnby located.                    127A INT. BUREAU 713 HEADQUARTERS/CONTROL ROOM - AT THAT MOMENT 127A                         Krash monitors the 713 unit from the Control Room. Banks of               monitors stream data at her.                         Krash speaks into her head-set comm-link, cool and collected.                                             KRASH                         Multiple readings confirmed. Back-up's on                         the way.                    127B INT. CARNBY'S LOFT - AT THAT MOMENT                          127B                         The Agents FIRE glowing bullets through the dark Loft. There               are invisible creatures everywhere.                                             AGENT BARR (INTO COMM-LINK)                         Roger that. We're hot.                         The muzzle FLASHES and glowing bullets pierce the darkness of               the Loft.                          hadows swim through the space as the invisible creatures               move around them, attacking the Agents with their razor-sharp               claws and spiked-tails.                         P.O.V. CREATURE:                         An invisible creature swoops out of the shadows towards an               Agent, who is FIRING in the opposite direction. The creature               whips past the Agent, slicing him open with a fluid slash of               its claws. The creature keeps moving directly for Carnby.                         Carnby and Aline, standing together, FIRE their weapons in               the darkness, oblivious to the creature rushing towards them.                                                                                                           (CONTINUED)                                        But at the last second, Carnby turns instinctively as the          creature lunges at him.                                         CARNBY                    Aline!                    Carnby and Aline turn and OPEN FIRE on the creature. It          flashes visible from multiple hits, flailing off into the          darkness.                    Agent Barr FIRES controlled bursts of glowing bullets into          the dark Loft. He screams into his comm-link.                                        AGENT BARR (INTO COMM-LINK)                    Where the hell's our back-up?                                         KRASH (ON THE COMM-LINK)                    Landing.                    The sound of a HELICOPTER can be heard outside the Loft.                    P.O.V. CREATURE:                    Another invisible creature skirts along the edge of a wall,          avoiding the GUNFIRE. It locates its target, an Agent FIRING          up at the ceiling. It races towards the Agent.                    The Agent turns to the attack and tries to fire. But the          creature is too fast. It SLAMS the Agent back against the          wall and impales him with its spiked-tail.                    Agents Barr and Cheung spot this and OPEN FIRE on the          creature. It flails about, fading visible from the impacts.                    The creature tries to scurry away, but Barr and Cheung are on          it. With precision and speed, they blow the creature away.                    But more creatures attack. The fighting is fierce. Glowing          bullets streak through the darkness. The Agents are calm and          determined as they engage the creatures.                    Carnby and Aline hold their own, sticking together, SHOOTING          at whatever shadows move around them.                    Six AGENTS in full combat gear burst into the Loft. Leading          the unit is Commander Burke. Agent Miles is with him, as is          AGENT TURNER (mid-30s).                    Burke, Miles, Turner, and the other Agents immediately join          the battle, laying down suppressing FIRE.                                                                                                       (CONTINUED)                                                                                       66.          CONTINUED: (2)                              An Agent carrying a rifle-mounted grenade-launcher FIRES an          incendiary flash-grenade at the Upper Level of the Loft.          With a flash of blinding light, the grenade EXPLODES.          Creatures SQUEAL as flames swoop up through the Upper Level.                    Glowing bullets fill the dark Loft. Creatures SQUEAL and          flail from the hits.                    In the darkness of the Loft, Carnby, Aline, and the Agents          finish off the remaining invisible creatures.                    The last creature goes down in a hail of glowing bullets. The          Agents strafe the creature's corpse to make sure it's dead.                    Agent Barr and Carnby exchange a look between them. Barr          clearly respects Carnby's abilities.                    The Loft is still dark. Barr's rifle-mounted scanner no          longer registers any creatures.                                        AGENT BARR                    We're clear, sir.                    Burke looks around at the remains of the battle. The Loft is          totally trashed. A small fire burns in the Upper Level.                                         BURKE                    Love what you've done with the place,                    Carnby.                    Miles runs a hand-held scanning device over John's corpse.          The scanner BEEPS, indicating the presence of a spinal-worm.                                        AGENT MILES                    Sir, this one's infected too!                    Agent Turner scans the Female Orphan's corpse. His scanning          device BEEPS. She has a spinal-worm too.                                        AGENT TURNER                    Got another one here!                    Burke immediately turns his weapon to Carnby. The red laser-          sight makes a glowing dot on Carnby's chest.                    Taking their cue from Burke, the other Agents in his unit all          train their weapons on Carnby. Several glowing red dots          hover on his chest.                                        BURKE                    Drop your weapon and get down on the                    ground.                                                                                     (CONTINUED)                                                                                                                 67.          CONTINUED: (3)                                                  ALINE                    What are you doing?                                        BURKE                    He's been infected with some kind of                    organism. He could be under its control.                    Aline turns to Carnby.                                        CARNBY                    It's true. I've got one inside me. But                    it's not controlling me.                                        BURKE                    You'll excuse me if I don't take your                    word for it. Now drop your weapon.                    Carnby holds his weapon at his side. He doesn't drop it. But          he doesn't move either.                    Aline steps in between Carnby and the Agents. The red dots          are now trained on her chest.                                        AGENT TURNER                    Get out of the way!                    The Agents try to get a clear shot around Aline.                                        ALINE                    He's not one of them.                                         URKE                    If I've got to shoot through you to get                    to him, I'll do it.                    Carnby looks up at the lights. They are still dark.                                        CARNBY                    Why are the lights still out?                    Barr consults his scanner. It isn't registering anything.                                        AGENT BARR                    Scanner's clear.                                          AGENT MILES (INTO COMM-LINK)                    Krash?                                          KRASH (ON THE COMM-LINK)                    Negative.                                                                                                         (CONTINUED)                                                                                67A.          CONTINUED: (4)                                                  BURKE                    Forget to pay your power bill, Carnby?                    An Agent standing at the other end of the Loft hears          something SHUFFLING behind him. He turns to look.                    Something grabs the Agent, SLAMS him back against the wall,          and rips out his neck.                    It's another ORPHAN, with the same fierce, gaunt look and          clear irises.                    Burke turns away from Carnby for a moment, trying to figure          out what's happening.                    Carnby suddenly lifts his weapon and points it at Burke.          Burke sees this, but before he can react, Carnby FIRES.                    Carnby's bullet WHIZZES past Burke and hits an ORPHAN dead          center in the gut, sending him flailing back, dead. The          Orphan was about to pounce on Burke.                    There's a moment as Burke and Carnby look at one another.          Burke realizes Carnby just saved his life.                    The ORPHANS attack.                    They are the grown-up Children from Carnby's Orphanage. Like          Pinkerton, they are difficult to kill, immune to pain, fast,          and deadly. They all have the same gaunt, wild look, with          sunken eyes and nearly clear irises.                    The Orphans leap out at the Agents, quick and fierce. They          bite and claw and use their superhuman strength to throw          around the Agents and tear them apart.                    The dark Loft is again lit up with glowing bullets, streaking          through the darkness. The Agents' rifle-mounted lamps shine          around, but the effect is chaotic, disorienting.                                                                                                     (CONTINUED)                                                                                                             68.          CONTINUED: (5)                              As the Orphans attack, they make quick work of many of the          Agents. Glowing bullets fly around everywhere. The SCREAMS of          Agents being torn apart mix with BURSTS of AUTOMATIC GUNFIRE.                    Carnby and Aline stay together, dodging the attacking          Orphans, and FIRING into the darkness.                    An Orphan rises up behind Carnby. He spins and SHOOTS her in          the side. But she just keep coming. Carnby SHOOTS the Orphan          again, this time dead center in the chest. The Orphan          collapses, dead.                    Carnby checks the corpse. The bullet came out the other side.          A mixture of red blood and black, sticky ooze drips from a          bullet hole right over the Orphan's spine.                    Carnby grabs the comm-link off the body of a dead Agent.                                        CARNBY (INTO COMM-LINK)                    All Agents! You've got to kill the                    organism to stop them! Aim for the spine!                     cross the Loft, Burke listens to the comm-link.                    An Orphan is attacking Agent Miles. Burke takes careful aim          and SHOOTS the Orphan in the back, right on the spine. The          Orphan falls over, dead.                                        BURKE (INTO COMM-LINK)                    Confirmed. Spinal shot's a kill shot.                    With this information, the Agents quickly gain the upper-hand          against the Orphans' attack. The Orphans are fast and deadly,          but they have no organization. Now that the Agents have a          handle on this new threat, their precision and speed returns.                    Soon, the battle is over. Dozens of bodies of dead Agents and          dead Orphans lie littered around Carnby's destroyed Loft.                    Only Carnby, Aline, Burke, Miles, Barr, Cheung, Marko, and          Turner remain alive.                    Burke's and Carnby's eyes meet. Burke approaches Carnby.                    The other Agents all stand by, waiting for an order from          Burke. Aline watches them, ready to step in.                                                                                                      (CONTINUED)                                                                                      69.          CONTINUED: (6)                                                   BURKE (CONT'D)                    You remember the number one rule they                    teach you in 713 training? Trust your                    instincts.                    Burke and Carnby face off.                                         BURKE (CONT'D)                    Fischer's missing. So is Hudgens. And                    I've got a situation brewing that makes                    this scrap look like a bar brawl.                                        ALINE                    What does Hudgens have to do with this?                                        BURKE                    That's what I want to find out. I need                    you both to brief me in the air.                    Burke turns to walk off, but then stops. He turns back to          Carnby. Burke holds out his hand.                                        BURKE (CONT'D)                    Oh, and Carnby... I'll need my I-D back.                    Carnby smirks. He pulls out Burke's I-D card and hands it          back to him.                     SCENES 127BB, 127C, 130, AND 131 OMITTED                      SCENES 128 AND 129 INCORPORATED INTO SCENE 127                      SCENES 131A AND 131C INCORPORATED INTO 127B                      SCENES 131B, 131BB, 131D, 132, 133, AND 133A OMITTED                      SCENE 131E INCORPORATED INTO 131C                      SCENE 133B INCORPORATED INTO SCENE 134                                                                                                                               70.                                              EXT. MINE - NIGHT          134                                                                 134                A massive, long-abandoned structure built directly against                the face of a mountain. This is the Entrance Hall of                Britannia Mine.                          713 AGENTS mill about, setting up perimeter defenses. Humvees                are being positioned as barricades. Large spotlights are                being set up to illuminate the area, with power cables                leading inside the Entrance Hall.                          Agents Barr, Cheung, and Marko are part of the team outside,                setting up the defenses.                          The 713 helicopter carrying Carnby, Aline, Commander Burke,                and Agents Miles comes down for a landing next to two other                helicopters already sitting in front of the Mine.                          The moment the helicopter touches down, Burke leaps out,                barking into his comm-link. Carnby, Aline, and Miles exit                after him.                                                 BURKE (INTO COMM-LINK)                             Krash! What are you reading?                    134A INT. BUREAU 713 HEADQUARTERS/CONTROL ROOM                     134A                           rash swivels in her chair, processing data, making                adjustments to sensors, and checking out the information                scrolling across the bank of monitors. She wears a head-set.                                                 KRASH                             We're practically off the scale,                             Commander. This is unprecedented. Should                             I initiate Contingency Nine-Alpha?                                                 BURKE (ON THE COMM-LINK)                             The military? We don't have time to wait                             for them to mobilize.                                                 KRASH                             Is that a negative, Commander?                    134B EXT. MINE                                                     134B                          Burke leads Carnby, Aline, and Miles to the Entrance Hall.                                                 BURKE (INTO COMM-LINK)                             No. Initiate Nine-Alpha on my authority.                             But I won't hold my breath. By the time                             this clears Defense Council, we'll be                             dead or drinking...                                                                                                                            71.                                              INT. MINE ENTRANCE HALL - NIGHT          135                                                                       135                Rusty construction vehicles, detritus, and rubble lie                discarded throughout the Hall. Several shafts have been dug                into the mountain. Narrow paths lead up the slope.                          AGENTS scurry around, setting up the defense system. The main                position is set up just inside the entrance to the Hall.                          Burke and Miles enter, followed by Aline and Carnby.                                                 AGENT MILES                             We've got three perimeters of flash-                             mines. Gatling guns are set to                             electromagnetic motion tracking. And                             every available agent in the vicinity is                             here. But Commander...                                                 BURKE                             I know, Miles. But back-up won't make it                             before sunrise.                          Several raised Platforms stand in the middle of the Hall.                          On one Platform, Agent Turner helps two AGENTS unload a large                gold-plated generator from the back of a Humvee.                                                 AGENT TURNER                             Generator will be on-line shortly, sir.                          Burke nods to Turner as he and the others walk by. Carnby and                Aline get into step with Burke and Miles.                                                 ALINE                             It looks like you're going to war.                                                 BURKE                             We are. The highest xeno concentration on                             record is closing in on this location.                             This could be our chance to wipe them out                             once and for all.                          A Tunnel, carved directly into the rock wall of the Mine,                leads off into darkness. Carnby stares down at the Tunnel.                                                 CARNBY                             We need to go down there.                                                 BURKE                             What?                                                                                                                (CONTINUED)                          CONTINUED:                                                         CARNBY                           They're coming here for a reason. Until                           we know what they're after, we're never                           really going to be able to stop them.                          Agent Miles consults his hand-held para-meter.                                               AGENT MILES                           Something's definitely down there, sir.                           But there's too much interference to get                           a clear reading from here.                          Miles looks at Burke expectantly. Carnby and Aline watch him                as well. Burke looks conflicted.                                               BURKE                           Goddamn it. Miles, you're in charge of                           perimeter defense. Nothing gets in or out                           until we find out what's down there.                    135A EXT. MINE                                                      135A                Batteries of flash-mines (mines that explode with a burst of                blinding light) set to electromagnetic sensors are being                positioned in wide perimeters around the Entrance Hall.                          Automatic gatling guns loaded with chains of glowing bullets                are set up at key points around the area. The gatling guns                are mounted on swiveling robotic bases, able to automatically                turn to face on-coming targets.                          AGENT FEENSTRA (mid-30s) tests the motion sensor on one of                the gatling guns with her hand. The gun swivels accurately to                match the movement of her hand.                          Agent Feenstra nods to the two AGENTS standing behind the                gatling gun. They tinker with its guidance system.                           SCENE 136 OMITTED           1                INT. MINE TUNNEL           37                                                                     137                Carnby and Aline walk carefully down a pitch black tunnel,                illuminated only by their lights.                          Along with them are Commander Burke, and Agents Barr, Cheung                and Marko. They each carry assault rifles with lamps mounted                on them. Their visors are down.                                                                                                              (CONTINUED)                                                                                     73.                CONTINUED:                                                        ALINE                          I've been thinking about something. The                          Abkani prophecy. The shadows that make                          ghosts of men...                                              CARNBY                          Every culture has a story about the end                          of the world.                                              ALINE                          But not every story starts to come true.                          Agent Barr carries a hand-held para-meter. It's picking up                high electromagnetic readings.                                              AGENT BARR                          It's definitely this way, sir.                          They pass by various pieces of mining equipment, long since                discarded. Thick dust and cobwebs hang off the equipment.                          They make their way down the Tunnel.                           SCENES 137A, AND 138 TO 140 OMITTED                            SCENES 141 AND 142 INCORPORATED IN SCENES 134 AND 135                            SCENE 143 NOW SCENE 146B                           INT. TUNNEL CHAMBER          144                                                                    144                The Tunnel ends at a slightly larger, rounded Chamber with                walls of solid rock. They can't go any further. Cobwebs and                thick dust hang everywhere.                          Carnby, Aline, Burke, Barr, Cheung, and Marko emerge out of                the Tunnel into the Chamber.                                              BURKE                          It's a dead end.                          Agent Barr checks his para-meter.                                              AGENT BARR                          Readings are getting stronger.                          Carnby looks around, sensing something. He wipes away some                cobwebs and dust and runs his hand over the Chamber walls.                                              BURKE                          We'll double-back. Take another tunnel.                                                                                                   (CONTINUED)                         CONTINUED:                                                          CARNBY                            Wait. Aline, look at this...                         Aline approaches the spot where Carnby stands. She shines her               flashlight beam in the wiped off area. Faint Abkani symbols               are carved into the wall.                                                ALINE                            They're Abkani.                         The Agents all start wiping away the cobwebs and dust,               examining the walls for more symbols. They all shine their               beams of light through the dark space, searching.                         Cheung finds more Abkani symbols on another wall.                                                AGENT CHEUNG                            There's more over here.                         As Agent Marko moves through the space with his lamp, his               boot hits a small protrusion in the dusty ground. Agent Marko               shines his lamp down on ground. With his boot, he pushes away               the dust on the ground. There's a carving on the floor.                         Agent Barr spots Marko and shines his lamp towards him.                                                AGENT BARR                            What do you got, Marko?                         Agent Marko presses down on the carving with his boot.                         Suddenly, the stone floor beneath Agent Marko crumbles away,               revealing a deep circular Shaft.                         Agent Marko can't hold on and he falls into the Shaft. He               SCREAMS as he falls.                                                AGENT BARR (CONT'D)                            Marko!                    144A INT. SHAFT                                                   144A                         The Shaft drops down sixty feet. Marko falls, unable to stop               his descent.                         The Shaft walls are rough-hewn rock. Small fingers of lichen               grow out of the cracks in the stone. An ancient, fragile               wooden ladder is imbedded directly into the rock wall, its               rungs made of thick, knotted old branches.                                                             INT. SAND CHAMBER          145                                                                     145                The Shaft drops into a round, sand-covered room. Razor-sharp                spikes poke out of the loose sand beneath the Shaft.                          Agent Marko falls directly onto the spikes. He is impaled on                them.          1                INT. TUNNEL CHAMBER           46                                                                     146                The others rush to the lip of the Shaft. They can barely see                the illumination of Marko's flashlight in the depths below.                                              BURKE                          We've got to get down there.                    146A INT. MINE ENTRANCE HALL                                        146A                          Agent Miles surveys the defense position inside the Hall. The                spotlights aren't on yet.                                              AGENT MILES (INTO COMM-LINK)                          Defense perimeter's up. Still waiting for                          the generator to come on-line.                                               URKE (ON THE COMM-LINK)                          We're retrieving Marko. Keep me posted.                          Agent Feenstra checks her rifle, loading in a fresh magazine.                She looks a little nervous, having trouble getting it to fit.                          Miles gently takes the rifle from Feenstra. He SLAMS the                magazine in and checks the rifle. He hands it back.                                              AGENT FEENSTRA                          How long do we have to hold them?                                              AGENT MILES                          Only until dawn.                                              AGENT FEENSTRA                          Sir... that's four hours away.                                                AGENT MILES                          I know.                    146B EXT. MOUNTAIN SIDE - NIGHT               O                                                              146B                 n the side of a mountain rising up over Britannia Mine,                Hudgens and Fischer stand watching the activity below.                                                                                                              (CONTINUED)                                                                                                                             76.                CONTINUED:                                    Jagged bolts of lightning and RUMBLING THUNDER echo around                them. The sound of HISSING comes up around them.                          Suddenly, one by one, creatures start fading into visibility                behind them. More and more creatures appear, fading visible,                until there are dozens of xenomorph creatures stretching down                the mountain-side.                          Hudgens looks back at his creature army. He lets an evil                smile slip across his face.                          All at once, the creatures start leaping down the                mountainside. As they run, they all start fading invisible.                          INT. MINE ENTRANCE HALL          147                                                                       147                Dozens of Agents in full combat gear are in position. They                are armed, tense, and ready.                          Suddenly, the scanner on Agent Miles' rifle starts to BEEP.                At first, the BEEPS are spread apart. Then the BEEPS sound in                rapid succession, faster and faster.                                                   AGENT MILES                             Incoming!                          INT. MINE ENTRANCE HALL/GENERATOR PLATFORM          148                                                                       148                Agent Miles runs up to Agent Turner. He is still tinkering                with the generator. The spotlights are still off.                                                 AGENT MILES                             Where the hell are the lights?                                                 AGENT TURNER                             The generator's not coming on-line. They                             must be disrupting it.                          INT. SHAFT          149                                                                       149                Burke, and Agents Barr and Cheung lower themselves down the                Shaft on zip-lines. They descend quickly and smoothly.                          Carnby and Aline have to take the long way down. They                carefully climb down the rungs of the ancient wooden ladder                built into the Shaft.                          Carnby steps down on a weak rung and it starts to give way.                When Aline steps down on it moments later, it breaks.                           line starts to fall, but Carnby is there to catch her.                                                                                                      (CONTINUED)                                                                                                                              77.                CONTINUED:                                    As Burke descends, he speaks into his comm-link.                                                AGENT MILES (ON THE COMM-LINK)                            We've got incoming! What are your orders?                                                BURKE (INTO COMM-LINK)                            Hold tight, Miles. Once we retrieve Marko                            we're coming back up. Whatever's down                            here is going to have to wait.                          There is a LOW RUMBLING sound above them.                    149A INT. TUNNEL CHAMBER                                            149A                          Small rock fragments shower down into the open mouth of the                Shaft. There's a CREAKING sound.                          The collapsed floor has triggered a trap.                          In the ceiling directly above the Shaft, a heavy, round stone                column suddenly breaks loose. More rock fragments rain down                into the Shaft.          1                     49B INT. SHAFT                                                     149B                          Everyone presses against the Shaft walls to avoid the falling                rocks.                          The stone column drops into the Shaft with a thunderous                CRASH. It fits perfectly.                          The column starts sliding down the Shaft towards them.                            SCENES 150 AND 151 INCORPORATED INTO SCENE 149                           EXT. MINE          152                                                                     152                In the distance, a bright flash goes off. Then another. And                another. The flashes light up the landscape. The inhuman                SQUEALS of the creatures can be heard in the distance.                          The helicopters all take off, hovering up into the air above                the Mine.                    152A INT. MINE ENTRANCE HALL                                        152A                          Agent Miles and the Agents in position watch the horizon.                Dozens of flashes go off in the distance.                                                AGENT MILES (INTO COMM-LINK)                            They've hit the outer perimeter.                                                                                                    (CONTINUED)                                                                                                                            78.                CONTINUED:                                    Miles' scanner is reading off the scale. It BEEPS at a                frenetic pace, registering dozens of approaching creatures.                                                  KRASH (ON THE COMM-LINK)                             Electromagnetics around the mine are off                             the scale.                          Krash's voice starts to DISTORT with STATIC.                                                 AGENT MILES (INTO COMM-LINK)                             Krash? Report! Krash?                          But the comm-link is now only giving off STATIC.          1                INT. SHAFT           53                                                                       153                The friction from the Shaft walls is the only thing slowing                the stone column's relentless descent down the Shaft.                          The weight of the column crumples the ladder as it falls.                          As Carnby and Aline try to climb down the ladder, it is                getting more and more rickety and unsteady.                          Burke and Barr are almost at the bottom of the Shaft.                          Cheung is having problems with her zip-line. It keeps                jamming, slowing her descent.                    153A INT. SAND CHAMBER                                                153A                          The floor is covered in a thick layer of fine sand.                          Burke lands safely. Barr lands next to him.                          They quickly detach their zip-lines and pull Marko's body off                the spikes.                     53B INT. SHAFT                                                       153B                          The stone column is almost at Aline and Carnby. The ladder is                being ripped apart by the column. They are out of time.                          Carnby grabs hold of Burke's and Barr's zip-lines, which now                hang loose down the Shaft.                                                 CARNBY                             Aline!                          Aline throws her arms around Carnby's neck.                                                                                                                (CONTINUED)                                                  CONTINUED:                                    Carnby releases his tight grip on the zip-lines. Together,                Carnby and Aline slide down the zip-lines.                          Carnby and Aline slide past Agent Cheung. She is still                hovering on her jammed zip-line. But they are going too fast                to stop.          1                     53C INT. SAND CHAMBER                                             153C                          Burke trains his rifle on the spikes. He OPENS FIRE,                SHATTERING THE SPIKES. They crumble, no longer dangerous.                          Carnby and Aline drop down out of the Shaft. Carnby lets go                of the zip-lines and they fall to the sand by the spikes,                rolling to safety.                          Burke looks up the Shaft. He sees Cheung hovering above, the                stone column almost at her.                                                BURKE                            Cheung! Cut the line!                    153D INT. SHAFT                                                    153D                          The column continues to drop. It's right above Cheung.                          Cheung pulls out a knife and cuts the zip-line cord. She                drops down the rest of the way.                          INT. SAND CHAMBER          154                                                                    154                As Agent Cheung lands, she breaks her ankle from the impact.                She SCREAMS in pain.                          Burke hauls Cheung out of the way at the last second.                            he column drops to the ground with a CRASH, totally sealing                off the Shaft. There's no way back up.                T                 he Sand Chamber is pitch black. The only light comes from                their lamps and flashlights.                          Barr wraps up Cheung's broken ankle.                           line inspects the Abkani symbols carved into the walls of.                She lays her rifle against the wall as she reads them.                          Large, rough statues depicting the xenomorph creatures have                been carved directly into the rock walls of the chamber.                          One wall is covered, floor to ceiling, with human skulls.                                                                                                   (CONTINUED)                                   CONTINUED:                                   Carnby approaches Aline in front of the Abkani symbols.                                             ALINE                         It's a warning.                         Carnby looks at the wall of human skulls.                                              CARNBY                         Subtle.                                             ALINE                         The gist of it is, even if you make it                         down here alive, you're already dead.                         Burke barks into his comm-link.                                             BURKE (INTO COMM-LINK)                         Krash, I need another exit. Can you run a                         sonar pulse at this depth?                         Beat. No response.                                             BURKE (INTO COMM-LINK) (CONT'D)                         Krash? Are you reading me? Miles?                                             AGENT MILES (ON THE COMM-LINK)                         Can't get through to Krash either. Too                         much interference.                                              URKE (INTO COMM-LINK)                         Use the second perimeter as your firing                         mark. I'll be there as soon as I find a                         way out.                         In the sand near Barr and Cheung, something moves.                     54A INT. MINE ENTRANCE HALL                                      154A                         Agent Miles and the other Agents watch the perimeter.                                             AGENT MILES                         Hold your fire until they're at the                         second perimeter.                         The flash-mine detonations are now much closer.                                              AGENT MILES (CONT'D)                         Fire!                         The Agents OPEN FIRE, letting loose a barrage of glowing               bullets. Streaks of light fill the night.                                                                                      80A.                                              EXT. MINE          155                                                                 155                The THUNDERING GUNFIRE of the rotating gatling guns fills the                air. Thousands of glowing bullets streak through the night.                          The hovering helicopters open FIRE with their side-mounted                gatling guns.                          The on-rushing creatures SQUEAL and flash visible as the                gatling guns cut into them with waves of glowing bullets.                                                                                                          (CONTINUED)                                                                                                           81.                CONTINUED:                                    But Agent Miles' scanner continues to BEEP frenetically. More                and more creatures continue to rush towards them.                          The automatic, ground-mounted gatling guns start running out                of ammunition. The sound of GUNFIRE is replaced by the HIGH-                PITCHED WHINE of the turbines rotating without bullets.                          The helicopters continue to lay down suppressing FIRE, but                they are also running out of ammo.                    155A INT. MINE ENTRANCE HALL                                       155A                          Agent Miles and the other Agents in the Hall continue to FIRE                away into the night.                                              HELICOPTER PILOT (ON THE COMM-LINK)                          Ammo running low! How many of these                          goddamn things are there?                          Agent Miles' scanner registers that waves of the creatures                are still quickly approaching them.                          INT. SAND CHAMBER          156                                                                    156                Cheung tests her injured ankle. She can walk with a limp.                          Something moves through the sand towards Aline. Carnby looks                over at the last moment.                                              CARNBY                          Aline!                          With a loud SQUEAL, a SAND WORM bursts out of the sand in                front of Aline. At the end of its elongated body, a pair of                snapping jaws fold out, lined with razor-sharp teeth.                          Aline scrambles back and falls down. Her rifle is out of                reach.                          Another sand worm bursts out of the sand, diving for Carnby.                But he is quick on the draw. He SHOOTS the sand worm before                it can bite him. The bullets BLOW APART the sand worm's head.                          The sand on the Chamber floor comes alive with movement as                sand worms burrow towards them.                          Agents Barr and Cheung OPEN FIRE on the sand worms.                Aline fumbles for her flashlight, shining it at the sand                worm. It recoils from the light and HISSES at her. The sand                worm's jaws fold open, revealing its razor-sharp teeth.                                                                                                  (CONTINUED)                                                                                   82.               CONTINUED:                                   The sand worm tries to dodge the light. It snaps at Aline               with its jaws and lunges at her.                         She grabs it by the torso, just under the snapping jaws. The               sand worm struggles, trying to bite Aline. She can barely               hold it away from her. Her grip starts to loosen.                         The sand worm's snapping jaws are almost at Aline's face. She               strains to hold it away.                         With the sound of a GUNSHOT, the sand worm's head explodes.               It flops to one side, dead.                         Carnby stands behind it, his gun smoking from the shot.                         A sand worm bursts out and chomps down on Cheung's bad foot.               She SCREAMS.                         Barr SHOOTS the worm that bit Cheung. Cheung falls back, her               body seizing up from its poisonous bite.                         Cheung's body contorts. Barr grabs her as Cheung's head reels               back and her body goes limp. She's dead.                         Burke turns, his face grim. He OPENS FIRE on the sand worms.               With precision and intensity, he FIRES controlled bursts at               any movement under the sand.                         Carnby FIRES along with him. After a few seconds, the               movement has stopped.                         Aline, Carnby, Burke, and Barr stand together. They look down               at Cheung's body.                         Over the comm-link, Burke can hear the sounds of the BATTLE               going on up above them.                                             BURKE                         We've got to get up there.                    156A INT. MINE ENTRANCE HALL                                      156A               The Agents FIRE streaks of glowing bullets into the night.               Flash-mines EXPLODE close by.                         A creature leaps out at Agent Miles. He spins and opens FIRE.               The creature flashes visible as Miles riddles it with               bullets. The creature flails around, dying.                         Creatures start leaping out at the Agents, jumping over the               Humvee barricades and slashing at Agents with their claws.               The Agents STRAFE every creature they see.                                                                                       (CONTINUED)                                                                                                                                83.                CONTINUED:                                    A creature jumps on an Agent's back and tears at him. Another                creature pounces on an Agent, ripping him open.                          Dozens of creatures stream into the Hall. The Agents lay down                steady streams of fire, their glowing bullets streaking                through the night.          1                     57                                                                      157                INT. MINE ENTRANCE HALL/GENERATOR PLATFORM                          GUNFIRE echoes through the Hall.                           parks fly out around the generator as Agent Turner holds an                electrical torch to a component. Sweat drips from his                forehead. He wipes his eyes clear as he works.                          Agent Turner tests to see that his electrical work is secure.                An Agent stand with him, ready to switch on the generator.                                                  GENT TURNER                          Hit it.                          The Agent switches on the generator. It HUMS to life.                           he dark Hall is filled with blazing light from the battery                of spotlights set up around the Entrance Hall.                          INT. MINE ENTRANCE HALL          158                                                                      158                The creatures HISS and recoil from the spotlight beams. Some                begin smoldering under the glare.                          Creatures take cover in the shadows behind old pieces of                mining equipment. Most race away from the light into the                darkness outside the Mine.                          The Agents continue to SHOOT into the night, BLOWING away the                retreating creatures.                                              AGENT MILES (INTO COMM-LINK)                          They're turning back!                T                 here's a moment of quiet. The Agents slump back, relieved.                The creatures are all gone.                                               HELICOPTER PILOT (ON THE COMM-LINK)                          We've got to refuel and reload. We'll be                          back ASAP.                                                 AGENT MILES (INTO COMM-LINK)                          Confirmed.                                                                                                               (CONTINUED)                                                                                                           84.                CONTINUED:                                    The helicopters pull away, flying up over the mountains and                past the horizon.                          Agent Feenstra turns to Agent Miles.                                              AGENT FEENSTRA                          We made it, sir.                          Miles and Feenstra exchange a look of relief.                    159                                                                   159                INT. MINE ENTRANCE HALL/GENERATOR PLATFORM                          Fischer appears at the end of the Platform.                          Fischer approaches Agent Turner and the other Agent standing                at the generator. His demeanor is now totally different. He                is cold, menacing.                A                 gent Turner turns to see Fischer approaching.                                               AGENT TURNER                          Fischer?                          In a quick motion, Fischer grabs Agent Turner by the throat                and hurls him out of the way.                          The other Agent FIRES on Fischer with her weapon. Fischer                takes a bullet in the shoulder. It doesn't stop him.                          Fischer lunges for the Agent. He knocks her back and grabs                her face. Fischer snaps the Agent's neck, killing her.                          Agent Turner runs towards Fischer, FIRING a sustained BURST                of automatic GUNFIRE. Agent Turner's bullets rip into him,                but Fischer keep coming.                          Fischer lunges at Turner, grabbing him and SLAMMING him                against the generator. Fischer SMASHES Turner in the face,                almost knocking him out.                          Fischer tears open Turner's combat vest. Four grenades hang                from the vest.                           ne by one, Fischer pulls the pins out of the four grenades.                          Turner starts to regain consciousness just in time to see                this. His eyes go wide in fear.                          Fischer hold Turner against the generator. Fischer is too                strong for Turner to get away.                                                                                                            (CONTINUED)                                                                                                            85.                CONTINUED:                                    The grenades all EXPLODE. Fischer and Turner are instantly                killed.                          The explosion ignites the generator. It EXPLODES in a                crescendo of flame and sparks.                           he lights go out. There is now no protection from the                creatures.                    159A INT. MINE ENTRANCE HALL                                       159A                The spotlights are extinguished. Agent Miles and the                remaining Agents turn on their rifle-mounted lamps.                          Miles' scanner registers dozens of signals approaching.                A                 gent Miles OPENS FIRE, sending a stream of glowing bullets                at the approaching creatures.                          GUNFIRE rings out all around. Glowing bullets streak through                the dark night in all directions. Nearby, an Agent SCREAMS.                          The 713 defenses have become chaotic, uncontrolled. Glowing                bullets fly everywhere. The SQUEALS of injured creatures                mingle with the SCREAMS of dying Agents. The constant RATTLE                of automatic GUNFIRE fills the night.                          INT. SAND CHAMBER          160                                                                    160                 arr and Carnby lay Cheung and Marko's bodies to one side of                the Chamber, their faces covered with their vests.                          Burke paces back and forth, screaming into his comm-link.                                              BURKE (INTO COMM-LINK)                          Miles! Re-route those `copters! Pull all                          agents back into the mine! Set formation                          in teams of three! Miles!                          But all that he can hear through the comm-link is GUNFIRE and                the occasional SCREAM.                                              BURKE (CONT'D)                          Goddamn it!                          Carnby approaches Burke carefully. Burke looks furious.                                     C                                    CARNBY                          We'll find a way out.                                                                                                             (CONTINUED)                                                                                                            86.                CONTINUED:                                    Burke signals to Barr. They sweep through the Sand Chamber,                exploring it with their lamps.                          Carnby approaches Aline. She is standing over one of the sand                worm corpses. Its head has been blown off, but its torso is                intact. Carnby turns the sand worm's body over with his boot.                                              CARNBY (CONT'D)                          It's just like the organism Fischer took                          out of Pinkerton.                                              ALINE                          Maybe this is what they look like when                          they grow outside a human host?                          Burke stops at a dark recess carved into the Sand Chamber.                The recess is thick with cobwebs and dust.                          Burke cleans the cobwebs away. He stops, surprised at what he                sees in the recess behind the cobwebs.                                              BURKE                          I think you'd better see this.                          INT. MINE ENTRANCE HALL          161   A                                                                161                 gents Miles, Agent Feenstra, and two other AGENTS, are                barricaded behind pieces of mining machinery. They SHOOT                streams of glowing bullets across the dark Entrance Hall.                          Suddenly, an invisible creature grabs the first Agent from                behind a rusty piece of machinery. The creature throws the                Agent into the air. He lands heavily, stunned.                          Before the Agent can get to his feet, three invisible                creatures pounce, tearing him to shreds.                           rom behind his position, Miles SHOOTS at the creatures with                glowing bullets, scattering them.                          The second Agent stands behind a piece of machinery, tense,                rifle ready. She hears a WHOOSH of movement nearby. She                turns, but can't see anything.                          She hears a SHUFFLING sound above her. She looks up. The                creature is above her, on top of the machinery.                          The Agent tries to SHOOT, but the creature's tail SNAPS at                her, impaling her with its tail-spike.                          Agent Miles and Agent Feenstra SHOOT at the creature with                precise BURSTS of glowing bullets.                                                                                         (CONTINUED)                                                                                                            87.                CONTINUED:                                    The creature leaps at them. Miles and Feenstra hold their                positions, RIDDLING the creature with glowing bullets.                          A creature leaps out at Feenstra. She hears the WHOOSH of                movement at the last moment and swivels, FIRING in the                direction of the creature.                           ut she's SLAMMED off her feet. Feenstra gets a deep GASH in                her thigh from the creature's spiked tail.                                                AGENT MILES                          Feenstra!                          The creature pounces. But Feenstra is fast enough. She BLOWS                AWAY the creature with a BURST of glowing bullets.                           SCENE 116A OMITTED                           INT. SAND CHAMBER          162                                                                   162                Aline, Carnby, Burke, and Barr stand in front of the dark                recess in the Sand Chamber. The recess is completely sealed                up by a solid concrete wall.                A                 line comes up to the concrete wall, running her hands along                its flat surface. It is obviously not Abkani.                                              ALINE                          The Abkani didn't put this here.                          Agent Barr shines his light across the concrete wall.                                               GENT BARR                          There's no way through.                                              BURKE                          There's always a way...                          Burke opens his pack. Inside it are several packages of C-4                explosive.                          INT. MINE ENTRANCE HALL          163                                                                    163                                    Agent Miles and Agent Feenstra are barricaded behind an old                mining vehicle. The bodies of dead Agents lie around them.                          Agent Feenstra bleeds from the wound in her thigh. The lights                on their rifles are the only lights in the Hall.                          An invisible creature jumps out at them, knocking debris out                of the way as it charges.                                                                                                  (CONTINUED)                                                                                        88.          CONTINUED:                              Agent Miles rolls away at the last second as the creature          SLAMS into the old mining vehicle.                    Agent Feenstra spins around and EMPTIES her last clip into          the creature, killing it.                                          AGENT FEENSTRA                    I'm out.                                          AGENT MILES                    Last one.                    Miles throws Feenstra a magazine. Feenstra loads it in.                    Miles tries to get a signal on his comm-link. But it just          gives out STATIC.                                        AGENT MILES (CONT'D)                    Commander? Krash? Anyone?                    Agent Miles pulls off his comm-link.                                        AGENT FEENSTRA                    I can't walk. If I lay down suppressing                    fire, maybe you can make it out of here.                                        AGENT MILES                    I die fighting or I don't die at all.                    Agent Miles OPENS FIRE into the night. His bullets glow as          they streak through the air. Feenstra picks herself up and          OPENS FIRE alongside him.                    Creatures SQUEAL in the distance as the bullets find their          marks. Feenstra empties out her last magazine.                    An invisible creature leaps over the barricade and pounces on          Feenstra, tearing into her.                    Miles SHOOTS at the creature, emptying his last magazine. But          he's too late to save Feenstra. Her torn-up body slumps          against their barricade                    Agent Miles is alone. He is out of ammunition. He pulls the          trigger futilely. Miles stands firm. He flips up his visor.                    Miles closes his eyes. He is hoisted into the air by an          invisible creature and thrown to the ground. Invisible          creatures tear him apart.                                                                     INT. SAND CHAMBER          164                                                                      164                Carnby, Aline, Barr, and Burke take cover behind the stone                column. Burke holds a remote detonator. It is active.                          Burke tries to get a signal on his comm-link. But all he gets                is STATIC. Looking grim, Burke prepares to press the button                on the detonator.                                                 ALINE                             You sure this is going to work?                          Burke shrugs and presses the button. The detonator counts                down: 3... 2... 1...                          A tremendous EXPLOSION rocks the Sand Chamber. Sand whirls                through the air. Concrete fragments blow out from the recess.                          As the smoke clears, Carnby, Aline, Burke, and Barr approach                the recess. The concrete wall has been blown open. Smoke                rises up off the ruined wall.                          The Sand Chamber now opens up into another dark room.                                  SCENES 166 TO 169 OMITTED                           INT. UNDERGROUND LAB          170                                                                      170                Carnby, Aline, Barr, and Burke step over the rubble of the                concrete wall. They shine their lights around the dark room.                          They are in a large abandoned Bureau 713 Lab. Thick dust                covers all surfaces. But it was once a high-tech facility.                          On one side of the Lab is a sliding metal door.                                                 ALINE                             What is this place?                          Medical equipment, scientific instruments, and computers have                been left as they were, untouched for two decades.                          A series of glass tubes are lined up along one wall. In each                tube, a spinal-worm lies dead, floating in gelatinous liquid                          Aline checks out a series of diagrams affixed to another                wall. They are anatomical schematics for the spinal-worms.                There are also diagrams of the human body with markings                isolating key areas of the spinal cord.                          Carnby stands in front of a row of twenty clear glass basins,                each about the size of a child.                                                                                           (CONTINUED)                                                                                                                                                                                                   90.          CONTINUED:                    Each basin has a small metal tag on it. Carnby wipes the          layer of dust off one of the metal tags.                    The tag reads: E. CARNBY.                                                                                                                    CARNBY                    This is where it happened.                                                                                                                              Aline steps up next to Carnby.                                        ALINE                                                                                                Who did this to you?                    Burke and Barr continue to explore the room with their rifle-                                                                                           mounted lamps. Barr finds a pair of huge metal hangar doors.                                        AGENT BARR                    Commander...                    Carnby, Burke, and Aline approach Barr at the hangar doors.                    Next to the hangar doors is a control panel. Barr pulls the          front off the control panel, revealing a rusted hand-crank.                    Barr pulls on the hand-crank. It won't give. Carnby joins him          and, together, they strain to move the hand-crank. The hand-          crank CLANKS into the open position.                    An old mechanism is engaged. The hangar doors slide open,          revealing another doorway behind them. But this one is          clearly not part of the Lab.                    It is an ancient, solid gold door, carved with Abkani          symbols. The gold door is built into a wall of rough rock. It          looks like the Lab was built right around the gold door.                    In the center of the door is a small cylindrical opening.          A           line uses her flashlight to read the symbols on the door.          One symbol is prominent among the others: the DARK SPIRIT.                                        ALINE                    Edward, look...                                                                                                      (CONTINUED)                                                          CONTINUED: (2)                              Aline reaches into her pack and takes out the Abkani device.          It is the exact size of the cylindrical opening in the door.          The same DARK SPIRIT pictogram is engraved on the lynchpin.                                        CARNBY                    So it's a key.                                                                                                 Burke surveys the room with a grim expression.                                        BURKE                                                                                                 I say we got two options. One, we open                    this door, deal with whatever's on the                                       other side.                                                                            ALINE                    The pictograms carved here make it pretty                    clear that's a bad idea.                                        BURKE                    Two, we set enough C-4 to bury this                                          place. Keep whatever's in there, down                                        here for good.                    Carnby stares at the gold door.                                        CARNBY                    The answers I've been looking for my                    whole life could be in there.                                        ALINE                    Some doors are locked for a reason.                    Carnby looks away from the gold door.                                                                      CARNBY                    Barr... how much C-4 you got left?                    Barr pulls open his pack, revealing several packages of C-4.                                        AGENT BARR                    Enough to blow this place to...                    Barr is cut off by a bullet hitting him in the head.                    Blood spurts out as Barr collapses to the ground, dead.                    Hudgens stands behind them, carrying two pistols.                                                                                                       (CONTINUED)                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     92.          CONTINUED: (3)                                                  HUDGENS                    I'm afraid I can't allow that.                    Before they can react, Hudgens presses a pistol to Aline's          throat. He points the other pistol at Burke and Carnby.                                        HUDGENS (CONT'D)                    Now drop your weapons and back away.                    Carnby and Burke drop their guns and step back. Carnby glares                                                                                                 at Hudgens.                                        CARNBY                                                                                                                                              It was 713.                                        HUDGENS                    Our early work was crude, I admit. But                                         eventually we perfected the implant                                            process. You were our last failure,                                            Carnby. If you hadn't escaped, 713 never                    would've shut down the experiments.                                  Burke's eyes flash with anger.                                        BURKE                                                                There's no way this was sanctioned.                                                      HUDGENS                                                              Before your kind took over, 713 had very                                       different... priorities. Now, you just                                         blaze in and destroy everything before we                                      can learn to control it. I've wasted                                           twenty years working in secret because of                                      short-sighted men like you.                                          Hudgens sees the Abkani device Aline is holding.                                        HUDGENS (CONT'D)                    There it is...                                                       Aline's expression is firm, unafraid. She grips the device          tightly. Hudgens is about to pull the trigger.                                        HUDGENS (CONT'D)                    You were a fine archeologist.                                         CARNBY                    Aline...                    Hudgens turns to Carnby, curious.                                                                                                         (CONTINUED)                                                                              93.          CONTINUED: (4)                                                  CARNBY (CONT'D)                    Give him the key. Enough people have died                    today.                    Aline sees Carnby is serious. She holds out the device to          Hudgens.                                        HUDGENS                    You couldn't have opened it anyway. Not                    without this...                    Hudgens takes out the hollow cylinder artifact he found on          the Erebus. He hands it to Aline.                    Aline inserts the artifact into the hollow circular space at          the bottom of the device, turning it into place. The device          is now a full cylinder with a flat protrusion on the bottom.                    With one pistol pointed at Burke and Carnby and the other at          Aline, Hudgens directs her to the gold door.                                        HUDGENS (CONT'D)                    Insert the key.          A           line inserts the device into the opening in the door.                                        HUDGENS (CONT'D)                    Now turn it.                    Aline rotates the device, using the flat protrusion on the          bottom. It CLICKS into place.                    A small crack splinters away from the opening where the          device sits. The crack splits off into several other cracks.                    Hudgens points his pistols at the others, but his attention          is clearly directed at the gold door.                                        HUDGENS (CONT'D)                    When we found the first of them, 713 saw                                    just another threat to be eliminated. But                    I knew it was something more. It was the                                    first. The first to wake. I've woken                                        others since then. But the rest are                    coming...                    As Hudgens speaks, Carnby, Burke, and Aline exchange a look          between them. Carnby's eyes indicate the C-4 in Agent Barr's          pack. Burke and Aline understand.                                                                                                      (CONTINUED)                                                                                                                    94.               CONTINUED: (5)                                   The cracks splinter out, dividing, until they cover the               entire door. In a rush of fragments, the cracked gold               crumbles to the ground.                          he empty doorway now leads into darkness on the other side.                          SCENES 170A, 171, 172, AND 173 OMITTED                           SCENES 170B TO 170D NOW SCENES 119H TO 119J                     1     SCENE 174 INCORPORATED INTO SCENE 170                      74A INT. CAVE                                                   174A               Hudgens steps through the doorway.                         The doorway opens up into a vast Cave, hundreds of feet high               and wide, stretching off into darkness. The cave walls are               rough-hewn rock, untouched by human hands.                         The walls of the Cave are marked with hundreds and hundreds               of tunnels, pocking the rock like a hive, leading off into               the depths of the mountain.                         Hudgens moves into the Cave, tentative, but excited.                         Suddenly, there's a SCRATCHING, SCURRYING sound.                         A xenomorph creature emerges out of one of the tunnels.                         Out of another tunnel comes a second xenomorph. And a third.                         Across the vast cave, dozens of xenomorphs creep out of               individual tunnels.                         Hudgens steps further into the Cave. The xenomorphs approach               him, their heads darting about.                         The xenomorphs surround Hudgens on all sides. His steps are               careful. He reaches his hand out to one of the creatures.               T                he creature moves up to Hudgens' hand, smelling it.                         The creature lunges at him, ripping into him with its teeth.                         The other xenomorphs surrounding Hudgens pounce on him as               well. The creatures tear Hudgens apart.                         Like a dam breaking, hundreds of xenomorphs start streaming               out of the hive-like tunnel system of the Cave.                         Standing in the doorway, Aline sees the creatures coming.                                                                                                                            95.                                        174B INT. UNDERGROUND LAB                                             174B                Carnby shoves the hand-crank into the closed position.                          The hangar doors in front of the Abkani doorway start to                close. Aline backs away from the doorway.                          Aline OPENS FIRE with an assault rifle. The glowing bullets                streak into the dark Cave, hitting several of the approaching                creatures. But there are too many of them. They keep coming.                          The hangar doors are almost closed. The xenomorphs are only a                few feet from the doorway.                          The hangar doors SLAM closed just in time.                          A heavy impact THUMPS against the other side of the hangar                doors. Then another. The xenomorphs are trying to get though.                          Burke is positioning C-4 charges around the Lab. He wires                them all through a remote detonator.                                                  LINE                             These doors won't hold them for long                                                 BURKE                             Once we get out, we can remote detonate.                          Carnby approaches the sliding metal door at the side of the                Lab. The dust around the door has been swept back.                                                 CARNBY                             Look at the dust on the floor. This is                             where Hudgens got in.                          Carnby engages the opening mechanism and the door slides                open, revealing a dark Tunnel leading away from it.                          Burke makes sure the remote detonator signal is active. All                he has to do is press the button on the detonator.                          The hangar doors SHAKE from the impacts of creatures slamming                into them.                          INT. UNDERGROUND LAB/TUNNEL                          Carnby, Aline, and Burke run down the long, dark Tunnel,                lighting their way with flashlights.                          A few doors line the Tunnel, but they are all welded shut.                          Carnby spots a dim light up ahead.                                                                                            (CONTINUED)                                                                                                                                  96.                CONTINUED:                                                        CARNBY                          Over there!                          The Tunnel ends at the rungs of a metal ladder built right                into the wall. Aline shines her flashlight up it. A strip of                light is visible way up high, at the top of a long Shaft.                          Aline climbs up the ladder. Carnby climbs up behind her.                          Burke shines his lamp down the dark Tunnel. The CRASHING                sound of impacts against the doors echo down the Tunnel.                          Burke looks at the remote detonator in his hand. The signal                is inactive.                          INT. UNDERGROUND LAB/SHAFT          176                                                                    176                Aline climbs up the rungs of the ladder built into the Shaft                wall. Carnby climbs up after her.                B                 urke stands at the bottom of the Shaft, looking up at them.                Carnby stops climbing and looks down at Burke.                                              BURKE                          The remote detonator's inactive. The                          signal can't get through.                                              CARNBY                          We'll find a way.                                                URKE                          You saved my life, Carnby. I don't much                          like debts.                          Burke ducks back out of the Shaft.                                              CARNBY                          Burke!                          Carnby jumps down to the bottom of the Shaft, chasing after                Burke.                    176A INT. UNDERGROUND LAB/TUNNEL                                   176A                Burke runs up to the sliding door to the Lab. He engages the                opening mechanism. The door slides open.                          Carnby races down the Tunnel towards him.                          Burke enters the Lab. He closes the sliding door behind him.                                                                                                            (CONTINUED)                                                                                                                   97.                CONTINUED:                                    Carnby gets to the sliding door just as it's closing. He                tries to engage the opening mechanism, but it won't work.                Carnby tries to pull it open, but the door's jammed shut.                           line runs up to Carnby as he tries to pry open the door.                                              ALINE                          Edward... if he detonates those charges,                          we're all dead.                          Carnby looks torn. Aline reaches out her hand.                          Carnby takes Aline's hand. They run towards the Shaft.                    176B INT. UNDERGROUND LAB                                          176B                Burke's rifle is jammed into the opening mechanism of the                sliding door, blocking it from engaging.                          The hangar doors are warped from the impacts. The gap between                the doors is being pulled open by dozens of creatures. The                hangar doors start to buckle under the pressure.                           he remote detonator in Burke's hand is now active.                    176C INT. UNDERGROUND LAB/SHAFT                                    176C                Carnby and Aline quickly climb up the ladder. They are almost                at the top of the Shaft.                          The Shaft is sealed with a pair of corrugated metal doors.                Sunlight shines through the thin crack between the doors.                          Carnby points his gun at the metal doors above them.                                  SCENES 177, 178, 179, 179A, AND 180 OMITTED                           EXT. ORPHANAGE - DAWN          181                                                                  181                A small Storm Cellar is built into a corner of the                Orphanage's front lawn. The corrugated metal doors are locked                from the outside with a chain and rusty padlock.                          A BURST of GUNFIRE blows out from inside the Storm Cellar,                breaking open the padlock. The doors are thrown open.                           he sun rises on the horizon.                           SCENES 181A, 181AA, 181AB, AND 181B OMITTED                            SCENES 181C, 181CC, AND 181D OMITTED                                                                                                                                    98.                                        181E INT. UNDERGROUND LAB/TUNNEL                                  181E               Burke looks around the abandoned 713 lab.                         The creatures are almost through the hangar doors. The gap is               just wide enough for one creature to stick its head through.               It SNAPS its jaws at Burke.                         Burke presses the button on the detonator. The detonator               counts down: 3... 2... 1...                    181F INT. UNDERGROUND LAB/SHAFT                                   181F               A tremendous EXPLOSION rocks the Shaft. A swirling geyser of               flame shoots up towards the top of the Shaft.                    181G EXT. ORPHANAGE - DAWN                                        181G               Carnby and Aline dive out of the Shaft just in time. The               geyser of flame erupts out of the Storm Cellar.                         The shock-wave knocks them to the ground. A cloud of dust               swirls up out of the Shaft.                    181H EXT. MINE   - DAY                                            181H               The Mine shakes from the explosion. Great clouds of dust and               rock fragments billow out of the Entrance Hall.               T                he whole mountain RUMBLES from the detonation.                    181J EXT. ORPHANAGE                                               181J               Aline and Carnby get to their feet outside the Storm Cellar.               Smoke pours out of the Shaft.                         But as he sees where he really is, Carnby is stunned. He               stares up at the Orphanage.                                               CARNBY                           They were under us the whole time.                    181K INT. ORPHANAGE/DEN                                           181K               Carnby and Aline walk through the Orphanage. It is clean,               well-maintained. But no one is there. The Orphanage is empty.                                               ALINE                           Where are all the children?                         The door to the Children's Room is ajar. Carnby opens the               door.                                                                                                                          99.                                        181L INT. ORPHANAGE/CHILDREN'S ROOM                                  181L                          Carnby and Aline stand at the doorway.                          Sister Clara lies dead on one of the children's beds. The                blankets and sheets are soaked with blood.                          A bloody gash has been sliced up each of Sister Clara's arms.                A blood-stained straight-razor sits on the bedside table.                          A crumpled piece of paper is clutched in one of Sister                Clara's hands. Carnby takes the paper and uncrumples it.                          The notes reads: "FORGIVE ME, EDWARD."                    181M EXT. ORPHANAGE - DAY                                            181M                          Aline and Carnby step out of the Orphanage. Carnby looks                around, troubled. No one is visible outside the Orphanage.                                                 CARNBY                             Something's very wrong...                           SCENES 182, 183, 183A OMITTED                           EXT. STREET - DAY          184                                                                      184                Carnby and Aline walk along a deserted street. The sun rises                above them. It's a beautiful day.                          Shops look ready to open. Cars are parked along the streets.                But no one is driving. The neighborhood is empty.                            SCENES 185, 186, AND 187 OMITTED                           EXT. DOWNTOWN STREET - DAY                          Carnby and Aline walk down a wide street in the middle of the                city's downtown core. No one is visible anywhere.                                                 ALINE                             Edward... what's going on?                          Carnby looks ashen. They stand in the middle of a downtown                intersection, empty streets stretching out in all directions.                                                 CARNBY                             Remember what Hudgens said? I was his                             last failure. He said he perfected the                             implant process.                                                                                                               (CONTINUED)                                                            ALINE                    It can't be...                                        CARNBY                    Then where the hell is everybody? Where's                    everybody gone?                    We look down at Carnby and Aline, alone in the intersection,          empty streets all around them. We start to float up above          them, getting a wider and wider bird's eye view of the city.                    We swoop up higher above them, but still, no one is visible          anywhere in the city. We float up until the entire city          stretches out below us. Nothing moves. No one can be seen.                                        CARNBY (V.O.) (CONT'D)                    Here's what I know. There are two worlds                    on this planet. A world of light and a                    world of darkness. For millions of years,                    these worlds were in balance. But now,                    the lights of human civilization burn                    everywhere. The dark places are                    disappearing. We forced them to come out                    of the shadows. Now, it's my job to force                    them back in. My name is Edward Carnby.                    I'm here to protect you from things you                    don't believe in.                    We start to drop back down, faster and faster, the ground          rushing towards us. We are descending directly above Carnby          and Aline, standing alone in the empty intersection.                    We swoop down right in front of Carnby. His trench-coat blows          in the wind. Aline stands next to him, ready.                    Carnby reloads his revolver.                                         CARNBY (CONT'D)                    Aline...                                        ALINE                    Yes Edward?                                        CARNBY                    It's going to be a busy day.                    The sun shines down above them, illuminating the deserted          city streets. Carnby's expression is determined.                     SCENES 189 AND 190 OMITTED                                                                           FADE OUT.                    
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+"AMADEUS" by Peter Shaffer Final Draft INT. STAIRCASE OUTSIDE OLD SALIERI'S SALON - NIGHT - 1823 Total darkness. We hear an old man's voice, distinct and in distress. It is OLD SALIERI. He uses a mixture of English and occasionally Italian. OLD SALIERI Mozart! Mozart! Mozart. Forgive me! Forgive your assassin! Mozart! A faint light illuminates the screen. Flickeringly, we see an eighteenth century balustrade and a flight of stone stairs. We are looking down into the wall of the staircase from the point of view of the landing. Up the stair is coming a branched candlestick held by Salieri's VALET. By his side is Salieri's COOK, bearing a large dish of sugared cakes and biscuits. Both men are desperately worried: the Valet is thin and middle-aged; the Cook, plump and Italian. It is very cold. They wear shawls over their night-dresses and clogs on their feet. They wheeze as they climb. The candles throw their shadows up onto the peeling walls of the house, which is evidently an old one and in bad decay. A cat scuttles swiftly between their bare legs, as they reach the salon door. The Valet tries the handle. It is locked. Behind it the voice goes on, rising in volume. OLD SALIERI Show some mercy! I beg you. I beg you! Show mercy to a guilty man! The Valet knocks gently on the door. The voice stops. VALET Open the door, Signore! Please! Be good now! We've brought you something special. Something you're going to love. Silence. VALET Signore Salieri! Open the door. Come now. Be good! The voice of Old Salieri continues again, further off now, and louder. We hear a noise as if a window is being opened. OLD SALIERI Mozart! Mozart! I confess it! Listen! I confess! The two servants look at each other in alarm. Then the Valet hands the candlestick to the Cook and takes a sugared cake from the dish, scrambling as quickly as he can back down the stairs. EXT. THE STREET OUTSIDE SALIERI'S HOUSE - VIENNA - NIGHT The street is filled with people: ten cabs with drivers, five children, fifteen adults, two doormen, fifteen dancing couples and a sled and three dogs. It is a windy night. Snow is falling and whirling about. People are passing on foot, holding their cloaks tightly around them. Some of them are revelers in fancy dress: they wear masks on their faces or hanging around their necks, as if returning from parties. Now they are glancing up at the facade of the old house. The window above the street is open and Old Salieri stands there calling to the sky: a sharp-featured, white-haired Italian over seventy years old, wearing a stained dressing gown. OLD SALIERI Mozart! Mozart! I cannot bear it any longer! I confess! I confess what I did! I'm guilty! I killed you! Sir I confess! I killed you! The door of the house bursts open. The Valet hobbles out, holding the sugared cake. The wind catches at his shawl. OLD SALIERI Mozart, perdonami! Forgive your assassin! Pietˆ! Pietˆ! Forgive your assassin! Forgive me! Forgive! Forgive! VALET (looking up to the window) That's all right, Signore! He heard you! He forgave you! He wants you to go inside now and shut the window! Old Salieri stares down at him. Some of the passersby have now stopped and are watching this spectacle. VALET Come on, Signore! Look what I have for you! I can't give it to you from down here, can I? Old Salieri looks at him in contempt. Then he turns away back into the room, shutting the window with a bang. Through the glass, the old man stares down at the group of onlookers in the street. They stare back at him in confusion. BYSTANDER Who is that? VALET No one, sir. He'll be all right. Poor man. He's a little unhappy, you know. He makes a sign indicating 'crazy,' and goes back inside the house. The onlookers keep staring. CUT TO: INT. LANDING OUTSIDE OLD SALIERI'S SALON - NIGHT The Cook is standing holding the candlestick in one hand, the dish of cakes in the other. The Valet arrives, panting. VALET Did he open? The Cook, scared, shakes his head: no. The Valet again knocks on the door. VALET Here I am, Signore. Now open the door. He eats the sugared cake in his hand, elaborately and noisily. VALET Mmmm - this is good! This is the most delicious thing I ever ate, believe me! Signore, you don't know what you're missing! Mmmm! We hear a thump from inside the bedroom. VALET Now that's enough, Signore! Open! We hear a terrible, throaty groaning. VALET If you don't open this door, we're going to eat everything. There'll be nothing left for you. And I'm not going to bring you anything more. He looks down. From under the door we see a trickle of blood flowing. In horror, the two men stare at it. The dish of cakes falls from the Cook's hand and shatters. He sets the candlestick down on the floor. Both servants run at the door frantically - once, twice, three times - and the frail lock gives. The door flies open. Immediately, the stormy, frenzied opening of Mozart's Symphony No. 25 (the Little G Minor) begins. We see what the servants see. INT. OLD SALIERI'S SALON - NIGHT Old Salieri lies on the floor in a pool of blood, an open razor in his hand. He has cut his throat but is still alive. He gestures at them. They run to him. Barely, we glimpse the room - an old chair, old tables piled with books, a forte- piano, a chamber-pot on the floor - as the Valet and the Cook struggle to lift their old Master, and bind his bleeding throat with a napkin. INT. BALLROOM - NIGHT Twenty-five dancing couples, fifty guests, ten servants, full orchestra. As the music slows a little, we see a Masquerade Ball in progress. A crowded room of dancers is executing the slow portion of a dance fashionable in the early 1820's. EXT. STREET OUTSIDE SALIERI'S HOUSE - NIGHT As the fast music returns, we see Old Salieri being carried out of his house on a stretcher by two attendants, and placed in a horse-drawn wagon under the supervision of a middle- aged doctor in a tall hat. This is DOCTOR GULDEN. He gets in beside his patient. The driver whips up the horse, and the wagon dashes off through the still-falling snow. MONTAGE: EXT. FOUR STREETS OF VIENNA AND INT. THE WAGON - NIGHT The wagon is galloping through the snowy streets of the city. Inside the conveyance we see Old Salieri wrapped in blankets, half-conscious, being held by the hospital attendants. Doctor Gulden stares at him grimly. The wagon arrives outside the General Hospital of Vienna. CUT TO: INT. A HOSPITAL CORRIDOR - LATE AFTERNOON A wide, white-washed corridor. Doctor Gulden is walking down it with a priest, a man of about forty, concerned, but somewhat self-important. This is Father VOGLER, Chaplain at the hospital. In the corridor as they walk, we note several patients -- some of them visibly disturbed mentally. All patients wear white linen smocks. Doctor Gulden wears a dark frock-coat; Vogler, a cassock. DOCTOR GULDEN He's going to live. It's much harder to cut your throat than most people imagine. They stop outside a door. DOCTOR GULDEN Here we are. Do you wish me to come in with you? VOGLER No, Doctor. Thank you. Vogler nods and opens the door. INT. OLD SALIERI'S HOSPITAL ROOM - LATE AFTERNOON A bare room - one of the best available in the General Hospital. It contains a bed, a table with candles, chairs, a small forte-piano of the early nineteenth century. As Vogler enters, Old Salieri is sitting in a wheel-chair, looking out the window. His back is to us. The priest closes the door quietly behind him. VOGLER Herr Salieri? Old Salieri turns around to look at him. We see that his throat is bandaged expertly. He wears hospital garb, and over it the Civilian Medal and Chain with which we will later see the EMPEROR invest him. OLD SALIERI What do you want? VOGLER I am Father Vogler. I am a Chaplain here. I thought you might like to talk to someone. OLD SALIERI About what? VOGLER You tried to take your life. You do remember that, don't you? OLD SALIERI So? VOGLER In the sight of God that is a sin. OLD SALIERI What do you want? VOGLER Do you understand that you have sinned? Gravely. OLD SALIERI Leave me alone. VOGLER I cannot leave alone a soul in pain. OLD SALIERI Do you know who I am? You never heard of me, did you? VOGLER That makes no difference. All men are equal in God's eyes. OLD SALIERI Are they? VOGLER Offer me your confession. I can offer you God's forgiveness. OLD SALIERI I do not seek forgiveness. VOGLER My son, there is something dreadful on your soul. Unburden it to me. I'm here only for you. Please talk to me. OLD SALIERI How well are you trained in music? VOGLER I know a little. I studied it in my youth. OLD SALIERI Where? VOGLER Here in Vienna. OLD SALIERI Then you must know this. He propels his wheelchair to the forte-piano, and plays an unrecognizable melody. VOGLER I can't say I do. What is it? OLD SALIERI I'm surprised you don't know. It was a very popular tune in its day. I wrote it. How about this? He plays another tune. OLD SALIERI This one brought down the house when we played it first. He plays it with growing enthusiasm. CUT TO: INT. THE STAGE OF AN OPERA HOUSE - NIGHT - 1780'S We see the pretty soprano KATHERINA CAVALIERI, now about twenty-four, dressed in an elaborate mythological Persian costume, singing on stage. She's near the end of a very florid aria by Salieri. The audience applauds wildly. INT. OLD SALIERI'S HOSPITAL ROOM - LATE AFTERNOON - 1823 OLD SALIERI (taking his hands off the keys) Well? VOGLER I regret it is not too familiar. OLD SALIERI Can you recall no melody of mine? I was the most famous composer in Europe when you were still a boy. I wrote forty operas alone. What about this little thing? Slyly he plays the opening measure of Mozart's Eine Kleine Nachtmusik. The priest nods, smiling suddenly, and hums a little with the music. VOGLER Oh, I know that! That's charming! I didn't know you wrote that. OLD SALIERI I didn't. That was Mozart. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. You know who that is? VOGLER Of course. The man you accuse yourself of killing. OLD SALIERI Ah - you've heard that? VOGLER All Vienna has heard that. OLD SALIERI ( eagerly) And do they believe it? VOGLER Is it true? OLD SALIERI Do you believe it? VOGLER Should I? A very long pause. Salieri stares above the priest, seemingly lost in his own private world. VOGLER For God's sake, my son, if you have anything to confess, do it now! Give yourself some peace! A further pause. VOGLER Do you hear me? OLD SALIERI He was murdered, Father! Mozart! Cruelly murdered. Pause. VOGLER (almost whispering) Yes? Did you do it? Suddenly Old Salieri turns to him, a look of extreme innocence. OLD SALIERI He was my idol! I can't remember a time when I didn't know his name! When I was only fourteen he was already famous. Even in Legnago - the tiniest town in Italy - I knew of him. CUT TO: EXT. A SMALL TOWN SQUARE IN LOMBARDY, ITALY - DAY - 1780'S There are twelve children and twenty adults in the square. We see the fourteen-year-old Salieri blindfolded, playing a game of Blindman's Bluff with other Italian children, running about in the bright sunshine and laughing. OLD SALIERI (V.O.) I was still playing childish games when he was playing music for kings and emperors. Even the Pope in Rome! CUT TO: INT. A SALON IN THE VATICAN - DAY - 1780'S We see the six-year-old MOZART, also blindfolded, seated in a gilded chair on a pile of books, playing the harpsichord for the POPE and a suite of CARDINALS and other churchmen. Beside the little boy stands LEOPOLD, his father, smirking with pride. OLD SALIERI (V.O.) I admit I was jealous when I heard the tales they told about him. Not of the brilliant little prodigy himself, but of his father, who had taught him everything. The piece finishes. Leopold lowers the lid of the harpsichord and lifts up his little son to stand on it. Mozart removes the blindfold to show a pale little face with staring eyes. Both father and son bow. A Papal Chamberlain presents Leopold with a gold snuff box whilst the cardinals decorously applaud. Over this scene Old Salieri speaks. OLD SALIERI (V.O.) My father did not care for music. He wanted me only to be a merchant, like himself. As anonymous as he was. When I told how I wished I could be like Mozart, he would say, Why? Do you want to be a trained monkey? Would you like me to drag you around Europe doing tricks like a circus freak? How could I tell him what music meant to me? CUT TO: EXT. A COUNTRY CHURCH IN NORTH ITALY - DAY - 1780'S Serene music of the Italian Baroque - Pergolesi's Stabat Mater - sung by a choir of boys with organ accompaniment. We see the outside of the 17th-century church sitting in the wide landscape of Lombardy: sunlit fields, a dusty, white road, poplar trees. INT. THE CHURCH AT LEGNAGO - DAY - 1780'S The music continues and swells. We see the twelve-year-old Salieri seated between his plump and placid parents in the congregation, listening in rapture. His father is a heavy- looking, self-approving man, obviously indifferent to the music. A large and austere Christ on the cross hangs over the altar. Candles burn below his image. OLD SALIERI (V.O.) Even then a spray of sounded notes could make me dizzy, almost to falling. The boy falls forward on his knees. So do his parents and the other members of the congregation. He stares up at Christ who stares back at him. OLD SALIERI (V.O.) Whilst my father prayed earnestly to God to protect commerce, I would offer up secretly the proudest prayer a boy could think of. Lord, make me a great composer! Let me celebrate your glory through music - and be celebrated myself! Make me famous through the world, dear God! Make me immortal! After I die let people speak my name forever with love for what I wrote! In return I vow I will give you my chastity - my industry, my deepest humility, every hour of my life. And I will help my fellow man all I can. Amen and amen! The music swells to a crescendo. The candles flare. We see the Christ through the flames looking at the boy benignly. OLD SALIERI (V.O.) And do you know what happened? A miracle! INT. DINING ROOM IN THE SALIERI HOUSE - DAY - 1780'S CU, a large cooked fish on a thick china plate. Camera pulls back to show the Salieri family at dinner. Father Salieri sits at the head of the table, a napkin tucked into his chin. Mother Salieri is serving the fish into portions and handing them round. Two maiden aunts are in attendance, wearing black, and of course the young boy. Father Salieri receives his plate of fish and starts to eat greedily. Suddenly there is a gasp - he starts to choke violently on a fish bone. All the women get up and crowd around him, thumping and pummeling him, but it is in vain. Father Salieri collapses. INT. OLD SALIERI'S HOSPITAL ROOM - LATE AFTERNOON - 1823 OLD SALIERI Suddenly he was dead. Just like that! And my life changed forever. My mother said, Go. Study music if you really want to. Off with you! And off I went as quick as I could and never saw Italy again. Of course, I knew God had arranged it all; that was obvious. One moment I was a frustrated boy in an obscure little town. The next I was here, in Vienna, city of musicians, sixteen years old and studying under Gluck! Gluck, Father. Do you know who he was? The greatest composer of his time. And he loved me! That was the wonder. He taught me everything he knew. And when I was ready, introduced me personally to the Emperor! Emperor Joseph - the musical king! Within a few years I was his court composer. Wasn't that incredible? Imperial Composer to His Majesty! Actually the man had no ear at all, but what did it matter? He adored my music, that was enough. Night after night I sat right next to the Emperor of Austria, playing duets with him, correcting the royal sight-reading. Tell me, if you had been me, wouldn't you have thought God had accepted your vow? And believe me, I honoured it. I was a model of virtue. I kept my hands off women, worked hours every day teaching students, many of them for free, sitting on endless committees to help poor musicians - work and work and work, that was all my life. And it was wonderful! Everybody liked me. I liked myself. I was the most successful musician in Vienna. And the happiest. Till he came. Mozart. CUT TO: INT. THE ARCHBISHOP OF SALZBURG'S RESIDENCE - VIENNA - DAY - 1780'S A grand room crowded with guests. A small group of Gypsy musicians is playing in the background. Thirteen members of the Archbishop's orchestra - all wind players, complete with 18th-century wind instruments: elaborate-looking bassoons, basset horns, etc. and wearing their employer's livery - are laying out music on stands at one end of the room. At the other end is a large gilded chair, bearing the arms of the ARCHBISHOP OF SALZBURG. A throng of people is standing, talking, and preparing to sit upon the rows of waiting chairs to hear a concert. OLD SALIERI (V.O.) One day he came to Vienna to play some of his music at the residence of his employer, the Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg. Eagerly I went there to seek him out. That night changed my life. We see Salieri, age thirty-one, a neat, carefully turned-cut man in decent black clothes and clean white linen, walking through the crowd of guests. We follow him. OLD SALIERI (V.O.) As I went through the salon, I played a game with myself. This man had written his first concerto at the age of four; his first symphony at seven; a full-scale opera at twelve. Did it show? Is talent like that written on the face? We see shots of assorted young men staring back at Salieri as he moves through the crowd. OLD SALIERI (V.O.) Which one of them could he be? Some of the men recognize Salieri and bow respectfully. Then suddenly a servant bearing a large tray of cakes and pastries stalks past. Instantly riveted by the sight of such delights, Salieri follows him out of the Grand Salon. INT. A PALACE CORRIDOR - DAY - 1780'S The servant marches along bearing his tray of pastries aloft. Salieri follows him. The servant turns into: INT. BUFFET ROOM IN THE PALACE - DAY - 1780'S Salieri's POV: several tables, dressed to the floor with cloths are loaded with many plates of confectionery. It is, in fact, Salieri's idea of paradise! The servant puts his tray down on one of the tables and withdraws from the room. INT. A PALACE CORRIDOR - DAY - 1780'S Salieri turns away so as not to be noticed by the servant. As soon as the man disappears, Salieri sneaks into the buffet room. INT. BUFFET ROOM IN THE PALACE - DAY - 1780'S Salieri enters the room and looks about him cautiously. He is salivating with anticipation as he stares at the feast of sweet things. His attention is attracted in particular by a huge pile of dark chocolate balls arranged in the shape of a pineapple. He reaches out a hand to steal one of the balls, but at the same moment he hears giggling coming toward him. He ducks down behind the pastry table. A girl - CONSTANZE - rushes into the room. She runs straight across it and hides herself behind one of the tables. After a beat of total silence, MOZART runs into the room, stops, and looks around. He is age twenty-six, wearing a fine wig and a brilliant coat with the insignia of the Archbishop of Salzburg upon it. He is puzzled; Constanze has disappeared. Baffled, he turns and is about to leave the room, when Constanze suddenly squeaks from under the cloth like a tiny mouse. Instantly Mozart drops to all fours and starts crawling across the floor, meowing and hissing like a naughty cat. Watched by an astonished Salieri, Mozart disappears under the cloth and obviously pounces upon Constanze. We hear a high-pitched giggle, which is going to characterize Mozart throughout the film. CUT TO: INT. PALACE GRAND SALON - DAY - 1780'S The throng is mostly seated. The musicians are in their places, holding their various exotic-looking wind instruments; the candles are all lit. A Majordomo appears and bangs his staff on the floor for attention. Immediately COLLOREDO, Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg enters. He is a small self- important figure of fifty in a wig, surmounted by a scarlet skullcap. He is followed by his Chamberlain, the Count ARCO. Everyone stands. The Archbishop goes to his throne and sits. His guests sit also. Arco gives the signal to start the music. Nothing happens. Instead, a wind musician gets up, approaches the Chamberlain and whispers in his ear. Arco in turn whispers to the Archbishop. ARCO Mozart is not here. COLLOREDO Where is he? ARCO They're looking for him, Your Grace. INT. A PALACE CORRIDOR - DAY - 1780'S Three servants are opening doors and looking into rooms going off the corridor. CUT TO: INT. PALACE GRAND SALON - DAY - 1780'S The guests are turning around and looking at the Archbishop. The musicians are watching. There is puzzlement and a murmur of comment. The Archbishop tightens his lip. COLLOREDO (to Arco) We'll start without him. INT. PALACE BUFFET ROOM - DAY - 1780'S Mozart is on his knees before the tablecloth, which reaches to the floor. Under it is Constanze. We hear her giggling as he talks. MOZART Miaouw! Miaouw! Mouse-wouse? It's Puss-wuss, fangs-wangs. Paws-claws. Pounce-bounce! He grabs her ankle. She screams. He pulls her out by her leg. CONSTANZE Stop it. Stop it! They roll on the floor. He tickles her. CONSTANZE Stop it! MOZART I am! I am! I'm stopping it - slowly. You see! Look, I've stopped. Now we are going back. He tries to drag her back under the table. CONSTANZE No! No! No! MOZART Yes! Back! Back! Listen - don't you know where you are? CONSTANZE Where? MOZART We are in the Residence of the Fartsbishop of Salzburg. CONSTANZE Fartsbishop! She laughs delightedly, then addresses an imaginary Archbishop. CONSTANZE Your Grace, I've got something to tell you. I want to complain about this man. MOZART Go ahead, tell him. Tell them all. They won't understand you anyway. CONSTANZE Why not? MOZART Because here everything goes backwards. People walk backwards, dance backwards, sing backwards, and talk backwards. CONSTANZE That's stupid. MOZART Why? People fart backwards. CONSTANZE Do you think that's funny? MOZART Yes, I think it's brilliant. You've been doing it for years. He gives a high pitched giggle. CONSTANZE Oh, ha, ha, ha. MOZART Sra-I'm-sick! Sra-I'm sick! CONSTANZE Yes, you are. You're very sick. MOZART No, no. Say it backwards, shit-wit. Sra-I'm-sick Say it backwards! CONSTANZE (working it out) Sra-I'm-sick. Sick - kiss I'm - my Kiss my! Sra-I'm-sick - Kiss my arse! MOZART Em iram! Em iram! CONSTANZE No, I'm not playing this game. MOZART No, this is serious. Say it backwards. CONSTANZE No! MOZART Just say it - you'll see. It's very serious. Em iram! Em iram! CONSTANZE Iram - marry Em - marry me! No, no! You're a fiend. I'm not going to marry a fiend. A dirty fiend at that. MOZART Ui-vol-i-tub! CONSTANZE Tub - but i-tub - but I vol - love but I love ui - You. I love you! The mood becomes suddenly softer. She kisses him. They embrace. Then he spoils it. MOZART Tish-I'm tee. What's that? CONSTANZE What? MOZART Tish-I'm-tee. CONSTANZE Eat MOZART Yes. CONSTANZE Eat my - ah! Shocked, she strikes at him. At the same moment the music starts in the salon next door. We hear the opening of the Serenade for Thirteen Wind Instruments, K. MOZART My music! They've started! They've started without me! He leaps up, disheveled and rumpled and runs out of the room. Salieri watches in amazement and disgust. CUT TO: INT. PALACE CORRIDOR - DAY - 1780'S The music is louder. Mozart hastens towards the Grand Salon away from the buffet room, adjusting his dress as he goes. INT. GRAND SALON - DAY - 1780'S The opening of the Serenade is being tentatively conducted by the leader of the wind-musicians. Guests turn around as Mozart appears - bowing to the Archbishop - and walks with an attempt at dignity to the dais where the wind band is playing. The leader yields his place to the composer and Mozart smoothly takes over conducting. Constanze, deeply embarrassed, sneaks into the room and seats herself at the back. INT. PALACE BUFFET ROOM - DAY - 1780'S The music fades down. Salieri stands shocked from his inadvertent eavesdropping. After a second he moves almost in a trance toward the door; the music dissolves. INT. GRAND SALON - DAY - 1780'S Mozart is conducting the Adagio from his Serenade (K. 361), guiding the thirteen wind instrumentalists. The squeezebox opening of the movement begins. Salieri appears at the door at the back of the salon. He stares in disbelief at Mozart. OLD SALIERI (V.O.) So that was he! That giggling, dirty- minded creature I'd just seen crawling on the floor. Mozart. The phenomenon whose legend had haunted my youth. Impossible. The music swells up and Salieri listens to it with eyes closed - amazed, transported - suddenly engulfed by the sound. Finally it fades down and away and changes into applause. Salieri opens his eyes. The audience is clearly delighted. Mozart bows to them, also delighted. Colloredo rises abruptly, and without looking at Mozart or applauding and leaves the Salon. Count Arco approaches the composer. Mozart turns to him, radiant. ARCO Follow me, please. The Archbishop would like a word. MOZART Certainly! He follows Arco out of the room, through a throng of admirers. INT. ANOTHER PALACE CORRIDOR - DAY - 1780'S Mozart and Arco walk side by side. They pass Salieri who is staring at Mozart in fascination. As they disappear, he steals toward the music stands, unable to help himself. MOZART Well, I think that went off remarkably well, don't you? ARCO Indeed. MOZART These Viennese certainly know good music when they hear it. ARCO His Grace is very angry with you. MOZART What do you mean? They arrive at the door of Colloredo's private apartment. ARCO You are to come in here and ask his pardon. Arco opens the door. INT. ARCHBISHOP'S PRIVATE ROOM - DAY - 1780'S The Archbishop is sitting, chatting to quests. Among them are several ladies. Arco approaches him obsequiously. ARCO Your Grace. COLLOREDO Ah, Mozart. Why? MOZART Why what, sir? COLLOREDO Why do I have to be humiliated in front of my guests by one of my own servants? MOZART Humiliated? COLLOREDO How much provocation am I to endure from you? The more license I allow you, the more you take. The company watches this scene, deeply interested. MOZART If His Grace is not satisfied with me, he can dismiss me. COLLOREDO I wish you to return immediately to Salzburg. Your father is waiting for you there patiently. I will speak to you further when I come. MOZART No, Your Grace! I mean with all humility, no. I would rather you dismissed me. It's obvious I don't satisfy. COLLOREDO Then try harder, Mozart. I have no intention of dismissing you. You will remain in my service and learn your place. Go now. He extends his hand to be kissed. Mozart does it with a furious grace, then leaves the room. As he opens the door we see: INT. PALACE CORRIDOR - DAY - 1780'S A group of people who have attended the concert, among them Constanze, are standing outside the private apartment. At sight of the composer they break into sustained applause. Mozart is suddenly delighted. He throws the door wide open so that the guests can see into the private apartment where the Archbishop sits - and he can see them. Colloredo is clearly discomfited by this reception of his employee. He smiles and bows uneasily, as they include him in the small ovation. Mozart stands in the corridor, out of the Archbishop's line of sight, bowing and giggling, and encouraging the applause for the Archbishop with conducting gestures. Suddenly irritated, Colloredo signs to Arco, who steps forward and shuts the door, ending the applause. INT. PALACE GRAND SALON - DAY - 1780'S Salieri, in this vast room, is standing and looking at the full score of the Serenade. He turns the pages back to the slow movement. Instantly, we again hear its lyrical strains. CU, Salieri, reading the score of the Adagio in helpless fascination. The music is played against his description of it. OLD SALIERI (V.O.) Extraordinary! On the page it looked nothing. The beginning simple, almost comic. Just a pulse - bassoons and basset horns - like a rusty squeezebox. Then suddenly - high above it - an oboe, a single note, hanging there unwavering, till a clarinet took over and sweetened it into a phrase of such delight! This was no composition by a performing monkey! This was a music I'd never heard. Filled with such longing, such unfulfillable longing, it had me trembling. It seemed to me that I was hearing a voice of God. Suddenly the music snaps off. Mozart stands before him as he lays down the score. MOZART Excuse me! He takes the score, bows, and struts briskly out of the room. Salieri stares uncomprehendingly after the jaunty little figure. OLD SALIERI (V.O.) But why? INT. OLD SALIERI'S HOSPITAL ROOM - NIGHT - 1823 OLD SALIERI Why? Would God choose an obscene child to be His instrument? It was not to be believed! This piece had to be an accident. It had to be! INT. PALACE DINING ROOM - DAY - 1780'S At the table sits the EMPEROR JOSEPH II, eating his frugal dinner and sipping goat's milk. He is an intelligent, dapper man of forty, wearing a military uniform. Around him but standing, are his Chamberlain, JOHANN VON STRACK: stiff and highly correct. COUNT ORSINI-ROSENBERG: a corpulent man of sixty, highly conscious of his position as Director of the Opera. BARON VON SWIETEN, the Imperial Librarian: a grave but kindly and educated man in his mid-fifties. FIRST KAPELLMEISTER GIUSEPPE BONNO: very Italian, cringing and time-serving, aged about seventy. And Salieri, wearing decorous black, as usual. At a side-table, two Imperial secretaries, using quill pens and inkstands, write down everything of importance that is said. JOSEPH How good is he, this Mozart? VON SWIETEN He's remarkable, Majesty. I heard an extraordinary serious opera of his last month. Idomeneo, King of Crete. ORSINI-ROSENBERG That? A most tiresome piece. I heard it, too. VON SWIETEN Tiresome? ORSINI-ROSENBERG A young man trying to impress beyond his abilities. Too much spice. Too many notes. VON SWIETEN Majesty, I thought it the most promising work I've heard in years. JOSEPH Ah-ha. Well then, we should make some effort to acquire him. We could use a good German composer in Vienna, surely? VON STRACK I agree, Majesty, but I'm afraid it's not possible. The young man is still in the pay of the Archbishop. JOSEPH Very small pay, I imagine. I'm sure he could be tempted with the right offer. Say, an opera in German for our National Theatre. VON SWIETEN Excellent, sire! ORSINI-ROSENBERG But not German, I beg your Majesty! Italian is the proper language for opera. All educated people agree on that. JOSEPH Ah-ha. What do you say, Chamberlain? VON STRACK In my opinion, it is time we had a piece in our own language, sir. Plain German. For plain people. He looks defiantly at Orsini-Rosenberg. JOSEPH Ah-ha. Kapellmeister? BONNO (Italian accent) Majesty, I must agree with Herr Dirretore. Opera is an Italian art, solamente. German is - scusate - too bruta for singing, too rough. JOSEPH Ah-ha. Court Composer, what do you say? SALIERI I think it is an interesting notion to keep Mozart in Vienna, Majesty. It should really infuriate the Archbishop beyond measure - if that is your Majesty's intention. JOSEPH You are cattivo, Court Composer. (briskly, to Von Strack) I want to meet this young man. Chamberlain, arrange a pleasant welcome for him. VON STRACK Yes, sir. JOSEPH Well. There it is. INT. BEDROOM IN SALIERI'S APARTMENT - DAY - 1780'S A somber room which serves both as a bedroom and a study. We see a four-poster bed. Also, a marble mantelpiece above which hangs a handsome cross in olivewood, bearing the figure of a severe Christ. Opposite this image sits Salieri at his desk, on which stands a pile of music paper, quill pens and ink. On one side of him is an open forte-piano on which he occasionally tries notes from the march he is composing, with some difficulty. He scratches notes out with his quill, and ruffles his hair - which we see without a powdered wig. There is a knock at the door. SALIERI Si. A servant admits LORL, a young lower-class girl, who appears carrying a basket in which is a box covered with a napkin. She has just come from the baker's shop. SALIERI Ah! Here she comes. Fraulein Lorl, good morning. LORL Good morning, sir. SALIERI What have you got for me today? Let me see. Greedily he unwraps the napkin and lifts the lid on the box. SALIERI Ah-ha! Siena macaroons - my favourites. Give my best thanks to the baker. LORL I will, sir. He takes a biscuit and eats. SALIERI Thank you. Are you well today, Fraulein Lorl? LORL Yes, thank you, sir. SALIERI Bene! Bene! She gives a little curtsey, flattered and giggling and is shown out. Salieri turns back to his work, chewing. He plays through a complete line of the march. He smiles, pleased with the result. SALIERI Grazie, Signore. He inclines his head to the Christ above the fireplace, and starts to play the whole march, including the phrase which pleased him. INT. A WIGMAKER'S SHOP - VIENNA - DAY - 1780'S The march continues on the forte-piano as we see Mozart, seated in front of a mirror, wearing an extravagant wig. On either side of him stands a SALESMAN, one of them holding another wig, equally extravagant. Mozart takes off the first wig, to reveal his own blonde hair, of which he is extremely proud, and hands it back. MOZART And the other one? The Salesman puts the second wig on his head. Mozart pulls a face of doubt in the mirror. MOZART And the other one? He takes it off and the other Salesman replaces it with the first wig on his head. MOZART Oh, they're both so beautiful, I can't decide. Why don't I have two heads? He giggles. The music stops. INT. GRAND SALON - THE ROYAL PALACE - DAY - 1780'S A door opens. We glimpse in the next room the Emperor Joseph bidding goodbye to a group of military officers standing around a table. JOSEPH Good, good, good. He turns and comes into the salon, where another group awaits him. It consists of Von Strack, Orsini-Rosenberg, Bonno, Von Swieten and Salieri. The room contains several gilded chairs dotted about, and a forte-piano. JOSEPH Good morning, gentlemen. All bow and say, Good morning, Your Majesty! JOSEPH (to Von Strack) Well, what do you have for me today? VON STRACK Your Majesty, Herr Mozart - JOSEPH Yes, what about him? VON STRACK He's here. JOSEPH Ah-ha. Well. There it is. Good. SALIERI Majesty, I hope you won't think it improper, but I have written a little March of Welcome in his honour. He produces a paper. JOSEPH What a charming idea. May I see? SALIERI (handing it over) It's just a trifle, of course. JOSEPH May I try it? SALIERI Majesty. The Emperor goes to the instrument, sits and plays the first bars of it. Quite well. JOSEPH Delightful, Court Composer. Would you permit me to play it as he comes in? SALIERI You do me too much honour, Sire. JOSEPH Let's have some fun. (to the waiting Majordomo) Bring in Herr Mozart, please. But slowly, slowly. I need a minute to practice. The Majordomo bows and goes. The Emperor addresses himself to the march. He plays a wrong note. SALIERI A-flat, Majesty. JOSEPH Ah-ha! INT. PALACE CORRIDOR - VIENNA - DAY - 1780'S Taking his instructions literally, the Majordomo is marching very slowly toward the salon door. He is followed by a bewildered Mozart, dressed very stylishly and wearing one of the wigs from the perruqier. INT. ROYAL PALACE GRAND SALON - DAY - 1780'S Joseph finishes the march. The door opens. MAJORDOMO Herr Mozart. Mozart comes in eagerly. Immediately the march begins, played by His Majesty. All the courtiers stand, listening with admiration. Joseph plays well, but applies himself fiercely to the manuscript. Mozart, still bewildered, regards the scene, but does not seem to pay attention to the music itself. It finishes and all clap obsequiously. ORSINI-ROSENBERG Bravo, Your Majesty! VON STRACK Well done, Sire! The Emperor rises, pleased with himself. He snatches the manuscript off the stand and holds it in his hand for the rest of the scene. JOSEPH Gentlemen, gentlemen, a little less enthusiasm, I beg you. Ah, Mozart. He extends his hand. Mozart throws himself to his knees, and to Joseph's discomfort kisses the royal hand with fervour. MOZART Your Majesty! JOSEPH No, no, please! It is not a holy relic. (raising Mozart up) You know we have met already? In this very room. Perhaps you won't remember it, you were only six years old. (to the others) He was giving the most brilliant little concert here. As he got off the stool, he slipped and fell. My sister Antoinette helped him up herself, and do you know what he did? Jumped straight into her arms and said, Will you marry me, yes or no? Embarrassed, Mozart bursts into a wild giggle. Joseph helps him out. JOSEPH You know all these gentlemen, I'm sure. Von Strack and Bonno nod. JOSEPH The Baron Von Swieten. VON SWIETEN I'm a great admirer of yours, young man. Welcome. MOZART Oh, thank you. JOSEPH The Director of our Opera. Count Orsini-Rosenberg. MOZART (bowing excitedly) Oh sir, yes! The honour is mine. Absolutely. Orsini-Rosenberg nods without enthusiasm. JOSEPH And here is our illustrious Court Composer, Herr Salieri. SALIERI (taking his hand) Finally! Such an immense joy. Diletto straordinario! MOZART I know your work well, Signore. Do you know I actually composed some variations on a melody of yours? SALIERI Really? MOZART Mio caro Adone. SALIERI Ah! MOZART A funny little tune, but it yielded some good things. JOSEPH And now he has returned the compliment. Herr Salieri composed that March of Welcome for you. MOZART (speaking expertly) Really? Oh, grazie, Signore! Sono commosso! E un onore per mo eccezionale. Compositore brilliante e famossissimo! He bows elaborately. Salieri inclines himself, dryly. SALIERI My pleasure. JOSEPH Well, there it is. Now to business. Young man, we are going to commission an opera from you. What do you say? MOZART Majesty! JOSEPH (to the courtiers) Did we vote in the end for German or Italian? ORSINI-ROSENBERG Well, actually, Sire, if you remember, we did finally incline to Italian. VON STRACK Did we? VON SWIETEN I don't think it was really decided, Director. MOZART Oh, German! German! Please let it be German. JOSEPH Why so? MOZART Because I've already found the most wonderful libretto! ORSINI-ROSENBERG Oh? Have I seen it? MOZART I - I don't think you have, Herr Director. Not yet. I mean, it's quite n - Of course, I'll show it to you immediately. ORSINI-ROSENBERG I think you'd better. JOSEPH Well, what is it about? Tell us the story. MOZART It's actually quite amusing, Majesty. It's set - the whole thing is set in a - in a - He stops short with a little giggle. JOSEPH Yes, where? MOZART In a Pasha's Harem, Majesty. A Seraglio. JOSEPH Ah-ha. ORSINI-ROSENBERG You mean in Turkey? MOZART Exactly. ORSINI-ROSENBERG Then why especially does it have to be in German? MOZART Well not especially. It can be in Turkish, if you really want. I don't care. He giggles again. Orsini-Rosenberg looks at him sourly. VON SWIETEN (kindly) My dear fellow, the language is not finally the point. Do you really think that subject is quite appropriate for a national theatre? MOZART Why not? It's charming. I mean, I don't actually show concubines exposing their! their! It's not indecent! (to Joseph) It's highly moral, Majesty. It's full of proper German virtues. I swear it. Absolutely! JOSEPH Well, I'm glad to hear that. SALIERI Excuse me, Sire, but what do you think these could be? Being a foreigner, I would love to learn. JOSEPH Cattivo again, Court Composer. Well, tell him, Mozart. Name us a German virtue. MOZART Love, Sire! SALIERI Ah, love! Well of course in Italy we know nothing about that. The Italian faction - Orsini-Rosenberg and Bonno - laugh discreetly. MOZART No, I don't think you do. I mean watching Italian opera, all those male sopranos screeching. Stupid fat couples rolling their eyes about! That's not love - it's just rubbish. An embarrassed pause. Bonno giggles in nervous amusement. MOZART Majesty, you choose the language. It will be my task to set it to the finest music ever offered a monarch. Pause. Joseph is clearly pleased. JOSEPH Well, there it is. Let it be German. He nods - he has wanted this result all the time. He turns and makes for the door. All bow. Then he becomes aware of the manuscript in his hand. JOSEPH Ah, this is yours. Mozart does not take it. MOZART Keep it, Sire, if you want to. It is already here in my head. JOSEPH What? On one hearing only? MOZART I think so, Sire, yes. Pause. JOSEPH Show me. Mozart bows and hands the manuscript back to the Emperor. Then he goes to the forte-piano and seats himself. The others, except for Salieri, gather around the manuscript held by the King. Mozart plays the first half of the march with deadly accuracy. MOZART (to Salieri) The rest is just the same, isn't it? He plays the first half again but stops in the middle of a phrase, which he repeats dubiously. MOZART That really doesn't work, does it? All the courtiers look at Salieri. MOZART Did you try this? Wouldn't it be just a little more -? He plays another phrase. MOZART Or this - yes, this! Better. He plays another phrase. Gradually, he alters the music so that it turns into the celebrated march to be used later in The Marriage of Figaro, Non Piu Andrai. He plays it with increasing abandon and virtuosity. Salieri watches with a fixed smile on his face. The court watches, astonished. He finishes in great glory, takes his hands off the keys with a gesture of triumph - and grins. INT. BEDROOM IN SALIERI'S APARTMENT - DAY - 1780'S We see the olivewood cross. Salieri is sitting at his desk, staring at it. SALIERI Grazie, Signore. There is a knock at the door. He does not hear it, but sits on. Another knock, louder. SALIERI Yes? Lorl comes in. LORL Madame Cavalieri is here for her lesson, sir. SALIERI Bene. He gets up and enters: INT. MUSIC ROOM IN SALIERI'S APARTMENT - DAY - 1780'S KATHERINA CAVALIERI, a young, high-spirited soprano of twenty is waiting for him, dressed in a fashionable dress and wearing on her head an exotic turban of satin, with a feather. Lorl exits. CAVALIERI (curtseying to him) Maestro. SALIERI Good morning. CAVALIERI (posing, in her turban) Well? How do you like it? It's Turkish. My hairdresser tells me everything's going to be Turkish this year! SALIERI Really? What else did he tell you today? Give me some gossip. CAVALIERI Well, I heard you met Herr Mozart. SALIERI Oh? News travels fast in Vienna. CAVALIERI And he's been commissioned to write an opera. Is it true? SALIERI Yes. CAVALIERI Is there a part for me? SALIERI No. CAVALIERI How do you know? SALIERI Well even if there is, I don't think you want to get involved with this one. CAVALIERI Why not? SALIERI Well, do you know where it's set, my dear? CAVALIERI Where? SALIERI In a harem. CAVALIERI What's that? SALIERI A brothel. CAVALIERI Oh! SALIERI A Turkish brothel. CAVALIERI Turkish? Oh, if it's Turkish, that's different. I want to be in it. SALIERI My dear, it will hardly enhance your reputation to be celebrated throughout Vienna as a singing prostitute for a Turk. He seats himself at the forte-piano. CAVALIERI Oh. Well perhaps you could introduce us anyway. SALIERI Perhaps. He plays a chord. She sings a scale, expertly. He strikes another chord. She starts another scale, then breaks off. CAVALIERI What does he look like? SALIERI You might be disappointed. CAVALIERI Why? SALIERI Looks and talent don't always go together, Katherina. CAVALIERI (airily) Looks don't concern me, Maestro. Only talent interests a woman of taste. He strikes the chord again, firmly. Cavalieri sings her next scale, then another one, and another one, doing her exercises in earnest. As she hits a sustained high note the orchestral accompaniment in the middle of Martern Aller Arten from Il Seraglio comes in underneath and the music changes from exercises to the exceedingly florid aria. We DISSOLVE on the singer's face, and she is suddenly not merely turbaned, but painted and dressed totally in a Turkish manner, and we are on: INT. OPERA STAGE - VIENNA - 1780'S The heroine of the opera (Cavalieri) is in full cry addressing the Pasha with scorn and defiance. The house is full. Watching the performance - which is conducted by Mozart from the clavier in the midst of the orchestra - we note Von Strack, Orsini-Rosenberg, Bonno and Von Swieten, all grouped around the Emperor, in a box. In another box we see an overdressed, middle-aged woman and three girls, one of whom is Constanze. This is the formidable MADAME WEBER and her three daughters, Constanze, JOSEFA and SOPHIE. All are enraptured by the spectacle and Madame Weber is especially enraptured by being there at all. Not so, Salieri, who sits in another box, coldly watching the stage. Cavalieri is singing Martern aller Arten from the line Doch du bist entschlossen. CAVALIERI Since you are determined, Since you are determined, Calmly, with no ferment, Welcome - every pain and woe. Bind me then - compel me! Bind me then - compel me! Hurt me. Break me! Kill me! At last I shall be freed by death! After a few moments of this showy aria, with the composer and the singer staring at each other - he conducting elaborately for her benefit, and she following his beat with rapturous eyes - the music fades, and Salieri speaks over it. OLD SALIERI (V.O.) There she was. I had no idea where they met - or how - yet there she stood on stage for all to see. Showing off like the greedy songbird she was. Ten minutes of ghastly scales and arpeggios, whizzing up and down like fireworks at a fairground. Music up again for the last 30 bars of the aria. CAVALIERI (singing) Be freed at last by death! Be freed at last by death! At last I shall be freed By! Death! Before the orchestral coda ends, cut to: INT. OLD SALIERI'S HOSPITAL ROOM - NIGHT - 1823 Through the window we see that night has fallen. OLD SALIERI Understand, I was in love with the girl. Or at least in lust. I wasn't a saint. It took me the most tremendous effort to be faithful to my vow. I swear to you I never laid a finger on her. All the same, I couldn't bear to think of anyone else touching her - least of all the Creature. CUT BACK TO: INT. THE OPERA HOUSE - VIENNA - NIGHT - 1780'S The brilliant Turkish finale of Seraglio bursts over us. All the cast is lined up on stage. Mozart is conducting with happy excitement. CAST OF SERAGLIO (singing) Pasha Selim May he Live forever! Ever, ever, ever, ever! Honour to his regal name! Honour to his regal name! May his noble brow emblazon Glory, fortune, joy and fame! Honour be to Pasha Selim Honour to his regal name! Honour to his regal name! The curtains fall. Much applause. The Emperor claps vigorously and - following his lead - so do the courtiers. The curtains part. Mozart applauds the singers who applaud him back. He skips up onto the stage amongst them. The curtains fall again as they all bow. In the auditorium, the chandeliers descend, filling it with light. INT. OPERA HOUSE STAGE - VIENNA - NIGHT - 1780'S The curtains are down, and an excited hubbub of singers in costume surround Mozart and Cavalieri, all excited and chattering. Suddenly a hush. The Emperor is seen approaching from the wings, lit by flunkies holding candles. Von Strack, Orsini-Rosenberg and Von Swieten, amongst others, follow him. Also Salieri. The singers line up. Joseph stops at Cavalieri who makes a deep curtsey. JOSEPH Bravo, Madame. You are an ornament to our stage. CAVALIERI Majesty. JOSEPH (to Salieri) And to you, Court Composer. Your pupil has done you great credit. INT. BACKSTAGE CORRIDOR - VIENNA - NIGHT - 1780'S MADAME WEBER Let us pass, please! Let us pass at once! We're with the Emperor. FLUNKY I am sorry, Madame. It is not permitted. MADAME WEBER Do you know who I am? (pointing to Constanze) This is my daughter. I am Frau Weber. We are favoured guests! FLUNKY I am sorry, Madame, but I have my orders. MADAME WEBER Call Herr Mozart! You call Herr Mozart immediately! This is insupportable! CONSTANZE Mother, please! MADAME WEBER Go ahead, Constanze. Just ignore this fellow. (pushing her) Go ahead, dear! FLUNKY (barring the way) I am sorry, Madame, but no! I cannot let anyone pass. MADAME WEBER Young man, I am no stranger to theatres. I'm no stranger to insolence! CUT BACK TO: INT. OPERA HOUSE STAGE - VIENNA - NIGHT - 1780'S All are applauding Cavalieri. The Emperor turns to Mozart. JOSEPH Well, Herr Mozart! A good effort. Decidedly that. An excellent effort! You've shown us something quite new today. Mozart bows frantically: he is over-excited. MOZART It is new, it is, isn't it, Sire? JOSEPH Yes, indeed. MOZART And German? JOSEPH Oh, yes. Absolutely. German. Unquestionably! MOZART So then you like it? You really like it, Your Majesty? JOSEPH Of course I do. It's very good. Of course now and then - just now and then - it gets a touch elaborate. MOZART What do you mean, Sire? JOSEPH Well, I mean occasionally it seems to have, how shall one say? (he stops in difficulty; to Orsini- Rosenberg) How shall one say, Director? ORSINI-ROSENBERG Too many notes, Your Majesty? JOSEPH Exactly. Very well put. Too many notes. MOZART I don't understand. There are just as many notes, Majesty, as are required. Neither more nor less. JOSEPH My dear fellow, there are in fact only so many notes the ear can hear in the course of an evening. I think I'm right in saying that, aren't I, Court Composer? SALIERI Yes! yes! er, on the whole, yes, Majesty. MOZART (to Salieri) But this is absurd! JOSEPH My dear, young man, don't take it too hard. Your work is ingenious. It's quality work. And there are simply too many notes, that's all. Cut a few and it will be perfect. MOZART Which few did you have in mind, Majesty? Pause. General embarrassment. JOSEPH Well. There it is. Into this uncomfortable scene bursts a sudden eruption of noise and Madame Weber floods onto the stage, followed by her daughters. All turn to look at this amazing spectacle. MADAME WEBER Wolfi! Wolfi, my dear! She moves toward Mozart with arms outstretched in an absurd theatrical gesture, then sees the Emperor. She stares at him, mesmerized, her mouth open, unable even to curtsey. MADAME WEBER Oh! Mozart moves forward quickly. MOZART Majesty, this is Madame Weber. She is my landlady. JOSEPH Enchanted, Madame. MADAME WEBER Oh, Sire! such an honour! And, and, and these are my dear daughters. This is Constanze. She is the fiancee of Herr Mozart. Constanze curtsies. CU, of Cavalieri, astonished at the news. CU, of Salieri, watching her receive it. JOSEPH Really? How delightful. May I ask when you marry? MOZART Well - Well we haven't quite received my father's consent, Your Majesty. Not entirely. Not altogether. He giggles uncomfortably. JOSEPH Excuse me, but how old are you? MOZART Twenty-six. JOSEPH Well, my advice is to marry this charming young lady and stay with us in Vienna. MADAME WEBER You see? You see? I've told him that, Your Majesty, but he won't listen to me. Cavalieri is glaring at Mozart. Mozart looks hastily away from her. MADAME WEBER Oh, Your Majesty, you give such wonderful - such impeccable - such royal advice. I - I - May I? She attempts to kiss the royal hand, but faints instead. The Emperor contemplates her prone body and steps back a pace. JOSEPH Well. There it is. Strack. He nods pleasantly to all and leaves the stage, with his Chamberlain. All bow. Cavalieri turns with a savage look at Mozart and leaves the stage the opposite way, to her dressing room, tossing her plumed head. Salieri watches. Mozart stays for a second, indecisive whether to follow the soprano or help Madame Weber. CONSTANZE (to Mozart) Get some water! He hurries away. The daughters gather around Madame Weber. INT. CAVALIERI'S DRESSING ROOM - NIGHT - 1780'S Katherina sits fuming at her mirror. A dresser is taking the pins out of her wig as she stares straight ahead of her. Mozart sticks his head round the door. MOZART Katherina! I'll tell you what I'm going to do. I'm going to write another aria for you. Something even more amazing for the second act. I have to get some water. Her mother is lying on the stage. CAVALIERI Don't bother! MOZART What? CAVALIERI Don't bother. MOZART I'll be right back. He dashes off. INT. OPERA HOUSE STAGE - VIENNA - NIGHT - 1780'S Constanze and Mozart make their way quickly through a crowd of actors in turbans and caftans, and stagehands carrying bits of the dismantled set of Seraglio. We see all the turmoil of backstage after a performance. A fireman passes Mozart carrying a small bucket of water. Mozart snatches it from him and pushes his way through the crowd to Madame Weber, who still lies prone on the stage. Mozart pushes through the crowd surrounding her and throws water on her face. She is instantly revived by the shock. Constanze assists her to rise. CONSTANZE Are you all right? Instead of being furious, Madame Weber smiles at them rapturously. MADAME WEBER Ah, what an evening! What a wise man we have for an Emperor. Oh, my children! (with sudden, hard briskness) Now I want you to write your father exactly what His Majesty said. The activity continues to swirl around them. MOZART You should really go home now, Frau Weber. Your carriage must be waiting. MADAME WEBER But aren't you taking us? MOZART I have to talk to the singers. MADAME WEBER That's all right; we'll wait for you. Just don't take all night. INT. CAVALIERI'S DRESSING ROOM - NIGHT - 1780'S Cavalieri, still in costume, is marching up and down, very agitated. CAVALIERI Did you know? Had you heard? SALIERI What? CAVALIERI The marriage! SALIERI Well, what does it matter to you? CAVALIERI Nothing! He can marry who he pleases. I don't give a damn. She catches him looking at her and tries to compose herself. CAVALIERI How was I? Tell me honestly. SALIERI You were sublime. CAVALIERI What did you think of the music? SALIERI Extremely clever. CAVALIERI Meaning you didn't like it. Mozart comes in unexpectedly. MOZART Oh - excuse me! CAVALIERI Is her mother still lying on the floor? MOZART No, she's fine. CAVALIERI I'm so relieved. She seats herself at her mirror and removes her wig. SALIERI Dear Mozart, my sincere congratulations. MOZART Did you like it, then? SALIERI How could I not? MOZART It really is the best music one can hear in Vienna today. Don't you agree? CAVALIERI Is she a good fuck? MOZART What?? CAVALIERI I assume she's the virtuoso in that department. There can't be any other reason you'd marry someone like that. Salieri looks astonished. There is a knock on the door. CAVALIERI Come in! The door opens. Constanze enters. CONSTANZE Excuse me, Wolfi. Mama is not feeling very well. Can we leave now? MOZART Of course. CAVALIERI No, no, no, no. You can't take him away now. This is his night. Won't you introduce us, Wolfgang? MOZART Excuse us, Fraulein. Good night, Signore. Mozart hurries Constanze out of the door. Cavalieri looks after them as they go, her voice breaking and rising out of control. CAVALIERI You really are full of surprises, aren't you? You are quite extraordinary, you little shit! She turns and collapses, crying with rage, into Salieri's arms. We focus on him. OLD SALIERI (V.O.) At that moment I knew beyond any doubt. He'd had her. The Creature had had my darling girl. INT. OLD SALIERI'S HOSPITAL ROOM - NIGHT - 1820'S The old man speaks passionately to the priest. OLD SALIERI It was incomprehensible. What was God up to? Here I was denying all my natural lust in order to deserve God's gift and there was Mozart indulging his in all directions - even though engaged to be married! - and no rebuke at all! Was it possible I was being tested? Was God expecting me to offer forgiveness in the face of every offense, no matter how painful? That was very possible. All the same, why him? Why use Mozart to teach me lessons in humility? My heart was filling up with such hatred for that little man. For the first time in my life I began to know really violent thoughts. I couldn't stop them. VOGLER Did you try? OLD SALIERI Every day. Sometimes for hours I would pray! INT. SALIERI'S APARTMENT - BEDROOM - DAY - 1780'S The young Salieri is kneeling in desperation before the Cross. SALIERI Please! Please! Send him away, back to Salzburg. For his sake as well as mine. CU, Christ staring from the Cross. CUT BACK TO: INT. AUDIENCE HALL - ARCHBISHOP'S PALACE - SALZBURG - DAY - 1780'S We see Leopold kneeling now not to the Cross but to Archbishop Colloredo, sitting impassively on his throne. Count Arco stands beside him. Leopold is a desperate, once-handsome man of sixty, now far too much the subservient courtier. COLLOREDO No! I won't have him back. LEOPOLD But he needs to be here in Salzburg, Your Grace. He needs me and he needs you. Your protection, your understanding. COLLOREDO Hardly. LEOPOLD Oh sir, yes! He's about to make the worst mistake of his life. Some little Viennese slut is trying to trick him into marriage. I know my son. He is too simple to see the trap - and there is no one there who really cares for him. COLLOREDO I'm not surprised. Money seems to be more important to him than loyalty or friendship. He has sold himself to Vienna. Let Vienna look out for him. LEOPOLD Sir - COLLOREDO Your son is an unprincipled, spoiled, conceited brat. LEOPOLD Yes, sir, that's the truth. But don't blame him. The fault is mine. I was too indulgent with him. But not again. Never again, I promise! I implore you - let me bring him back here. I'll make him give his word to serve you faithfully. COLLOREDO And how will you make him keep it? LEOPOLD Oh, sir, he's never disobeyed me in anything. Please, Your Grace, give him one more chance. COLLOREDO You have leave to try. LEOPOLD Oh, Your Grace - I thank Your Grace! I thank you! In deepest gratitude he kisses the Archbishop's hand. He motions Leopold to rise. We hear the first dark fortissimo chord which begins the Overture to Don Giovanni: the theme associated with the character of the Commendatore. LEOPOLD (V.O.) My dear son. The second fortissimo chord sounds. INT. A BAROQUE CHURCH - DAY - 1780'S We see a huge CU, of Mozart's head, looking front and down, as if reading his father's letter. We hear Leopold's voice over this image, no longer whining and anxious, but impressive. LEOPOLD (V.O.) I write to you with urgent news. I am coming to Vienna. Take no further steps toward marriage until we meet. You are too gullible to see your own danger. As you honour the father who has devoted his entire life to yours, do as I bid, and await my coming. MOZART I will. The camera pulls back to see that he is in fact kneeling beside Constanze. A PRIEST faces them. Behind them are Madame Weber, Josefa and Sophie Weber, and a very few others. Among them, a merry looking lady in bright clothes: the BARONESS WALDSTADTEN. PRIEST And will you, Constanze Weber, take this man, Wolfgang to be your lawful husband? CONSTANZE I will. PRIEST I now pronounce you man and wife. The opening kyrie of the great Mass in C Minor is heard. Mozart and Constanze kiss. They are in tears. Madame Weber and her daughters look on approvingly. The music swells and continues under the following: INT. A ROOM IN LEOPOLD'S HOUSE - SALZBURG - NIGHT - 1780'S There is a view of a castle in background. Leopold sits alone in his room. He is reading a letter from Wolfgang. At his feet are his trunks, half-packed for the journey he will not now take. We hear Mozart's voice reading the following letter and we see, as the camera roves around the room, mementos of the young prodigy's early life: the little forte-piano made for him; the little violin made for him; an Order presented to him. We see a little starling in a wicker cage. And we see portraits of the boy on the walls, concluding with the familiar family portrait of Wolfgang and his sister Nannerl seated at the keyboard with Leopold standing, and the picture of their mother on the wall behind them. MOZART (V.O.) Most beloved father, it is done. Do not blame me that I did not wait to see your dear face. I knew you would have tried to dissuade me from my truest happiness and I could not have borne it. Your every word is precious to me. Remember how you have always told me Vienna is the City of Musicians. To conquer here is to conquer Europe! With my wife I can do it. I vow I will become regular in my habits and productive as never before. She is wonderful, Papa, and I know that you will love her. And one day soon when I am a wealthy man, you will come and live with us, and we will be so happy. I long for that day, best of Papas, and kiss your hand a hundred thousand times. The music of the Mass fades as Leopold crumples the letter in his hand. EXT. THE IMPERIAL GARDENS - VIENNA - DAY - 1780'S Salieri stands waiting, hat in hand. Beside him stands a royal servant. Behind him, gardeners are glimpsed tending the shrubs and bushes along a grassy ride. Down this ride are seen cantering two people on horseback: the Emperor Joseph and his niece, the PRINCESS ELIZABETH. They are mounted on glossy horses. The Princess rides side-saddle. Running beside her is a panting groom. The Emperor rides elegantly; his niece, a dumpy little Hapsburg girl of sixteen, like a sack of potatoes. As they draw level with Salieri they stop, and the groom holds the head of the Princess' horse. Salieri bows respectfully. JOSEPH Good morning, Court Composer. This is my niece, the Princess Elizabeth. SALIERI Your Highness. Out of breath, the Princess nods nervously. JOSEPH She has asked me to advise her on a suitable musical instructor. I think I've come up with an excellent idea. He smiles at Salieri. SALIERI Oh, Your Majesty, it would be such a tremendous honour! JOSEPH I'm thinking about Herr Mozart. What is your view? Salieri's face falls, almost imperceptibly. SALIERI An interesting idea, Majesty. But - JOSEPH Yes? SALIERI You already commissioned an opera from Mozart. JOSEPH And the result satisfies. SALIERI Yes, of course. My concern is to protect you from any suspicion of favouritism. JOSEPH Ah-ha. Favouritism. But I so want Mozart. SALIERI I'm sure there is a way, Majesty. Some kind of a little contest. I could perhaps put together a small Committee, and I could see to it naturally that it will select according to Your Majesty's wishes. JOSEPH You please me, Court Composer. A very clever idea. SALIERI (bowing) Sire. JOSEPH Well. There it is. He rides on. The groom releases her horse's head, and runs on after the Princess. CUT TO: INT. CHAMBERLAIN VON STRACK'S STUDY - DAY - 1780'S Von Strack sits stiffly behind his gilded desk. Mozart stands before him, trembling with anger. MOZART What is this, Herr Chamberlain? VON STRACK What is what? MOZART Why do I have to submit samples of my work to some stupid committee? Just to teach a sixteen-year-old girl. VON STRACK Because His Majesty wishes it. MOZART Is the Emperor angry with me? VON STRACK On the contrary. MOZART Then why doesn't he simply appoint me to the post? VON STRACK Mozart, you are not the only composer in Vienna. MOZART No, but I'm the best. VON STRACK A little modesty would suit you better. MOZART Who is on this committee? VON STRACK Kapellmeister Bonno, Count Orsini- Rosenberg and Court Composer Salieri. MOZART Naturally, the Italians! Of course! Always the Italians! VON STRACK Mozart - MOZART They hate my music. It terrifies them. The only sound Italians understand is banality. Tonic and dominant, tonic and dominant, from here to Resurrection! (singing angrily) Ba-ba! Ba-ba! Ba-ba! Ba-ba! Anything else is morbid. VON STRACK Mozart - MOZART Show them one interesting modulation and they faint. Ohime! Morbidezza! Morbidezza! Italians are musical idiots and you want them to judge my music! VON STRACK Look, young man, the issue is simple. If you want this post, you must submit your stuff in the same way as all your colleagues. MOZART Must I? Well, I won't! I tell you straight: I will not! CUT TO: INT. MOZART'S APARTMENT - BEDROOM - VIENNA - DAY - 1780'S The room is very small and untidy. Constanze is marching up and down it, upset. Mozart is lying on the bed. CONSTANZE I think you're mad! You're really mad! MOZART Oh, leave me alone. CONSTANZE One royal pupil and the whole of Vienna will come flocking. We'd be set up for life! MOZART They'll come anyway. They love me here. CONSTANZE No, they will not. I know how things work in this city. MOZART Oh yes? You always know everything. CONSTANZE Well, I'm not borrowing any more money from my mother, and that's that! MOZART You borrowed money from your mother? CONSTANZE Yes! MOZART Well, don't do that again! CONSTANZE How are we going to live, Wolfi? Do you want me to go into the streets and beg? MOZART Don't be stupid. CONSTANZE All they want to see is your work. What's wrong with that? MOZART Shut up! Just shut up! I don't need them. CONSTANZE This isn't pride. It's sheer stupidity! She glares at him, almost in tears. CUT TO: INT. SALIERI'S MUSIC ROOM - LATE AFTERNOON - 1780'S Salieri is giving a lesson to a girl student, who is singing the Italian art song, Caro Mio Ben. There is a knock on the door. SALIERI Yes. A SERVANT enters. SERVANT Excuse me, sir, there is a lady who insists on talking to you. SALIERI Who is she? SERVANT She didn't say. But she says it's urgent. SALIERI (to the pupil) Excuse me, my dear. Salieri goes into the salon. CUT TO: INT. THE SALON - LATE AFTERNOON - 1780'S Constanze stands, closely veiled, holding a portfolio stuffed with manuscripts. The singing lesson ends, with two chords on the instrument. Salieri enters the salon. Constanze drops him a shy curtsey. CONSTANZE Excellency! SALIERI Madame. How can I help you? Shyly, she unveils. SALIERI Frau Mozart? CONSTANZE That's right, Your Excellency. I've come on behalf of my hus band. I'm - I'm bringing some samples of his work so he can be considered for the royal appointment. SALIERI How charming. But why did he not come himself? CONSTANZE He's terribly busy, sir. SALIERI I understand. He takes the portfolio and puts it on a table. SALIERI I will look at them, of course, the moment I can. It will be an honour. Please give him my warmest. CONSTANZE Would it be too much trouble, sir, to ask you to look at them now? While I wait. SALIERI I'm afraid I'm not at leisure this very moment. Just leave them with me. I assure you they will be quite safe. CONSTANZE I - I really cannot do that, Your Excellency. You see, he doesn't know I'm here. SALIERI Really? CONSTANZE My husband is a proud man, sir. He would be furious if he knew I'd come. SALIERI Then he didn't send you? CONSTANZE No, sir. This is my own idea. SALIERI I see. CONSTANZE Sir, we really need this job. We're desperate. My husband spends far more than he can ever earn. I don't mean he's lazy - he's not at all - he works all day long. It's just! he's not practical. Money simply slips through his fingers, it's really ridiculous, Your Excellency. I know you help musicians. You're famous for it. Give him just this one post. We'd be forever indebted! A short pause. SALIERI Let me offer you some refreshment. Do you know what these are? He indicates a dish piled high with glazed chestnuts. SALIERI Cappezzoli di Venere. Nipples of Venus. Roman chestnuts in brandied sugar. Won't you try one? They're quite surprising. He offers her the dish. She takes one and puts it in her mouth. He watches carefully. CONSTANZE Oh! They're wonderful. He takes one himself. We notice on his finger a heavy gold signet-ring. CONSTANZE Thank you very much, Your Excellency. SALIERI Don't keep calling me that. It puts me at such a distance. I was not born a Court Composer, you know. I'm from a small town, just like your husband. He smiles at her. She takes another chestnut. SALIERI Are you sure you can't leave that music, and come back again? I have other things you might like. CONSTANZE That's very tempting, but it's impossible, I'm afraid. Wolfi would be frantic if he found those were missing. You see, they're all originals. SALIERI Originals? CONSTANZE Yes. A pause. He puts out his hand and takes up the portfolio from the table. He opens it. He looks at the music. He is puzzled. SALIERI These are originals? CONSTANZE Yes, sir. He doesn't make copies. CUT TO: INT. OLD SALIERI'S HOSPITAL ROOM - NIGHT - 1823 The old man faces the Priest. OLD SALIERI Astounding! It was actually beyond belief. These were first and only drafts of music yet they showed no corrections of any kind. Not one. Do you realize what that meant? Vogler stares at him. OLD SALIERI He'd simply put down music already finished in his head. Page after page of it, as if he was just taking dictation. And music finished as no music is ever finished. INT. SALIERI'S SALON - LATE AFTERNOON - 1780'S CU, The manuscript in Mozart's handwriting. The music begins to sound under the following: OLD SALIERI (V.O.) Displace one note and there would be diminishment. Displace one phrase, and the structure would fall. It was clear to me. That sound I had heard in the Archbishop's palace had been no accident. Here again was the very voice of God! I was staring through the cage of those meticulous ink- strokes at an absolute, inimitable beauty. The music swells. What we now hear is an amazing collage of great passages from Mozart's music, ravishing to Salieri and to us. The Court Composer, oblivious to Constanze, who sits happily chewing chestnuts, her mouth covered in sugar, walks around and around his salon, reading the pages and dropping them on the floor when he is done with them. We see his agonized and wondering face: he shudders as if in a rough and tumbling sea; he experiences the point where beauty and great pain coalesce. More pages fall than he can read, scattering across the floor in a white cascade, as he circles the room. Finally, we hear the tremendous Qui Tollis from the Mass in C Minor. It seems to break over him like a wave and, unable to bear any more of it, he slams the portfolio shut. Instantly, the music breaks off, reverberating in his head. He stands shaking, staring wildly. Constanze gets up, perplexed. CONSTANZE Is it no good? A pause. SALIERI It is miraculous. CONSTANZE Oh yes. He's really proud of his work. Another pause. CONSTANZE So, will you help him? Salieri tries to recover himself. SALIERI Tomorrow night I dine with the Emperor. One word from me and the post is his. CONSTANZE Oh, thank you, sir! Overjoyed, she stops and kisses his hand. He raises her - and then clasps her to him clumsily. She pushes herself away. SALIERI Come back tonight. CONSTANZE Tonight? SALIERI Alone. CONSTANZE What for? SALIERI Some service deserves service in return. No? CONSTANZE What do you mean? SALIERI Isn't it obvious? They stare at one another: Constanze in total disbelief. SALIERI It's a post all Vienna seeks. If you want it for your husband, come tonight. CONSTANZE But! I'm a married woman! SALIERI Then don't. It's up to you. Not to be vague, that is the price. He glares at her. SALIERI Yes. He rings a silver bell for a servant and abruptly leaves the roam. Constanze stares after him, horrified. The servant enters. Shocked and stunned, Constanze goes down an her knees and starts picking up the music from the floor. CUT TO: INT. OLD SALIERI'S HOSPITAL ROOM - NIGHT - 1823 CU, Father Vogler, horrified. OLD SALIERI Yes, Father. Yes! So much for my vow of chastity. What did it matter? Good, patient, hard-working, chaste - what did it matter? Had goodness made me a good composer? I realized it absolutely then - that moment: goodness is nothing in the furnace of art. And I was nothing to God. VOGLER (crying out) You cannot say that! OLD SALIERI No? Was Mozart a good man? VOGLER God's ways are not yours. And you are not here to question Him. Offer him the salt of penitence. He will give you back the bread of eternal life. He is all merciful. That is all you need to know. OLD SALIERI All I ever wanted was to sing to Him. That's His doing, isn't it? He gave me that longing - then made me mute. Why? Tell me that. If He didn't want me to serve Him with music, why implant the desire, like a lust in my body, then deny me the talent? Go on, tell me! Speak for Him! VOGLER My son, no one can speak for God. OLD SALIERI Oh? I thought you did so every day. So speak now. Answer me! VOGLER I do not claim to unravel the mysteries. I treasure them. As you should. OLD SALIERI (impatiently) Oh yes, yes, yes, yes, yes! Always the same stale answers! (intimately to the priest) There is no God of Mercy, Father. Just a God of torture. CUT TO: INT. SALIERI'S APARTMENT - BEDROOM - NIGHT - 1780'S Salieri sits at his desk, staring up at the cross. OLD SALIERI (V.O.) Evening came to that room. I sat there not knowing whether the girl would return or not. I prayed as I'd never prayed before. SALIERI Dear God, enter me now. Fill me with one piece of true music. One piece with your breath in it, so I know that you love me. Please. Just one. Show me one sign of your favour, and I will show mine to Mozart and his wife. I will get him the royal position, and if she comes, I'll receive her with all respect and send her home in joy. Enter me! Enter me! Please! Te imploro. Long, long silence. Salieri stares at the cross. Christ stares back at him impassively. Finally in this silence we hear a faint knocking at the door. Salieri stirs himself. A servant appears. SERVANT That lady is back, sir. SALIERI Show her in. Then go to bed. The Servant bows and leaves. We follow him through: INT. MUSIC ROOM IN SALIERI'S APARTMENT - NIGHT - 1780'S The Servant crosses it and enters: INT. SALON IN SALIERI'S APARTMENT - NIGHT - 1780'S Constanze is sitting on an upright chair, veiled as before, the portfolio of music on her lap. Through the far door leading from the hall, another servant is peering at her. The first servant joins him and shuts the door on the girl, leaving her alone. We stay with her. The clock ticks on the mantelpiece. We hear an old carriage pass in the street below. Nervously she lifts her veil and looks about her. Suddenly Salieri appears from the music room. He is pale and very tight. They regard each other. She smiles and rises to greet him, affecting a relaxed and warm manner, as if to put him at his ease. CONSTANZE Well, I'm here. My husband has gone to a concert. He didn't think I would enjoy it. A pause. CONSTANZE I do apologize for this afternoon. I behaved like a silly girl. Where shall we go? SALIERI What? CONSTANZE Should we stay here? It's a charming room. I love these candlesticks. Were they here earlier? I didn't notice them I suppose I was too nervous. As she talks, she extinguishes the candles in a pair of Venetian candelabra and subsequently other candles around the room. CONSTANZE Wolfgang was given some candlesticks by King George in England, but they were only wood. Oh, excuse me. Let's not talk about him. What do you think of this? It's real lace. Brussels. She turns and takes off her shawl. CONSTANZE Well, it's much too good for every day. I keep saying to Wolfi, don't be so extravagant. Presents are lovely, but we can't afford them. It doesn't do any good. The more I tell him, the more he spends. Oh, excuse me! There I go again. She picks up the portfolio. CONSTANZE Do you still want to look at this? Or don't we need to bother anymore? I imagine we don't, really. She looks at him inquiringly, and drops the portfolio on the floor; pages of music pour out of it. Instantly we hear a massive chord, and the great Qui Tollis from the Mass in C Minor fills the room. To its grand and weighty sound, Constanze starts to undress, watched by the horrified Salieri. Between him and her, music is an active presence, hurting and baffling him. He opens his mouth in distress. The music pounds in his head. The candle flickers over her as she removes her clothes and prepares for his embrace. Suddenly he cries out. SALIERI Go! Go! Go! He snatches up the bell and shakes it frantically, not stopping until the two servants we saw earlier appear at the door. The music stops abruptly. They stare at the appalled and frightened Constanze, who is desperately trying to cover her nakedness. SALIERI Show this woman out! Constanze hurls herself at him. CONSTANZE You shit! You shit! You rotten shit! He seizes her wrists and thrusts her back. Then he leaves the room quickly, slamming the door behind him. Constanze turns and sees the two servants goggling at her in the room. CONSTANZE What are you staring at? Wildly, she picks up the candelabrum and throws it at them. It shatters on the floor. INT. SALIERI'S APARTMENT - BEDROOM - NIGHT - 1780'S CU, Salieri standing, his eyes shut, shaking in distress. He opens them and sees Christ across the room, staring at him from the wall. OLD SALIERI (V.O.) From now on, we are enemies, You and I! CUT TO: INT. OLD SALIERI'S HOSPITAL ROOM - NIGHT - 1823 The old man is reliving the experience. Vogler looks at him, horrified. OLD SALIERI Because You will not enter me, with all my need for you; because You scorn my attempts at virtue; because You choose for Your instrument a boastful, lustful, smutty infantile boy and give me for reward only the ability to recognize the Incarnation; because You are unjust, unfair, unkind, I will block You! I swear it! I will hinder and harm Your creature on earth as far as I am able. I will ruin Your Incarnation. CUT BACK TO: INT. SALIERI'S APARTMENT - BEDROOM - NIGHT - 1780'S CU, the fireplace. In it lies the olivewood Christ on the cross, burning. OLD SALIERI (V.O.) What use after all is Man, if not to teach God His lessons? The cross flames up and disintegrates. Salieri stares at it. CUT TO: INT. MOZART'S APARTMENT - LIVING ROOM - NIGHT - 1780'S The front door bursts open. Mozart stumbles in, followed by EMMANUEL SCHIKANEDER, three young actresses, and another man, all fairly drunk. Schikaneder (who appears everywhere accompanied by young girls) is a large, fleshy, extravagant man of about thirty-five. MOZART Stanzi! Stanzi! Stanzi-Manzi! The others laugh. MOZART Sssh! SCHIKANEDER (imitating Mozart) Stanzi-Manzi-Banzi-Wanzi! MOZART Sssh! Stay here. He walks unsteadily to the bedroom door and opens it. SCHIKANEDER (to the girls, very tipsy) Sssh! You're dishgrashful! INT. MOZART'S APARTMENT - BEDROOM - NIGHT - 1780'S Constanze lies in bed, her back turned to her husband, who comes into the room and shuts the door. MOZART (playfully) Stanzi? How's my mouse? Mouse-wouse? I'm back - puss-wuss is back! She turns around abruptly. She looks dreadful; her eyes red with weeping. Mozart is shocked. MOZART Stanzi! He approaches the bed and sits on it. Immediately she starts crying again, desperately. MOZART What's the matter? What is it? Stanzi! He holds her and she clings to him in a fierce embrace, crying a flood of tears. MOZART Stop it now. Stop it. I've brought some friends to meet you. They're next door waiting. Do we have anything to eat? They're all starving. CONSTANZE Tell them to go away. I don't want to see anybody. MOZART What's the matter with you? CONSTANZE Tell them to go! MOZART Sssh. What is it? Tell me. CONSTANZE No! MOZART Yes! CONSTANZE I love you! I love you! She starts crying again, throwing her arms around his neck. CONSTANZE I love you. Please stay with me. I'm frightened. INT. THE ROYAL PALACE - DINING ROOM - DAY - 1780'S Joseph sits eating. A butler serves him goat's milk to drink. Joseph is holding a memorandum from Salieri in his hand. Salieri stands before him. JOSEPH I don't think you understand me, Court Composer. SALIERI Majesty, I did. Believe me, it was a most agonizing. decision. But finally, I simply could not recommend Herr Mozart. JOSEPH Why not? SALIERI Well, Sire, I made some inquiries in a routine way. I was curious to know why he had so few pupils. It is rather alarming. JOSEPH Oh? With a gesture Joseph dismisses the butler, who bows and leaves the room. SALIERI Majesty, I don't like to talk against a fellow musician. JOSEPH Of course not. SALIERI I have to tell you, Mozart is not entirely to be trusted alone with young ladies. JOSEPH Really? SALIERI As a matter of fact, one of my own pupils - a very young singer - told me she was - er - well! JOSEPH Yes? SALIERI Molested, Majesty. Twice, in the course of the same lesson. A pause. JOSEPH Ah-ha. Well. There it is. INT. SALIERI'S HOUSE - STAIRCASE - VIENNA - DAY - 1780'S Salieri has just returned from the palace and is coming up the staircase. He is met by his servant. SERVANT Sir, there is a Herr Mozart waiting for you in the salon. Salieri is plainly alarmed. SALIERI What does he want? SERVANT He didn't say, sir. I told him I didn't know when you would be back, but he insisted on waiting. SALIERI Come with me. And stay in the room. He mounts the stairs. INT. SALIERI'S APARTMENT - SALON - DAY - 1780'S Mozart is waiting for Salieri, holding a portfolio. Salieri approaches him nervously. Mozart stands not belligerently, but humbly. SALIERI Herr Mozart, what brings you here? MOZART Your Excellency, you requested some specimens of my work. Here they are. I don't have to tell you how much I need your help. I truly appreciate your looking at these. I have pressures on me - financial pressures. As you know, I'm a married man now. SALIERI So you are. How is your pretty wife? MOZART She is well. She is - well, actually, I'm about to become a father! She only told me last night. You are the first to know. SALIERI I'm flattered. And congratulations to you, of course. MOZART So you see, this post is very important to me right now. Salieri looks at him in distress. SALIERI Why didn't you come to me yesterday, Mozart? This is a most painful situation. Yesterday I could have helped you. Today, I can't. MOZART Why? Here is the music. It's here. I am submitting it humbly. Isn't that what you wanted? SALIERI I have just come from the palace. The post has been filled. MOZART Filled? That's impossible! They haven't even seen my work. I need this post. Please, can't you help me? Please! SALIERI My dear Mozart, there is no one in the world I would rather help, but now it is too late. MOZART Whom did they choose? SALIERI Herr Sommer. MOZART Sommer? Herr Sommer? But the man's a fool! He's a total mediocrity. SALIERI No, no, no: he has yet to achieve mediocrity. MOZART But I can't lose this post, I simply can't! Excellency, please. Let's go to the palace, and you can explain to the Emperor that Herr Sommer is an awful choice. He could actually do musical harm to the Princess! SALIERI An implausible idea. Between you and me, no one in the world could do musical harm to the Princess Elizabeth. Mozart chuckles delightedly. Salieri offers him a glass of white dessert and a spoon. Mozart takes it absently and goes on talking. MOZART Look, I must have pupils. Without pupils I can't manage. SALIERI You don't mean to tell me you are living in poverty? MOZART No, but I'm broke. I'm always broke. I don't know why. SALIERI It has been said, my friend, that you are inclined to live somewhat above your means. MOZART How can anyone say that? We have no cook, no maid. We have no footman. Nothing at all! SALIERI How is that possible? You give concerts, don't you? I hear they are quite successful. MOZART They're stupendously successful. You can't get a seat. The only problem is none will hire me. They all want to hear me play, but they won't let me teach their daughters. As if I was some kind of fiend. I'm not a fiend! SALIERI Of course not. MOZART Do you have a daughter? SALIERI I'm afraid not. MOZART Well, could you lend me some money till you have one? Then I'll teach her for free. That's a promise. Oh, I'm sorry. I'm being silly. Papa's right - I should put a padlock on my mouth. Seriously, is there any chance you could manage a loan? Only for six months, eight at most. After that I'll be the richest man in Vienna. I'll pay you back double. Anything. Name your terms. I'm not joking. I'm working on something that's going to explode like a bomb all over Europe! SALIERI Ah, how exciting! Tell me more. MOZART I'd better not. It's a bit of a secret. SALIERI Come, come, Mozart; I'm interested. Truly. MOZART Actually, it's a big secret. Oh, this is delicious! What is it? SALIERI Cream cheese mixed with granulated sugar and suffused with rum. Crema al Mascarpone. MOZART Ah. Italian? SALIERI Forgive me. We all have patriotic feelings of some kind. MOZART Two thousand, two hundred florins is all I need A hundred? Fifty? SALIERI What exactly are you working on? MOZART I can't say. Really SALIERI I don't think you should become known in Vienna as a debtor, Mozart. However, I know a very distinguished gentleman I could recommend to you. And he has a daughter. Will that do? INT. MICHAEL SCHLUMBERG'S HOUSE - MORNING - 1780'S Hysterical barking and howling. The hall is full of dogs, at least five, all jumping up and dashing about and making a terrific racket. Mozart, dandified in a new coat and a plumed hat for the occasion, has arrived to teach at the house of a prosperous merchant, MICHAEL SCHLUMBERG. Bluff, friendly and coarse-looking, he stands in his hall amidst the leaping and barking animals, greeting Mozart. SCHLUMBERG Quiet! Quiet! Quiet! Down there, damn you. (to Mozart) Welcome to you. Pay no attention, they're impossible. Stop it, you willful things! Come this way. Just ignore them. They're perfectly harmless, just willful. I treat them just like my own children. MOZART And which one of them do you want me to teach? SCHLUMBERG What? Ha-ha! That's funny - I like it. Which one, eh? You're a funny fellow. (shouting) Hannah! Come this way. He leads Mozart through the throng of dogs into a salon furnished with comfortable middle-class taste. SCHLUMBERG Hannah! FRAU SCHLUMBERG appears: an anxious woman in middle life. SCHLUMBERG (to Mozart) You won't be teaching this one either. She's my wife. MOZART (bowing) Madame. SCHLUMBERG This is Herr Mozart, my dear. The young man Herr Salieri recommended to teach our Gertrude. Where is she? FRAU SCHLUMBERG Upstairs. SCHLUMBERG Gertrude! FRAU SCHLUMBERG You can't be Herr Mozart! MOZART I'm afraid I am. SCHLUMBERG Of course, it's him. Who do you think it is? FRAU SCHLUMBERG I've heard about you for ages! I thought you must be an old man. SCHLUMBERG Gertrude! FRAU SCHLUMBERG It's such an honour for us to have you here, Herr Mozart. And for Gertrude. SCHLUMBERG People who know say the girl's got talent. You must judge for yourself. If you think she stinks, say so. FRAU SCHLUMBERG Michael, please! I'm sure you will find her most willing, Herr Mozart. She's really very excited. She's been preparing all morning. MOZART Really? FRAU SCHLUMBERG Ah, now! Here she comes. GERTRUDE SCHLUMBERG appears in the doorway: an awkward girl of fifteen in her best dress, her hair primped and curled. She is exceedingly nervous. MOZART Good morning, Fraulein Schlumberg. SCHLUMBERG Strudel, this is Herr Mozart. Say good morning. Gertrude giggles instead. FRAU SCHLUMBERG (to Mozart) Perhaps a little refreshment first? A little coffee, or a little chocolate? MOZART I'd like a little wine, if you have it. FRAU SCHLUMBERG Wine? SCHLUMBERG Quite right. He's going to need it. (calling and clapping his hands) Klaus! A bottle of wine. Prestissimo! Now let's go to it. I've been waiting all day for this. He leads the way into: INT. MUSIC ROOM - DAY - 1780'S A forte-piano is open and waiting. All the dogs follow him. After them come Mozart Frau and Fraulein Schlumberg. To Mozart's dismay, husband and wife seat themselves quite formally on a little narrow sofa, side by side. SCHLUMBERG (To the dogs) Now sit down all of you and behave. Zeman, Mandi, absolutely quiet! (to a young beagle) Especially you, Dudelsachs - not one sound from you. The dogs settle at their feet. Husband and wife smile encouragingly at each other. SCHLUMBERG Come on, then. Up and at it! Mozart gestures to the music bench. Reluctantly, the girl sits at the instrument. Mozart sits beside her. MOZART Now, please play me something. Just to give me an idea. Anything will do. GERTRUDE (to parents) I don't want you to stay. FRAU SCHLUMBERG That's all right, dear. Just go ahead, as if we weren't here. GERTRUDE But you are here. SCHLUMBERG Never mind, Strudel. It's part of music, getting used to an audience. Aren't I right, Herr Mozart? MOZART Well, yes! on the whole. I suppose. (to Gertrude) How long have you been playing, Fraulein? FRAU SCHLUMBERG Just one year. MOZART Who was your teacher? FRAU SCHLUMBERG I was. But she quite outgrew the little I could show her. MOZART Thank you, Madame. (to Gertrude) Come on now - courage. Play me something you know. In response the wretched girl just stares down at the keyboard without playing a note. An awkward pause. MOZART Perhaps it would be better if we were left alone. I think we're both a little shy. Husband and wife look at each other. SCHLUMBERG Nonsense. Strudel's not shy. She's just willful! You give into her now, you'll be sorry later. Strudel - play. Silence. The girl sits unmoving. Schlumberg bellows: SCHLUMBERG I said play! FRAU SCHLUMBERG Michael! MOZART Perhaps if I were to play a little first, it might encourage the Fraulein. (to the girl) Why don't you let me try the instrument? All right? Suddenly the girl rises. Mozart smiles at the parents. They smile nervously back. Mozart slides along the bench, raises his hands and preludes over the keys. Instantly a dog howls loudly. Startled, Mozart stops. Schlumberg leaps to his feet and goes over to the beagle. SCHLUMBERG Stop that, Dudelsachs! Stop it at once! (to Mozart) Don't let him disturb you. He'll be all right. He's just a little willful too. Please, please - play. I beg you. Mozart resumes playing. This time it is a lively piece, perhaps the Presto Finale from the K. 450. The dog howls immediately. SCHLUMBERG Stop it! STOP! Mozart stops. SCHLUMBERG No, not you. I was talking to the dog. You keep playing. It's most important. He always howls when he hears music. We've got to break them of the habit. Play, please. Please! Amazed, Mozart starts to play the Rondo again. The dog howls louder. SCHLUMBERG That's it. Now keep going, just keep going. (to the beagle) Now you stop that noise, Dudelsachs, you stop it this instant! This instant, do you hear me? Keep going, Herr Mozart, that's it. Go on, go on! Mozart plays on. Suddenly the dog falls silent. Schlumberg smiles broadly. SCHLUMBERG Good, good, good! Very good dog! Very, very good Dudelsachs. (to his wife, snapping his fingers) Quick, quick, dear, bring his biscuit. The wife scurries to get a jar of biscuits. A servant brings in an open bottle of wine and a full glass on a tray. He puts it down beside Mozart as Schlumberg addresses the silent dog with deepest affection. SCHLUMBERG Now guess who's going to get a nice reward? Clever, clever Dudi. He gives the biscuit to the dog who swallows it greedily. Mozart stops playing and stands up. SCHLUMBERG It's a miracle, Herr Mozart! MOZART (barely controlling himself) Well, I'm a good teacher. The next time you wish me to instruct another of your dogs, please let me know. Goodbye, Fraulein, goodbye, Madame! goodbye, Sir! He bows to them and leaves the room. They look after him in puzzled astonishment. FRAU SCHLUMBERG What a strange young man. SCHLUMBERG Yes. He is a little strange. EXT. A BUSY STREET IN VIENNA - DAY - 1780'S A cheerful scene. We see Mozart strutting and beaming, making his way through the crowd of porters, carriers and hawkers, sellers of sausages and pastries, vendors of hats and ribbons. Horses and carriage clatter past him. His mood is best expressed by a bubbling version of Non piu Andrai played on the forte-piano. Still in the same mood, he enters the door of his own house. INT. MOZART'S HOUSE - HALLWAY - DAY - 1780'S Suddenly, he stops. He looks up the stairs. The grim opening chords from the Overture to Don Giovanni cut across the march from Figaro. What he sees, looking up the stairs, is a menacing figure in a long, grey cape and dark grey hat, standing on the landing. The light comes from behind the figure so that we see only its silhouette as it unfolds its arms towards Mozart in an alarming gesture of possession. It takes a beat in which the air of sinister mystery is held before Mozart realizes who it is. Then, as the music continues, he hastily sets down the bottle of wine and rushes joyfully up the stairs and hurls himself into the figure's arms. MOZART Papa! PAPA! Both men embrace. The music slowly fades. INT. MOZART'S LIVING ROOM - DAY - 1780'S A cramped, low-ceilinged little room which nobody has tidied for ages. We see music lying everywhere. Also there are many empty wine bottles; musical instruments - among them a mandolin, a viola, a forte-piano with the black and white keys reversed - books and abandoned plates of food. Mozart clasps his father's arms. Leopold is now seen as an aging, travel-stained man in clothes that need repair. His face is lined, and he is obviously not in perfect health. MOZART Why are you here? LEOPOLD Am I not welcome? MOZART Of course, welcome! Welcome ten thousand times. Papa! my Papa! He kisses his hands. LEOPOLD You're very thin. Does she not feed you, this wife of yours? Mozart ducks away and fetches his father's bags from the landing. MOZART Feed? Well, of course she feeds me. She stuffs me like a goose all day long. She's the best cook in the world. I mean, since Mama. Just wait, you'll see. LEOPOLD Is she not here? MOZART I don't know. Stanzi? Stanzi! Leopold looks about him at the mess in the room. LEOPOLD Do you always live like this? MOZART Oh, yes. Oh, I mean no - not exactly like this. I mean today - just today, Stanzi - I remember now. She had to go - yes! She had to help her mother. Yes, she's like that. Her mother's a very sweet woman, you'll see. He carries the bag across the room and opens the door of the bedroom. Constanze lies in bed. She sits up, startled. MOZART Oh! I didn't know you were home. Stanzi, this is my father. Constanze, who looks ill and tired, stares at Leopold. Leopold stares back from the doorway. MOZART We'll wait, we'll wait. Why don't you get up now, darling? He closes the door again. MOZART She's very tired, poor creature. You know me: I'm a real pig. It's not so easy cleaning up after me. LEOPOLD Don't you have a maid? MOZART Oh we could, if we wanted to, but Stanzi won't hear of it. She wants to do everything herself. LEOPOLD How is your financial situation? MOZART It couldn't be better. LEOPOLD That's not what I hear. MOZART What do you mean? It's wonderful. Really, it's - it's marvelous! People love me here. LEOPOLD They say you're in debt. MOZART Who? Who says that? Now that's a malicious lie! LEOPOLD How many pupils do you have? MOZART Pupils? LEOPOLD Yes. MOZART Yes. LEOPOLD How many? MOZART I don't know. It's not important. I mean, I don't want pupils. They get in the way. I've got to have time for composition. LEOPOLD Composition doesn't pay. You know that. MOZART This one will. He picks up some pages of manuscript. LEOPOLD What's that? MOZART Oh, let's not talk about it. LEOPOLD Why not? MOZART It's a secret. LEOPOLD You don't have secrets from me. MOZART It's too dangerous, Papa. But they're going to love it. Ah, there she is! Constanze comes into the room. She is wearing a dressing gown and has made a perfunctory attempt to tidy her hair. We see that she is clearly pregnant. MOZART My Stanzi - look at her! Isn't she beautiful? Come on now, confess, Papa. Could you want a prettier girl for a daughter? CONSTANZE Stop it, Wolfi. I look dreadful. Welcome to our house, Herr Mozart. MOZART He's not Herr Mozart. Call him Papa. LEOPOLD I see that you're expecting. CONSTANZE Oh, yes. LEOPOLD When, may I ask? CONSTANZE In three months! Papa. MOZART Isn't that marvelous? We're delighted. LEOPOLD Why didn't you mention it in your letters? MOZART Didn't I? I thought I did. I'm sure I did. He gives a little giggle of embarrassment. CONSTANZE May I offer you some tea, Herr Mozart? MOZART Tea? Who wants tea? Let's go out! This calls for a feast. You don't want tea, Papa. Let's go dancing. Papa loves parties, don't you? CONSTANZE Wolfi! MOZART What? How can you be so boring? Tea! CONSTANZE Wolfi, I think your father's tired. I'll cook us something here. LEOPOLD Thank you. That'll be fine. Don't spend any money on me. MOZART Why not? Oh, come, Papa! What better way could I spend it than on you? My kissable, missable, suddenly visible Papa! The jaunty tune of Ich Mochte Wohl Der Kaiser sein (K.539) sounds through all the following. This is an alternate song from Il Seraglio: a very extroverted tune for baritone and orchestra and a prominent part for bass drum. The vocal part should be arranged for trumpet. EXT. STREET IN VIENNA - DAY - 1780'S Mozart and Constanze with Leopold between them. We see couples shopping. INT. A COSTUME SHOP - VIENNA - DAY - 1780'S This is a shop where one can buy costumes for masquerades. It is filled with extravagant costumes of various kinds. Wolfgang is wearing a costume, a mask pushed up on his forehead; Constanze is wearing a little white velvet mask. Amidst the merriment, Leopold is helped by two assistants to put on a dark grey cloak and a dark grey tricorne hat, to which is attached a full mask of dark grey. Its mouth is cut into a fixed upward smile. He turns and looks at his son through this mask. CUT STRAIGHT TO: INT. A LARGE PARTY ROOM - VIENNA - NIGHT - 1780'S We are in the full whirl of a Masquerade Ball. Couples are dancing around dressed in fantastic costumes. The music of Ich Mochte Wohl Der Kaiser sein increases in volume and persists. We see the musicians thumping it out on a balustrade above the dancers. A steer is being roasted. Through the bobbing crowd we see a group, headed by the figure of Bacchus: this is Schikaneder in a Greek costume, wearing vine leaves in his hair. He is accompanied by his usual trio of actresses and three other men. Constanze as Columbine and Mozart as Harlequin are pulling Leopold by the hand of his dark cloak and smiling mask. This whole group threads its way across the crowded room and disappears through a door. As they go, they are watched by Salieri, standing alone in a corner, wearing ordinary evening clothes. He turns away hastily to avoid being seen by them. As soon as they disappear into the far room, Salieri goes quickly to a lady in the corner who is giving guests domino masks off a tray. He quickly takes a small black mask and puts it on. CUT TO: INT. A GROTTO ROOM NEXT DOOR - NIGHT - 1780'S A fantastic room designed as a rocky grotto, lit by candles. A forte-piano to one side is being played by Schikaneder: the music of Ich Mochte Wohl Der Kaiser sein cross-fades to another tune. This is Vivat Bacchus from Il Seraglio which Schikaneder, dressed as Bacchus, is humming as he plays. The music is actually accompanying a game of Forfeits, which has begun. Five couples (the group we have just seen) are dancing in the middle of a ring made by nine chairs. When the music stops they will each have to find a chair, and the one who fails must pay a forfeit. Constanze is dancing with Leopold; Mozart is dancing with one of the actresses; the two other actresses are dancing with two other gentlemen; and two children dance together - a little boy and a little girl. The scene is watched by a circle of bystanders; among them - from the doorway - is Salieri. Schikaneder stops playing. Immediately the couples scramble for the chairs. Leopold and Constanze meet on the same chair, bumping and pushing at each other to get sole possession of it. To the amusement of the people around, the chair over- balances and they both end up on the floor. Constanze immediately gets up again, sets the chair on its feet, and tries to pretend she was sitting in it all the time. But Schikaneder calls out from the forte-piano. SCHIKANEDER No, no! You both lost. You both lost. You both have to forfeit. And the penalty is you must exchange your wigs. People are delighted by the idea of this penalty. The children jump up and down with excitement. The three actresses immediately surround Leopold, reaching for his hat and mask and wig, whilst he tries to hold on to them. Mozart takes off Constanze's wig - an absurd affair with side-curls. Constanze laughingly surrenders it. LEOPOLD No, please! This is ridiculous! No, please! Despite his protests an actress takes off his hat, to which the smiling mask is attached, to reveal his outraged face showing a very different expression underneath. Another actress snatches off his wig to reveal very sparse hair on the old man's head. The third actress takes Constanze's wig from Mozart and attempts to put it on his father's head. LEOPOLD No, really! MOZART (calling to him) This is just a game, Papa. Constanze echoes him with a touch of malice in her voice. CONSTANZE This is just a game, Papa! Laughingly, the bystanders take it up, especially the children. BYSTANDERS This is just a game, Papa! As Leopold glares furiously about him, the actress succeeds in getting Constanze's wig firmly onto his head. Everybody bursts into applause. Delightedly, Constanze puts on Leopold's wig, hat and mask: from the waist up she now looks like a weird parody of Leopold in the smiling grey mask, and he looks like a weird parody of her in the silly feminine wig. Schikaneder starts to play again, and the couples start to dance. Leopold angrily takes off Constanze's wig and leaves the circle; his partner, Constanze, is left alone. Seeing this, Mozart leaves his partner and catches his father entreatingly by the arm. MOZART Oh no, Papa, please! Don't spoil the fun. Come on. Here, take mine. He takes off his own wig and puts it on Leopold's uncovered head. The effect, if not as ridiculous, is still somewhat bizarre, since Wolfgang favours fairly elaborate wigs. He takes Constanze's wig from his father. As this happens, the music stops again. Mozart gently pushes his father down onto a nearby chair; the others scramble for the other chairs; and he is left as the Odd Man Out. He giggles. Schikaneder calls out to Leopold from the keyboard. SCHIKANEDER Herr Mozart, why don't you name your son's penalty? Applause. MOZART Yes, Papa, name it. Name it. I'll do anything you say! LEOPOLD I want you to come back with me to Salzburg, my son. SCHIKANEDER What did he say? What did he say? MOZART Papa, the rule is you can only give penalties that can be performed in the room. LEOPOLD I'm tired of this game. Please play without me. MOZART But my penalty. I've got to have a penalty. All the bystanders are watching. SCHIKANEDER I've got a good one. I've got the perfect one for you. Come over here. Mozart runs over to the forte-piano, and Schikaneder surrenders his place at it. SCHIKANEDER Now, I want you to play our tune - sitting backwards. Applause. MOZART Oh, that's really too easy. Any child can do that. Amused sounds of disbelief. SCHIKANEDER And a fugue in the manner of Sebastian Bach. Renewed applause at this wicked extra penalty. Mozart smiles at Schikaneder - it is the sort of challenge he loves. He defiantly puts on Constanze's wig and seats himself with his back to the keyboard. Before the astonished eyes of the company he proceeds to execute this absurdly difficult task. His right hand plays the bass part, his left hand the treble, and with this added difficulty he improvises a brilliant fugue on the subject of the tune to which they have been dancing. Attracted by this astonishing feat, the players draw nearer to the instrument. So does Salieri, cautiously, with some of the bystanders. Constanze watches him approach. Only Leopold sits by himself, sulking. The fugue ends amidst terrific clapping. The guests call out to Mozart. GUESTS Another! Do another! Someone else. MOZART Give me a name. Who shall I do? Give me a name. GUESTS Gluck! Haydn! Frederic Handel! CONSTANZE Salieri! Do Salieri! SMASH CUT: Salieri's masked face whips around and looks at her. MOZART Now that's hard. That's very hard. For Salieri one has to face the right way around. Giggling, he turns around and sits at the keyboard. Then, watched by a highly amused group, he begins a wicked parody. He furrows his brow in mock concentration and closes his eyes. Then he begins to play the tune to which they danced, in the most obvious way imaginable, relying heavily on a totally and offensively unimaginative bass of tonic and dominant, endlessly repeated. The music is the very essence of banality. The bystanders rock with laughter. Mozart starts to giggle wildly. Through this excruciating scene, Salieri stares at Constanze, who suddenly turns her head and looks challengingly back at him. Mozart's parody reaches its coarse climax with him adding a fart noise instead of notes to end cadences. He builds this up, urged on in his clowning by everyone else, until suddenly he stops and cries out. The laughter cuts off. Mozart stands up, clutching his behind as if he has made a mess in his breeches. The momentary hush of alarm is followed by a howl of laughter. CU, Salieri staring in pain. INT. OLD SALIERI'S HOSPITAL ROOM - NIGHT - 1823 CU, The old man is shaking at the very recollection of his humiliation. OLD SALIERI Go on. Mock me. Laugh, laugh! CUT BACK TO: INT. GROTTO - NIGHT - 1780'S A repetition of the shot of Mozart at the forte-piano, wearing Constanze's wig and emitting a shrill giggle. CUT TO: INT. SALIERI'S APARTMENT - BEDROOM - NIGHT - 1780'S Salieri sits at his desk. He holds in his hand the small black party mask and stares in hatred at the place on the wall where the crucifix used to hang. Faintly we see the mark of the cross. OLD SALIERI (V.O.) That was not Mozart laughing, Father. That was God. That was God! God laughing at me through that obscene giggle. Go on, Signore. Laugh. Rub my nose in it. Show my mediocrity for all to see. You wait! I will laugh at You! Before I leave this earth, I will laugh at You! Amen! INT. MOZART'S WORKROOM - DAY - 1780'S It is littered with manuscripts. In the middle stands a billiard table. The beautiful closing ensemble from Act IV of Figaro: Ah, Tutti contenti! Saremo cosi plays in the background. Standing at the billiard table, Mozart is dreamily hearing the music and playing shots on the table. From time to time he drifts over to a piece of manuscript paper and jots down notes. He is very much in his own world of composition and the billiard balls are an aid to creation. Presently, however, we hear a knocking at the door. CONSTANZE (outside the door) Wolfi! Wolfgang! The music breaks off. MOZART What is it? He opens the door. CONSTANZE There's a young girl to see you. MOZART What does she want? CONSTANZE I don't know. MOZART Well, ask her! CONSTANZE She won't talk to me. She says she has to speak to you. MOZART Oh, damn! INT. MOZART'S APARTMENT - LIVING ROOM - DAY - 1780'S Mozart comes out. Framed in the doorway from outside stands Lorl, the maid we noticed in Salieri's house. From his bedroom Leopold peeps out to watch. Mozart goes to the girl. Constanze follows. MOZART Yes? LORL Are you Herr Mozart? MOZART That's right. LORL My name is Lorl, sir. I'm a maidservant. I was asked to come here and offer my services to you. MOZART What? LORL They'll be paid for by a great admirer or yours who wishes to remain anon - anonymous. CONSTANZE What do you mean? What admirer? LORL I can't tell you that, ma'am. MOZART Are you saying that someone is paying you to be our maid and doesn't want us to know who he is? LORL Yes. I can live in or out just as you wish. Mozart turns to his father. MOZART Papa, is this your idea? LEOPOLD Mine? The old man emerges from his bedroom. His son looks at him delightedly. MOZART Are you playing a trick on me? LEOPOLD I never saw this girl in my life. (to Lorl) Is this a kind of joke? LORL Not at all, sir. And I was told to wait for an answer. LEOPOLD Young woman, this won't do at all. My son can't possibly accept such an offer, no matter how generous, unless he knows who is behind it. LORL But I really can't tell you, sir. LEOPOLD Oh, this is ridiculous. CONSTANZE What is ridiculous? Wolfi has many admirers in Vienna. They love him here. People send us gifts all the time. LEOPOLD But you can't take her without reference. It's unheard of! CONSTANZE Well, this is none of your business. (to Lorl) Whoever sent you is going to pay, no? LORL That's right, ma'am. LEOPOLD So now we are going to let a perfect stranger into the house? Constanze looks furiously at him, then at Lorl. CONSTANZE Who is we? Who is letting who? (to Lorl) Could you please wait outside? LORL Yes, ma'am. Lorl goes outside and closes the door. Constanze turns on Leopold. CONSTANZE Look, old man, you stay out of this. We spend a fortune on you, more than we can possibly afford, and all you do is criticize, morning to night. And then you think you can - MOZART Stanzi! CONSTANZE No, it's right he should hear. I'm sick to death of it. We can't do anything right for you, can we? LEOPOLD Never mind. You won't have to do anything for me ever again. I'm leaving! MOZART Papa! LEOPOLD Don't worry, I'm not staying here to be a burden. MOZART No one calls you that. LEOPOLD She does. She says I sleep all day. CONSTANZE And so you do! The only time you come out is to eat. LEOPOLD And what do you expect? Who wants to walk out into a mess like this every day? CONSTANZE Oh, now I'm a bad housekeeper! LEOPOLD So you are! The place is a pigsty all the time. CONSTANZE (to Mozart) Do you hear him? Do you? Explosively she opens the door. CONSTANZE (to Lorl) When can you start? LORL Right away, ma'am. CONSTANZE Good! Come in. You'll start with that room there. (indicating Leopold's room) It's filthy! She leads the maid into Leopold's room. Mozart steals back into his workroom and gently closes the door. Leopold is left alone. LEOPOLD Sorry, sorry! I'm sorry I spoke! I'm just a provincial from Salzburg. What do I know about smart Vienna? Parties all night, every night. Dancing and drinking like idiot children! INT. MOZART'S WORKROOM - DAY - 1780'S Mozart stands trying to blot out the noise of his father's shouting from the next room. LEOPOLD (O.S.) Dinner at eight! Dinner at ten! Dinner when anyone feels like it! If anyone feels like it! The ensemble of Ah, Tutti contenti! Saremo cosi from Act IV of Figaro resumes, coming to his aid and rising to greet the listener with its serene harmonies. Relieved, Mozart languidly picks up his cue and plays a shot on the billiard table: he is sucked back into his own world of sound. INT. SALIERI'S SALON - NIGHT - 1780'S The music fades. We see Lorl, dressed in a walking cloak, sitting before a desk, talking to someone confidentially. LORL They're out every night, sir. Till all hours. A hand comes into frame offering a plate of sugared biscuits. On its finger we see the gold signet ring belonging to Salieri. LORL (taking one) Oh, thank you, sir. SALIERI Do any pupils come to the house? LORL Not that I've seen. SALIERI Then how does he pay for all this? Does he work at all? LORL Oh, yes, sir, all day long. He never leaves the house until evening. He just sits there, writing and writing. He doesn't even eat. SALIERI Really? What is it he's writing? LORL Oh, I wouldn't know that, sir. SALIERI Of course not. You're a good girl. You're very kind to do this. Next time you're sure they'll be out of the house, let me know, will you? Confused, the girl hesitates. He hands her a pile of coins. LORL Oh, thank you, sir! She accepts them, delighted. EXT. MOZART'S HOUSE - VIENNA STREET - AFTERNOON - 1780'S The final movement of Mozart's Piano Concerto in E-flat (K. 482) begins. To its lively music, the door of the house bursts open and a grand forte-piano augmented with a pedal is carried out of it by six men, who run off with it down the street. Following them immediately appear Wolfgang, Constanze and Leopold, all three dressed for an occasion. They climb into a waiting carriage which drives off after the forte-piano. As soon as it goes, Lorl appears in the doorway, peering slyly around to see that they are out of sight. Then she shuts the door and hurries off in the opposite direction. CUT TO: EXT. AN ORNAMENTAL GARDEN - VIENNA - AFTERNOON - 1780'S An outdoor concert is being given. Mozart is actually playing the final movement of his E-flat concerto with an orchestra. Listening to him is a sizable audience, including the Emperor, flanked by Strack and Von Swieten. The crowd is in a happy and appreciative mood: it is a delightful open-air scene. We hear the gayest and most complex passage. Leopold and Constanze listen to Mozart, who plays his own work brilliantly. We stay with this scene for a little while and then CUT TO: EXT. VIENNA STREET - AFTERNOON - 1780'S A carriage clopping through the streets. Lorl is sitting up on the box beside the driver. Inside the vehicle, we glimpse the figure of Salieri. EXT. AN ORNAMENTAL GARDEN - VIENNA - 1780'S We hear more of the concerto. Perhaps the slow interlude in the last movement of K. 482. Mozart is conducting and playing in a reflective mood. Abruptly we CUT TO: EXT. MOZART' S APARTMENT - AFTERNOON - 1780'S Lorl is opening the door admitting Salieri. They go in. The door shuts. INT. MOZART'S LIVING ROOM - AFTERNOON - 1780'S The room is considerably tidier as a result of Lorl's ministrations. Salieri stands looking about him with tremendous curiosity. LORL I think I've found out about the money, sir. SALIERI Yes what? She opens a drawer in a sideboard. Inside we see one gold snuff box: it is the one we saw Mozart being presented with as a child in the Vatican. LORL He kept seven snuff boxes in here. I could swear they were all gold. And now look there's only one left. And inside, sir, look - I counted them - tickets from the pawnshop. Six of them. Salieri turns to look around him. SALIERI Where does he work? LORL In there, sir. She points across the room to the workroom. Salieri crosses and goes in alone. INT. MOZART'S WORKROOM - AFTERNOON - 1780'S Salieri enters the private quarters of Amadeus. He is immensely excited. He moves slowly into the 'holy of holies' picking up objects with great reverence - a billiard ball; a discarded wig; a sock; a buckle - then objects more important to him. Standing at Mozart's desk, strewn with manuscripts, he picks up Mozart's pen and strokes the feather. He touches the inkstand. He lays a finger on the candlestick with its half-expired candle. He touches each object as if it were the memento of a beloved. He is in awe. Finally his eye falls on the sheets of music themselves. Stealthily he picks them up. CU, The pages. We see words set to music. Against each line of notes is the name of a character: Contessa, Susanna, Cherubino. Then another page - the title page - written in Mozart's hand. Le Nozze di Figaro Comedia per musica tratta dal Francese in quattro atti. CU, The word Figaro. CU, Salieri. He stares amazed. CUT TO: EXT. ORNAMENTAL GARDEN - VIENNA - AFTERNOON - 1780'S Mozart is playing the cadenza and coda of Piano Concerto (K. 482). He completes the work with a flourish. There is loud applause. The Emperor rises and all follow suit. Mozart comes down to be greeted by him. JOSEPH Bravo, Mozart. Most charming. Yes, indeed. Clever man. MOZART Thank you, Sire! VON SWIETEN Well done, Mozart. Really quite fine. MOZART Baron! He sees his wife and father standing by in the crowd. Leopold is signaling insistently. MOZART Majesty, may I ask you to do me the greatest favour? JOSEPH What is it? MOZART May I introduce my father? He is on a short visit here and returning very soon to Salzburg. He would so much like to kiss your hand. It would make his whole stay so memorable for him. JOSEPH Ah! By all means. Leopold comes forward eagerly and fawningly kisses the royal hand. LEOPOLD Your Majesty. Constanze curtsies. JOSEPH Good evening. (to Leopold) We have met before, Herr Mozart. LEOPOLD That's right, Your Majesty. Twenty years ago. No, twenty-two! twenty- three! And I remember word for word what you said to me. You said - you said -- He searches his memory. JOSEPH Bravo? LEOPOLD No! Yes, 'bravo,' of course 'bravo'! Everybody always says 'bravo' when Wolfi plays. Like the King of England. When we played for the King of England, he got up at the end and said, 'Bravo! Bravo! Bravo!' three times. Three bravo's. And the Pope four! Four bravo's from the Holy Father, and one 'bellissimo.' All the courtiers around are looking at him. MOZART Father - LEOPOLD Hush! I'm talking to His Majesty. Your Majesty, I wish to express only one thing - that you who are the Father of us all, could teach our children the gratitude they owe to fathers. It is not for nothing that the Fifth Commandment tells us: 'Honour your Father and Mother, that your days may be long upon the earth.' JOSEPH Ah-ha. Well. There it is. CUT TO: INT. ORSINI-ROSENBERG'S STUDY - DAY - 1780'S The Director sits at his table with Salieri and Bonno. SALIERI I've just learned something that might be of interest to you, Herr Director. ORSINI-ROSENBERG Yes? SALIERI Mozart is writing a new opera. An Italian opera. ORSINI-ROSENBERG Italian? BONNO Aie! SALIERI And that's not all. He has chosen for his subject, Figaro. The Marriage of Figaro. ORSINI-ROSENBERG You mean that play? SALIERI Exactly. ORSINI-ROSENBERG He's setting that play to music? SALIERI Yes. ORSINI-ROSENBERG You must be mad. BONNO What is this Marriage of Figaro? ORSINI-ROSENBERG It's a French play, Kapellmeister. It has been banned by the Emperor. BONNO Hah! He crosses himself, wide-eyed with alarm. ORSINI-ROSENBERG Are you absolutely sure? SALIERI I've seen the manuscript. ORSINI-ROSENBERG Where? SALIERI Never mind. CUT TO: INT. CHAMBERLAIN VON STRACK'S STUDY - DAY - 1780'S VON STRACK I know we banned this play, but frankly I can't remember why. Can you refresh my memory, Herr Director? ORSINI-ROSENBERG For the same reason, Herr Chamberlain, that it was banned in France. VON STRACK Oh yes, yes. And that was? ORSINI-ROSENBERG Well, the play makes a hero out of a valet. He outwits his noble master and exposes him as a lecher. Do you see the implications? This would be, in a grander situation, as if a Chamberlain were to expose an Emperor. VON STRACK Ah. CUT TO: INT. THE EMPEROR'S STUDY - DAY - 1780'S The Emperor stands in the middle of the room in close conversation with Von Strack, Orsini-Rosenberg, Von Swieten, and Bonno. Salieri is not present. A door opens and a lackey announces: LACKEY Herr Mozart. They all turn. Mozart approaches, rather apprehensively, and kisses Joseph's hand. JOSEPH Sit down, gentlemen, please. They all sit, save Mozart. The room suddenly looks like a tribunal. Joseph is in a serious mood. JOSEPH Mozart, are you aware I have declared the French play of Figaro unsuitable for our theatre? MOZART Yes, Sire. JOSEPH Yet we hear you are making an opera from it. Is this true? MOZART Who told you this, Majesty? JOSEPH It is not your place to ask questions. Is it true? MOZART Well, yes, I admit it is. JOSEPH Would you tell me why? MOZART Well, Majesty, it is only a comedy. ORSINI-ROSENBERG What you think, Mozart, is scarcely the point. It is what His Majesty thinks that counts. MOZART But, Your Majesty - JOSEPH (motioning him to be silent) Mozart, I am a tolerant man. I do not censor things lightly. When I do, I have good reason. Figaro is a bad play. It stirs up hatred between the classes. In France it has caused nothing but bitterness. My own dear sister Antoinette writes me that she is beginning to be frightened of her own people. I do not wish to see the same fears starting here. MOZART Sire, I swear to Your Majesty, there's nothing like that in the story. I have taken out everything that could give offense. I hate politics. JOSEPH I think you are rather innocent, my friend. In these dangerous times I cannot afford to provoke our nobles or our people simply over a theatre piece. The others look at their king solemnly, all save Mozart. MOZART But, Majesty, this is just a frolic. It's a piece about love. JOSEPH Ah, love again. MOZART But it's new, it's entirely new. It's so new, people will go mad for it. For example, I have a scene in the second act - it starts as a duet, just a man and wife quarreling. Suddenly the wife's scheming little maid comes in unexpectedly - a very funny situation. Duet turns into trio. Then the husband's equally screaming valet comes in. Trio turns into quartet. Then a stupid old gardener - quartet becomes quintet, and so on. On and on, sextet, septet, octet! How long do you think I can sustain that? JOSEPH I have no idea. MOZART Guess! Guess, Majesty. Imagine the longest time such a thing could last, then double it. JOSEPH Well, six or seven minutes! maybe eight! MOZART Twenty, sire! How about twenty? Twenty minutes of continuous music. No recitatives. VON SWIETEN Mozart - MOZART (ignoring him) Sire, only opera can do this. In a play, if more than one person speaks at the same time, it's just noise. No one can understand a word. But with music, with music you can have twenty individuals all talking at once, and it's not noise - it's a perfect harmony. Isn't that marvelous? VON SWIETEN Mozart, music is not the issue here. No one doubts your talent. It is your judgment of literature that's in question. Even with the politics taken out, this thing would still remain a vulgar farce. Why waste your spirit on such rubbish? Surely you can choose more elevated themes? MOZART Elevated? What does that mean? Elevated! The only thing a man should elevate is - oh, excuse me. I'm sorry. I'm stupid. But I am fed up to the teeth with elevated things! Old dead legends! How can we go on forever writing about gods and legends? VON SWIETEN (aroused) Because they do. They go on forever - at least what they represent. The eternal in us, not the ephemeral. Opera is here to ennoble us. You and me, just as much as His Majesty. BONNO Bello! Bello, Barone. Veramente. MOZART Oh, bello, bello, bello! Come on now, be honest. Wouldn't you all rather listen to your hairdressers than Hercules? Or Horatius? Or Orpheus? All those old bores! people so lofty they sound as if they shit marble! VON SWIETEN What? VON STRACK Govern your tongue, sir! How dare you? Beat. All look at the Emperor. MOZART Forgive me, Majesty. I'm a vulgar man. But I assure you, my music is not. JOSEPH You are passionate, Mozart! But you do not persuade. MOZART Sire, the whole opera is finished. Do you know how much work went into it? BONNO His Majesty has been more than patient, Signore. MOZART How can I persuade you if you won't let me show it? ORSINI-ROSENBERG That will do, Herr Mozart! MOZART Just let me tell you how it begins. VON STRACK Herr Mozart - MOZART May I just do that, Majesty? Show you how it begins? Just that? A slight pause. Then Joseph nods. JOSEPH Please. Mozart falls on his knees. MOZART Look! There's a servant, down on his knees. Do you know why? Not from any oppression. No, he's simply measuring a space. Do you know what for? His bed. His wedding bed to see if it will fit. He giggles. CUT TO: INT. OPERA HOUSE - DAY - 1780'S Mozart sits on stage at a harpsichord rehearsing the singers taking the parts of Figaro and Susanna in the opening bars of the first act of The Marriage of Figaro. We watch Figaro measuring the space for his bed on the floor, singing and Susanna looking on, trying on the Countess' hat. CUT TO: INT. SALIERI'S SALON - DAY - 1780'S Orsini-Rosenberg and Bonno are sitting with Salieri. ORSINI-ROSENBERG Well, Mozart is already rehearsing. SALIERI Incredible. ORSINI-ROSENBERG The Emperor has given him permission. BONNO Si, si! Veramente. SALIERI Well, gentlemen, so be it. In that case I think we should help Mozart all we can and do our best to protect him against the Emperor's anger. ORSINI-ROSENBERG What anger? SALIERI About the ballet. ORSINI-ROSENBERG Ballet? What ballet? SALIERI Excuse me - didn't His Majesty specifically forbid ballet in his opera? ORSINI-ROSENBERG Yes, absolutely. Is there a ballet in Figaro? SALIERI Yes, in the third act. CUT TO: INT. THE OPERA HOUSE - DAY - 1780'S It is a full orchestral rehearsal. Mozart is conducting from the harpsichord with his hands; he does not use a baton. The singers are all in practice clothes, not costumes. We are in the Act III and we hear the recitativo exchange just before the march begins. Orsini-Rosenberg and Bonno sit watching chairs. Suddenly the march starts. Peasants and friends start to dance in and at the same moment, Orsini-Rosenberg gets up and comes down to Mozart. He is accompanied by an anxious Bonno. ORSINI-ROSENBERG Mozart! Herr Mozart, may I have a word with you please. Right away. MOZART Certainly, Herr Director. He signals to the cast to break off. MOZART Five minutes, please! The company disperses, curious. The musicians look at Orsini- Rosenberg. ORSINI-ROSENBERG Did you not know that His Majesty has expressly forbidden ballet in his operas? MOZART Yes, but this is not a ballet. This is a dance at Figaro's wedding. ORSINI-ROSENBERG Exactly. A dance. MOZART But surely the Emperor didn't mean to prohibit dancing when it's part of the story. ORSINI-ROSENBERG It is dangerous for you to interpret His Majesty's edicts. Give me your score, please. Mozart hands him the score from which he is conducting. ORSINI-ROSENBERG Thank you. He rips out a page. Bonno watches in terror. MOZART What are you doing? He rips out three more. MOZART What are you doing, Herr Director? ORSINI-ROSENBERG Taking out what you should never have put in. He goes on tearing the pages determinedly. CUT TO: INT. SALIERI'S SALON - DAY - 1780'S A servant opens the door to announce. SERVANT Herr Mozart. Mozart brushes past him straight towards Salieri, who rises to greet him. The little man is near hysterics. MOZART Please! Please. I've no one else to turn to. Please! He grabs Salieri. SALIERI Wolfgang, what is it? Sta calmo, per favore. What's the matter? MOZART It's unbelievable! The Director has actually ripped out a huge section of my music. Pages of it. SALIERI Really? Why? MOZART I don't know. They say I've got to re-write the opera, but it's perfect as it is. I can't rewrite what's perfect. Can't you talk to him? SALIERI Why bother with Orsini-Rosenberg? He's obviously no friend of yours. MOZART Oh, I could kill him! I mean really kill him. I actually threw the entire opera on the fire, he made me so angry! SALIERI You burned the score? MOZART Oh no! My wife took it out in time. SALIERI How fortunate. MOZART It's not fair that a man like that has power over our work. SALIERI But there are those who have power over him. I think I'll take this up with the Emperor. MOZART Oh, Excellency, would you? SALIERI With all my heart, Mozart. MOZART Thank you! Oh, thank you. He kisses Salieri's hand. SALIERI (withdrawing it; imitating the Emperor) No, no, no, Herr Mozart, please. It's not a holy relic. Mozart giggles with relief and gratitude. INT. OLD SALIERI'S HOSPITAL ROOM - NIGHT - 1823 OLD SALIERI I'm sure I don't need to tell you I said nothing whatever to the Emperor. I went to the theatre ready to tell Mozart that His Majesty had flown into a rage when I mentioned the ballet, when suddenly, to my astonishment, in the middle of the third act, the Emperor - who never attended rehearsals - suddenly appeared. INT. OPERA HOUSE - DAY - 1780'S In the background the same recitativo before the March. The Emperor steals in surreptitiously with Von Strack, his finger to his lips. He motions everyone not to rise, and slips into a chair behind Salieri, Orsini-Rosenberg and Bonno. The three conspirators look at each other wide-eyed. The recitativo summons up the march, but instead there is silence. Mozart lays down his baton. The musicians lay down their instruments. The celebrants of Figaro's wedding come in with a few pitiful dance steps, in procession, only to come presently to a halt, lacking their music. The singers try to go on singing, but they have no cues from their conductor or from the accompaniment. Everyone on stage looks lost, though they attempt to go on with the story for a while. Consternation grows on the faces of the conspirators. Mozart glances back at the group seated in the theatre. Finally, the Emperor speaks, in a whisper. JOSEPH What is this? I don't understand. Is it modern? BONNO Majesty, the Herr Director, he has removed a balleto that would have occurred at this place. JOSEPH Why? ORSINI-ROSENBERG It is your regulation, Sire. No ballet in your opera. Mozart strains to hear what they are saying but cannot. JOSEPH Do you like this, Salieri? SALIERI It is not a question of liking, Your Majesty. Your own law decrees it, I'm afraid. JOSEPH Well, look at them. We do look at them. The spectacle on stage has now ground to a complete halt. JOSEPH No, no, no! This is nonsense. Let me hear the scene with the music. ORSINI-ROSENBERG But, Sire - JOSEPH Oblige me. Orsini-Rosenberg acknowledges his defeat. ORSINI-ROSENBERG Yes, Majesty. Orsini-Rosenberg rises and goes down to where Mozart sits anxiously with the musicians, watching his approach. ORSINI-ROSENBERG Can we see the scene with the music back, please? MOZART Oh yes, certainly. Certainly, Herr Director! He looks back deliriously at Salieri, trying to indicate his gratitude. Salieri acknowledges with a slight and subtle nod. Orsini-Rosenberg returns to his king. MOZART Ladies and gentlemen, we're going from where we stopped. The Count: Anches so. Right away, please! The singers scatter offstage to begin the scene again. JOSEPH (to Orsini-Rosenberg) What I hoped by that edict, Director, was simply to prevent hours of dancing like in French opera. There it is endless, as you know. ORSINI-ROSENBERG Quite so, Majesty. CUT BACK TO Mozart at the forte-piano, raising his hands. The musicians raise their bows. With a flourish the happy composer begins a reprise of the scene which had been cut out. The music of the march begins faintly; the celebrants of Figaro's wedding start to enter as the Count and the Countess sit in their chairs. In the theatre we see increasing pleasure on the Emperor's face, sullenness and defeat on the courtiers'. Then, suddenly, without interruption, on a crescendo repeat of the march, we CUT TO: INT. OPERA HOUSE - NIGHT - 1780'S The theatre is brilliantly lit for the first public performance of Figaro. Everybody is there: the Emperor, Von Strack, Bonno Orsini-Rosenberg, Von Swieten, even Madame Weber and her daughters in a box. The musicians all wear imperial livery; the actors on stage are now in costume. Mozart, conducting, wears his Order of the Golden Spur. The company wheels in and around to the music of the restored march, which reaches a triumphant climax. CUT TO: INT. OLD SALIERI'S HOSPITAL ROOM - NIGHT - 1823 OLD SALIERI (to Vogler) So Figaro was produced in spite of me. And in spite of me, a wonder was revealed. One of the true wonders of art. The restored third act was bold and brilliant. The fourth was a miracle. The descending scale of strings in the final ensemble (Ah, Tutti contenti. Saremo cosi) fades in. INT. OPERA HOUSE - NIGHT - 1780'S We see the tableau on stage with the Count kneeling to the Countess. All are singing. OLD SALIERI (V.O.) I saw a woman disguised in her maid's clothes hear her husband speak the first tender words he has offered her in years, only because he thinks she is someone else. I heard the music of true forgiveness filling the theatre, conferring on all who sat there a perfect absolution. God was singing through this little man to all the world - unstoppable - making my defeat more bitter with each passing bar. CU, Salieri in his box, tears on his cheeks. He watches the ensemble and we listen to it for a long moment. Finally it fades, but continues underneath the following: INT. OLD SALIERI'S HOSPITAL ROOM - NIGHT - 1823 OLD SALIERI And then suddenly - a miracle! CUT BACK TO: INT. OPERA HOUSE - NIGHT - 1780'S The ensemble reaches its climax, and fades away to the very quiet, slow chords immediately preceding the boisterous final chord. Salieri becomes aware that some of the audience are asleep and many mare are apathetic. In the near silence we see the Emperor yawn behind his hand. Those nearby look at him. Orsini-Rosenberg smiles. CUT BACK TO: INT. OLD SALIERI'S HOSPITAL ROOM - NIGHT - 1823 OLD SALIERI Father, did you know what that meant? With that yawn I saw my defeat turn into a victory. And Mozart was lucky the Emperor only yawned once. Three yawns and the opera would fail the same night; two yawns, within a week at most. With one yawn the composer could still get - CUT TO: INT. SALIERI'S SALON - DAY - 1780'S Mozart is pacing up and down. Salieri is listening sympathetically. MOZART Nine performances! Nine! That's all it's had - and withdrawn. SALIERI I know; it's outrageous. Still, if the public doesn't like one's work one has to accept the fact gracefully. MOZART But what is it they don't like? SALIERI Well, I can speak for the Emperor. You made too many demands on the royal ear. The poor man can't concentrate for more than an hour and you gave him four. MOZART What did you think of it yourself? Did you like it at all? SALIERI I think it's marvelous. Truly. MOZART It's the best opera yet written. I know it! Why didn't they come? SALIERI I think you overestimate our dear Viennese, my friend. Do you know you didn't even give them a good bang at the end of songs so they knew when to clap? MOZART I know, I know. Perhaps you should give me some lessons in that. SALIERI (fuming) I wouldn't presume. All the same, if it wouldn't be imposing, I would like you to see my new piece. It would be a tremendous honour for me. MOZART Oh no, the honour would be all mine. SALIERI (bowing) Grazie, mio caro, Wolfgang! MOZART Grazie, a lei, Signor Antonio! He bows too, giggling. CUT TO: INT. OPERA HOUSE - NIGHT - 1780'S A performance of Salieri's grand opera, Axur: King of Ormus. Deafening applause from a crowded house. We see the reception of the aria which we saw Cavalieri singing on the stage near the start of the film. Cavalieri, in a mythological Persian costume, is bowing to the rapturous throng; below her is Salieri. We see the Emperor, Von Strack, Orsini-Rosenberg, Bonno and Von Swieten, all applauding. We hear great cries of 'Salieri! Salieri!' and 'Bravo!' and 'Brava!' CU, Salieri looking at the crowd with immense pleasure. Then suddenly at: CU, Mozart standing in a box and clapping wildly. Behind him, seated, are Schikaneder and the three girls we saw before in Mozart's apartment. CU, Salieri staring fixedly at Mozart, then Mozart still clapping, apparently with tremendous enthusiasm. OLD SALIERI (V.O.) What was this? I never saw him excited before by any music but his own. Could he mean it? INT. OLD SALIERI'S HOSPITAL ROOM - NIGHT - 1823 OLD SALIERI (to Vogler) Would he actually tell me my music had moved him? Was I really going to hear that from his own lips? I found myself actually hurrying the tempo of the finale. CUT BACK TO: INT. OPERA HOUSE - NIGHT - 1780'S Salieri conducting the last scene from Axur: King of Ormus. On stage we see a big scene of acclamation: the hero and heroine of the opera accepting the crown amidst the rejoicing of the people. The decor and costumes are mythological Persian. The music is utterly conventional and totally uninventive. CU, Mozart watching this in his box, with Schikaneder and the three actresses. He passes an open bottle of wine to them. He is evidently a little drunk, but keeps a poker face. The act comes to an end. Great applause in which Mozart joins in, standing and shouting 'Bravo! Bravo!' Then he leaves the box with Schikaneder and the girls. INT. CORRIDOR OF THE OPERA HOUSE - NIGHT - 1780'S MOZART (to Schikaneder) Well? SCHIKANEDER (mock moved) Sublime! Utterly sublime! MOZART That kind of music should be punishable by death. Schikaneder laughs. CUT TO: INT. STAGE OF THE OPERA HOUSE - NIGHT - 1780'S A crowd of people rings Salieri at a respectful distance. The Emperor is holding out the Civilian Medal and Chain. JOSEPH I believe that is the best opera yet written, my friends. Salieri, you are the brightest star in the musical firmament. You do honour to Vienna and to me. Salieri bows his head. Joseph places the chain around his neck. The crowd claps. Salieri makes to kiss his hand, but Joseph restrains him, and passes on. Cavalieri, smiling adoringly, gives him a deep curtsey, and he raises her up. The crowd all flock to Salieri with cries and words of approval. All want to shake his hand. They tug and pat him. But he has eyes for only one man - he looks about him, searching for him and then finds him. Mozart stands there. Eagerly Salieri moves to him. SALIERI Mozart. It was good of you to come. MOZART How could I not? SALIERI Did my work please you? MOZART How could it not, Excellency? SALIERI Yes? MOZART I never knew that music like that was possible. SALIERI You flatter me. MOZART Oh no! One hears such sounds and what can one say, but - Salieri! Salieri smiles. CUT TO: INT. MOZART'S APARTMENT - LIVING ROOM - NIGHT - 1780'S Explosive laughter as Mozart and Schikaneder enter the apartment, very pleased with themselves and accompanied by the three actresses. The front door opens, very gingerly. Mozart, still rather drunk, sticks his head into the room, anxious not to make a noise. He sees the strangers and breaks into a smile. MOZART Oh. Everybody's here! We've got guests. Good. I've brought some more. He opens the door wide to admit Schikaneder and the girls. MOZART We'll have a little party. Come in. Come in. You know Herr Schikaneder? (to a girl) This is! a very nice girl. CONSTANZE (standing up) Wolfi. MOZART Yes, my love? CONSTANZE These gentlemen are from Salzburg. MOZART Salzburg. We were just talking about Salzburg. (to the two men, jubilantly) If you've come from my friend the Fartsbishop, you've arrived at just the right moment. Because I've got good news for him. I'm done with Vienna. It's over, finished, done with! Done with! Done with! CONSTANZE Wolfi! Your father is dead. MOZART What? CONSTANZE Your father is dead. The first loud chord of the Statue scene from Don Giovanni sounds. Mozart stares. INT. AN OPERA HOUSE - NIGHT - 1780'S The second chord sounds. On stage we see the huge figure of the Commendatore in robes and helmet, extending his arms and pointing in accusation. INT. AN OPERA HOUSE - NIGHT - 1780'S The second chord sounds. On stage we see a huge nailed fist crash through the wall of a painted dining room set. The giant armoured statue of the COMMENDATORE enters pointing his finger in accusation at Don Giovanni who sits at the supper table, staring - his servant Leporello quaking with fear under the table. THE COMMENDATORE (singing) Don Giovanni! The figure advances on the libertine. We see Mozart conducting, pale and deeply involved. Music fades down a little. OLD SALIERI (V.O.) So rose the dreadful ghost in his next and blackest opera. There on the stage stood the figure of a dead commander calling out 'Repent! Repent!' The music swells. We see Salieri standing alone in the back of a box, unseen, in semi-darkness. We also see that the theatre is only half full. Music fades down. OLD SALIERI (V.O.) And I knew - only I understood - that the horrifying apparition was Leopold, raised from the dead. Wolfgang had actually summoned up his own father to accuse his son before all the world. It was terrifying and wonderful to watch. Music swells up again. We watch the scene on stage as the Commendatore addresses Giovanni. Then back to Salieri in the box. Music down again. INT. OLD SALIERI'S HOSPITAL ROOM - NIGHT - 1823 OLD SALIERI Now a madness began in me. The madness of a man splitting in half. Through my influence I saw to it Don Giovanni was played only five times in Vienna. But in secret I went to every one of those five - all alone - unable to help myself, worshipping sound I alone seemed to hear. INT. AN OPERA HOUSE - NIGHT - 1780'S OLD SALIERI (V.O.) And hour after hour, as I stood there, understanding even more clearly how that bitter old man was still possessing his poor son from beyond the grave, I began to see a way - a terrible way - I could finally triumph over God, my torturer. Music swells. On stage Don Giovanni is seized and gripped by the Statue's icy hand. Flames burst from obviously artificial rocks. Demons appear and drag the libertine down to Hell. The scene ends. CU, Salieri, staring wide-eyed. CUT TO: EXT. SCHIKANEDER'S THEATRE - VIENNA - NIGHT - 1780'S We see huge and attractive posters and billboards advertising Schikaneder's troupe. The camera concentrates on the one which reads as follows: EMMANUEL SCHIKANEDER Impresario de luxe PRESENTS The Celebrated SCHIKANEDER TROUPE OF PLAYERS IN An Evening of PARODY Music! Mirth! Magic! ALL SONGS AND SPEECHES WRITTEN BY EMMANUEL SCHIKANEDER who personally will appear in every scene! CUT TO: INT. SCHIKANEDER'S THEATRE - NIGHT - 1780'S Noise; smoke; the audience is sitting at tables for an evening of vaudeville. Mozart, Constanze and their son Karl, now about two years old, and sitting on his mother's lap, are watching a parody scene by Schikaneder's troupe. They are rowdy, bawdy and silly, incorporating motifs, situations and tunes from Mozart's operas which we have seen and heard. Before them on the table are bottles of wine and beer, plates of sausages, etc. THE PARODY On stage we see a set which parodies the dining room in Don Giovanni's palace, shown before. Schikaneder as Don Giovanni is dancing with the three actresses to the minuet from Don Giovanni (end of Act I), played by a quartet of tipsy musicians. Leporello is handing around wine on a tray. Suddenly there is a tremendous knocking from outside. The music slithers to a stop. All look at each other in panic. Leporello drops his tray with a crash. All go quiet. One more knock is heard. Then all musicians, actresses, Don Giovanni and Leporello make a dash to hide under the table which is far too small to accommodate them all. The table rocks. Schikaneder is pushed out. He is terrified. He shakes elaborately. Three more knocks are heard; louder. SCHIKANEDER Who is it? One more knock. SCHIKANEDER C-c-c-come in! In the pit a chromatic scale from the Overture to Don Giovanni turns into a anticipatory vamp. This grows more and more menacing until the whole flat representing the wall at the back falls down. An absurd pantomime horse gallops in. It has a ridiculous expression, and is manned by four men inside. Standing precariously on its back is a dwarf, wearing a miniature version of the armour and helmet worn by the Commendatore. He sings in a high, nasal voice: COMMENDATORE (singing) Don Giovannnnnnnnnni! He tries to keep his balance as he trots in, but fails. He falls off onto the stage. He beats at the horse, trying to get back on. COMMENDATORE Down! Down! Bewildered, the horse looks about him, but cannot see his small rider who is below his level of sight. COMMENDATORE I'm here! I'm here! The horse, amidst laughter from the audience, fails to locate him. Exasperated, the dwarf signals to someone in the wings. A tall man strides out carrying a see-saw; on his shoulders stands another man. The dwarf stands on the lowered end of the see-saw. There is a drum roll and the man above jumps down onto the raised end and the Commendatore is abruptly catapulted back onto the horse, only backwards so that he is facing away from Don Giovanni. The two men bow to the applauding audience, and retire off-stage. The Commendatore tries to extend his arms in the proper menacing attitude, and at the same time turn around to face Don Giovanni. This he finds difficult. COMMENDATORE (singing) Don Giovannnnnnnni! SCHIKANEDER Who the devil are you? What do you want? COMMENDATORE (singing) I've come to dinnnnnner! SCHIKANEDER Dinner? How dare you? I am a nobleman. I only dine with people of my own height. COMMENDATORE Are you drunk? You invited me. And my horse. Here he is. Ottavio! The horse takes a bow. The dwarf almost falls off again. COMMENDATORE Whoa! Whoa! Stop it! The three girls rush to his aid and reach him just in time. They sing in the manner of the Tree Ladies later to be put into The Magic Flute. FIRST LADY (running and singing) Be careful! SECOND LADY (running and singing) Be careful! THIRD LADY (running and singing) Be careful! ALL THREE TOGETHER (close harmony) Hold tight now! They grab him. COMMENDATORE (angry) Leave me alone! Stop it! I'm a famous horseman. OTTAVIO And I'm a famous horse! He gives the ladies a radiant smile. The three ladies sing, as before, in close harmony. FIRST LADY (singing) He's adorable! SECOND LADY (singing) Adorable! THIRD LADY (singing) Adorable! An orchestral chord. The three ladies turn to Ottavio and sing to him. THREE LADIES (singing together) Give me your hoof, my darling, And I'll give you my heart! Take me to your stable, And never more we'll part! OTTAVIO (singing: four male voices) I'm shy and very bashful. I don't know what to say. THREE LADIES (singing together) Don't hesitate a second. Just answer yes and neigh. Ottavio neighs loudly, and runs at the girls. COMMENDATORE (speaking) Stop it. What are you doing? Remember who you are! You're a horse and they are whores. Boos from the audience. SCHIKANEDER (speaking) This is ridiculous. I won't have any of it. You're turning my house into a circus! A trapeze sails in from above. On it stands a grand soprano wearing an elaborate Turkish costume, like a parody of Cavalieri's in Il Seraglio. She comes in singing a mad coloratura scale in the manner of Martern aller Arten. SCHIKANEDER (speaking) Shut up. Women, women, women! I'm sick to death of them. He marches off stage. SOPRANO (singing dramatically) Dash me! Bash me! Lash me! Flay me! Slay me! At last I will be freed by death! COMMENDATORE Shut up. SOPRANO (swinging and singing) Kill me! Kill me! Kill me! Kill me! At last I shall be freed by death. At last I shall be freed by dea - The Commendatore pulls out his sword, reaches up and thrusts her through with it. The soprano collapses on the bar of the trapeze. The audience applauds. At the same moment eight dwarves march in bearing a huge cauldron of steaming water. They sing as they march to the sound of the march that was cut from Act III of Figaro. They are dressed as miniature copies of the chorus in that scene except that they are wearing cooks' hats. EIGHT DWARVES (singing) We're going to make a soprano stew! We're going to make a soprano stew! And when you make a soprano stew! Any stupid soprano will do! Any stew- stew-stew-stew-stew! Any stewpid soprano will do! They set the giant pot down in the middle of the stage. The trapeze with the dead soprano is still swinging above the stage. We hear the chromatic scale from the Don Giovanni overture again, repeated and repeated, only now fast and tremolando. To this exciting vamp Schikaneder suddenly rides in on a real horse, waving a real sword. With this he cuts the string of the trapeze, and the soprano falls into the pot. A tremendous splash of water. Schikaneder rides out. More applause. All the dwarves produce long wooden cooking spoons and climb up the sides of the pot. The three girls produce labeled bottles from under their skirts. The first is SALT. FIRST LADY (singing) Behold! PEPPER SECOND LADY (singing) Behold! She sneezes. AND SCHNAPPS THIRD LADY (singing) Behold! She hiccups. They throw them into the pot. COMMENDATORE (speaking to the dwarves) How long does it take to cook a soprano? DWARVES (all together) Five hours, five minutes, five seconds. COMMENDATORE (speaking) I can't wait that long. I'm starving! OTTAVIO (speaking; four voices) So am I. Schikaneder marches in as Figaro. SCHIKANEDER (singing to the tune of Non piu ante) In the pot, I have got a good dinner. Not a sausage or stew, but a singer. Not a sausage or stew but a singer. Is the treat that I'll eat for my meat! COMMENDATORE Oh shut up. I'm sick to death of that tune. CU, Mozart laughing delightedly with the audience. THE THREE GIRLS (singing again to the horse) Give me your hoof, my darling, and I'll give you my heart. COMMENDATORE Shut up. I'm sick of that one too. All the dwarves climb up the rim of the pot. As they climb, they all hum together the opening of Eine Kleine Nachtmusik. COMMENDATORE And that one, too! The soprano rises, dripping with water in the middle of the pot. SOPRANO (singing) Oil me! Broil me! Boil me! All the dwarves beat her back down into the pot with their long wooden spoons. SOPRANO (from inside the pot) Soil me! Foil me! Spoil me! HORSE I can't eat her. Sopranos give me hiccups. I want some hay! FIRST LADY (singing to Schikaneder) Hey! SECOND LADY (singing to Schikaneder) Hey! THIRD LADY (singing to Schikaneder) Hey! SCHIKANEDER Hey what? ALL THREE LADIES (singing to La oi daram) Give him some hay, my darling, and I'll give you my heart! COMMENDATORE Shut up. SCHIKANEDER Leporello! We want some hay - prestissimo! Leporello - where are you? The table is raised in the air by Leporello sitting under it on a bale of hay. FIRST LADY (singing to horse) Behold! SECOND LADY (singing to horse) Behold! THIRD LADY (singing to horse) Behold! Ottavio the horse gives a piercing neigh and runs down to the hay. COMMENDATORE (holding on) Hey! Hey! Watch out! The vamp starts again vigorously. The horse's rear-end swings around on a hinge to turn his hind-quarters straight on to the audience. The rest of him stays sideways. His tail springs up in the air to reveal a lace handkerchief modestly hiding his arsehole. Schikaneder offers him a handful of hay. The horse eats it, and out the other end comes a long Viennese sausage. The audience roars with laughter. Another handful of hay and out of the other end falls a string of sausages. Then a large pie, crust and all. Then a shower of iced cakes! Suddenly - silence. Schikaneder produces an egg from his pocket. Ottavio the horse rears up in disgust. COMMENDATORE Whoa! Whoa, Ottavio! Whoa! Leporello pries open the horse's mouth. Schikaneder pops the egg into it. A breathless pause as a drum roll builds the tension, up and up and up, and then suddenly out of the horse's rear-end flies a single white dove. Wild applause. It flies into the audience. Immediately all the cast start humming the lyrical finale from Figaro: Tutti Contenti. More and more doves fly out from the wings and fill the theatre. Everybody picks up the sausages and cakes and begins to eat. The end of the sketch is unexpectedly lyrical and magical, and then, suddenly, the tempo changes and the coarse strains of Ich Mochte wohl Der Kaiser take over and the whole company is dancing, frantically. A general dance as the curtain falls. It rises immediately. The audience - including Mozart - is delighted. They applaud vigorously. Schikaneder takes a bow amongst his troupe. Among much whistling and clapping, he finally jumps off the stage and strides through the audience toward the table where Mozart sits with his family. On stage, a troupe of bag pipers immediately appears to play an old German tune. Some of the audience joins in singing it. SCHIKANEDER Well, how do you like that? Mozart is smiling; he has been amused. Constanze has been less amused and is looking apprehensive. MOZART Wonderful! (indicating his baby son) He liked the monkey, didn't you? SCHIKANEDER Yes, well, it's all good fun. MOZART I liked the horse. Schikaneder sits at the table, and drinks from a bottle of wine. SCHIKANEDER Isn't he marvelous? He cost me a bundle, that horse, but he's worth it. I tell you, if you'd played Don Giovanni here it would have been a great success. I'm not joking. These people aren't fools. You could do something marvelous for them. MOZART I'd like to try them someday. I'm not sure I'd be much good at it. SCHIKANEDER 'Course you would. You belong here, my boy, not the snobby Court. You could do anything you felt like here - the more fantastic the better! That's what people want, you know: fantasy. You do a big production, fill it with beautiful magic tricks and you'll be absolutely free to do anything you want. Of course, you'd have to put a fire in it, because I've got the best fire machine in the city and a big flood - I can do you the finest water effects you ever saw in your life. Oh, and a few trick animals. You'd have to use those. MOZART Animals? SCHIKANEDER I tell you I picked up a snake in Dresden last week - twelve foot long - folds up to six inches, just like a paper fan. It's a miracle. Mozart laughs. SCHIKANEDER I'm serious. You write a proper part for me with a couple of catchy songs, I'll guarantee you'll have a triumph- de-luxe. Mind you, it'll have to be in German. MOZART German! SCHIKANEDER Of course! What else do you think they speak here? MOZART No, no, I love that. I'd want it to be in German. I haven't done anything in German since Seraglio. SCHIKANEDER So there you are. What do you say? CONSTANZE How much will you pay him? SCHIKANEDER Ah. Well. Ah, (to Mozart) I see you've got your manager with you. Well, Madame, how about half the receipts? MOZART Half the receipts! Stanzi! CONSTANZE I'm talking about now. How much will you give him now? Down payment? SCHIKANEDER Down payment? Who do you think I am? The Emperor? Whoops, I have to go. He rises in haste for his next number. SCHIKANEDER Stay where you are. You're going to like this next one. We'll speak again. Triumph-de-luxe, my boy! He winks at Mozart and disappears toward the stage. Mozart looks after him, enchanted. CONSTANZE You're not going to do this? MOZART Why not? Half the house! CONSTANZE When? We need money now. Either he pays now, or you don't do it. MOZART Oh, Stanzi. CONSTANZE I don't trust this man. And I didn't like what he did with your opera. It was common. MOZART (to Karl) Well, you liked it, didn't you? Monkey-flunki-punki. CONSTANZE Half the house! You'll never see a penny. I want it here, in my hand. MOZART (dirty) Stanzi-manzi, I'll put it in your hand! CONSTANZE Shut up! I'll not let you put anything in my hand until I see some money. He giggles like a child. CUT TO: INT. SCHLUMBERG HOUSE - HALLWAY - DAY 1780'S Dogs are barking wickedly. Michael Schlumberg comes in from his salon. Mozart stands there looking very unwell and bewildered. He is also drunk, but making a careful attempt to keep his composure. SCHLUMBERG Herr Mozart. What a surprise. What can I do for you? MOZART Is my pupil still anxious to learn the art of music? SCHLUMBERG Well, your pupil is married and living in Mannheim, young man. MOZART Really? Perhaps your dear wife might care to profit from my instruction? SCHLUMBERG What is this, Mozart? What's the matter with you? MOZART Well. Since it appears nobody is eager to hire my services, could you favour me with a little money instead? SCHLUMBERG What for? MOZART If a man cannot earn, he must borrow. SCHLUMBERG Well, this is hardly the way to go about it. MOZART No doubt, sir. But I am endowed with talent, and you with money. If I offer mine, you should offer yours. Pause. SCHLUMBERG I'm sorry. No. MOZART Please. I'll give it back, I promise. Please, sir. SCHLUMBERG My answer is no, Mozart. CU, Mozart. His voice becomes mechanical. MOZART Please. Please. Please. Please. Please. Please. CUT TO: INT. THE IMPERIAL LIBRARY - DAY - 1790'S Von Swieten and Salieri stand close together. Several scholars and students are examining scrolls and manuscripts at the other end of the room. VON SWIETEN (keeping his voice down) This is embarrassing, you know. You introduced Mozart to some of my friends and he's begging from practically all of them. It has to stop. SALIERI I agree, Baron. VON SWIETEN Can't you think of anyone who might commission some work from him? I've done my best. I got him to arrange some Bach for my Sunday concerts. He got a fee - what I could afford. Can't you think of anyone who might do something for him? SALIERI No, Baron, no. I'm afraid Mozart is a lost cause. He has managed to alienate practically the whole of Vienna. He is constantly drunk. He never pays his debts. I can't think of one person to whom I dare recommend him. VON SWIETEN How sad. It's tragic, isn't it? Such a talent. SALIERI Indeed. Just a moment - as a matter of fact I think I do know someone who could commission a work from him. A very appropriate person to do so. Yes. The opening measures of the Piano Concerto in D Minor steal in. CUT TO: INT. THE COSTUME SHOP - VIENNA - DAY - 1790'S This is exactly the same shop which Mozart and Constanze visited with Leopold. Now Salieri's servant stands in it, waiting. We see a few other customers being served by the staff: renting masks, costumes, etc. One of the staff emerges from the back of the shop carrying a large box, which he hands to Salieri's servant. The servant leaves the shop. Through the window we see him hurrying away through the snowy street full of passers-by, carriages, etc. INT. SALIERI'S APARTMENT - DUSK - 1790'S The D Minor Concerto continues. Salieri, alone, eagerly opens the box from the costume shop and takes out the same dark cloak and hat that Leopold wore to the masquerade, only now attached to the hat is a dark mask whose mouth is cut into a frown, not a laugh. It presents a bitter and menacing expression. He puts on the cloak, the hat and the mask and turns his back. Suddenly we see the assembled and alarming image reflected in a full-length mirror. The music swells darkly. CUT TO: EXT. A SNOWY STREET IN VIENNA - DUSK - 1790'S As the tutti of the D Minor Concerto continues, we see Salieri, dressed in this menacing costume, dark against the snow, stalking through a street which is otherwise lively with people going to various festivities. Some of them wear frivolous carnival clothes. INT. MOZART'S LIVING ROOM - DUSK - 1790'S Mozart sits writing at a table. He appears now to be really quite sick. His face expresses pain from his stomach cramps. There is a gentle knock at the door. He rises, goes to he door and opens it. Immediately there is a SHOCK CUT: The dark, frowning mask stares at him and at us. The violent D Minor chord which opens Don Giovanni is heard. Salieri in costume stands in the doorway. SALIERI Herr Mozart? The second chord sounds and fades. Mozart stares in panic. SALIERI I have come to commission work from you. MOZART What work? SALIERI A Mass for the dead. MOZART What dead? Who is dead? SALIERI A man who deserved a Requiem Mass and never got one. MOZART Who are you? SALIERI I am only a messenger. Do you accept? You will be paid well. MOZART How much? Salieri extends his hand. In it is a bag of money. SALIERI Fifty ducats. Another fifty when I have the Mass. Do you accept? Almost against his will, Mozart takes the money. MOZART How long will you give me? SALIERI Work fast. And be sure to tell no one what you do. You will see me again soon. He turns away. Mozart closes the front door. Instantly we hear the opening of the Requiem Mass (also in D Minor). Mozart turns and looks up at the portrait of his father on the wall. The portrait stares back. Constanze opens the door from the bedroom. She sees him staring up. CONSTANZE Wolfi? Wolfi! He looks at her with startled eyes. The music breaks off. CONSTANZE Who was that? MOZART No one. CONSTANZE I heard voices. He gives a strange little giggle. CONSTANZE What's the matter? She sees the bag of money. CONSTANZE What's that? Oh! (pouncing on it) Who gave you this? How much is it? Wolfi, who gave you this? MOZART I'm not telling you. CONSTANZE Why not? MOZART You'd think I was mad. He stares at her. She stares at him. INT. OLD SALIERI'S HOSPITAL ROOM - NIGHT - 1823 Old Salieri is now wildly animated, totally driven by his confession to Vogler. OLD SALIERI My plan was so simple, it terrified me. First I must get the Death Mass and then achieve the death. Vogler stares at him in horror. VOGLER What? OLD SALIERI His funeral - imagine it! The Cathedral, all Vienna sitting there. His coffin, Mozart's little coffin in the middle. And suddenly in that silence, music. A divine music bursts out over them all, a great Mass of Death: Requiem Mass for Wolfgang Mozart, composed by his devoted friend Antonio Salieri. What sublimity! What depth! What passion in the music! Salieri has been touched by God at last. And God, forced to listen. Powerless - powerless to stop it. I at the end, for once, laughing at Him. Do you understand? Do you? VOGLER Yes. OLD SALIERI The only thing that worried me was the actual killing. How does one do that? How does one kill a man? It's one thing to dream about it. It's very different when you have to do it, with your own hands. He raises his own hands and stares at them. The raging Dies Irae from Mozart's Requiem Mass bursts upon us. CUT TO: INT. MOZART'S APARTMENT - LIVING ROOM - NIGHT - 1790'S Mozart sits working frantically at this demonic music. His whole expression is one of wildness and engulfing fever. He pours wine down his throat, spilling it, and grimaces as it hits his stomach. All around him are manuscripts. There is a banging at the front door. Mozart does not hear it; the music raves on. Another knocking comes, louder. Constanze appears from the bedroom and stares at her distracted husband. The knocking is repeated again, even more violently and insistently. CONSTANZE Wolfi. Wolfi! He looks at her. The music breaks off. Silence. An enormous bang at the door startles him. Constanze moves to open it. MOZART No. Don't answer it! CONSTANZE Why? Mozart springs up. He is clearly terrified. MOZART Tell him I'm not here. Tell him I'm working on it. Come back later. He runs out of he room, into his workroom, and shuts he door. Now a little scared herself, Constanze goes to he front door and opens it cautiously. Schikaneder stands there, floridly dressed as usual. Lorl is seen peeking out from the kitchen. SCHIKANEDER Am I interrupting something? CONSTANZE Not at all. SCHIKANEDER (peering into he room) Where's our friend? CONSTANZE He's not in. But he's working on it. He said to tell you. SCHIKANEDER I hope so. I need it immediately. He pushes her into the room. SCHIKANEDER Is he happy with it? He sees he manuscript on the table, and goes to it eagerly. SCHIKANEDER Is this it? He picks up a page without waiting for a reply. SCHIKANEDER What the devil is this? Requiem Mass? Does he think I'm in the funeral business? Mozart opens he workroom door. We see him as Schikaneder sees him: wild-eyed, extremely pale and strange. MOZART Leave that alone! SCHIKANEDER Wolfi! MOZART Put it down! SCHIKANEDER What is this? MOZART Put it down, I said! It's nothing for you. SCHIKANEDER Oh! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! What have you got for me? Is it finished? MOZART What? SCHIKANEDER What? The vaudeville, what'd you think? MOZART Yes. SCHIKANEDER Can I see it? MOZART No. SCHIKANEDER Why not? MOZART Because there's nothing to see. He giggles triumphantly. Schikaneder stares at him. SCHIKANEDER Look, I asked you if we could start rehearsal next week and you said yes. MOZART Well, we can. SCHIKANEDER So let me see it. Where is it? Mozart, with a bright, rather demented smile presents his head to Schikaneder. MOZART Here. It's all right here, in my noodle. The rest is just scribbling. Scribbling and bibbling. Bibbling and scribbling. Would you like a drink? He giggles. Schikaneder suddenly grabs his lapels. SCHIKANEDER Look, you little clown, do you know how many people I've hired for you? Do you know how many people are waiting? CONSTANZE Leave him alone! SCHIKANEDER I'm paying these people. Do you realize that? CONSTANZE He's doing his best. SCHIKANEDER I'm paying people just to wait for you. It's ridiculous! CONSTANZE You know what's ridiculous? Your libretto, that's what's ridiculous. Only an idiot would ask Wolfi to work on that stuff! SCHIKANEDER Oh yes? And what's so intelligent about writing a Requiem? CONSTANZE Money! Money! SCHIKANEDER You're mad! She's mad, Wolfi. CONSTANZE Oh yes, and who are you? He's worked for Kings. For the Emperor. (shouting) Who are you? Schikaneder suddenly takes Mozart by the arms, and speaks to him with intense appeal. SCHIKANEDER Listen, Wolfi. Write it. Please. Just write it down. On paper. It's no good to anyone in your head. And fuck the Death Mass. INT. SALIERI'S SALON - DAY - 1790'S A frightened and tearful Lorl sits before Salieri. SALIERI Now calm yourself. Calm. What's the matter with you? LORL I'm leaving. I'm not working there anymore. I'm scared! SALIERI Why? What has happened? LORL You don't know what it's like. Herr Mozart frightens me. He drinks all day, then takes all that medicine and it makes him worse. SALIERI What medicine? LORL I don't know. He has pains. SALIERI Where? LORL Here, in his stomach. They bend him right over. SALIERI Is he working? LORL I'm frightened, sir. Really! When he speaks, he doesn't make any sense. You know he said he saw - he said he saw his father. And his father's dead. SALIERI Is he working? LORL I suppose so. He sits there all he time, doing some silly opera. SALIERI (startled) Opera? Opera! LORL Please don't ask me to go back again. I'm frightened! I'm very, very frightened. SALIERI (insistently) Are you sure it's an opera? The Overture to The Magic Flute begins grandly. To the music of the slow introduction, we see: INT. MOZART'S APARTMENT - LIVING ROOM - NIGHT - 1790'S The room, lit by a few candles, appears dirty. The camera shows us again Leopold's portrait on the wall, looking down upon a scene of disorder. Papers litter the table; dirty dishes are piled in the fireplace; on the forte-piano lies Mozart's Masonic apron, woven with symbols. To the more lyrical passage of the introduction, we see Mozart take up a candle and enter: INT. MOZART'S APARTMENT - BEDROOM - NIGHT - 1790'S We watch him stand beside Constanze, who lies asleep. Mozart now looks very ill; his wife appears worn out. Tenderly he touches her hair. Then he moves to the cot where his son Karl lies asleep and kneels, pulls up the child's little blanket and for a moment lays his own head down beside the boy's. Constanze opens her eyes and stares at him. Mozart rises and returns to: INT. MOZART'S APARTMENT - LIVING ROOM - NIGHT - 1790'S The Introduction ends and suddenly the brilliant fast fugue begins. Instantly Mozart starts to dance to it, all alone: gleefully, like a child. He looks up at his father's portrait, and makes a silly, rude gesture at it. He is, briefly, an irresponsible and happy boy again. Then suddenly there is a gentle knocking at the door. The music fades down. Warily, Mozart crosses and opens he door. The familiar dark chords from Don Giovanni cut across the happy music. It ends. Before him stands the masked stranger. MOZART I don't have it yet. It's not finished. I'm sorry, but I need more time. SALIERI Are you neglecting my request? MOZART No, no! I promise you, I'll give you a wonderful piece - the best I ever can! He turns and looks. Constanze has come into the living room. Nervously, Mozart indicates her. MOZART This is my wife, Stanzi. I've been sick, but I'm all right now. Aren't I? CONSTANZE Oh yes, sir. He's all right. And he's working on it very hard. MOZART Give me two more weeks. Please. Salieri contemplates them both. SALIERI The sooner you finish, the better your reward. Work! He turns and goes down the stairs. Mozart shuts the door; he closes his eyes in fear. CONSTANZE Wolfi, I think you really are going mad. You work like a slave for that idiot actor who won't give you a penny and here. This is not a ghost! This is a real man who puts down real money. Why on earth don't you finish it? He will not look at her or reply. CONSTANZE Give me one reason I can understand. MOZART I can't write it! CONSTANZE Why not? MOZART It's killing me. He looks at her suddenly. CONSTANZE No, this is really awful. You're drunk, aren't you? Be honest - tell me - you've been drinking. And I'm so stupid I stay here and listen to you! Suddenly she starts to cry. CONSTANZE It's not fair! I worry about you all the time. I try to help you all I can and you just drink and talk nonsense and - and frighten me! It's not fair! Her tears flow. Mozart looks at her helplessly. MOZART Go back to bed. CONSTANZE Please! Let me sit here. Let me stay here with you. I promise I won't say all word. I'll just be here, so you know no one's going to hurt you. Please, please! She sits down tearfully, staring at him. We hear the Rex Tremendai Majestatis from the Requiem and see on the wall the portrait of Leopold Mozart looking down. The camera pans slowly downward from it back to the table. Mozart is writing the music. He looks up and sees that Constanze is fast asleep in her chair. Mozart gets up quietly. He puts on his hat and cloak, takes a bottle of wine and tiptoes from the house. Without stopping, the music changes from the heavy Requiem to the light-hearted patter of the Papa-Papa duet from The Magic Flute. CUT TO: INT. SCHIKANEDER'S SUMMER HOUSE - NIGHT - 1790'S This little wooden structure stands in a courtyard in the tenement by the Weiden. Inside, we see a table, chairs, a forte-piano, bottles and a chaos of papers. Strewn about in the chairs are the three actresses, giggling. Schikaneder and Mozart, both drunk, are singing the duet of the two bird- people. The actor sings Papageno and the composer, in a soprano voice, sings Papagena at the keyboard. Absurdly, they end up rubbing noses and fall on each other's necks. EXT. VIENNA STREET - NIGHT - 1790'S Mozart, drunk and happy, staggers back through the snow. There are a few people about. He goes into his apartment building. INT. MOZART'S APARTMENT - DAY - 1790'S He comes through he door and stares across the living room at an open bedroom door. Puzzled, he crosses. The bedroom is also empty. We see Constanze's empty bed; Karl's empty bed; empty closets. MOZART Stanzi? Stanzi-marini-bini? He looks about him, puzzled. INT. FRAU WEBER'S HOUSE - LIVING ROOM - DAY - 1790'S Frau Weber sits grimly talking. Mozart sits also, completely exhausted and passive under the rain of her constant speech. FRAU WEBER She's not coming back, you know. She's gone for good. I did it and I'm proud of it. 'Leave,' I said. 'Right away! Take he child and go, just go. Here's the money! Go to the Spa and get your health back - that's if you can.' I was shocked. Shocked to my foundation. Is that my girl? Can that be my Stanzi? The happy little moppet I brought up, that poor trembling thing? Oh, you monster! No one exists but you, do they? You and your music! Do you know how often she's sat in that very chair, weeping her eyes out of her head because of you? I warned her. 'Choose a man, not a baby,' I said. But would she listen? Who listens? 'He's just a silly boy,' she says. Silly, my arse. Selfish - that's all you are. Selfish! Selfish, selfish, selfish, selfish, selfish. And with a scream Madame Weber's voice turns into the shrill packing coloratura of the second act aria of the Queen of the Night, in The Magic Flute. DISSOLVE TO: INT. SCHIKANEDER'S THEATRE - NIGHT - 1790'S On stage we see the QUEEN OF THE NIGHT fantastically costumed, furiously urging her daughter to kill Sarastro. As she sings, we see the interior of the theatre, now re-arranged from when we last visited it to watch the Cabaret. An audience of ordinary German citizens stands in the pit area, or sits: they are rapt and excited. The theatre also possesses boxes; some of these show closed curtains - their inhabitants presumably engaged in private intimacies. In one of them sits Salieri. QUEEN OF THE NIGHT (singing furiously) A hellish wrath within my heart is seething! Death and destruction Flame around my throne! If not by thee Sarastro's light be extinguished. Then be thou mine own daughter never more! Rejected be forever! So sundered be forever All the bonds of kin and blood! Hear! Hear! Hear God of Vengeance! Hear thy Mother's vow! Thunder and lightning. She disappears amidst tremendous applause from the audience. CUT TO: EXT. OUTSIDE THE THEATRE - NIGHT - 1790'S On the poster for The Magic Flute, the name Emmanuel Schikaneder should appear very, very large and the name of Mozart quite small: I. & R. priv. Weiden Theatre The Actors of the Imperial and Royal Privileged Theatre of the Weiden Have the honour to perform THE MAGIC FLUTE A Grand Opera in Two Acts By Emmanuel Schikaneder (The Cast List) The music is by Herr Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Herr Mozart out of respect for a gracious and honourable Public, and from friendship for the author of this piece, will today direct the orchestra in person. The book of the opera, furnished with two copperplates, of which is engraved Herr Schikaneder in the costume he wears for the role of Papageno, may be had at the box office for 30 kr. Prices of admission are as usual To begin at 7 o'clock INT. STAGE, AUDITORIUM AND WINGS OF SCHIKANEDER'S THEATRE - NIGHT -1790'S We CUT TO the scene immediately before Papageno's song, Ein Madchen oder Weibchen. Papageno, played by Schikaneder, dressed in his costume of feathers, is trying to get through a mysterious door. A voice calls from within. VOICE Go back! Papageno recoils. PAPAGENO Merciful Gods! If only I knew by which door I came in. (to audience) Which was it? Was it this one? Come on, tell me! VOICE Go back! Papageno recoils. PAPAGENO Now, I can't go forward and I can't go back. Oh, this is awful! He weeps extravagantly. In the pit, Mozart indicates to the first violinist to take over as conductor. He slips from his place and goes stealthily backstage. We follow him. Over the scene we hear Papageno being addressed by the First Priest in stern tones. FIRST PRIEST (on stage) Man, thou hast deserved to wander forever in the darkest chasms of the earth. The gentle Gods have remitted thy punishment, but yet thou shalt never feel the Divine Content of the consecrated ones. PAPAGENO Oh well, I'm not alone in that. Just give me a decent glass of wine - that's divine content enough for me. Laughter. An enormous goblet of wine appears out of the earth. We follow Mozart into the wings. Actors and actresses stand around in fantastic costumes. We see a flying chariot and parts of a huge snake lying about. Also the scenery door of a temple with the word 'Wisdom' inscribed on the pediment. Mozart walks to where there stands a keyboard glockenspiel with several manuals, and a musician waiting to play it. Silently Mozart indicates that he wishes to play the instrument himself. On stage Schikaneder is being addressed haughtily by the First Priest. FIRST PRIEST Man, hast thou no other desire on earth, but just to eat and drink? PAPAGENO (Schikaneder) Well! Laughter from the audience. PAPAGENO Well, actually I do have a rather weird feeling in my heart. Perhaps it's just indigestion. But you know, I really would like - I really do want - something even nicer than food and drink. Now what on earth could that be? He stares at the audience and winks at them. They laugh. Now Papageno's aria (Ein Madchen oder Weibchen) begins. It is interpolated, as he pretends to play his magic bells, with the glockenspiel actually being played off-stage by Mozart. Schikaneder looks into the pit and does not see Mozart conducting. He looks into the wings and realizes the situation with amusement. He sings joyfully and the audience watches entranced. ANDANTE A sweetheart or a pretty little wife is Papageno's wish. A willing, billing, lovey dovey Would be My most tasty little dish. Be my most tasty little dish! Be my most tasty little dish! ALLEGRO Then that would be eating and drinking I'd live like a Prince without thinking. The wisdom of old would be mine - A woman's much better than wine! Then that would be eating and drinking! The wisdom of old would be mine - A woman's much better than wine. She's much better than wine! She's much better than wine! ANDANTE (encore, lightly, as before) A sweetheart or a pretty little wife is Papageno's wish. A willing, billing, lovey dovey Would be My most tasty little dish. ALLEGRO I need to net one birdie only And I will stop feeling so lonely. But if she won't fly to my aid, Then into a ghost I must fade. I need to net one birdie only But if she won't fly to my aid, Then into a ghost I must fade. To a ghost I must fade! To a ghost I must fade! ANDANTE (encore) A sweetheart or a pretty little wife is Papageno's wish. A willing, billing, lovey dovey Would be My most tasty little dish. ALLEGRO At present the girls only peck me. Their cruelty surely will wreck me. But one little beak in my own, And I'll up to heaven be flown! At present the girls only peck me. But one little beak in my own, And I'll up to heaven be flown. Up to heaven be flown! Up to heaven be flown! At certain moments we see the stage from Salieri's point of view: Schikaneder singing, then pretending to play; and then we see Mozart playing the glockenspiel with great flourishes in the wings. Then, suddenly, the actor mimes playing, and no sound comes. He mimes again, but still nothing comes. He looks offstage in anxiety; there is evidently some commotion. People are looking down on the floor. The song comes to a near-halt. Schikaneder stares. Then the comedian signals to the deputy conductor to pick up the song and finish it. At this moment Salieri gets up and hastily leaves his box. CUT TO: INT. WINGS OF SCHIKANEDER'S THEATRE - NIGHT - 1790'S We see the actress playing Papagena, wearing an old tattered cloak and about to tie a little painted cloth representing a hideous old woman over her face. She is looking worriedly down at Mozart, who is lying unconscious on the floor. A few people around him are trying to revive him. One has put a wet handkerchief around his temples. Another is holding a small bottle of smelling salts. There are voices saying, 'Doctor! Take him to a dressing room. Someone call a carriage. Take him home.' Etc. Papagena is urged to go on stage by a distracted stage manager. Suddenly we hear the voice of Salieri. SALIERI I'll take care of him. He steps forward. SALIERI I have a carriage. Excuse me. The actors step back respectfully. He stoops and picks up the frail composer in his arms. Mozart is quite limp and Salieri has to fling his arms around his own neck. All this is watched nervously by Schikaneder on stage whilst performing his scene with Papagena as an ugly old woman. UGLY OLD WOMAN Here I am, my angel. PAPAGENO (appalled) What? Who the devil are you? UGLY OLD WOMAN I've taken pity on you, my angel. I heard your wish. PAPAGENO Oh. Well, thank you! How wonderful. Some people get all the luck. Audience laughter. The actress raises the little painted cloth with the ugly old face on it to show her own pretty young one to the audience. More laughter. UGLY OLD WOMAN Now you've got to promise me faithfully you'll remain true to me forever. Then you'll see how tenderly your little birdie will love you. PAPAGENO (nervous) I can't wait. UGLY OLD WOMAN Well, promise then. PAPAGENO What do you mean - now? UGLY OLD WOMAN Of course now. Right away, before I get any older. Laughter. PAPAGENO Well, I don't know! I mean you're a delicious, delightful, delectable little bird, but don't you think you might be just a little tough? UGLY OLD WOMAN (amorously) Oh, I'm tender enough for you, my boy. I'm tender enough for you. Laughter. EXT. SCHIKANEDER'S THEATRE - NIGHT - 1790'S A waiting sedan chair. Mozart has recovered consciousness, but looks exceedingly ill. Salieri has set him down in the winter's night. Snow is falling. MOZART What happened? Is it over? SALIERI I'm taking you home. You're not well. MOZART No, no. I have to get back. I have - He starts to collapse again. Salieri helps him into the sedan. The door is shut. The chair sets off and Salieri strides beside it, through the mean street. A lantern with a candle swings from the chair. INT. MOZART'S APARTMENT - LIVING ROOM - NIGHT - 1790'S The door opens. Salieri enters carrying the lantern from the sedan chair. He is followed by Mozart, carried in the arms of one of the porters. The room is now really in complete disarray. The table is piled high with music: the pages of the Requiem lie amongst many empty wine bottles. The porter carries Mozart into INT. MOZART'S APARTMENT - BEDROOM - NIGHT - 1790'S This room is miserably neglected. The bed is unmade, clothes lie about on the floor. A sock has been stuck into the broken pane of one window. The porter lays Mozart down on the bed as Salieri lights candles from the lantern to reveal plates of half-eaten food and other signs left by a man whose wife has departed. It is obviously very cold. Another very small bed nearby belongs to the child, Karl. SALIERI (handing the porter the lantern) Thank you. Go. The porter leaves the room. Mozart stirs. MOZART (vaguely singing) Papa! Papa! He opens his eyes and sees Salieri staring down at him. He smiles. SALIERI Come now. He helps him to sit up and takes off his coat and his shoes and puts a coverlet around him. SALIERI Where is your wife? MOZART Not here! She's not well, either. She went to the Spa. SALIERI You mean she's not coming back? MOZART You're so good to me. Truly. Thank you. SALIERI No, please. MOZART I mean to come to my opera. You are the only colleague who did. He struggles to loosen his cravat. Salieri does it for him. SALIERI I would never miss anything that you had written. You must know that. MOZART This is only a vaudeville. SALIERI Oh no. It is a sublime piece. The grandest operone. I tell you, you are the greatest composer known to me. MOZART Do you mean that? SALIERI I do. MOZART I have bad fancies. I don't sleep well anymore. Then I drink too much, and think stupid things. SALIERI Are you ill? MOZART The doctor thinks I am. But - SALIERI What? MOZART I'm too young to be so sick. There is a violent knocking at the front door. Mozart starts and looks around wildly. SALIERI Shall I answer it? MOZART No! No, it's him! SALIERI Who? MOZART The man. He's here. SALIERI What man? The knocking increases in loudness, terrifying Mozart. MOZART Tell him to go away. Tell him I'm still working on it. Don't let him in! Salieri moves to the door. MOZART Wait! Ask him if he'd give me some money now. Tell him if he would, that would help me finish it. SALIERI Finish what? MOZART He knows. He knows! Salieri leaves the room. INT. MOZART'S APARTMENT - LIVING ROOM - NIGHT - 1790'S Salieri goes to the front door and opens it to reveal Schikaneder, who has obviously come straight from the theatre. He still wears his bird make-up and under his street cloak, his feathered costume is clearly seen. He has with him the three actresses, also looking anxious and also in make-up as the three attendants in The Magic Flute. SCHIKANEDER Herr Salieri. SALIERI Yes, I am looking after him. SCHIKANEDER Can we come in? SALIERI Well, he's sleeping now. Better not. SCHIKANEDER But he's all right? SALIERI Oh, yes. He's just exhausted. He became dizzy, that's all. We should let him rest. SCHIKANEDER Well, tell him we were here, won't you? SALIERI Of course. SCHIKANEDER And say everything went wonderfully. A triumph-de-luxe - say that! Tell him the audience shouted his name a hundred times. SALIERI Bene. SCHIKANEDER I'll call tomorrow. SALIERI Yes. (to the actresses) And congratulations to all of you. It was superb. ACTRESSES Thank you! Thank you, Excellency! Schikaneder produces a bag of money. SCHIKANEDER Oh, by the way, give him this. This is his share. That should cheer him up, eh? SALIERI Yes, indeed. Goodnight to you all now. It was perfection - truly! ACTRESSES (delighted) Goodnight, Your Excellency. Goodnight! They bob and curtsey. Schikaneder stares at Salieri, uneasily, vaguely suspicious. Salieri smiles back at him and shuts the door. He stays for a moment, thinking. He contemplates the money. INT. MOZART'S APARTMENT - BEDROOM - NIGHT - 1790'S Mozart is sitting up in bed, staring at the door. It opens. Salieri returns. He holds in his hand the bag of money. MOZART What happened? Salieri pours the coins out of the bag onto the coverlet. SALIERI He said to give you this. And if you finish the work by tomorrow night, he will pay you another hundred ducats. Mozart looks at the coins astonished. MOZART Another? But that's too soon! Tomorrow night? It's impossible! Did he say a hundred? SALIERI Yes. Can I - could I help you, in any way? MOZART Would you? Actually, you could. SALIERI My dear friend, it would be my greatest pleasure. MOZART But you'd have to swear not to tell a soul. I'm not allowed. SALIERI Of course. MOZART You know, it's all here in my head. It's just ready to be set down. But when I'm dizzy like this my eyes won't focus. I can't write. SALIERI Then, let us try together. I'd regard it as such an honour. Tell me, what is this work? MOZART A Mass. A Mass for the Dead. CUT TO: INT. A SMALL DANCE HALL - BADEN - NIGHT - 1790'S Trivial dance music is playing. Constanze is doing a waltz with a young OFFICER in military uniform. At the moment we see her, she stops abruptly, as if in panic. OFFICER What is it? CONSTANZE I want to go! OFFICER Where? CONSTANZE I want to go back to Vienna. OFFICER Now? CONSTANZE Yes! OFFICER Why? CONSTANZE I feel wrong. I feel wrong being here. OFFICER (laying a hand on her arm) What are you talking about? CUT TO: INT. MOZART'S APARTMENT - BEDROOM - NIGHT - 1790'S Mozart is sitting up in bed, propped against pillows. The coins lie on the coverlet; many candles burn in the necks of bottles. Salieri, without coat or wig, is seated at an improvised worktable. On it are blank sheets of music paper, quills, and ink. Also the score of the Requiem Mass as so far composed. Mozart is bright-eyed with a kind of fever. Salieri is also possessed with an obviously feverish desire to put down the notes as quickly as Mozart can dictate them. MOZART Where did I stop? SALIERI (consulting the manuscript) The end of the Recordare - Statuens in parte dextra. MOZART So now the Confutatis. Confutatis Maledictis. When the wicked are confounded. Flammis acribus addictis. How would you translate that? SALIERI Consigned to flames of woe. MOZART Do you believe in it? SALIERI What? MOZART A fire which never dies. Burning one forever? SALIERI Oh, yes. MOZART Strange! SALIERI Come. Let's begin. He takes his pen. SALIERI Confutatis Maledictis. MOZART We ended in F Major? SALIERI Yes. MOZART So now - A minor. Suddenly. Salieri writes the key signature. MOZART The Fire. SALIERI What time? MOZART Common time. Salieri writes this, and continues now to write as swiftly and urgently as he can, at Mozart's dictation. He is obviously highly expert at doing this and hardly hesitates. His speed, however, can never be too fast for Mozart's impatient mind. MOZART Start with the voices. Basses first. Second beat of the first measure - A. (singing the note) Con-fu-ta-tis. (speaking) Second measure, second beat. (singing) Ma-le-dic-tis. (speaking) G-sharp, of course. SALIERI Yes. MOZART Third measure, second beat starting on E. (singing) Flam-mis a-cri-bus ad-dic-tis. (speaking) And fourth measure, fourth beat - D. (singing) Ma-le-dic-tis, flam-mis a-cri-bus ad- dic-tis. (speaking) Do you have that? SALIERI I think so. MOZART Sing it back. Salieri sings back the first six measures of the bass line. After the first two measures a chorus of basses fades in on the soundtrack and engulfs his voice. They stop. MOZART Good. Now the tenors. Fourth beat of the first measure - C. (singing) Con-fu-ta-tis. (speaking) Second measure, fourth beat on D. (singing) Ma-le-dic-tis. (speaking) All right? SALIERI Yes. MOZART Fourth measure, second beat - F. (singing) Flam-mis a-cri-bus ad-dic-tis, flam- mis a-cri-bus ad-dic-tis. His voice is lost on the last words, as tenors engulf it and take over the soundtrack, singing their whole line from the beginning, right to the end of the sixth measure where the basses stopped, but he goes on mouthing the sounds with them. Salieri writes feverishly. We see his pen jotting down the notes as quickly as possible: the ink flicks onto the page. The music stops again. MOZART Now the orchestra. Second bassoon and bass trombone with the basses. Identical notes and rhythm. (He hurriedly hums the opening notes of the bass vocal line) The first bassoon and tenor trombone - SALIERI (labouring to keep up) Please! Just one moment. Mozart glares at him, irritated. His hands move impatiently. Salieri scribbles frantically. MOZART It couldn't be simpler. SALIERI (finishing) First bassoon and tenor trombone - what? MOZART With the tenors. SALIERI Also identical? MOZART Exactly. The instruments to go with the voices. Trumpets and timpani, tonic and dominant. He again hums the bass vocal line from the beginning, conducting. On the soundtrack, we hear the second bassoon and bass trombone play it with him and the first bassoon and tenor trombone come in on top, playing the tenor vocal line. We also hear the trumpets and timpani. The sound is bare and grim. It stops at the end of the sixth measure. Salieri stops writing. SALIERI And that's all? MOZART Oh no. Now for the Fire. (he smiles) Strings in unison - ostinato on all - like this. He sings the urgent first measure of the ostinato. MOZART (speaking) Second measure on B. He sings the second measure of the ostinato. MOZART (speaking) Do you have me? SALIERI I think so. MOZART Show me. Salieri sings the first two measures of the string ostinato. MOZART (excitedly) Good, good - yes! Put it down. And the next measures exactly the same, rising and rising - C to D to E, up to the dominant chord. Do you see? As Salieri writes, Mozart sings the ostinato from the beginning, but the unaccompanied strings overwhelm his voice on the soundtrack, playing the first six bars of their agitated accompaniment. They stop. SALIERI That's wonderful! MOZART Yes, yes - go on. The Voca Me. Suddenly sotto voce. Write that down: sotto voce, pianissimo. Voca me cum benedictis. Call me among the blessed. He is now sitting bolt upright, hushed and inspired. MOZART C Major. Sopranos and altos in thirds. Altos on C. Sopranos above. (singing the alto part) Vo-ca, vo-ca me, vo-ca me cum be-ne- dic-tis. SALIERI Sopranos up to F on the second 'Voca'? MOZART Yes, and on 'dictis'. SALIERI Yes! He writes feverishly. MOZART And underneath, just violins - arpeggio. He sings the violin figure under the Voca Me (Bars 7,8,9). MOZART (speaking) The descending scale in eighth notes, and then back suddenly to the fire again. He sings the ostinato phrase twice. MOZART (speaking) And that's it. Do you have it? SALIERI You go fast! MOZART (urgently) Do you have it? SALIERI Yes. MOZART Then let me hear it. All of it. The whole thing from the beginning - now! The entire Confutatis bursts over the room, as Mozart snatches the manuscript pages from Salieri and reads from it, singing. Salieri sits looking on in wondering astonishment. The music continues right through the following scenes, to the end of the movement. EXT. A COUNTRY ROAD - WINTER NIGHT - 1790'S A carriage is driving fast through the night. Snow lies on the countryside. INT. THE CARRIAGE NIGHT - 1790'S The carriage is filled with passengers. Among them Constanze and Karl, her young son. They are sleepless and sway to the motion of the vehicle. INT. MOZART'S APARTMENT - BEDROOM - NIGHT - 1790'S Mozart lying in bed exhausted, but still dictating urgently. We do not hear what he is saying to Salieri, who still sits writing assiduously. Mozart is looking very sick: sweat is pouring from his forehead. EXT. A COUNTRY ROAD - WINTER NIGHT - 1790'S The carriage, moving through the night, to the sound of the music. INT. MOZART'S APARTMENT - BEDROOM - NIGHT - 1790'S Mozart still dictating; Salieri still writing without stop. EXT. VIENNA STREET - DAWN - 1790'S. The carriage has arrived. Constanze and her son alight with other passengers. Postillions attend to the horses. She takes her boy's hand. It is a cold wintry dawn. The music stutters to a close. End of the Confutatis. INT. MOZART'S APARTMENT - BEDROOM - NIGHT - 1790'S MOZART Do you want to rest a bit? SALIERI Oh no. I'm not tired at all. MOZART We'll stop for just a moment. Then we'll do the Lacrimosa. SALIERI I can keep going, I assure you. Shall we try? MOZART Would you stay with me while I sleep a little? SALIERI I'm not leaving you. MOZART I am so ashamed. SALIERI What for? MOZART I was foolish. I thought you did not care for my work - or me. Forgive me. Forgive me! Mozart closes his eyes. Salieri stares at him. EXT. VIENNA STREET - WINTRY DAWN - 1790'S Constanze and Karl approach along the cobbled street, hand in hand toward their house. Snow lies in the street. INT. MOZART'S APARTMENT - BEDROOM - DAWN - 1790'S Mozart lies asleep in the bed, holding the last pages of the manuscript. Salieri lies across from him on Karl's small bed in his shirt sleeves and waistcoat. The child's bed is obviously too small for him and he is forced in to a cramped position. EXT. MOZART'S APARTMENT HOUSE - DAWN - 1790'S Constanze and Karl arrive at the door. They enter. INT. MOZART'S APARTMENT - LIVING ROOM - DAWN - 1790'S It is as disordered as before, save that the table, previously littered with pages, is now completely bare. Constanze looks at it with surprise and enters the bedroom. INT. MOZART'S APARTMENT - BEDROOM - DAWN - 1790'S Mozart is asleep in the bed. Salieri is dozing on the nearby child's bed. The room is full of the trailing smoke from guttering and guttered candles. Startled by Constanze's entrance and her young son, Salieri scrambles up. As he does so, he attempts to button his waistcoat, but does it ineptly, so that the vestment becomes bunched up, making him look absurd. CONSTANZE What are you doing here? SALIERI Your husband is ill, ma'am. He took sick. I brought him home. CONSTANZE Why you? SALIERI I was at hand. CONSTANZE Well, thank you very much. You can go now. SALIERI He needs me, ma'am. CONSTANZE No, he doesn't. And I don't want you here. Just go, please. SALIERI He asked me to stay. CONSTANZE And I'm asking you - She notices a movement from the bed. Mozart wakes. He sees Constanze and smiles with real joy. Forgetting Salieri, she goes to her husband. CONSTANZE Wolfi, I'm back. I'm still very angry with you, but I missed you so much. She throws herself on the bed. CONSTANZE I'll never leave you again. If you'll just try a little harder to be nice to me. And I'll try to do better, too. We must. We must! This was just silly and stupid. She hugs her husband desperately. He stares at her with obvious relief, not able to speak. Suddenly she sees the manuscript in his hand. CONSTANZE What is this? She looks at it and recognizes it. CONSTANZE Oh no, not this. Not this, Wolfi! You're not to work on this ever again! I've decided. She takes it from his weak hand. At the same moment Salieri reaches out his hand to take it and add it to the pile on the table. She stares at him, trying to understand - suspicious and frightened and at the same time unable to make a sound. Mozart makes a convulsive gesture to reclaim the pages. The coins brought by Salieri fall on the floor. Karl runs after them, laughing. CONSTANZE (to Salieri) This is not his handwriting. SALIERI No. I was assisting him. He asked me. CONSTANZE He's not going to work on this anymore. It is making him ill. Please. She extends her hand for the Requiem, as she stands up. Salieri hesitates. CONSTANZE (hard) Please. With extreme reluctance - it costs him agony to do it - Salieri hands over the score of the Requiem to her. CONSTANZE Thank you. She marches with the manuscript over to a large chest in the room, opens it, throws the manuscript inside, shuts the lid, locks it and pockets the key. Involuntarily Salieri stretches out his arms for the lost manuscript. SALIERI But - but - but - She turns and faces him. CONSTANZE Good night. He stares at her, stunned. CONSTANZE I regret we have no servants to show you out, Herr Salieri. Respect my wish and go. SALIERI Madame, I will respect his. He asked me to stay here. They look at each other in mutual hatred. She turns to the bed. Mozart appears to have gone to sleep again. CONSTANZE Wolfi? (louder) Wolfi? She moves to the bed. The child is playing with the coins on the floor. Faintly we hear the start of the Lacrimosa from the Requiem. Salieri watches as she touches her husband's hand. As the music grows, we realize that Mozart is dead. CU, Constanze staring wide-eyed in dawning apprehension. CU, Salieri also comprehending hat he has been cheated. The music rises. CU, The child on the floor, playing with the money. CUT TO: EXT. STEPHEN'S CATHEDRAL - VIENNA - A RAINY DAY - 1790'S The Lacrimosa continues through all of the following: a small group of people emerges from the side door into the raw, wet day, accompanying a cheap wooden coffin. The coffin is borne by a gravedigger and Schikaneder in mourning clothes. They load it onto a cart, drawn by a poor black horse. All the rest are in black, also: Salieri, Von Swieten, Constanze and her son, Karl, Madame Weber and her youngest daughter Sophie, and even Lorl, the maid. It is drizzling. The cart sets off. The group follows. CUT TO: EXT. OUTSIDE THE CITY WALLS OF VIENNA - RAINY DAY - 1790'S The group has already passed beyond the city limits following the miserable cart. The Lacrimosa accompanies them with its measured thread. The drizzle of rain has now become heavy. One by one, the group breaks up and shelters under the trees. The cart moves on toward the cemetery, alone, followed by nobody, growing more and more distant. They watch it go. Salieri and Von Swieten shake hands mournfully, the water soaking their black tall hats. Schikaneder is in tears. Constanze is near collapse. Salieri moves to assist her, but she turns away from him, seeking the arm of Cavalieri. Madame Weber takes Karl's hand. The music builds to its climax on Dona Eis Pacem! We CUT back to: INT. OLD SALIERI'S HOSPITAL ROOM - MORNING - 1823 Morning light fills the room. Old Salieri sits weeping convulsively, as the music stops. Tears stream down his face. Vogler watches him, amazed. VOGLER Why? Why? Why? Why add to your misery by confessing to murder? You didn't kill him. OLD SALIERI I did. VOGLER No, you didn't! OLD SALIERI I poisoned his life. VOGLER But not his body. OLD SALIERI What difference does that make? VOGLER My son, why should you want all Vienna to believe you a murderer? Is that your penance? Is it? OLD SALIERI No, Father. From now on no one will be able to speak of Mozart without thinking of me. Whenever they say Mozart with love, they'll have to say Salieri with loathing. And that's my immortality - at last! Our names will be tied together for eternity - his in fame and mine in infamy. At least it's better than the total oblivion he'd planned for me, your merciful God! VOGLER Oh my son, my poor son! OLD SALIERI Don't pity me. Pity yourself. You serve a wicked God. He killed Mozart, not I. Took him, snatched him away, without pity. He destroyed His beloved rather than let a mediocrity like me get the smallest share in his glory. He doesn't care. Understand that. God cares nothing for the man He denies and nothing either for the man He uses. He broke Mozart in half when He'd finished with him, and threw him away. Like an old, worn out flute. EXT. CEMETERY OF ST. MARX - LATE AFTERNOON - 1790'S The rain has eased off. A LOCAL PRIEST with two boy acolytes is standing beside an open communal grave. Mozart's body is lifted out of the cheap pine box in a sack. We see that the grave contains twenty other such sacks. The gravedigger throws the one containing Mozart amongst the others. An assistant pours quicklime over the whole pile of them. The acolytes swing their censers. LOCAL PRIEST The Lord giveth. The Lord taketh away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. CUT BACK TO: INT. OLD SALIERI'S HOSPITAL ROOM - MORNING - 1823 OLD SALIERI Why did He do it? Why didn't He kill me? I had no value. What was the use, keeping me alive for thirty-two years of torture? Thirty-two years of honours and awards. He tears off the Civilian Medal and Chain with which the Emperor invested him and has been wearing the whole time and throws it across the room. OLD SALIERI Being bowed to and saluted, called 'distinguished - distinguished Salieri' - by men incapable of distinguishing! Thirty-two years of meaningless fame to end up alone in my room, watching myself become extinct. My music growing fainter, all the time fainter, until no one plays it at all. And his growing louder, filling the world with wonder. And everyone who loves my sacred art crying, Mozart! Bless you, Mozart. The door opens. An attendant comes in, cheerful and hearty. ATTENDANT Good morning, Professor! Time for the water closet. And then we've got your favourite breakfast for you - sugar-rolls. (to Vogler) He loves those. Fresh sugar-rolls. Salieri ignores him and stares only at the priest, who stares back. OLD SALIERI Goodbye, Father. I'll speak for you. I speak for all mediocrities in the world. I am their champion. I am their patron saint. On their behalf I deny Him, your God of no mercy. Your God who tortures men with longings they can never fulfill. He may forgive me: I shall never forgive Him. He signs to the attendant, who wheels him in his chair out of the room. The priest stares after him. INT. CORRIDOR OF THE HOSPITAL - MORNING The corridor is filled with patients in white linen smocks, all taking their morning exercise walk in the care of nurses and nuns. They form a long, wretched, strange procession - some of them are clearly very disturbed. As Old Salieri is pushed through them in his wheelchair, he lifts his hands to them in benediction. OLD SALIERI Mediocrities everywhere, now and to come: I absolve you all! Amen! Amen! Amen! Finally, he turns full-face to the camera and blesses us the audience, making the Sign of the Cross. Underneath we hear, stealing in and growing louder, the tremendous Masonic Funeral Music of Mozart. On the last four chords, we FADE OUT: THE END
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+                                         AMELIA                                                 Written by                                     Ronald Bass & Anna Hamilton Phelan                                                                  September 14, 2007                    1                                                                1              EXT. BAR, LAE, NEW GUINEA - DAY              CLOSE on a mud-streaked AIRFIELD in mist and driving RAIN.              A Lockheed ELECTRA sits. Sleek, twin-engine, state-of-the-              art, its metallic surface battered by the monsoon. Waiting.              PULL BACK to see...              ...our VIEW down onto the landing strip is from an open-              sided, thatched roof BAR high above the airfield. And              peering down through the mist and rain...              ...a WOMAN in grimy flight clothes gazes at the plane.              Slender. Feminine. At first glance, fragile. Then the gray              eyes change like the sea, as a stray thought transforms her.              Something fierce lives there.              SUPERIMPOSE:   LAE, NEW GUINEA - 1937.                                  FRED (O.S.)                        Sure I can't talk you inta                        somethin' more adventurous?              She turns. FRED NOONAN is tall and lean, ruggedly handsome              in a reckless way. His flight clothes as rumpled and dirt-              streaked as her own. He carries his bottle of tequila, and a              Coke which he sets down for her.                                   AMELIA                        Adventurous? You've got the wrong                        girl, Mister. You should know that                        by now.              Her eyes study him.    Assessing something as he pours himself              four fingers.                                  FRED                        Actually. I knew that the moment I                        met ol' George.              He sips his drink.    She says nothing.                                  FRED (CONT'D)                        I like how you don't talk about                        him.                                   AMELIA                        That why I get so many chances to                        not do it?                                   FRED                        Well.   Natural curiosity.              His charming smile. She's thinking more about the tequila.              She reaches to take his bottle and glass. Moves them to her              side of the table.                                                                        2.                                                                FRED                        I mean, why would a guy who needs                        to run the show. Pick the one girl                        he knew could kick his tail?              No response.   Just her clear direct gaze.                                  FRED (CONT'D)                        I'll bet he knew that. First time                        he met you.              She looks out to sea.                                 AMELIA                        He thought I hated him.      He never                        knew I was fascinated.                                  INT. GEORGE'S OFFICE, NEW YORK - DAY          2                                                                  2              Alone by the window, he gazes at the city. A powerfully              built man in a perfectly-tailored suit. The face at once              strong and elegant, capable of every emotion. Yet just now,              there are none to be seen. Even as...              ...a door OPENS. A pretty SECRETARY enters soundlessly, sits              respectfully. Waits, her pen suspended above her steno pad.              Does he know she's there?              SUPERIMPOSE:   NEW YORK, LATER 1937.                                  GEORGE                            (without turning)                        The first time I met her she sat                        in that chair.              The secretary doesn't know whether to write that down.   And              still with his back to her...                                  GEORGE (CONT'D)                        You may as well write it down,                        Mary. Write it all down. Even the                        parts that are confused or                        graceless or boring.              He turns with a soft smile to put her at ease.                                  GEORGE (CONT'D)                        We'll see if I remember how to                        edit.              She smiles back. She likes him, as much as her level of              being awed by him permits. She begins to write, as...                                                                                     3.                                                                 GEORGE (CONT'D)                        I'd kept her waiting two hours.                        T                        She hated me on sight, but she                          hought I couldn't tell.              His gaze drifts to a bookcase crammed with volumes. And one              object, oddly out of place. A stuffed CAT, with boots and a              green frock coat. It wears a confident ironic smile.                                  GEORGE (CONT'D)                        She was a person who cherished her                        privacy and was devoting her life                        to social work. And there I was...              His smile is kind.   And honestly self-mocking.                                  GEORGE (CONT'D)                        Self-obsessed. Wallowing in the                        glory of my authors and celebrity                        acquaintances. A vain, fast-                        talking, manipulator. But then I                        guess you know all that, don't you?              She looks up reproachfully.   Nothing of the kind, and you              know it.                                  GEORGE (CONT'D)                        Oh, yes. And the kind of man who                        fishes for compliments.              He's made her laugh.                                                           DISSOLVE TO...                              3                                                                     3              INT. RECEPTION AREA - DAY              She is younger, dressed conservatively. The calm at the              center of a storm. Agents, authors, couriers, peddlers come              and go. But she has her legs drawn up beneath her, pouring              through a small stack of volumes. As if preparing for an              exam.              SUPERIMPOSE:   G.P. PUTNAM'S SONS PUBLISHING CO. 1928.                                   GEORGE (V.O.)                        The waiting made her furious.                        She undoubtedly felt I was                        E                          stablishing my dominance and                        importance.              She doesn't look furious at all. Thumbing through WE by COL.              CHARLES LINDBERGH. Photos of Lindy beside the Spirit of St.              Louis in Paris.                                                                               4.                                                            GEORGE (V.O.) (CONT'D)                    Actually, I hadn't given her a                    thought. Oblivious as usual.                    Which, perhaps, was even worse.          Now, SKYWARD by ADM. RICHARD BYRD. Photos of the explorer          preparing for his flight over the North Pole. One of Byrd          with George himself, displaying considerable gravitas.                              AMELIA (V.O.)                    I figured he'd be pompous.          Her eye travels over the stack of books. Adventurers,          explorers, celebrities. On an end table, a framed photo of          George with the great Lindbergh.          A pretty SECRETARY comes to summon her. Amelia rises,          smooths the wrinkles from her brown suit. They head down          the corridor.                              AMELIA (V.O.) (CONT'D)                    I knew, of course, that he wasn't                    going to choose me. I had no                    discernible qualifications                    whatsoever.          They reach the door, already ajar. It says GEORGE PALMER          PUTNAM on a small bronze plate. The secretary gingerly          pushes it open...          ...revealing George on the phone in crisp shirtsleeves and          suspenders. He paces, prowls, trailing the cord behind him,          negotiating non-stop even as he flips through a pile of          messages. Off again, stalking the room. Dashing, electric,          masterful.                              AMELIA (V.O)                    But to be rejected by this...                    parasite. A man who had given up                    any life of his own to flutter near                    the famous.          He glances up, realizing for the first time that she is          there. Sit, please. But she doesn't.                              AMELIA (V.O.) (CONT'D)                    I didn't know whether to laugh or                    throw something at the jerk.          He gestures again, more commandingly. Sit. She doesn't          move, she doesn't smile. She doesn't take her steady gaze          from him. He hangs up the phone.          They stare at each other for a frozen beat.   He breaks the          moment with a charming smile...                                                                          5.                                                               GEORGE                       Miss Earhart?                                 AMELIA                       Mr. Putnam?                                 GEORGE (softly)                       I asked you to sit.                                 AMELIA                       Was that the thing you did with                       your hand? Sadly, I don't speak                       dog.          His smile now only a trace.       But more genuine.                                  GEORGE          A            Ah.   Well, stand if you like.           melia sits.                                 GEORGE (CONT'D)                       I'm told you want to fly the                       Atlantic Ocean.                                   AMELIA                       I do.                                 GEORGE                       In the 12 months since Lindbergh,                       55 people in 18 planes have tried.                       Three planes made it. Fourteen                       people have died.                                 AMELIA                       I'll make it.                                 GEORGE                       Three women died trying. Two                       others escaped with their lives.                       If you do make it, you'd be the                       first. Which...is the real                       attraction for both of us, I                       suspect.          She nods.    No smile.                                 AMELIA                       Always nice to know what the real                       attraction is.          His smile.    Beginning to enjoy this conversation.                                                                    6.                                                            GEORGE                    The plane was bought from Adm. Byrd                    by Amy Guest, a socialite who                    wanted the record for herself. Her                    family wouldn't tolerate the                    danger. She has asked for a                    replacement...          He gestures.   Perhaps you.                              GEORGE (CONT'D)                    ...who is American, educated, well-                    spoken, a flyer, preferably                    physically attractive...                              AMELIA                    Why would that matter?                              GEORGE                    Because she wants the world to pay                    attention. And pretty girls                    command more attention.                              AMELIA                    Was that your advice?                              GEORGE                    Sure. My role is selling this                    event to the public. There will be                    a contract for the girl's story                    with the New York Times. Also a                    book to be published over her name.          Understood...?       G                               EORGE (CONT'D)                    But all the money from these will                    go to Mrs. Guest.                              AMELIA                    Except for the part that goes to                    you.                              GEORGE                    Which will be as great as I can                    manage, I assure you.                              AMELIA                    You said she wants a flyer.                              GEORGE                    Don't get your hopes up. The                    celebrated Wilmer Stultz will be                    the pilot. There'll be a male co-                    pilot and navigator. The woman                    will be purely a passenger.                                                                               7.                                        He waits for reaction.   She keeps her mouth shut.                              GEORGE (CONT'D)                    That's good for your chances.                    Because your level of flying                    experience wouldn't place you                    anywhere near the group that would                    be considered for this. If the                    woman were to do any flying at all.          No punches pulled.   Not his style.                               AMELIA                    Why would anyone want a book from a                    passenger?                              GEORGE                    Because the hook is that we're                    making the woman the commander.                    The pilot will sign a contract                    saying he is under her direction                    and control. It's her ship, her                    flight.                              AMELIA                    Good for my chances, you said.                    What are my chan...                              GEORGE                    The job's yours.          She blinks.   Stunned speechless.                              GEORGE (CONT'D)                    I chose you the moment you walked                    through the door.          He smiles his charming smile.    Several phones are RINGING.                              GEORGE (CONT'D)                    Now assuming my awful manners                    haven't soured you on the                    enterprise. May I give you a lift                    to the station?          Amelia rises.   Is she pissed at being toyed with?                              AMELIA                    You're a busy man, Mr. Putnam.     I                    can find my way.          The look holds.   He shrugs.   You probably can.                                                                                  8.                                                  4                                                                  4              INT. GRAND CENTRAL STATION - LATER              Two figures on the platform.   Her train is ready to leave.                                  GEORGE                        I honestly feel an apology is in                        order.                                   AMELIA                        Fine.   What have I done?              She watches his smile.                                  AMELIA (CONT'D)                        I didn't mind waiting. Caught up                        on my reading. Knitted a sweater.                                  GEORGE                        I mean an apology.   For what's                        coming.              His voice softens.                                  GEORGE (CONT'D)                        I'm going to be pretty controlling                        these next few months. How you                        dress, move, cut your hair. Speak                        in public. It's all part of the                        package we're selling.                                   AMELIA                        We.                                  GEORGE                        That's right. If you're not in                        there selling with me, it won't                        work.              The smile turns friendly.                                  GEORGE (CONT'D)                        You're the star. I'm no one at                        all.                                  AMELIA                        Spoken like a gentleman.              She steps up onto the train. Extends her hand like a man.              He shakes it firmly. The train begins to move. She watches              his cheery wave as she rolls away.                                  AMELIA (V.O.) (CONT'D)                        Of course a gentleman. Would have                        paid for my ticket.                                                                                    9.                                                  5                                                                    5              INT. TRAIN - LATER              Gazing out the window as she rattles toward Boston. She              looks down now to a notebook in her lap. As she flips pages,              we see it is a collection of hand-written POEMS and thoughts.              She writes...                                   AMELIA (V.O.)                        Courage is the price that life exacts                        For granting peace              We SUPERIMPOSE over her image the wall of a little girl's              bedroom, filled with treasured NEWSPAPER CLIPPINGS about              women doctors, officials, bank presidents, women who had              established themselves in positions previously thought to be              available only to men.                                  AMELIA (V.O.)                        The soul that knows it not                        Knows no release                        From little things                                                            DISSOLVE TO HER                                                               MEMORY OF...                              6                                                                    6              EXT. FIELD, DES MOINES - DAY              Two LITTLE GIRLS, maybe 10 years old, walking in a field.              Amelia and a girlfriend. They stop, hearing...              The DRONING of an engine, a small red plane APPEARING above              the treetops. The pilot seeing two girls alone in the field,              SWOOPS down to BUZZ them. Amelia's friend runs for her life.              But Amelia stands still, throws her arms WIDE, and the              plane...              ...DROPS lower, and LOWER, as it CLOSES straight in on the              slender girl with her outstretched arms. LOUDER and FASTER,              as if intent on winning some impulsive duel of wills. The              aircraft SCREAMS past, just above her head.                                  AMELIA (V.O.)                        As the little red airplane passed                        by, it said something to me.              Amelia beams.   She fills her lungs, transported.                                   AMELIA (V.O.) (CONT'D)                        I don't think I've ever stopped                        listening.              HOLD on her, hair and uniform whipping in the breeze.              SMASH CUT TO...                                                                                   10.                                                  7                                                                    7              INT. AMELIA'S PLANE - DAY              Amelia flying her little yellow Kinner.   Feeling the freedom              she thrilled to as a A                                   child.                                   MELIA (V.O.)                        Ten years, 28 jobs and an unspeak-                        able number of crashes later, I                        hadn't changed my mind.              She LIFTS the nose of the tiny craft.   Begins to CLIMB.                                  AMELIA (V.O.) (CONT'D)                        I even had my own plane. Bought                        with my last dime.              At the apex of her climb, she FLIPS into a breathtaking LOOP              THE LOOP, as...                                  AMELIA (V.O.) (CONT'D)                        Course in the early days of                        flying...              ...her engine SPUTTERS. Then STALLS.    The plane DIPS into a              TAIL-SPIN, PLUNGING downward...                                  AMELIA (V.O.) (CONT'D)                        ...crashing was so common, you                        almost forgot it could kill you...              Amelia STRUGGLING to start the engine, the little plane              HURTLING toward earth, SPINNING as it goes.                                  AMELIA (V.O.) (CONT'D)                        ...until it did.              The engine COUGHS to life and at the last second she SWOOPS              harrowingly above the ground to SOAR FREE.                                    AMELIA (V.O.) (CONT'D)                        Almost.                                  EXT. AIRFIELD - DAY          8                                                                    8              A small HANGAR in a lonely field.   See a group of...              ...MECHANICS in their grease-stained jumpsuits. Three big              guys and one little one working on an engine that's been              pulled from Amelia's Kinner. When the little guy comes up              for air...              ...he isn't a guy at all.                                                                                  11.                                                                  AMELIA                         Got it.   I think.                              9                                                                   9               INT. DENISON HOUSE, BOSTON - DAY               SAM CHAPMAN, a handsome young man is being led down an               institutional hallway and out onto the grounds of this               venerable settlement house. He finds...               ...Amelia sitting cross-legged on the grass. Reading to a               group of CHINESE GIRLS, who hang on her every animated word.               On the periphery, ADULTS sit, taking in the story. They are               of various ethnicities, homeless or handicapped or immigrant.                                    A               Two are blind. Amelia sees Sam...                                    MELIA                         Girls, this is Mr. Samuel Chapman.                         Sam, say hullo to the Octopus Club.               The Octopus Club waves to Sam.   The adults wave, too.                                   AMELIA (CONT'D)                         You're just in time. Alice has                         come through the Looking Glass,                         and things are getting, well...                                   OCTOPUS CLUB                             (on cue)                         REALLY STRANGE!                                   AMELIA                         They are, actually.               She pats the grass beside her.   Sam has no choice but to sit.                                   EXT. GROUNDS - LATER          10                                                              10               Amelia and Sam walk a wooded path beside the grounds.               Through the chain link fence, they watch other social workers               playing with groups of children.                                   SAM                         And it's a secret.                                   AMELIA                         Has to be. Competition, you know.                         Millionaire heiresses, hot shot                         girl pilots. If George knew I told                         you, he'd have me publicly flogged.                         She looks over.                                                                    12.                                                            AMELIA (CONT'D)                    So long as he could sell tickets.          He's not smiling.                              SAM                    And no one else knows.                              AMELIA                    Marion. She's giving me a leave                    of absence.                               SAM                    I would think so. Your name will                    be in all the papers, and not just                    Boston. Denison House stands to                    come in for funding, national                    attention.                              AMELIA                    Specially if I don't make it.                              SAM                    Don't joke about that.          She wasn't joking at all.                              SAM (CONT'D)                    You'll make it. And then you'll                    have opportunities to work in                    aviation. Anywhere you want.          She laughs.                              AMELIA                    Well, I'll have impressive                    credentials as a long-distance                    passenger. That's not exactly a                    career in aviation.          She looks up at his eyes.                    I         AMELIA (CONT'D)                     'm not going anywhere, social work                    is my life. After all the years of                    false starts, I found the thing I'm                    meant to do.          Keep walking.   She gives him time to say...                              SAM                    And where does that leave us?                                                                                  13.                                                                 AMELIA                         You do love to look on the dark                         side. Whatever did you see in a                         sunny character like me?               She gives him a sweet playful smile.   It doesn't reassure               him.                                   SAM                         It's not as if I'd been putting                         pressure on you.                                   AMELIA                         What love means to you. What it                         requires. Is the pressure.               He stops walking.                                   SAM                         I love you. Is that such a                         terrible problem?               She gazes at him.   Can he even hear this?                                   AMELIA                         The problem is what it's always                         been. The problem is me.                                   INT. WALDORF ASTORIA HOTEL - DAY          11                                                                11               MOVIETONE NEWSREEL footage, accompanied by their signature               fanfare theme. Hotel conference room jammed with press. A               sexy brunette in a sweater that seems to be made of strips of               GOLD FOIL steps to a bank of microphones. Flashes start               POPPING.                                   ANNOUNCER (O.S.)                         The Queen of Diamonds Mabel Boll,                         about to become the first female to                         fly the Atlantic in the wake of                         Lindbergh's historic journey,                         regales an eager world press...               The sound switches to Mabel at the mikes...                                   MABEL                         Okay, boys. I'll take any                         questions you wanna throw my way.                         Except about what's behind this                         sweater.               The boys ROAR.   Mabel keeps her smile tight.                                      MABEL (CONT'D)                         The story.     Behind it. Of course.                                                                                  14.                                             As the laughter CONTINUES...                              12   T                                                          12               INT. HANGAR, EAST BOSTON AIRPORT - NIGHT                he heavy door rolls OPEN. George and Amelia enter the               brightly-lit hangar to see two men working on the FRIENDSHIP,               a sea-plane with golden wings. Its red-orange fuselage               stands beside gigantic PONTOONS, each 29 feet long. The               pontoons have been opened, and the men are attaching them to               the plane.               They turn toward us now. BILL STULTZ is short and wiry with               quick eyes. Only 28, he seems weathered by his adventures               and the streaks of gray through his hair. He is not               necessarily happy to see us.                                   AMELIA (V.O.)                         George had told me Stultz was Adm.                         Byrd's favorite pilot, fearless,                         gifted. He drank. But George said                         it never affected his work.               George waves as we approach.   Bill and Amelia seem locked on               each other.                                   AMELIA (V.O.) (CONT'D)                         When he said it, I must have had a                         funny look. So I just said, `Yeh,                         I grew up around a guy like that.'                                   GEORGE                         Boys, I'd like to introduce your                         commander, Miss Amelia Earhart.                                   AMELIA                         We felt `commander' was less                         grandiose than, say, `empress.'               Bill doesn't smile.   The other man does...                                    GEORGE                         Say hello to Slim Gordon your                         navigator.               She is shaking hands in that strong, direct way.                                   GEORGE (CONT'D)                         And Bill Stultz here, simply the                         most talented pilot working.               She takes Bill's powerful hand. The look between them calm,               yet somehow intense. As if each is establishing a tone for               their relationship.                                                                             15.                                                            GEORGE (CONT'D)                    We've got Byrd's pilot, we've got                    his plane...                              AMELIA                    Y                     ou mean the Admiral flies on                    those?          The pontoons.   She does not seem admiring.                              GEORGE                    Nope, those are new, personally                    suggested by the old man himself.          Bill nods on that.   Sure were.                              GEORGE (CONT'D)                    This way, if you're forced down                    at sea, you can wait for a rescue.                               AMELIA                    Hmmn.   What does that do to our                    fuel?                              BILL                    Costs us at least 400 gallons.                    Don't bother bringing clothes for                    Paris, we'll be lucky to hit the                    nearest beach in Ireland. Real                    lucky.                              GEORGE                    The Admiral estimates the pontoons                    only cut our range by 200 miles.          But Amelia looks to Bill.   That's not really possible is it?                              BILL                    The Admiral is the Admiral. He                    gets to estimate any damn thing he                    wants. All we have to do is figure                    out how to fly without petrol.          She turns to George with challenging eyes.                              BILL (CONT'D)                    Don't go blaming the bookseller.                    He's been all through this with                    Mrs. Guest, but she worships the                    Admiral. And it's money that puts                    planes in the air.                              AMELIA                    I wonder if it can keep them up                    there. Not that I've ever had                    enough to try.                                                                                  16.                                             Bill's small smile.   Maybe the girl's all right.                              13                                                              13               EXT. DOCK - LATER               George and Amelia approach a waiting motorboat, as the lights               of Boston glimmer across the harbor. His head is down.               She's watching his profile.                                     AMELIA                         Sorry.    I'll try keeping my mouth                         shut.                                   GEORGE                         What I ought to try. Is listening                         to you once in awhile.               H                e meant that.   And she seems oddly touched.                                     AMELIA                         Careful.    I could get to like it.               No reaction from him. He hops into the boat. Turns, holds               out his hand. She hesitates. Clearly doesn't need his help               to jump into a boat. Their eyes lock. We are watching her               decide. And then...               She reaches to clasp his hand.   Hops down beside him.                                   AMELIA (CONT'D)                         Thank you, Simpkin. Thank you for                         everything.                                   GEORGE                             (a smile)                         Simpkin.                                   AMELIA                         It's in a book. Oh, that's right.                         You read the ones you publish.               Her smile is friendly, not flirtatious. She goes to sit in               the bow. He doesn't follow. But he is watching.                              14                                                              14               EXT. ROOF, COPLEY PLAZA HOTEL - DAY               Amelia in a flying outfit.   Hands on her hips as if posing.                                   AMELIA (V.O.)                         There's a Beatrix Potter story                         about a cat named Simpkin.               PULL BACK to see the PHOTOGRAPHER, George beside him. They               are on a hotel rooftop, precariously high above Boston.                              T                                                                      A                                                                                                             17.                                                            AMELIA (V.O.)                    He wasn't happy unless he had                    several mice, each under a                    different teacup. So he could                    never become bored.          We see that Amelia's POSE looks exactly the SAME as a photo          of CHARLES LINDBERGH in the photographer's hand. It is          labeled `LUCKY LINDY.'                              AMELIA (V.O.)                    THe illusion of activity was                    essential for him to feel at peace.          The photographer now shows George ANOTHER PHOTO of Lindbergh          in a different pose.                              AMELIA                    What are you boys doing over there?                              GEORGE                    Trying to make you look like a                    girl.          George studies the photo, then goes to Amelia and begins          moving her body into the new pose. Tilting her head to          Lindbergh's angle.                                  MELIA (V.O.)                    I wondered.     Was I Mr. Putnam's                    43rd mouse?     Or his 307th.          Now touching her, adjusting her coat, fluffing a bit of her          hair, pulling the collar around to frame her face...                               G                               EORGE                     he more we can make you look                    like a girl, the better.                              AMELIA                    Oh god, is it worth the effort?          He cocks his head, studies her.    Nah, guess not.                              GEORGE                    Wondering who should play you                    in the film of all this. I'm                    thinking Chaplin.                              AMELIA                    Valentino's not available?          He shakes his head sadly. Adjusts her collar once more.          This time, his hands linger.                                                                                   18.                                                                 AMELIA (CONT'D)                         Two things. One, Chaplin can't                         play me because he's perfect for                         you. And two, you have company.               She glances to where a WOMAN, beautiful and aristocratic, is               being helped onto the roof. George's face lights to see her.               He rushes over, sweeps her into his arms, kisses her               tenderly. Amelia smiles to see this, makes her like them               both.                                   GEORGE                         Amelia Earhart, this is Dorothy                         Binney Putnam.               The women trade smiles.   They shake hands, holding eye               contact.                                   DOROTHY                         Great to meet you. George talks                         so much about you.                             (a wink)                         In fact, lately, you're all he                         does talk about.                         George steps in close, and the photographer SNAPS a three-               shot. And another.                                   PHOTOGRAPHER                         Hold those smiles for one more,                         please.                                   EXT. JEFFREY YACHT CLUB HARBOR, EAST BOSTON - EARLY LIGHT 15          15               The FRIENDSHIP bobbing on its pontoons. Bill and Slim are               off-loading equipment and other gear from the plane to a               TUGBOAT filled with support crew and family. The plane's               engines REV in the predawn stillness. PULL BACK to see...          1                         EXT. YACHT CLUB DOCK - EARLY LIGHT           6                                                                16               ...the yacht club dock. George and Amelia alone at the               railing. She's wearing her leather flight jacket and boots.               They stare out at the plane, so frail and awkward. From her               bag now, she pulls three ENVELOPES...               Puts them in George's hand.   Straight, unblinking...                                   AMELIA                         Popping off letters. For my dad,                         my mom, my sis. You know. In                         case.                                                                             19.                                        He stares down. Rocked by the weight of this against the          simplicity of her words. The top envelope says: DEAREST          DAD.                               GEORGE                     I'm honored. That you'd leave                     these with me.                               AMELIA                     Who else? If I do pop off, it's                     your fault.          Said in her sunny way. But she's not kidding.    It takes a          beat before he can offer...                               GEORGE                     I'll call them once you're safely                     on your way.                               AMELIA                     Sam will handle that.   They trust                     him.          That registers.                               GEORGE                     I've figured out the Simpkin thing,                     you know.                                 AMELIA                     Have you.                               GEORGE                     Sure. There are so few books I                     haven't published, it was easy                     to find.          Well...?                               GEORGE (CONT'D)                     Beatrix Potter, the Tailor of                     Gloucester. He's a cat in a                     green frock coat.                               AMELIA                     But why is he you?          Oh.                               GEORGE                     He's brilliant, charismatic...                               AMELIA                     So you haven't actually read it.                     Do you actually read?                         H                                                                                                                  20.                                                                    GEORGE                            ...neurotic, compulsive,                            manipulative. Am I getting warmer?               She sighs.                                      AMELIA                            P                             ray I make it. Or the secret pops                            off with me.               A held look.     A friendly...                                       AMELIA (CONT'D)                            Well.   See ya.               She walks off down the dock toward the Friendship.                e stands watching her go.                                                              DISSOLVE TO...                              17                                                                   17               INT. SMALL HOTEL, NEWFOUNDLAND - MORNING               Amelia alone, leaving her hotel room in her flight jacket.               Locking the door.               SUPERIMPOSE:     FIRST STOP: CANADA                                      AMELIA (V.O.)                            Our first hop was to Canada, to                            start from as close as we could get                            to Ireland. Just in case we                            couldn't get the thing in the air                            and had to row.               She walks briskly down the corridor.                                      AMELIA (V.O.)                            The fuel was going to be so close,                            every single mile counted.               Turns a corner.      Approaches the dining room door.                                      AMELIA (V.O.)                            George told me to keep to my room,                            just in case there was a reporter                            or two somewhere.               She enters the hotel dining room. Stops cold. Across the               room a disgruntled Bill and a sheepish Slim stare at her from               their breakfast, surrounded by 15 REPORTERS and               PHOTOGRAPHERS. Holy shit. Half a dozen CAMERAS RISE as one.               It is a defining moment. And Amelia...               Cocks her head.      Throws an effortless golden smile.                                               R                                                                                                                   21.                                                                 AMELIA                         Hi there, boys. How are the ham                         and eggs?               The FLASHES EXPLODE as one.   They keep POPPING as Amelia               makes her way to them.                                   BILL                         Don't blame us, lady. I think                         somebody's starting to sell books.               The reporters are handing her their morning editions. The               New York Times front page headline: BOSTON GIRL STARTS FOR               ATLANTIC HOP.               There beneath the headline, the glamorous PHOTO we watched               being taken on the Copley Hotel roof, Lady Lindy. Next to               it, an earlier photo of her as a demure social worker.               A                melia is sifting through the other papers, grinning and               shaking her head.                                    EPORTER                         Say, Amelia. What have you got for                         Mabel Boll to chew on?                                   AMELIA                         Now why would a famous gal like                         Mabel give a thought to someone                         like me? I don't have a single                         sweater made out of gold.               The boys ROAR, Slim louder than anyone. Even Bill cracks a               smile. They're shouting, teasing, YOU CAN'T KID US!                                   AMELIA (CONT'D)                         Hey, not even silver.               The boys make room.   Bill rises to hold Amelia's chair.    A               friendly murmur...                                   BILL                         The ham's a little tough,                         Commander. But the bacon's swell.                              18                                                                   18               INT. WALDORF-ASTORIA HOTEL - DAY               MOVIETONE NEWSREEL footage, accompanied by their signature               fanfare theme. Once more, the hotel conference room jammed               with press. Today Mabel wears a luxurious silver fox coat,               shimmies up to a bank of microphones at the podium. Flashes               start POPPING.                                                                               22.                                                            ANNOUNCER (O.S.)                    The Queen of Diamonds Mabel Boll,                    upstaged by upstart social worker,                    seems madder than a rich wet hen.                    Hey Mabel, tell us about your                    rival!          The sound switches to Mabel leaning her sultry voice to the          mikes...                              MABEL                    Well, how would any woman feel                    about some tart who steals her man?          Reporters furiously writing, more flashes EXPLODE.                              MABEL (CONT'D)                    Bill Stultz and I were going to                    make history together, until this                    poor little social worker and her                    sugar daddy, oh excuse me,                    `publisher,' started throwing money                    and I don't know what else at him.                              R                                EPORTER                    Mabel, are you implying Miss                    Earhart used her feminine charms on                    your pilot?                              MABEL                    I don't know, Charlie, I never seen                    her. Has she got any?          LAUGHTER, they're all calling out.   She shows them a smoky          smile, but stays on message.                              MABEL (CONT'D)                    Well, she had to use something on                    somebody to get from nowhere to                    here. You figure it out, or wait                    til George Putnam feeds it to you.          Two dozen questions at once.   She's not even listening.                              MABEL (CONT'D)                    We're going to Canada, waiting for                    some good weather on the Atlantic,                    and then we'll kick Little Miss                    Whoozis in the keester.                              REPORTER                    What makes you so cocky that she                    won't leave first?                                                                                    23.                                                                    MABEL                            Rusty, we can carry enough fuel to                            go to China. That thing they're                            flying can't load enough gas to                            make Yonkers. Tell that to                            Putnam's girlie. And while you're                            at it...               She snuggles the gleaming fox fur around her.                                      MABEL (CONT'D)                            Tell her I do wear silver.   So I'm                            two up on her.                                   EXT. HARBOR, TREPASSEY, NEWFOUNDLAND - EARLY MORNING          19                                                                  19               MOVIETONE NEWSREEL CONTINUES. We are looking at foggy, bleak               Trepassey Harbor as the Friendship makes an unsuccessful               attempt to take off.                                      ANNOUNCER (O.S.)                            Eleven days of failure for plucky                            Amelia Earhart and her crew. If it                            isn't storms over the Atlantic,                            it's the inability of the                            seaplane's pontoons to lift from                            the sea.               S                ERIES OF ANGLES.    One failed take-off after another.                                      ANNOUNCER (O.S.) (CONT'D)                            Perhaps it's for the best.                            Remember, no woman has beat the                            jinx of the Atlantic and three have                            died trying. Including a princess                            and the niece of former President                            Woodrow Wilson.               The plane's engine SPUTTERS and STALLS.     It floats on the               sea.                                      ANNOUNCER (O.S.) (CONT'D)                            Maybe this one's not to be. Hey,                            Mabel! How's your weather report?                                   INT. HOTEL CORRIDOR, NEWFOUNDLAND - LATE NIGHT          20                                                                  20               Amelia coming down the hotel corridor. She passes a room,               and hearing DRUNKEN LAUGHTER from a group of MEN within the               room...               She stops.    Stares at the door with more concern than anger.                                      A                                                                                                                       24.                                                  21                                                                     21               INT. ROOM - SAME MOMENT               Bill, Slim and three of the REPORTERS are drinking up a               storm.                                      BILL                            EXPLORER, MY ASS. BYRD COULDN'T                            FIND A PUBIC HAIR IN A WHOREHOUSE                             T RUSH HOUR!                                   INT. HOTEL ROOM, NEWFOUNDLAND - LATER          22                                                                     22               Amelia curled up on her bed with CHARTS of the Atlantic               spread everywhere. From next door, the sound of drunken men               CONTINUE.               Amelia looks down from her charts.       Her mind going to...                                   FLASHBACK:       EXT. HOUSE, ATCHISON, KANSAS - DAY          23                                                                     23               Seven-year-old KIDS dressed as cowboys and Indians are               gathered on the front lawn of a white clapboard home. We               CLOSE on a clear-eyed tomboy with war paint and tousled hair,               AMELIA at seven, looking up excitedly as a car pulls to the               curb.               H                er FATHER climbs slowly from the car, WOBBLES his way across               the lawn. The kids part to let him through, the confusion               and disappointment on every face. He ignores them all, even               Amelia. The front door opens...               ...Amelia's MOTHER gazes at him with shame and disdain.         As               she helps him stagger inside...                                   INT. HOTEL ROOM - EARLY MORNING          24                                                                     24               Amelia in her flight gear, sitting on the edge of her bed, an               open TELEGRAM lies beside her. Her elbows rest on her knees.               Her hands are locked together. Her profile is stony,               determined. TILT DOWN to the telegram...               It reads:    WEATHER PERMITTING, MABEL FLIES THIS AFTERNOON.               She grabs her flight bag, leaves the room. She only has to               travel as far as the next door. POUNDS on it. Waits.               Pounds LOUDER with both fists.               Slim opens the door.      Looking bad.   Bill sits up in bed,               groggy, disoriented.                                      BILL                            Christ, what time is...                                                                                25.                                                            AMELIA                    Time to fly. Get up, get dressed,                    we're going now.          She is calm and angry at once.    A powerful combination.   Slim          pulls his pants off a chair.                              BILL                    Where's the weather report?          She goes to his bed. Hands him a slip of paper.     He blinks,          still waking up. Reads.                              BILL (CONT'D)                    It's not good enough.                              AMELIA                    Great. Maybe Mabel will think so,                    too. Because if she doesn't, she's                    going to Paris and you're going                    home. Today.                              B                               ILL                    It's not good enough.                              AMELIA                    It's fine, there's a tail wind all                    the way, we'll off-load to 700                    gallons, which gets us off the                    water and the wind gets us to                    Ireland.                              BILL                    We've had better than this and we                    haven't gone.                                AMELIA                    But this   is the day Mabel's ready,                    so we're   going now. The weather                    is going   to get better and we'll                    be there   to enjoy it.                              BILL                    You're serious.                              AMELIA                    Just as serious as you're hung                    over.                        (to Slim)                    You go now, get the late weather,                    we'll meet you at the plane.          Go. Now! Slim pulls on his shoes, grabs his jacket, his          bag. Looks to Bill, but the pilot is glaring at his          commander.                                                                                    26.                                                                 AMELIA (CONT'D)                             (QUIET)                         Slim, get out. I've got this.               A beat. Slim goes, the door shuts quietly.     Amelia sits on               the edge of Bill's bed.                                   AMELIA (CONT'D)                         I've loved one person                         unconditionally, Bill. He is the                         most caring and generous and                         charming and flat-out funny guy                         I'll ever know. He's my father.               Her eyes are burning with this.    And Bill keeps quiet.               Anyone would.                                   AMELIA (CONT'D)                         He's a drunk. And he's let me down                         all my life.               She leans closer.                                   AMELIA (CONT'D)                         Now you get out of that bed. And                         you fly that god-damned thing to                         Ireland. Or I swear to you,                         Bill...               Just above a whisper...                                   AMELIA (CONT'D)                         I swear to you I will. Or die                         trying.               Y                ou got that?   Do you?                                   AMELIA (CONT'D)                         And either way. You're going to be                         living with it.                              25                                                                25               EXT. TREPASSEY HARBOR - LATER               It's dark and cold. Bill and Amelia stand at the dock beside               their plane. He's drinking coffee as they watch Slim come               down the quay with a slip of paper in his hand. Amelia steps               forward to take it. Reads with neutral eyes.                                      AMELIA                         Good.     Slim, start the engines.               She still hasn't given the paper to Bill. Slim steps onto a               pontoon. Starts CRANKING up the propellers. As the engine               KICKS to life...                         S                                                                                                                  27.                                             She hands the weather report to Bill.    He reads.   Looks to               her eyes.                                   AMELIA (CONT'D)                         You signed a contract. You've got                         a direct instruction from me to go.                         That report indicates some degree                         of risk and it's a risk I'm taking.                                   BILL                         Have a nice flight.                                    AMELIA                         Thanks.               She motions to Slim, get on board. The navigator grins,               starts to climb up, looking back at Bill...                                   SLIM                         Hey, I'm scared shitless of this                         dame.               She climbs up after him.   One look back...                                   AMELIA                         Read tomorrow's papers, Bill.                         We'll both be in them.               And disappears. Alone on the dock, Bill hears the engines               REV. Jesus, God, she's going to do it. He takes a step               toward the plane, but her head appears in the hatch...                                   AMELIA (CONT'D)                         So, to take off, you pull back                         on the thing, right?               Her perfectly straight, innocent face.    He BUSTS out               laughing. This fucking girl.               T                osses his coffee.   Climbs aboard.                                   INT. FRIENDSHIP - MOMENTS LATER          26                                                                   26               WITH Amelia as she locks the hatch. For the first time, we               can see the inside of the plane. The cabin is too small for               anyone to stand. The plane has been emptied of everything               but two huge elliptical FUEL TANKS.                he wedges herself between the gigantic tanks. Bill pulls               the throttle and the Fokker Tri-motor LURCHES forward,               STRAINING against the surface of the sea in a rattling,               throbbing desperately VIBRATING all-out attempt.                                                                                     28.                                             Amelia crawls to the tiny window, her face to the glass as               chop and spray FLY PAST like shrapnel, and the engines WHINE               and PULSE louder...               ...twenty seconds, thirty. Still on the surface. Forty               seconds, fifty, her eyes shut, her forehead bangs against the               glass, come on, sixty seconds, and at 67...                              27                                                                 27               EXT. HARBOR - SAME MOMENT               ...the seaplane LIFTS, struggles, then SOARS FREE.                                   INT. FRIENDSHIP - DAY/NIGHT          28                                                                 28               Amelia kneels at the tiny window. A kid on a rainy day.               Only outside this window is impenetrable FOG and a STORM that               ROCKS the plane like the shock waves of endless explosions.               As she braces herself against the hull...               ...water DRIPS onto her from a loose seam. Could this be               dangerous? She looks around. Through the opening between               the elliptical fuel tanks...               ...Bill and Slim at the controls. Bill is banging on               something beside the instrument panel. Beneath his seat, she               sees the TOOLBOX. The water drips on her faster. She crawls               forward toward the boys, arriving to see...               ...Bill POUNDING what we can now see is his RADIO.   His face               is red, angry. She watches for a beat.                                        AMELIA                            YOU OKAY?                                      BILL                            BE BETTER IF OUR DAMN RADIO WOULD                            JOIN THE PARTY!               He never turns to her, but she studies him. Is he impaired               or simply frustrated? She slips the toolbox from beneath his               seat and crawls back to the leak. But as she opens the               box...               ...there, among the wrench and pliers, a BOTTLE of whiskey.               She stares at it as we SNAP TO...                              29                                                                 29               FLASHBACK:    EXT. AMELIA'S HOUSE, ATCHISON, KANSAS - DAY               RAPID SERIES OF ANGLES. War-painted Amelia looking up from               the cowboy she's tied to a tree. The car pulling to the               curb. Out climbs...                                                                                  29.                                             ...her FATHER glassy-eyed.   Stumbling through the children.               Her MOTHER at the door.               ANGLE. Amelia still in war paint enters her parents' room               She knows just where to go. Opens a drawer, digs beneath               crisply starched shirts. Finds the BOTTLE.               ANGLE. Amelia in the bathroom, POURING the bottle out into               the sink. She looks up in the mirror to see...               ...her father in the doorway. She turns straight to him.               MEETS his eyes, direct and unafraid.                              30                                                               30               INT. FRIENDSHIP               BACK to Amelia with Bill's bottle, as the battered plane               lurches every which way in the storm. She lifts it from the               toolbox. Hides it in the camera bag, as suddenly the plane               DROPS fifty feet, and Amelia is SLAMMED against the ceiling,               then crashes back to the floor. Dazed, she sees Bill turned               around...                                   BILL                         HOLD ONTO SOMETHING FOR CHRISSAKE!               She GRABS the leg of the navigation table which has been               bolted down. Stares out the window, wondering if she'll make               it.                                    AMELIA (V.O.)                         Dearest Dad. Hooray for the last                         grand adventure. I wish I had won,                         but it was worthwhile anyway. You                         know that.     I have no faith we'll                         meet anywhere again, but I wish we                         might.               HOLD on the gray eyes.   DISSOLVE TO...               LATER. Amelia at the window, still opaque with fog.               Suddenly, the plane SWOOPS down toward a clearing in the               clouds. There to the south, a FREIGHTER running across our               path. No land in sight.               A                melia SCRAWLS a note, ties it to an ORANGE from her flight               bag, and crawls back to the boys.                                   AMELIA (CONT'D)                         HOW FAR TO LAND?               The boys are studying the freighter.                                                                                30.                                                              BILL                    RADIO'S   STILL OUT. NO WAY TO                    COMPUTE   WINDSPEED AND DRIFT IN THE                    FOG, SO   GOD ONLY KNOWS WHERE                    IRELAND   IS.          Checks his watch.                              BILL (CONT'D)                    NINETEEN HOURS PLUS. WE'VE GOT                    MAYBE AN HOUR OF PETROL LEFT.                    PROBABLY LESS.          She shows him the note and the orange.                              AMELIA                    WESTERN UNION, SPECIAL DELIVERY.          Bill has to smile. Are you serious? As a heart attack.          Okay, he tries to get closer to the ship, but we're jerked          and buffeted as we swing past and Amelia...          ...DROPS the orange toward the freighter, watching the heavy          winds CARRY it two hundred yards WIDE of the mark. Our three          stare grimly.                              AMELIA (CONT'D)                    IF WE LAND NEAR THEM, WE'VE GOT A                    RESCUE.          Their eyes are locked.                              BILL                    THINK THOSE RIDICULOUS SKIS COULD                    HOLD US UP IN THIS KIND OF SEA?          She's been wondering the same.                              BILL (CONT'D)                    YOU SAID WE WERE GOING TO MAKE IT.                    ARE YOU A LIAR?                              AMELIA                    NOT ON THIS OCCASION.          A rare smile...                              BILL                    WELL, THEN.          And SWOOPS back on course.   Amelia's hand squeezes his          shoulder. DISSOLVE TO...          LATER. Amelia crouched behind Bill's seat.       Fog starting to          break up.                                   A                                                                                                               31.                                   Her face drawn, she almost seems to be holding her breath.               Something down below. As we drop, we hear the engines                                    A               SPUTTER.                                    MELIA                         WHEN'S THAT HOUR OF FUEL RUN OUT?                                   BILL                         EIGHTEEN MINUTES AGO.   WHY?               She glances over to Slim, who is busy unwrapping a sandwich.               She can't believe this. He takes a healthy bite.                                   AMELIA                         THE LONGER I OBSERVE MEN THE MORE                         I AM AWESTRUCK. BY THEIR CAPACITY                         FOR DENIAL.               She crawls back to the navigation table. As she looks out               her window, a SANDWICH SAILS past! She WHIPS around...Slim's               arms raised in jubilation. Down below...               Land.                                   EXT. SHORE, BURRY PORT, WALES - DAY          31                                                                31               The little plane sputtering, shuddering, as Bill drops in for               a splashdown. We PAN to the shore...               ...a rural railroad dock. Deserted except for THREE WORKERS               who glance up as the Friendship taxis to a buoy a few hundred               yards offshore. Amelia at the hatch, tiny in distance, WAVES               a towel...               ...one friendly worker takes off his coat and WAVES back.               Then all three guys go back to work. SNAP TO...               REVERSE ANGLE. From the Friendship, we watch the workers               ignoring us. Bill and Slim HOLLER and jump up and down on               the pontoons. Nobody cares. Amelia sits in the doorway, her               legs swinging free.                                   AMELIA                         Out of gas. May have to swim for                         I                           t.               LATER. Amelia alone. Six pages written by her side. Still               working, as a rowboat pulls up. Bill stands in the bow.               Calls to her...                                   BILL                         Mr. Putnam phoned. He says there's                           fella coming from London. Hilton                         Railey.                                                                               32.                                                              AMELIA                      Oh, yeh. Very important man.   More                      important than any of us.          Really?    Yep.                                BILL                      He says ya mustn't come ashore til                      he gets here. No matter what.          Great.    She doesn't like it, but there it is.   She waves, so          long.                                BILL (CONT'D)                      Some kind of royalty, is he?          She nods.                                AMELIA                      Public relations.          Goes back to work.    DISSOLVE TO...          LATER. Amelia sits with her papers in her lap, dangling her          feet from the hatch. Alone. Hear the BUZZ of...          ...a PLANE dropping slowly from the sky, gliding onto the          water on its pontoons. She stares at it. Gathers up her          things.          LATER. Amelia sitting in a tiny dinghy, behind her the          Friendship in distance. She is being rowed to shore. Our          VIEW is over the back of the man rowing. Amelia is staring          past him, vaguely apprehensive.          REVERSE ANGLE. She's looking at TWO THOUSAND WELSHMEN          swarming the docks. You can't even see the sand.          The crowd is silent and staring. No cheers. As if they were          staring at an alien or an animal in the zoo. Bill and Slim          help pull the dinghy to the rocky shore. But when Amelia          jumps out, the crowd...          .           ..begins to soberly APPLAUD, and slowly CLOSES IN around          her. At first she seems pleased, trying to shake every hand          thrust toward her. She doesn't see that Bill and Slim have          been shunted to the back. Suddenly...          ...people get BOLDER. CLAPPING her on the back, reaching to          TOUCH her, someone SNATCHES her scarf, she looks around          frantically for Bill and Slim as...          ...a SHERIFF and three DEPUTIES muscle their way to her using          billy clubs to push people back. They surround Amelia, begin          to escort her to the station...                                                                                     33.                                                                 SHERIFF                         Sorry Ma'am. Shoulda brought                         more men.                                   AMELIA                         No, really, this is very sweet,                         it's an honor. I'm actually                         enjoying it.                                   SHERIFF                         That's a good thing.               She looks at him as they are jostled along.                                   SHERIFF (CONT'D)                         Because you're stuck with it.                         From here on.               She is brought to a smiling avuncular HILTON RAILEY, standing               beside the closest thing Burry Port has to a limo. She               throws an affectionate arm around him, kisses his cheek.                                   AMELIA                         Hullo, Hilton.               Railey stands back as FLASHBULBS catch the moment.   He's               brought photographers with him. And more.                                    R                                    AILEY                         Amelia, say hullo to Allen Raymond                         of the New York Times.               A hearty handshake.   She holds out her sheets of paper.                                   AMELIA                         I believe you've come for these.               Both men regard the pages as if they were gold bullion.     Come               for these indeed.                                   EXT. SOUTHAMPTON - DAY          32                                                                 32               MOVIETONE FOOTAGE of Amelia being welcomed by a SEA OF PEOPLE               on the dock at Southampton. A mob . Folks spilling into the               water. Ships circling, fireboats spray, every craft BLARES               its horn. Police hold back the screaming throng as FLASHES               EXPLODE and NEWSREEL CAMERAS CHURN. Amelia at the center of               the storm. Welcomed by AMY GUEST and the lady LORD MAYOR of               Southampton.               Throughout, we see SUPERIMPOSED IMAGES of the article she               gave Railey, displaying her byline, on the front pages of the               London Times, New York Times, the Times of India, Sydney               Morning Herald, the Toronto Star, Le Monde, as her story               echoes around the world. These IMAGES CONTINUE OVER...                                                                                   34.                                             QUICK SERIES OF ANGLES. Amelia cheering animatedly at the               races...watching tennis at Wimbledon...front row gallery at               the House of Commons, as...                                   ANNOUNCER (O.S.)                         A whirlwind week for Boston's                         Amelia Earhart, our own Lady Lindy.                         Races at Ascot on Gold Cup                         day...watching Helen Wills Moody                         play at Wimbledon...Lady Astor's          3              guest at the House of Commons...                                   INT. HYDE PARK HOTEL, LONDON - DAY           3                                                                  33               MOVIETONE NEWSREEL CONTINUES. The British press are gathered               in a huge Victorian parlor. Dark woods, rich leather, a bank               of microphones, an electric expectancy...               Bill and Slim stand next to a seated Amy.    Amelia steps to               the microphones...                                   AMELIA                         I was a passenger on this journey.                         Just a passenger. Everything that                         was done to bring us across was                         done by Wilmer Stultz and Slim                         Gordon. All the praise...                                   REPORTER                             (calls out)                         But you can fly, can't you?               Amelia stares at the man.    Conflicting agendas.                                   AMELIA                         This flight was solely to the                         credit of Bill and Slim. Women                         should know, however, that I have                         had 500 hours solo flying and once                         held the women's altitude record.                                   REPORTER                         So you could have done it yourself!                                   AMELIA                         This particular flight, under these                         conditions, I wonder if anyone but                         Bill Stultz could have pulled it                         off. But certainly, one day a                         woman will do this. As easily, as                         skillfully, as professionally as                         any man.               Such calm self-possession.    Such confidence in that.                                      Y                                                  3                                                       S                                                                                                                     35.                                                                    AMELIA (CONT'D)                            Aviation is clear today for the                            pioneer. And if the pioneer has                            good ideas nobody will ask whether               P            the pioneer is a man or woman.                olite applause.       Mostly from women.   She looks around the               room.                                      AMELIA (CONT'D)                            I hear your doubt. That doubt is                            our challenge. This is where our                            Atlantic flight, or any other good                            flight by a woman can help...               She nods.    To them, to herself.                                      AMELIA (CONT'D)                            It starts women thinking.                                   EXT. BROADWAY, NEW YORK CITY - DAY          34                                                                      34               Ticker tape PARADE down Broadway, crowds lining the streets,               leaning from windows to welcome Amelia home.                UPERIMPOSE:       NEW YORK CITY               Amelia sits in an open car between Bill and Slim, WAVING to               everyone. In the front seat, George and Dorothy share the               moment.                                   EXT. RECEPTION HALL - DAY           5                                                                      35               Amelia flanked by George and Dorothy, coming out of a               reception hall. Amelia glances to George...                                      AMELIA                            Guess you can burn those letters.               Dorothy wonders.       Letters?                                      GEORGE                            I saved them for your book.               One simple shake of Amelia's head.       A soft...                                      AMELIA                            The book's yours.     The letters are                            mine.               He smiles.       Bows in submission.                                      GEORGE                             ou're the boss.                                                                                 36.                                                            DOROTHY                    Hey, that's my job.                        (to Amelia)                    Do you think there's enough of him                    to boss for the two of us?          Amelia still looking at George.    Laughs.                              AMELIA                    Barely enough for one.          A battery of reporters and flashbulbs wait by our motorcade.                              REPORTER                    Miss Earhart, can you tell us some-                    thing about your future plans?          S           he likes this question.    Fixes the man with that clear,          honest gaze.                              AMELIA                    Well, being a social worker by                    trade and passion, I'll be going                    back to work at Denison House when                    all this fun is over.          She sends the guy a smile, and a dozen FLASHES catch it.                              AMELIA (CONT'D)                    ...if I haven't been fired.          George holds the door of their limo. She looks up to him          with a mischievous smile. And with no warning...          ...Amelia bypasses the limo, climbs into the SIDECAR of a          cop's motorcycle, and SMACKS its side. The cop looks up to          George, who...          ...nods, go for it. And the cop DOES, wheeling out into          traffic, opening up the SIREN, as everyone laughs or cheers          or darts into the street desperate for a fleeting photo.          George watching her go.    Dorothy watching George.                              REPORTER                    Mr. Putnam, sir. How did a social                    worker like Miss Earhart become                    comfortable as a celebrity so                    quickly?          George smiles.   His eyes still following Amelia.                              GEORGE                    The truth is, she was a celebrity                    on smaller stages all her life.                              (MORE)                                                                                    37.                                   GEORGE(cont'd)                         This is just when the rest of us                         discovered her.               And Dorothy.   Watches this, too.                              36                                                                36               EXT. PUTNAM HOME, RYE, NEW YORK - DAY               Amelia in a sunlit garden ringed by trees. She sits at a               folding table, writing longhand. A large dog lies at her               feet.                                   AMELIA (V.O.)                         So they took me home with them to                         Rye. And I lived there, while I                         wrote my book.               PULL BACK to see our view has been George's. He sits at an               antique writing desk, watching her through a picture window.               He rises slowly. We see that he has been reviewing a               CONTRACT, which he takes with him.               A                NGLE. Amelia writing, looking up to see George coming down               the back porch steps to the garden.                                   AMELIA (V.O.) (CONT'D)                         I thought he'd be a tyrant and that                         I would have to manage him.               He smiles as he approaches.   She goes back to work.                                   AMELIA (V.O.) (CONT'D)                         Instead he was kind and generous.                         And only picked the fights he                         needed to win.               He drops the contract on her table.     She looks at it.                                   GEORGE                         Lucky Strike endorsement.      I wrote                         the copy myself.                                   AMELIA                         What does it say?   `I don't smoke                         but you should?'                                   GEORGE                         It says Lucky Strikes were the only                         cigarettes aboard the Friendship.                         That's true.                                    AMELIA                         True and misleading.      Why would I                         sign that?                                   GEORGE                         So Bill and Slim get paid.                                                                                   38.                                             Oh.   His smile simple, comfortable.                                     GEORGE (CONT'D)                          If you're too proud to take tobacco                          money, donate it to Byrd's                          expedition, and we get great                          publicity.               She stares at him with hard eyes. His smile just becomes               more relaxed. An easy win, no big deal. She begins to sign               the contract. He places a stack of letters in front of her.                                    GEORGE (CONT'D)                          This week's marriage proposals.                          The top one's the most creative.                          It's from Sing Sing.               She starts to read.    Her eyes widen.   Goodness.                                      AMELIA (reads)                          `...in the prison yard, so everyone                          can watch and share in our...'                               (                                 looks up)                          Did you write the copy on this one,                          too?                                    DOROTHY (O.S., approaching)                          Have you no shame, George? No                          sense of the scandal you create?               They look up.   She has a tray of lemonade and cookies.                                    DOROTHY (CONT'D)                          You make her work for nothing. At                          least you can feed her.                              (to Amelia)                          Are you done yet? If not, make him                          write the rest, he will anyway.                                   INT. AUDITORIUM, BARNARD COLLEGE, NEW YORK - NIGHT          37                                                               37               A women's college.    The hall is packed.                                    GEORGE (V.O.)                          The lecture and publicity schedule                          was fierce. I was with her pretty                          much all the time.               Amelia and George alone in the wings.                                                                               39.                                                            GEORGE (V.O.) (CONT'D)                    This was the moment of opportunity.                    Could we launch her into Lindbergh                    status as a permanent icon, before                    her name fell out of the news-                    papers.          He re-ties her scarf.   Checking out the effect.                              GEORGE (V.O.) (CONT'D)                    We had separate agendas. For her,                    it was the advancement of aviation                    and of women.          He very slightly rearranges her hair, as if every lock          matters.                              GEORGE (V.O.) (CONT'D)                    As for me, I liked to tell myself                    it was about the money. Though                    there was never much of that left                    over.          She stands for inspection, with her trace of a teasing smile.          He holds out his hand and she gives him her note cards.                              GEORGE (V.O.) (CONT'D)                    Really, it was about the chance                    to be around her.          He flips through the A                               cards, frowning as he goes.                               MELIA (George imitation)                    This will never do, A.E., simply                    unacceptable.          He looks up.   She starts pacing around, gesturing as he          would...                              AMELIA (George imitation)                    You need more ammunition in these                    cards, and where's the goddamned                    humor, for Chrissake? By which I                    mean something actually funny!          He's trying to look annoyed.   It isn't easy.                              AMELIA (George imitation)                    And please remember not to turn                    your pretty little backside to the                    crowd when you use your pointer,                    it's your face they're paying to                    see. Well, most of them.          She WHIPS around.   He's deadpan.                                                                                      40.                                                                   AMELIA (George imitation)                           And another thing. Your hats.                           Are a menace.               Staring at each other.                                     GEORGE (softly)                           Everything about you. Is a menace.               The stare holds.   Because this is the moment.                                     AMELIA (V.O.)                           I remember the first kiss.               It is only one step.     Her hand goes to his chest.    Her eyes               close, as...               She brings her mouth to his.     Tender and strong.    And deep.               It is an act of decision.               A held look. No one smiles. We hear her name ANNOUNCED from               the podium. But she keeps looking at him. And as the               APPLAUSE CONTINUES, she finally...               ...turns. STRIDES onto the stage, with one graceful wave,               she brings the applause to a crescendo.                                      AMELIA (V.O.) (CONT'D)                           Of course, I knew all the stories                           T                             hat Dorothy had been having a                           torrid affair with Fred Upton.                           Everyone did.               She steps to the microphone.     The crowd quiets.                                     AMELIA (V.O.) (CONT'D)                           But I didn't kiss him because I                           felt sorry for him. Or because                           it would mean the world to him.               INTERCUT.   George in the wings.    His heart in his eyes.                                       AMELIA (V.O.) (CONT'D)                           I did it.    Because I wanted to.               He looks down.   He's still holding her cards.                                   INT. HOTEL, CHICAGO - DAY          38                                                                  38               Hotel corridor. An elevator OPENS and ELINOR SMITH a               striking young woman emerges. Looks at a slip of paper.               Nervous. Heads down the hallway to a door. As she gathers               herself to knock, she looks scared enough to pass out.                                                                             41.                                        George answers the door, looking gracious and suave. They          shake hands. Then, Amelia appears, warmly clasping the          girl's hand, and Elinor looks as starstruck as a teenager at          the Oscars.                              AMELIA                    It's so good to meet you. I've                    been following your career with                    a great deal of admiration.                               ELINOR                    Um.   Thanks, and.   You, too.                              AMELIA                    Feel like a drink?                               GEORGE                    Amelia!   What would her mother                    say?                              AMELIA                    Relax, George. I meant a Coke.          As she leads Elinor into the sitting room of their suite, the          girl's eye falls on the door to the bedroom. It is slightly          ajar, revealing an unmade double bed. Unseen by the others,          the kid reacts. Oh, my.          L           ATER. Tea in the sitting room.    Elinor leaning forward,          guileless, eager...                              ELINOR                    They're saying you get $500 a week                    on the lecture circuit.                      GEORGE                          AMELIA          On a bad week.                  On a good week.                    The girl looks from one to the other.                              AMELIA                    All depends. On whether you want                    the sell or the real.                              ELINOR                    Oh, I don't underestimate the value                    of selling. It's why I'm here.                              GEORGE                    A 16-year-old girl sets an altitude                    record, then makes headlines                    illegally flying under the four                    bridges of the East River. You                    don't seem to need much help                    selling yourself.                                                                                 42.                                                                 ELINOR                         Well, actually Mr. Putnam, I was                         hoping you could do to me what                         you've done to her.               Inadvertently, her eyes flick to the bedroom door. Catching               this, our couple shares a dry smile. The kid sees that. Uh-               oh.                                   ELINOR (CONT'D)                         What I mean is. It's a good thing.                         That's why I want it.               Now our couple is trying not to laugh.                                   GEORGE                         Just so we're clear, young lady.                         What is your primary ambition?                                   ELINOR (straight back)                         To take Amelia's place as the                         number one female pilot.               The honesty, the suddenness, leave George atypically               dumbstruck.                                   AMELIA                         Well, good for you! I would have                         expected nothing less. You want                         a tip?                                   ELINOR                         I do.                                   AMELIA                         Keep doing what you're doing.               The girl nods, seriously.    Okay.                                    A                                    MELIA (CONT'D)                         And don't let anyone turn you                         around.                                   INT. PUTNAM HOUSE - CHRISTMAS DAY          39                                                             39               Holiday party in progress. Christmas decorations everywhere.               A small crowd around the living room bar where George is               telling a story.               Now we see Dorothy standing, drinking, watching George with               hard eyes. She turns on her heels and walks OUT into the               garden. George sees this, excuses himself, follows her, as               we PAN to...                                                                                   43.                                             ...Amelia standing with a group of guests.    She's seen it               all.                              40                                                                 40               EXT. GARDEN - MOMENTS LATER               Here she comes along the roses, still drinking, still fuming.               A figure comes up behind her. Falls in step.                                   GEORGE                         Lovely party, huh?                                   DOROTHY                         Depends on your point of view.                         I've been listening to some idiot                         brag about his girlfriend.               Still walking.   She never looks at him.                                   GEORGE                         Well, in that case, for your                         information, it is a lovely party                         indeed. Anything on your mind?                                   DOROTHY                         It's not so much that my husband                         is having an affair with his meal                         ticket. It's just a pity we can't                         have one honest conversation about                         it.                                   GEORGE                         What's wrong with this one? A                         promising start, I'd say, in the                         honesty department.               She finishes her drink. Throws the glass away. From our               ANGLE we can now see D                                    Amelia in the window, watching them.                                    OROTHY                         If this is what you call an honest                         talk, I'd say you need some                         practice.                                   GEORGE                         Great. Let's try one about you                         and Fred Upton.               She stops walking.   Turns in shock, to see his easy smile.                                   GEORGE (CONT'D)                         Well, I'm waiting for our practice                         conversation. Hoping I'll learn                         something. About honesty.                                                                                     44.                                             She GLARES at him, and storms off. He lets her go. Hear a               car engine TURN OVER. Dorothy PEELING OUT. George reflects.               As he walks back toward the party, he now sees Amelia in the               window. He stops. Their look holds.                                   INT. KITCHEN - LATE NIGHT          41                                                                 41               George at the kitchen table in dim light. It's very late. A               HAND places a steaming mug of coffee before him. Followed by               a slice of pie. A fork. He smiles. And softly...                                    GEORGE                          Dorothy and I are through.               She sits beside him.     Very close.                                    AMELIA                          For a long, long time.                                    GEORGE                          It's different now.               She looks at him.   Squints.    How?                                       GEORGE (CONT'D)                          Marry me.               Oh.   A breath.                                    AMELIA                          I can't do that.                                     GEORGE                          If you give it a chance, you'll                          learn to love me.               He seems so sunny and strong.     What can he be feeling?                                    AMELIA                          I already love you.    That's why I                          can't marry you.                                    GEORGE (a murmur)                          Well, that explains it. For a                          minute there, I thought you were                          stuck for an excuse.               S                he comes close enough to kiss.                                       AMELIA                          I know me.     And you don't.   Not                          really.                                    GEORGE                          What if I promise not to learn?                                                                                   45.                                                                 AMELIA                         The day will come. When I will run                         away. And when it does...               He stops her with a kiss.                                   GEORGE                         If you love me. I'll take my                         chances.               He stares in her troubled eyes.   There is no answer.                                   GEORGE (CONT'D)                         Race you to bed.                                   EXT. AIRFIELD - DAY - NEWSREEL          42                                                               42               Amelia and nearly 20 WOMEN lined up in front of planes.               Waving, smiling, talking to each other.                                    ANNOUNCER (O.S.)                         Amelia Earhart and a bevy of lovely                         competitors say hello to the press                         announcing the First Women's Air                         Derby, racing from Santa Monica to                         Cleveland. Dubbed by Will Rogers                         `the Powder Puff Derby,' these gals                         certainly know how to capture our                         attention.               The next ANGLE shows Amelia watching some of her colleagues               bouncing playfully on a see-saw. She smiles tolerantly, but               maybe there's a little too much cheesecake for her taste.                                   INT. RECEPTION AREA, PUTNAM'S - DAY          43                                                               43               The crowded waiting room. We CLOSE on a young woman we               scarcely recognize. It is Elinor. Though less than a year               has passed, she seems much older. Sophisticated, poised.               ANGLE. A secretary leads Elinor down the corridor to               George's office. As they enter, George is pacing on the               phone.              G                                    EORGE (into phone)                         Because Amelia invented the Powder                         Puff Derby for female pilots. Then                         the men running the damn race                         suddenly decide every woman has to                         carry a male navigator, and start                         from east of the Rockies so they                         won't crash into the mountains!               Listens, impatient.                                                                             46.                                                            GEORGE (into phone)                    I'll tell you why it's a front page                    story. Because Amelia pulled every                    woman out of the race. So the                    organizers had to roll over and                    give in, or they'd have lost their                    shirts. You want me to write your                    headline?          He glances over.   Elinor in the doorway.                              GEORGE (into phone)                    Call you back. I've got a very                    important guest.          He hangs up, gesturing graciously for her to sit.   As she          does...                              ELINOR                    Wish I was important enough for                    you to manage.                              GEORGE                    Well, I've just got one client.                    And most days she's more than I                    can manage.          Even Elinor's smile seems older, more capable of subtlety.                              ELINOR                    Get in line behind the boys she                    smacked around on the Derby.          He grins back.   You bet.                              ELINOR (CONT'D)                    Some of the gal flyers had their                    doubts about her...well, her skill                    level. But she's everyone's                    champion now.                              GEORGE                    And both of those things.      Are the          S         reasons I called you.           trange words.   He has her attention.                              GEORGE (CONT'D)                    I think it would be huge for women                    flyers if Amelia won the Derby.                    The publicity would put the race,                    and all of you, up there with the                    boys.                                                                       47.                                                               ELINOR                       I'm not sure she has much of a                       chance, Mr. Putnam.                                 GEORGE                       Well, the one shot would be putting                       her in a far more powerful plane                       than anything she's flown. We're                       thinking the Lockheed Vega.          The girl's shock.    He really means this.                                 ELINOR                       Sir, I've test piloted the Vega.                       It's way more than she could ever                       handle. It wouldn't be safe, let                       alone successful.          He smiles.                                 GEORGE                       That's why I'm thinking of you                       flying with her. You could handle                       the cross-country flying, the more                       difficult bits, and I'd pay you $75                       a week.          Elinor WHISTLES low.                                 ELINOR                       Well, I think that's the most                       generous opportunity I've ever                       been offered.          He stares at her.                                 GEORGE                       There's just one thing. Obviously,                       it has to appear that Amelia did                       all the flying. So when pictures                       are taken, you'll stand off to one                       side.          Her eyes narrow.    He's completely serious.                                 ELINOR                       In that case, I'll get my own plane                       and win the race myself.                                 GEORGE                       You haven't changed.          N           o smile at all.                                                                             48.                                                            GEORGE (CONT'D)                    Unfortunately for you, neither                    have I.          The look in his eye is not to be ignored.                              GEORGE (CONT'D)                    You can't win if you can't get a                    plane to enter. Let me predict                    that you won't.          The voice calm and low and riveting.                              GEORGE (CONT'D)                    In fact. If you reject my                    generosity, you may come to regret                    it. For a long, long time.                              ELINOR                    That's a threat.                              GEORGE                    I'm an intensely loyal person,                    Elinor. And this is what my                    loyalty requires.          She's glaring.   Reeling.   Trapped.                              ELINOR                    She's the one who said I shouldn't                    let anybody turn me around.                              GEORGE                    She probably meant me.          So honest, the words confuse her.                              ELINOR                    Obviously, she doesn't see me as                    a threat.                              GEORGE                    Oh, sure she does.          A straight smile...                              GEORGE (CONT'D)                    She just doesn't care.          ...which silently fades.                                 GEORGE (CONT'D)                    My job.     Is to care for her.                                                       DISSOLVE TO...                                   Y                                                                 S                                                                 W                                                                                                              49.                                                  44                                                            44               INT. OAK ROOM, PLAZA HOTEL, NEW YORK - NIGHT               LONG ANGLE. Sophisticated watering hole. Crowded tonight.               PAN to find George alone, waiting. A waiter leads Amelia to               the table. George stands, smiling. But the smile is not               returned. We CLOSE as they sit...                                   GEORGE                                   A                          hat's wrong?                                    MELIA (clearly furious)                         What could be wrong? I had such a                         lovely afternoon with Elinor Smith.               Oh.                                   GEORGE                          he told you that I shut her out of                         the Derby. And that's true.                                   AMELIA                         And when were you going to tell me?                                   GEORGE (calm, straight)                         Never. I knew you'd go crazy. And                         I felt it needed to be done.               She can scarcely believe this.                                   AMELIA                         What? You think I wanted it done,                         but just let you do the dirty work?                                   GEORGE                         I didn't say that.                                   AMELIA                         Because I'm no angel. Business is                         competition and competition is                         rough, and I thank my stars that                         you're there making this life                         happen for me, but...                                   GEORGE                          ou're making your life hap...                                   AMELIA                         But this is different.               It is.                                   AMELIA (CONT'D)                         If women are going to stab women in                         the back, then women are going                         nowhere.                                 I                                                               F                       T                                                                                                     50.                                        Are you listening?                                 GEORGE                        rom here on, I'll just stab men in                        he back. A                                   MELIA                       You didn't do this for business,                       anyway.   G                                  EORGE                       I did it for fun?                                 AMELIA                       You did it because you love me.          That stops him.                                 AMELIA (CONT'D)                       And when we're married, you mustn't                       ever...          Now she stops.      Because his eyes are wide.                                 AMELIA (CONT'D)                       What's the big shock? I thought                       you wanted to get married.          Full beat.                                    GEORGE                           did.   I do.                                 AMELIA                       Well, then.          His eyes moving over her face.                                 GEORGE                       What about what you said? The day          S            will come when you run away.           he nods.    It will.                                 AMELIA                       You'll be destroyed. And part of                       me will, too. And I think we both                       know it.          And yet.                                 AMELIA (CONT'D)                       Sometimes things happen that way.                       You're not better safe than sorry.          Tears stand in his eyes.       He is so happy.                                                                                    51.                                                                   AMELIA (a whisper) (CONT'D)                         Yes?                                     GEORGE (a whisper)                         Hell yes.                              45                                                                   45               INT. GEORGE'S MOTHER'S HOME, NOANK, CONNECTICUT - DAY               Through a window, a dry, wintered garden. Snow falling, at               once soft and heavy. Beyond, Morgan Point Lighthouse,               Fisher's Island Sound, Long Island Sound. One lonely fishing               boat braves the cold water. PULL BACK to see...               ...Amelia at the breakfast table in a windowed room.     She is               writing, and as she does...               S                UPERIMPOSE:    WEDDING DAY.   CONNECTICUT, 1931.               ...her eyes are swimming with tears.     She brushes at them.               Stares down at her work. Continues.               ANGLE. The parlor. George, his MOTHER, the MINISTER, a               small number of close FRIENDS. From the doorway, Amelia               beckons George. The letter is in her hand.                                   EXT. HOME - MOMENTS LATER          46                                                                   46               Amelia holds tight to George's hand, leading him out into the               falling snow. She turns, fixes him with a look. Hands him               the letter. And steps back. As if giving him space.               At first, he smiles. What is this? She gestures for him to               read. As he begins, there is nothing for a few seconds.               Then...                                    AMELIA (V.O.)                         ...I want you to understand I shall                         not hold you to any medieval code                         of faithfulness to me. Nor shall                         I consider myself bound to you                         similarly.               Snow falling.    Absolute silence.                                   AMELIA (V.O.) (CONT'D)                         If we can be honest I think the                         difficulties which may arise may                         best be avoided should you or I                         become interested deeply, or in                         passing, with anyone else.               She gazes intently, her heart in her eyes.     He never looks               up.                                   M                                                                                                                    52.                                                                 AMELIA (V.O.) (CONT'D)                         Please let us not interfere with                         the other's work or play, nor let                         the world see our private joys or                         disagreements.               And then...                                   AMELIA (V.O.) (CONT'D)                         I                           must exact a cruel promise. And                         that is you will let me go in a                         year if we find no happiness                         together.               He stops on this.    His thoughts unreadable.                                   AMELIA (V.O.) (CONT'D)                         I will try to do my best in every                         way. And give you that part of me                         you know and seem to want.               He folds the letter carefully.    Places it in his pocket.       And               smiles.                                   GEORGE                          y Amelia. Brutal in her frank-                         ness. Beautiful in her honesty.               He steps to her.    Looks in her eyes.   They kiss.                              47                                                                    47               INT. PARLOR - LATER               LONG ANGLE. The minister reading the vows. The witnesses               standing silent. Two black cats rubbing against George's               ankles.                                                               DISSOLVE TO...                                   INT. KITCHEN, RYE - MORNING          48                                                                    48               George at the breakfast table. His eggs and toast ignored               for the moment, he's reading a magazine article. PAN to               Amelia, sipping her coffee. Watching him.                                   GEORGE (reads aloud)                         `Why I Believe Women Pilots Can't                         Fly The Atlantic. An outspoken                         warning by Lady Heath.'                             (READING)                         `...pure suicide for any woman                         today...it is madness for them to                         attempt it and...'               He looks up to her.                                                                                     53.                                                                  GEORGE (CONT'D)                          `...at least the first dozen will                          be drowned.' And we're reading                                    A                          this, because...?                                     MELIA                          I might fly to Paris.               Silence.                                    GEORGE                          Which is actually across the                          Atlantic.                                    AMELIA                          Hence, the article.               Ah.   He nods.                                    AMELIA (CONT'D)                          I'm thinking of doing it solo.                                    AMELIA (CONT'D)                          Would you mind?               He butters his toast.                                    GEORGE                          Not at all. When would you like                          to go?                                   EXT. GARDEN, RYE - DAY          49                                                                 49               CLOSE on Amelia as she kneels, carefully putting new plants               into the ground. We see patience, concentration.               Contentment. After a moment...                                    AMELIA                          I'm surprised you're all right with                          this...               WIDEN ANGLE.     George kneeling beside her.   Happily planting               his own.                                      GEORGE                          Really.                                    AMELIA                          Mmm-hmmn. I was braced for the                          lecture. Five years since                          Lindbergh, no one's made it solo,                          so many of them died.               He looks at her work. Reaches over. Starts packing the               earth HARDER around her plant. She just watches, then...                                   D                                                                 W                                                                                                                 54.                                                                  GEORGE                          ell, they were only men.   This is                         different.               She reaches to his plant and starts LOOSENING the soil...                                   AMELIA                         I was waiting to hear that I'm only                         doing this because I was just a                         passenger last time, and I'd rather                         die than go on living as a fraud..               No one cracks a smile. It's like Laurel and Hardy in a food               fight where each lets the other take his best shot. George                                    A               reaches now, starts REPACKING her soil...                                    MELIA (CONT'D)                         But you don't think that, do you,                          ear?                                   GEORGE                         Of course not. But if I did...               She SMACKS his hand. He just keeps working. She finally               grins, smacks him HARDER. He doesn't seem to notice.                                   GEORGE (CONT'D)                         ...all the more reason to say yes.                                   EXT. TEETERBORO AIRPORT - DUSK          50                                                               50               AERIAL ANGLE. In the sun's last light, two figures walk               slowly, far below us. The Vega waits.               CLOSE ANGLE. They stand beneath the wing. Her ground crew               in far distance, giving them their moment. Her look is not               breezy and cavalier this time, but tender and intimate. She               knows the fear beneath his easy smile.               He produces a RING, a band of black fibers.                                   GEORGE                         Elephant hair, I think you wear                         it on your toe. It's good luck.               He puts it in her hand.                                  GEORGE (CONT'D)                         Anyway. That's what the elephant                         told me.               Amelia looks at the ring.   Turns it in her fingers.                                                                               55.                                                              AMELIA                      I think luck has rules. And I try                      to respect them. My favorite is...          She glances up.                                AMELIA (CONT'D)                      We make our own luck, you and I.                      Remember that.          He will remember that.    And more.                                GEORGE                      Do you have money?                                AMELIA                      No.          He pulls out a twenty dollar bill.      Hands it to her.                                AMELIA (CONT'D)                      All this? G                                 EORGE                      Sure.                                AMELIA                      Thank god, I thought you were going                      to tear it in half.                                GEORGE                      I spent our money on ocean liner                      passage to go bring you back. It's                      non-refundable. So try to do your                      part.          She nods.   She'll try.   He doesn't want to leave her yet.                                GEORGE (CONT'D)                      So the Simpkin thing. What was all                      that?                                AMELIA                      I put it in a letter. Which you'll                      get if I don't make it. So...mixed                      emotions, huh?          He shakes his head.                                GEORGE (very soft)                      Either way, something to look                      forward to.          She puts her hands on his face.    She doesn't want to leave          him either.                                                                                  56.                                                                 AMELIA (murmurs)                         Stake up the peonies, huh? They're                         messy when they bloom on the                         ground, and...               And.                                   AMELIA (a whisper)                         I want to see their heads high.                         When I come home.               She leans up to kiss him. And again.    Feeling in her eyes               that he will never forget.                                   AMELIA (CONT'D)                         See ya.                                   INT. VEGA - NIGHT          51                                                                 51               Amelia alone. Starry night.   12,000 feet below are ICEBERGS.               A single fishing boat.                                   AMELIA (V.O.)                         The weather report wasn't perfect.                         But we knew our real chance was to                         take weather that others wouldn't.               Ahead, towering CLOUDS in moonlight.   Too high to fly over.                                   AMELIA (V.O.) (CONT'D)                         I closed the deal by choosing May                         20, five years to the day from                         Lindbergh's flight. It was too                         good a sell for George to resist.          5              What we didn't know...                                   EXT. VEGA - LATER           2                                                                 52               A terrifying STORM BATTERS the plane, which bobs and darts               and dips like a leaf in a gale.                                   AMELIA (V.O.)                         ...was that my altimeter would conk                         out. Never to return.                                   INT. VEGA - SAME MOMENT          53                                                                 53               Amelia fights for control as the plane is TOSSED and SHAKEN.                                   AMELIA (V.O.)                         The only way to have any sense of                         altitude, was to keep dropping                         toward the sea.                                   (MORE)                                                                              57.                               AMELIA(cont'd)                     When the engines sputtered, that                     was my low-level limit.          A sudden JOLT knocks her OUT of her seat. She scrambles          back, as we see WHITECAPS A FEW FEET BELOW. She JERKS the          nose UP, the engine COUGHS...          ...and CLIMBS.                               AMELIA (V.O.) (CONT'D)                     I was too busy to grasp how                     impossible the situation had                     become. The joke was...          LATER.   Flying in and out of cloud cover.                               AMELIA (V.O.) (CONT'D)                     All those months flying only with                     instruments, I should have been                     practicing without them.          PAN to the windshield. A small GLOW at the surface of a          vibrating engine. Amelia hasn't noticed.                               AMELIA (V.O.) (CONT'D)                     I started to wonder if luck was                     paying me back. For thinking I                     knew the rules.          A small BLUE FLAME LICKS out into the night.                               AMELIA (V.O.) (CONT'D)                     Then I smelled burning oil.          She sees it now. The flame coming through a broken weld in          the manifold ring.  A                                MELIA (V.O.) (CONT'D)                     A bad weld, already a small flame.                     It would be hours back to Canada,                     trying to find an unlit field,                     landing with a heavy fuel load.          She stares at the little flame.   Is it growing bigger?                               AMELIA (V.O.) (CONT'D)                     I told myself, push on. After all,                     if it was a stupid choice...          LATER. Flying in blackness.    Rising, as the engines seem          sluggish.                               AMELIA (V.O.) (CONT'D)                     ...no one would ever know.          Suddenly, a FILM of SLUSH on the windscreen.                                                                                    58.                                                                 AMELIA (V.O.) (CONT'D)                         With seemingly no warning, there                         was ice. The controls froze.               And the Vega DIVES into a DIZZYING SPIN.                                    AMELIA (V.O.) (CONT'D)                         Through the spin I had one thought,                         it would be warmer lower, the ice                         would melt, I just had to regain                         control...                              54                                                                 54               EXT. VEGA - SAME MOMENT               The SPINNING plane PLUNGING...                                   AMELIA (V.O.)                         ...before I hit the water.               And ARCING at last to SWOOP above the whitecaps.   Way close               for comfort. SMASH CUT TO...                                   INT. VEGA - SAME MOMENT          55                                                                 55               Amelia REELING in her seat, her fingers FUMBLING in her               flight bag, for...                                   AMELIA (V.O.)                         ...or passed out.               ...SMELLING SALTS, she inhales, again, blinks, starts to               climb...                                   AMELIA (V.O.) (CONT'D)                         The ice happened twice more, and I                         began to lose heart. Then I                         remembered Lindbergh's book saying                         the same thing happened to him.               T                he sea DISAPPEARS below.   Only cloud.                                   AMELIA (V.O.) (CONT'D)                         So I figured, if he's twice as                         good, I just have to be twice as                         lucky...                                                            DISSOLVE TO...               HOURS LATER. Amelia seriously fatigued. She breaks through               cloud into DAZZLING SUNLIGHT, and blinks, blinded.                                                                                    59.                                                                  AMELIA (V.O.) (CONT'D)                          I'd read that part in George's                          reception room that first day.                          Bless him for keeping me waiting.               The FUEL GAUGE reads EMPTY. She switches on the RESERVE               TANK. And as she DROPS back down into opaque clouds...               ...she feels something. Her fingertips go to her left               shoulder, and come away...               Wet.   Slick.                                    AMELIA (V.O.) (CONT'D)                          The cockpit gauge was defective.                          There was a steady trickle of fuel                          down my neck.               She looks around helplessly for a way to stem the dripping.                                    AMELIA (V.O.) (CONT'D)                          Toss-up whether the bigger danger                          was running out of gas or going up                          in a fireball. I had my answer in                          less than an hour, when...                                                              DISSOLVE TO...               LATER. Amelia beyond exhaustion. Staring fixedly at some-               thing we can't see. Until we PAN through the wind screen to               the leak in the manifold weld. The BLUE FLAME is startlingly               LARGER, now LICKING its way along the surface of the               fuselage...                                    AMELIA (V.O.) (CONT'D)                          The manifold weld began to                          separate. I gauged the likelihood                          of explosion at somewhere between                          probable and inevitable.          5                         INT. GEORGE'S OFFICE - DAY           6                                                                   56               Arms folded, George stares out his window. He hasn't slept               or eaten. PAN to his desk. The phone is OFF the hook. The               door opens softly...                                    SECRETARY (O.S.)                          Mr. Putnam? Line three.               He turns and looks at her. The girl's eyes go down and he               BOLTS to the phone, SNATCHES the receiver, SLAMS the               button...                                    GEORGE (into phone)                          Putnam.                                                                                   60.                                             A full beat.                                    VOICE (O.S.)                          Sir, this is Douglas McGuire of the                          Press Association. I'm sorry to                          tell you that Miss Earhart's plane                          has crashed in a field, short of                          Le Bourget airport.                                                          SMASH CUT TO...                                   EXT. SKY - DAY          57                                                                 57               A plane swooping downward through cloud and fog.   The SOUND               of George's call CONTINUES...                                    GEORGE (O.S.)                          Is she all right?                                    MCGUIRE (O.S.)                          If the crash is as reported, sir,                          I'm afraid not. There were                          terrible flames.               LOWER, it's dropping fast, maybe too fast, WOBBLES in a               crosswind, here comes the GROUND, and...                                    GEORGE (O.S.)                          Are they completely sure it's her                          plane?                                    MCGUIRE (O.S.)                          Yes sir, absolutely.               ...the Vega RIGHTS itself and GLIDES in for as fine a landing               as a bumpy meadow could allow. COWS look up as she rolls               past, toward...               ...one lone astonished FARM WORKER.   She cuts her engines,               leans from the hatch...                                    AMELIA                          Excuse me, sir. Where am I?               A blink.   The truth...                                    MAN                          In Gallagher's pasture.               O                ne more beat.                                    MAN (CONT'D)                          Where are ya supposed to be?                                                                                 61.                                                                 AMELIA                         When I left, I was aiming for                         Paris.               Oh.                                   MAN (very sad)                         Ya missed, y'know.                             (POINTS)                         It's over there.                                   EXT. NEW YORK HARBOR- DAY          58                                                                58               MOVIETONE NEWSREEL FOOTAGE of Amelia arriving at New York               Harbor to an overwhelming reception.                                   ANNOUNCER (O.S.)                         Amelia Earhart arrives to a tumul-                         tuous New York reception after her                         whirlwind tour of Europe, in which                         our Queen of the Skies danced with                         her royal counterpart the Prince of                         Wales, before meeting both Benito                         Mussolini and the Pope.               The MAYOR, the GOVERNOR, every dignitary that could get an               invitation is there to greet her.                                   ANNOUNCER (O.S.) (CONT'D)                         The second human to fly the                         Atlantic solo, she is the only one                         ever to fly it twice. And she set                         the record, man or woman, for the                         fastest crossing. Fourteen hours                         54 minutes.               As she waves to the crowd...                                   ANNOUNCER (O.S.) (CONT'D)                         Now it's America's turn to show our                         girl what we think of her!                                                          DISSOLVE TO...                                   INT. BACKSTAGE, CONSTITUTIONAL HALL, WASHINGTON, D.C. - NIGHT          59                                                             59               We are standing in the wings. Through the curtains, we               GLIMPSE the eager, packed house in an auditorium. From the               stage, a speaker DRONES, but backstage...               ...George peeks out at the throng. When he looks back, we               see Amelia, her troubled face. The folded newspaper in her               hand.                              G                                                            W                                                            W                                                                                                            62.                                                            AMELIA (reads)                    `Only an average flyer, she has                    pushed herself to the front by                    following the tactics of the                    feminists...          She looks up to him.                              GEORGE                     ell, I'm glad someone besides me                    finally noticed.          His smile is light.    Her eyes watching him.   Then...                              AMELIA (reads)                    `Using a man-made perfect machine,                    tuned by men mechanics, trained by                    men flyers, on a course laid out by                    a man. By a lucky break she just                    managed to make the hop.'          She stares at the paper.    His voice comes gently...                               GEORGE                     hy would you even read that                    garbage?                              AMELIA                    Well, it reminds me how much I owe                    to the men of this world. Keeps me                    humble.                              GEORGE                     ood. And remembering how little                    you owe me keeps me humble.          And softly...                              GEORGE (CONT'D)                    He's a crackpot. Let it go.          He points to the packed hall...                                 GEORGE (CONT'D)                    Cheer up.     They're crazy about you.                               AMELIA (quiet)                    Well, they're crazy about                    something.          She looks down.   Self-doubt flickers.                              AMELIA (CONT'D)                    What have we really done?                                                                            63.                                                             GEORGE                     You've made them feel like this.                               AMELIA                     That's not enough.                               GEORGE                     Most of them are women. And for                     them, it's very much enough.          She shakes her head.                               AMELIA                     The World Telegram said, `a                     magnificent display of useless                     courage.'                               GEORGE                     The question is. Can any magnif-                     icent display of courage be use-                     less?     A                                MELIA                     The point is. Men do it every day.                     And no one throws a parade.          Ah.   Well...                               GEORGE                     One day closer, then. To the day                     when they won't think to throw one                     for you.          She doesn't turn.   She doesn't smile.                               AMELIA                     Reasoning with me. A magnificent                     display of useless courage.          He nods to himself.                                GEORGE                     And.   It's fun.          From the stage...                               ANNOUNCER (O.S.)                     LADIES AND GENTLEMEN. THE                     PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.          HAIL TO THE CHIEF strikes up. We hear the deep applause.          George begins to straighten Amelia's outfit, touching her          hair, as he did long ago on the Copley Hotel roof.                                                                                64.                                                             PRESIDENT HOOVER (O.S.)                    THE GOLD MEDAL OF THE NATIONAL GEO-                    GRAPHIC SOCIETY WAS LAST AWARDED                    FIVE YEARS AGO TO COL. CHARLES                    LINDBERGH.          George murmurs close to her ear...                              GEORGE                    If a bomb goes off tonight, the                    whole government of the United                    States is out there...                              PRESIDENT HOOVER (O.S.)                    IT HAS NEVER BEEN AWARDED TO A                    WOMAN...                              GEORGE                    Some dog catcher will have to                    become President.          She smiles.    Just for him.                              PRESIDENT HOOVER (O.S.)                    UNTIL TONIGHT.                              GEORGE (a whisper)                    Boy. Imagine if you'd actually                    done something.                                AMELIA (a whisper)                    Imagine.                              PRESIDENT HOOVER (O.S.)                    IT IS MY HONOR TO WELCOME TO CONSTI-                    TUTION HALL, A ROLE MODEL FOR                    LADIES EVERYWHERE...                                AMELIA                    Ladies.                              PRESIDENT HOOVER (O.S.)                    MISS AMELIA EARHART.                    M           GEORGE                        iss.          She's through the curtain, and the crowd CRACKLES with          APPLAUSE as...          ...George stands in the wings.   Proud.    And concerned.                                                                                   65.                                                  60                                                                  60               INT. TRAIN - DAY               A train rumbles through countryside.    A private compartment               finds Amelia staring out the window.    George studying her.                                   GEORGE (V.O.)                         The irony is, I'd finally put that                         wedding day letter out of my mind.                         Stopped watching every beautiful                         accomplished man who crossed her                         path.               REVERSE ANGLE. Through the glass of our compartment door, a               crowd stands jouncing against each other. Gazing at their               Queen of the Skies.                                   GEORGE (CONT'D)                         I had a call from the Byrds.                         They've asked us to dinner                         Thursday.                                   AMELIA                         Thursday, I'll be in Boston.                         Meeting Gene Vidal and Paul                         Collins.               Said lightly. Not even looking at him.     While through the               glass, it's become quite a tussle.                                   GEORGE                         Don't tell me Gene wants to                         resurrect Transcontinental?                                   AMELIA                         No, he's starting a shuttle                         service. Washington, New York,                         Boston...               One woman goes flying from view, as a younger one gets her               place.                                   AMELIA (CONT'D)                         Could be a money maker for us.    Get                         me off the lecture grind.               He stares in her eyes.   Almost as if looking for something.                                   GEORGE                         Gene's a dashing guy. He could                         talk anyone into anything.               Their look holds.                                                                                     66.                                                                 GEORGE (CONT'D)                         S                          ounds like a great idea.                                                            DISSOLVE TO...                              61                                                                 61               INT. RESTAURANT, BOSTON - NIGHT               PAN the dark, elegant restaurant. In a corner by the fire-               place, Amelia and her dinner companions are being served               lobsters. GENE VIDAL leans to Amelia as he speaks, and she               hangs on every word.                                   GENE                         Transcontinental was too ambitious.                         Too many hops, too tough on the                         ladies. But the shuttle...               A lean athlete's body, easy grace in every movement.               Strikingly handsome features that convey not only intellect,               but kindness and decency.                                   GENE (CONT'D)                         Washington, New York, Boston. I                         think it's the future. Will you                         go there with us?               She's trying to crack her lobster, but can't take her eyes               off her host.                                   AMELIA                         What on earth would you need me                         for?               She's making a real mess of the lobster.    Gene notices.   PAUL               COLLINS doesn't...                                    PAUL                         Hasn't George taught you anything?                         Lady Lindy, the queen of the air,                         the best known woman in the entire                         U.S. of A?               Gene reaches over, as if it were his own plate, and begins               cracking her lobster for her. She looks in his eyes and               tries to concentrate.                                   PAUL (CONT'D)                         Gene on the poster with you.                         Legendary athlete at West Point,                         two events in the Olympics, a top                         pilot who should be running the                         skies for Roosevelt when he wins...                                                                               67.                                        Gene looks up at Paul, as if to say: Enough. Now he smiles          at Amelia. She blinks, what? Don't you want your lobster?                               G          Oh. She starts eating...                                ENE (looking only at Amelia)                     Thanks, Paul. I think you've even                     talked me out of it.                                                         DISSOLVE TO...          LATER. Paul has gone. Gene and Amelia are at the bar,          huddled over his beer and her Coke.                                AMELIA (V.O.)                     Gene had a terrible marriage and                     was separated from his alcoholic                     adulterous wife. But he was too                     kind to humiliate her with a                     divorce...          Gene drains the last of his beer.                               AMELIA (V.O.) (CONT'D)                     As a result, he was basically a                     single parent to their young son,                     Gore.          He glances at his watch.      Wow.                               GENE                     I'm rattling on here, and you've                     got a morning train.          But she's just staring in his eyes.   This could be her last          chance to ask...                               AMELIA                     How's Nina doing?                                 GENE                     Oh, fine.          Really?   He smiles, gently.                                GENE (CONT'D)                     Actually, she hasn't been feeling                     her best. She'll probably summer                     in Newport. So my kid's stuck with                     Dad again.                               AMELIA                     If you two get bored, I could tag                     along sometimes.                                                                              68.                                                             GENE                    You suggesting you're less boring                    than I am?                                 AMELIA                    Well, yeh.          He smiles first.    Hers is slower, but here it comes.                              AMELIA (CONT'D)                    Any given meal, I can eat a lobster                    and have you boys in stitches.          A full beat.    He's deciding.                              GENE                    Gore would love that. He has a                    little crush, I'm afraid.                                 AMELIA                    At seven?                              GENE                    He's eight.          Well, then. He breaks the look.     Fishes out some cash for          the bar tab.        G                               ENE (CONT'D)                    Listen, Paul and I would be                    thrilled to rope you into our                    shuttle.                              AMELIA                    Are you kidding, it's a godsend.                    No matter how hard George and I                    work, how many lectures we cram in,                    there's never enough money for the                    next adventure.          He looks at her. Lets the silence sit there.     His eyes seem          to convey a depth of understanding.                              GENE                    The next adventure.    What is it?          She shrugs.    No idea.                              GENE (CONT'D)                    Because we're running out of                    oceans.                              AMELIA                    Wish you'd do something about that.                                                                                     69.                                                                  GENE                          I'm serious, Amelia.               Her soft smile.                                     AMELIA                          I know.   Always.                                    GENE                          The only way you can stay where you                          are. And be who you are...               Serious indeed.                                    GENE (CONT'D)                          Is to keep feeding the beast.               She can't smile anymore.     Because this is the very fear she               lives with.                                    GENE (CONT'D)                          And the beast always needs                          something larger, greater, more                          daring...                                    AMELIA (quiet)                          He costs money, too.                                    GENE                          The price of fame, literally. Do                          you and George talk about this?               Silence.                                    AMELIA                          We don't have to.                                    GENE                          With all respect.    Yes, you do.                              62                                                                 62               INT. HOTEL CORRIDOR - LATER               Walking together down the hallway of her hotel. No one               speaks. Their thoughts are their own. She reaches her room,               finds her key. Opens the door, and...               ...turns to him. A brief, direct look.       She reaches one hand               gently behind his head. Leans up.               K               isses his mouth.                                       AMELIA (a whisper)                          Thank you.               His eyes question.                                   T                                                                 T                                                       H                                                                                                                 70.                                                                 AMELIA                         For understanding.               There is no smile. Without a word, she goes into her room.               CLOSES the door behind her.                e stands alone. Do I knock on that door?     Then, smiles to               himself, and simply...               Walks away.                                                             DISSOLVE TO...                                   INT. BANQUET HALL, WASHINGTON - NIGHT          63                                                                  63               Crowded hall, each table ringed by diners in formal dress.               At a table of honor, George sits next to Elinor Smith,               chatting comfortably. PAN to the head table...                                   GEORGE (V.O.)                         After Roosevelt won, his wife                         Eleanor brought the advancement of                         women to national attention with                         stunning success.               CLOSE on ELEANOR ROOSEVELT, eating heartily, chatting,               laughing with a companion we don't see until...                                   GEORGE (V.O.) (CONT'D)                         A gutsy gal who rode a bobsled in                          he Winter Olympics, spent hours                         each morning on horseback, and                         carried a pistol on car trips.                         She possessed boundless energy, a                         towering intellect...               ...we reveal Amelia in a formal satin dress at her side,               dishing with the First Lady like the closest of girlfriends.                                   GEORGE (V.O.) (CONT'D)                         ...and was Amelia's idol. As it                         happened, she was obsessed with                         flying, making Amelia her absolute                         heroine. A                                    MELIA                         So he hasn't actually forbidden                         you.                                   ELEANOR                         Franklin doesn't forbid. He just                         feels it's a waste of my valuable                          ime to learn. Since I can't                         afford to buy a plane.                              I                                                            I                                                            T                                                            O                                                                                                             71.                                        They share a look of such mutual understanding, neither has          to smile.                              AMELIA                    The wrong Roosevelt got elected.                              ELEANOR                    And it will take at least four                    years to correct the mistake.          Keeps eating.                              ELEANOR (CONT'D)                    I did ask about aviation, but he                    hasn't decided on the structure                    yet. It might be under the Bureau                     f Commerce.                              AMELIA                    I think the structure may be less                    important than the man chosen to                    run it.          Said casually, looking at her plate.                              ELEANOR                    My hearing is failing. I missed                    the words `or woman,' which you                    undoubtedly added after, or per-                    haps before, the word `man.'                              AMELIA                     his could be one of those rare                    instances. When the most                    accomplished candidate. Turns out                    to be male.          Glances up for the reaction.                              ELEANOR                    How exciting. I love finding the                    exception that proves the rule. Is                     t a name I know?          Amelia's straight gaze.   Her small smile.                              AMELIA                    How do you feel about flying at                    night?          Eleanor's eyes register the change of topic.     Rolling with          it...                              ELEANOR                    I've never done it.   Franklin finds                     t dangerous.                                                                                       72.                                                                 AMELIA                         Outstanding.                              64                                                                   64               INT. CONDOR AIRLINER - LATER               Raucous party in the small cabin, hosted by George and fueled               .               by champagne. PAN slowly to...                ..the cockpit. Amelia at the controls in her evening dress               and formal gloves. Eleanor in the co-pilot's seat, awestruck               by the brilliant starry night. Amelia glances over, moved by               her friend's almost childlike wonder.                                         AMELIA (softly)                         Put your hands on the wheel.               Eleanor looks over.   Are you serious?                                    AMELIA                         It's dual controls.   No one will                         ever know.               Hesitation.                                   AMELIA (CONT'D)                         Don't you trust me?               And slowly, Eleanor's fingers close on her wheel.     Amelia's               hands come away from hers.                                     ELEANOR                         Dear God.               The Condor purrs along through the night air. The moon bobs               slightly off to one side. Eleanor's eyes are swimming with               the thrill of this.                                    AMELIA                         I feel like a Coke.   Can I get you                         something?               And stands up. Only the trace of her smile as the pilot's               eyes WIDEN in absolute shock.                                   AMELIA (CONT'D)                         Do try not to hit the ground.                                                             DISSOLVE TO...                                   INT. WHITE HOUSE PRESS ROOM - DAY          65                                                                   65               A sea of press, quiet, poised, attentive.     REVERSE ANGLE               to...                                   Y                                                                                                                     73.                                             ...CLOSE on a seated Roosevelt before a bank of microphones.                                   ROOSEVELT                         Today, we proudly announce an                         appointment critical to America's                         commerce, and to its role as                         technology's leader in the                         Twentieth Century.               PAN to Gene at his side.   Sober.   Distinguished.   Proud.                                   ROOSEVELT (O.S.) (CONT'D)                         G                          ene Vidal is an obvious and                         perfect choice as our first                         Director of Commerce's Aeronautics                         Branch. His extraordinary                         credentials include...                                                             DISSOLVE TO...                                   EXT. PUTNAM HOME, RYE - EVENING          66                                                                   66               A taxi slowly pulls up to the home we know. Warmly lit,               music playing from within. Gene climbs from the cab, as yard               lights go ON.               As Gene starts up the path, the front door opens and Amelia               BURSTS into the night, RUNNING to Gene, JUMPING INTO his               arms, HUGGING him in her delight. We PULL BACK to...               George watching it all from the doorway.    His easy smile               seems comfortably in place, as...               ...Amelia walks Gene up the path, her arm around his waist,               talking excitedly, flushed as a schoolgirl. As they reach               the door...               George is the picture of calm and dignity. He beams and               CLASPS Gene's hand. Throws an arm around his shoulder as               Amelia leads them inside.               The door closes.   We hear laughter.                                   EXT. GARDEN, RYE - DAY          67                                                                   67               Amelia on her knees, tending to her garden. She seems happy               and filled with energy. George comes and kneels beside her.               Starts weeding.                                   AMELIA                         Have I told you what a perfect job                          ou did on the peonies? They're                         miraculous.                              M                                                            I                                                                                                              74.                                                            GEORGE (working)                    You have, actually. Twice.                                 AMELIA                    Sorry.                              GEORGE                    It's all right. You've been                    distracted lately.          No spin on that.   If G                                anything, the tone is kind.                               EORGE (CONT'D)                    Listen, I've put together a month                     n Europe. Close some foreign                    licensing deals, open new                    markets...          She doesn't look up.                              AMELIA                    When are you leaving?                                 GEORGE                    Thing is.     I'd like you to come.          She stiffens only slightly.     Can he sense it?                              AMELIA                    I don't really see how I can.                              GEORGE                    I've talked to the promoters,                    they'll switch some lecture dates                    for us.          Now he's looking at her profile.     Saddened, if not surprised,          by what he sees.                              AMELIA                    Well, it's not just that. There's                     y work on the shuttle, we're at a                    critical stage, and...I've just                    started as Gene's consultant at the                    Aeronautics Branch...          She knows he's watching.    Shakes her head.    Keeps on working.                              GEORGE                    Normally, I'd be worried about                    leaving you here alone. But I                    suppose that won't be a problem,                    will it?          She stops now. Looks up at him.      If he wants a direct          conversation, he can have it.                                      B                                                                                                                     75.                                                                    AMELIA                            What are you trying to say?                                      GEORGE                            I think I've just said it.               A long held look.       Neither backing away.   Sadness on both               sides.                                      GEORGE (softly)                            Is there anything you want to say?               She sighs.       Her fingers reach out, rub his hand with               affection.                                      AMELIA                            I can't think of anything helpful.               He nods.   Well, then.      Rises slowly...               Walks back toward the house, his garden tools forgotten.          She               stares after him.               H                e disappears into the house.       She's still staring.                                                                DISSOLVE TO...                                   EXT. LOS ANGELES COLISEUM - DAY          68                                                                     68               MOVIETONE NEWSREEL FOOTAGE introduced by its theme. A               stadium in brilliant sunlight, filled with more than 100,000               people.                                      ANNOUNCER (O.S.)                            Los Angeles, California. The Tenth                            Olympics of the modern era kick                            off, as movie stars mingle with                            ordinary Joes.               On the track, WOMEN RUN the 100 meter high hurdles as every               throat CHEERS.                                      ANNOUNCER (O.S.) (CONT'D)                            Here's the gold medal run of the                            world's best woman athlete,                             abe Didrickson. Cheered on by                            the most celebrated woman of                            today...               TIGHT INSERT of Amelia with Gene and 8-year-old GORE, all               applauding excitedly.                                             G                                                                           G                                                                                                                  76.                                                                 ANNOUNCER (O.S.) (CONT'D)                         ...that's right, Amelia Earhart.                         Hollywood glamor, American winners,                         and wait til our boys warm up for                         their action.               The camera lingers as Amelia says something to Gore.     They               look like a family.                                   INT. GEORGE'S OFFICE, NEW YORK - DUSK          69                                                                   69               CLOSE on George alone in his office.    He goes to the door,               LOCKS it. His face is drawn, grim.                                    EORGE (V.O.)                         By this time, I had a side job as                         chairman of the editorial board of                         Paramount Pictures. So Amelia and                         I bought a little place in Los                         Angeles.               He goes slowly back to his desk.   On it, sits a large               cardboard CARTON.                                    EORGE (V.O.)                         She was out there, preparing for a                         flight, when our home in Rye burned                         to the ground.               We SEE that the contents of the box, papers, small objects,               have been SINGED or CHARRED. He stares into it.                                   GEORGE (V.O.)                         We both cried when I called to tell                         her. She asked to come be with me.                         But I insisted she stay there, to                         keep on schedule for her flight.               He reaches into the box...                                   GEORGE (V.O.)                         So many treasures lost. Letters                         and poems she'd written. I poured                         through the rubble...                                   INT. LOS ANGELES HOME - DAY          70                                                                   70               Amelia curled up on the sofa of a cozy, pleasant little home.               The doors are open to the patio and yard. Winter is               different here. Tropical flowers, fruit trees in bloom. The               phone RINGS and she picks it up quickly, knowing it's George.                                                G                                                                                                                     77.                                                                    AMELIA (softly)                          Hi.                              (BEAT)                          Yeh. What's today been like?       You                          still okay?               INTERCUT George at his office. He's standing at the window,               phone in one hand, single sheet of paper in the other. Like               the other objects in the box, it is partially singed.                                     EORGE                          I found something you'd written.               Draws a breath.     Reads...                                       G                                     EORGE (reading)                          `To touch your hand or see your                          face today is joy. Your casual                          presence in a room recalls the                          stars that watched us as we lay.               BACK to Amelia.     Tears fill her eyes.                                    GEORGE (reading)                          I mark you in the moving crowd                          And see again those stars a warm                          night lent us long ago. We loved                          so then. We love so now.               INTERCUT George.     His eyes are dry.                                    GEORGE (CONT'D)                          Thank you for writing that.               A beat.   His voice still softer...                                    GEORGE (CONT'D)                          Even though I'd never seen it.               HOLD on him.     The pain of what that must mean.    And...                                   BACK TO LOS ANGELES          71                                                                   71               Her lips are parted.       She's searching for words.                                     AMELIA                          I suppose I thought.      It was too                          revealing.               WIDEN ANGLE. Gene enters the room with a drink in his hand               and sits down next to her, concerned by her obvious distress.                                    AMELIA (into the phone)                          I'm so glad you have it now.                              (LISTENS)                                    (MORE)                                   S                                                                                                                78.                                    AMELIA(cont'd)                         Of course. Me, too. I'll call                         you later.               She hangs up slowly. The tears begin to fall.    She looks at               Gene helplessly. Then stands without a word.               Walks out into the yard.                                                          DISSOLVE TO...                              72                                                               72               EXT. NEWARK AIRPORT - NEWSREEL FOOTAGE - NIGHT               Spectators at Newark Airport. A plane CIRCLES the field as               FLOOD LIGHTS FLASH ON, and the crowd begins to CHEER. Arcing                                    A               in now for a landing. Smooth trajectory.                                    NNOUNCER (O.S.)                         The odyssey began in Honolulu when                          he became the first person, man                         or woman, to fly solo over half the                         Pacific to California.               Touching down, the cheering CROWD held back by police. As               Amelia taxies to a stop, the crowd BREAKS THROUGH police               lines and SURGES toward the plane.                                   ANNOUNCER (O.S.) (CONT'D)                         Then, the first human to solo from                         California to Mexico City. Followed                         by her daring solo across the Gulf.                         As she passed over Washington,                         D.C., she eclipsed the time of a                         certain previous flight, from 27                         hours to 13 hours.               Amelia hops down from the plane, grinning and waving.   She is               surrounded by adoring fans.                                   ANNOUNCER (O.S.) (CONT'D)                         The pilot of that previous flight?                         Some guy named Lindbergh.               The JOSTLING of the crowd gets out of control, the police               can't protect her as she is SWEPT ALONG by the mob, beaming,               laughing, enjoying it all.                                   INT. MAYFLOWER HOTEL BAR, WASHINGTON, D.C. - NIGHT          73                                                               73               Dark little piano bar. They sit in a quiet corner, com-               fortable in silence. Gene with his martini, Amelia with her               Coke. She's shelling peanuts from a bowl, popping some in               her mouth, passing a few over to him.                              T                                                                                                            79.                                                            GENE                    If you don't drink, why do you come                     o bars?                              AMELIA                    Must be the ambience.   And the                    nuts.                              GENE                    What worries me is, in some of                    these bars the nuts are the                    ambience. Specially when they make                    a pass at you.          S           he chews, staring at him.                              AMELIA                    Any guy would have to be nuts to do                    that. I'm considerable trouble, if                    you haven't noticed.                              GENE                    You keep advertising that, but I'm                    still waiting to see it.          She looks down at her fingers as they shell.    Barely          audible...                              AMELIA                    You'll see it.                              GENE                    Well, here's your chance. I'm                    taking Gore to the conference in                    Bermuda. He wants you to come.                                 AMELIA                    Gore, huh?                               GENE                    Sure.   I'm completely indifferent.                                 AMELIA                    I wish.          Do you?                              AMELIA (CONT'D)                    Would make life simpler.          She throws a peanut which BOINKS off his face.    He smiles a          suddenly goofy, very non-elegant smile.                              AMELIA (CONT'D)                    Actually, I'll be in Indiana.                    Edward Elliot of Purdue wants                              (MORE)                               A                                                                                                   80.                               AMELIA(cont'd)                     me to build a women's careers                     department there.          Really?   He likes that.                               AMELIA (CONT'D)                     I'll be back and forth. When I'm                     there, I've asked to stay in the                     dorm with the girls.                               GENE                     That's a wonderful idea.                     Especially now.          Something in the way he said that.                               AMELIA                     What's special about now?                               GENE                     A good time for some positive press                     about you as a role model.          Her eyes harden.   Whatever do you mean?                               GENE (CONT'D)                     You don't read the papers?                               AMELIA                     Not unless someone makes me.                               GENE                     Well, someone should. Because                     they're all saying you took                     recklessly dangerous solo flights                     for no earthly purpose except                     publicity. Meaning, money.          Dead.   Silence.     G                                ENE (CONT'D)                     They also harp on a growing list                     of products that you commercially                     endorse.                               AMELIA                     How thoughtless of me to be doing                      ll this in a society where no one                     else is interested in making money.                     Present company included.          He's not afraid of her.                                 I                                                               I                       O                                                                         G                                                     H                                                               I                                           A                       S                                                               F                                                                                                     81.                                                               GENE                       Look, George had you taking money                        rom the sugar cartel for the                       Hawaii flight, the Mexican                       Government for theirs, he's selling                       commemorative stamps which you                       carried on the flights...                                 AMELIA                       If this is about George, just say                        o. Because we made those calls,                        nd we includes me.                                 GENE                       I'm sorry I said it that way. This                        s actually about you, because I'm                       picking a fight, apparently a                       useless one, for the benefit of                       someone I care about.                                 AMELIA                       And what's your point? Women are                        eld to some higher standard?                       Bankers and industrialists are ad-                       mired for succeeding, but women are                       just considered selfish and                       grasping?                                  ENE (quietly)                       Of course they are.                                 AMELIA                       Well, let's change that, shall we?                        r would you just prefer to adopt                        t, since groveling would be                       easier.          Staring at each other.                                 GENE                       If you want to make money, my guess                        s that people viewing you as Lady                       Lindy, America's Sweetheart of the                       Skies, the wife/mother/daughter                       they all wished they had. Would be                       helpful.                                 AMELIA                       Thanks for the tip.                                 GENE                       Thanks for not being defensive.          Full beat.                                      T                                                                                                                        82.                                                                    AMELIA                            Well, I'm an open-minded girl. And                             o prove it, I'm hereby resigning                            as your consultant at the               S            Aeronautics Branch.                he throws some money on the table for the drinks.                                      AMELIA (CONT'D)                            The public linking of our names                            does more harm to that image of                            mine than everything else put                            together.               She stands up.                                      AMELIA (CONT'D)                            Next time you read the papers.      Try                            reading between the lines.               Walks out.       Gene makes no move to follow.   He's said his               piece.                                                                 DISSOLVE TO...                                   EXT. ROSE GARDEN, WHITE HOUSE - DAY          74                                                                      74               MOVIETONE NEWSREEL FOOTAGE introduced by its theme. Against               a backdrop of flowerbeds, Amelia is flanked by four WOMEN               with conservative hats and middle-aged gravitas. The               photographers edge closer.                                      AMELIA                            I came to Washington today with the                            National Women's Party, to ask the                            President for his aid in passing                            the Lucretia Mott Amendment for                            equal rights.               She waits for the press to quiet.                                      AMELIA (CONT'D)                            And that's because I haven't needed                            it.               The winsome smile.                                      AMELIA (CONT'D)                            I'm the lucky one. Our Department                            of Commerce shows no prejudice in                            issuing licenses to fly. A pilot                            is a pilot.               And now it fades.                                                                                  83.                                                                   AMELIA (CONT'D)                           How about giving the rest of our                           women. The ones who can be                           productive for their families and                           for our nation an equal break?               She is not defiant.      Gentle and strong.                                     AMELIA (CONT'D)                           They are your sisters and your                           daughters. They are your wives.                           And fellas...               The smallest shake of her head.                                     AMELIA (CONT'D)                           You've no excuse. And you know it.                              75   C                                                            75               INT. WOMEN'S DORMITORY, PURDUE UNIVERSITY - NIGHT                o-Eds gathered in the common room in robes and nightgowns.               They fill the old couches, the mismatched easy chairs, curl               up in blankets on the floor. PAN TO...               ...Amelia in flannel pajamas, sitting on the grand piano,               pointing to the next question among the many raised hands.                                     CO-ED                           Okay, it's all well and good to                           tell us to study whatever we want,                           and work at whatever we want, and                           not give a darn about what the                           world of men think...                                     AMELIA                           ...including them wanting us to say                           darn instead of damn.               Laughter.   The girl flushes a little, her point is a crucial               one...                                     CO-ED                           But what about those of us who are                           getting married when we graduate?                           What advice do you have for us?                                       AMELIA                           Don't.               She meant that.      And no one is laughing now.                                W                                                              W                                                                                                              84.                                                              AMELIA (CONT'D)                      Build your career first. And,                      surprisingly, that's the best thing                      you can do for your eventual                      marriage.          So many eager faces, so many disturbed ones.                                AMELIA (CONT'D)                      Look. It starts with a strong                      sexual attraction, that the                       oman assumes must be love.          Some heads are nodding.   Some eyes suspicious.                                AMELIA (CONT'D)                      Everything works until the first                      financial crisis jars the man's                      confidence and threatens the                       oman's security. Why...?          She looks from one to the next.                                 AMELIA (CONT'D)                      Because she can't help. All she                      can be is dependent. Because that                      I                        s what she's been trained to be.          A phone RINGS. One of the girls snatches it up to cut off          the interruption.                                CO-ED #2 (hushed)                      Common room. Oh. Sure.                          (hand over phone, to                           AMELIA)                      He says he's the man in your life.          Amelia hops off the piano.   There are plenty of curious          faces.                                 AMELIA                      Trust me. Only a husband talks                      like that.          In their laughter, she goes to the phone.      EVERYBODY hangs on          every word of...                                AMELIA (into the phone)                      Yes?  Yes. Yes...                          (hand over phone, to the                           GIRLS)                      They love when we say `yes.'          Laughter.                                         (                                                                                                              85.                                                                    AMELIA (CONT'D)                           I'm flying in Tuesday. Yes, of                           course, I'll make time.                                BEAT)                           Me, too.                               (BEAT)                           Me, too. Thanks for the roses.               She hangs up. Turns to her adoring pupils, and drops a               curtsy. Ta-da! They APPLAUD. She stares at them. As if               deciding whether to say...                                     AMELIA (CONT'D)                           Can you women keep a secret?               They can.   And boy, do they want to hear one.                                     AMELIA (CONT'D)                           Well, it's no secret that I'm a bit                           driven, some might say obsessive,                           about my little flying adven-                           tures...               They are nodding, wide-eyed, go on.                                     AMELIA (CONT'D)                           I've decided to embark on easily                           the most exciting, possibly cra-                           ziest, ever...               They hold their breath.                                     AMELIA (CONT'D)                           I'm going to fly. Around the                           world.               A frozen beat for them to even absorb this. They BURST into               WILD APPLAUSE, Amelia beaming, as we DISSOLVE TO...          7                         EXT. PARK AVENUE, NEW YORK - NIGHT           6                                                            76               Amelia and George, bundled against the cold, walking Park               Avenue hand in hand. Christmas decorations, bright lights.               A good mood prevails.                                     AMELIA                           Are you going to tell me your                           surprise, or do I have to get                           physical?                                     GEORGE                           Boy, that is the last thing I'd                           want.               Well, then?                                                                                   86.                                                               GEORGE (CONT'D)                       I only thought that if you're                       serious about this around-the-world                       nonsense. It might be handy to                       have a plane to fly in.                                 AMELIA                       Except it would have to be an                       Electra, and they cost...                                 GEORGE                       ...$36,000. After a generous                       discount from Lockheed.                                 AMELIA                       May as well be a billion.                                 GEORGE                       ...not to mention at least another                       36 to get it modified and ready.          She glances at him.      He looks awfully smug.                                 AMELIA                       And your surprise is, you robbed a                       bank.                                   GEORGE                       Actually.    A university.          They stop.    What on earth...?                                 GEORGE (CONT'D)                       I've sort of persuaded Ed Elliot to                       create an Amelia Earhart Fund for                       Aeronautical Research at Purdue.                       And suggested a budget item of...          He shrugs.                                 GEORGE (CONT'D)                       ...oh, eighty grand. For a                       suitable `flying laboratory.'          Her eyes just bug out.      No!   He nods, slowly.   Uh-huh.   And          she...          ...THROWS her arms around his neck, KISSING him hard enough                               G          to startle passersby. It only makes him chuckle.                                  EORGE (CONT'D)                       As I said, I've sort of persuaded                       Ed. There are a bunch of trustees                       and donors, tho. We have to get                       them on board.                                                                                         87.                                                                    AMELIA                            Think I could help?               He looks in her eyes.                                        GEORGE                            Nah.               She grins.                                      GEORGE (CONT'D)                            By the way. That's not the                            surprise.               It's not?    Uh-uh.   And he glances to...               ...the window of the GALLERY they've stopped at. She sees a               magnificently carved CHEST. On a crest in the front: AE.               We PAN the surface, to see planes, oceans, a shamrock for the               Londonderry landing, dozens more symbols of her triumphs, and               in a bottom corner, looking up at all of this in wonder...               ...a small cat.     In a long frock coat.                                      GEORGE (a whisper)                            Merry Christmas.               Her tears just come. She's standing on Park Avenue and she               can't do anything about it. He reaches a tender hand...               ...and strokes her hair.      He is her hero.   See it in her               eyes.                                      GEORGE (CONT'D)                            Can't wait to see what you got me.               She sniffles.                                        AMELIA                            Cat food.    A whole case.                                   INT. HOME, RYE - DAY          77                                                                     77               Amelia at her writing desk.       Determined, focused.   She begins               to write...                                      AMELIA (O.S.)                            Dear Mr. President: Some time ago                            I told you and Mrs. Roosevelt about                            my confidential plans for a world                            flight. The chief problem is the                            jump westward from Honolulu...               A                s she writes, DISSOLVE TO...                                                                                  88.                                                  78                                                                 78               INT. DINING ROOM, PURDUE UNIVERSITY - NIGHT               A glittering table surrounded by high rollers. George and               President Elliot sit on either side of Amelia, who has risen               to speak.                                   AMELIA                         As President Elliot has said, it                         would be a shining adventure,                         beckoning with new experiences.                         Making me more useful to the                         program here at Purdue.               She looks into the eyes of each in turn...                                   AMELIA (CONT'D)                         It is much more. I believe that                         women should do for themselves what                         men have done - and occasionally                         what men have not.               Yes?                                   AMELIA (CONT'D)                         This might encourage other women                         toward greater independence of                         thought and action. And I know how                         deeply you gentlemen desire that.               There is gentle laughter.   Amelia reacts in mock surprise.                                   AMELIA (CONT'D)                         I know, of course, from my chats                         earlier in the evening. With each                         of your wives.               More laughter.   Applause from a wife, then the others, then               all.                                   AMELIA (CONT'D)                         In that spirit, I want each of you                         to reach for your checkbooks...               She regards their amusement.   And losing none of the warmth               of her own smile...                                   AMELIA (CONT'D)                         I mean that quite literally. This                         is an opportunity for me to exhibit                         the quality my husband admires                         most.               G                eorge and Amelia gaze at each other.                                      Y                            A                                                F                                                                    A                                                                    Y                                                                                                               89.                                                                    AMELIA (CONT'D)                            The capacity. To be relentless.                              79                                                             79               INT. HANGAR - DAY               The LOCKHEED ELECTRA, a sleek state-of-the-art aircraft with               its gleaming metallic surface, nose up in the center of a               huge space. Its engines are on hoists, being worked on by a               team of MECHANICS.               Eight-year-old Gore gazes up, as if he has never seen               anything quite so wondrous. Amelia and Gene watch, with               barely suppressed smiles. He's in a suit. She's in grease-               stained overalls from working with the mechanics.                                      GORE                            So you'd be the first one, right?                             ou always like that.               First one?                                      GORE (CONT'D)                            To fly around the world.                                      AMELIA                            Well, there's Magellan, 400 years                             go. Actually, he didn't make it.                            And he died. And he used a boat.                                      GORE                            So it's almost the same, except                            it's completely different.                                      AMELIA                            Pretty much.               He glowers at her.    She glowers back.                                      GENE                            There are men who say they flew                            around the world, but they didn't                             ly around all of it.                                      GORE                            Because at higher latitudes, it's                              short trip. At the North Pole,                             ou just spin in a circle and                            you've gone around the world.                                      AMELIA                            So why are you asking? Just to                            show how smart you are?                                      GORE                            Pretty much.                                 W                                                               T                                                                                                      90.                                        Now he's grinning.       She just glowers harder.                                    G                                  ORE (CONT'D)                       The only way to really fly around                        he world is to fly the entire                       circumference of 27,000 miles.                       Like at the equator.                                 AMELIA                       No one's tried it.    You think I                       should?          No answer.                                   AMELIA (CONT'D)                       Dare me.                                   GORE                       Okay.                                   AMELIA                       Okay.          Is she serious?       She seems to be.                                 GENE                       Ask her about the Pacific. The                       maximum range of the Electra is                       4000 miles. And the closest land                        est of Honolulu is farther than                       that.          Gore looks to her.       Well?                                 AMELIA                       I'll have to refuel.                                   GORE                       Where?                                 AMELIA                       In the air. One plane to another.          The boy is staring at her now.       Staring.                                 GORE                       You're really going to do all this,                       aren't you?                                 AMELIA                       Well, don't you think I can?          A beat.                                 GORE                       I guess we'll find out.                               F                     D                                                             I                                                                                                             91.                                        Another.                               AMELIA                     Pretty much.          HOLD on Gene.   He smiles at his kid...                               GENE                     Go out to the car and get Sara.                     Ask if she'll take you for an ice                     cream. Okay?          The boy knows he's being dismissed. Looks from his dad to          Amelia, who steps forward to give him a hug and a kiss.                               AMELIA                     We'll play some cards before you                     leave.          Okay, then. He waves. One more glance at dad, and Gore          goes. Gene gestures for Amelia to come with him, away from          the mechanics. What's up? But he's already walking to...          ...a little folding table, off in a corner.     She follows.          Sits. Well...?       G                                ENE                     You can't refuel in the air.          Just like that.                               AMELIA                      s that an opinion or an order?          His rueful smile.                               GENE                     The only good thing about losing                     our former relationship is I feel a                     little freer to tell you when                     you're being completely crazy.                               AMELIA                     Oh, I bet there are more advantages                     than just that.          No one's backing down on this.                               GENE                     You're not a good enough pilot to                      o mid-air refueling. You will                     not be able to control the Electra                      or that docking maneuver for that                     amount of time.                              O                    I                                                            T                                                                                                           92.                                                            AMELIA                    I've taken bigger risks.                              GENE                    I've noticed. Don't be so proud                    of it.          He reaches into a pocket. Pulls out a folded sheet of paper.          It opens to reveal a MAP of the Pacific. A dot is CIRCLED in          red.                              GENE (CONT'D)                    This is Howland Island. It's half-                    way between Honolulu and New                    Guinea. It has no elevation, no                    trees, it's a mile wide and a mile                    and a half long. Hardly anyone                    knows or cares that it exists.                              AMELIA                    It's your vacation home.                              GENE                    We're colonizing it, because when                    the Japanese make their move, we're                    going to need a refueling strip                    there.          She blinks.   The Japanese.                              GENE (CONT'D)                    Try reading the newspapers between                     he lines. We haven't started                    building the runways yet. Maybe                    if someone I knew could get the                    President's attention...          She stares at the map.   The dot.                              GENE (CONT'D)                    It's really tiny, a grain of sand                     n the middle of a thousand miles                     f nowhere.          Her eyes are clicking through a calculus of their own.                               GENE (CONT'D)                    F                    You'd need a first-class navigator                      or that leg. Which means the trip                    can't be entirely solo.          And softly...                              GENE (CONT'D)                    Can you handle that?                                      T                            2                                                                                                              93.                                             No answer.       He waits without saying a word.                                      AMELIA (softly back)                            Don't rush me. I'm thinking.                              80                                                            80               EXT. COAST GUARD STATION, LOS ANGELES - MORNING               A Coast Guard station overlooking the Pacific. A lone woman               leans on a railing. From the station, a MAN emerges, he               has...               ...a thermos and two large mugs. He pours steaming coffee               into each, and brings them to the woman at the rail. She has               turned to study him as he approaches.                                      AMELIA                            Hullo, Fred. It's good to meet                            you.               She holds out her hand. He juggles the mugs, so he can shake               it. Strong look in each other's eyes. Hands her a mug...                                      FRED                            I hear you like your coffee black.                                      AMELIA                            This time of day, I like it with                            bacon and eggs.               His slight grin.       A handsome guy.                                      FRED                            Be right back.                                      AMELIA                            Over easy on the eggs.      Your job                            could depend on it.               Silence between them.       Comfortable smiles.                                      FRED                            Are we sizing me up?               And, of course, this is exactly what she's doing.                                      AMELIA                            I'm told that mid-air refueling                            would be beyond my abilities.                                      FRED                            Maybe, maybe not. 20% it works.                             0% you crash. 60% you don't get                             he fuel, so you're cooked anyway.                                 E                                                               P                                                                                                      94.                                                               AMELIA                       Better odds of hitting that island?                                 F                                  RED                       How do you feel about 100%?          Watching his eyes as he says that.    Evaluating.                                 AMELIA                       Even with cloud cover?                                  FRED                       I've crossed the Pacific by air 18                       times. Pan Am told you I'm the                       best celestial navigator they've                       ever seen.                                   AMELIA                       They did.                                 FRED                       Someone else told you I have a                       drinking problem. Which is a big                        art of why we're here, yes?          No answer.                                 FRED (CONT'D)                       Pan Am will tell you. Everyone I                        ver worked for will tell you.                       Nothing's interfered with my                       performance. Not once.                                  AMELIA                       My dad drank. He lied all the                       time. Rest his soul.                                 FRED                       You trusted Bill Stultz. That                       worked out. Rest his soul.                                 AMELIA                       Bill just had to find Europe.                       We're looking for something less                       than two miles long, with nothing                       higher on it than 18 feet.          He shakes his head.                                 FRED                       That's what you're looking for.                       I'm looking for coordinates on a                       map. And if it doesn't work...          He spreads his large hands...                                   T                         I                                                                                                               95.                                                                 FRED (CONT'D)                         Money-back guarantee.               She holds the look.                                    AMELIA (softly)                         Hey.   How can I lose?                              81                                                                81               INT. BARCLAY HOTEL, NEW YORK - DAY               Amelia at a bank of microphones, smiling, modest,               comfortable. George and Fred stand back to one side.               FLASHBULBS go crazy, NEWSREEL cameras churn.                                   AMELIA                         Did I pressure the navy to build a                         landing strip at Howland Island?                         How exactly would I do that?               L         Threaten not to enlist?                aughter in the room.   More flashes.                                   AMELIA (CONT'D)                         The airstrip has been planned for a                         long time. I was thrilled to learn                         it will be ready in time for my                         flight. The navy has been                         wonderful, as always.                                   REPORTER #1                         Amelia, what do you say to the                         charges that your husband is                         pulling the strings, pressuring you                          nto this around-the-world flight                          o make a financial killing?               George BOLTS forward to the microphones, looks at his wife               with astonishment...                                   GEORGE                         Wait a minute, you're flying around                         the world? Don't you know a                         woman's place is in the home??               The press ROARS with laughter.                                   REPORTER #2                         George, why don't you go along this                         time? Watch over the little woman.                                    GEORGE                         I begged to go. But it seems that                         between 185 pounds of husband and                         1                           85 pounds of fuel, I lost out.                               T                                                             T                                                                                                            96.                                        Gazes at his wife.                               GEORGE (CONT'D)                     At least, I think that's what all                      he laughter meant.          He gives her a kiss.   Thirty FLASHES record it.   As he steps          back...                               REPORTER #3                     Experts are saying that this                     `flying laboratory' is a sham.                     There's nothing to be learned for                     aviation, and you're just in this                     for the money.          The place gets really quiet.                               AMELIA                     Who am I to argue with `experts?'                     I'll just give you my plain old                     common-sense thinking on this...          Pens come up, cameras jockey for position. This is what          they're waiting for. She holds up one finger. First...                               AMELIA (CONT'D)                     We may not learn much about the                     plane, but we will about the pilot.                     Endurance over a month's journey,                     flying nearly every day. Response                      o stress, crises. I think that                     will make a contribution.          Holds up a second finger.   Two...                               AMELIA (CONT'D)                     I'm a working stiff like all of                     you. I don't apologize for the                     fact that I need money to live.                     And to keep financing my flying,                     which is what I love. I think                     that's a positive example for                     women.          Third finger.   Three...                               AMELIA (CONT'D)                     I'm not doing this as a scientist.                     I'm a flyer, boys, pursuing my                     passion. For the fun of it. The                     fun of it. Something I recommend                     as a healthy motive for women.          A wink.   A shrug...                                   T                                             T                                                       S                                                                                                                  97.                                                                 AMELIA (CONT'D)                         ...and maybe even some men.          8                     2                                                                82               EXT. LUKE FIELD, HONOLULU - SUNRISE               The Electra ready to go in first light, engines humming.               Amelia walking alone toward the plane.               SUPERIMPOSE:   LUKE FIELD, HONOLULU.   MARCH 20, 1937.                he waves goodbye to crew and press. Climbs the steps to be               welcomed by Fred's hand gently pulling her aboard. The door               CLOSES. We see Amelia and Fred in the cockpit. He checks a               gauge.                                   FRED                         Lovely. We've got so much fuel we                         can't possibly get off the ground.                         Much safer than flying.                                   AMELIA                         Well, we need enough for a third                         pass at Howland. After you miss it                         the first couple times around.               Ah.                                   FRED                         Good thinking.                he runway lights go ON, and...                                   GEORGE (V.O.)                         We were, all of us, fearful about                          hat landing. No one guessed...               Amelia ROARS OFF, gathering SPEED.                                   GEORGE (V.O.) (CONT'D)                         ...it would be the take-off.               The Electra SUDDENLY VEERS TO THE RIGHT, and we SMASH CUT               TO...                                   INT. ELECTRA          83                                                                83               Amelia THROTTLING DOWN the left engine.    The plane SWINGING               WILDLY to the left, as...                                   N                                                                                                                 98.                                                  84                                                               84               EXT./INT. ELECTRA               ...the RIGHT WHEEL COLLAPSES, the plane SPINS TO THE LEFT and               we INTERCUT between the cockpit and the runway as the               Electra...               ...CAREENS MADLY for a thousand feet, Amelia CUTTING THE               SWITCHES to the engines, fighting for control, PROPELLERS               SMASHED by the concrete runway, SPARKS FLYING IN EVERY               DIRECTION...               INTERCUT. Oakland Airport. George and his retinue waiting.               A phone RINGING. Someone takes the call, his face freezes,               .               he looks wildly around to...                ..George, who's there, SNATCHING the receiver.                                   VOICE (O.S.)                         Have you heard? They crashed, the                         ship's in flames.               SMASH CUT to the cockpit, the Electra SPINNING crazily on its               belly, SPARKS EVERYWHERE, the plane suddenly comes...               ...to a BONE-JARRING STOP. The right MOTOR is pushed up INTO               its wing, which itself has BUCKLED, the stabilizer BENT, the               left wing extends UPWARD from scraping the runway, the               landing gear no longer exists.               SIRENS SCREAM as fire trucks and ambulances race toward them.               Amelia is ashen, disbelieving. Next to her, a gentle...                                   FRED                         Good reaction, cutting the switch.                         You saved our ass.               She doesn't even hear, THROWING open the cockpit, WAVING to               signal they're all right, we SMASH CUT TO...                                   EXT. OAKLAND AIRPORT - DAY          85                                                               85               George wandering numbly on the airfield, as someone RUNS LIKE               CRAZY from the office, shouting...                                   MAN                         NO FIRE! NO FIRE, FALSE REPORT!                          O ONE HURT!               George alone on the tarmac.   Stops in his tracks.   Now he can               cry.                                     I                                                                   T                                                                                                                 99.                                                  86                                                               86               EXT. GARDEN, LOS ANGELES HOME - ALMOST SUNRISE               Two figures in a garden, walking in light so spare they are               silhouettes. Her head is down. His hands are in his               pockets. We CLOSE on them as she fingers a blossom, we now               see she is miserable, fighting absolute despair.                                     GEORGE                           Three weeks, she'll be good as new.                           It's a remarkable crew. The best                           T                             hat...               He stops.   Realizing where he was going.   She never looks up.                                     AMELIA                           ...the best that money can buy. I                           just can't believe I've done this                            o us. All the money wasted that's                           never coming back.                                     GEORGE                           You cut the engines. It would have                           cost a bundle more to replace a                           burned-up plane. Not to mention                           pilot.               She shakes her head.    No.                                     AMELIA                           I overreacted. The plane was too                           heavy, I should have used the                           rudder pedal instead of the                           throttle.               Tears stand in her eyes. She is so ashamed and remorseful.               He lets it stay silent as they walk. Then...                                     GEORGE                            t's only money, we'll figure it                           out. We always do.                                     AMELIA                           I'll make it back and more, I                           promise. The book sales, the                           lectures, this flight will keep us                           going another three years.                                      GEORGE                           Maybe.   Or...                                     AMELIA                           No, it will. Our prices, our                           sales, are going to double.                                     (MORE)                                   W                                                                 A                                                                                                                    100.                                    AMELIA(cont'd)                         This showed them how dangerous it                         all is, they were taking it for                         granted...                             (SNIFFLES)                         They thought I was competent.                                     GEORGE (softly)                         I meant.    Or maybe we can quit.               She looks over.    Not sure if...                                   AMELIA                         You mean after.                                      GEORGE                         Or.     Even now.               A strong smile.    He nods.     We could.                                   AMELIA                         So my exit would be a stupid crash.                          nd withdrawing from a world-                         publicized attempt to finally do                         something no man had done before.                                  GEORGE                         Yeh. That. And it would be fine                          ith me.               Her eyes overwhelmed A his offer.                                    by                  Her voice soft with...                                    MELIA                         But that's because you're an idiot.                                   GEORGE                         Lucky for you.               A held beat.                                   AMELIA                         And what if it's not something I                         have to show the world?               Hmmn?                                   AMELIA                         What if it's something I have to                         show me.               He has no answer for that.       Takes her hand.   They head toward               the house.                                   INT. HANGAR - NIGHT          87                                                                     87               Massive enclosed space. The rebuilt Electra in pieces at               various work stations, being perfected by teams of mechanics.                              T                                                            I                                                            S                                                                                                            101.                              The whirr and clang of tools. Amelia and George confer with          one foreman, as George sees something. He touches her arm,          points in our direction. REVERSE ANGLE as she sees...          ...Gene has entered the hangar.    Stands by the folding table          we've seen before.                                GEORGE                    Have fun.                              AMELIA                    Who let you off the hook on this?          She takes his hand firmly and together they cross the hangar          toward Gene. He smiles, unfolds a third chair. As they          arrive, Amelia steps forward...          ...kisses Gene on the cheek.    George shakes his hand.                              GENE                    Thanks for letting me come.          As they sit, Gene looks from one to the other.                              GENE (CONT'D)                    I guess I'm already outvoted.                              GEORGE                    She'd outvote you all by herself.                     he does it to me every day.          Gene's smile can't mask the concern in his eyes.                              AMELIA                    I don't have a choice. I have to                    reverse my route and fly east. If                      go west now, I'm risking                    hurricanes in the Caribbean and                    monsoons in Africa...                              GENE                    But you're flying Howland last,                    when you're exhausted.          She knows this.   In the silence...                                G                               EORGE                    Gene, this way our first leg is                    Oakland to Miami. It's a shakedown                     o make sure the plane is right.                    That's crucial.          Gene nods, slowly.    His eyes still locked on her.                                                                             102.                                                            GENE                    Maybe I'm obsessing on Howland                    because it was my bright idea,                    and I'd feel responsible if...                              AMELIA                    Well, if I do pop off, I'll try                    to make it somewhere that's not                    your fault.                              GENE                    I'd appreciate that.          Draws a breath.                              GENE (CONT'D)                    You miss that island. You'll be                    out of fuel, with 2000 miles to go.                              AMELIA                    But I'll have Fred so I won't miss.                    In fact, I'm taking Fred along for                    this whole trip.          Surprisingly, he doesn't seem to like this.   She smiles.                              AMELIA (CONT'D)                    Giving up my little arrogance about                    solo. Safety first, yes?          But he's still unhappy.   She waits for him to say.                              GENE                    You and Fred alone for a month...                              AMELIA                    If you're worried about his                    drinking, I'll deal with it.          Straight look.                              AMELIA (CONT'D)                    I can handle Fred.          And now we get a sense of exactly what does worry him.   He          glances to George...                              GENE                    How do you feel?                              GEORGE                    Tip-top. Every little girl needs a                    man around. Even strong girls like                    ours, hmmn?          A very direct gaze.   Words neither said nor needed.                                              G                         T                         A                                                                                                                 103.                                                                 GEORGE (CONT'D)                         She can handle us. She can handle                         Fred.               A full beat.   The look holds between the men.                                     G                                    EORGE (CONT'D)                         And thanks for being here. You've                         always had Amelia's best interests                          t heart.                he look still unbroken.                                    EORGE (CONT'D)                         And, for that. I'm grateful.                              88                                                                88               EXT. MIAMI AIRPORT - DAY - NEWSREEL FOOTAGE               Amelia and George crossing the tarmac from the Electra,               waving to the crowd.                                   ANNOUNCER (O.S.)                         The legendary Amelia Earhart lands                         in Miami, completing the first and                         easiest leg of her around-the-world                         equatorial flight. A feat no man                         has ever attempted. That's hubby                         George with her, he gets off here.               Behind them, coat slung casually across his shoulder, is               Fred. Waving like he belongs.                                    ANNOUNCER (O.S.) (CONT'D)                         That handsome guy behind them isn't                         a movie star. Nope, it's navigator                         Fred Noonan, who will be Amelia's                         sole companion on the exotic                         odyssey...               CLOSE on the rugged smile.                                   ANNOUNCER (O.S.) (CONT'D)                         Hey, where does a guy go to apply                         for a job like that?                                   EXT. BEACH, MIAMI - DUSK          89                                                                89               The pastel sky has darkened along the row of legendary               hotels. At first, we can barely find them at the water's               edge. CLOSE to see her sitting where the surf can't quite               reach her toes. He's lying back, hands cradling his head.               Watching the stars come out. Nothing said. Then...                                      O                                                                    T                            O                                                                                                                 104.                                                                    AMELIA                            I'll be flying sky no one's ever                            been in. You made that happen.               She looks down to his easy smile.                                      GEORGE                            Hate to think where you'd be                            without me.               She smiles back.       Tenderness we don't always see.                                      AMELIA                            I'll try to make you proud.                                      GEORGE                            You did that long, long ago. Only                             ne person left to prove yourself                             o. Just make sure you do it.               A                   beat.   The doubt comes.                                      AMELIA                            And then what?                                      GEORGE                            Then the best part.    The future.               She stares in his eyes.       Leans to him.                                        AMELIA (a whisper)                            Oh yeh.    That.               She brings her hands to his face. Her mouth to his.      Deep.               Longing. Her body sinks into him.               LONG ANGLE.      Two alone.   Only each other.                                   EXT. MIAMI AIRPORT - DAY          90                                                                90               LONG ANGLE. From the open door of a hangar we see Amelia and               George facing reporters in front of the idling Electra. She               sits on the wing, he's just beneath her.                                       GEORGE (V.O.)                            The radio problems crept up on us                             ver time.               SUPERIMPOSE:      MIAMI AIRPORT.   JUNE 1.                                      GEORGE (V.O.) (CONT'D)                            The marine 500 kilocycle radio was                            left in Oakland. Amelia said she                                      (MORE)                               C                                                                                                           105.                               GEORGE(cont'd)                     and Fred were both amateurs at                     Morse Code, so the radio wasn't                     worth what it weighed.          Amelia has made the boys laugh.    George laughs with them.                                GEORGE (V.O.) (CONT'D)                     The 250 foot trailing auxiliary                     antenna, she would leave behind                     in Miami. Too heavy, not                     important.          FLASHES now. And plenty of them. She reaches down to take          George's hand and HOPS down from the wing. More FLASHES...                               GEORGE (V.O.) (CONT'D)                     Then, suddenly our remaining radio                      ouldn't reach its designated                     frequencies. Pan Am hurriedly                     replaced the main antennae. And we                     thought all was well.          Amelia and George coming toward us now, hand in hand, leaving          the press behind. Into...          The hangar. In shadow here.     The world far away, she takes          his hands. A silence.                               GEORGE (CONT'D)                     Race you to California. I'll go                     west. Five bucks?                               AMELIA                     If you'll fly the plane.   Make it                     twenty.          And then...                               AMELIA (CONT'D)                     Simpkin keeps many mice at one                     time. Each under a different                     teacup.          Wow.   He's finally going to hear this.                               GEORGE                     We're saying he's cruel?                                 AMELIA                     No.                               GEORGE                     Controlling?                                 AMELIA                     Insecure.                               I                                                             T                                                                                                      106.                                        Ah.   The light begins to dawn.                               AMELIA (CONT'D)                     He needs the illusion of activity                      o feel comfortable. That he's                     preparing for all contingencies.          George has to grin.                                AMELIA (CONT'D)                     That he has more irons in the                     F                       ire than anyone knows.                               GEORGE                     Especially the mice.                               AMELIA                     Exactly. Each poor mouse thinks                     it's all about her.          Staring at each other.                               GEORGE                     And one of them.    Is right.                                  AMELIA (a murmur)                     She knows.          And then...                                 GEORGE                         want you to give me something.          He's never sounded quite like this before.                               GEORGE (CONT'D)                     Tell me this is your last flight.          Her eyes flicker.     Look down.   A whispered...                                  GEORGE (CONT'D)                     Promise.          And when the eyes come up.                               AMELIA                     Don't you know I couldn't? Even if                     part of me wanted to. Very, very                     much.          The look holds.                               AMELIA (CONT'D)                     How can we be anything. But what                     we are?                                                                                  107.                                             There is no answer.    She leans up into a slow kiss.                                    AMELIA (CONT'D)                          I do love you.               Something in her serious face makes him smile.                                    GEORGE                          Well, I love you back.                                     AMELIA                          Thanks.               Takes a step back toward the hangar door. One hand slightly               up, stay here. Then, the smile he's waited for.                                     AMELIA (CONT'D)                          See ya.               He smiles back. She turns and heads out toward the idling               plane. She seems small, even fragile, alone on the tarmac.               STAY with George.    Watching her go.                                                             SLOW DISSOLVE                                                                     TO...                                   EXT./INT. MONTAGE          91                                                                 91               SERIES OF ANGLES, CROSSFADES, DISSOLVES, INCLUDING...               IMAGES FROM THE ELECTRA:               -   VIEW down onto an endless sea of triple-canopy RAINFOREST.               -   VIEW of Brazilian CITY from ABOVE.                   VIEW onto the ocean and African coast.               -   VIEW of ANIMALS running beneath us.               -   VIEW of the SAHARA'S sands               SUPERIMPOSE:   IMAGES FROM STOPS:               -   Children surrounding Amelia at an African airfield               -   Amelia sleeping in the open desert               -   being welcomed by turbaned dignitaries               -   Amelia on a camel, suddenly kicks it into a gallop               SUPERIMPOSE:   IMAGES FROM TRAVEL MAP                         -                                                                                                                 108.                                             - its RED LINE tracing our journey from Miami to San Juan to               Venezuela, to Brazil                  The RED LINE moving across the Atlantic, to French West               Africa and North to the Sudan               - The RED LINE moves from The Nile River across the tip of               Arabian Peninsula, through Persia, Afghanistan and finally to               Calcutta.               SUPERIMPOSE:   IMAGES FROM AMELIA'S ARTICLES               - HEADLINES from various installments of her daily ARTICLE               in the Herald Tribune, with her BYLINE.                                                              DISSOLVE FROM                                                              MONTAGE TO...                                   EXT. AIRPORT, CALCUTTA - EVENING          92                                                                  92               Driving RAINSTORM as Amelia carries her gear toward the               Electra. Fred waits. The umbrellas aren't keeping them dry.               SUPERIMPOSE:   DUMDUM AIRDROME, CALCUTTA               The buildings have thatched roofs.    There are oxcarts by the               runway, abandoned to the downpour.    Fred has to shout over               the storm...                                   FRED                         YOU'RE NOT REALLY TAKING OFF!                                   AMELIA                         IT'S GOING TO GET HEAVIER AND                         WE COULD BE STUCK HERE FOR DAYS.                         EVEN WEEKS.               He just glares at her.   Rain POUNDING all around them.                                    A                                    MELIA (CONT'D)                         ONLY 700 MILES TO BANGKOK, IT'S                         LIGHTER THERE.               He doesn't move.                                   AMELIA (CONT'D)                         Stay if you like.               And she climbs into the plane.   He just stands in the rain               and glowers.                                                                                    109.                                                  93                                                                 93               EXT. AIRSTRIP - MOMENTS LATER               The Electra ROARING down the runway. It's all alone, no one               else crazy enough to be out there. At last the plane...               ...LIFTS INTO the rain.    Wobbles just a beat.    And begins to               CLIMB.                                   EXT. ELECTRA - LATER          94                                                                 94               A wrenching battle, plane versus monsoon. The storm is               heavier, deafening, actually STRIPPING PAINT from the               Electra's wings.                              95                                                                 95               INT. ELECTRA - SAME MOMENT               Amelia beyond exhaustion, but focused, fighting it.      We think               she's flying alone. Until...               ...Fred drops into the seat beside her. No words as he               watches her struggle. Our plane is all over the sky. The               DIN is ungodly.                                   AMELIA                         YOU THINK WE SHOULD TURN BACK, HUH?                                      FRED                         NOPE.     I THINK WE SHOULDN'T HAVE                         COME.               An AIR POCKET DROPS them 200 feet.                                   AMELIA                         HARD TO IMAGINE LANDING IN THIS.                                   FRED                         I'VE GOT AN IDEA.     LET'S NEVER COME                         DOWN.               She glances over.    For once, she's scared.                                   AMELIA                         HOW COULD YOU FIND OUR WAY BACK?                                    FRED                         SINCE I FORGOT TO DROP BREAD                         CRUMBS, WE'LL HAVE TO USE DEAD                         RECKONING.               Beat.                                      AMELIA                         THAT'S IT?     JUST A GUESS?                                      I                                                                              F                                                                                                              110.                                                                    FRED                            US NAVIGATORS PREFER THE TERM `WILD-                            ASS GUESS.'               Held look.                                      AMELIA                            That's more like it.               She starts to TURN the plane around.                                   INT. ELECTRA - DAY          96                                                               96               Amelia flying down through heavy turbulence, though it is no               longer raining. Her features tense. We see the accumulated               strain of the adventure.               F                red appears from the catwalk, slips into the seat beside               her. He's worried. Points, and we see...               ...CALCUTTA below, sprawling and endless. Between us and the               ground, a huge gathering of FLYING SHAPES.                                       RED                            Black eagles. If one of those                            clips a propeller. Or flies into                            the engine...               Her tired features form a smile.                                      AMELIA                             've got an idea. Let's never                            land. Better safe than sorry.               He takes her point.    She turns back to work...                                      AMELIA (CONT'D)                            I'll wake you when the coffee's                            ready.               And with cold-blooded nerve, she SWOOPS down, down, THROUGH               the flock of eagles, scattering them as we arc in for a               perfect landing. She never turns to...               ...Fred, who is still white-knuckling, trying to get his               heart started. He can't believe what she's just done.               Rolling, rolling...                                      FRED                            Cream, no sugar.                         A                                                                                                               111.                                                  97                                                                97               EXT. GOVERNOR'S HOUSE, CALCUTTA - TWILIGHT               Establishing shot of a graceful pillar of the Raj.   Night               falling.                                   EXT. COURTYARD, GOVERNOR'S HOUSE - SAME MOMENT          98                                                                98               A fountain in an ornate courtyard. There is a RECEPTION, as               every evening for Amelia, attended by local DIGNITARIES.               Fred, already a little drunk, leads Amelia to a massive teak-               wood table. He breaks off the corner of a cracker, sets it               down in the center of the table.                                     FRED                           Howland Island.               He strikes a match. SNUFFS the flame. Puts the burned-out               match head just by the scrap of cracker.                                     FRED (CONT'D)                           B                            lack smoke from the Navy ship that                           could help us get a fix.               Points way across the marble courtyard.                                     FRED (CONT'D)                           Now stand over there. That's what                           it's going to look like, if the                           weather's good.                                     SERVANT (O.S.)                           Mrs. Earhart?               She glances up.   He beckons respectfully.                NGLE. Alcove still with a VIEW of Fred and the courtyard.               She lifts a telephone...                                   INTERCUT:   INT. GEORGE'S OFFICE - DAY          99                                                                99               CLOSE on a WALL MAP. We realize that George has been fol-               lowing her odyssey on a map of his own. We PULL BACK to               reveal...                                     GEORGE                           Mrs. Earhart? Mr. Earhart, here.               He looks elegant in crisp suit and tie.               INTERCUT: Amelia's eyes WIDE. She seems truly thrilled.               INTERCUT BETWEEN THEM now throughout...                                     .                                                                   R                                                                   S                           T                                                                                                                112.                                                                   AMELIA                           Oh, my goodness.   Simpkin, is it                           really you?                George makes a PURRING sound.     A sharp MEOW.                                     AMELIA (CONT'D)                           This is insane. It's so                           extravagant.                                     GEORGE                           It gets worse, I bought a brand-new                           suit and tie. Got a date with my                           wife.                                     AMELIA                           We can't possibly afford this.                                     GEORGE                            ure, we can. It's Tuesday's call                            o Lae that we can't afford.                                     AMELIA (delighted)                           You hang up the phone this minute.                           You'll bankrupt us and I'll have                           to walk home.                                     GEORGE                            easoning with me. A magnificent                           display of useless courage.                Her eyes remember.    A soft...                                     AMELIA                            ..and it's fun.                HOLD on her face.    And MATCH DISSOLVE TO...                                    EXT. BAR, LAE - NIGHT          100                                                                100                ...Amelia's FACE, as we left it in the first scene. The                STORM PELTING all around the open-sided bar. Fred studying                her across the table.                                     FRED                           A touching love story, really.                He's been drinking, we can hear it in his voice.   SEE the                bottle now. Nearly gone.                                     AMELIA                           An honest one. It's what you                           wanted.                He nods.   That's right.                                 Y                                                                                                              113.                                                               FRED                       I wonder if it's honest enough for                       George. If it's what he wanted.                        ou know.                                 AMELIA                       If you mean Gene, we're not                       together anymore. In that way.                       Not for a long time.                                 FRED                       Whose choice was that?          She doesn't like his tone.      Shifts in her seat.                                 AMELIA                       It was mine.                                 FRED                       Well, isn't it always? You choose                       in, you choose out. Makes things                       easy.                                 AMELIA                       Anything but easy. Are you                       disapproving of the way I live?                                 FRED                       Hell, no. It's just like me. In                       fact, it's like most guys I know.          His smile.                                 FRED (CONT'D)                       Actually, I'd like a piece of it                       myself. Right about now.          Her eyes harden.       A                                  MELIA                       If you have a point, Fred.   Make                       it.                                 FRED                       Oh, I believe I have.          She rises slowly. Zips her flight jacket.        Takes her slicker          from the back of her chair.                                 AMELIA                       Allow me to cut you a deal, my                       friend.          Steel in the spine of that.                                                                                      114.                                                                   AMELIA (CONT'D)                           You show up tomorrow morning.                           You show up sober and you get                           me to Howland Island.                Okay?                                     AMELIA (CONT'D)                           And I'll forget you ever said that.                She WHEELS around and holding her slicker over her head, goes                OFF into the POUNDING RAIN.                Fred's smile is gone.     He stares after her.                                                                 DISSOLVE TO...                                    EXT. RADIO HUT, LAE - LATER          101                                                                 101                Amelia down the path in her slicker toward a small hut.       She                knocks. Opens the door to reveal...                                    INT. RADIO HUT - NIGHT          102                                                                 102                ...the radio receiver and transmitter.     The operator BALFOUR                is a wiry Scot. He nods respectfully.                                     BALFOUR                           Ready, Mum.                He stands and she takes his seat. He shows her the key to                press, then steps back toward the window. But she makes no                move to the radio. Just stares at him. He doesn't                understand.                                     AMELIA (gently)                           Feel like stepping out for a                           smoke...?                                     BALFOUR                           I don't smoke.                                     AMELIA                           ...or something?                Oh.   The monsoon beats down.                                     BALFOUR                           If you need help, I'll be right                           outside. In the rain.                                        AMELIA                           Thank you.     I'll only be a moment.                                      I                                                                              G                                                                                                                   115.                                              He puts on his slicker.   OPENS an umbrella.    Leaves.                She looks back to the radio.   FLIPS the switch.                            E         AMELIA (soft)                             arhart here.                                    INTERCUT:   COAST GUARD STATION, LOS ANGELES - DAY          103                                                                103                George at a window, looking west.     Over the Pacific.   She's                there somewhere.                                       EORGE                            You should be sleeping.                He smiles to keep his voice up. The eyes aren't smiling.       We                INTERCUT their conversation throughout...                                      AMELIA                            You should be working.                                      GEORGE                            I'm running a big adventure here,                             'm a very important fellow.                                      AMELIA                            You told me I was the star.   And                            you were no one at all.                                      GEORGE (soft)                            I thought I was lying. Guess the                            joke's on me.                Silence.                                      GEORGE (CONT'D)                            How's Fred?                                      AMELIA                            I'm mad at him. I'll be in                            Honolulu on the 3rd, and with you                            in Oakland for Fourth of July.                            Okay?                                      GEORGE                            Don't keep me waiting.                                      AMELIA                            I won't dare. You're a very                            important feline. Uh, fellow.                                      GEORGE                            Talk to me about Fred.                                                                          116.                                                             AMELIA                     Fred is fine. He's calculating                     head-wind speed versus fuel as we                     speak.          CLOSE on his face.                               GEORGE                     You wouldn't sell a salesman would                     you?                                  AMELIA                     He's fine.                               GEORGE                     So what's that I hear in     your                     voice?          A beat.                               GEORGE                     Is he drinking?                               AMELIA (soft)                     I can handle it.                               GEORGE                     Call it off. Right now.      I mean                     it.                               AMELIA                     I can handle it.          And then...                               AMELIA                     I love you.          Silence.                               GEORGE                     After the Fourth.     We're going                     home.                               AMELIA                     Where's that?                                GEORGE                     For me?   Anywhere you are.          She begins to cry. Both hands fly to her mouth and she looks          away. She swallows hard.                               AMELIA                     I'm going to like it there.                                      I                                                                                                                   117.                                              And then...                                      AMELIA (CONT'D)                            I'd better. Since this is my last                            flight.                A long silence.                                        GEORGE                            Well.    If you insist.                She nods.   She does.                                       AMELIA                             t's late here. Guess I'll go                            curl up under a teacup.                                      GEORGE                            I'll go tell the world you're on                            your way.                Neither wants to let go.      We feel it so strong.                                      GEORGE (a whisper)                            Sweet dreams.                A beat.                                        AMELIA (whispers back)                            See ya.                And he's gone.      She stares at the radio.                                    INT. AMELIA'S HUT - LATER          104                                                                104                FLICKER of a kerosene lamp.      Amelia writing at a tiny desk.                Thinks now. Thinks.                Lost in it.                                    EXT. AIRFIELD, LAE - DAWN          105                                                                105                A sober, contrite Fred comes down the runway in early light.                As he reaches the Electra, he sees a pile of discarded                OBJECTS on the tarmac...                ...metal containers, carton of oranges, parachutes.                Bedrolls, cold weather gear. Souvenirs from their stops:                flags, a metal plaque, native crafts, a Welcome Miss Amelia                Earhart banner. As he studies the pile...                ...a COFFEE POT comes FLYING out of the plane to roll at his                feet. Suddenly, a 10 pound coffee tin SAILS PAST, as he                DUCKS. Amelia appears at the hatch, sees him.                                       G                                                                                                                     118.                                                                     FRED                             You're finding the range. But it                             might be easier to just shoot me.                She stares at him for a moment.       A subdued voice...                                       AMELIA                             Traveling light, that's all.                She sits on the lip of the hatch.       Her legs dangling.   Her                eyes down.                                       FRED                             Got room for 190 pounds of asshole?                No answer.       She's still looking down.   He's never seen her                like this.                                       FRED (CONT'D)                             M                              a'am, I am so sor...                                          AMELIA                             It's fine.                Her eyes come up.                                       AMELIA (CONT'D)                             Everything is.                He doesn't understand, but he's glad to be forgiven. She                takes a LETTER from her pocket. Runs her finger over the                envelope.                                       FRED                             I can run into town before we go.                              et that in the post for you.                She shakes her head slowly.                                       AMELIA                             It's for my husband. I'm going to                             hand it to him. So I can watch his                             face as he reads it.                She sniffles slightly.                                       AMELIA (CONT'D)                             It's our tradition.                                    EXT. RUNWAY, LAE AIRFIELD - MORNING          106                                                                  106                A RUNWAY that ends in a drop-off at the waters of Huon Gulf.                The Electra, engines REVVING. Ready to go for it. Our ANGLE                CLOSES on the belly of the plane. The ANTENNA MAST                supporting a trailing WIRE ANTENNA.                                                                                 119.                                                                     GEORGE (V.O.)                             Ten A.M., Friday July 2. They                             lined up on the thousand-yard                             runway. One thousand gallons of                             fuel, enough for 20 to 21 hours of                             flying.                LONG ANGLE. Crew and onlookers watch as the plane STARTS its                run, gathering speed, BOUNCING over uneven ground...                CLOSE now on the jouncing undercarriage, a momentary PUFF of                DUST, and as the plane moves PAST, we may notice that the                belly antenna mast seems to be GONE.                DOWN the runway it RUMBLES, still earthbound, only 200 yards                to go. Then 100. Then FIFTY, then at the water's edge, the                Electra RISES and...                .                 ..DROPS out of sight below the land, as we SMASH CUT to...                ANGLE. The Electra has FALLEN to SIX FEET above the surface                of the Gulf. The engines THROB at max, the propellers                THROWING SPRAY. The overloaded plane...                ...RISING.    Slowly, then faster, then...                ...SOARING free.                PULL BACK to a VIEW from down the runway. The Electra in                distance. RACK FOCUS to see something long and slender                GLINTING on the ground. Could it be a length of WIRE?                                    INT. COAST GUARD STATION, LOS ANGELES - SUNSET          107                                                               107                Through the glass, the sun is disappearing toward Amelia.                PULL BACK to George, staring at a CABLE in his hands. We                HEAR...                                       BALFOUR (O.S.)                             Mr. Putnam. Their headwinds are                             stronger than they knew when they                             took off.                Then...                                       BALFOUR (O.S.) (CONT'D)                             I recalculated their fuel. It will                             cost them 9%.                George staring off. Assessing the consequences. PULL BACK                to see an ENSIGN standing, waiting for instruction.                                       BALFOUR (O.S.) (CONT'D)                             I can't raise them, sir. I tried                             voice, and Morse Code...                                    W                                                                                                               120.                                              George looks up.   Calmly.                                    GEORGE                           ire back. Tell him to forget the                          Morse Code. They didn't bring the                          receiver.                The young man looks concerned.                                    GEORGE (CONT'D)                          Just tell him to stay with voice.                          He'll get them.                              108   A                                                        108                EXT. HOWLAND ISLAND - DAY                 ERIAL ANGLE. A tiny, flat, nearly invisible speck adrift in                the endless Pacific. Howland Island. PAN to see just                offshore...                                    GEORGE (V.O.)                          The U.S. Coast Guard cutter Itasca                          had been anchored off Howland just                          for us.                CLOSE on the ITASCA now...                                    GEORGE (V.O.) (CONT'D)                          Its radio would be her lifeline.                          Its black plume of smoke would                          reach for miles. More visible than                          the island itself.                DISSOLVE TO NIGHT. The island visible only by its slender                LIGHTHOUSE. The ship illuminated in the darkness.                CLOSE now on a path by the sea. A lone figure with a                FLASHLIGHT approaches a SHACK. Enters...                                    INT. RADIO HUT - NIGHT          109                                                            109                ...a room filled with radio equipment. He is FRANK CIPRIANI,                in crisp naval uniform, relieving a SEAMAN who has been on                duty. As Cipriani sits at his station, he notices...                                    CIPRIANI                          The direction finder.   How long has                          this been on?                The seaman turns back at the door.   What?                                    EXT. ITASCA          110                                                            110                CLOSE on the ship, illuminated.   PUSH IN...                                                                                     121.                                                  111                                                                  111                INT. RADIO ROOM, ITASCA - NIGHT                The room is 9 x 20 with bare walls. At the transmitter, LEO                BELLARTS the chief radio man. Short and square, an                unflappable air of quiet expertise. With him, his assistant                WILLIAM DALTEN, lean and young with dark serious eyes. At a                typewriter sits THOMAS O'HARE, barely twenty, headphones                across his shock of rust-colored hair, telegraph at the                ready.                S                 UPERIMPOSE:    2:45 A.M.                Dalten adjusting the receiver which is suddenly spitting                STATIC. Threading through the noise, what could be a human                voice. Bellarts calls to O'Hare...                                       BELLARTS                             That's her on 3105. She said                             `cloudy and overcast.'                O'Hare looks at him. Are you serious? Bellarts mimes typing                with his fingers. O'Hare starts typing into the log.                DISSOLVE TO...                SUPERIMPOSE:    3:45 A.M.                Radio CRACKLES.    All eyes turn.                                       AMELIA (O.S.)                             Itasca from Earhart. Overcast.                Static.   Dalten leans to the mic...                                       DALTEN (into mic)                             We are receiving your signal.                             Please acknowledge ours. What is                             your position? When do you expect                             to arrive Howland?                No answer.    Light static.                                       BELLARTS                             Commander estimated 7:00. If she's                             having trouble on voice                             transmission, stay with Morse.                And begins to carefully pack his pipe.      Dalten begins to                transmit Morse Code. DISSOLVE TO...                SUPERIMPOSE:    6:45 A.M.                The radio.    The static.   The sudden voice...                               K                                                                                                             122.                                                             AMELIA (O.S.)                     Please take bearing on us and                     report in half hour. I will make                     noise in microphone. We are about                     100 miles out.          The transmission cuts out.     Dalten answers in Morse Code.    No          response.                               DALTEN                     She's got to stay on longer.          Bellarts dictating as O'Hare types...                                BELLARTS                     Earhart signal strength 4, but on                     A                       ir so briefly bearings impossible.                                                         DISSOLVE TO...          SUPERIMPOSE:    7:18 A.M.                               DALTEN (to Bellarts)                     Maybe her Morse receiver is out.                         (into mic)                     Can't take bearing on 3105. Please                     send on 500 or do you want to take                     bearing on us? Go ahead, please.          Silence.   O'Hare typing:    NO ANSWER.          SUPERIMPOSE:    7:30 A.M.                               DALTEN (into mic)                     Please acknowledge our signals on                      ey. Please acknowledge.          CRACKLE.   O'Hare typing:    UNANSWERED.                               BELLARTS                     Tommy, intercom top deck, double                     check the smoke stack...          INTERCUT: AERIAL ANGLE high above the ship.       BLACK SMOKE          PLUMES into clear sky...                               BELLARTS (O.S.) (CONT'D)                     They should be able to see it for                     twenty miles, at least.          TILT ANGLE.    In far distance, thirty to forty miles, a gray          STORM.                                     A                                                                                                                 123.                                                  112                                                              112                INT. RADIO ROOM - MORNING                A few others enter now. Civilians, sailors, they hang back                silently, watching as...                SUPERIMPOSE:   7:42 A.M.                                     AMELIA (O.S.)                           KHAQQ calling Itasca. We must be                           on you but cannot see you...                Glances are traded. It is the first moment of visible                concern. STATIC interrupts. Then...                                     AMELIA (O.S.) (CONT'D)                           Gas is running low. Been unable to                           reach you by radio. We are flying                            t altitude 1000 feet.                                     DALTEN (into mic)                           You are reaching us. We are                           sending on 3105 and 500 constantly.                           Please acknowledge.                Massive BURST of static. Dalten frantically CLICKING a                message in Morse Code. DISSOLVE TO...                S                UPERIMPOSE:    7:58 A.M.                The room has nearly filled. COMMANDER THOMPSON stands at                Bellart's shoulder. All eyes fixed on the radio...                                     EARHART (O.S.)                           We are circling but cannot hear                           you. Go ahead on 7500.                                     BELLARTS (into mic)                           Itasca to KHAQQ. Your signal is                           strong. Are you receiving this?                A breathless moment.   A sharp CRACKLE.                                     EARHART (O.S.)                           KHAQQ calling Itasca. We received                           your signal, but unable to get a                           minimum. Please take bearing on                           us and answer 3105 with voice.                                     BELLARTS (into mic)                           Your signal received okay. It is                           impractical to take a bearing on                           3105 on your voice. Give us a                           longer signal, please. Go ahead.                Silence.   Feet are shifting.   No one speaks.                                 O                                                               O                                                                                                              124.                                                               BELLARTS (softly to Dalten)                       Keep us at 7500, that's her only                       acknowledgment.                                 THOMPSON                       You've got her signal, dammit.                       What about the direction finder?                                 BELLARTS                       Cipriani reports the battery's                       dead, sir. It was left on all                       night.          Full beat.                                 THOMPSON (low)                       I don't believe this is happening.                                                             DISSOLVE TO:          SUPERIMPOSE:     8:12 A.M.                                 BELLARTS (into mic)                       Itasca to Earhart. Did you get                       transmission on 7500? Go ahead on                       500 so that we can take a bearing                       on you, it's impossible on 3105.                       Please acknowledge.                                                             DISSOLVE TO:          SUPERIMPOSE:     8:33 A.M.          No breath in this room.      No one moves.                                 BELLARTS (into mic)                       Will you please come in and answer                        n 500? We are transmitting                       constantly on 7500 and we do not                       hear you on 500. Please answer on                       500. Go ahead.                                                             DISSOLVE TO:          SUPERIMPOSE:     8:44 A.M.          Suddenly, a thin and anxious VOICE cuts through a burst of          static...            A                                  MELIA (O.S.)                       We are on the line of position 157-                       337, will repeat this message on                       6210 kilocycles. Wait, listening                        n 6210 kilocycles. We are running                       north and south.                                     B                                                                   F                                                                                                                   125.                                                                   BELLARTS (into mic)                           We hear you. We hear you. Can you                           receive this...?                Silence.   Silence.   Silence.                                     COMMANDER (softly)                           Mr. Bellarts. When did she say she                           was low on fuel?                All eyes shift to Tommy.    He scans the log.    Stares.                                    O'HARE                           Um. An hour. And two minutes,                           sir.                HOLD on this room.    DISSOLVE TO...                AERIAL ANGLE. The ship in clear daylight.       The BLACK PLUME                of smoke stretching to heaven.                                                                 SLOW DISSOLVE                                                                         TO...                                    INT. COAST GUARD STATION, LOS ANGELES - NIGHT          113                                                                113                The tiny room we've come to know. It is filled with people                who stand motionless, staring somberly at one man. In turn,                he stares at a telephone...                Which RINGS. Mary reaches, but his hand goes UP and she                pulls back. He lets it ring three times, four, gathering                himself. Lifting it...                                      GEORGE (into phone)                           Yes.                There are no other words.    His eyes tear up.    He nods numbly                at the phone.        G                                      EORGE (V.O.) (CONT'D)                           Looking back, the questions were                           obvious. Why would anyone try to                            ind such a tiny target in a vast                           ocean, with barely an hour's lee-                           way in fuel?                He draws a breath.                                     GEORGE (into phone)                           Well, we're most grateful. With                           such an effort, of course they'll                            e found.                                     I                                                                                                                   126.                                              CLOSE on him now.   As he listens, as he responds graciously,                MOS...                                     GEORGE (V.O.) (CONT'D)                           So I tortured myself. Why hadn't                             killed this plan on day one?                           And then I realized...                                                               DISSOLVE SLOWLY                                                                         TO...                                    EXT. GARDEN, LOS ANGELES - LATER          114                                                                114                Alone.   In a moonlit garden.                                     GEORGE (V.O.)                           If I tried to count the insane and                           reckless chances she took from the                           first moment I met her. I wouldn't                           know where to begin.                Slowly to his knees.   By the plants they had tended together.                                     GEORGE (V.O.) (CONT'D)                           It was the most tragic of endings.                           The most cruel and senseless and                           wasteful. And yet...                And yet.                                     GEORGE (CONT'D)                           It's hard to imagine another.                                                               SMASH CUT TO...                                    EXT. BRILLIANT SKY, THE PACIFIC - DAY          115                                                                115                Sun and cloud.   The sea below.                                     AMELIA (V.O.)                           My Simpkin.                We POINT toward the water.                                     AMELIA (V.O.) (CONT'D)                           I want to be married to you. The                           way you've been married to me.                It begins to draw CLOSER.                                      AMELIA (V.O.) (CONT'D)                           As you read this. I am watching                           your face.                                                                    127.                                        And CLOSER.                              AMELIA (V.O.) (CONT'D)                    I am hoping to see. That you know                    how much I mean each word.          Gaining SPEED now...                              AMELIA (V.O.) (CONT'D)                    All the things I never said, for                    so very long...          HURTLING TOWARD the surface...                                 AMELIA (V.O.) (CONT'D)                    Look up. They're in my eyes.          SMASH CUT TO BLACK.          Hold.                              ROLL END CREDITS.
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+INT. FITTS HOUSE - RICKY'S BEDROOM - NIGHTOn VIDEO: JANE BURNHAM lays in bed, wearing a tank top. She'ssixteen, with dark, intense eyes.                    JANE          I need a father who's a role model, not          some horny geek-boy who's gonna spray his          shorts whenever I bring a girlfriend home          from school.              (snorts)          What a lame-o. Somebody really should put          him out of his misery.Her mind wanders for a beat.                    RICKY (O.C.)          Want me to kill him for you?Jane looks at us and sits up.                    JANE              (deadpan)          Yeah, would you?                                               FADE TO BLACK.                                                        FADE IN:EXT. ROBIN HOOD TRAIL - EARLY MORNINGWe're FLYING above suburban America, DESCENDING SLOWLY towarda tree-lined street.                    LESTER (V.O.)          My name is Lester Burnham. This is my          neighborhood. This is my street. This...          is my life. I'm forty-two years old. In          less than a year, I'll be dead.INT. BURNHAM HOUSE - MASTER BEDROOM - CONTINUOUSWe're looking down at a king-sized BED from OVERHEAD:LESTER BURNHAM lies sleeping amidst expensive bed linens,face down, wearing PAJAMAS. An irritating ALARM CLOCK RINGS.Lester gropes blindly to shut it off.                    LESTER (V.O.)          Of course, I don't know that yet. He          rolls over, looks up at us and sighs. He          doesn't seem too thrilled at the prospect          of a new day.                                                   (CONTINUED)                                                              2.CONTINUED:                    LESTER (V.O.) (CONT'D)          And in a way, I'm dead already.He sits up and puts on his slippers.INT. BURNHAM HOUSE - MASTER BATH - MOMENTS LATERLester thrusts his face directly into a steaming hot shower.ANGLE from outside the shower: Lester's naked body issilhouetted through the fogged-up glass door. It becomesapparent he is masturbating.                     LESTER (V.O.)              (amused)          Look at me, jerking off in the shower.              (then)          This will be the high point of my day.          It's all downhill from here.EXT. BURNHAM HOUSE - MOMENTS LATERCLOSE on a single, dewy AMERICAN BEAUTY ROSE. A gloved handwith CLIPPERS appears and SNIPS the flower off.CAROLYN BURNHAM tends her rose bushes in front of the Burnhamhouse. A very well-put together woman of forty, she wearscolor-coordinated gardening togs and has lots of useful andexpensive tools.Lester watches her through a WINDOW on the first floor,peeping out through the drapes.                    LESTER (V.O.)          That's my wife Carolyn. See the way the          handle on those pruning shears matches          her gardening clogs? That's not an          accident.EXT. JIMS' HOUSE - CONTINUOUSIn the fenced front yard of the house next door, a dog BARKSrepeatedly. A MAN in a conservative suit (JIM #1) chastisesthe barking dog.                    JIM #1          Hush, Bitsy. You hush. What is wrong?                    LESTER (V.O.)          That's our next-door neighbor Jim.A second MAN in a conservative suit (JIM #2) comes out of thehouse.                                                    (CONTINUED)                                                              3.CONTINUED:                    LESTER (V.O.) (CONT'D)          And that's his lover, Jim.                    JIM #2              (re: barking dog)          What in the world is wrong with her? She          had a walk this morning.                    JIM #1          And a jerky treat.                    JIM #2          You spoil her.              (sternly)          Bitsy. No bark. Come inside. Now.EXT. BURNHAM HOUSE - CONTINUOUSLester watches all this from the window.                    CAROLYN          Good morning, Jim!Jim #1 walks toward the fence to greet Carolyn.                    JIM #1          Morning, Carolyn.                    CAROLYN              (overly friendly)          I just love your tie! That color!                    JIM #1          I just love your roses. How do you get          them to flourish like this?                    CAROLYN          Well, I'll tell you. Egg shells and          Miracle Grow.Jim #1 and Carolyn continue to chat, unaware that Lester iswatching them.                    LESTER (V.O.)          Man. I get exhausted just watching her.Lester's POV: We can't hear what Jim and Carolyn are saying,but she's overly animated, like a TV talk show host.                    LESTER (V.O.) (CONT'D)          She wasn't always like this. She used to          be happy. We used to be happy.                                                              4.INT. BURNHAM HOUSE - JANE'S ROOM - CONTINUOUSJANE is seated at her desk, working at her computer.                    LESTER (V.O.)          My daughter Jane. Only child.CLOSE on the COMPUTER MONITOR: A PERSONAL BANKING SOFTWAREwindow suddenly disappears to reveal another window: aPLASTIC SURGERY WEBSITE, featuring clinical "before" and"after" photos of surgically augmented breasts.                    LESTER (V.O.) (CONT'D)          Janie's a pretty typical teenager. Angry,          insecure, confused. I wish I could tell          her that's all going to pass...Outside, a CAR HORN BLARES. Jane stuffs items into herBACKPACK.                    LESTER (V.O.) (CONT'D)          But I don't want to lie to her.We HEAR the CAR HORN again from outside. Jane studies herselfin a mirror, then shifts to get a good profile of herbreasts.EXT. BURNHAM HOUSE - CONTINUOUSCarolyn stands next to a platinum-colored MERCEDES-BENZML320, reaching in through the drivers' window to blow theHORN again.Jane shuffles out of the house, her backpack slung over hershoulder.                    CAROLYN          Jane. Honey. Are you trying to look          unattractive?                    JANE          Yes.                     CAROLYN          Well, congratulations. You've succeeded          admirably.Jane gets in the car. Lester hurries out the front door,carrying a BRIEFCASE.                                                    (CONTINUED)                                                             5.CONTINUED:                    CAROLYN (CONT'D)          Lester, could you make me a little later,          please? Because I'm not quite late          enough.Lester's briefcase suddenly springs open and his papers spillall over the driveway. He drops to his knees to gathereverything.                    JANE          Nice going, Dad.Lester smiles sheepishly, trying to lighten the moment.His POV: Carolyn looks down at us, contemptuous but alsobored, as if she gave up expecting anything more long ago.                    LESTER (V.O.)          Both my wife and daughter think I'm this          gigantic loser, and... they're right.INT. MERCEDES-BENZ ML320 - A SHORT TIME LATERCarolyn is driving; Jane stares out the window. Lester isasleep in the back seat.                    LESTER (V.O.)          I have lost something. I'm not exactly          sure what it is, but I know I didn't          always feel this... sedated. But you know          what? It's never too late to get it back.INT. OFFICE BUILDING - DAYLester sits at his workstation, a BEIGE CUBICLE surrounded byIDENTICAL BEIGE CUBICLES. He's staring at a computer monitorand talking on a HEADSET PHONE. The beleaguered expression onhis face is at odds with the light, friendly tone of hisvoice.                    LESTER          Hello, this is Lester Burnham from Media          Monthly magazine, I'm calling for Mr.          Tamblin, please?... Well, we're all under          a deadline here, uh, but you see, there          is some basic information about the          product launch that isn't even covered in          your press release and I... Yeah. Can I          ask you a question? Who is Tamblin? Does          he exist? 'Cause he doesn't ever seem to          come in... Yeah, okay, I'll leave my          number...                                                 (CONTINUED)                                                              6.CONTINUED:BRAD, a dapper man in his thirties, approaches and observesLester, who is unaware of his presence.                    LESTER (CONT'D)          It's 555 0199. Lester Burnham. Thank you!Lester disconnects the call, obviously irritated.                    BRAD          Hey Les. You got a minute?Lester turns around, smiling perfunctorily                    LESTER          For you, Brad? I've got five.INT. BRAD'S OFFICE - MOMENTS LATERBrad is seated behind his desk in his big corner office.                    BRAD          I'm sure you can understand our need to          cut corners around here.Lester sits across from him, looking small and isolated.                    LESTER          Oh, sure. Times are tight, and you gotta          free up cash. Gotta spend money to make          money. Right?                    BRAD          Exactly. So...Brad stands, ready to usher Lester out.                    LESTER              (blurts)          Like the time when Mr. Flournoy used the          company MasterCard to pay for that          hooker, and then she used the card          numbers and stayed at the St. Regis for,          what was it, like, three months?                    BRAD              (startled)          That's unsubstantiated gossip.                    LESTER          That's fifty thousand dollars. That's          somebody's salary. That's somebody who's          gonna get fired because Craig has to pay          women to fuck him!                                                    (CONTINUED)                                                             7.CONTINUED:                    BRAD          Jesus. Calm down. Nobody's getting fired          yet. That's why we're having everyone          write out a job description, mapping out          in detail how they contribute. That way,          management can assess who's valuable and--                    LESTER          Who's expendable.                    BRAD          It's just business.                    LESTER              (angry)          I've been writing for this magazine for          fourteen years, Brad. You've been here          how long, a whole month?                    BRAD              (frank)          I'm one of the good guys, Les. I'm trying          to level with you. This is your one          chance to save your job.Lester stares at him, powerless.EXT. BURNHAM HOUSE - LATE AFTERNOONA MOVING VAN is parked in front of the COLONIAL HOUSE nextdoor to the Burnhams'. Movers carry furniture toward thehouse.The Mercedes-Benz pulls into the Burnham driveway. Carolyndrives, Lester is in the passenger seat.                    CAROLYN          --there is no decision, you just write          the damn thing!                    LESTER          You don't think it's weird and kinda          fascist?                    CAROLYN          Possibly. But you don't want to be          unemployed.                    LESTER          Oh, well, let's just all sell our souls          and work for Satan, because it's more          convenient that way.                                                    (CONTINUED)                                                              8.CONTINUED:                    CAROLYN          Could you be just a little bit more          dramatic, please, huh?As they get out of the car, Carolyn scopes out the MOVERSnext door.                    CAROLYN (CONT'D)          So we've finally got new neighbors. You          know, if the Lomans had let me represent          them, instead of--              (heavy disdain)          --"The Real Estate King," that house          would never have sat on the market for          six months.She heads into the house, followed by Lester.                    LESTER          Well, they were still mad at you for          cutting down their sycamore.                    CAROLYN          Their sycamore? C'mon! A substantial          portion of the root structure was on our          property. You know that. How can you call          it their sycamore? I wouldn't have the          heart to just cut down something if it          wasn't partially mine, which of course it          was.INT. BURNHAM HOUSE - DINING ROOM - LATER THAT NIGHTWe HEAR EASY-LISTENING MUSIC.Lester, Carolyn and Jane are eating dinner by CANDLELIGHT.RED ROSES are bunched in a vase at the center of the table.Nobody makes eye contact, or even seems aware of anybodyelse's presence, until...                    JANE          Mom, do we always have to listen to this          elevator music?                    CAROLYN              (considers)          No. No, we don't. As soon as you've          prepared a nutritious yet savory meal          that I'm about to eat, you can listen to          whatever you like.A long beat. Lester suddenly turns to Jane.                                                 (CONTINUED)                                                             9.CONTINUED:                    LESTER          So Janie, how was school?                    JANE              (suspicious)          It was okay.                       LESTER          Just okay?                    JANE          No, Dad. It was spec-tac-ular.A beat.                    LESTER          Well, you want to know how things went at          my job today?Now she looks at him as if he's lost his mind.                     LESTER (CONT'D)          They've hired this efficiency expert,          this really friendly guy named Brad, how          perfect is that? And he's basically there          to make it seem like they're justified in          firing somebody, because they couldn't          just come right out and say that, could          they? No, no, that would be too...          honest. And so they've asked us--              (off her look)          --you couldn't possibly care any less,          could you?Carolyn is watching this closely.                    JANE              (uncomfortable)          Well, what do you expect? You can't all          of a sudden be my best friend, just          because you had a bad day.She gets up and heads toward the kitchen.                    JANE (CONT'D)          I mean, hello. You've barely even spoken          to me for months.She's gone. Lester notices Carolyn looking at him critically.                    LESTER          Oh, what, you're mother-of-the-year? You          treat her like an employee.                                                    (CONTINUED)                                                            10.CONTINUED: (2)                    CAROLYN              (taken aback)          What?!Lester is quiet, staring at his plate.                    CAROLYN (CONT'D)              (more authority)          What?Lester gets up and starts after Jane, taking his plate withhim.                    LESTER          I'm going to get some ice cream.Carolyn watches him go, irritated.INT. BURNHAM HOUSE - CONTINUOUSJane stands at the sink, rinsing off her plate. Lesterenters.                    LESTER          Honey, I'm sorry. I...Jane turns and stares at him, waiting for him to finish.                    LESTER (CONT'D)          I'm sorry I haven't been more available,          I just... I'm...He's looking to her for a little help here, but she's toouncomfortable with this sudden intimacy to give him any.                    LESTER (CONT'D)              (finally)          You know, you don't always have to wait          for me to come to you...                    JANE          Oh, great. So now it's my fault?                    LESTER          I didn't say that. It's nobody's fault.          Janie, what happened? You and I used to          be pals.EXT. BURNHAM HOUSE - CONTINUOUSOn VIDEO: We're looking through GREENHOUSE WINDOWS at Lesterand Jane in the kitchen We can't hear what they're saying,but it's obvious it's not going well.                                                    (CONTINUED)                                                             11.CONTINUED:Jane puts her plate in the dishwasher and leaves. We FOLLOWHER out the door, then the camera JERKS back to Lestercalling after her.CLOSE on the face of   RICKY FITTS, illuminated by the screenof his DIGICAM as he   videotapes. Ricky is eighteen, but hiseyes are much older.   Beneath his Zen-like tranquility lurkssomething wounded...   and dangerous.His POV, on VIDEO: Through the kitchen window, we see Lesterat the sink, rinsing off his plate, muttering to himself. Hishead suddenly jerks up and he looks at us, as if he realizeshe's being watched.INT. BURNHAM HOUSE - KITCHEN - CONTINUOUSLester's POV: We're looking out through the kitchen window atthe point where Ricky was just standing, but he's no longerthere.Lester turns off the faucet, dries his hands, then tosses thetowel on the counter on his way out, where it lands next to aframed PHOTOGRAPH of Lester, Carolyn, and a much-youngerJane, taken several years earlier at an amusement park.It's startling how happy they look.EXT. SALE HOUSE - DAYCLOSE on a wooden SIGN that reads:OPEN HOUSE TODAYBURNHAM & ASSOCIATES REALTY555-0195 Carolyn BurnhamThe sign is planted in front of a RUN-DOWN HOME in a   run-downneighborhood. The Mercedes is parked in front of the   house.Carolyn, wearing a smart business suit, is unloading   a box ofcleaning supplies and a BOOMBOX from the back of the   Mercedeswhen something across the street catches her eye.Her POV: In front of a different house with much more curbappeal is another SIGN, featuring a picture of a handsomesilver-haired MAN. It reads:Another One SOLD By Buddy KaneThe Real Estate King 555-0100Carolyn frowns and slams the back of the Mercedes shut.                                                            12.INT. SALE HOUSE - LIVING ROOM - MOMENTS LATERThe interior of this house is ugly, oppressive and tasteless.Carolyn opens the front door, breathes deeply and solemnlyannounces:                    CAROLYN          I will sell this house today.She neatly arranges her sales materials on a desk, thenstrips down to her undergarments.                                                       MONTAGE:We see Carolyn, working with fierce concentration as she:Cleans glass doors that overlook the patio and pool;Doggedly scrubs countertops in the kitchen;Perches on a stepladder to dust a cheap-looking ceiling fanin the master bedroom;And vacuums a dirty carpet that will never be clean.Throughout all this, she keeps repeating to herself:                    CAROLYN (CONT'D)          I will sell this house today. I will sell          this house today. I will sell this house          today.INT. SALE HOUSE - BATHROOM - LATERCarolyn stands in front of the mirror, wearing her suit oncemore, applying lipstick. She stares at her reflectioncritically.                    CAROLYN          I will sell this house today.She says this as if it were a threat, then notices a smudgeon the mirror and wipes it off.EXT. SALE HOUSE - FRONT YARD - LATERThe front door opens to reveal Carolyn, greeting us with thesmile she thinks could sell ice to an Eskimo.                    CAROLYN          Welcome. I'm Carolyn Burnham!                                                            13.INT. SALE HOUSE - FOYER - CONTINUOUSSmiling, Carolyn leads a man and woman into the living room.They're thirtyish, and they've seen a lot of houses today.                    CAROLYN          This living room is very dramatic. Wait          'til you see the native stone fireplace!The man and woman glance around the dark room, unimpressed.                    CAROLYN (CONT'D)          A simple cream would really lighten          things up. You could even put in a          skylight.The woman wrinkles her face, skeptical.                    CAROLYN (CONT'D)          Well, why don't we go into the kitchen?INT. SALE HOUSE - KITCHEN - LATERCarolyn enters, followed by a different couple in theirfifties.                    CAROLYN          It's a dream come true for any cook. Just          filled with positive energy. Huh?INT. SALE HOUSE - MASTER BEDROOM - LATERCarolyn stands with a different couple: African American,late twenties. The woman is pregnant.                    CAROLYN          ...and you'll be surprised how much a          ceiling fan can cut down on your energy          costs.EXT. SALE HOUSE - BACK YARD - LATERCarolyn stands by the pool next to two fortyish WOMEN.                    CAROLYN          You know, you could have some really fun          backyard get-togethers out here.                    WOMAN #1          The ad said this pool was "lagoon-like."          There's nothing "lagoon-like" about it.          Except for maybe the bugs.                                                    (CONTINUED)                                                            14.CONTINUED:                    WOMAN #2          There's not even any plants out here.                    CAROLYN              (re: shrub)          What do you call this? Is this not a          plant? If you have a problem with the          plants, I can always call my landscape          architect. Solved.                    WOMAN #2          I mean, I think "lagoon," I think          waterfall, I think tropical. This is a          cement hole.A beat.                    CAROLYN          I have some tiki torches in the garage.INT. SALE HOUSE - SUN ROOM - LATERCarolyn enters, alone. She's furious. She locks the slidingglass door and starts to pull the vertical blinds shut, thenstops. Standing very still, with the blinds casting shadowsacross her face, she starts to cry: brief, staccato SOBS thatseemingly escape against her will. Suddenly she SLAPSherself, hard.                    CAROLYN          Shut up. Stop it. You... Weak!But the tears continue. She SLAPS herself again.                    CAROLYN (CONT'D)          Weak. Baby. Shut up. Shut up! Shut up!She SLAPS herself repeatedly until she stops crying. Shestands there, taking deep breaths until she has everythingunder control, then pulls the blinds shut, once again allbusiness. She walks out calmly, leaving us alone in the dark,empty room.We HEAR CHEERING and APPLAUSE.INT. HIGH SCHOOL GYMNASIUM - NIGHTWe're at a high-school BASKETBALL GAME. Teenage boys play afast and furious game. One team wearing pale blue and whiteuniforms scores a basket. Perky cheerleaders jump up and downas the CROWD goes wild.                                                    (CONTINUED)                                                            15.CONTINUED:Seated in the bleachers, next to the high school BAND, is agroup of about twenty TEENAGE GIRLS, dressed in pale blue andwhite uniforms. Among them, Jane sits next to ANGELA HAYES.At sixteen, Angela is strikingly beautiful; with perfect evenfeatures, blonde hair and a nubile young body, she's thearchetypal American dream girl.Jane stands and scans the bleachers.                    ANGELA          Who are you looking for?                    JANE          My parents are coming tonight. They're          trying to, you know, take an active          interest in me.                    ANGELA          Gross. I hate it when my mom does that.                    JANE          They're such assholes. Why can't they          just have their own lives?INT. MERCEDES-BENZ ML320 - CONTINUOUSCarolyn drives. Lester is slumped in the passenger seat.                    LESTER          What makes you so sure she wants us to be          there? Did she ask us to come?                    CAROLYN          Of course not. She doesn't want us to          know how important this is to her. But          she's been practicing her steps for          weeks.                    LESTER          Well, I bet money she's going to resent          it. And I'm missing the James Bond          marathon on TNT.                    CAROLYN          Lester, this is important. I'm sensing a          real distance growing between you and          Jane.                    LESTER          Growing? She hates me.                    CAROLYN          She's just willful.                                                    (CONTINUED)                                                             16.CONTINUED:                    LESTER          She hates you too.Carolyn stares at him, unsure of how to respond.INT. HIGH SCHOOL GYMNASIUM - LATERThe uniformed girls now stand in formation on the gym floor.                    ANNOUNCER              (over P.A.)          And now, for your half-time          entertainment, Rockwell High's award-          winning Dancing Spartanettes!In the crowded stands, Lester and Carolyn find seats.                    LESTER          We can leave right after this, right?The HIGH SCHOOL BAND plays "ON BROADWAY." On the gym floor,the girls perform. They're well-rehearsed, but too young tocarry off the ambitious Vegas routine they're attempting.Lester, watching from the stands, picks out his daughter.His POV: Jane performs well, concentrating. Dancing awkwardlynext to her is Angela. Suddenly Angela looks right at us andsmiles... a lazy, insolent smile.Lester leans forward in his seat.His POV: We're focused on Angela now. Everything starts toSLOW DOWN... the MUSIC acquires an eerie ECHO...We ZOOM slowly toward Lester as he watches, transfixed.His POV: Angela's awkwardness gives way to a fluid grace, and"ON BROADWAY" FADES into dreamy, hypnotic MUSIC. The light onAngela grows stronger, and the other girls DISAPPEARentirely.Lester is suddenly alone in the stands, spellbound.His POV: Angela looks directly at us now, dancing only forLester. Her movements take on a blatantly erotic edge as shestarts to unzip her uniform, teasing us with an expressionthat's both innocent and knowing, then... she pulls heruniform OPEN and a profusion of RED ROSE PETALS spillforth... and we SMASH CUT TO:                                                            17.INT. HIGH SCHOOL GYMNASIUM - CONTINUOUSAngela, fully clothed, is once again surrounded by the othergirls. The HIGH SCHOOL BAND plays its last note, the DancingSpartanettes strike their final pose, and the audienceAPPLAUDS.Carolyn claps along with the rest of the audience. Lesterjust sits there, unable to take his eyes off Angela.EXT. HIGH SCHOOL GYMNASIUM - LATERThe game is long over. Jane and Angela come out of the gym.                    JANE          Oh shit, they're still here.Her POV: Lester and Carolyn stand at the edge of the parkinglot.                    LESTER          Janie!                    CAROLYN          Hi! I really enjoyed that!She crosses reluctantly toward her parents, followed byAngela.                    LESTER          Congratulations, honey, you were great.                    JANE          I didn't win anything.                    LESTER              (to Angela)          Hi, I'm Lester. Janie's dad.                    ANGELA          Oh. Hi.An awkward beat.                    JANE          This is my friend, Angela Hayes.                    LESTER          Okay, good to meet you. You were also          good tonight. Very... precise.                                                    (CONTINUED)                                                            18.CONTINUED:                    ANGELA              (warming)          Thanks.                    CAROLYN              (to Angela)          Nice to meet you, Angela.              (to Jane)          Honey, I'm so proud of you. I watched you          very closely, and you didn't screw up          once.              (then, to Lester)          Okay, we have to go.She starts toward the parking lot. Lester stays behind.                    LESTER          So, what are you girls doing now?                    JANE          Dad.                    ANGELA          We're going out for pizza.                    LESTER          Oh really, do you need a ride? We can          give you a ride. I have a car. You wanna          come with us?                    ANGELA          Thanks... but I have a car.                    LESTER          Oh, you have a car. Oh. That's great!          That's great, because Janie's thinking          about getting a car soon too, aren't you,          honey?                    JANE              (you freak)          Dad. Mom's waiting for you.                    LESTER          Well, it was very nice meeting you,          Angela. Any, uh, friend of Janie's is a          friend of mine.Angela smiles, aware of the power she has over him. He ismesmerized; grateful, even.                    LESTER (CONT'D)          Well... I'll be seeing you around then.                                                    (CONTINUED)                                                             19.CONTINUED: (2)Lester waves awkwardly as he crosses off.                    JANE          Could he be any more pathetic?                    ANGELA          I think it's sweet. And I think he and          your mother have not had sex in a long          time.INT. BURNHAM HOUSE - MASTER BEDROOM - A FEW HOURS LATERCLOSE on a solitary red ROSE PETAL as it falls slowly throughthe air.We're looking down on Lester and Carolyn in bed. Even insleep, Carolyn looks determined. Lester is awake and staresup at us.                    LESTER          It's the weirdest thing.The ROSE PETAL drifts into view, landing on his pillow.                    LESTER (CONT'D)          I feel like I've been in a coma for about          twenty years, and I'm just now waking up.More ROSE PETALS fall onto the bed, and he smiles up at...His POV: Angela, naked, FLOATS above us as a deluge of ROSEPETALS falls around her. Her hair fans out around her headand GLOWS with a subtle, burnished light. She looks down atus with a smile that is all things...Lester smiles back and LAUGHS, as ROSE PETALS cover his face.                    LESTER (CONT'D)          Spec-tac-ular.EXT. ROBIN HOOD TRAIL - CONTINUOUSA WHITE BMW 328si CONVERTIBLE is parked on the street outsidethe Burnham's house. We HEAR girlish LAUGHTER from inside.INT. ANGELA'S BMW - CONTINUOUSAngela is behind the wheel, Jane in the passenger seat.They're passing a JOINT back and forth.                    JANE          I'm sorry my dad was so weird tonight.                                                   (CONTINUED)                                                          20.CONTINUED:                    ANGELA          It's okay. I'm used to guys drooling over          me. It started when I was about twelve,          I'd go out to dinner with my parents.          Every Thursday night, Red Lobster. And          every guy there would stare at me when I          walked in. And I knew what they were          thinking. Just like I knew guys at school          thought about me when they jerked off.                     JANE          Vomit.                    ANGELA          No, I liked it. And I still like it. If          people I don't even know look at me and          want to fuck me, it means I really have a          shot at being a model. Which is great,          because there's nothing worse in life          than being ordinary.An awkward beat. Jane stares at the floor.                    JANE          I really think it'll happen for you.                    ANGELA          Oh, I know. Because everything that was          meant to happen, does. Eventually.EXT. BURNHAM HOUSE - CONTINUOUSOn VIDEO: Jane gets out of the car, still LAUGHING, and wavesas Angela pulls away. We ZOOM toward Jane as she walks up thedriveway. She turns suddenly, sensing our presence.Her POV: We're looking at the COLONIAL HOUSE next door wherethe moving van was parked earlier. The front porch isshrouded in darkness... then a PORCH LIGHT abruptly revealsRicky. As usual, he's dressed conservatively. There is aBEEPER attached to his belt, and his DIGICAM dangles looselyaround his neck.Irritated, Jane stares at him, hard.                     JANE          Asshole.He looks back at her curiously, then raises his Digicam andstarts to videotape her.His POV, on VIDEO: Jane, angry and self-conscious, turns andwalks quickly toward her house, flipping us off as she goes.                                                             21.INT. BURNHAM HOUSE - FOYER - CONTINUOUSJane enters, closes and locks the door. She quickly TURNS OFFTHE LIGHT that's been left on for her, then peeks through awindow.Her POV: There's no sign of Ricky.Jane turns back into the room, her heart racing... andsmiles.INT. BURNHAM HOUSE - JANE'S BEDROOM - THE NEXT MORNINGCLOSE on an ADDRESS BOOK: A man's hand flips to the H pageand then his finger stops at the name Angela Hayes.Lester, dressed for work, goes through Jane's address book.We HEAR the SHOWER running in the adjacent bathroom. He grabsJane's phone and dials, then stands with the receiver to hisear, nervous.                    ANGELA              (over phone line)          Hello? Hello?Lester is frozen, unable to speak. Suddenly, the SHOWER isturned off in the next room. Lester hangs up and exitsquickly. A moment, then the PHONE RINGS. Jane emerges fromthe bathroom, a towel wrapped around her torso, drying herwet hair. She picks up the PHONE.                      JANE          Hello?INT. HAYES HOUSE - ANGELA'S BEDROOM - CONTINUOUSAngela is sprawled across her bed, on the phone.                    ANGELA          Why'd you call me?                                     INTERCUT WITH JANE IN HER                                                      BEDROOM:                      JANE          I didn't.                    ANGELA          Well, my phone just rang and I answered          it and somebody hung up and then I star          sixty-nined and it called you back.                                                    (CONTINUED)                                                             22.CONTINUED:                    JANE          I was in the shower.Then Jane notices her address book open to the H page.                       JANE (CONT'D)          Oh, gross.EXT. BURNHAM HOUSE - CONTINUOUSOn VIDEO: We're across from Jane's WINDOW, looking in. Janepicks up the address book, frowning. She speaks into thephone, but we can't hear her.                    WOMAN'S VOICE (O.C.)              (sing song)          Rick-y! Break-fast!INT. FITTS HOUSE - RICKY'S BEDROOM - CONTINUOUSRicky stands at his window, videotaping. He lowers hisDigicam, but his eyes remain locked on Jane across the way.                    RICKY          Be right there.INT. FITTS HOUSE - KITCHEN - MOMENTS LATERBARBARA FITTS stands at the stove, flipping bacon stripsmechanically, her eyes focused elsewhere. At least ten yearsyounger than her husband, she's pretty in a June Cleaver-ishway. The Colonel sits at a dinette reading The Wall StreetJournal. Ricky enters.                       RICKY          Mom.Startled, Barbara turns to him.                       BARBARA          Hello.As she attempts to serve him bacon:                    RICKY          I don't eat bacon, remember?                    BARBARA              (unnerved)          I'm sorry, I must have forgotten.Ricky serves himself scrambled eggs from another pan, thenjoins his father at the table.                                                  (CONTINUED)                                                            23.CONTINUED:                    RICKY          What's new in the world, Dad?                    COLONEL          This country is going straight to hell.A DOORBELL rings. The Colonel and Barbara look at each other,alarmed.                    COLONEL (CONT'D)          Are you expecting anyone?                     BARBARA          No.                (thinks)          No.The Colonel heads toward the living room, a little puffed up.INT. FITTS HOUSE - FOYER - MOMENTS LATERThe Colonel opens the front door to reveal the two JIMS.                     JIM #1          Hi.                    JIM #2          Welcome to the neighborhood.Jim #1 holds out a basket filled with flowers, vegetables anda small white cardboard box tied with raffia.                    JIM #1          Just a little something from our garden.                     JIM #2          Except for the pasta, we got that at          Fallaci's.                    JIM #1          It's unbelievably fresh. You just drop it          in the water and it's done.The Colonel stares at them, suspicious.                    JIM #1 (CONT'D)              (offers his hand)          Jim Olmeyer. Two doors down. Welcome to          the neighborhood.                    COLONEL              (shakes)          Colonel Frank Fitts, U.S. Marine Corps.                                                    (CONTINUED)                                                             24.CONTINUED:                     JIM #1          Nice to meet you. And this is my          partner...                    JIM #2              (offers his hand)          Jim Berkley, but people call me J.B.                    COLONEL          Let's cut to the chase, okay? What are          you guys selling?                    JIM #2              (after a beat)          Nothing. We just wanted to say hi to our          new neighbors--                    COLONEL          Yeah, yeah, yeah. But you said you're          partners. So what's your business?The Jims look at each other, then back at the Colonel.                    JIM #1          Well, he's a tax attorney.                    JIM #2          And he's an anesthesiologist.The Colonel looks at them, confused. Then it dawns on him.INT. COLONEL'S FORD EXPLORER - LATERThe Colonel drives, staring darkly at the road ahead. In thepassenger seat, Ricky is using a CALCULATOR and jottingnumbers down in a NOTEBOOK.                     COLONEL          How come these faggots always have to rub          it in your face? How can they be so          shameless?                    RICKY          That's the whole thing, Dad. They don't          feel like it's anything to be ashamed of.The Colonel looks at Ricky sharply.                    COLONEL          Well, it is.A beat, as Ricky continues his calculations, before herealizes a response is expected from him. Then:                                                   (CONTINUED)                                                             25.CONTINUED:                    RICKY          Yeah, you're right.The Colonel's eyes flash angrily.                    COLONEL          Don't placate me like I'm your mother,          boy.Ricky sighs, then looks at his father.                    RICKY          Forgive me, sir, for speaking so bluntly,          but those fags make me want to puke my          fucking guts out.The Colonel is taken aback but quickly covers.                    COLONEL          Me too, son. Me too.Case closed, Ricky goes back to his calculations.CLOSE on the pencil in his hands: He's totaling two columnsof NUMBERS. Under the column "Income" he writes in swift,bold strokes: $24,950.00.EXT. HIGH SCHOOL CAMPUS - A SHORT TIME LATERJane and Angela are standing with two other TEENAGE GIRLS.                    ANGELA          I'm serious, he just pulled down his          pants and yanked it out. You know, like,          say hello to Mr. Happy.TEENAGE GIRL #1Gross.                    ANGELA          It wasn't gross. It was kind of cool.TEENAGE GIRL #1So, did you do it with him?                    ANGELA          Of course I did. He is a really well-          known photographer? He shoots for Elle on          like, a regular basis? It would have been          so majorly stupid of me to turn him down.                                                            26.TEENAGE GIRL #2You are a total prostitute.                    ANGELA          Hey. That's how things really are. You          just don't know, because you're this          pampered little suburban chick.TEENAGE GIRL #2So are you. You've only been in Seventeen once, and youlooked fat, so stop acting like you're goddamn ChristyTurlington.The two TEENAGE GIRLS move away from Jane and Angela.                     ANGELA              (calling off)          Cunt!              (then)          I am so sick of people taking their          insecurities out on me.The Colonel's Ford Explorer pulls up, and Ricky gets out.                    JANE          Oh my God. That's the pervert who filmed          me last night.                    ANGELA          Him? Jane. No way. He's a total lunatic.                    JANE          You know him?                    ANGELA          Yeah. We were on the same lunch shift          when I was in ninth grade, and he would          always say the most random, weird things,          and then one day, he was just like, gone.          And then, Connie Cardullo told me he his          parents had to put him in a mental          institution.                    JANE          Why? What did he do?                    ANGELA          What do you mean?                                                   (CONTINUED)                                                             27.CONTINUED:                    JANE          Well, they can't put you away just for          saying weird things.Angela stares at Jane, then her mouth widens into a smile.                    ANGELA          You total slut. You've got a crush on          him.                    JANE          What? Please.                    ANGELA          You were defending him! You love him. You          want to have like, ten thousand of his          babies.                     JANE          Shut up.Jane suddenly finds Ricky standing in front of her.                    RICKY          Hi. My name's Ricky. I just moved next          door to you.                    JANE          I know. I kinda remember this really          creepy incident when you were filming me          last night?                    RICKY          I didn't mean to scare you. I just think          you're interesting.Angela shoots a wide-eyed look at Jane, who ignores it.                    JANE          Thanks, but I really don't need to have          some psycho obsessing about me right now.                    RICKY          I'm not obsessing. I'm just curious.He looks at her intently, his eyes searching hers. Jane isunnerved and has to look away. Ricky smiles and walks off.                    ANGELA          What a freak. And why does he dress like          a Bible salesman?                                                   (CONTINUED)                                                            28.CONTINUED: (2)                    JANE          He's like, so confident. That can't be          real.                    ANGELA          I don't believe him. I mean, he didn't          even like, look at me once.INT. FITTS HOUSE - DEN - THAT NIGHTCLOSE on a TV SCREEN: "Hogan's Heroes" on Nick at Nite.The Colonel and Barbara are seated on a couch, watchingtelevision. The Colonel is smiling, enjoying the show;Barbara just stares. The Colonel CHUCKLES at a joke andstartles her.We HEAR a door opening elsewhere in the house, and Rickyenters.                    RICKY          Hey.He sits on the couch, next to his father, and watches TValong with them. The Colonel's smile fades.                    BARBARA              (out of the blue)          I'm sorry, what?                    RICKY          Mom. Nobody said anything.                    BARBARA          Oh. I'm sorry.The three of them stare at the TV, like strangers in anairport.INT. HOTEL BALLROOM - NIGHTWe HEAR MUSIC under a room full of people all talking atonce, as Lester and Carolyn enter a hotel ballroom. We FOLLOWTHEM as they pass a SIGN that reads:GREATER ROCKWELL REALTOR RESOURCES GROUP                    CAROLYN          --everyone here is with their spouse or          their significant other. How would it          look if I showed up with no one?                                                    (CONTINUED)                                                             29.CONTINUED:                    LESTER          Well, you always end up ignoring me and          going off--Inside the ballroom, well-dressed real estate professionalsstand in clumps, chatting. Catering waiters serve horsd'eouvres.                    CAROLYN          Now listen to me. This is an important          business function. As you know, my          business is selling an image. And part of          my job is to live that image--                    LESTER          Just say whatever you want to say and          spare me the propaganda.                    CAROLYN              (spots someone)          Hi, Shirley!              (to Lester)          Listen, just do me a favor. Act happy          tonight?                    LESTER              (grins stupidly)          I am happy, honey.Carolyn's jaw tightens, then:                     CAROLYN              (spots someone)          Oh! Buddy!She drags Lester toward a silver-haired MAN and his muchyounger WIFE. We recognize the Man as BUDDY KANE, The RealEstate King.                    CAROLYN (CONT'D)              (shakes Buddy's hand)          Buddy! Buddy. Hi! Good to see you again.                    BUDDY          It's so good to see you too, Catherine.                     CAROLYN          Carolyn.                    BUDDY          Carolyn! Of course. How are you?                                                    (CONTINUED)                                                             30.CONTINUED: (2)                    CAROLYN          Very well, thank you.              (to his wife)          Hello, Christy.                     CHRISTY          Hello.                    CAROLYN          My husband, Lester--                    BUDDY              (shakes Lester's hand)          It's a pleasure.                    LESTER          Oh, we've met before, actually. This          thing last year. Or the Christmas thing          at the Sheraton.                     BUDDY          Oh, yes.                    LESTER          It's okay. I wouldn't remember me either.He LAUGHS. A little too loudly. Carolyn quickly joins in.                    CAROLYN              (forced gaiety)          Honey. Don't be weird.She smiles her most winning smile at him. He knows thispersona well, only it's never pissed him off as much as itdoes right now.                    LESTER          All right, honey. I won't be weird.              (his face close to hers)          I'll be whatever you want me to be.And he kisses her--a soft, warm kiss that speaks unmistakablyof sex--then turns to the others and grins.                    LESTER (CONT'D)          We have a very healthy relationship.                     BUDDY          I see.Carolyn's smile is frozen on her face.                                                    (CONTINUED)                                                            31.CONTINUED: (3)                    LESTER          Well. I don't know about you, but I need          a drink.He crosses off. Carolyn, Buddy and Christy watch him go.INT. HOTEL BALLROOM - MOMENTS LATERLester stands at the bar. A bartender pours him a drink.                    LESTER          Whoa. Put a little more in there, cowboy.The bartender complies. Lester takes his drink and turns toface the center of the room.His POV: Carolyn is talking to Buddy and Christy. She's on:smiling, animated, LAUGHING too loud at their jokes.Lester shakes his head. Ricky approaches him, wearing awaiter's uniform, carrying a tray of empty glasses.                    RICKY          Excuse me. Don't you live on Robin Hood          Trail? The house with the red door?                    LESTER              (suspicious)          Yeah.                    RICKY          I'm Ricky Fitts. I just moved into the          house next to you.                    LESTER          Oh. Hi, Ricky Fitts. I'm Lester Burnham.                    RICKY          Hi, Lester Burnham.A beat. Lester looks away, scans the crowd, then downs therest of his drink in one gulp. Ricky just stands there,watching him. Finally Lester turns back to Ricky: what doesthis kid want?                    RICKY (CONT'D)          Do you party?                       LESTER          Excuse me?                    RICKY          Do you get high?                                                    (CONTINUED)                                                           32.CONTINUED:Lester's surprised, but instantly intrigued.INT. HOTEL BALLROOM - MOMENTS LATERCarolyn and Buddy are deep in conversation. Christy haswandered off. Carolyn is nervous; Buddy seems amused.                    CAROLYN          You know, I probably wouldn't even tell          you this if I weren't a little tipsy,          but... I am in complete awe of you. I          mean, your firm is, hands down, the Rolls          Royce of local Real Estate firms, and          your personal sales record is, is, is          very intimidating. You know, I'd love to          sit down with you and just pick your          brain, if you'd ever be willing. I          suppose, technically, I'm the          "competition," but... I mean, hey, I          don't flatter myself that I'm even in the          same league as you...                    BUDDY          I'd love to.                    CAROLYN              (shocked)          Really?                    BUDDY          Absolutely. Call my secretary and have          her schedule a lunch.                    CAROLYN          I'll do that. Thank you.They look at each other for a beat, then look away. Thissituation is loaded and they both know it.EXT. HOTEL - LATERRicky and Lester stand next to a dumpster behind the serviceentrance to the hotel, smoking a JOINT.                    LESTER          ...did you ever see that movie, where the          body's walking around holding its own          head? And then the head goes down on that          babe?                    RICKY          Re-Animator.                                                   (CONTINUED)                                                             33.CONTINUED:Suddenly, the service entrance opens, and a large CATERINGBOSS in a cheap suit peers out at them. Ricky hides thejoint.                    CATERING BOSS              (to Ricky)          Look. I'm not paying you to...              (eyes Lester, suspiciously)          ...do whatever it is you're doing out          here.                    RICKY          Fine. So don't pay me.                       CATERING BOSS          Excuse me?                    RICKY          I quit. So you don't have to pay me. Now,          leave me alone.                       CATERING BOSS          Asshole.He goes back inside. Lester looks at Ricky, who shrugs.                     LESTER          I think you just became my personal hero.              (then)          Doesn't that make you nervous, just          quitting your job like that? Well, I          guess when you're all of, what? Sixteen?                     RICKY          Eighteen.              (then)          I just do these gigs as a cover. I have          other sources of income. But my dad          interferes less in my life when I pretend          to be an upstanding young citizen with a          respectable job.                       CAROLYN (O.C.)          Lester?Carolyn is standing in the open service entrance. Lesterquickly hides the joint behind his back.                    CAROLYN (CONT'D)          What are you doing?                                                  (CONTINUED)                                                          34.CONTINUED: (2)                    LESTER          Honey, this is...              (laughs)          Ricky Fitts. This is Ricky Fitts.                    RICKY          I'm Ricky Fitts, I just moved in the          house next to you. I go to school with          your daughter.                    LESTER          With Jane? Really?                    RICKY          Yeah. Jane.                      CAROLYN          Hi.              (then, to Lester)          I'm ready to go. I'll meet you out front.And she goes back inside.                    LESTER          Uh-oh. I'm in trouble. Nice meeting you,          Ricky Fitts. Thanks for the, uh, thing.                      RICKY          Any time.Lester goes inside.                    RICKY (CONT'D)              (calls after him)          Lester. If you want any more, you know          where I live.INT. BURNHAM HOUSE - FAMILY ROOM - LATERJane and Angela are watching MTV. We HEAR the back door open.                    JANE          Oh, shit. They're home. Quick, let's go          up to my room.Jane switches off the TV.                    ANGELA          I should say hi to your dad.              (off Jane's look)          I don't want to be rude.She starts toward the kitchen. Jane doesn't like this.                                                             35.INT. BURNHAM HOUSE - KITCHEN - CONTINUOUSLester enters and opens the refrigerator.                       ANGELA (O.C.)          Nice suit.He turns, and is instantly transfixed by:His POV: Angela leans against the counter, twirling her hair.                    ANGELA (CONT'D)          You're looking good, Mr. Burnham.She starts toward him.                    ANGELA (CONT'D)          Last time I saw you, you looked kind of          wound up.              (spots something)          Ooh, is that root beer?She reaches inside the refrigerator to grab a bottle. As shedoes, she moves to place her other hand casually on Lester'sshoulder. He sees it coming. Everything SLOWS DOWN, and allsound FADES...EXTREME CLOSE UP on her hand as it briefly touches hisshoulder in SLOW MOTION. We HEAR only the amplified BRUSH ofher fingers against the fabric of his suit, and itsunnatural, hollow ECHO...BACK IN REAL TIME: She grabs the root beer and smiles at him.CLOSE on Lester: his eyes narrow slightly, then:He cups her face in his hands and kisses her. She seemsshocked, but doesn't resist as he pulls her toward him    withsurprising strength. He breaks the kiss, looking at her    inawe, then he reaches up and touches his lips. His eyes    widenas he pulls a ROSE PETAL from his mouth right before we    SMASHCUT TO:INT. BURNHAM HOUSE - KITCHEN - CONTINUOUSAngela is back against the counter, drinking the root beer.Lester stands by the refrigerator, gazing at her, still lostin fantasy.                    ANGELA          I love root beer, don't you?                                                    (CONTINUED)                                                          36.CONTINUED:Jane watches from the doorway to the family room, feelingincredibly awkward in her own home. Carolyn enters from thedining room. Lester snaps out of it and grabs a root beerfrom the refrigerator.                    JANE          Mom, you remember Angela.                    CAROLYN              (her sales smile)          Yes, of course!                    JANE          I forgot to tell you, she's spending the          night. Is that okay?                     LESTER          Sure!He takes a sip of his root beer, but it goes down the wrongway and he starts COUGHING violently.INT. BURNHAM HOUSE - JANE'S BEDROOM - LATER THAT NIGHTAngela lays on the bed, in bra and panties, reading amagazine. Jane, in an oversized T shirt, plays a video gameon her computer.                    JANE          I'm sorry about my dad.                    ANGELA          Don't be. I think it's funny.                    JANE          Yeah, to you, he's just another guy who          wants to jump your bones. But to me...          he's just too embarrassing to live.                    ANGELA          Your mom's the one who's embarrassing.          What a phony.Jane glances at Angela, irritated.                    ANGELA (CONT'D)          Your dad's actually kind of cute.                     JANE          Shut up.                                                             37.INT. BURNHAM HOUSE - HALLWAY - CONTINUOUSLester, still in his suit, stands outside Jane's room, hisear up against the door. He can't believe what he's hearing.                    ANGELA (O.C.)          He is. If he just worked out a little,          he'd be hot.INT. BURNHAM HOUSE - JANE'S ROOM - CONTINUOUS                     JANE          Shut up.                    ANGELA          Oh, come on. Like you've never sneaked a          peek at him in his underwear? I bet he's          got a big dick.                    JANE          You are so grossing me out right now.                    ANGELA              (really enjoying this)          If he built up his chest and arms, I          would totally fuck him.Jane covers her ears and starts SINGING to drown her out.INT. BURNHAM HOUSE - HALLWAY - CONTINUOUSLester, still listening, looks like he's about to implode.                     ANGELA (O.C.)              (laughs)          I would! I would suck your dad's big fat          dick, and then I would fuck him 'til his          eyes rolled back in his head!              (then)          What was that noise? Jane.Jane's SINGING stops.                    ANGELA (O.C.) (CONT'D)          I swear I heard something.Panicked, Lester scurries down the hall.INT. BURNHAM HOUSE - JANE'S BEDROOM - CONTINUOUS                    JANE          Yeah, it was the sound of you being a          huge disgusting pig.                                                   (CONTINUED)                                                           38.CONTINUED:                    ANGELA          I'm serious.We HEAR the sharp TAP of a penny being thrown against glass.                    ANGELA (CONT'D)          See?Angela crosses to the window and looks out.                    ANGELA (CONT'D)              (spots something)          Oh my God. Jane.EXT. BURNHAM HOUSE - CONTINUOUSWe see Angela standing at the window in her underwear,looking down at us. Jane joins her and is immediatelyunnerved by:Their POV: In the Burnham's DRIVEWAY, the word "JANE" isspelled out in FIRE.INT. BURNHAM HOUSE - JANE'S BEDROOM - CONTINUOUS                    ANGELA          It's that psycho next door. Jane, what if          he worships you? What if he's got a          shrine with pictures of you surrounded by          dead people's heads and stuff?                    JANE          Shit. I bet he's filming us right now.                    ANGELA              (intrigued)          Really?EXT. BURNHAM HOUSE - CONTINUOUSOn VIDEO: We're across from Jane's window, looking in. Janetries to shut the drapes, but Angela won't let her.Irritated, Jane retreats into the room. We ZOOM toward her,even as Angela poses in the window; we're clearly notinterested in Angela. The ZOOM continues, searching for Jane,who has disappeared. Finally, we settle on the small make-upMIRROR where we see a REFLECTION of Jane, back at hercomputer. She's smiling. Then suddenly the DRAPES CLOSE andshe's gone.                                                             39.INT. FITTS HOUSE - RICKY'S BEDROOM - CONTINUOUSRicky sits in darkness with his DIGICAM, videotaping. Helowers the camera and smiles... then something below catcheshis attention. He leans out the window to get a better lookat:EXT. BURNHAM HOUSE - GARAGE - CONTINUOUSRicky's POV: Through a WINDOW on the side of the Burnham'sGARAGE DOOR, we see Lester, still in his suit, diggingthrough shelves against the back wall.INT. BURNHAM HOUSE - GARAGE - CONTINUOUSLester digs through stuff stored on the shelves, searchingfor something as if his very life depended on it.                    LESTER          Shit. Shit!He yanks aside COLLEGE YEARBOOKS, a racquetball RACQUET,boxes of old HOT ROD MAGAZINES, an unopened remote-controlledMODEL JEEP KIT, stacks of old vinyl LPs... finally his facelights up when he finds:A pair of DUMBBELLS obviously unused for many years.Lester rips off his jacket and tie and unbuttons his shirt.He glances around, finding his REFLECTION in the WINDOW as hepulls off his shirt, then the T-shirt underneath. He eyeshimself critically: Angela was right, he's not in bad shape.Just a few extra pounds around his middle that wouldn't behard to shed. He kicks off his shoes and begins to step outof his pants.INT. FITTS HOUSE - RICKY'S BEDROOM - CONTINUOUSRicky holds his Digicam up and starts to videotape.EXT. BURNHAM HOUSE - GARAGE - CONTINUOUSRicky's POV, on VIDEO: Through a WINDOW on the side of theBurnham's garage, we see Lester step out of his pants andbriefs. Then, naked except for his black socks, he grabs thedumbbells and starts lifting them, watching his reflection inthe window as he does.INT. FITTS HOUSE - RICKY'S BEDROOM - CONTINUOUSRicky stands at the window, videotaping.                                                  (CONTINUED)                                                          40.CONTINUED:                    RICKY          Welcome to America's Weirdest Home          Videos.Suddenly we HEAR someone trying to open a locked door.                    COLONEL (O.C.)          Ricky!Moving swiftly, Ricky pulls the drapes shut and switches on alight. His room is a haven of high-tech. A state-of-the-artmultimedia COMPUTER crowds his desk, and high-end STEREO andVIDEO EQUIPMENT line the shelves, as well as HUNDREDS OF CDs.There is easily twenty thousand dollars worth of equipment inthis room.                    RICKY          Coming, Dad.                    COLONEL (O.C.)          You know I don't like locked doors in my          house, boy.Ricky opens the door. The Colonel stands outside, eyeing him.                    RICKY          I'm sorry, I must have locked it by          accident. So what's up?The Colonel holds out a small PLASTIC CUP WITH A CAP.                    COLONEL          I need a urine sample.                    RICKY          Wow. It's been six months already. Can I          give it to you in the morning? I just          took a whiz.                    COLONEL          Yeah, I suppose.              (an awkward beat)          Well. Good night, son.He disappears down the hall. Ricky smiles, shuts and lockshis door. He puts the plastic cup on the shelf, then crossesto a MINI REFRIGERATOR in the corner of his room and takesout a cup-sized TUPPERWARE CONTAINER from the freezer,already filled with urine, albeit frozen, and places it on asaucer to thaw overnight.                                                             41.INT BURNHAM HOUSE - MASTER BEDROOM - LATER THAT NIGHTCarolyn lies sleeping. Lester is awake, staring at theceiling. After a moment, he gets up, taking care not todisturb Carolyn, and walks toward the bathroom.INT. BURNHAM HOUSE - MASTER BATH - CONTINUOUSLester enters and switches on the LIGHT. The room is filledwith STEAM. Lester looks around, confused, then focuses on:His POV: Across from us, in a PEDESTAL BATHTUB, is Angela.She smiles and beckons us, and we MOVE CLOSER. ROSE PETALSfloat on the surface of the water, obscuring her naked body.                    ANGELA          I've been waiting for you.Lester kneels by the bathtub like a man in church.                    ANGELA (CONT'D)          You've been working out, haven't you? I          can tell.She arches her back and looks up at him provocatively.                    ANGELA (CONT'D)          I was hoping you'd give me a bath... I'm          very, very dirty.Lester gives her a hard look, then slowly slips his hand intothe water between her legs. Her eyes widen and she throws herhead back... and we SMASH CUT TO:INT. BURNHAM HOUSE - MASTER BEDROOM - CONTINUOUSCLOSE on Carolyn, her eyes wide, listening to the rhythmicBRUSH of Lester's hand as he masturbates under the covers.She flips over and faces him.                    CAROLYN          What are you doing?A beat.                     LESTER          Nothing.Carolyn switches on the bedside LIGHT.                    CAROLYN          You were masturbating.                                                    (CONTINUED)                                                            42.CONTINUED:                       LESTER          I was not.                    CAROLYN          Yes, you were.He turns to her, trying to look innocent, then gives up.                    LESTER          All right, so shoot me. I was whacking          off.Carolyn gets out of bed, repelled. Lester LAUGHS.                    LESTER (CONT'D)          That's right. I was choking the bishop.          Shaving the carrot. Saying hi to my          monster.                    CAROLYN          That's disgusting.                    LESTER          Well, excuse me, but I still have blood          pumping through my veins!                       CAROLYN          So do I!                    LESTER          Really? I'm the only one who seems to be          doing anything about it.                    CAROLYN          Lester. I refuse to live like this. This          is not a marriage.                    LESTER          This hasn't been a marriage for years.          But you were happy as long as I kept my          mouth shut. Well, guess what? I've          changed. And the new me whacks off when          he feels horny, because you're obviously          not going to help me out in that          department.                    CAROLYN          Oh. I see. You think you're the only one          who's sexually frustrated?                    LESTER          I'm not? Well then, come on, baby! I'm          ready.                                                    (CONTINUED)                                                          43.CONTINUED: (2)                    CAROLYN              (furious)          Do not mess with me, mister, or I will          divorce you so fast it'll make your head          spin!                    LESTER          On what grounds? I'm not a drunk, I don't          fuck other women, I don't mistreat you,          I've never hit you, or even tried to          touch you since you made it so abundantly          clear just how unnecessary you consider          me to be. But. I did support you while          you got your license. And some people          might think that entitles me to half of          what's yours.She sinks into a chair, stunned. It's clear he knows whereshe's most vulnerable. He sees this, and likes it; it feelsgood to win for a change. He curls up under the coverscontentedly.                    LESTER (CONT'D)          Turn out the light when you come to bed,          okay?CLOSE on Lester, smiling.EXT. ROBIN HOOD TRAIL - EARLY MORNINGWe're FLYING high above the neighborhood. Below us we see thetwo Jims, jogging. We APPROACH them steadily.                    LESTER          It's a great thing when you realize you          still have the ability to surprise          yourself. Makes you wonder what else you          can do that you've forgotten about.EXT. ROBIN HOOD TRAIL - CONTINUOUSWe're now at street level, FOLLOWING the two Jims.                    LESTER          Hey! You guys!Still running, the Jims turn back in perfect unison, asLester runs INTO FRAME, wearing a baggy sweatshirt and a pairof faded old sweatpants. The Jims slow down until he catchesup, then the three men run together in the early morninglight.                                                 (CONTINUED)                                                            44.CONTINUED:                    JIM #2          Lester, I didn't know you ran.                    LESTER              (panting)          Well, I just started.                    JIM #1          Good for you.                    LESTER          I figured you guys might be able to give          me some pointers. I need to shape up.          Fast.                    JIM #1          Well, are you just looking to lose          weight, or do you want have increased          strength and flexibility as well?                    LESTER          I want to look good naked.EXT. FITTS HOUSE - A SHORT TIME LATERThe Colonel is washing his Ford Explorer, squatting to scrubthe bumper, when something Catches his eye:His POV: Lester and the Jims jog down the street.The Colonel stands, scowling, as Ricky comes out of thehouse, holding the URINE SAMPLE in front of him.                    COLONEL          What is this, the fucking gay pride          parade?Lester breaks off from the two Jims and jogs up to Ricky andthe Colonel, out of breath. He grabs hold of his knees andbends over, panting.                    LESTER          Hey! Yo! Ricky!              (re: the Jims)          My entire life is passing before my eyes,          and those two have barely broken a sweat.He LAUGHS, and extends his hand to the Colonel.                    LESTER (CONT'D)          Sorry, hi. Lester Burnham, I live next          door. We haven't met.                                                    (CONTINUED)                                                             45.CONTINUED:                    COLONEL              (shakes)          COLONEL Frank Fitts, U.S. Marine Corps.                    LESTER          Whoa. Welcome to the neighborhood, sir.He salutes the Colonel good-naturedly, grinning. The Coloneldoesn't think it's funny. An awkward beat.                    LESTER (CONT'D)          So, Ricky, uh, I was thinking about the,          uh... I was gonna... the movie we talked          about...                    RICKY              (quickly)          Re-Animator.                    LESTER          Yeah!                    RICKY          You want to borrow it?              (before Lester can answer)          Okay, it's up in my room. Come on.He heads into the house. Lester waves at the Colonel, thenfollows him. The Colonel watches them go, his eyes dark.INT. FITTS HOUSE - RICKY'S BEDROOM - MOMENTS LATERRicky enters, followed by Lester.                    RICKY          Can you hold this for a sec?                    LESTER          Sure.He gives the URINE SPECIMEN to Lester, then locks the door.                    RICKY          I don't think my dad would try to come in          when somebody else is here, but you never          know.Ricky crosses to a bureau and opens a DRAWER. He takesclothing out and piles it on his bed.                    LESTER              (re: urine sample)          What is this?                                                    (CONTINUED)                                                            46.CONTINUED:                    RICKY          Urine. I have to take a drug test every          six months to make sure I'm clean.                    LESTER          Are you kidding? You just smoked with me          last night.                    RICKY          It's not mine. One of my clients is a          nurse in a pediatrician's office. I cut          her a deal, she keeps me in clean piss.Lester picks up a CD case from a shelf and examines it.                    LESTER          You like Pink Floyd?                    RICKY          I like a lot of music.                    LESTER          Man, I haven't listened to this album in          years.He shakes his head, then puts the CD case down. Ricky, havingemptied the drawer, now removes a FALSE BOTTOM, revealingrows of MARIJUANA, tightly packed in ZIP-LOC BAGS.                    RICKY          How much do you want?                    LESTER          I don't know, it's been a while. How much          is an ounce?                    RICKY              (indicates bag)          Well, this is totally decent, and it's          three hundred.                    LESTER          Wow.                    RICKY              (indicates another bag)          But this shit is top of the line. It's          called G-13. Genetically engineered by          the U.S. Government. Extremely potent.          But a completely mellow high, no          paranoia.                                                    (CONTINUED)                                                      47.CONTINUED: (2)                    LESTER          Is that what we smoked last night?                    RICKY          This is all I ever smoke.                       LESTER          How much?                       RICKY          Two grand.                    LESTER          Jesus. Things have changed since 1973.                    RICKY          You don't have to pay now. I know you're          good for it.A beat.                       LESTER          Thanks.                    RICKY              (hands him a bag)          There's a card in there with my beeper          number, call me anytime day or night. And          I only accept cash.                    LESTER              (looks around room)          Well, now I know how you can afford all          this equipment. When I was your age, I          flipped burgers all summer just to be          able to buy an eight track.                    RICKY          That sucks.                    LESTER          No actually, it was great. All I did was          party and get laid.              (smiles)          I had my whole life ahead of me...                    RICKY          My dad thinks I pay for all this with          catering jobs.              (off Lester's look)          Never underestimate the power of denial.Lester smiles. This kid's cool.                                                            48.EXT. BURNHAM HOUSE - LATERCarolyn, carrying a basket of fresh cut ROSES, passes by theGARAGE WINDOW. From inside the garage, we HEAR ROCK MUSIC.Carolyn stops and SNIFFS the air, frowning. She peers throughthe window.Her POV: Lester, in a T-shirt and gym shorts, lies on a newWEIGHT BENCH, doing bench presses with shiny new BARBELLS.INT. GARAGE - CONTINUOUSROCK MUSIC blasts from a new BOOMBOX on the floor.The garage is in the process of becoming Lester's sanctuary.An ugly but comfortable 70's BOWL CHAIR has been pulled outand cleaned off, his old hot rod magazines strewn across it,and the remote-controlled MODEL JEEP KIT is spread across acard table. The SHELVES that Lester tore through earlier havebeen dismantled, leaving a blank wall on which now hangs aDART BOARD.Lester finishes his last rep, straining, then puts theweights in their rack and sits up. As he takes a drag off ajoint, the GARAGE DOOR suddenly starts to open. Lester looksup, squinting at:His POV: The door raises to reveal Carolyn, silhouettedagainst the bright sunlight outside, pointing a REMOTE at us.                    LESTER          Uh-oh, mom's mad.                    CAROLYN          What the hell do you think you're doing?                    LESTER          Bench presses. I'm going to wail on my          pecs, and then I'm going to do my back.                    CAROLYN          I see you're smoking pot now. I'm so          glad. I think using illegal psychotropic          substances is a very positive example to          set for our daughter.                    LESTER          You're one to talk, you bloodless, money-          grubbing freak.                                                    (CONTINUED)                                                             49.CONTINUED:                    CAROLYN              (hostile)          Lester. You have such hostility in you!                    LESTER          Do you mind? I'm trying to work out here.              (then, suggestively)          Unless you want to spot me.                    CAROLYN          You will not get away with this. You can          be sure of that!And she's gone. Lester leans back on the bench and grabs theweights.                    LESTER              (as he lifts)          That's. What. You. Think.INT. BRAD'S OFFICE - DAYBrad is seated behind his desk, reading a document. Lestersits across from him, smiling.                    BRAD              (reads)          "...my job consists of basically masking          my contempt for the assholes in charge,          and, at least once a day, retiring to the          men's room so I can jerk off, while I          fantasize about a life that doesn't so          closely resemble hell."              (looks up at Lester)          Well, you obviously have no interest in          saving yourself.                    LESTER              (laughs)          Brad, for fourteen years I've been a          whore for the advertising industry. The          only way I could save myself now is if I          start firebombing.                    BRAD          Whatever. Management wants you gone by          the end of the day.                    LESTER          Well, just what sort of severance package          is "management" prepared to offer me?                    (MORE)                                                    (CONTINUED)                                                      50.CONTINUED:                    LESTER (CONT'D)          Considering the information I have about          our editorial director buying pussy with          company money.A beat.                    LESTER (CONT'D)          Which I'm sure would interest the I.R.S.,          since it technically constitutes fraud.          And I'm sure that some of our advertisers          and rival publications might like to know          about it as well. Not to mention, Craig's          wife.Brad sighs.                    BRAD          What do you want?                    LESTER          One year's salary, with benefits.                    BRAD          That's not going to happen.                    LESTER          Well, what do you say I throw in a little          sexual harassment charge to boot?Brad LAUGHS.                    BRAD          Against who?                    LESTER          Against you.Brad stops laughing.                    LESTER (CONT'D)          Can you prove you didn't offer to save my          job if I'd let you blow me?Brad leans back in his chair, studying Lester.                    BRAD          Man. You are one twisted fuck.                    LESTER              (standing)          Nope. I'm just an ordinary guy with          nothing to lose.                                                          51.INT. OFFICE BUILDING - MOMENTS LATERExhilarated, Lester walks down a corridor, his belongings ina box on his shoulder. He's happier than he's been in years.                     LESTER          Yeah!INT. RESTAURANT - LATER THAT DAYCarolyn sits at a table, lost in thought. There are two menuson the table. After a moment, Buddy Kane, the Real EstateKing, joins her. Carolyn immediately becomes warm andgracious.                     BUDDY          Carolyn.                     CAROLYN          Buddy.Carolyn smiles, genuinely touched that he remembers her name.                    BUDDY          I'm so sorry I kept you waiting. Christy          left for New York this morning, and...          let's just say things were very hectic          around the house.                    CAROLYN          What's she doing in New York?                    BUDDY          She's moving there.              (off Carolyn's look)          Yes. We are splitting up.                    CAROLYN          Buddy. I'm so sorry.                    BUDDY              (bitterly)          Yes, according to her, I'm too focused on          my career. As if being driven to succeed          is some sort of character flaw. Well, she          certainly knew how to take advantage of          the lifestyle my success afforded her.          Oh. Wow.              (then, laughing)          Ah, it's for the best.                                                 (CONTINUED)                                                            52.CONTINUED:                    CAROLYN          When I saw you two at the party the other          night, you seemed perfectly happy.                    BUDDY          Well, call me crazy, but it is my          philosophy that in order to be          successful, one must project an image of          success, at all times.He smiles, then opens his menu. Carolyn picks hers upmechanically, but continues to stare at him, enraptured, likea fervent Christian who's just come face to face with Jesus.EXT. HIGH SCHOOL CAMPUS - LATER THAT DAYRicky stands with his DIGICAM, videotaping something on theground at his feet.On VIDEO: A DEAD BIRD lays on the ground, decomposing.                    ANGELA (O.C.)          What are you doing?On VIDEO: The camera JERKS up to discover Jane and Angelastaring at us.                    RICKY (O.C.)          I was filming this dead bird.                      ANGELA          Why?                    RICKY (O.C.)          Because it's beautiful.On VIDEO: Angela looks at Jane, trying not to laugh.                    ANGELA          I think maybe you forgot your medication          today, mental boy.On VIDEO: She falls out of frame as we ZOOM toward Jane.                      RICKY (O.C.)          Hi, Jane.                    JANE              (uncomfortable)          Look. I want you to stop filming me.Ricky lowers the Digicam.                                                 (CONTINUED)                                                            53.CONTINUED:                    RICKY          Okay.He looks at her, curious, his eyes searching hers. Shedoesn't look away.                    ANGELA          Well, whatever.              (to Jane)          This is boring. Let's go.                    JANE              (to Ricky)          Do you need a ride?                    ANGELA              (to Jane)          Are you crazy? I don't want to end up          hacked to pieces in a dumpster somewhere.                    RICKY          It's okay. I'll walk. But thanks.                    ANGELA          Yeah, see? He doesn't want to go anyway.          C'mon, let's go.Angela starts off, but Jane doesn't follow. Ricky smiles ather. She almost smiles back, then:                    JANE              (calls off to Angela)          I think I'm going to walk, too.Angela stops and stares at her.                    ANGELA          What? Jane, that's like, almost a mile.EXT. TOP HAT MOTEL - LATER THAT DAYCarolyn's Mercedes is parked next to a JAGUAR CONVERTIBLEwith a VANITY LICENSE PLATE that reads "R E KING."INT. TOP HAT MOTEL - CONTINUOUSCarolyn and Buddy are in the middle of sex.                    CAROLYN          Yes! Oh, God! I love it!                    BUDDY          You like getting nailed by the king?                                                    (CONTINUED)                                                             54.CONTINUED:                    CAROLYN          Oh yes! I love it! Fuck me, your majesty!EXT. STREET - LATER THAT DAYLester's TOYOTA CAMRY cruises through the streets. We hearLester SINGING along to "AMERICAN WOMAN" on the STEREO.INT. TOYOTA CAMRY - CONTINUOUSLester is driving, smoking a joint.                    LESTER          AMERICAN WOMAN, STAY AWAY FROM ME...          AMERICAN WOMAN, MAMA LET ME BE... DON'T          COME A HANGIN' AROUND MY DOOR... I DON'T          WANT TO SEE YOUR FACE NO MORE...EXT. MR. SMILEY'S - CONTINUOUSLester continues singing along to "AMERICAN WOMAN," as theCamry pulls into the parking lot of a FAST FOOD RESTAURANT.Lester pulls up to the drive-thru speaker box.                    DRIVE-THRU GIRL (O.C.)              (over speaker box)          Smile you're at Mr. Smiley's.Lester turns down the volume on the stereo.                    LESTER          What?                    DRIVE-THRU GIRL (O.C.)          Would you like to try our new bacon and          egg fajita just a dollar twenty-nine for          a limited time only.                    LESTER          Uh... no. But thank you.              (reading menu)          I'll have a Big Barn Burger, Smiley          fries, and an orange soda.                    DRIVE-THRU GIRL (O.C.)          Please drive up to the window, thank you.He pulls the car around to the WINDOW, where a teenage GIRLwearing a headset is waiting.                                                 (CONTINUED)                                                          55.CONTINUED:                    DRIVE-THRU GIRL (CONT'D)          Smile, you're at Mr. Smiley's, that'll be          four eighty-nine, please.Lester pays her. As she hands him his food, he notices a SIGNin the corner of the window that reads:NOW TAKING APPLICATIONS                    COUNTER GIRL          Would you like some Smiley Sauce?                    LESTER          No. No, actually... I'd like to fill out          an application.She stares at him, confused by his age and attire.                    COUNTER GIRL          There's not jobs for manager, it's just          for counter.                    LESTER          Good. I'm looking for the least possible          amount of responsibility.INT. MR. SMILEY'S - A SHORT TIME LATERLester sits at a booth with the MANAGER, a greasy kid wearinga white short sleeve shirt and a tie covered with the Mr.Smiley's logo. He looks over Lester's application, baffled.                    MANAGER          I don't think you'd fit in here.                    LESTER          I have fast food experience.                    MANAGER          Yeah, like twenty years ago.                    LESTER          Well, I'm sure there have been amazing          technological advances in the industry,          but surely you have some sort of training          process. It seems unfair to presume I          won't be able to learn.The Manager sighs and runs a hand through his greasy hair,wondering what he could possibly have done to deserve this.                                                           56.INT. TOP HAT MOTEL - LATER THAT DAYCarolyn and Buddy are in bed, post-sex.                    CAROLYN          That was exactly what I needed. The royal          treatment, so to speak.They laugh.                    CAROLYN (CONT'D)          I was so stressed out.                    BUDDY          Know what I do when I feel like that?                    CAROLYN          What?                    BUDDY          I fire a gun.Carolyn sits up, eager to learn from the master.                    CAROLYN              (intrigued)          Really.                    BUDDY          Oh yeah, I go to this little firing range          downtown, and I just pop off a few          rounds.                    CAROLYN              (embarrassed)          I've never fired a gun before.                    BUDDY          Oh, you've gotta try it. Nothing makes          you feel more powerful.              (smiles seductively)          Well, almost nothing.Carolyn is quick to pick up her cue and kisses him, ready foranother round.EXT. SUBURBAN STREET - LATER THAT DAYRicky and Jane walk along without speaking. He seemscomfortable with the silence; she doesn't. After a beat:                    JANE          So how do you like your new house?                                                   (CONTINUED)                                                          57.CONTINUED:                       RICKY          I like it.A beat.                    JANE          The people who used to live there fed          these stray cats, so they were always          around, and it drove my mother nuts. And          then she cut down their tree.An automobile FUNERAL PROCESSION appears and begins to passthem slowly.                    RICKY          Have you ever known anybody who died?                       JANE          No.              (a beat)          Have you?                    RICKY          No, but I did see this homeless woman who          froze to death once. Just laying there on          the sidewalk. She looked really sad.They watch the FUNERAL CARS pass.                    RICKY (CONT'D)          I got that homeless woman on video.                    JANE          Why would you film that?                    RICKY          Because it was amazing.                    JANE          What was amazing about it?A beat.                    RICKY          When you see something like that, it's          like God is looking right at you, just          for a second. And if you're careful, you          can look right back.                    JANE          And what do you see?                                                  (CONTINUED)                                                            58.CONTINUED: (2)                       RICKY          Beauty.INT. FITTS HOUSE - KITCHEN - MOMENTS LATERBarbara Fitts sits at the kitchen table, staring off intospace as if hypnotized. Behind her, Ricky enters, followed byJane.                     RICKY          Mom, I want you to meet somebody.               (no response)          Mom.Barbara's eyes flutter and she turns to him slowly.                       BARBARA                 (pleasant)          Yes?                    RICKY          I want you to meet somebody. This is          Jane.                       JANE          Hi.                    BARBARA          Oh, my. I apologize for the way things          look around here.Jane glances around. The room is spotless.INT. FITTS HOUSE - THE COLONEL'S STUDY - MOMENTS LATERWe HEAR KEYS TURNING in the lock, then the door opens andRicky enters, holding a RING OF KEYS, followed by Jane.                    RICKY          This is where my dad hides out.GLASS CASES filled with GUNS line the walls.                    JANE          I take it he's got a thing for guns.Ricky crosses to a built-in CABINET behind the desk.                    RICKY          You got to see this one thing...He unlocks the cabinet and opens it, revealing shelvesstacked with WAR MEMORABILIA.                                                   (CONTINUED)                                                            59.CONTINUED:                    RICKY (CONT'D)          My dad would kill me if he knew I was in          here.                    JANE          Did you steal his keys?                    RICKY          No. One of my clients is a locksmith. He          was short on cash one night, so I let him          pay me in trade.He reaches into the cabinet and carefully removes an ovalCHINA PLATTER, which he hands to Jane. She examines it.                    RICKY (CONT'D)          Turn it over.CLOSE on the bottom of the plate: A small SWASTIKA isimprinted in the center.                       JANE          Oh my God.                    RICKY          It's like official state china of the          Third Reich. There's a whole subculture          of people who collect this Nazi shit. But          my dad just has this one thing.He puts the platter back into the cabinet and shuts the door,then notices Jane looking at him oddly.                    RICKY (CONT'D)          What's wrong?                       JANE          Nothing.                    RICKY              (concerned)          No, you're scared of me.                    JANE          No I'm not.But she is. Ricky studies her.                    RICKY          You want to see the most beautiful thing          I've ever filmed?                                                           60.INT. FITTS HOUSE - RICKY'S BEDROOM - MOMENTS LATEROn VIDEO: We're in an empty parking lot on a cold, gray day.Something is floating across from us... it's an empty,wrinkled, white PLASTIC BAG. We follow it as the wind carriesit in a circle around us, sometimes whipping it aboutviolently, or, without warning, sending it soaring skyward,then letting it float gracefully down to the ground...Jane and Ricky sit on the bed, watching his WIDE-SCREEN TV.                    RICKY          It was one of those days when it's a          minute away from snowing. And there's          this electricity in the air, you can          almost hear it, right? And this bag was          just... dancing with me. Like a little          kid begging me to play with it. For          fifteen minutes. That's the day I          realized that there was this entire life          behind things, and this incredibly          benevolent force that wanted me to know          there was no reason to be afraid. Ever.A beat.                    RICKY (CONT'D)          Video's a poor excuse, I know. But it          helps me remember... I need to          remember...Now Jane is watching him.                    RICKY (CONT'D)              (distant)          Sometimes there's so much beauty in the          world I feel like I can't take it... and          my heart is going to cave in.After a moment, Jane takes his hand. Then she leans in andkisses him softly on the lips. His eyes scan hers, curious tosee how she reacts to this...                    JANE              (suddenly)          Oh my God. What time is it?INT. BURNHAM HOUSE - DINING ROOM - MOMENTS LATERLester sits at the table in sloppy clothes, eating his dinnervoraciously and drinking beer from a bottle. Across from him,Carolyn picks at her food, watching him with contempt. EASY-LISTENING MUSIC plays on the STEREO.                                                   (CONTINUED)                                                            61.CONTINUED:We HEAR the back door SLAM, then Jane enters and quicklytakes her seat at the table.                    JANE          Sorry I'm late.                    CAROLYN              (overly cheerful)          No, no, that's quite all right, dear.          Your father and I were just discussing          his day at work.              (to Lester)          Why don't you tell our daughter about it,          honey?Jane stares at both her parents, apprehensive. Lester looksat Carolyn darkly, then flashes a "you-asked-for-it" grin.                    LESTER          Janie, today I quit my job. And then I          told my boss to fuck himself, and then I          blackmailed him for almost sixty thousand          dollars. Pass the asparagus.                    CAROLYN          Your father seems to think this kind of          behavior is something to be proud of.                    LESTER          And your mother seems to prefer I go          through life like a fucking prisoner          while she keeps my dick in a mason jar          under the sink.                    CAROLYN              (ashen)          How dare you speak to me that way in          front of her? And I marvel that you can          be so contemptuous of me, on the same day          that you lose your job!                    LESTER          Lose it? I didn't lose it. It's not like,          "Oops, where'd my job go?" I quit.          Someone pass me the asparagus.                    CAROLYN          Oh! Oh! And I want to thank you for          putting me under the added pressure of          being the sole breadwinner now--                    LESTER          I already have a job.                                                    (CONTINUED)                                                            62.CONTINUED: (2)                    CAROLYN              (not stopping)          No, no, don't give a second thought as to          who's going to pay the mortgage. We'll          just leave it all up to Carolyn. You          mean, you're going to take care of          everything now, Carolyn? Yes. I don't          mind. I really don't. You mean,          everything? You don't mind having the          sole responsibility, your husband feels          he can just quit his job--                     LESTER              (overlapping)          Will someone pass me the fucking          asparagus?                    JANE              (rises)          Okay, I'm not going to be a part of this--                    LESTER              (means it)          Sit down.Jane does so, surprised and intimidated by the power in hisvoice. Lester gets up, crosses to the other side of the tableto get a PLATE OF ASPARAGUS, then sits again as he serveshimself.                     LESTER (CONT'D)          I'm sick and tired of being treated    like          I don't exist. You two do whatever    you          want to do whenever you want to do    it and          I don't complain. All I want is the    same          courtesy--                    CAROLYN              (overlapping)          Oh, you don't complain? Oh, excuse me.          Excuse me. I must be psychotic then, if          you don't complain. What is this?! Am I          locked away in a padded cell somewhere,          hallucinating? That's the only          explanation I can think of--Lester hurls the plate of asparagus against the wall withsuch force it SHATTERS, frightening Carolyn and Jane.                    LESTER              (casual)          Don't interrupt me, honey.                                                    (CONTINUED)                                                             63.CONTINUED: (3)He goes back to eating his meal, as if nothing unusual hashappened. Carolyn sits in her chair, shivering with rage.Jane just stares at the plate in front of her.                    LESTER (CONT'D)          Oh, and another thing. From now on, we're          going to alternate our dinner music.          Because frankly, and I don't think I'm          alone here, I'm really tired of this          Lawrence Welk shit.INT. BURNHAM HOUSE - JANE'S BEDROOM - THAT NIGHTJane is sitting on her bed. There is a KNOCK at the door.                      JANE          Go. Away.                    CAROLYN (O.C.)          Honey, please let me in.Jane rolls her eyes, crosses to the door and lets Carolyn in.                    CAROLYN (CONT'D)          I wish that you hadn't witnessed that          awful scene tonight. But in a way, I'm          glad.                    JANE          Why, so I could see what freaks you and          Dad really are?                      CAROLYN          Me?She stares at Jane, then starts to cry.                    JANE          Aw, Christ, Mom.                    CAROLYN              (tearful)          No, I'm glad because you're old enough          now to learn the most important lesson in          life: you cannot count on anyone except          yourself.              (sighs)          You cannot count on anyone except          yourself. It's sad, but true, and the          sooner you learn it, the better.                                                    (CONTINUED)                                                          64.CONTINUED:                    JANE          Look, Mom, I really don't feel like          having a Kodak moment here, okay?Carolyn suddenly SLAPS Jane, hard.                    CAROLYN          You ungrateful little brat. Just look at          everything you have. When I was your age,          I lived in a duplex. We didn't even have          our own house.Embarrassed, she quickly leaves. Jane looks in a mirror andrubs her cheek, then crosses to the window and looks out.EXT. FITTS HOUSE - CONTINUOUSJane's POV: We're across from Ricky's room, looking in. Hestands at the window with his DIGICAM, videotaping us. On theWIDE-SCREEN TV behind him, we see Jane standing in her windowas she looks across at him. She waves. Ricky just keepsvideotaping. A beat, then she starts to take off her shirt.INT. FITTS HOUSE - RICKY'S BEDROOM - CONTINUOUSWe're behind Ricky as he videotapes Jane in her window. Shehas now removed her shirt. She stands there in her bra, thenreaches behind her back to unhook the bra.On VIDEO: We ZOOM toward her as she takes off her braclumsily. She's obviously embarrassed, but she's gone thisfar and there's no turning back. She stands there with herbreasts exposed, trying to look defiant, but she's achinglyvulnerable...Suddenly, the door is thrown open and the Colonel enters,incensed. Startled, Ricky turns around. As soon as his eyesmeet his father's, he knows what's up.                    COLONEL          You little bastard--Ricky scrambles to dodge his father, but the Colonel is toofast; he punches Ricky in the face, knocking him to thefloor.                    COLONEL (CONT'D)          How did you get in there?EXT. BURNHAM HOUSE - CONTINUOUSFrom her window, Jane watches, pulling the drapes in front ofher.                                                             65.EXT. FITTS HOUSE - CONTINUOUSJane's POV: In the WINDOW across from us, the Colonelproceeds to give Ricky a serious beating, punching his face.INT. FITTS HOUSE - RICKY'S BEDROOM - CONTINUOUSRicky's lip is bleeding, but he maintains a steady gaze athis father during this violence.                    COLONEL              (unnerved)          How!? How?! C'mon, get up! Fight back,          you little pussy!                    RICKY          No, sir. I won't fight you.The Colonel grabs him by the collar.                    COLONEL          How did you get in there?                    RICKY          I picked the lock, sir.                    COLONEL          What were you looking for? Money? Are you          on dope again?                    RICKY          No, sir. I wanted to show my girlfriend          your Nazi plate.A beat.                    COLONEL          Girlfriend?                    RICKY          Yes, sir. She lives next door.The Colonel glances toward the window.His POV: In the WINDOW across from us, Jane peeks out frombehind the drape. She quickly pulls it shut.                    RICKY (CONT'D)          Her name's Jane.A beat. The Colonel is suddenly, deeply shamed.                                                    (CONTINUED)                                                            66.CONTINUED:                    COLONEL          This is for your own good, boy. You have          no respect for other people's things, for          authority, for...                    RICKY          Sir, I'm sorry.                    COLONEL          You can't just go around doing whatever          you feel like, you can't--there are rules          in life--                      RICKY          Yes, sir.                    COLONEL          You need structure, you need discipline--                     RICKY               (simultaneous)          Discipline. Yes, sir, thank you for          trying to teach me. Don't give up on me,          Dad.The Colonel stands, still breathing heavily. Tenderness fillshis face, and he reaches out to touch Ricky's cheek.                    COLONEL          Oh, Ricky...But something keeps him from doing it.                    COLONEL (CONT'D)          You stay out of there.He leaves. Ricky gets up and goes to his bureau. He looks athis reflection in the mirror, calmly takes a cloth and startsto wipe the blood from his face.                                               FADE TO BLACK.In darkness, we HEAR repetitive GUNSHOTS.                                                        FADE IN:INT. INDOOR FIRING RANGE - ONE MONTH LATERCarolyn, wearing PROTECTIVE HEADGEAR, is holding a GLOCK 19AUTOMATIC REVOLVER with both hands, FIRING it directly at us.She empties a round and stands there, exhilarated. AnATTENDANT approaches with a new round of ammunition.                                                 (CONTINUED)                                                             67.CONTINUED:                    ATTENDANT              (loading gun)          I gotta say, Mrs. Burnham, when you first          came here I thought you would be          hopeless. But you're a natural.                    CAROLYN          Well, all I know is... I love shooting          this gun!And she starts FIRING again.INT. MERCEDES-BENZ ML320 - LATERBobby Darin sings "DON'T RAIN ON MY    PARADE" on the RADIO.Carolyn SINGS along as she drives.    Her face has lost itsusual resolute determination; she's    actually enjoying herselfspontaneously, and the lack of her    usual self-consciousnessallows us to see just how beautiful    she is.ANGLE ON the GLOCK 19 sitting on the passenger seat amidstsome CDs.Carolyn takes the gun and holds it at arm's length, admiringit as she continues to SING.EXT. ROBIN HOOD TRAIL - CONTINUOUSThe Mercedes turns onto Robin Hood Trail.INT. MERCEDES-BENZ ML320 - CONTINUOUSCarolyn's POV: We turn into the Burnham driveway. A 1970PONTIAC FIREBIRD with racing stripes blocks our access to thegarage.CLOSE on Carolyn: She doesn't like having things in her way.INT. BURNHAM HOUSE - FAMILY ROOM - MOMENTS LATERLester's REMOTE-CONTROLLED MODEL JEEP is zooming across thefloor of the family room, expertly maneuvering corners andnarrowly avoiding crashing.Lester is sprawled on the couch in his underwear, drinking aBEER and controlling the car. His working out is beginning toproduce results. The room, too, seems changed: sloppier, morelived in.Carolyn enters through the kitchen, flushed and angry. Shejust stands there, staring at Lester. After a moment, helooks up at her.                                                    (CONTINUED)                                                           68.CONTINUED:                    LESTER          What?                    CAROLYN          Ah, whose car is that out front?                    LESTER          Mine. 1970 Pontiac Firebird. The car I          always wanted and now I have it. I rule!                    CAROLYN          Where's the Camry?                    LESTER          I traded it in.                    CAROLYN          Shouldn't you have consulted me first?                     LESTER          Hmm, let me think... No. You never drove          it.              (then)          Have you done something different? You          look great.                    CAROLYN              (brusque)          Where's Jane?                     LESTER          Jane not home. We have the whole house to          ourselves.He smiles at her playfully. She stares back, annoyed. It'sthe same look she had at the beginning, when he dropped hisbriefcase, but whatever power that look had is gone. Lesterjust LAUGHS.                    LESTER (CONT'D)          Christ, Carolyn. When did you become          so... joyless?                    CAROLYN              (taken aback)          Joyless?! I am not joyless! There happens          to be a lot about me that you don't know,          mister smarty man. There is plenty of joy          in my life.                                                   (CONTINUED)                                                            69.CONTINUED: (2)                    LESTER              (leaning toward her)          Whatever happened to that girl who used          to fake seizures at frat parties when she          got bored? And who used to run up to the          roof of our first apartment building to          flash the traffic helicopters? Have you          totally forgotten about her? Because I          haven't.His face is close to hers, and suddenly the atmosphere ischarged. She pulls back automatically, but it's clear she'sdrawn to him. He smiles, and moves even closer, holding hisbeer loosely balanced. Then, just before their lips meet...                    CAROLYN              (barely audible)          Lester. You're going to spill beer on the          couch.She's immediately sorry she said it, but it's too late. Hissmile fades, and the moment is gone.                    LESTER          So what? It's just a couch.                    CAROLYN          This is a four thousand dollar sofa          upholstered in Italian silk. This is not          "just a couch."                    LESTER          It's just a couch!He stands and gestures toward all the things in the room.                    LESTER (CONT'D)          This isn't life. This is just stuff. And          it's become more important to you than          living. Well, honey, that's just nuts.Carolyn stares at him, on the verge of tears, then turns andwalks out of the room before he can see her cry.                    LESTER (CONT'D)              (calls after her)          I'm only trying to help you.INT. FITTS HOUSE - RICKY'S BEDROOM - NIGHTOn VIDEO: Jane lays in Ricky's bed, wearing a tank top. Sheglances at us.                                                 (CONTINUED)                                                           70.CONTINUED:                      JANE              (shy)          Don't.We're watching the WIDE-SCREEN TV in Ricky's room.A CORD leads from the TV to Ricky's DIGICAM. Ricky holds thecamera, sitting naked in a chair. It's been almost a monthsince his father beat him up, and there are still slightSCARS on his face. He's aiming his camera at Jane.                      RICKY          Why?                    JANE              (re: image on TV)          It's weird, watching myself. I don't like          how I look.                    RICKY          I can't believe you don't know how          beautiful you are.                    JANE          I'm not going to sit here for that shit.She gets out of bed, takes his Digicam and focuses it on him.We see his image on the TV as she videotapes.                    JANE (CONT'D)          Ha. How does it feel now?                      RICKY          Fine.                    JANE          You don't feel naked?                    RICKY          I am naked.                    JANE          You know what I mean.Jane ZOOMS in on his face, which remains placid.                    JANE (CONT'D)          Tell me about being in the hospital.Ricky smiles.                                                   (CONTINUED)                                                          71.CONTINUED: (2)                     RICKY          When I was fifteen, my dad caught me          smoking dope. He totally freaked and          decided to send me to military school. I          told you his whole thing about structure          and discipline, right?              (laughs)          Well, of course, I got kicked out. Dad          and I had this huge fight, and he hit          me... and then the next day at school,          some kid made a crack about my haircut,          and... I just snapped. I wanted to kill          him. And I would have. Killed him. If          they hadn't pulled me off.              (then)          That's when my dad put me in the          hospital. Then they drugged me up and          left me in there for two years.                    JANE          Wow. You must really hate him.                    RICKY          He's not a bad man.He grabs a half-smoked JOINT from an ashtray and lights it.                    JANE          Well... you better believe I'd hate my          father if he did something like that to          me.              (laughs)          Wait. I do hate my father.                    RICKY          Why?He passes her the joint, then takes the Digicam and focusesit on her. We see her image on the TV as he videotapes.                    JANE          He's a total asshole and he's got this          crush on my friend Angela and it's          disgusting.                    RICKY          You'd rather he had the crush on you?                     JANE          Gross, no! But it'd be nice if I was          anywhere near as important to him as she          is.              (then)                     (MORE)                                                  (CONTINUED)                                                            72.CONTINUED: (3)                    JANE (CONT'D)          I know you think my dad's harmless, but          you're wrong. He's doing massive          psychological damage to me.                    RICKY          How?Jane looks into the camera, a loopy, stoned grin on her face.                    JANE          Well, now, I too need structure. A little          fucking discipline.They LAUGH. She lays back on the bed.                    JANE (CONT'D)          I'm serious, though. How could he not be          damaging me? I need a father who's a role          model, not some horny geek-boy who's          gonna spray his shorts whenever I bring a          girlfriend home from school.              (snorts)          What a lame-o. Somebody really should put          him out of his misery.Her mind wanders for a beat.                    RICKY          Want me to kill him for you?Jane looks at him and sits up.                    JANE          Yeah, would you?                    RICKY              (smiles)          It'll cost you.                    JANE          Well, I've been baby-sitting since I was          about ten. I've got almost three thousand          dollars. 'Course, I was saving it up for          a boob job.She stands and sticks out her breasts, then falls back on thebed, LAUGHING.                    JANE (CONT'D)          But my tits can wait, huh?                    RICKY          You know, that's not a very nice thing to          do, hiring somebody to kill your dad.                                                    (CONTINUED)                                                             73.CONTINUED: (4)                    JANE          Well, I guess I'm just not a very nice          girl, then, am I?She smiles dreamily at him. He turns the Digicam off and theTV screen goes BLUE. He lowers the camera and looks at herintently.                    JANE (CONT'D)              (suddenly nervous)          You know I'm not serious, right?                       RICKY          Of course.He puts the Digicam down and joins Jane on the bed. A longmoment where neither of them speaks. He caresses her hair,gazing into her eyes.                    RICKY (CONT'D)          Do you know how lucky we are to have          found each other?                                                 FADE TO BLACK.                                                      FADE IN:EXT. ROBIN HOOD TRAIL - EARLY MORNINGWe're FLYING above Robin Hood Trail. We see the BURNHAM'SHOUSE below us as we APPROACH it steadily.                    LESTER          Remember those posters that said, "Today          is the first day of the rest of your          life?" Well, that's true of every day          except one.              (a beat)          The day you die.We're almost on top of the Burnham house now, as Lester,wearing sweatpants and running shoes, bursts out of the frontdoor and dashes up the driveway.EXT. ROBIN HOOD TRAIL - A SHORT TIME LATERWe're now at street level, as Lester runs toward us. Hecarries a WALKMAN and wears EARPHONES, and we HEAR ROCK MUSICas he runs. The endorphins have kicked in, and Lester grins,reveling in the sheer physical pleasure of his body.                                                            74.INT. BURNHAM HOUSE - KITCHEN - A SHORT TIME LATERThe blender GRINDS as Lester, still in his sweatpants, makeshimself a high-protein shake. He's in excellent shape; evenhis posture has changed, and he moves with the confident,easy swagger of an athlete. Jane watches him blankly from thekitchen table.Carolyn enters. Lester leans against the counter, drinkinghis shake directly from the blender pitcher, eyeing her. He'sgot a newfound sexual energy that makes her uncomfortable,and he knows it. Carolyn quickly rinses off her coffee cup,avoiding his eyes, and starts out.                    CAROLYN          Jane, hurry up. I've got a very important          appointment--                    JANE          Mom, is it okay if Angela sleeps over          tonight?Jane looks at Lester to see how he reacts. He doesn't.                    CAROLYN          Well, of course, she's always welcome.              (on her way out)          You know, I thought maybe you two had a          fight. I haven't seen her around here in          a while.And she's gone. Jane continues staring at her father.Finally, he glances over at her.                    LESTER          What?                    JANE              (nervous)          I've been too embarrassed to bring her          over. Because of you, and the way that          you behave.                    LESTER          What are you talking about? I've barely          even spoken to her.                    JANE              (angry)          Dad! You stare at her all the time, like          you're drunk! It's disgusting!                                                    (CONTINUED)                                                             75.CONTINUED:                    LESTER              (angry himself)          You better watch yourself, Janie, or          you're going to turn into a real bitch,          just like your mother.Jane is stunned. She quickly rises, trying to get out of thekitchen before she starts crying.ANGLE on Lester, and the immediate regret in his eyes.                    LESTER (CONT'D)              (under his breath)          Fuck.INT. FITTS HOUSE - UPSTAIRS HALLWAY - CONTINUOUSWe're outside Ricky's room, MOVING slowly toward the opendoor, through which we can see Ricky, standing at his bureaumirror, combing his hair. The scars on his face are almostgone now.A REVERSE ANGLE reveals the Colonel standing outside the doorlooking in, watching Ricky with great tenderness. Then Rickylooks up at him, and the Colonel is suddenly self-conscious.                    COLONEL              (brusque)          You ready to go?                    RICKY          Oh, I don't need a ride. I'm going to go          in with Jane and her mom.EXT. FITTS HOUSE - FRONT PORCH - MOMENTS LATERRicky emerges from the house, followed by the Colonel, whowatches his son as he heads toward the Burnham house.His POV: Carolyn waves from the Mercedes, flashing aninsincere smile. Jane leans forward from the passenger seatand glares at us. As Ricky starts to get in the car, Lesteremerges from the house in his sweatpants.                    LESTER          Yo, Ricky. How's it going?                    RICKY          Pretty decent, Mr. Burnham.Ricky pulls his door shut, but not before Lester mouths "callme" and Ricky gives a slight nod in acknowledgment.                                                    (CONTINUED)                                                             76.CONTINUED:CLOSE on the Colonel's face: he looks confused.As the Mercedes backs out of the driveway, Lester glancesover at him.Lester's POV: The Colonel watches the car driving off, thenlooks at us. His face tightens.LESTER studies him for a moment, then grins and salutesbefore going inside the house.CLOSE on the Colonel, deeply troubled.INT. FITTS HOUSE - RICKY'S ROOM - MOMENTS LATERThe door swings open silently and the Colonel enters. Hestarts going through Ricky's bureau. He opens the DRAWER inwhich we know Ricky keeps his marijuana, but he doesn'tdiscover its false bottom. He stands and looks around, hiseyes finally landing on:The DIGICAM and a stack of CASSETTES on a shelf. The camerais still connected to the TV.The Colonel turns on the TV, examines the Digicam and presses"play." The TV's blank screen suddenly gives way to...On VIDEO: Barbara Fitts sits at the kitchen table, staringoff into space.The Colonel watches, at first baffled, then impatient. Hetakes the cassette out of the Digicam and inserts another. Onthe TV screen we see...On VIDEO: Through the Burnham's GARAGE WINDOW, we see Lesterstep out of his pants and briefs. Then, naked except for hisblack socks, he grabs the dumbbells and starts lifting them,watching his reflection in the window as he does...The Colonel sinks slowly onto Ricky's bed, mesmerized.INT. MR. SMILEY'S - LATERLester, wearing a Mr. Smiley's uniform, is happily flippingburgers on a grill.                    CO-WORKER          Hey Lester, I need that Super Smiley with          cheese, A.S.A.P.                    LESTER          You need more than that, my little          hombre.                                                  (CONTINUED)                                                            77.CONTINUED:Lester looks up suddenly when he HEARS:                    CAROLYN (O.S.)              (over speakers)          What's good here?                    BUDDY (O.C.)              (over speakers)          Nothing.                     CAROLYN (O.C.)              (over speakers)          Then I guess we'll just have to be bad,          won't we?              (then)          I think I'll have a double Smiley          Sandwich and curly fries, and a vanilla          shake.                    BUDDY (O.C.)              (over speakers)          Make that two.                    COUNTER GIRL (O.C.)              (over speakers)          Please drive around thank you.Lester's face darkens, then... he smiles. He puts his spatuladown.EXT. MR. SMILEY'S - CONTINUOUSThe Mercedes pulls around to the DRIVE-THRU WINDOW. Carolyndrives; Buddy sits beside her.                    CAROLYN          I think we deserve a little junk food,          after the workout we had this morning.                    BUDDY              (nuzzles her neck)          I'm flattered.They are too involved with each other to notice Lesterwatching them from the drive-thru window.                    LESTER              (overly cheerful)          Smile! You're at Mr. Smiley's!Carolyn almost jumps out of her skin.                                                    (CONTINUED)                                                            78.CONTINUED:Lester leans out of the drive-thru window, grinning at her,holding bags filled with fast food. The Counter Girl standsnext to him, staring blankly.                    LESTER    (CONT'D)          Would you like to    try our new beef and          cheese pot pie on    a stick, just a dollar          ninety-nine for a    limited time only?Carolyn struggles to appear nonchalant.                    CAROLYN              (re: Buddy)          We were just at a seminar.              (then, all business)          Buddy, this is my--                    LESTER          Her husband. We've met before, but          something tells me you're going to          remember me this time.                    COUNTER GIRL              (to Carolyn)          Whoa. You are so busted.                     CAROLYN               (flustered)          You know, this really doesn't concern          you.                    LESTER          Actually, Janeane is senior drive-thru          manager, so you kind of are on her turf.              (to Carolyn, quietly)          So. This makes sense.                    CAROLYN              (miserable)          Oh, Lester--                     LESTER          Honey, it's okay. I want you to be happy.              (then)          Would you like Smiley Sauce with that?                    CAROLYN          Lester, just stop it!                    LESTER          Uh-uh. You don't get to tell me what to          do. Ever again.                                                    (CONTINUED)                                                            79.CONTINUED: (2)Carolyn closes her eyes, defeated, then grabs the wheel,shifts gears and drives off.EXT. TOP HAT MOTEL - A SHORT TIME LATERThe sky is filled with ominous gray clouds. Wind whipsgarbage across the parking lot as Carolyn's Mercedes pulls innext to Buddy's Jaguar.INT. MERCEDES-BENZ ML320 - CONTINUOUSCarolyn grips the wheel tightly, staring straight ahead.Buddy looks at her unhappily.                    BUDDY          I'm sorry. I guess we should cool it for          a while. I'm facing a potentially very          expensive divorce.                    CAROLYN          Oh, no. I understand completely.              (sarcastic)          In order to be successful, one must          project an image of success. At all          times.She regrets it the second it's out of her mouth, and turns tohim. He just looks at her sadly, then gets out of the car andshuts the door. She starts to CRY. As before, she SLAPSherself, hard.                    CAROLYN (CONT'D)          Stop it. Stop it!She closes her eyes tight, trying to stop the tears, thensuddenly SCREAMS as loud as she can.EXT. TOP HAT MOTEL - CONTINUOUSBuddy's Jaguar speeds off, leaving the Mercedes alone in theparking lot. We can still HEAR Carolyn's muffled SCREAMING.There is a sound of distant THUNDER.INT. BURNHAM HOUSE - GARAGE - THAT NIGHTIt's RAINING outside. We HEAR ROCK MUSIC as Lester pumpsiron. He puts the weights down and looks at his REFLECTION inthe window:His POV: His arms are pumped. He smiles.                                                 (CONTINUED)                                                            80.CONTINUED:He reaches under the bench and grabs a CIGAR BOX. Opening it,he digs through MARIJUANA PARAPHERNALIA, only to pull out anempty ZIP-LOC BAG.                      LESTER          Shit.INT. FITTS HOUSE - KITCHEN - MOMENTS LATERRicky and the Colonel sit at the table, eating in silence.Barbara rinses off a pan at the sink, then stares at it as ifshe can't quite remember what she meant to do with it. Wesuddenly HEAR a BEEPING noise. Ricky pulls his BEEPER off hisbelt and checks it.                    RICKY              (getting up)          I have to run next door. Jane left her          geometry book in my bag and she needs it          to do her homework.He heads into the hall. The Colonel watches him go, uneasy.INT. ANGELA'S BMW - CONTINUOUSAngela drives, squinting through the windshield as the wipersmove back and forth.                    ANGELA          So you and psycho boy are fucking on          like, a regular basis now, right?                      JANE                (irritable)          No.                    ANGELA          Oh, come on. You can tell me. Does he          have a big dick?                    JANE          Look, I'm not gonna talk about his dick          with you, okay? It's not like that.                     ANGELA          Not like what? Doesn't he have one?              (then)          Why don't you want to talk about it? I          mean, I tell you every single detail          about every guy that I fuck.                                                    (CONTINUED)                                                           81.CONTINUED:                    JANE          Yeah, and maybe you shouldn't, all right?          Maybe I don't really want to hear all          that.                    ANGELA          Oh, so now that you have a boyfriend,          you're like, above it?              (rolls her eyes)          We gotta get you a real man.INT. FITTS HOUSE - KITCHEN - CONTINUOUSThe Colonel rinses off his plate at the sink. Somethingoutside catches his eye, and he cranes his neck to get abetter look at...His POV: Through the window over the sink, we can see intothe Burnham's GARAGE WINDOW. Our view is blurred by the RAIN,but we see Lester, his upper body pumped and glistening insweat as he counts out a wad of BILLS... and then Ricky walksinto view.The Colonel's face tightens.His POV: Lester drapes his arm around Ricky as he gives himthe money. We can only see Lester from the waist up, so helooks naked.INT. BURNHAM HOUSE - GARAGE - CONTINUOUSRicky, his hair wet from the rain, puts the cash in hispocket. Lester's arm remains draped around his shoulder.                    RICKY              (grins)          You got any papers?                    LESTER          Yeah, in the cigar box, right over there.              (laughs)          You know, put up a fight, dude! You are          such a pushover. "No I can't. Really.          Okay."And he slaps Ricky playfully on the chest. Ricky grins, thensquats down and reaches under the weight bench.                    RICKY          You should learn to roll a joint.Lester sits in the bowl chair and leans back, his handsbehind his head, watching Ricky roll the joint.                                                            82.INT. FITTS HOUSE - KITCHEN - CONTINUOUSThe Colonel's POV: Lester leans back in his chair. We seeonly Ricky's back and shoulders as he rolls the joint. Aftera beat, Lester's jaw drops, then he throws his head back.From our perspective, it looks very much like Ricky is givingLester a blow job.The Colonel watches, incredulous. Then we HEAR a CARAPPROACHING, and the Colonel glances over at:His POV: Angela's BMW pulls into the driveway, stoppingbehind Lester's Firebird. As Angela and Jane get out and runtoward the house, our focus MOVES back to the GARAGE WINDOW.Ricky stands, looking a little panicked. Lester pulls on hisT-shirt, and both he and Ricky cross out of view.INT. BURNHAM HOUSE - KITCHEN - MOMENTS LATERLester leans nonchalantly against the counter. Jane andAngela enter. Jane frowns when she sees him.                    LESTER          Oh. Hi.                    JANE          Where's Mom?                    LESTER          Don't know.                    ANGELA          Hi, Mr. Burnham.                    LESTER          Hi.He's trying to remain cool, and doing a pretty good job.                    ANGELA          Wow. Look at you. Have you been working          out?                    LESTER          Some.Jane rolls her eyes and exits. Angela walks over to Lester.                    ANGELA          You can really tell. Look at those arms.She places her hand on his arm flirtatiously, looks up at himand smiles, fully expecting to intimidate him by doing so.                                                    (CONTINUED)                                                             83.CONTINUED:But something has changed, and he isn't intimidated at all.He looks directly back at her, leans in and smiles slowly.                    LESTER          You like muscles?His voice is low and intense. She moves away, suddenlyinsecure.                    ANGELA          I--I should probably go see what Jane's          up to.And she heads out quickly. Lester watches her go, baffled.INT. FITTS HOUSE - RICKY'S ROOM - CONTINUOUSRicky enters, wet from the pouring rain, and crosses to hisbureau, pulling the wad of CASH out of his pocket as he goes.                    COLONEL (O.C.)          Where'd you get that?Ricky turns, startled.His POV: The Colonel steps out of the shadows.Ricky takes a step back.                    RICKY          From my job.                     COLONEL          Don't lie to me.              (beat)          I saw you with him.                    RICKY              (incredulous)          You were watching me?                    COLONEL          What did he make you do?                    RICKY              (laughs)          Dad, you don't really think... me and Mr.          Burnham?                     COLONEL              (furious)          Don't you laugh at me!              (then)                     (MORE)                                                    (CONTINUED)                                                            84.CONTINUED:                    COLONEL (CONT'D)          I will not sit back and watch my only son          become a cocksucker!                    RICKY          Jesus, what is with you--The Colonel BACKHANDS Ricky so hard it sends the boysprawling.                    COLONEL          I swear to God, I will throw you out of          this house and never look at you again.                    RICKY              (taken aback)          You mean that?                    COLONEL          Damn straight I do. I'd rather you were          dead than be a fucking faggot.A beat. Ricky suddenly smiles. He gets up.                    RICKY          You're right. I suck dick for money.                     COLONEL          Boy--                    RICKY          Two thousand dollars. I'm that good.                     COLONEL          Get out.                    RICKY          And you should see me fuck. I'm the best          piece of ass in three states.                    COLONEL              (explodes)          Get out!! I don't ever want to see you          again!!Ricky eyes the Colonel. He's finally discovered a way tobreak free from his father, and he can't believe it was thissimple.                    RICKY          What a sad old man you are.                    COLONEL              (a whisper)          Get out.                                                    (CONTINUED)                                                             85.CONTINUED: (2)Ricky grabs his backpack, turns and walks out the door,leaving the Colonel standing there, glassy-eyed and breathingheavily.INT. FITTS HOUSE - KITCHEN - MOMENTS LATERRicky enters to discover Barbara standing in the middle ofthe room, clutching a dish, frightened. She's obviously heardhis argument with his father, and she looks into his eyes,searching, aware that something eventful is taking place.                    RICKY          Mom, I'm leaving.A beat.                    BARBARA          Okay, wear a raincoat.                    RICKY              (hugs her)          I wish things would have been better for          you. Take care of Dad.He kisses her cheek softly, then exits out the back door,leaving her standing alone, still clutching her dish.INT. FITTS HOUSE - RICKY'S BEDROOM - CONTINUOUSThe Colonel's POV: Below us, Ricky dashes through the rain tothe Burnham's front door and knocks. Lester opens it and letshim in.EXT. FITTS HOUSE - CONTINUOUSThe Colonel looks coldly down at us from Ricky's bedroomwindow, and then he pulls the drapes shut.EXT. FREEWAY - CONTINUOUSThe MERCEDES-BENZ ML320 is parked in the breakdown lane, itsHAZARD LIGHTS BLINKING. Cars ZOOM past in the rain.INT. MERCEDES-BENZ ML320 - CONTINUOUSCarolyn sits behind the wheel, listening to a MOTIVATIONALTAPE on the STEREO.                    TAPE VOICE          --disinvesting problems of their power,          and removing their ability to make us          afraid. This is the secret to "me-          centered" living.                    (MORE)                                                    (CONTINUED)                                                            86.CONTINUED:                    TAPE VOICE (CONT'D)          Only by taking full responsibility for          your problems--and their solutions--will          you ever be able to break free from the          constant cycle of victimhood.Carolyn leans over and open the glove compartment. She takesout her GLOCK 19.                    TAPE VOICE (CONT'D)          Remember, you are only a victim if you          choose to be a victim...INT. BURNHAM HOUSE - JANE'S ROOM - CONTINUOUSAngela is sprawled across the bed. Jane stands across theroom from her.                    JANE          I don't think we could be friends          anymore.                    ANGELA          You are way too uptight about sex.                    JANE          Just don't fuck my dad, all right?          Please?                     ANGELA          Why not?There is a KNOCK on the door. Jane sits up, alarmed.                    JANE              (angry)          Dad! Leave us alone!                     RICKY (O.C.)          It's me.Jane jumps up and opens the door and lets him in.                    RICKY (CONT'D)              (to Jane)          If I had to leave tonight, would you come          with me?                     JANE          What?                    RICKY          If I had to go to New York. To live.          Tonight. Would you come with me?                                                    (CONTINUED)                                                          87.CONTINUED:                   JANE         Yes.                   ANGELA         You guys can't be serious.             (to Jane)         You're just a kid. And he's like, a         mental case. You'll end up living in a         box on the street.                   JANE         I'm no more a kid than you are!             ( to Ricky)         We can use my plastic surgery money.                   RICKY         We won't have to. I have over forty         thousand dollars. And I know people in         the city who can help us get set up.                   ANGELA         What, other drug dealers?                   RICKY         Yes.                   ANGELA         Jane, you'd be out of your mind to go         with him.                   JANE         Why do you even care?                   ANGELA         Because you're my friend!                   RICKY         She's not your friend. She's somebody you         use to feel better about yourself.                   ANGELA         Go fuck yourself, psycho!                   JANE         You shut up, bitch!                   ANGELA         Jane! He is a freak!                                                  (CONTINUED)                                                             88.CONTINUED: (2)                    JANE          Well, then so am I! And we'll always be          freaks and we'll never be like other          people. And you'll never be a freak          because you're just too perfect.                    ANGELA          Oh, yeah? Well, at least I'm not ugly.                    RICKY          Yes, you are. And you're boring. And          you're totally ordinary. And you know it.Angela stares at him, stunned, then starts toward the door.                    ANGELA          You two deserve each other.And she exits, SLAMMING the door behind her. Jane turns toRicky and he takes her in his arms.INT. BURNHAM HOUSE - UPSTAIRS HALLWAY - CONTINUOUSAngela sits on the stairs, shaken, crying.EXT. BURNHAM HOUSE - GARAGE - CONTINUOUSWe're MOVING SLOWLY toward the Burnham's GARAGE WINDOWthrough the RAIN. Through the window, we see Lester, wearingonly his sweatpants, performing bench presses.INT. BURNHAM HOUSE - GARAGE - CONTINUOUSThrough the window, we see the Colonel standing outside,watching. We ZOOM slowly in on him as he watches, transfixed.EXT. BURNHAM HOUSE - GARAGE - CONTINUOUSHis POV: Lester finishes his last rep, then racks the weightsand sits up, sweaty and out of breath. He runs his free handover his chest... and then he glances at us, suddenly awarehe's being watched.INT. BURNHAM HOUSE - GARAGE - CONTINUOUSLester and the Colonel stare at each other through thewindow.EXT. BURNHAM HOUSE - GARAGE - MOMENTS LATERThe RAIN is coming down in sheets now, and there is a sharpCLAP of THUNDER. We're directly outside the GARAGE DOOR as itslowly lifts to reveal Lester smiling at us.                                                    (CONTINUED)                                                             89.CONTINUED:                    LESTER          Jesus, man. You're soaked.INT. BURNHAM HOUSE - GARAGE - CONTINUOUSLester pulls the Colonel inside. The Colonel moves stifflyand seems preoccupied, slightly disoriented.                    LESTER          You want me to get Ricky? He's in Jane's          room.The Colonel just stands there, looking at Lester.                      LESTER (CONT'D)          You okay?                    COLONEL              (his voice thick)          Where's your wife?                    LESTER          Uh... I don't know. Probably out fucking          that dorky prince of real estate asshole.          And you know what? I don't care.The Colonel moves closer towards him.                    COLONEL          Your wife is with another man and you          don't care?                    LESTER          Nope, our marriage is just for show. A          commercial, for how normal we are. When          we are anything but.He grins... and so does the Colonel.                    LESTER (CONT'D)          You're shaking.He places his hand on the Colonel's shoulder. The Colonelcloses his eyes.                    LESTER (CONT'D)          We really should get you out of these          clothes.                    COLONEL              (a whisper)          Yes...                                                    (CONTINUED)                                                            90.CONTINUED:He opens his eyes and looks at Lester, his face filled withan anguished vulnerability we wouldn't have thought possiblefrom him. His eyes are brimming with tears. Lester leans in,concerned.                       LESTER          It's okay.                    COLONEL              (hoarse)I...                    LESTER              (softly)          Just tell me what you need.The Colonel reaches up and places his hand on Lester'scheek... and then kisses him. Lester is momentarily stunned,and then he pushes the Colonel away. The Colonel's facecrumples in shame.                    LESTER (CONT'D)          Whoa, whoa, whoa. I'm sorry. You got the          wrong idea.The Colonel stares at the floor, blinking, and then he turnsand runs out the open garage door into the rainy night.INT. MERCEDES-BENZ ML320 - CONTINUOUSCarolyn is still listening to the same MOTIVATIONAL TAPE. Sheholds the GLOCK in her hand.                    TAPE VOICE          "I refuse to be a victim." When this          becomes your mantra, constantly running          through your head--Carolyn switches the TAPE OFF and puts the gun in her purse.                    CAROLYN          I refuse to be a victim.EXT. FREEWAY - CONTINUOUSThe Mercedes pulls away from the shoulder.INT. BURNHAM HOUSE - KITCHEN - CONTINUOUSLester enters, opens the refrigerator and grabs a BEER.Suddenly we HEAR MUSIC coming from the other room. Lesteropens his beer and starts toward the family room.                                                             91.INT. BURNHAM HOUSE - FAMILY ROOM - CONTINUOUSHis POV: AS we MOVE SLOWLY around a corner, Angela comes intoview, standing at the STEREO, holding a CD case. She's beencrying; her face is puffy, and her hair mussed. She regardsus apprehensively... then puts on a slightly defiant smile.                    ANGELA          I hope you don't mind if I play the          stereo.Lester leans against the wall and takes a swig of his beer.                     LESTER          Not at all.              (then)          Bad night?                    ANGELA          Not really bad, just... strange.                    LESTER              (grins)          Believe me. It couldn't possibly be any          stranger than mine.She smiles. They stand there in silence; the atmosphere ischarged.                    ANGELA          Jane and I had a fight.              (after a beat)          It was about you.She's trying to be seductive as she says this, but she'spretty bad at it. Lester raises his eyebrows.                    ANGELA (CONT'D)          She's mad at me because I said I think          you're sexy.Lester grins. He is sexy.                    LESTER              (offering beer)          Do you want a sip?She nods. Lester holds the bottle up to her mouth and shedrinks clumsily. He gently wipes her chin with the back ofhis hand.                                                    (CONTINUED)                                                            92.CONTINUED:                    LESTER (CONT'D)          So... are you going to tell me? What you          want?                    ANGELA          I don't know.                    LESTER          You don't know?His face is very close to hers. She's unnerved--this ishappening too fast...                    ANGELA          What do you want?                    LESTER          Are you kidding? I want you. I've wanted          you since the first moment I saw you. You          are the most beautiful thing I have ever          seen.Angela takes a deep breath just before Lester leans in tokiss her cheek, her forehead, her eyelids, her neck...                    ANGELA          You don't think I'm ordinary?                    LESTER          You couldn't be ordinary if you tried.                     ANGELA          Thank you.              (far away)          I don't think there's anything worse than          being ordinary...And Lester kisses her on the lips.INT. MERCEDES-BENZ ML320 - CONTINUOUSCarolyn drives, her face resolute.                    CAROLYN          I refuse to be a victim. I refuse to be a          victim. I refuse to be a victim...              (angry)          Lester, I have something I have to say to          you...                                                           93.INT. BURNHAM HOUSE - FAMILY ROOM - MOMENTS LATERAngela lays back on the couch as Lester moves in over her. Hepulls her jeans off and gently brushes his fingers over herlegs, then moves up and caresses her face...INT. BURNHAM HOUSE - JANE'S ROOM - CONTINUOUSRicky and Jane, fully clothed, lie curled up on Jane's bed.                    JANE          Are you scared?                    RICKY          I don't get scared.                    JANE          My parents will try to find me.                    RICKY          Mine won't.INT. BURNHAM HOUSE - FAMILY ROOM - CONTINUOUSLester starts unbuttoning Angela's blouse. She seemsdisconnected from what's happening. Lester pulls her blouseopen, exposing her breasts.Lester looks down at her, grinning, unable to believe he'sactually about to do what he's dreamed of so many times, andthen...                    ANGELA          This is my first time.Lester LAUGHS.                    LESTER          You're kidding.                     ANGELA              (a whisper)          I'm sorry.A beat. Lester looks down at her, his grin fading.His POV: Angela lies beneath us, embarrassed and vulnerable.This is not the mythically carnal creature of Lester'sfantasies; this is a nervous child.                                                   (CONTINUED)                                                          94.CONTINUED:                    ANGELA (CONT'D)          I still want to do it... I just thought I          should tell you... in case you wondered          why I wasn't... better.Lester's face falls. There's no way he's going to go throughwith this now.                     ANGELA (CONT'D)              (confused)          What's wrong? I thought you said I was          beautiful.                    LESTER              (tenderly)          You are beautiful.He grabs a blanket from the back of the couch and drapes itaround her shoulders, covering her nakedness.                    LESTER (CONT'D)          You are so beautiful... and I would be a          very lucky man...He smiles and shakes his head. Humiliated, Angela starts tocry.                    ANGELA          I feel so stupid.                       LESTER          Don't.He hugs her, letting her put her head on his shoulder,stroking her hair and rocking her gently.                       ANGELA          I'm sorry.Lester takes her by the shoulders and looks at her, serious.                    LESTER          You have nothing to be sorry about.But she keeps crying. Lester hugs her again. We HEAR a loudCLAP of THUNDER outside.                    LESTER (CONT'D)              (smiles)          It's okay. Everything's okay.                                                            95.EXT. ROBIN HOOD TRAIL - MOMENTS LATERThe Mercedes pulls onto Robin Hood Trail.INT. MERCEDES-BENZ ML320 - CONTINUOUSCLOSE on Carolyn's eyes, reflected in the REAR-VIEW MIRROR.She turns her head to look out the window:Her POV: The RED DOOR of the Burnham house stands out, evenin the pouring rain.INT. BURNHAM HOUSE - KITCHEN - MOMENTS LATERAngela, once again fully clothed, sits at the kitchencounter. She's eating a turkey sandwich.                    ANGELA          Wow. I was starving.Lester puts a jar of mayonnaise back in the refrigerator.                    LESTER          Do you want me to make you another one?                    ANGELA          No, no, no. I'm fine.He turns to her and cocks an eyebrow.                    LESTER              (concerned)          You sure?                    ANGELA          I mean, I'm still a little weirded out,          but...              (sincerely)          ...I feel better. Thanks.A long beat, as Lester studies her, then:                    LESTER          How's Jane?                    ANGELA          What do you mean?                    LESTER          I mean, how's her life? Is she happy? Is          she miserable? I'd really like to know,          and she'd die before she'd ever tell me          about it.                                                    (CONTINUED)                                                            96.CONTINUED:Angela shifts uncomfortably.                    ANGELA          She's... she's really happy. She thinks          she's in love.Angela rolls her eyes at how silly this notion is.                    LESTER              (quietly)          Good for her.An awkward beat.                    ANGELA          How are you?                     LESTER              (smiles, taken aback)          God, it's been a long time since anybody          asked me that.              (thinks about it)          I'm great.They just sit there, smiling at each other, then:                    ANGELA              (suddenly)          I've gotta go to the bathroom.She crosses off. Lester watches her go, then stands therewondering why he should suddenly feel so content.                     LESTER              (laughs)          I'm great.Something at the edge of the counter catches his eye, and hereaches for...CLOSE on a framed PHOTOGRAPH as he picks it up: It's thephoto we saw earlier of him, Carolyn and Jane, taken severalyears ago at an amusement park. It's startling how happy theylook.Lester crosses to the kitchen table, where he sits andstudies the photo. He suddenly seems older, more mature...and then he smiles: the deep, satisfied smile of a man whojust now understands the punch line of a joke he heard longago...                                                    (CONTINUED)                                                            97.CONTINUED: (2)                    LESTER (CONT'D)          Man oh man...              (softly)          Man oh man oh man...After a beat, the barrel of a GUN rises up behind his head,aimed at the base of his skull.ANGLE ON an arrangement of fresh-cut ROSES   in a vase on theopposite counter, deep crimson against the   WHITE TILE WALL.Then a GUNSHOT suddenly rings out, ECHOING   unnaturally.Instantly, the tile is sprayed with BLOOD,   the same deepcrimson as the roses.INT. BURNHAM HOUSE - FOYER - MOMENTS LATERRicky comes down the stairs, followed by Jane.INT. BURNHAM HOUSE - KITCHEN - MOMENTS LATERRicky opens the door from the dining room, then stops. Janeappears behind him.                       JANE          Oh God.Their POV: A pool of blood is forming on the kitchen table.Ricky comes into the kitchen and slowly approaches Lester'slifeless body, wide-eyed but not afraid. Jane follows him, inshock. Ricky kneels, gazing at Lester's unseen face... thenhe smiles, ever so slightly.His POV: Lester looks back at us; his eyes are lifeless, buthe's smiling the same slight smile.                       RICKY                 (an awed whisper)          Wow.                    LESTER (V.O.)          I had always heard your entire life          flashes in front of your eyes the second          before you die.EXT. SKY - DAYWe're FLYING across a white blanket of clouds.                    LESTER (V.O.)          First of all, that one second isn't a          second at all, it stretches on forever,          like an ocean of time...                                                           98.EXT. WOODS - NIGHTIn BLACK & WHITE: Eleven-year-old Lester looks up, pointingexcitedly at:His POV: A DOT OF LIGHT falls across an unbelievably starrysky.                    LESTER (V.O.)          For me, it was lying on my back at Boy          Scout camp, watching falling stars...INT. BURNHAM HOUSE - JANE'S BEDROOM - NIGHTRicky and Jane lie curled up on Jane's bed, fully clothed. WeHEAR a GUNSHOT from downstairs. They look at each other,alarmed.EXT. SUBURBAN STREET - DUSKIn BLACK & WHITE: Maple trees in autumn. Ghostly LEAVESFLUTTER slowly toward pavement.                    LESTER (V.O.)          And yellow leaves, from the maple trees,          that lined my street...INT. BURNHAM HOUSE - POWDER ROOM - NIGHTAngela stands in front of the mirror, fixing her make-up. WeHEAR the GUNSHOT again. Angela turns, frightened.INT. SUBURBAN HOUSE - DAYIn BLACK & WHITE: CLOSE on an ancient woman's papery HANDS asthey button a cardigan sweater.                    LESTER (V.O.)          Or my grandmother's hands, and the way          her skin seemed like paper...EXT. BURNHAM HOUSE - NIGHTCarolyn walks slowly toward the RED DOOR, drenched to thebone, clutching her PURSE tightly. We HEAR the GUNSHOT again.EXT. SUBURB - DAYIn BLACK & WHITE: A 1970 PONTIAC FIREBIRD in the driveway ofa suburban home. The SUN'S REFLECTION in the windshieldFLASHES BRILLIANTLY.                                                   (CONTINUED)                                                             99.CONTINUED:                    LESTER (V.O.)          And the first time I saw my cousin Tony's          brand new Firebird...INT. FITTS HOUSE - THE COLONEL'S STUDY - NIGHTThe Colonel enters, wet. He's wearing LATEX GLOVES. BLOODcovers the front of his T-shirt. He paces in front of one ofhis GUN CASES; the GLASS DOOR is open, and a gun isconspicuously missing from inside.INT. BURNHAM HOUSE - HALL - NIGHTIn BLACK & WHITE: Jane opens her bedroom door, staring at us.                    LESTER (V.O.)          And Janie...EXT. SUBURBAN HOUSE - DUSKIn BLACK & WHITE: A door opens to reveal 4-YEAR-OLD JANE,dressed for Halloween in a Princess costume, holding a litSPARKLER aloft and smiling shyly at us.                    LESTER (V.O.)          And Janie...INT. BURNHAM HOUSE - MASTER BEDROOM - NIGHTCarolyn enters, terrified, still clutching her PURSE. Sheshuts the door and locks it, then takes the GLOCK 19 out ofher purse. She opens the closet door and shoves the gun intoa HAMPER. Then, suddenly aware of Lester's scent, she grabsas many of his clothes as she can and pulls them to her,burying her face in them. She sinks to her knees, pullingseveral items of clothing down with her, and she begins tocry.EXT. AMUSEMENT PARK - NIGHT                                              IN BLACK & WHITE:A younger Carolyn sits across from us in one of thoseSPINNING-TEACUP RIDES, LAUGHING uncontrollably as she twiststhe wheel in front of her, making us SPIN even faster.                    LESTER (V.O.)              (with love)          And... Carolyn.                                                           100.EXT. PARKING LOT - DAYOn VIDEO: We're watching the video Ricky showed Jane earlier,of the empty white PLASTIC BAG being blown about. The windcarries it in a circle around us, sometimes whipping it aboutviolently, or, without warning, sending it soaring skyward,then letting it float gracefully down to the ground...                    LESTER (V.O.)          I guess I could be pretty pissed off          about what happened to me... but it's          hard to stay mad, when there's so much          beauty in the world. Sometimes I feel          like I'm seeing it all at once, and it's          too much, my heart fills up like a          balloon that's about to burst...EXT. - ROBIN HOOD TRAIL - DAYWe're FLYING once again over Robin Hood Trail, ASCENDINGSLOWLY.                    LESTER (V.O.)          ...and then I remember to relax, and stop          trying to hold on to it, and then it          flows through me like rain and I can't          feel anything but gratitude for every          single moment of my stupid little life...              (amused)          You have no idea what I'm talking about,          I'm sure. But don't worry...                                               FADE TO BLACK.                    LESTER (V.O.) (CONT'D)          You will someday.
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+                        AMERICAN GANGSTER                           Written by                        Steven Zaillian                                                      FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT                                                              July 27, 20061   EXT. JAZZ CLUB - DAY                                                  1    A tall, handsome man in a dark suit emerges from a Lincoln    Towncar and enters a small, basement R&B/Jazz club.2   INT. JAZZ CLUB - DAY                                                  2    He approaches a booth, says something in the din to the men    there, then calmly shoots them and exits.                           AMERICAN GANGSTER3   EXT. HARLEM STREET - DAY (NOVEMBER)                                   3    Bumpy Johnson, an elderly but still sturdy black man,    elegantly dressed - cashmere overcoat, gloves, Homburg -    stands in falling snow atop a flatbed truck - as he does    every Thanksgiving - tossing down turkeys to the poor -    like a benign king.    Legend:   Harlem    A younger man, the gunman from the club - Frank Lucas -    Bumpy's driver/bodyguard/collector/protege - watches from    below.4   INT/EXT. STREET / DISCOUNT EMPORIUM - DAY (NOVEMBER)                  4    Whispering gunfire from a television set veiled by    foreground snow: Soldiers in the jungles of Vietnam in    1970. A rich, cultured, authoritative voice offers:                            BUMPY O/S               This is the problem. This is what's               wrong with America.    The war footage multiplies by twenty: a stack of TVs with    price tags dangling from the knobs behind a display window.                            BUMPY O/S               It's gotten so big you can't find your               way.    People on the sidewalk, out of respect or fear, part to let    Frank and Bumpy and Bumpy's German shepherd pass.                            BUMPY               The corner grocery's a supermarket.               Candy store's a MacDonald's. And this               place.                            (MORE)                                                                    (CONT)                                                                      2.                               4   CONTINUED:                                                          4                              BUMPY (CONT'D)                 Where's the pride of ownership here?                 Where's the personal service? Does                 anybody work here?    Inside, the emporium is vast, with aisles that seem to    stretch off into infinity. The TVs give way to a display    window full of Japanese stereo componentry.                              BUMPY                 What right do they have cutting out the                 suppliers, pushing all the middlemen out,                 buying direct from the manufacturer -                 Sony this, Toshiba that, all them Chinks -                 putting Americans out of work?    He's not really asking Frank, so Frank doesn't answer.                              BUMPY                 What am I supposed to do with a place                 like this, Frank? Who am I supposed to                 ask for, the assistant manager?                        (pause)                 This is the problem. This is the way it                 is now: You can't find the heart of                 anything to stick the knife.    Bumpy stops before a display of cameras and stares in.    They're all pointed at him as a pain grips his chest and he    sinks to his knees. Frank kneels down.                               FRANK                 What is it?    Bumpy seems unable to speak, looks to Frank confused.                              FRANK                 Somebody call an ambulance!    But the store suddenly seems empty. Frank yells into the    emporium but can't be heard above the Muzak and the cash    registers ringing up sales Bumpy will never see a piece of.    Looking up at Frank, Bumpy manages weakly -                              BUMPY                 Forget it, Frank. No one's in charge.5   EXT. BUMPY'S APARTMENT - DAY                                        5    Limousines from the funeral disgorge mourners: family,    friends, celebrities, politicians. Cops on horseback move    through the enormous crowd that has gathered to watch. FBI    agents in cars snap pictures with long lenses of Italian    mobsters like Albert Tosca.                                                                     (CONT)                                                                     3.                              5   CONTINUED:                                                         5                              REPORTER                 - whose passing has brought together a                 who's who of mourners on this chilly                 afternoon. The Governor has come down.                 The mayor of New York - its Chief of                 Police and Commissioner - sports and                 entertainment luminaries -    A white Bentley pulls up, disgorging Jackie Fox - the    original Superfly - and his entourage. With his trademark    tinted Gucci glasses on, he happily poses for anyone with a    camera - including the Feds - before going inside.6   INT. BUMPY'S APARTMENT - LATER                                     6    The report continues on a TV no one's really watching here:    a March of Time-like history of Bumpy Johnson, famed Harlem    gangster, Robin Hood and killer.                              REPORTER ON TV                 He was a Great Man, according to the                 eulogies. A giving man. A man of the                 people. No one chose to include in their                 remembrances the word most often                 associated with Ellsworth Bumpy Johnson:                 Gangster.    Sitting off by himself in Bumpy's elegant garden apartment,    heretofore his private sanctuary, Frank surveys the mourners    circling the place like vultures:    Tango Black, a huge brute, scavenging the catered food and    tended bar ... Jackie Fox, surrounded by his ever-present    coterie of sycophants ... Albert Tosca, an elegant Italian    capo, and an underling, Rossi, at the bar.                              TOSCA                 White wine, please.    A white man who looks like a banker - and is - sits down    next to Frank.                              BANKER                 How you doing, Frank?                              FRANK                 All right.                              BANKER                 What a loss.                        (Frank nods)                 How are you otherwise?   Things okay                 financially?                                                                    (CONT)                                                                    4.                              6   CONTINUED:                                                        6    Frank doesn't say. It feels unseemly to him to be talking    about money here. He watches Tango carelessly set a watery    glass of ice on an antique inlaid chess table.                              BANKER                 Bumpy set something up for you?    Frank excuses himself without an answer, crosses to where    Tango left the glass, and sets it on a coaster.                              TANGO                 Hey, Frank, get me an ashtray while                 you're at it.    Bumpy's German shepherd watches as Frank reaches into his    jacket, revealing a gun nestled in its shoulder holster. He    takes out a handkerchief, wipes the condensation dry, opens    a drawer and removes an ashtray. He holds it out to Tango -    who isn't sure it's not a dare and decides to wander off.                              CHARLIE                 I know you're hurting, Frank.    So am I.    Frank sits back down with Charlie Williams, an older dope    man.                              CHARLIE                 You going to be all right?                             FRANK                 Yeah.                              CHARLIE                 I'm sure Bumpy never told you, but he                 made me promise, anything ever happened                 to him, I'd make sure you didn't go                 without.                              FRANK                 I'll be fine, Charlie. Half the people                 here owed Bumpy money when he died. A                 lot of money. If they think I'm going                 to forget to collect, they're wrong.                              CHARLIE                 That's the spirit. Go get them.    On the TV, over archive film and photographs of crime    figures from the 1940's and `50's, the opinion is offered    that Bumpy's death "marks the end of an era ..."                                                                     5.                              A7   INT. CLASSROOM - NIGHT                                           A7     A figure, his back to us, walks slowly toward a blackboard     like a man to the gallows.                             RICHIE V.O.                I live in fear of hearing my name                                             called.                                                                                    PROFESSOR                Mr. Roberts, Give us U.S. vs. Meade -                                                      RICHIE V.O.                                                      Of walking up there, turning around,                                          knowing every one of them knows more                                          than I do -                                                                                PROFESSOR                                                        Subject, issues, what the determination                                       was and what it means to us today.                                 Richie Roberts turns and faces his classmates, all of them a     decade or more younger than him.7    EXT. MOTEL - NEW JERSEY - DAY                                        7     Harlem's jagged teeth skyline juts across the river at the     other end of the George Washington Bridge. On this side - a     sledgehammer gripped in Richie's fist, on the move, suddenly     fills the frame.                             RICHIE                                                           You know the Number 1 fear of most                                            people isn't dying; it's public speaking.                                     They get physically ill. They throw up.                                                    RIVERA                                                           And that's what you want to do for a                living.                             RICHIE                I don't like being like that.     I want to                                   beat it.     Armed with the sledgehammer, Richie and his partner - Javy                    Rivera - come past a seedy motel office where a TV shows                      another report about Bumpy Johnson.     Legend:   New Jersey     A motel clerk looks up, glimpses the sledgehammer -                                                                    (CONT)                                                                     6.                              7   CONTINUED:                                                         7                              CLERK                 Hey -    Rivera flashes a New Jersey detective's shield without                       breaking stride. Takes a subpoena out of another pocket.                                               RIVERA                                                          Who's going to do this?                                                                   RICHIE                 He knows me, he'll take it from me.                                          I've known him since high school.                                                         RIVERA                                                          Just throw it in, he doesn't take it.                                        That's good service.                                            They reach a particular motel room door. Rivera knocks.                      The door opens the length of a chain, revealing a wise guy    in an undershirt, who, when he sees the subpoena, start to                   close the door -                                                                                       RIVERA                                                          Throw it -                                                      As Richie flings the subpoena in, the door slams on his                      hand. He wails in agony, tries to shoulder it open, hears                    the dead bolt lock on the other side, feels Campizi's teeth                  bite into his fingers, watches his blood run down the frame.                                           RIVERA                                                          Down -                                                          Richie hangs down from his hand as the sledgehammer swings                   past his head shattering the door -                                      8   INT/EXT. MOTEL ROOM - CONTINUOUS                                   8    The door rips from its hinges and the detectives crash in.    The wise guy - Campizi - hurries for the bathroom, slams the                 door. This one's hollow and the detectives more easily                       break through it -                                                           Campizi tries to climb out the bathroom window. Richie                       grabs him, throws him into the shower stall, taking the    plastic curtain down with them, smearing it with blood as    Richie beats at him before Rivera can pull him off.                      9   INT. AMBULANCE - MOVING - DAY                                      9    A male paramedic attends to Campizi's bloodied face while a    female paramedic cleans Richie's bloodied hand.                                                                    (CONT)                                                                     7.                               9    CONTINUED:                                                        9                               CAMPIZI                  I swear to God, Richie, I didn't know it                  was you. I would never slam a door on                  your hand. Knowingly.                               RICHIE                  You bit my fuckin hand -     Richie lunges at him, hits him again with his injured hand -     which hurts Richie more than it does Campizi. The     paramedics manage to pull him away.                               CAMPIZI                  What can we do, Richie? You don't want                  to do this. For old times sake, what can                  we do? Who do you want? Who can I give                  you? You want Big Sal's bookie? You want                  his accountant? I'll give him to you.     Richie regards him a moment. A policy ring's accountant     wouldn't be bad. He glances back to his paramedic dabbing     at his bloody hand, and notices she's not bad-looking. She     smiles back.10   INT. NY POLICE HQ - ENTRANCE/STAIRS - DAY                        10     Four men in long black leather coats stride toward like     they own the city. It's impossible to tell if they're cops     or gangsters.     Legend:   New York City11   INT. NEW YORK POLICE ANNEX - PROPERTY ROOM - DAY                 11     One of the same undercover cops - Detective Trupo -     scribbles a signature and badge number different from the     one on his gold shield lying next to the voucher requesting     evidence needed in court.     He pushes the voucher under a sign - "All Handguns and     Narcotics Before 10am Next Window" - to a clerk who takes it     past floor-to-ceiling shelves covered with files, plastic     bags bulging with handguns, knives and gambling receipts.     Bulkier items - like shotguns and baseball bats - lie     unwrapped with dangling tags.     The clerk reaches a chain-link cage where the most valuable     items are locked up - narcotics, pornography, cash - checks     the voucher against tags, takes down an old green suitcase.                                                                          8.                                    12        EXT. WAREHOUSE - DAY                                             12          Trupo's car - a Shelby Mustang - roars up. He climbs out,          crosses to a warehouse with the suitcase as the other three          SIU Princes of the City follow from another car, cradling          grocery bags.13        INT. WAREHOUSE - DAY                                             13          Trupo snaps the suitcase open revealing five half-kilo bags          of uncut heroin in clear plastic bags. The other cops pull          from the grocery bags: a Pyrex mixing bowl, flour sifter,          boxes of milk-sugar, latex kitchen gloves, a medical scale,          and yellow baggies.          Hands peel back the distinctive black and green "evidence"          tape on the clear plastic bags. Dump the heroin into twenty          yellow baggies. A half-kilo of lactose is poured into each          of the now-empty property room bags.                                 TRUPO                    Now just enough for the reagent test.          He removes one tablespoon of heroin from each of the          baggies, and the now-almost-heroin-free powder is mixed          through the flour sifter, poured back into the clear bags,          the tape resealed, the bags returned to the suitcase.14        INT. NY COURTROOM - DAY                                          14          The suitcase and   "heroin," and some weapons and money, have          been arranged on   an evidence table with the care of a Macy's          display window.    Trupo - the officer in charge of the case -          watches the jury   files in -15        EXT. UNDER EXPRESSWAY - DAY                                      15          A Lincoln Continental pulls up. Trupo climbs out of his          Shelby with a sports bag, crosses to the Lincoln, climbs in          back where an Italian wise guy - Rossi - sits. Trupo unzips          the bag revealing the recut heroin - in the yellow plastic.                                 ROSSI V/O                    This is the French Connection dope.                    The same dope Popeye Doyle and Sonny                    Grasso took from us.16 OMIT                                                             16 OMIT                                                                       9.                                17     INT. ITALIAN BAR - NY - DAY                                      17       Frank comes into an empty bar, chairs up on tables. A       middle-aged man mopping up glances up at him as he crosses       to a back room.                              ROSSI V/O                 They seize it, arrest everybody,                 whack it up and sell it back to us.                 Our dope. They been living off it for                 years, these New York cops.18     INT. ITALIAN BAR - BACK ROOM - NY - DAY                          18       Several ounces of the dope sits in foreground on a table.                              ROSSI                 They basically control the market with                 it. What the fuck has happened to the                 world, Frank?                              FRANK                 Fuckin crooks.       Rossi, who looks more like a middle-aged accountant than the       Italian dope supplier he is, makes two espressos.                              ROSSI                 Sad about Bumpy.       Behind Frank, a TV airs a report by Walter Cronkite on the       heroin problem among GIs in Vietnam.                              ROSSI                 Things are never going to be the same in                 Harlem. The girls, the clubs, the music -                 walk down the street, nobody bothers you                 because Bumpy's making sure of it.                        (hands Frank one of the                         espressos)                 How bad is it there now?18pt   FLASHCUTS TO HARLEM                                            18pt       Guys barge into a room, steal money from a crap game at       gunpoint - Cops push guys against a bar, empty their pockets       - A dealer shoots another dealer in an alley -18pt   BACK TO THE HOTEL ROOM                                         18pt                                FRANK                 It's chaos.    Every gorilla for himself.                                                                      (CONT)                                                                          10.                                   18pt   CONTINUED:                                                        18pt                                 ROSSI                    Who can live like that? There has to                    be order. That would never happen with                    Italians. More important than any one                    man's life - is order.19     EXT. HARLEM - DAY                                                   19       A street sign on a corner:        116th and 8th Avenue.20     INT. DINER - HARLEM - DAY                                           20       As is his custom, Frank eats breakfast alone. A middle-       aged waitress appears when he's done, picks up his plate       and refills his coffee.                                 FRANK                    Thank you, Charlene.      Last one.                                 CHARLENE                    It's all right with me, Frank, you can                    stay all day if you want, but I wouldn't.                    It's nice outside.                                 FRANK                    Then maybe I'll have to go for a walk.                    Just cause you said so.       She smiles and leaves. Frank pours some sugar in his       coffee. Someone taps on the window and he looks up, sees       two servicemen - one in uniform - one he recognizes.21     INT. REDTOP'S APARTMENT BUILDING - DAY                              21       Frank leads the servicemen up the stairs of a building.22     INT. REDTOP'S APARTMENT - DAY                                       22       Corner apartment above the street. A girl sits smoking at       a work table covered with drug-cutting apparatus. Another -       Frank's cutter and sometimes-girlfriend, Red Top - sets a       couple of packets of heroin in front of the servicemen.                                 RED TOP                    On the house for our men in uniform.                                 SERVICEMAN 1                    Why, thank you, sugar, that's very kind.                                   RED TOP                    Thank Frank.                                                                         (CONT)                                                                           11.                                     22        CONTINUED:                                                         22          Frank nods, you're welcome before the man can thank him.          The servicemen start cooking up the dope.                                     FRANK                       How's Nate?   You seen him?                                    SERVICEMAN 1                       All the time. Nate is everywhere.                       He's good. Got himself a club now.                                    FRANK                       Where, Saigon?                                     SERVICEMAN 1                       Bangkok.                                    SERVICEMAN 2                       I don't think he's ever coming home.          Regarding the dope as the servicemen shoot it up -                                    FRANK                       You're gonna have to boot it a couple                       times. Cops keep cutting it, selling it,                       cutting it -                                    SERVICEMAN 1                       I don't want to say anything cause the                       price is right - but the shit in Nam is                       way, way, way, way, way -          He begins to nod out before he can finish the sentence.23 OMIT                                                                23 OMIT24        EXT. SOCIAL CLUB - NEWARK - LATE AFTERNOON                         24          Across the river, Richie, Rivera and Campizi sit in the car                       parked across from a closed social club. A man carrying a          grocery bag comes out and Campizi ducks lower in the seat.                                     CAMPIZI                       That's him.          Newsboy Moriarty's mob accountant puts the grocery bag in          the trunk of a car, climbs in behind the wheel.25        EXT. NEWARK - SCRAP METAL YARD - LATE AFTERNOON                    25          From the parked car they observe the accountant putting          another bag in his trunk.                                                                  12.                            26   EXT. STREET - NEWARK - LATE AFTERNOON                          26     He comes out of another place with another bag.       To Campizi -                             RICHIE               All right.   Get lost.    Get out.     Campizi slinks out of the car. Richie and Rivera follow                    after Newsboy Moriarty's accountant's car.27   EXT. PARKING LOT - LATE AFTERNOON                              27     They tail the car into a lot, park and watch the accountant     leave his car and get into another car that's parked there.                            RIVERA                                                        We gonna stay with him or the car?     Whatever they do, they'll have to decide quick.                            RICHIE               Let's see who comes for the car.28   EXT. PARKING LOT - NEWARK - NIGHT                              28     All the other cars are gone. Rivera climbs into Richie's                   with coffee and a Coke in a bag, hands him the can.                                               RIVERA                                                        Think he made us?     Richie doesn't know. Glances at his watch.      Cranes in his     seat to look behind them.                            RICHIE               You called for the warrant?     Where are               they?                            RIVERA                                                        I just called. I called and walked back               here and ten seconds has gone by.     Richie watches an attendant lock up, listens to the street     lamps buzz, grows impatient. Indicating the other car:                            RICHIE               We saw him with the slips, Javy.                                                        RIVERA                                                        You saw policy slips? You saw grocery               bags. You don't know what's in them.                                                                  (CONT)                                                                      13.                                28   CONTINUED:                                                         28                               RICHIE                  Yes, I do, and so do you, don't give me                  that bullshit -                               RIVERA                                                            What's the rush? Half an hour the                  warrant'll be here -                               RICHIE                  I got night school.                               RIVERA                                                            Guess you're going to miss it.                         (Rivera sips at his coffee;                                                     then:)                                                                 You know, what you were saying before                  - about throwing up in front of people -                  money will take that feeling away.                               RICHIE                  Not when it's less.                               RIVERA                                                            Less than what.                               RICHIE                  Than what I make now.                               RIVERA                                                            No lawyer on earth makes less than a cop.                               RICHIE                  They do in the Prosecutor's Office.                  Three thousand less.                               RIVERA                                                            You're fuckin kidding me.     Richie isn't kidding. Rivera stares at him like he's crazy.                    Richie checks his watch. He's waited long enough.                                RICHIE                  Fuck this -                                RIVERA                                                           Richie -     Richie gets out, opens the trunk, grabs a Slimjim and     bolt cutters, cuts through a gate chain and strides to the     accountant's car, Rivera following. Richie trips the                           passenger door lock and pulls at the trunk release, and, as     he comes around back to search it -                                                                      (CONT)                                                                    14.                              28   CONTINUED:                                                       28                               RICHIE                  Check inside.     Rivera may as well; the damage to the case, if there is one                anymore, is done. He crawls inside the car to look under     the seats and in the glove compartment. Gravely -                              RICHIE                  Javy ...                                                      Richie's staring into the trunk like there's a body inside.     Rivera comes over, takes a look, sees it's money: stacks of                it rubber-banded together, spilling from grocery bags - more               than either of them has ever seen. As the trunk closes -              29   EXT. PARKING LOT / RICHIE'S CAR - LATER - NIGHT                  29        Richie and Rivera sit in their car in silence, staring out                 at the car with the money in it. Eventually -                                                        RICHIE                  This isn't a couple of bucks.                               RIVERA                                                        It's the same thing.   In principle.                               RICHIE                  We're talking about principle?                               RIVERA                                                        Richie, a cop who turns in this kind of                  money says one thing: He'll turn in cops                  who take money. We'll be pariahs.                               RICHIE                  We're fucked either way.                               RIVERA                                                        Not if we keep it. Only if we don't.                  Then we're fucked, you're right. But not                  if we keep it.                               RICHIE                         (more to himself)                  Yes, we are.                               RIVERA                                                        Goddamn it, did we ask for this? Did we                  put a gun to someone's head and say, Give                  us your money? Cops kill cops they can't                                   trust. We can't turn it in.                                   They regard each other again in silence ...                                                                 15.                           30   INT. NEWARK POLICE STATION - LATER - NIGHT                    30     As a police captain counts the stacks of money, Lou Toback,     Richie's superior from the prosecutors office, walks in, his     night out interrupted by this emergency. He crossed to where     Richie and Rivera sit alone in a corner. Quietly:                                                TOBACK               How much.                            RICHIE               Nine hundred and eighty thousand.                            TOBACK               What happened to the rest?     It's a joke but isn't funny, not even to Toback. He regards     his men who turned it in, then the other cops in the place -     who are watching them and the money being counted. Toback     walks over to the captain, and, quietly:                            TOBACK               What're you doing counting this in front                                  of everybody? Are you out of your fuckin               mind? Take it into a room. Now.     Richie's glance to Rivera says, You're right, we're fucked.          31   INT/EXT. NEWARK POLICE STATION - PRE-DAWN                     31     As Richie leaves alone, he's aware of all the eyes on him -     knowing the other cops' looks don't signify awe or respect,     but contempt and fear, like Rivera predicted. Neither will                ever be trusted again. He climbs into his car, drives off.32   INT. DINER - HARLEM - DAY                                     32     Tango and his bodyguard come in and approach Frank's table     where he reads the morning paper as he eats breakfast.                            TANGO               Didn't you see the jar, Frank?               I think you walked right past it.     Frank ignores him, forks at his eggs, eats.    Tango sits.                            TANGO               The money jar. On the corner.      What I               got to do, put a sign on it?     Frank indicates that he would answer if his mouth wasn't     full. He swallows finally, but then only reaches for his     coffee cup to take a sip, further irritating Tango.                                                                 (CONT)                                                                     16.                               32   CONTINUED:                                                        32                               TANGO                  Bumpy don't own 116th Street no more,                  Frank. Bumpy don't own no real estate in                  Harlem no more. I'm the landlord now and                  the lease is twenty-percent.     Frank dabs at his mouth with a napkin and gives Tango a look     that says that won't be happening.                               TANGO                  Then don't sell dope, Frank. Get a                  fuckin job. You need a job? You can be                  my driver, drive me around, open my door,                  yes, sir, no sir, where to, sir, right                  away, Massa Johnson, sir.     Right now Tango is dead. No doubt about it.          On the     surface, though, Frank remains cool.                               FRANK                  Twenty percent?                               TANGO                  Of every dollar. Every VIG, every                  truckload, every girl, every ounce.      In                  the jar.                               FRANK                  Twenty percent's my profit. If I'm                  giving it to you then what am I doing?                  Twenty percent puts me, and everyone you                  know, out of business, which puts you out                  of business.                         (reaches for his breakfast                          check)                  There are ways to make money                  legitimately, and then there's this way.                  Not even Bumpy took twenty percent.                               TANGO                  Bumpy's fuckin dead.     Frank regards Tango a moment, gets up, takes out his money     clip, covers the check on the table with a five, peels off a     $1 bill from the clip, tosses it down in front of Tango.                                FRANK                  There.   That's twenty-percent.     As he turns and leaves, Tango watches after him ...                                                                 17.                           33   INT. RICHIE'S APARTMENT - NIGHT                               33          Stitched-up, black and blue hands dump a can of soup in a     pot, put it on the stove.34   INT. FRANK'S APARTMENT - NIGHT - INTERCUT                     34          A pencil clutched by long fingers scribbles figures. But     no matter how many times Frank does the arithmetic, there's     not much left, he calculates, after he pays the Italian     suppliers and, if he were to, Tango.35   INT. RICHIE'S APARTMENT - NIGHT - CONTINUED                   35          Richie has moved to a small desk cluttered with law     textbooks. He cracks one open to study for the New Jersey                 Bar exam as he eats the soup out of the pot he heated it in.              Above him on the wall is a framed photograph of Joe Louis                 standing over a sprawled-on-the-mat Billy Conn.                      36   EXT. CONEY ISLAND - BEACH - DAY - INTERCUT                    36     A bleak day. Seagulls fighting over scraps on the sand as     others hover overhead, flapping and cawing. Alone near the     water, Frank tosses a stick for the German shepherd he     inherited.37   INT. RICHIE'S APARTMENT - NIGHT - INTERCUT                    37          Richie opens a small wooden box in his bleak apartment,     revealing an ounce of marijuana, rolling papers and clips.     As he rolls a joint -                            BUMPY V/O               A leader is like a shepherd -38   EXT. CONEY ISLAND - BEACH - DAY - CONTINUED                   38     The sounds of the gulls and surf and roller coaster begin to     fade as Frank throws the stick again.                            BUMPY V/O               Sends the fast nimble sheep out front,               and the others follow as the shepherd               walks quietly behind -     The dog retrieves the stick, but this time - somehow - it's     to Bumpy's hand he returns it. Frank listens attentively.                            BUMPY               He's got the stick - the cane - and               he'll use if he has to.                            (MORE)                                                                 (CONT)                                                                    18.                              38   CONTINUED:                                                       38                               BUMPY (CONT'D)                  But most of the time he doesn't have to.                  He moves the whole herd - quietly.     Bumpy smiles and tosses the stick.39   INT. RICHIE'S APARTMENT - NIGHT - INTERCUT                       39        The smoke from the joint rises to the ceiling as Richie                    studies.                                                              40   EXT. CONEY ISLAND - BEACH - DAY - CONTINUED                      40     The dog trots back to Bumpy and Frank with the stick.41   EXT. BOARDWALK - CONEY ISLAND - LATER                            41     Hot dog stand. Bumpy hands a hot dog to Frank, holds out     another to the shepherd. To camera:                               BUMPY                  What right do they have cutting out the                  suppliers, the middlemen, buying direct,                  putting Americans out of work ... This                  is the way it is now, Frank.     Frank nods. The vender hands him a napkin. The shepherd     is still with him, but Bumpy is gone, and the gulls and the     people on the roller coaster squeal as Frank comes out of     his meditative trance with an idea.42   CLOSE-UP: (DOCTOR'S OFFICE)                                      42     A needle pierces the crook of Frank's arm.       Slight grimace.     A cotton ball is pushed onto the puncture.       Malaria shot.43   CLOSE-UP: (PHOTOGRAPHY SHOP)                                     43     A strobe lights up Frank's face:      a passport photo.44   CLOSE-UP: (POST OFFICE)                                          44     The photo and a duplicate are stapled to a passport     application.45   INT. CHEMICAL BANK - SAFETY-DEPOSIT ROOM - DAY                   45     Keys turn the locks of a safety-deposit box. The lid lifts     revealing decks of cash. Frank takes it all out, slips one     slender packet into Bumpy's banker's jacket pocket.                               FRANK                  Get yourself a new suit.                                                                      19.                                46      INT. CHEMICAL BANK - VICE PRESIDENT'S OFFICE - DAY              46        Under portraits of bank Vice Presidents before him, the man        types out a Chemical Bank check for Frank for $400,000.                47 - 48 OMIT                                                47 - 48 OMIT49      EXT. PARK - NEWARK - DAY - SAME TIME                            49        The sound of the plane growls and fades overhead as Richie's        ex-wife keeps an eye on their son playing on a grassy area.                                RICHIE                  I'm sorry.                               LAURIE                  I don't know, Richie.                               RICHIE                  It couldn't be avoided. Next weekend                  I'll be able to take him.        She regards him with a weary look, but he's looking over at        one of the other - better-looking - moms in the park.                                LAURIE                  I'm moving.        He looks back, not sure he heard right.                                RICHIE                  What?   Where?                               LAURIE                  To the St. Regis, what do you care.                         (pause)                  My sister's.                               RICHIE                  Your sister's. In Vegas?        He glances away to a sound: shattering glass.        Some teen-        agers breaking bottles on the ground.                               RICHIE                  You can't move to Vegas.     Not with                  Michael anyway.                               LAURIE                  What am I supposed to do with him?       Leave                  him with you? There's a picture.                                                                      (CONT)                                                                       20.                                 49   CONTINUED:                                                          49                               RICHIE                         (to the vandals)                  Hey, you want to shut up over there?     The teenagers ignore him. He tries to ignore them, but it's     hard with the constant noise.                               RICHIE                  No court will allow it for one thing.                  I won't allow it.                                 LAURIE                  You?                               RICHIE                  When am I supposed to see my son?                               LAURIE                  Last weekend!     Their son glances over at them. Richie looks over at the     teenagers again breaking bottles, then back to Laurie.                               RICHIE                  Laurie, you can't raise a kid in Las                  Vegas.                                                                                       LAURIE                  Oh, like this is a good environment.                  Around your friends. There are less                                             creeps in Vegas.                                                                             RICHIE                  What's he going to grow up to be in a                                           mobbed up place like that? What are you                                         thinking?                               LAURIE                  I'm thinking - Richie - of him!                                 RICHIE                  Goddamn it -     The noise of the glass is driving him crazy. He strides     over to the teenagers, who look at him like, What are you     gonna do, old man, it's four against one.                               RICHIE                  I told you nice to shut the fuck up.                  Now I'm gonna kill you.     He pulls out his gun and aims it at one of them, then the     others. All instinctively try to cover their heads.                                                                       (CONT)                                                                       21.                                 49      CONTINUED:                                                       49                                  RICHIE                     Pick up the fuckin glass!        As they dive to their knees to do what they're told, Laurie        walks away with her son, who looks back over his shoulder at        his father with his gun out.50      EXT. BANGKOK - NIGHT                                             50             Frank sits in the back of a motor samlor.       Bicycles dart        around it like flies.51 - 52 OMIT                                                 51 - 52 OMIT       53      INT. SOUL BROTHERS BAR - NIGHT                                   53        The clientele is almost exclusively black servicemen on R&R        and Asian women. A trio of ex-GI's plays authentic Southern        blues on a small stage. Ham hocks and collard greens come        out of the kitchen. Smoke chokes the place.        Frank, one of the few men not in uniform, and not drunk or        stoned, sits alone at a table with a Coca-Cola and surveys        the activity: Dope being rolled. Dope being smoked. Dope        being shot. GI's and prostitutes climbing a staircase.        His eyes follow an Army Master Sergeant, moving among the        tables as if checking on the GI's well being. But at some,        his hand takes money, leaves in its place packets of powder.        The Sergeant feels eyes on him and glances up, catching        Frank watching him from across the room. He squints through        the smoke at the figure at the table in the shadows, and, in        a kind of shock, more to himself -                                 NATE                     Frank - ?        Frank half-lifts his glass to wave, and Nate beams.54      INT. SOUL BROTHERS BAR - NIGHT                                   54        Frank has guests at his table now: his cousin Nate the        Sergeant, and two young Asian wise guys. They talk about        him in Thai (subtitled):                                  THAI                     He say how much he wants?                                  NATE                     He said "a lot." What that means, I                     don't know. Four or five keys?                                                                       (CONT)                                                                    22.                              54   CONTINUED:                                                       54     The Thais regard Frank a moment, size him up.                               THAI                  He's your cousin.                               NATE                  My cousin-in-law.    My ex-wife's cousin.                               THAI                  Ask him how much he wants.                               NATE                  How much you gonna want, Frank?                               FRANK                  A hundred kilos.     Nate blinks like there's something in his eye ...55   EXT. BANGKOK - STREET VENDER - DAY                               55     Steam and neon.    Frank and Nate at a crowded stand.                               NATE                  No one I know can get that much. It'd                  have to be pieced together from several                  suppliers and none of it's gonna be 100-                  percent pure.                               FRANK                  That's not what I want.                               NATE                  I know that. But that means dealing                  with the Chiu-Chou syndicates in Cholon                  or Saigon - if they'll deal with you -                               FRANK                  No, even then it's too late. It's been                  chopped. I want to get it where they get                  it. From the source.     Nate stares at him ... then laughs.       Frank doesn't.                               NATE                  You're gonna go get it.                              FRANK                  Why not.                               NATE                  You're gonna go into the fuckin jungle -                                                                    (CONT)                                                                      23.                                55     CONTINUED:                                                       55                                 FRANK                    I've lived in jungles all my (life) -                                NATE                    No. This is the jungle. Tigers.                    Vietcong. The fuckin snakes alone will                    kill you.AA56   INT. NEW JERSEY BOARD OF BAR EXAMINERS - DAY                   AA56          A room of student-type desks and no character. Richie,                       and fifty others, have been here for hours taking the exam                   less than half of them will pass.                                     A56    EXT. JUNGLE - DAY                                               A56       A motley bunch of Thai thugs and black American soldiers       with automatic weapons ride mules through the dense jungle       with Nate and Frank, who - armed with a pistol, a rifle and       ammo bandolier like Pancho Villa - is enjoying himself.       From his POV, the jungle canopy suddenly opens up on a poppy       field the size of Manhattan. Frank stares down at it.B56    EXT. JUNGLE RISE / OPIUM FARM - DAY                             B56       On the ground now with their small private army, Nate speaks       with one of the Thais, then translates for Frank.                                 NATE                    He says this whole area's controlled                    by the Kuomintang - Chiang Kai-Shek's                    defeated army.       Some of whom they can see down below on the opium farm -       Chinese soldiers with outdated weapons. Frank tips his head       to Nate at some other figures below -                                 FRANK                    They ain't Chinese.       A handful of better-armed American sentries at the perimeter       of the farm. CIA. Frank, Nate and the others hang back as       one of the Thais steps ahead to speak to the guerillas.C56    EXT. OPIUM FARM - LATER                                         C56       The processing center for the entire region. The Thai       translator is with Frank to negotiate with a vanquished       Chinese general. Other Americans and Thais guard them       while the Chinese with their CIA advisors guard them.                                                                   24.                            D56   INT. BAMBOO DWELLING - LATER - DAY                            D56      The Chinese general examines Frank's papers - passport,      visa, bank receipts - and lots of cash - then studies Frank.                             GENERAL                How would you get it into the States?                             FRANK                What do you care?                             GENERAL                Who do you work for in there?                             FRANK                What do you care?                             GENERAL                Who are you really?                             FRANK                It says right there.   Frank Lucas.                             GENERAL                I mean, who you represent?                             FRANK                Me.      The man doesn't believe it, but lets it go.                             GENERAL                You think you're going to take a hundred                kilos of heroin into the US and you don't                work for anyone? Someone is going to                allow that?      Frank shrugs. The general regards one of his men.       In      Chinese, subtitled:                             GENERAL                I don't believe a word of this.      The general regards the cash and paperwork again for a      moment. And, to Frank:                             GENERAL                After this first purchase, if you're not                killed by Marseilles importers - or their                people in the States - then what?                                                                   (CONT)                                                                     25.                               D56   CONTINUED:                                                     D56                                FRANK                   Then there'd be more. On a regular basis.                   Though I'd rather not have to drag my ass                   all the way up here every time.      The man regards Frank for a long moment.       Glances back to      the cash and paperwork again. Finally -                                GENERAL                   Of course not.E56   EXT. JUNGLE ARMY LZ - VIETNAM - DAY                             E56      Torrential monsoon rains. Dripping camouflage. Nate and      Frank climb down from the Huey. Frank no longer wears the      bandolier. Now a press card dangles from his neck.F56   INT/EXT. TENT / JUNGLE ARMY LZ - LATER - DAY                    F56      Stripes on the uniform of a black colonel with Nate under a      canopy. Outside, in the distance, in the rain, Frank hangs      out with some other black servicemen.                                COLONEL                   Where's it now?                               NATE                   Bangkok. I can bring it here or anywhere                   in between.                                COLONEL                   A hundred kilos.                          (Nate nods)                   I never seen that much dope in one place.                                NATE                   It's bigger than an Amana refrigerator-                   freezer.G56   INT/EXT. JUNGLE ARMY LZ - LATER - DAY                           G56      Nate and Frank watch the colonel emerge from the tent and      cross through the rain on duck-boards to another tent to      speak with a white officer, a 2-star general.                                NATE                   Fifty grand. In advance. That'll                   cover them, the pilots and the guys on                   the other end.                                FRANK                   Give them a hundred.                                                                     (CONT)                                                                       26.                                 G56   CONTINUED:                                                       G56                                NATE                   Fifty, to cover them all.                                FRANK                   A hundred. And it's all I got left. So                   if that dope doesn't arrive, for whatever                   reason -                          (embraces Nate and whispers)                   Cousin or no cousin - don't let me down.      He holds out a business envelope fat with money. Nate      hesitates, knowing Frank has just said he'll kill him if      things don't go right, then takes it.                                NATE                   I'll let you know when it's in the air.56    INT. RICHIE'S APARTMENT - NEWARK - DAWN                            56      The nurse/paramedic who stitched up his hand is in Richie's      bed making so much noise he's worried someone will call the      cops. The phone rings. And won't stop. Neither will the      nurse as Richie answers it -                                RIVERA V/O                                                         Richie? Richie, I'm in trouble.    This                   fuckin guy "made" me - I don't know how                   but he did. He went for his gun. I had                   to do it, I swear to God. Now they're                   going to kill me.      Richie can hear in Sander's voice how serious it is and      manages to disentangle himself from the woman.                                 RICHIE                   Who.                                RIVERA V/O                                                         There's a hundred people out there heard                   the shots. You gotta help me. You gotta                   do something.                                 RICHIE                   Is he dead?                                  RIVERA V/O                                                       He's dead.    I'm dead. They're gonna kill                   me.                                RICHIE                   Where are you? Javy, where are you?                                                                                                 (CONT)                                                                     27.                               56    CONTINUED:                                                       56                                RIVERA V/O                                                       That's the problem.A57   INT. RICHIE'S CAR - MOVING - EARLY MORNING                      A57      Richie on his police radio, which cuts in and out -                                DISPATCHER                   There are no cars in that area,                   Detective Roberts.                                RICHIE                   Bullshit. I got a man in trouble and I                   need back-up.                                DISPATCHER                   I missed that - you're breaking up -                                RICHIE                   I said, put the fucking call out again -                                DISPATCHER                   I just did. No one responded.     I'll try                   again, but -                                                                               RICHIE                                                           Fuck you, too.                                                   He slams the mic down.57    EXT. STEPHEN CRANE PROJECTS - MORNING                            57      As Richie's car turns a corner, the Stephen Crane Projects -      the most foreboding place on earth - rises up: three dark      30-floor towers planted on war-torn grounds where a long-ago      torched and abandoned patrol car sits like a monument.      He parks and moves through an agitated all-black crowd, past      an ambulance outside one of the towers, through oppressive      heat. It's riot weather.58    INT. STEPHEN CRANE PROJECTS - MORNING                            58      Drugs on a coffee table. Body on the floor. Rivera,                           despondent, on the couch. The male paramedics, scared.                        Richie on the phone -                                                                                   RICHIE                                                           Sergeant, I'm not asking, I'm fuckin                                          telling you: Get some patrolmen over                                          here now.                                                                                                                       (CONT)                                                                       28.                                 58    CONTINUED:                                                         58      Dial tone: the police sergeant has hung up on him.           Richie             throws the phone. The paramedics stare at him.                                                            PARAMEDIC                   You got no back-up? Why is that?                                   The only other person who would know the answer to that is      Rivera, who just shakes his head in despair.                                                              RICHIE                   Bandage his head.                                PARAMEDIC                   Detective ... he's dead.                                RICHIE                   I know he's fucking dead. Bandage his                   head, clean him up, put him on a gurney                   and prop it up so he's sitting. And open                   his eyes.59    EXT. STEPHEN CRANE PROJECTS - MORNING                              59      Richie comes out ahead of the gurney, moving quickly like      it's a matter of life and death (which it is), motioning at      the crowd to allow a path to the ambulance.                                RICHIE                   Step back, injured man coming out. Let                   them do their job and he'll be all right.                   Ma'am. Excuse me. Step back. Sir.                   Please.      The people step back when they see the victim on the gurney:      tubes in his nostrils, IV in his arm, eyes open. Before they      can look any closer, he's put in the ambulance. As it pulls      out, siren wailing, Richie leads Rivera safely away -                     A60   EXT. ALLEY NEAR STEPHEN CRANE PROJECTS - MORNING                  A60      They cross through an alley near the Projects and Rivera                        finally breathes a sigh of relief.                                 RIVERA                                                            Thank you -      The words aren't out of his mouth before Richie shoves him                      up against a car.                                                                                         RICHIE                   You robbed him, didn't you.                                                                       (CONT)                                                                       29.                                 A60   CONTINUED:                                                       A60                                 RIVERA                                                            What?   What are you talking about?      Richie rips Rivera's jacket pockets.        Money spills out.                                              RICHIE                   This.   Where'd this come from?                                RIVERA                                                             What. That's my money. I've never                   taken dirty money in my life.                                RICHIE                   You lying piece of shit -                                RIVERA                                                             Maybe the occasional gratuity. Like                   anybody else. You're going to tell me                   that's wrong?                                 RICHIE                   Yeah.                                RIVERA                                                             No, it isn't. It's part of the salary                   for getting shot at. For that, certain                   courtesies are shown. In gratitude -                               Richie, disgusted with him, lets go of him.         Rivera is                   embarrassed, almost crying, pleading -                                                                    RIVERA                                                             A discount on a TV, a Doughboy in the                                           backyard, a new dress for your girlfriend                                       maybe once a year. I'm talking about not                                        living in fucking poverty. You want to                                          call that wrong, call it wrong.                                 RICHIE                                                            It's wrong.                                                                                  RIVERA                                                             Then goddamn it, pay me fifty grand a                                           year, you son of a bitch. Pay me what I                   deserve for getting shot at. No? Fine.                   Next time four guys come into your place                   with sawed-off shotguns, you take care of                   it.                                RICHIE                   You robbed him, and then you shot him,                   and I helped you get out of there. How                   many more you shot?                                                                       (CONT)                                                                       30.                                 A60     CONTINUED:                                                     A60        Rivera suddenly tries to get tough -                                                                      RIVERA                                                             You know what, Richie? Fuck you, you                     make that kind of accusation against your                     own kind. And you know why.        He takes out his car keys, turns to leave. Comes past                           Richie who grabs his arm and pushes the sleeve up exposing a                    line of puncture scabs and scars.                                  RICHIE                     You're a disgrace.                                  RIVERA                                                             I'm a leper. Because I listened to you                     and turned in a million fucking dollars.                     You know who'll work with me after that?                     Same as you. No one.        Richie squeezes Rivera's hand around the car key.                                                         RICHIE                     Don't look down there. Look here.                            (at Richie's eyes)                     You ever fuckin threaten me again, I'll                     kill you.        Richie squeezes Sander's hand so hard the car key cuts        through the skin, drawing blood.60 - 69 OMIT                                                 60 - 69 OMIT70      EXT. ARMY BASE, NEW JERSEY - DUSK                                70        Silence. Marshland. A beat-up Chevy parked alongside a        perimeter fence. Frank waits by the car as a military Jeep        with its lights out comes across a firing range. It slows,        stops. In it, the silhouettes of three servicemen, black,        armed with M-16's. Silence again, before:                                  ARMY CAPTAIN                     Open the trunk.        Frank does it, then stands aside as the other servicemen        drag four large taped-up duffel bags from the Jeep to his        car, lift them into his trunk and slam it shut.71      INT. FRANK'S APARTMENT - LATER - NIGHT                           71        The duffel bags, still closed, on a table. Frank regards        them, nursing a drink, putting off the moment of discovery        that he has perhaps spent his life's savings on nothing.                                                                       (CONT)                                                                     31.                               71    CONTINUED:                                                       71      The German shepherd watches as Frank removes the tape from      one of the bags. He pulls it open - has almost no reaction -      except to breathe again - then opens the next, and the next.      And we see: Several brick-like packages of No. 4 heroin      wrapped in paper marked with Chinese writing, stamped with      a label: two lions on their hind legs, paws on a globe,      and, in English: DOUBLE UOGLOBE BRAND 100%.A72   INT. FRANK'S APARTMENT - LATER - DAWN                           A72           The duffel bags are elsewhere. The only evidence of any      drugs is the small amount Frank has given a chemist - who      looks like a Harvard student - to test. It responds                           instantly. The young man looks at Frank.                                                                CHEMIST                   Typically what I see is 25 to 45                                              percent pure. I've never seen anything                                        like this. No alkaloids, no adulterants,                                      no dilutents. It's a hundred percent.                                         May I?                                                           The chemist opens a leather travel syringe kit to shoot up,                   but Frank gives him some to take home instead.                                                          FRANK                                                            Take it with you. I don't want to have                                        to call the coroner.                                             The chemist gathers his things to leave, offering a last                      piece of advice -                                                                                       CHEMIST                                                          Store it in a cool, dark place.                            72    EXT. GREENSBORO, NORTH CAROLINA - DUSK                           72      A clapboard house set down on a piece of land that was      probably once worked by sharecroppers. An elderly woman      framed in a lit kitchen window, doing dishes.      Dark yew trees and scavenged, discarded cars and car parts      like patches of rusty snow. Crickets and bullfrogs. From a      mound of dirt, a young man hurls a baseball to another with      a catcher's mitt exactly sixty feet away. The kid's got a      major league arm.      Legend:   Greensboro, North Carolina      A glow spills out from a detached shed where a short man in      his early 30's works on a stock car.                                                                     (CONT)                                                                      32.                                72   CONTINUED:                                                         72     A greasy phone on the workbench rings and another     disreputable-looking man, thumbing through a magazine,     answers.                               JIMMY                  Yeah ... for you.                                TEDDY                  Who is it?     Jimmy doesn't know, sets it down. Teddy comes over wiping     his hands on a rag, takes the phone.                                TEDDY                  Yeah.                                FRANK V/O                  Teddy.                                TEDDY                  Who's this?                                FRANK V/O                  Frank.                                TEDDY                  Frank who?                               FRANK V/0                  Frank your brother.73   INT. COURTROOM - DAY                                               73     Divorced couples in custody battles wait with their                            attorneys in a packed courthouse. An lawyer carrying papers                    clipped with a $10 bill, comes past Richie, who's sitting                      with his lawyer, a woman he's probably slept with.                                                       SHEILA                  I'm not talking about your proclivities,                  Richie. Those I only know too well. I'm                  talking about being a cop.                               RICHIE                  About taking money? I don't care about                                         money. I don't do that.                                                                     SHEILA                  Because it'll come out. You're going to                  have to sit down with shrinks and social                  workers, her lawyers, the judge, lots of                  questions.                                                                      (CONT)                                                                      33.                                73   CONTINUED:                                                         73                               RICHIE                  What's going on there?                                            The judge's assistant rearranging the pre-trial cases in                       order of the amount of gratuity clipped to each - $5, $10,                     $20 bills.                                                                                                SHEILA                                                           Scheduling.                                                                                 RICHIE                                                            No, the money.                                                                              SHEILA                                                            Scheduling. What about your friends                                            from the neighborhood? You still hang                  out with them?                               RICHIE                  I play softball on Sundays with some                  guys.                                 SHEILA                  Wise guys.    That's going to look good.                               RICHIE                  I grew up with them, big deal.                               SHEILA                  What about Anthony Zaca?                                                                    RICHIE                  What about him?                               SHEILA                  Richie, I'm just trying to understand                  things your wife has said. If they're                  not true, tell me.                               RICHIE                  Yeah, Tony's one of them.                               SHEILA                  Is he also your son's godfather?     Richie nods. Sheila glances over to where Richie's ex-wife     sits with her own lawyer across the room.                               SHEILA                  Do you really care about this? Or do                  you just not want her to win - ever. How                  often do you see your son as it is?                                                                      (CONT)                                                                      34.                                73   CONTINUED:                                                         73                                RICHIE                  Not enough.   But she wants to make it                                         never.                                                                                      SHEILA                                                            Yeah, all right. Give me a twenty.                                                    (Richie doesn't reach for                                                       his wallet)                                                            Well, I'm not going to sit here all day.                          She takes a twenty from her purse and carries it up to the                     judge's assistant clipped to their paperwork.                                                             BAILIFF                  All rise -74   EXT. HOUSE - TEANECK, NEW JERSEY - DAY                             74     Frank and the dog in the back yard of a suburban house.     His neighbors - those he can see - are white. He hears a     sound - cars arriving - and crosses toward the house where     a sold "For Sale" sign leans against a half-built kennel.     Out front, a caravan of cars and pickup trucks - North     Carolina plates - loaded with boxes and suitcases - has just     arrived. Exhausted from the drive but excited to be here,     the travelers climb out: Frank's five brothers, their wives     and kids, and their mother.     Teddy thinks it's the right place. The others aren't as     sure. The house is too nice. There's a new Lincoln Towncar     parked outside the garage. They'll probably be shot for     trespassing.     The front door opens and Frank comes out, trailed by his     dog. He first gathers his mother in an embrace, then each     of his startled brothers.75   INT. FRANK'S TEANECK HOUSE - LATER - DAY                           75     The house is alive with the noise of family and scent of     home-cooked food as the extended Lucas clan - there's more     than twenty of them - sits around a big dining room table     passing the platters around. Frank, at the head of the     table, clearly loves having them all here.                               TURNER                  He got an arm on him.     Major League arm,                  ain't that right.     Everyone agrees as Turner's son - Frank's nephew - the 18-     year-old boy seen pitching in the North Carolina back yard -     tries to shrug.                                                                      (CONT)                                                                      35.                                75   CONTINUED:                                                         75                               FRANK                  You show me after supper.                               TURNER                  You can't catch him. He'll take your                  head off. We're talking 95-mile-an-hour.                  You know how fast that is? You see the                  ball leave his hand, and that's the last                  you see it before it knocks you down.                               FRANK                         (smiling; happy)                  Is that right.76   INT. FRANK'S TEANECK HOUSE - LATER - DAY                           76     The wonderful noise continues downstairs as Frank leads his     mother on a tour of the upstairs. The place is a showroom     of traditional Americana.                               FRANK                  This is your room.     Mrs. Lucas is   in awe of the splendor of the bedroom and its     furnishings.    It's unlike anything she's used ever seen -     not Graceland   exactly - but not far off. Her eyes settle on     an old vanity   dotted with French perfume bottles.                               MRS. LUCAS                  How did you ...                               FRANK                  I had it made. From memory.                               MRS. LUCAS                  You were five when they took it away.                  How could you remember it?                                FRANK                  I remember.     She's stunned. Touches the reproduction of the vanity her     son last saw more than thirty years ago.                               MRS. LUCAS                  It's perfect.                         (looks at the room)                  It's all perfect.                         (she looks at him)                  I'm so proud of you.                                                                 36.                           77   EXT. HUDSON RIVER - DAY                                       77     The Statue of Liberty against the New York skyline.                            FRANK V/O               The man I worked for ran one of the               biggest companies in New York City for               almost fifty years.78   EXT. HARLEM - DAY                                             78     As Frank leads his brothers down the sidewalk, the Towncar     that was parked at the Teaneck house, driven by Frank's body-     guard, Doc, follows alongside at the same pace they walk.                            FRANK               I was with him every day for fifteen of               them, looking after him, taking care of               things, protecting him, learning from               him.     The brothers can't help but notice the storekeepers who wave     to Frank, the women who smile, the men who step out of his     path like there's a red carpet under his polished shoes.                            FRANK               Bumpy was rich, but never white   man rich.               Why? Because he didn't own the    company.               He thought he did. He didn't.     He only               managed it. Someone else owned    it. So               they owned him.79   INT/EXT. REDTOP'S APARTMENT BUILDING - HARLEM - DAY           79     Frank leads his brothers up the stairs and down the hall.                            FRANK               Nobody owns me. Because I own my               company.     INTERCUT: Feminine hands stamp small packets of blue     cellophane with the words `Blue Magic' -                            FRANK               And my company sells a product that's               better than the competition's at a price               that's lower.     Frank stops outside an apartment door.                            TEDDY               What are we selling, Frank?                                                                 (CONT)                                                                     37.                               79   CONTINUED:                                                        79     Frank pushes the door open, revealing -80   INT. REDTOP'S APARTMENT - CONTINUOUS - DAY                        80     Five naked women at work tables, their faces veiled by     surgical masks, cutting heroin with lactose and quinine in a     precise mixture of controlled purity. The Lucas brothers     stare as the supervisor of the activity - clothed, with red     hair - comes over.                               REDTOP                  Hi, Frank.                               FRANK                  Honey, these are my brothers.81   EXT. HARLEM - LATER - DAY                                         81     Tango strolls down the street like he's the Godfather of     Harlem, girl on his arm, bodyguard at his side.82   INT. DINER - SAME TIME                                            82     As his brothers eat lunch, Frank - who can see Tango outside     - uncaps a glass sugar container.                               FRANK                  What matters in business is honesty,                  integrity, hard work, loyalty, and never                  forgetting where you came from.     For reasons his brothers can't imagine, Frank empties all     sugar from the container onto his plate.                               FRANK                  You are what you are and that's one of                  two things. You're nothing ... or you're                  something. Understand what I'm saying?     The brothers nod tentatively, stare at the now-empty glass     container. Frank wipes his mouth with a napkin, gets up.                               FRANK                  I'll be right back.83   EXT/INT. DINER - MOMENTS LATER                                    83     He comes out of the diner, crosses the street toward Tango,     who's buying fruit. Greets him cheerfully -                               FRANK                  Hey, Tango, what's up.    I was just                  thinking about you.                               (MORE)                                                                     (CONT)                                                                    38.                              83   CONTINUED:                                                       83                               FRANK (CONT'D)                  I was looking at the jar and you know                  what? I didn't    see nothing in it.                               TANGO                  The fuck you want, Frank -     Before the last word is out of Tango's mouth, Frank's got a     gun pressed against his forehead. Silence. Everyone backs     away - the bodyguard, too. Tango's girl pulls her arm from     his and takes off. Eventually -                               TANGO                  What're you going to do, boy? Shoot me                  in broad daylight? In front of everyone?     It's as if life on the street has stopped. No one moves;     everyone is looking at Frank; maybe that's what he wants.     As Tango laughs at the thought -                               FRANK                  Yeah, that's right.     Frank pulls the trigger and the big man falls back like     someone hit with a board. Frank stands over him and empties     the gun in his chest, the shots echoing down the street.     Then it's quiet again. Everyone's still looking him, but     Frank doesn't run. Instead, he calmly reaches into Tango's     suit pocket, takes out a money clip thick with cash, drops     it in the "jar" and sets it next to the body.                               FRANK                  For the cops. Should be enough.     Frank returns to the diner and sits back down, ignoring the     astonished stares from his brothers and everyone else in the     place. Tries to remember where he was in his lecture as he     tucks the napkin back in his shirt collar.                               FRANK                  That basically's the whole picture right                  there.84   INT. MORGUE - NIGHT                                              84     A cadaver drawer slides open revealing - not Tango - but     Rivera, staring up lifeless, his arms, stomach, legs and                     toes dotted with the scabs of a longtime addict.                               DETECTIVE                  Did you know his girlfriend? Good-                  looking girl. One of his informants.                                                                    (CONT)                                                                    39.                              84   CONTINUED:                                                       84                              RICHIE                  Beth.     The medical examiner slides open another cadaver drawer     containing her body. Richie stares at it.                               DETECTIVE                  Should've seen their place.    Like animals                  lived there.                               RICHIE                  I have seen it.                               DETECTIVE                         (to the examiner)                  Chose a good night, huh?   Grand Central                  Station in here.                               MEDICAL EXAMINER                  It's been like this. I'm lucky I get                  home before midnight; lots of careless-                  ness.     Richie regards Rivera's personal effects resting on his                      chest in a plastic bag: few bucks, the Corvette key, a half-     empty packet of heroin in blue cellophane. Richie takes the     blue cellophane from the bag and, as the drawer closes     entombing Sanders, holds it in his hand ...                               REPORTER V/O                  Heroin addiction is no longer exclusive                  to big city neighborhoods; it's epidemic -85   TIME CUT.    A TELEVISION:                                       85     The reports shows lawmakers on Capitol Hill juxtaposed     against images of inner-cities, junkies, homicide victims     and, perhaps most telling, white suburbia.                               REPORTER ON TV                  Since 1965, law enforcement has watched                  its steady increase and with it a rise in                  violent crime. Now unaccountably, it has                  exploded, reaching into cities as a whole                  - our suburbs and towns - our schools.     INT. POLICE GYM - DAY     The TV is in a small police gym where Richie lifts weights,     very much aware of his pariah status as out-of-shape cops                    come in, only to leave again when they see him.                                                                    (CONT)                                                                    40.                                   CONTINUED:                               REPORTER ON TV                  Someone is finally saying: enough.                  Federal authorities have announced their                  intention to establish special narcotics                  bureaus in Washington, New York, Los                  Angeles, Chicago, Boston, Newark and                  other major cities -     Toback comes in, watches Richie, alone, working out.                               RICHIE V/O                  It's a dog and pony show.                                                                 TOBACK V/O                  It's not being advertised as one.86   INT. POLICE GYM - LATER - DAY                                    86          Richie's changing into his street clothes.                               RICHIE                  But it's federal. I'd have to answer                  to who? FBI?                               TOBACK                  Me and the U.S. Attorney. No one else.                  No FBI. Hoover knows better than to mix                  his men with dope. Too much temptation                  for the feeble-minded.     Though he's not in much of a position to refuse the     assignment, Richie still isn't convinced it's a good idea.     Toback levels with him -                               TOBACK                  Richie, a detective who doesn't have                  the cooperation of his fellow detectives                  can't be effective.                               RICHIE                  You know why I don't have it.                               TOBACK                  Doesn't matter.                               RICHIE                  No, they're all on the take and I'm not                                      and it doesn't matter to anyone. Instead                  of giving you a medal for turning in                  money, they bury you.                                                                    (CONT)                                                                    41.                              86   CONTINUED:                                                       86                               TOBACK                  It's fucked up. You're right. Maybe                                          this's an opportunity away from all that.                       They regard each other.    Eventually -                               RICHIE                  I'll do it, but only like this: I                  don't set foot in a police station again.                  I work out of a place of my own. And I                  pick my own guys. Guys I know wouldn't                  take a nickel off the sidewalk.                               TOBACK                  Done.87   EXT. NARCOTICS SQUAD HQ - NEWARK - DAY                           87     An old building that was once an Episcopal church.88   INT. NARCOTICS SQUAD HQ - NEWARK - DAY                           88     The place has been long abandoned. The city maintenance     worker who let Richie in watches him move through the debris-     strewn church.89   INT. PENTHOUSE - NEW YORK - DAY                                  89     A real estate broker watches Frank consider the high-     ceilinged spaciousness of a grand, unfurnished 50's modern     Upper East Side penthouse -90   INT. BASEMENT - NARCOTICS SQUAD HQ - DAY                         90     Richie regards the colored light thrown down by the stained     glass windows -91   INT. PENTHOUSE - NEW YORK - DAY                                  91     Frank regards light streaming in from the garden terrace -92   INT. MAIN FLOOR - NARCOTICS SQUAD HQ - DAY                       92     Richie picks up a faded photograph of a priest in a broken     frame. To the maintenance man:                               RICHIE                  This is the only floor we'll be using.93   INT. PENTHOUSE - NEW YORK - DAY                                  93     Frank distractedly opens and closes a 12' high curtain in     one of the rooms -                                                                    (CONT)                                                                    42.                              93   CONTINUED:                                                       93                               FRANK                  No loan, no contingencies.    Cash sale.94   EXT. SMALL'S PARADISE - NIGHT                                    94     Wet streets and neon. Well-dressed crowd behind a velvet     rope outside the club. The Apollo in the background: James     Brown on the marquee.95   INT. SMALL'S PARADISE - NIGHT                                    95     A still-powerful older man in a nice suit rises from his     chair to wild applause. From the stage -                               SINGER                  Mr. Joe Louis, ladies and gentlemen.     Joe bows graciously, gives a little wave to the crowd, and     sits back down as the band starts up again.     At another table, Frank sits with Charlie Williams and     Rossi, slightly older dope men. Like Frank, they favor     expensive tailored suits. Their dates, too, are nicely     dressed - not too much make-up or jewelry. Frank's glance     moves from Joe Louis and his wife to a beautiful young woman     at the table.                               FRANK                  Who's the beauty queen?                               CHARLIE                  She is a beauty queen.    No kidding.                  Miss Puerto Rico.     Her glance crosses Frank's briefly but is yanked to the     entrance of the club when Frank's brothers come in with     their wives and girlfriends. Teddy's in a parrot green     suit, gold chains, hat, acting like he owns the place.96   INT. BACK ROOM - SMALL'S PARADISE - LATER                        96     Frank hustles Teddy into an empty back room.                               FRANK                  What is this?     He turns Teddy so he's facing a mirror.                               TEDDY                  What. These are clothes.     This is a very                  nice (suit) -                                                                    (CONT)                                                                    43.                              96   CONTINUED:                                                       96                               FRANK                  I'm wearing clothes. These are clothes.                  Those -                         (Teddy's in the mirror)                  - are a costume. With a sign on it that                  says Arrest me. You look like fuckin                  Jackie Fox.                               TEDDY                  What's wrong with Jackie.    I like Jackie.                               FRANK                  You like Jackie? You want to be                  Superfly? Go work for him, end up in a                  cell with him.     Teddy pulls himself from Frank's grasp. Smooths his shirt,     adjusts his hat. Frank tries to explain to him:                               FRANK                  The guy making all the noise in the room                  is the weak one. That's not who you want                  to be.                               TEDDY                  He wants to talk to you by the way.     I                  told him I'd tell you.     Frank stares at his brother's reflection in the mirror.                               FRANK                  You and Jackie were talking about me?                               TEDDY                  Not about you. We were talking. He said                  he wanted to talk to you about something.     Frank clearly wants nothing to do with Jackie Fox.                               FRANK                  I'm taking you shopping tomorrow.                               TEDDY                  I went shopping today.                               FRANK                  You go shopping every day.    Like a girl.97   EXT. SMALL'S PARADISE - LATER - NIGHT                            97     A creme Bentley pulls up and out pour Jackie Fox and his     entourage.                                                                    (CONT)                                                                     44.                               97   CONTINUED:                                                        97     He's got an armful of New York Times Magazines -with him on     the cover, flaunting Gangster Chic. He starts handing them     out to the crowd on his way into the club.98   INT. SMALL'S PARADISE - CONTINUOUS - NIGHT                        98     Joe Louis has come over to speak to Frank at his table.                               JOE LOUIS                  It's a tax thing. It's a mistake my                  lawyers will straighten out, but for the                  time being it's a headache -                               FRANK                  How much you owe?                               JOE LOUIS                  It's nothing, like - fifty grand.     Frank isn't sure if it's an honor or a curse to have a     celebrity like Joe Louis asking to borrow money, but nods.                                FRANK                  Sure.   Don't worry about it.                                JOE LOUIS                  Thank you.   I'll pay you back soon as -                               FRANK                  Joe. It's a gift. Not a loan.       You                  don't owe me nothing.     Jackie glides into the club with his magazines and     entourage. Frank watches him make the rounds, lingering at     Miss Puerto Rico's table and holding her hand longer than he     should with his girlfriend on his arm. Frank glances to     Teddy wearily, then to Doc, alone at the next table like a     sentry. Frank doesn't have to say he's ready to leave. Doc     knows the look. Gets up.99   INT. SMALL'S PARADISE - LATER - NIGHT                             99     Frank comes into the coat check area where Doc waits with     his overcoat. As Frank slips into it, Miss Puerto Rico -     returning from the ladies room - comes through.                                ANA                  Hi.   I'm Ana.                               FRANK                  I'm Frank.                                                                     (CONT)                                                                     45.                               99    CONTINUED:                                                       99                                ANA                   You're Frank and this is your place.                          (he doesn't say whether                           it is or not)                   Why's it called Small's? Why don't you                   call it Frank's?                                FRANK                   Because I don't have to.      He smiles, and it's hard to tell which is more enchanted      with the other.100   INT. NIGHTCLUB - NEWARK - SAME TIME - NIGHT                     100      A club across the river. Not nearly as nice as Small's -      much louder - but like Small's, almost all black. Richie      shares a booth with a black undercover detective.                                RICHIE                   I'm reluctant to bring anyone in I                   don't personally know.                                SPEARMAN                   You know me, and I vouch for them.      Richie nods, Yeah, he knows that, but remains unconvinced.                                SPEARMAN                   Richie, we work together. You want me,                   you got to take them, too.                                RICHIE                   Where are they?      Spearman looks out across the crowded dance floor.                                SPEARMAN                   That's Jones. With the skinny white                   woman.      Richie's glance finds a young black man dancing wildly with      his skinny white date.                                SPEARMAN                   That's Abruzzo, with the fat black one.      Richie sees a young Italian with tatoos - the only other      white man in the place - dancing with a heavy black woman.      Both Jones and Abruzzo look more like criminals than cops.                                                                     (CONT)                                                                      46.                                100   CONTINUED:                                                      100                                SPEARMAN                   Both are good with wires. Have good                   informants. They're honest. And they're                   fearless. They'll do anything. They're                   insane, Richie, like you.101   INT. FRANK'S CAR - MOVING - NEW YORK - DAY                       101      Frank sits in back alone. Peers ahead through the      windshield. His face relaxes as he sees -102   EXT. RIVERSIDE - DAY                                             102      Ana waiting on a corner, dressed nice, handbag.         The Towncar      pulls to the curb.                                FRANK                   I got it.      Frank gets out before Doc can, and escorts Ana to the car.                                FRANK                   I hope you weren't waiting long. A                   woman as beautiful as you shouldn't have                   to wait for anything.      He opens the door for her like a perfect gentleman, slides      in after her.103   EXT. MAMA LUCAS'S TEANECK, N.J. HOUSE - DAY                      103      Outside the house, Doc sits in the car reading a newspaper.104   INT. MAMA LUCAS'S TEANECK, N.J. HOUSE - DAY                      104      Ana considers some family photographs on a mantle.                                ANA                   This is your father?      Frank shakes his head no.       It's a picture of Bumpy.                                FRANK                   You really don't know who that is?                          (she doesn't)                   It's Martin Luther King.                                ANA                   It is not.                                FRANK                   You're right. He was as important as Dr.                   King, though.                                                                      (CONT)                                                                     47.                               104   CONTINUED:                                                     104                                ANA                   What'd he do?                                FRANK                   A lot of things. He had a lot of                   friends. He served New York and it                   served him.                                ANA                   What was he to you?      Frank has to think.     Bumpy was more than his employer.                                FRANK                   Teacher.                                ANA                   What'd he teach you?                                FRANK                   How to take my time ... how if you're                   going to do something, do it with care                   ... do it with love.      And it's working here.     It's seductive.                                ANA                   Anything else?      FLASHCUTS -      Sudden bursts of violence - guys beat up - others shot - one      being poured with gasoline as Bumpy looks on calmly -      BACK TO FRANK'S LIVING ROOM      The same calm, benign face in the photograph.        Frank nods.                                FRANK                   How be a gentleman.                                ANA                   That's what you are?      Ana smiles like she knows better. Any second now, like      every other guy she's ever met, she's sure he'll try to take      her upstairs.                                FRANK                   I got five different apartments in the                   city I could've taken you to. I brought                   you here instead -                                                                     (CONT)                                                                          48.                                               CONTINUED:           Ana glances to the stairs which Frank's mother is coming           down.                                    FRANK                        To meet my mother.                                     MRS. LUCAS                        Is this her? Oh, she's beautiful,                        Frank. Look at her. She's an angel                        come down from heaven.           Mrs. Lucas embraces Ana like family.105 OMIT                                                            105 OMIT106        INT. NARCOTICS SQUAD HQ - NEWARK - DAY                          106           A single, half-empty packet of heroin, the same one from the           morgue, in distinctive blue cellophane, tacked to a bulletin           board. Richie, perched on a desk in front of it.                                     RICHIE                        Our mandate is to make major arrests.                        No street guys - we want the suppliers -                        the distributors.           Spearman, Jones and Abruzzo sit in the back, looking like           delinquent students. Of everyone in the open ground-floor           that's been only slightly renovated - and there are about           fifteen of them - they're the most disreputable-looking.                                     RICHIE                        Heroin, cocaine, amphetamines. No                        grass under a thousand pounds. Less than                                           that, someone else can waste their time.           Jones nudges Abruzzo to pay attention. Abruzzo elbows him           back. Richie just waits like a teacher for their attention.                                     RICHIE                        We'll be handling big shipments, big                        money, big temptation.                               (Jones raises his hand)                        Yeah.                                     JONES                        There's a story about you. About                        turning in some money. A lot of money.                        Is it true?           Jones isn't the only one here curious to know.        Simply:                                                                          (CONT)                                                                     49.                               106   CONTINUED:                                                     106                                RICHIE                   It's not true.                                           107   INT/EXT. CAR / STREET - NEWARK - DAY                            107      Abruzzo, looking like a junkie, dirty jeans, wool cap,      approaches a dealer on the corner. The perspective shifts      to Richie, Spearman and Jones in a car, watching as Abruzzo      chats briefly with the dealer before the exchange takes      place: $10 for a blue-cellophane packet.108   INT. NARCOTICS SQUAD HQ - NEWARK - LATER - DAY                  108      Richie and the others watch Jones tests the heroin.                                JONES                   Stuff's ten percent pure. Strong                   enough to smoke for all those suburban                   white kids afraid of needles.      The other detectives are exchange a glance.       None has ever      heard of anything on the street that pure.                                RICHIE                   You paid ten bucks for it?                                JONES                   And it's all that's out there.                                RICHIE                   Now, how is that possible? Who can                   afford to sell shit twice as good for                   half as much?      Richie glances to a Table of Organization: Surveillance      photos haphazardly thumb-tacked to a bulletin board - known      dope men in the hierarchies of their individual crime      families - almost all of them Italian.      WOMB TO TOMB SEQUENCE:      An R & B song begins and continues over -109   CLOSE-UPS:                                                      109      A poppy bulb being pierced, the white liquid oozing,      changing into filthy liquids in wooden bowls, and finally      a gray paste ...110   INT. BANK VICE PRESIDENT'S OFFICE - CHEMICAL BANK - DAY 110      Frank sits with the bank Vice President who wires a transfer      to:                                                                  50.                            111   INT. BANGKOK BANK - DAY                                      111      Where Nate sits with the same Thai bank president as before      who converts the transfer to cash.112   INT. SOUL BROTHERS BAR - BANGKOK - DAY                       112      Nate slides cash across a table to a couple of Chinese      gangsters.113   EXT. JUNGLE ARMY BASE - VIETNAM - DAY                        113      A tent: Nate hands more cash - the military brass's cut -      to the 2-star general from before.      An airstrip: Slicing propellers. Wounded soldiers on      stretchers, helped onto a transport plane. Nearby, four      large crates - Japanese TVs - under cargo netting. The      pilot stuffs more cash in a pouch and salutes Nate.114   TV IMAGE:                                                    114      General Westmoreland returns a salute (archive).115   EXT. ARMY BASE - NORTH CAROLINA - DUSK                       115      The same plane on the tarmac here, taxiing. A pile of      discarded TV boxes outside a supply warehouse.      At the perimeter of the base, black servicemen transfer      heavy taped-up duffel bags from an Army Jeep to a station      wagon, hoisting those that won't fit inside onto a roof      rack. Two Lucas brothers tie them down with twine.116   INT/EXT. CAR / HIGHWAY - NEAR WASHINGTON DC - DUSK           116      The station wagon heading north on a rain-slicked highway,      the canvas tarpaulin on top flapping. In the distance, the      spire of the Washington monument glows.117   EXT. DISCOUNT DRUGSTORE - HARLEM - DAY                       117      A black woman pushes a shopping cart containing a baby,      Pampers, and cases of milk sugar across a parking lot.118   INT. RED TOP'S APARTMENT - HARLEM - DAY                      118      Empty milk sugar boxes. Redtop and her five table workers      - clothed now, the surgical masks dangling from their necks -      wiping down table surfaces, scales and apparatus. Tens of      thousands of blue-cellophane packets of heroin neatly cover      two of the folding tables.                                                                  51.                            119   EXT. HARLEM STREET - DAY                                     119      August. Hot. Kids wrench open a fire hydrant and with an      empty soda can direct the water into a fountain. The water      sprays down onto the windshield of a beat-up Chevy coming      slowly through, revealing when it clears, Frank behind the      wheel. He parks. Glances at his watch.120   INT. NYPD 23RD PRECINCT - LOCKER ROOM - DAY                  120      Clock on the wall of a locker area: 3:58. Shift change.      Cops in t-shirts. Fans blowing the humid air around.121   INT/EXT. NYPD 23RD PRECINCT GARAGE - DAY                     121      Blue and whites arriving and leaving, shirts coming off as      the cops alight.122   INT. BUS - MOVING ON 116TH STREET - DAY                      122      The driver checks his watch:   3:59.   Turns his almost-empty      bus up 8th Avenue.123   INT/EXT. FRANK'S PARKED CHEVY - HARLEM - DAY                 123      Air conditioner full blast. Radio announcing the time: 4      o'clock. Frank glances out the wet windshield of the Chevy      and watches 116th Street transform:      It's as if an outdoor market has just opened its stalls.      Junkies and dealers emerging from the alleys, storefronts,      tenements and side streets - from the street itself it seems      - snarling the cars and delivery trucks caught unaware.      Small blue cellophane packets - and only blue - are pulled      from pockets and change hands. In alleyways it's cooked up      and sucked into syringes, and in dank, grim, indescribably      filthy rooms, plunged into veins -124   AND THE REVERSE:                                             124      10 and 20 dollar bills changing hands - decks of cash      rubber-banded together - put into envelopes and delivered      to the Lucas brothers, to:125   LESTER at his metal door shop.                               125126   EUGENE at his dry cleaners.                                  126127   TURNER at his tire service shop.                             127128   EARL at his electrical shop.                                 128                                                                  (CONT)                                                                      52.                                123   CONTINUED:                                                      123129   TEDDY at his body shop.                                          129130   INT. REDTOP'S APARTMENT - DAY                                    130      Piles of cash.    The brothers try counting it all, but it's      just too much.    It's actually tiring.                                TEDDY                   We're going to be here all night if we                   count every bill.      TIME CUT: A money-counting machine flips through the      bills, its counter flying. The brothers rubberband it all      in $100,000 decks. Jot down the numbers. Put the money      in newly-assembled file boxes. Tape them shut.131   INT. CHEMICAL BANK - SAFETY-DEPOSIT ROOM - DAY                   131      Alone in the room, Frank transfers stacks of $100's from the      file boxes into several open safety-deposit boxes.132   INT. FRANK'S PENTHOUSE APARTMENT - NIGHT                         132      The penthouse is now richly decorated. The R & B music      playing through a state-of-the-art stereo system. It's a      kind of office party for Frank's brothers, cousins, wives      and girlfriends, distributors like Rossi and other East      Harlem guys, Charlie Williams, couple of cops on Frank's      payroll, and the Chemical Bank Vice President.                                BANKER                   You got a stockbroker, Frank?                                FRANK                   I deal with enough crooks as it is.      The banker jots down a name and phone number on the back of      one of his business cards.                                BANKER                   This one couldn't be more honest. Ask                   around. He's got a lot of clients in the                   business. You can't leave all your money                   in safety deposit boxes; give him a call.      The banker hands him the card and moves on. Frank's trying      to have a good time, but the level of noise and revelry is      beginning to make him uncomfortable.                                 CHARLIE                   Frank.   This is Mike Sibota.      Sibota tries not to look as nervous as he feels.                                                                      (CONT)                                                                       53.                                 132   CONTINUED:                                                       132                                 FRANK                   Mr. Sibota.   What can I get you?                                SIBOTA                   A left-hander from what Charlie tells me.                   Your nephew?      Frank points to his nephew, Stevie, across the room.                                FRANK                   It's been his dream all his life to play                   for the Yankees - and he's good enough.                                SIBOTA                   So I hear. You have him come see me.                   We'll give him a try-out.      As the scout hands his card to Frank, we whip over to where      Teddy, his driver Jimmy Racine and their girlfriends, coked      up, are laughing as a black cop, flashing his detective's      shield, pretends to frisk Jimmy.                                DETECTIVE                   What's this?                          (taking a .45 from Jimmy's                           pocket)                   Oh, that's it, I'm taking you in.                                JIMMY                          (joking)                   You can't take me in for that, I got       a                   license for that, motherfucker.                                DETECTIVE                          (gives the gun back)                   This then -                          (the pile of coke on the                           coffee table)                   But first -      The cop sucks up a line before pretending to cuff Jimmy.                                DETECTIVE                   All right, now I'm arresting you.      Everybody laughs.    Teddy peels $100's from a money clip.                                 TEDDY                   Let him go.   This is for you.                                DETECTIVE                   What is that, a bribe?     Oh, now you're                   all under arrest.                                                                       (CONT)                                                                     54.                               132   CONTINUED:                                                     132      The cop pretends to arrest them all, but what he doesn't      pretend is the hand he puts on Jimmy's girlfriend's breast      as he frisks her.                                JIMMY                   What is that?      It was quick but Jimmy saw it, even though his girlfriend      didn't react. The cop, oblivious, is cuffing Teddy now.                                DETECTIVE                   I'm taking you all in.                                JIMMY                   I said, what the fuck was that?                                DETECTIVE                   What was what?      The room explodes with a boom and the detective crumples to      the floor, clutching at his leg, blood running through his      fingers onto the carpet. Frank stares.                                JIMMY                   Oh, he's all right. I just shot him in                   the leg. You got a health plan, what are                   you complaining about. He's fine. Here -                          (peels off some money)                   Five hundred all right? Six? Look, he's                   feeling better all the time.      Suddenly, Frank grabs Jimmy and throws him against the wall.133   INT. FRANK'S PENTHOUSE APARTMENT - NIGHT                        133      As Ana tries to clean the blood stain on the rug with salt      and soda water, Frank sits with his five brothers in the      debris-strewn aftermath of the party. Silence before:                                FRANK                   I can't have this kind of stupidity.                                TEDDY                   It was an accident.   He feels terrible                   about it.                                FRANK                   He doesn't feel shit, coked up all the                   time. Get rid of him.                                                                     (CONT)                                                                        55.                                  133   CONTINUED:                                                        133                               TEDDY                   Frank. He's your cousin. What's he                   gonna do? Go back home? I'll talk to                   him. I'll straighten him out.      Frank looks at Teddy in his tinted Jackie Fox-like goggle      glasses - like he's going to straighten anybody out.                                FRANK                   Gimme those glasses.                                  TEDDY                   What?   Why?      Frank pulls them from Teddy's face and crushes them.134   INT. NARCOTICS SQUAD HQ - NEWARK - DAY                             134      Richie sifts through the morning mail at his desk. Stops                         on an envelope from the New Jersey Bar Association. As he                        works up the nerve to open it, Spearman, Jones and Abruzzo                       organize the Italian wise guys' photos on the T.O.                                                         JONES                   Ice Pick Paul goes here -                                ABRUZZO                   No, he's under Benny Two-Socks -                                JONES                   No, you're thinking of Benny the Bishop.                   Benny Two-Socks is Tosca's deadbeat son-                                         in-law.                                SPEARMAN                   Jonesy's right.                                                     Richie comes over, studies the Table of Organization a                           moment, then begins untacking the photos from the top down -                                               JONES                   What're you doing?     We just -                                RICHIE                                                              For a cop the uppermost thing is the                                             arrest. For a prosecutor, the arrest is                                          nothing without the evidence to convict.                                         We don't have any real evidence on anyone                                        on this board, so they're coming down.                                           We're starting over from the street.                                                                                                  (CONT)                                                                     56.                               134   CONTINUED:                                                     134                                ABRUZZO                                                          What are you, a prosecutor all of a                                           sudden?                                                          Richie tacks his exam results onto the T.O.       He passed.            135   EXT. STREET - NEWARK - DAY                                      135           Richie and the Amigos observe a buy from a parked car, the      blue cellophane changing hands. Ignoring the buyer as he      walks away, they keep watching the seller.136   EXT. GAS STATION / CAR WASH - NEWARK - DAY                      136      The seller is observed coming out of a mechanics garage.      Richie ignores him as he walks away, watching instead the      garage. Eventually, a mechanic wiping his hands on a rag      steps out, and Richie raises a camera. The image of the      mechanic - a supplier - freezes -137   INT. NARCOTICS SQUAD HQ - NEWARK - DAY                          137      A slightly-blurred photo of the mechanic goes up on a new,      almost bare Table of Organization.                                      138   EXT. GAS STATION / CAR WASH - NEWARK - DAY                      138           Atop of a telephone pole, Abruzzo, dripping with lineman                      equipment, works to attach a `slave' to the lines -                     139   INT. STOREFRONT APARTMENT - DAY                                 139      Bare room. Richie, Jones and Spearman eating take-out food      as tape recorder reels turn.                                PHONE VOICE                   Those snow tires you give me last time                   come in yet? I'm going to want some more                   of them, gimme one and a half more of                   them.      The detectives laugh.140   INT. PROSECUTOR'S OFFICE - DAY                                  140      Toback has Richie sign a voucher for $20,000 cash.                                TOBACK                   This is more than a year's salary,                   Richie. If it disappears, I won't be                   able to get it for you again.                                                                     (CONT)                                                                     57.                               140   CONTINUED:                                                     140                                RICHIE                   It'll never be out of my sight.141   INT. NARCOTICS SQUAD HQ - NEWARK - DAY                          141      Jones tapes a tape recorder the size of a pack of cigarettes      to Richie's bare chest.142   INT. GAS STATION GARAGE - DAY                                   142      Undercover in a wise guy's cashmere sweater and slacks,      Richie watches the mechanic count the $10,000 he's given      him.                                RICHIE                   It's got to be `Blue Magic.'                                MECHANIC                   Yeah, yeah, it's `Blue.' You can pick                   it up here tomorrow. Where's the rest of                   the money?                                RICHIE                   That's half. I'll give you the other                   half tomorrow when you give -                                MECHANIC                   No, no, no, I don't do that.    Go fuck                   yourself.      Richie rather reluctantly hands over the rest of the 20K.143   INT/EXT. SPEARMAN'S CAR - MOVING - NEAR GW BRIDGE - DAY 143      Spearman watches the pickup truck driven by the mechanic      change lanes up ahead - heading for the George Washington      Bridge - and glances over concerned to Richie, who is      changing the cashmere sweater for an old t-shirt.                                SPEARMAN                   He's going into New York.   Are we?                                RICHIE                   What are they going to do, arrest us?                                SPEARMAN                   They could. New York cops.     They can                   do worse than that.                                RICHIE                   We're not losing that money.    Go.                                                                     (CONT)                                                                     58.                               143   CONTINUED:                                                     143      As Spearman follows the truck, the George Washington Bridge,      linking Jersey to Manhattan, looms in the windshield ...144   EXT. EAST HARLEM STREET - DAY                                   144      The pickup pulls to the curb outside a Pleasant Avenue      grocery store. As the guy enters the place, Spearman's car      stops long enough for Richie to climb out, and continues on.      Richie crosses the street, tries to see who the guy is      talking to inside, but he's just buying a cup of coffee to      go. Spearman's car turns the corner to circle around the      block. As soon as it's gone, the man emerges from the      restaurant with the coffee and walks straight at Richie who      has to double back quickly not to be seen      Richie sees a delivery truck double-parked, guys unloading      crates. Hears a horn and knows it's must be Spearman stuck      on the side street. The mechanic starts his truck.      Desperate not to lose him (and his money), Richie hurries                     over to a taxi stopped at a light, flashes his badge.                                                  RICHIE                   Get out.                               TAXI DRIVER                   What?                                RICHIE                   Get the fuck out of the car!      The driver realizes the man outside his taxi is crazy and      tries to get his window rolled up. Reaching in, Richie gets      his arm stuck, pulls at the lock, yanks the door open, drags      the driver out, breaking the cabbie's arm, and jumps in.      He swings the cab into opposing lanes to get around traffic,      screeches around the corner, glimpses the truck far up ahead      - guns the engine, flies through a red light, glances at his      mirror at the cars that just missed him almost colliding -      The truck turns up ahead, and Richie barrels through another      red light, turns the corner and keeps the truck, a couple      car-lengths ahead - in sight.145   EXT. EAST HARLEM - DAY                                          145      Richie curbs the cab as the guy goes into a dingy pizza      parlor. Richie climbs out, crosses the street. Coming past      the place, he tries to look inside without breaking stride.                                                                     (CONT)                                                                      59.                                145   CONTINUED:                                                      145      From around a corner, striding toward him, come four men      looking like Gestapo thugs in leather coats, manicured hair -      the Princes of the City. Richie detours into an alley as      they enter the restaurant.      Richie peers in at the restaurant kitchen through a grimy      basement window. Watches Trupo and his SIU detectives burst      in, guns drawn. They rough everybody up, get some down on      the floor. One detective gathers the money and stuffs it in      a bag. Another gathers the dope. The mechanic tries to      protest and Trupo slaps him down with his pistol.      Richie keeps watching as the NY cops arrest no one - but      take the dope and the money (Richie's money) - and stride      out as abruptly as they appeared, like bandits. As they      come past Richie -                                RICHIE                   That's my money.                                SIU DET 1                   The fuck are you. What money?      Richie shows them his Bureau of Narcotics ID.                                                            RICHIE                   The bills are sequenced and registered                   with the Essex County Prosecutors Office.                   All begin with CF3500. Take a look.      One of them checks some of the bills and sees he's right.                                SIU DET. 2                   Goddamn it, I thought we had a score.                   I thought I had a fucking Chris-Craft                   sitting in my driveway.                                RICHIE                   Honest mistake. Just give it back to me.                                SIU DET. 1                   This time.      Three of the four cops laugh. It's an affable gang of      thieves. The one who doesn't laugh hangs back as the others      start off. He examines Richie's New Jersey ID.                                                           TRUPO                   When's the last time I was in Jersey?                   Let me think. Never. What're you doing                   coming over here without letting anybody                   know? You don't know you can get hurt                   doing that?                                (MORE)                                                                      (CONT)                                                                       60.                                 145     CONTINUED:                                                     145                                  TRUPO (CONT'D)                            (Trupo smiles; Richie smiles)                     You got your money. Now, never, ever,                     come into the city again unannounced. You                                       come in to see a fuckin Broadway show you                     call ahead first to see if it's okay with                     me.        Trupo pats him on the back and leaves with the others.                                                    TOBACK V.O.                     What do we hate most? Isn't it the                     transgressions of others we fear we're                     capable of ourselves?                                      147 - 148 OMIT                                            147 - 148 OMIT        149     INT. NARCOTICS SQUAD HQ - NEWARK - LATER - NIGHT                149             It's very late.    Richie and Toback are alone.      Eventually -                                         TOBACK                                                             Richie - cops are like -                                  RICHIE                     Yeah, I know, like everyone else.                     Some of them will steal no matter what.                                         There can be a camera on them they'll do                     it. Some'll never do it. The rest are                                           capable of either, depending how their                     department leans ... Only theirs isn't                     leaning, it's fallen over. The patrol                                           cars don't even stop in Harlem, just roll                                       down the window so the dealers can throw                                        the money in. I saw drops made on                                               precinct steps.                                                                              TOBACK                     What were you doing there?                                  RICHIE                     It's where this dope is coming from.                                            Blue Magic. Out of New York. What am                     I supposed to do, ignore it?                                  TOBACK                     The cab driver's filed aggravated assault                                       and grand theft charges -                                                                    RICHIE                                                             He wouldn't stop. Motherfucker almost                                           ran me over.                                                                                                                      (CONT)                                                                          61.                                    149     CONTINUED:                                                        149                                  TOBACK                                                               - which he may reconsider depending on                                            the amount the State of New Jersey offers                                         to settle -                                                                                    RICHIE                                                               I told him I was a cop.      I showed him my                                      identification.                                                                                TOBACK                                                               You stole his cab and broke his arm.                                                           RICHIE                                                               I was chasing your 20 thousand dollars.                                                        TOBACK                                                               I don't want to hear about you going                     into New York anymore.                                  RICHIE                     Then my investigation's over.                                  TOBACK                     You're not listening to me. I said:                     I don't want to hear about it ... You do                     whatever you have to do, go wherever you                     have to go to find out who's bringing                     this shit into the country ... Just don't                     tell me.                            (turns to leave)                     Get some sleep.                                              A150 - 152 OMIT                                       A150 - 152 OMIT             AA153   INT. RICHIE'S APARTMENT - MORNING                                 AA153           Richie - in robe and underwear - opens the door to find a                         woman in the hall holding a briefcase.                                                                        VIDA                                                               Mr. Roberts?    I'm here for our                                                  appointment.                                                         He has no idea who the black woman is. An old girlfriend                          he's forgotten maybe. Behind him, Vida can see a stewardess                       buttoning up her uniform by a little travel case on wheels.                       The apartment itself, she can also see, is a mess.                                                          VIDA                                                                 From Child Social Services?                                  A153 - 155 OMIT                                             A153 - 155 OMIT                                                                   62.                             156   EXT/INT. TONY ZACA'S BACKYARD & POOL HOUSE - DAY              156           Barbecue after their Sunday softball game. Richie and his      O.C. friends - wise guys - still in their brown and orange      Weequahie jerseys, drinking beer, cooking hamburgers.                             TONY                When you asked me to be your son's                godfather, I took it very seriously.                             RICHIE                I know.      Richie and Tony Zaca relax in the den-like pool house.                             TONY                I said yes, I'd take on this                responsibility, take care of your son,                God forbid something happened to you -                             RICHIE                Tony, the things she's telling Child                Social Services make me look very bad:                Out all night. Lowlife informants                hanging around.   Women -                             TONY                Old friends like me.      Richie feels horrible doing this.    Silence.   Then:                             TONY                It's all right. I understand. They                ask me, I'll tell them what you want me                to tell them. I'll lie for you.                             RICHIE                Thank you.      Tony nods, You're welcome.    Can tell there's something else      on Richie's mind.                             TONY                What.                             RICHIE                You don't have to talk about it, you                don't want. What do you hear about Blue                Magic? Anything?                             TONY                A lot of sorrow and misery from guys                being put out of business. That's all.                                                                   (CONT)                                                                     63.                               156   CONTINUED:                                                     156                                RICHIE                   Nothing about who's bringing it in?                                TONY                   Guys down south is all I heard.                                RICHIE                   Down south, Florida?   Cubans?   What.                                TONY                   I don't know. All I can tell you is                   whoever it is, they're upsetting the                   natural order of things.      Among the framed family photos around them, is a picture      of Tony's uncle, Albert Tosca.157   EXT. LIVINGSTON, NEW JERSEY - DAY                               157      A Napoleonic statue of the same man on horseback in a      fountain outside a castle-like mansion. Next to it "ride"      three others on marble horses - a woman and two children.                               TOSCA                   Pull -      A clay pigeon sails out across the manicured garden. A      shotgun blast shatters it. The man with the gun - Albert      Tosca - hands another to Frank. As Frank sets to shoot, Ana      can seen behind them, with Tosca's wife in the opulent      house, looking uncomfortable.                                MRS. TOSCA                   The whole place was imported brick by                   brick from Gloucestershire.                                ANA                   It's very nice.      Mrs. Tosca nods. Ana nods. A strained silence thicker than      the tapestries settles over them until -                               FRANK                   Pull -      The shotgun booms -158   INT. TOSCA'S MANSION - LATER - DAY                              158      As servants stand by, Tosca and his wife and their only      guests - Frank and Ana - finished with lunch, get up from      the table in the formal Formal dining room.                                                                     (CONT)                                                                      64.                                158   CONTINUED:                                                      158      As Mrs. Tosca leads Ana off to give her a tour of the house,      the men head off the other way.                                TOSCA                   She's a lovely girl.    You should marry                   her.                                FRANK                   Too many things to look after right now                   to think about that.                                TOSCA                   Frank. That's a mistake. If I may say.                   Don't take her for granted, girl like                   that.      They enter a rich, wood-paneled study lined with books.                                TOSCA                   You interested in history, Frank? The                   events that have brought us to where we                   are today? You know who was? Bumpy.                                FRANK                   Bumpy was interested in a lot of things.                                TOSCA                   I always wonder if people know when                   history's being made. And what they're                   doing at the time. This, for instance,                   could be a historic moment, and you're                   sipping a glass of ice water.      Droplets snake down Frank's glass. He senses Tosca has      finally gotten around to why he was invited here.                                TOSCA                   Bumpy and I did a lot of business                   together, as you know. Whatever he                   needed, he'd come to me and I'd do my                   best to provide it. He came to me, I                   didn't go to him, is the point I'm trying                   to make. You know why?                                FRANK                   He didn't have what you needed. You had                   what he needed. We've always had to come                   to you.                                 TOSCA                   Yes.   Until now.      Tosca studies Frank, who is a study in inscrutability.                                                                      (CONT)                                                                     65.                               158   CONTINUED:                                                     158                                TOSCA                   Monopolies are illegal in this country,                   Frank, because no one can compete with a                   monopoly. If they let the dairy farmers                   do that, half of them would go out of                   business tomorrow.                                FRANK                   I'm just trying to make a living.                                TOSCA                   Which is your right. Because this is                   America. But not at the unreasonable                   expense of others. That's un-American.                          (he studies Frank)                   You know the price you pay for a gallon                   of milk doesn't represent its true cost                   of production. It's controlled. Set.                                FRANK                   I set a price I think is fair.                                TOSCA                   It's very unfair, in fact. Your                   customers are happy, but what about your                   fellow dairy farmers? You're not                   thinking of them.                                FRANK                          (very calmly)                   I'm thinking of them as much as they ever                   thought of me.                                TOSCA                   All right. I can see you're getting                   excited. Don't get excited. That's not                   why I invited you to my home. To get                   excited.      Frank doesn't look excited at all. He's the picture of      calm. Tosca smiles benignly and gets up.                                TOSCA                   Here, I got something for you.159   INT. TOSCA'S SMOKING ROOM    - LATER - DAY                      159      Tosca opens a humidor, takes out a couple of Cuban cigars.                                TOSCA                   Now what if - I'm just thinking out loud -                   you sold some of your inventory wholesale                   and I helped with the distribution.                                                                     (CONT)                                                                     66.                               159   CONTINUED:                                                     159                                FRANK                   I don't need it. I already got                   everything from 110th Street to Yankee                   Stadium, river to river.                                TOSCA                   Which is a little mom and pop store                   compared to what I'm talking about. I                   could make you bigger than K-Mart. L.A.,                   Chicago, Detroit, Vegas. I'm speaking                   nationwide. And I'd guarantee you peace                   of mind. You know what I mean by that.      Frank does. It's a backhanded threat.        Tosca clips the      cigars with a gold guillotine                                TOSCA                   Frank. You can see I'm a Renaissance                   man. Unfortunately not all my people are                   as enlightened. Ask them, What is civil                   rights, they don't know. They're not as                   open to change from the way things are                   done and who's doing it. But I can talk                   to them so there won't be any                   misunderstanding. That's what I mean by                   peace of mind.      Frank knows, in truth, he's not being given any choice in      this matter. Still, maybe it's not so bad.                                FRANK                   You pay what a kilo now, 75, 80? I'd                   consider 50. And I can get you as much                   as you want.      Tosca slips on his best poker face. Fifty thousand a kilo      would be an extraordinary coup for him.                                TOSCA                   You see, I was right. This is a                   historic moment. You're going to be                   bigger than Bumpy himself.      He hands Frank one of the cigars, expertly prepared.                                TOSCA                   Can't smoke it here, unfortunately.                   Grace doesn't like it. Take it with you.                                                                   67.                             160   INT/EXT. TOSCA'S MANSION - LATER - DAY                        160      Doc waits by the car as Frank and Ana walk toward him.      The Toscas wave goodbye from the front step of the mansion.      Frank slips the cigar into his top pocket as they climb in.                             ANA                Why would you trust these people, the way                they look at you?                             FRANK                They look at me like it's Christmas and                I'm Santa Claus.                             ANA                They looked at us like we're the help.                              FRANK                        (kisses her cheek)                No.   They're working for me now.161   INT. NARCOTICS SQUAD HQ - NEWARK - DAY                        161      A TV: Muhammad Ali, the black man's black man, and Joe      Frazier, the white man's black man, at their 1971 Madison      Square Garden press conference where Ali says as much.      Most of the guys watching it. Richie isn't. He comes      over to Table of Organization. Tacks his Bar Association      notice to it. Regards the photographs, like tentacles of      octopus yet to have a head.      Only the lowest section is made up of blacks (including      Charlie Williams and Jackie Fox, but not Frank Lucas). The      rest of the faces are white and stop about midway up.      They've hit a wall they can't get past.162   INT. FRANK'S PENTHOUSE - DUSK                                 162      Another TV here: Howard Cosell, ringside at the Garden as      the first early fans arrive, pointing out that the fight,      because of the political stand Ali's taken, is less about      boxers than war versus anti-war.      Frank chooses a linen jacket from his extensive color-      coordinated racks of Phil Cromfeld suits as Ana, in her      lingerie, puts on make-up at a vanity. He comes up behind      her and sets down a small jewelry box.163   INT. NARCOTICS SQUAD HQ - NEWARK - SAME TIME                  163      The TV in the background as Richie puts a camera with a long      lens in a sports bag and reaches for his coat -                                                                                          (CONT)                                                                            68.                                      163        CONTINUED:                                                       163164 OMIT                                                              164 OMIT165        INT. FRANK'S PENTHOUSE - CONTINUED                                165           Ana's reflection in the vanity mirror as Frank slips the           engagement ring on her finger. She wipes at a tear, then           gets up and hugs him.                                      ANA                        Yes.           She kisses him.     Admires the ring.     And -                                     ANA                        I bought you something, too.           She crosses past the TV, takes a garment bag down from her           side of the closet, lays it on the bed next to Frank's suit           jacket. She takes hold of the zipper but doesn't           immediately pull it, hoping perhaps to create some dramatic           tension.                                      FRANK                        What is it?           She unzips the bag like she's unveiling great art. But           instead of seeing what's inside, we're allowed only Frank's           reaction: his smile of anticipation slowly changing to           chagrin.166        INT/EXT. MADISON SQUARE GARDEN - BACK ENTRANCE - NIGHT            166           Richie observes celebrities and gangsters arriving in           limousines - Sammy Davis Jr. and his wife, Joe Louis and           his, Tosca and some of his guys - then enters the arena as           another limo pulls up. Ana climbs out.                                     ANA                        Come on. You look great.                               (no one else emerges)                        You want to miss the fight? Come on.           Finally, a patent leather shoe pokes out, sets down on the           curb. Then its mate beside it. The shoes step away from           the limo and -167        INT. MADISON SQUARE GARDEN - NIGHT                                167           Pre-fight. Richie, blended in with the a group of press           photographers, regards the organized crime figures ringside.           He takes a few pictures with the long lens camera as -                                                                            (CONT)                                                                       69.                                 167   CONTINUED:                                                       167      The owner of the gleaming patent leather shoes is shown to      his second row ringside seat just behind the sports writers,      and we move up the full-length chinchilla coat to Frank's      uneasy expression -      Richie's camera roams the faces of the prime ticket holders      ringside: organized crime figures, celebrities, politicians,                    women with plunging necklines and platinum hair -                                                          JOE LOUIS                                                         Excuse me -                                                        Richie can't believe it's Joe Louis brushing past him -                                                    RICHIE                                                            Mr. Louis -                                                        Joe looks back as Richie approaches him -                                                                 RICHIE                                                             I'm sorry, but I just have to tell you,                                         sir, you were a hero to me growing up. I                                        still push elevator buttons eight times                                         for the rounds you beat Billy Conn in.                                          For luck.                                                          Louis acknowledges Richie only slightly more than not at                        all. Turns away to join his friends. Richie watches after                       him, stung by Louis's disregard.                                                He snaps a picture of an Italian wise guy he doesn't                            recognize ... sifts the camera's view past Frank in the                         chinchilla coat ... then returns to him, watches as Tosca                       and his guys sit down behind Frank. Richie can't hear -                         but can see - their good-natured exchange -                                TOSCA                   Hey, Frank, you keep that hat on, I'm                   gonna miss the fight -      The odd thing to Richie is, Chinchilla's seat is better      than all the Italians'. Detective Trupo notices this, too.      Richie focuses on the Chincilla's date, a stunning girl, a      beauty queen, then shifts back to her boyfriend who's now      shaking the proffered hands of other Italians, then Don      King. Joe Louis himself - who barely acknowledged Richie's                      existence - comes over and playfully exchanges "punches"                        with the man in the chinchilla coat.      A sudden roar from the crowd as the lights go out except      for the spot on the ring. Ali and Frazier are coming down      the steps through the crush of fans and reporters, preceded      by soldiers carrying flags -                                                                       (CONT)                                                                     70.                               167   CONTINUED:                                                     167      Richie tries to find the guy in the chinchilla coat, but      he's hidden by a flag. Then he glimpses him again just as      Ali shakes his hand before climbing into the ring -      Flashbulbs pop throughout the arena as Robert Goulet      begins the National Anthem. Ali pointedly doesn't sing      along. Richie frames the shadowy figure in the chinchilla      coat, focuses as sharp as he can in the bad light, and      snaps the shutter -168   INT. NARCOTICS SQUAD HQ - NEWARK - DAY                          168      Richie tacks the photograph of the man in the chinchilla      coat to his Table of Organization - low and off to the side      by other pieces of the puzzle that don't fit, other new      faces with no names. Spearman holds a scrap of paper -                                RICHIE                   That's is the plate number on the limo.                   Check with the company, who rented it.                                SPEARMAN                   He's a supplier at most. Or just a pimp.                   We'd've heard of him otherwise.                                RICHIE                   No, he's bigger than that. His seats                                          were phenomenal; better than Al Tosca's.                                      Joe Louis and Ali shook his fuckin hand.                         They look from Tosca's high position on the board to Frank's      low one, and a wedding march played in traditional fashion      on organ begins and carries over:169   INT. BAPTIST CHURCH - DAY                                       169      From above, a sea of ladies' hats, all coral and pink.      Below, Frank stands at the altar, waiting for his bride.                                RICHIE V/O                   His name is Frank Lucas ...170   INT. NARCOTICS SQUAD HQ - NEWARK - DAY                          170      Toback sifts through documents Richie has gathered:      limousine company records, Frank's thin arrest record, mug      shots of him years younger, the photograph from the fights      and some more from subsequent surveillances.                                RICHIE                   Originally from Greensboro, North                   Carolina. Couple of arrests years ago.                   Gambling, robbery, unlicensed firearm.                                (MORE)                                                                     (CONT)                                                                     71.                               170   CONTINUED:                                                     170                                RICHIE (CONT'D)                   For fifteen years he was Bumpy Johnson's                   collector, bodyguard and driver. He was                   with him when he died.171   INT. BAPTIST CHURCH - CONTINUED                                 171      Ana's family and friends on one side of the aisle, the      extended Lucas family - on the other. Frank's mother looks      at her eldest son at the altar with pride.172   INT. NARCOTICS SQUAD HQ - NEWARK - CONTINUED                    172                                RICHIE                   Five brothers, he's the oldest, lots of                   cousins, all living here now, spread out                   around the boroughs and Jersey. The                   brothers are -173   INT. DRY CLEANERS - DAY                                         173      A Lucas brother hands some dry cleaning to Spearman -                                RICHIE V/O                   Eugene Lucas in Brooklyn -174   INT. ELECTRICAL SHOP - DAY                                      174      Another Lucas brother examines a lamp with a frayed cord      brought in by Jones.                                RICHIE V/O                   Earl Lucas in Newark -175   INT. METAL DOOR SHOP - DAY                                      175      Another brother at the register, hands Abruzzo a receipt -                                RICHIE V/O                   Lester Lucas in Queens -176   EXT. TIRE SERVICE SHOP - DAY                                    176      Another brother is photographed by Spearman from a parked      car as he changes tires on a car up on a hoist.                                RICHIE V/O                   Turner Lucas, the Bronx -177   EXT. STREET - NEWARK - DAY                                      177      Richie kicks a dent into the fender of his old car.                                                                       72.                                 178        EXT/INT. BODY SHOP - DAY                                     178           As an appraiser writes up an estimate, Richie observes           Teddy, attending to paperwork inside.                                  RICHIE V/O                     And Teddy Lucas, in Bergen County.179        INT. NARCOTICS SQUAD HQ - NEWARK - CONTINUED                 179           A photograph of Teddy goes up on the T.O. next to Frank and           the other brothers and some cousins -                                  RICHIE                     Except for the chinchilla coat, which                     no one can explain, Frank's life seems                     orderly and legitimate.180        INT. BAPTIST CHURCH - CONTINUED - DAY                        180           Best Man Teddy standing next to Frank at the altar as the           bride is escorted down the aisle by her father. Tight on           Frank in a beautiful tuxedo -181        EXT. FRANK'S PENTHOUSE BUILDING - DAWN                       181           A light goes on in a penthouse window. Down below, by his           parked car, Richie shivers in the early morning cold.                                  RICHIE V/O                     He gets up early. Five a.m.182        INT. NARCOTICS SQUAD HQ - NEWARK - CONTINUED                 182                                  RICHIE                     Has breakfast at a Midtown place,                     usually alone.183        INT/EXT. DINER - MORNING                                     183           Richie tosses a glance inside a restaurant as he passes the           window to where Frank sits eating at a table, Doc nearby.184        INT. NARCOTICS SQUAD HQ - NEWARK - CONTINUED                 184                                  RICHIE                     Then goes to work. Meeting with his                     accountant, or lawyer, dropping in on one                     of the several office buildings he owns.185 OMIT                                                         185 OMIT                                                                            73.                                 186        INT. NARCOTICS SQUAD HQ - NEWARK - CONTINUED                 186                                  RICHIE                     Nights, he usually stays home. When                     he does go out, it's to a club or dinner -                     with his new wife - friends, celebrities,                     sports figures - never O.C. guys.187        EXT. SMALL'S PARADISE - NIGHT                                187           Richie sits in his car across from Small's where bouncers           keep out people like him. Frank, Ana, Wilt Chamberlain and           his wife emerge from the restaurant together.188 OMIT                                                         188 OMIT189        INT. NARCOTICS SQUAD HQ - NEWARK - CONTINUED                 189                                  RICHIE                     Sundays he takes his mother to church.                     Then drives out to change the flowers on                     Bumpy's grave. Every Sunday, no matter                     what.190        INT. BAPTIST CHURCH - CONTINUED - DAY                        190           Frank's mother tearfully watches her son slip a ring onto           Ana's finger next to the fat engagement diamond - before           Ana, in turn, puts a gold band on Frank's. The minister           pronounces them husband and wife, the veil is lifted, and           they kiss to great applause -191        EXT. BAPTIST CHURCH - DAY                                    191           As a photographer takes the official photograph of the           wedding party on the steps of the church -192        INT. NARCOTICS SQUAD HQ - NEWARK - CONTINUED                 192           Lou Toback looks from a surveillance photo of the wedding           party in his hands, to Richie's Table of Organization: The           Lucas brothers and cousins - in the streets of New York and           New Jersey, arranged in some imagined hierarchy.                                  TOBACK                     Not your typical day in the life of a                     dope man, Richie.                                  RICHIE                     Neither was Bumpy Johnson's and he owned                     Harlem.                                                                       (CONT)                                                                      74.                                192   CONTINUED:                                                      192                                TOBACK                   You think Frank Lucas took over for Bumpy                   Johnson? His driver? That's a little                   far-fetched.                                 RICHIE                   Is it?   Everything he does, he does like                   Bumpy.                                TOBACK                   Bumpy never wore a chinchilla coat in his                   life.                                RICHIE                   We haven't seen that again. That                   apparently has been retired to the                   closet.193   EXT. BAPTIST CHURCH - DAY                                        193      Frank and Charlie look on as Ana throws the bouquet.                                CHARLIE                   She's the most beautiful bride I ever                   saw, Frank.                                FRANK                   I wish Bumpy could've met her.     I wish                   she could've met him.194   INT. NARCOTICS SQUAD HQ - NEWARK - CONTINUED                     194      Looking at the Lucas Table of Organization -                                TOBACK                   What do you got on him you can use in                   court? Because this isn't it. You try                                        this without informants and powder, no                                       one's going to jail.                                                                      RICHIE                   Won't get any informants. Not inside.                   It's like a Sicilian family. Like he's                   structured his own family the same way to                   protect himself.195   EXT. BAPTIST CHURCH - CONTINUED                                  195      Exactly like one, like a scene from The Godfather as Frank      dances with Ana before the reception guests.                                                                   75.                             196   INT. NARCOTICS SQUAD HQ - NEWARK - CONTINUED                  196                             RICHIE                Being with Bumpy long as he was, he                would have been around Italians a lot.                Enough to learn that much.197   EXT. BAPTIST CHURCH - CONTINUED                               197      Rice rains down on the bride and groom as they climb into      the back of the Towncar. Doc comes around to the driver's      side, gets in and slowly pushes through the crush of guests      waving and throwing kisses.198   INT. NARCOTICS SQUAD HQ - NEWARK - CONTINUED                  198                             RICHIE                But it's not even Frank Lucas I want. I                want to know who he's working for: Which                Italians are bringing the heroin in.199   INT/EXT. TOWNCAR / NEW YORK - TWILIGHT                        199      Flanked front and rear by Frank's security, the marriage      car moves along a rain-slick street. The newlyweds cuddle      in back. Another car pulls up alongside - Trupo's Shelby -      and Doc's right hand instinctively comes off the steering      wheel to settle on his holstered gun. Trupo smiles and      shakes his head, no.200   EXT. CENTRAL PARK - LATER - TWILIGHT                          200      The Lincoln and security cars and Trupo's Shelby parked.                             FRANK                       (to Ana)                Stay in the car      As Frank and Doc climb out, Frank motions to his other      security men to remain calm, he'll handle this.                             TRUPO                Hello, Frank.      If Frank is surprised Trupo knows his name, he doesn't show      it, or anything else except an air of professional courtesy.                             FRANK                Detective.      Trupo looks in at Ana in the back seat, smiles at her. She      turns her head away and closes the door. Trupo leads Frank      away for a private conversation -                                                                   (CONT)                                                                       76.                                 200   CONTINUED:                                                       200                                TRUPO                   You sure you done the right thing?                   She's a beautiful girl - there's no                   question - but she's got an attitude                   on (her) -                                  FRANK                   Listen   to me. Before you say another                   word -   about her - or me - remember that                   you're   saying it on the most important                   fuckin   day of my life.                                TRUPO                   Man walks around in a fifty thousand                   dollar chinchilla coat and he never even                   bought me a cup of coffee? Something                   wrong there.                                FRANK                   I don't know what you're talking about.                                TRUPO                   You pay your bills, Frank?                                FRANK                   You want to keep talking, talk to my                   lawyer, here's his card. You call him,                   because we're done here -                                TRUPO                   Do you pay your bills, I asked you.                                FRANK                   If you're not getting your share, it's                   not my fault, go ask the chief of police.                                TRUPO                   What's my share? You don't even know me.                   Maybe I'm special.                                FRANK                   No, you're all the fuckin same.                                TRUPO                          (shows his shield)                   What does that say?                          (Frank ignores him)                   Special - Investigations - Unit. See                   that word there? "Special."                          (he takes out a restaurant                           business card)                   Ten grand, first of each month, delivered                   here.                                                                       (CONT)                                                                        77.                                  200   CONTINUED:                                                        200      Frank ignores the card, stares at Trupo like he's a fool.                                FRANK                   Detective ... There are some things you                   don't do. This is one of them. Not on a                   man's wedding day.      Frank's resolve throws Trupo off his rhythm.           He manages:                                TRUPO                   Have a nice honeymoon.201   INT. FRANK'S PENTHOUSE - LATER - NIGHT                             201      Frank doesn't carry Ana across the threshold. He strides in      leaving her at the front door, throws a match in the gas      fireplace, comes back from the bedroom a moment later with      the $50,000 chinchilla coat and throws it on the flames.202   TELEVISION IMAGE:                                                  202      A march on Washington, protesting the war (archive).      INT. JIMMY RACINE'S APARTMENT - NIGHT      The report continues on a TV here as Teddy's driver, Jimmy      Racine, yells at his girlfriend -                                  JIMMY                   Where is it?                                DARYLYNN                   Fuck you, I'm not telling you.      She comes past the TV and into the kitchen past a table      covered with dope paraphernalia.                                JIMMY                   Where is my fuckin dope? You and your                   girlfriends take it again? I'll fuckin                   kill you.      She yanks open a drawer, grabs a knife and slashes it at      him. He grabs a gun and she runs for the stairs -203   EXT. JIMMY RACINE'S - APARTMENT - NIGHT                            203      He chases her into the street, yelling, raises the gun and      fires, and she goes down, clutching at her butt, moaning -                                                                   78.                             204   INT. RICHIE'S APARTMENT - SAME NIGHT                          204      Moaning here, too.   Richie's lawyer-ex-girlfriend, in bed      with him.                             SHEILA                Richie, yes, fuck me like a cop, not                a lawyer -                       (the phone rings)                Oh, God, Richie, no - don't answer it -                       (he reaches to pick it up)                No, no, no -                              RICHIE                Yeah -                             SPEARMAN V/O PHONE                Richie. Newark just picked up one of the                celebrities on our Wall of Fame: Teddy's                driver. For attempted murder.205   INT. NARCOTICS SQUAD HQ - NEWARK - NIGHT                      205      Richie's had Jimmy Racine brought over. Sits with him as      the Three Amigos watch from the shadows. Just coming off      his high, and the attempted murder, Jimmy looks disoriented      as he sits in cuffs in the dungeon-like basement.                             RICHIE                Because it's an attempted homicide,                that's Grand Jury. Now, that Grand Jury                could come in very favorably. Might turn                out to be Attempted Manslaughter. Self                Defense even. She had a knife. Depends                on how I want to deal with you. You see                where this is going.      Jimmy looks around at the basement dungeon with concern.                             JIMMY                The fuck is this place?                             RICHIE                Let's say you beat it somehow. What do                you think Cousin Frank'll think of that?                He knows you had to sit here listening to                something like this. And then you beat                an attempted murder? Is he stupid?                He'll assume you talked.      Jimmy can easily imagine that scenario and it frightens him.                                                                   (CONT)                                                                      79.                                205   CONTINUED:                                                      205                                RICHIE                   You fucked up, Jimmy. But nobody knows.                   Frank doesn't know. Yet. Do you want him                   to read about it in the paper? Or do you                   want to walk out of here - no bail, no                   trial - just walk out, now.206   EXT. NARCOTICS SQUAD HQ - NEWARK - DAWN                          206      Jimmy has thought about it all night and walks out of the      building into the chilly morning air.                                 RICHIE V/O                   Jimmy?   Look at me -      Jimmy looks over his shoulder as if Richie just called to      him from it, which he didn't. There's no one in sight -                                RICHIE V/O                   Any time I want to change my mind? I                   don't like the quality of your work? I                   can find a witness saw you shoot your                   girlfriend. It just took me a while. I                   even know what he'll look like. He'll                   look just like you.207   EXT. MEAT PACKING DISTRICT - DAY                                 207      Teddy's car comes around a corner and down the street.208   INT. TEDDY'S CAR - MOVING - DAY                                  208      Jimmy Racine, wired, looks in the rear view mirror at Teddy      in the back seat, and, behind him, Richie's car following.209   INT. RICHIE'S CAR - SAME TIME                                    209      Richie keeps Teddy's car in view ahead. Glances in his      mirror at the cars following him. His detectives.210   EXT. MEAT PACKING DISTRICT - LATER - DAY                         210      The detectives' cars parked behind a warehouse. Richie      peers into binoculars at: Teddy's car parked by Frank's      outside another warehouse loading dock. Frank gets out,      discusses something with his brother, comes past Jimmy to      some men in bloody white coats.      He talks to them, returns to his car, takes a valise from      the trunk. He snaps it open revealing stacks of cash, hands      it over and walks to a semi-truck, glancing once in Richie's      direction. Though he can't see anyone there he gives a wave      to them - or is it to the truck driver to pull out -                                                                   80.                             211    EXT. HARLEM STREET - DAY                                     211       Like Bumpy used to do every Thanksgiving, Frank and his       brothers, from the back of the truck, hand out hundreds of       freshly-butchered turkeys to the poor.212    INT. MAMA LUCAS'S TEANECK, N.J. HOUSE - DAY                  212       Frank, in an apron, carries in a huge cooked turkey as the       extended Lucas family gathers around the table. It's like       Norman Rockwell painting -213    INT/EXT. ALLEY / ROOMS HARLEM - SAME TIME - DAY              213       Another Thanksgiving picture: addicts shooting up and       nodding out in alleys and dingy rooms. Tight on needles,       veins, spoons, filth -214    INT. RICHIE'S APARTMENT - SAME TIME - DAY                    214       Richie alone at his kitchen table with a sandwich and a       beer. The Macy's parade plays silently on his TV.A215   INT/EXT. TRUPO'S HOUSE - SAME TIME - DAY                    A215       A doorbell summons Trupo. He comes through his entry.       Opens the front door. Finds no one there - except a large       live turkey on the doorstep. He stares at it nonplussed,       then looks up to a sound - a whoosh - as flames engulf the       interior and spit out the windows of his Shelby Mustang ...B215   INT. MAMA LUCAS'S TEANECK, N.J. HOUSE - DAY                 B215       The big knife in Frank's hand slices into the turkey and       lifts meat onto a plate that's passed from hand to hand, the       family engaged in several conversations at once, laughing -215    INT. MAMA LUCAS'S TEANECK, N.J. HOUSE - DAY                  215       Bathroom. Jimmy Racine, shirt off, wired, changes the       batteries of the little tape recorder.216    EXT. MAMA LUCAS'S TEANECK, N.J. HOUSE - DAY                  216       Jimmy comes out, tries to take a chair not too far from       Frank who's watching his nephew toss pop-up flies for the       younger kids to catch.                              FRANK                 Stevie. Come over here.                        (the nephew comes over)                 I heard you didn't show up.                              (MORE)                                                                   (CONT)                                                                       81.                                 216   CONTINUED:                                                       216                                 FRANK (CONT'D)                   You're     too busy to meet with Billy                   Martin?   After I set it up?      Stevie shifts around, not wanting to make Frank mad ...                                STEVIE                   I don't want to play pro ball, I decided.                                  FRANK                   What're you   talking about? This is your                   dream since   you were their age -                          (the   younger kids)                   Maybe I can   set it up again.      Stevie just stands there, uncomfortable.         Finally -                                STEVIE                   It's not what I want. I want to do what                   you do, Uncle Frank. I want to be you.      Frank stares at him unhappily.       Teddy comes over but Frank      barely notices.                                TEDDY                   We got a problem.217   INT. TEDDY'S CAR - MOVING - LATE AFTERNOON                        217      Jimmy Racine behind the wheel.       Frank and Teddy in back,      speaking quietly.                                TEDDY                   He's been cutting it so much it's down                   to two, three percent pure.                                FRANK                   You tested it. You're sure.      Teddy nods. Frank notices Jimmy looking at them in the rear      view mirror.                                FRANK                   The fuck you looking at?218   EXT. JACKIE FOX'S CLUB - NEW YORK - DUSK                          218      The car pulls up in front of a building in the clothing      district. Jimmy stays while Teddy and Frank go inside.                                                                   82.                             219   INT. JACKIE FOX'S CLUB - DUSK                                 219      Jackie's club looks like a set from a blaxploitation film.      Frank and Teddy, led by a bodyguard, come past some turkey      carcasses and other remnants of Thanksgiving to where Jackie      and a couple friends cavort with some naked girls.                              JACKIE                Frank.   Welcome.                             FRANK                We need to talk.                              JACKIE                Great.   Girls, get out.      The girls gather their things and leave. Frank wipes at a      modern leather chair with his handkerchief, throws it away,      sits. Jackie lays out a couple lines, offers Frank a rolled      up hundred dollar straw. Frank shakes his head, no thanks.                             JACKIE                You talked to Charlie. You want to hear                more about my Black Coalition. Let me                explain it to you -      But first, let me suck up a line of coke -                             FRANK                That's not why I'm here.                       (Jackie glances up from the                        powder. No?)                Everybody's happy, Jackie. Charlie, Baz,                the cops, the Italians, everybody.                Everybody except you.                             JACKIE                I'm happy.                             FRANK                Then I don't understand. Why do you have                to take something that's perfectly good                the way it is, and wreck it?      Jackie doesn't seem to understand.                             FRANK                Brand names mean something, Jackie.                Consumers rely on them to know what                they're getting. They know the company                isn't going to try to fool them with an                inferior product. They buy a Ford, they                know they're gonna get a Ford.                             (MORE)                                                                   (CONT)                                                                     83.                               219   CONTINUED:                                                     219                                FRANK (CONT'D)                   Not a fuckin Datsun.                          (his look says, right?)                   Blue Magic is a brand name; as much a                   brand name as Pepsi. I own it. I stand                   behind it. I guarantee it and people                   know that even if they don't know me any                   more than they know the chairman of                   General Foods.                                JACKIE                   What the fuck are you talking about,                   Frank?                                FRANK                   What you're doing, as far as I'm                   concerned, when you chop my dope down to                   five percent, is trademark infringement.      That.   That's what this is about.      Jackie nods, but -                                JACKIE                   With all due respect, Frank, if I buy                   something, I can do whatever I want with                   it.                                FRANK                   That's not true. That's where you're                   wrong.                                JACKIE                   If I buy a car, I can paint it, God damn                   it.                                FRANK                   Jackie, you don't need to. You don't                   need to make more money than you can with                   Blue the way it is. No one does. At a                   certain point it's just greed.                                JACKIE                   What do you want, Frank?    You want me to                   call it something else?                                FRANK                   I have to insist. You call it Blue                   Magic, that's misrepresentation.                                JACKIE                   Fine. I'll call it Red Magic, even                   though it doesn't sound as good.                                FRANK                   That's all I'm saying.   Wrap it in red                   cellophane and -                                                                     (CONT)                                                                       84.                                 219   CONTINUED:                                                       219                                 JACKIE                   Pink Magic.   Black Magic -                                FRANK                   Whack it down to nothing, tie a bow                   around it and call it Blue Dogshit if you                   want, just don't let me catch you doing                   this again.      Jackie regards Frank for a long moment ...                                JACKIE                   Catch me? Insist? Infringement? I                   don't like these words as much as please -                   thank you - sorry to bother you, Jackie.                   These are better words to use you come                   into my place without an invitation.      Jackie waits to hear a kinder word but Frank doesn't offer      one. Jackie nods, Fine, okay, but it's more like a warning.220   INT. JACKIE'S CLUB - DUSK                                         220      Frank pulls a girl off Teddy's lap and points him toward      the door. Jackie watches them leave.221   EXT. JACKIE'S CLUB - DUSK                                         221      They emerge from the building to where Jimmy waits.                                TEDDY                   Give me the keys; take a cab home.222   INT. TEDDY'S CAR - MOVING - NIGHT                                 222      Frank and Teddy driving in silence.        Eventually -                                FRANK                   You don't go over there any more.      Teddy doesn't like it, but nods. Suddenly his face is      illuminated by light reflecting in the rear view mirror, an      unmarked police car behind them, flashing its brights.                                FRANK                   It's all right, pull over, what are they                   going to do? Give us a ticket?      But Teddy isn't as calm as he begins to pull over.                                                                     85.                               223   EXT. GARMENT WAREHOUSE DISTRICT - NY - LATE AFTERNOON           223      As Trupo and his partner climb out of their car and approach      Teddy's -                              TEDDY                Frank?   Some of it's in the trunk.      Frank regards him with utter disbelief. Teddy shies as if      he expects to get hit. The SIU detectives arrive.                             TRUPO                Hello, Frank.                             FRANK                Detective. How's it going?        You have a                nice Thanksgiving?                             TRUPO                I did not, as a matter of fact.       Get out                of the car.      The Lucases climb out.                             FRANK                Where's the Shelby?                             TRUPO                The Shelby's gone, Frank.      Trupo reaches in the driver's side window, takes the keys      from the ignition and comes around to the trunk. Frank and      Teddy exchange a glance as it opens. Silence. Then -                             TRUPO                Want to come over here a minute, Frank?      Six kilos of heroin are illuminated by the trunk light.      Frank and Trupo regard it in silence. Then -                             TRUPO                Now what are we gonna do about this?                             FRANK                We're gonna shut the trunk and say good                night, forget you pulled us over.                             TRUPO                I got a better idea.      Trupo reaches into the trunk, picks up two of the heroin      bricks, tucks them under his arm and looks at Frank -                                                                     (CONT)                                                                          86.                                    223    CONTINUED:                                                         223                                 TRUPO                    Or would you rather I took it all and                    threw you and your brother in the fuckin                    river?                                 FRANK                    I don't know, would you rather it's your                    fuckin house blows up next time?       They hold each others' stare for a long moment.                                 TRUPO                    I loved that car.                                    FRANK                    I know.       Trupo closes the trunk and walks away with his cut of the       heroin, calling to his partner -                                    TRUPO                    Let's go.       As the SIU cops walk to their car, the perspective shifts,       through binoculars: Richie watching.A224   INT. TEDDY'S CAR / STREET - LATER - NIGHT                          A224       From outside the driver's side, Teddy's head, inside the       car, suddenly smashes against the window, cracking it. His       groan is interrupted by Frank's muffled voice -                                 FRANK                    Don't you ever put me in a car with dope                    in it.224    INT. RICHIE'S APARTMENT - NIGHT                                     224       Richie comes in, opens the fridge and stares in, his mind       elsewhere. A ringing phone pulls him out of it.                                    RICHIE                    Yeah.   Tony.    How's it going?225    INT/EXT. TONY ZACA'S HOUSE - DAY                                    225       Tony's wife and daughters can be seen in the suburban       backyard. Here in the kitchen Tony and Richie watch kernels                        of popcorn bounce off the inside walls of the first Amana                          microwave oven. It's noisier than modern ones.                                                               RICHIE                                                                The fuck is a `micro' wave?                                                                                                              (CONT)                                                                       87.                                 225   CONTINUED:                                                       225                                TONY                                                               It's a scientific force like atomic                                             energy. It rearranges the molecules.                                                          RICHIE                                                            Of what.                                                                                     TONY                                                               Of anything. Of popcorn. You don't                                              want to put your head in there.                                    Tony rakes out the plain, `pre-microwaveable' popcorn,                          using his hand. Gives some to Richie. Half of it's burnt.                                                 TONY                                                               I can get you one of these. Just like                                           this, brand new. I'll have it delivered.                                                      RICHIE                                                            No, thanks.   I don't want one.                                    Tony hands Richie some snapshots: The Zaca family on the                        slopes of a resort, and in and outside a beautiful snow-      dotted cabin.                                RICHIE                   This is nice, where's this?                                 TONY                   Aspen.   Just got back.    Had a great time.                                                 RICHIE                   I'd like to ski Aspen some day.                                TONY                   Know who we met? Burt Reynolds. I'm not                   kidding. Lot of people from Hollywood go                   up there now, buying up everything.                                RICHIE                   This is your place?                                TONY                   Are you kidding? You know what it's                   worth? Ski-in-ski-out, five bedrooms,                   sauna, everything. We were guests.                          (pause)                   No ... No, that's your place.      Everything seems to stop. Richie becomes aware of the      sounds around them, the girls splashing around outside ...                                                                       (CONT)                                                                       88.                                 225   CONTINUED:                                                       225                                TONY                   Isn't there something we can do - about                   leaving the big guy alone? You know who                   I mean.      What Richie knows is that no matter what he does or says at      this point he's got a problem.                                RICHIE                   If I don't report what you just said                   to me, you know I could be in a lot of                   trouble. If I do, then it's you.                                TONY                   I'm hoping you won't do that.      Richie considers the room itself, measuring the odds of      microphones and a recorder being in it somewhere.                                TONY                   I'm not taping it. How do you know?                   Because we're friends and I'm telling                   you. This is a real offer.                                                                RICHIE                                                          From who, your uncle?                                                               (Tony doesn't say)                                                    Why would you do this? Why would you                                         risk our friendship?                                                                      TONY                                                            Because I care what happens to you.                                                       RICHIE                                                          You shouldn't have done it.                                                              TONY                                                             I had to. I had no choice. Neither do                                        you. Leave Frank Lucas alone.                                                             RICHIE                                                          He's not important enough for you to do                                      this.                                                                                      TONY                                                           Yes, he is.                                                     Richie stares at Tony, then puts the pictures in his hand.                                RICHIE                   Tell Marie I'm sorry I had to leave.                   You can tell her why.                                                                     89.                               226     INT. NARCOTICS SQUAD HQ - LATER - NIGHT                       226        Alone in the empty building, he stares at the T.O.: The        higher echelon Italians like Tosca; lower echelon Harlem        guys like Charlie Williams and Frank Lucas.        He gets up then, untacks Frank's photograph from its lowly        position and moves it to a place no black has ever occupied -        to the top of the pyramid - above the mafia.                                                                              227 - 230 OMIT                                          227 - 230 OMIT        A231    INT. NARCOTICS SQUAD HQ - DAY                                A231             Toback regards Frank's picture at top of the Lucas T.O.                               RICHIE                  INS, FBI, IRS - I can't get anything out                  of them. Nothing on his travel, his bank                  accounts, property holdings - nothing.                               TOBACK                  That's because they all think you're on                  the take and you think they are.                               RICHIE                                                           They don't want this to stop. It                                              employs too many people. Cops, lawyers,                                       judges, probation officers, prison                                            guards. The day dope stops coming into                                        this country, a hundred thousand people                                       lose their jobs.                                                    Toback isn't as sure the corruption of the official world is        that complete.                                SPEARMAN                  Richie.   Excuse me.        Spearman gestures to a couple of men in suits who want to        talk to him.B231    INT. NARCOTICS SQUAD HQ - LATER - DAY                        B231             Richie and Tobacke regard the two stone-faced FBI agents -                               RICHIE                  Who took it out?                         (nothing from the agents)                  If there's a contract on me, it would be                  nice to know who took it out.                                                                     (CONT)                                                                          90.                                   B231   CONTINUED:                                                        B231                                 FBI AGENT                    We can't say without compromising our                    source. You understand.                                   RICHIE                    No.    I don't. Not when it's my life.                                 FBI AGENT                    If you want, we can assign someone to                    you.                                    RICHIE                    Who?    FBI?   You're going to protect me?       Richie almost laughs at the thought, looks to Toback.             In       fact, none of this is funny.C231   EXT. STREET - NEWARK - NIGHT                                      C231       Walking toward his apartment down its dark street, bag of       groceries in arm, Richie becomes aware someone is following       him. He slows to let the figure get closer, closer, then       turns fast, drops the guy and puts a gun to his head.                                   MAN                    Don't shoot!    For God's sake.       Richie keeps the gun pressed against the guy's forehead.                                   RICHIE                    Talk.                                 MAN                    Are you Richard Roberts?      I got a                    subpoena.231    INT. COURTROOM - NEWARK - DAY                                      231       Richie and Laurie sit with their respective lawyers, waiting       for the judge to appear. He leans over -                                 RICHIE                    Laurie. I'm sorry I couldn't give you                    the kind of life you wanted. I'm sorry                    it was never enough. But don't punish me                    for being honest. Don't take my son                    away.       She stares at him in disbelief.        Then responds in a louder       voice than his -                                                                         (CONT)                                                                      91.                                231   CONTINUED:                                                      231                                LAURIE                   What are you saying? That because you                   were "honest" and didn't take money like                   every other cop, I left you?      The bailiff looks over, but she doesn't care.                                LAURIE                   You don't take money for one reason:                   to buy being dishonest about everything                   else. And that's worse than taking money                   nobody gives a shit about - drug money,                   gambling money nobody's gonna miss.                          (more people look over)                   I'd rather you took it and been honest                   with me. Or don't take it, I don't care.                   But don't then go cheat on me. Don't                   cheat on your kid by never being around.                   Don't go out and get laid by your                   snitches and secretaries and strippers.                   I can tell just by looking, she's one                   of them.      His lawyer.    Which is true.    Everyone's watching them now.                                LAURIE                   You think you're going to heaven because                   your "honest." You're not. You're going                   to the same hell as the crooked cops you                   can't stand.                                BAILIFF                   All rise -232   INT. COURTROOM - LATER - DAY                                     232      The same judge who sends a collection plate around sits      before Richie and Laurie and their attorneys.                                SHEILA                   Your honor, a lot has been said here                   today about how unsavory Mr. Roberts'                   environment is for a child. How                   dangerous it is. I'm sorry, but this is                   our world. This is where we live and we                   tell him, Protect us. We give him that                   responsibility, and then say, Oh, but we                   don't trust you to raise a child. We                   don't think you're fit for that.                                RICHIE                   I'm not.                                                                      (CONT)                                                                          92.                                    232        CONTINUED:                                                     232           Silence. Sheila looks at him, but he's looking at Laurie,           and speaks to her like they're alone in the room:                                     RICHIE                        You're right. This is no place for him.                        Around me. Take him. The further away                        the better. For him.233 OMIT                                                            233 OMIT234        TV IMAGE (ARCHIVE):                                             234           The lights on the Rockefeller Christmas tree blink on to           applause. A carol begins and continues over:A235 OMIT                                                          A235 OMIT       235        INT/EXT. FRANK'S CAR / FRANK'S PENTHOUSE - NIGHT                235           Seats covered with Christmas presents. Doc, driving, sees           Trupo's car parked out front Frank's penthouse.                                    DOC                        Frank -                                     FRANK                        Yeah, I see them.           Doc pulls to the curb outside Frank's building. As the           doorman helps Doc with the big Christmas tree tied to the           roof of the car, Frank crosses to Trupo's car with a couple           of bottles of Crystal tied with holiday bows.                                     FRANK                        Here you go, boys.   Merry Christmas.236 OMIT                                                            236 OMIT237        INT. FRANK'S PENTHOUSE - NIGHT                                  237           Charlie has come to visit. A Christmas carol plays as Frank           strings the tree with some lights.                                     FRANK                        Paying cops is one thing, I understand                        that. I been paying them since I was ten                        - put more of their kids through college                        than the National Merit Award. This is                        different, this Special Investigations                        Unit. They think they are special.                                                                          (CONT)                                                                     93.                               237   CONTINUED:                                                     237                                CHARLIE                   They're fucking crooks.   No code of                   ethics.      Frank plugs the cord in and the tree lights up.                                FRANK                   Someone's been following me. Besides                   cops. I see cars where they shouldn't                   be. Guys I don't know -                                CHARLIE                   Me, too.      They regard each other.    The carol continues over:238   INT. FRANK'S PENTHOUSE - LATER - NIGHT                          238      Ana hangs tinsel on the tree as Frank gives the shepherd      some dog toy presents he's bought. More to himself:                                FRANK                   Bumpy hardly ever went out at a certain                   point. He stayed in - read - watched TV -                   played chess. I thought he chose to lead                   a quiet life. He didn't. He couldn't go                   out without something happening.                                ANA                   We can still go out.                                FRANK                   Where? With who? Everyone I know is                   under surveillance. I can't even be with                   my family at Christmas anymore.      He gets up, pets the dog, and looks out the window at      Christmas angels stretched across the street, at people on      the sidewalk, wondering perhaps which of them are undercover      cops, at Trupo's car, still parked outside.                                ANA                   Why don't you just pay who you have to                   pay?                                FRANK                   I do pay them, I pay them all. Cops,                   accountants, lawyers, who don't I pay?                   Everybody. I pay them a fortune, it                   doesn't matter. It doesn't satisfy them.                   The more you pay, the more they expect.                                (MORE)                                                                     (CONT)                                                                             94.                                       238        CONTINUED:                                                        238                                     FRANK (CONT'D)                        You can't start with them because they                        can't stop. It's like dope. They                        always want more.           Ana looks vulnerable. Frank almost feels bad that it's his           life and problems that have put them here. Eventually, to           try to turn it around -                                     FRANK                        Put on something nice, we're going out.239        INT/EXT. FRANK'S PENTHOUSE BUILDING - NIGHT                        239         Frank and Ana emerge from a service elevator, come down   a         dark hall and out the back door to an alley to where Doc         waits with the car in the falling snow.240 OMIT                                                    240 OMIT                  241        EXT. SMALL'S PARADISE - LATER - NIGHT                              241           Frank's car approaches Small's just as Jackie, with a           Santa Claus hat on, climbs out of a sky blue Bentley with           his entourage. Frank groans to Doc -                                       FRANK                        Keep going.                                       DOC                        Around back?                                    FRANK                        Fuck that. I'm not going to sneak into                        my own club. Just drive.242 OMIT                                                               242 OMIT       243        INT. CHINESE TAKE-OUT PLACE - NIGHT                                243           Waiting for a take-out order under harsh fluorescent lights -                                     ANA                        I'm going to wait in the car.                                     DOC                        Go ahead, Frank.       I'll wait for it.                                     FRANK                        You can carry it all?      We ordered a lot.           Doc nods, go on, go with Ana. Frank hands him a couple           twenties. Ana's already outside.                                                                             (CONT)                                                                          95.                                    243        CONTINUED:                                                     243                                     FRANK                        Don't forget the yellow sauce.244 OMIT                                                            244 OMIT     245        EXT. STREET - CHINATOWN - NIGHT                                 245           Ana's half a block ahead, waiting outside the locked car by           the time Frank arrives and realizes -                                     FRANK                        Doc's got the keys.   Let's go back.                                     ANA                        The lights give me a headache, you go.                                     FRANK                        I'm not leaving you on the street.                                     ANA                        Get the keys, Frank, it's cold.           He starts back through cascading snow.       Notices a car coming           slowly down the street -246        INT. CHINESE PLACE - CONTINUED                                  246           The cook dumps sizzling vegetables into a take-out container           and puts it in a bag -247        EXT. STREET - CHINATOWN - CONTINUED                             247         The car passes, continues to the end of the block, turns the         corner.248 OMIT                                                    248 OMIT             249        INT. CHINESE PLACE - CONTINUED                                  249           Doc hands over money, waits for his change -                                     DOC                        Gimme some of that yellow sauce.250        EXT. STREET - MIDTOWN - CONTINUED                               250           Frank sees the car again, coming around the corner, walks           briskly back to where Ana waits. The car is almost upon           them as he grabs her by the wrist and pulls her hard along           the sidewalk. The car guns its engine -251 OMIT                                                            251 OMIT                                                                            96.                                 252        INT/EXT. CHINESE PLACE - CONTINUED                           252           As Frank pushes in past the doors with Ana, the windows           explode. They dive to the floor, bullets ripping through           the place.           Doc draws his two guns and fires back at the car, hitting           it a couple times as it screeches off. He gathers Ana and           Frank off the floor like a presidential bodyguard, hustles           them out to the car. Frank's shoulder is bleeding.                                  DOC                     You hit?                                  FRANK                     What the fuck was that?           They pile in and Doc screeches away from the curb.253 OMIT                                                         253 OMIT       254        INT. FRANK'S PENTHOUSE - NIGHT                               254           Heavy security in the hallways: Frank's own men and some           cops he's got on the payroll. Ana steps from the elevator           and hurries past, early edition New York paper in hand.255        INT. FRANK'S PENTHOUSE - NIGHT                               255           The brothers watch as a private doctor attends Frank's           wounds. He seems all right fine except for the fact that           someone had the fucking nerve to take a shot at him - and           Charlie he sees in the newspaper - gunned down, dead, lurid           Weegee-like photo of him on the front page.                                  TEDDY                     Was it Jackie?                            (Frank doesn't say)                     I'll fuckin kill him whether it was or                     not, you tell me to.                            (nothing from Frank)                     What do you want us to do, Frank? We                     can't just sit here and -                                  FRANK                     Who didn't like Charlie?   Everybody liked                     Charlie ...                                  ANA                     Who shot at us?                            (Frank can't tell her)                     It doesn't matter. We're leaving.                                                                       (CONT)                                                                        97.                                  255   CONTINUED:                                                        255      She pulls a drawer open. Takes out their passports.      Begins packing. The brothers watch, not sure what to do,      or say. To them -                                 FRANK                   Go home.   Go see your kids.      He obviously wants to talk to Ana alone. Pulls away from      the doctor. They all leave. Ana keeps packing.                                FRANK                   What are you doing?     Where've you been?                                ANA                   We're leaving from here.      Money's in                   the car.                                  FRANK                   What money?                                ANA                   Everything from your mother's house.                                  FRANK                   In your car?                                  ANA                   Yes.                                FRANK                   Where's the car?                                  ANA                   Out front.                                FRANK                   With ten million dollars in it?                                ANA                   I didn't count it.                                FRANK                   Are you crazy? Take it back to Teaneck.                   What are you doing driving around without                   security? Doc'll take you back.                                ANA                   We're not going there, we're going to the                   airport. We're leaving the country.                                  FRANK                   To go where?    No, we're not.                                                                        (CONT)                                                                        98.                                  255     CONTINUED:                                                      255                                  ANA                     Frank, Charlie's dead. They tried to                     kill us. What else has to happen - ?        He grabs her and holds her to calm her down.                                   FRANK                     Shhh.   Come on, now.   Shhh.        He holds her close, waits for her breathing to slow before:                                  FRANK                     Where are we going to go? Spain?                     China? Which fuckin place is it going                     to be?                                  ANA                     We can go anywhere we want.     We can live                     anywhere.                                  FRANK                     We can run and hide is what you're                     saying.        He slowly shakes his head: that's something he'll never do.                                  FRANK                     This is where I'm from. This is where                     my family is. My business. My mother.                     This is my place. This is my country.                     This is America.256 - 263 OMIT                                             256 - 263 OMIT264     EXT. HUDSON RIVER - MORNING                                      264        The Statue of Liberty in morning light and mist rises from        the waters of the Hudson River.A265    INT. NARCOTICS SQUAD HQ - NEWARK - MORNING                      A265        Richie, at his desk, looks up to see Trupo walking through        the squad room, followed by Spearman.                                  SPEARMAN                     Said he'll only talk to you.B265    INT. NARCOTICS SQUAD HQ - NEWARK - LATER - MORNING              B265        Trupo's attitude has completely changed from the first time        they met. He talks to Richie now like a fellow conspirator -                                                                        (CONT)                                                                       99.                                B265   CONTINUED:                                                     B265                                 TRUPO                    From what I hear, it was the Corsicans.                    The French Connection, Fernando Rey, the                    exporters Frank has put out of business.                    Now, I can take care of him in New York,                    but I don't want to have to worry every                    time he drives across the bridge to                    Jersey someone's gonna take another shot                    at him.       Richie gives nothing away even as it stuns him that Trupo       would speak to him this blatantly.                                 TRUPO                    We need to start working together. We                    need to step up our efforts. Next time                    their aim could be better. We need to                    keep this cash cow alive.       Jimmy Racine comes in - sees Trupo - and leaves - but not       before Trupo has seen him. And now he sees the Lucas Table       of Organization he didn't notice when he came in. Gets up       and walks over to it now and takes a closer look. Sees       Frank's picture at the top, like Enemy Number 1.                                 TRUPO                    Jesus. What the fuck you doing here?                    You actually going to arrest Frank Lucas?                    What's the matter with you?                                 RICHIE                    I'm crazy. Can't you tell that? I'm                    crazy enough to shoot someone and make it                    look like an accident next time he comes                    over the bridge without my permission.                    Get the fuck out of New Jersey.       They regard each other a moment before Trupo turns to leave.C265   INT. FRANK'S PENTHOUSE - DAY                                   C265       A large TV shows chaotic scenes in Saigon. The US is       pulling out of Vietnam. Tosca has come to see how Frank is       recovering, and finds him, agitated, too long in bed even       though it's only been a day, changing into a nice shirt,       putting on his shoes -                                 FRANK                    "I can guarantee you peace of mind,"                    you said. Do I look like a man with                    peace of mind to you? They shot at my                    wife. Who does that?                                 (MORE)                                                                      (CONT)                                                                       100.                                 C265   CONTINUED:                                                      C265                                 FRANK (CONT'D)                    Who was it, which one of your people?                    I'll take that gun away and shove it up                    their ass.                                 TOSCA                    I don't know that it was any of them,                    Frank. Neither do you.                                 FRANK                    Then maybe I'll kill them all just to                    make a fuckin point.       Tosca seems more philosophical about it - like Bumpy might       have been - but it wasn't him who was shot at.                                 TOSCA                    You want to know who it was? I can                    tell you. It was a junkie. Or a rival.                    Or some dumb ass kid trying to make a                    name for himself. Or someone you forgot                    to pay off. Or slighted without                    realizing it. Or someone you put out of                    business by being too successful.                           (pause)                    Success has a lot of enemies. Your                    success is who took a shot at you. How                    you gonna kill it? By being                    unsuccessful? You can be successful and                    have enemies, or unsuccessful and have                    friends. It's the choice we make.265    INT. MASSAGE ROOM - SOUL BROTHERS BAR - NIGHT                    265       A call has interrupted Nate's massage (and later activities)       with a bevy of Thai girls. He wraps himself in a robe,       takes the phone.                                  NATE                    Hello?266    INT. REGENCY HOTEL - SAME TIME - DAY                             266       Frank on a pay phone in a comfortable alcove with a stack       of quarters. Other guests are gathered around a TV in the       lounge that shows images of helicopters plucking diplomats       off the roof of the American Embassy in Saigon.                                 FRANK                    I'm watching the news.     Where the hell's                    everyone going?                                   NATE                    Home.    The war's over.                                                                       (CONT)                                                                      101.                                266   CONTINUED:                                                       266                                FRANK                   Just like that? We're going to leave the                   fuckin country to the communists?                                NATE                   We been here since 1961, Frank.                                 FRANK                   I haven't!                                                      HARD CUT TO:267   EXT. JUNGLE - DAY                                                267         Frank and Nate and their "army" of black servicemen and Thai      thugs wind through the jungle with pack mules.                         268   INT. BAMBOO DWELLING - OPIUM FARM - DAY                          268      The same farm and hut as before. Frank and the Chinese      General sip tea. The four million dollars in cash Frank      brought sits on the table.                                GENERAL                   Opium plants are hearty enough to                   outlive any war. They'll still be here                   long after the troops are gone. But what                   are you going to do for transportation                   when the last US plane goes home?                                FRANK                   I'll figure something out.      You'll see                   me again.      The General seems fond of Frank, and not only because of all      the money on the table.                                GENERAL                   It's not in my best interest to say                   this, Frank ... but quitting while you're                   ahead is not the same as quitting.                                FRANK                   That's what my wife thinks.                                GENERAL                   But you don't think she's right.      Frank doesn't say.                                                                     102.                               269    EXT. OPIUM FARM - DAY                                           269       Mules are loaded up with burlap bags containing 3,000 kilos       of heroin.A270   EXT. OPIUM FARM / JUNGLE - DAY                                 A270       The mule train approaches the jungle that surrounds the       opium farm. Nate's Thai thugs, left behind in sniper       positions in the trees, stand ready to open fire if they       have to as Frank, Nate, the soldiers and mules pass below.B270   EXT. JUNGLE - LATER - DAY                                      B270       They seem to have made it, winding back down through the       jungle with the mules. Suddenly a barrage of gunfire erupts       from the trees - a couple of Nate's men are hit as the rest       dive for cover, shouting "Vietcong," and returning the fire.       Frank drops down from his mule, gets a pistol out and shoots       into the trees. Bullet-severed palm fronds rain down.                              FRANK                 Give them half!       Nate, pinned down by the mules, can't hear him over the       noise.                              FRANK                 Cut half of them loose!      The mules!       Nate cuts the mule-train tether in the middle, slaps at the       animals. As the freed mules disappear into a wall of trees       the shooting subsides, then stops altogether. Smoke from       all the gunfire rises like mist around the half dozen Thais       and Americans lying dead on the ground.270    EXT. STREET - NIGHT                                             270       Teddy makes out with a girl in the back seat of his car.       The pay phone just outside on the corner rings, and he gets       out, steps past Jimmy, answers it -271    INT. SOUL BROTHERS BAR - BANGKOK - INTERCUT - DAY               271       A Thai singer attempts Otis Redding on the little stage.       Frank, at a table here, with a drink and a phone.                                 FRANK                 Newark.     Short Term Parking Lot 3.                              TEDDY V/O                 When you need it? Today?                                                                     (CONT)                                                                    103.                              271   CONTINUED:                                                     271                                FRANK                   Tomorrow will be fine.272   EXT. STREET - CONTINUED                                        272      Jimmy loiters close enough to the open pay phone, to hear      Teddy's side of the conversation.                                TEDDY                   Short Term Lot 3. This the Mustang were                   talking about ... Camero? ... What's the                   plate number?                          (writes on a napkin)                   Yeah, I got it ... I got it, Frank ...                          (sighs; reads from the                           napkin:)                   KA 760.273   INT. NARCOTICS SQUAD HQ - NEWARK - DAY                         273      Jimmy's come over to share his news with the detectives.      But Richie isn't pleased with it - or with Jimmy.                                ABRUZZO                   There's no Short Term Lot 3 at Newark.                   They're lettered, A, B, C, D -                                JIMMY                   I'm just telling you what I heard -                                ABRUZZO                   Then you heard wrong!      Jimmy shies back a step in case Abruzzo takes a swing.                                SPEARMAN                   Maybe he means the time?   3 o'clock?                                JONES                   And this isn't a Jersey plate. Or New                   York. Not with just two letters. It's                   three and three, not two and three -                                JIMMY                   It's what he said -                                JONES                   Then what the fuck is it -                                JIMMY                   The fuck should I know -                                                                    (CONT)                                                                         104.                                   273        CONTINUED:                                                     273                                     ABRUZZO                        You're fuckin lying -                                     JIMMY                        It's what he said.   I'm sure.                                    SPEARMAN                        KA 760 -                                    JIMMY                        Yes!           Silence.   They all look at each other.       After a moment -                                     RICHIE                        None of you ever been in the service?                        It's an Air Force tail number.274        EXT. SKY - DAY                                                 274           The plane, with that tail number, descends through clouds.275        EXT. NEWARK AIRPORT - DAY                                      275           Richie's entire staff of detectives, along with Toback, the           DA and several customs agents, stand on the tarmac, watching           the military plane taxiing toward them -276        EXT. MAMA LUCAS'S TEANECK, N.J. HOUSE - DAY                    276           Quiet sounds of suburban domesticity - chirping birds, a           distant lawn mower -277        EXT. NEWARK AIRPORT - CONTINUED                                277           The cabin door slides up, the passengers begin emerging:           Military officers, embassy personnel and families. Richie's           detectives and Toback watch him with concern as the official           passengers, met by a bevy of assistants, file past -278        INT. MAMA LUCAS'S TEANECK, N.J. HOUSE - CONTINUED              278           The kitchen. Frank's mother shows Ana some old photographs                        of Frank as a boy as they sip coffee. There's a tap on the                        glass French door. The women look up and see Trupo just                           outside it, and other police moving past. He waves.                    279 OMIT                                                            279 OMIT280        EXT. NEWARK AIRPORT - CONTINUED                                280           An Army captain approaches Richie's law enforcement group.                                                                         (CONT)                                                                    105.                              280   CONTINUED:                                                     280                                RICHIE                   Captain, I'm Richard Roberts, Director of                   the Essex County Narcotics Bureau.281   INT. MAMA LUCAS'S TEANECK, N.J. HOUSE - CONTINUED              281      Front door. Trupo sort of waves a search warrant at Julie                    as invites himself in. The NY cops follow, fan out. Trupo                    and his detectives head upstairs -                                     282   INT. AIRPORT HANGAR - LATER                                    282           The plane has been brought into a hangar where it's being      taken apart like a car stripped by thieves. Inside the      cabin, seats are removed and inspected, carpeting pulled up,      panels unscrewed, lavatories dismantled.283   INT. MAMA LUCAS'S TEANECK, N.J. HOUSE - CONTINUED              283      Downstairs - Ana and Frank's mother, guarded, can hear                       Trupo and his detectives, upstairs, ransacking a bedroom.                    Upstairs - the SIU detectives pull open drawers, throw                       clothes from the closets.   Trupo picks up an invitation to                  a United Nations ball, tosses it down again. Finds a safety-                 deposit box key in a sock drawer, puts it in his pocket.               284   INT. AIRPORT HANGAR - CONTINUED                                284      The engines and landing gear are disassembled, the tires      opened up and searched. A nozzle plunges into a toilet and      pumps out the contents into barrels detectives fish through      with gloved hands -285   INT. MAMA LUCAS'S TEANECK, N.J. HOUSE - LATER - DAY            285      Ana is taken upstairs, brought before the SIU detectives                     who wait for the NYPD cops to leave the room. The place      has been torn apart.                                TRUPO                   Your husband's illustrious career is                   over. The Feds are going to come in and                   take it all. Everything. But not before                   I get my gratuity. Where's the money?                                ANA                   There was some on that dresser, but it's                   gone now so I guess you (took it) -                                TRUPO                   The money! The getaway money Frank and                   every other gangster keeps in his house!                                                                    (CONT)                                                                      106.                                285   CONTINUED:                                                       285                                ANA                   If you leave now, there's a chance                   Frank might not kill you -      Trupo slaps her hard across the face -286   INT. AIRPORT HANGAR - LATER                                      286      Richie, off by himself, watches with a growing sense of      panic as the mechanics, detectives and customs agents begin      removing the metal skin from the plane. Coffins are being      off-loaded.287   INT. MAMA LUCAS'S TEANECK, N.J. HOUSE - LATER                    287      Downstairs, Mama Lucas puts washcloth on Ana's swollen      cheek. They can hear the search continuing upstairs: things      being ripped from the walls, the walls themselves splintered      apart with sledgehammers, glass breaking. To Mama Lucas -                                 ANA                   I'm sorry.288   INT. AIRPORT HANGAR - LATER                                      288      They've looked everywhere and found nothing. The plane,      in fact, hardly resembles a plane anymore - no panel left      that hasn't been removed, no cavity not probed - except -      Richie's glance settles on the military caskets as they're      loaded onto a truck, armed soldiers standing guard -289   INT/EXT. MAMA LUCAS'S TEANECK, N.J. HOUSE - DAY                  289      Frank's bedroom has been destroyed. Trupo, standing at a      window glances out at the sound of a barking of a dog to see      Frank's German shepherd down in its kennel.290   INT. AIRPORT HANGAR - CONTINUED                                  290      Richie gets up slowly and approaches the coffins as -291   EXT. MAMA LUCAS'S TEANECK, N.J. HOUSE - DAY                      291      Trupo crosses the lawn toward the kennel and barking dog -292   INT. AIRPORT HANGAR - CONTINUED                                  292      Richie stands over the nearest coffin -                                 RICHIE                   Open it.                                                                      (CONT)                                                                    107.                              292   CONTINUED:                                                     292      The army captain regards the detective for a long moment.                                RICHIE                   The warrant permits me to search the                   plane and its cargo.      The captain doesn't comply. Richie moves to open the coffin      himself and every soldier's shouldered rifle immediately      comes into firing position, aimed at him.                                ARMY CAPTAIN                   But you don't have my permission.      Richie stares at the weapons and the uniformed men holding      them, safeties off, fingers on the triggers; all they're      waiting for is their commander's order to fire.                                RICHIE                   I don't need it.293   EXT. MAMA LUCAS'S TEANECK, N.J. HOUSE - CONTINUED              293      Trupo regards the shepherd snarling at him from behind the      kennel fence. Comes around back. Pushes at the frame. It      moves a little, like it's levered -294   INT. AIRPORT HANGAR - CONTINUED                                294      With the rifles still pointed at him, Richie kneels down,      pulls the latches of the coffins, half expecting to hear an      accompanying barrage of gunfire. He lifts the lid. Sees a      long black body bag inside -295   EXT. MAMA LUCAS'S TEANECK, N.J. HOUSE - CONTINUED              295      Trupo comes around to the front of the kennel again with his      gun out and aims it at the dog. As he fires -296   INT. AIRPORT HANGAR - CONTINUED                                296      Richie pulls at the zipper, parting the plastic body bag,      revealing the remains of a young soldier -                                US ATTORNEY                   That's enough.297   EXT. MAMA LUCAS'S TEANECK, N.J. HOUSE - CONTINUED              297      The dead dog slides against the fencing as Trupo overturns      the kennel to reveal Frank's stash of cash.                                                                 108.                           298   INT. AIRPORT HANGER OFFICE - MINUTES LATER - DAY             298      Richie and Toback sit before the Federal Attorneys and      customs agents. The US Attorney hangs up a phone ... then:                             US ATTORNEY                That was a military transport plane. If                there was heroin on board then someone in                the military would have to be involved.                Which means that even as it fights a war                that's claimed 50,000 Americans lives,                the military is smuggling narcotics.      Richie's in serious trouble and knows it.    As does Toback.                             US ATTORNEY                That's how these events are being                interpreted by General Easton in that                call to me. That someone employed by the                this office believes the United States                Army is in the drug trafficking business -                and is trying to prove it by desecrating                the remains of young men who've given                their lives in the defence of democracy.                             RICHIE                There are drugs on that plane -                             US ATTORNEY                Shut the fuck up.      Richie does, but can't conceal the contempt he feels for      these men who've never spent a minute on the street but act      as if know more than him, and who are, in the unfortunate      organization of his world, his superiors.                             US ATTORNEY                Is it any wonder then, because of your                actions, the entire federal narcotics                program is now in jeopardy of being                dismantled as completely and enthusiastic-                ally as that fucking transport plane?                That's what you've accomplished Mr.                Roberts. Single-handedly.                             RICHIE                I had good information the target of my                investigation was bringing dope in on                that plane.                             US ATTORNEY                And that target is?                                                                 (CONT)                                                                    109.                              298   CONTINUED:                                                     298                                  RICHIE                   Frank Lucas.      No one in the room, except Richie and Toback, has ever      heard the name. The federal men regard one another blankly.                                US ATTORNEY                   Who?  Who's Frank Lucas?                          (no one seems to know)                   Who's he work for? Which family?                                RICHIE                   He's not Italian. He's black.      Now there's a longer, even deeper silence, before -                                US ATTORNEY                   Is that supposed to be some kind of joke?                   You're this close to the end of your                   career in law enforcement, you're making                   jokes?                                RICHIE                   I believe Frank Lucas is above the mafia                   in the dope business. I believe he buys                   direct from the source in Southeast Asia,                   cuts out all the middlemen, and uses US                   military planes and personnel to bring                   pure No. 4 heroin into United States.      Richie is looking at faces that are still trying to make      sense out of his ridiculous theory. Toback tries to come to      his defense -                                TOBACK                   Richie has a lot of experience -                                US ATTORNEY                   Does he. And how many arrests has he                   made in his so-called investigation?                                RICHIE                   I was promised when I took this job, it                   was about real arrests.                                US ATTORNEY                   Does that mean `none?'                                RICHIE                   I have cases against most of Frank's                   organization. Not him -                                                                    (CONT)                                                                           110.                                     298        CONTINUED:                                                       298                                     US ATTORNEY                               (more to the others)                        Frank's organization -                                     RICHIE                        That's right.                                     US ATTORNEY                        No fucking nigger has accomplished what                        the American Mafia hasn't in a hundred                        years!                                     RICHIE                        Yeah, you'd know, sitting here, having                        never been on the (street) -                                     US ATTORNEY                        Lou, get this fucking kike out of here -           Richie goes for him and lands several punches before Toback           and the others can pull him off.299 OMIT                                                              299 OMIT300        INT/EXT. AIRPORT HANGAR OFFICE - DAY                             300           Richie and Toback walk briskly across the lobby -                                     TOBACK                        He was out of line, Richie.           Richie isn't really listening. Strides past his detectives           on his way out of the building. To Spearman -                                      TOBACK                        It's over.   You're shut down.           Toback watches as the detectives follow after Richie           striding toward his car.301 - 302 OMIT                                                 301 - 302 OMITA303       INT/EXT. AIRPORT TERMINAL - NIGHT                                A303           Frank comes out with an airline representative to find Doc           waiting for him. He can tell immediately something's wrong.B303       INT. FRANK'S PENTHOUSE - NIGHT                                   B303               Frank slaps a cartridge into the butt of a pistol.                                     FRANK                        Ten million dollars means nothing to me.                                                                           (CONT)                                                                      111.                                B303   CONTINUED:                                                     B303       Ana stares at the floor. It all just seems to get worse and       worse. They had their chance to get out and missed it.                                 FRANK                    This - is his death warrant.       He lightly touches his wife's bruised face and walks out.C303   INT. FRANK'S PENTHOUSE - NIGHT                                  C303           He comes down the stairs to where Doc waits.         As they head       for the door -                                 MRS. LUCAS                    Frankie -       Frank glances to where his mother sits in the living room.       Nods to Doc to say, Get the car, I'll be out in a minute.       Goes over to his mother.                                 MRS. LUCAS                    Sit down.       He sits. She studies him in a way she hasn't since he was       little. Eventually -                                 MRS. LUCAS                    If you'd have been a preacher, your                    brothers would be preachers. If you'd                    been a soldier, they'd be soldiers. Do                    you know that?                           (he doesn't say)                    They all came here because of you. You                    called and they came running. They look                    up to you. They expect you to always                    know what's best.                           (pause)                    But even they know you don't shoot                    cops. Even I know that. Ana knows it.                    You seem to be the only one who doesn't.                                 FRANK                    Is that where I'm going?                                 MRS. LUCAS                    I never asked you where all this came                    from because I didn't want to hear you                    lie to me. Don't lie to me. Don't do                    that, too.       She's not pleading, she's telling.       Silence.    Then -                                                                      (CONT)                                                                      112.                                C303    CONTINUED:                                                    C303                                  MRS. LUCAS                     Do you really want to make things so                     bad for your family they'll leave you?                     Because they will. She will -                            (points upstairs)                     I know I will.        Frank has some trouble looking at her. But then gets up.        Walks toward the front door to leave. Hesitates near it a        long moment. Then turns and walks upstairs. Trupo will        live, at least for now, because of her.D303    INT. ARMY HOSPITAL - NIGHT                                     D303        Down in the basement, the body bags are lifted from the        wooden coffins. Set down on tables. The bags unzipped and        the bodies removed.        A rack of clean uniforms is brought in. The morticians        begin dressing the corpses and applying make-up on the dry        gray skin.        New white military caskets are trundled in. Gold handles        lifted. The bodies, clothed and painted now, are deposited        on the silk linings. The lids of the coffins come down and        cellophane bags containing folded flags are taped on top.303 - 309 OMIT                                            303 - 309 OMIT      310     EXT. ARMY HOSPITAL - NIGHT                                     310        The white caskets are taken to a loading dock, put in a        military truck. Papers are signed, copies exchanged. As        the truck drives off -311     INT. ARMY HOSPITAL - NIGHT                                     311        Two black privates on janitorial duty come into the room        where the original plain wooden coffins have been discarded.        They remove the lids, then the finely-crafted false bottoms,        revealing in 4-inch cavities of each, tightly-packed bricks        of Double UO Globe heroin. As they take them out, a gospel        choir begins and continues over:312     EXT. ARMY HOSPITAL - MORNING                                   312            A laundry truck idles. Stevie, the Lucas nephew who could        have played for Yankees, jumps down, helps the two privates        toss several laundry bags into the back of the truck.                                                                         113.                                   A313       EXT. BAPTIST CHURCH - MORNING                                  A313              A minister on the steps welcomes the congregation which           includes Frank, his mother, and Ana -313        EXT. PERIMETER OF THE ARMY BASE - MORNING                       313              The laundry truck comes past a guard gate, leaves the base,           drives past a stand of trees. As it passes, Richie, parked                       by his detectives' cars, recognizes the young driver - who's                     wearing the same Yankee baseball cap in his T.O. photo.                          As Richie and his detectives climb into their cars, two                          Lucas cars fold in behind the laundry truck. The detectives                      follow at a distance -                                                A314 OMIT                                                          A314 OMIT314        INT. BAPTIST CHURCH - MORNING                                   314              The sea of ladies' hats from above move in time with the           gospel choir. As always, no matter what else is going on in           his complicated life, Frank sits with his mother and Ana in           their usual pew. The gospel music continues over:                     A315       EXT. BAPTIST CHURCH - MORNING                                  A315           Frank emerges from the church, kisses his mother and Ana and           put them in a car with a driver. He climbs into Doc's           alone. His mother watches, wondering perhaps if he intends           to go kill Trupo after all. As Doc's car leaves, so does           another.315 - 318 OMIT                                               315 - 318 OMIT      319        INT/EXT. RICHIE'S CAR - MOVING - NEAR GW BRIDGE - MORNING19                                                                   3           The laundry truck approaches a ramp leading to the George           Washington Bridge. Richie, a couple of car lengths behind,           follows. The truck continues straight.320 OMIT                                                            320 OMIT321        EXT. NEWARK - MORNING                                           321              From overhead, the laundry truck, the gun car and the van -           and the detectives' cars following them all - converge from           different directions -                                                                   114.                             322    EXT. NEWARK - NEAR STEPHEN CRANE PROJECTS - MORNING           322       Red Top's van makes a turn. As Abruzzo's makes the same       turn behind it, the infamous Stephen Crane Projects rise up       in his windshield.       His foot comes off the gas. As the gun car passes, he       sees Jones's car slow. Teddy's car approaches from another       direction into the Projects, and Abruzzo sees Spearman pull       over. Then the laundry truck turns in, and Richie's slows       to a stop, like Abruzzo's, outside the grounds of the       foreboding towers. The gospel music ends.A323   EXT. CEMETERY - MORNING                                      A323       Doc waits in the car while Frank buys some flowers at a       cemetery flower stand. The surveillance car cruises past.323    INT. TOBACK'S HOUSE - MORNING                                 323       Toback, in his bathrobe, glass of milk in one hand, phone in       the other ...                                 TOBACK                 Where is it?                              RICHIE V/O                 Somewhere in the South tower.                              TOBACK                 You know that it's there.     You're sure.                                 RICHIE V/O                 Positive.324    EXT. STEPHEN CRANE PROJECTS - SAME TIME                       324       Richie, on a pay phone across down the street from the       Projects, looks up at the dark South tower.                              RICHIE                 Lou. We're ready to go in there                 knowing there's a good chance we won't                 all come out. That's what we're willing                 to do. All I'm asking you to do get me a                 warrant.       Silence on the other end of the line ...                              RICHIE                 We don't have a lot of time to fuck                 around -                                                                   (CONT)                                                                     115.                               324    CONTINUED:                                                     324                                 TOBACK V/O                    I'll call in the warrant. And some                    backup. Don't go in before either gets                    there.       This call disconnects.325    INT. APARTMENT, THE PROJECTS - MORNING                         325       The girls spread and tape plastic sheeting to tabletops,       then begin changing for work, which means undressing.326    EXT. STEPHEN CRANE PROJECTS - MORNING                          326       Richie and his guys wait for the warrant by their cars.                                 JONES                    How long we gonna wait for it?327    INT. APARTMENT, THE PROJECTS - MORNING                         327       Pharmaceutical scales balance to their counterweights as       the five naked, masked women cut the heroin with quinine to       Frank's exacting standards. Red Top puts on some coffee.328    EXT. STEPHEN CRANE PROJECTS - MORNING                          328       Richie stares down the street, waiting for whatever it is       they're waiting for. Spearman looks at his watch.                                 RICHIE                    It'll be here.329    INT. APARTMENT, THE PROJECTS - MORNING                         329       A paper-cutter blade slices a sheet of blue cellophane.       The girls at the tables, with the expertise of Cuban cigar       makers, wrap pieces of the cellophane like tobacco leaves       around precisely-measured 1/4-ounce drifts of Black Magic.A330   EXT. CEMETERY - MORNING                                        A330       Frank's car winds up the road of the cemetery. The       surveillance car comes through the main gate and parks.330    EXT. STEPHEN CRANE PROJECTS - MORNING                          330       Several black and white and undercover cars approach,       sirens off. Toback himself climbs out of one of the cars       and hands Richie the search warrant.                                                                  116.                            331    EXT. STEPHEN CRANE PROJECTS - MORNING                        331       The tall buildings cast long shadows of dread on every       activity below, no matter how routine: A woman pushing a       stroller, guys shooting hoops, a couple arguing, kids on       bikes, old men resting on a graffiti-covered bench.       The unmarked cars drive slowly through it all. The place       teeters on the brink of violence you can feel as gangs move       under the shadow of the towers.332    INT. GROUND FLOOR, SOUTH TOWER, THE PROJECTS - DAY           332       Richie removes the cover plate of an elevator, cuts the       wires, disengaging it, then leads the Amigos, followed by       more detectives to a stairwell. The place is like Beirut.       Debris-strewn, graffiti-covered.A333   EXT. CEMETERY - CONTINUED - DAY                             A333       Frank walks past graves to Bumpy's. Replaces some dried       flowers with fresh ones. Looks around for something to sit       on. Sees some wooden folding chairs around a fresher grave       nearby. Doc waits by the car in the distance.333    INT. STAIRWELL - FLOORS - SOUTH TOWER - DAY                  333       Floor by floor, they work their way up the tower like       commandos, the squalor and decay and hopelessness somehow       intensifying the higher up they go.       Reaching the 17th floor, they listen to a strange sound       before easing the fire door open enough to see a kid on a       Big Wheels pedalling straight at them. He passes and the       sound fades.334    INT. 17TH FLOOR HALLWAY - DAY                                334       Half the apartment doors are gone. TVs and radios echo,       voices argue, infants wail. The detectives come around a       corner and see at the end of it: a couple of guys with a       sawed-off shotguns sitting outside a closed door.       They step back. Consider one other. Spearman volunteers       with a nod, continues on alone as the others wait. He walks       up to the guys with the guns.                              SPEARMAN                 I got to talk to Teddy.                              GUY WITH GUN                 Get the fuck out of here.                                                                  (CONT)                                                                    117.                              334   CONTINUED:                                                     334                                SPEARMAN                   What the fuck is that? I got business                   with Teddy and it's none of your fuckin                   business except to knock on the fuckin                   door and get him.      As the guy stands, pumping the shotgun, Spearman yanks it      hard against his throat like a garrote, forcing him to the      floor. The shotgun explodes, showering plaster and pellets.      Jones and Abruzzo are instantly all over the other guy as      Richie swings the sledgehammer into the door -335   INT. APARTMENT, THE PROJECTS - CONTINUOUS                      335      The door splinters - the room already in chaos - Teddy,      panicked, runs for the bedroom - the detectives crash in      yelling at the girls to get down - a shot from somewhere      inside wings Abruzzo - Jones and Spearman firing back -      crawling across the floor like an infantrymen -      Richie comes into the darkened bedroom leading with his      pistol. But Teddy's gone. He sees a tapestry of a tiger on      a wall. Pulls at it, finds a big hole knocked into another      dark apartment, climbs through, sees an open door -336   INT. THE PROJECTS BUILDING - CONTINUOUS                        336      As Richie rushes out to the hallway he can hear footfalls      echoing in the stairwell. He starts down, taking the stairs      five at a time, chases Teddy down two flights -                            Teddy yanks open a door, runs down a corridor, bangs into                  an apartment. Richie reaches the apartment just as Teddy is                goes out onto an exterior balcony -                                        Richie continues along the interior corridor, running                      parallel to Teddy on the balcony, who trips over some debris               and garbage, looking over his shoulder for Richie -                        Richie cuts through another apartment to head him off, but                 the door to the balcony is nailed shut. So are the windows.                Richie looks around, grabs a small portable television and,                just as Teddy runs past, hurls it through a window at him,                 hitting him in the head.                                                   He falls hard, dazed. Richie hurries through the broken                    window. Teddy comes to and fights back, until Richie breaks                his femur with his bare hands. Teddy howls in excruciating      pain -337   INT/EXT. DRY CLEANERS - DAY                                    337      Police cars outside.    Eugene Lucas is cuffed and led away.                                                                    118.                              338    EXT. METAL DOOR SHOP - DAY                                     338       More police outside Lester's place.     They cuff him.339    EXT. TIRE SERVICE SHOP - DAY                                   339       New Jersey troopers cuff Turner Lucas and lead him away.340    EXT. ELECTRICAL SHOP - DAY                                     340       Cuffed, Earl Lucas is put in the back of a patrol car.341    EXT. CEMETERY - CONTINUED - DAY                                341       Frank, on a wooden folding chair at Bumpy's grave, hears       the gunning of engines and barking of cops. He turns to see       Doc being handcuffed on the ground by the Towncar. Glances       to a lone figure walking toward him over a rise. Richie.       Richie arrives at the grave. Regards the monument to       Ellsworth Johnson, and Frank sitting calmly regarding him.       Richie glances around the peaceful surroundings ...                              RICHIE                 What kind of trees are these?       Frank looks at the trees, then at Richie, with equal       serenity.                              FRANK                 You think you got Frank Lucas.      You                 got nothing.A342   INT. RICHIE'S APARTMENT - DAY                                 A342           Richie cuts the tags off a new, inexpensive suit. Slips                      the jacket on, which seemed somehow to fit a little better                   at the store. Cuts the tags off a tie.                                B342   INT. COURTHOUSE MENS ROOM - DAY                               B342           Someone throwing up in a stall. The toilet flushes, the                      door opens and Richie steps up to a sink, regards his face                   in the mirror. Under the fluorescent lights - maybe under                    any kind - his skin is a shade of death. He splashes water                   on it and tries to gather himself.                                    342    INT. COURTROOM - DAY                                           342       At the prosecutors table, Richie steals glances at the       battery of expensive attorneys over at the defense table.                                                                    (CONT)                                                                    119.                              342   CONTINUED:                                                     342      The courtroom doors swing open and Richie sees Frank Lucas,      in a tailored suit, escorted in without cuffs by an amiable-                 looking federal marshal.      As Frank moves through the gallery, Richie sees it's full of      the gangster's friends, many of them celebrities, who smile      and greet and fawn as if the Pope has arrived.      Richie has evidence tables covered with cash, weapons,      stocks, bonds, property deeds, pictures of Frank's holdings,      heroin in blue cellophane.      Frank has celebrities, community leaders, Joe Louis himself      who will testify to Frank's benevolent character. The Champ      hugs the heroin trafficker warmly in front of everyone and      Richie wonders if he should just give up now.      Richie sees it in slow motion: the hands reaching out to      Frank, the pats on his back, lipsticked mouths of beautiful      women offering kisses and words of encouragement, his old      mother giving him a hug.      He watches Frank's head turn slowly, his eyes passing his      phalanx of attorneys, the jury, finally settling on Richie      in his cheap suit seated at the prosecutors table.      Frank's eyes smile as they regard Richie, and seem to ask,      Can you see this - can you see what you're up against - can      you see how insignificant you are?                                           Reaching the end of the welcoming line finally, Frank                        brushes by Richie and disappears from view somewhere within                  the protective husk of his multi-million-dollar legal team.                                            JUDGE                                                           Mr. Roberts -                                                   Richie slowly lifts himself from his chair, steps forward,                   turns to look at the jury that's studying him, finally finds                 his voice:                                                                                             RICHIE                                                          Thank you, your Honor.   Ladies and                                          gentlemen -                                               343   INT. COUNTY JAIL - INTERVIEW ROOM - DAY                        343      Wire mesh separates Frank from his battalion of lawyers.      He glances over them to Richie being led through the large      Visiting Room.                                FRANK                   Here he is, let me talk to him alone.                                                                    (CONT)                                                                       120.                                 343   CONTINUED:                                                        343      The attorneys get up and leave. Richie takes their place.      Frank regards him a moment, offering the same knowing smile      from the courtroom. Richie offers nothing.                                FRANK                   I just heard something. I said it                   couldn't be true. You didn't really                   turn in a million dollars you found                   in the trunk of a car, did you?      Richie doesn't say. Frank searches his face for some clue      to where on earth he's from.                                FRANK                   Want me to tell you what happened to                   it? It ended up in cops' pockets.                                  RICHIE                   Maybe.                                FRANK                   Maybe? No. It did. All you did was                   give it to them for nothing in return.                   Not nothing: You got their contempt.      Frank studies him.                                FRANK                   Why'd you do that? What're you trying                   to prove, you're better than them? You're                   not better than them. You are them.                                RICHIE                   I don't have the time or interest to                   listen to (this) -                                FRANK                   You did it because it was right.                   That's all. Why's that hard to say?                   The question is would you do it again?                   That was a long time ago. It'd be very                   easy to find out. Tell me you want to                   find out, tell me the address, and a car                   will be there, the trunk loaded.      Richie knows Frank isn't kidding ...                                  RICHIE                   No, thanks.      Frank suddenly explodes -                                                                       (CONT)                                                                     121.                               343   CONTINUED:                                                      343                                FRANK                   Who the fuck are you to say no to                   that? You think that impresses me?      Guards look over, then glance away once it's clear the      outburst is through. Richie remains serene. Eventually -                                FRANK                   Let me ask you something. You think by                   putting me in jail, you're going to stop                   even one junkie from dying? Because you                   won't. If it isn't me, it'll be someone                   else. With me or without me, nothing's                   going to change.                                RICHIE                   Then that's the way it is.                                FRANK                   You have any sort of case? Or just                   that idiot drives for my brother. Is he                   your case? Because if it's just him and                   the powder, it's not enough.                                RICHIE                   Then you got nothing to worry about.      But Frank is worried, most of all by this cop who doesn't      take money sitting placidly in front of him.                                FRANK                   My brothers won't talk to you. My                   cousins. None of my family. No one but                   that mother fucking driver.                                RICHIE                   I got more than that. I got a line of                   people wanting to testify that stretches                   out the door and around the block.                                FRANK                   Bullshit.                                RICHIE                   Is it? Tony the Bug.     Benny Two-Socks.                   Carmine Camanetti.                                FRANK                   Who the fuck are they? I don't know                   them and they don't know me.                                                                     (CONT)                                                                    122.                              343   CONTINUED:                                                     343                                RICHIE                   They sell dope for the Mazzano crime                                         family. Which you all but put out of                   business.                                FRANK                   This is who you're going to put on the                   stand? Guys who don't know me? Who got                   nothing to do with me?                                RICHIE                   They have everything to do with you.                   And the only thing they hate more than                   you is what you represent.                                FRANK                   I don't represent nothing.                                RICHIE                   You don't? Black businessman like you?                   Of course you do. But once you're gone,                   things can return to normal.                                FRANK                   Look at me. You looking? Can you tell                   by looking it would mean nothing to me if                   tomorrow you turned up dead?                                RICHIE                   Get in line. That one stretches around                   the block, too.      Frank has never been so frustrated by anyone in his life.      He wants to work something out with Richie obviously, but he      can't figure out how. Frank studies him.                                FRANK                   What can we do?                                RICHIE                   You know what you have to do.                                   Frank does, but doesn't like it, and doesn't know if he can                  do it.                                                                                                 FRANK                                                           I could give you cops, but that's not                                        who you want, is it. You want organized                                      crime names.                                                                              RICHIE                                                          I'll take them, too.   I want them all.                                                                                       (CONT)                                                                    123.                              343   CONTINUED:                                                     343      Frank isn't sure he heard right.                                                                       FRANK                                                           You'll take them, too? You'd go after                                        cops? Are you serious? You'd do that?                                        Lock up your own kind?                                RICHIE                   They're not. Not the ones in business                                        with you. They're not my kind any more                                       than the Italians are yours.      They regard one another in silence.      Richie can tell Frank      sees daylight.                                FRANK                   What can you promise me?                                RICHIE                   I can promise you if you lie to me about                   one name, you'll never get out of prison.                   Lie about one dollar in one offshore                   account, you'll never get out. You can                   live rich in jail the rest of your life,                   or poor outside it, that's what I can                   promise.      Frank is silent for several moments.      Finally -                                FRANK                   You know, I don't care if the feds take                   all my buildings, my stocks, my off-shore                   accounts. They can take it all, I don't                   care - use it to build battleships, paint                   bridges, whatever the fuck they want.                   Fight another war. But those other                   motherfuckers - the cops - put my money                   in their pockets. Millions.                                RICHIE                   I believe it.      Frank debates with himself the step he's about to take ...                                RICHIE                   I want to know everyone   you've met for                                     the last twenty years.    Everyone you sold                                  to. Every cop you ever    paid off. Every                                    one who ever stole from   you. Every one                   you remember.                                                                    (CONT)                                                                    124.                              343   CONTINUED:                                                     343                                FRANK                   Oh, I remember them all.   That's not the                   problem.                               RICHIE                   What is?                                FRANK                   The jail's aren't big enough.344   INT. COUNTY JAIL CELL / STREETS OF NEW YORK - DAY              344      Surveillance photographs of cops seen earlier taking      envelopes of money on 116th Street and other drops go up      on a new, elaborate Table of Organization - of cops.345   INT. NARCOTICS SQUAD HQ - NEWARK - DAY                         345         Richie dismantles the Lucas Table of Organization here,      taking down the photographs. As it collapses -346   INT. COUNTY JAIL CELL - CONTINUED                              346      Frank puts up photographs of detectives -347   QUICK CUTS of the same detectives, in handcuffs, led through                                                              347      police stations past other cops watching with dread like      maybe they're next -      A surveillance photograph of the four Princes of the City      striding down a sidewalk goes up on the cell wall -348   FLASHCUT as three of the four SIU cops are led away in cuffs                                                              348      from a golf course -349   A surveillance photograph of Trupo in a black hand -           349                                FRANK                   You go up here. Your "special."      As Frank tapes the picture of Trupo at the top of the      pyramid of corruption -350   INT/EXT. TRUPO'S GARAGE - MORNING                              350      Trupo, coffee in hand, comes into his garage from his      kitchen. Opens the garage door and sees two squad cars      parked outside ...351   A TV: A report on the indictments handed down by the    351      Manhattan DA's office against 53 NYPD and SIU detectives -                                                                  125.                            352   INT. PRISON CELL - DAY (YEARS LATER)                          352      Frank gathers his few personal belongings and puts them in      a box. Stands with the box and waits for the cell door to      open. The Table of Organization and files are gone.      Legend:   Frank Lucas was convicted of Conspiracy to                Distribute Narcotics and sentenced to 70 years.                He served 15 of them.      Legend:   Federal authorities confiscated over 250 million                dollars from him in real estate, equities and cash                in US and foreign banks.353   INT. NARCOTICS SQUAD HQ - NEWARK - DAY                        353      Richie, too, is packing, putting personal items into boxes.      Legend:   The day after he convicted Frank Lucas and 30 of                his Country Boy relatives, Richard Roberts borrowed                $400 from his credit union to help pay for a 3-day                vacation to the Bahamas.      Richie, carrying the box, switches off the lights and closes      the door behind him on his way out.      Legend:   Six months later, he quit the Prosecutors Office                to become a defense attorney. His first client was                Frank Lucas.354   EXT. PRISON - DAY (1990)                                      354      Frank steps out into sunlight, free but owning nothing but      the cardboard box in his arms. Looks out across the parking      lot to see if anyone has come to pick him up. Sees Richie      by his car, hand raised above his head like a flag.355   EXT. 116TH STREET, HARLEM - DAY                               355      The two of them stand outside Richie's car on the same      corner Frank shot Tango. Frank looks up at the street signs      that used to say 116th Street and 8th Avenue. Now they say      116th Street and Frederick Douglass Boulevard.                              FRANK                 Frederick Douglass Boulevard? What was                 wrong with just plain 8th Avenue?      He considers the street itself. It too has changed. The      corner groceries, as Bumpy prophesied, really are gone now.                                                                  (CONT)                                                                     126.                               355   CONTINUED:                                                      355                                FRANK                   I used to sit here with Ana in my old                   car. She hated it. Now I don't even                   have a car. Or her.      Frank glances to where his favorite diner used to be, and      across the street to where he shot Tango. It isn't a fruit      stand any more.                                FRANK                   Just do what?                                RICHIE                   What?                                FRANK                   The fuck is that? Just do what?      It's a Nike store with huge paintings of Michael Jordan and      the admonition "Just Do It."                                 RICHIE                   Sneakers.   Expensive ones.                                FRANK                   Who the fuck would buy those?      A car equipped with sub-woofer bass comes booming past.      Frank stares at it with the same pained look Bumpy had at      the discount emporium.                                RICHIE                   Your brothers know you're out?                                FRANK                   I haven't talked to them in years. It's                   better that way. For them. I don't know                   where they are. Went back to Greensboro                   when they got out, I guess.      Richie nods.    Frank looks back at the new storefronts.                                FRANK                   What am I going to do now, be a janitor?                   What do I know how to do? How am I going                   to live?                                RICHIE                   I told you I wouldn't let you starve.                                FRANK                   You told me but you can barely take care                   of yourself.                                (MORE)                                                                     (CONT)                                                                     127.                               355   CONTINUED:                                                      355                                FRANK (CONT'D)                          (glances to a pay phone on                           the corner)                   You know, one phone call, Richie, I could                   be back in business.      The look Richie gives him calmly assures Frank if he did      that it'd be the last phone he made outside prison - ever.                                 FRANK                   I won't.   I'm just saying I could.      He buttons the cuffs of the fake Members Only windbreaker      Richie bought him off the street.                                FRANK                   Thanks for the clothes.                                RICHIE                   You're welcome.      Frank glances away to three young hoods coming toward them      like they own the sidewalk and everything around it - baggy      pants, bandanas tied around their heads.                               FRANK                   Uh-oh. Look out. Here come the                   gangsters.      Frank's right in their path but doesn't move, forcing one      of them to squeeze between him and a parking meter. The      gangsta looks back, is about to say something, or do      something, but, examining the expression of quiet menace on      Frank's face, thinks better of it. The others stop.                                GANGSTA 2                   What.      The first one is still staring at Frank, but finally has the      good sense to let it go.                                GANGSTA 1                   Nothing.      They move on.    Frank glances to Richie.                                FRANK                   Every idiot gets to be young once.      Frank zips up his Members Only jacket, props up the collar      and points himself in the other direction.                                FRANK                   Let's get out of here.
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+                                   "AMERICAN GRAFFITI"                                      Screenplay by                                       George Lucas                               Gloria Katz & Willard Huyck                               RADIO               On a dark screen an immense amber light appears and an                electric humming begins. The eerie light glows brighter and                illuminates a single huge number--11. We hear static and a                large vertical band of red floats mysteriously across the                screen.               Pulling back slowly, we watch the glowing band traverse back                and forth over the amber light and past more numbers appearing--               70... 90... 110... 130. And we begin to hear voices--strange                songs, fading conversations and snatches of music drifting                with static.               Pulling back further, we realize it is a car radio filling                the screen and radio stations we're hearing, until the                indicator stops. There's a pause...and suddenly we are hit                by a blasting-out-of-the-past, Rocking and Rolling, turn-up-               the-volume, pounding Intro to a Vintage 1962 Golden Week-End                Radio Show--back when things were simpler and the music was                better.               And now a wolf howl shatters through time as the legendary                Wolfman Jack hits the airwaves, his gravel voice shrieking                and growling while the music pumps and grinds...                                     WOLFMAN                         Awwrigght, baay-haay-baay! I got a                          oldie for ya--gonna knock ya right                          on de flowa--baay-haay-hee-baay!               The Wolfman howls like a soulful banshee as "Rock Around the                Clock" blasts forth.               MEL'S DRIVE-IN--DUSK               A neon drive-in casts long shadows across a vast parking lot                as the sun drops behind a distant hill. A large neon sign                buzzes in the foreground... MEL'S DRIVE-IN, while in the                background, "Rock Around The Clock" blares from the radio of                a beautiful decked and channeled, white with red trim, tuck-               and-rolled '58 Chevy Impala that glides into the drive-in.                Main titles appear over action. Steve Bolander stops the                elegant machine and gets out. He looks around, then walks to                the front of the car and leans against the flame-covered                hood. Steve is eighteen, good-looking in a conservative,                button-down, short-sleeved shirt. Most likely to succeed,                president of his graduating class. He looks around the empty                drive-in, then hears a funny little horn.               A Vespa scooter bumps into the lot. A young kid waves at him--               and suddenly grabs the handlebars again as the scooter nearly                topples. Terry Fields ("The Toad") maneuvers the scooter                next to Steve's Chevy but misjudges and ricochets off the                trash can before stopping. Terry grins sheepishly. He's                seventeen, short but plenty loud, both vocally and                sartorically in his pink and black shirt, levis, and white                bucks. He looks slightly ridiculous but always thinks he's                projecting an air of supercool.               Steve watches Terry smooth back his shiny ducktail and primp                his waterfall to a perfect cascade over his forehead. He                unbuttons his shirt one more button and lowers his pants to                look tough.               Terry walks over and leans against the flamed car, imitating                Steve who pays him no mind. In the background, we hear the                Wolfman howling with the music. The record ends and a barrage                of humor begins from Wolfman Jack. The Wolfman is an unseen                companion to all the kids. Witty and knowledgeable about the                trivia that counts, he's their best friend, confidant, and                guardian angel.               Now, a grey, insect-like Citroen deux-chevaux putters into                the parking lot and stops on the other side of the lot. Steve                and Terry watch Curt Henderson get out.               Curt stands by his little car. He's seventeen, a curly                bespectacled, scraggly kid with a summer-grown moustache and                a paperback stuck in his bermuda shorts. Curt thinks of                himself as the town cynic. In reality, he's a hopeless                romantic. He starts over to his buddies.                                     TERRY                         Hey, whadaya say? Curt? Last night                          in town, you guys gonna have a little                          bash before you leave?                                     STEVE                         The Moose have been lookin' for you                          all day, man.               Steve reaches into his pocket and hands Curt an envelope                without saying anything. Curt opens it slowly and pulls out                a check.                                     CURT                              (sarcastic)                         Oh great...                                     TERRY                         Whadaya got, whadaya got? Wow--two                          thousand dollars. Two thousand doll--                         !!               Steve looks at Curt suspiciously; Curt seems somehow guilty.                                     STEVE                         Mr. Jenning couldn't find you, so he                          gave it to me to give to you. He                          said he's sorry it's so late, but                          it's the first scholarship the Moose                          Lodge has given out. Oh yeah, he                          says they're all very proud of you.               Curt hands the envelope back to Steve.                                     CURT                         Well... ah... why don't you hold                          onto it for a while?                                     STEVE                         What's with you? It's yours! Take                          it! I don't want it.                                     TERRY                         I'll take it.                                     CURT                         Steve... Ah, I think we'd better                          have a talk. I've gotten-               Suddenly a horn honks and they all turn. Laurie Henderson                pulls into the drive-in and waves to them. She is driving                the family's '58 Edsel.                                     STEVE                         Your sister calls. I'll talk to you                          later.                                     CURT                         Now, Steve! Let her wait.                                     STEVE                         Okay, make it short and sweet.                                     CURT                         Yeah, well... Listen...                              (clearing his throat)                         I... I don't think I'm going tomorrow.                                     STEVE                         What! Come on, what are you talking                          about?                                     CURT                         I don't know. I was thinking I might                          wait for a year... go to city--               Laurie honks the horn a couple of times. Steve ignores her.                There is a long moment and Curt looks uncomfortable.                                     STEVE                         You chicken fink.                                     CURT                         Wait, let me explain--                                     STEVE                         You can't back out now! After all we                          went through to get accepted. We're                          finally getting out of this turkey                          town and now you want to crawl back                          into your cell--look, I gotta talk                          to Laurie.                              (he hands the check                               back to Curt)                         Now take it. We're leaving in the                          morning. Okay?               Suddenly, there's an ear-splitting roar and they all turn as                a yellow '32 Ford deuce coupe--chopped, lowered and sporting                a Hemi-V8--bumps into the lot. The low slung classic rumbles                and parks at the rear of the drive in.               Big John Milner, twenty-two, sits in his Ford, tough and                indifferent, puffing on a Camel. He wears a white T-shirt                and a butch haircut molded on the sides into a ducktail. A                cowboy in a deuce coupe--simple, sentimental and cocksure of                himself.                                     STEVE                         You wanna end up like John? You can't                          stay seventeen forever.                                     CURT                         I just want some time to think. What's                          the rush? I'll go next year.                                     STEVE                         We'll talk later.               Steve walks off toward Laurie's Edsel. Laurie gets out. She's                wearing a letterman's sweater with a large "Class of '62"                emblazoned on the shoulder. Steve goes to her and they hug.               On the radio, the music ends, and the Wolfman's intro tune                comes on.                                     RADIO                              (singing)                         "Here comes the Wolfman--Wolfman                          Jack!"                                     WOLFMAN (V.O.)                         Oh, We're gonna rock and roll                          ourselves to death baby. You got the                          Wolfman Jack Show!               MEL'S DRIVE-IN--NIGHT               As the radio blares "Sixteen Candles," we see that with the                darkness Burger City has come alive. A continual line of hot                rods pulls into the parking lot to check out the parked cars,                then returns to the maindrag. Carhops glide by on roller                skates. Curt and John are fooling around in front of the                deuce coupe. A horn honks and they turn as a '60 Ford with                three girls in it slows by them. A girl leans out the window                and smiles.                                     GIRL                         Hi John!               The girls in the car all screech and giggle as they zoom                off.                                     JOHN                         Not too good, huh?                                     CURT                         Why is it every girl that comes around                          here is ugly? Or has a boyfriend?                          Where is the dazzling beauty I've                          been searching for all my life?               John watches the procession of gleaming cars traveling through                the hot night.                                     JOHN                         I know what you mean. The pickin's                          are really gettin' slim. The whole                          strip is shrinking. Ah, you know, I                          remember about five years ago, take                          you a couple of hours and a tank                          full of gas just to make one circuit.                          It was really somethin.'               Suddenly, in the distance, there's a blood-curdling scream                from an incredible high-performance engine. The entire drive-               in stops and listens.                                     CURT                         Hey, John. Someone new in town.                                     JOHN                         Ahhh.                                     CURT                         You gonna go after him?                                     JOHN                         Hey, listen, Professor, if he can't                          find me, then he ain't worth racin',                          right?                                     CURT                         The big shot!               Across the swarming parking lot, Steve sits in the front                seat of his chevy with Laurie. Budda Macrae, a car hop, leans                down to attach a tray to Steve's window, showing off her                tight blouse.                                     BUDDA                         A cherry-vanilla coke and a chocolate                          mountain. Anything else you want,                          Steve?                              (Steve shakes his                               head.)                         If there is you let me know now.                          Just honk and I'm yours.               She tucks in her blouse a little tighter, gives him a hot                look and goes to get the other tray. Budda takes the other                tray around the car, almost shoves it in the window where                Laurie is sitting.                                     BUDDA                         One fries--grab it before I drop it.               She gives Laurie an antagonistic look and goes off. Steve                laughs. Laurie smiles. She's seventeen, very pretty, with                big doe-eyes, and a short bobbed hairdo. She pushes up the                sleeves on Steve's letterman sweater, which is sizes too                large for her. His class ring glints on a chain around her                neck. Laurie is sweet, the image of vulnerability, but with                a practical and self-preserving mind beneath.                                     STEVE                         Where was I?                                     LAURIE                         Um, how you thought high school                          romances were goofy and we started                          going together just because you                          thought I was kinda cute and funny,                          but then you suddenly realized you                          were in love with me, it was                          serious... and ah... oh, you were                          leadin' up to somethin' kinda big.                                     STEVE                         You make it sound like I'm giving                          dictation. Well, seriously, what I                          meant was, that ah... since we do                          care for each other so much, and                          since we should really consider                          ourselves as adults. Now, I, ah...                          could I have a couple of those fries?               Through the windshield of the Chevy, they see Terry run by                in front of them, chasing Budda Macrae who's outdistancing                him on her roller skates.                                     TERRY:                         Come on, Budda. Come on...               Steve watches them go by, then looks back at Laurie.                                     STEVE                         Ah, where was I?                                     LAURIE                         ..."consider ourselves adults"...               Laurie pretends to be interested in her french fries, but is                obviously expecting something big.                                     STEVE                         Right... right... anyway, I thought                          maybe, before I leave, we could ah...                          agree that... that seeing other people                          while I'm away can't possibly hurt,                          you know?               Laurie hasn't looked up but her mood has changed like a mask.                                     LAURIE                         You mean dating other people?                                     STEVE                         I think it would strengthen our                          relationship. Then we'd know for                          sure that we're really in love. Not                          that there's any doubt.               Steve smiles and then looks to her. He stops smiling. They                listen to the radio for an awkward moment. Laurie struggles                to hold back her tears. With obvious difficulty, she turns                to him and smiles. He's expected something different and                doesn't know what to do, so he smiles back.                                     LAURIE                         I think you're right. I mean, we're                          not kids anymore, and it's silly to                          think that when we're three thousand                          miles apart we shouldn't be able to                          see other people and go out.               Laurie takes his ring on the chain from around her neck and                puts it in her purse.                                     STEVE                         Laurie, now, listen, I didn't ask                          for that back. I think that...                                     LAURIE                         I know. I just sort of think it's                          juvenile now. I'll keep it at home.                          It's less conspicuous there.                                     STEVE                         You don't want to wear it?                                     LAURIE                         I didn't say that. I understand and                          I'm not upset. I mean, I can't expect                          you to be a monk or something while                          you're away.               Steve just looks at her and nods. The Wolfman howls an intro                to "Gee" by the Crows. Outside, skooting around the drive-in                after Budda, Terry is pleading with the sexy car hop as she                delivers a tray to a car.                                     TERRY                         ...and I have a really sharp record                          collection. I even have "Pledging My                          Love" by Johnny Ace. Anyway, how can                          you love Nelson when he's going out                          with Marilyn Gator. Since he dumped                          on you maybe we could--                                     BUDDA                         He didn't dump on me, you little                          dip. Hi, Steve!               Her tone changes immediately. Terry looks sour and turns                around to Steve who's getting out of the chevy. Budda leaves,                wiggling her butt for Steve.                                     TERRY                         She's a little conceited--just playing                          hard to get.                                     STEVE                         Listen, I came over here to talk to                          you about--                                     TERRY                         Any time, buddy. I'm your man. Nothing                          I like better than chewing the rug                          with a pal. You talk, I'll listen.                          I'm all ears. Shoot.                                     STEVE                         Shut up.                                     TERRY                         Sure.                                     STEVE                         Terry, I'm going to let you take                          care of my car while we're away--at                          least until Christmas. I'm afraid if                          I leave it with my--               Steve notices Terry isn't with him any more and turns. Terry                is standing frozen to a spot.                                     STEVE                         What's wrong?               Terry tries to talk, much like a shell-shocked war veteran.                His mouth moves but only a gurgle comes out.               Curt is standing by the Chevy, talking with his sister Laurie.                She's still upset by what Steve said to her.                                     CURT                         Hey, sis--what's wrong?                                     LAURIE                         Nothing.               Meanwhile, they watch Terry as Steve explains to him about                the car.                                     STEVE                         Now listen, only 30 weight Castrol-                         R. I've written the tire pressure                          and stuff on a pad in the glove                          compartment. Are you listening?               The others are watching now as Terry shakes his head                mechanically.                                     CURT                         What's wrong, he's crying!               There is indeed a tear rolling down Terry's cheek.                                     TERRY                         I can't... believe... it.                              (He starts toward the                               car and gently                               caresses its paint.)                         I don't know what to say. I'll...                          love and protect this car until death                          do us part.                              (He circles the car.)                         This is a superfine machine. This                          may even be better than Daryl                          Starbird's superfleck moonbird. It                          is better than Daryl Starbird's.               Laurie watches Terry, realizing that like the car, she'll be                left behind as a fond memory. She turns and looks at Steve,                who's been watching her. There's a moment between them...                Budda comes by with an empty tray. Terry sees her and wipes                his eyes. He walks up to her, a strange look on his face.                                     TERRY                         Budda, how would you like to go to                          the drive-in movies with me?               The idea is so preposterous that even Budda is speechless.                She looks around at others.                                     BUDDA                         You've got to be kidding!                                     TERRY                         Would I kid you about a thing like                          that? I want you to know that                          something has happened to me tonight                          that is going to change everything.                          I've got a new...               John walks up quietly and casually pulls down hard on the                back pockets of Terry's low riding levis. There is general                hysteria as Terry quickly pulls up his pants.                                     TERRY                         Car!! All right, who's the wise--                              (He turns and sees                               John and changes his                               tune.)                         Oh, John--verrry funny.                              (He tries to laugh                               with the others.)                                     JOHN                         Hey, did she do that to you?                                     STEVE                         Let's get going. It seems like we've                          spent most of our lives in this                          parking lot.                                     TERRY                         Hey, Curt, let's bomb around, I wanna                          try out my new wheels!                                     CURT                         I'd like to, Toad, but I'm going                          with Steve and Laurie to the hop.                          I'd just slow you down anyway.                                     TERRY                         Yeah, tonight things are going to be                          different.                                     JOHN                         Hey, wait a minute, you're goin' to                          the Hop? The Freshman Hop?                                     CURT                         Yeah.                                     JOHN                         Oh, come on, man. That place is for                          kids. You two just got your ass out                          of there. Don't go back now.                                     CURT                         You ain't got no emotions?                                     TERRY                         We're gonna remember all of the good                          times, is what we're gonna do.                                     JOHN                         Yeah, well, go.                                     CURT                         Why don't you come with us?                                     JOHN                         Bullshit, man!                                     CURT                         Come on. For old time's sake.                                     JOHN                         Yeah, yeah... Well, listen. You go.                          Go ahead, Curtsy, baby. You go on                          over there and you remember all the                          good times you won't be having. I                          ain't goin' off to some goddamned                          fancy college. I'm stayin' right                          here. Havin' fun, as usual.               John walks angrily to his coupe, gets in and slams the door.                Curt looks at the others and shrugs.                                     TERRY                         Jesus, Milner, you're in a great                          mood tonight.               Curt goes over and stands by the window of the yellow coupe.                                     CURT                         What's the matter John? Did I say                          somethin' wrong? I'm sorry.                                     JOHN                         Ah, man, it's nothin'.                                     CURT                         Well, we'll see you later, okay?                                     JOHN                         Right.                                     CURT                         We'll all do somethin' together. You                          know, before Steve leaves.               John looks at him suspiciously.                                     JOHN                         Okay, wait a minute. Now, you're not                          going?                                     CURT                         I don't know.               John shakes his head. On the radio, Wolfman is taking a call                from a listener--                                     MAN (V.O.)                         Wolfman?                                     WOLFMAN (V.O.)                         Who is this?                                     MAN                         This is Joe... in Little Rock, way                          down in the Valley.                                     WOLFMAN                         You callin' from Little Rock,                          California?                                     MAN                         Long distance.                                     WOLFMAN                         My, my, my... listen, man, what kind                          of entertainment you got in that                          town?                                     MAN                         All we got is you.               John roars his engine and pulls the yellow deuce coupe into                a screeching take-off out of the drive-in. Terry and Curt                watch him go off.               MAIN STREET, MODESTO-NIGHT               During the day, G street is a line of used car lots, small                shops, tacky department stores and greasy spoons. At night,                it is transformed into an endless parade of kids in flamed,                lowered and customed machines who rumble down the one way                street, through the seemingly adultless, heat-drugged little                town.               Police cars glide ominously with the flow of traffic. In                parked cars, couples neck between flashing headlights. Guys                looking cool in a '56 Chevy sit in the slouched position of                the true Low Rider--and over it all the music and the Wolfman                can be heard. Just now, it's "Runaway" by Del Shannon.               John travels with the flow of traffic, watching some dopey                guys shooting squirt guns from a moving car. John drives the                deuce coupe effortlessly. He looks over at a car pacing                alongside of his own.                                     JOHN                         Hey, Zudo.               A sweaty looking guy turns and nods from the window.                                     PAZUDO                         Hey, Milner.                                     JOHN                         Hey, man, what happened to your                          flathead?                                     PAZUDO                         Huh?                                     JOHN                         What happened to your flathead?                                     PAZUDO                         Ah, your mother!                                     JOHN                         What?                                     PAZUDO                         Your mother. Hey, we been talkin'                          about you.                                     JOHN                         Yeah?                                     PAZUDO                         Yeah. There's a very wicked '55 Chevy                          lookin' for you.                                     JOHN                         Yeah, I know.                                     PAZUDO                         Watch out for the cop that's in                          Jerry's Cherry.                                     JOHN                         Yeah. All right, thanks.               John nods and the two cars pull apart down the street.               TRAVELING G STREET-STEVE'S WHITE '58 CHEVY               The Rock and Roll blares as Terry the Toad cruises along the                main drag, singing along with the music. Sitting low in his                seat, he looks around, his face aglow, experiencing a new                world from the inside of a really fine car. This is the                greatest thing that has happened to Terry in seventeen long                years of being a short loser.               Terry turns a corner and another car pulls alongside. A guy                looks out the window.                                     GUY                         Hey, Toad.               Terry looks over and smiles coolly, proud of his new wheels.                                     GUY                              (leaning out the window)                         Is that you in that beautiful car?                              (Terry nods modestly)                         Geez, what a waste of machinery.               Terry's smile changes to a scowl as the car pulls away from                him.. Terry accounts the slight to jealousy. Then he forgets                it and enjoys driving the beautiful Chevy again. Another car                pulls alongside of him as he cruises along slowly.                                     GIRL                         Hey, kid.               Terry looks over at the car cruising next to him. In the                back seat, a guy has dropped his trousers and is pushing his                bare buttocks against the side window--a classic BA complete                with pressed ham. Terry looks away, wondering why this is                still happening to him, even in his new car.               TRAVELING G STREET-LAURIE'S '58 EDSEL               Curt is in the back seat gazing out the window at the dark                main street of the small farm community. Steve and Laurie                are talking quietly in the front seat. Laurie is sitting                near the window and it sounds like Steve is convincing her                to move over. Laurie finally does. His arm goes around her                and her head rests on his shoulder.               Curt is laughing as the Wolfman harasses someone on the radio.                The Wolfman is placing a call.                                     WOLFMAN (V.O.)                         Here we go with another call out of                          the station. Can you dig it? Answer                          the phone, dummy.                                     MAN (V.O.)                         Pinkie's Pizza                                     WOLFMAN                         Ah, yeah, listen, you got any more                          of those secret agent spy-scopes?                                     MAN                         Hit parade on the stethoscope?                                     WOLFMAN                         No. No, the secret agent spy-scope,                          man. That pulls in the moon, the sky                          and the planets... and the satellites                          and the little bitty space men.                                     MAN                         You must have the wrong number,                          partner.                                     WOLFMAN                         'Bye.               Wolfman cuts into "Why Do Fools Fall in Love." Curt is                laughing in the back of the car, as he listens to the ever-               present D.J.               Steve slows the Edsel to a stop at the next light. Curt                glances over at a classic white '56 Thunderbird and sits up.                In the T-bird, a girl watches him. Blonde, beautiful, her                hair, backlit by a used car lot, seems to glow, making her                look almost ethereal. Curt doesn't move, as if afraid of                scaring her away. She smiles faintly---then says something,                so softly it's lost...                                     CURT                         What?               Curt struggles to lower his window. She repeats it, but he                can't hear. The light changes. She smiles once more and is                gone.                                     CURT                              (shouting)                         What? What?!!!                                     STEVE                         We didn't say anything.                                     CURT                         Quick! Hang a right!                                     STEVE                         What? Why?                                     CURT                         Cut over to G Street, I've just seen                          a vision! She was a goddess. You've                          got to catch her!                                     STEVE                         I didn't see anything.                                     LAURIE                         We're not going to spend the night                          chasing girls for you.                                     CURT                         I'm telling you, this was the most                          perfect, dazzling creature I've ever                          seen.                                     STEVE                         She's gone. Forget it.                                     CURT                         She spoke to me. She spoke to me,                          right through the window. I think                          she said, "I love you."               Curt looks at his sister and Steve in the front seat. They                are bored by his romantic visions.                                     CURT                         That means nothing to you people?                          You have no romance, no soul? She--                         someone wants me. Someone roaming                          the streets wants me! Will you turn                          the corner?               Laurie looks around at him and seems to pity his flights of                poetic fantasy. Curt sits back and shakes his head.               PARKING LOT               Big John sits in his deuce coupe, backed into the parking                lot of the Acme Fall-out Shelter Co., the prime spot in town                for girl watching. A guy in wrap-around dark glasses leans                by the car next to John. They watch a group of laughing girls                cruise by in a Studebaker.                                     JOHN                         Oh, oh. Later.                                     GUY                         Alligator.               John turns on his lights and swings the deuce coupe out into                the flow of traffic, after the Studebaker. John accelerates                and pulls alongside the Studebaker. The girl in the front                seat rolls down her window. John grins and yells over at the                carload of cuties.                                     JOHN                         Hey, you're new around here. Where're                          you from?                                     FIRST GIRL                         Turlock.                                     JOHN                         Turlock? You know a guy named Frank                          Bartlett?                                     FIRST GIRL                         No. Does he go to Turlock High?                                     JOHN                         Well, he used to. He goes to J.C.                          now.                                     FIRST GIRL                         Do you go to J.C.?                                     JOHN                         Yeah, sure.                                     FIRST GIRL                         Oh, wow! Do you know Guy Phillips?                                     JOHN                         Yeah, sure. I got him in a class.                                     FIRST GIRL                         He's so boss.                                     JOHN                         How would you like to ride around                          with me for awhile?                                     FIRST GIRL                         I'm sorry, I can't. I'm going steady.                                     JOHN                         Ah, come on!                                     FIRST GIRL                         I just can't.                                     JOHN                         You're just ridin' around with a                          bunch of girls. Hey, how about                          somebody else in there? Anybody else                          want to go for a ride?               The girls chatter and giggle among themselves. One of the                girls dangles a bra out the back window, and they all break                into hysterical laughter. The girls try to accelerate ahead,                but John stays alongside their car.                                     JOHN                         Aw, come on... I got plenty of room.                          It's dangerous to have that many                          people in a car. Cops see ya, you're                          had. You got nothing to fear, I'm as                          harmless as a baby kitten.               A small voice rises above the chatter.                                     CAROL                         I'll go. I'll go.                                     FIRST GIRL                         Judy's sister wants to ride with                          you. Is that all right?                                     JOHN                              (grinning)                         Yeah, sure, Judy--her sister--her                          mother--anybody. I'll take 'em all.                          Listen, we'll go up and stop at that                          light. It'll turn red by the time we                          get there. All right?               The first girl grins and nods. John winks at her.                                     JOHN                         You ever get tired of going steady                          with somebody that ain't around--I'm                          up for grabs.               The cars stop at the light. A girl rushes out from the Studey                and runs around the back of John's coupe. She opens the door                and climbs in fast as the light changes.               The Studebaker pulls off fast. John pushes through the gears                and turns and smiles at his pick-up, as "That'll Be the Day"                plays on the Wolfman Jack Show.                                     JOHN                         So, you're Judy's little sister.               Carol Morrison shakes her head. She is thirteen years old,                very cute--wearing blue jeans, sneakers and a "Dewey Webber                Surf Board" T-shirt which hangs to her knees. John seems                slightly panicked.                                     JOHN                         Ah, shit,--how old are you?                                     CAROL                         Old enough. How old are you?                                     JOHN                         I'm too old for you.                                     CAROL                         You can't be that old.                                     JOHN                         Listen, listen. I think you better                          go back and sit with your sister.                          Hey, ah... where are they, anyway?                          They comin' back or somethin'? This                          is a joke, right? This better be a                          joke, 'cause I'm not drivin' you                          around.                                     CAROL                         But you asked me. What's the matter?                          Am I too ugly?                              (on the verge of tears)                         Judy doesn't want me with her and                          now you don't want me with you. Nobody                          wants me... even my mother and father                          hate me. Everybody hates me.                                     JOHN                         No they don't. I mean, I don't know,                          maybe they do. But I don't. It's                          just that you're a little young for                          me.                                     CAROL                         I am not! If you throw me out I'll                          scream.                                     JOHN                         OK, OK, just stay cool. There's no                          need to scream. We'll think of                          something.                              (He looks at her as                               she wipes her eyes.)                         It shouldn't take too long to find                          your sister again.               Suddenly, a car horn honks next to them. John looks over at                the car.                                     VOICE (O.S.)                         Hey John--you gonna be there tonight?                                     JOHN                         Oh, shit! Hey, get down!               John grabs Carol by the neck and pushes her head down onto                his lap so she can't be seen. John casually waves to the                friend in the car cruising alongside.                                     JOHN                         Hey, cool...               Carol's head is being held down on his lap. She looks up at                him.                                     CAROL                         Hey, is this what they call copping                          a feel?               John jumps, and immediately lets go of her as if burned.                                     JOHN                         NO! Uh uh. N-O. Don't even say that.                          Jesus...               John is beginning to sweat now.                                     CAROL                         What's your name?                                     JOHN                         Mud, if anybody sees you.               CRUISING G STREET-STEVE'S '58 CHEVY               Terry continues to cruise the main drag, slouched low and                looking cool in his newly acquired machine. He adjusts his                waterfall curl as the Wolfman dedicates a list of songs. He                passes a group of guys bullshitting around the raised hood                of a souped-up parked car.               Terry cruises alongside two girls in a Ford. He revs the                engine to get their attention and once he has it he motions                to roll down their window. They flip him the bird instead                and he lets them pass.               Terry pulls up to a stop light. The car next to him is a '56                Ford--a good opponent and besides, the kid driving looks                younger than Terry.                                     TERRY                         What you got in there, kid?                                     KID                         More than you can handle.               Terry revs his engine. So does the Ford. The tension mounts.                The green arrow for the left turn lane flashes on, the car                on Terry's other side moves off, and before he can control                his reflexes, Terry, too, has shot into the intersection                while the light remains red! Terry quickly shifts and returns                to the starting position. The other driver is grinning.               Terry is flustered and embarrassed. Terry revs the Chevy a                couple more times, concentration intently this time on the                right light.               Green!... The Ford bolts into the intersection. Terry likewise                floors the gas pedal and goes crashing backwards into a large                Buick. Terry is stunned for a moment, then realizes he forgot                to shift into first. He fumbles to get the car into first                gear.               A distinguished looking man comes up to his window after                inspecting the damage. Terry tries to escape, but in his                panic the engine dies. He struggles to start it.                                     OLDER MAN                         Excuse me, but I think we've had an                          accident.                                     TERRY                         Well, goddamnit, I won't report you                          this time, but next time just watch                          it, will ya?               Terry roars off in a cloud of indignant smoke, leaving the                gentleman standing in the street looking dismayed. The cars                behind him begin to honk their horns and shout crudities.               USED CAR LOT               Terry pulls up in front of a used car lot and jumps out to                inspect the damage to Steve's Chevy. He rubs a small scratch                on the back fender, but it won't disappear. As he spits on                it, a slick, baggy-suited car salesman ambles up.                                     SALESMAN                         I'll give you $525 for her on a                          practically new Corvette... and on                          top of this, I'm going to know 10%                          off the low price of this beautiful                          Vette. I'm talking about only $98                          down and $98 a month. Now, how am I                          able to make you this incredible                          offer? I'll tell you! I'm forced to                          move all the sporty cars off the lot                          as quickly as I can. Boss's orders.                          He doesn't want 'em. I think it's a                          mistake, but what can I do?               Terry begins to get worried as the salesman begins to fondle                his new Chevy. He becomes frightened as the salesman attempts                to drag him over to one of the 'Vettes. Finally Terry breaks                away and jumps back into his car and the salesman continues                to rave on as Terry drives away.               HIGH SCHOOL GYM--"AT THE HOP"               Herbie and the Heartbeats, wearing their matching red blazers,                rock into a raunchy rendition of their masterpiece--                                     HERBIE AND THE HEARTBEATS                         One, two, three, four-- one, two                          three, four-- BAH... BAH... BAH...                          BAH... BAH... BAH... BAH... BAH...                          BAH... BAH... BAH... BAH... BAH...                          BAH... BAH... BAH... At the hop!!               Pulling back from the bandstand, we see the Dewey High School                gym--the basketball nets swung back and draped with crepe,                the lights half-low, the noise high, and the waxed floor                being polished and pounded by stockinged feet as a seething                mob of adolescents join in that ancient rite--The Hop.               A hundred of them are dancing and swaying while the band                gyrates on a raised platform. Kids on wooden bleachers watch                the whirling and spinning mass of ponytails and ducktails,                button-down shirts and mid calf skirts, cardigan sweaters                with little belts in the back.               THE GIRLS' LAVATORY               Laurie stands in front of a mirror in a line of other girls.                She brushes her hair, staring rather despondently at herself                in the mirror. The girl next to her is Peg Fuller, a cute                cheerleader.                                     PEG                         Hey, why are you so depressed? You'll                          forget him in a week. Listen, after                          you're elected senior queen you'll                          have so many boys after your bod--                                     LAURIE                         I don't want to go out with anybody                          else.                                     PEG                         Laurie, I know it's a drag but you                          can't--remember what happened to                          Evelyn Chelnick? When Mike went to                          the Marines? She had a nervous                          breakdown and was acting so wacky                          she got run over by a bus.                                     LAURIE                         I just wish I could go with him or                          something.                                     PEG                         Laurie, jeez... Come on.               BOY'S LAVATORY               We move down a row of sinks at which guys are working as                intently on their coiffures as the girls. Ducktails being                smoothed; glassy waterfalls being primped; the fronts of                crew cuts being waxed to stand stiff.               Steve stands looking at himself, then glances at Eddie Quentin                standing next to him, dabbing something on his face.                                     STEVE                         What's that?               Eddie jerks his hand down and hides something.                                     EDDIE                         What's what?               Steve turns and pulls Eddie's hand up.                                     STEVE                         Hey, zit make-up!                              (laughing)                         Wait till I tell--hey, everybody,                          Eddie--                                     EDDIE                         Come on, Steve--don't. Just cool it.               He takes his pimple cream back and Steve continues to laugh.                He stops slowly and looks at himself again in the mirror. He                finds something on his neck, looks around at Eddie.                                     STEVE                              (quietly)                         Let me see some of that stuff.               Eddie gives him the tube and Steve dabs it on his neck.                                     EDDIE                         You leave tomorrow?               Steve nods.                                     EDDIE                         You and Laurie engaged yet?                                     STEVE                         No, but we got it worked out. We're                          still going together but we can date                          other people.                                     EDDIE                         And screw around--I hear college                          girls really give out.               Suddenly a voice shouts "One-two--" they turn to see a guy                at every toilet hit the flusher on "Three," sending a torrent                of water down the pipes. Suddenly, there's a rumbling noise                as the pipes break and water gushes over the floor. Panic!                Everybody crashes for the doors, laughing and shoving each                other.               HIGH SCHOOL GYM               The guys tumble out the lavatory door and abruptly cool it                as a dumb-looking paunchy teacher stops and looks them over,                rocking on his heels. They escape quietly. Steve and Eddie                meet Laurie coming out of the girls' lavatory with Peg.                They're watching the dancers as Hervie and his band moan                through a slow number--"She's So Fine."                                     STEVE                         Come on.                                     LAURIE                         Come on what?                                     STEVE                         Let's dance.                                     LAURIE                         No thanks.                                     STEVE                         Laurie, I want to dance.                                     LAURIE                         Who's stopping you?               Eddie and Peg are listening and watching. Steve smiles at                them like everything's okay. He glares at Laurie.                                     STEVE                              (under his breath)                         Laurie, I thought since this was our                          last night together for 3 months,                          you might want to dance with me.                                     LAURIE                         How sentimental. You'll be back at                          Christmas.                                     STEVE                         I want to dance now, not at Christmas.               He takes her arm, which she pulls away.                                     LAURIE                         Get your cooties off me--               Eddie and Peg are watching with great interest. Steve smiles                at them again. Then he leans down and whispers something to                Laurie.                                     LAURIE                         Go ahead, slug me, scar my face. I                          wouldn't dance with you if you were                          the last guy left in this gym.                                     EDDIE                         Uh, Peg, I think we should dance.                                     PEG                         No, this is getting good.                                     LAURIE                         I'll dance with you, Eddie. You don't                          mind, do you, Peggy?               She takes Eddie by the hand and leaves Steve fuming with                Peg.                                     PEG                         Joe College strikes out.               Steve gives her a snide look, then watches Laurie and Eddie                laughing, as they join in The Stroll. The whole gym is                Strolling in unison, like some strange musical military                formation.               HIGH SCHOOL HALLWAY               The Stroll music floats from the gym down the empty hall.                Curt walks along with his hands in his pockets. One last                trip down the grey, locker-lined corridor. He slows and stops                by locker 2127. He smiles a little, then flips the dial of                the lock. Once to the right--back to the left--then to the                right again. Curt hits the handle. It doesn't open. Changed                already. He shrugs and goes off down the hallway.               HIGH SCHOOL GYM               Curt walks in the background, behind the line of kids clapping                as one couple Strolls down between them. Then Curt hears                somebody call him.                                     MR. WOLFE (O.S.)                         Hey--Curtis!               Curt wanders over toward a young teacher, Mr. Wolfe, who is                surrounded by a group of admiring (and grade-seeking) girls.                Mr. Wolfe wears ivy league clothes and is about twenty-five,                not much older than his students.                                     MR. WOLFE                         Curtis, come here. Help me, will                          you? I'm surrounded.                                     GIRL                         You won't dance? Come on.                                     MR. WOLFE                         No, really, I'd like to, but I can't.                          I mean, if old Mr. Simpson came in                          here and saw me dancing with one of                          you sexy little--excuse me... one of                          you young ladies, he'd have my rear                          end.                                     GIRLS                         Aahhh.               The all giggle. Mr. Wolfe shrugs at Curt and heads for a                door. Curt follows him and they escape from the girls into                the night.               OUTSIDE THE GYM               Curt and Mr. Wolfe come out of the gym. Mr. Wolfe sees a                couple of guys skulking around in the shadows smoking                cigarettes and laughing. The music has changed to "See You                in September."                                     MR. WOLFE                         Hey, Warren. Come on, gentlemen,                          back inside. Put 'em out. Let's go.                                     CURT                              (grinning as he pulls                               out a pack of                               cigarettes)                         Kids... Want one?                                     MR. WOLFE                              (taking one from the                               pack)                         All right. Hey, I thought you'd left.                                     CURT                         No, not yet.                              (looking for matches)                         I have no matches.               Mr. Wolfe takes out a pack of matches and lights both their                cigarettes. They walk down a chain-link fence, past dark,                venetian-blinded classrooms.                                     MR. WOLFE                         Brother, how do I get stuck with                          dance supervision? Will you tell me                          that?... You going back East? Boy, I                          remember the day I went off. Got                          drunk as hell the night before. Just--                                     CURT                         Blotto.                                     MR. WOLFE                         Blotto. Exactly. Barfed on the train                          all the next day.                                     CURT                              (grinning)                         Cute. Very cute. Where'd you go again?                                     MR. WOLFE                         Middlebury. Vermont. Got a                          scholarship.                                     CURT                         And only stayed a semester.                                     MR. WOLFE                              (smiling and nodding)                         One semester. And after all that, I                          came back here.                                     CURT                         Why?                                     MR. WOLFE                              (shrugging)                         Decided I wasn't the competitive                          type. I don't know... maybe I was                          scared.                                     CURT                         Well, you know I might find I'm not                          the competitive type myself.                                     MR. WOLFE                         What do you mean?                                     CURT                         Well, I'm not really sure that I'm                          going.                                     MR. WOLFE                         Hey, now--don't be stupid. Go.                          Experience life. Have some fun,                          Curtis.               Then a voice calls from the shadows.                                     JANE (O.S.)                         Bill?               They turn and see a girl coming out of a doorway. Mr. Wolfe                looks at Jane, one of his students, but doesn't say anything.                                     JANE                         I mean--Mr. Wolfe. Can I speak with                          you a minute.                              (She smiles at Curt.)                         Hi, Curt.                                     CURT                         Jane...               He looks at Mr. Wolfe, who seems a little embarrassed. Then,                Mr. Wolfe sticks out his hand.                                     MR. WOLFE                         Anyway--good luck, Curtis.               Curt shakes his hand.                                     CURT                         Yeah... I'll see you. Thanks a lot.               Curt walks back toward the gym. Looking around, he sees Mr.                Wolfe standing in the shadows with the girl, talking                intimately. Curt turns away and goes off. Before going back                into the gym, Curt stops. He sees a white T-bird parked among                a row of cars in the parking lot. He walks--then starts                running toward the car. There's a blonde sitting in the front                seat making out with some guy.               Curt leans down to the window and is about to say something                to his dream girl. But she turns and he sees it's not her.                Her boyfriend glares at him like he's some kind of peeping                Tom. Curt backs away awkwardly, trying to smile. He leaves.               CRUISING MAIN STREET--'32 DEUCE COUPE               The yellow Ford coupe is gliding down the street--skimming                around corners gracefully as the night lights glide up its                lacquered hood.  Inside the car, Carol glances at John and                smiles. The Wolfman is howling on the radio.                                     WOLFMAN (V.O.)                         A Wolfman exclusive for ya now. The                          Beach Boys, baby, a brand new group.                          I predict they gonna go a long way.                          This is called "Surfin' Safari."               Carol is continuing to jabber on, relating past adventures                with her little friends. John is unimpressed.                                     CAROL                         So the next night we found out where                          they parked and went out with                          ammunition.                                     JOHN                         Don't you have homework or something                          to do?                                     CAROL                         No sweat--my mother does it. Anyway,                          he thought he was had. He started                          the car and couldn't see through the                          windshield--and zoomed straight into                          the canal--it was a riot.               John smiles sarcastically.                                     CAROL                         I still got some, so don't try                          anything.               She takes a pressurized can of shaving cream and squirts his                nose. He swipes the shaving cream on his nose--swerving--A                car honks.                                     JOHN                         Hey, watch it will ya! Jesus Christ,                          thanks a lot.                              (looking at her angrily)                         Hey, drivin' is a serious business.                          I ain't havin' no accidents because                          of you.               Carol sinks into her corner of the car. She sticks her tongue                out for a quick moment.                                     JOHN                              (catching her look)                         Come on, don't give me any grief.                          I'm warning ya.                                     CAROL                         Spare me, killer.               He stares at her and she shuts up. "Surfin' Safari" is blaring                on the radio and she starts twisting with the music. John                turns the radio off.                                     CAROL                         Why'd you do that?                                     JOHN                         I don't like that surfing shit. Rock                          'n Roll's been going downhill ever                          since Buddy Holly died.                                     CAROL                         Don't you think the Beach Boys are                          boss!                                     JOHN                         You would, you grungy little twerp.                                     CAROL                         Grungy? You big weenie, if I had a                          boyfriend he'd pound you.                                     JOHN                              (looking in the rear-                              view mirror)                         Sure--ah, shit, Holstein!               She looks around, and sees a police car following them, bubble                lights aglow.                                     CAROL                         Good, a cop--I'm going to tell him                          you tried to rape me.               John pulls the car over and stops.                                     JOHN                         Oh, no--No. Hey--                                     CAROL                         It's past my curfew. I'm going to                          tell him how old I am, my parents                          don't know I'm out and you tried to                          rape me. Boy, are you up a creek.               John looks at her.                                     JOHN                         Hey--ah, really--don't say anything.               She looks at him.                                     CAROL                         If you say "I was a dirty bird.                          Carol's not grungy, she's bitchin'."               The cop is tapping at John's window. John wipes his face.                                     CAROL                         Say it--I'll tell him.                                     JOHN                              (quietly)                         I was a dirty bird, Carol's not                          grungy, she's bitchin.'                                     CAROL                         Okay--I'll think about it.               "The Great Imposter" can be heard on the passing car radios.                John rolls down his window. He looks at the surly cop.                                     HOLSTEIN                         Where you going, Milner?                                     JOHN                         I'm going home--sir.                                     HOLSTEIN                         Where you been, Milner?                                     JOHN                         Ah--at the movies--sir.                                     HOLSTEIN                         Milner, you weren't around the 12th                          and G streets at about 8:30, were                          you?                                     JOHN                         No, I wa at the movies--like I said--                         sir.               Holstein looks at him, then steps back, looks at the car.                Holstein's only a couple years older than John, but the                uniform separates them by light years.                                     HOLSTEIN                         Uh-huh. Milner, the reason I stopped                          you was because the light on your                          license plate is out.                              (opening his ticket                               book)                         I'm gonna have to cite you for that.                          And Milner, the front end of this...                          this... this thing you're driving                          looks a little low.                                     JOHN                         Oh, no sir. It's twelve and a half                          inches. Regulation size. Now, it's                          been checked several times. You can                          check it if you like, sir.               Holstein just glares at him and then leans in close through                the window.                                     HOLSTEIN                         Look, Milner.                                     JOHN                         Yes, sir.                                     HOLSTEIN                         You can't fool with the law.                                     JOHN                         Yes, sir.                                     HOLSTEIN                         We know that was you tonight. We                          have an excellent description of                          this car. I could run you in right                          now and I could make it stick. But                          I'm not gonna do that, Milner, you                          know why?               John shakes his head no.                                     HOLSTEIN                         Because I want to catch you in the                          act. And when I do, I'm gonna nail                          you, but good. Happy Birthday, Milner.               Holstein drops the ticket through the window onto John's                lap. He starts back to his patrol car. When he's out of                earshot John answers.                                     JOHN                         Thank you--asshole.                                     CAROL                              (looking over at him)                         You're a regular J.D.                                     JOHN                         Here, file that under C.S. over there.               Carol takes the ticket and opens the glove compartment.                                     CAROL                         C.S.? What's that stand for?                                     JOHN                         Chicken shit--that's what it is.                                     CAROL                         Oh...               She looks amazed as she adds the new ticket to a mess of                similar tickets crammed in the glove compartment. The police                car pulls by them. John scowls, then roars his engine and                pulls back into the stream of traffic.               CRUISING MAIN STREET--STEVE'S '58 CHEVY               Terry is looking and feeling like he's got it made. He                downshifts and slows for a red light. A very mean-looking                black '55 Chevy--blown, scooped and slicked--pulls up next                to him. The driver, Bob Falfa, has a gum-chewing girlfriend                sitting almost on top of him. Terry challenges the '55 Chevy                by revving his engine.               Bob Falfa doesn't even look over. He revs his engine--which                sounds like a cross between a Boeing 707 and a SuperChief.                Terry can't believe it. He quits revving his engine--feeling                deflated.               Terry looks over at the snotty grin on Falfa's girlfriends'                face.                                     GIRLFRIEND                         Ain't he neat?               Terry doesn't say anything and Bob Falfa glares over at him.                                     FALFA                         Hey, you know a guy around here with                          a piss yellow deuce coupe--supposed                          to be hot stuff?                                     TERRY                         You mean John Milner?               Falfa nods slowly.                                     TERRY                         Hey, nobody can beat him, man. He's                          got the fastest--                                     FALFA                         I ain't nobody, dork. Right?                                     TERRY                         Right...                                     FALFA                         Hey, you see this Milner, you tell                          him I'm lookin' for him, huh? Tell                          him I aim to blow his ass right off                          the road.                                     GIRLFRIEND                              (giving another snotty                               smile)                         Ain't he neat?               Terry doesn't say anything. There's another incredible scream                as Falfa roars off, leaving Terry to stare through his smoke.                Terry accelerates the '58 Chevy--at a prudent speed.               As the radio blares "Almost Grown," Terry glides past the                lighted stores slowly, taking in everything with wide eyes                from his beautiful new car.               Terry passes a steaming rear-end collision at an intersection                where two guys and two girls are all yelling.               Then, suddenly, he spots a girl--walking--alone. His mouth                drops open in amazement as he slows to a crawl. Debbie,                nineteen, with blonde hair, wearing a blue and white spaghetti-               strap dress, strolls along the sidewalk.               Terry rolls the powerful engine, but she ignores him. As he                passes her, he speeds up.                                     TERRY                         What a babe... what a bitchin' babe...                          And Wolfman Baby, she's all mine.               Terry tears around the corner and starts his approach once                more. He quickly whips out his comb, touches up his hair and                settles down into a comfortable slouch.                                     TERRY                         Okay, honey, here I come--James Dean                          lives!               He hits the clutch, roars the engine a couple more times and                then--disaster. Debbie passes behind some rough looking dudes                on motorcycles, parked along the curb. One especially vicious                biker turns and looks at Terry as he passes.               Terry roars off around the block.                                     TERRY                         Stay cool, honey--don't let those                          creeps bug you. Wolfman, please don't                          let those creeps bug her... please.               As Debbie passes the bikers, they hoot, holler, and make                barnyard noises. From the cat calls, and Debbie's manner it                seems obvious that Debbie is a girl a lot of boys have                "known."               She has walked clear of the bikers as Terry screeches around                the corner again. He pulls up alongside her and again slows                to a crawl. The pass each other for awhile, but she doesn't                look over.                                     TERRY                         Hi!                              (lowering his voice)                         Hello... buenos noches? Need a lift?                          Nice night for a walk? Do you know                          John Milner? Curt Henderson? Sure                          you wouldn't like a ride somewhere?                          Did anyone ever tell you that you                          look just like Connie Stevens?               This stops her and she turns--Terry hits the brakes and the                car bounces.                                     TERRY                         You do! I mean it! Just like Connie                          Stevens. I met her once.                                     DEBBIE                         For real?                                     TERRY                         Yeah. At a Dick Clark road show.               Debbie starts slowly toward the car.                                     DEBBIE                         You really think I look like her?                                     TERRY                         No shit--excuse me, I mean I'm not                          just feeding you a line. You look                          like Connie Stevens. What's your                          name?                                     DEBBIE                         Debbie. I always though I looked                          like Sandra Dee.                                     TERRY                         Oh yeah--well, you look a lot like                          her too.                                     DEBBIE                         This your car?                                     TERRY                         Yeah. I'm Terry the--they call me                          Terry the Tiger.                                     DEBBIE                         It's really tough looking.                                     TERRY                         What school do you go to?                                     DEBBIE                         Dewey--can it lay rubber?                                     TERRY                         Oh yeah, it's got a 327 Chevy mill                          with six Strombergs.                                     DEBBIE                         Wow--bitchin' tuck and roll. I just                          love the feel of tuck and roll                          upholstery.                                     TERRY                         You do?                                     DEBBIE                         Yeah.                                     TERRY                         Well, come on in--I'll let you feel                          it. I mean, you can touch it if you                          want--                              (realizing it's coming                               out wrong he gets                               nervous)                         I mean the upholstery, you know.                                     DEBBIE                         Okay.               Terry is elated. He climbs out of the car and she slides in                the driver's side. Terry climbs back in next to her and slams                the door. She's sitting right next to him--like a real date                should. Terry gets a little nervous.                                     DEBBIE                         Peel out.                                     TERRY                         What?                                     DEBBIE                         Peel out. I love it when guys peel                          out.               Terry nods, checks his clutch, revs the engine to a high-               pitched whine and they're off--               The tires smoke, scream, the car shots off, fish-tailing,                nearly hitting a parked car, straightening out... and                disappears down Main Street.               HIGH SCHOOL GYM--THE HOP               On stage, the band is "taking five." They're looking tough                for the girls while the Student Body Secretary is making                announcements at the mike.                                     GIRL                         --a great band and they came all the                          way from Stockton. Let's hear it.               There's applause as the girl continues.                                     GIRL                         And we want to thank Darby Langdon,                          who did all these neat decorations.               There's more applause. Standing among the crowd, Steve and                Laurie both look angry.                                     LAURIE                         I don't care if you leave this second.                                     GIRL                              (into the mike)                         Now the next dance is gonna be a                          snowball and leading it off is last                          year's class president Steven Bolander--                         and this year's head cheerleader,                          Laurie Henderson.               There's applause, whistles and cheers from the crowd. A blue                spotlight floats over the dance floor and then lands on Steve                and Laurie, who are in the midst of their argument.                                     STEVE                         What's wrong with you! You're acting                          like a snotty--               Laurie squints into the spotlight and realizes everybody's                watching them.                                     LAURIE                         Oh God, come on.                                     STEVE                         Come on what?                                     LAURIE                              (pulling him toward                               the floor)                         Oh, Steven--please, everybody's                          watching. Smile or something.               Steve gives a sick smile as she drags him out onto the floor.                A record needle scratches and "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" blares                out as Steve and Laurie dance alone in the middle of the                floor. The crowd quiets, getting a little misty about this                soon-to-be separated teenage couple. For their part, Steve                and Laurie are arguing, whispering in each other's ears.                                     LAURIE                         You think I care if you go off. You                          think I'm going to crack up or                          something. Are you conceited!                                     STEVE                         Quit--quit pinching--I don't know                          why I ever started taking you out in                          the first place.               He takes her hand from the tucked-under-the-chin position                and puts it around him, in a bear-hug.                                     LAURIE                         You take me out? When we first met                          you didn't have enough sense to take                          the garbage out... I asked you out,                          remember?                                     STEVE                         What do you mean, you asked me out!                                     LAURIE                         Backwards Day--remember? If I had                          waited for you to ask me--even after                          that you didn't call me for two weeks.                                     STEVE                         I was busy.                                     LAURIE                         You were scared. Dave Oboler told                          me. Then when you did ask me out you                          didn't kiss me for three dates.                                     STEVE                         Well--I was--                                     LAURIE                         Scared--Jim Kaylor told me. I even                          asked my father why you hadn't kissed                          me.                                     STEVE                         Your father--great!                                     LAURIE                         He said he thought you were bright                          and you'd probably think of kissing                          me after a while.               He moans.                                     LAURIE                         You didn't, of course. I had to.                          Remember that picnic?                                     STEVE                         Out at the canyon?                                     LAURIE                         Oh boy! You can't remember anything--                         the first one, up at the lake. That                          was the first time you kissed me--I                          practically had to throw myself at                          you.                                     STEVE                              (quietly)                         I remember.               They continue to dance slowly. Laurie starts to cry, hating                herself for it. Steve loosens a minute and looks at her.                                     STEVE                         What's wrong?                                     LAURIE                         Go to hell.               He holds her tighter and they circle the floor, all alone,                the crowd watching quietly, the gym echoing with "Smoke Gets                in Your Eyes."               THE GYM PARKING LOT               Curt is leaning against a car in the parking lot. He's looking                up at the stars and listening to the music floating out from                the gym.                                     WENDY                         What are you doin', stealing hub                          caps?               A pretty, dark-haired girl, Wendy, slides up next to him and                leans against the car. There's an awkward pause like that                which happens often when two people who used to be close                meet after things have changed.                                     CURT                         Well--hey, Wendy.                                     WENDY                         How've you been?                                     CURT                         Fine. Great. How've you been?               A horn honks and Wendy turns to a VW that's idling nearby.                                     WENDY                         I'm coming--wait a sec.                              (turning back to Curt)                         She's got her car. Hey, I thought                          you were going away to school.                                     CURT                         Ah, maybe... maybe.                                     WENDY                         Same old Curt. All the time we were                          going together you never knew what                          you were doing... well, anyway, I                          gotta go.                                     CURT                         Hey, Wendy--where are you going?                                     WENDY                         Nowhere.                                     CURT                              (smiling at her)                         Well, you mind if I come along?                                     WENDY                              (affectionately)                         Okay.                                     CURT                         Okay.               They go off toward the VW and climb in.               BACK INSIDE THE GYM               The hop is almost over and the lights have been lowered,                conservatively. Steve and Laurie hold each other, hardly                moving and he kisses her. Still kissing, they continue to                circle slowly--until a short, totally bald teacher comes and                pokes Steve in the side.                                     MR. KROOT                         All right, Bolander, break it up.                          You know the rules. You and your                          panting girlfriend want to do that                          you'll have to go someplace else.               He gives them a disgusted look and starts off.                                     STEVE                         Hey, Kroot!               The teacher turns, surprised by the omission of "Mr."                                     STEVE                         Why don't you go kiss a duck.               Kroot's beady eyes widen and he comes back.                                     KROOT                         What? What did you say?                                     STEVE                         I said go kiss a duck, marblehead.               Kroot is stunned and people have stopped dancing to watch                                     MR. KROOT                         Bolander--you're suspended. You're--                         don't even come Monday. You are out!                                     STEVE                              (smiling broadly)                         I graduated last semester.               Suddenly everything has changed. Mr. Kroot is furious, but                unable to do anything. He finally storms off in a huff. Steve,                Laurie and the people watching all laugh.                                     STEVE                              (to Laurie)                         Get your shoes. Let's go before we                          get thrown out.               THE GYM PARKING LOT               Steve and Laurie walk toward her Edsel. In the background                Wolfman Jack is taking a phone call from someone.                                     MAN (V.O.)                         Hello, Wolfman.                                     WOLFMAN (V.O.)                         Who's this?                                     MAN                         This is Weird Willard.                                     WOLFMAN                         Hold on a minute, let me get my pants                          off... you understand?               Steve opens the door to the car and then turns Laurie and                kisses her.                                     STEVE                         Why don't we go to the canal?                                     LAURIE                              (teasing)                         What for?                                     STEVE                         Listen, I can get tough with you                          too, you know.                                     LAURIE                         Yeah, hard tough.               She kisses him and they get into the car. As they pull out,                the Wolfman continues his conversation on the radio.                                     WOLFMAN (V.O.)                         I got 'em down around my knees, man.                          Wear these tight pants. I can't get                          'em... All right, I'm gonna do my                          little dance now, man.               And the Wolfman goes into an insane rain-dance rhythm as we                hear "Little Darlin'"               CRUISING MAIN STREET--STEVE'S '58 CHEVY               Terry not only looks cool now, but is cool, singing with the                radio, a girl beside him. Hot stuff.               Terry ever so slowly tries to put his arm around her, but by                the time he manages it, he has to shift.               They drive by some kids having a car-to-car water pistol                war.                                     TERRY                         I go to Dewey too, ya know.                                     DEBBIE                         I never seen ya.                                     TERRY                         I bug out a lot. When I graduate,                          I'm going to join the Marines.                                     DEBBIE                         They got the best uniforms. But what                          if there's a war?                                     TERRY                         With the bomb, who's going to start                          it? We'd all blow up together. Anyway,                          I'd rather be at the front. I'm like                          that--rather be where the action is,                          you know. Once I got in a fight with--                                     DEBBIE                         I love Eddie Burns.               Terry stops, trying to figure out where their conversation                went.                                     TERRY                         Eddie Burns--oh, yeah, Eddie Burns.                          I met him once, too.                                     DEBBIE                         You really think I look like Connie                          Stevens? I like her--Tuesday Weld is                          too much of a beatnik, don't you                          think?                                     TERRY                         Yeah, beatniks are losers.                                     DEBBIE                         Who do you like? I mean, singers and                          stuff.               Terry slowly maneuvers his arm around her.                                     TERRY                         Ah hell--I like most of the people                          you like.                                     DEBBIE                              (putting her head on                               his shoulder)                         That's nice--we got a lot in common.               Both of them start singing with the radio. Suddenly she puts                her hand on his leg.                                     DEBBIE                         You know what I'd like more than                          anything in the world right now?               Terry almost does a comic strip "Gulp!"                                     DEBBIE                         I'd love a double Chubby Chuck. Isn't                          that what you'd like more than                          anything right now?                                     TERRY                              (quietly)                         Sure...               MEL'S DRIVE-IN               The endless chrome-flashing parade continues. Among the lines                of fine cars, Terry is parked in the '58 Chevy next to an                order speaker on a metal pole. Terry leans out the car window                and orders into the intercom.                                     TERRY                         A double Chubby Chuck, a Mexicali                          Chili Barb, two orders of French                          fries--                                     DEBBIE                         And cherry cokes.               The intercom clicks on and a garbled voice squawks back at                him.                                     INTERCOM                         Ark, wark, dork.                                     TERRY                              (pushing the button)                         Now wait a minute. What? Huh?                                     INTERCOM                         Ark, wark, dork.                                     TERRY                         Yeah, right. Cool.               As they wait for their order, several guys in various passing                cars yell sleazy greetings to Debbie. Suddenly, a rough-               looking face, belonging to Vic Lozier, pops in her window.                                     VIC                         Hey, Deb. How's my soft baby?                                     DEBBIE                         Beat it, Vic. I'm not your baby.               Terry nervously pretends not to hear.                                     VIC                         Oh, come on, honey. So I never called                          you back. I've been, you know, busy...                                     DEBBIE                         Three weeks... besides, it only took                          one night for me to realize that if                          brains were dynamite, you couldn't                          blow your nose.                                     VIC                         Look who's talking. Who's the wimp                          you're hanging out with now? Einstein?                                     DEBBIE                         Tiger happens to be very intelligent.                          Unlike you. I know every thing your                          dirty little mind is thinking...                              (She looks out the                               window, down at Vic's                               pants)                         ...it shows...                                     TERRY                         Hey, now--                              (his voice cracks)                         I mean, hey now, buddy, the lady                          obviously doesn't--                                     VIC                         Look, creep, you want a knuckle                          sandwich?                                     TERRY                         Ah, no thanks, I'm waiting for a                          double Chubby--Chuck...                                     VIC                         Then shut your smart ass mouth! I'll                          call ya, Deb, some night when I'm                          hard up.                                     DEBBIE                         I won't be home.               Vic makes a kiss-off noise. She lights a match and flicks it                at him. He finally leaves.                                     TERRY                         You seem to, ah--know a lot of weird                          guys.                                     DEBBIE                         That sex fiend is not a friend of                          mine; he's just horny. That's why I                          like you, you're different.                                     TERRY                         I am? You really think I'm                          intelligent?               She moves very close to him and whispers in his ear.                                     DEBBIE                         Yeah. And I'll bet you're smart enough                          to get us some brew.                                     TERRY                         Brew?                                     DEBBIE                         Yeah.                                     TERRY                         Brew... oh--yeah... oh, sure...                              (she kisses him)                         Yes! Liquor! This place is too crowded                          anyway.               Terry backs out and drives off, leaving the approaching car                hop standing in an empty parking space.                                     CAR HOP                         What about your double Chubby Chuck,                          mexicali-chili-barb and                              (looking at the tray)                         --two cherry cokes, sir?               CRUISING MAIN STREET-'57 VOLKSWAGEN               We see the white T-bird ahead for just a moment, before it                accelerates, passes a car and disappears, as we hear                "Peppermint Twist" from the radio.               In the VW, Curt is in the back, shaking the driver's seat,                yelling at Bobbie. Wendy is in front next to Bobbie.                                     CURT                         There--don't you see it? Speed up,                          you're losing her--                                     BOBBIE                         Quit shouting in my ear!                                     CURT                         Cut around him, cut around him.               The little VW swerves and cuts around an old dagoed Dodge,                then speeds along the fast lane.               Ahead, we catch a glimpse of the T-bird as it turns a corner.                                     CURT                         There, hang a right--over there!               Bobbie turns, somebody honks, she hits the curb, shifting                madly she mis-clutches; the beetle lugs forward; Curt falls                back in the seat and Wendy looks at him.                                     CURT                         You lost her!                                     WENDY                         What's wrong with you? You know Bobbie                          gets nose bleeds when she's upset.                                     BOBBIE                         I do not! You shut up!                                     CURT                         Lost her again. Ah, Wendy, my old                          lover, come back here and console                          me.                                     WENDY                         Eat your heart out. Who was she                          anyway?                                     CURT                         I don't know, but I'm going to find                          out.                                     BOBBIE                         I know her!               There are a few moments of silence as Bobbie lets Curt sweat                it out. Finally, Curt breaks.                                     CURT                         Okay, come on, who is she?                                     BOBBIE                         You know Mr. Beeman? He owns Hepcat                          Jewelers.                                     CURT                         Yeah.                                     BOBBIE                         Well, she's his wife.                                     CURT                         But she was young and beautiful, and                          cruising 10th Street. You're thinking                          of someone else.                                     WENDY                         Mr. Beeman's not so old.                                     CURT                         What cruel fate keeps me from my                          true love? How am I ever going to                          meet her?                                     WENDY                              (to Bobbie)                         Did you know that my ex is going to                          become a presidential aide? It's                          supposed to be a secret, but his big                          ambition in life is to shake hands                          with President Kennedy. How are you                          going to accomplish that at J.C.?                                     CURT                         Maybe I've grown up. Maybe I've                          changed my mind.                                     WENDY                         Maybe you don't think you can do it!                                     CURT                         Maybe you should shut up!                                     WENDY                         Maybe I will... and maybe I won't.                                     CURT                         Why don't you move your bod into aft                          chamber, where we might discuss this                          in private.                                     BOBBIE                              (seeing that Wendy is                               considering it)                         Thanks a lot.                                     CURT                         Come on, Wendy? She doesn't say                          anything. They pull up to a stoplight.                          Wendy looks at the red stoplight and                          then abruptly gets out of the car                          and jumps in the back.                                     WENDY                         Well, slide over, I'm not sitting on                          your lap.               She gets in and the car goes off.               In the back seat, Curt and Wendy are talking softly. He puts                his arm around her and she makes a face, but doesn't remove                it. Bobbie watches in the rear-view mirror, Curt sees her.                                     CURT                         To the Opera, James.                                     BOBBIE                         Drop dead.                                     CURT                         Unless you want to go to Gallo Dam                          and have an orgy.                                     WENDY                         You wish.               Curt looks at her and turns her head. He kisses her and puts                his arm around her. They neck. The radio plays "Barbara Ann."               The little VW flashes by in the stream of traffic. Bobbie                drives, glancing in here rear-view mirror occasionally and                also watching the station wagon ahead, in which two pairs of                feet are dancing against the back window.               Wendy pulls away from Curt's lips and looks out the window.                                     WENDY                         I've been silly. I'm glad you're                          going to stay. Maybe we'll have some                          classes together.                                     CURT                         Maybe.                                     BOBBIE                              (from the front seat)                         Look, there's Kip Pullman! He's so                          neat.               Wendy turns and leans forward, laughing. Curt watches her                seriously, studying her.                                     BOBBIE                         Do you know Kip?                                     CURT                         Huh? Yeah, I know him.                                     BOBBIE                         Talk to him when we go by.                                     CURT                         What do you want me to say?                                     BOBBIE                         Anything... I just want to meet him.               They pull up next to Kip's car and Curt leans forward and                yells out Bobbie's window.                                     CURT                         Kip, baby, what's up?                                     KIP                         Henderson, long time no see. Whadaya                          been doing?                                     CURT                         Not much, just wanted to let you                          know that Bobbie here is hopelessly                          in love with you and trembles at the                          sight of your rippling biceps...               Bobbie swerves the car away and turns a corner. She stops on                a dime at the curb.                                     BOBBIE                         You creep, fink, son-of-a-bitch--               She turns and starts flailing at Curt with her purse.                                     CURT                         Help, wait! Joke--Joke--Bobbie,                          remember your nose bleeds!                                     BOBBIE                         Get out--get out of my car--I hate                          you!                                     CURT                         Excuse me--ouch--Wendy--I got to go                          now.               Wendy is laughing and Curt climbs over her out of the small                car. He gets out and closes the door. Wendy changes seats                and looks at him seriously.                                     WENDY                         Curt, I hope I see you at                          registration. Call me if you want.                          It was nice seeing you again.                                     CURT                         See ya.               The car pulls off and Curt watches it. Suddenly, he sees                something--the T-bird going the other way down the street.                                     CURT                         Oh shit--there!! Wait!               The VW's gone and Curt starts after the T-bird on foot. He                runs down the middle of the street, oblivious to the horns                honking and the cars swerving to miss him.               We move with Curt as he moves like a broken field runner                through the traffic only to finally lose the girl and the                Thunderbird and to slow and finally stop, standing on the                white line. Cars slow down and kids rubberneck as they go by                him.               CRUISING G STREET--'32 YELLOW DEUCE COUPE               John is driving and the Wolfman is howling on the radio while                Carol is having the time of her life.                                     WOLFMAN (V.O.)                         Went to a dance lookin' for romance.                          Found Barbara Ann... baby... Hey,                          this one is for all you out there                          watchin' the Submarine Races.               And the radio moans into "Who Wrote the Book of Love." Carol                sits with her feet up against the dash. John knocks them off                and she scowls at him.                                     CAROL                         I'm so thirsty, I could die. Just a                          little 10 cent coke to wet my whistle.                          It won't take a minute, I can drink                          it in the--               John suddenly hits the brakes and Carol almost hits the floor.                John reaches over and opens the door.                                     JOHN                         Why don't you just get out and get                          one then! So long, goodbye, hasta                          lumbago.               She stares at him, shaken, looking sweet and helpless. He                turns and looks at her. A tear rolls down her cheek slowly.                John can't take it.                                     JOHN                         All right, one coke and then home.               Carol is delighted. She slams the door. John takes off.                                     CAROL                         Isn't it great, the way I can cry                          whenever I want. A lot of people                          can't do that, but Vicki showed me                          how. I bet you can't cry.                                     JOHN                         Don't count on it. I may surprise                          you any minute now.               MEL'S DRIVE-IN               John cruises around the lot until he finds a space among the                rows of dazzling cars. He pulls in and leans out to hit the                intercom button.                                     JOHN                              (into intercom)                         One ten cent coke. Is ice extra? All                          right, ice.                                     CAROL                         Thanks for nothing.               She looks around, sitting up so maybe some of her friends                will see her in John's neat car.                                     CAROL                         Oh rats, I though some of my friends                          might be here.                                     JOHN                         Probably a couple of weeks past their                          bedtime.                                     CAROL                         Wait, there's Dee Dee. I hope she                          sees me.                                     JOHN                         Oh Shit, Dee Dee!               A long line of cars coast past. Occasionally, someone yells                a greeting to John. The car hop brings the coke. Then a                couple, Al and Linda, come over. They lean in the window                smiling--John prays they don't see Carol.                                     AL                         Hiya, John. Say, do you think if I                          brought my Mopar by the shop Monday                          you could spot weld the bumper                          bracket?                                     JOHN                         Have to be before noon.                                     AL                         Sure. Hey, have you met Linda?                                     JOHN                         No. Hi--ahh, this is my, ahh, cousin,                          Carol. I'm kinda babysitting tonight.                                     CAROL                         Babysitting!!               She slugs John on the arm. John grabs her arm as she starts                to swing again.                                     JOHN                         Jesus--watch it, will yuh?                              (smiling at Al)                         Been hittin' me all night. Kids will                          be kids, you know.               She struggles to hit him and spills her coke all over the                car. He pushes her rather roughly against the door.                                     JOHN                         Watch out--damn it! Look what--why                          don't you grow up!                              (looking at Al again)                         We don't get along too well. It's                          been like this--                                     CAROL                         You spastic creep!               She is about to really cry this time. She jumps out of the                car and runs off down the street. John wipes his car out as                Al and Linda watch in amazement.                                     JOHN                         We don't get along too well. You                          know what cousins are like.                                     AL                         Yeah... well, I'll see ya on Monday                          before noon.               John mutters profanities to himself, but his anger subsides                after a few moments. He looks back in the direction Carol                went. All he can see are two Hell's Angels on choppers rolling                in the same direction. He looks a little concerned and starts                the coupe.               CRUISING MAIN STREET--'32 YELLOW DEUCE COUPE               John roars along looking for her until he sees her walking                angrily along the sidewalk--being followed by a Ford full of                guys.               John passes Carol and the Ford and pulls over and stops just                ahead of them. Carol stops when she sees John. The Ford also                stops and the guys call out to her. She considers the                situation a moment, then runs and gets in with John. He pulls                off and she grins at him happily.                                     CAROL                         Hi cousin, how's your bod?               SCENIC LIQUOR STORE--STEVE'S '58 CHEVY               Terry pulls into the parking lot and stops. He looks up at                the flashing liquor store sign and considers his battle plan.                "Maybe Baby" by Buddy Holly is playing on the radio.                                     DEBBIE                         Do you have an ID?                                     TERRY                         No... hey, but no sweat. What'll it                          be? Beer, little wine?                                     DEBBIE                         If you could get some Old Harper,                          I'd give you a French kiss.                                     TERRY                         Old Harper, rrright! He gives her an                          OK sign with his fingers and goes                          over to the store. He starts to enter,                          then stops and thinks. He sees a man                          in a business suit approaching, and                          smiles.                                     TERRY                         Excuse me, sir, while you're in there--                         I mean, since you're going in anyway,                          I wonder if--                                     MAN                         Yes, son?                                     TERRY                         Could you--sir--could you give me                          the time?                                     MAN                              (looking at his watch)                         Why sure, it's a quarter to twelve.                                     TERRY                         Great. Quarter to twelve. Thanks a                          lot.               The man regards him, Terry pretends to start off until the                man goes in. Terry pulls himself together as another man                approaches, or rather stumbles up, being older, scruffy and,                essentially, a bum.                                     TERRY                         Pardon me, sir, but I lost my I.D.                          in--in a flood and I'd like to get                          some Old Harper, hard stuff. Would                          you mind buying a bottle for me?               The bum is still trying to focus on Terry and smiles.                                     BUM                         Why certainly, I lost my wife, too--                         her name wasn't Idy, though, and it                          wasn't in a flood--but I know what                          ya--                                     TERRY                         Thanks, here's enough for a pint.               The old man takes the money and falls into the store. Terry                watches and then waves to Debbie in the car that everything                is cool.               As he waits for the bum to come back out, the first man in                the suit exits. Terry smiles at him again.                                     TERRY                         Hi. Still quarter to twelve.                                     MAN                         Right-o. Night.                                     TERRY                         Night.               The man gets into the car and backs out. Terry goes over to                the window of the liquor store and looks to see how the wino's                doing with his booze. Terry sees the liquor store owner                setting four bottles of cheap wine on the counter.                                     TERRY                              (gesturing through                               the window from                               outside)                         Hey, no. Not wine. Ssss--hey!               The owner turns and sees Terry waving. Terry ducks out of                sight. When he looks back again, Terry sees the old bum is                gone! Terry can't believe it. He finally enters the store.               INSIDE THE LIQUOR STORE               Terry tries to look very casual as he sidles up to the                counter. Country-Western music hums over the liquor in hi-               fi.                                     TERRY                              (smiling at the owner)                         Hi there--ah, say--was there an old                          man in here a minute ago?                                     OWNER                         Yeah. He went out the back.               Terry is destroyed.                                     OWNER                         You want something?               Terry looks at the man and the endless rows of liquor behind                him.                                     TERRY                         Yeah--ah--let me have a Three                          Musketeers, ah, and a ball point pen                          ther, a comp, a pint of Old Harper,                          couple of flashlight batteries and                          some of this beef jerky.               The owner puts everything into a bag and starts to ring it                up.                                     OWNER                         Okay, got an I.D. for the liquor?                                     TERRY                         A what? Oh, sure--                              (feeling his pockets)                         Oh nuts, I left it--I left it in the                          car.                                     OWNER                         Sorry, you'll have to get it before--                                     TERRY                         Well, I can't. I also ah, forgot the                          car.               The owner takes the liquor out of the bag and puts it back                on the shelf. Terry stands there. The owner takes the money                from him and gives him his change.               OUTSIDE THE LIQUOR STORE               Terry comes back to the Chevy with the bag full of junk.                Debbie smiles at him excitedly and scoots over to the window.                                     DEBBIE                         Hey, did ya get it? Ya get it, ya                          get it?               He hands her the bag.                                     DEBBIE                         You got it. You got it!               She goes through the bag and finds a comb and the batteries.                                     DEBBIE                         You didn't get it. Why didn't you                          get it?                                     TERRY                         Ah, well, I needed some things and I                          thought as long as I was in there--                         look, Debbie, can you loan me a                          dollar?                                     DEBBIE                         What? Are you for real? Come on.                          Girls don't pay. Guys pay.                                     TERRY                         Yeah, well, see--I've only got a                          fifty and he doesn't have change.                                     DEBBIE                         Well, I can't believe this... I really                          cannot believe this. Here.               She takes the money from a squeeze-open plastic change purse                and hands it to him. Terry smiles weakly and goes back to                try his luck again at the liquor store.               He stops in front of the door as a young guy with numerous                tattoos on his bulging arms approaches the liquor store.                                     TERRY                         Hi--excuse me. I was wondering--could                          you, ah--                                     GUY                         Buy you a bottle of booze. Yeah, I                          know. You lost your I.D. What kind                          do you want?                                     TERRY                              (amazed)                         Gee, that's terrific. Ah, just some                          ah--Old Harper.               He takes Terry's money and enters the store. The clerk hands                the man a bottle of Old Harper. Terry waves excitedly to                Debbie, lowering his pants a bit. Suddenly, there's a gunshot!                Terry whirls to see the young man stuffing cash from the                register into his pockets, backing away with a smoking gun.                He rushes out of the store, tossing the bottle to Terry and                running off into the night. Suddenly, the owner emerges from                behind the counter, shooting wildly. Terry ducks and heads                for the car with his pint of Old Harper.               AUTO WRECKING YARD               John's '32 deuce coupe crunches to a gravelly stop in front                of a dark auto-wrecking yard. John and Carol get out and                climb over the fence. They walk through a valley of twisted,                rusting piles of squashed, mashed and crushed automobiles.                John sticks his hand into his pockets moodily and stops and                looks at one of the burnt-out cars.                                     JOHN                         That's Freddy Benson's Vette... he                          got his head on with some drunk.                          Never had a chance. Damn good driver,                          too. What a waste when somebody gets                          it and it ain't even their fault.                                     CAROL                         Needs a paint job, that's for sure.               John doesn't hear her and walks on.                                     JOHN                         That Vette over there. Walt Hawkins,                          a real ding-a-ling. Wrapped it around                          a fig tree out on Mesa Vista with                          five kids in it. Draggin' with five                          kids in the car, how dumb can you                          get? All the ding-a-lings get it                          sooner or later. Maybe that's why                          they invented cars. To get rid of                          the ding-a-lings. Tough when they                          take someone with them.                                     CAROL                         You never had a wreck though--you                          told me.                                     JOHN                         I come pretty close a couple of times.                          Almost rolled once. So far I've been                          quick enough to stay out of here.                          The quick and the dead.                                     CAROL                         I bet you're the fastest.                                     JOHN                         I've never been beaten--lot of punks                          have tried. See that '41 Ford there?                          Used to be the fastest wheels in the                          valley. I never got a chance to race                          old Earl. He got his in '55 in the                          hairiest crash ever happened around                          here. He was racing a '54 Chevy,                          bored and loaded, out on the old                          Oakdale Highway and every damn kid                          in town was out there. The Chevy                          lost its front wheel doing about 85.                          The idiot had torched the spindles                          to lower the front end and it snapped                          right off. He slammed bam into the                          Ford and then they both of them                          crashed into a row of cars and all                          those kids watchin! Jesus, eight                          kids killed including both drivers,                          looked like a battlefield. Board of                          Education was so impressed they filmed                          it. Show it now in Drivers Education,                          maybe you'll see it. Anyway, since                          then street racing's gone underground.                          No spectators, I mean. Too bad.                                     CAROL                         I'd love to see you race.               Carol takes his hand and they walk a bit, until John realizes                what he's doing, and drops her hand and pulls away.                                     JOHN                         Come on! None of that.                                     CAROL                         Whadaya mean? I'm the one who's                          supposed to say that. Whadaya afraid                          of? I'll keep it above the waist.                                     JOHN                         Funny...                              (he looks at her for                               a moment)                         Who knows, in a few years--but not                          now, bunny rabbit.                                     CAROL                         Bunny rabbit! Oh brother, you are                          such a drip.               She stomps off and gets back into the coupe, quickly rolling                up all the windows. John saunters up and finds the door                locked.                                     JOHN                         Come on, open the door.                                     CAROL                         If you say "Carol's not a bunny,                          she's a foxy little tail."               John grins and starts to pull his keys out of his pocket. He                stops grinning: Carol grins and dangles his keys inside the                car. John leans against the window, closes his eyes, a                defeated man.                                     JOHN                              (quietly)                         Carol's not a rabbit, she's a foxy                          little tail.               He hears the button click up and slowly opens the door.                                     CAROL                         You say the cutest things.               John gets into the car.                                     WOLFMAN (V.O.)                         Sneakin' around with the Wolfman,                          Baby.               The Wolfman's gravelly voice whispers over the airwaves as                John and Carol drive out of the shadowy car grave-yard.               WILSON'S APPLIANCE STORE               Curt is sitting on the hood of a parked De Soto watching a                row of televisions in the window of an appliance store. Twelve                silent images of Ricky Nelson on "Ozzie and Harriet" glow in                the dark showroom. Music from passing cars rises and fades                as they cruise behind Curt. The Wolfman can be heard.                                     WOLFMAN (V.O.)                         Oh, this is gonna strike a raw nerve,                          mama. Here's the Platters.               The Wolfman howls and the Platters wail into the "Great                Pretender." Curt sings along, mouthing the words. Then                somebody walks in front of Curt.               Curt pays no attention, then sense the presence of another                guy. Soon he realizes that he is being surrounded by a group                of three hoods. They slink up from all sides wearing car                coats with the name "PHAROAHS" embroidered across the back.               Curt looks them over--they all watch the silent tv's. One of                them, without turning, talks to Curt.                                     JOE                         Whadaya doin', creep?                                     CURT                         Me?                                     JOE                         No, I'm talking to the other fifty                          creeps here. You know Gil Gonzales?                                     CURT                         Gil Gonzales... no.                                     JOE                         Don't know Gil... you oughta. You                          really should.                                     CURT                         Yeah... why?                                     JOE                         No reason... he's a friend of ours...                          and that's his car you're sitting                          on.               There's silence. Curt looks uneasy and slides quietly off                the De Soto. Curt sticks his hands in his pockets and starts                slowly down the sidewalk.                                     JOE                         Hey, where ya goin?                                     CURT                              (turning)                         No place. Not going any place.                                     JOE                         Ya must be going someplace--I mean                          ya left here. Bring him over here,                          Ants, I want to show him something.               Ants (a tall, ghoulish-looking kid who probably got his name                from the scar across his face which has recently been stitched                to look like a party of ants marching across his cheek) brings                Curt back gently.               Joe is bent over looking across the hood of the De Soto.                                     JOE                         Here--bend down, look here. See that?                          Right across there--see?                                     CURT                         I guess so--yeah.               Joe unbends and lightly punches Curt on the shoulder.                                     JOE                         You scratched it, man. Where do you                          get off sitting on Gil's car, huh,                          man?               Joe gives him another charming punch on the shoulder. The                others have left the tv's and are watching Curt now, looking                puzzled and pained at the scratch on the car.                                     CURT                         I'm sorry. It's not much of a scratch.                          I don't think he'll even--                                     JOE                         It ain't the size that's in question                          here. It's the principle. Jeez, this                          is tough... what should we do with                          ya?                                     ANTS                         Tie him to the car and drag him.               Curt turns and laughs at Ants' suggestion. He laughs and                laughs until he realizes nobody else is; they are pondering                the suggestion.                                     CURT                         That's funny                              (clearing his throat)                         Hey, you guys know Toby Juarez? He's                          a Pharoah, isn't he?                                     JOE                         Toby Juarez. Yeah, sure we know Toby.                                     CURT                         He's a friend of mine.               They all grin and laugh with Curt who feels better.                                     JOE                         Sure, good old Toby. He's a friend                          of yours. That's cool... we all hate                          his guts.               Curt stops smiling again.                                     CURT                         Oh--well, I don't know him that much                          anyway.                                     JOE                         We killed him last night.                                     ANTS                         Tied him to a car and dragged him.               Curt looks at them both, praying they're kidding. Joe looks                at him, shaking his head.                                     JOE                         This is going to take some thinking.                          You better come with us maybe.                              (putting his arm around                               Curt)                         Go riding with the Pharoahs...                                     CURT                         Well, I don't think I can--I gotta--                                     JOE                         I know just how ya feel.               Joe leads Curt gently but forcibly toward an incredible maroon                '51 Merc that's been lowered and chopped so that the windows                are like ominous slits and the whole machine has a submarine                quality. Joe opens the door and Curt slides into the white                fluffy interior. In the small back window, a metal plaque                reads "PHAROAHS."               The third member of the gang is Carlos, a short little kid                about fifteen years old. He appears tougher than the rest                with a cigarette dangling from his mouth. Joe heads for the                driver's side and Ants and Carlos both go for the front                passenger door.                                     CARLOS                         Shotgun!                                     ANTS                         No, I called it!                                     CARLOS                         When?                                     ANTS                         Before we picked you up.                                     CARLOS                         You can't call it for the whole night,                          man. I got it now. Get in the back.               Carlos gives Ants a hard look and Ants backs down and climbs                in the back with Curt. The Pharoah's Mercury roars out from                the curb.               CRUISING MAIN STREET--PHAROAHS' '51 MERCURY               The radio blares "Ain't that a Shame?" as Curt sits in the                back seat of the car looking very nervous. He eyes the three                hoods cautiously. They are sitting super low, their eyes                just visible over the windows.               Then, Curt happens to look around. He does a double take.                Through the narrow window he sees the Thunderbird passing in                the opposite direction. Curt swivels and watches through the                back window as the T-bird disappears around a corner. Then,                he shakes his head. Of all the times to be trapped with the                Pharoahs.               On the radio the Wolfman is giving a phone operator a bad                time and the Pharoahs are chuckling.               As the Wolfman continues on the radio, the cars pass though                the night like a metallic ballet. The Pharoahs' Mercury (with                Curt aboard) passes Laurie's Edsel...               Inside the Edsel, Steve is driving. He puts his arm around                Laurie and she leans her head on his shoulder.               As the Edsel cruises by in one direction, John Milner's '32                Ford coupe rumbles by on the other side of the street.               INSIDE THE DEUCE COUPE               Carol is laughing like mad as the Wolfman continues. Even                John has to chuckle at the mad D.J.'s raspy patter.                                     WOLFMAN (V.O.)                         Who is this on the Wolfman telephone?                                     OPERATOR (V.O.)                         Hello, Collect...                                     WOLFMAN                         Pardon me. Your name is Colette?                                     OPERATOR                         Yes. Collect Call.                                     WOLFMAN                         Your name is Colette Call?                                     OPERATOR                         Sir, this is the Operator.                                     WOLFMAN                         Are you French, Operator?                                     OPERATOR                         This is a collect call for Wolfman                          Jack.                                     WOLFMAN                         I... I love you, Operator.                                     OPERATOR                         Is this Wolfman Jack?                                     WOLFMAN                         Is Floyd there?                                     OPERATOR                         It's for a Wolfman... Jack...               Carol looks over at John and shakes her head.                                     CAROL                         I just love listening to the Wolfman.                          My Mom won't let me at home. Because                          he's a Negro, I think... anyway,                          he's terrific. Do you know that he                          just broadcasts from a plane that                          flies around in circles all the time?                          Do you think that's true?               INSIDE STEVE'S '58 CHEVY               Terry drives on through the wonderful night--a blonde sitting                next to him, he's feeling very bitchin'. He and Debbie are                also mesmerized by the Wolfman.                                     WOLFMAN (V.O.)                         Floyd, I love you, Floyd. Is this                          you, Floyd? I cannot look on thee,                          love took my hand... and smiling did                          reply, who made the eyes but I. Floyd,                          reach out and touch my soul.               INSIDE THE PHAROAHS' '51 MERCURY               Even Curt has to laugh at the Wolfman--despite his situation.                Little Carlos sits in the front seat and looks over at Joe                who's driving.                                     OPERATOR (V.O.)                         Your party's ready, sir.                                     WOLFMAN                         You mean Floyd? Hello, is this Floyd?                                     VOICE (V.O.)                         Hello, is this Matilda?                                     WOLFMAN                         No, it ain't honey--bye!                                     CARLOS                         You tell her, Wolfman. He's my man.                          When I graduate, I'm gonna be a                          Wolfman. Hey, you know he broadcasts                          out of Mexico someplace?                                     JOE                         No, he don't. I seen the station                          right outside of town.                                     CARLOS                         That's just a clearing station, man.                          So he can fool the cops. He blasts                          that thing all the way around the                          world. It's against the law, man.               In the back seat, Ants nods in agreement.                                     ANTS                         Ah, man--they'll never catch the                          Wolfman.               Then Ants' nose starts twitching and he looks over at Curt                suspiciously.                                     ANTS                         Hey, man, who cut the cheese?               Curt tries to smile but looks pretty guilty. Then Joe looks                around from the front seat.                                     JOE                         He who smelt it, dealt it.                              (looking at Curt in                               the back)                         Hey, creep, scoot down. Sitting up                          like that, it wrecks the lines of                          the car, you know what I mean?               Curt scoots down to a level even with Ants. Ants is staring                at him and grinning evilly. Then they hear an incredible                roar, and they all turn to see Bob Falfa's black '55 Chevy                pass by. Falfa has a new girl with him this time, a lovely                redhead.                                     JOE                         There's that badass Chevy again.                          Look at he snatch he's got with him.                                     ANTS                         Hey, man, he looks like a whimp.               Curt nods and tries to join in.                                     CURT                         Probably is. Whimps get all the                          snatch.               Carlos and Ants look at him. Like nobody asked him to open                his mouth.                                     CARLOS                         Milner ain't gonna beat that. His                          time has come. He's getting old. He                          ain't as fast as he used to be.               INSIDE THE DEUCE COUPE               Milner may not be as fast a he used to be--and having a little                teeny-bopper with him isn't helping matters. He looks over                at Carol. She's moved closer to him.                                     JOHN                         You got two seconds to get your ass                          over in the corner.                                     CAROL                         Don't worry, I won't rape you.               Carol slides back to her side. But as they glide along, Carol                watches John. She's moon-eyed and flipped over him. John                deftly down-shifts as he approaches a light and then                accelerates through the gears with a "race" expertise.               There's a honk and John and Carol look over to see a '60                Cadillac full of girls laughing at them.                                     GIRL                         You got a bitchin' car.               John nods modestly.                                     GIRL                         In fact, we're gonna give you our                          special prize for having the neatest                          car around. You want me to give it                          to you?                                     JOHN                         If the prize is you, honey, I'm a                          ready Teddy.                                     GIRL                         Yeah, well get bent turkey.               The girl suddenly launches a water balloon, which John ducks                deftly, the tumescent missile catching Carol full in the                face. The girls roar off. John cracks up as Carol blinks                away the water, not believing what's happened. She wipes her                face.                                     CAROL                         All right, very funny. What a chop.                          Ha ha. Quit laughing!!               John tries to control himself, but can't.                                     CAROL                         Let's catch 'em at the light. Then                          you jump out and flatten their tires.                                     JOHN                         Hey, wait a--                                     CAROL                         Just do what I say!                                     JOHN                         Yezz, bozz....               MAIN STREET INTERSECTION               Carol jumps out of the car as John stops the car in the right                hand lane next to the Cadillac. As Chuck Berry wails "Johnny                B. Goode," they go into action.               The girls in the Cadillac recognize John as one of their                victims and quickly roll up all windows and lock their doors.                John starts pulling the stems from the front tires, sinking                the car. Carol starts around the car with the shaving cream,                spraying all their windows with the foamy lather.               Carol is having a great time and John is laughing as they                continue their guerrilla attack. They finish and jump back                in the coupe. The light turns green and John takes off,                leaving the Cadillac stranded at the intersection, covered                with shaving cream. Traffic begins to back up... horns begin                to honk.               CANAL BANK--STEVE'S '58 CHEVY               The crickets chirp under the full moon. We hear "I Only Have                Eyes for You" playing as the Chevy slowly comes to a stop in                an isolated spot along the irrigation canal.               Terry gets out of the car, pops the top off two cokes and                pours half of them into the canal. He hums, refilling them                with bourbon. He goes back to the car.                                     TERRY                         Tootie fruiti all ruti... It's Super                          Cola!               He hands her one of the bottles and takes a long drink out                of the other. He grabs the steering wheel for support and                his eyes begin to water.                                     TERRY                         It's a... a little... strong, I think.                                     DEBBIE                              (drinking)                         It's the living end.               Terry takes a smaller sip this time...                                     TERRY                         Yeaah, I guess it wasn't mixed.                                     DEBBIE                         Wow, it's pretty tonight. It's a                          perfect night to go horseback riding--                         I was going with a guy once who had                          a horse.               Terry chokes.                                     TERRY                         Oh yeah? I used to have a couple of                          horses myself.                                     DEBBIE                         Really?                                     TERRY                         I used them for hunting. I do a lot                          of hunting. Deer mostly, although I                          got a couple of bear last year. Yep,                          they were good ponies--hunting ponies.                          I had to train 'em special, you know.                                     DEBBIE                         Do you still have 'em? We could go                          for a ride.                                     TERRY                         No, I had to sell 'em. To get these                          wheels... and a jeep. I also have a                          jeep pick-up, with four-wheel drive.                          It's got a gun rack. And I use that                          for hunting mostly.                                     DEBBIE                         Why do you kill little animals? I                          think that's terrible.                                     TERRY                         Oh, well, yeah, I figure with bears,                          though, it's either me or them...                          You know, I think you're really neat.               He suddenly grabs at her, putting his arms around her. She's                caught off-guard and tries to move away.                                     DEBBIE                         Wait a second.               Terry immediately lets go of her.                                     TERRY                         Oh, jeez, I'm sorry. I don't know                          what got into me--I didn't mean to--                         maybe it's the booze or something.               She puts her coke on the floor. She unfastens the chain                holding her sweater together and takes it off.                                     DEBBIE                         There--now.               Suddenly, she grabs him and pulls him down on top of herself.                She kisses him madly. At first he's surprised, but then gets                the hang of it. They begin to neck passionately, encountering                many obstacles in the cramped front seat.                                     DEBBIE                         Ow--you pinched me.                                     TERRY                         I'm sorry.                                     DEBBIE                         Let me get my head over here--okay,                          now you get up--                                     TERRY                         Ow--my leg, my leg. Ow, watch it!                                     DEBBIE                         Ummm, I just love tuck 'n roll                          upholstery.               As they roll around, a couple of guys walk by the car                laughing. Terry manages to sit up and watches them go off                into the night.                                     TERRY                         Geez, it's like Grand Central Station                          around here. Why don't we go someplace                          else.               Debbie pulls him back down on top of her.                                     DEBBIE                         Nah, come on. They won't come back.                                     TERRY                         Wait a minute. I got a blanket in                          the back. Why don't we go over into                          the field?                                     DEBBIE                         All right. Okay.               They both get out of the car. Terry gets the blanket out of                the trunk. They walk along a path next to the moonlit canal.                Debbie carries their drinks for them. They left the radio on                and Wolfman's voice can be heard as he takes another call.                                     WOLFMAN (V.O.)                         Hello.                                     GIRL (V.O.)                         Yeah!                                     WOLFMAN                         How old are you?                                     GIRL                         I'm thirteen, how old are you?                                     WOLFMAN                         I'm only fourteen.                                     GIRL                         Oh, boy, I love you, Wolfman.                                     SINGERS                              (singing over)                         "Wolfman Jack."                                     WOLFMAN                         Oh, now we gonna do the weather for                          all the valleys and the mountain                          tops. Gonna be hot... about 200                          degrees in Merced, 400 degrees out                          in Fresno, and I know we're gonna                          have about 500 degrees up around the                          valley somewhere. You got the Wolfman                          Jack Show.               MINIATURE GOLF COURSE AND ARCADE               As the Silhouettes yip-yip-yip-yip into "Get a Job," we see                the mysterious white Thunderbirds cruise by and disappear.                The Pharoahs' Mercury turns into the parking lot of a a                miniature golf course. The doors open and the Pharoahs exit.                There's a pause, then Ants reaches into the car and pulls                Curt out also. The Pharoahs saunter into the miniature golf                compound.                                     CURT                         Hey, terrific, I love miniature golf.                                     JOE                         I hate it.                                     CURT                         Well, I don't play that often really.                          Ah--what're we doing here then?                                     JOE                         We're outta gas.                                     CURT                         They don't sell gas here.                                     JOE                         No... but we're outta money, too.                          Come on, Carl.                                     CURT                         Curt.               Joe gives Curt a gentle push and they go inside. The golf                course is empty, except for a couple of ugly girls putting                around in the far corner. Under a trellis, Curt and Joe enter                as the Pharoahs fool around with the candy machine, pinball                games, "Check Your Weight," and "Air Corps Gunner" games,                pretending to play with them.  Joe looks around, whistling                again.                                     JOE                         All right, men.               Quickly the Pharoahs go into action, jimmying locks, pounding                coin returns, pulling out plugs, prying open change boxes                and stuffing looses coins into their pockets.               Joe smiles at Curt, who looks sick again, involved now in a                robbery. Ants is sitting in a "Rocket to the Moon" ride,                pounding on it unsuccessfully when suddenly it starts. Ants                starts bouncing up and down looking dumber than usual. He                swears at Rocket to the Moon under his breath--suddenly a                screen door slams. The Pharoahs turn. A man in an undershirt                stands by the "Get Your Balls Here" booth, regarding them                warily.                                     MR. GORDON                         What're you punks doing?               The Pharoahs can't think of anything right away. Ants bounces                noisily in the "Rocket to the Moon." The Pharoahs are all                looking to Joe for guidance. Joe for his part is mumbling.                                     CURT                         Hey, hi. Mr. Gordon, what's up?               The man looks at Curt, surprised.                                     MR. GORDON                         Henderson--Curt Henderson? You with                          these punks?               The Pharoahs don't know what's happening yet. Curt walks                over to Mr. Gordon.                                     CURT                         These are my friends. We were just...               Mr. Gordon looks skeptical, then Curt smiles at him. Then                Mr. Gordon smiles.                                     MR. GORDON                         Jeez, you guys had me scared.               He laughs nervously. The Pharoahs laugh. Everybody's happy.                                     MR. GORDON                         Hey, you haven't left yet?                                     CURT                         Oh ah--no--no, I'm not--               Mr. Gordon looks puzzled.                                     CURT                         I mean, I'm not leaving until                          tomorrow.                                     MR. GORDON                         Tomorrow. Well, listen, Hank                          Anderson's inside. Come in and say                          goodbye. You know, Hank's the one                          that brought your name up on the                          floor of the Moose Hall. You got the                          check, didn't you?               He leads Curt toward the screen door. Curt looks around at                the Pharoahs, who are slowly starting to work again pilfering                the machines. Inside the small office, Curt shakes hands                with Hank Anderson, who pats him on the shoulder.                                     HANK                         We are all proud of you, Curt. The                          Moose Scholarship couldn't have gone                          to a better boy. And if there's                          anything we can do, let us know.                                     MR. GORDON                         Yeah, you'll stay in touch by letter,                          won't you?               There's a knock at the screen and they turn to see Joe at                the screen door.                                     JOE                         Hey, we're all done out here.                                     MR. GORDON                         All done? What--what's he mean?                                     CURT                         Ah, he means, we're all done having                          loads of fun out here.                                     MR. GORDON                         Oh, well...                                     HANK                         Wonderful. You can have all the fun                          you want. This place is for fun.                                     CURT                         Yes. Yes, it is. Thank you. Thank                          you both.                                     MR. GORDON                         Good luck now.                                     HANK                         Before I say goodbye, Curt, I want                          to tell you I hope you'll be taking                          along with you a little piece of                          this place.                                     CURT                         I think I have.                                     HANK                         Good. Don't forget us.                                     CURT                         No, I won't forget you and you won't                          forget me.                                     MR. GORDON                         Okay. 'Bye.                                     HANK                         Good-bye and good luck.                                     CURT                         'Bye.                                     JOE                         It was nice to meet yuh.                                     CURT                         Right. What he said goes for me,                          too.               Curt and Joe go out through the arcade toward the Mercury.                They start walking faster, anxious to get away. Joe grins at                Curt as they climb into the car.                                     JOE                         Yeah, you just might make it as a                          Pharoah yet, boy.               Back in the office, Hank and Mr. Gordon watch the car pull                out.                                     HANK                         Some day he'll make a fine Moose.               THE CANAL BANK               Steve's Chevy sits near the canal. The door is open and the                radio blares, while Terry and Debbie are off somewhere in                the weeds making out.               Suddenly, a beam from a flashlight plays across the trunk.                Feet approach the car as the light beam moves across the                interior and stops on the vacated shoes on the front seat.               The light beam continues past the empty bourbon bottle and                starts int he direction of the field where Terry and Debbie                are lost in the throes of passionate love. As we follow the                light into the field we hear footsteps.               As the darkened figure approaches the couple, we see the                light go out and catch a gleam of silver in the moonlight as                a switchblade springs open!               Terry reacts to the sound.                                     DEBBIE                         What's wrong?                                     TERRY                         I thought I heard something.               She kisses him and he forgets about the noise. The figure                retreats back to the Chevy, where another indistinct figure                waits.                                     VOICE (O.S.)                         They're porking in the weeds. No                          sweat.               Terry and Debbie are resting in the field, listening to the                radio in the distance. A car engine is heard starting up and                disappearing down the canal bank.               The countryside is very quiet. Only crickets and frogs are                heard as Terry begins to drop off asleep. He suddenly jumps                with a start.                                     TERRY                         Wait a minute!                                     DEBBIE                         What?                                     TERRY                         The radio is gone... That means--the                          car is gone!               He scrambles to the spot where the Chevy once stood.                                     TERRY                         Oh no!!! OH NO!!!               Debbie comes up and watches Terry look heavenward.                                     TERRY                         Oh God--I'm sorry. But, why the car?                          You could have struck us with                          lightning or something--anything---                         but not the car!               THE CANAL BANK--LAURIE'S '58 EDSEL               Cars are seen here and there in the moonlight along the                irrigation canal outside of town. In the cars radios are                playing "To the Aisle," laughter can be heard in some,                whispering in others.               Laurie's Edsel is parked by the slow-moving water. In the                front seat of the car, Steve and Laurie are making out. Laurie                leans back against Steve, his arms around her, and they look                out the window at the stars...                                     LAURIE                         You know, it doesn't make sense to                          leave home to look for a home, to                          give up a life to find a new life,                          to say goodbye to friends you love                          just to find new friends.                                     STEVE                         What? Say that again, I didn't--                                     LAURIE                         That's what Curt said.                                     STEVE                         Oh, figures.                              (smiling)                         You must've talked his ear off trying                          to get him to stay.                                     LAURIE                         That's not true. I didn't say                          anything. Curt just said at dinner                          tonight he realized there was no big                          hurry. He thought he should take it                          easy for a while, go to J.C. and try                          to figure out what he wants to do                          with his life.                                     STEVE                         That sounds logical.               Laurie's expression changes.                                     LAURIE                         You think so?                                     STEVE                         Sure. I think Curt's probably right                          for Curt. Not for me though. Laurie,                          look at me. Now you know what I want                          out of life. And it's just not in                          this town.                                     LAURIE                         I'm not going to the airport tomorrow.               She looks sullen and he smiles a little. He turns her around                and gently kisses here. They begin to make out, Laurie seeming                a little desperate. Steve pushes her slowly down on the seat.                He moves on top of here and his hand begins to wander.                                     LAURIE                         Steve! Don't.                                     STEVE                              (quietly)                         It's our last night together for                          three months... come on.                                     LAURIE                         We've been through this before.                                     STEVE                         I'm going to miss you so much. I                          need something to remember you by.                          You don't want me to forget you.               She closes her eyes, trying not to cry.                                     LAURIE                              (softly)                         No...               He starts to move on top of her, kissing her neck. She                struggles for a few moments, then goes limp, not responding.                He pulls away angrily.                                     STEVE                         What's wrong? You're just lying there.                                     LAURIE                         Well go ahead, you want to.                                     STEVE                         Not like that.                                     LAURIE                         If you're not going to remember me                          for anything else, why don't you go                          ahead?                                     STEVE                         You want it and you know it. Don't                          be so damn self-righteous with me.                          After those things you told me about                          watching your brother--                                     LAURIE                         You're disgusting! Get out of my                          car! I told you never--                                     STEVE                         I'm sorry.                                     LAURIE                         Get out! It's not worth it. I don't                          care if you're leaving--now get out!               She reaches past him and pulls the door handle. The door                swings open and she shoves Steve out. Then she starts the                engine and drives away, leaving Steve standing there in the                darkness. In the distance, he hears the laughter of other                couples and the drifting music from their radios.               THE CANAL ROAD               Terry and Debbie walk slowly along the dark canal. Terry                takes a large slug of his bourbon and coke.                                     DEBBIE                         Anyway, the Goat Killer--                                     TERRY                         Let's talk about something else.                                     DEBBIE                         --Whenever he strikes, he leaves a                          bloody goat's head near the victim.                          Isn't that creepy?               Terry thinks about it and indeed it is. He looks around into                the darkness and then takes Debbie's hand.                                     DEBBIE                         They thought he went up to Stockton,                          but two nights ago they found Carlie                          Johnson and Don White right here by                          the canal all hacked to pieces and--                                     TERRY                         Who do you think'll take the regionals                          this--                                     DEBBIE                         --not only were there bloody goats'                          heads, but he had switched all the                          parts of their bodies around. You                          know putting her arms on him and his                          legs on--               Terry is slowing and he stops her. He motions for her to                shut up and they listen. The wind whines across the flat                valley. Ahead there is only darkness, then footsteps!                                     TERRY                         Wait a second. Did you hear...?                                     DEBBIE                         You think it's the Goat Killer?                                     TERRY                              (whispering)                         No! I mean, no. Listen, I'll go for                          help, you stay here.               Terry has turned and is starting off when she grabs him by                his shirt-tail.                                     DEBBIE                         Come on, we'll hide in the field.               She takes Terry's hand and they go off behind some bushes,                away from the black water.               Debbie looks through the bushes, squinting.                                     DEBBIE                         Maybe if it's the Goat Killer he'll                          get somebody and we'll see the whole                          thing.               Terry stands with his eyes closed.                                     TERRY                         I don't want to see the whole thing.                          Especially if it's us he--oh, why                          me? I'm going to look lousy with                          your legs and a goat's head and--                                     DEBBIE                         Shhh--he's stopped. I can't see him                          very--I think he's coming this way.               She edges off to get a better view.                                     TERRY                         Well, as long as he's not--Debbie!                          Debbie!               She's gone. Terry starts off, taking one step, turns, takes                another, turns, takes another. Suddenly Terry hears something                behind him. He turns very slowly and looks...               A figure is standing right behind him, silhouetted by the                moon, its face obscured. Terry jumps about three feet and                yells.                                     STEVE (O.S.)                         Terry!                                     TERRY                         Who, me? Why me?               Terry stops yelling, seeing that it's Steve.                                     STEVE                         Terry.                                     TERRY                         Steve!               Debbie comes back through the bushes and Terry looks at her                nervously.                                     TERRY                         Where'd you go, anyway?                                     DEBBIE                         Over there.                                     TERRY                         Well, don't go off again. Come on,                          let's get out of here.               Terry and Debbie start to walk with Steve back toward town.                Terry keeps taking pulls from the bottle of bourbon.                                     STEVE                         What're you doing out here? Hey,                          where's my rod?                                     TERRY                              (choking)                         Um, oh, did I introduce you? This is                          Debbie. Debbie, this is Steve.                                     DEBBIE                         Hello.                                     STEVE                         Hi.                                     DEBBIE                         Hi.               They continue to walk along the dark canal bank.                                     STEVE                         Well, what about my car?                                     TERRY                         Um... I'ts in the garage. I put it                          in the garage for safe keeping. I                          mean... I don't want to take any                          chances with it.                                     STEVE                         Oh, great.                                     DEBBIE                         Yeah. Yeah. It's a good thing too.                          'Cause somebody stole our car.                                     STEVE                         Really? That's terrible. What kind                          was it?                                     TERRY                         Gee, ah, where's Laurie, anyway?                                     STEVE                         I guess we broke up.                                     TERRY                         You broke up? Bull!               Steve just shrugs. The three of them go off into the darkness.               CRUISING MAIN STREET-'32 YELLOW DEUCE COUPE               The coupe makes an eccentric swerve as it cruises along the                main drag. Inside, Carol is looking at the gear-shift knob                that she's taken off the shift arm as they listen to "Do You                Want to Dance?"                                     CAROL                         It doesn't look like a gear shift                          knob.                                     JOHN                         Come on, will ya? Give it back to                          me.                                     CAROL                         Well, go ahead, cream me. What's                          wrong, you're a tough guy. Break my                          arm, see if I care.                                     JOHN                         Forget it.               He ignores her, and finally his silence makes her take a                small round knob out of her pocket and put it back on the                shifter where it belongs.                                     CAROL                         I was just going to keep it for a                          little while. You're an ogre, just                          like my father. He won't let me play                          records, or stay out late, or                          anything.                                     JOHN                              (worried)                         He ah--doesn't like you to stay out                          late?                                     CAROL                         No--he's terrible. Once I was at a                          party that didn't end till late and                          he called the cops. Can you imagine?                          It was only a little after midnight                          and he had the whole police force--                                     JOHN                         Say, where do you live anyway?                                     CAROL                         Over on Ramona, why?                              (She suddenly smiles)                         Oh no. Uh uh. You thought I'd tell                          you where--not me, not old Carol.                          The night is young and I'm not hitting                          the rack until I get a little action.               John sighs, wondering if he'll ever get rid of her. He looks                back at something in the rear view mirror. He speeds up and                checks the mirror again.                                     CAROL                         What do you keep lookin' at?                              (she looks around                               behind them)                         Who's that? You know him? He's                          following awful close.                                     JOHN                         Grab onto something.               Carol looks scared and grabs onto the dash. John suddenly                hits the brakes. The deuce coupe noses down and Bob Falfa's                Chevy has to swerve abruptly to avoid a crash.               Falfa pulls the Chevy around and alongside the coupe. He has                another new girl with him.                                     FALFA                              (shouting over)                         Sorry if I scared ya, man.                                     JOHN                              (looking ahead)                         Takes more than that to scare me.                                     FALFA                         Where ya been hiding? Didn't anyone                          tell ya I been looking for ya?                                     JOHN                         Hey, I can't keep tracka all the                          punks lookin' for me.                                     FALFA                         They say you're the fastest thing in                          the Valley. But that can't be your                          car, man. That must be your mama's                          car. Hell, I feel embarrassed just                          getting near ya.                                     JOHN                         Ya should, man--you're driving a                          field car.                                     FALFA                         Field car? What's a Field Car?                                     JOHN                         Field Cars drive through the fields,                          dropping cow shit all over the place                          to make the lettuce grow.                                     FALFA                              (laughing)                         That's pretty good. Hey, I like that                          paint job you got. What they call                          that--sorta a cross between Piss                          Yellow and Puke Green, ain't it?                                     JOHN                         Yeah, well, you're car's so ugly you                          must have to sneak up on the pumps                          to get a tank of gas.                                     FALFA                         Well, at least I don't have to move                          over to let a funeral go by, man.               Through all the insults, Carol has been cracking up.                                     CAROL                              (shouting)                         Your car's uglier than I am.               John and Falfa both look at her and she sits back.                                     CAROL                         That didn't come out right...               They both stop at a light now. Falfa roars his engine.                                     FALFA                         Come on, boy, prove it. Let's go.                                     JOHN                         Look kid, why don't you go out and                          win a few races, then come back and                          see me.                                     CAROL                         Oh, race him, you can beat him.               John gives Carol a very fierce look and she sinks back into                her corner.                                     FALFA                         Hey, that's a tough lookin' girl you                          got with you, man. What're you doin'?                          Trying to pick up a few extra bucks                          babysitting?                              (grinning at Carol)                         Hey, Doll. Why don't you come on and                          ride with me--in about ten years?                                     JOHN                         Leave her out of this. This is just                          between you and me.               Falfa revs his engine again. John thinks a moment, then shifts                down into first.               The light changes, and John and Falfa take off, tires                screaming. The two cars perfectly in sync, rocket down the                block toward the next red light. John starts to slow for the                light. Falfa looks over, laughs, and runs the red light.                John stops.                                     CAROL                         Wow! He's really fast, isn't he?                                     JOHN                         Yeah. But he's stupid.               CRUISING 10TH STREET-PHAROAH'S '51 MERCURY               Curt is still out riding with the Pharoahs. He seems a little                easier with them now, after their successful heist at the                miniature golf course. The radio is playing "Party Doll."                                     CURT                         Hey--any of you guys know a blonde                          in a white T-Bird?                                     JOE                         Yeah, I seen her, what about it?                                     CURT                         I was just wondering who she is.                                     JOE                         She's outta your price range, man.                          My brother's been with her and he                          clued me in.                                     CURT                         Price range? You mean she's a--                                     JOE                         Yeah, Thirty Dollar Sheri. Can you                          believe that? Thirty dollars.                                     CURT                         We must be thinking of different                          blondes.                                     CARLOS                         Hey man, don't tell Joe what he                          thinks.                                     ANTS                         Thirty dollars ain't much. I saw ten                          thousand once. My old man had it in                          a suitcase. They caught him the next                          morning though.                                     CARLOS                         Fuzz ahead, watch it.                                     JOE                         Where?                                     CARLOS                         Fuzz ahead, watch it.                                     JOE                         Where?                                     CARLOS                         At Jerrie's Cherries. You can just                          barely see the fender.                                     ANTS                         That's rotten, man. Hiding like that.                                     CARLOS                         That's shitty.                                     JOE                         It's dishonest.               Ants gives him the evil eye. Joe watches the cop car in the                used car lot as they pass it.                                     JOE                         We oughta do something. I got an                          idea. I got a good idea.               MAIN STREET               Steve, Terry and Debbie have made it back into town from the                canal. They walk past the closed stores and stop on a busy                corner.                                     STEVE                         I think I'm gonna go over to Burger                          City.                                     TERRY                         Yeah. Yeah. Laurie's probably over                          there.                                     STEVE                         You really think she's got me worried                          about where she is, don't you?                                     TERRY                         Well...                                     STEVE                         Let me tell you something. I couldn't                          care less. Want to come along?                                     DEBBIE                         Yeah, I do. I do.                                     TERRY                         No.                                     STEVE                         Make up your minds.                                     TERRY                         No, thanks. U'mm. You know we got to                          report the car missing.                                     STEVE                         All right. See yuh.                                     TERRY                         Yeah. See yuh.               Steve goes off and Debbie looks at Terry.                                     DEBBIE                         Why can't we go to Burger City?                                     TERRY                         Burger City? Burger City!!? How can                          you think of hamburgers when somebody                          stole my car.               She looks hurt and starts off.               ALLEY BEHIND JERRY'S CHERRIES USED-CAR LOT               Curt is getting out of the low-slung Merc and Joe saunters                around from the driver's side. He smiles, friendly like--                                     JOE                         Listen, ah--Carl, I--                                     CURT                         Curt.                                     JOE                         Curt.               He nods at Curt, looking cautiously around the dark lot.                                     JOE                         Despite you scratching Gil's car, I                          like you. And I know what you'd like                          more than anything right now. Like                          every guy in town, you got the same                          secret dream, right?               Curt nods.                                     JOE                         Ya want to join the Pharoahs. Huh?                          You can admit it--you'd like to--but                          you never dreamed it could be                          possible, did you?               Curt shakes his head slowly.                                     JOE                         Well, tonight, I'm goin' to give you                          your chance.               Curt hasn't the slightest idea what Joe is talking about.                Joe puts his arm around Curt's shoulders and leads him away,                explaining what he has to do, while Ants and Carlos grin.               In the middle of the used car lot, a patrol car hides among                the autos for sale. Inside the car, Holstein sits with another                officer who's dozing. Across Holstein's dark glasses,                reflections of the kids' cars cruising by can be seen, as                Holstein waits to nab somebody.               Joe approaches the patrol car through the lot. He ducks,                carrying a length of metal cable in his hand. Curt wanders                behind him. Joe sees him and motions for him to get down.                                     JOE                         Get down!               Curt ducks down near Joe.                                     JOE                         Okay. Now you got it? I'm stayin'                          here. You're on your own.                                     CURT                         Wait a minute, wait a minute, Joe.                          What if he hears me?                                     JOE                         Shhh. Listen. Look at it this way:                          Now you got three choices. One, you                          chicken out. In that case, I let                          Ants tie you to the car and drag you                          around a little bit. And you don't                          want that, right?                                     CURT                         No.                                     JOE                         Two, you foul up and Holstein hears                          you and well, ah... you don't want                          that, right?                                     CURT                         No, I don't.                                     JOE                         Three, you are successful and you                          join the Pharoahs with a carcoat,                          and the blood initiation and all                          that, huh?                                     CURT                              (seeing Joe walk away)                         Wait--wait a minute. Wait a minute!                          What blood initiation?                                     WOLFMAN (V.O.)                         Oh, here we go baby! Here's "Come Go                          With Me."               The policeman waits for a victim. In the background, we see                Curt dodging from behind one car to another. Taking cover,                Curt makes another break toward a car--and trips and falls.               In the cop car, Holstein thinks he hears something. He opens                the door and gets out. Adjusting his billy club, he paces                around the used car lot officiously, while Curt hides behind                a Falcon and peeks out from behind a fender. He sees Holstein                walking back toward the squad car. The cop opens the door                again and climbs in. The echoing sound of the calls coming                over the police radio blend with the Wolfman's howling as                cars pass with their radios blaring.               Curt is inching forward with the cable, toward the squad                car. In the background, a slow freight train can be heard                starting to move across the valley. Curt ties the cable to a                post and then, looking scared, crawls under the police car                with the cable.               Underneath the car, Curt inches on his back and then reaches                up and attaches the cable to the rear axle of the car.               MAIN STREET               Terry and Debbie are walking across the street, Terry looks                miserable and disconsolate about the loss of the Chevy he                possessed for three short hours. Debbie tries to be more                positive about the situation.                                     DEBBIE                         Hey, why don't we go get your jeep?                                     TERRY                         What? What are you talking about?                                     DEBBIE                         You know, your jeep. The one you                          sold the hunting ponies for. The one                          with the four-wheel drive.               Terry just stares at her morosely. He stops by a parking                meter and sinks down on top of it.                                     DEBBIE                         Come on, Terry--Terry?               ALLEY BEHIND JERRY'S CHERRIES USED CAR LOT               Curt and Joe are on the run toward the Merc. Ants and Carlos                jump in as they start their getaway.                                     JOE                         Hey, you sure you got enough slack?                                     CURT                         Yeah, yeah. No sweat. Let's get out                          of here.               MAIN STREET               Joe shifts into high gear and is flying down the main drag.                Terry and Debbie look startled as they see the Pharoah's                Mercury roaring by--and Curt leaning out the door, shouting                insanely.                                     CURT                         Stand by for Justice!               Terry and Debbie watch the Merc speed suicidally past Jerry's                Cherries Used-Car Lot.               Holstein spots them and the driver starts up the engine of                the squad car. THe red lights start flashing and the siren                wails. The patrol car shifts into gear and leaps forward.                Suddenly, there's a horrendous metallic screech, the patrol                car hurtles up and out, airborne for a moment--then noses                down and bounces along the pavement, sending out sparks as                it slides to a stop.               The driver is stunned and frozen to the wheel. Holstein                manages to remove his dark glasses and looks back. There,                sitting quietly in the middle of the parking lot, is their                trans-axle and two rear wheels. The patrol car sits on the                ground at a twenty degree angle, while its engine whines                impotently at top speed.               On the radio, the all-seeing Wolfman gives an evil laugh--                                     WOLFMAN (V.O.)                         Oh, I can't believe it. Feels so                          good 'cause you're sweet sixteen.               And Johnny Burnette takes his cue and croons into "You're                Sixteen."               A DARK ROAD OUTSIDE TOWN--DEUCE COUPE               John has glided off the main drag and into a residential                area. Everything is dark and quiet as the adult population                sleeps through the night. John pulls the coupe to the curb                and turns off the engine. He turns out the lights.               Inside the car, there's silence. Only the clock ticking.                Carol looks over at John a little nervously.                                     CAROL                         Why are we stopping here?               John looks at her and his arm slides along the back of the                seat above her. She notices his arm and the fact that he's                moving slowly toward her.                                     JOHN                              (in a husky voice)                         Carol...                                     CAROL                         What?                                     JOHN                         I--I don't think that I can control                          myself any longer.                                     CAROL                         You can't?                                     JOHN                         No... Carol, I've got to have you.                                     CAROL                         Me?               He touches her hair and she slouches back into her corner                fearfully.                                     JOHN                         All night you've been sitting there                          and you've been so sexy and it's                          been so hot--and I can't wait any                          more...                                     CAROL                         Well--well, a lot of that's an act,                          you know. Like... like my crying. It                          was just an act.                                     JOHN                         Well, it's been building up inside                          of me like a volcano, all night.                          Maybe if I knew where you lived I                          could fight it--I could take you                          home--but since you won't tell me,                          and since here we are--I've got to                          have you. It's too late--                                     CAROL                         It's not too late! It's never too                          late! 231 Ramona--two three one--                                     JOHN                              (smiling)                         Two three one--                                     CAROL                         I'll show you! It's easy to find.               John starts the car engine. Carol looks very relieved. The                yellow deuce coupe roars off down the dark street.               MEL'S DRIVE-IN               Steve sits in the almost empty cafe section of Burger City.                He stirs a coffee and mulls over the night's events in his                mind. A door opens and Budda Macrae comes in. She watches                him a moment, then takes off her little Bell Boy Cap and                gets a cup of coffee for herself.               Steve looks up as she comes over on her roller skates.                                     BUDDA                         Hi. You mind if I sit down?                                     STEVE                         Hi Budda. No, have a seat.                                     BUDDA                         I got five minutes outa the rat race,                          and I saw you all alone. For a change.               She drinks her coffee and he looks out the window thinking                about something else.                                     BUDDA                         Where's Laurie?                                     STEVE                         I don't know.                                     BUDDA                         I thought the two of you'd be going                          strong, this being your last night                          and everything--                                     STEVE                         We broke up.               Budda looks surprised.                                     STEVE                         No big deal.                                     BUDDA                         Wow... what happened?                                     STEVE                         Nothing. We were out at the canal                          and... we had a fight.               Budda smiles and he looks at her strangely.                                     STEVE                         What's so funny?                                     BUDDA                         Nothing. Just thinking. A girl like                          Laurie--I mean, she goes to school                          and is cute and popular and all, but                          we're not so different. We know what                          we want. I've seen her after you for                          two years now.                                     STEVE                         She's not like that.                                     BUDDA                         Maybe not. She does have a different                          approach. Hers is "Never surrender,"                          me I lay down my arms at the drop of                          a hat--                                     VOICE (O.S.)                         Budda, you got an hour left, let's                          get on it.                                     BUDDA                              (yelling back)                         All right, relax... old fart. Listen,                          I'm off in an hour. If you wanta                          come over, my girlfriend's away for                          the weekend.                                     STEVE                         I don't know...               Laurie walks up the drive-in and is about to enter when she                stops and watches Steve and Budda. She thinks about going                in, then hesitates, watching them.                                     BUDDA                         Why don't you? I never got a chance                          to talk to you. You're leaving                          tomorrow. Listen, I gave up a long                          time ago, so it'd be just for fun.                          No problems.               She smiles at him and he smiles back a little. At the door,                Laurie turns and leaves before Steven sees her.                                     BUDDA                         I'll see ya later then.               She gets up and goes back to the counter on her skates. Steve                thinks a moment and gets up also.                                     STEVE                         Budda, Budda wait.               She turns and he comes over to her as she puts back on her                little cap.                                     STEVE                         I gotta get up early and--I just                          don't think it'd work out.                                     BUDDA                         She's got you so brainwashed--well,                          hell. Some day I'm gonna win. Don't                          ya think?                                     STEVE                         Sure.               She smiles briefly, then turns and leaves. Steve watches her                go.               MEL'S DRIVE-IN               The drive-in remains a raucous roar: Cars coming in from the                hop, from the movies, other cars going out to the canal or                back out to cruise. Only the car hops, who have developed a                late-hour, harried look, suggest it's nearly closing time.               The Pharoahs arrive. The Mercury swings imperiously into the                lot. The radio can be heard as the rumbling engine dies. The                Clovers are singing "Love Potion #9."               Curt jumps out of the Mercury elated. The Pharoahs all climb                out and circle him, punching him playfully. Joe holds him                while Carlos tickles him and they all laugh.                                     JOE                         Oh mother, it's been a glorious night.                                     CARLOS                         That was the bitchinest thing I ever                          seen in my whole life.                                     ANTS                         I seen a little kid attacked by pigs                          once, but this was even better.                                     JOE                         Oh boy, I'll tell you something,                          that car must've jumped five feet in                          the air!               Curt nods, feeling pretty good.                                     JOE                         You sure you got to go? The night's                          young.                                     CURT                         Yeah, there's some things I got to                          do. I still want to find that blonde.                                     JOE                         I think she was an optical delusion,                          man. Psychology-wise it ain't good                          to dwell on it. You'll alter your                          ego or something. Anyway, catch ya                          tomorrow night?                                     CURT                         Yeah, I guess so.                                     JOE                         Guess so? Man, we don't admit a lot                          of guys to the Pharoahs. You                          understand we're going to have to                          swipe your jacket and all--you gotta                          make up your mind.               Curt nods, thinking about it. Then he shrugs. He looks at                the three Pharoahs as they climb back into their maroon                chariot.                                     CURT                         Hey--I'll see you guys.                                     JOE                         Sure--listen, remember, Rome wasn't                          buried in a night.               Joe laughs and Curt nods. He watches the Mercury pull out                and then he wanders back across the drive-in toward his little                Citroen.                                     WOLFMAN (V.O.)                         My, my, my. You only got five minutes                          left, if you want to talk to the                          Wolfman. Gonna make all your dreams                          come true, baby.               Curt gets into the little car and sits listening to the radio.                The neon               MEL'S DRIVE-IN is reflected across the windshield.                                     VOICE (V.O.)                         Wolfman...                                     WOLFMAN                         Yeah.                                     VOICE                         Would you dedicate a record to keep                          me and my girlfriend together?                                     WOLFMAN                         Are you separated?                                     VOICE                         Well, see, we're havin' a little                          problem.                                     WOLFMAN                         I'll bring you right together. Hold                          on a minute, man. Hi ya, hi ya, hi,                          hi, hi. Everything's gonna be all                          right now, man, you understand? Now,                          let me play the record for you.               As the Wolfman talks on, Curt glances toward the street. He                sees the white Thunderbird gliding by. He sits up quickly                and tries to start the Citroen--but the machine barely turns                over. He keeps trying desperately, but the engine won't catch.               CRUISING G STREET--'58 EDSEL               Laurie drives slowly, alone in the Edsel. On the radio, the                Skyliners are lamenting the sad state of things--"Since I                Don't Have You." Laurie wipes her eyes, crying with the music.                A horn honks. She looks over to see Bob Falfa's car pacing                her. He's alone now and grinning at her. Laurie ignores him.                They drive along further. Falfa roars his engine, but she                still doesn't give him any attention. He gives up and pulls                off.               Laurie thinks a while, pouting. She pulls alongside Falfa at                the next light. He isn't looking at her. She toots her horn                and he turns. Laurie motions him to pull over.               Falfa looks surprised. The light changes, and he follows her                to the curb. Laurie takes a deep breath, and with a determined                look, gets out and walks back to his car. She gets in and                closes the door. They start off. He looks over and smiles.                                     FALFA                         Hey Hey Hey, baby, what do you say?                                     LAURIE                         Just don't say anything and we'll                          get along fine.               Falfa is puzzled by the frigidity in the air. He glances at                her then back at the road, wondering about this strange chick.               RESIDENTIAL STREET--DEUCE COUPE               The coupe slows in front of a modest California ranch-style                home. John stops the car and turns off the engine. He looks                over at Carol, who seems lost in thought.                                     JOHN                         This the first time you've been quiet                          all night.                                     CAROL                         I had fun. Goodbye.               She sits for a moment, about to say something.                                     CAROL                         Do you like me?                                     JOHN                         Yeah. I like you. You're all right.                                     CAROL                         But I mean, do you like me?                                     JOHN                         I, ah... I like you. Okay?                                     CAROL                         Couldn't I have something to remember                          you by?               John gives in to her sweet gaze. He takes off the gearshift                knob, gives it to her, and leans over and gives her a kiss.                                     JOHN                         'Bye, kid.                                     CAROL                         Gee, thanks. It's just like a ring                          or something.                                     JOHN                         Yeah.                                     CAROL                         It's like we were going steady.                          Wait'll I tell Marcia.                                     JOHN                         Wait a minute, now.                                     CAROL                         Wait'll I tell everybody.                                     JOHN                         Don't go overboard with this thing.                                     CAROL                         Well, I'll see you around.               She jumps out of the car and runs up the walk to the house.                He watches her stop at the screen door and turn. She gives                him a little wave, then goes inside.               John looks over at the empty seat next to him and seems a                little sad. He starts the engine and drives off slowly.                                     WOLFMAN (V.O.)                         I haven't cried so much. And the                          tears and everything, man... I leaned                          down towards the microphone and I                          almost shorted myself out.               OUTSIDE MEL'S DRIVE-IN               Curt has the font hood up on the beetle-like Citroen and is                fooling with the recalcitrant engine. Steve is standing beside                him.                                     CURT                         Hold that up.                                     STEVE                              (taking the hood from                               him)                         I've been thinking--maybe you're                          right. Why should I leave home to                          find a new home. Why should I leave                          friends that I love to find new                          friends?                                     CURT                         Wait a minute, wait a minute. I've                          heard this already. Aren't you the                          one who for eight weeks has been                          telling me you have to leave the                          nest sometime?                                     STEVE                         I realize that. I realize--                                     CURT                         No--no realizing. You've been telling                          me all summer that it's time to pull                          your head out of the sand and take a                          look at the big, beautiful world out                          there. Gimme this thing.                                     STEVE                              (letting him close                               the hood)                         I don't know--I--                                     CURT                              (banging the Citroen                               hood shut)                         I feel like a mid-wife.                                     STEVE                         I guess I was wrong. I may have been                          wrong.                                     CURT                         Wrong nothing. You've been talking                          about getting out of this town for                          eight weeks. And now--goddamnit!--                         you're just--you're just mentally                          playing with yourself. If you can                          just relax, we'll talk about it at                          the airport.               Curt walks around the side of the car and opens the door.                                     STEVE                         Where are you going? It's awfully                          early in the morning.                                     CURT                         I have a dental appointment.                                     STEVE                         Come on, Curt...                                     CURT                         Just relax, wil ya? I'll see you at                          the airport.               Curt gets into the car and starts the engine. Steve watches                him pull out of the drive-in, then walks off.               ALLEY BEHIND THE "COME ON INN" BAR               A half dozen people are standing around in the parking lot                behind the bar. Debbie is sitting on the hood of a car,                swinging her legs and chewing gum. The people all seem to be                watching something on the ground behind the car. Coughing is                heard, then gagging, and the unmistakable sounds of someone                being sick.               At the back door of the bar even the cooks are looking and                pointing. We hear more coughing and vomiting. A guy slides                up on the hood next to Debbie.                                     GUY                         I never seen a guy lose so much. He                          mustn't have been used to drinking.                                     DEBBIE                         Oh no, he really likes to drink. He                          told me.               An old man looks at his watch and then up at the stars.                                     OLD MAN                         Gettin' late... I knew a man once                          who got this sick. Billy Webber.                          That was ten years ago. What do you                          think that was there, that he had                          for dinner?               More groaning and gaggin is heard. An old woman moves close                to the old man and he puts an arm around her sentimentally.                                     OLD WOMAN                         Staying on his hands and knees like                          that...                              (she grins)                         He looks like a dog, doesn't he?                          Looks like old Ginger.                                     OLD MAN                         Sicker than a dog, that's for sure.               The people drift off, leaving Debbie sitting alone on the                car. Now, Terry slowly emerges, pulling himself up the hood                of the car. His face is white. He lies across the hood trying                to catch his breath.                                     TERRY                         Ohh rats, I feel like--                              (he notices a car                               nearby and pushes                               himself up)                         Wait a second... hey!               He staggers across the lot toward Steve's Chevy! Debbie slides                off the car and follows him.                                     TERRY                         It's--oh my god--it looks like Steve's                          car. Look, right here under our--                         it's my car. My car. We found it.                          Look!               Terry staggers around and looks for the keys. He searches                under the front seat and over the visor.               Must've taken the keys with them.                                     DEBBIE                         Maybe we oughta call the police.                                     TERRY                         Never get here in time. I got a better                          idea. We'll just steal it back. See                          if you can find some wire around. We                          only need a foot to hot-wire it...                          okay?               GAS STATION--DEUCE COUPE               John pulls the coupe out of the garage and wheels up to the                pumps of the gas station. An attendant nods, looking at the                roaring engine.                                     ATTENDANT                         Took the header plugs off. Expectin'                          some action?               John looks at him from inside the coupe and nods slowly.                                     JOHN                         Yeah. Think so. There's some punk                          lookin' for me.                                     ATTENDANT                         Why the hell do they bother? You've                          been number one as long as I can                          remember.                                     JOHN                         Yeah... it's been a long time, ain't                          it? I'll see ya. Thanks.               John drives the car out of the station and screeches down                the street.               ALLEY BEHIND THE "COME ON INN" BAR--STEVE'S '58 CHEVY               Terry is fiddling around under the dashboard, trying to hot-               wire the Chevy. As the wires connect, the radio comes to                life and the Wolfman growls.                                     WOLFMAN (V.O.)                         Who is this on the Wolfman telephone?               There's the sound of a phone ringing, then the unmistakable                voice of the Big Bopper answering.                                     BIG BOPPER (V.O.)                         Hellooo, baaaby--               Just then, Terry looks up and sees one large badass looking                at him. Terry gets up slowly and sees another big guy standing                nearby. The first badass reaches in and grabs Terry by the                shirt. He pulls him from the car. Terry is smiling weakly.                                     TERRY                         Ah, hi--this is my car. What I mean                          is, somebody stole my car--I mean I                          lost my car and I want to thank you                          two guys for--               The first badass shoves Terry toward the other badass.                                     TERRY                         --for returning--I mean finding it.                          I mean, listen now, listen guys--                         I've been sick recently, and this                          kind of activity can really be hard                          on a guy. Now, easy will you? Easy!               They throw him back and forth and start to rough him up                seriously. Debbie is running around helplessly while they                pummel Terry. Then, she sees the yellow deuce coupe passing.               John glances out his window and notices the fight behind the                Come On Inn. He punches it and wheels into a fast U-turn.               The hoods have quit playing with Terry and are punching him.                Terry's still on his feet, mostly because he's drunk and                staggering away from a lot of the blows; also, Debbie is                screaming and pelting the assailants with her purse.                                     DEBBIE                         Stop it, stop it, stop it! Help!                          Police! You creeps!               John jumps out of the coupe and runs into the parking lot.                He grabs one of the punks and turns him--smashing him in the                face. The punk lands on his ass. John starts circling the                other.                                     TERRY                         Go, John!                                     DEBBIE                         Hit him!               A good fighter, John lands a couple of blows to the gut and                lands him on his can. Both of them crawl off. Terry is lying                nearby, drunk, sick and bloodied. Debbie holds his head in                her lap. John goes over and kneels by them.                                     JOHN                         Hey, man, you all right?                                     TERRY                         Yeah. I'll die soon and it'll all be                          over.                                     DEBBIE                              (looking at John)                         Wow--you're just like the Lone Ranger.                                     JOHN                              (eyeing Debbie)                         Yeah. Listen, are you with the Toad,                          or were you with them?               Terry manages to raise his head.                                     TERRY                         You're talking to the woman I love...               His head falls back again.                                     JOHN                         What happened, man?               Terry opens his mouth to start to explain, but it's too hard.                He can only moan.               MEL'S DRIVE-IN               The drive-in is emptying out finally as the midnight hour                approaches and passes. The die-hards and the hard-ups are                still wheeling through Mel's looking for remains of any                action.               Steve sits inside in a booth. Two gossipy looking girls come                in smiling and slide into the booth across from him.                                     STEVE                         Hi, Karen, Judy.                                     JUDY                         Hi, Steve. Have you seen Laurie                          lately?               Steve shakes his head no.                                     JUDY                         Well, we have.                                     STEVE                              (already annoyed)                         Oh yeah. So what?                                     JUDY                         So nothing. She was just with a really                          cute guy in a boss car. We wondered                          who he was.                                     STEVE                         I wouldn't know.                                     JUDY                         We do. His name's Bob Falfa.               The name registers with Steve.               Terry and Debbie pull into the drive-in and park. Terry, his                face swelling, groans as he leans toward the intercom.                                     TERRY                         Help... I mean, I want two cherry                          cokes with lots of ice. Never mind,                          forget the cokes, just bring the                          ice, pronto.               The intercom repeats his order in a foreign language and                suddenly Steve arrives and opens the door.                                     STEVE                         Out! OUT!                                     TERRY                         What??                                     STEVE                         I need the car--now.               Terry gets out and Debbie gets out her side. Steve gets in.                                     TERRY                         What's going on?                                     STEVE                         I'm about to find out.               Steve roars out of the drive-in, leaving Terry and Debbie                standing in an empty space.                                     DEBBIE                         I don't believe it! You practically                          get killed trying to get your car                          back, then you let him have it.               Terry looks at her, his eye swollen, his lip ballooning, his                glasses broken. Finally, he gives up--it's not worth the                trouble any longer.                                     TERRY                         It's not my car.                                     DEBBIE                         What?                                     TERRY                         What?                                     TERRY                         IT IS NOT MY CAR!                                     DEBBIE                         Well, where is your car?               Terry is upset now.                                     TERRY                         I DON'T HAVE A CAR!                                     DEBBIE                         You don't--no car at all. What about                          your jeep?               Terry shakes his head.                                     DEBBIE                         No car... well, how am I going to                          get home?               Just then the car hop approaches with the two cokes on two                trays.                                     CAR HOP                         Where's your car? I gotta hook 'em                          to your car.               Terry shrugs, standing in the empty stall, the carhop with                the trays and Debbie watching. There's a low rumbling sound                and the girls turn as John's deuce coupe glides into the                stall next to them. Terry shuffles toward John's car, a                defeated man.               Terry leans against John's car and John looks out the window                at him.                                     JOHN                         What's wrong, Toad? You lose the car                          again?                                     TERRY                              (softly)                         No... Steve took it.                                     WOLFMAN (V.O.)                         It's a shame, Baby. I'll tell yuh...                          Got to take it easy when you're                          drivin' that car of yours. You got                          to cruise easy, baby. Don't be doin'                          any accidents or anything on me.               And the radio plays "Cryin' in the Chapel."               John smiles and gets out of the car. He goes and opens his                hood, making a last-minute check on something. Terry sits                down gently on a curb by John. Debbie has been talking with                some other boys. Eventually she wanders up slowly and looks                at Terry. He looks up at her, then away, disgraced and                embarrassed. She sits down by him and they're silent.                                     DEBBIE                         You know, I had a pretty good time                          tonight.                                     TERRY                         Oh come on, you're just--                                     DEBBIE                         No, no, really. I really had a good                          time. I mean, you picked me up and                          we got some hard stuff and saw a                          hold-up, and then we went to the                          Canal, you got your car stolen, and                          then I got to watch you gettin' sick,                          and then you got in this really                          bitchin' fight... I really had a                          good time.               Terry looks at her, starting to regain a little cool.                                     TERRY                         You think so? Yeah--well I guess I                          have pretty much fun every night.                                     DEBBIE                         Anyway if you're not doing anything                          tomorrow night, why don't you come                          over?                                     TERRY                         Yeah--well, I might be busy, you                          know. But we could--well, I got a                          little Vespa I just play around with.                                     DEBBIE                         Really? Why that's almost a                          motorcycle. And I just love                          motorcycles.               He feels his swollen lip and she touches it. Then she leans                over and kisses him.                                     DEBBIE                         I got to go.                                     TERRY                         Ow.                                     DEBBIE                         Goodnight.                                     TERRY                         See ya.               She smiles, walks off, swinging her purse. She looks over                her shoulder and smiles. He smiles back.               OUTSIDE RADIO STATION--CITROEN               The little Citroen bumps along a lonely dirt road, winding                its way through dark peach orchards and wizened grape                vineyards. Curt watches the deserted landscape when suddenly,                the radio increases in volume and he turns it down. Then it                begins to roar and distort eerily as the signal becomes more                powerful. Then Curt sees it.               He stops the car and gets out. He stands looking at an                isolated white frame house hitting in the moonlight. Curt                looks up at a spidery radio antenna that rises toward the                stars, its black wires humming in the stillness.               Curt starts up the gravel walk to the door. Under the glare                of a naked spotlight, he sees a small intercom which plays                soft Rock and Roll. He hesitates, then pushes a buzzer. He                pushes it again and finally a voice comes over the intercom.                                     VOICE (V.O.)                         Yeah, who is it?                                     CURT                         It's--I want to talk to the Wolfman.                                     VOICE                         The Wolfman ain't here.                                     CURT                         I know, but I got to get in touch                          with him. I got something to give                          him before--                                     VOICE                         We don't take no deliveries after                          eight. Come back tomorrow.                                     CURT                         No, I can't. I want to ask him                          something that--                                     VOICE                         Dedications by phone is Diamond 75044.                          Wolfman Top 40 is Box 13, Chula Vista.                          Wolfman Sweatshirts is Wolf                          Enterprises, Bakersfield. 'Bye.                                     CURT                         Listen, I got a right to talk to                          him. I listened to him every night                          for as long--for twelve years almost.                          I know him and it's personal and                          it'll only take a minute and I bet                          Wolfman would be upset if he knew a                          friend couldn't get in touch with--               A buzzer interrupts him and the door opens an inch. Curt                pushes it open slowly--no one is there. A little scared, he                goes inside and closes the door.               INSIDE RADIO STATION               Curt walks slowly down a dark eerie corridor, passing                strangely lit rooms with electronic generators, humming                dynamos and glassed-off booths filled with flashing electronic                apparatus.               Curt goes through this other-worldly maze until he comes to                a small, dimly lit control booth. A figure inside is barely                visible through the reflections in the double glass windows.                The figure turns and walks up to the window. Curt backs off                a bit. A face stares at him--long hair greased in a ducktail,                a short chinbeard. Then he speaks, his voice filtering                strangely through a hidden speaker.                                     MANAGER                         What do you want?               Through the window, Curt can be seen but no sound is heard.                                     MANAGER                         Pull the red switch.                                     CURT                         I'm looking for a girl.                                     MANAGER                         Aren't we all. She ain't here. Come                          on back to the booth.               Curt walks around through a few more glass doors and ends up                in the booth with the manager.               The manager sits down and leans back, turning a fan to blow                on his large chest. He's a large, friendly looking man; he                wears a Hawaiian shirt. He sucks on a popsicle. Curt stands                awkwardly.                                     MANAGER                         Hey, have a popsicle. The ice box                          just broke down and they're meltin'                          all over the place. You want one?                                     CURT                         No. Thanks. Listen, ah...                                     MANAGER                         Have a popsicle.                                     CURT                         Are you the Wolfman?                                     MANAGER                         No, man. I'm not the Wolfman.               The manager leans forward and picks up a spool of tape. He                holds it up as a magician would for audience inspection,                then puts it on a machine. A record is about to end. As it                does the manager punches some buttons and the record segues                into a Wolfman howl and then the distinctive Wolfman voice                takes over. The manager adjusts the monitor volume down and                sucks his popsicle.                                     WOLFMAN (V.O.)                         Who is this on the Wolfman's                          telephone?                                     DIANE (V.O.)                         Diane.                                     WOLFMAN                         How're you doin', Diane?                                     DIANE                         All right.               The station manager smiles at Curt, who is watching the tape                and blinking lights of the large console.                                     MANAGER                         That's the Wolfman.                                     CURT                         He's on tape. The man is on tape.                                     WOLFMAN (V.O.)                         Do you love me? Say you love me,                          Diane.                                     CURT                         Well, ah--where does he work? I mean,                          where is the Wolfman now?                                     MANAGER                         The Wolfman is everywhere.                                     CURT                         But I got to give him this note.                                     MANAGER                              (taking it from Curt)                         Here, let me see the note.                              (he reads it)                         Hell, that's just a dedication. All                          I gotta do is relay it. And it'll be                          on the air tomorrow, or Tuesday at                          the latest.                                     CURT                         No, no. See, this is very important.                          I may be leaving town tomorrow, and                          it's very important that I--damn it,                          that I reach this girl right now.                                     MANAGER                         You don't know whether you're gonna                          leave town or not?                                     CURT                         Well, I'm supposed to go to college                          back East tomorrow. And I don't know                          if I'm gonna go.                                     MANAGER                         Wait a minute. Have a popsicle.                                     CURT                         No, thank you.                                     MANAGER                         Sit down a minute.               Curt sits down, undecided about leaving and upset about not                being able to get in touch with the lovely creature he saw                earlier that night.                                     MANAGER                         Listen, it's early in the morning.                          Now, I can't really talk for the                          Wolfman. But I think if he was here                          he'd tell you to get your ass in                          gear. Now, no offense to your home                          town here, but this place ain't                          exactly the hub of the universe, if                          you know what I mean. And well--I'll                          tell you this much--the Wolfman does                          come in here now and then, with tapes,                          to check up on me, you know, and                          when I hear the stories he got about                          the places he goes. Hell, here I sit                          while there's a big beautiful world                          out there, don't ya know. Wolfman                          comes in last time talking about                          some exotic jungle country, handing                          me cigars he says was rolled on the                          naked thighs of brown beauties. The                          Wolfman been everywhere and he seen                          everything. He got so many stories,                          so many memories. And here I sit                          sucking on popsicles.               Curt looks at him a moment.                                     CURT                         Why don't you leave?                                     MANAGER                         Well, I'm no kid anymore. I been                          here a long time. And the Wolfman--                         well, the Wolfman gave me my start                          and he's sorta become my life. I                          can't leave him now. Gotta be loyal                          to the Wolfman, you understand.               Curt nods and stands. The manager swivels around and punches                some buttons, putting on a commercial.               He turns back.                                     MANAGER                         I tell you what. If I can possibly                          do it tonight, I'll try to relay                          this dedication and get it on the                          air for you later on.                                     CURT                         That'd be great. Thanks. Really.               He shakes the manager's hand, then wipes it on his pants.                                     MANAGER                         Sorry, sticky little mothers ain't                          they? Bye.                                     CURT                         'Bye.               Curt goes out the door. He starts back out through the maze                of windows and electronic machines. Echoing throughout the                rooms, the Wolfman's raucous voice follows Curt. The Wolfman                howls and Curt turns.               Through the maze of glass, shifting like prisms, he sees the                station manager sitting by the mike--howling! Then, he laughs                and howls again, starting to sing a song called "Bluebirds                on My Dingaling," pounding out the rhythm on the console.                                     CURT                         Wolfman...               He backs away, leaving the Wolfman, who's on his feet now,                screaming out the end of the song, dancing by himself in the                little glass room, from which his voice radiates out through                the night and around the world...               MEL'S DRIVE-IN               John is working under the hood of the deuce coupe when Falfa's                Chevy drives into the parking lot. The radio is now blasting                "Heart and Soul." Terry moves over toward John's car. John                doesn't look up, although he is quite aware of Falfa's                entrance.               Falfa slows down in front of John's car and revs his engine                again. John looks up--Laurie is in the car with Falfa. She                looks determined not to seem as scared as she really is.                                     TERRY                         Hey, John, let me go with you. Come                          on.                                     JOHN                         Naw, man. I can't take you when I'm                          racin' somebody.                                     TERRY                         Ah, come on. Just let me go. So I                          can watch. Or, I'll flag you, okay?                                     JOHN                         All right. Go ahead.               Terry starts to climb into the car. John looks over at Falfa                in the rumbling Chevy.                                     JOHN                         Paradise Road.               Falfa grins and gooses the Chevy, peeling out of Mel's Drive-               in.               CRUISING MAIN STREET--FALFA'S '55 CHEVY               Falfa looks over at Laurie, who is watching the road                nervously.                                     FALFA                         All right now, where's this Paradise                          Road?                                     LAURIE                         You just follow this street straight                          out of town... Listen, if you're                          gonna race John Milner, you can let                          me out right when we get there.                                     FALFA                         Why don't you shut up, baby? You                          ain't said one word all night long.                          What a weird broad. But you're gonna                          appreciate me soon. You're gonna be                          hangin' on for mercy, when I get                          this sucker rollin'.               He accelerates the Chevy, shifting up deftly. Laurie looks                scared now.               CRUISING 10TH STREET--STEVE'S '58 CHEVY               Steve is cruising along the almost deserted streets looking                for Laurie. A T-Roadster pulls up alongside and a guy shouts                at Steve.                                     DALE                         You heading out to Paradise Road?                                     STEVE                         Paradise Road, I'm not--                                     DALE                         Some guy named Falfa going up against                          Milner.                                     STEVE                         John's racing Falfa?                                     DALE                         Yeah. Figured something was up, saw                          them going out of town real cautious                          and then--               But Steve is gone. Dale looks surprised as the Chevy roars                off toward Paradise Road.               MEL'S DRIVE-IN--PRE-DAWN               Curt pulls into the parking lot just as the neon sign goes                out. The last cars are leaving as the drive-in shutters up                for the night. Curt stops next to the lighted phone booth                and sits in his car, listening to the Wolfman.                                     WOLFMAN (V.O.)                         I got a dedication here that's for a                          friend of the Wolfman--a special                          friend of the Wolfman who's leaving                          town tomorrow and wants me to play                          the next song for a blonde young                          lady in a Thunderbird. A white T-                         Bird, you understand? Now my friend's                          named Curt and he wants to talk to                          you out there, baby. So you meet him                          at Burger City, or phone Diamond                          3132. Now he's a friend of mine, you                          hear, and, little girl, you better                          call him, or the Wolfman gonna get                          you.               The Wolfman howls and Curt smiles, leaning his chin on his                hand, looking around the dark drive-in, wondering about                tomorrow.               PARADISE ROAD--DAWN               John's '32 yellow deuce coupe and Falfa's black '55 Chevy                are waiting side by side on a long, straight country road,                their front wheels resting on a weather-beaten starting line.                The sky is getting lighter as the radio plays "Green Onions."               There are about six to eight other cars parked off the road                to watch the race. Everything is quiet now, only the crickets                ignoring the solemnity of the scene, and still singing. Terry                jumps out of John's car, John hands him the flashlight and                he takes up a position in front of the two cars.               John looks over at Falfa, who's arguing with Laurie.                                     JOHN                         Hey--Laurie, what in the hell are                          you doing in there? Is she gonna                          ride with you?                                     LAURIE                         Mind your own business, John.                                     FALFA                         Yeah, she's with me. You worry about                          yourself, man.                                     TERRY                         Everybody ready?               John settles back in the driver's seat and positions his                hand on the gear-shift, which we see is wrapped with rags                because of the missing knob.               Both drivers start revvin' their engines; the tension builds.                Terry looks nervous, the engines start to scream and Terry,                his hands shaking on the flashlight, manages to flash it on.               Both cars roar off the starting line, tires smoking and                screaming. Terry has his hands over his head and is coughing                in a cloud of smoke as they pass. John beats Falfa off the                line.               Out on the road, as they hit third gear, the cars are almost                neck and neck. Inside Falfa's car, Laurie looks scared to                death. Falfa looks insane as he tromps it.               John hits fourth at about eighty-five. Falfa does likewise--               but starts to fish-tail. Laurie closes her eyes, almost crying--               Falfa regains control nervously.               Falfa's engine is winding out incredibly and he begins to                get the edge on John. The cars rocket through the dawn light                along the flashing white line until suddenly Falfa's car                blows a tire, his front wheel slips off and the car shoots                off into a tomato field, hits an irrigation ditch and begins                flipping over wildly in a horrifying cloud of dust and smoke--               John sees the Chevy leaving the road and screams to a halt,                swimming through an unbelievable U-turn and high tailing it                back to the crash site. He is out of the car like a bullet,                running across the dirty cloddy field. The crash car is                beginning to burn in the engine compartment and John is                panicked.               Meanwhile, the spectators have arrived, including Steve, who                jumps from his car and is running across the field.               Steve and John arrive at the fire at approximately the same                time. They stop, the flames are getting higher, burning up                into the trees now. Steve looks around wildly--he sees John                and goes at him.                                     STEVE                         You stupid sonofabitch, she was in                          that car! Why did you have--               He takes a couple of swings at John, who finally manages to                tackle him around the waist. They both get up looking at the                flaming wreckage. Then John moves around the side, crouching,                trying to see past the flames--suddenly, he stands and motions                to Steve to come over. They both circle the wreck.               Around behind the flaming car Falfa is standing in a state                of shock watching the car go up in smoke, while Laurie is                circling him, screaming and beating him with her purse.                                     LAURIE                         I said I didn't--you lousy greasy                          jerk! You coulda killed me--what's                          wrong with you. You clubfoot...               She beats at him, crying hysterically. Steve runs over and                grabs her, pulling her away. She fights at Steve, too, not                knowing what's going on.                                     LAURIE                         No, no, no. Please, don't come near                          me. No, please. I think I'm gonna be                          sick. Oh, Steven.                                     STEVE                         Laurie, please.               Standing in the early light, Steve holds her. She throws her                arms around him as the crowd develops along the irrigation                ditch to watch the flaming car.                                     LAURIE                         Oh, Steven! Oh, Steven, please, don't                          leave me. Don't leave me, Steven.                                     STEVE                         I won't.                                     LAURIE                         I couldn't bear it.                                     STEVE                         I won't.                                     LAURIE                         Please.                                     STEVE                         Believe me.               John looks at Falfa who's shaking his head, watching the car                dissolve.                                     JOHN                         Come on, before she blows.               He pulls him off by the neck of the shirt and when they're a                few yards off, Falfa's '55 Chevy does blow--exploding like a                small A-bomb, blowing it into Modesto history.               Back on the road, John is heading toward his car, its engine                still running, its door open. Terry runs up, trotting                alongside John like a puppy.                                     TERRY                         Jeez, did you show him! He'll probably                          never even get in a car again.                                     JOHN                         He was faster.                                     TERRY                         It was beautiful, John. Just beauti--                         what?               John stops by the open door of the deuce coupe. Terry stares                at him and squints against the rising sun.                                     JOHN                         I was losin', man.                                     TERRY                         What?                                     JOHN                         He had me, man. He was pullin' away                          from me just before he crashed.                                     TERRY                         You're crazy.                                     JOHN                         You saw it.                                     TERRY                         No, you creamed him, from right off                          the line. The guy never had a chance.                                     JOHN                         Shit, Toad. The man had me. He was                          beating me.                                     TERRY                         John, I don't know what you're talking                          about. It was the most beautiful                          thing I've ever seen. That guy, he                          might as well get a wheelchair and                          roll himself home. Man, you got...                          you got the bitchinist car in the                          Valley. You'll always be number one,                          John. You're the greatest.               John nods, then looks up at Terry. His face is glowing, his                glasses are smashed and his lip is swollen. John smiles.                                     JOHN                         Look at your glasses, man.                              (shaking his head)                         Okay, Toad. We'll take 'em all.                                     TERRY                              (grinning)                         Right.                                     JOHN                         We'll take em... let's get out of                          here.               John climbs in the car. Terry yawns and shakes his head.                                     TERRY                         Jesus, what a night.               He climbs in too, and the deuce coupe drives off slowly as                the sun rises over the ploughed fields and on the radio we                hear "Only You."               MEL'S DRIVE-IN-DAWN-CITROEN               Curt sleeps in the little car as the sky grows lighter over                the empty parking lot. The phone is ringing in the booth. It                continues to ring. Finally Curt becomes aware of it and opens                his eyes. It takes him a moment to remember. Then, panicked,                he jumps from the car and rushes to the booth.                                     CURT                         Hello, hello, hello!               A soft sexy female voice is on the other end of the line.                                     VOICE (V.O.)                         Curt?                                     CURT                         Yeah... this is Curt, who is this?                                     VOICE                         Who were you expecting?                                     CURT                         Do you drive a white T-Bird?                                     VOICE                         A white '56. I saw you on Third                          Street.                                     CURT                         You know me.                                     VOICE                         Of course!                                     CURT                         Who are you? How do you know me?                                     VOICE                         It's not important.                                     CURT                              (excitedly)                         It's important to me. You're the                          most perfect, beautiful creature                          I've ever seen and I don't know                          anything about you. Could we meet                          someplace?                                     VOICE                         I cruise Third Street every night.                          Maybe I'll see you again tonight.                                     CURT                         No... I don't think so.                                     VOICE                         Why?                                     CURT                         I'm leaving... in a couple of hours.                          Where are you from?                                     VOICE                         Curt...                                     CURT                         What's your name? At least tell me                          your name?                                     VOICE                         Goodbye, Curt.                                     CURT                         Wait a second! Wait a second!               But there's a click as she hangs up. Curt looks at the phone                a moment, then also hangs up. From the car radio, he hears                the Wolfman making kissing noises.                                     WOLFMAN (V.O.)                         Little kiss on your ear. Good night,                          sweetheart. I'll see you later.               And then the Spaniels duh-duh-duh-duh-duh into "Goodnight                Sweetheart."               AIRPORT DAY               A DC-3 prop airliner is warming up its engines as it waits                to take off from a small country airport. There aren't too                many people around. Just Curt and his friends and family                seeing him off. Curt stands with a kindly-looking couple in                their fifties. He hugs his mother and shakes hands with his                dad.               Then, Curt moves to his friends. He shakes Steve's hand.                                     STEVE                         Good luck.                                     CURT                         Yeah, same to you. And I better see                          you there next year.                                     STEVE                         Oh yeah, I'll be there.                                     CURT                         Sure.               Curt hugs his sister. Laurie holds on to him for a moment.                                     CURT                         See ya later.                                     LAURIE                         'Bye 'bye, Curt.               Curt goes to Terry and John.                                     CURT                         So long, guys.                                     TERRY                         Well, stay cool, man.                                     CURT                         Yeah.                                     TERRY                         Ah--don't do anything I wouldn't do.               Curt smiles at Terry, who has a bandage on his forehead.                Curt looks at John and they don't seem to know what to say.                Finally, John gives Curt a little slap on the cheek.                                     CURT                         I'll see ya, buddy.                                     JOHN                         I know, you probably think you're a                          big shot, goin' off like this--but                          you're still a punk.                                     CURT                         Okay, John. So long.               He walks toward the plane and they all wave. He looks around                as he goes up the steps carrying a small bag and a portable                radio. The stewardess smiles as he passes her. Above the                door of the plane it reads RADAR EQUIPPED. Curt looks back                again, then goes inside. The plane takes off down the runway                and then climbs up into the sky.               INSIDE THE PLANE               Curt listens to the radio as the plane takes off. It's playing                "Goodnight Sweetheart." As the plane climbs and banks over                the valley, the music fades and the station drifts between                static and other stations...and then it's gone. Curt turns                off the radio and looks out the window.               As the plane banks, through the window Curt sees the white                Thunderbird crossing beneath on the small grey ribbon of                highway. Curt watches it. Then the plane's shadow ripples                over the car and it, too, is gone.               THE BLUE SKY               As the plane flies off against the blue sky we see cameos of                Curt and his friends:               John Milner was killed by a drunk driver in December 1964.                Terry Fields was reported missing in action near An Loc in                December 1965.               Steve Bolander is an insurance agent in Modesto, California.                Curt Henderson is a writer living in Canada.                                         THE END
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+AMERICAN HISTORY X screenplay by David McKenna February 6, 1997 INT. HOUSE - CLOSED EYES                                                                                A young man's blue eyes slowly open.  A girl moans from the next room.EXT. STREET CORNER - A LARGE TIREturns the corner and splashes through a puddle from anearlier rain. TUPAC SHAKUR blares from inside.INT. HOUSE - TIGHT ON THE EYESThey snap wide as the young woman in the next room MOANSeven louder.EXT. VENICE BEACH HOUSE - A WET NIGHTA slight buzz emanates from the power lines and streetlights above the humble VINYARD household. A black FORDBRONCO rests in the driveway.EXT. WET STREET - A GRAY TRANS AMTUPAC'S rapping builds. The window-tinted drive-byslowly heads down the residential street, cruises pastthe Bronco in the driveway, and slows to a stop. Themusic stops and TWO BLACK MEN spring from the car.They move with purpose. The larger figure, crowbar inhand, moves to the truck. The GUN wielding passengerhurries to the front door and stands guard. Inside thecar, another man methodically waits.INT. BEDROOM - DANNY VINYARD'S EYESThe sex happening in the next room makes it difficult forDanny to sleep. Next to a digital clock that reads3:07AM, the clean cut 14-year-old flips to his side.A poster of Lee Ving of FEAR onstage, taped to the wall.Pre-Calculus and Biology books on the floor. Cassettesscattered on his tiny desk. A stereo in the corner.The off-screen sound of breaking glass grabs Danny'sattention. He sits up and looks through the blinds.EXT. HOUSE - SAMEDanny SEES a man reach through the broken window andunlock the door. He quickly. pans to the idling Trans Am.INT. DANNY'S BEDROOM - TIGHT ON DANNYHis fearful expression says it all.          DANNYHoly shit.Danny quickly bolts out of his room and into the adjacentbedroom down the hall. He barges through the door.INT. DEREK'S BEDROOM - A NAZI IRON EAGLE BATTLE FLAGIt hangs above a serious computer and next to a giant,tome-filled bookshelf. The moans, meanwhile, approachorgasm.TIGHT ON DEREK VINYARD. The young man has a shaved head,a thick goatee, and a well-crafted SWASTIKA on his lefttit. On top of Derek in the bed is his barely-of-agegirlfriend, STACEY. The covers are completely off and aBLACK ROSE is tattooed across her right shoulder blade.Danny watches her fuck, only for a second.         DANNY(softly)Der !Danny walks over and shakes him. Startled, Derekforcefully grabs his little brother's arm.        DEREK(controlled)What?Stacey stops and looks over.  Frustated, she rolls offDerek and onto her side.                 STACEYFucking pervert, Dan!          DANNYThere's a black guy outside Der...breaking into your car.Derek, muscled and tattooed, jumps out of the bed andquickly puts on his skivvies. He reaches under hismattress, pulls out a SIG .45 semi-automatic pistol, andshoves in a clip.              DEREKHow long has he been out there?          DANNYNot long.STACEYWho?                 DEREKNobody. Relax.Stacey sits up quickly from the bed as Derek pulls on hisblack combat boots.          STACEYWho's out there, Derek?          DEREKNot right now, honey.     (to Danny)How many?                 DANNYOne...I think.                 DEREKIs he strapped?                 DANNYHunh?              DEREKDoes he have a fucking gun, Dan?                 DANNYI'm not sure.              DEREKIs there a driver?Danny nods his head yes.       DEREKOkay.  Stay the luck here.                 STACEYDerek? Be careful.He looks at his girlfriend and walks off.INT. HALLWAY - SAMETIGHT ON DEREK. He walks down the hall. The intensityon his face is alarming. He stops at the front door andgrabs the doorknob. Before he turns the knob, he peeksthrough the eye hole on the door.EXT. HOUSE - DEREK'S EYE POVTHE BLACK GUARD carelessly turns toward the driveway tosee what's taking his partner so long with the wires.INT. HOUSE - DEREK AT THE DOORThe guard has his back to him. Derek goes.EXT. HOUSE - THE DUELDerek throws open the door and the black man standingguard wheels and fires a shot into the front door. Derekburies two bullets in his chest.          DEREKFuck you!The force propels the man six feet backwards.INT./EXT. BRONCO - THE OTHER MANStunned by the gunfire, he charges back to the getawayTranny. Derek buries a bullet into his shoulder. Thecar splits and Derek fires a shot through the sidewindow. He then walks towards the car and fires shotafter shot at it until it disappears.INT. VINYARD HOUSEHOLD - DARKNESSDavina and Doris Vinyard yell in the background like theywere in Vietnam. They meet in the hallway, still notable to place the direction of the gunfire.DAVINAMOM!!!!                 DORISSTAY DOWN, HONEY!  DANNY?!They stay down on the carpet together.EXT. BEDROOM - DANNY'S POVFrom the rain-soaked window he watches Derek face hiswounded prey - crawling on the ground. Sirens sound froma distance.                 STACEY (O.S.)Get down, Danny! Jesus!TIGHT ON DANNY. His gaze is locked on his brother fromhis bedroom window. Derek cocks his piece, points it andwalks toward the man.TIGHT ON DEREK'S FACE. Eyes blistering.FADE TO BLACK:THREE YEARS LATEREXT. POLICE STATION - EARLY MORNINGA black man in a suit and tie, ROBERT SWEENEY, goesthrough the automatic doors and into the station. Heapproaches a DESK SERGEANT. A daily calendar on her deskreads MONDAY. MARCH 3. 1997.                 SWEENEYCaptain Rasmussen?          DESK SERGEANTBriefing room. Down that hall...thirddoor on the left.INT. BRIEFING ROOM - A MEETINGCops and detectives sit attentively and a few sip coffee.The clock on the wall above reads 7:38 AM. Middle-agedwith slicked-back hair, CAPTAIN JOHN RASMUSSEN finishes athought. He spots Sweeney as he enters and aimlesslyreaches for a file.RASMUSSENAll right. Moving on--(acknowledging)Good Morning, Doctor.The group looks over and meets Sweeney's hard glare.                 SWEENEYGood morning.          RASMUSSENGentlemen, this is Dr. Bob Sweeney.He's Principal over at Venice High andfor some time now he's done a load ofoutreach work with gangs...in and outof the can.Sweeney nods as Rasmussen cough.  He sips water andcontinues.          RASMUSSENThree years ago a local kid namedDerek Vinyard gets sent up formurdering a couple of Crips who weretrying to jack his car. Bob taughtVinyard back in high school and hasfollowed the case closely.              YOUNG COPHe was a skinhead, right?          SWEENEYDerek was more like...the skinhead.He and Cameron Alexander.COP #2Who?Rasmussen opens a FILE in front of him. There restsDerek's mug shot. He flips it over and revealsCAMMERON'S MUG SHOT. Front and side view.          RASMUSSENCammeron Alexander is probably thebiggest writer and distributor ofwhite power literature in LA County.He promotes white power bands, writesreviews, columns, all at the ripe ageof forty.             YOUNG COP     (smiling)He's forty? Jesus.          RASMUSSENPretty clean record...runs everythingout of his house down by the beach.          SWEENEYThere weren't any organized whitegangs around Venice before those twohooked up. Very few, if any. It wasmostly just black and Mexican. But itwas tiny. They hit it off though...and Alexander hit the jackpot withDerek.Rasmussen reaches over and pushes play on a VCR.          RASMUSSENWe got some uncut footage here.Courtesy of NBC.ON THE TELEVISION--          REPORTEREarlier this evening...LA CountyFirefighter Dennis Vinyard was shotand killed while putting out a fire ina suspected Compton drug den.          RASMUSSEN       (to the group)This being February of '90.EXT. VINYARD HOUSEHOLD - A LIVE BROADCAST - VIDEOTAPEA YOUNGER DEREK, short haired with no tattoos, standsnext to the reporter. Derek wears a Venice HighBasketball jersey drenched in sweat. Towel around neck,he thinks to himself as the man speaks into the camera.          REPORTERTo my right I have LieutenantVinyard's oldest son Derek.     (to Derek)How do you feel about all this, son?          DEREKHow do I feel? How do you think Ifeel? It's typical.                 REPORTERTypical how, Derek?          DEREKWell...look at our country. It's ahaven for criminals. Black...brown...yellow...whatever.          REPORTERSo you're saying the murder of yourfather is "race" related?          DEREKEvery problem in this country is"race" related. Every problem, notjust crime. These problems are rootedin the black community, the Hispaniccommunity, the Asian...every non-Protestant group in our society.     (then)Look at the shit. Immigration...welfare...AIDS...they're all theproblems of the non-white. Look atthe statistics.          REPORTERMost of these issues you're referringto though son are related to--          DEREK     (interrupting)No no no! Don't say poverty right nowcause that's not it. They're not aproduct of our fucking environmenteither! Minorities don't give twoshits about this country! They'rehere to exploit...not embrace.          RASMUSSEN (O.S)     (over reporter's question)When Alexander got his hands on thissegment...he copied it, sent it outand it became the Gettysberg Addressfor hate groups across the country.BACK TO THE TELEVISION.          DEREKMillions of white Europeans came tothis country and flourished within ageneration! A generation! So whatthe fuck is wrong with these people?!          REPORTERWhat does any of this have to do withyour father?          DEREKBecause my father was doing hisfucking job! Saving a niggerneighborhood he didn't give two shitsabout! And he got killed by some drugdealer who still collects a fuckingwelfare check.Derek looks at the man and walks over to HIS MOTHERDORIS, who smokes a cigarette. The camera follows him ashe puts his arm around her and escorts her back insidetheir Venice Beach residence. The camera pans back tothe reporter who just stands there, speechless.INT. BRIEFING ROOM - SAMERasmussen ejects the tape, the screen turns to fuzz, andhe turns it off.          RASMUSSENVinyard was quietly released fromChino on Saturday after three and someodd years. And I think it's somethingwe might want to keep an eye on for afew days.          SWEENEYI don't wanna be an alarmist. Butpayback is out there. I know it is.And in this particular case...ifVinyard gets popped...more people willget popped.          RASMUSSENIt's not exactly LAPD policy but Iwant 24-hour surveillance on Vinyardfor a few days.          COP #2(smiling in disbelief)Twenty-four hour surveillance, sir?                 RASMUSSENJust for a few days.          ANOTHER COPHe doesn't sound like Mr. Lovely here,Captain. You want us to bust him orprotect him?Rasmussen offers Sweeney a look that it's his question.          SWEENEYI don't think Vinyard's gonna be theone to start anything. It's hisfollowing.              RASMUSSENEither way...let's keep it low.CUT TO:EXT. VENICE BEACH BOARDWALK - MORNINGPEACEFUL DAY by PENNYWISE blasts from Danny's walkmanheadphones. The day is cloudy and overcast but thatdoesn't bother the local SURFERS. A twosome paddlesnorth to get a better break on the next set. Dannywatches as he skateboards down the strand.His appearance is changed, now resembling a younger,softer Derek.Head shaved to a quarter of an inch, he wears a PLAINWHITE BACKPACK with punk/white power bands scribbled allover it. Your standard Sex Pistols, DK, Germs, G.B.M.,and Adolescents in black. Cro-Magnons and Skrewdriveroff to the left. In red is the largest name, DICK NIXON.CUT TO: EXT. VENICE HIGH SCHOOL - THE BIKE CORRAL Kids from all walks of life park their cars, lock their bikes and head off to class. EXT. HALLWAY - TIGHT ON A THRASHED LOCKER Danny throws his SKATEBOARD in, slams the door, and turns to face LIZZY, a pretty, redheaded freshman.                                   LIZZY                  Hi Danny.                                   DANNY                  Hey Lizzy.The two smile at one another as the FIRST BELL RINGS.                                                  CUT TO:INT. SCHOOL BATHROOM - A URINALDanny takes a piss. Outside, a voice pleads "It wasn'tme!" DARYL DAWSON, pale and thin, is shoved into thebathroom and he trips into the sink. LITTLE HENRY, ayoung black kid, enters with two of his buddies. Dannyzips up and faces them.                                   LITTLE HENRY               (to a terrified Daryl)                 Tellin' Baker I'm fuckin' cheatin'?                 I've never cheated in my life.                                  BUDDY #1                 Beat his ass, Henry!                                  LITTLE HENRY                 Why you trippin' on me?                                  DARYL                 I didn't say anything, Henry. I                 swear.                                  BUDDY #2                 He's lying, man! I was right there!Little Henry cracks Daryl in the face and practicallyknocks him down with one shot. A bleeding Darylstruggles to his hands and knees behind Danny.                                  LITTLE HENRY                 Next time, man.Danny stares into Henry's eyes and the trio exits. Dannvhelps Daryl back up to the sink. THE SECOND BELL RINGS.CUT TO:INT. CLASS - SAMEKids have just settled into their seats.  Danny walks in and tries to be discrete.          OFFSCREEN VOICEVinyard!?An OLDER TEACHER writes an Algebra problem on the boardfor the students to solve.                 OLDER TEACHERYou're late.The man grabs a pink slip off his desk and hands it toDanny.          OLD TEACHERBut it looks like you got biggerproblems.          DANNY     (reading the slip)Oh, man! Come on. Get a job.The teacher stares at him.CUT TO:INT. PRINCIPAL LOBBY - DANNYHe sits in a chair next to an office door marked DR.ROBERT SWEENEY - PRINCIPAL. Danny glances at thesecretary as she types and talks on the phone.TIGHT ON DANNY. He listens to the conversation throughthe the crack in the door as his eyes swell.          MURRAY (O.S.)I do not have a problem with him as anindividual, alright!?          SWEENEY (O.S.)Oh shit Murray sure you do.  You hatethis kid.INT. OFFICE - THE CONVERSATIONThe bespectacled, short-haired MURRAY ROSENBERG, 48,looks over and spots Danny listening outside. Murraywalks over and shuts the door. He looks at DR. SWEENEY,who now has his jacket off.He points to a typewritten report on the desk and smilesin horror. It is titled BOOK REPORT--MEIN KAMPF."Daniel Vinvard - American History" is in the upper lefthand corner.          MURRAYThis paper is a travesty, Bob!Arguing for Hitler as a civil rightshero?! You've gotta draw a line.          SWEENEYMurray...it says in your syllabus thatthey could do their report on any bookrelated to the struggle for CivilRights.                 MURRAYOh come on, Bob!          SWEENEYLet me finish! He needs help...I'mnot disputing that. But I read it andI'm not going to throw him out.              MURRAYHis brother probably put him up to it.          SWEENEYI can guarantee you his brother didn'thave anything to do with it, Murray.Murray sighs and takes off his glasses.          MURRAYDon't let him walk scot-free here.For his sake...not mine. You might beall he has left.Sweeney stares at the younger teacher and nods.CUT TO:EXT. OFFICE - THE DOOR OPENSMurray walks out and turns back to Sweeney.                       MURRAY          Thanks, Bob.                                              SWEENEY (O.S.)          Okay. Get in here, Dan!Danny and Murray make hostile eye contact.                       DANNY          I knew it was you.                   SWEENEY (O.S.)          Shut up and get your ass in here!INT. OFFICE - DANNY ENTERSBefore he even gets through the door he's chastised.                       SWEENEY          What's it gonna be, Dan?                   DANNY          What's what going to be?                       SWEENEY          This petty shit you're pullin'.                       DANNY          Well...I don't know.                       SWEENEY          You said it, all right. Sit down.Danny does what he's told. Sweeney stares at theteenager and leans back in his chair.                       SWEENEY         Are you okay?                   DANNY         Yeah.                       SWEENEY         Any time you wanna talk, Dan--                   DANNY         Okay.                       SWEENEY         How's Derek?                   DANNY         Fine.                 SWEENEYAdjusting okay?                 DANNYYeah.          SWEENEYHe was a student of mine. HonorsEnglish. He was a great student...like you...but he hung out withscumbags. Also like you. That's whyhe ended up in the pen, hunh?No answer. Sweeney holds up Danny's paper.          SWEENEYGreat writing. I can't correct itthough. It wreaks too much of shit.          DANNYCome on, man! I followed directionsand wrote an "A" paper. It's gotnothing to do with Derek.          SWEENEYEverything you do now has something todo with Derek. Who told you to dothis?              DANNYLet us get on with our lives, man!              SWEENEYHey, I'm not worried about Derek--hecan take care of himself.  I'm worriedabout his little brother.(softly)Mein Kampf, Dan? I should expel you!                 DANNYDo it. What?  You don't think I couldhandle it?          SWEENEY     (smiling in disbelief)The street would kill you, Danny.You're not tough. The second abrother pulls a gun on your ass you'llbe holierin' for Doris.     (pondering to himself)So here's the drill. Take it or leaveit cause I'm sick of babysitting. I'myour history teacher from here on out.We're gonna deal with shit happeningright now. Call it AmericanHistory...X. I see your ass once aday. Any more, any less, and you're amemory at Venice High. Clear?          DANNYIt took me a week to read Mein Kampf.Come on, Sweeney.          SWEENEYMy name is Dr. Sweeney. And I want aanother paper on my desk tomorrow.              DANNYWhat am I doing it on then?          SWEENEYIt'S not a "what", it's a "who."         (after a beat)Derek.SMASH TO:EXT. VENICE SHORELINE - LATE AFTERNOONA series of intercuts shows activity in and around thepier. A HOMELESS LATINO MAN searches a trash dumpster.OPEN VENDORS sell tie-dye and water bong paraphernalia.A FAT WOMAN walks past eating a hot dog. BLACK GANGMEMBERS play basketball in their low-rider shorts andboxers.TIGHT ON DANNY. He skateboards down the boardwalk,performing tricks and spinning the board. He eats shit,recovers, and looks off into the distance.          DANNY (V/O)People look at me...and they see mybrother. That's how things have gonesince the murder of our father.EXT. BOARDWALK - NEAR THE BASKETBALL COURTFrom afar, he spots a group of black gang members shoothoops. He and Little Henry from earlier exchange a coldglance.          DANNY (V/O)Little Henry Hastings and his olderbrother Jerome. Jerome's a ShorelineCrip...Henry's on his way.Little Henry and older brother JEROME catch their breathand stare down Dan. Danny doesn't flinch. Jerome sipsfrom a 40 oz. beer and resumes playing.          DANNY (V/O)Venice Beach, man. It didn't alwayslook like this. I mean...our Dad usedto take us down here to run...and itwas cool. Derek fucking owned thisplace.        Since then though...the gangs,man--TIGHT ON DANNy. He watches the basketball action as hetakes a drag off his Marlboro Red.          DANNY (V/O)--they've moved west from Inglewoodand South Central and have reallyjust...taken over. Especially at myhigh school. The Venice Locos are bigtoo but they hang out in bumluck MarVista. It's scary.     (then)And then there's The Disciples ofChrist. The D.O.C.Jerome and Little Henry joke and argue with eight extraplayers and spectators.DISSOLVE TO:EXT. BASKETBALL COURT - A GAME - FLASHBACKDANNY'S POV. The teams are a mixed assemblage of 3blacks and 2 Latinos and 3 whites and 1 black and 1Latino. SKINHEAD FAT SETH RYAN, early twenties, and histwo skinhead buddies, can't compete against the better,predominantly black team. One of the skins, CURTIS, hasa shaved head, a light beard and an M-16 RIFLE tattooedon his head.JEROME and LITTLE HENRY sit together to the right of thecourt and monitor closely. Danny looks over his leftshoulder and sees Derek and Stacey sit with CAMMERON.Cowboy hat and BRONCO JERSEY, they sit and converse onthe bleachers.                 LAWRENCESeven-six. Let's go!  Set some picks!                 SETHBring it on, boy.Derek quickly moves his eyes to the court.LAWRENCEBoy?Lawrence quickly pivots past Seth, dunks it, and yells ashe hangs on the rim. The crowd cheers.          SETHLucky piece of shit! I'm through"monkeying" around with your ass!Lawrence spins around and challenges Seth.           LAWRENCEFat, pasty, pale, pastrami eating,cracker, motherfucker. A hundredbucks says I make you my bitch.          SETH     (to the crowd)Here we go! Trying to make ends meetfor that cut in welfare.He makes a scene and passes Danny on the sideline.Lawrence waits for Seth to take it further. Danny looksat him, concerned.              DANNYIt's eight-six, Seth.          SETHWhen I want your fucking opinion I'llask for it, fuckhead.     (to Derek and Cam)Help me cover here, guys.Derek and Cameron stare at Seth, knowing Seth will loseand embarrass them.              CAMMERONYou got a big fucking mouth, fat kid.              SETHI'll take this negro down.              DEREKYou can't take a shit, Seth.  Shut up.Derek shoots a look to Cameron, comes to a decision, andstands. He shouts for all to hear.                 DEREKI got a bet.Lawrence stares at him, sensing something harder.          DEREKI come in, same score now, first oneto eleven. Black boys against thewhite boys.Lawrence looks back to his boys in disbelief.              LAWRENCEName your price, Cracker.          DEREKNo money...for the court. We win, yougrab your shit and find a differentplace to run. Not just today...forever. You win, and we don't comeback. No hitching, no fighting, herein front of everyone. Six-eight, ourball.The action around the court gets very still.  Finally,Lawrence nods.          LAWRENCEYou got a lot of fucking balls, man.Bring it. Right now.Derek pulls off his sweatshirt and gives it to Stacey.Lawrence gets his team together.CUT TO:EXT. COURT - BLACK VERSUS WHITENo more mixed assemblage of players.  One team is white, one team is black.A SERIES OF SMOTSDerek blows by Lawrence for a left handed layup. Derekhits a thirty looter. Curtis grabs a rebound and useshis elbows to get defenders off him. Big Lawrence foulsDerek hard and Derek stares at him. Big Lawrence makes atwenty foot turnaround. Lawrence advances on a three ontwo and dunks it. Derek pump fakes three times and usesthe glass for a deuce. Finally, Derek drives the laneand dishes to Seth at the last minute for a bucket.                       SETH          Yes! Ten a piece! Nice fucking dish.                                     SETH and CURTIS slap Derek's hand as they get back ontransition. Derek stares at Lawrence. CAMMERON watchesintently.                 CAMMERONIt's all you, Der!                 LAWRENCEFuckin' BYU, man!  All right!  All weneed is one now!Lawrence and Derek lock eyes, a look exceedingcompetitive boundary. A look filled with rage.          CAMMERONUse that fat ass and keep him out,Seth!Seth and the opposing player bang to get positionunderneath.          LAWRENCEI ain't losin' in my house!  Clear it out!The POWER FORWARD dribbles beautifully up the court --his teammates clearing out the key. Defensively, Derekis solid. He tries to pass Derek but Derek's defense isstifling. Again. With another tricky move, Lawrenceinadvertently puts his LEFT ELBOW into Derek's face,sending him quickly to the pavement. EVERYBODY STOPS.              CURTISThat's fuckin' offense!          LAWRENCEGet the fuck outta here!  He wasmovin' his feet!Derek, teeth bloodied, rises. The two have a stare down.          DEREK(threateningly)I'll go if you want to.          LAWRENCEYou wanna piece! Bring it!Players quickly rush to restrain the two even though theteams hate each other.          DEREKIf you wanna go...I'm ready.  Don't bethrowin' fuckin' elbows.          LAWRENCEFuck you!Derek walks over to Cammeron, Danny and Stacey standingcourtside. She has a water bottle and a towel waitingfor him. He wipes his BLOODY LIP and takes a sip.Cameron stares at Derek.        CAMMERONHey.  Are you copacetic?Derek nods and looks at Danny and Stacey.              CAMMERONHe's gonna do that 180 spin move.          DEREKI know what he's gonna do.              DANNYYou gotta call offense on that shit.              DEREKNot on point game you don't.          STACEYFuck that, D. That chucker can't pullthat shit. It's fucking-              DEREKNot on point, honey.He turns back to the court and walks over to Lawrence.He stands in front of him and checks the ball in.DEREKTens!Lawrence takes the ball, passes it to the wing, andquickly gets it back. Lawrence dribbles up top, makes amarvelous 180 spin with the ball, and pulls up for a tenfoot jumper. Derek reads it perfectly and REJECTS IT.Lawrence trips to the ground, Derek grabs the ball offthe fast break and DUNKS IT.          DANNY         (amazed by the dunk)Holy shit!Everybody courtside goes nuts. Derek walks to thesideline, ignoring all the hand slaps being offered.Everyone is riveted on Derek.          SETH         (to the other team)Get off my  fucking court!  This is myhouse!                 DANNYYeah! Fuck...yeah!A sweaty Derek pulls his little brother close. He takesa drink of water, spits out more blood, looks at hisbitter opponent, and says nothing.CUT TO:EXT. STREET - BY THE COURTDerek, Danny, Seth, Cammeron, Curtis and Stacey standoutside the Bronco. The doors are all open and thestereo softly plays music in the b.g. Derek dries off.DANNY'S POV. Derek throws a shirt and tie over hissweaty, tattooed body. Danny watches the tats disappear,and it's almost like his brother is normal. A name tagreads LA COPY CENTER - DEREK - ASSISTANT MANAGER.Derek looks at JEROME and LAWRENCE from afar. Dannynotices the two men stare at his brother, ready to kill.Derek meets their gaze.CUT TO:EXT. VENICE BOARDWALK - PRESENT - DANNY'S POVDanny awakens from his daydream. The black players nowstare at him. Danny puts his board down and skates downthe boardwalk.          DANNY (V/O)It was only the beginning.     (then)Derek once told me that minoritieswould take America over one day. Thatwhite people are too afraid. Maybe hewas right.CUT TO:EXT. SMALL BEACH HOUSE - A PATIODanny skates up to the gate and kicks his board up to hishand.  He passes two SURFBOARDS on his way towards theback.EXT. SIDE ENTRANCE - TWO 14-YEAR-OLDSLIZZY, the redhaired beauty from earlier, and her blondfriend KAMMI, sturable out and laugh. They're stoned.                 KAMMIHey! Danny!        DANNY(smiling)Hey.              LIZZYYou're going tonight, right?DANNYWhere?              LIZZYThat party. Go there.The two young girls giggle and take off.INT. TINY, MESSY BEDROOM - SAMEJASON and CHRIS, two 17-year-old skinheads with shavedheads, prepare to hit the surf. Chris sings toINSTITUTIONALIZED BY SUICIDAL TENDENCIES on the stereowhile Jason throws on a ZOG T-SHIRT, the tops of theirfullsuits hang down.                 DANNY (O.S)There's dick for waves.              CHRISI don't care. I just wanna get wet.TIGHT ON DANNY. He flips through a book titled TURNERDIARIES. On the nightstand to his left is a digitalclock that reads 4:47 p.m.          DANNYI've been trying to buy this.  You can't find it anywhere.The two look at Dan.          JASONCammeron dropped us off a copy. Dopefucking shit, man. It's all aboutreclaiming the country. I'll let youread it when I'm done.              DANNYFuck that. I just read Mein Kampf.                 JASONThere you go.          CHRISHey? What was this Daryl shit youwere talking about?          DANNYHenry Hastings almost kicked DarylDawson's ass. He would're too if--          CHRISLittle Henry the negroid?Danny nods.          DANNYEveryday there's something over there,man.              CHRISWhy do you think we fuckin' quit?                 DANNYI hear you.              JASONDaryl Dawson's a pussy faggot.CUT TO:EXT. BOARDWALK - DANNY, JASON AND CMRIS - LATERThe three skateboard down the strand, Jason and Chriswith their surfboardS and suits. Chris looks at Jason'sshirt.                 CHRISWhat's ZOG again?                 JASONZionist somethin'.                 DANNYZionist-Occupational-Government.Ahead an OLD ASIAN WOMAN tows a succession of SHOPPINGCARTS. As Jason passes, he smacks her with his surfboardand knocks her to the ground. They all laugh and Dannybreaks off and heads east on Rose.CUT TO:INT. DUMPY APARTMENT - TIGHT ON TEARY EYESDAVINA VINYARD, in a UCLA T-SHIRT and panties, cries onthe couch as she hugs a LONG HAIRED Derek. DORIS sobs asshe lays under a pink blanket, burdened by the flu.Shirtless Derek grabs Doris' hand and leans over to kissher.                 DEREKIt's gonna be fine.EXT. DUMPY APARTMENT BUILDING - NIGHTDanny skates up to his residence and looks at a caracross the street. Two plainclothes cops from theearlier meeting sit in their car and stare from afar.Danny goes through the gate.iNT. HOUSE- SAMEDanny walks in on the tearful family conclave.  He stands there, wishing the day would just end.          DANNYOh man--! Come on!  What are youcrying about now?THE PHONE RINGS and Derek rushes down the hall to get it.          DEREKI got it.Danny looks to his mother.              DANNYAre you feeling better at all?                 DORISI need a kiss.Danny wipes away her tears, kisses her, and moves awayquickly so he won't get sick.INT. BEDROOM - DEREK ON THE PHONEHe listens to the man on the other line.                       DEREK          Unhuh. Unhuh. Did you expel him?INT. LIVING ROOM - SAMEThere's a knock on the front door and Davina answers.She opens the door and tries to shut it immediately.SKINHEAD FAT SETH, from the game earlier, wears a GOODGUYS STEREO UNIFORM. He pushes the door back open.                       DAVINA          What do you want!?                       SETH          Open up, bitch!Davina relents and Seth enters.                   DAVINA               (examining him)          Jesus! Are you sure you can fit          through the door?                   SETH          Fuck off.               (excited)          Where is he?                       DAVINA          Back in his bedroom.Seth pushes Danny to the side, passes Doris and yells.                   SETH               (smiling)         Where are you, you free motherfucker?Seth moves down the hall and bangs on Derek's door.                   SETH         Vinyard!                   DAVINA         He's on the phone, asshole!                   SETH          Fuck off.              DEREK (O.S.)I'll be out in a minute!Without pushing it, Seth undoes his pants and moves intothe bathroom. Danny walks down the hall.INT. BATHROOM - THE CANSeth sits on the toilet. Danny pushes the door slightlyand stares at Seth's GUN on the bathroom counter. Dannylooks at him. After a few seconds--          SETHWhat are you lookin' at?              DANNYI'm still trying to figure it out.          SETHCome in here and I'll show you,maggot.              DANNYFuck off. When'd you start carryin'?          SETHI'm dropping the kids off at the pool,junior. Shut the fuckin' door!Danny grabs his nose and turns to the door behind him.      DANNYJesus!  Chew your food, dude!INT. BEDROOM - DEREKHe continues into the phone receiver.                 DEREKAll right. Thanks.  I'll take care ofit. Yeah.DANNY'S POV. He opens the door and sees Derek on thephone with his back to him. Above Derek is Danny'ssurfboard, hanging on ropes hooked to the ceiling.Blue jeans, black boots and slicked back hair, Derekholds his hand up and motions for Dan to be quiet. Thesleeves of tats covering his arms, shoulders and back(D.O.C.) define the hatred that has engulfed his past.    DEREK(into the receiver)Okay.  Okay. I'm what?  What channel?He covers the receiver, turns on a ten inch TV, and flipsto the correct channel.          DEREK         (without turning)What is it, Danny?              DANNYYou got pigs outside.DEREKI know.Derek leans over the computer to check it out.INT./EXT. BEDROOM - DEREM'S POVHe looks through the blinds and stares at the UNMARKEDCAR. Danny throws his backpack on the bed and exits.TIGHT ON DEREK. He listens to the television.          TV ANCROR (O.S.)Saturday's prison release of a formerskinhead gang leader has manycommunity leaders up in arms tonight.INT. BATHROOM - TIGHT ON SETHHe points his Glock 9mm at the mirror.          SETHDrop the t.v., nigger.He laughs to himself and exits.INT. HALLWAY - SETH CONTINUEDHe bangs on Derek's door once more, pissed that Derekdidn't open it earlier. He heads for the living room.INT. LIVING ROOM - CONTINUE TV ACTIONDanny, Davina, and Doris are glued to the news story onthe same station. Doris, once beautiful, is now aged andgraying. NYQUIL, PEPTO BISMOL, two PRESCRIPTIONCONTAINERS, and a spoon rest on the coffee table.TIGHT ON THE TELEVISION. A WELL-DRESSED BLACK WOMANspeaks angrily to the reporter covering the story.Random black protestors nod and comment in thebackground.          BLACK WOMANMaybe now whites will understand themotives behind people like Malcolm Xand the Black Panthers.  Just put theshoe on the other foot.FLASH TO:EXT. CHINO PRISON - THE VINYARDS ON NEWS FOOTAGEDanny walks' towards Derek and they smile and hug.  Davinaand Doris soon join in.Davina          BLACK WOMAN (V/O)Derek Vinyard deserved the deathpenalty for what he did to that youngman! And now he walks the street asfree as you and I.          DANNY     {to the tv)What about OJ, bitch!?INT. VINYARD HOUSE - TIGHT ON THE TVThe news segment winds down.          BLACK WOMAN         (fed up, to the camera)They've done it to us again.A hand reaches over to turn the channel. IT'S SETH.Doris, in an awful state, lays back down.TIGHT ON SETH. Tattoos cover his forearms. A BLOODYSNAKE is halfway tucked under his rolled-up sleeves.          SETHNigger lovin' Jew media calling theshots. Watch cartoons. It's the onlyt.v. that's safe nowadays.              DORISNo one's safe--until we all are.Seth looks at the woman like she's from another planet.He laughs and goes into the kitchen.INT. KITCHEN - SETH'S POVHe looks through the fridge but finds nothing. He closesthe door and looks at the family pictures on the door.A FAMILY SHOT of Doris, Derek, Danny, Davina, and DENNISVINYARD in front of church. Seth appreciates Dennis in acoat and tie. Below that, a picture of a dirty andrugged Dennis and a young Davina, wearing her father'sFIRE HELMET. Danny with Doris.                       SETH          Come in here, Dan.INT. SMALL KITCHEN - SAMEHe sits and comes upon Davina's revealing CROTCH. Shestudies and so does he. Danny walks in the kitchen andlooks through the fridge. He pulls out a leftover pieceof steak and gnaws on it. Seth looks over at Dan                       SETH          Where the fuck you find that?                       DANNY          Goin' to Cam's party tonight?                       SETH          Is Davina's ass water tight?Danny laughs.                   DAVINA          Hurry up and leave, Goodyear.  You've           taken your dump now go.                   SETH         Listen to you. You callin' me a         blimp, you fuckin' Democrat?!                       DAVINA          Yes! I am!Danny takes a bite and laughs at Seth.                       DANNY         I'm there tonight.                   SETH         Oh yeah? You ask Derek?                       DANNY         Noo...but he's got two kegs.          SETHWell...you can think of me drinkin''em then when you're studying withfuckin'... White Trash in there.Davina scoffs and Seth looks up her shirt.          SETHWhere is the fucker, by the way!?He's hiding from us.Davina looks up from her homework and catches the pervertlooking at her.                 DAVINAYou're not even human.Seth erupts with laughter.              DANNYIs Cam playing sticks?                 SETHOf course, man.Seth drums on the table as Danny shoves the last biteinto his mouth.          SETHSit down. I wanna ask you somequestions.              DANNYI got homework, Seth.          SETHTwo fucking seconds, dude!Danny sits and looks at Seth.          SETHTell me your convictions.          DANNYFuck off.          SETHTell me some of the shit you'velearned luckbrain or I'll pistol-whipyou.                 DANNYAbout Adolf?                 SETHAbout anything.  What do you believein?Danny thinks to himself and smiles.          DANNYI believe in filth and destruction andchaos and death and greed.                 SETHWhat else?          DANNYI believe in my family.          SETHWhy?          DANNY"Respect your father and your mother.Whoever curses your mother andfather... is to be put to death."Matthew 15-4.                 SETHGood. What else?  Tell me what I want to hear, asshole.              DANNYYou mean that stuff about your mother?Davina CACKLES in the background.          SETHYou wanna get beaten?           DANNYNo.              SETHThen tell me about Adolf and Mein.INT. LIVING ROOM - DAVINAShe puts down her homework and looks over at Seth.          DAVINAHey Seth? Cut the shit.          SETHI'm not fuckin' talkin' to you,Davina, shut up! Do you believe inAdolf?              DANNYYeah, man. I believe in Adolf.Seth smiles at the youth and speaks intimately.          SETHWhat do you hate, Danny?          DANNYI hate everyone that isn't whiteProtestant.          SETHWhy? And say it with some fuckingconviction!          DANNYBecause they're a burden to theadvancement of the white race.  Someof them are all right--          SETHNone of them are all right, Danny.They're all a bunch of fuckingfreeloaders.     (after a beat)Remermber Canuneron. "We don't knowthem, we don't want to know them,they're the fucking enemy." Whatdon't you like about them?                 DANNYI don't know.  I feel threatened bythem.          DAVINAThey feel threatened by you!          SETH     (ignoring her)What else, Danny? And speakintelligently you little queer faggot.Davina's attention is rapt on her little brother.          DANNYI hate the fact that it's cool to beblack these days.SETHGood.          DANNYI hate this hip hop influence on whitefuckin' suburbia.SETHGood!          DANNYI hate Hilary Clinton and all of herZionist MTV pigs telling us we shouldget along. Save the rhetoricalbullshit honey, it ain't gonna happen.Seth looks at the young man.  He smiles at him withdistinct revelation.          SETHThat's the best shit I've ever heardcome out of that mouth.TIGHT ON DAVINA. She stares at the two hate mongers.              DAVINAI feel.sorry for you, Danny.                 SETHShut up, Davina.          DAVINAYou shut up, you poison to fuckin'society! Get out of our house!          SETH     (laughing)Is this any way to treat a guest?              DAVINADerek hates you, Seth.              DEREK (O.S.)How do you know who I hate, Davina?TIGHT ON DEREM VINYARD - SILENCE.He's a striking presence with his scruff, tight t-shirtand tats hanging down his arm. A black jacket wrapsaround his waist.                 DAVINA (O.S)What do you mean?Seth stands and smiles.          SETHHey! How are you, man? Fuckin' A.Long time no see. Look at that hair.Seth moves to hug his old friend but Derek offers areluctant hand instead.              DEREKGimme just one second, okay?Seth nods as Derek stares at Danny.              DEREKDid you do a book report on Mein Kampf?                 DANNYWhat's it to you?          DEREK         (ready to kill)What's it to me?          DANNY     (seeing this)I mean...how'd you find out?          DEREKNone of your fucking business how Ifound out.              SETHI thought it was a great idea.                 DEREKThat figures.  You're more stupid thanhe is.              SETHIt's nice to see you too, man.                 DEREKWhy'd you do it, Dan?  Because ofSeth.                DANNYNo.          DEREKCammeron?              DANNYI did it cause I felt like it.          DEREKOh, you do everything you feel like?I feel like smacking you in thefucking head. Would you mind if I dida report on that?                 DANNYUhhh...yeah.          DEREKGet a clue, you dumbshit. Hey! Lookat me! Don't be a dickhead. Sweeneycares about you.              SETH         (smiling)Sweeney does?  Since when?          DANNYWas that him on the phone?                 DEREKYep. So wise up.  You hear me?          SETHSweeney's a fuckin' nigger on a powertrip, Vinyard. That's what he waslike when we were there and that's howhe is now. It'll never change either.A nigger is a nigger.Derek stares at Seth, ready to beat the fuck out of him.Suddenly, Doris starts in with a COUGHING ATTACK. Derek                                      quickly fills a glass of water and goes in there.INT. LIVING ROOM - THE PINK BLANKETShe coughs incessantly. Derek sits down beside her,hands her the water, and caresses her head. The othersstare at her in the background.              DORISJust put me out of my mercy.          DEREKYou'll be okay. You want me to pickyou up any more medicine?Together they look at all the bottles and laugh.  Derekchecks out the couch.          DEREKJesus. I can't believe I ever let itget this bad.              DORISIt's not that uncomfortable.              DANNYAre you gonna to live or what, Mom?              DORISI need a cigarette.                   DEREK         My ass. You smoke two packs a day.         That's why you're spittin' phlegm.Doris coughs once again and spits green into her napkin.SETH(astonished)Jesus, Mrs. Vinyard.  I think a lungjust came up.Everybody laughs -- including Doris.  Derek tenderly puts his hand on his mother's cheek.              DORISI'm high as a kite.                 DANNYYou got any more? DORISDaniel?  I know you got homework.              DANNYI'm goin' in a second.  Relax.          SETH     (interjecting to Derek)Hey. I'm gonna re-wipe and we're outof here.Seth laughs as he walks down the hall.                 DAVINAYou're a pig.              DORISI don't like him in this house.         DEREKI knew.              DAVINAHe ' s a fuckin ' loser, Nazi scumbag.              DANNYNo he's not.                   DEREK          Yes he is. Open your eyes.Danny looks at Derek and smiles.                   DANNY          Whatever, dude. I'm gonna go power          that shit and I'll see you later.He pats his brother on the shoulder and walks off.              DEREKNot at Cammeron's you won't see me.          DANNY     (turning back)Come on, Der! It's gonna be fuckin'--                   DEREK          Forget it, Danny! It ain't gonna          happen for you tonight.Danny walks off, frustrated. He crosses Seth's path,gets shoved into the wall, and reacts like it's aneveryday occurrence. Seth moves out the side window andclimbs out.                   SETH          Hurry up. I'm starving.                       DAVINA         What else is new?Derek nods, looks at his mother and kisses her on theforehead.                 DEREKI'll see ya.                 DORISOkay. Be careful.DEREKI will.Derek follows Seth out the SIDE WINDOW and goes down thealley.INT. APARTMENT - TIGHT ON DORISShe thinks to herself and closes her eyes.EXT. SIDE STREET - SETH'S TRUCKDerek looks at the oblivious cops and drops into thepassenger's seat. Seth starts the engine and drivesaway. As the truck disappears, we pick up on a WHITESOUPED UP JEEP CHEROKEE turning the corner. Tintedwindows, it cruises past the apartment complex.INT. DANNY'S BEDROOM - A DESKCUT TO:Danny's attention is everywhere except on his homework.                       DANNY         This sucks.He walks back out of his bedroom.INT. HALLWAY/LIVING ROOM - DANNY'S POVHe watches Davina complete her homework on the couch.Doris, on the sofa opposite, tries to sleep.                   DANNY         Hey.          DAVINAHey what?          DANNYCome here.DAVINAWhat!?          DANNYCome here for a second!The scholar sets her homework aside and impatientlyfollows him down the hall.INT. BEDROOM - TWO SINGLE BEDSShe sits on the edge of DANNY'S bed.  Danny hands her hisassignment instructions.              DAVINAI got shit to do, Dan.                 DANNYJust read it.She sighs and begins to read it out loud.          DAVINA"American History X? Take home paperas assigned by Principal RobertSweeney?"     (to Danny)Why is he giving you homework? Whathappened to Murray?                 DANNYAsshole turned me in.DAVINAWhy?          DANNYJust read.          DAVINA"Describe in detail your opinion of-the historical event that took placein the early morning of October 4th,1993." What's that?              DANNYThe night Derek wasted those guys.Davina takes a moment.                 DAVINASweeney gave you this?DANNYYep.          DAVINA     (continuing her reading)"Before and after...how has this eventhelped or hurt your presentperspective concerning life incontemporary America. Use thestandard five paragraph format, blabblab blah--this'll be good for you..              DANNYNooo...it'll be good for you.She stares at him for a good three seconds.                 DAVINAEat me, Dan.          DANNYCome on! Dick Nixon's playin' atCammeron's tonight. You owe me.          DAVINAI'm not doing your homework for you!I gotta spreadsheet due!          DANNYGoddammit!Davina walks to the door and looks back to her brother.          DAVINAWhat's the matter with you? You wannabe a fuckin' loser your whole life?Not receiving a response, she walks out the door.                 DANNYAsshole Sweeney.He slowly begins to strike the computer keys. The screenreads "People look at me and they see my brother. That'sthe way things have gone since the murder of our father,"TIGHT ON DANNY.  The frustated kid sits and thinks to himself.himself.QUICK CUT TO:EXT. ESTABLISHING SHOT - NIGHT - FLASHBACKTHE BROAD EXPANSE OF AN EMPTY, DIMLY LIT PARKING LOT. Inthe distant corner we see a few parked cars and a groupof skins gathering.          DANNY (V/O)It was lunacy after he left us. Allthe time. Derek believed inCammeron...he was angry...thatcombination gave them bodies. Whitepunks...sick of gettin' their asseskicked by black and mexican gangs atschool.TIGHT ON DANNY LEANING AGAINST AN ADJACENT CAR.Seven skins, including Seth and Curtis, smoke and wait.DANNY'S POV. Danny looks to his left and sees Derek withCammeron, who sits in the driver's seat of the BRONCO.Stacey leans in from the backseat.              STACEYI hope you kill that fucker.Derek looks back at her and straight to Cameron.                 CAMMERONHe might have a gun.          DEREKAre you going in or not?          CAMMERONYou know I got the cops on me. If Icome up on one of those cameras I'm adead man.Derek stares at the older man, who appears nervous.              CAMMERONSomebody needs to drive, Derek.          DEREK     (referring to his mouth)All right. You can turn it off now.     (back to Stacey)You're right on his tail, right?          STACEY     (nodding)I hate that fucking Korean.  I hopeyou smash his face in.              DEREKJust be ready, okay?She nods and Derek gets out. The group is silent.          DEREKCome on. Let's pull it together.Hey! We're not playing fuckin' gameshere. Let's go.The group snaps to attention behind him as Seth toys withthe camera. CURTIS from earlier takes a hit off a jointand makes Derek wait for him. Derek walks over to thecrazy man, takes the joint, and throws it onto theground.          DEREKWhat the fuck, Curtis? You a fuckin'nigger now? Want some crack?CURTISNo.          DEREK     (grabbing his neck)Pull your fucking stupid head out ofyour ass then.                 CURTISOkay. Jesus.          DEREK     (to the group)We're here tonight cause we gotimmigration problems spiralling out ofcontrol. We got Asians up the ass...taking over our land with theirfucking Yen. Mexicans...flocking intothis place like some giant fuckingPinata was shattered.The group busts up. Cammeron watches Derek and smiles.          DEREKDon't laugh. It's tragic. On theStatue of Liberty it says "Give meyour tired, your hungry, your poor,your huddled masses...yearning to befree." It does not say give me yourshiftless, your greedy, your indolent,your criminals, looking for a freeticket.The group agrees.          DEREKWe're here tonight to show thegovernment how we feel aboutminorities taking over our country.The treat us like criminals while theyreward them with jobs and fuckingwelfare checks. And it's only gettingworse.              ET AL(nodding)Fuck yeah it is.          DEREKAre you ready to do something aboutit?                                   ET ALYeah.          DEREKOkay then.AND THEY'RE MOVING.  In formation.  Fast.  Directly atus.    Angry.As the camera swings into line, TRACKING WITH THEM, Derekreaches into his back pocket and pulls out a STOCKINGMASK. He pulls it down over his face.The foot soldiers follow him in unison.          DEREK         (back to his troops)Remember. No names. Danny?  Stayright on my fucking ass, man.And now they're getting ahead of us. As the CAMERASWINGS behind them, we see their destination.EXT. LIGHTED GROCERY STORE - SAMEThey storm the front entrance. The few people who are inthere scream and scramble for cover. Derek grabs aMexican boxboy and throws him to the ground. Sethcatches up to another and gets him on the ground.          SETHWheto's your fucking green card,asshole?Seth kicks the young man in the face with a blatant shotand continues. DEREK leaves a terrified white womanalone like she's not even there and pushes over anadjacent shelf, knocking over another worker with CANS OFBEANS.          DEREK(referring to the border)Can't hide from me, motherfucker!He kicks the man and looks around the market for more.Danny watches in awe. Curtis breaks a giant jelly jarover a head. Another skin throws a BLACK CHECKER into ashelf of POTATO CHIPS.DEREK'S POV. He looks up at one of the aisle mirrors.INT. BACK STOCK AREA - THE 55-YEAR-OLD KOREAN OWNERHe rushes out with a pistol. He takes aim on Curtis and--FROM OUT OF NOWHERE, DEREK TAKES A MOP TO THE OWNER'SHEAD AND PROCEEDS TO KICK HIM. Danny looks at Derek likehe's Superman.Derek looks to his watch and straightens up.              DEREKLet's go! We're outta here!  Move !From just inside the door we see skins get in their lastblows and pour out the aisles and pass us through thedoors. TIRES SCREECH. THE CAMERA HOLDS ON THE WRECKAGEOF THE MARKET AND THE MOTIONLESS BODIES ON THE FLOOR;INT. BRONCO - TIGHT ON DANNYHe takes off his stocking mask and stares at his stone-faced brother.          DANNY (V/O)And before Derek could even blink...hehad a crazed army behind him.CUT TO:INT. BEDROOM - PRESENT - THE COMPUTERDanny sparks up a cigarette and types on the screen.          DANNY (V/O)Willing to follow his word like it wasthe word of God.CUT TO:EXT. VENICE BEACH HOUSE - A RAINY NIGHT - FLASHBACKAs the rain falls, we see the Vinyards sitting at thetable. Stacey and Murray Rosenberg, Doris' thenboyfriend who we met earlier, round out the clan. Staceysits close to Derek.          DANNY (V/O)And then came October 4th, 1993.INT. BEACH HOUSE - THE DINING ROOMDoris looks wonderful while Murray, mustache and beard,shakes his head at Derek as he chatters away.          DANNY (V/O)Things were fine on the homefront. MyMom had a good job but a below averageboyfriend. We had a four-bedroomhouse that Dad left us with. Everyonewas happy.TIGHT ON DEREK. Shaved head, rolled-up sleeves, tattoos,loosened tie, LA COPY CENTER name tag from earlier. Hischarisma draws their attention as he rambles over thecrackling rainfall.                 DANNY (V/O)Everyone but Derek.          DEREKFuck you, Murray. White men don'tcruise the streets of LA killing eachother.         MURRAYNo.  You guys make bombs.Derek stares at the man, eyes filled with homicide.          DEREKYou're so fucking lame. A couple ofcranks in cabins in Montana is notstatistically significant.     (then)White Americans don't take PCP anddrink and drive a hundred and twentyfuckin' miles an hour! We pull overand trust the law.                 MURRAYYou're kidding, right?          DAVINA     (sarcastically)Don't you know, Murray? White peoplenever break the law. We're perfectlittle angels.          DEREKThat's not what I said, Davina.     (to the group)Three different times Rodney Kingcomes at those officers with theintent to hurt them. To hurt them!Three times! But since we see it onsome fucking tampered videotape...thebleeding heart media makes you believethat he only comes at them once. Allwe see is Powell, Koon and Windhittin' him and--     (busting up laughing)Briseno kickin' him in the back of thefuckin' skull with his boot. Still,the dumbfuck's tryin' to get up andkick their asses! That's how stupidthat motherfucker is. Those cops usedtextbook-solid tactics and if Dad werestill here he'd say the same damnthing.          DORISThat doesn't make it right.          DEREKYes it does. Yes it does. They'recops! They are taught to use thatstick and they did.                 MURRAYExcessively.          DEREKNo. Appropriately. Appropriately!Cops have been granted a certainamount of authority by society andwhite people, unfortunately, are theonly ones who acknowledge it. Iacknowledge a cop's authority.Davina starts to laugh.          DAVINALook who's talking about respectingthe law? Mr. K.K.K. here.          DEREKThat's two errors in one sentence,Davina, so take a fucking course insemantics. First error--I didn't sayI respect the law. I said I respect acop's authority. Second error...I'mnot a member of the fuckin' low rent,disorganized, redneck Ku Klux Klan..Pull your head outta your ass and lookat who you're dealing with.             MURRAYDon't speak to her that way, Derek.          DEREKMurray, stay out of it. You're not amember of this family and you neverwill be.          MURRAYWhat the hell does that have to dowith anything?          DORIS     (to Derek)You know...sometimes it's hard tobelieve I gave birth to you.          DEREKGive thanks to the food on the tableand then believe it, Doris.              DORISWe both put food on this table, fella.          DEREKTrue enough. The point is...if Danwas walking across the street thatnight and Rodney King plowed into him--          DORISCan we forget about Rodney King forchrissake?!          DEREK     (fiercely continuing)--while hopped up on Chivas andP.C.P...you'd consider the force thosecops used to be justified!              DORISHe didn't hit anybody!          DEREKIf he did though! If that shitheadkilled Dan...you would have believedthe beating to be justified and sowould everybody else. But since hedidn't hit anyone...it's "Hands AcrossAmerica" for the son of a bitch.Derek takes a bite of food.          DEREKWe are still so hung up in this notionthat we have an obligation to help thestruggling black man and all youcontribute to it! Lincoln freed theslaves a hundred and thirty years ago!Get off your fucking asses!          STACEYI'm with you, honey. All the way.It's one...giant...ploy.                 DAVINAHere we go.          STACEYI mean...nobody likes Chief whateverhis name is, right?DAVINAGates.          STACEYYeah. So here comes this filthy pieceof garbage in his Hyundai. He pullsover in front of a perfectly lightedarea where a video camera is sittingthere...fucking waiting for him, man.What happens next? Chief Gates isdust. It's total--Davina drops her silverware on the plate with a clatterand looks at her mother. Everyone stares at Davina.          DAVINA     (to Doris)May I be excused please?          DEREKDon't interrupt, Davina.          DAVINAI didn't interrupt shit.          DEREKThe hell you didn't. I was listeningto Stacey and then I heard you.That's called interrupting. Wait 'tilshe's finished and you can be excused.              DAVINAWho the hell do you think you are?Derek jumps up from the table and grabs her by the backof the hair.  The table JOLTS and plates tumble to zhefloor.                                                                         DEREKYou don't know when to shut up.                 DORISDammit Derek!              MURRAYWhat are you trying to prove, man?!Derek turns and laughs at Murray.          DEREKI'm trying to teach my sister somerespect, Murray.          DAVI NALet go of my fucking hair!          DEREK     (to Murray)See! See the way she speaks! Tell meyou're gonna shut up and I'll let go.          DORISDerek!  Let go of her hair and sitdown!          DEREKI will when I hear an answer, Doris.Are you going to shut up, Davina?TIGHT ON DANNY. He gets up quickly and tries to pullDerek off. Derek turns and cracks Danny in the face witha BACKHAND, dropping him back into a cabinet. A crystalvase with flowers crashes to the floor, just missingDanny's head.MURRAYJesus!          DEREK     (to Danny)What are  you thinkin'? DORIS Danny?!  Are you okay?!Danny nods his head as everyone looks at Derek.          DEREKIt's a real easy question, Davina. Asimple yes or no will suffice. Tellme what I want to hear and I'll letgo.                 DAVINAFuck...you.Derek takes a piece of roast beef off her plate andshoves it in her mouth. Me holds the whole piece insideso she can't spit it out. Davina cries as she chokes onthe meat.          MURRAYShe can't breathe, Derek!                 DEREKStay back, both of you!  It's her bed,she's gotta lie in it.         (grabbing harder)You can cry all you want, Davina. I'mnot gonna let go until you tell mewhat I wanna hear! Are you going toshut that fat fucking mouth of your'sand let my girlfriend tell heropinion? Are you?!DORIS grabs him from behind and he aggressively turns onher. Derek curls his tongue behind his teeth and raiseshis arm like he's actually going to smack his mother.She grabs his arm though, forcefully.              DORISLet go of her hair and get out.Derek releases his grip on his sister and she spits theroast beef onto the floor. She runs into the backbedroom crying, choking and coughing.          DAVINA (O.S)I hate you, you fucking asshole!The door slams shut in the background.  Doris, Murray,Danny, and Stacey all stare at Derek.  Derek calmly faceshis brother.          DEREKYou okay?Danny nods.             MURRAY         (softly)Psycho.IN SLO MO--Time FREEZES as Derek slowly turns his headback to Murray. ON THE TRACK we hear a few keys beingtyped and then silence. A cigarette sizzles.CUT TO:INT. BEDROOM - DANNY THINKING - PRESENTHe takes a long drag off his cigarette and exhales. Heslowly runs his hands over his stubbly head, marveling atthe past.BACK QUICKLY TO:INT. DINING ROOM - TIGHT ON DEREK - FLASHBACK CONT.Derek smiles at Murray in wonder and disbelief.          DEREKWould you care to repeat that, Murray?I'm not sure I got all of it.          STACEY     (smiling)He called you a "psycho", honey.          DEREK     (smiling back)Was that it?    Thanks Murray.          MURRAYSee. Here we go again with this,Derek. Making me out to be the badguy again.              STACEYYou callin' me a liar, RosenKike?                 MURRAY(to Stacey)Hey goddammit! You talk to me withrespect or--!          DEREKOr what, Murray!? What're you gonnado? Give her fucking detention?                 DORIS          Both of you get out right now.Murray stares at Derek with pity.  Doris becomesemotional.         DORIS     (to Derek)Do you think you're the only one who'saffected around here?Derek focuses on his mother for a moment. A captivatedDanny watches and waits as Derek turns to Murray.          DEREKOut of respect for my mother...I'mgonna let that comment go, Murray. Iwon't bash your face in. But let metell you somethin'...man to fuckin'mouse here. Normally in a situationlike this I'd take my steel-tips toyour fucking Jewish temple. That goesfor anyone making comments about me,my family, Stacey, whomever. You knowand I know that I could crush thatpuny fuckin' skull of yours in asecond. So it's beyond me why youwould say something like that withoutbeing able to back it up? What'sworse, you sack of shit, is youcalling the woman I love a liar.              MURRAYI never said she was a liar.          DEREKWeasel like that again Murray...youfuckin' ponytail, pussy, bagel eating,teacher, faggot...and I'll cut yourshylock nose off. Make no mistake.Murray silently walks out of the house. Derek claps andsings the Jewish celebration song "Hava Naghila." Staceyjoins in and the two laugh. Doris goes after Murray.              STACEYMurray Rosenberg...International Jew.EXT. STREET - NIGHTMurray goes to his car and Doris follows.  Danny watchesfrom the door.          DORISHe's a stupid kid, Murray!  I'm sorry!          MURRAYHe's not a kid, Doris. We were kids.We didn't call people kikes.          DORISIt's just gonna take some time withhim. What can I do?          MURRAYYou don't know your children, Doris!You have no clue about the world theylive in. Your son is a terrorist.              DORISHe's not a terrorist, Murray.  Jesus!          MURRAYHe's a member of the Disciples ofChrist. You remember that grocerystore incident?!DORISMurray?          MURRAYMy sister and her two kids gotevacuated from her Temple in WoodlandHills!          DORISMurray! Please! Derek would neverhave anything to do with bombs, okay?!You don't know him like I do.                       MURRAY          And I wouldn't want to. Goodbye.Murray gets inside and goes down the street.INT. HOUSE - SAMEDANNY'S POV -- He watches Doris stand alone, her face inher hands, crying.BEHIND Dan a humiliated Davina storms towards Derek, nowwielding a BASEBALL BAT.DANNYDavina?Derek hears Dan and looks out of the corner of his eye.He spots her at the last moment.         DAVINATake this, you fucking dick!Derek pops up quickly, disarms her, and pulls her close.          DEREK Davina!  It's okay!  Calm down.  Please.                 DAVINAFuck you! Let go!          DEREK         (whispering in her ear)I'm sorry, Davina. Come on.                 DAVINALet go of me!                 DEREKCome on, Davina.  I'm sorry. I lostcontrol. Please.  I screwed up.Derek holds tight until the crying girl settles down.He's gripped as desperately by remorse as he was momentsbefore by rage. He kisses and repeats his apology overand over. Finally, she succumbs and puts her arms aroundhim. Derek looks to Danny.          DEREK     (hugging Davina)You guys are my life and I'd doanything for you. You do know that?          DAVINA     (wiping her tears)I don't believe you anymore.          DEREKI swear to God I would, Davina.Please.              DANNYI believe you, Der.Derek smiles at his little brother, lovingly.          DEREKDavina? Please forgive me.  Please.I'm sorry.          DAVINA     (nodding, after a beat)That fuckin' sucked, Derek.          DEREKI know it did. And I'm sorry.I just really hate that guy.                 DAVINAYou couldn't tell.A RAINSOAKED DORIS walks through the front door.          DORISFind an apartment because I want youout of here.              DEREKMorn, I'm sorry but that guy's--          DORISI don't wanna hear it anymore!  I wantyou out!              STACEYHe can move in with me.               DORISWhen?          STACEYTomorrow.           DORISGood.She walks past Derek and into the back bedroom.DISSOLVE TO:INT. BEDROOM - TIGHT ON DANNY'S EYES - PRESENTHe rises from the computer and PEEKS out the blinds. Thetwo cops supposedly watching Derek are now eating in thecar. One of them looks up. Danny flips the blinds down.From the other room, he hears Doris break into anothercoughing fit.INT. LIVING ROOM - DANNYHe sits beside her and hands her a glass of water.DANNYHere.                 DORISThank you, honey.She coughs, recovers, and sips. Danny walks away.                 DORISHey. Come here.  Sit with me.          DANNYI've got this thing to do.              DORISYou can sit down for two seconds.He looks at her and sits beside her.                 DANNYDon't breathe on me.DORISI won't.They share a smile.          DANNYIt's cold in here, no wonder yoursick.She stares and smiles at him for a few moments.DANNYWhat?          DORISWhat? I'm not allowed to look at youanymore?He smothers her face with his hand, jokingly.                 DANNYNo. You're not.          DORIS     (laughing)Daniel Patrick! Stop it! Are youever gonna let that beautiful hairgrow back?                 DANNYNope. Never.                 DORISI bet you will.He smiles and locks eyes with his mother for severalmoments. He finally rises and walks back to his room.                 DANNYGet some sleep.          DORISIf you need me to proof anything foryou I will.                 DANNYI'll be all right.              DORISWake up early if you get tired.Doris watches him disappear down the hall, distantthoughts creeping back slowly.INT. BEDROOM CLOSET - DANNYHe grabs a flannel and throws it on. He sees a cigar boxthat rests on the right shelf. He grabs it and looksinside. The rolled-up LA TIMES clipping reads "ProminentSkinhead Charged with Murder." The accompanying pictureof Derek is near evil.TIGHT ON HIS EYES.  Danny stares at the clipping.  ON THETRACK--GUNSHOTS.MATCH CUT TO:INT. BEDROOM WINDOW - THE EYES - FLASHBACKHe watches Derek fire his gun at the TRANS AM as itblazes down the street. He walks over to the wounded manon the lawn and points his weapon.                 STACEY (O.S.)Get on the floor, Danny!  Jesus!Danny looks down at her and hurries out of his room.EXT. HOUSE - TIGHT ON DEREKHe hovers over big Lawrence. Gun pointed steadily, hekicks him in the stomach over and over -- tongue pressedagainst teeth.  Hot air flows from Derek's breath andinto the cold.                       DEREK          You fucked with the wrong bull.                       LAWRENCE          Goddamn, man!Danny watches his brother from the front porch.                       DANNY         Let the cops handle it, Der!          DEREKFuck that. The cops will let himwalk.Derek grabs Lawrence and drags him to the CURB.          DEREKEver shoot at firemen, you fuck?     (then)Open your mouth and put it on thecorner of the curb. I'm gonna teachyou a little lesson.                 DANNYDerek!?              DEREKGet in the fucking house, Dan!Danny doesn't move.              LAWRENCECome on, man. Call an ambulance.          DEREKMy dad gave me that truck,motherfucker. Couldn't leave wellenough alone. Put your mouth on thecorner of the fucking curb!Derek cocks his piece and Lawrence complies--his teethnow scraping concrete. SIRENS sound from afar. Dannywalks out into the middle of the street to check it out.DANNYThe cops are comin' Der'                            Lawrence mumbles something unintelligible from hisoutstretched mouth.          DEREKWhat the fuck did you say?  You justthreaten me? Hunh? Hunh? Hunh?        DANNY(anticipating)No!Derek STOMPS his foot on the back of LAWRENCE'S head -completely tearing his jaw in half on the curb's corner.             DANNY     (crying)Holy fucking shit!  Derek!    What thehell was that for?!  Jesus!The two lock eyes. Derek does not flinch. Helicopterlights shine on the house. COP CARS SCREECH TO A HALT.DANNY'S POV. Two cops take cover behind their door, drawtheir guns, and shout instructions. Derek puts the gundown, puts his arms behind his head, and drops to hisknees. His eyes are remorseless.          DANNY (V/O)Joseph Conrad once wrote that "murderis always with us. It's almost aninstitution." That couldn't rang moretrue than with me.CUT TO:EXT. WET STREET - THE CRIME SCENE - LATERFIVE PATROL CARS, a FIRE TRUCK, TWO AMBULANCES, and athrong of terrified NEIGHBORS strangle the front of thehouse. Clothed and handcuffed, Derek is escorted fromthe house by two uniformed cops and RASMUSSEN.          DANNY (V/O)Bobby Lawrence died of massive headtrauma early that morning.Derek marches past the bodies -- which are being tendedto thoroughly.          DANNY (V/O)Six months after that...Derek wasconvicted and sentenced to seven yearsfor voluntary manslaughter...to beserved at the California StatePenitentiary in Chino.Rasmussen forces Derek's head down and he gets in thecar. He stares at his brother and sister as policelights flash on him. Then to Stacey. Finally, to alifeless Doris. They lock eyes as the patrol car takesoff down the street.          DANNY (V/O)Prosecutors wanted murder one for mybrother's torture method...but therewasn't enough "premeditated" evidence.CUT TO:OMITINT. BEDROOM - DANNY'S EYESThey clearly focus on the computer. HIGHLIGHTED is thesentence "There might have been if I testified." Onlywhen he hits the DELETE KEY does it disappear. Hecontinues typing.                   DANNY (V/O)               (continuing)          Over the next year we'd lose our house          and the rest of our father's pension          to attorney fees. My mother...much to          all of our surprise...stood by Derek.Danny's interrupted by a LOUD KNOCK on the front door.INT. FRONT HALL - DANNY'S POVHe looks through the PEEPHOLE and sees it's CHRIS ANDJASON. He sighs in relief and opens the door.                 JASONWe're here, dude.              CHRISDrop your dick and grab your stick.          DANNYI told you I can't tonight.              DORIS (O.S.)         (from the couch)Danny?                 DANNYIt's okay, Mom.The two punks laugh as Danny pushes them and their boards back to his bedroom.  He shuts his bedroom door.INT. BEDROOM - THE THREESOMEDanny looks at the two.              DANNYIf I don't finish this thing I'm dead.              CHRISJust tell 'em you'll do it tomorrow.You can't miss the party.              JASONFire pie Lizzy called and told us to grab your ass.              DANNYShe did?                CHRIS             (nodding)You gotta hit that shit.  It's the only fun thing that's legal anymore.The PHONE RINGS and Danny grabs it.                DANNYHello?INT.  DARK OFFICE - TIGHT ON SWEENEYThe only illumination shines through the window from the street.  Holding his briefcase, he stands over his deskphone, all packed up and almost out the door.              SWEENEYDan?                DANNY (O.S.)Yeah?                SWEENEYDr.  Sweeney.INTERCUT THE CONVERSATION                DANNY             (worried)What's going on?          SWEENEYNothing here. Is everything all rightover there?                 DANNYEverything's fine.                 SWEENEYHow's it comin'?          DANNYI'm doing it right now.                 CMRISWho is it, dude?          DANNY         (covering the receiver)It's Sweeney.          CHRISWho?! Why is he calling here!?  Fuckyou, Sweeney! Asshole!          JASON(grabbing the receiver)Get a fucking job, you reggie!Danny grabs the receiver back and yells at his friends.          DANNYYou fuckers are going to get mebooted!     (into the receiver)Dr. Sweeney? I'm sorry, man.          SWEENEYJust make sure it's on my desktomorrow, Danny.          DANNYIt'll be there, alright!?                 SWEENEYIt better be.Sweeney hangs up abruptly. Danny slams the phone on thehook, gives it TME FINGER, and looks at his friends.          DANNYLet's go.CUT TO:EXT. CAMMERON'S HOUSE PARTY - NIGHTA TRUCK sits across the street.INT. TRUCK - DEREK AND SETHThey sit in the car as a band JAMS from Cam's house.Shiftless Seth throws on a black CRO-MAG t-shirt andtosses his work shirt in the back. He wolfs down aburger as Derek rolls his foot on a basketball on thefloor.              SETHYou're an idiot if you ask me.              DEREKI'm not asking you.          SETHWhat if he writes something stupid andthat nigger turns you in? Jesus. Hedidn't testify, Der. They can usethat shit and re-try you.Derek takes a long stare at Seth, who devourshis burger.          DEREKSweeney's not gonna do anything, Seth.He helped get me released.Seth is a pathetic vision to Derek.  Derek stares at himfor several moments.                 DEREKI'm out, Seth.Seth wipes his mouth and casually meets eyes with Derek.          DEREKI'm only going to tell you this onceso pay attention. I'm done, Seth. Idon't want you to come near me...nearDan...I want you to leave my familyalone.Seth stares and laughs at Derek.                 SETHYou're serious.          DEREKI'm dead fucking serious. No morephone calls, no more visits, no morenothing.Seth doesn't know what to say.          DEREKWe don't exist as far as you'reconcerned, Seth.          SETHI can't believe I'm hearing this shitcome out of your mouth.          DEREKBelieve it, Seth. Believe it. Ispent over three years away from myfamily. My family, Seth. For what?          SETHFor your country, fuckhole, that'swhat. I'd do a hundred years before Ifelt like that.Seth gets out, slams the door, and walks to the party.                       SETH          You're a motherfucking traitor!Derek stares out the window and sighs.EXT. STREET - DEREK'S POVHe watches the house. Suddenly, Danny, Chris and Jasonskate up to the residence and follow Seth inside.                 DEREKWhat the--? Shit.INT. CAMMERON'S HOUSE - THE FRONT DOORCUT TO:DICK NIXON plays a punk version of WHITE CHRISTMAS asskins slam dance.EXT. CAMMERON'S BACK PATIO - A SKINHEADHis face is tattooed with crow's feet and prison ink.CASSANDRA, a frail, older, English woman with green hairand multiple piercings, approaches JASON at the keg.                 CASSANDRAYou're full of shit!              JASONIf he ain't here, he's comin'.INT. HOUSE - MORE SLAMMINGChris, Danny and Jason pound beer and huck DARTS at apicture of O.J. SIMPSON. Seth violently slams past thekids. Derek walks in.         CHRISYo!  What's up, Fat Seth!?Seth throws Chris against the wall.          SETHI'm not fat, cockwart!  I'm husky!              CMRISOkay! I'm sorry, bro!                 DANNYTake it easy, dude!Seth then grabs Danny hard by the shirt.  Chris and Jasonstare at him like he's gonna hurt him.                 DANNYWhat're you doin'?!              DEREKYour brother's a piece of shit!Seth sees Derek enter and he releases Danny. Seth mixesinto the party and SLAM DANCES into ten other skins.Danny follows Seth towards the keg.DEREK'S POV. He analyzes the crowd.  Quickly, Chrisrecognizes him.              CHRISHoly shit.  Father Vinyard!?                 JASONSon of a bitch.Derek looks at the two kids.          JASONI'm Jason and that's Chris! We'refriends with your brother!They stick out their hands but Derek prefers to check thescene.          CHRISYou're a fuckin' god, man!JASONNo shit!                 DEREKDo me a favor.  Grab Danny and getoutta here!The two boys look at each other and LAUGH.              CHRISWe just got here, man!                 DEREKYou what!?Chris looks at Derek like he's dead.              DEREKYou don't have any homework?!              JASONSchool doesn't exist anymore, Father.Derek stares at him, not really knowing what to do.          CHRISI wrote you. Two letters while youwere in there! Did you get them?!Derek ignores them and weaves his way through the crowd,causing many an individual to double-take. Chris andJason look on in wonderment.EXT. LARGE, OPEN SHED AREA - A CROWDTIGHT ON CAMMERON ALEXANDEr. The older, white trash skinfuriously bangs his sticks on the drums to the song.Cam's hair is still long but now he's got a swastikabetween his eyebrows like CHARLES MANSON. He wears TROYAIKMAN'S DALLAS JERSEY and a BLACK COWBOY HAT.DEREK'S POV. He pans right to check out the crowd. Aman pisses out the window. Then to a distinct woman.IT'S STACEY. Her head is now completely SHAVED but she'sstill gorgeous as ever. Derek indulges her for a fewmoments until he turns and walks away.  He bumps into agirl and knocks her drink.                 CASSANDRAExcuse fuckin' me!DEREKSorry.She smiles at Derek as the SONG comes to a close.CASSANDRADerek?          DEREKCassandra.          CASSANDRAOh my God! They said you might behere but I didn't fucking believe 'em!CURTIS, the M-16 on the side of his head perfectlyintact, walks by Derek. He walks past Derek with hisyoung son on his shoulders.          CURTISI hope what I heard ain't true, man.You better hightail it the fuck outtahere if it is.After a moment, Derek looks away and Curtis heads off.          CASSANDRAYou gotta chop that mop, Der!Cassandra lights a brown menthol cigarette.          CASSANDRA     (exhaling)Stacey's meandering around heresomewhere! Have you seen the bitch?!Derek shakes his head.              DEREKThe only person I've seen is Seth.CASSANDRAOh God.  I'm sorry.DEREK'S POV. He sees Cameron puts his arm around herand kiss her. Cameron sticks his hand down the back ofher pants, smiles, pulls it out, and licks his finger.Derek watches as Danny delivers a beer to Cammeron.  Caputs his arm around Dan and they go into the bedroom.Stacey looks at Derek and follows them.                 LIZZY (0. S. )Are you going in there?Derek looks down to see Lizzy and Kammi.          LIZZYCan you tell Danny that Lizzy'slooking for him?Derek can only stare at the girl's youth.INT. LARGE BEDROOM/OFFICE - A SHRINE TO HITLERDEREM'S PoV. He stands in the doorwell and listens.White Power paraphernalia cover the walls. Articles,posters, everything. The room has a bed, a couch, aglass coffee table and a desk with a computer on it.Organized stacks of papers, pamphlets and magazines arestrewn throughout the floor. Cameron sips a beer andtalks with Dan. Stacey listens in the background.              CAMMERONHe won't do anything'drastic I hope.              DANNYI gotta do that paper though.          CAMMERONI thought you already turned thatfucker in?          DANNYMy teacher cried to Sweeney, man.have to do another one.Cammeron laughs. CAMMERONOh man.  Fucking Sweeney.          STACEY     (chiming in)Meanwhile, niggers and spics do theirreports on Malcolm X and fucking FidelCastro.Cameron laughs again but then becomes quickly serious.          CAMMERONSweeney's got an agenda, Danny. Andit's all a load of crap. You hear me?He's all about brainwashing. Don'tget fucking fooled by it.              DEREK (O.S.)What the hell are you doing here, Dan?They all look over.          CAMMERON     (smiling)Hey. I was wondering when he wasgoing to show his face.Derek doesn't lift his eyes from Danny.          DEREKWhat did I tell you, Dan?              DANNYI had to check it out, Der.  Come on.                   CAMMERON          He'll be all right, Derek.Derek shoots Cameron a look and tries another way.                   DEREK          There's a redhead out there looking          for you. Go talk to her.Danny gets up and walks out. Cam looks to Stacey.                       CAMMERON         You go with.Derek seizes his brother with the eyes as he exits.  ThenStacey.                 STACEYWelcome back.He just closes the door on her.  Cammeron looks for hiscigarettes.          CAMMERONYou made it, man. When I heard theythrew you in General Population Ithought it was curtains.              DEREKIt wasn't too bad.          CAMMERONSo what's all this self-righteous,born-again shit I'm hearing then?Derek doesn't blink.  Cameron smiles and points to achair.                 CAMMERONHave a seat, Derek.  Relax.TIGHT ON CAMMERON. He sparks up a cigi to break Derek'suncomfortable stare.              CAMMERONHow was it in there with all thosefuckin' monkeys, man?  You're luckythey didn't kill you.          DEREKI agree.                 CAMMERONWho runs the place?  The monkeys orthe wetbacks?                 DEREKThe Mexicans.          CAMMERONIt's a fuckin' vacation for them inthere, hunh?          DEREKThey were really organized. I'll tellya...it was impressive. They--INT. HOUSE BATHROOM - DANNY AND LIZZYCUT TO:The two make out. She sits on the sink and wraps herlegs around him. They stop and smile at each other.                 LIZZYI like you.                 DANNYI like you, too.CUT TO:INT. CAMMERON BEDROOM - SAMEDerek and Cam converse over the coffee table.                 CAMMERONThey're fuckin' peasants, Derek.  Allof them.         (then)So what's up, man? I'm hearing a lotof shit about you.          DEREKBe careful with me, Cam. You don'tknow what's going on with me.              CAMMERONFuckin' talk to me then. We're familyhere. Let's work it out whatever itis.                                            DEREKI'm family, Cam? Is that why you cameto see me all the time up there?Cameron smiles but doesn't know what to say.          CAMMERONI had to distance myself from youafter that.          DEREKFuck you, Cameron. You're a fuckingchicken hawk...praying on kids.              CAMMERONI don't pray on fucking anyone.          DEREKNo. You fucking use them.  To filteryour insanity.Cameron smiles in disbelief.          CAMMERONYou and Danny are like brothers to me,Derek. Come on, man.          DEREKHe's not your brother, Cameron.  Allright? He's my brother.     (after a beat)You hear me, Cam?          CAMMERON     (exploding)Fuck you, Derek! Fuck you! Don'tthink you can threaten me with thisshit for a fuckin' second! I'm moreimportant to him now then you everwere.Derek EXPLODES. With his feet, he pushes the GLASSCOFFEE TABLE hard into Cammeron's knees. Cam screams inagony. Derek SLUGS him in the face and Cam RETALIATESwith two of his own. They wrestle around the room andpush their way into the BATHROOM.INT. TINY BATHROOM - DEREK AND CAMDerek takes Cam by his long hair and SMASHES his faceinto the mirror. IT SHATTERS. Derek follows with asolid punch to the kidney.                 DEREKYou gonna listen?!          CAMMERONI'm gonna fuckin' kill you.Derek bangs Cam's face against the mirror ONCE MORE.          DEREKShut the fuck up! You're gonna stayaway! That's what you're gonna do!Derek rinses Cam's bloody face off by PLUNGING it intothe toilet. He pulls him back up and they face themirror.          DEREKIt's over.Derek stares at him in silence. CAMMERON RETALIATES. Heforcefully backs Derek into the wall behind him. Hethrows two punches at Derek -- one in the stomach and oneto the face that opens his lip. He misses on his thirdand Derek gets the upper hand.BACK TO THE MIRROR. Derek prepares to crash Cam's faceinto the shards of glass one last time. The final blow.As Cam screams, Derek launches him forward then pullsback at the very last moment. Derek, noticing Cam'scondition, throws him into the tub.Derek throws him a towel, grabs one for his lip, andexits.EXT. SHED AREA - A GROUP OF 20 NAZI'SThey SALUTE the band and chant as they tune up foranother set. The singer inquires about his DRUMMER.Derek pushes his way through and spills a few beers cnthe way. Cassandra smokes a cigarette with a few randomskins as Derek passes by.                 RANDOM SKINHey Derek!?DEREKWhat?!CASSANDRA(exhaling)Jesus, Der.  What happened?CURTIS(psychotically)Where's Cammeron, man?!              DEREKI haven't seen him.Cassandra looks at him curiously and then focuses herattention to the bedroom.STACEY (O/S)Hey!Derek turns around and faces her.          DEREK         (pointing his finger)Stay away from me.              STACEYDon't point your fucking finger at me.              DEREKI'm serious, Stacey!  Stay away!She grabs and pulls on his shirt.          STACEYWhat are you gonna do?! Hunh?! Hitme?! Kick me as I roll on the fuckin'ground screaming?!     (then)That bullshit with Cammeron isnothing, Derek!                DEREKI don't care.Stacey looks deep into his eyes and can feel it.          STACEYGoddamn you, Derek! Those two niggersdeserved what they got. They deservedto die! And just like Cameron andSeth and a million others outthere...I'll believe that 'til the dayI fucking die. I will. Nothing willever change that either.Derek breaks from her grasp and walks away.EXT. PATIO - DEREM'E POVHe looks over to the kegs. Through the sliding glasswindow, he sees Seth taking a "tap hit" off the keg. Allthe guys in the b.g., INCLUDING DANNY, count and cheer.Seth sucks the tap while skins count in the background.Derek walks out and watches Dan pump the keg.                 ET ALForty-five! Forty-six!  Forty-seven...!Seth removes his mouth from the tap and belches like apig. All the guys laugh.          SETH     (grabbing Danny)Why the fuck did you pump it?! Icoulda gone for a minute at least!Danny looks over and meets eyes with a bloody Derek.  HeFREEZES while everyone turns to look Derek over.                 DEREKLet him go, Seth.Seth sees blood on Derek's face and shirt and takes amoment to identify the source. He draws his 9mm Barettaand points it at Derek's head from four feet away.                 SETHWhere's Cameron?Derek stares directly into the BARREL.          DANNY(frightened)Seth, man!? Come on!Seth puts the gun directly to Derek's cool head.          SETHI'd be doing America a great fuckingfavor, let me tell you.                 STACEYDo it, Seth.Seth glances at her and Derek quickly GRABS the pistol.A shot goes off and people hit the deck. Derek wrestlesthe pistol away and punches Seth in the STOMACH. Fallingto the ground in pain, Derek cracks him in the face oncemore and it's over.INT. CAM'S BATHROOM - CASSANDRA AND CURTISThey walk in and look at Cammeron, bleeding in the tub.Curtis pulls the METAL TOWEL HOLDER off the wall andstorms after Derek. Cassandra laughs.              CASSANDRAYou got fuckin' guests out there, Cam.EXT. PATIO - SAMEDerek tosses the gun over the fence and looks to Danny.          DEREKCome with me right now.He looks at his brother. He then sees Curtis and threeother skins come through the house. Derek stares at Danand hauls ass down the back alley.DANNY'S POV. Curtis arrives and tends to Seth ratherthan go after Derek. Confused and mildly embarrassed,Danny bolts back into the house to get his board.CUT TO:EXT. VENICE BLVD. - SLEEPING HOMELESSDanny passes them on his board as he conguers the cracksin the street at an incredible rate. He turns the tightcorner and cuts off a turning car. The man yells.Danny spots his brother walking twenty yards up on theleft-hand side of the street and crosses. Approachingquickly, he skates faster and faster as Derek nears a BUSSTOP BENCH. Hearing the board, Derek turns to face theclickity clack behind him.DANNY LUNGES FROM HIS BOARD AND TACKLES DEREE. The twocrash into the street as a car henks from the insidelane, barely missing the duo. Danny punches his brozherin the face.                 DANNYFucking asshole!Derek gets on top of his brother, spots a speeding carheading right for him, and pulls his brother to thesidewalk. Just in time.              DEREKWhat the luck are you thinking!?          DANNYWhat are you thinking!? Friends don'tfight friends, Der! They sticktogether!          DEREKThey're not friends, Dan!              DANNYWhat the hell are they then?!Derek picks his brother up and sits him on a BUS STOPBENCH.              DEREKJust sit there and relax for a second.          DANNYI don't wanna relax!  You looked likean idiot back there!Derek stares and sits next to him. Cars and homelessrandomly pass in the b.g. Danny looks at his brother,transfixed in thought.              DANNYWhat's happened to you, Derek?TIGHT ON DEREK. He looks into his brother's eyes.DISSOLVE TO BLACKNESS:INT./EXT. CHINO PRISON - ESTABLISHING SHOTSFILING OUT OF THE CELL.The morning drill. His roommate, an old Latino guy,right behind. Derek's eyes cast among the inmates,noting everyone and looking for a friendly face. Henotes a familiar tattoo, catches the guy's eye and nods.WALKING THROUGH THE CAFETERIA.Derek with his tray. A sea of tables divided by race. Hespots a tiny island of white guys at a distant table. Helooks at STEVIE THE LEADER, but gets a nod from the HUGEARYAN next to him. Derek moves to sit with them.A WIDE SHOT OF THE YARD.From a distance, he approaches the Aryan corner. Theycasually greet each other. Derek then looks over to theHUGE ARYAN from the cafeteria and to STEVIE MCCORMICK,the crazy looking leader. Derek walks over and shakestheir hands.CUT TO:INT. PRISON LAUNDRY ROOM - MORNINGDerek quietly folds towels with a young, chattering blackman.          YOUNG MANYou got lucky, man. I was in thekitchen for a year before making it inhere. Pots and motherfucking pans...disgusting beef stroganoff shit...boiling hot water...fuck that!     (looking over)My name's Lamont, man.Derek doesn't even look at LAMONT.  Stone cold, hecontinues folding.          LAMONTI got your back. Righteous whiteCracker with attitude. Just like theJudge who sentenced me, man.Lamont laughs but then becomes serious.         LAMONTIf your smart though you'll rememberone thing. You're the nigger in here.Not me.CUT TO:EXT. PRISON YARD - DAYDEREK'S POV. He sees Stevie McCormick conferring with aMexican gang leader.  The Mexican hands Stevie a jointthrough a handshake.Derek turns and talks to two white guys who seemimpressed. Stevie walks up and takes a hit off hisjoint.          STEVIEI was just talking about you.  You'reCammeron's boy?Derek turns and stares at him.          DEREKHis boy? No, I don't think so, man.I'm not anybody's boy.          STEVIEWell...you know what I mean.              DEREKNooo, I don't know what you mean.Derek and Stevie lock eyes.  Stevie sneaks a hit andoffers Derek.              STEVIEHere, man. Relax and have a hit.Derek stares at him.          DEREKNooo...how about you getting thatfucking shit awax from me?Stevie looks at him, ready to kill. The other two can'tbelieve Derek's gall. Stevie shrugs.          STEVIEYou got a problem, man?          DEREKExcuse me? Do I have a problem? No,I don't have a problem. Do you have aproblem?                 STEVIENo. I don't.Stevie stares at Derek and walks off. He turns backagain and he and Derek lock eyes. He walks back to hisgroup.              DEREKWho the fuck are you?Derek turns back to the other two and they are alreadywalking away. Derek looks at the two and back to Stevie.Stevie sits with HUGE ARYAN and says something to him.CUT TO:INT. PRISON LAUNDRY ROOM - EARLY MORNINGLamont in mid-conversation.              LAMONTBut I won't go down on that shit.  Noway, no how.   You ever been with asoul sister?Derek looks over and meets his eyes.Lamont sees this and laughs.Just for a second.                   LAMONT                 Oh shit! Sorry, man! Forgot who the                 luck I was talking to there for a                 second.               (after a beat)                 Let me ask you this one though cause I                 don't know the white man's take. You                 like eating pussy?Derek can't help but smile.          LAMONTOh man! You sick fucking bastard!You sick pig!                 DEREKAnd you don't!?  Shut up.         LAMONTMan...you don't know shit about thebrothers. We won't go down on thatshit if the bitch was holding a gun toour fucking head.Derek laughs and the two continue to converse.CUT TO:EXT. PRISON QUAD - DAYA group of White Aryans are gathered in the yard. Derekplays basketball with a mixed assemblage, includingLamont. Derek continues to look over every now and thenat Stevie and his group. Stevie suddenly smiles towardsDerek.Not understanding what it's all about, Derek turns'around. Standing there is HUGE ARYAN and his STOCKY FRIEND.. They proceed to beat the shit out of Derek right in the middle of the court. The players circle as Derek rolls on the ground. He gets bombarded with kicks and punches, a few even coming from randoms on the court.CUT TO:INT. LAUNDRY ROOM - MORNINGA beat-up Derek quietly folds. Lamont stays quiet.  Heglances over but knows Derek isn't in the mood.CUT TO:EXT. CAFETERIA - AFTERNOON LUNCHDerek looks over to the white table and they somethingamongst themselves. They break into laughter. Derekthinks about eating somewhere else, but there's nowhereto go. He walks BACK over to the white table and looksat STEVIE.                 STEVIEHow's your face, man?Everyone laughs. Derek sits and eats, his tail betweenhis legs.                 STEVIEThat'll teach you.  Don't be a prickto your superiors.CUT TO:EXT. NARROW PRISON CORRIDOR - LATE AFTERNOONStevie walks by himself and smokes a cigarette. He turnsa corner and standing there waiting for him is DEREK.Derek stares him down.                 STEVIEWhat do you want?          DEREKI'm right here, man. You wanna haveit out with me, let's go. Just me andyou though.          STEVIEMan...you are a stupid motherfucker.You know that? When are you--?Derek cracks him in the face and Stevie falls to theground.          DEREKStupid?! You have anything else tosay, you little pussy! Hunh?!         STEVIEFuck you!Derek kicks the man a few more times and takes off. Afew black prisoners laugh at Stevie from the PING PONGTABLE.CUT TO:INT. PRISON SHOWER - MORNINGDerek puts his head down under the warm water and closeshis eyes. From out of nowhere, he is slammed out offrame to the floor. HUGE ARYAN'and his STOCKY BUDDY fromearlier proceed to beat him. Bathers leave and after afew moments, Stevie's boys drop their TOWELS.              HUGE ARYANWell well well. A virgin.DISSOLVE TO:INT. SHOWER - LATERDerek lies on the tile floor, bloody and beaten.              HUGE ARYANYou ain't so tough now, are you?The two men smile at each other, kick him and exit.After a few seconds, LAMONT enters with the cart andpicks up dirty towels. He spots Derek laying on thetile.                 LAMONTMotherfucker. What now, man?He tends to Derek. He picks him up, throws him over hisshoulder, and carries him off.                   LAMONT         Shit, holmes.               (carrying him)         Hang on to me, man. You're heavy.INT. PRISON INFIRMARY - EVENINGDerek lies on a table, silent.  A Mexican DOCTOR examineshis ass.          DOCTORWell, you do have some tearing downhere. Christ. Okay. I'm gonna haveto stitch you up so I'll be back.    The doctor passes Dr. Sweeney on his way out. Derek hearsSweeney talk to the doctor and turns his head. The twolook at each other for a long moment. Sweeney sits downnext to him and puts his hand on Derek's shoulder. Derekfinally breaks down and sobs.CUT TO:INT. HOSPITAL - LATE NIGHTSweeney and Derek in mid-conversation.  A small lampshines off their faces.          SWEENEYHonor and loyalty run thick, Derek.Not skin color. Skin is thin. Idon't get you, man.  I don't.         (after a beat)I got my Doctorate in Education...notin medicine. But if you think babiescome into this world evil...you'refucked up, Derek. You're way to smartto believe that shit.     (then)There's nothin' more beautiful Derek,nothin' more pure, nothin' moreinnocent...than a baby.             DEREKThey killed my father, Sweeney.          SWEENEYJesus Derek. Use that brain God gaveyou for chrissake. What are you gonnado? Seek revenge your whole life andbecome a lifer in here. That's whatthese guys are like, you wanna be likethem? Fucking little boys in prison?Think, man. None of your guys backhome give a shit about you.     (after a beat)They only care about your brother.The new blood. And he sure as hellcan't take care of himself like youcould.Derek looks at the man with regret.          DEREKGet me outta here, Sweeney.Sweeney looks at the young man, heavily weighing hisoptions. The two lock eyes.CUT TO:EXT. PRISON QUAD - DAYDerek reads by himself on the cement stairs by himself.A shadow approaches from behind.              VOICEHow you doin', man?Derek turns his head and sees LAMONT standing there.          DEREKAll right.         (after a beat)How are you?          LAMONTI'm fucking incarcerated, man. With abunch of faggots. How you think I'mdoin'?Derek looks at the young man and can't help but laugh.Derek slowly gets up and limps past Lamont.          LAMONTWhat are you gonna do, man?Derek looks at him for a few moments, still shaken.              DEREKI'm not going to do anything.CUT TO:INT. PRISON VISITING ROOMHe looks through the window at his mother. Together theypick up the phone.TIGHT ON DEREK. He can feel her pain more than he canfeel his own. He forces a smile.DEREKHey Mom.DORISHello.The two sit there and stare at each other for a fewmoments.          DORISDr. Sweeney called me. He spoke witha guy on the parole board here.     (then)He thinks you might be getting outsoon.Derek nods and stares at his mother, broken.              DEREKHow are the others?          DORISDavina's good. UCLA Math major.     (frustrated)All three of you have always been sogreat in school. I wonder why allthis--              DEREKWhat about Dan, Mom?  How's he?          DORISHe's doing the same stuff you weredoing, Derek. Hanging out withCammeron, getting into trouble. Itbrings back a lot of sad memories.And I can't do anything...he won'tlisten to me. He needs you.Derek stares at his mother like it's the last thing hewanted to hear.                     DISSOLVE TO:INT. PRISON CHECK-OUT - DAYDerek gives back his prison garb. LAMONT APPEARS.Through the partition we see Derek say goodbye to Lamont:and walk out to his awaiting family.DISSOLVE BACK TO:EXT. STREET - NIGHT - PRESENTDanny tearfully stares at his brother, speechless.          DEREK     (after a long beat)You're my best friend, Danny. You'remy only friend. And I just wantwhat's best for you.The two rub heads as DEREK puts his arm around him.Danny squeezes back and Derek kisses him on the top ofthe head.                                                  CUT TO:EXT. APARTMENT BUILDING - THE COPSDanny skates up to the front gate and looks at them.                 COP #1How the hell...?Derek slaps the roof on the passenger side and scares thehell out of the officers.                 COP #2Son of a bitch.              DEREKPretty shitty assignment you got.              COP #1Out of respect for your father.          DEREKOh yeah? What the hell do you know-about my father?The two men sit there speechless as Derek walks over toan awaiting Danny.INT. VINYARD HOUSEHOLD - A SLEEPING DORISShe snores on the couch. The clock on the wall readseleven as the boys ENTER. Danny goes to his room whaleDerek heads for the girls in the living room. He genzlyshakes Davina.                 DEREKHey. Wake up.She looks at him, delirious.DAVINAWhat?                 DEREKTime for bed.INT. OPEN BEDROOM - DEREK'S POVDan types at the computer as Derek escorts Davina andDoris to bed.INT. DAVINA BEDROOM - SAMEDavina plops herself down and falls asleep instantly.          DORISGoodnight.                 DEREKGoodnight, Mom.CUT TO:INT. BATHROOM - LATE NIGHTDerek stares at himself in the mirror. A millionthoughts race through his head as computer keys echo inthe b.g. He looks at all of his tattoos and SCARS.TIGHT ON HIS UPPER BODY. He stares at the SWASTIKA onhis tit. He puts his hand over the tattoo to see whathe looks like without it. He turns on the shower andgets inside.129 INT. SHOWER - TIGHT ON DEREEAs he soaps himself down, the soap slips out of his handand sits on.the bottom of the tub. He looks at it a longtime before he bends over to pick it up. He immerses hisface into the shower faucet and thinks to himself.INT. BEDROOM - TIGHT ON DANNYHe sits back down at the computer and looks back at hisbrother as he dries off. Danny thinks to himself andtypes a sentence.          DANNY (V/O)There was only one person who lovedDerek more than me.DISSOLVE TO:INT. VINYARD HOUSEHOLD - MORNING - FLASHBACKThe place is immaculate. DENNIS VINYARD, the father ofthe household, eats his breakfast in his LA COUNTYFIREFIGHTER UNIFORM. Vintage fireman material:muscular, receding hairline, zero facial hair. Handsome.A pretty and well-dressed Doris SINGS while she scrambleseight eggs with mushrooms and peppers.          DANNY (V/O)That was Dad. They were best friendS.Fathers and sons are never bestfriends...but they were..YOUNGER DANNY stares at his larger-than-life father witha cap turned backwards. Doris breaks from song and yellsto the back.          DORISBreakfast!              DENNISOkay! Let's go, Davina! Derek!              DORISSo what's this all about, Dennis?Dennis doesn't hear because his attention is on Danny.YOUNGER DEREK, donning a flat-top haircut and no tattoos,walks into the kitchen. The smiling athlete has hisbackpack and blue VENICE HIGH gym bag. He drops it allonto the ground and sits at the table.                 DENNISGood morning.                 DEREKGood morning.Doris sets food in front of her two sons and they both goto work. Young Danny eats quietly.              DORISWhat about this gang stuff?          DENNISJesus Doris...it's not that big of adeal. All departments have to take aprecaution class on gang patrol today.          DEREKWhat for?          DENNISA guy was shot yesterday inInglewood...changin' a valve on ahydrant. LAPD is worried that morefirefighters will become targets.That's what this bullshit is about.     (sipping his coffee)A good father this guy was though andnow he's in intensive care because ofsome goddamn--! They've pretty muchdeclared war on LAPD and us.          DORISWhy you guys though? I can see thembut the fire department?          DENNISThey think we would rather let abuilding burn down over there thanfight it. So now we got two fightsgoin' on at one goddamn time.Dennis takes a bite of his eggs and explodes.          DENNIS         (to the bedroom)Dayins! Get in here!              DAVINA (O.S.)I'm coming right now! Jesus!          DENNISI'll tell you one more thing. This"affirmative blaction" shit is drivingme up the fucking wall. Firefightersgettin' 99's on their tests whilerappers who score a goddamn 62 walkaway with the job.         DANNYDon't we have to have "affirmativeaction?"              DENNISNot when a job requires ability.  No.          DORISA lot of people say otherwise, Danny.Including me.          DENNISA lot of people don't know shit,either.Doris just stares at the back of her husband's head likeshe wants to smack it. He turns back and disarms herwith a look.          DENNISIf I'm fightin' a brush fire...surrounded by thousand degreeflames...who would I want watchin' myback? A guy who scores a 99 or a guywho scores a sixty?     (then)You don't see half the NBA withwhites, gooks and spics.          DORISNooo...what you don't see areminorities on the boards of Fortune500 companies cause whites won't standfor it.          DENNISDoris! I'm tired of your damnargument! You sound like an idiot!          DEREKSweeney actually had a pretty goodtake on affirmative action the otherday.          DENNIS     (smiling)Really? I didn't know you spoke"African", Derek? Where'd you learnthat shit? Johannesberg?Dennis laughs and Derek eventually smiles. Danny looksat them, not really understanding. Doris stares downDennis.          DORISHoney? Please don't speak that way.They don't--          DENNISHow am I speaking, Doris!? Hunh?!I'm speakin' fineP     (quickly to Derek)Hey. Don't let that him confuse youover there, Derek. Look at me. Thisshit he's pulling is a load of crap.Hey. Look at me, Derek. I mean it.If we keep givin' niggers everything,there'll be nothing left for us.Derek and Danny stare at their father, not knowing how toreact.          DORISYou can be a stupid son of a bitchsometimes.              DENNISAnd then we have naive fools like her.          DORISI really hate you with a passion sometimes.An upset Doris exits the room past YOUNG DAVINA.  Dennislooks to Derek.              DENNISYou know what I mean though, right?        DEREK(nodding)Yeah.          DAVINA         (to the family)Good morning.She sits.Her lips glare excessively this morning.          DENNISWell...good morning, Miss Monroe!     (smiling)Look at you. You look like a star.          DEREKI like that color, Davina.DAVINAThanks                 DENNISYou did like it.Dennis reaches over and wipes it off with his napkin.                   DAVINA              (whining)         Come on, Dad.          DENNISYeah. Well you're lucky I'm lettingyou wear that crap on your eyes. Ilove you but you're too young.                 DAVINAThat sucks, man.          DENNISIt totally sucks. And we allsympathize with you, too.Everyone laughs but Dan, still shaken over his mother.          DENNIS         (Shifting to Danny)You got practice today?Danny shakes his head no.                 DANNYCoach's sick.              DENNISYou wanna go to Der's game with me?DANNYSure.          DENNIS     (quickly to Derek}Santa Monica High tonight, right?DEREKYep.          DENNISPerfect.     (to Danny)Ben'll whip us up a couple of doubledeckers and we'll head over.        DANNY(smiling)Okay.Dennis smiles, reaches over with a fatherly hand, andmesses up his hair.BACK QUICKLY TO:INT. BEDROOM - DANNY - PRESENTHe stops typing and almost cries. He leans back in hischair and and stares himself in the side mirror. Hefeels his bald head, almost exploring.CUT TO:EXT. BEN'S BURGER SHOP - LATE NIGHTA white homeless man in an ARMY JACKET sits outsidebegging for change. Seth and Cameron, both beat-up,drunk and bloody, stare at the man.          HOMELESS MANSpare change for a cheeseburger?              SETHGet a job and buy one why don't you.                 HOMELESS MANGod bless you.          SETHFuck you.Seth stumbles into the shop.  Cam stares at the homelessman, psychotically.                 HOMELESS MANFifty cents is all I ask.Vietnam, man.I was in          CAMMERONReally? So you've had what? Thirtyyears to get your shit together?          HOMELESS MANAll I want is something to eat.          CAMMERONThere are plenty of fuckin'dishwashing jobs out there, Vietnamboy. Go get yourself one.In the background, BEN THE OWNER and Seth shake hands.                 HOMELESS MANDid I do something?          CAMMERONYou're a disgrace to the white race.If Adolf Hitler was alive...God blesshis soul...he would have you shot.          HOMELESS MANFuck you then. Now and forever.  Fuckyou.Cameron knees the weaker man square in the face. Theman slopes down to his side, unconscious. As anafterthought, Cameron kicks him several more times.                 CAMMERONNoooo. Fuck you.QUICKLY TO ACROSS THE STREET. Little Henry and two ofhis friends watch Cammeron's brutality from their bikes.They turn in the opposite direction and hurry off.INT. BURGER SHOP - CAMHERON AND SETHCUT TO:Seth eats a burger and chili fries at the same time.Cameron smokes across from him and watches Seth eat likea pig. He takes a look at the homeless man outside whostill lays motionless. Cam feels his BANDAGED FACE.              CAMMERONI think I need to go to the hospital.                 SETHSeriously?          CAMMERONI don't know. I think so.                 SETHWhere's Stacey?                 CAMMERONWho gives a fuck?Seth takes a bite and chews.               SETHDerek's a fuckin' traitor pussy.         CAMMERONWell...we might be pussies too if wegot treated the way he did.                 SETHWhat do you mean?          CAMMERONStevie McCormick called...old schoolVenice bro. He's at Chino...doin'life. He hated Derek.     (exhaling)Said he was a fucking blow-up doll inthere.          SETH         (overwhelmed)Fucking A.Seth continues to eat.  Cammeron looks out the window andhates what he sees.              CAMMERONOh Christ. You gotta be kidding me?SETHWhat?CAMMERON'S POV. A large, mature and sharp-looking BLACKMAN helps A BEAUTIFUL BLOND out of a RED BMW. THEY KISS.Cammeron is at a loss for words. Cam puts out hiscigarette as the couple ENTERS.          CAMMERON     (looking at the two)Is there anything sacred in thiscountry anymore? Jesus Christ. Hey.Stop feeding your face for a secondand look behind you.Seth turns his head and stares at the interracial couple.He turns back to Cam and sings a verse from the famousatevie Wonder song, EBONY AND IVORY. Cameron laughs.The black man turns and looks at the two.          CAMMERONCan we help you with something? Doyou have any questions about the menu?                 BLACK MANNo questions.          CAMMERONI recommend either the "Big BenBurger" or the "Chicken Taco Special."Ben'll replace the dark meat with thewhite meat if you ask nicely.          BLACK MAN     (fed up)What's your problem, pal?          CAMMERONI ain't your fucking pal first of all.Secondly...I don't have problems.People who luck with me have problems.              WHITE GIRLCome on. Let's get out of here.          CAMMERONHey! What a great idea! You got aclever little whatever it is there.I'd listen to it if I were you.                 BLACK MANYou're not me.          CAMHERON     (smiling)And I thank God Almighty every day forthat, believe me.                 SETHExcuse me? Tyrone?          BLACK MANMy name's not Tyrone either.SETHWhatever.  Why can't you stick to yourown race?          WHITE GIRL     (disgusted)Jesus Christ! Where do you assholescome from?!          CAMMERONWhat the luck difference does it makewhere we come from, bitch? I'm from aplace called America. A place thatused to be a nice place to live beforeit became fuckin' Africa-America.               BLACK MANYou ignorant mother--Seth quickly gets out of his chair and makes his guntotally visible to the couple.          SETHYou got a fuckin' death wish, asshole?Do you? Make your move now if you do.If you don't...get the luck out of mysight. Cause I'm real close toshoving my piece up your girlfriend'sstinky pussy.The black man stares at the gun sticking out of Seth'sbelly. He grabs his girlfriend and walks out of thejoint. Seth sits back down and the two laugh. Cameronlooks over at Ben and raises his hands in the air.          CAMMERON     (smiling)Everything's hunky dory, Ben!  Noproblemo. Only us white folk.CUT TO:INT. BEDROOM - A DIGITAL CLOCKIt reads 2:36 a.m. Shiftless Derek lifts a sleepingDanny off the computer keyboard. He helps him into thebottom bunk, tucks him in, and watches him snooze.             DEREK     (softly)Did you "save" it?An asleep Danny nods. Derek slowly walks back into thebathroom to grab his towel off the floor. He looks athis SWASTIKA TAT in the mirror and sighs to himself. Heturns off the light and exits.CUT TO:INT. BURGER JOINT - SETH AND CAMMERONSeth finishes his display of gluttony.          CAMMERONIt wouldn't irritate me so much if theratio was a little more even.                 SETHWhat's that?         CAMMERON       (going mad)Ebony and Ivory back there! Almostall of those orange kid relationshipsare black man and white women and I'mfucking sick of seein' it! I wouldn'tmind so much if it were more even.                 SETHHuge dicks, Cam.  That's all it is.          CAMMERONI used to think that too but...it'sgotta be more, man. It has to be morethan the fact they they carry a bigload. Chicks aren't that shallow, arethey? It's politically correct...that's what it is. Whitewomen...bein' seen with thecoloreds...it's great for their image.Bitches today want to be known asbein' fuckin' color blind.              SETHThey get off on it.              CAMMERONAnd you can't really blame Tyrone.                 SETHWhy the fuck not?          CAMMERONWell...how'd you like to drag aroundsome fat fly girl? I wouldn't.          SETHNo shit.     (imitating)Oh go girlfriend! Don't be puttin' upwid dat, girl! Oh stop girl!Seth and Cammeron laugh and head outside--leaving a messon the table.EXT. ACROSS THE STREET - THE CHEROKEE FROM EARLIERThe white vehicle gets passed by cars left and right.INT. CHEROKEE - HENRY'S POVHenry sits up front with JEROME, nervous and scared.  Thethree thugs in back lock and load.                       LITTLE HENRY          You gonna waste 'em?                       JEROME          Only if we have to.Jerome grabs a baseball bat and they quietly get out.INT. VAN - TIGHT ON LITTLE HENRYMe bites his nails and watches the foursome sneak up onan oblivious Seth and Cammeron.EXT. GRAVEL PARKING LOT - HENRY'S POVThe men close in. Seth and Cam are blind to it.  Jeromeraises the bat as they close in and we--FADE TO:INT. BATHROOM - EARLY MORNING - BIRDS CHIRPINGDanny stares at himself in the mirror and tries to findsome stubble on his chin.INT. BEDROOM - A SLICK DEREKHe stares into the mirror in a coat and pants.  Dannyrushes to get his things together.          DANNYI'm printing it up and we're out ofhere.          DEREKHurry up.Derek walks out into the living room.INT. MESSY LIVING ROOM - DORISShe's on the couch watching cartoons. She takes a jar ofVick's Vapor Rub and puts some on her chest. Derek walksin the room, bends over and kisses her on the forehead.Davina sits on the couch and writes. Derek just smiles.              DORISWow. What happened?              DEREKI gotta see my parole officer.              DAVINAHey Der? Do you have Excel on disk?             DEREKI've got everything on disk.Davina smiles and walks into the back bedroom.  Dorislooks at Derek.                 DORISYou look good.Derek smiles and caresses his mother's cheek.          DEREKWe're getting out of here soon.  Isthat okay with you?          DORISI'd love it.     (after a beat)Do you think I should color my hair?DEREKYes.He sits beside his mother and enjoys the moment.  Hethinks to himself.          DORISI'm glad you made it back. I wasn'ttoo sure I was going to see you again.You know how I get.Filled with regret, he nods.          DEREKYou think you'll be able to forgiveme? Someday maybe?              DORISYou're my son. Of course I will.Derek smiles and can't believe his tearful reaction.              DEREKLook at me. I'm such a pussy.                 DORISNo you're not.CUT TO:EXT. VENICE BLVD. - A NEWSPAPER MACHINEDerek plunks a quarter down the slot and removes a copyof the LA TIMES. Danny continues to skate ahead of him.Sensing danger, Derek looks back behind him. With no onein sight, he walks into a doughnut shop.INT. DOUGHNUT SHOP - DEREK'S POVHe takes a guarded look outside. Everything seemsnormal. A bus drives by. A group of Mexican laborers,dressed for work and smiling, walk past in the otherdirection.Inside, a black woman orders a dozen doughnuts from ashort Korean.man behind the counter. Her young daughtergrabs her leg. Danny sits down and reads Derek's paper.                 DEREKWhat do you want?              DANNYMaple bar and a...large milk.Derek smiles at the little girl while he waits. Shewanders from her mother's leg and over towards Derek.          DEREK         (to the girl)You look pretty.She laughs.          TISHAThank you.                 DEREKHow do I look?       BLACK GIRL(bashfully)Fine.DANNY'S POV. He looks up from the paper.  He watches thegirl together with his brother.                 DEREKWhat's your name?BLACK GIRLTisha.         DEREKHow old are you, Tisha?She holds up four fingers. Derek smiles.         BLACK MOTHER         (staring at Derek)Come here, Tisha.Tisha returns to her mother and they quickly exit. Derekwatches the girl as she continues to stare at him as theymake their way down the street.Outside, a BLUE FORD screeches out front. Rasmussen andthe Young Mark Fuhrman type from earlier get out andwait. Dr. Sweeney meets the duo and together they walkinside.                 DEREKWhat's goin' on?              SWEENEYWe need to talk, Derek.              DEREKHow'd you find out I was here?              SWEENEYWe were just at your apartment.          RASMUSSENCammeron and Seth are in the ICU atSt. Johns, Derek. They were jumped infront of Ben's Burgets early thismorning.Derek thinks to himself for a few more seconds.          DEREKHow bad?          RASMUSSENThey'll live.     (then)They must have been looking forsomebody else.Derek stares at Rasmussen and walks away.Sweeney, who knows to walk over to him.He eyesTIGHT ON SWEENEY AND DEREK. The two lock eyes.         SWEENEYAre they coming after you?          DEREKFuckin' A.Sweeney sighs.          SWEENEYI don't know.     (after a long beat)You might have to talk to your oldcrew though.Derek looks over and analyzes the innocence of hisbrother.              DEREKI can't, Sweeney.                 SWEENEYTry, Derek. Okay?Derek senses the danger in his voice.       SWEENEYOkay?  Before it explodes.Sweeney walks away and then turns back to Derek.                 SWEENEYAnd watch your back.Derek nods.          SWEENEY(back to Danny)You showing up today?Danny looks at Sweeney and nods his head yes.SWEENEYGood.CUT TO:EXT. VENICE HIGH - DEREK AND DANNYThey are outside the fence surrounding the field.Students head off to morning class.        DEREKHey. Keep your head up, alright?  I'm going to take care of this.DANNYHow?          DEREKI don't know. I'll figure it outthough. You gonna be okay?DANNYYeah.The two stare at each other as THE BELL RINGS.              DANNYI gotta turn that paper in.Danny hops the fence with his backpack on. He looks backat Derek. Cops #1 and #2 sit in their car in the b.g.DEREKHey.DANNYWhat?          DEREKCome here.Derek puts his hand over the fence. Danny walks up andclasps it -- FINGERS INTERTWINED. Derek wants to say onething but something else comes out.              DEREKI'll see you at home.Danny smiles at his brother and nods. Danny puts his earphones on and heads to class. Derek watches his brotherthrough the chain-link fence. Danny meets up with Lizzyand they soon disappear from Derek's sight. Derek turnsand walks down the street.          COP #1You need a lift anywhere?DEREKNope.Derek stops in his tracks, walks back over to the fence,and stares at the school.INT. MESSY HALLWAY - DANNY AND LIZZYStudents rush past them. Danny kisses Lizzy and shehurries off to class. He pushes on the men's room door.INT. SCHOOL BATHROOM - SAMEDanny enters, sets his "AMERICAN HISTORY X" PAPER on topof the sink, and takes an unearthly long piss at theurinal. He finishes, flushes and turns.Standing there is LITTLE HENRY. A GUN IN HIS HAND.                 DANNYJesus Christ.  What are you doing,Henry?          LITTLE HENRY     (afraid)What does it look like I'm doin'?                 DANNYCome on, man, no.  You don't want todo this. Come on.  Henry?THE DOOR SMACKS OPEN and Danny moves to grab the pistol.It discharges and a bullet rockets into Danny's chest.He SLAMS back into the URINAL and gasps for air. Theforce of the pistol knocks Henry to the ground. The twokids who just entered bolt for help.Danny slides to the tile, leaving a bloody trail. Thetwo stare at each other - EYE TO EYE. THE BLOODSTAINEDPAPER falls into the DAMP SINK. Danny inhales like glassis raking his lungs.              LITTLE HENRY         (terrified)Danny?Danny's breathing slows to a choked whisper.  He blinks,coughs, twitches. And dies.                       LITTLE HENRY         Vinyard? Danny?Henry watches teary-eyed with the same altered look Derekhad after killing Lawrence. Together they FREEZE on thecold tile floor.CUT TO:INT. HALL AT VENICE HIGH BATHROOM - YELLOW POLICE TAPEOfficers and detectives monitor the area. Youngstudents, including Lizzy and her friends, stand aroundand cry. Rasmussen brings THE BLOODY PAPER over toSweeney. Sweeney looks at it for a moment but isinterrupted.          RASMUSSENHe won't let go. Will you talk tohim?INT. BATHROOM - TIGHT ON DEREK AND DANNYDerek cradles his bloody brother. Sweeney walks over,crouches, and talks to Derek's back.         SWEENEYDerek? You gotta let him go, man.They gotta get him outta here.DEREKI can't.Derek begins to cry outright. He can't control himself.He lets go of Danny's corpse and charges out into thehall.INT. HALLWAY - DORIS AND DAVINADerek embraces them. Doris grabs his face -- tornbetween love and hate. Guilt-ridden, Derek tears fromthem and storms down the hall with Sweeney soon in tow.          SWEENEYDerek! I know what you're thinkin'right now and I want you to forgetabout it!          DEREKHow the luck do you know what I'mthinkin', Sweeney!?          SWEENEYCause I'm thinkin' the same damnthing!Drowning in rage, Derek turns back to a misty eyedSweeney.              DEREKThey shot him in a fucking...pisshole!          SWEENEYAnd goin' after them won't bring himback. Don't do it, Derek. Please,man. You've come too far. The war isover.Derek contemplates the situation and presses his tongueagainst his teeth, crackbrained. Sweeney slowlyapproaches and cautiously wraps his arms around the youngman. Derek buries his tearing face in Sweeney'sshoulder.              DEREKIt stops now, Sweeney.Sweeney nods and the two lock eyes. Derek makes his wayback to Doris and Davina and together, they grieve.              DANNY (V/O)We've heard it a million times, aBible quote become cliche: "Vengeanceis mine, sayeth the Lord."DISSOLVE TO:INT. SCHOOL BATHROOM - DANNY AND HENRYA still of the two immediately after the murder. We movein tighter and tighter until we get close on Danny.          DANNY (V/O)Vengeance brought about by hate...andfear. When it points its head in ourdirection, we take notice andeverything changes. The way we chooseour friends, the way we protect ourfamilies, the way we create enemiesout of strangers.     (then)Welcome to America.TIGHT ON DANNY'S EYES. They are gently pushed shut byHenry's two small BLACK FINGERS.THE END</NOSCRIPT></TITLE><SCRIPT LANGUAGE="JavaScript"><!--Ad Bannerfunction popupPage() { var windowopts = "location=no,scrollbars=no,menubars=no,toolbars=no,resizable=yes,left= 50,top=50,width=490,height=130"; popup15796 = open('/prohost/banner.html',"MenuPopup",windowopts); popup15796.focus();}popupPage();//  Ad Banner--></script>
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+                           AMERICAN HUSTLE                             Written by               Eric Warren Singer and David O. Russell    TITLE CARD: SOME OF THIS ACTUALLY HAPPENED    OVER BLACK: APRIL 26, 1978, PLAZA HOTEL, NEW YORK1   FADE IN:                                                        2   INT. PLAZA HOTEL WINDOW NYC - DAY                                   IRVING ROSENFELD, not a small man, gets dressed and    meticulously constructs his combover. Camera WRAPS AROUND,    see his hands with rings adjust his dark velvet suit, up to    his face, serious, concentrated, intense, he is composing    himself before a performance.    Irving is now dressed, ready, and walks down the hall to    another room.3   SECOND PLAZA HOTEL ROOM    Irving composes himself -- looks         into cramped surveillance closet, there are FBI Agents -- we    only see their hands and arms -- he looks at monitors -- sees    a BLACK AND WHITE IMAGE OF ANOTHER ROOM ON MONITOR: MAYOR    CARMINE POLITO, swath of salt and pepper hair, cream suit,    pinky ring, Rotary Club pin -- ALONG WITH CARL ELWAY, preppie    shady businessman.    He exhales pressure, turns as CAMERA PANS TO: SYDNEY PROSSER    (who will also be known for some time as EDITH GREENSLY),    stylish crafty smart. They stare at each other intensely --    they have a deep and emotional relationship. A DOOR BANGS    OPEN, and in walks RICHIE DIMASO, Bronx-born. He stands    there.                         RICHIE DIMASO               What are you doing, going behind my               back? Telling people I'm screwing               up this operation? I got you a               suite at the fuckin' Plaza Hotel!                         IRVING ROSENFELD               The shittiest suite at the Plaza               Hotel.                         RICHIE DIMASO               What?!                         IRV ROSENFELD               The shittiest fuckin' suite.                         RICHIE DIMASO               Based on what--?                                       2.                         IRVING ROSENFELD               And the food is wrong, and--What is               this? You, like, went in my closet               or something?                         EDITH GREENSLY               No                         IRVING ROSENFELD               Are you dressing him like you're               dressing me now?                         EDITH GREENSLY                   (shakes her head)               No, what are you thinking? This               isn't all about you, you know that.                         RICHIE DIMASO               What, did you try to dress me so I               would look like him?                         EDITH GREENSLY               No, you're not dressed like him,               all right?                         RICHIE DIMASO               But I do, I look like him.                         EDITH GREENSLY               No, he's in like, velvet. Come on.                         IRVING ROSENFELD               You asked me to show you how this               was done, you wanna fuck it up be               my guest.                         EDITH GREENSLY               What is your problem?                         RICHIE DIMASO               Hey, look, I never laid a hand on               her, all right? Is that what this               is about?                         EDITH GREENSLY                        (British accent)               Well technically, that's not true.                         RICHIE DIMASO               Look, we never had sex ok? I just --                                                            3.                    RICHIE DIMASO (CONT'D)               What'd I do? I put my hand like               this --    Richie reaches out and puts his hand on Irving's face very    carefully, not forcefully.    Irving swipes it away violently the second it touches his    face.                    IRVING ROSENFELD          Don't you fucking touch me. That          bothers me --                    RICHIE DIMASO          Oh it does?                     IRVING ROSENFELD          Oh yeah.                    RICHIE DIMASO          That bothers you?                     IRVING ROSENFELD          Yes.                    RICHIE DIMASO          You know, a lot of shit bothers me          too, but I was trying to help you.          If I wanted to bother you, if I          really wanted to fucking bother          you, this is what I'd do.    Richie takes his hand and destroys the combover Irving spent    so much time creating. Irving just stands there, hair ruined,    staring at Richie.                    IRVING ROSENFELD          You shouldn't have done that.    Irving just stands there staring at Richie, hair all wild and    messed up looking very angry.                    RICHIE DIMASO          How's that? You bothered now? (no          answer) Alright, don't make a thing          of it.                     EDITH GREENSLY          You shouldn't touch him. He doesn't          like that.                                                                4.                        RICHIE DIMASO              Oh my god, fix his hair. Don't make              a thing of it.                        EDITH GREENSLY              It takes some time, ok.    Edith walks over to Irving who is still standing there in    silence with his hair all over the place. She carefully    starts helping him put it back together.                        RICHIE DIMASO              Big fucking deal. We got to get in              the other room, come on. The              mayor's in there.                        EDITH GREENSLY              Yes I know that.                        RICHIE DIMASO              Should we go to the beauty parlor?              Is that what we should do?    Richie walks over and opens up a briefcase that's sitting on    the dresser. Inside are stacks of cash.    Edith is still helping Irving put his hair back together.                        IRVING ROSENFELD              How's it look.                        EDITH GREENSLY              You look fine.    Richie slams the briefcase shut looking very nervous and    intense.                          RICHIE DIMASO              Let's go.                                                      CUT TO:4   STEELY DAN'S "DIRTY WORK" STARTS ON THE SOUNDTRACK AS THEY       4    WALK DOWN THE HALLWAY THREE ACROSS: IRVING, EDITH, RICHIE.    RICHIE WITH BRIEFCASE IN HAND.5   INT. PLAZA HOTEL SUITE FOYER - DAY                               5    SLOW MOTION -- DOUBLE DOORS PUSH OPEN AND Edith ENTERS THE    SUITE -- THEY WALK INTO --                                                                5.6   INT. PLAZA HOTEL LIVING ROOM - CONTINUOUS                        6    DRAMATIC PUSH IN ON: THE DESTINY OF THE STORY MAYOR CARMINE    POLITO PINKY RING, ROTARY CLUB PIN STANDS FINISHING STORY TO    BUSINESSMAN CARL ELWAY AS IRVING, EDITH, RICHIE WAIT FOR HIM    TO FINISH -- THEY ALL SHAKE HANDS AND SIT ON THE COUCH ACROSS    FROM EACH OTHER. RICHIE CAREFULLY SETS THE BRIEFCASE DOWN ON    THE GROUND NEXT TO HIS FEET. CUT TO THE SCENE AS VIEWED    THROUGH A SURVEILLANCE MONITOR. THE DATE AND TIME STAMP    VISIBLE.                        CARMINE POLITO              I thought he was going to be here.              I do business face to face, person              to person. That's just who I am.    Richie reaches down and awkwardly slides the briefcase over    to Carmine unprompted. LEAVE MONITOR'S POV AND RETURN BACK TO    THE SCENE.    IRV'S EYES WIDEN AS IN `NO! DON'T DO THAT!' WHILE HE AND    RICHIE STARE AT EACH OTHER, EDITH TENSE, CARMINE LOOKS    DISTURBED AT THE CASE COMING HIS WAY. HE STANDS ABRUPTLY.                        CARL ELWAY              Whoa, excuse me, excuse me. I'll              handle that for the Mayor.                        RICHIE DIMASO              No, it's for the Mayor. It would be              a sign of disrespect to the sheik              if the mayor didn't take it              himself. It's for you Mayor.    Carmine looks angry and confused. He looks over to Carl.                        CARMINE POLITO              What are you doing? What-- (to              Carl) Carl, what the fuck? What is              this?                        CARL ELWAY              No, I'll handle it. I'm gonna take              care of-- Everything's good. I              got everything under control. (TO              RICHIE) That's for me. I handle all              that for mayor.                        CARMINE POLITO              What is this?    Irving looks over and says nothing. Not surprised at all how    badly this is all going.                                                         6.Edith whispers to Richie.                    EDITH GREENSLY          (whispers to Richie)          Just stop it, ok                    RICHIE DIMASO          (whispers to Edith)          He's gotta take it himself, okay?                    CARMINE POLITO          I don't know what the fuck that is          but it's weird you understand?                    CARL ELWAY          Misunderstanding. Misunderstanding.                    CARMINE POLITO          I came here to meet a sheik, that's          all I know. I'm very interested in          that but he's not here apparently.          Carl?!Carmine turns and starts to walk out of the room.                    CARMINE POLITO (CONT'D)          I'm very interested in meeting the          Sheik. You let me know when THAT          could happen! Thank you, have a          good day.Carmine leaves the room.Irving looks over and shrugs his shoulders. Not surprised atall the way this is going and horrified that Richie hasruined it.                    CARL ELWAY              (leaving)          Irving! You better come get him.                    RICHIE DIMASO              (stares at Irv)          Go out there and get him right now.                    CARL ELWAY          Help me get him back!                    RICHIE DIMASO          Go get him. He needs to take the          fuckin' briefcase, Irving.                                                            7.                    IRVING ROSENFELD          I didn't wanna do it in the first          place. This is your show, YOU go          get him.                    RICHIE DIMASO          No, you have no choice. You have          to go get him. Now, go get him, so          he takes the briefcase by himself!          That's the whole plan, Irving!Irving stands up angry and gets in Richie's face.                    IRVING ROSENFELD          What were you doing pushing the          fucking briefcase, dummy? Huh?                    RICHIE DIMASO          The whole fuckin' thing was falling          apart. You know how much I paid          for this goddamn hotel that you          fucking asked for?!                    IRVING ROSENFELD          Now I gotta go mop up your mess.          I'm gonna go fucking mop up your          mess!Irving storms out of the hotel suite towards the Elevators toget Carmine.INT. PLAZA HOTEL SUITE FOYER - DAYIrving paces back and forth as he waits for the elevator.INT. PLAZA HOTEL LIVING ROOM - CONTINUOUSWe push in on the concerned face of Sydney as Richie rambleson to her.                    RICHIE DIMASO          You understand what I'm saying,          right? It wasn't working.INT. PLAZA HOTEL SUITE FOYER - CONTINUOUSIrving continues to pace back and forth in the hall waitingfor the elevator.                                                                8.                         IRVING ROSENFELD (V.O.)               Did you ever have to find a way to               survive and you knew your choices               were bad?     Irving walks over and hits the elevator button again.                         IRVING ROSENFELD               I learned how to survive when I was               a kid.7                                                         CUT TO:    7                         IRVING ROSENFELD (V.O.) (CONT'D)               My father had a glass business.28   IRV AS KID SMASHES PLATE GLASS WINDOWS OF BRONX STOREFRONTS     28     Drumming up business for his father.     EXT. ROSENFELD & SON GLASS REPAIR CO. - DAY 1940'S     Young Irving and his Father and Mother standing outside the     family's glass repair shop in the Bronx as some tough     contractors march up to them.                         IRVING ROSENFELD (V.O.)               I would rather be on the taking               side than the getting taken side               any day of the week, especially               after I saw how my father got               taken. I mean, seeing that scarred               me for life.     EXT. UNDISCLOSED STREET - DAY 1940'S     Young Irving runs by a store front as he throws a rock     through each window on the store, smashing them all.                         IRVING ROSENFELD (V.O.) (CONT'D)               I took it upon myself to drum up               business. I became a different kind               of guy than my father. I became a               con artist -- from the feet up, for               real.                                                          CUT TO:     THE BRONX: STOREFRONT WITH SMASHED WINDOW. - DAY - PRESENT     Irv shakes his head, surveys the damage.                                                               9.                         IRVING ROSENFELD               I was gonna survive no matter what.               I still had the glass business and               a few dry cleaning stores on the               side.7G   INT. IRV'S DINGY OFFICE - DAY                                   7G     Irving paces around his office smoking a cigar and talking on     the phone. What looks to be stolen art sits on the floor all     around him.                         IRVING ROSENFELD (V.O.)               And I did some art dealing on the               side. Stolen or forged art.     EXT./INT. POOL PARTY - LONG ISLAND HOUSE - DAY     Chicago's "Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?" fades     up. Jamming early 70s HOLIDAY party -- LONG ISLAND LADIES IN     BIKINIS WITH HUGE HAIR IN FUR COATS SMOKING OUTSIDE THE GLASS     ENCLOSED POOL -while inside steamed glass SHINY BIKINI     CANDIDATES FOR NOSE JOBS; A FEW OTHERS WHO ARE LARGE, SEVERAL     GUYS WHO LOOK MOBBED UP, pale, out of shape, gold chains, in     swim trunks, EVEN MORE BURT REYNOLDS TYPE GUYS, slim, hairy,     chains.                         IRVING ROSENFELD (V.O.)               So, one January I go to my friends               pool party in Long Island.     Irving sits holding court with some friends by the pool when     he turns and sees Sydney for the first time.     PUSH IN ON: Irving. He looks up, they lock eyes across the     party.     SYD REACHES FOR A SLICE OF FRUIT ON HIGH SET PLATE WHEN     IRVING'S HAND GRABS HER ARM -- she turns, taken aback -                         IRVING ROSENFELD               Is that Duke Ellington on your               bracelet?     She does have on a Duke Ellington charm bracelet.                         SYDNEY PROSSER               As a matter of fact, it is. He died               this year, you know.                                                        10.                    IRVING ROSENFELD          I know. I doubt anyone else here          knows or cares about it.                    SYDNEY PROSSER          Well I care. He saved my life many          times.Irving takes a good look at her, impressed.                    IRVING ROSENFELD              (impressed)          Mine too. Which one?                    SYDNEY PROSSER          Jeep's Blues.                    IRVING ROSENFELD              (smiles, warm)          Jeep's Blues. Oh yeah.Awkward pause.                    IRVING ROSENFELD (CONT'D)          You wanna hear it?                       SYDNEY PROSSER          Right now?                       IRVING ROSENFELD          Yeah.                       SYDNEY PROSSER          Sure.CUT TO: PORTABLE RECORD PLAYER PLAYS START OF JEEP'S BLUES asIrving and Sydney nod to it - he watches her foot in her highwedge and her tanned leg rocking as she sits on arm of sofa.                    IRVING ROSENFELD          Who starts a song like that?!                    SYDNEY PROSSER          It's magic.                       IRVING ROSENFELD          Magic.They listen to the record, Edith checks Irving out.                                                            11.                        SYDNEY PROSSER (V.O.)              He wasn't necessarily in good              shape, and he had this comb-over              that was rather -- elaborate. He              had this air about him. And he had              this confidence that drew me to              him. He was who he was and he              didn't care.                        IRVING ROSENFELD (V.O.)              Like me, she was a very particular              person. Like me, she came from a              place where her options were              limited -- and she had been someone              she didn't want to be in her past.    CUT TO -- SYDNEY DANCES IN A SMALL TOWN, OLD FASHIONED STRIP    BAR.                        SYDNEY PROSSER (V.O.)              It actually can feel kind of sexy              sometimes. There's a boldness in              it. But where would that boldness              take me? I didn't know. But I was              gonna find out.8   CUT TO:                                                         8    SYDNEY WALKS DOWN A BLEAK INDUSTRIAL STREET.    CUT TO -- RECORD STORE WHERE EDITH FLIPS THROUGH ALBUMS OF    THE OLD GREATS -- ELLA FITZGERALD, DUKE ELLINGTON, AND MORE    OF THE OLD GREATS -- A WORLD OF ELEGANCE, SOPHISTICATION, AND    CULTURE A MILLION MILES AWAY FROM WHERE SHE LIVES.                        IRVING ROSENFELD (V.O.)              Like me, she learned to survive and              reinvent herself. She knew she had              to reinvent her life and her              identity. And like me, she              envisioned a better elegant future              for herself. Like me, she knew you              had to have a vision.    EXT. NY STREET -- DAY    Sydney looks at scrap of paper with info in her hand -- looks    up at office building address -- enters.                        IRVING ROSENFELD (V.O.)              She came to New York. She              envisioned it.                        (MORE)                                                                12.                         IRVING ROSENFELD (V.O.) (CONT'D)               And just like that, she applied for               a job at Cosmopolitan Magazine.12   INT. COSMOPOLITAN MAGAZINE OFFICES - DAY                         12     Clean bright colors, huge blown up Cosmo covers --     Sydney -- innocent, plain, slacks and blouse, hair back,     nervously awaits interview.     SHE IS CALLED IN -- NERVOUSLY STANDS, small crumpled scrap of     paper in hand, FIXES HER HAIR --13   INT. COSMO INTERVIEW OFFICE - CONTINUOUS                         13                         COSMO INTERVIEWER GIRL               Well you're obviously here for a               reason. Let's get to it.                            SYDNEY PROSSER               Alright.                         COSMO INTERVIEWER GIRL               Our cover story right now is on               cunnilingus. What do you think               about that?                            SYDNEY PROSSER               I like it.                         COSMO INTERVIEWER GIRL               Do you have any clerical skills?                            SYDNEY PROSSER               Yes.                         COSMO INTERVIEWER GIRL               Can you type?                         IRVING ROSENFELD (V.O.)               She was unlike anybody I ever knew.               She was smart. She saw through               people in situations. And she knew               how to live with passion and style.               She understood Duke Ellington.14   COSMO MAGAZINE OFFICES: SYDNEY PUSHES MAIL CART DELIVERS MAIL    14     TO SOPHISTICATED MAGAZINE EDITORS AND EXECUTIVES, SOME TOUGH     BIRDS, MOST ELEGANT.                                                            13.15   CUT TO: Edith WATCHES A COSMO COVER SHOOT --                 15                          SYDNEY PROSSER (V.O.)               I was broke, fearless, with nothing               to lose --     EXT./INT. POOL PARTY - LONG ISLAND HOUSE - DAY     Irv and Sydney dance slowly.                         SYDNEY   PROSSER (V.O.) (CONT'D)               -- and my dream,   more than               anything, was to   become anyone else               other than who I   was.24   EXT. LONG ISLAND DRY CLEANERS-- DAY                          24     Irv holds the door open for Edith as she enters.                         IRVING ROSENFELD               -- I got two in the Bronx and three               in Manhattan. (to an employee) Hey,               Byron.                         SYDNEY PROSSER (V.O.)               He had a chain of dry cleaning               stores. He asked me to come in and               upgrade my wardrobe-- he said a lot               of nice things got left behind by               people and forgotten over the years-               -                         IRVING ROSENFELD               I mean you wouldn't believe the               shit that people leave behind here.               Unbelievable.                         SYDNEY PROSSER               People leave stuff here?                         IRVING ROSENFELD               Oh yeah. They go out for the night,               they drink, come here in the               morning, put their clothes in and               then they forget. They got no idea               where they left it.     Irving touches a hanging blue sequined dress.                         IRVING ROSENFELD (CONT'D)               Look at that. Sequined thing. I               don't know. Is that nice or not?                                                        14.                    SYDNEY PROSSER          It's beautiful.Irving and Sydney continue to walk through towards the backand enter a fur vault filled with elegant designer clothes.                    IRVING ROSENFELD          I mean, some of it's been here for          years. They're not picking it up.          Nobody's picking it up.Sydney starts riffling through nice things hanging on theracks.                    IRVING ROSENFELD (CONT'D)          You like that?                       SYDNEY PROSSER          I love it.                    IRVING ROSENFELD          It's yours. You want it? It's          yours.Sydney looks back at Irving in shock.CUT TO: SHE STEPS OUT OF THE DRESSING ROOM IN THE VONFURSTENBERG DRESS - LOOKS FANTASTIC.                    IRVING ROSENFELD (CONT'D)          You look fantastic!                    SYDNEY PROSSER          Oh my god. I can only dream about          these dresses. They're beautiful.SYDNEY PULLS CLASSIC CLOTHES FROM THE ABANDONED RACK: ONE,TWO, THREE. SHE PUTS A JACKET ON HIM THAT HE IS RELUCTANT TOWEAR, PAISLEY SMOKING COAT.LATER: THEY GO INSIDE THE ELECTRIC ROTATING CAROUSEL RACK OFCLEAR PLASTIC COVERED, DRY CLEANED CLOTHES -- STAND INSIDE,ENCHANTED, SMILING AT EACH OTHER, AS THE RACK SWIRLSMAGICALLY AROUND THEM. THEY STARE AT EACH IN LOVE.                    IRVING ROSENFELD (V.O.)          I felt like we had a secret. Just          the two of us. You know like that          thing where you want to just be          with the one person the whole time.                                                             15.                         IRVING ROSENFELD (V.O.)               You feel like the two of you               understand something that nobody               else gets. I could just tell her               everything about myself. And I               never had anybody like that in my               life before. I felt like finally, I               can truly be myself without being               ashamed, without being embarrassed.39   INT. Irv's dingy office - DAY                                 39     Irv leads Sydney into a small, dingy Manhattan office on an     upper floor.                         SYDNEY PROSSER               What is this place? Do you sell art               here?                         IRVING ROSENFELD               Yeah, sometimes. This is my office.                         SYDNEY PROSSER               I know it's your office, but, you               have these other places. What's               this for? Why did you bring me               here?                         IRVING ROSENFELD               This getting to be my main               business, my growing business. I               help get loans for guys that can't               get loans. I'm their last resort.                         SYDNEY PROSSER               You're their last resort? Because               interest rates are north of 12% and               heading to 18%.                         IRVING ROSENFELD               That's right, smarty pants.                         SYDNEY PROSSER               Fucking Jimmy Carter. Fucking Nixon               really. And the war and the               deficit and all of that shit.                         IRVING ROSENFELD               I love you, you're so smart. You               are.                          SYDNEY PROSSER               Thanks kid but how do you get them               the money?                                                        16.                    IRVING ROSENFELD          Well --                    SYDNEY PROSSER          You don't do you? You don't.                    IRVING ROSENFELD          These guys are lousy risks, you          know? I can't get them a loan but I          get my fee. Five thousand.                    SYDNEY PROSSER          Five thousand? You take five          thousand and you don't give them          anything?                    IRVING ROSENFELD          These are bad guys, you know? They          got bad divorces, gambling habits,          embezzling, all that shit, you know          what I mean?                    SYDNEY PROSSER          Everybody at the bottom crosses          paths eventually in a pool of          desperation and you're waiting for          them.                    IRVING ROSENFELD          How about `we'?                    SYDNEY PROSSER          We?                    IRVING ROSENFELD          How bout it?Sydney turns and begins walking out the door as Irving chasesher out.                    IRVING ROSENFELD (CONT'D)          Sydney. Sydney I'm sorry that was          too much. I went too far. I didn't          want to upset you.She continues walking out without looking back and leaves.                    IRVING ROSENFELD (CONT'D)          Sydney please, I'm sorry! I know it          ain't for everybody.The door slams in Irving's face                                                        17.                    IRVING ROSENFELD (CONT'D)              (Irving shouts to the               closed door)          Ah GOD I love getting to know you!INT. IRV'S DINGY OFFICE - DAYIRVING PACES AROUND THE OFFICE UPSET AT HIMSELF. SLOWLY SITSDOWN IN THE DESK CHAIR IN DEFEAT, TAKES OFF HIS GLASSES ANDSITS BACK.                     IRVING ROSENFELD (TO HIMSELF)          What I do that for? I fucked it up.          I should never tell a woman the          truth. She's so smart. She's          different.OFF SCREEN THE DOOR OPENS. SHE WALKS RIGHT UP TO IRVING AS HESITS AT HIS DESK. SHE TOSSES HER COAT TO THE SIDE.IRVING STARES UP HER TENSE -- WHAT WILL SHE DO?                    SYDNEY PROSSER          You said it was nice knowing me.          You said it was nice to meet me.                    IRVING ROSENFELD          Yeah.SYDNEY EXTENDS HER HAND TO HIM IN A ROYAL FASHION.                    SYDNEY PROSSER              (British accent)          Would you like to meet Lady Edith          Greensly?Irving looks stunned as he slowly clasps her extended hand.                    SYDNEY PROSSER (CONT'D)              (British accent)          I have royal banking connections in          London. I'd love to help you with          your loan but of course I have to          be very selective.                    IRVING ROSENFELD          That was fucking fantastic.                    SYDNEY PROSSER          Thank you. Did you like it?                                                               18.                         IRVING ROSENFELD               I liked it. I didn't think you were               coming back. Thank god you came               back.                         SYDNEY PROSSER               I wasn't going anywhere.                         IRVING ROSENFELD               I fucking love you.                         SYDNEY PROSSER               You have me.                                                       CUT TO:40   EXT. SUBURBAN STREET                                            40     ONE OF SYDNEY'S NANNY FRIENDS, REBECCA, walk out of a     BUSINESS MAN's (34) house pushing a stroller as the business     man comes chasing after them.                         SYDNEY PROSSER (V.O.)               And so Irving and I began our               partnership -- in love and               commerce.                         BUSINESSMAN               Rebecca, hold on. You're Edith               right?                         SYDNEY PROSSER(V.O.)               He told me to tell my friends I had               (in British accent) London banking               connections                         BUSINESSMAN               I'm Jim. I'm her employer. Listen -               - she told me you can get me a line               of credit. I know you have banking               connections in London, England.                         SYDNEY PROSSER (V.O.)               And after that...say "no" a lot               until the guy is hooked.     Edith and Rebecca start walking away as the businessman     chases after them.                                                                19.                         BUSINESSMAN               Becky tell her! I've never missed a               check!                           EDITH GREENSLY                     (walking away)               NO!                         SYDNEY PROSSER (V.O.)               It was almost scary how easy it               could be to take money from               desperate people.                                                       CUT TO:41   INT. IRV'S DINGY OFFICE - DAY                                    41     Edith extends her hand to greet ANOTHER BUSINESSMAN, 35.     Edith is dressed in a more sophisticated high end British     fashion.                         EDITH GREENSLY               Lady Edith Greensly, it's so good               to see you again.                         ANOTHER BUSINESSMAN, 35               Lady -- your ladyship -- thank you               again.                         IRVING ROSENFELD (V.O.)               These are the roles that we were               meant to play.42   INT. IRV'S DINGY OFFICE - ANOTHER DAY                            42     Another desperate businessman sits across from Edith and     Irving.                         SYDNEY PROSSER               We're very selective.                         IRVING ROSENFELD               You got a strong application. We'll               talk about it.     INT. IRV'S DINGY OFFICE - ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER MARK.                         IRVING ROSENFELD               I don't take a deal that I can't               close.                                                        20.                    SYDNEY PROSSER          You're not being aggressive enough          in putting up your assets --The man looks nervous --                    NERVOUS LOAN APPLICANT          Have you ever been to Queens? Have          you ever been to Great Neck?          Everybody knows my dealerships.CONTINUOUS MONTAGE AS THEIR CLOTHING CHANGES FROM DAY TO DAYBUT THE SETTING REMAINS THE SAME AS THEY CON MARK AFTER MARK.A desperate man takes out a BUSINESS CHECK BOOK and writeshis check.                    DESPERATE MAN          Five thousand gets me fifty right?                    ANOTHER BUSINESSMAN          Five will get me thirty five. Is          that right?                    ANOTHER BUSINESSMAN, 35          Five grand gets me fifty?INT. IRV'S DINGY OFFICE - ANOTHER DAYSydney and Irving laugh and celebrate.                    IRVING ROSENFELD (V.O.)          I was doing so much more business          with her. I mean it doubled, then          it tripled.INT. IRV'S GLASS STORE - DAYSydney -- hair getting bigger -- goes over the books with aLatino Man who nods and watches her --Edith counts cash in the register - recounts it -- explainshow things can be done better as DRY CLEANING WORKER nods.Irv watches happy.                    IRVING ROSENFELD (V.O.)          And I never met anyone, man or          woman, in business who was so          careful and precise about          everything. Every stylistic detail.                                                              21.     INT. BUSINESSMAN OFFICE - DAY     Irving and Edith discuss a piece of art they're in the     process of selling to a businessman.                         IRVING ROSENFELD (V.O.)               We kept selling art together, too.                         EDITH GREENSLY               It's really a fabulous example of a               genre painting, which is really               rare for the time. It's a boy and               his dog. Non-religious painting.               55. Golden age. Dutch painting.     ANOTHER DAY -- A CAR DEALERSHIP OFFICE -- IRV DROPS THE     CANVAS BAG REVEALING A VINTAGE PAINTING -- (COLORED ORBS AND     LINES) -- TO THE MIDDLE AGED CAR DEALER WHO OWNS THE     WAREHOUSE WHO WRITES A CHECK.                         IRVING ROSENFELD               Paul Klee. Bauhaus Movement. 1920s.                         MIDDLE AGED CAR DEALER               Before we go any further, is this               legit?                         IRVING ROSENFELD               Let's just say it's missing from               Spain and leave it at that.                         EDITH GREENSLY               Don't show any Spanish friends.     Irving and Sydney kiss passionately in front of the middle     aged car dealer as he tries to hand them his check.                         IRVING ROSENFELD (V.O.)               I mean it just took off. We got an               elegant Manhattan office. We called               it London Associates for her               accent.44   INT. NEW OFFICE LOBBY - MADISON AVENUE - DAY                   44     A JANITOR FINISHES POLISHING SILVER PLATED LARGE LETTERS:     LONDON ASSOCIATES to a pale wall as he and Edith sip     champagne from flutes and offer one to the worker who toasts     with them.                                                               22.     IRV DOES HIS TRADEMARK MINIMALIST BADGER DANCE, IN PROFILE,     TO QUIET DELIGHT OF SYDNEY.     Irv and Edith kiss gently, lovingly, sincerely on the lips --     They walk into their CLASSIC LOOKING, STAID, PRIVATE BANKING     OFFICE SUITE.                         IRVING ROSENFELD (V.O.)               When I was around her I felt joy.               Fucking joy! And love. That's what               I felt.                                                      SMASH TO:46   EXT. PARK AVENUE - SUNNY DAY                                    4647   They dance down Park Avenue together.                           47     INT. LOBBY OF PIERRE HOTEL - CONTINUOUS     Irv and Edith dance through the lobby.49   THE PIERRE HOTEL CAFE                                           49     As they dance among mostly older wealthy couples on the small     dance floor of the elegant restaurant as a live jazz quartet     plays "I've Got Your Number". Camera circles them, putting     their foreheads together, very happy. THEY SING TO EACH     OTHER quietly as they dance close.50   INT. ROOM AT PIERRE HOTEL -- NIGHT                              50     Irv and Edith make passionate love, we see in pieces --     He gets up, she watches him dress and leave --52   INT. IRV'S CADILLAC - NIGHT                                     5253   He drives over the Triborough Bridge.                           53                          IRVING ROSENFELD (V.O.)               As, as far as I could see, people               were always conning each other to               get what they wanted. We even con               ourselves.                                                             23.54   INT./EXT. IRV'S CADILLAC - NIGHT                                5455   He drives through the suburb of ranch houses and driveways      5556   and pulls into his driveway of his split-level ranch. Irv       56     gets out of his Cadillac and walks to the front door of his     house --                         IRVING ROSENFELD (V.O.)               We talk ourselves into things. We               sell ourselves things we maybe               don't even need or want by dressing               them up. We leave out the risk. We               leave out the ugly truth.57   INT. IRV'S HOUSE - NIGHT                                        57     Irv walks into the decorated ranch house, frosted glass with     bird designs, glass tables, walls, black and brown lacquer     everywhere. He walks into the house and looks at a picture     his son did -- a drawing of the Yankees playing baseball --     that is taped to the refrigerator.                         IRVING ROSENFELD (V.O.)               Pay attention to that because we're               all conning ourselves in one way or               another just to get through life.     Irv takes Danny's picture from the fridge and tip toes --     with low sounds now of O.S. TV -- Irv goes to A CLOSED DOOR     WITH YANKEE STICKERS on it --     Irv OPENS A BEDROOM DOOR TO REVEAL HIS 5 YEAR OLD SON, DANNY.                         SYDNEY PROSSER (V.O.)               He was married, and he had a son.58   INT. DANNY'S ROOM - NIGHT                                       58     DANNY is on the bed, picture books, baseball cards, spread     all around him. Irv stands holding the picture. Danny looks     over his shoulder.                         SYDNEY PROSSER (V.O.)               He had adopted her son.                         DANNY               DADDY!                                                             24.                         SYDNEY PROSSER (V.O.)               He was a really good dad and I               respected him for that. It was a               tough situation for everyone.     Irv's face lights up.                        IRVING ROSENFELD               Danny. This is a fantastic               picture. What did you do today?                         DANNY               That kid Donovan is being mean to               me.                         IRVING ROSENFELD               The big kid? I thought Mommy picked               you up so he couldn't bother you.                         DANNY               She was late, and then after we put               out the fire, mommy said stay in my               room with my baseball cards.     Danny reaches across to Irving and takes his glasses off his     face and puts them on.                            IRVING ROSENFELD               What fire?                         DANNY               Did you know they make a lamp that               has the sun in it? [Irv looks at               him] Mommy got the lamp. She made               her special drink and the lamp made               a fire.     Irv looks concerned.59   INT. MASTER BEDROOM - NIGHT                                    59     Irv's wife Rosalyn sits up on the bed in a muumuu, half her     face is burned.                         ROSALYN ROSENFELD               I put out the fire. The fire is               out.                         IRVING ROSENFELD               For the first time in my life I do               the right thing.                                      25.          ROSALYN ROSENFELDOh shut up --          IRVING ROSENFELDI save a young single mother, andher kid. I marry her. I adopt him --          ROSALYN ROSENFELDYou fell in love! Don't forget wefell madly in love!          IRVING ROSENFELDYes, I fell in love. My God, Ifell in love. Yes. But you knowwhat? I thought you weremysterious like my mother until itturned out that mysterious justmeant depressed, hard to reach. Imean, I'm dying here! And you needsomebody who's gonna be quiet likeyou. You're young, you'rebeautiful. You gotta find somebodyelse. You gotta go out and getsome friends all right? Don't sitinside --          ROSALYN ROSENFELDI don't like going out. You knowthat I get anxiety when I have tomeet people. You know how hard thatis.          IRVING ROSENFELDYeah but you can't just stay in thehouse with the fucking sun lamp.Alright? And I can't-- I mean,look, I can't trust you with itanyway. That fire and everything. Ican't trust to leave you withDanny.          ROSALYN ROSENFELDI put the fire out Irving! There isno fire! Maybe if you were heremore, then there wouldn't have beena fire in the first place.          IRVING ROSENFELDOh, what, there wouldn't have beena fire if I was here?                                                          26.                    ROSALYN ROSENFELD          Just stop with the whole fire          thing. God it was a mistake. I'm          sure a million people do that all          the time. Those sun lamps are          dangerous. Shouldn't even have them          in the house, really. I bet that          happens all the time. This was          nothing.                    IRVING ROSENFELD          We're not happy. Alright?Rosalyn just stares there for a moment at Irving sayingnothing.                    ROSALYN ROSENFELD          You know that I could take Danny.          You know that most of your work is          illegal. And you know that if you          tried to divorce me, you know that--          I'm not saying that I would, but          I'm saying that I could. And I'm          saying that that is why I don't          like divorce, Irving. Women do that          in divorces. Women get the          children, and then the fathers          never see them. My mother never got          divorced. My grandmother never got          divorced. There are NO divorces in          my family. I am not getting a          divorce.                    IRVING ROSENFELD          Come on. What are we doing here?                    ROSALYN ROSENFELD          We fight and we fuck and that's          what we do. That's our thing.                    IRVING ROSENFELD (V.O.)          She was the Piccaso of passive          aggressive karate. She was better          than any con artist I'd ever met          including myself. And she had me          like nobody had me.Rosalyn sheds her muumuu, to reveal a white leotard.                    ROSALYN ROSENFELD          Irving, come to mama. Come on.                                                                27.                         IRVING ROSENFELD (V.O.)               You might say she was my karma for               how I took advantage of people.                         ROSALYN ROSENFELD               Irving, come here. Come on. Get               into bed.                          IRVING ROSENFELD               Alright.                         ROSALYN ROSENFELD63             Baby, there's such good stuff here.                    63     INT. DANNY'S ROOM - NIGHT     DANNY SITS PLAYING ON THE BED WITH HIS TOYS.                         IRVING ROSENFELD (V.O.)               I did not want to leave the kid               behind. He was my son. She had me.               I was her mark.     INT. LONDON ASSOCIATES - DAY     SLOW PUSH IN FROM WIDE SHOT BEHIND NEW CLIENT/MARK, FROM THE     BACK, AS THEY SIT FACING EDITH, TO ONE SIDE, AND IRV, BEHIND     THE DESK.     CAMERA KEEPS PUSHING IN SLOWLY TOWARD THE BACK OF THE MARK'S     HEAD AS HE FACES SYD AND IRV.     WE NOW SEE THE MARK: A charismatic, mercurial, wild eyed     BUSINESSMAN "MORT PAPIERMAN" in need of a loan.     Mort's eyes go from her knees to her eyes -- His eyes meet     Sydney's -- he looks soulful, open. She stares at him. Irv     notices uncomfortably. He's JEALOUS.                         IRVING ROSENFELD               -- and every deal I take, I close.               However, my fee is non refundable,               just like my time.                         MORT PAPIERMAN/RICHIE DIMASO                   (filling out paper work)               I want to thank you very much               Irving for seeing me. Sorry I'm so               nervous.     Richie reaches for his top button to adjust it.                                                       28.                    MORT PAPIERMAN/RICHIE DIMASO (CONT'D)          Am I not buttoned?Edith stares at him and smiles.                    MORT PAPIERMAN/RICHIE DIMASO (CONT'D)          I just gotta say Mr. Rosenfeld,          that Lady Edith was very adamant          that you were top notch and --                    IRVING ROSENFELD          That's correct.                    MORT PAPIERMAN/RICHIE DIMASO          I really need your help. I'm          desperate. I've got the Audis for          collateral and the two boats, and I          forgot to mention that I have a          little piece of real estate in Long          Island.                    EDITH GREENSLY          No, you didn't mention that. Two          lunches and you never mentioned          that.                    MORT PAPIERMAN/RICHIE DIMASO          Oh, I was gonna mention it and then          the guy with the hat walked in.                     EDITH GREENSLY          The hat.                    MORT PAPIERMAN/RICHIE DIMASO          And I forgot totally. It was the          second time we had lunch.                    EDITH GREENSLY          You couldn't see his eyes. He had          no eyes. It was like, did he make          it?                     MORT PAPIERMAN/RICHIE DIMASO              (laughing)          Do they sell hats like that? Where          do they come from? Actually, I went          to the store that I thought maybe          he bought it there. I was gonna get          you one --                    EDITH GREENSLY          You were going to get me one?                                                   29.                    MORT PAPIERMAN/RICHIE DIMASO          Like as a memento.Irving decides to interject.                    IRVING ROSENFELD          Two lunches?                    EDITH GREENSLY          Yes. It's two lunches. What's the          big deal?                    IRVING ROSENFELD          That's unusual.                    EDITH GREENSLY          I was trying to get him to be more          aggressive. On his loan that is.                    Mort PAPIERMAN/RICHIE DIMASO          You showed me a whole new side of          the city I'd never seen before.                    EDITH GREENSLY          Oh, good. You're welcome.                    Mort PAPIERMAN/RICHIE DIMASO          No, thank you.                    IRVING ROSENFELD          Yeah, right. You liked it? Should I          take you there?                    EDITH GREENSLY          Yes.                    IRVING ROSENFELD          Should I take you there twice?                    EDITH GREENSLY          Stop.IRVING MOTIONS SYDNEY TO COME CLOSE HE WHISPERSCONFIDENTIALLY TO HER.                    IRVING ROSENFELD              (confidential to Edith)          What's going on, you like this guy?                    EDITH GREENSLY          Yes I like this guy.                                                           30.                    IRVING ROSENFELD          Is that messing up your judgement?          Don't be stupid.                    SYDNEY PROSSER          No, he's not messing with my          judgment.                    IRVING ROSENFELD          Hey, play your part.                    EDITH GREENSLY          Fine. You play your part.                    MORT PAPIERMAN/RICHIE DIMASO              (holds out cashiers check)          Take it to your people in London.          Please, take it to them. I got the          cashier's check right here. I give          you five and you give me fifty          right back, right? Please. Please          don't reject me. Give a guy a          chance.MORT/RICHIE REPEATEDLY TRIES TO HAND IT TO IRV, WHO IS BUSYSTARING AT SYDNEY STARING AT MORT. MORT HOLDS THE CHECK INTHE AIR UNCOMFORTABLY AWKWARDLY UNTIL -- almost in slowmotion --Edith takes the check -- staring at Mort. IRV STARTSTO LEAVE -                    MORT PAPIERMAN/RICHIE DIMASO (CONT'D)          Zurich? You got an office in          Zurich? Paris? I can call Paris?                    IRVING ROSENFELD          If you could excuse me for one          second?                    MORT PAPIERMAN/RICHIE DIMASO          Yeah, take your time. Do whatever          you need to do. Go ahead, take your          time.HE HEADS TO THE REAR EXIT WHILE SYD MOVES TO ANOTHER -- IRVOPENS THE DOOR - BAM -- A WARRANT IS HELD UP TO HIS FACE BYSTOCKY FBI AGENT SCHMIDT IN A SUIT - HE WALKS IRV BACK INTOTHE OFFICE --AS Edith OPENS A SIDE DOOR -- BANG - FEDERAL AGENT STOCKWALKS HER BACK INTO THE OFFICE WITH A WARRANT.                    IRVING ROSENFELD          You got the wrong office, you're          gonna be embarrassed.                                                                31.     THE AGENTS START PUTTING EDITH IN CUFFS IMMEDIATELY.                         IRVING ROSENFELD (CONT'D)               HEY, HEY, HEY! GO EASY ON HER.                         MORT PAPIERMAN/RICHIE DIMASO               I may not have you, Irving, but I               have her on fraud. Impersonating               another individual.                         IRVING ROSENFELD               Fraud?! Fraud? What is that?               Identity fraud?     AGENTS SCHMIDT AND STOCK IMMEDIATELY START TAKING BOXES OF     FILES FROM DRAWERS, IMPOUNDING EVIDENCE.                         MORT PAPIERMAN/RICHIE DIMASO               You may be from England, Edith, but               you're not royal and you have no               banking connections and that's a               felony. How long is that? That's 3-               5 years I think.                         EDITH GREENSLY                   (about the handcuffs)               Hey! Not so tight!                         IRVING ROSENFELD               Oh really? That's interesting. I               don't even know your real name.     Richie pulls out a badge and shoves it in Irving's face.                         RICHIE DIMASO               Richie Dimaso, FBI. Nice to meet               you.     Richie looks at Edith with concern and points at Irving.                         RICHIE DIMASO (CONT'D)               You gotta get away from this guy.     Agents take boxes of files out of the office- Irv standing     alone in center of room- shell-shocked.64   INT. FBI HOLDING OFFICES - DAY.                                  64     SYDNEY IS LED INTO A HOLDING CELL BY AN FBI AGENT.                                                             32.                         IRVING ROSENFELD (V.O.)               He wouldn't let me see her for               three days. He even managed to               delay a lawyer.     INT. FBI HOLDING CELL - DAY     Dim cell, lit only from small high barred window, no lights     on. Edith looks like she's coming apart -- circles under her     eyes, a shadow of her confident self -- pale, scared, hair     flat, stringy, unglamourous, pacing, rocking.                         IRVING ROSENFELD (V.O.)65             She couldn't handle it.                               6566   INT. FBI HOLDING CELL - NIGHT                                   66     FLUORESCENT LIGHTS COME ON IN THE CELL -- Edith squints. Cell     is unlocked by Richie Dimaso WHO enters with a cup and saucer     of tea. He stands near her with the tea.                         RICHIE DIMASO                   (to the other side of the                    two-way mirror)               Joe, how come the fluorescents are               on? Can we kill that, please? (to               Syd) Jesus I put this lamp here for               you 'cause I thought it'd be better               for you. There's a wire here.               They're scared because people hang               themselves but I know you're too               smart for that. Where's the table               and chair? There's no bed here?               It's like a fucking asylum. Joe, is               everybody off today? Jesus Christ               it's scary. Maybe I wanted to scare               you. I don't know. Maybe it was my               idea. Maybe i'm a little off the               beaten path you know? I don't know.               You look dehydrated. Here, want to               try some tea? Oh yeah, your lips               are all chapped. (re: tea) It's               herbal. My favorite.     Richie bends down to Edith who is sitting on the floor in the     corner and hands her the cup and saucer. She lifts the cup     but her hand is shaking almost violently as she raises the     cup to her lips.                         RICHIE DIMASO (CONT'D)               I know you think -- look at me.               Hey. Edith.                         (MORE)                                                        33.                    RICHIE DIMASO (CONT'D)          I know you think Irv loves you. I          know you think you know him -- that          he sees the world as a cold, dark          place, and he cares about nobody          but very few people on his short          list: his son, his father, Rosalyn,          and you. And you think you're at          the top of that list. But what if          you're not. What if you're not even          on the list at all? He'd be in          here right now if he took the          check.She thinks about this. She trembles.                    RICHIE DIMASO (CONT'D)          He'd be in here right now if he          took the check. But no, you did.          God, it's, it's so clear to me.          It's so crazy -- it's clear to me,          but it's not clear to you. He uses          you, Edith, to protect himself. To          protect his son and his wife in          Long Island. No? Yes. He put a          ring on her finger, he adopted her          son. They have huge house, they          have two cars. What does she do all          day? I'll tell you what she does --          she plays with her nails, she          watches T.V., and she spends your          money, the money that you make.Edith stares at Richie, taking this in.                    RICHIE DIMASO (CONT'D)          I don't like that you're in jail          while he's going free. I don't          like any of that. I want to help          you. All the razzle-dazzle that he          does, it's not good. It's not real.          It's fake. It's not real. Who you          are is who you are, between you and          God. You and your soul. That's what          matters. That's what counts.          That's what I'm about. And that's          what I see in you. Tell me you          didn't feel it the first time we          saw each other. Am I crazy? I don't          think so. I'm not supposed to be          talking like this, but I don't          care, I break the rules.Edith looks at Richie in silence as she thinks about whathe's saying.                                                             34.                         RICHIE DIMASO (CONT'D)               Okay, Edith? Edith. I want to help               you. I like you. (whispers) I like               you. (dead serious) I like you.67   INT. FBI OFFICE, FEDERAL OFFICE BUILDING, NY - DAY            67     Irv stands alone on the other side of the glass staring at     Sydney.     Richard Dimaso walks in.                         RICHIE DIMASO               Been in there three days. Hasn't               been so good for her.     Irv continues to stare at Sydney.                         RICHIE DIMASO (CONT'D)               How does that make you feel her in               there? That check was for you,               right? But you knew somethin' was               off. That's 'cause you're good.               You're, like, the best at what you               do in the whole country, aren't               you?     Irv looks at him.                         RICHIE DIMASO (CONT'D)               But you know what? If the country               were run by people like you, Irving               Rosenfeld we'd be living in Eastern               Europe or Guatemala. You ever been               in Guatemala? You ever been in jail               in Guatemala? You ever try to get a               telephone or a permit or anything               in Guatemala? That's what this               country would be like if we let               people, let the liars like you, run               this country.                         IRVING ROSENFELD               Who made you god and judge?                         RICHIE DIMASO               My grandmother lived to be ninety-               three years old. Never lied in her               life.                         IRVING ROSENFELD               Congratulations.                                                             35.                         RICHIE DIMASO               Thank you. I'm proud of that, too.               Does that make her not a good               person? Is that not something to               strive for?                          IRVING ROSENFELD               Why you breaking my balls? Get to               the point.                         RICHIE DIMASO               I see something in you, Irving. I               get very excited. I think that we               have a lot of potential here. Now,               look. I came up with the idea.               It's all from me. I want to change               things. I want to go after white               collar crime. Irving, you're very               skilled. And I want you to teach me               and we can do this. I want four               people that do what you do.               Fraudulent investments. Fake               certificates of deposit. Stolen               art, fake art. You get me four               people and you're off the hook.                         IRVING ROSENFELD               Four busts and you'll leave us               alone? We don't have to testify?                         RICHIE DIMASO               You're good, you're done. Anything               you want. But if you run, then your               life is over. You'll be hunted, and               it's gonna be very difficult for               Rosalyn and your kid to live in               this country.68   INT. SYDNEY'S APARTMENT BEDROOM - NIGHT                         68     A NICE UPPER EAST SIDE apartment. Sydney has finally changed     her clothing from when she wore the same dress at the holding     cell. It is quiet in the apartment - faint street noise from     3rd Avenue below.                         SYDNEY PROSSER               We need to leave. We need to run               and we need to do it now. We can go               to Estonia or Romania, I don't               care, we'll take the cash from the               bed and get out of here, alright?               We talked about it a hundred times.                                                36.Irv stares at her and struggles.                    IRVING ROSENFELD          What about Danny?                    SYDNEY PROSSER          What about Danny?                    IRVING ROSENFELD          I adopted him! I gave him my name!          I'm not leaving him with Rosalyn,          she's unstable!                    SYDNEY PROSSER          That's a manipulation! Rosalyn's          will never let you go. She'll use          Danny against you because she's too          messed up to let you leave.                    IRVING ROSENFELD          I can't leave him. I love him.          Alright? He's my son.                    SYDNEY PROSSER          Richie said you would say that.                    IRVING ROSENFELD          Richie? What, the cop? Your on a          first name basis with him?                    SYDNEY PROSSER          Yes I am. I'm not even on your list          am I?                       IRVING ROSENFELD          What list?                     SYDNEY PROSSER          Your list. Your short list. Your          long list. I'm not even on anyone          of your fucking lists. I thought          you loved me. I thought we had          something.                    IRVING ROSENFELD          We do have something. I love you,          it's perfect! What are you saying?          We're gonna go to Romania? We're          gonna take Danny?                    SYDNEY PROSSER          Yes. Yes, that's what I'm saying.          You, me, Danny.                                                        37.                    IRVING ROSENFELD          Well you never said that before.                    SYDNEY PROSSER          I'm saying it now. We're us, and we          can make it an adventure like we          did. We can make it an adventure          like we make everything, alright?          But we have to go now. We have to          leave right now.                    IRVING ROSENFELD          I can't leave Danny. I'll lose          custody.                    SYDNEY PROSSER          You have to take me away! We have          to leave!              (sobbing)          What are you saying?! Oh my god.                    IRVING ROSENFELD          What are you doing?! Please!Sydney goes storming out of the room and down the hall of herapartment. Irving follows.                    SYDNEY PROSSER          I can't believe this is happening.                    IRVING ROSENFELD          Don't say I don't love you because          that's bullshit!                    SYDNEY PROSSER              (sobbing)          This is bullshit. You are bullshit.          We are bullshit.She starts sobbing, shaking.                    IRVING ROSENFELD          Please don't do this.                    SYDNEY PROSSER          I just never thought you were          conning me.                    IRVING ROSENFELD          I could never con you. I love you.          Please don't say this.                                                        38.Irv walks to her and bends down to join her on the floor asshe sobs.                    SYDNEY PROSSER          No, I'm done.                    IRVING ROSENFELD          Don't say that.                    SYDNEY PROSSER              (cries)          I'm gonna do these four busts,          these four cons, to get us out of          this. Not just me, but us. And          I'm gonna get really close with          Richie, the cop, in case we need to          use him, if we need another move.                    IRVING ROSENFELD          We don't need another move. We need          four busts, and we're done.                    SYDNEY PROSSER          We are going to need another move,          trust me. And you're going to be          thanking me. (shifts to British          accent) The key to people is what          they believe and what they want to          believe and I want to believe that          we were real, and I want to believe          that a man could want me. And I'm          gonna take all of that heartbreak,          and all of that sorrow, and I am          going to use it. And I'm going to          make Richie think that I want him,          and that I like him, and I'm going          to be very convincing -- And I'm          pissed at you.Sydney reaches over and carefully grabs Irving's facelovingly which quickly turns into a slap as she continues on.                    SYDNEY PROSSER (CONT'D)          Because I'm pissed at you!Irving stares at Sydney with confusion. He's never seen herlike this before.                    SYDNEY PROSSER (CONT'D)          Maybe I do like him -- Maybe I like          him a lot. From the feet up right --          baby?Sydney gets up from the couch and storms back to her room.                                                             39.                         SYDNEY PROSSER (CONT'D)               Quite your belly aching and come up               with something to get us out of               this. And you're right -- I'm in no               state to deal with this so what's               it gonna be, Mister Mastermind?     SOUND PRELAP:                         RICHIE DIMASO (O.S.)69             An Arab sheik? Why do we need an                      69               Arab Sheik?70   INT. ART MUSEUM - DAY                                           70     Richie, in sharp lapeled suit, chain on his neck, walks with     Irv and Edith and joined by a man who looks like an ARAB     SHEIK who they trail.                         IRVING ROSENFELD               How do you think this works,               stupid?                         SYDNEY PROSSER               If you could not call him `stupid'               which he's isn't, he's smarter than               you. Last I checked he's in control               here and we work for him now so be               nice.     Richie stares at Edith elated that she just stuck up for him.     He's really enjoying this position of power she's putting him     in.                         IRVING ROSENFELD                   (stares at her, upset)               OK, to set this up and bust a con               artist we have to make the honey               pot to attract the bees. In order               to attract the bees, we need to               offer them a wealthy individual who               can be taken advantage of, someone               special, someone new, someone               amazing. Then those guys will want               to sell fake bank CDS to THAT guy,               take the sheik's money, see?     Richie looks at Irving uncertain.                         SYDNEY PROSSER               Only they can't get into his money               unless you they know someone, and               that someone is us.                                                           40.                    RICHIE DIMASO          Oh that's good.                    RICHIE DIMASO (CONT'D)          So if you want to get somebody like          your con artist friend -- Carl          Elway -- you get him to want to buy-          -                    IRVING ROSENFELD          Keep your voice down.                    RICHIE DIMASO          -- or sell fake art or stolen art          or fake certificates of deposit, he          needs -- who does he need? -- he          needs a rich sheik guy, and there          you go -- we can pinch him!                    IRVING ROSENFELD          Right, but I don't tell Elway shit.          I wait for him to call me. The art          world is a small world -- and one          of Elway's acquaintances is          clocking us right now.Richie starts to look around.                    RICHIE DIMASO          Where?                    IRVING ROSENFELD          Don't look.Richie looks anyway and sees ELWAY'S ACQUAINTANCE, a manbalding, 45 clocking them from the balcony.                    IRVING ROSENFELD (CONT'D)          You have a good look?                    RICHIE DIMASO          How do you know the Sheik?                    IRVING ROSENFELD          This is my friend Al from Queens.                    AL FROM QUEENS/SHEIK          I do aluminum siding and roofing.Richie stares, impressed.                                                        41.INT. ART MUSEUM - NEXT ROOM - CONTINUOUSIrving, Edith, Richie, and the fake Sheik admire a REMBRANDTpainting on the wall.                    IRVING ROSENFELD          I want to show you something. This          Rembrandt here? People come from          all over the world to see this.                    RICHIE DIMASO          Yeah, he's good.                    IRVING ROSENFELD          It's a fake.                    RICHIE DIMASO          Wait, what're you talking about?          That's impossible.                    IRVING ROSENFELD          People believe what they want to          believe. Cause the guy who made          this was so good that it's real to          everybody. Now whose the master --          the painter or the forger?Richie's continues to stare at the REMBRANDT on the wall.                    RICHIE DIMASO          That's a fake?                    IRVING ROSENFELD          That's the way the world works. Not          black and white as you say.          Extremely grey.ELWAY'S ACQUAINTANCE walks up to Irving and the group andsteps into the conversation.                    ELWAY'S ACQUAINTANCE          Irving can I --                    IRVING ROSENFELD          How many times I gotta tell you.          You can't meet the sheik, alright?Edith sees this and steps into the conversation.                    EDITH GREENSLY          Arthur? Hi. Edith. We've met          before.                                                                42.                          EDITH GREENSLY (CONT'D)                I wanted to introduce you to Robert                Spencer. We're advising the Sheik                together.      She looks at Richie. Richie offers his hand.                          RICHIE DIMASO                    (catching up)                Yeah, I'm Robert Spencer, advisor                to the sheik.70A   EXT. CHELSEA HOTEL -- ESTABLISHING - DAY                        70A71    INT. OFFICE OF CARL ELWAY - SUCCESSFUL, BUT SHADY - DAY         71      CARL ELWAY, 40, preppie Waspy, very old fashioned with      cigarette holder, but something vaguely criminal about him,      in his conservative suit, natty white and red striped shirt,      and navy blue tie sits with Irving.                          CARL ELWAY                What's this I hear about a god damn                Sheik?! Why you leaving me out of                this? I gotta hear about it from my                friends?                          IRVING ROSENFELD                It ain't for you Carl.                          CARL ELWAY                What do you mean it ain't for me?                We gotta do certificates of                deposit. I can print as many as you                need.                          IRVING ROSENFELD                This is not a one man operation.                          CARL ELWAY                Look, I can get other guys. What                are you talking about Irving?                          IRVING ROSENFELD                You're telling me that you can get                four guys to sell fake certificates                of deposit to my investor within a                week?      The camera zooms into Irving's shirt collar revealing a tiny      microphone.                                                        43.                    CARL ELWAY          Yes I can make that happen. Carl          Elway can do what he says he's          going to do.                    IRVING ROSENFELD          That's interesting but you know          I've got other guys lined up. I've          got a meeting with my associates.SUDDENLY CARL ELWAY'S ASSISTANT, OPENS THE DOOR AND ENTERS.Richie Dimaso and Edith ARE STANDING THERE -- MUCH TO IRV'SDISMAY.                    CARL ELWAY'S ASSISTANT          Carl, his associates are here. He's          got a meeting he's got to go to.                    CARL ELWAY          No wait. Don't go anywhere.                    IRVING ROSENFELD          I've got to go.Irving gets up to walk out as Richie and Edith stand in thedoorway.                    IRVING ROSENFELD (V.O.)          Crazy thing about people -- the          more you say no, the more they want          in on somethin. It is so stupid.Irving looks over at Richie and Edith.                    IRVING ROSENFELD          I'll tell them, don't worry. Hey          you know what Carl just told me? He          said he could do this whole thing          with four guys within a week.                    CARL ELWAY          Or we could do somethin' much          bigger!Richie jumps into the conversation.                    RICHIE DIMASO          Something bigger? My guy deals with          hundreds of millions of dollars.          How much bigger?He walks over to Carl.                                                           44.                    CARL ELWAY          Hundreds of million -- I knew you          were holdin' out on me Irving!          Hundreds of millions of dollars?          Like much bigger. Like I'm talking          about we say never the fuck mind          the CD's and we could have some          complete access to something huge.                     RICHIE DIMASO          Huge? Like what? (introducing          himself) Robert Spencer, advisor to          the Sheik.                    CARL ELWAY          Carl Elway.Irv stares at Richie with contempt, then turns to Edith,DRESSED TO THE NINES.                    CARL ELWAY (CONT'D)          I want you to think of the most          undervalued asset in the state of          New Jersey today. The rebuilding of          Atlantic City.Richie looks over at Irving and Sydney and mouths the word"WOW".                    CARL ELWAY (CONT'D)          Look, maybe they, maybe they          legalized gambling a year ago but          nothing's happening.Irving interjects.                    IRVING ROSENFELD          Hey, quit while you're ahead Carl.                    CARL ELWAY          I know the guy. I know the right          people who are going to help you          out.                    RICHIE DIMASO          Whose the guy?                    CARL ELWAY          The guy is Carmine Polito.                    RICHIE DIMASO          Whose Carmine Polito?                                                             45.75   INT. FBI OFFICE, FEDERAL OFFICE BUILDING, NY                   75     PUSH IN: STODDARD THORSEN, Richie's FBI supervisor.                         STODDARD THORSEN                   (shakes his finger `no')               Carmine Polito? Carmine Polito, no.     We freeze frame on Stoddard as we HEAR Richie'S VO:     AS Richie TALKS WE SEE A SHORT FILM ABOUT Carmine Polito:     - PUSH IN: Mayor Polito walks a Camden street waves, shakes     hands of WELL-WISHERS                         RICHIE DIMASO (V.O.)               My boss Stoddard proceeded to tell               me that Carmine Polito was the most               quietly powerful person in the               state of New Jersey. A lifetime               native of the very racially mixed               Camden, which had become a ghetto,               and where he had been Mayor for ten               years. A very beloved guy. A guy               who never gave up on his people.               His father had emigrated from Italy               and had stoked coal.     - Frank Sinatras COFFEE SONG, 1940s version, as we see     Carmine talk to and dance joyfully with his kids and wife at     breakfast.                         RICHIE DIMASO (V.O.)               A big family guy with five kids.               They even adopted some other kid.               A black kid from the Boys and Girls               Club who'd lost his family. I mean,               his household was a joyous place.               And his wife Dolly, she was the               apple of his eye and the center of               the household. I mean everyone               loved this guy.     - PULL OUT Mayor Polito walks up steps of City Hall as he     greets a women and her baby; into his office greeted by a     couple of AIDES who show him papers to sign.                         RICHIE DIMASO (V.O.)               And he had a huge heart.                                                             46.78   INT. CAMDEN CITY HALL - W.P.A. MURAL ROOM - DAY                78                         CARMINE POLITO                   (giving speech)               The W.P.A. employed craftsmen to               paint this during the Depression.               Why can't we employ people today to               do work like this in rebuilding               Atlantic City?                         RICHIE DIMASO (V.O.)               He worked with all the unions. He               was the leader of the State               Assembly. And he had just gotten               gambling legalized in New Jersey to               create jobs.80   -- FLOOR OF STATE ASSEMBLY -- Carmine huddles with other       80     STATE LEGISLATORS, horsetrading and then poses for a picture     with other members of the State Assembly.                         RICHIE DIMASO (V.O.)               But he couldn't get the funds to               rebuild Atlantic City and that was               his problem. So with our help, he               was about to have his hand in the               wrong pocket at the wrong time.               And to me that meant corrupt81                                                     BACK TO:     81                         STODDARD THORSEN               You said grifters and con artists.               We're not going after some               politician. This is a bad idea,               Richard.                         RICHIE DIMASO               Shhhh. Look, it's really simple.               All you need is to put two million               in a Chase account --                         STODDARD THORSEN               What?!                         RICHIE DIMASO (CONT'D)               -- under the Sheik's name --                         STODDARD THORSEN               Whose two million?!                                                  47.                    RICHIE DIMASO          Shh, just listen. Two million          dollars under the Sheik's name, in          a Chase account that we control.          Carmine calls up on the telephone --          calls the bank -- and he sees that          the Sheik is real and he has a real          account. Five days.                    STODDARD THORSEN          I'm not taking two million dollars          of the taxpayers' money and putting          it anywhere for five days, I don't          care if we control it the whole          time.Richie as he stares at Stoddard in frustration.                    RICHIE DIMASO          Stoddard, let us do what we need to          do to rule out corruption and to          get rid of the payoff guys that are          ruining this country. That's my          dream. Don't smother it, please.                    STODDARD THORSEN          You know Richard, I understand your          eagerness. I really do. You know          I'm from Michigan, right? Let me          tell you a story about me, and my          dad, and my brother. We used to go          ice fishing every November. Ice          Fishing. That's what we lived for.                    RICHIE DIMASO          Holy shit --                     STODDARD THORSEN          Just listen to me. It's beautiful.          You have a little stove. You huddle          around, you keep each other warm.          You drop a line and you just wait.          One year my brother says, "let's go          in October." He wants to go ice          fishing in October. My dad says,          "No, the ice is too thin." My          brother says -- I love my brother          he says --                                                             48.                         RICHIE DIMASO               I understand what's happening.               You're saying your brother went out               on the ice, the ice was too thin,               he fell through the ice, he went in               the water because he was too eager,               and you're saying I'm too eager --               that's what you're saying?                         STODDARD THORSEN               No, that's not what I'm saying.                         RICHIE DIMASO               What are you saying?                         STODDARD THORSEN               We'll finish the ice fishing story               another time, young man. For now,               no Carmine Polito. Go do your job.     Richie looks at him annoyed and upset.                         RICHIE DIMASO (V.O.)               Stoddard shot the whole thing down.                         RICHIE DIMASO               Boring.                         RICHIE DIMASO (V.O.) (CONT'D)               But Edith was a genius.83   SEE B-ROLL OF: Edith and Richie walk back into FBI building,   8384   down corridor;                                                 84                         RICHIE DIMASO (V.O.) (CONT'D)               She somehow found this woman who               controlled the wire room. A woman               I'd never heard of. Way back in a               warren buried in the Bureau. This               cat lady nobody even talked to.               Edith met her in the ladies room               and became friends with her. This               lady handled all the wires and now,               she was working with us.                                                     SMASH TO:85   Edith and Richie enter to find BRENDA, FBI, MATRONLY, OLDER;   85     EDITH carries a basket of exotic teas;                                                           49.                     RICHIE DIMASO (V.O.) (CONT'D)          She was excited to be included in          an operation instead of being on          the other end of a memo. It was          beautiful.Edith goes to hand her the PIMMS CUP and basket of teas.                    EDITH GREENSLY          Brenda, hi!                    BRENDA MCPHERSON          Hi!                    EDITH GREENSLY          You said you liked exotic food, so          that's from England.                    BRENDA MCPHERSON          That's from England?                    EDITH GREENSLY          That's right. And I brought you          some tea as well.                    BRENDA MCPHERSON          Thank you so much! Nobody ever          tells me about these operations,          they just say, "Brenda, do the          clerical wiring work and don't ask          questions."                    EDITH GREENSLY          You need to tell Richie about your          cats. He loves them.                    BRENDA MCPHERSON          Oh my cats?!Brenda starts pointing out pictures of all her cats tacked tothe walls amidst the wire memos and paperwork.                    BRENDA MCPHERSON (CONT'D)          Well that's Harry -- look at him          standing up, isn't that sweet? And          that's Wendy. She's a rascal. But          Barnaby, that's another story.          Barnaby plays the piano!                    RICHIE DIMASO          That's impressive.                                                             50.                         RICHIE DIMASO (V.O.) (CONT'D)               We got her to wire two million               dollars into an F.B.I.-controlled               account at Chase. It'd be there               for five days and if Polito called               he'd see that the Sheik was real.86   HALLWAY OF FBI                                                86     Edith and Richie laugh excitedly as they walk the hallways.                         RICHIE DIMASO (V.O.) (CONT'D)               By the time Stoddard caught up to               us Edith made sure his boss was               impressed by my idea. So before he               even knew it was happening his boss               was calling to congratulate him.     PUSH IN ON CHIEF US PROSECUTOR, SPECIAL TASK FORCE, ANTHONY     AMADO IN HIS LARGE OFFICE ON THE PHONE WITH STODDARD --                         ANTHONY AMADO               I'm very impressed. That was very               smart. The Sheik with the money in               the bank is a fantastic...don't be               modest.                         RICHIE DIMASO (V.O.)               Anthony Amado. He was the U.S.               Attorney, and he had a major hard-               on to make a name for himself. I               mean this guy loved the idea of               being famous. And Stoddard had to               say it was his own idea or he'd               look stupid in front of his boss.     INT. STODDARD'S OFFICE --89   PUSH IN ON STODDARD -- confused, dismayed.                    89                         STODDARD THORSEN               Thank you, sir, wait, the sheik --     INT. STODDARD'S OFFICE - DAY     He hangs up, pissed, confused.                                                                51.                         STODDARD THORSEN               You made me accept praise from my               boss who's thanking me for               something that never shoulda               happened! Something that I didn't               approve!                         RICHIE DIMASO               You should be happy. There's               imaginative things happening in               this office, alright? We're not               just working in a box.     Richie leaves triumphant.                         RICHIE DIMASO (V.O.) (CONT'D)               We got the two million to put               Carmine and the Sheik together.                         STODDARD THORSEN               Punk.90   INT. CORRIDOR OF FBI -- DAY                                      90     Laughing Richie and Edith walk briskly on their way out.                         RICHIE DIMASO (V.O.)               I liked being on this side of the               line. But someone had been left               out.91   INT. SYDNEY'S APARTMENT - DAY                                    91                         IRVING ROSENFELD               We succeeded because we stayed               small. I got you Carl Elway. He               bought stolen art, sold fake bank               C.D.'s, that's enough. That's one.               I get you three more -- no               politicians.     Richie and Edith look at him.                         RICHIE DIMASO               You're gonna do this because you               got no choice. You work for me.                         IRVING ROSENFELD               Now you keep changing the rules.               You're gettin' a little power               drunk, Richard.                         (MORE)                                      52.          IRVING ROSENFELD (CONT'D)You want to tell him, Edith? Youwant to wake him up?          EDITH GREENSLYOh no, I said we shouldn't do anyof it, Irving. You know I saidthat. So now I support Richie.He's got vision. Do it heavy ordon't do it.          IRVING ROSENFELDI mean, he's the one ruiningAmerica, not me.          RICHIE DIMASOHow the hell am I ruining America?           IRVING ROSENFELDBecause people just got overWatergate and Vietnam, alright?And you're gonna shit all overpoliticians again? And just becauseyou want to be a big shot and get apromotion.          RICHIE DIMASONo I'm thinking big. This is gonnabe fantastic. We're doing videosurveillance. I'm doing this fromthe feet up.          IRVING ROSENFELDYou will never do it properlybecause you got too much governmentattitude to be small and sleek.I'm like the fuckin' Vietcong, man.I'm in and I'm out. I was there thewhole time -- you don't know it.That's the fucking art of becomingsomebody who people can pin theirbeliefs and their dreams on. Andyou can't do it.          RICHIE DIMASOHow about a suite at the SheratonHotel?          IRVING ROSENFELDFor Carmine Polito and rebuildingAtlantic City?           RICHIE DIMASOWhy not?                                                53.                    IRVING ROSENFELD          You need a luxury hotel for the          Sheik. Come on!                    RICHIE DIMASO          Carmine does back door dealings all          the time. We don't have a budget          for that Irving!                    IRVING ROSENFELD          You gotta knock the Mayor, the          Speaker of the State Assembly --          you gotta knock him off of his          fucking feet. He's gotta feel like          he's out of his league. What you're          offering, this deal, I mean, this          is unheard of in the state of New          Jersey, maybe even the whole          fucking country. A sheik with          hundreds of millions of dollars to          rebuild Atlantic City -- are you          fuckin' kidding me? That's          gigantic. And the Mayor, he's going          to want to see cash, he's going to          want to see it in an account, he's          going to want to see it right now,          and he will check. And that's why          this meeting isn't happening,          because to get millions, you need          millions.Edith listens intently.                    EDITH GREENSLY              (shrugs)          We already did it.                    IRVING ROSENFELD              (stunned)          What?Irv studies Richie and Edith.                    EDITH GREENSLY          We got the bureau to park 2 million          for three days -- we got the          account numbers.                    IRVING ROSENFELD          `We' meaning you and him?                    RICHIE DIMASO          Yeah we did it.                                                        54.                    IRVING ROSENFELD          Really?                    EDITH GREENSLY          Yeah, me and that guy.                    RICHIE DIMASO          She showed me.                    IRVING ROSENFELD          You showed him our thing? You did          that without me? Are you kidding          me?                    EDITH GREENSLY          What are you going to do?IRVING AND RICHIE LOOK AT SYDNEY, UNCERTAIN.IRVING SHAKES HIS HEAD IN DISGUST AND LEAVES. RICHIE STARESAT SYDNEY SWINGING HER LEGS ON THE COUNTER AS SHE SITS.                    RICHIE DIMASO          You playing me? Are we doing this?          Or you playing him? It'd be very          bad for you if you're playing me.                    EDITH GREENSLY          You're going to have to decide for          yourself, kid, I just laid          everything out on the table.                    RICHIE DIMASO          This is all very exciting, I never          knew life could be like this.          You're wild. You know we're taking          down a very important politician.Richie stands very close to Edith - between her legs as shesits on the counter. He puts his hands on her hips, pullsher into him. He takes her hand -- puts it on his face,makes her feel his cheek and forehead with her hand. It isintense. She prepares for him to kiss her but he steps back.They are both excited. They stare at each other. The air isthick with tension, Richie exhales and leaves.                    RICHIE DIMASO (CONT'D)              (prelap)                    (MORE)                                                               55.                           RICHIE DIMASO (CONT'D)                 This is agent Richard Dimaso, I'm                 placing $75,000 into this briefcase                 for Mayor Carmine Polito to procure                 casino license and building permits                 for Atlantic City.                                                       BACK TO:92   INT. PLAZA HOTEL SUITE - DAY                                    92     Where the film started --     See RICHIE TALK TO CAMERA IN A CORNER OF THE PLAZA SUITE--     CLOSE ON MONEY COUNTED INTO BRIEFCASE --     SMASH TO:     IRVING'S EYES WIDEN AS WE CUT TO: Richie SLIDE THE BRIEFCASE     OF CASH, AS SEEN BEFORE, Edith puts her hand on top of     Richie's to stop him.     IRV'S EYES WIDEN AS IN `NO! DON'T DO THAT!' WHILE HE AND     RICHIE STARE AT EACH OTHER. CARMINE LOOKS DISTURBED AT THE     CASE COMING HIS WAY. HE STANDS.93   EXT. PLAZA HOTEL -- DAY                                         93     Carmine Polito, upset, storms down the street as Irving     catches up.                           IRVING ROSENFELD                 Mr. Mayor -- Please stop. Listen, I                 apologize if that prick offended                 you. I really apologize.     Carmine will not turn around -- Irving catches up.                           CARMINE POLITO                 Really, I'm all right, thank you.                 I'm okay.                           IRVING ROSENFELD                 No. I'm fucking embarrassed to be                 associated with that guy at all.                 Can I just say somethin' to you,                 please? Don't lose this opportunity                 to fuckin' Florida -- all right? --                 because of some bullshit from that                 punk advisor with his diploma who                 could never get into the school                 that we come from. Don't lose that                 opportunity.                                                        56.                    CARMINE POLITO          Where you from?                    IRVING ROSENFELD          I'm from the Bronx. Grand          Concourse, Hundred and Sixty-fourth          Street.THIS REACHES CARMINE. HE AND IRV ARE CUT FROM THE SAME CLOTH.                    CARMINE POLITO          I got a lot of friends that live up          there. I go to Tomaso's on Arthur          Avenue. You know Tomasos's?                    IRVING ROSENFELD          Yeah, Tomaso's.                    CARMINE POLITO          The spicy clams.                    IRVING ROSENFELD          Yes. They're always good.                    CARMINE POLITO          Oh, they're to fucking die for,          those clams. I haven't been there          in a while. I like that place.                    IRVING ROSENFELD          Carmine -- can I call you Carmine?          You know, Carmine -- (catches his          breath) My fuckin' heart's going          from running down the stairs -- I'm          not used to running. There's a          lotta green grass in that hotel          room up there, alright? And all the          deals would float through you. You          get a serious piece on both ends.          You do with that what you will. I          live in the real world, I am a          family man, I got mouths to feed          and everything. But, you know, we          just...we gotta grease you          directly. No middlemen, no          bullshit. It's the Arab way.                    CARMINE POLITO          Yeah, look, I understand. It's a          great opportunity. It's just I got          a little thrown by going to have a          meeting with somebody who ended up          not being there, so --                                                            57.                         IRVING ROSENFELD               Hey, listen, I was thrown as well.                         CARMINE POLITO               I understand. I'll deal with you               directly. I don't want any               middleman or any of that bullshit.                         IRVING ROSENFELD               Done.                         CARMINE POLITO               I like you. Eye to eye. We can do               business together.     Irv smiles and nods as they walk back into the hotel     together.                         CARMINE POLITO (CONT'D)               How long do you know this guy? You               work with this guy before?                         IRVING ROSENFELD               I gotta work with him. He's the               Sheik's man.                         CARMINE POLITO               But I still need to meet the Sheik,               okay?                         IRVING ROSENFELD               Done.94   INT. SYDNEY'S APARTMENT - DAY                                94                         IRVING ROSENFELD               I'm going out to dinner with               Carmine and the wives in Camden.                         RICHIE DIMASO               Who?                         IRVING ROSENFELD               Carmine and myself and the wives.                         RICHIE DIMASO               What?! Without me?!                                      58.          IRVING ROSENFELDHe doesn't like you, what do youwant from me, I got him to comeback and take the money and you gothim on tape alright? I can't makehim like you. I did my job.          RICHIE DIMASODid you tell him you were workingwith me? That I'm the Sheik'sassociate?!          IRVING ROSENFELDI just fucking told you he doesn'tlike you. I mean, let him have anight out with a human being forfuck's sake, he's going to jailsoon. You're done with him. You gothim on tape taking a bribe.          RICHIE DIMASOCarmine has got to deal with me,Irving.          RICHIE DIMASO (CONT'D)We're gonna use Carmine. We'regonna use Carmine to get otherpeople, that's what we're gonna do.          IRVING ROSENFELDWhat?! Like who?!          RICHIE DIMASOCarmine's gonna use the Sheik topay off people.          IRVING ROSENFELDAre you fuckin' nuts? What are yousay--          RICHIE DIMASOWe're gonna let Carmine show theSheik Atlantic City, how he's gonnarenovate hotels, and see who showsup. Whoever the Sheik pays off forlicenses and casinos, that's whowe're gonna go after. We're gonnago after all of 'em!          IRVING ROSENFELDMore politicians? You realize howfuckin' dangerous that is? There'sno fucking reasoning with you.          (MORE)                                                               59.                         IRVING ROSENFELD (CONT'D)               Edith and I were so successful for               so long because we kept it just               small enough. You are takin' us to               a very fucking dangerous place,               with very serious numbers!                         RICHIE DIMASO               If your that successful, how come               you wound up in this room with me?               Taking orders from me.                         EDITH GREENSLY               You're taking your wife out to               dinner? Your fucking wife? Did I               just hear you correctly?                         IRVING ROSENFELD               That's the one thing you heard me               say?                         EDITH GREENSLY               I just find it rather shocking               that's all.                         IRVING ROSENFELD               I get to handle two wives with one               dinner, alright? I take Rosalyn               out, she keeps her mouth shut, she               sees that my work is legitimate, I               get to keep my kid, and I get to               keep (pointing at Richie) that               fucking wife happy. Both wives               happy.     INT. SYDNEY'S APARTMENT - NIGHT     Sydney sits alone in her apartment, hair in curlers and     sparks a joint.96   INT. RICHIE DIMASO'S APARTMENT - NIGHT                          96     Richie sits in his bathroom, his hair in tight curlers, as he     eats a chicken wing.                         RICHIE'S MOTHER (O.S.)               Richard! What are you doing? Don't               eat in the bathroom, I told you so               many times! And Diane brought               Napoleons for dessert. Come out of               the bathroom and pray!                                                              60.     HE OPENS DOOR - REVEALS WHOLESOME LOOKING NICE QUEENS GIRL     DRESSED NEATLY AND HOLDING UP A PASTRY BOX--                         RICHIE DIMASO               Oh my god, what did you do?                                                        CUT TO:97   RICHIE'S MOTHER, ITALIAN, HER HAIR PULLED BACK.                97                         RICHIE'S MOTHER               Richard, the filter is broken in               the fish tank. It's a problem.                         RICHIE DIMASO               See, your job is to do the filter,               Mom, mine is to do the gravel.               When you don't do the filter right               all the fish die. See?                         RICHIE'S MOTHER               I can't get the top on that filter.                         RICHIE DIMASO               I've gone over this a hundred times               mom --                                                        CUT TO:     RICHIE, HIS GIRLFRIEND, AND MOTHER ALL SIT AT THE TABLE WITH     FOOD INFRONT OF THEM AS THEY START TO PRAY.                         RICHIE'S MOTHER               -- and please help Richard to marry               Diane so that I may have               grandchildren and the Pope may have               more followers. And please bless               this food that we are about to eat -               -     THE TELEPHONE RINGS OFF SCREEN. RICHIE GETS UP TO GRAB IT.                         RICHIE DIMASO               Yeah, hello?                                                       SMASH TO:                         EDITH GREENSLY               Hi.                         RICHIE DIMASO               Who's this?                                       61.          EDITH GREENSLYIt's Edith.          RICHIE'S MOTHER (O.S.)Sit down and pray properly!          RICHIE DIMASOAre you alright?          EDITH GREENSLYYeah, I'm fine, I'm just alone, youknow? Irving's out with Carmine.          RICHIE DIMASOThat's right, he went out withCarmine and his wife. You must notfeel so good about that.          RICHIE'S GIRLFRIEND (O.S.)Richard, sit down!          EDITH GREENSLYWait who's there? Who are you with?          RICHIE DIMASOOh, no, it's just people.          RICHIE'S GIRLFRIEND (O.S.)People? I'm your fiancÈe! Richard!          EDITH GREENSLYOh, you've got a fiancÈe. You'reengaged.          RICHIE DIMASOWell, I don't know, no fiancÈe.    Idon't know.          EDITH GREENSLYYou don't know if you have afiancÈe?          RICHIE DIMASOI don't know --          EDITH GREENSLYYou don't know? You don't know ifyou have a fiancÈe?          RICHIE'S MOTHER (O.S.)The fish filter is broken!                                                             62.                         RICHIE DIMASO               I don't. No.                         EDITH GREENSLY               Hmm -- intersting.                         RICHIE DIMASO               Hey, you want to get together?                          RICHIE'S MOTHER (O.S.)               Richard, do something about the               fish tank.                         EDITH GREENSLY               Fifty-fourth Street?                         RICHIE DIMASO               OK, fifty-fourth street.                         EDITH GREENSLY               OK.                                                      SMASH TO:     RICHIE WALKS OVER TO HIS MOTHER, SITS DOWN IN FRONT OF HER.     ELLA FITZGERALD'S "IT'S DE-LOVELY" PLAYS.                         RICHIE DIMASO               That's what that phone call's               about. Everybody thought, "Oh,               Richie DiMaso's gonna stay in the               office, pushing papers." That's               not gonna happen, Mom. I'm outside               in the field. I got people working               for me. My ideas. I'm running the               show. I'm the quarterback. And I'm               not gonna settle for no one, Mom.     RICHIE KISSES HER ON THE CHEEK AND EXITS.                                                      SMASH TO:98   Ext. BARON'S ITALIAN RESTAURANT- CAMDEN- NIGHT                  98     ELLA CARRIES OVER AS --     SLOW MOTION: Carmine and DOLLY POLITO (big frosted hair) get     out of his maroon Lincoln Town car.     Irv and Rosalyn Rosenfeld get out of his green Cadillac. SOME     LOCALS SHOUT TO THE MAYOR.                                                       CUT TO:                                                              63.99    INT. TABLE AT BARON'S ITALIAN RESTAURANT - CAMDEN - NIGHT       99      Ella continues. Mixture of LOCALS: ITALIANS, POLISH, BLACKS      AND PUERTO RICANS -- wave to the mayor from the bar, and      tables, as Irv and Rosalyn follow.100   THEY SIT AT BOOTH --                                            100                          CARMINE POLITO                Rocco, you know like we do. The                chicken very thin. You should see                the way he does this chicken with                the red sauce                          DOLLY POLITO                It's beautiful.                         CARMINE POLITO                Right? With the red sauce, the                lemon--      Dolly kisses Carmine as he gives his wife's leg a squeeze and      kisses her cheek, then her mouth.      Irv and Rosalyn squeeze hands on the table. SHE KNOCKS BACK A      GLASS OF RED WINE as a plate of Chicken Picatta is served to      the table.                          DOLLY POLITO                It's the Piccata of the gods!      She pulls away awkwardly, waiter refills her glass which she      throws back right away. Irv looks concerned.      They all drink.101   CUT TO - LATER: Carmine and Irving talk.                        101                          IRVING ROSENFELD                I believe that you should treat                people the way that you want to be                treated.                             CARMINE POLITO                Right.                          IRVING ROSENFELD                Didn't Jesus say that or something?                          CARMINE POLITO                He may have.                                                          64.                    IRVING ROSENFELD          Also, always take a favor over          money. I think Jesus said that as          well.                     CARMINE POLITO               (laughing)          I don't know if he said the second          one but he may have said the first          one.CUT TO -- Rosalyn DRUNKENLY LEANS IN TALKING TO Dolly POLITO                    ROSALYN ROSENFELD              (shows her nails)          I chip them moving furniture, it's          my obsession -- Moving, re-          decorating, it makes me feel better          like exercise. There's this top          coat that you can only get from          Switzerland and I don't know what          I'm going to do because I'm running          out of it but I LOVE the smell of          it.                    DOLLY POLITO          I can get that for you, of course.                    ROSALYN ROSENFELD          There's something, the topcoat,          (sniffs nails) it's like perfumey          but there's also something rotten?          I know that sounds crazy, but I          can't get enough of it.Dolly laughs.                    ROSALYN ROSENFELD (CONT'D)          No, smell it. It's true. Dolly,          historically the best perfumes in          the world, they're all laced with          something nasty and foul. It's          true!She puts it under Irv's nose as he talks to Carmine, hesniffs, closes his eyes, nods without even looking.                    ROSALYN ROSENFELD (CONT'D)          Irving loves them. He can't get          enough of them.                    IRVING ROSENFELD          I can't get enough.                                                           65.                     ROSALYN ROSENFELD              (hand out to Carmine)          Carmine, sweet and sour. Rotten and          delicious.She leans across the table and puts them under Carmine'snose.                    CARMINE POLITO          Smells like flowers.                    ROSALYN ROSENFELD          Flowers, but with garbage.                    CARMINE POLITO          You know what that is for me? It's          coriander for me.                    ROSALYN ROSENFELD          Irving loves it. He can't get          enough. That's what hooks you. He          always comes back for it.                    IRVING ROSENFELD          I can't stop.                    ROSALYN ROSENFELD              (confidentially to Dolly)          He's gonna say we have to talk          business in five, four, three, two,          one --                    IRVING ROSENFELD              (to girls)          Dolly, can me and the mayor talk          business here?                    ROSALYN ROSENFELD              (falling off her seat)          AHH-HA-HAHAAAAAAAAHHHHH!Carmine and Dolly rush to grab Rosalyn; JULIUS, Carmine'ssteadfast AIDE, BLACK, 40, BIG SIDEBURNS, LOOSENED TIE andwhite shirtsleeves, BIG SMILE, helps.                    ROSALYN ROSENFELD (CONT'D)          No, don't do that it makes me look          more drunk than I am! I'm not this          drunk. Irving please don't make me          go, I was just starting to have          fun!She WOBBLES INTO ARMS OF his WIFE Dolly, she and Carmine helpguide Rosalyn out.                                                              66.102   EXT. WEST 54TH STREET - NIGHT                                 102      Todd Rundgren's "I Saw the Light" plays somewhere. Edith      dressed in tight Halston dress, hair flows huge all round      her; walks with Richie, who is waiting in a white gray suit      with a white disco collar outside the lapel, chains around      his neck.                          EDITH GREENSLY                Didn't your fiance want to come out                tonight?                          RICHIE DIMASO                Yeah, no, I don't know.                          EDITH GREENSLY                I'm sorry, we don't have to talk                about it. I was just teasing you.                          RICHIE DIMASO                Do you ever think, how did I end up                here? How did my life become this?                You ever think that? And you                wonder, am I ever gonna get to a                better place or is this it? You                ever feel like that?      Edith stares, nods yes.                          EDITH GREENSLY                I do. I definitely know that.      Edith nods puts a hand on his face.                          EDITH GREENSLY (CONT'D)                I'm sorry we don't have to go                dancing. We can go have coffee or                talk or something.                          RICHIE DIMASO                No, I need this. Please, I need to                go dancing with you.      Richie reaches down and squeezes her hand.                           RICHIE DIMASO (CONT'D)                Please.103   Edith smiles.                                                 103                          EDITH GREENSLY                OK baby, let's go dancing.      INT. DISCO - NIGHT                                                                67.      Richie and Edith DANCE AND DANCE AND SWEAT to Donna Summer's      "I Feel Love" -- dance -- riding a high.      Edith EXCUSES HERSELF to go to bathroom -- breaks away      through crowd -- leaves Richie on dance floor -- then      SUDDENLY BREAKS AWAY -- RUSHES THROUGH THE CROWD --104   GETS TO THE LADIES ROOM JUST AS SYDNEY DOES --   HE PUSHES HER   104      FROM BEHIND INTO A STALL -- SHE PUTS HER HANDS   ON THE TOP OF      THE STALL WALL AS RICHIE RUNS HIS HANDS UP HER   LEGS FROM HER      ANKLES AND UNDER HER DRESS - SHE LEANS HER ASS   BACK INTO IT      ARCHES HER BACK --      SUDDENLY RICHIE STOPS, throws himself back against the other      stall wall, out of breath. Edith LOOKS OVER HER SHOULDER --                          RICHIE DIMASO                I really fucking like you.                          EDITH GREENSLY                I like you too. I want to live,                alright. For real. No more fake                shit. Alright?      She get's real close to his face, almost about to kiss.                          EDITH GREENSLY (CONT'D)                We're going to wait until we decide                to go for love Richie. For real.                That's when we fuck. Not till then,                ok?                          RICHIE DIMASO                OK.                          GIRL OUTSIDE STALL (O.S.)                Are you gonna fuck for real or get                out of the stall for real?                          EDITH GREENSLY                No more fake shit.                          RICHIE DIMASO                No more fake shit.                          EDITH GREENSLY                No more fake shit!                          GIRL OUTSIDE STALL                Fuck me I gotta piss!      The girl outside the stall bangs on the door.                                                              68.      She holds his mouth in one hand and leans in and kisses him -      they get lost --                            EDITH GREENSLY                Get out!      SHE SHOVES HIM OUT OF THE STALL, LOCKS IT.                          RICHIE DIMASO                    (outside stall)                I want to be fucking real!      RICHIE LAUGHS MANICALLY EXCITED AS HE STANDS AMID MANY WOMEN      WHO SHOVE HIM OUT THE DOOR. IN THE STALL SYD SITS      EXHILARANTLY AND THROWS HER HEAD BACK LAUGHING HYSTERICALLY -      GIDDY.                            EDITH GREENSLY                AHHHHHHH!                                                      SMASH TO:105   INT. BARON'S BACK ROOM - CAMDEN SOCIAL CLUB - NIGHT             105      Irv and Carmine JOYOUSLY SING Tom Jones' "Delilah" WITH a      RAUNCHOUSLY HAPPY GROUP OF locals.                                                      SMASH TO:      INT. BARON'S BACK ROOM- CAMDEN SOCIAL CLUB - NIGHT - LATER      Carmine puts down glass of bourbon as he addresses everyone      emotionally as he looks at Irving.                          CARMINE POLITO                    (to Julius)                This guy right here, Irving                Rosenfeld? You know what he's gonna                do? He's gonna bring the Sheik to                Atlantic City, where we can rebuild                all those resorts there, put                everybody back to work.      Irving stares and is moved by this. Tears come to his eyes,      he feels bad about it all suddenly.                          CARMINE POLITO (CONT'D)                He's gonna get this community --                he's gonna get this state -- back                on its feet where it belongs. Isn't                that right?                          (MORE)                                                              69.                          CARMINE POLITO (CONT'D)                He's gonna grow our tax base and                create thousands and thousands of                jobs for everyone. You understand                that? You know what that means?                             JULIUS                To Irving.                             GIRLS                To Irving!      Carmine sits down on the couch next to Irving.                          CARMINE POLITO                This guy right here. He's got a big                heart.                           IRVING ROSENFELD                     (quietly)                I'd just hate it if it didn't work                out.                          CARMINE POLITO                What do you mean? Of course it's                going to work out. Guys like you                and me? We dream and we build. We                never give up. We never quit.                                                       SMASH TO:106   EGGS, PANCAKES, AND BACON COOK ON A DINER GRIDDLE.            106107   QUIET -- INT. DINER - MORNING                                 107      Irv and Carmine eat breakfast.                          CARMINE POLITO                Can I ask you a question.                             IRVING ROSENFELD                Sure.                          CARMINE POLITO                Is the sheik black?      Irving looks flummoxed.                          IRVING ROSENFELD                He's an Arab.      They look at each other.                                                              70.                          CARMINE POLITO                That's black, isn't it?      Irv isn't sure what to say.                          IRVING ROSENFELD                Why you asking?                          CARMINE POLITO                Maybe it's a dumb question, but I                was just wondering -- I would like                to arrange for the Sheik to see                Camden. To see the people of                Camden. The people I serve. The                people I love. Who are mostly black                and Puerto Rican. I really want him                to see how good this is going to be                for the community, how ready we are                for this opportunity, and he can                see how far his dollar will go.                You know what I mean? What do you                think?                          IRVING ROSENFELD                Yeah we can do that. He can see                Camden.                          CARMINE POLITO                    (relieved)                Hey, I got something I wanna give                to you.                          IRVING ROSENFELD                For me?                          CARMINE POLITO                I got you a gift. Let's get out of                here. The girls are going to kill                us I'm sure.                                                        CUT TO:108   EXT. DINER PARKING LOT - MORNING                              108      They walk in the morning sun to Carmine's Lincoln where he      opens the trunk and they stare at what is inside.                          IRVING ROSENFELD                What is it?                                                              71.                          CARMINE POLITO                It's a microwave. It heats up                everything. Pasta, lasagna,                meatballs, whatever.                             IRVING ROSENFELD                Really?                          CARMINE POLITO                It's science, yeah. That's how it                heats up the food. It's scientific.                          IRVING ROSENFELD                And you specifically bought this                science oven for me.                          CARMINE POLITO                    (Carmine stares                     meaningfully at Irv)                Yes. A new friend.      Irv is touched. He sees it is a sincere gift from Carmine,      because Carmine likes him; not cynical in any way.                             IRVING ROSENFELD                Thank you.                          CARMINE POLITO                Don't put metal in it. Come on,                let's get out of here.                                                      SMASH TO:      EXT. FBI BUILDING - DAY                          RICHIE DIMASO (O.S.)                I need a jet at Teeterboro.109   INT. FBI OFFICE, FEDERAL OFFICE BUILDING, NY - DAY            109                          RICHIE DIMASO                I need a jet at Teeterboro for the                sheik.                          STODDARD THORSEN                You don't need a jet. Let him walk                to the curb at JFK.                                                              72.                          RICHIE DIMASO                Stoddard, that's not how it works.                You got to do it from the feet up.                           STODDARD THORSEN                That doesn't mean anything. What's                that mean?                          RICHIE DIMASO                It means you gotta be committed!                It means you gotta be committed to                something in your life, for                Christ's sake. I want a jet at                Teterboro for the Sheik. It can be                a small jet. It doesn't even have                to take off, cause I know you're so                worried about how much money the                Bureau's gonna fucking spend. It                can take off and land on the                tarmac, okay?                           STODDARD THORSEN                Alright, you can have a jet for an                hour, but it takes off and lands at                Teterboro.                          RICHIE DIMASO                I got the jet?                          STODDARD THORSEN                You got the jet.                             RICHIE DIMASO110             Thank you.                                            110      Richie goes to walk out of Stoddard's office but stops at the      door.                          RICHIE DIMASO (CONT'D)                So tell me the rest of the ice                fishing story.                          STODDARD THORSEN                Where was I?                          RICHIE DIMASO                Your father woke you up, it was a                blizzard, it was Lake Canoga. Come                on!                                                               73.                          STODDARD THORSEN                Okay, well, my brother and I were                on the ice and my father came out                of the house and I could see him                coming. He was holding a lantern,                and it was in the blizzard and I                knew he was gonna be angry. So I                went to intercept my father because                I knew if he saw what my brother                was doing he was going to kill him.      Richie cuts him off.                          RICHIE DIMASO                So you tried to protect your                brother, but you couldn't and                that's why you feel bad, because                you're trying to protect me and                you're worried about me. Is that                what the story's about? About                protection?                          STODDARD THORSEN                No, it's not about protection.                          RICHIE DIMASO                It's not about protection?                             STODDARD THORSEN                No.                          RICHIE DIMASO                Alright, fine.      Richie walks out the door.111   INT. ROSALYN'S KITCHEN - DAY                                   111      Ros talks to herself carrying tin foil covered tray of      lasagna.                          ROSALYN ROSENFELD                    (to herself)                "Don't put metal in the science                oven, don't put metal in the                science oven, Rosalyn"...always                treats me like a fucking child.                I'll do whatever I want.      She puts the tin foil lasagna into microwave. After a few      moments it sparks, explodes into flames. DANNY RUNS IN.                                                  74.                      DANNY                (runs in)            Another fire!                      ROSALYN ROSENFELD                (grabbing a fire                 extinguisher)            No, Danny, not that one! That one's            empty! We gotta use the big one!SMASH TO:                      IRVING ROSENFELD            I told you not to put metal in the            science oven. Why did you do that            for?                      ROSALYN ROSENFELD            Don't make such a big deal. Just            get another one.                      IRVING ROSENFELD            I don't want another one. I want            the one that Carmine gave me.                      ROSALYN ROSENFELD            "I want the one Carmine gave me!"            Carmine, Carmine, why don't you            just marry Carmine, get a little            gold microwave and put it on a            chain around your neck. You want to            be more like Carmine? Why don't you            build something like he does,            instead of all your empty deals            that are just like your fucking            science oven. You know I read that            it takes all of the nutrition out            of our food. It's empty, just like            your deals. Empty, empty!                      IRVING ROSENFELD            That's bullshit.                      ROSALYN ROSENFELD            It's not bullshit. I read it in an            article. Look, by Paul Brodeur.                                                                75.      SHE HANDS HIM THE MAGAZINE.                          ROSALYN ROSENFELD                Bring something into this house                that's gonna take all the nutrition                out of our food and then light our                house on fire? Thank God for me.      Ros stares defiantly, clicks her nails on the counter. PRE-      LAP JET ROAR, IRVING STARES AT ROS and BURNED OVEN and looks      at the magazine article.112   EXT. TEETERBORO AIRPORT TARMAC, NEW JERSEY - DAY                112      JET ROAR LANDING. A small airport. Irv stands alone, staring      at Edith and Richie kissing. Richie, in long full length      fleece lined suede coat, walks over towards where Carmine      stands.                                                         CUT TO:113   IRV AND SYDNEY WALKING ACROSS TARMAC.                           113                          IRVING ROSENFELD                I don't think you should come to                Carmine's party tonight. You look                beautiful by the way.                          EDITH GREENSLY                Don't look at me. Don't look at my                legs, don't look at my hair, don't                smell my hair, don't ask me how I                am, don't talk to me outside of                these roles, 'cause we're done.                          IRVING ROSENFELD                What are you doing? Get under the                umbrella. It's just that Carmine                wants Rosalyn to come.                          EDITH GREENSLY                I don't care. You weren't                listening. I don't care if Rosalyn                comes. Just do your job, okay?                You're nothing to me until you're                everything. I'm not Rosalyn. I'm                not gonna put up with that shit.      THEY ARRIVE AT Richie as the JET arrives on the tarmac.                          RICHIE DIMASO                Now that's a fucking jet right?                                                        76.                       IRVING ROSENFELD          It's good.                    RICHIE DIMASO          That's the kinda moves you need to          make.They walk towards the Jet and walk on leaving Carmine andEdith waiting outside.INT. PRIVATE JET - CONTINUOUSIrv and Richie step aboard to find FBI AGENT PACO HERNANDEZputting on a regal looking white Arab keffyeh headdress androbe -- he looks noble. TWO AGENTS posing as body guards.                    RICHIE DIMASO          Paco, Richie Dimaso, good to meet          you in person [shakes Paco's hand] -          this is Irving Rosenfeld.Irv nods to Paco and the other agents.                    PACO HERNANDEZ          Paco Hernandez. Nice to meet you.                    IRVING ROSENFELD          Paco? He's--wait, he's not a real          Arab.                    PACO HERNANDEZ          No. I'm Mexican. From Tuscon.                    IRVING ROSENFELD          Wait, where's my guy? Where's Al          from Queens?                       RICHIE DIMASO          Who?                    IRVING ROSENFELD          My friend from Queens. Where is he?          What are you doing?                    RICHIE DIMASO          I gotta hire an F.B.I. guy.                    IRVING ROSENFELD          What are you-- (to Paco) You speak          any Arabic?                     PACO HERNANDEZ          Yeah.   Abdullah Ahmed.                                                        77.                    IRVING ROSENFELD          That's it? That's all you got?                    PACO HERNANDEZ          No, I have a couple phrases.Irving isn't sure, looks Paco up and down.                    IRVING ROSENFELD          (to Richie) From the feet up, you          motherfucker. What are you doing?          (to Paco) Act normal. That's it.          Like you can barely understand          English. You can't speak it. You          say as little as possible. You          follow my lead. Alright?                    PACO HERNANDEZ          (to Richie) Who's running this?    I          thought you were running it.                    RICHIE DIMASO          I am running this but you've gotta          listen to him. He's the guy with          the vision.                    IRVING ROSENFELD          I've got the vision? You know what          vision I had? You just kissing my          girl outside. That's what vision I          had.                    RICHIE DIMASO              (stares at Irving)          I thought you guys broke up. I'm          giving you a compliment.                    PACO HERNANDEZ          What's going on?                    RICHIE DIMASO          Don't worry about it.Irving takes a expensive looking ceremonial knife out of hisjacket pocket and holds it out to Paco.                    IRVING ROSENFELD          You got a knife. This is for the          Mayor. You've got to present it to          him. Look me in the eye. This means          a lot to you. Right? That knife.                    PACO HERNANDEZ          OK.                                               78.                    IRVING ROSENFELD          Play it. You present it.          "Friendship for life," alright?          You gotta feel it. Sacred. Can you          do it?                    PACO HERNANDEZ          Right. Sacred.                    IRVING ROSENFELD          You gotta sell it.                     RICHIE DIMASO          Sell it.                    IRVING ROSENFELD          If you believe it's sacred, it's          sacred.                    RICHIE DIMASO          Listen to what he's saying.                    IRVING ROSENFELD          Can you do it?                    RICHIE DIMASO          It's the details. That's what          makes this guy a genius.                    IRVING ROSENFELD          Again? You compliment me again.          What is this, rubbing salt in the          wound?Irving stares incredulously.                    RICHIE DIMASO          I'm complimenting you. (to Paco)          Any other questions?                    PACO HERNANDEZ          Yeah, I think the name of this          operation is offensive.                     RICHIE DIMASO          What?                    PACO HERNANDEZ          Abscam. "Arab Scam?" It's racist.                    IRVING ROSENFELD          Are you fucking kidding? What do          you care? You're Mexican.                                                                 79.115   EXT. TETERBORO AIRPORT TARMAC - DAY                              115      ELO's "10538 Overture" kicks on. Irv and Richie exit the      plane walking slightly behind the "sheik" and his      "bodyguards" - the sheik in the front.      The Sheik hands the ceremonial knife to Carmine and bows his      head --                          CARMINE POLITO                Hello Sheik, my friend. Welcome.                On behalf of the great state of New                Jersey I want to welcome you to New                Jersey. I know that was redundant.                I'm sorry. I'm just very nervous.116   Carmine takes the knife and looks to the others excitedly.       116                          CARMINE POLITO (CONT'D)                (to "shiek")                We have a great party planned for                you this evening.118   INT. IRV AND ROSALYN'S HOUSE - NIGHT                             118                          ROSALYN ROSENFELD                    (half dressed)                But what are you talking about, I                can't go? I just did my hair and                makeup and everything!                          IRVING ROSENFELD                The Sheik's very particular. It's                international cultural protocol.                          ROSALYN ROSENFELD                International protocol? What the                fuck are you talking about?      PHONE RINGS --                          IRVING ROSENFELD                Do not answer that!                          ROSALYN ROSENFELD                    (answers phone)                Hello -- Robert Spencer? I don't                know a Robert Spencer. What do you                want?                          IRVING ROSENFELD                    (takes phone)                Give it to me.                                                         80.                    ROSALYN ROSENFELD          Who is that?                    IRVING ROSENFELD          (into the phone)          Look, I told you, for God's sake, I          told you not to call here.                    ROSALYN ROSENFELD          What is that about?                    RICHIE DIMASO              (on phone)          Two more federal agents tonight,          OK?Ros leaves the room.                       IRVING ROSENFELD          No way.                    RICHIE DIMASO          Yes. They're bodyguards for the          Sheik.                    IRVING ROSENFELD          That's too many people for me to          control, no.                    RICHIE DIMASO          Look. I'm in charge here, alright?          Just do it.                    IRVING ROSENFELD          Rosalyn, get off the extension!                                                    PAN TO:REVEAL ROSALYN IN KITCHEN LISTENING ON THE PHONE.                    ROSALYN ROSENFELD              (hangs up)          I'm not on it!But she was on it. She heard.                    IRVING ROSENFELD          Look, don't call here again,          alright? Don't call at home.                       RICHIE DIMASO          Alright?                                                        81.                     IRVING ROSENFELD          OK.                    RICHIE DIMASO          Good night.He HANGS UP and walks into the kitchen. Rosalyn looks at him.                    ROSALYN ROSENFELD          Federal agents?                    IRVING ROSENFELD          It's bodyguards for the visiting          dignitary, that's all.                    ROSALYN ROSENFELD          What is it, an I.R.S. thing?     Like          a tax investigation?                    IRVING ROSENFELD          Why you gotta say that? I mean,          that's why I can't invite you.          It's too complicated. Listen, come          on.                    ROSALYN ROSENFELD          Are you in trouble?                    IRVING ROSENFELD          Look, stop being so nosy.Irving opens the fridge which is a mess.                    IRVING ROSENFELD (CONT'D)          Look at this shit.                    ROSALYN ROSENFELD          I'm only nosy cause you never tell          me anything.                    IRVING ROSENFELD          Can we clean up this fridge? I          mean, what are you causing trouble          for all the time?PHONE RINGS AGAIN.                    IRVING ROSENFELD (CONT'D)          DO NOT ANSWER THAT--                    ROSALYN ROSENFELD              (picks up phone)          HEL-LO- Oh, hi, Carmine. We were          just talking about you.                    (MORE)                                                           82.                    ROSALYN ROSENFELD (CONT'D)          Irving's being a mean, boring man          saying that he doesn't want me to          come tonight.                    CARMINE POLITO          (on phone)Tell him he's crazy!                    ROSALYN ROSENFELD          Well, I agree. Want to tell him          yourself?                    IRVING ROSENFELD          Gimme the phone, come on.                    CARMINE POLITO          It wouldn't be a party without you!                    ROSALYN ROSENFELD          Can you imagine? Tell him yourself.She hands the phone to a very exasperated, anxious, Irv.                    IRVING ROSENFELD          (into telephone) Hey, Carmie.                    CARMINE POLITO          Irving, you're crazy! Your wife is          coming, you kidding me? She's the          life of the party! Everybody loves          her.                    ROSALYN ROSENFELD          I'm the life of the party!                    IRVING ROSENFELD              (confidential into phone)          Look, you know what she's like.          She's unpredictable. She's just          always --                    ROSALYN ROSENFELD          Hey, don't talk about me like that!          What's Carmine saying?                    IRVING ROSENFELD          I can't hear what he's saying.                    CARMINE POLITO          Listen, Irving, it's very important          that she come, you understand?                    ROSALYN ROSENFELD          Carmine loves me.                                                        83.                    CARMINE POLITO              (on phone)          This is a really big night for us,          you understand? Come on, you gotta          bring your wife. And Dolly's got          somethin' special for her.Dolly is getting dressed for the party in the background.                    DOLLY POLITO          Tell her I got the nail polish for          her.                    CARMINE POLITO          See? Listen!                    DOLLY POLITO          (raising her voice to phone) I got          your nail polish for you, sweetie!                    CARMINE POLITO          You see? Somethin' special for          you. What is it? Tell me. I mean,          (lowers his voice, conspiratorial)          What is it, you got a girlfriend          coming? Come on, I thought we were          friends. You're not gonna tell me          you got a girlfriend? This is          ridiculous.                    IRVING ROSENFELD          No, it's just Rosalyn's          unpredictable.                    CARMINE POLITO          Look, we're gonna handle this like          men, you understand? You're          bringing your wife. We're gonna          have a good time. That's an order          from the Mayor. Good-bye.                    IRVING ROSENFELD          (to Rosalyn) Alright, you happy?          Go get ready.Irv hangs up and exits the kitchen.                    ROSALYN ROSENFELD          Yes, I am happy.                                                              84.119   INT. IRV'S CADILLAC - DUSK                                      119      Elton John's "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" plays on the      soundtrack as Irv drives: tinted glasses, large comb over,      blue crushed velvet suit, dark tie -- PAN TO:      VISOR MIRROR -- WHERE Rosalyn APPLIES MASCARA --      SMASH TO:120   EXT. GRAND OLD ATLANTIC CITY HOTEL - NIGHT                      120      Elton John continues as Carmine LIGHTS A CIGARETTE in a two-      toned GRAY AND BLACK TUXEDO, at the center of a haphazard red      carpet situation in front of a has-been beach resort -- large      old movie premiere spotlights rotate onto the facade in an      assorted CROWD OF LOCALS some dressed up -      JULIUS, CARMINE, TITO, MELORA (Carmine's STEADFAST AIDES)      son DOMINIC, daughter LUCILLE, wife Dolly, assorted COPS,      FIREMEN IN FORMAL UNIFORMS WHITE GLOVES, UNION GUYS in suits,      fringe the area. Carmine 's family is dressed up.      IRV'S CAR PULLS UP AND A FAT VALET IN RED OPENS DOOR. ROSALYN      GETS OUT IN HER WHITE DRESS --      DOLLY HANDS ROSALYN A TINY SHOPPING BAG WITH SWISS NAIL      PRODUCTS. ROSALYN OPENS A LITTLE BOTTLE OF NAIL FINISH AND      SHRIEKS IN ECSTACY.      Greets everyone.      LIMO PULLS UP: FLASHBULBS GO OFF -- SUDDENLY THE SPOT LIGHT      JAMS WITH GRINDING SOUND, LAMP EXPLODES IN SMOKE --      THROUGH THE SMOKE FROM THE FIRE STEPS: Richie IN A WHITE      SUIT, Edith stunning SILVER METALLIC Halston dress, WHITE FUR      COAT --      THE SHEIK STEPS OUT OF HIS LIMO, IN A BLACK FORMAL ARAB      DRESS, WITH AN ARABIC OR HISPANIC LOOKING FBI AGENT WE SAW ON      THE PLANE DRESSED AS HIS BODY GUARD IN BLACK WITH BLACK      SUNGLASSES.      ACROSS THE RED CARPET -- ROSALYN AND SYDNEY SEE EACH OTHER      FOR ONE OF THE FIRST TIMES -- LOCK EYES. ROSALYN HUGS IRV'S      ARM --                            ROSALYN ROSENFELD                      (to Edith, glaring)                  I know who you are.                                                              85.      Irv tries to turn Rosalyn away, but she keeps turning back      giving Edith the hairy eyeball, as Edith gives it right back.                          ROSALYN ROSENFELD (CONT'D)                I know who that is Irving.      Off to the side, Richie steels himself with bump of cocaine      before walking inside the old resort, his eyes dilate.121   INT. LOBBY OF GRAND OLD SEASIDE HOTEL - NIGHT                   121      The entourage walks through the ornate lobby as Edith and      Rosalyn continue to eyeball each other with Irv uncomfortably      in the middle as Carmine ENTHUSIASTICALLY CONTINUES HIS      PRESENTATION FOR THE SHEIK.                          CARMINE POLITO                So this is the lobby. Now mind you,                a week ago this place was a mess,                but what existed was this                plasterwork. Look at the detail.                This is beautiful. My sons are                craftsmen. (to son, Dominic)                Please, tell them what you did.                          DOLLY POLITO                Tell them everything you know. The                trompe l'oeil.                          DOMINIC POLITO                Birds, sky, clouds, wood. Trompe                l'oeil -- "Trick of the eye."                          CARMINE POLITO                We can restore all of this, you                see? You save 50 million -- look at                me -- fifty million right off the                bat -- I waive the law I helped                write. It said casino construction                must be ground up new, we don't do                new. We renovate.                          DOLLY POLITO                We don't do new. We renovate.      Carmine leads all of them through the very crowded lobby as      he talks.      Irving listens intently, moved.                                                                86.122   INT. DOWNSTAIRS CASINO - CONTINUOUS                             122      200 PEOPLE ARE GATHERED around blackjack, roulette, and craps      tables, playing and having a good time.                          CARMINE POLITO                We put in some temporary fun --                some gaming tables, some play money                for people to have a good time. For                charity -- the Boys and Girls Club                and some arts programs.      Rosalyn walking with Irving, continues to stare daggers at      Edith, who stays close to Richie.      Carmine, Julius, Melora, CONTINUE TO LEAD EVERYONE INTO123   INT. THE OCEAN ROOM -- CONTINUOUS                               123      Carmine continues to walk --                          CARMINE POLITO                This is the Ocean Room --      He pushes open double upholstered old doors --      THEY ENTER THE LARGE CROWDED YET INTIMATE BEMELMANS STYLE BAR      The bar -- LIKE THE BEMELMANS BAR AT THE CARLYLE HOTEL IN      MANHATTAN - IS LARGE YET INTIMATE -- THERE ARE 50 DRESSED UP      CITIZENS THERE DRINKING -- AND A CROWDED LONG BAR -- AND      ANOTHER SMALLER BAR ON THE FAR SIDE OF THE ROOM ---      Carmine pauses to stare at the MEN AT THE FAR BAR -- FIVE MEN      IN SUITS, 40 TO 60, SLIGHTLY MOB-LOOKING.      AS Irv IS PULLED ASIDE CONFIDENTIALLY BY Carmine -- Richie      AND Edith WATCH -- Rosalyn STANDS TO THE SIDE -- Carmine      puts his arm around Irv's shoulders --                          CARMINE POLITO                There are some gentlemen over there                at the bar. That's a hundred and                thirty years sitting there --                that's how much time's between                them. They run the biggest casinos                in the United States. We have to                work with them.                          IRVING ROSENFELD                Right.                                                        87.                    CARMINE POLITO          The good news is they know how it's          done. They get it done. You don't          have to worry. Everyone makes their          money.                    IRVING ROSENFELD          You mean the Mob?                    CARMINE POLITO          Yes, but they're businessmen, okay?          Now, spend as much or as little          time with them as you like, but we          do have to deal with them. All          we've got to do is go say hello.          We just gotta say hi, that's all.Edith looks on, calm, as Richie -- WILD EYED WITH COCAINE ANDADRENALINE --                    IRVING ROSENFELD          Carmine, maybe -- I'm not sure          that's such a good idea. We gotta          confer before we talk to these          guys.                    RICHIE DIMASO              (interrupting, hopped up)          Confer? What is there to confer          about? They're casino guys.                    CARMINE POLITO          They are businessmen.                     RICHIE DIMASO          We came all this way, Irving. We          should be here. What's everybody          scared of? There's nothing to be          scared of.Richie stares down Irv, Edith pulls Richie back -- Rosalyn isstarting to go down a SPIRAL OF DEPRESSION as she looksincreasingly uncomfortable.                    ROSALYN ROSENFELD              (re: the mob guys)          Those are the guys you're all          scared of? Those guys over there?          They don't scare me.She glares at Edith and Irv and pivots to walk to the bar.                     IRVING ROSENFELD          Rosalyn!                                                        88.But she's already on her way over to the MAFIA MEN at the barwho GREET HER WARMLY as Irv, Edith, Richie, and Carminewatch.                    RICHIE DIMASO          I love this!Rosalyn walks up to PETE MUSANE, CHARISMATIC, 30 and sitsdown in between all the Mafia guys.. THE OTHER THREE SALT ANDPEPPER MAFIA GUYS LAUGH AND TALK WITH Rosalyn - who gulps aglass of PROSECCO and IS REFILLED BY PETE MUSANE.                     ROSALYN ROSENFELD          Hi.   Can I sit here?Carmine whispers to Irv as he watches Rosalyn talk to theMafia guys.                    CARMINE POLITO          Irving, this is not a good idea.                    ROSALYN ROSENFELD          How you guys doing? Everybody over          there is really scared of you guys,          you know that?She knocks back the prosecco. She seems relieved.Dolly ushers her kids to the door.                    DOLLY POLITO          Kids, I want you to go up and get          some pizza and soda, please.Irving and Edith watch in horror at Rosalyn.                    EDITH GREENSLY          It's a disaster.                    ROSALYN ROSENFELD          I think they have this room all          wrong.                    PETE MUSANE          Yeah? What would you do?                    ROSALYN ROSENFELD          I would do it in all black and gold          and I would do this bar like a big,          warm golden mirror.                    DICK HELSING          Sounds beautiful.                                                          89.                       ROSALYN ROSENFELD          Thank you.Rosalyn's smitten by the mobsters.                    PETE MUSANE          But you expect that from her          because she's so beautiful --                       ROSALYN ROSENFELD          Oh stop.                       DICK HELSING          Gorgeous.                    PETE MUSANE          I love her hair, so I know I'm          gonna love how she'd do the room --He touches the front of her huge Farrah overhang bangs.Richie, Irving, Carmine, and the Sheik walk up to them.                    RICHIE DIMASO          How do you do?                    PETE MUSANE              (to Richie)          I'm sorry is she your wife?                    IRVING ROSENFELD          No, she's my wife. She's my wife.                    CARMINE POLITO          Look at these fine gentleman.                    PETE MUSANE          Carmine, there you are.                    CARMINE POLITO          How you doing?Irving takes the glass of prosecco out of Rosalyn's hand andputs it on table.                    PETE MUSANE AND GUYS          Ohhhh, heyyyyy! Come onnn!                    ROSALYN          It's because he's a party pooper.          He's so boring.Irving stares fuming at Rosalyn and the guys, he nods andforces a smile good naturedly as they put prosecco glass inhis hand. He knows how to fake it.                                                           90.                    PETE MUSANE          You have a very beautiful wife.                    DICK HELSING, ROSALYN ROSENFELD, OTHER                    GUYS          Salud.THE MADE GUYS LAUGH. SYD ROLLS HER EYES. IRVING, CARMINESTARE WITH TENSION.THEY ALL LAUGH. RICHIE GUIDES SHEIK with ONE BODY GUARD.                    RICHIE DIMASO          May I present Sheik Abdullah,          gentlemen, from Abu Dhabi. Sheik,          these men are professionals, they          run the best casinos in the United          States.The Sheik acknowledges them with a nod. Irv is extremelyuncomfortable.                    PETE MUSANE          Mr. Sheik, as a sign of our          seriousness, Mr. Tallegio came from          Miami to meet you tonight.HEAVY PAUSE.                    CARMINE POLITO          Mr. Tallegio? Why didn't you tell          me Mr. Tallegio was here?                    PETE MUSANE          He's in the back room.                    IRVING ROSENFELD          It's a sign of disrespect to do          business on the first meeting.                    RICHIE DIMASO          That's not true. I don't know what          your talking about. (to Musane)          He's got it all wrong.                    DICK HELSING          Well, don't leave him back there in          the back room waiting. Come on,          let's go.Rosalyn reaches to have her glass refilled by Dick Helsingwhen one of the other guys NUDGES her hip in her tight dressand she drops into Pete Musane's lap.                                                               91.                           ROSALYN ROSENFELD                 Hey Irving, I'm going to be having                 fun. Maybe it will be contagious.       Irving turns and heads with dread towards the back door with       Carmine, Richie, and the Sheik. Sydney, worried about Rosalyn       with Musane, decides to hang back.125    INT. CASINO BACK ROOM -- NIGHT                                  125       SLOW PUSH IN ON POWERFUL LOOKING: BALD MAN IN SUNGLASSES,       LIGHT GRAY SUIT, DARK TIE -- STANDING BY HIMSELF.       CARMINE, RICHIE, SHEIK, IRVING ENTER A HALF FINISHED BACK       ROOM. PUSH IN ON IRVING.                             VICTOR TELLEGIO                 Carmine!                           IRVING ROSENFELD (V.O.)                 Victor Tellegio was from Miami. He                 was Meyer Lansky's right-hand man.                 In his prior reputation as an                 enforcer from twenty years ago, he                 was known to never bury a body                 because he felt it sent a stronger                 message to leave it in the street.                                                  FLASH BACK TO:125A   EXT. STREET - NIGHT                                             125A       YOUNGER TELLEGIO WALKS LAUGHING WITH A COLLEAGUE, LETS       COLLEAGUE GET AHEAD AND TELLEGIO SUDDENLY PULLS PISTOL, FIRES       THREE BULLETS WITH MUZZLE FLASH INTO MAN'S HEAD, MAN GOES TO       GROUND, TELLEGIO FIRES ONCE MORE, DROPS CLIP FROM GUN AND       SPITS ON BODY, WALKS DIRECTLY TO CAMERA MENACING. NOW BACK       TO:                           IRVING ROSENFELD (V.O.)                 This is the guy we now had to deal                 with.125B   INT. CASINO BACK ROOM - CONTINUOUS                              125B       RESUME PUSH IN ON TELLEGIO AS A COUPLE OF BUSBOYS SET UP AN       IMPROMPTU TABLE AND CHAIRS. Carmine greets him.                                                        92.                    CARMINE POLITO          You sure you don't want to go into          the Ocean Bar? It's really, it's          beautiful in there.                    VICTOR   TELLEGIO          I'm very happy I   don't have to go          there. I like it   here. There's an          exit. I'm like a   ghost. Nobody          knows I'm here.Busboys whip open a white table cloth for the table.Everyone sits down. Tellegio looks at the Sheik, then over toRichie.                    VICTOR TELLEGIO (CONT'D)          Tell him I speak for our friends in          Florida. We're very excited. It's          been our lifelong dream to build          casino resorts on the East Coast.Richie pretends to translate in the Sheik's ear.                    VICTOR TELLEGIO (CONT'D)          You told him that? They didn't want          the Jews to make money, they didn't          want the Italians to make money,          definitely don't want the blacks to          make money. After the oil embargo --          the gasoline crisis -- the          hijackings, the Olympics, they          don't want to see Arabs make money,          trust me, not on our soil. You can          tell him this in your own way: I've          been in the casino business forty          years. It's scrutinized more          carefully than any other business.          Carmine made this legal, but we          must be careful or they'll take it          away.                    CARMINE POLITO          So, Mister Tellegio, how do you          think we should approach this? What          do you want to do?                    VICTOR TELLEGIO          If you want to get the gaming          license and keep it we have to make          our principal investor here, the          Sheik, an American citizen.                                                           93.Irving and Richie both look at Victor intensely not surewhere this is going.                     CARMINE POLITO          To expedite citizenship -- well,          that requires very special          treatment.                    VICTOR TELLEGIO          You would know the right people to          do that, Carmine.                    RICHIE DIMASO          Carmine knows everybody.                    IRVING ROSENFELD          What are we talking about?                    CARMINE POLITO          U.S. Senators. Congressmen.                    RICHIE DIMASO          Wow, that's fantastic.                    IRVING ROSENFELD          I say stay away from that. That's          bad. That's trouble. No, that's not          good.                    RICHIE DIMASO          Irving please.                    IRVING ROSENFELD          That's trouble.                    VICTOR TELLEGIO          Who is this guy? (to Irving) What          are you, a farmer?Richie and Tellegio both laugh.                    CARMINE POLITO          Mr. Tellegio, I'm sorry, this is          Irving. New York businessman.          Irving Rosenfeld.                    VICTOR TELLEGIO          Irving, Irving. What's the matter,          Irving? What's the problem?                    IRVING ROSENFELD          Nothing. No problem.                                                        94.                    VICTOR TELLEGIO          Don't get your balls in an uproar.          Everything's fine, everything's          good. It's all good. It's all good.          I just hope the other part of this          is all good. And real. Because          we're real. You know that. You deal          with us. We're a real organization.          We deal with you, we don't know          what we're dealing with.Everyone stares increasingly tense at Tellegio in silence.This could go wrong at any minute. Tellegio looks over toRichie and points to the Sheik.Irving watches in horror as --                    VICTOR TALLEGIO          Where's he from?                     RICHIE DIMASO              (winging it)          Abu Dhabi.                    VICTOR TELLEGIO          Oh, he's from the Emirates.                    RICHIE DIMASO          Yeah.                     VICTOR TELLEGIO              (in subtitled Arabic)          (Can I count on you? You gotta be          honest about this. Do you          understand me? Good means good. No          bullshit.)PUSH IN ON IRV AND CARMINE FEELING THIS IMMENSE PRESSURE.WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON HERE?                     VICTOR TELLEGIO (CONT'D)          (to Sheik)          (Did you hear what I said? Do you          want me to repeat it?)Irving looks ill, as does everyone else at the table.                    VICTOR TELLEGIO (CONT'D)          (What do you think now? Tell me.          Tell me.)                    RICHIE DIMASO          Uh, I think, I think what he's --                                                        95.                    VICTOR TELLEGIO          No, let him speak for himself.Sheik swallows hard and looks to Richie. It's a very tensemoment for everyone at the table.Tellegio stares. Everyone hangs on this. Irving and Richieshare a look -- what is he doing?A DRUNK, AL KOWALSKI, a working man, friend of the MayorBARRELS INTO INTO THE TABLE, spilling drinks. Tellegio's guysjump in and grab him and start to pull him away.                    CARMINE POLITO          No, I know him.                    AL KOWALSKI          You guys are way too serious for a          party!(to Tellegio) Hey, what are          you drinking? You got a drink?TELLEGIO GLARES BACK AT THE INTRUSION.                    CARMINE              (to Al)          We're in a very serious meeting.          (to Tellegio) I apologize.TELLEGIO DOES NOT LOOK AMUSED.                    AL KALOWSKI          I understand, you're in conference.          You gotta come with me now. You got          a speech to give. Everyone's          waiting for you.                    CARMINE POLITO          Al, I'll be right behind you, okay?          Trust me.Paco Hernandez/Sheik stands up and reaches over to Tellegioto shake his hand. Irving panics. THE MENACING DEEP BASSINTRO OF "WHITE RABBIT" FADES UP ON THE SOUNDTRACK.                    SHEIK ABDULLAH              (In Arabic)          It is great doing business with          you. The investment is real. It was          a pleasure to meet you.Irving exhales in relief that Paco managed to say anythingpassable in Arabic.                                                        96.                    IRVING ROSENFELD (V.O.)          What are the odds of an Italian guy          from Miami knowing Arabic? But it          turns out he's got casino          investments in the Mideast and he          spent two years learning it to keep          the upper hand.Victor leans over to talk to Carmine.                    VICTOR TELLEGIO          Listen to me carefully. If you're          real, you put ten million in the          bank of our choice in the next two          weeks.Carmine nods.                    VICTOR TELLEGIO (CONT'D)          Carmine, listen to me carefully, if          you're real, you put ten million in          the bank of our choice in the next          two weeks or not only will the          Sheik feel insulted, but our          friends in Florida will feel deeply          disrespected and so will I.Irving looks at Victor, who stares back at him. This is bad.AT THE BAR --"WHITE RABBIT" CONTINUES. ROSALYN CONTINUES TO FLIRT WITHPETE MUSANE --SYDNEY WATCHES OUT OF CONTROL ROSALYN, STANDS AND WALKS OVERTO HER.                    EDITH GREENSLY          Rosalyn, you need to come with me          alright?                    ROSALYN ROSENFELD          I don't need to come with you.                    EDITH GREENSLY          You need to come with me. This          needs to stop. Come on.                    ROSALYN ROSENFELD          Oh, you think I should come with          you?                                                        97.                     EDITH GREENSLY          Yeah, you need to come with me          right now.Rosalyn takes her wrist out of Sydney's grasp.                    ROSALYN ROSENFELD          Why don't you get your fucking          hands off me, you fucking whore!                    PETE MUSANE          Hey!                    ROSALYN ROSENFELD          You're a whore. (to everyone) This          is my husband's whore!                    EDITH GREENSLY          That's real nice.                    DOLLY POLITO          We're not going to do this in the          Ocean Room tonight. Not tonight.          Please.                    ROSALYN ROSENFELD          This is my husbands whore!Dolly escorts Edith over to one side of the room away fromRosalyn.                    DOLLY POLITO          You stay over here with me.          Everybody just calm down. I don't          know what's going on.Pete looks over to Rosalyn.                    PETE MUSANE          You alright? Take it easy. These          things happen. Whatever's meant to          be will be.Rosalyn smiles at Pete.                    ROSALYN ROSENFELD          That's what I always say.                    PETE MUSANE          You say that?                    ROSALYN ROSENFELD          Yeah.                                                              98.                          PETE MUSANE                See? Kindred spirits.                          ROSALYN ROSENFELD                Whatever's meant to be will be.                          PETE MUSANE                Whatever's meant to be will be.                                                        CUT TO:      INT. WOMEN'S POWDER ROOM HALLWAY - CASINO      ROSALYN STORMS DOWN THE HALL TOWARDS THE BATHROOM AS "WHITE      RABBIT" BUILDS TO ITS CLIMAX.126   INT. WOMEN'S POWDER ROOM - CASINO                             126      Rosalyn looks in mirror: sadness, anger, fear. Edith rushes      in.                          EDITH GREENSLY                What the hell do you think you're                doing?                          ROSALYN ROSENFELD                What the hell do I think I'm                doing?! What the fuck do you think                you're doing? You really gonna come                in here and judge me for flirting                with somebody after you've been                fucking my husband for how many                years?!                          EDITH GREENSLY                You don't have any fucking clue                what's going on!      Rosalyn holds her hand, with wedding ring to Sydney's face.                          ROSALYN ROSENFELD                I got a ring on my finger. We have                a child together.                          EDITH GREENSLY                He doesn't love you Rosalyn he                loves me. And you know it and I                know it and he knows it. And it                might be done now, but it was                beautiful and it was real.                                                        99.                     ROSALYN ROSENFELD          Stop.                    EDITH GREENSLY          And we loved each other.                     ROSALYN ROSENFELD          Shut up.Rosalyn starts to tear up.                    EDITH GREENSLY          You scare him, and you manipulate          him, and you use your son!                    ROSALYN ROSENFELD          Well, he must like it on some          level. He must want it because he          keeps coming back for it. It's like          that perfume that you love that you          can't stop smelling, even when          there's something sour in it. You          can't get enough of it. But guess          what, he's never gonna leave me.          He's always going to want me, and I          will make you so sorry, Edith. I          will make you so sorry for what          you've done to my family, mark my          words.                     EDITH GREENSLY          That is fucked up! I would never          say anything that fucked up to          anybody, but you do because you're          gross inside, you're so fucked up          and gross.                    ROSALYN ROSENFELD          Oh, I'm gross inside?                     EDITH GREENSLY          Yeah.                    ROSALYN ROSENFELD          Maybe you're gross inside, with          robbing people and all that shit          that you do? Maybe we're both gross          inside, that's what Irving loves          about us. At least he's consistent          with his women. You know, sometimes          in life all you have are fucked up,          poisonous choices.Rosalyn reaches over, grabs Sydney's face and kisses her.                                                               100.      Rosalyn laughs a toxic, tough front dark laugh and walks out.      THE BEE GEES "HOW CAN YOU MEND A BROKEN HEART?" STARTS.      Sydney looks into the mirror and wipes the lipstick off her      lips as Rosalyn storms out of the powder room.                                                      SMASH TO:129   ROSALYN WALKS OUT SHAKY -- SUDDENLY FROM BEHIND A ROW OF      129      WOODEN PAYPHONES A HAND GRABS ROSALYN'S AND PULLS HER BEHIND      THEM - ITS PETE MUSANE - THEY STARE AT EACH OTHER - SILENT -      INTENSE-- ROSALYN IS SHAKING AND CRYING AS SHE FALLS APART IN      HIS ARMS.      SYDNEY COMES STORMING OUT OF THE POWDER ROOM AND WALKS RIGHT      PAST ROSALYN AND PETE.      PUSH IN ON: SYDNEY LOOKING BACK, STOPPED, SEES ROSALYN      EMBRACING PETE AS SHE CRIES.                                                      SMASH TO:130   SYDNEY RUNS INTO BACK ROOM, URGENTLY JOINS IRV AND RICHIE AT    130      THE TABLE.                          EDITH GREENSLY                We need to talk! This is serious.                                                      SMASH TO:      CARMINE AND DOLLY CLIMB THE STAIRS TO THE MAIN BALLROOM      FILLED EXCITEDLY WITH OPTIMISM AS THE SONG SWELLS. THEY KISS      IN SILHOUETTE INTO A HARD BACKLIGHT. CARMINE CLIMBS REACHES      THE STAGE AND THE CROWD ROARS.                          AL KALOWSKI                Ladies and gentlemen, your friend,                the working man's friend, my                friend, Mayor Carmine Polito!      ON STAGE: Carmine TAKES MIC      Irving stands off to the side of the stage as his world      closes in around him. Pulls his heart pills out of his pocket      and takes one. Sydney sees this as she stands nearby with      Richie.      Irv, Edith, Richie watch near stage, jostled. Rosalyn enters      the ball room looking disheveled as she is guided by Pete      Musane looks to stage.                                                              101.                           CARMINE POLITO                    (on mic)                Hello, Camden! Hello, New Jersey!                Hello, Atlantic City! [CROWD ROARS]                A lot of my friends been out of                work [CROWD WHISTLES - BOOS] A lot                of good hard working families just                wanna WORK AND LIVE. (crowd CHEERS)                There's no money nowhere. You gotta                be kidding me! -- don't they                remember who built this country?                [CHEERS] The one thing we can all                agree about in the State of New                Jersey is that we never, ever give                up! Do we?      Carmine dominates the crowd and you can see the emotion in      his face as he says this. He raises his glass to the crowd.                           CARMINE POLITO (CONT'D)                Please, raise a glass with me to a                new era that begins tonight. From                me and my family, we thank you. For                all the hard work that you've given                us in the community. Look what                you've done. This is beautiful!                Thank you!      Crowd ROARS WILDLY. Irv watches, MOVED AND DESTROYED.      DISSOLVE TO: SHOTS OF EMPTY BALL ROOM, TRASHED HALLWAYS,      ATLANTIC CITY STREET TO OCEAN -- OCEAN SOUNDS                                                      SMASH TO:132   INT. IRVING'S DRY CLEANERS - EARLY MORNING                     132      Irving walks in with his keys, same clothes from night      before, as ocean sounds continue, TAKES A GUN FROM THE SAFE,      and he stands looking lost and lonely, he turns on the      electric dry cleaning rack, where he and SYDNEY STOOD      TOGETHER, IN LOVE. He looks heartsick. HE STEPS INSIDE THE      SWIRLING ELECTRIC DRY CLEANING RACK OF PLASTIC WRAPPED      CLOTHES, AND STANDS ALONE, WHERE SYD USED TO BE, AND IS      HEARTBROKEN.      EXT. THIRD AVENUE - DAY - CONTINUOUS      RICHIE STORMS DOWN THE STREET IN SAME NIGHT CLOTHES.                                                             102.134   INT. HALLWAY TO SYDNEY'S APARTMENT - DAY                      134      BANG BANG BANG -- Richie POUNDS ON SYDNEY'S DOOR -- SYDNEY,      HAIR IN CURLERS, ANSWERS THE DOOR.                          RICHIE DIMASO                Can I use your phone?135   INT. SYDNEY'S APARTMENT DAY - AS SHE WATCHES -- HE paces      135      intense, phone in hand, SHIRT SLEEVES, a mess. HE DIALS.                          RICHIE DIMASO (CONT'D)                    (to Sydney)                Last night was insane. I got it all                figured out.                          STODDARD THORSEN                    (on phone)                Stoddard Thorsen.                          RICHIE DIMASO                    (into phone)                Listen, I need the Sherman Suite at                the Plaza Hotel, okay?                          STODDARD THORSEN                    (on phone)                That's a whole floor of the hotel.                          RICHIE DIMASO                I need a whole floor. I need it for                my operation      INT. FBI FIELD OFFICE - DAY - CONTINUOUS                           STODDARD THORSEN                (on phone)                Stop calling it your operation,                Richard. It's not your operation.                And I'm not giving you a whole                floor of the Plaza Hotel.      INT. SYDNEY'S APARTMENT - DAY                           RICHIE DIMASO                I have members of Congress that are                gonna come in right now to try to                give the Sheik citizenship. They're                taking bribes. This is happening                right now. That's what's happening                right now.                                                       103.INT. FBI FIELD OFFICE - DAY                     STODDARD THORSEN          (on phone)          Bribing members of Congress are you          out of your fucking mind?INT. SYDNEY'S APARTMENT - DAY                    RICHIE DIMASO          Stoddard. Stoddard! Shut up!          Listen! Do you know who Victor          Tellegio is? Victor. Tellegio.          Works for Meyer Lansky. You know          who that is?                    STODDARD THORSEN          I know who Victor Tellegio is.                    RICHIE DIMASO          Resorts International! He wants ten          million dollars. I have two weeks!                    STODDARD THORSEN          You're not getting ten million          dollars.                    RICHIE DIMASO              (screaming)          Just listen to me! You're not          listening to me! I have two weeks!          I have two weeks to put this thing          together and I need you to get me          the Sherman Suite at the Plaza          Hotel. And your going to fucking do          it!                    STODDARD THORSEN          Lower your voice. You don't get to          yell at me.Richie SLAMS DOWN THE PHONE. Edith (HAIR IN CURLERS) STARESAT HIM.                    RICHIE DIMASO          Calm me down baby. You gotta calm          me down.He handles her hips and neck and waist and ass.                    RICHIE DIMASO (CONT'D)          Baby let's do this. Let's do this          right now. --                                                       104.                    EDITH GREENSLY          No, no.                    RICHIE DIMASO          I want to do this. You're fucking          skin is glowing baby. Your skin is          glowing.                    EDITH GREENSLY          I'm not doing this with you. We're          not going to do this unless we do          it for real, alright?                    RICHIE DIMASO          I want to do this now!                    EDITH GREENSLY          That's what we agreed on so we're          not going to do that alright?          Alright? Where are you? You're          acting all scary.She grabs him by the head to calm him down.                    EDITH GREENSLY (CONT'D)          Are you here with me?HE TRIES A GENTLER SEDUCTION.                    RICHIE DIMASO              (leans down to her eyes)          I love you. I love you. Look at me.              (slowly)          I'm in love with you. It is real          now. I just said it so now's the          time.He handles her, nuzzles her neck, starts to turn her on.                    EDITH GREENSLY              (kissing him)          You want the truth? You want real?                    RICHIE DIMASO          I'm ready for real.SOMETHING CLICKS INSIDE HER -- SHE DROPS HER BRITISH ACCENT --                    SYDNEY PROSSER              (DROPS HER BRITISH ACCENT)          OK, this is real. Do you hear my          voice? This is real. This is real.          What you hear is real.                                                       105.Richie steps back quickly and grabs Sydney.                    RICHIE DIMASO          What?                    SYDNEY PROSSER          This is me.                    RICHIE DIMASO          What do you mean? What are you          doing an accent? An American          accent?                    EDITH GREENSLY          No. There is no English. There's          only American. There is no English.Richie looks at her and continues to hold her looking veryconfused and flustered.                    RICHIE DIMASO          What are you talking about? Stop          it. You're Edith. You're Edith          Greensly. I checked your records.                    SYDNEY PROSSER          I falsified my records back to          birth. I falsified them.                    SYDNEY PROSSER (CONT'D)          My name is Sydney Prosser, and I'm          from Albuquerque, New Mexico. I'm          not Edith Greensly. There is no          Edith Greensly.Richie steps back. He stares at her darkly.                    RICHIE DIMASO          You're -- freaking -- me -- out.          No, you said in the stall that we          were going to be real and that we          weren't going to fake it.                    SYDNEY PROSSER          I'm being real now. This is who I          am. I'm Sydney Prosser. Ok?                    RICHIE DIMASO          So -- why -- did you do an English          accent after that?                    SYDNEY PROSSER          I'm sorry I didn't tell you in the          stall.                    (MORE)                                                       106.                    SYDNEY PROSSER (CONT'D)          I created Edith because I needed          her to survive, okay? But I'm done          with that now. I'm so fucking done          with that. Like you do what you          need to survive, right? You do it.          You know, you live with your mom --          you have a fiancÈe you don't even          acknowledge, right? That's what          you do. And you curl your hair in          little fucking curlers, which is --          No, it's okay, you look good with          it, but you know -- you have          straight hair, so that's what you          do to survive. You do all sorts of          things, you know. We all do.                    RICHIE DIMASO              (whispers tensely)          Please don't talk about that. I'm          confused. I'm confused and --                    SYDNEY PROSSER          I'm fucking confused too, alright?                    RICHIE DIMASO          -- I think we should fuck, and then          we'll feel it and we won't be          confused anymore.HE EMBRACES HER --                    SYDNEY PROSSER          No -- I want to talk. I don't want          to fuck.                    RICHIE DIMASO              (embracing her)          Yes! Come on.                    SYDNEY PROSSER          NO! I'm not fucking you. I'm not          fucking fucking you!RED FACED LIKE HE MAY HIT HER, a vein stands out in his neck.SHE FLINCHES. HE SCREAMS like an animal in confusion andfrustration.                     RICHIE DIMASO          AHHH!SUDDENLY SYDNEY GRABS A GLASS PICTURE FRAME FROM A TABLE,SMASHES IT ACROSS RICHIE'S FOREHEAD AND FACE WITH ASHATTERING OF GLASS.                                                       107.Richie in pain holds his cut forehead and eyebrow.                    RICHIE DIMASO (CONT'D)              (in pain and dismay)          SHIT!They hear a door open off screen, someone approaches. Irvingappears from around the corner of the wall pointing hishandgun at Richie.                    IRVING ROSENFELD          Will you please step away from          Edith. I'm asking you nicely please          step away from Edith right now.                    RICHIE DIMASO          What the fuck --                    IRVING ROSENFELD          Step away from her. Please.                    RICHIE DIMASO          You mean Sydney?Irving looks over to Sydney very confused.                    SYDNEY PROSSER          I told him. I'm sorry. I just don't          give a fuck anymore, I don't give a          fuck. I don't fucking care.                    RICHIE DIMASO          Irving has a gun.                     IRVING ROSENFELD          What Richie's gotten us into is          worse then jail. I told you last          night, don't sit down with those          goons. And what? Now what? No one's          getting ten million for Tellegio.          It's over.                    RICHIE DIMASO          I don't think so.Irving and Sydney stare.                    RICHIE DIMASO (CONT'D)              (slowly)          Because when Tellegio finds out          what happened, do you think he's          gonna go after me? I don't think          so. Someone from the Bureau?                    (MORE)                                                       108.                    RICHIE DIMASO (CONT'D)          Think he's gonna go after a          politician? He's gonna kill you.          Then he's going to go after your          son. And Sydney.Richie PICKS UP PHONE AS THEY WATCH -- HE DIALS. INTERCUT:                    STODDARD THORSEN              (on phone)          Stoddard Thorsen.                    RICHIE DIMASO              (slowly, intensely)          You're going to give me the Sherman          Suite. The whole floor.HIS NOSE AND FOREHEAD ARE CUT FROM THE GLASS.                    STODDARD THORSEN          That's a NO. I said no wacko.                    RICHIE DIMASO          And you're going to tell me the          point of that FUCKING fishing          story.                    STODDARD THORSEN          Not the way you're behaving.                    RICHIE DIMASO              (FUMING)          What's the matter with you? Where          are you right now?                    STODDARD THORSEN          What does that make a difference?                    RICHIE DIMASO          Just tell me where the fuck you          are.                    STODDARD THORSEN          The field office on 61st street.                    RICHIE DIMASO          I'm coming to 61st Street. Right          now.                    STODDARD THORSEN          You're going to do what?                    RICHIE DIMASO          To beat -- your ass.                                                               109.                          STODDARD THORSEN                You're going to what?      Richie SLAMS the phone down, storms out the apartment.140   INT. SYDNEY'S APARTMENT - DAY                                   140                          IRVING ROSENFELD                You were right. We should have gone                away.      Irving sits in the corner of the room a disheveled mess.      Sydney sits on the bed drinking a Fresca.                          IRVING ROSENFELD (CONT'D)                I should have gone away with you.                          SYDNEY PROSSER                We were supposed to do it from the                feet up like you always said.                That's how we were meant to do it                but you didn't do it like that. You                didn't do it like that. You played                it safe so there was always a                danger you were going to end up                with Rosalyn in the dead space,                floating on some dead spaceship                with the furniture and the                curtains. And I was your life line                out and you were mine and that was                ok.                          IRVING ROSENFELD                    (Irving stares at her,                     emotional)                I wish I could get you back.      He walks across the room and sits down on the bed next to      Sydney.                          IRVING ROSENFELD (CONT'D)                You know I can't do it without you.                You know that. Come on. Me, you                and Danny. Like we said.                          SYDNEY PROSSER                Like I said. You never said that. I                said that. We gotta get over on all                these guys. That's what we need to                be thinking about right now.      Irving takes off his glasses and rubs his eyes.                                                               110.                          IRVING ROSENFELD                That's big. That's crazy. Whatever                it is, it's got to be the best                we've ever done.      Sydney nods her head yes, stares intensely at Irving as the      camera tilts down to reveal: their hands clasped together.141   EXT. OLD FEDERAL BUILDING - DOWNTOWN - DAY                        141      High ceiling, old office. Close on a tape recorder.      AS CAMERA PULLS BACK - SEE   STODDARD, BANDAGES ON HIS BRUISED      FACE AND A WHITE EYE PATCH   ON HIS INJURED EYE, SITTING      OPPOSITE PROSECUTOR, AMADO   - - the tape recorder and      microphone sit on the desk   in front of Stoddard as he records      a statement for a report.                          STODDARD THORSEN                    (SLOW MIDWEST MONOTONE)                Agent Dimaso called me late at                night on the 21st. I believe that                he was intoxicated. He threatened                me and I told him this was                inappropriate. I told him                procedures exist for reasons we                must respect. This is the third                such call I received from Agent                Dimaso. He called me again the                night of the 5th and he threatened                to kill me. Subsequently he                demanded that I allow him to use                the Sherman Suite at the Plaza                hotel for purposes of bribing                members of congress.      Camera pull-back reveals: THE CHASTENED Richie SITS      LISTENING, IN A SUIT AND TIE. He's in trouble with their      boss, the prosecutor.                          RICHIE DIMASO                I am so sorry.                          STODDARD THORSEN                I'm not finished. There's a lot                more.      Richie gets up and pulls up a chair next to Stoddard.      Stoddard flinches and moves away like he's going to get hit      again.                                                             111.                          RICHIE DIMASO                I have nothing but the utmost                respect for you as my mentor. (he                reaches down and turns the tape                recorder off) and as my --                          STODDARD THORSEN                    (re: the recorder)                What are you doing?                          RICHIE DIMASO                I just want to talk from my heart.                I don't want it on record. I want                to get vulnerable.                           STODDARD THORSEN                Can I finish? Can I finish my                statement?                          RICHIE DIMASO                Of course. I respect you.                          STODDARD THORSEN                I think you do other things besides                respect me.                                                      SMASH TO:139   INT. STODDARD'S FIELD OFFICE - FLASHBACK                       139      Stoddard paces while on the phone, holds up a finger to      Richie to wait, Richie picks up Stoddard's phone -- rips the      cord out and smashes Stoddard across the face with the base.      Doesn't stop til Stoddard falls to the ground, knocks over      desk chair and bookcase behind.                                                       BACK TO:      INT. OLD FEDERAL BUILDING - DOWN TOWN      They stare at each other.                          RICHIE DIMASO                It's just hard for me to control my                passion. I'm a very passionate                person. (looks to Amado) You're                from New York. You understand this.                He goes ice fishing in the midwest.                          STODDARD THORSEN                That was told to you in confidence.                                                         112.                    RICHIE DIMASO          He's an ice fishing guy. Look at          him.                                              SMASH BACK TO:INT. FBI FIELD OFFICE - DAY - FLASHBACKWhere we left off. Stoddard reaches with bloodied handsacross -- what is he reaching for? Oh, on a small table, agun and a clip.                    RICHIE DIMASO          What are you doing pulling out your          gun? Stop it. That's not you.                    STODDARD THORSEN          No, it's me. This is me. It's me.                    RICHIE DIMASO          Don't do something that you don't          know anything about. Alright?Richie grabs his gun and starts to load it.                    STODDARD THORSEN          DO NOT LOAD THAT GUN. YOU DROP THAT          GUN.                    RICHIE DIMASO          I'll show you how it's done. I'm          not even going to hit you.He points the gun at Stoddard.                    RICHIE DIMASO (CONT'D)          Watch this fucko.                                                     CUT TO:INT. OLD FEDERAL BUILDING - DOWNTOWNRichie and Stoddard stare at each other in silence.                    ANTHONY AMADO          So, you want to use the Sherman          Suite? The entire floor?Stoddard throws his head back, looks at ceiling inexasperation.                                       113.          STODDARD THORSENOH GOD.          RICHIE DIMASOYes! At the Plaza Hotel.          ANTHONY AMADOWhat happened to the Mafia? Ithought you were --          RICHIE DIMASOThis is where they intersect! Thisis where the two things intersect.The Politicians and the Mafia.Victor Tellegio's people who runresorts international --          ANTHONY AMADOVictor Tellegio showed his face?          RICHIE DIMASOYes. I sat with him. I sat withVictor Tellegio. I hung out withhim. We can get him. We can get hiswhole organization as well asgetting any number of congressmen.I mean, that's just peeling thefirst layer of the onion.          ANTHONY AMADOWow. How you going to do that?          RICHIE DIMASOWe would get ten million dollarsand put it into an account --          STODDARD THORSENTEN MILLION DOLLARS?! Ten Milliondollars?          RICHIE DIMASOAnd that's how we just let themknow we're for real.          ANTHONY AMADOWhat does he say he's gonna do forthe ten million dollars? How are wetrapping him?          RICHIE DIMASOHe promises to build casinos,handle the skims, do the licencing --                                                                114.                          STODDARD THORSEN                And you have him on tape saying                this. You have that right? No.                          ANTHONY AMADO                    (to Richie)                I want you to find a safer way to                get Victor Tellegio on a wire. No                ten million dollars -- that's                crazy.                             STODDARD THORSEN                Thank you.      Richie looks down, defeated.                          ANTHONY AMADO                Even to entrap Tellegio it's crazy.                But you can have the Sherman Suite -                -                             STODDARD THORSEN                NO.                          ANTHONY AMADO                --Stoddard, please -- To go and get                me some congressmen. Go get some                congressmen taking bribes. I want                to pinch us some congressmen, ok?                You come back to me. I'm proud of                you.                           RICHIE DIMASO                Thank you.                (then as an afterthought)                And Stoddard.143   INT. CORRIDOR - OLD FEDERAL COURT BUILDING - CONTINUOUS          143      Richie and Stoddard walk down large, echoey Federal building      corridor. Stoddard walking ten feet ahead turns and points at      Richie.                           STODDARD THORSEN                    (shouts bitterly)                Good luck keeping your job, by the                way, and staying out of jail -- and                not being killed by the Mob. But                other than that you're doing a                great job.      Stoddard turns and storms off.                                                                115.                          RICHIE DIMASO                    (as Stoddard walks away)                What's the end of the ice fishing                story?                          STODDARD THORSEN                I'm not telling you the end of the                ice fishing story.                          RICHIE DIMASO                I'm going to call your fucking                brother and find out from him.                          STODDARD THORSEN                My brother's dead.                          RICHIE DIMASO                That's how it ends. He fell through                the fucking ice.                          STODDARD THORSEN                    (shouts bitterly)                No it's not. He died a different                way, many years later.      He storms off and leaves Richie staring in the hallway.      EXT. PLAZA HOTEL -- DAY      Establishing.145   INT. PLAZA HOTEL - GENERAL SHERMAN SUITE HALLWAY - CONTINUOUS 145      Richie walks out of a surveillance room and down the hallway      to where Irv and Sydney wait.                          RICHIE DIMASO                Listen I know it's awkward and I                just want to say I'm sorry,                alright? I think we can stick                together and still fulfill our                goal. I mean, we got the Sherman                Suite.                          IRVING ROSENFELD                You got the whole floor?                          RICHIE DIMASO                We got the whole floor, yeah.                          EDITH GREENSLY                That's good.                                                          116.                    RICHIE DIMASO          Yeah, you ok?                       SYDNEY PROSSER          Yeah. You?Richie gestures to his eye that Sydney smashed with thepicture frame. He's got a few little scabs.                    RICHIE DIMASO          It's alright. I got hit a little          bit. My eye. It's a little blurry          but I got drops at the pharmacy.Richie looks over to Irving.                    RICHIE DIMASO (CONT'D)          Hey, you OK?                    IRVING ROSENFELD          Yeah, I'm good --Richie looks back over to Sydney                    RICHIE DIMASO          Listen, I'm sorry.                       SYDNEY PROSSER          I'm sorry.                    RICHIE DIMASO              (to Irving)          I'm sorry Irving.Irving doesn't know what to say, starts to say somethingtwice, stops, can't think of what to say. Leaves Richiehanging.INT. PLAZA HOTEL - GENERAL SHERMAN SUITE - DAYRichie directs where cameras should be concealed. AGENTSSCHMIDT AND STOCK FOLLOW MAKING NOTES IN PADS.                    RICHIE DIMASO          You can put a camera here. And we          get it all on film. You like it?                       EDITH GREENSLY          I do.                    RICHIE DIMASO              (to Schmidt)          Give me those flowers.                    (MORE)                                                               117.                             RICHIE DIMASO (CONT'D)                   If we put the flower base here and                   put a camera in there we can get a                   clear shot of the couch there where                   we can put the congressmen.      Irving, sitting on the couch, looks kind of disturbed by      this.                             IRVING ROSENFELD                   That's right. That's the idea.146   INT. MAYOR CARMINE POLITO'S OFFICE - DAY                        146                             RICHIE DIMASO (O.S.)                   And Carmine will go to jail after                   he delivers us the congressmen soon                   to be felons.      Carmine's aid MELORA answers a ringing phone as Carmine sits      at his desk.                             MELORA                   Congressman O'Connell is on the                   phone --      PUSH IN ON                             CARMINE POLITO                   I got to take this you guys                   everyone out please.      Dolly Polito, checking the unwatered plants in her husbands      office with her coat on, she has just stopped by. Turns and      holds up a parched and dying houseplant.                             DOLLY POLITO                   This is sad. It's just sad.                             CARMINE POLITO                   Dolly please, I gotta take this.                             DOLLY POLITO                   Ok, sorry. Everyone out. Go out.                             CARMINE POLITO                   (picks up phone)                   Congressman, how you doing? It's                   Carmine. Tell me you're gonna be in                   Trenton this week. We have an                   amazing investment opportunity I'd                   like to discuss with you.                                                         SMASH TO:                                                               118.      INT. PLAZA HOTEL - GENERAL SHERMAN SUITE - DAY      Richie on a black and white surveillance camera as he shows      the briefcase full of money.                          RICHIE DIMASO                I'm federal agent Richard Dimaso.                I've placed seventy-five thousand                dollars into this briefcase for                Representative John O'Connell of                the Ninth District.                                                         SMASH TO:148   EXT. STATE CAPITOL - TRENTON, NEW JERSEY - DAY                  148      Carmine shakes hands with REP. JOHN O'CONNELL --                          CARMINE POLITO                Congressman, thank you for coming                by, John --                          RICHIE DIMASO (V.O.)                Representative O'Connell was                contacted by Carmine Polito to ask                if he could obtain rapid                citizenship through an act of                Congress for one Sheik Abdullah,                investor.      They walk up the capitol steps.                          CARMINE POLITO                You wanna talk jobs, investment,                construction, if we can expedite a                very wealthy man's citizenship --149   INT. SHERMAN SUITE, PLAZA HOTEL - NIGHT                         149150   CAMERA PANS TO HOLE IN CORNER and CAMERA LENS --                150152                                                                   152                          RICHIE DIMASO                How you doing congressmen?                          JOHN O'CONNELL                I'm excited to be here.                          CARMINE POLITO                This brings the state back. I mean,                how long we known each other?                          (MORE)                                                   119.                    CARMINE POLITO (CONT'D)          You know what this is gonna do for          us? This is huge for the state of          New Jersey. It stabilizes our          economy.                    IRVING ROSENFELD          Hotels. Restaurants. It's waiting          to happen. Carmine sees it, this          fucking thing is waiting to happen.                    CARMINE POLITO          The goddamn bankers. Keeping their          money on the sidelines. How we          supposed to get anything done?                    JOHN O'CONNELL          Bankers only put money in the game          when they can reap insane profit.Richie staring, mesmerized by this trap.                    RICHIE DIMASO          The only problem is this          citizenship situation. I mean, we          got to expedite it as soon as          possible.                    JOHN O'CONNELL          Yeah, well I'll tell you, you came          to the right place.Everyone looks tense and on edge before.                    JOHN O'CONNELL (CONT'D)          I'll make it happen.                    CARMINE POLITO          Hey, this is going to happen.Richie slides the briefcase in John's direction.                    CARMINE POLITO (CONT'D)          This is real. You understand? This          is real. On my family. On my kids.          On my life. On my work.                    JOHN O'CONNELL          I know that, Carmine. You're a          good manThis hurts Irving to see his friends sincerity.                                                             120.153   ANOTHER DAY - ON GRAINY MONITOR                                153                          RICHIE DIMASO                (on grainy black and white)                I'm federal agent Richard Dimaso. I                am placing 75 thousand dollars in                this brief case for one                Representative Gerald Sanders of                the 3rd district.                                                       SMASH TO:154   -HAND SHAKES - REP. SANDERS SITS LOOKING WARILY AT BRIEFCASE   154                          REP. SANDERS                I don't want to do anything illegal-                          CARMINE POLITO                Please Gerry. Use it as a campaign                donation. Whatever you want to do.      Richie slides the briefcase to him.155   ANOTHER DAY                                                    155                          RICHIE DIMASO                    (on grainy monitor)                I'm placing g $60,000 into an this                brief case for one Congressman Eric                Keshoygan of the 4th district --                          ERIC KESHOYGAN                I'm going to do what I can to help                Carmine.      Irv watches in pain as he sits with them.                                                       SMASH TO:156   ANOTHER DAY                                                    156                          RICHIE DIMASO                A $100,000 into this briefcase for                two term United States Senator                Horton Mitchell of New Jersey.      A distinguished silver haired Senator, older.                          HORTON MITCHELL                Atlantic City. All the way down the                shore. A mecca by the sea.                                                             121.      Richie slides over the briefcase.                          HORTON MITCHELL (CONT'D)                Carmine you're beloved by your                people. Your constituency is not                even your constituency it's your                family. That's what you represent,                family.                          CARMINE POLITO                One small thing we do for this man                is a huge thing we do for the                people of New Jersey. This is what                we can leave behind.      Irving can't stand how hopeful his friend Carmine is being      because Irving knows Carmine is being set up. He gets up --                          CARMINE POLITO (CONT'D)                Irving what are you doing?                          RICHIE DIMASO                Where you going?                           IRVING ROSENFELD                     (excusing himself                      uncomfortably)                I just gotta go see a man about a                dog.158   IRVING WALKS DOWN THE HALL VERY DISTORTED. HE GOES INTO THE     158      VIDEO ROOM WHERE STODDARD WATCHES THE SURVEILLANCE MONITORS      INTENSELY AS CARMINE CONTINUES TO STAND BEHIND HIS SINCERE      PLEDGES.                          CARMINE POLITO                    (on grainy monitor)                I appreciate this. On my family. On                my kids. This needs to happen. It's                gotta happen. You've got my word      Irving walks out of the room --159   INT. HALLWAY OF SHERMAN SUITE, PLAZA -- CONTINUOUS              159      --into another room where Sydney on elegant gold couch, sits      alone. Surveillance equipment and room service trays are on      the coffee table.160   INT. ANOTHER ROOM OF SHERMAN SUITE - CONTINUOUS                 160      She watches Irving who is pacing anxiously and very wound up.                                                             122.                          IRVING ROSENFELD                    (pacing)                I want to save us. I want to save                Carmine. It's fucking killing me.                          SYDNEY PROSSER                You know the only way to help                Carmine is through the Tellegio                thing.                          IRVING ROSENFELD                It's dangerous. We gotta get a wire                in there. We gotta make him feel                safe.                          SYDNEY PROSSER                There's only one thing that can                really fuck this up and that's your                wife.                             IRVING ROSENFELD                       (pacing)                Yep.161   EXT. DANNY'S ELEMENTARY SCHOOL -- DAY                           161      Rosalyn fixes Danny's coat, hands him his lunch and sends him      off towards the school's front door --      CLOSE UP: ROSALYN STARES INTO LENS. Emotional, a mixture of      sadness and hope. She holds a closed bottle of her favorite      nail finish and smells it nostalgically.      A BLACK SEDAN PULLS INTO THE FRAME, SHE OPENS THE DOOR AND      GETS IN. IT IS PETE MUSANE, TELLEGIO'S MOBSTER SHE FLIRTED      WITH AT THE CASINO.162   INT. PETE MUSANE'S CADILLAC - DAY                               162      He gently puts a hand on her knee. She leaves it there for a      moment before pushing it away. They stare at each other.163   INT. MAISON D'LUC - HUNTINGTON, LONG ISLAND - DAY               163      A NICE RESTAURANT OVERLOOKING THE LONG ISLAND SOUND, LIGHT      CORAL COLORED TABLECLOTHS; THE PLACE FILLED WITH DAYLIGHT --      ROSALYN AND PETE SIT VERY CLOSE. QUIET. TOGETHER. IN SILENCE.      FEW BEATS. CONTENT.                                                123.                    PETE MUSANE          I don't like your husband. You're          no good together. He doesn't          appreciate you. Hey, it happens.          It happened in my marriage. That's          why I went to Miami. Sometimes you          just gotta be tough. You gotta          stand up and you gotta leave, you          know?Rosalyn looks at Pete smitten.                    PETE MUSANE (CONT'D)          Sometimes you gotta let something          die to let something live. You're          too beautiful to be unhappy.                    ROSALYN ROSENFELD          I know. I mean, I don't want to          badmouth my husband, but let me          badmouth my husband for a second.          He just thinks that he knows          everything and he's so full of          shit. He's such a liar. He thinks          that I'm stupid, but I'm not          stupid. I hear him on the phone          arguing. He loves Carmine, but he          hates that other guy, that curly-          headed I.R.S. guy, or whatever          who's carting around my husband's          ex-lover, that redheaded whore.                    PETE MUSANE          IRS?                     ROSALYN ROSENFELD          Anyway. You can see that it drives          him crazy.                    PETE MUSANE          You said IRS. What IRS guy? What          are you talking bout?                    ROSALYN ROSENFELD          I hear them on the phone. I think          that he's got Irv in some sort of          bind or something and he's making          him do all of this stuff and so Irv          and Carmine right now are at the          Plaza Hotel throwing away all this          money at like Congress or whatever.          They're giving money to congress or          something. I don't really know but          I overheard it on the phone.                                                             124.      Pete's brow furrows - this is serious.                          PETE MUSANE                You know I hate to do this to you                but I have to go talk to your                husband. My boss is already angry.                You stay here I'm going to give you                some money for a taxi home.      He puts cash in her hands.                          PETE MUSANE (CONT'D)                You stay here. Get yourself some                dessert. Finish the bottle of                prosecco. I'm sorry.      Rosalyn and Pete hold hands as Rosalyn stares into his eyes.      Very emotional.                          PETE MUSANE (CONT'D)                You alright?                          ROSALYN ROSENFELD                    (open, vulnerable)                I don't like change. It's really                hard for me. Sometimes I think that                I'll die before I change.      He kisses her.                          PETE MUSANE                It's gonna be okay. You're gonna                come live with me in Miami.      Pete gets up and walks. As he does:                          ROSALYN ROSENFELD164             Don't hurt him too bad. He's still                    164                Danny's father.                                                       BACK TO:165   ROSALYN AT TABLE ALONE, EMOTIONAL, VULNERABLE, HER LIFE IS      165      CHANGING.166   EXT. PLAZA HOTEL -- DAY                                         166      Irv and Carmine down sidewalk leaving from The Plaza Hotel --      Pete Musane stands next to an open passenger side door, --      Irv and Carmine do not move, they stare at the open door.                                                             125.      PAUL MCCARTNEY AND WINGS "LIVE AND LET DIE" STARTS OMINOUSLY.      INT. IRV AND ROSALYN'S HOUSE - LIVING ROOM - NIGHT170   Rosalyn in full muumuu, wearing cleaning gloves and holding a 170      vacuum sings to LIVE AND LET DIE while Danny sits on the      couch watching her. Very intense.171   INT. PETE MUSANE'S CADILLAC - "LIVE AND LET DIE" CONTINUOUS     171      Irving and Carmine sit up front with Pete driving and Dick      Helsing sits in the back seat looking angry.      INT. IRV AND ROSALYN'S HOUSE - LIVING ROOM - "LIVE AND LET      DIE" CONTINUOUS      Rosalyn continues to sing and gets more intense as the music      picks up.      INT. PETE MUSANE'S CADILLAC - "LIVE AND LET DIE" CONTINUOUS      Irving looks over to Pete nervously. Unsure of what's going      to happen.      INT. IRV AND ROSALYN'S HOUSE - LIVING ROOM - "LIVE AND LET      DIE" CONTINUOUS      Rosalyn whips her head up and down, dancing manically through      the house.      INT. IRV AND ROSALYN'S HOUSE - BEDROOM - NIGHT      Rosalyn sits on the bed with Danny with clothes all over the      place while smoking a cigarette.                          ROSALYN ROSENFELD                Life is ridiculous and I would                never say anything bad about your                father in front of you but your                father is a sick son of a bitch.                          DANNY                Daddy's a sick son of a bitch?                          ROSALYN ROSENFELD                Don't repeat that. But yes.                                                        126.EXT. IRV AND ROSALYN'S HOUSE - NIGHTIrving's Caddy comes screeching up to the house and parks inthe driveway. Irv get's out and races inside.INT. IRV AND ROSALYN'S HOUSE - BEDROOM - NIGHTRosalyn is still sitting on the bed with Danny.                    IRVING ROSENFELD (O.S.)              (shouts)          ROSALYN! ROSALYN!Rosalyn looks scared.                    IRVING ROSENFELD (CONT'D)          This is a real low in our          relationship! You know where I was          recently? I was in your boyfriend's          fucking car! I saw your nail          polish.                                                  SMASH TO:INT. PETE MUSANE'S CADILLAC - FLASHBACKIRVING LOOKS DOWN AND SEES THE BOTTLE OF ROSALYN'S NAILFINISH ON THE CAR SEAT -- HE PICKS IT UP, LOOKS AHEAD THROUGHWINDSHIELD SMELLS IT, WORRIED. Carmine glances over hisshoulder anxiously at Dick Helsing in the back seat.                    PETE MUSANE          What's this I hear about your curly          haired friend working for the          Government?                    CARMINE POLITO          What?! Who said that?                    IRVING ROSENFELD          That's bullshit!                       PETE MUSANE          Your wife.Irving is surprised to hear this.                    IRVING ROSENFELD          That's bullshit.                       CARMINE POLITO          Rosalyn?                                                        127.INT. IRV AND ROSALYN'S HOUSE - BEDROOM - CONTINUOUS                    IRVING ROSENFELD              (screams)          HE PUT A CANVAS BAG OVER MY HEAD!                                                SMASH TO:INT. PETE MUSANE'S CADILLAC - FLASHBACKA WHITE CANVAS BAG GARROTES OVER IRVING'S HEAD, FROM HELSINGIN THE BACK SEAT.                    CARMINE POLITO          Hey, what the fuck?! --                    PETE MUSANE          Shut up. Shut the fuck up.DICK HOLDS A GUN TO THE BACK OF IRVING'S BAGGED HEAD.INT. IRV AND ROSALYN'S HOUSE - BEDROOM - CONTINUOUS                    IRVING ROSENFELD          ARE YOU HAPPY NOW? BECAUSE HE IS          TRYING TO KILL ME!                    ROSALYN          What are you talking about?!                    IRVING ROSENFELD          WHAT ARE YOU DOING? WHAT DO YOU          THINK YOU'RE DOING?                    ROSALYN ROSENFELD          Get out of here! I'm not doing          anything!                    IRVING ROSENFELD          WHY ARE YOU TALKING SO MUCH? YOU'RE          GOING TO GET US ALL KILLED!Irving looks down to see Danny sitting there on the bed.                    IRVING ROSENFELD (CONT'D)          Danny. Come here buddy alright? Go          draw a picture or something.Irving ushers Danny out of the room.                                                       128.                    ROSALYN ROSENFELD          You're a real sick son of a bitch          for screaming at me like that in          front of Danny.                    IRVING ROSENFELD          I'M A SICK SON OF A BITCH? YOU'RE          TRYING TO GET ME FUCKING KILLED. OH          MY GOD!! YOU DRIVE ME SO FUCKING          CRAZY. WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! YOU'RE          BOYFRIEND -- YOUR FUCKING BOYFRIEND          WILL KILL ME, HE'LL KILL DANNY, AND          HE'LL KILL YOU.                    ROSALYN ROSENFELD          STOP TALKING LIKE THAT!                    IRVING ROSENFELD          He's a mobster alright? That's who          you're dealing with.                    ROSALYN ROSENFELD          Alright fine! Yes, I wanted to hurt          you but how do you think that I          feel all day when you leave me          alone all day? And all I've ever          wanted is for you to love me.          That's all I ever wanted. And stay          married and for you to love me. And          that's why I'm going to Miami!                    IRVING ROSENFELD          You're NOT going to Miami.                    ROSALYN ROSENFELD          That's why I'm going to Miami with          Pete!Irving picks up Rosalyn's clothes from the bed where there isan open suitcase, throws them back in the closet.                    IRVING ROSENFELD          You are NOT going to Miami.                    ROSALYN ROSENFELD          I finally found somebody who loves          me just like YOU always wanted.                     IRVING ROSENFELD          Too dangerous. Miami? Not now. Too          dangerous.Irv continue to throw clothes back into the closet.                                                       129.                    ROSALYN ROSENFELD          He likes me just the way I am.                    IRVING ROSENFELD          Not now. Everything has to stay          normal right now. And you're going          to shut your mouth!                    ROSALYN ROSENFELD          You told me that you wanted me to          find a nice quiet man!                    IRVING ROSENFELD          Oh and what a DOOZY you picked!                    ROSALYN ROSENFELD          He's the one.                    IRVING ROSENFELD          He's the most dangerous guy ever.                    ROSALYN ROSENFELD          WELL WHAT DO YOU EXPECT IRVING?! I          KNOW EVERYBODY THROUGH YOU! WHY          CAN'T YOU JUST BE HAPPY FOR ME?!Irving reaches for his heart pills but they fall out of hishands and scatter on the floor. He bends down to grab themand almost falls. Rosalyn helps him up.                    ROSALYN ROSENFELD (CONT'D)          Why aren't you taking your heart          pills? Irving, what's going on?          What kind of trouble are you in?!          What's happening?                    IRVING ROSENFELD          (out of breath)          I've got a plan.                    ROSALYN ROSENFELD          What's happening?Irving coughs and steps back. Out of breath and very winded.                    IRVING ROSENFELD          I've got a plan.                    ROSALYN ROSENFELD          You've got a plan? When did you get          it?                                                             130.                          IRVING ROSENFELD                It really fucking came to me when I                was inside of that canvas bag with                your boyfriend's hands around my                throat. That's when it really came                to me.      INT. PETE MUSANE'S CADILLAC - FLASHBACK                          CARMINE POLITO                Take it off! Take the bag off his                head!      Dick pulls the bag off Irving's head, his comb over is all      messed up. IRVING GASPS. Pete and Dick LAUGH --                          IRVING ROSENFELD                We've got two million coming this                week!                           PETE MUSANE                What do you think this is? You                think this is a fucking down                payment plan? Like were Sears of                Chevrolet?                          IRVING ROSENFELD                You ask Victor if he wants two                million this week. That's real                money. Two million.                          PETE MUSANE                Two million? How?                            IRVING ROSENFELD                Wired in.172   EXT. MADISON AVENUE - FLASHBACK - CONTINUOUS                    172      They LAUGH, Irving's hair is all messed up.      Pete patches out. Irving and Carmine are a mess, shirts      ripped open, no buttons, they look at each other VERY SHAKEN.                          CARMINE POLITO                Is it true? Is it true what he                said about your wife?                          IRVING ROSENFELD                It's not fucking true. That's not                true.                                                       131.INT. IRV AND ROSALYN'S HOUSE - BEDROOM - CONTINUOUS                    IRVING ROSENFELD          I can save all of us, and we can          save money. I can take care of you          and Danny. OK? But you gotta close          your mouth.Rosalyn looks satisfied and points her finger at Irving.                    ROSALYN ROSENFELD          I knew it. I have always said,          Irving, that you are very, very          hard to motivate properly. And I          knew that Pete was gonna go over          there and knock some sense into          you. I've been reading this book,          Irving. It's by Wayne Dyer, about          the power of intention.Irving can't believe what he's hearing right now.Rosalyn, very satisfied, reaches over the bed and grabs abook.                    ROSALYN ROSENFELD (CONT'D)          And my intention in sending Pete          over to you was so that you could          come up with this plan. So, you're          welcome.Irving incredulous, thinks to himself how to respond. Forceshimself to say gently --                    IRVING ROSENFELD          OK. Thank you, Rosalyn. Thank you          for the plan.                    ROSALYN ROSENFELD          You're welcome.                    IRVING ROSENFELD          I appreciate that. So, I think that          we should be partners on this.                    ROSALYN ROSENFELD          I'm a good partner. Almost better          than Edith. You ever think about          that? You ever think about how you          might have underestimated me?                    IRVING ROSENFELD          So what is our plan? Tell me the          plan. What are you gonna do?                                                         132.                    ROSALYN ROSENFELD          I'm going to keep my mouth shut and          I'm not going to say anything but          what do I do if Pete calls me? What          am I supposed to say?                    IRVING ROSENFELD          You gotta stop talking about your          government agencies and your I.R.S.          and your tax and your conspiracies          and all of that. You're gonna say          how you were wrong, you were wrong          about that.                    ROSALYN ROSENFELD          I'll tell Pete that I was wrong but          you know that in real life, I was          right for saying all that stuff          because then that spurred on the          actions that made you come up with          this plan. So I will tell Pete.                      IRVING ROSENFELD                (holding his head)          OK.                    ROSALYN ROSENFELD              (pointing with cigarette               between fingers)          The power of intention Irving. The          power of intention.Irv is doing everything he can to hold it together.                    IRVING ROSENFELD          OK. You were right.Rosalyn gets up from the bed and walks over to Irving.                    IRVING ROSENFELD (CONT'D)          You're so smart. Good job, peaches.                    ROSALYN ROSENFELD          Irving, I've been doing a lot of          thinking and -- you need to grow          up. And you need to face the          facts. And I think that both of us          will be a lot happier if we get a          divorce.As he listens to words he has been saying himself for months,now spoken as Rosalyn's idea.                                                              133.                            IRVING ROSENFELD                 OK.                           ROSALYN ROSENFELD                 Just think about it. (kisses him)                 These things are never easy.       Irving starts walking away towards the door.                            IRVING ROSENFELD                 Alright.                           ROSALYN ROSENFELD                 Irving. Good luck with your plan.       EXT. FBI OFFICE, FEDERAL OFFICE BUILDING, NY - DAY       The spare rhythmic intro of Jeff Lynne's "Long Black Road"       plays as Richie looks back over his shoulder and walks       towards the building with intensity.                           IRVING ROSENFELD (V.O.)                 Necessity truly is the mother of                 invention. The F.B.I. was willing                 to wire the two million dollars if                 it meant taking down Tellegio and                 his entire organization.       INT. FBI OFFICE, FEDERAL OFFICE BUILDING, NY       Brenda in her office.       Amado looking very pleased on the telephone.178A   EXT. LEXINGTON AVENUE - DAY                                     178A       Irving walks with Richie and Sydney up to an office building.                           IRVING ROSENFELD (V.O.)                 A mobster like Tellegio would never                 meet at the Plaza Hotel, but only                 at the office of his attorney,                 Alfonse Simone.       They walk into mob lawyer Simone's building.178B   INT. LOBBY OF BUILDING - DAY                                    178B       On an old faded directory: 7TH FLOOR: ALFONSE SIMONE #701                                                              134.178C   INT. ELEVATOR - CONTINUOUS                                      178C       THEY STAND TENSE IN ELEVATOR NOT SPEAKING.178D   INT. RECEPTION AREA - SIMONE LAW OFFICE - DAY                   178D       They open door to large, spare reception area of Alfonse       Simone's law office. MIDDLE AGED SECRETARY looks up and picks       up the phone.178E   INT. HALLWAY OF ALFONSE SIMONE'S OFFICE - CONTINUOUS            178E       NEARBY AT A SMALL TABLE SYDNEY IS FRISKED BY A BLACK MAN IN A       SUIT, SHE SUSTAINS EYE CONTACT WITH IRVING AND RICHIE AS THEY       ARE ALSO FRISKED BY ANOTHER MAN IN A SUIT ACROSS THE ROOM. --       THE CONTENTS OF SYDNEY'S PURSE ARE EMPTIED AND EXAMINED ALONG       WITH HER PURSE. IT IS TENSE. SYDNEY STARES AT A NERVOUS       RICHIE; THEIR MICROPHONES HAVE GONE UNDETECTED. "LONG BLACK       ROAD" CONTINUES AS CAMERA FOLLOWS THE BACK OF THE THICK NECK       OF THE MAN IN THE SUIT AS HE LEADS THEM DOWN A WINDING NARROW       OFFICE CORRIDOR. IN ONE SHOT THE DOOR OPENS, JEFF LYNNE'S       SONG SHIFTS TO A LIGHTER THAN AIR PIANO BREAK.178F   INT. ALFONSE SIMONE'S OFFICE - CONTINUOUS                       178F       ALFONSE SIMONE- 64, BRONX, SEASONED LAWYER.       Alfonse Simone rises from behind his desk. A silent secretary       sitting at his side in a white dress stares at our heros as       Simone steps forward to introduce himself.                           ALFONSE SIMONE                 Alfonse Simone.       Edith walks up to him to shake hands. He shakes hands with       Irving and Richie as well. Man in the suit closes the door       behind them.                           EDITH GREENSLY                 Edith Greensly.                           IRVING ROSENFELD                 Irving Rosenfeld.                           RICHIE DIMASO                 Good afternoon.                           ALFONSE SIMONE                 Please, be seated.                                                       135.They sit in three chairs facing Simone's desk: Sydney/Edith,Richie, Irving.Simone sits behind his desk, the silent secretary sits justbehind him slightly to the side, stares at Edith, Richie,Irving.                    ALFONSE SIMONE (CONT'D)          I appreciate the fact that you all          came in person, but the trip was          really unnecessary because this          whole thing could have been done          with a simple wire transfer. As a          matter of fact this is the number          of our wire right here.Simone slides a small pink piece of paper across the desk tothem. Richie stares at the paper, but doesn't touch it.                    RICHIE DIMASO          Where is Mr. Tellegio?                    ALFONSE SIMONE          Mr. Tellegio unfortunately was          called out of town on business.                    RICHIE DIMASO          That's not good. We were willing to          come here today, in person, to see          Mr. Tellegio, as a sign of respect          to give two million dollars --                    ALFONSE SIMONE          I can assure you that I have the          power of attorney --                    RICHIE DIMASO          Excuse me. If you'll let me finish,          we are willing to give two million          dollars today of the ten. But          without Mr. Tellegio here --                    IRVING ROSENFELD              (to Simone)          We can't, we can't make that          decision. It's not the right thing.          It's not the right time. It's just          not good.                    EDITH GREENSLY              (to Irving across Richie)          You don't have the authorization to          make this kind of choice so don't          be hasty, alright?                                                        136.                    IRVING ROSENFELD          I'm not being hasty. It's just,          let's be smart about it. This is          not how we do business. (to Simone)          I'm sorry. I apologize.Richie motions with his hand to Edith that he agrees withIrving.                    RICHIE DIMASO          He's right, we can't.                    EDITH GREENSLY          I think you should hang in there.                    RICHIE DIMASO          For what? The guy's not here.                       IRVING ROSENFELD          He isn't.                       RICHIE DIMASO          That's it.He stands, goes to the door.                    IRVING ROSENFELD          This is a surprise. The Sheik          doesn't like surprises.Edith turns in her chair to face them in the doorway.                    EDITH GREENSLY          Don't leave.                    IRVING ROSENFELD              (in doorway with Richie)          Edith, this is not your decision to          make.                    EDITH GREENSLY          I understand but maybe we can call          the Sheik. Let's call the Sheik.                    IRVING ROSENFELD          That's not the plan. That's not          the --Edith locks eyes with Richie. Richie stares at Edith, wavesIrving off with his hand.                    RICHIE DIMASO          No, let's -- I'll call the Sheik.          (to Simone) Can I use your phone?                                                       137.                       ALFONSE SIMONE          Please do.                    RICHIE DIMASO              (to Alfonse Simone)          I don't know if he's in, I'll call          the Sheik. But before I do, I'd          like to go over specifically what          this money will be used for.                    ALFONSE SIMONE          What we will do is we guarantee all          proper licenses and construction          permits for any hotel casino that          plans to open before the end of the          year.Richie glances down at Edith and her handbag. PUSH IN ON ATINY MICROPHONE WE NOW SEE CLEVERLY BUILT INTO THE HANDLE OFEDITH'S GUCCI BAG.                    ALFONSE SIMONE (CONT'D)          And we'll throw in the customary          privileges and protection.                    RICHIE DIMASO          What if there are obstacles, what          will you do?                    ALFONSE SIMONE          Obstacles? We are prepared to          overcome any obstacles.                    RICHIE DIMASO          This is a big enterprise.                    ALFONSE SIMONE          If we have to pay somebody off,          we'll pay somebody off. If we have          to lean on somebody, intimidate          somebody, we'll intimidate          somebody. We're experienced. This          is our business.RICHIE STARES AT SIMONE.                    RICHIE DIMASO          That's powerful stuff. Thank you.IRVING STARES AND SYDNEY LOOKS AT RICHIE.                                                          138.                    ALFONSE SIMONE          And I'll tell you something else.          At the end of this we'll teach you          how to skim and how to cut it up          and make some money on the side.          Because we invented skimming. We've          been doing it for thirty years.A smile creeps across Richie's face.                    RICHIE DIMASO          Thank you. Thank you for clarifying          that.Richie picks up the phone to dial.                    RICHIE DIMASO (CONT'D)          I think that will be OK for the          Sheik.INT. BRENDA'S FBI WIRE OFFICE - CONTINUOUSAMADO, STODDARD, BRENDA.                    ANTHONY AMADO          This is the Sheik.                    RICHIE DIMASO              (on phone)          Mr. Tellegio is not here. It's          just Mr. Alfonse Simone, his          lawyer. Are we still ok to wire the          money?                    ALFONSE SIMONE          Simone can take the money. What's          the number?                    RICHIE DIMASO          5317APAmado writes it down and hands it to Brenda to call in.                    BRENDA          The funds have been transferred.                    ANTHONY AMADO          (on phone to Richie)          The funds have been transferred.Amado nods: victory. BACK TO:                                                              139.       INT. ALFONSE SIMONE'S OFFICE - DAY - CONTINUOUS       Richie hangs up.                           RICHIE DIMASO                 The money's been wired.                           ALFONSE SIMONE                 I think we have a deal.                           RICHIE DIMASO                 Yes we do sir.                           ALFONSE SIMONE                 Pleasure doing business with you.                           RICHIE DIMASO                 Okay, well, thank you very much,                 Mr. Simone.       RICHIE SMILES, SYDNEY LOOKS AT IRVING, WHO LOOKS PREOCCUPIED.       PUSH IN ON IRVING.                           RICHIE DIMASO (CONT'D)                 The Sheik's very excited.                           ALFONSE SIMONE                 I'm sure that we'll be seeing each                 other.       Richie and team start to walk out.                           RICHIE DIMASO                     (grinning)                 Oh I'm sure we'll be seeing each                 other very soon. You may even get                 sick of me, like these two.                           ALFONSE SIMONE                 I don't think I'll get sick of you.                 Nice meeting you.       Richie, Edith, and Irving walk down the hall after leaving       his office. Richie smiles as the opening of Bowie's "The Jean       Genie" momentously starts. Edith smiles as she walks down the       hall followed by Irving. Richie puts his hand on the door       knob to exit the hallway.178H   INT. AMADO'S OFFICE, FEDERAL OFFICE BUILDING - DAY              178H       THE DOOR OPENS IN A TIMECUT, RICHIE IN SUNGLASSES, HIS JACKET       IS OFF, HE BEAMS AND CELEBRATES AND EXHORTS A ROOM FULL OF       FBI AGENTS, ADMINISTRATORS, SECRETARIES.                                                             140.      THE JEAN GENIE PLAYS ENERGETICALLY AS RICHIE CELEBRATES WITH      EVERYONE, LIKE IN A LOCKER ROOM, HIS FIST IN THE AIR.                          RICHIE DIMASO                FINALLY! FINALLY WE GET SOME                RESPECT!      AMADO SITS IN HIS CHAIR WITH CIGAR IN ONE HAND AND DRINK IN      THE OTHER. VERY EXCITED AND LAUGHING AS HE POINTS AT RICHIE.                          ANTHONY AMADO                    (shouts through clamor)                We're ambitious, that's why!      Richie suddenly moves to the reel to reel surveillance tape      and quiets the room, the music momentarily stops as we hear      Alfonse Simone on the surveillance tape.                          RICHIE DIMASO                Shh, shh, shh!                          ALFONSE SIMONE (ON SURVEILLANCE TAPE)                If we have to pay somebody off,                we'll pay somebody off. If we have                to lean on somebody, intimidate                somebody, we'll intimidate                somebody.      Richie joyfully lip synchs to the rhythm of Simone's      incriminating words on tape.                           RICHIE DIMASO                    (in unison with Simone on                     tape)                -- If we have to lean on somebody,                intimate somebody, we'll intimidate                somebody!!      RICHIE THROWS HIS FIST IN THE AIR AND CHEERS, JOINED BY      EVERYONE IN THE ROOM. BOWIES "THE JENE GENIE" COMES BACK      LOUD.179   RICHIE TURNS AND TWIRLS A WHITE HAIRED FBI AGENT IN            179      CELEBRATION, LAUGHING WITH JOY. THEN GOES OVER TO A SULKING      STODDARD AND HUMPS HIM LIKE AT A FRAT PARTY, LAUGHING WITH      EVERYBODY AT STODDARD'S STIFFNESS. STODDARD GETS UP AND      RICHIE SMACKS HIS ASS AS HE LEAVES THE ROOM. RICHIE IMITATES      STODDARD TO ROARING LAUGHTER -- TWICE.      THE MUSIC CRESCENDOS TO AN ABRUPT STOP.                                                             141.180   EXT. CARMINE POLITO'S CAMDEN NJ CLAPBOARD HOME - DAY            180      Irving's big blue car pulls up to the lens. Irving and Sydney      looking a little uneasy.      Irving stares at the house.                          IRVING ROSENFELD                I gotta do it.181   INT. CARMINE'S LIVING ROOM - DAY                                181                          CARMINE POLITO                What do you mean, there's no sheik?                What does that mean, "there's no                sheik"? What does that mean?      Carmine stares at Irving.                          IRVING ROSENFELD                I want to face you like a man                because I want to be real now.                          CARMINE POLITO                Who is "they"?      Irving looks distressed. He's a wreck.                          IRVING ROSENFELD                It's the Feds.                            CARMINE POLITO                The Feds?                            IRVING ROSENFELD                Yeah.                          CARMINE POLITO                Irving -- I'm a good person                            IRVING ROSENFELD                You are!      Carmine stands up and looks around the room, disoriented, his      life passing before his eyes.                          CARMINE POLITO                I've been doing this for a long                time, for twenty years. Do you                think I woulda taken that money if                it wasn't the right thing to do?                                                142.                    IRVING ROSENFELD          Hey look, you're a good person I          know that but in all honesty --                    CARMINE POLITO              (screams)          You said that was the only way,          Irv. You chased me, remember?                    IRVING ROSENFELD          They fuckin' made me do it. What          was I supposed to do? They had Syd          in jail.                    CARMINE POLITO          You made me go back to the Plaza to          take that money, you piece of shit!          I was gone! You fucking prick!CARMINE BEATS IRVING DOWN ON THE COUCH.                    CARMINE POLITO (CONT'D)          I was gone, I left!DOLLY WALKS IN.                    DOLLY POLITO          Is everything alright? Can I have a          word with you?                    CARMINE POLITO              (very upset)          No, please, Dolly, just go          upstairs. Take the kids and go          upstairs!                    DOLLY POLITO          Alright, alright.                    IRVING ROSENFELD          I want to make this right. I came          here because I want to make it          right.Irving is in tears. Very upset.                    CARMINE POLITO          Look at my face. You tell me that          I'm lying to you when I say that          everything I do is for the good of          the people of New Jersey.          Everything I do is for them. Am I          lying to you?                                                         143.                    IRVING ROSENFELD          I never had a friend like you          before.                    CARMINE POLITO          I used that money for the goddamn          casino.                    IRVING ROSENFELD          I got some leverage, alright? I can          help you out.                    CARMINE POLITO          This is all shit. It's all          bullshit.Carmine picks up the knife the Sheik gave him.                    CARMINE POLITO (CONT'D)          Look at this thing. Look at this.          Ceremonial fucking knife. What is          this bullshit? Some toy?He drops it on the table. Irving stares at his friend,removes his glasses.                    IRVING ROSENFELD          Carmine, Syd and I got a plan for          you. We can help you out.                    CARMINE POLITO          Please get out of my house, Irving.          Will you please leave? I'm asking          you nicely, please leave.Irving gets up to go and is pushed towards the door byCarmine. Dolly joins Carmine in tears. Carmine's kids standon the stairs.                    DOLLY POLITO          Get out of our house!                     IRVING ROSENFELD          I don't want to -- (seeing kids)          I'm sorry. I didn't mean for this          to happen.                    CARMINE POLITO              (to kids)          This is not our friend!                    IRVING ROSENFELD          Truly, I didn't mean for this to          happen.                                                             144.      Carmine points to his family.                          CARMINE POLITO                This is what matters to me most and                you're crushing it! You're going to                take me away from them you fucking                son of a bitch? Get the fuck out!183   Carmine lunges at Irving and punches him in the face. Irving    183      goes down to the ground and his glasses fly off his face.      CARMINE kicks him one last time.                          IRVING ROSENFELD                    (beaten, bloody on floor)                I just want to make it right.                          CARMINE POLITO                Get out of my house. Look what you                made me do!                          IRVING ROSENFELD                    (stumbling out the door)                I'm sorry Carmine, I'm sorry.184   EXT. CARMINE'S HOUSE - DAY                                      184      Irving staggers out of the house in an emotional daze, one      hand to his heart, falls to sidewalk with bloody nose and      broken glasses --      SYDNEY ACROSS THE STREET BURST OUT OF THE CAR.                          SYDNEY PROSSER                Irving!      RUNS TO HIM IN HER HIGH HEELS -- HELPS HIM SIT UP ON THE      SIDEWALK.                          SYDNEY PROSSER (CONT'D)                Your heart pills. Where are your                heart pills?      She digs through his pockets, finds the pills, and feeds one      to him.      Sydney struggles to help Irving to his feet and together, an      embattled but surviving couple, they cross the street arm and      arm. She opens the door and helps him into the car.                          IRVING ROSENFELD                I've got to lay down.                                                             145.                             SYDNEY PROSSER                Just rest.      She gets in and closes the door.185   INT. IRVING'S CADILLAC - DAY                                   185      They both slump down on the seat, stare at each other,      emotional, humbled. Sydney gently removes Irving's broken      glasses. They stare at each other, it is quiet.                          SYDNEY PROSSER                    (emotional, quiet)                Are you ready?                             IRVING ROSENFELD                Yes.      They stare at each other.                          IRVING ROSENFELD (CONT'D)                    (whispers)                I love you.      She squeezes his hand, raises it to her lips and kisses it.206   INT. AMADO'S OFFICE - DAY                                      206      TILT UP FROM THE FLOOR OF THE OFFICE TO RICHIE, AMADO, AND      STODDARD INTENSELY STARING AT THE DOOR FOR A CONFRONTATION,      LIKE IN A WESTERN. THE DOOR OPENS AS IRVING AND SYDNEY ENTER      AND STARE BACK AT THEM.                          ANTHONY AMADO                Please. Come in. Sit down.      They all sit.                          ANTHONY AMADO (CONT'D)                Do you know where our two million                dollars is?                          IRVING ROSENFELD                Two million? (Irving pushes his new                glasses up the bridge of his nose)                It's with Victor Tellegio and                Alfonse Simone.                          ANTHONY AMADO                No, actually it's not with Victor                Tellegio or Alfonse Simone.                                                         146.Richie stands by the window, stares angrily at Irving.                    RICHIE DIMASO          He fucking knows about it.                    ANTHONY AMADO          It's gone missing. Did you know          that?                    IRVING ROSENFELD          Where's it gone?                    ANTHONY AMADO          That's interesting that you said          that because while you were on your          way over here, we got an anonymous          phone call from someone who said          that in exchange for immunity for          the two of you and a reduced          sentence for Carmine Polito we get          our two million dollars back.                    IRVING ROSENFELD          That's interesting. That's very          interesting. I have no idea.                     ANTHONY AMADO          No idea?                    IRVING ROSENFELD          No idea what you're talking about.Irving looks at Sydney who looks back at him and shakes herhead. She doesn't know either.                    ANTHONY AMADO          I got it. I understand how these          deals are made. See, someone has          leverage.                    RICHIE DIMASO          Anthony, fuck them. It's over. We          got them for wire fraud, it's over.          (to Irving and Sydney) You're done.          You're both done.                    IRVING ROSENFELD          I don't think so.                    RICHIE DIMASO          Oh, you don't think so?                                                             147.                           IRVING ROSENFELD                Richard, think about it, YOU                requested the two million. And you                gave Brenda the account number. We                didn't do any of that. None of it.                (turns dramatically to face Richie)                How do we know that YOU don't have                the money?                           RICHIE DIMASO                    (Richie looks from Irving                     to Sydney)                Am I living in a fucking nightmare                right now?      AMADO AND STODDARD STARE INCRIMINATINGLY AT RICHIE.                          IRVING ROSENFELD                I find this a little offensive.                Really, I find this a little                offensive and I don't see that you                got any sort of solid case against--                          RICHIE DIMASO                (to Amado and Stoddard)                Don't let him get in your heads.                Listen to me, we're dealing with a                very clever individual.                          IRVING ROSENFELD                Richard, think about it. You got                some big arrests. You got U.S.                Congressmen. You look good. You're                gonna be all over the news. You                know what doesn't look good? A                story about gross incompetence205                                                    SMASH TO:    205      FLASHBACK -- RICHIE KICKS OPEN THE DOOR OF LAWYER ALFONSE      SIMONE'S OFFICE WITH A WARRANT IN HIS HAND AND TWO AGENTS      BEHIND HIM.                          RICHIE DIMASO                I have a warrant for --      Richie looks around disoriented, we cannot see what he sees      yet.                          RICHIE DIMASO (CONT'D)                I'm sorry, do I have the wrong                office?(checks number on the door)                Is this 701? Alfonse Simone?                                                        148.                    MAN'S VOICE (O.S.)          This is 701.-- WE REVEAL THE VOICE BELONGS TO A BLACK ATTORNEY -- TWOBLACK CLIENTS ACROSS FROM HIM -- SEATED AT WHAT PREVIOUSLYAPPEARED TO BE THE DESK OF LAWYER ALFONSE SIMONE.                    BLACK DIVORCE LAWYER          My name is Roger Thigpen. I've had          this office for 25 years. I'm a          divorce attorney.RICHIE IS STUNNED.INT. AMADO'S OFFICE - DAY - BACK TO PRESENT                    SYDNEY PROSSER          You lost two million dollars of          taxpayer money because you were          confused about the location and the          identity of Victor Tellegio's          attorney?                                                  CUT TO:INT. POOL PARTY - LONG ISLAND HOUSE - DAY - FLASHBACKWhere we first saw Irving at the pool party.                    IRVING ROSENFELD (V.O.)          The role of Tellegio's attorney,          Alfonse Simone, was played by our          friend Ed Malone --Camera pans from Irving to Ed Malone:                    IRVING ROSENFELD (V.O.)          the "Cold Cut King of Long Island"--Ed Malone holds up two packages of cold cuts. Also holdingthe cold cuts are the two that frisked everyone at Simone'soffice.                    IRVING ROSENFELD (V.O.)          Whose party we were at when Sydney          and I first met.Cut to Irving first meeting Sydney.                                                  CUT TO:                                                       149.INT. ALFONSE SIMONE'S OFFICE - DAY - FLASHBACKEd Malone, dressed as Alfonse Simone, steps to camera toshake Richie's hand.                    ED MALONE          Alfonse Simone.                                                  CUT TO:INT. ANTHONY AMADO'S OFFICE - DAY - BACK TO PRESENT                    EDITH GREENSLY          People believe what they want to          believe Richie.                    RICHIE DIMASO          That's because you conned me! You          both fucking conned me. You both          got under me. You did!                    IRVING ROSENFELD          Well that doesn't sound so good,          either. I mean -- and I don't know          what you're talking about, but --          let's just assume you want to go          with that story. Really? That's the          story you want to go with? That's          what you want the New York Times to          hear? That you got conned by the          very con men who you forced to          entrap the members of Congress in          the first place. That's what you          want to go with? That doesn't sound          so good for your whole thing.Richie looks like he's going to be sick.                    IRVING ROSENFELD (CONT'D)          And how ironic that the most          creative minds, the ones who are          working hardest to get the economy          of New Jersey going, those are the          ones that you round up. And why?          Because what, they're the easiest          to go after? And what about the          real bullshit artists? You didn't          even come close to the big leagues.          Those big guys. The money men.                    RICHIE DIMASO          That's what I was trying to go          after.                                                         150.                    IRVING ROSENFELD          I'm sorry to tell you, you got none          of 'em.                    STODDARD THORSEN          You know, Richard, I think we may          call you as a witness, but          otherwise you're done. I think you          better go home.Richie disoriented, appeals to Stoddard.                    RICHIE DIMASO          Stoddard --                    STODDARD THORSEN          Go on home, Richard.ELO's "10538 Overture" reprises on the soundtrack.EXT. FBI OFFICE, FEDERAL OFFICE BUILDING, NY - DAYCamera tilts down from the Federal Building to find Richiecoming down the stairs, emotional. Richie walks wiping hiseyes, his innocence and Edith, lost.                                                     CUT TO:                    IRVING ROSENFELD (V.O.)          We took down some very big guys.-REP. SANDERS SWARMED BY PHOTOGRAPHERS WALKING OUT OFBUILDING, ESCORTED BY FBI AGENTS.-REP. SIMMONS ESCORTED OUT OF CITY HALL.                    IRVING ROSENFELD (V.O.)          Some of whom were just doing          business as usual helping their          communities or their states.-REP. KESHOYGAN IS GRABBED AS HE APPROACHES HIS CAR IN AGROCERY STORE PARKING LOT WITH A BAG FULL OF GROCERIES.                    IRVING ROSENFELD (V.O.)          But some of them knew they had          larceny in their blood---REP. O'CONNELL COVERS HIS FACE AS PHOTOGRAPHERS SWARM HIM ASHE'S ARRESTED OUTSIDE HIS HOUSE AS WIFE AND DAUGHTER LOOK ON.                                                              151.      CARL ELWAY IS CHELSEA HOTEL OFFICE IN HIS BATHROBE WITH HIS      SECRETARY IN TEARS.                          IRVING ROSENFELD (V.O.)                And they even admitted it.      GREY HAIRED SENATOR HORTON MITCHELL, wife by his side, denies      any wrongdoing and is photographed and humiliated as he then      sits with her in a Federal car.                          IRVING ROSENFELD (V.O.)                But in all it was six Congressmen,                one United States Senator, and my                friend, Carmine Polito.      THE DOOR TO CARMINE'S CLAPBOARD HOUSE OPENS, CARMINE STANDS      IN THE DOOR, STARES AT THE AGENTS, HIS WIFE AND CHILDREN IN      TEARS STAND BEHIND HIM AS HE SERVED A WARRANT. CARMINE IS      HANDCUFFED.                          IRVING ROSENFELD (V.O.)                We gave the two million back so                Carmine got the reduced sentence.                18 months. The loss of his                friendship would haunt me for the                rest of my life.      CROWDED FEDERAL BUILDING PRESS CONFERENCE - MANY FLASHBULBS      AS STODDARD STANDS NEXT TO AMADO WHO MAKES THE ANNOUNCEMENT.                           IRVING ROSENFELD (V.O.)                And when the story was written,                Richard Dimaso's name was never                mentioned.      CAMERA PANS THROUGH CROWD TO FIND RICHIE IN THE WAY BACK,      LEANING AGAINST A PILLAR. FADE TO WHITE ON HIS SOBERED FACE.209   EXT. LONG ISLAND ELEMENTARY SCHOOL - DAY                        209      FADE IN FROM WHITE, PAN DOWN FROM WHITE SKY TO SCHOOLYARD,      CHILDREN LEAVING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL. IRVING AND SYDNEY WALK UP      TO THE SCHOOL TO PICK UP DANNY.                           IRVING ROSENFELD (V.O.)                Syd and I moved in together. And                Rosalyn --      ROSALYN IN A NECK BRACE and off white trench coat and      sunglasses -                                                         152.                    ROSALYN ROSENFELD          The car is a little dinged up and          I'm a little stiff but I don't want          to talk about it.Irving stares at Rosalyn.                    IRVING ROSENFELD (V.O.)          She would always be interesting.Rosalyn gets in to a car, revealing Pete Musane in thedriver's seat. Irving leans in.                    PETE MUSANE              (to Irving)          You know my boss knows you did him          a solid.                    IRVING ROSENFELD          Yes I did. He never took a nickle          so they can't get him for nothing.          I was never going to let that          happen.Irving starts to leave --                    ROSALYN ROSENFELD          Irv.He stops and looks at her. With red lacquered nails Rosalynplaces her favorite nail finish in his hand.                    ROSALYN ROSENFELD (CONT'D)          I'm done with this nail finish. Bye          for now. I'll see you next weekend.Irving nods. Rosalyn drives off with Pete.Sydney stands with Danny.                    IRVING ROSENFELD (V.O.)          Our conning days were behind us.Irving and Sydney walk hand and hand with Danny down thestreet. Irv drops the nail finish into a trashcan.                    IRVING ROSENFELD (V.O.)          You can fool yourself for just so          long and then your next reinvention          better have your damn feet on the          ground.                                                             153.210   INT. ART GALLERY - DAY                                          210      Irving and Sydney admire a piece of art on the wall.                          IRVING ROSENFELD (V.O.)                We got a loan from a bank and were                able to go gallery legitimate.      INT. SMALL BANK - DAY      Irving and Sydney sit in front of a banker asking for a loan.                          IRVING ROSENFELD (V.O.)                The art of survival is a story that                never ends.      INT. SYDNEY'S APARTMENT - DAY      SYDNEY PLACES THE NEEDLE ON THE RECORD PLAYING ON A      TURNTABLE: DUKE ELLINGTON'S JEEPS BLUES, begins. SHE STARES      ACROSS THE ROOM AT IRVING. IRVING STARES BACK HER.      CUT TO BLACK
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+                                                                             AMERICAN  MADNESS                                                                         Written by Robert Riskin                                                               FADE IN                                                              1. EXT. BUILDING - DAY - LONG SHOT                                                                                        Of a large, impressive-looking building                          on the corner of a busy, New York business                          street.                                                               LAP DISSOLVE TO:                                                              2. EXT. BUILDING - DAY - CLOSE SHOT                                                                                        A dignified brass plate sign on the                          side of the building, reading: UNION                          NATIONAL BANK.                                                               LAP DISSOLVE TO:                                                              3. INT. FOYER OF BUILDING - MED. SHOT                                                                                        Lower portion of high bronze doors,                          one side of which is partly opened.                          Sitting in front of the closed side                          is a uniformed officer, greeting, ad                          lib, the various employees as they enter.                                                                                        LAP DISSOLVE TO:                                                              4. INT. OF BANK - CLOSEUP                                                              Of a cover being yanked off an adding                          machine.                                                               CUT TO:                                                              5. CLOSE SHOT AT SWITCHBOARD                                                              A telephone operator, busily plugging                          in wires.                                                               OPERATOR                                                              (mechanically sweet voice)                                                              Good morning . . . Union National Bank                          . . . Just a minuteó                                                               LAP DISSOLVE TO:                                                              6. INT. ENTRANCE ROOM TO VAULTS - MED.                          SHOT                                                               Of the inside of a massive vault door,                          made impressive by the shining, finely                          cut steel bolts and the many other intricate-looking                          instruments which adorn it.                                                               CAMERA PANS UP to a clock overhead which                          registers 9:03.                                                               A group of young men, paying tellers,                          are impatiently watching a teller struggle                          with the lock that will admit them to                          the vault.                                                               TELLER                                                              Come on, come on, Oscar, what are we                          waiting for?                                                               2ND TELLER                                                              What's the matter? Can't you find it?                                                                                        3RD TELLER                                                              Sneak up on it, boy!                                                              4TH TELLER                                                              Oscar, come on!                                                              CHARLIE                                                              Say, if it had lipstick on it, he'd                          find it!                                                               They all laugh, as Oscar finds the combination.                                                                                        ? 104 ?                                                              OSCAR                                                              Almonds to you![1] Almonds!                                                              TELLERS                                                              Now, now, Oscar - not almonds!                                                              The CAMERA MOVES WITH THEM as they pass                          through the first portal.                                                               CHARLIE                                                              Nine o'clock and all is lousy!                                                              1ST TELLER                                                              Yes, I spend half of my life waiting                          for these time clocks to open. Say,                          where's Matt?                                                               CHARLIE                                                              Probably upstairs thinking up that daily                          joke.                                                               2ND TELLER                                                              That guy kills me with his wisecracks.                                                                                        3RD TELLER                                                              Say, when he comes in, let's put on                          a frozen face. Let's not smile.                                                               They ad-lib agreement.                                                              1ST TELLER                                                              Shhh! Nix! Here he comesó                                                              7. MED. SHOT                                                              CAMERA PICKS UP Matt Brown, the chief                          teller, as he strides briskly in and                          begins turning the combination dial                          to the main vault. He is about twenty-six,                          a clean-looking, personable youngster.                          Several of the tellers are standing                          close to him, looking on.                                                               MATT                                                              How are you doing slaves?                                                              TELLERS                                                              Hello, Matt. How're you Matt?                                                              Matt begins to work the combination                          of the main lock.                                                               MATT                                                              (with his back to them)                                                              Say, did you boys ever hear the story                          of the pawnbroker with the glass eye?                                                                                        1ST TELLER                                                              No Matt, what is the story about the                          pawnbroker with the glass eye?                                                               MATT                                                              (as he continues to fiddle with the                          lock)                                                               Well, I'll tell you. A fellow went into                          this shop to pawn his watch. The pawnbroker                          said, "I'll give you $50 for it, if                          you can tell me which is my glass eye."                          The fellow said, "All right, I'll do                          that. It's the right one." The pawnbroker                          said, "That's correct. But how did you                          know it was the right one?" The fellow                                                                                        ? 105 ?                                                              said, "well, it's got more sympathy                          than the other one."                                                               He turns, expecting their laugh, but                          is confronted by stone faces.                                                               MATT                                                              Sympathy! You know, the right one had                          more sympathy than the other one!                                                                                        1ST TELLER                                                              What's the matter? Can't you get this                          thing open?                                                               Matt stares in disbelief, then gets                          the joke.                                                               MATT                                                              (contemptuously)                                                              Six reasons why banks fail!                                                              This cracks them all up, as a uniformed                          officer, who has been standing by, works                          a lever attached to the floor, which                          lowers a section of the floor, directly                          in front of the vault. This permits                          the vault door, which is sunk below                          the floor level, to swing open.                                                               TELLERS                                                              (ad-libbing)                                                              I love your jokes, Matt! They're so                          entertaining! A very funny man!                                                               8. MED. SHOT                                                              Matt opens the inside door, made up                          of perpendicular steel bars. The tellers                          scurry into the cavernous-looking interior.                          Someone snaps on a light. CAMERA TRUCKS                          UP TO VAULT.                                                               The back walls of the vault are lined                          with steel cabinets divided into many                          small compartments. On one side is a                          wall safe which is also opened by a                          combination and which contains the surplus                          cash carried by the bank. Matt is in                          charge of this. All around the room                          are numerous hand trucks - one for every                          teller. These trucks contain the cash                          in the charge of the individual tellers.                          While the tellers in the b.g. obtain                          their keys and open the drawers of their                          trucks, Matt examines the time clock                          which is attached to the inside of the                          vault door.                                                               9. INT. VAULT - MED. CLOSE SHOT                                                              At the door, as Matt enters and goes                          directly to the burglar alarm box to                          the left of the doorway. He leans over                          to throw off the burglar alarm switch.                                                                                        CUT TO:                                                              10. CLOSEUP - BURGLAR ALARM SWITCH                                                                                        The handle of the switch points in the                          direction of a sign reading ON. Matt's                          hand comes into the scene and throws                          the switch up toward a sign reading                          OFF. This is done with no comment, it                          being a routine matter with Matt.                                                                                        MATT                                                              Come on, white collars. The day's started!                                                                                        11. MED. SHOT                                                              As the tellers file out with their trucks.                          Before they do, however, each one signs                          the cashbook. One or two exit silently.                                                                                        ? 106 ?                                                              12. CLOSE SHOT - MATT                                                              As one of the tellers comes into scene.                          Matt examines the cashbook.                                                               MATT                                                              You're carrying too much money on you,                          Hank. You better turn some in tonight.                                                                                        MATT                                                              (as he goes)                                                              Okay, Matt.                                                              He exits out of scene.                                                              MATT                                                              How are you fixed?                                                              TELLER                                                              I'm okay, Matt.                                                              MATT                                                              (to another teller)                                                              You've got enough?                                                              2ND TELLER                                                              I'll be all right.                                                              Charlie, the last man, comes up.                                                              CHARLIE                                                              Say Matt, I'll have to have some money                          for those Manville payrolls.                                                               MATT                                                              How much?                                                              CHARLIE                                                              About twenty-four thousand.                                                              MATT                                                              (counting out money)                                                              It was more than that last week.                                                              CHARLIE                                                              Yeah.                                                              MATT                                                              Here's twenty-five thousand.                                                              He hands Charlie four stacks of bills.                          As Charlie is signing the cash book,                          Matt speaks:                                                               MATT                                                              Say, do me a favor, will you Charlie?                                                                                        CHARLIE                                                              Yeah.                                                              MATT                                                              Let me have ten bucks?                                                              CHARLIE                                                              (aghast)                                                              Ten bucks? Say, if I had ten bucks,                          I'd quit.                                                               MATT                                                              Charlie!                                                              ? 107 ?                                                              CHARLIE                                                              Yeah?                                                              Charlie starts out. Matt follows him.                                                                                        13. OUTSIDE OF VAULT - MED. CLOSE SHOT                                                                                        As Charlie comes out, followed by Matt.                          CAMERA TRUCKS ALONG WITH THEM as they                          walk.                                                               MATT                                                              (as they walk)                                                              I'll pay it back to you Saturday - on                          the level I will. Give a guy a break,                          will you? I've got to get it back in                          my account. If Helen ever finds out                          that Ió                                                               CHARLIE                                                              (unsympathetically)                                                              Baby, I can't give you anything but                          love . . .[2]                                                               LAP DISSOLVE TO:                                                              14. INT. MAIN FLOOR OF BANK - BACKSTAGE                                                                                        CAMERA TRUCKS with them as Charlie pushes                          his truck forward and Matt walks alongside                          of him. En route, CAMERA TAKES IN ATMOSPHERIC                          SHOTS of the general activity backstage                          of the bank.                                                               Male and female clerks stand around                          at various angles, checking away at                          adding machines. Several are assisted                          by someone who calls off figures to                          them as they record it on machines.                          We hear these figures read in a monotone                          as we pass them.                                                               Matt is still trying to pry the ten                          dollars loose from Charlie.                                                               MATT                                                              Now listen Charlie. I'll give you an                          I.O.U. I'll give you a note, I'll pay                          your mortgage, it's a matter of life                          and deathó                                                               Ad-lib conversations from the other                          clerks distract his attention.                                                               CHARLIE                                                              Whose death?                                                              MATT                                                              It'll be yours if you don't kick in                          with that ten bucks.                                                               CHARLIE                                                              Say pal, did you ever hear of a Depression?                                                                                        MATT                                                              Aw, nerts!                                                              Charlie arrives at his cage. CAMERA                          STOPS with them.                                                               CHARLIE                                                              Come over and see us sometime.                                                              CAMERA CONTINUES TO FOLLOW Matt as he                          continues on to his cage, muttering                          half to himself.                                                               MATT                                                              I'm not asking you to pay off the Depression.                          I'm only asking you for ten bucks!                                                                                        ? 108 ?                                                              Another teller is busy in the cage next                          to him. Matt addresses him, referring                          to Charlie.                                                               MATT                                                              That mug reminds me of a guy with his                          second dollar.                                                               TELLER                                                              Yeah, what did he do with his first                          one?                                                               MATT                                                              Bought himself a pocketbook!                                                              The teller laughs heartily.                                                              15. MED. SHOT                                                              THE CAMERA PICKS UP Helen as she crosses                          the main floor of the bank, reaches                          Matt's teller window and pushes it open.                                                                                        MATT                                                              Hello, Helen!                                                              HELEN                                                              (conspiratorially)                                                              Matt, come here!                                                              MATT                                                              Why?                                                              HELEN                                                              Come here, honey!                                                              He leans over, and she gives him a quick                          kiss.                                                               MATT                                                              Hey, look out, somebody's likely to                          see us!                                                               HELEN                                                              (already walking away)                                                              Oh, is that so?                                                              She quickly kisses him again, crosses                          back, and takes the grand stairs up                          to the outer office of the bank president                          as Matt watches with a grin.                                                               16. INT. MAIN FLOOR OF BANK - FULL SHOT                                                                                        Just then, a group of five or six important-looking                          men enter scene on the way to the conference                          room. One of the men looks towards Helen's                          desk.                                                               17. MED. SHOT                                                              On Helen and a secretary standing next                          to her.                                                               SECRETARY                                                              (to Helen)                                                              Oh, oh. Look who's here.                                                              18. MED. SHOT                                                              The other clerks and tellers, noticing                          the newcomers as they file past.                                                               TELLER                                                              Hey, psst!                                                              ? 109 ?                                                              OSCAR                                                              Oh, oh. Five ill winds.                                                              TELLER                                                              (standing next to Oscar)                                                              And blowing no good for the old man,                          either.                                                               19. CLOSER SHOT ON HELEN'S DESK                                                              Shooting toward Helen.                                                              HELEN                                                              (acidly)                                                              The four-and-a-half horsemen.[3]                                                              GIRL                                                              What are they doing here? There's no                          board meeting today.                                                               HELEN                                                              Search me.                                                              By this time, the important group of                          men have reached Helen, and are passing                          her by, with perfunctory nods.                                                               CLARK                                                              (the most important of the important-looking                          men; to Helen)                                                               Mr. Dickson in yet?                                                              HELEN                                                              Not yet, Mr. Clark.                                                              CLARK                                                              When he comes in, tell him we're waiting                          for him in the board room.                                                               HELEN                                                              Yes, sir.                                                              CLARK                                                              And tell him not to delay.                                                              HELEN                                                              Yes, sir.                                                              The group of men file through the board                          room door, and out of sight.                                                               GIRL                                                              (to Helen)                                                              Looks like trouble for your boss.                                                              HELEN                                                              Takes more than two tons of directors                          to make trouble for my boss.                                                               GIRL                                                              (as she turns to go)                                                              Sez you!                                                              20. INT. CONFERENCE ROOM - MED. SHOT                                                                                        Taking in all of room. The directors                          are all here, and some sit around a                          long, narrow mahogany table. Clark,                          the sour-faced old                                                               ? 110 ?                                                              bird we saw previously talking to Helen,                          paces back and forth agitatedly.                                                               CLARK                                                              I've sent for the cashier, gentlemen.                          He has a list of the loans that Dickson                          made last month.                                                               21. MED. CLOSE SHOT - CLARK                                                              As he stops in his pacing a moment and                          addresses the directors further:                                                               CLARK                                                              And as I told you at breakfast, it is                          time we did something about it.                                                               22. CLOSE SHOT - SCHULTZ                                                              In thorough accord with Clark's violent                          attitude is Schultz, a German, whose                          instinctive conservatism rebels against                          Dickson's liberal banking methods.                                                                                        SCHULTZ                                                              Mr. Clark's right. Dickson will ruin                          this bank if we don't stop him.                                                               AMES                                                              (another conservative stalwart)                                                              Looks to me as if we're in hot water                          already.                                                               A very dignified but meek little old                          man, Jonathan Ives, tries horning in:                                                                                        IVES                                                              (feeble-voiced)                                                              Gentlemen, I was just wonderingó                                                              23. MED. SHOT                                                              As another of the directors, O'Brien,                          a large, bull-faced, thunderous-voiced                          contractor, rises to Dickson's defense.                          (O'Brien is always filing his nails,                          even while he talks.)                                                               O'BRIEN                                                              Personally, I think you're getting panic-stricken                          about nothing. Dickson's all right.                                                                                        CLARK                                                              (interrupting)                                                              Oh, is he? We carry more unsecured paper                          than any other institution in the city.                          We're fools to tolerate it.                                                               SCHULTZ                                                              That's what I say. And the only way                          to end it is to get Dickson out.                                                               24. CLOSE SHOT - O'BRIEN                                                              He looks toward Schultz.                                                              O'BRIEN                                                              Don't make me laugh, Schultz!                                                              25. MED. CLOSE SHOT - CLARK                                                              CLARK                                                              Dickson doesn't have to go. But he must                          agree to this merger with New York Trustó                                                                                        ? 111 ?                                                              O'BRIEN                                                              What good will that do?                                                              CLARK                                                              What good will that do? Why, it will                          take control away from him. We'll put                          somebody else in charge, call in all                          doubtful loans, and be on safe ground                          again. That's what good it will do!                                                                                        26. MED. CLOSE SHOT                                                              Including Ives in scene with Clark and                          O'Brien. Ives is seated, O'Brien and                          Clark standing by table. Ives tries                          to speak again.                                                               IVES                                                              It has just occurred to meó                                                              O'BRIEN                                                              (interrupting)                                                              You're wasting your time, I tell you.                          Dickson won't stand for it.                                                               CLARK                                                              He'll stand for it, if I have anything                          to say about it.                                                               Just then they hear door open, and they                          all look towards door leading thru to                          main floor.                                                               27. MED. CLOSE SHOT - CLUETT                                                              As he shuts the door behind him. He                          is immaculately groomed, obviously cuts                          quite a dash with the women. He looks                          off toward the men as Clark's voice                          comes in:                                                               CLARK'S VOICE                                                              Ah - come in, Cluett.                                                              CAMERA PANS WITH CLUETT as he comes                          forward and puts a paper on the table                          before Clark.                                                               CLUETT                                                              Here's the list.                                                              CLARK                                                              Yes, thank you.                                                              CLUETT                                                              Anything else?                                                              CLARK                                                              No. Nothing.                                                              Cluett exits toward door again. Clark                          picks up the list and looks at it. Then                          he addresses the other men:                                                               CLARK                                                              Look at this. Just look at this. It's                          outrageous. Henry Moore - thirty-six                          thousand. Manny Goldberg - eighty-five                          hundred. Tony Consero - fifty-six thousand                          dollars. Joseph McDonald - eighteen                          thousand. Alvin Jones - sixty-six thousand                          dollars to a hotel that's on its last                          legs. I tell you, people get loans in                          this bank that couldn't borrow five                          cents anywhere else.                                                               ? 112 ?                                                              28. WIDER ANGLE                                                              As the other men group around the loan                          list, which Clark has put back down                          on the table. They all scrutinize it                          carefully.                                                               SCHULTZ                                                              (to the men at large)                                                              And on what? "Hunches," he calls it.                                                                                        AMES                                                              Some day he'll get a "hunch" about a                          man and give the bank away.                                                               CLARK                                                              He's almost done that already. Our chief                          teller, Matt Brown, is an example of                          that. He breaks into Dickson's house,                          holds him up, and the next day gets                          a job in the bank.                                                               IVES                                                              Well, as far as I'm concernedó                                                              SCHULTZ                                                              A boy who should be in jail, handling                          a bank's cash!                                                               CUT TO:                                                              29. INT. MAIN FLOOR OF BANK - MED. CLOSE                          SHOT                                                               Shooting toward Matt, inside the teller's                          cage, busily counting the money he is                          getting ready for Charlie.                                                               Helen is outside the cage.                                                              30. CLOSE SHOT                                                              Shooting toward Helen.                                                              HELEN                                                              (skeptically)                                                              What did you do with it?                                                              MATT                                                              With what?                                                              HELEN                                                              The ten dollars.                                                              MATT                                                              (quickly)                                                              Oh, ten dollarsó                                                              HELEN                                                              Yes.                                                              MATT                                                              (catches himself in time)                                                              A friend of mine - yeah, really - his                          mother was terribly sick and she was                          dying, would you believe it?                                                               31. CLOSE SHOT                                                              Shooting toward Matt.                                                              As she interrupts him:                                                              ? 113 ?                                                              HELEN                                                              No.                                                              MATT                                                              Oh, you think I'm lying?                                                              HELEN                                                              Yes.                                                              MATT                                                              All right, I'm lying. Don't forget you                          called me a liar.                                                               HELEN                                                              Oh, Matt.                                                              He reaches forward and takes her hands.                                                                                        MATT                                                              Oh honey, why don't we get married?                          Then you can handle it all.                                                               Just then Oscar enters the scene, en                          route somewhere. He stops beside Matt,                          notices he and Helen are holding hands.                                                                                        32. MED. CLOSE SHOT                                                              As Helen and Matt separate guiltily.                                                                                        OSCAR                                                              Say, Matt! Matt! Did you hear the news?                                                                                        MATT                                                              No, what?                                                              OSCAR                                                              Pardon me. All the big shots are in                          a huddle, and it looks like Dickson's                          out on his ear.                                                               Helen and Matt react to this piece of                          news. They look at one another. Apparently,                          it will have a definite effect on their                          lives.                                                               MATT                                                              (to Oscar)                                                              Oh, you're kidding me, aren't you?                                                                                        OSCAR                                                              No, I'm not kidding. Everybody's talking                          about it. Ask her.                                                               HELEN                                                              I haven't heard about it.                                                              OSCAR                                                              Sure, everybody's talking about it.                                                                                        33. CLOSE UP - MATT                                                              As he speaks sadly.                                                              MATT                                                              If that's on the level, there goes my                          assistant cashier's job.                                                               34. MED. CLOSE SHOT                                                              Taking the three in.                                                              ? 114 ?                                                              OSCAR                                                              Well, I just thought I'd drop by and                          cheer you up a bit.                                                               As he turns to go out of scene, he looks                          at Matt.                                                               OSCAR                                                              I'll be seeing you, Matt - in the breadline.                                                                                        CUT TO:                                                              35. INT. CONFERENCE ROOM MED. - SHOT                                                                                        The men are all gathered around the                          table now. Apparently, they have been                          discussing ways and means of ousting                          Dickson.                                                               As we cut to this scene, Ives is pouring                          himself a glass of water.                                                               IVES                                                              That ham I had this morning was very                          saltyó                                                               36. CLOSER SHOT ON THE GROUP                                                              CLARK                                                              Gentlemen, let's get organized before                          Dickson gets here. Schultz, can I count                          on you?                                                               37. CLOSE SHOT                                                              On Schultz, who is seated next to Clark.                                                                                        SCHULTZ                                                              Absolutely.                                                              CLARK                                                              What about you, Ames?                                                              38. CLOSE SHOT                                                              On Ames, who is seated next to Schultz.                                                                                        AMES                                                              That's the way I feel about it.                                                              CLARK                                                              Ives, how about you?                                                              39. CLOSE SHOT                                                              IVES                                                              Well, the way I look at it, it seems                          tható                                                               CLARK                                                              (interrupting)                                                              All right. O'Brien?                                                              40. CLOSE SHOT                                                              At other end of table, where O'Brien                          is.                                                               O'BRIEN                                                              Well, you've got an awful fight on your                          hands. That's all I've got to say.                                                                                        41. CLOSE SHOT                                                              On Clark, determined.                                                              ? 115 ?                                                              CLARK                                                              Gentlemen, I think it's time that we                          do fight.                                                               CUT TO:                                                              42. INT. MAIN FLOOR OF BANK - FULL SHOT                                                                                        The outer offices of the bank are in                          this shot. A spacious stretch of desks                          occupied by clerks and junior officers,                          all busily at work.                                                               A wizened old doorman is greeting clerks                          as they arrive.                                                               CLERK                                                              (passing by)                                                              Hello, Gardiner.                                                              GARDINER                                                              Good morning. You're on time this morning.                          It's about time.                                                               We see Dickson, looming in the doorway,                          for the first time.                                                               43. CLOSE SHOT                                                              As Dickson stops to speak to the doorman.                          Dickson is a man of about fifty, whose                          looks belie his years. There is a robustness                          and virility about him that is compelling.                          His very walk radiates power.                                                               He now puts his hand on the old man's                          shoulder.                                                               GARDINER                                                              Good morning, Mr. Dickson.                                                              DICKSON                                                              John, how's your wife this morning?                                                                                        GARDINER                                                              (looking up, worship in his eyes)                                                              Much better this morning, thank you.                                                                                        DICKSON                                                              Got a handkerchief?                                                              Gardiner hurriedly produces a handkerchief,                          and starts to blow his nose.                                                               GARDINER                                                              Excuse meó                                                              DICKSON                                                              Wait a minute.                                                              (he takes the handkerchief, and polishes                          the brass on Gardiner's uniform)                                                               How do you feel this morning?                                                              GARDINER                                                              I'm feeling fine this morning.                                                              DICKSON                                                              That makes it unanimous. I feel all                          right too.                                                               GARDINER                                                              Thank you!                                                              As Dickson exits from scene:                                                              ? 116 ?                                                              CUT TO:                                                              44. TRUCKING SHOT WITH DICKSON                                                              The smile on his face disappears as                          he sees something which annoys him.                                                                                        DICKSON                                                              (sternly)                                                              Oh, Carter!                                                              A young man looks up quickly. He is                          smoking a cigarette.                                                               CARTER                                                              Yes sir?                                                              DICKSON                                                              You know the rules about smoking . .                          .                                                               Carter quickly crushes out the cigarette.                          Even as he does so, Dickson reaches                          into his pocket and flips Carter a fresh                          one, which Carter pockets for later.                                                                                        CARTER                                                              Thank you, sir.                                                              Now Dickson passes Matt's cage.                                                              DICKSON                                                              (catching Matt's attention)                                                              Oh, Matt!                                                              Matt looks up. Dickson tosses him a                          wink, and Matt winks back.                                                               Dickson walks on towards his office.                          CAMERA TRUCKS AHEAD OF HIM. On the way                          he is greeted by his employees.                                                               AD-LIB FROM EMPLOYEES                                                              Good morning, Mr. Dickson. Etc., etc.                                                                                        DICKSON                                                              (pleasantly)                                                              Morning. Good morningó                                                              He is joined by Bill Saunders, a friend                          of his. Bill walks along with Dickson.                                                                                        BILL                                                              Hello, Tom.                                                              DICKSON                                                              (firmly, but pleasantly)                                                              You here again? What do you want?                                                              He does not stop. Continues his walk                          toward his office. Bill along-side of                          him.                                                               BILL                                                              (smiling)                                                              What do you suppose anybody wants? Money,                          money, money!                                                               DICKSON                                                              Listen, I told you I wasn't interested                          in that deal, didn't I?                                                               ? 117 ?                                                              BILL                                                              I want to know why .                                                              Dickson notices a man, a janitor without                          a uniform, passing by.                                                               DICKSON                                                              (to the man)                                                              Wait a minute. Where's your uniform?                                                                                        JANITOR                                                              I haven't any.                                                              DICKSON                                                              You haven't got a uniform?                                                              JANITOR                                                              No, sir.                                                              DICKSON                                                              My goodness, you ought to have a uniform.                          How much does one cost?                                                               JANITOR                                                              Why, I don't know.                                                              DICKSON                                                              You see Sampson. Tell him I sent you.                          You've got to have a uniform.                                                               The man exits scene. Bill picks up the                          conversation where he left off.                                                               BILL                                                              Tom, I never had trouble getting credit                          from you before. When I was flat broke                          you gave me all the money I wanted.                          Now I come to you with a swell deal,                          and the greatestó                                                               DICKSON                                                              (interrupting)                                                              I'll tell you why. I don't like the                          crowd you're mixed up with.                                                               (softening)                                                              Personally, you can have all the credit                          you want. But for that deal - not a                          cent.                                                               BILL                                                              But listen, Tom, Ió                                                              They have now reached the anteroom of                          Dickson's private chamber, where Helen                          sits at her desk.                                                               45. INT. DICKSON'S OUTER OFFICE - MED.                          CLOSE SHOT                                                               As Dickson comes up to Helen at her                          desk. A lady sits nearby. Dickson notices                          her.                                                               DICKSON                                                              Good morning, Mrs. Pembroke.                                                              MRS. PEMBROKE                                                              Good morning, Mr. Dickson.                                                              DICKSON                                                              Got my letter?                                                              ? 118 ?                                                              MRS. PEMBROKE                                                              Yes, thank you.                                                              DICKSON                                                              Hello, Helen.                                                              HELEN                                                              Good morning.                                                              DICKSON                                                              Helen, you're becoming more beautiful                          every day. What are we going to do about                          it?                                                               HELEN                                                              I don't know.                                                              DICKSON                                                              Guess we'll just have to sacrifice the                          bank. When are you and Matt going to                          get married?                                                               HELEN                                                              (awkwardly)                                                              Why - well, Ió                                                              DICKSON                                                              Ummm. Stalling, eh?                                                              (changing tone, professionally)                                                              Anything new?                                                              HELEN                                                              Why, the directors are waiting for you                          in the board room.                                                               DICKSON                                                              Directors, eh? Long faces?                                                              He gestures accordingly.                                                              HELEN                                                              (she trumps his gesture)                                                              Longer.                                                              DICKSON                                                              (half-under his breath)                                                              I haven't got any new stories for them                          this morning, either.                                                               Mrs. Pembroke has been standing by,                          waiting to get a word in edgewise. CAMERA                          PANS SLIGHTLY with him to take in the                          lady:                                                               MRS. PEMBROKE                                                              Mr. Dickson?                                                              DICKSON                                                              Ah, Mrs. Pembroke. I spoke to Mr. Schaffer                          at the Guaranty. He's going to take                          care of that mortgage for you . . .                                                                                        During this speech the phone bell rings.                                                                                        46. MEDIUM SHOT                                                              As Helen picks up the phone and quietly                          answers it. Bill Saunders is standing                          nearby, still waiting to talk to Dickson                          again.                                                               ? 119 ?                                                              HELEN                                                              (into phone)                                                              Hello . . .                                                              (she turns to Dickson)                                                              Mrs. Dickson on the phone.                                                              Dickson comes over to the desk and as                          he picks up the receiver, he looks toward                          Mrs. Pembroke.                                                               DICKSON                                                              (to Mrs. Pembroke)                                                              You'd better hurry over there. He's                          waiting for you.                                                               (then into phone)                                                              Hello, dear . . .                                                              47. CLOSE SHOT - DICKSON                                                              As he continues, into phone:                                                              DICKSON                                                              Where are you? . . . Sure, well, come                          on down right away. Huh? . . . Yes,                          of course I remember. It's tonight.                                                                                        (smiles)                                                              See what a social hound I'm becoming!                          . . . All right, goodbye, dear.                                                               He hangs up. Mrs. Pembroke is waiting                          for him to finish. She has apparently                          been disappointed in the news he has                          for her.                                                               MRS. PEMBROKE                                                              But, Mr. Dickson, I thought you were                          going to take care of the mortgage.                          I only want ten thousand. The property                          is worth sixty.                                                               DICKSON                                                              (ill-at-ease)                                                              Mr. Schaffer will take good care of                          you. He'll give you fifteen - maybe                          twenty . . .                                                               48. MED. CLOSE SHOT                                                              He continues talking to the lady, trying                          to get rid of her.                                                               DICKSON                                                              Better hurry now. Goodbye. Good luck                          to you!                                                               Mrs. Pembroke, bewildered, starts to                          leave.                                                               MRS. PEMBROKE                                                              (muttering)                                                              Thank you.                                                              CAMERA PANS WITH HIM as Mrs. Pembroke                          leaves.                                                               DICKSON                                                              (to Helen)                                                              Oh, if Mrs. Dickson comes in, will you                          tell her to see Cluett if she needs                          any money?                                                               Bill Saunders is still waiting. He corners                          Dickson.                                                               BILL                                                              What's the idea of turning her down?                          It sounds like a perfectly safe investment.                                                                                        ? 120 ?                                                              DICKSON                                                              She's a widow. I don't like taking mortgages                          from widows.                                                               BILL                                                              (puzzled)                                                              Why not?                                                              49. CLOSE SHOT OF THE TWO                                                              Shooting toward Dickson.                                                              DICKSON                                                              If she can't pay, I'll have to foreclose,                          won't I?                                                               BILL                                                              (dumbly)                                                              Yes - sureó                                                              DICKSON                                                              (mimicking him)                                                              Yeah - sure!                                                              He turns to address a man below - the                          janitor without a uniform.                                                               DICKSON                                                              Oh, make that uniform blue.                                                              JANITOR                                                              Yes, sir.                                                              Abruptly, he heads for the board room.                          Bill is still baffled by Dickson's queer                          reasoning. Suddenly, it dawns on him.                          He shakes his head admiringly.                                                               CUT TO:                                                              50. INT. CONFERENCE ROOM - MED. SHOT                                                                                        Dickson enters.                                                              DICKSON                                                              (blithely; as he counts the board members                          present)                                                               One - two - three - four - five. Seven                          more and you'd have a jury!                                                               He grabs a walking cane and wields it                          like a golf putter.                                                               DICKSON                                                              Well, it's a nice morning, gentlemen.                          How about two foursomes of golf?                                                               IVES                                                              (eagerly)                                                              Oh, I say, that would be . . .                                                              Ives's voice trails off as he realizes                          Clark is scowling at him.                                                               DICKSON                                                              (undeterred; still practicing his golf                          swing)                                                               Say, you know, I found out something                          yesterday about hitting a golf ball.                          You've got to hit with the left hand,                          and from the inside out, it's the only                          way you can hit anythingó                                                               ? 121 ?                                                              CLARK                                                              (huffy)                                                              I think, Mr. Dickson, we would like                          to have a little of your very valuable                          time here at the bank this morning,                          if you don't mind.                                                               DICKSON                                                              Oh, you would, eh? All right. If it's                          more important than golf, go ahead.                          What's on your mind?                                                               CUT TO:                                                              51. INT. LOBBY OF BANK - LONG SHOT                                                                                        Shooting from one end of the lobby toward                          the front door. Depositors are scattered                          all over the place. Some at the windows.                          Some at the writing tables. Others sitting                          inside the railing, talking to junior                          executives. The scene is peaceful, though                          very active.                                                               CAMERA STARTS TRUCKING FORWARD, passing                          en route, the different types of individuals                          who frequent the bank. People from all                          walks of life. CAMERA TRAVELS SLOWLY,                          picking up following little scenes.                                                                                        TELLER                                                              (at window)                                                              The check is no good.                                                              SADIE (A FEMALE CUSTOMER)                                                              What?                                                              CLERK                                                              The check is no good. The man has no                          account here.                                                               SADIE                                                              Holy mackerel! I've been robbed.                                                              CLERK                                                              I'm sorry, madam.                                                              SADIE                                                              So am I. And don't call me madam!                                                              CAMERA NEXT PICKS UP an elderly lady                          talking to a bank guard.                                                               GUARD                                                              Yes, ma'am, you can deposit your money                          here.                                                               LADY                                                              Is it safe?                                                              GUARD                                                              Absolutely.                                                              LADY                                                              It's his life insurance money, you know.                                                                                        BANK GUARD                                                              That's all right. You come with me,                          and I'll show you where to deposit your                          money.                                                               CAMERA GOES PAST and now singles out                          three men who are coming forward. One                          glance and we know they are here for                          no kosher reason.                                                               ? 122 ?                                                              They are typical gangster types. One                          of them, the leader, is dressed in everything                          but the kitchen sink. Light fedora,                          stiff shirt and collar with stripes                          running perpendicularly. Flashy gray                          suit - spats - and walking stick. The                          other two are just tough hombres, but                          dressed to kill.                                                               As they walk toward camera, they glance                          around the bank with a professional                          casualness, but obviously very much                          impressed. Their eyes rove around the                          place and finally land on some object                          where they stop.                                                               CUT TO:                                                              52. CLOSEUP - CHARLIE                                                              As he quickly counts out several thousand                          dollars in bills.                                                               CUT TO:                                                              53. CLOSE SHOT - THREE RACKETEERS                                                              Their eyes glisten. Their mouths water,                          as they watch Charlie off scene.                                                               CUT TO:                                                              54. MEDIUM SHOT                                                              Inside the railing. Cluett emerges from                          his office and starts forward, business-like,                          when he suddenly stops in his tracks.                                                                                        55. CLOSEUP - CLUETT                                                              He stares off at the racketeers. A look                          of fright comes into his eyes. His impulse                          is to turn back.                                                               56. CLOSE GROUP SHOT                                                              The three gangsters. A quick flash.                          Their eyes light on Cluett off scene,                          and they glare menacingly at him.                                                                                        LEADER                                                              There he is! Good morning!                                                              57. MED. CLOSE SHOT - CLUETT                                                              He changes his mind about avoiding them.                          His face breaks into a feeble smile                          of affability as he walks toward them.                          CAMERA PANS WITH HIM as he approaches                          the three men, his hand outstretched                          in forced amiability.                                                               CLUETT                                                              (shaking)                                                              Good morning! Who do you want to see?                                                                                        The gangsters shake hands with him,                          their expressions remaining unchanged,                          which adds immeasurably to Cluett's                          discomfort.                                                               LEADER                                                              (flatly)                                                              You.                                                              1ST GANGSTER                                                              (drawling)                                                              Yeah. We wanna talk to you about a big                          deal.                                                               There is a sinister significance in                          the manner in which he emphasizes "a                          big deal." Cluett is perceptibly ill-at-ease.                                                                                        ? 123 ?                                                              CLUETT                                                              (uncertainly - sickly smile)                                                              Oh, yes. Well, come right this way.                                                                                        He opens the swinging gate in front                          of him, permitting the three racketeers                          to enter. They start for Cluett's office.                                                                                        58. INT. ANTE ROOM DICKSON'S OFFICE                          - MED. CLOSE SHOT                                                               Helen sits at her typewriter near a                          railing, overlooking the bank below.                          Another girl stands by her, both are                          staring off scene.                                                               CUT TO:                                                              59. INT. BANK LOBBY - MED. LONG SHOT                                                                                        From Helen's angle.                                                              Cluett and the three gangsters going                          into Cluett's office.                                                               60. INT. ANTE ROOM OF DICKSON'S OFFICE                          - MED. CLOSE SHOT                                                               Helen and other secretary.                                                              HELEN                                                              Hey Pat, come here! Look!                                                              SECRETARY                                                              (to Helen)                                                              That's Dude Finlay, all right - I've                          seen his picture in the papers hundreds                          of times.                                                               HELEN                                                              I wonder what he's doing with Mr. Cluett.                                                                                        SECRETARY                                                              (still staring - thrilled - shuddering)                                                                                        Gee, I'm scared. He's one of the toughest                          gangsters in town.                                                               CUT TO:                                                              61. INT. CONFERENCE ROOM - MED. LONG                          SHOT                                                               Shooting down the length of the table.                          The men are all sitting around the large                          table. Dickson is on his feet.                                                               DICKSON                                                              (firmly)                                                              Gentlemen, you're only wasting your                          time. There'll be no merger.                                                               62. MED. CLOSE SHOT                                                              As Dickson continues.                                                              DICKSON                                                              (the injustice kills him)                                                              Why should I turn this bank over to                          anybody else? I've worked twenty-five                          years night and day to build it up,                          and now you're asking me to dump it                          into somebody's lapó                                                               (with finality)                                                              Nothing doing!                                                              Schultz, who is seated near Dickson,                          looks up at him:                                                               SCHULTZ                                                              You can make a handsome profit on your                          stock.                                                               ? 124 ?                                                              DICKSON                                                              I'm not interested in profits. I'm interested                          in the bank. In the depositors. They're                          my friends. They're looking to me for                          protection, and I'm not walking out                          on them.                                                               Clark and O'Brien, also seated around                          close to Dickson.                                                               CLARK                                                              How are you protecting your depositors?                          By making a lot of idiotic loans!                                                                                        O'BRIEN                                                              (admonishing him)                                                              Take it easy, Clark.                                                              Ives, seated next to Schultz, becomes                          alarmed.                                                               IVES                                                              (still trying)                                                              My dear friends . . .                                                              DICKSON                                                              (unruffled, paying no attention to Ives)                                                                                        It's all right. Let him go ahead. Let                          him speak his piece. I like it. Go on.                                                                                        CLARK                                                              All right. I'll speak my piece. Dickson,                          you've got to change your policy.                                                                                        63. CLOSER SHOT                                                              As Dickson retorts:                                                              DICKSON                                                              What's the matter with my policy? How                          many losses has this bank taken in the                          last twenty-five years?                                                               (he looks around - silence)                                                              I'll tell you. Not a single one!                                                              (defiantly)                                                              What's wrong with that kind of banking?                                                                                        CLARK                                                              (mumbles disdainfully)                                                              Just pure luck!                                                              64. CLOSE SHOT                                                              Ames, seated beyond Ives, now speaks                          up:                                                               AMES                                                              Conditions have changed. These are precarious                          times. Banks today have got to be careful.                          And you've been more liberal than ever.                                                                                        Dickson's voice comes in over scene:                                                                                        DICKSON'S VOICE                                                              Yes, and I'm going to continue to be                          liberal . . .                                                               65. CLOSEUP - DICKSON                                                              As he continues:                                                              ? 125 ?                                                              DICKSON                                                              The trouble with this country today                          is there's too much hoarded cash. Idle                          money is no good to industry. Where                          is all the money today? In the banks,                          vaults, socks, old tin cans, buried                          in the ground! I tell you, we've got                          to get the money in circulation before                          you'll get this country back to prosperity.                                                                                        66. CLOSE SHOT - CLARK                                                              CLARK                                                              Who are we going to give it to? Men                          like Jones? Last week you made him an                          extra loan of fifty thousand dollars.                          Do you call that intelligent banking?                                                                                        67. CLOSE SHOT - SCHULTZ AND DICKSON                                                                                        SCHULTZ                                                              He can't pay his bills. How do you expect                          him to pay us?                                                               DICKSON                                                              That's a fair question, Schultz. Now                          let's see how bad a risk Jones is. What's                          his history? He's been a successful                          business man for thirty-five years.                          Two years ago business started falling                          off. Today Jones needs money, and if                          he doesn't get it, he goes into bankruptcy                          and throws nine hundred men out of work.                          Answer - unemployment.                                                               68. CLOSEUP - O'BRIEN                                                              As he listens intently, Dickson's voice                          coming in:                                                               DICKSON'S VOICE                                                              It also means his creditors aren't paid.                          They're in trouble. They go to banks                          and are turned down . . . more bankruptcies                          . . .                                                               69. CLOSEUP - DICKSON                                                              As he continues:                                                              DICKSON                                                              It's a vicious circle, my friends, and                          the only place to cure it is right here                          at the source. Help Jones and you help                          the whole circle. Now, when Jones comes                          to me, I ask myself two questions. First                          - is he honest? Yes. Second - is he                          as good a business man as he was before?                          And the answer is - he's better .                                                                                        70. CLOSEUP - CLARK                                                              Showing his reaction, as part of Dickson's                          speech comes over scene:                                                               DICKSON'S VOICE                                                              He is not only older and wiser, but                          his present trouble has taught him precaution.                          In my estimation, gentlemen, Jones is                          no risk. Neither are the thousands of                          other Joneses throughout the country                          . . .                                                               ? 126 ?                                                              71. CLOSEUP - SCHULTZ                                                              To intercut with Dickson's speech.                                                                                        72. CLOSEUP - AMES                                                              To intercut with Dickson's speech.                                                                                        73. CLOSEUP - IVES                                                              To intercut with Dickson's speech.                                                                                        74. MED. CLOSE SHOT                                                              The group, as Dickson concludes his                          speech.                                                               DICKSON                                                              It's they who built this nation up to                          the richest in the world, and it's up                          to the banks to give them a break. Disraeli                          said security is the prosperity of the                          nationó[4]                                                               AMES                                                              (cutting him off)                                                              Why, Disraeli didn't say anything of                          the kind.                                                               DICKSON                                                              Well, he should have said it. It's as                          true now as it was then. And let us                          get the right kind of security. Not                          stocks and bonds that zig-zag up and                          down, not collateral on paper, but character!                                                                                        CLARK                                                              (indignantly)                                                              Character, hmmpf! That's your idea?                                                                                        DICKSON                                                              Not at all. That's Alexander Hamilton's                          idea[5] - the finest banking mind this                          country has ever known. Those are his                          exact words, gentlemen. Character! It's                          the only thing you can bank on, and                          it's the only thing that will pull this                          country out of the doldrums.                                                               CUT TO:                                                              75. INT. CLUETT'S PRIVATE OFFICE - MED.                          CLOSE SHOT                                                               Cluett sits at his desk, his face drawn,                          panic-stricken. He is like an animal                          at bay. The leader of the trio, Dude                          Finlay, sits in a chair directly in                          front of Cluett. The other two men stand                          on either side of the desk.                                                               DUDE                                                              (menacingly)                                                              You know what we do to welchers, Cluett,                          don't you?                                                               CLUETT                                                              (trembling)                                                              I know, I know, Dude. Oh, I must have                          been crazy! I lost my head completely!                                                                                        DUDE                                                              That's your funeral. We've got fifty                          thousand dollars comin' to us.                                                               ? 127 ?                                                              CLUETT                                                              (helplessly)                                                              I haven't got it.                                                              76. CLOSE SHOT - DUDE                                                              Shooting past Cluett.                                                              DUDE                                                              (barking)                                                              Then what did you want to gamble for?                          If you'd have beat us out of fifty G's,                          you'd have been paid, wouldn't you?                          Well, we want our dough.                                                               CLUETT                                                              I'm sorry, Dude, butóIó                                                              DUDE                                                              That don't do us any good.                                                              CLUETT                                                              But after all, you can't take blood                          from a stone.                                                               DUDE                                                              (threateningly - quietly)                                                              We can take blood from anything ó                                                              (pauses)                                                              If it's comin' to us.                                                              77. MED. CLOSE SHOT                                                              Shooting toward Cluett. Dude on opposite                          side of desk, the other two men still                          standing by the desk.                                                               A look of alarm spreads over Cluett's                          face. There is nothing hidden in this                          threat.                                                               CLUETT                                                              (wants time to think)                                                              Perhaps if you'll wait a little while,                          I might be ableó                                                               ONE OF THE MEN                                                              (snappily)                                                              We waited long enough!                                                              DUDE                                                              (shrewdly - to the men)                                                              Nix. Lay off.                                                              (to Cluett)                                                              Now - what's the use of getting excited,                          Cluett? It oughta be easy for you to                          lay your mitts on that kind of dough                          . . .                                                               78. CLOSE SHOT - CLUETT                                                              Shooting past Dude, as Dude continues,                          slowly, deliberately:                                                               DUDE                                                              There's plenty of it in this bank -                          laying around loose.                                                               Cluett looks up - horror-stricken.                                                                                        ? 128 ?                                                              CLUETT                                                              (pop-eyed, choked voice)                                                              Good heavens, man! You're not suggesting                          that Ió                                                               DUDE                                                              Why not?                                                              CLUETT                                                              (perspiring freely)                                                              Why, I couldn't do that . . . !                                                              DUDE                                                              (flatly)                                                              You don't have to do nothing.                                                              Cluett looks up toward the men - then                          at Dude.                                                               CLUETT                                                              (slowly)                                                              What do you mean?                                                              DUDE                                                              All you gotta do is fix a few things                          for us , and we'll do the rest, see?                                                                                        There is a pause while Cluett stares                          at them, horrified, his confused mind                          trying to assimilate the ghastliness                          of their proposal. Suddenly he starts                          to rise.                                                               79. MEDIUM SHOT                                                              As Cluett gets to his feet and faces                          Dude across the desk.                                                               CLUETT                                                              No, no, I couldn't - I couldn't do anything                          like that. Ió                                                               Smack! The rest of his speech dies in                          his throat. The man to his right has                          slapped him across the face with his                          open palm. Taken unaware, Cluett's hand                          goes to his cheek. He stares at them,                          bewildered and frightened.                                                               Cluett, feeling himself trapped and                          helpless, slowly sinks into his chair.                                                                                        CUT TO:                                                              80. INT. ANTEROOM DICKSON'S OFFICE -                          MED. SHOT                                                               Helen sits at her typewriter. A very                          dignified, beautiful woman of thirty                          approaches her. She is Phyllis Dickson,                          Dickson's wife. She radiates refinement                          and culture.                                                               MRS. DICKSON                                                              (pleasantly)                                                              Good morning, Helen.                                                              81. CLOSER SHOT                                                              At Helen's desk, as Helen looks up at                          Mrs. Dickson.                                                               HELEN                                                              How-do-you-do, Mrs. Dickson.                                                              MRS. DICKSON                                                              Is that busy husband of mine busy?                                                                                        ? 129 ?                                                              HELEN                                                              (indicating conference room)                                                              He's at a board meeting.                                                              MRS. DICKSON                                                              (not unexpected)                                                              Board meeting. Oh, that means hours,                          I suppose.                                                               HELEN                                                              I'm afraid so.                                                              MRS. DICKSON                                                              Helen, did you ever try competing with                          a bank?                                                               HELEN                                                              No.                                                              MRS. DICKSON                                                              Well, take my word for it, and don't                          try it. It's useless! If it were some                          other woman, I could handle her, but                          after all, you can't scratch a bank's                          eyes out now, can you?                                                               HELEN                                                              Hardly.                                                              82. CLOSE SHOT - MRS. DICKSON                                                              Shooting past Helen.                                                              MRS. DICKSON                                                              Oh, well. I guess the only other thing                          for me to do is to go out and buy myself                          a few sticks of dynamite. When he comes                          out, you tell him I'll be back. He hasn't                          gotten rid of me!                                                               HELEN                                                              All right.                                                              83. MEDIUM SHOT                                                              Helen laughs as Mrs. Dickson leaves                          in the direction of Cluett's office.                                                                                        CUT TO:                                                              84. INT. CYRIL CLUETT'S OFFICE - MED.                          CLOSE SHOT AT DOOR                                                               The three racketeers are preparing to                          leave. Dude has his hand on the doorknob.                                                                                        CLUETT                                                              (nervously)                                                              Dude - there's not any chance of my                          becoming involved in this, is there?                                                                                        DUDE                                                              You? No, you'll be all right, so long                          as you establish an alibi for tonight.                                                                                        CLUETT                                                              I know, butó                                                              DUDE                                                              Be sure you're with somebody responsible                          in case any questions are asked. Understand?                                                                                        ? 130 ?                                                              CLUETT                                                              But Dude, listen - couldn't we make                          this some other time?                                                               DUDE                                                              (positively)                                                              Listen, buddy, you're getting by pretty                          easy. Quit squawking!                                                               Cluett looks at Dude, then at the others,                          and realizes he is helpless.                                                               He opens the door and the men file out,                          silently. Cluett shuts the door and                          CAMERA PANS WITH HIM as he crosses back                          to his desk, shaking perceptibly. He                          reaches into a desk drawer and extracts                          a bottle of liquor.                                                               As he takes a drink, Mrs. Dickson enters                          unannounced.                                                               CUT TO:                                                              85. MED. CLOSE SHOT                                                              As Mrs. Dickson stands watching Cluett.                                                                                        MRS. DICKSON                                                              (playful reproach)                                                              Oh, oh!                                                              Cluett turns quickly. Upon seeing her,                          he makes an attempt to conceal the terror                          he feels.                                                               CLUETT                                                              (smiling feebly)                                                              Oh, hello, Phyllis.                                                              She advances toward him as he rises.                                                                                        MRS. DICKSON                                                              (shaking her head)                                                              This won't do. Not during business hours                          . . .                                                               CLUETT                                                              Why, I needed aó                                                              (offering her drink)                                                              Want one?                                                              MRS. DICKSON                                                              (screwing up her face)                                                              Heavens, no! Do you mind putting up                          with me until the financial genius gets                          thru genius-ing?                                                               CLUETT                                                              No, no, of course not. Not at all. Oh,                          here.                                                               As she takes out a cigarette, he offers                          her a light. Mrs. Dickson notices that                          he is rather nervous.                                                               MRS. DICKSON                                                              What is the matter with you? You're                          trembling?                                                               86. CLOSE SHOT - CLUETT                                                              CLUETT                                                              (trying to be light)                                                              Am I? Why, I - I don't know any reason                          why I should be, unless of course it's                          you . . .                                                               ? 131 ?                                                              87. CLOSE TWO SHOT                                                              MRS. DICKSON                                                              Me?                                                              CLUETT                                                              Being alone with you has always done                          this to me. You know that.                                                               MRS. DICKSON                                                              For a celebrated bounder, that is an                          awful admission. Besides, I never knew                          that any female could do this to you                          .                                                               CLUETT                                                              Well, you can. You always could.                                                              MRS. DICKSON                                                              (smiling)                                                              Liar! You're just suffering from lack                          of sleep.                                                               He takes this as premature defeat, and                          heads back toward his desk.                                                               MRS. DICKSON                                                              (good-natured admonishment)                                                              Here, here, here, now! Don't you go                          back to work on me, too. I'm getting                          tired of this. Besides, it's beginning                          to affect your looksó                                                               CLUETT                                                              (not understanding)                                                              What is?                                                              MRS. DICKSON                                                              (finishing her little joke)                                                              órunning around. Not your work.                                                              (Cluett laughs in relief)                                                              You'd better start reforming, Cyril!                                                                                        CLUETT                                                              If I thought you were the slightest                          bit interested, I would.                                                               MRS. DICKSON                                                              Not bad, not bad at all. Do you know                          something? I've always been curious                          about your line.                                                               CLUETT                                                              Line?                                                              MRS. DICKSON                                                              Whatever it is that makes you such a                          riot with women.                                                               He shrugs off the compliment.                                                              MRS. DICKSON                                                              (continuing)                                                              Come on Cyril, try a little bit of it                          out on me. I haven't had any first-class                          blarney thrown at me since the day I                          was married.                                                               ? 132 ?                                                              CLUETT                                                              (trying hard)                                                              But you see, it isn't blarney where                          you're concerned.                                                               MRS. DICKSON                                                              (laughs)                                                              Now let me see, what comes next?                                                              (a mocking tone)                                                              Oh yes, I know - what are you doing                          tonight, Phyllis?                                                               88. CLOSEUP - CLUETT                                                              He is suddenly reminded of his pact                          with Dude Finlay. Terror returns to                          his face.                                                               CLUETT                                                              Tonight?                                                              He suddenly gets an idea. He was told                          to be with someone around midnight.                          Someone who would be an alibi for him.                          He stares off at Phyllis Dickson. Why                          not?                                                               MRS. DICKSON                                                              (continuing)                                                              Doesn't that come next?                                                              89. MED. CLOSE SHOT                                                              CLUETT                                                              Yes, yes, it does. What are you doing                          tonight, Phyllis?                                                               MRS. DICKSON                                                              See, we're getting along famously!                                                                                        CUT TO:                                                              90. INT. CONFERENCE ROOM - MEDIUM SHOT                                                                                        Clark is in a state of agitation. The                          other directors seem worn by the ordeal.                          Dickson remains adamant.                                                               DICKSON                                                              Most of the creditors I know personally.                          I've seen them grow up in the community.                          I knew their fathers and mothers before                          them.                                                               CLARK                                                              I know, Dickson. That's all very well.                          But you're taking too many chances.                          In these times a bank should keep liquid                          in case of trouble. In case of emergency!                                                                                        91. CLOSER SHOT AT THE TABLE                                                              All the men in the scene.                                                              DICKSON                                                              I know what you mean by that. You want                          me to hang on to our cash. Well, I don't                          believe in it. The law demands that                          I carry a certain legal reserve, and                          I'm doing it. The rest of our money                          is out working . . . working to help                          industry . . . to help build up business                          . . .                                                               ? 133 ?                                                              92. CLOSEUP - CLARK                                                              As he almost shouts at Dickson.                                                              CLARK                                                              In the meantime, you're jeopardizing                          the safety of the bank. Well, we won't                          stand for it!                                                               93. MED. CLOSE SHOT                                                              Of the group, as Dickson turns to Clark.                                                                                        DICKSON                                                              You have to stand for it.                                                              Meek little Ives once again tries to                          say something:                                                               IVES                                                              (exhausted)                                                              But my dear friends . . .                                                              SCHULTZ                                                              (interrupting)                                                              You're forcing us to take action against                          you, Dickson.                                                               Dickson looks at him:                                                              DICKSON                                                              Go ahead - take all the action you want!                                                                                        He looks about at the others as he continues:                                                                                        DICKSON                                                              I'm running this bank my way. Get that                          clear!                                                               CLARK                                                              Gentlemen, you notice Mr. Dickson refuses                          to consider our wishes. He refuses an                          offer to merge with the New York Trust                          - the only thing that will put this                          bank on safe ground. He insists upon                          running a bank on so flimsy a thing                          as . . . as faith!                                                               DICKSON                                                              Yes! You said it, Clark. That's the                          only thing that means anything to me.                                                                                        94. CLOSEUP - CLARK                                                              As Dickson's voice continues. Clark                          reacts appropriately.                                                               DICKSON'S VOICE                                                              Before I take a man into this bank,                          and before I extend credit to anyone,                          I satisfy myself on one thing - do I                          believe in him?                                                               95. CLOSE PAN SHOT                                                              On the other men - CAMERA PANNING from                          one to the other as Dickson's voice                          comes over the shot - finally CAMERA                          STOPS on Dickson.                                                               DICKSON                                                              So far, my judgement has been right                          one hundred per cent. One hundred per                          cent! When I start going wrong, you                          won't have to take any action. I'll                          turn the bank over to you. Then you                          can                                                               ? 134 ?                                                              merge all you want to. I won't be the                          fellow to run it then. Good day, gentlemen!                                                                                        He exits scene.                                                              CAMERA TRUCKS AHEAD OF HIM as Dickson                          passes briskly through his outer office,                          stopping only to speak to Helen at her                          desk:                                                               DICKSON                                                              (cheerfully)                                                              Helen, tell Matt I want to see him.                                                                                        HELEN                                                              Yes, sir.                                                              CUT TO:                                                              96. INT. CLUETT'S PRIVATE OFFICE - CLOSE                          SHOT - CLUETT AND PHYLLIS                                                               CLUETT                                                              (mid-stream)                                                              óand after dinner, we could goó                                                              MRS. DICKSON                                                              (not at all angry)                                                              Oh! Oh, no! I think I've done enough                          experimenting for one day. Congratulations,                          Cyril. You've convinced me that you're                          a philanderer of the very first order.                          I shall recommend you highly.                                                               CLUETT                                                              (simply)                                                              Please, please don't laugh at me, Phyllis.                          I must see you tonight!                                                               97. CLOSER SHOT OF THE TWO                                                              Favoring Mrs. Dickson.                                                              MRS. DICKSON                                                              Tonight, Oh, never! Tonight I have reserved                          for a very special occasion. Believe                          it or not, it's our wedding anniversary.                          Tom doesn't probably even remember it.                          But then, they never do, do they?                                                                                        CLUETT'S VOICE                                                              No, they don'tó                                                              She shakes her head.                                                              MRS. DICKSON                                                              But I'm giving a party for him - a real,                          old-fashioned surprise party. Caps,                          bells, whistles, and everything. I'm                          really terribly excited about it. I've                          been planning it for months.                                                               CLUETT                                                              (after a pause)                                                              Welló                                                              MRS. DICKSON                                                              (smiling)                                                              Well, what?                                                              ? 135 ?                                                              CLUETT                                                              (he won't give up)                                                              Well, aren't you going to invite me?                                                                                        MRS. DICKSON                                                              (surprised)                                                              You? No can do. It's all set. Just a                          few of Tom's closest friends.                                                               CLUETT                                                              Now Phyllis, if you don't invite me,                          I'm coming anyway.                                                               MRS. DICKSON                                                              Don't be silly, Cyril. These are respectable                          people. They'd probably bore you to                          death.                                                               CLUETT                                                              (desperate-sounding)                                                              No, they won't. Not when you are there.                          Oh, please, be a sport. Please ask me.                                                                                        MRS. DICKSON                                                              (flattered, but a little suspicious)                                                                                        Why are you so anxious?                                                              CLUETT                                                              (intense sincerity)                                                              Don't you know?                                                              MRS. DICKSON                                                              No.                                                              CLUETT                                                              I want to be near you!                                                              He steps closer to her.                                                              MRS. DICKSON                                                              What?                                                              CLUETT                                                              Don't you know I've been crazy about                          you for years?                                                               MRS. DICKSON                                                              (still flattered, lightly)                                                              Now wait a minute, wait a minute . .                          .                                                               CLUETT                                                              I've loved you ever since I can remember,                          long before you married Tom Dickson.                                                                                        MRS. DICKSON                                                              (still only half-believing)                                                              Why, Cyril, you're insaneó                                                              CLUETT                                                              No. No, I'm not. I deliberately avoided                          you. I was afraid of making a fool of                          myself. But I won't stand it any longeró                                                                                        MRS. DICKSON                                                              Cyril!                                                              ? 136 ?                                                              Before she realizes what has happened,                          he has swept her into his arms and crushes                          her to him. CAMERA PANS AWAY from them                          to the door to the outer office. The                          door opens and Matt steps in. He stops,                          suddenly, transfixed by what he sees                          off scene.                                                               98. MEDIUM CLOSE SHOT                                                              Phyllis Dickson in Cluett's arms (from                          Matt's angle). They suddenly become                          conscious of someone in the room and                          Phyllis struggles free, looking off                          scene toward Matt:                                                               CUT TO:                                                              99. CLOSE SHOT - MATT                                                              From Cluett and Mrs. Dickson's angle.                                                                                        He stares unbelievingly for a moment,                          and then collecting himself, turns and                          leaves the room, closing the door after                          him. CAMERA PANS BACK to Cluett and                          Mrs. Dickson. For a moment she is terribly                          upset.                                                               CLUETT                                                              Please forgive me, Phyllis. I lost my                          head for a minute. But I couldn't help                          it, Phyllis.                                                               As she starts for the door, CAMERA PANS                          WITH HER. Cluett walks with her.                                                               MRS. DICKSON                                                              Please stop apologizing so much. You're                          making it far too important.                                                               As they reach the door.                                                              CUT TO:                                                              100. INT. ANTE ROOM OF CLUETT'S OFFICE                          - MED. SHOT                                                               Matt stands there, in a daze. Cluett's                          secretary is not there. He starts slowly                          forward, hardly knowing where he is                          going - CAMERA TRUCKING AHEAD OF HIM                          - there is a far-away look in his eyes.                          His hand clutches the list of payrolls                          but as far as he is concerned, it is                          entirely forgotten. Several people talk                          to him, but Matt walks on heedlessly.                          He can't get over the shock of what                          he just saw. He always had been under                          the impression that Dickson's home life                          was a happy one. He never dreamed that                          Phyllis Dickson represented anything                          but the height of circumspection. And                          now - Cyril Cluett, of all people!                                                                                        Helen comes running into scene, all                          excited.                                                               HELEN                                                              (happily)                                                              Matt, where have you been? Mr. Dickson                          wants to see you right away. Hurry up!                                                                                        He turns around mechanically and continues                          to walk in the direction of Dickson's                          office - CAMERA TRUCKING AFTER HIM.                          Helen falls into step with him.                                                               HELEN                                                              Say, I just heard the merger isn't going                          thru. Isn't that grand?                                                               ? 137 ?                                                              MATT                                                              (tonelessly)                                                              Yeah, swell.                                                              They reach Dickson's outer office. Matt                          crosses it and exits into the private                          office. Helen looks after him - her                          face falls in disappointment. Matt is                          acting very strangely. She thought he'd                          be elated. She stares unhappily at his                          forlorn figure as it disappears thru                          the door.                                                               CUT TO:                                                              101. INT. DICKSON'S PRIVATE OFFICE -                          MED. SHOT                                                               Dickson sits at his desk when Matt enters.                          When he sees Matt, his face breaks into                          a broad, pleasant smile.                                                               DICKSON                                                              (grandly)                                                              Well, Matt, get ready for the big moment.                          Starting tomorrow you become assistant                          cashier. How's that?                                                               Matt crosses to the desk as Dickson                          is speaking.                                                               102. CLOSE SHOT AT DESK                                                              As Matt stops in front of Dickson. Matt                          cannot share Dickson's enthusiasm. The                          scene he just witnessed has taken the                          joy out of everything.                                                               MATT                                                              It's all right. Thanks.                                                              DICKSON                                                              And what's more, keep up the good work                          and who knows - some day you'll be the                          fellow sitting behind that desk . .                          .                                                               (the idea pleases him)                                                              Not a bad thought, eh?                                                              He suddenly notices Matt's lack of enthusiasm.                                                                                        103. CLOSE SHOT OF THE TWO                                                              Shooting toward Dickson.                                                              He leans forward to look at Matt closely:                                                                                        DICKSON                                                              What's the matter? You don't seem very                          excited about it.                                                               MATT                                                              (feebly)                                                              Sure, I think it's swell.                                                              DICKSON                                                              (scrutinizing him closely, very much                          hurt)                                                               Say, come on. Show a little enthusiasm.                          What's the matter? Are you sick or something?                          Go on, fake it - even if it isn't real.                                                                                        104. CLOSE SHOT - MATT                                                              Shooting past Dickson.                                                              Matt makes an attempt to snap out of                          it - and answers quickly.                                                               ? 138 ?                                                              MATT                                                              Aw, I'm sorry, Mr. Dickson. It's just                          kind of sudden, that's all.                                                               (working up a little enthusiasm)                                                              Sure, I'm excited. I think it's great.                          Only, well, you've done so much for                          me already . . . I'll never be able                          to thank you enough.                                                               105. MEDIUM SHOT                                                              DICKSON                                                              Aw, go on, forget it. You came through,                          didn't you? That's all I wanted. A lot                          of them didn't think you would. You                          don't know how much satisfaction it's                          been to me. It's been swell. Well, when                          are you and Helen going to get married?                                                                                        MATT                                                              Well, Ió                                                              DICKSON                                                              I suppose you want me to fix that up                          for you too, eh?                                                               They are interrupted by the sudden appearance                          of Phyllis Dickson. Both men look up                          as she appears in the door.                                                               106. CLOSE SHOT - MRS. DICKSON                                                              As she stops in doorway. She glances                          fearfully, first at Matt and then at                          her husband, trying to sense whether                          Matt has said anything. She is quickly                          assured by Dickson's affable greeting.                                                                                        107. MED. CLOSE SHOT                                                              As Dickson comes toward her, arms extended:                                                                                        DICKSON                                                              Well, look who's here! Hello, dear.                                                                                        MRS. DICKSON                                                              Hello, darling.                                                              He kisses her. Then throws his arms                          around her for an exaggerated "teddybear"                          hug. Over Dickson's shoulder, Phyllis                          looks gratefully at Matt.                                                               108. CLOSE SHOT - MATT                                                              He returns her glance. His eyes are                          unable to disguise his contempt.                                                               109. MED. CLOSE SHOT                                                              Dickson and Phyllis. He releases her.                                                                                        DICKSON                                                              If this isn't a red-letter day for Tom                          Dickson! First I trample on the Board                          of Directors, then I promote Matt here                          to assistant cashier, and now to complete                          the day I have a visit from my sweet                          and lovely and gorgeous wife. What a                          man, what a man!                                                               MRS. DICKSON                                                              (with a half-smile)                                                              It's amazing that your sweet, lovely,                          gorgeous wife can ever get to see you.                                                                                        ? 139 ?                                                              DICKSON                                                              Oooh! That has the earmarks!                                                              He notices Matt, still standing there,                          uncomfortably.                                                               DICKSON                                                              (good-naturedly)                                                              Are you still here? Go on - go to work!                          What do you think I pay you for?                                                               Matt exits.                                                              CUT TO:                                                              110. INT. ANTE ROOM OF DICKSON'S PRIVATE                          OFFICE - MEDIUM SHOT                                                               As Matt comes out and moves quickly                          forward as if anxious to get away from                          the embarrassing situation he found                          himself in. Helen, upon seeing him,                          jumps up.                                                               HELEN                                                              (excitedly)                                                              What happened? What did he say? Did                          you get the job?                                                               MATT                                                              (dolefully)                                                              Yeah.                                                              111. CLOSE TWO SHOT                                                              She is perplexed by his unenthusiastic                          attitude.                                                               HELEN                                                              What's the matter, Matt? Gee, I thought                          you'd be thrilled to death.                                                               MATT                                                              Come here.                                                              (he takes her aside)                                                              You know, a few minutes ago I was in                          Cluett's office and Mrs. Dickson was                          there.                                                               HELEN                                                              Well . . . ?                                                              MATT                                                              Well, he was making love to her.                                                              Helen, although she had a vague suspicion,                          is shocked.                                                               HELEN                                                              (after a pause)                                                              Oh Matt, you must be mistaken.                                                              MATT                                                              I tell you, I saw them!                                                              Helen stares at him, horrified.                                                              HELEN                                                              In Cluett's office?                                                              MATT                                                              Yes, right in his office, the rat. I'd                          like to take a crack at that guy.                                                                                        ? 140 ?                                                              A telephone rings.                                                              HELEN                                                              (as she goes to answer the phone)                                                              Wait a minute. Now don't go away . .                          .                                                               CUT TO:                                                              112. INT. DICKSON'S PRIVATE OFFICE -                          MED. CLOSE SHOT                                                               Dickson is seated with Mrs. Dickson                          on the arm of the chair.                                                               DICKSON                                                              (talking on the phone, as Mrs Dickson                          waits patiently)                                                               Yes George . . . yes, sure . . . Oh,                          that's for tonight, eh? . . . Yes, certainly,                          I'll be there . . . Yes, we'll go down                          together and have dinner in Philadelphia                          . . . Mrs. Dickson gets so upset . .                          . That's right. . . . Yeah. . . . Just                          as soon as the bank closes. . . . Right.                          . . . Goodbye. . . .                                                               He punches the intercom, speaks to Helen                          in the outer office.                                                               HELEN'S VOICE                                                              Yes?                                                              DICKSON                                                              Helen, I'm going to Philadelphia, just                          as soon as the bank closes. Make all                          the arrangements, will you?                                                               HELEN'S VOICE                                                              Yes, sir.                                                              Mrs. Dickson looks visibly upset. Dickson                          can't help but notice.                                                               DICKSON                                                              What's the matter dear? What have I                          done now?                                                               MRS. DICKSON                                                              Nothing. Tom, I thought you were going                          out with me tonight.                                                               DICKSON                                                              Oh, I did have a date with you tonight,                          didn't I?                                                               MRS. DICKSON                                                              Yes.                                                              DICKSON                                                              I'm terribly sorry. I'd forgotten all                          about you. I'm so sorry, dear.                                                               113. CLOSE SHOT OF THE TWO                                                              Favoring Phyllis Dickson.                                                              MRS. DICKSON                                                              Now Tom, you simply cannot go to Philadelphia                          tonight. That's all there is to it.                                                                                        DICKSON                                                              But I have to go, dear. It's a very                          important banker's meeting.                                                               ? 141 ?                                                              MRS. DICKSON                                                              (interrupting)                                                              I don't care whether it's important                          or not. You said you were going out                          with me, and if you hadn't promised                          so faithfully, I wouldn't have gone                          and planned the whole thing.                                                               DICKSON                                                              Listen, it isn't so terribly important.                          We can go to the theatre any time.                                                                                        MRS. DICKSON                                                              The theatre?                                                              114. MED. CLOSE SHOT                                                              DICKSON                                                              That's what it was you planned, wasn't                          it?                                                               MRS. DICKSON                                                              (after a slight hesitation)                                                              Yes, of course.                                                              DICKSON                                                              You can take some of the girls. You                          can take Mildred - or Gwynnó                                                               MRS. DICKSON                                                              The girls! I don't suppose it ever occurred                          to you that I might go out and find                          myself an attractive young man . . .                                                                                        115. CLOSE SHOT OF THE TWO                                                              Shooting toward Dickson, as he laughs                          boisterously.                                                               DICKSON                                                              Ho! Ho! Ho!                                                              MRS. DICKSON                                                              Ho, ho, ho, yourself! I wouldn't laugh                          if I were you. You may not suspect it,                          but I'm still attractive - to some.                                                                                        DICKSON                                                              Listen, don't go around being attractive                          to anyone but me . . .                                                               MRS. DICKSON                                                              Well . . .                                                              DICKSON                                                              Don't you forget that I'm still the                          head man around here too. Now we'll                          get the tickets changed for tomorrow                          night. You and I are going out together.                          How's that?                                                               MRS. DICKSON                                                              Tomorrow night?                                                              A buzzer sounds, and a visitor is announced                          on the intercom.                                                               DICKSON                                                              Yes?                                                              ? 142 ?                                                              VOICE                                                              Mr. Gardner's here.                                                              DICKSON                                                              (answering the intercom)                                                              Oh, yes. That's that lawyer. All right,                          let him have nine thousand.                                                               (returning attention to his wife)                                                              Yes sir, I'll step you around this town                          like you've never stepped before. We                          will have dinner at the St. Regis -                          then we'll go to a nice, snappy show                          - then a nightclub - we'll listen to                          soft music, and who knows? Ha! - I might                          break down and dance with you!                                                               MRS. DICKSON                                                              (still skeptical)                                                              All right. I'll postpone the whole thing                          until tomorrow night.                                                               DICKSON                                                              (assuringly)                                                              Happy now?                                                              MRS. DICKSON                                                              (mock-pouting)                                                              No.                                                              116. MEDIUM SHOT                                                              He takes her in his arms and kisses                          her.                                                               DICKSON                                                              (tenderly)                                                              Poor kid, you know, I have been neglecting                          you.                                                               MRS. DICKSON                                                              Oh, I don't care, darling. I love you,                          anyway.                                                               A buzzer sounds again, and Dickson answers                          the intercom.                                                               DICKSON                                                              Yes?                                                              HELEN'S VOICE                                                              Mr. Sampson . . .                                                              DICKSON                                                              All right. Send him in.                                                              There is a knock on the door. Dickson                          moves away from his wife. He looks toward                          the door.                                                               117. CLOSE SHOT AT DOOR                                                              Sampson, an executive in the bank, enters.                          Sampson goes to Dickson with some papers                          in his hand. He lays the papers on the                          desk before Dickson.                                                               DICKSON                                                              Well, Sampson, what is it?                                                              SAMPSON                                                              Here's the data on the Clyde deal.                                                                                        ? 143 ?                                                              118. CLOSE SHOT AT DESK                                                              Dickson is all absorbed.                                                              DICKSON                                                              Good. I'll take this along with me.                          Tell Clyde I'll see him tomorrow. I'm                          sick and tired of the delay.                                                               SAMPSON                                                              I'm afraid he's been stalling.                                                              DICKSON                                                              That's just exactly what he has been                          doing. This deal should have been closed                          weeks ago. Tell him to keep tomorrow                          open . . .                                                               SAMPSON                                                              He says he can't get away in the daytime.                                                                                        DICKSON                                                              How about his nights? He's too busy                          running around. Tell him to keep tomorrow                          night open, come in and sign this thing,                          or I'll call this whole deal off.                                                                                        SAMPSON                                                              Yes, sir.                                                              120. CLOSEUP - PHYLLIS DICKSON                                                              She stands by a window, listening. There                          is despair in her look as she hears                          him making arrangements for tomorrow                          night. Dickson's voice comes over this                          shot:                                                               DICKSON'S VOICE                                                              I'm sick and tired of these people dilly-dallying.                          People who can't make up their minds                          . . .                                                               Mrs. Dickson's eyes close hopelessly,                          and she feels defeated. Again shut out                          from his scheme of things, she realizes                          he is incurable. On this picture of                          resignation:                                                               FADE OUT:                                                              FADE IN                                                              INSERT: CLOCK OVER THE VAULT, reading                          5:07                                                               CAMERA PANS DOWN to open vault.                                                              121. INT. VAULT - MED. SHOT                                                              Inside, several of the tellers are putting                          their cash away. One of them is just                          entering with his truck.                                                               MATT                                                              Everybody in?                                                              TELLER                                                              I guess so.                                                              MATT                                                              Where's Charlie?                                                              ? 144 ?                                                              TELLER                                                              (amused)                                                              Charlie's upstairs as sore as a pup.                          He's out fourteen cents, and he can't                          find it.                                                               AD-LIB VOICES                                                              Good night. Good night, Matt.                                                              CUT TO:                                                              122. OUTSIDE OF VAULT - MED. CLOSE SHOT                                                                                        Cyril Cluett is standing at the bottom                          of a spiral staircase from which he                          has just descended. He stops a second                          and watches Matt, off scene. Cluett                          has gloves on, his hat in his hand,                          preparatory to going home. Matt does                          not see Charlie.                                                               CUT TO:                                                              123. OUTSIDE OF THE VAULT - CLOSE SHOT                                                                                        Matt and Helen standing near the vault                          door.                                                               HELEN                                                              What's keeping you?                                                              MATT                                                              Oh, Charlie again.                                                              HELEN                                                              Say Matt, you haven't done anything                          about what you saw today, have you?                                                                                        MATT                                                              (still upset)                                                              Who? Cluett? No, not yet. But I'd like                          to take a crack at that stiff-necked,                          horse dollar.[6]                                                               HELEN                                                              Oh now, don't be silly.                                                              MATT                                                              (disgusted)                                                              Can you imagine that guy? He was kissing                          her.                                                               HELEN                                                              Now you've got me worried, dear.                                                              (she kisses him)                                                              Promise me you won't butt in.                                                              MATT                                                              Okay, honey - but just the same I'd                          like to take a crack at tható                                                               She puts her hand over her mouth:                                                              HELEN                                                              Shh . . . !                                                              (whispering)                                                              I'll wait for you upstairs.                                                              MATT                                                              All right, dear.                                                              She leaves. Matt remains standing, a                          far-away look in his eyes. It is obvious                          he is thinking about the thing seriously.                                                                                        ? 145 ?                                                              124. MEDIUM SHOT                                                              The boys who were inside the vault now                          file out, having properly locked away                          their cash. At the same time, Charlie                          wheels in his truck.                                                               MATT                                                              (kidding him)                                                              Where you been?                                                              CHARLIE                                                              (annoyed)                                                              Where do you think I've been?                                                              (pointing to truck)                                                              I took the baby for a stroll in the                          park.                                                               The men hurry out of sight, laughing.                          Charlie disappears into the vault. Matt                          enters the vault, his mind still preoccupied.                                                                                        125. INTERIOR VAULT MED. SHOT                                                              As Matt goes directly to the burglar                          alarm.                                                               INSERT: BURGLAR ALARM                                                              As Matt's hand comes into scene and                          throws the switch down toward sign reading                          ON.                                                               BACK TO SCENE:                                                              Matt starts to the vault door:                                                              MATT                                                              What's the matter, Charlie?                                                              CHARLIE                                                              I'm fourteen cents out, and it took                          me half an hour to find the mistake.                          And me with a date, too.                                                               MATT                                                              I remember once when your account checked.                                                                                        CHARLIE                                                              Yeah.                                                              Matt goes to the time clock to check                          it up. He tinkers with it a moment.                                                                                        CUT TO:                                                              126. OUTSIDE OF VAULT - MED. CLOSE SHOT                                                                                        Matt has just finished adjusting the                          time clock as Charlie comes out of the                          vault.                                                               MATT                                                              (pointing to time clock)                                                              And listen, wise guy - I'm setting friend                          time clock for exactly nine o'clock,                          so no squawks out of you guys in the                          morning.                                                               CHARLIE                                                              (as he exits)                                                              Say, don't annoy me. I got troubles                          of my own.                                                               Matt smiles. He starts to shut the vault.                          He has it swinging half-way around when                          Cluett enters. When Matt sees Cluett,                          the smile dies on his lips.                                                               ? 146 ?                                                              CLUETT                                                              Are the payrolls ready for tomorrow?                                                                                        MATT                                                              Yes, sir.                                                              CLUETT                                                              (peremptorily)                                                              Let me see your cash book, will you?                                                                                        MATT                                                              Now?                                                              CLUETT                                                              Yes, now.                                                              Matt looks at him a moment antagonistically.                          He has half a mind to talk to him right                          now, but he recalls Helen's admonitions                          and thinks better of it.                                                               MATT                                                              All right, sir.                                                              He exits into vault. The moment he is                          gone, Cluett crosses quickly to the                          time clock.                                                               INSERT: TIME CLOCK                                                              As Cluett's gloved hand comes in and                          turns the indicator back to 12 o'clock.                                                                                        127. INTERIOR VAULT - MED. CLOSE SHOT                                                                                        Matt has opened a compartment and has                          brought out several sheets of paper.                          He goes thru them to find the one he                          wants.                                                               INSERT: TIME CLOCK                                                              Cluett's hand is seen throwing the switch                          up to indicator reading OFF.                                                               BACK TO SCENE:                                                              As Matt comes up to Cluett with a cash                          report. Cluett glances over it.                                                               CLUETT                                                              (returning sheet)                                                              That's all right. But it seems to me                          you're carrying too much cash.                                                               He exits. Matt glares belligerently                          at him.                                                               CAMERA PANS with him as he returns the                          paper to compartment. He locks the compartment                          door, switches off the light in vault                          and CAMERA PANS WITH HIM as he starts                          out of the vault. As he swings the large                          vault door closed,                                                               FADE OUT:                                                              FADE IN                                                              128. EXT. SIDEWALK IN FRONT OF APT.                          HOUSE - NIGHT - MED. SHOT                                                               As a cab drives up to curb in the middle                          of a downpour, and stops.                                                               129. INT. TAXICAB - CLOSE SHOT - CLUETT                          AND MRS. DICKSON                                                               They are in evening clothes, apparently                          they had some drinks, as phyllis is                          in a gay, frivolous mood.                                                               ? 147 ?                                                              CLUETT                                                              (to driver)                                                              Driver?                                                              DRIVER'S VOICE                                                              Yes.                                                              CLUETT                                                              Have you the correct time?                                                              DRIVER'S VOICE                                                              12:05.                                                              CLUETT                                                              12:05. Fine.                                                              MRS. DICKSON                                                              (looking out)                                                              What's this?                                                              CLUETT                                                              My apartment.                                                              MRS. DICKSON                                                              (mock-melodramatic)                                                              I knew I couldn't trust you. You told                          me you were taking me home.                                                               CLUETT                                                              Come on up for just a few minutes. We'll                          have just one drink, then we'll go.                                                                                        MRS. DICKSON                                                              (definitely)                                                              No. I know the answer to that one.                                                                                        (shaking her head)                                                              I think you'd better take me home.                                                                                        CLUETT                                                              What's the matter? Afraid papa will                          spank?                                                               130. CLOSER SHOT ON THE TWO                                                              MRS. DICKSON                                                              No. No, I'm afraid papa isn't that much                          interested. He's too busy rushing off                          to Philadelphia to make stuffy, old                          speeches at stuffy, old bankers' meetings.                          Too busy closing big, important dealsó                                                                                        (on second thought)                                                              I think I will have a drink.                                                              CLUETT                                                              Good for you. Come on.                                                              LAP DISSOLVE TO:                                                              131. INT. CORRIDOR OUTSIDE CLUETT'S                          APT. - MED. CLOSE SHOT                                                               Cluett and Mrs. Dickson emerge from                          the elevator and cross to his apartment,                          CAMERA FOLLOWING THEM. Cluett fumbles                          in his pocket for the key.                                                               ? 148 ?                                                              MRS. DICKSON                                                              You know, there ought to be a Congressional                          Medal for men like you. America's comfort                          to misunderstood wives. I never thought                          I would find myself in that class.                                                                                        CLUETT                                                              Oh, you're not so badly off. There's                          something much worse than being a misunderstood                          wife.                                                               MRS. DICKSON                                                              What is that, Mr. Bones?[7]                                                              CLUETT                                                              A misunderstood bachelor.                                                              Cluett smiles. He has the door open                          by now and stands aside to permit her                          to enter.                                                               CUT TO:                                                              132. INT. CLUETT'S APARTMENT - MED.                          CLOSE SHOT                                                               At door. Phyllis Dickson has just stepped                          in, and Cluett follows. He closes the                          door and locks it.                                                               CLUETT                                                              (mock-melodramatic)                                                              And now fair woman, I have you in my                          power.                                                               MRS. DICKSON                                                              (playing along)                                                              I'm not afraid of you. You haven't got                          a moustache!                                                               CLUETT                                                              I'll grow a moustache by the time you                          get out of here.                                                               CAMERA TRUCKS WITH THEM as he chases                          her into the next room. She alights                          on a piano bench, and runs her fingers                          up and down the scales. Suddenly Cluett                          stops. He stares off, a look of amazement                          in his face. Mrs. Dickson turns and                          follows his gaze and she, too, is startled.                                                                                        CAMERA PANS QUICKLY over to the other                          side of the room. Matt sits on the edge                          of a chair waiting for them. He rises,                          looks off toward Cluett and Mrs. Dickson.                          As he starts forward, CAMERA PANS BACK                          to Cluett and Phyllis.                                                               MRS. DICKSON                                                              Why, Matt!                                                              CLUETT                                                              (when he recovers from his surprise)                                                                                        What are you doing here?                                                              Matt enters the scene.                                                              MATT                                                              The butler said I could stay. I told                          him it was important.                                                               CLUETT                                                              Oh, yeah?                                                              ? 149 ?                                                              Cluett steps over to a bell cord and                          pulls it.                                                               MATT                                                              He's not here. He left at nine o'clock.                          He said you gave him the night off.                                                                                        Cluett wheels around, infuriated.                                                              CLUETT                                                              What do you want?                                                              133. CLOSE SHOT OF THE TWO                                                              Favoring Matt.                                                              MATT                                                              (uncomfortably)                                                              Well, I thought I'd like to have a little                          talk with you.                                                               CLUETT                                                              (sharply)                                                              I'm listening.                                                              MATT                                                              (hesitatingly)                                                              It's funny - now that I'm here, I don't                          know just how to go about it.                                                               (a glance toward Mrs. Dickson)                                                              You see, I kind of expected to find                          you here alone.                                                               As Cluett starts away:                                                              MATT                                                              Do you mind stepping outside? We could                          talkó                                                               134. MEDIUM SHOT                                                              Cluett crosses to the door, where he                          stands, ready to open it. Mrs. Dickson                          stands by helplessly.                                                               CLUETT                                                              (a tone of dismissal)                                                              Anything you have to say to me, you                          can say in the morning.                                                               MATT                                                              Oh no, Mr. Cluett, if it's all the same                          to you, I'd rather not wait. It's about                          you and Mrs. Dickson.                                                               Cluett releases his hold on the doorknob.                          Mrs. Dickson looks at Matt uneasily                          - she is quickly sobering.                                                               CLUETT                                                              (aghast)                                                              About me and . . .                                                              He crosses slowly toward Matt.                                                              PHYLLIS                                                              Why Matt, what are you talking about?                                                                                        ? 150 ?                                                              135. CLOSER SHOT OF THE THREE                                                              MATT                                                              (quickly)                                                              I know I've got a lot of nerve butting                          in like this, but I just couldn't help                          it. I thought I could stop two people                          from doing something they'd be sorry                          for.                                                               CLUETT                                                              (livid)                                                              I'm not interested in what you think.                                                                                        MATT                                                              You've no right to do this to her, Mr.                          Cluett. Why don't you think it over?                          It's only gonna get you into a lot of                          trouble.                                                               CLUETT                                                              I tell you, I'm not interested in your                          opinion.                                                               MATT                                                              (turns to Phyllis)                                                              No? Then maybe you'll understand, Mrs.                          Dickson. Oh, gee, he's crazy about you.                          Nobody knows it better than you. If                          he ever finds out, it'll kill him.                                                                                        MRS. DICKSON                                                              But Matt, you're mistaken about the                          whole thing. There isn't anything wrong.                          Mr. Cluett and I simply came hereó                                                                                        136. CLOSE SHOT - MATT & CLUETT                                                              Shooting toward Matt.                                                              CLUETT                                                              (to Phyllis)                                                              Phyllis, you don't have to explain anything.                                                                                        (snappily, to Matt)                                                              You'd do well to mind your own business.                                                                                        MATT                                                              (wheeling on him)                                                              This is my business. Mr. Dickson's been                          like a father to me.                                                               (his voice rising)                                                              What has he ever done to you to deserve                          a deal like this?                                                               CLUETT                                                              (livid)                                                              That will be just about enough! Now                          get out of here!                                                               MATT                                                              I guess I have said enough                                                              (bitterly)                                                              I'm just wasting my breath talking to                          you.                                                               137. WIDER ANGLE                                                              Taking in Mrs. Dickson, who stands slightly                          apart from the two men.                                                               ? 151 ?                                                              CLUETT                                                              You're right for the first time. Now                          get out!                                                               Matt ignores Cluett and looks toward                          phyllis Dickson.                                                               MATT                                                              I'm appealing to you, Mrs. Dickson.                          Think what you're doing to him. You're                          passing up the whitest man on earthó                                                                                        (flaring up)                                                              ófor a dirty, no-good.                                                              Before he finishes the sentence, Cluett                          punches him. Matt, caught unawares,                          is thrown off balance and sent reeling.                          He drops between two chairs. Now, livid                          with rage, he pulls himself up, murder                          in his eyes. Cluett crosses quickly                          to a desk near the door, opens a drawer                          and extracts a revolver.                                                               MRS. DICKSON                                                              (frightened - cries out)                                                              Cyril!                                                              Matt, who was started toward Cluett,                          stops in his tracks upon seeing the                          gun.                                                               138. CLOSE SHOT                                                              Shooting toward Cluett.                                                              CLUETT                                                              (under his breath)                                                              Now get out of here!                                                              CAMERA PANS WITH MATT to the door.                                                                                        MRS. DICKSON'S VOICE                                                              Wait a minute, Matt!                                                              Matt turns as she enters the scene.                                                                                        MRS. DICKSON                                                              I'll go with you.                                                              CLUETT'S VOICE                                                              But phyllis!                                                              Mrs. Dickson steps closer to Matt's                          side. Cluett comes up to them.                                                               CLUETT                                                              You needn't go on account of this idiot.                                                                                        Matt has opened the door.                                                              MATT                                                              (quietly)                                                              You better carry that around with you                          all the time - you're going to need                          it.                                                               Matt follows Mrs. Dickson out, leaving                          Cluett glaring after them.                                                               139. INT. OF BANK - NIGHT                                                              A series of quick vignettes:                                                              Cluett's watch, showing 12:07.                                                              ? 152 ?                                                              A wall clock, showing 12:07.                                                              A night watchman, alerted by suspicious                          noise, creeping up to the vault.                                                               The night watchman, shot by figures                          in the shadows.                                                               A small number of men rush out of the                          vault, clutching money bags and toting                          guns.                                                               The night watchman, getting off a shot,                          before he crumples to the floor.                                                               FADE OUT:                                                              FADE IN                                                              140. INT. VAULT ROOM OF BANK - CLOSEUP                          ON DOOR                                                               The vault door, partly opened. Over                          the shot we hear excited murmurs.                                                                                        CAMERA STARTS TRUCKING BACK SLOWLY,                          until it takes in the full room. A fingerprint                          expert is working on the time clock                          for finger-print impressions. The medical                          examiner bends over the body of the                          watchman, whose face is covered with                          a cloth. A detective in charge of the                          proceedings stands around, looking very                          officious.                                                               DETECTIVE                                                              What do you say, Doc?                                                              DOCTOR                                                              Oh, I'd say about eight or nine hours.                                                                                        DETECTIVE                                                              Well, you'd better call the coroner.                                                                                        CAMERA CONTINUES TRUCKING BACK, until                          it passes a group of tellers and clerks                          in a huddle. They listen breathlessly                          as Oscar, the youngest of the tellers,                          relates his story. For the moment he                          is the center of attraction, and he                          revels in it.                                                               OSCAR                                                              (breathlessly)                                                              I was the first one to see it. I was                          coming down the stairs, and there was                          the dead watchman at my feet. You coulda                          knocked me over with a pin.                                                               AD-LIB FROM LISTENERS                                                              (murmuring)                                                              Gee . . . Can you imagine . . .                                                              OSCAR                                                              Do you see that clock? Right there.                          That's where the bullet hit. When I                          saw that, you coulda knocked me over                          with a pin.                                                               CLERK                                                              Was there much blood?                                                              OSCAR                                                              Blood!                                                              (gesturing toward body)                                                              Come on over fellas. I'll show you.                                                                                        The clerks head toward the dead body,                          but are intercepted by the officious                          detective.                                                               ? 153 ?                                                              DETECTIVE                                                              (officiously)                                                              Get back there . I don't want anything                          touched until the Inspector gets here.                                                                                        The clerks, awe-stricken, retreat.                                                                                        CHARLIE                                                              (running up)                                                              Oscar, what's the matter?                                                              OSCAR                                                              I was the first one to see it. I was                          coming down the stairs, and there was                          the watchman lying dead at my feet.                                                                                        CHARLIE                                                              No kidding?                                                              OSCAR                                                              No kidding. When I saw it, you coulda                          knocked me over with a pin.                                                               CHARLIE                                                              Where's Matt?                                                              OSCAR                                                              Matt?                                                              CHARLIE                                                              Yeah. He'll have a tough time thinking                          up a wise-crack for this one . . .                                                                                        OSCAR                                                              The detectives got Matt up there in                          Sampson's office.                                                               CHARLIE                                                              He has?                                                              OSCAR                                                              Yeah.                                                              CLERK                                                              Say, did Matt do it?                                                              OSCAR                                                              Don't look at me. I don't know.                                                              TELLER                                                              Say, he did look kinda funny yesterday,                          didn't you notice it?                                                               OTHERS                                                              Yeah, he did. I noticed it too.                                                              OSCAR                                                              You coulda knocked me over with a pin!                                                                                        CUT TO:                                                              141. INT. SAMPSON'S OFFICE - CLOSEUP                          - MATT'S FRIGHTENED FACE                                                               He sits in a chair. The side of his                          face is swollen from Cyril Cluett's                          punch of the night before.                                                               ? 154 ?                                                              INSPECTOR'S VOICE                                                              (like a tri-hammer)                                                              Come on, come on. You might as well                          tell me the truth. What did you do with                          the money?                                                               MATT                                                              I didn't do it. I told you all I know,                          Inspector.                                                               CAMERA TRUCKS BACK revealing the other                          occupants of the room. The Inspector                          leans over Matt, firing questions at                          him. Two detectives are also there,                          one at the door, the other near Matt.                          Helen stands in a corner, pale and fearful,                          looking on.                                                               INSPECTOR                                                              You turned off the burglar alarm, you                          set the time clock, came back at twelve                          and emptied the boxes, didn't you?                                                                                        MATT                                                              (rises in indignation)                                                              I wasn't anywhere near this placeó                                                                                        INSPECTOR                                                              (shoving him back down)                                                              Sit down! When the watchman surprised                          you, you shot him - what'd you do with                          the gun?                                                               MATT                                                              (desperately)                                                              I didn't do it! I haven't got a gun!                                                                                        INSPECTOR                                                              You used to carry a gun, didn't you?                                                                                        142. MEDIUM SHOT                                                              Sampson enters hesitantly.                                                              SAMPSON                                                              Pardon me, but I'd like to use my office                          for awhile!                                                               INSPECTOR                                                              (bellowing)                                                              You use some other office!                                                              Sampson exits scene hurriedly.                                                              CUT TO:                                                              143. INT. LOBBY OF BANK AT ENTRANCE                          - MED. CLOSE SHOT                                                               The doorman, Gardiner, stands at the                          door, blocking a milling crowd, as Dickson,                          who apparently has already heard the                          news, enters.                                                               PEOPLE                                                              Come on, open up!                                                              DICKSON                                                              Good morning, everybody. What's the                          matter here? Open up the door. Come                          on, open this door.                                                               GARDINER                                                              Shall we let the people come in?                                                              ? 155 ?                                                              DICKSON                                                              (snappily)                                                              Of course, let them in! You're late                          now.                                                               CAMERA TRUCKS WITH DICKSON as he proceeds                          toward interior of bank. Helen rushes                          into the scene and up to him. CAMERA                          STOPS.                                                               HELEN                                                              Oh, Mr. Dickson - they're going to arrest                          Matt. They think he did it!                                                               DICKSON                                                              Where is he now?                                                              HELEN                                                              In Mr. Sampson's office.                                                              DICKSON                                                              Now don't you worry about it.                                                              He crosses in that direction, followed                          by Helen.                                                               CUT TO:                                                              143. INT. ANTE ROOM OF CLUETT'S OFFICE                          - MED. SHOT                                                               Cluett comes out of his office, looks                          around cautiously and satisfied he is                          unobserved, walks toward front door                          of bank.                                                               CAMERA PANS over to a corner of the                          ante room. Detective #3 is watching                          Cluett. As Cluett leaves, the detective                          follows.                                                               144. INT. SAMPSON'S OFFICE - MED. SHOT                                                                                        Matt is still seated, with the detectives                          grilling him.                                                               INSPECTOR                                                              Then you did it and you did it aloneó                                                                                        Dickson enters.                                                              DICKSON                                                              (to Matt)                                                              What's the matter? What's going on here?                                                                                        (to the Inspector)                                                              This is ridiculous! You can't hold this                          boy on a vague suspicion.                                                               145. CLOSER SHOT OF THE GROUP                                                              INSPECTOR                                                              I'm afraid I must, Mr. Dickson.                                                              DICKSON                                                              Why pick on him ?                                                              INSPECTOR                                                              It's an inside job. That's a cinch.                          Whoever did it had a pretty good picture                          of the layout. Now Brown, here, is in                          charge of the vaults, isn't he?                                                               DICKSON                                                              Yes.                                                              ? 156 ?                                                              146. CLOSEUP - MATT                                                              Over which comes Inspector's voice as                          he continues:                                                               INSPECTOR'S VOICE                                                              The burglar alarm was turned off. The                          time clock was set for 12 o'clock. What                          more do you want?                                                               DICKSON'S VOICE                                                              Somebody else could have done it, couldn't                          they?                                                               INSPECTOR'S VOICE                                                              He admits that he set the clock himself.                                                                                        Matt looks up toward inspector.                                                              MATT                                                              I did. I set it for nine o'clock this                          morning.                                                               147. MED. CLOSE SHOT - GROUP                                                              As the Inspector turns to Matt:                                                              INSPECTOR                                                              Then who changed it?                                                              MATT                                                              (helplessly)                                                              I don't know.                                                              DICKSON                                                              Wait a minute. Wait a minute.                                                              The Inspector turns back to Dickson.                                                                                        DICKSON                                                              What time did this thing happen?                                                              INSPECTOR                                                              The clock opposite the vault was stopped                          by a bullet at 12:09.                                                               DICKSON                                                              All right. If the boy proves an alibi,                          he's all right, isn't he?                                                               INSPECTOR                                                              If he can do it, yes.                                                              DICKSON                                                              Why, certainly he can.                                                              (to Matt)                                                              Matt, now all you've got to do is tell                          them where you were last night, between                          twelve and twelve-thirty, and everything                          will be all right.                                                               MATT                                                              (averting Dickson's gaze)                                                              I already told him I was home.                                                              DICKSON                                                              (to Inspector)                                                              There you are.                                                              ? 157 ?                                                              INSPECTOR                                                              That's what he says. I got a man from                          headquarters checking up on it now.                                                                                        DICKSON                                                              (confidently)                                                              Good.                                                              (to Matt, smiling)                                                              You've got nothing to worry about. Soon                          as the report comes in, you'll be released.                                                                                        (to Inspector)                                                              And listen, don't talk so loud. Take                          it easy. Coast a little.                                                               He exits scene.                                                              148. INT. THE LOBBY OF THE BANK - FULL                          SHOT                                                               Showing the normal activity of the bank                          in contrast to the turmoil going on                          inside. Just a few people scattered                          about.                                                               CAMERA TRUCKS towards the other end                          of the lobby, establishing the calm                          and peace of the place along the way.                          CAMERA STOPS on a CLOSE SHOT at the                          bank telephone operator at the switchboard.                          Oscar, the young teller, is relating                          his story for the hundredth time.                                                                                        OSCAR                                                              Gee, what do you think? There was that                          watchman, that poor watchman, lying                          on the floor right in front of me. Oh,                          you coulda knocked me over with a pin!                                                                                        OPERATOR                                                              (wide-eyed)                                                              You don't say! Dead?                                                              OSCAR                                                              Dead? He was lifeless! You know, I was                          the first one to see him. I was coming                          down the stairs, and there was the watchman                          lying on the floor, right in front of                          me. Dead! I tell you, you coulda knockedó                                                                                        OPERATOR                                                              (interrupting)                                                              Yeah, I coulda knocked you over with                          a pin.                                                               OSCAR                                                              Yeah, you couldaó                                                              (realizes he is getting the brush-off)                                                                                        Oh - almonds to you! Almonds!                                                              Oscar exits scene. The operator turns                          her attention to the switch-board, apparently                          Oscar has interrupted a conversation                          she has been having.                                                               OPERATOR                                                              Hello, Mame. This is Gert, againó                                                              (pause)                                                              Say, listen - I just heard something                          that'll make your head swim . . . Listen                          to this . . . Yeah, the bank was robbed                          last night. Yeah, over a hundred thousand                          dollars.                                                               ? 158 ?                                                              149. ANOTHER SWITCHBOARD OPERATOR -                          CLOSE SHOT                                                               MAME                                                              (into phone)                                                              Who did it?                                                              GERT                                                              I don't know who did it, but the chief                          teller's in an awful jam.                                                               MAME                                                              Call me up later. I'm going to call                          up Lou now.                                                               She pulls the plug, plugs in another                          wire.                                                               MAME                                                              Hello, Lou. Did you hear what happened                          over at the Union National Bank?                                                               (a light flashes)                                                              Wait a minute, Lou.                                                              (plugs in wire)                                                              Hello? Yes, sir. I'm trying to get them.                                                                                        (pulls plug)                                                              Yes, Lou, listen. They was robbed over                          two hundred thousand dollars. Can you                          beat that?                                                               LAP DISSOLVE TO:                                                              150. EXT. FRONT OF AN OFFICE BLDG. -                          MED. SHOT                                                               Two men coming out of the building,                          engrossed in conversation.                                                               MAN                                                              Stole over a quarter of a million. Can                          you beat that?                                                               The other man whistles in surprise.                                                                                        2ND MAN                                                              (whistling)                                                              Whew! You can't laugh that off.                                                              Several people in the crowd, overhearing                          them, turn and stare.                                                               LAP DISSOLVE TO:                                                              151. EXT. A STREET CORNER - MED. CLOSE                          SHOT                                                               Of an old lady, pitiful expression,                          begging alms. Two gentlemen are beside                          her. One of them reaches in his pocket                          for a coin.                                                               3RD MAN                                                              I thought the Union National was pretty                          solid.                                                               At the mention of the Union National,                          the old lady looks up, startled.                                                               4TH MAN                                                              I did too.                                                              3RD MAN                                                              Half a million is a lot of money. I                          wouldn't be surprised if they had to                          close their doors.                                                               ? 159 ?                                                              The first man drops a coin in the old                          lady's palm and they leave. The beggar                          woman, oblivious of the coin in her                          hand, stares unbelieving, at the departing                          men. Suddenly her face screws up in                          horror.                                                               OLD LADY                                                              Oh, good gracious!                                                              She dashes out of scene.                                                              LAP DISSOLVE TO:                                                              152. EXT. A BOOTBLACK STAND - MEDIUM                          SHOT                                                               A colored bootblack is brushing the                          coat of a customer.                                                               MAN                                                              Sammy, are you sure about that?                                                              SAM                                                              (emphatically)                                                              Yes, suh! That messenga boy just tol'                          me that Mr. Dickson took it all hisself.                          And it was more than a million dollars.                                                                                        MAN                                                              More than a million dollars?                                                              SAM                                                              (breathlessly)                                                              Cross my heart. And I sure hopes that                          man gets a long time in jail, too!                                                                                        MAN                                                              Never mind my shoes, Sam.                                                              He hastily exits scene.                                                              LAP DISSOLVE TO:                                                              153. INT. A BARBER SHOP - MED. CLOSE                          SHOT                                                               Taking in two chairs. The man on the                          right, being shaved, is in conversation                          with the barber.                                                               CUSTOMER                                                              Well, I always said the Union National                          was a phony bank.                                                               The second customer sits straight up                          in his chair.                                                               ANOTHER CUSTOMER                                                              Union National?                                                              BARBER WITH FRENCH ACCENT                                                              You had money in that bank, too?                                                              SECOND CUSTOMER                                                              Yes. Something wrong?                                                              BARBER WITH FRENCH ACCENT                                                              (hysterical)                                                              Mon dieu, mon dieu! Run, run!                                                              Second customer dashes out of scene.                                                                                        ? 160 ?                                                              LAP DISSOLVE TO:                                                              154. INT. A BAR - MED. CLOSE SHOT                                                              Two men are in conversation. Another                          man is alone. One of the two men holding                          the conversation is the man of the bootblack                          episode.                                                               MAN                                                              (of bootblack episode)                                                              I tell you, I got it from the best authority.                          Dickson got away with several million                          dollars.                                                               155. CLOSE SHOT - 3RD MAN                                                              He is just reaching for his glass, and                          starts to lift it to his lips when another                          man's voice comes into scene.                                                               2ND MAN'S VOICE                                                              Boy, that's the end of the Union National                          Bank. That's the trouble nowadays. You                          don't know who you can trust.                                                               MAN                                                              You said it.                                                              The third man drops the glass and turns                          toward the two, panic-stricken.                                                               156. MED. CLOSE SHOT OF THE THREE                                                              3RD MAN                                                              Say, is there something wrong with the                          Union National Bank?                                                               2ND MAN                                                              Something wrong? Brother, that ain't                          the half of it!                                                               MAN                                                              If you've got any money in there, you                          can just kiss it goodbye.                                                               3RD MAN                                                              (throatily)                                                              Naw, you're kiddingó                                                              MAN                                                              No, I'm not.                                                              3RD MAN                                                              Holy smoke!                                                              He rushes out of the scene. The other                          two stare after him.                                                               2ND MAN                                                              (over-his-shoulder, to third man)                                                              If you've got any friends, you'd better                          call them up too.                                                               MAN                                                              That's a good idea. I have friends of                          my own.                                                               He dashes out of scene.                                                              ? 161 ?                                                              2ND MAN                                                              (turning to bartender, who has been                          eavesdropping with interest)                                                               Imagine that!                                                              BARTENDER                                                              What bank did you say that was?                                                              2ND MAN                                                              Union National Bank. They're broke.                          Haven't got a dime . . .                                                               LAP DISSOLVE TO:                                                              157. PHONE MONTAGE                                                              Quick cuts of excited phone conversations.                                                                                        MAN                                                              (into phone)                                                              Listen, Jack, go down to the Union National                          and take your money out of there. Don't                          ask me how I know. I told you it's on                          the rocks. If you've got any friends,                          you'd better tell them too.                                                               ANOTHER MAN                                                              (into phone)                                                              Better give all the men in your plant                          a couple of hours off to get their money                          outó                                                               WOMAN                                                              (into phone)                                                              Tell Mrs. Hardy to tell everybody in                          the apartment houseó                                                               TOUGH GUY                                                              (into phone)                                                              All right. I'll get it or bust a few                          noses!                                                               ANOTHER MAN                                                              (into phone)                                                              Holy smoke! I'll get right down there                          if I have to fly!                                                               ANOTHER WOMAN                                                              (into phone)                                                              Run down there and get your money at                          once!                                                               AD-LIB VOICES                                                              (quick cuts - a rising tide - different                          languages)                                                               Hello, dear . . . Hurry! . . . Union                          National is sunk! . . . I told you to                          put it in the vault . . . I don't know                          what's wrong with the bank . . . I wouldn't                          trust anybody . . . everybody's taking                          their money out . . . Union National's                          broken . . . Why take any chances? .                          . . Hurry! Call the others! etc.                                                               LAP DISSOLVE TO:                                                              158. INT. LOBBY OF THE BANK - FULL SHOT                                                                                        Showing in comparison to previous shot,                          the effect of the rumors. The lobby                          is buzzing with activity. Lines form                          in front of all the windows. Depositors                          crowd around the writing tables. There                          are not                                                               ? 162 ?                                                              enough pens to go around. Frantic hands                          reach over shoulders for withdrawal                          blanks. CAMERA MOVES FORWARD. Over the                          shot is heard the seething blend of                          many voices.                                                               CAMERA STOPS ON a Teller and a Man.                                                                                        TELLER                                                              Closing your account?                                                              MAN                                                              Yes, sir. I'm closing my account. I                          wouldn't leave a nickel in this bank.                                                                                        CAMERA STOPS ON a 2nd Man talking to                          a Woman.                                                               2ND MAN                                                              It's getting so a man's money ain't                          safe unless it's in his sock.                                                               WOMAN                                                              They're all a bunch of crooks.                                                              2nd MAN                                                              You said it.                                                              CAMERA STOPS ON Jewish Man talking to                          a 4th Man standing next to him.                                                               JEWISH MAN                                                              Say, did I know the bank was going to                          go caflooey? What am I - a fortune teller                          or something?                                                               CAMERA STOPS on a MED. CLOSE SHOT of                          Molly (the Zasu Pitts type). She is                          reaching over a man's shoulder to capture                          a withdrawal blank.                                                               MOLLY                                                              (fluttering)                                                              Oh, my goodness! Oh, my goodness! Oh,                          my goodness!                                                               MAN                                                              What's the matter, lady?                                                              MOLLY                                                              Oh, mister, I gotta! I gotta!                                                              MAN                                                              Well, they only sign slips here.                                                              MOLLY                                                              Gimme your pen, please!                                                              She grabs pen away from him. He turns                          to someone next to him.                                                               MAN                                                              Will you loan me that pen of yours?                          I'm in an awful hurry.                                                               CAMERA MOVES ON to a CLOSE SHOT of a                          teller frantically beckoning Sampson.                                                                                        ? 163 ?                                                              TELLER                                                              I need some more money! All of the depositors                          are withdrawing.                                                               SAMPSON                                                              I know, I know. I'll get you some.                                                                                        He hurriedly exits scene.                                                              CUT TO:                                                              159. INT. SAMPSON'S OFFICE - MED. SHOT                                                                                        Inspector is still holding his ground.                          Matt sits dejectedly in the same place                          as before.                                                               INSPECTOR                                                              (to Dickson)                                                              All I know is the bank's been robbed                          and a murder's been committed. The way                          I see it, Brown here looks guilty.                                                                                        160. CLOSER SHOT ON GROUP                                                              DICKSON                                                              What are you talking about? He had no                          more to do with it than you did.                                                               INSPECTOR                                                              Maybe. But I'm taking no chances.                                                              (emphatically)                                                              Why, this kid's got a record.                                                              DICKSON                                                              So have you. So have I. So's everybody                          got a record. What difference does that                          make? You can't go around pinning crimes                          on people just because theyó                                                               He is interrupted by the sound of the                          door opening. He looks off toward door.                                                                                        161. CLOSE SHOT AT DOOR                                                              Sampson stands there, looking off toward                          the group.                                                               SAMPSON                                                              Mr. Dickson! Can I see you for a minute?                                                                                        DICKSON'S VOICE                                                              No, I'm busy. See me later.                                                              SAMPSON                                                              But this is important, Mr. Dickson.                          Looks like there's a run on the bank.                                                                                        162. MED. CLOSE SHOT                                                              Dickson and the others. Dickson looks                          off at Sampson, unbelievingly:                                                               DICKSON                                                              What? A run on the bank!                                                              CAMERA PANS WITH HIM as he rushes over                          to the door to Sampson.                                                               ? 164 ?                                                              SAMPSON                                                              The lobby's half filled now.                                                              DICKSON                                                              What are you talking about?                                                              Dickson goes out the door, followed                          by Sampson.                                                               163. OUTER OFFICES OF BANK - MED. CLOSE                          SHOT                                                               As Sampson and Dickson come into the                          scene.                                                               SAMPSON                                                              (pointing in front of him)                                                              Look!                                                              Dickson looks in the direction in which                          Sampson points.                                                               CUT TO:                                                              164. INT. LOBBY OF BANK - LONG SHOT                                                                                        From Dickson's angle.                                                              This shot takes in the length of the                          bank. Clerks, bookkeepers, stenographers                          in the f.g., the lobby in the b.g. It                          seems a little more crowded than in                          previous shot.                                                               CUT BACK TO:                                                              164. OUTER OFFICES OF BANK - MED. CLOSE                          SHOT                                                               Sampson and Dickson. Dickson's face                          clouds.                                                               SAMPSON                                                              They've been coming in steady all morning.                          I have called for some extra police.                                                                                        DICKSON                                                              (his eyes glued on the crowd)                                                              All right. Send down to the vaults and                          have our reserve cash sent up here right                          away.                                                               SAMPSON                                                              We haven't much on hand, you know. If                          it gets any worse, I hope we don't have                          to close the doors.                                                               165. CLOSE SHOT                                                              Favoring Dickson.                                                              He turns to Sampson.                                                              DICKSON                                                              (flaring up)                                                              The bank's reputation wouldn't be worth                          a nickel after that. This is just a                          flurry, that's all. They've heard about                          the robbery and got panic-stricken.                          Listen, get ahold of our available securities                          and have them turned into cash. Wait                          a minute. Get my personal stuff and                          have that turned into cash too. Tell                          the boys anyone caught arguing with                          a depositor will be fired on the spot.                                                                                        SAMPSON                                                              Yes, sir.                                                              ? 165 ?                                                              166. MEDIUM SHOT                                                              As Sampson leaves. Dickson starts out                          in the direction of Sampson's office.                          He is stopped by his name being called:                                                                                        CLARK                                                              Mr. Dickson!                                                              Dickson turns. Clark and several directors                          appear.                                                               CLARK                                                              (grimly)                                                              We want to talk to you.                                                              DICKSON                                                              What about?                                                              CLARK                                                              We'll discuss that in the board room.                                                                                        He turns to follow, then is stopped                          by another voice.                                                               DETECTIVE                                                              Oh, Mr. Dickson! We got a check on Brown's                          alibi. Do you want to hear it?                                                               DICKSON                                                              (only a slight hesitation)                                                              All right.                                                              (to Clark)                                                              I'll be with you in a minute, Clark.                                                                                        CUT TO:                                                              167. INT. SAMPSON'S OFFICE - MED. CLOSE                          SHOT                                                               Dickson is by Matt's side. The Inspector                          is also in scene. Dickson puts a hand                          on Matt's shoulder.                                                               DICKSON                                                              Now don't worry, son. All you got to                          do is answer the questions they ask                          you, that's all.                                                               CAMERA PANS TO THE DOOR as it opens                          and a detective enters, beckons to the                          Inspector off scene.                                                               168. MEDIUM SHOT                                                              As the Inspector crosses to the new                          arrival, who whispers something in his                          ear. The others in the room watch them,                          interested. The Inspector whispers instructions                          to the detective, who leaves. The Inspector                          then crosses slowly to Matt.                                                               169. MED. CLOSE SHOT                                                              As the Inspector comes up to the group                          around Matt.                                                               INSPECTOR                                                              (carelessly)                                                              So you were home last night?                                                              MATT                                                              (averting his gaze)                                                              Yes.                                                              INSPECTOR                                                              What time did you get in?                                                              ? 166 ?                                                              MATT                                                              (haltingly)                                                              Well, about - uh - eleven o'clock.                                                                                        INSPECTOR                                                              Eleven o'clock, eh? Are you sure it                          was that?                                                               MATT                                                              Yes.                                                              The Inspector turns away and CAMERA                          PANS WITH the Inspector as he crosses                          quickly to the door and beckons to the                          detective outside.                                                               INSPECTOR                                                              All right, Kelley.                                                              Kelley returns to the room accompanied                          by a little old Irish woman. She looks                          around the room nervously. Inspector                          leads her toward Matt.                                                               170. MED. SHOT OF GROUP                                                              As everyone stares at her curiously.                                                                                        INSPECTOR                                                              (indicating Matt)                                                              Do you know this young man, Mrs. Halligan?                                                                                        MRS. HALLIGAN                                                              Sure I do. He has the best room in me                          house. The one with the fancy wallpaper.                                                                                        171. CLOSEUP - MATT                                                              He feels himself cornered. The Inspector's                          voice comes over the shot.                                                               INSPECTOR'S VOICE                                                              Did you happen to be awake when he came                          in last night?                                                               MRS. HALLIGAN                                                              Yes, sir. I was having me hot mustard                          bath.                                                               INSPECTOR                                                              What time was it?                                                              172. MED. CLOSEUP - GROUP                                                              As Mrs. Halligan continues.                                                              MRS. HALLIGAN                                                              ófor the rheumatism, you know.                                                              INSPECTOR                                                              What time was it, Mrs. Halligan?                                                              MRS. HALLIGAN                                                              It was late, I know. The Dooley sisters                          was already in. They work at a show,                          you know.                                                               The Inspector is getting impatient.                                                                                        INSPECTOR                                                              What time was it?                                                              ? 167 ?                                                              MRS. HALLIGAN                                                              Huh?                                                              INSPECTOR                                                              What time did Matt Brown get in?                                                              MRS. HALLIGAN                                                              Now, let me see - a half hour after                          the Dooley sisters - and the Dooley                          sisters never get home until afteró                                                                                        INSPECTOR                                                              (snappily)                                                              I don't care about the Dooley sisters                          - what time did he get in?                                                               MRS. HALLIGAN                                                              That's just what I'm trying to tell                          you, sir. It was a half hour after the                          Dooley sisters . . .                                                               INSPECTOR                                                              Was it twelve o'clock?                                                              173. MED. CLOSE SHOT                                                              Dickson, Matt, and the rest of the group.                          Some show their amusement. Dickson and                          Matt, however, are serious. Mrs. Halligan's                          voice comes into scene.                                                               MRS. HALLIGAN                                                              No, it wasn't twelve - 'cause the Dooley                          sisters . . .                                                               INSPECTOR'S VOICE                                                              (interrupting her quickly)                                                              Was it one o'clock?                                                              174. CLOSE SHOT                                                              Inspector and Mrs. Halligan.                                                              MRS. HALLIGAN                                                              Yes, I guess it was one, 'cause . .                          .                                                               INSPECTOR                                                              (jumping her)                                                              It couldn't have been earlier?                                                              MRS. HALLIGAN                                                              No. It wasn't earlier because . . .                                                                                        INSPECTOR                                                              Yes, I know. Cause the Dooley sisters                          weren't in yet.                                                               MRS. HALLIGAN                                                              (firmly)                                                              No - because me clock struck four, and                          when it strikes four, it's one.                                                               INSPECTOR                                                              (exasperated)                                                              There you are!                                                              175. MEDIUM SHOT                                                              Matt speaks:                                                              ? 168 ?                                                              MATT                                                              Aw, she doesn't know what she's talking                          about.                                                               Mrs. Halligan looks at him, offended.                                                                                        MRS. HALLIGAN                                                              Who don't know?                                                              She comes toward him threateningly.                                                                                        MRS. HALLIGAN                                                              Listen here, young man - nobody ever                          called me a liar yet and got away with                          itó                                                               INSPECTOR                                                              (coming after her, takes her arm)                                                              That's all, Mrs. Halligan. Thanks.                                                                                        Inspector leads her to the door. On                          the way Mrs. Halligan continues to mumble                          her protest against Matt's insult.                                                                                        MRS. HALLIGAN                                                              For two nickels I'd knock his block                          off. I never told a lie in me life.                                                                                        She exits out of room.                                                              176. MED. CLOSE SHOT                                                              As Dickson steps closer to Matt.                                                              DICKSON                                                              (heartsick)                                                              Is that true, Matt?                                                              Inspector comes up to them now.                                                              INSPECTOR                                                              Of course it's true - and he knows it.                                                                                        DICKSON                                                              (tenderly)                                                              Listen, Matt. If you don't tell the                          truth, I can't help you. Where were                          you last night?                                                               MATT                                                              (after a pause)                                                              Aw, she was right. I didn't get in till                          after one o'clock.                                                               Dickson is deeply disappointed.                                                              MATT                                                              (quickly - appealingly)                                                              But I wasn't here, Mr. Dickson. Honest                          I wasn't . . .                                                               The Inspector barks at Matt:                                                              INSPECTOR                                                              Then where were you?                                                              177. CLOSE SHOT                                                              Favoring Dickson as he leans closer                          to Matt.                                                               ? 169 ?                                                              DICKSON                                                              (to Inspector)                                                              Wait a minute. Wait a minute.                                                              (to Matt)                                                              Matt, do you realize you're up against                          something? You're being charged with                          murder. It's serious, son. Now come                          on, I know you didn't do it.                                                               (gestures toward Inspector)                                                              But we've got to make them believe it.                          Come on, tell the truth, where were                          you last night?                                                               MATT                                                              (doggedly)                                                              I can't tell you.                                                              Matt maintains a determined silence.                                                                                        DICKSON                                                              (getting an idea)                                                              Listen, if I get them out of the room,                          will you tell me ?                                                               Matt looks at him. Dickson is the only                          person he cannot tell his secret to.                                                                                        MATT                                                              No. I won't.                                                              DICKSON                                                              You're protecting somebody.                                                              MATT                                                              No, I'm not Mr. Dickson!                                                              DICKSON                                                              Yes, you are. You're protecting somebody.                          Now listen, it doesn't make any difference                          who it is. It can't be as important                          as this. Now come on, tell me. Where                          were you last night?                                                               (a note of desperation)                                                              Come on, don't be a fool. Matt, you                          trust me, don't you?                                                               No reply from Matt. Dickson is heartsick.                          He turns, helplessly, away from Matt                          and walks out of Sampson's office.                                                                                        CUT TO:                                                              178. INT. THE LOBBY OF THE BANK - CLOSE                          SHOT                                                               Of Gert, the telephone operator.                                                              GERT                                                              (all excited - into phone)                                                              What a day, Mame! Everybody's coming                          in and drawing their money out.                                                               (innocently)                                                              Gee, Mame - I wonder what started it.                                                                                        179. THE LOBBY OF THE BANK - LONG SHOT                                                                                        Shouting from the offices. The lobby                          is now packed to the doors with frantic                          depositors. The low grumbling of before                          is now replaced by                                                               ? 170 ?                                                              vociferous condemnation of the bank                          and Dickson. Individual protestations                          are heard above the din of the crowd.                                                                                        Dickson enters scene, and CAMERA TRUCKS                          AHEAD OF HIM as he quickly passes several                          tellers, giving them instructions to                          pay the depositors without delay. Sampson                          catches up with him.                                                               SAMPSON                                                              Look at them, Mr. Dickson. They're going                          crazy.                                                               DICKSON                                                              Did you get the case for the securities?                                                                                        SAMPSON                                                              Yes, sir.                                                              DICKSON                                                              Mine too?                                                              SAMPSON                                                              Yes, sir. But soon as our money runs                          out, they'll mob the place.                                                               Dickson looks off toward the crowd.                                                                                        DICKSON                                                              The fools! If they only knew it, they're                          making things worse for themselves.                          Somebody starts a silly rumor, and they                          lose their heads.                                                               SAMPSON                                                              What'll we do?                                                              DICKSON                                                              I'll talk to them. Listen, go back and                          tell the boys to stall as much as possible.                          Tell 'em not to pay any attention to                          what I said. Tell 'em to verify every                          signature.                                                               He leaves the scene as we                                                              CUT TO:                                                              180. LOBBY OF THE BANK - LONG SHOT                                                                                        Taking in a greater portion of the lobby.                          Dickson comes into the scene in the                          b.g. and stands on the stairs, looking                          down at the crowd. He suddenly holds                          up his hand and shouts:                                                               DICKSON                                                              Take your time, folks. Don't get excited.                          Everybody stay in line. You'll all be                          taken care of. Don't worry about anything.                          Plenty of time for everything.                                                               He has to raise his voice even louder.                                                                                        DICKSON                                                              Now listen, everybody! Listen to me!                                                                                        Gradually their attention is attracted                          to him. All eyes are turned in his direction.                                                                                        181. MED. CLOSE SHOT                                                              Shooting toward Dickson, past the crowd.                                                                                        ? 171 ?                                                              Dickson standing on the stairs. The                          people looking up at him.                                                               DICKSON                                                              I want you to know that your money is                          safe. This bank is in excellent condition.                          If you've heard any reports to the contrary,                          it's based on malicious rumors.                                                               AD-LIB FROM CROWD                                                              Yeah? Maybe . . .                                                              MAN                                                              It's a lotta hooey! We want our money!                                                                                        DICKSON                                                              All right. You'll get your money - every                          penny!                                                               AD-LIB FROM CROWD                                                              We want it now! We don't want no speeches!                                                                                        182. CLOSE SHOT - DICKSON                                                              As he addresses the crowd:                                                              DICKSON                                                              Listen to me now. It takes time. I've                          got seven paying tellers working just                          as fast as they can. If you'll all calm                          down, I'm making arrangements to keep                          the doors open until four o'clock this                          afternoon and you can be paid today.                                                                                        183. MEDIUM SHOT OF THE CROWD                                                              As they cheer their approval and return                          to their buddies.                                                               184. MED. CLOSE SHOT                                                              As Dickson starts back toward the offices,                          Sampson comes to meet him.                                                               SAMPSON                                                              We can't keep open till four o'clock.                          We haven't cash enough to last an hour.                                                                                        DICKSON                                                              Don't you think I know it?                                                              They both start walking toward Dickson's                          office - CAMERA TRUCKING WITH THEM.                          As they pass the conference room, Schultz                          comes out and stops Dickson.                                                               SCHULTZ                                                              We're still waiting for you, Dickson.                                                                                        Dickson looks up, studies Schultz a                          moment, as if trying to make up his                          mind whether to consult the Board of                          Directors or not.                                                               CUT TO:                                                              185. INT. DIRECTORS' ROOM - MED. SHOT                                                                                        The door opens and Dickson enters, followed                          by Schultz. They all look up. Dickson                          goes up to them.                                                               DICKSON                                                              Well, gentlemen, we've got about one                          more hour to go. You know what that                          means?                                                               ? 172 ?                                                              186. MED. CLOSE SHOT                                                              Dickson and the Directors.                                                              DICKSON                                                              (continuing)                                                              We'll be forced to shut the doors. I've                          worked twenty-five years night and day                          to keep this bank alive. You've all                          made money out of it. Are you willing                          to help?                                                               CLARK                                                              (defiantly)                                                              What do you mean, help?                                                              DICKSON                                                              I know that among you, you have at least                          a million dollars in various banks throughout                          the city. Get that money over here and                          I'll stop this run within five minutes.                                                                                        CLARK                                                              That sounds very simple, Dickson, but                          why should we jeopardize our personal                          fortunes?                                                               DICKSON                                                              I have everything I own in it. It's                          your bank as well as mine, isn't it?                                                                                        187. CLOSE SHOT                                                              Clark and Schultz.                                                              CLARK                                                              (this is just what he's been waiting                          for)                                                               Oh, is it? Since when? Judging from                          the way you've ignored us, you wouldn't                          think so.                                                               SCHULTZ                                                              We tried to reason with you, but you                          wouldn't listen to us.                                                               188. MED. CLOSE SHOT                                                              Shooting toward Dickson.                                                              CLARK                                                              The depositors you were protecting were                          the first ones to pounce on you. You                          thought they were your friends. Why                          don't you go out there now and try and                          get some help from them?                                                               DICKSON                                                              Aw, they've gone crazy. You can't reason                          with a mob.                                                               189. CLOSEUP - CLARK                                                              CLARK                                                              No. You can't reason with anyone else                          when you're in a jam. We pleaded with                          you to keep liquid, but you wouldn't                          listen to us. You preached to us about                          faith and a lot of other rubbish. Now                          you want our help. You want us to throw                          a lot of cash into a bank that you've                                                                                        ? 173 ?                                                              wrecked. All right. There's one way                          you can get it. Give us an option on                          your stock and resign as president.                                                                                        190. CLOSEUP - DICKSON                                                              DICKSON                                                              (quietly - tense)                                                              So, that's it, eh? You've waited a long                          time for this chance, haven't you?                                                                                        (his voice rising)                                                              Well, I'm not going to resign now -                          or ever.                                                               191. WIDER ANGLE                                                              Taking in the others at the table.                                                                                        SCHULTZ                                                              You have no choice.                                                              DICKSON                                                              I haven't? I'll shut the bank first.                                                                                        CLARK                                                              (terrified)                                                              Say, you can't do tható                                                              DICKSON                                                              I can't? You just wait and see. If that                          run doesn't stop within the next hour,                          I'll shut the doors. You know what that                          means? The bank examiner will step in                          tomorrow. You'll be forced to liquidate.                          I'll insist upon it. The depositors                          will be paid one hundred cents on the                          dollar. What's left you gentlemen can                          have. But I'll guarantee there won't                          be enough to pay your next month's garage                          bill.                                                               With which ultimatum, he crosses to                          the door and exits, CAMERA PANNING WITH                          HIM.                                                               CUT TO:                                                              192. INT. OUTSIDE CONFERENCE ROOM -                          MED. CLOSE SHOT                                                               As Dickson barges out. He stops in front                          of the door, and looks off toward lobby.                                                                                        193. INT. LOBBY OF BANK - FULL SHOT                                                                                        Pandemonium has broken loose. Men and                          women are hysterical. The police battle                          with recalcitrant depositors in a desperate                          effort to maintain order. Strong men                          push weak ones out of the lines. Wild-eyed                          women jostle and scramble to get near                          the paying tellers. Sex and priority                          rights are totally disregarded. Above                          it all the din is deafening. Men and                          women are clamoring for their life's                          savings, ready to commit murder to retrieve                          their little stakes.                                                               CUT TO:                                                              194. OUTSIDE CONFERENCE ROOM - CLOSEUP                          - DICKSON                                                               His face clouds. As he stands there                          watching the chaos, slowly the deep                          concern vanishes from his face and his                          jaw sets in grim determination. He starts                          toward the stairs.                                                               ? 174 ?                                                              CUT TO:                                                              195. ENTRANCE OF BANK - MED. CLOSE SHOT                                                                                        Cyril Cluett enters from outside, looking                          guiltily around. Then he starts forward                          and exits from scene. The moment he                          is gone, Detective #3, who followed                          him out, appears in the doorway and                          crosses in the direction taken by Cluett.                                                                                        CUT TO:                                                              196. OUTSIDE CONFERENCE ROOM - MEDIUM                          CLOSE SHOT                                                               Dickson and Sampson.                                                              SAMPSON                                                              Mr. Dickson! Mr. Dickson!                                                              DICKSON                                                              Get all the big bills in the place.                          Take them out and get them changed.                          Get nothing but ones and fives. Distribute                          them among the tellers. Tell them to                          take their time. Stall as much as possible.                          Count and recount the money.                                                               SAMPSON                                                              Yes, sir.                                                              DICKSON                                                              I hate to do this, but I've got to have                          time to dig up some help. I think I                          know where I can get some real cash.                          Snap into it, Sampson. We will lick                          this thing yet.                                                               He starts out of scene towards his office.                          CAMERA TRUCKS AFTER HIM, as he crosses                          past Helen, talking without breaking                          stride.                                                               DICKSON                                                              Come on in here, Helen. Bring your book.                          I want some numbers to try to get some                          action. Get Parker at the Union-Leeds                          - the Exchange . . . Winslow and old                          man Harris at the Home Mortgage. Snap                          into it, Helen. Just as quick as you                          can.                                                               HELEN                                                              Yes, sir.                                                              CUT TO:                                                              197. INT. LOBBY OF BANK - FULL SHOT                                                                                        Pandemonium, din and increasingly hysterical,                          pushing crowds.                                                               CUT TO:                                                              198. INT. CONFERENCE ROOM - MED. CLOSE                          SHOT                                                               The directors apparently are having                          a battle of their own.                                                               SCHULTZ                                                              Look at that mob. They're going crazy.                                                                                        AMES                                                              You know, this run isn't doing the reputation                          of this bank any good.                                                               IVES                                                              My dear friendsó                                                              ? 175 ?                                                              SCHULTZ                                                              (interrupting)                                                              How much longer is Dickson going to                          hold out?                                                               O'BRIEN                                                              You know Dickson as well as we do. He'll                          shut the doors before he gives up control.                                                                                        CLARK                                                              All right, let him! I'm sick and tired                          of hearing about him. If he wants to                          run the bank, let him do it. I don't                          want any part of it.                                                               IVES                                                              My dear friendsó                                                              CLARK                                                              Oh, shut up!                                                              CUT TO:                                                              199. SOMEWHERE BACK OF TELLERS' CAGES                          - MEDIUM CLOSE SHOT                                                               Sampson frantically advising tellers.                                                                                        SAMPSON                                                              Stall! Stall!                                                              One teller faces an angry depositor.                                                                                        TELLER                                                              Er, is this your signature?                                                              MAN                                                              Certainly it's my signature. You've                          seen it often enough.                                                               TELLER                                                              I'm sorry, but I'll have to verify it.                                                                                        CUT TO:                                                              200. INT. DICKSON'S PRIVATE OFFICE -                          CLOSE SHOT - DICKSON                                                               Seated at his desk, talking into the                          phone:                                                               DICKSON                                                              Hello, Parker. Listen. Listen, I've                          got to have a million dollars in cash,                          and I've got to have it quick.                                                               (pause)                                                              What?                                                              (pause)                                                              No, no, no. Tomorrow is no good. I need                          it now.                                                               (pause)                                                              Of course it's safe. Why, the bank's                          in excellent condition. You know that.                                                                                        CUT TO:                                                              201. INT. SAMPSON'S OFFICE - MED. SHOT                                                                                        The Inspector is making preparations                          to take Matt down to headquarters.                                                                                        ? 176 ?                                                              INSPECTOR                                                              You'd better tell Mr. Dickson we're                          taking Matt Brown downtown.                                                               DETECTIVE                                                              (to 2nd Detective)                                                              Is the chief's car outside?                                                              2ND DETECTIVE                                                              Yes, sir.                                                              INSPECTOR                                                              Okay. Come on son. Let's go.                                                              The detective takes Matt's arm and makes                          him get up from the chair.                                                               Helen rushes into the room and into                          Matt's arms.                                                               202. CLOSER SHOT                                                              Helen clings to Matt.                                                              HELEN                                                              (sobbing)                                                              Oh, Matt . . .                                                              MATT                                                              (consoling her)                                                              Don't cry, honey. Everything's gonna                          be all right.                                                               The detective touches her shoulder,                          tenderly.                                                               DETECTIVE                                                              Sorry, sister.                                                              Helen does not move. She clings to Matt,                          sobbing violently.                                                               203. MED. CLOSE SHOT AT DOOR                                                              As Detective #3 enters the room. CAMERA                          PANS WITH HIM as he crosses to the Inspector.                                                                                        INSPECTOR                                                              What did you find out, Mike?                                                              MIKE                                                              I've been trailing the cashier like                          you told me. You're right about that                          guy, chief. There's something screwy                          somewhere.                                                               INSPECTOR                                                              Never mind all that. What did you find                          out?                                                               MIKE                                                              He left here about an hour ago and went                          down to Dude Finlay's joint.                                                               INSPECTOR                                                              Dude Finlay?                                                              MIKE                                                              Yes, sir.                                                              ? 177 ?                                                              204. CLOSE SHOT - MATT & HELEN                                                              Helen slowly lifts her head from Matt's                          shoulder. Her eyes widen as she hears                          the name of Dude Finlay. Mike's voice                          comes over this shot.                                                               MIKE'S VOICE                                                              He stayed about half an hour, and then                          he came right back here. He's in his                          office now.                                                               INSPECTOR                                                              (slowly dawning realization)                                                              That's where I must have seen that guyó                                                                                        Helen starts out of scene.                                                              205. MEDIUM SHOT                                                              As Helen leaves Matt's side and crosses                          to the Inspector and Mike.                                                               HELEN                                                              Did you say Dude Finlay?                                                              INSPECTOR                                                              Yes, why?                                                              HELEN                                                              He was in the bank yesterday.                                                              206. CLOSER SHOT ON THE THREE                                                              INSPECTOR                                                              (suddenly alert)                                                              He was here?                                                              HELEN                                                              He came to see Mr. Cluett.                                                              INSPECTOR                                                              Are you sure?                                                              HELEN                                                              Yes, sir.                                                              207. CLOSE SHOT - MATT                                                              As he listens intently to Helen and                          the Inspector.                                                               INSPECTOR'S VOICE                                                              Who was with him?                                                              HELEN'S VOICE                                                              Two other men. They all went into Mr.                          Cluett's private office.                                                               INSPECTOR'S VOICE                                                              (pleased)                                                              Now we're beginning to get somewhere.                                                                                        208. MED. SHOT                                                              Taking in all the people in the room.                          The Inspector turns to the detective                          and speaks quickly:                                                               INSPECTOR                                                              Kelly! You stay here with Brown.                                                              ? 178 ?                                                              (to Tim)                                                              Tim, you and Mike come with me. We're                          going down to Cluett's office.                                                               He crosses to the door, followed by                          Tim and Mike.                                                               209. MED. CLOSE SHOT AT DOOR                                                              As the Inspector turns back and calls:                                                                                        INSPECTOR                                                              Oh, Kelly - call me up in Cluett's office                          in about five minutes.                                                               KELLY'S VOICE                                                              What'll I say?                                                              INSPECTOR                                                              I don't care what you say. Sing "Mother                          Machree"[8] if you want to, but call                          me up.                                                               Inspector, Tim and Mike go out.                                                              CUT TO:                                                              210. INT. LOBBY OF BANK - MEDIUM CLOSE                          SHOT                                                               On the elderly lady depositor and bank                          guard, among the milling crowd.                                                               GUARD                                                              (above the din)                                                              Quiet down, please! Take it easy, folks.                          Everything will be all right.                                                               LADY                                                              (to bank guard)                                                              But you said it would be safe! It's                          his life insurance money. Oh, please,                          I'll go to the Old Ladies' Home if you                          don't do something, please!                                                               GUARD                                                              Please, lady. Please be quiet. Everything                          will be all right.                                                               (leading the old lady - pushing a path                          through the crowd)                                                               Open up here, folks. All right, folks,                          please!                                                               CUT TO:                                                              211. INT. DICKSON'S PRIVATE OFFICE -                          CLOSE SHOT DICKSON                                                               Seated at his desk, talking into the                          phone:                                                               DICKSON                                                              Good heavens, man, you're taking no                          chances. No, I'm perfectly willing to                          sign everything over to you. What more                          do you want? I need action. I've got                          to have it within the next half hour.                                                                                        (pause)                                                              Yeah, sure - the board of directors                          turned me down, but you know why.                                                                                        (pause)                                                              Listen. Listen, read it. It wouldn't                          be a drop in the bucket to you.                                                               ? 179 ?                                                              (pause)                                                              I see. Uh-huh. All right - ask me for                          a favor some time, will you?                                                               He slams the phone down angrily.                                                              CUT TO:                                                              212. INT. CLUETT'S PRIVATE OFFICE -                          MED. CLOSE SHOT                                                               Cluett sits at his desk. The Inspector                          stands in front of him.                                                               INSPECTOR                                                              (very suave)                                                              I hope you don't mind me asking you                          a few questions, Mr. Cluett.                                                               CLUETT                                                              Of course, yes. Just what would you                          like to know, Inspector?                                                               INSPECTOR                                                              Where were you at twelve o'clock last                          night?                                                               CLUETT                                                              (much relieved)                                                              That's very simple. I was home.                                                              213. CLOSE SHOT - INSPECTOR AND CLUETT                                                                                        Shooting toward Cluett.                                                              INSPECTOR                                                              That is simple, isn't it? I assume you                          can prove that if necessary.                                                               CLUETT                                                              (feeling very sure of himself)                                                              Oh yes, of course. There was someone                          with me. A lady.                                                               INSPECTOR                                                              (smiling - affably)                                                              Looks like you're going to have no trouble                          at all. What was the lady's name, Mr.                          Cluett?                                                               CLUETT                                                              If you don't mind, Inspector, I'd rather                          not say - that is, unless it becomes                          absolutely essential. You see, she's                          married.                                                               INSPECTOR                                                              (a big understanding grimace)                                                              Oh!                                                              CLUETT                                                              (smiling)                                                              You understand?                                                              INSPECTOR                                                              (assuringly)                                                              Why, of course.                                                              The telephone rings at this point. Cluett                          turns to answer it.                                                               ? 180 ?                                                              CLUETT                                                              Pardon me.                                                              He picks up the receiver. The Inspector                          watches him closely.                                                               214. WIDER ANGLE                                                              As Cluett answers the phone.                                                              CLUETT                                                              Hello . . . who? Yes, he's here.                                                              (to Inspector)                                                              It's for you, Inspector.                                                              Cluett gets up out of his chair to permit                          Inspector to get to the phone.                                                               INSPECTOR                                                              Thanks.                                                              CLUETT                                                              (trying to be light)                                                              Somebody must be in good humor. He was                          humming "Mother Machree."                                                               INSPECTOR                                                              (laughing)                                                              It's one of the boys from headquarters.                          He always sings "Mother Machree" whenever                          he's got good news. Looks like this                          case'll be settled in no time.                                                               215. CLOSEUP - CLUETT                                                              His face clouds at this. He listens                          while Inspector's voice comes over scene:                                                                                        INSPECTOR'S VOICE                                                              Yeah, Kelly? Huh? Dude Finlay! Where                          do you got him?                                                               Inspector pauses, waiting for a reply.                                                                                        CUT TO:                                                              216. INT. SAMPSON'S OFFICE - CLOSEUP                          DETECTIVE                                                               Detective Kelly, speaking on the phone:                                                                                        KELLY                                                              (into phone)                                                              I ain't got nobody here. I'm with Brown.                          Didn't you tell me to call you up in                          five minutes?                                                               INSPECTOR'S VOICE                                                              Sure.                                                              CUT TO:                                                              217. INT. CLUETT'S OFFICE - CLOSEUP                          - CLUETT                                                               Cluett is terrified. The Inspector's                          voice continues:                                                               INSPECTOR'S VOICE                                                              Take him right down to headquarters.                                                                                        Cluett starts to edge out of scene.                                                                                        ? 181 ?                                                              218. MED. SHOT                                                              The Inspector is still holding receiver                          to his ear. Cluett has edged close to                          the door, his expression one of desperation.                                                                                        The Inspector watches Cluett out of                          the corner of his eye as he continues.                                                                                        INSPECTOR                                                              (into phone)                                                              Yeah. What? . . . You don't mean Cyril                          Cluett, the cashier?                                                               (long-drawn-out)                                                              Yeah-h-h-h-h.                                                              (pause)                                                              Well! Did Dude Finlay tell you that?                                                                                        CUT TO:                                                              219. INT. SAMPSON'S OFFICE - CLOSEUP                          - KELLY                                                               KELLY                                                              (into phone)                                                              What? Dude Finlay? Sure, I got him here!                          You know, for a minute I didn't catch                          on . . .                                                               CUT TO:                                                              220. INT. CLUETT'S OFFICE - MED. SHOT                                                                                        On the Inspector.                                                              INSPECTOR                                                              (into the phone)                                                              Yeah. We got him here right now. Yeah,                          yeah. Okay Kelly, good work. Looks likeó                                                                                        221. CLOSE SHOT - CLUETT                                                              He feels himself trapped. He glances                          around the room quickly to determine                          his chances to escape. He keeps edging                          closer to the door with his back to                          it. His hands sneaks down and grabs                          hold of the doorknob.                                                               Suddenly, Cluett snaps open the door                          and like a flash is out of the room.                                                                                        222. MED. SHOT OF ROOM                                                              As Cluett's figure disappears. The detectives                          are startled by the sudden move.                                                               INSPECTOR                                                              (hanging up receiver)                                                              óget him!                                                              The detectives dash out, Inspector following.                                                                                        CUT TO:                                                              223. SOMEWHERE IN THE CROWDED OUTER                          OFFICE - MED. CLOSE SHOT                                                               Cluett hurries through.                                                              224. EXT. TO MEN'S LOCKER ROOM - MED.                          CLOSE SHOT                                                               At the door of the men's locker room.                          Cluett comes into scene and enters locker                          room.                                                               ? 182 ?                                                              CUT TO:                                                              225. SOMEWHERE IN THE CROWDED OUTER                          OFFICE - MEDIUM SHOT                                                               Inspector and detectives enter. Look                          around quickly.                                                               DETECTIVE                                                              (looking off, and spotting Cluett)                                                                                        There he goes!                                                              They rush out of scene, their hands                          on their guns, concealed.                                                               CUT TO:                                                              226. INT. MEN'S LOCKER ROOM - FULL SHOT                                                                                        Metal lockers line the entire room.                          Cluett comes to door on other side of                          the room. Just as he gets there, he                          hears the detectives entering off scene.                          Quickly he changes his mind and springs                          into a space between a row of lockers                          and the wall, at the same time drawing                          his gun.                                                               Inspector and detectives enter. The                          Inspector and one of the detectives                          advance into the room cautiously, holding                          their guns in front of them. Kelley,                          the other detective, shrewdly separates                          from them.                                                               DETECTIVE                                                              He must be here. There's only one door.                                                                                        INSPECTOR                                                              All right. Find him.                                                              Cluett slips into a locker and closes                          the door behind him. They hear the noise                          off scene.                                                               INSPECTOR                                                              What was that noise?                                                              DETECTIVE                                                              Sounded like a locker.                                                              INSPECTOR                                                              A locker, eh? Well, search every one                          of them. He must be in one of 'em.                                                                                        They search the lockers one by one,                          until the Inspector happens upon the                          one with Cluett inside. He leaps out,                          gun drawn.                                                               227. CLOSE SHOT - CLUETT                                                              From Inspector's angle.                                                              CLUETT                                                              Stand back Inspector, or I'll shoot.                          Drop that gun.                                                               INSPECTOR                                                              (calming tone)                                                              All right, Jack, all right.                                                              228. MED. CLOSE SHOT                                                              The detective and Inspector. The detective                          drops his gun, but the Inspector keeps                          his levelled, toward Cluett, off scene:                                                                                        INSPECTOR                                                              Don't be a fool, Cluett. This is only                          going to make it worse for you.                                                               ? 183 ?                                                              CLUETT                                                              Stand back, Inspector. Let me out of                          here, or I'll shoot you!                                                               He starts slowly forward.                                                              The Inspector ignores the warning. He                          takes a few more steps forward.                                                               229. CLOSEUP - CLUETT                                                              From Inspector's angle.                                                              CLUETT                                                              I warn you, Inspector - I'll shoot!                                                                                        He levels his gun.                                                              230. CLOSEUP - KELLEY                                                              He lifts his gun and aims for Cluett,                          off scene.                                                               231. CLOSEUP - CLUETT                                                              He is frightened, but desperate. He                          has his finger on the trigger, ready                          to fire.                                                               CLUETT                                                              (nervously)                                                              If you take another step, I'lló                                                              A shot is heard. The gun drops out of                          Cluett's hand. His arm goes limp. His                          face screws up in pain.                                                               INSPECTOR                                                              (rushing forward to grab him - to the                          detectives)                                                               Let me see it! Let me see it! It's only                          his finger. Get me a towel.                                                               (to Cluett)                                                              Now take it easy, buddy. Take it easy.                          All we want to do is talk to you.                                                                                        CUT TO:                                                              232. INT. A TELLER'S CAGE MED. - CLOSE                          SHOT                                                               Shooting over the teller's shoulder.                                                                                        People standing in line, an atmosphere                          of pandemonium and hysteria.                                                               233. INT. DICKSON'S PRIVATE OFFICE -                          CLOSE SHOT - DICKSON                                                               Still at phone. His coat is now off                          and flung across the desk. His face                          is worn. Perspiration rolls down his                          face. His appearance indicates he has                          been on the phone a long time.                                                               DICKSON                                                              (into phone - defeated)                                                              You can't do a thing. You're up to your                          neck. All right.                                                               He listens. He is being turned down.                          He hangs up receiver. Over his face                          slowly comes a look of deep perturbation.                          He refers to a small notebook open on                          his desk. His finger runs down the list                          of names as he searches for another                          prospect.                                                               CAMERA PANS ACROSS as Inspector and                          other detectives, with Cluett in custody,                          enter Dickson's office, all excited.                                                                                        ? 184 ?                                                              INSPECTOR                                                              You were right, Mr. Dickson! Brown didn't                          have anything to do with it. Here's                          your man.                                                               DICKSON                                                              Why, you must be crazy. I've known this                          man for years.                                                               INSPECTOR                                                              He's just confessed. He's been mixed                          up with the toughest gangsters in town.                                                                                        CAMERA PANS BACK to Dickson, as he stares,                          unbelievingly, at the shrunken figure                          of Cluett, who is trembling with fear.                                                                                        234. CLOSER SHOT                                                              Favoring Cluett and Dickson.                                                              DICKSON                                                              Confessed! Cluett, in heaven's name,                          what got into you?                                                               CLUETT                                                              (his voice shaking)                                                              I don't know. It's all been like a crazy                          nightmare, Mr. Dickson.                                                               DICKSON                                                              What happened? You're not a thief. How'd                          you get mixed up with these kind of                          people?                                                               CLUETT                                                              Gambling - I owed them a lot of money.                          Last week I lost over fifty thousand                          dollars!                                                               DICKSON                                                              (shocked)                                                              Fifty thousand dollars!                                                              CLUETT                                                              (hysterically)                                                              But I didn't kill that man last night.                          Honest I didn't, Mr. Dickson!                                                               235. CLOSEUP - CLUETT                                                              As he continues:                                                              CLUETT                                                              (dully)                                                              Yesterday they came to collect it. I                          begged them to wait. I wanted time to                          think, but they wouldn't listen to me.                                                                                        (his voice rises)                                                              They threatened to kill me if I didn't                          pay it! I was desperate! I didn't know                          what to do!                                                               236. CLOSEUP - DICKSON                                                              As he reacts to Cluett's confession.                          Cluett's voice continues over this shot.                                                                                        CLUETT'S VOICE                                                              (hoarsely - quickly)                                                              Then they suggested that I help them                          rob the bank. All I had to do was turn                          off the alarm and                                                               ? 185 ?                                                              fix the time clock. It all sounded so                          easy. It seemed like a way out.                                                               237. MED. CLOSE SHOT - GROUP                                                              As Cluett continues:                                                              CLUETT                                                              (wildly)                                                              I didn't know anybody was going to be                          killed!                                                               The Inspector addresses Cluett:                                                              INSPECTOR                                                              What were you doing at Finlay's this                          morning?                                                               CLUETT                                                              They took my keys yesterday. I went                          there to get them back.                                                               DICKSON                                                              (desperately)                                                              If you were in a jam, why didn't you                          come to me? I would have helped you                          out. You know that.                                                               238. CLOSE SHOT                                                              Favoring Cluett.                                                              CLUETT                                                              I was crazy, I tell you, Mr. Dickson.                          I didn't know what I was doing. I wandered                          around in a daze. All I could think                          of was that they were going to kill                          me . . .                                                               (pleading desperately)                                                              You'll stand by me, won't you, Mr. Dickson?                          You won't go back on me now, will you?                          I'll die if they send me to prison!                                                                                        INSPECTOR                                                              (practical)                                                              Don't forget there's a dead watchman                          downstairs.                                                               CLUETT                                                              (wild-eyed)                                                              I didn't kill him! I had nothing to                          do with that, I tell you! I was home                          in my apartment last night - I can prove                          it!                                                               239. MED. CLOSE SHOT OF GROUP                                                              INSPECTOR                                                              (skeptically)                                                              Claims he was there with a married woman.                          Doesn't want to mention her name.                                                                                        CLUETT                                                              (desperately - to Dickson)                                                              He won't believe it, Mr. Dickson. But                          it's the truth - honest it is. I was                          in my apartment last night - ask your                          wife - sheó                                                               He stops dead. Suddenly he realizes                          what he is saying.                                                               240. CLOSEUP - DICKSON                                                              As he reacts electrically to the mention                          of his wife.                                                               ? 186 ?                                                              241. CLOSE SHOT - CLUETT                                                              He slaps a hand over his mouth, as if                          to crush out anything further he might                          say. He stares wide-eyed and frightened                          at Dickson.                                                               242. CLOSE TWO SHOT - DICKSON AND CLUETT                                                                                        Dickson glares at Cluett, penetratingly.                          His brain slowly absorbs the revelation                          that Phyllis was in Cluett's apartment                          the night before.                                                               DICKSON                                                              (dully)                                                              My wife? What's she got to do with you?                                                                                        INSPECTOR                                                              (out of the side of his mouth - to a                          detective standing next to him)                                                               No wonder he didn't want to mention                          her name.                                                               Dickson comes over to Cluett, grabs                          him by the arm.                                                               DICKSON                                                              What was my wife doing in your apartment                          last night?                                                               CLUETT                                                              (hysterically)                                                              Nothing, nothing, Mr. Dickson. Don't                          pay any attention to me. I don't know                          what I'm saying.                                                               DICKSON                                                              You just mentioned her name. What was                          she doing there? What was she doing                          in your apartment?                                                               CLUETT                                                              She just came up for a drink. Just for                          a few minutes.                                                               Dickson grabs Cluett and shakes him.                                                                                        DICKSON                                                              (a shriek)                                                              You're lying!                                                              243. MED. CLOSE SHOT                                                              INSPECTOR                                                              Don't worry, Mr. Dickson. We'll find                          out whether he's telling the truth.                          I'll have a man from headquarters check                          up on it right away.                                                               DICKSON                                                              (hard)                                                              You don't want to check up on anybody.                          I'll do all the checking up. Wait a                          minute.                                                               CAMERA PANS WITH HIM as he crosses to                          his desk, and calls Helen on the intercom.                                                                                        DICKSON                                                              Helen!                                                              HELEN'S VOICE                                                              Yes?                                                              ? 187 ?                                                              DICKSON                                                              Get Mrs. Dickson on the phone.                                                              There is an awkward pause while Dickson                          waits. He is obviously agitated. Then                          the phone rings.                                                               DICKSON                                                              (answering it)                                                              Listen, dear. I want to ask you something.                          I know it's a silly thing for me to                          ask you, but . . . I want you to tell                          me the truth. Where were you last night?                                                                                        CUT TO:                                                              244. INT. DICKSON HOME - CLOSEUP - MRS.                          DICKSON                                                               MRS. DICKSON                                                              (into phone - disconcerted)                                                              Last night? Er - why - uh, last night                          . . .                                                               CUT TO:                                                              245. INT. DICKSON'S OFFICE - CLOSEUP                          - DICKSON                                                               DICKSON                                                              (very sombre)                                                              Listen, dear. Now tell me the truth                          about this. Were you in Cluett's apartment?                                                                                        CUT TO:                                                              246. INT. DICKSON HOME - CLOSEUP - MRS.                          DICKSON                                                               MRS. DICKSON                                                              (into phone)                                                              In Cluett's apartment? Well dear, you                          see, I . . . I . . .                                                               CUT TO:                                                              247. INT. DICKSON'S OFFICE - MED. CLOSE                          SHOT                                                               Favoring Dickson, but showing Cluett                          and the others.                                                               Dickson slowly puts the phone receiver                          down. His face is ashen. He is shaken                          to the core.                                                               CLUETT                                                              (miserably)                                                              She wasn't to blame, Mr. Dickson. It                          wasn't her fault. Honest, it wasn't.                          I begged her to come up. She didn'tó                                                                                        DICKSON                                                              (an explosion)                                                              Get out, get out!                                                              INSPECTOR                                                              All right. Let's go.                                                              The detectives get on either side of                          Cluett and silently they march him out                          of the room. Inspector and others follow,                          leaving Dickson alone. When they have                          gone out:                                                               ? 188 ?                                                              248. CLOSE SHOT - DICKSON                                                              Left alone, he is a tragic figure. An                          incessant parade of disturbing thoughts                          tumble over each other in a hectic march                          across his chaotic mind. He grips his                          throbbing temples in an effort to crush                          out the torturous thought that Phyllis                          was involved in an intrigue with Cyril                          Cluett.                                                               CUT TO:                                                              249. INT. CONFERENCE ROOM - MED. SHOT                                                                                        Most of the directors seem to be weakening.                          O'Brien is remaining staunch to Dickson.                          Clark alone, holds out.                                                               O'BRIEN                                                              Clark, you're insane to hold out any                          longer. Now let's get some money over                          here and stop this run.                                                               AMES                                                              If we close our doors, our stock won't                          be worth a nickel.                                                               Meek little Ives once more tries to                          speak:                                                               IVES                                                              My dear friends, Ió                                                              O'BRIEN                                                              (interrupting)                                                              I'll lay you ten to one, Dickson won't                          give in.                                                               250. CLOSER SHOT                                                              Featuring Schultz and Clark, standing                          together.                                                               SCHULTZ                                                              Maybe they're right, Clark.                                                              CLARK                                                              (weakening)                                                              All right, I'll go and have a talk with                          him.                                                               As he starts to walk toward the door:                                                                                        CUT TO:                                                              251. INT. DICKSON'S PRIVATE OFFICE -                          FULL SHOT                                                               Dickson sits at his desk, his head cupped                          in his hands. Clark enters thru door                          of outer office, quietly. He looks at                          Dickson a moment, then crosses to the                          desk.                                                               CLARK                                                              Oh, Dickson . . .                                                              252. CLOSE SHOT OF THE TWO                                                              Shooting toward Dickson.                                                              Dickson slowly looks up at Clark.                                                              CLARK                                                              (softly)                                                              Dickson, I'd like to talk to you about                          the bank.                                                               ? 189 ?                                                              DICKSON                                                              (heartsick)                                                              The bank. All right. Do anything you                          want with it.                                                               253. CLOSE SHOT - CLARK                                                              His face lights up. This is a turn he                          never expected. He really came in to                          capitulate.                                                               CLARK                                                              (smoothly)                                                              Now you're talking sense.                                                              (alert)                                                              We'll draw up the option on your stock                          - say, eighty dollars a share. How's                          that?                                                               254. CLOSE SHOT - DICKSON                                                              He is not even interested, speaks vaguely:                                                                                        DICKSON                                                              Eighty dollars? That's fine - anything                          you say.                                                               He waves Clark away.                                                              CLARK                                                              Good, good. I'll draw it up at once.                                                                                        255. MED. SHOT                                                              As Clark starts out of Dickson's office,                          elated, Helen comes in.                                                               HELEN                                                              You want the rest of those numbers,                          Mr. Dickson?                                                               DICKSON                                                              (toneless)                                                              Numbers? No, never mind.                                                              She stares at him, surprised, backs                          out of the room.                                                               CUT TO:                                                              256. INT. OUTER ROOM OF DICKSON'S OFFICE                          - HELEN AND MATT                                                               Immediately following:                                                              MATT                                                              What's he doing, honey? Is he getting                          any help?                                                               HELEN                                                              Something's happened. He isn't trying                          anymore.                                                               MATT                                                              They must have turned him down.                                                              HELEN                                                              Yes. He called some of the biggest people                          in town.                                                               MATT                                                              Sure, they'd turn him down. He ought                          to know that. I'm going in there and                          talk to him.                                                               As he enters Dickson's office:                                                              CUT TO:                                                              ? 190 ?                                                              257. INT. DICKSON'S OFFICE                                                              CAMERA PANS ACROSS as Matt enters:                                                                                        MATT                                                              We haven't got much time left, Mr. Dickson.                          We've got to do something quick or it'll                          be too late.                                                               DICKSON                                                              (softly)                                                              Why wouldn't you tell me where you were                          last night?                                                               MATT                                                              (ignoring the question)                                                              You're not giving up, are you, Mr. Dickson?                                                                                        DICKSON                                                              Were you in Cluett's apartment?                                                              MATT                                                              (dismissively)                                                              Oh, I can explain about that later.                          You're losing your bank - don't you                          realize what that means?                                                               DICKSON                                                              (gravely)                                                              Was Mrs. Dickson there?                                                              MATT                                                              Listen, Mr. Dickson, don't let them                          lick you just because a couple of big                          shots turned you down. You've got more                          friends than anybody in this town. Little                          guys - guys who wouldn't be in business                          if it weren't for you. All you've got                          to do isó                                                               DICKSON                                                              (undeterred)                                                              Wait a minute. Answer my question. Was                          Mrs. Dickson there?                                                               MATT                                                              (fumbling for words)                                                              Well . . . uh . . . I . . .                                                              Dickson                                                              She was, wasn't she? How long has this                          been going on? Do you know?                                                               MATT                                                              Aw, I don't know what you're talking                          about. All I know is that you're losing                          your bank andó                                                               DICKSON                                                              (firmly)                                                              All right. That's all.                                                              (poignantly)                                                              Please, Matt.                                                              Head bowed, Matt exits scene.                                                              ? 191 ?                                                              CUT TO:                                                              258. INT. DICKSON'S OUTER OFFICE - MATT                          AND HELEN                                                               Immediately following:                                                              HELEN                                                              Did you talk to him?                                                              MATT                                                              (downcast)                                                              Yeah.                                                              (he has a sudden inspiration)                                                              I got an idea. Come on, let's get to                          a telephone.                                                               They exit scene hurriedly.                                                              CUT TO:                                                              259. INT. DICKSON'S PRIVATE OFFICE -                          MED. CLOSEUP                                                               All of his beliefs are shaken by this                          seeming betrayal. Dickson takes a framed                          photograph of Phyllis from his desk,                          gingerly sets it face down in the center                          drawer of his desk.                                                               Also in the desk drawer is - he cannot                          help but notice - a gun.                                                               CUT TO:                                                              260. INT. CONFERENCE ROOM - CLOSE SHOT                          - CLARK                                                               As he dictates to someone off screen:                                                                                        CLARK                                                              óa thirty-day option on ten thousand                          shares of stock of this company, now                          registered in the name of Thomas A.                          Dickson. Now make that in triplicate                          and get it to me just as fast as you                          can. Hurry!                                                               CUT TO:                                                              261. INT. SOMEWHERE IN THE BANK - CLOSE                          SHOT AT PAYROLL WINDOW                                                               Shooting past cashier in f.g. towards                          line of laborers waiting to be paid.                                                                                        Cashier stands in front of a tall counter                          upon which is a small metal box filled                          with currency. He is speaking into the                          phone by his side as scene opens.                                                                                        He hangs up receiver and turns to the                          men on the other side of the window.                                                                                        CASHIER                                                              (speaking thru small window)                                                              Sorry ladies and gentlemen, there's                          no more money. You'll have to go on                          to the next window.                                                               He snaps the window shut, slams down                          cover of little metal box.                                                               Angry ad-lib from line of laborers waiting                          to be paid.                                                               CUSTOMER AD-LIBS                                                              What do you mean there's no more money?                          etc.                                                               ? 192 ?                                                              Panicked shouting and pushing. In the                          center of the crowd, a woman faints.                                                                                        CUT TO:                                                              Another cashier, another window, another                          angry line of depositors.                                                               CASHIER                                                              That's all there is!                                                              More pushing, shouting, angry ad-lib.                                                                                        CUT TO:                                                              262. INT. DICKSON'S OUTER OFFICE - MEDIUM                          CLOSE SHOT                                                               Phyllis Dickson, serious-faced, comes                          up steps and thru ante room on the way                          to Dickson's private office.                                                               She pounds on door of office. There                          is no reply from within. Standing next                          to her is a bank guard, uncertain about                          what to do. Throughout scene, there                          are b.g. sounds of melee in the bank.                                                                                        MRS. DICKSON                                                              (to bank guard)                                                              Are you sure he's in there?                                                              GUARD                                                              Yes, ma'am. He must be in there. He                          hasn't come out.                                                               She pounds on the door again.                                                              MRS. DICKSON                                                              (shouting)                                                              Tom! Tom! Tom!                                                              (to guard)                                                              I've got to get in there. Can't you                          find me a key?                                                               GUARD                                                              (reaching into Helen's desk)                                                              Yes, I think there's one right here                          in the drawer.                                                               CUT TO:                                                              263. INT. DICKSON'S PRIVATE OFFICE -                          FULL SHOT                                                               As Mrs. Dickson rushes in.                                                              Dickson is standing by a window.                                                              264. CLOSE SHOT - MRS. DICKSON                                                              She walks over to him - CAMERA PANNING                          WITH HER - and stands in back of him.                                                                                        MRS. DICKSON                                                              (softly - seriously)                                                              Tom! Oh Tom, darling - I came to explain                          about last night . . .                                                               Dickson remains silent. Mrs. Dickson                          continues:                                                               ? 193 ?                                                              MRS. DICKSON                                                              Cyril Cluett doesn't mean anything to                          me, Tom. I went out with him last night                          simply because . . . well, I had begun                          to feel that I didn't have any part                          in your life. That I was an outsider.                          Tom, all we did was to go to the theatre,                          and then we went back to his apartment                          afterward for a drink. That's all it                          was. I didn't do anything wrong, Tom.                          I couldn't do anything wrong. I love                          you too much. You know that.                                                               265. CLOSEUP - DICKSON                                                              As he stares dully out the window.                                                                                        Mrs. Dickson's voice coming over shot:                                                                                        MRS. DICKSON                                                              (breaking down - sobbing)                                                              Oh, Tom! Tom!                                                              CUT TO:                                                              266. INT. SOMEWHERE IN BANK - MEDIUM                          CLOSE SHOT - MATT AND HELEN                                                               Favoring Matt.                                                              They are furiously working two phones,                          going down a list of people who owe                          Dickson and the bank a favor.                                                               Although Matt has focus in the scene,                          Helen's voice is always in b.g., as                          she handles calls, making the same pitch.                                                                                        MATT                                                              (into phone - rat-a-tat)                                                              Dickson's in a jam I tell you. The run's                          getting worse.                                                               HELEN                                                              (simultaneously)                                                              Mr. Williams . . .                                                              MATT                                                              (continuing)                                                              The big guys have got the screws on                          him. You've got to come through for                          him, Mr. Conway. He came through for                          you a hundred times. If his friends                          don't help him, who is going to help                          him?                                                               HELEN                                                              (looking up from her own phone pitch)                                                                                        Matt, look! There's Mr. Jones!                                                              CUT TO:                                                              267. INT. LOBBY OF BANK - MED. SHOT                                                                                        As a man elbows his way thru the crowd                          to a receiving teller's window. He is                          accompanied by a bank guard, who sweeps                          the disbelieving crowd aside. He speaks                          loudly for everyone's benefit:                                                               JONES                                                              Any bank that Tom Dickson has anything                          to do with is all right. I'm putting                          my money in here. Why should you be                          afraid? Give him a chance. Tom Dickson                          is all right! He's perfectly square.                          I'm putting my money in this bank! I                          know what I'm doing!                                                               He reaches a teller's window, which                          is closed. He pounds on it.                                                               ? 194 ?                                                              JONES                                                              Open up! I want to put some money in                          here! I don't want to take any out!                                                                                        A teller's face appears, somewhat astonished.                                                                                        TELLER                                                              (recovering composure)                                                              Certainly, Mr. Jones! Certainly! Charlie!                                                                                        CUT TO:                                                              268. INT. SOMEWHERE IN BANK - MED. CLOSE                          SHOT - MATT AND HELEN                                                               MATT                                                              (into the phone - rat-a-tat)                                                              They're starting to come in already.                          Yeah. Yeah. Well, listen. Don't waste                          any time. Get all the money you can                          lay your hands on, and bring it down                          here right away. Step on it.                                                               He hangs up, dials another.                                                              Helen has dialed another prospect also,                          and hands the phone to Matt.                                                               MATT                                                              (to Helen)                                                              Who's this?                                                              (into one phone)                                                              Mr. Williams?                                                              (into the other phone)                                                              Mr. Gunther?                                                              (to Helen)                                                              I'll talk to both of them at once.                                                                                        (holding both phones up to his mouth)                                                                                        Listen, both you fellows. Dickson's                          in a jam. The run's getting worse. Those                          big guys got the screws on him. Yeah,                          both you fellows got to come thru for                          him. Listen, if his friends don't help                          him, who is going to help him? Now he                          came through for you a hundred times.                          Yeah, listen. They're starting to come                          in already. Yeah, listen. Both of you                          fellas - get all the money you can lay                          your hands on, and bring it down here                          right away. Both of you - step on it!                          All right.                                                               CUT TO:                                                              269. INT. LOBBY OF BANK - MED. SHOT                                                                                        As several more people elbow their way                          thru the crowd on their way to teller's                          windows, speaking aloud.                                                               MAN                                                              (loudly)                                                              Get out of my way. I got money I want                          to put into the bank.                                                               CAMERA PANS WITH HIM and second man                          until they reach the receiving teller's                          window, where they fall into a line                          already containing ten or twelve people.                                                                                        The second man shoves his way to the                          front, and addresses the teller:                                                               ? 195 ?                                                              2ND MAN                                                              I want to make a deposit. Four thousand,                          six hundred dollars. He's the best man                          in the world. I believe in him.                                                               CUT TO:                                                              270. INT. DICKSON'S PRIVATE OFFICE -                          CLOSE TWO SHOT                                                               Dickson and Phyllis Dickson. She is                          still explaining to him.                                                               MRS. DICKSON                                                              It doesn't matter what you think about                          me, there's something far more important.                          Those people down there. The bank, Tom.                          You can't give that up.                                                               She is interrupted by sound of door                          opening. They look off.                                                               271. CLOSE SHOT AT DOOR                                                              As Sampson steps in. He looks off toward                          Dickson.                                                               SAMPSON                                                              Mr. Dickson! Come here a minute. Look                          at this. Something wonderful has happened.                          People are bringing deposits. You won't                          believe it until you see it. You have                          to come out.                                                               272. CLOSE SHOT                                                              Dickson and Mrs. Dickson. He shambles                          over towards the door.                                                               273. INT. OUTSIDE OF DICKSON'S OFFICE                          - MED. CLOSE SHOT                                                               As Sampson and Dickson come out from                          private office.                                                               SAMPSON                                                              (pointing off)                                                              Look!                                                              Dickson gazes in the direction he points.                                                                                        CUT TO:                                                              274. RECEIVING TELLER'S WINDOW - MEDIUM                          SHOT                                                               From Dickson's angle.                                                              The line has grown in size. Those trying                          to deposit their money are just as excited                          as those who want to draw it out.                                                                                        MAN                                                              (shouting)                                                              Tom Dickson is a friend of mine! I'll                          put money in his bank any time!                                                               ANOTHER MAN                                                              (shouting)                                                              Anybody who takes money out of this                          bank is crazy! I'm going to put a lot                          of money in! Here it is!                                                               3RD MAN                                                              I haven't got much, but here it is!                                                                                        WOMAN                                                              Tom Dickson can have all my money any                          time.                                                               ? 196 ?                                                              CUT TO:                                                              275. INT. OUTSIDE OF DICKSON'S OFFICE                          - CLOSEUP                                                               On Dickson, looking toward Receiving                          Teller's window. He stares at the miraculous                          spectacle, deeply moved. He can scarcely                          believe his own eyes. A smile grows                          on his face.                                                               The sight of his friends coming to his                          rescue has an electrical effect on Dickson.                          It revives his fighting spirit. He sticks                          his jaw out determinedly. Without a                          word he turns and crosses to door of                          conference room.                                                               CUT TO:                                                              276. INT. CONFERENCE ROOM - FULL SHOT                                                                                        Dickson flings the door open. Clark                          and the other directors are startled                          out of their business. Clark holds the                          necessary transfer papers in his hand.                                                                                        DICKSON                                                              Come out here you pawnbrokers - take                          a look at this!                                                               CLARK                                                              We've been waiting fifteen minutesó                                                                                        DICKSON                                                              (waving papers away)                                                              You know what you can do with that!                          Come on, take a look at this! You'll                          see a demonstration of faith that's                          worth more than all the collateral in                          the world.                                                               While he has been speaking, several                          of the directors have edged over to                          the door. They are perceptibly impressed.                                                                                        277. MED. CLOSE SHOT - CLARK                                                              He has remained unmoved, staring at                          Dickson, as if trying to determine what                          kind of ruse is this.                                                               DICKSON'S VOICE                                                              Come on boys! Come on Clark! It'll do                          your heart good.                                                               CAMERA PANS WITH CLARK, as he crosses                          slowly to the door and looks out.                                                                                        DICKSON                                                              Look at that. They're shoving their                          hard-earned money across the counter                          with a ten to one chance against them.                                                                                        278. CLOSER SHOT OF GROUP                                                              As they edge out onto balcony overlooking                          scene.                                                               DICKSON                                                              If you fellas want to save this bank,                          get some real money over here right                          away.                                                               O'BRIEN                                                              (decisively)                                                              That's enough for me, Dickson. I'm ashamed                          of myself. I'll have a hundred thousand                          dollars over here in five minutes.                                                                                        ? 197 ?                                                              O'Brien starts away and crosses to a                          phone.                                                               Dickson turns to the others.                                                              DICKSON                                                              Now you're talking! Ames?                                                              AMES                                                              I'm sold.                                                              He goes off.                                                              DICKSON                                                              All right. Schultz?                                                              SCHULTZ                                                              (only a moment's hesitation)                                                              This is your bank, Dickson, and I'm                          with you!                                                               DICKSON                                                              Ives?                                                              279. CLOSE SHOT - IVES                                                              At last he can say something.                                                              IVES                                                              (shaky voice)                                                              My dear friends, that's what I've been                          trying to say all afternoon.                                                               DICKSON                                                              Go ahead and say it.                                                              (turning to Clark)                                                              Clark, you can do twice as much as any                          of them. How about you?                                                               280. CLOSE SHOT - CLARK                                                              CLARK                                                              Oh, I don't agree with you, but if everybody's                          gone crazy, I'll go crazy too!                                                               CUT TO:                                                              281. INT. CONFERENCE ROOM - SERIES OF                          CLOSEUPS                                                               As Clark and the other directors make                          their urgent phone calls.                                                               SCHULTZ                                                              (into phone)                                                              This is Ben Schultz talking. Send a                          hundred thousand cash over here to the                          Union National right away.                                                               CLARK                                                              (into phone)                                                              Send all your available cash to Union                          National!                                                               AMES                                                              (into phone)                                                              Currency - small denominationsó                                                              CLARK                                                              (into phone)                                                              óin tens and twentiesó                                                              ? 198 ?                                                              IVES                                                              (into phone)                                                              Say, I want one hundred and fifty thousand                          dollars over here right away.                                                               (listens)                                                              I am in my right mind. No, no, no. Not                          one hundred and fifty dollars. Say,                          listen you guys, one hundred and fifty                          thousand dollars. Yes!                                                               LAP DISSOLVE TO:                                                              282. EXT. CITY STREET - LONG SHOT                                                              A string of armored cars speed toward                          camera, accompanied by an escort of                          eight motorcycle cops. The procession                          heralds its approach by the piercing                          wail of sirens.                                                               POLICEMAN                                                              Open up!                                                              LAP DISSOLVE TO:                                                              283. INT. BANK - AT THE DOOR                                                              A dozen policemen precede the entrance                          of a parade of uniformed guards, who                          carry in one hand sacks of money, their                          other hands clasped firmly on their                          guns. The crowd in the lobby stands                          aside, awe-stricken.                                                               AD-LIB FROM COPS                                                              Heads upó                                                              Make way, thereó                                                              Hey, you, look out!                                                              Murmurs of approval are heard from the                          crowd.                                                               LAP DISSOLVE TO:                                                              284. INT. BANK NEAR FRONT DOOR - MED.                          SHOT                                                               As the crowd is leaving the bank. Everyone                          is smiling and happy.                                                               CAMERA SINGLES OUT VARIOUS INDIVIDUALS.                                                                                        MAN                                                              (to nearby man)                                                              That's the trouble with people nowadays.                          They hear a crazy rumor, and right away                          they lose their heads. Not me! You didn't                          see me drawing my money out, did you?                                                                                        LAP DISSOLVE TO:                                                              285. INT. BANK - CLOSEUP - GERT                                                              As she works the switchboard - the next                          day.                                                               GERT                                                              Good morning. Union National Bank. Just                          a minute . . .                                                               CUT TO:                                                              286. INT. BANK VAULT - MEDIUM SHOT -                          GROUP OF TELLERS                                                               As they gather for their morning ritual,                          waiting for Matt.                                                               CHARLIE                                                              Nine o'clock and all is lousy.                                                              ? 199 ?                                                              TELLER                                                              Where's Matt?                                                              CHARLIE                                                              Ten to one he'll have a crack about                          the run yesterday.                                                               TELLER                                                              It's a cinch bet. I wouldn't take it.                                                                                        2ND TELLER                                                              If he pulls a gag about the run, we'll                          murder the guy. Murder him!                                                               They hear Matt approaching, and gesture                          silence. Matt strides purposefully in.                          He works the mechanism on the vault.                          There is a long silence, during which                          nobody says anything, most surprisingly                          of all, not even Matt. Finally:                                                               MATT                                                              (after having opened the lock - turning                          to the group of expectant tellers)                                                                                        Well, I suppose you guys had a good                          run for your money yesterday!                                                               They tackle him to the ground.                                                              CUT TO:                                                              287. INT. BANK ENTRANCE MED. - CLOSE                          SHOT                                                               As Dickson enters, and playfully pushes                          the hat down over Gardiner, the old                          bank guard's face. The bank guard adjusts                          his hat, annoyed, then sees it is the                          president of the bank.                                                               GARDINER                                                              (merrily)                                                              Good morning, Mr. Dickson. My wife is                          much better this morning.                                                               DICKSON                                                              Well, that's too bad. Mine's all right                          too.                                                               Guard puzzles over his non-sequitur                          for a moment, then smiles.                                                               CAMERA TRUCKS AHEAD OF DICKSON, as he                          strides through the lobby, passing various                          individuals from opening scenes.                                                               He spots the teller with a habit of                          smoking on the job.                                                               DICKSON                                                              Carter!                                                              The teller, from Dickson's angle, holds                          up his empty hands. No cigarettes. Then,                          he opens his mouth and chews elaborately,                          showing that he has switched to gum.                                                                                        Hellos and Good Mornings greet Dickson                          as he continues on his way. He passes                          the janitor in a new uniform, and stops                          him.                                                               DICKSON                                                              Well, well, well - got your uniform,                          eh?                                                               JANITOR                                                              Yes, sir.                                                              ? 200 ?                                                              DICKSON                                                              Looks good. How much did it cost?                                                              JANITOR                                                              (proudly)                                                              I don't know. Mr. Sampson bought it                          for me.                                                               Dickson opens his jacket, affects an                          unenthusiastic perusal of his own well-worn                          suit of clothing.                                                               DICKSON                                                              (cheerfully)                                                              Oh-oh. I guess I'll have to see Sampson                          myself.                                                               CAMERA FOLLOWS HIM as he approaches                          Helen's desk outside his own private                          office. Helen looks up.                                                               DICKSON                                                              Good morning, Helen.                                                              HELEN                                                              Good morning.                                                              DICKSON                                                              Say, I know what's the matter with you.                          Matt!                                                               Matt, hearing his name, dashes up to                          stand next to Dickson.                                                               288. MED. CLOSE SHOT                                                              DICKSON                                                              I want you both to take the day off.                          Go downtown and get a license and get                          married right away!                                                               MATT                                                              (weakly)                                                              But I haven't . . .                                                              DICKSON                                                              I don't want to hear any more about                          it. If you don't get married, I'll fire                          both of you.                                                               By now they are beaming. Dickson starts                          off, then has a second thought.                                                               DICKSON                                                              Helen, while you're downtown, you might                          stop in and make reservations for the                          bridal suite on the Berengaria[9] sailing                          next week.                                                               MATT                                                              Gee, thanks, Mr. Dicksonó                                                              HELEN                                                              Oh!                                                              DICKSON                                                              (cutting him off)                                                              Oh, no! It's not for you. You're only                          going to get married. Mrs. Dickson and                          I are going to go on the honeymoon.                                                                                        With just the barest suggestion of a                          wink, he exits.                                                               ? 201 ?                                                              Matt looks at Helen:                                                              MATT                                                              Come, on slave.                                                              They exit arm in arm.                                                              FADE OUT.                                                              END
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+FADE IN: EXT. WOODS The Rangers plunge into thick woods. Branches slap at them, but the sound of gunfire keeps them going. Captain Malcolm is still in the lead, flanked by two young men who are obviously brothers. The big, handsome one is COLE YOUNGER; the skinny one with the lopsided hair is BOB YOUNGER. EXT. WOOD'S EDGE They break through the other side of the woods, emerging behind a rickety set of fence-post fortifications. Instantly GUNFIRE tears apart the trees around them. The Captain's horse goes down, and the Younger brothers dive and roll to hide beneath the palisade. The Captain, still alive, has fallen beyond the wooden shield. Cole scrambles through the savage rifle fire, grabs Captain Malcolm, and hauls him behind the fortification. CAPTAIN MALCOLM (bellowing) Fall back into the woods! Out of your saddles before you're shot out of 'em! The Rangers leap from their saddles as a new sound starts -- a dull roar that grows and approaches and BBRRRRAPPPPP as, unbelievably, trees EXPLODE INTO SPLINTERS and horses and men go down in a heap! COLE Gatling! They've got a Gatling! BOB Dammit, this stopped being fun about two years ago! Some men are crawling to the fortifications, others are staying in the woods. The Captain pokes his head up to take a look. With him WE SEE EXT. ANOTHER HILLSIDE At the top of which, about a hundred fifty yards off, is a three man Gatling crew. Squads of Union soldiers are beginning to make their way down the hillside. And just to their right is an EIGHT INCH CANNON with a burning fuse -- EXT. FORTIFICATIONS CAPTAIN MALCOLM DOWN! BOOM! And with a whistle the cannonball TEARS THROUGH the forest and EXPLODES just behind the Rangers. Some of the men are screaming from injury and panic. CAPTAIN MALCOLM (CONT'D) Cole! Bob! You boys okay? COLE Hell, take more than a cannon to kill the Younger brothers, sir! BOB I think the cannon's doing a pretty good job, Cole. A full-blooded Indian, COMANCHE TOM, crawls up next to them. COLE Some Indian tracker you turned out to be, Tom. COMANCHE TOM You pay me to find you Bluecoats. There they are. ANOTHER ROUND from the Gatling chews up the trees and fencing, driving their heads down. CAPTAIN MALCOLM They're using the Gatling and the cannon to cover their advance. We're pinned unless we take them out! Cole peers through the rails. COLE Those gunners are too far away... CAPTAIN MALCOLM Get me the James boy. COMANCHE TOM You want Jesse? CAPTAIN MALCOLM Not Jesse, the one who can shoot. Comanche Tom rolls back to the edge of the woods. COMANCHE TOM FRANK! EXT. WOODS - A FEW YARDS BACK Among the squatting men a single one STANDS UP. FRANK JAMES is tall with a dark, thoughtful face. He looks sadder than his 23 years should allow. His hand is wrapped around a longbarrel Enfield 30. FRANK Jesse. The long rider behind him turns around. He's JESSE JAMES, 20. He's too damn good-looking and he's got your best friend's eyes. There's a coiled energy to him, and right now he seems more angry than afraid. Next to him is WEB MIMMS, 15, who is terrified and trying not to show it. FRANK (CONT'D) Watch Web. WEB I don't need watchin'! JESSE Web, I bring you back dead and your sister'll kill me. Now shut up and lie there. (then) Careful, Frank. And make sure Bob and Cole are okay. EXT. FORTIFICATIONS Loose shots spitting up dirt and wood chips everywhere. Frank crawls up, nods to the Youngers, peers through the stacked wood. Another EXPLOSION from the cannon. FRANK Cannon or Gatling? COLE Both would be nice. FRANK Soon as I hit one, the other'll know and beat us up. CAPTAIN MALCOLM Cannon. Frank raises his head just high enough to poke the Enfield over the stacked fenceposts. Everyone else is flinching from the suppressing fire. Frank is perfectly still. Squinting, aiming, perfectly centered ... BANG. CUT TO: EXT. CANNON STATION As the Captain of the six man crew SNAPS BACK and hits the ground dead. Before the others can react, two more grab their throats and drop. The remaining soldiers bolt from the cannon. But the Gatling crew swings the gun around and the barrels BLAZE. CUT TO: EXT. FORTIFICATIONS Frank and the others hit the dirt as the Gatling shreds the fenceposts, fells trees, churns the ground, stitching a path of destruction across the bulwarks and into the woods where EXT. WOODS The Gatling rounds are everywhere. Rangers jerk as the Gatling tears them apart. Jesse grabs Web to his chest and swings around, shielding the boy with his own body. When the fire pauses for a moment. Jesse looks down -- he's covered in blood. He lets Web fall away. Blood bubbles up from where the boy's chest used to be. JESSE Hell no... Jesse's trying to stop the blood with his bare hands. WEB Aw, Jesse. (crying) I never even got to be with a girl. Web dies. Jesse sighs. He's seen too much death to cry anymore. He stands up, pivots, and strides for the fencepost barrier. Rifle fire is zipping through the air all around him, but he keeps walking. EXT. FORTIFICATIONS Frank, the Younger brothers, Comanche Tom and the Captain are all still there. Captain Malcolm peers through the wall. CAPTAIN MALCOLM They're getting closer. Jesse arrives, slaps Cole's shoulder. Cole grins grimly. COLE 'Bout time you got here, buddy. JESSE What's going on? FRANK Every time I put my head up to hit that Gatling, they try to shoot it off. JESSE So we got a plan? BOB My plan of lying here pissing myself seems to be working mighty fine, thank you. FRANK I can hit those boys from here. We just need a distraction. JESSE (smiling) A distraction? Well, why the hell didn't you just say so? Jesse sprints back into the woods. Cole, Bob, and Frank exchange looks. BOB He's smiling. COLE Never a good thing. FRANK This ought to be interesting. ANOTHER ROAR from the Gatling pushes their heads down, but as that sound fades, another blends in, growing louder and louder, the SOUND OF HOOFBEATS ANGLE ON The men at the fortification, turning to face the woods, their faces stunned as JESSE JAMES ON HORSEBACK AT FULL GALLOP EXPLODES from the woods, heading straight at his own men and at the last second LEAPS OVER THE BARRIER, and as he does Jesse leans back in the saddle to let the wind strip off his longrider coat, revealing for the first time his GUNS -- two Colts at the hip, a crossed bandolier on his chest with two cross-holstered Colts at the shoulders, and two Colts in the small of his back. And for that one second as Jesse and the horse are in mid-air and the longrider coat trails behind him like leather wings and his guns gleam blue in the sunlight, Jesse James is the Angel of Death. EXT. HILLSIDE The horse hits the ground running. The Union troops are in shock as Jesse draws both his hip Colts and starts firing. JESSE Come on, ya Yankee bastards! His GUNS BLAZING, Jesse rides straight at the Bluecoats. Five, six are down before they can even react. They start firing back, but they can't draw a bead. Two more are down. Jesse's making every bullet count. ANGLE ON The Gatling gun as the crew swings it around and FIRES, hundred of rounds tearing straight at Jesse ANGLE ON Jesse who incredibly cuts the horse hard left using just his knees, still shooting as the Gatling volley goes wide, actually killing two of the Union soldiers behind Jesse. But then the arc of fire takes Jesse's horse in the rump. The horse falls, but Jesse dives off, still firing, killing another two soldiers. Then he hits the ground, rolls, and is up and running, dropping the spent Colts and drawing the two shoulder guns in one smooth motion, never interrupting his shooting. EXT. FORTIFICATIONS Frank sees the Gatling swing away from him. He stands and -- EXT. HILLSIDE -- BANG as the Gatling triggerman drops, BANG as the ammo-feeder goes down, and BANG as the third man falls before the echo of the first shot clears. EXT. FORTIFICATIONS Cole is the first one on his feet. COLE WAAAHHHHOOOO!! We're coming Jesse! CAPTAIN MALCOLM Charge! With a ragged cheer the RANGERS ERUPT FROM THE FOREST, some actually on horseback, firing at the exposed Union troops. EXT. HILLSIDE Soldiers are swarming Jesse, but he's moving, turning, an untouchable blur in the chaos. As he drops two more empty Colts and reaches for the last two at his back, a SOLDIER just an arm's length away BRINGS UP A RIFLE. JESSE Oh, you do not! Jesse grabs the rifle barrel and drives the butt straight back into the soldier's nose. The Union boy falls, releasing the gun. Jesse swings the rifle in a smooth arc, bashing another soldier in the jaw, and then spins it effortlessly into his opposite hand and FIRES it point blank into another Union soldier. ANGLE ON The Rangers PLOWING INTO the Union soldiers. Rattled, the Union troops are beginning to break and fall back. ANGLE ON Jesse as another nearby soldier draws a revolver. Jesse snags his hand, twists it, wrapping the man's arm backward around Jesse's waist. With the other man still gripping the weapon, Jesse FANS THE HAMMER as he turns, shooting six more Union soldiers as they try to rush him. With a final yank, Jesse pulls the Colt from the man and crashes it down on his skull. ANGLE ON the Union soldiers in full retreat. EXT. THE GATLING STATION The few remaining Bluecoats break and run as Jesse reaches the Gatling. Suddenly a FIGURE LEAPS UP from behind the Gatling and FIRES his rifle. A bloody streak tears Jesse's cheek and he stumbles onto his back. With a cry, the figure jumps forward and buries his bayonet in Jesse's chest! Jesse gasps, then, puzzled, looks down. The bayonet has lodged right in the "X" of the ammo belts on his chest, stopped by the bullets and leather. Jesse kicks. As the Union soldier is knocked back, Jesse smoothly snap-kicks to his feet and draws both remaining Colts. He pulls up short. It's a fifteen year old boy, Web Mimms in a blue uniform. There's a deadly pause. JESSE You ain't even been with a girl, have you? The boy shakes his head. Jesse waves him off with the guns. JESSE (CONT'D) Git. The boy scurries off. Jesse turns and lopes down the hill. Instantly he's surrounded by cheering Missouri Rangers. EXT. HILLSIDE The Rangers move past Jesse. Jesse suddenly realizes Frank is there. They fall into step together. JESSE Distracting enough for you? FRANK Pff. They hardly even noticed you. JESSE So you're saying I could have done more to attract their attention. FRANK Mm-hmm. JESSE Such as? FRANK You could have worn one of those big, floppy woman's Easter Sunday hats. JESSE That would have made an impression. FRANK I figure. JESSE See, that's your problem, Frank. By the time you finish figuring out stuff, I'm already finished doing it. FRANK No, Jesse, your problem is you're always doing stuff before I'm finished figuring it out. Cole, Bob, and Comanche Tom RIDE UP on their recovered horses. Cole jumps down and picks up Jesse in a bear hug. COLE Wait'll we get back to Missouri, start telling those gals about how little Jesse James charged the whole Union Army by himself! COMANCHE TOM You ride like a Comanche. BOB You can ride like that? COMANCHE TOM I said like a Comanche, not this Comanche. Cole mounts up, reaches down a hand to Jesse. COLE Ride with me, cousin? JESSE I could use the walk. COLE Suit yourself. We'll have some horses waiting for you at the road. (then) Let's ride, Rangers! Cole slaps leather and the Rangers canter off. As they disappear we hear: BOB (low) Now, I would just sound stupid saying something like that... Jesse and Frank watch them go, then start walking again. JESSE (finally) Web's dead. FRANK I reckoned. JESSE Hell of a war. FRANK I'm sure it seemed like a good idea at the time. EXT. ROAD - DUSK The James brothers, the Youngers, and the other Rangers ride down a dirt road toward a ragtag column of Confederate soldiers. The grey uniforms are ghostlike in the twilight. The men are obviously broken, dispirited. The column stretches down the road and around a bend as far as the eye can see. Jesse and the other Rangers ride into the midst of the Confederates who part and flow around the horsemen like a slow-moving river. For a moment, nobody speaks while the whole eerie procession glides past. COLE Where you boys going? JESSE There's Yankees back there. Lot's of 'em. One grizzled Confederate VETERAN, his arm in a bloody sling, looks up at Jesse. VETERAN War's over, son. General Lee surrendered yesterday at Appomattox. The soldiers move on. The Rangers stare into the middle distance of despair. Cole rubs his hands across his face. FRANK Yesterday. BOB Well, somebody better go tell THE DAMN YANKEES! COLE What do we do now? Jesse seems to be the only one with a clear head. JESSE Home. We go home. We ride like hell to get there, and we kill anything or anyone that comes between us and our homes. And when we get there we stay there and God help any fool who tries to get me to leave my farm again. BOB (pause) Best damn plan I heard all war. Jesse jerks his reins, and the last remaining survivors of the Missouri Rangers trot off into the sunset. MONTAGE -- Jesse, Frank, the Youngers and Comanche Tom riding hard down country roads, past burned out farms. THE RIDERS Are struggling through a downpour in a pitch black night, one of the horses slipping, going down. BLAZING SUN On a dusty road, the Youngers sharing a horse now, everybody just trying to keep moving. EXT. HILLTOP - DAY Jesse, Frank, Cole, Bob, and Comanche Tom are looking down on the frontier town of Liberty, Missouri. FRANK Hello, Liberty Missoura! JESSE All this time in the saddle... We get to the farm, I'm going to shoot this damn horse just on principle. COLE Never thought that pissant town would look so pretty. BOB Anywhere nobody's shooting at me is pretty. JESSE Home, boys. Back to our farms. COLE Planting corn. Harvesting corn. Year after year. BOB Corn gonna shoot at me? FRANK Nope. BOB Then I love it. They start to ride down into town. COLE Tom, why don't you stop at our spread before you head on out to the reservation? Figure we might have some work for you, if you want. COMANCHE TOM Hmm. Go back to the reservation and get drunk in a dirt shack, or work for you... COLE Well? COMANCHE TOM I'm thinking... Cole throws a playful punch at Comanche Tom. EXT. LIBERTY STREET - DAY The gang is riding into the main stretch of town. They're grinning, happy to be home, until -- JESSE We got problems. DOZENS OF UNION SOLDIERS are walking along the boardwalk, lingering near the saloon, all suddenly staring at the riders. COLE What the -- FRANK Must be a garrison in town. We're in occupied territory, boys. Cole is returning stares. JESSE Hands off your hip, Cole. COLE You're not scared, are you? JESSE Pick your fights, cousin. You taught me that. BOB It gets worse. There in the center of town, is a brand new scaffold. Three bodies, fresh ones, are hanging from the nooses. FRANK Jesus mercy, that's Charlie Higgins, Dave Laller ... BOB ... Will Perry ... COLE They rode with Quantrill's Rangers. The riders stop at the scaffold, take off their hats. JESSE Looks like Web Mimms wasn't the only casualty this town's got. FRANK We better go to Doc's, see what's going on here. COLE I'm cutting them down. Cole starts to dismount. Jesse grabs his arm. The Union Soldiers have started to form a crowd JESSE Not now. COLE What is wrong with you? JESSE (low) In case we have to kill these sonofabitches, I don't want them to see us coming. Cole thinks, nods. They ride away from the scaffold. BOB Cole, I want to get to the farm, make sure Little Jim and the girls are okay. FRANK Stop by our spread after that, tell our Ma we're all right. We'll go to Doc Mimms. The Youngers and Comanche Tom split off, start to trot away. COMANCHE TOM I think I may just go on to the reservation. BOB Tom, I'm this close to coming with you... EXT. MIMMS HOME - DAY Jesse and Frank ride toward a handsome white two-story frame house that stands in a grove of elm trees. ANOTHER ANGLE They dismount and walk up to the porch. A FARM HAND in a cowboy hat is nailing a rail onto the porch. JESSE Scuse me, we're here for the Doctor. The farm hand turns and pulls off his hat -- her hat. She's a chestnut-haired beauty in her late teens, ZERELDA MIMMS. ZEE Jesse! Frank! She hugs both of them enthusiastically. Jesse is obviously, immediately smitten. JESSE Zerelda? Little Zee Mimms? ZEE You were little Jesse James when you left. JESSE But you got big! Zee arches an eyebrow. JESSE (CONT'D) I mean, you aged -- Zee arches both eyebrows. JESSE (CONT'D) I mean, I mean, in a good way you got big and older. Zee tilts her head. Jesse's mouth moves, but nothing comes out, until JESSE (CONT'D) Frank, don't you have something to say? FRANK You're doing just fine. JESSE (pulling it together) Zee, we got to talk to you and your father. DOC MIMMS, a grey-haired man wearing rimless spectacles, steps out of the doorway. DOC MIMMS Frank, Jesse. (looking) Where's Web? ANGLE ON A LONG SHOT of the Mimms house. We can see, but not hear, Jesse talking. A beat, then we hear Zee CRY OUT. Doc Mimms staggers, SLUMPS DOWN in the door frame. Jesse and Frank rush to help him. DISSOLVE TO: INT. PARLOR - A WHILE LATER The room is comfortable and elegant in a simple way. Doc Mimms is slumped in a big chair. Zee, her eyes red, is pushing a glass of sherry into his hands. Jesse and Frank sit across from him. JESSE -- rode right into them, screaming like a banshee. DOC MIMMS My little Web did that? JESSE Pff. He jumped his horse clear over our heads, killed a dozen Union soldiers before they knew what hit them. Jesse looks at Frank, urging him on. FRANK Whyyyy... he took down the Gatling gun and the cannon all by himself. JESSE Saved all our lives, Doc. None of the Liberty boys would have come home if not for Web Mimms, Doc. God's honest truth. Doc is fighting back tears, but proud. DOC MIMMS Web died fighting? JESSE Died a hero. ZEE (quietly) But still died. JESSE If there's anything we can do for you, Dr. Mimms. We want to help. DOC MIMMS Start thinking about yourselves. You, the Youngers, Clell Miller, all of you. Don't end up like Charlie. They found out Charlie rode with Quantrill's Raiders. They arrested him, tried him by military tribunal and hanged him this morning. FRANK I thought there was general amnesty. DOC MIMMS For soldiers, yes. But if you rode in one of the partisan bands, they'll hang you for treason. And you boys are in more danger, because you've got a farm. Jesse and Frank don't understand. ZEE Daddy, don't start with this again. DOC MIMMS Zerelda, it's no coincidence. The railroad men come through, offering to buy up land. Nobody sells. Then they start hanging men who own farms for treason? FRANK You're saying the railroad's got the Army doing it's dirty work? DOC MIMMS Rich men in Washington, don't matter if they wear a tie or a uniform, they're all the same. JESSE All we thought about was coming home. I swore I'd kill anybody who tried to get me off my farm again. If I have to go to war with the railroad to stay, fine by me. FRANK Think about this. If we just come up with a story and stick to it, we should be all right. JESSE What kind of story are they going to believe? ZEE Hmm. You were in the Confederate Army with General Hood's Texas Army until... say Sharpsburg, then you were reassigned to General Jeb Stuart's cavalry until you surrendered in Tennessee. Pause. The men stare at Zee. Up goes the eyebrow again. JESSE That just might work. FRANK Maybe, maybe... DOC MIMMS Now go on to see your Ma. She'll be glad to see her sons alive. (choking) And for her sake, stay that way. EXT. MIMMS HOME - MINUTES LATER We see Frank and Jesse mount up. Zee is at the door seeing them off. FRANK We'll be back on Saturday with Cole and Bob, give you a hand with the repairs. ZEE Thank you. For everything. Especially that story you told my father. Jesse is about to object, but Zee raises a hand. ZEE (CONT'D) I'm going to go cry now, so I don't have time for your lies. But I'll see you Saturday. Zee kisses her fingertips and extends them to the boys, then disappears into the house. CLOSE ON: Frank shaking his head as they ride away. FRANK That Zerelda turned into a hell of a woman, eh -- WIDEN TO REVEAL Jesse's not next to him. Frank turns. Jesse's still staring at the door. Frank rides back, takes Jesse's horse by the reins. As Frank turns Jesse's horse and leads it away, Jesse's head keeps pivoting, fixed on the door. After a moment, Jesse turns to look forward, taking his reins. The brothers ride away slowly. FRANK (CONT'D) "Big and older"? JESSE You can shut up now. FRANK You are a charmer. JESSE I swear I'll shoot you in your sleep. FRANK Next time try "fat and haggard." Jesse pulls down his hat and groans into it. EXT. JAMES FARM - DAY Jesse and Frank ride up. Out of the farmhouse bursts MA JAMES, a big, rugged frontier woman who is absolutely hysterical. MA My boys! My boys! She hauls Jesse and Frank clean out of their saddles. MA (CONT'D) My boys are alive! FRANK (strangling) Not if you don't ease up a bit, Ma... She looks at both at arm's length. MA Did you kill Yankees? JESSE A fair number, Ma. MA Say your prayers? FRANK Every night, Ma. MA Good. Now get inside and wash up for dinner. INT. JAMES HOME Jesse and Frank enter, surprised to find Cole, Bob, Comanche Tom, and a gawky 15 year old JIM YOUNGER all eating at their kitchen table. FRANK Well look at Jimmy Younger. You're all grown up. JIM (mouth full) Mmmph-hmpph. BOB (sheepishly) Your Ma wouldn't let us leave until we ate something. COLE That was two hours ago. MA I don't see clean plates. The men dutifully return to the meal. Jesse nods his head at Comanche Tom. JESSE (quiet) Ma, I'm glad to see you being nice to our Injun friend. MA He's a good Christian and he killed Yankees. Jesus told me that made him an all right boy. Ma WALKS OFF. FRANK She's still talking to Jesus. JESSE What worries me is that Jesus is talking back. EXT. JAMES FARM We can hear the laughter from inside the lit house. Night falls and DISSOLVE TO: EXT. JAMES FARM - DAY - A FEW WEEKS LATER Like a time-lapse film we see the surrounding trees have filled out, the stone fence is repaired, the shabby paint redone in sparkling white. Jesse and Cole, shirtless, are driving a post into a hole. Frank STEPS OUT of the house and joins them. JESSE You ever notice Zerelda's eyes? COLE She got two of them. FRANK I think one of 'em's glass. COLE Which one, right or left? FRANK The brown one. JESSE (to Cole) You talk big for a man who screwed another man back in Atlanta. Frank laughs as Cole raises the shovel to strike Jesse. FRANK Oh, Lord, the dance hall girl at Bunty's... COLE Sadie was not a man! JESSE She had a moustache. COLE She was European! JESSE All right, calm down. I'll agree Sadie was a woman -- Jesse and Frank swallow their laughs. JESSE (CONT'D) -- if you stop saying things about my Zee. FRANK Your Zee? Hmm. (quoting) "From women's eyes this doctrine I derive: they sparkle still the right Promethean fire; They are the books, the arts, the academes, that show, contain, and nourish all the world." COLE I have no idea what you just said, but it sounded real nice. FRANK Shakespeare. (pause) He's European. COLE Ah. JESSE You want to write that down for me so I can say it to Zee? The post finally drops straight into the hole. Jesse and Cole shrug into shirts and grab a pitcher of lemonade. JESSE (CONT'D) Thanks for the help. COLE After all you did on our farm? (sips, then) You miss it, don't you Jesse? JESSE The war? What, are you crazy? (beat) There are things I miss about it. COLE It was exciting. JESSE But it was a whole lot of killing. Why should we miss that? COLE Because we were good at it? Hell, we were great at it. Jesse, don't tell anyone I said this, because everybody knows I'm the toughest man in this town, but you are one terrifying sonofabitch with those guns. JESSE (regretful, but not) Yeah. Frank looks at Jesse thoughtfully. Then all three notice ANGLE ON A BUGGY that stops at the edge of the property. Ma STEPS OUT onto the porch next to Frank to meet: A man in a suit, ROLLIN PARKER, and three riders who dismount and flank Parker: two DETECTIVES and a big Scot with a beard and no moustache, ALAN PINKERTON. Pinkerton is wearing a suit and a gun in a high waistband. All four advance to the house. PARKER Howdy, folks. How are you this afternoon? COLE "Howdy"? JESSE Easterners. MA We're just fine, thank you, sir. PARKER I am Rollin H. Parker, personal emissary of Mr. Thaddeus Rains, president of the Rock Island and Pacific Railroad. These two gentlemen are Pinkerton detectives, working for Mr. Thaddeus Rains, president of the Rock Island and Pacific Railroad, and this gentleman here is the famous Alan Pinkerton, founder of the Secret Service and now working under contract to Mr. Thaddeus Rains. JESSE Would that be Thaddeus Rains, president of the Rock Island and Pacific Railroad? FRANK You know him? JESSE Heard of him. PARKER (trying to regain control) As you have no doubt heard from your neighbors, our railroad is moving west. JESSE That makes sense, as east would put you underwater. Pinkerton coughs a laugh. Parker glares at him and continues. PARKER ... moving west, opening the frontier for folks such as yourself. Your acreage here is on the proposed right of way. Parker produces a piece of paper. Ma takes it. PARKER (CONT'D) I'm here for your signature on this land sales contract. I'm authorized to pay you two dollars an acre. MA Two dollars? PARKER That's right. That's the price authorized by the railroad's board, and approved by the Department of the Interior of the Government of the United States of America. MA This land ain't for sale. Pinkerton steps forward. PINKERTON Ma'am, I can understand how you might feel that way -- you've made a lovely home here. But it's really not up to me or you. Are you familiar with the legal concept of the Right of Eminent Domain? FRANK Yeah, I am. What about it? Parker is surprised. Pinkerton has become interested in these farmers. PINKERTON Well, this land is about to be condemned. PARKER I'm doing you folks a favor -- COLE Said the skinner to the mule. PARKER -- with a price of two dollars an acre for this one time only offer. After today the price goes down. So if I were you, I'd just sign the contract, and I'll be on my way. Frank takes the contract from Ma and hands it back to Parker. FRANK Good day, Mr. Parker You can tell Mr. Thaddeus Rains to put this where the sun don't shine. (to the boys) Shakespeare. JESSE/COLE Ah. Parker flushes with anger. Pinkerton and his men rest their hands on their guns. PINKERTON I don't think you understand. You don't have a choice. CLICK CLICK and we see Jesse's drawn and cocked two Colts from out of thin air. Frank has pulled his rifle from the doorway. Parker and the detectives are furious, but Pinkerton seems no more than curious. PARKER (to Ma) Ma'am. You have to look in your heart and do what you know is right here. MA Let me ask the Lord. Ma bows her head for a moment. She then nods and looks up. MA (CONT'D) The Lord says we can bury 'em out back in the orchard, nobody'll ever find them. JESSE Somebody's in a vengeful smiting mood today. FRANK Why don't we just let them go for today, Ma. We'll bury them out back next time. MA Oh all right. Parker, and the detectives are stepping backward to the buggy. PARKER You people are making a serious mistake! Pinkerton himself has lingered, taking in the group. PINKERTON (nodding) Nicely played. Parker, Pinkerton and the detectives RIDE OFF. The group at the James house watches them go, then Cole turns to Jesse. COLE Where the hell did you get those guns? OFF JESSE'S SHRUG WE DISSOLVE TO: INT. SCHOOL HOUSE - NIGHT Dozens of men and a few women are packed into the one room school house. Among them are Frank and Jesse. Doc Mimms is leading the meeting. FRANK I went up to the courthouse and looked at the right of way documents for the rail bed. The railroad doesn't even need our land, they're just taking the land on both sides for as far as they can. JESSE Damn. All that reading paid off. DOC MIMMS Floor recognizes Clell Miller. CLELL MILLER, tall and blond, steps forward. CLELL They're saying we don't sell, we might end up with nothing! FRANK That's only if we don't stick together. DOC MIMMS (pointing) Loni Packwood. LONI PACKWOOD, a sad, scruffy man stands up. LONI I say this is the last straw. I came back from the war, I found my house burned down. My cows was dead. Now my wife's run off with my cousin, Jeb, that sonofabitch. (tearing up) Took my dog-- DOC MIMMS Ah, Loni, about the railroad. LONI I forget. (almost weeping) Took my dog... Another FARMER steps up. FARMER I signed. FRANK Harlan, you can't. FARMER I'm tired of fighting. I'm just gonna take my family and move west. CLELL Maybe we should hire a lawyer. FARMER 2 That's a good idea! FRANK It would be, if the courts were on the up and up. CLELL So what do we do? ANGLE ON the school house door as it BANGS open and Bob Younger STUMBLES IN, bleeding from a cut on his forehead, being supported by Zee. BOB They got Cole. He collapses into a seat. The crowd surrounds him. ZEE He came to our house, Daddy. I figured you'd all want to hear this. Jesse and Frank are next to Bob. Zee puts a hand on Jesse's shoulder. He notices. BOB They came up, made the same offer they made you folks. Our little brother Jim tried to chase 'em off, one of those detectives hit him in the head, knocked him out. Cole lost his temper. FRANK (rubbing his forehead) Oh no... BOB He just lost his temper a little. JESSE (sighing) How many of them did he kill? BOB Two. FRANK Damn! BOB They said because the detectives were working for the Department of the Interior -- FRANK The Army can hang him. BOB Tomorrow. CLELL What do we do? JESSE Nothing. The crowd stares at Jesse. JESSE (CONT'D) You folks are going to do nothing. You're all going to go home right now. So you're going to be able to swear on a Bible that you don't know anything about what's going to happen tomorrow. Jesse's gaze is at once noble and terrifying. The crowd quietly begins to disperse. DOC MIMMS Boys... JESSE Go home, Doc. (softly) They ain't gonna hang no more Liberty boys. Doc Mimms nods, EXITS. Jesse walks to the other end of the school house. Bob, Frank, Clell and Loni fall in behind him. The door SWINGS OPEN again and Comanche Tom enters with Jim Younger sporting six-guns way too big for him. COMANCHE TOM I couldn't lose him. BOB Jim Younger, I told you-- JIM It's my fault they're gonna hang Cole. I want in. FRANK Jim, it was just a matter of time before they tried to hang somebody else to scare off the other farmers. JESSE And you're too young. JIM (to Jesse) I'm the same age you were when you went off to war. JESSE And the same age Web was. No. ZEE (O.S.) (O.S.) You're wasting time. Zee joins them. JESSE Zee, go home. Zee's eyebrows go up. ZEE Who else was there when they hanged the others? The men look at each other. Nothing. ZEE (CONT'D) You need to know how they do it. Which way they walk up. What order they do things in. And if you mess up rescuing Cole because you won't listen to a woman, then God damn you all. Pause. JESSE All right. Seven of us against a Union regiment and Pinkerton detectives in broad daylight in the middle of Main Street. Jesse smiles. BOB He's smiling. JIM Is that bad? FRANK Very. EXT. LIBERTY CITY GALLOWS - THE NEXT DAY Soldiers flank the gallows, which stand at the bottom of the stairs to City Hall. A small drum corps beats a stark rhythm. Parker is watching this like a sideshow. Pinkerton is next to him, scanning the crowd of locals which is getting larger and surlier by the minute. PARKER Relax, Alan. The Army has this all in hand. And Mr. Thaddeus Rains will be very pleased with this news. Nothing like a hanging to motivate the populace to relocate. PINKERTON It's not my job to relax. I've put men facing out both ways down Main Street, so nobody can ride in shooting. I've got a sharpshooter up on the water tower just in case. Pinkerton WAVES to a FIGURE in a suit atop the water tower. CUT TO: EXT. WATER TOWER We see it is FRANK JAMES in the suit, who WAVES BACK and then kneels and sights down his long rifle. Tucked away behind him, out of sight from the street, is a bound-and-gagged PINKERTON SNIPER in his underwear. CUT TO: EXT. GALLOWS Cole, his face swollen from a beating, is marched up the stairs of the gallows toward the waiting hangman. LONG SHOT of the gallows, detectives and soldiers down the street on both sides, guns ready. The position is completely unassailable. Cole is at the platform. His hands are tied in front of him. The noose is placed on his neck. BACK TO The gallows. Parker leans forward in anticipation. A UNION LIEUTENANT approaches with the black hood. Cole spits in his face. The CROWD ROARS. The Lieutenant angrily motions to the HANGMAN, who grabs the lever -- The drums STOP -- But the drumming doesn't. The drum corps look at each other, confused. The Army men and the Pinkertons squint in concentration. There's definitely some sort of rhythmic DRUMMING, coming closer... The CROWD, sensing something, easing back from the gallows... The drumming gets LOUDER ... EXT. STREET REVEAL Fifty-odd CATTLE suddenly STAMPEDING from down the street, their hooves creating the drumming! REACTION SHOTS as the Pinkertons and Army men start to scatter, the cattle surging around them -- EXT. VIEWING STAND ANGLE ON Parker and Alan Pinkerton running for cover, Pinkerton half-turned to watch the action. PINKERTON Brilliant... Pinkerton suddenly spots something confusing. We FOLLOW his stare to see -- ANGLE ON a HORSE in the middle of the cattle, cutting through the steer, towards the gallows. THE HANGMAN REACHES FOR THE LEVER AGAIN, BUT JUST AS HE DOES - Jesse -- masked -- appears from the side of the horse, where he's been hanging on Indian-style. He gets a leg up on the horse's back and LEAPS -- SLAMMING into the Hangman, bringing him down! The cattle pass the gallows, revealing that the tight ranks of the Army and Pinkertons are now spread out -- EXT. GENERAL STORE SMASH! From the nearby GENERAL STORE, the other masked rescuers CRASH through the big front window on horseback and ride into the Army men, FIRING AWAY. TOTAL CHAOS! The Army men and Pinkertons fight towards the gallows. As Jesse untangles himself from the Hangman, the Union Lieutenant reaches for the lever but BANG drops as Frank opens fire. Frank starts picking off soldiers. The detectives and remaining soldiers are completely disoriented. EXT. GALLOWS Jesse flashes a knife and the noose drops away from Cole's neck. Facing Cole, he cuts the rope on Cole's wrists -- Cole instantly draws Jesse's guns from his waist holster, spin-reverses them and SHOOTS two Union soldiers climbing the stairs behind Jesse's back. Jesse and Cole exchange a look, then Jesse steps away -- As Bob rides by he TOSSES JESSE'S GUNBELT into the air. Jesse draws both guns from the belt as it flies by, spins and starts shooting. EXT. MAIN STREET The soldiers have totally broken ranks. One riderless horse led by Comanche Tom pulls up by the scaffold. Jesse LEAPS ON and Cole jumps on behind him. Jesse puts the spurs to it and the horse SURGES into a gap in the crowd. Allen Pinkerton steps past the panicking troops, squarely in the path of the charging horse. He draws his gun and FIRES. The bullet PLOWS into Jesse just as the terrified horse lurches forward, TRAMPLING Pinkerton. Cole holds Jesse up and the riders take off down the street. We see Frank has disappeared from the water tower. The soldiers fire at the fleeing liberators. One of the detectives runs over to the injured Alan Pinkerton. DETECTIVE Sir, are you all right? (shout) Somebody get a doctor! EXT. MIMMS HOME - NIGHT WE SEE one window upstairs with a light on. INT. BEDROOM Doc Mimms has just finished bandaging Jesse, who lies unconscious beneath the sheets. Zee is holding an oil lamp. ZEE He's going to be fine, right Daddy? DOC MIMMS The bullet came out clean, but he lost a whole lot of blood. Praying wouldn't hurt. The SOUND OF HOOFBEATS APPROACHES from outside. INT. LIVING ROOM Doc Mimms opens the door. A UNION OFFICER and a squad of soldiers push in. OFFICER Good evening, sir, we're looking for a fugitive. DOC MIMMS A fugitive? Who? OFFICER We don't know, but he was very badly wounded. We're checking all the houses in the area. INT. BEDROOM Zee hears her father protesting, then FOOTSTEPS on the stairs. Quickly she undresses, grabs a quilt from a chest and jumps into bed with Jesse. She pulls the quilt up to her neck, completely hiding him. At that moment, the Officer barges in. Zee lets out a little gasp as if startled awake. She covers herself with the quilt. ZEE Sir! Who are you? OFFICER Oh. Sorry ma'am. ZEE I should hope so. The Officer EXITS. Zee watches the door for a moment, then looks down fondly at Jesse. ZEE (CONT'D) Jesse, are you awake? JESSE (groggy) Mmmm. Zee gently pushes his hair off his face. Then her expression changes. ZEE Jesse, is that your hand? JESSE Nuh-huh ... Jesse smiles in his sleep. Zee jumps out of the bed and wraps a dressing gown around herself. Doc Mimms enters. DOC MIMMS They're gone. What are you -- ZEE I fooled them into thinking I was alone. DOC MIMMS Well, I hope the boy pulls through. We should know in the morning. ZEE (with a little smile) I think he's already feeling better. A puzzled Doc Mimms follows her out. EXT. LIBERTY MAIN STREET - AFTERNOON - TWO WEEKS LATER A lavishly appointed carriage rolls up to the front of the nicest hotel in town. Rollin Parker and his retinue of Pinkerton detectives scurry to the door. The DOOR OPENS. Out steps THADDEUS RAINS, wearing an elegant suit he bought in London last year and a scowl he picked up in Boston three decades ago. The scowl fits him better. PARKER Mr. Thaddeus Rains, sir, it is a pleasure to have you join us in the field. RAINS And it is my pleasure to be here. PARKER Really! RAINS NO! It is NOT my pleasure to have to leave my board room to come to this godforsaken piece of dirt to discover why in the name of all that is holy you cannot seem to evict a few simple farmers from their PATHETIC LITTLE MUDHOLES so that I may build the GREATEST railroad that this country has ever seen! PARKER I can completely understand your distress, sir. Rains sighs. As he speaks, he checks a heavy, gold, ornate and ever-present POCKETWATCH on a GOLD CHAIN. RAINS Parker, tell me what's going on so I can return as quickly as possible to Boston and my whores and cigars, not necessarily in that order. PARKER Two weeks ago, we managed to arrange to have the Army hang one of the local farmers. RAINS Good. PARKER Unfortunately not, sir. A gang of local thugs managed to rescue him from the gallows. Not only has this inspired resistance from the other farmers, the redoubtable Mr. Alan Pinkerton was seriously injured during the incident. RAINS Leaving you in charge of operations until he recovers. PARKER (puffing with pride) Yes sir. RAINS Just perfect. PARKER A further impediment is that the Army garrison has been ordered to move on from Liberty. We will no longer have that particular stick with which to threaten the farmers. RAINS You see the Army leaving and you see the loss of a tool. I see a power void to be filled. As we have the most power, we may move with impunity. PARKER I see. I'll get together four patrols of our detectives for action tonight. RAINS I'll teach these podunks what happens when they challenge the righteousness of progress. EXT. MIMMS HOME - AFTERNOON - THAT SAME DAY Zee is on the porch. Jesse COMES THROUGH the door, moving gingerly. Zee immediately moves to support him. ZEE You shouldn't be up. JESSE I've been on my back two weeks. I'm sick of it. ZEE You're sick of my company? JESSE No! I mean, of course not. No. ZEE Teasing you is completely unfair. JESSE What you do to me is unfair. The teasing, I mean. ZEE I shouldn't tease a hero. JESSE What? ZEE Everybody in the county knows it was you who rescued Cole. We're all so proud of you, Jesse. And not a single farm's been sold to the railroad since. You're everybody's hero. JESSE I wasn't the only one risking my neck that day. ZEE So you're saying I should leave you alone and go spend time with Jimmy Younger? JESSE Unfair. You are completely unfair. They look at each other warmly. Frank DRIVES UP in a carriage. FRANK You ready to stop loafing around with this young lady and get back to farming? JESSE What do you think? FRANK Would you get in the carriage? Until Ma has you home so she can fuss over you herself, she's gonna make me miserable. Doc Mimms COMES OUT onto the porch. JESSE What do you say, sir? DOC MIMMS Go on. You're pretty much all healed up. Jesse and Zee exchange glances. Zee withdraws demurely into the house. Jesse straightens up and hops easily into the carriage. FRANK You're looking a bit more spry now that somebody -- JESSE (to Frank) Shut up. (to Doc Mimms) Uh, Doc, I was wondering if, uh, this evening, I could come by? DOC MIMMS You know you're welcome any time! JESSE (unusually awkward) Yesss, but I was thinking, I could come by, and then take Zee out. Some place near. With other folk. Near. Here. (beat) But out. DOC MIMMS (bemused) It's fine by me, Jesse. FRANK Don't worry, sir, I'll make sure they're always properly chaperoned. Jesse slooooowly turns to glare at Frank. DOC MIMMS (grinning) Why, that hadn't even occurred to me, Frank. I am deeply in your debt. FRANK Army's leaving town, so Cole can stop hiding up in the woods and come back to his farm. Everybody's getting together at the Younger place for a to-do. Frank tips his hat, and the carriage MOVES OFF. EXT. BARNYARD - NIGHT Dozens of people are milling about happily in the lantern light of a Western party. Some are dancing to the small banjo-led band. A small knot of men are comparing war stories. Cole Younger is wandering among them, people clapping his shoulder, shaking his hand. Jesse -- formally accompanying Zee -- and Frank arrive at the edge of the light. Immediately the entire group bursts into applause and crowds Jesse. Cole cuts through and bear hugs Jesse, making him wince. COLE Here's Liberty's favorite son! (quietly) I'll never forget what you did, cousin. BOB Zee, I'm pleased you came. ZEE Why thank you, Bob. BOB I'm especially pleased you came with Jesse. (off her look) Seeing as right now there's a gaggle of girls hoping to dance with Jesse who are just going to have to settle for the many charms of Bob Younger. ANGLE ON A group of obviously disappointed, beautiful young women. Bob runs a hand through his hair. JESSE You have no shame. BOB Not yet. But I'm hoping. The party starts up again, and everyone is caught up in the good times. ANGLE ON Jesse SWINGING Zee into a group of dancers. They join in the Two-Step, and Jesse's as smooth as silk. EXT. HILLSIDE - NIGHT - A WHILE LATER Jesse, carrying a lantern, and Zee are walking. We can hear the party still going just a little ways away. They reach a tree at the hilltop with a beautiful view of the stars and the river. They sit down, their backs against the tree. JESSE I used to come to this tree when I was a kid and imagine what my life would be like when I got older. ZEE You didn't want to farm? JESSE I was thinking more along the lines of being a river pirate. ZEE A river pirate. JESSE Arr. Hand over your jewels, Missy. ZEE Thank God you grew out of that. (pause) You did grow out of that, didn't you? JESSE Mostly. It would be an all right life, for a bachelor. ZEE You planning on being a bachelor your whole life, Jesse James? JESSE Not if I find the right girl. ZEE And what's this right girl like? JESSE Smart. Funny. Bossy. Always makes me think she's two steps ahead of me. And big buck teeth. ZEE Where will you find such a girl? JESSE Honestly, you'd do if only you had the buck teeth. Zee fakes a monstrous overbite. JESSE (CONT'D) (dreamy) Finally. The two move a little closer. Eye contact. JESSE (CONT'D) Ahem. "From this doctrine..." No, ah... "From women's eyes this doctrine I derive, they sparkle still like ... shiny... sparkling rocks..." ZEE Sparkling rocks? JESSE Little ones. ZEE Is this one of Frank's Shakespeare poems you're trying to quote? JESSE Yep. ZEE Were you planning on kissing me when you finished quoting? JESSE I've been planning on kissin' you for a very long time. They kiss. It's everything it should be. BOOM! Jesse and Zee are startled by a flash of light and sound. They turn to look back -- EXT. YOUNGER BARN The partygoers are RUNNING from the YARD to the BARN, which is ON FIRE in several different places. As the Younger brothers and Frank get close, they see a squad of masked riders disappearing down the road. Some of the men SHOOT at the riders, but the distance is too great. Jim makes a run for the BARN, but Bob grabs him. COLE BASTARDS! Come back here and face me! FRANK Get buckets! Some of the crowd starts to form a bucket line to the well. Jesse and Zee RUN UP. Frank turns to him. FRANK (CONT'D) Pinkertons. It's the railroad. JESSE Ma. Frank and Jesse bolt for their horses, swing into the saddles and GALLOP OFF. EXT. JAMES HOUSE From a bit down the road, looking just fine. Jesse and Frank reign in as relief rushes across their faces -- AN EXPLOSION tears the house apart like a pile of matchsticks! Jesse and Frank urge their horses into a full gallop. EXT. YARD Jesse and Frank leap from their mounts, trying to get close to the house. The flames are too strong. JESSE Ma! Ma! Jesse's ventured so close his coat catches fire. Frank tears it from him and stamps it out. Jesse ignores him, still pacing back and forth in front of the inferno. JESSE (CONT'D) Ma! Please! MA (O.S.) (O.S.) (weakly) Boys? The brothers turn and nearly drop from shock. Ma is stumbling toward them, half her hair singed off, brutally BURNED. FRANK Jesus mercy -- They reach her just as she collapses. Jesse is cradling her, Frank with his arms around both of them. MA Riders -- JESSE We know, Ma. Now we got to get you to Doc Mimms. MA Take care of each other, boys. You say your prayers. Jesse is openly crying. Frank has tears silently streaming down his face. JESSE Doc Mimms will -- MA Shush. Ma's eyes turn up, and she half-smiles. MA (CONT'D) Well look at that. The Good Lord's a bit shorter than I reckoned. Ma gently stops breathing. ANGLE ON The boys holding Ma, framed by the roaring flames of their home. Jesse leans his head back and lets out a HOWL OF RAGE AND PAIN AND HATE that goes on and on and on... DISSOLVE TO: EXT. JAMES FARM - MORNING Frank and Jesse are staring at the smoking ruins of their lives. Other townsfolk are milling nearby, including Zee and the Youngers. FRANK ... We could move on. Rebuild. Make a decent life someplace else. JESSE Don't care. FRANK Didn't think you would. (turning away) I'm going to go make the coffin. JESSE Make a thousand of 'em. Still won't be enough by the time I'm through. Frank is gone. COLE Our place, Clell Miller's, Sammy Johnston, the Creeders. Will Hite. BOB The sheriff says it was a gang of drunk Kansas boys. COLE I say we ride into town and kill us some Pinkertons and railroad men. JIM I like that. JESSE No. They stare at him. JESSE (CONT'D) This isn't a feud, this is war. They've got more men than we do. We kill detectives, they can replace 'em in a day. COLE (snapping) So what do we do, General Lee? JESSE Just like in the war. Harass their supply lines. We kill the railroad's men, they won't care. BOB But if we take their money and supplies... JESSE Exactly. JIM That's a great plan, Jesse! Cole nods grudgingly. BOB I'll get us a few more men, and Comanche Tom'll ride with us. JIM Where do we hit first, Jesse? COLE I'll pick the first job! I mean... I know a girl down at the bank. See if she can't get a list of towns where the railroad keeps its money. JESSE Perfect, Cole. COLE Let's ride. The Youngers mount up. Jesse walks to the ruined house, pulls a big iron trunk from the wreckage. He KICKS it open, reaches in, and pulls out his gun belts. Zee appears behind him in what remains of the doorway. ZEE I am so sorry, Jesse. JESSE Frank and me have to go away for a while. Zee considers this, puts her head in close to Jesse's. ZEE You and I, we've started... something, you know? (Jesse nods) I don't know what'll happen if you do this. JESSE Me neither. ZEE Let the law -- JESSE Laws don't touch men like Thaddeus Rains. Only justice does. ZEE Whose justice? Yours or God's? (no answer) When will you stop? JESSE When my name makes them cry in their sleep. When I've brought them to ashes. Jesse kisses her gently, turns and walks to where the Youngers are standing. Zee can barely conceal her anger and heartbreak. DISSOLVE TO: EXT. FIDELITY BANK AND TRUST - DAY ESTABLISHING SHOT of a Midwestern bank on a quiet street. INT. FIDELITY BANK There are two teller windows, a couple of male customers and a MOTHER and CHILD. Jesse and Cole ENTER dressed for the trail, longrider coats and spurs. Saddlebags are slung over their shoulders. JESSE Excuse me, ladies and gentlemen, but I have bad news. The railroad payroll has been stolen. The BANK MANAGER steps out from behind his desk. MANAGER What are you talking about? The railroad's money is right over there in that safe. Jesse draws two guns, Cole produces a shotgun from his coat. JESSE That safe? MANAGER Ah. EXT. FIDELITY BANK Frank James, Bob and Jim Younger, Clell Miller, Loni Packwood, Comanche Tom and several new GANG MEMBERS wait along both sides of the street in this medium sized mid-western town. Some are standing next to their horses, some mounted. ANOTHER ANGLE An OLD MAN with a cane is walking shakily towards the bank. Frank jerks his head and Jim intercepts him. JIM Hold on there, sir. Bank's closed today. OLD MAN Wha? JIM Bank holiday! Bank's closed! Jim tries to steer the old man away. The old man starts batting at him with the cane. OLD MAN Get off me! JIM Ow! Ow! Frank sighs. INT. FIDELITY BANK Jesse and the Bank Manager are having a staredown. MANAGER This is outrageous. Who are you people? JESSE The James Gang. COLE (annoyed) The James-Younger Gang. JESSE Sorry. COLE Don't let it happen again. EXT. FIDELITY BANK The old man is still smacking Jim with the cane. Bob crosses to help. BOB Sir, it's a bank holiday -- SMACK SMACK and now the old man's laying the cane on both Bob and Jim. JIM Ow! BOB Ow ow! Frank hangs his head. INT. FIDELITY BANK Cole turns to the Woman and Child. COLE Ma'am, kindly cover that child's eyes. WOMAN Why? COLE I don't want her to see me shoot this man. The woman covers the child's eyes. Cole raises the shotgun. Jesse half covers his eyes and turns his head. The Manager swallows. EXT. FIDELITY BANK Comanche Tom walks over to where the old man is still SMACKING Jim and Bob. OLD MAN I know it ain't no durned bank holiday! COMANCHE TOM You're right, sir. OLD MAN Then why can't I go in there? COMANCHE TOM On account of we're robbing it. OLD MAN Oh. Why didn't you just say so? COMANCHE TOM It's a secret. OLD MAN Fine. I'll just wait here. COMANCHE TOM I'd appreciate that. The old man settles against the wall. Comanche Tom moves back to his horse. Bob and Jim walk off, glaring at the old man. INT. SHERRIFF'S OFFICE A lean, middle-aged SHERRIFF is walking by his window. His DEPUTY is whittling at the desk. The Sherriff pulls up short. SHERRIFF What the -- DEPUTY What is it? SHERRIFF Old Man Tucker is just standing quiet outside the bank. DEPUTY So? SHERRIFF When have you ever known Old Man Tucker not to be yelling at everybody? He takes in the group of riders, reaches for his rifle. EXT. FIDELITY BANK Jesse and Cole RUN FROM the bank with full saddlebags. Everybody MOUNTS UP and starts riding down main street. FRANK How'd it go in there? JESSE Fine. How'd it go out here? FRANK We're gonna have to talk... BANG! The gang flinches as a chunk of wood splinters from a post. They turn to see the Sherriff running out in front of them, raising his rifle -- The entire Gang draws their guns. Jesse raises a hand. JESSE Sir, you can do this the smart way, or the stupid way. Only one way ends with you still breathin'. The Sherriff takes in the Gang's firepower. He lowers the rifle. JESSE (CONT'D) (to the Gang) Just 'cause we're robbing a bank, no reason not to be civil about it. The Gang turns and RIDES OFF hard. The DEPUTY walks up to the Sherriff a beat later. SHERRIFF Where the hell were you? DEPUTY I had you covered. (beat) From back there. SHERRIFF Shit. DISSOLVE TO: EXT. CAMP - NIGHT A bonfire burns in the middle of a rough camp in the woods. The Gang members are sitting around, relaxing and drinking coffee. All eyes are on Jesse and Cole as they finish counting the money. JESSE I got seven thousand. COLE I got three. BOB Ten thousand dollars! That's almost a thousand apiece! The men HOOT AND HOLLER. LONI My luck is changing at last! Cole holds up a pile of papers. COLE These are deeds and mortgages of farms the bank was holding for the railroad. BOB Better pass them over here before something happens to 'em. Cole goes to hand the papers to Bob and "accidentally" drops them in the fire. The men CHEER again. JESSE All right, settle down. All this money ain't ours. BOB Well, no, Jesse, it was the bank's. That's why we had to go to all that trouble of stealing it. (to Frank) You explain it to him. JESSE We oughta take some of this, give it to our neighbors in Liberty. Lot of people hurting up there. CLELL None of them risked their necks for this. FRANK Now, let's think about this. We create some good will with the folks hereabouts, make it easier to dodge the law. JESSE See, Frank's being smart about this. COLE Just because he reads all those books and knows all those big words doesn't make him smart. BOB Uhh, yeah it does. COLE You stay out of this, Bob. JIM I think Jesse's got a good idea -- COLE You stay out of this too, Jim. (to Jesse) Who put you in charge of this gang, anyway, Jesse? I did mighty fine leading us during the War. JESSE And I planned getting you off the hangman's deck -- FRANK And that's why you both lead the gang. Two of you went into that bank together, right? Jesse and Cole nod, still watching each other. FRANK (CONT'D) Two heads are better than one. All Jesse was doing was making a suggestion. Jesse nods, his face giving nothing up. FRANK (CONT'D) So we're waiting to hear what you think of the suggestion. As the other leader of the gang. Cole considers this. COLE I reckon it's the smart thing to do. The other Gang members grumble. Cole whirls on them. COLE (CONT'D) Hey! We decide something, that's it! We're in this for the long haul, and this idea of me and Jesse's will help give us more places to hide out without worrying about some farmer with a shotgun sneakin' up on us in our sleep. We've got to think -- FRANK Strategically. COLE -- Exactly. Because this is a war. CLELL This ain't no war. The Gang is taken aback by this blatant contradiction. Then a smile spreads across Clell's face. CLELL (CONT'D) Nobody paid me no thousand dollars to fight in the War! The Gang LAUGHS, and the tension is broken. Jesse and Cole slap each other's shoulders, and everyone starts counting their money and talking all at once. INT. SALOON - DAY The crowded saloon is alive with music, card-playing, and dancing girls. Various James Gang members are playing cards and drinking. Jesse, Cole, and Frank are at the bar. COLE It's not a bank. JESSE It's better. It's a construction depot. They'll have the strongbox and some ammo and explosives for us to take. That way we can take on a bigger job. FRANK And it's guarded by Pinkerton detectives. JESSE And I do so want to shoot some Pinkerton detectives. Jesse and Cole grin and slap each other on the back. Jim BURSTS in waving a newspaper. He quickly runs to the bar. JIM (stage whispering) We're famous! Jesse takes the paper. JESSE I'll be damned! The other Gang members drift over to the bar. JESSE (CONT'D) (reading) "The Fidelity Bank and Trust was robbed on Tuesday by a gang of twenty heavily armed men." COLE Twenty?! LONI What are the odds, another gang robbing the same place right after we did. BOB Yeah, Loni, that's exactly what happened. JESSE "The outlaws calling themselves the James-Younger Gang shot their way out of town, wounding the Sherriff and three other townsfolk." BOB Hey! JESSE "Bank officials estimate the loss at fifty thousand dollars." CLELL We only got ten thousand. COMANCHE TOM This happens all the time when you let the white man count the money. JESSE "The U.S. District Marshal at St. Louis called this the first daylight bank robbery in American history." Jim whistles. JIM We made history. That's something to be proud of. COLE The rest of this is all lies. JESSE That just means the next time, we'll have to set the record straight ourselves. The Gang looks at him. EXT. THAXTON SWITCH DEPOT - NIGHT Half finished railroad tracks run alongside a few sheds and an office building. ANGLE ON The TRAIN TRACKS as the James-Younger Gang rides at full gallop. A rapid series of SEQUENTIAL EXPLOSIONS follows them, destroying the track for hundreds of yards. EXT. THAXTON SWITCH DEPOT - MORNING The entire work camp is DESTROYED. SMOKE still hangs over the twisted wreckage, a few wagons smolder, it looks like Omaha Beach at D-DAY plus 20. Thaddeus Rains is surveying the damage with Parker. PARKER They exchanged fire with the Pinkerton Guards, killing several of them. Then they raided the payroll office and blew the tracks for half a mile. RAINS How much did they get from the safe? PARKER Thirty-five thousand, sir. Coins and currency. And the delay from the miles of destroyed track -- RAINS I'll kill them for blowing up my railway! PARKER To be precise, they didn't blow up the tracks. RAINS THEN WHO DID?! PARKER We did. Rains stares at him. Parker swallows. PARKER (CONT'D) ... I mean, our men. Our own workers planted the dynamite. (beat) They were under duress. Rains controls his cerebral hemorrhage through sheer force of will. He checks his pocket watch, then says through gritted teeth: RAINS Where the hell is Pinkerton? The SOUND OF HORSES makes them turn. ANGLE ON A fancy carriage that pulls up. WE SEE the ground beneath the carriage. A boot hits the ground. Then another. Then the tip of a cane. REVEAL Alan Pinkerton now moving toward Rains and Parker, limping from when Jesse's horse trampled him. He has a newspaper folded up under one arm. RAINS (CONT'D) Look at this, Pinkerton! They got the payroll, and this damage will set construction back two months at least. PINKERTON (surveying) Not to mention my men who lost their lives. PARKER Your men knew the risks. RAINS What is going on here, man? PINKERTON My professional opinion is that you have managed to piss off the wrong bunch of farm boys this time. PARKER They had to be dealt with! PINKERTON By burning down their homes? RAINS You wouldn't have done that? PINKERTON Oh no, I would have done that. But I would have made sure I killed them, too. RAINS I want them arrested and hanged! PINKERTON Would a jury around here convict their own? I think not. We're beginning an interesting game here, Mr. Rains. RAINS This is no game. PINKERTON I'm afraid our adversaries don't agree. He hands Rains the paper. Rains' eyes bug out. He begins to read aloud. RAINS (reading) "A Rock Island and Pacific Railroad depot was robbed two nights ago just outside St. Louis, Missouri. The brave and daring James-Younger Gang was heavily outnumbered by Pinkerton detectives, but the city lawmen were no match for the guns of the West." PINKERTON It is a nice piece of writing. RAINS "The gang made off with thirty-five thousand dollars and also destroyed the Thaxton Switch construction, meaning that for a few months honest farmers will be able to sleep without fearing the railroad is coming to steal their land!" (he slams the paper into Parker's chest) Who wrote this!? I'll see him hanged every Tuesday for a month! PINKERTON Oh, that's the best part. He points Rains to the bottom of the article. RAINS "The foregoing article was sent to the newspaper. It was reputedly written by the outlaw -- (exploding) Jesse James himself!" Rains crushes the paper in his hands, raging as he surveys his destroyed rail tracks. CUT TO: INT. MIMMS HOME - DAY Doc Mimms is reading a paper to Zee. DOC MIMMS "...written by the outlaw Jesse James himself." Zee is pacing. ZEE He thinks this is some kind of game! DOC MIMMS I'm upset too, Zee, but Jesse and Cole know what they're doing. I'm sure they won't press their luck. Zee looks at him. Doc Mimms sighs. DOC MIMMS (CONT'D) I know. But the Lord protects madmen and prophets, and Jesse's...one of them. I'm just not sure which. DISSOLVE TO: EXT. RAILROAD TRACKS - DAY A freight train is coming. We can see "Rock Island and Pacific Railroad" written across the side. INT. ENGINE CAB The ENGINEER nudges the fireman. ENGINEER Look at that. Outside, along the railbed, members of the James Gang are holding a series of signs, each one a dozen yards after the other. The engineer reads each one as they pass. ENGINEER (CONT'D) (reading) "Better... slow... down... dynamite... ahead... too late... you're dead!" The engineer and the fireman look up. Ahead of them on the track is an overloaded wagon with barrels marked "TNT". The engineer slams on the brakes. The high pitched scream of steel on steel sounds out over the avalanche of sparks flying from the wheels. EXT. TRAIN TRACKS The train stops juuuuust in time. The front of the engine is inches away from the wagon. INT. ENGINE Jesse sticks his head in, guns drawn. JESSE That was a fine piece of driving, yes sir. He looks at the wagon. The engineer and fireman follow his gaze. EXT. TRAIN TRACKS Comanche Tom and Jim Younger climb on top of the wagon, kick over some barrels. They're empty, without even a top or bottom. INT. ENGINE Jesse grins as the engineer and fireman hang their heads. INT. BANK - DAY Jesse and Frank walk into a large bank dressed in suits. Just inside the door, Frank notices something odd and nudges Jesse. It's a "Wanted" poster. "Frank and Jesse James. $5,000 reward." They look back and forth at the artist's sketches and each other. They shake their heads "no." Jesse walks over to the teller's window. He hands a bill to the TELLER. JESSE Could you change this please? TELLER (studying it) Sir, this bill is counterfeit! Jesse draws. Frank whistles and Cole, Bob and Jim burst in. JESSE I don't think it's counterfeit. Do you mind if I take a look at all your real bills to compare? FRANK It's the scientific method. It's all the rage. INT. CONFERENCE ROOM - DAY IN a richly paneled conference room, a group of BANKERS, POLITICIANS and RAILROAD OFFICIALS are gathered around a large table. On the table is a map with a dozen red markers. Thaddeus Rains and Alan Pinkerton are studying the map. RAINS Senator, can't you do anything? A Missouri SENATOR shakes his head. SENATOR The people see the James-Younger Gang as heroes against the Eastern businessmen. This is not an area where men in suits are much loved. RAINS Pinkerton, why can't you get these outlaws? PINKERTON It's early in the game yet, Mr. Rains. Jesse James and I are just learning how each other moves, feeling out each other's patterns. RAINS I'm losing millions of dollars and months of time while you play chess with these farmers! PINKERTON Hardly farmers. I've done some checking. All these were in the War. These men know sabotage, tactics, and have four years of bloody fighting experience behind them. They are disciplined, well-trained and have a charismatic leader. If I were to design the perfect outlaw band, this gang is what I would create. RAINS So you can't tell me anything? PINKERTON It's going to be a long winter. Rains pounds the table. MONTAGE: VARIOUS SHOTS -- THE GANG On horseback, firing back at a posse. -- THE GANG RIDES THROUGH A FIELD Where dozens of sharecroppers are sweating away. They leave a wake of twenty dollar gold certificates fluttering in the furrows and hanging in the corn. -- PINKERTON, LEADING TWENTY DETECTIVES, RIDING HARD up to a crossroad. With a wave of his hand, never stopping, he splits one group off to head East, and he and the others head West. WALL OF "WANTED" POSTERS Marked the "James-Younger Gang." The James brothers and Younger brothers nod at the likenesses, which are getting better. All except Bob, who stares at his in disbelief. It looks nothing like him. Jesse tears down his poster and autographs it for a young boy. EXT. OPEN RANGE The Gang is riding hard. Cole and Jesse look over their shoulders, nod to each other, and WHISTLE. The men bring their horses down to an easy pace. JIM I never thought that posse was gonna give up. FRANK They were admirably persistent. COLE Jesse, we got to have a word. JESSE Sure, cousin. COLE All the posters and newspapers are calling this bunch the "James-Younger Gang." JESSE Yep. COLE Why aren't we the "Younger-James Gang"? I mean, there's three Younger brothers and only two James brothers here. JIM I kinda like the sound of the James-Younger Gang. COLE (bristling) Whose side you on? BOB No, Jimmy has a point. The Younger-James Gang could be confusing. COLE How? BOB Say we bust into a bank. We yell "We're the Younger-James Gang!" People are gonna be thinking, "The younger James Gang? Is there an older James Gang? How come we never heard of the older James gang?" So people are trying to figure that out instead of raising their arms. JESSE Can't argue with that. Cole rolls his eyes. COLE I think you boys are missing the point here... They continue to argue as they ride off. JIM How about "James-Younger" for the bank jobs and "Younger-James" for the train robberies? BOB See, that's even more confusing, people'll think there's two gangs... EXT. WESTERN STREET - DAY Comanche Tom RIDES UP to the building marked Marshall's Office. A MARSHALL and a dozen PINKERTON DETECTIVES are sitting around the porch. Tom leaps off his horse. COMANCHE TOM You 'um big lawman? MARSHALL Yeah, Injun. What do you want? COMANCHE TOM Great Chief of St. Louis send me. MARSHALL The District Marshall MARSHALL (CONT'D) Of St. Louis? COMANCHE TOM Ho-yah. Him say tell Big Lawman in Carville that badman Jesse James riding toward Rising Sun, above Great River, near Eagle Rock. MARSHALL East? East above the river heading for the Eagle Pass? COMANCHE TOM Ho-yah! The Marshall turns to his men. MARSHALL I want every man in town! We can cut off Jesse James before he crosses out of my territory! Let's go! The posse quickly mounts up. The Marshall tosses Comanche Tom a coin. MARSHALL (CONT'D) Go ahead to the saloon. But don't get too drunk! COMANCHE TOM Me get heap firewater -- The posse RIDES OFF. COMANCHE TOM (CONT'D) -- you cretins. Comanche Tom flips the coin over his shoulder. From around the corner THUNDERS the James Gang. They ride up to the building marked "Bank" right next to the Marshall's office. The Gang dismounts, runs in. An improbably short time later, the Gang members run back out with full saddlebags and mount up. Comanche Tom RIDES OFF with them. FRANK Nice performance, Tom. COMANCHE TOM I feel dirty. INT. CONFERENCE ROOM - DAY - MONTHS LATER The same men in suits and the same map, only now with more red markers on it. In the center of the group are Thaddeus Rains, Rollin Parker and Alan Pinkerton. RAINS Pinkerton. It's been eight months. I see robberies. I see hold ups. But I do not see men on the end of nooses. PINKERTON All of the James Gang's encounters have been with local law enforcement who, quite frankly, are no match for this group's cunning. PARKER What about your detectives? They haven't -- Pinkerton suddenly CLOSES on Rains and Parker. Rains doesn't back down, but we are acutely aware of the fact that Alan Pinkerton is a big, violent Scotsman. He never raises his voice here, but then again -- he doesn't have to. PINKERTON (to Parker) First of all: you, shut up. (to Rains) Now, you've given me a thousand miles of railroad to cover. Every time the James Gang strikes, we shift a hundred detectives to that area. But there's just too much open land, too many riverbeds to ride, caves to hide in. This gang operates across four states, often riding a hundred miles between jobs. RAINS I can't believe this. PINKERTON And there are some towns in Missouri where James and his men can walk openly, as heroes. PARKER How can that be? PINKERTON They donate money to farmers, to churches. Rumor has it they gave the sharecroppers of Maddox so much money they were able to build a school. RAINS With my money! PARKER We should go burn that school to the ground, sir! PINKERTON (dryly) Yes, that's the way to win the locals back to our side. RAINS I demand action. PINKERTON No, you demand results. They are not the same thing. And if you want results, you will let me do my job as I see fit. Unless of course, (jerking his head at Parker) You want this fool to saddle up and take another run at it? RAINS Can't you tell me anything? PINKERTON It's going to be a long spring. MONTAGE: VARIOUS SHOTS -- THE GANG RIDES ALONGSIDE A PAYROLL COACH, The COACH is marked with the "Rock Northern Railroad" logo. Suddenly Pinkerton guards leap up from hiding places in the coach and start firing! The gang fires back dropping two of the men. BANK WINDOW Old "Wanted" posters are replaced by a new set. THE COACH IS STOPPED Jesse and Frank are pulling the payroll off as the rest of the Gang keeps their guns on the remaining Pinkertons. Two dead Pinkertons lie on the ground. JESSE See, that's a shame. If people would just hand over the money and not shoot at us -- Loni looks at something in his hand. BOB What's that? LONI Lucky Rabbit's foot. Took it off that dead fella over there. BOB I don't think that one's working, Loni. Loni pockets the charm. -- JESSE, FRANK, AND THE YOUNGER BROTHERS Sit heads bowed in a small country church as the collection plate is passed. Jesse drops in a handful of twenty dollar gold pieces. -- A GROUP OF BOYS SWARM AROUND JESSE, Getting him to autograph his "WANTED! $10,000 REWARD DEAD OR ALIVE!" Poster. The Gang is all there, admiring the new posters. The likenesses are remarkable -- except for Bob's. It still looks nothing like him. And we can see Cole is not pleased at all the attention Jesse's getting. -- PINKERTON IN THE BOARD ROOM WITH HIS MAP, Directing his lieutenants on how to cover the territory. -- THE GANG CAROUSING IN A SALOON. Jesse is off to one side, writing a letter on fancy stationery. Frank is coaching him. AT THE MIMMS HOME, Doc Mimms hands Zee the envelope we just saw Jesse working with. Zee takes the envelope and tosses it into the burning fireplace. INT. WHITTLY BANK - DAY Jesse, Cole, Frank, and Bob are in the middle of a stick-up. All the BANK PATRONS have their hands up. JESSE Okay, folks, I think we know how this is going to go... BOB One false move and I'll blow your heads off! Jesse, Frank, and Cole look at Bob. JESSE Beg pardon? BOB You heard me, Jesse. You know how crazy I get! Jesse and Cole turn to the HEAD TELLER. JESSE 'Scuse us. HEAD TELLER Think nothing of it. Jesse and Cole cross to Bob. COLE We got a problem here, brother? BOB (low) Frankly, yes. I'm feeling a little left out. JESSE (sighing) This is about the "Wanted!" Posters, isn't it. BOB Yes. I am obviously not standing out in people's minds at the robberies. COLE (to Jesse) This is your fault for hogging all the publicity. JESSE Hold on, hold on, we all know Bob is an important part of the gang. Frank arrives. FRANK Gents, we are in the middle of something here. JESSE Bob's upset. FRANK The posters? JESSE/COLE Yeah. BOB Don't say "yeah" in that voice. This is important. Frank, Jesse, and Cole exchange looks. They turn back to the now puzzled crowd. FRANK Pardon the delay, folks, but we had to get Mad Bob Younger under control! JESSE Bob here'll kill a man for sneezing, and he's the best shot in the gang. HEAD TELLER Better than you, Jesse? JESSE Bob Younger taught me how to shoot! The crowd MURMURS APPRECIATIVELY. FRANK Now, we would like to get back to the robbery. HEAD TELLER Of course. The Head Teller starts filling a saddlebag with money. Bob glares at a few people, then nods at Jesse. Jesse winks back. DISSOLVE TO: INT. SALOON - NIGHT The place is alive with song, gambling, and the money the James Gang is dropping. At one table, Loni Packwood lays down his poker hand. As the other players moan, he rakes in the pot. CLELL Damn, Loni, you're lucky. LONI Luckiest man in the West, now that I'm riding with Jesse James! He raises his lucky rabbit's foot in toast to Jesse, who is at the bar nursing a bottle of whisky with Frank. ANGLE ON Jesse and Frank at the bar. JESSE This has been a good year. FRANK Jesse, we're outlaws. JESSE And we're good at it. FRANK It got to you, didn't it. All the killing in the war. You need it now. JESSE You've killed your fair share of men. FRANK If I could go back to farming -- JESSE That's a lie. You could've bought a dozen farms with the money we've stolen. FRANK I can't quit and leave you alone. I can't quit until you quit. Ma would've wanted it that way. JESSE We're doing this for Ma. FRANK Maybe it started out that way. But now... JESSE What do you want me to say, Frank? I was killing men when I was fifteen. I like getting shot at. I like riding out of town with a posse at my back. This is a helluva better life than farming. FRANK A better life than the one you could have had with Zee? Jesse HURLS the whisky bottle against the wall. At the CRASH the saloon falls silent. Every eye turns to the James boys. Frank stands up. FRANK (CONT'D) I'll bet you every dollar we've stolen that she hasn't read a single one of the letters you've sent her. Jesse is boiling. His hand twitches. FRANK (CONT'D) You going to throw down on me, Jesse? Jesse's jaw is grinding. JESSE Don't do this, Frank. You know I love you. Frank nods, embraces his brother. The saloon noise STARTS UP again. Frank steps away. FRANK We're drunk. JESSE Oh yeah. FRANK Just do me a favor. Think about what this is costing everybody. Not just the railroad. Jesse nods and Frank EXITS. Jim Younger, also drunk, steps up. JIM You okay, Jesse? JESSE Yeah. Hey, are you drinking whisky? You're too young to be drinking whisky. JIM Not too young to shoot a man, not to young to drink. JESSE (jolted) I guess so. JIM I was always jealous Web Mimms got to go off and fight with you and Cole. Now it's my turn. Jesse takes this in silently. JESSE Jim, you been with a girl yet? JIM Tonight? Why, I'm just getting ready to turn on the Younger charm. Jesse raises an eyebrow. JIM (CONT'D) Well, not exactly. JESSE You been with a girl ever? JIM (insulted) Hell yeah! I been with... (sighs) Uh, not exactly. It's just, I don't want to get one of these paid ladies, you know? JESSE I think so. JIM You and Frank and Cole, and even Bob, get all these girls because you're good looking and famous. You don't have to pay. They just look at me like I'm the baby brother. (then) Don't tell anyone, okay Jesse? JESSE I swear. JIM (whispering) Tell you something else. (belches) I can't drink that good neither. I'm going to go outside and throw up. JESSE You do that. Jim stumbles away and OUT THE DOOR. We hear him THROWING UP ENERGETICALLY a moment later. Jesse thinks for a moment, beckons over the bartender. INT. SALOON - A FEW MINUTES LATER Jim stumbles back in. A pretty young woman, LYLA, approaches him. LYLA Excuse me. Are you Jim Younger? Jim pulls himself together. JIM Why, yeah. LYLA I hope you don't mind, Jesse James told me your name. JIM (crestfallen) Oh, you were talking to Jesse. LYLA Yes, but just so I could find out who you were. Jim brightens. JIM Really? LYLA I hope I'm not being too forward. JIM Not at all. LYLA I just though you were awful cute. JIM Thank you, Miss -- ? LYLA Lyla Devereux. JIM Gosh, that's a pretty name. Buy you a drink? LYLA Could we go upstairs and talk? It's so loud down here. JIM (trying to stay smooth) Why don't we get a bottle of sherry to sip while we talk? LYLA That is so gentlemanly of you. As they head to the bar, WE SEE Jesse slide some money to the bartender. JIM (crossing) Devereux. My brother Cole dated a European girl once. LYLA Really? JIM Don't talk about it much, though. INT. CONFERENCE ROOM Parker is leading Rains into the room. Rains SNAPS SHUT his ever-present Pocketwatch. PARKER The final route for the railroad is complete. RAINS I look forward to seeing it. A group of RAILROAD MEN wait around, wearing forced smiles. Parker shows Rains the map. REVEAL the wall-sized map of the United States. The plainly marked RAIL LINE extends due west from New York, through Philadelphia, a straight shot west -- -- until it reaches Missouri, where it takes a painfully obvious swing in a large semi-circle south of the state, then swings up again and continues due west. Rains takes this in. Parker and the railroad men are trying to look casual. RAINS (CONT'D) Parker. PARKER Sir? RAINS What is that? PARKER What, sir? Suddenly, viciously, Rains GRABS PARKER BY THE NECK and SLAMS his face against the map. RAINS (calmly) That. PARKER (strangled) Oh, that. I'll let Jenkins explain. Rains drops Parker, who slides to the floor stunned. He turns to JENKINS, who is suddenly in an open area cleared by the retreating railroad men. JENKINS Sir. RAINS Jenkins. JENKINS We've done a financial study of the construction costs projected into -- RAINS Jenkins. JENKINS It's cheaper to go around Jesse James, sir. Even with the detour and the extra track. It's just cheaper. Rains turns to look at the map. RAINS So he's won. PINKERTON (O.S.) (O.S.) No. ANGLE ON The entire group looking at a serene Pinkerton staring at the James Gang tracking map, which is now festooned with red markers. PINKERTON (CONT'D) Every three months, the James Gang circles back to the vicinity of Liberty, Missouri. They always pull a job right before they return, probably to have extra money to give family and friends. RAINS In English, Pinkerton. PINKERTON There are only four banks within that travel radius which they have not robbed. RAINS Can you put men at all four? PINKERTON No need. I have another tool at my disposal which will narrow it down to one bank. RAINS What is that? PINKERTON (smiling) Why, their intense hatred of you, of course. The room holds its breath. Rains begins to smile back. EXT. WESTERN TOWN - EVENING A populous town with the fanciest SALOON we've seen yet. EXT. SALOON - SIDEWALK - EVENING Out on a sidewalk, Jesse stands alone at the edge of the building. He's holding an envelope. HIS POV reveals the address: "Miss Zerelda Mimms, Liberty, Missouri." BACK TO SHOT as Jesse reaches up to the street lantern and lights the envelope on fire. He drops it to the ground and watches it smolder. Bob Younger walks up, holding a "Wanted" poster. BOB Finally. Jesse looks, grins. The sketch is a dead ringer for Bob. BOB (CONT'D) The things a fella has to do to get a little respect around here... JESSE You are a fine figure of a man. BOB Listen, Jesse, we've got a problem. (off his look) It's Cole. JESSE He's been full of vinegar lately. BOB He's planning a job. JESSE What? BOB Listen, he's my brother and I don't want to start trouble... JESSE Tell me. INT. SALOON - GAMBLING ROOM Back in a semiprivate card room, Cole is talking to the rest of the Gang. COLE It'll be the biggest score yet. JESSE (O.S.) (O.S.) What will be? Jesse and Frank step from the shadows. Cole tosses them a newspaper. COLE Hyperion Bank, two day's ride from Liberty. They've got a hundred thousand dollars in railroad money just sitting there. Jesse tosses the paper aside. JESSE Smells funny, it being mentioned in the paper. COLE If you'd read about it first, you'd have no problems. JESSE What are you saying? COLE I've robbed just as many banks as you have! I know this town, and I know this bank, and I say it's an easy job. JESSE You're forgetting who's in charge -- FRANK (calming him) Jesse. COLE Oh, you're in charge? We ain't partners any more, Jesse? You tell Cole Younger where and when to ride? FRANK Cole, he didn't mean that. JESSE You taking sides against me, now, Frank? FRANK No, I -- COLE So being with me is being against you? Well, we don't want to do that! None of us poor idiots want to go up against the famous Jesse James, greatest outlaw who ever lived! Jesse glares at Cole. The Gang is murmuring amongst themselves. COLE (CONT'D) That's what the newspapers say. Weren't for Jesse James, this gang wouldn't be able to find a goat's ass with a stick. BOB What? Clell Miller leans forward. CLELL You have got mighty full of yourself lately, Jesse. JESSE You think so. You all do? (to Frank) You? Frank hesitates a half-second too long. JESSE (CONT'D) (spitting) Beautiful. COLE Now the one time one of us comes up with an idea -- JESSE A bad idea. COLE I got us through the War all right. JESSE And almost got hanged in peacetime. COLE That's it. Cole LUNGES for Jesse, and in a flash they're streetfighting, all elbows and knees and rib punches, GRUNTING and SWEARING. Frank and Bob try to break it up, but it's too fierce. COMANCHE TOM Let them fight it out. The poison needs to leave the wound, to heal. Jesse lands a ROUNDHOUSE, knocking Cole away. Cole goes for his gun, and in a blur they've both DRAWN and stand facing each other with cocked six-guns. The Gang watches in stunned silence. BOB This is healing? COMANCHE TOM Sometimes a wound will kill. BOB Now you tell us. FRANK (edging in) Boys, we don't want this. Neither Jesse nor Cole will back down. They circle, still keeping their guns up. COLE (gritted teeth) I'm the better soldier, Jesse. JESSE And I'm the better outlaw. Jim steps up. JIM And you both hate the railroad. That's what's important. We do this job, and Thaddeus Rains won't dare come West again. Jesse's gaze slides to Jim. JESSE What about that Rock Island bastard? JIM It's his money. He's putting up the payroll out of his own fortune. You do want to hurt Thaddeus Rains, don't you Jesse? Jesse and Cole stare at each other again. JESSE Still smells fishy. COLE Then let me run the show, General Lee. Jesse thumbs down the hammer of his Colt. Cole does the same. The entire Gang breathes out as one. JESSE Fine. We hit this bank. COLE You'll be smiling once you've got all that money to spend, cousin. (to Gang) Cole Younger's going to make everybody rich! The Gang CHEERS. Frank watches Jesse cross to the WINDOW and sag against it, exhausted. DISSOLVE TO: EXT. HYPERION BANK - DAY The James Gang rides up to the bank. A WATER TOWER can be seen behind the building opposite the bank. Jesse, Cole and Frank dismount and move swiftly to the bank doors. Comanche Tom, Jim Younger, Clell Miller and Loni Packwood dismount and take defensive positions. The few other Gang members stay on their horses, looking sharp. ANGLE ON Cole holds up at the door, produces his shotgun. Frank and Jesse draw six guns. On Cole's lead, they KICK OPEN THE DOORS AND RUSH IN. INT. HYPERION BANK Cole and the James brothers stride in. COLE Nobody move! This is a robbery! The dozen or so farmers and tellers raise their hands. EXT. HYPERION BANK Loni is whistling away, rubbing his lucky rabbit's foot. He squints up at the sun, turns, then stops. He slowly turns back... HIS POV reveals a dozen men APPEARING at the edge of the opposite rooftop, aiming rifles... Loni lets his rabbit's foot drop... The FIRST GUNSHOTS PLOW INTO LONI! As he falls back, we see the rabbit's foot hit the dusty ground... The Gang leaps for cover as a HAIL OF BULLETS begins to tear up the bank face around them. INT. HYPERION BANK Jesse, Frank and Cole whirl to face the door. COLE What the -- JESSE'S POV in a mirror by the door reveals all twelve of the men in the bank drawing guns, shotguns, one rifle -- Jesse shoves Cole and Frank down. He KICKS a stool at the man with the rifle, dives right and ROLLS across a big oak desk. The men begin to FIRE. As BULLETS PING around him, Jesse FIRES from between his legs as he rolls across the desk. The assassins start to drop. Jesse completes his roll at a railing separating the manager's area from the bank floor. In one smooth move he's up and RUNNING ALONG THE RAILING, defying gravity, drawing his shoulder Colts and shooting... The gunmen are crossing into each other's line of fire, Jesse's movement confusing them. Jesse's killed another five, only four left, but he's out of railing and -- CRASH! Through a teller's cage, disappearing behind the counter. The gunmen turn and BLAST the wooden counter, some screaming in panic. CLICKS are heard as hammers fall on empty magazines. The gunmen stare at where Jesse disappeared, panting heavily. CLICK. They forgot about Cole and Frank. EXT. HYPERION BANK The Gang is scrambling for cover. Loni's body lies in the street, his rabbit's foot lying in a pool of his blood. The Gang is returning fire, hiding behind water troughs, dead horses, barely staying alive. The ROAR OF GUNFIRE is deafening. COMANCHE TOM Head for the end of the street! JIM Look! At both ends of the street, WAGONS ROLL into position, each manned by two armed Pinkertons. The Gang is trapped. INT. HYPERION BANK A shot of the open, empty VAULT. COLE Dammit! JESSE (O.S.) (O.S.) A trap. Cole turns. Jesse is moving the surviving cowboys into the Vault. As the last one steps in, Jesse SLAMS the door closed. WE HEAR MORE GUNFIRE. Frank runs in from the back of the bank. FRANK Another dozen out back. COLE They gonna rush us? FRANK They're just insurance in case we run. Jesse crosses to the front door. EXT. HYPERION BANK Jesse sticks his head out the door. JESSE Get inside, you -- Gunfire chews up the doorframe. Jesse pulls back inside. INT. HYPERION BANK Frank and Cole are shooting through the windows. JESSE They're all pinned down. Can't even get to the door. FRANK Got any ideas, little brother? Jesse thinks, then smiles. FRANK (CONT'D) Oh Lord. EXT. HYPERION BANK Jesse comes CRASHING through a window! He rolls to a stop next to one of the horses, grabs a saddlebag, then -- to the disbelief of the Gang -- he pivots and CRASHES right back into the Bank! INT. HYPERION BANK Jesse stumbles to his feet, yanks open the bag. Sticks of dynamite tumble out. FRANK/COLE Oh Lord. EXT. HYPERION BANK WE PAN across the trapped Gang, still under fire, to the front of the next door Saloon, and then WE ZIP INT. SALOON Where wary patrons have taken cover from the gunfire. Suddenly -- BOOOM! One wall EXPLODES into dust! In the hole we see the interior of the Bank and -- Jesse James running through, already readying another stick of dynamite -- EXT. ROOFTOP Where the Pinkerton gunmen are shooting at the Gang. Some of the gunmen look curiously as the windows to the building two doors down from the bank BLOW OUT. EXT. STREET As the two Pinkerton detectives at the wagon barricade turn in shock as Jesse James LEAPS FROM THE SECOND FLOOR of a building he can't possibly be in, lands on the wagon, rolls off and DASHES INTO a blacksmith shop across the street. They suddenly notice a HISS. They stand, look in the wagon. Jesse left a burning stick of dynamite in the wagon. ANGLE ON the wagon EXPLODING into matchsticks. INT. BLACKSMITH SHOP The blacksmith is gone, but there's a fire in the FORGE. Jesse leaps and KICKS OVER the forge -- ANGLE ON The white-hot coals IGNITING everything. EXT. ROOFTOP The Pinkertons firing on the gang notice SMOKE rising from below them. They look down ... REVEAL bellowing FLAMES and SMOKE enveloping the entire row of buildings below them. BACK TO The roof as a PINKERTON COMMANDER runs to ledge and looks at the rising flames himself. A HUGE EXPLOSION is heard O.C. A large SHADOW creeps over the snipers. They turn and look up -- -- at the Water Tower TOPPLING towards them! The Pinkertons dive out of the way as the tower SMASHES onto the roof, unleashing a TIDAL WAVE of water! EXT. STREET UPSHOT of the sniper's ledge as the Pinkertons leap off, followed by a WALL OF WATER -- WIDEN to see the water POURING into the building from above -- Cowboys FLY out the windows, followed by TORRENTS of water -- One Pinkerton SWEPT UP and carried off the roof, BOUNCES off a second floor balcony and lands in a puddle on the dirt street below. FOLLOW the water rushing across the dirt street to the feet of -- EXT. HYPERION BANK Jim, Tom and the Gang staring in disbelief at the total destruction Jesse has wrought. EXT. STREET Jesse rides out from a stable leading a team of horses. He reaches the bank. JESSE No time to gawk, boys, we got somewhere else to be! Frank and Cole rush out from the bank. The Gang leaps onto the horses and put the spurs to them hard. ANGLE ON the Gang galloping past the shattered wagon barricade, heading for the edge of town. Pinkerton riflemen run out of the bank and from behind the other barricade. One SHARPSHOOTER with a rifle drops to one knee, lines up... HIS POV shows Jesse in his sights. He tightens on the trigger, and just as he pulls -- -- Jim Younger rides into the line of fire! With a CRACK the bullet hits Jim square in the back. He slumps forward on his horse. Comanche Tom leaps from his horse onto Jim's and urges it on. ANGLE ON The James Gang disappearing past the edge of town. The Pinkertons stand stunned amongst the ruin of their ambush. Alan Pinkerton himself walks up, shaking his head. EXT. HILL COUNTRY - EVENING The Gang rides up onto a wooded hill where huge rocks jut from the earth. They all dismount, Jesse and Cole supporting Jim's limp form as they pull him from the saddle. Jim is drenched in blood. JESSE Okay, you're gonna rest here. COLE Clell, Tom, go get Doc Mimms in Liberty! CLELL That's a long ride, Cole. We won't be back 'til morning. JESSE Then you better get going! Cole and Jesse are united again in their grief over Jim. COLE Bob, rip up some bandages. JESSE Pass me some whisky. Jim's eyes flutter open for the first time. JIM ... too young for whisky... JESSE This time we'll make an exception. JIM Jesse, you explain to Lyla. My girl, you know, from that time... JESSE You're gonna tell her when you're resting up in bed with her, Jimmy. COLE Jim, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. JIM Best time of my life. (weakly) I was famous, y'know... Jim dies. Cole cradles the body, begins rocking. Comanche Tom puts a hand on Bob's shoulder as Bob slumps against a rock. Jesse stands, walks away heavily. EXT. HILLTOP - A WHILE LATER Sunset is heavy in the sky. Jesse stares off at it. His anguish is palpable. Frank comes over. JESSE Shoulda learned with Web. Made it look fun, made it look like an adventure. Got Web killed. Now Jim. FRANK Jim was old enough... JESSE (snorts) He was a boy riding with the most famous outlaws in the West. How was he supposed to say no to that? FRANK Railroad burned him out too. You couldn't have stopped him. JESSE You're a piss-poor liar for the smartest man I know. FRANK Yeah. JESSE A war against the railroad. What the hell were we thinking? FRANK I'm sure it seemed like a good idea at the time. Jesse remembers the first time Frank said that. He crosses BACK TO the Gang. ANGLE ON the Gang -- what's left of them -- waiting by the horses. The unspoken knowledge of whose fault this is hangs in the air. Cole is covered in Jim's blood. COLE We'll make them pay for this. JESSE I'm out. COLE WHAT?! We follow you for a year, and now that our blood's been spilled, you're gonna quit?! JESSE Who's next? You? Me? Bob? Cole can't answer. CLELL We can't exactly go back to our lives, Jesse. JESSE I'm not telling you what to do. You want to keep on following Cole, fine by me. BOB Frank? Frank nods. He's leaving too. COLE Go ahead. Ride on. But don't come back when you figure out you can't farm with a six-gun. Bob embraces Frank. Jesse goes to shake hands with Cole, but the guilt and rage make his once-best friend unapproachable. Jesse smiles sadly and walks away. EXT. MIMMS HOME - EARLY MORNING Zee is letting a dog out. She looks up, freezes. Entranced, she walks out onto the porch. ANGLE ON A figure appearing out of the early morning fog. It's Jesse, riding slow. He reins his horse in at the porch, dismounts. He stands staring at Zee. JESSE Zee. ZEE Jesse. What are you thinking? There are bounty hunters and lawmen all over this county! JESSE I had to see you. I'm getting married. Zee is shocked. Jesse looks serious. ZEE I don't understand. JESSE She's the most wonderful woman in the world. Can't get her out of my mind. ZEE That's... wonderful. It's just... I thought... JESSE She's beautiful. Smart. And has the biggest... buck teeth in all of Missouri. It takes Zee a second. Before she can process it all, Jesse drops to one knee. JESSE (CONT'D) I've quit my outlaw ways. Come live in my home and in my heart. Zee takes the hat off Jesse's head, tosses it into the yard and smiles. Jesse stands up and they kiss. DISSOLVE TO: EXT. HORSE DRAWN TAXI - DAY Victorian wooden houses with tin roofs and palm trees line the street. Jesse and Zee ride in the back of the open carriage. They can't take their eyes off each other. ZEE I would never have imagined us in a place like this. JESSE That's why I picked it. We can start a whole new life down here. ZEE Are you going to be happy here, Mr. James? Without all that excitement? JESSE I've got you. You keep me busy. I figure we'll get over to the hotel... get checked in, cleaned up... then I'd like to do something I've been thinking about for a long time. ZEE Now wait a minute. There are certain things that have to wait until after the wedding. Jesse leans forward to the DRIVER. JESSE Driver, change of plans. Take us to the nearest church. DRIVER What religion? JESSE Whichever one has God in it, that'll do fine. INT. CHURCH RECTORY - DAY A PASTOR sits at his desk while Jesse finishes filling out a marriage license. PASTOR This is unusual. Most of our marriages are members of the congregation. JESSE You don't think God'll mind, do you? Jesse slides him two twenties with the license. PASTOR The Lord is remarkably tolerant of the charitable. (reading the license) "Jesse Woodson James." Jesse James? The Jesse James? JESSE I could have lied I suppose, but I want this marriage to be legal. I just want you to know, I'm trying to start a new life here. I'm depending on your... PASTOR Discretion? Sir, I am a man of the cloth. JESSE Thank you. PASTOR Who needs to repair a leaky church roof. Grinning, Jesse slides over another forty. PASTOR (CONT'D) Now let's have a drink. JESSE Right here in church? PASTOR Communion. The Pastor pours. They drink. EXT. CHURCH - DAY The BELLS RING as Jesse and Zee walk out the front door arm in arm. The Pastor and his wife appear in the doorway, waving. Jesse and Zee hop in a waiting carriage. DISSOLVE TO: INT. BANK - DAY Various townsfolk are lined up at the TELLER'S window. Cole, Bob, Comanche Tom, Clell and some NEW GANG MEMBERS BURST IN. COLE Nobody move! This is a robbery. Everybody's hands reach for the ceiling. Cole gestures to the Teller. COLE (CONT'D) The safe. Now. TELLER Of course! (pause) Uh, sir? COLE What? TELLER Where is Jesse James? COLE This here is the Younger Gang! A MAN speaks out timidly. MAN But the Youngers ride with Jesse James. COLE Did ride. No more. The crowd grumbles, plainly disappointed. COLE (CONT'D) OPEN THE DAMN SAFE! TELLER All right, all right. (muttering) Jesse James never yelled at folk... Bob and Comanche Tom exchange looks behind a fuming Cole. INT. SALOON - NIGHT The new Gang is spending its booty. Cole is putting a healthy dent in a bottle of rotgut. Bob is consoling him. BOB This is the best score yet. COLE It's still taking too long. The people used to snap to. BOB That was because of... the reputation the gang had. COLE As long as people think Jesse's still riding, we will never get the respect we deserve. BOB Cole, we're outlaws. Not exactly the most respectable job, if you know what I mean. COLE Leave me alone, Bob. Even Bob can't reach Cole now. He walks sadly away. DISSOLVE TO: EXT. BEACH - DAY A deserted Keys beach -- coconut palms and Australian pines. Clear water like glass stretching off forever. Jesse and Zee are having a picnic on the white sand. Both are in the latest in beach attire. He's in a one-piece that goes from his neck to his knees. Zee's in what is basically a dress with long pantaloons. Zee is reading. Jesse is stretched out on the sand. ZEE Hmm. JESSE "Hmm" what? ZEE (reading) "But the life of the James Gang wasn't all robbing and shooting and killing, for these young Missouri bucks had a taste for the ladies... especially the handsome and charismatic Jesse James." Jesse sits up. JESSE I beg your pardon? ZEE (showing him the cover) "Blazing Guns of the West. True Stories of Jesse James." Only a dime in the hotel lobby. JESSE Let me see that. ZEE Oh, I'm not finished. (reading) "When he sauntered into a saloon, his spurs jangling and his pockets full of gold, the ladies flocked around him like flies to a candied apple." (looking at him) As I said. Hmm. JESSE Now, sweetie, y'all wouldn't go believing one of them silly dime novels, would you? ZEE Jesse, have you ever noticed that when you're trying to charm your way out of trouble, your accent gets all farm boy? JESSE Aw, shucks, ma'am... ZEE Stop it. This is just sad. JESSE Swimming. Swimming is good. Jesse jumps up and OUT OF FRAME. A second later, he reaches down and PULLS a chuckling Zee up out of the sand. EXT. OCEAN - DAY Jesse chases Zee out into the surf. They splash around until the water gets shoulder-deep, then both submerge. They reappear, locked in a kiss. CLOSE ON Zee's face as they break the kiss and embrace. She's in heaven. She opens her eyes, facing the beach. Something passes over her face. ANGLE ON the beach, where fifty Pinkerton detectives with rifles are lined up like a firing squad. BACK TO Zee's face. She squeezes Jesse tighter. ZEE Don't turn around. JESSE What? ZEE If you don't see it, it's not real... Jesse turns around to see -- EXT. BEACH A familiar figure walking along the sand. When the figure reaches the center of the line of detectives, he turns to the couple and -- PINKERTON Jesse James, you are under arrest! Jesse takes one longing gaze at the open ocean. He heads for shore. DISSOLVE TO: INT. SALOON Cole and the Gang are killing time. Bob runs in. BOB They arrested Jesse! He throws the paper to the other Gang members, but walks straight to Cole. The two brothers stare at each other. COLE How'd they -- BOB What have you done? COLE I ain't done -- BOB WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?! Bob draws on Cole. Cole is shattered. COLE Bob. I didn't... BOB Swear. COLE I swear -- BOB Swear on Jimmy's grave. Cole hesitates. Bob thumbs back the hammer. Comanche Tom's hand closes over Bob's gun. COMANCHE TOM Bob. You know Cole would never do such a thing. He and Jesse are best friends. They are cousins, blood brothers. Bob considers it, lowers the gun. BOB I'm sorry, Cole. COLE You're just upset about Jesse. We all are. Bob walks off. Comanche Tom speaks, but keeps his eyes on Bob. COMANCHE TOM My people know that when a brother kills a brother, a great curse comes down on that man, and when he dies he walks the desert as a dark spirit. I like Bob too much to let that happen. (looking at Cole) If I find out you turned in Jesse, I'll kill you myself. Comanche Tom moves off. Cole's thoughts are his own. DISSOLVE TO: EXT. FORT JEFFERSON - NIGHT An establishing shot of the Florida fort being lashed by rain. INT. CELL A dank, black cell far in the bowels of Fort Jefferson. WE HEAR CLANKING. WIDEN TO REVEAL Jesse doing push-ups. They come easily, despite Jesse being chained up like the Frankenstein monster. The DOOR OPENS. Jesse looks up in mid-push-up. Alan Pinkerton is looking down at him. Jesse moves to the bed. Pinkerton, flanked by two guards, ENTERS. He sits on a stool provided by one of the guards. PINKERTON We're moving you tomorrow. JESSE But I like the presidential suite. PINKERTON Oh, it's a similar room. But the hotel is in Washington D.C. You're not going to get a fair trial down here, in front of a jury of Jesse James sympathizers. JESSE So I'll get a fair trial in front of a jury bought off by Thaddeus Rains? PINKERTON That's the idea. Pinkerton produces two cigars, presenting one to Jesse. JESSE Did you order our houses burned down? PINKERTON Not that day. I am guilty of many things, but that was Mr. Thaddeus Rains and Parker, that day. Jesse takes the cigar, and Pinkerton lights both. They puff for a moment. PINKERTON (CONT'D) (tapping bad leg) Was this you, by the way? Jesse exposes his scar. JESSE You almost ended my career before it began. PINKERTON Pity. Pause. PINKERTON (CONT'D) How did you spot the ambush in Torrell? JESSE Last February? PINKERTON Mmm. JESSE You had all those cattle there, so I'd think the extra men were in town from the cattle drive? PINKERTON Yes? JESSE The cows had a brand from a farm just five miles out of town. PINKERTON Damn. Pause. JESSE Almost got me in Billings. I saw you there, shooting at me. PINKERTON I went myself to oversee the operation. Didn't help much. JESSE No, that one was close. A couple fellas quit after that one. PINKERTON Oh. That's nice to know. (then) We're going to hang you, you know. JESSE I figured. PINKERTON Was it worth it? JESSE Should have just killed Thaddeus Rains and been done with it. PINKERTON That's what I would have done. JESSE I'm not hanged yet. PINKERTON (shaking his head) You cocky little bastard. JESSE Ahh, you'll miss me. PINKERTON No, I'll hang you. (then) But I may miss you just a bit. As Jesse and Pinkerton smoke and discuss the past year... EXT. TRAINYARD Two guards are leading Jesse, who is in heavy arm irons, toward a prison car at the end of a waiting train. Pinkerton, Thaddeus Rains, and Parker walk up. RAINS This is him. PARKER I remember you. JESSE You're Parker. I remember you, too. You killed my Ma. Parker is set back by Jesse's voice. To cover his fear -- PARKER How did you know? RAINS Not such a menace now, is he, Pinkerton? PINKERTON If you feel that way, I could always take off the irons. Rains glares at Pinkerton, then turns back to Jesse. RAINS You stole thousands. You cost me tens of millions of dollars, months of lost construction. I wish I could hang you every single morning for a century. Rains checks his Pocketwatch, spots Jesse eyeing it. RAINS (CONT'D) You like that? Solid gold, my father had it made when he started this railroad. He gave it to me when I took over, I'll give it to my son when he runs this company, and he'll give it to his son -- The right type of men will always run this country, Jesse James, and little men like you will always suffer. You have stopped nothing. JESSE Made you think twice about burning folks' homes down now, didn't I? Jesse winks. With that Parker reaches back and SUCKER PUNCHES Jesse. Rains gloats as Jesse gets his breath back. RAINS We'll speak again in Washington, you insect. JESSE You're coming on the same train? Rains involuntarily looks behind Jesse. Jesse cranes his head and spots a CLUB CAR at the front of the train, several cars away from his prison car. The other cars are packed with Pinkerton detectives. JESSE (CONT'D) Well, tell you what. I'm going to have to pay you a visit. RAINS Big words. JESSE It's a promise. Everyone is a little shaken by the steel in Jesse's voice. The guards DRAG JESSE OFF. INT. PRISON CAR The guards turn Jesse over to a BURLY DETECTIVE. Pinkerton enters just behind him. There are ten detectives in total in the car. PINKERTON Hook him up. The Burly Detective brings Jesse's arms above his head. He loops Jesse's chain over a rail that runs the length of the car. Two other detectives walk Jesse down the car, Jesse's hands suspended over his head. Jesse can just barely sit down. PINKERTON (CONT'D) Now the guns. BURLY DETECTIVE I don't like it. We can handle him. PINKERTON In the ten seconds we have been in this car, I have seen you get close enough for Jesse James to grab your guns at least three times. And I assure you, if he gets his hands on one of your guns, you are all, and I mean all dead men. BURLY DETECTIVE He's chained up. PINKERTON I'll put that on your tombstone. The guns. Grumbling, the detectives deposit their pistols in a box near the front of the car. Pinkerton walks out. The Burly Detective slides a Colt into his waistband. ANGLE ON Jesse, alone, surrounded by ten Pinkerton guards. The train LURCHES, and they're off. EXT. COUNTRYSIDE - DAY The prison train highballs through the wooded, rolling hills. We see the engine, the coal car, a detective car, then the private salon car, two more cars of guards, and then the prison car. INT. PRISON CAR Five guards are playing poker. Five others are standing along the length of the car. Jesse looks at the gun box waaay down the other end of the car. Things shift, and we (and Jesse) realize the train is going downhill. JESSE Hey, fatty. The Burly Detective looks up. BURLY DETECTIVE What? JESSE You, ya barrel of pork lard. Here piggy piggy! The detectives close on Jesse. Jesse stands as the Burly Detective moves right up on him. BURLY DETECTIVE What you sayin' boy? JESSE I think I recognize you. BURLY DETECTIVE How? JESSE I think I saw you leavin' by the front door just as I was coming in the back. The other detectives try to hide grins. BURLY DETECTIVE You shut up now, boy. JESSE No, really. You're wife said she needed some help, seeing as you were so fat you couldn't find your -- Burly Detectives BACKHANDS Jesse. Jesse spits blood and grins. JESSE (CONT'D) Yeah, she said you did that to her too. Burly draws, points the gun right at Jesse's face. The other detectives GASP. Jesse stares down the barrel, then raises his eyes and speaks in a voice that is low and terrifying. JESSE (CONT'D) Y'know, I could do this without the gun, but it just makes things easier. SLAM as Jesse KICKS Burly in the crotch! The gun FIRES, missing Jesse's head only because he jerks it like a mongoose. Jesse BACKHANDS the detective with the heavy chain! The gun drops right into Jesse's hands -- The guards are running for the gun box -- Jesse flips the chain TIGHT, TUCKS UP and KICKS OFF from the back wall and SLIDES THE LENGTH OF THE RAIL over the detectives' heads! As he reaches the end he FIRES the gun, blowing open the gun box. Jesse then SHOOTS the rail's ceiling strut, and then KICKS at the roof. The rail WRENCHES FREE, dropping Jesse to the floor. In a blur he's up, reaching into the gun box. He tosses one gun INTO THE AIR, then FANS THE HAMMER of another. Half the guards drop, but the other half are right on top of him and nobody's that fast -- Jesse drops the spent gun, CATCHES the other gun in the opposite hand and FANS THAT HAMMER all in a single breath! As the smoke clears, the last of the detectives falls with a THUD. EXT. TRAIN Jesse pops open the door to his car. He's improvised a gunbelt like his old one, holding six Colts. He's still holding the chain from his restraints. Now that they're no longer wrapped around Jesse, we see they're at least a few yards long. INT. THIRD TROOP CAR Some Pinkertons LOOK UP as a BANG sounds from on top of the car. EXT. TRAIN And Jesse JUMPS OFF THE ROOF and -- CLANK as the chains -- fastened to the roof -- go taut and Jesse is at window level and he's FIRING AND FIRING into the car! INT. THIRD TROOP CAR Pinkertons falling, drawing their guns, not able to get a bead on Jesse because -- EXT. TRAIN Jesse is running along the side of the car, supported by the chain! Still shooting, he reaches the end, KICKS UP and is on the roof again. ANGLE ON one Detective, barely alive, stumbling through the door, opening the door to the next INT. SECOND TROOP CAR The detectives inside start as the wounded man falls into the doorway. EXT. TRAIN Jesse looks down and sees heavily armed Pinkertons coming out of the doorway. JESSE Shit. But there's no turning back and he jumps to the top of the EXT. SECOND TROOP CAR Jesse's running and the Pinkertons start SHOOTING THROUGH the roof. Jesse miraculously is untouched, almost to the CLUB CAR... INT. CLUB CAR Pinkerton is already moving as Parker and Thaddeus Rains look around. RAINS What the hell is that sound? PINKERTON Vengeance. INT. FIRST TROOP CAR Pinkerton bursts in. The men snap to. PINKERTON Outside! Get up on top! Go GO! EXT. CLUB CAR Jesse JUMPS onto the club car, but pulls up short as detectives appear ahead of him. He turns to see other detectives climbing up behind him. He's trapped. BUT WE HEAR A LOW WHISTLE AND EXT. TRAIN ENGINE The engine EXPLODES! Sparks fly as the twisted engine GRINDS onto the tracks! EXT. TRAIN The momentum carries everyone off their feet! Some detectives are torn from the train. Jesse slides across the roof of the Club Car -- CUT TO: EXT. TRAIN TRACK CLOSE ON a smoking CANNON sitting on the tracks. WIDEN TO REVEAL Frank and Cole on horseback shading their eyes. Zee is daintily blowing out a fuse lighter. FRANK Nice shot. ZEE Thank you. Now go get my husband. The two men start to gallop toward the train. EXT. TRAIN Jesse, Pinkerton, and the detectives look down the track and see... EXT. TRAIN TRACK Frank and Cole riding toward them. From the woods ride Comanche Tom and Bob Younger, folding into perfect formation. The four THUNDER toward the train. INT. CLUB CAR Pinkerton rushes back in. Parker and Rains are looking out the window. PARKER There's only four of them... PINKERTON Move you fools! He grabs the two businessmen and heads them to the rear of the train. EXT. TRAIN TRACK Frank draws a gun and FIRES. EXT. WOODS TWO DOZEN RIDERS pour out of the woods, all firing at the Pinkerton! The Pinkertons return fire, taking shelter in the train cars as the riders strafe the train. EXT. TRAIN Jesse swings over the edge of the train, looks through the window. Rains is gone. He turns and starts running back along the top of the train. EXT. PRISON CAR Pinkerton, Rains and Parker tumble out of the door and run for the woods. Jesse LEAPS DOWN from the top of the train onto Pinkerton! They wrestle, separate. Pinkerton stands, reaching for his gunbelt. Empty. With almost a resigned sigh, he looks up. Jesse's pointing the gun at Pinkerton's head. PINKERTON Do it. Jesse FIRES. ANGLE ON Pinkerton, stunned to realize he's still alive. He turns to see Parker, fall to the ground, his own gun half-drawn, Jesse turns the gun on Rains. JESSE That was for my Ma. Now this is for everybody else. PINKERTON He's too important, James. They'll set the army on you. You and your wife. Jesse stares at Rains, Rains stares back, the tension building...Jesse's about to shoot...and says: JESSE That is a nice watch you got there. Rains looks down at the fob, back up. The tension isn't broken. JESSE (CONT'D) I tell you what, I'll buy that watch from you, for the fair market price approved by the Department of the Interior: one dollar. Rains hesitates. Jesse thumbs the hammer back JESSE (CONT'D) If I were you, I'd sell. After this, the price goes...down. Rains tosses the Watch to Jesse as Jesse simultaneously FLIPS Rains a dollar coin with his free hand. Jesse holds up the Watch. JESSE (CONT'D) Now every time you go to look at this watch and it's not there, you'll remember: You can be stopped. Pass that down to your son, instead. Jesse thumbs the hammer forwards, lowers the gun. Rains falls to his knees, numb from the tension. Frank rides up. Jesse empties Pinkerton's gun and hands it to him. Pinkerton holds him for a second. PINKERTON (low) Tennessee. Jesse doesn't understand. PINKERTON (CONT'D) The railroad has no business in Tennessee. Therefore I have no interest in the state of Tennessee. JESSE Thanks. PINKERTON I'd just as soon kill you, Jesse James. But chasing you takes up too much of my time. JESSE Fair enough. Zee RIDES UP. Jesse SWINGS UP onto her horse, and then they RIDE OFF with Frank. We PULL UP AND AWAY, centering on Pinkerton, Rains, and revealing the smoking, burning wreckage of the train. EXT. HILLSIDE FIELDS - DAY Most of the Gang is mounted. Frank, Cole and Bob are standing there, watching. ANGLE ON Jesse and Zee riding up on one horse. ZEE You get arrested again, I'll kill you. JESSE Yes ma'am. ZEE I can't believe I had to blow up a train for you. JESSE You are a hell of a woman. ZEE Don't swear. JESSE Yes ma'am. They reach the Gang. Jesse SWINGS OFF his horse, gets one of Cole's BEAR HUGS. COLE Missed you, cousin. JESSE Missed you too, cousin. Jesse notices Cole is oddly emotional, but can't quite figure out what's going on. COLE You know, you gettin' caught, right after leaving us, some people thought -- JESSE Pff. All we been through, the thought never crossed my mind. The two clasp hands. BOB Things changed when you quit the gang. For example, I'm now the one who says "Let's ride." COLE He's not bad at it. BOB It's tougher than it looks. JESSE Where'd you get all these riders? COLE We didn't. Zerelda did. Turns out your wife makes a hell of an outlaw. BOB So what's the plan? Jesse looks at Zerelda and Frank. JESSE I think my wife and I might go down Tennessee way, buy a farm. (pause) Goodbye, boys. The Youngers smile sadly, but NOD. As the Younger brothers SADDLE UP, Comanche Tom leans down from the saddle and shakes Jesse's hand. COMANCHE TOM You stay out of trouble, Jesse. Nobody has as much luck as you used up today. ANGLE ON Jesse getting back on his horse with Zee. Frank stands there and watches them. FRANK I'll meet you down there in a few weeks. JESSE See you soon. Oh, and I appreciate the distraction back there. FRANK Hell, they hardly even noticed us. Jesse and Frank grin. BOB Let's ride! Jesse flips the reins and he and Zee RIDE OFF, the GANG with the Youngers RIDES OFF in the opposite direction. Frank watches them ride away. WE HEAR faintly: ZEE Tennessee? JESSE I'll explain on the way. Then it's Frank alone on the hill. WE CIRCLE around behind him, come around, see he's AGED a little, CIRCLE AGAIN and now he's AGED MORE, we come around one more time and... EXT. HILLSIDE NEAR LIBERTY - DAY - TWENTY YEARS LATER ...we COMPLETE THE CIRCLE and see young Frank James is now an older FRANK JAMES. Still lean, a few wrinkles, a little grey in the hair, dressed in expensive turn-of-the-century western clothes. A young man who looks remarkably like Jesse, JIMMY JAMES, 16 years old, is waiting patiently. The two are looking down on the town of Liberty, Missouri, which is now swollen five sizes larger. The Wild West is disappearing under roads and telegraph wire. JIMMY Y'know, Uncle Frank... FRANK Yeah, Jimmy? JIMMY (genially chiding) ...every time you tell that story, you stop there. That's not how it ended. I was five when my dad got shot. FRANK I know. But that's how it should have ended. Your Dad and Mom, riding off into a new life, growing old together, happy. They start to walk back to the edge of town. FRANK (CONT'D) Allow a man his version of the past. When you get to be my age, you've got enough painful memories, you're allowed to soften a few of the edges up. JIMMY Sounds like he was a hell of a man. FRANK (chuckling) That he was. JIMMY They're making him a hero now. FRANK Saved a lot of folk from the railroad. JIMMY But he killed a lot of men, too. FRANK Can't argue that. JIMMY So what was he? FRANK I think... he was just a real interestin' fella to have around. Frank chuckles again at the memories, claps his hand on Jimmy's shoulder. FRANK (CONT'D) Come on, your Ma's probably holding dinner for us. Once saw the woman blow up a train, don't want to tick her off... Jimmy grins and the pair walk down the hill. We stay ON THEIR BACKS as they continue talking. JIMMY (O.S.) (O.S.) Uncle Frank? FRANK (O.S.) (O.S.) Yeah Jimmy? JIMMY (O.S.) (O.S.) How much of that story is true? FRANK (O.S.) (O.S.) Everything but the boring parts. FADE OUT: END OVER CREDITS: SEPIA TONED PHOTOGRAPHS of JESSE and ZEE enjoying their years as farmers, with VISITORS like FRANK, and the YOUNGERS also included. 
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+East Great Falls High by Adam Herz WHITE REVISION: 7/7/98 NOTE: THE HARD COPY OF THIS SCRIPT CONTAINED SCENE NUMBERS AND SOME "SCENE OMITTED" SLUGS. THEY HAVE BEEN REMOVED FOR THIS SOFT COPY. INT. JIM'S BEDROOM - NIGHT PAN across details in a bedroom...we see discarded shirts...pants...socks...and hear PORNO-CHANNEL CHICK (V.O.) Oooh, yeah. Oh, baby, you're so good. JIM (O.S.) Yeah, I'm the best, baby. Now we see a TV...but the picture isn't clear. Or, more appropriately, the picture is scrambled -- it phases in and out. Bars scroll across it. And we get occasional glimpses of what looks like -- JIM (O.S.)(CONT'D) ...oh -- that was a tit, tits... As most high-school guys know (but few will admit), it is possible to watch the pay channels while they're scrambled. You just need a decent imagination to fill in the rest of the picture. We PULL BACK to see JIM -- 17, short, horny. PORNO-CHANNEL CHICK (V.O.) Give it to me! Yes! JIM Oh yeah, baby, I'll give it to you. Jim is, uh, physically involved with the scrambled babe. We TILT DOWN to see a small multimedia presentation next to Jim on his bed. "Cosmopolitan" is open to a sexy model...a yearbook is open to the "girl's swim team" section...and a dictionary next to Jim, open to the "Vagina" listing, accompanied by a big vagina diagram. PORNO-CHANNEL CHICK (V.O.) Don't you love my sexy body?! JIM I do, baby, I do. He frantically looks around...and grabs a tube sock off the floor. PORNO-CHANNEL CHICK (V.O.) You're so big! JIM Yeah, that's right. PORNO-CHANNEL STUD (V.O.) (deep macho voice) Ohhh, tell me you're a nasty girl! Jim is thrown off. PORNO-CHANNEL STUD (V.O.)(CONT'D) Yeahhh, you been bad, real bad! JIM Man, shut up! Suddenly there's a KNOCK at the door, immediately after which JIM'S MOM enters. Jim scrambles and quickly covers himself and the dictionary with a pillow. She's oblivious to his doings. JIM'S MOM Hey, Jimmy. I just wanted to say sweet dreams. JIM Yep, okay Mom, 'night. JIM'S MOM (leans in to Jim) Kiss goodnight. Jim is revolted. Very reluctantly he gives her a kiss. She turns to leave, and notices the TV. JIM'S MOM (CONT'D) Is something wrong with the reception? JIM Yeah. Damn cable. There's this nature show that I'm trying to watch. PORNO-CHANNEL CHICK (V.O.) Fuck me! Yes! JIM Uh... He hurriedly tries to change the channel with the REMOTE, but instead the VOLUME GOES UP. PORNO-CHANNEL CHICK (V.O.) BLOW YOUR WAD ON MY TITS!! Jim panics as his mom reacts, shocked. JIM (choking) Must...be...broken... JIM'S DAD enters. JIM'S DAD What the heck is this? JIM Nothing! JIM'S MOM I think he's trying to watch one of the illegal channels. JIM Jesus, Mom! They're not illegal! They're pay channels. How could a television channel be illegal?! God, get a clue! JIM'S DAD James, don't speak that way to your mother! PORNO-CHANNEL STUD (V.O.) Play with my hairy balls! JIM'S DAD Turn that garbage off! Give me that! Jim's Dad grabs for the remote, which is sitting on the pillow that's been covering Jim. The pillow gets brushed aside -- revealing the Big Vagina Diagram, Jim with his shorts down, and a very strategically placed tube sock. JIM'S MOM Oh my God! JIM'S DAD Honey, why don't you let me handle this one. He ushers her out. Jim's Dad is stuck there with his half-naked son. Horrible, awful embarrassment. A long, strained beat. JIM'S DAD (CONT'D) Jesus Christ. The dictionary? Hell, son, I'll buy you some dirty magazines. Jim's Dad exits, shaking his head. Jim sits agape, humiliated. PORNO-CHANNEL CHICK (V.O.) Oooh, spank me, daddy, spank me! EXT. EAST GREAT FALLS - DAY We see a Honda Accord drive by a sign at the city limits: "Welcome to East Great Falls, Michigan -- A Great Place To Be" EXT. FRONT OF SCHOOL - DAY The front of the school. KEVIN drives up in his Accord. He's a good-humored, good-enough-looking high school senior. VICKY rides shotgun -- pretty, smart, confident. She's holding a large, thick envelope, with a big "Vanderbilt" return address on it. KEVIN It's a big, thick envelope, Vicky. You got in. VICKY You think so? She tears it open. Pulls out a course catalog, various forms, and a letter which she hands to Kevin. KEVIN "Dear Ms. Hughes. We're sorry, but after keeping you on the wait list for the past couple months, we've decided you are now rejected. Enclosed is a 100-page, full-color brochure on how rejected you are." VICKY Kevin, this is serious! KEVIN You got in. Vicky SCREAMS in excitement, like a girl at a Beatles concert. Then she LAUGHS, and gives Kevin a big kiss and hug. VICKY I love you! She hugs Kevin tighter -- as he looks a little frazzled, almost perfunctorily returning the hug. EXT. EAST GREAT FALLS HIGH - COURTYARD - MORNING Jim has met up with CHRIS OSTREICHER -- "OZ" -- a cocky senior with a football-player build. He cradles a ball in a lacrosse stick. OZ Illegal channels? Shit, if there's any channel that should be illegal, it's whatever that women's channel is. Lifetime Supply of Pantyhose, or some shit. JIM Yeah -- hey, did you see The Little Mermaid on TV the other night? That Ariel, whew. OZ She's a mermaid, dude. JIM (trumping him) Yeah, Oz, but not when she's on land. OZ She's a cartoon, dude. JIM A hot cartoon. OZ Is there anything you don't jerk off to? JIM C-Span? INT. EAST GREAT FALLS HIGH - MAIN HALLWAY - DAY Jim and Oz, now joined by Kevin, walk down the hall. Oz bounces the lacrosse ball off a locker, catching it again. Kevin speaks a little distantly, unnerved. KEVIN Then she said -- she loves me. OZ Oh shit dude, the L-word! JIM And you said... KEVIN Nothing, I just hugged her back. JIM You think she was serious? KEVIN I couldn't tell -- She could've meant like, "I love you grandma" or "I love you Vanderbilt." OZ Just don't bring it up, hang low, maybe she won't mention it again. INT. EAST GREAT FALLS HIGH - SENIOR LOCKERS - DAY The guys pass by a GROUP OF BAND DORKS, most notable of which is MICHELLE, who proudly polishes her flute. MICHELLE And what we should do today, in band? Instead of playing our instruments regularly? We should play them backwards! That'll be so funny! The Band Dorks LAUGH and agree, "hilariously" attempting to play their instruments from the wrong end. The guys shudder. OZ (to Jim) You guys got the Latin homework? JIM No -- Kevin, you? KEVIN (offended) Please. (then) We're all golden, we're college bound. I figured it out -- I can get a c- minus in every class, and it's not gonna make a difference. U of M, here I come. INT. EAST GREAT FALLS HIGH - MAIN HALL NEAR POP MACHINE - DAY Vicky is talking with JESSICA, a friend of hers, getting a pop (we're in the Midwest now, gang) from the machine. VICKY Vanderbilt's not that far from U of M. JESSICA Yeah right. VICKY What? We both have cars. JESSICA Yeah but, no offense, you're talking about a post-high school, long- distance relationship, and you and Kevin haven't even done it yet. VICKY That's not why we're going out. JESSICA What the hell are you expecting him to drive to Vanderbilt for? Milk and cookies? VICKY Jessica! He'll drive there for me, and I'll drive to Ann Arbor for him. We're going to have sex when he's ready and I'm ready. It's got to be completely perfect. I want the right place, the right time, the right moment. JESSICA Vicky, it's not a space shuttle launch, it's sex. So did you do the physics write-up? VICKY (offended, a la Kevin) Please. INT. EAST GREAT FALLS - SENIOR LOCKERS - DAY Kevin, Jim, and Oz are still walking down the hall. PAUL FINCH, preppy, eccentric, is sitting on a bench. JIM There's our man. KEVIN Finch, you got the Latin homework? FINCH Non habeo. Canis meus id comedit. The guys keep staring. A beat. KEVIN Whatever. Someone is HOLLERING down the hall. Running towards Oz is STEVE STIFLER -- very clean-cut and preppy, he's a maniac, a jackass, much worse than Oz. Not really part of the group. STIFLER (yelling) NOVA!! OZ Stifler!! Stifler runs full-force into Oz, grabbing him in a bear hug. STIFLER You coming to party tonight, Ostreicher, ya fuckface? OZ Depends if my date wants to stop by. STIFLER That junior chick? OZ Nah, gave her the Heisman. I'm working on something new. STIFLER Yeah right. I got an idea for something new. How 'bout you guys actually locate your dicks, remove the shrink wrap, and fuckin' use 'em. OZ Dude, it's gotta happen -- she's a college chick! STIFLER Bullshit. From where? OZ She works part-time at my dad's store. STIFLER Hah! Yeah, Oz, I bet it's more like your dad works at her store. OZ Dude, he does not. KEVIN Really, Stifler. He's the manager. Oz gives a little nod, avoiding the issue. STIFLER Hey, man, I'm not making fun. I'm fuckin' impressed. I mean, "Footlong or six-inch, white or wheat," that's some serious shit to master. Oz musters a little LAUGH. KEVIN (half-joking) Stifler, you're such an asshole. STIFLER Meyers, what's the deal with you and Vicky, anyway? You've been going out since Homecoming and all she'll do is blow you? Shit, I'd drop her like a steaming turd. FINCH Do you commonly grasp warm pieces of stool? STIFLER (momentarily puzzled) I do when I'm throwing them at your mom, you damn freak. (then) Alright then, see you guys tonight. I'll look for you in the No Fucking section. The guys all take this little too seriously to have a comeback. Stifler just LAUGHS OBNOXIOUSLY as he walks off. INT. KEVIN'S BEDROOM - DAY Kevin is on the phone. Hanging near his closet is a tuxedo. INTERCUT with KEVIN'S OLDER BROTHER -- 25, on his cell phone, traveling down a California road. KEVIN'S BROTHER You called me to ask me how to get laid? KEVIN What was I gonna do, call dad? I don't even know his number. KEVIN'S BROTHER Just dial 976-Asshole. KEVIN Yeah, well anyway...I thought you might have some advice, brother to brother. I mean, I think tonight she might, we might really, there's a chance that -- you know. KEVIN'S BROTHER Have you ever heard of the bible? KEVIN What? Not the Bible? KEVIN'S BROTHER Well, that's not really the name, but we always called it that. KEVIN Does it tell me how to get laid? KEVIN'S BROTHER You know what, nevermind. You're not ready. KEVIN Ready for what? KEVIN'S BROTHER Whoop, you're fading out. Good luck at that party. INT. DOG DAYS - LATE AFTERNOON A small, nostalgia-themed dive. Despite the theme, CLASSIC ROCK plays. Kevin, Oz, Jim and Finch sit at a table. They munch on hot dogs piled high with condiments. KEVIN You ever hear of something called The Bible? OZ Once, in church, dude. Jim is paging through Great Falls' equivalent of the LA Weekly. JIM Ooh, here's an easy one: "Attractive SWF, fun loving and a youthful mind seeks outgoing companion." Okay..."Attractive"...ugly. OZ "Fun loving" -- insane. KEVIN Unlisted age, plus "youthful mind," equals old. JIM No, "Charming" is old. "Older" is really old. "Youthful mind" is dead. FINCH Perhaps you should consider actually answering an ad. JIM Finch, you can be the one to date a nearly-dead insane chick. Eat your damn imitation hot dog. FINCH ("for the hundredth time") This is no imitation. Removing the hot dog from the Ultradog yields a better dog. Behold -- Ultradog, no dog. Finch displays the cross-section on his hot dog. It's all condiments. The guys react with rehearsed offense. KEVIN (checks his watch) Alright...I'm shooting for a nine o'clock ETA. Beer in hand by five after. JIM You can crash at Stifler's? KEVIN It's all good. (He pulls out some gum) Breath check. He hands out a stick of gum to each guy, automatically skipping Finch, who pulls out a small, hotel-bottle of Scope. Gargles with it. Spits it into his drink cup. OZ (repulsed) Dude, I wish you wouldn't do that. KEVIN You got something up your sleeve for tonight, Finch? FINCH A foolproof plan, my friend. You shall see. Oz has tuned into the song in the background -- "Blinded by the Light" [the original Springsteen version, not the Manfred Mann remake]. OZ (sings along) And little hurly-burly came by in her curly-wurly, and asked me if I needed I ri-hide -- KEVIN How the hell do you know all these random songs? OZ It's early Springsteen, dude, this is classic. This was before the cheesy remake. JIM This was remade? Into what? OZ (chiming in as the chorus hits) Bli-hinded by the light -- cut loose like a deuce, another runner in the night, blinded... KEVIN At least now I know what the hell they're saying. JIM So, does my hair look better -- (flips a small lock of hair onto his forehead) like this, or... (flips it back up) like this? OZ Who cares? JIM Nadia does, that Czechoslovakian chick, she might be there tonight. Now, do you think she'd prefer -- (flips hair down again) Cool Hip Jim... (flips it back up) or Laid Back Jim? KEVIN The difference is so phenomenal, I can't decide. EXT. DOG DAYS - MAGIC HOUR - CONTINUING They exit the restaurant. JIM What about you? You're the one with the girlfriend and you're still stranded on third base. KEVIN You know, I've never got that shit. What exactly constitutes third base? OZ (holds up a couple fingers) Contact, dude. KEVIN Then where does a blowjob figure in? They ponder this for a moment. OZ Shortstop. 'Course, you don't make it to third, and you're out. JIM So let's say you get there...what's uh, third base feel like? KEVIN Oh, man, that's kind of sad. Jim shrugs, embarrassed. OZ Feels like warm apple pie, dude. JIM Apple pie... (then) McDonald's or homemade? They just look at him. Finch hops on his scooter. FINCH Gentlemen, see you at the Bacchanalia. He MEEPS his horn and buzzes away. INT. STIFLER'S HOUSE - NIGHT For a high-school party, it's pretty good. The house is peppered with ALL TYPES OF HIGH-SCHOOL STUDENTS. MUSIC blends with the din of excited conversation. Kevin and Jim are drinking beers. Around them, students mingle and flirt. CHUCK SHERMAN comes up. SHERMAN What's up, fellas? JIM Hey Sherman. Scopin' the babes. SHERMAN Indeed. Some fine ladies here, boys. Confidence is high, repeat, confidence is high. Sherman is moving to DefCon Two, full strategic arsenal ready for deployment. JIM You've got something going? SHERMAN Did you see that Central chick? Brunette? KEVIN/JIM No. SHERMAN She's around. Seems that she's taken a liking to me. Fellas, it's time that she experienced -- The Sherminator. KEVIN Yeah, okay Sherman, whatever. SHERMAN I'm a sophisticated sex robot, sent back through time...to change the future for one lucky lady. KEVIN Yeah man, right on! Sherman saunters off into the party. KEVIN (CONT'D) (shakes his head) Hopeless. Vicky approaches, having a good time, joining the guys, EXCHANGING GREETINGS. Jim spots NADIA across the room. She's beautiful, a masterpiece of a woman. JIM Oh, shit! There she is. Nadia. VICKY You like her? Her sponsor family lives on my block. Why don't you talk to her? JIM What would I say? VICKY Just tell her what's on your mind. And smile, you've got a good smile. (then to Kevin) Come on. KEVIN (to Jim) Gotta go. JIM But -- Kevin and Vicky disappear into the crowd -- just as Jim sees Nadia approaching him. He freaks. JIM (cont'd) Kevin, get back here! But he's gone. And Nadia is now in front of him. With no other alternative, Jim readies himself, smiling big. NADIA (with a really sexy accent) You are in my English class, no? Jim smiles. JIM (barely) Yes. NADIA I thought so. Jim's smile grows even bigger, almost stupid. A beat. NADIA (cont'd) So you are having fun? Jim nods, still smiling away. Staring right through her head. NADIA (cont'd) I said, you are having fun? A little SQUEAK escapes his throat. Jim is on mental vacation. NADIA (cont'd) Me too. A beat. Jim's expression is now plasticized. Eyes vacant. A frozen, completely artificial smile. Nadia is confused. NADIA (cont'd) Well...I am going to get another beer. You want one? Jim strains to speak, through his smile. JIM No...you...go...ahead. NADIA Okay. She walks off. Jim SIGHS, completely relaxing, like a huge burden is now off of him. He wipes his brow. Then, realizing -- JIM Oh, shit. No! Shit! He pounds his head with his fist. EXT. STIFLER'S HOUSE - FRONT DOOR - NIGHT A group of band dorks is on the porch, including Michelle. Stifler stands in the doorway, staring at them in disbelief. MICHELLE We're here for the party? STIFLER What party? There's no party. MUSIC blares from inside. A drunken HAND reaches through the door and ruffles Stifler's hair. PARTY GUY (O.S.) Stiff-lerrr! Par-tyyy!! The hand disappears back into the house. A beat. STIFLER Try the house down the street. Stifler slams the door. The dorks wait a moment. BAND DORK Ring the bell again. MICHELLE Ringing the bell is dorky -- let's just go in. We hear a CLICK OF A DEADBOLT. INT. STIFLER'S HOUSE - MASTER BEDROOM - NIGHT Kevin and Vicky are on the bed, making out. VICKY Oh, Kev. KEVIN Vicky -- do you think, maybe...it's time for us to take the next step in our relationship? VICKY Tonight? KEVIN Yeah, it's such a perfect evening. Isn't this how you've always pictured it? PARTY GUY (O.S.) (yelling) Dude, my farts fuckin' stink! PARTY GUY #2 (O.S.) You reek like a fuckin' Yeti, dude! Go take a shit or something! Kevin and Vicky exchange a glance. KEVIN Or not. Vicky pushes him onto his back. VICKY Just relax. INT. CAR - NIGHT Oz is in the passenger seat, making out with the aforementioned COLLEGE CHICK. She's attractive and older- looking (from a high-school perspective). They are parked near the river that flows through downtown Great Falls. OZ Great evening, isn't it? COLLEGE CHICK Sure. OZ There's something about the spring that's just cool. Like the smell of fresh rain or something. At this, she snuggles up to him. Oz smiles confidently. OZ (CONT'D) Suck me, beautiful. The College Chick backs off, confounded. COLLEGE CHICK What did you just say? OZ (not so confidently) Suck me...beautiful? The College Chick's eyes flutter in disbelief. She tries to keep her cool -- but can barely restrain her laughter. COLLEGE CHICK What?! Oz attempts to maintain a suave exterior, but he's just had the rug pulled from under him. OZ Uh...you know, my friends call me Nova -- as in Casanova. COLLEGE CHICK You need some work, buddy! She bursts into laughter. Oz is ill. OZ Well...jeez, don't laugh at me. Seeing Oz's defeated expression, she collects herself. COLLEGE CHICK Look, Chris. There are just some things you need to learn, that's all. OZ Like what? She sees that he's lost. Almost feels sorry for him. COLLEGE CHICK Alright, well...you've got to tone it down. You don't need to go to Lookout Point and spout cheeseball lines to be romantic. OZ ...okay... COLLEGE CHICK You have to pay attention to a girl. Be sensitive to her feelings. Relationships are reciprocal. OZ I'm not good in math. She's trying not to laugh again. COLLEGE CHICK Come on, I'll drop you off at your friends'. Oz couldn't be humiliated any further. INT. STIFLER'S HOUSE - KITCHEN - NIGHT - SAME TIME Oz is nursing a beer, having just told the story to Jim, Stifler, and some guys. STIFLER (hysterical, toppling over) You actually said that?! Haaaah!! OZ Shut the fuck up. JIM Hey, you did better than I did, Nova. OZ Oh that's really reassuring. And don't call me Nova anymore. I'm a fraud. STIFLER This is pathetic. I'm gonna find me a little hottie. Stifler strides into another room. STIFLER (O.S.)(cont'd) (yelling) Suck me, beautiful! Oz wallows in his beer can, beaten. INT. STIFLER'S HOUSE - MASTER BEDROOM - NIGHT Vicky is pleasuring Kevin...you know. VICKY (brief pause) Let me know. KEVIN Okay, don't stop. She resumes. A moment more -- and then Kevin is about to lose it. KEVIN (cont'd) Oh -- Now! With awkward hurriedness, Vicky stops as Kevin frantically searches for a receptacle. He grabs a nearby cup of beer. EXT. STIFLER'S HOUSE - BACK PORCH, BY THE KEG - NIGHT Insert -- A hand pumping up the keg. A fresh beer foams out into the cup. GUY #1 There we go. INT. STIFLER'S HOUSE - MASTER BEDROOM - NIGHT - MOMENTS LATER Vicky is buttoning up her shirt. Kevin tentatively sets down the beer and buttons his pants. Suddenly the DOOR BURSTS OPEN. Stifler is standing there. A coat hanger sticks out of the doorknob. STIFLER SUCK ME, BEAUTIFUL! KEVIN God dammit, Stifler! STIFLER Check-out time! Please vacate the room. VICKY Stifler, you're such a jerk. She runs out, grabbing her clothes. Kevin runs after her. KEVIN Vicky, wait! Stifler enters the bedroom, laughing, pulling a SOPHOMORE CHICK behind him. He closes the door. SOPHOMORE CHICK God, I can't believe there are so many cool people at this party. STIFLER Yep. SOPHOMORE And you got a keg, too, wow. (realizing) Oh, wait, I left my beer downstairs. Stifler notices Kevin's beer sitting on the night table. He hands it to her. STIFLER Here, babe. SOPHOMORE CHICK Thanks. She's about to take a sip. STIFLER (gazing into her eyes) You're really beautiful. Thrown off, she sets the beer down. SOPHOMORE CHICK Really? STIFLER Uh huh. She's totally enthralled. Nervous, she raises the beer again to take a sip. Then Stifler moves in. Takes the beer from her and sets it down. Starts kissing her. She breaks it off. SOPHOMORE CHICK I don't know if I want to be doing this. STIFLER (sighs) Doing what? Stifler looks inconvenienced. He picks up the beer, annoyed. SOPHOMORE CHICK You know. If we hook up, tomorrow I'll just be some girl you go telling all your friends about. STIFLER (shifty) No way. Avoiding her look, he raises the beer to take a sip. SOPHOMORE CHICK (a little angry) Steve! You could at least look at me when you say that. Stifler stops and SIGHS, the beer inches from his mouth. Lowers it. Stares her in the eye. STIFLER Look... (searching, remembers) ...Sarah. I wouldn't go telling stories or whatever about you. I promise. Smiling, he raises the beer... INT. STIFLER'S HOUSE - KITCHEN - CONTINUING Jim and some OTHER GUYS are pounding shots of vodka. JIM What the hell? I should be able to talk to chicks. I'm articulate. I got a 720 on my SAT verbal. (starts listing off words) Copious. Verisimilitude. A GUY SCREAMS upstairs. JIM (CONT'D) (unaffected) Intransigence. A GIRL SCREAMS upstairs. The SOPHOMORE CHICK comes running through the kitchen. SCREAMING. And indeterminate stain is on her shirt. She bolts out the door and into the night. A moment passes. JIM (CONT'D) Regurgitation. INT. STIFLER'S HOUSE - BATHROOM - NIGHT Stifler is on his knees, barfing in the toilet. Jim and a few other guys rush in. GUY #1 Oh, gross. JIM Jesus, what did you eat? Stifler just keeps hurling. Kevin enters, holding the remains of the tainted beer. KEVIN Stifler, how's the man chowder?! Stifler barfs even more violently. EXT. STIFLER'S HOUSE - BACK PORCH, BY THE KEG - NIGHT Jessica and Vicky are refilling their beers at the keg. Nadia waits patiently beside them with an empty cup. VICKY He likes it. JESSICA Of course he does. What about you? Have you just never had one with Kevin -- or have you never had one, period? VICKY I think I've had one. JESSICA Well that's a no. No wonder you're not psyched about sex. (starts filling Vicky's beer) You've never even had one manually? VICKY ...I've never tried it. JESSICA Are you kidding? You've never double- clicked your mouse? Vicky shrugs. JESSICA (CONT'D) Hell, just a pair of tight pants will set me off. (noticing Nadia next to them, she passes the tap along) Am I right or what, Nadia? NADIA (no bones about it) You are right. The hands are not always necessary. JESSICA (to Vicky) See? NADIA In fact -- I should teach you my own special method. I developed it myself at the ballet institute in Prague. You use nothing but the muscles of the inner thigh. Nadia walks off. JESSICA No wonder she never pays attention in class. Vicky nods, traumatized. INT. STIFLER'S HOUSE - HALLWAY - LATER Kevin and Jim are looking at a PICTURE OF STIFLER'S MOM on the wall. Very attractive, late 30's. JIM Shit, I can't believe a fine woman like this produced a guy like Stifler. TWO FRESHMAN GUYS are walking by as Jim says this. FRESHMAN GUY Dude! That chick -- is a MILF! FRESHMAN GUY #2 What the hell is that? FRESHMAN GUY M-I-L-F! Mom I'd Like to Fuck! Suddenly, a bedroom door opens a couple inches. Sherman pokes his head out. SHERMAN (hushed, to guys) Don't you think you fellas could try a little tact? I've got company. Know what I mean? In the bedroom in the background, we see the Central Girl. Sherman closes the door, leaving the guys there, dumbstruck. INT. STIFLER'S HOUSE - STAIRWAY - NIGHT Jim and Kevin are coming down the stairs. KEVIN (snapping) Dammit! If Sherman has sex before I do, I'm gonna be really fucking pissed. They turn the corner into the kitchen. INT. STIFLER'S HOUSE - KITCHEN - CONTINUING KEVIN Man, I just gotta get laid already! This blowjob thing is bullshit! He stops. Vicky is there with Jessica. Staring at him. Vicky quietly grabs her purse. Hurt. OTHER STUDENTS watch, silently. Kevin doesn't know what to say. VICKY Jessica, can you drive me home? JESSICA Sure. The guys watch as the girls head for the door. KEVIN Vicky, wait. VICKY Not for you. The girls exit. Nobody says anything. Kevin is in shock. PARTY GUY (O.S.) Yeti! I am the Yeti! INT. STIFLER'S HOUSE - DAY The next morning. The party is long over. Plastic beer cups and various bottles litter the house, but it's not trashed. Jim is wandering around in a daze, holding his head. He stumbles over a body. It's Kevin. KEVIN Ow, what the hell? JIM Sorry, I thought you were dead. They walk over to the other side of the room. Finch is sitting on the couch. FINCH Good morning gentleman. JIM Finch! Where were you last night? What happened to the foolproof plan? FINCH I thought a fashionably late entrance would enhance my appearance. (off their looks) When I got here, the Bacchanalia was over and the nymphs had left. Oz wanders in, still sullen. Takes a seat, sulking. KEVIN Feeling better, Oz? OZ I'm such a loser. KEVIN That's the spirit. We hear FOOTSTEPS coming down the stairs. It's the CENTRAL GIRL. She wears a "Central" sweatshirt. Sherman follows behind her. The guys watch in disbelief as Sherman and the girl speak hushed, intimately. SHERMAN (snippets of conversation) ...I'll never forget...thank you. The Central Girl smiles. Notices the other guys watching. Just gives Sherman a kiss on the cheek. CENTRAL GIRL Bye. She exits. The guys are dumbfounded. Jaws hang. Sherman looks triumphant. Strides over to the guys. JIM You did it. SHERMAN Fellas, say goodbye to Chuck Sherman, the boy. I am now a man. The guys are shocked and amazed. SHERMAN (CONT'D) I highly recommend you join the club. KEVIN I -- I don't get it, how the hell did you do that? SHERMAN It was just my time, fellas, it was just my time. Best of luck to you, boys. Sherman exits. Silence. The guys look like they just lost the World Series on errors. They slowly take seats, ruined. KEVIN I put in months of quality time with Vicky. Sherman meets a chick for one night and scores? This is just wrong. OZ No shit, I'm never gonna get laid. How the hell am I gonna become this Mr. Sensitive Man? JIM Jesus, we're all gonna go to college as virgins. They've probably got special dorms for people like us. A long beat as they give this serious consideration. Then, Kevin strides purposefully to the front of the group. KEVIN Alright, I got an idea. But it stays between us. Agreed? They do. KEVIN (cont'd) Okay. It's really simple. We make an agreement -- no wait, more than an agreement. JIM Like a bet? KEVIN No, a pact. No money involved. This is more important than any bet. Now here's the deal: We all get laid before we graduate. A beat OZ Dude, it's not like I haven't been trying to get laid. KEVIN This is different. This is better. Think of when you're working out, Oz. You need a partner, someone to spot you. Someone to keep you motivated. Oz nods, getting into it. Kevin smiles and continues, arms outspread. KEVIN (CONT'D) That's what we are, we keep each other on track. Prior to this day, we've postured. We've procrastinated. We've pretended. We've -- well I can't think of other p-words, but we've probably done them too. JIM Pontificated. KEVIN (ignoring him) Separately, we are flawed and vulnerable. But together, we are the masters of our sexual destiny! JIM (kung fu voice) Their tiger-style kung-fu is strong; but our dragon style will defeat it! OZ (going on) The Sha-lin masters from east and west must unite! KEVIN Guys, guys -- you're ruining my fucking moment here. Now think about it -- Kevin jumps up on a chair. KEVIN (CONT'D) No longer will our penises remain flaccid and unused! From now on, we fight for every man out there who isn't getting laid when he should be! This is our day! This is our time! And, by God, we're not gonna let history condemn us to celibacy! We will make a stand! We will succeed! We will get laid! Kevin jumps down off the chair, and puts his hand out in front of him. One by one, the guys pile their hands on top, in between them -- it's a pact! They break with a CHEER. Woo-hoo! STIFLER (wandering down from upstairs) What the hell are you losers doing? They all stop. Stifler has a toothbrush hanging from his mouth. A goatee of dried toothpaste. FINCH If I might ask, when you brush your teeth, do you spit or swallow? Stifler tries to give a retort to Finch, but turns green and heads back upstairs. INT. DOG DAYS - DAY The guys are finishing up breakfast. Hot dogs & eggs. KEVIN Now, the sex -- it's got to be valid, consensual sex. No funny stuff. And no prostitutes, if you were thinking about that, Finch. Finch gives a wistful "Who, me?" KEVIN (CONT'D) So, I'm thinking prom is basically our last big chance. OZ Dude, prom sucks. KEVIN I know, but think about it -- At the parties that night. Chicks are gonna want to do it. JIM Yeah, it's like tradition or something. KEVIN Right. That gives us... JIM Exactly three weeks to the day. They take this in with some trepidation. KEVIN Alright then. It's official. Any questions? There are none. Kevin raises his Pepsi. KEVIN (cont'd) To the next step. The guys raise their drinks. ALL To the next step. They toast. And from this, we go into our STRATEGIZING FOR SEX MONTAGE: INT. KEVIN'S BEDROOM - DAY Jim sits in the room as Kevin goes through the yellow pages. Finds a "Floral Delivery" listing. Kevin dials. INT. EAST GREAT FALLS HIGH - SENIOR LOCKERS - DAY Kevin, Jim, and Oz are pooling a few dollars together, which Kevin takes. They part ways. INT. JIM'S BEDROOM - NIGHT Oz is watching the Lifetime Channel as Jim looks on in confusion. A Martha Stewart-type thing where they pain pottery with little sponges. Oz looks dubious. INT. EAST GREAT FALLS HIGH - CAFETERIA - DAY Finch is unpacking his lunch. He carefully unfolds a napkin to reveal a sandwich, crust removed. Other than that, he's doing absolutely nothing. INT. JIM'S BEDROOM - DAY Jim is fiddling with a small, golfball-like camera attached to his computer. The computer screen reads, "E- DATE: We Make Love Happen." As Jim fiddles with the camera, a window on the screen shows his real-time image. He clicks an onscreen-button labeled "FREEZE IMAGE" -- the image freezes, showing Jim with an awkward grimace. The screen reads, "IMAGE SENT." INT. EAST GREAT FALLS HIGHS - LIBRARY - DAY Kevin holds a copy of the HOLY BIBLE. We see he's in the "Religion" section. Surrounded by piles of different bibles. No luck. INT. EAST GREAT FALLS HIGH - CAFETERIA - DAY Finch pulls out a small mustard packet. He neatly snips the end with scissors. Then rolls the packet, like a tube of toothpaste, economically dispensing every last bit of mustard. INT. JIM'S BEDROOM - NIGHT Jim is on his computer. The screen reads "YOU HAVE 00 REPLIES." Jim is nonplussed. INT. EAST GREAT FALLS HIGH - SENIOR LOCKERS - DAY Kevin, Oz, and Jim are closely gathered around Kevin's locker, holding their backpacks open. Kevin holds a big shopping bag, which he turns over, and a box of condoms falls out. He hands it over to Jim...and we see that the guys' packs are full of various condom boxes. INT. JIM'S BEDROOM - DAY Jim has unraveled a bunch of condoms and is curiously examining them. And THE MONTAGE COMES TO AN ABRUPT END with a KNOCKING. JIM (shoving the rubbers into his night table) Just a minute! He opens the bedroom door. Jim's Dad is standing there. JIM'S DAD (trying not to look inside) Can I come in? JIM Yeah, sure. JIM'S DAD You're not...busy? JIM Dad, come in. Jim's Dad reluctantly enters, carrying a brown paper bag. He takes a seat on Jim's bed. JIM'S DAD (fatherly attempt) Sit down, Jim. Let's talk. Jim takes a seat next to his dad. JIM Okay. JIM'S DAD These are for you. From father to son. Jim looks at the bag. Uncomfortable. Hesitantly, he takes it. Slowly, dreadfully, he pulls out a copy of PERFECT 10. JIM Uh...dad... Jim's Dad is doing his best to be the good father. JIM'S DAD Go ahead son, there's more. Beyond embarrassed, Jim reaches into the bag. Cringes. Pulls out a PENTHOUSE. JIM'S DAD (cont'd) Now, that one's a little more...a little more...graphic. JIM I know, Dad. JIM'S DAD Oh, okay. Here's let me show you. Jim's Dad takes the bag back. Pulls out a copy of SHAVED. JIM'S DAD (cont'd) This, son, is your more exotic dirty magazine. JIM Dad! I know! JIM'S DAD Do you know about the clitoris? JIM (through clenched teeth) Yes dad. JIM'S DAD Sometimes it can be pretty hard to locate. JIM (interrupting, hand up) Thank you, dad, I got it. JIM'S DAD Okay, well that about covers it. Jim MURMURS something incomprehensible. JIM'S DAD (cont'd) Now, let's put these somewhere where your mother won't find them. Jim's Dad takes the stack of magazines. He goes to open Jim's night table. Jim freaks. JIM Wait! But it's too late. Jim's Dad is face-to-face with the unraveled prophylactics. He sours. JIM'S DAD (beaten) I'll have to save this speech for another day. I'm too worn out. Jim's Dad exits, a condom stuck to the back of his pants. INT. EAST GREAT FALLS HIGH - NEAR THE HALL OF FAME - DAY Kevin is trying to talk to Vicky. KEVIN Did you get the flowers? (no response) What about the poem? She doesn't care. KEVIN (cont'd) Vicky, please don't do this. Vicky stares him right in the eye. Strong. VICKY I'll think about it. She slams her locker and walks off. Jessica is nearby. She's overheard. JESSICA Ah, you'll get her back soon enough. That's easy, she likes you. What you need to do is learn to press a girl's buttons. You gotta give her what she's never had. KEVIN What? JESSICA I'll give you a hint. (hot, orgasmic) "Ohhh, yeah, yeah!" (flat) Comprende? KEVIN You mean...and orgasm? JESSICA You got it, stud. KEVIN Well...I'm pretty sure I've -- JESSICA (interrupts authoritatively) No you haven't. KEVIN But that one time -- JESSICA (shaking head) No. KEVIN Well of course I'd want to give her that. I mean, what do you think, I don't care about her? JESSICA Do you? KEVIN Of course. JESSICA Do you love her? Kevin squirms. KEVIN I -- I don't know, you can't ask me that. JESSICA Well, if you want to get her in the sack, tell her you love her. That's how I was duped. KEVIN I don't want to dupe her, Jessica. If I say it, I have to be sure I mean it. JESSICA Well it's up to you. The Big L, or the Big O. Suddenly Stifler comes running up, breathless. STIFLER Dickhead! You gotta see this. INT. EAST GREAT FALLS HIGH - LITTLE AUDITORIUM - MOMENT LATER The VOCAL JAZZ GROUP is practicing, singing one of those doo-wop, Acapella love songs (i.e. "Love You Like I Do"). Singing with the group is none other than Oz. He's not doing too badly, but mainly he's checking out the various vocal jazz girls. Smiling at them, giving suave little waves. Kevin, Stifler, and Jim take seats in the back of the auditorium, listening. JIM This is unexpected. STIFLER What did you cocks do to him? Shit, if Coach Marshall sees this, he'll kick Oz off the team on principle alone. The song finishes. Oz bounds up to the other guys. OZ Hey guys, you came to watch me in action? JIM Yeah, I think you sounded pretty good. STIFLER I think you need your balls reattached. OZ Keep it down, dude. STIFLER What the fuck are you doing here? OZ This place is an untapped resource. Check it out, dude, these vocal jazz girls are hot. ANGLE ON SOME VOCAL JAZZ GIRLS A few of the girls are gathering their stuff, one of whom is HEATHER -- conservative-looking, cute. VOCAL JAZZ GIRL #1 Hey, we've got Conan the Barbarian singing with us. VOCAL JAZZ GIRL #2 Maybe he'll crush some beer cans on his forehead. HEATHER I think he's got a nice voice. VOCAL JAZZ GIRL #1 (ribbing her) Go talk to him, maybe you can teach him how to read. Heather shakes her head. BACK TO: STIFLER You dipshit, you're expecting to score with some goody-goody choir-girl priss? OZ Dude, watch me work. They go for sensitive studs like me. Oz waves goodbye to a final choir girl. EXT. EAST GREAT FALLS HIGH - COURTYARD - LATER Finch is sitting on a bench, reading the paper, carefree. Kevin and Jim approach. KEVIN This is your plan, Finch? FINCH Yep. He turns a page. Skims the articles. A beat. KEVIN This. Right now. FINCH Uh-huh. JIM You're just gonna sit there and drink your coffee? FINCH Mochaccino. (then) Actually, in the spirit of the pact, I do need to ask for your cooperation in one small matter. KEVIN Of course, Finch. What? FINCH Whatever you hear about me, you agree. KEVIN What are we gonna hear? FINCH You'll see. Gotta go. Sixteen minute round trip. JIM Finch, don't you think it's about time you learned to take a dump at school? FINCH When was the last time you looked at the facilities here? KEVIN Fifteen minutes ago. Finch shudders and walks away. Kevin and Jim stand there, dumbfounded. An ENTHRALLED GIRL approaches. ENTHRALLED GIRL Uh, guys? Was that Paul Finch? KEVIN Yeah. ENTHRALLED GIRL You guys have like, seen him in the locker room, right? KEVIN Yeah. ENTHRALLED GIRL Is it true that he's really...huge? JIM I have no idea. Finch showers in a bathing suit. KEVIN (forced) No -- it's true. He is...really... big. JIM (loving it) Yeah, enormous. ENTHRALLED GIRL Woah. Does he have a date for prom yet. JIM Definitely not. ENTHRALLED GIRL No way! She hurries off to a GROUP OF GIRLS, sharing the gossip. They all seem very interested. KEVIN (dumbfounded) Finch hasn't done a damn thing, and he's got girls lining up already. INT. KEVIN'S BEDROOM - DAY Kevin is on the phone. KEVIN'S BROTHER (V.O.) Say that again, Kevin? KEVIN Uh...I thought you might know a trick or something. To make her, you know... INTERCUT WITH INT. SUSHI BAR - DAY Kevin's brother is on his cell phone. A SUSHI CHEF prepares food behind the counter. KEVIN'S BROTHER Orgasm? The Sushi Chef looks up. Kevin's Brother turns away. KEVIN Yeah. SUSHI CUSTOMER (to Kevin's Brother) What's good here? KEVIN'S BROTHER Try the spicy tuna hand roll. KEVIN What?! How do I do that? KEVIN'S BROTHER Uh -- forget that. Look, is that all you're interested in? Ways to get your girlfriend into bed? KEVIN Well, no. I think...I guess it would be good to be able to return the favor. I mean, it would be nice to know she enjoys things as much as I do. KEVIN'S BROTHER That's good, that's what I needed to hear. Now you qualify. KEVIN Qualify for what? KEVIN'S BROTHER You've just inherited The Bible. INT. EAST GREAT FALLS HIGH - BACK OF LIBRARY - DAY Kevin is walking through the "Religion" Section. He carefully looks about, making sure nobody's watching. KEVIN'S BROTHER (V.O.) It originally started as a sex manual, this book that some guys brought back from Amsterdam in the early eighties. What to do with your tongue, things like that. And each year, it got passed on to one East student who was worthy of it. Kevin kneels down on the floor, near a section of various bibles on the bottom shelf. KEVIN'S BROTHER (V.O.)(cont'd) After a couple years, guys started adding their own techniques. Things they figured out themselves. Kevin slides out the section of bibles from the bottom shelf. Pulls out a pocket knife. Flips up the bottom of the shelf. Slides it out. KEVIN'S BROTHER (V.O.)(cont'd) You have to keep it a secret, and return it at the end of the year. So, now you know. Good luck. There, a bit dusty, is an old book. Many extra pages of notebook paper have been tucked into it, nearly breaking the binding. The original title is now obscured -- over it, someone has written "The Bible." Remember when Indian Jones found that gold statue? It's like that right now. Kevin carefully pulls it out. Reverently flips through it. Full of details. Explicit diagrams. Anecdotes. And atop each handwritten page is a year, indicating the date it was added. Kevin reaches the last page. It's blank. He lightly runs his hand down the empty page. INT. JIM'S HOUSE - KITCHEN - DAY Jim enters his house, slinging his backpack off his shoulder. JIM (yells) Mom?! I'm home! No response. Jim walks into the kitchen, noticing a fresh-baked pie on the counter. Next to it is a note: "Jimmy - Apple, your favorite. I'll be home late. Enjoy! Love Mom." Jim sniffs the pie, taking in the aroma. Then stops...as a quizzical look spreads across his face. After a moment of thought, he slides a finger into the pie. Moves it around a bit, studying the consistency. Then Jim becomes more curious. We can see the gears in his head start to turn. He looks down at the pie like it's... well, not a pie. EXT. JIM'S HOUSE - DAY Jim's dad gets out of his car, carrying his briefcase. INT. JIM'S HOUSE - CONTINUING Jim's dad comes in the door and stops dead in his tracks. His face drops, appalled. JIM'S DAD Jim? JIM It's not what it looks like! CUT TO: INT. JIM'S HOUSE - KITCHEN - DAY Jim and his Dad sit in silence, opposite each other at the table. Jim stares into his lap, humiliated. Jim's dad is crushed. You've never seen such disappointment... but he's trying to keep his chin up for Jim's sake. In the middle of the table is the pie. It's decimated. Mushed up, ruined...violated. JIM'S DAD (fighting back tears) I guess...we'll just tell your mother...that we ate it all. INT. KEVIN'S BEDROOM - NIGHT Late. Kevin sits on his bed, reading a book -- the Bible. If all students studied the way Kevin's studying this book, we'd have a nation of geniuses. He's scrutinizing it. Turning it sideways and upside down as if trying to decipher cave paintings. INT. EAST GREAT FALLS HIGH - LITTLE AUDITORIUM - DAY The Vocal Jazz Group is doing a song. Oz is singing along, really making it look like he's into it. He closes his eyes, singing with even more enthusiasm. As the song ends, Oz continues just a moment more with his shtick -- a little, heartfelt vocal "scat" to tag the number. The thing is, it actually sounds really good. Oz opens his eyes...to see the whole group -- especially the girls -- looking at him, somewhat awed. The CHOIR TEACHER is a smartly-dressed black woman. CHOIR TEACHER What the hell was that? OZ Sorry. CHOIR TEACHER No, it was good. OZ Oh, well... (noticing Heather looking at him, he acts "sensitive") It came from the heart. CHOIR TEACHER Well then keep it coming. (to everyone) Alright, people, good work! Keep it up and we'll do great at the state competition. Rehearsal wraps up, and Heather comes up to Oz. HEATHER Not bad, Chris. OZ (surprised himself) Really? Hey, thanks -- Heather, right? HEATHER Yeah...so...you've got this sort of... Bobby McFerrin thing going there. OZ (no idea) Yeah. Right, uh-huh. (then, back into it) I feel like I've discovered this whole new side of me. Music is so expressive. HEATHER (amused) Okay. (then) I mean, I agree, but...aren't you supposed to be out, like, trying to decapitate someone with your lacrosse stick or something? Oz "gets serious" at this. OZ Oh sure. I know what people think. It's like, Oz, he's just this kickass lacrosse player -- I also play football, by the way -- But that's like...not all that I am. HEATHER Of course, I didn't -- OZ (cutting her off) I mean it really bothers me when people try to pigeonhole me like that. HEATHER (sparking to this) You? You think I don't get that? God, it's like just because I don't get drunk and barf every weekend, people say "Oh, here's this goody-two- shoes choir-girl priss." Of course, this is what Stifler said about her. And for a moment, this catches Oz off guard. OZ Yeah...so like, what else do you do? HEATHER (offended) Well the same things you do. Hang out with friends and stuff, you know, whatever. (then) What do you think I do? OZ (genuine) I just -- realized that I didn't know anything about you. I was interested. HEATHER Oh...well that's okay. Cool. EXT. EAST GREAT FALLS HIGH - DAY Kevin is walking home with Vicky. He's a couple paces behind her, almost tagging along. KEVIN I was being selfish. And majorly insensitive. And I'm a total idiot. VICKY I think "shithead" really says it. KEVIN Yes! I'm a shithead! I'm a complete and total shithead! She cracks a little smile. KEVIN (CONT'D) And I want to try to make it up to you. VICKY How? Vicky stops walking. Looks at Kevin. EXT. VICKY'S HOUSE - DAY Vicky's perfect suburban home...as we hear VICKY MOANING IN ECSTASY. VICKY (V.O.) Oh...ungghhhhh! KEVIN (V.O.) Shhhh. Your parents are downstairs. INT. VICKY'S BEDROOM - DAY Tight on Vicky's face, in sexual bliss, writhing. VICKY Oh Kevin -- don't stop! KEVIN Just a second! We see that Kevin is kneeling on the floor. Vicky's legs are to both sides of him -- he's ducking down, consulting the bible, which is hidden beneath the bed. It's open to a page titled "The Tongue Tornado." Kevin resumes, out of frame. Vicky goes nuts. VICKY (cont'd) (a little too loudly) Oh, God! Vicky reaches blindly for a pillow. She squeezes it over her face, moaning into it. VICKY (cont'd) Moly shmmmt! Fmmkkkk! Noticing that Vicky now can't see him, Kevin cautiously pulls out The Bible from under the bed. Sets it next to her. He constantly refers from the book to Vicky, and back again. INT. VICKY'S HOUSE - KITCHEN - DAY VICKY'S MOM is straining some pasta. On the fridge, we see a collage in tribute to Vicky -- her senior portrait, National Honor Society certificate, a report card. VICKY'S MOM (yells to Vicky's Dad) Hon? Can you tell Vick to come on down for supper? VICKY'S DAD is at the table reading the paper. He gets up with a GRUNT. INT. VICKY'S BEDROOM - DAY Vicky can barely control herself. She SCREAMS into the pillow. KEVIN Vicky, shhh, you know there's no lock on your door. INT. VICKY'S HOUSE - STAIRWELL - DAY Vicky's dad is trudging up the stairs. INT. VICKY'S BEDROOM - DAY Vicky wrestles with her own ecstacy. Groans. Kevin keeps referencing The Bible. Whatever he's doing, it's working. INT. VICKY'S HOUSE - HALLWAY - DAY Vicky's dad approaches the bedroom door. INT. VICKY'S BEDROOM - DAY Vicky is about to explode. She pulls the pillow off her face, gasping. INT. VICKY'S HOUSE - HALLWAY - DAY Vicky's dad reaches for the doorknob. VICKY (O.S.) I'M COMING! Vicky's dad shrugs, turns around, and heads back downstairs. INT. JIM'S HOUSE - HALLWAY - NIGHT Jim's door opens...he winces...REVERSE to see Jim's dad looking at the family portrait of Jim's family in the hallway outside Jim's room, his back turned to Jim's door. JIM Hey, dad. Did you knock? Jim's dad continues to study the picture. A beat. Then he turns around, like he just realized the door was open. JIM'S DAD Oh, Jim! I'm looking at the ol' family portrait, here. Yep. It's a good one. Jim can only shrugs in response. He goes into the hall and looks at the portrait. A beat. JIM'S DAD (CONT'D) Son, I wanted to talk to you about what I think you were trying to do the other day. Jim's face drops, seeing his death unfold. JIM'S DAD (CONT'D) (continuing with his prepared speech) Now, you may have tried it in the shower, or maybe in bed at night, and not even known what you were doing. Or perhaps you've heard your friends talking about it in the locker room. Jim's eyes dart about, looking for a place to hide. JIM Dad, please stop. Please. I'm sure I know what you're talking about. JIM'S DAD Sure you know, son, but I think you've been having a little problem with it. It's okay, though. What you're doing is perfectly normal. It's like practice. Like when you play tennis against a wall. Some day, there'll be a partner returning the ball. (a beat) You do want a partner, don't you son? JIM (through clenched teeth) Yes. JIM'S DAD That's great. Now remember, it's okay to play with yourself. Or, as I always called it -- (elbows Jim) "Stroke the salami!" (chuckles) Ho-ho, Jim. There's nothing to be ashamed of. Hell, I'm fifty-two, and I still enjoy masturbating. Uncle Mort masturbates. We all masturbate. Nauseated and entirely disoriented, Jim tries to stumble back into his room. He SMACKS the doorframe. Keeps going, slamming the door behind him. A beat. JIM'S DAD (cont'd) Poor guy thought he was the only one. EXT. FOOTBALL FIELD - DAY The football field also doubles as the lacrosse field. East Great Falls is battling Central. It's a rough game, muddy, brutal. We see Oz grunting and groaning, playing very tough. On the sidelines, we see Heather has shown up. She's watching the game -- and is impressed as she watches Oz's agility and domination. Oz runs up the field, cradling the ball in his stick. A couple CENTRAL PLAYERS try to check him. Heather cringes with each impact, and is then excited to see Oz dodge his opponents. Finally, Oz scores with a triumphant YELL. Heather CHEERS with the crowd as the EGF players congratulate each other. EXT. FOOTBALL FIELD - DAY After the game. Oz sees Heather waiting for him on the sidelines. He's about to run over when COACH MARSHALL snags him -- COACH MARSHALL Good work, Ostreicher. OZ Thanks coach. COACH MARSHALL You're a killer, Ozzy! OZ (trying to get away) -- Thanks, coach -- FOLLOW WITH OZ as he trots over to Heather, covered in mud. OZ Hey, what're you doing here? HEATHER Just enjoying my exhilarating first lacrosse experience. You like, "kicked butt." A clod of mud falls from Oz's uniform onto Heather's skirt. OZ (brushing it off her skirt) Whoops, excuse me... Oz wipes the mud from his hands. A beat. Heather has something to say that's not quite coming out. HEATHER Um...Chris -- OZ You can call me Oz. HEATHER Do I have to? OZ You can call me Ostreicher. HEATHER What's your middle name? OZ Forget it. HEATHER Come on! I won't tell. OZ Neither will I. HEATHER Okay. (pause) So I had this...thought, and...this may seem like it's out of left field, and I don't know if you can, but since I'm not going with anyone -- Before she can finish, Stifler runs up, sweaty and excited. STIFLER Hah! Central sucks! (noticing Heather) Choir Chick? What the hell are you doing here? HEATHER Well, I uh, I was -- (decides to stand her ground) I was asking Chris to prom. (turns to Oz) So do you wanna go? Oz is surprised at her directness. Impressed. OZ Yeah! STIFLER Well, just don't expect Oz to pay for the limo. OZ Stifler, fuck -- (noticing Heather, "sensitive") ...man, you don't have to be so insensitive. A beat. STIFLER What?? (he dismisses it) Whatever -- look uh, don't forget -- my cottage after prom. On Lake Michigan. Stifler joins some other LACROSSE BUDDIES. OZ Alright, cool. I gotta hit the showers, but...I think this'll be really good. HEATHER Yeah, me too, okay, cool. They share a smile. Then Heather walks off towards her car. Oz trots off to Stifler and the other lacrosse guys. STIFLER My man Oz, working it with the choir babes? LACROSSE BUDDIES (cheering, slapping him) Yeah, go Oz! etc. Oz laughs, embarrassed. OZ (pandering to them) Hey, you know, what can I say, I dig those cute little sweaters she wears. STIFLER I'll bet you do, you little horndog, she's givin' you fuckin' stiffies, right? Stifler goes into what can only be described as the Spank- Me-And-Fuck-Me-Like-A-Whore-Dance. STIFLER (CONT'D) Yeah! Sing for me! yes! The other guys LAUGH. Oz joins in, laughing in spite of himself. They all high-five. And from the other side of the field, we see Heather peering over at them. Hardly believing it as Oz joins in the laughter. INT. EAST GREAT FALLS HIGH - CLASSROOM - DAY English class. The TEACHER is wrapping up a lecture. TEACHER So once Hal becomes king, he has to take on the responsibilities of leadership, and turn his back on his old, drunken friend, Falstaff. You see, Hal was going through a rite of passage, much like you all are. Make the most of the time you've got left together. You'll miss it later. Jim, Kevin, and Oz sit in the back of the classroom in one corner. OZ So does your tongue cramp up? KEVIN Nah, you get kind of dizzy though. JIM Wow, that's amazing, she's probably gonna want to do it soon. Kevin shrugs as the BELL RINGS. Sherman passes by. SHERMAN Still questing after the holy grail, eh guys? He CHUCKLES and exits. The guys stand up, exiting the classroom. JIM Hey, where's Finch? KEVIN Went home to shit. JIM I don't get it. How does a guy like that get this sudden reputation? OZ What reputation? KEVIN Observe. He taps a passing RANDOM CUTE GIRL on the shoulder. KEVIN (cont'd) Excuse me. Do you know who Paul Finch is? RANDOM CUTE GIRL Of course! Have you guys seen his tattoo? KEVIN ...Yes? RANDOM CUTE GIRL Is it cool? I heard it was like an eagle, blazing in fire and stuff. JIM (nods, loving it) Actually, it's an eagle and this big python. RANDOM CUTE GIRL Really?! JIM Yeah, see it's on his stomach, here, and the eagle -- the eagle is actually grasping the python in its talons, so the snake is like his -- KEVIN (interrupting) That's good, Jim. RANDOM CUTE GIRL Woah, no way! That guy is so cool! She hurries off to tell her friends. The guys exit the classroom. INT. EAST GREAT FALLS HIGH - SENIOR HIGH LOCKERS - CONTINUING OZ Okay, explain. KEVIN I can't, I have no idea how he's doing it. And that leaves you trailing, Jim. You gotta get your act together. JIM (a little aggravated) Yeah, I know. I'm working on it. Jim turns around -- to find Nadia is standing right in front of him. Jim says nothing. Stuck. Staring. Oz elbows him. Jim gives a startled GRUNT. NADIA You are very good in the world history class, yes? JIM (gulps) Me? Jim looks over to Kevin and Oz, who excitedly give him encouraging looks and gestures. JIM (CONT'D) (trying to decipher the guys' signals) Yes. No. Yes. NADIA Perhaps you can help me with my studies? The guys nod, "Yes! Yes!" JIM Okay...that would be cool sometime. (sees the guys gesticulating) How 'bout tomorrow? NADIA Well, I do have ballet practice. Perhaps I can come by your house afterwards. I can change clothes at your place? JIM (barely, overwhelmed) I suppose that would be okay. Nadia walks off. Jim collapses into Oz's and Kevin's arms, like a marathon runner at the end of a race. They pat him heartily in congratulations. EXT. RAST GREAT FALLS - SIDE OF SCHOOL - DAY After school. Oz is there as Heather pulls up in a new Saab. OZ Nice car. HEATHER I'm glad you think so. OZ You don't like it? HEATHER No, I like the car. (then, direct) By the way, though, about prom? That was like a bad idea. Sorry I invited you. She hastily walks towards the school. OZ What?! HEATHER Oh, please. I asked you because I thought you might actually be worth going with. But you are just a jock. No wait. You're a jerk. OZ What? No I'm not. HEATHER I saw you making fun of me with your lacrosse buddies. OZ I wasn't making fun of you. HEATHER Give me a break, you're so full of it. She hurries up more, breaking off from Oz, and enters the school. After a moment, he slowly heads in. INT. EAST GREAT FALLS HIGH - LITTLE AUDITORIUM - LATER Oz and Heather are singing with the group, at opposite ends of the room. It's a pop, contemporary arrangement of "HOW SWEET IT IS." It sounds jazzy, cool. Oz looks dazed, like the wind's taken out of him. He sings along, distant. Heather, almost defiantly, sings clearer and better than ever. Oz watches her, though she never looks his way. At the bride of the song, Heather breaks into a solo. She sings beautifully. Oz is hooked. The Choir Teacher halts the song. CHOIR TEACHER Okay, Heather, that was good, but I want to thicken up that solo. Michigan State is this Saturday, and I want that part to smoke. HEATHER I know, my timing's off. CHOIR TEACHER A little, but I think it'll work better as a duet. With a tenor part. OZ (interrupting) I'll do it. A beat as the Choir Teacher is impressed and Heather looks indifferent. OZ (CONT'D) I'll do it. CHOIR TEACHER Okay then. The rest of you okay with that? The rest of the choir agrees, as Heather looks to Oz with skepticism. CHOIR TEACHER (CONT'D) Great. See you tomorrow. The group starts packing up. HEATHER (annoyed) Why are you doing this? OZ Because I want to. HEATHER Yeah? Well you can't fake your way through this. You better practice. She leaves. INT. EAST GREAT FALLS - LIBRARY - DAY Jim, Kevin, Oz, and Stifler. STIFLER Fuck me! You're gonna have a naked Eastern-European chick in your house, and you're telling me you're not gonna take advantage of that? JIM What am I gonna do, broadcast her over the internet? OZ You can do that? JIM (off their looks) Oh -- no way. I can't do that to her. STIFLER Dammit, Jim, get some fucking balls. If you don't have the guts to photograph a naked chick in your room, how are you ever gonna sleep with one? Now all you gotta do is set up some sort of private link or whatever on the net, and tell me the address. The guys ponder this. KEVIN You can send me the address too. JIM Well...dammit, if I'm doing this, how the hell am I gonna watch? KEVIN I'll save you a seat. INT. JIM'S BEDROOM - DAY Jim is setting the computer camera on top of the monitor. The computer BINGS. COMPUTER VOICE "You have established an internet connection." Jim sits. Types a quick E-mail. It reads: "OH YEAH! 128.220.27.102/tempt/NadiaVision. ENJOY!" Jim scrolls through his list of E-mail addresses. Highlights a listing. Clicks "Send." INT. KEVIN'S BEDROOM - DAY Kevin and Finch sit in front of a computer. Kevin is unloading beer and chips from a grocery bag. We see an image of Jim's bedroom on the computer screen. It's a little strobed, but easily watchable. Suddenly Jim's face pops into frame. He's adjusting the camera. KEVIN There we go. INT. JIM'S BEDROOM - DAY We see the same image on Jim's screen. Jim turns off just the monitor. It looks like the computer is off -- the ruse is undetectable. Jim's dad enters with Nadia. She's in sweats and a leotard, carrying a duffel bag over her shoulder. Jim's dad is delighted, fidgety, almost giddy. JIM'S DAD Son. This lady's here for you. JIM (like it's no big deal) I know. Hey Nadia. NADIA Hello James. Ready to study. JIM'S DAD Oh, you bet he is. Jim's quite the bookworm. JIM Dad. JIM'S DAD Oh, no, not too much of a bookworm. He's a good little kid. Er, guy. Man. JIM Dad!! JIM'S DAD Okay, okay. I'll let you hit those books. Jim's dad gives a knowing look and exits. INT. STIFLER'S HOUSE - BROTHER'S BEDROOM - SAME TIME STIFLER'S YOUNGER BROTHER, 11, a monster, is tugging at Stifler, who sits at the computer, watching Jim's room. STIFLER'S BROTHER Steve! Steve! It's my computer and I wanna use it! STIFLER Shut up and watch this, you might learn something. INT. JIM'S BEDROOM - DAY JIM So you need to change, right? NADIA Do you mind? This fabric is so uncomfortable. She sets her duffel on Jim's bed. JIM No, go right ahead and get dressed. I'll just be downstairs, studying up. Get me when you're ready. Jim exits, closing the door behind him. INT. KEVIN'S BEDROOM - DAY - SAME TIME KEVIN Here we go. INT. JIM'S HOUSE - HALLWAY - CONTINUING He's off! Jim sprints down the hall. Thunders down the stairs. INT. JIM'S HOUSE - CONTINUING Jim's Mom and Dad are sitting downstairs. Jim bolts through the room. JIM Be back in a sec! He practically crashes through the door on his way out. JIM'S MOM Jim? Honey, where are you going? She turns and looks at her husband. Both perplexed. EXT. STREET - CONTINUING Jim runs like hell. INT. JIM'S BEDROOM - SAME TIME Nadia unzips her duffel, pulling some clothes out. EXT. KEVIN'S HOUSE - CONTINUING Jim trucks across the lawn to the door. INT. KEVIN'S BEDROOM - DAY Kevin and Finch are watching the computer screen. KEVIN Want a beer? Finch simply waves off the question. He's glued to the screen. Jim bursts into the room, breathless. JIM Did I miss anything?! KEVIN Just in time. Jim grabs a seat by the computer. All three guys watch, transfixed. Nadia is slipping out of her leotard. JIM Woah! Nadia's leotard is off. Bra and panties. Outstanding body. INTERCUT BETWEEN JIM'S BEDROOM and the guys around the computer screen in Kevin's Bedroom. Nadia pauses. Looks in Jim's full-length mirror. Admiring her body. KEVIN Oh, man! This is incredible. And...yes! Nadia peels off her sportsbra. Supple breasts. The guys are awestruck. KEVIN (CONT'D) I can't believe Oz had to work. INT. EAST GREAT FALLS HIGH - LITTLE AUDITORIUM - DAY Oz sits alone in the empty vocal jazz rehearsal area. He sighs, leafing through some sheet music. It's as quiet and boring as can be. INT. STIFLER'S HOUSE - BROTHER'S BEDROOM - SAME TIME Stifler and his brother are awestruck. STIFLER'S BROTHER This is like the coolest thing I've ever seen. INT. KEVIN'S BEDROOM - DAY - CONTINUING JIM Oh, thank you Lord, for this wonderful day. Nadia still primps in the mirror. Then she looks around. Very carefully, she pokes through the stuff on Jim's night table. JIM (cont'd) Hey! You can't touch my stuff! Nadia opens the night table. Stops. Jim flushes. Nadia delicately reaches into the night table as Jim crumbles. JIM (cont'd) Oh no no no. She pulls out the stack of porno magazines. KEVIN Nice collection there, Jim. Nadia takes a PENTHOUSE. Starts thumbing through it. She sits on Jim's bed. Lingering on some pages. Getting aroused. JIM Dear God -- she's -- she's -- she's -- Welcome to every man's fantasy. Nadia's hand wanders into her panties. JIM (cont'd) Gentlemen, I'd like to make an announcement. There is a gorgeous woman masturbating on my bed. The guys watch, completely blown away. Nadia's lost herself. KEVIN You know, Jim...you could go back there...and... FINCH (nodding) Seduce her. JIM But, but -- what would I do? KEVIN Anything! Just tell her it looks like she needs an extra hand or something. JIM That's stupid. KEVIN No, you're stupid. Get going! Right now! She's primed! JIM Oh...oh...oh, shit! He BOLTS across the room. EXT. KEVIN'S HOUSE - DAY Jim sprints across the lawn. EXT. STREET - DAY - CONTINUING Jim leaps over a row of bushes. Wipes out. Gets up and keeps running. INT. JIM'S HOUSE - DAY - CONTINUING Jim crashes into the house and runs past his bewildered parents. JIM Hey mom hey dad! He rushes up the stairs. Jim's Dad looks hopeful. INT. JIM'S HOUSE - HALLWAY - CONTINUING Jim stops outside his door, catching his breath. He can hear FAINT MOANING from inside. He's hesitating. JIM Oh boy oh God oh crap oh no. INT. KEVIN'S BEDROOM - DAY - SAME TIME KEVIN Come on, Jim. Where are you? The PHONE RINGS. Kevin answers. KEVIN (cont'd) (into phone) Hello? Hey Sherman...what?! How did you know? INT. SHERMAN'S HOUSE - CONTINUING Sherman sits in front of a computer. SHERMAN (into phone) Jim must've addressed that E-mail wrong. It went out to every mailbox in the East High directory. God, how juvenile. INT. COMPUTER NERD'S BEDROOM - DAY - SAME TIME A COMPUTER NERD, 14, is at his computer. Watching NadiaVision. Mouth open. Braces shining. INT. BASEMENT - DAY - SAME TIME A GROUP OF STONERS log onto the page. A LITTLE MONKEY hops around in a cage. STONER #1 Whoa. STONER #2 Kind. INT. JIM'S HOUSE - HALLWAY - CONTINUING Jim still waits outside his bedroom door. Takes a deep breath. Looks upwards to the sky. JIM Please, God. Let this be it. INT. KEVIN'S BEDROOM - DAY KEVIN He's going in! INT. ANOTHER BEDROOM - DAY We see a bedroom full of GUYS. GUY #1 There's somebody going in there! INT. BASEMENT - DAY - SAME TIME STONER #1 Hey, that guy's in my trig class. INT. JIM'S BEDROOM - DAY Jim stands there, bewildered. Nadia hasn't noticed him, eyes closed, still pleasuring herself. Jim stands there, watching, faltering. Gathers his courage. Finally, he rolls his eyes and says -- JIM Looks like you could use an extra hand. Nadia's eyes flash open. NADIA (chastising) James! You have come in here on purpose?! JIM Well...uh... NADIA Shame on you! JIM Uh...yeah...sorry. NADIA Well. You have seen me. Now it is my turn to see you. Strip. JIM Strip? NADIA Yes, slowly. Jim sneaks a nervous glance over to the QuickCam. JIM You mean like, strip strip? NADIA (irresistably sexy) For me? INT. KEVIN'S BEDROOM - DAY - SAME TIME FINCH What do you suppose they're saying? KEVIN No idea. INT. JIM'S BEDROOM - DAY - CONTINUING Nadia leans over to Jim's clock radio. Turns it on. We hear COUNTRY MUSIC. She flips the dial, and we hear A FEW STATIONS FLIP BY. Then a DRIVING, EURO-TECHNO SONG. NADIA Perfect. She turns to Jim. JIM Uh... NADIA Move with the music. JIM Um...okay... He struts clumsily back and forth. Takes his shirt off. Swings it in a circle around his head...and lets go of it, aiming for the QuickCam, where it lands. NADIA No, no, you must put your whole body into it. JIM Nadia, I can't -- NADIA Can't what? Do you not want to be with me? I wish to be entertained, James. Jim nods eagerly. Concentrates on the music...as we see the shirt slide off the camera. Jim starts writhing to the beat. Like a hyperactive chicken. INT. STIFLER'S HOUSE - BROTHER'S BEDROOM - CONTINUING STIFLER What the fuck is this? INT. SHERMAN'S BEDROOM - CONTINUING SHERMAN The horror, the horror. INT. JIM'S BEDROOM - DAY - CONTINUING Jim is into it now. Possibly the worst dancer in the world. No rhythm. No soul. INT. BASEMENT - DAY - SAME TIME STONER #2 God, what a buzzkill. INT. GIRL'S BEDROOM - SAME TIME A GROUP OF GIRLS watches in amusement. GIRL IN BEDROOM Work it, baby! The LAUGH and dance mockingly along with Jim. INT. JIM'S BEDROOM - DAY - CONTINUING Jim tugs off his pants, dancing and tripping on them. NADIA (turned on) More sexy, Jim, more sexy. Jim is clearly excited by Nadia's prodding. He does some pathetically ridiculous move with his pants, sliding them around his chest and neck. INT. GIRL'S BEDROOM - CONTINUING A GROUP OF GIRLS is watching. DISINTERESTED GIRL He's no Paul Finch. INT. KEVIN'S BEDROOM - DAY - SAME TIME Kevin and Finch are now completely sickened. FINCH This is truly revolting. INT. JIM'S BEDROOM - DAY - CONTINUING Jim is straddled over a chair, grinding against the chair back, in his boxers and shorts. NADIA (getting really turned on) More, more, you bad boy! Jim starts spanking his ass as he gyrates. INT. ANOTHER BEDROOM - DAY - SAME TIME The guys are all trying not to watch, yet still drawn to the computer. GUY #1 Ugh...God... INT. JIM'S COMPUTER - DAY - CONTINUING NADIA Now! Hames, come to me. JIM Oh yeah! Jim dances over to her. She pulls him onto the bed. Kisses his neck. Takes his hand. Places it on her thigh. NADIA Be gentle. Jim GULPS. INT. KEVIN'S BEDROOM - DAY KEVIN Ho-lee shit. INT. STIFLER'S HOUSE - BROTHER'S BEDROOM - DAY - SAME TIME STIFLER This just got a hell of a lot better. INT. JIM'S BEDROOM - DAY Jim's hand wanders up Nadia's leg. She does the same to him. Blows in his ear. Her hand is about to enter his shorts. And Jim is done. Bang. That's it. He looks down at himself in terror. Nadia sees. Backs away. NADIA Jim... JIM Oh no. INT. KEVIN'S BEDROOM - DAY KEVIN Oh no. INT. BASEMENT - DAY - SAME TIME The stoners look...well, stoned. STONER #1 Bummer. INT. GIRL'S BEDROOM - SAME TIME The girls are LAUGHING HYSTERICALLY. INT. STIFLER'S HOUSE - BROTHER'S BEDROOM - DAY STIFLER'S BROTHER What happened?! What happened?! STIFLER He blew it. Literally. INT. JIM'S BEDROOM - DAY Nadia is getting dressed. NADIA You are done, James. Perhaps I should be going now. JIM No, no, I'm not done! I've got reserves! Nadia, please please please. I'm begging you. She sees the desperation in his eyes. Thinks about it. Smiles. NADIA I do like your dirty magazines. Jim digs into the stack of pornos. Grabs SHAVED. JIM Did you see this? This is your more exotic dirty magazine. NADIA Yes...James, it is knowing that these beautiful women arouse you that arouses me... JIM Oh yes. Very arousing women. They arouse me very much. But not as arousing as you. She goes for this line. Gives in. NADIA Oh Jim... She grabs him. Starts caressing his body. INT. KEVIN'S BEDROOM - DAY KEVIN/FINCH Yes!! INT. BASEMENT - DAY - SAME TIME STONER #1 Alright, dude! INT. ANOTHER BEDROOM - DAY GUY #1 He's re-engaging! A CHEER goes up as the guys CELEBRATE. INT. JIM'S BEDROOM - DAY Groping. They're tangled in each other. Nadia backs off for a moment. Slowly, teasing, she hooks her thumbs in the sides of her panties. Starts sliding them down. NADIA So, "shaved" is the expression? CLOSE UP on Jim as his eyes bug out. Yep, it is, and she is. JIM (mutters) Holy shit. INT. KEVIN'S BEDROOM - DAY KEVIN Holy shit! INT. ANOTHER BEDROOM - DAY ALL THE GUYS (unison) HOLY SHIT! INT. JIM'S BEDROOM - DAY Jim is stuck. Staring at Nadia. She moves towards him. Nadia is inches from his face. NADIA Touch me Jim...here. Jim is trembling, straining with himself. A shudder runs through him. And it's over, again. INT. GIRL'S BEDROOM - CONTINUING The girls are LAUGHING again. GIRLS Again? INT. KEVIN'S BEDROOM - DAY KEVIN Not again. INT. JIM'S BEDROOM - DAY JIM No, not again. NADIA (sighs) I am sorry, Jim. I suppose we will not be doing any studying now. JIM No! I've got...reserve reserves! Nadia starts getting dressed. Jim is whimpering. NADIA It is too bad. I was at first hoping you would ask me to the prom. But... She gathers her things. Eyes Jim over. NADIA (cont'd) You should change your shorts. JIM ...okay. Jim is stunned. Ruined. Nadia exits. CLOSE on Jim's tormented face as we hear... COMPUTER VOICE "You have lost your internet connection. Click 'okay' to reconnect." EXT. EAST GREAT FALLS HIGH - COURTYARD - DAY Jim is walking through the courtyard, a bit dazed. A COUPLE GIRLS pass by him, giggling. He trudges along...noticing a CLIQUE OF GIRLS staring at him as he passes by...and Stoner #1 giving him a peace sign...and the Computer Nerd staring at him like a celebrity...... Jim's pace slows. He hears a SNICKER behind him...he slows even more, taking very careful steps...as he sees a GIRL doing a really strange dance -- and his eyes pop out as he sees that, yes, it's his dance. He stops. ALMOST EVERYONE is staring at him. Jim pulls his coat up over his face and hurries off into the school, like a fugitive avoiding the media. People APPLAUD and LAUGH. INT. EAST GREAT FALLS HIGH - MAIN HALLWAY - DAY Kevin and Oz catch up to Jim. Here and there, people still give Jim funny looks. KEVIN Hey, minuteman. JIM Shut up. You're supposed to be supportive. OZ You've still got a chance with Nadia, right? JIM No. Her sponsors here saw the thing on the net. I don't think they liked it. KEVIN How do you know that? JIM She's already on a plane back home. Kevin winces. JIM (cont'd) You know, maybe I'm just not good with girls, period. Like I was born without that part of the brain. I mean, I can't talk to girls. And when I do talk to them, I screw it up. KEVIN Yeah? Well come prom night, those excuses aren't going to do you much good. JIM Jesus, Kevin, rub it in. A nearby OLD JANITOR starts GUFFAWING at Jim as he walks by. INT. EAST GREAT FALLS HIGH - CLASSROOM - DAY Jim sits, waiting for class to start. Miserable. Some students are obviously talking about him in the background. Others study and chat. Next to Jim is Michelle -- the reject, band dork that we've seen earlier. She's got a flute case on her desk. She's blabbering to Jim. The kind of blabbering where every other sentence sounds like a question, even though it isn't. MICHELLE And so, one time? I was at band camp? And we weren't supposed to have pillow fights? But we had a pillow fight! And it was so much fun! Jim couldn't care. MICHELLE (cont'd) And one time, we all lost our music? And we were supposed to play this song? But we didn't know it. So we just made it up! And we kept playing and playing but the conductor didn't know what we were doing and it was so funny! Jim looks wistfully over at Nadia's empty desk. MICHELLE (cont'd) So you're pissed about something, huh? You know what I do when I'm angry? I just play some Bach on my flute. It's so relaxing. I learned to do that at band camp. Jim perks up the slightest bit. JIM Hold on. You have no idea why I'm angry? MICHELLE Is it because we have a test tomorrow? Sometimes I get cranky when I know I have a big test to study for. JIM Yeah, that's pretty much it. MICHELLE I thought so. Because, one time? I was at this -- JIM (interrupting) What was your name again? MICHELLE Michelle. JIM Okay. Michelle, do you want to be my date for the prom? MICHELLE Really? You seriously want to go with me? JIM (so forced) Yes. Seriously. MICHELLE Are we going to Steve Stifler's party afterwards? That would be so cool. JIM Whatever you want. MICHELLE Cool! We're gonna have so much fun! It's like this one time, at band camp... INT. EAST GREAT FALLS HIGH - HALLWAY - A LITTLE LATER Heather is walking down the hall. She turns to go into the Little Auditorium -- and through the window in the door she sees Oz. She stops. Oz is singing, working through the solo. Determined to get it right. He bounces his lacrosse ball off the floor, in rhythm, keeping time. There's one point that he keeps getting stuck at and going back over. Heather watches this, softening as she sees that Oz is actually putting his heart into it. Finally he's frustrated -- OZ Dammit! He whips the lacrosse ball at the wall. Heather recoils, still watching, unseen by Oz. After a moment, Oz cools off. He gets the ball, and diligently starts up again. Heather is impressed. INT. VICKY'S BEDROOM - DAY Vicky is doing calculus homework, as Kevin looks on, rubbing her shoulders. KEVIN You're not doing the extra credit problems. VICKY No, I'm not. I'm writing a sequence of random numbers that look like I'm doing the extra credit problems. Mr. Bender doesn't bother to check homework past April. KEVIN That's my trick! VICKY It's everyone's trick, Kevin. (she turns to him) But I did pick it up from you. She gives him a little kiss on his hand, continuing with her work. Kevin keeps rubbing her back, more serious. KEVIN We've come a long way since Homecoming. VICKY (playful) Yeah, we have. You corrupted my four- point into a three-nine-five. KEVIN Indeed I did. But, our relationship. It's progressed a lot. It's time for us to...express ourselves in new ways. Vicky stops working and turns, sitting up on the desk, facing him. Her mood has shifted, more romantic. VICKY Like how? KEVIN Well, I feel that...things are getting to that point in a relationship. When two people share...a special moment between them. VICKY I think you're so right, Kevin. KEVIN (pause) You want to do it? VICKY Yes -- She takes his hand. Readies herself, and declares. VICKY (CONT'D) I love you. Kevin falters. This is definitely not what he was expecting. He's caught. Trying to formulate a response. VICKY (CONT'D) Kevin? Do you not love me? KEVIN No, I don't not love you. I like, I know that we've definitely got something between us. Something good. Something special. VICKY But you don't love me. KEVIN I didn't say that. I mean, love, it's like a term that gets thrown around. People say things, they get married, have kids, and then what? It's like they call it off, going "I was wrong." A beat. Vicky seems to know where he's coming from. VICKY Kevin...you're not your dad. The two of us, we're not your parents. KEVIN I know, Vick. I'm just not ready yet, okay? VICKY Okay. INT. SUBWAY - NIGHT Oz is closing up the store. He looks up to see Heather at the door. Oz goes and opens it, surprised, embarrassed. The air is awkward between them. HEATHER Hi... OZ How did you know I was here? HEATHER Stifler told me. OZ You talked to Stifler? HEATHER Well...I needed to find you. We are gonna have to practice that song. OZ ...okay. Cool then. I'm um, I'm glad you came by. I mean, really. She smiles. Oz lets her in. HEATHER So you like, work nights? An uncomfortable moment for Oz. OZ Uh...my dad's the manager. HEATHER Really? Cool. Tell him his subs are great. OZ Ah, he's always too heavy on the vinegar. If you really want a good one, you gotta let me make it. INT. SUBWAY - NIGHT - MOMENTS LATER Oz is behind the counter. Heather walks down the other side as Oz assembles a sub. OZ My dad's always here running the store, busy and stuff...and I fill in once a week so he can get a night off. HEATHER (pause) That's nice. OZ (shrugs) So you're going to Michigan? HEATHER Yeah, well my parents wanted me to go to Northwestern. I didn't want to write all those extra essays they make you do -- I mean, how am I supposed to know what my "most emotionally significant moment" was? So when my U of M acceptance came in December, I said the hell with it. OZ Onions? HEATHER What? OZ You want onions? HEATHER Oh, yeah. So what're you gonna major in? OZ Well, State's got a good business school. And I can probably walk onto the lacrosse team. Green peppers? HEATHER Yeah. So wow, you've got it figured out. OZ (dismissive) Well, I mean, business is okay, and lacrosse is awesome, but what am I gonna be, a pro lacrosse player? I really have no idea. HEATHER Oh thank God, I thought I was the only one. OZ Well, you're not. Oil and vinegar? HEATHER Yeah. You know, people are always like, "What're you gonna major in?" And I don't know. And they're like, "You'll figure it out." Yeah? When? OZ I know. Salt and pepper? HEATHER Sure. Oz cuts the sub in half with a flourish and puts it on a tray. HEATHER (CONT'D) So we're gonna be close next year? OZ You -- oh, you mean -- yeah, East Lansing and Ann Arbor. HEATHER (smiles) ...yeah. A beat...a little uncomfortable, but nice. OZ Wanna swap your chips for cookies? EXT. SUBWAY - NIGHT - LATER The remains of a couple subs are on a table. Oz and Heather are doing their song...it's rough, but they're working through it. And when they're in sync, they sound really good together. We SLOWLY PULL BACK as they sing into the night. INT. EAST GREAT FALLS HIGH - MURAL STAIRCASE - DAY A GIRL HOLDING OUT FOR FINCH talks to Stifler. GIRL HOLDING OUT FOR FINCH I'm sorry, I really can't go with you...I'm holding out for someone else. STIFLER You gotta be fucking kidding. GIRL HOLDING OUT FOR FINCH I know it's a long shot, but I figure Paul Finch might ask me. STIFLER FINCH? SHITBREAK?!! GIRL HOLDING OUT FOR FINCH Oh gosh, I forgot -- you uh, you look okay...I mean you can't even tell... Flustered, she heads down the stairs. Stifler, entirely confused, heads off into the second floor. As the Girl Holding Out For Finch descends, Kevin catches up with her. KEVIN Hey...what was that all about? GIRL HOLDING OUT FOR FINCH He's still embarrassed because Finch kicked his ass. Knocked out a tooth, but you can't see it. KEVIN Right, and who told you that? EXT. EAST GREAT FALLS HIGH - COURTYARD - DAY Kevin is talking to GRETA. She points offscreen. INT. EAST GREAT FALLS HIGH - LIBRARY - DAY Kevin is talking to SOME CHICK. Taking notes. INT. EAST GREAT FALLS HIGH - OUTDOOR MURAL - DAY Kevin is talking to YET ANOTHER GIRL. We see that his notepad is a spiderweb of girl's names, all interlinked with arrows. They all point to one girl's name in the center of the page -- Jessica. INT. EAST GREAT FALLS HIGH - CAFETERIA - DAY Kevin follows Jessica down the cafeteria line. JESSICA No comment. KEVIN No comment?! Are you kidding me?! I've never seen someone's image change so...so drastically! JESSICA Thanks. It was my idea. KEVIN Did you guys hook up or something? JESSICA Are you kidding? No. KEVIN Then what the hell are you talking about? JESSICA Well...I guess it's okay for me to tell you now. That reputation of his isn't going anywhere. (then) Finch comes to me and says, "Jessica, I need help with this, blah blah, etcetera." So I told him, pay me two- hundred bucks, and I'll tell a couple girls that you're dynamite in bed. So he did, and I did. KEVIN I don't get it, that really works? JESSICA Duh. Of course. Naturally, I embellished a little bit. Hey, did you hear that Finch had sex with an older woman? Kevin is speechless. JESSICA (CONT'D) No? Damn, that one was my favorite. INT. EAST GREAT FALLS HIGH - GUY'S SHOWERS/LOCKER ROOM - DAY Toweled guys exit the steamy showers, doing a macho GREAT FALLS LACROSSE CHANT. They exit frame, and we remain on the showers, to hear -- OZ (singing happily) ...I needed the shelter of someone's arms...there you were -- woo-hoo- hoo... He exits in a towel and goes to his locker, next to Stifler. OZ (CONT'D) (still singing) ...I needed someone to understand my ups and my downs, oh baby there you were... Stifler is staring at Oz, horrified. STIFLER Oh my fucking God. You're gay. OZ (cheery) Come on, you know the words, sing along. STIFLER No thanks, you've been singing that shit all week. If you try that at MSU this Saturday, I'm pretending I don't know you. Oz stops. OZ Our last game is this Saturday. STIFLER No shit. EXT. EAST GREAT FALLS HIGH - COURTYARD, A BENCH - LATER Heather is studying outside. Oz stands before her, breathless, his hair still wet. OZ ...I've got this lacrosse game. It's really important, it's our last game. And you know, Central almost beat us last time, so I really want to kick their ass, and it's like cool because we're gonna get to play at State, which means that after the game I might be able to stop by... HEATHER (pause) You can't sing at the competition. OZ I'm sorry, I totally spaced. I just...I didn't realize it... HEATHER (upset but trying to be cool) ...it's okay, you should do whatever makes you happy. OZ Alright...yeah...thanks for understanding. (a beat) So I guess...I'll see you later. An uncomfortable moment. Oz walks off. Heather looks let down. EXT. EAST GREAT FALLS HIGH - ENTRANCE TO SENIOR LOCKERS - DAY Kevin is at his locker, getting ready for class. Stifler comes running up with a wicked grin on his face. STIFLER Kevin! You seen Shitbreak lately? KEVIN (immediately sensing danger) Oh no, Stifler, what did you do? STIFLER Me? Nothing. I'm the one whose ass he kicked. (off Kevin's look) I'll tell you one thing, though. I don't think he's gonna have a problem shitting in school anymore. Stifler pulls out an empty bottle of PRESCRIPTION LAXATIVE, maniacally LAUGHING. INT. EAST GREAT FALLS HIGH - CAFETERIA - DAY Finch is sitting at a table, reading his paper. Kevin comes tearing around the corner and runs up to him. KEVIN Finch! Get to the bathroom! Now! FINCH Easy, tiger. What's in there? KEVIN Just go! FINCH Why is this? KEVIN You're gonna shit your pants! FINCH Charming. KEVIN Finch, listen -- Stifler slipped some sort of laxative in your Mocash-chino or whatever. It's fast acting. I mean really fast. FINCH First of all, it's Mochaccino, and secondly...Oohhhh! Finch jumps up and sprints down the hallway. INT. EAST GREAT FALLS HIGH - MAIN HALL - CONTINUING We FOLLOW with Finch. We see Stifler down the hall, holding open the bathroom door like a pleasant doorman. STIFLER This way, sit. Finch darts into the bathroom. Stifler LAUGHS hysterically. INT. EAST GREAT FALLS HIGH - BATHROOM - DAY Finch leaps into a stall and slams the door behind him. INT. EAST GREAT FALLS HIGH - BATHROOM STALL - DAY Finch has stopped. He's staring down at the toilet. It looks entirely uninviting. But he's straining, struggling, starting to dance around, moaning as he cramps up. He grabs a length of toilet paper and lines the seat with it. Then another, and another. Sweat drips off his forehead. FINCH Come on come on come on... He's got the seat lined with at least three layers of toilet paper. Notices a spot where there's still bare toilet seat. He tears off one square of toilet paper, placing it on the spot. He steps back and looks it over, still wriggling to contain his bowels. FINCH (CONT'D) Okay. You can do this. He unbuckles his pants. Sits down -- just as we hear someone enter the bathroom. Finch, still restraining, listens for a moment...only to hear the CLICK-CLICK-CLICK of heels. INT. EAST GREAT FALLS HIGH - MAIN HALL - DAY The bathroom door swings closed to reveal the universal symbol for "Women." Stifler is there, LAUGHING even harder. INT. EAST GREAT FALLS HIGH - BATHROOM STALL - DAY Finch is terrified. Through the crack between the stall door and the frame, Finch catches glimpses of bright colored skirts and dresses. He grits his teeth, straining. And a GURGLE comes from Finch's stomach. His eyes bulge. INT. EAST GREAT FALLS HIGH - BATHROOM - DAY A GROUP OF GIRLS is at the mirror, including the Girl Holding Out for Finch, fixing their hair. GIRL HOLDING OUT FOR FINCH You know it's just gonna be some crappy band and stupid decorations. GIRL #2 You're just saying that cause prom's a week away and you don't have a date. GIRL HOLDING OUT FOR FINCH No, I don't want a date... (increasingly dreamy) Finch is going stag...and so am I...the guy is like so...debonair. INT. EAST GREAT FALLS HIGH - BATHROOM STALL - DAY Finch is in hell. Desperately trying not to shit. Holding it in for all he's worth. INT. BATHROOM - DAY GIRL #2 Do you think that "older woman" thing is true? GIRL #3 Of course, it was Stifler's mom. INT. EAST GREAT FALLS HIGH - BATHROOM STALL - DAY Pure agony. Finch is sweating badly. Every muscle in his body is tensed. Tears stream from his fiercely shut eyes. A gastric RUMBLING. Finch's eyes flash open in terror. INT. EAST GREAT FALLS HIGH - BATHROOM - DAY We hear another, deeper RUMBLING. Girl #2 turns to her friend in surprise. GIRL #2 Joanie, was that you? INT. EAST GREAT FALLS HIGH - BATHROOM STALL - DAY Finch is struggling. Rocking back and forth. But it's no use. He's at his limit. FINCH Aaaaaaarrrgghhhh! INT. EAST GREAT FALLS HIGH - BATHROOM - DAY The girls at the mirror freeze -- and we hear what can only be the SOUND OF DIARRHEA exploding into a toilet bowl. The girls run out SCREAMING and LAUGHING. INT. EAST GREAT FALLS HIGH - BATHROOM - DAY - MOMENTS LATER Finch exits the stall with trepidation, pulling up his pants. Slowly, slinking, he approaches the door. Grabs the handle. Composes himself. And like nothing ever happened, he opens it. INT. EAST GREAT FALLS HIGH - MAIN HALL - DAY Finch comes out of the bathroom. Stops. His eyes register complete disbelief. A SEMI-CIRCLE OF GIRLS, including the ones we have seen gossiping about him, has crowded around the door. All staring at him with complete repugnance, open-mouthed. DISSOLVE TO: EXT. LACROSSE FIELD (MSU) - DAY Oz is playing in the final lacrosse game. The team scores -- they're beating Central. Everyone cheers, except Oz. We see Jim and Kevin in the stands, CHEERING. EXT. MUSIC HALL (MSU) - DAY Establishing. The campus of Michigan State University. Students pass in front of an older, impressive university building. A sign out front reads, "MICHIGAN STATEWIDE VOCAL COMPETITION." INT. BACKSTAGE (MSU) - DAY Heather and the rest of the vocal jazz group are behind the curtain. They all wear flashy, borderline cool outfits. Heather looks worried, lost. Looking to the door, as if Oz might come running in. VOCAL JAZZ TEACHER Okay. Albert, you ready? ALBERT steps next to Heather. He's kind of funny- looking, with an overly-suave attitude that comes off as plain weird. ALBERT No problemo. He SINGS a couple lines. Way too melodramatic and cheesy. Heather looks trapped. EXT. LACROSSE FIELD (MSU) - DAY A scoreboard shows that East is leading by five goals. Oz is running up the field, towards the goal, cradling the ball in his stick. He seems to have a good lead. Suddenly he is tumbling, falling, losing the ball. Someone has checked him. He lays stunned on the ground, as Stifler recovers the ball and scores. The players run back to the sidelines to reset for the face-off, and gather around the coach. COACH MARSHALL Alright! Good hustle, guys, but we can still lose. You all saw what happened to Oz out there. I don't ever want to see you guys thinking you're gonna score. You don't score until you score, period. The team is getting into it. Shouts of "Hell yeah!" But Oz's got a quizzical look on his face. INT. BACKSTAGE (MSU) - DAY Heather waits with the group to go onstage. Albert paces like a Shakespearean actor, psyching himself. ALBERT Focus on the music. Think melody. Let the music be my guide. HEATHER That would be a start. EXT. LACROSSE FIELD (MSU) - DAY Oz shows some emotion peeking through. Confused. COACH MARSHALL It all boils down to today. For you seniors, this marks the culmination of your past four years. Think of what that means to you. Are you guys gonna look back on your days at East and know that you made the most of the time you had? A wave of realization washes over Oz. He stands up tall. COACH MARSHALL (cont'd) Now that's the attitude, Ostreicher! Oz collects himself. Takes a deep breath. OZ Good luck, guys. he sets his lacrosse stick down and starts to leave. COACH MARSHALL Christ! I didn't say you were out of the game! OZ Sorry, coach. COACH MARSHALL What the fuck is this? You got someplace more important to be? Coach Marshall is fuming. The entire team is staring at Oz. OZ Yeah. He runs off. ANGLE ON JIM AND KEVIN IN THE STANDS A beat of confusion. Then they stand up. EXT. MSU CAMPUS - DAY Oz runs through a gate. INT. BACKSTAGE - DAY The vocal jazz group is on their feet, lined up, waiting to go onstage. Oz bursts into the room, still in his lacrosse gear. VOCAL JAZZ GUYS Oz -- You're back -- Yeah -- ALBERT -- Oh, great. Oz rushes up to Heather. She's happy but confused. HEATHER What about the game?! OZ I'm not playing. HEATHER You're missing the game for us?! OZ No. I'm missing the game for you. Heather melts. Oz pulls her close. And they kiss. VOCAL JAZZ TEACHER Okay, okay. You guys got about a minute to go. Spend it warming up, not making out. This ain't the prom yet. Oz and Heather share a smile. INT. MUSIC HALL STAGE - DAY The vocal jazz group is belting their hearts out, singing "How Sweet It Is." Oz sings with them now in his vocal jazz outfit...we TILT DOWN to see he's still wearing his cleats. He and Heather sound great, backed by the vocal jazz group. They sail through their duet, join hands, and finish perfectly. The audience APPLAUDS with enthusiasm -- and we Kevin and Jim, WHOOPING AND CLAPPING, loving it, like they're at a rock concert. JIM Yeeeeeeeaaaawwwwww! KEVIN (gives that "You rock!" hand sign) You fuckin' rule! INT. EAST GREAT FALLS - CLASSROOM - DAY Class has just ended, students are filing out of the classroom. A teacher grades papers in the back of the room, routinely writing "A, A-, A, A-" on each paper. Vicky is studying a pull-down map hanging over the chalkboard. Kevin comes up next to her. KEVIN Hey... VICKY Did you know that it's...450 miles from Ann Arbor to Nashville? KEVIN It's like a six or seven hour drive. That's easy, I don't mind driving. A beat. Kevin looks back over his shoulder to the inattentive teacher. Moves closer to Vicky. KEVIN (CONT'D) About the other day...I've been thinking. VICKY So have I. And I know you want to make things perfect for me. And I understand that you really wouldn't tell me that until you were 100% comfortable with it. Vicky looks over to the teacher, who COUGHS. She steps closer. Kevin, somewhat nervous, takes the bottom of the map, fidgeting with it a little. VICKY (CONT'D) And I want to make things perfect for you. You're right, Kev, we do have something good...and special. KEVIN Yeah, we have something great, Vick. VICKY Kevin... (very close, whispered) I want to have sex with you. The map goes FLAPPING upwards. The teacher looks up. KEVIN (almost frightened) Now?! VICKY No...I know the perfect time... She looks to the calendar on the wall...and taps next Saturday -- "Prom." Kevin can't believe it...MUSIC UP for PRE-PROM MONTAGE -- INT. TUXEDO LAND - DAY Jim is trying on a tux. he shrugs, like it fits well enough. He turns to see Oz trying on his -- Oz is fidgeting, trying on different ties, vests, shoes, very sincere and focused. INT. VICKY'S BEDROOM - DAY Vicky is trying on a rather elegant dress, looking to Jessica for support, showing it off. Jessica jokingly does the same, showing off her shorts and T-shirt, as if she could care. INT. EAST GREAT FALLS HIGH - COURTYARD - DAY Finch sits alone. Not like alone. More like Forrest Gump. INT. TUXEDO LAND - DAY Jim is paying for his tux. We see Oz trying to decide on a cumberbund. There are about ten of them scattered around him that he's already tried. In the background, an ATTENDANT looks impatient. EXT. EAST GREAT FALLS HIGH - COURTYARD - DAY Finch still sits. His head is cocked at a different angle. INT. JIM'S HOUSE - LIVING ROOM - DAY Jim's dad fixes Jim's bow tie. INT. KEVIN'S BEDROOM - NIGHT (END MONTAGE) Kevin is in his tux. He's staring at himself in the mirror. EXT. EAST GREAT FALLS HIGH - NIGHT The parking lot is full. VARIOUS FORMALLY DRESSED STUDENTS make their way into the school. One group piles out of a stretch limo. We see a STEALTHY STUDENT slip a bottle of liquor into his tux. A FLUSTERED GUY struggles to re-attach his date's corsage. This is the prom. INT. EAST GREAT FALLS HIGH - GYM - NIGHT The gym is decorated in a clashingly festive manner. Like a combination of Mardi Gras, New Year's Eve, and somebody's bar mitzvah. A CRAPPY BAND plays CRAPPY IMITATION ROCK MUSIC. Most students mill about, talking, generally bored. The only people who are enjoying themselves are the OBVIOUSLY DRUNK STUDENTS, slam-dancing with the obviously drunk Stifler in a corner. CHAPERONE PARENTS try to calm them down, futilely. The band breaks into a CHEESY BALLAD. Couples lock together and sway back and forth like zombies. ANGLE ON JIM AND MICHELLE They're dancing at arm's length. Jim is not enthused. MICHELLE You know, at band camp? We have dances like this. Only they're way funner. Don't you think prom is just highly overrated? JIM Highly, highly overrated. ANGLE ON KEVIN AND VICKY They dance. Both looking a little nervous. Anxious. ANGLE ON OZ AND HEATHER Dancing much slower than anyone else. Tight embrace. Heather's got her head on his shoulder, eyes closed. ANGLE ON STIFLER Dancing with the Girl Holding out For Finch. INT. EAST GREAT FALLS HIGH - A CORNER OF THE GYM - NIGHT Kevin, Oz, Jim, and Finch are hanging out. Finch is drunk. FINCH Okay. I'm here for your dumb...dumb meeting. Sherman passes by. SHERMAN I'm on the offensive, boys. The Sherman Tank is going back in. The guys are impassive. Sherman indicates the Central Girl nearby. SHERMAN (CONT'D) Locked on target, flying in stealth mode under enemy sex radar. Ready to drop the payload...again. Sherman confidently walks off. KEVIN Alright, how do you guys stand? Well, Finch, I know where you are, but you can't use that as an excuse. Jim? JIM My date's a flute-toting band dork. That answer your question? KEVIN Oz, how about you and Heather? Now you guys are a couple or something? OZ (getting ticked) Dammit, Kevin, what's with the attitude? KEVIN Attitude? Me? I think that you guys should be more enthusiastic. Shit, we've been trying to get laid forever, and tonight's the night we've been waiting for. We're in this together. Don't back out on me now! JIM Back out? You don't need us to get laid. You afraid or something? KEVIN No, but come on guys, we made a pact! OZ Kevin, it was just a -- KEVIN It was a pact. You break it and there are no excuses. You guys have to -- JIM (interrupting, pissed) I don't have to do shit! Forget it already! Kevin is taken aback. JIM (cont'd) I'm tired of all this bullshit pressure! I mean, I've never even had sex and already I can't stand it! I hate sex! I don't want it, I've never wanted it, and I'm not gonna sit here busting my balls over something that just isn't that damn important! So fuck this stupid pact, fuck you, and fuck sex! Now, I'm gonna go hang out with that geek over there, 'cause at least she's got something else to talk about besides sex! God damn! Kevin storms off. A beat. FINCH At least I learned how to shit in school. Jessica approaches. She's dressed well, but not lavishly. JESSICA Hey, Finch. Wanna dance? Finch looks to the guys. They shrug. We FOLLOW WITH Jessica and Finch as they dance out onto the floor. FINCH How come you have no date? JESSICA I like to keep my options open. And let me just clarify that you have no chance of scoring with me, Finch. FINCH No, of course not, don't be ridiculous. ANGLE ON VICKY AND CENTRAL GIRL VICKY So, I guess you and Sherman are pretty close. You met at that party a while back? CENTRAL GIRL Yeah, we were up the whole night together. We had one of those amazingly deep conversations, where you really feel like you get to know someone. VICKY (nudge, nudge) "Deep conversation," huh? Is that what you guys call it? CENTRAL GIRL What else would I call it? EXT. EAST GREAT FALLS HIGH - NIGHT Kevin sits on the steps into the school, depressed. INT. EAST GREAT FALLS HIGH - GYM - NIGHT The Central Girl has taken over the band's microphone. CENTRAL GIRL Excuse me, everyone, sorry to interrupt. Her voice reverberates throughout the gym. A couple WOLF- WHISTLES. CENTRAL GIRL (cont'd) I just wanted to let you all know this: Chuck Sherman is a liar. I never had sex with him. He's never had sex with anyone -- I know because he told me. Once, he tried to screw a grapefruit, but that's it. Oh, and he also told me that sometimes when he gets nervous he wets his pants. Thank you for your attention. Girls around the gym CHEER and APPLAUD. ANGLE ON SHERMAN Pissing his pants. ANGLE ON JIM Shocked. He looks back to Oz, who shares his expression. EXT. EAST GREAT FALLS HIGH - NIGHT Kevin still sits there. Jim, Oz, and Finch come out of the school. Slowly they walk up to Kevin. OZ ...Guess what? KEVIN I don't care. JIM Kevin, come on, the bus to Stifler's is gonna be here soon. KEVIN I'm not going. A beat as the guys don't know what to say. Kevin's speech is halting, downbeat. KEVIN (CONT'D) This isn't how I wanted things to turn out. Making the pact wasn't just about getting laid. It was about doing one last thing with you guys before we graduated. But now I've just wasted my last few weeks here trying to do what? I don't even know. All I managed to do was fuck up our friendship. A beat. Oz shrugs. OZ I still think you're okay. JIM So do I, Kev. FINCH Me too. For the most part. KEVIN Nah. Fuck, you guys are right, I don't know what I'm doing. I mean I'm acting like I've got it all together tonight. But I know Vicky is gonna ask me if I love her. And I don't know what I'm gonna say. So now it's like, maybe I'll just wimp out on the whole thing. JIM Come on man. Tonight is the night. We're finally going to a post-prom party on the lake. We've been waiting to do this for the last four years. Why else are we still friends with Stifler? You gotta go. A beat as Kevin ponders this. OZ And by the way, Sherman didn't even get laid. KEVIN He didn't? FINCH Nope. He pissed himself. The guys LAUGH as Kevin is puzzled. THEY are suddenly illuminated by the glare of headlights. A charter bus pulls in front of the school. JIM There it is. I want to grab my bag. Oh, and my date. OZ Come on, Kevin. Vicky's looking for you. Jim holds out a helping hand. Kevin looks at it. Grabs it, and Jim pulls him up. EXT. STIFLER'S COTTAGE - NIGHT A beautiful cottage on the shore of Lake Michigan. Students are filing out of the charter bus. Jim and Michelle are walking up to the cottage. JIM Stifler's mom got it in the divorce. MICHELLE It reminds me of this one time -- (changing thoughts) Hey, can I ask you a question? How come you don't have any stories? I've got lots of stories, and you don't have any. JIM Oh, I've got stories, believe me. They're a little more risque than tales of Band Camp. MICHELLE Are they gross or something, like guy stuff? Tell me. JIM Okay. You want a story? Here's a story. Stifler finds this beer, right? And... INT. STIFLER'S COTTAGE - BEDROOM Kevin leads Vicky into the bedroom. A large bay window overlooks moonlit Lake Michigan. KEVIN See -- this is the nicest room. VICKY Wow, Kev...it's perfect. Vicky opens a closet -- to find Stifler's Little Brother inside, grinning. STIFLER'S BROTHER You guys are gonna fuck, aren't you!? KEVIN No! Get out of here! STIFLER'S BROTHER (running out of the room) Fuckers fuckers fuckers fuckers! Stiflers brother is gone. They LAUGH...and Vicky closes the door. EXT. BEACH - NIGHT Oz and Heather are walking down the beach. Holding hands. Deep in the background, we see kids partying. OZ There's something I've been meaning to tell you, Heather. HEATHER What's that? OZ It's gonna sound really bad, but I want you to know. She nods. They stop walking. Oz swipes his feet around in the sand. OZ (cont'd) See, uh, I'm a virgin. And me, Kevin, Jim, and Finch, we all made this pact. That we would...lose our virginity... before high school was over. Heather is listening. OZ (cont'd) And, see, tonight is supposed to be the night we all do it. HEATHER This isn't the best way to proposition me. OZ No, that's not what I mean. I mean -- look. You know what made me leave that game? Coach was giving this speech, about not slacking off when you see the opportunity to score. HEATHER This isn't any better, Chris. OZ No, see Heather, what I realized is that...with you, it's not like I'm running towards the goal, trying to figure out the best way to score. And this may sound corny, but -- He takes her hand. OZ (cont'd) I feel like I've already won. Heather softens, taken off guard. OZ (cont'd) And, well, I really care about you. A lot. And I want you to know that. HEATHER Oz, it's okay, I know. OZ You called me Oz. HEATHER Well, that's what your friends call you. I mean...I feel like I'm one of your friends now...and also...your girlfriend. Oz seems truly touched. OZ Dieter. My middle name is Dieter. Heather nods, and speaks pensively. HEATHER Hmm. You know that's (cracking up) really a shitty middle name! OZ (laughing) I know, it sucks! Through their laughter, they kiss. After a moment, it grows more passionate. Lost in each other. INT. STIFLER'S COTTAGE - BASEMENT - NIGHT The party rages in the rest of the cottage, but the basement is empty. STIFLER'S MOM sits in the corner, smoking a cigarette. She's as attractive as her photo we once saw, but the divorce has replaced her sexy smile with a bitter smirk. Finch stumbles in. FINCH Ah, Stifler's mom! Thank you for letting us have a great party. STIFLER'S MOM (dry) As if there were any alternative in the matter. Are you enjoying yourself? FINCH I'm three sheets to the wind, ma'am! STIFLER'S MOM (deadpan) I'm so happy for you. Takes the edge off, doesn't it? And where might your date be? FINCH Oh no, no date. Bathroom incident. STIFLER'S MOM Pardon me? Finch pauses a moment. He's got an idea. FINCH ...Nevermind. You have anything to drink? STIFLER'S MOM I believe the kegs are upstairs. FINCH No, no, that's what the cretins drink. I mean alcohol, liquor -- good stuff. She considers him as she drags off her cigarette. STIFLER'S MOM All right, I got some scotch. FINCH Single malt? STIFLER'S MOM Aged eighteen years. (she gives him a look) Why don't you get the glasses. Behind the bar. INT. STIFLER'S COTTAGE - PARTY ROOM - NIGHT It's a great party. Stifler is with a group of guys drinking a beer, which he inspects very carefully before every sip. ANGLE ON JIM AND MICHELLE Both drinking and talking, almost enjoying themselves. MICHELLE That is a nasty story! JIM I told you. MICHELLE You wanna hear a nasty story of mine? It's kind of sexual. Ding! A light goes off in Jim's head. JIM Yeah, bring it on! MICHELLE Well, this one time? At band camp? We were playing this game, I don't know if you know it? But it's called spin the bottle? And I had to kiss this guy named Marc Wander on the lips? And... Jim's expression sinks. INT. STIFLER'S COTTAGE - BEDROOM - NIGHT The lights are down. Vicky and Kevin are in bed. KEVIN You comfortable? VICKY Yeah, are you? KEVIN Yeah. A beat. VICKY You sure you're comfortable? KEVIN Yeah. Are you sure? VICKY Yeah. KEVIN Me too. VICKY Okay. (a beat) Did you bring a condom? KEVIN Yeah, right here. He pulls out a condom. A beat as they contemplate it. KEVIN (CONT'D) So, do you want to be -- I mean, how do you want to do it? VICKY I don't know. How do you? KEVIN Like, normal style. The...missionary position. VICKY Okay. A moment as they realize there's nothing left to do, but - VICKY (cont'd) Kevin... KEVIN Yeah Vick? VICKY I want to hear you say it. KEVIN Okay. Kevin swallows hard. And says -- KEVIN (CONT'D) Victoria...I love you. VICKY I love you. They both take a deep breath. EXT. BEACH - NIGHT Oz and Heather lay in a secluded spot in the dunes, surrounded by tall beach grass that swishes in the spring breeze. Stars and a lustrous moon above. The silence speaks. We can see it in their eyes. Yearning. OZ I can't think of anything to say that's not cheesy. HEATHER Then don't. They kiss. It's time. INT. STIFLER'S COTTAGE - BEDROOM - NIGHT A brief moment of uncertainty. Kevin shifts around a bit, trying to position himself. Vicky's hand goes under the sheets. VICKY Here. We know what she's doing. They both maintain eye contact... EXT. BEACH - NIGHT Heather and Oz are re-inventing the idea of passion. Discovering love. This is the stuff that you thought only existed in romance novels. Seriously. INT. STIFLER'S COTTAGE - PARTY ROOM - NIGHT Jim is trying to stay interested in Michelle's drivel. JIM So, the end of the story is...you had to kiss the guy for twenty seconds? MICHELLE Yes! And he was such a dork! And everyone laughed at me, but I didn't care? Because it was so funny! JIM (flat) Okay, I get it. MICHELLE Oh! And then this one time? At band camp? I stuck a flute in my pussy. Jim CHOKES on his beer. Michelle considers her revelation no big deal, watching with some amusement as Jim struggles to recover. JIM ...excuse me?! MICHELLE What, you think I don't know how to get myself off? Hell, that's what half of band camp is! Sex ed! Jim is ga-ga. He watches in disbelief as she lets her hair down. And wouldn't you know it, she's pretty cute. MICHELLE (cont'd) So are we gonna screw soon? I'm getting kind of antsy. Jim pauses in disbelief. Then -- INT. STIFLER'S COTTAGE - STIFLER'S BROTHER'S BEDROOM - NIGHT Michelle and Jim burst in and slam the door. A toy basketball hoop falls off the back of the door. They are standing in a cluttered, toy-strewn, pit of a kid's room. One of those stupid plastic airplanes on a string hangs from the ceiling, flying in circles. JIM This'll do. MICHELLE Now, I have two rubbers. Wear them both, it'll desensitize you. I don't want you coming so damn early. JIM Why, uh, what makes you think that I -- MICHELLE Come on. I saw you on the net. Why do you think I accepted this date? You're a sure thing! Jim heartily agrees. INT. STIFLER'S COTTAGE - BASEMENT - NIGHT The scotch bottle is almost empty. Stifler's Mom and Finch are smoking cigarettes. FINCH So...would you object if I said you're quite striking? STIFLER'S MOM Mister Finch -- are you trying to seduce me? FINCH Yes ma'am, I am. One look between them, and we know it's all over. INT. STIFLER'S COTTAGE - BEDROOM - NIGHT Kevin and Vicky. Silently doing it. Curious looks on their faces. The look you get when your waiter delivers your food in a fancy restaurant, and you look at the creation on the plate, and secretly you're not sure if it's really what you ordered. But you don't say anything, and you just eat it. EXT. BEACH - NIGHT Oz and Heather. Souls entwined. Making love. INT. STIFLER'S COTTAGE - STIFLER'S BROTHER'S BEDROOM - NIGHT We can hear Jim and Michelle going at it like a couple of HOWLING BANSHEES over a SERIES OF SHOTS: -- A piggy bank gets knocked over and shatters. -- An x-wing fighter flies across the room. -- A pillow explodes in a cloud of feathers. -- One of the legs on the bed breaks. INT. STIFLER'S COTTAGE - OUTSIDE BASEMENT DOOR - NIGHT The Basement door is closed. We hear from the inside... STIFLER'S MOM (O.S.) I had no idea you'd be this good! FINCH (O.S.) Neither did I! INT. STIFLER'S COTTAGE - STIFLER'S BROTHER'S BEDROOM - NIGHT Jim and Michelle going at it. Again, we HEAR but can't see them. The room is more trashed than before. And as we PAN across the disaster area they've created -- JIM (O.S.) Are you gonna do what I think you're gonna do? MICHELLE (O.S.) Don't you want me to? JIM (O.S.) Oh yeah! Put it in your mouth! MICHELLE (O.S.) Okay! We see her...on top of Jim. She clears her throat. And then we see her raise a children's plastic recorder to her lips -- and she whistles THE MICHIGAN FIGHT SONG. On cue, Jim chimes in -- JIM Hail, hail, to Michigan, the leaders and best! EXT. BEACH - NIGHT Oz could be coming. Heather could be coming. But it's all so darn passionate that the whole thing looks like one big orgasm anyway. INT. STIFLER'S COTTAGE - STIFLER'S BROTHER'S BEDROOM - NIGHT Jim and Michelle lay on the floor, tangled in sheets and each others' clothing. Exhausted, gasping. And then we see the closet door is open, just a crack. It swings open. Standing there is Stifler's Little Brother. Jaw hanging. STIFLER'S BROTHER That was awesome! Jim and Michelle are stunned. INT. STIFLER'S COTTAGE - BASEMENT - NIGHT Finch and Stifler's Mom are just off-camera. We can't see it, but we can tell Finch's status from his ORGASMIC MOANING. What we do see is the kitchen door handle rattling. The chair falling out of place. And the door opening as Stifler walks in. He stops, horrified. STIFLER Ugh...oh no... He looks like he's going to barf. Instead, he passes out. EXT. STIFLER'S COTTAGE - SUNRISE - ESTABLISHING The sun rises over Lake Michigan. A brand new day. Various students are passed out here and there. EXT. BEACH - DAY Oz holds Heather in his arms. Completely peaceful. SEAGULLS CALL to each other. WAVES BREAK on the shore. Oz has lost all pretense. Smiling to himself, or maybe to the world. INT. STIFLER'S COTTAGE - STIFLER'S BROTHER'S BEDROOM - DAY Jim wakes up in bed, alone. He looks around. JIM She's gone. He considers this. JIM (cont'd) Oh my God. She used me. He considers this further. Smiles. JIM (cont'd) Wow! I was used! Cool! He jumps up and does a little dance, SINGING... JIM (CONT'D) Hail! to the victors, valiant; Hail! to the conquering heroes, hail... INT. STIFLER'S COTTAGE - BEDROOM - DAY Kevin and Vicky lie next to each other in bed, staring at the ceiling. Though they're trying to conceal it, we can see a bit of dissatisfaction, uncertainty, peeking through. KEVIN That was a great night. VICKY Yeah. A beat. KEVIN I can't believe we just had our senior prom. VICKY Yeah, the time went by so fast. KEVIN It did. Another beat. VICKY Kevin, next year...with you in Ann Arbor, and me in Nashville...it's not gonna work, is it. KEVIN Don't say that, we can do it somehow. It might not be perfect, but -- VICKY (interrupting) No, Kevin -- (she sits up) That's the whole thing, that's what I've been realizing. That nothing's perfect, that you can't plan everything. Kevin thinks this over. KEVIN It is far away...and we'll be on our own...meeting new people... A moment as they think this over. KEVIN (CONT'D) Vicky...last night...I wasn't lying. VICKY I know. (a beat) Let's go. Don't you have something to tell your friends? KEVIN What? VICKY Your little pact. Jessica told me all about it. (hits him lightly) Way to go, Kev! Kevin gives an embarrassed smile. DISSOLVE TO: EXT. DOG DAYS - DAY A sign on the window reads, "Congratulations Seniors!" INT. DOG DAYS - DAY The four, newly non-virgins munch on hot dogs. Kevin's LAUGHING. KEVIN (to Jim) I guess we'll call you two-ply. OZ Yeah. So you want double condiments on that? JIM No, no that's fine. (then, to Kevin) So you doing okay? KEVIN (a wistful smile) Yeah. FINCH I'll tell you, I've learned one thing: women, like wine, get better with age. (a beat) Of course, I have no frame of reference for this comparison. KEVIN So Oz, you almost made it, huh? OZ (smiles) I'll just say that we had a great night together. JIM Hang in there, buddy, you'll get there. OZ I know. KEVIN Wow. You two really have something going, don't you? OZ I think we're falling in love. They GROAN. Oz just smiles. KEVIN You know what the coolest thing is? This, right now. They guys keep eating, uncertain what to say. OZ It's true. I mean, after this, everything'll be different. JIM After getting laid? OZ After high school. KEVIN Yeah, but we'll still see each other. OZ Fuck yeah we will. A beat. Kevin raises his Pepsi. KEVIN To the next step. ALL To the next step. They all toast. INT. KEVIN'S BEDROOM - DAY Kevin is on the phone. KEVIN (into phone) Hey. I got another question for you. KEVIN'S BROTHER (V.O.) What's that? INT. EAST GREAT FALLS HIGH - BACK OF LIBRARY - DAY Kevin arrives in the back of the library. Kneels down to put the bible back. KEVIN (V.O.) Um...I'm sort of wondering about...love. We hear Kevin's Brother CHUCKLE knowingly. KEVIN'S BROTHER (V.O.) That's the next book, Kevin. That's the next book. He puts the bible back without the reverence he once had for it. Stands up with some new confidence. We FOLLOW WITH HIM as he walks out of the library...and enters the courtyard, crowded with students. He disappears into them as we... FADE TO BLACK ROLL CREDITS INT. JIM'S BEDROOM - DAY Jim's dad sits across from Jim. JIM'S DAD (eyes tearing) Son. That's the best damn story I ever heard. Jim beams proudly. JIM'S DAD (CONT'D) You know, after I graduated high school, my parents let me do some traveling... INT. A HOTEL HALLWAY SUPER: "PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC" A WAITER ascends a beautiful, red-carpeted staircase, carrying a tray with bottle of champagne and a rose. He arrives in front of a hotel door. KNOCKS. A BELLBOY passes by, noticing the waiter. And HE SPEAKS TO HIM IN AUTHENTIC, THICK CZECH. BELLBOY (subtitled) Another bottle? WAITER (subtitled) He knows how to treat a woman. The door opens -- to reveal Jim, sweaty but not the least bit tired, tying on a robe. JIM Thanks guys. A pair of arms wraps around him from behind. And -- Nadia peeks her head over Jim's shoulder. NADIA Come back to bed, James. Jim smiles to the guys and takes the tray, as Nadia pulls him back in and closes the door. WAITER (subtitled) That is one lucky man. BELLBOY (subtitled) Funny -- I swear I have seen those two somewhere before. The boy is some sort of dancer. They head off. FADE TO BLACK 
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+T H E A M E R I C A N P R E S I D E N T Screenplay by Aaron Sorkin -------------------------------------------------------------- FADE IN: As the OPENING TTTLES ROLL against a series of shots of statues and paintings of former presidents, we HEAR shards of dialogue from various presidential speeches. MAIN TITLES END ON EXT. BEAUTIFUL ESTABLISHING SHOT OF THE WHITE HOUSE - DAY It's an early November morning, and the sun has just come over this extraordinary building. WE HOLD on this for a moment before we CUT TO: INT. A CORRIDOR IN THE RESIDENCE - DAY A SECRET SERVICE AGENT presses the button by the private elevator as he talks into his shirt cuff. AGENT COOPER Liberty's moving. Another AGENT rounds the corner into the corridor and is followed a step or two later by PRESIDENT ANDREW BENJAMIN SHEPHERD. SHEPHERD's walking with his personal assistant, JANIE, a shy, professional and incredibly efficient 25-year-old. JANIE The 10:15 event's been moved inside to the Indian Treaty Room. SHEPHERD (to Janie) The 10:15 is American Fisheries? JANIE Yes, sir. They're giving you a 200-pound halibut. SHEPHERD Janie, make a note. We need to schedule more events where somebody gives me a really big fish. JANIE starts to make a note. JANIE Yes, sir. SHEPHERD Janie, I was kidding. JANIE Of course, sir. SHEPHERD (to the AGENT at the elevator) Hey, Cooper. AGENT COOPER 'Morning, Mr. President. SHEPHERD and JANIE enter the elevator. As the doors close... JANIE Mr. Rothschild asked to have a moment with you this morning. SHEPHERD Is he upset about the speech last night? JANIE He seemed concerned. SHEPHERD Well, it wouldn't be a Monday morning unless Lewis was concerned about something I did Sunday night. The elevator doors open, revealing LEWIS ROTHSCHILD. At 32, LEWIS is the President's chief domestic policy advisor. It would appear that he averages about two hours sleep a night, though that doesn't seem to slow him down. LEWIS You skipped the whole paragraph. SHEPHERD (to Janie) And Monday morning it is. LEWIS falls into the pace as the three of them head for the double doors leading to the South Lawn. LEWIS "American can no longer afford to pretend that they live in a great society"...and then nothing. You dumped the whole handguns paragraph. SHEPHERD This is a time for prudence, Lewis. LEWIS That was the kick-ass section. The three of them are now OUTSIDE and making their way down the COVERED WALKWAY that runs from the East Wing to the West Wing. SHEPHERD I thought what with being the President and all... LEWIS Sir, of course I didn't mean to imply-- SHEPHERD I thought you'd be turning cartwheels this morning, Lewis -- 63 percent job approval. LEWIS That's great news, sir, but... They walk past a GROUNDKEEPER who's at work at a patch of grass. GROUNDKEEPER 'Morning, Mr. President. Before he's even completed the last syllable of the greeting, JANIE quickly and quietly said-- JANIE Charlie. SHEPHERD 'Morning, Charlie. LEWIS Sir, the press is gonna need an explanation. SHEPHERD For what? SHEPHERD, LEWIS and JANIE walk through the door being held open by an AGENT. The conversation continues as they make their way through the corridors of INT. THE WEST WING - DAY They walk quickly down a hallway teeming with STAFFERS, AIDES AND OFFICE WORKERS. LEWIS Because you dropped the whole kick-ass section, now we've got this thing hanging out there. SHEPHERD There's a thing hanging out there? LEWIS "Americans can no longer afford to pretend that they live in a great society." Then ...nothing. No explanation. No context. So now it's just this thing. SHEPHERD And it's hanging out there? LEWIS Yes, sir. SHEPHERD stops at an open doorway, calls to a STAFFER-- SHEPHERD Maria-- STAFFER (MARIA) Good morning, sir. SHEPHERD Did they tell you I'm gonna need-- STAFFER (MARIA) --overall consumer spending and not just first homes. Yes, sir. We'll have it for you in 15 minutes. SHEPHERD Thanks. SHEPHERD moves on. LEWIS and JANIE stay with him. LEWIS Mr. President, I really feel we need to focus on... SHEPHERD Lewis, however much coffee you drink in the morning, I want you to reduce it by half. LEWIS I don't drink coffee. SHEPHERD Then hit yourself over the head with a baseball bat, would you please? Another STAFFER crosses their path-- JANIE Happy birthday, Laura. SHEPHERD Hey, Laura, happy birthday. STAFFER (LAURA) Thank you, sir. Once out of earshot-- SHEPHERD (to JANIE) I should send her some flowers. JANIE You already did, sir. And, with that, they walk through a doorway and into INT. THE OVAL OFFICE - DAY In the OUTER OFFICE, MRS. CHAPIL, the President's secretary, is hard at work on a word processor. She stands as SHEPHERD walks in-- MRS. CHAPIL Good morning, Mr. President. SHEPHERD How're you, Mrs. Chapil? MRS. CHAPIL Fine, thank you, sir. Mr. Kodak left the detailed breakdown of the approval poll for you. He seemed to indicate that it was very good news. SHEPHERD Sixty-three percent of it, at any rate. And by now they're in the OVAL OFFICE itself. SHEPHERD has gone to his desk and is looking over the various overnight briefing memos that have been left for him. As someone used to doing six things at once, he has no trouble reading, listening, and talking at the same time. MRS. CHAPIL Lucy called just a moment ago. You forgot to sign her permission slip for her class-- JANIE --the museum trip. I'll go get it. SHEPHERD (to JANIE) What time does she get home today? JANIE Three-twenty. SHEPHERD How's my afternoon look? JANIE Very crowded. SHEPHERD Schedule some time for me at 3:30. WOMAN (O.S.) Buenos dias, Senor Presidente. This from ROBIN McCALL, a strikingly tall black woman and the President's press secretary, as she strides into the room. SHEPHERD Too-tall McCall, how was Mexico? ROBIN I didn't truly appreciate it until I came back and discovered that America isn't a great society. LEWIS (to ROBIN) He dumped a whole section. SHEPHERD Now there's a thing hanging out there. ROBIN Not a great society, sir? SHEPHERD Well, with you out of the country, it wasn't, Robin. Now that you're back, we're great again. ROBIN There's a press room full of people saying "What did he mean by that?" LEWIS See? SHEPHERD (re: a memo he's been looking at) A.J., did you get one of these? This is said to A. J. MACINERNEY as he walks through a separate entrance on the left side of the room. In addition to being the President's Chief of Staff and closest advisor, he's the President's closest and oldest friend. A.J. Is that the letter from Solomon at the GDC? SHEPHERD It would appear to be a letter from the entire environmental community. These people are outta control. A.J. I think they're just frustrated, Mr. President. ROBIN Are they blaming the President for global warming? A.J. Well, they don't think he caused it, if that's what you mean. (continuing; to SHEPHERD) Sir, I'm on the phone with these people twice a week. I honestly don't know what they want at this point. LEWIS What they want is a 20 percent reduction in fossil fuel emissions. A.J. It won't pass at 20 percent. LEWIS We haven't really tried. A.J. Lewis, McSorley, McCluskey and Shane hold too many markers. If we try to push this through and lose, there will be a very loud thud when we hit the ground, and that's not what you want in an election year. SHEPHERD Talk to the GDC again, A.J. Tell them the President resents the implication that he's turned his back on the environment. Tell them I'll send 455 to the floor. But we're gonna ask for a 10 percent reduction. If they want to pull their support, fine. At 63 percent job approval rating. I don't need their help getting a bill passed. We gotta get going-- where's Leon? A.J. (to an AIDE) Would you call Mr. Kodak and tell him the President's-- A.J.'s sentence is cut short by the sound of a head-on pedestrian collision in the outer office-- MRS. CHAPIL (O.S.) Aaagh! KODAK (O.S.) Sorry! Sorry, my fault. A.J. (to the AIDE) Never mind. LEON KODAK comes into the oval office. The White House pollster is a likable, if clumsy, numbers whiz. He, along with A.J., LEWIS, and ROBIN, are regarded as the President's Starting Team. The people in this room have grown very close over the past few years. KODAK Excuse me. Good morning, Mr. President. SHEPHERD You all right? KODAK They keep moving that big ficus plant. A.J. We're all here, Mr. President. SHEPHERD Okay. First, I wanted to say congratulations. Three years ago, we were elected to the White House by one of the narrowest margins in history, and today Kodak tells us 63 percent of registered voters think we're doing a good job. KODAK Wait a second. You wanted me to poll registered voters? Everyone LAUGHS... even SHEPHERD smiles... SHEPHERD But the poll also tells us what we already knew: We don't get this crime bill of ours through Congress and these numbers are gonna be a memory. So, starting today, we're shifting it into gear. ROBIN Can I tell my morning press gaggle that gun control-- A.J. Crime control, Robin. Gun control means we're wimps and we're soft on crime. LEWIS Hang on, are we not-- A.J. Lewis-- LEWIS Are we not putting back the handgun restrictions?! A.J. We're leaving 'em out. LEWIS Sir, we campaigned on this issue. Now, I understand we took it out when we were in the low forties, but we can push it through now. SHEPHERD After the elections. LEWIS Sir, we may never have an opportunity like this again. Let's take this 63 percent out for a spin and see what it can do. SHEPHERD We can't take it out for a spin, Lewis. We need it to get re-elected. For reasons passing understanding, people do not relate guns to gun-related crime. A.J. Robin, you can brief the press this afternoon. As of today, the crime bill's priority one on the President's domestic agenda. ROBIN Got it. A.J. Leon, you're gonna run the war room. We're gonna need detailed projections for all the target districts by the end of the week. And, Leon, don't be a nice, sweet guy from Brooklyn. Do what the N.R.A. does. KODAK Scare the shit out of 'em? A.J. Yeah. KODAK I can do that. A.J. Lewis, we want you to be legislative liaison on this. You're gonna run the show on the hill. LEWIS Can I just say, to return to the subject for one moment, that it might be easier to fight a war on drugs if we weren't arming drug dealers. SHEPHERD responds a little too quickly -- we see a spark of a temper. SHEPHERD Lewis, we've gotta fight the fights we can win. LEWIS Yes, sir. A.J. We want to announce the crime bill at the State of the Union, which is 72 days from today. The last nose count put us 18 votes short. SHEPHERD Eighteen votes in 72 days. Thank you, everyone. Janie, what's next? A.J. Thank you, Mr. President. The meeting's over. LEWIS, ROBIN, and KODAK say their "Thank you, Mr. President"'s as they exit. JANIE Security briefing, sir. CUT TO: EXT. THE WASHINGTON BUSINESS DISTRICT - DAY It's around 10 o'clock the same morning as the capital district, in its own way, is showing signs of the approaching Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. EXT. A CHROME AND GLASS BUILDING - DAY On the seventh floor of the building. A RECEPTIONIST tells us where we are by answering the phone-- RECEPTIONIST (V.O.) Global Defense Council... SUSAN (V.O.) You wanted to see me? LEO (V.O.) I just got off the phone with A.J. MacInerney. CUT TO: INT. LEO SOLOMON'S OFFICE - DAY LEO, a white-haired man in his early 60's is meeting with SUSAN SLOAN, a 40'ish lawyer who seems to go out of her way to create an issue where none exists. SUSAN Did the President read the letter? LEO The President's pissed as hell, Susan. That letter was a stupid move. SUSAN It was aggressive, and we should stand by every-- LEO This isn't the guy who needed us four years ago, Susan. He's incredibly popular. He's gonna win re-election in a walk, and he could give a shit what we stand by! If the President passes the most important piece of environmental legislation in history, and does it despite our negative endorsement, our political weight in the future will rank somewhere below the Save the Spotted Owl Society. (beat) I'm bringing in some help. SUSAN We don't need another environmental expert to confirm what every other environmental expert-- LEO Not an environmental expert, a professional political strategist. We're playing hardball with Andrew Shepherd, and we need a heavy bat. SUSAN Who? LEO Sydney Ellen Wade. SUSAN Oh Christ. That woman doesn't know the first thing about the environmental lobby. LEO She's a closer, Susan. She gets the job done. CUT TO: INT. THE OVAL OFFICE - DAY SHEPHERD and LEWIS -- working on a speech. SHEPHERD Try it like this and lose that. ROBIN (entering) David Sasser from the Times called and wanted to know what the White House felt was a great society. LEWIS What did you tell him? ROBIN I told him I couldn't speak for the President, but for my money: Bermuda. SHEPHERD Perfect. JANIE steps in-- JANIE Mr. President, your cousin Judith's come down with the flu and won't be able to join you Thursday night. SHEPHERD That's too bad. Remind me to give her a call later. JANIE Yes, sir. ROBIN You gonna go stag? SHEPHERD That's not a problem. ROBIN No. We've never gone wrong parading you around as the lonely widower. The words came out casually, but they instantly freeze everyone. ROBIN (continuing) My God. (beat) I can't believe I said that. (beat) Mr. President, that was an incredibly thoughtless remark. I would never dream of insulting you or the memory of your wife. SHEPHERD That's okay, forget it. (to JANIE) What time is it? JANIE It's 3:45, sir. SHEPHERD I'm gonna go over and say hi to Lucy. JANIE You have the Attorney General at 4:00 and the trade representative at 4:30. Somewhere in there you promised NPR five minutes. ROBIN Mr. President-- SHEPHERD Robin, don't worry about it. CUT TO: INT. THE RESIDENCE - DAY We HEAR the sound of a TROMBONE being played--not well--from one of the rooms. SHEPHERD comes around and down the corridor. He walks into-- INT. LUCY'S ROOM - DAY LUCY, Shepherd's 12-year-old daughter, stops playing. SHEPHERD No, keep going. I liked what you were playing? What's it called? LUCY Scales. SHEPHERD Well... you play it with gusto! LUCY Are my lips swollen? SHEPHERD Are they supposed to be? LUCY Yeah. SHEPHERD Then you're doing fine. LUCY Whatcha got behind your back? SHEPHERD A little gift. LUCY Is it a dirt bike? SHEPHERD Nope. He hands her an old textbook ... LUCY Is it a really old seventh-grade textbook of yours that you're gonna make me read cover to cover and discuss at dinner and drive me crazy with? SHEPHERD I'm not comfortable with the "really old" part, but everything else you said was true. LUCY (reading the cover) "Understanding the Constitution." SHEPHERD Your social studies teacher said your class would be starting on the Constitution this week. LUCY You talked to Mr. Linder? SHEPHERD Yes. It's called a Parent-Teacher Conference. Mr. Linder and I were the key player in that discussion. Why don't you like social studies, Luce? LUCY I like it fine, Dad. SHEPHERD All your other teachers say you're happy, you're enthusiastic, you've always got your hand up...Mr. Linder says you don't participate unless he calls on you, and even then it's a one-word answer. LUCY I don't know what to say, Dad. I guess I'm just not...I don't know. SHEPHERD Luce, take a look at this book. This is exciting stuff. It's about who we are and what we want. Read what it says on the first page. LUCY (reading) "Property of Gilmore Junior High School." SHEPHERD The next page. LUCY (reading) "We, the People, of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union..." SHEPHERD See? Grabs you right off the bat. It's a page-turner. LUCY I can't wait. SHEPHERD Good, 'cause it's possible the subject might come up at dinner tonight. LUCY Do you see it as part of your job to torture me? SHEPHERD No, it's just one of the perks. See you tonight. He gives her a kiss on the head and heads out the door. Behind him, he hears Lucy's rendition of "Hail to the Chief." SHEPHERD shoots her a look as we CUT TO: INT. CABINET ROOM - NIGHT Where SHEPHERD is finishing a meeting with the DEFENSE SECRETARY, CHAIRMAN OF THE JOINT CHIEFS and a NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR, each of whom is accompanied by at least one DEPUTY or AIDE. A.J. is also present. DEFENSE SECRETARY The C-STAD hardware's been in place for a month. We've got 22 instructors from the Army Air Defense School waiting to go down and train the Israelis. A.J. How soon can you deploy them? CHAIRMAN We can airlift 'em in the morning. They'll have C-STAD operational in 20 days. A.J. Any security concerns? SECURITY ADVISOR If anybody wanted to hit it, they'd have hit it by now. SHEPHERD Okay. Let's move on it. Thank you, gentlemen. SHEPHERD and A.J. leave the Cabinet Room amidst a volley of "good-bye" 's and "Thank you, Mr. President"'s. They pass MRS. CHAPIL and JANIE. SHEPHERD (continuing) Have a good evening, Mrs. Chapil. MRS. CHAPIL You too, Mr. President. SHEPHERD starts his walk from the West Wing back to the residence. It is the exact reverse of the path he took to the OVAL OFFICE in the morning. SHEPHERD I'll see you in the morning, Janie. JANIE You will, Mr. President. A SECRET SERVICE AGENT follows at a distance. AGENT #2 (sotto) Liberty is moving. A.J. Leo Solomon brought in a hired gun at the GDC. SHEPHERD It's about time. A.J. She's a lawyer from Virginia named Sydney Ellen Wade. I know this woman well. She's had a lot of success getting congressmen elected. SHEPHERD Maybe we should try to steal her. Ten percent, A.J. Don't let them leave the room till they're clear about that. A.J. You know, if you've got a free second, maybe you could stop in and say hello. It might smooth the way. SHEPHERD Mention it to Janie. A.J. Good. SHEPHERD Then let's clear this off the table and get everybody focused on the crime bill. I don't want to win this. I want to win it by a couple of touchdowns. A.J. We will, Mr. President. SHEPHERD Good. A.J. starts to leave. SHEPHERD stops him. SHEPHERD (continuing) A.J.? A.J. Yes? SHEPHERD Listen, Robin said something to me today that I'm sure she wouldn't have said it if...I mean, she wasn't saying it to me, I realize... (beat) Ah, never mind. Have a good night. A.J. Good night, Mr. President. SHEPHERD A.J., when we're out of the office and we're alone, you can call me Andy. A.J. I beg your pardon? SHEPHERD I mean you were the best man at my wedding, for crying out loud. Call me Andy. A.J. (laughing off the suggestion) Whatever you say, Mr. President. They have reached the south entrance to the White House. A.J. (continuing) Have a good night, sir. SHEPHERD Good night, A.J. SHEPHERD enters the White House. CUT TO: EXT. THE WHITE HOUSE - NIGHT DISSOLVE TO: EXT. THE WHITE HOUSE - DAY It's early morning of the following day, and the grounds outside are in full swing. EXT. THE NORTHWEST EXECUTIVE ENTRANCE - DAY In front of the guardhouse, Susan and her new colleague, SYDNEY ELLEN WADE, are being cleared. SYDNEY (to the GUARD) Hi, my name's Sydney Ellen Wade. SUSAN He just needs your driver's license. SUSAN hands the guard her license. SYDNEY (handing him her license) I'm from Virginia. SUSAN He doesn't care. SYDNEY (to the GUARD) I'm here for a meeting with Mr. MacInerney. SUSAN He doesn't need to know that. The GUARD BUZZES her through the gate. SYDNEY (to the GUARD) Forgive me, this is my first time at the White House. I'm trying to savor the Capra-esque quality. SUSAN He doesn't know what Capra-esque means. GUARD (to SUSAN) Yeah, I do. Frank Capra, great American director -- It's a Wonderful Life, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. (handing SYDNEY and SUSAN their laminated passes) Sydney Ellen Wade of Virginia. Knock 'em dead. SYDNEY Thanks. SYDNEY and SUSAN begin to walk up the path toward the entrance to the West Wing. CUT TO: INT. THE OVAL OFFICE - DAY A meeting with the EDUCATION SECRETARY, the HUD SECRETARY, several AIDES and LEWIS is breaking up. SHEPHERD is ushering people out. SHEPHERD The day the government starts subsidizing private schools is the day we give up on public education. EDUCATION SECRETARY I know the proposal only scratches the surface, but it's the least we can do. SHEPHERD We're already doing the least we can do, but I can't think of anything better, so we'll go with this for now. (to HUD SECRETARY) Jerry, say hello to Linda for me. And if I don't see you again, have a good Thanksgiving. HUD SECRETARY Thank you, Mr. President. The room has cleared...JANIE is arranging new papers on the President's desk. SHEPHERD How're we doing? JANIE You're running four minutes ahead of schedule. SHEPHERD Ahead? JANIE Yes, sir. SHEPHERD (exited) Janie, this is unprecedented. I don't know what to do with myself. JANIE Mr. MacInerney asked me to remind you to pop your head in on-- SHEPHERD The GDC meeting. Right. CUT TO: INT. A.J.'s OFFICE - DAY A.J. Your concerns are not falling on deaf ears. The environmental lobby has known no greater alley in the White House than President Shepherd. SYDNEY Hardly an impressive distinction, A.J. SUSAN is trying to avert the inevitable-- SUSAN Sydney, we should leave Mr. MacInerney alone now. He's already given us more time than-- SYDNEY Susan, Mr. MacInerney doesn't want us to leave, because Mr. MacInerney's not yet done what he needs to do today. SUSAN Sir, Ms. Wade's been thrown into the deep end of the pool on her first day. She hasn't even had a chance to read the report of the Quebec Conference. SYDNEY -- whose brain is telling her to slam on the brakes, check her swing, smile and leave the building -- decides, instead, to hit the gas and swing away. The OTHERS are watching this as if they were watching the evolution of a train wreck. SYDNEY You're right. I haven't read it. If someone had asked me yesterday, I'd have told them the Quebec Conference was made up of six professional hockey teams. But what I do know is that it's time for the President to run for president again. Leon Kodak is as good as it gets when it comes to electoral strategy, and I'm certain he's told the President exactly what I'd tell him: Nail down Michigan and California, where they make cars and airplanes -- and burn plenty of fossil fuel. But if I had read these eight hundred pages, I would have discovered that it's the burning of fossil fuels that's been mostly responsible for global warming and that the 20 percent reduction recommended by the GDC is a necessary first step toward arresting the catastrophic greenhouse effect that has gone unchecked by this administration... SUSAN (to SYDNEY) It's really time to-- SYDNEY Susan, I promise you, the White House Chief of Staff will not let us leave here until he's broken the bad news. No one in the room really understands what's going on... except A.J., who would like to take the time to admire SYDNEY but, of course, can't. A.J. (pause) I'm afraid Sydney's right. Although not about Michigan and California. The President has asked me to convey to you that he's sending his energy bill to the floor with a call for a reduction of 10 percent. There's an uncomfortable silence in the room... A.J. (continuing) The President is willing to go it alone on this, but he's asking for, and frankly he's expecting, the full support of the GDC. SYDNEY The President's expecting our full support? A.J. Yes, he is. SYDNEY The President's dreamin', A.J. SUSAN Sydney! SYDNEY --the President has critically misjudged reality. If he honestly thinks that the environmental community is going to whistle a happy tune while rallying support around this pitifully lame mockery of environmental leadership just because he's a nice guy and he's done better than his predecessors, then your boss is the Chief Executive of Fantasyland. VOICE (O.S.) Let's take him out back and beat the shit out of him. SYDNEY's blown out her speakers because she's turned in the direction of the private office entrance to see, live and in person, The President of the United States. She is frozen. Mortified. If she were capable of thought process, she would be preying for something heavy to fall on her head right now. A.J. Good morning, Mr. President. How are you today? SHEPHERD Couldn't be better. (to the GROUP) I apologize for the interruption, but A.J. asked me to stop and say hello. You wouldn't be Sydney Ellen Wade, by any chance, would you? SYDNEY Mr. President, I'm...don't know what to say. I'm speechless. SHEPHERD All evidence to the contrary. SUSAN Mr. President, we haven't met. My name is Susan Sloan. I used to work with Congressman Myers. I hope this episode in no way-- SHEPHERD Sydney? SYDNEY Yes, sir? SHEPHERD You got a second? SYDNEY (quietly) Of course. SYDNEY gets up to leave. SHEPHERD escorts her out of A.J.'s office and into the hallway. SHEPHERD I thought maybe we might have a word in private. Someplace a little less intimidating. (calling) Janie? JANIE Yes, sir. SHEPHERD (to SYDNEY) This is my personal assistant, Janie Basdin. Janie, would you show Ms. Wade into the rec room. I'll be there in a second. SHEPHERD enters a doorway off of the hall. SYDNEY continues down the hallway. JANIE (to SYDNEY) This way... JANIE leads SYDNEY into... INT. THE OVAL OFFICE - DAY ...where SYDNEY just stands uncomfortably, not knowing whether to sit or stand. Waiting. Trying -- the way a jumper on a window ledge tries not to look down -- trying not to notice things like the JFK Desk, the Seal of the President of the United States, the bust of Lincoln... SHEPHERD strides in-- SHEPHERD Sorry to keep you waiting. SYDNEY Mr. President-- SHEPHERD Is it okay if I call you Sydney? SYDNEY Of course. Mr. President-- SHEPHERD Have you ever been in the Oval Office? SYDNEY I've just been on the regular tour. It didn't include... SHEPHERD I hear it's pretty good. SYDNEY Mr. President, what you saw in there was nothing more than vanity run amok. I was showing off for a colleague who doesn't think very much of me. It'd be a real injustice for you to hold the GDC accountable for my behavior today. On top of which, I'm monumentally sorry for having insulted you like that. SHEPHERD Are you under the impression that I'm mad at you? SYDNEY (pause) Well... SHEPHERD Sydney, seldom does a day go by that I'm not burned in effigy. SYDNEY Not by a professional political operative standing 30 feet from the Oval Office. SHEPHERD No, I'll give you that. SYDNEY Mr. President-- SHEPHERD Did you know that when the City Planners sat down to design Washington, D.C., their intention was to build a city that would intimidate and humble foreign heads of state? It's true. SYDNEY I didn't know that. SHEPHERD The White House has the single greatest home court advantage in the modern world. SYDNEY Learned that one the hard way. SHEPHERD Sydney, this bill is important to me. SYDNEY Yes, sir, I'll convey your message. SHEPHERD But you don't believe me? SYDNEY The GDC is asking for 20 percent, sir. SHEPHERD It's not gonna pass at 20 percent. It's a long shot at 10. SYDNEY How do you know that until you put the full weight of the White House behind-- SHEPHERD Sydney, at 20 percent, we are 34 votes shy in the House. It can't be done. But I tell you what. I'll make you a deal with you. If you can get 24 votes, I'll get you the last 10. SYDNEY Twenty-four votes? SHEPHERD If you can swing 24 votes by the State of the Union, I'll promise you full White House support. SYDNEY Do I have your word on that, sir? SHEPHERD Absolutely. Listen, are you hungry? I skipped breakfast. You wanna have some coffee? A donut or something? SYDNEY Sir, I'm a little intimidated by my surroundings, and yes, I've gotten off to a rocky and somewhat stilted beginning, but don't let that diminish the weight of my message: The GDC has been at every president for the last decade and a half that global warming is a calamity, the effects of which will be second only to nuclear war. The best scientists in the world have given you every reason to take the GDC seriously. But I'm gonna give you one more. If you don't live up to the deal you just made, come New Hampshire, we're gonna go shopping for a new candidate. SYDNEY heads for the door-- SHEPHERD You can't do that, Sydney. SYDNEY With all due respect, Mr. President, who's gonna stop me? SHEPHERD Well, if you go through that door, the United States Secret Service. That's my private office. (pointing) You need to go out that way. SYDNEY (beat) Ah. SYDNEY, with as much dignity as she can muster, leaves the Oval Office. SHEPHERD muses about what has just transpired. CUT TO: INT. THE BILLIARD ROOM - NIGHT SHEPHERD has converted one of the rooms on the second floor residence. His expert shot demonstrates that playing pool is something he does almost as well as being President. A.J. stands to the side with his pool cue. A.J. McSorley, McCluskey and Shane know we're making our move on the crime bill. They're circling the wagons on the assault weapons. SHEPHERD Should I meet with them? A.J. Let Lewis take a pass at them first. SHEPHERD Fine. 2 in the side. SHEPHERD sends the two-ball flying into the corner pocket. A.J. Nice shot, Mr. President. SHEPHERD Nice shot, Mr. President? You won't call me by my name when we're playing pool. A.J. assesses the table. A.J. I will not do it playing pool, I will not do it in a school, I do not like green eggs and ham, I do not like them Sam I am. SHEPHERD At ease, A.J., and get away from the pocket. 9 in the corner. SHEPHERD makes the shot. A.J. Leo Solomon phoned. He said he was thrilled with the deal you made this morning. SHEPHERD lifts his cue for a moment...trying to think it there was something he was supposed to tell A.J. SHEPHERD I forgot to tell you. A.J. It's a waste of time. SHEPHERD Not our time. GDC makes a big push for the votes, and when they come up short, we move in with the softer bill, to get passed, we're everybody's hero. 3 in the side. A.J. Also, Sydney Wade called. SHEPHERD, a hair too excited by this news, misses by a mile. SHEPHERD Sydney Wade? A.J. (beat) She wanted to apologize one more time for her behavior. 3 in the side. SHEPHERD Did she say anything about me? A.J. (beat) Sydney Wade? SHEPHERD When she called. A.J. Did she say anything about you? 13 in the corner. SHEPHERD No, it's just that we had a nice couple of minutes together. She threatened me and I patronized her and we didn't have anything to eat, but I thought there was a connection. A.J. is staring at him in disbelief. SHEPHERD She didn't say anything about me? A.J. (quietly) Well, no, but I could pass her a note before study hall and-- SHEPHERD Tell me this: Hypothetically, what would happen-- A.J. I feel a nightmare coming on. 1 in the corner. He misses the shot. SHEPHERD --if I called Sydney and asked her to be my date at the State Dinner Thursday night? A.J. You're not serious. SHEPHERD Don't I sound serious? A.J. The President can't just go out on a date. SHEPHERD Why not? Jefferson did. Wilson did. A.J. You're not-- SHEPHERD Wilson was widowed during his first term. He meets a woman named Edith Gault. He dated her, courted her, married her, and somewhere in there managed to form the League of Nations. A.J. Mr. President, this is an election year. If you're looking for female companionship, we can make arrangements that'll insure total privacy and-- SHEPHERD I don't want you to get me a girl, A.J. What is this, Vegas? A.J. No, sir, this is the White House. SHEPHERD And I'm talking about something that in no way is at conflict with my oath of office. I'm a single adult, and I met a woman that I'd like to see again socially. How's that different from what Wilson did? A.J. The difference is he didn't have to be the president on television. You've said it a million times: If there were a television set in every living room 60 years ago, this country does not elect a man in a wheelchair. SHEPHERD What are you saying? A.J. We'll take a hit. SHEPHERD How big? A.J. I don't know. Five points. Maybe more. SHEPHERD Five points we're standing here talking about?! A.J. It could be more. SHEPHERD I drop five points when Wisconsin doesn't make it to the Rose Bowl. 5 in the corner. A.J. Do you want me to have Kodak put together some numbers so we know what we're talking about? SHEPHERD Yeah. (beat) No. No. I don't want to check a polling sample to see if this is okay, like I'm asking permission to stay out an hour past curfew. This isn't the business of the American people. A.J. Mr. President, the American people have a funny way of deciding on their own what is and what is not their business. SHEPHERD I like her, A.J. (pause) Stop being my chief of staff for one minute. A.J. (beat) Give her a call. SHEPHERD (calling out) Janie! (to A.J.) She didn't say anything about me? A.J. She said you're taller than she thought you'd be. SHEPHERD That's something. JANIE enters-- JANIE Yes, sir? SHEPHERD I need you to track down a phone number. CUT TO: EXT. A RESIDENTIAL STREET IN GEORGETOWN - NIGHT Lined with red-brick, three-story walk-ups. CUT TO: INT. BETH'S APARTMENT - NIGHT A few suitcases and two or three moving cartons serve as evidence that SYDNEY's staying with her sister BETH temporarily. BETH, still in hospital scrubs from a 12-hour shift, opens a bottle of wine while SYDNEY, in a bathrobe and wet hair, tries to get off the phone. SYDNEY (into phone) Richard...Richard, it wasn't funny. I acted like a college freshman at a protest rally. BETH Tell him the part about walking out the wrong door. SYDNEY Oh God, I forgot about that. (back into phone) No, Richard...Richard, I don't want to hear your Andrew Shepherd imitation... BETH I wanna hear it. SYDNEY I'm hanging up now, Richard... Tonight? I was gonna go to bed early and wake up when there's a new president. She hangs up. SYDNEY (continuing) The President must think I'm a third- rate jerk. BETH If he thinks you're a jerk, I'm sure he thinks you're a first-rate jerk. SYDNEY I'll tell you one thing, boy. I regrouped, you gotta gimme that. I pulled it together at the end. I stood in the middle of the Oval Office and I made it very clear that from now on, he who doesn't take the GDC seriously does so at his peril! BETH And then you walked out the wrong door. SYDNEY Are you gonna be throwing that back at me the rest of my life? BETH That's my current plan, yes. The TELEPHONE RINGS... SYDNEY That's gonna be Leo Solomon. He said he'd call at nine. SYDNEY picks up the phone-- SYDNEY (continuing; into phone) Hello? SHEPHERD Uh, hi, is this Sydney? SYDNEY doesn't recognize the voice-- SYDNEY (into phone) Leo? PHONE VOICE No, this is Andrew Shepherd. SYDNEY looks at BETH and rolls her eyes, then explains to her-- SYDNEY Andrew Shepherd. (back in the phone) You're hilarious, Richard. You're a regular riot. And we CROSS-CUT between SYDNEY and SHEPHERD. SHEPHERD Uhh...this isn't Richard, it's Andrew Shepherd. SYDNEY Oh, really. Well, I'm so glad you called, because I forgot to tell you today what a nice ass you have. I'm also impressed that you were able to get my phone number, considering I don't have a phone. Good night, Richard. SYDNEY hangs up the phone. INT. SHEPHERD'S PRIVATE OFFICE/THE RESIDENCE - NIGHT as SHEPHERD, undaunted, dials the number again. SHEPHERD (under his breath) This used to be easier. CUT TO: INT. BETH'S APARTMENT - NIGHT as the PHONE RINGS. SYDNEY I don't believe this. BETH You want me to deal with him? SYDNEY No way. I may choke in front of Shepherd, but Richard Reynolds I can handle. She picks up the phone. SYDNEY (continuing) Hello? And we begin CROSS-CUTTING again between the two. SHEPHERD Sydney? SYDNEY Are you learning-impaired?! SHEPHERD Listen, do me a favor. Hang up the phone. SYDNEY (beat) What? SHEPHERD Hang up the phone. Then dial 456-1414. When you get the White House operator, give her your name and tell her you want to speak to the President. SHEPHERD hangs up. CUT TO: INT. BETH'S APARTMENT - NIGHT SYDNEY's still holding the phone and seems a little confused...an emotion which is about to be replaced by horror as the unbelievable into the reality. SYDNEY (to herself) This isn't happening to me. She dials. BETH What's going on? SYDNEY (to herself) It's not possible I did this twice in one day. The OPERATOR answers. OPERATOR (filtered) Good evening, the White House. SYDNEY swallows. OPERATOR (continuing; filtered) Hello? SYDNEY (quietly) My name's Sydney Ellen Wade. I'd like to-- OPERATOR (O.S.) (filtered) The President's expecting your call, ma'am. I'll put you right through. CUT TO: INT. SHEPHERD'S PRIVATE OFFICE/THE RESIDENCE - NIGHT He's just opened a bottle of beer when the phone rings. He picks up the phone-- SHEPHERD Hello. SYDNEY Mr. President, I'm sure there's an appropriate thing to say at this moment. Probably some formal apology for the nice-ass remark would be in order. I just don't quite know how to word it. SHEPHERD It's my fault. I shouldn't have called you at home. Should I call you at the office tomorrow? SYDNEY No, sir, of course not. I mean -- yes, you can call me anytime you want -- this is fine. Right now is fine. When I said "of course not," I meat that...You know what? The hell with it -- I'm moving to another country. SHEPHERD (smiling) What did you mean when you said you don't have a phone. SYDNEY I just moved to Washington over the weekend, and my apartment isn't ready yet. This is my sister's apartment. Come to think of it, how did you get this number? SHEPHERD (beat) How did I get the number. That's a reasonable question. I don't know. Probably the FBI. SYDNEY (trying to pretend it's just another guy on the phone) The FBI. Sure. 'Cause i-if you want to find someone and you're the president, that's who you would call. SHEPHERD You know who else is good at that? SYDNEY The C.I.A.? SHEPHERD Well, yeah, but I was thinking of the Internal Revenue Service. They have computer files that...Well...I should stop stalling. As I'm sure you know, the French have elected themselves a new president, and we're having a formal state dinner at the White House, and I was wondering -- and you're under no obligation at all -- but I thought it might be fun... I was wondering if you maybe wanted to go...with me, and uh... there it is. That's why I was calling. There's a long silence on the phone. SHEPHERD (continuing) Sydney? Sydney, Congress doesn't take this long to-- SYDNEY The President has asked me to join him in representing our country. I'm honored. I'm equal to the task. And I won't let you down, sir. SHEPHERD (beat) Sydney, this is just a dinner. We're not gonna be doing espionage or anything. SYDNEY No. Of course. I'm a little...uh...what do I do? I, I mean, where do I go? Should I meet you? Will you... SHEPHERD I'm gonna have a very nice woman named Marsha Bridgeport call you. She's the White House Social Director, and she'll help you with anything you want. Now when she calls you and tells you her name is Marsha Bridgeport, it'll help if you give her the benefit of the doubt. SYDNEY Of course. SHEPHERD I'll see you Thursday night. SYDNEY Mr. President, thank you for asking me. Really. This is a first for me. SHEPHERD Me too. They hang up. DISSOLVE TO: EXT. OLD EXECUTIVE OFFICE BUILDING - DAY INT. THE CRIME BILL WAR ROOM - DAY A large conference room at OEOB has been converted for the use of a half-dozen STAFFERS as well as ten or twelve interns, some of them high school age. A sign on a corkboard reads, "17 Votes in 69 Days." The two numbers are written on two separate pads of paper so that the top sheets can be torn off to reveal the following numbers in descending order. There is also a bulletin board that lists every member of the House of Representatives and is divided up into five columns: FOR, LEANING TOWARDS, UNDECIDED, LEANING AGAINST, and AGAINST. KODAK Who's on Indiana? (raising his voice) Excuse me. New people, I can't remember your names. Raise your hand if you're on Indiana. Two INTERNS raise their hands-- KODAK (continuing) Put your hands down -- you're on Illinois. LEWIS comes in. LEWIS We've got Jarrett. KODAK What? LEWIS George Jarrett. He's ours. Solid "yes." KODAK I don't believe it. (to an INTERN) You. New guy. "Jarrett, Democrat, Minnesota." Slide his name on over to "for." (to Lewis) We just had his name laminated under "Undecided." How'd you get the fence pole out of his butt? LEWIS I wish I could take credit. He just said, "Lewis, I support the President a hundred percent ." Not the bill, the President. LEWIS We're gonna win this in a walk. It's like a kissing booth at a carnival. Give us a vote, get a photo-op with number 63. LEWIS reaches to the tote board and pulls the "17" off, revealing "16." LEWIS We should have gone after the handguns. KODAK We gotta do one thing at a time. LEWIS We don't have time to do one thing at a time. CUT TO: INT. FOSSIL FUEL WAR ROOM - DAY A GDC conference room that SYDNEY, her assistant, DAVID, and two INTERNS have made into their 72-day headquarters. A similar tote board reads "23 Votes in 69 Days." The two interns are marking spreadsheets. DAVID is on one phone, SYDNEY is on another. DAVID (into phone) Carol, it's David in Sydney Wade's office. I want to confirm her lunch with the Congressman. SYDNEY (into phone) We could do with a little party leadership, Mike. Is the Majority Whip takin' a break? Congress is in session, right, I'm not wrong about that? LISA, another intern, is hanging up a phone in the background and crossing to the corkboard. LISA I just got off with Luther Simons. Brock's on board. SYDNEY Terrific! She rips the "23" off, making it "22." SYDNEY reaches for her coffee and knocks over a cup of pencils. In righting the pencils, she knocks over her coffee. DAVID You're awfully jumpy today. What do you have -- a big date tonight? With that, a big pile of papers is sent flying off the desk. CUT TO: INT. THE WHITE HOUSE - NIGHT It's a beautiful night. The White House, lit up and shimmering in its golden glow, would appear now to be exactly what the poet was looking at when he described The Shining City on a Hill. Limousines, several of which fly the flag of foreign diplomats, pull up one by one, their doors opened by white- gloved MARINES. White lights from television cameras mix with the fireworks of flashbulbs from the print media. INT. THE WHITE HOUSE - NIGHT The GUESTS -- of whom there are a couple hundred -- in black tie and evening gowns, are entering the receiving area. All this happening, of course, under the eye of the SECRET SERVICE AGENTS, both American and French, who are strategically placed throughout. The light from a TV camera comes on as a reporter begins a quick stand-up interview with ROBERT RUMSON, a handsome man in his late forties. REPORTER (LLOYD) (to the camera) I'm standing here with Senate Minority Leader Robert Rumson, just one of the many guests arriving at what, for a few hours at least, is a non-partisan White House. Senator, the latest public opinion survey shows the President with approval ratings that would make him all but unbeatable, come next November. Is there a Republican who can mount a serious challenge, and are you that candidate? RUMSON Lloyd, it's a long time till next November. Right now, I'm just looking forward to a pleasant evening. CUT TO: INT. SHEPHERD'S BEDROOM - NIGHT Lucy is standing behind her father, tying his bow tie. SHEPHERD That's a little tight, Luce. LUCY It's supposed to be tight. It's supposed to make you look regal. SHEPHERD Is it supposed to cut off the blood flow to my face? LUCY All done. He looks in the mirror. SHEPHERD Not bad. Where did you learn how to do this? LUCY Social studies. SHEPHERD Very funny. (smiles) Really, where did you learn? LUCY I don't know...I just guess... SHEPHERD Sweetie, did Mom teach you how to do this? LUCY Yeah. SHEPHERD (pause) Lucy, is this okay with you? My having dinner with a woman? LUCY It's totally okay. SHEPHERD Are you sure? Because if you want to talk about it... LUCY Dad, it's cool. Go for it. SHEPHERD You know, I'm a little nervous. LUCY You'll be fine. Just be yourself. SHEPHERD Be myself. LUCY And compliment her shoes. SHEPHERD Her shoes? LUCY Girls like that. CUT TO: INT. EAST WING ENTRANCE - NIGHT Dressed in formal, but not festive, clothes and holding, as always, her notepad, JANIE waits by the door. A SECRET SERVICE AGENT sits alone behind a small desk. The door opens and SYDNEY walks in. She's, needless to say, stunning. JANIE Miss Wade? The President wants you to join him upstairs in the residence. May I show you the way? CUT TO: INT. SITTING HALL/THE RESIDENCE - NIGHT This formal reception area is filled with special GUESTS. As SYDNEY walks in, A.J. goes to her immediately. A.J. Sydney, come on in. You look beautiful. SYDNEY Thank you. I have no idea what I'm doing here. A.J. I promise you there's no hidden agenda. SHEPHERD approaches SYDNEY. SHEPHERD Sydney. Andrew Shepherd. We spoke on the phone. SYDNEY Yes, sir. I remember. ESTHER, MACINERNERY, A.J.'S wife, joins them. A.J. You know my wife, Esther. SYDNEY Sure. It's nice to see you again. ESTHER (affectionately) Sydney, the President told me about how you two met. I think it's priceless. SYDNEY I don't know what happened. One minute I was calling him a mockery of an environmental leader. The next minute I had a date. ESTHER Men like being insulted by women. It makes them feel loved. Don't ask me why. A.J. Sydney, when you meet the French President, don't make him feel too loved, all right? We just signed a new trade agreement. SYDNEY Got it. The French President, D'ASTIER, and his WIFE approach. SHEPHERD (to D'Astier) Mr. President, would allow me to introduce Sydney Ellen Wade of the Commonwealth of Virginia. Sydney, this is President Rene-Jean D'Astier and his wife Monique Danielle D'Astier of France. SYDNEY An honor to meet you both. JANIE Mr. President, I'm sorry to interrupt. The receiving line is in place. SHEPHERD Sydney, it sounds like our table's ready. SHEPHERD's guests make their way out of the residence, leaving SHEPHERD with SYDNEY and the FRENCH PRESIDENT and MDME. D'ASTIER. CUT TO: INT. STAIRCASE - NIGHT SHEPHERD and SYDNEY are walking down the staircase that leads to the red-carpeted hall through which the President enters the East Room. The GROUP escorting the President gives them wide berth so that the two of them can have some privacy. SHEPHERD Once we hit the bottom of the stairs, I gotta do a thing. You'll be escorted... SYDNEY They took me through it. After a slight pause-- SYDNEY (continuing) Do you do this often, sir? SHEPHERD (beat) This is, actually, only our second State Dinner. The first was for the Emperor of Japan, who died shortly after that, so we stopped having them for a while, just in case. SYDNEY I meant do you go out on...do you-- often--do you-- SHEPHERD Do I date a lot? SYDNEY Well, yeah. SHEPHERD No. How 'bout you? SYDNEY Me? Lately, I seem to be going out on a lot of first dates. SHEPHERD Then you're experienced at this. SYDNEY Oh yeah, you can ask me anything. SHEPHERD How are we doing so far? SYDNEY It's hard to say at this point. So far it's just your typical first date stuff. And all of a sudden an INCREDIBLE SOUND from inside the East Room-- --The Marine Corps Brass and Percussion Ensemble plays four ruffles and flourishes. SHEPHERD Damn. And I wanted to find a way to be different from the other guys. A BOOMING VOICE over the P.A. announces-- VOICE (O.S.) Ladies and gentlemen, the President of the United States. And now -- the whole walk timing out with incredible precision -- SHEPHERD By the way, nice shoes. --SHEPHERD walks into the hall as the Brass and Percussion Ensemble plays HAIL TO THE CHIEF. The 180 GUESTS come to their feet and applaud long and loud. The GROUP following the President catches up to the spot where SYDNEY has stopped walking. They all join in the applause. We can see in SYDNEY's face that she's been quite swept up. DISSOLVE TO: INT. EAST ROOM - NIGHT The room is beautifully appointed, with the Marine Corps Dance Band playing dinner music -- and the SECRET SERVICE strategically positioned. CUT TO: AT SHEPHERD'S TABLE STEWARDS are clearing away the main course and refilling wine glasses. In addition to the two main couples, and ESTHER MacINERNEY and TWO OTHER COUPLES are seated at the President's table. SYDNEY Mr. President, the President and Mrs. D'Astier look bored. They're not talking to anybody. SHEPHERD They're hammered. Esther, do you speak French? ESTHER Latin. SHEPHERD I thought you spoke French. ESTHER No, Latin. SHEPHERD Great, next time Julius Caesar comes to town, you're our gal. Sydney, I don't suppose that you speak any-- SYDNEY (taking over-- to D'Astier) Monsieur le President, nous sommes tous habilles, nous avons ce merveilleux orchestre, une piece magnifique...comment se fait-il que les invites ne dansent pas? SHEPHERD (proudly to A.J. and Esther) That's my date. D'ASTIER Je ne connais pas la tradition en Amerique, mais dans mon pays, si les invites de Louis XVI et Marie Antoinette avaient ose danser devant le roi et la reine, ils auraient perdu la tete. SYDNEY Really? MADAME D'ASTIER Absolument. SHEPHERD Sydney, you didn't dissolve the NATO treaty, did you? SYDNEY I just said that we're sitting in this beautiful room, listening to the music of this wonderful orchestra, and I wondered why nobody was dancing. D'ASTIER And I informed Ms. Wade that in my country, a guest at the palace of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette would soon find their head in a guillotine if they made the impertinent gesture of dancing without so much as a by-your-leave from the King and the Queen. A.J. I'll bet no one accused Louis of being soft on crime. SYDNEY There's a lesson there, Mr. President. SHEPHERD More beheadings at the White House? A.J. Bob Rumson would embrace it. SHEPHERD I'm sure he would, but I have a better idea. SHEPHERD stands, holds out his hand to SYDNEY. SHEPHERD (continuing) Would you like to dance? SYDNEY Uh, yeah, I guess. I mean, yes, sir, I'd love to. SHEPHERD and SYDNEY move to the dance floor, accompanied by the appreciative "oooh's" and "ahh's" of the GUESTS. The dance band begins, and SYDNEY and SHEPHERD dance... ...beautifully. CUT TO: THE GUESTS each and every one of them, have stopped all conversation and are fixating on this captivating sight. As we go around the room, we can observe the subtle reactions of, at first, various anonymous GUESTS, then CUT TO: A.J. AND ESTHER MACINERNEY, holding hands smiling as they watch their old friend, and we CUT TO: RUMSON'S TABLE where the Minority Leader's game face can barely conceal the gears that have slowly begun to turn in his head, as we CUT TO: SHEPHERD AND SYDNEY DANCING SYDNEY I don't know how you do it. SHEPHERD Arthur Murray. Six lessons. SYDNEY That's not what I mean. Two hundred pairs of eyes are focused on you right now, with two questions: "Who's this girl, and why's our president dancing with her?" SHEPHERD First of all, the 200 pairs of eyes aren't focused on me. They're focused on you. And the answers are "Sydney Ellen Wade" and "Because she said 'yes.'" LEWIS AND ROBIN looking on from the back of the room. LEWIS They make a nice couple. ROBIN Lovely. LEWIS We've got troubles. ROBIN Huge. As PEOPLE start onto dance floor, we CUT TO: INT. A BLACK LIMOUSINE - NIGHT as it pulls away from the White House and into the night. In the back, SYDNEY slips a shoe off and rubs her foot. She smiles, then turns around to look out the back window as the White House slips out of view. CUT TO: INT. WHITE HOUSE - MORNING SERIES OF SHOTS - DAY IN THE LIFE CUT TO: INT. OUTER OFFICE OF THE OVAL OFFICE - DAY MRS. CHAPIL and JANIE are at their respective desks as SHEPHERD walks in. SHEPHERD Good morning, Mrs. Chapil. MRS. CHAPIL Good morning, Mr. President. Mr. Rothschild and Miss McCall are in the office, sir. They said they needed to speak with you before scheduling. SHEPHERD Fine. Janie, can you get me the number of a local florist? JANIE I'll take care of it, sir. Where do you want them sent? SHEPHERD I want to do it myself. I just need the phone number. JANIE I don't understand. SHEPHERD I want the phone number of a florist. JANIE You just want the phone number? SHEPHERD Yeah. JANIE (beat) I don't understand, sir, is there-- SHEPHERD I want to send some flowers, Janie. I want to do it myself. I don't want to staff it out, and I don't want to issue an Executive Order. I just want a phone number. JANIE I'll get it for you right away, sir. SHEPHERD Thank you. He heads into the office. CUT TO: INT. THE OVAL OFFICE - DAY where LEWIS and ROBIN are waiting anxiously. ROBIN Mr. President, we need five minutes before scheduling if you can spare it. SHEPHERD (to Robin) I just need two minutes to make a call and I'll be right with you. JANIE enters and hands SHEPHERD a piece of paper. SHEPHERD (continuing) Thank you, Janie. She exits. LEWIS Who are we calling, sir? SHEPHERD I'm calling the Organization of the United Brotherhood of It's-None-of- Your-Damn-Business, Lewis. I'll be with you in a minute. LEWIS Yes, sir. LEWIS and ROBIN exit the Oval Office. SHEPHERD picks up the phone. SHEPHERD (to the OPERATOR) Yeah, good morning. How do I get an outside line? Really? That's simple. Thank you. SHEPHERD dials the phone number JANIE's given him. CUT TO: LEWIS and ROBIN hovering near the outer office. LEWIS Janie? JANIE Yes? LEWIS What's the President doing? JANIE I'm sorry, I'm really not at liberty to say. CUT TO: SHEPHERD ON THE PHONE SHEPHERD (into phone) Tell me something. What is the state flower of Virginia? CUT TO: THE OUTER OFFICE ROBIN Does this have something to do with Sydney Wade? JANIE I'm really not at liberty to say. CUT TO: SHEPHERD AT HIS DESK SHEPHERD (into phone) Is there someone else there who might know? (beat) No, I'm not trying to five you a hard time, I was--hold on please. THE OUTER OFFICE SHEPHERD'S VOICE comes through on INTERCOM. SHEPHERD (O.S.) (through intercom) Janie, what's the state flower of Virginia? JANIE (turning to MRS. CHAPIL) Mrs. Chapil. State flower of Virginia. MRS. CHAPIL The dogwood. CUT TO: SHEPHERD AT HIS DESK JANIE (O.S.) (through intercom) The dogwood, sir. SHEPHERD (to JANIE) Thank you. (into phone) It's the dogwood. (pause) What? Hold on please. (to JANIE, through intercom) Janie, the dogwood is a tree, not a flower. CUT TO: THE OUTER OFFICE LEON KODAK walks by. KODAK It's a tree and a flower. JANIE Are you sure? KODAK Yes. What's going on? CUT TO: OVAL OFFICE JANIE (O.S.) (through intercom) Sir, it's a tree and a flower. SHEPHERD (into phone) The dogwood is both a tree and a flower. I'd like a dozen, please. Really? No dogwoods? How 'bout roses? Simple. Classic. Two dozen roses. CUT TO: THE OUTER OFFICE LEWIS Janie, I'm the President senior domestic policy advisor. It's important that I have a full understanding of-- SHEPHERD (O.S.) Janie! Do you have any idea where my credit cards might be? CUT TO: SHEPHERD AT HIS DESK JANIE They're in storage in Wisconsin with the rest of your personal items. SHEPHERD Ah. (into phone) Listen, what might be better is if you just bill me for the flowers. I'm sure it'll be okay with your boss. Well, I don't know if you recognize my voice, but this is the President. (beat) The United States. (they've hung up) Hello, hello... CUT TO: INT. LEO SOLOMON'S OFFICE - DAY SYDNEY enters. SYDNEY Leo, you wanted to see me? LEO So there I was, thinking maybe I should give Sydney a call. She's new in town, doesn't know many people... LEO produces a copy of the morning paper, which has a photo of SHEPHERD and SYDNEY dancing. SYDNEY Leo-- LEO Then I picked up the Times-- SYDNEY It was crazy. He called me at home. LEO What's going on? SYDNEY Nothing. It was innocent. His cousin got the flu at the last minute. LEO Did you sleep with him? SYDNEY What? LEO Did you sleep-- SYDNEY That's none of your business, Leo. LEO Yeah, it is, Sydney. SYDNEY You wanna tell me how my personal life in any way-- LEO Because when it's the President, it's not personal. Sydney, I hired your reputation. I hired a pit bull, not a prom queen. SYDNEY That's unfair. LEO It's incredibly unfair. But you've spent a lot of time over the year telling me the trouble with the environmental lobby is that we don't understand the fundamental truth that politics is perception. This is a bad time to develop ignorance. SYDNEY You're making way too much of this. LEO Am I? This is your time, Sydney. You're sitting at the grown-ups' table. You have a chance to get everything you want -- run a national campaign, be a major player inside the party. But this relationship had better go all the way, because with the leader of the free world there is no halfway. Politics is perception, and if thing don't work out, the amount of time it'll take you to go from being a hired gun to a cocktail party joke can be clocked with an egg timer. There's a quick knock at the door -- Leo's SECRETARY steps in with a strange-looking package. SYDNEY Leo, there is no relationship. It was one night. It's done. LEO'S SECRETARY Mr. Solomon, this was just delivered by White House messenger. It's marked "Perishable." LEO The White House has sent me something perishable? LEO'S SECRETARY It's for Ms. Wade. LEO Here we go... SYDNEY begins unwrapping the package. SYDNEY Relax, Leo. I'm sure it's just a formality. LEO'S SECRETARY (exited) It's from him. LEO Of course it's from him. SYDNEY So he had some staff flunky send me a fruit basket. LEO'S SECRETARY He wrote the note himself. SYDNEY I'm sure he didn't take the time to-- LEO'S SECRETARY The messenger said he was waiting in the Oval Office for ten minutes while the President wrote the card. SYDNEY Okay, listen, so he-- (to LEO'S SECRETARY) --it took him ten minutes to write a card?! LEO'S SECRETARY Apparently he went through several drafts. SYDNEY can't stifle her laugh -- she sees what the gift is. LEO What is it...what is it? SYDNEY A ham. LEO (beat) A ham? SYDNEY He sent me a Virginia ham. LEO'S SECRETARY Dig it, Ms. Wade. You're the President's girlfriend. SYDNEY's smile fades away...she looks at LEO. LEO There's never an egg timer around when you need one. CUT TO: EXT. THE NORTHWEST EXECUTIVE ENTRANCE - DAY as the white-gloved MARINE snaps the door open for SYDNEY, and we CUT TO: INT. THE OVAL OFFICE - DAY SHEPHERD is conferring with LEWIS and ROBIN. ROBIN Sir, they're gonna be pressing today about whether the White House is prepared to soften the assault weapons section of the crime bill. LEWIS There is no need to entertain that at this point. ROBIN How do you want me to handle the Sydney issue? SHEPHERD The Sydney issue? LEWIS We should have a consensus on how the White House is going to handle it. SHEPHERD I sure hope the Sydney issue refers in some way to a problem we're having with Australia, because if it's anything else... JANIE pokes her head in. JANIE Mr. President, Ms. Wade is here to see you. SHEPHERD Tell her she can come right in. I'm finished here. JANIE Yes, sir. SHEPHERD (to LEWIS and ROBIN) There is no Sydney issue. SYDNEY enters, crossing paths with LEWIS and ROBIN. They exchange pleasantries. SYDNEY (to SHEPHERD) Thanks for seeing me on such short notice. SHEPHERD No problem. Did you get the ham? SYDNEY I got the ham, yes. Thank you very much. SHEPHERD I wanted to send you flowers, but there seem to be some kinks in the system. I'm really glad you stopped by. I had such a good time last night. SYDNEY So did I. It's just that... JANIE enters. JANIE They're 45 seconds away, sir. During the following, JANIE will go to the desk, pick up two briefing books and stick them in a briefcase and gather up his things -- all without interrupting the conversation a beat. SHEPHERD I'm delivering a luncheon speech at the Governor's Conference this morning. I'm sorry to-- SYDNEY No, no, that's fine. I just stopped by to... SHEPHERD Are you free for dinner tomorrow night? SYDNEY Dinner? SHEPHERD Casual. In the Residence. Without the United Nations. My daughter'll be with us, so it may seem like the United-- SYDNEY I'd love to meet Lucy, but... An AIDE has slipped in and hands SHEPHERD a note. SHEPHERD (reading to himself as he talks SYDNEY) She's gonna like you. (calling to the AIDE) Excuse me -- Jeff! SYDNEY Actually, I have some concerns that-- The AIDE (JEFF) steps back in-- JEFF Yes, sir. SHEPHERD (reading the note) I can't do this. JEFF Which? Robbins or Stackhouse? SHEPHERD Either one. I have to be in and out. JEFF Sir, Governor Stackhouse said he just needed 10 minutes. I think he wants to talk about the assault weapons. SHEPHERD Stackhouse wants to talk about grazing rights. Trust me. JEFF Got it. And he's gone. SHEPHERD (to Sydney) Sorry. You have concerns. SYDNEY Yes. Not many. A few. One. I have one concern. SHEPHERD Does it having anything to do with one of us being the President? SYDNEY You like to make jokes about this, but-- SHEPHERD I am not mocking you, honest. I'm just a guy asking a girl over for a meal. And, as if from out of nowhere, a LOUD CLAAAMMERING, like the sound of a jackhammer against cement, comes from somewhere outside -- growing louder and closer -- SYDNEY What's that? SHEPHERD My ride's here. And, sure enough, coming into view outside the windows of the Oval Office, is MARINE-1, the President's helicopter. JANIE comes back in and helps him on with his coat and scarf. SYDNEY Leo Solomon has serious concerns about my exploring a social, you know, scenario, with the President of the United States. SHEPHERD Yeah, well, when you put it that way, it doesn't sound that great to me either. SYDNEY It's just not-- SHEPHERD Have dinner with Lucy and me. It's meat loaf night -- how presidential can it be? As SHEPHERD rushes out... SHEPHERD (continuing) Seven-thirty. SYDNEY now stands alone in the OVAL OFFICE, trying to figure out what just happened. CUT TO: INT. WHITE HOUSE - SOUTH LAWN - DAY Marine 1 lifting off the south lawn. TILT DOWN off night sky to reveal EXT. WHITE HOUSE - NIGHT CUT TO: INT. SITTING HALL/THE RESIDENCE - NIGHT A room designed more for comfort than for show, with its overstuffed couches. Lucy enters. LUCY Are you Ms. Wade? SYDNEY (standing up, smiling) Sydney. LUCY Lucy Shepherd. SYDNEY Nice to meet you. LUCY My dad told me to tell you he's on the phone with his dentist and that I should behave myself and entertain you till he gets here. SYDNEY Your father's on the phone with his dentist? LUCY No. He told me to tell you he's on the phone with his dentist. He wants you to think he's a regular guy. SYDNEY Who is he on the phone with? LUCY The Prime Minister of Israel. SYDNEY They're probably not discussing his teeth. LUCY No. They're talking about that abbreviation I can never remember. SYDNEY C-STAD? LUCY Yeah. SYDNEY Capricorn Surface To Air Defense. LUCY Right. SHEPHERD enters. SHEPHERD Let meat loaf night begin. SYDNEY Everything all right with your teeth? SHEPHERD My teeth? SYDNEY The dentist. SHEPHERD Oh, right. I've got a cavity in my upper bicuspid region. SYDNEY You've got a short-range weapons system outside Tel Aviv. SHEPHERD (to LUCY) You turned on me. LUCY Can we eat? CUT TO: INT. A POSE HOUSE IN CHEVY CHASE - NIGHT Two dozen limos and town cars line this suburban Maryland street, their drivers waiting patiently. CUT TO: INT. THE HOUSE IN CHEVY CHASE - NIGHT A cocktail party is underway. This is a fat cat fundraiser for the Republicans. RUMSON (V.O.) You're over-thinking this. CUT TO: INT. THE LIBRARY - NIGHT The look and feel of old money. Rumson is holding court with a half-dozen political insiders. Some smoke cigars; others sip their drinks. RUMSON (continuing) Voters aren't interested in how to achieve economic growth, and they don't want to hear our plans to strengthen foreign policy. STAFFER #1 So it comes down to character. STAFFER #2 The press like him, Senator. The networks, the newspapers, they're-- RUMSON Reporters like him. Networks and newspapers like ratings and circulation. For all the bitching we do about liberal bias in the press when it comes down to a character debate... STAFFER #3 The press is an unwitting accomplice. CARL Bob, the character debate didn't work out for us. RUMSON Because it couldn't. Our polling told us that attacking his character less than a year after he'd lost his wife was gonna be a turn-off and was gonna make people feel sorry for him. We couldn't run the campaign we wanted because the opponent was a widower. CARL He's still a widower. Time's passed, but-- RUMSON (to the rest) You'll have to forgive my friend. He's been on a hunting trip and cut off from the world. CARL What's going on? And four STAFFERS grab whatever newspaper is closest to their hand and toss them to CARL. RUMSON The President's got a girlfriend. CUT TO: INT. PRIVATE OFFICE/THE RESIDENCE - NIGHT LUCY, SHEPHERD and SYDNEY are finishing up a game of Scrabble. SYDNEY (to LUCY) Your dad says you're studying the Constitutional Convention. SHEPHERD She's not having any fun, though. LUCY Dad-- SYDNEY You're not having fun? LUCY (to herself) This is a nightmare. This is a social studies nightmare. SHEPHERD They're doing a mock Congress. Each kid is playing one of the original delegates, and they debate the Amendments. Now what's not fun about that? LUCY gets up from the table and kisses her father. LUCY G'night, Dad. SHEPHERD G'night, sweetheart. LUCY It was nice meeting you, Mrs.-- SYDNEY Sydney. LUCY It was nice meeting you, Sydney. SYDNEY Thank you. It was nice meeting you. SHEPHERD Sleep well, honey. I love you. LUCY I love you, too. LUCY leaves. SHEPHERD and SYDNEY are alone now. SYDNEY She's wonderful. SHEPHERD She's her mother. SYDNEY She's you. After a pause... SHEPHERD Would you like the 25-cent tour? CUT TO: INT. THE EAST WING - NIGHT This is the "museum" area of the White House, the part you see when you take the official tour. Only a few lights are lit, and while the SECRET SERVICE AGENTS give SHEPHERD plenty of breathing room when he's in the residence, we'll still catch a glimpse of one of them rounding a corner in the distance or checking a doorway ahead. SYDNEY I thought C-STAD wasn't gonna be operational until January. SHEPHERD It was ready ahead of schedule. We've just been waiting for the personnel. SYDNEY The Israelis? SHEPHERD No, our guys. We've sent a team of Army instructors to train the Israelis. SYDNEY and SHEPHERD enter the: INT. THE CHINA ROOM - NIGHT Named for its beautiful glass display cases featuring full place settings of the official White House china and silverware from every administration since Jackson. SHEPHERD: (remembering) I think this is the dish room. SYDNEY It's not the dish-- SHEPHERD Yeah, it is. It's the room with all the dishes. SYDNEY It's the China Room. SHEPHERD I'm more of a West Wing President. If you're curious about the mansion, there's probably a book you can get-- SYDNEY There're about seven-thousand books. I'll get one for you. SYDNEY's been walking slowly around the room, looking at the display cases, and as she gets near one of the large windows, she takes another step which drapes her in a shaft of incredibly flattering moonlight. The vision isn't lost on SHEPHERD. They stare at each other for a moment. SHEPHERD Sydney. SYDNEY Mr. President -- have you ever noticed how similar the Van Buren flatware is to the Buchanan flatware? SHEPHERD Do you think there will ever come a time when you can stand in a room with me and not think of me as the President? SYDNEY This isn't a state of mind. You are the President. And when I'm in a room with you, oval or any other shape, I'm always gonna be a lobbyist, and you'll always be the President. SHEPHERD I got news for you, Sydney. As a lobbyist, you would never be alone in a room with the President. This last statement is not lost on SYDNEY. He moves toward her until they are both bathed in the moonlight. He puts his arms around her. SYDNEY You think this is a good idea? SHEPHERD Probably not. They lean in to kiss each other. They barely make contact when... AGENT #3 (O.S.) Mr. President... An AGENT is standing in the doorway -- SHEPHERD and SYDNEY break apart. AGENT #3 We have a secure call from the sit- room. SHEPHERD knows what that means. SHEPHERD Excuse me. He moves out the door and into the corridor. SYDNEY, knowing something's wrong, instinctively moves to follow him and be with him, but the AGENT hasn't moved from the doorway, so-- AGENT #3 Sorry, ma'am. SYDNEY (beat) No...of course. SHEPHERD comes back in. SHEPHERD Listen-- SYDNEY Is anything wrong? SHEPHERD I'm sorry, we're going to have to cut our evening short. The Libyans have just bombed C-STAD. I'll try to call you tomorrow. (to the AGENT) Can you show Ms. Wade out. SHEPHERD exits. SYDNEY, alone for a second in the dish room, is finally approached by a SECRET SERVICE AGENT, who starts to escort her out. CHAIRMAN (V.O.) The response scenario's in place... CUT TO: INT. THE SITUATION ROOM - NIGHT SHEPHERD, A.J., the SECRETARY OF STATE, the SECRETARY OF DEFENSE, and about a dozen or so Pentagon, Security Council, and Joint Chiefs OFFICIALS are doing exactly what they're trained for. CHAIRMAN (continuing) ...The F-18's are fired up on the Kimitz and the Kitty Hawk. They're just waiting for your attack order, Mr. President. SHEPHERD And we're gonna hit Libyan Intelligence Headquarters? MAN The N.S.A. confirmed they're the ones who planned the bombing. A.J. What's the estimate? GENERAL We'll level the building. SHEPHERD Libyan I.H.Q's in the middle of downtown Tripoli -- are we gonna hit anything else? GENERAL Only if we miss. SHEPHERD Are we gonna miss? GENERAL No, sir. SHEPHERD How many people work in that building? CHAIRMAN We've been all through-- SHEPHERD How many people work in the damn building? DEPUTY I've got those number here. There are three shifts, so it-- SHEPHERD The fewest. What shift puts the fewest people in the building? The night shift, right? DEPUTY By far. Mostly custodial staff and a few-- SHEPHERD What time does the night crew go on? DEPUTY They're on now, sir. SHEPHERD A.J.? A.J. It's immediate, it's decisive, it's low risk, and it's a proportional response. SHEPHERD Someday somebody's going to have to explain to me the virtue of a proportional response. There's a SILENCE. SHEPHERD gets up and starts to head out the door. CHAIRMAN Mr. President? SHEPHERD Attack. CUT TO: INT. OVAL OFFICE - NIGHT SHEPHERD is with A.J., LEWIS, ROBIN, KODAK and a couple of AIDES, all of whom look as though they've been called out of their homes in the middle of the night. A.J. Robin, as soon as our planes have cleared Libyan airspace, you can call the press. I don't know when we'll have the full B.D.A.-- LEWIS General Rork says around O-Eight Hundred. ROBIN Sir, what do you think about a national address? SHEPHERD The last thing I want to do is put the Lybians center stage. KODAK I think it's a great idea, sir. You know Rumson's gonna be talking about your lack of military service. SHEPHERD This isn't about Rumson. What I did tonight was not about political gain. KODAK But it can be, sir. What you did tonight was very presidential. SHEPHERD Leon, somewhere in Libyan right now there's a janitor working the night shift at the Libyan Intelligence Headquarters. He's going about his job 'cause he has no idea that in about an hour he's gonna die in a massive explosion. He's just going about his job 'cause he has no idea that an hour ago I gave an order to have him killed. You just saw me do the least presidential thing I do. KODAK yes, sir. PRESS (V.O.) Mr. President...Mr. President! CUT TO: INT. THE WHITE HOUSE PRESS BRIEFING ROOM - DAY SHEPHERD is at the podium taking questions. He's flanked by his PENTAGON STAFF. A.J. and LEWIS stand to the side. ROBIN stands out of the way. SALLY Is there anything at all about the C-STAD weapons system that could have been mistaken by Libyan Intelligence as offensive rather than defensive? SHEPHERD No. We did everything but show them the blueprints. The hardware was sitting in a airplane hangar for a month. They didn't hit it until the American personnel got there. Leslie. LESLIE Sir, there's an unconfirmed report that you were with Sydney Wade when you learned of the attack. Can you comment? A.J. (sotto to ROBIN) Get him off. SHEPHERD Yes, we'd just finished dinner. ROBIN Last question. MARK Sir, would you care to comment on the status of your relationship? SHEPHERD We don't have a relationship. We just had dinner. CAROL Can you tell us if she spent the night at the White House or did-- SHEPHERD Folks, a lot of people got killed last night. Let's try to keep our eyes on the ball, okay? SHEPHERD is herded out of the briefing room amidst a chorus of "Mr. President" 's. CUT TO: INT. THE WHITE HOUSE CORRIDOR - DAY SHEPHERD walks away from the briefing room with ROBIN. JANIE joins him. ROBIN That was my fault, sir. We should have prepped you for that. SHEPHERD There's nothing that needs prepping. A.J., let's meet with the leadership after we meet with the Security Council. ROBIN "Newsweek" is begging for ten minutes today. Any ten minutes you got. SHEPHERD Nobody gets ten minutes today. DISSOLVE TO: INT. SHEPHERD'S PRIVATE OFFICE - NIGHT SHEPHERD sits at his desk, is on the phone. A TELEVISION NEWSCAST is doing a report on Congressional reaction to the events of the day. ROB RUMSON is talking. SHEPHERD Lewis, tell the speaker to wait. I want to talk to him. No, I'll be right down. RUMSON ...Last night, the price of his liberal programs was raised to include the blood of 22 American soldiers. He hangs up. On the TV, we see a quick sound bite from RUMSON. RUMSON ...Mr. Shepherd's read a lot of books, but you didn't need a Harvard degree to see this comin' a mile down the road. SHEPHERD I went to Stanford, you blowhole. RUMSON The fat that our Commander-in-Chief has not served one day in uniform-- SHEPHERD clicks off the TV and then stares at A SLIP OF PAPER THAT SAYS "SYDNEY" CUT TO: EXT. SYDNEY'S APARTMENT - NIGHT BETH (V.O.) This box just says "Miscellaneous." Is this bedroom miscellaneous or kitchen miscellaneous? INT. SYDNEY'S APARTMENT - NIGHT SYDNEY and BETH have been getting SYDNEY moved in. BETH is holding a carton. BETH Sydney? SYDNEY Why did I have to kiss him? BETH You kissed him? SYDNEY Yeah. BETH You didn't' tell me that. SYDNEY I kissed him. BETH Where? SYDNEY On the mouth. BETH (exasperated) Where in the White House?! SYDNEY In the dish room. BETH The dish room? SYDNEY The China Room. BETH Then what happened? SYDNEY He had to go and attack Libya. BETH It's always something. SYDNEY I've gotta nip this in the bud. This has catastrophe written all over it. BETH In what language?! Sydney, this man is the leader of the free world. He's brilliant, he's funny, he's handsome, and he's an above-average dancer. Isn't it possible our standards are just a tad high? The PHONE RINGS-- SYDNEY freezes. The PHONE RINGS again. BETH (continuing) Answer the phone. SYDNEY It's him. BETH Answer the phone. SYDNEY He's gonna ask me to come over there. BETH Answer the phone. SYDNEY I don't want to go over there. BETH Answer the phone. SYDNEY All right. But I'm gonna end it on the phone. I'm not gonna go over there. CUT TO: INT. SHEPHERD'S BEDROOM - NIGHT SHEPHERD opens his door, revealing SYDNEY. Agent COOPER is letting her in. SYDNEY I just came over here to tell you why I can't see you anymore. SHEPHERD (to COOPER) Thanks, Coop. SHEPHERD closes the door. SYDNEY Look, I know you've had a tough day. SHEPHERD Not as tough as some. You want a drink? Lemme take your coat. But SYDNEY doesn't take her coat off. SYDNEY Mr. President, this isn't gonna work. SHEPHERD Sure it will. You button the top button, and it doesn't fall off the hanger. SYDNEY That's not what I... SHEPHERD I didn't think so. Listen... SYDNEY I've really enjoyed the time we've spent together, but this has catastrophe written all over it. Please, Mr. President, don't pursue me outside the political arena. SHEPHERD Well, I have no intention of pursuing you inside the political arena, so that leaves everything out, and that's unacceptable to me. SYDNEY If I were on your staff, I would tell you that the absolute worst thing you can do coming into an election year is to open yourself up to character attacks, and the fastest way to do that is to prance around like the playboy of the Western world. SHEPHERD Let's clear up a couple of things. Number 1: I seldom prance. Number 2: I have no intention of engaging in a character debate, and Number 3: You're not on my staff. SYDNEY Yes, of course, but if you'll follow the immutable-- SHEPHERD Why is that, by the way? SYDNEY Why's that? SHEPHERD Why aren't you on my staff? SYDNEY You can't afford me. SHEPHERD How much do you make? SYDNEY More than you do, Mr. President. SHEPHERD The name's Andy. How much money do you make? SYDNEY What the hell does it matter how much money I-- SHEPHERD You would raise your voice to the President? SYDNEY I'm only thinking about the health of your Presidency. You think this morning's press conference was the end of it? Bob Rumson's gotta be drooling over this. SHEPHERD Are you attracted to me? SYDNEY I beg your pardon? SHEPHERD I asked if-- SYDNEY (of course she is) That's not the issue-- SHEPHERD Well, I tell you what. Let's make it the issue. Let's try something new, 'cause I know that most couples, when they're first getting together, are inclined to slam on the brakes because they're concerned about Bob Rumson's drool. SYDNEY You're not most people. SHEPHERD You know what your problem is? SYDNEY What's my problem? SHEPHERD Sex and nervousness. SYDNEY Sex and nervousness is my problem. SHEPHERD Yes. Last night when we were looking at the different place settings in the dish room, I realized that those place settings were provided by the First Ladies. And I'll bet none of those First Ladies were nervous about having sex with their President husbands. And you know why? SYDNEY No, but I'm sure you'll explain it to me. SHEPHERD I will. Because they weren't presidents when they met them. Not the case here. SYDNEY Ahhhhhh. SHEPHERD You see what I'm getting at? SYDNEY Yes. May I use your bathroom for a moment? SHEPHERD Sure. It's right through there. SYDNEY I want to freshen up. SHEPHERD As you pass through, you'll see a large closet on your left. And if you feel comfortable, hang up your coat, and when you come back I'll have fixed up a drink, we'll sit on the couch, and I will explain to you my plan. SYDNEY You have a plan? Don't make me wait. You're on a roll. SYDNEY disappears into the BATHROOM/DRESSING ROOM area. SHEPHERD keeps talking as he goes to the bar and makes a couple of drinks. SHEPHERD (speaking up) Okay. You're attracted to me, but the idea of physical intimacy is uncomfortable because you only know me as the President. It's not always gonna be that way, and the reason I know that is because there was a moment last night when you were with me and not the President, and I know what a big step that was for you. So, Sydney, I'm in no rush. Here's my plan: We're gonna slow down. When you're comfortable, that's when it'll happen. SYDNEY comes back into the room...she's wearing one of SHEPHERD's dress shirts and nothing else. She walks toward him. SHEPHERD (continuing) Perhaps I didn't properly explain the fundamentals of the "Slow Down" plan. SYDNEY You explained it great. She moves closer to him. SHEPHERD (pause) Are you nervous? SYDNEY No. SHEPHERD Good. My nervousness exists on several levels. Number 1 -- and this is in no particular order -- I haven't done this in a pretty long time. Number 2: Any expectations you might have, due to the fact that I'm, you know... SYDNEY The most powerful man in the world? SHEPHERD Exactly, thank you. Just so you remember that's a political distinction that comes with the office. I mean, if Eisenhower were here instead of me he'd be dead by now. And number three... SYDNEY (gently) Andy... They're both standing, facing each other... They gently kiss. They just stay with it until it becomes easier and better and exactly what they want. RUMSON (V.O.) Does New Hampshire want traditional American values back in the White House? CROWD Yes!! CUT TO: INT. AN ELKS LODGE - NIGHT A crowd of 300 or so is being whipped into a frenzy. Rumson's bringing it home under a campaign banner proclaiming: THE PRIDE IS BACK -- BOB RUMSON. RUMSON Does New Hampshire want the pride back? The CROWD goes nuts upon hearing Rumson's signature phrase-- CROWD Yeah!!!!!!! RUMSON My name is Bob Rumson. And I'm running for President. And as the CROWD loses its mind, we CUT TO: EXT. WHITE HOUSE - DAWN CUT TO: INT. SHEPHERD'S BEDROOM - MORNING It is very early, and SHEPHERD is still asleep. As we PULL BACK, WE REVEAL that he is alone in his bed. The PHONE RINGS. SHEPHERD picks it up-- SHEPHERD (into phone) Yeah...put him through. (listens) Lewis, it is 5:00 a.m. You gotta get yourself a life, man. (listens) Yeah...all right. He hangs up the phone and looks around the room, only to notice SYDNEY is tiptoeing around in the dim light, trying to quietly dress herself and gather up her things. SHEPHERD watches this odd spectacle for a moment before he says-- SHEPHERD (continuing) Sydney? SYDNEY turns around. SYDNEY Hi. SHEPHERD What are you doing? SYDNEY I wanted to leave the building before the press corps got here. SHEPHERD I have those same thoughts every day of my life. Say, you know Lewis Rothschild, don't you? Well, he's... SYDNEY Sure. Boy, Lewis'd go nuts if he knew I'd spent the night. There's a KNOCK on the door. SHEPHERD ...on his way up. SYDNEY What? SHEPHERD Come on in, Lewis. LEWIS comes in-- LEWIS 'Morning, Mr. President. Hi, Sydney. SYDNEY Hi, Lewis. Well, Mr. President, thank you for taking the time to go over those fossil fuel numbers. I'll just get my coat, and be on my way. SHEPHERD laughs at SYDNEY's purposely lame try-- SHEPHERD (to LEWIS) What's the situation? LEWIS They're camped out at every exit. SYDNEY Who? Who's camped out? LEWIS The press. SYDNEY The press is camped out? LEWIS You shoulda taken a cab, Sydney. SYDNEY They know my car?! ROBIN enters. ROBIN Good morning, Mr. President. Hi, Sydney. I came over as soon as Lewis called. SHEPHERD Thank God. ROBIN I think the important thing is not to make it look like we're panicking. SHEPHERD See, and I think the important thing is actually not to be panicking. A.J. KNOCKS on the open door and walks in. A.J. Good morning, Mr. President. Good morning, Ms. Wade. I see everyone's getting an early start today. LEWIS How do we exit Sydney from the building and what do we say to the press at that point? ROBIN We need a diversion. SYDNEY A diversion. ROBIN You understand that by diversion I'm not saying we set the White House on fire. SHEPHERD No, please, let's do. LEWIS Can I state very clearly that I can't be party to anything illegal. A.J. Good for you, Lewis. LEWIS Say what you want, but it's always the guy in my job that ends up doing eighteen months in Danbury Minimum Security Prison. SHEPHERD Rest easy, Lewis. We're not creating a diversion. ROBIN No diversion. SHEPHERD (to SYDNEY) We'll have somebody take you home. A.J. Esther's over in my office. She's got the station wagon outside. SHEPHERD regards A.J. for a moment...clearly the man planned ahead. LEWIS Okay. Good. Now, the press statement. SHEPHERD (to SYDNEY) Sydney, when you leave here, you're gonna run into reporters and photographers. Your picture's gonna be taken every day, and you're gonna be asked questions every day. Answer them, don't answer them -- it's entirely up to you. The White House has no official position except to say "no comment." ROBIN No comment? SHEPHERD The White House doesn't comment on the President's personal life. LEWIS We can't just leave it at that, sir. SHEPHERD I tell you what, Lewis, we just did. LEWIS But, sir... A.J. (the meeting's over) Thank you, Mr. President. LEWIS, ROBIN and A.J. say their "Thank you, Mr. President"'s on the way out ... A.J. (continuing) Sydney. Esther'll be in my office. You take your time. SYDNEY Thanks, A.J. A.J. leaves... SHEPHERD I'm sorry about all this. We'll do it better next time. SYDNEY I'm no expert, but I thought we did it pretty good this time. SHEPHERD No, I mean... SYDNEY I know. I had a good time. SHEPHERD Me, too. I'll call you. I'll be in Panama, but I'll call you. SYDNEY I'd like that. SYDNEY gives him a good-bye kiss... SYDNEY (continuing) Bye. She exits the bedroom. SHEPHERD All right...okay...this is good. CUT TO: A SERIES OF SHOTS - DAY/NIGHT AS we move through a series of quick DISSOLVES, all M.O.S., we HEAR in VOICE-OVER the sounds of American's electronic media -- network news, news magazines, gossip shows, talk radio, political round tables, etc. -- dissecting the "Girlfriend Factor." INT. FOSSIL FUEL WAR ROOM - DAY SYDNEY and the TEAM are in full gear. Lisa rips off another vote on the tote board, making it "14 Votes in 51 Days." REPORTER #1 Sydney Ellen Wade, the political strategist who accompanied President Shepherd to last week's state dinner, reportedly spent the night at the White House as a guest of-- DISSOLVE TO: INT. CRIME BILL WAR ROOM - DAY The tote board reads "8 Votes in 45 Days." KODAK is pointing to a spot on an electoral map to emphasize a point to a young INTERN. REPORTER #2 The President returned from Panama this evening after a three-day tour through Central America. His first order of business: An intimate supper with Sydney Wade at a romantic Georgetown bistro. DISSOLVE TO: INT. BISTRO - NIGHT SHEPHERD and SYDNEY are sharing what seems to be an intimate candlelit dinner. We PULL BACK TO REVEAL a restaurant packed with SECRET SERVICE, and PRESS outside police barricades, shooting through the windows of the restaurant. REPORTER #3 Conservative and religious family organizations are starting to smell blood in the water as-- DISSOLVE TO: INT. LUCY'S BEDROOM - NIGHT Lucy is giving a little trombone recital for SHEPHERD and SYDNEY. SYDNEY cheers madly at the end of the piece, giving Lucy a big hug for her effort. RADIO GUY (V.O.) All right, caller, you're on the air. CALLER (V.O.) Dan, what about Lucy Shepherd? Is anyone concerned about this little girl? Can we now finally have a serious debate about family values? EXT. SYDNEY'S APARTMENT - DAY SYDNEY exits her apartment and is once again hounded by the press. SCHLOCK TALK SHOW HOST (V.O.) We're gonna take a commercial break. When we come back, we're gonna meet a junior high school classmate of Sydney Wade's, who says-- CUT TO: EXT. NASHUA, NEW HAMPSHIRE, CITY HALL - DAY Rumson's getting the pride back into a couple of hundred innocent bystanders. SHOWBIZ REPORTER (V.O.) ...Showbiz Weekly was in Hollywood for the star-studded gala. Also on tonight's program: Day 15 of the Sydney Watch. Is the world's most eligible bachelor off the market? EXT. GDC BUILDING - NIGHT SYDNEY exits the building and is mobbed by the press. JOHN McLAUGHLIN TYPE (V.O.) Political polling analyst Ed Earl, with the President's job approval taking an eight-point dip from his personal best of 63 percent three weeks ago, should the White House be concerned that the Girlfriend Factor has left Shepherd vulnerable to the kinds of character questions he was able to avoid three years ago? ED EARL (V.O.) Well, if they're not concerned, they sure oughta be. RADIO GUY INT. PRESS BRIEFING ROOM - DAY ROBIN is hearing a question she's been asked 88 times already. She keeps her cool as best she can and merely shrugs her shoulders and shakes her head "no." JOHN McLAUGHLIN TYPE (V.O.) Columnist Cynthia Skyler, how much will this new wrinkle affect his ability to put together a win on his crime bill? EXT. MANCHESTER RAMADA - NIGHT Establishing shot of the Ramada. EXT. A SUITE AT THE MANCHESTER RAMADA - NIGHT Rumson and his STAFF are buzzing about amid room service tables and late-night take-out as STU enters the room with a manila envelope in his hand. RUMSON (into phone) I agree a hundred and ten percent, Mrs. Harper. That's why I'm up here in the dead of winter talkin' about it with you folks. Rumson is signaling for an AIDE to take over his phone call. RUMSON (continuing; into phone) That's very generous of you, ma'am, and I'm gonna take that money off your hands right now. He hands off the phone-- RUMSON (continuing) What do you got for me, Stu? STU Call me Santa Claus, Senator. Several TOP AIDES join this slightly confidential conversation. STU (continuing) She's got an FBI file. RUMSON Shit, Stu, my mother's got an FBI file. RUMSON starts to walk away when STU pulls an 8$B!_(J10 photo from the manila folder. STU I've got art. RUMSON comes back. STU hands him the photo. STU It's a demonstration outside the Department of Commerce. The picture's old, and a lot of the faces are obscured by the smoke, but this is Sydney right there in front. RUMSON (staring at the photo) Oh man...tell me the smoke is coming from what it looks like it's coming from. STU Yes, sir -- it's burning flag. RUMSON gives it one last look, passes it back to STU, and turns back to his phone. RUMSON (singing softly) "It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas..." CUT TO: INT. FOSSIL FUEL WAR ROOM - DAY A few more young INTERNS have been added, and most are hard at work on the phones -- ("___ from the Global Defense Council. We're encouraging voters in your area to phone or write your Congressman regarding...etc.") The tote board now reads "11 Votes in 42 Days." David is supervising things while SYDNEY is trying to lose her patience on the phone. SYDNEY (into phone) I understand, Congressman...Of course you need to deliberate. I know the fact that there isn't any heavy industry in your district doesn't make this decision any easier. But we met three weeks ago, and at the end of that meeting you said that you were leaning our way but that you wanted to sleep on it. Since I haven't heard from you since then, the only conclusion I can reach is that you haven't slept in 21 days. DAVID (to SYDNEY) Ask him about his position on stateboard for Hawaii. SYDNEY wads up some paper and flings it at David to shut him up. SYDNEY (into phone) Harry, think like a father for a second. Wouldn't you like your kids to be able to take a deep breath when they're 30? Thank you. You're doing the right thing. She hangs up. SYDNEY (continuing; announcing) Tote board's heavy. The room CHEERS, knows what this means. DAVID rips off the 11, revealing 10. DAVID How's this? SYDNEY That's better! Everyone gets back to work as SYDNEY and DAVID speak among themselves. DAVID Hey, Syd, I saw on your schedule you're gonna meet with McSorley, McCluskey and Shane. SYDNEY Yeah, the Motown Three said they'd give me 30 minutes next week. DAVID Sydney, these are people who represent people who make cars for a living. SYDNEY Yeah. DAVID Cars, you understand, run on gasoline. SYDNEY Hey, I know it's a long shot, but if I can get one of them, it'll be a huge payoff in visibility. DAVID Well, if we're gonna try, we should do some prep work. You wanna order in? SYDNEY I can't work tonight. I'm having dinner at the White House. We can start early tomorrow. DAVID Okay. I'm having lunch at the Kremlin, so we'll have to, you know, start real early... SYDNEY (exciting) Good night, David. DAVID ...in order for me to catch the morning plane to Moscow. CUT TO: EXT. THE WEST WING - DUSK The President's motorcade sits in its formation, engines running, waiting for its passenger. CUT TO: INT. THE OVAL OFFICE - DUSK JANIE and a couple of AIDES are in a familiar routine, doing their last-minute scrambling to get the President out the door so that he doesn't fall behind his usual "45-minutes- behind-schedule" schedule. SHEPHERD is on the phone at his desk. SHEPHERD (into phone) Douglas, does the N.R.A. have videotapes of you playing golf with Satan? We've already softened the assault weapons. We're leaving the SKS, the mini 14, and about 250 other types on the street. I mean, how much pull can one lobby-- JANIE catches SHEPHERD's eye and makes a subtle gesture to her wristwatch. SHEPHERD (continuing; into phone) --Yeah, look, we're gonna continue this tomorrow. I'm late for the party fund-raiser. I'll be sure and put in a good word for you, by the way. (listens) Okay. He hangs up. JANIE You're incredibly late. They head to door as A.J. enters from the other side of the office. A.J. Mr. President. I just got off the phone with the Federal Mediator in St. Louis. Management just walked away from the table. The baggage handlers, pilots and flight attendants are getting set to walk in 48 hours. SHEPHERD I studied under a Nobel-Prize-Winning economist. You know what he taught me? A.J. Don't have a airline strike at Christmas? SHEPHERD Yeah. I'm going to St. Louis. A.J. You can leave straight from the fund- raiser. Janie, get him outta here. SECRET AGENT #4 (sotto) Liberty's moving. CUT TO: EXT. THE WEST WING - NIGHT SHEPHERD is getting into the limo when LEWIS and ROBIN hurry out to catch him. ROBIN (calling) Sir... JANIE He's incredibly late. SHEPHERD (to LEWIS and ROBIN) Hop in. We'll talk in the car. As they do they're told, and the motorcade gets on its way. CUT TO: INT. SHEPHERD'S CAR - CONTINUOUS LEWIS We've got a small problem. ROBIN (meant for LEWIS) It could've been a small problem. It's now at the very least a medium- sized-- LEWIS Robin sees it as a problem. I see it as a opportunity. ROBIN It could've been an opportunity if we'd caught it... LEWIS We caught it. ROBIN At 5:45. Five-forty-five doesn't do me any good, Lewis. Five-forty-five, network news is in makeup. LEWIS You've got 14 people working for you. Did any of them-- SHEPHERD Guys, do I have to be here for this meeting? LEWIS I'm sorry, sir. It's the evening news. It was buried as the third story-- ROBIN --It's got a bullet. LEWIS Sydney was at a protest rally where they burned a flag. SHEPHERD (pause) Today? LEWIS About 13 years ago. ROBIN Outside the Department of Commerce. Anti-apartheid. SHEPHERD Let me see if I've got this: The third story on the news tonight was that someone I didn't know 13 years ago, when I wasn't President, participated in a demonstration where no laws were being broken in protest of something that so many people were against it doesn't exist anymore? (beat) Just out of curiosity, what was the fourth story? LEWIS See, I think it's important, when we deal with it, that we-- SHEPHERD Don't deal with it. LEWIS Excuse me? SHEPHERD They're trying to get us to swing at a pitch in the dirt. No one ever wins these fights. It'll go away. LEWIS I'm not sure that's the wisest-- SHEPHERD Aw...hell! ROBIN See, it's already distracting you. Why don't you let A.J. and Lewis-- SHEPHERD No, you reminded me, I'm supposed to have dinner with Sydney tonight. CUT TO: INT. SYDNEY'S APARTMENT - NIGHT SYDNEY and BETH stand in front of a full-length mirror. SYDNEY's holding a dress to herself to check it out. SYDNEY It's terrific, Beth. I love it. BETH I can't believe I'm loaning you clothes. I thought you owned every piece of clothing there was. SYDNEY Work clothes. I always have dinner at the White House wearing a suit. I thought a dress would be nice. BETH Go ahead, try it on. I brought earrings, too. The PHONE RINGS. SYDNEY answers it-- SYDNEY (into phone) Hello... (listens) I'm just trying on dresses. How do you feel about leather? CUT TO: INT. SHEPHERD'S CAR - NIGHT SHEPHERD's on the phone to SYDNEY. SHEPHERD (into phone) I feel terrible, but I have to cancel our date tonight. SYDNEY Another woman? SHEPHERD No, I've gotta go to St. Louis and avert a massive airline strike. SYDNEY Boys, if I had a nickel for every time I heard that one. SHEPHERD Thanks for understanding. I'll call you tonight SHEPHERD hangs up the phone. SHEPHERD Boy, I hate doing that. She was trying on dresses. LEWIS I tell any girl I'm going out with to assume that all plans are soft until she receives confirmation 30 minutes beforehand. ROBIN And they find this romantic? LEWIS Well, I say it with a great deal of charm. SHEPHERD sees something out the window and gets excited. SHEPHERD Look! Look! There it is! Carmen's House of Flowers! We gotta stop. LEWIS What? SHEPHERD I gotta get her flowers. LEWIS Here?! ROBIN Now?! SHEPHERD I broke our date. This is what men do. ROBIN It's not what men do. I know no men who do that. SHEPHERD Coop, I'm gonna hop out at that flower shop. AGENT COOPER You're gonna hop out, sir? LEWIS No, he's not hopping. Sir, no hopping. Stay in the car. I'll get the flowers. SHEPHERD Then it's not personal. LEWIS Let the agents do a security sweep. We don't know who's in there. SHEPHERD You think there's a florist who's planning an assassination on the off-chance that I'd be stopping by? LEWIS It's possible. SHEPHERD hops out of the car. AGENT COOPER trails after him. CUT TO: EXT. STREET - IN FRONT OF FLOWER SHOP - NIGHT SHEPHERD's sudden decision sets off a chain reaction of Secret Service activity to accommodate the change of plans. INT. CARMEN'S HOUSE OF FLOWERS - NIGHT A high school GIRL is behind the counter, talking to a friend on the phone. Her back is to the door when SHEPHERD walks in with a couple of SECRET SERVICE AGENTS scrambling to keep up. SHEPHERD begins surveying the various flowers that are behind the glass. GIRL (into phone) At the basketball game... SHEPHERD Excuse me-- GIRL No, at the game. I'm telling you, Kiki wasn't even there. SHEPHERD Excuse me-- GIRL (to Shepherd) I will be right with you. The GIRL notices, and the receiver falls from her hand as she stares in disbelief. SHEPHERD (to the GIRL) Hey, I don't know if you're the one I talked to on the phone... Virginia, dogwood, the President ...any of it ring a-- And apparently it does, because the GIRL faints and falls to the floor. SHEPHERD Same girl. She remembers me. AGENT COOPER She'll be fine. RUMSON (V.O.) Yes, and I'm glad to see ol' Andy's got himself a girl. APPLAUSE and appreciative LAUGHTER from a CROWD as we CUT TO: INT. MEMPHIS GRAND HYATT - NIGHT RUMSON is speaking to a black-tie fund-raiser for the REPUBLICAN LEADERSHIP ALLIANCE. RUMSON (continuing) Never mind she's the hired gun of an ultra-liberal political action committee. The crowd's getting into it-- RUMSON (continuing) Never mind that the President takes the Fifth anytime a reporter has the temerity to ask a question about a woman in a position to exert enormous influence over a huge range of issues. A wave building-- RUMSON (continuing) Never mind that this woman's idea of how to unwind at the end of a tough day is by getting together with her ACLU pals and setting American flags on fire... CUT TO: INT. PRESIDENTIAL SUITE/ST. LOUISE HILTON - NIGHT The RUMSON FAMILY glows from a TELEVISION in the corner. LEWIS and ROBIN react to the news highlight reel of that day's screw-up. ROBIN (to herself) No reaction from the White House. SHEPHERD's off in a corner, talking on the phone. The Presidential Suite has been turned into the St. Louis Oval Office for the night as STAFFERS zigzag around room service tables during the late-night preparations. INT. SYDNEY'S APARTMENT - SAME TIME SYDNEY (into phone) What do Lewis and Robin think? SHEPHERD (into phone) Brutus and Cassius? They want me to get into the character debate and mix it up. SYDNEY (into phone) Lewis and Robin are very smart. SHEPHERD (to LEWIS and ROBIN) Sydney says you guys are really stupid. SYDNEY (shouting through the phone) I didn't say that! SHEPHERD (to LEWIS and ROBIN) She's questioning your loyalty. LEWIS Hell, I question it all the time. SHEPHERD (into phone) Wait a second, here comes my favorite part. He's referring to RUMSON on the TV. RUMSON (V.O.) My name is Bob Rumson, and I'm running for President. SHEPHERD (into phone) It's a good thing he cleared that up, 'cause the crowd was gettin' ready to buy some AMWAY products. SYDNEY (into phone) His number are climbing. SHEPHERD (into phone) Sydney, his number have nowhere to go but up. SYDNEY (into phone) What about yours? SHEPHERD (into phone) We're fine. We'll be back up in the 60's once I get the votes for the crime bill. (beat; into phone) Say, what're you doing this weekend? SYDNEY (into phone) I've got some work I was gonna bring home. Why? SHEPHERD (into phone) The negotiations are going pretty well here. It looks like the nation's going to keep on flying. Lucy's sleeping over at a friend's house Saturday night. SYDNEY (into phone) What'd you have in mind? SHEPHERD (into phone) Have you ever been to Camp David? SYDNEY (into phone) Camp David? Sure. I used to go there all the time, but then they changed chefs and... SHEPHERD (into phone) It's sass, right? You're sassing me. SYDNEY (into phone) Yes. SHEPHERD (into phone) I'll have a car pick you up Saturday morning. CUT TO: EXT. CAMP DAVID - DAY Scattered STAFF and MARINE PERSONNEL hold their hats to their heads against the wind that MARINE-1 kicks up as it touches down on the helicopter pad. CUT TO: INT. HELICOPTER - CONTINUOUS SYDNEY, nose pressed against the window, is drinking it in. SHEPHERD is finishing up a crossword puzzle. SYDNEY Do you ever get used to helicopters dropping you off at your front door? SHEPHERD How many "e"s in "kaleidoscope"? SYDNEY I guess you do. DISSOLVE TO: INT. LIVING ROOM - NIGHT SHEPHERD and SYDNEY are lounging in front of a fireplace, having hot cups of something alcoholic. SYDNEY is reading a book. SHEPHERD is running through satellite TV channels, searching for something. SYDNEY Oh good God. SHEPHERD What? SYDNEY I'm looking at your college transcripts. This isn't human. Nobody gets this many "A's." You were like a Stepford student. SHEPHERD Are you still reading that ridiculous biography? SYDNEY Actually I finished Andrew Shepherd: Road to the White House. Now I'm onto Shepherd: The Early Years. SHEPHERD Seven-trillion-dollar communications system at my disposal, you'd think I'd be able to find out if the Packers won. SYDNEY (re the book) Oh, Andy...C-minus in Women's Studies? SHEPHERD Yeah...that course wasn't about what I thought it was gonna be about. SHEPHERD has landed on a news station. NEWS ANCHOR #! (on T.V.) ...for his routine physical exam. Doctors at Bethesda Naval Hospital pronounced President Shepherd in excellent health. SHEPHERD Who cares? Let's see some scores. NEWS ANCHOR #2 (on T.V.) While the President spent the day at Camp David, G.O.P. presidential hopeful Robert Rumson continued his attacks on President Shepherd's character. During the Saturday morning news program Capitol Review with Kenneth Michaels, Senator Rumson suggested that GDC political director Sydney Ellen Wade, whose personal relationship with the President has been causing the White House headaches over the past two months, may have traded sexual favors for key votes in the Virginia State Legislature while lobbying for the Virginia Teachers Association. The NEWS PROGRAM goes to the segment showing RUMSON and MICHAELS on that morning's show. SHEPHERD and SYDNEY sit and watch...knowing they're about to take a punch...powerless to stop it... MICHAELS (on T.V.) Wait a minute, Senator-- RUMSON (on T.V.) I'm not saying-- MICHAELS (on T.V.) --'cause that's a heck of an accusation to make, and-- RUMSON (on T.V.) I'm not making an acc-- let me be very clear. I'm not making an accusation. I am saying when we hear one thing, we dismiss it. We hear two, we dismiss it. But when several, several well- respected members and former members of the Virginia State House-- MICHAELS (on T.V.) Can you give us names? RUMSON (on T.V.) --each of their own accord, comes to me and expresses concern over the woman standing next to -- I don't even know, do we call her the First Mistress? When several-- SYDNEY My God. He's making this up as he goes along. SHEPHERD I'm so sorry about this, Sydney. SYDNEY Oh, man. My father heard that. SHEPHERD clicks off the T.V. SHEPHERD You gotta tell him to turn a deaf ear. SYDNEY My father doesn't have a deaf ear. He hears fine out of both. So do I. So does my sister, so do my friends. You're the only one who seems to-- SHEPHERD Sydney, I can't challenge the school bully to a fight just because he picked on my girlfriend. SYDNEY I'm not asking you to. I can take care of myself. This isn't about me. How can you keep quiet? How do you have patience for people who claim they love America but clearly can't stand Americans? SHEPHERD I have one more election left, Sydney. I don't have the luxury of losing my patience. SYDNEY I want to say something, but I'm gonna fumble it a little bit, so I'd just like you to wait till I'm done before you respond. I'm in love with you. I'm certain of it. And I want to be with you more than anything. But maybe things would be better for you if I disappeared for a while. SHEPHERD Things will be better when I pass a crime bill. And Sydney, if you disappeared, I'd find you. He goes to kiss her, she responds. DISSOLVE TO: EXT. SOUTH LAWN - NIGHT The official White House Christmas Tree is glimmering for the TOURISTS. CUT TO: INT. RESIDENCE - NIGHT An informal Christmas party is underway with maybe 20 GUESTS, some of them familiar faces. SHEPHERD and a GREEN-BLAZERED MAN GREEN BLAZERED MAN (GILL) Mr. President, militant women are out to destroy college football in this country. SHEPHERD Is that a fact? GREEN BLAZERED MAN (GILL) Have you been following this situation down in Atlanta? These women want parity for girls' softball, field hockey, volleyball... SHEPHERD If I'm not mistaken, Gill, I think the courts ruled on Title 9 about 20 years ago. GREEN BLAZERED MAN (GILL) Yes sir, but now I'm saying these women want that law enforced. SHEPHERD Well, it's a world gone mad, Gill. LEWIS, KODAK and ROBIN stand huddled with cups of eggnog... KODAK The country has mood swings. LEWIS Mood swings? Nineteen post-graduate degrees in mathematics and you explain going from a 63 to a 46 percent approval rating in 5 weeks on mood swings? KODAK Well, I could explain it better, but I'd need charts and graphs and an easel. ROBIN Fellas, we haven't slept in three years. Can't we forget work for one night and take this moment to enjoy each other as friends? It's Christmas. LEWIS (pause) It's Christmas? KODAK Yeah, you didn't get the memo? AT THE BUFFET TABLE KID #1 'Cause your father's President, does he automatically get to be on money? LUCY I honestly don't know. KID #2 I think only if he's a really good President. A.J. spots SYDNEY as she walks through the doorway and comes over to her. She seems a bit agitated. A.J. Hey, Sydney, Merry Christmas. SYDNEY Merry Christmas, A.J. A.J. Where you been? SYDNEY I got stuck on DePont Circle. I can never remember which lane I'm supposed to take. Then I got cut off by this idiot cab driver who starts screaming at me like it's my fault. A.J. Syd, relax. It's Christmas. SHEPHERD joins them. SHEPHERD Hi, Syd. Get stuck on DuPont Circle again? SYDNEY It's not funny. I hate that place. Can't you declare it a Federal Disaster Area or something? SHEPHERD I'll look into it. A.J. What were you doing up on the Hill, anyway? SYDNEY Ahhh...I had a terrible meeting today. Totally lost my cool with McSorley, McCluskey and Shane. SHEPHERD You went to see the Motown Three? SYDNEY I pitched 'em the hill. A.J. (beat) On its merits? SHEPHERD The woman knows no fear. She'd lobby the Carolinas to the American Lung Association. SYDNEY It was a disaster. A.J. You're in good company. I sat with 'em a week ago. They told me there was nothing on the President's domestic agenda they were more committed to defeating than the crime bill. SYDNEY Well, congratulations, fellas, you're outta the cellar. McSorley told me the only thing on the President's domestic agenda they were more committed to defeating than the crime bill was the fossil fuel package. This catches SHEPHERD and A.J. by surprise--like accidentally drawing to an inside straight. A.J. You're kidding, right? SYDNEY isn't aware she's said anything of particular consequence. SYDNEY No, I'm not kidding. It's funny that he used the same words. A.J. and SHEPHERD are trying to study the situation without giving anything away. A.J. Yeah... SHEPHERD I don't think the Pep Boys know too many words. SYDNEY I'm gonna get a drink and shake this off. When I come back, I'll have Christmas spirit. SHEPHERD (beat) Okay. SYDNEY Is something wrong? SHEPHERD No, I was...I was thinking about-- nothing. SYDNEY I'll be back in a minute. She goes off. A.J. Did what I think just happened, just happen? Did the GDC's political director just tell the President and the White House Chief of Staff that there are three votes on the crime bill that can be bought by stickin' the fossil fuel package in a drawer. SHEPHERD No, the GDC's political director didn't tell us anything. Sydney Wade told her boyfriend and her boyfriend's best friend that she had a lousy day. A.J. It doesn't change the facts, Mr. President. If Sydney gets her 24 votes and we're three short, there's some maneuvering to be done. SHEPHERD I made a promise, A.J. A.J. You made a deal, Mr. President. SHEPHERD I made it with Sydney. A.J. You made it with the GDC. SHEPHERD Yeah, well, this is all academic anyway. We're not going to need those votes. A.J. If your approval rating drops any more, things are gonna get tight. DISSOLVE TO: INT. A WASHINGTON WATERING HOLE - NIGHT LEWIS sits with a Congressman's aide. LEWIS I'm hearing rumors that your boss is wavering on the crime bill. AIDE You can't believe rumors, Lewis, you know this town. LEWIS That's what I wanted to hear. AIDE I'll tell you, though. My boss is starting to waver on the crime bill. INT. A POSE WASHINGTON RESTAURANT - DAY A lunchtime crowd is doing business over white wine, oysters and cobb salads. SYDNEY, a CONGRESSMAN, and his LEGISLATIVE AIDE are going at it. CONGRESSMAN (PENNYBAKER) Sydney, everybody cares about the environment during a phone survey. On election day, nobody gives a damn. That's, that's why you have a job. SYDNEY Congressman Pennybaker, on election day, people give a damn about what I tell them to give a damn about. And that's why I have a job. (offering the bread basket) Did you want another roll? CUT TO: INT. FOSSIL FUEL WAR ROOM - DAY DAVID is on the phone-- DAVID (to the INTERNS) She got Pennybaker. VOICE All right! Good job! DAVID rips off the top sheet of the tote board, which now reads "5 Votes in 14 Days." DISSOLVE TO: CONGRESSMAN MILLMAN'S OFFICE - DAY MILLMAN is walking on a treadmill while LEWIS stands by. LEWIS Congressman, it was our understanding that we had your support. MILLMAN Hey, look, I like your boy. Always have. But for God's sake, kid, does the woman have to spend the night? DISSOLVE TO: INT. FOSSIL FUEL WAR ROOM - DAY INTERNS photocopying, clipping, stamping, crunching numbers, drinking coffee...DAVID is on an extension, listening to SYDNEY's final pitch over the phone. The tote board reads: "3 Votes in 5 Days." SYDNEY (into phone) We've got the full backing of the White House, Katherine. (listens) Yes, at 20 percent. Three more votes and the President sends it to the Hill. (listens) Katie, 10 years from now any cars with an internal combustion engine is gonna be considered a collector's item. Come on board, we'll make your Volvo a classic. CUT TO: INT. ROOSEVELT ROOM - DAY LEWIS and KODAK, each with an AIDE, have been meeting with two CONGRESSMEN and their AIDES. LEWIS Congressman, the assault weapons are gone. KODAK The bill is priced to move, see. CONGRESSMAN The bill isn't the issue, fellas. I'm facing a serious challenge in November, and the President's coattails aren't what they used to be. KODAK The President's coattail's are gonna have room for you, Congressman, you leave that to us. AIDE We left that to you people, Leon, and the President's in a free-fall. KODAK I wouldn't say he's in a free-- CONGRESSMAN I just can't give you my vote. DISSOLVE TO: INT. A.J.'S OFFICE - DAY LEWIS and KODAK stand in front of A.J.'s desk. LEWIS The well is drying up. The President's gotta make a move or we're gonna die fast and quiet. KODAK What if I do a new poll? We give him detailed public opinion. LEWIS And we put Sydney in the new model? A.J. hesitates. LEWIS (continuing) A.J., it's meaningless unless we ask him about Sydney. A.J. Fine. Do it. CUT TO: EXT. SYDNEY'S APARTMENT - NIGHT The street's been temporarily closed to traffic, and SECRET SERVICE AGENTS man the sidewalk. The PRESS and ONLOOKERS form a small crowd, kept well at bay by police barricades. INT. SYDNEY'S APARTMENT - NIGHT SHEPHERD and SYDNEY are finishing up dinner. SHEPHERD This was delicious. Thank you. Is there any left? SYDNEY (taking his bowl) Tons. I didn't think you liked it. SHEPHERD Are you kidding me, of course I did. But actually it's not for me. The agent who checked the food thought it was delicious, and I sort of told him I'd bring him some if there was any left. SYDNEY So you didn't like it. SHEPHERD No, I loved it. SYDNEY You're lying. SHEPHERD No, I'm not. SYDNEY You are. I can tell when you're holding something back. You do a thing with your face. SYDNEY pops a bottle of port and pours two glasses. SHEPHERD When have you seen me do a thing with my face? SYDNEY Two days before I met you. You gave a speech for the Daughters of the American Revolution. I was there. SHEPHERD You were? SYDNEY You remember the speech? SHEPHERD Vaguely. SYDNEY "American can no longer afford to pretend that they live in a great society." SHEPHERD Ah. SYDNEY There was supposed to be something else after that, wasn't there? SHEPHERD How did you know? SYDNEY I told you. The face. SYDNEY hands him a glass. They clink glasses and sip. SHEPHERD Wow...what's the occasion? SYDNEY You're looking at a lady who's two votes shy of the promised land. SHEPHERD Two votes? SYDNEY I got Pennybaker. That got me Cass and Zimmer. SHEPHERD (beat) That's great, Sydney. I mean it. That's great work. SYDNEY Well, I'm not there yet. SHEPHERD Look, no matter what happens, you have every right to be proud of yourself. SYDNEY I'll be proud when I see you sign the bill. SHEPHERD Yeah, well... SYDNEY Andy. SHEPHERD Yeah? SYDNEY You're doing that thing with your face. CUT TO: EXT. OLD EXECUTIVE OFFICE BUILDING - DAY - EAST A light rain is falling. CUT TO: INT. CRIME BILL WAR ROOM - DAY KODAK sits at his desk staring at a computer printout. LEWIS is nearing the end of a phone conversation that isn't going well. He's pacing around with the phone...desperate and intense. The tote board reads: "1 Vote in 2 Days." ROBIN enters. ROBIN (to KODAK) How're the numbers? KODAK Bad. ROBIN How bad? KODAK Forty-one. Character across the board. ROBIN Who is Lewis on with? KODAK Jarrett. He's trying to keep his finger in the dam. LEWIS (into phone) You're supposed to be a United States Congressman, for the love of Christ. ROBIN and KODAK appear in the doorway, sensing a surprise development. LEWIS is losing it on the phone. LEWIS (continuing; listens) But you're not gonna stay at 41. The numbers are gonna be go back up. (listens) But they're gonna go back up. (listens) George... (listens) Congressman... (listens) Congressman Jarrett... (listens) George, it's crunch time. It's personal. This is one of those moments. It's just you and the President. Now that's it gonna be? LEWIS looks over at ROBIN and KODAK ...his face telling the story. LEWIS (continuing) Yeah. (listens) Yeah. (listens) Hey, George? Can I tell you something? We're gonna win this thing. We're gonna get the votes and we're gonna win. And after we do, I mean that very night, I'm gonna go to Sam & Harry's, I'm gonna order a big steak, and I'm gonna make a list of everybody who tried to fuck us this week. ROBIN and KODAK are trying to get their friend from setting fire to a bridge out of pure frustration. ROBIN (a whispered shout) Lewis! LEWIS (into phone) Vote your conscience, you chicken- shit, lame-ass-- LEWIS hangs up the phone. He takes a deep breath, slumps down in the nearest chair, and looks up at ROBIN and KODAK. There's a long silence before LEWIS says-- LEWIS (continuing) We lost Jarrett. KODAK (beat) I hope so. 'Cause, you know, if that was an "undecided," then we need to work on our people skills. LEWIS picks up the phone and punches in a few numbers. Even before that line starts ringing, he picks up another phone and punches in a different set of numbers. LEWIS (into the first phone) Karen, it's Lewis. Could you hunt down Congressman Quincy for me. I need to talk to him right way. CUT TO: INT. OVAL OFFICE - DAY SHEPHERD stands in front A.J., LEWIS, ROBIN, and KODAK. JANIE is somewhere in the background. A.J. We lost Quincy, too. SHEPHERD Did he give a reason? LEWIS He thinks your numbers aren't likely to rebound. KODAK We're three votes down again, sir. There's a pause before ... KODAK (continuing) Mr. President, as of this morning, Sydney only needed one more vote. The Motown Three have gotta be scared blind. I don't think there'll be a better opportunity. ROBIN The press is expecting an announcement on the crime bill by the Sate of the Union. KODAK If you agree to stick 455 in a drawer until after the elections, they'll give you the three votes. ROBIN (beat) And we declare victory, sir. SHEPHERD We said as a last resort. KODAK We're there, sir. The State of the Union is 48 hours away. SHEPHERD No. Come on. There's gotta be three votes someplace else. KODAK There isn't. SHEPHERD Bullshit, Leon. There's gotta be somebody we haven't-- KODAK There isn't, sir. SHEPHERD Storch. KODAK I beg your pardon? SHEPHERD What about Storch? A.J. Mr. President-- KODAK Storch is a "no." SHEPHERD Wagner. KODAK No. SHEPHERD Sobel. KODAK No. SHEPHERD Clark. KODAK No. SHEPHERD Not that Clark, the one from Indiana. KODAK (pause) That one too, sir. SHEPHERD is stopped. A.J. Mr. President, I think we have to do it. SHEPHERD She is one vote away, A.J. It's important legislation that for the first time has a legitimate chance. I think she deserves every possible opportunity to-- LEWIS She? You meant "it," didn't you, sir? You meant the "important legislation" deserves every opportunity. A.J. Lewis, shut up. There's a horrible silence in the room. SHEPHERD has locked eyes with LEWIS. SHEPHERD You got something to say to me? LEWIS Respectfully, sir. I think we should examine the new poll for more than its value as a box score. SHEPHERD Examine what? They don't like that I'm going out with Sydney. LEWIS It's not that simple, sir. I think this poll helps bribg a murky problem into specific relief. SHEPHERD Whose problem we talking about, Lewis? Yours? You worried about your job? This poll isn't talking about my Presidency. This poll is talking about my life. Two hundred and sixty-four million people have decided-- LEWIS Mr. President, two hundred and sixty- four million people don't give a damn about your life. They give a damn about their own. A.J. All right, that's enough. LEWIS Mr. President, you've raised a daughter almost entirely on your own, and she's terrific. What does it say to you that in the last seven weeks, 59 percent of this country has begun to question your family values? A.J. The President doesn't answer to you, Lewis. LEWIS Oh yes, he does, A.J. I'm a citizen, this is my president, and in this country it is not only permissible to question our leaders, it is our responsibility. But you already know that, Mr. President, because you have a deeper love of this country than any man I've ever known, and I want to know what it says to you that in the past seven weeks 59 percent of Americans have begun to question your patriotism? SHEPHERD Look, if people want to listen to Bob Rumson-- LEWIS They don't have a choice! Rob Rumson's the only one doing the talking. People want leadership. And in the absence of genuine leadership, they will listen to anyone who steps up to the microphone. They want leadership, Mr. President. They're so thirsty for it, they'll crawl through the desert toward a mirage, and when they discover there's no water, they'll drink the sand. SHEPHERD (evenly) Lewis, we've had Presidents who were beloved, who couldn't find a coherent sentence with two hands and a flashlight. People don't drink the sand, 'cause they're thirsty, Lewis. They drink it 'cause they don't know the difference. The room is slightly stunned by what their President has just said. SHEPHERD picks up the polling data and heads to the door... SHEPHERD (continuing; on his way out) Make the deal. CUT TO: INT. THE FOSSIL FUEL WAR ROOM - DAY SYDNEY, SUSAN, DAVID, INTERNS and STAFFERS are having a little office celebration. Champagne flows from paper cups. Streamers and balloons adorn the tote board, which reads 0 Votes in 1 Day. SUSAN, maybe a little drunk, has concerned SYDNEY. SUSAN I want to go on the record and apologize for my attitude toward you since your arrival. SYDNEY I didn't notice. Was there an attitude? A PHONE RINGS, and one of the staffers takes it. SYDNEY tries to rejoin the party, but-- SUSAN I think I have a lot of pent-up hostility. SYDNEY Well-- SUSAN I wonder who I can blame it on. SYDNEY I'm not really qualified to-- SUSAN 'Cause I've been blaming it on my mother and my ex-husband, and that hasn't been working. DAVID (approaching SYDNEY) Leo needs to see you. SYDNEY Tell him to get over here. It's a party. DAVID He needs to see you in his office. SYDNEY It can't wait? DAVID He just got off the phone with MacInerney. There's been a development. SYDNEY holds for a moment...then heads out the door and we CUT TO: INT. A CORRIDOR IN THE RESIDENCE - LATE AFTERNOON TROMBONE MUSIC comes from LUCY's bedroom as SHEPHERD rounds the corner. INT. LUCY'S BEDROOM - LATER AFTERNOON SHEPHERD pops his head in. SHEPHERD Sounds good. LUCY It's progressive. SHEPHERD I'll say. LUCY Hey, Dad, what's wrong with Sydney? You guys have a fight? SHEPHERD (beat) What do you mean? LUCY She seemed pretty-- SHEPHERD You saw her? LUCY She's here. SHEPHERD Where? LUCY In your room. Why is she mad? SHEPHERD Don't worry about it. LUCY Were you a dork? SHEPHERD Practice your music. LUCY If you were a dork, you should say you're sorry. Girls like that. CUT TO: INT. SHEPHERED'S BEDROOM - LATE AFTERNOON SYDNEY is going through the closet in search of something. The door opens, and SHEPHERD steps in, perhaps a little tentatively. He doesn't see SYDNEY at first. SHEPHERD (calling out) Syd? SYDNEY comes out. SYDNEY Have you seen a gray cableknit sweater? SHEPHERD A grey...sweater? No. I called you at the office, but... SYDNEY It's Beth's. I wore it here one time, and I didn't want to leave it. SHEPHERD Where were you going? SYDNEY continues her search. SYDNEY I'm going home, and then I'm going to Hartford. SHEPHERD Connecticut? SYDNEY Yes. Do you know if it was sent with your dry cleaning by any-- SHEPHERD What's in Connecticut? SYDNEY Richard Reynolds' campaign. He may be able to get me a job. SHEPHERD When did you decide to get a new job? SYDNEY Not long after Leo Solomon fired me from my old one. Beth's gonna kill me. She loves that-- SHEPHERD Why did he fire you? SYDNEY Total failure to achieve any of the objectives for which I was hired. I told him he was being unreasonable. After all, I did get to dance with the President and ride in Air Force One a couple of times. But you know those prickly environmentalists. It's always gonna be something with them. If it's not clean air, then it's clean water. Like it isn't good enough that I'm on the cover of People Magazine. SHEPHERD I'll call him. SYDNEY You'll call him? You mean you'll call him yourself? Personally? It'll come from the President? That's a great idea. I think you should call Leo and make a deal. He hires me back for, say, 72 days. I go around scaring the hell out of Congress, making them think that the President's about to drive through a very damaging and costly bill. They'll believe me, right, 'cause I'm the President's Friday Night Girl. Now I don't know if you can dip into this well twice, especially since I've lost all credibility in politics, but you never know, I might just be able to pull it off again. I might be able to give you just the leverage you need to pass some ground-breaking piece of crime legislation -- like a mandatory three-day waiting period before a five-year-old can buy an Uzi. Fuck the sweater -- she'll have to learn to live with disappointment. She starts to exit SHEPHERD What do you think went on here today? She stops. SYDNEY I know exactly what went on here today. I got screwed. You saw the poll, you needed the crime bill, you couldn't get it on your own, so I got screwed. SHEPHERD The environment got screwed. Nothing happened to you today, Sydney. Governing is choosing. Governing is prioritizing. I've made no secret of the fact that the crime bill was my top priority. SYDNEY Well then, congratulations. It's only taken you three years to put together crime prevention legislation that has no hope of preventing crime. SYDNEY heads out the door-- SHEPHERD (stopping) Sydney. Please. I don't want to lose you over this. SYDNEY Mr. President, you got bigger problems than losing me. You just lost my vote. And SYDNEY is out the door... ...we HOLD on SHEPHERD, looking like a man who's taken a lot of punches to the heads... CUT TO: INT. THE POOL ROOM - NIGHT A rack of billiard balls explodes from the break. A.J. Hartfort? What's in Hartford? SHEPHERD Richard Reynolds' district office. She's thinking of running his campaign. Four in the corner. SHEPHERD gets down over the ball-- SHEPHERD (continuing) Hartford. The insurance capital of the world. Have a good time, Syd. SHEPHERD smacks the ball, BULL'S-EYE. A.J. Listen. I'm gonna have Janie clear your schedule for the weekend. You need to get some rest. SHEPHERD You handling me, A.J.? A.J. No, sir. SHEPHERD Good. 14 in the side. SHEPHERD gets down over the ball... SMACK!!! ...but instead of the cue hitting the ball, it's A.J.'s palms slamming the cue against the table. A.J. But I sure as hell will if you don't start gettin' your head outta your ass. SHEPHERD Excuse me. A.J. Lewis is right. Go after this guy. SHEPHERD Has he lied?! A.J. What? SHEPHERD Has Rumson lied in the last seven weeks? A.J. Has he lied? SHEPHERD Other than not knowing the difference between Harvard and Stanford, has he said something that isn't true? Am I not a Commander-in-Chief who's never served in the military? Am I not opposed to a Constitutional amendment banning flag burning? Am I not an unmarried father who was sharing a bed with a liberal lobbyist down the hall from my twelve-year-old daughter? A.J. And you think you're wrong? SHEPHERD I don't think you win elections by telling 59 percent of the people that they are. A.J. We fight the fights we can win. SHEPHERD Don't-- A.J. You fight the fights that need fighting! SHEPHERD Is the view pretty good from the cheap seats, A.J.? A.J. I beg your pardon. SHEPHERD It occurs to me that in 25 years I've never seen your name on a ballot. Why have you always been standing a pace behind me? A.J. Because if I hadn't been, you'd be the most popular history professor at the University of Wisconsin. SHEPHERD Fuck you. SHEPHERD's tossed his cue stick and is heading out... SHEPHERD (continuing) Have Lewis put the final drafts of the State of the Union and the Crime Bill announcement on my desk in the morning. A.J. Yes, sir. SHEPHERD gets to the doorway...stops...turns around... SHEPHERD If Mary hadn't died...would we have won three years ago? A.J. Would we have won? SHEPHERD If we'd had to go through a character debate three years ago, would we have won? A.J. I don't know. But I would've liked that campaign. If my friend Andy Shepherd had shown up, I would have liked that campaign. SHEPHERD looks away...nods absently... SHEPHERD (pause) Yeah. SHEPHERD exits, leaving A.J. alone as we CUT TO: INT. WHITE HOUSE CORRIDOR - NIGHT A series of shots showing SHEPHERD walking down the corridor to the dish room, then walking down a long corridor which contains a series of paintings of various presidents. Then sitting alone in the Oval Office, lost in thought... DISSOLVE TO: INT. RESIDENCE DINING ROOM - EARLY MORNING SHEPHERD and LUCY are eating breakfast in silence, neither of them very happy, each with their own problems. A nearby T.V. MONITOR glows with the live coverage of ROBIN's morning press briefing. Finally... SHEPHERD You're not hungry? LUCY This is oatmeal. SHEPHERD Yeah. LUCY We never have oatmeal. SHEPHERD It's good for you. LUCY I'm from Wisconsin. I need food. SHEPHERD You're not from Wisconsin. I'm from Wisconsin. You've lived in Washington your whole life. He glances toward the T.V. screen. ROBIN's standing up there doing what she's been told: "No comment...No, this President is not participating in character debates..." He mutes the volume. SHEPHERD (continuing) How are you doing in your Constitutional debates? LUCY We're done. SHEPHERD You're done? LUCY We ratified it last week. SHEPHERD Oh...well...that's good. Why didn't you tell me? LUCY It's not a big deal, Dad. SHEPHERD Okay, I give up. I don't care why you're not happy in social studies. I care about why you're not talking to me about why you're not happy in social studies. LUCY Dad, I'm perfectly-- SHEPHERD You're not perfectly happy. You don't think I know when something's bothering you? LUCY Damnit, Dad! SHEPHERD Hey! LUCY You know-- SHEPHERD Talk to me. LUCY Look-- LUCY winds herself up. It would appear she's about to burst. She's about to say the hardest thing she's ever had to say in her life-- LUCY (continuing) --sometimes when you talk, you say things I disagree with. SHEPHERD is stunned and totally confused... SHEPHERD Almost every time I talk, I say things you disagree with. LUCY I mean politically. SHEPHERD (pause) Politically? LUCY Yes. SHEPHERD (pause) What do you mean? It just starts spilling out in a stream-- LUCY Yes. Okay. Yes. Sometimes, I mean, I'm not sure. You know a lot more than I do -- but still, I have these feelings, and I don't think they're wrong. Like, okay, for instance, I'm not so sure it's all right to burn a flag. I mean, it really bothers a lot of people, and I don't know why you think it's okay. I hear Senator Rumson talk, and some of the things he says sounds right to me, and I think, "God, am I like Bob Rumson?! I mean, Dad thinks he's a jerk. Dad hates this guy! Why am I agreeing with him" And then I think, "Well, maybe I'm not really like Bob Rumson, but maybe I'm not like Dad either." But the point is I'm the President's kid, and people pay attention to what I say, and if I say something different from what you say, it'll be embarrassing for you. So I can't just get up in social studies class and say whatever I want. SHEPHERD is silent...totally blown away...he had absolutely no idea... He stands up slowly and moves toward her...LUCY doesn't know what's coming... SHEPHERD (quietly) Stand up please. LUCY gets up slowly... She's never seen her father like this... SHEPHERD (continuing) I want you to pay very close attention to what happens now. SHEPHERD knees down, cups her daughter's face in his hands, and gently kisses her forehead. He pulls her to him and holds her in a tight embrace... SHEPHERD (continuing) In your lifetime, you will never embarrass me. It could never happen. You're not the President's daughter, Lucy, you're mine. And no one's gonna vote me out of that job. You're my daughter, and everything else is a distant second. (more) School is for you, Lucy. You say what you want. The only thing you have to do to make me happy is come home at the end of the day. LUCY squeezes her dad tight...they hold the embrace for a long moment. SHEPHERD (continuing) One more thing. I don't dislike Senator Rumson because of his political views. And even if you voted for everything he would vote for, that wouldn't make you like him. There's a fundamental difference between you and the Bob Rumsons of the world. LUCY What's that? SHEPHERD The difference is that he says he loves America. Saying you love America is easy. What takes character -- and this is what you have-- SHEPHERD trails off, realizing he's about to quote Sydney... SHEPHERD (continuing) What takes character is loving Americans. (beat) And now it's as if SHEPHERD is waking himself up from the longest trip of his life... ...he looks over at the T.V. monitor..."No comment"... "No, I don't know how many other ways I can say it. The White House isn't getting involved in..." SHEPHERD (continuing) Luce, I gotta go. LUCY Dad, is everything all right? SHEPHERD Everything's fine. I'm just a little late for work. He heads for the door, shouting out as he goes-- SHEPHERD Somebody get my daughter some food! The girl's from Wisconsin, for cryin' out loud! And he's gone as we... CUT TO: INT. THE PRESS BRIEFING ROOM - EARLY MORNING ROBIN is on her last drops of energy and patience. REPORTER #4 Robin, will the President ever respond to Senator Rumson's question about being a member of the American Civil Liberties Union? But instead of hands going up, the PRESS CORPS suddenly stands. ROBIN turns to see SHEPHERD stride in and step up to the podium. SHEPHERD Yes, he will. 'Morning. ROBIN Good morning, Mr. President. SHEPHERD takes the podium. There's a palpable BUZZ in the room as video operators adjust their equipment, etc. People starts to stand. SHEPHERD That's all right, you can keep your seats. For the last couple of months, Senator Rumson has suggested that being president of this country was, to a certain extent, about character... ANGLE - ROBIN who's picked up the receiver from a wall phone and punches in four numbers. She turns in to the wall to shield her conversation from the rest of the room. ROBIN (into phone) Lewis...call A.J. and come on down here...I don't know, but something's happening. SHEPHERD ...and although I have not been willing to engage in his attacks on me, I've been here three years and three days, and I can tell you without hesitation: Being President of this country is entirely about character. LEWIS enters with A.J. and KODAK. SHEPHERD (continuing) For the record: Yes, I am a card- carrying member of the A.C.L.U. But the more important question is why aren't you, Bob? This is an organization whose sole purpose is to defend the Bill of Rights, so it naturally begs the questions. SHEPHERD (continuing) Why would a senator, his party's most powerful spokesman and a candidate for president, choose to reject upholding the Constitution? If you can answer that question, then, folks, you're smarter than I am, because I didn't understand it until a couple of minutes ago. Everybody knows American isn't easy. America is advanced citizenship. SHEPHERD (continuing) You gotta want it bad, 'cause it's gonna put up a fight. It's gonna say, "You want free speech? Let's see you acknowledge a man whose words make your blood boil, who's standing center stage and advocating, at the top of his lungs, that which you would spend a lifetime opposing at the top of yours. You want to claim this land as the land of the free, then the symbol of your country can't just be a flag; the symbol also has to be one of its citizens exercising his right to burn that flag in protest." Show me that, defend that, celebrate that in your classrooms. Then you can stand up and sing about the land of the free. I've known Bob Rumson for years. I've been operating under the assumption that the reason Bob devotes so much time and energy to shouting at the rain was that he simply didn't get it. Well, I was wrong. SHEPHERD (continuing) Bob's problem isn't that he doesn't get it. Bob's problem is that he can't sell it. Nobody has ever won an election by talking about what I was just talking about. SHEPHERD (continuing) This is a country made up of people with hard jobs that they're terrified of losing. The roots of freedom are of little or no interest to them at the moment. We are a nation afraid to go out at night. We're a society that has assigned low priority to education and has looked the other way while our public schools have been decimated. We have serious problems to solve, and we need serious men to solve them. And whatever your particular problem is, friend, I promise you, Bob Rumson is not the least bit interested in solving it. He is interested in two things and two things only: Making you afraid of it and telling you who's to blame for it. That, ladies and gentlemen, is how you win elections. You gather a group of middle-aged, middle-class, middle- income voters who remember with longing an easier time, and you talk to them about family and American values and personal character. Then you have an old photo of the President's girlfriend. You scream about patriotism and you tell them she's to blame for their lot in life, you go on television and you call her a whore. Sydney Ellen Wade has done nothing to you, Bob. She has done nothing but put herself through law school, prosecute criminals for five years, represent the interests of public school teachers for two years, and lobby for the safety of our natural resources. SHEPHERD (continuing) You want a character debate? Fine, but you better stick with me, 'cause Sydney Ellen Wade is way out of your league. I've loved two women in my life. I lost one to cancer, and I lost the other 'cause I was so busy keeping my job I forgot to do my job. Well that ends right now. SHEPHERD (continuing) Tomorrow morning the White House is sending a bill to Congress for its consideration. It's White House Resolution 455, an energy bill requiring a 20 percent reduction of the emission of fossil fuels over the next ten years. It is by far the most aggressive stride ever taken in the fight to reverse the effects of global warming. The other piece of legislation is the crime bill. As of today it no longer exists. I'm throwing it out. I'm throwing it out and writing a law that makes sense. You cannot address crime prevention without getting rid of assault weapons and handguns. I consider them a threat to national security, and I will go door to door if I have to, but I'm gonna convince Americans that I'm right, and I'm gonna get the guns. We've got serous problems, and we need serious men, and if you want to talk about character, Bob, you'd better come at me with more than a burning flag and a membership card. If you want to talk about character and American values, fine. Just tell me where and when, and I'll show up. This is a time for serious men, Bob, and your fifteen minutes are up. My name's Andrew Shepherd, and I am the President. SHEPHERD exits the press room, leaving a stunned room in his wake. The MURMURS begin from the PRESS CORPS. They're talking among themselves, confirming that they just saw what they just saw. ROBIN steps to the podium. ROBIN Any questions? CUT TO: INT. HALLWAY - WEST WING - DAY A.J. and LEWIS are following after the President. A.J. Well, you don't see that every day of the week. LEWIS He's got the whole White House Press Corps asking each other how to spell "erudite." A.J. Lewis, call the printer. LEWIS I know. Gotta rewrite the State of the Union. A.J. Every word, Lewis. It's a whole new ball game. You've got 35 minutes. LEWIS Oh, good. I thought I was gonna be rushed. LEWIS goes off in one direction. A.J. heads towards the Oval Office. CUT TO: INT. OVAL OFFICE - DAY SHEPHERD is on the phone. SHEPHERD I don't want the limo. I don't want an escort. A.J. enters. SHEPHERD (continuing) I want a plain, ordinary, non- bullet-proof automobile. Someone around here must have a Chevy I can borrow. Well, find one and meet me outside the West Wing entrance in five minutes. A.J. Where are you going? SHEPHERD I'm going to her house. I'm gonna stand at her front door till she lets me in. And I'm not leaving till I get her back. A.J. How're you gonna do that? SHEPHERD I haven't worked that out yet. But I'm sure groveling will be involved. A.J. You're just gonna drive over? SHEPHERD I'm the Commander-in-Chief of the most powerful army in the world. You don't think I can drive ten blocks? SYDNEY Just stay away from DuPont Circle. I hear it's murder this time of day. SHEPHERD doesn't need to turn around to know who's standing in the doorway, but of course he does anyway. SYDNEY Hi, A.J. A.J. It's nice to see you, Ms. Wade. If anybody needs me, I'll be in the Roosevelt Room, giving Lewis oxygen. A.J. exits. SYDNEY I heard your speech. I was in my car, and it just kind of steered its way over here. SHEPHERD I'm glad. SYDNEY and SHEPHERD just gaze at each other for a moment and smile. SYDNEY starts toward him. SHEPHERD (continuing) Sydney, I didn't decide to send 455 to the floor to get you back. SYDNEY I didn't come back 'cause you decided to send 455 to the floor. They move to kiss. It doesn't last very long because... LEWIS (entering) Mr. President, I thought you might want to look at this. I moved Social Security up front. Hello, Sydney. JANIE enters-- JANIE Mr. President, Leventhal at Treasury wants two minutes. Hello, Sydney. MRS. CHAPIL enters-- MRS. CHAPIL Mr. President -- Excuse me, Miss Wade -- Miss McCall is on her way over. SHEPHERD (to SYDNEY) I've got some things to do. SYDNEY Yes, you do. CUT TO: EXT. THE CAPITOL - NIGHT It's lit up and glowing on this cold, clear night. ANCHOR (V.O.) We're only a moment or two away from the arrival of President Shepherd and his State of the Union address. Lloyd, you've served on the staffs of several past administrations, what kind of last-minute activity is the President engaged in right now? CUT TO: INT. A VIP ROOM - NIGHT It's off the main corridor, and it's being used as a green room for SHEPHERD and his group -- LEWIS, KODAK, A.J., JANIE, and various AIDES and STAFFERS. People are buzzing around in a last-minute flurry. SHEPHERD is fumbling with his cuff links. SHEPHERD I'm having a cuff links crisis. LUCY takes his sleeves. SHEPHERD (continuing; to LUCY) I think they've locked. LUCY Hold still. ROBIN steps in. ROBIN Mr. President, they're waiting for you. LUCY All done. SHEPHERD Lewis. LEWIS Sir. SHEPHERD Things have been a little rough between us lately. LEWIS I know sir, I'm sorry. SHEPHERD Don't stop what you're doing. LEWIS That's kind of you, sir, but I realize I've been a little insensitive about some personal... SHEPHERD No, you were right. Two hundred and sixty-four million people don't give a damn about my life. LEWIS Just so you know I've never been one of them, Mr. President. ROBIN This way, people. Let's go. SHEPHERD (to LEWIS) See you after. The PEOPLE in the room start to gather their things and exit, ROBIN handling any and all last-minute "Mr. President"'s as she herds people out the door. LUCY walks past SHEPHERD. She holds SHEPHERD's old tattered textbook and has it opened to a specific page... SHEPHERD (continuing) Whatcha got there, Luce? LUCY Article 2, Section 3, of the U.S. Constitution. Executive Powers. (reading) "He shall, from time to time, give to the Congress information of the State of the Union, and recommend to their consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient." A.J. Sounds right up your alley. SHEPHERD looks at his old friend and extends his hand for a deeply-felt handshake. A.J. grasps SHEPHERD's hand and then pulls him into a strong embrace. A.J. whispers a shout into SHEPHERD's ear-- A.J. (continuing) Give 'em hell, Andy. A.J. pulls away, leaving SHEPHERD to enjoy the moment without having to speak-- A.J. (continuing) You've got 30 seconds, Mr. President. SHEPHERD Thank you. (to LUCY) I'll see you afterward. I want a critique. The room clears out...revealing SYDNEY, dressed like the First Lady she's soon to be, sitting against the window sill. SHEPHERD (continuing) There's been something I've been trying to give you since our first date. I tried a bunch of times, but somehow I've always managed to trip over my job. (beat) Anyay... SHEPHERD has picked his black canvas gym bag with the gold Presidential seal. He reaches in the bag and pulls out a bouquet of flowers. SHEPHERD (continuing) These are for you. SYDNEY They're beautiful. JANIE pokes her head in. JANIE Mr. President? SHEPHERD Gotta go. SYDNEY Should I stay here? SHEPHERD No, walk with me. They exit into a hallway lined with Congressional STAFFERS, SECRET SERVICE, CAPITOL SECURITY, WHITE HOUSE STAFF, and, most prominently, A.J., LEWIS, ROBIN, JANIE and KODAK. SYDNEY is still clutching her flowers as they near the double doors to the House Chamber-- SYDNEY How'd you finally do it? SHEPHERD (raising his voice above the cheering) Do what? SYDNEY Manage to give a woman flowers and be President at the same time. SHEPHERD Well...it turns out I've got a rose garden. SYDNEY is stopped in her tracks as-- --the doors to the Chamber fly open-- DOORKEEPER Mr. Speaker!!!...THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES!!! The CHAMBER leaps to its feet in a thunderous ovation, shouts of "Bravo!" from the gallery... At the back, LEWIS and ROBIN and KODAK are trying to maintain their professional cool, but it's a moment impossible not to get caught up in...SYDNEY is clutching her flowers with both hands...SHEPHERD is making his way down the aisle, shaking hands and receiving congratulations and good wishes, and we FADE OUT. --------------------------------------------------------------
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+AMERICAN PSYCHObyMary Harron and Guinevere TurnerBased on the novel by Bret Easton Ellis Fourth Draft November 1998INT. PASTELS RESTAURANT- NIGHT An insanely expensive restaurant on the Upper East Side. The decor is a mixture of chi-chi and rustic, with swagged silk curtains, handwritten menus and pale pink tablecloths decorated with arrangements of moss, twigs and hideous exotic flowers. The clientele is young, wealthy and confident, dressed in the height of late-eighties style: pouffy Lacroix dresses, slinky Alaïa, Armani power suits.CLOSE-UP on a WAITER reading out the specials.WAITER With goat cheese profiteroles and I also have an arugula Caesar salad. For entrées tonight I have a swordfish meatloaf with onion marmalade, a rare-roasted partridge breast in raspberry coulis with a sorrel timbale...Huge white porcelain plates descend on very pale pink linen table cloths. Each of the entrees is a rectangle about four inches square and look exactly alike.CLOSE-UP on various diners as we hear fragments of conversation. "Is that Charlie Sheen over there?" "Excuse me? I ordered cactus pear sorbet."WAITER And grilled free-range rabbit with herbed French fries. Our pasta tonight is a squid ravioli in a lemon grass broth...CLOSE-UP on porcelain plates containing elaborate perpendicular desserts descending on another table.PATRICK BATEMAN, TIMOTHY PRICE, CRAIG MCDERMOTT and DAVID VAN PATTEN are at a table set for four. They are all wearing expensively cut suits and suspenders and have slicked-back hair. Van Patten wears horn-rimmed glasses. The camera moves in on Bateman as his narration begins:BATEMAN (V.O.)We're sitting in Pastels, this nouvelle Northern California place on the Upper East Side.The Waiter sets down plates containing tiny, elaborately decorated starters. As he does so we hear Bateman's description of each of the men at the table.BATEMAN (V.O.) You'll notice that my friends and I all look and behave in a remarkably similar fashion, but there are subtle differences between us. McDermott is the biggest asshole. Van Patten is the yes man. Price is the most wired. I'm the best looking. We all have light tans. Right now I'm in a bad mood because this is not a good table, and Van Patten keeps asking dumb, obvious questions about how to dress . VAN PATTEN What are the rules for a sweater vest?McDERMOTT What do you mean?PRICE Yes. Clarify.McDERMOTT Well, is it strictly informal-BATEMAN Or can it be worn with a suit?McDERMOTT (Smiling) ExactlyBATEMAN With discreet pinstripes you should wear a subdued blue or charcoal gray vest. A plaid suit would cal I for a bolder vest.McDERMOTT But avoid matching the vest's pattern with your socks ortie. Wearing argyle socks with an argyle vest will look too studied.VAN PATTEN You think so?PRICE You'll look like you consciously worked for the look.VAN PATTEN Good point. Excuse me, gentlemen.Van Patten leaves the table. As he does so, a busboy discreetly removes their largely untouched plates.BATEMAN Van Patten looks puffy. Has he stopped working out?PRICE It looks that way, doesn't it?McDERMOTT (Staring at retreating waiter) Did he just take our plates away?PRICE He took them away because the portions are so small he probably thought we were finished. God, I hate this place. This is a chicks' restaurant. Why aren't we at Dorsia?McDERMOTT Because Bateman won't give the maitre d' head.(He guffaws)Bateman throws a swizzle stick at him.McDermott scans the room, settling on a handsome young manwith slicked-back hair and horn-rimmed glasses.McDERMOTT Is that Reed Robinson over there?PRICE Are you freebasing or what? That's not Robinson.McDERMOTT Who is it then?PRICE That's Paul Owen.BATEMAN That's not Paul Owen. Paul Owen's on the other side of theroom. Over there.He points to another handsome young man with slicked-back hair and horn-rimmed glasses.McDERMOTT Who is he with?PRICE (Distracted by the waitress's cleavage as she bends over to uncork a bottle of wine – the waitress glares at him) Some weasel from Kicker Peabody.Van Patten returns.VAN PATTEN They don't have a good bathroom to do coke in.McDERMOTT Are you sure that's Paul Owen over there?PRICE Yes. McDufus, I am.McDERMOTT He's handling the Fisher account.PRICE Lucky bastard.McDERMOTT Lucky Jew bastard.BATEMAN Oh Jesus, McDermott, what does that have to do with anything?McDERMOTT Listen. I've seen the bastard sitting in his office on thephone with CEOs, spinning a fucking menorah. The bastard brought a Hanukkah bush into the office last December.BATEMAN You spin a dreidel, McDermott, not a menorah. You spin a dreidel.McDERMOTT Oh my God. Bateman, do you want me to fry you upsome fucking potato pancakes? Some latkes?BATEMAN No. Just cool it with the anti-Semitic remarks.McDERMOTT Oh I forgot. Bateman's dating someone from the ACLU.Price leans over and pats Bateman on the back.PRICE The voice of reason. The boy next door. And speaking of reasonable...He shows McDermott the bill for the meal.McDERMOTT Only $470.VAN PATTEN (Without irony) Not bad.The others murmur agreement. Four platinum Amex cards slapdown on the table.INT. LIMOUSINE - NIGHT Bateman is pouring vintage champagne into flutes. Price is lighting up a cigar.McDERMOTT Last week I picked up this Vassar chick-VAN PATTEN Oh God, I was there. I don't need to hear this story again.McDERMOTT But I never told you what happened afterwards. So okay, I pick up this Vassar chick at Tunnel-hot number, big tits, great legs, this chick was a little hardbody-and so I buy her a couple of champagne kirs and she's in the city on spring break and she's practically blowing me in the Chandelier Room and so I take her back to my place-BATEMAN Whoa, wait. May I ask where Pamela is during all this?McDERMOTT Oh fuck you. I want a blowjob, Bate-man. I want a chick who's gonna let me-VAN PATTEN (Putting his hands over his ears) I don't want to hear this. He's going to say something disgusting.McDERMOTT You prude. Listen, we're not gonna invest in a co-op together or jet down to Saint Bart's. I just want some chick whose face I can sit on for thirty, forty minutes.Price throws a cigar at McDermott, who catches it.McDERMOTT Anyway, so we're back at my place and listen to this. She's had enough champagne by now to get a fucking rhino tipsy, and get this-VAN PATTEN She let you fuck her without a condom?McDERMOTT This is a Vassar girl. She's not from Queens. She would only-are you ready? (Dramatic pause) She would only give me a handjob, and get this...she kept her glove on.The men sit in shocked, horrified silence.ALL IN UNISON Never date a Vassar girl.EXT. TUNNEL NIGHTCLUB - NIGHTThe limo pulls up to the sidewalk outside the Tunnel. McDermott holds the door open for a passing HOMELESS MAN, who looks confused.McDERMOTT I suppose he doesn't want the car. Price, ask him if he takes American Express.PRICE (Offering card) You take Amex, dude?The man stumbles away. The club DOORMAN, seeing the limousine, unhooks the velvet rope and welcomes them inside.INT. LADIES ROOM, TUNNEL - NIGHT Brilliant white light, a bemused elderly female attendant in a black-and-white maid's uniform trying to give out paper towels. MUSIC thuds through an open doorway. Trashed-looking girls stare into mirrors repairing their eye make-up or sit on the counter chatting to friends. There are almost as many men as women in the room. Couples stand in line, twitching as they wait to do coke. As soon as one bathroom door opens, a couple lurches out rubbing their noses while another couple rushes past them and slams the door.PRICE There's this theory out now that if you can catch the AIDS virus through having sex with someone who is infected, then you can also catch anything-Alzheimer's, muscular dystrophy, hemophilia, leukemia, diabetes, dyslexia, for Christ's sake-you can get dyslexia from pussy-BATEMAN I'm not sure, guy, but I don't think dyslexia is a virus.PRICE Oh, who knows? They don't know that. Prove it.Price and Bateman finally get a stall and rush in. Price is sweating.PRICE I'm shaking. You open it.Bateman opens a tiny packet of coke.PRICEJeez. That's not a helluva lot, is it?BATEMAN Maybe it's just the light.PRICE Is he fucking selling it by the milligram? (He dips the corner of his Amex card in the packet and takes a snort) Oh my God...BATEMAN What?PRICE It's a fucking milligram of Sweet'n Low!Bateman dips his Amex in the envelope and snorts.BATEMAN It's definitely weak but I have a feeling if we do enough of it we'll be okay.PRICE I want to get high off this; Bateman, not sprinkle it on my fucking All-Bran.The GUY IN STALL next door yells at them in an effeminate voice:GUY IN STALL Could you keep it down, I'm trying to do drugs!Price pounds his fist against the stall.PRICE (screaming) SHUT UP!BATEMAN Calm down. Let's do it anywayPRICE I guess you're right...(Raising his voice) THAT IS, IF THE FAGGOT IN THE NEXT STALL THINKS IT'S OKAY!GUY IN STALL Fuck you!PRICE (Trying to climb up against the aluminum divider) No, FUCK YOU!! (He collapses, panting against the stall door) Sorry, dude. Steroids...Okay, let's do it.BATEMAN That's the spirit.They both dig their platinum Amex cards into the envelope of white powder, shoveling it up their noses, then sticking their fingers in to catch the residue and rubbing it into their gums.INT. NIGHTCLUB - NIGHT Bateman saunters toward the bar as "Pump Up the Volume" plays in the background.BATEMAN (to BARGIRL) Two Stoli on the rocks.He hands her two drink tickets.BARGIRL It's after eleven. Those aren't good anymore. It's a cash bar. That'll be twenty-five dollars.Bateman pulls out an expensive-looking wallet and hands her a $50.She turns her back and searches the cash register for change.BATEMAN You are a fucking ugly bitch I want to stab to death and then play around with your blood.The music muffles his voice. She turns around. He is smiling at her. She gives him his change impassively.INT. BATEMAN'S APARTMENT- MORNING Tableaux of Bateman's apartment in the early morning light. A huge white living room with floor-to-ceiling windows looking out over Manhattan, decorated in expensive, minimalist high style: bleached oak floors, a huge white sofa, a large Baselitz painting (hung upside down) and much expensive electronic equipment. The room is impeccably neat, and oddly impersonal - as if it had sprung straight from the pages of a design magazine.BATEMAN (V.0.) My name is Patrick Bateman. I am twenty-six years old. I live in the American Garden Buildings on West Eighty-First Street, on the eleventh floor Tom Cruise lives in the penthouse.Bateman walks into his bathroom, urinates while trying to see his reflection in a poster for Les Miserables above his toilet.BATEMAN (V.0.) I believe in taking care of myself, in a balanced diet, in a rigorous exercise routine. In the morning, if my face is a little puffy, I'll put on an ice pack while doing my stomach crunches. I can do a thousand now.Bateman ties a plastic ice pack around his face.Bateman does his morning stretching exercises in the living room wearing the ice pack.CUT TO:A mirror-lined bathroom. Bateman is luxuriating in the shower steam, scrubbing his body, admiring his muscles.BATEMAN (V.O.) After I remove the icepack, I use a deep pore-cleanser lotion. In the shower, I use a water-activated gel cleanser, then a honey-almond body scrub, and on the face an exfoliating gel scrub.Bateman stands in front of a massive marble sink applying a gel facial masque.BATEMAN (V.O.) Then I apply an herb mint facial masque which I leave on for ten minutes while I prepare the rest of my routine.Bateman opens the door of a mirrored cabinet, which is stocked with immaculate rows of skin care products. He begins selecting bottles jars and brushes, laying them in readiness on the marble counter.BATEMAN (V.O.)I always use an after-shave lotion with little or no alcohol because alcohol dries your face out and makes you look older. Then moisturizer, then an anti-aging eye balm, followed by a final moisturizing "protective" lotion...Bateman stares into the mirror. The masque has dried, giving his face a strange distorted look as if it has been wrapped in plastic. He begins slowly peeling the gel masque off his face.BATEMAN (V.O.) There is an idea of a Patrick Bateman, some kind of abstraction, hut there is no real me, only an entity, something illusory, and though I can hide my cold gaze and you can shake my hand and feel flesh gripping you and maybe you can even sense our lifestyles are probably comparable: I simply am not there.INT. BATEMAN BEDROOM - MORNING Another huge white room, equally minimal: a futon, rumpled white sheets, a bedside lamp with a halogen bulb, and a large expensive painting (Eric Fischl or David Salle) chosen by Bateman's interior decorator.Dressed in silk boxer shorts, Bateman stands in front of a huge walk-in closet, filled with rows of expensive shirts, shoes and designer suits, organized according to color and tone.BATEMAN (V.O.) It is hard for me to make sense on any given level. My self is fabricated, an aberration. My personality is sketchy and unformed, my heartlessness goes deep and is persistent.Fully dressed in Armani, Bateman stands in front of a full-length mirror in the middle of his vast bedroom, adjusting his cuff-links.BATEMAN (V.0.) My conscience, my pity, my hopes disappeared a long time ago, if they ever did exist.He gives a last look at the mirror and likes what he sees. He gives his reflection a smile.INT. OFFICES OF PIERCE & PIERCE - DAY As Bateman walks down the corridor, he passes another MAN who looks just like him.MAN Morning, Hamilton. Nice tan.Bateman walks past the desk of JEAN, his secretary, pulling his Walkman from around his neck. Jean is attractive, wholesome, earnest. She smiles shyly. She loves him.JEAN Late?BATEMAN Aerobics class. Sorry. Any messages?JEAN Ricky Hendricks has to cancel today. He didn't say what he was canceling or why.BATEMAN I occasionally box with Ricky at the Harvard Club. Anyone else?JEAN And...Spencer wants to meet you for a drink at Fluties Pier 17.BATEMAN When?JEAN After six.BATEMAN Negative. Cancel it.Jean follows him into his office.JEAN Oh? And what should I say?BATEMANJust...say...no.JEAN Just say no?Jean stands at his desk, waiting for instructions.BATEMAN Okay, Jean. I need reservations for three at Camols at twelve-thirty, and if not there, try Crayons. All right?JEAN (Playfully) Yes, sir.She turns to leave.BATEMAN Oh wait. And I need reservations for two at Arcadia at eight tonight.Jean turns around.JEAN Oh, something. . romantic?BATEMAN No, silly. Forget it. I'll make them. Thanks.JEAN I'll do it.BATEMAN No. No. Be a doll and just get me a Perrier, okay?JEAN You look nice today.Jean exits. Bateman straightens some magazines in his office, lifts a painting off the wall and puts it back at a slightly different angle. He fiddles with some pencils in a beer stein. He puts on some MUSIC and flips through a Sports Illustrated. He buzzes Jean. She comes in a moment later with the Perrier and a file.JEAN Yes?BATEMAN Is that the Ransom file? Thanks. Don't wear that outfit again.JEAN Ummm...what? I didn't hear you.BATEMAN I said "Do not wear that outfit again." Wear a dress. A skirt or something.Jean stands there, then looks down at herself.JEAN (Smiling bravely) You don't like this, I take it?BATEMAN Come on, you're prettier than that.JEAN (Sarcastically) Thanks, Patrick.The phone RINGS and Jean turns to leave.BATEMAN I'm not here. And high heels. I like high heels.As Jean leaves, Bateman clicks on the TV set in one corner of the room and starts watching Jeopardy!INT. TAXI - EVENING EVELYN WILLIAMS, Patrick Bateman's fiancée, is making notes with a gold Cross pen and sipping a bottle of mineral water. Evelyn is blonde, classically beautiful, expensively educated, and utterly pleased with herself. She usually addresses Patrick as if he were a small child.EVELYN I'd want a zydeco band, Patrick. That's what I'd want, a zydeco band. Or mariachi. Or reggae. Something ethnic to shock Daddy Oh, I can't decide...And lots of chocolate truffles. Godiva. And oysters on the halfshell.CLOSE-UP on Bateman, who is wearing a Walkman and staring out the window.BATEMAN (V.O.) I'm trying to listen to the new George Michael tape but Evelyn-my supposed fiancée-keeps buzzing in my ear.Evelyn continues to make notes.EVELYN Marzipan. Pink tents. Hundreds, thousands of roses. Photographers. Annie Leibovitz. We'll get Annie Leibovitz. And we'll hire someone to videotape. Patrick, we should do it.BATEMAN (Removing his Walkman) Do...what.EVELYN Get married. Have a wedding.BATEMAN Evelyn?EVELYN Yes, darling?BATEMAN Is your Evian spiked?EVELYN We should do it.BATEMAN No-I can't take the time off work.EVELYN Your father practically owns the company. You can do anything you like, silly.BATEMAN I don't want to talk about it.EVELYN Well, you hate that job anyway. Why don't you just quit? You don't have to work.BATEMAN Because I...want...to...fit...in.The taxi bumps to a halt.INT. ESPACE RESTAURANT- NIGHT A cavernous garage, harshly spot-lit, decorated in self-conscious brutalist chic. Iron girders, walls of waxed plaster featuring exposed rusted pipes, a huge Schnabel smashed-plate painting on one wall. The tables and chairs are made of extremely uncomfortable bolted steel.BATEMAN (V.O.) I'm on the verge of tears by the time we arrive at Espace since I'm positive we won't have a decent table, but we do, and relief washes over me in an awesome wave.Tm Price and two downtown types, STASH and VANDEN, are already seated. Vanden is about twenty, pretty and sullen, with green streaks in her black hair. Stash is pale, with ragged black hair and bad skin.They are all trying to read large stainless steel menus that look like minimalist art.PRICE The menu's in braille.He gets up to greet them, giving Evelyn a suspiciously long kiss.PRICE I have to talk to you.He drags her away, half giggling and protesting.EVELYN (Over her shoulder) Pat, this is my cousin Vanden and her boyfriend Stash. He's an artist.BATEMAN (After smiling at his own reflection in the mirror and checking his hair) Hi. Pat Bateman.Vanden takes his hand reluctantly, says nothing.BATEMAN Let me guess-you live in the East Village?Pause.STASH SoHo.COURTNEY RAWLINSON and LUIS CARRUTHERS arrive at the table. Courtney is blonde, classically beautiful and from precisely the same social background as Evelyn, but she is considerably more fragile and neurotic. Luis is half-English, half-Argentinean, slightly overweight (a rarity in this crowd), puppyish and eager to please. He wears the same type of designer clothes as Price and Bateman, but with foppish tendencies: velvet jackets, bow-ties, boldly patterned vests.They exchange air kisses. As soon as Luis turns his back, Bateman sneaks a kiss on Courtney's neck.COURTNEY (Whispering) Stop it!Stash and Vanden watch them in silence.LATER:Price is whispering in Evelyn's ear. Everyone else is quietly eating, except Bateman, who is drinking and watching Evelyn and Price.BATEMAN (V.O.)I am fairly sure that Timothy and Evelyn are having an affair. Timothy is the only interestingperson I know. Courtney is almost perfect looking. She s usually operating on one or more psychiatric drugs. Tonight I believe it's Xanax. More disturbing than her drug use, though, is the fact that she's engaged to Luis Carruthers, the biggest dufus in the business.Courtney rouses herself from her drug haze.COURTNEYTell me. Stash...do you think SoHo is becoming to...commercial?CARRUTHERS Yes, I read that.PRICE Oh, who gives a rat's ass?VANDEN Hey. That affects us.PRICE (Wired on coke) Oh ho ho. That affects us? What about the massacres in Sri Lanka, honey? Doesn't that affect us, too? I mean don't you know anything about Sri Lanka? About how the Sikhs are killing like tons of Israelis there? Doesn't that affect us?BATEMAN Oh come on. Price. There are a lot more important problems than Sri Lanka to worry about. Sure our foreign policy is important, but there are more pressing problems at hand.PRICE Like what?BATEMAN Well, we have to end apartheid for one. And slow down the nuclear arms race, stop terrorism and world hunger. But we can't ignore our social needs. either We have to stop people from abusing the welfare system. We have to provide food and shelter for the homeless and oppose racial discrimination and promote civil rights while also promoting equal rights for women but change the abortion laws to protect the right to life yet still somehow maintain women's freedom of choice.The table stares at Bateman uncomfortably.BATEMAN We also have to control the influx of illegal immigrants. We have to encourage a return to traditional moral values and curb graphic sex and violence on TV, in movies, in pop music, everywhere. Most importantly we have to promote general social concern and less materialism in young people.Price chokes on his drink. Everyone is silent and mystified.CARRUTHERS Patrick, how thought-provoking.INT. EVELYN'S BEDROOM - LATER THE SAME EVENING Bateman and Evelyn are lying on her bed watching television.BATEMAN Why don t you just go for Price?EVELYN Oh God, Patrick. Why Price? Price?BATEMAN He's rich.EVELYN Everybody's rich.BATEMAN He's good-looking.EVELYN Everybody's good-looking, Patrick.BATEMAN He has a great bodyEVELYN Everybody has a great body now.Bateman unbuttons his shirt and makes advances to get Evelyn to have sex with him. She ignores him, watching the Home Shopping Channel with the remote in her hand. Finally, he straddles her, penis close to her face. She tries to look around him at the TV, then takes notice.EVELYN What do you want to do with that, floss with it?Bateman flops back down beside her and stares at the television.EVELYN Are you using minoxidil?BATEMAN No. I'm not. Why should I ?EVELYN Your hairline looks like it's receding.BATEMAN It's not.EXT. STREET - LATER THAT NIGHT It is 3 a.m. Bateman is standing at an ATM, listening to the comforting sound of fresh bills thudding out of the machine. Bateman turns around and watches a solitary young woman walk past him. He collects his money, placing it carefully in his wallet, and then walks toward her, whistling. He catches up to her as she pauses at a red light.BATEMAN Hello.The woman looks suspicious for a moment and then, seeing his smile, smiles back.INT. DRY CLEANERS - DAY Bateman, dressed in an Armani suit with an unlit cigar between his teeth is standing in a dry cleaners, arguing with the Chinese woman behind the counter.BATEMAN Listen, wait. You're not...shhh wait...you're not giving me valid reasons.The woman continues to speak to him in another language, grabbing at the sleeve of the jacket.BATEMAN What are you trying to say to me?Her husband has taken Bateman's horribly bloodstained sheets out of the bag and is staring at them.BATEMAN Bleach-ee? Are you trying to say bleach-ee? Bleach-ee. Oh my God.She keeps pointing to the jacket and talking.BATEMAN (Talking over her) Two things. One. You can't bleach a Soprani. Out of the question. Two.(Louder) Two. I can only get these sheets in Santa Fe. These are very expensive sheets and I really need them clean.She keeps talking and Bateman leans into her.BATEMAN If you don't shut your fucking mouth I will kill you, are you understanding me?She talks faster.BATEMAN Now listen-I have a very important lunch meeting (Checks Rolex) at Hubert's in thirty minutes, and I need those ...no wait, twenty minutes. I have a lunch meeting at Hubert's in twenty minutes with Ronald Harrison and I need those sheets cleaned by this afternoon.She keeps talking.BATEMAN Listen. I cannot understand you.Bateman starts laughing, slaps his hand down on the counter.BATEMAN This is crazy. You're a fool. I can't cope with this.Bateman is on the verge of tears.BATEMAN Stupid bitchee! Understand? Oh Christ!Someone enters the store behind him. It's VICTORIA, late-twenties, attractive but a little overweight, wearing a tailored business suit with white sneakers and sports socks.VICTORIA Patrick?She takes off her sunglasses.VICTORIA Hi, Patrick. I thought that was you.BATEMAN Hello (Mumbles un incomprehensible name)Awkward pause.BATEMAN Well.VICTORIA Isn't it ridiculous? Coming all the way up here, but youknow. They really are the best.BATEMAN Then why can't they get these stains out? I mean can you talk to these people or something? I'm not getting anywhere.Victoria moves toward the sheet that the old man is holding up. Shetouches it and the woman behind the counter begins talking again.VICTORIA Oh my, I see. What are those? Oh my.BATEMAN Um, well...it s cranberry juice. Cranapple.VICTORiA (Skeptically) Really?BATEMAN Well, I mean, um, it s really...Bosco. You know, like...like a Dove Bar. It's a Dove Bar...Hershey's Syrup?VICTORIA (As if sharing a secret joke) Oh yeah. Oh I get it. Fun with chocolate.BATEMAN Listen, if you could talk to them (He yanks the sheet out of the man's hand) I would really appreciate it. I'm really late. I have a lunch appointment at Hubert's in fifteen minutes.Bateman turns to leave.VICTORIA Hubert's? Oh really? It moved uptown, right?BATEMAN Yeah, well, oh boy, listen, I've got to go. Thank you, uh...Victoria?VICTORIA Maybe we could have lunch one day next week? You know, I'm downtown near Wall Street quite often.BATEMAN Oh, I don't know, Victoria. I'm at work all the time.VICTORIA Well, what about, oh, you know, maybe a Saturday?BATEMAN (Checking his watch) Next Saturday?VICTORIA (Shrugging) Yeah.BATEMAN Oh, can't, I'm afraid. Matinée of Les Miserables. Listen, I've really got to go. I'll-Oh...Christ...I'll call you.VICTORIA Okay. Do.Bateman glares at the woman behind the counter and rushes out the door. Victoria stares after him as we hear the sound of the bell on the closing door.INT. BATEMAN'S APARTMENT - DAYBateman is sitting on the sofa watching a video, talking to Courtney on a portable phone. He's holding a video box in one hand, perusing the title: Inside Lydia's Ass. Offscreen we hear the sounds of the porn movie as he talks.BATEMAN Listen, what are you doing tonight?COURTNEY What? Oh, I'm...busy.BATEMAN Listen, you're dating Luis, he's in Arizona. You're fucking me, and we haven't made plans. What could you possibly be up to tonight?COURTNEY Stop it. I'm...BATEMAN On a lot of lithium?COURTNEY Waiting for Luis to call me. He said he'd call tonight. Oh don't be difficult, Patrick.BATEMAN You should come have dinner with me.COURTNEY But-when?BATEMAN Am I confused or were we talking about tonight?COURTNEY Ummm . . yeah. Luis is calling me tonight. I need to behome for that.BATEMAN Pumpkin?COURTNEY Yes?BATEMAN Pumpkin you're dating an asshole.COURTNEY Uh huh.BATEMAN Pumpkin you're dating the biggest dickweed in New York.COURTNEY I know. Stop it.BATEMAN Pumpkin, you're dating a tumbling, tumbling dickweed.COURTNEY Patrick don't call me pumpkin anymore, okay? I have to go.BATEMAN Courtney? Dinner?COURTNEY I can't.BATEMAN I'm thinking Dorsia.COURTNEY Dorsia's nice.BATEMAN Nice?COURTNEY You like it there, don't you?BATEMAN The question is do you like it, Courtney? And will you blow off a fucking phone call from your sad excuse for a boyfriend to eat there tonight.COURTNEY Okay. Yeah. What time?BATEMAN Eight? COURTNEY Pick me up? BATEMAN Sounds like I'll have to. Don't fall asleep, okay? Wear something fabulous. Dorsia, remember?Bateman hangs up, opens up the Zagat's guide and dials the number for Dorsia with trembling fingers. It's busy and so he puts it on speakerphone, constant redial. He waits with his head in his hands, sweating with anxiety, until there is finally an answer.MAITRE D'Dorsia. Please hold.He is on hold for a long time, getting very tense.MAITRE D'Dorsia.BATEMAN (Both of his eyes are closed) Umm...yes...I know it's a little late but is it possible to reserve a table for two at eight or eight-thirty perhaps?Long pause. The Maitre D' starts giggling quietly and then more loudly until the laughter is almost hysterical and he hangs up the phone.INT. TAXI- NIGHTBateman and Courtney are in the back of a cab. Courtney isheavily medicated.COURTNEY A facial at Elizabeth Arden, which was really relaxing, then to the Pottery Bam where I bought this silver muffin dish. (She starts to pass out)BATEMAN Is that Donald Trump's car?COURTNEY (Thickly) Oh God, Patrick. Shut up.BATEMAN You know, Courtney, you should take some more lithium. Or have a Diet Coke. Some caffeine might get you out of this slump.COURTNEY I just want to have a child. Just...two...perfect...children...(Her voice trails as she descends back into a drug haze)The cab draws up outside a restaurant. The awning reads "Barcadia."INT. BARCADIA - NIGHT An insanely expensive nouvelle Italian restaurant all polished natural brick, spotless white tablecloths, minimalist flower arrangements, discreet lighting.A waiter has come to take their drink orders.BATEMANJ&B. Straight.COURTNEY Champagne on the rocks. Oh-could I have that with a twist? She starts to sink back in her chair and Bateman leans over and pulls her back up.COURTNEY Are we here?BATEMAN Yes.COURTNEY This is Dorsia?BATEMAN (Examining a menu that says "Barcadia" in large script) Yes, dear.Courtney almost falls asleep while looking at her menu, and starts to slide off of her chair. Bateman grabs her by both shoulders and props her up.BATEMAN Courtney, you're going to have the peanut butter soup with smoked duck and mashed squash. New York magazine called it a 'playful but mysterious little dish." You'll love it. And then...the red snapper with violets and pine nuts. I think that'll follow nicely. COURTNEY Mmmm...thanks, Patrick. She falls asleep at the table.INT. COURTNEY'S BEDROOM - NIGHTBateman and Courtney are in Courtney's bed. Bateman is on top of her, reaching for a condom in the ashtray. He tears it open with his teeth, puts it on.COURTNEY (Dazed on lithium) I want you to fuck me.Bateman gets on top of her, starts to fuck her.COURTNEY Luis is a despicable twit.BATEMAN Yes, Luis is a despicable twit. I hate him.He keeps fucking her.COURTNEY No, you idiot. I said "Is it a receptacle tip?" Not, is Luis a despicable twit. Is it a receptacle tip? Get off me.BATEMAN Is it a what?COURTNEY Pull out.BATEMAN I'm ignoring you.COURTNEY (screaming) Pull out, goddamnit!BATEMAN (Slowing down but not stopping)What do you want, Courtney?She pushes him away from her.BATEMAN It's a plain end. I think.COURTNEY Turn the light on.She tries to sit up.BATEMAN Oh Jesus. I'm going home.COURTNEY Patrick. Turn on the Light.He turns on the light. BATEMAN It's a plain end, see? So? COURTNEY Take it off. BATEMAN Why? COURTNEY Because you have to leave half an inch at the tip – (She covers herself with her comforter) to catch the force of the ejaculate! BATEMAN I'm getting out of here. Where's your lithium?Courtney throws a pillow over her head and starts crying. COURTNEY (Screaming) Do you think you're turning me on by having unsafe sex?Bateman pulls the pillow off her and slaps her face.BATEMAN Oh Christ, this really isn't worth it. And see, Courtney, it's there for what? Huh? Tell us. (He slaps her again lightly) Why is it pulled down half an inch? So it can catch the force of the ejaculate!COURTNEY (Choking crying) Well, it's not a turn-on for me. I have a promotion coming to me. I don't want to get AIDS.Bateman grabs her head and makes her look at the condom.BATEMAN See? Happy? You dumb bitch? Are you happy, you dumb bitch?COURTNEY Oh God, just get it over with.He fucks her quickly until he has a mediocre orgasm and falls down next to her. They lie side by side with their bodies not touching, eyes open, staring at the ceiling.INT. CONFERENCE ROOM, PIERCE & PIERCE - DAYBateman and Luis Carruthers are seated at a long table in the conference room at Pierce & Pierce, which looks out onto a spectacular view of Manhattan.CARRUTHERS Patrick, thanks so much for looking after Courtney.Dorsia, how impressive! How on earth did you get a reservation there?BATEMAN Lucky, I guess.CARRUTHERS That's a wonderful jacket. Let me guess, Valentino Couture?BATEMAN Uh huh.CARRUTHERS (Reaching out to touch it) It looks so soft.BATEMAN (Catching Luis hand) Your compliment was sufficient Luis.Carruthers is distracted by a question from the colleague on his left.Paul Owen enters, carrying the Wall St. Journal under his arm. He is handsome, supremely confident and self-satisfied; he sees himself as a leader among men.OWEN (To Bateman) Hello, Halberstam. Nice tie. How the hell are you?BATEMAN I've been great. And you?Their conversation fades down as we hear Bateman's thoughts.BATEMAN (V.O.) Owen has mistaken me for this dickhead Marcus Halberstam. It seems logical because Marcus also works at P&P and in fact does the same exact thing I do and he also has a penchant for Valentino suits and Oliver Peoples glasses. Marcus and I even go to the same barber, although I have a slightly better haircut.During this voiceover the CAMERA WANDERS over to MARCUS HALBERSTAM, who is conferring with a colleague in the opposite corner of the room. He bears a superficial resemblance to Bateman.OWEN How's the Ransom account going, Marcus?BATEMAN (Nervous) It's...it's...all right.OWEN Really? That's interesting. (He stares at Bateman, smiling)Not great?BATEMAN Oh well, you know.OWEN And how's Cecilia? She's a great girl.BATEMAN Oh yes. I'm very lucky.McDermott and Price enter.McDERMOTT Hey. Owen! Congratulations on the Fisher account.OWEN Thank you, Baxter.PRICE Listen, Paul. Squash?OWEN Call me. (Hands him a business card)PRICE How about Friday?OWEN No can do. Got a res at eight-thirty at Dorsia. Great sea urchin ceviche. There is a stunned silence as he walks away and sits in a corner of the room, ostentatiously studying papers.CLOSE-UP on Bateman's face, cold with hatred.PRICE(Whispering) Jesus. Dorsia? On a Friday night? How'd he swing that?McDERMOTT (Whispering) I think he's lying.Bateman takes out his wallet and pulls out a card. PRICE (Suddenly enthused) What's that, a gram? BATEMAN New card. What do you think?McDermott lifts it up and examines the lettering carefully. McDERMOTT Whoa. Very nice. Take a look.He hands it to Van Patten.BATEMAN Picked them up from the printers yesterdayVAN PATTEN Good coloring.BATEMAN That's bone. And the lettering is something called Silian Rail.McDERMOTT (Envious) Silian Rail?VAN PATTEN It is very cool, Bateman. But that's nothing.He pulls a card out of his wallet and slaps it on the table. VAN PATTEN Look at this.They all lean forward to inspect it. PRICE That's really nice.Bateman clenches his fists beneath the table, trying to control his anxiety.VAN PATTEN Eggshell with Romalian type. (Turning to Bateman)What do you think?BATEMAN (Barely able to breath, his voice a croak) Nice.PRICE (Holding the card up to the light) Jesus. This is really super. How'd a nitwit like you get so tasteful?Bateman stares at his own card and then enviously at McDermott's. BATEMAN (V.O.)I can't believe that Price prefers McDermott's card to mine.PRICE But wait. You ain't seen nothin' yet. He holds up his own card. PRICE Raised lettering, pale nimbus white...BATEMAN (Choking with anxiety) Impressive. Very nice. Let's see Paul Owen's card.Price pulls a card from an inside coat pocket and holds it up for their inspection: "PAUL OWEN, PIERCE & PIERCE, MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS." Bateman swallows, speechless. The sound in the room dies down and all we hear is a faint heartbeat as Bateman stares at the magnificent card.BATEMAN (V.O.) Look at that subtle off-white coloring. The tasteful thickness of it. Oh my God, it even has a watermark...His hand shaking, Bateman lifts up the card and stares at it until it fills the screen.He lets it fall. The SOUND RETURNS TO NORMAL.CARRUTHERS Is something wrong? Patrick...you're sweating.EXT. STREET- EVENING The financial district. The streets are eerily deserted.Bateman stands at an ATM, enjoying the reassuring sound of $500 in fresh bills thudding from the machine. As he turns to leave, he notices someone across the street.A HOMELESS MAN is lying in a doorway on top of an open grate, surrounded by bags of garbage and a shopping cart. A cardboard sign is attached to the front of the cart: I AM HOMELESS AND HUNGRY PLEASE HELP ME. A small, thin dog lies next to him.He is black, dressed in a stained, torn, lime-green polyester pants suit with jeans worn over the pants.BATEMAN (Offering his hand) Hello. Pat Bateman.The Homeless Man stares at Bateman, struggling to sit up.BATEMAN You want some money?. Some...food?The Homeless Man nods and starts to cry. Bateman reaches into his pocket and pulls out a $I 0 bill, then changes his mind and holds out a $5 instead.BATEMAN Is this what you need?The Homeless Man nods, looks away, wipes his nose.HOMELESS MAN I'm so hungry.BATEMAN It's cold out, too, isn't it?HOMELESS MAN I'm so hungry.BATEMAN (Holding the bill just out of the man's reach) Why don't you get a job? If you're so hungry, why don't you get a job?HOMELESS MAN (Shivering and sobbing) I lost my job...BATEMAN Why? Were you drinking? Is that why you lost it? Insider trading? Just joking. No, really-were you drinking on the job?HOMELESS MAN I was fired. I was laid off.BATEMAN Gee, uh, that's too bad.HOMELESS MAN I'm so hungry.The dog starts to whimper.BATEMAN Why don't you get another one? Why don't , you get another job?HOMELESS MAN I'm not...BATEMAN You're not what? Qualified for anything else?HOMELESS MAN I'm hungryBATEMAN I know that, I know that. Jeez, you're like a broken record. I'm trying to help you.HOMELESS MAN I'm hungry.BATEMAN Listen, do you think it's fair to take money from people who do have jobs? From people who do work?HOMELESS MAN What am I gonna do?BATEMAN Listen, what's your name?HOMELESS MANAl.BATEMAN Speak up. Come on.HOMELESS MANAl.BATEMAN Get a goddamn job, Al. You've got a negative attitude. That's what's stopping you. You've got to get your act together. I'll help you.HOMELESS MAN You re so kind, mister. You're kind. You're a kindman. I can tell.BATEMAN (Petting the dog) Shhhh...it's okay.HOMELESS MAN (Grabbing Bateman's wrist) Please...I don know what to do. I'm so cold.BATEMAN (Stroking his face, whispering) Do ,you know how bad you smell? The stench, my God.HOMELESS MAN I can't...I can't find a shelterBATEMAN You reek. You reek of...shit. Do you know that? (Shouting)Goddammit, Al-look at me and stop crying like some kind of faggot. Al...I'm sorry.Bateman carefully puts the money back in his wallet.BATEMAN It's just that...I don't know I don't have anything in common with you.He opens his briefcase and pulls out a long thin knife with a serrated edge. He pushes up the sleeve of his jacket to protect it.BATEMAN Do you know what a fucking loser ,you are?HOMELESS MAN'S POV as Bateman lunges at him with the knife.EXTREME WIDE SHOT of the street. Bateman's shadowed figureis hunched over the Homeless Man, stabbing him in the stomach.The dog barks wildly and Bateman stomps on it until it is silent.LOW ANGLE shot of Bateman as he throws a quarter on the ground.BATEMANThere's a quarter. Go buy some gum.Bateman walks calmly into the empty caverns of Wall Street. Cars drift past, their headlights momentarily illuminating the body left twitching on the ground.INT. BEAUTY SALON - DAY CLOSE-UP on Bateman's face and torso. His eyes are closed as a woman's hands rub cream into his face.FACIALIST What beautiful skin you have, Mr Bateman. So fine, so smooth...His eyes open to look up at the facialist and then he closes them again.BATEMAN (V.O.) I have all the characteristics of a human being- flesh, blood, skin, hair-but not a single clear, identifiable emotion except for greed ,und disgust. Something horrible is happening inside me and I don't know why.CUT TO:Bateman sitting in a chair, looking down at the MANICURIST who is giving him a pedicure. She is cutting his nails with tiny sharp scissors. He stares at them longingly.BATEMAN (V.O.) My nightly bloodlust has overflowed into my days. I feel lethal, on the verge of frenzy.CUT TO:Bateman lying irradiated by ultraviolet light on a tanning bed, wearing goggles.BATEMAN (V.O.) I think my mask of sanity is about to slip.INT. TEXARKANA RESTAURANT - NIGHT An insanely expensive nouvelle Tex-Mex restaurant, with an ironic Southwestern decor: Santa Fe colors, Navajo blankets, naive cowboy art, rawhide banquettes.Bateman bursts in the door, late, and approaches the MAITRE D'.BATEMAN Marcus Halberstam. For two at eight?MAITRE D'Your friend has already been seated. Follow me, Mr. Halberstam.Paul Owen is seated at a table underneath an enormous pair of ram's horns. He is arguing with the WAITER.OWEN No, I want to know. I came here for the cilantro crawfish gumbo, which is after all the only excuse one could have for being in this restaurant, which is by the way, almost completely empty. Am I to believe that all ten people in this restaurant have eaten your entire supply of cilantro crawfish gumbo?WAITER I'm very sorry sir. There was a fire in the kitchen earlier today, and-BATEMAN J&B, straight. And a Dixie beer.WAITER Would you like to hear-OWEN Double Absolut martini.WAITER Yes, sir. Would you like to hear the specials?BATEMAN Not if you want to keep your spleen.The Waiter leaves.OWEN This is a real beehive of, uh, activity, Halberstam. This place is hot, very hot.BATEMAN Listen, the mud soup and the charcoal arugula are outrageous here.OWEN Yeah, well, you're late.BATEMAN Hey, I'm a child of divorce. Give me a break (Studying the menu; he's in a surprisingly good mood) Hmmm, I see they've omitted the pork loin with lime jello.OWEN We should've gone to Dorsia. I could've gotten us a table.BATEMAN Nobody goes there anymore.There is a long disgruntled silence.BATEMAN Is that Ivana Trump over there? (Laughs) Jeez Patrick I mean Marcus, what are you thinking? Why would Ivana be at Texarkana?Another pause.BATEMAN So, wasn't Rothschild originally handling the Fisher account? How did you get it?OWEN I could tell you that, Halberstam, but then I'd have to kill you.He guffaws. Bateman laughs politely.LATER: Paul Owen is very drunk. BATEMAN cold sober.BATEMAN I like to dissect girls. Did you know I'm utterly insane?Owen continues laughing and motions to the waiter for another drink.OWEN Great tan, Marcus. Really impressive. Where do you tan?BATEMAN Salon.OWEN I've got a tanning bed at home. You should look into it.Bateman nods, agitated.OWEN And Cecelia, how is she? Where is she tonight?BATEMAN Cecelia is, well...you know (Cecelia. I think she's having dinner with...Evelyn Williams.OWEN Evelyn. Great ass. Goes out with that loser Patrick Bateman. What a dork.BATEMAN Another Martini, Paul?Owen nods drunkenly.LATER:The end of the meal. Owen is squeezing a lime onto the table, missing his beer, incredibly drunk. The check is laid down.BATEMAN (Talking to Owen like a child) Paul, give me your Amex card. Good boy.Bateman slaps the card down, looks at the check.BATEMAN Two-hundred-and-fifty. Very reasonable. Let's leave a big tip, shall we? My place hr a nightcap?OWEN No, man. I'm gonna bail.BATEMAN Come on, you dumb son of a bitch. (Helping him into his jacket) I've got a preview of the Barneys catalogue and a bottle of Absolut waiting for us.INT. BATEMAN'S APARTMENT - NIGHTThe living room floor has been meticulously covered with newspaper.Owen is slumped drunkenly in a white Eames chair, a glass in his hand. Bateman is looking through his CDs.BATEMAN You like Huey Lewis and the News?OWEN They're okay.BATEMAN Their early work was a little too New Wave for my taste. But then Sports came out in 1983, I think they really came into their own, commercially and artistically.Bateman walks to his bathroom, taking a large ax out of theshower. He takes two Valium.BATEMAN (Said partly from the bathroom) The whole album has a clear, crisp sound and a new sheen of consummate professionalism that gives the songs a big boost.Bateman comes back out and leans the ax against the wall. He walks to the foyer and puts on a raincoat, watching Owen from behind ail the time.BATEMAN He's been compared to ELvis Costello but I think Huey has a more bitter, cynical sense of humor.Owen is absent-mindedly leafing through the Barneys catalogue.OWEN Hey, Halberstam?BATEMAN Yes, Owen?OWEN Why are there copies of the Style section all over the place? Do you have a dog? A chow or something?BATEMAN No, Owen.OWEN (Confused) Is that a raincoat?BATEMAN Yes, it is.Bateman moves to the CD player. He takes a CD out of its case and slides it in the machine.BATEMAN In 1987 Huey released this, Fore!, their most accomplished album. I think I heir undisputed masterpiece is "HiP To Be Square," a song so catchy that most people probably don't listen to the lyrics. But they should because it's not just about the pleasures of conformity and the importance of trends. It's al~ a personal statement about the band itself.Bateman puts on "Hip To Be Square."BATEMAN crosses the room and picks up the ax.We follow BATEMAN from behind as he walks up to Owen, the ax raised over his head.BATEMAN Hey, Paul?As Owen turns around, FROM OWEN'S POV we see Bateman swing the ax toward his face.Blood sprays onto the white raincoat.FROM BEHIND OWEN, we see BATEMAN as he yanks the ax out.Owen drops to the floor. His body falls out of the frame. We stay on his legs twitching mechanically.Blood pulses onto the newspaper-covered floor.BATEMAN (Raising the ax and screaming) Try getting a reservation at Dorsia now, you fucking stupid bastard!LOW ANGLE ON BATEMAN as he beats Owen with the back of the ax.OFFSCREEN, the sound of the ax hitting Owen.BATEMAN (Panting) Fucking bastard...Bateman takes his raincoat off, still panting. He folds the coat carefully in half, bloody side in, and drapes it neatly over the back of a chair.He sits back on the white sofa and surveys the scene. He checks his Rolex and lights a cigar.OFFSCREEN, Paul Owen's last faint sighs are heard.INT. LOBBY - NIGHT BATEMAN drags a large, blood-soaked sleeping bag through the lobby, past the bored doorman, who looks up from the Post for a moment.EXT. STREET - NIGHTBATEMAN is trying to hail a cab. Owen's body is at his feet. Luis Carruthers and a Japanese girl walk up to him.CARRUTHERS Patrick? Is that you?BATEMAN No, Luis. It's not me. You're mistaken.CARRUTHERS This is Gwendolyn Ichiban. This is my very good friend Patrick Bateman. Where are you going? We're going to Nell's. Gwendolyn's father's buying it. (Looking down at the body) Where did you get your overnight bag?BATEMAN Commes des Garcon.A cab stops. BATEMAN opens the door and manages to get Owen's body into the backseat.Bateman gets into the cab.CARRUTHERS Call me please, Patrick.BATEMAN Jesus lives, Luis.INT. BATEMAN'S HELL'S KITCHEN APARTMENT - NIGHT A bare room, lit by one light bulb. The walls are blank except for a Les Miserables poster. There is one ratty chair.Bateman pours lime over Paul Owen's body, which is lying in a bathtub. He plays Huey Lewis, smokes a cigar, watches the body dissolve.INT. PAUL OWEN'S APARTMENT - NIGHT Bateman is letting himself into the apartment. It is very similar to Bateman's, but even more minimalist. The walls are white-pigmented concrete with a large minimalist painting on the wall. One wall is covered in a trendy, large-scale scientific drawing above a long, black leather couch.BATEMAN Where to send the bastard? Dallas? Pans?He throws some clothes into a suitcase, randomly grabbing toiletries and shoving them in.BATEMAN Singapore? London. I'll send the asshole to London.He puts some music on to help muffle his voice, then leans over the answering machine.He does a passable imitation of Owen's speech.BATEMAN Hi, this is Paul. I've been called away to London for a few days. Meredith, I'll call you when I get back. Hasta la vista, baby.INT. BATEMAN'S OFFICE - MORNING Bateman is sitting at his desk, with the latest copy of Sports Illustrated in front of him and his Walkman playing Kenny G. We hear the MUSIC until Jean enters and he takes the Walkman off.BATEMAN (Faintly irritable) What is it?JEAN Patrick?BATEMAN (Condescendingly) Ye-es, Je-an?JEAN Patrick, a Mr. Donald KIMBALL is here to see you.BATEMAN Who?JEAN Detective Donald KIMBALL?Silence. Bateman stares out the window, then down at the drawing of a headless woman he's been doodling on the back cover of Sports Illustrated.BATEMAN Tell him I'm at lunch.JEAN (whispering) Patrick, I think he knows you're here. It's only ten-thirty. Silence. BATEMAN Send him in, I guess. As she exits, he picks up the cordless phone and pretends to talk to someone at the other end.BATEMAN Now, John, you've got to wear clothes in proportion to your physique. There are definite do's and don'ts, good buddy, of wearing a bold-striped shirt. A hold-striped shirt calls for solid-colored or discreetly patterned suits and ties...The door to the office opens and he waves in DETECTIVE DONALD KIMBALL. KIMBALL is surprisingly young - about Bateman's age - and good-looking, dressed in a crumpled linen Armani suit of the type Bateman and his friends might wear.Kimball sits down and crosses his legs with a self-assurance that makes Bateman so nervous he forgets to carry on with his fake conversation. Kimball looks up at him curiously, noticing the silence.BATEMAN (Realizing that Kimball is staring at him) Right. And yes...always tip the stylist fifteen percent.Bateman shrugs at the detective, rolling his eyes in exasperation. KIMBALL nods understandingly.BATEMAN Listen, John, I've got to go. T Boone Pickens just walked in...(He laughs inanely) Just joking...(Pause) No don't tip the owner of the salon. Okay, John, right, got it. (He hangs up the phone and pushes the antenna in) Sorry about that.KIMBALL No, I'm sorry. I should've made an appointment. (Gesturing toward the phone) Was that anything important?BATEMAN Oh that? Just mulling over business problems. Examining opportunities...Exchanging rumors...Spreading gossip.They laugh politely.KIMBALL (Holding out his hand) Hi. I'm Donald KIMBALLBATEMAN (Shaking firmly) Hi. Pat Bateman. Nice to meet you.KIMBALL I'm sorry to barge in on you like this. but I was supposed to talk to Luis Carruthers and he wasn't in and...well, you're here, so...I know how busy you guys can get.KIMBALL stares at the three open copies of Sports Illustrated and the Sony Walkman lying on Bateman's desk. Bateman sees the look and sweeps the magazines into the top drawer along with the Walkman, which is still running.BATEMAN (Forcing himself to sound friendly and relaxed) So, what's the topic of discussion?KIMBALL I've been hired by Meredith Powell to investigate the disappearance of Paul Owen.BATEMAN You're not with the FBI or anything, are you?KIMBALL Nothing like that. I'm just a private investigator.BATEMAN Ah, I see...Yes. Paul's disappearance...Yes.KIMBALL So it's nothing that official. I just have some basic questions. About Paul Owen. About yourself-BATEMAN Coffee?KIMBALL No. I'm okay.BATEMAN Perrier? San Pellegrino?KIMBALL No, I'm okay.KIMBALL takes out a small black notepad and the same gold Cross pen that Bateman and his friends all use. Bateman buzzes Jean.JEAN (O.S.) Patrick?BATEMAN Can you bring Mr...KIMBALL KIMBALL.BATEMAN Mr. Kimball a bottle of San Pelle-KIMBALL Oh no, I'm okay.BATEMAN It's no problemBateman watches intently as KIMBALL writes something down in his notebook, then crosses something out. Jean enters and places the bottle of San Pellegrino and a Steuben etched glass on the table, shooting a concerned glance at Bateman. He glares at her. KIMBALL smiles and nods at Jean as she leaves.BATEMAN Well, what's the topic of discussion?KIMBALL The disappearance of Paul Owen.BATEMAN Oh right. Well, I haven't heard anything about the disappearance or anything...(Trying to laugh) Not on "Page Six" at least.KIMBALL I think his family wants this kept quiet.BATEMAN Understandable. (Staring at the untouched bottle of San Pellegrino) Lime?KIMBALL No, really. I'm okay.BATEMAN You sure? I can always get you a lime.A pause.KIMBALLJust some preliminary questions that I need for my own files, okay?BATEMAN Shoot.KIMBALL How old are you?BATEMAN Twenty-six. I'll be twenty-seven in October.KIMBALL (Scribbling in his notebook) Where did you go to school?BATEMAN Harvard. The Harvard Business School.KIMBALL Your address?BATEMAN Fifty-five West Eighty-First Street. The AmericanGardens Building.KIMBALL (Looking up, impressed) Nice. Very nice.BATEMAN (Flattered) Thanks.A pause as KIMBALL studies his notebook. Bateman closes hiseyes, as if in pain.KIMBALL Pardon me, but are you okay?BATEMAN Who do you ask?KIMBALLYou seem...nervous.Bateman reaches into his desk drawer and brings out a bottle of aspirin.BATEMAN Nuprin?KIMBALL Uh...no, thanks.Kimball takes out a pack of Marlboro's and lays it on the desk.BATEMAN Bad habit.KIMBALL I know. I'm sorry.A pause, as Bateman stares at the cigarettes.KIMBALL Would you rather I not smoke?BATEMAN No, I guess it's okay.KIMBALL You sure?BATEMAN No problem. (Buzzing Jean)JEAN (O.S.) Yes, Patrick?BATEMAN Bring us an ashtray for Mr. KIMBALL, please.She whisks in with a crystal ashtray as they sit in silence.KIMBALL What can you tell me about Paul Owen?BATEMAN Well...He coughs, shakes two Nuprin into his hand and swallows them dry.KIMBALL How well did you know him?BATEMAN I'm...at a loss. He was part of that whole...Yale thing, you know.KIMBALL Yale thing?A pause.BATEMAN Yeah...Yale thing.KIMBALL What do you mean...Yale thing?A pause.BATEMAN Well, I think for one that he was probably a closet homosexual. Who did a lot of cocaine...that Yale thing.A silence during which the sound of the air conditioner becomes deafening.KIMBALL So...there's nothing you can tell me about Paul Owen?BATEMAN He led what I suppose was an orderly life. He...ate a balanced diet.KIMBALL What kind of man was he? Besides...(He hesitates tries to smile) the information you've just given.BATEMAN I hope I'm not being cross-examined here.KIMBALL Do you feel that way?BATEMAN No. Not really.KIMBALL (As he writes without looking up) Where did Paul hang out?BATEMAN Hang...out?KIMBALL Yeah. You know...hang out.BATEMAN Let me think. The Newport. Harry's. Fluties. Endochine.Nell's. Comell Club. The New York Yacht Club. The regular places.KIMBALL He had a yacht?BATEMAN No, he just hung out there.KIMBALL And where did he go to school?A slight pause.BATEMAN Don't you know this?KIMBALL I just wanted to know if you know.BATEMAN Before Yale? If I remember correctly, Saint Paul's...Listen, I just...I just want to help.KIMBALL I understand.He makes another note.KIMBALL Anything else you can tell me about Owen?BATEMAN We were both seven in 1969.KIMBALL (Smiles) So was I.BATEMAN Do you have any witnesses or fingerprints?KIMBALL Well, there's a message on his answering machine saying he went to London.BATEMAN Well, maybe he did, huh?KIMBALL His girlfriend doesn't think so.BATEMAN But...has anyone seen him in London?KIMBALL Actually, yes.BATEMAN Hmmm.KIMBALL Well, I've had a hard time getting an actual verification. A Stephen Hughes says he saw him at a restaurant there, but I checked it out and what happened is, he mistook a Hubert Ainsworth for Paul, so...BATEMAN Oh.KIMBALL Was he involved at all , do you think, in occultism or Satanworship?BATEMAN What?KIMBALL I know it sounds like a lame question, but in New Jersey I know this sounds like a lame question, but last month-I don't know if you've heard about this, but a young stockbroker was recently arrested and charged with murdering a young Chicano girl and performing voodoo rituals with various body parts-BATEMAN Yikes! No. Paul wasn't into that. He followed a balanced diet and-KIMBALL Yeah, I know, and was into that whole Yale thing.A pause - the longest so far.BATEMAN Have you consulted a psychic?KIMBALL No.BATEMAN Had his apartment been burglarized?KIMBALL No, it actually hadn't. Toiletries were missing. A suit was gone. So was some luggage. That's it.BATEMAN I mean no one's dealing with the homicide squad yet or anything, right?KIMBALL No, not yet. As I said, we're not sure. But...basically no one has seen or heard anything.BATEMAN That's so typical, isn't it?KIMBALL It's just strange. (He stares out the window, lost in thought) One day someone's walking around, going to work, alive, and then...BATEMAN Nothing.KIMBALL People just...disappear.BATEMAN The earth just opens up and swallows people. (He checks his Rolex)KIMBALL Eerie. Really eerie.Silence.BATEMAN (Standing up) You'll have to excuse me. I have a lunch meeting with Cliff Huxtable at Four Seasons in twenty minutes.KIMBALL Isn't the Four Seasons a little far uptown? I mean aren't you going to be late?BATEMAN Uh, no. There's one...down here.KIMBALL Oh really? I didn't know that.Bateman leads him to the door.BATEMAN Yes. It's very good.KIMBALL turns to face him.KIMBALL Listen, if anything occurs to you, any information at all...BATEMAN Absolutely, I'm 100% with you.KIMBALL Great, and thanks for your, uh, time, Mr. Bateman.Bateman closes the door firmly on KIMBALL. He closes his eyes and leans against the door, sweating.INT. BATEMAN'S APARTMENT - AFTERNOON A perfectly lit kitchen still-life - a bottle of Evian, a white porcelain plate on which sits a sliced kiwi, some perfect green grapes, a few berries.OFFSCREEN, the SOUND OF SCREAMS AND A CHAINSAW can be heard from the living room.The living room: Bateman is maniacally doing abdominal crunches as the television plays a video of Texas Chainsaw Massacre. There is a pile of horror videos on his coffee table, next to a copy of GQ.LATER:Bateman is sitting in his armchair, phone book in hand, jerking off. He is squealing into the phone and breathing.BATEMAN You like that, slut?The person on the other end clearly hangs up.CLOSE-UP on his fingers dialing the phone.BATEMAN You want to know what I'm wearing? Sixty-dollar boxer shorts by Ralph Lauren, a hundred-and-fifty-dollar white cotton T-shirt by Commes des Garcons. (He snorts like a pig) My Rolex cost-Another hang-up. He dials again.BATEMAN (Whipering) I'm a corporate raider. I orchestrate hostile takeovers. What do you think of that? (Makes disgusting sucking noises and grunts) Huh, bitch?GIRL (O.S.)Dad, is that you?Bateman hangs up, frustrated.EXT. STREET/INT. LIMOUSINE - NIGHT Bateman cruises around in the limo. It pulls up alongside CHRISTIE, a pretty blonde hooker in shorts and leather jacket. Bateman opens his window to speak to her.BATEMAN I haven't seen you around here.CHRISTIE You just haven't been looking.BATEMAN Would you like to see my apartment?Bateman flips on the light inside the limo. He's wearing a tuxedo.CHRISTIE (looking away to some dark corner) I'm not supposed to.Bateman is holding out a $100 bill, which Christie now notices, then takes.BATEMAN Do you want to come to my apartment or not?CHRISTIE I'm not supposed to. (She pockets the bill) But I can make an exception.BATEMAN Do you take American Express?Christie is still looking out behind her.BATEMAN Do you take American Express?Christie looks at him like he's crazy.BATEMAN I'm joking. Come on, get in.As they drive uptown, Bateman dials the cell-phone. He reads off a credit card number.BATEMAN I'd like a girl, early twenties, blonde, who does couples. Couples. Fifty-five West Eighty-First, the American Gardens Building. Apartment 7C. And I really can't stress blonde enough. Blonde.He hangs up.BATEMAN I'm Paul. My name is Paul 0wen, have you'got that? You are Christie. You are to respond only to Christie. Is that clear?INT. BATEMAN'S APARTMENT - NIGHT Christie is in the bathtub, Bateman is pouring in white milky bath oil.BATEMAN That's a very fine Chardonnay you're drinking.Long pause, in which Christie is luxuriating in the tub and Bateman is casually touching her breast.BATEMAN I want you to clean your vagina.Christie reaches for a washcloth.BATEMAN No. From behind. Get on your knees.Christie shrugs.BATEMAN I want to watch. You have a very nice body.The doorman RINGS. Bateman answers.BATEMAN Thank you. Send her up. Christie, get out and dry off, choose a robe-not the Bijan and come and meet me and our guest in the living room for drinks.Bateman answers the door.BATEMAN You've arrived! How lovely, let me take your coat. I'm Paul. How good of you to come.The escort girl looks somewhat bewildered. Bateman takes her coat and inspects her body and face.BATEMAN Not quite blonde, are you? More dirty blonde. I'm going to call you Sabrina. I'm Paul Owen.Bateman escorts her into the living room and brings her a glass of wine. Christie enters, sitting next to Sabrina on the couch, and Bateman sits across from them. There is a long silence.BATEMAN So, don't you want to know what I do?The two girls look at each other with uncomfortable smiles. Christie shrugs.CHRISTIE No.SABRINA (Smiling) No, not really.Bateman is visibly irritated, recrosses his legs.BATEMAN Well, I work on Wall Street. At Pierce & Pierce. (Long pause) Have you heard of it?Another long pause. They shake their heads. Christie stands up and goes over to the CD collection.CHRISTIE You have a really nice place here...Paul. How much did you pay for it?BATEMAN Actually, that's none of your business, Christie, hut I can assure you it certainly wasn't cheap.Bateman leaves to refill his wine glass and Sabrina takes a pack of cigarettes out of her purse.Bateman returns, carrying a tray of chocolates.BATEMAN No, no smoking. Not in here.He walks over to Christie.BATEMAN Varda truffle?Christie stares at the plate and shakes her head. Sabrina takes one.BATEMAN I don't want you to get drunk, but that's a very fine Chardonnay you're not drinking.Bateman goes over to his CDs and scans his vast collection. He takes one out and examines it.BATEMAN Do you like Phil Collins? I've been a big Genesis fan ever since the release of their 1980 album, Duke. Before that I really didn't understand any of their work. It was too artsy, too intellectual. It was on Duke where Phil Collins' presence became more apparent. He puts aside the CD and takes out another one.BATEMAN I think "Invisible Touch" is the group's undisputedmasterpiece.He puts on the song and gestures for them to follow him into the bedroom.BATEMAN It's an epic meditation on intangibility, at the same time it deepens and enriches the meaning of the preceding three albums. Christie, take off the robe.Bateman puts out a lace teddy. He motions to Christie to put it on.BATEMAN Listen to the brilliant ensemble playing of Banks, Collins and Rutherford. You can practically hear every nuance of every instrument. Sabrina, remove your dress.Bateman starts to undress.BATEMAN In terms of lyrical craftsmanship and sheer songwriting, this album hits a new peak of professionalism. Sabrina, why don't you dance a little?Sabrina dances awkwardly. Christie sits on the bed.BATEMAN Take the lyrics to "Land of Confusion." In this song, Phil Collins addresses the problem of abusive political authority.Bateman knots a silk scarf around Christie's neck - rather menacingly - then helps her into some suede gloves. BATEMAN "In Too Deep" is the most moving pop song of the 1980s about monogamy and commitment. The song is extremely uplifting. Their lyrics are as positive and affirmative as anything I've heard in rock.He turns on the video camera. BATEMAN Christie, get down on your knees, so Sabrina can see your asshole.Bateman looks through the viewfinder.BATEMAN Phill Collins solo efforts seem to be more commercial and therefore more satisfying in a narrower way, especially songs like "In the Air Tonight" and "Against All Odds." Sabrina, don't just stare at it. Eat it. He walks over to the sound system in his bedroom and slides in the CD.BATEMAN But I also think that Phill Collins works better within the confines of the group than as a solo artist-and I stress the word artist. This is "Sussudio," a great, great song, a personal favorite.SEX MONTAGE CUT TO "Sussudio." We see this in WIDE SHOT, or through the LENS OF THE VIDEO CAMERA.CUT TO: Bateman asleep in his bed with Christie and Sabrina on either side of him. Sabrina accidentally touches his wrist. Bateman's eyes open.BATEMAN Don't touch the Rolex.Bateman gets up from his bed and goes over to his armoire.He opens the drawer in which are a nail gun, a coat hanger, a rusty butter knife and a half-smoked cigar. He turns around to see Christie and Sabrina both starting to get up and get dressed. He takes the coat hanger.BATEMAN We're not through yet...CUT TO:Bateman ushering them out the door impatiently. They are both sobbing, badly bruised and bleeding. Bateman has a deep scratch on his hand and one on his shoulder. In the b.g. Phil Collins' "In the Air Tonight" is playing.INT. YALE CLUB – DAY McDermott, Van Patten and Bateman are having drinks. Price walks by with a gorgeous girl and gives them the finger.BATEMAN What an asshole.McDERMOTT Why is Laurie Kennedy dating Price? He's a fucking drug addict. No self-control.VAN PATTEN But Laurie Kennedy is a total hardbody. What do you think, Bateman?BATEMAN I know her. I knew her.McDERMOTT Why do you say it like that? Why does he say it like that?VAN PATTEN Because he dated her.BATEMAN How did you guess?VAN PATTEN Girls dig Bateman. He's CQ. You're total CQ, Bateman.BATEMAN Thanks, guy, but...she's got a lousy personality.McDERMOTT So what? It's all looks. Laurie Kennedy is a babe. Don't even pretend you were interested for any other reason.VAN PATTEN If they have a good personality, then something is very wrong.McDERMOTT If they have a good personality and they are not great looking-who fucking cares?BATEMAN Well, let's just say hypothetically, okay? What if they have a good personality? (He smiles giving up) I know, I know-ALL IN UNISONThere are no girls with good personalities! (They laugh and high-five each other)VAN PATTEN A good personality consists of a chick with a little hardbody who will satisfy all sexual demands without being too slutty about things and who will essentially keep her dumb fucking mouth shut.McDERMOTT Listen, the only girls with good personalities who aresmart or maybe funny or halfway intelligent or even talented-though God knows what the fuck that means-are ugly chicks.VAN PATTEN Absolutely.McDERMOTT And this is because they have to make up for how fucking unattractive they are.Pause.BATEMAN Do you know what Ed Gein said about women?VAN PATTEN Ed Gein? Maitre d' at Canal Bar?BATEMAN No, serial killer, Wisconsin in the fifties. He was an interesting guy.McDERMOTT So what did Ed say?BATEMAN He said, "When I see a pretty girl walking down the street I think two things. One part of me wants to take her out and talk to her and be real nice and sweet and treat her right."Pauses, finishes his drink.McDERMOTT What does the other part of him think?BATEMAN What her head would look like on a stick.McDermott and Van Patten look at each other and then back at Bateman. Bateman starts to laugh, and the other two uneasilyjoin In.Luis Carruthers walks up to the table.CARRUTHERS (Shyly) Hi, guys. I wanna get your opinion on something.McDermott rolls his eyes at the rest of the table.McDERMOTT If it's about the bow-tie you're wearing, you know how we feel about it. Luis laughs good-naturedly.CARRUTHERS Yes, I do. No, it's my business card-I decided to get a new one too.He pulls out something incredibly tasteful. Everyone compliments Luis except Bateman. The SOUND DROPS and all we hear is the beating of his heart as he stares at the card enviously. Luis plucks it from his hand and walks away, pleased with himself.VAN PATTEN Listen, what about dinner?BATEMAN (Suddenly angry) Is that all you ever have to contribute, Van Patten? "What about fucking dinner?" McDERMOTT Ah, cheer up, Bateman. (Slaps him on the back, massages his neck) What's the matter? No shiatsu this morning? BATEMAN (Watching Luis going into the men's room) Keep touching me like that and you'll draw back a stump.McDERMOTT Whoa, hold on there, little buddy.BATEMAN Excuse me.He gets up from the table. As Bateman walks away, Van Patten grabs a waiter.VAN PATTEN Is this tap water? I don't drink tap water Bring me an Evian or something, okay?INT. MEN'S ROOM - DAY Bateman pulls on his gloves as he enters the men's room. Carruthers is standing in a stall with his back to Bateman. The sound of his urinating is heard until Bateman approaches, then abruptly stops. Slowly, Bateman brings his hands up over the collar of Carruthers' cashmere jacket, circling his neck until both thumbs and index fingers meet. All we can hear is the sound of Bateman's heavy breathing. Slowly he starts to squeeze. Almost in slow motion, Carruthers turns around.Carruthers looks down at Bateman's wrists as if lost in thought. Then he lowers his head and kisses Bateman's wrist. He looks back at Bateman with a shy, love-struck expression, then reaches up and tenderly touches the side of his face.CARRUTHERS God, Patrick. Why here?He strokes Bateman's hair.CARRUTHERS I've seen you looking at me. I've noticed your hot body.Carruthers tries to kiss him on the lips but Bateman backs away. He drops his hands from Carruthers' neck. Carruthers immediately takes them and places them back. Bateman drops them again.CARRUTHERS Don't be shy.Bateman takes a deep breath, closes his eyes and tries to lift his hands again, but abandons the attempt.CARRUTHERS You don't know how long I've wanted it. Ever since that Christmas party at Arizona 206. You know the one, you were wearing that red-striped paisley Armani tie.Bateman looks down and sees that Carruthers' pants are still unzipped. He moves past him out of the stall and stands by the sink and pretends to wash his hands until he realizes he still has his gloves on. Carruthers comes up behind him.CARRUTHERS I want you. I want you...too.Bateman storms out of the men's room, bumping into a waiter and several customers and cursing. Noticing the maitre d' and another waiter conferring and looking at him strangely, Bateman straightens up and smiles and waves cheerfully at them. Carruthers walks up behind him.BATEMAN (Hissing) What...is...it?CARRUTHERS Where are you going?BATEMAN (Stumbling away from him) I've gotta...I've gotta...return some videotapes.CARRUTHERS Patrick?BATEMAN What?CARRUTHERS (Silently mouthing the words) I'll call you.Bateman storms out of the restaurant.INT. COURTNEY'S APARTMENT - NIGHT Bateman is lying on top of Courtney in her bed, after sex. Still panting, he rolls off her, onto his back. He feels something lumpy underneath him and pulls out a stuffed toy, a black cat with blue jewel eyes. There is silence.COURTNEY Will you call me before Thanksgiving?BATEMAN Maybe.Courtney sighs and reaches for a bottle of pills on her nightstand, swallowing several. Bateman gets up and begins to dress, admiring himself in the mirror. Courtney watches the TV at low volume.COURTNEY What are you doing tonight?BATEMAN Dinner at the River Cafe. Au Bar afterwards, maybe.COURTNEY That's nice.BATEMAN You and...Luis?COURTNEY (Lighting a cigarette) We were supposed to have dinner at Tad and Maura's, but-you know how Luis is...BATEMAN I never knew you smoked.COURTNEY (Smiling sadly) You never noticed.Bateman is making final adjustments to his tie.COURTNEY Listen...Patrick. Can we talk?BATEMAN You look marvelous. There's nothing to say. You're going to marry Luis. Next week, no Less.COURTNEY (Sarcastically) Isn't that special? (A pause) Patrick?BATEMAN Yes, Courtney?C0URTNEY If I don't see you before Thanksgiving, have a nice one, okay?BATEMAN (Flatly) You too.Courtney picks up the black cat and starts petting its head. Bateman heads down the hallway to the front door.COURTNEY Patrick?BATEMAN Yes?COURTNEY Nothing.INT. NIGHTCLUB - NIGHT A big eighties nightclub with a mixed crowd: hip-hop kids, visitors from Jersey, downtown art people, yuppies.I Bateman makes his way through the crowd to the bar, and tries to attract the bartender's attention. He is wearing a suit and his tie is loosened. Kimball approaches him.KIMBALL Mr. Bateman?Bateman gasps and recovers.BATEMAN Detective Kendall...uh Campbell?KIMBALL Kimball. (Extending his hand) Call me Don.BATEMAN Don.KIMBALL So...you hang out here a lot?BATEMAN Uh, yes...I mean...whenever necessary. You know.Pause.BATEMAN How's the investigation going? Taken anyone in for "formal questioning?" (He makes quotation marks in the air and laughs a not-so-relaxed laugh)KIMBALL 0h no. Informal conversations, mostly. What's that, Stoli?BATEMAN Yeah. No Finlandia, as usual. Fucking dump.KIMBALL (Looking at his glass) Too true. You know, Bateman-people tend to reveal so much more about themselves when they're in a relaxed setting, don't you think?Bateman is nodding nervously, idiotically.KIMBALL Some people just can t help themselves. Another Stoli?Bateman shakes his head.KIMBALL I mean they want to get caught.BATEMAN Dan, great to see you again. Like I said, you need anything at all, I'm your man. I don't envy your job. I mean Owen was a...complex man.Bateman wanders away.He looks back uneasily at KIMBALL, who is watching him from the bar. A GUY WITH DREADLOCKS walks by.BATEMAN (Holding up his hand to high-five) Rasta Man!The man stares at him.BATEMAN I mean-Mon. We be jammin'...The man walks by, shaking his head.Bateman wanders into the next room, which is filled with a more familiar crowd: young men in designer suits, girls in black designer dresses. Across the room he spots McDermott and Price sitting with three models, all wearing black mini-dresses. Price and McDermott are having a whispered argument.PRICE I have to talk to these girls? They're models.McDERMOTT Someone has to get the Bolivian marching powder. You went last time. Stay here.McDermott waves gaily to the girls and disappears.Bateman looks at the models. DAISY and CARON are staring into space, smoking. LIBBY is trying to work out how to unfold her napkin. Price signals to Bateman for help.PRICE (Clapping his hands together) Let's have a conversation. So...it was hot out today, no?Silence.LIBBY Where did Craig go?PRICE Well, Gorbachev is downstairs. McDermott is going to sign a peace treaty with him between the United States and Russia. McDermott's the one behind glasnost, you know.LIBBY Well...yeah. But he told me he was in mergers and acquisitions.PRICE You're not confused, are you?LIBBY No, not really.CARON Gorbachev's not downstairs.DAISY (Smiling) Are you Iying?PRICE Yes, Caron's right. Gorbachev's not downstairs. He's at Tunnel.BATEMAN (To Daisy) Ask me a question.DAISY So, what do you do?BATEMAN What do you think I do?DAISY A model? An actor?BATEMAN No. Flattering, but no.DAISY Well...BATEMAN I m into, well, murders and executions mostly.DAISY (Unfazed) Do you like it?BATEMAN Welt...it depends, why?DAISY Well, most guys I know who work in mergers and acquisitions don't really like it.Silence.BATEMAN So, where do you work out?MUCH LATER IN THE EVENING: The club is half-empty now. Price is leaning over a balcony, messed-up on drugs. Bateman comes up behind him in a menacing way that suggests he might push him over the railing. Price turns around, wild-eyed, just as Bateman is reaching for him.PRICE (Shouting)I'm leaving. I'm getting out.BATEMAN Leaving what?PRICE This.Bateman is confused, he thinks Price is referring to his drink.BATEMAN Don't, I'll drink it.PRICE (Screaming) Listen to me, Patrick. I'm leaving.BATEMAN Where to? Are you going to go get a gram?PRICE I'm leaving! I...am...leaving!BATEMAN Don't tell me...merchant banking?PRICE No, you dumb son of a bitch. I'm serious. I'm disappearing.BATEMAN (laughing) Where to? Morgan Stanley? Rehab? What?Price looks away.McDermott and Daisy walk up to them.McDERMOTT Hey-don't worry, be happy.Price lifts his arms up as if greeting the crowd and is shouting something that can't be heard, thenPRICE Goodbye! Fuckheads!He climbs over the railing.DAISY What is he doing?BATEMAN Price! Come back!Price leaps from the balcony. He disappears for a moment then resurfaces and runs off into the crowd.EXT. CLUB - NIGHT Bateman and Daisy are waiting for a cab.DAISY My ex-boyfriend, Fiddler, who was in there, he plays in this band that just opened for U2-he couldn't understand what I was doing with a yuppie.BATEMAN Oh really?DAISY He said...(She laughs) He said you gave him bad vibes.BATEMAN That's...that's too bad.DAISY You think I'm dumb, don't you?BATEMAN What?DAISY You think I'm dumb. You think all models are dumb.BATEMAN (insincerely) No. I really don't.DAISY That's okay. I don't mind. There's something sweet about you.She takes his hand as they get into a cab.INT. DAISY'S HALLWAY - LATER THAT NIGHT Bateman leaves Daisy's apartment carrying a suitcase. He pauses in the hallway and tucks some long blonde hair back inside the case.INT. BATEMAN'S OFFICE - LATE AFTERNOON Bateman sits at his desk wearing Wayfarers doing the New York Times crossword puzzle at dusk.Jean knocks gently on the half-open door and walks in with a folder in her hand. Bateman ignores her.JEAN Doin' the crossword?Bateman nods without looking up.JEAN Need help?BATEMAN doesn't respond. We see that every space on the puzzle has been filled in with the words MEAT or BONE. Jean drops the folder on his desk and then walks out.BATEMAN Jean?JEAN (Re-enters office) Yes, Patrick?BATEMAN Would you like to accompany me to dinner?He erases one of the M's on the crossword puzzle.BATEMAN That is...if you're not doing anything.JEAN Oh no. I have no plans.BATEMAN (Lowering his Wayfarers) Well, isn't this a coincidence.A pause.BATEMAN Listen, where should we go?He leans back and pulls a Zagat's from the desk drawer.JEAN Anywhere you want?BATEMAN Let's not think about what I want. How about anywhere you want.JEAN Oh Patrick, I can't make this decision.BATEMAN No, come on. Anywhere you want.JEAN Oh, I can't. (Sighs) I don't know.BATEMAN Come on. Where do you want to go? Anywhere you want.Just say it. I can get us in anywhere.A long pause.JEAN What about...Dorsia?Bateman stops looking through the Zagat's guide and smiles at her.BATEMAN Soooo...Dorsia is where Jean wants to go...JEAN Oh, I don't know. No, we'll go anywhere you want.BATEMAN Dorsia is...fine.He dials the number.MAITRE D'Dorsia, yes?BATEMAN Yes, can you take two tonight, oh, let's say at nine o'clock?He checks his Rolex and winks at Jean.MAITRE D'We are totally booked.BATEMAN Oh really? That's great.MAITRE D' I said we are totally booked.BATEMAN Two at nine? Perfect.MAITRE D' There are no tables available tonight. The waiting list is also totally booked.BATEMAN See you then.He hangs up the phone. He walks over to the coat rack. He glances over at Jean, who is still standing in front of the desk, confused.BATEMAN Yes? You're dressed...okay.JEAN You didn't give them a name.BATEMAN They know me.Pause.BATEMAN Why don't you meet me at my house at seven o'clock for drinks, okay?She turns to leave.BATEMAN And Jean? You'll want to change before we go out.INT. BATEMAN'S APARTMENT - EARLY EVENING Jean stands by the floor-to-ceiling windows, looking out.JEAN Patrick, it's so...elegant. What a wonderful view.Bateman opens up the freezer where Daisy's head is cleady visible.BATEMAN Jean? Sorbet?JEAN Thanks, Patrick. I'd love some.Bateman walks in with a bottle of wine and a corkscrew in his hand and hands her the sorbet.Jean is eating the sorbet.JEAN Want a bite?BATEMAN I'm on a diet. But thank you.JEAN You don't need to lose any weight. You're kidding, right? You look great. Very fit.BATEMAN (Weighing the corkscrew examining the point for sharpness) You can always he thinner. Look...better.JEAN Well, maybe we shouldn't go out to dinner. I don't want to ruin your willpower.BATEMAN No. It's all right. I'm not very good at controlling it anyway.Silence, as Bateman walks around his apartment, opens up his knife drawer, looking at the knives.BATEMAN So listen, what do you really want to do with your life?Pause.BATEMAN And don't tell me you enjoy working with children, okay?JEAN Well, I'd like to travel. And maybe go back to school, but I really don't know...I'm at a point in my life where there seems lo be a lot of possibilities, but I'm so...I don't know...unsure.Bateman is touching a knife in the drawer, feeling the edge of the blade.BATEMAN Do you have a boyfriend?JEAN No, not really.BATEMAN Interesting.JEAN (Shyly) Are you seeing anyone? I mean, seriously?BATEMAN Maybe. I don't know Not really.Bateman opens up a cupboard where there are a lot of very Bateman opens a cupboard where there are a lot of neatlyordered weapons - an ax, a rifle, a chain saw, duct tape, twine and a nail gun.BATEMAN Jean, do you feel...fulfilled? I mean, in your life?JEAN Well, I guess I do. For a long time I was too focused on my work, I think, but now I've really begun to think about changing myself, you know, developing, and...growing.BATEMAN Growing. I'm glad you said that.Bateman picks up the duct tape.BATEMAN Did you know that Ted Bundy's first dog, a collie, was named Lassie? Had you heard this?JEAN Who's Ted Bundy?BATEMAN Forget it.JEAN What's that?BATEMAN Oh. Uh, tape. Duct tape. I...need it for...taping something. Bateman goes back to the cupboard for the nail gun.JEAN Patrick, have you ever wanted to make someone happy?Jean puts her spoon down on the table.BATEMAN (Looking up from loading nails into the gun) What...No! Put it in the carton.JEAN Sorry. (She puts the spoon in the carton)BATEMAN Jean? What?JEAN Make someone happy-have you ever wanted to?From behind, we follow Bateman as he walks across the room andstands behind the couch.BATEMAN I'm looking for...I guess you could say I just want to have a meaningful relationship with someone special.JEAN Hmmmm. He points the nail gun at the back of Jean's head.The phone RINGS. Startled, Bateman hides the nail gun behind his back. The answering machine picks up. As Bateman listens he discreetly places the nail gun behind the couch. He sits down opposite Jean, enjoying her discomfort as she listens to the message.EVELYN Patrick I know you're there. Pick up the phone, you bad boy. What are you up to tonight? It's me. Don't try to hide. I hope you're not out with some little number you picked up because you're my Mr. Bateman. My boy next door. Anyway you never called me and you said you would and I'll leave a message for Jean about this too to remind you but we're having dinner with Melania and Taylor-you know Melania, she went to Sweet Briar, auld Taylor, he went to Cornell-and we're meeting at the Cornell Club, so l'll call you tomorrow morning probably-bye, honey-oopps! You hate that. Bye Mr. Big Time CEO Patrick. Bye. Bye.Silence. Jean is obviously embarrassed and upset.JEAN Was that...Evelyn?Silence.JEAN Are you still seeing her?Silence.JEAN I'm sorry, I have no right to ask that.Silence.JEAN Do you want me to go?A long pause.BATEMAN Yes. I don t think I can...control myself.JEAN I know I should go. I know I have a tendency to get involved with unavailable men, and...I mean, do you want me to go?Another long pause.BATEMAN If you stay, I think something bad will happen. I think I might hurt you. (Almost hopefully) You don't want to get hurt, do you?JEAN No. No, I guess not. I don't want to get bruised. You're right, I should go.She gets up to leave.JEAN And don't forget you have a breakfast meeting with Frederick Bennet and Charles Rust at '21.BATEMAN Thanks. It slipped my mind completely.He sinks back on the sofa and shuts his eyes.INT. BATEMAN'S OFFICE - DAY Bateman enters P&P, walks up the corridor and pauses outside the door to his office. He sees KIMBALL in conversation with Jean, and Jean looking through her date book. He watches for a moment, frozen with anxiety. He then bursts in, shutting the door behind him.BATEMAN Kimball-I've been wanting to talk with you, Come into my office. Jean, great jacket. Matsuda?Jean looks flustered.Kimball follows Bateman into his office.KIMBALL I actually came to see Timothy Price, but he's taken a leave of absence.BATEMAN Yeah, gone into rehab. Shame. (Hopefully) Is he a suspect?KIMBALL Not really.A pause.KIMBALL Do you remember where you were on the night of Paul's disappearance? (He checks his notebook) Which was on the twentieth of December?BATEMAN God...I guess...I was probably returning videotapes.He opens his desk drawer and pretends to search through his diary.BATEMAN I had a date with a girl named Veronica.KIMBALL Wait. That's not what I've got.BATEMAN What?KIMBALL That's not the information I've received.BATEMAN Well...I...Wait...What information have you received?KIMBALL Let's see...(He flips through his notebook) That you were with-BATEMAN Well, I could he wrong.KIMBALL Well...When was the last time you were with Paul Owen?BATEMAN (Clearly nervous and under pressure) We had...gone to a new musical called...Oh Africa, Brave Africa. It was...a laugh riot...and that's about it. I think we had dinner at Orso's. No, Petaluma. No, Orso's. The...last time I physically saw him was...at an automated teller. I can't remember which...just one that was near, um, Nell's.Kimball is clearly giving up on Bateman for now. He opens his briefcase to put away his notebook.KIMBALL Well, thank you, Mr. Bateman.BATEMAN Patrick, please. I hope I've been informative. Long day-a bit scattered.KIMBALL Listen, I'm a little spent for now but how about lunch in a week or so when I've sorted out all this information?BATEMAN Great, yes, I'd like that.KIMBALL And if you could try and pin down where you were the night of Owen's disappearance, it would make my job a lot easier.BATEMAN Absolutely. I'm with you on that one.Kimball is rifling through his briefcase. He pulls out a new shrink wrapped CD and holds it up.KIMBALL Huey Lewis and the News. Great stuff. Heard it? I just bought it on my way here.Bateman stares at the CD - stunned, terrified.BATEMAN Never. I mean...I don't really like...singers.KIMBALL Not a big music fan, eh?BATEMAN No, I like music. Just-they're-Huey's too...black sounding. For me.KIMBALL Well, to each his own. So-lunch, Thursday? I'll call your secretary about reservations.BATEMAN I'll be there.EXT. MEAT PACKING DISTRICT/INT. LIMOUSINE - NIGHTThe same street corner where Bateman found Christie before. The limo is kept idling as he talks to her through a half-opened window.CHRISTIE I'm not so sure about this. I had to go to Emergency after last time...BATEMAN Oh this won't be anything like last time, I promise.CHRISTIE I don't think so.He hands her a $500 bill.BATEMAN Just come in the limo and talk to me for a minute. The driver's here, you'll be safe.Christie gets in hesitantly.BATEMAN Nothing like last time, promise.CHRISTIE Alright.He pours her a shot of vodka and makes her drink it.BATEMAN (Chatting as if they were at a cocktail party) So, you're looking great, how have you been?CHRISTIE (A little confused) Well, I actually might need a little surgery after last time.BATEMAN (Mock shock) Really?CHRISTIE My friend told me I should maybe even get a lawyer.BATEMAN Oh, lawyers are so complicated-don't do that. Here.He writes her a check for $I ,000 to cash and hands it to her. She snatches the check out of his hand and gets quickly out of the limo, walking hurriedly down the street.BATEMAN Bitch.He follows alongside her slowly in the limo, waving a huge wad of cash at her. She hesitates; he uses the money to lure her into the car. As she reluctantly gets into the limo, she reaches for the money.He snatches it away.BATEMAN Uh uh uh. Half now, half later.She takes the money and puts it inside her shirt.BATEMAN Okay, your name is Christie. We're meeting a friend of mine, Elizabeth. She'll be joining us in my new apartment shortly. You'll like her. She's a very nice girl. Don't say anything about yourself. Is that clear. Christie?Christie nods.INT. PAUL OWEN'S APARTMENT - NIGHT The living room: ELIZABETH has kicked off her shoes and flopped down on the couch underneath the Baselitz. Elizabeth is an attractive, dark-haired society girl who models occasionally. Christie is sitting on the couch opposite her, pretending to examine a CD.ELIZABETH You look really familiar. Did you you go to Dalton?Christie shakes her head.The kitchen: Bateman is grinding up tabs of Ecstasy and putting them in a bottle of wine. In the living room, Elizabeth is still staring at Christie as if she came from Mars.ELIZABETH I think I met you at Au Bar, didn't I ? With Spicey?Christie looks blank.ELIZABETH Well, maybe not with Spicey but it was definitely at Au Bar.Christie still blank.ELIZABETH You know, Au Bar?Christie shakes her head.ELIZABETH Anyway, Au Bar sucks now, it's terrible. I went to a birthday party there for Malcolm Forbes. Oh my God, please.Bateman enters carrying the bottle of wine and two glasses.Christie, who seems frightened, sips her wine and stares at the floor. There is an awkward silence.CHRISTIE This is nicer than your other apartment.BATEMAN (Offended that she prefers Owen's apartment) It's not that nice.Silence.CHRISTIE Where did you two meet?ELIZABETH Oh God! I met him at, oh God, the Kentucky Derby in '86-no, '87, and...(Turning to Patrick) You were hanging out with that bimbo Allison Poole. (Sarcastically) Hot number.BATEMAN What do you mean, she was a hot number.ELIZABETH If you had an American Express card she'd give you a blowjob. (To Christie) Listen, this girl worked in a tanning salon, needI say more?...What do you do?A long silence. Christie reddens and stares at the floor. BATEMAN She's my...cousin. ELIZABETH (Skeptically) Uh huh? BATEMANShe's from...France.A pause. Elizabeth looks at Bateman dubiously. ELIZABETH Where's your phone? I've got to call Harley.Bateman hands her a cordless phone. She dials, and stares At Christie while she waits for someone to answer. ELIZABETH Where do you summer? Southampton?Christie looks at Bateman and then back at Elizabeth.CHRISTIE No.ELIZABETH (Listening to the receiver) Oh God, it's his machine.BATEMAN Elizabeth, it's three in the morning.ELIZABETH He's a goddamn drug dealer! These are his peak hours.BATEMAN Don't tell him you're here.ELIZABETH Why would I?Bateman has poured her another glass of wine. She downs thewhole glass, making a face.ELIZABETH This tastes weird. (She examines the label and shrugs)Harley? It's me. I need your services. Translate that anyway you'd like. I'm at-BATEMAN (Whispering) You're at Paul Owen s.ELIZABETH Who?BATEMAN (Whispering) Paul Owen.ELIZABETH I want the number, idiot. (She waves him away and continues into the reciever) Anyway, I'm at Paul Norman's and I'll try you later and if I don't see you at Canal Bar tomorrow night I'm going to sic my hairdresser on you.She hangs up.ELIZABETH Did you know that guy who disappeared? Didn't he work at Pierce & Pierce, too? Was he a friend of yours?BATEMAN No.ELIZABETH Do you have any coke? Or Halcyon? I'd take a Halcyon.Bateman sits next to Elizabeth on the couch and pours her another glass of the drugged wine.BATEMAN Listen, I would just like to see...the two of you...get it on. What's wrong with that? It's totally disease-free.ELIZABETH (Laughing) Patrick, you re a lunatic.BATEMAN Come on. Don't you find Christie attractive?ELIZABETH Let's not get lewd. (Flirty) I'm in no mood to have a lewd conversation.BATEMAN Come on. I think it would be a turn-on.ELIZABETH (To Christie) Does he do this all the time?Christie shrugs.BATEMAN Christie, you're not drinking your wine.Christie looks at her wine and gingerly takes a sip.BATEMAN (To Elizabeth) Are you telling me you've never gotten it on with a girl?ELIZABETH No! I'm not a lesbian. Why do you think I'd be into that?BATEMAN Well, you went to Sarah Lawrence for one thing.ELIZABETH Those are Sarah Lawrence guys, Patrick. You're making me feel weird.LATER:Elizabeth is now writhing around on the couch and making out with Christie. Bateman holds up a Whitney Houston CD, showing them the picture of Whitney on the cover.BATEMAN Did you know that Whitney Houston's debut LP called simply Whitney Houston had four number-one singles on it? Did you know that, Christie? Whitney's voice leaps across so many boundaries and is so versatile-though she's mainly a jazz singer-that it's hard to take in the album on a first listening.ELIZABETH You actually listen to Whitney Houston? You actually have a Whitney Houston CD? More than one?She giggles, rolling off the sofa onto the floor.BATEMAN (Ignoring her) It's hard to choose a favorite track among so many great ones, but "The Greatest Love of All" is one of the best, most powerful songs ever written about self-preservation and dignity. It's universal message crosses all boundaries, and instills one with the hope that it's not too late to better ourselves. to act kinder. Since, Elizabeth, it's impossible in the world we live in to empathize with others, we can always empathize with ourselves.As he speaks, he opens the case and carefully places the CD in the player, admiring its pristine silver surface, and watches it slide into the machine.BATEMAN It's an important message, crucial, really, and it's beautifully stated on the album.INT. BEDROOM - LATER AN OUT-OF-FOCUS HOME VIDEO SHOT of Elizabeth, Christie and Bateman in the throes of sex, in the master bedroom.CUT BACK TO WIDE SHOT of the bedroom, partially blocked by the video camera in the foreground. Their bodies are an incoherent tangle of arms and legs. The only sounds are moans, heavy breathing and the slapping of flesh against flesh. CLOSE ON Christie's head and shoulders. Her eyes are shut as she grimly concentrates on giving a good professional performance, turning her head every so often to check the progress of her partners.OFFSCREEN WE HEAR Elizabeth panting in genuine pleasure, moaning loudly. Her voice gets louder and louder and then shifts to actual pain.Bateman rises up off the bed, suddenly appearing behind Christie. There is blood on his face.Christie turns her head and sees him. She screams and leaps off the bed, running out of the room. She slams the mirrored door behind her, and as it swings shut for a split second we see Elizabeth writhing in pain on the bed.We follow Christie out of the room, panicking, screaming.Christie runs down a darkened hallway, frantically opening doors, looking for an escape.She hears the SOUND OF A CHAINSAW coming from the bedroom.She opens a closet. The closet lights up as she opens the door and sees two dead, women hanging inside. She screams, then claps a hand over her mouth. She stops and listens. THE DISTANT SOUND OF THE CHAINSAW.She backs away slowly, into another dark room, lit only by the light from a television set. Through the darkness she sees a head on the top of the TV and starts to whimper.She runs toward the nearest door. Finding herself in the main hallway, she begins to jog toward the front door, then runs.Bateman appears from nowhere, holding the chainsaw, spattered with blood.Christie screams and changes direction. Bateman leaps at her, bellowing.They run through the bedroom and into the bathroom. Christie trips over Elizabeth's body, which is half in the bathtub.Both are slipping on the floor, which is slick with blood.Christie falls, tries to get up. Bateman grabs her leg. He tries to bite it.She kicks him in the face and gets up, running toward the front door.He runs after her.BATEMAN Not the face, you bitch. Not the fucking face, you piece of bitch trash!Christie, screaming, makes it out the front door.Bateman runs after her.She runs down the hall screaming and banging on doors.She moves to the elevator, pounding hysterically on the buttons. She sees the stairwell and runs for it.Bateman sees this and runs after her, revving the chainsaw.She runs down the stairs, Bateman two flights behind her. He stops, leans over the railing to look at her, then aims the chainsaw at her and drops it.Christie SCREAMS OFFSCREEN, then is suddenly silent.FROM BATEMAN'S POV we see Christie's body sprawled facedown at the bottom of the stairwell. The chainsaw sticks out of her back like a sword.INT. CRAYONS - EARLY EVENING An insanely expensive restaurant with a childhood motif: paper tablecloths and jars of crayons for drawing, lots of primary colors, and a goldfish bowl on each table.Bateman is at a table with Evelyn. They are both drawing on the tablecloth. Bateman is drawing Christie with the chainsaw in her back.EVELYN I want a firm commitment.BATEMAN I think, Evelyn, that we've...lost touch.Evelyn waves to a couple across the room.EVELYN (Distracted) Why? What's wrong?BATEMAN (Speaking very carefully, measuring each word) My need to engage in homicidal behavior on a massive scale cannot be, um, corrected, but I have no other way to fulfill my needs.The woman across the room holds up her hand, displaying anew bracelet. Evelyn smiles and nods approvingly.BATEMAN We need to talk.EVELYN Talk about what, Patrick? What is there to talk about?BATEMAN It's over, Evelyn. It's all overEVELYN (Motioning to the waiter for water) Touchy, touchy. I'm sorry I brought the wedding up. Let's just avoid the issue, alright? Now, are we having coffee?BATEMAN I'm fucking serious. It's fucking over. Us. This is no joke. I don't think we should see each other anymore.EVELYN But your friends are my friends. My friends are your friends. I don't think it would work. (Reaching over to dab his face with a napkin) You have a little something on your upper lip.BATEMAN (Brushing her hand away) I know that your friends are my friends. I've thought about that. You can have them.Evelyn stares at him, suspicious and bewildered, a realization dawning.EVELYN You're really serious, aren't you?BATEMAN Yes, I am.EVELYN But what about the past? Our past?BATEMAN We never really shared one.EVELYN You're inhuman.BATEMAN I'm...in touch with humanity. Evelyn, I'm sorry. (He pauses, as if searching for the right words) You're just not terribly important to me.Evelyn begins to cry.EVELYN No, no, no.BATEMAN I know my behavior is...erratic sometimes.She reaches desperately across the table and takes his hand. Bateman pulls his hand away.EVELYN (Sobbing) What do you want me to do, what is it you want?The occupants of nearby tables begin to stare. Bateman isbecoming increasingly agitated and embarrassed.BATEMAN (Looking uncomfortably around the room) If you really want to do something for me, you can stop making this scene right now.EVELYN Oh God, I can't believe this.BATEMAN I'm leaving now. I've assessed the situation and I'm going.Evelyn makes an effort to compose herself. She blots the tears so they will not affect her make-up.EVELYN (Surprisingly calm) Where are you going?BATEMAN I'm just leaving.EVELYN But where?BATEMAN I have to return some videotapes.He rushes out of the room.EXT. TRIBECA STREET - EVENING Bateman wanders into misty Tribeca streets, sees a stray cat.BATEMAN Here kitty, kitty.The small mangy cat rubs against him. He picks it up and walks toward an ATM, holding the cat. He puts his card in the machine. The screen reads: FEED ME A STRAY CAT.Bateman begins to attempt to shove the kitten into the deposit slot with some difficulty. The kitten squeals. He takes a gun from out of his pocket and points it at the kitten. He doesn't notice the woman waiting behind him.WOMAN Oh my God! Stop that! What are you doing?Bateman wheels around and shoots her. She falls screaming to the floor.Responding to the gunshot, A POLICE CAR SIREN WAILS in the distance. Bateman breaks into a run. The police car screeches after him.COP CAR (O.S.)HALT STOP. PUT DOWN YOUR WEAPON.Bateman ducks down an alley.EXT. ALLEY - NIGHT A COP rushes toward him, seemingly from out of nowhere, and tackles him, trying to get the gun away from him.Bateman manages to shoot the cop in the face while both of them have their hands on the gun, then shoots him again. He reloads the gun. The sound of more COP CARS arriving.He runs out of the alley.EXT. STREET - NIGHTAs he reaches the street, he finds A PHALANX OF POLICE CARSapproaching.COP CAR Halt. Put down your weapon.The cops leap out and fire a warning shot in the air. Bateman shoots at them. The police return fire.Bateman ducks down behind a parked car and continuesshooting wildly. A bullet hits the gas tank of one of the police cars. It catches fire and explodes. The flames light up the scene, illuminating the bodies of policemen both living and dead.NEW ANGLE: Bateman flees from the scene. The camera follows him as he runs along a row of Porsches, trying to open each one, setting off a cacophony of CAR ALARMS.THE SOUND OF POLICE SIRENS draws near.NEW ANGLE: He runs, panting, until he ends up in front of a tail, brilliantly lit office building. As he approaches, the lights in the building are going off floor by floor.INT. OFFICE BUILDING - NIGHT He rushes into the lobby, running for the elevator.NIGHT WATCHMAN Burning the midnight oil, Mr. Smith? You forgot to sign in.Bateman wheels around and shoots him. He runs toward the revolving doors. As he swings around in the doors, he notices a JANITOR who has witnessed the shooting. He revolves back into the lobby and shoots the janitor.NEW ANGLE: He runs out of the building and across the street to an identical office building, the one that houses Pierce & Pierce.INT. PIERCE & PIERCE LOBBY - NIGHT Bateman nods at the Pierce & Pierce NIGHT WATCHMAN and signs in. He breathes a sigh of relief as the elevator doors close behind him.INT. BATEMAN'S OFFICE - NIGHT Bateman stands looking out through the floor-length windows at a panoramic night view of the city and the river.Below him he sees a SWAT TEAM swarming over the roof of the opposite building. There are ambulances standing by, flares everywhere, distant sirens.Suddenly, THE SOUND OF A HELICOPTER draws near. Frightened, he drops to the floor behind his desk.Helicopter searchlights scan the building, illuminating Bateman's office for a few moments with a blaze of light.He is crouched in one corner, half-sobbing, talking into the phone, as the searchlight keeps circling.BATEMAN Harold, it's Bateman. Patrick Bateman. You're my lawyer so I think you should know-I've killed a lot of people. Some escort girls, in an apartment uptown, some homeless people, maybe five or ten, an NYU girl I met in Central Park. I left her in a parking lot, near Dunkin' Donuts. I killed Bethany, my old girlfriend, with a nail gun. and a man, some old faggot with a dog. Last week I killed another girl with a chainsaw-I had to, she almost got away There was someone else there, maybe a model, I can't remember but she's dead too. And Paul Owen. I killed Paul Owen with an ax, in the face. His body is dissolving in a bathtub in Hell's Kitchen. I don't want to leave anything out here...I guess I've killed 20 people, maybe 40-I have tapes of a lot of it. Some of the girls have seen the tapes, I even...well, I ate some of their brains and I tried to cook a little. Tonight I just, well, I had to kill a lot of people and I'm not sure I 'm going to get away with it this time-I mean I guess I'm a pretty sick guy. So-if you get hack tomorrow, I may show up at Harry's Bar, so, you know, keep your eyes open.Bateman hangs up the phone. The helicopter searchlight circles back, briefly illuminating the room. The camera rises up over Bateman huddled in the corner, staring blankly at the sky.INT. SMITH AND WOLLENSKY RESTAURANT - DAY KIMBALL and Bateman are sitting at a corner table.KIMBALL (Very surprised) No hash browns? BATEMAN Not in the mood, I guess.KIMBALL But...everyone orders the hash browns here. I mean- it's-have you been here before?BATEMAN (Deliberately nonchalant) Yes, of course. The hash browns are delicious. I'm just...not...ordering them.KIMBALL (Looking at him like he's nuts) Suit yourself, I guess.Pause.KIMBALL So, the night he disappeared? Any new thoughts on what you did?BATEMAN I'm not really sure. I had a shower...and some sorbet?KIMBALL I think maybe you've got your dates mixed up.BATEMAN But how? Where do you place Paul that night?KIMBALL According to his date book, and this was verified by his secretary, he had dinner with...Marcus Halberstam.BATEMAN And?KIMBALL I've questioned him.BATEMAN Marcus?KIMBALL Yes. And he denies it. Though at first he couldn't be sure.BATEMAN But Marcus denied it?KIMBALL Yes.BATEMAN Well, does Marcus have an alibi?KIMBALL Yes.A pause.BATEMAN He does? You're sure?KIMBALL (smiling)I checked it out. It's clean.BATEMAN Oh.KIMBALL Now where were you? (He laughs) BATEMAN (Laughing with him) Where was Marcus? KIMBALL He wasn't with Paul Owen. BATEMAN So who was he with? KIMBALL He was at Atlantis with Craig McDermott, Frederick Dibble, Harry Newman, George Butner and – (He pauses, Then looks up) - you.A moment of stunned silence.BATEMAN Oh, right. Of course...We had wanted Paul Owen to come. But he said he had plans...I guess I had dinner with Victoria...the following night. KIMBALL Personally I think the guy went a little nutso. Split town for a while. Maybe he did go to London. Sightseeing. Drinking. Whatever. Anyway, I'm pretty sure he'll turn up sooner or later. (A pause) I mean, to think that one of his friends killed him, for no reason whatsoever would be too ridiculous. Isn't that right, Patrick? McDermott stops by the table. McDERMOTT KIMBALL! How's the investigation? Talking to Bateman? Don't believe a word he says. (Laughs uproariously slapping him on the back) Bateman, what's wrong with ,you? Bateman looks at him in silence, panicking. McDERMOTT You can't eat at Smith and Wollensky without ordering the hash browns. Jesus, Bateman, you're a raving maniac. Been at Pierce & Pierce too long. (He wanders off muttering) No fucking hash browns...INT. PAUL OWEN'S APARTMENT BUILDING - DAYBateman walks into the lobby of Paul Owen's building. He has a surgical mask in one hand.DOORMAN What can I do for you, sir?BATEMAN 20B.DOORMAN Of course. Mrs. Wolfe is up there right now.BATEMAN Mrs. Wolfe?DOORMAN The real estate agent? You do have an appointment,don't you?Bateman steps out of the elevator and walks cautiously downthe hallway. Owen's door is open. The apartment is freshly painted and has been immaculately redecorated in English country-house style: overstuffed sofas, lots of chintz. There are flowers everywhere, and a YOUNG YUPPIE COUPLE stands admiring the place talkingto the realtor, MRS. WOLFE. Bateman wanders down the hallway, looking for familiar signs. He stops at the closet where we last saw two dead girls hanging. He opens the door and the light switches on, but it is empty. Mrs. Wolfe approaches, smiling.MRS. WOLFE Are you my two o'clock?BATEMAN No.Mrs. Wolfe eyes him strangely, then looks down at the surgical mash clutched in his hand. Her expression changes.MRS. WOLFE Can I help you?BATEMANI'm looking for...Paul Owen's...place.She stares at him impassively.BATEMAN Doesn't he live here?MRS. WOLFE No, he doesn't.BATEMAN Are you sure?MRS. WOLFE You saw the ad in the Times?BATEMAN No. Yes. I mean yes, I did. In the Times. But...doesn't Paul Owen still live here?MRS. WOLFE There was no ad in the Times.Bateman is shaking as they continue to stare at each other.MRS. WOLFE I think you should go now.BATEMAN But I think...I want to know what happened here.MRS. WOLFE Don't make any trouble. Please. I suggest you go.Bateman backs away slowly.MRS. WOLFE Don't come back.BATEMAN I won't...don't worry.Mrs. Wolfe glares at him as he walks down the hall, rattled, and gets into the elevator.EXT. DEPARTMENT STORE - DAY Bateman enters the revolving door of an office building, panicking and breathing heavily. He is sweating, his hair is wild, and he looks deranged. He goes around the revolving door twice and comes out onto the street again, where he bumps smack into a GUY just like him.GUY Hey, Kinsley.Bateman looks up at him wild-eyed.GUY See you at Fluties, okay?The guy walks away, utterly unfazed. Bateman wanders down the street, banging his briefcase against walls, garbage cans, etc.EXT. MIDTOWN PHONE BOOTH - DAY Bateman searches his pockets for pills. He finds three different pills and swallows them. He's sweating, and takes his jacket off to wipe his face, dialing a number.JEAN (O.S.) Patrick Bateman's office.BATEMAN Jean? Hello? Jean?JEAN (O.S.) Patrick? Is that you?BATEMAN Hello? Jean, I need help!JEAN (O.S.)Where are you?BATEMAN Jean-I'm not-JEAN (O.S.) Craig McDermott called. He wants to meet you and David Van Patten and Tim Price at Harry's for drinks.BATEMAN Oh God, what did you say, you dumb bitch?JEAN (O.S.) Patrick? I can't hear you.BATEMAN What are I doing?JEAN (O.S.) Where are you? Patrick, what's wrong?BATEMAN I don't think I'm gonna make it, Jean.Pause.BATEMAN ...to the office this afternoon.JEAN (O.S.) Why?BATEMAN (Screaming) Just...say...no!JEAN (O.S.) What is it, Patrick? Are you alright?BATEMAN Stop sounding so Fucking sad! Jesus!He hangs up. He throws the Walkman which is around his neck into a nearby trash can, and wipes his face with his jacket.INT. BATEMAN'S OFFICE- SAME DAY Jean sits at Bateman's desk. She looks around, and then opens his desk drawer and tentatively begins to search through it.INT. HARRY'S BAR - EVENING Bateman comes into the bar, a little cleaned up from the previous scene (he's smoothed his hair), but still panicking and disheveled. He spots his friends in a corner, sits down, still breathing heavily.Price is on his cell-phone, trying to get reservations.McDERMOTT Bateman, you're looking a little wild-eyed rough day at the office?They all laugh.McDERMOTT Hey, look-Price is back. And he's drinking Perrier. He s a changed man. Except...he still can't get a reservation to save his life.Bateman sits down silently.McDERMOTT Why don't you try I 50 Wooster? Just fucking call them.BATEMAN (On automatic) I'm not going anywhere unless we have a reservation.VAN PATTEN Le Cirque, Flamingo East, Oyster Bar, come on, faggots-just get a res.PRICE Keep your shirt on. Maybe lose the suspenders.Bateman spots HAROLD CARNES at the bar, tenses. BATEMAN (He downs his drink) Excuse me, gentlemen. Right back.He approaches Carnes cautiously. CARNES Face it-the Japanese will own most of this country by the end of the '90s.Bateman approaches, trying to act casual.BATEMAN Shut up, Carnes, they will not.Carnes is surprised, turns around, looks vaguely confused.BATEMAN So, Harold, did you get my message?Carnes lights a cigarette, stalling. Then laughs.CARNES Jesus, Davis. Yes. That was hilarious. That was you, wasn't it?BATEMAN (Waving smoke out of his face) Yes, naturally.CARNES Bateman killing Owen and the escort girls? Oh that s fabulous. That's rich...PauseCARNES It was a pretty long message, wasn't it?BATEMAN What exactly do you mean?CARNES The message you left.Carnes is distracted, waving at people.CARNES By the way Davis, how is Cynthia? You're still seeing her, right?BATEMAN But wait, Harold, what do you mean?Carnes isn't really listening.CARNES Excuse me. Nothing. Good to see you. Is that Edward Towers?He turns to go.BATEMAN Carnes? Wait.CARNES (Sighing) Davis. I'm not one to bad-mouth anyone, your joke was amusing. But come on, man, you had one fatal flaw: Bateman's such a dork, such a boring, spineless lightweight, that I couldn't fully appreciate it. I wasn't fooled for a second. Now, if you'd said Price, or McDermott...Otherwise, it was amusing. Now, let's have lunch or dinner or something. Hilarious, Davis. A killer.BATEMAN What are you talking about? Bateman is what?CARNES Oh Christ. He can barely pick up an escort girl, let alone...what was it you said he did to her?Carnes looks around the club, raises his glass to a passing couple. He laughs politely.CARNES Now, if you'll excuse me, I really must...BATEMAN (Desperate, shouting) Wait. Stop. You don't seem to understand. You're not really comprehending any of this. I killed him. I did it, Carnes. I'm Patrick Bateman. I chopped Owen's fucking head off. I tortured dozens of girls. The whole message I left on your machine was true.CARNES Excuse me. I really must he going.BATEMAN No! Listen, don't you know who I am? I'm not Davis, I'm Patrick Bateman! I talk to you on the phone all the time! Don't you recognize me? You're my lawyer.Carnes stares at him in confusion and annoyance.BATEMAN Now, Carnes, listen to me. Listen very, very carefully. I killed Paul Owen and I liked it. I can't make myself any clearerCARNES But that's simply not possible. And I don't find this funny anymore.BATEMAN It never was supposed to he! Why isn't it possible?CARNES (Eyeing Bateman worriedly)It's just not.BATEMAN Why not, you stupid bastard?Carnes stares at him.CARNES Because I had dinner with Paul Owen twice in London...just ten days ago.BATEMAN No, you...didn't?CARNES Now, if you'll excuse me.Bateman returns back to his friends' table, in a daze.They are all looking at the television, where Ronald Reagan is giving a speech about Iran Contra. They are halfheartedly arguing about whether or not he's lying.PRICE How can he lie like that? How can he pull that shit?VAN PATTEN What shit? Now where do we have reservations at? I mean I'm not really hungry, but I would like to have reservations somewhere.PRICE (To Bateman) I don't believe it. He looks so...normal. He seems so...out of it. So...undangerous.McDERMOTT He is totally harmless you geek. Was totally harmless.Just like you are totally harmless. But he did do all that shit and you have failed lo get us into I 50, so, you know, what can I say?PRICE I just don't see how someone, anyone, can appear that way and yet be involved in such total shit. How can you be so fucking, I don't know, cool about it?VAN PATTEN Some guys are just born cool, I guess.Bateman laughs at this. Price shoots him a look.PRICE And Bateman, what are YOU SO fucking zany about?BATEMAN I'm just a happy camper. Rockin' and a-rollin'.VAN PATTEN (To Price) Rehab's done wonders for you, pal. Working for UNICEF now?McDERMOTT Do you want another Perrier Timothy? Some seltzer water?PRICE Oh brother look-he presents himself as a harmless Old codger. But inside...Pause.PRICE But inside...The SOUNDS OF THE BAR FADE AWAY and we hear Bateman's thoughts:BATEMAN (V.O.) But inside doesn't matter...THE SOUNDS OF THE BAR RETURN.McDERMOTT (Bored)Inside? Yes, inside? Believe it or not, Price we're actually listening to you.PRICE Bateman? Come on, what do you think? Bateman looks up and smiles at Price. Then shrugs.BATEMAN Whatever.The conversation breaks up as Van Patten takes out his phone. VAN PATTEN Whose moronic idea was it to drink dry beers? I need a Scotch.The sounds of the bar fade down. The following voiceover runs over images of Bateman and his friends ordering drinks, talking on portable phones, talking, laughing - combined with images of other very similar young men at other tables drinking, talking on portable phones, talking, laughing,BATEMAN (V.O.)There are no more barriers to cross. All I have in common with the uncontrollable and the insane, the vicious and the evil, all the mayhem I have caused and my utter indifference toward it, I have now surpassed...INT. BATEMAN'S OFFICE - DAYJean is alone in Bateman's office, looking through his diary. We see the pages that she is looking at. They are filled with doodles of mutilated women and their names...Jean looks lost and frightened, and begins to cry.BATEMAN (V.O.)My pain is constant and sharp and I do not hope for a better world for anyone. I fact I want my pain to be inflicted on others. I want no escape.INT. HARRY'S BAR - EARLY EVENING As the film ends the camera moves CLOSE on Bateman. He is leaning back in his leather armchair, drinking a double Scotch, his eyes blank.BATEMAN (V.O.)But even after admitting this, there is no catharsis. I gain no deeper knowledge about myself, no new knowledge can be extracted from my telling. There has been no reason for me to tell you any of this. This confession has meant nothing...The camera moves up to a sign on the wall behind him: "THIS IS NOT AN EXIT."CREDITS ROLL
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+        FADE IN:EXT. NEW YORK CITY SKYLINE ≠ NIGHTESTABLISHING SHOT OF THE NEW YORK CITY SKYLINE AT NIGHT, THE LIGHTSOF THE CITY SHINING BRIGHTLY.EXT. WORKOUT AREA ≠ SAME NIGHTESTABLISHING SHOT OF MASTER KWAN'S SCHOOL, A RAMSHACKLE BUILDING IN ABURNED OUT ROW OF STORES.His is the only one still    occupied, and it doesn't look thatpermanent. In the window    is a cardboard, handwritten sign that reads"Kwan's Shaolin Kung Fu".    What remains visible behind the poster andthe security grate is an    IMPRESSION of people moving and millingaround.INT. WORKOUT AREA ≠ SAME NIGHTESTABLISHING SHOT OF KWAN'S SHAOLIN KUNG FU SCHOOL.The students are doing their own thing, and they are a mixture of oldand young, men and women. They are not dressed alike, as they wouldbe in a Karate school: they are dressed in old T-shirts and tatteredsweat pants. This is not a wealthy school, by any means, and that istypified by the appearance of SIFU KWAN, who is walking through thestudents as they train. He is wizened old man, 70 years old if he isa day, and he is dressed in a fraying Chinese jacket, scruffy clothshoes and a discolored Chinese T-shirt.ANGLE ON A YOUNG ADULTStruggling through a horse stance, his face in real pain. He istrying his best to hold the stance, but his legs are quivering. Hedrops out of the stance onto his knees. Master Kwan is right besidehim.                     YOUNG ADULT           Sifu Kwan, was that long enough? It's been 10 minutes...Sifu Kwan shakes his head and puts his hands behind his back as hewalks past the student.                     KWAN           At Shaolin Temple, in misty Songshan mountains, We monks           trained in iron palm until our hands bled...                   (beat)           ... then we trained some more.He walks on, leaving a puzzled student behind.                     YOUNG ADULT                   (getting back into horse stance)           I guess not...ANGLE ON KWANAs he walks around the different people training. As one woman ismoving through an intricate series of movements, he sighs andrearranges her hands.                       KWAN              Tiger grasps his tail, not hamburger!He    moves on, studying the room with his eyes, often glancing towardthe    door, and then toward the small clock on a table near the door.It    is late, and Kwan is obviously waiting for someone to arrive. Ashe    is waiting, a young STUDENT comes up to Kwan.                       STUDENT              Master Kwan, when can I learn flying kicks? I see Bruce              Lee...                       KWAN              Bruce Lee actor, we fighters, warriors. A sparrow in              flight is beautiful, but a side kick to the ribs is              effective. Show me.The boy shrugs    and then    starts throwing side kicks. Kwan   is halflooking at the    boy and    half looking towards the door and   the clock.The boy throws    three or    four kicks and then stops. He is   watchingKwan watching    the door.    Kwan sees him, and turns back to   him.                       KWAN (CONT'D)                    (shaking his head)              A Shaolin warrior lets nothing intrude. Continue, never              mind.He continues to kick, and Kwan continues to look at the door.Finally, the student stops kicking, half-heartedly bows to themaster, and then moves to the side of the workout room. Kwan doesn'tknow he's gone. Kwan turns around, forgetting for a moment what he isdoing, and comes face to face with the mother of a student, MRS.RODRIGUEZ, and she is holding a uniform of some sort. She smileswidely at him and holds up the uniform. It is beautiful, obviouslyhand made, and on the back is embroidered: "Kwan's Shaolin" andunderneath that is "Drew Carson". Kwan takes in the entire outfit,while the rest of the class is gathering around to have a look. Theyare all very impressed.                       KWAN (CONT'D)              Never in my days at the Shaolin Temple have I seen              uniform as beautiful as this. Thank you, Mrs. Rodriguez.              I wish Drew were here to thank you himself. Ta ma de!This last he says looking at the empty door.                       MOTHER              I only hope it brings him luck in the tournament.                    KWAN           Luck is no concern, Mrs. Rodriguez. Shaolin warriors           depend on heart and soul ≠ that's how they saved the           T'ang emporer.He looks again at the door, then claps his hands together, gatheringhis students around him.                    KWAN (CONT'D)           Xie Xie, Mrs. Rodriguez.                  (to class)During my time training at the Shaolin Temple, the birthplace of themartial arts, I was lucky (glance at Mrs. Rodriguez)... er...fortunate to have the best instructors in the world train me. But,there was also time for individual training ≠ where skills were honedlike the blade of a sword. Now, it is that time for you.He turns to go.One of the students, before he can leave, clears his throat.                    STUDENT 2           What do you want us to do?                    KWAN           When the blind follow the blind, they both fall over the           cliff. Understand?                    STUDENT 2           No.The others mutter "No" and shake their heads, confused.                    KWAN           No matter.He exits, leaving his students staring vacantly after him.They look at each other, honestly not knowing what to do.EXT. DREW GARAGE ≠ SAME NIGHTESTABLISHING SHOT OF OLD GARAGE.It is kind of spooky, and there are no lights on outside. There iscandlelight inside, and it is moving around ≠ an effect not unlike aghost carrying a candelabra.INT. DREW GARAGE ≠ SAME NIGHTESTABLISHING SHOT OF INTERIOR.The area is dilapidated, but very clean, with all kinds of kung fuand Chinese paraphenalia lying around. Around the corner comes thespooky light, and (with music building to a crescendo), we see DREWCARSON, a    muscular 16/17 year old, bowls of flaming wax on his bareshoulders,    moving through the garage, practicing his kung fumaneuvers.    He is kicking, punching, etc., occasionally spilling hotwax on his    skin (INSERT).In the background is a TV, and on it is showing a martial arts movie.ANGLE ON KWANWho is quietly settling into a shadowy corner of the garage, watchingDrew.ANGLE ON DREWAs he continues to move around the workout area, his arms and bodymoving as he tries to match the movements on the TV.Suddenly, Kwan jumps out of the shadows, attacking. Drew reactsinstantly, evading the attack, the wax sloshing around in the bowlsbut not spilling (INSERT SHOT HERE). Kwan continues the attack, andDrew evades, their movements matching the movements on the TV almostmove for move. It is a beautiful ballet, and Drew ends it by sweepingKwan down to the ground. When Kwan hits the ground, hard, his face islit by the TV screen.ANGLE ON DREWWho, for the first time, sees that it is Kwan.                       DREW              MASTER KWAN!He hurries over to his master, a concerned look on his face.He leans down to help Kwan up, forgetting about the bowls of hot wax.It pours down on Kwan, scalding him, as well as running down Drew'schest. Kwan struggles to get up, while at the same time trying towipe the hot wax off.                       DREW (CONT'D)              Master Kwan! I'm sorry, very sorry!                       KWAN                    (blustering)              I'm OK, never mind! What are you doing anyway?DREWIs taking the glued-on cups of wax off his shoulders, while peelingthe already hard wax off his chest.                       DREW              Practicing. I saw it in this movie...Kwan shakes his head and walks over to Drew, standing in front ofhim.                       KWAN           Why didn't you come to class? Why waste time with this...           Should study tapes of opponent.                      DREW           I'll still win. Besides, the Shaolin monks never had           tapes to study... they did it this way... right?                      KWAN           Not quite ≠ our drills at the temple had meaning. If we           had tapes, we would have watched them.Drew starts to protest, but Kwan doesn't even let him start.                      KWAN (CONT'D)           "The    warrior who knows himself and his opponent will win           100    times in 100 battles." Study the tapes I gave you.           All    these years of one on one training ≠ you're the best           I've    ever taught.                      DREW           The best?                      KWAN           Best white boy, maybe. Just fight like a Shaolin warrior           ≠ the rest will take care of itself.                   (picks up tape)           Face reality, before it breaks your jaw!Drew holds out his hand for the tape, and Kwan slaps it into hishand. Drew smiles a defeated smile and turns toward the VCR, whenDrew's stepfather, BOB, walks in. He is a big, overweight man, and heis very angry.                      BOB                   (shouting)           Are you screwing around with this stuff again?                      DREW           Look, Bob, I'm not bothering you, am I?                      BOB           It's your attitude that bothers me, son.                      DREW           I'm not your son, Bob. Lay off.It is a threat, one that Bob almost takes up. Kwan feels the tensionin the room, and starts to say something.                      BOB                 (cutting him off)           Don't say a word, yellow man.REACTION SHOT OF KWANClosing his already opened mouth.                    BOB (CONT'D)           You're here because I told your Mom I'd see you were           taken care of... after. At least respect my wishes, and           make something of yourself... Stop wasting your time!                    DREW                 (sarcastic)           When I'm the best fighter in the country, I'm not going           to let you be part of my entourage...                    BOB           You mean when you're in jail...                    DREW           Just leave me alone, Bob, OK? I NEVER asked for anything           from you.He spins and kicks one of the hanging bags, then walks out of theworkout room, leaving Bob and Kwan standing alone.Kwan looks at Bob, who towers over him, and smiles sheepishly.                    KWAN           Pressure. Big tournament this weekend.He starts to walk out, but Bob follows him.                    BOB           How would you have liked having to take care of a kid you           never really wanted... ?                    KWAN           I wish I had the chance...Kwan exits, and we...EXT. TREVOR ESTATE ≠ DAYESTABLISHING SHOT OF TREVOR GOTTITALL ESTATE, A HUGE PALATIAL SPREAD.The grounds are immaculate and huge, exquisitely kept and beautifullylaid out. A gathering is around the pool and lawn area, where TREVORand his team are having an exhibition for their guests. Politeapplause isCOMING FROM THE CROWD, ALL WELL-DRESSED AND OBVIOUSLY WELL-HEELED.ANGLE ON TREVORAs he knocks out an opponent.ANGLE ON CROWDApplauding.ANGLE ON TREVORTaunting a different opponent. Trevor executes a beautiful techniqueand puts the guy down and out.ANGLE ON TEAM(Psychologist, therapist, masseur, etc.) who are cheering Trevor on.ANGLE ON TREVORAs he plays with the next fighter.                         TREVOR              They said you were good... ha!He knocks the guy out with a picture perfect kick. There is nodenying that he's a superior fighter.                         TREVOR (CONT'D)              Can't you get me any quality sparring partners?The next guy comes up, but before they can start, the psychologist,DR. PFEELGUT, calls for "Time" and motions Trevor over.                         PFEELGUT              It's    not enough just to win, Trevor. You have to destroy              your    opponent completely, mentally and physically. Beat              him    once, he's a threat. Humiliate him, and he'll fear              you    forever.Trevor listens to this, nods his head once, and when Pfeelgut goes toleave, Trevor pushes him into the pool.Pfeelgut comes to the surface, smiling.                         PFEELGUT (CONT'D)              Exactly!Trevor goes back to the ring. He really takes it      to this guy,alternately playing with him and hurting him. As      the guy tries tohold his own, the string to his pants comes loose      and they start tofall down. He grabs for them with both hands, and      Trevor starts toback up, laughing with the rest of the group.ANGLE ON PFEELGUTToweling off, who is yelling to Trevor.                         PFEELGUT (CONT'D)           GET HIM! NOW!!Trevor looks at him for a moment, not really understanding, then seeswhat the psychologist is saying. He lunges immediately forward and(in SLOW MOTION) knocks the guy out while he is still trying to pullhis pants up.ANGLE ON CROWD AS THEY ENJOY THE SHOW IMMENSELYTrevor has learned the lesson of the day, and he walks off.INT. TREVOR HOUSE ≠ SAME DAYESTABLISHING SHOT OF TREVOR BEING PAMPERED BY HIS ENTOURAGEThe masseur is massaging his shoulders, a woman is doing a pedicureand another is doing a manicure. An exercise physiologist is goingover a computer print out with Trevor, when an old Korean master,MASTER KIM, comes into the room.                    TREVOR           Ah, Master Kim.                 (to physiologist)           I'll look at these stats later.Trevor indicates a seat near him, much lower than the one he issitting in. The Korean master prefers to remain standing.                    TREVOR (CONT'D)           Are all you guys named Kim? So, what did you think?                    KIM                 (thick accent)           You velly good fighter...                    TREVOR (CONT'D)           Learn English, will ya? And, tell me something I don't           know...                    KIM           A mountain lion doesn't ponder his weakness, and is           therefore vulnerable.                    TREVOR                 (after a beat)           Well, I'm pretty damn tired of this fortune cookie crap.                 (beat)           You're history. Chaunce, get ride of the bum.The butler, CHAUNCY, comes forward and walks up to Master Kim.                      CHAUNCY           Very good, sir.                      TREVOR           Don't come here any more, you hear? Over a little more to           the left, Sam.The masseur nods and adjusts his technique accordingly.                      TREVOR (CONT'D)           It's hard being me, you know. So much pressure...EXT. COLISEUM ≠ DAYPeople are streaming into the large building. The marquee out frontreads "Diamond Nationals".INT. COLISEUM ≠ SAME DAYESTABLISHING MONTAGE OF TOURNAMENT: CROWDS AND COMPETITORS.(SOME IDEAS, NOT IN ORDER)Competitors warming up (wall front stretch, very high; one guykicking another in the head ≠ tap, tap, tap; two man routinepracticing ≠ another one jumps in?; two beautiful girls sparring;crowd assembling; group of kids waiting ≠ call comes over publicaddress system, they run off; stand outside selling high techequipment; different styles of fighter's clothes ≠ camo, stars &stripes, "headhunter"; stern 9 year old girl doing kata; two toddlersbarely seen through their safety equipment fighting furiously; twotwins doing identical kata; breaking; etc.)ANGLE ON DREW AND KWANWalk into the area ≠ Drew is dressed in the ill-fitting handmade suitby Mrs. Rodriguez. People recognize him as he walks past.ANGLE ON TREVORMaking his entrance. He is in a perfectly laundered and pressed suit,and his assistant is carrying another suit pressed and ready to go.                      COMPETITOR           Hey, Trevor! What's the 2nd uniform for?                      TREVOR           The finals.                      COMPETITOR                  (after he's gone)           Cocky bastard...ANGLE ON TREVORAs he wins a fight.ANGLE ON DREWAs he wins.ANGLE ON TREVORDrew watching, as he wins again.DREW AGAINWinning. The stage is set for the finals.ANGLE ON THE RINGDrew and Trevor are already inside, waiting. Drew fights in a mishmosh of gear (different colors, different makes), while Trevor isdecked out in designer, personalized gear.                      ANNOUNCER              Fighting for the Grand Championship: Trevor Gottitall and              Drew Carson. 3 rounds, max point. Gentlemen, bow to the              ref, to each other...The referee gives them a signal and the fight begins. Drew is holdinghis own, but Trevor is scoring. After several flashy moves, the roundis over.Score: 6 - 1. We see Trevor's cheerleaders cheering.ANGLE ON TREVOR'S CORNERWhere he is given mineral water to drink, his shoulders are massaged,etc.ANGLE ON DREW'S CORNERKwan sheepishly offers him a sip of water from a battered paper cup.2nd round: Drew's getting beaten worse than the first round. Nothinghe tries works. The score at the end of the round is 15 - 4, in favorof Trevor.ROUNDBREAKDrew is exhausted, frustrated and worried. Trevor is pumped and readyto go on forever.                      KWAN              You only lose if you give up.ANGLE ON TREVOR'S CORNERThe psychologist is exhorting him to destroy Drew. Trevor leans backon his padded stool, smiling.The 3rd round starts. In this round, Trevor is destroying Drew,making him look ridiculous. A clinch comes, and(INSERT HERE) before they can break, Trevor grabs the drawstringaround Drew's waist and pulls.They face off ("20 seconds" comes the call), and Trevor charges. AsDrew blocks, his pants begin to sag. Trevor, not trying to score,just trying to keep Drew's hands busy, keeps coming.Drew's pants drop lower and lower.When they get around his knees, he finally notices them, and reachesdown to get them. Trevor drives and picks him up in a throw,effectively showing Drew's bare ass to the world.CUT AWAY to crowd laughing, girls shocked, cameras poised andrecording, one mom puts her hands over her daughter's eyes, etc.Trevor dumps Drew and scores the final point, just as time runs out.A buzzer goes off, signaling the end of the round.Trevor thrusts his fists into the air in celebration. Drew tries tocrawl out of the ring, and everyone is watching him.                                                 DISSOLVE TO:ANGLE ON TREVORAs he is being interviewed by tv reporters.                    TREVOR           I was never worried. He's no match for me. I just hope           the 2nd place trophy is a belt!Crowd laughs, Trevor's entourage laughs the hardest.ANGLE ON DREWAs he packs up his stuff.                                                 DISSOLVE TO:EXT. NEW YORK BRIDGE ≠ NIGHTESTABLISHING SHOT OF DREW AND KWAN WALKING ALONG A BRIDGE, THE ENTIRENEW YORK NIGHT SKYLINE IN THE B.G.They are not talking, they are just walking, Drew kicking a can andcontemplating the future, and the past.INT. KWAN HOUSE ≠ SAME NIGHTESTABLISHING SHOT OF SMOKING ACUPUNCTURE NEEDLE, ITS TIP EMBEDDED INDREW'S FOREARM.Kwan's hand COMES INTO FRAME and flicks the needle, sending itvibrating back and forth.CAMERA PULLS BACK TO REVEAL Drew sitting at the table in Kwan'shouse, the acupuncture needle in his arm and his face pensive andsad. Kwan busies himself around the needle, trying to alleviate thepain of Drew's bruises.                    KWAN           Next time we get that guy...                    DREW                 (shaking his head)           No next time, Master. Maybe...                 (big sigh)           ... you should find a new student. I just can't do it ≠           I'm not getting any better!                    KWAN (CONT'D)           Don't talk like that. At Shaolin...He pauses, and decides not to tell another Shaolin Temple story. Drewlooks at him funny ≠ this is very against his character.                    KWAN (CONT'D)           I saw a Shaolin monk once. I was only 5 years old at the           time, but I remember it like it was yesterday. I was           coming back from the market with my father. Soldiers           stopped us and were taking the food we had just bought.           It was all we had left to eat ≠ no more money. These were           hard times in China, people were selling their children           for food, and the soldiers had no right. Who can stop           soldiers with guns, though? Yes?He pauses, and takes a sip of tea, checking the needle, adjusting itand turning it slightly this way and that.                    KWAN (CONT'D)           Just as the soldiers were leaving, a monk stepped out of           the crowd and told them very calmly to put the food back.           Well, naturally, they didn't. They pushed the monk, and           the next thing I knew the soldiers were in the street,           and the food was back in my father's arms. 5 soldiers,           and they were in a heap on the ground, their blood mixing           with the dust of the street.Kwan smiles with the memory ≠ it is a sweet and heroic one.                    KWAN (CONT'D)           The crowd whispered "Shaolin", and he bowed to us,           touched my cheek and smiled, then just walked on. I           watched him until he disappeared in the distance. He was           larger than life, a hero to a little boy of 5. I vowed           then and there to become like him, fight for right like           the Shaolin.He pauses again, looking at Drew. Drew meets his gaze, wondering whyhe is telling him this story.                    KWAN (CONT'D)           I never did, though. My family left China and ended up           here in New York, a young boy's dream left behind in           China.                     DREW           You mean... all the stories...?                     KWAN                   (nodding)           Made up. I never trained at the Shaolin Temple. When I           realized my dream couldn't come true, I convinced myself           that it had anyway. It was a small step to convince other           people.                     DREW           Why are you telling me this?                     KWAN           I've given you all I can, and it's not enough. It was           never enough. You're like a son to me, Drew, and you have           all the potential in the world, but I can't take you           where you want to go.Kwan takes the needle out of Drew's arm, and then rubs the spot whereit was with a cotton ball.                     KWAN (CONT'D)           There, that should control the swelling.He watches Drew, who is pondering what Kwan has said.                     DREW           So you're not a Shaolin?                     KWAN           No.                     DREW           Never were?                     KWAN           No.Drew nods, an idea forming in his head. A slight smile forms on hisface. Kwan was expecting him to be angry, he never expected this.                     KWAN (CONT'D)           What?                     DREW           If you are not a Shaolin warrior, then I will become one.                     KWAN           What are you talking about?                       DREW           I'm going to the Shaolin Temple ≠ they can train me so I           will never lose like that again.Kwan feels Drew's forehead. A long beat here as Kwan studies Drew'seyes.                       KWAN           He hit you so hard, you're delirious. I'll get a cold           cloth.He starts to get up, but Drew grabs his arm and forces him back down.                       DREW                 (eyes intent)           Don't you    see? You said    yourself I needed the right           training ≠    where better    than the Shaolin Temple? What's           holding me    here? I have    the chance to do what you           couldn't.    I will go to    the Shaolin Temple.Kwan looks at him, realizes he's serious. He nods his head, givingthe idea serious consideration. He smiles along with Drew.                       KWAN           I must pay for your ticket...                       DREW           No! I'll make it there myself.                       KWAN           I grew up on the stories of the Shaolin, and you can be           those stories. You can live my dream for me ≠ at least           let me help you. Let an old man make up for the trouble           he's caused.Kwan touches Drew's bruised cheek, fatherly love in his eyes. Drewnods his head, then bows in the traditional Chinese manner.                       DREW           Master...MONTAGE OF DEPARTUREANGLE ON DREW AND KWAN AS KWAN HANDS HIM A "NORTHWEST AIRLINES"TICKET.ANGLE ON DREWAs he packs for China.ANGLE ON KWAN AND DREWAs Kwan drops drew off at the AIRPORT. Drew takes his suitcase andwalks into the airport.EXT. CHANG AN LU ≠ DAYESTABLISHING SHOT OF DREW RUNNING ALONG BEIJING'S CHANG AN LU, A SEAOF BICYCLES AROUND HIM.Bicycle bells ring loudly as figures dressed in the same drab clothesride around him, their faces covered with scarves and surgical masksagainst the northern China dirt.CAMERA PULLS BACK TO REVEAL TIAN AN MEN SQUARE and the huge photo ofCHAIRMAN MAO on the front of the Meridian Gate of the Forbidden City.Drew continues his run, past a group of western-dressed lyou mang,who watch him run by through dark glasses.Drew runs through a large city park, stopping to watch a group ofolder citizens going through Tai Zhi routines under the weepingwillow trees there.Drew runs through an open air food market, picking his way throughflipping fish, dead frogs and all kinds of fruits and vegetables.People yell at each other, trying to get the best price. Young manbrushing his teeth in the street. A group of toddlers, strungtogether with rope, walks down the street, their split pants showingglimpses of bare bottoms as they walk.EXT. TRAIN STATION ≠ SAME DAYESTABLISHING SHOT OF SERIOUSLY OVERCROWDED TRAIN, PEOPLE PUSHING ANDSHOVING TO GET ON.Drew walks up to it, a huge backpack on his back. He hesitates amoment, then starts forcing his way onto the train like everyoneelse. He manages to get in through a window.INT. CROWDED TRAIN ≠ SAME DAYThere are no seats. Drew takes his pack off and sits on it.Next to him is an old man, his teeth red and rotted from betel nutjuice. The man smiles at Drew.EXT. CHINA COUNTRYSIDE ≠ DAYTRAIN RUSHING THROUGH THE COUNTRYSIDE.DREW POV EXT. COUNTRYSIDE ≠ DAYDrew watches the countryside go by. Temples, farms and rice paddiesslide by, with an occasionally glimpse of the Great Wall.EXT. GREAT WALL ≠ DAYESTABLISHING SHOT OF DREW, BACKPACK ON, AS HE WALKS ON THE GREATWALL.EXT. CHINA COUNTRYSIDE ≠ NIGHTTRAIN RUSHING THROUGH DARKENED COUNTRYSIDE.INT. LUOYANG TRAIN STATION ≠ DAYESTABLISHING SHOT OF DREW GETTING OFF THE TRAIN.He stops on the platform for a moment, a huge colorful Chinesebillboard in the b.g. A transit cop quickly comes up to him and prodshim into motion. Drew walks on, passing a sign that reads "Luoyang".EXT. CHINESE STREETS ≠ DAYESTABLISHING SHOT OF DREW MAKING HIS WAY TOWARD THE SHAOLIN TEMPLE.He stops at    a drink stand and orders one. As soon as he stops, he isringed with    people watching his every move ≠ he feels almost like amovie star.    The woman in the stand hands him a drink, and takes themoney out of    his hand.                       DREW           Where is the Shaolin Temple? Shaolin?The woman just smiles and shakes her head, not comprehending.ANGLE ON DREWWalking aimlessly. He comes to an intersection and sees a sign thatsays "Shaolin Temple" with an arrow. He goes in the direction thatthe arrow points.EXT. GIRL'S SCHOOL ≠ SAME DAYESTABLISHING SHOT OF GROUP OF GIRLS STANDING OUTSIDE THEIR SCHOOL.Drew walks up and says hello.                       DREW           Hello, ladies! Can you tell me how to get to the Shaolin           Temple?They titter with laughter, covering their mouths with their hands.Drew is not really amused, however, he is frustrated and tired.                       DREW (CONT'D)           The Shaolin Temple? How hard can that be? Geez, doesn't           anyone speak English here?ANGLE ON ASHEMAAs she pushes her way to the front of the group. She is a strikinglybeautiful young woman.                       ASHEMA           I do. But wouldn't it make more sense for you to speak           Chinese than to expect us to speak English?                       DREW                    (flustered)           You're right. I apologize ≠ I've just been trying to get           to the temple for a long time now.                     ASHEMA           Why do you want to find the temple?                     DREW                 (not without pride)           I am going to join the temple as a monk.Ashema translates this for her friends, and they titter anew. Theygesture to Drew's longish hair and laugh, and then make some attemptsat martial arts movements.                     ASHEMA (CONT'D)           I'm going that way ≠ I can take you.                     DREW           You have a car?                     ASHEMA           The next best thing.                 (beat)           This is a Chinese car.She pulls out her standard-issue black bicycle ≠ she has customizedit, however, with some colorful additions.                     ASHEMA (CONT'D)           Hop on.Drew does, and they take off, the girls from the school tittering asthey drive off.EXT. CHINESE STREETS ≠ SAME DAYESTABLISHING SHOT OF ASHEMA PEDALING DREW.It is not the most stable ride ≠ Ashema is struggling to keep moving,while Drew is doing his best to stay on the bike.                                                  DISSOLVE TO:EXT. CHINESE STREETS ≠ SAME DAYESTABLISHING SHOT OF DREW PEDALING ASHEMA.He is riding strongly, and she is comfortable in the back. They aregetting stares from the people they pass, but Ashema seems to beenjoying the attention. Drew hits a bump, and Ashema holds his waista little tighter. Neither of them mind ≠ in fact, Drew starts lookingfor more bumps.He pulls around the corner into a wide area lined with drink and foodstands.                     ASHEMA           We are here.DREW STOPS THE BIKE AND LOOKS BACK AT HER. ASHEMA GESTURES TO THETEMPLE FRONT, AND DREW TURNS IN AWE.EXT. SHAOLIN TEMPLE ≠ SAME DAYESTABLISHING SHOT OF THE TEMPLE.This is it ≠ the temple he came halfway around the world to see. TheShaolin Temple, the birthplace of the martial arts.                     DREW           Whoa!Ashema climbs off the back and takes the bike from Drew, marveling athis awe-struck face.                     ASHEMA           I have to help my grandfather with our stand. If you get           a chance, come by later.                     DREW                   (distracted)           I'll try, but monks aren't allowed to be around girls.                     ASHEMA           Good luck.                     DREW           Shaolin monks don't need luck...                   (beat)           Hey, thanks a lot for the ride. I hope I see you again.They wave at each other, and Ashema pushes her bike off.Drew turns back to stare at the front of the temple. He is letting itall sink in.After a moment, he picks up his backpack and heads for the frontdoor. He pulls it open and disappears inside.INT. SHAOLIN TEMPLE ≠ SAME DAYESTABLISHING SHOT OF TEMPLE INTERIOR AS DREW OPENS THE HEAVY DOOR.The muted half light inside is in direct contrast to the sunlight ofthe day outside. Drew quietly closes the front door, and the halflight takes over.He walks through the temple proper, and what follows is a MONTAGE oftemple shots, establishing the feeling of thetemple:    the famous Shaolin monk painting, the depressions in thefloor of    the training hall, the incense blackened walls of thetemple,    the temple figurines, the red lanterns hanging from theceiling,    a huge wooden carving ofBodhidharma, etc.No one is around.Drew continues to explore, looking for someone to talk to. He wandersinto another hall, following the O.S. sounds of CHANTING.Once inside this hall, he sees a group of monks, amid hanging incenseburners and paper lanterns, sitting down on the floor chanting inrhythm. No one notices that Drew is standing there. The monks eyesare open, but they don't seem to see him.He stands there for a moment, then shrugs and walks out of that hall.He goes into a corridor, then passes the "Wooden Man Chamber".HE STICKS HIS HEAD IN, AND SEES ALL KINDS OF WOODEN STATUES LINED UP.HE ALMOST STARTS IN, BUT IS DISTRACTED BY THE SOUNDS OF TRAININGOUTSIDE (O.S.). HE WALKS OUT IN SEARCH OF THE SOUNDS.EXT. TRAINING AREA ≠ SAME DAYESTABLISHING SHOT OF TRAINING AREA.All manner of training equipment is standing outside (wooden men,posts, hanging targets, heavy bags, iron palm jugs, balance beams,etc.).A monk, the DRILL SERGEANT (hereafter D.S.), is standing in front ofa wooden post, driving his hand into the wood.The post TREMBLES with every strike.Drew stands next to the monk, watching him intently. Again, the monktakes no notice of him.                       DREW              Excuse me, Master.No answer.                       DREW (CONT'D)              Hello? Busy, huh?Still no answer. The man is just slamming his hand into the post,over and over.Drew sighs and walks on. He goes down a path, and flowering bushesare on either side of him. He can see the "pagoda forest" in thedistance. At the end of the path, a monk, SAN DE, is sweeping up thepath.Drew walks up to the monk and bows.                       DREW (CONT'D)           Master, may I ask you a question?No answer nor response. Drew's kind of tired of this treatment.                    DREW (CONT'D)           What's the deal here? Is everybody deaf in this temple?           Even if you heard me, you wouldn't understand, would you?           Huh, baldy? Shine your head for a quarter?He walks off frustrated, wondering what he has to do to get noticed.He walks back into the chanting chamber.INT. TEMPLE ≠ SAME DAYThe monks are still chanting. Drew stands there, listening some more,moving with the beat, until they stop chanting.Drew, thinking it was some kind of performance, claps his hands.                    DREW           That was great! Great!The monks finally take notice of him, and they are shocked.                    MONK 1           No tourists! Temple closed!                    DREW           So you can see me?!?Several monks rush up and start herding Drew towards the exit.                    MONK 1                 (very agitated)           No tourists! No tourists!Drew stops their progress and makes sure he has the monk's attention.                    DREW (CONT'D)           I'm not a tourist! I want to be a monk!The monk stops, his face a mask of shock. He calls to another monk,and they have a short conversation in Chinese.                    ADMISSIONS MONK           That's not possible.                    DREW           What do you mean, sir?                    ADMISSIONS MONK           The training is too difficult. Besides, Shaolin policy is           no foreigners.                     DREW             I didn't come all this way, from America, to get turned             away. I want in. I want to become a Shaolin monk.                     ADMISSIONS MONK             What people want and what they can have are often not the             same.                     DREW             Not in this case.                     MONK             Oh, yes, especially in this case.                     DREW             I'm not leaving.Drew starts to sit down, intent on staying, almost like a kid who isgoing to hold his breath until he turns blue.                     MONK             You give me no choice.                  (to other monks)             Remove him.He continues in a stream of Chinese, and the other monks grab Drewand physically force him to stand up and start moving him towards thedoor.                     DREW             I just want to be a monk!Drew is forced through the courtyard to the front door.They pass the monk who was sweeping up in the back of the temple. Hewatches with interest as they open the door and force Drew throughit, out of the temple.He smiles.                                                  CUT TO:EXT. SHAOLIN COURTYARD ≠ SAME DAYESTABLISHING SHOT OF DREW LANDING ON THE FLAGSTONES OF THE COURTYARDWITH A THUMP!A group of people stop and watch the foreigner. The temple doorcloses with a solid boom.                     DREW             Hey! What about my...The temple door opens again, and out comes Drew's backpack.It lands next to him, but spews out a couple of pairs of underwear,and some socks.The people standing around laugh.Drew gathers up the clothing and stuffs it back into his pack. Hesits there for a moment, then gets up and heads for the small shopsand stands ringing the courtyard.He walks past a couple of the stalls, looking at the people runningthem. He doesn't see Ashema. He passes a tea stall, where one old manis sitting down sipping his tea.The old man looks at Drew and smiles, and Drew is about to walk on,when Ashema stands up from where she was squatting behind her stall.                    ASHEMA           Drew?                    DREW           Hi.Drew sits down heavily, putting his pack down next to him.Ashema places a cup of tea down in front of him, the steam risingfrom it.                    DREW (CONT'D)           Make it a double. Rough day.                    ASHEMA           What happened?                    DREW           They kicked me out...                                                 DISSOLVE TO:EXT. TEMPLE STAND ≠ EVENINGESTABLISHING SHOT OF DREW, ASHEMA AND OLD MAN, STILL SITTING AT THETABLE, NOW LIT BY CANDLES AND A LANTERN.A bunch of tea bowls are scattered in front of Drew, as if he's beendrinking heavily. He points to his teacup, and Ashema shakes herhead.                    ASHEMA           You've had enough.Drew's shoulders slump even more.                    ASHEMA (CONT'D)           Maybe it's for the best, Drew. You belong in America. New           York.                      DREW           I have to do this. I can't go home, not until I'm a monk.           I'd be even more of a disgrace...The old man talks to Ashema for the first time. He chatters inChinese, motioning towards Drew.                      ASHEMA           Not now, Bau Bau.                      DREW           Bau Bau?                      ASHEMA           My nickname for him. He wants to tell you a story about           the temple.The grandfather keeps talking, even though Ashema and Drew reallydon't want to listen.                      ASHEMA (CONT'D)           He is telling a story about a monk who was refused           admission into the temple. It broke his heart not to be           allowed to be a monk.                      DREW           What did he do?Ashema says something to him, and he continues in Chinese.                      ASHEMA           He decided not to leave. He stayed in the courtyard until           they let him in.                      DREW           How long?                      ASHEMA           A long time ≠ through the worst weather. He just sat           there, unmoving, through rain, sleet, snow.                      DREW           Did they let him in?                      ASHEMA           No.                   (beat)           Of course they did ≠ what kind of story do you think my           Bau Bau would tell? He stayed in front of the temple           until they could no longer say no. He went on to become           one of the most famous monks in the history of the           temple.Drew sits there, thinking, letting it all soak in. He then gets upand smiles.                     DREW           Please tell your grandfather, your Bau Bau, he is a wise           man. And that he tells a good story.The grandfather smiles at him, nodding his head.                     ASHEMA           What are you going to do? Are you going home?Drew shakes his head.                     DREW           I'm camping out.He starts away from the stand.                     DREW (CONT'D)           In front of the temple.He walks off into the Chinese night.EXT. SHAOLIN TEMPLE ≠ EARLY MORNESTABLISHING SHOT OF MIST-LADEN COURTYARD.The sun is barely coming up, and only a few shafts of light areilluminating the darkness. A figure can be seen sitting cross-leggedin front of the door.It is Drew, backpack at his side.The front door opens and a monk pokes his head out to look around,and he sees Drew sitting there. His eyes widen in shock, then hequickly disappears inside.Almost immediately, the door opens again, and the Admissions Monk isstanding there, surprised and angry to see Drew sitting there.                     ADMISSIONS MONK           Go home! You cannot stay here!No response from Drew. He just sits there, staring straight ahead.                     ADMISSIONS MONK (CONT'D)           Do you hear me? Go away!Drew doesn't move.San De, the sweeping monk, walks out of the open door, a monk behindhim carrying a suitcase. He walks past Drew, noticing him sittingthere. He walks on.The Admissions Monk slams the door, angry.EXT. TEMPLE ≠ MONTAGE SECTIONANGLE ON DREW SWEATING IN THE HOT SUNSHINESweat is running into Drew's eyes, and he is trying to keep them fromstinging.ANGLE ON DREW BEING TORMENTED BY LOCAL KIDSThey are playing games around him, throwing stones at him, messingwith his hair and his clothes, touching the things in his backpack(frisbee, football, walkman), etc.ANGLE ON DRILL SERGEANTAs he comes out of the temple, chasing away the kids.When they are gone, he turns to Drew.                    DRILL SERGEANT           Will you give up? I think so.ANGLE ON DREW SHIVERING IN THE DEAD OF NIGHTHis eyes are closed, and it is obvious he is very uncomfortable.ANGLE ON SPIDER AS IT CRAWLS OUT TO SEE DREWIt lingers for a moment, then goes away.ANGLE ON DREW BEING FED BY ASHEMAShe is giving him food, and all he is moving is his mouth. They donot speak.ANGLE ON DREW SITTING IN THE RAINHe is miserable, and he is looking at the relative comfort of thestands around the temple, where there is food, warmth and light. Hisspirit is wavering.ANGLE ON DREW BEING FED BY ASHEMA AGAIN                    ASHEMA           Give this up, Drew! Please?No response from Drew. Just a small smile.ANGLE ON SPIDER, WHO IS BACKThis time it stays even longer. Drew looks down at it and smiles.ANGLE ON MONKS FROM TEMPLELooking out the windows at the crazy foreigner in their courtyard.ANGLE ON DREW IN COURTYARDAs a school group comes through the temple.The children are tied together with a rope, and the teacher motionsto the crazy American. Drew has become an attraction!ANGLE ON DREW, SURROUNDED BY OLD MENThey are marveling at his perserverance.ANGLE ON DREW, WIND AND RAINThis time it doesn't seem to bother him so much.ANGLE ON DREW WITH ASHEMA AND HER BAU BAU THEREBau Bau speaks quickly in Chinese.                       ASHEMA (CONT'D)              My Bau Bau says, keep it up! He is proud of you...Drew nods.ANGLE ON DREW SURROUNDED BY KIDSThey are no longer tormenting him, they are playing around and withhim. Drew is not moving, but he is part of their group.ANGLE ON DREW, THE SPIDER NOW SITTING ON HIS HANDDrew stares at the spider, his companion in the vigil.ANGLE ON DREW, BIRDS ALL AROUND HIMThe birds are keeping him company, and they are singing for him.ANGLE ON DREW, THE FULL MOON IN THE B.G.Drew's form is firm and solid, the determination in his eyes easilyseen as he stares at the moon. He will see this through.EXT. TEMPLE ≠ DAYESTABLISHING SHOT OF DREW STILL SITTING IN THE COURTYARD.The    old monk, San De, comes back, the same monk following behind himwith    the suitcase. He looks at Drew, a little surprise showing in hisface    at seeing the American still there. He doesn't stop, though. Hegoes    into the temple, shaking his head.ANGLE ON DREWSame as the first shot, all alone in the temple.                                                    DISSOLVE TO:EXT. SHAOLIN TEMPLE ≠ SAME DAYESTABLISHING SHOT OF COURTYARD, DREW ALL ALONE.The door to the temple opens and out comes San De, alone this time.He walks over to where Drew is, stares at him for a moment, then sitsdown across from him.Drew tries not to look at him.San De runs his hand across his bald pate and smiles.                    SAN DE           My head is shiny enough already, don't you think?Drew, in shock at his ability to speak English, sputters                    DREW           You... You speak English? I'm sorry, I was just           goofing... I apologize, master. I didn't mean to make fun           of you...San De shrugs it off. Apology accepted.                    SAN DE           What are you trying to do?                    DREW           I want to become a monk ≠ they won't let me in... Hey,           you're just a grunt, a janitor sweeping up and all, don't           sweat it. It's not your problem...                    SAN DE           Why are you sitting here?                    DREW           I got the idea from a story about a monk who wouldn't           leave. I thought...San De nods.                    SAN DE           Has it been hard?                    DREW           It was at first. I was uncomfortable, in pain, actually,           but as time went on, I got... into it, I guess. The           sacrifice made me feel... in control, you know what I           mean?                    SAN DE                 (nodding)           Much of the training at the temple is in that direction ≠           self sacrifice. Tell me more.                    DREW           At first I was really bored, and very lonely. But then,           things changed. Maybe it's like hitting the wall in           running ≠ it was like I became part of the courtyard, and           I felt powerful. Even the spider became my friend...Drew opens up his hand to reveal a spider sitting in his palm.                    DREW (CONT'D)           It was an incredible experience ≠ I said I'd do it, and I           did it.San De, watching Drew intently, smiles at this last. He stands up andbows to Drew. Drew bows back, from his seated position.                    SAN DE           I wish you all the best.                    DREW           Same to you.San De turns and goes into the temple, leaving Drew still sitting inthe courtyard, the setting sun in the b.g.                                                  DISSOLVE TO:EXT. SHAOLIN TEMPLE ≠ DAYESTABLISHING SHOT OF COURTYARD, DREW ALL ALONE.O.S. comes the sounds of gongs and drums.A crowd has gathered in the courtyard. Ashema and her grandfather arein the crowd, and they work themselves up to where Drew is.Drew turns his head, and a procession of kids about his age (someolder and some younger) come walking into the courtyard.The front door to the temple opens wide, and a column of monks, allin their best saffron robes, are lined up waiting to receive them.The young men who are walking in all still have hair, and they arecarrying some baggage. They begin to enter the temple.                    ASHEMA           They are disciples. This is the last class for fighting           monks at Shaolin.Drew, very concerned, watches as the monks-to-be file through thetemple doors.The mothers and fathers of the boys watch proudly as the last ones gothrough.The temple doors close.ANGLE ON DREWWho is crushed. His chance is gone.                    ASHEMA (CONT'D)           I'm sorry, Drew. It was a good effort.Drew is sitting there, trying to understand what is happening whenthe door to the temple opens again. The Drill Sergeant appears in thedoorway and impatiently motions for Drew to come in.The crowd has stopped and is watching the drama unfold.Drew gets up warily, expecting some trick.The Drill Sergeant motions again, wanting Drew to hurry up.Drew looks at Ashema and her Bau Bau and smiles. He picks up hisbackpack and starts towards the temple, limping from sitting for solong.The crowd goes crazy, clapping and yelling.Drew runs into the temple. The door closes behind him.INT. SHAOLIN TEMPLE ≠ SAME DAYESTABLISHING SHOT OF INTERIOR OF TEMPLE.The line of disciples has stopped, waiting for Drew. Drew, back packin hand, takes his place at the end of the line.They parade past a line of monks assembled in the courtyard insidethe temple.As they walk by, some of the monks look nonplused, while a few areput out by the fact that Drew is among them.Several of the disciples turn around to look at Drew, and a coupleare openly hostile to him.They file up to a raised platform, on which stand 20 monks, eachholding a scroll in their hands, one monk for every new disciple.A gong sounds, and the questions begin.ANGLE ON FIRST DISCIPLEWho is asked...                    MONK           Do you accept the authority of the Shaolin patriarchs?                    DISCIPLE 1           Yes, without pause.ANGLE ON DREW                    MONK           Do you renounce the earthly world?                    DREW           Sure do, master. You bet.The monk pauses, for that is not the ritual answer to the question.The Drill Sergeant comes up to him and whispers in his ear, and themonk then continues.                     MONK           Will you abide by the rules of the temple, even if it           means death?                     DREW           I do.The Drill Sergeant comes up behind Drew and WHACKS him in the sidewith his elbow.                     DRILL SERGEANT                   (whispering)           Answer "Yes, without pause."                     DREW                   (rubbing his side)           Yes, without pause.ANGLE ON ANOTHER DISCIPLE                     MONK           Who is the patriarch of the Shaolin Temple?                     DISCIPLE 2           Bodhidharma.ANGLE ON DREW                     MONK           Do you accept the shr fu at the Shaolin Temple as your           spiritual leaders?                     DREW           Yes, without pause.The Drill Sergeant nods his head.                     MONK           Will a fighting monk ever use his skills for personal           gain?Drew pauses, looking at the Drill Sergeant. The D.S. nods, urging himon.                     DREW           Yes, without pause.The D.S. puts his hands over his eyes.                      DREW (CONT'D)           I mean, no, of course not.Then, another gong sounds, and the quizzing is concluded.A figure moves down a corridor in beautiful robes. Everyone bowsdown, their eyes on the floor, to the figure, who is moving towardsthe raised platform in the center.Drew, also bowed down, sneaks a peak at the figure.It is San De!San De catches his eye and smiles slightly. He winks at Drew, thenclears his throat.Everyone stands up again.                      SAN DE           Do these disciples accept the authority of the Shaolin           Temple?                      DRILL SERGEANT           Yes, without pause, Master San De.ANGLE ON DREWWho now knows that the monk he called a "Janitor" is the headmaster!                      DREW                 (under his breath)           I'll be damned!The DISCIPLE next to him, GAO, pokes him sharply in the ribs.                      GAO           Shut up!                      DREW                 (holding his side)           Oh, unbelievable, in the same place...                      SAN DE           Are they ready to begin their training?                      DRILL SERGEANT           They are.                      SAN DE           Then, let us welcome them into our ranks!Gongs go off, firecrackers are set off, and a special flag is raisedon the flag pole. A roar comes from the crowd outside.ANGLE ON THE DISCIPLESAll of whom are happy. All, that is, except for Gao, who is staringat Drew.Drew, notices the stare.                    DREW           You got a problem, man?                    GAO           You, American...ANGLE ON SAN DEWhen the noise subsides.                    SAN DE           Your training begins tomorrow. For now, your shr fu will           introduce you to our temple. Welcome to Shaolin.San De walks away, and the disciples are split into several"platoons". Drew is matched up with the Drill Sergeant, and Gao isalso in his group.                    DREW           Great, just great.They are motioned to follow Gao out of the courtyard and into thetemple proper.INT. SHAOLIN TEMPLE ≠ SAME DAYDrew walks behind the other disciples, who are lining up to get theirrobes. As he takes his place in line, a monk comes up to take Drew'sbackpack. Drew resists, and a tug of war ensues.                    DREW           What are you doing, man?                    MONK           You must surrender this.                    DREW           No way, man! Get your own...The Drill Sergeant sees the scuffle and walks over.                    D.S.           It is unseemly to argue like this. Take the backpack into           the sleeping quarters.                 (to Drew)           Do not cling to material things ≠ it is not good for your           soul.He walks away, and Drew reluctantly gives up his backpack.Drew lines back up, and is about to get his robes, when Gao slidesover and takes them from him. Drew immediately shoves him and triesto grab the robes back. Gao smiles and moves away, holding the robesup and away from Drew.Drew is pissed and ready to go after Gao. Before he can, however, LI,another disciple, grabs another set of robes from the table and givesit to Drew, pulling him away from the confrontation.                    DREW (CONT'D)           What's with that guy?                    LI           Watch out for Gao. He's trouble.                    DREW           Really? I hadn't noticed... Why'd they let him in,           anyway?                    LI           Who knows? Maybe for the challenge?                    DREW           No, that was me...They both smile and walk off.                                                 DISSOLVE TO:INT. TEMPLE ≠ SAME DAYESTABLISHING SHOT OF MONKS HAVING THEIR HEADS SHAVED.THE CAMERA MOVES DOWN the line of monks, as their hair is shaved offin clumps. Drew is standing next to his chair, arguing with the D.S.about the haircut.                    DREW           Mr. James designs my hair, master. I don't think...                    D.S.           This will symbolize your final break from the outside           world.                    DREW (CONT'D)           Can't I just wear a patch?The D.S. shakes his head, and Drew sits down, unhappy.The barber starts on Drew's head, big clumps of hair falling down tothe floor.EXT. SHAOLIN COURTYARD ≠ EVENINGESTABLISHING SHOT OF MONKS, THEIR HEADS NEWLY SHAVED, STANDING OUT INTHE COURTYARD.They are running their hands over their heads. Drew comes out of thebuilding, his head shaved completely clean.                    DREW           What outside world? I don't want to be seen by anybody...He rubs his hand over his head, and then sees the others.Li is smiling.                    DREW (CONT'D)           If I look half as stupid as you guys do, I'm really in           trouble...INT. DORM ≠ NIGHTESTABLISHING SHOT OF THEIR SLEEPING QUARTERS, AS THE MONKS FILE IN,LED BY THE D.S.A number of cots are lined up side by side. The D.S. has assigned abed to each monk. Drew finds his bed, which is right next to Gao's.                    GAO           I want another bed.                    D.S.           Why?                    GAO (CONT'D)           I won't sleep next to the American.                    D.S.           We are no longer Chinese or Americans, Han or Mongol. We           are Shaolin. Everyone is a monk.                    GAO (CONT'D)           Well, this monk smells!Drew unconsciously smells himself. He shakes his head.Li goes up to the D.S. and points to the bed he was assigned.                    LI           I will switch with Disciple Gao.D.S. nods, and then starts for the door.                      D.S.           Go to sleep. No talking! We have an early day of training           tomorrow.Gao collects his stuff and starts off to the new bed, hitting Drewwith his shoulder. Drew trips him as he walks away, all done verysecretively since the D.S. is watching.                      DREW           Jerk!Li comes over to the new bed, and in silence they get climb intotheir respective beds. D.S. switches off the lights, then leaves, andDrew stares up at the ceiling.                      DREW (CONT'D)           Thanks for what you did.                      LI           Where are you from?                      DREW           New York City. You?                      LI           Beijing. What is New York like?                      DREW           Amazing. I'll tell you about...                      GAO           Shut UP!                      DREW           Blow me!Drew waits for a moment, fearful that the D.S. will be coming backin. He doesn't.                      DREW (CONT'D)           Good night, Li.                      LI           Wan an.                                                 DISSOLVE TO:ANGLE ON DREW, SLEEPINGAll is quiet.Suddenly, a huge stick ENTERS FRAME, and it pauses for a moment aboveDrew, before THUMPING down on top of him.Drew cries out when he is hit, and jumps out of bed, looking allaround him. No one is there. A few of the disciples are moving aroundbecause he yelled, but there is nothing else there.Drew, belatedly, gets into a fighting stance, but no other attack iscoming.ANGLE ON GAOWho seems to be sleeping peacefully.ANGLE ON DREWAs he climbs back into bed, bone-weary. He lies back down to sleep.INT. SHAOLIN TEMPLE ≠ MORNINGESTABLISHING SHOT OF LATRINE.Drew stumbles in, bleary-eyed,    to relieve himself. He stands at theurinal, relaxing as he starts.    Suddenly, a huge stick WHACKS Drewacross the rear end, the SOUND    reverberating through the latrine.Drew yelps and jumps, looking    around for the attacker.No one is there, and his underwear is now all wet.INT. DINING ROOM ≠ SAME DAYESTABLISHING TIGHT SHOT OF RICE GRUEL ("WATER RICE"), A SPOONSTIRRING THE MEAGER MIXTURE.CAMERA PULLS BACK TO REVEAL Drew sitting with Li and some otherdisciples.Drew makes a face.                     DREW           You got to be kidding.The D.S. comes up behind and grabs the bowl from him.                     D.S.           You don't like it, don't eat it.He takes the bowl away.                     DREW (CONT'D)           I didn't say I wasn't going to eat it... Geez!He turns to the rest of the disciples.                     DREW (CONT'D)           Well, at least we start training today, right, guys?A chorus of Yeahs.INT. DORM ROOM ≠ SAME DAYESTABLISHING SHOT OF DORM ROOM, ALL THE DISCIPLES CHANGING INTO THEIRWORKOUT CLOTHES.They are the standard fighting monk issue ≠ suitable for martial artstraining.                    DREW           Wonder what they'll start us with first?                    LI           Iron Palm?                    SHU           Wooden Man, I think.                    WU           No, it'll be basics, first day. Horse stance, kicks and           punches...When they are all dressed, they run out of the room.EXT. TRAINING AREA ≠ SAME DAYESTABLISHING SHOT OF ALL THE DISCIPLES LINED UP, READY FOR THETRAINING.In the b.g. are the fighting monks, going through their routines.ANGLE ON FIGHTING MONKSAs they go through forms or free sparring. There are SHOTS of monksthrowing stars, working with weapons, etc. It is all very exciting.ANGLE ON DREWWho is more excited than all the others.ANGLE ON THE D.S.As he walks to the front of the group. In his hand he is carrying ashovel.D.S. Bodhidharma, the patriarch of the Shaolin Temple taught us thatto train the mind, we first have to train the body.ANGLE ON WU, WHO SHIELDS HIS MOUTH AND WHISPERS                    WU           Basics, I told you.ANGLE ON D.S.Who motions to one of the monks behind him, who has a wheelbarrowfilled with shovels.                    D.S.           Each one of you take a shovel.                    DREW           We're using the shovels as weapons?                    D.S.                 (smiling)           Weapons...                 (beat)           ... in the war on infection.D.S. motions with his hand, and in the distance is the latrinebuilding.                    D.S. (CONT'D)           You will be digging today, digging our new latrines.                    DREW           Latrines? Why?                    D.S.           A Shaolin fighting monk-in training does not ask           questions. He just obeys.The D.S. leads the way to the latrine building, and the disciplesfollow, each of them carrying a shovel. Drew is trudging along, notbelieving what they are doing.                    DREW (CONT'D)           I came halfway around the world to dig latrines? I could           have just joined the army...                                                 DISSOLVE TO:LATRINE WORK AREA ≠ MONTAGEMONTAGE SEQUENCE OF WORK DETAIL.ANGLE ON DREW AND THE OTHER DISCIPLESDigging with their shovels. Their training clothes are alreadysweated through and dirty. Their shirts are off, and their armmuscles are bulging and shining in the hot sunshine.ANGLE ON DREWAs he lifts up two heavy buckets of dirt on a pole, then places thepole on his shoulders, the muscles in his arms, shoulders and backstraining. He walks off to the side of the area to dump it.As he dumps the dirt, a pole appears and CRACKS across his back. Hedrops the buckets and falls to the ground. He gets up as quickly ashe can, but there is no one to be seen.ANGLE ON DREW AND DISCIPLESAs they are working hard on the latrines. Drew is teaching them anAmerican song as they work.                    DREW (CONT'D)           "Ain't no cure for the Shaolin Temple Blues... "                    OR           "Working on a Chain Gang"                    OR (CONT'D)           "I fought the law and the law won"                    OR (CONT'D)           "16 tons"The monks are singing along with him. All except for Gao.ANGLE ON DREW AND DISCIPLES AS THEY EAT THEIR LUNCHIt is again very meager: a bowl of rice, a bowl of soup and a pieceof scrawny meat. Drew looks at it for a moment. TheD.S. is standing over his shoulder.                    D.S.           Any problems?Drew shakes his head and starts to eat, quickly.ANGLE ON DREWAs he loads up a two baskets of dirt onto his pole. He gets it uponto his shoulders, in pain, and starts to walk. Immediately, theD.S. is there in front of him.He examines the baskets. They are not full.He moves quickly and dumps both baskets of dirt.                    DREW                 (shocked)           What'd you do that for?                    D.S.           Do a job well or don't do it.ANGLE ON GAO AND THE DISCIPLESAs they are in line for water. They each drink a large glass full,then move back to their work area. Drew is the last in line. WhenDrew gets to the front, the D.S. smiles and shakes his head.                       D.S.           Sorry, all gone. Get some more.Drew stares at all the water spilled onto the ground, then looks upat the D.S., then forces a smile. He takes the proferred buckets ofwater (made of wood, with pointed bottoms and large handles). TheD.S. indicates that they are to be held straight out to the sides, towork on the shoulder muscles. Drew turns and walks away, muttering tohimself.                       DREW (CONT'D)           I'm gonna get you, man. Oh, yeah...Gao is laughing as he watches Drew go.EXT. SHAOLIN TEMPLE ≠ SAME DAYESTABLISHING SHOT OF DREW FILLING THE BUCKETS IN THE STREAM.Once they are filled, he starts back for the temple. His shouldersare straining from the weight of the buckets.He goes over the path to the temple, having to negotiate logs overchasms, etc. After various trials and tribulations, Drew arrives atthe temple, his arms incredibly tired. The D.S. is there waiting forhim.Drew, determined not to show any weakness, raises the buckets alittle bit higher. He comes to the D.S., proud and defiant. The D.S.motions for him to put the buckets down.Without thinking, Drew, puts the buckets down, and they both fallover, spilling their contents onto the ground. Drew tries to stopthem, but he's too late. The water has all spilled out onto theground.                       DREW           Don't tell me, I know. Get more water...INT. DORM ROOM ≠ NIGHTESTABLISHING SHOT OF DISCIPLES ALL IN BED.They are exhausted from their work. Drew is lying in bed, his eyeswide open, ready to get attacked.ANGLE ON DREWAs his eyes go closed, finally.EXT. WORK AREA ≠ DAYESTABLISHING SHOT OF DREW WALKING ON A RIDGE BETWEEN TWO LARGE HOLES,CARRYING HUGE BASKETS OF DIRT ON HIS POLE.He is balancing as he walks.ANGLE ON GAOWho is working at the other end. He starts across the same ridge.They come to the middle: a stand off.                       GAO           Back up and let me pass.                       DREW           No chance, Gao. You back up.Gao smiles and shakes   his head. Gao starts forward, and WHACKS Drewin the leg with a leg   sweep. Drew tries to keep his balance, andfights a valient, but   losing battle. He falls over the side, the dirtin his buckets flying   everywhere. Gao wipes his hands off andcontinues walking.CLOSEUP ON DREW'S BLOODY HANDA huge splinter sticking out of it. He is in real pain. The D.S.walks over and looks at the splinter, and in one move pulls it out.                       D.S.                 (heartlessly)           Shaolin monks feel no pain. Rub some dirt on it and you           will be fine.He walks away.ANGLE ON DREW AND THE DISCIPLESOn a work break. They are watching the monks training in thedistance. It is all the more desirable because it is unattainable.In the distance, a monk can be seen walking between two other monks.They are leading him out.The monk continues walking until he walks right in front of thedisciples. His face and body are covered with bruises and welts. Thetwo other monks don't say a word, their faces grim.Li turns to the D.S.                       LI           What happened?                       D.S.           He failed to pass through the wooden man chamber. He must           leave the temple.The D.S. walks off.                       LI (CONT'D)           The "Wooden Man Chamber"! The ultimate test of a Shaolin           monk...                       WU           Did you see his face?                       SHU           Poor guy.                       GAO           He just wasn't good enough. I wouldn't be surprised if           half of us go out the same way.The D.S. appears and motions for them to work.INT. MEDITATION HALL ≠ DAYESTABLISHING SHOT OF DISCIPLES, DREW IN THE MIDDLE, SITTING IN ROWSIN THE INCENSE-FILLED MEDITATION CHAMBER.The monk in charge of the chamber is talking to them.                       MEDITATION MONK           Breath in through your nose, out through your mouth.           Imagine yourself sitting on the bank of a river watching           your thoughts flow by. Clear your mind... Think of           nothing.Drew sits, trying to think of nothing. He is not succeeding.INT. DINING AREA ≠ NIGHTESTABLISHING SHOT OF DREW WASHING DISHES, ALONE IN THE KITCHEN AREA.He bends over to get a dish, when a pole comes and SMACKS him on therear end. He turns immediately in one direction, but gets hit againfrom the OTHER direction.Drew is furious, and he can't even see the attacker.                       DREW           Come out, goddamn it! Show yourself!No answer, as we HOLD on Drew looking around.EXT. WORK AREA ≠ DAYESTABLISHING SHOT OF DARK BROWN LIQUID BEING POURED INTO A LARGE PIT.Drew is walking with Li, having just dumped their buckets into alarge hole.                       DREW           So what is this 'night soil' stuff anyway?                       LI           Human waste.                       DREW           Oh, man! You guys actually use this as fertilizer? That's           disgusting!They turn to go back, and there is Gao, balancing a huge basket ofnight soil over his head, peasant-style. He is on the same ridge thatthey are going to walk on.                       DREW (CONT'D)           Hi, Gao. How you doing?                       GAO                 (a little worried)           Let me pass.He reaches down and plucks a stick out of the earth at his feet, andthen closes on Gao a little bit.                       DREW (CONT'D)           There's something on the bottom of your basket.Drew pokes at the basket for a moment, right over Gao's head. Then,he JAMS the stick in, and holds it there.                       DREW (CONT'D)           Oops! I think I found the problem.                 (beat)           A hole.Drew pulls the stick out and watches as the night soil cascades downonto Gao's head. They back away as Gao goes running towards the pitwhere the night soil is deposited.                       DREW (CONT'D)                 (to Li)           Well, somebody sure smells!EXT. WORK AREA ≠ DAYTHE DISCIPLES ARE WORKING EXTREMELY HARD.As they work, a group of fighting monks walk by after a workout. Drewstops working and watches them pass.                       DREW           This is ridiculous.Suddenly, a bamboo pole CRACKS Drew on the shoulder. He turns around,ready for a fight, only to see the D.S. standing there, the poleraised for another strike.                       D.S.           Back to work.Drew is about to say something, but doesn't. He returns to work.DORM AREA ≠ NIGHTANGLE ON DREW MASSAGING HIS MUSCLESHe is sitting with Li and a couple of the other disciples, Wu, Shuand Low.                    DREW (CONT'D)           I've got an idea on how to get even with our beloved           Drill Sergeant...They all huddle a little closer.EXT. SHAOLIN TEMPLE ≠ DAYESTABLISHING SHOT OF D.S. AS HE WALKS ALONG THE PATH.In the b.g. can be seen Drew, Li, Wu and a couple other of thedisciples. They are waiting for something.The D.S. hits the trip wire and suddenly two bamboo poles HURTLEtowards him, ready to slam him in the shoulders.With one beautiful move, the D.S. breaks both poles, shattering whenthey hit his arms.The D.S. hardly breaks stride and continues walking. He looks backonce, and sees the outline of the group of disciples.ANGLE ON DREW AND THE GUYSWho are up and running as soon as they are spotted. They run by Gao,who was watching from another area.EXT. D.S. QUARTERS ≠ SAME DAYESTABLISHING SHOT OF GAO WAITING OUTSIDE D.S. ROOM.He looks around, knocks, and then goes in.EXT. COURTYARD ≠ SAME DAYESTABLISHING SHOT OF ENTIRE CLASS GATHERED TOGETHER.The D.S. walks into the front of the courtyard and addresses thegroup.Gao is standing off to the side, a smug smile on his face.                    D.S.           You are all responsible for anything that happens within           your group. What happened yesterday falls on everyone's           shoulders. So, all of you will do double work...ANGLE ON GAOThe smug smile gone now.INT. MEDITATION ROOM ≠ DAYESTABLISHING SHOT OF GROUP OF DISCIPLES SEATED ON ROUND PILLOWSPRACTISING ZAZEN, SITTING MEDITATION.Drew is in the center of the room, and the sound of light snoring isheard.ANGLE ON DREWIt is him, he is asleep!Suddenly, a bamboo shinai is SLAMMED across Drew's back, waking himup.                       MEDITATION MONK           Bodhidharma meditated for 9 years without sleeping. Think           you can manage 9 minutes?EXT. WORK AREA ≠ DAYESTABLISHING SHOT OF THE ENTIRE GROUP LABORING IN THE FIELDS.They are all singing "Chain Gang".TIGHT ON SEVERAL OF THE DISCIPLESThey are good workers, and they don't mind the hard work nor the hotweather quite so much.ANGLE ON DREWWorking hard.INT. DORM AREA ≠ NIGHTANGLE ON DREWWho is holding court.                       DREW           We came here to train, not to be slaves! We're free           men...                       MU           But we swore to obey them...                       DREW           An uninformed choice is no choice at all!                       MU           Huh?                       DREW           We have to stand up for our rights! If they don't even           know we're dissatisfied, things will never change.                       GAO           They haven't changed for centuries, why should we listen           to you?                    DREW           Are we men or mice? Sheep or the shepherd?                    WU           I'm with you!The others are with him too, except for Gao. They are ready toexplode, and Drew has the match.                    DREW           I'm for going to the Headmaster right now!They are all ready. They head for the door, but Gao doesn't move.Drew stops at the door and turns to Gao.                    DREW (CONT'D)           You're either with us, Gao, or you're against us.No answer from Gao. They exit the room.INT. HALLWAY ≠ SAME NIGHTESTABLISHING SHOT OF DREW AND THE BOYS RUSHING DOWN THE CORRIDOR,HEADING FOR SAN DE'S QUARTERS.ANGLE ON D.S.Heading for the same place but from a different direction.INT. SHAOLIN HALLWAY ≠ SAME NIGHTESTABLISHING SHOT OF GROUP ASSEMBLED OUTSIDE SAN DE'S CHAMBERS.Drew goes to knock on the door, when it opens and San De is standingthere. The D.S. has just arrived. He looks at San De forinstructions, but San De indicates that he will deal with them.                    DREW           Master San De!                    SAN DE           Who else?                    DREW           We have something to say...                    SAN DE           This is an interesting coincidence, as I was just on my           way to your sleeping quarters to talk with you all.                    DREW           I request permission to go first.                    SAN DE           I think I'd better...                    DREW           No, really, I want to...San De holds up his hand. He is the final authority.                    SAN DE           Here at the temple,    we use a period of intense physical           labor to test your    patience, and to teach you humility           and self-reliance.    As you continue training, you will be           given chores every    day ≠ remember the first time you saw           me I was sweeping?    Physical labor keeps us humble.ANGLE ON THE DISCIPLESWho tonight have been anything but humble.                    SAN DE (CONT'D)           You've all performed    admirably, and have learned an           important lesson ≠ to    obey your shr fu without question.           Because of this, I've    decided to begin your martial           training sooner than    what is prescribed. Tomorrow           morning.The disciples can hardly believe their luck.                    SAN DE (CONT'D)           And, what did you have to say to me?ANGLE ON DREWWho is sputtering now.                    DREW           I... I mean we, just wanted to... thank you for the           opportunity to be part of the illustrious history of the           Shaolin Temple.                 (beat)           Yeah, that's it. Right, guys?They all say "Thank you" as one, and then bow to the headmaster withtheir hands clasped in front of them. They turn away and head downthe hallway.ANGLE ON THE DISCIPLESAs they increase their pace, almost running through the halls withtheir excitement.INT. DORM AREA ≠ SAME NIGHTESTABLISHING SHOT OF DOOR TO THE SLEEPING QUARTERS.Suddenly, it BURSTS open and in come the disciples, led by Drew. Theyfan out into the room, Drew in the center.                    DREW           Gentlemen, this calls for a party!He runs to his backpack and pulls out a boom box with speakers, andputs on some good old American Rock 'N' Roll.Everyone, but Gao, is moving in time with the music. Drew is the mostaccomplished dancer, but the others are pretty bad.The entire effect of the bald-headed monks rocking out is very comic.Drew starts showing Li and Wu a couple of dance routines (old stuff ≠the swim, the twist, etc.). Everyone is having a great time.ANGLE ON GAOGlowering, as he moves toward the boom box.He reaches for the "Stop" button.Drew blocks the arm, and a pushing and shoving match starts.                    GAO           You're trying to get us all kicked out!                    DREW           I'm just trying to have a party. Chill out!They push and shove into the middle of the room, a couple of kicksand punches thrown, then they face off, ready to duke it out.The party is raging, while Gao and Drew are the only ones static, setto do battle.Just then, the door starts to open. Everyone freezes and looks towardthe door, including Gao. Drew, meanwhile, has the presence of mind tojump onto the boom box, shutting it off and hiding it with his body.ANGLE ON DOORAs the D.S. opens it and sticks his head in.He surveys the room, seeing the tableau of frozen monks, with Drewlying on his bed.ANGLE ON DREWWho waves to the D.S.ANGLE ON THE D.S.Who knows that something is going on.                    D.S.           Go to sleep. Lights out.He hits the lights and then closes the door. In the semi-darkness theroom relaxes in a collective sigh. Drew stands up and packs up thestereo.Gao walks over past Drew.                    GAO           It's not over, American.INT. MAIN CHAMBER ≠ MORNINGESTABLISHING SHOT OF CHAMBER FULL OF FIGHTING MONKS, ALL GOINGTHROUGH THE SAME SET OF MOVEMENTS.Kick. Punch.Kick. Punch.INTERCUT of feet striking the stone floor, depressions in the floortestifying to the centuries of training this chamber has seen.Through the door come the D.S., Drew and the others. They line upalong one wall, watching the fighting monks go through their form.It is beautiful: powerful, graceful and intimidating.Their form done, they file out of the chamber, leaving the D.S. withhis group, along with one fighting monk. The D.S. motions for them toline up as the monks had.                    D.S.           You will train 6 days a week, from 5 am to 9 p.m.,           alternating with work and meditation. Sunday afternoon is           free time.D.S. lets that sink in, then motions for the monk to take over.                    MONK           In order to keep our bodies strong, Bodhidharma gave us a           series of exercises and breathing techniques. Because the           times demanded action, we developed Shaolin style wu shu           from these exercises.He goes through a couple of martial movements.                    MONK (CONT'D)           The spirit of Bodhidharma remains. Training is like           meditation. Be aware of everything, but aware of nothing           in particular. Think not thinking.                    DREW           What do you mean, 'Think not thinking'?                    MONK            Non thinking.ANGLE ON DREWConfused.ANGLE ON MONKWho doesn't explain any further.                    MONK (CONT'D)            Your training begins today, in this most sacred of            training halls. The floor bears witness to the efforts of            fighting monks from centuries past.ANGLE ON FLOORWhere there are depressions and worn spots, the result of thousandsof hours of training.                    MONK (CONT'D)            At the Shaolin temple, we forge our bodies in the fire of            our wills. We adhere to a vow of non-violence, unless            someone else is in danger... Follow my movements...He starts moving through a series of techniques, and the rest of thedisciples try to mimic his actions. He is moving around the room, andthey are trying to do what he is doing.Some are getting it, some aren't.Drew, used to a more individualized type of training, isn't gettingit.EXT. TRAINING AREA ≠ DAYESTABLISHING TIGHT SHOT OF WEDGE THWOCKING INTO THE GROUND.A hand COMES INTO FRAME, grabs the wedge and pulls it back out of theground.PULL BACK TO REVEAL Drew, along with the other disciples, lined upand throwing these sharp wedges into the ground and pulling it backout. Their muscles are bulging with the effort.ANGLE ON HUGE SMOKING BRASS URNSFilled to the brim with small stones. Drew is forcing his arms intothe urn in "Iron Palm" training.ANGLE ON MONK ON A SET OF POLESHe is going through a complex form, kicking and punching, nevermissing or faltering a step. Some of the poles are as high as 6 feetoff the ground.ANGLE ON GAO ON THE POLESHe is less sure, but at least he doesn't fall.ANGLE ON DREWTrying the poles. He starts out well, but he soon misses and falls,almost impaling himself on a pole.                      DREW           I can't do this!                      D.S.           Here at Shaolin, can't doesn't exist. Only won't.EXT. TRAINING AREA ≠ DAYESTABLISHING SHOT OF DISCIPLES PAIRED OFF.Drew is working with his friend Li. They are moving through a seriesof techniques, ending with a flashy kicking technique which is toblocked by a special Shaolin technique.Each time Li throws the final kick, Drew gets hit, HARD.His block isn't working. A monk comes up to him.                      MONK           Block the way I showed you.                      DREW                 (showing him a block)           This is the way I was taught.                      MONK (CONT'D)           Do it this way. You won't get hit.Drew bows and turns to continue working with Li. By this time,however, the ranks have shifted, and Gao is opposite Drew.Drew attacks first in the series, and Gao uses the block to easilydeflect Drew's kick.                      GAO                 (menacingly)           My turn.He attacks, and Drew gets to the final technique. He blocks the wayhe did before, and he gets slammed brutally by Gao.Gao stands over him, smiling.EXT. TRAINING AREA ≠ DAYESTABLISHING SHOT OF MONKS FLIPPING THROUGH THE AIR, DOING FLYINGKICKS, AERIALS, ETC.A monk is alternately falling down and kipping up, falling down andkipping up.Drew's group is working on several very athletic maneuvers, none ofwhich Drew is especially good at. Gao, of course, is having notrouble.Drew tries a flying move and falls into a heap on the ground. He isvery angry, and he hits the ground with his fist.                      MONK              Emotions cloud the spirit ≠ eliminate them.                      DREW              This isn't martial arts ≠ it's gymnastics!                      MONK              This is Shaolin Wu Shu. Continue.Drew sits in the dirt, watching everyone around him sail through theair and flip over the ground. He is not a happy camper.EXT. SHAOLIN TEMPLE ≠ DAYESTABLISHING SHOT OF TRAINING AREA.The entire group is gathered in a sort of pit, on a hard concretefloor. D.S. stands in the middle.                      D.S.              I want to go over some takedowns before we end for the              day. I'll need a partner...He scans the group, and then points to Drew. Drew smiles ruefully,walks to the front and bows to D.S.                      D.S.              Watch carefully as I take him down, using techniques from              shwai jyau, Chinese wrestling.                      DREW                   (looking at ground)              Excuse me, Master, but there aren't any mats here.                      D.S.              Do they always use mats in America?The group laughs a little at that, and Drew's manhood is nowchallenged.                      D.S. (CONT'D)              If you are scared, I'll get someone else. Perhaps Gao              would assist me...ANGLE ON GAOWho is already getting up, ready and willing.This changes Drew's mind right away.ANGLE ON DREW AND D.S.                     DREW           Let's do it.                     D.S.           Attack me straight on...Drew attacks, and is taken down brutally, smashed into the hardconcrete floor. No attempt is made to cushion or soften the blow.Drew gets up right away, and attacks again. Again he is driven to theground. This continues from all angles and all methods of attack.ANGLE ON THE GROUPWho can barely watch the destruction.ANGLE ON THE FIGHTThe D.S. does not let up at all, takingDrew down hard each time. Every time, regardless of the impact, Drewgets right back up. His eyes are dazed, there is a little bloodcoming out of his nose, but he keeps coming back for more.Finally, after a high arcing back throw, a real thumper, the worst ofall of them, the D.S. calls it a day.                     D.S.           Any questions? Good, that's all for today.Before anyone can move, however, Drew raises his hand as high as hecan, obviously in pain.                     DREW (CONT'D)           I'm not sure I got that last throw clear in my mind.The group gasps, knowing how much Drew must be hurting, admiring himfor his guts. Even Gao is impressed.                     D.S.           I said that's enough.                     DREW (CONT'D)           If you're getting too old for this kind of training, I           understand.                     D.S.           Attack!Drew attacks, and the D.S. executes the manuever perfectly, crashingDrew down almost on his head. Luckily, Drew is able to twist at thelast moment and take the impact on his already bruised shoulder. Hemoans and groans and lies there.                       DREW (CONT'D)           I think I've got it now. Xie Xie!The group disburses, shaking their heads in wonder. Li comes up toDrew, who is still lying on the ground.                       LI           Are you trying to kill yourself?                       DREW           He hurts more than me, he's just not bleeding, that's           all.He tries to get up, but moans in pain and falls back down.Li helps him up and takes him to the showers.ANGLE ON D.S.Watching them go. There is a slight smile on his face.EXT. DORMITORY ≠ SAME DAYESTABLISHING SHOT OF LI RUBBING THE BRUISE ON DREW'S SHOULDER WITHTIGER BALM.It is huge, and looks really painful.                       LI           If you go to San De, he can send you to a doctor...Drew pulls away and stands up. He backs up to the wall of thedormitory, right underneath a window.                       DREW           I appreciate your concern, Li, but it's not that serious.           I'm all right.Just as he is talking, Gao comes to the window with a pan of dirtywater (from washing the floor of the dorm).GAO LOOKS DOWN (GAO POV) AND SEES DREWHhe smiles, then pours the huge bucket over the edge, dousing Drew.ANGLE ON DREWAs the dirty water hits him, drenching him.EXT. WATERFALL ≠ DAYESTABLISHING SHOT OF WATERFALL.It is huge, and the water is crashing down from high above.ANGLE ON A MONK, INSIDE THE WATERFALLHe is going through martial arts techniques as the water thundersonto him.ANGLE ON D.S. AND GROUPAs they stand on the bank.                        D.S.              Concentrate on your stance. All I want you to do is try              to hold your stance. Li, you're first.Li smiles and walks into the waterfall, using a walkway that goesbehind the thundering water.He moves into the water a little, and gets into a deep horse stance.He stand there, immovable. After a moment, he turns to look at D.S.ANGLE ON D.S.Who motions him farther into the water.ANGLE ON LIWho nods his head and walks into the thundering water. As soon as hegets into the main stream of water, he is forced off the ledge and hefalls about 20 feet into the pool below.                        D.S.              Next...Each of them try it in turn. Everyone fails.Gao goes in, and he manages to stand under the impact of the waterfor a moment, before he too succumbs and goes down into the pool.ANGLE ON DREWIt's his turn. He walks to the waterfall and goes in. He picks up anumbrella he stashed behind the waterfall (imprinted with a "NEW YORKGIANTS NFL" logo on it ≠ unmistakably American).He walks into the waterfall, and the umbrella works for a moment.Drew is holding it with both hands, and he gets into a deep horsestance.He turns to smile at the D.S., and then waves at the others. As soonas he takes a hand off the handle of the umbrella, the water slamshim and off he goes into the pool.He lands with a huge splash, doing a painful bellow flop. Drew comesto the surface, still clutching the now- destroyed umbrella. Hesmiles at the other disciples, who are still swimming, sheepishly.                        DREW              Thought I'd join you guys.INT. TEMPLE TRAINING HALL ≠ DAYESTABLISHING SHOT OF GROUPS WORKING OUT.Drew is in with the group. Gao and Drew are chosen to do a trainingexercise together.                     D.S.           In this exercise, you try to touch your partner's chest           lightly, and your partner tries to block.The group gets started doing the drill, and Gao is almost cavingDrew's chest in with his blows. He is so close to Drew that Drewdoesn't have a chance to block it. On the last strike, Drew fallsback to the ground.The D.S. is there immediately.                     D.S.           Something wrong?Drew shakes his head and gets back up.                     D.S.           Switch!Now it's Drew's turn to strike, and he tries to hit Gao with the sameamount of force as he did, but Gao avoids his attack, throwing himoff balance. He throws another punch out, and Gao grabs it and pulls.Drew falls to the floor again. A monk who was watching walks over.                     MONK           The goal of this drill is not to hurt your partner. Just           try to tap his chest.                     DREW           I know, but...                     MONK           Then do it that way...The Monk walks away, shaking his head.EXT. SHAOLIN TEMPLE ≠ EVENINGESTABLISHING SHOT OF TEMPLE COURTYARD, EMPTY EXCEPT FOR DREW AND LIPLAYING CATCH WITH A FRISBEE.Drew is flipping it in a bunch of different ways, and Li is enjoyingwatching him.To the side of the courtyard are two brooms leaning against the wall.                     DREW           This sure beats sweeping...ANGLE ON FRISBEEFloating past temple statues and ancient Chinese decorations, barelymissing them.Drew makes an acrobatic catch and then flicks it back to Li, harderthan he should have. It heads for an ancient statue and smacks itdead center, right in the face.The statue starts to tip!Drew and Li rush for the statue and catch it, just before it tipsover and smashes on the ground.They look at each other, thanking their lucky stars the statue didn'tfall. They start to throw the frisbee again, when Drew spots the D.S.coming towards them.Drew stashes the frisbee in his shirt and grabs the brooms.He tosses one to Li and they just begin sweeping again when the D.S.rounds the corner.The D.S. knows something is going on, but they look so innocent.                       D.S.           Sweep the main chamber, Drew.                       DREW (CONT'D)           Yes, master.He bows and smiles goodbye to Li. He walks into the main trainingchamber.INT. CHAMBER ≠ SAME EVENINGESTABLISHING SHOT OF DREW WALKING INTO THE CHAMBER.This is the chamber where they had their first workout, and Drew juststands there for a moment, soaking up the tradition of it.He walks to an area of the chamber under the famous painting andstands staring at it.QUICK CUTS to different ANGLES of the painting.ANGLE ON DREWWho begins to sweep.His broom is going over the depressions where the monks train, andsoon he loses his desire to sweep. He takes the broom in his hand asa weapon and starts to spin it, going through a martial arts form,his feet moving naturally into the depressions in the floor.He finishes with a flourish, having moved into a shadowy area in acorner, and then bows to an imaginary crowd, using the broom as amicrophone.                       DREW                    (imitating an announcer)              Presenting, the greatest fighter in the history of the              Shaolin temple... Drew Carson!Drew holds his broom over his head, nodding his head to the imaginarycrowd.                          DREW              The crowd is going wild.Just then, out of the shadows comes an attacking staff, SLAMMING intoDrew's unprotected stomach!Drew, ready to double over in pain, hears the staff hit the frisbee,and stands up straight, adjusting the frisbee that saved his stomach.Before he can react, the staff SMACKS him in the back of the head andsends him pitching to the floor.ANGLE ON DREWAs he lands face down in the pile of dust and dirt he already sweptup.EXT. SHAOLIN TEMPLE ≠ EVENINGESTABLISHING SHOT OF TEMPLE COURTYARD, THE SUN SETTING IN THEDISTANCE.Drew is standing in front of a painting-statue of Bodhidharma, one inwhich he is made to look extremely fierce.San De walks up behind Drew and stands there for a moment.                          SAN DE              He was an amazing monk...                          DREW              Yeah, what's up with him?                          SAN DE              Come with me...San De walks away, and Drew follows him.INT. SAN DE'S CHAMBERS ≠ SAME NIGHTESTABLISHING SHOT OF SAN DE BREWING TEA.The room is filled with paintings and scrolls. A Golden Sash hangs ina place of honor.San De    puts the tea    leaves into the pot, then soaks them with boilingwater.    He pours the    water out, then repeats the process severaltimes.    His movements    are all very precise and careful ≠ it almostlooks    like a martial    art kata.                    SAN DE           Legend states that Bodhidharma gave us tea. Once, while           meditating, Bodhidharma fell asleep, a natural reaction           we all have to fight against.San De looks pointedly at Drew, who doesn't meet his eyes.                 SAN DE (CONT'D)           When he awoke, he was so enraged at his eyelids for           betraying him, he tore them off and threw them to the           ground.                 (beat)           From those eyelids grew the first tea bush. You see, even           the leaves look like eyelids.San De shows Drew a tea leaf.                    DREW           Impossible.                    SAN DE           Nothing is impossible if your spirit is pure, and your           will is strong.The tea is ready, and San De begins to pour for Drew.                    SAN DE (CONT'D)           I understand you've been questioning some of the           teachings of the temple...                    DREW           It's just not the way I was taught...San De keeps pouring into Drew's cup. It is getting to the rim. SanDe is not stopping.                    DREW (CONT'D)           Master! Stop! No more will go in!San De continues pouring until the tea runs all over the table.                    SAN DE           Exactly! You are like this cup, full of what you have           learned. How can we show you Shaolin unless you first           empty your cup?He picks up the cup and tosses the tea through an open window. He nowpours into the empty cup.                    SAN DE (CONT'D)           The rules and disciplines of the temple exist to free           you, not restrict you. They keep your mind from harmful           thoughts.                 (beat)           Drink your tea.Drew nods and sips at his tea.EXT. TRAINING AREA ≠ DAYESTABLISHING SHOT OF ONE OF THE INSTRUCTORS TEACHING A SOFT STYLE OFSHAOLIN WU SHU.His body moves with the wind, bending and swaying. Another monk isattacking him with a hard style, and the soft style is veryeffective.Drew and Li try it, and Drew is having a lot of trouble. He is usedto training hard style, and the soft style seems too weak for him.D.S. comes over.                       DREW           It's not fighting ≠ I feel like I'm dancing or           something... This soft stuff is unnatural ≠ Fighting           should be hard, tough...The D.S. holds out his hand, in a tight fist.                       D.S.           If my hand was always like this, what would you call it?                       DREW                 (after a beat)           Deformed.He opens his hand, letting it go limp.                       D.S.           And if it was always like this?                       DREW (CONT'D)           Again, deformed.The D.S. nods and walks off, leaving Drew to stare questioningly atLi.EXT. SHAOLIN TEMPLE ≠ DAYESTABLISHING SHOT OF TEMPLE COURTYARD, WHERE ALL THE DISCIPLES ARECOLLECTED.They are not dressed in their monastic robes, however. They are instreet clothes.It is their day off!A monk comes down the line, handing out hats to the disciples. Theyput them on, and wait for instructions from the D.S.                     D.S.           Remember, let no one know you are disciples at the           Shaolin Temple, but do not forget that you are. Dzai           Jyan.They file out.EXT. SHAOLIN TEMPLE ≠ SAME DAYESTABLISHING SHOT OF THE DISCIPLES EXITING THE TEMPLE.As soon as they are out, the serious faces break into smiles, andthey are teenagers again. Some of the disciples run off to joinrelatives waiting for them in the courtyard, while a group of themstick together.Drew is walking with Li, Wu and several others.ANGLE ON THE GROUPAs they walk through the small town outside of the temple.They pass by Ashema's stand, but only the Bau Bau is there.Drew bows to the Bau Bau, then slips off his hat, rubbing his baldhead for Bau Bau to see. Bau Bau laughs, and the rest of the guysrush up to Drew, forcing his hat back on his head.                     LI           Drew! We're not supposed to...                     DREW           Chill out, guys! It's our day off!He bows to Bau Bau and then they walk off.They walk through the small town, checking it out.They walk through the countryside, enjoying their freedom.Drew has brought a frisbee with him, and they are tossing it around.EXT. LUOYANG CAVES ≠ SAME DAYESTABLISHING SHOT OF GROUP AS THEY WALK IN THE HILLS HOUSING THEFAMOUS LUO YANG CAVES.The hills are filled with Buddhist carvings.ANGLE ON CARVINGS ≠ INTERCUTANGLE ON DREWAs he walks by the carvings. The detail and the artistry are amazing.EXT. RIVERSIDE ≠ SAME DAYANGLE ON DREW AND GROUPAs they walk by a riverside park. The park is filled with people, anda group of kids swinging into the river on a rope. Drew stops towatch them, then looks back at the others.They all shake their heads.Drew nods his.They continue to shake their heads.Drew starts running towards the kids, stripping off his shirt at thesame time. The others pause for a moment, then follow his lead.ANGLE ON GROUPAs they swing into the river, trying to keep their hats on as theysplash into the water. they are having the time of their life.ANGLE ON GROUPResting on the bank of the river. Drew and the guys spot a group ofgirls down the bank from them.                     DREW           Check it out, guys!                     WU           Girls!                     DREW           Good work, Wu. What tipped you off?                     LI                  (alarmed)           We are not allowed to have contact with females. It is           the most serious rule of the temple.                     DREW           It's a stupid rule, Li. But...He is about to turn away, then spots Ashema as she runs down a pathto the group of girls. He stands up immediately and starts over toher. He is jogging, at the same time trying to straighten his clothesand his hat.Li starts running after Drew. The others follow.                     DREW (CONT'D)           ASHEMA!ANGLE ON ASHEMAWho hears her name. She looks around, sees Drew but doesn'timmediately recognize him. She looks around the park.                     DREW (CONT'D)           ASHEMA! Here!She looks at Drew again, and this time recognizes him. Drew arrivesand impulsively he gives her a hug, genuinely very happy to see her.Li arrives and pulls them apart.                     DREW (CONT'D)           What!?!                     LI           You can get kicked out of the temple for this...                     DREW           Who's going to tell, Li? You?He turns to Ashema, who has now backed off a little bit and islooking at Drew, a smile on her face, but is pretending that she isembarrassed. The other girls are gathered around, giggling.                     DREW                 (pointing at girls)           Not the giggle girls again! How've you been? You look           great!                     ASHEMA                 (hiding a laugh)           You look... funny.                     DREW (CONT'D)           Thanks.                     ASHEMA           How do you like the temple?                     DREW           Shhh... nobody's supposed to know.Li tugs at Drew's shirt.                     LI           We really shouldn't be doing this...                     DREW           I'm trying to show you guys a good time.                 (to Ashema)           I guess I gotta go. It was great to see you.One of the giggle girls behind Ashema whispers something in her ear.She nods and smiles.                      ASHEMA           My school is having a party this Tuesday night. Can you           and your friends come?Li and the guys immediately hem and haw their negative replies, butDrew smiles and takes Ashema's hand. The girls start to giggle again.He brings her hand up to his lips, and kisses it gently.                      DREW           We'll be there.INT. DORM ROOM ≠ NIGHTESTABLISHING SHOT OF DORM ROOM, LI STANDING IN FRONT OF DREW, THEREST OF THE DISCIPLES GATHERED AROUND.The room is dark ≠ it's after lights out.                      LI           Are you nuts? We can't go to a party, with GIRLS!                      DREW           Why not? We're working hard, we deserve some R & R.                      LI           'R & R'?                      DREW           We've earned this. Back home in New York, you don't say           no to a party... Where's your sense of adventure?                      WU           What do you do at a 'party' with girls?Drew smiles, knowing that he has them.                      DREW           You dance, and talk. And have a good time.                      LI           That clinches it, we can't dance.                      WU           And we don't know how to talk to girls...                      DREW                 (trying to sound like an expert)           That's easy. You just talk to them like you would to the              guys ≠ you just don't tell them as much, and... not in              the same way...Drew is in over his head.                       GAO              Like you know?                       DREW              Look, dancing's easy. I'll show you. We'll start with              slow dancing.An OOOH escapes from the guys.                       DREW (CONT'D)              Dirty dancing!Giggles now. Drew pulls his boom box out of his backpack, and startssearching for a suitable tape.                       DREW (CONT'D)              You guys grab a pillow for a partner, while I find some              slow music.The disciples have grabbed their pillows. Drew pops the cassette intohis boom box and turns it on, low and sultry.                       DREW (CONT'D)              Just move in time to the music, nothing elaborate. Think              of it as a soft form...The disciples move and sway in time to the music. They are treatingtheir pillows like imaginary girls.ANGLE ON LIWho is holding his pillow at arm's length.DREW WALKS BY LI                       DREW (CONT'D)              Loosen up, Li. She's not going to bite!                       LI              How do you know?ANGLE ON WUWho is really getting into it. He is dancing with his pillow cheek tocheek, and occasionally sneaking a kiss.ANGLE ON OTHER MONKSPracticing their dancing and preparing for the party.ANGLE ON DREWWho sits back on his bed, his hands clasped behind his head.                     DREW           This is going to be great...ANGLE ON DISCIPLESStill moving and swaying to the music.                                                 DISSOLVE TO:INT. DORM ROOM ≠ NIGHTANGLE ON DISCIPLESNow asleep and in bed, still clutching their pillows like they weregirls.ANGLE ON DOORAs it opens. The D.S. looks in on the room, and sees all the kidsholding their pillows. He shakes his head and then closes the door.EXT. TRAINING AREA ≠ DAYESTABLISHING SHOT OF TWO BODIES FIGHTING, KICKING AND PUNCHING.CAMERA PULLS BACK TO REVEAL Drew and Gao going at it. The otherdisciples are paired off as well, but the only real action is here inthis ring.Drew is getting tagged, hard, while the points he scores are allrelatively controlled. After one particularly powerful shot, Drewstops.                     DREW           I thought this was light contact!                     GAO           Fight, you coward!Drew stares at Gao, then looks around for the D.S. He is over at theother side of the training area.                     DREW           You got it.Before he can move, however, Gao attacks, slamming him full power inthe face. Drew almost falls to the ground, then attacks him and thebattle is joined.The fighting is fast and furious, and soon the others see what ishappening, and gather around. One of the monks comes over and triesto break it up, but they continue fighting, wrestling, kicking andpunching.The D.S. finally gets over to them, and without moving a muscle,barks ≠                      D.S.           Stop!Drew and Gao immediately break apart, breathing heavy and staringdaggers at each other.                      D.S.                   (to others)           Back to work.He turns and walks off, motioning for Drew and Gao to follow him.Drew follows immediately, with Gao behind him. Gao shoves him once.INT. SAN DE CHAMBER ≠ SAME DAYESTABLISHING SHOT OF DREW, GAO AND SAN DE IN THE SHADOWS OF SAN DE'SROOM.San De is sitting down reading a Buddhist text. With a sigh, he putsit down. On the wall behind is hanging a Golden Sash.                      SAN DE           So soon?                   (beat)           Tell me what happened.Drew looks at Gao, and Gao looks at Drew. There is a pause, one thatis very uncomfortable. Finally, Drew speaks.                      DREW           It was my fault. I started it.ANGLE ON GAOSurprised at Drew's confession.                      DREW (CONT'D)           Disciple Gao was better than me.Drew pauses, and Gao is even more surprised at the revelation.                      DREW (CONT'D)           I lost my temper. He was only defending himself.ANGLE ON SAN DEWho nods his head and looks at Drew.                      SAN DE           Is this true, Disciple Gao?Gao looks at Drew, wondering what he should say. Drew looks at him,nodding for him to say yes.                      GAO           Yes. But, I am not completely blameless...                      SAN DE           I didn't think you were...                    (beat)           The Shaolin martial tradition is built on challenges. We           challenge ourselves, but we do not fight with each other.           Never do we fight to see who is best ≠ we train to be           able to right wrongs, not to let our hands and feet           express emotions run wild. A Shaolin never throws a punch           or kick in anger.                    (beat)           Shake hands and let your emotions go.Gao looks at Drew, knowing that the anger is already long gone, sweptaway in the shock of Drew taking the blame.They shake hands.Both Drew and Gao notice the Golden Sash hanging on the wall. It isoccupying a place of honor.                      SAN DE (CONT'D)           That is the Golden Sash, the highest honor of the temple.           It is awarded to the monk who has attained the pinnacle           of understanding.                      DREW           The best fighter?                      SAN DE           Among other things. Fighting is only a small part of           being a Shaolin monk.                      GAO           Yours?San De nods.                      SAN DE           Return to your training.Drew and Gao get up, bow to San De and head for the door.They get to the door at the same time, however, and for a moment theyjockey for position, trying to be the first one through the door.Finally, Drew tires of the game and opens the door for Gao.                      DREW              Ten more seconds and I would have kicked your ass...Gao smiles and walks through the door. Just as he passes Drew, hepunches him in the stomach.                          GAO              In your dreams...INT. DORM ROOM ≠ DAYESTABLISHING SHOT OF DISCIPLES GETTING READY TO GO OUT.They are dressed in "street" clothes and are just pulling on theirhats. Drew, instead of wearing his temple-issue hat, pulls on a NewYork Yankees baseball cap!                          DREW              Now, we're ready!He leads them towards the window of their dorm, but stops when hegets there. He turns to where Gao is standing, all alone.                          DREW (CONT'D)              Gao, you coming or what?There is a moment of indecision, then Gao frowns, shakes his head andcomes jogging towards them.                          GAO              I'm coming, just to keep you out of trouble!EXT. SHAOLIN TEMPLE ≠ SAME NIGHTESTABLISHING SHOT OF EMPTY COURTYARD BATHED IN MOONLIGHT.Suddenly, a figure lands on the ground with a PUFF of dust.In a crouch, Drew scans the area, then motions for the others to jumpdown.Immediately, other figures land with PUFFs of dust all around him. Assoon as they have all landed, they move off.ANGLE ON GROUPAs they    sneak    through the courtyards and training areas of thetemple.    They    are about halfway across from the front door of thetemple    when a    monk comes walking towards them. He is weaving andbobbing    ≠ he    looks drunk.Drew shoots Li and Gao a questioning look. Drunk? In the temple?They take refuge behind a couple of the columns and watch as the monkmakes his way past, weaving and throwing kicks and punches. It is atense moment as the monk comes uncomfortably close to where Drew andGao are standing, but he walks on.                          GAO                 (whisper)           Drunken Kung Fu...Drew nods and leads them out of the temple.EXT. TEMPLE ≠ SAME NIGHTESTABLISHING SHOT OF GROUP AS THEY HEAD DOWN THE DARK STREETS OF THETOWN. EUPHORIA STRIKES, AND THEY ARE HAVING FUN (AD LIBS HERE) JUSTBEING FREE AND A.W.O.L.EXT. GIRL'S SCHOOL ≠ SAME NIGHTESTABLISHING SHOT OF FRONT OF GIRL'S SCHOOL.It is the same school where Drew first met Ashema. The guys, stillhappy, arrive at the school, and the realization of what they areabout to do sinks in.They stop talking and are staring at the building. Drew starts towardthe door, and nobody follows his lead. He stops and motions for themto join him. Nobody moves.                    DREW           Are we men or are we sheep?A beat, then the entire group bellows:                    GROUP           SHEEP!And they follow Drew, the shepherd, in through the front door, makingnoises like sheep.INT. PARTY ROOM ≠ SAME NIGHTESTABLISHING SHOT OF PARTY.It isn't happening. The boys are on one side, the girls are on theother. The music is bad Chinese rock and roll.The only ones together are Drew and Ashema, who are talking in thecenter of the room. The disciples are all clustered together, staringat the walls and the ceiling. A group of giggle girls are standingaround Drew and Ashema.A group of toughs are standing at one side of the party room,observing everything that's going on.ANGLE ON DREW AND ASHEMA                    DREW           Great party...Ashema smiles a sheepish smile. Drew decides that if they are goingto have a good time, he's going to have a hand in it. He pulls out acassette tape, gives it to Ashema                      DREW (CONT'D)           Play this when I signal, OK?She nods and walks off. Drew motions for Gao and the guys to comeover. They do, and when they do, Drew turns to the giggle girls                      DREW (CONT'D)           Ladies, allow me to introduce my best friends in all of           China...He drags Gao over to one of the prettier girls.                      DREW (CONT'D)           This is Gao. And this wild man is Li...Drew does the same for Li, Wu, Su, Sou and all the others, forcingthem to stand with the girls for a moment. When everyone is pairedoff, he motions to Ashema.                      DREW (CONT'D)           Hit it!INSERT of Ashema's finger on the tape player "PLAY" button.ANGLE ON THE ROOMAs the song the disciples have been singing in the fields blasts out.Immediately, the disciples start moving with the music, and suddenlytheParty is happening.                                                  DISSOLVE TO:ANGLE ON DISCIPLESWho are now slow dancing to a romantic melody ≠ some holding thegirls closer than others. Drew and Ashema are locked in an embrace,their eyes closed.A hand comes in and taps Drew on the shoulder.                      DREW                    (eyes still closed)           Not now, Li...The hand comes in again, punching Drew in the shoulder hard.Drew opens his eyes, and sees that he is surrounded by five toughguys, dressed in dark clothes and with sunglasses on.                      DREW (CONT'D)           What can I do for you?                      TOUGH           Leave.ANGLE ON DISCIPLES.They have noticed what is going on.ANGLE ON DREW                      DREW           No, thanks.He turns back to Ashema, but she is pulled back by the giggle girls,away from danger.The tough spins Drew around and pushes him HARD. One of the toughshas already gotten behind him, on his knees, and Drew goes flippingover the tough, landing hard on the ground, the wind knocked out ofhim.Drew gets up, wincing, not really ready to fight.                      DREW (CONT'D)           Can't we talk this over?The tough pulls his fist back to strike Drew, who has been grabbed bytwo other toughs, his arms pinned behind his back.Suddenly, a figure FLIES in and SLAMS the tough to the ground.It is Gao, and he immediately sets on the other toughs. The roomERUPTS in a melee as the disciples go at it with the village toughs.The girls are SCREAMING as the boys kick and punch.The disciples are winning, having a great time, until the door to theroom SLAMS open and the HEADMISTRESS comes storming in, screaming atthe top of her lungs for them to stop.ANGLE ON DREW, GAO AND THE DISCIPLESAs they all agree as one to hightail out of there. They go runningpast the Headmistress and out the door, full speed.EXT. GIRLS SCHOOL ≠ SAME NIGHTESTABLISHING SHOT OF DISCIPLES SPRINTING THROUGH THE DARKNESS.EXT. SHAOLIN TEMPLE ≠ SAME NIGHTANGLE ON THE DISCIPLESAs they climb back into the dorm room.INT. DORM ROOM ≠ SAME NIGHTESTABLISHING SHOT AS THE LAST DISCIPLE CLIMBS THROUGH THE WINDOW ≠ ITIS DREW.He lands on the hardwood floor, panting his lungs out after the run.After a BEAT, he lifts his head and looks right at Gao.                      DREW              Did you say you were going to keep us OUT of trouble?The group pauses for a BEAT, then they all laugh, relaxing.INT. DINNER ROOM ≠ DAYESTABLISHING SHOT OF GAO CARRYING A PLATE OF CHINESE FOOD OVER TO ATABLE WHERE THE DISCIPLES EATING, THEIR EYES SCANNING THE ROOM FORSIGNS OF WARNING.Gao sits down and looks around. They are all dressed in theirtraining clothes, dirtied after a full day of training.                      GAO              I can't believe nobody's said anything! It's been a whole              day!                      LI              We broke every major rule the temple has, how could we              get away with it?                      DREW              I think we might have. If they knew, they'd have already              gotten us! You guys just have to stop looking so guilty.ANGLE ON WUWho pushes his dinner away from him.                      WU              I've lost my appetite.                      DREW              Let's go back to the dorm for a few minutes, go over our              stories in case they seperate us...He gets up to leave, and the others follow him.                      LI              Seperate us?EXT. COURTYARD ≠ SAME DAYIN THE COURTYARD ARE SEVERAL POLICEMEN, WAITING AROUND.Drew and the others spot the cops, and walk quickly to their dormroom.INT. DORM ROOM ≠ SAME DAYDREW AND THE OTHERS ARE FRANTIC.                      DREW           Cops! Somebody called the cops?!?Before anyone can answer, the door opens and the D.S. walks into theroom, his face serious.                     D.S.           Drew! Come with me to San De's chamber...He turns to go, but the others are on their feet, ready to followDrew.                     D.S.           Just Drew.Drew looks at them and shrugs, then follows the D.S.INT. SAN DE CHAMBER ≠ EVENINGESTABLISHING SHOT OF SAN DE AND THE GIRLS SCHOOL HEADMISTRESS.Also in the room are two high-ranking police officials. TheHeadmistress is yelling at the top of her lungs, and San De is justsitting there, letting her vent. She has obviously been going at itfor some time, because her face is sweaty and flushed. She stops whenDrew and the D.S. enter and points an accusing finger at Drew.                     HEADMISTRESS           He's the one!                     SAN DE           Drew, I think you know Headmistress Low. Correct?Drew can only nod.                     SAN DE (CONT'D)           The police have also come. A morals violation is what           brought them...Drew's head snaps up at the words "morals charge"                     POLICE LIEUTENANT           We demand that he leaves the temple, and China!                     POLICE CAPTAIN           He's a disgrace, to the temple and to this country. He           must leave.They all agree that Drew should leave, and for a moment the sound ofthe three of them agreeing fills the room (ad libs).ANGLE ON DREWWho is staring down into the abyss.                     SAN DE           This is a serious issue, there is no question. This we           will have to take under advisement ≠ but we will handle           matters of this temple.                    POLICE CAPTAIN           This involves more than just the temple. I am authorized           to escort him from your temple to the jail now, tonight,           where he will be held until he leaves the country.San De pauses, letting this sink in. The D.S. steps forward.                    D.S.           Master, may I?                 (San De nods)           We accepted a challenge when this disciple came into our           ranks. If we force him to leave China, we admit failure.           Can we do that?The police don't have an easy answer to that.ANGLE ON DREWWho is surprised that the d.s. is sticking up for him.                    D.S.           You are wise. You know what is right and what is not           right. This disciple does not even know right from wrong.           Who will teach him if we do not?This sinks in, and the police have nothing to say. The Headmistresswill not keep quiet, however.                    HEADMISTRESS           He does not belong here!                    DREW                 (whisper)           Chill out, honey!Drew catches a hard look from the D.S.                    D.S.           Would you be so hard hearted as to turn him away from           that which he so desperately needs?She is about to speak, but thinks better of it.San De stands up, signalling that the meeting is over.                    SAN DE           Thank you all for coming. I am pleased that you brought           this problem to our attention. May you sleep well tonight           knowing that the situation has been swiftly resolved.                      POLICE CAPTAIN           I do not wish to visit you again with this kind of news.                      SAN DE           You will not have to.The Headmistress starts to say something, but San De holds up hishand, stopping her. He leads them out, then closes the door and comesback to face Drew.                      DREW           Master, I can't tell you how sorry I am. I appreciate you           both going to bat like that for me. I won't let it happen           again.                      SAN DE           Neither will we. You must leave the temple in the           morning.                      DREW           But I thought... the police...                      D.S.           You do not deserve to leave the country as a criminal,           but you cannot stay.Drew sits for a moment, looking back and forth between San De and theD.S. His eyes are filling with tears, and he wipes at them.                      DREW (CONT'D)           I'm sorry, Master.                      SAN DE           As am I.Drew gets up and walks out of the chamber.EXT. COURTYARD ≠ SAME NIGHTDREW WALKS BACK TO THE DORM ROOM, SLOWLY.INT. DORM ROOM ≠ SAME NIGHTESTABLISHING SHOT OF DREW WITH THE OTHER GUYS AROUND HIM.He has just finished telling the disciples what is going on.They are shocked.                      GAO           Why only you?Drew shrugs and goes over to his bed, lying down with a sigh.                     LI           The D.S. always told us that we're all responsible for           what happens.                     WU           It's not fair.                     DREW           It doesn't have to be fair...                                                 DISSOLVE TO:ANGLE ON DREW LYING IN THE DARKEveryone else is asleep, but not Drew. He is staring at the ceiling.                                                 DISSOLVE TO:INT. DORM ROOM ≠ MORNINGESTABLISHING SHOT OF DREW WAKING UP TO AN EMPTY ROOM.Everyone is gone already, their beds made up. Drew gets up quicklyand gathers up his few things. He puts on his NewYork Yankees cap and shoulders his back pack, then looks around theroom one last time.                     DREW           I hate long goodbyes anyway...He exits the room.EXT. SHAOLIN COURTYARD ≠ SAME DAYANGLE ON DREWWalking through the courtyard, for the last time. Only a few monksare around, and they don't meet Drew's eyes.The sounds of training can be heard O.S. Drew stops to listen tothose sounds for a moment, then heads for the door.EXT. SHAOLIN TEMPLE ≠ SAME DAYANGLE ON DREWAs he leaves the temple. He pauses for a moment with the door open,then shuts it sadly. He looks out over the courtyard, which iscompletely deserted. Drew sighs, hitches his backpack onto his backand starts out.As he comes out of the doorway and into the courtyard proper, hesees...THE ENTIRE CLASS OF DISCIPLESDressed in street clothes with their bags packed. Li and Gao are inthe front, their bags in their hands, smiling.                    GAO           You're either with us or against us, remember?                    DREW                 (smiling)           I'm with you!A cheer goes up from the entire group as Drew, Li and Gao embrace. Inthe b.g. can be seen the D.S., who is observing all this.INT. SAN DE CHAMBER ≠ DAYESTABLISHING SHOT OF SAN DE'S CHAMBER, SAN DE WAITING FOR DREW IN ONEOF THE CHAIRS.The door opens and Drew walks in, the D.S. can be seen in the b.g.San De indicates one of the chairs for him to sit in. He does.                    SAN DE           Quite a show of solidarity, yes?Drew nods, trying to hide a smile. He is trying his best to appearhumble.                    SAN DE (CONT'D)           Why did you come to the Shaolin Temple?                    DREW                 (caught off guard)           To train, Master.                    SAN DE (CONT'D)           Yet you rebel at every rule, and blame the training for           your inability to learn and progress?No response from Drew, who is just looking down at the ground.                    SAN DE (CONT'D)           You are like someone swimming in fresh water crying "I           thirst!". What you seek is all around you. Don't fight           with the ways of the temple, the battle is within           yourself.                    DREW           Within myself?                    SAN DE           You must accept the responsibility for your life. If we           force you out of the temple, you can always blame the           temple for your failure ≠ it never has to be your fault.                 (beat)           Life without committment is no life at all.                    DREW           What if I can't handle it? What if I fail?                    SAN DE           Live for the moment, Drew. The future will take care of           itself. If you go through your days here, squeezing every           last bit of life out of every minute, you need not fear           failure.                    DREW                 (after a beat)           Then, it's up to me.                    SAN DE (CONT'D)           Yes. Your fellow disciples stood up for you. It's your           turn.                    DREW           I don't want to let them down.                    SAN DE           Don't let yourself down.He bows to San De and then leaves the chamber.EXT. CHAMBER ≠ SAME NIGHTDREW COMES OUT, FINDING GAO AND LI WAITING FOR HIM.                    GAO           Are you staying?Drew waits for a moment, studying their hopeful faces.                    DREW           Yeah, I'm staying. If only to keep you guys out of           trouble!They walk off, and just as they round a corner, a BANG is heard asone of the monks drops the heavy wooden lid of a storage barrell.Drew jumps, spinning around in the direction of the sound.                    LI           Drew! Are you allright?                    DREW           Yeah, I'm just a little on edge, that's all. Ever since I           got to the temple, some nut has been attacking me with a           stick ≠ at night, in the toilet... anywhere! It's driving           me crazy...Gao and Li look at each other, nodding.                    DREW (CONT'D)           What? Honest, it's happening! I...                    GAO           Every class of disciples, the one with the most potential           is singled out for special training. We were wondering           who it was... now, we know.                    DREW           Special training? You mean...?Gao and Li nod, and Drew walks with them, shaking his head.EXT. COUNTRYSIDE ≠ MORNINGESTABLISHING SHOT OF ASHEMA STANDING NEXT TO THE STREAM, WATCHING THEWATER RUSH BY.In the b.g. comes Drew, dressed in his monastic robes, no hat on hishead. He is making no attempt to hide the fact that he is a monk.Drew walks up to Ashema and takes her hand, and they stand like thatfor a moment. She then turns to him, and starts to say something.Drew stops her with a finger on her lips, then strokes her cheek.                    DREW           Ashema, beautiful Ashema, I can't see you anymore. I           will... miss you and remember you... always.Ashema closes her eyes against the tears there, and buries her headagainst Drew's shoulder.                    ASHEMA           Are they making you do this?She wants to hear that they are, even if it's not true. She NEEDS tohear it.Drew pulls her head away from his shoulder, looking into her eyes. Itwould be so easy not to take the blame for hurting her like this.                    DREW           No. It is my choice, and my responsibility. I'm sorry...He embraces her for the last time, and she openly begins to cry. Heholds her for a moment, then breaks the embrace and with one lastlong look at Ashema, walks away.EXT. TRAINING AREA ≠ DAY 103 (SPRING TIME)ESTABLISHING SHOT OF DREW WORKING ON THE "WOODEN MAN", A TRAININGDEVICE.The D.S. in the b.g. comes up and corrects his technique, and Drewimmediately does it his way.EXT. POLE AREA ≠ EVENINGESTABLISHING SHOT OF DREW WORKING ON THE POLES.He is doing well, jumping from pole to pole, kicking    and punching. Hetries an especially difficult sequence of moves, and    falls with aTHUMP to the ground. Immediately, he is back up and    onto the poles.He tries the same set of moves, falls again. Instead    of being angry,Drew just laughs at himself, then climbs back up on    the poles.INT. MEDITATION HALL ≠ NIGHTESTABLISHING SHOT OF BARE CHESTED DREW, SOAKED IN SWEAT.In the b.g. is a huge bronze buddha. Drew is in the same position asthe Buddha.EXT. STREAM ≠ DAY 106 (SUMMER TIME)ESTABLISHING SHOT OF DREW DRAWING WATER FROM THE STREAM, IN THEPOINTED BARRELS.He fills them up, and then starts moving back towards the temple, hisarms up and strong.ANGLE ON DREWAs he goes through a thicket of bamboo. as he gets to the center, heis attacked! The staff comes out, but Drew manages to block it withone of the buckets. The staff strikes again, and Drew blocks again! Athird time, and Drew raises both buckets over his head to block it ≠and drenches himself with the water. Then, the staff hits him in thestomach.His attacker has vanished, leaving Drew alternately moaning from thepain, and chuckling at himself in the bamboo.EXT. TRAINING AREA ≠ DAYANGLE ON DREW AND LIAs they go through a very intricate, beautifully staged series oftechniques. The last technique is a very powerful kick, and one whichDrew is to block using the blocking technique he refused to learnbefore.This time, the kick is thrown and Drew blocks it with the newtechnique, sending Li pitching to the ground is a cloud of dust.Drew turns around and high-fives Gao.EXT. TRAINING AREA ≠ ANOTHER ANGLEESTABLISHING SHOT OF GROUP OF DISCIPLES GOING THROUGH A SERIES OFSOFT GONG FU MOVES.Drew is next in line, and he moves through the techniques without amistake. When he gets to the end of the routine, he breaks into alittle dance step, having fun. The entire group breaks up inlaughter.EXT. TEMPLE ≠ DAYTIGHT SHOT OF D.S.' ARMGao's hands are around his elbow, pulling down.                    D.S.           Using your muscles, bend my arm.Gao pulls down, while the D.S. tries to fight back with his muscles,but finally, after great strain, his arm bends. A cheer goes up fromthe group.D.S. smiles and motions for an old monk standing near him to take hisplace. the old man puts his arm up on Gao's shoulder, and takes adeep breath. He does not tense up his arm and shoulder.Gao looks questioning at the D.S.                    GAO           What if I hurt him?                    D.S.           You will not.Gao starts to pull down, gently at first, but when he sees that theold monk's arm is not bending, stronger, until finally he is puttingall his strength into it. The old monk's arm has not moved, and hisexpression of relaxation and piece has not changed.Gao quits, not able to bend the arm. D.S. motions for Drew to get onthe other side of the monk.                    D.S.           Grab his arms and try to pull him out of his stance.Drew and Gao shrug at each other and take an arm. They pull and push,straining and groaning, but there is no movement from the old monk.It is like he is a heavy stone.They give up, and the D.S. bows to the old monk.                    D.S. (CONT'D)           Master Shu's spirit is indeed strong.ANGLE ON DREW AND GAOSweating from their efforts.EXT. TRAINING AREA ≠ DAY 110 (AUTUMN TIME)ESTABLISHING SHOT OF DISCIPLES DOING AERIAL MANUEVERS ≠ KICKS,AERIALS, KIPS, ETC.Drew is on the ground, trying to do a kip. He is coming up, but thenis crashing back down onto his spine. The D.S. comes up to him andpoints at his chest.                       D.S.           Try to hit me here with your feet.                       DREW           With pleasure.Drew tries another kip, pushing his feet towards the D.S.' chest. Helands on his feet easily, surprised.EXT. WATERFALL ≠ DAYESTABLISHING SHOT OF DREW AND GAO UNDER THE WATERFALL. THEY ARE BOTHIN HORSE STANCES. THEY NOD AT EACH OTHER, AND THEY BEGIN GOINGTHROUGH A SLOW FORM, MOVING THEIR ARMS AND LEGS CAUTIOUSLY, BUT WITHPOWER.EXT. FOREST OF STONE ≠ SUNSETESTABLISHING SHOT OF DREW TRAINING IN THE FOREST OF STONE, THEBLAZING SUN BEHIND HIM.EXT. DINING HALL ≠ NIGHTESTABLISHING SHOT OF DREW CARRYING THE DIRTY PLATES FROM DINNER.He carries them out to the garbage area, and begins to scrape themoff. From out of nowhere comes the staff, swinging for Drew.Drew doesn't jump, but just calmly avoids it. The staff WHOOSHES overhis head. Drew stands up, and the staff comes again, from a differentdirection. Drew avoids, and the staff finds empty air again.Drew goes on with cleaning the plates, a slight smile on his face.After a BEAT, he looks around, trying to find the attacker. When heis sure no one is around, he smiles bigger.                       DREW           Allright! I did it!As soon as he finishes saying that, the staff comes out and SLAMS himin the stomach, sending Drew to his knees in pain.EXT. TRAINING AREA ≠ DAYESTABLISHING SHOT OF THE DISCIPLES THROWING FLYING KICKS.The sequences are very beautiful as the monks throw kicks into theair and into targets.EXT. TRAINING AREA ≠ ANOTHER ANGLEESTABLISHING SHOT OF DREW AND LI FIGHTING.Drew is rushing Li, throwing every possible technique at him, whichhe blocks. Li gets into a low stance as he goes back, and Drew takesthis opportunity ≠ he uses Li's own leg as a step and jumps off ofit, hitting him HARD with a jump spin hook.Li gets up right away and slaps Drew's hand.EXT. TEMPLE PATHS ≠ MORNING 116 (WINTER TIME)ESTABLISHING SHOT OF SNOWY MORNING.A group of monks, Drew in the lead, come running down the path,barefoot in the snow.ANGLE ON DISCIPLESThrowing kicks and punches at icicles hanging from rocks on a cliff.Slow motion as the disciples shatter the ice.EXT. TEMPLE FIELDS ≠ DAY 117 (SPRING TIME)ESTABLISHING SHOT OF DISCIPLES WORKING IN THE FIELDS.They are singing again, but this time the song is in Chinese!EXT. ROOF OF THE WORLD ≠ SUNSETESTABLISHING SHOT OF DREW, POISED ON A ROCK PLATFORM AT THE ROOF OFTHE WORLD, THE SUNSET IN THE B.G.EXT. TRAINING AREA ≠ DAYESTABLISHING SHOT OF DISCIPLES WORKING ON THE UNBENDABLE ARM.Drew is in the middle, and Gao is straining to bend his relaxed arm.He is getting the hang of it.The D.S. walks up with another monk with    a spear. Together, theyposition a wooden target. The monk bows    to D.S. and to the rest ofthe disciples, then positions the point    of the spear in the hollow ofhis neck. He then hands the shaft of the    spear to the D.S.The D.S. holds the shaft and starts to push, bending the spear,slowly but surely.ANGLE ON DREW AND THE DISCIPLESAmazed.ANGLE ON THE MONKThe spear is now almost bent double.With a flick of his head, the spear goes flying into the targetpositioned behind him, its point finding the bulls-eye.Drew walks over to the target and sees that the very real spear pointis imbedded deep into the wood of the target.                      DREW                    (bowing)           Boy, his spirit is strong...EXT. TEMPLE GROUNDS ≠ DAY 120 (SPRING TIME)TIGHT SHOT OF AMERICAN FOOTBALL SPINNING THROUGH THE AIR.Set against a deep blue sky, it could be spinning anywhere ≠ but theCAMERA PULLS BACK TO REVEAL the Shaolin Temple "forest of stupa",where the disciples are having a pick up football game ≠ it's Sunday,the disciples' afternoon off. The football spins into the hands ofGao, who drops it.Drew runs over, showing Gao how to catch the ball, and how to makethe cuts he has to make (no dialogue, music over).Gao follows Drew's instructions, then they run the play. This timeGao is all alone and he catches the ball easily for a touchdown.Drew runs up and high-fives Gao, then teaches him how to spike theball.They are playing some more, having a great time. This time Drew goesout for a pass, with Gao playing defense. Li throws the pass, and Gaointercepts. Drew, laughing, goes after Gao.ANGLE ON DREWWho goes long for a pass, which Gao lets fly.It is immediately obvious that it is way too long.ANGLE ON SAN DEWho is walking along through the stupa, meditating as he walks.ANGLE ON DREWWho stops running and sees san de. the ball is going towards San De.ANGLE ON SAN DEThe ball is heading right for his HEAD!ANGLE ON DREW, GAO AND OTHERSThey are bracing for the impact, and the trouble it will cause.ANGLE ON SAN DEWho at the last moment turns and catches the ball like a professionalreceiver. He holds the ball and looks right at Drew, a very sternlook on his face.ANGLE ON DREWExpecting the worst.ANGLE ON SAN DEHis stern face now taking on a mischevious look. He hefts the balland puts his fingers on the laces.                       SAN DE           Go long.Drew pauses for a moment, not sure    what San De said, until San Demotions with his left hand, like a    NFL quarterback, for Drew to goout. He takes off sprinting, with    Gao covering him like a blanket.San De throws the ball to him in a    perfect spiral, to a spot whereGao has no play on the throw, and    Drew catches it in stride.San De immediately returns to his meditation, while Drew and theothers stand around dumbstruck.EXT. COUNTRYSIDE ≠ DAYESTABLISHING SHOT OF GAO, LI AND DREW RUNNING THROUGH THECOUNTRYSIDE.They come to a stream, and there by a stream is a beautiful youngwoman who can't get across the stream without getting her clothessoaked.Without thinking twice, Drew allows her to get on his back andcarries her across the river. He deposits her on the other side andthen continues running.Gao and Li run up next to Drew, and together they go back to thetemple. When they stop outside the temple, they are breathingheavily. finally catching his breath, Gao turns to Drew.                       GAO           I can't believe you carried that girl over the stream!           After all the trouble you got into...                       LI           Are you crazy? You almost got kicked out once over that           kind of thing...Drew smiles slightly.                       DREW           I left that girl at the stream. Are you two still           carrying her?He turns and walks away, leaving Li and Gao to puzzle that one out.As he walks away, San De comes out from behind a pillar where he hadbeen sweeping, smiling and nodding his head at Drew's answer.EXT. TRAINING AREA ≠ DAYESTABLISHING SHOT OF TRAINING GROUND, WHERE SEVERAL GROUPS OFDISCIPLES ARE GOING AT IT.The action is fast and furious.ANGLE ON DREW AND GAOWho are squared    off and fighting. They are intense, and thetechniques they    are throwing are full power. Drew hits Gao, and hebends over. Drew    closes, thinking that he has Gao at his mercy. Atthe last minute,    Gao stands up and cold cocks Drew, who sags to theground.TIGHT ON DREWWho is trying to get his bearings.                      DREW           Lucky shot, slant eye!ANGLE ON GAOWho gives him a mean look.                      GAO           You stink, American!ANGLE ON DREWWho stands up, mad.                      DREW           That's it! You're dead meat!He comes at Gao, and they start fighting again, throwing all kinds ofacrobatic kicks and techniques.A gong sounds, O.S., and Gao and Drew stop, bow to each other, andthen embrace, smiling.                      DREW (CONT'D)           Saved by the bell...                      GAO           I had you...Drew moves off to the side to get a drink of water, and to towel off.As he rubs his neck, D.S. comes up to him.                      D.S.           San De wants to see you, in his chambers.Drew raises his eyebrows, then looks over at Gao and Li. He rolls uphis towel and snaps Gao with it as he walks by.                      DREW           I wonder what you did now...INT. SAN DE CHAMBER ≠ DAYESTABLISHING SHOT OF DREW AND SAN DE SITTING ACROSS FROM EACH OTHER.San De has an ornately embroidered golden box in his hand, and he isshowing it to Drew.                      SAN DE           You are to deliver this scroll to the Arhat living on the           Jade Mountain. This is your quest. The scroll that is in           this box is more precious than life. Guard it well.                    DREW           I will, Master.                    SAN DE           If you deliver this, you may ask this master, the most           advanced monk of the Shaolin tradition, any question you           wish, and he must answer it.San De takes out a map of the area.                    SAN DE (CONT'D)           This map will lead you to the Jade Mountain. Let nothing           deter from safeguarding the sacred scroll. You leave           first thing tomorrow morning.                 (beat)           You must return within three day... or don't bother to           return at all.San De stands and bows to Drew. Drew returns the bow, takes the mapand the box, then leaves the chamber.EXT. TEMPLE ≠ EARLY MORNINGESTABLISHING SHOT OF DREW WALKING OUT OF THE TEMPLE INTO THE MIST-SHROUDED COURTYARD.He is off on his quest.                                                 DISSOLVE TO:EXT. COUNTRYSIDE ≠ SAME DAYANGLE ON DREWWalking strong. the sun is high in the sky, and the scenery behind isincredibly beautiful (Guilin?).EXT. SMALL TOWN ≠ SAME DAYESTABLISHING SHOT OF DREW STOPPING IN A SMALL TOWN, IN THE MIDDLE OFAN OPEN AIR MARKET.He goes over to a drink stand, and buys a cool drink. Just as he isabout to drink it down, it is KNOCKED from his hand.Drew turns around and see four dirty thugs and their leader ≠ the onewho hit the glass. They are yelling at Drew in Chinese, which hedoesn't understand.                    DREW           OK, boys, just let me get my glass and...Drew, not looking for trouble, bends down to pick up the glass, andthe leader kicks him in the rear end, sending him pitching to theground. Drew rolls to a standing position, and the five men close onhim.A crowd is now starting to form, eager to watch how the monk handlesthis situation.The thugs come after Drew, and the leader throws a roundhouse punch,hitting Drew square in the jaw. They continue to attack, while Drewtries to avoid getting hit. Drew catches a haymaker, and he spins anddrops, and the thugs laugh, kick him a couple of times, and then kickdust and dirt onto him. Drew doesn't get up.They soon tire of the sport and move on, the crowd staring at Drew inpity.                       DREW (CONT'D)                    (to himself)              This humble, not fighting stuff is harder, and more              painful, than it looks!ANGLE ON THE THUGSWho have now spotted a man and his young son. They are both loadeddown with goods from the store, and the thugs stop them. They takethe things from them, and start to walk off.The father tries to fight back, but they easily beat him up, sendinghim into the dirt. The young boy runs forward. The leader of thethugs raises his hand, ready to slap the boy's face.Before he can bring his arm forward, Drew's fingers come around hiswrist, stopping it.                       DREW (CONT'D)              Oh, I don't think so...ANGLE ON THE CROWDIt's getting good now.The fight    starts, and this    time Drew is unencumbered by    vows of non-violence.    He has a cause,    and he's enjoying every minute    of thefight. It    is over quickly,    as Drew is a superb fighter,    usingincredible    techniques. The    thugs limp away, leaving Drew    with thelittle boy    and his father.Drew bends down and picks up the goods, handing them back to the boyand the father. Drew stops and kneels down in front of the boy,looking deep into his eyes.A whisper is going through the crowd: "Shaolin".Drew touches the boy's cheek, smiles, then stands up and bows. Hemoves on, the crowd watching him walk away.HOLD ON BOY'S FACEHe now has a hero.EXT. COUNTRYSIDE ≠ DAYANGLE ON DREW WALKING THROUGH THE COUNTRYSIDE. HE STOPS AT A CROSSINGIN THE ROAD, CONSULTS THE MAP SAN DE GAVE HIM, THEN WALKS ON.EXT. MOUNTAINSIDE ≠ EVENINGANGLE ON DREWAs he climbs the side of a mountain.EXT. MOUNTAINSIDE TEMPLE ≠ NIGHTESTABLISHING SHOT OF DREW, MEDITATING NEXT TO HIS SMALL FIRE.It is dark around him, with vague forms of the temple columns andstatues. Drew is sitting with his eyes closed, oblivious to hissurroundings.EXT. MOUNTAINSIDE ≠ NEXT DAYESTABLISHING SHOT OF DREW WORKING OUT NEXT TO A MOUNTAIN LAKE.He is throwing kicks and going through his routines, concentrating onhis breathing. As he finishes a particularly strenuous series, hestrips off his clothes and dives into the lake.As Drew's head breaks the surface of the lake, he is surprised to seea beautiful woman standing next to where he left his clothes.Drew starts to get out of the lake, then remembers that he is naked ≠he stops, not quite knowing what to do. He goes as close to the shoreas he can without coming out of the water.The woman just smiles, and starts to strip off what clothing she hason. She is very sexy.                      DREW           No, don't do that!                      WOMAN           Why not?                      DREW           I'm a monk. I've taken a vow to abstain...                      WOMAN           No one will know...                      DREW           I'll know! Throw me my clothes, please.Pouting, the woman takes Drew's pants and tosses them to him, butthey land (purposely) about 5 feet away from the lake edge.                      DREW (CONT'D)           Nice throw...ANGLE ON DREWWho realizes he is going to have to get out of the water without acover. He gets up and hurries to where his pants are. He starts toput them on, and the woman is all over him, trying to seduce him.He takes her hands in his and forces her to look him in the eye.                    DREW (CONT'D)           Despite the fact that this is every teenage boy's dream           come true, I can't!He lowers her hands, and her head drops, pouting.                    DREW (CONT'D)           Besides, if I were to break my vows, it would not be with           you.He kisses her on the forehead, and then grabs the rest of hisclothes, running up the path away from the lake.EXT. TEMPLE ≠ SAME DAYESTABLISHING SHOT OF VERY ORNATE TEMPLE.Drew walks up to the front of the temple, looks around for a moment,then takes a drink of water from the well out front.Just as he starts to drink, a huge TOUR BUS pulls up in front, airbrakes HISSING. Before he can react, the doors open and a bunch ofAMERICAN TOURISTS pile out of the bus and rush into the temple,jostling Drew from side to side.                    TOURIST 1           Not another temple!                    TOURIST 2           Do they have a gift shop?                    TOURIST 3           Guide! How do you say 'gift shop'?                    GUIDE           You have 10 minutes to be back on the bus.The wave of tourists passes Drew, and he stands there looking afterthem. Then, as a group, they realize that they just passes a monk,and turn back to Drew.                    TOURIST 1           A real live monk! Somebody, take my picture!The tourist runs up to where Drew is and stands next to him. Thecameras click and whirr, and Drew is thoroughly embarrassed. When thefirst pictures are over, and someone else wants to stand next to him,he raises his hands up to his face and bows.                    DREW           Oh Mi Two FwoHe then turns and walks away.                    GUIDE (O.S.)           Monks don't like to be bothered, they are from a           different world.                    DREW           I'll say...EXT. WATERFALL ≠ EARLY MORNINGESTABLISHING SHOT OF THUNDERING WATERFALL.Drew stands at the side of the waterfall, studying his map. From hisexpression, we know that he has to go through the waterfall to getwhere he is going.Drew pockets the map, checks that the box is safely in place, thenstarts toward the waterfall. The drop off the side of the waterfallis incedible ≠ steep and deadly.ANGLE ON DREWAs he enters the waterfall. The water hits his back, almost pitchinghim into the abyss. Drew concentrates and moves forward, slowly butsurely.He emerges on the other side, only to be confronted by a swamp.Jutting out of the swamp are rocks and tree stumps.Drew examines the distance between the objects, realizing that he canjump from place to place and make it across.                    DREW           Just like at the temple...He starts out, jumping onto the first stone, then moving on to theothers. He almost falls a couple of times, but regains his balance.He gets a rythm going, and is soon almost halfway across.He gets to one particular rock, only to find out that it's the headof an alligator! Its mouth opens to bite him!Drew jumps off it quickly, onto a tree stump. When he lands on thestump, he examines it carefully to make sure it isn't something else.He continues across, more careful this time.EXT. MOUNTAINSIDE ≠ SAME DAYESTABLISHING SHOT OF DREW CLIMBING UP THE SIDE OF THE MOUNTAIN.It is much steeper now, and the going is much tougher.ANGLE ON DREWAs he comes up onto a rope bridge over a deep gorge, the way to thearhat. Drew smiles, stashes the map and starts across the ropebridge, hand over hand. He looks down once, at the DROP, then forceshimself to look straight ahead.He just starts across when the rope bends and jumps. Drew turnsaround to see a man RIGHT BEHIND HIM.                      DREW           Is this rope strong enough for both of us?No answer from the man, who is now pushing Drew to go faster. He isinching up closer to him, and occassionally kicking him to goquicker.                      DREW (CONT'D)           OK, OK, I'm going!ANGLE ON THE ROPE BEHIND THEMWhich is starting to fray from the weight.ANGLE ON DREWWho sees that and is hurrying.The rope is fraying more, and when Drew is almost there, the ropesnaps and they both go swinging into the side of the mountain.ANGLE ON DREWWho slams into the wall hard. when he hits, the scroll POPS out ofhis pocket and goes up in the air.Drew, groggy from the impact, manages to lash out and PIN the scrollto the cliff wall with the BACK of his hand.ANGLE ON MANWho is barely hanging on, just below Drew.He has his hand out to Drew for help.ANGLE ON DREWWho doesn't know what to do. If he tries to save the scroll, the manmight fall. If he goes for the man, the box will certainly fall.ANGLE ON THE MANScreaming for help.                      DREW (CONT'D)           Hold on...Drew hears the headmaster's voice.                    SAN DE (O.S.)           The scroll that is in this box is more precious than           life. Guard it well.He looks down at the man, who is about to lose it.                    DREW           What the heck...Drew reaches down for the man's hand, letting the box fall.Their hands meet, and Drew pulls him up.ANGLE ON BOXAs it spins down into the abyss.ANGLE ON DREW AND MANAs Drew pulls him up onto his back, and carries him up the rope tothe other side of the gorge.INT. MAN'S HOUSE ≠ SAME DAYESTABLISHING SHOT OF DREW EATING WITH THE MAN HE SAVED.They look at each other and smile, but Drew is anything but happy.                    DREW           What am I going to tell the arhat?EXT. MOUNTAINSIDE ≠ SAME DAYESTABLISHING SHOT OF DREW WALKING UP THE PATH TO THE ARHAT'S CAVE.There is no bounce to his step, and he is dreading this audience.EXT. ARHAT HUT ≠ EVENINGESTABLISHING SHOT OF ARHAT HUT.Drew walks up to the entrance, looks around. He doesn't see anyone.He walks into the hut.INT. ARHAT HUT ≠ EVENINGESTABLISHING SHOT OF HUT AS DREW WALKS INTO THE HUT ≠ NO ONE ISAROUND.He walks through the rooms, looking at all the books and scrollslittered around the room.                    DREW           Maybe he won't miss one little scroll...He shakes his head and starts for the front door.EXT. ARHAT HUT ≠ SAME EVENINGDREW COMES OUT OF THE HUT AND WALKS AROUND TO THE AREA BEHIND THEHUT, HIGH UP ON THE MOUNTAIN.The view is incredible. Drew stands looking at the view, and slowlybecomes aware of a figure sitting on the ground near him.He looks down, and it is the ARHAT!                    DREW           Master! I apologize, I did not see you.The Arhat says nothing, but just puts out his hand for the scroll.Drew bows again, and gets down on his knees.                    DREW (CONT'D)           I failed, Master. A person was in danger...The Arhat holds up his hand, and Drew stops talking.                    DREW (CONT'D)           Of course, you're right. No excuses...Drew bows once more and is ready to leave. The Arhat reaches into hisrobes and pulls out the embroidered box that Drew was given at thetemple.                    DREW (CONT'D)           You have it? How?The Arhat holds up the box in front of Drew for a moment, then tearsit in two with his hands, scattering the pieces to the winds.                    DREW (CONT'D)           So, I didn't fail, huh?                 (beat)           I can ask my question, then?The Arhat sits without moving or speaking. Drew takes that as a yes.                    DREW (CONT'D)           What is the meaning of life?The Arhat ponders that for a moment, then smiles and puts his sandleson his head and stands up.                    ARHAT           What is life? What is reality? The head of a dead cat.He walks off, leaving Drew sitting there, dumbstruck by the answer.                    DREW                 (smiling ruefully)           I just climbed a mountain to ask a loon about the meaning           of life.He shakes his head and gets up, following the Arhat. The Arhat isstanding on the other side of his hut, the sandles still on his head.                      ARHAT           For forty years, Shaolin disciples have made their quest           to deliver a scroll to me. You are not Chinese.                      DREW           No. American.                      ARHAT           I notice the littlest details.                      DREW           How many succeeded?                      ARHAT           A handful. You chose correctly. Nothing is more precious           than human life.                      DREW           But, I didn't obey.                      ARHAT                 (smiling slightly)           At the beginning of your training, you were to obey           without question. Now, as you become a Shaolin, you must           learn to question everything, and obey yourself.Drew and the monk bow to each other, the sunset over the mountain inthe b.g.                                                 DISSOLVE TO:EXT. ARHAT HUT ≠ NEXT MORNINGESTABLISHING SHOT OF DREW COMING OUT OF THE HUT, HAVING JUST GOTTENUP.The Arhat is already out there, moving through his gong fu moves.                      DREW           I have to leave. What is the easiest way to get back to           the temple.                      ARHAT           The bus.Drew laughs at the crazy reply and starts for the mountain path thatbrought him to the hut. The Arhat runs after him, grabs his sleeveand pulls him over to a place behind his hut.DREW'S POV OF A ROAD BEHIND THE ARHAT'S HUTA road! After all he went through to get there?                    ARHAT (CONT'D)           Bus stops every 20 min., will take you straight to the           temple.Drew smiles and shakes his head, then bows to the Arhat.The Arhat returns the bow.                    DREW           Thank you, Master.                    ARHAT           They should give you a bus schedule with that map...He walks off to the hut, while Drew makes his way down to the busstop.EXT. SHAOLIN TEMPLE ≠ DAYESTABLISHING SHOT OF DREW WALKING BACK INTO THE TEMPLE.He is dirty, weary but triumphant. As he walks back through thetemple to San De's chambers to report, he sees a group of peoplewalking out the other way.The group is made up of the thugs who attacked him, the woman by thelake, and the man from the bridge. They are talking together on theirway out.ANGLE ON DREWSmiling as he realizes that it was all a test ≠ every moment of it.EXT. TRAINING AREA ≠ DAYESTABLISHING SHOT OF DREW AND THE DISCIPLES TRAINING.They are expert fighters now, and they move through the complicatedroutines with ease.ANGLE ON DREW FLYING THROUGH THE AIRHitting the ground and rolling, then coming up and throwing ashuriken at a target.The throwing star hits the target dead center.ANGLE ON DREWManipulating the spear like a master.ANGLE ON DREWUp on the poles again. Only this time, squared off against him is Li.They move from pole to pole, throwing kicks and punches at eachother.EXT. FARM ≠ DAYESTABLISHING SHOT OF THE GROUP OF DISCIPLES STANDING UNDER THESWELTERING SUMMER SUN IN FRONT OF A RUN DOWN FARM BUILDING.The D.S. is standing in front of them.                      DREW           We've got to rebuild this?                      D.S.           No.                  (beat)           Tear it down.Smiles grow on the faces of the disciples. They rush into thebuilding.FOLLOWING MONTAGE SECTIONDifferent shots of the monks tearing the building apart with kicksand punches. Shots of Drew, Gao and Li kicking through walls, throughdoors, through windows, etc. Some the three of them destroy together,others are seperate. Several shots of disciples as they concentrateon particularly difficult things, using their chi, smashing thebricks and wood apart. They are destroying the building, and they arehaving a GREAT TIME!(NOTE: Great place for HOT song over this scene)EXT. TRAINING AREA ≠ DAYTIGHT SHOT OF DREW'S ARMPULL BACK TO REVEAL Drew standing there, calmly, while two full-sizeddisciples hang off his arm.EXT. TEMPLE ≠ NIGHTESTABLISHING SHOT OF DREW WALKING THROUGH THE COURTYARDS OF THETEMPLE.He is going nowhere in particular, just walking and thinking.Suddenly, out of nowhere, comes the staff and the ATTACK.Drew calmly avoids the first few strikes, blocks a couple more, thengrabs the staff and PULLS.Out comes the D.S. into the night on the other end of the staff. Helooks proudly at Drew.ANGLE ON D.S.As he smiles and bows in respect to Drew.Drew returns his bow.EXT. SHAOLIN TEMPLE ≠ DAYESTABLISHING SHOT OF SAN DE WRITING BOLD, BLACK CALLIGRAPHY ON A BAREWHITE PAPER.The CAMERA follows the sweeping brush, as it ends with a FLOURISH.The CAMERA PULLS BACK TO REVEAL the temple courtyard, where San Deand the D.S. are standing in front of the group of disciples.                    SAN DE           Only one trial remains before you become full fledged           fighting monks. The Wooden Man Chamber.ANGLE ON THE DISCIPLESThey are remembering the stories they have heard about the chamber.                    SAN DE (CONT'D)           I warn you all, any monk who fails must leave the temple           forever, and will NEVER be called Shaolin.San De pauses, letting this remark sink in.                    SAN DE (CONT'D)           Disciple Drew Carson, as you will return to America, and           never intended to live as a monk in the temple, you need           not enter the chamber.ANGLE ON DREWWho rises to the challenge.                    DREW           Master San De, I am part of the disciple class, am I not?San De nods.                    DREW (CONT'D)           Then I must pass this final test. Furthermore, I request           that I be the first one through.                    SAN DE                 (very proud)           Your request is granted.ANGLE ON DREWIn front of the entrance to the Wooden Man Chamber. San De and D.S.are flanking Drew as he pauses in front of the door. Drew turns tolook at San De, and the D.S. smacks Drew in the back of the head.                    DREW (CONT'D)           What did you do that for?                       D.S.           My last chance ≠ when you come out the other side, we           will be equals.Drew smiles at the D.S.'s attempt to lighten him up. He turns to lookat the others from his disciple class, then opens the door and goesthrough.INT. WOODEN MAN CHAMBER ≠ SAME DAYESTABLISHING SHOT OF WOODEN MAN CHAMBER.Drew pauses for a moment,      examining the room. It is filled withwooden statues of monks,      all in different fighting positions. Thecarvings are precise and      incredibly beautiful. Their arms, openhands, fists and legs are      fashioned out of hard wood, and they lookvery dangerous indeed.Drew gathers himself for a moment, then starts into the chamber.ANGLE ON DREW'S FOOTAs it presses down on one of the stones of the floor.The attacks start ≠ from all sides, as the wooden statues COME TOLIFE, spinning, lunging and striking.Drew is caught off guard, and is hit several times, driven back tothe door of the chamber. The statues stop moving.Drew, a little scared, tries to remember the sequence of the statues,letting his arms practice for the attacks.There is fear in his eyes.He starts in again, and the attacks come again, but they aredifferent this time.Drew is clobbered.Driven back to the door, Drew slumps against the wall. His face isalready bruised and bleeding.                       DREW                    (whispering)           I can't do it.FLASHBACK TO D.S.                       D.S.           There is no can't, only won't.FLASHBACK TO SEVERAL D.S. ATTACKSIncluding the one where Drew succeeded in evading them.ANGLE ON DREWWho gathers himself, straightens up and takes a deep breath, forcingit out in a breathing exercise.                    DREW (CONT'D)           I am a Shaolin monk.He enters the chamber again, and the attacks start again.Drew, however, is prepared (both mentally and physically).He blocks, avoids, rolls, jumps and redirects the attacks on him,making his way across.He is about halfway across when an especially fierce and large statuecomes crashing towards him. Drew, caught a little off guard, quicklyadjusts and manages to jump and spin out of the way.Suddenly, as he turns and tries to get his breath, two huge, deadlyspears are streaking towards him. Drew blocks the SPEARS with hisarms, misdirecting them into the wall behind him.They THWOCK into the wall, sticking there.As he rounds a particularly difficult series of statues, a volley ofARROWS comes HURTLING towards him. Drew blocks some, avoids others,and catches one in each hand. He throws them down and continues on.He goes past the few remaining statues, and is out of the Wooden ManChamber. All that is left is to walk down a little hallway and outthe door.Drew looks behind him, then starts to walk. He goes cautiously,expecting a trap or a trick.Nothing happens.He gets to the door and looks for a handle on the door. He spots ahandhold near the top of the door, and pulls it with his hand.Immediately, his hands is locked in and a panel in the ceiling DROPSright onto his arm, forcing it down. Drew fights back with hismuscles, the veins popping out in his arms and neck.Behind him, a statue has started coming towards him, spinning like adervish. Its fists and legs are extended, and they are deadly.The panel drops lower and lower.FLASHBACK TO UNBENDABLE ARM SEQUENCEANGLE ON DREWAs he relaxes his face, and forcibly relaxes his arm and entire body,letting his inner energy take over.ANGLE ON PANELAs it slows with a GRINDING NOISE, then stops.ANGLE ON DREWHolding up the heavy stone panel with his arm, his face and bodycompletely relaxed.The panel goes back up into the ceiling, and the door opens.The whirling statue slows, and then stops altogether. Drew reaches upwith a hook kick and taps it in the face.                    DREW (CONT'D)           Not this time.Drew quickly walks through the door.EXT. TEMPLE ≠ SAME DAYESTABLISHING SHOT OF CHEERING ASSEMBLAGE, SAN DE AND D.S. AT THEFRONT. HE HAS MADE IT!                                                 DISSOLVE TO:EXT. TEMPLE ≠ SAME DAYMONTAGE OF SHOTS OF OTHER DISCIPLES ≠ GAO, LI AND WU MAKE IT THROUGH,JOINING THE OTHERS AS FULL-FLEDGED FIGHTING MONKS.Drew is there each time to embrace them and congratulate them.EXT. TEMPLE ≠ SAME DAYESTABLISHING SHOT OF SAN DE AND D.S. STANDING BEFORE THE ASSEMBLEDDISCIPLES.There are a few missing from their ranks, monks who did not make itthrough the chamber, but the majority of them are there. The entiretemple is gathered to watch the ceremony.San De and D.S. are dressed in elaborate ceremonial robes.After he goes through some complicated ceremonial movements,including the waving of smoking incense over them, San De spreads hishands                    SAN DE           You are now Shaolin. We welcome you into our ranks as           fighting monks...A roar rises from the assembled monks, and fireworks go off allaround.ANGLE ON REAR OF COURTYARDWhere a huge red sheet is pulled back to reveal tables laden withChinese dishes, wine and other foods.The party gets going and is soon in full gear.ANGLE ON DREW, GAO AND LIAs they congratulate themselves, and gorge themselves on the hugetables of Chinese food.ANGLE ON THE ENTIRE GROUPThey are enjoying themselves.This only happens once every couple of years, and the monks areintent on enjoying themselves.ANGLE ON SAN DE (DREW'S POV)Who is walking towards the side of the temple, away from the party.ANGLE ON DREWWho sees him leave. He excuses himself from his group.                                                 CUT TO:EXT. BAMBOO GROVE ≠ SAME EVENINGANGLE ON SAN DEWho is walking in the bamboo grove, his hands behind him. Drew walksup to him and they bow.                    SAN DE           Congratulations.                    DREW           I wouldn't have made it through without you.                  (beat)           You once asked why I came here, why did you let me in?                    SAN DE           Do you remember the story you heard about the monk who           would not leave?                    DREW           Yes.                    SAN DE           That monk was me.ANGLE ON DREWWho digests this. He smiles a little.                    SAN DE (CONT'D)           I would like to ask a favor.                    DREW           Anything.                    SAN DE           Before you leave for American, can you help at an           international tournament in Beijing? The Shaolin temple           has an entry, and he will be fighting men from all over           the world ≠ I'd like you to be there.                    DREW           No problem.                 (he smiles)           Without pause.                    SAN DE           Now, a friend would like to see you.                 (beat)           ... alone.From out of the bamboo grove comes Ashema, her hands in front of herand her head down. She is not sure Drew wants to see her.Drew looks at her, then back to San De, but he is already gone. Theyare alone.Drew walks to her, takes her chin in his hand and tilts it up to lookat her face. Her eyes are full of love and tenderness, and a littlefear.Drew kisses that fear away.EXT. BEIJING HALL ≠ DAYESTABLISHING SHOT OF HUGE EXHIBITION HALL. THE MARQUEE READS"INTERNATIONAL WU SHU COMPETITION".INT. BEIJING HALL ≠ SAME DAYESTABLISHING SHOT OF HUGE HALL, THE FLOOR OF WHICH IS CROWDED WITHRINGS.One large raised ring is in the middle of the floor ≠ the place forthe finals.ANGLE ON SIDE OF THE RINGWhere Li, Gao, San De, D.S. and some others are waiting. They are allin monastic garb.Drew and Ashema walk up to them, holding hands. Drew is dressed in afighting monk's costume as well, and he bows to his fellow monks.                    DREW           Are we late?                    SAN DE           The fight has not yet started.                       DREW           Did you think he would get into the finals?                       SAN DE           Who could know? He fights the winner of the Western           countries, which is why I wanted you here.                       DREW           I'll help any way I can.ANGLE ON THE CROWDAs it parts to let someone through. Drew turns casually to look atthe competitor. Slowly, a figure, followed by a large group ofpeople, comes clear... it is Trevor!ANGLE ON DREWWho is stunned.ANGLE ON SAN DECould he have known?ANGLE ON TREVORWho spots drew standing near the ring. He walks past him, trying toplace his face. Then, he comes back and walks right up to Drew andslaps him on the back.                       TREVOR           Carson! Drew Carson! I can't believe it! I come half way           around the world, and run into you! I heard you left the           city, but I didn't know losing to me drove you into being           a monk!Drew is dumbstruck, and Trevor takes advantage of it.                       TREVOR (CONT'D)                  (to San De)           He take a vow of silence too? Nice hair, Drew.                  (he looks at Ashema)           If he took a vow of chastity too, honey, you see me after           this fight, 'Kay?He puts his arm around Ashema and lets his hand slide down onto herrear end.                       TREVOR (CONT'D)           Wish me luck, huh?He walks off, and Drew, who still hasn't said a word, stares afterhim. All of the monks are looking at Drew with questioning looks,everyone that is except for San De.ANGLE ON THE RINGAs Trevor and the Shaolin entry bow to each other. The fight begins.It isn't even close. Trevor is better than he ever was. He isincredible, and he destroys the Shaolin fighter.Oblivious to the boos and whistles from the crowd, he plays with theShaolin fighter, making him look like a real fool.INTERCUT REACTION SHOTS OF DREWWho is watching the destruction. Behind his eyes, he is reliving hishumiliation.ANGLE ON TREVORWho finishes the shaolin fighter off with a devestating technique,and then immediately plays to the crowd, RIGHT IN FRONT OF DREW ANDTHE OTHERS.The referee comes over to Trevor, and raises his fist up in victory.Trevor tears his arm away and SCREAMS TO THE CROWD:                    TREVOR (CONT'D)           I'M NOT DONE!The crowd, which before was wild and booing, now grows quiet.                    TREVOR (CONT'D)           I want HIM!He points right at Drew.                    TREVOR (CONT'D)           I want to face the American who is now a Shaolin monk! I           want to learn at the hands of a master!The crowd, who has seen Drew and heard about him for quite a while,warms to the prospect. They start cheering for the American Shaolinto face Trevor.                    TREVOR (CONT'D)           I want the American Shaolin!ANGLE ON DREWWho doesn't know what to do. San De appears and puts a comfortinghand on his shoulder.ANGLE ON TREVORPointing and yelling for Drew.ANGLE ON DREWWho climbs the ropes and goes into the ring. The crowd is goingcrazy, eager to see the match. Drew, oblivious to the crowd, walksover to Trevor.                     DREW           I came to the Shaolin Temple because of you, Trevor. You           humiliated me, and I wanted to make sure it could never           happen again.                     TREVOR           So, let's see what you've learned.                     DREW                   (shaking his head)           I've learned that... there's nothing to prove. Beating           you is no longer important. It was my ego that had to be           defeated, not you.                     TREVOR (CONT'D)           Bull! You're just chicken!                     DREW           The arts should never be about who is best ≠ they are too           important for that.He bows to Trevor and starts out of the ring.ANGLE ON CROWDThey don't know what's going on.ANGLE ON LI, GAO AND OTHERSThey don't know either. They want Drew to fight him.ANGLE ON SAN DE AND D.S.Who know what is happening and are proud of Drew, prouder than theyhave ever been.                     TREVOR           COME BACK HERE! You can't just walk away!Drew steps out of the ring and walks over to where San De isstanding. They bow, and the pride is shining in San De's eyes.                     SAN DE           Do you turn away from him out of fear?ANGLE ON TREVORWho is seething.                     TREVOR           I thought the Shaolin monks were warriors, not babies!           Look at him ≠ he is too scared to face me!ANGLE ON DREWHis face calm.                    DREW           No, master. I will not fight for personal glory, or for           my ego.                    SAN DE           You have learned much.ANGLE ON TREVOR                    TREVOR           The Shaolin monks are PUSSIES! Warrior-monks? Ha!ANGLE ON SAN DEWho indicates trevor with a inclination of his head.                    SAN DE           You did the right thing.ANGLE ON TREVOR                    TREVOR           How about you, baldy? Or you?He is pointing at Li and Gao and the others, who are itching to climbinto the ring. Gao goes over to San De, and shoots a questioning lookat Drew.                    GAO           Master, the American is insulting the Temple, and the           fighting monks.                    SAN DE                  (looking at drew)           What should be done?                    GAO (CONT'D)           Someone should face him in combat. For the tradition of           the temple.San De looks at Drew long and hard.                    SAN DE           There are some times when a Shaolin must fight, and some           people who will not learn until they are taught a lesson.ANGLE ON DREWWho understands the implication of what he is saying. He starts tosmile slowly.                      SAN DE (CONT'D)           It's your call.Drew nods, then turns to face the ring, where Trevor is stillstanding, trying to get someone to fight him.Drew walks with Gao back to the side of the ring. He turns to Gao andLi and together they high-five.                      DREW           For the temple...Drew climbs into the ring.The crowd is going crazy. Trevor has a predator's grin on his face ashe sits down in his corner to get ready to start the match.Immediately, his contingent of people start to work on him ≠ massage,drinks, etc.ANGLE ON DREWWho sits alone in the other corner.ANGLE ON LI AND GAOWho see the difference. Immediately, they mobilize the other monks.ANGLE ON GAOWho pulls a drink from one of the men in the crowd, and rushes up togive it to Drew.ANGLE ON DREW'S CORNERAs it is flooded with monks. Some of them are massaging Drew(painfully), others are stretching his legs out, others waving towelsto bring air to him, etc.The referee signals for the fighters to come to the center. They do,and he motions for them to bow to each other.                      TREVOR           Remember last time, punk?                      DREW           Nothing exists but the moment, and...                 (beat)           ... I'm going to enjoy it.They back up, and the fight begins.Trevor attacks hard, but Drew avoids easily, using all soft gong fu.He continues to attack, throwing flashy technique after flashytechnique, but he can't touch Drew.                      TREVOR           Stay still, dammit! Stand and fight!And he dances out of the way. Trevor is getting more and more angry.Soon, Drew tires of this game and decides to end this    quickly. Hegoes after Trevor, and it is immediately obvious that    Trevor iscompletely outclassed. Drew scores on Trevor at will,    and soon hasTrevor totally confused and helpless with a mixture of    high kicks,takedowns, flips and punches.Trevor drops to one knee, his hands down at his side, note evenbothering to defend himself.Drew grabs Trevor by the front of his uniform and pulls back hisright hand in a fist. He is going to put him out with a good old-fashioned roundhouse punch.ANGLE ON LI AND GAOYelling for the knock out blow.ANGLE ON D.S. AND SAN DEWorried about this latest development.Instead, however, Drew smiles and lifts Trevor up and shakes hishand, putting an arm around him to steady him in front of the crowd.Trevor looks into Drew's face, wondering why Drew would do such athing. When he sees Drew's friendly face, he knows.To teach him a lesson.Trevor smiles and holds up Drew's hand as the champion.The crowd goes crazy.ANGLE ON LI AND GAOWho also get the message.ANGLE ON SAN DE AND D.S.Who knew the message all along.WIDE ANGLE OF ENTIRE RINGDrew and Trevor standing together in the center. The monks on theside climb into the ring to celebrate with Drew.EXT. GREAT WALL ≠ MORNINGESTABLISHING SHOT OF DREW STANDING ON THE GREAT WALL, THE SUNSET OVERHIS SHOULDER.He is doing the beginning of a Shaolin form. When he finishes thesalute, a figure comes toward him.It is San De, and he has something in his hands.Drew bows to San De, and San De holds THE GOLDEN SASH out to him.Drew takes it and San De bows to him. Drew can't stand it anymore,and rushes up to San De. He gives him a hug.ANGLE ON SAN DEWho is not used to shows of affection. He is lost for a moment, thenhis face softens and he returns Drew's embrace.They break and bow again, and San De moves off. Drew stands thereholding the Golden Sash, the rising sun of the first day of the restof his life shining in the b.g.ANGLE ON ASHEMAWho comes up to Drew, taking his arm and walks with him along theGreat Wall.  FADE OUTTHE END
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+                                   "AMERICAN SPLENDOR"                                            by                         Robert Pulcini and Shari Springer Berman                                     PRODUCTION DRAFT                               FADE IN:               INT. HARVEYíS BEDROOM - NIGHT               A BEDROOM MIRROR.               The room is dark. A perfectly square mirror hangs crooked on                a wall.               Suddenly, out of the darkness, the reflection of a man's                face comes into focus. He stares straight ahead, perhaps                studying his own unrecognizable reflection. It's quite clear                this is a portrait of sickness; the man's pallor is gray,                his eyes are confused. There is something most definitely                wrong.               Tentatively, the figure steps away from the mirror, leaving                the frame empty and dark.               ANGLE ON BED               Like a ghost, the naked man (Harvey) stands over his bed                staring down at his sleeping wife (Joyce). In the eerie light,                he's almost translucent.                                     HARVEY                              (faintly)                         Joyce... Joyce?               Joyce springs up, alarmed.                                     JOYCE                         What's wrong, Harvey? What are you                          doing up?               Harvey just stands there for a moment saying nothing.                                     JOYCE                         What is it?                                     HARVEY                              (delirious, out of                               breath)                         Tell me the truth. Am I some guy who                          writes about himself in a comic book?                          Or am I just -- am I just a character                          in that book?               Joyce rubs her eyes.                                     JOYCE                         Harvey...                                     HARVEY                         If I die, will 'dat character keep                          goin'? Or will he just fade away...               Joyce just stares at him, unsure how to answer. Suddenly                Harvey collapses.               Joyce leaps from the bed, nervous, hysterical. She gets down                on the floor and shakes him.                                     JOYCE                         Omigod, Harvey! Harvey, wake up!               CLOSE ON HARVEY'S FACE               His eyes remain closed, his expression far, far away.                                                             FADE TO BLACK:               EXT. CLEVELAND ROW HOUSE - FALL - 1956 - DAY               FADE UP ON:               A surreal kaleidoscope of black, white and red. Similar to                the mirror scene above, the colors slowly come into focus,                revealing the chiseled features of a familiar face. But this                time we see that it is not a real face, but rather a plastic                mask of the D.C. Comic hero -- SUPERMAN.               INTERTITLE: CLEVELAND OHIO, 1956               CLOSE ON SUPERMAN MASK               It glows eerily in the light of a porch lamp. A child's pupils                glare through the eye holes...               The camera pans from SUPERMAN to the masked face of another                caped-crusader: BATMAN. Batman turns toward his loyal sidekick                ROBIN, who clutches a plastic, trick-or-treat pumpkin.               Next, we find THE GREEN LANTERN as he reaches up to ring the                doorbell. The camera finally rests on the last boy: an unkempt                KID wearing no costume at all. Looking irritated and removed                from the rest of the group, the KID shoves his hands in the                pockets of his shearling coat.               He spits and rolls his eyes as a lady answers the door.               The brick home is as working class as it gets. The lady at                the door is a 1950's HOUSEWIFE.                                     BOYS                              (in unison)                         Trick or treat!!                                     HOUSEWIFE                         Well, look at this! All the                          superheroes on the porch! Ain't that                          cute.               The Lady drops a candy apple in each boy's container.                                     HOUSEWIFE                              (still yelling)                         We got Superman here, Batman, his                          sidekick ROBIN, ohh, The Green Lantern                          even...               She finally stops at the costumeless KID. He halfheartedly                holds up a ratty, stained pillowcase.                                     HOUSEWIFE                         And what about you young man?                                     KID                         What about what?               The other boys giggle. The kid flashes them a "kick yer ass"                look.                                     HOUSEWIFE                         Who are you supposed to be?               The kid shrugs.                                     KID                         I'm Harvey Pekar (pronounced "Pee                          Car").                                     HOUSEWIFE                         Harvey Pekar? That doesn't sound                          like a super hero to me...                                     BOYS                              (mumbling)                         Pecker, Pecker...                                     KID                         I ain't no super hero, lady. I'm                          just a kid from the neighborhood,                          alright?               The Housewife stares at him, confused.                                     KID                         Ahh, forget this...               Frustrated, the kid throws his pillowcase down. He trudges                off as the others watch in confusion.                                     KID                         Why is everybody so stoopid?               BEGIN NERVOUS JAZZ SCORE               WE FOLLOW the schlumpy kid (aka HARVEY PEKAR) as he sulks                down the street...                                                               DISSOLVE TO:               EXT. CLEVELAND ROW HOUSE - FALL - 1975 - DUSK               INTERTITLE: CLEVELAND OHIO, 1975               A grown-up version of HARVEY PEKAR (now mid-thirties) stomps                along the same Cleveland street. Unfortunately, 20 years                have made this rust belt neighborhood a bit rustier. The                "GROWN UP HARVEY" dons the same shearling coat, sports the                same disheveled hair, and wears the same curmudgeonly                expression.               CREDIT SEQUENCE - ANIMATED SEQUENCE INTERCUT HARVEY WALKING                WITH COMIC BOOK PANELS OF THE CARTOON HARVEY IN ACTION. This                is not your typical super-hero stuff.               Instead it features our man engaging in such daredevil feats                as:               INT. CITY BUS - FALL 1975 - DAY               --Riding the city bus.               INT. V.A. HOSPITAL - DAY               --Working as a file clerk at the Veteran's Hospital.               INT. HARVEY'S APARTMENT / KITCHEN - DAY               --Trying to wash dishes.               INT. SUPERMARKET - DAY               --Waiting on line at the supermarket.               EXT. GARAGE SALE - DAY               --Buying used records from a garage sale table.               INT. GREASY SPOON DINER - DAY               --Eating junk food at a greasy spoon.               INT. HARVEY'S APARTMENT - DAY               Harvey fixes a rip in his coat with Elmer's Glue.               (Note: Each "Cartoon Harvey" looks similar but unique... A                variation on a theme. This is because his cartoons are drawn                by different comic artists.)               Intermittently, bold cartoon credits flash across the screen:                         FROM OFF THE STREETS OF CLEVELAND COMES...               Followed by the explosive title:                                    AMERICAN SPLENDOR               The high-energy music and upbeat titles -- in direct contrast                to the sulking image of Harvey -- continue through the                remainder of the credits.               EXT. CLEVELAND STREET OVERLOOKING FACTORIES - DAY               We're now on HARVEY'S back as he continues his forlorn                journey. We move forward, past him, to peer over the hill at                the factories below.                                     REAL HARVEY (V.O.)                         Okay. We're throwing a lot at ya                          here, so lemme step in an' help ya                          catch up. This is the story about                          comic books, an' a guy who made a                          whole life outta them. You could                          even say comics saved his life. This                          guy here, he's our man, Harvey Pekar --                          all grown up and goin' nowhere.                          Although he's a pretty scholarly                          cat, he never got much of a formal                          education. For the most part, he's                          lived in shit neighborhoods, held                          shit jobs, and is now knee deep into                          a second disastrous marriage. So if                          yer lookin' for romance or escapism                          or some fantasy figure to save the                          day, guess what? Ya got the wrong                          movie.               SUDDENLY EVERYTHING -- THE MUSIC, THE CREDITS, THE IMAGES --                COMES TO A HALT.                                                                    CUT TO:               INT. SOUND STAGE - PRESENT - DAY               HIGH DEFINITION VIDEO DOCUMENTARY FOOTAGE               The REAL HARVEY PEKAR (not the actor who trudged through the                credits) sits behind a microphone, supplying the "voice over"                above. He clutches a movie script in his hand.               The frame is spare, with a few well-chosen items to indicate                that he's in a recording session.               Although he is significantly older than the man who portrays                him, the "Real Harvey" is every bit as much of a sad sack...                maybe even more. He is large and slightly threatening with                knitted brows and wild eyes. Yet there is something kind and                vulnerable about him -- a teddy bear who could kick your                ass. Off Camera, WE HEAR the voices of the male and female                directors (us -- BOB and SHARI) coaching the "Real Harvey"                through his voice over. Harvey's irritable and contrary,                saying that the whole Halloween incident never even happened.               "But I don't care man. I'm just doing this for the dough."                We learn that Harvey is a reluctant participant in a film                being made about his life.               SUDDENLY, his third wife JOYCE BRABNER -- an intelligent                control freak obsessed with all things negative -- joins in                the conversation. Pushing back her huge glasses, she                reprimands Harvey like he is an infant: "Harvey you are                talking too loud, Harvey you are being difficult." Harvey                just rolls his eyes. Joyce gets offended. It is clear they                have had this argument a million times. As Joyce storms off...               Harvey explains that his wife is trying to take over the                movie. He laments that she is his third wife, and he has no                luck with women. "Man, chicks just don't dig me." That's why                he marries anyone who will have him. "And I marry them fast                before they get to know the real me..."               END HIGH DEFINITION VIDEO DOCUMENTARY FOOTAGE                                                                    CUT TO:               INT. EXAMINATION ROOM - WINTER - 1975 - DAY               INTERTITLE: 1975               HARVEY sits on a table in his T-shirt and underwear. A DOCTOR                unwraps a tongue depressor.               Harvey's voice is hoarse, raspy and barely audible. It sounds                like it hurts for him to talk. Yet, he can't stop ranting.                                     HARVEY                         Doc, you gotta help me. My old lady's                          dumping me 'cause I can't talk. She                          says I'm a social embarrassment. Now                          that she's got her PhD, she's some                          hot shit academic star an' I'm nuthin'                          but a file clerk with nothin' ta say                          an' no voice ta say it. But me bein'                          a file clerk was fine when I wrote                          the damn check for her tuition --                                     DOCTOR #1                         Harvey, stop talking please, and                          open wide.               He points the tongue depressor at Harvey's mouth but he just                keeps on going.                                     HARVEY                         I just don't get it... We were doin'                          okay for a while. Then we took that                          stupid belated honeymoon. I started                          losin' my voice on the plane. Can                          you believe that... On the plane,                          doc?                                     DOCTOR #1                         Bad timing, I guess. Now please say                          "Ah," Mr. Pekar.                                     HARVEY                         "Ahhh."                              (without missing a                               beat)                         "Ahhh" ruined the trip. I got crazy,                          started to worry my voice would never                          come back. I mean, my wife didn't                          know me so long before we got hitched.                          What if she totally forgets what I'm                          like? Man, it's torture --                                     DOCTOR #1                         Shhh...               The Doctor shines a penlight into Harvey's mouth and looks                around.                                     DOCTOR #1                         Uh-huh.               He raises an eyebrow. Harvey catches this. Hypochondria                overtakes him.                                     HARVEY                              (the penlight in his                               mouth)                         What? Is it bad, doc?               The Doctor removes the penlight.                                     DOCTOR #1                         It's not good.               Harvey jumps off the table.                                     HARVEY                         It's cancer? First I got marital                          problems and now yer tellin' me I                          got throat cancer? Omigod...                                     DOCTOR #1                         Harvey, calm down. It's not cancer.                          You have a nodule on your vocal                          chords. Probably from screaming and                          yelling too much. And if you don't                          stop talking and give it a rest,                          you're gonna lose your voice                          completely.               Relieved, Harvey calms down. He nods, agreeing to be good.                                     HARVEY                         Whew... Okay, okay. But fer how long?                                     DOCTOR #1                         A few months.                                     HARVEY                              (loudly)                         Months!!               Suddenly Harvey's voice cracks under his effort to raise it.               He sheepishly grabs his throat.                                     DOCTOR #1                         See? More of that and you'll do                          permanent damage. Now go home, keep                          your mouth shut, and hopefully we                          won't have to operate.               Operate? Harvey gets nervous again. The Doctor throws him                his clothing.                                                                    CUT TO:               EXT. CLEVELAND STREET - WINTER - 1975 - DAY               A silent sequence. A dejected HARVEY walks home alone along                an empty lot. Day-old dirty snow clings to the ground.               He wanders through a down-in-the-heels neighborhood, passing                run-down stores and ramshackle apartments.               EXT. BUS STOP - WINTER - 1975 - DAY               Harvey approaches TOBY -- a dumpy 20-something going on 60-                something in ridiculous, mismatched polyester clothing. He                is odd, awkward and talks with a monotone, robotic voice. In                short, he is a super dork.                                     TOBY                         Hi Harvey. You weren't in work today.                          Are you okay, Harvey?               Harvey barely looks up. He nods his head "yes" and keeps                walking.                                     TOBY                              (yelling after him)                         I'm heading downtown to the White                          Castle. Wanna come, Harvey?               Harvey leaves Toby behind and turns the corner.               EXT. DELI - WINTER - 1975 - DAY               Two WOMEN argue loudly over a payphone.                                     SPANISH WOMAN #1                              (in Spanish)                         I already told you, I'm waiting for                          a call!                                     SPANISH WOMAN #2                         Oh yeah? Since when is this your                          private office?!                                     SPANISH WOMAN #1                         Since you can kiss my ass.               Harvey stops in his tracks and stares at them, jealous of                their ability to speak.               CLOSE UP: SPANISH WOMAN #1's MOUTH                                     HARVEY                              (to himself)                         Look at 'em yakkin'. How do they do                          it?               Out of the corner of her eye, WOMAN #2 notices Harvey                eavesdropping.                                     WOMAN #2                              (yelling at Harvey)                         Ay, what are you looking at? Maricone!               Startled, Harvey moves on.               EXT. ACROSS FROM A PARK - WINTER - 1975 - DAY               He passes a group of KIDS playing in the snow. They scream,                yell and laugh with abandon.                                     HARVEY                              (shaking his head)                         They all make it seem so easy.               Then, BAM! Harvey is awakened from his reverie by a snowball.                The kids laugh loudly. He wipes away the snow and walks on.               A VOICE OVER interrupts the scene.                                     REAL HARVEY (V.O.)                         Here's our man walking home from the                          doctor's. He's got the weight of the                          world on him. And fer what, really?                          'Cause his throat's a little screwy?                          Man, people in India are starvin' to                          death every day. His problems are                          nothin'.                                                                    CUT TO:               EXT. BRIDGE OVER TRAIN TRACKS - DAY               Totally dejected, HARVEY crosses over train tracks on his                way home.                                     REAL HARVEY (V.O.)                         Still, he can't help feelin' paranoid,                          like some supernatural force is                          conspiring against him to rob him of                          his voice.               EXT. HARVEY'S APARTMENT - WINTER - 1975 - DAY               Harvey sulks up the steps of his brick low-rise apartment                building. He passes an ELDERLY NEIGHBOR coming down the walk                with her shopping cart. Harvey unlocks the door.                                     REAL HARVEY (V.O.)                         Maybe his old lady will go easy on                          him today, when she sees how upset                          he is.               INT. HARVEY'S LIVING ROOM - WINTER - 1975 - DAY               Harvey's second wife LANA -- a hippyish chic with long hair                and a bad attitude -- pulls books off a shelf and selectively                throws them onto the floor or packs them into a milk crate.               An overstuffed suitcase sits beside her. She's obviously                leaving him. HARVEY enters the room.                                     HARVEY                              (whispering)                         Ay... What is this?               Harvey's voice breaks up.                                     LANA                         Exactly what it looks like.                                     HARVEY                              (loud)                         Whattya mean!! You mean yer dumpin'                          me?! Fer what?                              (his voice really                               rips)                         Ah, shit!               That last yell did it. Harvey grabs throat in pain, torn                between his throat discomfort and trying to stop his wife                from leaving.                                     LANA                         Look, your plebeian lifestyle isn't                          working for me anymore. Cleveland's                          not working for me anymore. I gotta                          get out of here before I kill myself.                                     HARVEY                         But --               She gathers her bags and heads for the door. Harvey trails                her, trying to reason.               He opens his mouth, but nothing comes out.                                     HARVEY                              (mouthing, just a                               wheeze)                         Please! Wait, honey... Just listen                          to what I got to say...               She turns and stares at him. Harvey tries to say something.               But now nothing at all comes out of his mouth. Only wheezes                air.               He tries again. No sound at all.               Finally LANA gives up, turns back towards the door and leaves.               SLAM!!                                                                    CUT TO:               INT. V.A. HOSPITAL - 1975 - DAY               At his cubicle in the file room, Harvey fills a cart with                files. He's physically at work, but mentally in a daze.                                     REAL HARVEY (V.O.)                         Here's our man -- yeah alright, here's                          me -- or the guy playin' me, anyway,                          though he don't look nothin' like                          me, but whatever. So it's a few months                          later an' I'm workin' my flunky,                          file-clerk gig at the V.A. Hospital.                          My voice still ain't back yet. Things                          seem like they can't get any worse...               A nurse pops her head in. Harvey hands her a file.                                     NURSE                         Thank you, Harvey dear.               He doesn't hear her, still stewing about LANA. He shoves the                last files in the cart and pushes it away.                                     HARVEY                              (to himself)                         Plebeian... where the hell did she                          get that shit?                                                                    CUT TO:               INT. FILE ROOM -- A FEW MOMENTS LATER               We see rows and rows of endless files...               Still in a daze, Harvey removes the files from the cart and                puts them on the shelves.                                     MR. BOATS (O.S.)                         Avoid the reeking herd! Shun the                          polluted flock! Live like that stoic                          bird, The eagle of the rock!               Harvey turns around. Mr. Boats -- a portly, African-American                maintenance worker wearing a bow-tie -- steps into Harvey's                row. He has a tool box.                                     HARVEY                         Huh? Oh. Hiya, Mr. Boats.               Harvey resumes shelving.                                     BOATS                         You know what that means, son?                                     HARVEY                         Yeah. It's from an Elinor Hoyt Wylie                          poem. It means stay away from the                          crowds of common ordinary people an'                          do yer own thing.               Mr. Boats laughs.                                     BOATS                         Nope, it means don't compromise                          yourself for women. Ain't gonna do                          you no good! Get away from 'em as                          soon as you can!                                     HARVEY                         Well I ain't got no woman now. So                          I'm living like the stoic bird, man.                                     MR. BOATS                         The only way to live, son.               Somehow this doesn't make Harvey feel any better about his                life.               INT. HOSPITAL HALLWAY -- DAY               Harvey carries an armful of files. Mr. Boats still trails                him, lugging his tool box.               Suddenly, Mr. Boats points out a young African-American FILE                CLERK wearing a pair of big headphones on his afro. He moves                as if he's listening to music.                                     MR. BOATS                         Look at that fool over there. What's                          he wearing?                                     HARVEY                         Huh? That's an A.M.-F.M. radio he's                          listening to... They got 'em fixed                          up now like a pair of earmuffs.                                     MR. BOATS                              (inappropriately                               angered)                         MMPH! Isn't that somethin! People                          have gone crazy. They'll buy any                          kinda junk! Probably listening to                          that loud rock stuff. Junk, junk,                          it's all junk!                                     HARVEY                         Well, I don't know. Rock music's got                          some good qualities. I mean it ain't                          jazz or nothin'.               Mr. Boats looks at him like he's crazy.                                     MR. BOATS                         Say, when you gonna bring me in some                          good records? Some Nat "King" Cole                          with Strings...                                     HARVEY                         I don't got any of that, Mr. Boats...               Mr. Boats stops and yells down the hall at Harvey.                                     MR. BOATS                         Yeah, you got it... You're keepin'                          it at home, though! You won't turn                          loose the good stuff... You just                          sell the junk!               Harvey shakes his head as Mr. Boats finishes his diatribe.               Mr. Boats turns into a room.                                     MR. BOATS                              (singing)                         Mona Lisa, Mona Lisa. Men have named                          you.                                                                    CUT TO:               INT. SOUND STAGE - PRESENT - DAY               HIGH DEFINITION VIDEO DOCUMENTARY FOOTAGE               Harvey sits on outdoor furniture. A few props are featured                in the frame indicating a garage-sale-like setting (including                a record player). Directly in front of Harvey are boxes of                used records.               HARVEY shows us his prodigious record collection. Thousands                of LP's -- rare jazz, blues, fusion, klezmer, etc. -- are                piled in floor-to-ceiling bookcases.               He tells us about his love of jazz and how he started writing                jazz reviews and music articles. He finds the first record                that he reviewed and puts it on his turntable. As the music                plays...               Harvey talks about how he started buying and selling records.                 This leads into how he first met ROBERT CRUMB.                                                               DISSOLVE TO:               EXT. CLEVELAND GARAGE SALE - FALL - 1962 - DAY               INTERTITLE: 1962               HARVEY (a little more hair but the exact same style) and a                bunch of his BUDDIES sift through old records at a junk sale.                                     REAL HARVEY (V.O.)                         In the early sixties I was with some                          buddies at a junk sale looking for                          some choice sides when I met this                          shy, retiring cat from Philadelphia                          named Bob Crumb. You know the guy;                          Fritz the Cat, Mr. Natural an' all --                          they made a movie about him, too.               One of Harvey's pals -- MARTY -- pulls a record out of a                box.                                     MARTY                         C'mon, Harv. You dig Jay McShann.                          You gonna buy that or what?               Harvey jumps up from his search to check out the LP.                                     HARVEY                         I don't know, Marty. It's got a                          lamination crack in it...                              (checking out the                               price)                         A quarter. Maybe I can get him down.                                     MARTY                         You are one cheap bastard Harvey.                                     HARVEY                         Yeah, I know I'm tight, man, but I                          live on a government wage.               A skinny guy with a big nose, glasses and a ratty trench                coat taps Harvey on the shoulder. He is soft-spoken, a bit                shy and very odd -- a young ROBERT CRUMB.                                     CRUMB                         You collect Jay McShann, man?                                     HARVEY                         Yeah, man. How 'bout you?                                     CRUMB                         Yeah but most of my records are back                          in Philly.               A greaser-type guy in a leather jacket, PAHLS, joins them.                                     PAHLS                         Harv, meet my buddy Bob Crumb. He                          just moved to town. He's an artist                          at American Greeting Card Company.                                     HARVEY                         That's cool.                                     PAHLS                         You should see his comics, Harv.                          They are outta sight.                                     HARVEY                              (interested)                         Yeah? I'm into comics myself.                                                               DISSOLVE TO:               INT. HARVEY'S LIVING ROOM - FALL - 1962 - DAY               A disheveled mess that gives new meaning to the term bachelor                pad. Records and books are strewn everywhere.                                     REAL HARVEY (V.O.)                         So Crumb showed me this comic book                          novel he was working on -- THE BIG                          YUM YUM BOOK. I'd never seen anything                          like it.               HARVEY marches back and forth holding Crumb's illustrated                comic novel. CRUMB sits on the floor nursing a beer and                sorting through vintage comic books. Harvey's bursting with                so much enthusiasm, it's almost aggressive.                                     HARVEY                         It's terrific, man! I really dig                          your work.               Crumb ignores Harvey's praise.                                     CRUMB                              (holding up a vintage                               comic)                         This PETER WHEAT book is by Walt                          Kelly... It's pretty rare.                                     HARVEY                         Yeah? Can I get good bread for it?                                     CRUMB                         Nah! Not yet.               Harvey flops down in an overstuffed chair. Stuffing flies                out. He sips his beer.                                     HARVEY                         Listen man, let's get back to your                          book. What are you gonna do with it?                                     CRUMB                              (looking up)                         I hadn't thought about it. It's just                          an exercise.               Harvey flips through the book.                                     HARVEY                         It's more than an exercise. It's                          breaking ground, man. There's some                          wild shit in here.               Crumb is immune to Harvey's enthusiasm.                                     CRUMB                         You're spitting on me, Harvey.                                                                    CUT TO:               INT. HARVEY'S LIVING ROOM - FALL - 1962 - LATER               CRUMB lies on the couch sketching while HARVEY reads more of                THE YUM YUM BOOK. A scratchy jazz record plays.                                     REAL HARVEY (V.O.)                         Crumb and I hung out a lot back then.                          We had records and comics in common.               ANGLE ON CRUMB'S DRAWING               We see Crumb is actually sketching Harvey, slumped in a chair                reading a book. Crumb makes Harvey look like a smelly, sweaty                madman with ratty clothing.               Crumb holds the sketch of Harvey up to show him.                                     CRUMB                              (laughing)                         Check it out, man. Pretty scary.               Harvey glances up at his portrait, completely unselfconscious.                                     HARVEY                         Yeah, ya don't know the half of it.               Harvey goes back to reading. Crumb back to sketching.                                     REAL HARVEY (V.O.)                         Eventually people got hip to Crumb's                          art work and he started hangin' out                          with a Bohemian crowd. After a while,                          he got sick of greeting cards and                          moved away to San Francisco where he                          got the whole underground comic scene                          off the ground.               Crumb slowly evaporates from the room, leaving Harvey totally                alone.               ANGLE ON 45 RECORD SPINNING AND SPINNING                                     REAL HARVEY (V.O.)                         He'd come back ta Cleveland every                          few years, an' people'd treat him                          like a celebrity.               The record spins and spins...               END FLASHBACK                                                               DISSOLVE TO:               EXT. BUS STOP - 1975 - DAY               ANOTHER R. CRUMB DRAWING OF HARVEY (Now circa 1975)               On a sketch pad we see a deranged, tormented Harvey sitting                alone on a park bench. He pulls at his hair, and looks as                though he may murder the next person who walks by.               INTERTITLE: BACK TO 1975               As the pencil adds shading to Harvey's face, WE HEAR:                                     REAL HARVEY (V.O.)                         Once he came to visit when I was                          really feelin' bad. It was right                          around the time of my throat                          operation, an' right after my second                          wife left me. At first it was pretty                          weird. I mean, here my life was                          falling apart an' everything was                          going great for him. I was on my                          second divorce an' he was a big hit                          with the chicks. I was a nothin'                          file clerk and he was this famous                          cartoonist.               HARVEY and R. CRUMB sit on a park bench together by a bus                stop. A distraught Harvey whines while Crumb just sketches.               Harvey's voice is still raspy.                                     HARVEY                         I dunno, man. On the one hand most                          women gettin' graduate degrees                          wouldn't give a guy like me the time                          a' day. An' she married me an'                          everything, so I gotta give her some                          kinda credit. But then she got so                          mean to me in the end. An' it ain't                          like I tried t'keep her captive or                          anything like that, y'know?               Crumb may or may not be listening to Harvey. It's hard to                tell.                                     HARVEY                         An' then on top of it I lost my voice                          for three months. I still sound like                          shit, but before I had nothin'. Man,                          talk about hell. I started forgettin'                          what I sound like, y'know? So I                          started writin' stuff down -- stories                          an' things, my points a' view, ideas.                          I even published a couple jazz record                          reviews. I guess that ended up bein'                          a good thing.                                     CRUMB                         Uh-huh.                                     HARVEY                         But don't think I buy into this                          "growth" crap. Everybody talks about                          how bad experiences can cause ya                          t'grow, an' all that clichÈd stuff.                          I've had enough bad experiences and                          growth to last me plenty.                              (a beat)                         Right now, I'd be glad to trade some                          growth for happiness.               For a moment, they both just sit there saying nothing to                each other, each man in his own private universe.               Finally Harvey looks over to Crumb.                                     HARVEY                         So how long are ya stayin' in                          Cleveland?               Crumb never looks up from his picture.                                     CRUMB                         I dunno, man. I gotta go visit this                          chick in New York. And I'm really                          busy with the comic book stuff. It's                          good bread and all man but I'm getting                          fed up with the whole scene.                                     HARVEY                         What are ya talkin' about? Yer makin'                          a good living doin' yer art? Sheesh.                          How many guys get that lucky in their                          life, huh?                                     CRUMB                         Yeah, I dunno.                                     HARVEY                         Ya know man, people are startin' to                          know the name "Crumb." When you croak                          you're gonna leave something behind.                                     CRUMB                         Yeah, my ashes and some crappy                          doodles. It's not like I'm Blind                          Lemon Jefferson or Big Mama Thornton.                                     HARVEY                         C'mon, man. It sure beats workin' a                          gig like mine -- being a nobody flunky                          and sellin' records on the side for                          a buck.                                     CRUMB                         Yeah, well that's true...               Harvey nods in agreement, mulling this over. He's not at all                offended.                                                                    CUT TO:               INT. V.A. HOSPITAL - 1975 - DAY               CLOSE ON A FILE DRAWER MARKED: "RECENTLY DECEASED."               A hand reaches into the frame and opens the drawer.               By rote, HARVEY fumbles with a large stack of "expired                patient" files. He places each into the appropriate                alphabetical "deceased" drawer.               Attempting to grab another batch, Harvey accidentally knocks                the entire pile onto the floor.                                     HARVEY                         Damn it!               He crouches down to survey the mess -- a collage of "expired                lives" laid out before his eyes.               We move past dozens of anonymous names -- William Anderson,                Louis Collins, Mark D'Amico, Tyrone Moore, Franklin Ray,                etc... Each file has a red "Deceased" stamp.               Depressed, HARVEY is transfixed by the files surrounding him                on the floor. Suddenly he stops and picks one up.               ANGLE ON FOLDER: It is marked, "CHARLIE MARSHALL."               He opens the folder and reads the stats...               Born: 1920 in Cleveland Died: 1920 in Cleveland Occupation:                Clerk               ANGLE ON HARVEY: He swallows hard as he reads about Charlie's                small, invisible and now vanished life... He tosses the folder                back onto the pile.                                                                    CUT TO:               INT. HARVEY'S APARTMENT - 1975 - MORNING               CLOSE ON: TWO STICK FIGURES IN AN EMPTY FRAME               HARVEY sits at a table with a pen in hand and a blank sheet                of paper in front of him. Nothing seems to come to him.               He flips through a pile of comic books -- everything from                D.C. Comic Super Heroes to underground works such as Crumb's                Mr. Natural and Zap Comix. No inspiration. Harvey throws                them down in frustration.                                     HARVEY                         I'm starvin'.                                                                    CUT TO:               INT. SUPERMARKET - 1975 - DAY               HARVEY pushes a cart through the cramped aisles of a crowded                supermarket. He pulls a few cans of Beef-A-Roni off the shelf                and heads off to pay. Reaching the check-out area, he                evaluates the situation.               ANGLE ON CHECK-OUT COUNTERS:               There are three lines to choose from. Two of the counters                have long waits. The third is much shorter but there is an                OLD JEWISH LADY next in line.               SUDDENLY, THE SCREEN SPLITS IN TWO:               The LEFT SIDE OF THE FRAME remains Harvey at the supermarket                deliberating over the check-out lines.               However, the RIGHT SIDE OF THE FRAME now contains a CRUMB                STYLE COMIC PANEL DEPICTING THE EXACT SAME SCENARIO. A BUBBLE                appears over CARTOON HARVEY'S head revealing his thoughts.                It reads: "Pickin' the right check-out line is an art...                There's a lot of things you gotta consider."               ON THE LEFT SIDE OF THE FRAME... Harvey decides to get behind                the Old Lady.               MEANWHILE ON THE RIGHT HAND SIDE OF THE FRAME... Cartoon                Harvey stands behind the Old Lady.               A new BUBBLE reads: "It may be the shortest line but I am                takin' a chance 'cause she's an Old Jewish Lady."               BACK TO THE LEFT SIDE OF THE FRAME... The CASHIER rings up                the Old Lady's purchases -- a few kitchen glasses.                                     OLD JEWISH LADY                              (Yiddish Accent)                         Listen, goily, dese glasses are six                          for $2.00 because I couldn't carry                          twelf... But I vanted twelf so today                          I'm buying six more... But you should                          only charge me $1.50 for dem... It's                          ok, you can esk de meneger.               Harvey rolls his eyes and stamps his foot impatiently. He                knows he's in trouble now.                                     CASHIER                              (yelling)                         Frank! I need a price check.               SUDDENLY, THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE SCREEN BECOMES FULLY                ANIMATED... Instead of still comic panels with balloons, the                Cartoon Harvey now rants directly into the camera.                                     CARTOON HARVEY                         Man, Old Jewish Ladies will argue                          forever with a cashier about anything.                          Get behind them in a line an' yer                          gonna wait forever!               The Human Harvey seems oblivious to his cartoon replica. He                impatiently leans on his cart, waiting and seething.                                     CARTOON HARVEY                         I mean, I'm a yid myself, an' the                          women in my family are like that...                          But I never got used to it... I may                          be cheap, but I got limits!               ON THE LEFT HAND SIDE OF THE SCREEN... The MANAGER finally                arrives. The Old Lady haggles with him, too.                                     OLD JEWISH LADY                         Please. Let me 'splain von more time.               MEANWHILE ON THE RIGHT HAND SIDE... The Cartoon Harvey turns                to address the Human Harvey, who actually looks him in the                eyes. It now seems Human Harvey can actually hear his cartoon                alter ego.                                     CARTOON HARVEY                         Wake up! You're whole life's gettin'                          eaten away by this kinda crap! What                          kind of existence is this? Is this                          all a workin' stiff like you can                          expect? Ya gonna suffer in silence                          fer the rest a' yer life?! Or ya                          gonna make a mark. Huh? Huh?               IN AN INSTANT, THE CARTOON HARVEY DISAPPEARS AND THE LIVE                ACTION SCENE TAKES OVER THE WHOLE FRAME.               Suddenly motivated by an odd notion, Harvey abandons his                grocery cart and runs out of the supermarket.                                                                    CUT TO:               INT. HARVEY'S KITCHEN -- NIGHT               Bursting with ideas, Harvey (wearing his undershirt and                boxers) starts story-boarding his first comic with stick                figures.                                                               DISSOLVE TO:               INT. HARVEY'S KITCHEN - 1975 - MORNING               A bleary-eyed HARVEY, still clad in an undershirt and boxers,                dozes off over a bowl of Corn Flakes. On the table next to                some spilled milk are a stack of papers covered with                scribbling. He clearly has been slaving over this work all                night.               ANGLE ON PAPERS:               At the top is a quickly scribbled title, "Standing Behind                Old Jewish Ladies In Supermarket Lines." These are ad hoc                versions of a comic book. The pages are divided like a tick-               tack-toe board. Each square is filled with crude stick figure                drawings and lots of writing.               An alarm clock goes off. Harvey's eyes fly open.                                     HARVEY                         Shit. Work.               Harvey yawns, then notices the pile of papers. He peruses                them, proud of his work. He gets up and looks out the window.               I/E. HARVEY'S APARTMENT - HARVEY'S POV - 1975 - MORNING               It is yet another grey day in Cleveland. The neighborhood is                run-down. Garbage is strewn everywhere.               The following scene unfolds through the window:               Two UNSIGHTLY WORKERS lug an old, smelly mattress from a                garage towards the garbage cans on the curb. Their                conversation is distant, but entirely audible.                                     MATTRESS GUY #1                         So how smart is she?                                     MATTRESS GUY #2                         I dunno. I guess she's about average.                                     MATTRESS GUY #1                         Average? Hey, man. Average is dumb!               They drop the mattress in place. With the window framing                these guys, the scene FREEZES, looking just like a comic                book panel.               INT. HARVEY'S APARTMENT - DAY               Harvey turns around from the scene and ponders it. He moves                back towards his pile of stick-figure drawings.               CLOSE ON PAPER               Harvey scribbles the words "AMERICAN SPLENDOR" at the top of                the page.                                                                    CUT TO:               INT. CLEVELAND DINER - 1975 - DAY               The following scene is shot through the restaurant window.                 We see reflections of people walking by.               A tense HARVEY starts at CRUMB as he eats a burger and reads                Harvey's mock-ups. Harvey doesn't touch his burger deluxe                and nervously talks in his laryngitis-afflicted voice.                                     HARVEY                         See, ever since I read your stuff,                          man I've been thinking I could write                          comic book stories that were different                          from anything being done.                                     CRUMB                              (munching on a fry)                         Uh-huh.                                     HARVEY                         I'm thinkin', the guys who do animal                          comics and super-hero stuff are really                          limited 'cause they gotta try to                          appeal to kids. And underground comics                          like yours have been really subversive                          or opened things up politically. But                          there is still plenty more ta be                          done with 'em, too, y'know?                                     CRUMB                         Pass me the ketchup?                                     HARVEY                         I mean with pictures and words, it                          could be more of an art form. Like                          those French movies are. Or De Sica                          over in Italy, y'know?... So I tried                          writin' some things about real life.                          Stuff the everyman's gotta deal with.               Crumb finally looks up from Harvey's work.                                     CRUMB                         These are about you.                                     HARVEY                         Er, yeah...                                     CRUMB                         You turned yourself into a comic                          hero?                                     HARVEY                         Sorta, yeah. But no idealized shit.                          No phony bullshit. The real thing,                          y'know? Ordinary life is pretty                          complex stuff.               Crumb reads more. Harvey waits anxiously. Finally Crumb starts                to chuckle.                                     CRUMB                         These are really good, Harv.                                     HARVEY                              (insecure)                         Really? Ya think so?               Crumb shuffles through more.                                     CRUMB                         Yeah. This is great stuff, man. I                          dig it. Can I take them home and                          illustrate them?               Harvey is practically bursting.                                     HARVEY                         Wow!!               Harvey's voice breaks like a kid in puberty. He clears his                throat. And something miraculous happens...               When Harvey opens his mouth to speak his LARYNGITIS IS GONE!                                     HARVEY                         You'd do that for me, man? That'd be                          great! I can't draw a straight line!                                     CRUMB                         Hey, what's up with your voice, Harv?                          All of a sudden it sounds fine.                                     HARVEY                              (thrilled)                         I don't know, man! I guess you cured                          me!               INT. V.A. HOSPITAL - SNACK ROOM HALLWAY - DAY               HARVEY bounds towards the snack room where a group of hospital                workers and patients hang out. He bangs on the window to get                their attention. When they look up, Harvey waves a comic                book in the air.                                                               DISSOLVE TO:               INT. V.A. HOSPITAL - SNACK ROOM - DAY               A GLOSSY, FULL-COLOR COMIC BOOK FEATURING THE TWO MATTRESS                GUYS: Scrawled across the top in big red letters reads,                "AMERICAN SPLENDOR. Vol. #1" A man's finger points to the                words, "All Stories by Harvey Pekar. Art by R. Crumb." The                comic book sits atop a table in the dreary snack room.               A crowd of HOSPITAL WORKERS, PATIENTS, DOCTORS, MAINTENANCE                WORKERS, etc. (under ten total) gather around a proud HARVEY                who shows off his work. For the first time, he seems almost                happy.                                     HARVEY                              (beaming)                         See that? All stories by yours truly.               A WWII VET PATIENT with a portable IV cranes to get a glimpse.                                     WW II VET PATIENT                         Hot off the presses, huh? We got a                          regular Hemingway here.                                     HARVEY                         No way, Jack, I don't go in for that                          macho crap.               DOCTOR #3 chimes in.                                     DOCTOR #3                         I didn't know you could draw, Pekar.                                     HARVEY                         Nah! I don't draw. I just write the                          stories. A buddy of mine and some of                          his friends do the art work.               TOBY, the supernerd from the bus stop, grabs the comic book                off the table and peruses it.                                     TOBY                         Harvey, am I in here? You promised I                          would be in here.                                     HARVEY                         Yeah! Yeah! You're in there, alright?                          Jeez, Toby.               SUDDENLY, MR. BOATS -- Harvey's philosophical co-worker --                pushes his way thorough the crowd. He snatches the comic out                of Toby's hand.                                     MR. BOATS                         Let me see this.                                     TOBY                         Mr. Boats, it's not polite to grab                          things. Next time --                                     MR. BOATS                         Son, you done good. Ya know, I was                          up in Toronto a few weeks back an' I                          saw the Red Chinese Ballet...               As Mr. Boats talks, the crowd starts to disperse.                                     MR. BOATS                         Now that was beautiful. The way those                          people were dancing together. Those                          Chinese work hard. I tell ya, they                          work hard -- Where is everybody goin'?               Mr. Boats hands the comic book back to Harvey and turns on                his heels. Through the window he notices TWO VETS IN                WHEELCHAIRS moving down the hall.                                     MR. BOATS                         Where these sickly men rushin' off                          to? They ain't goin' nowhere for                          now. Maybe not for a long time. But                          damn if they ain't in a rush to get                          there.               Harvey stands there, his moment of glory passed. But it's                okay. He flips through his comic and smiles.                                                                    CUT TO:               EXT. STREET CORNER - ASSOC. OF POLISH WOMEN - 1975 - DAY               A motley group of GUYS hang out on a street corner in front                of the Association of Polish Women. HARVEY heads towards                them.                                     MARTY                         Hey look guys, here comes Captain                          America.               Harvey rolls his eyes.                                     PAHLS                              (yelling out)                         You gonna hang with the boys now                          that yer a comic book star?               Harvey turns red. He's embarrassed but part of him loves the                attention.                                     HARVEY                         Cut it out. Man, I ain't nothin' yet                          compared to Bob Crumb.                                     GUY #3                         Ah, listen to him. One lousy comic                          book and he wants to be Crumb.               The GUYS laugh.               ANGLE ON SILENT GUY               A SILENT GUY crouches by the wall, reading his CLEVELAND                BROWNS trading cards.                                     PAHLS                         Hey Harvey, if ya wanna make comics                          for adults, ya oughtta put some dirty                          stuff in it.                                     GUY #3                         Yeah, you can write about Marty's                          sex life.               Harvey hangs with the guys but he doesn't engage. He seems                to be observing them more than interacting with them.                                     GUY #3                         Right Marty? I heard ya went out                          with Bonnie yesterday.                                     PAHLS                         Yeah. Howdja do? Wudja git offa her?                                     MARTY                         Ah, lousy. All's I got wuz armaround.               The guys all stare at him for a moment. Then they crack up.                                                                    CUT TO:               INT. SOUND STAGE - PRESENT - DAY               HIGH DEFINITION VIDEO DOCUMENTARY FOOTAGE               CLOSE UP:               A COPY OF AMERICAN SPLENDOR #2: A FULL-COLOR CARTOON VERSION                OF THE ABOVE SCENE GRACES THE COVER.               A MARTY LOOK-ALIKE is bombarded with questions about his                date with Bonnie. He complains that all he got was "arm-               around." The REAL HARVEY holds the above comic book in his                hand. The stage is set with a few items that indicate a comic                book store. HARVEY talks about a couple of "American Splendor"                issues and how they impacted his life -- recognition as a                writer, etc. He gives his philosophy about the comic book,                etc. A MONTAGE OF AMERICAN SPLENDOR COVERS (ISSUE #3, #4,                #5, #6, ETC.) THEY INDICATE A PASSAGE OF TIME...                                                                    CUT TO:               INT. HARVEY'S CUBICLE - V.A. HOSPITAL - 1980'S - DAY               HARVEY sits alone in his cubicle. He doodles stick figures                on a pad -- some ideas for a new comic. His posture's                miserable. He rubs his temples like he's in anguish.                                     REAL HARVEY (V.O.)                         Here's our man eight comics later, a                          brand new decade, same old bullshit.                          Yeah sure, he gets lots of recognition                          for his writin' now. Sure his comics                          are praised by all the important                          media types tellin' people what to                          think. But so what?  It's not like                          he makes a livin' at it like Bob                          Crumb. He can't go an' quit his day                          job or nothin'.               JUMP CUT SEQUENCE               Several shots of Harvey just thinking, scratching his face                with a pencil, tapping his foot nervously.               Each shot is separated by a second or two of black (an homage                to Harvey's wordless panels). Finally, he goes back to                writing.                                     REAL HARVEY (V.O.)                         Who am I kiddin'. Truth is I'd be                          lost without my work routine.                                                              FLASH CUT TO:               INT. HARVEY'S BEDROOM - 1980'S - NIGHT               Alone in bed, Harvey wakes up in a cold sweat from a                nightmare. He looks horrified, short of breath.                                     HARVEY                              (calming himself down)                         I got a job... I got a job...                                                                   BACK TO:               INT. HARVEY'S CUBICLE - V.A. HOSPITAL - 1980'S - DAY               HARVEY scratches his head.               CLOSE UP ON HIS DOODLING               Harvey writes "I got a job" in a balloon over the stick                figure's head.                                     REAL HARVEY (V.O.)                         So -- to stave off desperation and                          feelings of uselessness -- I resigned                          myself to a menial existence. But                          hey, maybe the guy who's had a happy                          life feels worse just before he dies                          than th' guy who had a sad one. Or,                          maybe not. I dunno. Maybe I just                          needed a woman.               Toby comes in, decked out in plaid and stripes. He has an                empty messenger bag.                                     TOBY                         Hi, Harvey. Do you want these gourmet                          jelly beans? I gave up sweets for                          lent.               Harvey turns around. He seems down, depressed.                                     HARVEY                         Huh? Sure, I'll take 'em.               Toby watches Harvey eat a few.                                     HARVEY                         Hey, watermelon. That's pretty good.                                     TOBY                         I recommend the piÒa coladas. They                          are excellent and very authentic                          tasting.               Toby heads down a file row and proceeds to take a few off                the shelves, stuffing his bag. Harvey gets up and comes after                him.                                     HARVEY                         Hey Toby, can you eat lentils during                          lent?                                     TOBY                         Sure. I don't see why not. You can't                          eat meat on certain days, but lentils                          should be acceptable anytime.                                     HARVEY                         Ya think there's any connection                          between lentils and lent?                                     TOBY                         I don't think so but I'll ask Sister                          Mary Fred at church on Sunday.                                     HARVEY                         Sister Mary Fred, huh? Is she cute?                          Sounds kinda mannish but who am I to                          be picky.                                     TOBY                         Harvey, you're funny. She's a nun.                                     HARVEY                         So what? Maybe she became a nun                          because she couldn't get a guy.                                     TOBY                         Harvey, she became a nun because she                          had a higher calling.                                     HARVEY                         Higher calling. That is such a crock                          of shit. I don't know why you waste                          your time prayin' anyway.                                     TOBY                         Well, Harvey, I like the ritual. And                          I'm a very spiritual person. You                          know, you should try believing in                          something bigger than yourself. It                          might cheer you up.               Toby turns on his heels and walks off.                                     HARVEY                              (calling after him)                         What? Do I seem depressed, Toby?               Toby doesn't respond.               Harvey shrugs and digs deep into the jelly bean bag. He pulls                out a fistful.               CLOSE ON HARVEY'S HAND               Jellybeans in every imaginable color. Harvey fingers a few                and then picks a blue one.                                     BOB THE DIRECTOR (V.O.)                         Cut!                                                                    CUT TO:               INT. V.A. HOSPITAL "SET" - PRESENT - DAY               HIGH DEFINITION VIDEO DOCUMENTARY FOOTAGE               A few items from the previous scene are present on the sound                stage indicating that it's a set of AMERICAN SPLENDOR -- The                Movie.               THE ACTOR HARVEY stands alone, his hand filled with Jelly                beans.                                     BOB THE DIRECTOR                         Okay, that was great. The bakery                          scene is next...               ACTOR HARVEY steps out of the frame, revealing a craft service                table behind him. At the table, the REAL HARVEY and the REAL                TOBY load up on donuts. The two discuss the food on the set.               Ironically, the Real Toby is actually more extreme than the                Actor who plays him -- even more robotic, and completely                incapable of eye-contact.               The REAL TOBY discusses the finer points of nerdom and                evaluates the Actor's nerd quotient. The Real Harvey explains                to Actor Toby that nothing -- not even gourmet jelly beans --                would have cheered him up at that point in his life.               He was too lonely and depressed.               END HIGH DEFINITION VIDEO DOCUMENTARY FOOTAGE                                                                    CUT TO:               INT. HARVEY'S BEDROOM - 1980'S - MORNING               Light pours through the curtained window.               Naked and disheveled, HARVEY tosses and turns in bed.                                     REAL HARVEY (V.O.)                         My loneliness was unbearable, man.                          Weekends were the worst. Sometimes                          in my sleep, I'd feel a body next to                          me like an amputee feels a phantom                          limb.               EXT. PEDESTRIAN BRIDGE -- DAY               Extreme wide shot: a city-street overpass spans across the                entire frame. The lone figure of Harvey sulks there in the                middle, watching traffic pass below.                                     REAL HARVEY (V.O.)                         Sure my comics were bringin' me                          notoriety, but my personal life was                          in shambles. I thought a little                          attention would make me feel better.                          It only made me feel worse.                                                                   CUT TO:                EXT. BAKERY SIDE STREET - SPRING - 1980'S - MORNING               It is a beautiful, sunny day. The trees are in bloom.               There's the first scent of spring in the air. Kids play in                the street. Music pours out of passing cars. Everyone seems                to have a smile on his or her face except HARVEY. He walks                on the shadowy side of the street.               EXT. BAKERY STREET - SPRING               Establishing shot of HARVEY trudging into the bakery.               INT. BAKERY - SPRING - 1980'S - MORNING               A couple of WOMEN order bread and cookies from TWO COUNTER                GIRLS.               HARVEY surveys the donuts.                                     COUNTER GIRL #1                              (yelling to Harvey)                         Next!                                     HARVEY                              (to the Counter Girl)                         Yeah! I'll have two crullers, a jelly                          donut with powdered sugar... And you                          got any "day old bread"?               A woman with attractive Irish looks brushes past Harvey on                her way to the door. This is ALICE QUINN, roughly Harvey's                age but there is a tired, weary look in her eyes.                                     ALICE                         Hey, you're Harvey Pekar.               Half in a daze, Harvey stares at the chick.                                     HARVEY                         Yeah...                                     ALICE                         Alice Quinn. From school.               Harvey studies her face. Suddenly, it clicks.                                     HARVEY                         Oh yeah. College. We had a couple                          lit classes together.               Harvey pays and receives his items. They step back towards                the door.                                     ALICE                         What happened to you? You just                          disappeared after one semester.               Harvey scratches his armpit.                                     HARVEY                         I know, man. I got good grades and                          all but there was this required math                          class. I can't do math, an' that                          required class hangin' over my head                          made me crazy. Eventually the pressure                          got to be too much.                                     ALICE                         Well, you're doing okay anyway. I                          heard all about your jazz reviews                          and your comics.               This perks Harvey up.                                     HARVEY                         Ya did?                                     ALICE                         Sure, you're famous. Meanwhile I got                          my degree but I'm just a plain old                          wife and mother.               Harvey stares at her wedding ring. His face drops.                                     HARVEY                         Yeah. I'm not doing as great as ya                          think. My second wife divorced me                          and I work at a dead end job as a                          file clerk. Sometimes I hang out                          with the guys on the corner but most                          of the time I just stay home by myself                          and read.               Alice laughs.                                     ALICE                         You're luckier than you think. My                          husband and kids make it impossible                          for me to cuddle up with a good book.                                                                    CUT TO:               EXT. BAKERY - SPRING - 1980'S - DAY               HARVEY and ALICE continue their conversation as they stroll                towards her car.                                     HARVEY                         I'm reading this book by Dreiser now --                          JENNIE GERHARDT.                                     ALICE                         That's one of my favorites.                                     HARVEY                         I hope it don't end like so many a'                          those naturalist novels... With                          someone getting crushed ta earth by                          forces he can't control.               Alice smiles.                                     ALICE                         I think you'll be pleasantly                          surprised. It's certainly not a                          Hollywood happy ending, but it's                          pretty truthful. Which is rare these                          days...               This hits home with Harvey. He can't believe he's made such                a connection with this woman.               Alice stops in front of a beat-up station wagon.                                     ALICE                         This is me.                                     HARVEY                         Nice car. I don't have one yet.                                     ALICE                         Can I give ya a lift somewhere?                                     HARVEY                         Nah. It's a nice day. I'll just walk.               Harvey looks down, a little sad.                                     ALICE                         Well, we should have you over sometime                          for dinner.                                     HARVEY                         Sure, I'd be glad t'come. But if you                          really wanna do me a favor, introduce                          me to some a' your single girlfriends.                          I bet they're all smart like you.                          I'm no catch, though, so I'll take                          anything you can get me.               Alice pecks Harvey on the cheek.                                     ALICE                         I'll work on it.               She gets into the car.                                     ALICE                         Nice seeing ya Harvey.               Harvey watches as she drives off.                                     REAL HARVEY (V.O.)                         When I got home, I finished reading                          JENNIE GERHARDT. It was real good,                          way better than I expected. That                          Alice wuz right.               INT. HARVEY'S LIVING ROOM - SPRING - 1980'S - NIGHT               The room is moody, dark and lonely. The shadowy figure of                Harvey sits on the floor devouring JENNIE GERHARDT.                                     REAL HARVEY (V.O.)                         Sure Lester -- the main character --                          croaks in the end, but at least he's                          old and dies a natural dignified                          death.               THE CAMERA TRAVELS AROUND THE ROOM TO FIND: Harvey again,                now silhouetted in the door frame, still clutching the book                and obsessed by his thoughts.                                     REAL HARVEY (V.O.)                         I was more alone that weekend than                          any. All I did was think about JENNIE                          GERHARDT an' Alice Quinn an' all the                          decades of people I have known.               THE CAMERA TRAVELS AGAIN TO FIND Harvey sitting on a chair                in the corner of his room. His head is bowed. His shoulders                slump over, as if he's struggling with something weighty.                                     REAL HARVEY (V.O.)                         The more I thought, the more I felt                          like cryin'; Life seemed so sweet                          an' so sad an' so hard t'let go of                          in the end.               THE CAMERA TRAVELS A FINAL TIME TO FIND: Harvey sprawled                across his couch. But he's not asleep; he's still obsessing.                The book lies on his chest like a lover.               CLOSE UP of Harvey's troubled face. Beneath the pain, we see                hope and determination.                                     REAL HARVEY (V.O.)                         But hey, man. Every day's a brand                          new deal, right? Just keep on workin'                          and sump'n's bound ta turn up.                                                                    CUT TO:               EXT. COSMIC COMICS STORE - DELAWARE - 1980'S - DAY               An urban comic book shop on a dicey but bohemian street. A                title over picture reads, "MEANWHILE, IN DELAWARE."               INT. COSMIC COMICS STORE - 1980'S - DAY               JOYCE BRABNER, a depressive nudge with a perpetually peptic                expression frantically searches the store for something. Her                partner, a granola type named RAND, finishes unloading a                stack on the shelf.                                     JOYCE                         What happened to the new American                          Splendor?                                     RAND                         We sold 'em, babe.                                     JOYCE                         All of them?                                     RAND                         Yep.                                     JOYCE                              (accusatory)                         Damn it! I put one aside for myself,                          next to the register. I didn't even                          get a chance to read it.                                     RAND                         Whoa, sorry, Joyce. I didn't know                          you were such a Splendor fan. Next                          time take it home.               Joyce leans against the counter. She pushes up her glasses                and looks really upset.                                     JOYCE                         Maybe I'll call the publisher. But                          they take so damn long. Shit! Why                          does everything in my life have to                          be such a complicated disaster...               Joyce starts slamming things around the store. Finally Rand                grabs his stuff.                                     RAND                         Okay, I'm gonna hustle before the                          vibe in here gets any worse.               Rand leaves. Joyce barely notices, still brewing.                                                                    CUT TO:               INT. JOYCE'S BEDROOM - 1980'S - NIGHT               The mess in this room rivals Harvey's. A few cats add to the                clutter. Joyce lies on her disheveled bed and writes a letter.                                     JOYCE (V.O.)                         Greetings from the second smallest                          state in the union, an endless                          plastics and nylon plantation                          controlled by giant chemical                          corporations.                                                                    CUT TO:               EXT. HARVEY'S APARTMENT - VESTIBULE - 1980'S - DAY               HARVEY takes his mail out of the box. He finds an oddly                decorated envelope.                                     JOYCE (V.O.)                         To make matters more dismal, there                          are no decent comic book stores in                          my town, which is why my partner and                          I opened one ourselves.               INT. HARVEY'S BATHROOM - 1980'S - DAY               HARVEY finishes reading the letter sitting on the toilet. A                cat runs around him.                                     JOYCE (V.O.)                         Despite our steadily faltering                          business, my partner managed to sell                          the last copy of American Splendor                          #8 out from under me. I'm a big fan                          and I hate to wait for a new order.                          Is there any way I can get it from                          you direct? Sincerely, Joyce Brabner.               Harvey scratches his head. He mutters to himself.                                     HARVEY                         ...man, she's got good lookin'                          handwritin'...               INT. HARVEY'S BEDROOM - 1980'S - NIGHT               BEGIN MONTAGE -- HARVEY AND JOYCE COMMUNICATING               We see Harvey in his bed writing.                                     HARVEY                         Dear Joyce, Thanks for the letter.                          Whattya do besides sellin' comics?               THE SCREEN SPLITS TO ACCOMMODATE:               INT. DELAWARE PRISON CLASSROOM - 1980'S - DAY               We see Joyce standing in front of a GROUP OF PRISONERS.                                     JOYCE (V.O.)                         I'm a sometime activist and I teach                          writing to prisoners. I try to help                          them build an interior life and make                          art out of their monotonous,                          suffocating routine.               THE SCREEN GIVES WAY TO ANOTHER FRAME               INT. BUS - 1980'S - DAY               Harvey scribbles a letter while riding on the bus.                                     HARVEY (V.O.)                         Sounds familiar. So you married or                          what?               INT. JOYCE'S APARTMENT - 1980'S - DAY               Joyce empties her can of cat food in a plate and slides it                towards her kitty.                                     JOYCE (V.O.)                         I'm divorced, thank god.               INT. HARVEY'S BEDROOM - 1980'S - EVENING               Now we see Harvey (full screen) in bed in his underwear                talking on the PHONE. He's clipping his toe nails.                                     HARVEY                         Look, I think you an' I got a lot in                          common. How am I gonna get you to                          come visit me in Cleveland?                                     JOYCE (V.O.)                         Cleveland? You think that's a good                          idea?                                     HARVEY                         It's a great idea. You should meet                          me, 'cause I'm a great guy. Despite                          the way my comics read, I got a lot                          of redeeming characteristics.               CLIP! He clips off a big one.               THE SCREEN SPLITS TO REVEAL               INT. JOYCE'S APARTMENT - 1980'S - NIGHT               Joyce sits on her equally disheveled bed dunking a tea bag.               Her hair is wet from a shower.                                     JOYCE                         I don't know. Where would I stay?                                     HARVEY (V.O.)                         With me. Don't worry, I'm not gonna                          put no moves on you or anything.                                     JOYCE                         I'm not worried about that...                              (fumbling with a tea                               cup)                         Hold on, I just spilled chamomile                          tea all over my bathrobe.                                     HARVEY (V.O.)                         So what are ya worried about then?               Joyce sighs and lies down. A variety of AMERICAN SPLENDORS                are across her bed. Different interpretations of Harvey stare                up at her.                                     JOYCE                              (sipping)                         Well, the way all those different                          artists draw you, I don't quite know                          what to expect. I mean sometimes you                          look like a younger Brando, but then                          the way Crumb draws you -- like a                          hairy ape with all those stinky,                          wavy lines radiating off your body --                          it's kind of scary.                                     HARVEY (V.O.)                         Those are motion lines. I'm an active                          guy. Anyway, just come out here an'                          I'll try to be anyone you want me ta                          be.               Joyce smiles for the first time.                                     JOYCE                         That's a dangerous offer. I'm a                          notorious reformer...                                                                    CUT TO:               INT. AIRPORT - ARRIVALS GATE - 1980'S - DAY               A nervous JOYCE walks off the plane into the arrivals area.               She scans the crowd of friends, family, lovers and limo                drivers waiting to meet the disembarking passengers. Where                is Harvey? What will he look like?               As Joyce surveys the unfamiliar faces, she imagines different                versions of an animated, illustrated Harvey among the people.               She double-takes as sees the R. CRUMB HARVEY -- hairy, scary,                smelly and picking his nose. Joyce rubs her eyes.               Next she sees the BRANDO HARVEY (Gary Dumm), but unfortunately                he disappears fast.               Disappointed, Joyce notices the realistic DREW FRIEDMAN HARVEY                walking towards her. She smiles as he dissolves into:                                     HARVEY (O.S.)                         Hey. Are you Joyce?               Joyce turns around. The flesh and blood HARVEY PEKAR stands                before her -- not quite as bad as the Crumb version, not                quite as good as the Dumm version, but still acceptable. She                sighs with relief.                                     JOYCE                         Hi, Harvey. We finally meet in person.               She politely offers her hand. Harvey shakes it, but he looks                overwhelmed, worried and pessimistic.                                     HARVEY                         Hiya. Look, before we get started                          with any of this, ya might as well                          know right off the bat. I had a                          vasectomy.               Joyce lets go of his hand. She stares at him in disbelief.                                                                    CUT TO:               INT. TGIF STYLE RESTAURANT - 1980'S - NIGHT               The most awkward date in history. Seated in an ultra-yuppie                restaurant filled with business lunchers, Harvey and Joyce                hide behind their menus. While everyone else looks slick and                successful, these two compete for the world's worst posture.                                      HARVEY                         What's wrong?                                     JOYCE                         Nothing.                                     HARVEY                         Somethin's wrong. Yer lookin' around                          everywhere.                                     JOYCE                         I guess I never imagined you eating                          in a place like this.                                     HARVEY                         Me? I never been here. I thought                          you'd like it. But obviously ya don't,                          do ya?                                     JOYCE                         It's fine. What difference does it                          make?               Harvey shakes his head, feeling more pessimistic.                                     HARVEY                         I dunno. None, I guess.                              (beat)                         They sure got a lot of meat on this                          menu.                                     JOYCE                         You're a vegetarian?                                     HARVEY                         Kinda. I mean ever since I got a pet                          cat, I couldn't eat animals anymore.               Joyce grabs a bread stick.                                     JOYCE                         Hmm. I support and identify with                          groups like PETA, but unfortunately                          I'm a self-diagnosed anemic. Also, I                          have all these food allergies to                          vegetables that give me serious                          intestinal distress. I guess I have                          a lot of borderline health disorders                          that limit me politically when it                          comes to eating.               Harvey just stares at her.                                     HARVEY                         Wow. Yer a sick woman, huh?                                     JOYCE                         Not yet. But I expect to be. Everyone                          in my family's got some kind of                          degenerative illness.               A cheery waitress bounces over.                                     WAITRESS                              (sing song)                         Good afternoon! I'm your server Cindy!                          What can I bring you two today?               They slowly look up at her.                                                                    CUT TO:               INT. HARVEY'S APARTMENT - 1980'S - NIGHT               JOYCE and HARVEY enter the apartment. The place is a mess,                as usual.                                     HARVEY                         Look, I was gonna clean up, but why                          should I give you any false notions?                          The truth is I got a serious problem                          with cleanliness. I could wash a                          dish ten times and it'd still dirty.                          They even kicked me outta the Army                          'cause I couldn't learn ta make a                          bed.               Joyce puts down her bag.                                     JOYCE                         I've seen worse.               She slumps down on the sofa as if she's been here a million                times. She rubs her head. Harvey sits next to her.                                     JOYCE                         Harvey, go get me water and a few                          aspirin.               Harvey just bounces back up and obeys.                                     HARVEY                         What, ya got a headache?                                     JOYCE                         No, but I want to avoid one.               Harvey empties the aspirin bottle in his palm. For some                reason, he's feeling more comfortable.                                     HARVEY                         Well lemme tell ya Joyce, it sure is                          nice ta have company. I mean, despite                          all your problems, you seem like a                          great person. An' hey, sorry if my                          dating skills are kinda rusty, but                          I've just been through hell and back                          with women. I mean that last one                          turned out to be a real nasty bitch.               Harvey arrives back with the aspirin. He hands it to Joyce.                                     JOYCE                         I had a nice time with you, too.               Joyce swallows the pill. Harvey sits down next to her.                                     HARVEY                         Yeah? You had a nice time?                                     JOYCE                         Don't make people repeat themselves.                          It's annoying.                                     HARVEY                         Oh, sorry.               They're inches away from each other.                                     JOYCE                         C'mere...               She pulls him close. Harvey plants a kiss on her.               They slowly separate. Joyce's eyes are closed. She likes                him. He kisses her again. They start making out, moaning a                bit.               But before it gets heavy --                                     JOYCE                         Harvey?                                     HARVEY                         Yeah?               Joyce opens her eyes. She looks uneasy.                                     JOYCE                         Which door's the bathroom?               INT. HARVEY'S APARTMENT - BATHROOM DOOR - 1980'S - DAY               Harvey stands by the bathroom door, despondent. From inside                we hear the sounds of moaning and flushing.                                     HARVEY                         Hey, Joyce! What's wrong? What is                          it?                                                                    CUT TO:               INT. HARVEY'S BATHROOM - DAY               FLUSH! Joyce is doubled over on the toilet. She's looking                green.                                     JOYCE                         Ugh! I don't know. I think that yuppie                          food did me in.                                                                   BACK TO:               INT. HARVEY'S APARTMENT - BATHROOM DOOR - DAY               OUTSIDE THE DOOR                                     HARVEY                         I feel terrible. Lemme at least do                          something for you.                                                                   BACK TO:               INT. HARVEY'S BATHROOM - DAY               Joyce gets to her feet and puts her glasses back on. She                picks up a can and sprays air freshener around the room.               Then she looks at the can and realizes it's WD-40.                                     HARVEY                         Can I make ya something? How about                          some chamomile tea?               Joyce puts the can down.                                     JOYCE                         Chamomile tea? What the hell's a guy                          like you doing with that? I thought                          you drink soda pop for breakfast.                                     HARVEY (O.S.)                         I dunno. I noticed you drank a lot                          of it when we started talkin' on the                          phone. So I stocked up on herbal                          teas for your visit.               Joyce turns her head to the door. She's truly surprised by                what Harvey's just said. And very moved. She smiles to                herself.                                                                   BACK TO:               INT. HARVEY'S APARTMENT - BATHROOM DOOR - DAY               Harvey stands there waiting.                                     HARVEY                         The girl at the Food Co-op picked me                          out all kinds of herbal stuff. One                          of 'ems good for stomachaches. Grandma                          Bear's Tummy Mint, I think. Are you                          still there?               Joyce slowly opens the door. She leans against the door frame                like she's just been through a war.               She takes off her glasses and cleans them off with her shirt.                                     JOYCE                         Harvey, we better skip this whole                          courtship thing and just get married.                                                                    CUT TO:               INT. HARVEY'S BEDROOM - 1980'S - DAY               Harvey and Joyce are in bed, lying in each other's arms.               They look quite contented.                                     HARVEY                         Man, am I glad I talked you into                          comin' up here. Any more time alone                          and I mighta lost it fer good.                                     JOYCE                         Me too.                                     HARVEY                         So you don't have any problems with                          movin' to Cleveland?                                     JOYCE                         Not really. I find most American                          cities depressing in the same way.                                     HARVEY                         An' yer okay with the vasectomy thing?               She shrugs.               EXT. PARKING LOT - V.A. HOSPITAL - 1980'S - DAY               HARVEY approaches the building. Instead of dragging his feet                like usual, he seems to be floating on a cloud. We haven't                seen Harvey this happy since... well, since never.               He stops by a junker car and peeks in the window, finding                TOBY eating lunch alone. He has an entire White Castle                smorgasbord spread across the front seat.               Harvey knocks on the window. Toby rolls it down.                                     HARVEY                         Ay Toby.                                     TOBY                              (mouth full)                         No you can't have any of my White                          Castle hamburgers so please don't                          even ask.                                     HARVEY                         Can I have a fry?               Harvey reaches for a handful of Toby's fries.                                     TOBY                         Okay, but just a couple, Harvey. I'm                          not going to eat dinner until very                          late and this has got to hold me                          over.               Harvey leans in, always amused by Toby. He steals another                fry.                                     HARVEY                              (munching)                         Whattya got, a church function?                                     TOBY                         No, I'm driving to Toledo to see a                          movie. Would you like to come?                                     HARVEY                         Nah. I gotta fly to Delaware tonight.                          I'm gettin' married.                                     TOBY                         Oh. Why Delaware?                                     HARVEY                         The chick I'm marryin' is from                          Wilmington. Plus, I gotta help her                          move her stuff here.                              (a beat)                         Why you drivin' ta Toledo to see a                          movie?                                     TOBY                         It's not playing at the Mapletown.                              (a beat)                         I didn't know you had a girlfriend,                          Harvey.                                     HARVEY                         Yeah. We met last week.               Harvey opens the car door and slides in with Toby.                                     HARVEY                         Toby, what movie could possibly be                          worth drivin' 260 miles round trip                          for?                                     TOBY                         It's a new film called "Revenge of                          the Nerds." It's about a group of                          nerd college students who are being                          picked on all the time by the jocks,                          so they decide to take revenge. I                          already saw it once.                                     HARVEY                         Wow, ya really dig this movie.                                     TOBY                         I like it a lot, Harvey.                                     HARVEY                         What are these nerds like? How would                          you describe them?                                     TOBY                         Hmm... Nerds are smart but they look                          and act differently than other people.                          Like nerds might wear polyester button-                         down shirts and flood pants where                          their ankles and their socks are                          showing.               Toby spills some catsup on his polyester button-down shirt.               He stands up to get a napkin, revealing his flood pants.                                     HARVEY                         So what yer sayin' is you identify                          with those nerds?                                     TOBY                              (rubbing out the catsup)                         Yes, I consider myself a nerd. And                          this movie has uplifted me. There's                          this one scene where a nerd grabs                          the microphone during a pep rally                          and announces that he is a nerd and                          that he is proud of it and stands up                          for the rights of other nerds. Then,                          he asks the kids at the pep rally                          who think they are nerds to come                          forward... So nearly everyone in the                          place does. That's the way the movie                          ends.                                     HARVEY                         So the nerds won, huh?                                     TOBY                              (smiling)                         Yes.               Harvey grabs the rest of Toby's fries and opens the door to                leave.                                     HARVEY                         Wow. You got this movie an' I'm                          gettin' hitched. We both had a good                          month, huh?                                     TOBY                              (finishing his last                               burger)                         Right. Harvey, how long are you going                          to be in Delaware because I'd really                          like to see this movie with you?                                     HARVEY                         I'm only goin' for a week but then                          I'll have a wife, so I'll have to                          take her along. Is it a girl flick?                                     TOBY                         Depends on the girl. What kind of                          girl is your new bride? Is she a                          nerd?                                     HARVEY                         I don't know, man. Maybe. She's into                          herbal teas.               Toby watches Harvey saunter off. He returns to his last                hamburger.                                                                    CUT TO:               EXT. MOVIE THEATER - 1980'S - NIGHT               A brightly lit marquee reads, "REVENGE OF THE NERDS." The                doors to the theater open and a crowd pours onto the street.               HARVEY, JOYCE and TOBY are among them. Toby proudly wears a                "Genuine Nerd" button on his striped shirt.                                     JOYCE                         I agree with Toby. I think it's a                          story of hope and tolerance.                                     TOBY                         Yes. It's about time that the people                          who get picked on get to be the                          heroes.               Harvey scrunches his face in disbelief.                                     HARVEY                         It's an entertaining flick an' I can                          see why you like it Toby, but those                          people on the screen ain't even                          supposed to be you! They're college                          students whose parents live in big                          houses in the suburbs. They're gonna                          get degrees, get good jobs and stop                          being nerds.               Joyce hits Harvey.                                     JOYCE                         Harvey, what did I say about loud                          talking? Use your inside voice.                                     HARVEY                              (whispering loudly)                         Look Toby, the guys in that movie                          are not 28-year-old file clerks who                          live with their grandmothers in an                          ethnic ghetto.                                     JOYCE                         That's enough, Harvey.                                     HARVEY                         They didn't get their computers like                          you did -- by trading in a bunch of                          box tops and $49.50 at the                          supermarket.               Joyce folds her arms in disapproval. Toby starts to laugh.                                     TOBY                         You're funny Harvey.               Harvey looks at him, disappointed. He shakes his head.                                     HARVEY                         Sure, Toby. Go to the movies and                          daydream, but "Revenge of the Nerds"                          ain't reality. It's just Hollywood                          bullshit.                                                                    CUT TO:               EXT. TOBY'S CAR -- A FEW MOMENTS LATER               ANGLE ON TOBY'S CAR (THROUGH WINDSHIELD)               Toby and Joyce continue to analyze the movie in the front                seat as Toby starts the ignition.                                                                    CUT TO:               INT. TOBY'S CAR               ANGLE ON HARVEY IN BACK SEAT               Slouched, grumpy and alone on the back seat, Harvey's still                annoyed by the movie.                                     REAL HARVEY (V.O.)                         Okay, maybe I was bein' so harsh on                          Toby onna count a' my own problems.                                     REAL HARVEY                         Y'see, I wasn't even married a month                          and my old lady was already showin'                          signs a' trouble. Granted, I tend ta                          get married fast 'cause I'll take                          any woman that'll have me, but this                          time I really met my match...                                                                    CUT TO:               INT. REHEARSAL STUDIO - PRESENT - DAY               HIGH DEFINITION VIDEO DOCUMENTARY FOOTAGE               A few items indicating film production are in the frame.               At a table in the foreground, BOB THE DIRECTOR discusses the                character of Joyce with the ACTRESS playing her. The actress                just nods as the director goes on.               We can see THE REAL JOYCE sitting with THE REAL HARVEY in                the distance.                                     DIRECTOR                         Okay, I think the thing with Joyce                          is that as manic as Harvey can be,                          she matches him with depression. In                          that way they complete each other. I                          mean, she's obviously a very smart                          woman, but she has a lot of trouble                          functioning in a world she can't                          control. And she's totally obsessed                          with all things negative; y'know,                          diseases, dysfuctions, etc.               THE REAL JOYCE and REAL HARVEY listen curiously -- sometimes                pleased, sometimes displeased -- as their personalities are                dissected and boiled down to a few phrases.               CLOSER SHOT OF REAL JOYCE AND HARVEY               The REAL JOYCE puts in her two cents about the actress playing                her. She rants about what it's like to be portrayed in a                movie, and having a character arc imposed on her life.               She moves into talking about her relationship with Harvey,                and the first years of their marriage -- how impossible it                was to live with him.               The REAL HARVEY just rolls his eyes.               END HIGH DEFINITION VIDEO DOCUMENTARY FOOTAGE                                                                    CUT TO:               INT. HARVEY'S LIVING ROOM - 1980'S - DAY               JOYCE is on a cleaning rampage. She rummages through piles                upon piles of records while HARVEY paces nervously.                                     JOYCE                         What about these 78's, Harvey? Can't                          you sell them to one of those                          collectors?                                     HARVEY                         Are ya kidding? No way, man. I ain't                          getting rid of my 78's.               Joyce throws down the records in frustration. Harvey runs                over to check if they're scratched.                                     JOYCE                              (angry)                         Forget it then. I give up! How can I                          make more storage space, if you won't                          get rid of anything?                                     HARVEY                         I'll get rid of stuff. Just not my                          good stuff.                                     JOYCE                         Everything's your good stuff. How am                          I supposed to live here, if there's                          no room for me?                                     HARVEY                         Aw come on, baby. I'll make room for                          ya. You just have to give me time.                          I'm not so good at these kind of                          things.                                     JOYCE                         That's because you're obsessive                          compulsive Harvey.               A DOOR BUZZER rings. Harvey slams it to unlock the front.                                     HARVEY                         C'mon. I don't wanna hear that                          psychobabble crap!                                     JOYCE                         I don't care if you wanna hear it or                          not. You're the poster child for the                          DSM III. I'll have you know that I                          come from a very dysfunctional family.                          I can spot personality disorders a                          mile away...               A KNOCK ON THE DOOR interrupts their argument. Joyce storms                away to answer it.               ANGLE ON THE DOOR:               Joyce opens it to face a smiling TOBY -- dressed as usual in                a loud polyester fashion don't. He talks in his strange                robotic voice and avoids all eye contact.                                     TOBY                         Hello Joyce. Is Harvey home?               Joyce turns to Harvey and points to Toby.                                     JOYCE                         Borderline autistic!               This scene shrinks into a square up in the corner. The next                few scenes (NEUROSIS MONTAGE) further divide up the full                screen like a comic book.               INT. CLEVELAND COMIC BOOK STORE - 1980'S - DAY               R. CRUMB leaps from behind an autograph table (where he's                signing comics) to hop on the back of ZAFTIG BABE, who offers                him a piggy-back ride.               Joyce turns to Harvey.                                     JOYCE                         Polymorphously Perverse.                                                                    CUT TO:               EXT. PARKING LOT - V.A. HOSPITAL - 1980'S - DAY               JOYCE picks up Harvey from work. HARVEY enters the car, waving                goodbye to the ranting MR. BOATS.               She points to Mr. Boats.                                     JOYCE                         Paranoid Personality Disorder.               INT. HARVEY'S LIVING ROOM - 1980'S - DAY               THE TELEPHONE RINGS. A disheveled, tired-looking JOYCE flips                through a novel and lets the machine pick up.                                     ANSWERING MACHINE                         Please leave a message.                              (Beep)                                                               HARVEY                              (into phone)                         Hey Joyce, it's me. You're not gonna                          believe this but some LA producer                          called an' he wants to do a play                          about my life. Call me!                              (Click)               Joyce flips the page.                                     JOYCE                              (to herself)                         Delusions of grandeur.               END NEUROSIS MONTAGE (return to full screen)                                                                    CUT TO:               INT. THEATER - 1980'S - EVENING               HARVEY and JOYCE sit in a packed theater watching a play.               Joyce looks exhausted.               ANGLE ON STAGE               A STAGE ACTOR HARVEY and a STAGE ACTOR JOYCE share a couch                on the sparse stage.                                     STAGE ACTOR HARVEY                         See, I think comics can be an art                          form. With pictures an' words, a guy                          can do pretty much anything!                                     STAGE ACTOR JOYCE                         That's true, Harvey. But I didn't                          come all the way from Delaware to                          talk about comics ...               The "Stage Actor Joyce" lunges over and plants a kiss on                him.               ANGLE ON HARVEY AND JOYCE IN AUDIENCE               Harvey digs it but Joyce looks disgusted.               BACK TO STAGE               We now see STAGE ACTOR HARVEY clutching a tea cup, as STAGE                ACTOR JOYCE kneels before a toilet bowl. Off to the side of                the stage, A SPOT LIGHT illuminates a GUITAR PLAYER, who                adds music to the scene.                                                                    CUT TO:               INT. AIRPORT - 1980'S - DAY               HARVEY and JOYCE walk through the terminal. Harvey brims                with energy but Joyce looks exhausted.                                     REAL HARVEY (V.O.)                         If ya think readin' comics about yer                          life seems strange, try watchin' a                          play about it. God only knows how                          I'll feel when I see this movie. But                          truth be told, the play wasn't half                          bad, and we got a free trip outta                          it. Things were goin' pretty good                          for a change. Variety called me "The                          Blue Collar Mark Twain," and Doubleday                          was interested in publishing an                          anthology of "American Splendor."                                                                     CUT TO:               INT. AIRPORT - BAGGAGE CLAIM - 1980'S - DAY               Harvey nervously taps his foot as he waits for the bags.               Joyce leans against the carousel staring at a YOUNG MOTHER                with a BABY in a Bjorn.                                     HARVEY                         I hate checkin' bags, man. It always                          takes forever.               He checks his watch. Joyce remains quiet and distant.                                     HARVEY                         Jesus, look at the time. The bus is                          gonna leave soon and there won't be                          another one for an hour. That means                          I gotta shell out an extra thirty                          bucks for a cab.               Harvey spots a bag that he thinks is his.                                     HARVEY                         Hey wait, there's our --                              (a well-dressed man                               grabs it)                         Figures. That lucky Yuppie's gonna                          get on the bus in time.               Suddenly, Joyce mumbles something to Harvey.                                     JOYCE                         Y'know Harvey, vasectomies are                          reversible.                                     HARVEY                              (ignoring her)                         Damn Yuppies get everything.                                     JOYCE                              (raising her voice)                         Are you listening to me? I said                          vasectomies are reversible.               Heads turn.                                     HARVEY                         What? Whattya talkin' about? I don't                          want kids. An' I came clean about my                          vasectomy the first time I set eyes                          on ya', right here in this airport.               More heads turn.                                     JOYCE                         I know but things have changed. I                          think we can be a family.                                     HARVEY                         Family?! What kinda family could we                          possibly be? I ain't no good with                          kids. I can barely take care of                          myself.                                     JOYCE                         I'll take care of the kid and you.                                     HARVEY                              (dead serious)                         No way Joyce. Forget it. I can't do                          it; I can't have no kids.               Joyce folds her arms... dejected, defeated. The audience of                eavesdroppers looks disappointed as well.                                                                    CUT TO:               INT. HARVEY'S LIVING ROOM - 1980'S - DAY               If the place was a disaster before, believe it or not, it's                gotten worse. JOYCE seems to have given up on her                organizing... and everything else for that matter.               HARVEY hysterically searches through the mess for a record                album. Joyce just lies listlessly on an open futon on the                middle of the room; it looks as if she hasn't been up in                days.                                     HARVEY                         Where the hell is that Ornette Coleman                          album, Joyce? I got a review due                          tomorrow.               Joyce rolls over.                                     JOYCE                         I didn't touch it, Harvey. Would you                          let me sleep?                                     HARVEY                         But it's one o'clock! How late can a                          person sleep?               Joyce sits up. This time she means business.                                     JOYCE                         It happens to be Saturday you selfish                          sonofabitch! And don't you go telling                          me what to do. I'm the one who moved                          into your city, into your home, into                          your vasectomy and into your screwed-                         up life. The least you could do is                          allow me to live here my way.               She rolls over and covers her head with the pillow. Harvey                just stands there staring at her.                                                                    CUT TO:               INT. SUPERMARKET - 1980'S - DAY                                     REAL HARVEY (V.O.)                         I tried everything but nothin' could                          get this woman outta bed.               HARVEY peruses the aisles. He pulls box upon box of herbal                tea off the shelves.                                     REAL HARVEY (V.O.)                         I mean she wouldn't get a job,                          wouldn't go out, wouldn't make                          friends, nothin'.                                                                    CUT TO:               INT. HARVEY'S LIVING ROOM - 1980'S - DAY               HARVEY throws boxes of herbal teas at JOYCE as she sprawls                listlessly on the futon. She just yawns and turns over on                her side.                                     REAL HARVEY (V.O.)                         Joyce diagnosed herself as "clinically                          depressed." I don't know what the                          hell she was goin' through but it                          was sure takin' it's toll on me.               A frustrated Harvey tries once more to cheer her up.                                     HARVEY                              (upbeat)                         We can go out for dinner tonight.                          How 'bout catching a bite at Tommy's?                                     JOYCE                              (mumbling)                         I'm not hungry.               Harvey throws his hands in the air and walks off.                                     HARVEY                         I give up.               As he passes the answering machine, he notices it's blinking.                                     HARVEY                         Hey Joyce, we got a message here.                          Why didn't you pick up.               Joyce doesn't respond.                                     HARVEY                         Useless.               He presses the play button.               ANGLE ON ANSWERING MACHINE: A loud "beep," then ...                                     MALE VOICE                         Hi, this is a message for Harvey                          Pekar. My name is Jonathan Greene                          and I'm a producer for LATE NIGHT                          WITH DAVID LETTERMAN. We'd like to                          talk to you about coming on the show                          to plug your comics. Please give me                          a call at 212-555-3333.                                     HARVEY (O.S.)                         What the hell?               Joyce sits up. Harvey's finger hits the "Replay" button.                                     MALE VOICE                         Hi, this is a message for Harvey --                                                                    CUT TO:               EXT. MANHATTAN SKYLINE - 1980'S - DAY               ESTABLISHING SHOT               The impressive skyline glistens in the spring sun.                                     REAL HARVEY (V.O.)                         Joyce finally got off the futon...                                                                    CUT TO:               EXT. WASHINGTON SQUARE PARK - NEW YORK - 1980'S - DAY               Armed with shopping bags from Bleecker Bob's Record Shop,                the Strand Book Store and Forbidden Planet Comic Book                Emporium, HARVEY and JOYCE eat lunch on a park bench. Harvey                chomps on a knish and watches oddball New Yorkers stroll by                as Joyce nibbles on her hot dog.                                                                    CUT TO:               INT. HOTEL HALLWAY -- DAY               CLOSE UP ON AN ICE BUCKET               Cut back to reveal Harvey, schlepping an ice bucket down a                hall in his underwear. A FEMALE BUSINESS TRAVELER passes and                stares at him. He enters a room with a "DO NOT DISTURB" sign.               INT. NEW YORK HOTEL ROOM - 1980'S - DAY               The PEKARS have already wreaked havoc on their luxury hotel                room. It looks like a tornado touched down on the New York                Hilton.               HARVEY tries on outfits for the big show. He pulls a wrinkled                T-shirt over his head and models it for JOYCE who is spread                out on the bed surrounded by piles of clothing, scissors and                sewing supplies. She glances up at Harvey's getup and shakes                her head no.                                     HARVEY                         Aw, c'mon. Who the hell cares?               Harvey tosses his shirt over to Joyce, who snatches it and                starts cutting it with a scissor.                                     HARVEY                         Hey, whattya doin?                                     JOYCE                         Merchandising.               She resumes her mysterious sewing project; she seems to be                making some kind of doll.                                                                    CUT TO:               INT. GREEN ROOM - NBC STUDIOS - 1980'S - DAY               Backstage, JOYCE watches LATE NIGHT WITH DAVID LETTERMAN on                a monitor as HARVEY awaits his turn to go on camera. He has                changed out of his wrinkled T-shirt into a slightly more                formal look -- a denim shirt and a ratty seersucker striped                jacket.               LETTERMAN SHOW - STOCK FOOTAGE               ANGLE ON MONITOR (NOTE: THIS IS ACTUAL STOCK FOOTAGE OF THE                SHOW)               A 1980's DAVID LETTERMAN wisecracks.               INT. GREEN ROOM - NBC STUDIOS - 1980'S - DAY               Neither Joyce nor Harvey look particularly impressed with                the whole deal.                                     JOYCE                         People like this show?               Harvey paces.                                     HARVEY                         I'm gettin' hungry back here. They                          oughtta leave ya donuts or somethin'.               A nervous STAGE MANAGER wearing a headset peeks his head in.                                     STAGE MANAGER                         Dave's ready for you now, Mr. Pekar.                                     HARVEY                         Hey, you got anything ta eat? My                          stomach's growling.                                     STAGE MANAGER                              (checking his watch)                         There's no time to eat now.               Harvey glances at the monitor just as Letterman announces                his next guest.               LETTERMAN SHOW - STOCK FOOTAGE                                     LETTERMAN                         Okay. Our next guest works as a file                          clerk in a Cleveland hospital.               INT. GREEN ROOM - NBC STUDIOS - 1980'S - DAY               The stage manager grabs Harvey by the arm. Joyce stops them.                                     JOYCE                         Wait a minute. Where's the doll?                                     HARVEY                         He's got it at the desk. Will you                          relax about that already?                                     STAGE MANAGER                         Guys, guys, we're in a hurry here.               The Stage Manager physically pushes Harvey out of the Green                Room. Joyce turns back to face the monitor.               LETTERMAN SHOW - STOCK FOOTAGE               ANGLE ON MONITOR               Letterman holds up a copy of a full-size glossy AMERICAN                SPLENDOR ANTHOLOGY.                                     LETTERMAN                         ...He also writes comic books which                          detail his day-to-day pains and                          pleasures, and this is an anthology                          of nine of those comics. It's entitled                          AMERICAN SPLENDOR... From off the                          streets of Cleveland, please say                          hello to Harvey Pekar.               THE HARVEY PEKAR WHO WALKS ONTO THE SET IS NOT THE ACTOR                PORTRAYING HIM BUT RATHER THE REAL HARVEY PEKAR (only about                15 years younger). THIS IS ACTUAL STOCK FOOTAGE FROM HARVEY'S                FIRST LETTERMAN APPEARANCE.               INT. GREEN ROOM - NBC STUDIOS - DAY               Joyce watches as Harvey shakes Letterman's hand and takes a                seat.               LETTERMAN SHOW - STOCK FOOTAGE               He smiles as the audience warmly greets him. It seems Harvey's                grooving on this attention. But as soon as the audience quiets                down, Harvey turns to his host and starts his offensive:                                     HARVEY                         I'm ready for those Cleveland jokes.                          Go ahead...               Taken off guard, Letterman laughs.                                     LETTERMAN                         Alright settle down Harvey. Settle                          down.                              (the Audience laughs)                         Now let's explain to folks who may                          not be familiar with your work what                          it is you do here, exactly. You have                          comic books about you in your daily                          life in Cleveland.                                     HARVEY                         That's right.                                     LETTERMAN                         And are they embellished at all or                          is it pretty much factual?                                     HARVEY                              (patronizing)                         No. It's all true, David. All true.                                     LETTERMAN                         And you also have a regular job in                          Cleveland working at a hospital.                                     HARVEY                         That's right. Aiding the sick, yes.                                     LETTERMAN                         Aiding the sick. Well that's certainly                          noble work.                                     HARVEY                         Thank you. Thank you.               INT. GREEN ROOM - NBC STUDIOS - 1980'S - DAY               ANGLE ON JOYCE WATCHING                                     JOYCE                              (unimpressed)                         Such brilliant repartee...                                                                   BACK TO:               LETTERMAN SHOW - STOCK FOOTAGE                                     LETTERMAN                         Now it seems to me Harvey that you                          have a very successful career here.                          This is being published by a major                          publishing company, Doubleday. Why                          do you maintain the day job?                                     HARVEY                              (defensive)                         To make a living!                              (big laughs)                         I don't make a living as a writer.                          I've been writing for many years,                          David. Maybe more years than you've                          been alive.               Now, Letterman cracks up.                                                                   BACK TO:               INT. GREEN ROOM - NBC STUDIOS - 1980'S - DAY               A LETTERMAN REGULAR (Tony Randall?) comes in with some food.               He stops by the monitor to watch a moment with Joyce.                                     HARVEY                         Yeah, I know that my youthful                          appearance belies, you know, my actual                          age. But, I've been around for a                          long time --                                     LETTERMAN REGULAR                              (to JOYCE)                         You know this guy?                                     JOYCE                         I'm beginning to wonder.               The Letterman Regular takes a seat as he watches the monitor.               He seems more intrigued than Joyce.               LETTERMAN SHOW - STOCK FOOTAGE                                     LETTERMAN                         But I have a feeling though, if you                          wanted to, you could probably get by                          on what you make selling your work.                          Because I know people are after you                          to write other things. You're                          publishing this anthology...               This hits a sore spot. Harvey goes from politely condescending                to cantankerous in one second flat!                                     HARVEY                         Who? What people? What people? What                          are you talking about? Where the                          hell do you get that stuff?               Letterman cracks up. The Audience laughs even harder.                                     HARVEY                         I'm no show biz phoney. I'm telling                          the truth. Come on, man.               The Audience can't believe this guy's holding his own with                Letterman.               INT. GREEN ROOM - NBC STUDIOS - 1980'S - DAY               ANGLE ON LETTERMAN REGULAR                                     LETTERMAN REGULAR                              (to Joyce)                         At least he's keeping up with                          Letterman.                                     JOYCE                         Pandering is more like it.               Suddenly, Joyce walks over to the monitor and looks for the                channel. She hits a button, but it only changes the frame of                the show.                                     JOYCE                         Damnit.                                     LETTERMAN REGULAR                         Excuse me, but what are you doing?                                     JOYCE                         I'm trying to get some news. You                          know there's a big story about to                          break about the US selling arms to                          Iran and the Contras.                                     LETTERMAN REGULAR                         That's a monitor.                                     JOYCE                         Ugh. Just forget it.               Joyce gives up. She sinks back into her seat and pulls a                book from her bag. The Letterman Regular stares at her like                she's from Mars.               LETTERMAN SHOW - STOCK FOOTAGE               ANGLE ON THE MONITOR                                     LETTERMAN                         Harvey, I know you've got a job.                          I've got a job. We're both very lucky.                          We both have jobs.                                     HARVEY                         Then what's the matter?               Once again laughs and a big round of applause. Letterman                pulls out Joyce's mysterious doll and props it up on the                table.                                     LETTERMAN                         We've gotta go. Harvey I like you.                          I'm on your side. I enjoy the comic                          books. And here, quickly tell us                          about the little doll here.                                     HARVEY                         My wife made it.               INT. GREEN ROOM - NBC STUDIOS - 1980'S - DAY               BACK TO JOYCE.               She suddenly perks up.                                     JOYCE                         Finally something good.                              (to Letterman Regular)                         Watch this.               LETTERMAN SHOW - STOCK FOOTAGE CLOSE-UP OF THE DOLL               It is an absolutely horrific but oddly evocative "Harvey Rag                Doll." His face is inspired by Crumb's drawings of Harvey                but even more extreme. His little T-shirt reads, "American                Splendor." The Audience is in stitches.                                     LETTERMAN                         They're made out of your old clothing.                                     HARVEY                         That's right.                                     LETTERMAN                         And what do these go for?                                     HARVEY                         Thirty-four bucks.                                     LETTERMAN                              (shocked)                         Thirty-four dollars? Thirty-four                          dollars for this?                                     HARVEY                         What are ya cheap. You cheaper than                          me?                                     LETTERMAN                         Would you pay thirty-four dollars                          for that?                                     HARVEY                         No but I'm not asking it. My wife                          is.                                                                   BACK TO:               INT. GREEN ROOM - NBC STUDIOS - 1980'S - DAY               JOYCE stares at the monitor, expressionless. The STAGE MANAGER                sticks his head in.                                     STAGE MANAGER                         He's a natural.                                     LETTERMAN REGULAR                         He is. Good stuff.               The Stage Manager grabs the Regular.                                     STAGE MANAGER                         C'mon. Your turn.               A smiling HARVEY (the actor now) waltzes in straight from                his command performance.                                     HARVEY                         Whad'ya think?               Joyce taps her finger on Letterman's image on the monitor.                                     JOYCE                         Megalomaniac.                                                               DISSOLVE TO:               INT. NEW YORK HOTEL ROOM - 1980'S - DAY               HARVEY tries on a ripped T-shirt for Joyce who lies on the                bed.                                     REAL HARVEY (V.O.)                         It became clear pretty fast that I                          was invited on the show just for                          laughs. But what the hell did I care?                          Letterman was an okay guy. Let him                          take pot shots at me, s'long as I                          got paid an' got to plug my comics.                                                                    CUT TO:               LETTERMAN SHOW - STOCK FOOTAGE               MONTAGE: A series of actual HARVEY appearances on LATE NIGHT                WITH LETTERMAN.               INT. GREEN ROOM - NBC STUDIOS - 1980'S - DAY               JOYCE, whose different outfits reflect time passage, watches                each time from the GREEN ROOM. LETTERMAN SHOW - STOCK FOOTAGE                HARVEY, in a ratty T-shirt, spars with LETTERMAN.                                     LETTERMAN                         Harvey, you are the embodiment of                          the American dream...               The Audience laughs.                                     REAL HARVEY (V.O.)                         Funny thing is, somethin' about me                          and Letterman clicked for the viewers.                          He kept wantin' me back.               LETTERMAN SHOW - STOCK FOOTAGE - ANOTHER SHOW               LETTERMAN introduces his favorite guest.                                     LETTERMAN                         It is my pleasure to welcome back                          our next guest, the lovable Harvey                          Pekar!               HARVEY walks out with a box of donuts. He starts giving                Letterman an earful right off the bat.                                     REAL HARVEY (V.O.)                         Here was this slick, ambitious guy                          with millions, winnin' over the                          country by makin' light of everything.                          And then there was me... A messy                          loser with no dough who takes                          everything too seriously.                                     LETTERMAN                         Tell me Harvey, what do you do to                          get away from the pressure of being --                          well, a file clerk?                              (laughter)                                     HARVEY                         Go ahead and laugh, folks. But he                          has more contempt for you than I do!                                                                    CUT TO:               INT. WHITE CASTLE - 1980'S - DAY               The burger joint has been transformed into a film set with                lights, cameras and lots of trendy MTV types.                                     REAL HARVEY (V.O.)                         An it wasn't just me gettin' all the                          attention. As a result of my                          appearances on Letterman, my buddy                          Toby Radloff landed a gig on MTV                          extolling the virtues of White Castle                          burgers...               OFF TO THE SIDE:               Two HOT BABES slave over TOBY as he gets his hair and make-               up done.               HARVEY wanders onto the set. He finally spots Toby in the                corner. As he heads over to say hello, Harvey bumps into the                MTV DIRECTOR -- a new wave fashion victim who looks like a                lost member of A FLOCK OF SEAGULLS.                                     MTV DIRECTOR                         Christ! Watch where you're going!                                     HARVEY                              (muttering)                         Fuckin' yuppie or whatever kinda                          freak you are.                                     REAL HARVEY (V.O.)                         That day on the set with those MTV                          jerks, I had an epiphany. It seemed                          that real, salt of the earth people                          like Toby an' me were bein' coopted                          by these huge corporations. We were                          gettin' held up and ridiculed as                          losers in the system.  What can I                          say, it was the 80's man.                                                                    CUT TO:               MTV PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT               TOBY, dressed in dark sunglasses and a turtleneck, stands in                front of a White Castle. He delivers his lines in his                trademark robotic style. There's an MTV logo on the bottom                of the screen.                                     TOBY                         Hamburgers are a safer addiction                          than drugs. Say no to drugs. Say yes                          to White Castle!                                                                    CUT TO:               INT. CLEVELAND DINER - 1980'S - DAY               HARVEY and JOYCE eat breakfast together. Harvey reads a                Katherine Mansfield book as JOYCE reads a newspaper.                                     JOYCE                              (looking up from the                               paper)                         Harvey, I've been reading about these                          kids who grew up in war zones...                          Palestinians, Israelis, El                          Salvadorians, Cambodians... These                          kids are amazing and they're --               A YUPPIE in a jogging suit walks up to Harvey, interrupting                Joyce in mid-sentence.                                     YUPPIE                         Hey, you're that guy from the                          Letterman show, right?                                     HARVEY                              (smiling)                         Yeah, that's me.                                     YUPPIE                         That's so excellent. You and Stupid                          Pet Tricks are a riot.               Harvey's not smiling anymore. This guy's a jerk.                                     HARVEY                         Yeah? Then why dontcha buy one of my                          comics, man. That's the only reason                          I go on that dumb show anyway.                                     YUPPIE                         Right, sure. Later, Harvey Pekar!               The Yuppie rushes out.                                     HARVEY                         Asshole.                                     JOYCE                         Anyway, I want to do a political                          comic book about these kids. There's                          a conference in Jerusalem in a few                          weeks, and I can start by doing                          interviews there.                                     HARVEY                         Whoa whoa, wait a second. Jerusalem?                          I can barely drag you off the futon                          to go to the Letterman show.                                     JOYCE                         Y'know why? 'Cause I don't give a                          damn about the Letterman show. I                          want to work on something important                          to me. Something that matters.               Joyce hits a nerve.                                     HARVEY                              (furious)                         Hey! You know I only go on the show                          for the extra bread!               People start to look over.                                     JOYCE                         Harvey... you're yelling...                                     HARVEY                         Maybe if you got yer lazy ass up and                          got a job, I could work on something                          that matters, too, huh?!               Joyce doesn't dignify Harvey with an answer. She stares at                him, her eyes well with hurt.               He sighs, calming down. He looks around sheepishly.                                     HARVEY                         I'm sorry, baby. I -- I'm sorry...               He grabs her hand.                                                                    CUT TO:               EXT. HARVEY'S APARTMENT - 1980'S - DAY               Harvey and Joyce stroll across the lawn holding hands. They                move towards a waiting cab. Harvey carries his wife's bags.                                     REAL HARVEY (V.O.)                         I guess it was good ta finally see                          Joyce excited about somethin' of her                          own. Sure I was happy for her. But I                          was still upset for me.               They stop by the cab.                                     HARVEY                         This is crazy. Can't ya just do                          somethin' here in Cleveland?                                     JOYCE                         Harvey, you'll survive a few weeks                          alone.                                     HARVEY                         Alright... Be careful. I love you,                          baby.               They kiss. Harvey grudgingly puts her bags in the car. He                watches as the cab pulls away.                                     REAL HARVEY (V.O.)                         It was later that night when I first                          found the lump.               INT. HARVEY'S BEDROOM - 1980'S - NIGHT               Wearing only his shorts, Harvey lies alone in the communal                futon, flipping through a book. He reaches into his underwear                to scratch his nuts.               Suddenly he stops. He feels something odd...               For a moment he just freezes. His eyes register panic.                                     REAL HARVEY (V.O.)                         I was determined to put it outta my                          mind until Joyce got back. Easier                          said than done.                                                                    CUT TO:               INT. V.A. HOSPITAL - 1980'S - DAY               An enraged HARVEY fights with his co-worker MIGUEL.                                     HARVEY                         What do I care! Just gimme the chart                          already!                                     MIGUEL                         What is your problem today?!                                     HARVEY                         Look, Miguel! I just don't wanna                          keep comin' back here for it, okay?!                                     MIGUEL                         Harvey, that patient's due t'be                          admitted a week from now! Why do you                          always have to be picking fights                          with everybody?                                     HARVEY                              (yelling)                         How many times do we gotta go through                          the same bullshit. Just gimme the                          fuckin' chart!               Offended, Miguel storms off.                                     MIGUEL                         We'll see what the doctor says about                          this.                                                                    CUT TO:               INT. HARVEY'S LIVING ROOM - 1980'S - NIGHT               Alone and slumped over his table, HARVEY draws comic ideas                with stick figures. Nothing's coming to him. He looks like                he's in anguish.               Frustrated, Harvey crumbles the idea and throws it on the                floor. He knocks over a chair.               INT. HARVEY'S BEDROOM - 1980'S - DAY               He tosses and turns in bed. No way he's sleeping.                                                                    CUT TO:               INT. HARVEY'S LIVING ROOM - 1980'S - DAY               HARVEY is yelling into the telephone. It is a bad connection.                                     HARVEY                              (loudly into phone)                         Whadya mean? Another two weeks? Ya                          gotta come home some time! Hello?                          DAMNIT!                                                                    CUT TO:               INT. BACK STAGE - NBC STUDIOS - 1980'S - DAY               Without Joyce, a surly Harvey waits in the wings for his                introduction. He sneaks a peek as Letterman finishes up the                "stupid pet tricks" segment. We hear dogs barking and audience                laughter.                                     LETTERMAN REGULAR (O.S.)                         And there you have it, folks! Another                          enlightening episode of Stupid Pet                          Tricks!                                     REAL HARVEY (V.O.)                         I was startin' ta lose it. Between                          the lump, the loneliness -- I felt                          like everything wuz closin' in on                          me. And with Joyce over there savin'                          the world, I never felt more like a                          sell-out hack in my life.                                     LETTERMAN REGULAR (O.S.)                         Y'know ladies and gentlemen, when                          Thoreau wrote that most men lead                          lives of quiet depression, he                          obviously had not met our first guest,                          who happens to lead a life of whining                          desperation...               Harvey clenches his fists.                                     HARVEY                              (threatening)                         Okay, asshole. You'll pay for that                          one...               Harvey takes off his shirt. He pulls another t-shirt out of                the bag and changes ...                                     LETTERMAN REGULAR (O.S.)                         Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome                          back, Harvey Pekar.               Harvey's new t-shirt reads "ON STRIKE AGAINST NBC." He takes                off for the stage, fists clenched, a soldier marching off to                war.                                                               DISSOLVE TO:               INT. GREEN ROOM - NBC STUDIOS - 1980'S - DAY               We're positioned behind the monitor, so we can only hear the                show. THE STAGE MANAGER AND TWO PRODUCTION ASSISTANTS                straighten up in the room.                                     HARVEY (O.S.)                         Hey, Dave! You wanna know what my                          politics are? I'm a strident leftist,                          Dave.                                     LETTERMAN (O.S.)                         I could have guessed half of that.                                     HARVEY (O.S.)                         You coulda guessed all of it, man!                          So why don't we talk about your parent                          company, G.E., huh? Let's talk about                          anti-trust violations and nuclear                          reactors!                                     STAGE MANAGER                         Joe, put more sodas in the fridge,                          there. And let's clean up the                          counters. That Pekar guy's a pig.               As the P.A.'s walk back and forth in front of the monitor,                we hear the Letterman / Pekar banter grow louder.               Suddenly PRODUCTION ASSISTANT #2 stops and checks out the                monitor.                                     PRODUCTION ASSISTANT #2                         Whoa... you guys. Check this out.               INT. TOBY'S LIVING ROOM - 1980'S - DAY               TOBY and his GRANDMOTHER watch HARVEY raise hell on Letterman.                Again, we can't see the screen.                                     HARVEY (O.S.)                         You're a cop-out, Letterman. You're                          nothin' but a shill for G.E.               Toby's grandmother passes him a plate of cookies.                                     LETTERMAN (O.S.)                         First of all, Harvey, what you are                          saying is not true. Second of all,                          this is not the place to say it. If                          you want to talk about this, go                          somewhere else, because you're not                          talking about it here!!                                                                    CUT TO:               INT. MR. BOAT'S KITCHEN - 1980'S - DAY               Dressed in a bathrobe, Mr. Boats eats a lonely, late-night                snack (cake and milk) at his kitchen table. A 12" TV on the                table has Harvey and Dave on.                                     HARVEY (O.S.)                         Don't worry, Dave. I won't come back                          unless you beg me.                                     LETTERMAN (O.S.)                         You're not coming back at all.                                     HARVEY (O.S.)                         What do I care --                                     LETTERMAN (O.S.)                         Because we've given you many, many                          chances to talk about things that                          would be of general interest to people --                                     HARVEY (O.S.)                         So what?!               Mr. Boats shakes his head.               INT. TOWN CAR - 1980'S - DAY               We see Harvey alone, slumped in the back seat of a Town Car,                heading back towards his hotel. City lights pass over his                troubled face. We still hear the show, as if it's now in his                head.                                     LETTERMAN (V.O.)                         -- And also to promote your little                          Mickey Mouse magazine. Your little                          weekly reader! But you've blown every                          chance you've got. You're a dork,                          Harvey!                                     HARVEY (V.O.)                         Dave, you're fulla shit! You're fulla                          shit!!                                                               DISSOLVE TO:               INT. HARVEY'S APARTMENT - BEDROOM - 1980'S - NIGHT               CLOSE ON AN AMERICAN SPLENDOR COMIC               The cover depicts a snarling LETTERMAN yelling, "YOU FUCKED                UP A GREAT THING!" at a smirking, self-satisfied HARVEY.               JOYCE lies in bed reading the comic, chuckling. HARVEY cuddles                up against her.                                     JOYCE                         I guess you did it this time.                                     HARVEY                         Who cares. He wasn't helpin' my sales                          anyway.                              (moving closer)                         Baby, don't go away anymore. I just                          can't take bein' alone.               Joyce puts the magazine down.                                     JOYCE                         If you met those kids over there and                          saw what they go through, you wouldn't                          ask that of me.                                     HARVEY                         But if you go again I'm really gonna                          lose it.                                     JOYCE                         It's not open for discussion, Harvey.                          I need this in my life right now.               She cuddles up close to him.                                     JOYCE                         But I do appreciate the fact that                          you missed me so much. C'mere...               She starts to kiss him. He kisses her back. Her hands wander                down. Suddenly she feels something strange.                                     JOYCE                         Harvey, what is that?               Harvey looks at her and gulps.                                                                    CUT TO:               INT. HOSPITAL ROOM - 1980'S - DAY               HARVEY and JOYCE sit in the office holding hands, like two                terrified high school kids. A DOCTOR stands before them.               They just got bad news...                                     JOYCE                         I don't understand, does "tumor"                          mean the same thing as "cancer"?               The doctor gently nods.               Joyce covers her mouth. Harvey holds onto his head. He looks                positively dizzy. The doctor starts to talk, yet the words                don't seem to match his mouth. He looks dubbed. Strange                phrases just weave together, echo and bounce off the wall,                making no sense at all.               ...we know the growth is malignant. What we don't know is                how far it may have spread. Once we have the results of the                biopsy, we can make more informed decisions about treatment...                blah, blah, blah...               The whole office seems to spin.                                                                    CUT TO:               INT. HARVEY'S APARTMENT - 1980'S - LATER               Joyce and Harvey sit on the stoop of their apartment house,                in a daze. The words keep echoing around them. Harvey holds                his head.                                     DOCTOR #2                         ...cat scan... diagnosis... MRI...                          cancer... cancer... cancer...                                     HARVEY                         How can I have cancer? I don't feel                          sick at all.                                     JOYCE                         That's a positive thing.                                     HARVEY                         My cousin Norman died of lymphoma.                          He was twenty-nine. He was a brilliant                          oncologist.                                     JOYCE                         Stop it! You're not going to die,                          Harvey. You're not.               Harvey turns to Joyce.                                     HARVEY                         What's going to happen to you, baby?                          Who's gonna take care of you if I'm                          not around?               Joyce stands up, determined.                                     JOYCE                         Harvey, look at me and focus. We are                          going to get through this. I                          understand illness. I know how to                          handle these things.                                     HARVEY                         But that's you. I'm not strong enough.                          I don't know how ta be positive. I                          can't do it. I can't.                                     JOYCE                         Yes, you can. And I'll tell you how.                          You'll make a comic book out of the                          whole thing. You'll document every                          little detail. And that way you'll                          remove yourself from the experience                          until it's over.               Despite Joyce's passionate pitch, Harvey shakes his head.                                      HARVEY                         I can't do that. I'm just not strong                          enough... I just wanna die.               Joyce folds her arm.                                     JOYCE                         Fine. I'll do it without you.               INT. HARVEY'S BEDROOM - 1980'S - DAY               HARVEY and JOYCE lay there quietly, both exhausted. Joyce                turns over so her back faces Harvey. He puts his arm around                her.               ANGLE ON JOYCE'S FACE                A tear drips down her cheek.                                                                    CUT TO:               INT. HARVEY'S APARTMENT - 1980'S - DAY               Joyce is straightening up the apartment. The place actually                looks halfway decent.               THE DOORBELL RINGS               Joyce opens the door. A guy in his 30's named FRED -- Hells                Angels tough guy meets sensitive artist -- stands at the                door. He's accompanied by a seven-year-old girl, DANIELLE.                                     FRED                         Hey, I'm Fred. You called me about                          the comic book?                                     JOYCE                         Right -- the artist. Come on in.                                     FRED                         This is my daughter, Danielle. I had                          to bring her along. I hope you don't                          mind.               Joyce leans down and addresses the girl, who holds a toy                horse.                                     JOYCE                         Hi, Danielle. What's that you're                          holding?                                     DANIELLE                         A pony.               It's immediately obvious that Joyce is great with kids.                                     JOYCE                         A pony? What's his name?                                     DANIELLE                         She's a girl. Clarissa.                                     JOYCE                         Oh, I see. Well, I'm Joyce. Nice to                          meet both you and Clarissa.               They all walk towards the table which is covered with papers.                                     FRED                         I'm really sorry to hear about Harvey.                          Is he here?                                     JOYCE                         He's going to work until next week,                          when he starts the chemo. That's why                          I wanna get this project started                          now. Once he's stuck here, I know                          he'll take over.                                                                    CUT TO:               EXT. HARVEY'S APARTMENT - 1980'S - LATER               Miserable and in a daze, HARVEY walks up to his front door.               He looks like a man whose days are numbered. When he reaches                the door, he searches his pockets for keys.               ANGLE ON POCKET               Harvey's hand comes up empty.                                     HARVEY                         Shit!               Harvey tries the doorknob, but it's locked.               He steps back on the lawn and looks around. Could he have                dropped them? He retraces a few steps.                                     HARVEY                         Damnit!               Harvey yells up at the window.                                     HARVEY                         Joyce, open the door! I lost my keys                          again! Joyce!!               ANGLE ON FRONT DOOR               HARVEY'S ELDERLY NEIGHBOR struggles with her shopping cart                through the door.               Harvey pushes past her to get in.               INT. HARVEY'S APARTMENT VESTIBULE               Harvey knocks again. Nothing. Now he punches the door.                                     HARVEY                         Joyce!! Open the fucking door!!               Suddenly the door opens. Loud music pours out. But it's not                Joyce, it's FRED, the artist.                                     FRED                         Hey, Harvey.                                     HARVEY                         Fred?               Harvey just stares at him. Fred opens the door to reveal:               JOYCE and DANIELLE dancing together with the stereo blasting.                 They're having a ball.                                                                    CUT TO:               INT. HARVEY'S APARTMENT - 1980'S - DAY               At the kitchen table, HARVEY looks over FRED'S sketches.               JOYCE and DANIELLE are now building a house of cards on the                living room floor.                                     FRED                         Here are some ideas we batted around.                                     HARVEY                         Sheesh. Joyce doesn't know what she's                          doing. There's too many words in                          these frames. When are ya comin'                          back?                                     FRED                         Uh, she said something about next                          Tuesday, which is fine with me. Only                          thing is, I might have the kid again.                          My ex-wife's supposed to take her,                          but I don't have much faith in her                          showing up. She is in worse shape                          than me these days.               Harvey looks away at Joyce and Danielle playing. They're                oblivious to the world.                                     HARVEY                         Next week my treatment begins. Do me                          a favor. Bring the kid with you.                                                                    CUT TO:               CLOSE UP: A PENCIL SKETCHING               FRED'S PENCIL completes a sketch of Joyce pushing Harvey in                a wheelchair. The word "cancer" appears everywhere, floating                all around the image.               COMIC ART / REAL LIFE MONTAGE               The following montage chronicles Harvey's illness by cutting                between comic art depicting key events and shots of HARVEY,                JOYCE and FRED creating the book.               The montage is set to the simultaneously dulcet and discordant                tone of Miles Davis' "Blue in Green" (or something similar).                                                                    CUT TO:               INT. HOSPITAL HALLWAY - 1980'S - DAY               Close on Harvey's face as he's getting pushed down the hall                in a wheelchair.                                                                    CUT TO:               M.R.I. COMIC PANEL               A panel of Harvey entering the M.R.I. machine.                                                                    CUT TO:               INT. HARVEY'S APARTMENT - 1980'S - DAY               We see Harvey, Joyce and Fred sitting around a table. Joyce                fights to keep Harvey focused on the project.               BACK TO MORE COMIC PANELS:               1) An enraged Harvey throws things around the house.               2) Joyce on the bed crying, a cat licking her back.                                                                    CUT TO:               INT. HARVEY'S SHOWER - 1980'S - DAY               A balding Harvey depressed in the shower. He holds a clump                of hair in his hand.                                                                    CUT TO:               COMIC PANEL OF THE ABOVE SCENE               Harvey in the shower. The balloon above his head reveals his                inner turmoil over losing his hair and his face swelling.               MORE COMIC PANELS FOLLOW               Harvey in agony. Various positions of him in bed, on all                fours, covered with a case of shingles. "I feel like I'm on                fire" appears over his head.                                                                    CUT TO:               INT. HARVEY'S KITCHEN - 1980'S - DAY               Joyce and Fred go over some more comic art. Joyce carries                the idea over to Harvey (wearing a baseball cap), who can't                get out of the couch. He looks it over and nods. Danielle                brings Harvey a glass of water.                                                                    CUT TO:               MORE COMIC PANELS:               Harvey crawling up the steps. "I'm so weak I can't make it,"                he thinks...               Harvey and Joyce in a hospital waiting room. He's slumped                over, she has her hand on him.               A delirious Harvey surrounded by nurses and Joyce. "She's                torturing me, she won't let me die, I wanna die..."                                                                    CUT TO:               INT. HARVEY'S BATHROOM - 1980'S - DAY               A balding Harvey lies on his bathroom floor. His cat walks                all over him.                                     HARVEY                         I wanna die... just let me die...                                                                    CUT TO:               MORE COMIC PANELS:               Joyce attempts to wake Harvey up. She curses at him. She                slaps him. "Why are you doing this to me!"               A drawing of Joyce, doubled over, crying. "I can't take this                anymore..."               THE MONTAGE ENDS WITH A SCENE IN HARVEY'S BEDROOM                                                                    CUT TO:               INT. HARVEY'S BEDROOM - 1980'S - NIGHT               A repeat of the opening scene... Like a ghost, a naked HARVEY                stands over his bed staring down at a sleeping JOYCE.               In the eerie light, he's almost translucent.                                     HARVEY                              (faintly)                         Joyce... Joyce?               Joyce springs up, alarmed.                                     JOYCE                         What's wrong, Harvey? What are you                          doing up?               Harvey just stands there for a moment saying nothing.                                     JOYCE                         What is it?                                     HARVEY                              (delirious, out of                               breath)                         Tell me the truth. Am I some guy who                          writes about himself in a comic book?                          Or am I just -- just a character in                          that book?                                     JOYCE                         Harvey...                                     HARVEY                         When I die, will 'dat character keep                          goin'? Or will he just fade away.               Joyce just stares at him, unsure how to answer. Finally Harvey                collapses.               Joyce leaps from the bed, nervous, hysterical. She gets down                on the floor and shakes him.                                     JOYCE                         Omigod, Harvey! Harvey, wake up!               CLOSE ON HARVEY'S FACE               His eyes remain closed, his expression far, far away. The                sound of Joyce's voice fades until it seems like a distant                echo.               Then PANELS from Harvey's comics begin to float over his                head, his life literally passing before his eyes in comic                book form.               Slowly, the comic images and the unconscious Harvey evaporate,                giving way to:               GREEN SCREEN               A SURREAL DREAM SEQUENCE               We are now in a large, empty room similar to a blank comic                book panel.               A healthy, fully dressed Harvey appears in the corner of the                frame. He is very far away, barely recognizable. We slowly                dolly towards him as he delivers a formal soliloquy to the                camera:                                     HARVEY                         My name is Harvey Pekar. It's an                          unusual name -- Harvey Pekar...               As Harvey speaks, one-dimensional comic book images from his                life pass over the screen once again. This time in front of                him, behind him, everywhere. We dolly in towards him.                                     HARVEY                         1960 was the year I got my first                          apartment and my first telephone                          book. Imagine my surprise when I                          looked up my name and saw that, in                          addition to me, another Harvey Pekar                          was listed!               Images of Harvey's childhood float by, followed by his young                adult years.                                     HARVEY                         I was listed as Harvey L. Pekar...                          My middle name is Lawrence... He was                          listed as Harvey Pekar -- no middle                          initial... Therefore, his was a purer                          listing.               We see Harvey age in the images: he's hanging on the street                corner with friends, collecting records, hanging with Crumb.                                     HARVEY                         Then, in the seventies, I noticed                          that a third Harvey Pekar was listed                          in the phone book! This filled me                          with curiosity.                                     HARVEY                         How could there be three people with                          such an unusual name in the world,                          let alone in one city?!               Now, numerous images of Harvey's many years at the V.A.                Hospital float by: Harvey filing, Harvey arguing with his                boss, Harvey and Toby, etc.                                     HARVEY                         Then one day, a person I worked with                          expressed her sympathy to me                          concerning what she thought was the                          death of my father. She pointed out                          an obituary notice in the newspaper                          for a man named Harvey Pekar. One of                          his sons was named Harvey. These                          were the other Harvey Pekars.               The comic images fade out. Harvey is once again alone in the                empty room.                                     HARVEY                         Six months later, Harvey Pekar Jr.                          died. Although I'd met neither man,                          I was filled with sadness. "What                          were they like," I thought. It seemed                          that our lives had been linked in                          some indefinable way.               We slowly move in on his face. Extremely close. As close as                the camera can get.                                     HARVEY                         But the story does not end there.                          For two years later another Harvey                          Pekar appeared in the directory.                          What kind of people are these? Where                          do they come from, what do they do?                          What's in a name?               END DREAM SEQUENCE               INT. HARVEY'S BEDROOM - 1980'S - DAY               BACK TO BEDROOM:               We are close on HARVEY'S face as he lays passed out and                delirious on the floor. Over this WE HEAR...                                     HARVEY                         Who is Harvey Pekar?               His face slowly fades to black.               A MOMENT OF BLACK, AND THEN...               INT. TOWER BOOKS - 1980'S - DAY               FADE IN:               CLOSE UP: A GLOSSY, FULL-COLOR, NOVEL-SIZED COMIC COVER.               Scrawled across the top in yellow and red it read, "Our Cancer                Year." The drawing depicts Harvey doubled over on the front                lawn, groceries in the snow, with Joyce attempting to help                him up. A hand flips the book open and signs the inside leaf.               JOYCE and a healthy-looking HARVEY sit at a table signing                copies of their opus. About fifteen or so people mill about                with copies.                                     REAL HARVEY (V.O.)                         Here's our man a year later. Somehow                          I made it through the treatments,                          an' the doctors are optimistic. I                          guess Joyce was right about doin'                          the big comic book. We published the                          thing as a graphic novel -- our first                          collaboration -- and ended up with                          rave reviews. We even won the American                          Book Award. Go figure...                                                                    CUT TO:               INT. HARVEY'S LIVING ROOM - 1980'S - DAY               The place is still a mess but somehow it has a better vibe                than it had before. This might be due to the presence of                DANIELLE. She sits crossed legged on the floor making jewelry                out of beads. JOYCE guides her.               HARVEY shuffles into the room. He watches for a moment as                Joyce and Danielle play.               ANGLE ON JOYCE: There is an awkward expression almost                resembling a smile on her face. He interrupts them.                                     HARVEY                         Hey Joyce.               Joyce looks up. Harvey looks like he's trying to hide                something.                                     JOYCE                         What is it Harvey?                                     HARVEY                         That was the doctor.               Joyce stops what she's doing and gulps. She hangs on Harvey's                every word.                                     HARVEY                         He said I'm all clear.               Tears well in Harvey's eyes. Joyce breathes a sigh of relief                and Danielle jumps up and runs over to Harvey. She hugs him.                                                                    CUT TO:               INT. CLEVELAND ICE RINK - 1980 - DAY               HARVEY sits in the bleachers, watching JOYCE teach DANIELLE                to ice skate.               Harvey's got a box of pizza next to him. He picks up a slice                and chomps on it. The cheese drips out of his mouth onto his                shirt.                                     REAL HARVEY (V.O.)                         The weirdest thing that came outta                          my illness was Danielle. With her                          real mother runnin' around who knows                          where, an' seein' how well her and                          Joyce got on, Fred decided she'd                          have a better life with us. I was                          scared at first but then I thought,                          what the hell. She's a good kid. So                          we ended up takin' her an' raising                          her as our own.                                                                    CUT TO:               INT. HARVEY'S APARTMENT - 1980'S - DAY               HARVEY and DANIELLE lie on the futon together. Harvey's comics                are strewn around the room everywhere. Danielle flips through                one.                                     HARVEY                         Ya keep readin' 'em backward.                                     DANIELLE                         I like reading them backward.                              (holding up a comic)                         Is that you?                                     HARVEY                         I keep tellin' ya, all of 'ems me,                          man.                                     DANIELLE                         You look like a monster.                                     HARVEY                         Yeah, well wait'll ya see what you're                          gonna look like.                                     DANIELLE                         Me??                                     HARVEY                         Sure. Yer part of the story too,                          now.                                     DANIELLE                         What story?                                     HARVEY                         The story of my life.               Danielle makes a face.                                     HARVEY                         Yeah, I know I'm not as interesting                          as The Little Mermaid and all that                          magical crap...                                     DANIELLE                         Maybe I want to write my own comic.                                     HARVEY                         Oh yeah? What about?                                     DANIELLE                         I don't know yet. But not about you.                          You have enough already.                                                                    CUT TO:               EXT. SCHOOL BUS STOP - FALL - PRESENT - DAY               HARVEY walks towards the bus stop to send DANIELLE to school.               He holds her hand.                                     HARVEY                         Ya know, you should write about things                          in your own life. Like school and...                          ponies... I don't know, girl stuff...                                     DANIELLE                              (to Harvey)                         Do you have to hold my hand?                                     HARVEY                              (wounded)                         What, are you embarrassed a' me? I                          know, I'm embarrassing. I felt the                          same way about my father.               Danielle looks up at Harvey like he's crazy.                                     DANIELLE                         No Harvey. You're just squeezing it                          too hard.                              (shaking her head)                         Joyce is right. You are obsessive                          compulsive.               Danielle drops his hand and rushes onto the bus with other                kids.               Harvey waves and watches as it pulls away.               He turns and walks by himself down the busy Cleveland street --               -- a familiar image from the opening. He's still hunched                over. He's still Harvey.                                     REAL HARVEY (V.O.)                         Yeah, so I guess comics brought me a                          lot. But don't think this is some                          sunny, happy ending. Every day is                          still a major struggle. Joyce an' I                          fight like crazy, an' she barely                          works. The kid's got A.D.D. and is a                          real handful. My expenses have gone                          up so much that I'm writin' freelance                          'round the clock, just to make my                          bills. My life is total chaos.                                                               DISSOLVE TO:               EXT. BUS STOP - FALL - PRESENT - DAY               DOCUMENTARY FOOTAGE -- SHOT ON FILM               NOW THE REAL HARVEY walks down the same busy Cleveland street                towards his job.                                     REAL HARVEY (V.O.)                         With a little luck, I'll get a window                          of good health between retirin' an                          dyin'. The golden years, right? Who                          knows. Between my pension and the                          chunk of change I got for this movie,                          I should be able to swing somethin'.                          Sure I'll lose the war eventually,                          but the goal is to win a few                          skirmishes along the way. Right?                                                                    CUT TO:               INT. V.A. HOSPITAL - PRESENT - DAY               DOCUMENTARY FOOTAGE -- SHOT ON FILM               THE REAL HARVEY slumps at the desk now, flipping through a                comic book.               ANGLE ON DOOR               THE REAL TOBY comes into the file room, carrying a cake with                sparklers. He's followed by a group of Harvey's REAL COWORKERS                and JOYCE and REAL DANIELLE.               Harvey moves the comic off his desk so Toby can put the cake                down.               ANGLE ON CAKE               The festive cake reads "HAPPY RETIREMENT HARVEY." REAL JOYCE                cuts the cake and passes slices to the group.               ANOTHER WORKER pops a bottle of champagne.               CLOSE on a glass of champagne getting filled. The glass sits                next to the comic Harvey was reading.               CLOSE UP ON COMIC BOOK COVER               HARVEY'S new edition of AMERICAN SPLENDOR is subtitled, "OUR                MOVIE YEAR." It features an illustration of HARVEY, JOYCE                and DANIELLE surrounded by cameras, lights and crew.                                                                  FADE OUT:                                         THE END
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+FADE IN1 MAN'S FOOTPRINT on the moon. EXT. MOON Camera begins to pull back slowly, straight up - the song "Moon Shadow" by Cat Stevens begins. Once we are high enough to see the entire moon, the main title is superimposed. An American Werewolf in London We continue to retreat from the moon, looking on as it grows farther from us, continuing credits until the full moon is the size it appears to us from earth.2 EXT. CROSSROADS ON THE MOORS - NIGHT Tree branches enter into the frame, the camera pans down and we see a truck approaching. We are at a crossroads in the moors, looking sinister enough to have earned their literary reputation. The truck stops at the crossroads, the DRIVER, mustached and wearing tweeds, boots, and a muffler, climbs down. "Moon Shadow" ends. CUT TO: Loud bang of the back grating on the truck as it slams down. Revealed among the sheep are two rudely-awakened young American boys. They look exhausted. They both carry backpacks, two American kids on a jaunt in Europe. They are both in their late twenties. It is very cold and they clamber out of the truck none too happily. Pushing sheep aside they step out and stretch. JACK GOODMAN AND DAVID KESSLER They've been cramped for hours. TRUCK DRIVER Here, lads, East Proctor and all about are the moors. I go east here. JACK Yes, well thank you very much for the ride, sir. You have lovely sheep. TRUCK DRIVER (as he clambers back up on his truck) Boys, keep off the moors. Stay on the road. Good luck to you. DAVID Thanks again! He drives off. LONG SHOT of the two boys as the lorry pulls away. Surrounding them are the moors. They put on their packs, David points to the signpost pointing towards East Proctor. EXT. ROAD ON THE MOORS - NIGHT As they walk, their breath visible: JACK Are you cold? DAVID Yes. JACK Good. They walk on, finally: DAVID Jack. JACK David. DAVID You're not having a good time are you? JACK Oh, I don't know. I mean look around. Isn't this a fun place? The camera shows us the moors - desolate, cold, foreboding. DAVID Well, I like it here. JACK I'm sorry. Northern England first, Italy later. DAVID Right. They walk on. JACK Do you think she'll meet me in Rome? DAVID I think Debbie Klein is a mediocre person with a good body. JACK Debbie is not mediocre and she has one of the great bodies of all time. DAVID She's a jerk. JACK You're talking about the woman I love. DAVID I'm talking about a girl you want to fuck, so give me a break. JACK Well, anyway, do you think she'll be there? DAVID I don't know. JACK (like an announcer) Rendezvous in Rome starring Jack Goodman and Debbie Klein. The love affair that shocked Europe! See torrid lovemaking at its most explicit! See Jack and Debbie expose their lust in the sacred halls of the Vatican! Never has the screen dared.... DAVID If you don't stop, I'm going to kill you. JACK I have to make love to her. It's very simple. She has no choice really. DAVID It just fascinates me that you can spend so much energy on someone so dull. JACK It is impossible for a body like that to be dull. DAVID We've known Debbie what, since the eighth grade? How many years of foreplay is that? JACK She says she `likes me too much'. David just laughs and laughs and laughs. DISSOLVE TO:3 EXT. EAST PROCTOR MAIN STREET - NIGHT David and Jack entering East Proctor. It is brightly moonlit. East Proctor consists of a few shops, all closed, a petrol pump and a pub. East Proctor has a very small population and the place looks empty. David and Jack enter the middle of town and look about. The camera sees what they see. A few shops, dark and shuttered. Light and laughter come from the pub.4 EXT. THE SLAUGHTERED LAMB - NIGHT Its traditional shingle shows a ferocious wolf's bloody head on a pike, and tells us the pub's name, "The Slaughtered Lamb". JACK The Slaughtered Lamb? DAVID Of course, The Slaughtered Lamb. Why else would they have a severed fox head on a spear as their symbol? JACK That's a wolf's head. DAVID Of course, The Slaughtered Lamb. Why else would they have a severed wolf's head on a spear as their symbol? JACK That's not a spear. It's a pike. DAVID A severed wolf's head on a pike as their symbol. JACK David, before we go in there I want you to know that - no matter what happens to us - it's your fault. DAVID I assume full responsibility. JACK Okay. DAVID Shall we?5 INT. THE SLAUGHTERED LAMB - NIGHT The pub was apparently "modernized" sometime in the mid- fifties. Its traditional Englishness combines with greasy stainless steel and glass. It is populated by mostly pale young men with longish hair. Several older men are ruddy complexioned and sport large mustaches. Four or five are watching a chess game. Two men are playing darts. The conversation is loud and there is often laughter. But there is something unsavory about these people. A look of leanness and poverty. They seem inbred and somehow sullen. We establish the types and the general level of noise in the room. The door opens revealing David and Jack. There is dead silence and all are staring in a not friendly way at the two boys who are made uncomfortable by all the strange attention. They give each other a "what?" look, then turn to the assembled populace. DAVID Hello. JACK Nice to see you. FACES Silent and staring. CUT TO: DAVID AND JACK DAVID (smiles) It's very cold outside. May we come in? The WOMAN BARKEEP nods. The boys walk carefully over to a table and very self-consciously remove their packs, place them on the floor, and sit down at the table. There is a long, awkward wait. The Woman finally comes over to them. JACK Do you have any hot soup? WOMAN No. DAVID Well, do you have any coffee? WOMAN No. JACK Hot chocolate? WOMAN We've got spirits and beer. If it's something hot you want, you can have tea. JACK Then you have some hot tea? WOMAN No. JACK Oh. WOMAN But I can heat some up for you if you'd like. DAVID & JACK Yes, please. As the Woman turns to prepare the tea, everyone resumes what they were doing; talking, drinking, playing chess and darts, and the boys breathe easier. JACK Nice looking group. DAVID Listen, at least it's warm in here. JACK Look at that. CUT TO: JACK'S P.O.V. On the wall is painted a red pentangle (a five-pointed star) and on either side burns a yellow candle. DAVID What about it? JACK It's a five-pointed star. DAVID Maybe the owners are from Texas. The Woman brings them their tea. JACK (to Woman) Remember the Alamo? WOMAN I beg your pardon? DAVID He was joking. Thank you. WOMAN Joking? I remember The Alamo. I saw it once in London, in Leicester Square. Jack and David look startled. One of the CHESS PLAYERS explains: CHESS PLAYER She means in the cinema, that film with John Wayne. (turns to board) Checkmate. DAVID Oh, yes, of course. JACK Right, with Laurence Harvey and everybody died in it. It was very bloody. CHESS PLAYER Bloody awful if you ask me! This sends everyone into gales of laughter. Jack and David smile politely. CHESS PLAYER Here, Gladys, Tom. Did you hear the one about the crashing plane? WOMAN No, but we're about to. Laughter. CHESS PLAYER You be quiet, woman, and let me speak. WOMAN (heavy sarcasm) Quiet, everyone! Hush! Shhh! Uproarious laughter. CHESS PLAYER All right, laugh then. I shan't tell it. WOMAN Oh, come on, tell us. CHESS PLAYER No. You've had your chance. The men all coax him to tell the joke. JACK (to David) Ask them what the candles are for. DAVID (to Jack) You ask them. JACK (to David) Listen, that's a pentangle, a five-pointed star. It's used in witchcraft. Lon Chaney, Jr. and Universal Studios maintain it's the mark of the wolf man. DAVID (to Jack) I see. You want me to ask these people if they're burning candles to ward off monsters. JACK (to David) Right. DAVID (to Jack) Wrong. The drinkers have gotten the Chess Player to tell the joke as everyone knew he would. CHESS PLAYER Oh, all right. There was this airplane over the Atlantic on its way to New York. It was full of men from the United Nations. WOMAN That's very funny, that is. Uproarious laughter. JACK (to David) Go on, ask them. DAVID (to Jack) You ask them. CHESS PLAYER Here now, let me finish! So halfway over the ocean the engines run low on petrol so they have to lighten the plane. So they heave out all the baggage, but it's still too heavy. So they chuck out the seats, but it's still too heavy! Finally this Froggy steps up and shouts "Viva la France" and leaps out. Then an Englishman.... DART PLAYERS Hear! Hear! CHESS PLAYER (undaunted) ...steps up and shouts `God save the Queen!' and leaps out. But the plane is still too heavy. So the Yank delegate from Texas steps up, shouts, `Remember the Alamo!' and chucks out the Mexican. This is apparently the funniest joke the inhabitants of East Proctor have ever heard. The laughter is uproarious, choking, knee-slapping, incredible. As the Chess Player goes to take a drink of beer, the Dart Player gasps out... DART PLAYER Remember the Alamo! ...causing the Chess Player to spit out his beer causing even harder laughter. Complete hilarity. JACK Excuse me, but what's that star on the wall for? Dead silence. A dart lands in the wall. David and Jack are understandably bewildered. The villagers look hard indeed. DART PLAYER (angry) You've made me miss. JACK I'm sorry. DART PLAYER I've never missed the board before. DAVID Jack, we'd better go. JACK What do you mean? I'm starving. DART PLAYER There's no food here. The villagers look threatening and David's voice is a bit urgent. DAVID Come on, Jack, shall we go?!! JACK Apparently so. The boys pick up their backpacks and move uncertainly for the door. WOMAN (to men) You can't let them go. DAVID (worried) How much do we owe you? CHESS PLAYER Nothing, lads. Go, God be with you. DAVID Uh, thank you. WOMAN Wait! You just can't let them go! DART PLAYER Go! And stay on the road. Keep clear of the moors. DAVID Yes, well, thanks again. CHESS PLAYER Beware the moon, lads! David pushes Jack out.6 EXT. THE SLAUGHTERED LAMB - NIGHT It is very cold. JACK What the hell was that all about? DAVID I don't know. Let's see if there's an inn or something up the road. JACK Beware the moon? DAVID Come on, I'm freezing. They start up the road into the night.7 INT. THE SLAUGHTERED LAMB - NIGHT It is quiet. WOMAN You can't let them go. DART PLAYER (angry) Should the world know our business?! CHESS PLAYER It's murder then. DART PLAYER Then murder it is! It's in God's hands now. The wax drips from the Pentangle's candles onto the floor. DISSOLVE TO:8 EXT. A ROAD ON THE MOORS - NIGHT - DAVID AND JACK walking on the road surrounded by darkness. DAVID That was weird. I guess leaving was the best idea. JACK I don't know. Now that we're out here and it's three degrees, I'm not so sure I wouldn't rather face a blood- thirsty mob. DAVID Well, not quite a blood- thirsty mob. They keep walking. JACK What do you think was wrong? DAVID I have no idea. JACK Maybe that pentangle was for something supernatural. DAVID I see and they were too embarrassed to talk about it, because they felt so silly. There is a flash of lightning that sends a ghostly illuminating sheet of light over the boys' faces. The clap of thunder follows loud and rumbling. DAVID Please don't rain. Downpour. The boys are walking in a deluge. DAVID Of course. They walk getting soaked. JACK Say, David.... DAVID I'm well aware of how pleasant the weather is in Rome at the present time thank you. Jack spreads his arms and sings. JACK Santa Lucia...Santa Lucia.9 INT. THE SLAUGHTERED LAMB - NIGHT The rain is loud on the roof and beating on the windows. The gathered continue to drink, play chess and darts, but all are silent and contemplative. WOMAN Perhaps they'll be safe in the rain. The Chess Player slams his hand on the table. Shouts: CHESS PLAYER No one brought them here! No one wanted them here! WOMAN You could have told them! DART PLAYER Are you daft? What do you think they'd say? They'd think us mad. WOMAN Listen! The rain is subsiding. There is a very faint howl. WOMAN Did you hear it? We must go to them. DART PLAYER I heard nothing. CHESS PLAYER Nor I. The camera lingers as the Chess Player's hard face shows the man's struggle. Another howl. The Chess Player turns suddenly.10 EXT. ROADSIDE ON THE MOORS - NIGHT David and Jack are now completely out of sight from East Proctor surrounded by darkness and wet. There is a light drizzle. They are standing, listening. The drizzle stops. JACK Did you hear that? DAVID I heard that. JACK What was it? David begins to walk, Jack with him. DAVID Could be a lot of things. JACK Yeah? DAVID A coyote. JACK There aren't any coyotes in England. DAVID The Hound of the Baskervilles. JACK Pecos Bill. DAVID Heathcliffe. JACK Heathcliffe didn't howl. DAVID No, but he was on the moors. JACK It's a full moon, `beware the moon'. Another howl, this one long and loud. It is a very inhuman noise, terrifying, and closer this time. JACK I vote we go back to The Slaughtered Lamb. DAVID Yeah. They are both visibly worried and walk briskly back from where they just came. Although after a bit of fast walking they are getting nowhere. They stop out of breath. DAVID We're lost. Another bloodcurdling howl. JACK Shit! David, what is that? DAVID I don't know. Come on. JACK Come on, where? DAVID Anywhere! I think we should just keep moving. A growl. A low guttural growl comes from out of the darkness. We stay on the boys, but we hear something out there. It starts to walk. DAVID It's moving. JACK It's circling us. And indeed it is. The boys strain to hear its four footfalls and they turn slowly, following it. A snarl. JACK Fuck. We hear the wolf-monster stop (for that's what it is - we know it's there even though we've not seen it). It sits breathing heavily. DAVID What's the plan? JACK (nervously) Plan? DAVID (not too relaxed himself) Let's just keep walking. They do and David keeps talking as they walk. DAVID That's right, a lovely stroll in the moors. Tra-la-la, isn't this fun? The thing stalking them seems to speed up. The boys hesitate as they sense it run past them. It stops. DAVID It's in front of us. JACK Do you think it's a dog? Jack and David strain to see what waits ahead of them. BOYS' P.O.V. Something is waiting in the darkness. Its hulking shape is barely discernible, but its eyes glow eerily and its breath is visible. JACK Oh shit. What is that? DAVID A sheep dog or something. Turn slowly and let's walk away. The boys keep talking as they move faster and faster. JACK Nice doggie. Good boy. DAVID Walk away, Jack. JACK Walking away, yes, sir. Here we are walking away. They are in a full-out run by now. After a few minutes flight they stop, panting. DAVID See anything? JACK No. A moment of quiet, then a howl. DAVID It sounds far away. JACK Not far enough. Come on. They walk briskly. DAVID Jack? JACK Yeah. DAVID Where are we going? JACK I'll tell you when we get there. DAVID Well. I'm glad we...WHOAA!! David shouts as he slips suddenly in the mud, scaring Jack, and us, and himself a great deal. He lays startled on the wet ground for a moment, then he and Jack laugh. JACK You really scared me, you shithead. DAVID Are you going to help me up? Jack takes David's extended hand to help him up when THE WOLF MONSTER SPRINGS! EXT. MOORS - NIGHT The lunging beast brings Jack down in one fell swoop. David falls back on his ass. Jack is screaming and struggling as he is torn to shreds. David scrambles to his feet and runs in complete panic. Jack's screams and the wolf's roars combine. JACK Jesus fuck! David! Please help me! Please! David! Shit! Help me! Oh God! EXT. ROADSIDE ON THE MOORS - NIGHT David runs and runs. Finally he falls, out of breath. DAVID Jack? Oh my God, Jack! He gets up and runs back to find Jack a torn and bloody mess on the ground. He stares in horror. DAVID Jack.... EXT. NIGHT - VARIOUS FLASH CUTS THE WOLF SPRINGS! The camera adopts David's P.O.V. as he fights the dark savage shape on top of him. Fangs clamp down on his shoulder when shots ring out and the hulking form rolls off of him. EXT. ROADSIDE ON THE MOORS - NIGHT David, dazed and bloody, looks and sees the men from The Slaughtered Lamb armed with shotguns and torches running towards him. Looking over at his attacker, instead of a wolf he sees a very old, naked man laying in the mud riddled with bullet holes. As the villagers crowd around, David falls back and faints. FADE OUT FADE IN11 INT. HOSPITAL ROOM - DAY David is in a small, clean and very white hospital room. He lays on his back in bed, his shoulder bandaged and his arm plugged into a bottle of plasma. There are several cuts and abrasions on his arms and face, but he really doesn't look too bad. He opens his eyes slowly, blinks, and tries to sit up and look around, but is unable to because of the pain. He calls out.... DAVID Jack?! ...and passes out. However his shout has fetched a nurse. She is ALEX PRICE, very English, very beautiful. She goes to the bed. ALEX Mr. Kessler? She looks into his eyes, lifting the lids with her thumb, and then checks his chart at the end of the bed. ALEX Mr. Kessler? David remains unconscious. Another young nurse, MISS GALLAGHER, comes in. MISS GALLAGHER He all right? ALEX Yes, I should think. He called out just now. MISS GALLAGHER He's an American, you know. Dr. Hirsch is going to fetch round one of those Embassy fellows to see him. ALEX Chart says he's from New York. MISS GALLAGHER I think he's a Jew. ALEX Why on earth do you say that? MISS GALLAGHER I looked. ALEX (smiles) Really, Susan, I don't think that was very proper, and besides, it's common practice now. A voice startles the girls. DR. HIRSCH Yes, Miss Gallagher, Miss Price is quite right. DR. HIRSCH enters. He is an older man wearing the customary lab coat. A very commanding and reassuring presence. The girls are embarrassed. ALEX Dr. Hirsch, Mr. Kessler cried out a minute ago. DR. HIRSCH Miss Gallagher, surely you must perform some function here at the hospital. MISS GALLAGHER Yes, Doctor. DR. HIRSCH Then get on with it. MISS GALLAGHER Yes, Doctor. She exits. Dr. Hirsch begins to examine David. Alex watches. Dr. Hirsch turns to Alex. DR. HIRSCH Can I be of service, Miss Price? ALEX Dr. Hirsch? DR. HIRSCH Go about your duties. ALEX Yes, Doctor. She starts to exit. DR. HIRSCH Oh, Miss Price? ALEX Yes, Doctor? DR. HIRSCH What exactly did he call out? ALEX He said `Jack'. DR. HIRSCH That would be Jack Goodman, the boy who was killed. ALEX What happened to them? DR. HIRSCH The police report said an escaped lunatic attacked them. He must have been a very powerful man. Although I really don't see that it is any of your concern, Miss Price. ALEX No, sir. Of course, sir. Good day, Doctor. She exits as Dr. Hirsch continues his examination, looking into David's eyes.12 EXT. DENSE FOREST - DAY The camera is handheld, running furiously through the almost dense greenery. On the soundtrack are the footfalls and heavy breathing of the runner. The camera abruptly stops and turns, sharply looking about, the panting continuing. The breathing gets louder and harder, then too loud when we: CUT TO:13 INT. HOSPITAL ROOM - DAY David opens his eyes quickly, the silence and whiteness contrast sharply with the preceding fantasy. Standing beside the bed are Dr. Hirsch and MR. COLLINS. Mr. Collins wears a bow tie and is holding a briefcase. DR. HIRSCH Hello, David. I am Dr. Hirsch and this is a countryman of yours, Mr. Collins. DAVID Where am I? DR. HIRSCH You're in a hospital in London. DAVID London? Where's Jack? I had a strange dream. DR. HIRSCH I should think so after your recent traumatic experiences. DAVID The guy I was with. Is he all right? How did I get to London? DR. HIRSCH (quietly) Now, David, I want you to prepare yourself; your friend is dead. David jolts up in bed and shouts. DAVID What? The sudden exertion and strain hurt. DAVID Ow, shit! He sinks back down. DAVID Jack's dead? MR. COLLINS Mr. Kessler, I am Mr. Collins of the American Embassy here in Grosvenor Square. Both Mr. Goodman's parents and your parents have been notified of your injuries and everything's in order. DAVID Everything's in order? What are you talking about? MR. COLLINS Mr. Goodman's body has been air-freighted back to New York for burial and your parents have wired funds for your stay in the hospital until you are well enough to fly home. DAVID (controlled tears) You don't crate and ship Jack like some side of beef. (approaching hysteria) Who the hell are you people? What's going on here? Where is Jack? I demand to see him! DR. HIRSCH (holds David down, calls out) Miss Price! Miss Price, please! DAVID (shouting) Get your fucking hands off me! What the hell is going on here? Alex enters amidst David's shouting and confusion. MR. COLLINS (distraught, clutching his briefcase) I realize how upsetting this must be for you, Mr. Kessler, but please try to refrain from hysterics. David continues shouting and struggling. DR. HIRSCH Prepare a hypodermic, please, Miss Price. The shot is administered and David is held down by Dr. Hirsch and Alex until his breathing becomes more normal. MR. COLLINS Now, Mr. Kessler, try not to excite yourself. Everything has been arranged. I shall come back to check on your progress and send a report to your parents. The police have requested to interview you and I have given them permission to do so. Dr. Hirsch walks Mr. Collins to the door. DR. HIRSCH Thank you very much, Mr. Collins. He'll rest now and I'm sure everything will be fine once he's adjusted. He's had quite a shock. MR. COLLINS These dumb-ass kids never appreciate anything you do for them. Mr. Collins exits. Dr. Hirsch crosses back to the bed. DAVID How long have I been here? DR. HIRSCH You've been unconscious since you were brought in two weeks ago. DAVID Two weeks? DR. HIRSCH You've suffered some rather severe cuts and bruises, lost a bit of blood, but nothing too serious; black and blue for a while. You'll have some dueling scars to boast of. That lunatic must have been a very fierce fellow. They say a mad man has the strength of ten. DAVID (softly, as the drugs take hold) Lunatic? DR. HIRSCH Now we've just given you a pretty strong sedative, so try to get some rest now. Miss Price will see to your needs. Rest now. Dr. Hirsch watches as Alex straightens David's covers. DAVID (softly) It wasn't a lunatic. ALEX (puzzled) I beg your pardon? DAVID It was a wolf. ALEX (bends down close to hear) What? DAVID A wolf. David passes out. Alex looks to Dr. Hirsch. DR. HIRSCH Did he say a wolf? ALEX Yes, I believe he did. Dr. Hirsch regards David thoughtfully.14 INT. DR. HIRSCH'S OFFICE - DAY Dr. Hirsch is on the phone, he is referring to a desk calendar. DR. HIRSCH But Roger is so terribly boring. Yes, dear, but couldn't we...I see. (he makes a note) Thursday at eight, dinner with boring Roger. Yes, I'm sure I will; if I survived Rommel, I suppose I'll survive another excruciating evening with Roger Mathison. Be a good girl. Bye. He hangs up very disgruntled. The intercom buzzes. DR. HIRSCH Yes? SECRETARY (V.O.) Lt. Villiers and Sgt. McManus are here to see you, Doctor. DR. HIRSCH Send them in. He rises to greet the two police officers, one tall, the other rather pudgy. LT. VILLIERS Dr. Hirsch? DR. HIRSCH Come in, come in. Please sit. Some tea? The cops sit down, Lt. Villiers immediately produces a small notebook. LT. VILLIERS No, thank you. SGT. McMANUS I'd like some tea, please. Lt. Villiers shoots the sergeant a withering look. SGT. McMANUS Maybe not. No thanks. Maybe later. DR. HIRSCH It's no problem. LT. VILLIERS No, thank you, Doctor. DR. HIRSCH Well, then, what can I do for Scotland Yard? SGT. McMANUS We understand the Kessler boy has regained consciousness. Lt. Villiers glares at McManus. SGT. McMANUS Sorry. LT. VILLIERS Has Mr. Kessler said anything regarding the attack on the moors? The intercom buzzes. DR. HIRSCH Excuse me. Yes? SECRETARY (V.O.) Roger Mathison, Doctor. DR. HIRSCH What here? SECRETARY (V.O.) He's on the telephone. DR. HIRSCH Tell him I'm out. No, tell him I've passed away. An old war wound or something. Tell him I'm dead. And no more calls! He turns from the intercom back to the cops. DR. HIRSCH You were saying? LT. VILLIERS Has David Kessler anything to say concerning the attack on the moors? DR. HIRSCH Why don't we ask him?15 INT. HOSPITAL ROOM - DAY David sits up in bed. Lt. Villiers and Sgt. McManus stand by his side. Dr. Hirsch sits observing. DAVID I'm sorry if I conflict with your report, but Jack and I were not attacked by a man. LT. VILLIERS So you've said. SGT. McMANUS He may have a point, Lieutenant. Two strong boys would be able to defend themselves against one man. LT. VILLIERS Sgt. McManus, are you suggesting that David and Jack were, in fact, attacked by some animal and that the officialdom of East Proctor has conspired to keep it a secret? We have an autopsy report on the murderer who was shot in the act by the local police. We have two witnesses to the crime. You'll forgive me, Mr. Kessler, if I consider your testimony as coming from someone who has gone through a terrible shock. SGT. McMANUS Lieutenant, the boy seems pretty lucid to me and.... LT. VILLIERS And what, Sergeant? SGT. McMANUS (defeated) I don't rightly know, sir. LT. VILLIERS That is precisely my point. David, as far as we are concerned, the matter is closed. We won't trouble you any further. Good day. The lieutenant goes for the door. The sergeant smiles at David and follows. LT. VILLIERS Doctor. The cops exit. Dr. Hirsch crosses to David's bed. DAVID There were witnesses? DR. HIRSCH So they said. DAVID How could there have been witnesses? It was so dark. We were running and I fell and Jack went to help me up and this thing came from nowhere...I don't understand what they're talking about. DR. HIRSCH In time I'm sure it will all come back to you. DAVID Doctor, my memory is fine. It's my sanity I'm beginning to worry about. CUT TO:16 EXT. DENSE FOREST - DAY Again the handheld camera is running furiously through the woods. Heavy breathing and the sounds of the runner crashing through the foliage. The camera runs for a while then suddenly stops short near a tree. David abruptly enters frame, animal-like, the tenseness of a startled cat. His head makes sudden movements, looking about. CLOSEUP of his flared nostrils and perked up ears accenting his animalness. DAVID takes off and now we run with him. He runs fast and gracefully, taking long strides and leaps. We run with him faster and faster sharing in his exhilaration. We see him completely as the animal, study his movement and grace as if watching a gazelle. Suddenly he stops again, alert, listening. He moves with stealth, slowly he pushes some leaves aside. CLOSEUP of his eyes. DAVID'S P.O.V. Several deer in the forest; they sense something and freeze, the camera noting a fawn next to a doe. The buck turns his head, feeling the danger. CUT TO: DAVID Shots showing the muscles in his legs and shoulders tensing. CLOSEUP of David's eyes. CLOSEUP of the frightened deer. CUT BACK TO: CLOSEUP of David's eyes. CUT BACK TO: THE FAWN as it is leapt upon, its terrified face leaving frame as David forces it down. David's head reenters frame, his mouth full of flesh, his face and hands covered with blood. He howls in triumph.17 INT. HOSPITAL ROOM - NIGHT The lights are subdued and David's asleep. The door opens, a shaft of light penetrates the room. Miss Gallagher enters with a small tray. She crosses to David, turns on the bed light and touches him. MISS GALLAGHER Mr. Kessler? Wake up, please. DAVID (awakened) I was having a nightmare. Miss Gallagher is very efficient in administering the pills and pouring a glass of water. MISS GALLAGHER Yes, well these should help that. That's right, drink up. David takes the pills. MISS GALLAGHER Now go back to sleep so you'll be fresh for Dr. Hirsch in the morning. DAVID What time is it? MISS GALLAGHER It's nearly eight. I'm off duty shortly, then I'm off to the films with Alex. DAVID Alex? MISS GALLAGHER Miss Price, the other nurse that attended you. DAVID What are you going to see? MISS GALLAGHER An American film about the Mafia called `See You Next Wednesday', and I want to see it badly, so you give me no problems and go to sleep. DAVID (dropping off) Do you have bad dreams, too? MISS GALLAGHER Some, everyone does. DAVID Yes, but does everyone kill Bambi? MISS GALLAGHER Bambi? David has fallen asleep. Miss Gallagher turns off the light, picks up her tray and pauses in the doorway. MISS GALLAGHER Kill Bambi? She exits, closing the door plunging the room into darkness.18 INT. HOSPITAL NURSES' STATION - DAY The corridor is busy with orderlies pushing gurneys about, doctors, visitors, and patients all performing appropriate background actions. Behind the Nurses' Counter, Alex is typing some forms and an older, obviously senior nurse is filling some paper cups with different sizes and colors of pills she is taking from the drug cabinet. She is MRS. HOBBS, the chief nurse. MRS. HOBBS Miss Price. ALEX Yes, Mrs. Hobbs. MRS. HOBBS Take these round now, will you please? The American boy in twenty-one is only to have these after he's eaten. Will you be sure of that? ALEX Has he been refusing food? MRS. HOBBS Nothing quite as dramatic as that, Miss Price. He just doesn't eat enough of what is put before him. He suffers from nightmares. I'd think he just needs a hand to hold. ALEX Yes, Mrs. Hobbs. Alex takes the cups handed to her and makes her way down the hallway, pausing a moment to straighten her appearance. She enters.19 INT. CHILDREN'S WARD - DAY A ward with seven or eight beds in it, all occupied. She goes to a little Pakistani boy named BENJAMIN. ALEX Hello, Benjamin. BENJAMIN No. ALEX No what? BENJAMIN No. ALEX Well, all right then, be that way. Here, swallow this. BENJAMIN No. Alex pours a glass of water, gives the pill to Benjamin who promptly takes it and then drinks the water, handing Alex back the glass. ALEX Feeling better? BENJAMIN No. ALEX The doctor will be round later. Would you like a picture book to look at? We have some lovely funny Beanos. BENJAMIN No. ALEX Right. She exits, pausing in the hall to speak to a black Jamaican ORDERLY pushing a cart of lunch trays into Benjamin's ward.20 INT. HOSPITAL CORRIDOR - DAY ALEX Has the patient in twenty-one gotten his tray yet? ORDERLY The American? Yes, duck. ALEX How did he look? ORDERLY What do you mean, `how did he look'? ALEX You know, did he seem depressed? Do you think he'll eat the food? ORDERLY (annoyed) I'm an orderly, not a bleeding psychiatrist! I push things about, but I've little say what happens to them. ALEX Thank you. Alex holds up her head and proceeds to David's room. She hesitates, then peeks in.21 INT. HOSPITAL ROOM - DAY The curtains are drawn and David's lunch waits patiently on its tray alongside of the bed. David is apparently asleep. Alex enters softly. ALEX (softly) Mr. Kessler? DAVID (lifeless) Yes? ALEX You haven't eaten your lunch. DAVID I'm not very hungry, thank you. ALEX I'm afraid you have to eat something. DAVID Please, really. I'm not hungry. ALEX You put me in an awkward position, Mr. Kessler. DAVID How is that? ALEX (she shakes the paper cup) Well, you're to take these after you've eaten. Now what kind of nurse would I be if I failed in so simple a task as giving out some pills? DAVID Leave the pills. I'll take them later. ALEX Sorry. She opens the curtains, daylight fills the room. DAVID Aw come on, Miss Price! ALEX Call me Alex. DAVID Aw come on, Alex! ALEX Shall I be forced to feed you, Mr. Kessler? David is getting interested. DAVID Call me David. ALEX Shall I be forced to feed you, David? DAVID This is absurd. I'm not hungry. I don't want any food. ALEX Right. Alex efficiently removes the covers from the dishes and sits on the edge of the bed. Taking knife and fork in hand, she neatly cuts David's food into pieces. David watches all this amused. She places a napkin under David's chin and holds up his first bite on his fork. David folds his arms and refuses to open his mouth. ALEX Let's try a little harder, shall we? DAVID Will you give me a break? Alex grabs David's nose forcing his mouth open quickly, shoving the fork in it. David is startled, but amused and chews his food slowly and swallows it. Alex holds up another bite. ALEX Will I have to take such drastic action again, David? David opens his mouth obediently. Alex almost smiles. She feeds him for a while; they are both sizing each other up. Finally: DAVID May I have a glass of milk? Alex smiles.FADE OUT FADE IN22 EXT. DENSE FOREST - DAY Again we are running fast and faster. David again running naked, flying through the green forest. He stops suddenly, ears perked, he looks about and then we hear Jack's o.s. screams. The voice of Jack screams: JACK (O.S.) David! David! Please help me! Oh God! David! Oh my God! David turns in blind panic, he runs (and we run with him) desperately trying to find the source of Jack's screams. He comes to a clearing in the woods, light streaming through the tall trees. Jack's screams halt in mid- word. David looks in disbelief at the clearing. There is a hospital bed with someone in it. It is the same as David's. David walks toward it slowly. The figure in the bed lays still. It grows dark, very dark, and David looks up at the full moon. There is a howl identical to the one heard earlier back on the moors. David approaches the bed slowly, fearfully. We hear ocean noises on the soundtrack, the sound of crashing surf. David reaches out to pull back the covers, lightning and thunder cause him to hesitate for a second. Silence. The camera remains on David as he pulls off the covers. His face registers total disbelief and increasing horror. We cut to the bed to find - DAVID. He lies there, pale white with purple lips and death pallor. The camera begins to move in on the corpse of David. Cut back to the standing David's terrified face; then continue until David's death mask fills the screen. The face remains still for several beats, then suddenly opens its bright yellow eyes and red mouth revealing fangs in a bloodcurdling wail which carries over in the.... CUT TO:23 INT. HOSPITAL NURSES' STATION - NIGHT Mrs. Hobbs hears David's screams and efficiently calls out.... MRS. HOBBS Orderly! Miss Gallagher! Miss Gallagher and an ORDERLY appear at once. MRS. HOBBS Orderly, go at once to twenty- one and restrain the patient. The orderly exits. MRS. HOBBS Miss Gallagher, remain here at the desk. I'll be in twenty- one. She exits.24 INT. HOSPITAL ROOM - DAY It is bright, daylight, and Dr. Hirsch gazes thoughtfully out the window. DR. HIRSCH You've never had bad dreams before? DAVID (upset) Sure, as a kid. But never so real. Never so bizarre. Dr. Hirsch crosses over and sits on a chair by the bed. DR. HIRSCH Did you get a good look at the man who attacked you? DAVID I've told you, it wasn't a man. It was an animal. A big wolf or something. A rabid dog. DR. HIRSCH (chewing on his glasses) Yes. DAVID Look, Dr. Hirsch, I know I've been traumatized, but Jack was torn apart. I saw him. A man can't do that to someone with his bare hands. DR. HIRSCH You'd be surprised what horrors a man is capable of. DAVID Did you see Jack? DR. HIRSCH No. In fact, your wounds were cleaned and dressed before you arrived here. DAVID Did you talk to the police in East Proctor? Did the cops go to The Slaughtered Lamb? DR. HIRSCH I really don't know. DAVID Then why the hell are you so quick to disbelieve me? You yourself said it must have taken incredible strength to tear apart a person like that. DR. HIRSCH (rubs his forehead) David, please. The police are satisfied. I'm certain that if a monster were out roaming northern England we'd have seen it on the telly. DAVID You really think I'm crazy, don't you? DR. HIRSCH Believe me. The Hound of the Baskervilles was an invention of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's. And if you'd read the bloody book, you'd find that Holmes discovered your house of hell a fraud, a fake. There is an awkward silence as David sits and Dr. Hirsch is embarrassed at raising his voice. DR. HIRSCH Now really, David. You're far too intelligent to go on this way. When you return to America I want you to seek out a competent psychiatrist or psychologist or something and stop this nonsense. You'll be leaving this hospital in three or four days, please remain sane. At least until you are no longer our responsibility. Dr. Hirsch goes to the door. DAVID Dr. Hirsch? (pause) I'd rather not be by myself. DR. HIRSCH Of course not, David. I'll fetch in young Miss Price. DISSOLVE TO:25 INT. HOSPITAL ROOM - NIGHT Alex sits next to David's bed. Her shoes are off and she has her feet tucked up under her legs on the chair. The room is dark except for the lamp by which she reads. She is reading A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court by Mark Twain. David is asleep. Alex reads for a bit, then puts down the book and yawns. She gets up and stretches, a big spreading arms and feet, fingers and toes stretch. DAVID (quietly) You're a very beautiful girl. ALEX (embarrassed) I thought you were asleep. DAVID I was. What are you reading? ALEX `A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court' by Mark Twain. DAVID Do you like it? ALEX I've just started it. My friend gave it to me. They look at each other. ALEX What do you dream about? DAVID I dream of death mostly. ALEX I'm sorry. I shouldn't have asked you. DAVID It's okay. I want to talk to you. They sit and look at each other for a while longer. DAVID How old are you? ALEX That's not really a very proper question. DAVID How old are you? ALEX Twenty-eight. DAVID I'm twenty-seven. ALEX I know. DAVID Now what do you want to talk about? ALEX Was Jack Goodman your good friend? DAVID (seriously) My best friend. My very best friend. ALEX (embarrassed) Shall I read to you? DAVID What? Oh, yes, please. ALEX (opens book) A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court by Samuel L. Clemens. This is after the preface but before chapter one: A Word of Explanation. You all right? DAVID (settles back) Yes, go on. ALEX (clears her throat) Ahem, A Word of Explanation. It was in Warwick Castle that I came across the curious stranger whom I am going to talk about. He attracted me by three things: his candid simplicity, his marvelous familiarity with ancient armor, and the restfulness of his company - for he did all the talking. We fell together as modest people will in the tail of the herd.... DISSOLVE TO:26 INT. KESSLER HOME - NEW YORK - NIGHT We are at David's parents' house in New York. His FATHER sits reading the paper in the living room as his younger BROTHER and SISTER watch "The Muppet Show" on television. We can see past the small dining nook where David sits doing homework and into the kitchen where his MOTHER is washing the dishes. A peaceful lower, middle class setting. All is tranquil and secure. There is a loud pounding on the front door. FATHER I'll get it. The pounding continues. FATHER All right, all right! Hold your horses. (The following happens with shocking speed.) When he opens the door, four beings open fire with machine guns, blowing him away. The sudden burst of violence is terrifying and unrelenting. The four rush into the room and the family looks at them in fearsome surprise for these men are not human at all, but loathsome, bestial demons dressed as Storm Troopers. One kicks in the television and fires into the kitchen, blasting David's mother. David rises but is forced back into his chair by one of the things and held there. DAVID Stop! He watches in horror as his little brother and sister scream in terror before they are brutally murdered. The monstrous Storm Troopers then set fire to the rooms. The one holding David pulls a knife and quickly slits David's throat. CUT TO:27 INT. HOSPITAL ROOM - NIGHT David bolts upright in bed and looks around, trying desperately to gain his bearings. He sees that Alex is asleep in the chair by his bed, Connecticut Yankee folded on her lap. He makes a deliberate effort to calm himself. He considers waking her, then decides against it. He turns on the lamp by his bed and reaches over to take the book from Alex's lap. David takes the book as gently as possible, but Alex wakes up anyway. ALEX (yawns, smiles) Hello. You all right? DAVID I'm sorry I woke you up. ALEX Don't be silly. Can I get you something? DAVID No, thank you. Just keep me company for a while. ALEX That's easy enough. DAVID I keep having these really terrible dreams. They are getting worse and I can't seem to stop them. ALEX David, your dreams will stop. You'll leave England and your bad memories; and then this will all fade away. DAVID Will you come with me? ALEX (taken aback) What? DAVID (smiling) I'm serious. You don't know me and I know nothing about you. We have a perfect relationship. ALEX Now, David, I said I would keep you company, but I meant right here and now. DAVID Will you think about it? ALEX How did we get from your bad dreams to my taking a holiday with a patient? DAVID (big grin) Not just a patient -- me. ALEX You're being awfully forward, aren't you? DAVID Forgive me, I'm trying to cheer myself up and an affair with a beautiful nurse seemed like just the thing to do it. ALEX (smiles) All I am to you is a sex fantasy then? DAVID Now I'm embarrassed. ALEX Good. I thought for a moment I was the only embarrassed one in the room. There is an awkward pause. DAVID Where were we in the book? Alex is relieved for something to break the tension. ALEX (looking through the book) Let me see here. FADE OUT FADE IN28 INT. HOSPITAL ROOM - MORNING The black Orderly hustles in with David's breakfast tray, busily setting up the tray on the table over the bed. He awakens the sleeping David with his activity. ORDERLY Ah you're up. Good morning and a good day to you. We've quite a meal for you here this morning. Bacon, oatmeal, orange juice, and toast with jam. Good stuff there. Now eat it up and I'll be back for the dishes when you've finished. The Orderly exits. The drowsy David, who has been trying to fully wake up during the Orderly's speech, notices his exit. DAVID Good morning. He looks at his food none too happily. He sticks a spoon into the bowl of oatmeal and tastes is gingerly. DAVID (in mock English accent) Please, sir, I want some more. He settles down to eating, reaches over to butter his toast and drink his juice. While he eats, we hear Jack's o.s. voice. JACK (O.S.) Can I have a piece of toast? David looks over to the o.s. Jack. Jack, behaving relaxed and normal, sits in the chair last occupied by Alex. However, Jack's appearance makes his casual manner all the more surreal. He is as we left him butchered on the moors. He is covered with dried mud and open wounds. Huge glistening gashes abound on his body. His face is scratched, his throat is badly torn, and his hair is matted with blood. In several spots he has already begun to rot. He is a remarkably gruesome sight, but his physical state seems not to affect him at all. JACK (pleasantly) Nice to see you. DAVID (unbelieving) Get the fuck out of here, Jack. JACK Thanks a lot. DAVID (horrified) This is too much. I can't handle this. JACK I'm aware that I don't look so great, but I thought you'd be glad to see me. Jack gets up and takes a piece of toast from David's tray as David watches amazed. Jack returns to his seat and takes a bite out of his toast. David stares at Jack horrified. JACK David! You're hurting my feelings. DAVID (astounded) Hurting your feelings? Has it occurred to you that it may be unsettling to have you rise from your grave to visit me? Listen to me, I'm talking to a hamburger! JACK I'm sorry to be upsetting you, David, but I had to come. DAVID (aghast) Aren't you supposed to be buried in New York someplace? JACK Yeah. Your parents came to my funeral. I was surprised at how many people came. DAVID (resigned) Why should you be surprised? You were a very well-liked person. JACK Debbie Klein cried a lot. DAVID I can't stand it. JACK So you know what she does? She's so grief stricken she runs to find solace in Rudy Levine's bed. DAVID Rudy Levine the shmuck? JACK Life mocks me even in death. Jack takes another bite of toast. DAVID (to himself) I'm going completely crazy. JACK (loud) David! DAVID (louder) What?! JACK David, now I know this may be hard for you, but I have to warn you. DAVID (shouting) Warn me? Will you get out of here, you meat loaf? JACK I'm a grisly sight, it's true; but I love you and that's why I'm here. You've got to know. DAVID If you love me so much, Jack, you'll realize how disconcerting it is to share one's breakfast with the living dead! JACK We were attacked by a werewolf. DAVID (covers his ears) I'm not listening! JACK On the moors, we were attacked by a lycanthrope, a werewolf. DAVID Shut up, you zombie! JACK I was murdered, an unnatural death, and now I walk the earth in limbo until the werewolf's curse is lifted. DAVID (incredulous, furious) What's wrong with you? Shut up! JACK The wolf's bloodline must be severed. The last remaining werewolf must be destroyed. DAVID Will you be quiet?! Jack rises and comes closer to David. JACK It's you, David. DAVID What?! JACK You survived and now you shall continue the curse. DAVID What are you talking about? I won't accept this! Get out! God damit! JACK Remember what that guy at The Slaughtered Lamb said? `Beware the moon.' DAVID (quietly) Stop it, Jack. JACK Beware the moon. The full moon, David. You've got two days. DAVID (quietly) Jack, please go away. Please go away. JACK You'll stalk the streets of London a creature of the night. DAVID (flares up) You're talking like Boris Karloff! It's movie dialogue! JACK David, please believe me. You will kill people, David. You've got to stop the bloodshed before it begins. DAVID (yells) Nurse! JACK Listen to me! Take your own life, David. It's our only chance. DAVID Nurse! JACK The supernatural! The powers of darkness! It's all true. Take your own life! Suicide, David. Join me. DAVID (losing it) Nurse! Oh God! Alex! JACK It's cold, David, and I'm so alone. The undead surround me. Have you ever talked to a corpse? It's boring! I'm lonely! Kill yourself, David, before you kill others.29 INT. HOSPITAL - NURSES' STATION - DAY Alex rushing down the hospital corridor.30 INT. HOSPITAL ROOM - DAY David rocking back and forth weeping. JACK Don't cry, David.31 INT. HOSPITAL CORRIDOR - DAY Alex rushing down hospital corridor.32 INT. HOSPITAL ROOM - DAY JACK Please don't cry.33 INT. HOSPITAL CORRIDOR - DAY Alex rushing to the door.34 INT. HOSPITAL ROOM - DAY - CLOSEUP JACK (softly in looming closeup) Beware the moon, David. CUT TO: ALEX as she bursts into the room. CUT TO: DAVID laying in bed rocking from side to side, crying softly. He is alone. Alex rushes over, removes the tray, sits on the bed and hugs David. ALEX David? David! David pulls away sharply, his head jerking about wildly until he focuses on Alex's face and begins to breathe easier. ALEX David, what's wrong? David smiles and kisses her, a real kiss. DAVID (quietly) I'm a werewolf. ALEX A werewolf? Alex holds David a moment then realizes where she is and backs off a little. David composes himself. ALEX Are you better now? DAVID I'll let you know the next full moon. ALEX You're to be discharged tomorrow. Will you be all right? David takes Alex's hand. DAVID My friend Jack was just here. ALEX Your dead friend Jack? DAVID Yeah. He says that I will become a monster in two days. What do you think? ALEX What do I think? You mean about the possibility of your becoming a monster in two days or about visits from dead friends? DAVID I was dreaming again? ALEX I would think so. DAVID (resigned) Yeah, I would think so, too. Alex considers for a while, finally.... ALEX Do you have a place to stay in London? CUT TO:35 EXT. APARTMENT BUILDING - DAY David and Alex walking down the street. Alex points out her flat and leads David up the front steps. She gives him a conspiratorial look and unlocks the door.36 INT. ALEX'S FLAT - DAY Alex enters and David follows. A small, utilitarian apartment, she flicks on the kitchen light. David puts his backpack on the floor. ALEX The kitchen. DAVID Very nice. She proceeds to give the tour. ALEX Closet. DAVID Charming. ALEX Bathroom. DAVID Lovely. ALEX The bedroom. DAVID There is only one bed. ALEX (makes a face) David, perhaps you'd like to watch the telly while I take a shower. Alex enters the room and David whistles softly, rocking on his heels.37 INT. BATHROOM - DAY David and Alex stand facing each other under the stream of water in the shower. DAVID It's nice to see you. ALEX It's nice to see you. MONTAGE IN SHOWER - DAY A sequence of soap and flesh. Van Morrison's "Moondance" plays. A montage of soapy hands on slippery skin. Thighs rubbing thighs, arms and shoulders. David and Alex kiss again and again and....38 INT. ALEX'S BEDROOM - DAY David and Alex in a passionate, orgasmic kiss in Alex's bed. David pulls out and they lay holding each other. After a moment.... DAVID Alex? ALEX Yes? DAVID Will you be here in about fifteen minutes? ALEX Of course. DAVID (leers) Good. Alex props herself up on one elbow. ALEX David, you don't honestly believe that in reality your friend Jack rose from the grave to breakfast with you? Do you really? DAVID I was awake and he was in my room. ALEX But, David. DAVID (firm) I wasn't hallucinating. Pause. ALEX (smiles) Tomorrow is the full moon. DAVID That's good, Alex. Reassure me. Alex begins kissing David's neck. DAVID It's all right, I know I'm being insane. She kisses his shoulders, then his chest. DAVID Okay, okay. I'm properly reassured! Alex is now kissing his stomach, her head gradually lowers from frame. David reaches back over his head to hold onto the headboard of the bed. DAVID (closing his eyes) This is very reassuring. I'm feeling very reassured. DISSOLVE TO: INT. ALEX'S BEDROOM - NIGHT Alex is asleep holding David. David carefully lifts her arm and gets out of bed. He is naked. He tiptoes out of the room and goes to the bathroom.39 INT. ALEX'S BATHROOM - NIGHT David lifts the toilet seat and pees. He winces, hoping the steady stream doesn't awaken Alex. When he's finished peeing he goes to the sink. The medicine cabinet door over the sink is open. When David closes it he (and the audience) is terrified to see Jack reflected standing behind him. (Note: This is a big scare.) Bloodied and horrible, Jack has continued to rot and looks even worse than when we last saw him. David chokes out a strangled cry, closes his eyes tightly and then reopens them. Jack is still there in the mirror. When David turns around Jack is standing in the doorway. DAVID (points a trembling finger) You're not real. JACK Don't be an asshole, David. Come here. David, clearly troubled, follows Jack into the living room.40 INT. ALEX'S LIVING ROOM Jack sits down and motions for David to sit also. He does. David's conversation is in whispers, so as not to wake up Alex. DAVID What are you doing here? JACK I wanted to see you. DAVID Okay, you've seen me. Now go away. JACK David, I'm sorry I upset you yesterday, but you must understand what is going on. DAVID I understand all right. You're one of the undead and I'm a werewolf. JACK Yes. DAVID Get out of here, Jack! JACK David, tomorrow night is the full moon. You'll change, you'll become.... DAVID (interrupting) A monster. I know, I know. JACK You must take your own life now, David, before it's too late. DAVID Jack, are you really dead? JACK What do you think? DAVID I think I've lost my mind. I think you're not real. I think I'm asleep and you're a part of another bad dream. JACK You must believe me. DAVID What, Jack? That tomorrow night beneath the full moon I'll sprout hair and fangs and eat people? Bullshit! JACK The canines will be real. You'll taste real blood! God damit, David, please believe me! You'll kill and make others like me! I'm not having a nice time, David! Don't allow this to happen again! You must take your own life! DAVID (shouts) I will not accept this! Now go away!41 INT. ALEX'S BEDROOM - NIGHT Alex wakes up from the shouting. ALEX David?42 INT. LIVING ROOM - NIGHT JACK (quietly) This is not pretend, David. DAVID (righteous) I will not be threatened by a walking meat loaf! Alex enters the room. ALEX David, what's wrong? I heard voices. David turns and sees that Jack is gone. DAVID (triumphant) It was just me, Alex. It was just me.43 EXT. EAST PROCTOR - DAY Dr. Hirsch is driving down the main street in his red M.G. He parks in front of The Slaughtered Lamb.44 INT. THE SLAUGHTERED LAMB - DAY The pub is less crowded than when we were here last. The Dart Player is behind the bar cleaning glasses, the Chess Player is still at the chessboard. Dr. Hirsch enters and crosses to the bar. As he removes his gloves: DR. HIRSCH A drink for a very cold man? The Woman comes in from the back. WOMAN Hello, there. What can I get you? DR. HIRSCH Campari and soda would do nicely. WOMAN Sorry, love. DR. HIRSCH I suppose Guinness will suffice. She serves him his beer. As he lays down his money... DR. HIRSCH A thousand thanks. After a few sips. DR. HIRSCH Nasty bit of business with those two young American boys. The Dart Player stops his wiping. DART PLAYER I'm afraid I don't know what you mean, sir. DR. HIRSCH Yes, I'm sure that's right. A few weeks ago, the last full moon wasn't it? The Chess Player turns in his chair to get a good look at Dr. Hirsch. DR. HIRSCH I mean that escaped lunatic. The one that killed the boy. Wasn't that near here? CHESS PLAYER (concerned) And where are you from, sir? Dr. Hirsch crosses and joins the Chess Player at his table. DR. HIRSCH London. Knight takes pawn. CHESS PLAYER What? Sees that Dr. Hirsch was talking about his game.... CHESS PLAYER Oh, yes, yes. Dr. Hirsch points to the pentangle on the wall. DR. HIRSCH What's that? WOMAN (nervously) Oh, that's been there for two hundred years. We were going to paint it out, but it's traditional, so we left it. DR. HIRSCH I see. You've heard nothing about the incident? DART PLAYER Incident? DR. HIRSCH The murder? CHESS PLAYER Are you a police officer? DR. HIRSCH (smiles) No, no, hardly. I work in the hospital where the Kessler boy was brought. The Dart Player and Chess Player exchange a look. DR. HIRSCH He was talking about werewolves and monsters and as I was near here I thought.... DART PLAYER You thought what? DR. HIRSCH I thought I'd look into the boy's story. CHESS PLAYER (scoffs) A story about werewolves - now really, sir. Dr. Hirsch eyes the Chess Player. DR. HIRSCH Would you like a game of chess?45 INT. ALEX'S FLAT - DAY We find Alex and David in an embrace by the front door. Alex is dressed in her nurse's uniform and David has jeans and a T-shirt on. He is shoeless and obviously not going out. Alex pulls away. ALEX Let me go now, you'll make me late. DAVID Do me an enormous favor? ALEX Anything. DAVID Tell me that it's silly of me to be apprehensive. ALEX It's silly of you to be apprehensive. DAVID Werewolves simply do not exist. ALEX (serious) David, do you want me to stay here tonight? DAVID Yeah, I do, but go to work. He opens the door and they both go outside.46 EXT. APARTMENT BUILDING - LATE AFTERNOON - ALEX AND DAVID walk to the sidewalk. It is rather chilly. ALEX Listen, if you get too anxious, call me at the hospital, okay? DAVID Okay. ALEX I've left those pills for you. DAVID A doper werewolf. They kiss again. ALEX I'm off. There's food in the fridge. DAVID See you later. Alex goes off, turning for a last wave. David stands looking after her when a LITTLE GIRL walking a dog passes by. The dog, on seeing David, begins to growl and snarl. DAVID (to dog) What did I do? The dog begins barking ferociously, the little girl tugging on his leash. DAVID Thanks a lot, dog. He realizes just how cold he is outside and runs back up the steps to find the door locked. DAVID Wonderful. Cut to shot of David's bare feet on the cold stone. He mutters to himself, imitating a newscaster. DAVID An American werewolf was found frozen to death today in the heart of London, England. He looks around and sees that there is a small window ajar on the side of the flat about eleven feet off the ground, which can be reached by climbing a brick wall, which he does but not without damage to his bare toes. At the top of the wall is a cat that begins to hiss on seeing David. The hair stands up on its arched back and it glares at David, hissing and spitting. David is disturbed by the cat's hostile behavior. DAVID What did I do, cat? The cat is really acting fierce. When David goes to pat it cautiously, it screeches and runs away. David is, by this time, not amused. David manages to pull himself into the window.47 INT. ALEX'S BATHROOM - DUSK David awkwardly enters the bathroom through the tiny window. Finally getting both feet on the ground, he steps to the sink and regards himself in the mirror. DAVID (weakly) Snarl. Growl. Grrrr. He examines his mouth, touching his canines carefully. After a while he sighs and goes into the kitchen.48 INT. ALEX'S KITCHEN - DUSK David goes straight to the fridge and opens it. He closes the fridge and walks into the bedroom.49 INT. ALEX'S BEDROOM - DUSK He lays down on the bed. After a few beats of staring at the ceiling, he rises and goes back into the kitchen.50 INT. ALEX'S KITCHEN - DUSK He reopens the fridge. DAVID I'm not hungry. He closes the fridge and walks into the living room.51 INT. ALEX'S LIVING ROOM - DUSK David turns on the television. On Thames is a soccer match. On BBC 1 is some truly insipid children's program, and on BBC 2 is a soccer match. David switches off the television. He sits on the chair nervously, drumming his fingers and humming. DAVID (singing) `Moon River, wider than a mile I'm crossing you in style, Someday....' David gets up, goes to the front door, and flings it open. It is getting dark. David views this fearfully, but still not completely convinced. He goes back inside and we note that the front door is not completely closed. He goes back into the bathroom and looks into the mirror. DAVID Fee fi fo fum, I smell the blood of an Englishman. He goes back into the living room and paces round and round the room like a caged animal.52 INT. CHILDREN'S WARD - NIGHT Alex is back with Benjamin, the little Pakistani. ALEX How are we feeling tonight? BENJAMIN No. ALEX No what? BENJAMIN No! ALEX (smiling) Benjamin, have you ever been severely beaten about the face and neck? BENJAMIN No. ALEX I thought not. She tucks him in. ALEX You sleep now and have sweet dreams. BENJAMIN & ALEX No! For the first time, Benjamin smiles. As Alex tucks him in, we can clearly see the full moon outside through the window.53 INT. ALEX'S FLAT - NIGHT David sits reading Connecticut Yankee when he suddenly clutches his head in pain. DAVID Jesus Christ! He stands in agony, the book falls to the floor. DAVID (screams) What? Christ! What? He begins sweating profusely, clinging to the sides of his head. He trembles violently. DAVID I'm burning up! Jesus! He rips at his shirt, tearing it off. His body is dripping wet. DAVID (shouts out in pain and fear) Jack!? Where are you now, you fucker!?! As a new spasm of pain wracks his body, he cries out in anguish. DAVID Help me! Somebody help me, please! Jack!! David's hair is wringing wet. He screams and grabs at his legs. DAVID (pleading, whimpering) I'm sorry I called you a meat loaf, Jack. New bolts of agonizing pain wrack through David's body. He grabs at his pants, pulling them off as if they are burning him. Standing naked in the center of the room, David gasps for air. He falls to his knees and then forward on his hands. He remains on his hands and knees, trying to master his torment; but it's no use. On all fours he gives himself over to the excruciating hurt and slowly begins to change. The metamorphosis from man into beast is not an easy one. As bone and muscle bend and reform themselves, the body suffers lacerating pain. We can actually see David's flesh move, the rearranging tissue. His mouth bleeds as fangs emerge. His whole face distorts as his jaw extends, his skull literally changing shape before our eyes. His hands gnarl and his fingers curl back as claws burst forward. The camera pans up to show the full moon outside through the window. David's moans change slowly into low guttural growls. We hear the four footfalls as the WOLF begins to walk. As the camera pans back over the room, we see the front door pushed open and hear the Wolf padding off into the darkness.54 EXT. RESIDENTIAL STREET - NIGHT A taxi pulls up in front of a block of flats. An attractive couple gets out. The Man pays the driver and the cab drives off. WOMAN Which one, Harry? MAN Number thirty-nine, but let's go `round the back. WOMAN Why? MAN Come on, we'll give Sean a scare. WOMAN You're crazy, Harry. HARRY Come on. Harry takes her hand and leads her around the side of the flats. The apartments back up to a park and the two walk around to the rear. The park is dark and quiet.55 EXT. PARK - NIGHT WOMAN Did you hear something? HARRY Just now? WOMAN Yes. HARRY No. Here we are, Sean's is the one.... THE WOLF SPRINGS! Before the Woman can scream, the Wolf whirls around and goes for her throat. We can't see clearly, but we see enough to realize how large the Wolf is and that its wolfen features are twisted and demonic. The Wolf savagely devours its two victims.56 INT. SEAN'S FLAT - NIGHT Sean's wife is looking through their French windows out onto the park - a middle-aged couple. WIFE Sean, those hooligans are in the park again. SEAN Aren't you ready yet? They'll be here any minute. WIFE Something's going on out there.57 INT. HOSPITAL - NURSES' STATION - NIGHT Miss Gallagher is helping Mrs. Hobbs dispense medication into paper cups when Dr. Hirsch approaches. He is still wearing his overcoat. DR. HIRSCH Is Miss Price on duty this evening? MRS. HOBBS Yes, Doctor. DR. HIRSCH Miss Gallagher, do you know if Miss Price has seen the Kessler boy since his release? Miss Gallagher is not sure how to answer. MISS GALLAGHER Uh, I don't know if.... Alex has walked up and overheard the last. ALEX It's all right, Susan. Yes, Doctor, I have. DR. HIRSCH Come to my office, Miss Price. Alex and Susan exchange glances as she obediently follows Dr. Hirsch down the hallway.58 EXT. PARK - NIGHT Sean has exited the back of his flat to investigate his wife's complaints. She hangs by the door. He walks deeper into the park. SEAN (calls out) Is anyone there?59 INT. DR. HIRSCH'S OFFICE - NIGHT Dr. Hirsch hangs up his overcoat. DR. HIRSCH Sit down, Alex. Alex sits and Dr. Hirsch leans against his desk. DR. HIRSCH I was in East Proctor today. Alex looks confused. Dr. Hirsch realizes the cause of her concern. DR. HIRSCH Oh dear girl, your extracurricular activities are of no consequence to me. I don't give a damn who you sleep with. I'm concerned about David. ALEX Yes, sir. DR. HIRSCH It's a full moon. Where is he? ALEX At my flat. I'm off at midnight and.... Dr. Hirsch picks up the phone. DR. HIRSCH The number, Alex. Your number!60 EXT. PARK - NIGHT Sean carefully approaches something near the trees. He steps on something and looks down to see what it is. It is an arm.61 INT. ALEX'S FLAT - NIGHT - EXTREME CLOSEUP - THE TELEPHONE rings loudly. (This is a scare.) It continues to ring unanswered.62 INT. DR. HIRSCH'S OFFICE - NIGHT Dr. Hirsch waits on the phone, finally hanging up. DR. HIRSCH He's not there. Alex grows worried. ALEX He's not? DR. HIRSCH Alex, has David persisted in his werewolf fantasies? ALEX Well, yes, but he seems to be more upset by the death of his friend. DR. HIRSCH Has his friend appeared to him again? ALEX Yes. DR. HIRSCH What did he say? ALEX David says Jack comes to warn him. DR. HIRSCH Warn him? ALEX Dr. Hirsch, what's wrong? Is this more serious than I know? DR. HIRSCH I tried to investigate the attack. There are no records. The case was closed and now they've `misplaced' the file. David's lacerations were cleaned and dressed when he arrived here and yet supposedly no doctor examined him before I did. The Goodman boy is already in the ground so he's no good to us. So I went to the pub in East Proctor where I was convinced of two things. ALEX Yes. DR. HIRSCH They were lying. There were no witnesses, no escaped lunatic. The whole community is hiding the truth of what actually happened up there. ALEX And what else? DR. HIRSCH I think the village of East Proctor is hiding some dark and terrible secret. I'm convinced that, like David, they believe in this werewolf. Alex is flabbergasted. DR. HIRSCH You've absolutely no idea where David might be? ALEX No. He knows no one in London, besides me. I shouldn't have left him alone. Suddenly. ALEX Surely you're not suggesting.... DR. HIRSCH David has suffered a severe trauma. I myself witnessed some form of mass neurosis in East Proctor. If all the villagers believe that Jack Goodman was killed by a werewolf, why shouldn't David? And then it follows that if he survived an attack by a werewolf, wouldn't he himself become a werewolf the next full moon? ALEX (bewildered) Dr. Hirsch? DR. HIRSCH Oh, I don't mean running about on all fours and howling at the moon. But in such a deranged state he could harm himself, or perhaps others. ALEX What shall we do? DR. HIRSCH Let's call the police and see if they can help us find our wandering boy.63 EXT. BRICK LANE - NIGHT The bombed-out ruins of this unsavory part of London are stark and uninviting in the moonlight. Three old DERELICTS are huddled around a trash can fire trying to keep warm. A skinny dog is tied up beside them. Its ears perk up and he growls in warning. DERELICT #1 Old Winston smells something. DERELICT #2 (calls out) Who's there? The dog begins to whine. DERELICT #2 Let `im go. Derelict #1 unties Winston who takes off running in terror. DERELICT #3 Brave dog that. DERELICT #1 (worried) Here - who's there? An unearthly howl shatters the night. We've heard this sound on the moors. DERELICT #2 That's not Winston. DERELICT #3 Look there. He points out into the night. They strain their eyes - something is approaching them. They can just make out its size. DERELICT #1 Mother Mary of God.64 INT. SUBWAY STATION - NIGHT A train SCREECHES to a halt. (A scare.) We are in the tubes of London. Only one passenger disembarks and the train goes off, leaving him alone in the cavernous hallways. The PASSENGER is a young man, rather well- dressed. He looks about the platform, then at his watch. He walks up to a vending machine to buy a Cadbury Chocolate Bar. CUT TO: INT. SUBWAY STATION - LONG SHOT as the Passenger puts his coin in the vending machine. The camera is on ground level and as we watch the Passenger, the Wolf's legs flash by us. CUT TO: CLOSEUP of the Passenger eating his chocolate bar. He turns thoughtfully, wondering if he had heard something. Satisfied that he is alone, he begins his walk down one of the long serpentine tunnels that make up London's tubes. He feels he's being followed and turns slowly to look. There is no one and he continues, concerned about his imagination. CUT TO: CLOSEUP - WOLF'S EYES watching in the darkness. BACK TO SCENE Our Passenger approaches the first escalator, pauses, then gets on going swiftly and silently up the moving stairway. CUT TO: CLOSEUP - WOLF'S SNOUT In profile we can see its ragged, razor-sharp fangs and black tongue. It waits, panting, drool falls from its mouth. BACK TO SCENE The Passenger reaches the landing and walks briskly down the long tunnel marked "Escalator to Street Level". He is being followed. He hears it and we hear it. He stops, frightened. PASSENGER Hello? CUT TO: TUNNEL Long and empty. THE PASSENGER PASSENGER Is there someone there? We hear the Wolf's heavy breathing. The Passenger is beginning to panic. PASSENGER I can assure you that this is not in the least bit amusing! He looks around wildly. PASSENGER I shall report this! PASSENGER'S P.O.V. We see the Wolf at a great distance trotting down the tunnel towards us. PASSENGER Good Lord. THE PASSENGER turns to flee, his jog becoming a run. He is terrified. WOLF - CLOSEUP of the Wolf's running steps. THE PASSENGER frantically running, falls to the ground hard bloodying his nose. He scrambles to his feet crying out in fear. Reaching the escalator, he begins to run up the moving stairs, falling several times. He sits, panting and defeated, the blood trickling from his nose. CUT TO: WOLF'S P.O.V. as it begins to climb the stairs. The camera tracks slowly in on the increasingly horrified Passenger until we are in an extreme closeup of his eyes, when we: CUT TO:65 CLOSEUP - A TIGER ROARING (A scare.) The tiger paces in its cage and roars again. We are at: EXT. LONDON ZOO - DAY It is early morning and all the animals are aroused. We cut around to roaring cats, screeching monkeys, and panicky birds, etc., until we come to the Wolves' cage where we find David, naked and curled up on the ground by the cage, asleep. David wakes up slowly. He is completely naked, his body dirty, with several scratches on his torso and legs. He yawns and stretches, makes a face, and with his finger picks something distasteful from his teeth. He also notices something under his fingernails and as he goes to clean them, he suddenly does a complete Stan Laurel discovering where he is. He puts his hands over his eyes. DAVID Wake me up, Alex. He slowly peaks through his fingers; he's still there. He stands up and looks around. The zoo opens and women with prams and children hustle about. David sees them coming towards him, notes his lack of clothes, and decides it would be better for all concerned if they did not meet. He looks around for a suitable hiding place and dashes behind some bushes. He crouches down so that he can't be seen, scratching himself on a thorn. DAVID Ouch!66 INT. ALEX'S FLAT - DAY Alex sits holding David's torn T-shirt. She is trying to read her book, but is just too distracted. The phone rings and she runs for it. ALEX (excited, then disappointed) Hello? No, Dr. Hirsch, he hasn't come back yet. Yes, I will, doctor, but I just feel so helpless sitting here doing nothing. Thank you, yes, goodbye. She hangs up and looks around the empty flat. She is now more worried than ever.67 EXT. LONDON ZOO - DAY David is still behind the bushes. He looks to see if the coast is clear, then stands up and parts the bushes. He steps out to confront a DOWAGER LADY. DAVID Hello. CUT TO: DOWAGER'S FACE Dumbfounded. DAVID Excuse me, won't you? He returns to the bushes. CUT TO: CLOSEUP - A GORILLA EATING A LITTLE BOY with four helium balloons on a string is staring intently at the gorilla. The Little Boy leaves the monkey house and we travel with him as he looks at several other animals. Eventually he comes to the Wolf cage. DAVID (O.S.) Pssst! The Little Boy looks around. DAVID (O.S.) Hey, kid! Pssst. Little boy with the balloons. The Little Boy pantomimes, "who me?" CUT TO: THE BUSHES David cannot be seen. DAVID (O.S.) Come over here. The Little Boy shakes his head. The bush replies: DAVID (O.S.) If you come over here, I'll give you a pound. The Little Boy shakes his head. The bush pleads. DAVID (O.S.) Two pounds? The Little Boy shakes his head. The bush reasons: DAVID (O.S.) Listen, two pounds is a lot of money. It's almost five dollars. LITTLE BOY (very English) I don't know who you are. DAVID (O.S.) I'm the famous balloon thief. LITTLE BOY Why would a thief want to give me two pounds? DAVID (O.S.) (losing patience) Come here and I'll show you. The Little Boy starts cautiously towards the shrubbery, but stops a few feet away. DAVID (O.S.) (pleading) Come on! The Little Boy edges forward. DAVID (O.S.) A little closer. When the Little Boy gets within reach, David grabs his balloons and uses them to cover his crotch. DAVID Thank you. David runs off through the zoo, naked but for his balloons, startling several animal lovers.68 EXT. PARK - DAY An ELDERLY COUPLE sits feeding birds, their coats folded nearly over the park bench. A naked blur darts by, grabbing the top coat as it passes, scaring off the birds.69 EXT. LONDON ZOO - DAY The Little Boy tugs at his MOTHER'S coat. MOTHER Yes, love? LITTLE BOY A naked, American man stole my balloons. MOTHER What? LITTLE BOY A naked, American man -- the famous balloon thief.70 EXT. NEWSSTAND - DAY The signs they always have on London newsstands proclaim "Man or Monster?" Dr. Hirsch picks up a newspaper with its headline, "London Murder Victims Found Partially Devoured". DR. HIRSCH I'll have one of those, too. He pays for the papers. The second one's headline, "Death Toll Up To Six - New Jack The Ripper?"71 EXT. LONDON STREET - DAY - BUS STOP in another part of town. The camera is on the crowd of fifteen or twenty people waiting for the bus. When the bus pulls up, they all crowd in. The camera goes to floor level and slowly examines the footwear of the crowded bus. Passengers are standing in the aisle and the camera slowly pans on their galoshes, boots, high heels, rubbers, etc., until it comes to rest on a conspicuous pair of bare feet. We pan up to find David clad only in a woman's rain coat with a fur collar trying to look as nonchalant as possible. A man looks at him oddly. DAVID (cheerfully) A lot of weather we've been having lately. The man studies David carefully.72 INT. ALEX'S FLAT - DAY Alex sits in the kitchen drinking tea and reading. There is loud knocking on the door. Alex rushes to open it and David enters quickly, closing the door behind him. He is still wearing the woman's coat. ALEX David! Where on earth have you been!?! DAVID I'm freezing. He goes into the bedroom and takes off the coat and gets dressed as Alex watches in amazement. David is excited, even euphoric. DAVID Alex, I've lost my mind. I woke up at the zoo! But you know what? I feel terrific! ALEX The zoo? DAVID Waking up at the zoo, that's not so insane. Having no clothes on? That's insane. What did I do last night, Alex? ALEX Don't you remember? DAVID I said goodbye to you. I was locked out of the flat. I climbed the wall and came in through the bathroom window. I started to read and then I was naked at the zoo! (big smile) I guess I am out of my fucking mind. Alex sits next to him and puts her arm around his shoulders. ALEX I worried about you. We didn't know where you were. David kisses her, a desperate kiss, and she kisses back with equal passion. ALEX Where did you get that coat? David laughs.73 INT. DR. HIRSCH'S OFFICE Dr. Hirsch is dialing the phone.74 INT. ALEX'S FLAT The phone rings. ALEX I'll get it. Alex goes to the phone. ALEX Hello? The telephone conversation is intercut between Alex and Dr. Hirsch. DR. HIRSCH Alex, have you heard anything? Alex speaks softly so that David won't hear her. ALEX He's here. DR. HIRSCH (excited) Is he all right? Why didn't you call me? Where was he? ALEX He doesn't remember. He woke up at the zoo. DR. HIRSCH The zoo? Is he rational? ALEX Yes, he is. He's very excited and confused, but he's not crazy, if that's what you mean. DR. HIRSCH Have you read the papers today? Have you listened to the radio or television? ALEX No, why? DR. HIRSCH Is David acting strangely? ALEX No, not really. Dr. Hirsch considers. DR. HIRSCH Could you get here without any trouble? ALEX Yes, I should think so. DR. HIRSCH Right. Now listen carefully. I want you to bring David here. I want him in my care. I'll notify the police that we've found him. It is imperative that you bring him straight to the hospital. Do you understand? ALEX Yes, Doctor. DR. HIRSCH You're certain he's lucid? You won't need any help? ALEX He's fine. We'll come right over. DR. HIRSCH Shall I send a car? ALEX No, a cab will be faster. DR. HIRSCH I expect you shortly. Dr. Hirsch hangs up, checks a piece of paper, and then dials again. DR. HIRSCH Yes, Scotland Yard?75 EXT. LONDON STREET - DAY Alex and David are walking. ALEX The next corner we can get a cab. DAVID (grins) I should be committed. ALEX Dr. Hirsch will know what to do. DAVID (stretches) I don't know why I feel so good. I haven't felt this good in a long time. Alex is signaling for a taxi. DAVID My body feels alive, alert. I feel like an athlete. A taxi pulls up; Alex opens the door. ALEX Get in.76 INT. TAXI - DAY ALEX Saint Martin's Hospital. DRIVER Right. As they drive. DRIVER It's like the days of the Mad Barber of Fleet Street, isn't it? ALEX I beg your pardon? DRIVER The murders. DAVID (concerned) What murders? DRIVER Last night. Haven't you heard? Six people in different parts of the city mutilated. A real maniac this one. DAVID Pull over. ALEX But.... DAVID (adamant) Pull over.77 EXT. LONDON STREET - DAY The cab pulls to the sidewalk. DAVID Pay the man. David gets out of the cab. ALEX David, wait! She hurriedly hands the Driver some money and takes off after David. ALEX David, what are you doing? DAVID Six people mutilated? It had to be me, Alex. ALEX David, stop! He turns and faces her. DAVID I am going to the cops. There's a full moon tonight. Jack was right. I.... ALEX (angry) Jack is dead! DAVID Jack is dead. Look, six people have been killed. I'm going to the police. David takes off walking briskly down the street. Alex has to jog to keep up with him. ALEX David, please be rational. Let's go to Dr. Hirsch. DAVID Rational!?! I'm a fucking werewolf, for Christ's sake! He strides up to a Bobbie on the corner. DAVID Officer, I killed those people last night. BOBBIE (interested) You did, did you? Alex runs up. ALEX He's playing a stupid joke, sir. DAVID (dumbfounded) What? ALEX We had an argument. He's being silly. DAVID (desperate) I swear, I don't know this girl. BOBBIE All right, you two, move along. DAVID Hey, you asshole! I want you to arrest me! BOBBIE There's no call for that kind of language. DAVID (shouts) Queen Elizabeth is a man! Prince Charles is a faggot! Winston Churchill was full of shit! BOBBIE (losing patience) Now see here young man. DAVID Shakespeare was French! The Queen Mother sucks cocks in hell! Shit! Fuck! Piss! The Bobbie takes David's arm roughly as pedestrians start to gather. BOBBIE That's quite enough! ALEX (pleading) David, please! DAVID Who is this girl? BOBBIE You're going to have to stop this disturbance or I shall arrest you. DAVID (frustrated, yelling) That's what I want you to do, you moron! ALEX (to Bobbie) Sir, he's very upset. His friend was killed and.... DAVID Will you shut up!?!! BOBBIE (losing his temper) That's enough! Now go about your business. ALEX Yes, David, let's go. DAVID (disbelief) You're not going to arrest me? David approaches one of the ONLOOKERS. DAVID Don't you think he should arrest me? ONLOOKER Well, I'm not sure. How does he know this isn't a prank? DAVID (despair) A prank? ALEX (urgently) David.... The Bobbie has lost all patience. BOBBIE I've no time for this foolishness. (to onlookers) Nothing to look at. Move along. The Bobbie walks away. David is beside himself. DAVID Hopeless. It's hopeless. ALEX (softly) David, let's go now. David turns in a rage. DAVID Leave me alone, dammit! You people are crazy! I've got to get away from here! I've got to do something! ALEX (worried) David, don't lose control. DAVID (approaching, hysteria) Control!?! What control!?! Get away from me! He begins to cry. DAVID Leave me alone! He runs out into the street. Cars slam on their brakes, just missing him. ALEX David, wait! It's too late. He's lost in traffic. Alex stands for a moment not knowing which way to turn.78 EXT. ALLEY - DAY David is running in panic. He finally comes to rest in an alley. He sits down and sobs uncontrollably.79 INT. DR. HIRSCH'S OFFICE - DAY Alex sits distraught in the chair opposite the desk. Dr. Hirsch is talking to Lt. Villiers and Sgt. McManus. LT. VILLIERS The forensic lads seem to feel that some sort of animal was involved, that's true, but I hardly think.... DR. HIRSCH (interrupts) Regardless of what you think, Lieutenant, the fact remains that David is missing and that we must find him. SGT. McMANUS Before nightfall. DR. HIRSCH Precisely. LT. VILLIERS (harried) Gentlemen, please. We shall find Mr. Kessler as quickly as we're able. ALEX He tried to have himself arrested. He.... LT. VILLIERS (interrupts) Getting arrested isn't all that difficult, Miss Price. ALEX He wants help. He.... DR. HIRSCH (interrupts) What can we do to assist you? LT. VILLIERS (rising) Stay here. If we need you, we'll know where to reach you. He and Sgt. McManus pause by the door. LT. VILLIERS I cannot accept a connection between David Kessler and last night's murders. We will find him, however. I can assure you of that. SGT. McMANUS We'll find him, not to worry. The two policemen exit. Dr. Hirsch looks at Alex. ALEX (distraught) What shall we do? DR. HIRSCH (comforting) Tea would be nice.80 EXT. LEICESTER SQUARE - DAY David is in a telephone booth. DAVID Yes, operator. I'd like to call the United States and reverse the charges. David Kessler for anyone. Yes, I'll wait. Hello? Yes, area code 315/472-3402. Thank you. (pause) Hello? Rachel? Just say yes, you'll accept the charges. Just say yes, Rachel. Is Mom or Dad home? Where are they? Where's Max? You're all alone? Mom and Dad wouldn't leave me alone when I was ten. No, not ten and a half either. I'm still in London. I'm all better. Look, would you tell Mom and Dad that I love them? I don't care, Rachel, just do it for me. Okay? Good. And, Rachel, don't fight with Max. Well, try. Look, kid, please don't forget to tell Mom and Dad I love them. I love Max and you, too. Well, I do. No, I'm not being weird, you little creep. You promise? Okay. Be a good girl. I love you. Bye. He hangs up in profound depression. Leaving the booth he sees an outdoor clock. It is 4:15. He sighs, then catches sight of something.81 EXT. CINEMA - DAY - DAVID'S P.O.V. There stands Jack, now truly rotted and ghastly. He's pretty much dried out, a third of his face gone revealing the grinning skull. He waves to David. Jack points inside the theater and goes in. David smiles, walks across the intersection, and up to the box office. TICKET LADY Two and a half quid, please. David reaches in his pocket. All he has are traveler's checks. DAVID Will you take a traveler's check? TICKET LADY No, sorry. David signs a $100 check and hands it to her. DAVID Keep the change. TICKET LADY Well, thank you, sir! She gives him a ticket. David goes in.82 INT. CINEMA - DAY A film (to be determined) plays on screen. The small theater is mostly empty. A few snoring BUMS and wide- eyed CHILDREN are scattered about. Jack sits in the last row in the shadows. He waves to David. David goes and sits next to him. DAVID Hi, Jack. JACK Hi, David. They sit for a while watching the screen. DAVID What can I say, Jack? JACK You don't have to say anything. DAVID Aren't you going to say, `I told you so'? JACK If I was still alive, I probably would. DAVID You look awful. JACK Thank you. DAVID (apologizes quickly) I didn't mean it. I don't know what I'm saying. I'm not even sure it was me who killed those people. I don't remember doing it. JACK What about the zoo? DAVID Well, even if I'm not the wolfman, I am crazy enough to do something like that. I mean, here I sit in Leicester Square talking to a corpse. I'm glad to see you, Jack. JACK I want you to meet some people. Sitting down the row from Jack is a man, GERALD BRINGSLY, completely in the shadow. JACK David Kessler, this is Gerald Bringsly. DAVID Hello. JACK Gerald is the man you murdered in the subway. We thought it best you didn't see him as he's a fresh kill and still pretty messy. BRINGSLY (in shadow; very English) Yes, I do look most unpleasant. The camera pans down to show the blood dripping from the seat to a puddle on the floor. DAVID (horrified) Why are you doing this to me, Jack? BRINGSLY This isn't Mr. Goodman's idea. He is your good friend, whereas I am a victim of your carnivorous lunar activities. DAVID (appalled) Mr. Bringsly, I'm sorry. I have absolutely no idea what to say to you. BRINGSLY You've left my wife a widow and my children fatherless. And I understand that I am to walk the earth one of the living dead until the wolf's bloodline is severed and the curse lifted. Bringlsy leans forward almost into the light, he glistens. BRINGSLY You must die, David Kessler. JACK David, this is Harry Berman and his fiancee Judith Browns. The two victims lean forward from their seats next to Mr. Bringsly. We can just make out that Harry has one arm missing. JACK And these gentlemen are Alf, Ted, and Joseph. The Three Derelicts sit next to Harry and Judith. All are slick in the darkness, the light from the screen illuminating their gore. DERELICT #2 Can't say we're pleased to meet you, Mr. Kessler. DAVID (defeated) What shall I do? JACK Suicide. HARRY (adamantly) You must take your own life! DAVID That's easy for you to say - you're already dead. BRINGSLY No, David. Harry and I and everyone you murder are not dead. The undead. DAVID (to Jack) Why are you doing this to me? JACK Because this must be stopped. DAVID How shall I do it? JUDITH Sleeping pills? DERELICT #1 Not sure enough. DAVID I could hang myself. JACK If you did it wrong, it would be painful. You'd choke to death. DERELICT #3 So what? Let `im choke. JACK Do you mind? The man's a friend of mine. DERELICT #3 Well he ain't no friend of mine. BRINGSLY Gentlemen, please. HARRY A gun. DERELICT #1 I know where he can get a gun. DAVID Don't I need a silver bullet or something? JACK Be serious, would you? David puts his head in his hands. DAVID Madness. I've gone totally mad. HARRY A gun is good. JUDITH You just put the gun to your forehead and pull the trigger. BRINGSLY If you put it in your mouth, then you'd be sure not to miss. DAVID Thank you, you're all so thoughtful. As the conversation continues, the camera pulls back from the grisly tableau. David grabs his head suddenly. CUT TO:83 EXT. BIG BEN - NIGHT The clock strikes eleven. The full moon is up.84 INT. CINEMA - NIGHT David is dripping wet and shaking violently. Three small children, the oldest nine, stand in the aisle staring at him. DAVID (gasps out in anguish) Go away! Please! Go away! The children watch, fascinated as David's seizures grow more severe. DAVID (his face contorting) Run! Please...run. His hands clutch the arms of his chair. Coarse thick hair splits his skin. The children's eyes widen in fascination.85 EXT. CINEMA - NIGHT Roars and screams come from inside the theater. The TICKET TAKER at the door says to the Ticket Lady: TICKET TAKER I'll check on the house. He goes inside the theater.86 INT. CINEMA - NIGHT The Ticket Taker enters the theater. The movie continues on screen, but all else is quiet. He cautiously continues down the aisle. He sees something and makes his way towards it. He looks down in horror. THE WOLF SPRINGS! CUT TO:87 EXT. LEICESTER SQUARE - NIGHT From way up high we look down on the sidewalks and single out TWO BOBBIES running furiously to the cinema through the busy traffic.88 EXT. CINEMA - NIGHT The two cops run up, the Ticket Lady is hysterical. TICKET LADY It's horrible, horrible! There's a beast! A mad dog! It's killing people in there! One cop stays with the lady, the other rushes inside.89 INT. CINEMA - NIGHT The cop enters a side door to find several bloodied corpses. He hears something, looks over to see the Wolf hunched over a victim. The Wolf turns, eyes blazing, mouth dripping with blood. We see it clearly for the first time. It is truly a hound from hell, its wolfen features a hideous sight. Its eyes fierce, burning green. The Wolf roars and starts for the cop. The cop rushes out and slams the door behind him.90 EXT. CINEMA As the cop bolts the door shut. COP #1 For God's sake, Tom, there's a monster in there! The doors shudder as the Wolf begins to batter them down. The cops strain to keep them shut. COP #1 Call for assistance and tell them to bring guns. Pedestrians start milling around. The door is bulging. The Wolf's roars continue. COP #2 Keep moving! Will you people get out of the way!91 INT. DR. HIRSCH'S OFFICE - NIGHT Alex is asleep. Dr. Hirsch wakes her. DR. HIRSCH Nurse Hobbs said there's a disturbance in Leicester Square involving some sort of mad dog. ALEX David? DR. HIRSCH I doubt it. But it's something to do.92 INT. POLICE STATION - NIGHT An officer unlocks a rack of rifles which are distributed to uniformed men.93 INT. CINEMA - NIGHT Police cars arrive, sirens blaring. Officers are pushing the crowd back as other men help hold the door closed against the Wolf's battering. Another police car pulls up and out steps Lt. Villiers and Sgt. McManus. LT. VILLIERS What the hell is going on here? COP It's some kind of animal, sir. We.... Suddenly the doors splinter apart and there stands the Wolf, eyes blazing. It leaps on Lt. Villiers, savaging him. The crowd falls back in panic. The Wolf runs into traffic, a cab swerves to avoid hitting it and plows into fleeing pedestrians hurling one through a shop window. Mass confusion as orders are shouted and the police pursue the Wolf. It runs down an alleyway into a cul de sac. It stops in the darkness, blocked by a brick wall. The Wolf whirls around, defiant, roaring. The cops quickly barricade the entrance to the alley.94 INT. TAXI - NIGHT The taxi is halted by the traffic jam in Leicester Square. Police vehicles roar past. ALEX David! It's David! She jumps from the car before Dr. Hirsch can stop her.95 EXT. CUL DE SAC - NIGHT The police arrive with weapons and efficiently ring the alley. Alex runs to them. ALEX Let me through! COP Stand clear, miss! ALEX I must get through! Alex dodges the cop and runs into the alley. The officers shout after her. Dr. Hirsch reaches the police line. DR. HIRSCH Alex! Alex walks towards the dark end of the alley. ALEX David? Is it you? Is it true, David? She's almost to the end. The Wolf lays in wait in the shadows. The police raise their weapons. ALEX David? THE WOLF REARS UP. In that brief instant, Alex realizes it will kill her. OFFICER Fire! The guns blaze. The Wolf falls dead. Alex leans on the wall, numb. The cops, Dr. Hirsch, and Sgt. McManus run to the dead Wolf only to find David, naked and riddled with bullets. Alex begins to weep. FADE TO: BLACK END CREDITS OVER BLACK SONG: The fifties rock version of "Blue Moon". THE END
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+                             THE AMERICAN                              Written by                             Rowan Joffe             Based on the novel A Very Private Gentleman                                 by                            Martin Booth                                                       Draft 2.1                                                        13.05.09    FADE IN:1   EXT. DALSLAND, SWEDEN- TWILIGHT                            1    A lake.    A forest.    A dacha.    A Saab outside the dacha.    A light within.2   INT. DACHA- NIGHT                                          2    JACK (dark, fit, mid-forties) is staring at the embers of a    log fire. He sips from a thick cut crystal glass of whiskey.    The impressive US Army Special Forces crest tattooed on the    shoulder of his bare torso is at odds with JACK's quiet    manner and the distinguished silver that flecks his hair and    stubble. JACK is no longer young.    A creak behind him and his eyes flick over his left shoulder.    INGRID (34) is naked. With an intimate familiarity she kisses    JACK on the top of his head, sits close behind him and wraps    her arms around her lover, linking her slender hands across    his upper chest.    Her head resting on his shoulder, her face beside his, INGRID    and JACK watch the fire together in easy silence.3   EXT. WOODS- MORNING                                        3    INGRID leads JACK through the trees. Her coat has a white fur    collar. They are fresh-faced and warm from bed.    They head towards a vast and frozen lake.    JACK senses something in the woods.    Beneath the Conifers: impenetrable darkness.    JACK looks around.    Thick snow blankets the world and muffles any sound. There is    not the slightest breeze.                          INGRID                What are you looking for?    Her Swedish accent is sing-song.                                                           2.                           JACK              Nothing.    His anxiety is evident.    INGRID laughs out loud.                        INGRID              There are no wolves in the woods so              close to the city.    JACK smiles.4   EXT. LAKESIDE- MORNING                                        4    They continue through the woods until they reach the    shoreline of the lake.    INGRID steps onto the ice.    Holds out her hand.    A beat.    JACK takes INGRID's hand.    Solid as stone, the frozen lake takes his weight.    They walk out, INGRID slipping and laughing.    The landscape is magical.    JACK begins to relax, slipping and swearing.    Suddenly, he stops.    There are footprints in the thin snow going out across the    lake.                           INGRID              Snow-hare.    Beside the Snow-hare's prints are those of a man.                           INGRID              A hunter?    JACK studies the two sets of tracks.    Those of the Snow-hare are heading out into the lake. The    man's prints are heading in the opposite direction, towards    the shoreline.    JACK spins around in the direction they've just come from.    No one.                                                        3.Then, about ten metres inland from the edge of the lake, alow branch dips and a thick rug of snow falls from thebranch.JACK grabs INGRID, yanks her towards the cover of thelakeside trees and pushes her down into the snow.She grunts, winded. He lies besides her.We hear the CRACK of a bullet- so quiet it might be a boughsnapping under the weight of winter.It isn't.JACK pulls a WALTHER PPK/S semi-automatic handgun from thepocket of his Parka.Cocks it.Waits.Then bobs up and down once.There's another CRACK from the trees.JACK pinpoints the spot from the drift of BLUE SMOKE, almostinvisible in the winter air.There's someone in the shadows.He rubs snow into his woollen hat, edges up until he can justsee over the snow and pumps THREE SHOTS into the dusk underthe trees.We hear a muttering groan and then a sliding sound, as ifJACK has just shot a tobogganist.More snow slides off the trees.JACK waits.INGRID gathers her breath but loses her wits:                      INGRID            You have a gun.JACK keeps his eyes fixed on the trees.                      INGRID            You have a gun! How do you have a            gun? Why should you carry such a            weapon?JACK looks at her briefly but makes no reply.She is busy thinking.So is he.                                                         4.                       INGRID          Jack?He stands up slowly and walks inland towards the corpse thatis just visible now in the shadows beneath the trees.INGRID follows, frightened.The MAN is slouched forwards in a drift of snow, his bodycushioned in white softness.JACK kicks the sole of his boot. He's dead.                    INGRID          Jack talk to me!JACK grabs his collar and turns him over.He doesn't recognise him.JACK fumbles at his buttons and rummages in his clothing.In his breast pocket he finds a MILITARY IDENTITY PASS.                       INGRID          Who is he?                       JACK          A hunter.                    INGRID          He's not dressed like a hunter. Why          is he alone? Hunters always go in          pairs. For safety.Swiftly, JACK removes the bolt from the man's rifle andthrows it far into the trees.                    JACK          Go for help. Call the police.INGRID sets off, stumbling up the track they have madethrough the snow.JACK shoots her just once, in the nape of her neck.She twitches in the snow, her blood staining the white fur ofher coat collar.From a distance, INGRID looks like a shot Snow-hair.JACK approaches her.And steps over her, trying not to look down.Trying not to look back.                                                            5.5   EXT. DACHA- MORNING                                          5    Outside the dacha is another MAN, standing by a black    Mercedes-Benz sedan.    The second hunter.    He is holding an automatic pistol but he's not on alert.    JACK fells him easily with a bullet in the ear.    He removes the clip from his WALTHER and reloads it.6   INT. DACHA- MORNING                                          6    JACK packs a few belongings in a holdall.7   EXT. DACHA- MORNING                                          7    JACK smashes the CB radio in the Mercedes and removes the    distributor cap from the engine, burying it deep in the snow.    Then he gets into the Saab.    And drives off.8   TITLES                                                       8    Over images of: JACK on a ferry to Gotland; changing clothes    and vessels for Ystad; travelling by road to Trelleborg;    catching the night crossing to Travemunde; driving to Hamburg    and from Hamburg catching a train to...9   EXT. ROME- DAY                                               9    At a fast food stand not far from the central train station,    a middle-aged man is squirting ketchup on a hotdog.    It is Autumn, and without the usual mass of Summer tourists,    LARRY stands out as an American.    JACK does not.                        JACK              Blending in?    LARRY is shocked to see JACK but pretends the hot dog is the    centre of attention.                        LARRY              Jack. What brings you to Rome?                        JACK              I closed the Stockholm account.                                                           6.     LARRY might be older than JACK but he doesn't seem it. His     demeanour is sprightly.                         JACK               But there were complications.     Then LARRY turns and walks, eating carefully. He is not a man     who likes to get his hands dirty.     JACK walks beside him.     Both men keep a trained eye on their surroundings.                         JACK               Collateral damage. Two shooters.               Unidentified. [A beat] And a girl.     LARRY takes a bite of his hot dog and casts a sideways look     at JACK.     JACK is tired.                         LARRY               There's a bar across the street:               the L'Aquila. Freshen up. Sit               tight. Give me two hours.10   INT. BAR- DAY                                                10     JACK washes his face in the cramped bathroom at the back of     the bar.     In the background, on the stereo, The White Stripes cover One     More Cup of Coffee.     JACK stares at himself in the mirror. He looks exhausted.11   INT. BAR- DAY                                                11     JACK is sitting at the back of the bar. He has a good view of     the whole establishment: including the entrance and the door     to the bathrooms.     He lights a cigarette.     LARRY comes in and sits opposite him.                         LARRY                   (genuinely shocked)               You started smoking again?     JACK exhales.                           JACK               Guess so.                                                         7.                    LARRY          Since when?                       JACK          Since now.The WAITER slides over and flicks a cloth at the table.                       WAITER          Cafe?                       LARRY          Due.The WAITER disappears.A beat.LARRY puts an ENVELOPE on the table.                    LARRY          Stockholm account. Final          installment.JACK takes the envelope and puts it in an inside pocket.LARRY is about to speak but stops.The WAITER reappears and puts down two cups of coffee.LARRY puts two cubes of sugar in his cup and starts stirring.Then speaks low and fast:                    LARRY          You can't stay here, Jack. You          won't see `em coming, not in a big          city. But you can't go far, either.          If the gentlemen whose accounts you          closed belonged to Brink, Gallazzo,          Simenov- any of the first division-          you have four or five hours at most          before every airport, train          station, bus stop, toll booth and          ski lift from Stockholm to Skopje          is under surveillance.JACK smokes.                       JACK          So.Not a question. An acknowledgement that LARRY knows exactlywhat he's talking about. And JACK is listening.                                                           8.                         LARRY               So. You find a hole- somewhere               nearby- and you crawl into it and               you stay put until I say it's safe               to come out.     JACK's expression is as immoveable as a cliff face.                         LARRY               Turn right outside the bar then               second left. Via Spinetti. You'll               find a silver Citroen C2 with               Chieti plates. Check the glove box               and follow the map. Castelvecchio.               It's a fucking fortress. Literally.               And as dead as a graveyard. Anyone               within a three to five mile radius               you'll see `em coming.     He pushes something across the table. A MOBILE PHONE in a     cellophane bag.                         LARRY               Get there. Stay there.     LARRY finishes his coffee and dabs at the corners of his     mouth with a napkin.                         LARRY               Do nothing `till you get my call.12   INT. CAR- DAY                                               12     JACK gets into a compact Citroen C2: nothing flash.     He opens the glove compartment and finds a PLAIN MANILLA     ENVELOPE.     Inside the envelope is:     -a PASSPORT bearing Jack's photo in the name of Edward Clarke     -a DRIVER'S LICENSE in the same name     -and a MAP.13   EXT. AUTOSTRADA- DAY                                        13     A long tunnel: one of the longest in Europe.     JACK at the wheel.     It seems like night: red stripes, strip lights, shadows.     Vast fans suspended from the ceiling shift the traffic fumes.                                                             9.     A button of light, expanding...     ...as we burst into daylight.14   EXT. ITALIAN LANDSCAPE- DAY                                  14     We're in another world.     JACK'S CAR is winding its way up a twisting mountain road     towards...     ...a ramshackle, lonely, desolate Italian HILLTOP TOWN.     The town sits beneath it's own castle. Medieval towers,     gables, streets and church bells: framed by the snow-capped     mountain peaks beyond.     This is not the Italy of E.M. Forster or of Bella Tuscany.     This is the Italy where the Crusaders built their fortresses.     The Italy where Sergio Leone conceived of his great Westerns.     A CHURCH BELL tolls...15   EXT. CROSS ROADS- DAY                                        15     JACK stops the car.     At the crossroads is a SIGNPOST pointing to the town.     The sign reads:                             CASTELVECCHIO.16   INT. CAR- CONTINUOUS                                         16     JACK looks at the sign.     He looks up at the silent town, at the vast stone ramparts.     An OLD MAN comes out of a crooked medieval doorway, stares at     JACK and disappears into another building.     JACK looks at the dead sockets of the windows, random beneath     the rotting patchwork of rooves.     A DOG barks. The WIND hisses. The atmosphere is deathly.     JACK makes a decision.     And drives away.17   EXT. ITALIAN LANDSCAPE- DAY                                  17     We see JACK'S CAR heading away from CASTELVECCHIO.                                                          10.     The CAR crosses a spectacular VIADUCT that spans a deep     RAVINE.     The driver's window opens.     A MOBILE PHONE in a cellophane bag is thrown out.     It drops hundreds of feet down the ravine.                                                    FADE OUT.     FADE IN:18   EXT. CASTEL DEL MONTE, MAIN SQUARE- DAY                      18     CASTEL DEL MONTE is a well preserved, happy looking little     mediaeval town with a handful of tourists.     A chunk of time has passed.     JACK is sitting on a table outside a small BAR wearing dark     glasses, sipping a coffee and reading a guide book. He looks     like a tastefully dressed, well educated American tourist. He     blends in. And no one pays him much attention as he finishes     his coffee, pays his bill, gets up and leaves.     We follow JACK as he passes the parapet of the town ramparts     and looks across the spectacular valley...     ...towards the deserted CASTELVECCHIO.19   EXT. CASTEL DEL MONTE, OLD TOWN CENTRE- DAY                  19     At a leisurely pace, JACK passes a row of municipal rubbish     bins just inside the fortified gates to the old town.     Hidden well behind the bins we catch sight of JACK's parked     CAR.20   EXT. CASTEL DEL MONTE, TOWN SQUARE- DAY                      20     We're right in the heart of the mediaeval old town: like the     stronghold at the centre of a castle.     JACK approaches a small family run bed and breakfast just off     the main square.     The sign reads: "PENSIONE ABRUZZO".21   INT. PENSIONE ABRUZZO- DAY                                   21     The internal courtyard is refreshingly cool.                                                          11.     In the centre of the courtyard is a FOUNTAIN made of marble     shot through with black veins.     In the fountain stands an alabaster STATUE OF A GIRL. She's     wearing a toga and holding a clam shell from which the water     falls. The water is delivered by a two and quarter millimetre     diameter pipe made of bronze.     As JACK crosses the courtyard he glances at the STATUE.     He finds it hard to tear his eyes away.22   INT. PENSIONE ABRUZZO, JACK'S ROOM- DAY                      22     A toothbrush in the glass by the sink.     The guidebook on the bedside table.     Apart for this, JACK has avoided unpacking: living entirely     out of his holdall for some time.     From the holdall, JACK produces a pair of Leica 15x56 Geovid     BRF Rangefinding BINOCULARS.     Through his casement window he has good view of     CASTELVECCHIO.     He sweeps the town in grid formation: calm and methodical.     This is a routine assessment.     JACK's POV: apart from the occasional appearance of an old     man, woman or dog, the dead town across the valley is empty.23   INT. PENSIONE ABRUZZO, JACK'S ROOM- NIGHT                    23     JACK is lying on top of his bed, fully clothed and wide     awake.     Taped to the inside of the wooden bed frame...     ...is his WALTHER semi-automatic handgun.24   EXT. CASTEL DEL MONTE, OLD TOWN CENTRE- DAY                  24     Blinding SUN fills frame.     JACK is ostensibly photographing the sights: the mediaeval     architecture, the square, the church.25   EXT. CASTEL DEL MONTE, CHURCH- DAY                           25     The CHURCH is at the top of town. A PRIEST, dressed in black,     surveys the world below him:                                                            12.     Locals are going about their business, a few scattered     tourists are enjoying their holiday. One `tourist' catches     the PRIEST's attention.     Perhaps it's his build. Or the fact that he's the only     tourist on his own. Or perhaps it's the obsessive grid-like     methodology with which JACK photographs the little town...26   EXT. CASTEL DEL MONTE, ALLEYWAY- DAY                         26     JACK turns casually down one of the town's many narrow     alleyways.     The alleyway way bends left and right in a series of blind     corners and dark tunnels, the street enclosed by arches,     criss-crossed by flying stone buttresses and flanked by     outside stairwells. It's a stalker's heaven- or hell-     depending on how dangerous the prey.     JACK proceeds along the alleyway until he gets to a     crossroads where FOUR NARROW ALLEYWAYS converge. Each     alleyway leads uphill or downhill with varying degrees of     steepness. JACK photographs each alleyway.     From an upstairs window he can hear the soundtrack of a game     show on television. From another alleyway comes the sound of     a barking dog.     No dog is visible.     Curious, JACK turns around, walking back the way he came.     The sound of barking gets louder.     On his right hand side, JACK finds a HIDDEN ARCHWAY.     The HIDDEN ARCHWAY resembles an archer's slit but is big     enough for a gown man to slip through. Unlike a window, the     `slit' is actually just a crack in a triangular convergence     of two separate and slightly overlapping ancient stone walls.     The confluence of two stone surfaces makes the narrow gap     between them very, very difficult to spot.     JACK slips though the HIDDEN ARCHWAY.     Inside is a courtyard.27   INT. COURTYARD- DAY                                          27     Rotting doors lead to abandoned cellars and storerooms.     A MONGREL tied to a post is barking savagely, his leash     keeping him inches from sinking his bared fangs into JACK.     JACK stares at the dog: a mysterious creature of fear and     fury.                                                          13.28   EXT. NARROW ALLEYWAY- DAY                                    28     JACK reappears through the HIDDEN ARCHWAY and slips back into     the narrow alleyway. It's like he's materialised from thin     air.     He takes 2 PHOTOGRAPHS:     -first of the HIDDEN ARCHWAY     -and then of the street sign: VIA ROMANA.     Just then a MAN on an original 1970s DUCATI turns down the     alleyway and drives towards him.     Casually, JACK continues walking.     The DUCATI gets nearer. The MAN ON THE DUCATI is wearing a     black crash helmet with a tinted visor.     JACK picks up his pace.     The DUCATI is ten metres away.     JACK's right hand moves towards his pocket.     Five metres.     JACK's hand goes in his pocket.     Two metres.     BANG!     JACK drops to his knees.     BANG!     The DUCATI backfires for a second time.     A pause.     Still on his knees, JACK pretends to tie his right shoe lace.     The MAN ON THE DUCATI stops outside an apartment further up     the alleyway, gets off his rickety motorbike and removes his     helmet. He's a corpulent, ruddy faced Italian man in his late     sixties.     He glances at JACK.     JACK stands.                          MAN ON DUCATI                Buon giorno!                          JACK                Buon giorno.                                                            14.                            MAN ON DUCATI                  Da dove provenite?     For an instant, the directness of the question catches JACK     out.                             JACK                  America.                            MAN ON DUCATI                  Ah! L'Americano!                            JACK                  Si. Il Americano.     JACK's pronunciation is good but his grammar is a bit rusty.     Perhaps he's playing up on this. It suits the role of     American tourist.     The MAN laughs enthusiastically emphasizing the correct     grammar:                            MAN ON DUCATI                  L'Americano ! L'Americano!     A WOMAN'S VOICE comes from within the house- loud and angry-     distracting the MAN ON THE DUCATI, who screams back     passionately, enters his front door, and shuts it behind him     with a hearty slam.     JACK walks on.29   EXT. CASTEL DEL MONTE, TOWN SQUARE- DAY                      29     JACK puts some coins in a CIGARETTE MACHINE.     The MACHINE takes his money but won't dispense his     cigarettes.     He hits the refund button but nothing happens.     JACK checks the time.     And thumps the machine hard.     Footsteps.     JACK adjusts his position and checks the time again.                            VOICE (O.S.)                  Can I help you?     The man behind him is reflected in the surface of JACK's     battered ROLEX.                            JACK                  I'm no good with machines.                                                     15.JACK turns, smiling politely.The PRIEST smiles back.He is dressed in an ill-fitting, un-stylish black suit, ablack silk stock and a deep Roman collar fraying at the edge.His name is FATHER BENEDETTO. He is older than JACK.                    FATHER BENEDETTO          You are American.This is stated matter-of-factly: like a man practisingEnglish.                    JACK          Si.                    FATHER BENEDETTO          You speak Italian?                    JACK          Poco.                    FATHER BENEDETTO          Va bene! You stay at Pensione          Arbruzzo.Also a statement: this time with touch of triumph.JACK is disconcerted but doesn't show it.                    JACK          Not for much longer.                    FATHER BENEDETTO          On vacation?                    JACK          Working vacation.This much is true- after a fashion. They speak in Englishunless otherwise specified:                    FATHER BENEDETTO          Lavoro? Che genere de lavoro?                    JACK          Photographer.                    FATHER BENEDETTO          Va bene. Che genere de fotografia?                    JACK          Pictures of the region.          Architecture, landscapes...                    FATHER BENEDETTO          People?                                                          16.     He stands straight and smiles winningly.                         JACK               No people. Sights and landmarks.               For guidebooks, magazines...                         FATHER BENEDETTO               Ah! Magazine! Which magazine?     JACK shows no discomfort.                         JACK               Actually it's a syndicate. Lots of               different publications. Um... Casa               editrice.                         FATHER BENEDETTO               Va bene. So you must share a glass               of wine with me. Questa sera. This               evening.     A beat.     JACK is slightly thrown.                         JACK               You're very kind, but I...                         FATHER BENEDETTO               Certo. You want to know the truth               about Abruzzo? A priest sees               everything.30   EXT. PAY PHONE, CASTEL DEL MONTE- DAY                      30     JACK is using the local PAY PHONE.                         LARRY (V.O.)               Do you have any idea how long I've               been trying to reach you? What               happened to the cell I gave you?     JACK speaks quietly, keeping an eye on the town square:                         JACK               Did I forget to mention my               electromagnetic hypersensitivity?                         LARRY (V.O.)               Don't get jumpy on me, Jack. That               cell was secure.     JACK lights a cigarette.                                                          17.                          LARRY (V.O.)                I've got a job. It's a custom fit.                You don't even have to pull the                trigger.                          JACK                Who's the client?                          LARRY (V.O.)                Relax. She triple checks out. Plus                she comes to you. You don't have to                move an inch.                          JACK                This is a small town, Larry. I                don't like small towns. I grew up                in one. Besides, I'm already                attracting attention.                          LARRY (V.O.)                So will anyone who's trying to kill                you.     This is a good point.     JACK lights a cigarette.                          JACK                I'll think about it.                          LARRY (V.O.)                Think about this. I cleaned up your                shit and made you disappear. You                owe me my usual twenty percent                commission plus the first                installment. The rest is yours.                After this you're free.     On JACK.     Turning over the word.31   INT. FATHER BENEDETTO'S HOUSE- MAGIC HOUR                    31     The SUN is sinking behind the high mountains that overlook     the hilltop town.     JACK is wearing an immaculate white linen shirt.     He's sitting in a small walled garden snuggled at the rear of     a crumbling fifteenth century edifice, overlooked yet     secluded and trapping the last rays of the sun.     FATHER BENEDETTO pours two large glasses of brandy from a     globulous green bottle of ARMAGNAC and sniffs his drink like     a honey bee hovering over a bloom.                                                     18.                    FATHER BENEDETTO          Que siamo! The quality of the          brandy is good, the liquor is          smooth and the glass warmed by the          sun.He pronounces warmed "war-med". His English is sophisticatedbut quaint, like an out-of-date book.JACK sniffs his drink before he sips it. Not like aconnoisseur: like a White House taster checking the safety ofa Presidential beverage.                    FATHER BENEDETTO              (in ENGLISH)          The only good thing to come from          the Francesi, everything else...FATHER BENEDETTO grimaces.                     FATHER BENEDETTO          The French are... pezzi di merda.          This is not an American discovery.          Italians have known this for          centuries. [In ITALIAN] When Rome          called France the province of Gaul,          they were just the same. Arrogant          sensualists. Their cuisine is fussy          and their wine effeminate. Only          their brandy is worthy of any          attention.FATHER BENEDETTO looks at JACK.                    FATHER BENEDETTO              (in ENGLISH)          Forgive me. I speak too fast. You          study our history?                    JACK          No.FATHER BENEDETTO looks horrified.                    FATHER BENEDETTO          You come to Italy to make a guide          book and you don't care about          history?                    JACK          I take pictures, father.A beat.                    FATHER BENEDETTO          Of course. You are American. You          think you can escape history. You          live for the present.                                                            19.     A beat.     JACK likes this man. His shrewdness is disconcerting but     humane.     JACK sips his brandy.                         JACK               I try to, father.32   EXT. L'AQUILA- EVENING                                       32     Suburban sprawl with a mediaeval heart. L'AQUILA is the     capital of the Abruzzo region and the nearest big town to     Castel del Monte and Castelveccio.     Like these two villages L'AQUILA is relatively isolated,     nestled high up in the Appenine mountains.33   EXT. L'AQUILA, SHOPPING STREET- EVENING                      33     JACK comes out of a SUPERMARKET carrying two bags of     groceries and turns quickly down a dark side street.34   EXT. L'AQUILA, VIA LAMPEDUSA- EVENING                        34     JACK passes a sign for a MODELLING AGENCY. It's a small,     inconspicuous sign, but it catches his eye because its     graphics are subtly lewd and it's attached to the buzzer of     what is otherwise a purely residential apartment block.     Entering the apartment block is a beautiful twenty four year-     old Italian girl.     CLARA.     She catches JACK's eye.     He walks on.35   INT. CASTEL DEL MONTE, PENSIONE ABRUZZO, JACK'S ROOM- NIGHT 35     The remnants of a simple yet sophisticated meal: apple,     pecorino cheese, honey and walnuts.     On his lap top, JACK has organised several weeks worth of     PHOTOGRAPHS of CASTEL DEL MONTE into three categories:           1. Street plan           2. Exit routes/car           3. Exit routes/foot                                                           20.     Now he is cleaning and oiling his WALTHER PPK/S.36   INT. PENSIONE ABRUZZO, JACK'S ROOM- DAY                      36     JACK completes his morning exercises then showers and     dresses. His manner is precise and methodical. Only a man who     has lived alone for many years can live like this.     When his preparations are complete, he picks up his     BINOCULARS and studies the nearby town of CASTELVECCHIO     through his medieval casement window.37   EXT. CASTELVECCIO, JACK'S POV- CONTINUOUS                    37     The dead town has come to life!     There's a MARKET in progress. The central piazza is a hive of     activity. Food, local produce, clothes and cheap CD stalls.     The market has attracted TOURISTS. Standing by a phone box     not far from a cheese stall is an attractive WOMAN in dark     glasses. She's rifling through her handbag, searching for     something. Under her right arm is a rolled up copy of Il     Messaggero.     We notice the front page of the Italian daily newspaper has     been folded in half.38   INT. PENSIONE ABRUZZO, JACK'S ROOM- CONTINUOUS               38     JACK lowers his binoculars.     Thinks.     Decides to proceed with caution.39   EXT. CASTELVECCHIO- DAY                                      39     Moving through the busy market, JACK is also carrying a copy     of Il Messaggero...     ...with the front page folded in half.     He approaches the OLD WOMAN running a cheese stall.                         JACK               Un po' di formaggio, per favore.                         OLD WOMAN               Quale? Pecorino, parmigiano?                         JACK               Questo.                                                            21.     He points.                            JACK                  E un po' di pecorino.     JACK glances casually around for the WOMAN.     She's sitting outside a CAFE about twenty metres away,     chatting on her cellphone.     JACK pays for his cheese and approaches the cafe.40   EXT. CASTELVECCHIO, CAFE- DAY                                40     JACK sits at an empty table next to the WOMAN.     She finishes her call in English. She's well spoken. As she     replaces the phone in her handbag, she knocks the newspaper     off her table.     JACK picks it up.                            WOMAN                  Grazie.                            JACK                  Prego. You're welcome.                            WOMAN                  You're American.                            JACK                  "Amidst gathering clouds".     The WOMAN speaks quickly, purposefully, barely looking at     JACK.                            WOMAN                  You're assuming I'm English or                  you'd never have mentioned the                  weather. In fact I'm Belgian but I                  went to boarding school in England.                  And am quite happy to converse on                  all subjects meteorological.     Judging by her stilted choice of words this is code.     A WAITER comes out and flicks a cloth over the table. It's     nearly midday and the sun is hot. He speaks with a tired     voice:                            WAITER                  Buon giorno. Desidera?     He's addressing the WOMAN.                                                     22.                    WOMAN          Una spremute di limone. Per favore.Her Italian accent is perfect.                       WAITER          Signore?The WOMAN looks at JACK for the first time, studying him,awaiting his answer as if a great deal depended on it.                    JACK          Una gelata alla fragola. Per          favore.The final fail safe.Now they can introduce themselves:                       JACK          Edward.                       WOMAN          Mathilde.The identification process over, there is nothing more to dobut get down to business- and conversation becomes suddenlyawkward.                    MATHILDE          It's hot. My car has no air          conditioning. I asked for it,          but...She trails off.                    JACK          What car did they give you?Her HAZEL eyes flick over the crowd in front of the cafe.She doesn't answer.JACK clears his throat.Then says quietly:                       JACK          Range?She takes a long time to answer. When she does, she does soover the rim of her half-empty coffee cup, scanning the crowdlike a cheating wife customarily anxious not to be seen byher husband.                    MATHILDE          One fifty to one seven five meters.                                                        23.                       JACK          Time?                    MATHILDE          Five seconds. Seven at the most.                       JACK          Targets?                       MATHILDE          One.                       JACK          Fire rate?                       MATHILDE          Rapid.                    JACK          Magazine capacity?                    MATHILDE          Large. Preferably 9mm Parabellum.The WAITER delivers the Spremuta and the raspberry ice-cream.The glass of lemon juice twists in MATHILDE's slenderfingers.                    MATHILDE          The weapon must be fairly light.          And compact. Possible to be broken          down into its constituent parts.                    L'AMERICANO          How compact?                    MATHILDE          As compact as possible.JACK clears his throat.                    JACK          You want a submachine gun to fit in          a lady's purse?                    MATHILDE          A small vanity case would be          permissible.                    JACK          A small briefcase would be          possible.A beat.                                                        24.                     JACK           X-rays? Camouflage: lap-top, DVD           player, MP3 or digital camera?She's not sure if he's joking or not. Neither are we.                     MATHILDE           Not necessary.                        JACK           Noise?                        MATHILDE           Silencer.                     JACK           No such thing. You'll have to make           do with a suppressor like everyone           else. It'll dampen the decibels,           dislocate the sound source and           reduce muzzle flash. I can't make           you silent but I can make you           invisible as the Finnish phrase           goes, but only as long as you're           prepared to lose some range.JACK scans the crowd.On the other side of the square he spots a YOUNG MAN in hismid-thirties with short blonde hair and slight sunburn,hovering by a stall. Average height, slim, athletic build;sunglasses, stone-washed designer jeans very neatly pressedwith a sharp crease.                     JACK           Two o'clock.                        MATHILDE           Excuse me?                     JACK           By the clothes stall. Light blue           shirt, open at the neck, expensive           buff suede shoes. Is he with you?The YOUNG MAN has disappeared into the crowd.                     MATHILDE           I didn't see him. In any case, I'm           alone.A pause.JACK's jaw muscles grind.                     MATHILDE           I can accept a slight loss of           range.                                                             25.                          JACK                You want a weapon with the firing                capacity of a submachine gun and                the range of a rifle.                          MATHILDE                Can you do it?     A beat.                          JACK                Give me a month. To trial. Then a                week for final adjustments.41   EXT. CASTEL DEL MONTE, LANDSCAPE- TWILIGHT                    41     The sun is sinking.     It's hunting hour.     A FALCON hovers on the wind above the town, looking for prey.42   INT. CASTEL DEL MONTE, PENSIONE ABRUZZO- NIGHT                42     JACK is lying on top of his bed, fully clothed but fast     asleep.     His eyes roll left and right beneath his lids.     He's dreaming.     In his right hand is a book of MEDIEVAL ITALIAN ART &     ARCHITECTURE.     Twitching in his sleep, JACK's grip on the ART & ARCHITECTURE     BOOK slowly loosens...     THUD!     As the BOOK hits the floor JACK opens his eyes, sits up and     rips the taped WALTHER from beneath the bed, pointing it at     the door.     Silence.     JACK's heart is beating.43   INT. PENSIONE ABRUZZO, JACK'S ROOM- MORNING                   43     JACK is looking through his BINOCULARS.     JACK'S POV:     ...of a small yellow and blue Italian POST OFFICE VAN heading     up the winding alpine road towards CASTELVECCIO.                                                             26.44   EXT. CASTELVECCHIO- DAY                                       44     With the market gone, the town is once more dead.     And provides no cover.     JACK parks his car not far from the town square, turns off     the engine and gets out.45   EXT. CASTELVECCHIO, TOWN SQUARE, CAFE- DAY                    45     JACK is sitting in the CAFE where he met Mathilde.     He is watching the entrance to the local POST OFFICE.     He studies his WATCH.     It's been an hour and no one has come or gone from the tiny     rural branch of the Poste Italiane.     JACK puts the correct amount of change on the table and gets     up...46   INT. CASTELVECCHIO, POST OFFICE- DAY                          46     The shop is small and dusty.     So is the POSTMASTER.                         JACK               Buon giorno.     The POSTMASTER grunts his reply, jutting his chin.                         JACK               Il fermo posta?     The POSTMASTER turns to a rack of pigeonholes behind a sack     of mail hanging in a metal frame like an old person's walking     aid. From one pigeonhole he draws a bundle of general     delivery envelopes held together by an elastic band. Some     have been there for weeks. Months even.                         POSTMASTER               Nome?     A beat.                         JACK               Clarke.     Deftly, like a teller counting through a thick wad of     banknotes he flicks through the mail with thin, wasted     fingers.                                                            27.                               POSTMASTER                  Clarky?                            JACK                  Clarke. Una pacchetto.                               POSTMASTER                  Pacchetto!     This makes all the difference. The POSTMASTER clicks again,     disappearing behind the rack of pigeon holes...                            POSTMASTER                  Clarky, Clarky, Clarky. Ecco.     ...and reappearing with a PACKAGE.     The PACKAGE is from an Italian PHOTOGRAPHIC SUPPLIERS.                               JACK                  Grazie.                            POSTMASTER                  Identificazione.     JACK flicks his eyes downwards. He has already put his     PASSPORT on the counter.     The POSTMASTER scoops it up with bony fingers.     Looks from the picture to JACK.     JACK bears the scrutiny with a deadly straight face.47   INT. CASTEL DEL MONTE, PENSIONE ARBRUZZO- EVENING            47     JACK unwraps the PACKAGE.     He removes:     -film     -photographic paper     -development fluids     -fixing solutions     Then:     -a solid, monolythic rectangular receiver made out of a     single piece of lightweight alloy.     -a bolt assembly.     -a barrel.                                                          28.     Only with this final piece is the puzzle complete.     Laid out on the floor is a SOCIMI 821 SUB-MACHINE GUN.     Without touching it, JACK studies the weapon like a     connoisseur looking at the hue of a wine. In particular he     notices that the SERIAL NUMBER has been scratched off.     Then he moves slowly, assembling the weapon with precision     engineered expertise:     -inserting the barrel into the front of the receiver and     securing it with the nut,     -opening the sidefolding tubular stock and engaging the     buttpad,     -snuggling the buttpad to his shoulder,     -looking down the barrel,     -and slowly squeezing back the finger-grooved TRIGGER as we                                                  SMASH CUT TO:48   INT. L'AQUILA, VIA LAMPEDUSA, CLARA'S ROOM- NIGHT            48     Our beautiful twenty four year-old Italian girl enters.     CLARA.     She sits on the edge of the bed, whose ageing metal springs     squeak slightly, and puts her smoking cigarette in an ashtray     on the bedside table.     She kicks off her slip-on shoes.     Slips off her panties.     Lifts her light cotton dress over her head and lies back on     the bed in one practised motion.     JACK sits on the bed beside her.     He doesn't look at her.                          ITALIAN GIRL               Amore?     She reaches up to touch JACK as we cut to:49   EXT. CASTEL DEL MONTE, PAY PHONE- DAY                        49     JACK is scanning the town square with his usual cautiousness.                                                             29.                         JACK               Your source in Rome.                         LARRY (V.O.)               Clean bill of health and no OC.               This was a straight favour with a               dollar chaser, Jack. The guy's got               a second cousin in NOCS on the               graft who filched him the Socimi.                         JACK               I hope you paid below the odds. The               more you pay them the more cops               gossip in the locker room.                         LARRY (V.O.)               No one's gossiping, Jack.     JACK watches FATHER BENEDETTO waving at him from the other     side of the square.                         JACK               Yet.50   EXT. TOWN SQUARE- DAY                                         50     FATHER BENEDETTO is sitting in his API three-wheeler.     This comical and endearing method of rural transportation is     a cross between a moped and a miniature pick-up truck.     In the back of the truck are a mass of writhing SNAKES.     The API is turning over but it won't start.     The bonnet is open. JACK is fixing the engine.     He gives a signal and FATHER BENEDETTO turns the ignition key     again.     This time the engine starts. FATHER BENEDETTO claps and     cheers.51   INT. FATHER BENEDETTO'S KITCHEN- EVENING                      51     Sixteenth century. Sombre wood panelling stained dark with     polish and smoke. Two paraffin lamps stand on a huge antique     sideboard, their frosted orbs engraved with scenes from the     life of Our Lord.     The room is filled with a dining table: a massive black     edifice of oak, five inches thick with six legs fluted like     the columns of cathedrals.                                                             30.     Using antique crockery, ancient copper pots and utensils like     old fashioned instruments of torture FATHER BENEDETTO     performs culinary alchemy: transforming flesh into meat,     dough into bread, hard earth nuggets into vegetables.     He hums as he cooks: Opera arias. And Johnny Cash.     JACK sips from a glass of wine and watches FATHER BENEDETTO     potter around the wood fired stove. The priest has his own     wine which he sips as he works between bouts of humming.52   INT. FATHER BENEDETTO'S KITCHEN- EVENING                      52     JACK eats a bowl of chilled carrot and sorrel soup in     silence.     FATHER BENEDETTO watches him, pleased to see his guest so     absorbed.     As soon as JACK has finished, FATHER BENEDETTO invites him to     help himself from the ancient tureen.     Then he bustles over to the stove, humming again.     JACK eats, studying a framed photo of FATHER BENEDETTO with     his arm around a tough, corpulent Italian man in his mid-     twenties. FABIO.     FATHER BENEDETTO returns to the table with a large covered     dish issuing steam into his face.     He notices JACK's eye-line.                         FATHER BENEDETTO               All the sheep in my flock are dear               to me, but some are dearer than               most. Especially those that have               strayed from the fold.     Off JACK's intrigued look FATHER BENEDETTO clarifies:                         FATHER BENEDETTO               Fabio. He is a... [in ITALIAN] 'car               doctor'. But I suspect his practice               is not entirely sound. Ecco!     FATHER BENEDETTO whisks the lid off the covered dish     revealing a stew of poultry carcasses covered in sauce.                         FATHER BENEDETTO               Fagiano. Pheasant. With sauce of               orange juice, orange peel,               chestnuts, garlic, Marsala wine               and... Come si dici in Inglese?               Brodo di Pollo. Chicken broth.                                                        31.FATHER BENEDETTO serves each of them with a complete bird andpours white wine into fresh glasses.                    FATHER BENEDETTO          Also: salsify in garlic butter.          Mange-tout. Fried wild mushrooms          with truffle.JACK helps himself to vegetables.FATHER BENEDETTO watches him as he savours his first taste.JACK licks his lips and sips some cold white wine.The two men regard one another, the priest awaiting averdict.                    JACK          Sinful.FATHER BENEDETTO shrugs.                    FATHER BENEDETTO          The Holy Father eats better than          this.The flash of a smile crosses the priest's face.                    JACK          Have you ever wanted to be anything          other than a priest?                    FATHER BENEDETTO          Have you ever wanted to be anything          other than a... come se dice in          Inglese...?                    JACK          Photographer?                    FATHER BENEDETTO          Photographer.                    JACK          I do what I'm good at.                    FATHER BENEDETTO          I'm sure you have other talents.          You have the hands of a craftsman,          not an artist. You are good with          machines. Yet you told me just the          opposite when we first met.JACK hides his unease from the watchful priest.                    FATHER BENEDETTO          Journalism cannot make you a rich          man.                                                          32.     FATHER BENEDETTO's eyes flick over the ROLEX.                         JACK               No.                         FATHER BENEDETTO               Perhaps you are rich already?                         JACK               I'm not a young man. I have my               savings.                         FATHER BENEDETTO                   (in ITALIAN)               My meagre income is subject to the               vagaries of the stock market and               with church attendance declining               there's less and less money in the               offertory. But if a man has God in               his vaults...     He looks searchingly at JACK.                         JACK               I don't think God is interested in               me. Father.                          FATHER BENEDETTO                   (in ENGLISH)               I know better than to try to make a               convert over pheasant and               Trebbiano.     JACK is silent.     The two men continue eating.     Then casually:                         JACK               What are the snakes for, father?     FATHER BENEDETTO taps the end of his nose in the universal     sign for secrecy.                         FATHER BENEDETTO               "The grave soul keeps its own               secrets, and takes its own               punishment in silence."     He has a twinkle in his eye. The priest is on a mission to     extract the truth... and JACK knows it.53   EXT. OUTSKIRTS OF TOWN- DAY                                  53     JACK is driving.                                                            33.     He checks the rear view mirror.     All clear.     JACK accelerates the CAR, driving it hard at the sidewalk.     The vehicle slams into the curb, mounting the pavement with a     thump of crunching metal.54   EXT. COUNTRYSIDE- DAY                                        54     Just east of the old city walls a dirt track meanders     downhill through a series of small holdings, allotments and     scrap metal yards.     The CAR moves slowly. We can hear the scrape of trailing     metal.     JACK pulls up beside a high chain fence.     The DOGS on the other side start barking. This sets off other     dogs in other scrap yards.     JACK gets out of the car and approaches a makeshift hut     beside the fence. Before he's a metre from the door it opens     and a tough, well-built, unshaven Italian man in his mid-     twenties looks him up and down.     FABIO.                            JACK                  Sono un amico di Padre Benedetto.     Suspicion gives way suddenly to warmth:                            FABIO                  L'Americano?     JACK smiles politely.                            JACK                  Buon giorno.55   INT. WORKSHOP- DAY                                           55     The metal door slides open. FABIO leads JACK inside.     At the back of the cluttered workshop is a blue ALFA ROMEO     being resprayed white. Beside it, one half of a LANCIA is     being welded to another.     JACK knows better than to stare. He follows FABIO through     to...                                                            34.56   INT. BACK OFFICE- DAY                                        56     Girly calendars, Italian style.                         JACK               I'm taking pictures forty minutes               north of here. Right up in the               mountains. Father Benedetto said               you might be able to help.                         FABIO                   (in ITALIAN)               You need models. For your               photographs? Italian girls?     He winks at JACK. He's being friendly.                         JACK               My publisher wouldn't stretch to a               four by four and the park trails               are playing havoc with my chassis.     The technical English is slightly beyond FABIO's grasp.     This suits JACK.                         FABIO                   (in ITALIAN)               Want me to take a look?                         JACK               Not really. I just need something               to work on a ruptured driveshaft.                         FABIO                   (in ITALIAN)               You're a mechanic?                         JACK               Just a hobby. I tinker.     JACK looks at the TOOLS hanging on the walls and littering     the work benches.     FABIO shrugs.                         FABIO                   (in ITALIAN)               Help yourself. [In ENGLISH] My               garage is your garage.                         JACK               I appreciate that.     FABIO gets on with work, sliding himself beneath the     resprayed Alfa Romeo.                                                            35.     JACK picks out various implements, laying them on the work     surface: drill, hacksaw, lathe, vice, mallet.     Behind an oil pan with a jagged hole in it he discovers     several GEAR WHEELS with the teeth sheared off. He holds the     biggest one up.                          JACK               Bene?     FABIO is engrossed his work.                         FABIO               Si! Si! Va bene!                          JACK               Quant'e?     FABIO grins and growls. A gearwheel with no bite is useless     to him.                          FABIO               Niente!     JACK wraps the gearwheel in a sheet of oily newspaper and     puts it in the sports bag with the tools.     At the door, he pauses.     That's when JACK sees it on the notice board. A PHOTOGRAPH of     FATHER BENEDETTO and FABIO. FABIO is much younger in this     photo: fourteen or fifteen years old. He's wearing an AS Roma     football strip. Again: the priest has his arm around the boy.                         JACK               Ciao. Grazie.                         FABIO               Ciao, Americano!57   INT. CASTEL DEL MONTE, CHURCH- DAY                           57     FATHER BENEDETTO rings the CHURCH BELLS for Mass.58   EXT. CASTEL DEL MONTE, CHURCH TOWER- CONTINUOUS              58     THREE CHURCH BELLS ringing: large, medium and small.     As the CLAPPERS hit the SOUNDBOWS we smash cut to:59   INT. JACK'S ROOM, PENSIONE ABRUZZO- CONTINUOUS               59     JACK has laid out his newly acquired tools on the flag stone     floor of his room.                                                          36.     Beside them is the SOCIMI SUB-MACHINE GUN.     Using the CHURCH BELLS as sound cover...     ...JACK puts the GEARWHEEL on a flag stone tile and smashes     it into five pieces with a four pound MALLET.60   INT. PENSIONE ABRUZZO- NIGHT                                 60     By torchlight, JACK is fashioning CONNECTORS from the smashed     steel gear.     It's very, very tricky work and his eyes ache in the poor     light.61   EXT. ITALIAN LANDSCAPE- DAY                                  61     JACK is wearing a knapsack. He's crossing a MEADOW and making     his way towards a RUINED HAMLET. His manner is dark,     purposeful, alert.     The grass is long and the trees offer deep shade. JACK stops.     Everywhere there is a profusion of wild flowers.     His guardedness begins to evaporate. He has never seen     anything so beautiful or utterly uncorrupted. He looks     around, transfixed by delicate yellows and mauves, brash     whites, harsh and brilliant crimsons, exquisite blues. The     air is humming with insects, bees and butterflies.     JACK is transfixed.62   EXT. RUINED HAMLET- DAY                                      62     JACK scrambles up towards the abandoned houses, sweating in     the heat.     His original cautiousness has returned. Carefully, he checks     the area for signs of recent disturbance. From the foot of     the deserted hamlet he surveys the VALLEY with binoculars,     monitoring every square on an imaginary grid for human     activity. Satisfied that he's alone, he takes a deep breath     of mountain air.     And scrambles back down to the valley.63   EXT. WOODS- DAY                                              63     JACK has parked his CITROEN in the shade of a squat but ample     WALNUT TREE. In the near distance is a LAKE.     JACK crunches over half-formed walnuts until he reaches a     patch of soft grass beside the water.                                                       37.This, he decides, is the perfect spot. He unrolls a blanket,kneels, and from his KNAPSACK he produces:-a polystyrene cool box packed with ice and containing achilled bottle of Frascati-a loaf of course bread-50 gms of pecorino-100 gms of proscuitto-a small jar of black olives-an orange-and a rolled blanket containing the disassembled parts ofthe SOCIMI SUBMACHINE GUN.JACK sets the stopwatch on his weather beaten ROLEX.It takes approximately thirty-four seconds to assemble thebastardised SOCIMI- including TELESCOPIC SIGHTS and SOUNDSUPPRESSOR- and a further six seconds to press TEN ROUNDSinto the magazine, slot it into the base of the hand grip,snuggle the butt to his shoulder and place his eye beside therubber cup on the sight.He's fast.Carefully he surveys the lake. Settles on a CLUMP OF REEDS.And with the focus and dexterity of a surgeon, concentratesuntil his grip and aim are perfectly tense and still.A beat......as JACK holds his breath. Then squeezes the trigger.CHOOP!CHOOP!CHOOP!Not the conventional "phut, phut, phut" of a movie silencer,but the genuine dampened sonic boom of a TAC 65 soundsuppressor.Through the sight we see the water churn at four o'clock tothe REED CLUMP and four metres off.From the knapsack, JACK takes a watchmaker's steel-handledscrewdriver and adjusts the sight, then loads another tenrounds in the magazine.CHOOP! CHOOP! CHOOP!                                                          38.     The reeds are clipped, the bullets slapping into the bank     behind, mud spurting.     JACK adjusts again and reloads.     CHOOP-CHOOP-CHOOP-CHOOP-CHOOP!     The reed clump is shot to shit.64   INT. PENSIONE ABRUZZO- DAY                                   64     The sound of CHURCH BELLS.     JACK is at work:     -modifying the SOUND SUPPRESSOR to make it more efficient     -filing the CONNECTORS until the trigger squeeze is softer     -adjusting the position of the TELESCOPIC SIGHT mountings     And finally:     -checking the balance of the weapon: JACK poises it on the     edge of a ruler over the pencil mark he has determined to be     the gun's centre of gravity.                    The SOCIMI balances perfectly.     By now the sun is low and the light fading. JACK's eyes are     sore and his fingers aching.     He sits on his bed with his hands on his knees, silent in the     dying light.65   INT. BROTHEL, VIA LAMPEDUSA- NIGHT                           65     We're in the living room of a small apartment. It's simply     and attractively furnished. There are 2 GIRLS: not obviously     hookers.     The FIRST GIRL is on her mobile phone. Every now and again     she glances at JACK. The SECOND GIRL approaches him for a     light.                         JACK               E Clara qui?               [Is Clara here?]                         SECOND GIRL               Non e stasera qui.               [She's not here tonight.]     She loops her arm through JACK's.                                                             39.                          SECOND GIRL               Volete una bevanda?               [Would you like a drink?]     JACK shakes his head.                         JACK               Forse un altro tempo.               [Perhaps another time.]66   EXT. CASTEL DEL MONTE- NIGHT                                  66     JACK parks in his usual hiding spot and heads for his     pensione.     A hundred yards ahead of him on the other side of the street     is the same YOUNG MAN he spotted in Castelveccio.     Cautiously, so as not to spook him, JACK continues walking,     passing his pensione and heading for the town square.     The YOUNG MAN is four parked cars away, leaning against a     Fiat parked in front of a small pharmacy, his right hand on     the roof, bending over as if speaking to the car's local     occupant who appears to be giving him directions.     Twice he looks up and gazes along the street in both     directions, casually, as if keeping an eye open for passing     traffic in the narrow street.     ...JACK side steps swiftly into the local bar.67   INT. BAR- DAY                                                 67     Crowded with locals. JACK orders a coffee.     Through the window he tries to keep an surreptitious eye on     the YOUNG MAN. But the darkness outside throws back     reflections of the bright neon-lit bar within.     One reflection catches our attention.     The Italian girl. CLARA.     She is drinking and laughing with friends, young Italians     like her. She catches sight of JACK.     He turns away.68   EXT. CASTEL DEL MONTE- NIGHT                                  68     JACK comes out of the bar with his hand in his pocket.     No sign of the YOUNG MAN.                                                          40.     He slips down a side street.69   EXT. SIDE STREETS- NIGHT                                   69     JACK slips from one side street to another taking full     advantage of short-cuts, alleyways and crumbling walls. His     route is circuitous. It betrays a perfect knowledge of the     maze-like back streets of the town.     Eventually JACK peeps out of a tiny passageway half-way down     his own street and on the opposite side of the road from his     PENSIONE.     The entrance to the PENSIONE is clear.     JACK crosses the street and slips inside.70   INT. PENSIONE ABRUZZO- NIGHT                               70     We're in the corridor outside JACK'S ROOM.     JACK takes his right hand from his pocket.     He's clutching the WALTHER.     Slowly, he reaches his left hand upwards, towards the lintel     above the door where he finds...     ...a single FEATHER.71   INT. JACK'S ROOM- NIGHT                                    71     From the inside of the room we watch four sturdily fashioned     deadbolt locks slide open. Each lock is new and home made.     JACK enters, shuts the door, locks all four bolts. And sits     on the bed.72   EXT. ROADSIDE PAY PHONE- MORNING                           72     A cluster of houses by the side of a main road: a bar, a     restaurant, a phone box.     JACK puts a coin in the slot. Two rings.                            LARRY (V.O.)               Jack?                         JACK               I've got company.     JACK scans the area outside.                                                     41.                    JACK          If he's not baby-sitting the          Belgian contract then he's either a          Joe, a cop or a shooter. He's not          with The Company, they're fast:          it's been three days and no TA.          He's not intel: they're deep          background and he wants to be          noticed. He might be a cowboy but          he can't be a cop: they work in          pairs and he's alone. Strike Guarda          di Finanza, State Police and NOCS:          he's not Italian- he doesn't look          like one, dress like one or behave          like one. So who the hell is he?A beat.                    JACK          Larry?                    LARRY (V.O.)          You got a long list of enemies,          Jack.                    JACK          What's he waiting for?JACK hears the sound of an engine.His hand moves to his pocket.                    LARRY (V.O.)          Jack?He watches a black VW SHARON pass. There's a family inside.                    LARRY (V.O.)          Want me to help take care of this?                    JACK          I can handle it.                    LARRY (V.O.)          You sound spooked.                    JACK          It's a bad line.                    LARRY (V.O.)          Jack?                    JACK          Yes?                                                          42.                           LARRY (V.O.)                 I appreciate the value of a pre-                 emptive strike in circumstances                 like these, I really do, but if                 you're going to go Generation Kill                 then do me a favour, OK, because                 I'm running out of bribe money. [A                 BEAT] Make it look like an                 accident.73   EXT. TRAIN STATION- DAY                                    73     Little more than a halt: one platform, one track, one station     building- locked and shuttered.     JACK steps out of his car.     No one around.     He checks his watch: it's exactly noon.     A TRAIN approaches.     It's a three-carriage local. It rattles round the bend in the     track up the valley, diesel fumes pluming. There are no more     than a dozen passengers on board.     MATHILDE is the only one to alight.     Her once brown hair is now BLONDE. She's wearing a light     summer skirt and carrying a navy blue canvas sports bag.     They shake hands as the train pulls away, belching and     honking as it rattles over the girders of an iron bridge and     crosses some alpine rapids.                           MATHILDE                 Mr. Clarke. How good to see you                 again.     Something quaint, old fashioned in her diction. English with     the hint of a Belgian accent.     JACK opens the boot of his car and she places her sports bag     beside a WICKER PICNIC HAMPER.                           MATHILDE                 Refreshments?                           JACK                 The Carabinieri around here like                 roadblocks. It's cover.     She nods.     They get into the car.                                                           43.     As the JACK's door slams we smash cut to:74   INT. CAR- DAY                                                74     MATHILDE's sunglasses reflect the alpine landscape.                            MATHILDE                  You picked a beautiful spot.     She takes off her shades.     Her once hazel eyes are now GREY-BLUE.     She glances round the hire car's drab plastic interior.                            MATHILDE                  You would be hard pressed to make a                  fast get away in this.     Perhaps she's nervous. Her attempt at humour isn't working     and she stumbles slightly on her grammar:                            MATHILDE                  I would have thought you to have                  had at least an Alfa Romeo.                            JACK                  This attracts less attention.                               MATHILDE                  Is it far?                            JACK                  Fifty minutes.     She looks up through the sun roof at the high mountains over     head.                               MATHILDE                  Up there?     JACK nods.     She eases herself back, resigned to a long climb.                            MATHILDE                  The train was tiring. One has to                  keep alert so much in cities.     Her eyelids are drooping.                            JACK                  I'll wake you before the turn-off.     She smiles gratefully. But does not shut her tired eyes.     The CLOCK on the dash reads 12:17                                                           44.75   INT. CAR- DAY                                                75     JACK negotiates the alpine road, leaning into the steering     wheel, shifting up or down a gear and glancing from the     mirror to the road and back again     MATHILDE is asleep.     JACK scans her, taking in every detail: her low-heeled shoes     are expensive but she wears no jewelry except a Seiko wrist-     watch on a metal strap and a thin gold chain at her throat.     Her tan is light, her breasts neat and her legs shapely and     recently waxed.     But JACK doesn't look at her like an object of desire. He     looks at her cautiously, with an expression that says: "this     young woman is ruthless. If she were not, she wouldn't be     alive."     That's when he notices the CAR in his rear view mirror.     It's too far behind to decipher the make or model and it     weaves in and out of frame as JACK negotiates the alpine     road.     MATHILDE wakes with a start. The CLOCK on the dash reads     13:05.                         MATHILDE               Are we nearly there?                         JACK               The turn-off's up ahead.     His eyes flick to the rear view mirror. Hers to the wing.     She spots the CAR behind. JACK catches her eye questioningly.                         MATHILDE               I told you I work alone.     JACK slows just before the turn off and pulls over.     Then stops.     Now its MATHILDE's turn to look questioning.                         JACK               Just a precaution.     He gets out of the car and pretends to urinate.     The CAR behind passes at speed.     A blue Seat. The driver neither slows down nor looks in their     direction.     JACK gets back in the car.                                                           45.     And turns off up a dirt track that disappears into the     meadows.76   EXT. WOODS- DAY                                              76     JACK parks his CITROEN in the shade of the squat but ample     WALNUT TREE. In the near distance is a large LAKE. This is     the exact spot where he came to test the weapon.     MATHILDE gets out of the car and stretches.                         MATHILDE               Are those houses occupied?     JACK looks at the RUINED HAMLET on the hillside.                         JACK               Derelict. I checked three days ago.                         MATHILDE               We should check again.                         JACK               I'll check alone. There are adders               the mountains. And vipers. Your               shoes.                         MATHILDE               I'll be careful.     Her voice is curt. The trust she showed him in the car is     gone now.77   EXT. ITALIAN LANDSCAPE- DAY                                  77     They cross a meadow and make their way towards the RUINED     HAMLET. The grass is long and the trees offer deep shade.     JACK walks in front to ward off any snakes.     Everywhere there is a profusion of wild meadow flowers.     MATHILDE has never seen anything so beautiful. Overwhelmed,     she stops.     JACK stops. And watches her.     She undergoes the same transformation that he did.     Then she comes to, remembering herself... and walks on.     Suddenly... a four foot ASP VIPER slithers across JACK's     path.     He claps his hands and the SNAKE writhes for cover.                                                          46.     JACK walks on. MATHILDE follows, pretending not to be     frightened but walking closer to JACK now, scanning the long     grass warily.78   EXT. RUINED HAMLET- DAY                                    78     JACK scrambles up towards the houses, checking the area for     signs of recent disturbance. MATHILDE follows.     From beside the end building JACK surveys the valley with a     tiny pair of binoculars, monitoring every square on the     imaginary grid for human activity.                         MATHILDE               You have tested the gun here               before?                         JACK               Yes.     Satisfied that he's alone, he lowers his binoculars. MATHILDE     takes a deep breath of mountain air.                         MATHILDE               It's beautiful here.     She is sitting on a loose stone wall at the edge of what was     once a terraced field. Her dress dips between her legs as she     leans forward and rests her forearms on her knees, tired from     the journey and the long, hot climb.                         MATHILDE               I wish everywhere could be this               tranquil.     JACK looks at her, sensing a kindred spirit.                         JACK               You'd be out of a job.                         MATHILDE               You don't like the peace?                         JACK               It's hard to like something you               know nothing about.79   EXT. WOODS- DAY                                            79     The WICKER PICNIC HAMPER is sitting on a rug by between the     parked car and the lake. From the hamper, JACK removes:     -a polystyrene cool box packed with ice and containing a     chilled bottle of Aspirinio     -a loaf of course bread                                                     47.-two clods of mozarella-150 gms of proscuitto-100 gms of parma ham-a large jar of pitted green olives-a Thermos of sweet black coffee-and, wrapped in cloth squares, the disassembled parts of theimproved SOCIMI SUBMACHINE GUN.As MATHILDE starts to assemble the weapon with easy skill,JACK checks the stopwatch on his ROLEX.It takes her approximately twenty-eight seconds to assemblethe bastardised gun- including TELESCOPIC SIGHTS and SOUNDSUPPRESSOR- and a further three seconds to slot the emptymagazine into the base of the hand grip, snuggle the butt toher shoulder and place her eye beside the rubber cup on thesight.She's almost ten seconds faster than JACK.He stares at her: not an alluring young woman with good legsand nice tits but an extension of the weapon itself andeverything it means.                    MATHILDE          Rounds?                    JACK          I've made up two sorts.He reaches into the PICNIC HAMPER.                    JACK          Thirty lead and thirty jacketed.                    MATHILDE          I should like a hundred of each.It's an order: her voice is emotionless.                    MATHILDE          And fifty explosive.                    JACK          Not a problem.He hands her the practise ammunition in two small cartridgeboxes: the shells snug in little plastic trays.                    JACK          Will mercury do?She smiles almost imperceptibly.                                                     48.                    MATHILDE          Mercury will do very nicely.She puts the gun down butt-first, leaning it against the sideof the car.                    MATHILDE          I have made my own targets.She reaches into her BLUE CANVAS SPORTS BAG and removesseveral pieces of folded cardboard strengthened with splitbamboo cane.Without speaking she sets off through the alpine blooms. Inher wake flutter a confetti of butterflies and grasscrickets, honey bees sizzling frantically as her loose summerskirt sweeps across the flowers.                    JACK          Watch out for vipers.He keeps his voice down but she hears him nonetheless, wavingwith her right hand: the hand holding the AMMUNITION BOXES.She's no fool.Neither is he. He has the gun.At ninety meters distance she stops beside a pile of smoothstones- a boundary cairn- overgrown with little purpletrumpet blooms.She unfolds the cardboard. At this distance all we can makeout is a silver-grey shape against the stones.Returning to the car she picks up the weapon.                    MATHILDE          Muzzle velocity?                    JACK          At least three hundred and sixty          miles per hour. That's including          twenty off the top for the sound          suppression.Impressed, MATHILDE looks at the marks on the metal where theserial number has been removed with acid.                    MATHILDE          Socimi?                    JACK          Eight-two-one.                    MATHILDE          I've not had one before.                                                     49.                       JACK             You'll find it easy. I've re-             balanced it for the longer barrel.             The fulcrum is two centimetres             forward of the grip now. Which             won't matter if you're firing- and             I'm guessing you are- from a fixed             position.No answer.                       JACK             No major recoil issues. You should             be able to hold onto any target.             Even the smallest.MATHILDE puts two jacketed rounds into the magazine andstands with her feet apart, braced. The breeze beneath thewalnut tree ruffles her summer skirt and presses it againsther legs.CHOOP! CHOOP!For a moment longer she holds on the target then lowers thegun, holding it under her arm like a lady on a shire huntwould hold a 12 bore.                       MATHILDE             You've done a good job, Mr. Clarke.             Thank you. Thank you very much.She makes a minute adjustment to the telescopic sight, withher fingernail. She can't have turned the vertical screw morethan one notch.Then she fully loads and fires again.CHOOP-CHOOP-CHOOP!JACK lifts his binoculars and looks at the target. It's theunmistakable outline of a BOEING 747-400, about one and ahalf metres long. Painted against the cut-out is the upturnat the end of the wing. The front doorway is shaded in.Standing in it is the SILHOUETTE OF A MAN. In the centre ofhis head are three small HOLES.With the magazine containing the remaining 28 jacketedrounds, MATHILDE takes aim again.CHOOP-CHOOP-CHOOP-CHOOP!Through his binoculars, JACK can see the empty space wherethe target's head used to be, the scarred stones behind andthe little scraps of cardboard floating on the warm air.                          JACK             Good shot.                                                     50.MATHILDE says nothing. She fills the magazine with leadrounds, snaps it in place and hands the weapon to JACK.                    MATHILDE          Go to the stones and fire near me.He's taken aback.                       MATHILDE          Say...She looks round for a target.                    MATHILDE          ...into the bush with the yellow          flowers. Two bursts. Five seconds          apart.Slowly, JACK walks down to the stones, turns and looks back.The CITROEN is well hidden in the deep shade of the walnuttree. So is MATHILDE. In the poor light all he can see is herdress and her blouse. He wipes the sweat from his eyes andshuts them tightly.This is not just a weapon test... it's a test of trust.He opens his eyes again.MATHILDE turns to face him as he shoulders the weapon.He aims the SOCIMI at the YELLOW FLOWERS right beside her.Holds his breath.And pulls the trigger.CHOOP! CHOOP!MATHILDE remains untouched.So do the YELLOW FLOWERS.Troubled, JACK blinks rapidly and counts to five.Then he fires again.CHOOP! CHOOP! CHOOP!Through the sight, we see two stems of YELLOW BLOSSOM fallsideways.Relieved, JACK walks slowly back to the car.                    MATHILDE          The sound suppression is superb. I          couldn't place the direction of          fire.                                                        51.From her sports bag she removes a plain brown MANILLAENVELOPE.                       MATHILDE             I shall require the rounds and the             weapon by the first of next month.             In the meantime would you tighten             the adjusting screws on the sight,             they are too loose. And lengthen             the stock by three centimetres. I             also want a sixty round magazine.                       JACK             You'll upset the balance.                       MATHILDE             I'm prepared to accept that.                       JACK             Then I'm happy to oblige.                       MATHILDE             What about the a case?                       JACK             A briefcase. Samsonite. Standard             pattern in black with combination             locks. Is there a number you'd             prefer?She thinks.                       MATHILDE             Eight-two-one.                       JACK             Eight-two-one.MATHILDE hands him the ENVELOPE and disassembles the weapon.JACK wraps the SOCIMI parts up in their cloth squares andplaces them in the bottom of the PICNIC HAMPER.                       MATHILDE             What do you want done with these?She has collected up the spent CARTRIDGE CASES.                       JACK             Throw them in the lake.She walks down to the water and hurls the brass cases in.FISH rise.Again, the beauty of the place transfixes her.By the time she turns back, JACK has laid out the picnic.                                                        52.                    MATHILDE          How thoughtful.She picks up a bottle of wine.                    MATHILDE          I don't know Italian wine.                     JACK          Aspirinio. Like Mosacata but          frizzante.Deftly he uncorks a bottle.And pours it into the grass.                    JACK          It wouldn't look right if the          picnic wasn't touched.                    MATHILDE          You chilled the wine. I thought...                    JACK          It had to be chilled. They're          Italian cops.                    MATHILDE              (disappointed)          You think of everything.                    JACK          I'm paid to. Don't move.She freezes.JACK points slowly.On her tanned forearm is a BUTTERFLY.                      MATHILDE          Wow.They both stare at the insect, transfixed.                    MATHILDE          It's so beautiful.                    JACK          Parnassius apollo. It's endangered.She looks up at him. Like it's a revelation she says:                    MATHILDE          You like coming here.                    JACK          It serves its purpose.                                                          53.                         MATHILDE               You've never taken a woman here               before?     JACK is momentarily taken aback.                            JACK               No.     The BUTTERFLY flits away.                         MATHILDE                   (sadly)               Perhaps you do not have a woman in               your life. It is not easy for us to               keep relationships. Not in our               world.                         JACK               I have an acquaintance.     A beat.     She waits for him to say more.     He doesn't.                         MATHILDE               Friendships are transitory. It               is...     Suddenly, there's movement in the bushes.     JACK snatches up his BINOCULARS. MATHILDE scans the tree     cover.                            JACK               Wild boar.     He hands her the binoculars. And hurriedly packs up the     picnic.80   INT. CAR- DAY                                              80     Her sunglasses back on, MATHILDE watches the meadows slip     backwards in the nearside wing mirror as the car bumps back     down the alpine track.                         MATHILDE               I wish you hadn't brought me here.     Again... a real sadness.     JACK glances at her.                                                          54.                            MATHILDE                  This is the sort of place I wish                  I'd discovered by myself. Then                  maybe one day I could have retired                  here. But you already know it.     JACK is touched.                            JACK                  I'm much older than you. By the                  time you've retired I'll be dead.81   EXT. RURAL TRAIN STATION- DAY                                81     The CITROEN pulls up.82   INT. CITROEN- DAY                                            82     The YOUNG WOMAN's manner is once more tense and formal.                            MATHILDE                  We will meet as before?     JACK nods.     The distant sound of a DIESEL ENGINE. The train is     approaching.                            MATHILDE                  On the first of next month?     He nods again.                            MATHILDE                  Around noon?     Not even a nod this time: just a slow blink.     MATHILDE opens the door, runs around to the boot and grabs     her canvas sports bag. Then returns to the passenger side of     the car and looks in.                             MATHILDE                  Thank you for a lovely day. Mr.                  Butterfly.     She leans in..     ...and kisses him lightly on the cheek, her lips light and     quick on his stubble.                            MATHILDE                  You must take your mistress to the                  meadow for a picnic.                                                          55.     She closes the car door, walks onto the platform and vanishes     onto a waiting carriage. The TRAIN honks and belches, moving     off down the track in the direction from which it came.     JACK watches it go.     And drives off.     Confused.83   INT. CASTEL DEL MONTE, LOCAL BAR- NIGHT                      83     Two OLD MEN drinking beer at the bar. Two more at a table,     playing Scopa with old fashioned Trentine playing cards.     Sitting at the back of the room, JACK stares at a shot of     Grappa.     Above him, mounted on the wall, is a TELEVISION. On the TV is     a Western: Charles Bronson and Henry Fonda in ONCE UPON A     TIME IN THE WEST.     JACK downs his shot, gets up and walks over to the bar. Pays.     The BARMAN nods at the screen.                           BARMAN                 Sergio Leone. Italiano.     JACK turns and looks.     HENRY FONDA in close-up, is about to shoot a red headed BOY     of seven in the head.     JACK stares. Just at the moment that the gun goes off...     ...JACK turns away.                           BARMAN                     (in poor ENGLISH)                 You like cow boy movie?     JACK thinks.     Then shakes his head.                           JACK                 Hokey.84   INT. BROTHEL, VIA LAMPEDUSA- NIGHT                           84     CLARA and JACK are naked.     JACK tries to kiss her on the lips but CLARA turns away: just     enough to let him know this is against the rules.                                                          56.     JACK kisses her neck. Her breasts. Her stomach.     As he moves his head between her legs, her fingers (already     ensnared in his hair) tighten their grip, stopping him from     going further.     JACK looks up at CLARA, across her belly, and she looks back     at him, her expression fixed yet curious.     Against her rules but not, we sense, against her wishes, JACK     kisses CLARA softly, tenderly, deeply until she is moving     against his tongue, using her sex like a mouth to kiss him in     return.     They make love, breaking each of Clara's two remaining rules     in turn. First: JACK puts her in a position she initially     resists. Then: he kisses her.     CLARA comes, not wanting to.     Suddenly, preoccupied, JACK does not.85   INT. BROTHEL, VIA LAMPEDUSA- NIGHT                         85     JACK is in bed with CLARA.                          CLARA               Morboso?     She looks at him.                         CLARA                   (with certainty)               Morboso.                          JACK               Morboso?                         CLARA               Morboso is like... when you can't               stop thinking about something.     He stares back at her: wordless.                         CLARA               Or someone.     A long pause: her eyes searching his. JACK sits up, lights a     cigarette and stands by the window, looking through the     blind, down into the street.                         JACK               You needn't act.                          CLARA               Act?                                                      57.     CLARA watches him, confused but fascinated.                         JACK               You might have to act with your               other clients but you don't have to               pretend anything at all with me.     She lights herself a cigarette.                         JACK               I want you to be yourself with me.               Be as indifferent as you like. I               came here to get pleasure, not to               give it.     He hands her CASH.     She counts it.                         CLARA               Maybe I pretend very well. I got               more tip than the other girls               usually get.     He walks to the door.     Pauses.                         JACK               I don't sleep with the other girls.     And leaves.86   INT. JACK'S ROOM- NIGHT                                86     JACK is asleep.     He is not alone.     In the bed beside him:                               INGRID.     Pale as death.     Eyes rolled back in her sockets.                               ***     JACK wakes up suddenly, gasping.     The bed is empty, the sheets twisted and damp.                                                             58.87   EXT. CASTEL DEL MONTE- DAWN                                   87     SUNRISE...     ...over one of the most desolate and beautiful landscapes in     all Italy.88   INT. JACK'S ROOM- DAWN                                        88     In the gun-metal light of dawn, fiddly work:       -cartridges taken apart       -tiny holes drilled in the nose to a depth of precisely 3mm       -the hole half-filled with mercury       -and plugged with a drop of liquid lead.     JACK is converting jacketed ammunition into EXPLOSIVE     BULLETS.89   INT. CHURCH- DAY                                              89     Outside, the sun is merciless. Inside, JACK has taken refuge     in the cool of the church. He is alone. He is not praying.     Just staring impassively at the gaudy crucifixion: at the     thorns and the nails and the running blood.     Footsteps. JACK checks for reflections in his watch.     It's FATHER BENEDETTO: dressed for Mass.                            FATHER BENEDETTO                  I've been looking for you.     He mops the sweat from his brow with the hem of his Soutane,     takes JACK by the arm and leads him to one side, away from     the light of the candles.                             FATHER BENEDETTO                  A man was here asking questions                  about you.     A beat.                            JACK                  Here?                             FATHER BENEDETTO                  He came to the church this                  afternoon.                            JACK                  What did he want?                                                     59.                    FATHER BENEDETTO          To know where you live. He said he          was a friend from Switzerland.                    JACK          Switzerland?JACK thinks.                    JACK          And you told him?The priest looks at with complete disdain:                     FATHER BENEDETTO          Of course I do not tell him. How do          I know him? He is maybe the police.          Certainly he is no friend. A friend          would know your pensione.          Besides...FATHER BENEDETTO leans close and whispers:                    FATHER BENEDETTO          Friends do not carry guns.FATHER BENEDETTO glances shrewdly at JACK, his eyes searchinginto him.                    FATHER BENEDETTO          If you live in Italy, and you are a          man of the cloth, you meet many          people. Besides, I lived once in          Naples. If you live in Naples you          know the difference between a fat          wallet and a... custodia per armi          di spalla. How you say in English?                    JACK          Shoulder holster.                    FATHER BENEDETTO          Si.JACK glances up and down the aisle.OLD LADIES are dribbling into church in twos and threes.The BELL for mass starts ringing.                    JACK          You're a true friend, father.                    FATHER BENEDETTO          I am a priest.JACK turns to go.                                                          60.                         FATHER BENEDETTO               Signor Clarke?     Again the priest leans close, holding JACK by the elbow in a     gesture of austere confidence.                         FATHER BENEDETTO               I make a mistake. He did not say he               was from La Svizzera: Switzerland.               He said- forgive me the names in               Italian are so similar- La Svezia:               Sweden.90   EXT. CHURCH, ROOF- DAY                                      90     THREE BELLS are ringing in the tower. Beneath them, a row of     mediaeval GARGOYLES (dragons, griffins, dogs and devils) look     down over the little town, their faces frightening or     frightened.     JACK is among the gargoyles, leaning over parapet, his eyes     made huge by a pair of tiny binoculars, surveying the town     below, checking each square of the grid for a glimpse of the     YOUNG MAN.     Nothing. Then he notices:     Parked in the shadow of a spreading chestnut tree not far     from the main square. An AUDI...     ...with the YOUNG MAN we spotted in Castelveccio market     sitting at the wheel.91   EXT. CASTEL DEL MONTE, STREET- NIGHT                        91     The YOUNG MAN comes out of a shop.     This is the first time we've seen him up close. In his early     thirties, he's wearing a dark brown leather jacket and     expensive jeans. His blonde hair is cropped short, and     there's the hint of a botched prison-cell tattoo visible just     beneath the collar of his shirt.     The YOUNG MAN opens a small silver tin and a single deft     movement removes a portion of SNUS (Swedish chewing tobacco)     and inserts the it between his top lip and gum.     It is a strangely sinister act.     Then he blends in with the tourists, milling down the Corso     and round the square heading towards...                                                           61.92   INT. BAR- NIGHT                                              92     JACK is sitting in the window, making himself as visible as     possible to the world outside.     He downs a Grappa: then gets up to pay for it. His movements     are slow and leisurely.     The BARMAN hands him his change. And a small white ENVELOPE.     JACK is not expecting this.                         BARMAN                   (in ITALIAN)               Someone left this for               "L'Americano". This afternoon.     JACK looks at the ENVELOPE.                         JACK               Grazie.     He turns casually away from the BARMAN's prying eyes and     opens the envelope with extreme caution.     Inside is a folded CUTTING. It's from the Swedish Daily     newspaper ÷STERSUNDS-POSTEN.     JACK unfolds the cutting. We catch a glimpse of:     -Ingrid's dacha.     -A police line.     -Three dead bodies in the snow: the two hitmen and the girl.     Heart racing, JACK slips the cutting in his pocket.     Grabs three SUGAR CUBES from a silver bowl on the bar.     And leaves.93   EXT. CASTEL DEL MONTE, TOWN SQUARE- NIGHT                    93     The YOUNG MAN is watching a PUPPET SHOW in the middle of the     square. The PUPPETEER is using glove puppets and the Punch     and Judy style performance involves Punch fucking Judy with a     grotesquely carved, outsize sex organ. There is a large crowd     gathered.     JACK leaves the bar, turning left and walking purposefully     down the street.     The YOUNG MAN follows.                                                           62.94   EXT. CASTEL DEL MONTE, CORSO FREDERICO- NIGHT                94     It's a hot summer night and there are more tourists than     usual.     The YOUNG MAN uses them as cover.     JACK turns down a dark, deserted alleyway.     The YOUNG MAN hesitates.     His right hand moves casually to his jacket pocket.     And he follows.95   EXT. ALLEYWAY- NIGHT                                         95     We're with the YOUNG MAN as he stalks his prey through the     mediaeval maze of streets...     We end up in the narrow alleyway that JACK photographed on     his first day in town.     Up ahead, disappearing round a distant bend, we catch a     glimpse of JACK, his heels CLACKING on the cobbles.     The YOUNG MAN follows swiftly, his trainers silent. He gets     to a crossroads where FOUR NARROW ALLEYWAYS- all identical-     converge. The YOUNG MAN is unsure which alleyway to take.     The streets are empty.     He listens.     From an upstairs window he can hear the soundtrack of a late     night film on television. It's a romantic film, the violins     muffled and sad with longing.     From another alleyway comes the sound of SAVAGE BARKING. The     YOUNG MAN looks around for the source of the barking, but the     streets are empty.     Suddenly, the barking stops.     The YOUNG MAN looks confused.     From his right hand jacket pocket we hear the unmistakable     CLICK of a cocking mechanism.96   EXT. COURTYARD- NIGHT                                        96     We're recognise the secret courtyard: the one reached by     means of the hidden archway.     With one hand, JACK feeds another SUGAR CUBE to the MONGREL.                                                             63.     With the other hand, he holds his WALTHER behind his back...     ...and cocks it.97   EXT. ALLEYWAY- NIGHT                                          97     The YOUNG MAN is waiting at the far end of the alleyway,     hugging the wall, scanning the CROSSROADS ahead, unsure which     of the four possible alleyways holds his prey.     JACK emerges from the HIDDEN ARCHWAY and walks quickly up     behind him.     JACK has removed his shoes and his bare feet are silent.     He has thirty metres to cover. The gun hangs heavy in his     right hand. It's fitted with a TAC 65 SOUND SUPPRESSOR. He     raises his right hand.     Twenty metres.     The gun is pointing at the YOUNG MAN.     Fifteen metres.     His finger takes up the slack of the trigger.     Ten meters.     Then:     A DUCATI turns into the alleyway behind JACK, its headlights     on full beam.     JACK drops his right hand and thrusts his silenced WALTHER     deep into his jacket pocket.     The YOUNG MAN looks his way.     JACK is outlined by the moped's beam of light.     The two men are face to face, within spitting distance.     The DUCATI hurtles towards the YOUNG MAN.     The MAN ON THE DUCATI is wearing a tinted BLACK CRASH HELMET.     The YOUNG MAN's eyes widen with fear.     BANG!     The DUCATI misfires.     Mistaking the sound for gunfire, the YOUNG MAN drops, rolls     and fires back.     We hear the sound of a single suppressed shot: CHOOP!                                                           64.      The BULLET grazes the FRONT SUSPENSION of the DUCATI and      lodges in the REAR COWLING.      The MAN ON THE DUCATI swerves and crashes, hitting a stone      staircase.      JACK looks around.      The YOUNG MAN has disappeared.      The MAN ON THE DUCATI is out cold.      The front wheel of his DUCATI turns slowly, squeaking.      CHOOP!      A bullet hits the road not far from JACK.      CHOOP!      Another bullet hits the wall behind him.      Swiftly, JACK grabs hold of the battered 1970s DUCATI...98    EXT. CASTEL DEL MONTE,    MEDIAVEVAL MAZE- NIGHT             98      JACK rides the classic DUCATI, turning left and right without      hesitation, through archways, down steps, dropping level by      level, cursing in time with his jagged breathing until...99    EXT. CASTEL DEL MONTE, OUTSKIRTS OF TOWN- NIGHT              99      JACK emerges from the bottom of the town and races away on      the winding road.      Silence. All we can hear are the crickets.      Then the sound of a car.      An AUDI tears past us, following JACK out of town.100   EXT. ALPINE ROAD- NIGHT                                    100      JACK is heading for the mountains. He takes the first corner      at 70 MPH.      The AUDI gleams black in the moonlight. Gaining on him.101   EXT. ANOTHER ANGLE- NIGHT                                  101      JACK takes the next bend at top speed, his classic 1970      1000cc engine howling.      The AUDI slows, then powers through the bend, accelerating.                                                           65.102   INT. AUDI- NIGHT                                            102      The YOUNG MAN puts his foot down.      The SPEEDOMETER climbs.103   EXT. ALPINE ROAD- NIGHT                                     103      The AUDI comes up swiftly behind Jack's DUCATI and tries to      ram him.      JACK dodges the AUDI, swerving from one side of the road to      another.104   EXT. VIADUCT- NIGHT                                         104      A soaring concrete bridge spans a plunging alpine valley.      The AUDI overtakes the DUCATI, then swerves left, trying to      crush JACK against the concrete barrier that masks a three      hundred and fifty foot fall.      JACK breaks hard and the AUDI misses him, smashing into the      concrete barrier amidst a shower of sparks and screeching      metal.      The AUDI follows the DUCATI into...105   EXT. ALPINE TUNNEL- NIGHT                                   105      Long, dark, neon-lit... and blind curved.      The AUDI comes up fast behind the DUCATI.      Jack swerves the DUCATI onto the other side of the road.      The AUDI swerves left and tries to crush JACK into the left-      hand wall of the tunnel.      Suddenly, a CAR comes round the bend.      What happens next happens fast:      JACK swerves left and skids into a SERVICE LAY-BY, narrowly      avoiding the CAR.      The lay-by is small and JACK has to slide the DUCATI on it's      side as he crashes it into the box-like space.      The lay-by is too small for the AUDI.      The AUDI and oncoming CAR collide.      The AUDI's crumple zones buckle as both vehicles' bonnets      concertina like a road safety test.                                                           66.      The AUDI has air bags. The oncoming CAR does not.      On impact, its DRIVER goes through the windscreen of his own      car and onwards, through the windscreen of the AUDI.      The wreckage is awesome.      Deep within the mangled metal of the two cars...      ...the YOUNG MAN groans and twitches.      JACK appears at the crumpled window of the AUDI.      He reaches through the broken window, grabs the YOUNG MAN by      the head...      ...and breaks his neck.106   EXT. WOODS- DAWN                                            106      JACK washes away the worst of the dirt and the blood in a      MOUNTAIN STREAM.107   EXT. ROAD- DAY                                              107      JACK on the DUCATI.      Turns off at a sign for L'AQUILA.108   EXT. L'AQUILA- MORNING                                      108      L'AQUILA is the nearest and largest town in the region. It's      also the location of the Via Lampedusa brothel.      JACK comes out of a pharmacy and quite literally bumps into      CLARA.      He winces with pain.                          CLARA                Buon giorno!                          JACK                Buon giorno.                          CLARA                You are hurt?                             JACK                I'm fine.                          CLARA                What's wrong with you?                                                           67.                             JACK                   It's nothing really. Just a broken                   rib. Un costollo rotta?                             CLARA                   Stronzo! Let me help you!                             JACK                   I came off my bike.                             CLARA                   But you have to go to the hospital!                             JACK                   No, no, no. I have pain killers. I                   just need a strong cup of coffee.                             CLARA                   I know a place which make the                   strongest coffee in L'Aquila.      Her limpid brown eyes twinkle.109   INT. CLARA'S APARTMENT- DAY                                109      A small, simply furnished bedroom with a bed, a desk and a      chair.      As he sips a large cup of strong black coffee, CLARA cleans a      vicious welt on his right shoulder blade.      As the dirt and blood come away she reveals an exquisite      tattoo...      ...of a BUTTERFLY.                             CLARA                   Ve bene. Tutto posto. Signor                   Farfalla. [Good. Everything's OK.                   Mr. Butterfly.]      His eyes open wide and he turns to her quickly.                             JACK                   Why d'you call me that?      A beat.                             CLARA                   You have a tattoo. On your back.      Of course.      He relaxes.      But not completely.                                                              68.110   EXT. CASTELVECCHIO- DAY                                       110      The situation at the beginning of the movie is perfectly      reversed.      From the relative safety of CASTELVECCHIO, JACK watches      CASTEL DEL MONTE through binoculars:      -The Phone Box.      -The Bar.      -The pensione D'Abruzzo.      No sign of the police. No sign of any Shadow Dwellers.111   EXT. CASTEL DEL MONTE, TOWN SQUARE- SUNSET                    111      JACK is in his usual phone box. His manner is quietly      purposeful.                            JACK                  How did he know I was here, Larry?                            LARRY (V.O.)                  You think I hired him?      A beat.                            LARRY (V.O.)                  Are you out of your fucking mind,                  Jack?                            JACK                  I doubt it.                            LARRY (V.O.)                  After everything I've done for you?                  The car, the cell phone (which you                  threw away), the safehouse, the                  fake passport? Someone has to pay                  for this shit, Jack! I have to pay                  for this shit. It comes out of my                  commission. You're my lousy profit                  margin. Why the fuck would I take a                  contract out on my own profit                  margin? You're not thinking                  straight. I was the one who told                  you to leave town! I told you to                  come to Rome! God damn it you've                  got a job to do! Why the Hell would                  I...      WHAM!      Something smacks into the phone box at high speed.                                                             69.      JACK drops to his knees and reaches for his WALTHER.      Outside the phone box three TEENAGERS are kicking a FOOTBALL      around.112   INT. JACK'S ROOM- NIGHT                                      112      TINS of fruit drops: three kinds: black cherry, pineapple and      lemon. Each tin is emptied of its fruit drops.      Twenty rounds of ammunition- each round packed in silica- fit      exactly into each tin.      Lead rounds in the black cherry, jacketed in the pineapple      and explosive in the lemon.      JACK re-seals each tin with sellotape.113   EXT. L'AQUILA, CORSO FREDERICO II - DAY                      113      The colonnades of this popular pedestrain street are crowded      with window shoppers, tourists taking coffee, old men      discussing politics and office girls walking hand in hand and      chattering like songbirds.      JACK is in dark glasses. He's sitting in a coffee shop under      the colonnade sucking a fruit drop and reading a copy of Il      Messagiero.      C.U. we see he's studying a small column concerning the      murder of two prostitutes in the nearby city of Chieti.      JACK spots CLARA walking along the corso. She's with a girl      he has not seen before. ANNA. ANNA is small town girl with a      keen sense of fashion. She and CLARA are hand in hand.      CLARA sees JACK and speaks to her friend.      They cross through the throng of boulevardiers.                          CLARA                My friend Anna. This is my friend                Signor Farfalla.      CLARA's eyes twinkle mischievously.      The girls cease to hold hands and ANNA offers hers to JACK.      JACK half rises like the perfect gentlemen, folding his      newspaper and accepting ANNA's greeting.                          JACK                How do you do?                          ANNA                I am very well thank you.                                                      70.Ah. This is to be an impromptu English lesson. JACKacquiesces gracefully.                    JACK          Will you take a coffee with me?                    CLARA          That would be very good.He indicates two empty chairs.                      JACK          Prego.CLARA moves her chair to sit closer to JACK. Under the table,her knee presses against his.ANNA also moves her chair nearer to JACK: but her motive isto move it out of the sun. She is not flirting.                    CLARA          Anna is learning English.                    JACK          Have you been to England?ANNA seems momentarily confused.                    ANNA          But you are...She looks at CLARA.                    ANNA          Lui Americano?                      JACK          I am.JACK glances at CLARA.How much has she told her friend?                    ANNA          Ah. I have not been to England only          to France. But I would love to go          to America.The WAITER comes over.                    JACK          Due cappuccini e un cafe corretto.                    CLARA          Anna is like all Italians. She          thinks America is like in the          movies. Little Italy, "West Side          Story", "Chicago".                    (MORE)                                                           71.                          CLARA (cont'd)                I tell her in these times America                is like here, there, anywhere. The                streets are not... pave-ed with                gold.      She beams happily at JACK. He smiles back at her.                          JACK                If not with gold, than at least not                with enough medieval cobbles to                loosen every-self tapping screw in                a Fiat.      JACK beams. Neither girl understands. But everyone smiles      happily.      The WAITER brings the coffee and CLARA insists on paying.                          JACK                Where do you come from, Anna?      ANNA frowns. JACK plays teacher.                          JACK                Dove abita?                          ANNA                Ah, yes! I live in Via dell'                Argilla. Nearby to Clara.      JACK briefly wonders what else he could teach her. He scans      both girls and decides CLARA is the prettier. CLARA seems to      sense this. She smiles to herself.      JACK is touched.114   EXT. CORSO FREDERICO II, L'AQUILA- DAY                      114      We cut wide and watch JACK talk inconsequentialities with the      girls. They stand to go. JACK rises.                          CLARA                Perhaps we will have a drink                together soon? I am free...      Her words sound rehearsed. She considers a crowded timetable.                          CLARA                ...on Monday.                          JACK                Great. I'll see you then.                          CLARA                But Eduardo... Where would you like                to meet?                                                     72.Again: rehearsed. JACK is not expecting this. CLARA looks athim mischievously. ANNA is listening.                    JACK          How about our usual place?                    CLARA          Our usual place?She feigns complete perplexity.                    CLARA          I forgot. Where is our usual place?                    JACK          You've forgotten?                       CLARA          Remind me.The twinkle in her eye. She's testing him. JACK is theperfect gentleman.                     JACK          Maybe we should try something          different.                    CLARA          Where would you like to try,          Eduardo?A beat. JACK spots a restaurant on the opposite side of theroad.                    JACK          Locanda Grapelli?There is no warmth in his suggestion. But CLARA doesn't care.                    CLARA          Locanda Grapelli! Si!She looks genuinely delighted.                    ANNA          This is the best food in the area.                       JACK          Good.                       CLARA          Seven?                       JACK          Seven.                    CLARA          Locanda Grapelli.                                                           73.                          JACK                Locanda Grapelli.                          CLARA                You'll be there?                          JACK                I'll be there.                          CLARA                See you then, Eduardo.                          JACK                See you then, Clara. It was a                delight to meet you Anna.                Arrivederci.                          ANNA                Arrivederci, Signor Farfalla.      There is an unmistakable twinkle in ANNA's eye. How much she      knows is uncertain. She kisses him swiftly and softly on the      cheek.      CLARA does the same on the lips. Behind the mischief in her      eyes is something doubtful. Has she gone too far?115   EXT. DOWNTOWN L'AQUILA- DAY                                115      JACK visits three stores:      -In a PHOTOGRAPHIC SHOP he buys half a dozen FILM PROTECTION      BAGS.      -In a HABERDASHERS he purchases several packets of HOOKS and      EYES like the kind you find on brassieres.      -In a OFFICE SUPPLY SHOP he buys some custom made headed      notepaper, invoice books, notepads, envelopes, metal pens, a      calculator and a mobile phone.116   INT. JACK'S ROOM- NIGHT                                    116      JACK opens a black combination lock SAMSONITE BRIEFCASE and      lines the bottom and sides with the lead-lined film      protection bags, cut to fit.      Into the base of the briefcase he glues pre-shaped pieces of      firm grey plastic foam. These form the pockets into which he      slots the constituent parts of the SOCIMI SUBMACHINE GUN.      They fit perfectly.      Over this JACK uses the HOOKS and EYES to clip a false      bottom: a tough card cover onto which are pasted the custom      made headed notepaper, invoice books, notepads and envelopes.                                                           74.      To the briefcase's central divider he adds the metal pens, a      calculator and a mobile phone. He sets the combination to      821. Then shuts and locks the BRIEFCASE.      This done he sits on the bed and stares at the case. With his      work complete, he is struck by a terrible sense of emptiness.117   EXT. PARCO DELLA RESISTENZA - JUST BEFORE DAWN              117      A small park not far from Castel Del Monte's town square.      It is just after dawn. The pine trees and the poplars are      silent. The sun is not yet up but the day is light. Sparrows      hop about, searching for crumbs.      JACK, ravaged by lack of sleep, wonders about like the demon      of a lost darkness, looking for his hole down to the      underworld.                          FATHER BENEDETTO                Buon giorno!      He's twenty meters away, his hand raised in half-welcome,      half-benediction.      They greet one another and FATHER BENEDETTO falls into slow      step with JACK. The priest walks with his hands behind his      back. JACK with his hands in his pockets.                          FATHER BENEDETTO                I walk here to meditate. Once a                week, Wednesday, the farthest one                can travel in the week from the                Sabbath. The trees are like the                Stations of the Cross: by certain                trees I thank God for certain                favours he has granted me, or                certain gifts he has made to me and                all men. For example, here by this                pine, I thank him for the many                friendships I have and ask him to                look after those of my friends who                are troubled.      They reach a Cypress tree and FATHER BENEDETTO bows his head      in prayer. After a while he says:                          FATHER BENEDETTO                Some walk here in the cool of                evening. Others come at night.      There is a slight sadness in his voice as he says to himself:                          FATHER BENEDETTO                I wonder how many bastards have                been made here?                                                75.He gives a small sideways glance at JACK.                    FATHER BENEDETTO          Perhaps you'll stay and settle here          yourself?                    JACK          What makes you think I'm leaving?                    FATHER BENEDETTO          You told me as much when we first          met. Besides, those who seek for          peace seldom find it. They're          always moving on, looking          elsewhere. [A BEAT] And they are          usually sinners.                    JACK          All men are sinners.                    FATHER BENEDETTO          Some are greater sinners than          others. And those who seek peace          have much sinning in their history.                    JACK          I don't seek peace. I never have.                       FATHER BENEDETTO          Until now.                     JACK          Perhaps. Perhaps I'll stay. The          valley. The villages. The          mountains.                    FATHER BENEDETTO          Forgive me. This is the priest in          me speaking. And the friend. But          you have done much sinning, Signor          Clarke. You still do.                    JACK          I see a whore. She's young enough          to be my daughter.                    FATHER BENEDETTO          I do not refer to the sins of          carnality. But to the deadly          sins...                    JACK          Aren't all sins equal?                    FATHER BENEDETTO          We are not discussing theology, my          friend, but you. You like this          town, this valley.                    (MORE)                                                     76.                    FATHER BENEDETTO (cont'd)          You should like to remain here and          find your peace at last. Yet you          cannot. There is something you          cannot ignore. Some force. Some          enemy.JACK is silent.                    FATHER BENEDETTO          You want to speak but you dare not.          You know no one sufficiently well          to share your history with them.          You know I am trustworthy yet still          you are cautious.FATHER BENEDETTO stops, compelling JACK to stop too- and facehim.                    FATHER BENEDETTO          What job do you do, Signor? Are you          on the run, as they say?                      JACK          Who says?                    FATHER BENEDETTO          It's an expression, no?                     JACK          Everyone's on the run from          something.                    FATHER BENEDETTO          Some men watch some of the shadows.          You watch them all.                    JACK          I've done nothing I didn't have          good cause to do.                    FATHER BENEDETTO          Do you wish to tell me?                    JACK          For what reason?                    FATHER BENEDETTO          For your own sake. Perhaps I can          pray for you?A change of pace.                    JACK          I make things. Artifacts.                    FATHER BENEDETTO          Counterfeit money?                                                     77.                    JACK          Why do you say that?                    FATHER BENEDETTO          You work in metal. You are given          some steel by Fabio, the car          doctor.                    JACK          You know a lot about me.                    FATHER BENEDETTO          I know only what you do in the          town. People talk to me. I am their          priest and they trust me.                    JACK          And I should too?                       FATHER BENEDETTO          Of course.They stare at one another.JACK wants to confess. He does not know why.But he doesn't. He does something we're not expecting:                    JACK          Fabio. The `car doctor'. Was he          conceived here father?FATHER BENEDETTO is motionless.                    FATHER BENEDETTO          Why do you ask me that?                    JACK          He looks like you. Even more than          he does in the photos you keep of          each other. Where was he conceived,          father? Under one of these trees?          At night? Like all the other          bastards?There is a very, very long pause. FATHER BENEDETTO stares upat JACK with extraordinary intensity.                    FATHER BENEDETTO          I do not remember, Signor. It was          twenty-five years ago.FATHER BENEDETTO walks. JACK follows. A gust of wind makesdust swirl from the gravel path. The two men do not speakagain until they reach the next set of Cyprus trees.                                                           78.                           FATHER BENEDETTO                 In the end it is I who confesses to                 you.                           JACK                 Expecting me to reciprocate?                           FATHER BENEDETTO                 Perhaps. For your own good. You                 cannot doubt the existence of Hell.                 You live in it. It is a place                 without love. As for me, I go about                 my daily duties because the town                 requires it of me. Some know what                 you know. Perhaps I have no right                 to wear these robes. But I do have                 a heart full of a father's love.                 Something close to His heart! And                 for that I am both grateful and                 happy.      On JACK.                           FATHER BENEDETTO                 What do you have, my friend?      Another gust of wind. The priest looks up into JACK's face.      The assassin's eyes are red and stinging. Perhaps its from      the dust.118   INT. JACK'S ROOM- EVENING                                  118      JACK dresses very carefully for dinner.      It is clear he wishes to make a favourable impression upon      CLARA.119   EXT. LOCANDA GRAPELLI- NIGHT                               119      Stone steps lead up from the street to large paved veranda      that overlooks the town. Overhead a canopy of vine and      jasmine. Above that a sky full of stars.      Of the thirty or so candle-lit tables that dot the veranda,      more than half are occupied by romantic couples.      JACK scans the tables and checks his watch. It's shortly      after seven pm and there's no sign of CLARA.      He waits. Then turns to leave.                           CLARA (O.S.)                 Ciao.                                                              79.      She kisses him once on the lips. She's hot and flustered.      She's been rushing.                          CLARA                I did not think you would come.                          JACK                I wasn't sure you meant me to.      CLARA looks doubtful. It's the same look she gave him at the      cafe. She is breaking the golden rule of prostitution.      Getting involved. Her heart is pulling one way and her head      another.                             CLARA                Certo.      A WAITER approaches.                             WAITER                Per due?      Judging by his disapproving tone, the WAITER seems to know      what CLARA does for a living. CLARA senses this immediately.                             CLARA                Si.120   EXT. LOCANDA GRAPPELLI- NIGHT                                 120      CLARA and JACK sit at a table overlooking the town.      The WAITER lights their candle and deposits two menus      peremptorily.                          CLARA                Una botiglia di acqua minerale non                gasata et... una Parasini, per                favore.      Completely ignoring her, the WAITER addresses JACK with a      wink.                          WAITER                Menu in Inglese?      A beat.                          JACK                No, grazie.                          WAITER                Tedesco? Olandese?                          CLARA                    (to the WAITER)                He speaks Italian. So do I. Listen:                                                        80.She repeats her order, articulating each word emphatically,like a teacher to a slow school child:                    CLARA          Una botiglia di acqua minerale et          una Parasini, per favore.She isn't upset. It's just her way of letting both men knowthat she's in charge.The WAITER turns to her, deferring to her strength ofcharacter.                    WAITER          Gasata?                    CLARA          Non gasata.He nods with some genuine deference and leaves.CLARA sighs.                     CLARA              (mostly to herself)          Cittadina.                    JACK          Small towns.JACK smiles. CLARA smiles back. They have this contempt incommon.The WAITER reappears and pours a thumbful of wine. It is palered in colour and frizzante. At CLARA's insistence, JACKtastes it. It is dry and has a tar-like aftertaste.                    CLARA          Parasini. From Calabria. It is          good, you will agree?                    JACK          It is. Very good.He looks at her and- for a brief moment- he undergoes what isa unique experience for him: a positive longing to repeatthis brief moment many times in the future.CLARA catches the glow of his warmth and blossoms.                    CLARA          Can I ask you something, Eduardo?                    JACK          Sure.                    CLARA          You are married?                                                     81.                    JACK          No.A beat.                    JACK          I doubt any of the couples here          are. With the exception of the          Germans at table seven. She's          wearing a wedding ring and they          haven't spoken a word to each other          for eight and half minutes.                    CLARA          I was sure this was your secret.                    JACK          What makes you think I have a          secret? I'm an ordinary man. I          cough. I fart. I earn a living.JACK observes a GYPSY selling roses.                    CLARA          I do not think you are an ordinary          man. I think you are a good man.          But you have a secret.The GYPSY approaches, offering CLARA a ROSE. She refusesfirmly.                    CLARA          He thinks we are a couple.JACK signals to the GYPSY and buys CLARA a ROSE.                    JACK          Why spoil the illusion?She looks at him and smiles.                    CLARA              (in ITALIAN)          As long as we know it is an          illusion.Her smile is only a little bit sad.Still, JACK doesn't know what to say.They are saved by the appearance of the WAITER.                    WAITER          Buona sera. Desidera?CLARA orders, full of Italian charm, putting JACK at hisease. He watches her contentedly: the way she talks andmoves.                                                             82.121   EXT. CORSO FREDERICO- NIGHT                                  121      JACK   and CLARA are walking. He has a cigarette in his mouth.      They   look like film stars. CLARA slips her arm through his.      They   say nothing. The pedestrian shopping street is thronging      with   other couples.122   EXT. COFFEE BAR- NIGHT                                       122      The coffee bar has an outside section. CLARA and L'AMERICANO      are seated in a throng of happy youngsters Clara's age. JACK      is the oldest person there.      The WAITRESS brings two glasses of PROSECCO. She puts a small      silver bowl of raspberry ice cream down in front of JACK. In      front of CLARA she puts down an extravagant ice cream sundae.      CLARA grins at her sundae like a little girl. She's a bit      drunk.                               CLARA                  Woooow!      She eats, savoring the ice cream. JACK watches, savoring her      pleasure.                               JACK                  How is it?                               CLARA                  Bitchin'.                            JACK                      (amused)                  Bitchin'?                            CLARA                  It's- come se dice- `slang', no?                  Eco.      She scoops a spoonful dripping with nuts and chocolate sauce      and holds it out to JACK.                               JACK                  No thanks.                            CLARA                  Come on, Eduardo!      He hesitates. He eats.                            CLARA                  It is good, you will agree?                            JACK                      (his mouth full)                  I will agree.                                                       83.                    CLARA              (sensing his teasing)          My English is nice!                    JACK          It's bitchin'.                    CLARA              (defending herself)          You know how to swear in Italian?                    JACK          Sure. Bastardo. Imbecile.                    CLARA          "Imbecile?" Eduardo! Try: Mangia          merde e morte: tuo cazzo un          brufolo.                    JACK          Eat shit and die, pimple dick?CLARA hiccups.                      CLARA          Perdone!                    JACK          I guess I've led a sheltered life.          Of sorts.                    CLARA          Shell-tered?                    JACK          Too much work.CLARA's CELL PHONE starts to ring. It's on silent, but thescreen is flashing, just visible where it sticks out of herhandbag. CLARA looks down at the phone.                    CLARA          Too much work.She turns the phone to silent. And looks up at JACK.                    CLARA          I don't apologise, Eduardo.                      JACK          For what?                    CLARA          For this I do. My job.                    JACK          Never apologise.                                                84.He means it.A beat.                    CLARA          Except this job is full of testa di          cazzo.                      JACK          Mine too.                      CLARA          Lei?                      JACK          Si.                    CLARA          But you are too young to...          pensione?                      JACK          Retire.                      CLARA          Si.                      JACK          Liar.                      CLARA          No!                    JACK          Would you be flattering me if I          wasn't a client?He's put CLARA on the spot.                    JACK          Am I a client?CLARA takes a deep breath.                    CLARA          This say yes.She points at her head.                      CLARA          This...She points at her heart.                    CLARA          This cannot be for sale. But I am          not want to... come se dice?                                                           85.                           JACK                 Give it away.      She looks at him.      JACK studies her, searching for his own feelings.                           CLARA                 Stronzo! I buy you a present!      She fishes about in her handbag...      ...and produces a SILVER BOX.      JACK unwraps the shiny paper. Inside is a plastic case like      the sort you put engagement rings in. Inside the case is a      BADGE, hand-painted, depicting the symbol of the region: the      eagle of L'Aquila. JACK sticks the BADGE in his lapel.                             JACK                 Grazie.      An embarrassed beat.      CLARA kisses him.                           JACK                 Grazie, Clara.                           CLARA                 Prego. Eduardo.      A pause.                           CLARA                 My apartment is not far from here.123   INT. CLARA'S APARTMENT- MORNING                            123      JACK opens his eyes.      Sits up.      He's shocked to have slept so deeply.      CLARA must be in the shower.      He looks around at the little room casually, like a curious      lover.      Opens the top drawer of the bedside cabinet.      Finds a VIBRATOR.      Opens the bottom drawer.      Finds a RED PURSE.                                                             86.      Inside the RED PURSE...      Finds a BERETTA DOUBLE-ACTION MODEL 21A BOBCAT.      Just at that moment CLARA comes out of the bathroom.      JACK shuts the drawer and pretends to be asleep.124   EXT.PAY PHONE- DAY                                           124      JACK has driven to the remotest phone box he can find: not      far from the entrance to one of the region's four national      parks: beside a lake, below a mountain range and approached      by a long, straight, empty road.      No one could possibly creep up on him here. Nevertheless, as      he talks, JACK makes his habitual and continuous 360 scan of      the area.                          LARRY (V.O.)                We're moving the drop.                           JACK                Where?                          LARRY (V.O.)                We don't know yet. I'll call you                ten am on the day with a venue.                Give you enough time to make the                noon delivery.                          JACK                I don't deliver, Larry. I never                deliver. It's too dangerous. She                comes to me. I know the town.                That's what we agreed.                          LARRY (V.O.)                I told `em. I told `em if there was                even the slightest chance security                had been breached, you'd have dealt                with it immediately.      A beat.                          JACK                Breach? What breach?      For the first time in the movie we cut to LARRY at home:125   INT. LARRY'S APARTMENT, ROME- DAY                            125      LARRY is sitting in a high back leather office chair before a      large, imperial mahogany desk. In front of him are two banks      of screens.                                                           87.      The first bank displays 3 CCTV views: (1) the entrance to his      apartment block (2) a staircase and (3) the entrance to his      apartment itself.      Another bank of screens shows 3 NEWS CHANNELS: (1) CNN, (2)      BBC WORLD and (3) AL JAZEERA.                          LARRY                Our pretty young Belgian client and                her associates think someone on                your long list of enemies might                have put a tail on you.                          JACK (V.O.)                Not possible.                          LARRY                Course not, Jack. But if, for the                sake of argument, it was possible-                I'm thinking it could be Galazzo.                Or Simenov. Or Italian undercover.                           JACK (V.O.)                Cops?                          LARRY                The crooked kind.                          JACK (V.O.)                How come I'm still here?                          LARRY                The Belgians think they're planning                to wait for the drop and                exterminate you and Mathilde in one                swoop.      With the help of his DESKTOP computer LARRY is comparing the      scrolling share prices on CNN with the fluctuating value of      the US DOLLAR.                          JACK (V.O.)                Where the hell's this information                coming from?                          LARRY                I'm fucked if I know, Jack. If you                want my opinion, they're just being                jittery. I told `em you were the                most security conscious                professional I know. I told `em no                one gets close to you.126   EXT.PAY PHONE- DAY                                         126                          JACK                They don't.                                                             88.                           LARRY (V.O.)                 I told `em if we couldn't trust you                 to keep a tight lid on operations                 the who could we trust?                           JACK                 They can. They can trust me and so                 can you.      JACK is tense. Every word is carefully enunciated:                           JACK                 I've never jeopardised an operation                 in my life.                           LARRY (V.O.)                 You don't have to tell me that,                 Jack. For Christ's sake, you closed                 your own girlfriend's account...      ECU on JACK.127   INT. LARRY'S APARTMENT, ROME- DAY                            127      The words are out before he can stop them.                           LARRY                 Jack? [A BEAT] Jack? I'm sorry.      He rubs his eyes, wearied by his own insensitivity.                           LARRY                 That was, um.... I'm just saying                 you can be relied on.      Silence.                            LARRY                 Jack?      CLICK.128   EXT. PAY PHONE- DAY                                          128      JACK has hung up.      He is lost in fearful thought, jaw muscles grinding.129   EXT. CHURCH, ROOF- NIGHT                                     129      Amongst the GARGOYLES...      ...JACK, looking through his miniature binoculars.      His POV:                                                           89.      Of CLARA seated in a cafe talking to a slick, tough YOUNG      ITALIAN MAN in a suit.      He is showing her photographs. Of what- we cannot see. CLARA      looks very, very serious.      The YOUNG ITALIAN MAN leaves. JACK watches him get into a      smart black ALFA ROMEO containing two other ITALIAN MEN. Rome      plates.      When he looks back at the cafe, CLARA has gone.130   INT. PENSIONE ABRUZZO, JACK'S ROOM- DAY                     130      JACK opens his PICNIC HAMPER and in it he puts:      -a polystyrene cool box packed with ice and containing a      chilled bottle of Aspirinio      -a loaf of course bread      -two clods of mozarella      -150 gms of proscuitto      -and his WALTHER PPK/S.131   EXT. CASTEL DEL MONTE- DAY                                  131      CLARA is waiting on the Via Strinella near the entrance to      the Parco della Resistanza, sheltering in the shade of a      tree.      She is holding the RED PURSE. At her feet is blue plastic bag      rounded out by a watermelon.      JACK pulls his CAR into the curb.                            CLARA                  Ciao, Eduardo!      She opens the passenger door, leans in and kisses JACK long      and full on the lips.                             JACK                  Put them in the back. We've got a                  way to go.      She puts the plastic bag in the trunk.      Inside the trunk is the PICNIC HAMPER.132   INT. CAR-   DAY                                             132      CLARA climbs in and fastens her seat-belt.                                                           90.      She puts the RED PURSE between her legs. JACK glances at the      RED PURSE.      And drives.                          CLARA                Where we go?                            JACK                Swimming.                          CLARA                How far do we go? To Fanale?                          JACK                An hour. And we're not going to the                sea, we're going to the lakes. In                the mountains.                          CLARA                For a... come se dice... you have                in the back...                            JACK                A picnic.                          CLARA                A pick-nick! We are going for a                pick-nick. Just the two of us.      She looks at him.                          CLARA                I have practise my English,                Eduardo. I love to have pick-nick.                It is a beautiful day, isn't it?                            JACK                It is.133   EXT. ALPINE ROAD- DAY                                      133      The CAR negotiates a familiar hairpin bend.134   INT. CAR- DAY                                              134      CLARA is station hopping.      She finds some LOU REED. She loves LOUD REED.      JACK is concentrating on the road.                          CLARA                Is it more far?                                                           91.                          JACK                Ten kilometres. Another twenty                minutes.      She pauses to work out the mathematics. She's smart. And      puzzled. But she's not frightened. Not yet.                          CLARA                Twelve kilometres? In twenty                minutes?                          JACK                We're going off the beaten track.      She looks confused.                          JACK                Lontano. Fuori mano.      CLARA laughs.                          CLARA                You will speak Italian. One day, I                will teach you.135   EXT. ALPINE TRACK- DAY                                     135      JACK turns off the main road and onto an alpine track.      This is the same route he took with the Belgian woman.      The CAR bumps and tilts on the rough terrain.136   INT. CAR- CONTINUOUS                                       136      CLARA is startled by such an insignificant track.                          CLARA                Where are we going?      Now she's anxious. This is not what she expected.                          JACK                You shall see.                          CLARA                I think it is good we should stay                close to the road.                          JACK                There's no need to worry. I've been                here before several times. Taking                photographs.      He swings the wheel suddenly to avoid a large boulder and the      Citroen pitches as if struck by a wave.                                                     92.CLARA clings to the door with her right hand, her left handdug deep into the fabric of the seat to steady herself.                    JACK          You're not afraid of coming into          the wild with me, are you?                      CLARA          No!She laughs tensely.                    CLARA          Of course I am not. Not with you.          But this...She snaps her fingers.                    CLARA          ...sentiero!She waves her hand in the air.                    CLARA          You should have a jeep. A Toyota.          It is not good for a... berlina.It's as if the increased danger of the track diminishes herEnglish.                    JACK          This is a Citroen!He strikes the steering wheel hard with the palm of his hand.                    JACK          This was made by the French for          taking potatoes to market. Besides,          I always come here in this car.                      CLARA          You sure?                    JACK          Of course. I don't want to walk          back to town any more than you do.                    CLARA          I think you are crazy. This will go          to nowhere.                    JACK          I assure you it does.She pouts her reply. The TRACK disappears into a WOOD andruns out altogether, giving way to grass.                                                     93.                    CLARA          Now there is no road!JACK stops the car and turns the engines off.Sudden silence.CLARA lets go of the seat.                    CLARA          Is this where we go?They are surrounded by trees.                    JACK          No. Not quite. We go another          hundred metres, through the wood.          But from here we just roll forward.          No motor. No sound. And you'll see          a wonder.She grips the seat again.                    JACK          You won't need to hold on. I'll go          slowly. Just relax and look.He eases his foot off the brake and the car begins to moveforward, the springs squeaking slightly. After 50 metres JACKtwists the steering wheel slightly and applies the brakes.They roll gradually down to the outer edge of the woods andcome to a stop beneath a familiarly squat but ample WALNUTTREE.Beyond them is the LAKE, the MEADOWS and the RUINED HAMLET.The hidden valley is a riot of colour, the blooms andblossoms more brilliant than we've ever seen them. By theedge of the lake stands a HERON, still as fence post.CLARA gets out of the car, dumbstruck. JACK gets out too. Hewatches her... then swiftly checks the ruined hamlet throughhis miniature binoculars. Deserted. By the time CLARA turnstowards him, the binoculars are hidden.                    CLARA          No one comes here?She speaks so quietly JACK can barely hear her.                      JACK          No.                      CLARA          Just you.                      JACK          Yes.                                                     94.CLARA turns away, unbuttons her blouse and drops it on thegrass. She is wearing no bra. On her back dapple the shadowsand patches of sun eking through the branches of the walnut.She kicks off her shoes, which curve through the air... andunzips her skirt. It falls to the grass. She bends and stepsdaintily from her knickers. Then turns to face JACK.JACK cannot take his eyes off her. Dizzy, he steps forwardwithout meaning to.                    CLARA          Well?She is coquettish- and tosses her auburn hair to one side.                    CLARA          I am going to swim in the lake. Are          you coming?She doesn't wait for his reply, but turns and runs throughthe grass towards the water.                    JACK          There are vipers! Vipera! Marasso!                    CLARA          Maybe! But I am lucky!The HERON flies off, rising from the reeds with an ungainlyflapping.                    CLARA              (shouting)          He is an Italian bird! We disturb          his siesta!Quickly, JACK glances inside the CITROEN.The RED PURSE is nowhere to be seen.                    CLARA          Come, Signor Farfalla!JACK undresses. As he removes his clothes, he stalls fortime, using the cover of undressing to search for the REDPURSE.We can see it wedged under the passenger seat.Due to the design of the car, JACK cannot.                    CLARA          Come!JACK turns to face the lake. He is naked. Yet with thecaution of years he does not remove his shoes until hereaches the water's edge.                                                     95.CLARA is standing in the middle.                    CLARA          Stand by me.He obeys her order. He walks out to her and she takes hishand under the water, holding it out in front of them.JACK spots it resting on the smooth stone of the lake-bed.Brassy and gleaming. A SPENT SHELL. He covers it with hisfoot.                    CLARA          Keep still. Watch.As the ripples of his arrival peter out in the reeds, TINYFISH appear in a shoal to gather about their hands. Theyhover like slivers of glass just under the surface then movein to nibble at the skin on their fingers.                     JACK          If we stay here for a year, they'll          devour us.                    CLARA          It is said that if these fishes          bite at two hands holding, then          love is good for the people.He looks at her and for a moment he forgets the awful plan inhis head.She kisses him, pressing herself against him, her skin andbody as pure and warm as the water.He tries helplessly to pull away.                    JACK          Maybe we should...                    CLARA          Do you make love in the water?                       JACK          I haven't.She places her arms around his neck and raises her feet fromthe smooth stones, wrapping her legs around his waist. Shetries to push herself onto him but he resists.                    CLARA          What's wrong?He doesn't know what to say. She looks at him: confused,searching.                       JACK          Let's eat.                                                           96.      He walks towards the bank. She follows. The tiny fish dart      around them for a few moments then flee for the reeds,      travelling with the waves made by their departure.137   EXT. LAKESIDE- DAY                                         137      CLARA is lying naked on a blanket.      Beside her is the RED PURSE.      Through sleepy, half-closed eyes she is watching L'AMERICANO.      From her POV, JACK is kneeling behind the open PICNIC HAMPER,      unpacking the food and wine. The LID of the basket obscures      his hands.                           CLARA                Eduardo.      JACK looks at her.                          CLARA                Is this your real name?      A beat.                          JACK                Is Clara yours?                           CLARA                Si. Yes.      She looks at him. Waiting for his reply.                          JACK                Edward is my real name.                           CLARA                Ed-ward.      She doesn't believe him.                          CLARA                You are sure you are not married,                Eduardo?                          JACK                Quite sure.      About this he's telling the truth.      CLARA reaches for the RED PURSE.      From behind the picnic hamper lid we hear the CLICK of a      cocking mechanism.      CLARA hesitates for a moment.                                                     97.JACK watches her intently.She reaches into her purse.JACK is expressionless.When CLARA withdraws her right hand she is holding a tube ofSUNTAN LOTION.A beat.JACK watches as she commences smoothing it into her skin,rubbing it around her breasts, pushing them aside, pressingthem upwards. Then she caresses the lotion into her belly anddown her thighs, bending at the waist as she works it intoher shins.                    CLARA          Will you put this on my back?She proffers him the SUNTAN LOTION.JACK stares at her baking body, transfixed by its terribleand perfect beauty.Hidden behind the LID of the picnic hamper......his trembling right hand grips tightly to his WALTHER.A long pause.                      CLARA          Eduardo?He's frozen.                      CLARA          Amore?Time seems to stop.ECU on JACK.Suddenly, CLARA sits up.                    CLARA          Eduardo, what's wrong?JACK swallows.When he speaks his mouth his dry.                      JACK          Nothing.When he moves towards her, he is holding nothing in hishands.                                                     98.      He takes the tube of SUNTAN lotion.                          JACK (V.O.)                Dear Father Benedetto...      And begins to run it into CLARA's back.                          JACK (V.O.)                I promised myself that I would                write to you- as your friend- to                say goodbye.138   EXT. WOODS- DAY                                      138      SLAM!      JACK shuts the boot of the car.      He scans the lakeside.      No sign of the picnic.      No sign of CLARA.                          JACK (V.O.)                Everything I've ever done...      Then he spots something.      On the ground, not far from the car.      He walks over and picks it up.      It's one of CLARA's shoes.                          JACK (V.O.)                I've done for a reason.      JACK is staring at the SHOE.                          JACK (V.O.)                I never thought the day would come                when I'd run out of reasons.                Reasons to worry. Reasons to run.                Reasons to pull the trigger.      JACK turns and walks over to the car.      CLARA is in the passenger seat.                          JACK (V.O.)                Maybe that day's come.      JACK gets into the Citroen.                                                     99.                      JACK (V.O.)           Or maybe I've just found a reason           to change.And hands CLARA her shoe.                     CLARA           Grazie, Eduardo.                     JACK           I still don't understand. What's           the point of a gun if it's not           loaded?                     CLARA           One of the girls borrow it to me           after the second hooker in Chieti           is murdered. With some of the           clients it make me feel safe. I           don't tell the police, of course,           but... Madonna, Eduardo. How they           do to these two women! A police           agente from Rome show me           photographs. They show photographs           to everyone in Via Lampedusa.CLARA shivers with disgust.                     CLARA           Non capito... how one person hurt           another in this way.JACK looks lost, like a man drained of all resolution.                     JACK           Does the gun make you feel safer           with me?                     CLARA           You are not a client.                     JACK           Then why's it in your purse?CLARA looks unhappy.                     CLARA           I have to work tonight, amore.Silence.JACK looks away.                     JACK (V.O.)           Maybe this is suicide. Cops often           put the graft on working girls.           Perhaps the girl I told you about,           Clara, has sold me out.                     (MORE)                                                    100.                    JACK (V.O.) (cont'd)          Maybe she's a cop herself, or maybe          she's a hired gun. Then again,          maybe Clara is who she says she is          and my Belgian clients will take          the gun, shoot me themselves and          keep the money. Always a risk in my          profession. Or perhaps my trusted          colleague in Rome no longer trusts          me. Perhaps even you, Father, with          your connections in Naples...                    CLARA          What will you do?                    JACK          I guess I'll go to work too.                    CLARA          And after that? Tomorrow and the          next day.                    JACK          I can't stay here forever.As the words leave his lips he thinks how much he wishes hecould.                    JACK (V.O.)          It's not that I've given up on          life, Father. Just the way that I          was living it. If you can call it          living.                    CLARA          I want always to stay here.                    JACK          It's time to go home.                    CLARA          Let me come to your home.                    JACK          I can't, Clara. One day...She's upset but decides not to press her demand.                    JACK (V.O.)          If I had one request, Father, it          would be this. That it's not Clara          who finally pulls the trigger. But          whoever it is...CLARA kisses him and simply says:                    CLARA          Stay forever here.                                                          101.                           JACK (V.O.)                 ...by this time tomorrow I'll be                 dead.      Fade to black.      FADE IN:139   EXT/INT. CHURCH- DAY                                        139      A POSTMAN hands the mail to FATHER BENEDETTO.                           FATHER BENEDETTO                 Ciao Fabio, come stai?                           IL POSTINO                 Bene grazie, Padre.      We follow FATHER BENEDETTO inside as he rifles through a      bunch of church circulars. One LETTER catches his eye.      He opens it and starts to read aloud:                           FATHER BENEDETTO                 Dear Father Benedetto. I promised                 myself that I would write to you-                 as your friend- to say goodbye...140   INT. JACK'S ROOM- DAWN                                      140      JACK stands by the door in a impeccably pressed suit, the      black SAMSONITE BRIEFCASE in his hand.      He surveys his room. All evidence of his existence has been      meticulously tidied away.                           FATHER BENEDETTO (V.O.)                 Everything I've ever done...      JACK leaves.      Only thing is left behind:      The book of MEDIEVAL ITALIAN ART & ARCHITECTURE on the      bedside table.                           FATHER BENEDETTO (V.O.)                 I've done for a reason.                                                          102.141   EXT. AUTOSTRADA- DAY                                        141      The sun is shining. The mountains young and sharp and      beautiful. The CAR moves swiftly across the viaduct that      spans a spectacular gorge and plunges into a long tunnel.142   INT. CAR- CONTINUOUS                                        142      JACK watches the road. On the long straights he looks      backwards and forwards.143   EXT. SERVICE STATION- DAY                                   143      JACK comes off the autostrada on a slip road and pulls into a      forecourt consisting of several rows of Agip and Q8 pumps, a      convenience shop, a repair garage and a cafe.      The car park is not large. JACK parks the Citroen facing the      EXIT. There is a single bar across it but this is raised.      JACK double checks the magazine in his handgun is full and      slips his WALTHER into his jacket pocket.      Stepping out of the car he looks around the car park. It's      only a quarter full and ominously quiet. Somewhere in the      distance we can hear a sound: creak, creak, creak, creak...      JACK takes the BRIEFCASE from the rear seat and walks away.      He makes a show of locking the car but doesn't.      As he approaches the CAFE he passes the GARAGE. We see the      source of the creak, creak, creaking sound: a SIGN for engine      oil, on hinges, revolving slowly in the breeze.144   INT. AUTOSTRADA CAFE- DAY                                   144      Empty.      JACK sits at a table at the back of the cafe. From here he      can see both entrances: the public entrance and the service      entrance and also the door to the bathrooms. Through the      window, he has a good view of the garage forecourt and the      slip road to and from the autostrada.      JACK places the BRIEFCASE on a chair beside him and puts a      PAPER BAG on the table next to the sugar dispenser. He checks      his watch. It is two minutes before noon. He orders an      espresso.      His nerve-heightened senses take in everything: the sound of      the cicadas, the buzz of the neon strip-lights and the creak,      creak, creak of the engine oil sign outside, endlessly      revolving.      JACK's eyes flick outside to the forecourt.                                                    103.We hear the cafe door open.And in an instant, MATHILDE is at his table.She is dressed in a tight black skirt, a simple blue blouseand a dark blue jacket. Her hair is neatly styled, her make-up immaculate and heavier than we've seen her wear before.She looks exactly like the kind of woman who might carry aSamsonite briefcase.                    MATHILDE          Hello. I see you have brought it in          from the car with you.She speaks quietly: her voice low and attractive.                    JACK          All there, as agreed.                    MATHILDE          What's in the paper bag?The WAITRESS comes over with Jack's coffee. MATHILDE ordersanother for herself.                    JACK          Sweets. For your journey.She opens the bag and takes out one of the TINS.She can immediately feel that it's heavier than it should be.                    JACK          I guessed you'd have a sweet tooth.                    MATHILDE          That is most thoughtful of you.The polite phrase sounds even more polite with her slightBelgian accent.The WAITRESS returns with the second espresso and MATHILDEpays for them both.JACK watches as she stirs her coffee to cool it. She'snervous.                    JACK          I suppose I'll read about this in          the Times or the International          Herald Tribune. Or Il Maessagiero.For a moment she is pensive.                    MATHILDE          Yes, I expect so.                                                          104.      She drinks her coffee, holding her cup in mid-air and looking      out the window.      JACK follows her eye-line to check she's not signalling to an      accomplice.      The FORECOURT is still empty.      Creak, creak, creak, creak...      MATHILDE looks at JACK. Her expression is impossible to read.      Perhaps it's tinged with sadness. She drinks the rest of her      coffee.                          MATHILDE                I'm just going to the ladies. Wait                here.      She picks up the CASE.      There is nothing JACK can do about this. She has taken him      off guard and grasped the initiative.      All he can do is wait.145   INT. AUTOSTRADA BATHROOM- CONTINUOUS                       145      MATHILDE enters a cubicle, opens the CASE, bypasses the      stationary, lifts the false bottom and checks the SOCIMI      parts are present and correct.      Then she loads a magazine.146   INT. AUTOSTRADA CAFE- DAY                                  146      MATHILDE returns from the bathroom.                          MATHILDE                Shall we go.      Not a question, a command.      JACK is obliged to stand up.147   EXT. AUTOSTRADA, CAR PARK- DAY                             147      MATHILDE walks towards a large FORD.      She is carrying the BRIEFCASE.      JACK has his right hand in his jacket pocket.                          MATHILDE                You won't need your piece.                                                    105.The slang word belies her. For an instant she has forgottenher Belgian accent. She sounds American.                    JACK          You never know.She stops beside the FORD.JACK still has his hands on the Walther.                       MATHILDE          OK?                       JACK          Sure. You?                    MATHILDE          Everything's just fine.She definitely sounds American now.Her RIGHT HAND slips into her pocket.JACK twists his wrist upwards and thumbs the cocking lever.                    MATHILDE          Final payment.She hands JACK an ENVELOPE.                    MATHILDE          Buy yourself a retirement clock.Her American accent shows that she's letting her guard down.Maybe it's designed to make JACK do the same.It doesn't.                    JACK          How do you know I'm retiring?She leans forward and kisses him lightly and quickly and onthe lips.                    MATHILDE          Have you taken your girl up to the          meadow yet?JACK doesn't answer. His whole body is tense for the bulletthat he knows his coming. Perhaps there is a second person inthe car.Just then......a COACH pulls into the car park.It stops with a hydraulic hiss and dozens of TEENAGE KIDSdescend.                                                             106.      MATHILDE looks both irritated and relieved.                             MATHILDE                       (whispers to JACK)                   Do it.      She gets into the driver's seat of the FORD and swings the      BRIEFCASE into the back.                             MATHILDE                   Goodbye, Mr. Butterfly.      JACK tenses as MATHILDE raises her hand in farewell.      The FORD pulls away and disappears down the slip road onto      the autostrada.      JACK watches it go.      Thumbs back the lever on his Walther.      Gets into his Citroen.      And opens the ENVELOPE.      -No wires.      -No tricks.      -Just a HUNDRED THOUSAND US DOLLARS.      JACK stares at the money. He isn't supposed to be alive. For      a while he stays put. He shuts his eyes in the sunshine and      listens to the laughter of the teenage kids. To a girl      calling: "Amore!" To the cicadas. To the distant rush of      traffic on the autostrada.                                                    SMASH CUT TO:148   EXT. AUTOSTRADA- DAY                                          148      JACK drives fast...      ...turning off the highway beneath a sign for L'AQUILA.149   EXT. L'AQUILA- DAY                                            149      At the end a small street, JACK parks his car like a true      Italian: illegally.      Runs towards CLARA'S APARTMENT.      And rings the buzzer.      No answer.                                                          107.      JACK rings again.      Still nothing.      Shouts up at her window:                             JACK                CLARA!150   EXT. AUTOSTRADA, CAFE- DAY                                  150      We're at another roadside service station.      LARRY comes out of a Kentucky Fried Chicken.      He climbs into the passenger seat of the FORD.      MATHILDE drives off.151   INT. FORD- DAY                                              151      LARRY is dusting bread crumbs off his shirt.      He's about to get his hands dirty and he doesn't like it.                          LARRY                Not only did you not kill him, you                gave him my fucking money?                          MATHILDE                What else could I do? There were                kids everywhere. Besides he's                suspicious.                          LARRY                He's paranoid. That's why I'm                paying you the GDP of a small                country to get close to him. You                could have got him in the sack. You                should have got him in the car                park. Now you're going to have to                take him out long range!                          MATHILDE                I prefer it that way.      She is a trained assassin. She respects JACK.                          MATHILDE                The Socimi is the perfect weapon.                          LARRY                Let's hope his workmanship is up to                scratch.                                                             108.      He slams a full magazine into the butt of a STERLING      SUBMACHINE GUN.                          LARRY                Sweden turned Jack into a                liability. Three stiffs: two                shooters and an innocent civilian.                I can't afford a mistake like that                again. Europol are crooked but they                aren't cheap. Jack's supposed to                make me money. Not run up cleaning                bills.                           MATHILDE                He made short work of the last guy                you hired.                          LARRY                Never mind Larson. He didn't stand                a chance, not against someone as                paranoid as Jack. The Swede was                only there to take Jack's heat off                you. So don't fuck this up again.      He grabs a TIN of fruit sweets.                          LARRY                Mind if I help myself?      LARRY opens the tin to find it full of AMMUNITION.                             LARRY                Shit.      He looks around the Ford.                          LARRY                Is there any actual candy in this                gas guzzler?152   EXT. AUTOSTRADA- DAY                                          152      JACK turns off under the sign for CASTEL DEL MONTE.153   EXT. CASTEL DEL MONTE, CHURCH STEPS- DAY                      153      The town square is jam-packed with cars and coaches.      Hundreds of tourists and locals have gathered on the church      steps. There is even a camera crew.      The church doors open and FATHER BENEDETTO steps out to a      huge cheer.      Behind him, LOCAL MEN are carrying a larger than life painted      wooden STATUE OF SAINT DOMINIC.                                                            109.      Draped over the saint's shoulder and wrapped around his neck      are around twenty five or thirty live SNAKES- local Viperi-      each one several feet long and as thick as a skinny forearm.      A local BAND strikes up as the STATUE is carried down the      steps, FATHER BENEDETTO leading the strange annual religious      parade around the town square, followed by a group of ALTAR      BOYS.154   EXT. CASTEL DEL MONTE, STREET- DAY                           154      The giant FORD pulls up outside the town's only proper HOTEL.      MATHILDE gets out carrying the SAMSONITE BRIEFCASE.155   EXT. CASTEL DEL MONTE, TOWN SQUARE- DAY                      155      JACK is looking for someone. The square is so tightly packed      it's hard to see, let alone move.      Then he spots her.      CLARA.      She's on the other side of the square, standing on the stone      steps beneath a STATUE OF AN EAGLE. Her friend ANNA is beside      her, taking photographs of the parade with a small digital      camera. JACK moves towards CLARA.      ANNA, through her viewfinder, is the first to notice him. She      points JACK out to CLARA. CLARA waves at him. She says      something to ANNA and descends into the crowd. JACK and CLARA      squeeze their way through a sea of bodies towards one another      as we cut to...156   EXT. HOTEL ROOF- DAY                                         156      MATHILDE emerges through the fire escape door and walks to      the edge of the roof.      She opens the black SAMSONITE CASE and unpacks the top layer      of office paraphernalia to reveal the disassembled parts of      the SOCIMI SUBMACHINE GUN.      Expertly she assembles the bastardised gun- including      TELESCOPIC SIGHTS and SOUND SUPPRESSOR- slotting a full      magazine into the base of the hand grip, snuggling the butt      to her shoulder and placing her eye beside the rubber cup on      the sight.157   EXT. POV FROM TELESCOPIC SIGHTS- DAY                         157      In the centre of the CROSS-HAIRS:                                                          110.      JACK and CLARA meet.      She kisses him. It is a long and loving kiss.      The CROSS-HAIRS find the centre of JACK's head.158   INSERT:                                                     158      MATHILDE'S FINGER... taking up the trigger slack.159   EXT. TELESCOPIC SIGHTS- DAY                                 159      Other HEADS...      -TOURISTS      -LOCALS      -KIDS on their PARENTS' SHOULDERS      ...keep blocking our view of JACK.160   INSERT:                                                     160      The TRIGGER FINGER, hesitating.161   EXT. TOWN SQUARE- DAY                                       161      We're right in the midst of the crowd.      JACK and CLARA have to shout at one another above the noise      of the band.                            JACK                  When can I see you?                            CLARA                  I have to work tonight.      Their happiness clouds over. But the clouds pass quickly.                            CLARA                  You come to my apartment after.                            JACK                  If I asked you would you come away                  with me?                            CLARA                  Come away with you?                             JACK                  Why not?                                                          111.                             CLARA                 Together?                             JACK                 Together.                             CLARA                 Where?                           JACK                 Wherever. Then when we're through,                 we could come back here. For good.                             CLARA                 To live?                           JACK                 Where else?                             CLARA                 Forever?                             JACK                 Forever.      A pause.                           JACK                 Unless you have other plans.                           CLARA                 Other plans?      She swears in Italian. Obscenities. Then throws herself      around JACK and squeezes him with all her strength. There are      tears in her eyes.                           CLARA                 I love you, Signor Eduardo                 Farfalla.      He looks at her.                             JACK                 I...162   INSERT:                                                    162      The TRIGGER FINGER squeezes.      The SOCIMI SUBMACHINE fires.      An EXPLOSIVE BULLET travels down the chamber at approximately      360 miles per hour headed straight for JACK's temporal lobe.      Only it never gets there.                                                          112.      The gun jams.      A chamber explosion is a nasty thing. Instead of shooting out      of the barrel, the round explodes in the cannon's chamber.      Hot shrapnel fragments like a land mine, ripping into      MATHILDE's hands, forearms and face...163   EXT. CASTEL DEL MONTE, TOWN SQUARE- DAY                    163      A loud BANG pulls JACK and CLARA apart. Amidst the noise of      the festival, no one else seems to notice.      JACK looks in the direction of the HOTEL ROOF.                          CLARA                What's happening?                          JACK                Someone got what was coming to                them.      He turns to her:                          JACK                Go to your apartment and pack. Wait                `till I get there. Don't answer the                door to anyone but me.                          CLARA                Eduardo, please?                            JACK                Trust me.      She looks at him.                          CLARA                I trust you.      She wants to, but she doesn't.                          JACK                Clara. My name is not Eduardo.                            CLARA                No?                          JACK                My name is Jack.                            CLARA                Jack.      She looks worried.                                                           113.                          CLARA                You promise you're not married?                          JACK                I promise. Take this.      He hands her an ENVELOPE. It contains his final instalment.                          JACK                Look after it. In case.                          CLARA                    (perplexed)                In case?      He wants to say it but he can't bring himself to.      In case this is goodbye.                             JACK                Now go.164   EXT. STREET- DAY                                            164      LARRY is waiting on the corner of the town square.      He is dialling and re-dialling a number in his mobile phone,      scanning the crowds around him.      In the two seconds it takes the TAXI to pass by, JACK steps      free of a row cars on the other side of the street.      As LARRY comes into view again, JACK sees the STERLING      SUBMACHINE GUN in his hands.      And LARRY sees JACK.      LARRY'S FINGER tightens on the trigger.      L'AMERICANO throws himself to one side.      There is a quick burst of popping explosions: ripping along      the line of parked cars.      PANIC erupts.      JACK is about to fire back at LARRY but LARRY takes cover      behind a TOURIST and fires back another brief burst.      JACK is hit in the shoulder. He drops his gun...      ...and retrieves it just as LARRY fires again.      SCREAMS spread through the holiday crowd like a wave of fire      moving down the street and spilling into the town square.                                                          114.165   EXT. TOWN SQUARE- DAY                                       165      JACK runs into the square.      LARRY pursues him, firing for a third time.      The buzz of spent rounds and the crack of muzzle fire echo      around the square, bouncing off the walls and confusing the      crowd.      People start to run in different directions- everyone heading      for the maze of alleys that surround the main square.      ALTAR BOYS scatter. So do the LOCAL MEN carrying the STATUE      OF SAINT DOMINIC. The STATUE tumbles and smashes. Escaping      SNAKES writhe. FATHER BENEDETTO takes cover.      The two LOCAL CARABINIERI in their Land Rover get caught up      in the chaos. Confused, they turn on their SIRENS.      LARRY spots JACK in the crowd and fires a fourth time.      One TOURIST is killed outright, another injured      JACK dives for cover behind the STATUE OF THE EAGLE where he      spotted Clara.      Bullets ricochet.                          LARRY                You're too old for this life, Jack.      LARRY struggles for breath as he reloads.      This is JACK's chance.                           LARRY                You get sentimental then you fuck                things up.      Rolling along the steps to the statue of the eagle, JACK      spreads his legs, faces LARRY and fires the customary TWO      PRECISION-ENGINEERED SHOTS that make up a military-style      execution:      The first shot hits LARRY in the heart. LARRY is thrown      backwards against a parked car, accidentally altering his arc      of fire as slugs bounce off the steps beside JACK, chips of      marble stinging against his calves.      Again, JACK takes aim.      A beat as his finger tightens on the trigger.      HEADSHOT. Half LARRY'S FACE is wiped out of existence. What's      left of him slides down the parked car onto both knees. His      hand flashes to his mangled throat then drops. He falls      forwards and his STERLING clatters on the cobble stones.                                                    115.Complete silence.Not even the sound of a siren.The town square is empty.Except for FATHER BENEDETTO hiding in the wreckage of thebroken STATUE.Jack's WALTHER hangs ominously by his side.FATHER BENEDETTO stands unsteadily.Like lightening JACK spins, instinctively raising his WALTHERand zeroing in on FATHER BENEDETTO. His face is devoid of allemotion. He is a bloody machine looking at a potentialtarget.We hear SIRENS.Across a slew of dead bodies, JACK keeps the gun pointed atFATHER BENEDETTO.FATHER BENEDETTO stands stock still, facing JACK.The SIRENS get louder.                    JACK          What will you tell them?A beat.FATHER BENEDETTO takes something from inside his Soutane.And holds it up with a trembling hand.JACK'S LETTER.                    FATHER BENEDETTO          I will them that the man who wrote          this letter is my friend.FATHER BENEDETTO smiles sadly.                    FATHER BENEDETTO          Jack.FATHER BENEDETTO shuts his eyes, muttering a quiet prayer.The SIRENS get closer.We hear Carabinieri screeching to a halt and clambering outof their cars, cocking submachine guns.When FATHER BENEDETTO opens his eyes again......JACK has disappeared.                                                          116.166   EXT. CASTEL DEL MONTE- DAY                                 166      Using his meticulous knowledge of the alleyways and lanes      that make up the medieval heart of the town, JACK avoids the      CARABINIERI and, stealing a bicycle, makes it onto the main      road before a road block has been set up.167   EXT. L'AQUILA, COACH STATION, LEFT LUGGAGE- DAY            167      JACK collects a sports bag from a LOCKER.168   EXT. L'AQUILA, COACH STATION, BATHROOM- DAY                168      JACK washes the blood from his hands.169   EXT. L'AQUILA, COACH STATION, MAIN HALL- DAY               169      When he emerges from the bathroom JACK is wearing the clothes      of a fifty year-old American tourist from the mid-West with      glasses and a baseball cap.      He checks the time of next bus to Rome.      Then glances at his watch.      He has thirty minutes.170   EXT. L'AQUILA, STREET- DAY                                 170      JACK walks towards Clara's APARTMENT BUILDING.      Two hundred metres up ahead, two OFFICERS of the Guardia di      Finanza wait in an unmarked car.      JACK walks past Clara's APARTMENT BUILDING.      And keeps walking.171   EXT. L'AQUILA, COACH STATION- DAY                          171      The BUS for Rome is barely half-full.      Blending in perfectly with a group of middle aged American      tourists, JACK boards the steps, purchases a ticket and takes      a seat at the rear.172   EXT. AUTOSTRADA- DAY                                       172      A long tunnel: one of the longest in Europe.      JACK alone at the back of the BUS.                                                    117.It seems like night: red stripes, strip lights, shadows.Vast fans suspended from the ceiling shift the traffic fumes.A button of light, expanding......as we burst into daylight.                       THE END.
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+                             THE AMITYVILLE ASYLUM                                  Written by                                 Andrew Jones                                                                                                                                                      SHOOTING SCRIPT                                                   27TH JULY 2012                                                            Against BLACK SCREEN a TITLE CARD appears:                                   "The boundaries which divide Life from Death are at best          shadowy and vague. Who shall say where the one ends, and          where the other begins?" - Edgar Allan Poe                                   TITLE CARD dissolves.                                                                           FADE IN:                                                            1.EXT. 112 OCEAN AVENUE ≠ AMITYVILLE ≠ NIGHT                                   We slowly pan through a suburban neighbourhood located on          the south shore of Long Island. The still shroud of night          blankets the village of Amityville in the early morning          hours.                                   TITLE CARD Appears:                                   Thursday, November 14, 1974.                                   TITLE CARD Dissolves.                                   Stray house pets are the only signs of life as families and          neighbours slumber. We reach 112 Ocean Avenue, a large Dutch          Colonial house. The home is a classic piece of Americana,          two stories plus an attic, several rooms, and a boathouse on          the Amityville River. There are quarter round windows on the          top floor that give the appearance of eyes staring back at          us.                                   A signpost in the front yard reads "HIGH HOPES", a testament          to what the home symbolizes for the family that live there.                                                                           CUT TO:                                                            2.INT. BASEMENT ≠ 112 OCEAN AVENUE ≠ CONTINUOUS                                   We move slowly through the basement, past various crushed          beer cans and a table full of drug paraphernalia, until we          reach a bearded man in his early twenties. RONALD DEFEO          JUNIOR, known to his family and friends as BUTCH. He sits on          a ragged sofa, dozing off in front of a small Television          that displays white static.                                   There is a digital clock on a small table by the side of the          sofa. It reads 3:14am. We hold on the clock and the time          changes to 3:15am. We can see DeFeo's breath drift from his           3.                                                            lips as cold air sweeps through the room. His eyes snap          open.          A hooded figure, face shrouded in darkness, steps from the          shadows. The figure carries a .35 caliber lever action          Marlin 336C rifle. Hands clad in black leather gloves, the          mysterious person holds the rifle out in front of Butch. A          voice emerges from beneath the hood that is so deep as to be                         INHUMAN:                                                   FIGURE           Kill them. Kill them all.                                   Butch stands and takes the rifle. The figure retreats back          into the shadows.                                                                           CUT TO:                                                            3.INT. HALLWAY ≠ CONTINUOUS                                   The house is silent. Butch quietly stalks the hallways, the          rifle grasped tightly in his hands.                                                                           CUT TO:                                                            4.INT. MASTER BEDROOM ≠ CONTINUOUS                                   Butch quietly pushes the door aside and observes his parents          as they sleep. RONALD DEFEO SENIOR, age forty three, is a          heavy set Italian American man and his wife LOUISE DEFEO is          a slender woman, aged forty two, with flowing blonde hair.          Both are lying flat on their stomachs. Without hesitation,          Butch raises the rifle to his shoulder and pulls the          trigger. The BLAST is deafening. The first shot rips into          his fathers back, tearing through his kidney and exiting          through his chest. Butch fires another round, again hitting          his father in the back. This shot pierces the base of Ronald          Senior's spine, and lodges in his neck.Louise DeFeo's eyes          open, but she barely has a few seconds to react. Butch aims          the weapon at his mother as she lays prone on the bed, and          fires two shots in quick succession. The bullets shatter her          rib cage and collapse her right lung. Both bodies now lay          silently in fresh pools of their own blood.                                                                           CUT TO:                                                            5.INT. HALLWAY ≠ CONTINUOUS                          4                                                            Butch, in an almost trance like state, walks down the hall          and quietly nudges the door to another bedroom.                                                                           CUT TO:                                   6.INT. BOY'S BEDROOM ≠ CONTINUOUS                                   Butch enters the bedroom that his two brothers MARK, aged          twelve, and JOHN, aged nine, share. He walks between their          two beds as they lie on their stomachs, sleeping soundly.          Standing directly above his two helpless brothers, Butch          fires one shot into each of the boys as they lay sleeping.                                   The bullets tear through their young bodies, ravaging their          internal organs, laying waste to the lives that lay ahead of          them. Mark lays motionless, while John, whose spinal cord          has been severed by his brother's heartless attack, twitches          spasmodically for a few moments after the shooting.                                                                           CUT TO:                                                            7.INT. HALLWAY ≠ CONTINUOUS                                   Stangely, the loud shots have not roused the remaining          members of the DeFeo family, and Butch skulks unchallenged          to his final destination-the bedroom shared by his sisters          DAWN, eighteen years old, and ALLISON, aged thirteen.                                                                           CUT TO:                                   8.INT. GIRLS' BEDROOM ≠ CONTINUOUS                                   As Butch enters the room, Allison stirs. She looks up just          as Butch lowers the rifle to her face and pulls the trigger.          Butch then aims his weapon at Dawn's head and squeezes the          trigger again, literally blowing the left side of her face          off. Both girls die instantly. The white sheets and walls          are splattered with blood and brain matter. Butch is unmoved          and expressionless. He surveys the carnage for a moment,          then calmly walks out of the room.                                                  CUT TO:                                   9.INT. HALLWAY ≠ CONTINUOUS           5.                                                            Butch walks past a photograph hanging on the wall in a red          frame. It shows all seven members of the DeFeo family in a          group, hugging each other with smiles on their faces. The          sound of children singing the nursery rhyme "Ring Around a          Rosie" in a slow, haunting manner echoes through the house.          We push in on the photograph and:                                                            FADE TO BLACK                                                                           FADE IN:                                                            10.EXT. CAR ≠ AMITYVILLE ≠ DAY                                   A car drives through the village of Amityville on a cold          winter's day. TITLE CARD appears:                                   AMITYVILLE, LONG ISLAND - 2013.                                   TITLE CARD Dissolves.                                                                           CUT TO:                                                            11.INT. CAR ≠ CONTINUOUS                                   A young girl in her mid twenties is driving the car. She is          attractive yet she dresses very conservatively in a thick          sweater and baggy combat trousers. This is LISA TEMPLETON.          She consults a crumpled piece of paper. Directions are          scribbled on it.                                                                           CUT TO:                                                            12.EXT. CAR ≠ CONTINUOUS                                   The car turns the corner and heads down a long driveway          surrounded by trees. The car approaches a large imposing          building which casts a dark shadow over the grounds. Outside          a sign reads HIGH HOPES HOSPITAL.                                                                           CUT TO:                                                            13.INT. HALLWAY ≠ HIGH HOPES HOSPITAL ≠ DAY                          6                                                            Lisa is sat on a bench in a long empty corridor. She has a          file in her hand and taps her fingers on it nervously. A          door opens and a middle aged man dressed in a crisp white          shirt and tie steps out. He is well groomed and his eyes are          warm and inviting. This is DOCTOR ELLIOT MIXTER.                          MIXTER           Lisa Templeton?                                   Lisa stands abruptly, dropping her file in the process.                                                   LISA           Me! Sorry-                                   Lisa scrambles to pick up the file and papers fall out of          it.                                                   LISA           Shit!                                   Mixter smiles.                                                   LISA           Oh God, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to           say that!                                                   MIXTER           It's quite alright. I'm Doctor           Elliot Mixter. Come into my office.                                   Lisa manages to retrieve the file and papers from the floor          and compose herself. Mixter holds the door open and Lisa          enters the office.                                                                           CUT TO:                                                            14.INT. MIXTER'S OFFICE ≠ CONTINUOUS                                   Lisa stands in the office. Mixter enters and shuts the door.                                                   MIXTER           Please, take a seat.                                   Lisa sinks into a chair next to a large oak desk. Mixter          walks to the opposite side and sits in a large leather chair          facing her.                                                   LISA           I've uh... brought my resume and           some references. I know I already           sent a copy with my application but           just in case.           7.                                                                            MIXTER           Thank you.                                   Mixter takes the file from her and opens it on his desk. He          glances over it.                                                   MIXTER           Very good. I see you've had lots of           experience cleaning private homes.                                                   LISA           Yes, I uh... I've done a lot of           them.                                                   MIXTER           Well an institution such as this           one is a very different           proposition.                                                   LISA           Oh yes. Yes I know. You'll see I've           also worked cleaning a school, so I           am used to big areas.                                                   MIXTER           Yes I've seen that. When I say this           is a different proposition I mean           in terms of the sensitivity           required due to the nature of what           we do here.                                                   LISA           Oh yes, yes of course.                                                   MIXTER           You would mainly be working night           shifts at a time when patients are           on lock down. But many of our           patients here have psychological           disturbances so there may be           situations where you have to clean           up things you may not be used to           cleaning up. If you know what I'm           saying.                                                   LISA           I know what you mean, yes.                                                   MIXTER           Would that bother you?                                                   LISA           It may be strange at first but I           actually have some experience in                          8                                                            that area. I would clean my mother          when she lost control of her bodily          functions during her illness. It's          something I got used to very          quickly. It became routine.                                                   MIXTER          I see. How is your mother now?                                                   LISA          Well... she passed away.                                                   MIXTER          I'm sorry to hear that. So... it's          important to me that every employee          here, whether they are a          psychiatrist, an orderly or a          cleaner, needs to fully understand          what our mission statement at this          hospital is.                                                   LISA          Okay.                                                   MIXTER          High Hopes was only built two years          ago and as an institution we have          only been running for just over a          year now. So we're still building          our reputation. But I am very clear          on what I want that reputation to          be. I intend to make this          institution one of the foremost          centres for mental health treatment          in the country. If you look into my          history you'll know that I have a          stellar reputation in the field of          psychiatry and I want to use that          to help others. That is why I have          put my own money into the creation          of this institution. We are only          just starting out but we have a          long term ambition to be considered          the best. So what I require is that          every person who works at this          institution, in any capacity, must          be professional and sensitive to          the needs of the patients. Unlike          other institutions, the welfare and          care of our patients comes first          here.           9.                                                                            LISA           I really admire that and I promise           I would not let you down if I was           given this job.                                                   MIXTER           I'm sure you wouldn't.                                   Lisa's face quickly contorts. Mixter looks puzzled. Suddenly          Lisa sneezes. It shoots out so rapidly she has no time to          cover her mouth and nose. She sneezes all over Mixter. Lisa          looks horrified.                                                   LISA           Oh my God, I'm so sorry!!                                   Lisa rushes to Mixter's side and grabs a tissue from a          Kleenex box on his desk. She frantically wipes the saliva          and snot from his face.                                                   MIXTER           It's quite alright, please sit           down, I can take care of it.                                   Lisa, completely mortified, sits back down. An unimpressed          Mixter wipes the spittle off his face with a tissue. When          he's done he stares at Lisa.                                                   MIXTER           Okay... well thanks for coming in.           I'll let you know.                                                   LISA           Look I'm so sorry, I really am!                                                   MIXTER           It's fine. We'll be in touch.                                   Such is her embarrassment, Lisa can't get out of the office          fast enough.                                                                           DISSOLVE TO:                                                            15.INT. BEDROOM ≠ LISA'S HOME - LONG ISLAND ≠ NIGHT                                   Lisa is lying on her bed watching TV, flicking endlessly          through the channels. The phone on the bedside table rings.          Lisa picks up the receiver.                                                   LISA           Hello?                          10                                                             NANCY (O.S)           Hey hun!                                                   LISA           Hey Nancy.                                    NANCY (O.S)           How did it go today?                                                   LISA           It was a total fucking disaster!                                    NANCY (O.S)           Oh I'm sure you're just being silly           hun! Whenever I've gone for an           interview I always come out           thinking it's gone really badly.           But I bet it went better than you           think.                                                   LISA           I sneezed on the head of the           institution.                                    NANCY (O.S)           You what??                                                   LISA           I sneezed on him! It was one of           those sneezes that just sneaks up           on you, I didn't have time to cover           my face. Before you know it he's           covered in my snot!                                    NANCY (O.S)           Oh God I'm sorry hun.                                   Long silence on the line.                                                   LISA           Go on, go ahead. You know you want           to!                                    NANCY (O.S)                          [HYSTERIAL LAUGHTER]                                                   LISA           Laugh it up, it's gonna be your           last chance because I'm not going           for any more job interviews! I'm           done, I'm always so damn nervous           and I just don't make a good first           impression.           11.                                                             NANCY (O.S)          You should take my advice and show          a little cleavage at these          interviews! Trust me, you'd get the          job then!                                                   LISA          That's just not me Nance. I          wouldn't know where to start with          flirting or any of that. Christ, if          I wore high heels to one of these          interviews I'd probably trip over!          I'm a clumsy dork!                                    NANCY (O.S)          So what are you thinking of doing?                                                   LISA          I dunno. Thanks for not disputing          that dork remark by the way.                                    NANCY (O.S)          [Laughs] Sorry, hun!                                                   LISA          I guess I'll have to sign on          welfare to make the rent. Long          term, maybe I should go back to          school. Get better qualified for          something.                                    NANCY (O.S)          How come you don't do something          with your writing? You could try          and get something published. Or          write a book or something?                                                   LISA          I dunno, I just... it's like I just          haven't been able to bring myself          to write since ... you know...                                    NANCY (O.S)          I know. It's a clichÈ, but time          really is a healer. I'm sure the          passion you had for it will come          back.                                                   LISA          Maybe.                                    NANCY (O.S)          You wanna talk about it?                          12                                                                            LISA           Not really. I just think I'm gonna           get myself a nice big tub of ice           cream from the freezer and watch           some TV.                                    NANCY (O.S)           Comfort eating!                                                   LISA           [Smiles] I know but if there's ever           a good time for ice cream it's           today!                                    NANCY (O.S)           Can't argue with that! Give me a           call tomorrow, let's go for coffee           soon yeah?                                                   LISA           Sure. Night.                                                                           CUT TO:                                                            16.INT. KITCHEN ≠ LISA'S HOME ≠ LATER                                   Lisa is rummaging in her freezer for some ice cream. She          pulls out a tub and tosses it on the counter. She opens the          cutlery drawer and grabs a spoon. The phone rings.                                                                           CUT TO:                                                            17.INT. LIVING ROOM ≠ CONTINUOUS                                   Lisa walks over to the phone and picks up the receiver.                                                   LISA           Hello?                                    MIXTER (O.S)           Lisa this is Doctor Mixter at High           Hopes Hospital.                                                   LISA           Really? Oh, I uh... Hi!                                    MIXTER (O.S)           Hello! I'm just calling you to say           it was great to meet you today and           I'd like to offer you the job.           13.                                                            Lisa is stunned into silence.                                    MIXTER (O.S)           Are you there?                                                   LISA           Um... is this a joke or something?                                    MIXTER (O.S)           No joke, I'd like to offer you the           job.                                                   LISA           Seriously?                                    MIXTER (O.S)           Absolutely.                                                   LISA           Oh my God I... I can't believe it.                                    MIXTER (O.S)           I'm pleased to welcome you to High           Hopes Hospital. If you can be here           at 9am tomorrow for an induction           please and we'll go from there.                                                   LISA           Oh God, thank you so much! I really           appreciate this, I won't let you           down!                                    MIXTER (O.S)           I know you won't. We'll see you           tomorrow!                                                   LISA           Okay, see you tomorrow!                                                            Lisa puts the phone down with a smile.                                                                           CUT TO:                                                            18.INT. RECEPTION AREA ≠ HIGH HOPES HOSPITAL - DAY                                   Lisa enters the hospital. A man in his thirties dressed in a          boiler suit is stood on a step ladder. He is attempting to          change a light bulb in the hallway but seems to be making          hard work of it. The bulb drops from his hand and smashes to          the ground. Lisa looks up at him.                          14                                                                            MAN           Gswno!                                   Lisa averts her eyes but the man is now aware of her          presence. He has a Polish accent but his English is very          articulate.                                                   MAN           Can I help you?                                                   LISA           Yeah, I'm here for an induction           into the cleaning job.                                                   MAN           You must be Lisa?                                                   LISA           Yes, that's right.                                                   MAN           Doctor Mixter said you would be           coming. I'm Delaney, we'll be           working together.                                                   LISA           Oh great.                                   Delaney climbs off the step ladder and shakes Lisa's hand.                                                   DELANEY           We work nights so today we'll just           show you around, okay?                                                   LISA           Okay, thank you.                                                   DELANEY           I'll clean this up and we'll get to           it.                                                                           CUT TO:                                                            19.INT. STORAGE CUPBOARD ≠ LATER          Delaney opens the cupboard door and for a moment he and Lisa          are silhouetted in the doorway. Delaney pulls a string          hanging near the door and a light comes on. The cupboard is          packed with various cleaning products.                          DELANEY           This is the storage cupboard.           Everything you will need for each           15.                                                            task is here, each shelf is          labelled.                                                   LISA          Okay.                                                   DELANEY          The most obvious task is hoovering.          This is our hoover here, it's          straight forward. You'll be          surprised that although it's          powerful it's very quiet, because          we are working when everyone's in          bed so obviously we don't want to          wake them up! It has a Telescopic          suction tube and six stage filter          system. So a lot more powerful than          you may be used to.                                                   LISA          Okay.                                                   DELANEY          The mop and bucket is here, we          usually use standard bleach to mix          with the water so that's straight          forward. But there is this          specialist stain remover that you          must use if there are any stains on          the floor or carpet. It needs to be          sprayed and left to set for twenty          minutes before scrubbing or          mopping. It's a special formula for          tea, coffee, water marks and other          yellow and brown discolourations on          the carpets or floors. It's pretty          strong so wash your hands after you          use it!                                                   LISA                         OKAY                                                   DELANEY          One of the worst parts of the job          is we have to remove chewing gum          from lots of surfaces. They don't          just stick it underneath the          tables, it ends up everywhere!                                                   LISA          Gross!                          16                                                                            DELANEY           Yes! I think a lot of the time it's           the staff doing it, not the           patients! But we have this GumCart,           which is a bit complicated but it's           easier than just scraping the gum.           The steam is super heated to one           hundred eighty degrees and           delivered at seven point zero bar           pressure. It can produce a hundred           and fifteen litres of superheated           steam per minute.                                                   LISA           Is it okay if I watch you use it a           few times first so I know exactly           what I'm doing? I don't want to end           up burning myself or any furniture!                                   Delaney smiles.                                                   DELANEY           No problem. Now here we come to the           most dangerous chemical we have.           This is a concrete cleaner, very           toxic stuff, so you have to wear           the face mask and gloves we have           here, okay?                                                   LISA           Okay.                                                   DELANEY           This is for cleaning and descaling           brick, stone and concrete and for           metal de-rusting. For concrete you           must mix it one part to four parts           water. Brush or spray it on with           the equipment here then leave it           five to ten minutes to set, then           rinse it off. But for those           stubborn son-of-a-bitch marks use           it neat!                                                   LISA           Okay.                                                   DELANEY           Don't worry if anything seems           complicated, you'll get used to it.           But you'll mostly be mopping and           hoovering in your first few weeks.           17.                                                                            LISA           Yeah that's fine.                                                  CUT TO:                                                            20.INT. WARD B ≠ LATER                                   Lisa follows Delaney into the communal area of Ward B. The          walls are white and clinical. Various patients are scattered          across the room, each with a look of resignation in their          eyes. Many stare blankly out of the window.                                                   DELANEY           This is Ward B, one of two wards           you'll be responsible for cleaning           each evening. Essentially the main           duties will be emptying the bins,           hoovering the carpeted areas and           mopping the hallways. The patients           in here are Category B. They're           mainly people who have had nervous           breakdowns and those who are           catatonic. They're harmless. Like           Missus Hardesty here.                                   Delaney and Lisa walk over to an old woman who is sat still          in the chair. Her eyes are open yet she appears lifeless.                                                   DELANEY           Hello Missus Hardesty.                                   No response or acknowledgement of other people's presence.                                                   DELANEY           She hasn't spoken a word in all her           time here. The orderlies just lift           her from the bedroom to the day           room and back again every day.                                                   LISA           Why did you just talk to her?                                                   DELANEY           We've still got to treat them like           human beings. Otherwise they just           become like furniture and we all           lose our humanity. I like to think           she can hear me, even if she won't           talk to me. See you later Missus           Hardesty.                          18                                                                                     Missus Hardesty continues to stare into nothingness. Delaney          and Lisa exit.                                                                           CUT TO:                                                            21.INT. HALLWAY ≠ CONTINUOUS                                   Delaney and Lisa stroll down the long corridors.                                                   DELANEY           The patients are locked in their           rooms on our night shift, but now           and again they might have an           accident we gotta clean up.                                                   LISA           Okay.                                                   DELANEY           In the day time there are nurses           who often clean up but in the night           we may be called to provide fresh           linen or mop up. Not the most           pleasant of jobs but it happens           from time to time.                                                   LISA           Yeah I understand.                                   Delaney and Lisa arrive at a doorway.                                                   DELANEY           Now here we come to the most           difficult part of the job.                                                   LISA           Cleaning crap up isn't the most           difficult part?!                                   Delaney smiles.                                                   DELANEY           Oh no, that's very easy compared to           what's behind this door.                                                   LISA           What's behind it?                                                   DELANEY           This leads down to Ward X.           19.                                                                            LISA           Sounds ominous.                                                   DELANEY           You could say that. It's where           Category A patients are held. The           criminally insane.                                                   LISA           Really? Doctor Mixter didn't           mention that.                                                   DELANEY           Yes, well, these patients are           beyond help so they've become athe           hospital's secret. Many of them           were transferred from prisons and           other institutions. Doctor Mixter           probably thought he could help           them. He can't. The staff call this           place Blood Row.                                   Delaney opens the door.                                                                           CUT TO:                                                            22.INT. STAIRCASE ≠ CONTINUOUS                                   Lisa follows Delaney down a winding staircase. As they          descend down the steps, the light fades.                                                                           CUT TO:                                                            23.INT. WARD X ≠ CONTINUOUS                                   Delaney and Lisa enter a long dark corridor with a row of          thick metal doors either side. Two light bulbs hang from the          ceiling at each end of the corridor, providing only minimal          illumination. Lisa's nose twitches.                                                   LISA           What's that smell?                                                   DELANEY           It always hangs in the air. No           matter how much we bleach the floor           there is always that smell of           death.                          20                                                            Lisa looks concerned.                                                   LISA           These patients are dangerous?                                                   DELANEY           Yes. But don't worry, we never have           to interact directly or anything           like that. You will just be mopping           the corridor and dusting.                                   Delaney walks over to the first door on the right. There is          a hatch on the door. Delaney slowly slides it open and          beckons Lisa over. She peers inside. The cell is very basic,          white walls with the only furniture being an uncomfortable          looking bed and a toilet without a seat. There are thick          iron bars on one small window. A skinny man in his thirties          sits on a basic bed in a white vest, rocking back and forth.          He has wild hair and a scraggly beard.                                                   DELANEY           That's Jerry Kimble. He was           convicted of stabbing a young           mother forty-nine times in front of           her two year-old son, then killing           and sexually assaulting a woman           before smothering her four-year-old           daughter. They call him the Green           Chain Rapist. He was in Sing Sing           but was certified insane and his           lawyer got him transferred here. He           doesn't make any noise or fuss, but           he is a dangerous man. Especially           towards women. This next inmate is           even worse.          Delaney slides the hatch shut and walks over to the next          door. He slowly slides open the hatch and Lisa peers inside.          Another basic white cell with only a bed and toilet. A man          stands in the centre of the room with his hands behind his          back. His hair is slicked back, as jet black as the eyes          that stare at Lisa. He smiles. Delaney slides the hatch          shut.                          DELANEY           That's Dennis Palmer. Also known as           The Long Island Cannibal. He was           abused as a child so his targets           were always paedophiles and           rapists. He'd track them down and           torture them. He would eat parts of           their body while they were still           alive.           21.                                                                            LISA           That's horrible.                                                   DELANEY           The most horrible thing is that a           lot of the public thought he was a           hero.                                   Delaney walks over to a door on the opposite side of the          hallway. He slides open the hatch.                                                   DELANEY           Sadie Krenwinkel.                                   Lisa looks inside. Inside the basic cell a woman sits cross          legged on her bed. She has long flowing black hair, intense          eyes and a pentagram carved into her forehead. She looks up          and smiles at Lisa. Delaney slides the hatch shut.                                                   LISA           What's her deal?                                                   DELANEY           She was a member of a Witchcraft           cult. They kidnapped six people for           a demonic ritual. Five were killed           but one got away and led police to           the cult. She turned her trial into           a circus, talking about lots of           crazy stuff. The media enjoyed it           but she got certified insane by the           court. She's been around a few           institutions since. Now she's here.                                                   LISA           Some strange stories here.                                                   DELANEY           Well those aren't the strangest.                                                   LISA           Really?                          DELANEY           This last patient is the strangest           case.          Delaney walks over to the last door on the left. He slides          open the hatch. A singular shaft of light coming from a tiny          barred window barely penetrates the darkness of the cell.          Lisa peers inside to see a man sat in the shadows.                          DELANEY           This is our resident John Doe.           Sometimes we have people with                          22                                                             amnesia. Often we find out who they           are. Not so with this man.                                                   LISA           Why is he down here?                                                   DELANEY           They first brought him in about six           months ago. No one knows where he           came from, he literally just turned           up late one night. An orderly found           him wandering the grounds. First of           all he was like Missus Hardesty           upstairs-catatonic. Then a few           weeks later he started to respond           to Doctor Mixter and the nurses           through facial expressions and           gestures. But soon, he got violent.           Very violent. He'd have bursts of           rage and beat other patients. One           day he appeared to have a seizure           and collapsed. A young doctor tried           to take his vital signs. Patient X           here throttled him so hard he           crushed his larynx. It took six           orderlies to restrain him. Now they           won't even let him out for the           obligatory hour a day exercise. We           still don't know who he is.                                                   LISA           Oh God.                                   Delaney stares at Lisa.                                                   DELANEY           God has nothing to do with this           man.          Delaney slams the hatch shut. Lisa looks disturbed.                                                   DELANEY           I haven't put you off have I?                                                   LISA           I guess not... it's just a lot to           take in. I've obviously never been           around stuff like this before.                                                   DELANEY           This is the reality of this place.           We don't deal with these people           directly but we may have to clean           up their mess. If you can't handle           23.                                                             that then I understand. You know           that it's not too late to back out?                                   Lisa considers for a moment.                                                   LISA           I'm not a quitter.                                                                           CUT TO:                                                            24.EXT. HIGH HOPES HOSPITAL ≠ NIGHT          The hospital is bathed in moonlight.                                                                           CUT TO:                                                            25.INT. WARD B ≠ CONTINUOUS                                   Lisa hoovers the carpet in the empty communal room. She then          empties the bins. A Clock on the wall ticks towards 3:15am.                                                                           CUT TO:                                                            26.INT. HALLWAY ≠ A LITTLE LATER                                   Lisa is mopping. As she reaches the end of the hallway a          young girl walks around the corner carrying a teddy bear.          Lisa is STARTLED.                          LISA           Ooh, you made me jump! Should you           be out of bed this late?                                                   GIRL           I don't know.                                   The girl has flowing blonde hair and an angelic face, yet          there is a haunting sadness in her eyes.                                                   LISA           I don't think you should be.                                                   GIRL           Do you want to play with me?                                                   LISA           I'd love to sweetheart, but it's           very late now. I think you better           go back to bed.                          24                                                                            GIRL           Okay.                                                            The girl walks away.                                                                           CUT TO:                                                            27.INT. STORAGE CUPBOARD ≠ NIGHT                                   Lisa is returning the mop and bucket to the storage          cupboard. She knocks a bottle off the shelf and leans over          to pick it up.                                   POV SHOT: Someone is approaching Lisa, edging closer and          closer. A hand stretches out and touches her shoulder. Lisa          JUMPS and SMACKS her head on the underside of the bottom          shelf.                                                   LISA           Fuck!!                                   Lisa turns around to see Delaney standing there.                                                   DELANEY           Sorry, I didn't mean to startle           you.                                                   LISA           It's okay.                                   Lisa rubs her head.                                                   DELANEY           Are you okay?                                                   LISA           Yeah, just hurt that's all!                                                   DELANEY           Sorry.                                                   LISA           I'll live.                                                   DELANEY           Do you want to grab a coffee?                                                   LISA           Sure.           25.                                                                           CUT TO:                                                            28.INT. HALLWAY ≠ LATER                                   Delaney and Lisa are sat on a bench in the hallway sipping          coffee from plastic cups.                                                   DELANEY           Did you change the bins in the Day           Room?                                                   LISA           Yeah.                                                   DELANEY           Good. I've got a light bulb to           change in Room Twelve upstairs           soon. We're making good time.                                                   LISA           Cool. It's funny, I never thought           I'd get this job. The interview           didn't go well!                                                   DELANEY           Doctor Mixter told me you were the           only person he interviewed for the           job.                                                   LISA           Really?                                                   DELANEY           Yeah. I'm sure he felt you were           right for the job and didn't need           to interview anyone else.                                                   LISA           Cool.                                   Lisa looks down at a distinctive tattoo on Delaney's wrist.                                                   LISA           Nice tattoo.                                                            Delaney pulls his sleeve down to cover it up.                                                   DELANEY           Oh yeah. I forget I have it           sometimes.                          26                                                                            LISA           What does it mean?                                                   DELANEY           Well... it represents a lot of           wrong turns in my younger years.                                                   LISA           Like what?                                   Delaney doesn't answer and takes a long sip of coffee.                                                   LISA           Sorry, I didn't mean to pry.                                                   DELANEY           It's okay. Let's just say the past           is better left there.                                                   LISA           Fair enough.                                                   DELANEY           So how is the first night going for           you?                                                   LISA           Not bad. I ran into a young girl in           the hallway earlier. Sweet little           girl, she was only about twelve or           thirteen. I told her to go back to           bed. I guess they don't lock the           kids in at night huh?                                   Delaney appears confused.                                                   DELANEY           You sure it was a young girl of           that age?                                                   LISA           Yeah definitely. She was carrying a           teddy bear. She was about thirteen           at the most.                                                   DELANEY           Umm... okay.                                                   LISA           What?                                                   DELANEY           Well... there are no children of           that age here.           27.                                                            Now it's Lisa who is confused.                                                   LISA           What?                                                   DELANEY           In fact, there are no children of           any age in this place. I think our           youngest patient is about twenty.                                                   LISA           You're kidding right?                                                   DELANEY           No, I'm serious.                                                   LISA           Then who was that girl in the           hallway?                                                            Delaney contemplates for a moment.                                                   DELANEY           You sure you saw a girl that young?                                                   LISA           I'm positive.                                                   DELANEY           I better tell the orderlies. This           is no place for a little girl to           be.                                                                           CUT TO:                                                            29.INT. WARD B ≠ LATER          Lisa is polishing a table. Delaney walks in with          HARDCASTLE,a well built man with a skinhead and visible          tattoos on his arms.                          LISA           Did you find her?                                                   DELANEY           No.                                                   HARDCASTLE           So you're the one who saw the           little girl huh?                          28                                                                            LISA           Yes.                                                   HARDCASTLE           You sure you saw a little girl?                                                   LISA           Of course.                                                   HARDCASTLE           Well I've had to pull staff off           other wards to search this goddamn           place top to bottom. We found           nothing.                                                   LISA           That's strange.                                                   HARDCASTLE           A big fucking inconvenience is what           it is! Do me a favour, the next           time you think you see something be           absolutely sure before you go           running to Jumpsuit here! I ain't           got time to be running around this           place looking for shit that isn't           there! You understand??                                                   LISA           Yes.                                   Hardcastle exits. Lisa looks embarrassed.                                                   LISA           Sorry.                                                   DELANEY           Don't worry about it. Better safe           than sorry.                                                                           DISSOLVE TO:                                                            30.INT.STAIRCASE ≠ HIGH HOPES HOSPITAL-NEXT NIGHT                                   Lisa walks tentatively down the staircase carrying a mop and          bucket. A clock on the wall reads 3:15am.                                                                           CUT TO:           29.                                                            31.INT. WARD X ≠ CONTINUOUS                                   Lisa walks into Ward X. She looks down the dimly lit hallway          and pauses for a moment. Overcoming her nerves, she places          the bucket on the floor and starts mopping.                                   As she edges through the hallway Lisa notices a light          flickering from underneath one of the cell doors. She walks          over and slowly reaches for the hatch. Sliding it open Lisa          peers inside. In the centre of the floor she sees a needle,          a piece of paper and a piece of red wool surrounded by Six          lit candles. She looks around and nobody seems to be in the          cell.                                   Suddenly SADIE jumps up right in front of the hatch! Lisa          FALLS backwards, letting out an involuntary SCREAM! She          stumbles to her feet as Sadie laughs. Lisa slams the hatch          shut and rushes towards the exit.                                                  CUT TO:                                                            32.INT. STORAGE CUPBOARD ≠ NIGHT                                   Delaney is sifting through a tool box. Lisa stands in the          doorway.                                                   DELANEY           Hey, can you do me a favour?                                                   LISA           What?                                                   DELANEY           Can you empty the rubbish in Doctor           Mixter's office? I've got to check           the boiler, there's been complaints           about the heating not working.                                                   LISA           No problem.                                                            Lisa grabs a roll of bin bags from the shelf.                                                                           CUT TO:                                                            33.EXT.MIXTER'S OFFICE - NIGHT                                                            Lisa knocks on the door.                          30                                                                            LISA           Doctor Mixter? Hello?                                   She knocks again. No answer. Lisa tentatively turns the          handle. The door slowly creaks open. The office is empty.          Lisa walks in.                                                                           CUT TO:                                                            34.INT. MIXTER'S OFFICE ≠ CONTINUOUS                                   She looks around for the bin, finally locating it by the          side of the desk. Lisa pulls the full bag out and ties it up          before replacing it with a new bag. With her task complete,          Lisa's curiosity gets the better of her. She looks around          the office. There is a shelf full of psychology books and a          filing cabinet. Lisa touches the top drawer of the filing          cabinet and it opens.                                   Lisa looks at all of the names on the files and finds one          marked 'Patient X'. She reaches for it and suddenly a HAND          grabs her shoulder! A startled Lisa turns around. An orderly          in his thirties is stood in front of her. He is thin but          muscular, with slicked back hair. This is PEMBERTON.                                                   PEMBERTON           What the hell are you doing in           here?                                                   LISA           Uh... I was just emptying the           garbage.                                                   PEMBERTON           Funny, I don't remember Doctor           Mixter keeping the garbage in the           filing cabinet.                                                   LISA           Look I... it was just open and I ...           I dunno.                                                   PEMBERTON           Well, y'know I'm gonna have to           report this.                                                   LISA           Oh please don't, I didn't see           anything I just opened it.                                                            Pemberton smiles.           31.                                                                            PEMBERTON           Well new girl, it's hospital policy           to report this kind of thing.                                                   LISA           But I've only just got this job and           I really need it.                                   Pemberton looks her up and down.                                                   PEMBERTON           Perhaps we can come to some           arrangement.                                                   LISA           What do you mean?                                                   PEMBERTON           Well, I'd be doing you a big favour           if I kept this to myself. So           perhaps you can do me a favour.                                                   LISA           What kind of favour?                                                   PEMBERTON           A blow job.                                   Lisa's face contorts with disgust.                                                   LISA           You're disgusting!                                   Lisa tries to leave the room but Pemberton stands in her          way.                                                   PEMBERTON           Oh come on, I bet you'd love it.                          LISA           Look, you better get out of my way           or I'm going to report you for           sexual harassment.                                                   PEMBERTON           You've been working here for five           minutes. You really think Doctor           Mixter is gonna believe a fucking           cleaner over a medical           professional?                                                   DELANEY           Pemberton!                          32                                                            Pemberton spins around. Delaney is stood in the door way.                                                   DELANEY           Leave her alone.                                   Pemberton laughs.                                                   PEMBERTON           She ain't no prisoner here! I was           just talking, what's the problem?                                                   DELANEY           No problem. Lisa, come with me,           we've got a job up on Ward B.          A grateful Lisa brushes past Pemberton and exits the room.          Delaney glares at Pemberton for a moment before leaving the          room. Pemberton smirks.                                                                           CUT TO:                                                            35.INT. HALLWAY ≠ CONTINUOUS                                   Delaney catches up with Lisa, who is a little emotional.                                                   DELANEY           You okay?                                                   LISA           I'm fine. It was just a little bit           intimidating, y'know?                                                   DELANEY           Pemberton can be like that. He           works nights with that other son-           of-a-bitch Hardcastle. They like to           throw their weight around. You'll           get used to it.                                                   LISA           People like that shouldn't be in           charge of patients.                                                   DELANEY           Let's get a coffee.                                                   LISA           You sure love your break times!                                                            Delaney laughs.           33.                                                                            DELANEY           I like to pace myself!          Lisa smiles.                                                                           CUT TO:                                                            36.TIME LAPSE: Passage from night to day and back again.                                                                           CUT TO:                                                            37.INT. WARD B ≠ HIGH HOPES HOSPITAL ≠ NIGHT                                   Lisa is stood on a step ladder dusting in the hallway. She          steps down and walks past a clock on the wall. The time hits          3:15am.                                   Lisa walks into the day room and is STARTLED to see Mrs          Hardesty sat in a chair.                                                   LISA           Missus Hardesty, you scared me!           What are you doing up at this time?                                   No response from the catatonic pensioner.                                                   LISA           Sorry, I forgot you don't talk.           I'll just go and get an orderly.                                   Lisa heads for the exit. Missus Hardesty's head turns to          look at her and her mouth opens. An unnaturally deep voice                         EMERGES:                                                   MRS HARDESTY           You're going to die in here.                                   Lisa stops in her tracks. She slowly turns to face Mrs          Hardesty, who stares blankly into space.                                                   LISA           What did you say?                                   Lisa stares at her but there is no response.                                                   LISA           I'll... I'll go get an orderly.                          34                                                                           CUT TO:                                                            38.INT. HALLWAY ≠ CONTINUOUS                                   Lisa walks down the hallway. At the other end of the          corridor HARDCASTLE and PEMBERTON are leaning against the          wall having a conversation. Lisa approaches them.                                                   LISA           Hi.                                                   PEMBERTON           Well look who it is, Miss Sexual           Harassment.                                                   LISA           Bite me.                                   Hardcastle laughs.                                                   PEMBERTON           What are you laughing at?                                                   HARDCASTLE           This one's got a big mouth! First           ordering a search of the hospital           for a little girl, now she's           busting your balls!                                                   LISA           Look, I don't want any trouble. I           just came to tell you there's a           patient whose out of their room in           Ward B.                                                   HARDCASTLE           You won't get no trouble from me,           I'm a professional. Unlike this           useless bag of bones.                                                   PEMBERTON           Fuck you!                                                            Hardcastle walks down the hallways with Lisa. He looks back          at Pemberton with a shit eating grin.                                                   HARDCASTLE           Catch you later sweetie.                                                            Pemberton raises his middle finger.           35.                                                                           CUT TO:                                                            39.INT. WARD B ≠ CONTINOUS                                   Lisa and Hardcastle walk into the day room. The room is          empty.                                                   HARDCASTLE           Where is this patient huh?                                                   LISA           She was right there, in that chair.                                                   HARDCASTLE           Who?                                                   LISA           Missus Hardesty.                                                   HARDCASTLE           Missus Hardesty?                                                   LISA           Yeah. She even spoke to me!                                   Hardcastle bursts out laughing.                                                   HARDCASTLE           Missus Hardesty was here and she           spoke to you?                                                   LISA           Yes!                                                   HARDCASTLE           Just a second...                                   Hardcastle steps out into the hallway. A few moments later          Hardcastle re-enters the day room with Pemberton.                                                   HARDCASTLE           The new girl here says that Missus           Hardesty was just sat in that           chair. Says she even spoke to her.                                   Pemberton chuckles.                                                   LISA           Look I know she's supposed to be           catatonic but I swear she said           something to me!                          36                                                                            PEMBERTON           That's not the strange thing,           sweetheart.                                                   LISA           What do you mean?                                                   PEMBERTON           Missus Hardesty died this morning.                                   The blood drains from Lisa's face.                                                   LISA           But I could have sworn...                                                   HARDCASTLE           Listen newbie, how about you just           get on with the cleaning and stay           off the crack pipe. Okay, honey           bunny?          Pemberton and Hardcastle both laugh and leave the room.                                                                           DISSOLVE TO:                                   40.INT. HALLWAY ≠ HIGH HOPES HOSPITAL ≠ NIGHT                                   Lisa is sweeping in the hallway. She looks up and just          catches a glimpse of someone turn the corner up ahead.                                                   LISA           Hello?                                   Lisa looks around. The hallway is empty. She walks forward          and turns the corner just in time to see the young girl,          carrying a teddy bear, push open the door. She enters the          staircase that leads down to Ward X.                                                   LISA           Little girl, wait!                                                            Lisa drops her brush and rushes forward. She throws open the          door.                                                  CUT TO:                                                            41.INT. STAIRCASE ≠ CONTINUOUS          Lisa looks down and sees the young girl at the bottom of the          staircase, heading for the entrance to Ward X.           37.                                                                            LISA           Don't go in there!          Lisa rushes down the stairs after her.                                                                           CUT TO:                                                            42.INT. WARD X ≠ CONTINUOUS                                   Lisa pushes open the door to Ward X. She peers down the dark          hallway. The girl is nowhere to be seen.                                                   LISA           Little girl?          Lisa slowly walks down the hallway, passing the cell doors.          She can hear whispering. Lisa is drawn to the last door on          the left. She approaches with caution. Stood in front of the          door she slowly slides the hatch open and peers inside. John          Doe sits in the corner, cloaked in shadow. Lisa peers down          and in the centre of the floor, illuminated by a single          shaft of light from the small window, is a TEDDY BEAR. Lisa          slides the hatch shut and walks backwards. She is seriously          unnerved. As she steps back from the door she hears a          whispering from Kimble's cell. She edges closer to his cell          door and listens.           KIMBLE (O.S)           Palmer... Hey Palmer...                                   Palmer can be heard from the next cell. His voice is calm,          in stark comparison to Kimble's which sounds extremely          agitated.                                    PALMER (O.S)           Yes?                                    KIMBLE (O.S)           My cock is so hard Palmer. It's so           hard that I can't contain it any           more. I'm going to break through           this wall and do bad things to you.           Very, very bad.                                    PALMER (O.S)           I must advise you Mister Kimble-           threats will not be well received.                                    KIMBLE (O.S)           I'm touching myself Palmer. You           wanna watch? You fucking faggot!                          38                                                             PALMER (O.S)           Stay out of my psyche Mister Kimble           and I'll stay out of yours.                                   Kimble starts to chuckle. Then he stops suddenly. Lisa leans          closer to the cell door and she hears Kimble sniffing. THUD!          Lisa jumps back as Kimble kicks the cell door.                                    KIMBLE (O.S)           I know you're out there girlie. I           can smell your pussy. How about you           join me in here. Come on!                                   Kimble bangs the door continuously. The racket echoes          through the corridor. Sadie soon joins in, her and Kimble          laugh maniacally as they thump on the doors. A horrified          Lisa rushes towards the exit.                                                                           DISSOLVE TO:                                                            43.INT. BEDROOM - LISA'S HOME ≠ DAY                                   An exhausted Lisa changes out of her work clothes and into a          large t-shirt. The morning sun bursts through the window,          filling the room with an orange hue. Lisa shuts the curtains          and slides under the duvet cover into the welcome sanctuary          of her bed. Lisa drifts to sleep.                                                                           DISSOLVE TO:                                                            44.INT. BEDROOM ≠ LISA'S HOME ≠ EVENING          Lisa is sleeping fast as night falls outside. All we can          hear is the rhythm of her breathing and the gentle ticking          of the clock by her bedside table.                                   Suddenly her EYES snap open. We pull back and see that Lisa          is now stood in front of LARGE WOODEN DOORS. The doors open          and she steps inside.                                   45.INT. CHURCH ≠ NIGHT                                   Lisa enters a Church full of powerful religious imagery. On          the right side of the entrance she notices a Font. A drop of          blood pierces the blessed water. As Lisa walks down the          aisle we realise that everything has slowed to a crawl and          she is moving in slow motion. White feathers cover the          aisle, bouncing around her bare feet. An open Bible rests on          the Lectern, the pages fluttering as if there is a strong          breeze blowing them. Lisa looks up at a crucifix on the           39.                                                            wall, the contorted face of a crucified Jesus Christ stares          at her. Blood seeps from the crown of thorns and runs down          Christ's face. As Lisa gets closer to the altar she sees a          female figure sat in the front pew. Lisa ebbs closer. The          figure turns. It's LISA'S MOTHER.                          LISA'S MOTHER           Don't you grieve for me?                                                   LISA           Of course I do.          Suddenly tears of BLOOD run down Lisa's cheeks.          Lisa's mother reaches out a hand. Lisa stretches her arm out          to grab her mother's hand. Everything is in slow motion, it          seems to take Lisa forever to reach her mother's hand.          Suddenly a BLACK GLOVED HAND grabs her outstretched arm. She          turns to see a HOODED FIGURE, face shrouded in darkness,          standing next to her. A deep voice echoes around the church:                                                   FIGURE           Kill them. Kill them all.                                                                           CUT TO:                                                            46.INT. BEDROOM ≠ LISA'S HOME ≠ CONTINUOUS                                   Lisa's eyes OPEN and she sits bolt upright. She is pale and          soaked with sweat. It takes her a few moments to compose          herself and realise that it was just a nightmare.                                                                           DISSOLVE TO:                                                            47.EXT. HIGH HOPES HOSPITAL ≠ NIGHT                                   The rain lashes down outside the institution.                                                                           CUT TO:                                                            48.INT. HALLWAY ≠ HIGH HOPES HOSPITAL ≠ NIGHT                                   Lisa is walking with Delaney.                                                   DELANEY           Okay, next thing is mopping the           floor in Ward X.                          40                                                                            LISA           Umm... could you do that?                                                   DELANEY           Why?                                                   LISA           I dunno... I just need a break.                                                   DELANEY           Does Ward X frighten you?                                                   LISA           A little.                                                   DELANEY           That's normal, it frightens me           sometimes. But I've got to go up to           a patient's room in Ward A.           Apparently they've had a little           accident. Surely you wouldn't           prefer to clean that up?                                                   LISA           Well... maybe not.                                                   DELANEY           I know Ward X is a scary place. But           you'll get used to it.                                                   LISA           I can hear them talking. It's kinda           unnerving.                                                   DELANEY           I know, I hear that too when I'm           down there. But trust me, once you           get used to it things will get           easier.                                                                           CUT TO:                                                            49.INT. WARD X ≠ LATER                                   The door creaks open. Lisa looks nervous. She walks in with          her mop and bucket and heads to the end of the corridor. She          begins mopping the floor. As she mops past Sadie's cell she          hears a knock on the inside of the cell door.                                                   SADIE           I can hear you out there.           41.                                                            Lisa is creeped out but she makes an effort to ignore it.          She continues to mop the floor and starts moving past          Sadie's cell.                                                   SADIE           I've been talking to your mother           Lisa.                                   Lisa stops dead in her tracks. She looks back at the cell          door.                                                   SADIE           She's here with me Lisa. She's told           me all about you.                                   Lisa walks over to the cell door.                                                   SADIE           I know you're out there Lisa. Talk           to me.                                                   LISA           What... what do you expect me to           say?                                                   SADIE           Perhaps you can tell me all about           the summer trips to Key West with           your mother? Those were your           favourite memories of your mother           weren't they? Or perhaps you'd           prefer to tell me about when you           sat at your mother's bed side for           six months, watching on helplessly           as the cancer ravaged her body and           sucked the life out of her?                                   Lisa is horrified. She is shaking.                                                   LISA           How... how do you know all this?                                                   SADIE           Because your mother is speaking to           me from the flames of hell!                                                   LISA           You sick fuck!                                   Tears stream down Lisa's face.                                                   SADIE           She has a message for you Lisa.           Want to hear it?                          42                                                            Lisa wipes away the tears and tries to compose herself.                                                   SADIE           Want the message?                                                   LISA           What is it?                                   There is a pause for a moment before an unnaturally deep          inhuman voice emerges from Sadie's throat on the other side          of the cell door:                                                   SADIE           GET OUT!!          A distraught Lisa rushes towards the exit.                                                                           CUT TO:                                                            50.INT. STAFF BATHROOM ≠ CONTINUOUS          Lisa rushes into the bathroom. A wave of emotion rises to          the surface and she sobs into her hands. After a few moments          the tears subside and she takes a deep inhalation of breath,          desperately trying to compose herself. Lisa walks over to          one of the sinks. She looks at her tear stained face in the          mirror above it. Lisa turns the tap on and water rushes out.          She leans down and splashes the water on her face.          Lisa looks up and is STARTLED to see her face reflected in          the mirror as an OLD HAG! Lisa clutches her decrepit face in          horror! She closes her eyes and opens them again. Her          reflection has returned to normal. Lisa hears Sadie's          maniacal chuckle echo around the bathroom. She rushes out.                                                                           CUT TO:                                                            51.INT. HALLWAY ≠ LATER                                   A visibly upset Lisa rushes down the hallway towards          Delaney.                                                   DELANEY           What's wrong Lisa?                                                   LISA           I'm not going down to Ward X again,           I'm really sorry I just can't           handle it down there!           43.                                                                            DELANEY           Okay, just calm down okay. Tell me           what happened.                                                   LISA           They say things to me through the           doors. Horrible things!                                                   DELANEY           I know, they've done it to me too.                                                   LISA           But that woman Sadie, she says           things she couldn't possibly know           about me.                                                   DELANEY           Like what?                                   Lisa checks herself.                                                   LISA           I sound crazy don't I?                                   Delaney smiles.                                                   DELANEY           No. This place just gets under your           skin sometimes.                                                   LISA           I'm starting to wonder if I'm           losing my mind.                                                   DELANEY           Well it's not healthy to think too           much about what those crazy son-of-           a-bitches say. Believe me you don't           want them inside your head.                                                   LISA           It's hard to keep them out           sometimes.                                                   DELANEY           Listen, take a break from Ward X           for a while. I'll go down there for           the next week or so.                                                   LISA           I'm really sorry about this, I           didn't think it would effect me so           much.                          44                                                                            DELANEY           Don't worry, it gets to everyone at           first. But the last thing I want is           for you to dread coming to work.                                   Delaney puts his hand on Lisa's shoulder in a comforting          manner.                                                   LISA           Thank you. I really appreciate           that.                                   Delaney smiles.                                                   DELANEY           No problem.                                                  DISSOLVE TO:                                                            52.TIME LAPSE: Passage from night to day and back again.                                                                           DISSOLVE TO:                                   53.INT. WARD X ≠ HIGH HOPES HOSPITAL ≠ NIGHT                                   Continual thumping on one of the cell doors echoes around          Ward X. Pemberton enters and walks over to Palmer' cell. He          slides open the hatch.                                                   PEMBERTON           What's with all the fucking racket           Palmer?                                                   PALMER           Sorry to bother you Mister           Pemberton. But I wondered if it           would be possible to get some           medical attention?                                   Palmer holds up his arm and it's been slashed open. Blood          pours from the wound.                                                   PEMBERTON           Now how the hell did that happen?                                   Palmer holds up a makeshift knife.                                                   PALMER           I believe it was this rather crude           weapon that did the damage.           45.                                                                            PEMBERTON           Jesus Christ Palmer! Now put the           weapon on the floor and back away.                                   Palmer obliges with a smile on his face. Pemberton unhooks a          truncheon from his waist belt.                                                   PEMBERTON           Put your hands on your fucking head           and face the wall! Now!!          Palmer willingly follows the instructions. Pemberton takes a          set of keys from his belt and unlocks the cell.                          PEMBERTON           I'm coming in dipshit, one fucking           move from you and I'll cave your           fucking skull in! You understand??                                                   PALMER           As you wish Mister Pemberton.                                                                           CUT TO:                                                            54.INT. PALMER'S CELL ≠ CONTINUOUS                                   Pemberton walks in with the truncheon raised above his head.                                                   PEMBERTON           Don't you fucking move!!                                   A nervous Pemberton fumbles at his belt, trying to unhook a          pair of handcuffs. Palmer slowly starts to back into him.                                                   PEMBERTON           I said don't fucking move!                                   Palmer moves faster. Pemberton swings for him but Palmer          ducks it and spins around, pushing Pemberton into the wall          knocking him to the floor. Palmer aims a swift and savage          stamp at Pemberton's head. His skull crushes against the          cold hard floor. Blood spatters all over the white cell.                                                   PALMER           I'm terribly sorry about this.                                   Palmer reaches down, takes Pemberton's keys and exits the          cell.                                                                           CUT TO:                          46                                                            55.EXT. WARD X ≠ CONTINUOUS                                   Palmer stands at the entrance to Kimble's cell. He selects          the key marked with the corresponding cell number. Palmer          puts it into the keyhole and opens the door.                                                   PALMER           Good evening Mister Kimble                                                                           CUT TO:                                                            56.INT. HALLWAY ≠ SAME TIME                                   Hardcastle strolls down the hallway.                                                                           CUT TO:                                                            57.INT. STAIRCASE ≠ CONTINUOUS                                   Hardcastle looks down to the base of the staircase.                                                   HARDCASTLE           Pemberton? Pemberton, what's taking           you so long man??          No response. Hardcastle rushes down the steps.                                                                           CUT TO:                                   58.INT. WARD X ≠ CONTINUOUS                                   Hardcastle enters. He sees the door of Palmer' cell open and          slams a large red button on the wall next to the entrance.          Hardcastle takes out his truncheon and cautiously approaches          Palmer' cell. Looking inside he sees Pemberton crumpled on          the floor in a pool of his own blood.                                                   HARDCASTLE           Shit!                                   A SCREAM emerges from the next cell. Hardcastle rushes over          to Kimble's cell door. Five orderlies rush onto the Ward.                          HARDCASTLE           We got a major code six over here!          The orderlies rush to Hardcastle's side, truncheons at the          ready. Hardcastle puts a key in the lock and prepares to          open Kimble's cell.           47.                                                                            HARDCASTLE           Stay alert!                                   Hardcastle turns the key and kicks open the door. They are          met by the sight of KIMBLE's corpse positioned upright on          the toilet. There is a hole in his head with part of his          BRAIN seeping out. Palmer stands next to him, with blood on          his lips and a plastic spoon in his hand. He smiles, blood          covering his teeth.                                                   PALMER           Good evening gentleman. I believe           we will be one short at roll call           tomorrow morning.          Hardcastle and the orderlies charge Palmer. He doesn't          resist as they viscously tackle him to the ground.                                                                           DISSOLVE TO:                                   59.INT. HALLWAY ≠ HIGH HOPES HOSPITAL ≠ LATER                                   Lisa is walking down the hallway. She hears a SCREAM emerge          from one of the rooms. She puts her ear to the door and          hears the SCREAM again. Lisa kneels down and peers through          the keyhole. In a clinical white room Palmer is strapped          down on a table. His face is severely cut and bruised but he          is conscious. Four orderlies hold his arms and legs while a          fifth smears conductor on Palmer temples.                                                   ORDERLY #1           Do we need to put the bit in his           mouth?                                                   ORDERLY #2           No. We're not giving him the           methohexital either.                                   The orderly places electrodes either side of Palmer' head.          He then turns the dial on the ECT device up to full power.          Palmer SCREAMS as he violently convulses, salivating heavily          from his mouth. Suddenly the saliva turns to blood as he          bites his own tongue off. Lisa is horrified as she watches          the orderlies laugh as Palmer experiences a severe seizure.                                   POV Shot: Someone is approaching Lisa as she crouches in          front of the door. A hand reaches out and GRABS her by the          hair,YANKING her to her feet. Lisa SCREAMS. She turns to see          Hardcastle standing in front of her. He invades her personal          space in an intimidating manner.                                                   HARDCASTLE           What the fuck are you doing??                          48                                                                            LISA           I just heard something so I ... I was           just curious.                                                   HARDCASTLE           What are you seeing in there?                                                   LISA           Oh nothing, I didn't see anything.                                                   HARDCASTLE           You make sure it stays that way.           That guy is a fucking menace and he           deserves everything he gets. So you           don't talk to Mixter or anyone else           about anything you've seen in           there. You understand?                                                   LISA           I won't say anything.                                                   HARDCASTLE           Good. Now don't you got some           cleaning to do somewhere?                                                   LISA           Of course.                                   Lisa walks down the hallway. Hardcastle's eyes burn into the          back of her head.                                                                           DISSOLVE TO:                                                            60.EXT. COFFEE SHOP ≠ LONG ISLAND ≠ DAY          Lisa rushes towards the entrance. She's running late.                                                                           CUT TO:                                                            61.INT. COFFEE SHOP ≠ CONTINUOUS                                   Lisa rushes inside, nearly knocking someone's coffee out of          their hand in the process. She looks across the busy coffee          shop and there's an attractive young blonde girl waving at          her. NANCY. Lisa rushes to the table.                                                   LISA           I'm so sorry I'm running late Nanc!           49.                                                                            NANCY           Don't worry about it, have a seat.           A latte yeah?                                                   LISA                          YEAH                                                   NANCY           Good, I've ordered it. They'll           bring it over soon.                                                   LISA           Thanks.                                   Lisa looks pale. Black bags under her eyes.                                                   NANCY           God hun, you look like shit!                                                   LISA           Oh thanks!                          NANCY           Sorry, I didn't mean to be blunt           but you do. The night shifts           getting to ya?                                                   LISA           The whole job's getting to me. My           body clock's all out of whack but           it's not just that. There's           something seriously wrong with that           place.                                                   NANCY           What do you mean?                                   A waitress brings over the Latte and places it in front of          Lisa.                                                   LISA           Thanks.                                   Lisa proceeds to put four sugars in her coffee.                                                   NANCY           Wow, you like a little coffee with           your sugar?                                                   LISA           I figure it'll wake me up a little.                                                   NANCY           So what's wrong with the place?                          50                                                                            LISA          A lot of things. The way they run          things for starters, the orderlies          are complete bastards.                                                   NANCY          They usually are in those places.                                                   LISA          Some of the patients are extremely          violent.                                                   NANCY          You haven't been hurt by anyone          have you?                                                   LISA          No, nothing like that. Some of the          things they say though... it's          pretty frightening. The weirdest          thing is... Oh I dunno, maybe it's          just me. I wonder if I'm seeing          things.                                                   NANCY          What do you mean?                                                   LISA          I think the place might be haunted.          Either that or I'm losing my mind.                                                   NANCY          Well I wouldn't be surprised if it          was haunted.                                                   LISA          What do you mean?                                                   NANCY          I told my father about your new          job.                                                   LISA          Yeah?                                                   NANCY          Well, y'know they only built that          Asylum a couple of years ago?                                                   LISA          Yeah.           51.                                                                            NANCY          He says it was built on the site of          One Twelve Ocean Avenue.                                                   LISA          What's that?                                                   NANCY          You never heard of it?                                                   LISA          No.                                                   NANCY          It was a famous house. Or should I          say infamous. Some guy shot his          whole family there back in the          seventies. Parents, brothers,          sisters. Wiped out his entire          family with a shotgun. Then the          next owners of the house only          lasted there about a month. They          said they were driven from the          house by evil spirits. The house          became known around the world.          That's why the recent owners sold          the land, they had enough of all          the media interest and constant          tourists. Have you seriously never          heard of the Amityville horror          house?                                                   LISA          I vaguely remember hearing some          stuff a while ago, but I never          really took it in. I honestly          didn't realise that the hospital          was on the same land.                                                   NANCY          Yup, right on the spot where the          house was demolished. You really          think the place is haunted?                                                   LISA          Either that or I'm going crazy.                                                   NANCY          Well you're not crazy, hun. Perhaps          the stories about hauntings at the          house were true. Maybe the house is          gone but the spirits stuck around.                          52                                                                            LISA           You believe in ghosts?                                                   NANCY           I dunno, never seen one. But I like           to think I'm open minded. Plus           you're the most intelligent girl I           know. If you say you've seen           something, I believe you.                                   Lisa smiles.                                                   LISA           Thanks Nanc.                                                   NANCY           So what are you gonna do? Are you           gonna quit?                                                   LISA           Part of me says I should. There's a           lot about the place that frightens           me. But I dunno... I think I've           seen too much to be able to just           walk away and forget the place.                                                   NANCY           If I was you I'd just walk away.           Who wants to work at a place that           frightens them?                                                   LISA           Well I need the money for starters.           But now it feels like I need to           find out more.                                                   NANCY           Maybe you are crazy after all!                                                                           CUT TO:                                                            62.INT. BEDROOM ≠ LISA'S HOME ≠ DAY          Lisa is sitting on her bed studying a laptop. On screen she                         IS READING:                                   "Ronald Joseph "Butch" DeFeo, Jr. is an American mass          murderer. He was tried and convicted for the 1974 killings          of his father, mother, two brothers and two sisters."                                   We slowly push in on Lisa's eyes and then:           53.                                                            SLOW DISSOLVE TO:                                                            63.EXT. 112 OCEAN AVENUE ≠ DAY ≠ 1974                                   RONALD DEFEO SENIOR is in the garden of his home chopping          firewood with a large axe.                                   TITLE CARD appears:                                   November 1974.                                   TITLE CARD dissolves.                                   RONALD "BUTCH" DEFEO JUNIOR approaches him.                                                   BUTCH           Hey Pop.                                                   RONALD SENIOR           You come to help?                                                   BUTCH           I'm going out.                                                   RONALD SENIOR           Again? Boy, you better not be           turning up for work tomorrow like a           goddamn zombie again.                                                   BUTCH           Yeah, yeah Pop.                                                   RONALD SENIOR           Don't yeah yeah me boy. You're on a           last warning.                                                   BUTCH           I seen you got Mark a wheelchair.           Mom says it cost five hundred           bucks.                          RONALD SENIOR           What of it?                                                   BUTCH           Well how come you're spending five           hundred bucks on Mark and I gotta           come beg you for money all the time           huh?                          54                                                                            RONALD SENIOR           What's the matter with you, boy?           Your brother's broken his leg, he           needs that wheelchair.                                                   BUTCH           Well I need money too!                                                   RONALD SENIOR           Butch, you get a wage from the auto           dealership every Friday and it's           gone by Monday. Why is that?                                                   BUTCH           I gotta live.                                                   RONALD SENIOR           What you spending that money on           huh? Cos it ain't rent or food. You           get everything you want for nothing           'round here. I know what you're           really doing with that money.                                                   BUTCH           You don't know shit!                                                   RONALD SENIOR           Boy, you better shut that mouth of           yours.                                   Ronald Senior stands there, axe in hand, eye-balling his          son.                                                   BUTCH           This ain't over.                                   Butch storms back towards the house. Ronald Senior brings          the axe forcefully down on a piece of wood, splitting it          cleanly in half.                                                                           CUT TO:                                                            64.INT. APARTMENT ≠ AMITYVILLE ≠ DAY ≠                                   There is a knock on the door. A pale looking man in his          twenties opens the door to reveal Butch standing in the door          way holding a brown paper bag.                                                   BUTCH           Hey Mick.           55.                                                                            MICK           Butch, I told you man, you can't           get no shit on lay-away any more.           Your credit's all used up.                                   Butch pulls a wad of money out of the paper bag.                                                   BUTCH           You accept cash?                                   Mick smiles.                                                   MICK           My man! Come on in.                                                                           CUT TO:                                                            65.INT. LIVING ROOM ≠ APARTMENT ≠ A LITTLE LATER                                   Butch uses a lighter to boil a spoon full of heroin. On his          right arm is a belt. He then loads the heroin into a          syringe. Butch tightens the belt and taps his arm. He sinks          the needle into a prominent vein and plunges the heroin into          his blood stream. His eyes sink and he lies back onto the          crusty carpet of the apartment, staring up at the ceiling.          From a bird's eye view we slowly move down towards Butch.          Suddenly a chorus of voices chatter around his ears.                                    VOICE #1 (O.S)           It's kill or be killed.                                    VOICE #2 (O.S)           Why haven't you killed that pig?                                    VOICE #3 (O.S)           They are plotting against you. We           have decided that you must take           action.                                    VOICE #4 (O.S)           Kill them. Kill them all.                                                                           CUT TO:                                                            66.INT. HALLWAY ≠ 112 OCEAN AVENUE ≠ DAY          Butch puts his jacket on and prepares to open the front          door. Suddenly a large hand GRABS the back of his jacket.          Butch swipes the hand away and spins around to see his          father red with rage.                          56                                                                            RONALD SENIOR           Nineteen thousand dollars boy!           Nineteen thousand!!                                                   BUTCH           What??                                                   RONALD SENIOR           You stole that fuckin' money from           the auto dealership!!                                                   BUTCH           What the fuck you talking about?? I           was robbed!! Didn't Brigante tell           you huh? Some fuckers car jacked me           Pop. I told the police about it!                                                   RONALD SENIOR           You expect me to believe that, boy?           You think I'm fuckin' stupid??                                                   BUTCH           I ain't saying your stupid pop, I'm           telling you the truth! I was robbed           god-damn it!                                   Ronald Senior grabs Butch by the scruff of the neck and          SLAMS him against the door. LOUISE DEFEO rushes in.                                                   LOUISE           What the hell's going on??                                                   RONALD SENIOR           Our son's a fuckin' junkie thief,           that's what's going on!! He robbed           the fucking dealership!!                                                   BUTCH           Don't listen to him Ma, I ain't           done nothing!!                                   Ronald Senior and Butch fall to the floor and start          grappling.                                                   LOUISE           Stop it!! Stop it now!!          Louise attempts to pull Ronald Senior off Butch. Her nails          dig into her husband's neck and draw blood. An enraged          Ronald Senior grabs his wife's arms as she starts to slap          him. Butch scrambles to his feet and rushes down the          hallway. Ronald Senior remonstrates with Louise who is still          trying to slap him.           57.                                                                            RONALD SENIOR           Why do you always have to get           involved huh?? You've always been           too soft on that boy!!                                                   LOUISE           Don't you touch him!!                                                   RONALD SENIOR           He needs some fuckin' discipline!!                                                   LOUISE           Stay away from him!!                                   Suddenly Ronald Senior feels cold metal pressed against the          back of his head. Louise SCREAMS and steps back. Ronald          Senior freezes. Ronald Senior slowly turns to see Butch, his          eyes bloodshot and his face emotionless, aiming a MARLIN          RIFLE at his head.                                                   BUTCH           I've had enough of you fat man!!                                                   LOUISE           Ronnie, don't!! Please!!                                   Ronald Senior's trembles with fear as he stares into his          son's cold eyes. Butch places his finger on the trigger.                                                   LOUISE           No!!                                   Butch pulls the trigger. Louise SCREAMS. The gun JAMS.          Ronald Senior breathes a sigh of relief. Butch lowers the          gun and storms off towards the basement. Louise embraces          Ronald Senior, who appears to be in shock.                                                                           CUT TO:                                                            67.INT. LANDING ≠ 112 OCEAN AVENUE ≠ LATER                                   Butch is quietly stalking the landing. He can hear whispers          from his parents' bedroom and cranes his neck to listen.                                    RONALD SENIOR (O.S)           I want him out of this house           tomorrow. He's gone.                                    LOUISE (O.S)           I guess you're right. He's twenty           three now, he just doesn't belong           here any more.                          58                                                             RONALD SENIOR (O.S)           His age ain't the problem Louise,           those goddamn drugs he's taking           are. I'm not having that going on           under my roof.                                    LOUISE (O.S)           We'll talk to him tomorrow.                                    RONALD SENIOR (O.S)           The time has come. And it's long           over due.                                   Ronald stands upright. Behind him is a FIGURE in a black          robe.                                                   FIGURE           Kill them before they kill you.                                                            CUT TO BLACK                                                                                     6 GUN SHOTS ring out.                                                                                                    FADE IN:                                                            68.INT. BEDROOM ≠ LISA'S HOME ≠ DAY                                   Lisa scans down the web page and looks at photos of Butch          DeFeo and his family. Suddenly she reaches a picture of 13          year old Allison and her blood runs cold. She recognises          Allison as the little girl she encountered in the hospital          hallway.                                                                           DISSOLVE TO:                                   69.INT. HALLWAY ≠ HIGH HOPES HOSPITAL ≠ NIGHT                                   Lisa and Delaney are sat on a bench in the hallway drinking          coffee.                                                   LISA           Do you know the history of this           place?           59.                                                                            DELANEY          There's not much history. We've          only been open a couple of years.                                                   LISA          No, I mean the history of the land.                                                   DELANEY          You mean... what was on the land          before the hospital?                                                   LISA          Yeah.                                                   DELANEY          I know a bit about that.                                                   LISA          One Twelve Ocean Avenue. The          Amityville haunted house.                                                   DELANEY          Well I don't know that it was          haunted. Lots of people think          that's lies. I know about the kid          that killed his family. That's          true.                                                   LISA          I didn't know about it until a          friend told me.                                                   DELANEY          Really? It's a famous case.                                                   LISA          How come you never mentioned it?                                                   DELANEY          You seem spooked already. I didn't          want to make it worse.                                                   LISA          Y'know why I'm spooked?                                                   DELANEY          Because of the patients on Ward X.                                                   LISA          It's not just that Delaney. I think          this place is haunted. In fact, I'm          sure of it.                          60                                                                            DELANEY          You've seen something?                                                   LISA          Remember I said I saw a little girl          roaming the hallways here? I know          who she is. She's one of the DeFeo          children who were killed. You ever          seen her?                                                   DELANEY          No.                                                   LISA          Honestly?                                                   DELANEY          To be honest I don't believe in all          that ghost stuff.                                                   LISA          Well I wasn't a huge believer, but          I know what I've seen.                                                   DELANEY          I believe that you've seen          something. Some people are more          open to that kind of thing, y'know?          But me? I'm closed off to that          extra terrestrial stuff.                                                   LISA          Extra terrestrial is aliens.                                                   DELANEY          Whatever it's called, I don't know.                                                   LISA          So what do you believe in? Do you          believe in God?                                                   DELANEY          Serious questions tonight.                                                   LISA          I'm just curious.                                                   DELANEY          Why do you ask?                                                   LISA          It's something I've been thinking          about. How can evil exist in a           61.                                                             world that many people believe was           created by a loving God?                                                   DELANEY           I don't believe that God is a           bearded man who lives in the sky.           Or that the Devil is a red demon           with horns. I believe God and Satan           are within all of us. God is our           human side. Satan is our animal           side. Whether we become good or           evil depends which side of us we           feed.                                                   LISA           It's a frightening thing to believe           that if God exists he is not           powerful enough to stop evil.                                                   DELANEY           Free will in the hands of a person           who feeds the Evil inside them.           That's what frightens me.                                   Lisa ponders for a moment.                                                   LISA           Doctor Mixter must have known what           stood on this land before the           hospital.                                                   DELANEY           Of course he did. He bought the           land and organised the demolition           of the house himself.                                                   LISA           Why would he build on this land           knowing the history of the place?                                                   DELANEY           He's not superstitious. He's a           doctor, they don't usually believe           in those things. Amityville is full           of local legends, going back even           before the DeFeos.                                                   LISA           Like what?                                                   DELANEY           There's stories about the Native           Americans being slaughtered on this           land many years ago. Some people                          62                                                             even believed the Indian Chief           possessed that kid who killed his           family.                                                   LISA           Really?                                                   DELANEY           I don't think that's true. If I've           learnt anything from the patients           on Ward X, it's that some people           have a mind that works in a           different way to other people.           Those people who do bad things have           fed the evil within them more than           the good. It's not possession, it's           sickness. Sickness of the soul.                                                   LISA           I don't know what to think.                                                   DELANEY           Just don't let your imagination run           away with you Lisa. You're a person           who feeds that good within you.           Don't let this place feed the evil.                                                                           CUT TO:                                                            70.INT. LIBRARY ≠ AMITYVILLE ≠ DAY                                   Lisa enters the Library. She approaches a stuffy looking          middle aged woman with glasses perched on the end of her          nose.                          LISA           Hi, sorry to bother you but my           name's Lisa Templeton. I rang           yesterday to set up a meeting with           Gloria Branco.                                                   GLORIA           Yes, that's me.                                                   LISA           Oh great! Thank you for agreeing to           meet with me.                                                   GLORIA           No problem, nice to meet you! I've           set up a table in the back. I've           63.                                                             got a few books that may help you           with your inquiries.                                                   LISA           Thank you, that's great.                                   Lisa follows Gloria to the back of the Library.                                                                           CUT TO:                                                            71.INT. LIBRARY ≠ LATER                                   Lisa and Gloria are sat at a table in a secluded corner of          the Library. Various books are spread out on the table.                                                   GLORIA           So you wanted to know about the           history of Amityville dating back           to the Native Americans?                                                   LISA           Yes that's right. I'm writing a           college paper and I had heard some           rumours in the neighbourhood about           Native Americans being killed on           the land down on Oceans Avenue.                                   Gloria's demeanour instantly turns from jovial to serious.                                                   GLORIA           Well that area has quite a dark           history.                                                   LISA           You mean the DeFeo murders at One           Twelve?                                                   GLORIA           Yes. Terrible business that. Those           young children. Breaks my heart to           think about such a tragedy.                                                   LISA           Yeah it's awful.                                                   GLORIA           You know most of the town was very           upset when they decided to build           that mental institution on the           land. That used to be a nice           suburban neighbourhood, now there's           this big eye sore there. We had a                          64                                                             thousand names on a petition. But I           guess that Doctor who runs the           place has enough money to pay off           the people in high places.                                                   LISA           So what about the native Americans?           Is that story about them being           killed on that land true?                                                   GLORIA           There's something on that here.                                   Gloria flips through one of the books.                                                   GLORIA           Ah yes, here it is. (Reading) In           the 18th Century there existed a           group of Native Americans in           Amityville known as "The Satchem           Tribe" led by Satchem Takapausha,           the Chief. The tribe had fled Salem           in Massachusetts to escape           persecution by the Christians who           were persecuting members of the           tribe because of their Witchcraft           practices. These practices included           a ritualistic human sacrifice of           six people (The significance of Six           being related to the biblical           number of man and creation) in           order to induce the spirit of their           God, The Dark Master, who they           believed manifested his powers           through his devoted followers,           giving them immortality. The           hundred strong tribe settled in           Amityville but were later chased           off the land by local Christians.           Satchem accused the Christians of           not properly compensating his tribe           for the land. A war started and the           Christians hired a hunter called           John Underhill from Salem. At the           site where One Twelve Oceans Avenue           was later built in Amityville,           Underhill killed all of the tribe.           The Indians were buried in a mass           grave on the site. Before he died           Satchem vowed revenge. According to           local legend, Chief Satchem is           believed to have subsequently           haunted the land. Various           parapsychologists and mediums have           65.                                                             claimed that Satchem's vengeful           spirit influenced the 1974 DeFeo           murders at One Twelve Oceans Avenue           and the haunting of the subsequent           owners. Although such assertions           are widely disputed.                                                   LISA           So the legend has basis in           historical fact?                                                   GLORIA           Absolutely.                                                                           CUT TO:                                                            72.INT. STAFF ROOM ≠ HIGH HOPES HOSPITAL ≠ NIGHT                                   Lisa is sat with Delaney, both nursing a cup of coffee.                                                   LISA           You told me the other night that           you think evil is within us all.           But do you think that people can be           influenced by an evil that comes           from outside of themselves?                                                   DELANEY           Are you still thinking about this?                                                   LISA           I guess I am yeah.                                                   DELANEY           I worry that you're thinking too           much. This place is getting to you.                          LISA           There's something going on in this           place. Something sinister. And I           don't just mean the patients on           Ward X. Have you not noticed that?                                                   DELANEY           I've noticed some things.                                                   LISA           Why haven't you said anything? Or           done anything?                          66                                                            Delaney contemplates for a moment.                                                   DELANEY           It's like the honey bee.                                                   LISA           What do you mean?                                                   DELANEY           The honey bee is fine when it's           just flying from flower to flower.           Then they think that a person is a           threat and they sting them. They           might leave a sting but the person           will recover. The bee dies. So I           ask myself... is it worth it?                                   Delaney returns his attention to the cup of coffee in his          hands as Lisa disappears into her own thoughts.                                                                           CUT TO:                                                            73.INT. LIVING ROOM ≠ LISA'S HOME ≠ DAY          Lisa is sat in an armchair with a laptop resting on her          thighs. On screen she is reading a Wikipedia entry:                                   "The Satchem Tribe was a tribe of Native American origin          that existed in the 18th Century. They fled Massachusetts and          settled in Amityville where they were ultimately murdered          over a land dispute. The Tribe was renowned for practices in          line with Witchcraft and worshipped a God called The Dark          Master. In 2009, it emerged that a modern cult incarnation          of the tribe existed. They have adopted the traditional          beliefs of the Satchem tribe but the modern followers are          not required to be of Native American origin."                                   Lisa scrolls down to the References section. She clicks on a          link. A Blog appears on screen entitled The Dark Master: An          Ancient Vision for A Modern World. She reads the latest Blog                         POST:                                   "Our time is at hand. On November 13th 2013, 6 souls will be          sacrificed so that The Dark Master's devoted followers may          be blessed with immortality. As non-believers perish on          doomsday the Master's loyal subjects shall live on and be          bestowed with great power and responsibility for the          direction of the New World."Lisa opens up the Calendar on          her computer. November 13th is the day after tomorrow. Lisa          refers back to the blog and notices the author of the last          blog post: "SisterSadie".           67.                                                            Lisa's mind is racing. Lisa types 'Sadie Krenwinkel' into a          Search Engine. The first result is a Wikipedia entry. Lisa          clicks on it. She reads:                                   "Sadie Krenwinkel is a convicted murderer and former member          of The Satchem Cult, a modern incarnation of a Native          American tribe who practiced Witchcraft in the 18th Century.          In 2009, Krenwinkel led ten members of the cult to 1005          Dennison Drive where they subsequently tortured and murdered          five individuals. One potential victim managed to escape and          lead police to Krenwinkel. At her trial in 2010, Krenwinkel          outlined the beliefs of the Satchem Cult, claiming the human          sacrifice of six individuals would have given them          immortality. As a result her lawyer submitted a plea of          insanity and Krenwinkel was subsequently sentenced to          indefinite incarceration in a mental institution."          Lisa reads further down the page and notices that the name          of the Doctor who testified to her insanity at her trial:          DOCTOR ELLIOT MIXTER.                                                  CUT TO:                                                            74.EXT. HIGH HOPES HOSPITAL ≠ DAY                                   Lisa rushes towards the hospital.                                                                           CUT TO:                                                            75.INT. WARD X ≠ DAY                                   Lisa enters Ward X. She walks down the hallway and bangs on          Sadie's cell door.                                                   LISA           I know what you're doing.                                   No response.                                                   LISA           I've seen that blog. How are you           getting access to the internet?                                   Lisa slides open the hatch and looks inside. The cell is          covered in lit candles with Sadie sat cross legged in the          centre of the room.                                                   LISA           Are you allowed to have all this           stuff in your cell huh?                          68                                                                            SADIE           The Dark Master is near. It's too           late to stop it now. Tonight will           behold a great becoming.                                                   LISA           What's going to happen? You're           planning on a human sacrifice           aren't you?                                                   SADIE           All good things to those who wait.                                                   LISA           Tell me!!                                   Sadie stares directly at Lisa with intense eyes. An          unnaturally deep voice escapes her lips:                                                   SADIE           Our time is at hand!                                   Lisa slides the hatch shut. She walks over to the last door          on the left. Lisa slides the hatch open and peers in. The          resident John Doe sits in the shadows. Suddenly he sits          forward and a bright shaft of daylight illuminates his face.          Lisa is shocked to see a face she recognises from the          internet article staring at her. The face of RONALD "BUTCH"          DEFEO JUNIOUR. Lisa slams the hatch shut and backs down the          hallway, her mind racing as fast as her pulse rate.                                                                           CUT TO:                                                            76.INT. HALLWAY ≠ LATER                                   Lisa knocks on the door to Doctor's Mixter's office.                                    MIXTER (O.S)           Come in.                                   Lisa pops her head inside.                                                   LISA           Doctor Mixter.                                                   MIXTER           Oh Lisa, Hello. What brings you           here?           69.                                                                            LISA           I just wondered if I could speak to           you for a moment sir. It's very           important.                                                   MIXTER           Of course, come in.                                                                           CUT TO:                                                            77.INT. MIXTER'S OFFICE ≠ CONTINUOUS                                   Lisa enters and sits down opposite Mixter, who is sat behind          his desk filling out a form.                                                   MIXTER           What can I do for you Lisa?                                                   LISA           Well... what I'm going to tell you           will sound really strange but I           need to tell you.                                                   MIXTER           Okay, go ahead.                                                   LISA           Do you know the history of the land           the hospital is built on?                                                   MIXTER           What are you referring to exactly?                                                   LISA           Well, first of all. The DeFeo           murders and the infamous house that           people said was haunted.                                                   MIXTER           I am aware of the DeFeo murders           yes. The hauntings... well I think           it's common perception now that a           lot of that was exaggerated by the           media.                                                   LISA           Maybe. Are you aware of the history           of the land dating back to the           eighteenth century?                                                   MIXTER           No, I can't say that I am.                          70                                                                            LISA           There were a group of Native           Americans in Amityville known as           "The Satchem Tribe". They were           massacred by Christians after a           dispute over the land.                                                   MIXTER           Okay. I'm sure there's a point to           all this?                                                   LISA           Yes. Sadie Krenwinkel down on Ward           X. She shares the beliefs of the           Satchem Tribe. I have reason to           believe that somehow she has access           to the internet and Witchcraft           paraphernalia and she's planning on           a human sacrifice tonight to try           and raise the God she believes in,           The Dark Master, and become           immortal.                                   Mixter chuckles.                                                   LISA           I'm serious.                                                   MIXTER           Have you been reading up on Sadie?           It's rather outlandish stuff isn't           it? But I can assure you she has no           access to the internet or anything           else.                                                   LISA           Go on the internet and check out           the Blog! She signs herself Sister           Sadie.                                                   MIXTER           Well that could be anyone called           Sadie couldn't it?                                                   LISA           Go down and search her cell!                                                   MIXTER           I don't believe that will be           necessary. The patients on Ward X           spend twenty three hours a day in           the cell. They get an hour of           exercise in a small yard guarded by           six of our staff. There's no way           71.                                                            that any of those patients have          access to the internet or any          paraphernalia.                                                   LISA          Then someone is helping her get          access to this stuff! Someone who          works here! Please Doctor Mixter.          Just check out her cell and speak          to her. If I'm wrong about this and          it's all just her delusions then          fine. I'll accept that. But I had          to tell you. You testified at her          trial didn't you?                                                   MIXTER          Yes I did. What are you implying?                                                   LISA          Nothing. I just meant you know how          dangerous she is.                                                   MIXTER          Yes, I understand how dangerous she          is and I appreciate you coming to          express your concerns. One thing          you need to bear in mind Lisa is          that there are some very sick          patients at this institution. We do          our best to help those who can be          helped but unfortunately the          patients on Ward X are beyond help.          Their personality disorders are too          advanced, their delusions are too          grandiose. I worry that perhaps you          have been rather taken in by one of          those delusions.                                                   LISA          I know that it might sound like          that. But can you check her cell          and speak to her? Look at the blog          on the internet, see if you can          connect the IP number of the writer          with a computer here at the          hospital.                                                   MIXTER          Okay look. That does take time and          resources I don't necessarily have.          But as you've come to me with a          concern of patient infraction and          potential threat of violence, I am          duty bound to investigate.                          72                                                                            LISA           Thank you.                                                   MIXTER           In fact, I'll order a cell search           immediately. Stay here for a           moment, I'll be right back.                                   Mixter exits. Lisa leans forward and a file on the desk          catches her eye. She stands up and reaches over for it. Her          NAME is on it. Lisa opens it up. Inside is a form Committing          her to the hospital as a PATIENT. Lisa looks down and the          reason stated is PARANOID DELUSION. The date on the form is          November 13th. Today. Lisa slams the file shut and the office          door opens. She turns to see Mixter stood there with          Hardcastle and another orderly.                                                   LISA           What the hell are you doing??                                                   MIXTER           This is for your own good Lisa. You           need treatment.                                   The orderlies approach her. Lisa lashes out but the two men          overpower her, grabbing her arms and then tripping her. She          hits the floor with a thud. Mixter produces a syringe from          behind his back.                                                   MIXTER           This is for your own good Lisa.                                                   LISA           Fuck you!!!                                                            Mixter plunges the needle into her neck. POV SHOT: Lisa          looks up at Mixter and the orderlies and we FADE TO BLACK.                                                                           FADE IN:                                                            78.INT. CELL ≠ NIGHT                                   Lisa awakens, sat in the corner of a cold white cell. She          tries to get up before realising she's strapped into a          straight jacket. Lisa SCREAMS. The hatch opens and Mixter          peers in. The hatch then closes and the door opens. Mixter          enters.                                                   LISA           Let me out of here you sick fuck!!           73.                                                                            MIXTER           Now Lisa, let's talk calmly or you           will be sedated again.                                   Mixter walks over and sits on the edge of the bed.                                                   LISA           Why are you doing this?                                                   MIXTER           You're having paranoid delusions.           I'm also aware that you've been           having disturbing visions.                                                   LISA           I'm not having delusions, I know           what I've seen!                                                   MIXTER           Well you think you know. The human           brain is a powerful thing and I'm           sure you do believe what you've           seen. But it's all in your mind           Lisa, it's not reality. You're a           very sick girl and you need           treatment.                                                   LISA           You do this to all your staff huh?           The minute we speak out we get           fucking committed??                                                   MIXTER           Staff? You were never staff here           Lisa. You're a patient here. You've           always been a patient here.                                   Lisa appears confused.                                                   LISA           No, no. You're lying to me, I know           who I am! I KNOW WHO I AM!!                          MIXTER           I'm afraid not my dear. You've           always been with us here. Initially           as an out patient but now the           delusions have progressed I feel           it's time for you to become a full           time resident.                          74                                                            Lisa becomes upset. Tears stream down her face.                                                   LISA           But... but...                                                   MIXTER           Look, I understand it's a lot to           process now. I'll leave you to           think about it and then we'll begin           counselling sessions tomorrow.                                                   LISA           Okay.                                   Lisa sobs.                                                   MIXTER           Listen, how about I take this           straight jacket off so you're more           comfortable?                                                   LISA           Thank you.                                                   MIXTER           First you must take this. It will           help you sleep.                                   Mixter hands Lisa a red pill and a bottle of water. She          takes the pill and pops it in her mouth before taking a gulp          of water.                                                   MIXTER           Good girl. I know it's a lot to           take in but together we'll get           through this. Now I'm going to take           your restraint off. Remember           though, if you're violent then I           promise you it will go straight           back on. Okay?                                                   LISA           Okay.                                   Mixter unties the straight jacket at the back and lifts it          off.                                                   MIXTER           That better?                                                   LISA           Yes. Thank you.           75.                                                                            MIXTER           No problem. I'm going to leave you           get some rest now. Tomorrow we           start the healing process.                                                            Mixter exits. The echo of the steel door closing          reverberates around the tiny cell. We hear Mixter's          footsteps as he walks down the hallway. Lisa's upset          demeanour disappears immediately. She spits the red pill          into the palm of her hand.                                                                           DISSOLVE TO:                                                            79.EXT. HIGH HOPES HOSPITAL ≠ LATER THAT NIGHT                                   A storm is brewing in the dark sky above High Hopes          Hospital.                                                                           CUT TO:                                                            80.INT. SADIE'S CELL ≠ WARD X - NIGHT                                   Sadie is sat cross legged in the centre of her cell          surrounded by candles.                                                   SADIE           Adoni, Helumnay, Peenay,           Adoni, Helumnay, Peenay,           The gods do command thee           from thy majesty           oh mapulamun.                                                                           CUT TO:                                                            81.INT. MIXTER'S OFFICE ≠ CONTINUOUS                                   Mixter is in his office putting on a large hooded black          robe.           SADIE (V.O)           Adoni, Helumnay, Peenay,           come forward blessed one,           know your calling           come forward oh blessed one.                          76                                                            Mixter opens the cupboard and takes out a .35 caliber lever          action Marlin 336C RIFLE. The CLOCK on the wall reads          3:15am.                                                  CUT TO:                                                            82.INT. PATIENT X'S CELL ≠ WARD X ≠ CONTINUOUS                                   Patient X is asleep in the corner.                                    SADIE (V.O)           Accept our humble gratitude           for your offering, in death you           give life, may you find wings to           the kingdom. The Dark Master,           keeper of the gate, master of all           fate, hear us!                                   The lock of the door turns. Patient X's eyes snap open. The          door opens. Mixter is stood in the doorway, dressed in a          hooded black robe. He holds the Marlin rifle in his hands.          He approaches Patient X and holds out the rifle and a box of          shells. Patient X takes them. Mixter walks out.                                                                           CUT TO:                                                            83.INT. WARD X ≠ CONTINUOUS                                   Mixter walks down the hallway and reaches for a series of          buttons on the wall. He punches in a combination of numbers          and all of the doors unlock. Patient X is stood in the          doorway of his cell, rifle at his side. Sadie rushes out of          her cell and sees him. A broad smile spreads on her face.          She turns to Mixter.                                                   SADIE           We did it Elliot, we did it! Our           time is at hand!! Immortality is           ours!          Patient X raises the rifle and squeezes the trigger. The          BLAST rips through the back of Sadie's head, blowing half of          her face away. She is killed instantly and her lifeless          corpse drops to the floor. Mixter smiles and leaves the          Ward.                                                                           CUT TO:           77.                                                            84.INT. CELL ≠ SAME TIME                                   Lisa has her ear pressed to the door. She can hear GUN SHOTS          and SCREAMING. She starts to panic and rushes over to the          small window. She slams her hand into the window but the          glass doesn't break. The lock on the door snaps. Lisa slides          down the wall, terrified. The door opens and DELANEY walks          in. Lisa breathes a huge sigh of relief and rushes over,          throwing her arms around him.                                                   DELANEY           We need to get out of here! One of           the patients is running around with           a shot gun down on Ward X!                                                                           CUT TO:                                                            85.INT. WARD X ≠ CONTINUOUS                                   Patient X kicks open the door to Palmer cell. The          lobotomised Palmer is lying face down on his bed. Patient X          aims the gun and a SHOT tears through Palmer' back.          Hardcastle and another orderly rush onto the Ward. Patient X          takes aim and shoots Hardcastle in the chest, killing him          instantly. The other orderly turns to run and is SHOT in the          leg.                                                                           CUT TO:                                                            86.INT. WARD B ≠ SAME TIME                                   Delaney and Lisa run through the Ward. They turn a corner          and are suddenly confronted by a large group of patients in          white gowns.                                                   LISA           Fuck!!                                   Delaney and Lisa run back the other way and turn the corner.          Two orderlies, brandishing truncheons, are approaching.                                                   LISA           Please help us!                                                   DELANEY           The patients are loose!                                                   ORDERLY #1           We'll take care of them.                          78                                                            The orderlies turn the corner and see the large group. The          orderlies look at each other, fear in their eyes. They turn          to run but the patients overpower them in a flash, grabbing          and scratching, deep wounds tearing into their skin. Delaney          and Lisa look on as the helpless orderlies SCREAM.                                                   LISA           Shouldn't we help them??                                                   DELANEY           We need to save ourselves. Let them           reap what they've sewn.                                   Delaney grabs Lisa and they run down the hallway, as the          patients beat the orderlies with their own truncheons.                                                                           CUT TO:                                                            87.INT. HALLWAY ≠ CONTINUOUS                                   Lisa and Delaney rush down the hallway. They turn a corner          and are stopped in their tracks by the GHOST of ALLISON          DEFEO stood in the centre of the hallway clutching a teddy          bear. She has a HUGE bullet hole in the centre of her          forehead, blood dripping down her face.                                                   ALLISON           Why don't you want to play with me?          CRASH! A door at the other end of the hallway is kicked          open. Patient X bursts through and aims the rifle. Lisa and          Delaney rush back down the hallway. A BULLET HITS the wall          just as they turn into an open doorway.                                                                           CUT TO:                                                            88.INT. HALLWAY ≠ CONTINUOUS                                   Lisa and Delaney are running through the hallway. They burst          through a door.                                                                           CUT TO:                                                            89.INT. SHOWER ROOM ≠ CONTINUOUS                                   Lisa and Delaney find themselves in the shower room. Mould          covers the walls and all of the showers are on, gushing          dirty water. They spot another door on the other side of the           79.                                                            shower room but blocking their path to it is a thin middle          aged man in a white vest and white shorts, facing the wall.          He is whispering to himself. Lisa and Delaney stop.                          LISA           Hey mister, you need to get the           hell out of here, there's a patient           going crazy with a gun!!                                   The man turns around. His face is weathered and his eyes are          wild and bloodshot.                                                   MAN           My...my skin's on too tight!                                                   DELANEY           What?                                                   MAN           My skin is on too tight!                                   Delaney grabs Lisa and they start ebbing past the man          towards the door. The man is getting increasingly more          agitated, scratching at his face.                                                   MAN           My skin's on too tight!!                                   The man reaches into the pocket of his shorts and produces a          scalpel.                                                   MAN           My skin is on too tight!!                                   The man STABS his cheek with the scalpel. Lisa SCREAMS! The          man drags the scalpel around his face in one continuous          motion, blood seeping from the circular gash. As Lisa and          Delaney watch on in horror the man RIPS the skin off his          face, exposing muscles and veins. His white vest and shorts          are now saturated with blood. The man sighs with relief.                                                   MAN           That's much better.                                   A horrified Lisa and Delaney rush towards the door and BURST          through it.                                                                           CUT TO:                                                            90.INT. HALLWAY ≠ CONTINUOUS                          80                                                            Delaney and Lisa sprint down the hallway as GUNSHOTS ring          out in the distance.                                                  CUT TO:                                   91.INT. RECEPTION AREA- CONTINUOUS                                   Delaney and Lisa rush towards the main doors. They're          locked. Delaney fumbles for a set of keys.                                                   LISA           Come on, hurry, please!!                                   Delaney finds the right key. He checks the lock and realises          that a key has been snapped off in it.                                                   DELANEY           Kurwa!!                                                   LISA           What, what??                                                   DELANEY           A fucking key's been snapped in the           lock!          Delaney rushes to the reception desk and grabs a chair. He          rushes over to a window next to the door and raises the          chair. BANG! A bullet tears through his back and exits          through his chest with an explosion of blood. Lisa SCREAMS!          Delaney drops to his knees and Lisa rushes to his side.          Patient X loads fresh cartridges in the rifle. Delaney is          DEAD. Lisa runs down the hallway. Patient X takes aim. Just          as Lisa bursts through a door, a bullet blasts apart one          side of the frame.                                                  CUT TO:                                                            92.INT. WARD B ≠ CONTINUOUS                                   Lisa runs through Ward B.                                   LISA'S POV ≠ Patient X bursts through the door and pursues          her. Lisa keeps running as Patient X aims the gun.                                   Lisa looks back just as he fires and the BULLET narrowly          misses her, the force sending her crashing into a stack of          chairs. Her leg catches on the chairs and she falls to the          ground. Lisa crawls towards a door. Hauling herself up she          manages to turn the handle and the door swings open.           81.                                                            LISA'S POV ≠ Patient X stands just yards away, attempting to          get a steady clean shot at Lisa. He squeezes off the trigger          just as she falls through the door, the SHOT blowing the          door apart.                                                                           CUT TO:                                                            93.INT. HALLWAY ≠ CONTINUOUS                                   Lisa limps down the hallway. She tries the handles of a door          but it's locked. She tries another-also locked. Lisa          finally finds a door that is open and she rushes through.                                                                           CUT TO:                                                            94.INT.STAFF ROOM ≠ CONTINUOUS          Lisa enters a small staff room. She SLAMS the door behind          her. She clicks the lock. Lisa steps back from the door. She          JUMPS as Patient X POUNDS on the door from the other side.          Lisa looks around for a weapon. She limps toward the cutlery          drawer below a sink. She rustles inside and finds a large          butcher knife. Suddenly the door EXPLODES, a large hole          blown through the middle of it by the GUN SHOT. Patient X          reaches through, groping for the lock. Lisa reaches a large          window in the room. She tries to lift the window. After an          unsuccessful attempt at opening it she realises the window          is nailed down.                          LISA           Fuck!!                                                            Patient X reaches for the lock. Lisa dashes to the storage          cupboard and ducks inside.                                                                           CUT TO:                                                            95.INT. STORAGE CUPBOARD ≠ CONTINUOUS                                   Lisa pulls the door shut and falls to the floor of the dark          interior. Lisa faces the door, bracing herself with the          knife held upwards. Everything is quiet. Suddenly the door          SHAKES as Patient X THUMPS on it. The door cracks as Patient          X SMASHES against it. Lisa crouches down with the knife at          the ready.                          82                                                            The gun BLOWS a HOLE right through the door. Patient X leans          through the hole, peering down at Lisa crouched on the          floor. He aims the gun through the hole and prepares to          fire. Lisa brandishes the knife and thrusts it forward with          all her might. The blade RIPS through Patient X's right eye.          He SCREAMS and drops the gun in the cupboard before          stumbling backwards into the staff room. Patient X clasps          his hands to his eye which is now gushing with blood. Lisa          grabs the gun and stands up. Patient X looks at her with his          remaining eye. Lisa aims the rifle through the hole in the          door.                                                   LISA           Lights out, you son-of-a-bitch!!          BANG! The shot gun BLASTS a hole through Patient X's chest,          blood splatters over Lisa. Suddenly a WHITE LIGHT fills the          room and ALLISON DEFEO materialises. She is dressed in a          clean white dress, her angelic complexion bears no wounds.          Allison takes the hand of PATIENT X's corpse. The WHITE          LIGHT swarms over Patient X's body and he rises to his feet.          His head is now intact and he is dressed in a white robe. He          looks at Allison and they share a peaceful smile. Allison          walks with Patient X through a doorway filled with a          blinding WHITE LIGHT. They disappear and the light slowly          dissipates.                                                                           DISSOLVE TO:                                                            96.INT. HALLWAY ≠ HIGH HOPES HOSPITAL - LATER                                   Lisa, covered in blood, walks through the hallway with the          rifle by her side. She reaches the door to Doctor Mixter's          office and kicks it open. Mixter is sat behind his desk, now          dressed in his usual shirt and tie. Lisa aims the gun at          Mixter whose hands are beneath the table.                          LISA           Get your fucking hands up you sick           fuck!                                   INSERT SHOT: Mixter presses a red button beneath the desk.                                   Mixter raises his hands.                                                   MIXTER           I see we've dispensed with the           usual pleasantries. Come in Lisa.                                   Lisa enters, kicking the door shut behind her.           83.                                                                           CUT TO:                                                            97.INT. MIXTER'S OFFICE ≠ CONTINUOUS                                   Mixter is very calm. Lisa is trembling, the rifle visibly          shaking in her hands as she aims it at Mixter's head.                                                   LISA           You gonna tell me it's all in my           head now huh?? Wanna tell me I'm           the crazy one??                                                   MIXTER           Well maybe it is, maybe it isn't.           How would you know?                                                   LISA           Get the fuck out of my head you           son-of-a-bitch! I know who I am and           I know what I've seen! You're part           of all of this. I know you are!           You're the crazy one!!                                                   MIXTER           You're the one holding the gun on a           well respected doctor, my dear.                                                   LISA           Why did you do this? Why??                                                   MIXTER           You are part of a great becoming           tonight. A rising of The Dark           Master who blesses all of his           followers with power and           immortality.                                                   LISA           You fucking believe that do you??           Sounds like a bunch of bullshit to           me! You're no better than those           fucking fundamentalists who kill           innocent people because they've           twisted shit they've read in some           Holy book. It's all shit!!                                                   MIXTER           The plan for the becoming is almost           complete. Just one more sacrifice,           that's all we need tonight.                          84                                                                            LISA           How about if I blow your fucking           head off then huh??                                   Suddenly SIRENS can be heard outside. The screeching of car          wheels. Mixter smiles. Lisa, still holding the gun at          Mixter, shuffles over to the window and peers through the          blinds. The car park is full of police cars. A dozen armed          police officers rush towards the building. Lisa looks back          to see Mixter chuckling.                                                   LISA           What the fuck are you laughing at?                                                   MIXTER           It's all falling into place.                                                   LISA           The cops coming here? I'm gonna           tell them everything about you and           your little sick plan! They're           gonna lock you up and throw away           the key!!                                                   MIXTER           If you say so.                                   Outside they hear the police rushing down the hallway.                                                   MIXTER           Tell me something Lisa, would it           help your grief over your mother if           you knew she was a slut?                                                   LISA           What did you say??                                                   MIXTER           Yes. That's why she's burning in           hell.                                   Lisa, her teeth clenched, moves forward and places the          business end of the rifle against Mixter's temple.                                                   LISA           You shut the fuck about my mother,           you don't know anything!!                                                   MIXTER           I know that sometimes you wonder           why you don't cry enough for her. I           know you feel guilty for not doing           more for her when she was alive.           You feel guilty for moving on with           85.                                                             your life and forgetting about           her!!                                                   LISA           I have not forgotten about her!!                                                   MIXTER           Face it Lisa, you never cared for           her. You never cared for anyone but           yourself. She's looking up from the           bowels of hell now knowing that you           never loved her!                                   Tears stream down Lisa's face. She's crumbling.                                                   LISA           SHUT UP!! SHUT UP!!                                                   MIXTER           She was a whore!                                   Lisa HITS Mixter over the head with the butt of the rifle.          He falls to the ground and looks up at a crazed Lisa.                                                   MIXTER           Your mother's in hell and you don't           care!!                                                   LISA           Fuck you!!                                                            Lisa aims the rifle at Mixter's face. Suddenly the police          burst in. Lisa spins around, the rifle still in her hands.                                   POLICE OPEN FIRE! Her body is riddled with BULLETS and she          falls to the floor in a blood soaked heap.                                                            FADE TO BLACK                                                            TITLE CARD against BLACK SCREEN appears:                                                            ONE YEAR LATER                                                            TITLE CARD dissolves.                                                                           FADE IN:                          86                                                            98.INT. TELEVISION STUDIO                                   A glamorous woman addresses the camera.                                                   PRESENTER           And we're back with our next guest.           A year ago he was a survivor of the           High Hopes Hospital mass murder           when cleaner Lisa Templeton ran           amok with a rifle, claiming six           victims and injuring many others.           Doctor Elliot Mixter has written a           new book entitled 'Shattered Hopes'           which provides an account of that           fateful night as well as some           background into the mind of the           murderer. Doctor Mixter, good           morning.                                   Mixter is sat opposite, in a very expensive suit.                                                   MIXTER           Morning Katherine, how are you?                                                   PRESENTER           I'm good thank you. So Doctor, can           you tell us a little more about the           book?                                                   MIXTER           Well, it features a blow by blow           account of the evening. It was           obviously a very harrowing           experience and for me it was rather           therapeutic to deal with my           feelings about what happened in           writing.                                                   PRESENTER           How has it affected the hospital           Doctor?                                                   MIXTER           Obviously we were all left very           numb by events for a long time and           I know a lot of people in the town           felt we should close the           institution. But that never           occurred to me. I feel that people           should be brought closer by tragedy           and the Staff and I have definitely           become closer, both as colleagues           and friends, since the incident.           That bond makes for a better           87.                                                             institution in my opinion, so we           will continue to go from strength           to strength.                                                   PRESENTER           You mentioned there that some           people wanted the place to close. I           know many were also resistant to           the opening of the institution in           the first place given that it was           built on the site of the infamous           house, where Ronald DeFeo murdered           his family in the seventies. I know           a lot of people associated with           that case were accused of           exploiting it for their own ends.           You've also faced some criticism           for that, particularly as we heard           last week that you have sold the           movie rights to this book. How do           you respond to that criticism?                                                   MIXTER           Well I know that some people accuse           me of hurting the memory of the           victims but I feel I'm helping the           memories of those involved live on.           Granted, some victims were           criminally insane but other victims           were loyal staff who had families           and I'm determined that they not be           forgotten. Each staff member gets           their own chapter in the book so           that the readers can get a full           picture of what wonderful people           they were. I always say that all           forms of media, whether it be           books, newspapers, TV or movies,           are a preservation of life. Our           physical bodies may die but our           images live on when we are famous.           Our work and our passion is           preserved, therefore it's as if our           souls are preserved. Through all of           these forms of media we are, in           effect, immortal.                                                            Mixter looks straight into the camera and smiles.                                                            CUT TO BLACK                          88                                                            The sound of children singing the nursery rhyme "Ring Around          a Rosie" in a slow, haunting manner echoes around our ears.                                                                           CREDITS ROLL                                                            THE END.
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+                                   AMOUR                                                                                                            Written by                                                       Michael Haneke          SCENE 1 - INT. APARTMENT - DAY                                   The hallway is a mess. A window opening onto a light well is          open.                                   The door to the apartment is suddenly broken open. A plain-          clothes detective, two uniformed police officers and several          firemen - also in uniform - enter and look around. They all          wear gloves and masks that cover their mouths and noses.          Behind them, the superintendent and his wife also push their          way in. They're both holding their noses. In his free hand,          the superintendent holds a pile of mail and promotional          flyers. Behind him, comes a female neighbor.                                                   PLAIN-CLOTHES DETECTIVE           (to the superintendent and the                          NEIGHBOR)           Wait Outside please.                                   He signals to a police officer who herds the curious          onlookers back out through the door.                                                   POLICE OFFICER           (to the superintendent, pointing to           a pile of mail)           What's the date of the last letter?                                                   SUPERINTENDENT                          (VERIFYING)           The 16th from what I can see...           Wait...                                   The plain-clothes detective has tried in vain to open the          door on the left. It has been sealed up with adhesive tape.                                                   PLAIN-CLOTHES DETECTIVE           (to the fire officer)           Can you try?                                   While the firemen go to work on the door, the plain-clothes          detective goes into the adjoining dining room. He opens the          windows quickly and turns to go into the room to the left via          the double doors. They are locked and the gaps are also taped          up. He turns to the right and goes into the living room,          where he also opens up the windows...                                    FIREMAN (O.S.)           The door is open.                                   ...and comes back into the hallway, passing by the waiting          firemen. Once again, we hear snatches of dialogue between the          police officer and the janitor.           2.                                                                            JANITOR           ...no as far as I know. During the           whole time, they had a nurse, but           it's been a while since I last saw           her. My wife has been...                                   The plain-clothes detective enters the bedroom which is now          accessible. Its windows are open and the draft makes the          curtains billow into the room.                                                   PLAIN-CLOTHES DETECTIVE           (to the firemen who are now curious           enough to come and stand by the                          DOOR)           Did you open the windows?                                   The firemen shake their heads.                                   The PLAIN-CLOTHES DETECTIVE turns toward the big double bed          placed against the back wall of the bedroom. On the right-          hand bed, there's only the bare mattress. On the left-hand          bed lies the partly decomposed body of an old woman. Where          once there were eyes, now there are only gaping holes. The          corpse has been neatly dressed and is adorned with flowers          that have already dried out a little. On her chest is a          crucifix.                                   SCENE 2 - White letters on a black background: THE CREDITS                                                            SCENE 3 - INT. CONCERT HALL - NIGHT                                   All we see is the audience pouring into the hall. GEORGES and          ANNE, both are around eighty, are part of this crowd. They go          to their seats in one of the rows near the front. Once          everybody is seated, we hear the usual ANNOUNCEMENT asking          people to turn off their mobile phones. Some people, caught          with their phones switched on, hasten to comply. Then the          lights go out. APPLAUSE.                                   Off-screen, we hear the soloist make his entrance. THROATS          ARE CLEARED here and there. Finally, the MUSIC begins.                                                            SCENE 4 - INT. ARTISTS DRESSING ROOM - NIGHT                                   The music from Scene 3 continues. The soloist is surrounded          by admirers who congratulate him.                                   Now Georges and Anne push their way into the room. (If the          soloist is female, they will be carrying flowers, like most          of the others).           3.                                                            When the soloist notices their presence, he leaves his group          of fans, heads towards them and greets them very warmly,          visibly glad to see them.                                                            SCENE 5 - INT. BUS - NIGHT                                   Continuation of the MUSIC from Scene 3.                                   Georges and Anne are seated side by side in the half empty          bus. Anne talks enthusiastically, Georges says something from          time to time, and smiles now and then. They are both relaxed          and happy.                                   SCENE 6 - INT. APARTMENT - HALLWAY - NIGHT                                   The door to the apartment is unlocked and opened from the          outside. THE MUSIC ENDS.                                   Georges comes in, turns on the light. He and Anne observe the          open door. Around the lock, one can see the traces of an          attempted forced entry.                                   Georges bends down and runs his fingers over the deep          grooves.                                                   GEORGES           They used a screwdriver or           something like that...it doesn't           look very professional...                                                   ANNE           But who would do something like           that?                                                   GEORGES           No idea. Why do people break in?           Because they want to steal           something.                                                   ANNE           From us?                                                   GEORGES           (laughs briefly out loud)           Hey, why not? If I thought about           it, I could come up with at least           three or four people we know who've           been burgled.                                   After having examined the outside of the second leaf of the          double door, he comes in, closing the door behind him.           4.                                                                            ANNE           What time is it? Can't we call the           superintendent?                                                   GEORGES           I'll do that tomorrow morning.           Anyway, they didn't see anything.                                   He unbuttons his overcoat and heads toward the large closet          in the hallway.                                                   GEORGES (CONT'D)           Don't let it spoil your good mood           now.                                                   ANNE           Or the police?                                                   GEORGES           Come on, give me your coat.                                   She goes toward him, he takes her coat off and hangs it with          his in the closet.                                                   ANNE           Imagine if we were here, in our           beds, and someone broke in.                                                   GEORGES           Why should I imagine that?                                                   ANNE           But it's terrible! I think I'd die           of fright.                                                   GEORGES                          (LAUGHING)           So would I.                                   He undoes his shoes.                                                   GEORGES (CONT'D)           Shall we have a drink?                                                   ANNE           I'm tired.                                                   GEORGES           I still fancy a drink.                                   He puts away his shoes with the others and slips on his          slippers. Anne has gone into the bathroom.           5.                                                             ANNE (O.S.)           Go ahead then. Mathilde told me           that in her building, the attic           apartment was burgled from the           loft. They just knocked a hole in           the wall, cut out all of the           valuable pictures from their frames           and disappeared without a trace.                                   He goes toward the kitchen.                                                   GEORGES           They must have been professionals.                                   As he passes in front of the bathroom, he stops and appears          to be looking at Anne.                                                   GEORGES (CONT'D)           Did I tell you, you looked good           tonight?                                   SHORT PAUSE. THEN:                                    ANNE (O.S.)                          (FLATTERED)           What's got into you?                                   With a gentle LAUGH, Georges disappears into the kitchen,          where he turns on the lights. We hear him FIDDLING AROUND,          apparently getting a glass and some wine. After a short                         PAUSE:                                                   ANNE (CONT'D)           Weren't those semiquavers in the           presto incredible? What staccato!           Don't you agree?                                   Short PAUSE.                                    GEORGES (O.S.)           You're proud of him, huh?                                   SCENE 7 - INT. BEDROOM - NIGHT                                   Georges wakes up. He looks with amazement beside him, then          raises his eyes. Anne is sitting upright, her back against          the headboard.                                                   GEORGES (CONT'D)           Something wrong?                                                   ANNE           No.           6.                                                            After a while, the RINGING of a kitchen egg-timer leads us to          the next scene.                                   SCENE 8 - INT. KITCHEN - DAY                                   The egg timer in the kitchen RINGS.                                   Georges is seated in front of the window, at a table which is          half set for breakfast. He has mobile phone raised to his ear          and a phone book opened in front of him. Anne is getting up          from the table. She goes toward the stove, turns off the gas,          takes the egg out of the pan with a spoon and runs it under          cold water. Like Georges, she is still in her robe.                                                   GEORGES           (on the phone)           What about next week? No but still,           it would make sense to get it done           soon. It might give people silly           ideas. And anyway, it's too ugly to           look at... Wednesday? What time?           OK... Will you bring the paint with           you too, to paint over it? But at           least some primer...Yes, OK. Thank           you.                                   He hangs up.                                                   GEORGES (CONT'D)                          (TO ANNE)           You can depend on that guy.                                                   ANNE           (who comes back to the table with           the egg) I hope so. The last time,           he kept us waiting for ages, if you           remember.                                                   GEORGES           (laughs while acquiescing)           Yes, that's true. (Reacting when           she places the egg in his egg cup)           Thanks. If I call a regular           professional, we'll still be           waiting two months time.                                                   ANNE           (more to herself)           Really?                                   She has sat down. Looks straight ahead. He cracks open his          egg, puts salt on it, eats.           7.                                                                            GEORGES           The Frodons waited three days when           their toilet was blocked. Not           exactly pleasant.                                   He eats. Wants to put on more salt, but the saltcellar is          empty.                                                   GEORGES (CONT'D)           The saltcellar is empty.                                   He looks up for an instant, as if he expected her to deal          with it. As she doesn't react, he realizes the          inappropriateness of such an expectation, gets up himself,          heads for the kitchen cupboards and fills the salt cellar.                                                   GEORGES (CONT'D)           I don't know if he's going to bring           us the CD. Maybe he won't come at           all. In any case, he didn't mention           it. I'd like to buy it. It was           really good and I don't want to           wait long for it. We could go to           Virgin this afternoon and buy it.           What do you say?                                   He comes back to the table and sits down again.                                                   GEORGES (CONT'D)           Hmmm? Anne? What's the matter?                                   She looks at him and doesn't answer.                                                   GEORGES (CONT'D)           What's going on? What's the matter?                                   He waves his hand in front of her eyes and laughs nervously.                                                   GEORGES (CONT'D)           Helllloooo!!! Cuckoo!!! I'm here!                                   She continues to look at him without reacting.                                                   GEORGES (CONT'D)           (serious now) Anne! What's going           on?                                   He waits, looks at her. No reaction. He stands up slightly,          leans over the table to sit beside her. Tries to make her          turn toward him.                                                   GEORGES (CONT'D)           Anne, what's the matter?           8.                                                            He manages to get her torso to turn halfway toward him, but          her eyes look through him.                                                   GEORGES (CONT'D)           Anne...what's...                                   He takes her face in both hands and turns toward him.                                                   GEORGES (CONT'D)           Anne...                                   She stares into the void. He drops his hands. Then sits          beside her, for quite awhile.                                                  SILENCE                                   Finally he gets up, heads for the sink, turns on the tap,          wets a tea towel, wrings it out a little, comes back and          places it on Anne's face. Waits for a reaction that doesn't          come. Then he pulls up her hair in the nape of her neck and          applies the cloth there. Then sits down and looks at her          imploringly.                                                   GEORGES (CONT'D)           (close to tears)           Anne...Darling...please!                                   Once again they both remain seated. In the background, we          hear the GUSHING of the tap that in his panic he has          forgotten to turn it off.                                   Making a sudden decision, he gets up, rapidly crossing the          hallway, he goes into the bedroom where he starts to dress          agitatedly, which takes him quite a lot of time. Suddenly,          the GUSHING of the tap stops, which had accompanied us as far          as the bedroom.                                   George doesn't notice it immediately, then he stops short.                                                   GEORGES (CONT'D)           Anne?                                   Finally he returns, half dressed, into the kitchen.                                   Anne is seated in the same place and looks at him.                                                   ANNE           What are you doing?                                   She turns toward the breakfast.                                                   ANNE (CONT'D)           You left the water running.           9.                                                            Georges stares at her.                                                   GEORGES           (both aghast and furious)           Hey, what's going on? Are you           completely crazy? Is this supposed           to be a joke, or what's going on?                                   She looks at him with amazement.                                                   ANNE           What did you say?                                                   GEORGES                          (SERIOUSLY)           Is this a joke? Is this meant to be           a joke?                                                   ANNE           What joke? I don't get it! Why are           you talking to me like that? What's           got into you?                                   Georges comes from the door to the table.                                                   GEORGES           Anne! Please! Stop this game. It's           not funny.                                                   ANNE                          (GETTING IRRITATED)           What game, for Christ's sake? What           on earth's the matter?!!                                   Georges is about to answer in a similarly irritated tone,          but gradually begins to suspect that he could be mistaken. He          tries to calm down, takes his chair that has remained beside          Anne, sits down and looks at his wife. She doesn't know how          to react.                                                   GEORGES           What's the matter? Why didn't you           react?                                                   ANNE           To what?                                                   GEORGES           To what? To me, to everything.                                                   ANNE           When?           10.                                                                            GEORGES           Just now. A moment ago.                                                   ANNE           Please tell me what's wrong. What           am I supposed to have done?                                   Georges first looks away reluctantly, then looks at Anne. He          doesn't want to believe that its serious.                                                   GEORGES           I don't know what to say. Do you           really not know what just happened?                                                   ANNE           But what DID happen?                                                   GEORGES           (almost reluctantly bowing his head           as he speaks) You were sitting           there, staring at me. You didn't           answer me when I asked you what the           matter was.                                   He picks up the wet tea towel from the table.                                                   GEORGES (CONT'D)           I put this tea towel on your face,           and you didn't react.                                   Anne looks at the towel, then at Georges, and shakes her          head, perturbed that she can't understand. Georges looks at          her. He sees the damp marks on the collar of her robe.                                                   GEORGES (CONT'D)           Look... There's still dampness on           your collar.                                   Anne follows his gesture, tugs on her collar and sees the          damp marks. She slowly grasps that something is awry.                                                   ANNE           When... When was it?                                                   GEORGES           Just now, a few minutes ago.                                                   ANNE           So...??                                                   GEORGES           There's no "So". I went into the           bedroom to get dressed. I wanted to           get help.           11.                                                                            ANNE           Help?                                                   GEORGES           Yes, and then you turned off the           tap.                                                   ANNE           Yes. Because you left it on.                                                  SILENCE                                                   ANNE (CONT'D)           I don't understand.                                                   GEORGES           Neither do I.                                   PAUSE.                                                   GEORGES (CONT'D)           Don't you think it's best if I call           Dr. Bertier?                                                   ANNE           Why? What can he do?                                                   GEORGES           I don't know. Examine you.                                                   ANNE           I'm fine. There's nothing wrong           with me.                                                   GEORGES           Anne, please!! That's absurd. We           can't pretend that nothing           happened.                                                   ANNE           But what DID happen?                                   PAUSE.                                                   ANNE (CONT'D)           I'm here. I'm having my breakfast,           and you're telling me things           happened that I don't understand.                                                   GEORGES           Can you explain how the tea towel           got there?           12.                                                                            ANNE                          (IRRITATED)           No, I can't!                                                   GEORGES           Who turned on the tap?                                                   ANNE           You did!                                                   GEORGES           Can you remember that?                                                   ANNE           (more and more desperate, close to           tears) No I can't! Do you want to           torture me? Leave me in peace!                                   Georges looks at her.                                                   GEORGES           Don't you think it would be better           to fetch Dr. Bertier?                                                   ANNE           No!                                   She takes her cup of tea, as if to show how well she is, and          drinks it up. When she wants to re-fill her cup, she          completely misses her aim. She notices it, puts down her cup          and bursts into tears.                                   SCENE 9 - INT. APARTMENT - NIGHT                                                  SILENCE                                   We see wide shots of the apartment. The hallway. The bedroom.          The living room. The dining room. The kitchen. Nobody in          sight.                                   SCENE 10 - INT. LIVING ROOM - DAY                                   EVA, around 50, has come to pay a visit. Anne isn't there.                                                   EVA           You know how he is. Once he's got           something into his head, he has to           go through with it. In the end,           everybody was delighted. And           besides, it didn't hurt our           financial situation. We're playing           until the 28th.                          (MORE)           13.                                                   EVA (CONT'D)           Then we have 10 days to rest, then           we go to Stockholm for four days,           and then to Kumo in Finland. Heaven           knows where that is. At the North           Pole. But Geoff's already been           there few times, and he loves it.           We're playing the "Dowland           Transcriptions" there and then           we're back in London.                                                   GEORGES           What about the children?                                                   EVA           Liz is at boarding school and John           is living his own life. He's twenty-           six years old.                                                   GEORGES           What does he do?                                                   EVA           He's a student. We rarely see him.           He's got his own ideas. Life Geoff.           They don't really get along. Geoff           wants to advise him on everything,           and John doesn't like that at all.                                                   GEORGES           Is he good?                                                   EVA           I think so. He's less impulsive.           Very industrious.                                                   GEORGES           That sounds rather derogatory.                                                   EVA           No!! He's not like Geoff. Quiet,           but stubborn. I think he'll do all           right. At the last Conservatory           concert, he played the solo part in           the Haydn Concerto. It was very           good. Geoff was there and           congratulated him at the end.                                   Brief PAUSE.                                                   GEORGES           And you?                                                   EVA           What do you mean?           14.                                                                            GEORGES           Did you both make up?                                                   EVA           (with a little laugh)           My God, you know him, don't you?           Over the winter, he suddenly           discovered his passion for a viola           player who'd been in our ensemble           for years. What can I tell you? It           was a huge drama, and the poor           little darling wound up trying to           commit suicide. That scared him and           he came back to me in full remorse.           I've got used to it now. What's a           bit embarrassing is that the           ensemble, you can't keep any           secrets from anyone.                                                   GEORGES           Do you love him?                                                   EVA           Yes, I think so.                                   Brief PAUSE.                                                   EVA (CONT'D)           What's aphasia?                                   Georges gestures that it's too complicated.                                                   GEORGES           What can I say? The carotid artery           was blocked. They did an ultrasound           scan, two in fact, and they said           they had to operate on her. She was           scared. She was confused and           scared. You know she has always           been afraid of doctors. They said           the risk was very low and that if           they didn't operate, she'd be           certain to have a serious stroke.                                                   EVA           And what do they say now?                                                   GEORGES           Just that it didn't go well. It's           one of the 5% that go wrong.                                   He yawns.           15.                                                                            GEORGES (CONT'D)           It's pretty upsetting.                                   He looks at his watch.                                                   GEORGES (CONT'D)           Usually at this time, I take a nap.           My blood sugar is somewhere down in           my socks.                                   PAUSE.                                                   EVA           I'm so sorry.                                                   GEORGES           Yeah.                                   PAUSE.                                                   EVA           What can I do for you?                                                   GEORGES           Nothing. It was nice of you to come           despite all of your stress.                                   Brief PAUSE.                                   She doesn't know what to say.                                                   GEORGES (CONT'D)           No, really. There's nothing you can           do. We'll see how things go when           she's back here in the apartment.           We'll manage. Maybe I'll get a           caretaker in, or maybe I'll manage           on my own. We'll see. We've been           through quite a lot in our time,           your mother and I.                          (LITTLE LAUGH)           All this is still a bit new.                                   PAUSE.                                                   EVA           (with a little laugh)           It's funny. I don't know if I           should say it. Maybe it'll           embarrass you. But when I came here           a short while ago, I suddenly           remembered how I always used to           listen to the two of you making           love when I was little.                          (MORE)           16.                                                   EVA (CONT'D)           For me, at the time, it was           reassuring. It gave me a feeling           that you loved each other, and that           we'd always be together.                                   SCENE 11 - INT. BEDROOM - DAY                                   A carpenter and his assistant are raising the base of the          double bed. Georges watches.                                   SCENE 12 - INT. HALLWAY - LIVING ROOM - DAY                                   The door of the apartment is opened. Georges comes in. Behind          him is Anne in a wheelchair, pushed by a paramedic. A second          paramedic (as young as the first) follows with a suitcase and          a large bag. Behind them, the superintendent.                                   Georges tries to rid of the three as quickly as possible. He          stuffs a twenty euro note into the hand of the first          paramedic.                                                   GEORGES           Here. Thank you very much. It's for           both of you. You can just put the           things down here. There, beside the           window, right. We'll be okay on our           own. Thanks a lot.                                   The two paramedics exchange a brief glance, say thanks, and          leave the apartment, passing the superintendent as they go.                                                   GEORGES (CONT'D)           (to the superintendent)           Thank you, Mr. Mery.                                                   SUPERINTENDENT           If you need anything, just call           downstairs. If we can help at           all...                                                   GEORGES           Right now everything's fine. I'll           let your wife know as soon as we           need anything.                                                   SUPERINTENDENT                          (TO ANNE)           It's nice to have you back, Mrs.           Laurent.                                                   ANNE           Yes. Thank you, Mr. Mery. Thank           you.           17.                                                            The superintendent hesitates another moment.                                                   ANNE (CONT'D)           Yes, thanks.                                                   SUPERINTENDENT           Yes... So... Goodbye then, ma'am.           Welcome home again. Goodbye, Sir.                                                   GEORGES           Goodbye, Mr. Mery.                                                   SUPERINTENDENT           Goodbye.                                   He leaves the apartment.                                   There is a brief moment of perplexity. Then Georges says:                                                   GEORGES           (with a nervous smile)           Where do you want...                                                   ANNE           In the living room.                                   Georges pushes her toward the living room door, walks around          the wheelchair, opens the door, comes back behind the          wheelchair and pushes Anne into the LIVING ROOM.                                   The doorway is narrow. The wheelchair only just passes          through it. Georges pushes Anne toward the sofa and the          armchairs and then steps in front of her.                                                   GEORGES           Shall I make some tea?                                                   ANNE           (with a faint smile)           First come sit with me.                                   George registers her smile; he knows he's behaving in a          clumsy way. He sits down in one of the two arm chairs.                                                   ANNE (CONT'D)           Can you help me into the chair?                                   Georges stands back up.                                                   GEORGES                          (EAGERLY)           Of course.           18.                                                            He extends his hands. She puts on the wheelchair brake, lifts          the footrest with her left foot, raises her right leg from          the footrest with her left hand and then extends her left arm          to Georges.                                                   ANNE           It's best if you put my arm around           your neck and your right arm around           me, that way it'll be easy.                                   He does as he is told, pulls her up as they hobble together          the short distance to the second arm chair. Cautiously, he          lowers her down and helps her sit herself straight. Because          they are not used to it, the whole process appears awkward          and clumsy.                                                   ANNE (CONT'D)           Thanks.                                   He smiles because it seems silly to him to answer "Don't          mention it". Then he sits down opposite her.                                   LONG PAUSE.                                   At first they are both ill at ease, but then they accept the          fact that words do not come easily. After a long while,          during which we hear the intermittent sound of the TRAFFIC          below.                                                   GEORGES           (softly almost to himself)           I'm glad you're back.                                                   ANNE           (in a voice just as soft)           Me too.                                   Another PAUSE. Then Anne says:                                                   ANNE (CONT'D)           Promise me one thing.                                                   GEORGES           What?                                                   ANNE           Please never take me back to the           hospital.                                                   GEORGES           What?                                   PAUSE.           19.                                                            She looks at him. He has understood.                                                   ANNE           You promise?                                                   GEORGES           Anne...                                                   ANNE           You promise?                                   PAUSE.                                                   GEORGES           Anne, I...                                                   ANNE           Don't talk right now. And don't           give me any lectures. Please.                                   Brief PAUSE.                                                   GEORGES           What can I say, it's...                                                   ANNE                          (INTERRUPTING HIM)           Nothing. Just don't say anything.           OK?!                                   PAUSE.                                   SCENE 13 - INT. BEDROOM - NIGHT                                   He helps her into bed, then throws the blanket over her.                                                   GEORGES           There.                                                   ANNE           Thank you. Thank you, Darling.                                                   GEORGES           Everything OK?                                                   ANNE                          (SMILING)           Everything's fine.                                   He hesitates.           20.                                                                            ANNE (CONT'D)           You don't have to hold my hand all           the time now. I can look after           myself, you know.                                   He nods.                                                   ANNE (CONT'D)           And don't feel guilty. That would           be pointless. And a drag. For me           too.                                                   GEORGES           I don't feel guilty.                                                   ANNE           That's good.                                   She smiles.                                                   ANNE (CONT'D)           Go over there now. I'm not a           cripple. You can easily leave me           alone for two minutes. I won't           collapse.                                                   GEORGES           (with a slight smile)           OK.                                                   ANNE           Did you buy the new book on           Harnoncourt?                                                   GEORGES           I've already read it.                                                   ANNE           And?                                                   GEORGES           Do you want it? I'll get it for           you.                                                   ANNE           Sure.                                   He goes out of the room to fetch the book. She remains lying          there, waiting, and runs her healthy left hand through her          hair to make herself look prettier, then smooths out the          blanket that has slipped out of place a little. After a          while, we hear Georges shouting.           21.                                                             GEORGES (O.S.)           I don't know where I put it.                                                   ANNE           Don't worry. It isn't that           important.                                    GEORGES (O.S.)           Yes, it is. Hold on, maybe it's in           the... Just a moment! Viola! Here           you are! Nothing like an infallible           memory!                                   She smiles, looks in his direction. He enters with the book          in his hand.                                                   GEORGES (CONT'D)           I thought I'd left it over there in           the other room, but I'd already put           it away. Tidy people just can't           help being tidy.                                                   ANNE           (taking the book)           Thanks.                                   She puts the book on her stomach. Looks at Georges.                                                   ANNE (CONT'D)           Right now, take care of yourself.           And don't wait to see how I hold           the book in my hand, OK?                                                   GEORGES           OK.                                   He looks at her for a moment longer, then leaves the bedroom.          She waits till he's outside. Tries to relax. Then she          remembers the book. She takes it in her left hand and tries          to open it. It's not easy for her.                                   Then she notices that she's forgotten her glasses. She rests          the book back on the bed cover and fishes for her glasses on          the night stand. In the end, she manages it. Then she opens          the book again, and tries to read.                                   SCENE 14 - INT. KITCHEN - DAY                                   The superintendent's wife puts the filled supermarket bags on          the counter. Takes the stack of mail that she had put on top          of one of the bags and puts it down beside them. Then she          takes out the receipt and the change.           22.                                                                            SUPERINTENDANT'S WIFE           Unfortunately the strawberries were           already moldy. I'll go and get you           some fresh ones tomorrow from the           market. My husband will bring you           the bottled water this afternoon.           I'm not supposed to carry anything           heavy: my back, you know...                                                                            GEORGES           Sure, no problem.                                                   SUPERINTENDENT'S WIFE           It came to 76 euros and 40 cents.           There's the till receipt and here's           your change: 23 euros 60.                                                   GEORGES           Thank you very much. Keep the           change. Thanks.                                                   SUPERINTENDENT'S WIFE           Thank you, sir.                                   Short embarrassed PAUSE.                                    SUPERINTENDENT'S WIFE (CONT'D)           Well, I'll be off. Call me if you           need anything else.                                                   GEORGES           Yes. I will.                                                   SUPERINTENDENT'S WIFE           Is your wife well? ...                                                   GEORGES           Yes, she's OK. She's recovering.                                                   SUPERINTENDENT'S WIFE           Fine. Give her my regards. My           husband and I are very glad she's           back.                                                   GEORGES           Yes, we are too. Bye, Mrs. MÈry,           thanks so much.                                                   SUPERINTENDENT'S WIFE           Goodbye, sir.                                   She heads toward the front door of the apartment, turns          around again toward Georges.           23.                                                             SUPERINTENDENT'S WIFE (CONT'D)           I'll bring you the strawberries           tomorrow around noon, if that suits           you.                                   He nods, she closes the door as she leaves.                                   SCENE 15 - INT. HALLWAY - TOILET - DAY                                   He stands in front of the closed door of the toilet, waiting.          After a while, we hear the noise of flushing. After a while          longer, we hear                                    ANNE (O.S.)           There. Can you come in, please?                                   He opens the toilet door, goes around Anne, pulls her up, she          puts her left arm around his neck, keeps herself upright that          way, he pulls up her pants under her skirt. Then they slowly          hobble out of the toilet and he sits her back down in the          wheelchair.                                   SCENE 16 - INT. BEDROOM - NIGHT                                   They are both lying in their beds. Anne sleeps, BREATHING          NOISILY. Georges lies with his eyes open, listening          attentively to her breathing.                                   SCENE 17 - INT. KITCHEN - DAY                                   The sun shines in. Georges has cooked something simple. They          are both in a good mood, eating and drinking.                                                   GEORGES           ... some banal romance or other           about a nobleman and a lower middle-           class girl who couldn't have each           other and who then, out of sheer           magnanimity, decide to renounce           their love - in fact I don't quite           remember it any more. In any case,           afterwards I was thoroughly           distraught, and it took me a bit of           time to calm down. In the courtyard           of the house where grandma lived,           there was a young guy at the window           who asked me where I'd been. He was           a couple of years older than me, a           braggart who of course really           impressed me. "To the movies", I           said, because I was proud that my           grandma had given me the money to           go all alone to the cinema.                          (MORE)           24.                                                   GEORGES (CONT'D)           "What did you see?" I started to           tell him the story of the movie,           and as I did, all the emotion came           back. I didn't want to cry in front           of the boy, but it was impossible;           there I was, crying out loud in the           courtyard, and I told him the whole           drama to the bitter end.                                                   ANNE           So? How did he react?                                                   GEORGES           No idea. He probably found it           amusing. I don't remember. I don't           remember the film either. But I           remember the feeling. That I was           ashamed of crying, but that telling           him the story made all my feelings           and tears come back, almost more           powerfully than when I was actually           watching the film, and that I just           couldn't stop.                                   She looks at him, smiles, then turns back to her food.                                                   ANNE           That's cute. Why didn't you ever           tell me before?                                                   GEORGES           There are still a few stories you           don't know.                                                   ANNE           Aha...? Don't tell me you're going           to ruin your image in your old age?                                                   GEORGES                          (GRINNING)           You bet I won't. But what is my           image?                                   She takes a mouthful, eats ponderously. Then she looks at          him.                                                   ANNE                          (TENDERLY)           Sometimes you're a rotter. But           you're nice.                                                   GEORGES                          (EMBARRASSED GRIN)           Can I take you for a drink?           25.                                                            She laughs.                                   SCENE 18 - INT. HALLWAY - DAY                                   He does physiotherapy exercises with her. Counts the          repetitive movements of the exercises.                                   SCENE 19 - INT. LIVING ROOM - DAY                                   She's lying on the sofa. He's seated in the armchair. They're          both reading the newspaper. After a while:                                                   ANNE           Listen to this! My horoscope.           Motto: You have lots of verve, but           need to be more serious!           Love: High-class conversation is           what you need.           Work: You're motivated again. But           proceed with care.           Health: Loosen up by doing           exercises. It'll give you renewed           pizzazz.                                   PAUSE. Then                                                   GEORGES                          (GOOD-HUMORED)           You've only yourself to blame if           you read stuff like that.                                   Brief PAUSE. Then:                                                   GEORGES (CONT'D)           Tomorrow afternoon is Pierre's           funeral.                                                   ANNE           You have to go.                                                   GEORGES           I fear I must. I don't want to go           at all.                                                   ANNE           Who does like going to funerals?                                                   GEORGES           Oh, I know a few people who do.           Annette can never wait to get all           dolled up again. And FranÁois           has...           26.                                                                            ANNE           You're mean. What would you say if           no one came to your funeral?                                                   GEORGES           (dryly) Nothing, presumably.                                   She shoots him a glance, smiles at his irony. Then she says:                                                   ANNE           Have you talked to Jeanne since I           was in the hospital? I mean, does           she know I can't come?                                                   GEORGES           Of course.                                                   ANNE           What did she say?                                                   GEORGES           She was shocked.                                                   ANNE           How?                                                   GEORGES           (a bit irritated)           My God, what are people like when           they're shocked? She couldn't           believe it, she was speechless. I           don't remember any more. In any           case, not exactly. I've spoken to a           lot of people since.                                   PAUSE.                                                   ANNE           Sorry.                                                   GEORGES           No, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to be           unkind, but I just don't see the           point of talking about it all the           time.                                   Short PAUSE.                                                   ANNE           Do I talk about it all the time?           27.                                                                            GEORGES           No. Sorry.                                                   ANNE           Don't worry.                                   SCENE 20 - INT. HALLWAY - LIVING ROOM - DAY                                   The front door is unlocked from the outside, and Georges          enters. He's back from the funeral, dressed for the occasion.          He turns on the light. He's wet. Clearly, it's been raining.          As he closes the door again, his eyes fall on Anne. With her          back to him, she is sitting on the floor in front of the          opened window of the light well, half propped against her          wheelchair.                                                   GEORGES           What ... ?!                                   Shaken, he heads toward her, picks her up and seats her in          the wheelchair. Outside, in the light well, it is raining.                                   PAUSE.                                                   ANNE           (once she's seated in the                          WHEELCHAIR)           Why are you back already? What time           is it?                                   PAUSE.                                   Georges has understood immediately. He closes the window          noiselessly.                                   Then just stands there, at a loss.                                   SILENCE. Then                                                   ANNE (CONT'D)                          (SOFTLY)           Forgive me, I was too slow.                                                   GEORGES           Anne...                                                   ANNE           Can you wheel me into the living           room?                                   PAUSE.                                                   GEORGES           Yes.           28.                                                            He turns toward her, pushes the wheelchair into the living          room between the two armchairs. Turns on the light. Stops          beside the switch. They both look exhausted.                                                   GEORGES (CONT'D)           You're always good at surprises.                                                   ANNE           Yes. Why are you home earlier?                                                   GEORGES           I didn't come home earlier. I took           a taxi. In August, there isn't a           lot of traffic.                                                   ANNE           That's true. How was the funeral?                                                   GEORGES           Anne...!                                                   ANNE           How was it, go on, tell me!                                   He thinks an instant, then goes and sits down facing her in          an armchair. Looks at her. She raises her head and returns          his look. He understands that he can't insist right now. Long          PAUSE. Then he begins:                                                   GEORGES           It was rather bizarre. The priest           was an idiot. Then one of Pierre's           co-workers made a speech that was           embarrassingly emotional. His old           secretary came with a radio-           cassette player and after the           speech she put on "Yesterday" by           the Beatles. You can't imagine.           Everybody turned round to look at           her. Apparently, it wasn't planned.           His grandchildren were there. Of           course they giggled as soon as the           music began. Then the urn was put           on a huge stretcher that was           obviously designed for a coffin,           and out we went into the rain. They           placed the urn on a small electric           cart that crawled along for what           seemed like an eternity to the tiny           hole they had dug. A lot of people           had to stifle their laughter. It           must have been terrible for Jeanne.           I have...           29.                                                                            ANNE                          (INTERRUPTING HIM)           There's just no point in going on           living. I know it can only get           worse. Why should I inflict it on           us? On you and me.                                                   GEORGES           You're not inflicting anything on           me.                                                   ANNE           You don't have to lie, Georges.                                   PAUSE.                                                   GEORGES           Imagine you were me. Didn't you           ever think something like this           could happen to one of us?                                                   ANNE           Of course I did. But imagination           and reality have little in common.                                                   GEORGES           But things are getting better every           day. We'll...                                                   ANNE                          (INTERRUPTING HIM)           Georges, I don't want to carry on.           You're making such efforts to make           everything easier for me. But I           don't want to go on. For my own           sake. Not yours.                                                   GEORGES           I don't believe you. I know you.           You think you're a burden on me.           But what if things were the other           way around? What would you do then?                                                   ANNE           I don't know. I can't be bothered           to think about being you. I'm           tired. You tire me. Everything           tires me. I can't talk. I want to           go to bed.                                   He looks at her. Finally he gets up and pushes her wheelchair          out of frame.                                   SCENE 21 - INT. BEDROOM - NIGHT           30.                                                            She is lying in bed. The bedside lamp is on.                                   We hear the RADIO coming from the living room: a program          about the fauna and flora of the South Seas, or something          similar.                                   SCENE 22 - INT. HALLWAY - LIVING ROOM - DAY                                   Georges comes out of the kitchen and opens the front door. On          the doorstep stands the soloist (male or female) from Scenes          3 and 4.                                                   GEORGES           (somewhat perplexed, but pleased)           Oh hello! Nice to see you.                                                   SOLOIST           Forgive me for dropping in on you           like this, Professor. I tried to           reach you by phone a couple of           times, but no luck.                                                   GEORGES           I'm sorry. I only pick up the phone           when I've stored the caller's           number and I can see who's calling.           Why didn't you leave a message?           Anyway, do come in...                                   He closes the door behind his guest.                                                   SOLOIST           I just couldn't manage to come by           after the concert. I was so sorry,           because I was so pleased you came           along.                                                   GEORGES           Come with me.                                   While they pass into the living room, they continue to speak:                                                   SOLOIST           ... And now, an unexpected           opportunity has arisen because           FranÁois Mitry called me - you know           him, he's my agent - to say he'd           arranged for me to meet the boss of           the ThÈ‚tre des Champs-ElysÈes           tonight to talk about their new           concert series.                          (MORE)           31.                                                   SOLOIST (CONT'D)           So I flew to Paris this morning,           and while I was in my hotel, I           thought, I'll just give it a try           and drop in. After all, it's           virtually just around the corner.                                   Sorry, these are for your wife.                                   He takes the bouquet of flowers from its wrapping paper and          hands it to Georges.                                                   SOLOIST (CONT'D)           Isn't she at home?                                                   GEORGES           Yes, she is. I'll go and get her in           a minute. Have a seat.                                                   SOLOIST           I hope I'm not disturbing you too           much.                                                   GEORGES           No, not at all. I'm happy that you           came. We were so thrilled by your           concert. We hoped we'd see you           again soon. Please do have a seat.           Can I can get you something? A cup           of tea?                                                   SOLOIST           No, no, thank you very much.                                                   GEORGES           Hold on, I'll just freshen up the           flowers; in this heat they wilt so           fast...                                                   SOLOIST           I've only just bought them. They           should keep quite...                                                                                     But Georges has already left the room with the bouquet and          closed the door behind him. The soloist looks around him.                                   After a few moments we hear the VOICES of Anne and Georges in          the distance, without understanding what they're saying. It          lasts a while.                                   Finally Georges opens the door and pushes Anne, in her          wheelchair, into the living room.           32.                                                                            ANNE           Martin! What a delight. How lovely           to see you!                                   The (male or female) soloist has got up and doesn't quite          know how to handle the situation.                                                   SOLOIST           Mrs. Laurent! Lovely to see you           too.                                                   ANNE           Don't get up. Come on, sit yourself           down and don't look so shocked.                                   The soloist sits down hesitantly, Georges pushes the          wheelchair between the two armchairs and also sits down.          Brief embarrassed PAUSE.                                                   ANNE (CONT'D)           I'm so proud of you. We were both           in raptures after your concert.           Georges wanted to buy your new CD           the very next morning.                                                   SOLOIST           Oh God! I wanted to bring you the           CD, but I left in such a hurry that           I forgot it. I'm so sorry. I'll get           one today and drop it by.                                                   ANNE                          (SMILING)           No, no, don't worry. We want to           make a contribution to your           success. Even if it's only twenty           euros.                                                   SOLOIST           You've already contributed so much.           I owe you so much, Madame.                                                   ANNE           You owe it to your hard work and           your talent.                                                   SOLOIST           (shaking his head a little) Do you           remember, when you first gave me           the Bagatelles to play? I was           twelve at the time, and in my           youthful arrogance I said: "But why           the Bagatelles?" And you really           gave me a piece of your mind.           33.                                                            They both smile. PAUSE. Then he goes on:                                                   SOLOIST (CONT'D)           So what happened?                                                   ANNE           My right side is paralyzed, that's           all. It can happen when you get           older.                                                   SOLOIST           And how...?                                                   ANNE           Let's talk about something else,           shall we?                                                   SOLOIST                          (DISCONCERTED)           Sure ...                                                   ANNE           Don't be offended. But I want to           enjoy the lovely interlude you've           given us with your visit.                                                   SOLOIST                          (DISARMED)           Of course.                                   Brief PAUSE.                                                   GEORGES           You haven't told us yet what's been           going on since the Paris concert.                                   The soloist is a bit thrown by the couple's behavior.                                                   SOLOIST           Well, actually I've spent most of           the time in London studying. Then I           went to Copenhagen for two           performances, that was Schubert           too. My whole life revolves around           Schubert at the moment. The           concerts with the Impromptus and           the Moments Musicaux, and for my           bread-and-butter work I'm           developing the sonatas. Not the           late ones, I think I still need a           couple more years for those.           34.                                                            (The dialogue concerning music will be modified according to          the performer chosen.)                                                   ANNE           Could you do me a favor?                                                   SOLOIST                          (SURPRISED)           Really?                                                   ANNE           Would you play F¸r Elise?                                                   SOLOIST                          (EMBARRASSED)           Um, I don't know if I remember it           very well. Beethoven, it's been a           long time since I've... But if you           want...                                                   ANNE           Give it a try.                                                   SOLOIST                          (HESITANTLY)           OK.                                   He looks at Georges, then at Anne again, gets up, goes to the          grand piano and plays.                                   SCENE 23 - INT. HALLWAY - DAY                                   Georges is leaning against the chest, and watches Anne, who          is practicing maneuvering her new electric wheelchair.          Forward, backward, turning. In the end, she goes round and          round in circles several times. He laughs, so does she.                                   SCENE 24 - INT. BEDROOM - LIVING ROOM - NIGHT                                   Anne is lying in bed. A book rests on her stomach. She          listens to the PIANO playing coming from the living room.          After a while the music stops.                                                   ANNE           What's the matter?                                                  LIVING ROOM                                   Georges is seated in front of the open piano. His hands in          his lap, he looks straight ahead.                                   SCENE 25 - INT. LIVING ROOM - DAY           35.                                                            The superintendent's wife runs the vacuum cleaner over a          carpet.                                   SCENE 26 - INT. BATHROOM - NIGHT                                   Anne is seated on a stool. Georges washes her.                                   SCENE 27 - INT. KITCHEN - HALLWAY - BEDROOM - TWILIGHT                                   Georges has cooked himself a steak and is eating. On the          radio, we hear the EVENING NEWS. Suddenly, coming from the          neighboring room, a LOUD CRASH and the SOUND of crockery          breaking. Stifled CRY from Anne. Georges gets up, irritated,          crosses the HALLWAY and enters the BEDROOM.                                   Anne lies on the floor, beside the overturned night stand, in          the midst of the crockery and remains of a meal.                                                   GEORGES           (shocked, and hence furious)           Good God, what are you doing?                                   He hurries toward her and pulls her up rather roughly into          the bed.                                                   GEORGES (CONT'D)           Have you lost your senses?! I don't           believe it! How stupid!                                   He points to the broken objects.                                                   GEORGES (CONT'D)           Look at that! Did you need to do           that? Can't you call me when you           need something?                                                   ANNE           (meekly) I'm sorry.                                                   GEORGES                          (STILL FURIOUS)           Yes, so am I.                                                   ANNE                          (SOFTLY)           Sorry.                                   Georges bends down, and begins to gather up the scattered          objects.                                                   GEORGES           The lamp is broken too.                                   SCENE 28 - INT. BATHROOM - HALLWAY - ANNEX - DAY           36.                                                            Bathroom.                                   Georges, in pajama pants, naked torso, brushes his teeth. The          doorbell rings.                                   Georges spits out, wipes his mouth, goes into the hallway and          over to the front door.                                                   GEORGES (CONT'D)           Yes? Who's there?                                   No answer. Georges is very irritated. O.S., Anne calls to                         HIM:                                                   ANNE           Georges? What's going on? Who is           it?                                   Georges opens the door. Outside, however, instead of the          usual landing, we see an empty room lit a giorno but without          a window, about as large as the rooms in the apartment. It          looks like an unpainted room in a new apartment. A couple of          ladders are propped against the opposite wall. At the other          end of the room, to the side, is a small door. Georges is          stunned, and doesn't understand what has happened.          Hesitating, he crosses the room toward the door.                                   O.S., in the distance, Anne's worried voice:                                                   ANNE (CONT'D)           Georges? What's going on?                                   Georges opens the small door. Behind it is a narrow,          windowless corridor, as brightly lit as the room. At the end          of the corridor, a door. Georges heads toward this door and          opens it too. Behind it is a tiny windowless room, equally          bright as the others. Everything is very quiet. Georges          enters, turns round, then goes back along the corridor,          crosses the room, comes through the apartment door into the          hallway of the apartment. But it too is now empty and bright,          with bare unpainted walls, no doors; only the door to the          bedroom is open. Behind that too, it appears to be empty and          bright. Georges goes toward it.                                   At the same time, we hear GEORGES' VOICE. At first he groans,          but then begins inarticulately hollering, louder and louder.          Shortly after, we also hear:                                                   ANNE'S VOICE:           Georges, what's going on?                                   SCENE 29 - INT. BEDROOM - NIGHT                                   Darkness. GEORGES HOLLERS           37.                                                                            ANNE'S VOICE           Calm down will you! There's nothing           there. It's nothing.                                   She manages to switch on the bedside lamp. Georges is sitting          up in his bed, having just awoken, wide-eyed with terror. His          breathing is labored.                                   Anne extends her good hand toward him, caresses his back to          calm him. He slowly calms down and flops back on his pillow.                                                   ANNE           What was it?                                   He doesn't answer. Continues breathing heavily. She caresses          him.                                                   GEORGES           (still with labored breathing)           I didn't understand... I thought           I'd gone mad... It was something           impossible...                                                   ANNE           What was?                                   SCENE 30 - INT. BEDROOM - DAY                                   Close shot on the screen of a cell phone. We read on it:                                   Coming to Paris on 12th. Plan to stop by in afternoon. Hope          all well. So look forward to seeing you. Love Eva.                                   We hear O.S. the voice of                                                   GEORGES           Eva. They're coming on the 12th.                                   He crouches down in front of Anne who is seated on the bed,          puts his mobile phone back in his pocket and continues to put          on her socks and her shoes.                                                   ANNE           Why?                                                   GEORGES           No idea. Apparently she's coming           with Geoff.                                                   ANNE           When is it?           38.                                                                            GEORGES           I don't know exactly. What day is           it today? I'll go and look.                                   Short PAUSE.                                                   ANNE           I don't want that.                                                   GEORGES           What?                                                   ANNE           Geoff doesn't need to come.                                   PAUSE.                                   Georges doesn't agree, but continues to dress Anne.                                                   ANNE (CONT'D)           I don't need any comments on my           predicament. I can only take his           British humor in small doses.                                   SCENE 31 - INT. HALLWAY - DAY                                   Once more the set of physiotherapy exercises. Things are          going better. Georges smiles encouragingly at Anne, noticing          her improvement. She reacts like someone duty-bound, but          without conviction.                                   SCENE 32 - INT. LIVING ROOM - DAY                                   Close shot: a CD is inserted into a player. As the MUSIC          begins (the concert heard in Scene 3), Georges takes a card          out of the envelope that contained the CD and reads it to                         ANNE:                                                   GEORGES           Dear Madame Laurent, Dear Monsieur           Laurent, it was beautiful and yet           sad to see you. My heartfelt wishes           that things will get better.           With deep gratitude, your former           pupil, Martin.                                   The MUSIC makes their SILENCE less awkward. Then, after a          long while, Anne says:                                                   ANNE           Stop the CD.                                   He hesitates, looks at her, then stops the music. They remain          SILENT.           39.                                                            SCENE 33- INT. KITCHEN - ADJOINING ROOM - DAY                                   They eat. Suddenly, Anne says:                                                   ANNE (CONT'D)           Where are the family albums?                                                   GEORGES           The family albums? I don't know,           there, in the other room. Why?                                                   ANNE           Can you get them for me?                                                   GEORGES           What, now?                                   Anne nods.                                                   GEORGES (CONT'D)           Why, Anne?                                                   ANNE           I'd like to look at them.                                   Georges hesitates, and doesn't understand the suddenness of          this request.                                                   ANNE (CONT'D)           Please!                                   He finally gets up and goes into the adjoining room. He comes          back after a few moments with a stack of albums, pushes away          the remains of Anne's meal and sets down the first album in          front of her.                                                   ANNE (CONT'D)           Thanks.                                                   GEORGES           (a bit irritated)           You're welcome.                                   With her able hand, Anne opens the album, looks at the          photos, turns the pages, looks.                                                   ANNE           That's nice.                                                   GEORGES           (self-consciously, softly)           What?           40.                                                                            ANNE           Life...so long... What a long           life...                                   Georges looks at her. She continues to thumb through the          pages. After a while she turns toward him.                                                   ANNE (CONT'D)           Stop watching me.                                                   GEORGES           (caught in the act)           I wasn't watching you.                                                   ANNE           Of course you were. I'm not that           dumb yet.                                   SCENE 24 - INT. BEDROOM - NIGHT                                   They are both lying in bed. Georges reads the day's news to          Anne from the newspaper. When he looks over to her, she has          fallen asleep. He then puts the newspaper on the night stand          and turns out the light.                                   SCENE 35 - INT. BEDROOM - HALLWAY - BATHROOM - DAY                                   Bedroom.                                   It's morning. Georges is helping Anne to get out of bed into          her wheelchair. As he does it, he notices that the bed and          her nightgown are wet.                                                   GEORGES           You're soaked through.                                                   ANNE           What do you mean?                                   Brief PAUSE.                                                   GEORGES           Hold on.                                   He sits her back on the bed and goes out of the room.                                                   GEORGES (CONT'D)           I'll be right back.                                   During this time, she remains seated, feeling embarrassed,          and waits. He comes back with a towel and puts it on the seat          of the wheelchair.           41.                                                                            GEORGES (CONT'D)           It's no big deal. Come on.                                   He lifts her out of the bed into the wheelchair and pushes          her through the hallway into the bathroom.                                   He lifts her out of the wheelchair, sits her on the stool and          takes off her wet nightgown, pulling it over her head. She          starts to SOB inconsolably. He caresses her face.                                                   GEORGES (CONT'D)           Come on, darling. It's nothing           serious. Things like that happen..                                                   ANNE                          (SOBBING)           I can't... take it any more.                                   He holds her tightly against him, strokes her hair, feeling          helpless.                                                   GEORGES           My love. My darling.                                   SCENE 36 - INT. BEDROOM - DAY                                   Anne is in bed. She's on a drip. Eva is seated on a chair          beside the bed.                                                   EVA           ... thinking about whether it           wouldn't be better to invest the           money in an apartment block. If           inflation gets going again,           property is the only sure thing.           Right now, savings accounts pay           1.75% at best. Four years ago,           Geoff bought some stocks with a           small sum of money and the whole           thing collapsed. So now we're           obviously worried. Unfortunately,           in the meantime, other people have           had the same idea, and property           prices are going through the roof.           Since we came back from           Scandinavia, I spend all my spare           time looking through newspaper ads.                                   To put an end to the PAUSE that follows, she adds:                                                   EVA (CONT'D)           It takes time, that's all. We'll           find something in the end.           42.                                                            Another oppressive PAUSE.                                                   ANNE           (slowly) Yes yes I have... I           have... the grandmother... woman           with house... not... the house then           ... money                                                   EVA           I don't understand you, I'm afraid.                                                   ANNE           ... yes... now... it's all... house           sel... sel... sel... was... in two           strokes of... so quickly... god           it's hard... to say... sell...           money gone... left... there too...                                   PAUSE. Eva has tears in her eyes.                                   SCENE 37 - INT. LIVING ROOM - DAY                                   Georges and Eva's husband, GEOFF, around fifty. He speaks          with a British accent.                                                   GEORGES           ... three times a week... I'm not           experienced enough. We'll see if           that's enough.                                                   GEOFF           How much is she asking?                                                   GEORGES           It's paid by the hour. We'll see.                                                   GEOFF           And her?                                                   GEORGES           Anne?                                   Geoff nods. Georges shrugs.                                                   GEORGES (CONT'D)           It's hard to say. Sometimes I get           the feeling she's totally unaware           of the state she's in. And then I           feel the opposite. It's... I don't           know.                                                   GEOFF           And what about the doctor? What           does he say?           43.                                                                            GEORGES           He's...                                   Eva comes in through the door. She's in floods of tears.                                                   EVA                          (CRYING)           She only talks gibberish. I don't           know what...                                   Geoff gets up, hesitantly.                                                   GEOFF           Hey, dear...                                   He goes toward her and leads her to the armchair where he was          sitting.                                                   GEOFF (CONT'D)           ...come here, sit down, it's OK.                                   She shakes him off, irritated, and sits down.                                                   EVA           Nothing is OK.                                   At first he's vexed by her brusque response, but then goes to          sit down on the sofa. Meanwhile, Eva turns to Georges:                                                   EVA (CONT'D)           What's going on, actually? You           can't just leave her lying on her           bed like that! She's           unrecognizable! It's ridiculous!                                                   GEORGES           We can't do anything for the           moment. Calm down, darling. She's           getting medical treatment, they           give her the necessary medication,           and there are no other options           right now.                                                   EVA           What does that mean, "no other           options"? Why isn't she in a           hospital?                                                   GEORGES           She had a second stroke. Bertier           examined her and felt we could           spare her all the hospital           inpatient procedures.                          (MORE)           44.                                                   GEORGES (CONT'D)           Anyway, they wouldn't keep her,           they'd send her to a care home.           What they do in those places, we           can do here.                                   Eva looks at him, amazed.                                                   GEORGES (CONT'D)           And she won't be put in a care           home. I promised her that.                                                   GEOFF           Don't you think you're taking on           too much?                                                   GEORGES           Have you got a better idea?                                   Geoff doesn't know what to say. Eva has composed herself          somewhat and blows her nose.                                                   EVA           I can't believe that these days           there's no way of handling this           efficiently.                                                   GEORGES                          (CURTLY)           No one's stopping you from finding           out.                                   Eva gets up, furious, and goes to the window. Georges follows          her with his eyes.                                                   GEORGES (CONT'D)                          (PEACEABLY)           Believe me, I love your mother as           much as you do. So please, don't           treat me as if I was a total idiot           incapable of doing the obvious.                                                   EVA           I didn't say that. I'm simply           questioning whether what I see           going on here is the answer to           everything!                                                   GEOFF                          (TO GEORGES)           Don't you want to get a second           opinion?           45.                                                                            GEORGES           Now you two had better stop, OK?           Another doctor did come. He said           Bertier was right. From Monday, a           nurse will come three times a week.           Now can we talk about something           else?                                                   EVA           Like what?                                   SCENE 38 - INT. KITCHEN - NIGHT                                   Georges washes the tea cups that he used for Eva and Geoff.          On the radio, the EVENING NEWS.                                   SCENE 39 - INT. BEDROOM - DAY                                   With expert gestures, a nurse shows Georges how to lie Anne          down and put an incontinence pad on her. She's now almost          incapable of moving, and has to be turned over like an          object, as tears flow silently down her face.                                   SCENE 40 - INT. LIVING ROOM -DAY                                   Anne is at the piano and plays the piece from the Scene 3. We          watch her and listen to her for a while.                                   Georges is seated in his armchair and looks at the piano.          Finally he leans over toward the CD player and stops it. The          MUSIC suddenly stops. Georges remains silently seated.                                   SCENE 41 - INT. KITCHEN - HALLWAY - BEDROOM - DAY                                   He prepares a bowl of muesli, fills a sipping cup with water          and brings both into the bedroom. Sits down on the bed close          to Anne to feed her her food.                                                   GEORGES           There, my love, I hope you like it.                                                   ANNE           OK...                                   He begins to feed her.                                                   GEORGES           I added a little orange juice. I           find it tastes quite good.                                   She can only swallow slowly, and so something keeps running          back out of her mouth. He wipes it with a tea towel,          continues to feed her. Finally, after a few mouthfuls, she          keeps her mouth shut.           46.                                                                            GEORGES (CONT'D)           Come on, Anne, you have to eat some           more. You've only swallowed three           mouthfuls.                                   Anne continues to keep her lips sealed.                                                   GEORGES (CONT'D)           Please, darling. A bit more.                                   Anne doesn't move. He puts the muesli on the night stand and          holds the sipping cup to her lips. She drinks slowly, one sip          after the other. He pulls the cup back between each sip, to          give her more time. Suddenly she says:                                                   ANNE           ...Mom to the concert...                                                   GEORGES           Yes?                                                   ANNE           ...Mom to the concert... no           dress...                                                   GEORGES           Mom has no dress for the concert?                                                   ANNE           ...Mom to concert... no ... uuu...           no...                                                   GEORGES           Yes?                                   Long PAUSE. Georges waits.                                   SCENE 42 - INT. BATHROOM - DAY                                   Georges and the nurse install Anne on a metal armchair in the          shower.                                   As she does so, the nurse keeps talking reassuringly to Anne.          Finally, she turns on the tap.                                                   ANNE           (in a monotone)           Help! Help! Help! Help! Help!           Help!...                                   Without being phased, the nurse continues to speak          reassuringly. Georges remains standing there, helpless.                                   SCENE 43 - INT. KITCHEN - HALLWAY - BEDROOM - DAY           47.                                                            Kitchen.                                   Georges and the nurse are seated at the table with a cup of          coffee. In front of the nurse, on the table, is a sum of          money. As they speak, we hear, coming from the room, Anne's          CALLS FOR HELP.                                                   NURSE           ... we could take turns. She'd come           from 8 till 12 and I'd do 2 until           6, or 3 to 7. That would certainly           relieve the pressure on you.                                                   GEORGES           I'll think about it.                                                   NURSE           She just has to know in time so she           can arrange it in her schedule.                                                   GEORGES           Yes, of course, I'll let you know           in the next few days.                                                   NURSE           Very well. I have to go now...                                   She takes the money on the table, pockets it and gets up.                                                   NURSE (CONT'D)           Thanks for the coffee.                                                   GEORGES           My pleasure. I'll see you out.                                   They both leave the kitchen. As the nurse, in the hallway,          takes her jacket off the hook in the closet and puts it on,          she comments on Anne's continuing CALLS FOR HELP.                                                   NURSE           You mustn't take it too seriously.           Usually they always say something.           She might just as well say "Mom,           Mom, Mom". It's just mechanical.                                                   GEORGES           (nodding, softly)           I know.                                   They've reached the door.                                                   NURSE           Goodbye, sir.           48.                                                                            GEORGES           Goodbye.                                   He closes the door behind her. Remains motionless a moment,          then goes into the bedroom, where Anne's CALLS FOR HELP,          unaltered, continue.                                   Georges sits down beside Anne on the bed, takes her hand,          holds her. After a while, Anne calms down, her CALLS FOR HELP          become quieter and finally stop altogether.                                   After a long PAUSE:                                                   GEORGES (CONT'D)           (slowly, softly)           I'd like to hire a second nurse.           The two could take turns. That           would make everything a bit           simpler. What do you think?                                   Long PAUSE. Then:                                                   ANNE           (softly) ...Help...Help...                                   SCENE 44 - INT. BEDROOM - NIGHT                                   They are both lying in bed. Georges SNORES noisily. Anne's          eyes are open.                                   SCENE 45 - INT. HALLWAY - KITCHEN - DAY                                   The front door. We hear the key in the lock. Georges enters          with a shopping bag, and behind him is the superintendent. He          carries bigger and heavier bags. Georges holds the door open          for him.                                                   GEORGES           Would you mind putting them in the           kitchen.                                   The superintendent precedes him into the kitchen with the          bags. Georges calls toward the bedroom:                                                   GEORGES (CONT'D)           I'm ba-aack!                                   He then follows the superintendent into the kitchen.                                   The superintendent has put the bags on the work surface.                                                   GEORGES (CONT'D)           Thanks very much.           49.                                                                            SUPERINTENDENT           Can I do anything else for you,           sir?                                                   GEORGES           No, thanks, Mr. MÈry. You've been a           big help.                                                   SUPERINTENDENT           Oh, it's nothing, sir.                                   Georges has already taken out his wallet and gives some money          to the superintendent.                                                   SUPERINTENDENT (CONT'D)           Thanks a lot, sir.                                                   GEORGES           I'll let you know if I need you           again.                                                   SUPERINTENDENT           With pleasure, sir.                                   He gets ready to leave. He stops again in the doorway and          turns around.                                                   SUPERINTENDENT (CONT'D)           May I say something, sir?                                                   GEORGES           What is it?                                                   SUPERINTENDENT           My wife and I, we're very impressed           by the way you're managing           everything. I take my hat off to           you.                                   As he speaks, Georges' mobile phone has started to ring.                                                   GEORGES           (taking the mobile phone from the           pocket of his jacket)           That's very kind of you. Thanks.           See you soon.                                                   SUPERINTENDENT           Give my regards to your wife.                                                   GEORGES           I certainly will. Thanks.           50.                                                            As the superintendent leaves the apartment, Georges looks at          the display on his mobile phone and makes a call.                                                   GEORGES (CONT'D)           Hello Eva, how are you?... Things           are fine.                                   SCENE 46 - INT. BEDROOM - DAY                                   Georges, standing at the foot of the bed, faces Anne and          starts singing.                                                   GEORGES (CONT'D)           (insistently)...Sur le pont ...                                                   ANNE           ... Ssssur...                                                   GEORGES           ...Sur le pont...                                                   ANNE           po ... pont ... sss                                                   GEORGES           ...Sur le pont ... Sur le pont ...                                                   ANNE           ... Ssssur le pont ...                                                   GEORGES           (smiling to encourage her): ... Sur           le pont d'Avignon...                                                   ANNE           ... ssur... le ..                                                   GEORGES           ... pont... Sur le pont           d'Avignon... (he begins to sing):           Sur le pont d'Avignon on y danse,           on y danse, sur le pont d'Avignon           tout le monde y danse en rond...                                   He encourages her to sing with him. Starts singing again:                                                   GEORGES (CONT'D)           Sur le pont d' Avignon, on y danse,           on y danse ...                                   Anne tries to sing too, she has a hint of a smile on her          face, but she produces only isolated SOUNDS.           51.                                                                            GEORGES (CONT'D)           (singing to encourage Anne,           accompanied by the sounds that she           produces): Sur le pont d'Avignon on           y danse, on y danse ... Sur le pont           d'Avignon tout le monde y danse en           rond ...                                   SCENE 47 - INT. BEDROOM - DAY                                   A second nurse is doing Anne's hair roughly. The brush sticks          in her tangled hair.                                                   SECOND NURSE                          ("CHEERY")           ... there we are...now we're all           beautiful again...so everybody will           admire us...there...you see...           wait...                                   She takes a mirror that she has placed within reach. Holds it          in front of Anne's face.                                    SECOND NURSE (CONT'D)           Well?... What do we say to that?           Aren't we a pretty sight?                                   Anne, sickened, averts her eyes. Emits a muffled SOUND. The          nurse ignores it.                                    SECOND NURSE (CONT'D)           You'll see, Monsieur will be           dazzled by you...                                   Furious SOUND from Anne.                                   SCENE 48 - INT. HALLWAY - NIGHT                                   The window opening onto the light well is open. A pigeon has          landed on the window ledge.                                   It walks to and fro, then finally dares to jump down inside,          onto the floor. It starts to explore the surroundings.                                   We hear the TOILET FLUSH. Georges comes out of the toilet.          The door opening frightens the pigeon. Alarmed, flapping its          wings, it flutters about the room.                                   After a moment of surprise, Georges tries to shoo it back          toward the window. But the bird escapes in the opposite          direction. George follows it.                                   He closes the doors of the other rooms. Coming from the          bedroom, we faintly hear ANNE'S VOICE.           52.                                                            Georges fetches a towel from the bathroom. He chases the          bird. He hits out at the bird for so long that it escapes          back out through the window. Georges, visibly exhausted, has          to sit down on the chest in the hallway.                                   SCENE 49 - INT. LIVING ROOM - DAY                                   Georges and the second nurse.                                                   NURSE           ... as you wish, sir. I don't know           what you were expecting. I gave up           another job to come and work here.           You should have thought it over           before deciding whether you wanted           a second nurse or not.                                                   GEORGES           But I've only just found out how           incompetent you are.                                                   NURSE                          (FURIOUS)           What's that supposed to mean?                                                   GEORGES           I don't want to discuss it with           you. Anyway, you wouldn't           understand.                                                   NURSE           No one has ever complained.                                                   GEORGES           Good for you. (To get rid of her)           How much do I owe you?                                                   NURSE           (after a brief calculation)           Seven hundred and eighty euros.                                   Georges takes his wallet from his jacket hanging on the          armchair and takes out eight one-hundred euro bills. The          nurse is hopping mad.                                                   NURSE (CONT'D)           I've never had anything like this           happen to me before. Who do you           think you are?! I've been doing           this job for ten years. I don't           need you to teach me how to do it.                                                   GEORGES           Do you have twenty euros?           53.                                                            The nurse takes out her purse angrily, looks inside.                                                   NURSE           No.                                                   GEORGES           Then take the eight hundred euros.           You can go now.                                   The nurse pockets the money.                                                   NURSE           You're a nasty old man. I feel           sorry for you.                                   Georges has put back his wallet, turns to her again and looks          at her.                                                   GEORGES           I hope from the bottom of my heart           that one day someone treats you the           way you treat your patients, and           that you too will have no way of           defending yourself. Now get out.                                   She looks at him, at first doesn't know what to answer, then:                                                   NURSE           Go fuck yourself, you old fart!                                   She leaves, slamming the door behind her. A few seconds          later, we hear the front door of the apartment fall shut.          Georges sits down in his armchair, looks straight ahead. Then          he lights a cigarette, his hands shake, he smokes.                                   SCENE 50 - INT. BEDROOM - NIGHT                                   He tries to pour some tea into her mouth with the sipping          cup. She won't loosen her lips.                                                   GEORGES           ... Please, open your mouth... go           on... open it... Anne! Please!...           come on... stop that!...                                   He sits upright.                                                   GEORGES (CONT'D)           If you don't drink, you'll die.                                   Indecipherable SOUND from ANNE.                                                   GEORGES (CONT'D)           Is that what you want?           54.                                                            PAUSE. She looks at him. He bends over her again, presents          the cup in front of her sealed lips.                                                   GEORGES (CONT'D)           Come on, Anne, please.                                   She doesn't react. He opens her lips with his fingers and          tries carefully, but using some force, to separate her teeth.          Pours a little tea in. The liquid runs out of her mouth.                                                   GEORGES (CONT'D)                          (ANGRILY)           Goddammit!                                   He puts down the cup, takes a towel and wipes the liquid,          some of which has run down onto the pillow. He tries to mop          it up. She watches him the whole time. Finally he puts the          towel down beside the cup and looks at her. Tries not to show          his helplessness and his anger.                                                   GEORGES (CONT'D)           Anne! ... You can't force me to let           you die of thirst. If you persist,           I'll call Bertier and he'll put you           in hospital. They can force-feed           you there. Is that what you want?                                   BRIEF PAUSE.                                                   GEORGES (CONT'D)           I promised to spare you that. But           you must help me. I'm out of my           depth.                                   He takes the cup again and puts it against her lips.                                                   GEORGES (CONT'D)           Please, Anne!                                   Her lips remain sealed. He presses the cup hard against them.                                                   GEORGES (CONT'D)           Drink that, now!                                   It hurts her, so she opens her mouth and lets in a little          liquid.                                                   GEORGES (CONT'D)           There!                                   She closes her mouth again and he puts down the cup.           55.                                                                            GEORGES (CONT'D)                                    Good.                                   Then she spits it all out like a fountain. After a moment of          bewilderment, he slaps her.                                   SILENCE. He's frightened by his own gesture. Then he puts          down the cup and sits on the chair beside the bed. They don't          look at each other.                                   LONG PAUSE.                                                   ANNE                          (SOFTLY)           Help... help...                                   PAUSE.                                                   GEORGES                          (SOFTLY)           Please, forgive me.                                   PAUSE.                                                   ANNE           (softly) Help... Help... Help...           Help...                                   SCENE 51 - INT. APARTMENT - DAY                                   The various paintings hanging in the apartment. Without their          frames. Like views on various realities.                                   SILENCE. Sometimes, the REMOTE sound of TRAFFIC in the          distance.                                   SCENE 52 - INT. HALLWAY - LIVING ROOM - DINING ROOM - DAY                                   Living room.                                   Georges is drinking tea and reading the newspaper. SILENCE.          Suddenly, the DOORBELL RINGS.                                   Georges, annoyed, puts down his newspaper, gets up, goes into          the hallway and goes to the front door.                                                   GEORGES           Who's there?                                                   EVA'S VOICE           It's me.           56.                                                                            GEORGES           Eva?                                                   EVA'S VOICE           (a bit irritated) Yes.                                   Georges, panicked, thinks for a few seconds.                                                   GEORGES           Just a minute.                                   He goes toward the bedroom door, locks it and puts the key in          his pocket. He goes into the dining room, also closes the          door leading to the bedroom. He comes back. He is about to go          toward the front door, but remains motionless an instant,          opens the door of the toilet that is located just nearby,          flushes the toilet, closes the toilet door again and opens          the front door.                                                   GEORGES (CONT'D)           Hello.                                   A brief kiss hello.                                                   EVA           Hello. What was going on?                                                   GEORGES           I was in the toilet. Sorry.                                   He closes the front door behind Eva, indicates the direction          of the living room.                                                   GEORGES (CONT'D)           Come in.                                   Eva points to the bedroom with a questioning look. He shakes          his head as if to play down the question, and indicates back          in the direction of the living room, as if to say: "You          understand, huh?". Eva is slightly irritated, but follows him          into the living room.                                   He closes the door.                                                   GEORGES (CONT'D)           Why this unannounced visit? Where           have you come from?                                                   EVA           What's going on with Mom?                                                   GEORGES           Nothing. What should be going on?           57.                                                                            EVA           Well... (gesture toward the                          BEDROOM)                                                   GEORGES           Don't you want to sit down first?                                   Eva wants to answer, but finally gives in and sits down.          Georges does the same.                                                   GEORGES (CONT'D)           So why are you in Paris?                                                   EVA           What's going on with Mom? Why don't           you answer the phone? After our           last conversation, I left four           messages on your answering machine.           Why don't you call back?                                                   GEORGES           Sorry. I didn't listen to it.           Forgive me.                                                   EVA           Don't you realize we're worried?                                                   GEORGES           Your worries are no use to me.                                   Eva glares at him.                                                   GEORGES (CONT'D)           No, don't get me wrong. I'm not           criticizing you. I just don't have           the time to deal with your worries,           that's all.                                                   EVA           Dad...                                                   GEORGES           No. Let's stop this conversation           right there. I'm taking care of           your mother. It's a full-time job.           And I'm not saying that to           complain, just to explain why I           didn't answer your phone calls and           why I don't want to have any           pointless discussions on the           subject. Your mother is just as           could have been expected: bad the           whole time.                          (MORE)           58.                                                   GEORGES (CONT'D)           She is turning more and more into a           helpless child, and it's sad and           humiliating, for her and for me.           And she doesn't want to be seen in           that state either. Even the last           time you visited, she didn't want           you to come. You two have your own           life. Nothing wrong with that. But           let us have our life too. Even           though it's a lousy one. OK?                                                   EVA           Dad, what's the matter?                                                   GEORGES           Nothing's the matter; your visit           caught me by surprise. And I'm           annoyed that you show up here to           check that everything's OK. Who do           you think you are?                                   PAUSE. Eva is speechless.                                                   EVA           I...                                   Then she gets up and makes to go to the door.                                                   GEORGES           Stay here, will you!                                   She stops short, looks at him.                                                   GEORGES (CONT'D)           (softly, but insistently)           Please!                                   She hesitates a moment, but winds up leaving the living room.                                   WE HEAR HER PASS IN THE HALLWAY TO GO INTO THE BEDROOM AND          HER VAIN ATTEMPT TO OPEN THE DOOR.                                    EVA (O.S.)           Mom? ... Mom??                                   Georges remains seated, motionless, until she comes back. She          seems upset by the situation, as one would expect.                                                   EVA (CONT'D)           Tell me, what's going on? Have you           gone crazy?                                                   GEORGES           Please, sit down.           59.                                                                            EVA           I don't want to sit down. What's           going on here?                                                   GEORGES                          (QUIETLY)           Nothing's going on. I want to spare           us all a pointless drama. I presume           your mother is asleep. She mostly           sleeps the whole day. And then she           wakes up at night. If you really           want to, we'll go and see her in a           little while. Now, sit down. OK?                                   They look at each other.                                   Reluctantly, Eva heads toward her armchair and sits down.          PAUSE. Then Georges goes on in a quiet voice:                                                   GEORGES (CONT'D)           We do our speech exercises every           day, or we sing together. Most of           the time, I wake up around 5. At           that time, she's still awake. Then           we change her incontinence pad. I           rub cream on her to avoid sores.           Then, around 7, I try to persuade           her to eat and drink. Sometimes it           works, sometimes not. Sometimes she           tells me things from her childhood,           then for hours she calls for help,           and then an instant later she's           giggling away to herself, or           crying. Nothing of any of that is           worth showing to anyone.                                   SILENCE. Eva looks down. Finally, she says:                                                   EVA                          (SOFTLY)           You can't stop me from seeing her.                                                   GEORGES                          (ALSO SOFTLY)           No.                                   They remain seated for a moment, finally Eva gets up. Georges          follows her into the hallway.                                   He unlocks the door and they enter the bedroom.                                   The bright light from outside filters through the blinds.           60.                                                            Eva goes over to the bed, looks at Anne. Finally, she          caresses her face, shyly and clumsily. Anne opens her eyes.          Looks at her. No movement.                                                   EVA           It's me, Mom.                                   Anne emits a FURIOUS SOUND.                                                   EVA (CONT'D)                          (HELPLESS)           Can I do something for you? Mom...                                                   ANNE           Mom... Mom... Mom... Mom... Mom...                                   SILENCE.                                   Georges has remained by the door. After a while, they both          leave the bedroom, cross the hallway to come back in the          living room.                                   Georges closes the door. For an instant he puts a consoling          hand on Eva's shoulder. Then he sits down.                                   Eva, trying to compose herself, goes toward the window and          looks outside. Suddenly she starts sobbing.                                   After a while, Georges gets up and goes out of the room. Eva,          vexed, blows her nose.                                   Shortly after, Georges comes back. He has another teacup in          his hand, puts it down beside his on the table and sits down.                                                   GEORGES           The tea isn't very hot any more.                                   Eva turns toward him.                                                   GEORGES (CONT'D)           But it does make you feel better.                                   After a short PAUSE, Eva comes toward the table. Sits down.          He fills her cup.                                                   EVA           Thanks.                                   She takes the cup, drinks. Replaces it. Still can't bring          herself to look at him.           61.                                                                            GEORGES           It was silly of me to lock the           door. I'm sorry. You took me by           surprise, that's all. I'm sorry.                                   She nods her head, indicating she understands. Finally she          looks at him:                                                   EVA           What's going to happen now?                                                   GEORGES           (with a little ironic laugh)           What's going to happen now? The           nurse comes twice a week, and every           two weeks Dr. Bertier and the           hairdresser come. That's what you           want to know, right?           Things will go on as they have done           up until now. They'll go from bad           to worse. Things will go on, and           then one day it will all be over.                                   Brief PAUSE.                                                   EVA           You can't go on like this, Dad.                                                   GEORGES           Can't I? What do you suggest?                                                   EVA           Can't we have a serious talk, you           and me?                                                   GEORGES           What do you call "a serious talk"?           What do you want to suggest? Do you           want to have Mom live with you? Do           you want to pack her off to a care           home? Do you? What do you want? Go           on, talk to me "seriously"!                                   Eva looks at him.                                   SCENE 53 - INT. BEDROOM - DAY                                   Georges is seated on the bed beside Anne, who is still          bedridden.           62.                                                                            ANNE           (in a rush)... short... short           dress... only I... only I... all           long... it was... (with a small           gesture to imitate a bell): ding...           dong...                                                   GEORGES                          (SMILING)           Yes, it swung to and fro.                                                   ANNE           (still rushed) ... yes... to ...           fro ... you... very serious... like           that... (she imitates a serious           countenance, continues in a low           voice): like that... serious...                                                   GEORGES           (unable to keep from laughing a           little) Yes. I think I was pretty           uptight.                                                   ANNE           (smiling) yes... up... tight...                                   PAUSE. Anne puts her hand on Georges'.                                                   ANNE (CONT'D)           ... it was n...nice...                                   SILENCE.                                   SCENE 54 - INT. BATHROOM - HALLWAY - BEDROOM - DAY                                                  BATHROOM                                   Georges is shaving. Suddenly we hear, coming from the          bedroom,                                                   ANNE'S VOICE           (loud) Help... Help... Help...           Help... Help...                                   Georges wipes his face and, to the sound of Anne's cries,          crosses the hallway and enters the bedroom.                                   Anne continues to cry out in a monotone to herself.                                   Georges goes over to her bed.                                                   GEORGES           (trying to calm her like a sick           child) What is it?..                          (MORE)           63.                                                   GEORGES (CONT'D)           Are you in pain?... What's the           matter?... Is your pad full?                                   He raises her blanket for an instant and sniffs, then          replaces it.                                                   GEORGES (CONT'D)           No... So what's hurting you?                                   He sits down beside her on the bed. Takes her hand.                                                   GEORGES (CONT'D)           It's all right... it's all right ...           I'm here... everything's fine...           we'll... Hold on, I'll tell you a           story... but you must be quiet, I           can't talk too loud, it wears me           out... Here we go: when I was           little... well, I wasn't as little           as all that... it was toward the           end of primary school, so I was           about ten, Dad and Mom sent me to a           holiday camp. They thought it would           do me good to spend the summer with           kids my own age... We were lodged           in an old castle in the midst of a           magnificent wooded landscape... I           think it was in the Auvergne... I           don't know... in any case it was           the opposite of what I'd           expected... We had to get up at 6           and go for a morning swim. Not far           from the castle, there was a pond           fed by an icy mountain stream. We           entered it running, in a double           file. You know, I was never very           sporty. They had a program to keep           us on the go all day, probably to           nip any potential pubescent           impulses in the bud ... But the           worst thing was the food. The third           day after our arrival, there was           rice pudding for lunch. I hate rice           pudding. We sat at long tables in a           huge hall. I didn't want to eat the           stuff and the housemaster said to           me: You won't get up until you've           cleared your plate. So after the           meal everybody left the room, and I           remained seated, in tears. I had           made a secret pact with Mom. I was           to send her a postcard every week.                          (MORE)           64.                                                   GEORGES (CONT'D)           If I was pleased with the place I           was to draw some flowers on it, or           if not, some stars. She kept the           card; it was covered all over in           stars. After three hours, I was           allowed to leave the table. I went           up to my room, got into bed and had           a fever of 42 degrees. It was           diphtheria. They took me to the           nearest hospital where I was put in           an isolation ward, which meant that           Mom, when she came to visit me,           could only wave at me through a           window. At some point I lost that           postcard. It's a pity.                                   Anne has become ever calmer during Georges' story. He still          holds her hand.                                   LONG SILENCE.                                   Then Georges reaches across Anne's body to get hold of his          pillow and presses it over her face. STIFLED SOUNDS from          Anne. Everything that can still move in her body starts to          move. Georges presses down heavily on the pillow, lies on it          with his whole weight, for a long time, until all Anne's          movements stop. Then he sits up, exhausted, and without          removing the pillow from her face, remains seated beside her.                                   SILENCE.                                   SCENE 55 - INT. HALLWAY - KITCHEN - DAY                                   Hallway.                                   The front door of the apartment is unlocked. Georges, in city          clothes, enters with two big shopping bags full of cut          flowers. He puts down the bags, takes off his coat, hangs it          in the closet.                                   The TELEPHONE RINGS. Georges takes the bags and carries them          in the kitchen, puts them in the sink, fills it with water.          He starts to cut the stems and put the flowers in the water.          We watch him doing so for a while. Meanwhile, the TELEPHONE          HAS STOPPED RINGING.                                   SCENE 56 - INT. HALLWAY - DAY                                   Georges has opened one of the sections of the large wall          closet. He is looking for a specific dress. He takes some          out, puts them back inside. One of the dresses slips off its          hanger and falls to the floor. He picks it up, hangs it up          again. He ends up finding the one he was looking for. He          takes it out on its hanger. Closes the closet again.           65.                                                            Looks at the dress. Then he lowers his arm a little and is          about to leave the bedroom. He catches his feet in the dress.                                   He just saves himself from tripping up by grabbing on to the          wheelchair that is parked there. Exhausted, he flops down          into it.                                   SCENE 57 - INT. HALLWAY - NIGHT                                   With wide adhesive tape, Georges seals up the door frame of          the bedroom.                                   SCENE 58 - INT. KITCHEN - ADJOINING BEDROOM - HALLWAY - DAY                                   Georges is seated at the kitchen table where he had breakfast          with Anne in Scene 8, and writes a letter. PAUSES for          reflection. GENTLE COOING OF PIGEONS, scarcely audible.          Suddenly, Georges starts.                                   At the far end of the long kitchen, beside the door between          the kitchen units, a pigeon is walking. Georges stares at it.          For a long time.                                   Then he gets up slowly and, via the door located beside the          kitchen table, he goes into the adjoining room.                                   On the sofa there, he has set up his new bed. He takes the          wool blanket from the bed and comes back into the kitchen,          carefully approaches the pigeon that then runs off in alarm.          Georges carefully opens up the blanket and finally throws it          over the pigeon. But it manages to escape into the hallway.                                   Georges follows it. This action is repeated several times.          The pigeon is more and more panicky, starts to fly up,          flutters about in all directions. Georges closes the light-          well window to cut off its escape route. This lasts an          exhausting amount of time, but he ends up capturing it. He          cuddles it against him, rolled up in the blanket, leans          against a wall, then holds it as if it were a baby.                                   SCENE 59 - INT. ADJOINING ROOM - KITCHEN - NIGHT                                   From the adjoining room, we see Georges seated at the kitchen          table, writing. Finally we see what he is writing:                                   ... you won't believe it. A pigeon came in, for the second          time already, through the light well. This time I caught it.          In fact it wasn't difficult at all. But I set it free again.          I'm going to ...                                   SCENE 60 - INT. ADJOINING ROOM - KITCHEN - HALLWAY - DAY           66.                                                            Georges is lying on his bed in the adjoining room, staring at          the ceiling. O.S., we faintly hear the SOUND of running          water, and from time to time the CLATTERING OF DISHES.                                   After a while, Georges gets up and goes into the kitchen.                                   He remains in the doorway and watches Anne who, doing the          dishes, at first doesn't pay attention to him, then notices          his presence and shoots him a quick glance, saying casually:                                                   ANNE           I'm almost done.                                   Georges continues to look at her unwaveringly.                                                   ANNE'S VOICE           You can put your shoes on if you           want.                                   Georges looks at her an instant longer, passes beside her,          goes into the hallway, sits down on a stool beside the closet          and puts on his shoes. O.S. we hear Anne finishing her work.          She comes out, hangs up her apron in the closet, disappears          for a few moments into the bathroom. Meanwhile, Georges has          got up, and looks in the bathroom where, clearly, Anne is          tidying her hair and sprucing herself up. When she comes out          again, he takes her coat from the closet and helps her put it          on.                                                   ANNE           Thanks.                                   They head for the front door.                                                   ANNE (CONT'D)           Aren't you taking a coat?                                   Georges thinks a few seconds, then takes his trench-coat from          the hook and they leave the apartment.                                   SCENE 61 - INT. HALLWAY - BEDROOM - DINING ROOM - LIVING ROOM                         - DAY                                   Four long shots: all the windows are open. The sun is          shining. It is fairly bright.                                   Hallway.                                   SILENCE. Then the SOUND OF A LOCK BEING OPENED. Eva comes          into the apartment. Remains a long time beside the door.          Looks around her, ill at ease. Finally she hesitantly goes          into the bedroom.           67.                                                            Anne's twin bed isn't there any more. On Georges' bed lies          only the bare mattress. Eva remains there a moment, then goes          through the partition door into the dining room.                                   There, everything is as usual. Eva continues into the living          room.                                   There too, everything is as usual. Eva stops by the piano          stool. Looks out of the window, feeling at a loss. Then she          heads toward the sofa and armchairs in the corner. On the          table lie the remains of a snack. Eva looks at the table,          turns again toward the open windows, through which we hear          STREET NOISE. Then she sits down, exhausted, in one of the          armchairs. Her diminutive frame seems lost in the big room.                                   END CREDITS (white on a black background)                          
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+                              AN EDUCATION                               Written by                               Nick Hornby1    INT. SCHOOL. DAY                                              1         JANUARY 1962. MONTAGE                                                   A nice girls' school in a south west London suburb. We see              girls doing what girls did in a nice girls' school in 1962:             walking with books on their heads, practising their                     handwriting, making cakes, playing lacrosse, dancing with               each other.                                                        1A   INT. CLASSROOM. DAY                                          1A         In one of the classrooms, MISS STUBBS, an attractive,                   bright, animated schoolteacher, is talking to a small group     of sixteen-year-old girls. Some of these girls seem to be     daydreaming - looking out of the window, examining their     fingernails. A couple, including a bespectacled girl who                looks five years younger than everyone else in the class,     write down everything the teacher says. Only one, JENNY,     beautiful and animated, seems to be listening in the spirit     in which Miss Stubbs would like her to listen. She's     smiling, eyes shining - she loves Miss Stubbs, and these     lessons. Miss Stubbs asks a question, and Jenny puts up her             hand - the only one in the class to do so.                                                  MISS STUBBS                                                       (mock-sighing)                                                      Jenny. Again.                                                                     JENNY                                                         Isn't it because Mr Rochester's                                         blind?                                                   2    INT. BEDROOM. DAY                                             2         Jenny's bedroom. Books about ponies, a much loved teddy     bear; a cello huge in the small room leans against the     wall.     Jenny is bent over a small desk. Victorian novels, Latin     primers and dictionaries teeter in huge towers either side     of her. She stands and stretches as she turns to us.     She kneels and flicks through her half-dozen or so LPs on     the floor near a cheap record player - they're all     classical, mostly by Elgar, apart from a Juliette Greco     record. This is the one she chooses. As the music begins,     she sings along.     Immediately there is a thumping noise - someone underneath     her is banging on the ceiling impatiently.                         MAN'S VOICE (O.S.)               I don't want to hear any French               singing. French singing wasn't on               the syllabus, last time I looked.                                                          2.    Jenny sighs, and reaches for the volume control. She turns    the music down so low that she has to lie down and put her    head right next to the Dansette to hear it.    Close on Jenny as she silently mouths the words along with    the almost inaudible track.3   INT. LIVING ROOM. DAY                                         3    Jenny, her mother and father are finishing Sunday lunch.    Jenny's father JACK is in his forties, MARJORIE, her mother            is slightly younger than Jack, but every bit as middle-    aged. The food is grey and brown, in keeping with the    colour scheme of the house. They aren't talking - they're    listening to Mantovani on the radio. Jenny gets up from the    lunch table.                        JENNY              I've got an English essay to do              by tomorrow morning.                        JACK              I don't want to hear anything              through the ceiling this              afternoon, apart from the sound              of sweat dripping onto textbooks.                          JENNY              Cello?                          JACK              No cello.                        JENNY              I thought we agreed that cello              was my interest or hobby?                        JACK              It's already your interest or              hobby. When they ask you "What's              your interest or hobby?" at your              Oxford interview, you can say,              "Cello". That wouldn't be a lie.              You don't need to practise a              hobby. A hobby is a hobby.                        JENNY              Or interest.                        JACK                  (ignoring her)              You don't need to be good at it.              You just have to be interested in              it.                                                          3.                        JENNY              Can I stop going to the youth              orchestra, then?                        JACK              No. The orchestra shows you're a              joiner-inner. Universities like              joiner-inners.                        JENNY              Ah. Yes. But. I've already joined              in. So now I can stop.                        JACK              Well, if you stop, that shows the              opposite, doesn't it? That shows              you're a rebel. They don't want              that at Oxford.                        JENNY              No. They don't want people who              think for themselves.                        JACK                  (missing the sarcasm, as                   is his wont)              Course they don't.4   INT. SCHOOL HALL. DAY                                         4        Jenny with cello sits in the string section. Everyone is    getting settled, tuning up, latecomers still arriving.    Along the row from Jenny, tuning his violin, is a nice-    looking boy of her age, GRAHAM, and she waves at him. Two    13 year old boys sitting between them wave too,    parodically, and then blow kisses, much to Graham's    embarrassment and Jenny's fury.    The silly boys dissolve in fits of giggles: this is clearly    one of the funniest moments of their lives - until one of    them farts noisily and, it would appear from all the    frantic gesturing, pungently. The comic value of the fart    tops even the comic value of the wave, and they are    scarcely able to stay seated, such is their mirth.5   EXT. SCHOOL. DAY                                              5        Jenny and Graham are talking while he struggles to take his    bike out of a bicycle rack slightly unbalanced by the    violin strapped to his back. Graham is nervous,    chronically unconfident and shy.                        GRAHAM              Should I wear, you know, Sunday              best?                                                            4.                        JENNY              You'd better, I'm afraid. Just to              show my father you're un jeune              homme serieux, not a teddy boy.                         GRAHAM              Oh, God.                        JENNY              It'll be all right. I won't wait.                                      It's going to bucket down in a                                         minute. I'll see you at the                                            weekend.                                                     Jenny moves as quickly as she can towards the street.                        GRAHAM              Oh, yes. Bye.    The two silly boys from before arrive to blow more kisses.                        SMALLER BOY 1              Goodbye, darling! See you at the                                       weekend! I will miss you with all                                      of my heart!    Graham blushes. Jenny swipes the chief offender over the    head with her sheet music.6   EXT. BUS STOP. DAY                                            6    The rain has begun. Jenny attempts to cover herself. A                 mother and two children cross the road in front of her, and    a beautiful, sleek red sports car - a Bristol - stops to    let them across. David, possibly in his mid-thirties,    dapper, and almost but not quite handsome, is driving the    car. David, distracted, impatient, spots Jenny at the bus    stop.    In front of the car a small wellington boot drops off the    foot of one of the children,further slowing down their    painfully slow progress across the road.    Jenny is wet. David makes eye contact. Jenny smiles    ruefully, and enchantingly. David sighs, and then hesitates    for a moment. The window of the Bristol slowly rolls down.                         DAVID              Hello.    Jenny ignores him.                        DAVID              Listen. If you've got any sense,              you wouldn't take a lift from a              strange man.                                                          5.    Jenny smiles thinly.                        DAVID              I am, however, a music lover, and              I'm worried about your cello. So                                       what I propose is, you put it in                                       the car and walk alongside me.                        JENNY              How do I know you won't just              drive off with the cello?                        DAVID              Ah. Good point.    He winds down the other window and waves on the cars that    have stopped behind him.                        DAVID              How much does a new cello cost?              Twenty pounds? Thirty? I don't              know. Let's say thirty.    He pulls out a wallet, takes out three ten-pound notes,    hands them to her.                        DAVID              There. Security.    Jenny laughs and waves the money away.                             7   EXT. STREET. NEAR SCHOOL. DAY.                                7        Later. The cello is in the back seat of the Bristol. Jenny    is trotting alongside the car, while David leans    nonchalantly across the passenger seat to talk to her while    driving.                        DAVID              I'm David, by the way.    She says nothing.                        DAVID              And you are...?                        JENNY              Jenny. (Beat) I've never seen a              car like this before. C'est tres              chic.                        DAVID              It's a Bristol. Not many of `em              made.    Jenny nods, but doesn't know how to respond.                                                          6.                        DAVID              How did the concert go?                        JENNY              It was a rehearsal. The concert's              next Thursday.                        DAVID              What are you playing?                        JENNY                  (making a face)              Elgar.                        DAVID              Ah, Elgar. I often think it's a              shame he spent so much time in              Worcester, don't you? Worcester's              too near Birmingham. And you can              hear that in the music. There's a              horrible Brummy accent in there,              if you listen hard enough.    Jenny looks at him and smiles. She hadn't expected him to    be able to make Elgar jokes.                        DAVID              Anyway, I'm not sure Elgar and                                       Jews mix very well.                                                            JENNY              I'm not a Jew!                         DAVID                   (smiling)              No. I am. I wasn't...accusing              you.                        JENNY              Oh. (She smiles awkwardly.) Can I              sit in the car with my cello?    David stops the car.                           DAVID              Jump in.8   INT. CAR. DAY                                               8    Jenny shuts the door and sinks approvingly into the white    leather seat. David regards the dripping girl with    amusement.                        JENNY              It's even nicer on the inside.                                                           7.                         DAVID               Where to, madam?     Jenny makes a face.                         JENNY               I only live round the corner.                         DAVID               What a shame. We'll just make it               last as long as we can.9    EXT. STREET. NEAR JENNY'S. DAY                               9          The Bristol is crawling along the road at walking pace.10   INT/EXT. CAR JENNY'S HOUSE. DAY                              10         David reaches across Jenny while driving slowly, opens the              glove compartment and takes out a packet of cigarettes.                           DAVID               Smoke?                         JENNY               I'd better not. I'm a bit close               to home.     David lights one for himself.                         DAVID               I suppose cellists must go to a               lot of concerts.                         JENNY               We don't go to any concerts. We                                         don't believe in them.                         DAVID               Oh, they're real.                         JENNY               So people say.                         DAVID               Why don't we believe in them?                         JENNY               I suppose...What would he say?                         DAVID               Your father, this is?                                                           8.                         JENNY                   (Darkly)               Oh, yes. He'd say there's no               point to them. They're just for               fun. Apart from school concerts,               of course, which are no fun at               all, so we go to those. The               proper ones don't help you get                                        on.                         DAVID               Which of course is what is so                                         wonderful about them. Anyway,               you'll go one day.                         JENNY                   (heartfelt)               Yes. I will. I know. Sometimes it               seems as though that's what all               this slog is for. If I get to               University, I'm going to read               what I want and think about what               I want and listen to what I want.               And I'm going to look at               paintings and go to French films               and talk to people who know lots               about lots.                         DAVID               Good for you. Which University?                         JENNY               Oxford. If I'm lucky. Did you go               anywhere?                         DAVID               I studied at what I believe they               call the University of Life. And               I didn't get a very good degree               there.     Jenny smiles.                         JENNY               This is me. Thank you.     She gets out of the car with the cello. David stares after     her for a moment, then drives off.11   INT. JENNY'S SITTING-ROOM. AFTERNOON                       11     Jenny, her parents and Graham are eating afternoon tea -     neat fish-paste sandwiches, Battenberg cake, best china.                         MARJORIE               How's your mother, Graham?                                                      9.                    GRAHAM          She's fine, thanks. She sends her          best, by the way.                    JACK          Where are you applying, Graham?Jenny looks embarrassed. She knows what's coming.                    GRAHAM          I'm not sure yet.                    JACK          Well, when will you be sure? You          can't let the grass grow under          your feet, you know. Otherwise          you'll be at the back of the          queue.                    JENNY              (deadpan)          I suppose so. I suppose the          growing grass would knock you off          balance, and then you'd fall          over, and by the time you picked          yourself up, there'd be a queue.Her father shoots her a look - is she being cheeky?                    GRAHAM          I might take a year off.Jenny winces. Jack looks at him as if he's just said he'lltake all his clothes off.                      JACK          What for?                    GRAHAM              (mumbling)          I don't know. Maybe do some          travelling, that sort of thing.                    JACK          Travelling? What are you, a teddy          boy?Close-up of Jenny - she knows what's coming, and can't bearit. Beat.                    JACK              (nodding at Jenny)          You know she's going to Oxford,          don't you? Oxford. English. If we          can get her Latin up to scratch.Jenny sighs.                                                           10.                          JACK                So she's studying English at                Oxford while you're a wandering                Jew...      Jenny looks at him curiously. Graham steels himself to      speak.                          GRAHAM                Mr Mellor...I'm not a teddy boy.                I'm an homme serieux. Jeune. An                homme jeune serieux homme.      Jenny winces again. Her father stares at Graham. Graham      blushes.12    INT. JENNY'S HOUSE. EVENING                                 12           It's the night of the youth orchestra concert. Jenny, her      mother and father are on their way out of the door. Jack is      carrying the cello. Jenny is in her school uniform, with      her hair scrubbed back in a severe ponytail. The three of      them are flustered. Jenny opens the front door for her      father and he stumbles outside.                             JENNY                Oh!12A   INT/EXT. JENNY'S HOUSE. EVENING                             12A          She has seen something on the doorstep, and she stoops to      pick it up - a large bunch of flowers.                          JENNY                They're for me!                          MARJORIE                    (curious)                Who are they from?      Jenny opens the card that's attached to them.                             JENNY                Gosh. Him.                          MARJORIE                Who's `him'?                          JENNY                Just...A chap I met.                          MARJORIE                A chap who sends flowers? So he's                a man-chap?                                                     11.                    JENNY          Yes, he is, really.Jack stares at the flowers in disbelief. The bunch of          flowers has created in Jack the kind of panic and fear moretypically associated with a biochemical attack.                    JACK          What's going on here?                    MARJORIE              (drily, knowing the               trouble this will               cause)          Jack,I'm afraid Jenny has been          sent some flowers by a chap.                    JACK          A chap? What kind of chap? Who?          Why?                    JENNY              (patiently)          He's wishing me luck for tonight.                    JACK          Are you sure that's all he's          wishing? And where does he get          the money from?                    JENNY          He earns it, I expect.                    JACK          What do you mean, he earns it?          Why isn't he at school? What does          he do?                    JENNY          Can we just go? Otherwise the          bunch of good-luck flowers will          actually be responsible for me          actually missing the concert.          Which would be ironic, n'est ce          pas?                    JACK          Well I don't like it.                    MARJORIE          Objection noted. Jenny?                    JENNY          Noted.                                                           12.                          JACK                Ten bob's worth of luck, I                reckon. That's a lot for a                schoolgirl. You can't leave them                out here, anyway. I'd burgle a                house that had flowers outside.                They'll think we're made of                money.12B   INT. JENNY'S HOUSE. EVENING                                12B          Jenny sighs, puts them inside the house, shuts the door.          13    INT. COFFEE BAR. DAY                                       13      Jenny and two school friends, HATTIE and TINA, are sitting      at a table in a typical late-50s coffee bar, sipping      cappuccinos. Jenny is easily the most attractive of the      three - and also, we will see, possibly the cleverest.      HATTIE is slower than the other two, and a lot frumpier;      TINA is pretty, and sharp rather than clever. She is also      the least middle-class of the three - she's clearly a      scholarship girl. They are all dressed in an unflattering      and unambiguous school uniform - no attempts to disguise it      with more fashionable accessories. Jenny is smoking      pretentiously, and seems to be practising some kind of      pout. Tina starts to slurp the froth from her cappuccino      with a spoon, inelegantly and noisily. Jenny tuts her      disapproval. Tina sighs, and puts her spoon down.                          JENNY                The whole point about him is that                                       he doesn't feel.                          TINA                We still don't have to like him.                          JENNY                Camus doesn't want you to like                him. What he's trying to say is                that feeling is bourgeois. Being                engagee is bourgeois. His mother                dies and he doesn't feel                anything. He kills this Arab and                he doesn't feel anything.                          TINA                I wouldn't feel anything if my                mother died. Does that make me an                existentialist?                          JENNY                No. That just makes you a cow.                                                             13.                              HATTIE                 Une vache.     Laughter.14   EXT. STREET/COFFEE BAR. DAY                                   14         Jenny, Hattie and Tina emerge from the cafe, talking.                           JENNY                 Well I'm going to be French. I'm                 going to Paris and I'm going to                 smoke and listen to Jacques Brel                 and wear black. And I won't                 speak. Ever. C'est plus chic,                 comme...     She breaks off. Parked outside a tobacconists on the other     side of the road is the red Bristol. She looks towards the     shop, and David emerges with a copy of the Times and a     packet of cigars. Jenny crosses the road to talk to him     while the others watch.                              DAVID                 Hello.                           JENNY                 Hello. Thank you.                           DAVID                 How did it go?                           JENNY                 Oh, fine. I think. I mean, I                 didn't mess my bit up, anyway.                 And no-one got thrown out of the                 orchestra afterwards.                           DAVID                 Always the mark of a cultural                 triumph. Listen. I'm glad I ran                 into you. What are you doing on                 Friday?                           JENNY                 Going to school.                           DAVID                 I meant the evening.                           JENNY                     (embarrassed)                 Oh. Yes. Of course. Nothing.                                                     14.                    DAVID          Because I'm going to listen to                                 some Schubert in St John's, Smith                              Square. My friends Danny and                                   Helen will be going too, so it          wouldn't be...I'll tell you what.          I'll come and pick you up, and if          your mother and father          disapprove, then you can have the          tickets and go with one of them.          How does that sound?Jenny doesn't know what to say. She looks at David, and hiseagerness to please seems to convince her.                    JENNY          Thank you. And I'd like you to          take me. I'd like to go with          someone who knows when to clap.                    DAVID          I usually watch Danny. He knows          that sort of thing.Jenny smiles.                     DAVID          Seven? And we'll probably go for          a spot of supper afterwards, if          you...But if you, if that's          not...Well, we can always put you          in a taxi.                    JENNY              (flat disbelief)          Supper.                    DAVID          If you want.                    JENNY          The trouble is, we'll already          have eaten.                    DAVID          Well. I mean, if you'd like          supper, then, perhaps on Friday          you could...not eat?                    JENNY              (embarrassed again)          Oh. Yes. Of course.Jenny smiles, and rejoins her friends on the other side ofthe road. Tina and Hattie are standing there almost withtheir mouths open, amazed. She doesn't say anything andstarts to walk on.                                                     15.                    TINA          I'm sorry. I just had the          strangest dream. I dreamed you          crossed the road and spoke to a          handsome man with the most          beautiful car I've ever seen. And          then you came back and you didn't          mention it.Jenny smiles enigmatically. Tina grabs Jenny mock-urgently.                    TINA          `Oo wazzee?                    JENNY              (light, playful)          Just a man who's been trying to          pick me up. We're going to a          concert on Friday night. And then          we're having a spot of supper.                    TINA              (shrieking)          A spot of supper?                                                        JENNY          You've heard of supper?                    HATTIE          We've heard of it. But we've          never eaten it.                                                          JENNY          Neither of you is interested in          the concert part, I notice.                    HATTIE          No. Of course not.                    TINA          Oh my God! I've only just          realised! That's what's going to          happen to you, isn't it? Look at          her! Men are going to pick her up          in the street and take her out to          supper!                    HATTIE          God, you're right, Tina. I hadn't          thought of that. Look at her.                    JENNY          Don't be so daft.                    TINA          We're trying to attract the          attention of boys.                                                          16.               And she's fighting off men.               Anyway. You're going to have to               tell us more than that.                         JENNY               Why?                         HATTIE               Because no man's ever   going to               ask us out to supper.   Not until               we're ladies, anyway.   You're               going to have to tell   us               everything. Otherwise   it's not               fair.                         JENNY               There won't be anything to tell.                         TINA               Well, make something up, then.15   INT. JENNY'S HOUSE. EVENING                                  15     Jenny is dressed up for her evening out. She looks good,     but also stiff, uncomfortable - she's not herself in her     dress, which looks too old for her. Her father is standing     in front of her, shouting.                         JACK               I won't allow it!                         JENNY                   (coolly)               Fine. He's quite happy for you to               take me.                         JACK                   (uncertainly)               Right. I will.                         JENNY               Good.                         JACK               Where is it?                         JENNY               St John's Smith Square.                                                           JACK               Where's that?                         JENNY               I don't know. I'm sure we could               find out.     Marjorie comes into the room.                                                     17.                    MARJORIE          It's in Westminster. Just around                              the corner from the Abbey.                          Jack looks at her as if she'd just given directions to thenearest opium den.                    JACK          How d'you know that?                    MARJORIE          I had a life before we were          married, you know.                    JENNY          He soon put a stop to that.                    JACK          There we are.                    JENNY          Where are we?                    JACK                                                Near Westminster Abbey. I'm not                               going all the way over there.                    JENNY          The trouble is, that's where St                               John's Smith Square is.                                                 JACK          And I've just said. That's where          I'm not going. There must be          something on locally. Where's the          paper?                    MARJORIE          Jack, she wants to see someone          who can play. She doesn't want to          see Sheila Kirkland scratching          away. I'll take her.                    JACK          And how are you going to get over                             there? RAF helicopter?                              The doorbell rings.                    JENNY          That's him. Now what?                    JACK          Oh, bloody hell.                      MARJORIE          Jack!                                                     18.Jenny starts towards the door, and then turns.                     JENNY           Oh, and by the way...David's a           Jew. A wandering Jew. So watch           yourself.She   goes to the door.                      JACK               (panic-stricken and                 shouting)           What's she talking about? I've           never said anything like that in           my life! Anyway, it's just an           expression! I'm not against the           Jews!Jenny comes back in with David, who is dressed stylishly inhis early-60s young executive leisurewear - sports jacket,slacks, cashmere sweater. He looks out of place - he isbrighter and brasher than his surroundings, the mostcolourful thing in the room, and he seems intimidatinglyexotic.David has obviously heard Jack's last line.                     DAVID               (pleasantly)           I'm glad to hear it. Hello. David                              Goldman.                                            He offers his hand.                     JACK           I didn't mean I'm not against           you... Actually, I did mean that,           because I'm not, but...                      JENNY           Dad!David's hand is still extended - in his confusion andembarrassment, Jack hasn't yet taken it. He does so now,and shakes it for way too long.                     JACK           I'm sorry. What I'm saying is           that you're not the sort of, of           person I'd be against, if I were           the sort of person who was           against...people. You're not an           old...Oh, dear. I'm Jack, and           this is Marjorie.                                                     19.                    DAVID              (deadpan)          You didn't tell me you had a          sister, Jenny.General confusion, until David chuckles naughtily. Marjoriegiggles, and then offers her hand.                    DAVID          You're a lucky man, Jack.                    JACK          I suppose I am, yes.They all sit down.                    DAVID          So. Gosh. (He looks around          approvingly.) This is lovely.Marjorie smiles.                       MARJORIE          Thank you.                    JACK          I'm sorry, David. Can I get you a          drink?                    DAVID          I'd love one, Jack, but we're          running a little late. If Jenny's          ready, perhaps we'll shoot off.Jenny looks at her father, and takes a calculated gamble.                    JENNY          Ah. Well. Dad's got something to          tell you.                    JACK          No, no, nothing...It was more of          a question, really. How would you          get to St John's Smith Square                                  from here? For future reference?                    DAVID          Oh, it's a pretty straight run,          really. Up to Hammersmith, take                                the A4 through Kensington and                                  you're there.                                                            JACK          Simple as that.                    DAVID          Simple as that.                                                     20.Jack smiles broadly.                     MARJORIE              (playfully)          So shall I book some tickets for                               something?                       JACK                 (still smiling)          No.Beat.                    JACK          Back by ten, please, David. She's          usually in bed by then.Jenny winces.                    DAVID          I was hoping Jenny would come          with me afterwards to have a bite          of supper with my aunt Helen.Jenny studies him carefully. Suddenly his friends Danny andHelen have become `Aunt Helen'.                    JACK          Oh, well, I suppose...                    DAVID          How about if I promise to have          her in by eleven thirty?                    JACK          Well, it's Friday night. And if          you're going out to the West          End...                    DAVID          Thanks, Jack. I appreciate it.          See you again.They exchange warm handshakes. He turns to Marjorie.Marjorie extends her hand. David takes it, but kisses itsuavely,leaving her a little flustered.                    MARJORIE          Have a nice time.                       JENNY          Bye.Jenny and David leave.                                                           21.                          JACK                    (sniffing the air)                What's that smell? Has he got                perfume on?                          MARJORIE                It's called after-shave, Jack.                And it makes a change from                carbolic soap.                          JACK                At least there's no confusion, if                you smell of carbolic soap.      Marjorie rolls her eyes.                          MARJORIE                Nobody's ever going to get                confused about you, dear.15A   EXT. ST JOHN'S, SMITH SQUARE. NIGHT                        15A          Jenny and David walk toward the beautiful hall. Jenny                   suddenly looks young in the dress that looks too old for                her - other adults are milling around outside, and the                  women don't look like girls dressed up. David makes for an              incredibly glamorous and attractive couple in their late                twenties who are waiting outside - DANNY and HELEN. Helen               is as far from anyone's idea of an aunt as one can get.                 She's no more beautiful than Jenny, but she's dressed both              appropriately and spectacularly, in early-60s, pre-hippy                Bohemian gear. She turns heads in a way that Jenny is not               yet able to. Danny too is attractive, but soberly so. David             and Jenny are, in a way, paler, less striking versions of               these two.                                                                                  DAVID                                                         Hello hello. Are we late?                                                         HELEN                                                         I was hoping we'd miss the                                              beginning, and then it wouldn't                                         be worth going in, and we could                                         go off dancing or something.                                                      DANNY                                                         Helen is one of the more                                                reluctant members of tonight's                                          audience.                                                     Jenny and David laugh politely.                                                              DAVID                                                        Jenny, these are my friends Helen                                       and Danny.                                                                                                        22.     Jenny shakes hands with the two of them. They both give her           fascinated and clearly appraising looks. They have heard              about her.                                                                                  DAVID (CONT'D)                                            Shall we?                                                   They walk into the hall.                                         16   INT. ST JOHN'S SMITH SQUARE. NIGHT                         16         It's a beautiful hall - Jenny is dazzled by the                       surroundings and the company. She's particularly bowled               over by Helen.                                                                            HELEN                                                       Look. We can leave our coats                                          over there. I want to get rid of                                      this.     She nods at the coat she's carrying. Jenny looks thrilled             at the prospect of spending a couple of minutes with Helen.           Danny hands Helen his coat, without saying anything. The              girls walk over to another reception table a few yards                away, behind which is a cloakroom. A lady is exchanging               overcoats for tickets. Almost involuntarily, Jenny touches            the sleeve of Helen's velvety jacket. She stops herself.     Helen notices.                         JENNY               I'm so sorry.                         HELEN                   (amused)               That's OK. It's nice, isn't it?                         JENNY               It's beautiful. Where did it come               from?                         HELEN               Oh, South Ken somewhere.     Helen looks at Jenny's outfit, her frumpy `smart' dress,     apparently wanting to return the compliment.                         HELEN                   (nodding at the dress)               This is...Well, it's good for               this sort of concert, isn't it?                          JENNY                   (quietly)               Thank you.                                                       23.Helen is now at the front of the queue, and hands her coatover imperiously.                    HELEN          We should go shopping together          one day, if you want.She takes a ticket from the cloakroom lady.                                        JENNY          That would be nice. But South          Ken... C'est beaucoup trop cher          pour moi.They stare at each other. Helen is bewildered, Jennyembarrassed.                    HELEN          Sorry?                    JENNY          I just said....It was too          expensive for me.                    HELEN          No you didn't. You said something          completely different.                    JENNY          I just...Well, I said it in          French.                    HELEN          In French? Why?Jenny feels humiliated; she is yet to realise what we cansee - that Helen is simply very dim.                    JENNY          I don't know.Jenny looks away. Helen stares at her. The performance bellrings, and they make their way back to the men. To Jenny'ssurprise and pleasure, Helen links arms with her as theywalk.                    HELEN          Anyway. It's too expensive for          me, too. We don't have to worry          about that. If you want something          in South Ken, get David to take          you shopping.                    JENNY          Why on earth would he want to          take me shopping?                                                          24.     Helen makes a knowing face.17   INT. ST JOHN'S SMITH SQUARE. NIGHT                           17         David, Jenny, Danny and Helen in a row in the middle of the     auditorium, watching the stage and listening to the music.     Jenny can't concentrate - she's too excited by the occasion     and the company. Jenny sneaks a glance at Helen, who stares     straight ahead, unblinking and enigmatic. David is smiling,     as if he's trying to communicate enjoyment; Danny's eyes     flicker across the stage - he understands the music, its     component parts, which musicians are contributing what.     Jenny takes it all in.18   EXT. ST JOHN'S SMITH SQUARE. NIGHT                           18         Jenny, David, Danny and Helen emerge with the other concert-     goers.                         DAVID               I booked a table at Juliette's.                                         Will that kill the mood, do you               think?                         HELEN               Oh, I do hope so.                                             The others laugh.                         HELEN               I always think I'm going to my               own funeral when I listen to               classical music. (Tentatively)               That was classical, wasn't it?                         DANNY               Yes. Very classical. As classical               as you can get.     Helen looks pleased.                          DAVID               Juliette's it is, then. Heaven               forbid that we should end the               evening reflecting on our own               mortality.     Jenny smiles in delight. She's never met people like this.19   INT. JULIETTE'S. NIGHT                                       19         A singer in the Julie London mould is singing `I'm In The               Mood For Love' while cigarette girls and glamorous     waitresses patrol the tables.                                                     25.Jenny is sitting with the others at a table in the club,       eating and talking. She looks about twelve, but she's          thrilled to be there. We know now that her life can neverbe the same again, and there will be no going back to fish-paste sandwiches with spotty Graham.                    DAVID                                                Have you never heard "Chante          Francoise Sagan"?Jenny shakes her head. Her eyes are wide - she's clearlyawe-struck. David offers her a cigarette - a Gitane - whichshe takes. He lights it for her while she's listening.                    DANNY          Oh, it's wonderful.                    JENNY          I've only got....Well, I think          it's just called `Juliette          Greco'. The one with the eyes on          the sleeve. I saved up and got my          French conversation teacher to          bring it back after Christmas.                    HELEN          You've got a French conversation          teacher?                    JENNY          Yes.                    HELEN          Is that why you suddenly speak          French for no reason?                    DANNY                                                    (ignoring her)          You must have seen her sing?                         Jenny shakes her head again and smiles. Where would shehave seen Juliette Greco? Danny, meanwhile, is baffled. Who    hasn't seen Juliette Greco?                                                        DAVID          She's marvellous.                    DANNY          But you should see her in Paris,          not here. David will take you.                    DAVID          I'd love to. You'd fit right in.                    HELEN              (sympathetically)          Better than here, really.                                                     26.                    DAVID          It's wonderful to find a young          person who wants to know things.          There's so much I want you to          see.They sip their drinks pensively, possibly to allow time forthe double-entendre to disappear into the smoke.                    DAVID          Are you still all right to come          and have a look at that Pembroke          Villas place with me on Friday,          Danny?                    DANNY          Oh. No. Can't do it. There's a          Burne-Jones coming up at          Christie's on Friday. And I want                               it.                                                                      JENNY              (laughing in disbelief)          You're thinking of buying a Burne-          Jones? A real one?                    DANNY          I just have a feeling that the          pre-Raphaelites are going to take          off.                    JENNY          I love the pre-Raphaelites.                    DAVID              (excited by her               education)          Do you?                    JENNY          Yes, of course. Rossetti and          Burne-Jones, anyway. Not Holman          Hunt, so much. He's so garish.Danny looks at her. There's clearly more to this schoolgirlthan he thought.                    DAVID          Absolutely! Why don't we all go          to the auction? Wouldn't that be          fun?                    JENNY          An auction. Gosh. How exciting.                                                          27.                         DANNY               Next Friday morning. David will               pick you up.                         JENNY                   (crestfallen)               Oh. Friday.                         DANNY               You're busy?                            JENNY               Well. Yes.     She doesn't want to explain why.                                                              DANNY                                                     Tant pis.                                                    Helen looks at him aghast. Why has he started speaking                 French?                                                                                    DAVID               Are you sure you're busy?     Jenny hesitates.                         JENNY               No. I'm sure I could....re-               arrange. That would be lovely.20   INT. JENNY'S HOUSE. NIGHT                                   20     Jenny lets herself quietly into the house. The hallway is     dark, but she can hear noises from the kitchen. She pokes     her head round the corner, and sees her mother doing the     washing-up.                          MARJORIE               Oh, hello, love. Did you have a               nice time?                         JENNY               What are you doing?                         MARJORIE               I can't get this casserole dish               clean. We had hot-pot tonight,               and it's all burnt round...                         JENNY               It's twenty-five to twelve. We               finish tea at seven.                                                                                                 28.                           MARJORIE                 I know what the time is. How was                 your evening?                           JENNY                 It was...It was the best night of                 my life.                           MARJORIE                 And he took you home in his car?                 Right to the door?     Jenny looks at her. She doesn't seem to have heard what     Jenny has just said.                           JENNY                 Goodnight, Mum.                           MARJORIE                 And I'm glad you enjoyed the                 concert.21   INT. CLASSROOM. DAY                                             21     Jenny, Hattie and Tina are    sitting on their desks, waiting     for the start of a lesson.    Nine or ten classmates are     scattered around the room,    talking distractedly, but     Jenny's group is much more    animated: Tina and Hattie are     leaning forward, listening    to Jenny, their eyes bright.     They are clearly awestruck    by Jenny's tales of the outside     world.                            TINA                     (to Hattie)                 I'm not interested in Schubert. I                 want to know what else was on the                 programme.     Laughter.                           JENNY                 There was nothing like that. He                 was the perfect gentleman. He                 just said he wanted to take me                 places and show me things.                           TINA                 Things plural? Oh my Gawd!     More laughter. The English teacher, MISS STUBBS, young and     fresh-faced and lively-looking, enters, and picks up on     the excitement of Jenny's coterie.                                                     29.                    MISS STUBBS          I knew that in the end `Jane          Eyre' would work its magic upon          you. I'm presuming that's what          you're so animated about.The students start to sit down at desks in a moreconventional arrangement.                       JENNY          Of course.                     TINA          `Jane Eyre' and Jenny's new          boyfriend.                    JENNY          He's not my "new boyfriend". God.                    TINA          It's true. He's more a man-          friend, isn't he? He's got a          sports-car, Miss Stubbs.                    MISS STUBBS          Ah. A Mr Rochester figure.                     TINA          I think he must be as blind as Mr          Rochester.Laughter. Jenny pulls a face at her.                    MISS STUBBS          Is there no end to your thirst          for literary understanding,          Jenny? As you may have noticed,          I'm attempting to turn the          subject away from Jenny's lurid          love-life and towards the matter          in hand.She starts to hand out essays.                    MISS STUBBS          And it's quite clear on this          evidence that most of you know          much too much about the former,          and almost nothing about the          latter. Reluctantly I must          concede that Jenny is evidently          an expert on both matters.          Excellent as always, Jenny.Miss Stubbs slaps an essay down on Jenny's desk. We can seethat it's marked `A+'.                                                            30.22   INT. JENNY'S BEDROOM. NIGHT                                  22     Jenny at her desk, working. She puts down her pen,     distracted.23   INT. DAVID'S CAR. DAY                                        23     David sitting in his Bristol, waiting.24   EXT. SCHOOL. DAY                                             24     We see the Bristol parked outside, and Jenny walking     towards it, a small figure in a large playground. She's     clearly just changed out of her school uniform, and she's     making last-minute adjustments to her civvies. A teacher     walks towards her, and Jenny almost freezes - but the     teacher merely smiles pleasantly and walks past. Jenny     keeps walking at a measured pace for a moment and then     breaks into a run.25   INT/EXT. CAR/DILAPIDATED HOUSE. DAY                          25         Jenny and David are driving along a North Kensington     street.                         JENNY               How do you know Danny?     David is distracted. He's driving slowly, apparently     looking for an address.                         DAVID               Oh, you know. We kept bumping               into each other, and we became               pals, and we've ended up doing a               bit of work together, when it               suits us.                         JENNY               What kind of work?                         DAVID               Property. A bit of art dealing.               Some buying and selling. This and               that...     He stops the car.                         DAVID               I'll be two seconds.     He gets out of the car, and Jenny watches him as he crosses     the road.                                                          31.     Outside a dilapidated house covered in scaffolding stands a     large West Indian family, mother, father, three or four     small children and a dog. They are surrounded by what     appears to be all their worldly goods. David squats down on     his haunches, talks to the kids, tousles the hair of the     smallest. Then he takes out a bunch of keys and ushers the     family down the path. He unlocks the door and leads them     inside.     In an upper window of the house, we see an old lady peering     down anxiously.26   EXT. STREET/DILAPIDATED HOUSE. DAY                           26         David emerges from the house, jangling his keys.27   INT. CAR. DAY                                                27     Jenny opens the glove compartment where David keeps his     cigarettes, takes out the packet, removes one for herself,     offers the packet to David as he gets into the car. He     lights them both.                         DAVID               I'm sorry about that.                         JENNY               How do you know those, those               ...Negro people?                         DAVID               They're clients.                          JENNY               Clients?                         DAVID               Jenny darling, even schwarzers               have to live somewhere. And it's               not as if they can rent off their               own kind, is it?     He starts the car and drives off.                         JENNY               I'm not sure I quite understand               what you do.                         DAVID               You don't need to. It's too               boring. All you need to know is               that I work in property so that I               can take you to nice places.     Jenny's POV of the black family in one window, and the     little old lady disappearing from another.                                                             32.28   INT. CHRISTIE'S. DAY                                           28     Danny intent on a catalogue, Helen gazing dreamily into                   space, as David and Jenny push their way through the                      crowded auction room. The auctioneer burbles on in the     background.                         DANNY               You nearly missed it.     Jenny is in awe of rich London in all its finery. The     auctioneer clears his throat.                         AUCTIONEER               We turn to lot 41, The Tree of                                            Forgiveness, by Sir Edward Burne-                                         Jones. This is a rare opportunity               to purchase a key work of the Pre-               Raphaelite movement. Who will               start me off at five hundred                                              guineas?                                                        Jenny glances at Danny. He makes no move at this price.     Neither does anyone else. He's poised and listening hard.                         AUCTIONEER               Two hundred?     A middle-aged lady, the epitome of the middle-aged     contemporary Sloane, twin-set, pearls and a lot of      face     powder, raises her hand.                         AUCTIONEER               Thank you, madam. Three hundred?                                A man raises his hand.                                                                        AUCTIONEER                                                      Do I hear three-fifty?                                          The middle -aged Sloane nods.                                                                 AUCTIONEER                                                      Over to you sir. Four hundred                                             guineas? Thank you. Four hundred                                          and fifty...                                                    Danny continues to sit there. Jenny is confused. The middle-              aged lady bids four-fifty. David, sitting next to Danny,                  whispers something to him. Danny nods.                          DAVID                   (whispers to Jenny)               Your turn.     Jenny looks at him.                                                     33.                    AUCTIONEER          No further bids?                    DAVID          Quick!Jenny raises her hand high, just as she'd do at school.                    AUCTIONEER          Five hundred guineas from the                                 very eager new bidder.                              People look round and smile when they see who has come in.Jenny blushes, but stares fixedly ahead.                     AUCTIONEER                                         Five hundred and fifty, madam?                                Thank you.                                          Jenny looks at David, who nods.                                                   AUCTIONEER                                          Six hundred guineas.                                Jenny gestures more economically.                                                 AUCTIONEER                                          Six-fifty? Thank you, madam.                                  Seven hundred...                                    Jenny is almost insouciant this time.                                             AUCTIONEER                                          Seven hundred?                                      The middle-aged lady shakes her head and purses her lips.     when asked if she wants to bid £700.                                              AUCTIONEER          Sold for six hundred and fifty                                guineas. Thank you.                                 He brings down the gavel, and a murmur goes around theroom. Jenny is excited and giggly. David pats her on theback.                    AUCTIONEER                                          Your name, please?                                  Jenny looks at Danny.                                                             DANNY                                               You know who you are.                                                   JENNY                                                   (to Danny)                                                Jenny Mellor.                                                                                                 34.                         DANNY                                                        I know who you are, too. Tell                                          him.                                                                             JENNY                                                            (louder,to auctioneer)                                             Jenny Mellor.                                                                    DANNY                                                        Thank you. Couldn't have bought                                        it without you.                                                                  DAVID               Well done. A nerveless               performance.     Jenny beams. She's thrilled.29   INT. DANNY'S FLAT. DAY                                      29     A beautiful, large, airy sitting room in the first-floor     flat in Bedford Square. The flat is unusually and     tastefully decorated, opulent and indicative of Bohemian     good taste. Jenny is sipping a glass of white wine and     walking around the room enthralled, looking at Danny's     existing Pre-Raphaelite art collection; he has three or     four big paintings proudly displayed on his walls. Danny     is talking her through them while Helen and David, sitting     on the sofa, watch - David proudly, Helen impassively.                         DANNY               A couple of years ago you could               pick these up for fifty quid, you               know. Nobody was interested.                         JENNY               Really? Fifty pounds? I don't               believe you.     Suddenly Jenny sees a cello in the corner of the room - a     good one.                         JENNY               That's not a Lockey-Hill!                         DANNY               There aren't many people who come               in here and say that.                         HELEN               Certainly not me.                         JENNY               It's beautiful. Do you play?                                              35.                    DANNY          I used to. I vowed to myself that          one day I'd own one of these. And          now I own one and never touch it.          It's vulgar to put it on show,          really.                    HELEN          Give it to Jenny.                    DANNY          That would be even more vulgar.                    DAVID          Play for us, Jenny.                    JENNY          Gosh, no. One day. When I'm good          enough for it.                    DAVID          She's good enough now.                    JENNY          Oh, David. You've never heard me.Danny stands up and stretches.                    DAVID          I shall come to hear you in St                       John's Smith Square. Or in                           Oxford, when you get there.                    DANNY          We should all go and spend a          weekend in Oxford. Straw boaters,          punting, cream teas, antiquarian          bookshops. Bit of business, if we          can find it. What about next          weekend?                    DAVID/HELEN          Yes!                    JENNY          A weekend away? I wouldn't be          allowed to do that.They all look at her.                    DAVID          I'll find a way. I'll talk to          them.                    JENNY          Who?                                                       36.                     DAVID           Jack and Marjorie.                     JENNY           About what?                        DAVID           Oxford.Jenny   hoots with derision.                     JENNY           You're going to ask my father if           I can go away with you for the           weekend? He'd have you arrested.                        DAVID           We'll see.                     JENNY           I'll bet you you can't do it.                        DAVID           How much?                     DANNY               (amused)           Be careful, Jenny. You don't know           who you're dealing with.                     JENNY           Half-a-crown.                        DAVID           You're on.They shake hands. Jenny suddenly notice the clock onDanny's mantelpiece.                     JENNY           Mon dieu! You must take me back           to school. And I've got to change           back into my uniform.There is a silence. Danny and David make momentary eyecontact - they are clearly contemplating the eroticpossibilities of Jenny's last sentence. Helen notices.                     HELEN           Oh, behave yourselves.Jenny looks at them all, mystified.                                                          37.30   INT. CLASSROOM/LATIN. DAY.                                  30         Jenny is in her Latin class, waiting for the lesson to     begin. Tina and Hattie aren't with her, and she sits on her     own -the atmosphere of the class is very different from     Miss Stubbs' English lessons. The girls are different, more     serious, less fun, and the atmosphere is more sombre. The     teacher, MRS WILSON, is older, plainer, stricter. She pulls            some papers out of her bag.                         MRS WILSON                                                   Test results for the Virgil               translation. We will start from               the bottom...Patricia.     Jenny puffs out her cheeks. She's not last.                         MRS WILSON (CONT'D)                                          Absent. Margaret. 48%. Jenny...     Jenny winces.                         MRS WILSON (CONT'D)                                          52%. That would just about scrape               a pass in the exam proper. Not               good enough for Oxford               candidates.31   INT. JENNY'S HOUSE. DAY                                     31     Jenny and her mother are sitting on the sofa, staring into     space, clearly upset. On the coffee table in front of them     is the test, covered in red ink. They hear a key in the     lock, and they look at each other.                         MARJORIE               I'll talk to him.     Jack enters, back from work. He's wearing a suit and     carrying a battered briefcase. He looks at them, and then     notices the essay on the table.                         JACK               It's her Latin, isn't it?                         MARJORIE               The test didn't...Well, it didn't               go as well as we'd hoped.     He picks up the paper.                                    38.          JACKAnd you still say I shouldn't godown there and have it out withwhatsername? The Latin teacher?Because this is hopeless.          JENNYHow are you going to "have itout" with her? What are you goingto do? Shout at her until shedecides I'm much cleverer thanshe thinks?          MARJORIEEveryone's doing their best,Jack.          JACKWhat if their best isn't goodenough, though, eh? What do we dothen?          JENNYWe don't go to Oxford. Any of us.Not even you, Dad.          JACKPerhaps it's all a waste of timeand money anyway.          MARJORIEYou don't mean that.          JACKWell, what's she going to do withan English degree? And if she'sgoing to spend three yearsplaying that bloody cello andtalking in French to beatniks,then I'm throwing good moneyafter bad. I suppose she mightmeet a nice lawyer. But she coulddo that at a dinner dancetomorrow.          JENNYOh, yes. That's the whole pointof an Oxford education. It's theexpensive alternative to a dinnerdance.          MARJORIEWhat about private tuition?          JACKIs anyone listening to me? Howmuch is that going to cost me?                                              39.                    MARJORIE          Five shillings an hour. Maybe a          little more for A-level.                    JACK          Five bob! But... we could spend          five bob on this and five bob on          that, and before we know it          that's our savings down the          drain.                    MARJORIE          And what else are we spending          five bob on? What else are we          spending sixpence on?                    JACK          Oh, nothing. (He gestures round          the room.) It's all free. That          vase was free.                    MARJORIE          It was, actually. It was a          present from Auntie Vi.                    JACK          That chair was free. The sofa.          We don't have to pay for          anything. And even if we did, we          don't have to work for it. That's          the beauty of life, Jenny.          Everything's free. Grows on          trees. Wonderful, isn't it? (He          warms to his theme, and grows          progressively more berserk.)          We've got a lovely Oxford tree in          the garden, lucky for you, so          that's Oxford taken care of. And          a whole orchard of school trees,          so that's all free. I'm sure          there are some private tuition          trees out there. I'll go and have          a look.He stands up.                    MARJORIE          Jack...                    JACK          No, no, won't take me a minute. I          think I saw some at the back          there, right next to the pocket          money tree. I'll just nip out          and check, see that they're          doing all right.                                                             40.                Don't want anyone climbing over                the wall and scrumping, do we?                And you never know. Maybe                there'll be a man with deep                pockets growing out there.                Because God knows we need to find                you one.      He leaves the room, apparently to   look in   the garden   for      the mythical trees.31A   INT. JENNY'S HOUSE                                           31A          Jenny and her mother move to the window to    watch him      talking theatrically to the trees.32    EXT. STREET/COFFEE BAR. DAY.                                 32           Jenny, Hattie and Tina are walking back from school.                          TINA                You could always go to                secretarial college with Hattie.                          JENNY                    (sarcastic)                Oh, thanks.                            HATTIE                Charming!                            JENNY                Oh, no.      Hattie and Tina follow Jenny's eyes, and they see Graham      coming towards them pushing his bike, red-faced, trousers      tucked into socks.                            GRAHAM                Hello.                          JENNY                Oh. Graham. Hello.                          GRAHAM                I haven't seen you for ages....It                all went wrong, didn't it? The                tea-party, I mean. Was it because                of the year off?                          JENNY                No, no. It's just...I've got so                much to do if I'm going to get                the grades I need.                                                          41.                         TINA               Yes. She's got no time for boys.     Hattie and Tina try to suppress giggles. Graham turns an     even brighter shade of red. Hattie and Tina enter the                  coffee bar. Jenny feels sorry for him, is on the verge of              inviting him to join them...And changes her mind.                                          JENNY                                                            (quickly)                                                          Bye, Graham.                                                 She follows the girls inside.                                     33   INT. JENNY'S BEDROOM/UPPER HALLWAY. NIGHT                   33         Jenny is deep in her schoolwork. She has a Latin vocabulary     propped open on the window-ledge. She looks at it, walks     away, mutters to herself, attempting to memorize. Her     concentration is broken by a sudden gale of laughter from     downstairs.34   INT. JENNY'S HALL. NIGHT                                    34     She stands outside the living room for a moment, listening.     She hears a man's voice that does not belong to her father,     and then more laughter from her father and mother.35   INT. LIVING ROOM. NIGHT                                     35     David is in the middle of demonstrating his ability to     mimic all of the Goons. Jack and Marjorie are laughing so     hard that they can hardly see - they certainly miss Jenny's     entrance.                         JENNY                   (curious)               Hello.                         JACK               Oh. Hello. David does the most               brilliant Bluebottle, Jenny.               Actually, he can do all the                                            Goons.                                                                           DAVID                                                        I don't think I'm very good at                                         Eccles.                                                                          JACK                                                         Oh, no, you've got him...                                                                                    42.                    JENNY              (impatiently)                                           But what's he doing here?                    DAVID          I wasn't going to disturb you. I          knew you'd have your nose to the          grindstone.                    JENNY              (incredulous)          You came to see Mum and Dad?                    JACK          Is that so hard to imagine?Jenny spies an open bottle of wine on the coffee-table.                     JENNY          And you're drinking? But it's not          Christmas!                    JACK          Hark at her! Makes us sound as          though we've signed the pledge.          You don't know everything about          us, you know. We had a life          before you came along.                    JENNY          Yes, that's true. I'm only going          on what I've seen over the last          sixteen years.                    MARJORIE          I'm trying to think what you          missed. Nothing much comes to          mind.                    JACK          They can't stand to see me          enjoying myself.                    JENNY          Anyway. Would you excuse me? I've          got a huge pile of Latin          translation to do.                    JACK          You didn't tell me David went to          Oxford.Jenny looks at David, who stares back at her straight-faced.                    JENNY          No. I didn't.                                    43.          DAVIDFor all the good it did me.          JACKWhat did you read?          DAVIDOh, English. Just like everyother semi-employed layabout inLondon.          JACK    (marvelling at the     coincidence)English! Which college?          DAVIDMerton.          MARJORIEIsn't that funny?          JENNYExtraordinary.           DAVIDI was just telling Jack that I'mgoing back next weekend. I go andsee my old professor every nowand again.          JACKThat's what you need, Jenny.Someone on the inside track. It'snot always what you know, is it,David?          DAVIDToo true. And Clive would loveJenny. Have you ever come acrossClive Lewis?          JENNYDad has never come across anyone.          DAVIDI just thought he might know someof the books.          JENNYDad has never read any books.          JACK    (stung)What's he written?                                                     44.                    DAVID          He wrote a children's book called          `The Lion, The Witch and The          Wardrobe' that did very well, I          believe.                    MARJORIE          CS Lewis? That's the Clive you're          talking about?                    DAVID          Well, to us he was just the old          codger who taught Medieval          literature. But I came to know          him very well. We just...got          along, do you know what I mean?Everyone murmurs their comprehension.                    MARJORIE          Jenny used to love those books.                    DAVID          Gosh. That dates me. He was          writing them when I was there.                    JENNY          I'd love to meet him.There is a pause. Jack and Marjorie look at the floor.Somehow, David has manoeuvred a situation where,effectively, he is the one being asked.                    DAVID          I'm sorry. I'm being slow on the          uptake. Would Jenny like to come          with me at the weekend?                    JACK          Well, I don't know about this          weekend. But one day, yes, thank          you.                    JENNY          How often do you see him?                    DAVID          Oh, once every couple of years.          But next time, eh?                    JENNY              (disappointed)          Hopefully I'll be there by then.          So that won't be much use.                                                          45.                         JACK                   (dubiously)               Well, I suppose...Would she have               to stay the night?                         DAVID               Well, I wouldn't want to drive               back after one of those Oxford               dinners.     Jack chuckles knowingly.                         DAVID               Clive will get her a room in               college. That's easy enough.                         MARJORIE               Sounds like too good an               opportunity to pass up.                          JENNY               Please, Daddy. It would be so               helpful to know something about               the place.                         JACK               Would it be a bother to you,               David?                         DAVID               I'd be delighted.     Jack, Marjorie and Jenny all beam.36   INT. HALLWAY. NIGHT                                         36     Jenny opens the door for David.                         JENNY                   (sotto voce)               That was scandalous.                         DAVID               I told you. You owe me half-a-               crown.     He kisses her on the cheek and disappears into the night.37   INT. DANNY'S FLAT. DAY                                      37     David and Danny are waiting for the girls to get ready.     Danny is sitting sprawled in an armchair; David is pacing     up and down.                                                          46.                            DAVID               Come on!38   INT. HELEN'S BEDROOM. DAY                                  38     An ornate four-poster bed occupies most of the space in the     room. Helen is doing something to Jenny, but we can't see     what.                         HELEN               Nearly ready!39   INT. DANNY'S FLAT. DAY                                     39                         DAVID               How can they only be nearly               ready?                         DANNY               I wouldn't be surprised if three               of them come out, you know.               That's the only explanation.               They're making themselves a               friend. LADIES! Let's go. Please.40   INT. HELEN'S BEDROOM. DAY                                  40     Jenny is wearing a floaty print dress that she has borrowed     from Helen, and there are lots of other beautiful clothes     strewn about the place. Jenny is sitting at the dressing     table, being made up by Helen. Jenny looks three or four     years older, more sophisticated....more like Helen. She     can't believe it. She looks in the mirror, and for a     moment, she forgets to breathe.                         HELEN               There. You'll do. You can keep               it. I can only wear so many every               day.     Jenny emerges from her reverie.                         JENNY                   (thrilled)               Really? Thank you.                         HELEN               What about tonight? Will you be               needing a nightie? Or not?                            JENNY               A nightie?     Jenny suddenly understands what Helen means.                                                           47.                         JENNY               Will we be sharing bedrooms?                         HELEN               You're not sleeping with him?                         JENNY               No. I'm...No.                         HELEN               Good for you.                            JENNY               Really? Do     you think so?                         HELEN               You're only sixteen. And you               don't want to get into the               family way, do you?                         JENNY               Oh, I'd make sure that didn't               happen. I'm going to do it when               I'm seventeen. On my seventeenth               birthday, hopefully.                          HELEN               With   David?     Jenny pauses.                         JENNY               Well...Golly. I suppose it will               be with David, won't it?                         HELEN               When's your birthday?                            JENNY               April.                                                                           HELEN               Oh, he'll be around in April. If                                       that's what you want. Anyway.               I'll find you a nightie.     Jenny stares at herself in the mirror again.41   INT. DANNY'S FLAT. DAY                                      41     The girls emerge. Both men are entranced by Jenny's     transformation. David can't take his eyes off her.                         DANNY                   (thoughtful)               Shall, we, ah... Make a move?                                                             48.     He gets to his feet.42   INT/EXT. CAR COUNTRY ROAD. DAY.                               42         The Bristol on the country road to Oxford.43   INT/EXT. CAR OXFORD DAY                                       43         The Bristol drives through Oxford. Jenny catches a quick     glimpse of a dreaming spire.                         DANNY               Imagine spending three years               here.                            HELEN               I know.     She shudders, as if someone has walked over her grave.                         JENNY                                                          Can we stop?                                                                       DAVID               Maybe later. There are a couple                                          of things we have to do.                                  44   INT/EXT. CAR OXFORD BACK STREET. DAY.                         44         Jenny and Helen in the back seat of the car, which is     parked outside a house in the back streets of Oxford.     There's no sign of Danny and David. Jenny sighs     impatiently.                         HELEN               Oh, it's always like this. There               are millions of places I've never               seen because I've been stuck in               here.                         JENNY               You never get out?                         HELEN               There's never anywhere to go in               the places they stop.     Jenny looks out of the window. This is self-evidently true.45   INT. PUB. EVENING.                                            45     Helen and Danny, Jenny and David are standing in a quiet,     old-fashioned pub, warming themselves at an open fire.                                                     49.David has a pen in his hand, and he's holding a book - `TheLion, The Witch and the Wardrobe'.                    DAVID          So. Now.Is he Clive, do you          think? Or CS?                    HELEN          I'm confused now. I thought you'd          made him up?                    DANNY              (attempting, briefly, to               be patient)          No, we...Never mind.David walks over to the nearest table and writes in thebook.                    DAVID          There.He stands up, hands the book to Jenny.                    JENNY              (reads)          "To dear Jenny. With the pleasure          of meeting you. Come and see me          again soon. Clive."                    HELEN          Dirty old man.Laughter. He takes a long drink from his pint of bitter. Agroup of students enter, all carrying musical instruments.They stand at the bar, waiting to be served. Jenny staresat them with longing - she wants to be one of them. Helen,meanwhile, stares at them as if they were aliens.                    HELEN              (sotto voce)          Why are university girls so          strange-looking?Helen's right. The girls in the group are all bespectacledand frumpy. The others laugh.                    HELEN          It's true. And they can't all          have started off that way, can          they? Most girls aren't ugly, but          most girl students are. So there          must be something about those          places that, you know, makes you          fat, or spotty, or short-sighted.                                                     50.                    DAVID          Well, if you look at it that          way...I mean, that's proper          scientific analysis. And you          can't argue with science.Helen looks pleased.                    HELEN          I'm still not quite clear on what          you want to do when you get here.                    JENNY          I want to read English.                       HELEN          Books?                       JENNY          Sorry?                    HELEN          You want to read English books?                    JENNY          Oh. Yes. Reading English is just          another way of saying...                    DANNY          I wouldn't worry, Jenny. You're          wasting your breath.                    DAVID          Anyway, tomorrow we'll try to get          more of a feel for the place.                    DANNY          Absolutely. This would be a good          place to do a little business.David catches Jenny's eye. This isn't what he meant by"getting a feel for the place."                    DANNY          All those little old ladies          wandering around...I'll bet this          place is rife with stats.                    JENNY          Please explain what stats are.          You're always going on about          them.                    DAVID          All right. Think of a number. Now                           think about the most boring                                 lesson you've ever had at school.                                                          51.               Now double it. Done? Doubled? Now                                     multiply it by the number you                                         first thought of, and there you                                       are. That's the official boredom                                      content of stats.                                           Jenny laughs.46   INT. B & B BEDROOM. NIGHT                                  46     A rather grotty and certainly unromantic B&B bedroom - so     unromantic, in fact, that it even has the same fusty     curtains from Jenny's sitting room. David is in bed, his     hands behind his head, waiting for Jenny. As far as we can     tell - he's wrapped up in the sheets quite tightly - he's     in his underwear. The bedroom is lit unromantically by the     40-watt overhead light. Jenny comes into the room wearing     one of Helen's nightdresses, a glamorous satiny item quite     inappropriate for the occasion or the surroundings. She     looks nervous.                         JENNY               We've got exactly the same               curtains at home.                         DAVID               Let's not talk about curtains.               You look beautiful. You really               are a princess.     Jenny was about to get into bed, but his tone makes her     pause at the edge of the bed.                         JENNY               There's something you should               know, David. I'm...Well, I'm a               virgin. And I want to stay that               way until I'm seventeen.                         DAVID               I think that's good. I think               that's right. And for your               seventeenth birthday I'm going to               take you to Paris or Rome or               Florence and make you feel like               the most beautiful princess in               the kingdom of love. But we can               still be romantic, can't we?                         JENNY               Well, yes. Of course we can. If               it doesn't mean...                            DAVID               Minnie....                                                             52.                         JENNY               Is that me?                         DAVID               Yes. You're my Minnie Mouse, and               I'm your bubbalub.                         JENNY               Oh. If that's what..                            DAVID               Minnie.                         JENNY               Yes, David?                         DAVID                   (prompting)               Bubbalub...                         JENNY               Sorry. Yes, bubbalub?                         DAVID               Would you mind if I had a look at               what might one day be mine? Just               a peek?     His eyes stray to her breasts. Jenny stares at him.                         JENNY               You just want to see them?                         DAVID               I just want to see them.     Jenny, flustered and nervous, looks at her nightgown - she     doesn't know what to do.                         DAVID               Let it fall from your shoulders.     She does so. He stares.                            DAVID               Thank you.     He sits up, and lovingly lifts the straps back up. He     smiles at her. Relieved, she smiles back.47   INT/EXT. CAR COTTAGE. DAY                                     47         The Bristol, containing David and Jenny in the front seats     and Danny and Helen in the back, passing through a pretty     Oxfordshire village. It pulls up outside a country cottage     with a `FOR SALE' sign outside.                                                           53.48    INT. CAR. DAY                                              48                          DAVID                Might be worth a look.49    EXT. CAR COTTAGE. DAY                                      49           The four get out of the car, and Jenny follows David and                Danny to the front door of the house. Helen hangs back.                                       HELEN                                                       Jenny...                                                      Jenny turns around.                                                                         JENNY                                                         Aren't you coming?                                                                HELEN                                                         We don't go in.                                                                   JENNY                                                         What are you talking about?                                                       DANNY                                                         Helen will look after you. Go and                                       find a nice cup of tea somewhere.                             Jenny is mystified.                                                                         JENNY                                                         I don't need looking after, thank                                       you very much. David, I want to                                         see...                                                        David ignores her.                                                                          DANNY                                                         I'm not going to tell you a                                             second time. Now. Run along.                            49A   EXT. BENCH. DAY                                            49A          Helen and Jenny waiting for the boys. Helen is blithe,                  chatty; Jenny has a face like thunder.                                                      HELEN                                                         They won't be long. Either way.                                                   JENNY                                                         "Either way"?                                                                                                       54.                         HELEN                                                          Sometimes they find something,                                           sometimes they don't.                                          In the distance, David is waving at them urgently.                                           HELEN                                                          And when they do find something,                                         we usually have to leave quite                                           quickly. They can be a bit                                               naughty, sometimes. Anyway. It's                                         nice to have company. I'm usually                                        outside on my own.                                             Jenny stares at Helen. She's beginning to realise who she                is dealing with.                                                    50   SCENE OMITTED                                                 5051   SCENE OMITTED                                                 5152   INT/EXT. CAR NEW COUNTRY ROAD. DAY                            52         An old picture of   some kind is wedged between Helen and                Jenny on the back   seat. Jenny, furious, is staring out of              the window. Helen   attempts to peer around the partition,               but settles for a   wave.                                                                    HELEN                                                          Coo-ee. Jenny.                                                 Jenny doesn't respond.                                                                       DANNY                                                          Sorry about being a little brisk                                         back there, Jenny. We have our                                           way of doing things. Silly,                                              really.                                                        Still no response.                                                                           DAVID                                                          Oh, come on, Jenny. Let's not                                            spoil things.                                                                      JENNY                                                              (disbelieving)                                                       Me? I'm spoiling things?                                                           DAVID                                                          I think there must be some kind                                          of misunderstanding.                                           Jenny shakes her head bitterly. They continue driving in                 silence.                                                                                                                      55.53   EXT. DANNY'S FLAT. DAY                                      53         The Bristol pulls up outside Danny's Bedford Square flat.                         DANNY               Who wants to come up   for a               drink?                         DAVID               Jenny?                         JENNY                   (still furious)               No thanks. You go. I'll find my               own way home.     Jenny gets out of the car and starts up the road. David     gets out and starts to chase after her.                         DAVID               Jenny!     He catches up with her in the street.                         DAVID               It was an old map. A Speed. It               was cooped up in that miserable               little cottage, and she didn't               even know what it was. What a               waste! It shouldn't spend its               life on a wall in wherever the               hell we are. It should be with               us. We know how to look after it               properly. We liberated it.     Jenny snorts derisively.                         JENNY               Liberated! That's one word for               it.                         DAVID                   (quickly and                    passionately)               Oh, don't be bourgeois, Jenny.               You're better than that. I know               you have fun with us. I can see               it. You drink everything I put in               front of you down in one, every               last drop, and then you slam your               glass down on the bar and ask for               more, and it's wonderful. We're               not clever like you, so we have               to be clever in other ways,               because if we weren't, there               would be no fun.                                                          56.               We have to be clever with maps,               and..and.. You want to know what               stats are? Stats are old ladies               who are scared of coloured               people. So I move the coloureds               in and the old ladies move out               and I buy their flats cheap.               That's what I do. So now you               know.     Jenny nods reluctantly.                         DAVID               And if you don't like it, then I               will understand, and you can go               back to Twickenham and listen to                                      the Home Service and do your               Latin homework. But these               weekends, and the restaurants and               the concerts..They don't grow on               trees.     Jenny looks at him, startled. Trees again?                         DAVID               Do you understand? Of course you               do. This is who we are, Jenny.     He turns to face her and holds out his hand. On Jenny: is     she in or out? Jenny takes his hand. David pulls her     towards him, holds her around the waist and begins to dance     with her. Further up the pavement, Helen and Danny watch,     laughing.54   EXT/INT. CAR JENNY' HOUSE. NIGHT                           54         David pulls up in the Bristol outside Jenny's house, and     they sit in the dark for a little while.                         DAVID               I suppose you have homework to               do.                         JENNY               Gosh. Yes. Loads. (Beat) Thank               you. I had a nice time.                         DAVID                   (surprised, despite his                    speech earlier)               Really? In spite of the, the               incident? With the map?                         JENNY               As you said in the car, it was a               misunderstanding.                                                     57.                    DAVID          Exactly. A muddle.                    JENNY          You have no idea how boring          everything was before I met you.                    DAVID          I hope that there's something          more than excitement to our          relationship.                    JENNY          Excitement's a lot, when you're          at school and you live in          Twickenham.                    DAVID          You know what I'm trying to say.          I want you to like me for who I          am, not just what I can do for          you.                    JENNY          But that is who you are. I've          never met anyone like you. Action          is character, our English teacher          says.                    DAVID          What does that mean?                    JENNY          I think it means that if we never          did anything, we wouldn't be          anybody. And I never did anything          before I met you. And sometimes I          think no-one's ever done anything          in this stupid country, apart          from you.                    DAVID          That's a good place to end the          weekend. I'll give you a tinkle.                       JENNY          Thank you.They look at each other. David is clearly smitten. He movestowards her. He wants to kiss her, but he doesn't want tofrighten her - in the end, Jenny makes it easy for him andmoves towards him. They kiss gently and tenderly.Flustered, Jenny breaks it off, gets out of the car andgoes inside while David watches.                                                          58.55   INT. JENNY'S HOUSE. NIGHT                                  55     Jenny enters the sitting room with her overnight bag to     find the radio on, her father reading the paper and her     mother knitting. When Jenny comes in, Jack beams. He has     clearly turned some kind of corner.                         JACK               Here she is! The wanderer               returns!                         MARJORIE               Did you have a nice time?                         JENNY               Lovely, thank you.                         JACK               Was he nice to you?     Jenny unzips her bag and pulls out her copy of the book.     She hands it to her father.                         JENNY               Look inside.     Jack examines the inscription.                         JACK               Well I never. Look at this,               Marjorie.     He hands it to her. She examines it reverently.                         MARJORIE               "Clive"...Lucky girl. What was he                                     like?                         JENNY               He was just...normal. Kind.                         MARJORIE               And did he show you round?                         JENNY               Oh, he was busy. David did,               though.                         MARJORIE               What did you think?                            JENNY               Beautiful.                                                     59.                    MARJORIE          Did it make you want to work          harder?                    JACK          Never a dull moment with David,          is there? If it's not concerts,          it's famous authors. Bit          different from that lad you          brought home for tea, isn't he?                    MARJORIE          David's a lot older than Graham.                    JACK          Graham could live to be two          hundred, and he still wouldn't be          swanning around with famous          authors. Hasn't got it in him.                    JENNY          He might become a famous author,          for all you know.                     JACK          Being one isn't the same as          knowing one, is it? Anyone can be          one. But if you move in those          circles...                    JENNY          What?                    JACK          Well, it says something about          you, doesn't it? It says you're          going places. It says you're well          connected. He's an impressive          young man, that David. I like him          more and more.                    MARJORIE          Well, they say opposites attract,          don't they? I wouldn't have          thought he was your sort.                    JACK          He wasn't. And now he is.                    MARJORIE          Is that how you feel, Jenny?                    JENNY          I feel....I Feel I should do my          homework.She leaves the room. Marjorie watches her go thoughtfully.                                                          60.56   EXT. PARK. DAY                                              56     A group of girls cross-country running. Jenny and her                  friends are at the back of the group, and the gym teacher ,            jogging backwards, gesticulates at them to get a move on.                                  GYM TEACHER                                                  Ladies, please. Christmas is                                           coming.                                                      They put on enough of a spurt to satisfy her, and then                 immediately stop when the teacher is no longer watching.               Seeing an attractive bench, they sit down. From somewhere              under a skirt, Jenny produces a packet of exotic-looking     cigarettes and offers them around.                         HATTIE               What the hell are those?                         JENNY               Russian Sobranies.     Hattie and Tina make snooty faces. Jenny takes a cigarette.     The others follow suit. Jenny lights them, and they all     grimace. The contrast between the sophisticated cigarettes,     and the unsophisticated smokers and context is pronounced.                         HATTIE               Where did they come from?                         TINA               She might have bought them from               the Savoy, or Claridges, or the               opera, or some fancy nightclub.               Who knows, with Jenny?                         JENNY               Paris. You can't buy them here.                         TINA                   (suddenly looking at                    her suspiciously)               You never bought them yourself?                         JENNY                   (mimicking Tina's                    grammar cruelly)               No. I never.                         TINA               Shut up, you stuck-up cow.                         JENNY               But I'll bring you some back, if               you want.                                               61.                    TINA          You're joking.                       JENNY          Non.                    HATTIE          He's taking you to Paris?                       JENNY                 (smiling smugly)          Oui.                       HATTIE          This term?                       JENNY          Peut-etre.                    TINA          Isn't it your birthday next          Tuesday?                                                           JENNY          Might be.The two friends shriek and jump up and down.                    HATTIE          Oh, my God! Your birthday!                    TINA          I wouldn't like to be you. All          those dinners you've had off him.          Ouch.                    JENNY          You have such a Victorian          attitude to sex, you two.                    TINA          Oh, sorry, Dr Kinsey. We're not          all as experienced as you. I          mean, you've done it...(She          counts on her fingers) I make it          never! Can that be right?                    HATTIE          But your parents are just going          to let you swan off like that?                    JENNY          They don't know yet. David's got          a plan, he says. He usually has          something up his sleeve.                                                          62.                         TINA               I've noticed that. What did he               tell them when you had your               weekend in Oxford?                         JENNY                   (animated by the memory)               Oh, it was....(She changes her               mind) David went to Oxford.               Merton. English. And he offered               to show me round.                         HATTIE               So you have a good-looking               boyfriend with pots of money,               brains and a nice car.                         JENNY               Apparently I do.     Tina makes a bitter face.                         TINA               And they tell us there's a God.     Laughter. Jenny glances off into the distance, and spots a     portly middle-aged woman heading in their direction.                         JENNY               Sod. Miss Davies.     They stand up, grind their Sobranies into the mud, kick     them under the bench, and set off at a brisk trot. The     Sobranie stubs come to rest near a pile of dog poo.57   INT. JENNY'S HOUSE. DAY                                      57     Breakfast on Jenny's birthday. Jenny is at the table     buttering toast. Jack is reading the paper, Marjorie is     cooking him eggs and bacon.                         JACK               Is David taking you somewhere               special tonight?                         JENNY               Not that I know of.                         MARJORIE               I've asked Graham round for tea               and birthday cake.                         JENNY               Graham?                                                         63.                         JACK               What do we want him round for?                         MARJORIE               I happened to be talking to his               mother about something, and...                         JENNY               What did you happen to be talking               to her about?                         MARJORIE               I thought it would be nice.                         JENNY               What if David turns up?                         MARJORIE               Are we expecting David to turn               up?     Jenny shrugs.                         JACK               It might not be a bad thing if he               did.                         MARJORIE                   (doubtful)               Really?                         JACK               Well, if you think about it,               there's more than one way of               skinning a cat.                         JENNY               And who's the skinned cat, in                                        this enchanting image? Me?                         JACK               No, of course...                                                               JENNY                                                      I have an education to pursue.                        58   INT. JENNY'S HOUSE. EVENING                               58     Graham, Jenny and her father are at the dinner table,     sitting in the dark. Marjorie kicks the door open with her     foot and comes in holding a birthday cake with seventeen     candles burning on it. She puts it down carefully on the     table.                                                           64.                          JACK                Blow them out, then, before the                whole place burns down.      Jenny closes her eyes, makes her wish, blows out her      candles. Her father and mother both look at her, apparently      attempting to read her mind. Jack gets up to turn the      lights on. We can see that by Jenny's side are two      unopened, carefully-wrapped presents, both exactly the same      size - clearly books.                          MARJORIE                Who'd like a piece?      In truth, the cake is a rather sorry and unappetising      specimen. There isn't enough icing on the top. She cuts a      couple of slices which immediately collapse.                          GRAHAM                Never mind. I'll have one of                those.                          JACK                Come on. Presents.      Without any real enthusiasm, Jenny opens the first one of      the two, from her mum and dad. It's a Latin dictionary.                          JENNY                Oh. Thank you. I    needed a new                one.                          GRAHAM                    (crestfallen)                Oh dear.                                                       The doorbell rings. Jenny perks up. Jack goes to answer it,      and immediately the house is energised: it's David.58A   INT/EXT JENNY'S HOUSE                                       58A          Jack answers the door to David.                                    58B   INT. JENNY'S HOUSE                                          58B                              JACK (O.S.)                Good grief. You won't believe                this, Jenny. Did you leave                anything in the shop?      David enters. You can hardly see him for all the parcels      and flowers he's carrying.                          DAVID                It's a special day.                                                     65.He and Jenny exchange a glance. Jack comes in behind him.                    JACK          She's a special girl.                     DAVID          Oh, I know it. (to Graham) Hello,          young man.                    JENNY          This is Graham.                    DAVID          Graham, a pleasure. I'm David.They shake hands. Graham suddenly looks five years younger.                    JACK          Makes your dictionary look a bit          feeble, eh Graham?Graham looks pained. Marjorie notices.                    MARJORIE          And ours too, come to that.                    JACK          Well, we're not the ones trying          to impress her.                     JENNY          Clearly.                    JACK          David, what can I get you to          drink?                    DAVID          What's everybody else having?          What have you got there, Graham?                    JACK          I've given him a glass of pop.                    GRAHAM              (stung)          I'd better be going I have a          stack of homework to do.Graham says his goodbyes. He tries to catch Jenny's eye,       but she looks away. Marjorie shows him to the door.                                 DAVID          Yes. Well. You can put the pop          away now. What is there for the          grown-ups?                                                     66.                    JACK          A glass of something warming?                    DAVID          You know me so well.Hearty laughter from the two men.                    JENNY          Can I open anything yet?Marjorie comes back into the room.                    MARJORIE          Wait for me.                    DAVID          Before you start on that little          lot , I have a surprise. Next          weekend, we're all going to Chez          Georges to celebrate Jenny's          birthday.                    JACK              (flatly)          Lovely.                    DAVID          Chez Georges is in the Boulevard          St Germain. In Paris.Jenny giggles her delight. Jack's smile is a little moreforced.                    JACK          How d'you mean, Paris?                    JENNY          You know the one, Dad.                    JACK              (panic rising)          But..We haven't got any French          money. And I'm not sure...I just          don't think it would agree with          me.                    JENNY          Dad!                    JACK          They don't like us, the French,          you know. John Sutton at work          went once. They were very rude to          him. I'm not sure I'd like that.                                                     67.Jenny understands David's ploy perfectly, and the role shemust play. Her eyes fill with tears. Jack notices.                    JACK          I don't want to spoil anyone's          fun, but...It's not for me,          Europe. We'll go another time.                     JENNY               (bitterly)          You've just said you don't like          Europe. What's going to change?          It'll have to be Europe, won't          it? Because it isn't going to be          you.                    MARJORIE          I can take her.                    JACK              (genuinely indignant)          To France? And leave me here on          my own?                    JENNY          Oh, for God's sake.Jack looks cornered. He needs to find a way out.                    DAVID          Listen, I'm really sorry to have          caused all this to-do. I just          thought it might be nice. But          I'll go with Aunt Helen and Uncle          Daniel. They can have your          tickets.Jack looks at him.                    JACK          Aunt Helen? The one who went to                               the concert with you?                                                   DAVID          Yes, that's the one.                    JACK              (relieved)          Well, there we are.                    DAVID              (perplexed)          Where are we?                                                          68.                         JACK               Aunt Helen! Don't you see? If               Aunt Helen's going to be               there...                          DAVID                   (the penny apparently                    dropping)               Of course!                         JACK               I didn't want to put a spoke in               anyone's wheels. But if you look               at it from my angle...A bachelor,                                       taking my daughter off to               Paris...                         DAVID               Oh, impossible. I hadn't thought               it through properly. I do               apologise, Jack. Would you prefer               it if Helen took Jenny on her               own? I don't mind. I've been to               Paris before.                         JACK               Oh, I couldn't possibly ask...No,               no. If Aunt Helen's going...     He smiles broadly. He's off the hook. Jenny catches David's     eye and smiles.59   INT. CLASSROOM. DAY                                          59         Hattie, Tina and Jenny are sitting on their desks, waiting     for a lesson to start. Hattie shows Jenny a piece of paper     which apparently contains some kind of shopping list.                         TINA               There are some things you must               buy for us, and some things you               only have to buy for us if you're               a proper, true friend. (She               points at Hattie, then at               herself.) Chanel perfume, Chanel               perfume. (She repeats the               gesture) Chanel lipstick, Chanel               lipstick. What have I forgotten?                         HATTIE               Those funny cigarettes you were               smoking. Sobranies. Ten packets               each.     A very small girl, twelve or thirteen, comes in to the     classroom and approaches Jenny.                                                          69.                         SMALL GIRL               Are you the girl going to Paris?     Tina, Hattie and Jenny stare at her.                         SMALL GIRL               Well are you or aren't you?               Because I'd like some perfume.     Miss Stubbs comes into the classroom carrying books and     essays. She sees the small girl and shoos her out. She then     approaches Jenny and whispers discreetly into her ear.                         MISS STUBBS               Jenny, the headmistress would               like a word at the end of the               lesson. I'm afraid that the               legend of Mr Rochester may have               travelled further than you               intended.     Jenny looks at her, startled and a little sick.60   INT. HEADMISTRESS'S OFFICE. DAY.                           60     The office is dark, wood-panelled, foreboding, apparently     designed to put all visitors ill-at-ease. The headmistress     would probably choose to be wood-panelled if she could.     She's tweedy, bespectacled, severe. There is a knock at the     door. She doesn't look up from her paperwork.                         HEADMISTRESS               Come.     Jenny enters, looking young and frightened.                         HEADMISTRESS               Ah. Miss Mellor.     Jenny tries to look back at her with all the courage she     can muster.                         HEADMISTRESS               We're all very excited about your               forthcoming trip to Paris. Our               excitement, indeed, knows no               bounds. Some of us can talk of               little else.     Jenny looks at her feet.                         HEADMISTRESS               An older man, I understand. A               word of warning, Miss Mellor.                                                             70.               There may well have been the odd               sixth-form girl who has lost an               important part of herself -               perhaps the best part - while               under our supervision. These               things happen, regrettably. If,               however, we are made aware of               this loss, then of course the               young lady in question would have               to continue her studies               elsewhere, if she still has any               use for `A'-levels. Is that               clear?                         JENNY               Can I go now?                          HEADMISTRESS               Please.                                                        Jenny turns round and walks out without saying another     word.62   INT. HOTEL BEDROOM. EVENING                                   62         62PT 1                                                                   Through the window of a hotel suite, we see a BEA jet                    soaring into the sky.                                                    62PT 2                                                                   David and Jenny aren't on it, though. They are letting     themselves into the room. Jenny stares at the featureless                sitting room.                         JENNY               There's no bed.                         DAVID               Ah. I pushed the boat out and got               us a suite.                          JENNY                                                         A suite!                                                                           DAVID               Well, if work stops us getting to                                        Paris until tomorrow, then work                                          can buy us a nice hotel room.                                            Anyway, it's a special occasion,               isn't it?                         JENNY               I would have thought that tonight               of all nights we only need a               bedroom.                                                               71.     Close on David's reaction      -   she hasn't forgotten that     tonight's the night.63   INT. HOTEL BEDROOM. NIGHT                                       63     David and Jenny in bed, in a dimly lit bedroom. They are     kissing - David more passionately than Jenny. He is making     little whimpers of excitement, and Jenny is clearly trying     hard to hide her nerves. We're acutely aware of her age,     and of her virginity. Suddenly David breaks off.                          DAVID               Hold on a second. I've got               something.     Rather absurdly, he half-disappears over the side of the     bed, reaching for something on the floor. He comes back     with a banana. Jenny stares at him.                         JENNY               What on earth is that for?                         DAVID               I thought....I thought we might               want to practice.     Jenny shrieks with horror.                         JENNY               With a banana?                         DAVID               I thought we'd get the messy bit               over with first.                         JENNY               David, I don't want to lose my               virginity to a piece of fruit.                            DAVID               I'm sorry.     David attempts to kiss her again. Jenny wriggles clear.                         JENNY               Let's wait until we get to Paris.               I think the moment might have               gone.                         DAVID               I'm sorry, Minnie. I'm such a               fool.     Jenny doesn't deny it.                                                          72.                         JENNY               And David..... if tomorrow night               does happen, it will never happen               again, so...                         DAVID                   (alarmed)               Why won't it ever happen again?                         JENNY               Because the first time can only               happen once.                           DAVID                     (relieved)               Oh.                         JENNY               So, please...No Minnies. No baby-               talk. I'm not old enough for baby-               talk. Treat me like a grown-up.     David looks chastened.                         JENNY                   (brightly)               I know. Let's go and sit in our                                       sitting-room.                          DAVID                   (cheered up)               Hooray! I'll order some               champagne.     Jenny looks at him with what might, from one angle, be     construed as fondness.     MONTAGE SEQUENCE - PARIS64   EXT. LEFT BANK. DAY.                                       64     Juliette Greco on the soundtrack. Jenny leans against a     wall, the Seine and Notre Dame behind her. David takes her     picture. She looks fantastic in the clothes David has given     her for her birthday.65   INT. ART GALLERY. DAY                                      65     A crowded Left Bank gallery. Jenny is sitting on the floor     watching an impossibly handsome young Frenchman paint black     the body of an impressively passive naked woman. The young     man sitting next to Jenny gives her an appraising look.     David, standing at the back and looking square and     uncomfortable, notices.                                                          73.66   INT. RECORD SHOP. DAY                                        66     We see three listening booths, all containing customers.     Jenny and David are in the middle booth, listening to the     Juliette Greco song on the soundtrack. (For a moment, the     sound quality changes - soundtrack becomes source music,     seamlessly.) Jenny is studying the sleeve. She wants to hug     herself, she's so excited.67   EXT. CAFE. EVENING.                                          67     A Left Bank cafe - David and Jenny are eating steak frites     outside, drinking vin ordinaire, watching the world go by.     They are both anticipating the night ahead.68   EXT. VIEW OF SACRE COEUR/MONTMARTRE                          6869   EXT. PARIS HOTEL. DAWN                                       69         Jenny is smoking at the second-floor window of a simple,     pretty Parisian hotel, wearing a glamorous-looking slip and     looking at the street life below her.70   INT. HOTEL ROOM. DAWN                                        70         The bedroom is simple and romantic - everything the airport     hotel wasn't. David is lying amid rumpled sheets, smoking     what is clearly a post-coital cigarette, and watching Jenny     from behind.                         DAVID               Do you still feel like a               schoolgirl?     Jenny turns round, smiles, shakes her head.                         DAVID               And it wasn't too uncomfortable?                         JENNY               Not after the...first bit. It's               funny, though, isn't it? All that               poetry, and all those songs and               films, about something that lasts               no time at all?     David looks at her. She isn't being cruel. She just doesn't     know any different. She returns to her people-watching. He     smokes ruminatively.                                                          74.71   EXT. PARK. DAY                                             71     ...Jenny in her games kit, smoking her Sobranie with her     friends on the park bench again. Hattie and Tina are     examining their bottles of Chanel reverently. Jenny is back     to being her seventeen-year-old self; somehow her seventeen-     year-old self looks comical, and no longer appropriate.                         TINA               How can you go back to double               French when you've had a weekend               with an older man in a posh hotel               in Paris? You wouldn't catch me               coming anywhere near this dump.                         JENNY                   (artfully)               It wasn't all glamour. We spent               half the weekend at Heathrow in a               hotel suite .                         HATTIE               A suite? Oh my God. Your life.     They smoke their Sobranies ruminatively.                         TINA               You're going to miss it. All the               swanning around in posh hotels.                         JENNY               Why will I need to miss it?                         TINA               When you go to Oxford. Unless               you're planning on being with               David forever.     Jenny doesn't say anything.                         HATTIE               You're not, are you?                         JENNY                   (distracted)               God, no.                         TINA               So? Won't you miss it?     Jenny shrugs. Clearly she will, and clearly she hasn't     thought about it before.                         HATTIE               We'll miss it.                                                          75.     Jenny laughs.72   INT.   CLASSROOM. DAY                                      72     Jenny's English class file past Miss Stubbs at the end of a     lesson. Miss Stubbs stops Jenny.                          MISS STUBBS                Jenny, could I have a word?                          JENNY                Of course.(To Hattie and Tina)                I'll catch you up.     Miss Stubbs waits until the room empties.                          MISS STUBBS                You can do anything you want,                Jenny. You know that. You're                clever and you're pretty... But                sometimes those things fight. I'm                worried that at the moment clever                Jenny and pretty Jenny are                fighting.                          JENNY                What do you mean?                          MISS STUBBS                I couldn't bear it if clever                Jenny lost. It's because of                people like you that I plough                through illiterate essays by                Sandra Lovell about her pony. And                there aren't many of you, I can                tell you. One every few years. Is                your boyfriend interested in                clever Jenny?                          JENNY                I think so.                          MISS STUBBS                Interested enough to let her do                what she wants?                          JENNY                He couldn't stop me.                          MISS STUBBS                He might not have to stop you.                That's what I'm trying to tell                you.                                              76.                    JENNY              (frustrated)          I'm not sure what you're trying          to tell me.                    MISS STUBBS          I'm telling you to go to Oxford.          No matter what. Or you'll break          my heart.Jenny looks at her.                    JENNY              (quietly)          Where did you go?                      MISS STUBBS          Sorry?                    JENNY              (louder, bolder)          Where did you go? Which          university?                    MISS STUBBS          Girton. Cambridge.                      JENNY          Oh.                    MISS STUBBS          What does that mean? `Oh'?                    JENNY          You're clever. And you're pretty.          So presumably, Clever Miss Stubbs          won. And here you are, reading          all those pony essays. I don't          know. These last few months, I've          been to Paris, and to jazz clubs,          and I've eaten in wonderful          restaurants, and seen wonderful          films, heard beautiful music...                    MISS STUBBS          I'm sure you have. But I was          filled up with beautiful things,          books and music and conversation,          in exactly the same way at          Cambridge. And I didn't have to          pay the same sort of price. Are          you taking precautions, Jenny?Jenny stares at her angrily.                    JENNY          It's nothing to do with that.                                                          77.                            MISS STUBBS               Isn't it?                         JENNY               Maybe our lives are always going               to end up with pony essays. Or               housework. And yes, maybe we'll               go up to Oxford. But if we're all               going to die the moment we               graduate, maybe it's what we do               before that counts.                         MISS STUBBS               I'm sorry you think I'm dead.                         JENNY               I don't think you're dead. But...                         MISS STUBBS                   (coldly)               You'd better get to your next               class.     She turns her back on Jenny.73   EXT. CAR. NIGHT                                             73     Helen, Danny, Jenny get out of David's Bristol, which is     parked outside a nightclub called Esmerelda's Barn. David     has parked next to a white Rolls-Royce.                          JENNY                   (looking at the Rolls-                     Royce)               And we know the person who owns               this?                         DAVID               Yes. Perec Rachman. He's a....                            DANNY               A bastard.     Danny and David laugh.                         DAVID               He's a business acquaintance, and               we need to talk to him.                         JENNY               I gathered that much. But why do               we have to crawl around the West               End looking for his car? Why               don't you just make an               appointment, if you want to see               him?                                                          78.     The men snigger.                         DANNY               What? Ring his office? Talk to               his secretary? That isn't how it               works with him, dear.74   INT. CLUB. NIGHT                                           74     The four walk in and take their coats over to the     cloakroom. The club is a smoky West End club, full of                 smartly-dressed and dubious-looking men, and young,     glamorous, dubious-looking women. Jenny and Helen look out     of place - Helen too ethereal, Jenny too innocent. There is     jazz playing.                         DANNY               There he is.     We see a nasty-looking man in his late 30s/early 40s. He is     wearing a white sharksin suit and smoking a big cigar. He's     standing by the roulette table, talking to an even nastier-     looking man in a dark suit.     They find a table at the back and sit down. A waitress     comes over to their table.                         DAVID               A bottle of champagne, please.                         DANNY               Oh-ho. Champagne, eh?     He looks at Jenny and David expectantly.                         DAVID               Don't be bashful.                         HELEN               No. Be Sneezy.     Everyone ignores her.                         DAVID               All right, then. If you won't               tell them I will. Jenny got two               As and a B in her mock-A levels.                            DANNY               Fantastic.                         HELEN               Congratulations.                            JENNY               Thank you.                                                           79.                         DAVID               The B was in Latin. But it's much               better than it was, isn't it,               Minnie?     Rachman is now standing on his own. Danny nudges David, and     they go over to talk to him just as the champagne arrives.     The waiter pops the bottle of champagne and pours two     glasses. The girls smile and clink glasses.                         HELEN               Don't worry.                         JENNY               About what?                         HELEN               Someone told me that in fifty               years no-one will speak Latin,               probably. Not even Latin people.               So you shouldn't mind too much               about your B.     Jenny stares at her, trying to think of a response.75   INT. CLUB. NIGHT                                            75     Danny and David are at the bar, having just finished     talking to Rachman. Danny puffs out his cheeks and shakes              his head.                                                                                  DANNY               Well, I'm not sure you'd want him                                      to marry your sister. I'm not                                          even sure you'd want to talk to                                        him in a night-club, come to                                           that.                                                        They both chuckle. There is a silence for a moment.                         DANNY                   (gently)               You do know what you're doing,               old chap? With Jenny?                         DAVID               This is the one, Danny.                         DANNY               We've heard that before.                         DAVID               You can see she's different.               She's got everything. You've got               Helen, and....                                                          80.                         DANNY                   (drily)               And you've got Helen with brains.                            DAVID                      (rumbled)               Yes.                         DANNY               I don't want to see her hurt.     They make their way back to their table.76   INT. CLUB. NIGHT                                            76     While David and Helen watch, Danny and Jenny dance. Danny's     a good dancer; Jenny is nervous at first, but becomes more     comfortable and more expressive, with Danny's help.                         JENNY                   (knowing that she should                    make conversation, as                    all the couples around                    her are doing)               Have you...Have you bought any               more paintings recently?                         DANNY               Have I? Let's think? Oh, I picked               up a little Piper the other day.               A good `un, I think.                         JENNY               I'm still trying to work out what               makes good things good. It's               hard, isn't it?                         DANNY               The thing is, Jenny, you know,               without necessarily being able to               explain why. You've got taste.               That's not even half the               battle. That's the whole war.     Jenny smiles at him with gratitude. There is a sudden     closeness between them. David is watching them carefully.     They return to their table.                         DAVID               Jenny, we should go. It's late.                         JENNY                   (disappointed)               Oh. Yes.                                                           81.                         DANNY               Alas. One day, school will be               over forever, and we can talk               about art all night.                         DAVID                   (to Danny)               You're all right in a taxi,               aren't you?     He guides Jenny firmly out of the club.77   EXT. CLUB. NIGHT.                                           77     Jenny is about to to open the passenger door of the     Bristol, but David stops her.                         DAVID               Wait there.     He runs to the back of the car, opens the boot and starts     rummaging through it. It seems to be full of everything     but the thing he's looking for.                         JENNY               What are you doing?     He slams the boot shut and comes back empty-handed.                         DAVID               Will you marry me?     Jenny stares at him for a moment, then laughs.                         JENNY               What were you looking for?                         DAVID               I thought I had a ring. It               wouldn't have been the right one.               But it would have done for               tonight.                          JENNY                   (eyes twinkling with                    amusement)               Oh, David.                         DAVID               I'm serious.                         JENNY               You're very sweet.                         DAVID               What do you think?                                                          82.                         JENNY                   (helplessly)               Please take me home.     She gets into the car. We see the desperation in David's     face, lit by the headlights of a passing taxi, as he slams     the door on Jenny after she's got in.78   EXT. SCHOOL YARD. DAY                                        78         Jenny, Tina and Hattie all smoking in the school toilets.     Jenny is distracted, and standing apart from the others.     Tina looks at her.                         TINA               How do you say `A penny for your               thoughts?' in French?                         HATTIE               A franc is too much, isn't it?                         TINA               For her thoughts, yes. You'd be               overpaying by about ninety-nine               centimes.     Suddenly the door bursts open and the Latin teacher comes     in.79   INT. HEAD'S OFFICE. DAY                                      79     The three girls are lined up in front of the headmistress,     hands by their sides.                         HEADMISTRESS               I'm surprised that you two are               standing in front of me. I'm not               surprised to find you here, Miss               Mellor, though I do feel rather               like the judge who sent Al Capone               to prison for tax evasion. We               take a very dim view of smoking.               We take an even dimmer view of               some of your other behaviour,               which as far as we know has taken               place off school premises. Your               appearance here today, however,               allows me to remind you that we               are trying to teach you how to               become young ladies, not               nightclub hostesses. In reality,               of course, you are neither. You               are merely silly little girls.               Detention after school. Go away.                                                             83.      Jenny's face sets hard. Something in her shuts down.80    EXT. JENNY'S BALCONY. EVENING                                80           Jenny is smoking on the balcony.                                    80A   INT. JENNY'S BEDROOM.                                        80A          Jenny is at her desk in her bedroom, trying to work, but      she can't concentrate. Her hair is tied back in a pony-      tail. She gets up, pulls back the curtains, looks out of      the window. We see what she sees: a sleepy suburban street      at night. She looks back at her desk. It looks even more      boring than the street. She looks at her scrubbed seventeen-      year-old face in the mirror - so much younger than the      Jenny we have seen with David. She makes herself up, and      she gets older and more glamorous before our eyes. In her                 make-up and her school uniform, she's half-woman, half-      child. We hear the noises drifting up from the kitchen: the      radio, the washing-up, occasional muffled conversation.      Jenny walks out of the bedroom and slips downstairs.81    INT. KITCHEN. EVENING                                        81      Jenny's mother and father are doing the washing up and      listening to the radio. They have their backs to the door.      Jenny enters the room quietly and watches them for a moment                          MAN ON THE RADIO                They do need some looking after,                but nothing that will require too                much work. Just leave them in                your potting shed for a couple of                weeks, and they'll look after                themselves.                          JACK                Oh, aye. The potting shed. Who                does he think I am? Prince                Rainier of Monaco?                          JENNY                What if I got married instead of                going to college?      Jack and Marjorie turn around and stare at this strange      apparition wearing too much make-up and a school uniform.                           JACK                Married?                           JENNY                Married.                                                     84.                    JACK          It would depend who it was,          surely?                    JENNY          Would it? That's interesting.                    JACK          Course it would. I wouldn't want          you married off just for the          sake of it.                    JENNY          Thanks.                    MARJORIE          Has somebody asked you?                    JENNY          Yes.                    JACK          Who?Marjorie rolls her eyes.                    MARJORIE          What did you tell him?                    JENNY          Nothing yet.                    JACK          David?                    JENNY          No. A man I just met walking his          dog.                    JACK          David's asked you to marry him?          Bloody hell. Pardon my French.                    MARJORIE          Do you have any choice? Or is it          too late.She looks at her daughter knowingly. Jack merely looksconfused.                    JACK          Of course she's got a choice. But          it's an interesting one, isn't          it?                                                            85.                         JENNY               This is where you're supposed to               say, "But what about Oxford?"                         JACK               Well. Looked at it one way, you               wouldn't really need to go now,               would you? He's a man going               places. And say what you like,               but they know how to take care of               their money, don't they? He'll               see you're looked after.                         JENNY                   (quietly, turning the                    words over in her                    mouth)               I wouldn't need to go. Would you               like to expand on that?                         JACK               You know what I mean.     Jenny laughs bitterly. She can't believe it.                         JENNY               All that Latin! All those essays!               What was the point? Why didn't               you just send me out prowling               round nightclubs? It would have               been less trouble. And I might               have had more fun.                         JACK               We don't know about nightclubs.               We knew about education. Anyway,               it all turned out for the best.                           JENNY               How?                         JACK               He wouldn't have wanted you if               you were thick, would he?     Jenny stares at them and walks out.82   INT. CLASSROOM. DAY                                          82     English. Miss Stubbs is standing at the front   of the class,     holding a copy of King Lear, and listening as   various     members of the class massacre the text. Some    are messing     about by overacting; others read to the best     of their     ability, tonelessly and with no understanding   of the words.                                                       86.Lear himself is being read by Ann, the bespectacled girl      from the first scene. She's no King Lear, and she's one ofthe bad readers.                    GIRL 1          May not an ass know when the cart          draws the horse? Sings whoop jug          I love thee.                    MISS STUBBS          Yes, when it says `Sings', it          means he sings those words.Girl 1 looks at her blankly.                    MISS STUBBS          Never mind. Lear...                    ANN                                                 Does any here know me. This is          not Lear. Does Lear walk thus?                      TINA                (sotto voce, to Jenny,                 in the seat next to                 her)          No.Jenny starts to giggle.                    ANN                                                 Speak thus?Tina shakes her head.                    ANN                                                 Where are his eyes?Tina doesn't need to say anything - she just looks atJenny, makes a pair of spectacles with her fingers andsquints. Jenny's giggling fit increases in intensity.                    ANN                                                 Either his notion weakens, or his          discernings are lethargied. Ha!          Waking? Tis not so. Who is it          that can tell me who I am?Jenny's arm shoots up, as if to answer the question.                    JENNY          Ooh. Miss. Me. I can.Miss Stubbs looks at Jenny more in sorrow than in anger -Jenny's behaviour now is something new in theirrelationship. Jenny stares back at her defiantly. SuddenlyMiss Stubbs notices something glinting on her hand: anengagement ring.                                                       87.                       MISS STUBBS          Oh, Jenny.She is, as she promised she would be, heartbroken.                       JENNY          What?                    MISS STUBBS          Take it off.Hattie, who is sitting behind Jenny, notices the ring, too,for the first time.                    HATTIE          Oh my God. Is that really what I          think it is? I'M GOING TO BE A          BRIDESMAID!There is an excited susurration in the classroom.                    MISS STUBBS          You know there's a school rule          about jewelry.                    JENNY          Half the girls in this room are          wearing jewelry.                    MISS STUBBS          Yes. But none of it is going to          ruin their lives.                    JENNY              (coolly)          We have a difference of opinion          on that.Miss Stubbs stares at her. Jenny can only just steelherself to stare back.                    MISS STUBBS          Let's see who's right. Come with          me.Jenny doesn't move.                    MISS STUBBS          Please don't make me drag you out          like a child.Jenny gets to her feet. Teacher and pupil leave the room,while the rest of the class watches.                                                    88.83   INT. HEADMISTRESS'S OFFICE. DAY                      83                         HEADMISTRESS               How far advanced are these               ridiculous plans? Have you set a               date? Have you decided on a               church?                         JENNY               We won't be getting married in a               church. David's Jewish.     The headmistress stares at her, dumbfounded.                         HEADMISTRESS               Jewish? He's a Jew? You're aware,               I take it, that the Jews killed               our Lord?                         JENNY                   (beginning to feel less                    intimidated by her                    surroundings)               And you're aware, I suppose, that               our Lord was Jewish?     The headmistress snorts scornfully                         HEADMISTRESS               I suppose he told you that. We're               all very sorry about what               happened in the War. But there's               no excuse for that sort of               malicious and untruthful               propaganda.     Jenny smiles to herself.                         HEADMISTRESS               Anyway, I can now see that you               are even more in need of               responsible advice than I               realised. Is it true that you               don't intend to sit for your               exams? And therefore you won't be               applying for University?                         JENNY               Yes, that's right.                         HEADMISTRESS               What do you think you're doing?                         JENNY               Nobody has been able to explain               to me the point of University.                                                     89.          Therefore I don't see the point          of the exams, either.                    HEADMISTRESS          Nobody does anything worth doing          without a degree.                    JENNY          And nobody does anything worth          doing with one, either. No woman,          anyway.                    HEADMISTRESS          So what I do isn't worth doing.          Or what Miss Stubbs does, or Mrs          Wilson, or any of us here.Jenny doesn't say anything. The headmistress takes hersilence as an admission of defeat.                    HEADMISTRESS          Because none of us would be here          without our degrees, you realise          that, don't you? And yes, of          course studying is hard, and          boring, and...Jenny can't contain herself any longer.                       JENNY          Boring!                       HEADMISTRESS          I'm sorry?                    JENNY          Studying is hard and boring.          Teaching is hard and boring. So          you're telling me to be bored,          and then bored, and then finally          bored again, this time for the          rest of my life. This whole          stupid country is bored. There's          no life in it, or colour in it,          or fun in it. It's probably just          as well that the Russians are          going to drop a nuclear bomb on          us any day now. So my choice is          either to do something hard and          boring, OR to marry my... my Jew,          and go to Paris and Rome and          listen to jazz and read and eat          good food in nice restaurants and          have fun. It's not enough to          educate us any more, Mrs Walters.          You've got to tell us why you're          doing it.                                                          90.                         HEADMISTRESS               Because without formal               qualifications...     She grinds to a halt. She has never had to answer this     question before.                         HEADMISTRESS               It doesn't have to be teaching,               you know. There's the Civil               Service.     Jenny stands up.                         JENNY               I don't wish to be impertinent,               Mrs Walters. But it is an               argument worth rehearsing. You               never know. Someone else might               want to know what the point of it               all is, one day.     She leaves the office.84   EXT. SCHOOL. DAY                                            84     Jenny is half-walking, half-running, towards the school     gates. She's scared, of course, but exhilarated, too. All     that pressure, and all those years of education, suddenly     over, unexpectedly, and certainly unceremoniously. She     looks neither left nor right, but other girls, younger     girls, watch her through the windows as she leaves. Jenny     doesn't even look round when she goes through the school     gates.85   INT. KITCHEN. EVENING                                       85     Later. Jenny and Marjorie are sitting at the kitchen table.     Jack is standing over them; he hasn't even taken his coat     off, or put his briefcase down.                         JACK               How d'you mean, left?     Jenny doesn't answer.                         JACK               What about your exams?                         JENNY               I'm not sitting them.                         JACK               What are we going to tell people?                                                          91.                         JENNY                   (witheringly)               Oh, telling people. I'd forgotten               that what we tell people is more               important than anything.                         JACK               All that...     Marjorie knows what he's going to say, and doesn't want him     to.                         MARJORIE               Jack!                         JACK               No. No need for Jack. She should               hear it. All that money! Do you               know how much it's cost me for               you to go through school and take               no exams?                         JENNY               I'm sure David will pay you back.               Send him a bill. As you said, he               wouldn't have wanted me if I was               dim, so he should fork out. Just               tell me why there's a point in               sitting my exams, and there's no               point in me going to University.     Jack gapes at her. He's floundering.                         JACK               You know what your trouble is,               don't you? You're too clever by               half.                         JENNY               In which case I should have left               school years ago, shouldn't I?               Ask them for the money back. If               I'm too clever by half, you               overpaid by a third.86   INT. DANNY'S FLAT. NIGHT                                     86     Danny, Helen, David and Jenny are in Danny's flat; we have     just missed The Announcement - there is champagne already     open. Danny glances quickly and discreetly at David, who     catches his eye.                         HELEN               That's...Gosh. That's fantastic               news.                                                              92.     Danny isn't so pleased.                          DANNY                   (cool)               Congratulations.     There is much chinking of glasses.                         HELEN               I thought you'd see sense about               university.     Jenny smiles.                         HELEN (CONT'D)               You'll stay pretty now.     Laughter from David and Jenny.                         JENNY               Am I still allowed to read?                         HELEN               English? Books?     More laughter.                         HELEN (CONT'D)               You won't be laughing when she               goes all speccy and spotty,               David.     Helen is bemused by their mirth. Danny watches   David     thoughtfully.87   EXT. DANNY'S. NIGHT                                            87         David and Jenny come out of Danny's flat and approach                     David's car.                                                                                  JENNY               Danny didn't seem very pleased               about our engagement.                         DAVID               I thought that, too! I was               wondering whether he might be a               bit jealous.                         JENNY                   (trying not to be                    pleased)               Jealous?                                                           93.                          DAVID                You may have noticed that Helen's                not really Oxford material. I'm                going to keep him out of your                way.      They both smile. David opens the door for Jenny and she                  gets into the car.                                                 87A   INT. JENNY'S KITCHEN. DAY                                   87A          Jenny is making David a cup of tea. Her mother is keeping                an eye on Jenny - in Marjorie's mind at least, this is a                 rehearsal for something.                                                                     DAVID                                                          I haven't put my...my stamp on it                                        yet. Haven't had time. It needs a                                        woman's touch, really. And if you                                        don't like it, we can move. Just                                         say the word.                                                                      JENNY                                                          Where is the flat again?                                                           MARJORIE                                                       You have to put the cosy on                                              straight away.                                                 Jenny sighs and rolls her eyes. She picks up the hand-                   knitted tea-cosy and puts it on her head.                                                       JENNY                                                       Like that?                                                     David laughs.                                                                                MARJORIE                                                           (oblivious)                                                          No. On the tea-pot.                                                                  JENNY                                                              (deadpan)                                                          Ah.                                                            She puts the tea-cosy on the tea-pot.                                                        DAVID                                                          Just down from Russell Square.                                           Two minutes' walk from the                                               underground.                                                                                           94.                    MARJORIE                                   Jenny! We could walk to...(She                       tries to think of somewhere Jenny                    might find interesting.) We could                    walk to the British Museum!                Jenny gives her a look.                                                  MARJORIE                                   I'll leave you to it. Don't let                      it stew.                                   She leaves the room.                                                     JENNY                                      And this is where you're living?                               DAVID                                      I've stayed there for the last                       couple of nights. (Beat) On and                      off.                                                           JENNY                                      You've stayed there two nights                       "on and off"?                                                  DAVID                                      Is that tea ready? One sugar,                        please.                                                        JENNY                                          (frustrated by his                                    evasions)                                       David!                                                         DAVID                                      I'm sorry. You must think I'm                        very odd.                                                      JENNY                                      No, but.... You seem to float                        around. I never know where you                       are.                                       She hands him his tea.                                                   DAVID                                      A wandering Jew.(He pauses to                        take a sip.) If I tell you                           something, will you promise not                      to laugh?                                                      JENNY                                      It depends on how funny it is.                                                                       95.                         DAVID                                                             (mumbling)                                                          I live at home.                                                                   JENNY                                                         We all live at home.                                                              DAVID                                                         No. I mean...I live at home...in                                        the same way that you live at                                           home.                                                                             JENNY                                                         But I live with my mother and                                           fa...(It clicks.) You don't mean                                        it.                                                           David nods, shamefacedly.                                                                   JENNY                                                         Your mother and father?                                                           DAVID                                                         Just my mother. My father's dead.                                       I've been meaning to tell you,                                          Minnie, and it would have been                                          much better than all those silly                                        lies. But...                                                  He looks quite upset. We warm to him. Jenny leans over and              takes his hand.                                                                             DAVID                                                         Anyway. You can see how much I                                          need you. And you won't regret                                          this, I promise. We'll have so                                          much fun. And just think. When we                                       get married, you won't have to                                          wait in the car while I do my                                           business.. You'll be waiting at                                         home, looking at the Burne-Jones                                        on the wall. Home, Minnie. Our                                          home. Can you imagine?                                        Close on Jenny. She can't imagine, really.                         90   INT. COFFEE BAR. DAY                                         90         Jenny, Tina and Hattie in the coffee bar. Jenny is eagerly     scanning the English literature exam paper.                                                             96.                         JENNY               Did you do this one? "Show from               any TWO scenes in `Pride and               Prejudice' how far it is true               that Jane Austen's methods are               `essentially dramatic'".                         HATTIE               Three scenes.                         JENNY               It says two here. Look.     She shows the paper to Hattie. Hattie slumps onto the     formica table and groans.                         HATTIE               Two. Two. Two. I can't believe               it.     Tina rubs Hattie's head sympathetically.                         TINA               It was an unfair question. You're               hopeless at maths. What do you do               all day, anyway, Lady Muck?     Jenny shrugs.                         JENNY               I've been looking at flats. I've                                         been to look at dresses. I've               been reading a lot, too.                         TINA               Reading, trying on dresses...               Where did we go wrong?                         JENNY               What's this afternoon?                         TINA               French. The translation paper.     Jenny is lapping it all up. She might even be envious.91   INT. JENNY'S HOUSE. EVENING                                   91     Jenny and Marjorie are in the sitting room, all dressed up     and waiting for David to come and pick them up. Jenny looks     great, as usual; her mother looks smart, if somewhat old-     fashioned.                                                     97.                    MARJORIE          Don't worry. He'll find a nice                                 place in no time. He sees plenty                               of them.                                                                 JENNY                                                I'm not sure he sees plenty of                                 nice places.                                                   Would you like a radiogram for a          wedding present? We love ours.Something about this depresses Jenny. Marjorie notices.                    MARJORIE          You won't be bored, you know.          He's not boring.Now they are both thoughtful. As if on cue, Jack comes intothe sitting room, pulling at his tie, looking apprehensive.He appears to be wearing Brylcreem. He looks like a littleboy who has been made to put on his Sunday best.                    JACK          What sort of things can you have          for starters? I mean, how will I          know what are starters and what          aren't? I'm all right if it's          soup or fruit juice. But if it's          anything more than that...                    JENNY          We've been through this, Dad.          It'll be quite clearly marked on          the menu.The doorbell rings. Jack stiffens. Jenny goes to answer thedoor.                    JACK          Why don't you three go out? I'll          be happy here with a tin of...David enters the room. He is relaxed, happy. He has worn atie, possibly because he knew that Jack would wear a tie.Jack and Marjorie stand, and they exchange greetings.                    DAVID          Everybody ready? I think you'll          like this place, Jack. Their wine          list is as good as anything I've          seen in London.                    JACK          Someone told me that.                                                          98.                         JENNY               David, probably. Who else would               it have been?92   EXT. STREET/JENNY'S HOUSE NIGHT                              92         Jack and Marjorie approach David's Bristol.                         JACK               I was hoping you'd take us in               this.                         DAVID               Oh, you won't want to go in               anything else after tonight. Mind               you, it drinks petrol. I'm afraid               we'll have to stop on the way in               to town.     He opens the back door for his future in-laws.                         DAVID               Madame. Monsieur.     They get in, he closes the door, runs round to open the     front passenger door for Jenny.93   INT. CAR. NIGHT                                              93     David starts the car, and glances in the rear-view mirror.                         DAVID               Everyone happy?                         JACK               I feel like Eamonn Andrews.                         DAVID               Is that a good thing?                         MARJORIE               Of course. Eamonn Andrews is the               poshest person that Jack can               imagine being.94   EXT. STREET/PETROL STATION. NIGHT                            94         The Bristol cruises down a London arterial road.95   INT. CAR. NIGHT                                              95     We see, from David's POV, a petrol station approaching.                                                          99.                         DAVID               Sorry about this.     He slows the car and turns in to the garage.96   EXT. GARAGE. NIGHT                                          96     David gets out of the car as the attendant comes over.                         ATTENDANT               How can I help you, sir?                         DAVID               You might as well fill her up.     David looks around and spots a phone box just outside the     garage. He leans in through the open car window.                         DAVID               I'm just going to make a quick               call. I'll be two ticks.97   INT. CAR. NIGHT                                             97     Jenny watches him walk towards the phone box.                         JACK               Do you think we should offer him               some petrol money? Or would he               feel insulted?     Jenny watches David as he dials the number. He notices her,     waves, puts the money in the slot.                         JACK               He'd feel insulted, probably. He               said tonight was his treat. That               must include the petrol, for               God's sakes?     David starts to talk, and turns away, as if he's frightened     that someone in the car can lip-read.                         JACK               What do you think?     Nobody pays him any attention. They lapse into silence.     Jack starts to fiddle with the features in the car - a     table springs down from the seat in front of him, much to     his alarm.                         JACK               God almighty. What have I done?                                                         100.     Jenny opens the glove compartment, looking for the     cigarettes that David always keeps there. She finds the     cigarettes, and closes the glove compartment. But she has     seen something in there, so she opens it again. She takes     out some letters and papers and starts to look through     them.98   EXT. GARAGE. NIGHT                                           98     David has finished his phone call and is walking towards     the car. He sees Jenny looking through letters and papers,     sees the open glove compartment, starts to run across the     forecourt.                         DAVID                   (desperately)               Jenny!     It's too late. We see Jenny's stricken face, gleaming in     someone else's headlights.99   INT. CAR. NIGHT                                              99     David gets into the car.                         DAVID               Jenny, I...                         JENNY                   (as cold as ice)               Take us home.                         JACK               What's going on?                         DAVID               There's been a...Jenny's had a               bit of a shock.     Jenny laughs, mirthlessly, then starts to weep.                         JACK               What's happened?                         JENNY               It's another one of David's               little muddles and               misunderstandings.                         DAVID               Jenny, it's not...                         JENNY               I don't want to hear another word               from anybody. Take me home. NOW.                                                          101.      Marjorie and Jack look at each other. David swings the car      around and they drive home in silence; Jenny cries      constantly, without making a sound.100   EXT. JENNY'S HOUSE. NIGHT                                  100      The Bristol draws up outside Jenny's house. David jumps out      of the car and lets Marjorie and Jack out. Jack starts to      walk towards the house and then stops.                          JACK                    (desperately)                You can sort this out, can't you,                David?      Jenny gets out of the car too.                           DAVID                Of course I can. She's just got                the wrong end of the stick about                something.                          JENNY                Go inside, Dad.      Jenny and David watch Jack and Marjorie go into the house.      The moment the door is closed, Jenny walks towards David.      She's holding a bunch of letters that she took out of the      glove compartment. She starts to throw them at him, one by      one.                          JENNY                Mr and Mrs David Goldman, Mr and                                        Mrs David Goldman, Mr and Mrs                                           David Goldman, Mr and Mrs David                                         Goldman..                                                     When she has thrown the last one, she flies at David - she      slaps him, punches him, scratches him. David tries to grab      her hands, but she's too wild.                          DAVID                Just let me...                          JENNY                You're MARRIED!                          DAVID                Legally, yes, but...      Finally he manages to subdue her. She leans against the      car, distraught.                          JENNY                When were you going to tell me?                                                    102.                    DAVID          Soon. It just - it never seemed          the right time. You seemed so          happy, and I was happy, and...It          would have spoiled everything.          What can I do, Minnie? What can I          do? How can...                      JENNY          "Oh,   Jenny. I'm just too busy to          find   somewhere to live...I live          with   my mummy." You were living          with   your wife! All this time!                       DAVID          Jenny...                    JENNY          What's your address?David gestures vaguely.                       JENNY          Where?                    DAVID          Byron Avenue.                    JENNY          Byron Avenue! It's no wonder we          kept bumping into each other,          then, is it? What number?                    DAVID          There's no point..                    JENNY              (screaming)          WHAT NUMBER?                       DAVID          Seventeen.Jenny picks one of the envelopes up off the ground andlooks at it.                    JENNY              (bitterly sarcastic)          Good grief. It's the truth.                    DAVID          Please. You have to understand. I          was with you just about all the          spare time I had.                                                    103.                    JENNY          Spare time? Spare time? I can't          tell you how grateful I am.                    DAVID          Don't be like this.                    JENNY          I have nothing. I left school. I          didn't take my exams. Where's it          all gone, now? I gave my life          away.                                                                    DAVID          Jenny, I can get a divorce.          Everything will turn out for   the          best. You'll see.We can see Jack and Marjorie peering through the lacecurtains anxiously.                    JENNY          Go and tell them. Go and tell          them, then go and tell your wife.          I want to see you. I want to          stand there and watch.David stands on the pavement, looking towards the house. Helooks away; he can't make eye contact with Jenny's parents.                    DAVID          They're not going to listen to me          now. Let me come round tomorrow.          When everyone's calmed down a          bit.                    JENNY              (suddenly desperate)          Please don't leave me to tell          them on my own. Please. You owe          me that much. You owe them that          much.                    DAVID              (sadly)          I owe them a lot more than that.          I owe them everything. They gave          me you.He opens the boot. It's full of cases of whiskey. Jennydoesn't even bother asking what they are doing there. Davidtakes one of the bottles, opens it, takes a long slug.                    JENNY          Two minutes. And then I'll come          out and drag you in.                                                          104.      Jenny marches into the house and slams the door. The camera      stays on David. He gets back into the car and takes      another slug of whiskey. Then his shoulders begin to      shake, and he cries and cries.101   INT. JENNY'S HOUSE. NIGHT                                   101      Jenny comes in, leaving the door open for David. Her      parents are standing in the sitting room, looking at her      anxiously. Their coats are still on, and they haven't put      the lights on yet.                          JACK                What's going on?                          JENNY                He's helping himself to some                Dutch courage before facing you.                Stolen Dutch courage, from the                look of it. He has something to                tell you.      She stands, pale and young-looking again, opposite her      parents. Suddenly they are all three lit up by headlights.      Shot from their POV of the Bristol roaring off up the      street.                          JACK                He just drove off.      We close slowly in on Jenny's face. But of course he'd      drive off!                          JACK                    (pathetic)                Can you tell us? Please? Jenny?      Jenny can't deal with her own pain, let alone his. He      already looks like a broken, foolish old man. They should      hug. But they don't.102   EXT. STREET/DAVID'S HOUSE. DAY                              102          A suburban street, full of semi-detached houses, not far      from Jenny's house. Jenny walks down the road tentatively -      she's looking at the numbers on the houses. She looks young      again - tired, no make-up, no elegant clothes. She can't      bring herself to wear anything that David bought her.      She hesitates at the top of the driveway to the house,      steels herself to walk down. But just at that moment the      door opens; there's a homely-looking woman, early 30s. She      is holding the hand of a three-year-old. Jenny is stunned.      But there's more to come.                                                    105.The woman deposits the child in the drive, goes back intothe house, comes out behind an enormous 1950s pram. Davidhas found time to father another baby.                       WIFE          Oh. Hello.                    JENNY              (almost inaudible)          Hello. I'm sorry. I think I must          have the wrong house.The woman stares at her.                    JENNY          Yes. I wanted number...It's my          cello lesson. Silly. I...She dries up and looks at the woman helplessly.                    WIFE          Oh, no. Don't tell me. Good God.          You're a child.Jenny blushes. Beat. She turns and tries to walk back upthe driveway, but the woman won't let her go.                    WIFE          No. No. You stay here. If you're          old enough to sleep with him,          you're old enough to look at me.                       JENNY          I can't.But she doesn't move, either.                    WIFE          You didn't know about any of          this. Presumably.Jenny shakes her head.                    WIFE          No. They never do. Did he ask you          to marry him?Jenny nods.                    WIFE          Yes. Of course he did. You're not          in the family way, are you?          Because that's happened before.Jenny shakes her head.                                                          106.                          WIFE                Thank God for that. At least you                can escape intact. (Beat)                Relatively speaking. Not all of                them have done.      She nods at the children.                          WIFE                That's why he never goes through                with anything. He does love them.                          JENNY                    (looking into the pram)                She's beautiful.                          WIFE                Thank you. He. (Bitterly) He's                four months old.      Jenny does the maths. It's all she can do to stop herself      from reeling backwards - she's visibly shaken.                          JENNY                Four months!                          WIFE                Yes. Babies often are that sort                of age. Perhaps you can remember                a night four months ago when he                seemed a little distracted.                Anyway. If you'll excuse us.      She pushes past Jenny and leaves her standing bereft on the      path.103   INT. JENNY'S HOUSE. DAY                                     103      Marjorie and Jack are in the kitchen. Marjorie is sipping      tea, shoulders hunched, defeated. Jack is pacing around the      room, furious. Normal life has clearly been suspended      during this crisis. Jenny walks in.                          MARJORIE                Did you see her?                          JENNY                I saw her. I didn't talk to her.                There wasn't any need.                          JACK                Well we've got to have this out.                If you won't do it, I will.      He starts for the door.                                                          107.                          JENNY                    (contemptuously)                Sit down.                          JACK                I beg your pardon? I'm still your                father, Jenny.                          JENNY                Oh, you're my father again, are                you? What were you when you                encouraged me to throw my life                away? I'm a silly schoolgirl.                Was, anyway. Silly schoolgirls                are always being seduced by                glamorous older men. But what                about you two?                          JACK                We didn't...      He gives up hopelessly. Marjorie says nothing.                          JENNY                And now I've got nothing.                I'm...I'm broken.      Jack looks at her.                          JACK                That doesn't mean....what I think                it means, does it? It can't.                          JENNY                What are you talking about?                          JACK                Just tell me that you                didn't...you haven't, you                know...You didn't....                                         Jenny looks at him in disbelief.                          MARJORIE                    (to Jack)                I wondered how stupid you were.                Now I know.104   INT. UPPER HALLWAY. NIGHT                                  104          Jack stands outside Jenny's bedroom door with a cup of tea.      He knocks tentatively.                                                             108.105   INT. BEDROOM. NIGHT                                           105      Close-up of the floaty print dress that Helen gave her. The      dress is suddenly jerked out of shot, and we pull back to      reveal a weeping Jenny stuffing it violently into an      already full box of things she is throwing out. The      contents represent her now-despised, David-created adult      self. We can see Juliette Greco albums, photos, expensive-      looking jewelry boxes. She continues to stuff things into      the box. There's a knock on the door.                            JACK (O.S.)                Jenny.      She continue to put her David-life away into bags. She      ignores him.106   INT. UPPER HALLWAY. NIGHT                                     106          Jack is almost in tears.                          JACK                There's a cup of tea for you                here.      No answer. He puts the tea on the floor, and sits down next      to it.                          JACK                I know I made a mess of                everything.      He waits for an answer - nothing.                          JACK                All my life I've been scared, and                I didn't want you to be scared.                That's why I wanted you to go to                Oxford. So that if someone asked                you out to a nice restaurant, you                wouldn't panic about what was a                starter and what was a main                course. And then David came                along, and he had money, and he                knew famous writers, and he knew                how to get to classical music                                              concerts. But he wasn't who he                                             said he was. He wasn't who you                said he was, either.107   INT. BEDROOM. NIGHT                                           107      Jenny is about to rip a poster off the wall, but she      pauses.                                                           109.108    INT. UPPER HALLWAY. NIGHT                                  108                               JACK                 The other day, your mother and I                 were listening to a programme                 about CS Lewis on the radio, and                 they said he moved to Cambridge                 in 1954. And I said to Marjorie,                 Well, they've got that wrong,                 because how would our Jenny get                 her book signed, if he wasn't in                 Oxford?109    INT. BEDROOM. NIGHT                                        109       Jenny's face crumples. She knows he's right.                           JACK (O.S.)                 Jenny, I'm sorry.109A   INT. DANNY'S FLAT. DAY                                  109A             Jenny is sitting on the sofa in Danny's flat. Danny and                  Helen are in dressing gowns; there are newspapers strewn                 around. Danny pours her a brandy. Helen is sitting next to               her, holding her hand.                                                                       HELEN                                                          I don't really understand what                                           difference it makes. When I found                                        out that...                                                                        DANNY                                                          Helen! Not now.                                                Helen shrugs.                                                                                DANNY                                                          I tried to tell him. I'm not                                             speaking to him now, if that's                                           any consolation.                                                                   JENNY                                                              (bitterly)                                                           It's a funny world you people                                            live in. You both watched me...                                          carrying on with a married man,                                          but you don't think it's worth                                           saying anything.                                                                                                  110.                          DANNY                                                         Ah, well if you want that sort of                                       conversation...You watched David                                        and I help ourselves to a map,                                          and you didn't say much, either.                              He holds Jenny's gaze. She looks away.                            110   INT. HEADMISTRESS'S OFFICE. DAY                            110          Jenny has put on her school uniform for this meeting; it      completes a circle. She's back where she started from, or      would like to be, anyway. If she seems older than she did      when we first met her, it's because things have happened to      her, and they've left a mark on her face. She's worried and      tired. The headmistress, meanwhile, is delighted by her      return - but only because of the opportunities for smugness      and schadenfreude it provides.                          HEADMISTRESS                So. Your Jewish friend turned out                to be married already, I                understand. How unfortunate.      Jenny doesn't say anything. She has clearly decided to      swallow anything she has to.                          HEADMISTRESS                Anyway. How do you think we can                help?                          JENNY                I'd like to repeat my last year                at school. Start all over again.                          HEADMISTRESS                I got the impression the last                time we spoke that you didn't see                the point of school. Or of me, or                of any of us here.                          JENNY                I know. I was stupid.                          HEADMISTRESS                So what is the point?                          JENNY                I know that I need to go to                university.                          HEADMISTRESS                And what happens if some other                chap wants to marry you during                your studies next year?                                                          111.                          JENNY                    (laughing bitterly)                Some other chap? There won't be                any other chaps. Not for a long,                long time, anyway.                          HEADMISTRESS                I'm afraid I think you're the                sort of young lady who attracts                chaps whether she wants to or                not. No,I think the offer of a                place at this school would be                wasted on you. You showed how                little you valued us only weeks                ago. And I must confess that it                gives me a sort of grim                satisfaction to return the                sentiment now.                          JENNY                    (bitterly)                Is it really so grim, your                satisfaction?                          HEADMISTRESS                It gives me no pleasure to see                our schoolgirls throw their lives                away. Although, of course, you're                not one of our schoolgirls any                more. Through your own volition.                          JENNY                I suppose you think I'm a ruined                woman.                          HEADMISTRESS                Oh, you're not a woman.      Beat. Jenny stands up and leaves without saying a word. The      headmistress is pleased with her final line.111   INT. BEDROOM. NIGHT                                        111      Jenny working hard in her room. It's been completely      stripped bare of everything except schoolbooks. She has      become ageless, genderless - her life is now monastic.112   EXT. PARK. DAY                                             112          Jenny walking alone through her old park.                                                                                   112.113   INT. COFFEE BAR. DAY                                       113          Jenny on her own, smoking nervously. Hattie and Tina come      in. They obviously haven't seen her since it all happened.      They both hug her sympathetically and sit down. Nobody      knows what to say.                          TINA                I'm sure my uncle knows someone                who could kill him. If that would                help.      Jenny smiles wanly, and briefly.                          HATTIE                We should have stopped you.                          JENNY                Did you want to?                          TINA                Of course we didn't. Why would we                stop you? Restaurants, hotels,                foreign cities, no exams...                          JENNY                    (Bitterly)                Yes. Who'd have thought there'd                be a down side to all that? I                could tell you all about the                imagery in Jane Eyre. But I                couldn't see that a man who stole                maps from old ladies might be a                liar.      They look at her. This is new information.                          HATTIE                Well, if you'd told us that we                might have tried to stop you.                          JENNY                There are a lot of things I                didn't tell you. I was dreaming.                          TINA                That's the thing about our lives,                isn't it? It's so easy to fall                asleep, when there's nothing to                keep you awake.      Beat.                          HATTIE                Are you getting on with the work                all right on your own?                                                          113.      Jenny thinks.                          JENNY                    (heartfelt)                No. No, I'm not.114   EXT. STREET MISS STUBBS FLAT. DUSK.                         114          Jenny in a suburban street. She's looking for an address.      She finds the house, walks down the path, rings on a bell.      Miss Stubbs comes to the door.                            MISS STUBBS                Jenny!      It's a warm greeting. She ushers her inside.115   INT. MISS STUBBS' FLAT. DUSK.                               115      It's a proper Bohemian flat, up in the eaves. There are      books and papers and paintings covering every available      surface. Jenny looks around. Finally, for the first time,      we see her in somewhere she can feel at home.                          JENNY                This is lovely.      Miss Stubbs makes a face.                          JENNY                But it is. Really. I'd love to                live somewhere like this.      Miss Stubbs laughs.                          MISS STUBBS                Oh, it's not hard. Go to Oxford                and become a teacher and this is                what you end up with.                          JENNY                But all these books and                pictures....                           MISS STUBBS                Penguin paperbacks. Posters and                postcards.                          JENNY                    (apparently                     understanding                     something)                Yes, but...That's all you need,                isn't it?                                                          114.                Just a place to...I'm sorry I                said those silly things. I didn't                understand.                          MISS STUBBS                Let's forget all about it.      A poster catches Jenny's eye.                          JENNY                A Burne-Jones.      Miss Stubbs laughs.                            JENNY                What?                          MISS STUBBS                You make it sound as though it's                an original. Do you like him?      Jenny pauses.                          JENNY                Yes. I do. Still.                          MISS STUBBS                Still? Gosh, you sound very old                and wise.                           JENNY                    (heartfelt)                I feel old. But really not very                wise. Miss Stubbs, I'm....I need                your help.                          MISS STUBBS                I was so hoping that's what you                were going to say.116   EXT. STREET IN OXFORD. DAY                                 116      Eighteen months later. Swelling orchestral music. Close on              Jenny cycling, absorbed, happy, the cello strapped to her      precariously. The camera pulls back to show her cycling      through the streets of Oxford. She's done it. We follow her      for a little while. She dismounts outside a church and      leans the bike against a wall. Just as she's about to leave      it, she sees something and freezes. We follow her gaze:      it's the red Bristol, parked a little way down the road      just in front of her. She scans the street to see if she      can find David. She can - he's coming round a corner, a                 littler further down the street, unwrapping a packet of                 cigarettes. Jenny moves into his eye-line. He sees her,                 stops, then walks towards her.                                                    115.                      DAVID          Jenny.Jenny says nothing.                    DAVID          Jenny. Minnie. I wanted to tell          you that I am going to ask my          wife for a divorce.Jenny looks at him disbelievingly.                    JENNY          Don't you understand what you've          done?David looks at her. This isn't going to be as easy as hethought.                    DAVID          I can see my behaviour must have          been... confusing. But we've          never sat down and had a proper          chat about it all. About the whys          and wherefores. They can wait.          The important thing is that          you're still my Minnie Mouse, and          I love you, and you had fun. You          know you had fun.                    JENNY          Yes. I had fun. But I had fun          with the wrong person, at all the                              wrong times. And I can't ever get          those times back, now.(Beat)                                   Look, David. I'm in Oxford. Every                              day I wake up and pinch myself.          And when I think how close I                                   came...                                              She looks at him and shakes her head, as if awaking from adream. A young man stops behind her on his bike, dismounts,leans his bike against the wall next to hers, waits for herto finish. She turns her back on David, and the young manoffers her his arm. They walk away together, and Davidstares longingly after them.                      THE END
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+           ANALYZE THAT                 Screenplay byPETER STEINFELD and HAROLD RAMIS and PETER TOLAN        Based on characters created by       KENNETH LONERGAN and PETER TOLAN                June 2002 Draft              FOR EDUCATIONAL               PURPOSES ONLYFADE IN:INT. DIMLY-LIT BAR - NIGHTTwo men, CAESAR and MARTY "DUCKS," stand at  the   end of thedeserted bar, talking quietly, oblivious to  the   exotic dancergrinding her pelvis on a pole in the middle  of   the smallstage. Body language and charisma tell us   that   Caesar is theboss, "Ducks" his lieutenant.                         DUCKS           It's Peezee. Gotta be.    He hates your           fuckin' guts.                         CAESAR                   (brooding)           I don't know.                         DUCKS           Who else knew about the money? And           how did Peezee know they popped Tony           Cisco when we didn't even hear about           it 'til last night?                         CAESAR                   (sighs heavily)           I don't know.                         DUCKS                   (pressing)           What is so hard to understand here?           You said yourself Peezee was a           mamaluke and you couldn't trust him.           Now suddenly you're soft on the guy?                         CAESAR           I just don't think it was him.                         DUCKS           Okay, I'll bite. If not Peezee, then           who?                         CAESAR                   (slowly rising to                    his full height)           I think it was you, Ducks.Caesar starts to walk away as the bartender, now holding asawed-off shotgun, moves closer to Ducks. The exotic dancersplits in a hurry through a curtain at the back of the stage.                         DUCKS                   (scared)           You gotta be kiddin'!Caesar stops at the door where two of his soldiers have                                                             2.appeared, holding AUTOMATIC WEAPONS.                          DUCKS            Caesar, you know me! What kind of            fuckin' idiot would I have to be to            try that shit with you?                          CAESAR            A dead fuckin' idiot.As he walks out the door, the soldiers OPEN FIRE on Marty"Ducks." Caesar doesn't look back.PULL BACK TO:TV SCREENThe title credits come up on the made-for-cable series we'vebeen watching, "Little Caesar." CLAPPING AND CHEERING fromO.S.WIDEN TO:INT. SING SING PRISON - NIGHTMaximum-security prisoners are gathered around watching theirfavorite show in the rec room. In the front row is PAUL VITTI,former New York crime boss, and a couple of other wiseguys.                           VITTI            Garbage.   Change the channel.                           WISEGUY            Okay, Paul.The WISEGUY gets up and starts switching channels on the TV.A couple of CONVICTS in the back start to protest.                           CONVICT            Hey!   What're you doin', asshole!Vitti turns and stares at them.      They fall silentimmediately.                          CONVICT            Sorry, Mr. Vitti. Didn't mean any            disrespect.                           WISEGUY            Punks.Vitti turns the page and sees a huge headline in the Post:MOB SHRINK TELLS ALL. He gets up, agitated.                                                             3.                        VITTI          I'm going to bed.Vitti stands up and heads back to his cell.                                                   CUT TO:INT. CELL BLOCK - MOMENTS LATERAs Vitti approaches his cell, he sees a prison guard standingby. His cellmate, EARL, a giant of a man, comes out of theircell carrying his bedroll and a box containing his othermeager possessions.                        VITTI                  (suspicious)          What's goin' on, Earl?                        EARL          They're transferring me.                           VITTI          Why?                        EARL                  (shrugs)          Don't know. Thanks for looking out          for me, Mr. Vitti.                           VITTI          Yeah.     Take it easy.He notices something in the box.                           VITTI          Hey, Earl.     Is that my after-shave?                         EARL                  (blanches)          I'm sorry. I just grabbed stuff -- I          didn't know --                           VITTI          That's okay.     Keep it.   Go ahead.                           EARL          Thanks.     See you around.Earl exits with the guard. Vitti hesitates a moment, thenwarily steps into his cell.                                                   CUT TO:INT. VITTI'S CELL - MIDDLE OF NIGHTThe cellblock is quiet. A guard stops outside the darkenedcell, looks around to make sure no one is watching, then                                                           4.pulls out a GUN with a SILENCER, reaches through the bars andFIRES REPEATEDLY into Vitti's shadowy form under the blanket.Then he slips away as quietly as he appeared.ON his exit we PAN DOWN TO Vitti, unhurt, curled up under hisbunk.                                                 CUT TO:INT. MEMORIAL CHAPEL - DAYA deluxe casket flanked by elaborate floral displays and aneasel displaying a portrait of the deceased, Dr. Isaac Sobel.Mourners fill the pews, standees at the back, an overflowcrowd. BEN SOBEL sits in the front row, staring at thecasket with his wife, LAURA, his son, MICHAEL, now ateenager, BEN'S MOTHER, and her friend, DR. JOYCE BROTHERS.At the podium, the RABBI is speaking.                        RABBI          And now I'd like to call on Isaac's          son, Dr. Ben Sobel, who would like to          say a few words.Ben rises and crosses solemnly to the podium.                        BEN                  (addressing audience)          It's very difficult for me to talk          about my father, because in a sense          I'm talking about two men.                           BEN (CONT'D)          One, of    course, is the public Isaac          Sobel,    the eminent psychotherapist and          popular    author known to millions of          readers    around the world.Laura, Michael and Ben's Mother listen proudly to the eulogy.                        BEN          The second Isaac Sobel is the private          man -- my father -- Dad. And for          those of you who knew him well and          knew our family -- well, let's face it          -- my father was a psychotic, mind-          fucking prick. An arrogant, abusive,          ego-inflated --A RINGING CELL PHONE interrupts him.                                            JUMP CUT TO:BEN                                                            5.still seated in the front row, daydreaming. The RINGINGCONTINUES as all the mourners and even the Rabbi discreetlycheck their cell phones.Then Ben realizes it's his, fumbles for the phone in hisjacket pocket and answers it.                         BEN                   (whispers)          Hello?The mourners mutter.                                                  CUT TO:INT. PRISON PAY PHONE - SAME TIME                        VITTI          Guess who, you fuck!INTERCUT WITH:INT. CHAPELBen turns away from Laura.                        BEN          Paul?                  (to Laura)          I have to, uh, take this.                  (into phone)          This isn't a good time.Vitti is disheveled, his hair messed, his shirt buttonedwrong.                        VITTI          Not a good time? Let me explain          something to you. I'm in fucking Hell          right now. This is not a good time.                        BEN                  (sotto voce)          I can't talk right now.     My father          died!                        VITTI          So what does that have to do with me?                        BEN          Call me later --                        VITTI          Don't hang up on, Sobel!    They're          tryin' to kill me!                                                             6.Ben hangs up.                                          CUT BACK TO:VITTIHe stands there for a long beat just staring, the DIAL TONEBUZZING in his ear.                                               CUT TO:INT. SING SING - MESS HALL - NEXT DAYVitti and another WISEGUY pass through the cafeteria linewith their trays. Vitti now looks catatonic.                         WISEGUY #2          Ooh, they got tapioca. I love          tapioca.                   (looks at Vitti)          You all right, Paul?Vitti just stares, wild-eyed, actually drooling a little.                        WISEGUY #2          Can I have your tapioca?A guard, the one who tried to kill him, watches Vitti fromhis post. Then he nods to someone across the room.COYOTE, a heavily-muscled and tattooed gang member, nods inresponse.Vitti walks past the table where Coyote is sitting with othertough Hispanic gang members.                        COYOTE                  (to Vitti)          Hey, Fredo! Or is it Guido?His friends laugh.Vitti stops and stares dumbly at them.                        COYOTE          Just keep walkin', Don Corleone.There is a tense moment, then Vitti bursts out laughing.                        COYOTE          Shut up!Vitti laughs harder, strangely manic.                        COYOTE          I said, shut up, bitch!                                                             7.But Vitti can't stop. He drops his tray of slop, splatteringfood on the men. Coyote leaps to his feet and pulls a shiv.                        COYOTE          You're a dead man, jefe!Coyote lunges at Vitti with the knife, but Vitti suddenlywhirls around, bashes Coyote in the face with his food trayand bursts into song.                        VITTI                  (singing, with                   appropriate dance                   moves)          'When you're a Jet,          You're a Jet all the way,          From your first cigarette          To your last dyin' day...'Prisoners and guards stare at him like he's nuts.Coyote stabs at him again, but Vitti dodges and smashes himover the head with the tray.                        VITTI          'When you're a Jet,          If the shit hits the fan,          You got brothers around,          You're a family man...'                        COYOTE          You're a dead man, jefe!Coyote rushes him, but Vitti sidesteps and hits him in theface.Guards move in from all sides.   Vitti jumps up on thetabletop to escape them.                        VITTI                  (kicking at them,                   singing)          'I like to be in America,          Okay by me in America...'The guards drag him down and cuff his hands behind him, thencarry him out stiff as a board.                        VITTI          'Tonight, tonight, won't be just             any night -- '                                         DISSOLVE TO:EXT. SOBEL HOUSE - LATERA limo pulls up to an old, but well-maintained suburbanhouse, the family gets out and starts walking to the house.                                                            8.                                        CUT TO:EXT. SOBEL HOUSE - FRONT PORCH - MOMENTS LATERThe family crosses to the front door.                        BEN                  (sighs deeply)          I can't believe he's gone.                        LAURA          I can't believe what you said about          him. Cold and withholding? You had          to tell everybody?                        MICHAEL          Nice. Why didn't you just take a          swing at the casket?Ben opens the front door and they go in.                                                  CUT TO:INT. FOYER - CONTINUOUS ACTIONThe family enters the foyer.                        BEN          Okay, I might have strayed from my          notes a little. I'm dealing with a          lot of stuff here. Grief is a          process.Laura notices FBI AGENTS CERRONE and MILLER waiting for themin the living room. Cerrone is an attractive woman in herlate twenties, wearing a dangerously-short skirt. Miller isa clean-cut man in his thirties.                        MILLER          Dr. Sobel, I'm Agent Miller, this is          Special Agent Cerrone, Federal Bureau          of Investigation. We'd just like to          ask you a few questions, if we could.                        LAURA                  (testy)          Can I ask what this is about?    We just          came from the cemetery.                        CERRONE          We know this is a difficult time for          you, Dr. Sobel. Sorry about your          father.                        BEN          Thank you, I'm going to miss him                                                          9.          terribly.Ben gestures for them to sit.Laura and Michael both look at him doubtfully.                        BEN          I mean -- there were issues -- as, I          think, there are with any father and          son. He wasn't especially warm --                        LAURA          Ben -- once today? Enough.                        BEN          No, I'm just saying, in spite of all          that --Agent Cerrone crosses her legs, a move that does not gounnoticed by Ben and Michael.                         BEN          -- he was a great, great legs.                  (beat)          Man.                        CERRONE          Dr. Sobel, you received a call this          morning from Paul Vitti?Laura shoots him a look.                        BEN          What makes you think Paul Vitti called          me?                        MILLER          Because we monitor and record all his          phone calls from Sing Sing.                         BEN          Then yes.   He did.                        LAURA          That was him on the phone?                         BEN          Yes.                        LAURA          And you didn't tell me?                         MICHAEL          Wow.   Talk about withholding.                         BEN          Michael?                                                      10.                           LAURA             You told her --                     (nodding at                      Agent Cerrone)             You told her at the drop of a hat.Agents Cerrone and Miller eye each other.                           BEN             She's with the F.B.I.   She needs to             know these things.                          LAURA             Oh, I see. And I don't. Why tell             Laura? She couldn't possibly handle a             phone call.                           BEN             Did I say that?                           MILLER             You folks need a minute?                           BEN             No, we're fine.                           LAURA             If you don't need me anymore, I'll be             in the kitchen.                     (to Agent Cerrone)             And two words of advice -- from one             professional woman to another -- Pant.             Suit.She exits.                           BEN             She's grieving. It's a process.                            MILLER             We understand.                     (prompting)             Vitti?                           BEN             Oh, yes. Paul Vitti and I were             involved in some organized crime             activity a couple of years ago. I             mean, I wasn't involved -- not             'involved' involved -- I was just             trying to help him therapeutically,             and some people tried to, uh, kill us.             No big deal.                           MILLER             Well, shortly after you spoke, he                                                             11.          seemed to have some kind of breakdown.                        BEN          What kind of breakdown?                        MILLER          I think you'd better go up there and          see for yourself.                                              CUT TO:INT. SING SING INFIRMARY - PSYCH WARD - DAYVitti huddles in the corner of a bare, white, padded cell,rocking, completely out of his head.                        VITTI                  (singing)          'I feel pretty, oh, so pretty, I feel          pretty and witty and bright...'INT. OBSERVATION ROOM - SAME TIMEBen watches through a two-way mirror with the prisonpsychiatrist, DR. CUTLER. They can hear Vitti through awall-mounted speaker.                        DR. CUTLER          I'm treating him with Thioridazine,          300 milligrams, T.I.D. That seems to          keep him pretty calm.                        BEN                  (watching Vitti)          That would keep a parade pretty calm.          He just keeps singing West Side Story          songs?                        DR. CUTLER          'Tonight,' 'Maria,' the balcony scene.                        BEN          The balcony scene?   Both parts?                       DR. CUTLER          Oh, yeah. Get him to do 'Officer          Krupke.' It's really good.INT. PADDED CELLBen and Dr. Cutler enter.   Vitti doesn't seem to notice.                        VITTI                  (singing)          'Who's the pretty girl in the mirror                                                             12.          there? What mirror? Where?       Who can          that attractive girl be?'                          BEN          Paul, it's me.    Ben Sobel.   Paul?                  (beat)          Maria?                          VITTI          Tony?                        BEN                  (with a look to                   Dr. Cutler)          Oh, boy.                  (to Vitti)          What's going on, Maria?                         VITTI          The rumble -- it's tonight! I have to          get out of here. I don't want to die.          No, Chino, no!Vitti's jaw suddenly goes slack and he slumps in his seat,staring forward.                          BEN          Paul?   Paul?Ben waves a hand in front of Vitti's face.       Nothing.                        DR. CUTLER          This is how it's been. He sings for a          while, then he goes completely          catatonic.                        BEN                  (skeptical)          Really. Can we take him to an          examining room?                          DR. CUTLER          Of course.                                                  CUT TO:INT. EXAMINING ROOM - MINUTES LATERVitti sits inert on the examination table.                        BEN          You already did a neurological work-          up?                       DR. CUTLER          Yep. No tumors, no aneurisms, no sign          of stroke --                                                               13.Ben slaps Vitti's face lightly a couple times.                        BEN          Completely catatonic --He pulls on Vitti's ears and nose.     Vitti does not react.                        BEN          Totally gone. Well, I don't think          he's smart enough to be faking.          Street smart, yes, but we're talking          about an I.Q. just north of a bedroom          slipper.Ben checks Vitti out of the corner of his eye. No reaction.Then Ben takes a sharp needle from an instrument tray.                        BEN          So if I just stuck him with this          needle, he probably wouldn't even          respond.                          DR. CUTLER          I don't know.    Try it.Ben hesitates for a moment to see if Vitti will crack, then                          BEN          Okay --He sticks the needle into Vitti's shoulder.                        VITTI                  (bursts into song)          'Boy, boy, crazy boy, keep cool, boy!          Got a rocket in your pocket, keep          cool-y cool boy -- '                                                 CUT TO:INT. SING SING - CONSULTATION ROOM - NEXT DAYVitti is sitting at a table facing Ben.     Dr. Cutler observesfrom a chair in the corner.                        BEN          Paul, we're going to    give you some          tests to assess your    mental condition.          There's no pressure    -- just answer as          best you can. Do I     have your consent          to share the results    of these tests?                        VITTI          Mommy's mad at me because I made a          boom on the rug.                                                            14.                        BEN          I'll take that as a yes. Okay, I'm          going to show you ten cards, each          containing a picture of an inkblot. I          want you to look at each card and tell          me what you see.                         VITTI          I see you.   I see him.   I see a table.                        BEN          Focus, Paul. You haven't seen the          card yet.                  (hands him first card)          What does this look like to you? Take          your time.Vitti looks at the wrong side of the card.    It's all white.                        VITTI          It looks like snow.                        BEN          No, Paul, the other side.Vitti turns it over and makes a face.                         VITTI          A bat.   A big bat. Or a weasel.                        BEN                  (taking notes)          Bat or weasel. All right.                        VITTI          And he's got a little girl -- no, it's          a little boy -- in his teeth -- and          he's shakin' him and shakin' him          'cause the kid didn't wipe himself          good -- and the kid is screaming          because the bat-weasel ripped out his          throat and the blood is shootin' out          of his neck vein.                  (pointing)          That's the blood.Doctor Cutler looks worried.                        BEN                  (skeptical)          See anything else?                        VITTI          Just the pussy with the teeth.                                                          15.                        BEN                  (making more notes)          Pussy with teeth. Next card.                                              CUT TO:SHAPES TESTVitti is literally trying to pound a square peg into a roundhole.                                              CUT TO:VITTI AND BEN                        BEN          Now try repeating the numbers          backwards. For instance, if I was 1-          2-3, you will say 3-2-1. Okay, 7-3-8.                        VITTI          3-2-1.                         BEN          Try again.   7-3-8.                        VITTI          Blue.                                              CUT TO:THEMATIC APPERCEPTION TESTVitti studies a vague and ambiguous photograph of a manstanding beside a bed with a sleeping woman and child on it.                        BEN          Just tell me what you think is going          on in this picture.                        VITTI          This is a picture of a guy -- nice,          hardworking guy -- comes home and          finds out his wife's been screwin'          this midget while he was out of town.                        BEN                  (appalled, makes                   a note)          Screwing a midget. And how does the          story end?                        VITTI          I think he works over the midget for a          while, then he blows 'em away.                                                           16.                        BEN          The wife or the midget?                        VITTI                  (smirks)          Trick question, right?    Both of 'em.                                                CUT TO:ANOTHER TEST                        BEN          Okay, Paul. Last test. In this one,          I'm going to start a sentence and you          complete it any way you want to.          Ready? 'I get          angry -- '                        VITTI          Yes.                        BEN          No, you're supposed to complete the          sentence.                         VITTI          I did.   I said 'yes.'                        BEN          I wasn't asking if you agreed or          disagreed; it was more like, 'I get          angry when -- '                         VITTI          -- whenever.                        BEN          Well, that about does it for me.                                                CUT TO:INT. U.S. ATTORNEY'S OFFICE - DAYBen meets with RICHARD CHAPIN, the U.S. Attorney for theSouthern District of New York.                        BEN          Based on his symptoms and the test          results, I'd say brief psychotic          disorder -- if it persists, possibly          schizophreniform disorder. And Dr.          Cutler agrees with my diagnosis.                         CHAPIN          So he's crazy?                                          17.               BENDr. Cutler?   No, he's annoying, but --              CHAPINVitti.              BENNot crazy. At least not permanently.In certain people, continuous exposureto an extremely stressful situation --soldiers in combat, for instance,disaster victims, a hostage situation,or being locked up in a maximumsecurity prison with someone trying tokill you -- it can produce a temporarypsychotic state.              CHAPINHow temporary?              BENA day, a week, up to a month -- if theprecipitating stressors are removed.              CHAPIN        (musing)Which means he's not going to get anybetter while he's still in the can.              BENHe could get worse. He coulddeteriorate to the point where he'd bepermanently schizophrenic.              CHAPINThen I'd say he's got a real problem,because he goes before the paroleboard in four weeks.              BENYou think they'll let him out?              CHAPINOh, yeah, I'm sure they'll want torelease a major Mafia figure who's nowtotally deranged on top of it.              BEN        (thinks)Well, couldn't you release him to    ahalfway house or some place where    hecould get some decent treatment?Based on my earlier work with him,    Idon't think he's dangerous, and Ithink he was making a real effort    toreform himself.                                         18.              CHAPINYou do, huh?        (thinks for a         long moment)Okay. Then I'll tell you what. I'mgonna release him into your custody.              BENMine? Me? No, this is a bad time forme. My father just died -- and I'vegot this bulging disc in my neck --and we're redecorating, which is atotal nightmare. I can't --              CHAPINYou want to see him killed in prison?              BENNo, of course not.              CHAPINOr sent to a facility for thecriminally insane.               BENNo --              CHAPINThen he's all yours. I'm going totalk to the Bureau of Prisons and getyou certified as a temporary federalinstitution.                BEN          (stricken)What?    I can't be an institution.               CHAPIN        (firm)You've got thirty days to get him inshape for his parole hearing. Thatmeans sane, sober and gainfullyemployed. But let me warn you,Doctor. If he fucks up in any way --if he flees, or if I find out thatthis whole thing was just a setup sohe could get back on the street andreturn to a life of crime -- I willhold you totally responsible, and I'llsee that you are stripped of yourlicense and prosecuted to the fullextent of the law. Are we clear?                 BEN          (gulp)Yes.    We're clear.                                                             19.                        CHAPIN          You still want him?                        BEN                  (long beat to                   decide)          Yes.                                                 CUT TO:EXT. SING SING - FEW DAYS LATERThe gate opens and Ben coaxes Vitti outside.     A guard watchesthem.                        BEN          Okay, Paul -- this way.Vitti comes out carrying an overnight bag, walking like azombie. Ben leads him over to the car and opens the door forhim. Vitti keeps walking, passing the car.                        BEN          This way, Paul. Over here.      Here we          go.Ben helps Vitti into the car.     One of Vitti's legs is stilloutside.                         BEN          Leg, Paul.   Leg up.Ben lifts Vitti's leg into the car and closes the door.                                                 CUT TO:INT. CAR - MOMENTS LATERBen STARTS the CAR and pulls away with Vitti still slumped inhis seat. Once out of sight of the prison, Vitti straightensand turns on Ben, suddenly lucid.                        VITTI                  (enraged)          You fucking son-of-a-bitch! Where the          fuck do you get off sticking me with a          needle?                        BEN          I knew it! I knew you were faking!          You used me to get you out of prison!                        VITTI          Took you long enough. I was singin'          West Side Story for three fuckin'          days. I'm half a fag already.                                                     20.                        BEN          What are you talking about?                        VITTI          I call you to say somebody's trying to          kill me and you hang up on me?                        BEN          I was at the funeral home!                        VITTI          You're my fuckin' doctor!                        BEN          My father died!                         VITTI          Me me me me!   He's dead!   Get over it.                        BEN          Are you hearing yourself?                        VITTI                  (perfunctorily)          I'm deeply sorry for your loss.                        BEN          Yeah, I can see how touched you are.                        VITTI          What's the difference?   You hated him          anyway.                        BEN          I loved my father. I'm feeling a lot          of grief right now.                        VITTI          I'm not sensing it, but if you say so.Ben nervously pops a pill and swallows it.                         VITTI                  (re:   pill)          What's that?                        BEN          Decongestant. I'm getting over a          cold. All right, what's going on?          Who's after you?                        VITTI          I don't know -- take your pick. Could          be my old family, or could be the          Rigazzis. Ever heard of Lou Rigazzi -          - Lou 'The Wrench'?                                                          21.                        BEN          Why "The Wrench"?                        VITTI          Because he twisted a guy's head off          once.                           BEN          Off?                        VITTI          Off. Fuckin' Calabrese -- animals.          And comin' from me you know that's a          big compliment.                        BEN          I'm sure they'd be flattered.    So --                        VITTI          The feds are really putting the          pressure on. The families are          fighting each other again -- what's          left of 'em. It's the fall of the          fuckin' Roman Empire. It's          World War Three out there.                        BEN          So what does that have to do with you?                        VITTI          They knew I was gettin' out soon and          the last thing anybody wants to see is          me getting into it on either side.                        BEN          Maybe if you just explain to          them -- that you're out of it now,          that you're starting a new life --                          VITTI          Yeah,   they'll probably want to throw          me a   party and give me a gold watch.          Trust   me -- nobody's lookin' forward          to me   being out.                        BEN          You are, aren't you?                        VITTI          Me? Oh, yeah, my future looks real          fuckin' rosy.Ben can't believe what he's gotten himself into.                                                CUT TO:EXT. SOBEL HOUSE - LATER                                                           22.Ben and Vitti pull into the driveway and get out of the car.                        BEN          Want to grab your stuff?                        VITTI          I'm not gonna be here that long.          Jelly's pickin' me up in an hour.                        BEN          Paul! I don't think you understand.          You're in my custody. I could get in          a lot of trouble if you screw up.                        VITTI          Don't worry about it.     I'll call you          tomorrow.                        BEN          Oh, no. You want to go back to Sing          Sing? Thursday's meatloaf night. I          can have you back there in no time.          The U.S. Attorney was very clear. You          stay with me; therapy every day; you          can't leave the area without          permission --                        VITTI          What are you, my father now?                           BEN          And you    have to get a job as soon as          you're    well enough, which is now. So          are you    coming in with me or do I have          to make    a phone call?Vitti relents and grabs his stuff from the back seat.                          VITTI          I'm comin'.    Some fuckin' life this is          gonna be.He follows Ben up the stairs.                                                 CUT TO:INT. U.S. ATTORNEY'S OFFICE - LATERChapin is conferring with another U.S. ATTORNEY, DAVIS, andAgents Miller and Cerrone.                        CERRONE          You really think Vitti is crazy?                        CHAPIN          Yeah, he's about as crazy as I am.                                                            23.          Think about it. Locked up, he was          absolutely no use to me. But back on          the street, Vitti's still powerful          enough to pose a threat to both          families. It's like throwing gasoline          on a fire.                        DAVIS          If we can use Vitti to escalate this          war, we might just end up putting them          all away.                        MILLER          That's if he goes back to his old          life.                        CHAPIN          If? People like Paul Vitti     don't          change. This guy's been a     menace to          society since he was twelve    years old.          Being a criminal is all he    knows.          Trust me.                        DAVIS          He's gonna head straight for trouble.          Then all we have to do is sit back and          pick up the pieces. We could get          twenty, maybe even thirty indictments          next time the grand jury convenes.                        CHAPIN                  (smiles)          You know, Giuliani started this way.                        DAVIS          You running for mayor?                           CHAPIN          Could happen.     Just stick with Vitti.                                                 CUT TO:INT. SOBEL HOUSE - LATERBen and Laura are in the kitchen, cleaning up the dinnerdishes. Ben is wearing an apron that says "To Heck withHousework!" and a pair of Playtex rubber gloves. Laura isangrily muscling dishes around.                        LAURA          How could you? How could you bring          him here? That --                  (shuddering)          -- mobster -- in my home -- eating off          my dishes.                                                             24.                    (looking at the plate                     in her hand, disgusted)          Ewww.She scrubs the plate with manic energy.                        BEN          I didn't have a lot of choice.                        LAURA          Oh, there's a law that says you have          to bring a gangster home?                        BEN          I told you. He's in my custody.      I'm          a federal institution.                        LAURA          You should be in an institution.     Why          couldn't he just go home?                        BEN          His wife and kids aren't here.          They're in Ohio.                        LAURA          Ohio! Sure. Everyone gets to be in          Ohio except me.                        BEN          His life was threatened and he didn't          want to endanger his family.                        LAURA          How thoughtful! What about          endangering our family?                  (worried)          I think my teeth are loose.     Feel my          teeth.                        BEN          Honey, your teeth are fine. I know          it's an imposition, but what could I          do? I didn't want him here. They -                        LAURA          You didn't want him, I didn't want          him, but here he is!She looks up and jumps when she sees Vitti standing there.                        LAURA                  (covering, cheerful)          Here he is!                         VITTI          Coffee?                                                      25.                          LAURA          What?                        VITTI          Somebody said something about coffee.                          LAURA          That was you.    You said you wanted          some.                        VITTI          So what's the holdup?                        LAURA                  (to Ben)          Why don't you make your friend some          coffee. I'm going upstairs to take a          long bath and hopefully drown.Laura smiles at the two men, then exits.                        BEN          You'll have to forgive her.     She's          usually a great hostess.                        VITTI          I understand. She's uncomfortable.          The whole situation's a little awkward          with me bein' here -- but let's face          it, Emily fuckin' Post she's not.                        BEN          Emily fuckin' Post. Well, that          explains why she rarely used her          middle name.                        VITTI          Listen, I got a friend coming over.     I          didn't want you to be surprised.                           BEN          What    kind of friend? Because if it's          'The    Wrench,' or 'The Power Drill' or          any    other kind of          tool    --                        VITTI          Not that kind of friend.     It's a          personal thing.                        BEN          They won't stay late, will they?                        VITTI                  (stares at him)          Are you really that pussy-whipped?                                                          26.                          BEN            I'm not -- this has nothing to do with            Laura.                          VITTI            I heard her busting your balls.                           BEN            We were having a disagreement. A            certain amount of conflict is normal            in a marriage.                              VITTI            Or?                              BEN            Or what?                          VITTI            Or you're pussy-whipped.                              BEN            Paul --                          VITTI            Good night, Whippy.                          BEN                    (calls after him)            Remember, this is only temporary.                          VITTI            Oh, really? I didn't hear you the            tenth fuckin' time.He exits.                                                CUT TO:INT. UPSTAIRS HALLWAY - MOMENTS LATERBen knocks on Michael's door and walks in without waiting tobe asked.                                                CUT TO:INT. MICHAEL'S ROOM - CONTINUOUS ACTIONMichael is sitting up in bed reading.                          BEN                    (oblivious)            Mike, can we talk for a second?                              MICHAEL            Sure.     What?                                         27.              BENI know the last few weeks have beenkind of tough with Grandpa -- dyingand everything -- and it might've feltto you like I didn't have time for youor I didn't care about how you feel.              MICHAELNo, it didn't.              BENGood. Because I want you to know thatyou can talk to me about stuff andthat I can really listen andunderstand what you're going through.              MICHAELI do, Dad.              BENAnd if I seemed a little hard onGrandpa, it's just that yourgrandfather was a hard man in a lot ofways. He wanted everything done hisway and sometimes I just felt likenothing I ever did was good enough. Idon't want it to be that way with us.              MICHAELIt's not.              BENAnd you know, at times like this weall might start questioning our ownmortality and you might be thinkinghow devastated you'd be if I died.Right?               MICHAELNo.   Not really.              BENThat's good. Good talk. And Irealize it's all a little hectic rightnow, but this Paul Vitti thing is onlytemporary, okay?              MICHAELOh, really? I didn't hear you thetenth fuckin' time.              BENThat's not funny.   Good night,Michael.                                                          28.                        MICHAEL          Good night, Whippy.Ben exits, shaking his head.The moment he's gone, the rumpled blankets next to Michaelshift, and a CUTE, PUNKY 16-YEAR-OLD GIRL emerges from hidingunder the comforter.                        CUTE GIRL          I gotta get home. What was that          about?                        MICHAEL          I have no idea. Parenting stuff.                                                CUT TO:EXT. SOBEL HOUSE - NIGHTThe suburban street is dark and quiet and all the lights areoff in the house.                         WOMAN (V.O.)          Ohhhhh!   Ohhhhh, Paul!                                                CUT TO:INT. MASTER BEDROOM - SAME TIMEThe room is dark. We PAN UP the foot of Ben and Laura's bedand find them both wide awake staring straight up at theceiling, listening.                         WOMAN (O.S.)          Ohhhh, God!   Oh, oh, oh, oh!                        BEN          This has to be some kind of record,          don't you think? It's been like forty          minutes.                        LAURA          How long are you going to let them go          on?                        BEN          Let them? How much longer can he go?          Another twenty minutes, I'm either          breaking it up or calling the Guinness          Book of Records.The MOANING shifts into low gear, more guttural and bestial.                        LAURA          Oh, give me a break.    She's got to be                                                          29.          faking.   Nobody sounds like that.                        BEN                  (suggestively)          That's not entirely true.                        LAURA          Okay, sometimes you do sound like          that.The O.S. MOANING kicks up another notch. Laura rolls overand jams her pillow over her ears. Ben growls, exasperated.                                                CUT TO:INT. MICHAEL'S ROOM - SAME TIMEMichael's girlfriend is gone. He has his bedroom door open acrack and he's standing there holding a small tape recorderand smiling broadly.                        WOMAN (O.S.)                  (high-pitched now)          Ah, ah, ah, ah...!                                                CUT TO:EXT. STREET - SAME TIMEAgents Cerrone and Miller sit in a sedan with a small,sophisticated-looking microphone trained on the Sobel housejust down the street. They hear the high-pitched MOANING.Miller gives Cerrone a look.                          CERRONE          Oh, come on.    Nobody sounds like that.                                                CUT TO:INT. HALLWAY - MOMENTS LATERBen takes a deep breath and knocks sharply on the guest roomdoor. The heavy MOANING STOPS. After a moment, Vittiappears wearing only a bathrobe. Ben can see the beautifulSHEILA sitting naked on the bed.                          VITTI          What?                        BEN                  (indignant)          I have a 17-year-old son.                        VITTI          So let him get his own fuckin' girl.                                                          30.                        BEN          Can I talk to you, please?                        VITTI          Actually, I'm right in the middle of          someone.Sheila starts to light a cigarette.                         BEN          Miss? Excuse me.     There's no smoking          in this house.                                                CUT TO:INT. MICHAEL'S ROOM - SAME TIMEMichael freezes, about to light a cigarette himself.                                                CUT TO:INT. LIVING ROOM - MOMENT LATERBen comes down the stairs with Vitti.                        BEN          What do you think you're doing?                        VITTI          Minding my own fuckin' business, like          you should be doin'.                        BEN          Well, it's a little hard with the live          sex show going on in the guest room.                        VITTI          I've been in prison for two and a half          years. What am I supposed to do?                        BEN          Go to a hotel.                        VITTI          That's what I wanted to do, but you          told me I had no choice -- it was          either here or Sing Sing.                        BEN          I'm not trying to punish you. These          aren't my rules, but I have a          responsibility here. Besides, I          thought you might like a nice home-          cooked meal after being in prison that          long.                                                          31.                        VITTI          Yeah, that's what I've been jerkin'          off about for eight hundred          consecutive nights -- a nice home-          cooked meal.                  (making a jerking                   motion)          Ohhhh, tuna casserole.                        BEN          That girl is not staying here.                        VITTI          I think you're jealous.                        BEN          Oh, yeah, I'm really jealous.                        VITTI          I didn't hear nothin' comin' out of          your room.                        BEN          We don't think it's necessary to wake          the neighbors every time we have sex.                        VITTI          Hey, if you're really quiet, you might          be able to do it without even wakin'          up your wife.                         SHEILA (O.S.)                   (moaning)          Ohhh.   Ohhh.Ben looks curiously at Vitti.                        VITTI          I told her if I wasn't back in two          minutes to start without me. I gotta          go.Vitti heads back upstairs.                        BEN          This is not a good start, Paul.                                                CUT TO:INT. DINING AREA - NEXT MORNINGLaura and Ben are hosting a brunch for the out-of-townrelatives. Laura offers a basket of bagels to a seated,older woman.                                                           32.                        LAURA          Aunt Ester, I'm so sorry we had to put          you up at the hotel. We wanted you          here with us, but we had an unexpected          house guest.She glares at Ben.                        AUNT ESTHER                  (sighs)          Your father always had room for us.                        BEN          I'm sorry.                  (mutters to Laura)          Next time I lose a parent, I'll be          sure to reserve the guest room.A DOOR SLAMS somewhere, then Sheila storms into the roomsobbing, her hair askew, tucking her blouse into her skirt.                        SHEILA                  (screaming)          Go to hell, Paul! You just go to          hell!                         VITTI (O.S.)          Go ahead! Get out of here, you crazy          fuckin' whore.Vitti charges into the room, his robe open. From thereactions of everyone in the room, it's clear he's notwearing anything under it.                        VITTI          Go back to turning tricks in Jersey          for all I fuckin' care.Sheila exits and slams the front door.   Vitti sees everyonestaring at him. He closes his robe.                        VITTI          How's it goin'?                  (sees buffet)          Oh, we got food. Good.Vitti heads for the buffet.                        LAURA                  (smiling)          Ben?                        BEN                  (quickly)          Paul?                                                            33.Vitti bellies up to the buffet, stepping between an oldercouple. He eyes the food disdainfully.                        VITTI          Oh, great. Jew food. Who do you have          to fuck to get some bacon around here?The woman reacts in horror.                        VITTI          Not you, I'm guessing.                        BEN                  (snags Vitti's arm)          Why don't we go to my office?   I'll          make you a plate.                                                 CUT TO:INT. BEN'S OFFICE - MOMENTS LATERBen and Vitti enter.   Vitti still in his robe.                        VITTI          What is it with your relatives?   They          tend to overreact quite a bit.                        BEN          I know. All you did was flash          everybody in the dining room.                        VITTI          So? From the look of 'em, some of          those broads haven't seen the old          salcicc' in a long time. It's good          for them.                        BEN          Well, when the paramedics revive my          Aunt Goldie, I'll be sure to ask her.          Sit.Vitti starts for Ben's chair.                        BEN          Ah ah ah!He points Vitti to the sofa and takes his own chair.                        BEN          So what are you going to do, Paul?                        VITTI          What do you mean?                        BEN          With your life.                                                          34.                        VITTI          First I'm gonna find out who's tryin'          to kill me. I'm a target. Somebody          could shoot right through that window          -- blow my fuckin' head off.Ben sees that he's in the line of fire, gets up and moves outof the way.                        BEN          Okay, that's a priority. Have you          thought about what you're going to do          for work?                        VITTI          Yeah. I'm too big for a jockey so          I was thinkin' maybe a hairdresser.          They'll call me Mr. Paul.                       BEN          Come on. There must be something you          like to do.                        VITTI          I like hitting a guy on the head with          a baseball bat.                        BEN          Oh, sporting goods. We'll check the          want ads tomorrow but don't get your          hopes up. Anything else?                        VITTI          Shylocking, bookmaking, unions, the          usual --                         BEN          Who are you?                        VITTI          Who am I? I'm the guy who's paying          you $150 an hour to play these stupid          fuckin' games. You know who I am.                         BEN          I know that.   I mean what are you?                        VITTI          What do you mean, 'What am I?'                        BEN          I just want to know how you see          yourself.                                                     35.                        VITTI          You're making me very fuckin' nervous.                        BEN          Just answer the question.     What are          you?                        VITTI                  (shrugs)          I'm the boss.                        BEN          Really? The boss of what -- Jelly?          You're not the boss of me. So what          are you the boss of?                        VITTI          You, you're good. I see what you're          doing here.                        BEN          What am I doing, Paul?                        VITTI          You're pissing me off is what you're          doing. Look at me. It's starting          again, the anxiety.                          BEN          I understand.                           BEN (CONT'D)          You've    spent your whole life becoming          who you    are and now you can't be that          anymore    -- that's gotta be scary. If          you're    not Paul Vitti the mob boss,          who are    you?Vitti is at a loss.                        BEN          Well, let's think. When you were a          kid, What did you want to be?                          VITTI          I don't know.    Who remembers that          stuff?                        BEN          You must've wanted to be something          when you were little -- fireman?                          VITTI          No.                        BEN          Baseball player?                                           36.                VITTINo.                BENAstronaut?                VITTINo.                BENAl Capone?                VITTIYeah, maybe.    What did you want to be?              BENWe're not talking about me.                VITTII am.               BENFine.   I wanted to be a philatelist.              VITTIYou wanted to look up people'sassholes all day?              BENNo, Paul, I believe you're thinking ofa proctologist. I wanted to collectrare and unusual stamps.              VITTIYou must've been a lot of laughs whenyou were a kid. Lonely, huh?             BENOh yeah. Big time.      So what did youwant to be?                VITTIIt's stupid.              BENYou afraid to tell me?              VITTIYeah, I'm afraid.                BENThen tell me.    I'm not here to judgeyou.                                        37.              VITTI        (a beat)Okay. When I was really little --like seven or eight -- maybe I wantedto be a cowboy.               BENA cowboy.   Really?              VITTIYeah. My father gave   me a cowboysuit -- you know, the  vest, thechaps, the cap guns --  the wholething. And he used to   take me upto my uncle's farm in  New Jerseyand lead me around on  this pony.Yippee-i-o. You happy   now?              BENSo you watched cowboy movies and TVshows with your father.              VITTIEverybody. The whole family.     Myfather loved 'Gunsmoke.'              BENSheriff Dillon.              VITTI        (corrects him)Marshal Dillon.                BENMarshal.    So who were your favoritecowboys?              VITTIThis is so fuckin' retarded.               BENPaul!              VITTIAll right. Gene Autry, Roy Rogers,the Lone Ranger --               BENInteresting.   They're all good guys.               VITTIYeah, I guess.              BENNo, that's important. You didn't wantto be the bad guy. You wanted to bethe hero.                                                             38.                          VITTI          Yeah, so?                        BEN          So what happened?                          VITTI          I don't know.    Nothing happened.                        BEN          So why didn't you become a cowboy?                        VITTI          I lived in East Harlem! I joined a          street gang when I was 12 and that was          it.                        BEN          Something else happened when you were          twelve.                          VITTI          What?                        BEN                  (prompting)          Something that made you very sad?                        VITTI          The Dodgers moved from Brooklyn to          L.A. Everybody took it pretty hard.                        BEN          Something else.                        VITTI          We playin' a guessing game here?                        BEN          Paul! Your father was murdered!          Right in front of you. Remember?                        VITTI          Do I remember? I think about it every          fuckin' day of my life. What's that          got to do with it?                        BEN          It's got everything   to do with it. He          gave you the cowboy   suit. With a          white hat. He was    in the mob, but he          wanted you to be a   good guy, didn't          he?Vitti starts thinking about his father and starts to weep.                                                   39.                          VITTI          Yeah.   He did.                        BEN          He didn't want you in the gang life.          He only did it himself so you wouldn't          have to. He was trying to buy you a          better life than his.                        VITTI                  (crying harder)          He always said he wanted me to go to          college. I didn't even finish high          school.He really starts sobbing now.                        BEN          Well, Paul, this could be a  great          opportunity for you. You're   right          back where you were when you  were          twelve. You've got some big   choices          to make.Vitti fights to regain control.                          VITTI          Okay.   Okay.   That's enough of that          shit.                        BEN          It's not shit, Paul. My point is,          when you're a child, you think          anything is possible. Wouldn't it be          great to think like that now?                        VITTI                  (retreating back into                   his cynicism)          Yeah, just sprinkle some fuckin' fairy          dust on me.                        BEN          I'm just saying you've got to keep          an open mind and explore some new          possibilities. Try some different          things -- maybe you'll connect with          one of them. There's a career          counselor I work with. I can call          him for you. He may be able to help          you find a job.                        VITTI          You mean working for somebody? I'm          supposed to take orders from some guy          who used to get me coffee?                  (starts sweating and                                                          40.                   breathing hard)          I can't do that. It's not right.          It's not me.                        BEN          How do you know unless you try?Suddenly one of the WINDOWS behind Vitti SHATTERS.Ben dives for cover. Silence -- then another RAP on thewindow. Ben looks out and sees JELLY in the back yard,tossing stones at the window.                        JELLY                  (calls out)          Hiya, Doc. Sorry about the window.Ben waves him around to the side door.                                               CUT TO:INT. DINING AREA - MOMENTS LATERJelly is loading up a plate of food from the buffet, talkingto the elderly relatives. Laura stares at him.                         JELLY          I love  lox and bagels. I dated a          Jewish  woman once. Actually, she          might  have been the love of my life,          but my  mother broke it up.                        JELLY (CONT'D)          She was always hockin' me a chinick          about the madels. A wonderful woman,          my mother, but she fuckin' hates the          Hebes.                         LAURA          Really.                  (noting mountain of                   food on his plate)          More smoked salmon? Don't be shy.Ben enters.                        BEN          Jelly -- what are you doing here?                        JELLY          Makin' new friends. How's it going,          Doc? I brought some clothes for Mr.          Vitti.                          LAURA                    (indicating the door)          Ben?                                                          41.                        BEN          That's great, Jelly. I'd love to          catch up with you -- outside.                        JELLY                  (rising)          You got it.                  (to Laura)          Thanks, Mrs. S.                  (to others)          So long, everybody.    Ess gesunterhait.Jelly and Ben exit.                                                CUT TO:EXT. SOBEL HOUSE - MOMENTS LATERBen and Jelly walk out to the driveway where Jelly's Buick isparked.                       JELLY          So. Long time no see.     You look good,          Doc.                        BEN                  (trying to be pleasant)          And you, Jelly -- you look --                  (can't find words for                   how he looks)          Did you get a haircut? I thought you          were in prison.                        JELLY          It would appear not.                        BEN          How'd you get out?                        JELLY          New trial. The evidence in my first          trail was, you know, tainted. Turns          out two of the witnesses against me          changed their minds -- and the third          one, he died after a short illness.                        BEN          What did he have?                        JELLY          Gunshot wound to the head.                        BEN          That's not an illness.                                                             42.                        JELLY          Yeah, but it is short.Vitti, now dressed, comes out of the house and crosses to thecar.                        BEN                  (to Vitti)          Where are you going?                        VITTI          I got stuff to do.                        BEN          What kind of stuff?                        VITTI                  (as he gets into                   the car)          Calm down. I'll be back.                        BEN          You can't leave without my permission.                         VITTI          Oh, yeah?   Watch me.   Drive, Jelly.Jelly STARTS the CAR and slowly backs out of the driveway.Ben runs after the car, talking to Vitti through the openwindow.                        BEN          That's it, Paul. I forbid you to go.                        VITTI          Stop sweating, Doc.     I'll be back.Vitti puts the window up.                        BEN                  (shouts anxiously)          If you screw this up, Paul -- Paul!The car pulls away.                         BEN                   (angrily)          Shit!   Shit, shit, shit!Ben turns and sees his Aunt Goldie on the porch.                        AUNT GOLDIE          So, the fat one -- he's single?                                                  CUT TO:                                                             43.INT. KNIGHTS OF PALERMO SOCIAL CLUB - DAYSoldiers lounge at the bar, keeping a respectful distancefrom the capos seated at a table in the rear. All eyes turnas the door opens and Vitti enters.SAL MASIELLO, Vitti's old consigliere rises and warmly butwarily welcomes Vitti back into the fold.                        MASIELLO          Paulie, great to see you! You're          lookin' good, kid. Lookin' very good.          Jelly, how are ya?Vitti embraces him and they sit down with the others.                        MASIELLO          So, Paul, we heard you had some          trouble while you were away. Some          'mental' problems.                        VITTI          No, I'm okay. It was an act. I had          to pretend I was nuts. There were          people watching me all the time.                        MASIELLO          Little people?                        VITTI          Doctors. They never woulda let me out          if they thought I was normal.                        MASIELLO          So you ain't crazy?                        VITTI          You want to see crazy? Just tell me          who's trying to kill me. I'll show          you crazy.                        MASIELLO          We're in a war, Paul -- nobody's safe          right now. The Rigazzis are walkin'          all over us. We got next to nothing          coming in, and I don't have to tell          you, you don't buy a lot of muscle          without money these days. We need          you, Paul. The family needs you.                        VITTI          I can't do it, Sal.   I'm out of it.                        MASIELLO          Come on, Paulie. Nobody used to do          the big jobs like you. Air France--          they're still talkin' about it.                                                             44.                        VITTI          Sal, even if I wanted to -- the feds                        MASIELLO          After your father died, I always          treated you like my own son. You know          that.                          VITTI          I know.                        MASIELLO          He was a good man. I still miss him.                        VITTI          Yeah, I do too.                        MASIELLO          So you'll think about it.    For me,          Paulie?                        VITTI          Yeah, okay, I'll think about it.                         MASIELLO                  (brightening)          Hey, what is this -- a fuckin' funeral          here? You just got back from college          for Chrissakes. We should be havin' a          party for you.                  (to bartender)          Hey, Nino, give everybody a round          here. We gotta drink to Paul.                          VITTI          I can't, Sal.    I gotta go talk to the          boss.                        MASIELLO          I understand. No problem. It's good          to have you back, Paul.                  (embraces him)          Don't forget what I said. We're          countin' on you.Vitti gives his old friend a pat on the back and exits.                                                 CUT TO:EXT. LOPRESTI HOUSE - SAME MORNINGJelly pulls up, Vitti gets out and strides up to the frontdoor of a nice home on Staten Island and RINGS the BELL.                                                 CUT TO:                                                           45.INT. ENTRY HALL - CONTINUOUS ACTIONThe door is opened by EDDIE DEVOL, early thirties, dark andsullen.                          EDDIE          Yeah, what?                          VITTI          'Yeah, what?'    That's how you answer          the door?                        EDDIE          You got a problem with that?                          VITTI          Yeah.Vitti punches Eddie in the mouth, sending him sprawling backinto the living room. Several other bodyguards are watchingtelevision, caught off guard by Vitti's sudden entrance.                          VITTI          Where is she?                        PATTY (O.S.)                  (calls out)          In the kitchen, Paul.                                                 CUT TO:INT. PATTY'S KITCHEN - CONTINUOUS ACTIONVitti enters. PATTY LOPRESTI, mid-forties, still sexy evenin an apron, is mixing cake batter in a bowl with an electricmixer.                        PATTY          Paul -- what a nice surprise.                        VITTI          How's it goin', Patty?                         PATTY          Good.   It's good. Give me a kiss,          you.Patty hugs and kisses him, taking the opportunity to pat himdown for a weapon or a hidden wire.                        VITTI          Sorry to hear about Carmine.     He was a          good man.                        PATTY          Yeah. You live with a person twenty-          one years, then one day they're                                                          46.          pulling his torso out of the river.          It's hard.                        VITTI          I'll bet -- especially with all the          talk about you being the one who put          him there.                        PATTY          That's why I try not to gossip, Paul.          It's ugly. Just a sec.                  (screaming to ceiling)          Michelle! Teresa! It's ten-thirty!          Stop fucking around and get ready for          ballet!                  (to Vitti)          It's hard being a single parent and a          career woman.                        VITTI          Yeah, I'm sure you're very busy.                        PATTY          The pressure -- it's awful. For          instance, a lot of people think, now          that you're out, you're going to try          and take the family back from me. But          I said, no, Paul would never do that.                  (smiling)          By the way, how are Marie and the          kids? Still in Ohio? In Shaker          Heights? At 1356 Locust?Vitti explodes, reaches across the counter and grabs her bythe shoulders.                        VITTI                  (enraged)          You even go near them, you crazy bitch          --                        PATTY                  (quietly)          Don't make me call my guys in. You          may need the shit kicked out of you,          but not in here. I just mopped.Vitti lets her go.                         PATTY                   (smoothing clothes,                    flushed and a little                    excited)          Wow.   Have you been working out?                        VITTI          Yeah, I been workin' out who's trying                                                    47.          to kill me. I'd love to hear your          thoughts on that.                        PATTY          It's a dog-eat-dog world out there.          Nobody's gonna be safe unless we can          end this thing with the Rigazzis.                        VITTI          So then you didn't have nothin' to do          with it.                          PATTY                   (hurt)          Oh, Paul. You actually think I would          kill you? All the years we've known          each other -- the Christmas parties,          the fun times at the beach. It          wouldn't be right. I want us to be          friends.                   (smiles demurely)          Who knows? Maybe we'll be more than          friends. Want to lick my beaters?She holds the beaters out to him.                        VITTI                  (declining)          Thanks. I gotta see a guy about a          business thing.                        PATTY          What kind of business? You know, if          you get something going, we would          expect some kind of consideration -- a          little taste.                        VITTI          No, this is a legitimate business.                        PATTY                  (shudders)          Oh, Paul. I just got a chill.                        VITTI          I just want to be left alone.   Put my          life back together -- straight  up this          time. Put the word out, will   ya?          Nobody's got nothin' to worry  about          from me.                          PATTY          Sure, Paul.    I understand.He heads for the door.                                                            48.                        PATTY                  (calls after him)          Don't be a stranger!After Vitti leaves, Eddie enters from the other door.                        PATTY                  (turning to Eddie)          Watch him like a hawk. If he steps          out of line, it would break my heart,          but shoot him in the fuckin' head.                                                CUT TO:EXT. PARK AVENUE AUDI DEALERSHIP - LATERVitti is trying to sell an $80,000 Audi to theMacINERNYS, an upscale middle-aged couple. Vitti opensthe trunk.                        VITTI          Look at the size of that trunk. You          could fit three people in there.                  (off their                   shocked looks)          Not people -- suitcases. It's a joke.The MacInernys laugh uncertainly.                        VITTI          So what are you driving now?                        MR. MacINERNY          We have a Lexus.                         VITTI                  (nods)          It's a fancy Toyota, right? The Japs          make good cars, but I ain't that quick          to forget Pearl Harbor.The MacInernys look doubtful.                                                CUT TO:INT. MORETTI'S STEAK HOUSE - NIGHTA crowd of well-heeled New Yorkers surround Vitti at thecaptain's station. Vitti, the new host, greets a prominentsports figure who embraces him like an old friend.                        VITTI                  (signals the MAITRE D')          Mario, put Mr. Torre at table five.JOEY BOOTS, an old acquaintance of Vitti's, enters with acouple of his cronies.                                                            49.                        JOEY BOOTS          Paul, I heard you were out.                        VITTI          Hey, Joey.                        JOEY BOOTS          All dressed up for dinner, huh?                        VITTI          Yeah.The Maitre D' crosses away and waves at Vitti.                        MAITRE D'          Paul, that table for six is ready.          You can send them back.                        JOEY BOOTS          You're working here?                        VITTI                  (dying)          Nah -- not really. It's like -- I'm          on parole, so I just -- I come in, I          greet people.Joey and his friends nod condescendingly.                        JOEY BOOTS          Okay. I get it. Nice seein' you,          Paul. Don't want to hold you up. You          got people to seat.Joey and his guys walk away, they turn back and glance atVitti, then whisper something in audible to each otherand laugh.Vitti burns, humiliated.                                                CUT TO:FLASH PHOTOVitti poses for a picture with some notables.                                                CUT TO:ANOTHER PHOTOVitti with some Broadway actors.                                                CUT TO:ANOTHER PH0TO                                                                50.Vitti poses grimly with a BUSINESSMAN and his friends.                             BUSINESSMAN             Thanks, Paul.    Appreciate it.Vitti moves to leave.                           BUSINESSMAN             Hey, could you get us a big bottle of             Pellegrino and another round of             drinks?He slips Vitti a couple of bills.        Vitti stares at the moneyin his hand.                           BUSINESSMAN             And more bread when you get a chance.                           VITTI             You want more bread?He takes a small loaf from the breadbasket on the next table,stuffs it into the Businessman's mouth and walks off.                           VITTI             I'll get your drinks now.                                                     CUT TO:INT. IMPERIAL DIAMONDS - DAYTwo Hassidim are in the back of a 47th Street jewelry store,sorting through a huge pile of diamonds.Behind the    display counter, Vitti stares at the diamonds,breathing    hard, starting to perspire. His customers, athirty-ish    YOUNG MAN and his FIANCEE, study the diamondengagement    ring on her finger.                           YOUNG MAN             This stone is supposed to be a 'G'             color, but it looks kind of yellow,             doesn't it?                           VITTI                     (distracted)             Fluorescent light. Makes everything             look yellow.He starts instinctively casing the store.                                               QUICK CUT TO:ARMED SECURITY GUARDBACK TO FIANCEE                                                          51.                        FIANCEE          I thought fluorescent light makes          everything look blue?                                                CUT TO:FANTASY - SECURITY GUARDbound and gagged.END FANTASY.BACK TO VITTI                        VITTI                  (sweating)          What am I -- Edison?    I'm telling you,          it's a 'G.'He glances at the surveillance cameras.                        YOUNG MAN          Can I look at it with a lens?                                                CUT TO:FANTASY - SPRAY-PAINTINGthe camera lens and clipping the alarm wires.END FANTASY.BACK TO VITTI                          VITTI                    (completely distracted)          What?                          FIANCEE          A lens.    Do you have a lens?                                                CUT TO:FANTASY - SAFEin the back as it BLOWS UP.END FANTASY.OWNERBen's cousin, approaches Vitti who is nowhyperventilating.                                                          52.                        OWNER          Are you all right?                        VITTI          I'm gonna do us both a big favor.    I          quit.                                           CUT BACK TO:INT. CAR DEALERSHIP - DAYThe MacInernys are trembling.                        VITTI          You want to see the manager?                  (grabs his crotch)          Here's the manager. Now take a hike,          you fuckin' deadbeats.The MacInernys rush out of the showroom.                         VITTI                  (calls after them)          Get a Hyundai!                                                CUT TO:DREAM SEQUENCE - INT. BEN'S OFFICE - NIGHTVitti is on the sofa. He's wearing a shiny, silk, short-sleeved shirt with the sleeves turned up, tight, black chinopants and short, black, pointy-toed boots. His hair is oiledand coifed like early Frankie Avalon.                        VITTI                  (distraught)          I can't deal with this shit. My          grades suck, I'm gettin' in fights          every day, and if I get suspended          again my mother's gonna fuckin' kill          me -- if the nuns don't kill me first.BENis listening to Vitti, but dressed as Sigmund Freud.                        BEN                  (nodding)          Eins, zwei, drei!                        VITTI          What?VITTI'S MOTHER is sitting next to him.                                                             53.                         VITTI'S MOTHER                  (elbows him)          Sit up straight! Pay attention when          the doctor talks to you. This is          costing money.Ben (Freud) has a large TAXI METER TICKING away beside him.                         VITTI          Ma?   What are you doin' here?                        BEN (FREUD)                  (snorts some cocaine)          Acht gemacht gehunden nicht.                        VITTI'S MOTHER          I tell him the same thing.Suddenly, the WINDOWS are SHATTERED by GUNFIRE.DOORBLASTS open, flying off the hinges. Jelly enters, pushedinto the room by a gang of thugs, led by Patty LoPresti,Eddie DeVol and his guys, all at least ten-feet-tall and allholding huge guns.VITTIleaps to his feet and reaches for his gun, but instead pullsout a long sword. Confused but desperate, he holds up thesword to menace the intruders, but the sword suddenly goeslimp. He tries to make the blade stand up, but it just keepsdropping like a piece of soft rope.Patty, Eddie, and the thugs laugh contemptuously at Vitti,while Jelly looks on with an incredible stream of tearspouring from his eyes.END DREAM SEQUENCE.                                              CUT TO:INT. GUEST ROOM - NEXT DAYVitti is back in bed in his robe, still asleep. The dooropens and Laura enters with an interior decorator who hasfabric samples over her arm.                         LAURA          Now in here, I thought we'd get rid of          the wallpaper and maybe put in some          wainscoting --She sees Vitti and quickly steers the decorator back outside.                                                           54.                       LAURA                 (to decorator)         Don't look, don't look.She comes back in, closes the bedroom door and confrontsVitti who is still groggy from his troubling dream.                       LAURA         Do you realize it's almost noon?                        VITTI         Really? Do me a favor, honey -- make         me a sandwich.                       LAURA         You want a sandwich? Make it         yourself. I'm not afraid of you, Mr.         Oh-I'm-A-Great-Big-Mobster Man. I         want you out of my house.                         LAURA (CONT'D)         I've had   it with the bathrobe and the         skulking   around and the girlfriend         who, I'm   sorry, is so obviously faking         it's not   even funny. Enough!                       VITTI         Coulda had that sandwich made by now.                       LAURA                 (tries new tack)         Okay. You don't like me and I don't         like you. We can at least agree on         that, right?                         VITTI         Okay.                       LAURA         I'm going to be honest with you -- I'm         a very anxious person --                         VITTI         Hey!    Me, too.                       LAURA         We have so much in common. Anyway,         this is not helping me, it's not         helping my marriage, and I know Ben         really needs some alone time. So I'm         asking you -- as a human being --         could you please leave?                 (off Vitti's look)         Yes, I'll make you a sandwich.                                                            55.                          VITTI            Ham, cheese, lettuce, tomato,            mayonnaise, no onion.                                                CUT TO:EXT. SOBEL FRONT PORCH - LATERJelly   comes out the front door with Vitti's suitcases as Benpulls   into the driveway. He gets out of the car holding asmall   bag from the drugstore and sees Vitti coming out thefront   door. Ben stops him on the porch.                          BEN                    (concerned)            Where are you going?                          VITTI            Where am I going? The orphanage found            my real parents. They want me back.                    (to Jelly)            Put those in the car.                    (to Ben)            I'm goin' to Jelly's.Jelly carries the luggage to his car parked in the driveway.                          BEN                    (to Vitti)            The hell you are. You're supposed to            be in my custody. We have therapy            today.                         VITTI            For what? The more we talk the worse            I get. I had that dream again.                          BEN            The one where you're Mussolini?                          VITTI            No, the other one.                          BEN            The limp sword dream?                          JELLY                    (at car)            I probably shouldn't be listening to            this.                          VITTI            So don't!                          JELLY            Sorry.                                                  56.                        BEN                  (to Vitti)          Do you think this dream might be          sexual?                        VITTI          I know what you're thinkin'. The          sword is my cock and I can't get it          up, but that ain't it. I saw Sheila          last night and I had a hard-on you          could swing from.                        BEN                  (winces)          I don't want to know that.                        VITTI          You coulda hung wet towels on it.                        JELLY                  (calls out)          He's like a racehorse in that area.                         BEN          Okay!   I get it.                         VITTI                  (to  Jelly)          Wait in the  car!                  (to  Ben)          So what does  it mean?Ben sits on the wicker divan.                         BEN          Sex can represent a lot of things. In          your case I think it's about          performance anxiety. Trying to find a          job that fits.                         VITTI          Doc -- nothing's gonna fit. That          nine-to-five bullshit -- I'll fuckin'          kill myself if I have to do that for          the rest of my life. You know they          take taxes out of your check? What          the fuck is that? I'm doomed. I'm          gonna end up selling hot dogs on the          street.                  (starts breathing hard                   and sweating)          Look at me. I'm havin' a fuckin'          panic attack here. My heart's beatin'          like a rabbit.                        BEN          You're hyperventilating.                                                             57.He empties the drugstore bag and hands it to Vitti.                        BEN          Breathe into this.Vitti sits on a wicker chair.                        VITTI                  (speaks through bag)          This is your fault.                         BEN          Excuse me?                        VITTI          Tellin' me I have to get a job like          I'm some fuckin' nobody. It was          humiliating! Thanks a lot.                        BEN                  (jumps up, in a                   total rage)          Hey, I'm doing the best I can!     If you          can't appreciate that, or if my    best          isn't good enough for you, then    maybe          you should find somebody else to    talk          to, you selfish prick!Ben breaks down and cries what amounts to one racking sob,then quickly pulls himself together.                         BEN          Sorry.                        VITTI          What the hell was that?                          BEN          I'm fine.    I'm grieving.   It's a          process.Ben takes a pill bottle out of his pocket and pops a coupleof pills.                        VITTI          Now what are you takin'?                        BEN          Echinacea and goldenseal. Do you know          the TV show 'Little Caesar'?                        VITTI          Yeah, I know it.                        BEN          The producer of that show is a man                                                           58.          named Raoul Berman. A mutual friend          told him I knew you and Mr. Berman          called me this morning. He wants to          meet you.                        VITTI          For what?                        BEN          Meet him and find out.                                                CUT TO:EXT. NOGO RESTAURANT - NIGHTBen and Laura walk up to a trendy Japanese restaurant inChelsea. Ben is really keyed up.                        LAURA          We finally got him out of the house --          why are we having dinner with him? I          mean, how professional is that?                        BEN          This is not social. Paul's meeting a          television producer who might have a          job for him. He's nervous and wants          me here as a buffer. I'm a buffer,          that's all.                        LAURA          He's a grown man. I don't see why he          needs a chaperone.                        BEN          He doesn't. He needs a buffer.    I'm          here in buffer capacity only.                        LAURA          Ben, if you say 'buffer' one more time          --Ben pops a couple of pills.                        LAURA          Didn't you just take two of those?                        BEN          No, that was something else.                        LAURA          Well, you better not drink anything.          You know what happens.                        BEN          Laura? I'm a doctor?     I think I know          what I'm doing.                                                             59.Ben opens the door and motions for Laura to enter.                          BEN                    (quietly, behind                     her back)          Buffer.                                                CUT TO:INT. FBI CAR - SAME TIMECerrone and Miller watch the front of the restaurant.                        MILLER                  (into radio)          They're all inside. We're going to          get something to eat. We'll be back          before they finish dinner.They drive off.                                                CUT TO:INT. NOGO RESTAURANT - LATERSeated at a table are Ben and    Laura, Vitti and Sheila, Jelly,and the producer RAOUL BERMAN    and his uptight, downtownGIRLFRIEND. Jelly inspects a     piece of raw octopus, whileRaoul gushes over a platter of    sushi and sashimi.                        RAOUL          I adore this place. Best sushi in          town. Have you tried the yellowtail,          Paul?Raoul picks up a floppy piece of raw fish with hischopsticks.                        VITTI                  (makes a face)          No. We gettin' any real food?     This          is like eatin' fuckin' bait.Raoul chuckles and glances uncomfortably at his girlfriend.Ben laughs loudly to cover the awkward moment. He'ssuffering from some reaction between the pills and the boozeand he's oddly thick-lipped.                        BEN          Bait! That's funny. Honey, did you          hear what Paul just said? He said          this is like eating bait.                         LAURA                  (not amused)          I heard him. And I think it was          'effing bait.'                                         60.              VITTIWhy you talkin' like that?             BENLike what?              VITTILike a fuckin' retard.              BEN        (pointing to his         lower lip)Oh -- this? I took a couple ibuprofenbefore we got here -- I shouldn't havehad the saki. I'll be fine. It onlylasts a couple hours.        (to Raoul)Rah-oo. Row. Rowl. I guess you needboth lips for that name. You knowwhat I love about Paul? Hewas born without a filter. Hesays exactly what he's thinking --just lays it right out there. Hedoesn't edit himself.              VITTI        (quietly)You wanna shut the fuck up?              BENSee? He just told me to shut the fuckup. No filter. I love that.        (to Raoul)Isn't he great?              LAURA        (aside to Ben)Too much buffering. Way too much.               RAOUL         (eyeing Ben oddly)Yes. Paul, I'm such a huge fan ofyours -- not a fan, but you know, anadmirer.              VITTIDon't admire me too much.              RAOULIs there any chance you might beinterested in working on 'LittleCaesar' as a consultant? Give ustechnical advice, coach the actors,make sure the dialogue rings true --                                                   61.                        BEN          Wow. That would be incredible. Did          you hear that, Paul? Raoul wants to          know if you'd be interested in working          on his show as a consultant. You          know, give technical advice, coach the          actors --                        VITTI                  (quietly to Ben)          In two seconds I'm gonna put a fork in          your eye.                          BEN                    (suddenly cowed)          Got it.                        RAOUL          So what do you think, Paul?                        VITTI          Yeah, sure, whatever.                         RAOUL          Fantastic!                        SHEILA          This is so exciting. Mr. Berman, I          love your show. Anthony Bella, the          guy who plays Nicky Caesar -- I think          he grew up in Bensonhurst next door to          my cousin's friend's husband.                        VITTI          That's her claim to fame.                  (to Sheila)          I hate to bust your bubble, but he's          not from Bensonhurst. He's a          professional Italian. He grew up in          Connecticut or something like that.                        SHEILA          Well, wherever he's from, I think he's          a wonderful actor.                        JELLY          Yeah, I bet he gets a lot of pussy.Laura chokes on her drink.                        VITTI          What's the matter with you?   We got          women at the table.                        JELLY          You said 'fuckin'.'                                                            62.                        VITTI          That's different. It's colorful.                        BEN          Hey, speaking of colorful -- this          peacock walks into a bar --                        LAURA          Oh, my god.                  (to a passing waiter,                   rising her half-empty                   drink)          Could I get another one, please?                        BEN          And one for me.                          LAURA          No.    No more for the Buffer.She glares at Ben as the table descends into silence.                        VITTI                  (tries a desperate save)          So. I see in the paper where          Oklahoma! might win the Tony award.Vitti's eyes suddenly go wide.                          VITTI                    (shouts)          Down!!!He grabs Sheila and pulls her down as GUNFIRE rakes the wallbehind them. Everybody else at the table hits the floor.Other diners scream in terror.    Jelly pulls a GUN and SHOOTSback.A LONE GUNMANruns from the restaurant. After a long beat, the frightenedpatrons start to get up and chatter nervously.BEN'S TABLENobody's hurt.   Vitti helps Sheila to her feet.                        BEN                  (to Vitti)          What the hell was that?                        VITTI          I think somebody's got it in for          Raoul.                                                            63.Raoul crawls up from behind the table.                        RAOUL                  (wide-eyed)          Holy fucking shit.                  (grinning)          That was phenomenal!                                           CUT TO:EXT. MIDTOWN STREET - LATER THAT NIGHTJelly stands in front of an apartment building parkinggarage. A guy comes walking up the ramp toward him. As hecomes nearer, we see that the guy is the Gunman from therestaurant.                        JELLY          Hey, pal -- got a light?The guy stops, pulls out a Zippo and lights it for Jelly.                        GUNMAN          Where's your cigarette?                        JELLY          I'm trying to cut down.The Gunman recognizes Jelly and desperately reaches for thegun in his pocket, but Jelly hauls off and whacks the guyacross the back of the head with a sap. As  he slumps intoJelly's arms, Vitti steps out of a doorway and Jelly dragsthe gunman into the garage.                                              CUT TO:INT. SOBEL HOUSE - SAME TIMEBen and Laura are getting ready for bed.                         LAURA          I don't know why you feel you have to          save this man.                         BEN          It's my job.   He needs me.                        LAURA          So that automatically means you have          to help him? You're always doing this          -- putting other people's needs ahead          of your own, like you're this martyr          or saint or something. It's like          living with Mother Teresa.                                                    64.                        BEN          Actually, I hear she was tough to live          with. Lot of parties, loud music --          lepers.                        LAURA          You don't need this in your          life -- especially not now. You          really need to be grieving for your          father.                        BEN          I am.                         LAURA          Really?   I haven't seen it.                        BEN          Well, you know, it's a process. I          mean, we had issues -- there's some          anger -- but I'll work it out.Laura goes to Ben and embraces him.                        LAURA          It's okay, honey. You can let it go.Ben almost starts to break, but he holds it back.                        BEN          No, I'm -- it's okay.Ben sits heavily on the bed.                        BEN          It's just a confusing time. I became          a therapist because he was a          therapist, so obviously his approval          was very important to me. But is that          the only reason I did it? I don't          know. And now that he's gone, why do          I keep doing it? Is this what I          really want?She sits next to him and takes his hand.                        LAURA          I just want you to be happy.She kisses him.                        BEN          Maybe you're right.                  (kisses her)          Maybe it's time I started focusing on          me, and, you know, satisfying some of                                                             65.          my desires.He looks at her expectantly.                        LAURA                  (apologetic)          Oh, honey, I just brushed my teeth.                        BEN          No, that's not what I meant.     I just          need --                  (at a loss)          I don't know what.She puts her arms around him and holds him.                                                   CUT TO:EXT. ROOFTOP - LATER THAT NIGHTVitti and Jelly stand with the Gunman on the roof of theparking garage, four stories above the ground. The guy'sarms are bound. Jelly ties a rope around his ankles.                        VITTI          I'm gonna ask you once nicely.     Who          you working for?                         GUNMAN          Fuck you.                          VITTI          Fuck me?    Fine. Jelly?Jelly shoves the guy to the parapet at the edge of the roof,grabs him by the legs and hangs him over the side of thebuilding. The guy screams.                        VITTI          I'll ask you again.     Who you working          for?The guy keeps screaming.                        JELLY          He's screamin' too loud.     Hold on a          second.Jelly swings the guy against the building, hitting his headand dazing him momentarily.                         JELLY          Go ahead.                        VITTI          Who are you working for?                                                            66.                         GUNMAN          Nobody!                        VITTI          Drop him, Jelly.                         GUNMAN          Okay! Okay!    Rigazzi!   I'm working          for Rigazzi!                        VITTI          Pull him back up.Jelly drops the guy.The Gunman plunges three stories and lands heavily in adumpster full of garbage.                        VITTI          What's the matter with you?                        JELLY          You said drop him.                        VITTI          I said pull him back up.                        JELLY          That's not what I heard.                        VITTI          You heard what you wanted to hear.                        JELLY          Okay, you got me there.                                                  CUT TO:EXT. RIGAZZI PLUMBING AND HEATING - NEXT MORNINGA "family" business in Jersey.                                                  CUT TO:INT. BACK ROOM - NEXT MORNINGThe light from outside barely penetrates the painted windowsof the shabby office.LOU RIGAZZI, aka "Lou the Wrench," the aging boss of theRigazzi family, sits in the half-light as a couple of hissoldiers enter with the battered and hobbling Gunman betweenthem.                        RIGAZZI          What the hell happened to you?                                                             67.                        GUNMAN          Vitti threw me off a roof.                        RIGAZZI          Vitti? You talked to Vitti?     What did          you say to him?                        GUNMAN          Nothing. I didn't tell him anything.          Mr. Rigazzi, can I          go -- I think my leg's broken.                        RIGAZZI          That must hurt.Rigazzi pulls out a GUN with a silencer and SHOOTS theGunman.                        RIGAZZI          I hate to see people in pain.                  (to soldiers)          Get him out of here.                        SOLDIER          What about Vitti?                        RIGAZZI                  (musing)          He's a hard man to kill. But he's not          immortal. Our time will come.                                                CUT TO:EXT. BACK-YARD SWIMMING POOL - DAYA big, family barbecue is going on in a back yard in Queens.Several children are splashing in an over-sized, above-groundswimming pool. Oddly, the children appear to be shouting andlaughing but make no sound.At the barbecue, Nicky Caesar is watching his friend MELLOturn Italian sausage on the grill.                        CAESAR          I like mine burnt.                        MELLO          I don't know how you like your          sausage? Twenty fuckin' years we been          doin' this. So you got the money?The wind shifts and blows the smoke from the barbecue intheir faces.                                                         68.                         CAESAR                  (coughing, eyes                   watering)          Not all of it. I'm still light about          fifteen large.                  (blinded by smoke)          Can we cut? This is ridiculous.                         RAOUL (O.S.)                  (shouts)          Cut! Can you do something about the          fucking smoke?We PULL BACK to reveal the set of "Little Caesar." Assistantdirectors and production assistants echo the director:"We're cut!" "Reset!" "Effects!"Vitti observes the action sitting in a director's chair,still brooding over the previous night's events. Raoul sitsnext to him.                        RAOUL                  (to Vitti)          This is the problem with shooting on          location. But it's worth it for the          authenticity.                        VITTI          Yeah, this is real authentic.                        RAOUL                  (calls out)          Tony! Come here a second.                  (to Vitti)          Anthony Bella. He plays Nicky Caesar.                        VITTI          I know who he is. They used to watch          the show up at Sing Sing.                        RAOUL                  (delighted)          Are you shitting me?ANTHONY BELLA joins them.                        RAOUL          Tony, this is Paul Vitti.                        TONY BELLA                  (Australian accent)          You don't have to tell me who he is.                  (shakes Paul's hand)          It's a pleasure, mate.                                                          69.                           VITTI                     (reacting to accent)            Mate? I don't believe this! You're            an English guy? You ain't even            Italian.                          TONY BELLA            Australian-Italian. We got some            paisans down under.                          VITTI            Down under what?                          RAOUL                    (to Tony Bella)            How incredible is this? Paul tells me            they watch the show in Sing Sing!                            TONY BELLA            Fantastic!    That's so fuckin' great.                          VITTI            I wouldn't wet my pants over it.      They            watch 'Supermarket Sweep,' too.Raoul laughs hard.                          VITTI            You laugh too much.                          TONY BELLA            So, Paul, you going to join us?Vitti looks around, his future plans now beginning to form.                            VITTI            Yeah.    You got a good setup here.                           TONY BELLA            Great.   See you later then.He exits.   Vitti turns to Raoul.                          VITTI            Coupla things, though. I don't know            who makes these decisions, but some of            this, it don't look right.                          RAOUL                    (concerned)            I sensed it myself. Which elements            strike you as wrong?                          VITTI            The people mainly. I mean, you got a            boss who speaks Australian. What the            fuck is that? And I'm guessing your                                                            70.          background is -- what?                        RAOUL          The theater, mostly.                        VITTI          Yeah, the theater. So how about if I          bring in some guys that I know -- you          know, more 'authentic.'                         RAOUL          I would be eternally grateful.          Anything else?                        VITTI                  (thinks)          Yeah. One of those trailers like the          stars have.                        RAOUL                  (slight hesitation)          Done.                  (shakes his hand)          I'll put that in the works right now.He hurries off to talk to his assistant.   Jelly comes up toVitti.                        JELLY          You really gonna do this?                        VITTI          No fuckin' way. I've had it with this          job bullshit. A week of this and I'd          either shoot myself or shoot Raoul.          But it's good cover while I figure out          my next move. Call the guys.                        JELLY          You got it.                                              CUT TO:MONTAGEJelly and Vitti's old crew, MO-MO, BIGS, TUNA, EDDIE COKES,and eight or nine other wiseguys walk en masse into basecamp.Vitti's guys go to the front of the lunch line, forcing thecrew aside.A big, pop-out trailer labeled "Mr. Vitti," guarded by threeof his guys. Tuna brings a lunch tray and knocks on thedoor. Jelly opens the door and takes the tray.Vitti conferring with Raoul and Tony Bella on the script,                                                             71.ripping out whole sections.Vitti in the makeup trailer getting a haircut and manicurewhile he smokes a cigar and talks on his cell phone.Vitti with the costumer, approving and nixing variouswardrobe choices, while Jelly steals an expensive watch inthe b.g.Vitti in a massage chair getting a backrub from a masseuse.A PRODUCTION ASSISTANT approaches him.                        P.A. (PRODUCTION ASSISTANT)          They're ready to start shooting, Mr.          Vitti.                        VITTI          Yeah, ten minutes, tell 'em.Eddie Devol, Patty LoPresti's guy, watches Vitti from a safedistance.                                                CUT TO:EXT. SHOPPING MALL - DAYBen comes out of the market carrying several grocery bags anda small prescription bag. Two Mafia SOLDIERS step up besidehim and urge him toward a big stretch LIMO IDLING at thecurb.                           SOLDIER          Walk this way.                        BEN          There must be some mistake.    I didn't          order a limo.                        SOLDIER          Get in the car.                                                CUT TO:INT. KNIGHTS OF PALERMO - LATERBen enters timorously, still carrying his groceries.Patty LoPresti, Masiello and a couple of other heavyweightsare sitting at the table, all except Patti smoking cigars.Ben immediately recognizes their status and grasps thegravity of their mood.                         BEN                   (nervous, but trying                    to keep it light)          Hello.   I'm Ben Sobel. And you are --          ?                                                           72.The Soldier sits Ben down. The other soldier takes hisgroceries. Ben looks at Patty, trying to gauge her role.                        MASIELLO          You're the shrink who's taking care of          Paul Vitti?                        BEN          Yes, sir. That's right.                  (to guy with                   groceries)          Could you be careful, because I think          they put the eggs on the bottom.He drops the bags heavily onto the bar.                          MASIELLO          So?    Is he nuts or what?                          BEN          Who?                           MASIELLO          Paulie.     Is he nuts?                        BEN          I can't discuss a patient's case with          anyone --                          MASIELLO          Discuss it.                        BEN          I'd say he's still suffering from          chronic anxiety and --He hesitates.                          MASIELLO          And what.                        BEN          We call it Antisocial Personality          Disorder. Sociopathy.                          MASIELLO          Meaning what?                        BEN                  (very carefully)          Meaning -- he -- fails to conform to          societal norms with respect to --          lawful behavior.                        MASIELLO          I'm getting a fuckin' headache here.                                                            73.          What are you saying?                        BEN          He's got a -- criminal temperament.                        MASIELLO                  (stares at him)          He's a criminal? This is news? And          for that you need a doctor          degree? So what are you doin' with          him?                        BEN          Well, I'm trying to at least show him          the possibility of change --                         PATTY          Wrong.   You do not want him to change.Ben looks at her, sensing her command of the group.                        BEN          We haven't really been          introduced --                        MASIELLO          This is Mrs. LoPresti.                        PATTY          Patty.                        BEN          Ben Sobel.Ben offers his hand but she ignores it.                        PATTY          Ben, Paul Vitti is important to this          family. We don't want to see you turn          him into a stromboni.                        BEN          A stromboni? That thing they clean          the ice with at hockey games?                        MASIELLO          That's a Zamboni, asshole.   Stromboni.                        PATTY          It's a bull with his balls cut off.She reaches under the table and grabs Ben's balls.    He wincesin pain.                        BEN                  (squeezed)          No, we don't want to do that.                                                            74.                        PATTY          Not unless you want to be one, too.                       BEN                 (in pain)          Me? No. I'm very attached to my          balls. As you can probably tell.                        PATTY                  (lets go)          Then do the right thing, understand?                        BEN                  (greatly relieved)          Yes, I understand completely. May I          go now? I have perishables --He takes his groceries and edges away.                                                 CUT TO:INT. "LITTLE CAESAR" SET - DAYVitti is sitting at a table with Jelly and some of his mainguys. From a distance it looks like they're playing cards.Up close it's a different story.                        VITTI          We're gonna need a grapple or a crane          with maybe a fifty-foot boom.                        MO-MO          I seen one -- in Bayonne -- but I'll          call around.                        VITTI          See what you can come up with.   And          we're gonna need a city bus.                        JELLY          I got a guy in the Transit Authority.          He owes me. Just let me know when.                           PATTY (O.S.)          Paul!   Hello!Vitti turns to see Patty, Eddie Devol and his men headingacross the set.                        PATTY          I guess everybody's gone Hollywood,          huh?                        VITTI          How you doin', Patty.                                                          75.                        PATTY          Jelly -- you're working here, too?                          JELLY          I'm an extra.                          PATTY          An extra what?                        JELLY          A supernumerary. An 'atmosphere.' It          ain't bad. You just stand around all          day waitin' for them to shoot and they          pay you eighty bucks.                        PATTY          Eighty bucks? For standin' around all          day? You used to sneeze eighty bucks.          How much you make shootin' craps?                         JELLY          Today?   About eight hundred maybe.                        PATTY          And how about bookin' bets for the          Teamsters and the crew?                        JELLY          Another grand. One of the producers          really likes the ponies.                        PATTY          So eighteen hundred bucks.                          JELLY          Plus eighty --                        PATTY          I know -- extra.They all laugh.An ASSISTANT DIRECTOR approaches the group.                        ASSISTANT DIRECTOR          This is a closed set. We're about to          start shooting.                          EDDIE          Yeah?    So am I.Eddie grabs the Assistant Director and walks him away.                                                CUT TO:EXT. "LITTLE CAESAR" BASE CAMP - SAME TIME                                                           76.The trucks and trailers are arranged on a parking lot.   A carpulls up and Lou Rigazzi gets out with his bodyguards.                        DRIVER          Should I wait here, Mr. Rigazzi?                        RIGAZZI          No, pull the car up your ass and wait          there.                                               CUT TO:EXT. SET - SAME TIMEPatty takes Vitti's arm and walks with him.                        PATTY          I heard you had some more trouble.                        VITTI          One of Rigazzi's guys took a shot at          me.She stops at the extras' makeup table and starts primping inthe mirror.                        PATTY          I don't have to tell you, Paul. Alone          on the street you don't stand a          chance. That's what the family's all          about. Since the old days, when the          grandfathers first came over. That's          not something you just walk away from.                        VITTI          Yeah, I know. When you're a Jet,          you're a Jet all the way.                        PATTY          So you want to tell me what's going on          here? It looks like you got your          whole crew back together.                        VITTI          Nothing's going on.   They're actors.                        PATTY          Don't bullshit me, Paul. You're          planning something. I'm feeling very          left out.                        VITTI                  (quietly)          Okay. Something big is going down,          but you're getting a cut. My hand to          God.                                                           77.                        PATTY          You're a good friend, Paul. And I          would never think of insisting on          this, but I'd feel better if you          brought in Eddie and some of my guys          to help with the job.                        VITTI          I don't think so.                        PATTY          Then I'll have to insist.                         VITTI          Whatever.Raoul approaches and eyes Patty disdainfully.                        RAOUL          Oh, dear God. First of all,          sweetheart, we're not shooting the          hooker scene until tomorrow. And the          hair -- please, what is that?                         PATTY          Excuse me?                        VITTI          Raoul, this is a friend of mine.          Patty LoPresti.Raoul freezes, recognizing the name.                        RAOUL          Mrs. LoPresti -- I am so very, veryRaoul wheels on a production assistant who happens to bepassing by.                        RAOUL          How dare you not inform me Mrs.          LoPresti was on the set. You're          fired!                  (to Patty)          Enjoy your visit with us. If there's          anything I can do --                        PATTY          Go fuck yourself.                         RAOUL          Immediately.Raoul moves away quickly.   Patty turns back to Vitti.                        PATTY          It's good to have you back, Paul.                                                               78.                     (kisses Vitti on                      the cheek)             We'll be in touch.She exits.                                                   CUT TO:EXT. PARKING LOT - MOMENTS LATERAs Patty and her men walk away down one aisle of trucks andcampers, Rigazzi and his men walk down the next aisle headingfor the set.They narrowly miss seeing each other.                                                   CUT TO:EXT. BASE CAMP - MOMENTS LATERBen arrives looking for Vitti. He       sees Patty approaching andfreezes, then quickly ducks behind      a nearby truck, shieldinghis crotch. Patty and her men pass       by. Ben waits until theypass, then comes out of hiding and      hurries on.                                                   CUT TO:EXT. BACK-YARD SET - SAME TIMEA mildly-distraught Raoul is huddled with Vitti.                           RAOUL             I mean, tell me -- was she angry?    Am             I in any danger?                           VITTI             No, you're fine. But you might want             to have somebody else start your car             the next couple of weeks.                           RAOUL             I'll have Brian do it.   He's new.Rigazzi and his men join them.                           RIGAZZI                     (to Vitti)             Could I talk to you for a second?                           RAOUL                     (eyeing Rigazzi)             Oh, what is this now, the bus and             truck tour of Guys and Dolls?                           VITTI             This is Lou Rigazzi.                                                             79.Raoul freezes.                        RAOUL                  (a horrified whisper)          'The Wrench.'                         RAOUL (CONT'D)                  (taking Rigazzi's                   hand)          Please, forgive me. I'm on          painkillers -- half the time I don't          know what I'm saying.Raoul kisses Rigazzi's hand.     Rigazzi yanks it away.                         RIGAZZI          Get lost.                        RAOUL          Certainly.                  (as he exits)          Brian! Get my car!                        RIGAZZI                  (to Vitti)          I need a couple minutes.                        VITTI                  (nodding)          This way.                                                  CUT TO:EXT. CRAFT SERVICES TABLE - MOMENTS LATERVitti and Rigazzi stand at the table.     Rigazzi's soldiers arenearby.                        RIGAZZI          The guy who shot at you -- he was          acting on his own. I never gave an          order.                         VITTI          Is that right?                        RIGAZZI          And he's been taken care of. There          won't be another incident. Unless          you're thinkin' of workin' for Patty          LoPresti.                         VITTI          Me?    No.                          RIGAZZI          Good.    Then I got no beef with you.                                                             80.                          VITTI          Thanks.    I'll sleep much better.                          RIGAZZI          Because   that would not be the way to          go. You    want to back a winner, which          is gonna   be me. It only makes sense.          You come   work for us. I'll treat you          right.                        VITTI          I don't think so.                        RIGAZZI                  (a beat)          Well, so much for sleeping better.Rigazzi smiles and pats Vitti's cheek, then exits with hissoldiers.                                                 CUT TO:INT. EXTRAS HOLDING TENT - SAME TIMEBen walks in and sees Vitti's guys sitting around.                        JELLY          Hey, Dr. Sobel?                        BEN          Jelly, hi.                  (recognizing some                   of the others)          Hey! Yo-Yo!                          JELLY          It's Mo-Mo.                        BEN          Right. I was thinking of the cellist.          How's it going?                        MO-MO          Goin' good. I did a 'Law and Order'          last week, I had a line on 'Sex and          the City' --                        TUNA          I'm up for a recurring on 'NYPD Blue.'                          BEN          That's great.    Have you seen Paul?                        JELLY          Yeah, I think he's in his camper.                                                            81.                          BEN          His camper.                                                  CUT TO:INT. VITTI'S TRAILER - MOMENTS LATERThere's a loud KNOCK on the door and Ben storms in.                        VITTI                  (surprised to see him)          Hey, Doc. What are you doing here?                          BEN          No, what are   you doing here? I came          to tell you   we have a preliminary          meeting with   your parole officer and          who do I run   into? Patty LoPresti.                          VITTI          Patty who?                        BEN          What is this -- a knock-knock joke?          Patty-who-kidnapped-me-and-threatened-          to-cut-off-my-balls. Stop lying to          me, Paul. Your whole gang is here.                        VITTI          Who says I'm lying? I finally    get a          straight job and start putting   my life          in order and you come in here   and          start accusing me! That's how    much          you trust me?                          BEN                  (off   balance)          It's not that   I don't trust you, I          just don't --   trust you.   Are you          lying to me?    Because I know you,          Paul. You'll    say or do anything to          get your own   way.                        VITTI          This is what's so hard about being an          ex-con. You make one little mistake          in your life and people never let you          forget it.                        BEN          Oh, so now you're the victim?    I want          the truth.                          VITTI          Wait a second.    Say that again.                                                           82.                        BEN          Say what?                        VITTI          'I want the truth.'   Say it -- like          you did just now.                        BEN          I want the truth?                        VITTI          No, strong, like before.                        BEN                  (forceful)          I want the truth!                        VITTI          Yeah, that's good!                        BEN          Paul --                        VITTI          No, I'm serious. That had power. I          believed it. You could be an actor.                        BEN          I'm not an actor --                        VITTI          Hey, you're as good as most of the          bums I see around here. They have          this part. You could do it.                        BEN          Actually, I did The Music Man in tenth          grade.                         VITTI          Of course.   I'm gonna talk to Raoul.                        BEN          About being on the show?   I couldn't -          -                        VITTI          No, this part you could do.   It's          perfect. Believe me.                                                 CUT TO:EXT. APARTMENT BUILDING - DAY (LATER)The camera rolls.                                                             83.                             ASSISTANT DIRECTOR             We're rolling.                             SOUNDMAN             Sound speed.                             RAOUL                       (shouts)             Action!ON ROOFTOPJelly and Tony Bella drag Ben kicking and screaming to theedge of the roof and hang him over the edge.On the ground, Raoul and Vitti look up, watching the action.                           RAOUL                     (doubtful)             Does that screaming sound real to you?                             VITTI             Oh, yeah.    That sounds real.                                                   CUT TO:INT. BEN'S CAR - LATERBen drives, pissed off.       Vitti chuckles to himself.                           BEN             It's not funny! There was no safety             harness or anything. They could have             dropped me.                           VITTI             Hey, if you didn't want to do it, why             didn't you say something?                           BEN             I know exactly what that was about.             You resent the fact that you've been             put in my custody, so you passive-             aggressively arranged things to make             me look like a fool.                           VITTI             Come on -- you were great.                           BEN                     (turning on a dime)             Really? I was scared at first, but on             the second take, I think I found some             good stuff. I was able to texture the             screaming --                                                          84.Vitti is laughing.                        BEN          Oh, screw you, Paul.   Just screw you.He pops two pills.                        VITTI          What, are you self-medicating again?          And don't give that decongestant          multi-vitamin bullshit.                        BEN          Don't worry about me. Just worry          about what you're going to say to this          parole officer. What are you going to          say? That you've moved out of my          house. That you've got your old gang          back together. For what, a high          school drop-out reunion?                        VITTI          I'm gonna say that's none of his          fuckin' business.                        BEN          It's my business. I want to know.          I'm a federal institution.                        VITTI                  (checks side-                   view mirror)          You recognize that car?                        BEN          Which car?                        VITTI          The one that's been following us the          last mile and a half.Ben jerks his head around to look and sees a black Mercedesbehind him.                        VITTI          Lose 'em.                        BEN          What do you mean, 'lose 'em'?Vitti stomps his foot down on Ben's, flooring theaccelerator.                                               CUT TO:EXT. HOBOKEN STREET - CONTINUOUS ACTION                                                             85.Ben's car speeds up suddenly. The black Mercedes behind himspeeds up, too, as does a third car that has joined thechase.                                            CUT BACK TO:INT. BEN'S CAR - CONTINUOUS ACTIONBen is on the edge of panic.                         BEN           Maybe I should just pull over.   It           could be the F.B.I.                         VITTI           No, they're two cars back. You gotta           be a little more observant, Doc. Turn           left.Ben executes a hard, SKIDDING left.   The Benz stays rightwith him.                         BEN           What if we just stop and get out?           They're not going to shoot us in broad           daylight.                         VITTI           Broad daylight's the best time. You           can see better. Take a right. Now!EXT. HOBOKEN STREET - CONTINUOUS ACTIONPedestrians scatter as Ben makes a sudden turn into a bankdrive-thru. He over-steers and wipes out an ATM machine,sending up a cloud of bills that flutter down like confetti.INT. CAR                        BEN           Sorry!MERCEDESfollows right behind him, then the bystanders run to pick upthe cash, blocking the drive-thru, forcing Miller in the FBIcar to stop.                                            CUT BACK TO:EXT. HOBOKEN STREET - MOMENTS LATERTwo police officers are parked at the curb. They hear a HORNHONKING, and turn just as Ben's car comes flying past them.The cops start to pull out but stop short as the Benz blows                                                             86.by, swerving to avoid hitting them.    The cops take off in hotpursuit.                                                   CUT TO:INT. BEN'S CAR - CONTINUOUS ACTION                        BEN                  (frantic)          We can't do this, Paul!     We have to          stop! This is a lease!GUNFIRE SHATTERS the rear WINDOW of the car.                        BEN                  (shouting back at                   the Mercedes)          It's a goddamn lease!                        VITTI                  (looks back)          Move over. I'll drive.                         BEN          Move over?   Where?Vitti puts his left foot on the gas pedal and his left handon the wheel.                          VITTI          Backseat.    Now!Ben tries to launch himself into the backseat but is stoppedby his seat belt.                         BEN          Seat belt.He releases the belt, then twists and crawls over the top ofthe driver's seat into the back, while Vitti slides into thedriver's seat.                                                   CUT TO:EXT. PARKWAY - MOMENTS LATERBen's car races past an industrial area with the Mercedesright on its tail.                                                   CUT TO:EXT. INDUSTRIAL PARK - MOMENTS LATERBen's car bounces over some railroad tracks and sails into awarehouse complex on the river with the Mercedes still only afew car lengths behind.                                                           87.                                              CUT TO:INT. BEN'S CAR - CONTINUOUS ACTIONVitti drives down the narrow lane between two big warehouses.                        VITTI                  (determined)          Hang on.                        BEN          It's gonna get worse?                                              CUT TO:EXT. PARKING LOT - CONTINUOUS ACTIONVitti rockets out from between buildings and races through aparking lot toward the river with the Benz on his tail.                                         CUT BACK TO:INT. BEN'S CAR - CONTINUOUS ACTION                        BEN          They're right behind us!                  (shouts at them)          Get away!He starts whipping things out the shattered back window -- atennis racket, sneakers, an empty Macy's box.                                              CUT TO:INSERT - TENNIS RACKETis crushed under the Mercedes' wheels.                                         CUT BACK TO:INT. BEN'S CAR - CONTINUOUS ACTIONBen picks up the only thing left -- the New York Times.   Hestarts leafing through it.                        VITTI          What the fuck are you doing?                        BEN          I wanted to save the crossword.                         VITTI          Throw it!Bent throws the paper out the window.                                                             88.                                              CUT TO:BENZ DRIVER'S POVThe Times hits the windshield and one double-page sticks,totally OBSCURING the driver's VIEW.EXT. PARKING LOT - CONTINUOUS ACTIONVitti throws a 180, SKIDDING to a stop just inches from theriver's edge. The Benz, with the newspaper covering thewindshield, sails past them and right off the embankment. Itseems to hang in the air for a long time, then lands with abig splash and starts to sink almost immediately.BEN AND VITTIThey jump out of the car and watch the Mercedes disappearunder the water.                        BEN                  (aghast)          You think they'll get out?                        VITTI          Yeah, that's James Bond and the 'Sea          Hunt' guy in there, so they got a          pretty good shot.They hear POLICE SIRENS APPROACHING. Vitti starts walkingaway quickly. Ben follows after him.                        BEN          Where're you going?                        VITTI          I gotta take care of something.                        BEN          But your parole officer --                        VITTI          Send my regrets.                        BEN          I'm warning you. If you leave now --                          VITTI          So long, Doc.Vitti takes off running, ducking behind the rows of parkedcars.                                                             89.                        BEN                  (calling after him)          That's it! I'm finished! You're on          your own now, pal! I'm --POLICE CARS and the FBI CAR SCREECH into the parking lot andsurround Ben.                        BEN                  (quietly)          -- screwed.                                              CUT TO:EXT. RIVERBANK - LATERPolice divers search for the sunken Mercedes in the middle ofthe channel.On shore, Ben leans against a government car looking tiredand distraught while Chapin berates him.                        CHAPIN          Where is he, Dr. Sobel?                         BEN          I wish I knew.                         CHAPIN          Well, considering that he's in your          custody, that's not quite the answer I          was looking for. He's got something          big in the works. You want to tell me          what you know?                        BEN          I don't know anything. As far as I          can tell, he's making a real effort to          go straight.                        CHAPIN          Yeah, that's why I've got two corpses          at the bottom of the river.He reaches through the open car window into his briefcase andpulls out a file of photographs.                        CHAPIN          Here. Vitti with Sal Masiello. Vitti          with Patty LoPresti. Vitti with Lou          Rigazzi. Let me know -- I can order          some wallet size for you. I've got          more than enough to put him away again          without these. Violation of parole,          second-degree murder here. When I          really start digging, it'll be amazing                                                           90.          what I come up with. You have twenty-          four hours to find him and deliver him          to me. Otherwise you're looking at          obstruction of justice, and accessory          to felony manslaughter. And trust me,          Dr. Sobel, if you don't like me now,          you really don't want to see me in          court.                        BEN          I'm getting that.   Can I go now?He starts for his car.                        CHAPIN          You can't take your car. We're          impounding it as evidence.                        BEN                  (exasperated)          Then can somebody give me a ride home?                        CHAPIN          Yeah, the government runs a limousine          service. The number is 1-800-Fuck          Off.Chapin walks away.                                                CUT TO:INT. VITTI'S TRAILER - DAYVitti is hurriedly collecting his stuff, talking to Jelly anda few of his old gang.                        VITTI          I don't have a lot of time. They're          probably gonna come lookin' for me, so          we'll go over everything later, okay?                        JELLY          Paul, not that I'm questioning, but          what do we want with Eddie DeVol?          Guy's a fuckin' scumbag.                        VITTI          Look, I'm not happy about it, but if          it keeps Patty off my back, so be it.          They're meeting us at the club. Let's          head out.                  (as they all get up)          Not all at once. I gotta tell you          everything?A PRODUCTION ASSISTANT KNOCKS and sticks her head in thedoor.                                                          91.                        P.A.          Mr. Vitti? Mr. Bella asked if you          could meet him in the makeup trailer.                        VITTI          No, I gotta go.                        P.A.          He said it was important.                        VITTI                  (annoyed)          I'll talk to him tomorrow.He hands the P.A. some money.                        VITTI          Here -- tell him you couldn't find me.Vitti exits.   The P.A. looks at the money.                                               CUT TO:EXT. MAKEUP TRAILER - LATERVitti makes his way past the trailers, heading for his car.As he passes the makeup trailer, the door opens and TonyBella sticks his head out.                         TONY BELLA          Paul!   Excellent!                        VITTI          Can't really talk right now, mate.          Headin' out.                        TONY BELLA          Two seconds. Please, Paul.    It's          really important.Vitti looks pissed.                                               CUT TO:INT. MAKEUP TRAILER - MOMENTS LATERVitti watches impatiently while the makeup artist touches upTony Bella.                        TONY BELLA                  (script in hand)          I'm looking for something to do when          my character finds out he's being          indicted. I was thinking of punching          the wall, but I did that when they          killed Uncle Lenny, and I did it again                                                      92.          when Franny left me. Oh, and I          punched a car, a van actually, when          Peezee screwed up the big drug deal.          So I'd like to find something          different, that doesn't involve, you          know, punching anything.                        VITTI          Try kickin' something.   Let me know          how it works out.Vitti starts for the door.                         TONY BELLA          Wait, Paul.   That's interesting.    Like          what?                        VITTI                  (impatient)          I don't know. You could kick a guy in          the face.                        TONY BELLA          Who?                        VITTI                  (irritated)          Just some guy! You knock him down,          give him a couple quick kicks in the          head while he's on the ground.                        TONY BELLA          Why?                        VITTI          Why not? Because he's there and          you're pissed off.                        TONY BELLA          You've done that?                        VITTI          Maybe once or twice.   Look, I got          people waiting.                        TONY BELLA                  (thinks about it,                   decides not)          My character wouldn't do that.   What          else?                        VITTI                  (at a loss, getting                   angrier)          I don't know. You could yell real          loud?                                                           93.                        TONY BELLA          Yell real loud? That's original.                         VITTI                  (pops)          Or keep your fuckin' mouth shut! Who          gives a shit what you do, for cryin'          out loud?Tony Bella likes something about Vitti's inflection.                        TONY BELLA                  (imitates him)          Who gives a shit what you do, for          cryin' out loud?                        VITTI          What are you doin'?                        TONY BELLA          What are you doin'?                        VITTI                  (irritated)          Okay, you can cut that shit out right          now.                        TONY BELLA          Okay, you can cut that shit out right          now.                        VITTI                  (menacing)          Hey, I'm serious, asshole!                        TONY BELLA          Hey, I'm serious, asshole!                                                 CUT TO:EXT. MAKEUP TRAILER - MOMENT LATERThe door flies open and Tony Bella comes flying out of thetrailer backwards, hitting the pavement hard. Vitti chargesout of the trailer and storms away. Tony wipes blood fromunder his nose.                           TONY BELLA          That was good.     My character could do          that.                                                 CUT TO:EXT. SOBEL HOUSE - LATERA cab pulls up to the house, and Ben gets out.                                                          94.He walks up the driveway and sees Jelly's car parked at theback door and a big man in a dark suit and tie wiping thewindshield.                         BEN                   (irritated)          Jelly!   Where's Paul?The guy in the suit turns.   It's Michael.                         BEN          Michael?   What are you doing?                        MICHAEL          Working.                        BEN                  (pleasantly                   surprised)          You got a job? That's great. Look          how handsome you look in that suit.          What's the job?                        MICHAEL                  (reluctantly)          I'm working for Mr. Vitti.   I'm his          driver.                        BEN          Oh, no, you're not!                        MICHAEL          You keep telling me to get a job!                        BEN          I meant making sandwiches at the          Subway, not driving a getaway car!                        MICHAEL          He's paying me twenty dollars an hour.                        BEN          I don't care if he pays you two          hundred an hour, you're not doing it.                        MICHAEL          Dad --                        BEN          He had no right to ask you without my          permission. Where is he?                        MICHAEL          I can't tell you.                        BEN          What do you mean you can't tell me?                                                       95.                           MICHAEL             I promised I'd never repeat anything I             heard in the car. I took an oath.                           BEN             You took an oath! Oh, my God!     Was             there blood involved?                           MICHAEL             Dad, I gave my word.Laura comes out of the house.                           LAURA             Ben? Where've you been?    What             happened to you?                            BEN                      (minimizing)             I was  in a car chase. There  was a             little  shooting -- not that much             really  -- then they -- drove into the             river.   It wasn't as bad as it sounds.                           LAURA             When is this going to end?                           BEN             Tonight, I hope. I just have to find             him and --                           LAURA             Why? A few days ago you weren't even             sure you still wanted to be a             therapist. Now you're going to risk             your life again for that lout.                           BEN             Yeah, but he's an amazing lout, isn't             he? I can't quit now. You know that.                            LAURA                      (relents)             Go.   Just don't get shot -- please?                            BEN             I love you.They kiss.     Then Ben turns to Michael.                           BEN             All right, where is he?                            MICHAEL             I can't.                                                             96.                         LAURA                  (pops)          You tell your father right now or I'll          give you such a smack it won't even be          funny!                         MICHAEL                   (surprised)          Okay!   I dropped him at the club.                          BEN          What club?                        MICHAEL          Little Darling's in Queens.                        BEN          Okay, Mafiaboy, give me your car keys.                          MICHAEL          I'm grounded?                        BEN          No, I'm borrowing your car.He kisses Laura again and takes off.                                               CUT TO:EXT. LITTLE DARLING'S - LATER THAT NIGHTSeveral limos are parked outside a family-owned nightclub inQueens.Ben pulls up, leaning way back in the driver's seat ofMichael's, half-painted, modified '82 Honda Civic with theBUBBLING MUFFLERS.                                               CUT TO:INT. CIVIC - CONTINUOUS ACTIONBen takes out a bottle of pills. He tries to remove thechild-safety cap but his hands are shaking so badly he can'tdo it. Frustrated, he tries to bite the cap off, then givesup and throws the bottle away.                                               CUT TO:EXT. LITTLE DARLING'S - SAME TIMEBen enters the club.A moment later, Cerrone and Miller cruise by in an unmarkedcar and park at the end of the block.                                                             97.                                                 CUT TO:INT. CLUB ENTRANCE - MOMENT LATERBen enters the nightclub and starts moving through the crowd,looking for Vitti.He pushes through and sees Jelly and a few of the guyswatching an exotic dancer, a beautiful young blonde in askimpy costume, standing on a platform grinding in mockecstasy.                          BEN          Jelly!                        JELLY                  (yelling over music)          Hey, Doc. What are you doin' here?                          BEN          Where's Paul?Jelly tucks a few bills into her G-string.     She looks at Benand winks suggestively.                        JELLY          I think she likes you, Doc.     Give her          a couple of bucks.Ben reluctantly digs in his pocket and holds out a bill tothe stripper.                        BEN          Can you break a twenty?The stripper sensuously fingers the top of her G-string, andBen gingerly sticks the twenty in it.                        BEN          Do I just make my own change?He tentatively reaches for some smaller bills in her G-stringbut she dances away.                        BEN                  (calls to her)          A ten and five ones -- when you have          the chance.He turns around to talk to Jelly, but he's already gone.Ben finds Jelly at a table with Vitti.                        BEN          Okay, Paul, what's going on?                                                           98.                        VITTI                  (keyed up)          What are you doing here?                        BEN          I could ask you the same thing.                        VITTI          What's it look like? We're just          blowin' off a little steam. What's          the big deal?Eddie DeVol enters, flanked by his main guys, AL PACINO andENORMOUS BOBBY.                        EDDIE          How's it goin', Paulie? You know my          guys -- Enormous Bobby and Al Pacino?                        VITTI                  (looks at him)          Al Pacino? That's your real name?                         AL PACINO          No. People call me that because I          look like Al Pacino.                  (beat)          The actor.                        VITTI          Anybody ever call you Carol Burnett?                        AL PACINO          No.   Why?                        VITTI          'Cause you look about as much like          Carol Burnett as you look like Al          Pacino.Ben laughs.   Al Pacino glares at him.                        BEN          I do see a little Pacino there --          around the eyes.                        EDDIE          So we're all here. Let's do it.He heads for the back of the club with his guys.   Vitti andJelly start to follow.                         BEN                  (stops Vitti)          Let's do what?                                                          99.                        VITTI          You better get out of here.                         BEN                  (lays a hand                   on his arm)          I'm not going until you tell me what's          going on here.Vitti violently shakes off Ben's hand.                        VITTI                  (menacing)          Don't make me hurt you.    Get the fuck          out of here.He walks away leaving Ben frozen.Ben watches as they disappear through a door leading to theback of the club. He starts toward the door.                                                CUT TO:INT. BASEMENT ROOM - MOMENTS LATERVitti is seated at a big table in the crowded, smoke-filledroom. Jelly sits at  his side. He's surrounded by his crew,about a half-a-dozen guys, and Patty's man, Eddie DeVol.Several street maps and diagrams are spread out on the table.                        VITTI          Okay, this is big and we only get one          shot at it; and there's only about a          million ways this fuckin' thing can go          bad, so listen up.Vitti pulls a street map to the center of the table and tapsa spot downtown.                        VITTI          The Federal Gold Depository in Lower          Manhattan. Three times a year a          shipment of gold bars goes in a          heavily-guarded armored truck from the          Depository to the vault at the Federal          Reserve to hold for foreign          governments that trade in bullion. At          three o'clock in the morning -- eight          hours from now --we're gonna hijack          that truck.                                                CUT TO:INT. LITTLE DARLING'S - SAME TIMEBen enters the back room of the club, looks around, andstarts down the stairwell leading to the basement.                                                             100.                                                CUT TO:INT. BASEMENT STAIRWAY - MOMENTS LATERBen makes his way down the cramped, dimly-lit stairway andapproaches the door to the basement room.He raises his hand to knock, then hesitates and stands therefor a moment listening to the MUFFLED VOICES inside.Suddenly he is grabbed from behind and slammed up against thedoor by Enormous Bobby. Bobby slams him against the door acouple of more times, using Ben's head as a doorknocker. Thedoor is opened by someone inside and Enormous Bobby shovesBen into the room.                                                CUT TO:INT. BASEMENT ROOM - CONTINUOUS ACTIONBen hits the floor to a chorus of surprised reactions fromthe guys. Enormous Bobby pulls Ben off the floor by hislapels.                        EDDIE          What the fuck is this?                        ENORMOUS BOBBY          I found this guy listening at the          door.                        BEN                  (dazed)          Hey, guys. How's it going?                        EDDIE          Who is this guy?                         BEN                  (not looking                   at Eddie)          Ben Sobel. Sorry, I can't move my          head to the right. Boy, I hope that's          not permanent.                        EDDIE          Get rid of him.Al Pacino puts his gun to Ben's head.                        BEN                  (still dazed)          Hi, Carol.                        AL PACINO          You're a dead man, asshole.    Let's go.                                                             101.He starts muscling Ben to the door.                        VITTI          What are you doing?                        EDDIE          What do you think? He can make every          guy in this room.                        BEN          Oh, I'm not into that, fellas.                        VITTI          Get your fuckin' hands off him!   He's          with me.                        EDDIE          What, on the job?Vitti hesitates.                        EDDIE                  (impatiently)          Either he's in, or he's dead.    Which          is it?                        BEN          I think in is better.                        VITTI                  (reluctantly)          He's in. He's my responsibility.                        EDDIE                  (to Vitti)          Okay, no more surprises. And from          this moment on, no one leaves my          sight. Got it? Now go through it one          more time.                        VITTI          Okay -- everybody listen up.                         BEN          Wait!                    (sits)          Okay.    Go ahead.                                                CUT TO:EXT. LITTLE DARLING'S - LATER THAT NIGHTAgents Cerrone and Miller watch the front of the club fromtheir car parked across the street.                                                             102.                          CERRONE                    (yawns, checks watch)            I wonder what it costs to keep that            many limos waiting for three-and-a-            half hours.THEIR POVA dozen men looking like Vitti and his crew come out of theclub and get into the limos.                          MILLER (O.S.)            Everybody stand by. They're leaving.The limos drive off.At the corner, the FBI car pulls out and follows at adiscreet distance.                                                  CUT TO:EXT. QUEENSBOROUGH BRIDGE - NIGHTThe FBI car follows the limos across the bridge intoManhattan.                                                  CUT TO:EXT. TIMES SQUARE - LATERThe limos pull up at the WWF Restaurant.     The FBI car stopsup the block.                          CERRONE (V.O.)                    (over radio)            312, all units. W.W.F. Restaurant.            Times Square.The limo doors open and the passengers get out -- allnondescript nobodies.                                                  CUT TO:INT. FBI CAR - SAME TIMEMiller watches intently.                           MILLER            Where's Vitti?   I don't see Vitti.Cerrone stares with the growing awareness that they've beenhad.                           CERRONE            Damn it!                                                             103.                  (grimly, into radio)          Call it off. We lost them.                                                CUT TO:INT. MANHATTAN WAREHOUSE - MIDDLE OF NIGHTVitti's guys are dressed like construction workers as theyload their gear into two trucks. Vitti supervises whileothers work on a New York City bus.Eddie DeVol, Al Pacino and Enormous Bobby stand guard overthe whole scene, in case anyone is thinking of defecting.Ben is wearing heavy dungarees and an oversized plaid shirt,struggling to lace his work boots. Jelly approaches him andtosses a bulletproof vest on the table.                       JELLY          Here. See if this'll fit under your          shirt.                        BEN                  (extremely nervous)          I could fit you under my shirt.    Don't          they have anything smaller?                        JELLY          This ain't Bloomingdale's. Nobody          knew you were comin'. You're lucky          you're alive, Doc.He glances at Eddie DeVol.                        BEN                  (hisses)          Nobody's going to be alive when this          is over. What kind of plan is this?          It's crazy. It's stupid!                        JELLY          Watch it. It may be crazy but it          ain't stupid. If you want to stay          alive, just keep your mouth shut, do          everything I tell you and try not to          pee in your pants.                  (quietly)          Can you handle an M-16?He holds up an automatic rifle.                        BEN          You mean shoot it?                        JELLY          No, I mean twirl it like a fuckin'          baton. How about an A.K.?                                                            104.He holds up another rifle.                          BEN                    (exasperated)          Jelly --                         JELLY                  (rummaging through                   pile)          Kalashnikov, MAC-10, Uzi -- stop me if          I hit one you like.Ben sees Eddie watching him and gingerly picks up a 9mmhandgun.                        BEN          Couldn't I just take this?                        JELLY          Yeah, that's a good one. That gun          brings back a lot of fond memories.          Use it in good health.Ben puts the gun into the waistband of his dungarees, but itslips through and drops into his pants.                        BEN                  (winces)          Ooh, cold -- cold.He jams his hand down the front of his pants and startssearching around in there. Eddie and Enormous Bobby stare athim as they walk by.                        BEN                  (explaining)          My gun -- fell down in my --He shakes his leg and the gun drops out of his cuff andclatters onto the floor. He smiles weakly and picks it up.Vitti approaches.    He looks agitated but under tight control.                         VITTI                  (to Jelly)          Check the bus.Jelly exits.                        VITTI                  (quietly, to   Ben)          If we can, I'm gonna   get you out          before the real shit   goes down. Just          don't flip out on me,   okay?                                                             105.                          BEN            You are making a huge mistake.   You            know that, don't you?                          VITTI            You said it yourself.   It's my nature.                          BEN            It's not your nature!   You have a            choice.                          VITTI            What are you, fucking Jiminy Cricket?            I don't know what planet you live on,            but here on Earth it's 'might makes            right.'   Read the papers. The guys            with the guns make the rules.                          BEN                    (holding up the                     pistol)            So I guess that makes me a real man            now.  What happened to the white hat,            Paul?  Your father wasn't wrong. You            could be one of the good guys.                          VITTI            Enough. Say one more word about my            father and I'll break your fuckin'            head.                          BEN                    (quietly)            Okay.Vitti walks off.                                                   CUT TO:INT. BATHROOM - SAME TIMEVitti comes in, locks the door and has a full-blown panicattack -- gasping for breath, sweating, whimpering, trying tostifle his panic. Then he sees his tortured face in themirror and starts pulling himself together.                                                   CUT TO:INT. WAREHOUSE - FEW MINUTES LATERThe guys are getting into the trucks. Ben keeps lettingeverybody go in front of him, then starts to back away, butEddie and Enormous Bobby come up behind him and push him upinto the truck.EXT. MANHATTAN WAREHOUSE - NIGHT                                                             106.The big doors open and two trucks roll out carrying Vitti,Ben and the crew.                                              CUT TO:INT. LEAD TRUCK - SAME TIMEThe guys are sitting on the floor in the back of the truck,lined up along the sides like paratroopers waiting to jump.Ben is sitting next to Jelly and across from Vitti who isjust staring intently.                                                CUT TO:EXT. WEST SIDE HIGHWAY - NIGHTThe trucks make their way past the aircraft carrier Intrepidheading downtown.                                           DISSOLVE TO:EXT. CONSTRUCTION SITE - NIGHT (LATER)Vitti, Ben, and Eddie DeVol stand next to the treads of agiant crane.                        VITTI                  (checks his watch)          I have five to three. They should          start movin' any minute.                        BEN                  (looking at his watch)          I have three-o-six.                        VITTI          Let's see your watch.Ben slips it off and hands it to him. Vitti smashes it on arock with the butt of his gun, then tosses it back to Ben.Vitti's RADIO SQUAWKS and the spotter's voice is heard.                        SPOTTER (V.O.)                  (filtered)          They're moving!Vitti keys his radio twice as a signal and holds up hisclenched fist to alert the guys on site with him.                                                CUT TO:EXT. FEDERAL BUILDING - NIGHTA CONVOY of vehicles emerges from the bowels of the buildingand turns onto the street. In front and back are specially-equipped SUVs, full of heavily-armed federal marshals; anarmored truck in the middle carries the gold.                                                          107.                                              CUT TO:EXT. ANOTHER STREET - SAME TIMEThe convoy RUMBLES past a block-long, high-rise constructionsite, totally enclosed by a plywood wall around theperimeter.VITTIHe can hear the convoy passing outside the wall.SPOTTERHe looks down on the convoy from a vantage point on ascaffold high above the street. When the trucks are in theright position, he waves to Vitti on the ground.VITTIsees the signal.                         VITTI                   (on walkie)          Go!                                              CUT TO:EXT. STREET - CONTINUOUS ACTIONA forty-foot, flat-bed trailer truck loaded with cementconduit backs across the street and stops, blocking the pathof the convoy.The lead SUV HONKS. The truck doesn't move. The CAPTAIN ofthe marshals gets out and walks up to the truck. The driverhas slipped out the other side and disappeared.Suddenly, a huge steel claw drops down from above and closesaround the top of the armored truck, its sharp pointscrunching into the metal sides. Then the truck starts risingoff the pavement. A couple of determined marshals jump outof their vehicles, race over and grab onto the bumpers as thearmored truck is lifted off the ground.                                              CUT TO:EXT. CONSTRUCTION SITE - CONTINUOUS ACTIONA hundred-foot tower crane lifts the truck straight up. Themarshals hang on as long as they can, then prudently let goand drop heavily to the street. Two marshals are stillclinging to the truck as it rises to a height of thirty feet,then swings silently over the perimeter fencing.                                                             108.INT. CONSTRUCTION SITEA bank of arc lights is switched on illuminating the site asthe truck is lowered to the ground. Heavily-armed gangstersin ski masks surround the truck and herd the driver, theshotgun guard and the frightened marshalsinto a construction shack, while men with acetylene torchesattack the back doors.Vitti pulls down his ski mask and taps Ben.                        BEN          Paul, it's not too late.   Don't do          this.                          VITTI          Let's go.He strides off to take charge. Ben pulls down his mask andhurries after him, but runs right into a pole.                          BEN          Shit!   Ow!He raises his mask and scampers after Vitti rubbing thepainful bump on his forehead.                                                CUT TO:EXT. STREET - SAME TIMEThe marshals run around, frantically searching for a way intothe construction site.                                                CUT TO:VITTITotally in charge, he strides up to the armored truck just ashis men finish cutting through the steel plate doors. Vittiyanks the doors open..Vitti and Ben stare in awe at the exposed contents of thetruck -- a fortune in gold bars.                        VITTI                  (shouts)          Get the ramp!Eddie and his guys run up with a long, narrow track withmetal rollers and set it up at the rear of the gold truck.                        EDDIE                  (very excited)          You know, this might just fuckin'          work.                                                          109.                        BEN          You're gonna get in so much trouble.                                               CUT TO:EXT. STREET - SAME TIMEThe marshals are trying to climb over the construction sitewall, but they're stopped by rolls of razor wire andSUPPRESSING FIRE from inside the site.                        LIEUTENANT          They can't get over the wire.                        CAPTAIN          Then knock down the gates!                                               CUT TO:EXT. CONSTRUCTION SITEThe guys take the heavy bars out of the armored truck and runthem quickly along the rolling track into the bus.                                               CUT TO:INT. BUS - SAME TIMEJelly is pulling on the hat and jacket of a transit authoritybus driver. The floor boards of the bus have been lifted outand the guys are laying the gold bars in the hollow under thefloor.                        VITTI                  (pops his head in)          Forty bars. That's all we need.                        BEN          How much is that?                        VITTI          $350 an ounce, 16 ounces in a pound,          90 pounds in each bar -- do the math.                        JELLY                  (a beat)          Actually, gold is measured in troy          ounces. 14.6 ounces to the pound.          That would be... $18,396,000.                          BEN          Really?                          JELLY          Give or take.He hears a LOUD CRASH and all eyes turn to the gates.                                                             110.                        BEN          Well, so much for not peeing in my          pants.Eddie goes off to help transfer the gold.                                                   CUT TO:EXT. STREET - SAME TIMEThe marshals back up one of the SUVs and run it into thegates again.                                                   CUT TO:INT. CONSTRUCTION SITEThe big, wooden GATES SHUDDER but Vitti's men roll twoenormous earthmovers up to reinforce the gates.                        BEN          You know what you said about not          flipping out?                          VITTI          Yeah?                          BEN          Sorry.                  (flipping out)          What did I do? What did I do? I had          a perfect life, I threw it away.                          VITTI          Don't do this.Vitti drags him off toward the building structure.                        BEN          I can't help it! My life is over!          I'm going to jail. Some people          can handle prison -- I'm not one of          them. I have delicate features. I'm          small. I'll be way too popular!                          VITTI          Calm down.                        BEN          I can't calm down!      I'm gonna die!Inside the structure, Vitti spins him around and shakes him.                        VITTI          You're not gonna die!                                                                111.                        BEN          I can't breathe! I'm suffocating!                        VITTI                  (shaking him)          For Chrissake, get hold of yourself!                         BEN          I can't!   I'm dying!   We're all going          to die!Suddenly, he slaps Vitti hard across the face.      They bothfreeze.                        BEN          Did I just hit you?                         VITTI          Yeah.   Feel better now?                        BEN                  (breaking down)          I'm sorry, Paul. I blame myself for          this. I wanted to help you. I wanted          to be there for you. But I just          wasn't good enough.                        VITTI          You were good.  It isn't your fault.                        BEN          No, it is. Since my father          died --                  (starts crying)          I've lost my way. I don't know          anything anymore. I mean, what's the          point? I didn't think it would hit me          so hard --                        VITTI          Would you just shut up about your          father!                        BEN          I'm grieving, goddammit!    Have a          little respect!                        VITTI          He was an asshole -- you said it          yourself. What are you grieving for?                        BEN          I'm grieving for myself, you fucking          idiot!Ben lets it all go, sobbing for all the years of pain.                                                          112.                        VITTI                  (surprised, shrugs)          Jeez, I'm sorry.                        BEN          Now I know how you must have felt when          your father was killed.Vitti looks at him.                        BEN                  (crying more)          I mean, it had to be ten times worse          for you -- being murdered right in          front of you. And you were so young -          -                        VITTI          We don't have time for this.                        BEN                  (really sobbing)          It must've been so painful!                        VITTI                  (eyes filling with                   tears)          I'm warning you -- don't do          this --                        BEN          I mean, it's like all his hopes for          you died with him. And that's so sad.                        VITTI                  (starting to cry)          There I go. You happy now?      You see          what you're doing here?Both men are crying now.                        BEN          Your father really loved you.                        VITTI          I loved him, too. I did.                        BEN                  (hugs him)          I know. I know.Jelly comes around the corner and sees the two men in a weepyembrace.                          JELLY          Oh, boy.    This is bad.                                                          113.Another huge CRASH as the marshals ram the gates again, thistime tearing loose one of the big hinges.                        JELLY          Maybe we oughta should go.Vitti, Ben and Jelly run to the bus, but Eddie pulls a gunand stops them. Al and Bobby cover Jelly and the rest of thecrew. Vitti backs away slowly.                        EDDIE          Did you really think you were gonna          live through this?                        VITTI          I had my hopes.                        EDDIE          Yeah, well, nice work.   Mr. Rigazzi          will be very grateful.                        BEN                  (to Vitti)          Rigazzi? I thought he worked for          Patti LoPresti.                        VITTI          That's what Patty thought, too. This          scumbag's been playin' both sides          against the middle.                        EDDIE          There's only one side as far as I'm          concerned. Mine. What did you think?          I was just gonna stand by and let some          fuckin' has-been move back in? So          long, Mr. Vitti.He cocks the gun and is about to pull the trigger when Bensuddenly roars and slams him in the head with his gun. Vittiand Jelly quickly cover Al Pacino and Enormous Bobby.                        BEN                  (beating the shit                   out of Eddie)          I can't take it anymore! That's what          I hate about you fucking sociopaths!          You just keep changing the rules to          suit yourselves. Well, not this time,          you anti-social asshole. You fucked          with the wrong shrink!Sitting on Eddie's chest, he presses the gun against Eddie'snose.                        BEN          Don't you read the papers?   The guy                                                               114.             with the gun makes the rules.                           VITTI             Yeah, what?They shove Eddie, Enormous Bobby and Al Pacino into the backof the armored truck, Vitti gives a signal and the cranelifts it off the ground.                                                     CUT TO:EXT. STREET - CONTINUOUS ACTIONThe armored truck comes down fast and drops heavily to thestreet. Federal MARSHALS swarm the truck and find Eddie, Al,and Bobby sprawled in the back.                           CAPTAIN                     (screaming)             On the floor! Face-down!   Now!                           AL PACINO                     (to Eddie)             Nice goin'. Good plan.                           ENORMOUS BOBBY             What's a sociopath?The marshals handcuff them.Suddenly, the marshals hear AUTOMATIC WEAPONS FIRE comingfrom the next block.Uniformed SWAT COPS come running from that direction andshout to the marshals.                           SWAT LEADER             They're escaping out the back!    Get             over there! Move it!The marshals rush toward the sound of the GUNFIRE anddisappear around the corner.                                              CUT TO:NEXT BLOCKAs the marshals round the corner, they see a police shoot-outin progress.Wiseguys are FIRING AUTOMATIC WEAPONS at cops who are pinneddown behind police cruisers.The Captain of the marshals FIRES a warning SHOT in the air.                           CAPTAIN                     (on a bullhorn)             Freeze! Drop your weapons!                                                             115.The head wiseguy, Anthony Bella, turns in surprise.                        TONY BELLA          What the hell is this?                        RAOUL (O.S.)                  (on his own bullhorn)          Cut, cut, cut! What the hell's going          on?Raoul strides out into the street, furious, still talkingthrough his bullhorn.                        RAOUL                  (to the Captain)          Who are you? What are you doing in my          shot?The Captain and the marshals look around and see that they'reon the set of "Little Caesar."                        CAPTAIN          What are you doing on my street?The Captain walks toward Raoul until they are almost face toface, shouting at each other through their BULLHORNS.                        RAOUL          I have a permit!                        CAPTAIN          I don't give a shit about your permit!The ASSISTANT DIRECTOR addresses the TV crew.                        ASSISTANT DIRECTOR          All right, people. Back to one and          let's try it again!                  (into his walkie-talkie)          Release the traffic and reset for          another take.On the perimeters of the set, the PA's signal the off-dutycops who work the set to release the real traffic they'vebeen holding on the cross streets.A city bus passes behind Raoul and Tony Bella who are stillscreaming at the Federal Marshal.                                                CUT TO:EXT. 11TH AVENUE - MINUTES LATERIn mid-block, SWAT cops step into the street and wave the busto a halt.                                                               116.                                               CUT TO:INT. BUS - SAME TIMEBen is sitting in the back with Vitti as the helmeted SWATcops board the bus.                        BEN                  (sees them coming)          That's it. We're screwed.The cops walk toward the back and confront Ben.                           LEAD SWAT          You!                           BEN          Yes, Officer?                        LEAD SWAT          You're one tough shrink.The cops unmask. It's Mo-Mo, Cokes, and Tuna.     They laughand slap hands with Vitti and Ben.                                               CUT TO:EXT. STREET - CONTINUOUS ACTIONThe bus pulls out and joins the flow of traffic headingdowntown.                                               CUT TO:INT. BUS - MINUTES LATERAll the guys are looking pretty happy with their score.Ben turns to Vitti.                        BEN          Feeling pretty good, huh?                           VITTI          I felt worse.                        BEN          So what now? You go on the run for          the rest of your life? Back to Sing          Sing? Or you turn up dead in an alley?                        VITTI          Those are my choices? What   happened          to lying on a beach in Costa  Rica          for the next twenty years?   You          can't let me enjoy this for  five          fuckin' minutes?                                                             117.                          BEN          Five minutes?    And then what?                          VITTI          And then what?    I'll show you.                                               CUT TO:EXT. RIGAZZI PLUMBING AND HEATING - NEXT MORNINGA Rigazzi company van is forced open by a team of FBI agents ledby Agent Miller. Stacked inside are forty gold bars.Agent Cerrone comes out of the building with Lou Rigazzi andseveral associates in handcuffs.U.S. Attorney Chapin makes a statement to the media.                        CHAPIN          Acting on intelligence we developed in          the last few days, the Justice          Department and the F.B.I. took very          aggressive action to recover the          stolen gold and bring the perpetrators          to justice. I'm happy to tell the          people of New York that the streets          are safe again.                                               CUT TO:EXT. PATTY'S HOUSE - SAME TIMEVitti knocks on the front door.    Patty answers it in herrobe.                         PATTY          Hi, Paul.   How'd it go?                          VITTI          Not so good.                        PATTY          Yeah, I heard. It's all over the          television. I never should've trusted          Eddie. But, you know, a woman alone          in the world is very vulnerable.                          VITTI          Yeah, I know.                        PATTY          At least I don't have to worry about          the Rigazzis no more. Thanks to you.                        VITTI          I told you -- I just want to be left                                                          118.          alone.                        PATTY          I know. I'll make sure. How about          some breakfast? I could make you some          waffles and -- whatever else you want.She adjusts her robe, providing Vitti a quick peek.                        VITTI          Can't do that.Patty smiles and shrugs.                        PATTY          Well, if you ever change your mind --                  (kisses him)          Good luck, Paul.                                              CUT TO:EXT. EAST RIVER BOARDWALK - LATER MORNINGBen is leaning against the railing gazing at the water whenVitti walks up.                        BEN          Did you see Patti?                        VITTI          Yeah.                        BEN                  (ruefully)          Did she grab your balls?                        VITTI          What kind of question is that? She's          cool. She's just happy to have 'the          Wrench' out of the way.                        BEN          Well, I talked to the U.S. Attorney.                        VITTI          Did he grab your balls?                        BEN          No, Paul, he did not grab my balls.          He thanked me for tipping him off          about the gold. And he said he won't          be coming after you if you stay out of          trouble.  So what do you think?                        VITTI          I'm gonna go to Ohio -- get Marie and          the kids -- then we'll probably          disappear for awhile -- figure out all                                                    119.          this future stuff          -- away from all the pressure.                        BEN          Good idea. Change is hard, Paul.    But          you did the right thing.                        VITTI          Yeah, you, too. You hung in there.          That took a lot of guts.                        BEN          Well, I just --                        VITTI          No, you were like an animal back          there.                        BEN          I just vented my displaced aggression                       VITTI          No. I'm telling you. You're a          monster. I saw the beast in you.                        BEN          I'm not a beast. I can handle myself          if I have to --                        VITTI          Handle yourself? You were fuckin'          John Wayne.                         BEN          Well, I wrestled a bit in high school          -- 122 pounds.                        VITTI          Yeah, I could tell.   You're good, you.                        BEN          I'm not --                        VITTI          Paul, I just --                       VITTI          No. You are good. You got a gift, my          friend.Ben gives up.                         BEN          Fine.   I have a gift.                        VITTI          So -- happy ending, huh?                                                             120.                        BEN          Well, I think so.   Don't you feel          better now?                        VITTI          Are you kidding? I feel like shit.          All that work for nothing. 20 million          bucks.                        BEN          You're grieving -- it's a process.                        VITTI          Take it easy, Doc.                        BEN          You, too, Paul.They embrace. Then Vitti starts to walk away toward Jellywho has been waiting at a respectful distance.Vitti stops and turns.                        VITTI          Hey, Doc!                  (sings)          'There's a place for us -- '                        BEN                  (sings)          'A time and place for us -- '                        JELLY                  (joins in)          'Hold my hand we're halfway there -- '                        ALL TOGETHER          'Hold my hand and I'll take you there.                  (belting)          Somehow, someday, somewhere.'The ORCHESTRA SWELLS as we CRANE UP TO the Brooklyn Bridgeand Lower Manhattan beyond.                                          DISSOLVE TO:FADED 8MM COLOR HOME MOVIE FOOTAGEA little boy in a cowboy suit sitting on a pony as his fatherleads him around the ring.                                               FADE OUT.                          THE END
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+            ANALYZE THIS                  Screenplay byPETER TOLAN and HAROLD RAMIS and KENNETH LONERGAN                    Story by        KENNETH LONERGAN and PETER TOLAN                July 1998 Draft              FOR EDUCATIONAL               PURPOSES ONLY1   CREDITS BEGIN OVER BLACK.                                    1    DOMINIC MANETTA    a man in his 70s, narrates nostalgically OVER a MONTAGE    of related news photos.                            MANETTA (V.O.)              1957 was a big year. The Russians              put that Sputnik into outer space,              the Dodgers played their last game              at Ebbets Field, 'that guy' shot              Frank Costello in the head, and              missed, and the Gallo brothers              whacked Albert Anastasia in that              barber shop in the Park Sheraton              Hotel. It was total chaos. With              Anastasia gone, Vito Genovese              figures he's king shit, but Carlo              Gambino and 'Joe Bananas' both              want to be boss of all bosses. So              they call a meeting -- a big              meeting.2   EXT. UPSTATE NEW YORK - DAY                                  2    CREDITS CONTINUE. In FADED 16mm documentary-style, we    see a country road winding through rolling hills. At the    top of the hill, a black '57 Cadillac appears and sweeps    through the peaceful landscape.                            MANETTA (V.O.)              It was the first time the whole              commission was ever gonna meet              face to face. Bosses and wiseguys              were comin' in from all over the              country, and all the New York              families, too -- maybe sixty              bosses, the whole wiseguy world --              all headin' toward this little              town upstate to figure out what's              what.3   EXT. ROADSIDE - DAY                                          3    A sign reads, "Entering Apalachin - pop. 342." The black    Cadillac speeds past the sign, then another black Caddy,    then a black Lincoln, then another Caddy, a Lincoln, etc.                            MANETTA (V.O.)              Your father and me, we were goin'              up with Tommy D., Fat Tommy.                            (MORE)                                                   (CONTINUED)                                                             2.3   CONTINUED:                                                    3                               MANETTA (V.O.CONT'D)                 He was running the family at the                 time. Anyway, I don't know what                 anybody was thinking, but some                 asshole thought it would be a good                 idea to have this meeting at Joe                 Babara's farm in the country where                 nobody would notice.4   EXT. RURAL GAS STATION - DAY                                  4    A local state police deputy is gassing up his motorcycle    when the parade of shiny black cars rolls by. He looks    up and scratches his head at the unusual sight.                               MANETTA (V.O.)                 Turns out the local cops were                 watching Joe Babara like a hawk.                 So now you got about fifty Caddies                 and Lincolns pullin' into Apalachin                 and some deputy sheriff with cow                 shit on his shoes notices all the                 traffic and calls the Feds.5   EXT. JOE BABARA'S ESTATE - DAY                                5    The Caddies and Lincolns are all parked around a rambling    country manor. Bosses and wiseguys are meeting and    greeting each other on the big front porch.    One WISEGUY is trying to shoo a cow away from his car.                               WISEGUY                 You wanna be a ribeye?   Get away                 from the fuckin' car.6   EXT. WOODS - SAME TIME                                        6    Federal agents start moving in quietly, heavily-armed,    wearing big FBI arm bands.                               MANETTA (V.O.)                 The meeting never even got                 started. The Feds moved in --7   EXT. HOUSE - DAY                                              7    Agents with weapons drawn charge the house and start    breaking down the front door.                                                              3.8    EXT. BACK OF HOUSE - SAME TIME                                  8                             MANETTA (V.O.)               -- and we moved out.     Gangsters in shiny suits are squeezing through windows     and leaping off balconies.     WIDE - WISEGUYS     fleeing into the surrounding woods and fields.                             MANETTA (V.O.)               Your papa and me hid in a field               with hay or corn, some kinda               foliage, I don't know.9    EXT. FARM FIELD - DAY                                           9     Two wiseguys in suits crouch in the tall grass.     Suddenly they see a John Deere harvester bearing down on     them.                             MANETTA (V.O.)               Then along comes this farmer who               almost runs us over in a tractor,               so your father hauls out his piece,               this .44 cannon he used to carry,               and hijacks the goddamn tractor.               Funniest fuckin' thing I ever saw.10   EXT. COUNTRY ROAD - DAY                                         10     The farmer goes flying off the harvester and the two     wiseguys drive off on it.     The farmer looks up to see the John Deere disappear in a     swirling cloud of dust that FILLS the SCREEN.     END CREDITS.                                                      DISSOLVE TO:11   SWIRLING CLOUD OF CREAM                                         11     on top of an espresso. PULL BACK as a hand reaches in     and runs a lemon rind along the rim of the cup. The     espresso is picked up and sipped by MANETTA, the aging     boss of a prominent New York crime family.                                                      (CONTINUED)                                                               4.11   CONTINUED:                                                      11     INT. RITZ CLAM BOX - LATE AFTERNOON (PRESENT)     The place is nearly empty. Manetta is talking to PAUL     VITTI, a dark, intense, intelligent man in his late     forties, and a powerful boss in his own right.                                MANETTA                  Anyway, Carlo Gambino came out of                  it capo de tutti capi, and that                  was the last time the whole                  commission tried to meet -- until                  now.                                VITTI                         (brooding)                  I don't know. I don't like it.                  What do we need a meeting for?                  Let everybody worry about their                  own business.     They finish eating.                                MANETTA                  The '57 meeting was about how we                  were going to divide up the whole                  country. This meeting is about                  how we're gonna survive. You got                  'made' guys informing for the                  Feds; bosses going to jail;                  everybody's dealing drugs; people                  are getting whacked without                  permission. And on top of                  everything, now we got the Chinese                  Triads and these crazy Russians to                  deal with. Everything's changing.                  We need a leader. Someone with                  fresh ideas. Someone like you.                  It's gonna be a new century, Paul.                  We gotta change with the times.                                VITTI                  What are we gonna get, a fuckin'                  web site?                                MANETTA                  You remember what else happened in                  1957, Paul?                                VITTI                  Yeah, I remember.                                MANETTA                  When your father died, I promised                  him I'd always look out for you.                  Come to the meeting.                                                       (CONTINUED)                                                                5.11   CONTINUED:    (2)                                               11     They get up to leave. Vitti drops some money on the     table. Bodyguards follow them to the door. The waiters     and the owner bow to them as they pass. They are almost     out the door when Vitti hesitates.                                VITTI                  Wait a second. I'm just gonna                  grab a toothpick.     The instant he steps back inside, Manetta and his     bodyguard are struck by an incredible VOLLEY of GUNFIRE,     which BLOWS OUT all the GLASS in the DOOR and WINDOWS.     Vitti's bodyguard, JELLY, grabs him and throws him behind     the counter, shielding him with his body.     Outside, the shooting has stopped and curious bystanders     are looking in the broken windows. Vitti's eyes well up     with tears.                                                      CUT TO:12   KLEENEX                                                         12     being pulled out of a box. CAROLINE, a woman in her     early thirties, dabs at her eyes with the tissue. She's     sitting on the couch in --     INT. BEN'S OFFICE - SAME TIME     The office is warm, comfortable, and nicely decorated.                                 CAROLINE                         (weepy)                  I kept telling him that I needed                  room to grow and find myself as a                  person. Not just as a woman but                  as an independent entity.     BEN SOBOL     her therapist, seems to be listening intently.                                CAROLINE                  I told him I needed to get in                  touch with my uniqueness, but he                  couldn't handle that. He said I                  was driving him away. Do you                  think I was driving him away, Dr.                  Sobol?     Ben leans forward sympathetically.                                                      (CONTINUED)                                                                6.12   CONTINUED:                                                       12     He's in his mid-forties, has an expressive face and a     quick wit, and despite the occasional lapse, he is a     gifted and caring psychologist.                                BEN                  Things end, Caroline. That's just                  a part of life. It's how we deal                  with things ending that's important.                                CAROLINE                  I just can't believe it's over between                  me and Steve. Maybe there's still                  hope.                                BEN                  Well, he did take out a restraining                  order against you. I have to be                  honest, that's usually not a good                  sign.                                CAROLINE                  But what should I do?                                BEN                  Well, Caroline, I think the first                  thing you have to do...                         (voice rising)                  ... is stop whining about this                  pathetic loser! You're a tragedy                  queen!                         (mocking)                  'Steve doesn't respect me. Steve                  doesn't love me anymore.' Who gives                  a shit! Get a fucking life! You                  are, without a doubt, the most                  boring human being I have ever met!                  Please, say something interesting                  before I lapse into a goddamn coma!     Caroline looks curiously at Ben, unperturbed.                                CAROLINE                  Dr. Sobol?     BEN     Lost in his fantasy, not really listening.    He comes     to attention and tries to cover.                                                        (CONTINUED)                                                                7.12   CONTINUED:    (2)                                               12                                BEN                  Yes. Yes. I was just reflecting                  on your whole -- situation. It's                  very interesting what you were                  just saying. I want you to think                  about it, and I'm going to think                  about it, so we'll both think                  about it and we'll continue next                  week when I get back from my                  vacation.     Caroline bursts into tears again.                                 BEN                  Or not.                                                      CUT TO:13   INT. UPSTAIRS HALLWAY - DAY                                     13     Ben rushes upstairs and into his bedroom. His 14-year-old     son MICHAEL is in his room putting on a tuxedo.                                 MICHAEL                  You're late.                                BEN                         (changing hurriedly)                  I know. I couldn't get rid of my                  last patient. I think she was a                  tick in a past life.                                MICHAEL                  Yeah, what's Caroline's problem?                  Your boyfriend's gone, he hates                  your guts, get over it.                                BEN                  Michael! What did I tell you?                  You can't listen to my sessions!                  It's private stuff.                                MICHAEL                  I can't help it. I hear you                  through the vent in my room.                                 BEN                  Funny how that happens when you                  lie on the floor and put your ear                  up against it.                                                      (CONTINUED)                                                               8.13   CONTINUED:                                                      13                                MICHAEL                  Okay, okay. How's that guy who                  dreams about shitting trout?                                BEN                         (entering, putting                          on his tux shirt)                  Fine. He moved up to striped                  bass. Put on your cummerbund.                  Boy, have you grown. Did your                  mother move next door to a                  nuclear power plant?                                MICHAEL                         (struggling with the                          cummerbund)                  Why do we have to wear rented                  clothes to Grandpa's party? This                  blows.                                 BEN                         (helping him)                  We have to dress up because                  Grandpa can't have a good time                  unless everyone else is extremely                  uncomfortable.                         (looks at Michael                          and makes a quick                          decision)                  Forget the tux. Regular clothes.     Ben exits, pulling off the tux shirt.                                MICHAEL                         (taking off his                          tux shirt)                  Are you ambivalent about Grandpa                  Isaac?                                BEN (O.S.)                         (from his room)                  Ambivalent? Where do you get that stuff?                                MICHAEL                  Mom.                                BEN                         (annoyed)                  She's not supposed to do that, you                  know.                                (MORE)                                                       (CONTINUED)                                                                  9.13   CONTINUED:    (2)                                                 13                                BEN (CONT'D)                  Your mother and I, when we                  got divorced, we agreed we wouldn't                  put you in the middle, or use you                  as a go-between to talk about each                  other. So just do me a favor and                  tell your mother to shut her big                  mouth.                         (comes back into                          Michael's room)                  Did she say anything about me                  getting married again? I think                  she could be feeling a little anger                  about it.                                MICHAEL                  Oh, yeah. She really cares. She                  says you're intimidated by women                  your own age, and that's why you                  go for these young babes.                                BEN                         (fuming)                  Okay. Listen, for two seconds,                  pretend I'm not your father.                  I'm just some guy, okay?                                MICHAEL                  You gonna vent?                                BEN                  Yeah.                         (venting)                  I hate her! I really hate her!                         (a beat, then                          brightly)                  Okay. Dad again. Let's go.                                                        CUT TO:14   EXT. WAREHOUSE - SAME TIME                                        14     Paul Vitti gets out of his car and walks to the warehouse     with his most trusted soldier, Jelly, a hulking bruiser,     and his sidekick JIMMY, a tightly-wound ferret with chips     on both shoulders.                                VITTI                  So what did you find out?                                                        (CONTINUED)                                                                 10.14    CONTINUED:                                                       14                                 JELLY                          (as they walk)                   The word is Primo Sindone must have                   ordered it, but, uh --      He hesitates.                                 VITTI                   What?      Jelly looks at Jimmy.                                 VITTI                   What?                                 JELLY                          (reluctantly)                   A lot of people think you set him                   up.                                 VITTI                   Why the fuck would I want to kill                   Dominic? He was like a father to                   me.                                 JELLY                   So you could be the big boss.                   Everybody figures you're lookin'                   to wipe out the competition before                   the big meeting.                                 VITTI                   Oh, is that what they figure?                                 JELLY                   It's alright with me if you did --                                 VITTI                   I didn't kill him! I told you                   that! Don't you hear?                                                       CUT TO:14A   INT. WAREHOUSE - CONTINUOUS ACTION                               14A      They enter a room where other Vitti family soldiers,      EDDIE COKES, TUNA, and JOHNNY BIGS are waiting. In the      middle of the room, a young rat named NICKY SHIVERS is      tied to a chair under a strong overhead light. When he      speaks, we get a hint of mental incompetence.                                                         (CONTINUED)                                                                11.14A   CONTINUED:                                                      14A                                 NICKY                   Please, Mr. Vitti, I told 'em I                   don't know anything but they don't                   believe me 'cause that one time I                   said Little Joe hit Dukey and it                   turned out he didn't but I didn't                   know because --                                 JIMMY                          (smacks him)                   Shut the fuck up!      Nicky goes suddenly quiet. He watches in terror as Jimmy      steps aside and Vitti moves close holding a short length      of lead pipe.                                 VITTI                   Nicky, you know me, right?                                  NICKY                   Yeah.   You're Mr. Vitti.                                 VITTI                   And you know what I'm gonna do to                   you if you lie to me, right?                                 NICKY                   Uh, you're gonna crack me on the                   head with that pipe?                                  JIMMY                          (slaps him)                   It's a rhetorical question, you                   fuckin' idiot.                                 VITTI                   I'm only gonna ask you this one                   time. Who killed Dominic Manetta?                                   NICKY                   I don't know.                                  VITTI                          (roars)                   Don't fuckin' lie to me!                                 NICKY                          (in tears)                   Honest to God, I don't know!                                 VITTI                   You little rat bastard...                                                        (CONTINUED)                                                               12.14A   CONTINUED:    (2)                                              14A      Vitti winds up to brain him with the pipe. They all      wince in anticipation of the blow. But Vitti just      freezes there with his arm upraised. Then he drops his      arm and seems to sag.                                 VITTI                   Forget about it. He doesn't know                   anything.      He tosses the pipe aside.                                 VITTI                   Get him outta here.      Jimmy looks at Jelly in surprise.15    INT. MINIVAN - LATER                                           15      Ben is driving to the party with Michael. Sitting in      stopped traffic, he checks his mirrors anxiously.                                 BEN                          (to himself,                           urgently)                   Look at this. Everybody's nuts.                   Ooh, I hate walking into that                   house late.                                 MICHAEL                   I think you're reacting like this                   because you're mad we have to                   go to this party.                                 BEN                   No. Don't. I'm not going to be                   analyzed by someone who up until                   a few years ago believed in                   Santa. Sorry, but we only have                   room for one Dr. Sobol in this                   family.                                 MICHAEL                   But there's two Dr. Sobols.                   There's you and Grandpa.                                 BEN                          (a beat)                   Can we talk about something else?                                 MICHAEL                   Are you going to read Grandpa's                   new book? Mom says you won't                   because you're...                                                       (CONTINUED)                                                                  13.15   CONTINUED:                                                         15                                BEN                  Does your mother talk about                  anything else or is it just me                  twenty-four hours a day?     Wham!   Ben REAR-ENDS the CAR in front of them.                                BEN                  That's your mother's fault!   Your                  mother did that! Damn!                                                        CUT TO:16   EXT. EAST 90TH STREET - NIGHT                                      16     The minivan has rear-ended a black Lincoln Town Car. The     trunk has sprung open and Nicky Shivers can be seen in     the trunk, bound and gagged, kicking and squirming.     Muffled shouts can be heard through the duct tape over     his mouth.     Jelly and Jimmy jump out of the Lincoln and slam the top     of the trunk just as Ben gets out of the minivan to     inspect the damage.                                JIMMY                         (heading Ben off)                  What's the matter with you?   Are                  you some kind of moron?                                 BEN                  I'm sorry.   It's totally my fault.     Ben looks at the damage. The Lincoln has gotten the     worst of it. The rear bumper is hanging off, and Jelly     is struggling to latch the trunk.                                JIMMY                  Did you see anything?                                BEN                  I was talking to my son.   I took                  my eyes off the road --                                JIMMY                  Forget that bullshit.   Did you see                  anything?     Jelly steps in to defuse the situation, warning Jimmy off     with a look.                                                        (CONTINUED)                                                               14.16   CONTINUED:                                                      16                                JELLY                  That's all right, sir. It's our                  fault for being in front of you                  like that.                                 BEN                         (surprised)                  Well, I should have been watching.                  Let me give you my insurance                  information --                                 JELLY                  It's okay.   Forget about it.                                BEN                  Really? It looks like your whole                  rear end might be screwed up.     Jimmy is reattaching the rear bumper and securing the     trunk lid with duct tape.                                JELLY                  No, it was like that before.                                BEN                  Maybe we should call the police?                                  JELLY                           (suddenly menacing)                  Why?    Fuck the police.                                 BEN                  Right!   Fuck 'em.     HORNS start HONKING behind them.                                BEN                  At least take my card. You might                  look at the damage in the morning                  and change your mind.     Jelly takes the card and reads it.                                JELLY                  You're a doctor?                                  BEN                  Ph.D.    Psychologist.                               JELLY                  A shrink. You talk to a lotta                  nuts, huh?     Ben hears KICKING from inside the car trunk.                                                       (CONTINUED)                                                                 15.16   CONTINUED:    (2)                                                 16                                JELLY                  Pings and knocks. Cheap gas.                  Hey, how do those minivans handle?                                 JIMMY (O.S.)                  Jelly!   Let's go!                                JELLY                  Take it easy, Doc.     Ben looks totally confused as Jelly hustles back to his     car.                                                       CUT TO:17   INT. SOBOL HOME - LIVING ROOM - ISAAC SOBOL                       17     Ben's father, at the piano in the spacious, elegant,     tastefully-decorated living room, surrounded by adoring     guests, playing and singing an exuberant rendition of     "You Must Have Been a Beautiful Baby." Isaac is a silver-     haired patrician, overloaded with self-esteem.                                 ISAAC                         (ending the sing-                          along)                  All right, neurotics only! Well,                  you must have been a beautiful                  ba-a-by, 'cause baby look at you                  now, thank God for Prozac, baby                  look at you now!     BEN AND MICHAEL     standing off to the side talking to Ben's mother DOROTHY.     In the corner is a large advertising display featuring     Isaac's smiling picture on the front cover of his new     book, Tell Me What You Feel, Tell Me What You Want.                                BEN                  What do you mean you're not                  coming? It's my wedding.                                DOROTHY                  We understand it's a special day                  for you, Benny, but your father                  and I can't just pick up and                  leave town every time you decide                  to get married.                                                       (CONTINUED)                                                               16.17   CONTINUED:                                                      17                                BEN                  Every time? This is a once-in-a-                  -- twice-in-a-lifetime thing.     Isaac joins them.                                BEN                  Dad, you're not coming to my                  wedding?                                ISAAC                  We want to be there, but I have                  three book signings next weekend.                  I can't piss off these big book                  stores. If I cancel, they'll                  stick me down on the bottom shelf.                  That's how they are.                                BEN                  Yeah, that's the word on the                  street. The self-help book                  business is full of vindictive                  pricks.                                 DOROTHY                          (looking around)                  Ben!   The language.                                BEN                  I'm sorry, but I've been alone                  for eight years, now I've finally                  met someone I want to spend the                  rest of my life with and I would                  really like you to meet her                  before we get married. You're                  going to be her family. I think                  it's better she knows that up                  front.                                ISAAC                  You're really hostile tonight.                                 BEN                  I'm joking.                                DOROTHY                         (jumping in)                  I think I'll go talk to the mayor.                                BEN                  The mayor's here?                                DOROTHY                  I can only hope.                                                       (CONTINUED)                                                               17.17   CONTINUED:    (2)                                               17     Dorothy exits.                                  ISAAC                  What's wrong?                                 BEN                  Nothing.   Everything's fine.                                ISAAC                  How's your practice?                                BEN                  It's great. Just great. I've got                  some very interesting patients --                  extremely interesting.                  Fascinating actually.                                MICHAEL                  Dad has a patient who dreams he                  shits trout.                                  BEN                  Thanks, Mike.                                ISAAC                  Excuse us, Michael.     Isaac pulls Ben into the foyer.                                ISAAC                  Why are you wasting your time out                  there in the boondocks? New York                  City is the Mecca of Madness.                                BEN                  I'm just not sure I could spend my                  life dealing with people whose                  biggest crisis is how to fire the                  maid.                                ISAAC                  It beats a guy with an ass full                  of flounder.                               BEN                  Trout! And don't minimize my                  practice.                                 ISAAC                  Why are you getting so defensive?                  This is about your own feelings                  of inadequacy.                                                       (CONTINUED)                                                                  18.17   CONTINUED:    (3)                                                  17                                BEN                  You always turn it back on me.                  Why do you do that?                                ISAAC                  Why do you think I do that?                                BEN                  Why do you think I think you do                  that? Go ahead, now you ask me                  why I think you think I think you                  do that.                                 ISAAC                  Enough. I want you to think about                  what I said. And when you're ready                  to talk to me like a normal person,                  I'll be at the piano with                  Regis Philbin.                         (as he crosses away)                  Rege!                                REGIS PHILBIN                  I'm not singing, Isaac!                                ISAAC                  Now, ladies and gentlemen, at the                  piano, Regis Philbin!     Applause and laughter from the guests. Ben grabs a     glass of champagne from a passing waiter's tray.                                BEN                         (to the waiter)                  Thomas Wolfe was right. You can't                  go home again -- because your                  parents still live there.                                                        CUT TO:18   INT. OLD LION SOCIAL CLUB - NIGHT                                  18     Vitti's men converse quietly while a soldier sweeps the     room for bugs. He gives the "all clear" and SALVATORE     MASIELLO, the old consigliere, speaks.                                MASIELLO                  The Manetta family is asking a lot                  of questions. They think we hit                  Dominic.     CARLO MANGANO, the burly underboss of the Vitti family,     jumps in.                                                        (CONTINUED)                                                                19.18   CONTINUED:                                                       18                                MANGANO                  Forget Dominic! They were after                  Paul.                         (to Vitti)                  It's a miracle you survived. I                  thank God.                                VITTI                  Yeah, thank God. All I know is if                  I didn't have some veal stuck in                  my teeth, I'd be laying there with                  Dominic.                                JOHNNY BIGS                  This is all about the big meeting.                  Primo Sindone wants to run the                  whole show.                                MANGANO                  Yeah, but Primo's a boss. He                  knows the rules. He couldn't go                  after Dominic and Paul unless the                  other families gave their                  permission.                                 VITTI                         (starting to sweat)                  If they did, we're heading for one                  big fuckin' war.                         (having trouble                           breathing)                  Talk to Zello and Baldassare.                  Find out what you can. We got two                  weeks. If the other New York                  bosses are against us, I want to                  know it before I walk into that                  meeting.     He feels a stabbing pain in his chest.                                MANGANO                  You all right, Paul? You don't                  look good.                                VITTI                  I'm a little choked up here.   I                  gotta get some air.     He walks outside. Jelly follows.     Mangano looks     quizzically after them.                                                      CUT TO:                                                               20.19   EXT. OUTSIDE THE OLD LION - CONTINUOUS ACTION                   19     Vitti is having trouble breathing.                             JELLY               You feel all right?                             VITTI               I feel like shit. This whole               thing is like a huge fuckin'               headache.                             JELLY                      (concerned)               You havin' one of those               mindgrains?     Sweating profusely now, Vitti feels another stabbing     chest pain.                              VITTI               Get the car.                                                     CUT TO:20   INT. EMERGENCY ROOM - LATER                                     20     Vitti is putting on his shirt. He looks considerably     better. Jelly is sitting down, tapping his own knee with     the little rubber hammer. Nothing moves.     DOCTOR SHULMAN, a young cardiology resident, enters.                             DOCTOR               Good news, Mr. Evans.   Your heart               is just fine.                             VITTI               How could it be fine? I've had               like eight heart attacks in the               last three weeks.                             DOCTOR               Well, based on everything, I'd say               you probably had an anxiety               attack.                              VITTI                       (a beat)               What?                             DOCTOR               An anxiety attack. A panic               attack. I can give you some Xanax               if it happens again soon --                                                     (CONTINUED)                                                                21.20   CONTINUED:                                                       20                                VITTI                         (menacing)                  Look at me. Do I look like a guy                  who panics?                                DOCTOR                         (nervous now)                  There's nothing -- I mean -- it's                  a common thing --                                 VITTI                  Where did you go to medical                  school? I had a heart attack, you                  quack bastard.                                DOCTOR                         (very scared now)                  Well, not according to these --     As Vitti moves toward the Doctor, Jelly instinctively     grabs the Doctor from behind and holds him while Vitti     wraps the blood pressure cuff around his neck.                                VITTI                         (low and deadly,                          pumping up the                          cuff with the                          squeeze-ball)                  Listen to me, jerk-off. I had a                  mild heart attack and now it's                  over. You understand?     The Doctor nods vigorously, his eyes bugging out as the     pressure around his neck increases.                                VITTI                  If anyone asks you, you never saw                  me, and I was never here. Is that                  clear?                                 DOCTOR                          (strangled)                  Yes.                                 VITTI                  Good.                         (to Jelly)                  Take the chart.     Jelly releases the Doctor, grabs all the papers and     follows Vitti out the door.                                                      CUT TO:                                                             22.21   EXT. HOSPITAL - MOMENTS LATER                                 21     Vitti and Jelly come walking out the emergency room exit.     Vitti stops.                             VITTI               Jelly, I need you to do something               for me as my friend.                                JELLY               Anything.                             VITTI               You have to find me a doctor.                             JELLY               We just came from the doctor.                             VITTI               Not that kind of doctor.   I need a               head doctor.                             JELLY               You're gonna change your face like               Sonny Black? Don't get his nose               though, he looks like a pig.                             VITTI               Not a plastic surgeon, ya spoostud.               Do I have to spell everything out?                                JELLY               It saves time.                             VITTI               I need you to find me a               psychiatrist.                             JELLY               Wow. This is like the Psychic               Network or something. I just ran               into a psychiatrist. Actually he               ran into me.                             VITTI               Is he any good?                             JELLY               Yeah, he seemed like a smart guy.               He had a business card and               everything --                             VITTI               He had a card? That's a real               fuckin' achievement.                                                     (CONTINUED)                                                                 23.21   CONTINUED:                                                        21                                JELLY                  What do you need a shrink for                  anyway?                                VITTI                  It's not for me. It's for a                  friend. This friend is having                  some problems, so I'm going to ask                  the shrink some questions and get                  some answers for my friend.                                  JELLY                  Got it.                                VITTI                  And nobody can know. If anyone                  hears I'm talking to a shrink, it                  could be interpreted the wrong                  way. You know what I mean?                                JELLY                  Of course. Absolutely.                         (then)                  Can I ask you one thing?                                  VITTI                  What?                                  JELLY                  This friend.    Is it me?                                                       CUT TO:22   INT. BEN'S OFFICE - DAY                                           22     Ben is with a patient, CARL ANDERSON, a high-strung     milquetoast in his late forties.                                BEN                  Carl, I'm detecting a pattern                  here. You seem to settle too                  easily for things.                                  CARL                  You're right.    I do.                                BEN                  No, well, there you go. You                  just did it again. I suggested                  something and you immediately                  agreed.                                                       (CONTINUED)                                                                 24.22   CONTINUED:                                                        22                                  CARL                  You're right.    I did.                                BEN                  Why do you think you do that?                                  CARL                  I don't know.                                 BEN                  Well, sometimes people do it                  because they fear rejection or                  disapproval, but you can't let                  that worry you, Carl. And you                  can't agree with things just for                  the sake of agreeing. Stand                  your ground. Don't let people                  roll over you.     The door opens and Jelly enters.                                  JELLY                  Dr. Sobol?                                  BEN                  Excuse me!    I'm in a session here.                                JELLY                  Yeah, I know, I'm sorry.                                BEN                  You're... You're one of the guys                  I rear-ended the other night.                                  JELLY                  Bingo.                         (to Carl)                  Get outta here.     Jelly takes Carl by the elbow and lifts him off the     couch.                                 JELLY                  Upsa-daisy.   You got a coat,                  nutbar?                                BEN                  What are you doing?                                  JELLY                  He's leaving.                                                         (CONTINUED)                                                                 25.22   CONTINUED:    (2)                                                 22                                BEN                  The hell he is. He's not going                  anywhere until we're done with his                  session.     Jelly pulls a big roll of bills out of his pocket,     removes the rubber band, and peels off a couple of     fifties.                                JELLY                         (to Carl)                  I'll give you a hundred bucks to                  get out of here.     Carl looks at the money, then he gives Ben a plaintive     look.                                BEN                  Don't take it, Carl.     Carl looks back to Jelly.                                JELLY                         (peeling off another                          bill)                  A hundred and fifty.                                BEN                  He's not leaving.                                 CARL                         (trembling)                  Three hundred.                                JELLY                         (pays him)                  You're not that fuckin' crazy.     Carl takes the money, gives Ben the thumbs up and     exits. Jelly follows him to the door and waves for     someone to come in.                                BEN                  Listen, if you're upset about your                  car, I can understand that. But                  you don't just barge in here --     Paul Vitti steps into the office.    Ben freezes.   Jelly     crosses to take Vitti's coat.                                VITTI                  You know who I am?                                                       (CONTINUED)                                                                   26.22   CONTINUED:    (3)                                                   22                                    BEN                  Yes.                                    VITTI                  No you don't.                                    BEN                  Okay.                                VITTI                  You've seen my picture in the papers?                                    BEN                  Yes.    And no.    Sometimes.   Never.                                VITTI                  Jelly, wait outside.     Jelly exits. Vitti walks around the room, taking     everything in. He picks up the phone and listens.          Hangs     up.                                    VITTI                  Sit down.                                    BEN                  Sure.     Ben sits quickly on the coffee table. He crushes a box     of tissues, then moves them out from under his ass.     Vitti picks up a stack of CDS and looks through them.                                VITTI                  Tony Bennett, huh?                                 BEN                  Yeah.   He's my favorite.     Vitti picks up an autographed baseball bat from Ben's     desk.                                BEN                         (puts up his hands)                  Mr. Vitti, I tried to give the guy                  my insurance information, but he                  wouldn't take it. Seriously, I                  tried several times because it was                  all my please don't kill me.                                VITTI                  I was just gonna ask if you liked                  baseball.                                                           (CONTINUED)                                                                27.22   CONTINUED:    (4)                                                22                                 BEN                  Yes.   Big Yankee fan.     Vitti puts the bat down.                                BEN                  Mr. Vitti. Not that it's your                  fault, but your friend, he                  interrupted a patient's session                  and that's -- not good. I think                  this is a matter for our insurance                  companies, don't you think?                                VITTI                  I don't care about the car.                                   BEN                  Then what -- ?                                VITTI                  A friend of mine is having a                  problem and he might have to see a                  shrink, so I'm going to ask you a                  couple questions. Do we sit?                                BEN                  Whatever makes you comfortable.     Ben starts for his chair, but Vitti sits in it first.     Ben sits on the couch. Vitti adjusts the cuffs of his     shirt, and runs a hand down the crease in his slacks.                                VITTI                  Okay, the first thing I gotta know                  about is privacy. You must hear                  a lot of weird shit in here. How                  do I know you won't go testifying                  -- not testifying -- but, you know,                  talking about it to somebody else.                                BEN                  I won't discuss a patient with                  anyone for any reason, unless I                  know the patient may be a danger                  to himself. Like if I'm concerned                  a patient might kill himself...                                VITTI                  Not fuckin' likely --                                BEN                  -- or kill someone else.                                                        (CONTINUED)                                                                28.22   CONTINUED:    (5)                                                22     Ben looks to Vitti for a response.    Vitti stares at him     for a long, uncomfortable beat.                                   VITTI                  So who starts?                                BEN                  Why don't you tell me why you think                  you need therapy?                                VITTI                  I don't need therapy. I'm helping                  out my friend. You didn't hear me                  say that?                                 BEN                  Right.   I'm sorry.                                VITTI                  You guys are supposed to be so                  great when it comes to listening.                  You can't remember what I said two                  seconds ago.                                BEN                  I'm very sorry.                                VITTI                  I have to tell you, Doc, I'm not                  thrilled with the level of service                  up to this point.                                BEN                  Why don't you tell me about your                  friend?                                VITTI                  He's a powerful guy. Never had                  a problem dealing with things,                  you know? Now all of a sudden,                  he's falling apart. He cries                  for no reason. He's having                  trouble sleeping. And then he                  started having these attacks. You                  know, can't breathe, dizzy, chest                  pains -- like you think you're                  gonna die.                                   BEN                  Panic attacks.                                                        (CONTINUED)                                                              29.22   CONTINUED:    (6)                                              22                                VITTI                  What's with all you doctors and                  the fuckin' panic? Did I say                  panic?                                BEN                  Not panic. Dizzy -- breathing --                  chest pain attacks.                                VITTI                  Right. So the question is, what                  can he do to make it stop?     Ben decides to go for it.                                BEN                  I'm going to go out on a limb                  here. I think your friend is you.                                VITTI                  You -- you -- you -- you have a                  gift, my friend. Go on.                                BEN                  Medication could help, but if you                  really want to get to the bottom                  of this, you're going to want to                  get some kind of therapy.                                 VITTI                  With you?                                BEN                         (hedging)                  With me? Oh, I don't know. I'd                  have to look at my schedule. I'm                  very heavily booked right now and                  I'm going on a short vacation                  tomorrow.                                VITTI                  Where you going?                                BEN                  I don't really share that                  information with...                                 VITTI                  Where?                                 BEN                  Miami Beach.                                                      (CONTINUED)                                                                  30.22    CONTINUED:    (7)                                                 22                                 VITTI                   You know, this could be good. Just                   getting that off my chest, I feel                   better already. It's like a load                   is off my shoulders. Thank you.                                 BEN                   Well, I really didn't do anything --                                 VITTI                   You did something. The load?                   Off. Where is it? Don't know.                   You're good, Doctor. I'll be in                   touch. But listen to me.                          (leaning close,                           menacing)                   If I talk to you and it turns me                   into a fag, I'll kill you. You                   understand?                                 BEN                   Could we define 'fag,' because                   some feelings may come up --      Vitti silences him with a wave of his hand.                                 VITTI                   I go fag, you die. Got it?                                 BEN                   Yes.      Vitti gives Ben a little pat on the cheek, then turns      and exits. Ben is stunned.                                                        CUT TO:23    OMITTED                                                           2323A   EXT. BACK YARD - LATER                                            23A      Ben comes out the back door of the house carrying a      couple of suitcases. Michael follows behind him with      his bags. They cross to the car in the driveway.                                 BEN                   I hope you didn't leave any food                   in your room. I don't want to                   come home and find a science fair.                                                        (CONTINUED)      ANALYZE THIS - Rev. 7/9/98                                     31.23A   CONTINUED:                                                           23A                                  MICHAEL                   I didn't.   Hey, Dad? One thing                   though.                                  BEN                   Yeah?                                 MICHAEL                   I go fag, you die.                                BEN                   Michael! That's it!      I am sealing                   that vent.                                 MICHAEL                   You are so cool, Dad. Was that                   really Paul Vitti?                                 BEN                          (throwing the bags                           in the car)                   I didn't ask to see his Mafia                   decoder ring, but yeah, it was                   him. And you cannot tell anyone                   he was here. You understand?                                 MICHAEL                   Should I take it off the internet?                                  BEN                   What?                                  MICHAEL                   I'm kidding!                                                           CUT TO:24    OMITTED                                                              2424A   EXT. MIAMI BEACH - DAY                                               24A      Helicopter SHOT of the hotels fronting the crowded beaches.24B   EXT. HOTEL SWIMMING POOL (MIAMI) - DAY                               24B      LAURA MacNAMARA, a pretty and charming TV news      correspondent, is on the air live, surrounded by her      camera crew. Kids are frolicking in the pool, splashing      off the water slide behind her.                                                           (CONTINUED)      ANALYZE THIS - Rev. 7/9/98                                32.24B   CONTINUED:                                                      24B                                 LAURA                   So judging from the mob scene                   around the pool here today, I                   think you'd have to say that                   there's nothing 'off' about the                   'off-season' in Miami Beach this                   summer. Now, on a personal note,                   this is my last report for                   W.V.B.F. I'm getting married                   to a wonderful man and moving                   to New York, so if you're up                   that way, watch for me on the                   W.P.I.X. news team. Thanks for                   everything, Miami.                          (voice catching                           slightly)                   For the last time, this is Laura                   MacNamara, W.V.B.F. news.      She pulls a bouquet out from behind her back and tosses      it to the camera.                                  LAURA                   Catch!      She smiles for a long beat.                                  PRODUCER                   We're clear.      Laura's smile abruptly disappears.                                 LAURA                          (to the crew, all                           business)                   I'll do the re-asks, then you guys                   can just shoot the inserts and                   pack it up.                          (looks off)                   Ben!      Laura runs to Ben, standing on the sidelines, and      embraces him. Michael is there too.                                 LAURA                   This is him, everyone!    This is                   the guy!                                  BEN                          (to the crew)                   Hi, everybody.                                                        (CONTINUED)      ANALYZE THIS - Rev. 7/9/98                                33.24B   CONTINUED:    (2)                                               24B                                 LAURA                          (as she hugs him)                   Oh, I missed you.                                 BEN                   I missed you too. Michael, say                   hello.                                 MICHAEL                   Hi, Laura.                                 LAURA                          (a little too big)                   This is Michael? I don't think so.                   If I remember correctly, Michael                   was a little boy, and this, this                   is a great big kid. Hey, you.                   Tell us what you did with Michael                   Sobol.      Ben and Michael look at each other out of the corners of      their eyes.                                LAURA                   Okay. Come on. Give me a break.                   I'm trying.                                 MICHAEL                   No, it was nice, but I'm fourteen                   so it wasn't -- you know -- age                   appropriate.                                  LAURA                          (smiles                           appreciatively)                   Sorry. Just smack me if I do that                   again.                          (hugs him)                   How are you, Michael?                                 MICHAEL                   Great.      There is an awkward silent moment, everyone smiling      uncomfortably.                                 BEN                   Mike, you want to go look at the                   camera?                                 MICHAEL                   Why would I want to look at the                   camera?                                                        (CONTINUED)      ANALYZE THIS - Rev. 7/9/98                                  34.24B   CONTINUED:    (3)                                                 24B                                 BEN                   'Cause I bet there's all kinds of                   cool video stuff over there. Why                   don't you check it out?                                 MICHAEL                          (gets the hint)                   Oh, yeah.                          (to Laura)                   Is it okay?                                LAURA                   Go ahead. If you break something,                   don't worry. I'm out of here.      Michael crosses to the camera crew.                                 LAURA                   You think he likes me?                                  BEN                   Michael?   He's crazy about you.   I                   am too.      They embrace.                                 LAURA                   You are? And you still really                   want to get married?                                  BEN                   Of course.                                 LAURA                   But what if you get tired of me?                   I know so many couples that were                   really happy, then they got                   married and just completely lost                   interest in each other.                                 BEN                   That's not going to be us.                                 LAURA                   I just don't want to lose the                   passion.                                 BEN                   Yes, I'm brimming with passion.                   I'm up to here with passion.                                                          (CONTINUED)      ANALYZE THIS - Rev. 7/9/98                                  35.24B   CONTINUED:    (4)                                                 24B                                 LAURA                   I want us to be like animals.                   You know just screaming and                   sweating and tearing at each                   other all the time --                                 BEN                   The sweating shouldn't be a                   problem. The tearing sounds                   painful.      The SOUND GUY crosses over.                                 SOUND GUY                          (embarrassed)                   Uhh, Laura? You want me to take                   your mic, or at least turn it off?      Laura looks over at the crew. It's obvious that Michael      and the crew have heard this whole exchange.                                  LAURA                   Oh my God.25    OMITTED                                                           25&                                                                       &25A                                                                     25A25B   INT. WALDORF-ASTORIA - HOTEL CORRIDOR - NIGHT                     25B      A room service cart with the remains of a sumptuous meal      is standing in the hall outside one of the rooms.                                  SHEILA (O.S.)                   Oh my God!   Oh, yes. Oh, yes.                                                        CUT TO:26    INT. HOTEL ROOM - SAME TIME                                       26      Vitti is in bed making love to his mistress, SHEILA, a      pretty woman in her late 20s. They're really going at      it.                                 SHEILA                   Oh, yes. Oh, yes.                          (then)                   Is everything okay, Paul?                                                        (CONTINUED)     ANALYZE THIS - Rev. 7/9/98                                35A.26   CONTINUED:    (A1)                                               26                                VITTI                  What are you talking for?   I'm                  trying to do this here.                                SHEILA                  You seem -- distracted.                                VITTI                  I got things on my mind.    Stop                  talking.                                SHEILA                  Okay, I'm sorry. Just relax,                  baby.     He goes back to lovemaking.                                SHEILA                         (after a beat)                  Were you thinking about your wife?                                                       (CONTINUED)     ANALYZE THIS - Rev. 7/21/98                                36.26   CONTINUED:                                                       26                                VITTI                  No, I wasn't thinking about my                  wife.                         (a long beat)                  Now I'm thinking about my wife.                  Goddamn it, Sheila, why can't you                  keep your mouth shut!     Completely frustrated now, he gets out of bed, leaving     her alone and confused.                                SHEILA                         (small voice)                  I'm sorry, Paul.                                                      CUT TO:27   INT. BEN'S MIAMI HOTEL ROOM - NIGHT                              27     Ben and Laura are nestled together in bed, asleep.                                JELLY (O.S.)                         (whispering)                  Dr. Sobol. Dr. Sobol.     Ben stirs.                                BEN                  Mom?     Jelly's head pops up on Ben's side of the bed. Ben wakes     up and his eyes go wide. Jelly puts a finger to his lips.                                JELLY                  Mr. Vitti wants to see you.   I                  have your robe.                                                      CUT TO:28   OMITTED                                                          2829   UNDERWATER                                                       29     Kelp. Rocks. Bubbles. A mermaid swims INTO VIEW and     meets up with another mermaid. They do beautiful back     flips under the water.                                VITTI (O.S.)                  You no-good little two-bit piece                  of shit bastard!                                                      (CONTINUED)     ANALYZE THIS - Rev. 7/21/98                               37.29   CONTINUED:                                                      29     We PULL BACK to see the mermaids through the viewing     windows of a large tank behind the bar of the --     INT. WIKI WACHI LOUNGE - LITTLE LATER     A tacky dive with a tropical motif.    Ben, in his robe, is     being berated by Vitti.                                VITTI                  I got news for you. I'm still                  fucked up. Whatever you did the                  other day, it didn't take. You                  did nothing for me.                                BEN                         (indignant)                  I did nothing? What did you                  expect? I saw you for five                  minutes. I don't work miracles,                  Mr. Vitti. And I'll tell you                  something else. I don't appreciate                  it when someone breaks into my                  hotel room and kidnaps me. I don't                  go for that. I have a family and                  a life and a serious practice, and                  I don't have time for your                  bullshit!                         (sheepishly)                  That got away from me near the                  end.     Vitti stares at Ben.                                VITTI                  I couldn't get it up tonight.                                BEN                         (stopped cold)                  You mean sexually?                                VITTI                  No, I mean for the big game                  against Michigan State. Of course                  sexually!                                BEN                  You flew fifteen hundred miles and                  dragged me out of bed in the                  middle of the night because you                  couldn't get an erection?                                VITTI                  Doesn't that prove I'm motivated?                                                       (CONTINUED)     ANALYZE THIS - Rev. 7/21/98                              38.29   CONTINUED:    (1A)                                             29                                BEN                  You can take a pill for that, you                  know.                                                      (CONTINUED)                                                               39.29   CONTINUED:    (2)                                               29                                VITTI                  No, that's a cheat. You start with                  the pills, next thing you know you                  got implants with pumps. I think                  a hard-on should be gotten                  legitimately or not at all.                                BEN                  Did you see that embroidered on a                  pillow somewhere?                                VITTI                  Are you gonna help me or not?                                BEN                  I don't believe this. All right.                  Has this happened before?                                VITTI                  The dead dick thing? Never.                  Well, one time. Tonight. And                  another time.                                BEN                  So twice?                                VITTI                  Do the math. Two times.                         (a beat)                  There was another time. But it                  was after a big meal, so, you                  know, that don't count.                                BEN                  Listen, being unable to perform                  three or four times --                                VITTI                  Five.                                BEN                  Five times -- it isn't the end of                  the world.                                VITTI                  Maybe not to you -- look at you --                  but if I can't get it up, that                  makes me less of a man and I can't                  have that.                                (MORE)                                                       (CONTINUED)                                                               40.29   CONTINUED:    (3)                                               29                                VITTI (CONT'D)                         (moving closer                          to Ben)                  In my business I deal with                  animals. They may seem dumb to an                  educated guy like you, but make no                  mistake about it, Doctor, animals                  are very cunning. And they sense                  weakness. Right now I'm an                  injured animal. It's only a                  matter of time before one of the                  lions out there catches the scent.                  Then I'm dead. That's the way it                  is. If you don't understand that,                  then you don't understand the life                  I live and you don't understand                  me.                                 BEN                          (nodding)                  Okay.                                VITTI                  I have until the end of the week                  to get strong or they're gonna eat                  me up. If they don't kill me in                  the meantime.                                BEN                  What happens next week?                                VITTI                  I can't tell you and you don't                  want to know.                                BEN                  It's impossible. I can't do                  anything that fast. And even                  if I could, what's my goal here?                  To make you a happy, well-adjusted                  gangster?                                VITTI                  Look, the other day I saw a                  commercial on television, some kid                  playing with a couple of puppies.                  I cried for 45 minutes. Slap a                  pair of tits on me, I'm a woman!                                 BEN                  I'm sorry.   I can't help you.                                VITTI                  You're turning me down?                                                       (CONTINUED)                                                               41.29   CONTINUED:    (4)                                               29                                BEN                  Mr. Vitti, when I got into family                  therapy, this was not the family I                  had in mind. I'm turning you down.                                VITTI                  You with your schmucky little                  office in your schmucky little                  house out there in Schmuckville --                  you're turning me down? What, so                  you can spend more time listening                  to housewives piss and moan about                  how nobody fucks them right?                                BEN                  I'd like to go now.                                VITTI                         (starts to cry)                  You see this? This is what I'm                  talking about! I'm a dead man!     Ben turns away and starts for the door.                                VITTI                         (through the tears)                  You call yourself a doctor? You                  should be ashamed. A real doctor                  couldn't turn his back on a person                  who's suffering!                                BEN                         (finally)                  All right.                         (hands him a                          handkerchief)                  What happened with your wife tonight?                                 VITTI                         (wiping away his                          tears)                  I wasn't with my wife. I was                  with my girlfriend.                                BEN                  You have a girlfriend? We could                  do two months on that alone.                                VITTI                  What, you're gonna start                  moralizing with me now?                                                       (CONTINUED)                                                               42.29   CONTINUED:    (5)                                               29                               BEN                  Okay. Do you have marriage                  problems?                                 VITTI                  No.                                BEN                  Then why do you have a girlfriend?                                VITTI                  I do things with her I can't do                  with my wife.                                BEN                  Why can't you do those things with                  your wife?                                VITTI                  Hey. That's the mouth she kisses                  my children good night with.                  What's the matter with you?                                BEN                  Okay, okay. Have you been under a                  lot of stress lately?                                VITTI                  You mean like seeing your best                  friend murdered? Yeah, I got                  stress.                                BEN                  Well, based on what you told me                  before about your attacks, I'd                  say that's probably it then.                                VITTI                  It's just stress?                                BEN                  I doubt if there's anything                  physically wrong with you.                                 VITTI                          (brightening, pointing                           a finger at Ben)                  You.   You. You're very good.                                BEN                  There's a lot more to it --                                                       (CONTINUED)                                                               43.29   CONTINUED:    (6)                                               29                                VITTI                  No, you're right. You're right on                  the money. I can feel the juices                  rushing back to my manhood as we                  speak.                                BEN                  Well, I didn't need to know that.                                VITTI                  This settles it. You're my                  shrink.                                BEN                  I can't treat you, Mr. Vitti. I                  don't think you're really ready to                  open up and deal with --                                VITTI                  Listen to you. The honesty.                  Nobody -- and I mean nobody --                  talks to me like this. I'm ready.                  Let's do it.                                 BEN                  You don't hear the word 'no' that                  often, do you?                                VITTI                  I hear it all the time. Only it's                  more like, 'No, no, please, no!'                                BEN                         (relenting)                  All right. I'm here for two more                  days. When we get back to New                  York, I'll treat you exclusively                  for two weeks. I just need to                  figure out what to tell my other                  patients.                                VITTI                  You want me to clear your schedule                  for you?                                BEN                  No thanks, I'll handle it.   Now                  can I go?     Vitti throws his arms around him and kisses him on both     cheeks. A look of concern crosses Ben's face.                                                       (CONTINUED)      ANALYZE THIS - Rev. 7/21/98                               44.29    CONTINUED:    (7)                                               29                                 VITTI                   Thank you.                                                      CUT TO:29A   INT. BEN'S MIAMI HOTEL ROOM - NIGHT                             29A      Ben enters.    Laura is sitting up in bed, pissed off.                                 LAURA                   What is wrong with you? I woke                   up, you were gone, no note or                   anything. I've been going out of                   my mind, Ben. I walked all over                   the hotel looking for you. I                   almost called the police!                                 BEN                   Okay, listen. I'm going to tell                   you the truth. I had a serious                   patient emergency.                                 LAURA                   You have patients in Florida?                                 BEN                   Just one. He followed me here                   from New York. I had to go.                                 LAURA                   Who is this patient?                                                      (CONTINUED)                                                                45.29A   CONTINUED:                                                      29A                                 BEN                   Paul Vitti!                          (a beat)                   Paul Vitti.      A long beat.                                 LAURA                          (worried)                   Oh, Ben.                                   BEN                   I know.    But don't worry. It's                   not like   he's a real patient.                   He's got   this idea in his head                   that I'm   helping him. It's crazy.                                 LAURA                   You're not going to treat him.                                   BEN                   No.                                 LAURA                   Tell me you're not.                                   BEN                   I'm not!                                 LAURA                   That would be too scary. You                   don't want a person like that in                   your life, believe me. I've                   covered the mob down here. I've                   seen what they can do.                                 BEN                   Listen, it's been taken care of.                   I told him I couldn't see him                   again. He understood and it's                   over.                                   LAURA                   You sure?      Ben nods.                                 LAURA                          (tearing up)                   I was so worried.      He hugs her and holds her tightly, feeling like a jerk      for lying to her.                                                      CUT TO:                                                             46.30   INT. SEWING ROOM (NEW YORK) - NEXT MORNING                    30     Immigrant garment workers cut and sew fabric.31   INT. OFFICE - CONTINUOUS ACTION                               31     This is Sindone headquarters. A few of his trusted guys     are in attendance: HANDSOME JACK, POTATOES, and MOONY,     his consigliere.                             MOONY               It doesn't figure. We take out               Manetta, what does Vitti do?               Nothing. Why doesn't he move?     PRIMO SINDONE, a vain, pompous Mussolini, is standing on     a stool in his underwear, being fitted for a suit by a     nervous tailor.                              SINDONE               Fuck him.                             MOONY               I'm telling you, Primo, he's               planning something big. The shit               is really gonna come down.                             SINDONE               Then let it come down. Vitti's a               tough guy but a lot of tough guys               got fed to the crabs off Red Hook               over the years.                      (looking down at                       the tailor)               You been down there a long time.               Are you measuring my inseam or               contemplating a lifestyle change?     Sindone nods for the tailor to get out.                              MOONY               Primo?   What about Vitti?                             SINDONE               Vitti. Vitti. The whole time we               were growing up, he was the smart               guy; I was the dope. My father               was a nickel-and-dime shitheel;               his father had it all. Vito               Genovese blew it at Apalachin               because he forgot to kill Gambino               before the meeting.                             (MORE)                                                     (CONTINUED)                                                                 47.31    CONTINUED:                                                        31                                 SINDONE (CONT'D)                   I won't make the same mistake. I                   want Paul Vitti dead -- now. You                   two astronauts think you can handle                   that?      Handsome Jack and Potatoes nod their agreement.                                 HANDSOME JACK                   You got it, Primo.                                                         DISSOLVE TO:32    MAN WITH FISH HANGING FROM HIS MOUTH                              32      A killer whale leaps up and takes it from between his      teeth.      EXT. MIAMI SEAQUARIUM - CONTINUOUS ACTION      The audience in the stands applaud as the killer whale      splashes back into the water.32A   LAURA AND MICHAEL                                                 32A      are clapping.    Ben is clearly bored.                                 LAURA                          (to Ben)                   Come on. Get into it.                                 BEN                   I don't understand. They jump                   out of the water, they splash,                   they eat fish. It's not a real                   stretch for a whale. If they                   did a number from West Side                   Story, then I'd be into it.                                 LAURA                   Just stop.                          (to Michael)                   We're having fun, right?                                 MICHAEL                   Well, to be real honest. I'm                   not having as much fun as it                   looks like I am. I'm pretending,                   you know, because we have to                   bond and everything.                                                         (CONTINUED)                                                                  48.32A   CONTINUED:                                                        32A      Laura looks at Ben.                                 BEN                          (to Laura)                   You've got to admire the openness.                                 MICHAEL                          (a tad too excited)                   Here comes the whale again!32B   TANK                                                              32B      The whale leaps high in the air and crashes back down,      sending a wall of water flying into the first few rows.      JELLY AND JIMMY      walking by the tank, get soaked by the huge wave.                                 JIMMY                   Fuck me!      STANDS      Ben looks and sees Jelly beckoning him.                                  BEN                          (to Laura and                            Michael)                   I'm hungry. Yeah, I'm going to                   get a hot dog. Who wants a                   hot dog?                                 MICHAEL                          (rising)                   I'll go with you.                                 BEN                   No, I'll go. You're pretending                   to have a good time. I don't                   want to spoil that. Be right                   back.                                                        CUT TO:33    EXT. VOMITORIUM - MOMENTS LATER                                   33      Ben confronts Jelly and Jimmy, who are soaked to the skin.                                                        (CONTINUED)                                                                 49.33   CONTINUED:                                                        33                                  BEN                  What is this?    Are you guys                  following me?                                 JIMMY                  Fuckin' fifteen-hundred dollar                  suit. You think the whales piss                  in that water?                                JELLY                  No, I think they use the men's                  room next door at the Burger King.                         (to Ben)                  Mr. Vitti wants to see you.                                BEN                  Is this a joke?                                JELLY                  You're an employee of Mr. Vitti's.                  That means you're on call twenty-                  four hours a day just like the                  rest of us.                                BEN                  No, he and I discussed this. I                  told him I'd see him when I got                  got back to New York.                                JELLY                  Don't be a skavootz. It is what                  it is. If he needs you sooner,                  you go.                                BEN                  No, I'm not going, and if you                  bother me again I won't treat him                  at all. Understand? That's it.                  End of story.                                                       CUT TO:34   AQUARIUM VIEWING WINDOW                                           34     Ben plunges into the tank in the middle of a school of     sharks. He screams silently underwater and swims     desperately for the top.     A couple of families watching THROUGH the viewing window     laugh and applaud as if it's part of the show.                                                       CUT TO:                                                              50.35   SANDCASTLE                                                     35     An alligator loafer steps down on it. We TILT UP TO a     SEVEN-YEAR-OLD BOY with a shovel and pail.                                  BOY                  Asshole.     After a beat, a ten dollar bill falls where the     sandcastle was. The Boy's face instantly brightens.                                BOY                  Thanks, mister.     EXT. BEACH - DAY     The alligator loafer belongs to Jelly. He's walking with     Jimmy and other bodyguards who form a loose protective     perimeter around Ben and Vitti as they walk along the     shore. All the guys are wearing loud Jersey beach     outfits.                                BEN                  They threw me in the shark tank,                  Paul. The shark tank!                                VITTI                  They were trying to make a point.                                BEN                  What, that you're a scary guy?                  I get it.                                VITTI                  You're in a mood, you know that?                                BEN                  Yeah, I get that way when a shark                  tries to chew on my ass.                                  VITTI                  Okay.   Okay.   Calm down.                                 BEN                  I don't want to calm down. My                  girl friend saw me all wet?                  I told her I fell into a tank                  with the manatees. I lied to                  her last night, now this. I                  don't like it.                                 VITTI                  Manatees.   That's a funny word.                  Manatees.                                                      (CONTINUED)                                                              51.35   CONTINUED:                                                     35                                BEN                  I'm glad you're entertained.                  What's the problem?                                VITTI                  Oh, I can tell you really care.                                 BEN                  Okay.   What's going on?                                VITTI                  I had an episode. Not an actual                  panic attack, but I started                  panicking a little thinking I                  might have one. Does that seem                  weird to you?                                BEN                  I'm redefining 'weird' on an                  hourly basis. What were you                  thinking about when you started                  feeling anxious?                                VITTI                  I don't know. The usual bullshit.                  Family problems.                                BEN                  Which family?                         (referring to                          bodyguards)                  This one?                                VITTI                  No, regular family.                                 BEN                         (stops)                  I want you to draw a picture of a                  house. In the sand.                                VITTI                  What kind of house? A warehouse?                  A whorehouse? My house? What                  house?                                 BEN                  A house.                                 VITTI                  Why?                                BEN                  I'll tell you after you do it.                                                      (CONTINUED)                                                               52.35   CONTINUED:    (2)                                               35     Vitti bends over and starts drawing in the sand.                                VITTI                  This is good. I come to Florida                  and draw pictures in the sand like                  a jerkoff.36   BENCH                                                           36     TINO, a local Miami hitman, is covertly watching Ben and     Vitti on the beach. He talks into a cell phone.                                TINO                  I don't know what they're doing.                  He's talking to some guy. Looks                  like Vitti is drawing something in                  the sand... What's he drawing?                  What am I, Superman? I'm a                  hundred yards away -- I can't see                  shit... No way, he's got that fat                  Jelly with him and his partner,                  Jimmy Boots. We could take him                  out with a rifle and a scope, but                  I don't have any of that shit with                  me. My scope's in the shop...                  Nah, it's a warranty item... Hey,                  don't sweat it. You told me to                  take care of him, I'll take care                  of him... Okay, I'll call you                  back.37   BACK ON BEACH                                                   37     Vitti finishes drawing.                                 VITTI                  There.   You happy?                                BEN                  Where are the people?                                 VITTI                  What people?   You told me to draw                  a house.                                BEN                  I know. But usually when people                  draw a house they draw people.                  Where are the people who live in                  your house?                                                       (CONTINUED)                                                               53.37   CONTINUED:                                                      37                                VITTI                  Well, you see, they'd come out and                  say hello, but the whole family's                  in the Witness Protection Program.                  It's very sad. What the fuck you                  want from me?     They start walking.                                BEN                  Okay, forget the house. I'm going                  to say some words, and you say                  the first thing that comes into                  your mind.                                VITTI                  Good, more games. Shoot.                                   BEN                  Home --                                   VITTI                  -- plate.                                   BEN                  Mother --                                   VITTI                  -- fucker.                                   BEN                  Father --                                VITTI                  -- forgive me for I have sinned.                                   BEN                  Wife?                                   VITTI                            (clears his throat)                  Love.                                   BEN                  Son?     Vitti looks out to sea.                                   BEN                  Son?     Ben can't see his face, but Vitti's eyes are full of     tears. He wipes his eyes.                                                       (CONTINUED)                                                                54.37   CONTINUED:    (2)                                                37                                VITTI                  See this? Again with the crying.                  Let's get out of here. We're                  being watched. Don't look.                  There's Feds on the roof of                  the hotel.                                BEN                  How do you know that?                                VITTI                  I'm a criminal. It's my job.                                                      CUT TO:38   EXT. HOTEL ROOF - DAY                                            38     FBI AGENTS STEADMAN, RICCI, and PROVANO CLICK away with     long-lens CAMERAS as they watch from the rooftop.                                AGENT RICCI                  Who's the new face?                                AGENT STEADMAN                  I don't know. Get somebody down                  there to see what he drew in the                  sand.                         AGENT PROVANO                  Whoever this guy is, he must be                  important to the family.                                AGENT STEADMAN                  Maybe he's Vitti's new                  consigliere. Put his picture                  on the wire and see what you                  come up with.                                                     CUT TO:39   INT. VITTI'S SUITE - DAY                                         39     Vitti, Ben and Jelly enter the suite. MARIE, Vitti's     wife, and their children, THERESA, 14, ANNA, 10, and     ANTHONY, seven, are there. Vitti greets them warmly,     suddenly a different man.                                VITTI                  Look at this, the whole crew.                         (kissing Marie)                  You all right? Good flight?                                                      (CONTINUED)                                                               55.39   CONTINUED:                                                      39                                MARIE                  Yeah, we're fine. We're on our                  way to the pool. Kids, get your                  stuff. We'll get out of your way.                                VITTI                  That's okay. Marie, this is a                  friend of mine, Ben Sobol.                         (as they AD LIB                          greetings)                  He's -- from the boat. A fishing                  boat captain. Cuban refugee.                                MARIE                         (shaking his hand)                  Nice to meet you, Senor Sobol.     Ben looks to Vitti, then to Marie.                                   BEN                  Gracias.                                VITTI                  And this is Theresa and Anna --                                   ANNA                  Anne.                                VITTI                  -- Anna, and the big guy, Anthony.     Anthony gives Ben a manly handshake.                                   ANTHONY                  How you doin'?                                BEN                  Nice to meet you.                                VITTI                         (noticing Theresa's                          bikini)                  Jesus, Theresa, you are not                  wearing that suit to the pool.                                THERESA                  What do you want me to wear, a                  one-piece?                                VITTI                  I want you to wear one of those                  Arab bathrobes with a veil over                  your face, is what I want.                                                       (CONTINUED)                                                                 56.39   CONTINUED:    (2)                                                 39                                  THERESA                  Mom!                                MARIE                  Don't worry about it, Paul.    We'll                  be back in time for dinner.                                  VITTI                  Okay, babe.    Hey, Anthony.   Guess                  what I got?                                  ANTHONY                  What?                                VITTI                         (holds up some                          tickets)                  Marlins and the Braves -- right                  behind home plate, tonight.                                  ANTHONY                  You and me?                                VITTI                  Of course, you and me.                         (hugs him)                  Have fun at the pool. Stay out                  of the deep end. And don't swim                  for a couple hours after you eat.                                  ANTHONY                  Okay, Papa.     He kisses his father and exits with the others.                                VITTI                         (to Jelly)                  Send Jimmy down with them.                                  JELLY                  Already done.     Jelly exits.                                  BEN                  Nice family.    Cuban fishing boat                  captain?                                VITTI                  I can't tell Marie you're a                  shrink. She'd worry, you know.                                                         (CONTINUED)                                                              57.39   CONTINUED:    (3)                                              39                                BEN                  About this? I think she'd be                  more worried about your career                  choice.                                VITTI                  Just keep going with the therapy.     He crosses to the bar, pours himself a drink, and lights     a cigarette.                                BEN                  You know, normally a patient                  wouldn't smoke or drink during a                  session.                                VITTI                         (blowing smoke)                  That's an interesting fact I'll                  have to remember if I'm ever on                  'Jeopardy.'                                BEN                  So tell me about your father.                                VITTI                  My father. He was a big man in                  the neighborhood -- very well                  respected. Everybody loved him,                  God rest his soul.                                BEN                  He passed away?                                VITTI                  No, I just like saying 'God rest                  his soul.' Yeah, he passed away.                  He died when I was about twelve.                                  BEN                  How?                                  VITTI                  Heart attack.    Sudden thing.                                BEN                  Were you and your father close?                                VITTI                  Close? Yeah, you know, pretty                  close. I guess we weren't getting                  along that great right then.                                                      (CONTINUED)                                                               58.39   CONTINUED:    (4)                                               39                                   BEN                  Why was that?                                  VITTI                  I was hangin'   out in the                  neighborhood.    I had a borghata                  -- like a kid   gang -- hooligan                  shit, nothin'   big. But my                  father didn't   like it.                                BEN                  You fought about it?                                VITTI                  He slapped the shit out of me.                                   BEN                  And then?                                VITTI                  And then that night he died.                                BEN                  How did that feel?                                VITTI                  It felt great! How did it feel?                         (shrugs)                  I don't know.                                BEN                  Well, think about it. Were you                  angry, were you afraid? Sad?                                   VITTI                  Yeah, I guess.                                BEN                  Any feelings of guilt?                                 VITTI                  About what?   I didn't kill him.                                BEN                  I'm just speculating, but maybe in                  some way you wanted him to die.                                VITTI                  Why would I want my father to die?                                                       (CONTINUED)      ANALYZE THIS - Rev. 7/24/98                                  59.39    CONTINUED:    (5)                                                  39                                 BEN                   Well, you said you were fighting.                   You were rebelling against his                   authority. There may have been                   some unresolved Oedipal conflict.                                   VITTI                   English.                                 BEN                   Oedipus was a Greek king who                   killed his father and married his                   mother.                                 VITTI                   Fuckin' Greeks.                                   BEN                   It's an   instinctual developmental                   drive.    The young boy wants to                   replace   his father so he can                   totally   possess his mother.                                 VITTI                   Are you saying I wanted to fuck my                   mother?                                 BEN                   It's a primal fantasy --                                 VITTI                   Have you seen my mother? That is                   the sickest fucking thing I've                   ever heard.                                   BEN                   It's Freud.                                 VITTI                   Well, then Freud's a sick fuck,                   and you are too for bringing it                   up.                                                         CUT TO:39A   OMITTED                                                            39Aand                                                                      and40                                                                       40      ANALYZE THIS - Rev. 7/24/98                           60/61.40A   INT. OCEAN VIEW RESTAURANT - NIGHT                           40A      Laura's family, the MacNamaras, and a few close friends      have gathered for the rehearsal dinner. There are three      tables in a roped-off section of the restaurant with large      floral centerpieces, a small bar in the corner. The      MacNamaras, SCOTT and BELINDA, are standing with Laura,      Ben, Michael and a couple of other relatives.                              BELINDA                Well, isn't this wonderful, all                of us finally getting to spend                some time together.                                                    (CONTINUED)      ANALYZE THIS - Rev. 7/22/98                              62.40A   CONTINUED:                                                     40A                                 SCOTT                   All set for the big day, Ben?                                 BEN                   Can't wait, Scott.    Can I call                   you 'Scott?'                                 SCOTT                   My friends call me 'Captain.'                                 BEN                   Captain.                                 BELINDA                   Well, if tomorrow goes as                   well as the rehearsal, I'd say                   it's going to be a beautiful                   wedding.                                 BEN                   Yes, thanks for going to all this                   trouble, and I have to thank you                   and the Captain for something                   else.                                 SCOTT                   For what?                                 BEN                          (pointing to Laura)                   For this.      Everyone "ahhs" as Ben gives Laura a peck on the cheek.      Michael makes a face.                                 LAURA                          (to Ben)                   Would you like a drink, because                   I'm definitely having eight or                   nine.                                 BELINDA                          (disapproving)                   Shall we go to the table?      As the woman go to their seats, Scott holds Ben back for a      private moment.                          SCOTT                   Ben, there's a lot I'd like to                   say to you, but I'm going to                   skip the big father-in-law                   speech because I know you've                   been married before.                                                       (CONTINUED)      ANALYZE THIS - Rev. 7/22/98                                63.40A   CONTINUED:    (2)                                                40A                                 BEN                   Technically, it wasn't considered a                   marriage. It was like the Korean                   War -- more of a police action.                                 SCOTT                   I served in Korea, son. I don't                   think you'd be laughing if you'd                   seen some of the things I saw.                                   BEN                   You're right.    Sorry.                                   VITTI (O.S.)                   Senor Sobol!      Everyone turns to see Paul and Marie Vitti coming into      the room, followed by their kids and a knot of bodyguards.      Ben's face falls. He rushes over to intercept them.                                 BEN                          (sputtering)                   Mr. Vitti! How are you? Mrs.                   Vitti! Honey, it's the Vittis!      Laura glares at Ben.                                 VITTI                          (charming)                   Look at everybody. Everybody's                   smiling, everybody's happy. Nice.                   This is Marie, my girls, my boy,                   then all these guys.                                 BEN                   Mr. and Mrs. Vitti, this is Laura,                   my fiancee.                                 VITTI                   Nice to meet you.                                 LAURA                          (stunned)                   Thank you very much.      A tense moment.     Ben presses on.                                 BEN                   And this is my son Michael.                                                         (CONTINUED)      ANALYZE THIS - Rev. 7/22/98                               64.40A   CONTINUED:    (3)                                               40A                                 VITTI                   Whoa.  He's a bruiser.                          (to Ben)                   You're sure this is your kid?                   You're a pound and a half soaking                   wet. I've had lobsters bigger                   than you.                          (to Michael)                   You ever want a job, you come talk                   to me, right?                                   MICHAEL                   Seriously?                                   BEN                   Michael!                                 SCOTT                   You're Paul Vitti. The mobster.                                 BEN                   Mr. MacNamara -- uh --                                 VITTI                   Excuse me. Is that polite? Is                   it? I'm trying to be nice here.                   Do I walk up to you and go,                   'You're whoever you are. The                   prick'?                                   MARIE                   Paul!                                 BEN                   Mr. Vitti, this is Laura's father.                                 VITTI                   Yeah? Okay, well, sorry. But                   you should know, there is no mob,                   and, P.S., I personally have                   never been convicted of a crime.                          (to Jelly)                   We're nine for nine, right?                                   JELLY                   That's right.      Vitti takes an envelope from his jacket pocket and      presses it into Laura's hand.                                                        (CONTINUED)      ANALYZE THIS - Rev. 7/22/98                                 65.40A   CONTINUED:    (4)                                                 40A                                 VITTI                          (quietly)                   I heard about the wedding. Here                   you go. A little something for                   the bride and groom. God bless.                   You should live and be well.                                 LAURA                   Mr. Vitti, we can't accept this.                                 VITTI                   Yeah, you can. Now, if you don't                   mind, I just need to borrow this                   guy for a couple of minutes, then                   that's it. I'm out of here.                   Okay?                                LAURA                   Okay. Then you leave us alone,                   right?                                 VITTI                   Of course. I wouldn't do anything                   to screw up your wedding.                          (to Ben)                   I gotta talk to you. Come on.                          (to group)                   Have a great night, everybody.                   Nice to meet you.      Vitti starts for the door.                                 BEN                          (to Laura)                   I've just got to talk to him for a                   sec. You okay?                                 LAURA                   I've never been less okay.                                 BEN                   Great.      Ben is yanked away by Jimmy.     Marie stands with Laura.                                 MARIE                   I bet you eat a lot of fish since                   your fiance's in the business.      Laura stares.                                                        CUT TO:      ANALYZE THIS - Rev. 7/22/98                            66.40B   EXT. TERRACE - FEW MINUTES LATER                             40B      Vitti, Ben and Jelly step out.                              VITTI                       (to Jelly)                Watch that door. And don't listen                to what we say.                              JELLY                My ears are sealed.                              VITTI                       (to Ben)                Okay, listen. I had a really                weird dream last night.                              BEN                I feel like I'm having one right                now. How could you interrupt                our party?                              VITTI                You know, you're very rigid about                certain things.                              BEN                Just tell me the dream.                              VITTI                Okay. I'm asleep. I hear a baby                crying. I go to the refrigerator,                I get a bottle of milk, I take it                to the baby, but when I go to give                it to him, I see that the milk is                black.                              JELLY                That's fuckin' weird.                              VITTI                Okay, get out of here!                              JELLY                Sorry.      Jelly exits.                               VITTI                        (to Ben)                What's it mean? And I don't want                to hear any more filth about my                mother.                                                     (CONTINUED)      ANALYZE THIS - Rev. 7/22/98                               66A.40B   CONTINUED:                                                       40B                                 BEN                   I don't know what it means.   What                   does it mean to you?                                 VITTI                   This is what I'm paying you for? I                   say something, you say it right                   back to me? I could get Jelly to                   do this for nothing.                                 BEN                   Then get Jelly.      Ben starts to walk off the patio and comes face to face      with Laura's father, Scott.                                    BEN                   Mr. MacNamara.      Ben exits. Scott MacNamara stares suspiciously at Vitti,      wondering about his connection to Ben.                                                        (CONTINUED)      ANALYZE THIS - Rev. 7/13/98                                  67.40B   CONTINUED:    (2)                                                  40B                                 VITTI                          (to Scott)                   Why don't you look over that way                   before I have to bust your fuckin'                   head open?      Scott looks away, terrified, as Vitti exits past him.                                                         CUT TO:40C   OMITTED                                                            40C&                                                                        &40D                                                                      40D40E   EXT. HOTEL COURTYARD - DAY                                         40E      The sun shines brightly on the wedding day.       Guests are      assembling for the ceremony.                                                         CUT TO:41    INT. HOTEL ENTRANCE - MOMENTS LATER                                41      Tino, the hitman, arrives and saunters into the hotel.                                                         CUT TO:42    INT. AREA OUTSIDE HOTEL ROOM - MOMENTS LATER                       42      Jelly walks up to one of the bodyguards.                                 JELLY                   I'm gonna get something to eat.                   You want like a sandwich or                   somethin'?                                  BODYGUARD                   Yeah. What kinda sandwich isn't                   too fattening?                                 JELLY                   A half a sandwich.                                  BODYGUARD                   Sounds good.                                 JELLY                   I'll be back in about twenty                   minutes.      The elevator arrives, Jelly gets in and the doors close      behind him.      ANALYZE THIS - Rev. 7/13/98                              68/69.43    ANOTHER ELEVATOR                                             43      The doors open and the Bodyguard turns to look. TWO      SHOTS from a PISTOL with a SILENCER strike him in the      chest and he falls to the floor dead. Tino steps out and      drags the body to the stairwell.44    OMITTED                                                      4444A   EXT. HOTEL COURTYARD - LATER                                 44A      The guests are seated, Ben and Michael stand with the      justice of the peace as Scott walks Laura down the aisle.      The harpist is playing and all's right with the world.      Scott shakes Ben's hand.                              SCOTT                       (quietly, to Ben)                Nod your head and smile. Now, you                listen to me, goombah. I know what                your game is, and you'd better                call it quits, because if you and                your paisans do anything to hurt                my little girl, I'll kill you.                Understand? Nod and smile.      Scott crosses away.                               LAURA                       (sotto)                What was that about?                              BEN                Nothing. Your father thinks I'm                in the Mafia.                              LAURA                Oh.                              BEN                Let's get married.                                                     CUT TO:45    INT. VITTI'S HOTEL SUITE - SAME TIME                         45      Using a stolen pass key, Tino quietly opens the door and      enters. He steps into the living room and hears WATER      RUNNING in the bathroom. He stealthily approaches the      bathroom door and draws his pistol with a silencer on it      from under his jacket.                                                               70.46    INT. BATHROOM - SAME TIME                                      46      Vitti stares at his reflection in the mirror, then starts      washing his face. In the mirror we can see the door      starting to open behind him, and the long barrel of      Tino's pistol through the crack. Vitti blindly gropes      for a towel and starts drying his face.47    INT. VITTI'S BEDROOM - SAME TIME                               47      Tino is about to shoot when Jelly comes up behind him,      throws one strong arm around his neck in a powerful      choke-hold, and grabs Tino's gun-hand with his free hand.      Vitti hears the sounds of a scuffle, steps out of the      bathroom, and sees Jelly struggling with Tino.      Tino gets off a couple of wild SHOTS, but Jelly finally      shakes the GUN loose from Tino's hand.      Vitti picks up the gun and puts it to Tino's head. Tino      shuts his eyes and turns away, expecting the shot, but      then Vitti's hand starts to shake and he breaks into a      cold sweat.      Tino opens his eyes, sees Vitti frozen, and starts      fighting with renewed strength. Jelly hangs on, looks at      Vitti with concern, then wrestles Tino out onto the      balcony.                                                     CUT TO:47A   EXT. HOTEL COURTYARD - DAY                                     47A      The ceremony is in progress.                              JUSTICE                If any man here knows why these                two people should not be joined in                holy matrimony, let him speak now                or forever hold his peace.      A beat, then a SCREAM is heard from above, then Tino      crashes into a buffet table in the b.g. Wedding guests      react in horror.                                                  CUT TO:48    OMITTED                                                        48&                                                                    &49                                                                   49     ANALYZE THIS - Rev. 7/20/98                            71.50   INT. VITTI'S SUITE - LATER                                   50     Jimmy and Jelly are hastily throwing clothes into     suitcases. Vitti comes out of the bedroom hurriedly     buttoning up his shirt.                             VITTI                      (urgently, to Jelly)               Tell Mikey to take Marie and the               kids right to the airport.                      (to Jimmy)               You get the car, bring it around               to the back and wait for me.     Ben bursts into the room.                              BEN               That's it.   I've had it with you!                                VITTI               What happened?                             BEN               What happened? I just saw a man               fall seven stories into a platter               of poached salmon! That's what               happened.                             VITTI               Did he break anything?                             BEN               Yes. Everything! They're still               picking the capers out of his               forehead.                             VITTI               Hey, people get depressed, they               jump. It's a human tragedy,               but it's not my fault.                             BEN               You're telling me it was suicide?                             VITTI                      (to Jelly)               I think he left a note. Jelly,               did they find that note?                             JELLY               No, but they will in a minute.                             BEN               Oh, yeah, here it is.                             (MORE)                                                    (CONTINUED)     ANALYZE THIS - Rev. 7/20/98                                72.50   CONTINUED:                                                       50                                BEN (CONT'D)                         (picks up a                          slip of paper,                          pretends to read)                  'Life is bullshit. I can't                  fuckin' take it no more. Tino.'                                VITTI                  Enough talking. We got to get                  out of here. The place is                  crawling with feds. I'm going                  back to New York and I suggest                  you do the same. They're                  probably onto you too now.                                 BEN                  Onto me? What are you talking                  about? Being an accessory to                  murder was not part of our                  understanding.                                VITTI                  Hey, why you busting my balls? I                  didn't kill him. I can't speak                  for everyone in the room, but --                         (he looks                          at Jelly)                  The son-of-a-bitch came after me!                  It was self-defense. Trust me,                  Doc. In this one, we're the                  good guys.     Suddenly Laura bursts into the room, still in her wedding     dress, but disheveled.                                BEN                  Laura!                                 LAURA                         (distraught, to                          Vitti)                  How could you do that?                                VITTI                  Great.  Another country heard from.                         (sotto voice                          to Ben)                  Get her outta here.                                BEN                  Honey, why don't you wait                  downstairs?                                                        (CONTINUED)     ANALYZE THIS - Rev. 7/20/98                                  73.50   CONTINUED:    (2)                                                  50                                LAURA                  Why, they're going to throw me                  off the balcony, too?                         (to Vitti)                  I am thirty -- over thirty years                  old and all my life I have dreamed                  of walking down the aisle in a                  beautiful white dress and                  marrying the man I love.                                VITTI                  That's a beautiful dress.                                LAURA                  Thank you, but it's not about the                  dress! We were supposed to get                  married!                                  VITTI                  You're upset.                                LAURA                  Of course I'm upset!                         (to Ben)                  I'm going downstairs to pack, then                  I'm going to New York and I'm                  getting married with you or                  without you. Okay?                                BEN                  I'll be right there.                         (walks her                          to the door)                  Everything's going to be all                  right. I promise.     He kisses her and closes the door behind her.                                BEN                  Are you happy now?      You ruined my                  life!                                VITTI                  What, you think I wanted this?                  I'm the victim here! I swear,                  I'm going to kill that                  son-of-a-bitch!                                BEN                  Is that all you know? Do you                  hear yourself? I knew this                  would happen.                                (MORE)                                                          (CONTINUED)     ANALYZE THIS - Rev. 7/20/98                                 74.50   CONTINUED:    (3)                                                 50                                BEN (CONT'D)                  This whole thing has been one                  big disaster from the minute                  you walked into my office.                  We're finished! You hear me?                  I am no longer your doctor!                                VITTI                  Just 'cause of this?                                BEN                  Of course because of this! You                  don't have even the tiniest shred                  of human decency. All you know                  is threats and violence and                  that's all you'll ever know and                  I can't be around that!     Vitti stares at Ben for a long beat.                                VITTI                  What do you want me to do?                                                       CUT TO:51   INT. SINDONE'S OFFICE - CONTINUOUS ACTION                         51     Sindone is watching "America's Most Wanted," rooting for     the criminals. Moony comes to him looking concerned.                                SINDONE                  How come I can't get on this show?                  This is a good show.                                MOONY                  Primo. You got a phone call.                  It's Paul Vitti.                                  SINDONE                           (warily)                  Vitti.                           (picks up the phone)                  Hello?     INTERCUT Vitti and Sindone.     Vitti is on the phone, struggling to contain his rage.     Ben watches.                                VITTI                  Primo, it's Paul Vitti.                                                       (CONTINUED)     ANALYZE THIS - Rev. 7/20/98                               74A.51   CONTINUED:                                                       51                                SINDONE                  Yeah, how's it goin'?                                VITTI                  Not good. Whoever killed Dominic                  is shooting at me now and I'm                  having a lot of feelings about it                  and I'd like to get some kinda --                                BEN                  Closure.                                VITTI                  -- closure on this.     Ben nods in encouragement.                                SINDONE                  What kind of feelings?                                VITTI                  I feel very angry, you know. Very,                  uh, enraged. Mad. Real mad.     Thumbs up from Ben.                                SINDONE                  So why you telling me?                                VITTI                  Why am I telling you? Like you                  had nothing to do with it?                                SINDONE                  I don't know what you're talking                  about.                                VITTI                  Okay, whatever, I just wanted to                  tell you how I feel because I know                  that anger is --     He looks at Ben.                                BEN                  A blocked wish --                                VITTI                  -- a blocked wish, and I'm getting                  my wish unblocked and I'm looking                  forward to getting some                  closure --                                (MORE)                                                       (CONTINUED)       ANALYZE THIS - Rev. 7/20/98                                 74B.51     CONTINUED:    (2)                                                  51                                  VITTI (CONT'D)                           (loses it)                    -- and if you make one more move                    on me I swear to God I'll cut                    your fuckin' balls off and shove                    'em up your ass!                                  SINDONE                    Vaffancul'!       Vitti rips the phone cord out of the jack and smashes the       phone against the wall. He stands there fuming. Sindone       hangs up the phone on his end, worried.                                  SINDONE                    Get a dictionary and find out what                    this 'closure' is. If that's what                    he's hitting us with, I want to                    know what the hell it is.                                                         CUT TO:51A    INT. VITTI'S SUITE - MOMENTS LATER                                 51A       Vitti is still fuming.                                  VITTI                    Good?                                  BEN                    Yeah, right up until the shoving                    the balls. You can't keep doing                    this! You want to get physical?                    Take a walk. Get a punching bag.                    Hit a pillow.       Vitti whips out a .9MM AUTOMATIC and EMPTIES the CLIP       into a pillow on the couch.                                  VITTI                    There's your fucking pillow.                                  BEN                    Feel better now?                                  VITTI                    Yeah, I do.                                                         CUT TO:52     OMITTED                                                            52thru                                                                      thru57                                                                        57     ANALYZE THIS - Rev. 7/20/98                           74C.58   LARGE ITALIANATE FOUNTAIN                                    58     Cheeky marble cherubs bathe in the soaring jets and     bubbling pools of a large rococo fountain.                                                   PULL BACK TO:                                                   (CONTINUED)                                                               75.58   CONTINUED:                                                      58     EXT. BEN'S DRIVEWAY - DAY     Ben, Laura and Michael are staring up at the elaborate     fountain that now fills the back yard.                                BEN                  Call the Vatican. Ask them if                  anything's missing.                                MICHAEL                  So cool!                                JANET                  Michael, get your bags out of the                  car, please.                                MICHAEL                  It's almost as tall as the house!     Michael crosses away.    Laura glares at Ben.                                BEN                         (reads the card)                  He felt bad. It's a wedding gift.                                LAURA                  Well, we're not married, so I                  guess we'll have to send it back.                                BEN                  Hey, don't blame me. You didn't                  want to finish the ceremony.                                LAURA                  What did you expect? You think                  that's what I want to remember on                  our anniversary? 'Gee, honey,                  let's go look at the wedding                  video. There's my parents,                  there's your parents, and there's                  the guy who plunged to his death.'                                BEN                  I just want to marry you.                                LAURA                  I'm starting to think that's not                  going to happen.                                BEN                  Come on. Next Saturday. It's all                  set. I even asked for a room with                  a low ceiling, just to discourage                  the jumpers.                                                       (CONTINUED)                                                               76.58   CONTINUED:    (2)                                               58                                LAURA                  And who's going to be there?                                BEN                  Us three, a clergyman, and any                  family members who've completed                  their crisis counseling.                                LAURA                  And no guests without necks.                  Everybody has to have a neck.                                BEN                  We'll do a neck check at the door.     They kiss.                                                    CUT TO:59   INT. SOBOL FAMILY ROOM - MOMENTS LATER                          59     The back door opens and Ben, Laura and Michael enter,     struggling with the luggage.     They freeze. Sitting in the family room are the three     FBI agents: Steadman, Ricci and Provano.                                AGENT STEADMAN                         (showing his badge)                  Doctor Sobol, Mrs. Sobol -- I'm                  Agent Steadman, Agent Ricci, Agent                  Provano, Federal Bureau of                  Investigation, O.C.D.                                BEN                         (stunned)                  Obsessive-compulsive disorder?                                AGENT PROVANO                  Organized Crime Division. We                  need to talk.     Laura recognizes Provano from the hotel and glares     at him.                                MICHAEL                  The FBI! This is better than                  the fountain!                                BEN                  Michael, go to your room.                                                       (CONTINUED)                                                                 77.59   CONTINUED:                                                        59                                  MICHAEL                  But --                                  BEN                  Go!                               MICHAEL                  Fine. I can hear better in there                  anyway.     Michael exits. On the coffee table are dozens of pictures     of Ben and Paul Vitti taken in Miami and just about     everywhere else.                                 BEN                          (a beat)                  So.   FBI.                                AGENT STEADMAN                  Can you explain these photographs,                  Doctor Sobol?                                BEN                  I'm a psychotherapist.    Paul                  Vitti is my patient.                                LAURA                  Was your patient.                                  BEN                  Right.   Was.   That's what I meant.                                LAURA                  But not like a real patient.                                  BEN                  Right.                                PROVANO                  So why did he send you that                  fountain?                                BEN                  That was a gift to celebrate the                  completion of his therapy. We                  got our television from an                  agoraphobic, so it's not that                  unusual -- you know, maybe you                  should discuss this with my                  attorney.                                LAURA                  Yeah, maybe you should.                                                         (CONTINUED)                                                                78.59   CONTINUED:    (2)                                                59                                AGENT STEADMAN                  Doctor Sobol, Paul Vitti is an                  extremely dangerous man. We're                  talking conspiracy, fraud,                  extortion, racketeering,                  grand theft, murder...                                BEN                  Well, yeah, but don't forget, the                  man is a sociopath. You've got                  to expect that kind of behavior --     Ben looks out the window and does a double take.60   BEN'S POV                                                        60     Isaac and Dorothy are standing in the yard, gawking     at the fountain.61   BACK IN FAMILY ROOM                                              61                                BEN                  Excuse me, fellas. My folks are                  here and I'd like to -- well, die                  would be my first choice. Can I                  go out?                                AGENT RICCI                  It's your house.                                LAURA                  Too bad you didn't remember that                  when you were breaking in.                                BEN                         (as he goes)                  Honey, maybe the federal agents                  would like something to drink?                  Could you see what we have?                                LAURA                         (firmly)                  No.                                 BEN                         (to the Agents)                  I tried, guys.     Ben exits.                                                      CUT TO:                                                            79.62   EXT. BACK YARD - CONTINUOUS ACTION                           62     Ben rushes up to Isaac and Dorothy.                              BEN               Hi!   What a surprise.     Ben kisses his mother as she stares at the fountain.                             DOROTHY               That certainly makes a statement.               It's a little big for the yard,               don't you think?                             BEN               What can I tell you, Mom? It               looked much smaller in the store.                             ISAAC               Think it'll affect your water               pressure?                             BEN               I think it'll affect the tides.               What are you doing here?                             DOROTHY               Your father and I are just very               concerned about what happened               in Florida.                             ISAAC               How was your flight home? Anyone               hang themselves in first class.                             DOROTHY               We got in last night, we couldn't               sleep a wink. Is Laura inside?                             BEN               Yeah, but she and Michael are               spending some time alone, you               know, getting to know each other.               That's important. I don't want               to disturb that dynamic.                             DOROTHY                      (a beat)               So you're not going to invite us               in?                              BEN                       (a beat)               No.                                                   (CONTINUED)                                                                80.62   CONTINUED:                                                       62                                DOROTHY                         (insulted)                  Well, I'm going to wait in the                  car. There's too much spray.     Dorothy crosses away.                               ISAAC                  All right. What's with you and                  Paul Vitti?                                BEN                  Well, Dad, I'm not at liberty to                  discuss that.                                ISAAC                  He's your patient? Are you                  joking? Have you thought about                  what this could do to your                  reputation?                                BEN                  You, know, I always wanted to be                  great, but then I realized that I                  might have to settle for just being                  good enough. Now I've got this guy                  who's hurting and I'm thinking that                  if I can help this guy, maybe I can                  be a little bit great.                                ISAAC                  Jesus, Ben, you're the one who's                  going to be hurting. I want you                  to stop seeing him.                                BEN                  Didn't you read your own book?                  Instead of trying to run my                  life, why don't you just close                  your eyes, take a deep breath, tell                  me what you feel, tell me what                  you want.                                ISAAC                         (uncomfortable)                  This is bullshit.                                  BEN                  You wrote it.                                                        (CONTINUED)                                                                81.62   CONTINUED:    (2)                                                62                                ISAAC                  Okay.                         (with difficulty)                  I love you -- and I'm afraid for                  you -- I want you to be safe --                  and I want you to have a good life.                                BEN                         (deeply touched)                  Is that really it?                                ISAAC                  That's it.     They embrace awkwardly.                                BEN                  You know why I became a shrink?                  Because I grew up with a great                  one walking around the house.                                ISAAC                  I thought you became a shrink                  because you were sleeping with                  your psychology professor at                  Columbia.                                BEN                  Yes, and because of you.                                                    CUT TO:63   INT. FAMILY ROOM - MINUTES LATER                                 63     Ben comes back to Laura and the Agents.                                BEN                  Okay, so you were saying?                                AGENT STEADMAN                  Let me cut to the chase. Sometime                  in the next week or so, the heads                  of every major crime family in the                  United States are going to meet                  together somewhere in the New York                  area.     Ben nods, finally understanding Vitti's two week deadline.                                AGENT PROVANO                  We think the stage is set for a                  major bloodbath. Has he mentioned                  anything about it to you?                                                        (CONTINUED)                                                              82.63   CONTINUED:                                                     63                                 LAURA                  A bloodbath?                                BEN                  No. If he said anything about a                  bloodbath, I probably would've                  remembered it. Bloodbath is one                  of those words that, you know,                  stands out in a conversation.                                AGENT STEADMAN                         (gathering photos)                  You could really help us out by                  supplying information about that                  meeting.                                BEN                  And if I don't?                                AGENT STEADMAN                  If you don't, I will personally                  make your life a living hell. I                  want you to think about that and                  call me at this number when you                  change your mind.                                BEN                  You mean if I change my mind.                                 AGENT STEADMAN                  I mean when.                                 LAURA                         (tough)                  Okay. Guess what, fellas?                  You don't scare me.                                 BEN                  Laura --                                LAURA                  Sit down!                         (to the Agents)                  There's going to be a bloodbath.                  Oh, yeah. Only it's going to be                  between you and me. You think you                  can break into our home and                  intimidate us? That ain't the                  way it works here, boys. Whatever                  he and Paul Vitti talked about is                  privileged. He doesn't have to                  tell you a thing.                                (MORE)                                                      (CONTINUED)                                                                 83.63   CONTINUED:    (2)                                                 63                                LAURA (CONT'D)                  Tarasoff vs. The University of                  California. Look it up. Now, if                  he's done something wrong, take                  him downtown and book him.                  Otherwise, I'll ask you very                  kindly to get the hell out of                  my house.                                AGENT STEADMAN                  We'll be in touch.     The Agents exit.                                BEN                         (impressed)                  Laura, that was really --                                LAURA                         (furious)                  Oh, shut up!     Laura storms out of the room in a fury. Ben stands,     looking miserable, then we hear Michael's voice from     the vent.                                MICHAEL (V.O.)                  You are in trouble.                                                       CUT TO:64   INT. OLD LION SOCIAL CLUB - DAY                                   64     Vitti is conferring with Sal Masiello, his consigliere.                                 MASIELLO                  Paul, I don't mean this in a                  disrespectful way. You know I was                  a good friend to your father and I                  will always be a good friend to                  you. But the word is out that                  you've been talking to a shrink.                  Is that right?     Vitti shoots Jelly a sharp look.      Jelly looks away.                                VITTI                  What's the point here?                                                       (CONTINUED)                                                                 84.64   CONTINUED:                                                        64                                MASIELLO                  This concerns the whole family.                  Right now, we're the only ones who                  know about it, but if it gets out                  on the street -- what then? Who                  knows what you've been saying in                  there?                                VITTI                  It's none of anybody's business                  what I say in there.                                MASIELLO                  Paul, I beg to differ. If you're                  doing this to establish some kind                  of insanity defense later, that's                  one thing. But everybody's gonna                  think you're falling apart, and                  that ain't good. They'll take it                  as a sign of weakness, and that                  makes us all vulnerable. Sindone                  would take over everything.                                VITTI                  So what do you want me to do?                                MASIELLO                  It's time to end it.                                VITTI                  What do you mean, end it?                                MASIELLO                  Get rid of this shrink.   He knows                  too much already.                                VITTI                  You want me to whack my doctor?                                MASIELLO                  If you don't do it, somebody else                  will. It's the only way.                                VITTI                  No. Nobody touches him. You hear                  me? Anybody lays a finger on him,                  I'll kill 'em. Is that clear?                                                       CUT TO:                                                              85.64A   FLASHBACK - EXT. STREET ON LOWER EAST SIDE - DAY              64A      Vitti and Ben are walking down the street.   For some      reason, Vitti is wearing a hat.                              BEN                I'm going to buy some fruit.                You want anything?                                VITTI                No, go ahead.      Ben crosses to a sidewalk fruit stand and starts picking      out oranges. Vitti leans up against a car waiting for      him to finish. SHOTS are FIRED. He runs toward the car.      More SHOTS are FIRED. Ben is hit. Vitti pulls out his      gun but he fumbles and drops it. The gunmen run off.      Ben sinks to the pavement, mortally wounded. Vitti kneels      next to him and sobs loudly. He puts his hand to his      head, knocking off his hat.                                VITTI                Papa!   Papa!64B   INT. BEN'S BEDROOM - NIGHT                                    64B      Ben jerks upright in bed, knocked awake by the nightmare.                                                   DISSOLVE TO:65    HOLY WATER FONT                                               65      Someone dips their fingers in.      INT. CATHOLIC CHURCH - NEXT DAY      It's Vitti. He goes down on one knee and genuflects in      front of a big crucifix. Ben wiggles his finger in the      holy water, just kind of curtsies and waves at Jesus on      the cross.                              VITTI                You look lousy. You all right.                              BEN                Listen, Paul, please don't send me                any more gifts.                              VITTI                You didn't like the fountain?                                                     (CONTINUED)                                                                86.65   CONTINUED:                                                       65                                BEN                  That's not the point.   It's a                  boundary issue.                                 VITTI                  Boundary issue? I say if more                  people gave from the heart, we'd                  all be better off. Let's see your                  watch.                         (as Ben shows his                          wrist)                  Piece of junk. You're getting a                  Rolex.                                BEN                  Don't buy me a Rolex.                                VITTI                  Who said anything about buying it?     They cross to the main aisle of the church.                                BEN                  Listen, I really need to talk                  to you.     Ben stops cold. A casket sits in front of the altar.     A funeral service is in progress.                                VITTI                  Tommy Angels. We grew up together.                  Worked for a crew out of Jersey                  City.                                BEN                  How did he die?                                VITTI                  He was on his way to talk to a                  federal prosecutor. Got hit by                  a truck -- twice.                                BEN                  Do I need to know that? I'm                  having nightmares as it is.     The funeral procession comes down the aisle.                                BEN                  Last night I dreamed we were                  walking down the street, I stopped                  to buy some fruit, and they shot                  me -- like Brando in The Godfather.                                                        (CONTINUED)                                                                87.65    CONTINUED:    (2)                                               65                                   VITTI                   Good scene.    Was I there?      A mourner walks up to Vitti, bows his head in respect and      kisses Vitti on both cheeks. Vitti on both cheeks. Vitti      gives him a consoling pat on the shoulder, then the man      kisses Ben and walks off.                                 BEN                   You dropped your gun, then you ran                   over to me and started yelling,                   'Papa, Papa!'                                   VITTI                   I was Fredo.    I don't think so.      An older woman kisses Vitti's hand, then both his cheeks.      Vitti whispers a few words to her, then she kisses Ben's      hand and moves on. More old ladies kiss their hands as      they walk by.                                 VITTI                   You're losing it, Doc.   You may                   need therapy yourself.      A man comes up to Vitti, kisses him on both cheeks,      embraces him with excessive energy, then repeats the      whole scene with Ben and exits. Ben looks at Vitti.                                 VITTI                   Him I don't know. Let's get                   private.65A   OMITTED                                                         65A&                                                                     &65B                                                                   65B66    EXT. CHURCH - MOMENTS LATER                                     66      Ben and Vitti come out of the cathedral.                                 BEN                   Don't you see? You called me                   'Papa.' It's all about your                   father.                                 VITTI                   What're you, nuts? It was your                   dream.                                                        (CONTINUED)                                                              88.66   CONTINUED:                                                     66                                BEN                  Yes, but that's what your black                  milk dream was about, too.                                VITTI                  Uh-uh. I don't buy it. In my                  dream, I'm bringing the baby                  the black milk.                                BEN                  Freud believed you're everyone                  in your dreams.                                VITTI                  Yeah, well, that guy I don't need                  to hear about. I can't even call                  my mother on the phone after that                  thing you told me.                                BEN                  Let's say you are the baby. What                  kind of milk did you get from                  your father?                                VITTI                  Could we stop talking about my                  father?                                BEN                         (losing it)                  That's the whole point! We have                  to start talking about your                  father. You know what it's like                  dealing with you? This is you.                         (imitating Vitti)                  You gotta help me, Doc. I'm a                  mess. I'm in pain.                         (as himself)                  Okay, Paul, I can help you.                         (as Vitti)                  Fuck you. Nobody helps Paul                  Vitti.                                VITTI                  Very good. Now I'll do you.                  'Boo-fuckin'-hoo.' I never said                  this would be easy. Let's see how                  you like it. Let's talk about                  your father.                                BEN                  Let's not.                                                      (CONTINUED)                                                             89.66   CONTINUED:    (2)                                             66                                VITTI                  Is he still alive?                                BEN                  Yes, he's still alive.                                VITTI                  What kind of work does he do?                                BEN                         (a beat)                  That's not important.                                   VITTI                  You paused.                                   BEN                  What?                               VITTI                  You paused. That means you had a                  feeling. What does he do?                                BEN                  He's a psychiatrist.                                VITTI                  Ooh, you're fucked up.   Next                  patient, please.                                BEN                  We're running out of time, Paul.                  Let's not waste it talking about                  my problems.                                VITTI                  Your father's a problem?                                   BEN                  No!                                VITTI                  That's what you just said!   You                  seem upset.                                   BEN                  I'm not upset!                                VITTI                  Hey, I'm good at this.                                                     (CONTINUED)                                                                  90.66    CONTINUED:    (3)                                                 66                                 BEN                   We have three days left. If you                   want to spend it screwing around,                   I can't help you.                          (hailing a taxi)                   Call me when you're ready to get                   serious.                                 VITTI                   Say hello to your father for me!      A cab stops at the curb.                                                        CUT TO:66A   EXT. CHURCH - SAME TIME                                           66A      Handsome Jack and Potatoes watch from a vantage point in      the park nearby.                                 POTATOES                   We could just pop him right now.                                 HANDSOME JACK                   In front of a church? What are                   you, a fuckin' animal? It's a                   holy place.                                 POTATOES                   Is the sidewalk holy, too? I mean,                   where does the holiness end?                                 HANDSOME JACK                          (thinks)                   I don't know. Second Avenue?                                                       CUT TO:67    OMITTED                                                           67&                                                                       &68                                                                      6869    DIGITAL SOUND MIXER                                               69      in the FBI van. A technician works at the computer      console. Steadman listens.      Through speakers:                                 VITTI (V.O.)                   You want me to whack my doctor?                                                        (CONTINUED)                                                                91.69   CONTINUED:                                                       69                                MASIELLO (V.O.)                  If you don't do it, somebody else                  will. It's the only way.                                VITTI (V.O.)                  No. Nobody touches him. You hear                  me? Anybody lays a finger on him,                  I'll kill 'em. Is that clear?     Then the technician plays an altered version.                                VITTI (V.O.)                  You want me to whack my doctor?                                MASIELLO (V.O.)                  If you don't do it, somebody else                  will. It's the only way.                                 VITTI (V.O.)                         (after a beat)                  I'll kill 'em.                                                      CUT TO:70   INT. LIVING ROOM - SAME TIME                                     70     Steadman shuts off a tape recorder, having just played     the altered tape for a stunned Ben and Laura. A long     beat, then Ben looks up at the agents.                                BEN                         (quietly)                  What do you want me to do?                                                      CUT TO:71   INT. JIMMY'S CAR - SAME TIME                                     71     Jimmy is parked at the corner watching the Sobol house as     the three FBI agents leave.                                                      CUT TO:72   EXT. OLD LION SOCIAL CLUB - LATE AFTERNOON                       72     Masiello is face to face with Vitti.                                MASIELLO                  Paul, he talked to the Feds.                                                      (CONTINUED)                                                               92.72   CONTINUED:                                                      72                                VITTI                  I know this guy. He would never                  talk to the Feds.     Jelly's CELLULAR PHONE RINGS. He steps away and answers     it quietly during the following.                                MASIELLO                  The FBI was at his house today.                                JIMMY                  It's the truth.   I saw 'em.                                MASIELLO                  You'll see. Next thing is he's                  gonna call you and ask for a                  meeting.                                 VITTI                  Come on.   You don't know this                  guy.     Jelly covers the phone and turns to Vitti.                                JELLY                  It's Dr. Sobol. He says he needs                  to see you right away.     Vitti nods.                                                     CUT TO:73   EXT. STREET CORNER - NIGHT                                      73     Ben waits on a deserted corner in Brooklyn. A black Town     Car appears and stops to pick him up. The windows are     heavily tinted. Ben takes a deep breath, crosses to the     car and opens the back door.     EXT. JELLY'S CAR - CONTINUOUS ACTION     Ben finds Jelly sitting in the back seat next to Vitti.                                JELLY                  Sit up front with Jimmy.                                BEN                         (anxiously)                  You want me to sit in front?                  Paul usually sits in front.                                                     (CONTINUED)                                                                 93.73   CONTINUED:                                                        73                                JIMMY                  So this time you'll sit up front.                  Why you making a federal case?                                BEN                         (getting in the car)                  Federal case? I'm not making a                  federal case? Let's go.                                                       CUT TO:74   INT. PARETTI'S RESTAURANT (JERSEY CITY) - LATER                   74     A waiter pours red wine. Ben is eating out of pure     anxiety. Jelly and Jimmy watch him intently. Vitti     stares off.                                 BEN                          (prattling nervously)                  Wow, this is really good.                  Delicious. I love Italian food.                  I've never been to Italy but I'd                  love to go. I've been to France.                  And Jamaica. That's nice, but I'm                  sure it's very different from                  Italy. A whole different, uh --                          (silence)                  So what's everybody doing this                  summer?     Carlo Mangano comes to the table. Vitti gets up, hugs     and fraternal kisses all around, then Mangano sits down     with them.                                VITTI                  This is Ben. He's a friend of                  mine.                         (to Ben)                  Say hello to Carlo Mangano.                                   MANGANO                  How you doin'?                                VITTI                         (to Ben)                  Carlo was on my father's crew.                  He's always been like a -- I don't                  know -- like a cousin to me.                                MANGANO                  I am your cousin.                                                       (CONTINUED)                                                                94.74   CONTINUED:                                                       74                                VITTI                  I know, that's what I'm saying.                  It's like a family thing. The                  closeness.                                MANGANO                  Anything you need, anything I can                  do for you, Paul, you know. I'm                  here for you.                                VITTI                  I know. So did you take care of                  that thing I asked you about?                                MANGANO                  Is it all right to talk business                  in front of your friend?                                  VITTI                  It's okay.                                MANGANO                  Yeah, I took care of it.                                VITTI                  How about that other thing?                                 MANGANO                  I'm waiting for that first thing                  to come through. I can't move                  until it does.                                VITTI                  Did the guy give you a problem?                                  MANGANO                  A little.    He's a lunatic.                                                      CUT TO:75   INT. FBI VAN - SAME TIME                                         75     The agents monitor the conversation through the bug Ben     is wearing. They shake their heads at the     incomprehensible dialogue.                                VITTI (V.O.)                  What did he say?                                  MANGANO (V.O.)                  The usual.                                                      (CONTINUED)                                                               95.75   CONTINUED:                                                      75                                VITTI (V.O.)                  Did you tell him you weren't going                  for it?                                MANGANO (V.O.)                  What was I gonna do?76   BACK IN PARETTI'S                                               76                                VITTI                  You always gotta nip that shit in                  the bud.                                MANGANO                  Yeah. But if the first thing is                  okay, that should fix everything.                                VITTI                  Including the second thing.                                 MANGANO                  Yeah, but --                                 VITTI                  Exactly.                          (to Ben)                  Don't repeat any of that to                  anyone.                                BEN                  What? The first thing or the                  second thing?                                 VITTI                  That's Stevie Beef over there. I                  gotta go say hello to him for a                  second.                          (to Mangano)                  Come on.     Ben watches Vitti and Mangano cross the room, then turns     to Jelly and Jimmy.                                BEN                  Stevie Beef. Interesting name.                  When he was younger they probably                  called him Stevie Veal.                         (off no response)                  You guys come here often?                                JELLY                  Paretti's has a very special                  meaning to Paul.                                                       (CONTINUED)                                                                 96.76   CONTINUED:                                                        76                                JIMMY                  Yeah, this is where his father got                  whacked.                                 JELLY                  Hey!                                JIMMY                  What's the big secret?                                BEN                         (incredulous)                  Wait a second. Paul's father was                  murdered?                                JIMMY                  Right at that table.   With his                  whole family there.                                JELLY                  Hey, just shut up.                                 BEN                  Paul, too?   He was there?                                JELLY                  He don't like to talk about it.     Everything is suddenly clear to Ben.      He stands up.                                JIMMY                  Where you goin'?                                 BEN                  Bathroom.                                JELLY                  I'll go with you.                                                       CUT TO:77   INT. BATHROOM - MOMENT LATER                                      77     Ben and Jelly enter.                                BEN                  I gotta -- you know -- poop.     Ben goes into a stall, latches the door and drops his     pants. Jelly combs his hair in the mirror.                                                       (CONTINUED)                                                                97.77   CONTINUED:                                                       77     INT. STALL - SAME TIME     Ben hastily unbuttons his shirt, revealing a small     microphone taped to his chest. He picks at the edge of     the tape, takes a deep breath, then rips it off.                                BEN                  Ahhhh!     JELLY     at the urinal, reacts to Ben's cry.                                JELLY                  You need more roughage. A bran                  muffin in the morning would                  help with that.                                                      CUT TO:78   INT. PARETTI'S - BACK AT TABLE - FEW MINUTES LATER               78     Ben and Jelly rejoin Vitti.      Ben starts right in on him.                                BEN                  I have to talk to you -- in                  private.                                VITTI                         (to Jelly and Jimmy)                  Leave us alone.     They exit without hesitation.                                BEN                  Why didn't you tell me about your                  father?                                VITTI                  What about him?                                BEN                  You said he died of a heart                  attack.                                VITTI                  So what's the problem?                                BEN                  What's the problem?   Your father                  was murdered!                                                       (CONTINUED)                                                               98.78   CONTINUED:                                                      78                                VITTI                  Heart attack, murdered, what's the                  difference? He's dead.                                BEN                  There's a big difference.   Why                  didn't you tell me?                                VITTI                  Because it's private. You think I                  tell you every little thing?                                BEN                  That is not a little thing!                                VITTI                  Okay, you want to know? Analyze                  this. I was twelve years old, the                  whole family was having dinner                  together right over there, two                  guys walked in and shot him dead                  right in front of us. Okay?                                BEN                  And you didn't think this was                  important enough to tell me?                                VITTI                  What am I supposed to do? Spend                  the rest of my life crying about                  the past? Forget about it.                                BEN                  You know what? I think you want                  to talk about it.                                VITTI                  No, I don't want to talk about it.                                BEN                  I think you do.                                 VITTI                  No, I don't.                                BEN                  Then why did you choose this                  restaurant?                                VITTI                  'Cause I like it, okay?                                                       (CONTINUED)      ANALYZE THIS - Rev. 6/25/98                                  99.78    CONTINUED:    (2)                                                  78                                 BEN                   Of all the places we could've gone,                   why this one?                                 VITTI                   White clam sauce. The best.                                 BEN                   No, we're here because you wanted                   me to know about your father.                   You're reaching out to me.                                 VITTI                   I'll reach out to you --      Vitti suddenly reaches over and rips Ben's shirt open.      All he sees is a bald patch on Ben's chest where the bug      was taped.                                 BEN                   I think we have some major trust                   issues here.                                                         CUT TO:78A   INT. SINDONE HEADQUARTERS - SAME TIME                              78A      The cutting room is deserted except for Primo and his      men. Sindone is at his desk reading the entertainment      section of the New York Times.                                 SINDONE                          (studying the paper)                   I'd like to see a movie but                   there's nothing out there. It's                   all this shoot-'em-up action                   bullshit. I get enough of that at                   work.      They all laugh.     Moony finishes a call on his cell phone.                                 MOONY                   That was our friend. He marked                   your guy at Paretti's.                                 SINDONE                   Yeah? Then let's make it the last                   supper. Jack?                                 HANDSOME JACK                   You got it, Primo.                          (to Potatoes)                   Let's go.                                                         (CONTINUED)      ANALYZE THIS - Rev. 6/25/98                                99A.78A   CONTINUED:                                                        78A                                 SINDONE                          (as they exit)                   Hey, Jack. Just for fun, tear                   out his heart and bring it to me.                                                       CUT TO:79    EXT. STREET - LATER                                               79      Vitti, Ben and the boys come out of the restaurant and      walk to the car.                                 BEN                   Jimmy, you can have shotgun this                   time. I don't mind.                                 JIMMY                   Nah, sit up front. There's more                   room for your legs.                                 BEN                   My legs are short, it's fine in                   the back.                                 JIMMY                   Get in the front.                                 BEN                   You know what? It's late. I think                   I'm just going to call it a night.                   Why don't I just grab a cab and                   head on home.                                                        (CONTINUED)      ANALYZE THIS - 6/17/98                                       100.79    CONTINUED:                                                          79                                 JIMMY                   Get in the car.                                 BEN                   No really, it's all right.                                 JIMMY                          (pulls a gun)                   Get in the fucking car.      Ben looks to Vitti for help.                                 VITTI                   Do what he says.                                 BEN                   You know, we call this a                   transference neurosis. It's                   when the patient starts acting                   out his problems with his therapist                   instead of out in the world. It's                   usually considered a good sign.                   Not for me, in this case, but --      Jimmy forces him into the back of the car.                                                         CUT TO:79A   EXT. PARETTI'S RESTAURANT - MOMENTS LATER                           79A      The Lincoln makes a U-turn in front of Paretti's and      drives off down the street passing Handsome Jack and      Potatoes in a car parked at the corner. The car takes      off after the Lincoln.                                                      CUT TO:80    INT. FBI VAN - SAME TIME                                            80      The agents are monitoring the bug, but all they hear is      WATER RUNNING and TOILETS FLUSHING.                                 AGENT RICCI                   What's he doing in there? He's                   been in the bathroom for half an                   hour.      Ricci and Steadman look at each other.                                                         CUT TO:     ANALYZE THIS - 6/17/98                                   101.81   EXT. PARETTI'S RESTAURANT - MOMENTS LATER                       81     The FBI van pulls up and lurches to a stop.                                                   CUT TO:82   INT. PARETTI'S BATHROOM - MOMENTS LATER                         82     Steadman rushes in, pushes open the stall and sees the     microphone and transmitter in the bottom of the toilet     bowl.                                                   CUT TO:83   OMITTED                                                         83&                                                                    &84                                                                   8485   EXT. SCRAP YARD - NIGHT (LATER)                                 85     Jelly's car pulls into a scrap metal yard and parks.     They all get out. Jelly hands Vitti a gun.                             VITTI                      (to Jimmy and Jelly)               Leave us alone.     Jelly looks apologetically at Ben.                               JELLY               Sorry, Doc.    It's not personal,               you know.                             BEN               Don't kid yourself, Jelly. It               doesn't get more personal than               this.                                                   (CONTINUED)                                                               102.85   CONTINUED:                                                       85     Jelly and Jimmy walk away, leaving Ben alone with Vitti.                                VITTI                  You know why I have to do this,                  don't you?                                 BEN                  Because you're a paranoid? No,                  actually you're a reverse                  paranoid. You think you're out to                  get everybody.                                VITTI                  Don't bullshit me! You betrayed                  me! You stabbed me in the back.     They start shouting at each other.                                BEN                  I betrayed you? What are you                  talking about? Who's got the gun?                                VITTI                  You think I'm an idiot? Don't                  insult my intelligence. You                  cooperated! You talked to the                  Feds!                                BEN                  They played me a tape! You said                  you were going to kill me.                                 VITTI                  Never.   I never said that.     They glare at each other for a moment.                                BEN                  It doesn't matter. I didn't                  betray you, Paul. Yes, they                  made me wear a wire, but I took it                  off, because I think I know how to                  help you now.                                VITTI                  I don't want to know what you                  think.                                 BEN                  Yes, you do.                                 VITTI                  No, I don't!                                                       (CONTINUED)     ANALYZE THIS - Rev. 6/10/98                              103.85   CONTINUED:    (2)                                               85                                BEN                  I think you do.                                VITTI                         (puts the gun                          to Ben's head)                  It's over! Don't you get it?                  I took one chance and that's it.                                 BEN                  Okay.                         (as Vitti cocks                          the gun)                  Can I ask you one last question?                                 VITTI                          (a beat)                  What?                                BEN                  What did you order?                                 VITTI                  What?                                BEN                  What did you order?                                 VITTI                  When?                                BEN                  That night. What were you eating                  the night your father got killed?                                 VITTI                  How the hell do I know?                                BEN                  You don't remember?                                VITTI                  It was 35 years ago.                                BEN                  What did your father have?                                 VITTI                  I told you!   I don't remember.                                 BEN                  Try.                                                      (CONTINUED)     ANALYZE THIS - Rev. 6/10/98                                104.85   CONTINUED:    (3)                                                 85                                VITTI                  What's the matter with you?                                BEN                  It's a simple question.    What was                  your father eating!                                   VITTI                           (after a long                            pause)                  Penne.                                  BEN                  Good.    And you.                                  VITTI                  Ravioli.                                BEN                  The food was on the table?                                VITTI                  They were just serving it.                                BEN                  Did you see the guys coming?                                 VITTI                  One of them.   Dressed like a                  busboy.                                BEN                  Did your father see him?                                VITTI                  No, but I knew he looked wrong.                                  BEN                  Why?                                VITTI                  His pants. They looked too good                  for a busboy.                                BEN                  He walked over to the table?                                VITTI                  I watched him the whole way.                                BEN                  Did you say anything?                                                        (CONTINUED)     ANALYZE THIS - Rev. 6/10/98                              105.85   CONTINUED:    (4)                                               85                                VITTI                  My father was so mad at me.                                BEN                  And you were mad at him.                                VITTI                  I couldn't say anything.                                 BEN                  And then.                                VITTI                  I never saw the second guy.    My                  mother started screaming.                                BEN                  And you blame yourself?                                VITTI                  I coulda saved him.                                BEN                  But you were mad at him.                                VITTI                         (starting to                          hyperventilate)                  I killed my father.                                BEN                  You didn't kill him, Paul. You                  were angry but you didn't kill                  him. That's the life he chose.                                VITTI                  I never got to say good-bye.                                BEN                  Say it now, Paul. Talk to him.                  What do you want to tell him?                                 VITTI                  I can't.                                 BEN                  You have to.   Tell him, Paul.                                VITTI                         (breaks down)                  I'm sorry. I'm so sorry.                                                      (CONTINUED)     ANALYZE THIS - Rev. 6/10/98                              106.85   CONTINUED:    (5)                                               85                                BEN                  It's okay, Paul. You can let go                  of it now.     Vitti leans back against the car, slumps to the ground     and starts sobbing, 35 years of pent-up grief finally     finding expression.86   JELLY AND JIMMY                                                 86     Standing around smoking, waiting for the death shot.                                JIMMY                  What's taking so long?   I'm ruining                  my goddamn shoes here.   Fuckin'                  $350 Bruno Maglis.                                JELLY                  What's wrong with you? Don't you                  have any respect? This is a very                  difficult thing for Paul.                                JIMMY                  Shoulda let me do it. I'd be                  home watchin' E.S.P.N.2 by now.                  World's strongest man. You should                  see these guys.87   VITTI AND BEN                                                   87     Ben is comforting Vitti.                                BEN                  You couldn't save him, Paul. He                  was trying to save you. That's                  what you fought about. He didn't                  want this for you, and you don't                  want it for Anthony. You don't                  want him to grow up the way you                  did -- without a father.     Vitti just cries louder.88   JELLY AND JIMMY                                                 88     hearing the crying.                                JELLY                  Jesus, the guy's fallin' apart.                                JIMMY                  Why doesn't he just pop him?   It's                  embarrassing.     ANALYZE THIS - Rev. 6/10/98                            106A.89   BEN AND VITTI                                                89     Ben tries to comfort Vitti who is still crying.                             BEN               Your father's not dead, Paul. He's               alive -- in you. And he's trying               to tell you something.                                                    (CONTINUED)                                                                  107.89   CONTINUED:                                                          89     Suddenly, there is a GUNSHOT and a BULLET RICOCHETS off     the TOP of the CAR.                                 BEN                  Oh, my God!90   HANDSOME JACK                                                       90     He OPENS UP with a MAC-10.     JELLY AND JIMMY     Jimmy goes down, hit in the shoulder.      Jelly dives for     cover behind a rusted car body.     VITTI AND BEN                                 BEN                          (in a panic)                  Paul!   They're shooting!     Vitti continues to sob, oblivious to the GUN BATTLE     raging around him.     JELLY     He FIRES back at Handsome Jack.     POTATOES     He rakes the Lincoln with a BURST from the ASSAULT RIFLE.     JELLY'S CAR     All the WINDOWS ARE BLOWN OUT by the GUNFIRE.     Ben     screams.                               BEN                  Paul! For God's sake, shoot                  somebody!     Vitti just sits there on the ground, still sobbing     quietly.     JELLY     He reloads and FIRES again.                                                       (CONTINUED)                                                               108.90   CONTINUED:                                                       90     POTATOES     Jelly's last SHOT strikes him right in the chest, and he     goes down.     HANDSOME JACK     He sees Potatoes fall and starts moving out, covering his     retreat with another BURST from his MACHINE GUN.     JELLY'S CAR     Something snaps inside Ben.                                  BEN                  Goddamn it!     He takes the GUN out of Vitti's hand and starts FIRING     WILDLY.     JELLY     He sees Handsome Jack emerge from cover and takes him out     with FIVE QUICK SHOTS.     HANDSOME JACK     He goes down FIRING, dead before he hits the ground.     SCRAP YARD     It's suddenly quiet. After a long moment, Jimmy rolls     over and moans. Jelly goes to him and starts examining     his wound.91   JELLY'S CAR                                                      91     Ben stands up, still holding Vitti's gun.    He sees     Handsome Jack lying dead on the ground.                                  BEN                  Oh my God!    Did I do that?                                JELLY                  No, Doc. That one's mine. You                  got the Chevy Camaro and the                  side-by-side refrigerator-freezer.                                                       (CONTINUED)                                                                  109.91   CONTINUED:                                                          91     Vitti emerges from behind the car looking red-eyed but     composed again and looks at Ben.                                VITTI                  Pretty fuckin' ironic, isn't it?                  You can give me back the gun now,                  Doctor.     Vitti holds out his hand.      Ben hesitates for a moment,     then hands him the gun.                                VITTI                  It's okay. I wasn't really gonna                  whack you.                         (off Jelly's                          skeptical look)                  All right, maybe I was gonna whack                  you, but I was real conflicted                  about it. Progress, right?                                BEN                  I don't think I can see you                  anymore.                                VITTI                  Yeah, I figured.                                BEN                  This was big tonight. You might                  feel a little raw for a while.                                  VITTI                  Yeah.                                  BEN                  So good luck.    It's been --     Vitti nods, they stand there for another moment, then Ben     walks off into the night.                                                       CUT TO:92   INT. BEN'S OFFICE - MORNING                                         92     ELAINE, a fortyish, tired-looking wife and mother sits     on the couch across from Ben. Ben looks bored and     depressed.                                ELAINE                  I want to please him in bed, but                  whatever I do it seems like it's                  never enough. Now he wants me to                  say things when we're making love.                                                       (CONTINUED)                                                                 110.92   CONTINUED:                                                         92                                BEN                  What kinds of things does he want                  you to say, Elaine?                                ELAINE                  Well, he wants me to call him 'big                  boy.' And he's my bucking bronco,                  and I'm supposed to ride him hard                  and put him back in the barn wet.     Michael's laughter is heard coming through the vent.        Ben     closes his eyes and sighs deeply.                                ELAINE                  Are you all right, Dr. Sobol?                                BEN                  Let me suggest something, Elaine.                  If the man wants you to say things                  ... damn it, you should get down                  on all fours and bark like a dog                  if that's going to get the job                  done. Break out the wine, baby.                  Smoke a joint. Do what you have                  to do, because life is too short.                  It's just too fucking short.     Elaine stares, taken aback, then she smiles.                                ELAINE                  Okay.                                                       CUT TO:93   EXT. VITTI'S HOUSE - SEVERAL DAYS LATER                            93     Jelly, Jimmy and Iron Mike arrive and walk up to the     house. The rest of the crew are standing around on     the porch.                                                       CUT TO:94   INT. VITTI'S BEDROOM - MOMENTS LATER                               94     Jelly enters and finds Vitti in his undershorts, putting     on his tie, looking very strong.                                JELLY                  How you feelin', boss?   You need                  anything?                                                       (CONTINUED)                                                                  111.94    CONTINUED:                                                         94                                 VITTI                   No, I'm great. Never felt better                   in my life. When this meeting is                   over they won't know what hit 'em.      Jelly gives him the thumbs up and exits. Vitti turns to      the TV and starts knotting his tie as a PRUDENTIAL      INSURANCE COMMERCIAL STARTS PLAYING, featuring a father      and his son. As Vitti watches the sentimental ad, his      eyes fill with tears.                                                        CUT TO:95    EXT. WALDORF-ASTORIA HOTEL - LITTLE LATER                          95      The sun is shining. A beautiful day for a wedding.      "HERE COMES THE BRIDE" is heard.96    INT. WALDORF-ASTORIA BANQUET ROOM - LATER                          96      The crowd oohs and aahs as Laura starts down the aisle      in her wedding dress. Isaac and Dorothy are standing      near the chupah ready to receive her.                                 DOROTHY                   Is Ben going to step on the glass?                                 ISAAC                   No. He doesn't want to hurt his                   foot, so they're going to drop a                   person on it.                                                      DISSOLVE TO:96A   INT. WALDORF-ASTORIA BANQUET ROOM - MOMENTS LATER                  96A      Laura and Ben stand before a REFORMED RABBI. The family      is gathered again. Michael stands just to the side.                                 RABBI                   We are put on this earth to find a                   love, a soulmate, someone with whom                   we can create joy. How glad we are                   today that Ben and Laura have found                   each other, and we anticipate and                   celebrate the years of joy they will                   share together from this day on.      We hear a PSST from somewhere.    Ben and Laura don't seem      to notice it.                                                        (CONTINUED)                                                                   112.96A   CONTINUED:                                                          96A                                 RABBI                   Ben, do you take this woman, Laura,                   to be your lawfully wedded wife, for                   richer, for poorer, in sickness and                   in health, 'til death do you part,                   so help you God?      Another PSST. Ben looks over and sees Jelly standing      behind some flowers to the side of the altar.                                 BEN                          (hissing)                   No!                                   RABBI                   Excuse me?                                   BEN                   No, not you.    I was talking to him.                                   RABBI                   Who him?                                 BEN                   It's not important.     Yes.                                   RABBI                   Yes what?                                 BEN                   Yes to the thing before. To her.                   That's a yes. Pick it up from                   there.      Jelly moves closer.       The guests start to mutter.                                 JELLY                          (to Ben)                   Doc, we're going to need to hurry                   it up here.                          (to Michael)                   Hi, kid.                                 LAURA                   I do not believe this!                                 JELLY                          (to the Rabbi)                   Haul ass, buddy. We got a problem.                                 LAURA                   Who the hell do you think you are?                                                           (CONTINUED)                                                                 113.96A   CONTINUED:    (2)                                                 96A                                 JELLY                          (to Ben)                   Ooh, she's feisty. Watch out, Doc.                          (to the Rabbi)                   Tick tock, let's go. Hurry up and                   pronounce them, huh?                                 RABBI                   By the power vested me by the state                   of New York, I now pronounce you                   man and wife.                                  JELLY                   Okay.   Kiss, kiss --      Ben and Laura kiss.                                 JELLY                   I'm sorry about this, Mrs. Sobol,                   but duty calls, you know?                                 LAURA                          (tearing up)                   Oh. You're the first person to                   call me Mrs. Sobol.                                  JELLY                   Nice, huh?                                  LAURA                   No.                                 BEN                   Laura, I'm sorry. It's the job.                                 LAURA                   Go.  Just go.                          (to Jelly)                   Have him back here by the salad                   course or you're in serious                   trouble. Capiche?                                 JELLY                   You're a pistol.                          (to Ben)                   I like her.      Ben kisses Laura, then the organist plays "Here Comes the      Bride" as Jelly and Ben hurry down the aisle together.      ANGLE ON SCOTT AND BELINDA, ISAAC AND DOROTHY      shaking their heads in confusion.                                                       CUT TO:                                                                  114.97     OMITTED                                                           97&                                                                        &98                                                                       9899     INT. WALDORF-ASTORIA HOTEL - RECEPTION AREA                       99       Ben comes out of the function room with Jelly.                               JELLY                 He's bad, Doc. Worse than I ever                 seen him. I think his inner child                 is all fucked up.                               BEN                 Have you ever seen an episode like                 this?                               JELLY                 Yes. Once on 'Bonanza,' Hoss                 Cartwright got bit by a raccoon.                 He got this fever and he was shaking --                                BEN                 Never mind.                                                        CUT TO:100    OMITTED                                                           100100A   INT. WALDORF GARAGE - MOMENTS LATER                               100A       Jelly and Ben come out of the hotel into the garage area.                               JELLY                 This is serious, Doc. If he                 doesn't make this meeting, they'll                 kill him for sure.                               BEN                 Can't someone else in the family go                 for him? Tommy the Tongue? Louie                 the Lip? What about you? You go?                               JELLY                 That would work except for one                 little detail. I'm a fucking                 moron. I'm known for it.                        (a beat)                 You have to go.                                BEN                 Me?   You must be a moron.                                                        (CONTINUED)                                                                 115.100A   CONTINUED:                                                       100A                                   JELLY                    Hey!   Watch that.                                  BEN                    You just said it yourself.                                  JELLY                    It's different when I say it.                    When you say it, it sounds very                    negative.                                  BEN                    I'm sorry, Jelly, but I'm not going.                    I'm not on the payroll anymore, so                    forget about it. My wife is waiting --       He turns to go back into the hotel.                                   JELLY                    Doc.       Ben feels a gun pressed against his back.                                   BEN                    You can't shoot me, Jelly.                                  JELLY                    Correction. Mr. Vitti couldn't                    shoot you. But here's something                    about me you should know. I never                    got married, Doctor Sobol. I                    don't have a hobby. I never got a                    dog or a cat. I don't even have a                    goldfish. I live for one reason                    only, and that's to serve Mr. Paul                    Vitti. He's what I'm thinking about                    when I wake up, and he's what I'm                    thinking about when I close my eyes                    to sleep. If he told me to jump off                    a tall building, not only would I do                    it, I would hope to survive so I could                    do it again and again until he told me                    to stop. This is all I know. This is                    all I got. So please don't think I                    won't kill you, because I'd hate for                    your last thought to be a wrong one.                    You're going to that meeting.                                                       CUT TO:                                                                116.100B   INT. FBI CAR - MOMENTS LATER                                    100B       Parked on 50th Street, Ricci and another agent watch the       limo emerge from the Waldorf garage. Ricci signals       someone on the radio.100C   FBI HELICOPTER                                                  100C       flies INTO VIEW over Park Avenue and starts tracking the       limo.101    EXT. MID-TOWN TUNNEL - DAY                                      101       The black stretch limo approaches the tunnel entrance.       An FBI helicopter zooms INTO VIEW high above.                                                   CUT TO:102    INT. HELICOPTER - SAME TIME                                     102       Steadman and Provano track the limo from the air as it       enters the tunnel.103    OMITTED                                                         103104    EXT. TUNNEL EXIT - MOMENTS LATER                                104       Fifteen identical limos emerge from the tunnel on the       Queens side and start criss-crossing as they leave the       toll booths, then head off in different directions.                                                   CUT TO:105    INT. HELICOPTER - SAME TIME                                     105       Steadman and Provo try to pick Ben's limo out of the pack       of identical limos heading up the Long Island Expressway.                               STEADMAN                        (desperately)                 Which one is it?                                  AGENT PROVANO                 The black one.                                                   CUT TO:                                                               117.105A   INT. LIMOUSINE - DAY                                           105A       Ben is in the back with Jelly and Jimmy. One of their       crew, IRON MIKE, is driving. Ben is putting on a suit       of Jimmy's. He looks very anxious.                               JIMMY                        (his shoulder bandaged)                 Just remember. That's a fuckin'                 $1200 Valentino suit. You spill                 anything on it, I'll mess you up                 good.                               JELLY                 Shut up. You're making him                 nervous. If he gets nervous and                 fucks up, they'll kill him for                 sure.                        (to Ben)                 Let's go over it again.                               BEN                 This is insane.                               JELLY                 Mr. Vitti's been detained,                 apologies all around, blah, blah,                 blah. Then you say you're the new                 consigliere, and you're prepared                 to speak for Mr. Vitti.                               BEN                 Then what?                               JELLY                 Then you just keep your mouth                 shut, and hope nobody asks you                 nothin'.                               JIMMY                 Boy, this is some fuckin' plan.                               JELLY                 Shut up.                        (to Ben)                 If you have to talk, just be                 vague. Can you do that?                               BEN                 I'm a psychologist.   Believe me, I                 can be vague.                                                    CUT TO:                                                              118.106   INT. VITTI'S BEDROOM - SAME TIME                               106      Vitti is lying on the bed staring at the ceiling. Marie      is stroking his forehead. Then he looks over and sees      Anthony sitting in a chair at the foot of the bed,      watching him with concern.                              VITTI                Shouldn't you be outside playing                or something?                              ANTHONY                No, it's all right.                              VITTI                How long you gonna sit there?                              ANTHONY                       (shrugs)                How long you gonna lay there?      Vitti smiles.                              VITTI                I'm done.                                                    CUT TO:107   EXT. OZONE PARK (QUEENS) - MINUTES LATER                       107      The limo pulls into the parking lot of the Tops Limousine      Service. Fifty other limos are already parked there.      Jelly and Jimmy get out, followed by Ben, now dressed in      shiny suit and pinky ring.                                                   CUT TO:108   INT. TOPS LIMO GARAGE - CONTINUOUS ACTION                      108      Ben, Jelly, and Jimmy enter a garage the size of a small      airplane hangar. The floor has been cleared and long      tables set up to form a square in the middle of the room.      Wiseguys with shotguns patrol the catwalks above the floor      and soldiers are posted at all the doors.                              BEN                       (sotto voce)                I can't do this. I'm telling you,                I cannot do this.                              JELLY                Don't fucking whine! Whining's a                dead giveaway. Come on! You're                the consigliere, for Chrissake.                                                    (CONTINUED)                                                               119.108   CONTINUED:                                                      108      Around the tables sit forty or fifty of the biggest      gangsters in the world. A few captains stand around the      perimeter, ready to serve their bosses.                                 BEN                   These are the bosses? That one                   looks like my Uncle Max.      Jelly steers Ben to an empty seat next to Carlo Mangano.                                 MANGANO                          (surprised)                   What's goin' on? Where's Vitti?                                  JELLY                   On his way.   Don't worry.      Mangano eyes Ben with contempt.                                 MANGANO                   What's he doin' here?                                 JELLY                   He's -- it's okay. Forget about                   it.                                 MANGANO                   Forget about it? What the hell is                   that?      Seated directly across the room from Ben is Primo      Sindone. He stares hard at Ben, trying to place him,      then leans over to Moony, his consigliere.                                 SINDONE                   Who's the guy with Jelly?                                   MOONY                   I don't know.      Ben looks away nervously.                                 BEN                          (to Jelly, borderline                           hysterical)                   I can't do this.      He starts to get up but Jelly pulls him back down.      Moony stands up and gets everyone's attention.                                                       (CONTINUED)                                                                120.108   CONTINUED:    (2)                                                108                                 MOONY                   All right, gentlemen. I think we                   better start. We have a big                   agenda, so for now let's stick to                   the big issues. And it would help                   if you identify yourselves when                   you speak, since we don't all know                   each other, and we didn't think                   anybody would be into wearing any                   fucking name tags.      Laughter around the table.      Sindone stands up and looks straight at Ben.                                 SINDONE                   I'm Primo Sindone. They call me                   Sonny Long. It's good to see so                   many of the old faces here, and to                   welcome the new ones from all over                   the country. I see Frank Zello,                   and Joe Baldassare, but I'm a                   little disappointed to see that                   the head of our other New York                   family isn't here today. All I                   see is his man Jelly and some                   sawed-off little prick nobody                   knows.      Jelly looks at Ben, waiting for him to speak, but Ben      just sits, frozen, looking down at his hands.                                 JELLY                          (stands up, rattled)                   Yeah, well, the thing is Mr. Vitti                   has been detained and he sends his                   apologies for -- being detained --                   and he apologizes for his --                   detainment.                                 SINDONE                   Detained? What kind of bullshit                   is that? What's more important                   than this? As the host of this                   meeting, I take his not being here                   as a sign of disrespect to me and                   to all these other men, too, who                   came a long way to be here.                                 JELLY                   Mr. Vitti meant no disrespect.                   The thing is, he's not feeling                   well. He's sick and he -- didn't                   feel well --                                                        (CONTINUED)                                                                121.108   CONTINUED:    (3)                                                108      Ben rises and slaps Jelly hard across the face.                                 BEN                          (quietly)                   Jelly! We don't ever discuss Mr.                   Vitti's health outside the family.                   You know better.      Jelly is stunned.    The bosses murmur.                                 SINDONE                   All right, who is this guy and                   what the fuck is he doing here?                                 BEN                   In answer to your first question,                   my name is Ben Sobol --                          (off Sindone's                           look)                   -- leone. Sobboleone. They call                   me -- 'The doctor.' As for your                   second question. I'm here                   representing Paul Vitti. As his                   conser -- conghili --                                  JELLY                          (prompting)                   Consigliere --                                 BEN                          (slaps him again)                   Don't you ever correct me again!                   As his consigliere, I'm intimately                   involved in all aspects of the                   family business and I'm prepared                   to speak for Mr. Vitti on all                   matters.                                 SINDONE                   Okay, Doctor, then let's get down                   to business. Everybody knows                   there's been this thing between me                   and Paul Vitti for a long time.                                 BEN                   Which thing are you talking about?                   The first thing or the second                   thing?                                 SINDONE                   What second thing? I only know                   one thing.                                                        (CONTINUED)                                                               122.108   CONTINUED:    (4)                                               108                                 BEN                   Well, I don't see how we can                   discuss the first thing without                   bringing up the second thing.                   Didn't you talk to the guy?      He tugs meaningfully on his earlobe.                                   SINDONE                   What guy?                                 BEN                   The guy with the thing.                                  SINDONE                   What thing? What the fuck are you                   talking about?                                 BEN                   How should I know? You brought it                   up.                          (gestures helplessly                           to the others)                   This is the whole problem. You                   can't have an intelligent                   conversation with the man.                                 SINDONE                   How about if I just break your                   fuckin' neck? What do you think                   of that?                                 BEN                   It's not important what I think.                   What do you think?                                 SINDONE                   What do I think? I think it's a                   good idea! Why would I say it if                   I didn't think it was good?                                   BEN                   I don't know.    Why would you?                                  SINDONE                           (frustrated)                   I wouldn't! That's what I'm                   saying!                                 BEN                   Have you always had a problem                   dealing with your anger?                                                       (CONTINUED)                                                               123.108   CONTINUED:    (5)                                               108                                 SINDONE                   What are you talking about?                                 BEN                   What do you think I'm talking                   about?                                  SINDONSINDONE                          (explodes)                   I don't know what the fuck you're                   talking about!                                 BEN                   See, you're angry again. Do you                   feel you have to get angry to be                   heard?      Sindone turns to a couple of other bosses, FRANK ZELLO      and JOE BALDASSARE.                                 SINDONE                   What's he talking about?                                 ZELLO                   I don't know. But you do have a                   tendency to get angry a lot.                                 BALDASSARE                   I agree, Primo.                                 SINDONE                   I'm trying to talk about Vitti!                   Why are we talking about me?                                 BEN                   Interesting. Do you feel you're                   not worthy enough to be talked                   about?                                 SINDONE                   What does that mean?                                 BEN                   What do you think it means?                                 SINDONE                   Fuck you!                                 ZELLO                   Primo, calm down.                                                       (CONTINUED)                                                                124.108   CONTINUED:    (6)                                                108                                  SINDONE                   Calm down? How can I calm down                   when this prick won't stop with                   the questions?                                 BEN                   Could you pass the fruit, please?                                  SINDONE                   That's it!   You're a dead man!      Sindone whips out a pistol and points it at Ben, but just      as he's about to shoot --                                  VITTI (O.S.)                   Primo!      All eyes turn.109   PAUL VITTI                                                       109      He's standing there, staring at Sindone, cool, clear, and      unafraid. He looks like a king. The room goes silent.      Vitti looks around the table, nods, and crosses to Ben.      Jelly gets up to greet him.                                 VITTI                          (quietly, to Jelly)                   Wait outside with the car running.      Jelly nods and exits.                                 BEN                   What are you doing here?                                 VITTI                   Saving your ass. Sit down.    I'll                   take it from here.      Ben sits, greatly relieved.                                 VITTI                          (to the group)                   I'm Paul Vitti. I'm sorry I was                   late. Those of you who know me                   will know I meant no disrespect.                   If it's all right with you,                   there's something I'd like to say,                   then I'll leave you to your                   business.      Ben looks at Vitti and sees a kind of serenity and      clarity he's never seen before.                                                        (CONTINUED)                                                                 125.109   CONTINUED:                                                        109                                 VITTI                   About two and a half weeks ago,                   somebody killed my friend, Dominic                   Manetta.      He looks straight at Sindone.                                 SINDONE                   Don't look at me. Everybody knows                   you whacked him so you could take                   over everything.                                 VITTI                   What I really came here to say is                   that I've come to a very important                   decision in my life. I want out.      A great murmur of surprise sweeps around the room.      Ben      looks at him proudly.                                 VITTI                   I'm going away for a while, but I                   will respect the oath I took the                   day I was made, and whatever I                   know about anyone else's business,                   I take with me to the grave. You                   have my word.      A negative buzz among the bosses.                                 VITTI                   As for my own organization, I know                   Carlo Mangano would like to be the                   new boss.      Mangano smiles gratefully.                                 MANGANO                   Thank you, Paul.                                 VITTI                   That's why he betrayed Dominic and                   me to our enemies and sent his own                   man to kill me in Miami.      Mangano is stunned.                                 VITTI                   But I leave it to my people to                   deal with that and choose their                   own boss. And even though it's my                   right, I won't take revenge,                   mostly because I'm in a good place                   mentally and feeling good about me.                                                         (CONTINUED)                                                                  126.109   CONTINUED:    (2)                                                  109                                 ZELLO                          (perplexed)                   I don't know, Paul. I can see                   where some people might have a                   problem with this.                                 VITTI                   I realize that, so as an extra                   token of good faith between us,                   I've taken the liberty of writing                   down everything I know and putting                   it in a safe deposit box in case                   anything happens to me or my                   family.      There's a long tense silence while the other bosses      consider all this. Then, finally --                                 ZELLO                   I don't know what anybody else                   thinks, but I say good luck and                   God bless, Paul.                                 BALDASSARE                   Good luck, Paul. Salut.      They all raise their glasses and toast Vitti.     Ben raises      his glass to Vitti and drinks.                                 BEN                          (to Vitti)                   Well done.      Vitti smiles at him and drinks.                                                        CUT TO:110   EXT. PARKING LOT - MOMENTS LATER                                   110      Ben and Vitti come out of the building and cross to the      car. Jelly is waiting, Iron Mike has the MOTOR RUNNING,      and Jimmy is in the front seat with him.                                 VITTI                   Let's move.      Sindone and Mangano come out with guns drawn, flanked by      two wise guys.                                 SINDONE                   Vitti!                                                        (CONTINUED)                                                                127.110   CONTINUED:                                                       110      Vitti and his crew turn and face Sindone and Mangano      across the parking lot.                                 VITTI                   I don't want to do this, Primo.                                 SINDONE                   You don't want to do this? That's                   fuckin' rich. What did you think,                   you could just quit and walk away?                   You think this is a fuckin' civil                   service job? What are you, crazy?                                 VITTI                   Not anymore.                          (to Mangano)                   Hey, Carlo, tell me. You gonna                   stab me in the back like the piece                   of shit I always knew you were?      Mangano stares at him, cold and hard.                                 MANGANO                   I'm not gonna stab you in the                   back, Paul. I want to see your                   face when I do it.                                 VITTI                   I don't think so.                          (calls out)                   Mo-Mo!      Mo-Mo stands up from behind a car pointing a shotgun at      Mangano and Sindone.                                 VITTI                   Bigs!      Johnny Bigs steps out from behind a shed holding an      assault rifle.                                 VITTI                   Eddie!      The back of a van opens to reveal Eddie "Cokes" and Tuna      manning a military air-cooled machine gun on a tripod.                                 VITTI                   It's over, Primo. Now get the                   fuck outta here.      Sindone glares at him, then lowers his gun, turns, and      starts to walk back into the building joined by Mangano      and the soldiers.                                                        (CONTINUED)                                                                    128.110    CONTINUED:    (2)                                                   110       Vitti and Ben relax.                                  BEN                    Good thinking. I was going to                    bring a machine gun but I don't                    have one. Of course, we haven't                    opened the wedding gifts yet.       Suddenly, Sindone whirls and FIRES at Vitti.       Ben staggers in front of Vitti and takes the bullet in       the shoulder.                                                          CUT TO:111    INT. GARAGE - CONTINUOUS ACTION                                     111       The assembled bosses hear the sound of GUNFIRE outside.       Zello looks at Baldassare.                                  ZELLO                    Oh, shit.       The bosses all jump up and run for the exits.                                                          CUT TO:112    EXT. PARKING LOT - SAME TIME                                        112       As the GUN BATTLE CONTINUES, Sindone jumps into a car and       tries to escape, but Eddie Cokes RIPS his car with the       MACHINE GUN, stopping it dead.113    OMITTED                                                             113113A   GATES                                                               113A       An NYPD armored assault vehicle bursts through the gates.       Police cruisers and SWAT vans come racing up to the scene,       SIRENS SHRIEKING.       Then, from out of the sky, the FBI helicopter descends,       blaring a warning.                                  AGENT STEADMAN (V.O.)                           (on a loudspeaker)                    Drop your weapons and lie facedown                    on the ground. I repeat. Drop                    your weapons and lie facedown on                    the ground.                                                          CUT TO:                                                              129.114   EXT. ALLEY - CONTINUOUS ACTION                                 114      Bosses and fat capos go running through the alleys and      clambering over fences in their silk suits and expensive      loafers.115   EXT. PARKING LOT - CONTINUOUS ACTION                           115      Agent Ricci, wearing a flak jacket and FBI baseball cap,      has Sindone down on the ground with his foot on Primo's      neck and a .45 aimed at his head.                              AGENT RICCI                       (screaming)                Don't move! Don't you fucking                move!                               SINDONE                Hey!   Take a pill, Robocop.      Vitti is tending to Ben who is on the ground leaning      against the side of the limo.                              VITTI                       (deeply moved)                I can't believe it. You took a                bullet for me. What doctor ever                did that much for a patient? I'll                never forget that.                              BEN                Paul -- I tripped.                             VITTI                Yeah. You tripped over your                unconscious.                                                    DISSOLVE TO:116   EXT. FEDERAL PRISON - MANY WEEKS LATER                         116      It's a beautiful summer day. Convicts are playing      basketball and lounging in the yard.                                                    CUT TO:117   INT. PRISON LIBRARY - SAME TIME                                117      Ben in a sport coat, and Vitti, in prison whites, are      sitting around in a circle with several other convicts.      DONNY, a heavyweight con with a shaved head and numerous      tattoos is talking.                                                    (CONTINUED)                                                                  130.117   CONTINUED:                                                         117                                 DONNY                   I don't think my mother really                   listens when I talk. She never                   listened.                                 VITTI                   And how does that make you feel?                                 DONNY                   It makes me feel angry.                                 VITTI                   I'll bet you feel hurt, too, don't                   you?                                 DONNY                          (suddenly vulnerable)                   Yes, I do.                                 BEN                   Paul, what would you say about                   what Donny's feeling?                                 VITTI                   Donny, when you're thirsty, you                   don't go to the wall -- you go to                   the well. You know what I'm                   saying? Your mother may never be                   able to listen to you, but you                   have friends here who will.                   Okay?      Ben is proud of Vitti's new sensitivity.                                 BEN                   And be patient, Donny. Most                   people's problems take months,                   sometimes years to resolve.                                 DONNY                   I'm doing twenty-five to life.                                 BEN                   That should be plenty of time.                                                        CUT TO:118   INT. PRISON CORRIDOR - LATER                                       118      Ben and Vitti have just left the therapy group.                                                        (CONTINUED)                                                                 131.118   CONTINUED:                                                        118                                 BEN                   You know they found Primo Sindone                   dead in a field near LaGuardia.                                 VITTI                   I heard.                          (off Ben's look)                   I had nothing to do with it.                   There were guys lined up from                   Canarsie to Atlantic City who                   wanted to whack that bastard.                                 BEN                   Okay, just checking.                                 VITTI                   You know, Doc, I don't think I                   ever thanked you properly for                   curing me.                                 BEN                   We don't say 'cured.' We say you                   had a 'corrective emotional                   experience.'                                 VITTI                   You, you, you're very good.                                  BEN                           (pointing)                   No.   You. You.                                                       CUT TO:119   OMITTED                                                           119120   EXT. SOBOL BACK YARD - NIGHT                                      120      Ben and Laura are dancing in the yard. Paper lanterns are      hung here and there. A bottle of champagne sits open on      the table. A great TONY BENNETT SONG can be heard playing.                                  BEN                   Happy?                                 LAURA                   I just can't get used to it.                                  BEN                   What?                                                       (CONTINUED)                                                                132.120   CONTINUED:                                                       120                                 LAURA                   It's been three weeks since the                   last time you were kidnapped. I                   don't know if I can adjust.      They kiss as the SONG ENDS.    Ben turns and speaks to      someone O.S.                                 BEN                   What do you say, Tony?   One more?      TONY BENNETT and his trio are set up on the back porch.                                 TONY BENNETT                   Whatever you want, Dr. Sobol. My                   friend told me to stay as long as                   you wanted me. What do you want                   to hear, Mrs. Sobol?                                 LAURA                   Your choice, Tony.                                 TONY BENNETT                   I was hoping you'd say that.                          (quietly, to trio)                   'World on a String,' fellas.      Tony sings "I've Got the World on a String" as Ben and      Laura continue to dance. The CAMERA PANS UP and we see      Michael smiling and shooting video from his bedroom      window, then the CAMERA PANS UP TO a starry sky, and we...                                                        FADE OUT.                                 THE END
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+ANASTASIAFADE IN:on a well-worn PHOTOGRAPH ALBUM. An ELDERLY WOMAN'SHAND touched the album, caressing it lovingly for amoment, as WE HEAR her voice.                       TATIANA (O.C.)          Once we lived in an enchanted          world. . . She opend the ALBUM to reveal a BLACK AND WHITEPHOTOGRAPH of the PALACE AT ST. PETERSBERG on abrilliant summer day.                       TATIANA (CONT)          A world of Tsars and Princesses          and elegant palaces. . . CAMERA MOVES CLOSER TO the picture. . .                        TATIANA (CONT)          and grand parties. . . The PHOTO dissolves into REALITY in brilliant color asthe day turns into night and the summer cools intowinter. We see the palace at night, blanketed in abeautiful, almost glowing, snow as hourse drawn carriagespull up to the front door.                       TATIANA (CONT)          A beautiful, magical time. . . MOVE INTO THE PALACE                       TATIANA (CONT)          That would soon be gone          forever. . . INT.  PALACE AT ST. PETERSBERG - NIGHTElegant ROYALISTS mingle around the MAIN HALL as anORCHESTRA plays.All eyes turn to the GLASS DOORS OF TWO ELEVADORS whichdescend grandly on either side of a beautiful staircase.Through the glass doors we see TATIANA, the DowagerEmpress, 60, imperious and bedecked with jewels, she isseemingly unapproachable. TSAR NICHOLAS and his SON arewith her. In the other elevador, ALEXANDRA and herdaughters - well,  all her daughters except. . . ANASTASIA, eight years old and apparently late for theparty, rushes down the upstairs hallway followed by aSERVENT (SONYA) 16,  who is trying to catch up withAnastasia to tie a large ribbon in her long, dark hair.                       SONYA                  (whispering)          Princess Anastasia - you're          late and it's all my  fault!                       ANASTASIA          Don't worry, Sonya, no one'll          notice. . . Just then, Sonya lassoes the ribbon around her hair,stopping Anastasia with a                        ANASTASIA                  (loudly)          . . .  owwwwwwwww!All eyes turn to Anastasia, who once she realizes thatshe's the center of attention, flashes a mischievoussmile and descends the staircase in grand style. As theribbon falls out of her hair and down her back,Anastasia kicks it to Sonya without breaking stride.Tatiana sees her and can't help but smile.The music suddenly becomes  a FLOURISH OF TRUMPETS.SERVENTS open the elevador doors as the ROYAL FAMILYsteps out and begins a proccession through theirsubjects. Tatiana holds out her arm to Anastasia as shemakes it to Tatiana's side just in time. Anastasia hasa beautiful but slightly impish face, dominated bylarge, blue, mischievous eyes. She an abundance of energy and confidence for a girl her age.<u>"THE RULARS OF RUSSIA"  (OPENING NUMBER)   The elegant guests sing their admiration as thebeautiful and happy Romanov family makes it's entranceinto the ball, they're "the  pride of all Russia".Vladimir invites Sophie to dance and the entireglittering assembly assembly swings into a GLORIOUS SWEEPING WALTZ. Singing their certainty that the Romanovs willrule forever.</u>During the above, the ball is in full swing. BeautifulCOUPLES swirls across the dance floor, includingAnastasia dancing gracefully with her father.Under a long buffet table, we see DMITRI, 11, darklyhandsome, dressed in ragged servant clothes, with ashock of dark hair which continuoually falls accross hiseyes as watches the guest enviously. Anastasia, stillwaltzing with her father, sees him. SERVENTS cross theroom carrying a trays of BEAUTIFUL TROPICAL FRUIT. Theguests "Ew" and "ah" at the sumptuous fruit. Anastasiasees Dmitri eyeing it hungrily and without missing adance step, she grabs an orange off thr tray and tossesit to Dmitri. He catches it and smiles broadly at her.Suddenly, A HAND grabs Dmitri and pulls him out fromunder the table. It's IVAR, the HEAD SERVENT, who pullsDmitri into an open wall panel.                       IVAR                  (angrily)          You're a servent! Never forget          your place!                       DMITIRI                  (defiant)          Someday my place will be out          there!                       IVAR          Never! You're a peasant,          Dmitri! Back in the kitchen<u>RULARS OF RUSSIA (CONT.)   UNDERSCORE CONTINUES as Dmitri is dragged from hishiding place under the table and back to the kitchen.It's like the Moscow circus back there, COMIC MUSICALCONFUSION. The servants sing about their demandingemployers and mockingly imitate their behavior:  theyimply that they have their own "party",  that change iscoming.   While back in the ballroom, the Royalists areoblivious to the servants discontent and sing theirsatisfaction with their own lives.   DRAMATIC UNDERSCORE CONTINUES though the followingscenes.</u>ON TATIANAin a large throne-like chair. Tatiana is very seriousand very regal. She slides over to make room forAnastasia who sits next to her.                       TATIANA          Why were you so late tonight                        ANASTASIA          I was showing Sonya          something . . .                       TATIANA          What were you showing her?                       ANASTASIA                  (sheepishly)          How to read.                       TATIANA          I thought you were told not to          tutor your servants anymore.                       ANASTASIA          I know, but I had to because . . .Anastasia looks up at Tatiana and sees her smile withpride.  Anastasia knows she doesn't have to explain.                       ANASTASIA                  (cuddling)          Oh, Grandmama, why do you have          to go back to Paris?                       TATIANA          It's where I've made my home          but I do have something for          you . . .Tatiana reaches from behind the chair and brings out abeautiful MUSIC BOX.  Tatiana takes the key, a smallsilver and enamel flower, on a silver neck chain andwinds it up. MUSIC BEGINS, she hands Anastasia the key.CLOSE UPthe key bearing the inscription "Together in Paris".                       ANASTASIA          "Together in Paris"! Oh, when          can we be "together in Paris?!                       TATIANA          When you're older . . .Anastasia makes a disgruntled face. Tatiana laughs.                       TATIANA          Until then, whenever you hear          this song, think of me and know          that I'm waiting for you.Tatiana puts the key around Anastasia's neck and theyembrace. Then, suddenly . . .ON THE GRAND CHANDELIERthe lights begin to fade in and out.GROUP SHOTas PEOPLE in the ballroom look around bewildered. Then,a WHIRLWIND kicks up, sending everyone off the dancefloor, as the whirlwind becomes a TORNADO.Suddenly, an ALBINO BAT (BARTOK) with huge eyes, springsout of the funnel, screeching and swooping over thecrowd, causing everyone to duck and cover their heads infear.The tornada reaches it's peak and EXPLODES in smoke -leaving RASPUTIN standing alone in the middle of thefloor. He is of indeterminate age, towering over othermen in the room, his most striking feature are his eyes- which at this moment are burning a fiery red. He isdressed in a flowing black monk's robe with a satin ropetied around his waist. Connected to the rope is aglowing RELIQUARY, a mystical lantern.VARIOUS SHOTSof Nicholas, Alexandra, Sophie and Vladimir, Dmitripeeking out ofthe wallpanel, Tatiana and Anastasia,all of whom are frightened.NICHOLASas he gathers his son and wife to his side                       NICHOLAS          Rasputin!  You're alive . . .                       RASPUTIN                  (advancing)          Despite being shot, poisoned          and thrown into an icy river . . .          YES!                       NICHOLAS                  (honestly)          I had nothing to do with it!                       RASPUTIN          You gave the orders!                       NICHOLAS          I did no such thing!                       RASPUTIN          After all I've done for your          family - YOU TRIED TO KILL          MEEEEEE ! ! !Rasputin swings the reliquary, wrapping himself in smokewhich seems to grow larger. Eerie moaning noises comefrom the reliquary. PEOPLE back awayin terror.                       RASPUTIN (CONT.)          The Romanov dynasty ends here!          You, your wife and children          will all die within the          fortnight!                       ANASTASIA          NO!Anastasia leaves Tatiana and rushes to stand in front ofher father. Still holding her Music Box, Anastasia'sshaking hands are the only thing that gives away her fear. Rasputin spins toward the voice.                       ANASTASIA          We're not afraid of you!                       RASPUTIN                  (furious)          You . . .  my little babushka . . .          you'll be so much fun to kill           that I'll save you for last!Twirling the reliquary again, the MOANS grow louder asBartok circles around his head. The smoke that emergesseems to have almosy a human shape to it.                       RASPUTIN          THIS IS THE END OF THE ROMANOV          LINE - FOREVER !!!!The tornada of smoke begins again, whipping into afrenzy and then EXPLODING.The smoke clears and Rasputin is gone. As the lightsreturn to normal the Romanov family all stand together,and try to look regal and in control once again.                       TATIANA (O.C.)          Some say Rasputin ad harnessed          all the dark powers of evil and           that it was his curse which           brought about the end . . .                                             DISSOLVE TO:the ROMANOV FAMILY fades into a PORTRAIT OF THE FAMILY.                       TATIANA (O.C.)          I will never know for sure.          All I do know is that the          beauty of our world was soon          Gone . . .  Forever . . .a lick of BRIGHT ORANGE FLAME creeps into view.<u>"RULERS OF RUSSIA"  (VOCAL REPRISE)   HUGE, OMINOUS VOCALS reprise the onceglorious watlzof the Romanovs, heralding the end of their world andunderscoring the coming revolution.</u>PULL BACKto see the PORTRAIT, a huge FRIEZE which covers anentire entire wall, singeing as the FLAME creeps up the nearbydrapery, tinting the room in a red glow.A SCREAMING MOB, some in uniform, some not, has crashedinto the palace and is heading up the stairs. A few inthe mob fire off orange RIFLE SHOTS.INT. ANASTASIA'S BEDROOM - NIGHTAnastasia BOLTS UP, hearing the shots. Her music box isnext to her on her nightstand.INT. HALLWAY - NIGHTMass confusion as the MOB is met by a few SERVANTS, whotry to stop them from advancing. More shots.ON THE ROMANOV'Sstill in nightclothes, are being rushed down thehallway. Tatiana is next to Anastasia as Anastasiastopsdead in her tracks.                       ANASTASIA          My music mox!Anastasia turns around and runs back down the hall.Tatiana tries to stop her.                       TATIANA          Anastasia, no!It's too late, Anastasia fights her way back into herroom, with Tatiana following her.FROM THE OTHER END OF THE HALLWAYwe see Dmitri watching amidst all the confusion.INT. ANASTASIA'S BEDROOM - NIGHTAnastasia grabs her music box as Tatiana rushes in.                       TATIANA          Hurry, child!LOUD RIFLE SHOTS are heard as Dmitri bursts into theroom, closing the door behind him.                       DMITRI          No - this way!Dmitri runs to a wall panel and thows his weightagainst it. It opens, revealing a passage way.                       DMITRI (CONT.)          Go!  Run!!  Out the servant's          quarters!Tatiana, enormously grateful, looks at Dmitri as heflips his hair out of his face unconsciously.                       DMITRI          Go!Tatiana goes in as Dmitri shoves Anastasia toward thepassageway, knocking the music box out of her hand.  Shereaches for it, but hearing the mob voices growingcloser, he pushes her through the panel without it.                       DMITRI (CONT.)          Go!Tatiana quickly follows Anastasia into the passagewayand Dmitri closes the panel JUST AS the mob bursts in.                       DMITRI (CONT.)                  (lying to the mob)          No one's here! Let's try the          next room!The MOB, accepts the word of a peasant boy and rushesout. Dmitri picks up the music box and looks sadlytoward the panel.EXT. TRAIN STATION - NIGHTWhich is under siege by ROYALISTS trying to board theovercrowded train and the REVOLUTIONARIES who are tryingto stop them.A TOURING CAR pulls up RIGHT ON THE TRACKS behind thecaboose as the train starts to pull away.Tatiana and Anastasia climb out of the car and race forthe train, fighting their way through the frenzied andfrightened crowd. WE HEAR shouts of "The Empress - lether through!" which helps clear the way.Anastasia reaches the train first, then turns to seeTatiana. trying to catch up.                       ANASTASIA          Hurry, Grandmama!                       TATIANA          Get on! Anastasia, get on!Anastasia refuses to board the train.UP AHEADA MOB OF REVOLUTIONARIES block the tracks with a TRUCKON ANASTASIAwho pushes Tatiana up the stairs of the caboose. Thisputs Anastasia a few steps behind as the train speedsup. Tatiana is gripped by other passengers as shereaches out to Anastasia.                       TATIANA          Grab my hand!Anastasia reaches up and takes Tatiana's hand.                       ANASTASIA          Don't let go!CLOSE ONthe TWO HANDS. then suddenly. her small hand is pulledfrom Tatiana's grasp and falls out of the frame.                       TATIANA (O.C.)          ANASTASIA!ON ANASTASIAwho has stumbled, hitting the ground hard.ON TATIANAhorrified, screaming:                       TATIANA          ANASTASIA!Tatiana rushes to jump off the train after her, but iscaught and held back by the ROYALIST PASSANGERS as thetrain CRASHES through the truck and picks up speed.TATIANA's POV:Anastasia rising from the ground, her hand outstretched.But she is suddenly swallowed up by the mob.                                             SUPERIMPOSE:A BLACK AND WHITE PHOTOGRAPHof Anastasia, in a happier time, smiling.<u>UNDERSCORE:  "THE MUSIC BOX THEME"</u>                       TATIANA (O.C.)          I never saw her again. . . The PHOTO ALBUM slowly closes. . .<u>END OPENING NUMBER</u>                                             DISSOLVE TO:EXT. ORPHANAGE - DAYA gray and ugly, post-revolution building with a signabove the door that identifies it:  "Young ComradesWithout Parents".INT. ORPHANAGE - DAYCHILDREN of all ages clean the cold, gray dormitory.Their clothes are ragged and they look underfed.CLOSE ONANYA, 18, pretty despite the boy's hand-me-down clothesshe is forced to wear, is busy scrubbing the floor.Unlike the others, she is determined not to let hersurroundings get to her. She hums a tune.The door suddenly SLAMS open and GREGOR, 8, and clearlyterrified, comes running in followed by COMRADEPHLEGMENKOF - a huge woman carrying a switch.                       GREGOR          Anya! Anya!All of the OTHER KIDS turn away, not wanting to getinvolved.  Anya focuses on Gregor, who  is shivering withfright and on the verge of tears as Phlegmenkofapproaches, swinging the switch menacingly.                       PHLEGMENKOF          You can't get away from me          now . . .Phlegmenkof advances on Gregor.  Anya takes the scrubbrush and SHOVES it across the floor, right underPhlegmenkof's unsuspecting foot.  Phlegmenkof's feet flyout from under her and she SMASHES to the floor. Gregorhops over her huge body and runs to Anya for safety.Some of the OTHER KIDS glance over. A CHUBBY GIRL and avery pretty LITTLE GIRL, look at Anya with greeatadmiration . . .  someof the OTHERS think she's crazy.Phlegmenkof rises, covered with soap bubbles , and spinson Anya - who gives her a very innocent smile.                       PHLEGMENKOF (CONT.)          You! You did this!Some of the OTHER CHILDREN laugh as soap bubbles fly offthe enraged woman.  She spins on them, her back to Anya.                       PHLEGMENKOF (CONT.)          Brats!  There'll be no supper          for any of you!  Back to work!Anya, behind Phlegmenkof, mimics her outraged face andangry gestures perfectly - as the CHILDREN laugh harder.Phlegmenkof spins and <u>almost</u> catches Anya.  She advanceson Anya as Gregor hides behind her legs.                       ANYA          Don't touch him.                        PHLEGMENKOF                  (to Anya)          You ragged, skinny, little          nothing!  I have had just about          enough of you . . .Phlegmenkof raises her hand to slap Anya, who hold herground.  Suddenly, Phlegmenkof SNIFFS the air.ON THE KIDSas the horrible smell reaches them too.  They all makefaces and hold their noses.ON PHLEGMENKOFwho first sniffs under her raised arm, then realized thecause of the stench . . .                       PHLEGMENKOF (CONT.)          Comrade Serebreakov!She tries to straighten herself out nervously - thismust be someone very important.COMRADE SEREBREAKOV stands in the doorway, lecherouslyeyeing the girls.  He is a huge, fleshly man with facial features which are reminiscent of a fish.                       PHLEGMENKOF  (CONT.)                  (flirting)          Comrade Serebreakov!  What a          lovely surprise! What brings          you here?                       SEREBREAKOV           I need. . . a worker.His eye catches Anya. He looks her up and down, hisbeady eyes showing a touch of lust for her.                       SEREBREAKOV (CONT.)          I will take her.He leans close close to Anya.                       SEREBREAKOV (CONT.)          Tomorrow you begin your life's          work in my hearing factory.          You'll start by cutting off the          tails - but if I'm pleased with                       (MORE)                       SEREBREAKOV (CONT.)          you - you just may move up to          cutting off the heads.  How          does that sound?                       ANYA          About as bad as you smell!Phlegmenkof moves between them, pulling Serebreakovaway.                       PHLEGMENKOF           No, no, Comrade - you don't          want her . . .                       SEREBREAKOV          I want her.                       PHLEGMENKOF          That's horrible, skinny thing?!          She's crazy - she has no memory          of anything before she came          here! She didn't even know her          name! That one is a rotten          troublemaker, willful. . .                       SEREBREAKOV          I'll break her will. . .                  (to Anya)          I shall come for you tomorrow          at dawn.                  (he touches her face as                   she pulls away)          You will enjoy serving under          me.Smiling in anticipation, he exit.                       PHLEGMENKOF          I couldn't break you - but he          can!And she turns to leave in a huff. Anya does one moreimitation of her, making the CHILDREN laugh. But asAnya turns away from her audience, we see her facadefade and realize her terror of the future.INT.  ORPHANAGE - NIGHTThe CHILDREN huddle in their cots under tattered, thinblankets. Anya is fully dressed, illuminated by thelight of a FULL MOON, she ties a dull gray sheets togetherand anchors the "rope" to an ice cold radiator andthrows the other end out of the window.  She is about toclimb out when she looks at the sleeping children andsmiles sadly. She walks over to Gregor's bed and putsone hand lovingly on his head and then reaches over andtakes the hand of a sleeping LITTLE GIRL, who opens hereyes and smiles.                       GREGOR                  (loudly)          Anya?The other childern wake up as Anya gently "shushes" him.                       GREGOR (CONT.)                  (quietly)          Are you running away?                       ANYA          No.  I'm running <u>to</u>.                       LITTLE GIRL          Running to? Running to what?                       ANYA          To find my home.A CHUBBY TWELVE YEAR OLD GIRL looks at Anya.                       CHUBBY GIRL          But you are home.                       ANYA          No. This isn't a home - it's           just a building. Home is where          you belong and none of us          belong here.                       GREGOR          Where is your home, Anya?                       ANYA          I'm not sure but look. . .Anya shows Gregor the key around her neck.CLOSE UP on the inscription:  "Together in Paris"                       ANYA          It says "Together in Paris". I          was wearing this when I came          here ten years ago - it's the          only way that I know . . .                       ANYA (CONT.)                  (beat)          . . .  that I must have been          someone someone loved.                       CHUBBY GIRL          Is your home in Paris?                       ANYA          It might be. I have to go and          find out.Anya smiles lovingly at the children.<u>"A SOMEPLACE AND A SOMEONE"    (Anya's "I want" song).  Anya SINGS SOFTLY to thechildren about how all she has is the key around herneck to the "someone and thesomeplace" she was "lostfrom long ago".  She tells the children that she must gofind them again.</u>UNDERSCORE continues.                       ANYA          I have to go now, before it          gets light.                       GREGOR                  (worried)          But what if we can't ever find          where we came from?!                       ANYA          Then you'll have to make your          own home. Lots of people do.Anya embraces the children and walks to the window.                       GREGOR                  (nervous, sad)          Anya! What if <u>we</u> can't find          anyone who loves us?!                       ANYA          Then come find me.Gregor is relieved and cuddles into his bed as Anyasmiles lovingly and crawls out the window.EXT.  ORPHANAGE - NIGHTAnya begins to climb down the street, testing the knots.The knotshold tight, but the old sheet RIPS in half,sending her PLUMMETING into a snow drift.  From thedepths of the snow we HEAR her voice.                       ANYA (O.C.)          I hope there's no snow in          Paris. . .EXT.  HILLSIDE - DAWNA glorious bright (and cold) dawn creeps over thehorizon. Anya stands at  edge of the hill, lookingdown on the city of ST.PETERSBURG. The old grayorphanage looms behind her. Anya "borrows" an old,beat-up bicycle from the orphanage and rides down thehill.Music picks up in energy and excitement as Anya zooms onher way bumping and bouncing downhill as the sunrisesand St. Petersburg looms nearer.<u>"A SOMEONE AND A SOMEPLACE" (CONT.)    Music becomes UPTEMPO, HOPEFUL, ACTIVE, ACTIVE. Anya SINGS -- full of hope, energy and excitement as she peddls herrickety bike toward the city. "Her heart is on its way"and nothing is going to stop her.</u>Anya passes though the countryside toward the city. Apeasant family waves to her as she goes by. A GypsyTroupe performs tricks by the side of the road. A veryfancy car zooms by.<u>"A SOMEONE AND A SOMEPLACE" (CONT.)   Anya SINGS, imagining who she might be -- anyone froma peasant to a princess! But it doesn't matter as longas she finds her real family.</u>People stare at her as she rides into the edge of thecity. She is captivated by all the activity:  cars,busses, stores, long lines of people, etc.<u>"A SOMEONE AND A SOMEPLACE"  (CONT.)   Anya SINGS -- in this sea faces, there must besomeone who has a clue to her identity.  She'll stop atnothing to find the someone who once loved her.  SOARINGMUSICAL AND VOCAL CONCLUSION.END MUSICAL NUMBER</u>Anya does not see a cute little PUPPY (MEETOO) with aHUGE BONE in his mouth, being chased along the sidewalkby a pack of much larger, vicious DOGS until he boltsacross Anya's path forcing her to skid to a stop. Shewatched him as he scoots into an alley, followed by theangry pack.On reflex, Anya drops the bike and reuns into the alleyafter him.EXT.  ALLEY - DAYMeetoo is trapped.  The PACK surrounds him, ready topounce when Anya LEAPS into the middle of the circle.The PACK is startled, but begins to advance on both Anyaand Meetoo.Anya doesn't know what to do. She crouches and then. . . growls back at them, making her eyes look as ferociousas possible. The PACK exchange a confused look; there'sa girl growling at them. Meetoo stands, suddenly brave,behind her and growls along with her.Suddenly, Anya pounced toward the pack, growling louder.The pack has definately had enough - some start to backout quizzically, others turn and run like hell.Anya turns to Meetoo, who looks up at her gratefully,wagging his tail. Anya picks up the bone and puts itback in his mouth.                       ANYA          I think you should be more          careful about who you invite to          dinner!Meetoo nods and lets out a little "bark" that sounds asif he were saying "retu".  Anya pats him and heads backto her bike.EXT.  ST. PETERSBURG STREET - DAYAnya rides down the street. She doesn't see Meetoo,running like a little maniac behind her.Anya approaches a STERN LOOKING BUILDING with a signover the door: "The People's Bureau of Bureaucracy".She leaps off her bike and heads up the stais. Meetoo,breathing heavily from his run, follows and almostreaches her when the heavy door slams in his face.  Heslumps against it, panting, his little paw-to chest.INT. BUREAU OF BUREAUCRACY - DAYAnya enters and STOPS when she sees. . . LINES and LINESof people which seem to go on forever.  She walks downthe side of one line, trying to figure out which one tostand in.                       ANYA          Could someone tell me. . .                       PEASANT 1          End of the line!                       ANYA          Which line?                       PEASANT 2          Any line.                       PEASANT 3          All lines are good lines.                       PEASANT 1, 2, & 3                  (in unison)          In our beloved Soviet Union!They turn toward an armed Soviet Guard and smilesweetly, hoping he heard their flattery.  He did.                       GUARD          Very good. . . He jots something down in his notebook.ON ANYAas she gets closer to the window. She turns to theperson behind her.                       ANYA          Is this the right line to get          papers to travel?                       PEASANT 4          Travel? Travel to where?                       ANYA          To Paris. I have to get to          ParisPEASANT 5, in front of her, turns around.                       PEASANT 5          Paris?!  What do they have in          Paris that they don't have          here?                       PEASANT 6          Shorter lines?!Peasant 6 is immediately carted off by TWO ARMED GUARDSfor his blasphamy against the state.                       PEASANT 7                  (quietly)          Nobody leaves Soviet Russia.The OTHER PEASANTS join in with variations of "Nobodyleaves Russia" as Anya reaches the window and speaks tothe clerk.                       ANYA          Is this where I get traveling          papers?                       CLERK          It would be if we let you          travel which we  don't so it          isn't.                  (loudly, for all to                   hear)          Russia is the people's           paradise!And to further make his point, he slams shut his window,which immediately opens a crack as he whispers to Anya.                       CLERK (CONT.)          See Dmitri. He can help.He shuts the window, only to open it again immediately.                       CLERK (CONT.)          But you didn't hear it from me.He shuts the window.                       ANYA                  (doesn't get it)          I didn'tHe opens it again.                       CLERK          No.The clerk sticks out a sign:  "Samovar Break - back inten minutes" and slams the window shut.EXT.  BUREAU OF BUREAUCRACYAnya steps out of the building, still not seeing Meetooand looks around at the hoards of people waiting inlines for everything:  bread, gas, clothes, etc.                       ANYA                  (to herself)          Dmitri? There must be a          million Dmitris. . . FOLLOW ANYAas she wades into the crowded street. Meetoo gettingtangled in the legs of waiting Soviets.Anya stops suddenly. She sniffs the air.  Her eyeswiden as she recognizes the stench that is floatingthrough the air.  She spins around and sees SerebreakovDIRECTLY ACROSS THE STREET.Serebreakov is on a mission to find Anya.  He turns inher direction just as a bus passes.  Anya is gone.We now see Anya clinging to the side of the bus as itdrives down the street. Meetoo looks, his face dropping- he knows he'll never catch up to her now.  Then hesees the bus hit a huge pothole and Anya is knocked offinto the mud.  Happily, Meetoo trots off in herdirection.Anya approaches TWO PEASANTS who are waiting in line infront of a cafe.                       PEASANT 9                  (to Peasant 10)          Which line is this?                       PEASANT 10          The line to get into the line.                       ANYA          Excuse me, do you know          Dmitri. . .                        PEASANT 9          I know nothing!                       PEASANT 10          Nothing!                       PEASANTS 9 & 10                  (whispering                   simultaneously)          Try the tavern/ library.They begin to bicker back and forth in forced whispersas to wether Dmitri is at the tavern or the library.Exasperated, Anya walks away.  They call after her.                       PEASANTS9& 10          But we didn't tell you!Anya rolls her eyes in frustration.  She doesn't seeMeetoo at her feet.                       ANYA                  (To herself)          I wish they'd all stop telling          me they didn't tell me!Meetoo gives a "retu" of agreement. Anya looks down andsees him.                       ANYA (CONT.)          What are you doing. . .Just then, she catches another whiff of something foulin the air. Anya duck quickly into a doorway and losesMeetoo. Anya peeks out. A GARBAGE WAGON full of deadfish and rotten food passes Anya.  She sighs with relief,it wasn't Serebreakov - it just smelled like him.Anya steps out of the doorway and approaches a STREETARTIST sketching a LARGE PEASANT WOMAN as her TINYHUSBAND looks over his shoulder.                       TINY HUSBAND                  (To Artist)          Could you get rid of her          moustache?                       ANYA          Excuse me - I'm looking for a          man named Dmitri. . .The Artist quickly scribbles and address on his pad andhands it to her without turning around.                       ARTIST          But I didn't write it.Anya looks down at the noteCLOSE ON NOTE"St. Petersburg Art Theatre - 99 Pushkin Street"                                             DISSOLVE TOA SIGN"Pushkin Street"CAMERA PANS TO:EXT.  ST. PETERSBURG ART THEATRE - DAYWhere WE HEAR a cacophony of FEMALE VOICES as the cameramoves inside.INT.  ST. PETERSBURG ART THEATREThe waiting room is filled with YOUNG WOMEN, of variousshapes and sizes, holding reading aloud from a piece ofpaper. WE HEAR many variations of "Oh, Grandmama! It'sme, Anastasia. I've waited so long to see you".INT.  STAGEAn ACTRESS stands in front of what looks to be an OLDWOMAN in a shawl who's back is to the "audience".                       ACTRESS 1                  (over the top)          Oh, Grandmama! It's me,          Anastasia! I've waited so          long to see you!The Actress then LUMBERS over to the OLD WOMAN, with agait like John Wayne.REVERSE ANGLEto see the "Old Woman" is Vladimir, with a shawl overhis head.  He looks older, of course, but with the samedapper mustache. He rolls his eyes.                       VLADIMIR                  (out to audience)          Dmitri!  I can not work with          her!                       (MORE)                       VLADIMIR (CONT.)                  (to Actress)          May I remind you that you are          supposed to be Princess - not a          lazy lumbering lout!IN THE SEATSis Dmitri. Now 20 and darkly handsome. His hair stillfalling in his eyes as he flips it off his forehead.                       DMITRI          Vladimir, calm down!Vladimir walks off the stage and toward Dmitri.                       VLADIMIR           This, my friend, as an exercise          in futility! We shall never          find a girl to play the          Princess Anastasia out of this          motley crew of commoners!Vladimir dramatically throws one end of his shawl overhis shoulder.                       DMITRI          For a ten million rubles reward          we can look a little longer.          This is the big one. . .  and all          I need is the right girl.<u>"A SOMEONE AND A SOMEPLACE"  (REPRISE   (Dmitri's "I want") Dmitri SINGS a reprise of Anya'ssong, a COMIC VERSION, in which he expresses the hopethat he can find the right girl for his scam. Anyonefrom a peasant to a princess will do, as long as she canfool Tatiana.</u> <u>(NOTE:   We don't want to give Dmitri awhole new song here or we'll be too song-heavy in Act I.By giving him a short reprise of Anya's song, we caneffectively align these two characters emotionally.)</u>QUICK CUTS:of various aspirants:                       ACTRESS 2                  (heavy hasal)          Oh, Grandmama! It's me,          Anastasia. I've waited so long          to see you.                       DMITRI (O.C.)          Next!                       ACTRESS 3                  (stupid)          Oh. . .  Grandmama it's me.          Anastasia, I have waited so          long, too.                  (as a good-bye)          See you!                       DMITRI (O.C.)          Next!ACTRESS 4 looks like a hooker and sounds like Mae West.                       ACTRESS 4          Oh. . . Grandmama. . .  It's me. . .                        DMITRI (O.C.)          Next!BACK TO DMITRI                       DMITRI           I wouldn't be on the outside          anymore.  The ten million          rubles would make me welcome          anywhere.  I'd really belong          somewhere - if I could just          find the right girl.BACK TO QUICK CUTS:A very round ACTRESS 5                       ACTRESS 5          Oh, Grandmama. . .                       DMITRI (O.C.)          Next!                       ACTRESS 6                  (very intense)          What's my modivation?ON VLADIMIR                       VLADIMIR                  (calling out to seats)          Stanislavski!CUT TO STANISLAVSKIshrugs innocently.                       DMITRI (O.C.)          Next!ACTRESS 7 is actually a man.                       ACTRESS 7          Oh. . .ON DMITRIin a state of disbelief.                       DMITRI          I've gotta find the right girl!<u>END MUSICAL NUMBER</u>                       DMITRI          Next.EXT.  ST. PETERSBURG ART THEATREAnya rides up to front of the theatre and drops herbike.  She rushes the steps.INT.  THEATREnow empty as Dmitri and Vladimir are gathering up theirthings to leave.  Vladimir still wears the remnants ofthe evening clothes that he worein the first scene.                       VLADIMIR          It's no use, Dmitri - we'll          never find the right girl!                       DMITRI          We will.  We <u>have</u> to.                  (trying to cheer him                   up)          Come on, Vlad - she's out          there.They walk out the door.EXT.  ST. PETERSBURG ART THEATRE - CONTINUOUS                       DMITRI          She could be right under our          noseAnya is running up the stairs as Dmitri walks out andthey COLLIDE:  her forehead banging Dmitri literallyunder his nose.  Dmitri grabs his upper lip in pain.                       DMITRI                  (over reacting)          Ouch!  That really hurt!                                 ANYA          I'm sorry. . .  I'm. . .                        DMITRIThat's quite a hard head you'vegot there, boy.In her old hand-me-down boys clothes andhat pulled low,she could easily be mistaken for a boy.                       ANYA                  (breathless)          I'm looking for Dmitri.  I need          traveling papers - to Paris. I          heard Dmitri could help me.Vladimir and Dmitri exchange a look. . .  wary. . .  Dmitrilooks around and motions to Vladimir to handle it whilehe walks ahead nonchalantly.                       VLADIMIR          Who did you hear it from?                       ANYA          I heard it from everyone who          said I didn't hear it from          them!   Do you know Dmitri?Dmitri keeps walking ahead followed by Vladimir. Anyais determined not to give up and keeps up with Vladimireven though she keeps getting bumped and pulled offtrack by people walking in the opposite direction.                       VLADIMIR                  (loudly, acting)          Providing travel papers is          illeagal!                  (then, quietly)          I know Dmitri well - perhaps I          can help you.  Providded you          have enough money to pay for          this service. . .                        ANYA          Well, I don't have any money . . .                       VLADIMIR          Good day!Vladimir pats her on the head and walks away.                       ANYA          I have a bike!  Perhaps I could          sell it and. . . Vladimir keeps walking, catching up to Dmitri.Anya runs back around to the front of the building whereshe left her bike.  She stops suddenly when she realizesthat there is no bicycle there anymore - just Meetoo.                       ANYA (CONT.)          What are you doing here?  And          where's my bike?A POLICEMAN strolls by.                       ANYA (CONT.)          Officer!  My bike has been stolen!                       POLICEMAN          Nonsense.  There is no crime in          the Soviet Socialist Republic.And he keeps walking. Anya realizes that there is nohope in pursuing the policeman so she heads off to findVladimir - who has vanished down the street.  Meetoostarts to follow her.                       ANYA          Sorry, boy, I have to go.Meetoo barks "retu" and starts after her.                       ANYA (CONT.)          No.  You can't come with me.          I'm leaving. . .Meetoo barks his "retu" and starts after her again.                       ANYA (CONT.)                  (laughing)          It sounds like you're saying          "me too".  Listen little guy, I          have money, no food. . .  and          no bicycle.  I'm the last          person you should be following!Anya pats him on the head and heads off in the directionof Vlad and Dmitri.  Meetoo, of course, follows her.FURTHER DOWN THE STREETAnya spots Vladimir and Dmitri turning the corner in thedistance.  Anya runs, trying to catch up with them.  Sheturns the corner and STOPS.ANYA'S POVthe PALACE in the distance, only now it's run down,boarded up and partially burned.Anya is taken back.  She stares, fascinated by it -moved by it .  As the sun sets behind the Palace, it'sbathed in a beautiful golden light.INT.  PALACE BEDROOM - NIGHTCLOSE on a roaring fire, over which Vladimir hasfasioned a roatating "spit" which is propelled by aVictrola.  Vladimir is carefully basting the only thingon the spit:  a head of cabbage.Dmitri is sitting by the window, staring at the MUSICBOX that Anastasia dropped the night of the revolution.                       VLADIMIR          . . .  even if we find her, what          makes you think the          Empress will even see us?Dmitri holds up the music box.                       DMITRI          She'll see us.EXT.  PALACE AT ST. PETERSBURG - NIGHTAnya approaches, tentative and glancing around.  Shetries to open the door but it won't budge, so she movesto a boarded up window.  She looks through a crack in aboard.INT.  BALLROOMDark and eerie.  All of it's former glory destroyed.CAMERA RISES to a partially destroyed CHANDLIER eherewe see BARTOK, the bat who was with Rasputin.He hangs upside down next to a FEMALE BAT.  He clearshis throat - she doesn't respond.  Using his wings, hegives his "hair: a quick grooming.                       BARTOK          You, uhh. . .  hang here often?                  (laughs nervously)          "Hang" get it?  I said "hang"          and we're both, you know, cause          we're bats. . .  and, uhhh. . .          what's your sign?No reaction from FEMALE BAT.EXT.  PALACEAnya uses a stick to pry off some of the window boards.We HEAR a crack.INT. PALACE BEDROOMSAME CRACK noises from downstairs just as Vladimir'scabbage falls from the spit into the fire.                       DMITRI                  (off noise)          What was that?                       VLADIMIR          That was your dinner!  I do          hope there is no cabbage in          Paris!INT.  BALLROOM                       BARTOK          Whatta' ya say we go somewhere          - maybe get a bug to eat.  Get          it?  A "bug" to eat, 'cause          we're. . .FEMALE BAT rolls her eyes in disgust and flaps away.                       BARTOK (CONT.)                  (one last try)          I'm a Gemini. . . He hears the SOUND of boards being torn off the window.BARTOK'S HIGH ANGLE POVAnya climbs into the ballroom.INT.  SMALL ROOMMeetoo manages to wiggle in after her and follows Anyaas she wanders around, spell bound by the faded glory ofthe palace.INT. DINING ROOMAnya wanders into the partially destroyed room and bendsdown to inspect half of a broken plate that's lying onthe floor. The instant she touches it, she pulls herhand away as if SHOCKED.  Recovering, she picks it up.CLOSE ON PLATEpainted with decorative dancing Russian bears.Anya wanders out of the room and to the top of a HUGESTAIRCASE which leads down to the once grand BALLROOM.She stops at a large landing half way down the steps.Meetoo sees a large curtain hanging precariously on theside wall.  Being a puppy he can't resist leaping andgrabbing at it with his teeth.  Anya notices and runsher hand along a the carved butterflies in the wornbanister.ON ANYAwho jumps, startled, as Meetoo pulls the curtain and ithits  the floor.INT.  PALACE BEDROOMDmitri and Vladimir look up from their burnt cabbage.They heard it too.INT.  STAIRCASE (BALLROOM)Anya is relieved to see it is only Meetoo, who wags histail happily with the curtain still in his mouth.                       ANYA          What are you do. . .Anya STOPS mid sentence, taken by what she sees.ANYA'S POVBehind the curtain was the FRIEZE of the ROMANOV FAMILY.The moonlight hits the portrait with a ghostly glow.<u>"ONCE UPON A DECEMBER"  (THE MUSIC BOX THEME)</u>Anya is mesmerized by the FRIEZE.  She looks around theBallroom. . . almost remembering something. . .                        ANYA                  (singing)          DANCING BEARS, PAINTED WINGS          THINGS I ALMOST REMEMBER.          AND A SONG SOMEONE SINGS          ONCE UPON A DECEMBERAs she sings the ballroom transform into it's oncespledid glory.  Anya takes off her coat and at once herrags are transformed into a beautiful gown.  NICHOLASsteps down from the FRIEZE and walks her down the stairsgracefully and begins a waltz with her.                       ANYA (CONT.)          SOMEONE HOLDS ME SAFE AND WARM           HORSES PRANCE          THROUGH A SILVER STORM          FIGURES DANCING GRACEFULLY          ACROSS MY MEMORY.MUSIC BUILDS.  A CHORUS of voices sing the melody asroyal ghosts appear as elegant and beautiful as in theopening scene. Then                       ANYA (CONT.)          SOMEONE HOLDS ME SAFE AND WARM           HORSES PRANCE          THROUGH A SILVER STORM          FIGURES DANCING GRACEFULLY          ACROSS MY MEMORY.MUSIC: FULL!Dmitri and Vladimir appear at the top of the stairs.DMITRI & VLADIMIR'S POVsome ragged lunatic dancing with "himself".                       ANYA (CONT.)          FAR AWAY, LONG AGO          GLOWING DIM AS AN EMBER,          THINGS MY HEART USED TO KNOW          THINGS IT YEARNS TO REMEMBERAnya is released from Nicholas' embrace.  He kisses heron the forehead and slowly backs away.  She followsNicholas, back up the stairs to the landing, where thesun has caused a "dust" mist.Then, magically, TATIANA appears through the mist, aloving beautiful vision from the past.                       ANYA (CONT.)          AND A SONG SOMEONE SINGS          ONCE UPON A DECEMBER.                       DMITRI (O.C.)                  (yelling)          Who are you?!<u>END NUMBER</u>Dmitri's voice causes the visage to disintegrate.  Allgoes back to the way it was - dark and destroyed.Anya spins toward Dmitri, surprised and frightened.DMITRI'S POVAnya is caught in a ray of moonlight, directly in frontof the image of Anastasia in the frieze.  Theresemblance is striking.  Dmitri is taken aback, butVladimir is unaffected.                       VLADIMIR          You're trespassing, boy!Anya is dazed by what has just happened to her and can'tquite refocus on reality.                       ANYA          I. . .  I. . .  spoke to you earlier          about traveling paper. . Dmitri pokes Vladimir with his elbow but doesn't takehis eyes off Anya.                       DMITRI                  (whispering to Vlad)          It's her.                       VLADIMIR          He's her?                       DMITRI          Look!Vladimir looks at Anya again and get it.                       ANYA          Are you Dmitri?  I didn't  mean          to trespass - I don't want to          do anything dishonest, but if          you could just help help me. . .Vladimir and Dmitri walk down the stairs and up herstairs and begin to circle around her.                       VLADIMIR          Perhaps you heard of our          brilliant plan to find a girl          and. . . Dmitri pokes him hard in the ribs and shakes his head.                       DMITRI                  (quietly to Vlad)          She doesn't want to do anything          "dishonest". . .                        VLADIMIR                  (gets it, whispers)          Ew. . .  the honest type.Dmitri gives Vlad a "let me handle this" gestures.                       DMITRI                  (off frieze)          You look like her.  Like the          Princess Anastasia.  Has anyone          ever told you that before?Anya is coming back to her senses, doesn't like thesemen circling her.                       ANYA                  (sarcastic)          Oh, yeah - in the orphanage          they constantly told me I          looked like a princess! Stop          that!Dmitri stops circling and then begins to use everythingthat Anya says - the perfect and charming con man thathe is - to get what he wants.                       DMITRI          People say Anastasia was the          only member of the Royal Family          to escape alive.  That makes           her an orphan too                       (MORE)                       DMITRI (CONT.)                  (beat)          What happened to your parents?                       ANYA          I don't know - I don't remember          anything that happened before          the revolution. . .                        DMITRI          You know, it's strange -          Anastasia's grandmother, the          Dowager Empress Tatiana has          been looking for Anastasia          since the revolution.  Why do          you think she wouldn't go to          her own grandmother?                       ANYA          I don't know.  I don't see what          this has to do with me.                       DMITRI          Perhaps it's because she has          amnesia too - can't remember. . .                       VLADIMIR          How much do you weigh?Dmitri pokes him again.                       VLADIMIR (CONT.)                  (to Dmitri)          I was just wondering since we          already have the dress. . .                         ANYA          Look, I came here to get papers          to travel to Paris and. . .                       DMITRI          Why do you want to go to Paris?                       ANYA                  (defiant)          I have my reasons.                       DMITRI          Anastasia's grandmother is in          Paris.  We're going to bring          Anastasia to her - in Paris.                       (MORE)                       DMITRI (CONT.)                  (beat)          And I think you are the          Princess Anastasia.Anya laughs.  Vlad mouths to Dmitri "Do you think she'sreally Anastasia?"  Dmitri shakes his head no, of coursenot, then continues with Anya.  Vlad smiles to himselfand walks down the stairs - Dmitri's so good even he gotconfused!                       DMITRI (CON'T)          You never thought of the          possibility?                       ANYA          Look - there isn't an orphan in          the world who doesn't dream          she's a princess but, come          on. . .  Look at me!Dmitri spins spins around, dramatically pointing toAnastasia's image in the freeze.                       DMITRI          NO!  YOU LOOK AT HER!  LOOK AT          HER!                  (beat, then softly)          It could be you.<u>UNDERSCORE:  "THE MUSIC BOX THEME"</u>Anya fiddles with the key around her neck and looks downat the ballroom, remembering what just happened there -could it have been a memory. . . Dmitri tries to act casual as he turns and startswalking down the stairs.                       DMITRI (CONT.)          You don't have anything to          lose.  If I am wrong - the          Empress will simply tell us you          aren't Anastasia and we'll be          on our way.  No harm done - an          honest mistake - but at least          you <u>will</u> be in Paris.Anya touches Anastasia's painted hand in the frieze.                       ANYA                  (singing in a whisper)          THINGS MY HEART USED TO KNOW          THINGS IT YEARNS TO REMEMBER. . .Dmitri looks at Anya, her back toward him, as he raiseshis arm to her.                       DMITRI          Find out the truth - come to          Paris with us.Anya expression registers her internal debate.  What isit's true. . .  It coudn't be. . .  but if. . .  Then,                       ANYA          All right.  I will go with you.Meetoo let's out his "retu".  Vladimir lets out a whoopof joy.  Dmitri smiles and bows to Anya..                       DMITRI          The Her Royal Highness Princess          Anastasia!ON BARTOKhaving watched the whole thing - he sighs.                       BARTOK          Oy. . .  he's gonna be so mad. . . Bartok flies out a broken window and into the night.EXT.  AERIAL VIEW OF ST. PETERSBURG - NIGHTBARTOK'S POVThe city lights fade and we move into the blackness ofthe Russian forest.  Finally, in the distance, we seethe orange glow of a fire.EXT.  GYPSY CAMP - NIGHTBartok swoops along the wagons.  Everyone looks to beasleep.  Bartok keeps flying until he sees an OMINOUSLOOKING BLACK WAGON, the largest and most elaborate.Bartok screws up his courage and flies into the openwindow of the BLACK WAGON                       ANYA                  (singing in a whisper)          THINGS MY HEART USED TO KNOW          THINGS IT YEARNS TO REMEMBER ...Dmitri looks at Anya, her back toward him, as he raiseshis arm to her.                       DMITRI          Find out the truth - come to          Paris with us.Anya expression registers her internal debate. What ifit's true... It couldn't be... but if... Then,                       ANYA          All right. I will go with you.Meetoo lets out his "retu". Vladimir lets out a whoop ofjoy. Dmitri smiles and bows to Anya.                       DMITRI          The Her Royal Highness Princess          Anastasia!ON BARTOKhaving watched the whole thing - he sighs.                       BARTOK          Oy. . .  he's gonna be so mad...Bartok flies out a broken window and into the night.EXT.	AERIAL VIEW OF ST. PETERSBURG - NIGHTBARTOK'S POVThe city lights fade and we move into the blackness ofthe Russian forest. Finally, in the distance. we seethe orange glow of a fire.EXT.	GYPSY CAMP - NIGHTBartok swoops along the wagons. Everyone looks to be asleep.Bartok keeps flying until he sees an ONIOUS LOOKING BLACKWAGON, the largest and most elaborate.Bartok screws up his courage and flies into the openwindow of the BLACK WAGON.INT.	RASPUTIN'S WAGONA lone candle lights the dark wagon. A frightened Bartok,stays on the window sill.                       BARTOK          Ummm ... Father Gregori? It's,          uhh ... me. Bartok.                  (a sign of relief)          Phew! Not home ...Rasputin's face suddenly ROARS into FRAME from the bedbelow, his eyes fiery red and his beard wild.                       RASPUTIN          What?                       BARTOK          Oh my God!                  (wing to chest)          Don't do that ... feel my heart.          Go ahead. I'm dying here ...                       RASPUTIN                  (smiling)          And what do you want, my little          rat-with-wings?Rasputin rises and pours himself a glass of vodka.                       BARTOK          Name calling! That's mature.Rasputin grabs him by the throat.                       RASPUTIN          I gave you that tongue and I          can rip it out!                       BARTOK                  (strangled)          No, I really like my tongue...          we're very attached.                  (rasputin releases him)          Oyyyy... Okay, now... promise          you won't get angry.                       RASPUTIN                  (sweetly)          Why would I ever be angry with          you, little friend?                       BARTOK          Yeah, right. Keep that thought          okay? So, I'm in town, stop by          the old palace. You get a better          class of bats there - no tattoos          or anything.Rasputin rummages around for a full bottle of vodka,tossing the empties - which Bartok has to dodge.                       BARTOK (CONT.)          So, I'm cruisin' the rafters and...          what can I say, I struck out. I          thought chicks would like the fact          that I can talk, you know but,          I mean, the way things are going          I couldn't get invited to a plague.                  (a bottle smashes)          Someone's gotta clean that up...                       RASPUTIN          Get to the point sometime tonight..          I'm late for a wenching.                       BARTOK          Okay... you're not gonna like this          but, well, it looks like Anastasia          is ... still alive.He tenses, waiting for Rasputin's explosion but Rasputinjust laughs.                       RASPUTIN          Impossible. That rumor's been          around for years.Bartok hovers face-to-face.                       BARTOK          Trust me, it's her!                       RASPUTIN                  (eyes narrowing)          How do you know?                       BARTOK          Rodent's intuition, how do I know?          She looks exactly like her.          Except she's taller,          which	is natural ... Of course          my second cousin Treplev - he          never	grew. Looks like a          little pepper shaker. He was          so cute ...Rasputin begins a slow growl that builds.                       BARTOK (CONT. )          Oyyy... I knew this was gonna          to upset him!Rasputin howls in anger and smashes his glass againstthe wall. He moves toward the CABINET, knocking overfurniture. Rasputin flings open the cabinet and we seethe RELIQUARY, glowing gently as if it were sleeping.Bartok covers his eyes in fear. Even Rasputin seem abit nervous in front of it.                       RASPUTIN                  (with reverence)          Source of my power. Owner of          my soul. I need your help.Rasputin takes the RELIQUARY out of the cabinet andsets it on the table.                       BARTOK          Hey, she's just a kid. And she's          going to Paris outta sight,          outta mind, outta Russia.                       RASPUTIN          I cursed then all!                       BARTOK          My Aunt Bella, sweet woman not          the brightest bat in the world -          she used to hang right side up,          anyway she always said "Curses          were made to be broken". Course,          she said it in those irritating          little bat squeaks, so it wasn't          quite so profound...Rasputin pulls out a set of RUSSIAN DOLLS (a smallpainted. hollow doll with a smaller doll inside it,and a smaller doll inside it, etc.) The first dollbears an eerie resemblance to Nicholas. Inside thesecond looks like Alexandra, all the way down to theANASTASIA doll.<u>"THE END OF THE LINE" (PRODUCTION NUMBER)Rasputin will have a DARK, MENACING, DELICIOUSLYSCARY NUMBER in whIch he SINGS of his obsession withkilling the Romanovs once and for all. Bartok willinterject comically throughouut. as Rasputin 	will conjure up tLis minions from the iquary and singabout Romanovs FINALE, he sends them off after Anya.SONG TO INCORPORATE THE FOLLOWING SENTIMENTS:</u>                       RASPUTIN          The Romanovs tried to kill me and          I swore to destroy all of them!          If she lives, if she should have          a child someday, the Romanov Family          continues! And I won't lot that          happen! THIS IS THE END OF THE LINE!He crushes the Anastasia doll in his massive hand.                       BARTOK          You know, this is really obsessive          behavior. There is this doctor this          doctor in Austria, Sigmund something          and he feels. . . Bartok land on the table while be's talking and hiswing accidently knocks the RELIQUARY on its side andit begins to roll.                       RASPUTIN          YOU IDIOTRasputin makes a sad leap, grabbing it seconds before itshatters on the floor.	Rasputin holds it up. Thesmokey SPIRITS inside swirl around, moaning.                       RASPUTIN (CONT.)                  (to Reliquary)          Yesses - you'd all like to get          out, wouldn' t you? Sorry          just one at a time and only          when I call.Rasputin spins an Bartok, who Us been slinki away, andslams a goblet over his.BARTOK'S POVFrom under the glass, Rasputin looks distorted and evenmore horrifying.                       RASPUTIN                  (to Bartok)          Do you have any idea what would          happen if that broke?!                       BARTOK                  (voice under glass)          You'd lose your security deposit?                       RASPUTIN                  (waving reliquary)          Evil, powerful beings - I have          their power only if I contain          them, control them. If they          should all be released at          once... well ...Rasputin smiles with his horrible yellow, decayed teeth,and lifts the glass an if to whisper in Bartok, a ear.                       RASPUTIN (CONT.)          YOU DON'T WANT TO BE AROUND          IF THAT HAPPENS!The volume of Rasputin's voice rattles Bartok around theinside of the glass. Rasputin focuses on the RELIQUARY.                       RASPUTIN (CON'T.)                  (to reliquary)          Where is she? Where is          Princess Anastasia...Inside the reliquary the awoke begins to mow Suddenly,the smoke EXPLODES in a burst and forms into the smokefrom a train engine. As the reliquary picture broadens,we see a train and Anya, Dmitri and Vladimir all hurryingto catch it.                       RASPUTIN(CONT.)          She has friends. No matter...Bartok looks desperate under glass. He trios to topplethe glass prism by jumping up but just cooks his head.                       BARTOK          Ohhh, that was dumb...                       BARTOK (CONT.)                  (calling to Rasputin)          Hello, I've get really terrible          claustrophobia. That's why I          could never live in a cave ...Rasputin gives his attention only to the reliquary.                       RASPUTIN          Finish my prophecy...Smoke begins to pour out of the reliquary. asput almostgiddy with the thought of finishing ambition, laughshysterically.                       BARTOK          Ew, I hate when he does this!As Rasputin swirls his arms the smoke begins to forminto MINIONS. All look human at first, but thenwe see MINION ONE, has the body of a human and a head ofa JACKAL, MINION TWO has the face of a woman and theclaws of a TIGER, and MINION- the most horribleof all - has a huge bear-like body with the head of aVULTURE. All wear long capes with hoods.                       RASPUTIN          She is not to get off that          train... alive!Rasputin kicks open the wagon door and leaps outside.The MINIONS, still filling out into forms, follow.One of the wisps of smoke, like a tail, swishes by andknocks over Bartok's glass prism, freeing his.EXT. GYPSY CAMP - NIGHTRasputin releases his BLACK HORSES who stoup -andwhinny, men ing something bad, as two Minions floaton to them the other flies ahead of than.                       RASPUTIN          Go! I don't care what you do with the          others but finish the girl! KILLLLL HERRRRR!                  (sinister)          And have fun...The Minions take off. Rasputin laughs wildy.<u>END MUSICAL NUMBER</u>INT. TATIANA'S STUDY, PARIS - DAYCLOSE ONTATIANA'S HANDS covering her face. Slowly dropping herhands down to reveal an older, sad TATIANA.                       TATIANA          Take her away, Sophie.PULL BACKto reveal a YOUNG WOMAN standing in front of bar desk.                       TATIANA          Haven't anything better to do          than to break my heart.Sophie ushers the now ashamed YOUNG WOMAN to the door.The YOUNG WOMAN looks amazing like Anya except that herhair is long and her clothes are now. She walks with acertain regal grace until she passes through the doorway -out of Tatiana's sight - and her posture "question-marks"and she lopes out.                       TATIANA (CONT.)                  (quietly)          No more. So more...Sophie. heavier and larger bottomed than ten years earlier,speaks quickly - without ev er breathing, in a highpitched nervous chitter.                       SOPHIE                  (very rapidly)          Oh, oh... I must say. I thought          that one was bar - i'm just so          shocked that she wasn't real well,          she was real, I mean she was human,          of course. but not our real. I must          say, even my sisters were touched          by her yes - yes they were...XENIA and ESTELLE, as pinched and skinny as Sophie in"full", don't appear to ever have been "touched" byanything (or anyone).                       SOPHIE (CONT.)          ... moved to tears of joy! We won't          be f ooled next time, girls! I'm a          going to think of really hard questions...                       TATIANA                 (stopping Sophie with                  a raise of her hand)          No, Sophie. My heart can't take it          anymore! I will see no more girls          claiming to be Anastasia.Tatiana walks sadly out of the room.EXT. TRAM STATION - MORNINGAnya and Metoo doze near a fire along with the otherPEASANTS waiting for the train. Dmitri looks over Vladimir'sshoulder nervously watching his forging their travel papers.                       DMITRI          Hurry up with those papers.                       VLADIMIR          Would you have leaned over          Rembrant's shoulder and told          him to paint faster?Vladimir looks at Dmitri's anxious face.                       VLADIMIR (CONT.)          You probably would.                  (hands his the papers)          They're still wet.A TRAIN WHISTLE SLOWS and Vlad Moves to Anya.                       VLADIMIR (CONT.)          Wake up, young lady, that's our train.                       DMITRI                  (correcting)          "Wake up, your highness" - we should          start getting used to saying it.                       VLADIMIR          What a world - a man who was in          my position in society is calling          a peasant 'Your Highness".Dmitri leans over and tugs Anya's hair lightly.                       DMITRI                  (to Anya)          Wake up!Anya's  eyes flash open and - totally on reflex - she beltsDmitri in the nose. Ditri reels back,  lands on his butt -Vladimir observes ruefully.                       VLADIMER          We have a lot of work to do...EXT. TRAIN PLATFORM - SECONDS LATERVladimir, using his ample belly, bumps people out of theway as they head for the train. Vlad climbs on just asit starts up, followed	by Dmitri. Dmitri turns back andreaches out his hand to help Anya up. But shefreezes... just STANDS THERE, not running.ANYA'S POV                       DMITRI          Come on!Dmitri on the train, his band extended - just likeTatiana's was. Although Anya can't quite remember,something about this terrifies bar. She snaps outof it when Meetoo nips her ankle.Anya looks down and sees the puppy, picks his up andruns for the train.                       DMITRI          Take my hand!Anya puts Meetoo into his hands and Jumps on withouttouching his.INT. TRAIN COMPARTMENTThe compartment is JAMMED with travelers. Suitcasesand packages balanced precariously. Dmitri sits downand carefully touches his painful noso.                       DMITRI          Do you always punch people first          thing in the morning?                       ANYA          Sorry - it's a reflex. Living          in an orphanage if someone bothers          you - you automatically come up          swinging.                       DMITRI          I wasn't bothering you. I was          trying to wake you up!OVER ANYA'S SHOULDER, out of the window. we see theTHREE MINIONS on horseback charging down a snow coveredhill toward the train.                       ANYA          By pulling my hair?!                       DMITRI          I was all out of dynamite!Dmitri touches his nose again. Anya opens the windowand grabs some snow.	WE SEE the minions racing wildlyto catch up with the train. As the scene continues, wesee the minions,	by one, getting close to the trainand then disappear from	view - only their riderlesshorses ride away.                       ANYA                  (hands Dmitri the snow)          Put it on your nose. For heaven's          sake, you're making such a fuss!Dmitri tries to act very manly as he puts the ice on hisnose, but cringes with the cold. Anya smiles.                       ANYA                  (to herself)          Men are such babies...An ELDERLY WOMAN loaded with packages cones into thecompartment. Anya immediately rises to help her.                       ANYA          Here, let meDmitri and Vlad both pull her back down.                       DMITRI          You're a princess...                       VLADIMIR          Royalty do not help people          with their luggage.Anya gives them both a look and helps the woman.                       VLADIMIR          Well, she certainly has a mind          of her own.                       DMITRI          Yes. And I hate that in a woman.Vlad holds Meotoo, who is enthralled and plays withVladimir's drooping mustache, like a kitten with a string.The COMPARTMENT DOOR swings open and an OMINOUS LOOKINGGUARD strides in!                       GUARD          Papers!Everyone rustles for their papers. Dmitri confidentlypulls out their papers, done in beautiful BLACK ink.Then, he glances at the PERSON NEXT TO HIM and seesthat his papers are done in a bright RED ink. Dmitrilooks over at Vladimir - who has seen the mistake as well.                       VLADIMIR                  (sheepishly)          It's what I hate about this          government - everything in red!The guard hand papers back to a soulful looking manwith a frozen beard.                       GUARD          Thank you, Comrade Zhivago.                       ZHIVAGO          Doctor Zhivago.GUARD approaches Vlad and Dmitri.                       VLADIMIR          What do we do now?                       DMITRI          Pray he's color-blind...Dmitri flashes the Guard a charming smile as he handsover his papers. Vladimir is nervously playing withhis mustache until it stands out straight. Anya hasno idea what's going on.                       GUARD          wait here.As the Guard heads out of the compartment, Vlad turnsto Dmitri and they exchange an "oh, no" look.INT. CORRIDOR, ANOTHER CARThe MINIONS, hoods pulled low, push their way throughthe PASSENGERS in search of Anastasia.INT. CORRIDORDmitri spots the GUARD conferring with the GUARDSover the papers. Anya pokes bar head out.                       ANYA          I'm going to stretch my legs                       DMITRI          That's a good idea - a great          idea - stretch your legs                  (pointing the opposite                  direction of the                  guards)          ... stretch then that way.Anya looks at him like he's crazy and walks away.                       ANYA                  (to herself)          I must have hit him harder than          I thought...Dmitri runs back in and grabs his SMALL BACKPACK. Hepulls Vlad, carrying Meetoo, out off the compartmentAnya has a load on them as they follow.INT TRAIN COMPARTMENT - DAYThe GUARDS burst in, ready for an arrest. In thebackground, the hooded Minions pass. The Guards,seeing empty seats, head back out.INT. TRAIN CORRIDOR - ANOTHER CARAnya looks out the window as the country side flies byand smiles.	INT. CORRIDORThe Guards spot three figures at the far end of the car.                       GUARD          That's them! Come on!They run after who they think are the fugitives.The Guard grabs a minion and spins him around.It's MINION THREE, who comes face-to-beak with himand lets out a HORRENDOUS SCREECH, causing the otherMinion to turn around. The Guards scream and reel backward,pushing and shoving each other to got out of the wayThe Minions proceed up the corridor, MINION TWO, spotAnya looking out the window. He grabs her. palling herviciously to the other Minions. She spins around - itisn't Anya - it's a SERIOUSLY UGLY WOMAN. The Minionsnow scream and reel back in horror.INT. CORRIDOR - SIMULTANEOUSDmitri and Vladimir catch up to Anya and grab her ineach arm, loading bar down the hall WE HEAR the MINIONSSCREAM from the next car.EXT. BETWEEN CARSAnya. Dmitri and Vlad step out on a platform and seethere is no place left to run. Only the engine isahead of them.                       DMITRI          Wait here!He leaps up gracefully, grabbing the edge of the roof,and pull& himself up.                       ANYA                  (to Vlad)          Would you like to tell what we are...as Dmitri's head, upside down, appears from the roof.                       DMITRI          Come on up!                       ANYA          Why?Vladimir picks Anya from up from tobehind and hoistsher up to Dmitri. She hollers.EXT. TRAIN ROOFAnya is pulled up by Dmitri, with a force that knocksthem both over Anya on top. An awkward moment. Anyarolls off him as Dmitri tries to catch the breath sheknocked out of him.                       ANYA          Just what do you think you're doing?!                       DMITRI          Trying... to... breathe...Suddenly, Meetoo appears, as if he were flying andlots out a little "retu". Vladimir has tossed hisup and Dmitri catches his, band his to Anya, andreaches down to Vladimir.INT. CORRIDORThough the window the Minions see Vladimir's legsas he's being lifted.INT. ROOF oF TRAINDmitri struggles to got Vlad to the roof but he'slosing his grasp. Anya puts Meetoo down and reachesto help the dangling Vlad. Even Meetoo helps bypulling an Vladimir's  scarf .EXT. PLATFORMMinion one grabs for Vladimir's legs, just asthey disappear.EXT. ROOF OF TRAINDmitri and Anya let out a sigh of relief as Vlad insafe, but it's short lived as they both SIMULTANEOUSLYlot out a yell.DMITRI & ANYA'S POV:a TUNNEL rapidly approaching.They hit the deck, Vlad on his back between Anya andDmitri.	Anya and Dmitri exchange a quick look as thetunnel gets closer - Vladimir's stomach is sticking uptoo high to clear the tunnel. They reach up togetherand push down on his big belly, causing his eyes tobulgeON THE SIDE OF THE TRAINThe minions, now climbing up the side are plunged intototal darkness.ON THE ROOFlight hits as the train comes out of the tunnel.Vlad lets out a gasp as they release his belly.Just then a Minion hand reaches up over the edge.Dmitri assumes it's a Guard.                       DMITRI          The guards!                  (Anya gives his a lack)          I'll explain later.Anya and Vlad follow Dmitri toward the back of the train.ON THE MINIONSnow on the roof, seeing their prey in short distance.ON ANYA AND THE OTHERSrunning, without looking back. jumping from car to car,passing Meetoo like a football. Vladiair makes a hugerunning leap into the air...INT. TRAIN COMPARTMENTAs all PASSENGERS react to Vladimir's bulk hitting anddenting the coiling.EXT. ROOF OF TRAINThe TRAIN WHISTLE erupts and Anya glances back to seeher pursuers just as they are enveloped in the thick blacksmoke of the engine. Behind them, Anya can another tunnel.TUNNELThey drop down, this time Vlad in on his stomach. Anyaand Dmitri realize his butt won't clear the tunnel.They push it down.ON THE MINIONSAn the smoke disappears, the Minions' eyes go wide whenthey realize it's too late for them. The train roars thetunnel as the MINIONS SMASH &"'not the sift ofthe mountain in a COLORFUL BURST OF SMOKE from whichthey were created.INT. RASPUTIN'S WAGON - PARALLEL TIMEDISSOLVE TOEXT.	ROOF OF TRAIN - DAYRasputin stares at the scene in his reliquary, watchinghis well laid plan *go up in smoke", and lots out asimmering growl.Anya is standing with her hands an her hips arguingwith Dmitri and Vladiair.                       ANYA          Forged papers! Now, what?!                       DMITRI          Now just get off the train.                       ANYA          HUH?!Dmitri motions that they are going to Jump. Anya shakesher head slowly.                       ANYA          Noooo....                       VLADIMIR          She's quite right, Dmitri, a man          of my stature should not have toDmitri shoves him off the top of the train with Meetooin his arm. Dmitri then puts out his hand to Anya.                       DMITRI          Come on, we'll jump together...          Take my hand.Dmitri turns forward and sees the train is approachinga HIGH RAILROAD BRIDGE over a rocky ravine. It's nowor never.                       DMITRI          Come on!                       ANYA          No!With his outstretched hand, Dmitri shoves her off the bar.EXT. COUNTRYSIDE - DAYVladimir has landed in a large pile of snow. He stands,rubbing his bottom.                       VLADIMIR          I think I have hurt my...Meetoo comes out of the pile of leaves, rubbing hisbottom and answers Vladimir's with his "retu".A short distance away, Anya seems to be sitting ontop of a puddle - but she isn't wet. Suddenly, Dmitrigets up from underneath her, covered in snow. Anyaisn't wet because she landed on Dmitri! She jumps up.                       DMITRI          You must enjoy causing me pain!                       ANYA          You shouldn't have pushed us!Vladimir and Meetoo come over.                       VLADIMIR          Is everyone all right?                       ANYA          I'm fine.                       DMITRI          She's fine!                  (limping away)          I may never walk right again,          but she's fine...INT.	RASPUTIN'S WAGONRasputin paces, still angry at the Minions. Bartok,nervous, fakes a yawn and stretches.                       BARTOKWell, I better got goin'. Got a busy day letting allthe blood rush to my head...Rasputin pulls him back in, then speaks to his reliquary.                       RASPUTIN          She's too far away, isn't she?The reliquary glows eyes. Rasputin places It back in it's cabinet.                       RASPUTIN (CONT.)          Yesss... our power is much stronger          when were near. We must get close          to her.                       BARTOK          Oy... not a road trip. I get          wagon sick, you know that.Rasputin smacks him against the wall as he stomps outof the wagon. Bartok slides down the wall.                       BARTOK (CONT.)          You're absolutely right. Travel          broadens your horizons...And he hits the floor.EXT. GYPSY CAMP - MIGHTRasputin, on his obsessed mission, leaps on top of thewagon as Bartok, still dizzy, tries to catch up.                       RASPUTIN          We'll catch her and finish her!                  (he grabs the, reigns)          We ride this night!Rasputin then looks down and sees that there are no horsesharnessed he gave then to the begins a slow growl.                       BARTOK          Well,	we wait this night!EXT.	COUNTRY - BREAK OF DAWNAnya is walking ahead with Vladiair as Dmitri followshe's still muddy, wet and unhappy.                       VLADIMIR          No have a lot of work to do,          Anya! Come along, Meetoo!Meetoo is trying to catch fire flies in his mouth.                       VLADIMIR (CONT.)          We have to prepare you for an          audience with Sophie.                       ANYA          Who's Sophie?                       VLADIMIR               (lost in warm memories)          Ah ... the Lady Sophie... The          ravishing first cousin, once          removed, from the Empress. We          must convince Sophie that you          are the Princess before we'll          be granted a meeting with the          Empress ... your grandmother,          I mean.Anya stops dead in her tracks, this is the first she'sheard of this.                       ANYA          What?!Dmitri, not paying attention, slams into the backof Anya. Anya, not hurt, turns to Dmitri - who isrubbing his now sore shoulder.                       ANYA (CONT.)          You never said anything to me          about having to prove I'm a          Princess!                       DMITRI          You are the Princess.                       VLADIMIR          We're just going to refresh          your memory...                       ANYA          I don't have a memory and I'm          not a Princess!               (looks down at herself)          Even if I were - no one's ever          going to believe it. I'm not          exactly...Anya searches for the -word as she sits down nextto a frozen pond.                       ANYA (CONT.)               (sadly to herself)          ... good enough...	       (to others)          I can't go through with this!Dmitri sits next to Anya and looks at her reflectionin the ice.                       DMITRI          What do you see?ANYA'S POVher smudged face and boy's clothes. Dmitri's handscome into frame, wipe off her face with snow andthem pull her hair off her face. Anya does, truly,look pretty.                       DMITRI(CONT.)          See? The Princess is under there ...                       VLADIMIR          Ah! Let us begin!<u>A POSSIBLE VLADIMIR SONGVladimir would begin to sing here, telling Anya that shehas a lot to learn. The music would probably have aLIGHT, SOMEWHAT COMEDIC tone, and would be just a SHORTSECTION OF SINGING, which would then SEGUE TO UNDERSCOREfor the scenes of instruction which follow.We see the three of them from behind, walking down aroad - Meetoo trots behind them, happily.</u>                       VLADIMIR (CONT.)          You were born on the Adriatic sea at          the summer palace, where the parties          and the buffets were marvelous ....EXT. SLEIGH - DAYVladimir is putting icicles in Anya's hair to keep itup in a bun - she looks sweet, despite her boy's clothes.She is reciting something to Dmitri.                       ANYA          ...and on my father's side,          there was [THIS SECTION IS NOT LEDGABLE] Anya thinks as Dmitri looks at a long sheet ofpaper, prompting her.                       DMITRI          Every Russian family has one..                       ANYA               (gets it)          Natasha! Natasha Feastavich!-          but we called her Nashie          Fooshie!                       VLADIMIR          Did I tell you that?                       ANYA          You must have.EXT. PIG CART - DAYAnya, Dmitri and Vladimir are sitting in the back of apig cart traveling down a country road. The pigs are veryinterested as Anya is pointing to different pieces of haywhich "set" her imaginary table.                       ANYA               (repeating)          ...fish fork, salad fork, meat fork and. . .               (can't remember, then                exasperated)          [THIS SECTION ALSO NOT LEDGABLE]                       DMITRI	       (hinting)          It's the best fork of all                       ANYA          The dessert fork!                       VLADIMIR               (lost in a memory of                rich desserts)          Ah, yes ... I have always loved          that fork...Dmitri and Anya exchange a look and then laugh,adding ad libs of "we can tell" and "There's afork you should have skipped". This is the firsttime Dmitri and Anya have laughed together -actually the first time he's ever seen her smile. EXT.	PORT - DAYDmitri, who is sneaking around, pulling women's clothesout of a suitcase that clearly isn't theirs! He takesout a large, but pretty dress, a beautiful veil - and ahuge brassiere, which he quickly stuffs back in thesuitcase - somewhat frightened. He takes the dress andveil puts it in his backpack and joins Vladimir and Anyaas they admire the ship.                       ANYA          What a beautiful ship!                       DMITRI          It used to be a private yacht          before the government took it over.                       VLADIMIR          Oh, yes it was the seagoing vessel          of elaborate elegance in entertaining...               (looks at Dmitri and Anya explaining)          A party boat. It once belonged to ...Vladimir honestly can't remember, Anya thinks it'sanother quiz.                       ANYA          Konstantin Petrovich of Moscow!Dmitri and  Vladimir exchange a quizzical look. Noone told her that...Meetoo spots TWO UGLY PUG DOGS and a distinguishedELDERLY DOWAGER. He runs happily to play with them.She pulls her DOGS away from Meetoo.                       ELDERLY DOWAGER          No, no, boys! You don't know where          he's been!They give him a disgusted look and walk away. Meetoolooks a little hurt.INT. HALLWAY OF THE SHIP - NIGHTDmitri and Vladimir are standing by a closed door.Anya is on the other side.                       ANYA (0. C.)          No! I look ridiculous!                       VLADIMIR          Come out! I can do alterations.                       ANYA (O.C.)          You'll laugh.                       VLADIMIR          I shant!                       ANYA (O.C.)          Not you. Him.                       DMITRI          I won't laugh - I swear...The door opens and Anya comes out in the blue dressDmitri stole which at least ten sizes too big for her.She is still wearing her hair up and despite the sizewhich actually gives her a "Kate Moss" waifish lookwith her men's boots and baggy dress - the blue bringsout her eyes. Dmitri sees her and BUSTS OUT LAUGHING.                       ANYA          You said you wouldn't laugh!                       DMITRI          It's not you - it's the dress!Anya storms back into the cabin and slam the door behind her.INT.	CABIN - SIMULTANEOUS ACTIONWhen Anya storms into the cabin, she catches a glimpse ofherself in the mirror.                       ANYA               (to herself)          I'm never going to be..Just then, the slamming door catches the back of her dress,pulling more than half of it into the door frame. She seesin the mirror that the now fitted dress shows a lovelywoman's figure. Pleased, she looks at herself.                       ANYA (CONT.)          Well! Maybe I am...EXT.	CABIN DOOR - NIGHTVladimir and Dmitri wait outside the door. The door opensand Anya appears, having tied the veil around the waistof the dress, making it look fitted and beautiful. Dmitriand Vladimir are surprised as Anya walks past them withconfidence and throws them a look over her shoulder.<u>"REPRISE OF VLADIMIR'S SONG (OVER MONTAGE)The tone of the song would now change - - the older,wiser person watching as two younger people areunwittingly falling in love. The tone can still belight, as are the visuals here, but there would bean undercurrent of irony and romance. The song wouldend as Anya and Dmitri have their first, momentaryembrace.</u>MONTAGE: (MOS)ON DECK: Anya, still in her boots, walks gracefullydown the deck in spite of the ship's rocking motion.Dmitri and Vlad can't even stand due to the motion.Anya looks back and flashes them a smile.IN THEIR CABIN: Dmitri gets out of the bed he'sbeen sharing with Vlad and walks over, past whereAnya is sleeping peacefully, to close the port holeagainst a cold wind. He closes is and see's Anya -she looks beautiful - he bends down to pull up hercovers and she SLUGS him.UNDER A TABLE: Meetoo is walking around sniffingfeet. Suddenly, he runs smack into the TWO UGLYPUG DOGS who growl at him. He runs away and finallysee's a woman's foot and a pair of pretty feminineshoes, with heels, that she has kicked off. Meetoograbs them in his mouth and runs.ON DECK: The sea is calm, but Anya - wearing the heeledshoes for the first time - is teetering and wobblinglike mad. Dmitri and Vlad watch her with amusement.Anya turns to them.ON DECK: Dmitri has stuffed his feet into the woman'sshoes and is barely able to walk as Anya watches himwith great vindication.BALLROOM: Anya walks -into the ballroom, steady andgraceful in her new shoes, on Vladimir's arm andcompletes a perfect curtsy in front of Dmitri. Dmitriapplauds and moves down to her as she stands and smackshim with her head accidently.THEIR CABIN: Vladimir is directing Anya as she waltzesgracefully in their swaying cabin. Dmitri enters and isdirected to join Anya. He does and they dance together,with Anya clearly leading. The boat sways to the leftand Anya is thrown closer into Dmitri's arms. Neitherof them even try to readjust.END MONTAGESTILL IN THE SCENEVladimir walks over to Anya and nervously chatters (heknows he interrupted something) as he leads her awayfrom Dmitri.                       VLADIMIR          You are a natural! I don't know          how you ever learned to dance          that well! That must have been          some high class orphanage ...EXT. SEA - NIGHTAs a storm begins to whip up, the wind starts to howland the waves become more violent.REVERSE ANGLEjust as a BOLT OF LIGHTNING STRIKES the water, we seeRasputin's face.INT. CABIN - NIGHTThe storm is pitching the boat wildly. Vladimir issleeping, snoring loudly. Meetoo, sound asleep, issliding from side of the cabin to the other. Anyais looking out the small port hole at the violentsea when Dmitri, carrying his back pack, sits on thebed next to her.                       DMITRI          I wanted to show you something.Dmitri takes out the music box and hands it to Anya.She is immediately taken by it, something about it ...                       ANYA          It's so beautiful ... and sad.                       DMITRI          Sad?                       ANYA          Lost. it feels lost. This was hers?                       DMITRI          Yeah ... well, yours. You still          don't believe that you're the          Princess, do you?                       ANYA          I know I must have had something          to do with the palace - I've had          little flashes of things - but          being the Princess? It doesn't          matter as long as I find my home.                       DMITRI         Well, the only thing you've got         when you've got a home is a fear         of losing it! You're lucky you         don't remember the revolution --         I never had much, but what I did         have -- I lost.                       ANYA         I'm sorry.                       DMITRI              (false bravado)         Hey! It doesn't matter! You gotta         make your own way in the world!         Don't be sorry for me! I'm going         to get what I want don't you worry!Dmitri goes back over to his bed. Anya sees throughhim and knows how much it all did matter to him.EXT.	SEA CLIFF - NIGHTThe wagon sits on the edge of a high cliff. Rasputinstands on the top of his wagon, staring at the seademonically. The jagged bolts of lightening and theicy silver rain make him look all the more menacing.                       RASPUTIN              (low, slow)         She's out there ...The wind parts his beard and we see Bartok hangingupside down in it, trying to stay out of the storm.                       BARTOK         I'm getting a chest cold..                       RASPUTIN         Bartok... a question.                       BARTOK         I'm getting pneumonia. I have         a fever. Feel my forehead...                       RASPUTIN         What do you think is the most         humiliating way to die?Rasputin's eyes light up as if he just thought of theanswer to his own question. Bartok is thrown out of hisbeard when he makes a sudden turn and leaps off thewagon. Bartok follows.                       BARTOK         My cousin Mischa, nice fellow         had some dental problems - you         didn't want to watch him eat,         let's put it that way...Rasputin steps inINT.	WAGON - NIGHTAs Bartok continues, Rasputin moves to thereliquary's cabinet.                       BARTOK         ... anyway, a bunch of other         bats were hanging in the belfry -         I know, cliche, but there you have         it, and Mischa, not the brightest         bat in the world, decides to hang         <u>in</u> the bell. Which was fine         for awhile until it started ringing ...	      (shivers)         Ewwww, what a mess ...                       RASPUTTN	      (to reliquary)         Show her to me ...                       BARTOK         And it didn't help the tonal         quality of the bell, either.IMAGES, horrifying and frightening, begin to spininto a small tornado. Rasputin throws open the doorand the TORNADO bursts out streaking across the water.EXT.	SEA CLIFF - NIGHTRasputin follows tornado to the cliff and watchesas it disappears into the horizon of the water.Lightning and thunder crash as he laughs maniacally.INT.	CABIN - NIGHTwhich is swaying with the storm. PAN past Vladimir,snoring, his now limp mustache flopping wildly andpast Dmitri, sleeping restlessly. Move to Anya, whoseems quite content.From under the door SMOKY IMAGES silently slither.They float across the cabin and swirl around Anya.CLOSE ON:Anya's CLOSED EYES as the SMOKY IMAGES seem to enterher head. She smiles in her sleep and we are in ANYA'SDREAM. . .EXT.	FOREST - DAYAnya, in a beautiful white dress, is walking peacefullythrough a sunny part of a lovely forest on a spring day.She reaches down to pick some pretty flowers, then looksup as it seems to get dark... OMINOUS LOOKING CLOUDS coverthe sun. Anya reaches down for another flower when sheHEARS A GROWL.Anya spins to see an ENORMOUS BEAR emerge from the trees.(All the animals in the dream sequence have a SLIGHTresemblance to Rasputin.) Anya is frozen with fear as MOREBEARS emerge and head straight for her. She tries to backaway as the beautiful FLOWERS GROW LONG AND HORRIBLE THORNSand wrap around her ankles, impeding her escape.It gets darker as the BEAR'S EYES, glowing yellow, multiplyand move closer. Anya pulls free of the flowers and rushesto the safety of a large tree  She climbs the tree andescapesthe bears. Looking down, from her perch on a sturdybranch, the ground seems miles away.Suddenly, the BRANCH JOLTS her and almost falling, she hold on to it tightly. But the branch TURNS IN TOWARDHER - no longer a tree branch, but A HUGE UGLY SNAKE withred eyes and huge fangs that come right for her!Anya leaps to another branch, which also turns into a snake.She jolts backward and begins to fall ... toward a HUNDREDYELLOW EYES, FIFTY BLOOD RED MOUTHS AND THOUSANDS OF SHARPTEETH. As Anya falls, she lets out a SILENT SCREAM.A BURST OF SUNLIGHTas Anya lands in a field of soft GOLDEN WHEAT. Unharmedand very relieved, she stands and looks around at thebeautiful sunny wheat field.INT. CABINReality. Anya's eyes are closed as she smiles in hersleep and sits up in bed. TINY WISPS of smoke stillswirl around her head. As she gets out of bed, sheunintentionally steps on Meetoo's tail, waking him.Meetoo watches as the sleeping Anya opens the cabin doorand walks out.Meetoo rises to follow Anya but the ship pitches, sendinghim sliding across the cabin floor.EXT. DECK - NIGHTAnya walks out on the deck, the ship pitching violentlyin the storm, as she smiles.IN HER DREAMAnya is walking through the wheat field to the edge ofa BLUFF. A few yards below the bluff, Anya sees a beautifullittle pond where a FAMILY frolic's in the clear water;laughing, splashing, swiming happily. Anya climbs over alow flowering wall to look closer.PULL BACKREALITY: Anya has climbed over the railing of the deckand is looking into the black ocean... smiling.DISSOLVE TO:A SMOKY IMAGE OF THE SAME SCENEIt's RASPUTIN'S POV as he watches his plan unfold in thereliquary.INT. CABINMeetoo finally rights himself from his slide across thefloor and begins to bark into Dmitri's ear.EXT. DECKAnya is waving happily at the dangerous water.IN HER DREAMAnya is waving to the FAMILY. They turn around towardher and she sees that it's the ROMONOV FAMILY, fromthe frieze that she saw in the palace. She is delightedto see them as she feels a distance recollection of whothey are to her.INT. CABINMeetoo jumps up and NIPS at Dmitri's hand. Dmitri leapsup with an "owwww!" and looks over at the excited Meetoo.                       DMITRI         If you have to go - wake her..Dmitri looks over to Anya's bed - she isn't sits up andthrows his legs over the sideEXT. DECKAnya is standing right on the edge of death...IN HER DREAMShe isn't there. He of his bed.the FAMILY is waving to her. NICHOLAS waves for her tojump into the clear pond and join them. Anya nods andmoves to jump in...EXT. DECKAnya gets ready to jump into the violent and icy blackwaves. She takes one step out when... DMITRI GRABS HERSHOULDERS.Anya JOLTS awake from her dream. Confused at first,then terrified to see what almost happened to her.isn't lifts her to the other side of the railingand looks at her.                       DMITRI         What were you doing?!Anya puts her hands to her mouth in shock, shakingand almost crying with fear, she throws her armsaround Dmitri and holds him tightly.Dmitri is surprised at first, but tightens his armsaround her.                       DMITRI (CONT.)         It's okay now - I've got you.         You're safe...They stand steady on the deck in a tight embrace,their feelings for each other are stronger than the storm.DISSOLVE TO:THE SAME, as seen through the reliquaryRasputin watches ... seething quietly, as Bartok peeksmeekly over his shoulder.                       BARTOK         Boy, don't you hate it when         that happens?                       RASPUTIN              (controlling)         She leads a charmed life, that         little one ... Someone is always         there to save her. In the palace         as a child, on the train and now         ... it's him.Rasputin studies Dmitri in the reliquary - Dmitri andAnya still in a warm embrace.                       BARTOK         Nice looking fellow. I mean,         don't get me wrong - I'm not         attracted to him in the physical         sense, I just ...But Rasputin's not interested, he stares into thereliquary and speaks directly to it.                       RASPUTIN         You are toying with me, aren't         you? You let me get so close...The reliquary, as if in answer, seem to be chuckling.Rasputin smiles and joins in with it.                       RASPUTIN (CONT.)         Bartok ... have you ever been to Paris?                       BARTOK         Me? No. Rich food - it kills me.         Ever try and fly after one of         those heavy sauces?Rasputin returns the reliquary to its cabinet.                       RASPUTIN         We are going to Paris - and while         we're there, let's kill the young         man. He annoys me.EXT. BOAT DOCK (LA HAVRE) - DAYAs Anya walks down the plank her dress gets caughton a nail. Dmitri is walking toward her as she yanks herdress free and accidentally punches him in the stomach.Dmitri takes it like a man.                       ANYA         Oh! I'm sorry...                       DMITRI         It's okay. Didn't hurt..Vlad has been watching as he walks down the plankwith Meetoo - they exchange an "oh boy" look, bothnoticing that clearly something is different betweenAnya and Dmitri. Anya catches something out of thecorner of eye and turns quickly.CLOSE ON a sign: "Paris 30 kilometers"Anya walks away from Dmitri and over to the signand looks at it longingly.                       ANYA              (to herself)         I'm almost there... I'm finally         going to know...AT THE OTHER END OF THE DOCKVladimir stares into his purse, depressed.                       DMITRI         How is our current financial status?                       VLADIMIR         If I used the word "bleak" I would         be optimistic.As he says this the ELDERLY DOWAGER from the shippasses by with her TWO OBNOXIOUS PUG DOGS. Meetoogrowls as Vlad and Dmitri get an idea.                      VLADIMIR (CONT.)         The "Odessa Dunk"?                      DMITRI         It worked in Odessa...Vladimir picks up Meetoo and whispers instructions.Meetoo likes the plan.NEW ANGLEas Meetoo races past the PUGS. They ignore him, so hestops and makes a face, giving them a sloppy "razzberry",which piques them a little. Meetoo then bends over andwaves his furry little butt at them. Now the PUGS areoffended and TAKE OFF after him, yapping all the way.Meetoo turns and scrambles with the Pugs in hot pursuit.As they get closer, Meetoo SUDDENLY STOPS and the Pugsgo FLYING OFF they edge of the dock and into the waterbelow. Meetoo looks over the edge and gives them a 'Boy,are you guys morons look as the ELDERLY DOWAGER runsup screaming.                       ELDERLY DOWAGER         Help! My little dogs! Chevalier! Maurice!         Hold on, darlings!Dmitri comes running up, a little too gallant.                       DMITRI         I'll save them, MadameDmitri dives into the water as Vlad rushes up behindthe Elderly Dowager. Anya watches from a distance asDmitri climbs out of the water carrying the soaked(and pissed) Pugs.                       VLADIMIR         Such bravery! Why, that man should         be rewarded! Amply rewarded!MINUTES LATERDmitri hands Vlad a pile of FRANCS as Anya approaches.                       ANYA         That was really very kind of you.She gives him a kiss on the cheek and walks away withMeetoo, who turns back and gives Dmitri a look. Alittle guilty, Dmitri turns to Vlad.                       VLADIMIR         I won't say a word...EXT.	GRAND OPEN CAR - DAYTraveling is style! Vladimir is driving - badly - withMeetoo in the front seat. Meetoo covers his eyes. Dmitriand Anya are in the open back seat, enjoying the beautifulFrench countryside.Dmitri looks over at Anya.                       DMITRI         Nervous?                       ANYA         Yes - If I can't convince Sophie,         I'll never be able to see Tatiana....                       DMITRI         You'll convince her. You have the         qualities of a princess you're         poised and strong... and beautiful         ... even if you forget a couple         dates of family names - she'll know.Anya smiles at Dmitri, knowing that all the confidenceshe has is because of him. She takes his hand butlooks away.EXT. TATIANA'S PARIS HOUSE - DAYThey pull up in front of the beautiful white house.Anya is nervous as Vladimir walks up to the front doorahead of Dmitri and Anya. Vladimir knocks. Sophieanswers the door.She moves with grace and regal poise.                       VLADIMIR         May I present her Royal         Highness Princess Anastasia!                       SOPHIE         Oh good! We haven't seen an         Anastasia in several days!Anya looks to Dmitri, a little confused by that lastcomment. Dmitri makes a little "she's slightly crazy"signal.They all leap to avoid her butt as she bustles intothe house.INT. DRAWING ROOM - DAYSophie, flanked by her sisters, sits at a table. Anya,looking nervous but poised, sits across while Dmitri andVladimir hover nervously at the far end of the room.Sophie's PAT CAT, TILLIE, attempts to cuddle up next toMeetoo, who wants nothing to do with her.                       SOPHIE         I'd just like to ask you a         few questions, dear...Sophie opens a huge book that SLAMS open. Vlad andDmitri jump.                       ANYA         Of course.                       SOPHIE         Where were you born?SCENE CONTINUES MOSTIME LAPSE MONTAGEDmitri watches Anya answer questions gracefully andwithout hesitating. Anya smiles as her answers beginto surprise Sophie.                       DMITRI (V.0.)         The real Anastasia couldn't have         grown up to be lovelier.Sophie and the sisters look tired. Sophie has her lastquestion.                       SOPHIE              (almost giggling)         This is the hard one ... what rare         treat was served on the night of         the Three Hundredth Anniversary of         the Romanov Dynasty? The last ball         they ever had?Dmitri and Vladimir exchange a nervous look. It'sobvious they never briefed Anya on this one.Anya thinks a moment, then looks up, smiling, asshe remembers ...                       ANYA         Father had fresh tropical fruits         sent in. Oranges and pineapples         from the far east. I remember ...         I remember I threw an orange to a         young boy who was hiding under a         table...Dmitri is shocked. He know this is Anastasia Romonovand he can't believe it.                       SOPHIE              (shocked)         Yes ... yes, it was fresh fruit.         Well, maybe not "fresh" Estelle         got one rather brown banana but ...CLOSE ONDmitri, as he stares at Anya as Sophie prattles on.MINUTES LATERAnya sits near the window, stroking Tillie ...much to the consternation of a jealous Meetoo.,She looks out the window and sees Dmitri, deepin thought, wandering in the garden.OUT OF HER EARSHOT at the other end of the room,Vladimir speaks to Sophie.                       VLADIMIR         Are you impressed with our Anastasia?                       SOPHIE         Oh, heavens - I must say, yes.                       VLADIMIR         Then, you'll take her to see         Tatiana?                       SOPHIE         Oh, heavens I must say... no, no         actually, I can't - Tatiana has         refused to see any more girls.                       VLADIMIR         Perhaps you could convince her?                       SOPHIE         Oh, heavens, no... but ...	      (Vlad-leans closer as		Sophie shares a		naughty secret)         She is going to be at the         Ballet Russe tonight! That's         the Russian Ballet - Russe for         Russian, oh those crazy         French... they only go to see         which dancers will defect.She rises heading towards Anya. Her butt knocks overa vase, which Vladimir deftly catches.                       SOPHIE         Come my dear, we've much to         talk about.EXT. GARDENVladimir has finished giving Dmitri the details.Both are ecstatic.                       VLADIMIR         We did it! We did it, my boy! We're         going to see Tatiana at the ballet         tonight and we're going to be rich!         Rich!                       DMITRI         But it's not	the money, Vlad.                       VLADIMIR              (shocked)         Are you feeling all right?                       ANYA (CONT.)              (deeply grateful)         But you never doubted who I was,         did you, Dmitri? Not for a second ...Anya gratefully kisses Dmitri an the cheek andruns into the house. Vladimir, who's been watching,has a warning.                       VLADIMIR         Life is funny, isn't it. You find         the right girl ... and then you         lose her.                       DMITRI         What do you mean?                       VLADIMIR         Dmitri ... You must understand that         once you take her to Tatiana... well,         it's over... nothing can happen between         you. She's a princess and you're a         commoner.Dmitri understands this and is devastated. Vladimir patshim on the back as he walks into the house.MUSIC BEGINS: BRIGHT, EXCITING, PARIS IN THE TWENTIESAnya and Dmitri, followed by Vlad and Sophie are walkingdown the Champs Elysees. Meetoo trots along after them,happily. They walk by AN ACCORDION PLAYER and a LADY FLOWERSELLER, who watch them and whisper to each other.                       ACCORDION PLAYER          Lovers!                       FLOWER SELLER          Ooh la la!<U>"PARIS HOLDS THE KEY TO YOUR HEART" (PRODUCTION NUMBER)In UPTEMPO "PARIS IN THE TWENTIES style MUSIC, the people ofParis ALL SING, welcoming Anya and Dmitri, Sophie and Vlad,to Paris!The foursome explores the city and Anya has thehappiest day of her young life. On the streets theyencounter the motley denizens of Paris, as well aspeople with very familiar faces -- for anyone in theaudience in the know, they'll see Josephine Baker,Maurice Chevalier, Rodin, Gertrude Stein, Freud,Lindbergh - people who were in Paris in the twenties..For those in the audience who don't recognize them,they'll simply be unidentified fascinating "types" who SING.As the joyous number progresses, we realize that Dmitriis feeling something else -- the impending loss of Anyato a world where she clearly is at home. He SINGS for ashort moment, knowing that he's about to lose her. Anyavisits a couturier and comes out with a big dress boxfor her evening at the ballet. A BIG FINALE as they gooff for the evening. Even Meetoo has found some femalepoodle companionship. But for one last beat, Dmitri'swistfulness cuts against joy.END MUSICAL NUMBER</U>EXT. PARIS SKYLINE - DUSKA glorious sunset over the city of lights ...PAN DOWNto the "other side of the tracks, a run down areanext to the Seine River. Rasputin's wagon isparked on the edge.INT.	RASPUTIN'S WAGONBartok freshens himself up in front of the mirror as he                       BARTOK                    (singing, a cappella)          PARSE HOLDS THE KEY TO MY HEART          FRENCH- BAT- CHICKS HANG OUT AT          MONTMARTRE          WE'LL EAT SOME IN-SECTS          THEN GO BACK AND HAVE --                       RASPUTIN (O.C.)                    (cutting him off)          Shut up!NEW ANGLEshowing Rasputin trying to concentrate on the reliquary.                       BARTOK          Sorry, it's just... you know I saw these          french postcards once and... ooh la la ...          well, I'm not sure about the "ooh", but          it's the "la la" I'm really lookin'          forward to...                    (Rasputin growls)          Right, I'm shutting up.Rasputin leans closer to the reliquary, which now containsthe BRIGHTEST COLORS we've seen. The reliquary sits init's cabinet.                       RASPUTIN          We're close to her, aren't we?The reliquary BRIGHTENS even more, looking as if it couldburst.                       RASPUTIN (CONT.)          Excited, eh? You look about to burst ...                    (teasing)          You'd like to burst, wouldn't you?The lightsin the reliquary shake, as if to say "yes".                       RASPUTIN (CONT.)          No, no, no. We made a bargain.                    (petting it)          Someday you'll have me for all eternity.          Till then...                    (leaning closer)          I'm in charge.Rasputin slams the cabinet shut, then turns to see Bartokin front of a mirror. He wears a smart BLACK BERET whichis much too large on him.                       BARTOK          What do you think? Is it me?EXT. SMALL HOTEL - NIGHTSweet, small french hotel on a winding cobble stone streetof the Left Bank.INT. SMALL HOTEL - NIGHTDmitri and Vladimir are both dressed in formal attire andlook extremely dapper. Vlad is delighted with himself,modeling his finery, but Dmitri looks very sad.                       VLADIMIR          Compliments of Sophie. Her escort          has to look his best.They turn as the door opens and Anya stands nervously,but then strikes a regal pose. She looks magnificent ...radiant, which is not lost on Dmitri.                       ANYA          How do I look?Before Vladimir can gush, Dmitri, forced to repress histrue feelings, is a bit curt and rises.                       DMITRI          Fine.	We better go.Anya looks surprised by his tone, but follows.EXT.	PARIS OPERA HOUSE - NIGHTAs the BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE OF PARIS pull up in carriages andautomobiles.INT.	PARIS OPERA HOUSEAs Dmitri, Vladimir and Anya take their seats, all aroundthem people are whispering "Who's that?", "What a beautifulwoman", etc. The Ballet begins.ANYA'S POVDancers in bright costumes leap across the stage.Dmitri turns to Anya and gestures to the box seats to theleft. He hands her the opera glasses.                       DMITRI          Look. There is your grandmother...Anya gives Dmitri a very nervous look and takes the glasses,aiming them toward Tatiana.ANYA'S POVThe majestic Tatiana, flanked by Sophie and her sisters andbacked by several large GUARDS in uniform.                        ANYA          She's so beautiful! I do remember          her ... I remember her ...The music continues as Anya looks at Tatiana.INTERMISSIONThe lights come up and people around them begin to standup, stretch, etc. Dmitri turns to Anya.                       DMITRI          Come on. It's time..INT. MEZZANINE -- MINUTES LATERThey approach Tatiana's private box.DMITRI Wait here for just a moment. I'll go in first andprepare her. It's bound to be a shock...                       ANYA          I'm so scared...                       DMITRI          Don't be                       ANYA          And grateful. To you.                    (reaching out to him)          If it weren't for you --                       DMITRI                    (upset, pulling away)          I know.Dmitri opens the door into Tatiana's private box. Anyawaits nervously outside.INT.	PRIVATE BOXDmitri walks up to the guards standing at the top of threesmall steps into the box seats.                       DMITRI          I need to speak with the          Dowager Empress ...[PAGE MISSING]                       TATIANA (CONT.)          How much pain will you inflict          on an old woman for money?!                       DMITRI          Please, if you'd just listen...                       TATIANA                    (to guards)          Remove him at once.The guards physically force Dmitri out, in spite of hisurgent pleas.                       DMITRI          Please! Empress! It's not what you ....Dmitri is thrown out of the box and straight into Anya,who stares at him with tears in her eyes. She then turnsand runs away.                       DMITRI          Anya. . . please. . . INT. LOBBYAnya pushes her way through the CROWD with Dmitri in pursuit.EXT. OPERA HOUSE - NIGHTAnya bursts out of the doors followed by Dmitri                       DMITRI          Anya, wait!                       ANYA                    (spinning on him)          Tell me it isn't true?! Tell me          you didn't do this for the money!                       DMITRI          No! Well, yes, but                       ANYA          No! I thought you believed in          me! It was all a lie!EXT.	PARIS OPERADmitri runs out and stands by grand looking automobileslined up in front. He scans the cars.DMITRI'S POVTatiana is walking toward her car. A very proper CHAUFFEURholds the door for her.The CHAUFFEUR helps Tatiana in, then is about to climbinto the front seat when Dmitri rushes up to him.                       DMITRI          Sir! Your rear tire is flat!                       CHAUFFEUR          it is?As he gets out to look, Dmitri slides into the driversseat and roars away. The stunned Chauffeur in his dust.INT. CARTatiana is jolted by the fast motion of her car.                       TATIANA          Ulo! Slow down!Dmitri turns from the front seat and looks at her.                       DMITRI          I'm not Ulo and I won't slow down.          But you will listen to me!                       TATIANA                    (recognizing Dmitri)          You! How dare you?! Stop this car          immediately!EXT.	PARIS STREETSTatiana's car flying down small streets.INT.	TATIANA'S  CAR                       TATIANA          Stop this car!The car slams to. a stop in front of the SMALL HOTEL.Dmitri leans into the back seat, face-to-face with her.                       DMITRI          Please don't be afraid! I'm sorry,          but there was no other way!Tatiana is frightened, but still very stubborn. She looksaway from him. Dmitri thrusts the music box into her hands.                       DMITRI (CONT.)          Look at this!Tatiana looks down and is immediately taken aback.                       TATIANA          Anastasia's music box... She had this          all these years...                    (fighting the possibility)          You could have found it...                       DMITRI          What I <U>found</U>your was your granddaughter!Tatiana turns away from him again.                       DMITRI (CONT.)          You were right - it <U>was</U> a lie.          My intention was to fool you                    (sadly)          I am a liar - but I found the          truth. Just see her! I swear          if you see her I'll disappear          foreverDmitri points up to the open window of the hotel.                       DMITRI (CONT.)          Just look! Just look at her!Tatiana finally looks out the window.TATIANA'S POVAnya holding Meetoo in front of the window.BACK TO TATIANAreacting to how much she looks like Anastasia.INT. SMALL HOTEL -- A MINUTE LATERAnya hears a KNOCK and assumes it is Dmitri.                       ANYA          Go away!The door opens slowly. Anya spins, then softens when shesees Tatiana holding the MUSIC BOX.                       TATIANA          Who are you, child?                       ANYA                    (crying)          I don't know! I don't want to hurt you...Tatiana holds out the music box.                       TATIANA          Do you remember this?                       ANYA          I remember something lost ...          I'm so confused! Oh, please,          just tell me if you recognize me!          Do you think I could have...          belonged to you ...Tatiana notices Anya nervously playing with the key aroundher neck. Tatiana reacts when she sees the key.                       TATIANA          Oh! Where did you get that?!Anya sees her looking at the key around her neck.                       ANYA          I've always had it... I came here          because of this! Tell me if you recognize          it! Please! It's all I have...<U>UNDERSCORE-	"THE MUSIC BOX THEME"</U>Tatiana holds out her hands as Anya takes off the keyand hands it to her.                       TATIANA                    (through tears)          It was hers ... my Anastasia's ...                    (then suddenly: angry,		          defensive)          If this is part of your scheme!          If you found it or stole - I          don't care, I'll give you          whatever you want just TELL ME          THE TRUTH!Anya takes the music box and the key out of Tatiana'shand gently - remembering how it works. Anya puts in thekey and begins to wind it. Tatiana is surprised that Anyaknows how it works - so is Anya!                       TATIANA (CONT.)                    (singing, a cappella)          PAR AWAY, LONG AGO GLOWING DEEP          AS AN EMBER                       ANYA                    (remembering)          THINGS MY HEAR USED TO KNOW          THINGS IT YEARS TO REMEMBERWe hear THE MUSIC BOX begin to play.                       BOTH          AND A SONG SOMEONE SINGS          ONCE UPON A DECEMBER...Their cracking voices trail off as they look at each otherand know that they are who they've been searching for -and the search is finally over.Tatiana and Anya throw their arms around each other, bothcrying, both overjoyed.TATIANA Anastasia! Anastasia! You've come home at last!You've come home ...OUTSIDE THE WINDOWDmitri watches Anya and Tatiana's embrace. He smiles sadly,then turns and walks down the dark street alone.EXT. ANYA'S WINDOWBartok slides his way out to the window ledge. Overcome withemotion, he is crying big bat tears.                       BARTOK          He is gonna yellllll.EXT. RASPUTIN'S WAGON - NIGHTHideous fat river rats, ferocious looking and scarred,stop and tremble nervously when                       RASPUTIN (O.C.)                    (booming louder than ever before)          SHE'LL FIND HER DEMISE IN THAT HAPPY HOME!Bartok catapults across the frame, having been thrown outof the window so hard that when he hits the stone wall ofthe river bank, the stones crack.                       BARTOK          I should have been a dentist ...INT. ANYA'S BEDROOM IN TATIANA'S HOUSE - NIGHTAnya snuggles down into the thick covers as Tatianastrokes her hair gently.                       ANYA          ... and that Christmas dinner,          when Cook made that awful plum          pudding and we hid it in our          pockets so we wouldn't hurt her          feelings! I do remember so much          now, Grandmama, - but not everything.                       TATIANA          Don't worry about that now, child,          it will all come back to you now          that you're home...Anya closes her eyes as Tatiana continues to stroke her hair.                       TATIANA (CONT.)                    (quietly)          My poor child you're safe, now...          you're home ...Anya is asleep as Tatiana kisses her forehead, turns offthe light and walks to the door. She looks back on hersleeping granddaughter with enormous joy and gratitude.She smiles to herself as she pulls the door closed behind her, revealing RASPUTIN STANDING BEHIND THE DOOR.His eyes glow like embers in the dark. Bartok is perchedon his shoulder.                       RASPUTIN          Yesss ... finally "home". And what          a charming ... girlish little home          it is.                    (gestures to CHERUBS                       in the wallpaper)          Look, Bartok, little angels, the          symbol of ... love. So sweet, so          harmless.Rasputin takes the reliquary from around his waist andplaces it on the table.                       RASPUTIN (CONT.)          Let's go for a touch of irony, shall we?He waves his hand and the smoke emerges, emanating towardthe walls.CLOSE ONsome CHERUBS as the smoke hits them. They begin to change,taking on a lean and evil look. Their tiny arrows grow,becoming lethal, as their eyes turn from soft brown toblood red. Slowly, they EMERGE from the wallpaper, theirsmall wings growing into horrible pterodactyl membranouspaired appendages.They SWOOP into flight and begin to circle the room, fasterand faster. Rasputin leans precariously over the sleepingAnya, chuckling.                       RASPUTIN (CONT.)          And there will be no blood on my hands ...Rasputin backs away as the cherubs aim their JAGGED ARROWSat Anya.Suddenly, Meetoo leaps up from the bed, barking. Rasputin,startled, jumps backward. Bartok falls off his shoulder andon to the table, knocking into the reliquary - which is aboutto fall.                        RASPUTIN (CONT.)          Nooooooo!Rasputin catches it. The SPELL is immediately broken andeverything turns back to normal just as Anya wakes up. Shesees Rasputin and lets out a SCREAM.Rasputin advances on her, his hands outstretched as if tostrangle her when he hears footsteps and voices in the hallway.Rasputin grabs the reliquary and LEAPS out the window, hismonk's robe billowing just as the door opens.Tatiana rushes in and sees Bartok flying out the window.                       TATIANA          Anastasia! It was just a bat!          It's gone, dear...                       ANYA                    (shaken)          No, it wasn't a bat! I saw this          horrible man - I remember him,          I think...                       TATIANA                    (comforting)          No, no child... shush... it's          all right ...She embraces Anya, who is still terrified and knowsthat she saw what she saw.INT.	TATIANA'S HOUSE - DAYAnya sits, looking a bit vacant as two overly Frenchjewelers, PIERRE & ANDRE, fit Anya for her ROYAL CROWN.Tatiana sits across from Anya and can't help but noticethat Anya looks miserable as Sophie bustles about.                       SOPHIE          A grand ball for the Princess.          How very exciting. So much to do,          so little time...                       TATIANA                    (slightly annoyed)          Do it somewhere else, please. Quietly.The slight is lost on Sophie who bustles out talking to herself.                       SOPHIE          Caterers ... invitations ... saber          dancers! We must have saber dancers!<u>"RULERS OF RUSSIA" (COMIC REPRISE)Sophie SINGS as COMIC REPRISE of 'RULERS OF RUSSIA"</u>Pierre and Andre argue as they fit Anya for the crown.                       PIERRE          Her head it is ... how you say?                       ANDRE          Beeg. Zat is how you say it.          Beeg.                       PIERRE          And the crown she is ... how you say?                       ANDRE          Small! Zat is "how you say" it!          Don't be so French, Pierre wit the          "how you say" all za time - zat is          really annoying.As they discuss this, Anya wanders away from them, the crownstill slightly askew on her head. Tatiana follows her.                       TATIANA          You are going to make a beautiful          princess.But Anya simply nods. Tatiana turns her towards a FULL LENGTHMIRROR, then straightens the crown as they look at theirreflections.                       TATIANA          Lovely...	          (no reaction)          What troubles you, child?But before Anya can answer, Vladimir leans into the room.                       VLADIMIR          Madame, your... eh... guest has          arrived.                       TATIANA                    (knowing)          Thank you, Vladimir.,Tatiana leaves and Vladimir looks at Anya. Anya, angryat him, turns away.                       VLADIMIR          Anya... Anastasia... I'm sorry ...          We didn't mean to hurt you ...Anya still won't look at him.INT. TATIANA'S STUDYTatiana walks into her study and is happy to see Dmitriis standing there, looking nervous and very uncomfortable.                       TATIANA          I sent for you because I owe you a          debt of gratitude larger than I can          ever repay                       DMITRI          No. Empress, you --                       TATIANA          I want you to have the reward money -          you've earned it.He leaps from his chair, exploding with emotion.                       DMITRI          Empress, no! I will not take the          money! I just came to tell you          I was sorry...                       TATIANA          Young	man, I...Dmitri flips his hair out of his eyes and Tatiana getsa look of recognition across her face.                       DMITRI          ... and I'm going to keep my          promise to stay out of your          lives, forever.Tatiana looks at him with great understanding and affectionas she realizes,                       TATIANA          You are the boy ...                       DMITRI                    (uncomfortable)          I should go                       TATIANA          That last night in the palace...          one boy showed us kindness and courage.          You were the boy who saved our lives,          weren't you?                    (Dmitri doesn't answer)          Please, is there nothing I can do to          repay you?                       DMITRI          Promise me she'll have her home.                       TATIANA          She does.                       DMITRI          And tell me that she's happy.                       TATIANA	  Oh, Dmitri.I wish that I could.Dmitri comes down the steps, then stops when he sees Anya,wearing her CROWN.She turns and sees him, stifling her first impulse, thenputting on a show of supreme confidence.                       DMITRI          I'm glad you found what you          were looking for.                       ANYA          I'm glad you	did too.With nothing left to say, he heads for the door.                       ANYA          Enjoy your fortune.Dmitri spins, but restrains. He opens the door andAnya goes back into the Parlor. They both know thatthey will never see each other again.INT.	LITTLE HOTEL - DAYDmitri busily tosses his few possessions into hisbackpack as Vladimir - in formal attire - waves anembossed INVITATION at him.                       VLADIMIR          But this invitation came          from the Empress herself!          It's the social event of          the decade! You can't turn          it down!                       DMITRI          Watch me.Vladimir starts to protest. Dmitri grabs the invitationand tears it up, tossing the pieces into the air.Vladimir sighs.                       VLADIMIR          So where will you go?                       DMITRI          She found her home.          Maybe it's time I found          one too!NEW POVfrom outside the window. WE DO NOT HEAR THEM, but wesee Vlad and Dmitri hug good-bye.PULL RACKto see it's RASPUTIN'S POV; as he stands on a LADDEROF SMOKE, looking into Dmitri's window. Rasputin watchesVladimir leave as Dmitri finishes packing.INT.	DMITRI'S ROOMAs the windows BURST OPEN and Rasputin swoops in. Dmitribacks away, terrified as the ladder dissolves and smokefills the room.                       RASPUTIN          So. You don't want to go to           the coronation, eh?                       DMITRI                    (recognizing him)          Rasputin!                       RASPUTIN          I know, I know ... you thought I          was dead. That's how the history          books will remember me - not as          the ruler of all of Russia,          which I SHOULD HAVE BEEN -          but as the guy who was never          dead when you expected him to be.          Dmitri backs away as the smoke coils around him andRasputin advances.                       DMITRI          What do you want?!                       RASPUTIN          The same thing I wanted ten           years ago - all the Romonovs dead          I got the others, now I have          to finish up with that nuisance,           Anastasia...                       DMITRI          You're insane! You didn't          kill the Romonovs - it          was the...                       RASPUTIN          STOP IT! I DID SO KILL THEM!          And I'm going to kill Anastasia.Dmitri lunges for him but the smoke coils aroundhim like rope, holding him back.                       RASPUTIN (CONT.)          Look at me...                    (Dmitri turns away)          Look at me!The SMOKE forms into hands, forcing Dmitri's facetoward Rasputin's. Dmitri's eyes widen. Rasputinlocks on him with his eyes, glowing like red hotcoals, as he bears Dmitri in hypnotically.                       RASPUTIN (CONT.)          You are going to help me          kill her... You are going          to help me kill her...          her...ON BARTOKwho looks away, obviously not enjoying this.As WE HEAR Rasputin repeat "You are going tohelp me" a few more times.EXT.	EIFFEL TOWER - NIGHTMagnificently, the Eiffel Tower illuminates all ofParis when FLOOD LIGHTS come on and we see a LARGEPARTY has been set underneath it's black iron legs.WE HEM TRUMPETS as weMOVE IN CLOSERto see that a stage has been set up on the north side,the "Seine side". of the Tower, with a large throne-likechair in the center. Beautiful PARTY GUESTS,  many wehad seen in the opening Ballroom scene, mingle aroundexcitedly. Behind the stage, a beautiful curtain separatesthe party fromINT. BEHIND THE CURTAINthe Princess Anastasia, in crown and full coronation gown.Anastasia fidgets nervously, looking for the key aroundher neck, then remembering it isn't there anymore, as aMAJOR RUSSIAN DOMO addresses her and Tatiana.                       MAJOR DOMO          ... then as I say "Her Serene Highness          Princess Anastasia" you, your Highness,          should walk out on to the stage and          greet your ...Tatiana sees that Anastasia isn't listening and dismissesthe Major Domo in mid sentence.                       TATIANA          I believe her highness understands           what she has to do.Major Domo bows and leaves. Tatiana looks at Anastasia.                       TATIANA (CONT.)          Don't you, child?                       ANYA          Oh, yes, Grandmama -          I wait until I hear...                       TATIANA          No, not about the ceremony,          Anastasia - do you understand          the choice you must make.Anya turns to her in confusion.                       ANYA          There's no choice...Anya is cut off with a quick knock at the door,as Sophie and Vladimir enter, bowing to them both.Vladimir has Meetoo, all dressed up in bows andribbons - and looking miserable - on a leash.                       VLADIMIR                    (to Tatiana)          Your "guest" is unable to attend.Tatiana is troubled by this news. Anya startslaughing when she sees Meetoo.                       ANYA          Oh, Meetoo! You look miserable!          Oh, Vlad - look at him!                       VLADIMIR                    (formally)          Yes, your highness.                       ANYA          Poor Meetoo!                       VLADIMIR                    (formally)          Yes, your highness.                       ANYA          Cut it out, Vlad! I'm not          angry with you anymore -          I know how much you needed          the money.                       TATIANA          But they didn't take the money -          either one of them. I offered it          to them, but they both refused.Anya is shocked, she takes a minute to process this as                       ANYA          Dmitri didn't want the money?                       TATIANA          No, he just wanted to know          you were happy.                       VLADIMIR                    (taking Sophie's hand)          Fortunately, I am to be married.                    (backing away)          With your highness, permission.                       ANYA          Vlad, stop acting this way!           You're my friend!                       VLADIMIR          No. From now on I am your          loyal subject ... your          highness. By your leave?To Anya's dismay, Vlad and Sophie bow and back out of the room.                       ANYA          Why does everyone have to          act that way?                       TATIANA          You'll have to become used          to it, child, if you accept          the crown...                       ANYA          "If" I accept?! Of course          I'm going to accept! it's          what I always wanted!                       TATIANA          Is it? Is this what you want?Tatiana gestures to the formality outside.                       ANYA          I wanted to come home,          Grandmama - and I did.          I came back to my home          with you.                       TATIANA          You can't go back to find your           home. Your home is in your heart,          in the future that you make for          yourself.                       ANYA          And this is my future. This is           who I am!                       TATIANA          This is who you were. Exactly           who you are is up to you.                                 ANYA          I don't know who I am!          I still don't know!                       TATIANA          Yes, you do. You do.Tatiana kisses her on the forehead.                       TATIANA (CONT.)          And in your heart, you know what          is right for you.Tatiana turns to leave.                                 ANYA          I've spent my whole          life waiting to find you ...                       TATIANA          And we have found each other          nothing will ever change that!          I am your family, dear child,          but I may not be your home.Tatiana leaves. Anya is very torn. Anya jumps asthe TRUMPETS sound announcing her entrance.INT. BALLROOM - NIGHTThe COURTIERS gather, excited, as the Major Domoreadies to make his announcement.INT. ANTE ROOM (EIFFEL TOWER)Anya, thinking about what Tatiana has said, looksat herself in the mirror.ANYA'S POVthe Princess Anastasia. But not Anya.                       MAJOR DOMO (O.C)                    (announcing)          Her Serene Highness, the Princess           Anastasia!Pause.	WE HEAR mummers from the crowd outside, various"Where's Anastasia?", then                       DMITRI (O.C.)          Anya!Anya spins around, looking for him. His voice seemsdistant and ghostly,                       DMITRI (O.C.)          Anya ...Anya follows his voice out of the room and into theELEVATOR. The doors close.EXT. ELEVATORas it rises gently to the very top of the Eiffel Towernot on cables - but on long ropes of smoke.EXT.	TOP OF EIFFEL TOWERRasputin, gleeful, sits perched on a girder, looking downat the party below.                       RASPUTIN          Look, Bartok. Most of them were          there the night I made this curse.          Now, they'll get to see it finished!                    (sighing, content)          Revenge is a dish best served... in          front of a larrrrrge audience!Rasputin leans over the rail and looks down at the party.                       RASPUTIN (CONT.)          Do not despair. I'll make sure your           beloved princess drops in.      Rasputin chuckles at his own "wit"                       BARTOK                    (depressed)          Ahh, very witty. There's this          English guy - Noel Coward -          I'll bet he's quaking ...ON THE ELEVATORAs the door open and Anya rushes out, looking around.                       ANYA          Dmitri?Dmitri is standing - like a zombie - at the far endof the platform. Anya sees him.                       ANYA          Dmitri ... Grandmama told me.She stops. She can tell that something isn't rightwith Dmitri by the look in his eyes.                       ANYA          Dmitri, what's wrong?Dmitri approaches her slowly, zombie-like, armsoutstretched.                       RASPUTIN                    (from above)          Throw her off the edge! Do it!Anya looks up at the booming voice.ANYA'S POVsees Rasputin.BACK TO ANYA: FLASHES, RAPID IMAGES:RASPUTIN from the last night at the palaceYOUNG ANASTASIA - TERRIFIEDORANGE flash of gunshotsYOUNG DMITRI leading them out the wall panel, then theFace of the YOUNG DMITRI superimposes over the zombie whois coming toward her.                       ANYA          Dmitri ... Look at me!          It's Anya! It's ANYA!Dmitri stops. His eyes glazed and frightening.                       ANYA          You saved my life in the          palace! You won't take          it now...                       RASPUTIN                    (from above)          FINISH HER!Anya holds her ground as Dmitri moves toward her,ready to push her off theedge.                       ANYA          Dmitri. I know you would          never hurt me. You love me.As Dmitri come close, she moves toward him andkisses him. He blinks and snaps out of it and isquite happy that Anya is kissing him.                       ANYA          Dmitri?                       DMITRI          Anya... where are we?WE HEAR a howl from above and suddenly Rasputinjumps down. The reliquary tied to his waist, he'smore furious than we've ever seen him - his faceliterally consumed with rage and hatred.Anya is terrified - but holds her ground as she didwhen she was a child.                       ANYA          I guess you aren't as          powerful as you thought!Rasputin walks slowly toward Anya and Dmitri, burning with rage.                       RASPUTIN          I'll show you!                       DMITRI          Run, Anya -  go...                       ANYA          I'm not leaving you!                       RASPUTIN          Fighting for fair lady. How noble...Dmitri pushes Anya away and charges the much largerRasputin, who knocks his aside with on swoop of bighuge arm.                       RASPUTIN (CONT.)          And how pathetic.Rasputin turns to Anya climbing up a girder.                       RASPUTIN (CONT.)          That's only going to make you          fall farther.Anya turns suddenly and kicks Rasputin in the face,which has the same effect as kicking a brick wall.Anya is thrown off balance and falls. Rasputin pushesher with his foot and she slides across the floor toDmitri.Anya and Dmitri exchange a quick look as Rasputin,chuckling, advances on them. Anya reaches up and grabsRasputin's beard, pulling his face forward so thatDmitri can give him a good roundhouse punch.The blow does little but enrage Rasputin. He reachesout and with one huge hand, picks Anya like a rag dolland takes her to the ledge.                       DMITRI          Anya!Dmitri throws himself against Rasputin several timesonly to get batted away like a fly. Realizing this isfutile, Dmitri slips through the FLOOR GIRDERS andscurries towards the edge... BELOW TEM.DMITRI POV: Rasputin's large boots above him, headingfor the edge.ABOVERasputin reaches the edge, playful dangling thestruggling Anya over the side.                       RASPUTIN          My curse is now complete!          Good-bye, babushka!Anya looks over the ledge.ANYA'S POVThe city below as she FALLS. Dmitri emerges from thegrid below and GRASS her, holding on to the back ofher dress.                       DMITRI          Take my hand!                    (sees Rasputin approaching)          Hurry!She manages to spin around, gripping his hand.                       ANYA          Don't let me go!                       DMITRI          I'll never let go!CLOSEtheir hands, gripping one another.                       RASPUTIN (O.C.)          What a touching sentiment...They look up to see his right above them. Rasputin'sboot SMASHES DOWN on Dmitri's hand, which grips thegirder.Dmitri screams out	in, but doesn't let go. Helooks down at Anya and pulls her up while Rasputinbegins to pry off Dmitri's fingers one at a time.                       RASPUTIN          This little piggy had a palace...          this little piggy had a throne...Anya swings to another beam and now has firm footing asRasputin continues.                       RASPUTIN (CONT.)          This little piggy missed the firing          squad..Dmitri is literally holding on with two fingers.                       RASPUTIN (CONT.)          And this little piggy wanted a home...          And this little piggy went wee wee          wee all the way... down!As Dmitri's last finger is preyed away, he falls buthis grasp on Anya's hand is firm and she pulls himonto where she is standing.Rasputin leans over and bends toward them, three feetfrom Anya.                       RASPUTIN (CONT.)          DIE!The reliquary is dangling. Anya reaches up to grab on toit but her aim is off and she HITS it. The reliquary fliesand SMASHES against the side of the tower, shattering.Rasputin realizes what has happened and scrambles awayin terror.                       RASPUTIN (CONT.)          NOOOOOOOOO!ON BARTOKwho covers his eyes.ON ANYA AND DMITRIwho climb back up to the platform.LONG SHOTof the Eiffel Tower as the EVIL SPIRITS FROM THERELIQUARY burst out. The SPIRITS take on all the formswe've seen earlier: BEARS, MINIONS, SNAKES, andcombinations of all. They grow and swirl, with hideousMOANING noises.Anya and Dmitri huddle together, in disbelief.ON RASPUTINas the SPIRITS begin to swarm around him, a TORNADO ofhorrid beings. Re screams as they pull him off theground.ON ANYA AND DMITRIas the force of the tornado increases, they have tohold on to the girders and each other in order not tobe sucked in. Bartok is thrown against the side of thetower and slithers to the floor.ON RASPUTINsuspended over the Eiffel Tower in the maelstrom. HeScreams wildly as the spirits encircle his, tormenthim and EXPLODE - pieces fly and disintegrate in mid-air,in wild colors and smoke.ON DMITRI AND ANYAwho hug each other in relief. They stand, looking out.The smoke dissipates, showing them the city lights below.ON BARTOKwho rises, patting his chest- He's about to let outa Bartokism... but all the emerges are LITTLE BAT SQUEAKS.He's surprised as first, then thrilled. The spell isbroken and he's just a bat again.DMITRI AND ANYAas he reaches down and picks up the crown that fell offher head in the fight. He hands it to her.                       DMITRI          Come on... I'll take you home.Anya looks lovingly at Dmitri and doesn't put the crown back on.                       ANYA          I am home.<U>"HONE IS WHERE YOU ARE"(The Love Duet For Anya And Dmitri). A SIMPLE EMOTIONALBALLAD for two people who realize at last that their heartshave led then to each other, to "home". This will work withinthe dramatic context of the film (sung by the characters) butcan also be re-recorded as a Pop single.</U>The song continues over various scenes:THE EMPTY STAGETatiana smiling, knowingly.SOPHIE & VLADIMIRsneaking a kiss in the middle of the party. Xenia and Estellelook at each other with their stone faces.. . and smile.BARTOKHanging from the rafters of the Eiffel Tower, no sure whatto do next - then a cute female bat flies up next to his and"bats" her eyes.ANYA & DMITRIwalking over the River bridge with Meetoo following behindthem... a family - going home together.FADE OUTTHE END
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+ANGEL EYES        by   Gerald DiPego    October 1999Seventh Draft/PolishFOR EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES ONLYFADE IN:EXT. CITY STREETS (LOS ANGELES) - NIGHTCREDIT SEQUENCE.As OPENING CREDITS play, we study the city's nighttimepulse, ribbons of headlights moving and cross-connectinglike blood through the veins of a body --impressionistic, even beautiful, but what we're hearingis soulful trumpet-based MUSIC, mellow and haunting, themodern classic -- JAZZ sound of a Wynton Marsalis,putting a voice to our story. As CREDITS END, we...                                            DISSOLVE TO:POV - EXT. FREEWAY - NIGHTNow the MUSIC is GONE, SOUNDS are MUFFLED and visionblurred. We get the impression of urgent movement. Wehear BREATHING. There are VOICES, SHOUTS, even SCREAMS,but MUFFLED, far away. Only the breathing is distinct.We come to realize it is our breathing, and we are insidesomeone, looking out. The man whose POV this is is onthe edge of consciousness and not far from death. Helies on the pavement of a freeway at the site of anaccident only minutes after impact.His VISION goes IN and OUT of clarity. People areswarming around him and rushing by toward the carnage ofwrecked vehicles. A SIREN BLOOMS in the distance andapproaches haltingly. The man slips away, comes backtoward consciousness, slips again.The crowd around the downed man parts to allow passage toa police officer. It is a woman, Officer SHARON POGUE,LAPD. She kneels at the man's side, taking charge,speaking, but we hear only SLIVERS of SOUND. He sees herface clearly now, close above him.Sharon is   a dedicated professional and more. We see downinto her   to a place of real caring. She stares into oureyes and   connects. We begin to hear her now -- and thereare more   SIRENS converging in b.g.                          SHARON            Can you hear me?                   (shouting, off)            This one's conscious!                          VOICE (O.S.)            Paramedics on the way!We are slipping away again. Sharon holds us with hereyes, and she grips our hand.                                            (CONTINUED)                                                          2.CONTINUED:                           SHARON             Wait. Wait. Listen to me.    Can             you feel that?She holds on tight.     We see that our hand, held in herown, is bloody.                           SHARON             That's my hand. Hold it.    Go on             -- as hard as you can.We watch our hand gripping hers, and as we hold on, thesights and sounds around us grow more clear.                           SHARON             It's over, and I've got you, and             you're safe. You're safe now.             You got that? Don't let go.             Don't let me go.But our eyes unlock from Sharon's and DRIFT TO a patch ofnight sky. Her voice fades awawy. Our POV begins TOLIFT, MOVING TOWARD that sky, as the blue-black nightbegins to turn white. We GO INTO that white light and...                                                 DISSOLVE TO:EXT. LOS ANGELES CITYSCAPE - DAYWe PICK OUT a police car from the traffic and FOLLOW.The beat being patrolled is a mixed neighborhood withsome very rough edges.INT. POLICE CAR - DAYOfficer Sharon Pogue is driving the car. It is two yearssince we saw her at the accident site. Her partner,ROBBY LEWIS, sips coffee and keeps one eye on the CADmonitor which lists all area police calls. She slowsbehind a car that is crawling along, an old 60s car,driven by a young man and woman who sit very close on thebench seat. The car's ENGINE is MISSING and smoking.                           SHARON             That car is older than they are.                           ROBBY             '67 Chevy Impala.                           SHARON             That's what I said.                                                 (CONTINUED)                                                       3.CONTINUED:                           ROBBY             Needs a servicing.                             SHARON             Don't we all.Robby nearly spits his coffee, laughing at what Sharonhas said and trying not to choke. Sharon smiles, shakingher head.                           SHARON             Get it together, officer.As Robby smiles, Sharon looks ahead at the young couplewho each have an arm around the other. She is strokinghis neck. He is making gentle circles in her hair.Sharon watches this, and for a moment her eyes reveal adepth that may be loneliness, but she quickly pushes herthoughts away and hits the HORN, startling Robby andstartling the people ahead who now disengage and driveon.                            ROBBY             Jesus, Pogo! Almost spilled my             coffee again! You didn't like his             hair, or what?                        SHARON          I love Elvis hair. They were          going two damn miles an hour.But Robby's eyes have caught something on the monitor.                        ROBBY          Let's roll to this -- fight in          progress.As Robby secures that coffee cup, Sharon hits the SIRENand speeds around the car in front of them.EXT. CITY STREET - DAYAt the same time, a few blocks away, an OLD, FRAIL MAN iscarrying two plastic grocery bags that are too heavy forhim.Walking behind this man is a younger man named CATCHLAMBERT, an attractive man with some scarring on hisface. His eyes, deep down, are haunted by something, butthere is energy in his step. He is dressed in a relaxedand stylish manner, not expensive. He begins to pick uphis pace to catch up to the old man.                                             (CONTINUED)                                                     4.CONTINUED:People glance at Catch, nad he glances back in an openand unflinching way, ready for anything, a smile, a nod,or -- because these are some of L.A.'s mean streets -- athreatening or taunting look. These he also meetsopenly, without a trace of fear. The man has beenthrough some kind of fire, and it has left him differentfrom us. Outside the usual boundaries.Catch walks beside the Old Man, glancing at him.Finally, the man glances back, wondering and suspicious,but Catch has a slight, disarming smile, open and honest.                           CATCH             Y'know... since we're both walking             the same way, I could take one of             those bags for you. That way, I             do some upper body work while I'm             walking along. Helps my back.             What d'you say?The Old Man trudges on, proud and suspicious, too.                           CATCH             Right now your mind's making             pictures of me robbing your             groceires, but, y'know, nine times             out of ten, people do the right             thing.The Old Man glances at him, still not convinced, but hesoon has to stop and rest. Catch stops, too. The oldman looks at him, a bit embarrassed.                           OLD MAN             It's the dog food that makes it so             heavy.Catch nods, puts out his hand. The Old Man hesitates,then decides and lifts a bag, and Catch takes it.                           CATCH             I guess it's worth it... for a             good dog.Catch isn't kidding. He has that honesty. The Old Mannods and starts trudging again. As they walk ontogether, Catch reaches for that second bag. The manrelents and lets him take it. They continue on, Catchcarrying the bags and every now and then lifting them abit for his upper body work.                                                          5.EXT. VIDEO GAME ROOM - DAYThis is the call Sharon and Robby have sped to. It is achaotic scene of cops breaking up a fight between eightboys, 16-20. A big KID, 18 or so, is being pulled offanother by Sharon and Robby. The Kid is wild andresisting and Sharon shows her toughness andprofessionalism and some anger, too, as she slams himinto a fence -- and Robby holds him while she cuffs theyoung man -- who is very mouthy, playing to his friends.                        KID          Look at this bitch.    Whoo!   Benny,          look at this!Sharon and Robby are both very good at their jobs, takingthis Kid to their car while other cops contain the rest.A crowd watches -- mostly teens.                        KID                 (to Sharon)          You come in with me.    Hey, bitch.Some of his bystanders friends howl at that.                        KID          You're going to arrest me, you          come into the back seat with me.          Come on!He resists a bit, but they're getting him into the car.                         KID          Come on.   We'll have a good time.INT. POLICE CAR - DAY (FEW MINUTES LATER)Sharon's on the radio to dispatch as Robby drives and theKid keeps mouthing off.                        SHARON                 (to radio)          Three Adam Five -- show us 1019 to          the jail with one male prisoner.                        KID          Take off your uniform. Take off          my handcuffs, bitch, and come back          here. I want one touch.                        ROBBY          Give it a rest!Sharon is stone-faced through this.                                                (CONTINUED)                                                           6.CONTINUED:                           KID             If you're going to put me away,             you gotta give me one sweet touch.INT. JAIL BOOKING AREA - DAYAs Robby and Sharon bring their suspect to the bookingcounter, each holding one of his cuffed arms. The Kid islooking at Sharon's hand on his arm.                           KID             That ain't the touch.   That ain't             the touch I want.They get him to the counter.                           ROBBY             As I remove your cuffs, I want you             to put your hands here. Spread             your legs. More.As they remove the cuffs, the Kid makes a sudden movetoward Sharon, reaching between her legs -- but she wasnot only ready for this, but hoping for it -- and thestoniness of her face cracks into fierce anger as shemoves quickly and grabs the Kid by the hair, bringing hisface into her upraised knee. He cries out and goes downon his knees, hurting and bleeding. The jailer rushesover to help, but Robby grabs the Kid's wrists.                            ROBBY             That's it.   Back off, John, we got             it.Robby glances at Sharon -- a dark glance.EXT. POLICE JAIL PARKING LOT - DAY (LATER)as Robby and Sharon walk to their car. They areinterrupted by one of their lieutenants, SANDERMAN,walking their way and stopping to stare at Sharon. Shemeets his look.                           SANDERMAN             You trying to be a bad-ass, Pogue?She is straightforward, not rebellious.                           SHARON             I just dealt with the situation.             The prisoner...                                                  (CONTINUED)                                                          7.CONTINUED:                            SANDERMAN             And you don't see a pattern here?                    (pause)             I want you to keep yourself way             inside the line instead of walking             on it. All right? Are you taking             notes?He walks away, and Sharon and Robby walk on to theircar -- she is dark; he is glancing at her.                           ROBBY             You broke his nose.                              SHARON             He grabbed me.     End of story.                           ROBBY             And you were waiting for him. You             were hoping. You were making             long-range plans for his ass while             he was mouthing off in the car --             and you're supposed to be above             that shit.                           SHARON             If you think I crossed the line,             put it in the report.                           ROBBY             Pogo, stop the shit. What is it?             You pissed off at me, too?They enter the car, Sharon behind the wheel.                        SHARON          Not you, Rob. You're a rare          unthreatened male cop with a good          marriage, and you like to eat          where I eat -- so everything's          code four.She STARTS the CAR and starts to back out, and he reachesover and turns OFF the IGNITION. She stares hotly athim -- but then, slowly, she softens, takes a deepbreath.                            ROBBY          Come over    for dinner tonight.          I'll call    Charlene. She'd like to          see you.     It's been awhile. We'll          talk about    it.                                                (CONTINUED)                                                          8.CONTINUED:She STARTS the CAR again, more calm, starts to drive outof the lot.                           SHARON             Thanks. But  she'll invite             friends, try and fix me up. She's             always trying to fix me up so she             doesn't have to worry about you             and me.                           ROBBY             She doesn't worry about that.                           SHARON             They all worry about that.They both smile wryly, driving on.                           SHARON             You don't need to fix me, Robby,             or fix me up. I don't want some             guy to heart and soul me and then             walk away 'cause he can't stand             the cop thing -- or worse: he             wants cop stories every night             'cause it turns him on, and he has             no idea who I am inside my head.             Anyway, I'm busy tonight.                           ROBBY             Got some action, huh?    Well,             that's promising.                            SHARON             Yeah.   Hot and heavy.                                              IMMEDIATE CUT TO:INT. SHARON'S APARTMENT - NIGHTShe is on the floor using an exercise rig, sliding intocrunches, pushing herself, sweating, alone. We BEGINDRIFTING TO the rain-spattered window as night soundsfilter in, HORNS, SOMEONE SHOUTING, a CAR MOVING BY withTHUNDEROUS BASS MUSIC that pulses the very air andRATTLES the LOOSE GLASS of her window.EXT. NEIGHBORHOOD STREETS - NIGHTCatch Lambert is walking the wet streets, head down inthe rain. Far away we hear that car with a BASS-BLASTINGRADIO.                                                 (CONTINUED)                                                       9.CONTINUED:In the glow of a street lamp, Catch sees a bright-coloredobject in the gutter. He picks it up out of the gurglingrain water. It is a small toy, a discarded superhero.He puts it in his pocket, walks on.Now the car, the prowling, MUSIC-BLASTING, BASS-THUNDERING CAR turns a corner and begins rollling alongslowly -- beside Catch. He glances over, walking on.There are four tough-looking MEN in the car, looking fortrouble. The MUSIC is DEAFENING. Catch glances again,walks on. Their eyes follow him like gun barrels. Hestops and walks out on the street, moving toward the car,shouting over the music.                          CATCH             Hey! You want to turn that volume             down? What's your point?The men, incredulous, stop the car and snap OFF the MUSICin order to make sure they're hearing right. They staredeath at Catch.                           DRIVER (MAN)             What did you say?                           CATCH             What's the point of blasting your             music through the whole zip code?             Don't you realize there are kids             trying to sleep in these             apartments -- old people, sick             people?They can hardly believe this.                           DRIVER             You better watch your mouth,             asshole.Catch meets the man's look with his own unflinching,haunted eyes.                            CATCH             Why?   What're you gonna do?   Kill             me?Catch's look is not a macho challenge. It's somethingelse -- beyond that, a man somehow without limits. Oneof the riders in the backseat taps the Driver's shoulder.                            MAN #2             Guy's nuts.   Let's go.The Driver, never breaking his death stare, snaps on theDEAFENING MUSIC and then slowly rolls on, still glaringat Catch. Catch stands in the rain, watching them go.                                                       10.INT. CATCH'S APARTMENT CORRIDOR - SAME NIGHTCatch is arriving home, soaking wet. He lives in aslightly-seedy three-story. As he walks down thecorridor toward his apaprtment, he passes a neighbor'sdoor and notices a set of keys dangling from the lock.He pauses -- and then knocks softly on the door.Someone looks through the peephole and then opens thedoor -- a young single mother, friendly but with a littlecaution, too. She recognizes Catch. Behind her is alittle boy, (five). The woman's name is CANDACE. Herson is TOMMY.                         CANDACE          Hi.                         CATCH          Hi.   Your keys are in the...He gestures, and she sees the keys and retrieves them,more friendly now.                        CANDACE          Oh, thank you. Thanks a lot.          God. I was trying to carry Tommy          and all these bags. He was so          tired. Of course, as soon as I          put him down he had all this          energy...While she is talking, Catch is staring deeply at the boy,who is shy. Catch almost speaks to the boy, wants to,goes halfway to a smile -- but the sight of the kid stirsthat layer of darkness in Catch. He nods a good-bye tothe mother and is about to go. She thinks about this, ashe is turning, and pushes through her remaining cautionto say...                        CANDACE          Y'know, we were just baking          nectarine bars because the peaches          weren't ripe. Ever had a          nectarine bar?He smiles and seems to want to stay, but he is alreadyretreating. His contact goes only so far -- and nofurther.                         CATCH          Sorry.   Gotta be going.And with one more glance at the boy, he walks to hisapartment, unlocks it and steps in.                                                      11.INT. CATCH'S APARTMENT - NIGHTHe walks into a bare living room -- no chairs, tables,lamps, nothing on the walls. He walks into a spotless,never-used kitchen and flips on the light, opens adrawer.In the drawer is a collection of kids' toys, some found,some purchased, mostly plastic figures. The action ofopening the door has started some battery-operatedanimals moving around in there. Now from his pocket hetakes the plastic superhero he just found and drops it inand closes the drawer.He walks back into the living room. He sits on thefloor, leans back against the wall, his clothes stillsoaked from the rain. He stares at his thoughts, lookinga bit numb -- and lost.EXT./INT. DRY CLEANERS SHOP - DAYSharon is just leaving with a clean uniform on a hangerin a plastic bag. It's a neighborhood place wherealterations are done. As she is leaving, an older womanis just entering. This is MRS. VANDER, beaming atSharon, a real talker.                         MRS. VANDER          Sherry!                        SHARON          Hi, Mrs. Vander. You're looking          good.                        MRS. VANDER          Oh, you just wait. I splurged.She is pulling a new blue dress out of a shopping bag.                        MRS. VANDER          It's for the church and the party.          It's just a little too long.                         SHARON          Looks great.                         MRS. VANDER          Y'know, I cried over the          invitation -- just imagine me in          church.                  (laughs)          It'll be so good to spend time          with you.                                             (CONTINUED)                                                           12.CONTINUED:Sharon forces a smile -- but is mystified. Mrs. Vanderis walking to the counter and pausing to say...                           MRS.   VANDER             You know Dan and I   renewed our             vows last year. I    bet that's             where your mom got   the idea.                           SHARON             Their vows?                           MRS. VANDER             Your mom and dad -- the             ceremony...Mrs. Vander realizes what's going on and stammers on,sympathetic and embarrassed.                           MRS. VANDER             Oh, well... y'know, I just got             that invitation a few... just now,             so I'm sure you'll...                           SHARON             Oh, yeah. We've had... there's             been some problems with the mail             in our building, so... I'll             probably get it today.They're both covering like mad, both realizing Sharon'sbeen left out.                           SHARON             So, I guess I'll see you.                           MRS. VANDER          Sure, honey.     I'll see you there.Sharon leaves -- Mrs. Vander staring after her, feelingbad. As Sharon walks away, we see her forced smile die,replaced by an old pain and darkness.EXT. RESIDENTIAL STREET - DAYRobby and Sharon's unit pulls up at a house remodel witha sign marked "POGUE CONSTRUCTION." Sharon exits the carand walks onto the site, moves toward a man who is bothcarpenter and supervisor on the job. This is herbrother, LARRY POGUE, 29. They are not comfortable witheach other -- an old wound. He gives her a wary nod.She's trying a little harder, being a bit more friendly.We can sense the strain.                                                 (CONTINUED)                                                          13.CONTINUED:                           SHARON             I didn't see his truck, so...                              LARRY             He's not here.                              SHARON             How you doing?She touches his shoulder as she says this, a friendlygesture, a reaching out. He doesn't respond, onlyshrugs.                              LARRY             I'm okay.                           SHARON             Kathy and the boy? Bet he's big             now.                              LARRY             Growin' fast.                           SHARON             Is he looking more like you now --             or did he get lucky?She has broken through a bit and they both smile a brief,wry smile.                            LARRY             He's got Kathy's looks and brains             and my strong back. You should             feel his grip.                    (pause)             You just passing by?She looks about.                           SHARON             Place is coming along nice. The             octagon window. Dad's signature.But Larry's look stays on her, wondering what's on hermind.                           SHARON             Look, Larry, I shouldn't have to             hear it from Mrs. Vander -- about             what's happening.He turns back to his work now as they speak,uncomfortable.                                                 (CONTINUED)                                                           14.CONTINUED:                           LARRY             What's happening?                           SHARON                    (hurt)             So you really weren't going to             tell me? Nobody was going to tell             me? Mom and Dad renewing their             vows, the church, the party. Mrs.             Vander is all excited. She bought             a new dress. It's blue.                           LARRY             We're workin' on Dad. We think             you should be there. We told him.                             SHARON             Mom told him?                           LARRY             We mentioned it.                           SHARON             He's holding out, hah?                           LARRY             You want to come?                           SHARON             It's my family. Jesus, Lar. It's             over ten years, and he won't let             go of it.                           LARRY             You two were always head to head.                        SHARON          For good reason. Remember?                        LARRY          Let's just leave it.She stares, then...                        SHARON          You're still scared of him.Pissed, he throws his hammer down on the plywood, turnsto her.                                                 (CONTINUED)                                                           15.CONTINUED:                           LARRY             I don't think it's a good idea you             coming around here in uniform.             People see it, they think we're in             trouble here.                           SHARON             Nice seeing you, too.She walks away.     He frowns, picks up his hammer, goesback to work.ON STREETAs Sharon walks towards the car, she sees a vanapproaching and she holds up a hand to Robby and callsout...                           SHARON             Two more minutes.And she walks toward the oncoming van, which is parkingnow.EXT. VAN - DAYThe van is driven by KATHY, Sharon's brother's wife.Beside her in a car seat is LARRY, JR., four years old.Sharon comes to the rolled down window on the driver'sside. She has a warm smile for Kathy and the child.Kathy smiles, too.                         KATHY            Hi! Look -- it's your Auntie            Sharon.                          SHARON            Hey, Champ, my God, look how big.She has a special affection for the boy -- who issubdued, but he smiles a small one for his aunt. Shetakes one of his hands and they shake in mock formality.                          LARRY JR.            Hi.                         SHARON            Ow! You hurt my hand with that            grip. Whew.                                                (CONTINUED)                                                         16.CONTINUED:She shakes her fingers, and he smiles a bit more. Sharonreaches in and rubs his head in a mock knuckling move.He laughs. She smooths his hair, affectionately.                           KATHY             We're bringing Larry his lunch.             Hey, it's good to see you. It's             been awhile. What?Sharon is staring at Kathy's badly bruised ear.                           KATHY             Oh, I went boom into a low shelf             -- chasing after him of course.                    (nodding to the child)             How're you doing?Sharon pulls her eyes off the bruise to meet Kathy's look-- and connect.                           SHARON             I'm semi-okay. I heard about             the... ceremony and the party.                             KATHY                     (embarrassed)             Oh. I hope you'll be there.                     (pause)             Really.Sharon smiles a bit, appreciating the support.       She patsKathy's arm.                             SHARON             Take it easy.    You too, Champ.The boy offers his little hand to shake again.                            SHARON             Oh, no. You're not breaking my             fingers again.They smile and drive on and Sharon walks toward her carand Robby.EXT. CITY PARK - DAY (NEXT DAY)We WATCH moms and kids and a basketball game in the parkand PICK UP Catch walking by. Two pre-teens are playingbounce and catch with a rubber ball against a (tennispractice) wall, and one of them misses, and Catch makes alunge and snags the ball. Instead of throwing it to oneof the boys, he fires it at the wall.                                                (CONTINUED)                                                       17.CONTINUED:One of the boys catches it, bounces it off the walltoward Catch. Catch grabs it, and now he's part of thisrapid-fire game -- and he's athletic and funny, too,playing hard and mugging and making them smile until... aPOLICE CAR comes ROARING down the boulevard, slowing abit to CHIRP its SIREN a few times -- clearing traffic.Catch glances up and sees...CATCH'S POVSharon is in the car beside Robby.ON CATCHStunned by the sight of her -- and he doesn't know why.He can't move, can't breathe, eyes fixed on her. ThePOLICE CAR pulls around a truck and ROARS on -- andthat's when he is struck by a memory, a little likelightning. It comes as a quick --FLASHBACK - EXT. FREEWAY - ACCIDENT SITE    - CATCH'S POV-- The man near death. Sharon is bending close to him,this all just a sliver of an image, and it jolts him.BACK TO SCENE (PRESENT)The police car is now converging with other squads justhalf a block away. Catch throws the ball back to theboys and runs toward the police incident. The boys watchhim go, wondering.EXT. CLOSED STORE - DAYA police   car is parked askew near this closed store -- asnow Robby   and Sharon's UNIT ROARS to a STOP beside it.Two cops   are calling and motioning to them, one holds ashotgun.    This is RAY JULIETTE.                           RAY             Break-in alarm. One suspect in --             nobody out. Take the back.And they are moving.EXT. BACK OF CLOSED STORE - DAYRobby and Sharon are hurrying around to the back as wehear more POLICE UNITS CONVERGING in front.                                                      18.ANGLE - STREETAs Catch arrives on the scene and sees Sharon and Robbymoving around the building to the back. He is stillamazed at the sight of her. He decides to follow her,keeping her in sight, driven.ON SHARON, ROBBYThey are scouting through crates and weeds as a young manis flushed from cover at the back of the store and runsfrom them.                         ROBBY          Freeze!The man runs on, and Sharon chases with Robby closebehind her. Sharon speaks to her shoulder radio mike asshe runs.                        SHARON                 (to radio)          Three-A-5, foot pursuit. Suspect          fleeing south on Pico Place, young          man, green jacket. No visible          weapon...                 (to Robby)          Robby!                        ROBBY          Right behind you!                 (to man)          Stop and lie down with your          arms... shit.The man has jumped a fence.   Sharon follows.                         ROBBY          Careful!                         SHARON          I see him!She goes over the fence, then Robby.EXT. PARKING LOT - DAYThe man runs and Sharon chases. Robby, not far behindglances off to the side, seeing Catch, still following.                        ROBBY          Citizen on your right!   Hey!                                            (CONTINUED)                                                     19.CONTINUED:But Sharon is now closing on the fleeing man who turnssuddenly, pointing a handgun!                              ROBBY             Gun!And Sharon, wide-eyed, is already pulling her weapon, butnot in time. The man is aiming at her and about to firewhen he is tackled by Catch.Catch and the man go sprawling, and the gun flies out ofthe man's hand, and Sharon is on him in an instant,pointing her gun at him...                             SHARON             Freeze!    Right there!Catch scrambles to his feet. Robby joins Sharon and putshis knee in the man's back and cuffs him, then glances atCatch. So does Sharon. But Catch starts to hurry off.                              ROBBY             Hey!     Wait!Two other cops (Ray Juliette and SANCHEZ) rush toward thesuspect on the ground.                              RAY             You got him?                              ROBBY             He was armed.                              RAY             Jesus.                           ROBBY             Citizen took him down.                              RAY             No shit!?Sharon stares across the lot to where Catch has halted.More cops are converging. Ray Juliette and Sanchez movetoward Catch, while a sergeant and others surround Sharonand the suspect. In between the crowd of cops, Catch andSharon glance at each other, during...ON CATCHas the cops reach him.                                           (CONTINUED)                                                       20.CONTINUED:                           RAY             What happened here?                           CATCH             I... just saw it and... I saw the             gun, so...ON SHARON                           ROBBY             You all right, Pogo?She is shaken, speaks softly.                            SHARON             I was dead.   Y'know.She glances toward Catch. (She doesn't recognize himfrom the accident.) Their eyes meet briefly, but thentheir attention is pulled to the others. Sharon speaksto her sergeant.                             SHARON             He had me.    I was dead.ON CATCHHe is shaken, too.    Sanchez is taking notes as Ray checkshis I.D.                           CATCH             I was just walking by.      I live             near here.Ray nods, handing the I.D. to Sanchez.                           SANCHEZ             Sergeant's going to want to talk             to you, Mr. Lambert. We'll need a             statement.                           RAY             Don't worry about it. That's just             procedure. Look -- we appreciate             what you did. No bullshit. Let             us buy you a drink tonight, all             right? You know where the Rib             House is?Catch glances at Sharon again, and he nods.                                                       21.EXT. UPSCALE RESIDENTIAL NEIGHBORHOOD - DAY (SAME DAY)Catch, a bit bruised and dirty from his tackle, iscarrying groceries up the walkway steps to a small, well-kept home. He is taking out a key as he walks to thecovered portico.INT. MRS. CHU'S HOME - DAYELANORA CHU, 60, is an attractive woman with warmth andintelligence in her eyes. She is in a wheelchair, at awriting table where she carefully translates an Englishtext into Chinese characters.She glances up as Catch opens the front door and headsfor the kitchen, speaking as he goes, not looking at heror into the living room at all.                        CATCH          I got you nectarines because the          peaches are hard as rocks.                        ELANORA          Your jacket's all dirty.She rolls away from the table in her motorized chair --and as they speak across the house, she performs aritual...                        CATCH (O.S.)          I tackled a guy.Elanora is moving about the living room, picking upframed photographs and turning them face down. We don'tsee what -- or who -- is in these photos. She is turningthem all in a routine way, used to this.                        ELANORA          Why would you 'tackle' a guy?!                        CATCH (O.S.)          Why do you think?INT. KITCHEN - DAYCatch is at the cupboards, putting away groceries asElanora rolls into the kitchen, her CHAIR HUMMING.                        CATCH          He had the ball. He was going for          a touchdown.                        ELANORA          Can you be serious?                                             (CONTINUED)                                                        22.CONTINUED:                           CATCH                    (as he works)             What day is today?                            ELANORA             Wednesday.                            CATCH             No.They are not smiling at their little jokes, but they havean ease with each other and the deep love of dearfriends. He doesn't pause in his work, but we can seesome nervousness in him as he says...                           CATCH             Met somebody today.Mrs. Chu is now taking some of the groceries out of thebags to help.                           ELANORA             Oh? That's good. Ahh -- they had             the broccolini today. Thank you.                            CATCH             A woman.Elanora is more interested and curious now, still helpingwith the groceries and being casual.                           ELANORA             You didn't tackle her, too, did             you?                            CATCH             No.                            ELANORA             Good, Catch.                           CATCH             She's a police officer.                           ELANORA                    (stops; worried)             Are you in trouble?Catch goes on working, a depth in his eyes.                            CATCH             No.   No trouble.                                               (CONTINUED)                                                          23.CONTINUED:Elanora watches him work and gladdens slightly.     We seeher own depth of feeling.                           ELANORA             Well... that's a good thing.He is still working, but his eyes are on his thoughts,his struggle.                           CATCH             I saw her once a long time ago.Elanora stares a moment.      This has meaning for her.                            ELANORA             Where?He doesn't answer.      He's nervous about this.                           CATCH             She looks the same.Now she watches him as he moves to the refrigerator andcontinues his work in silence.INT. RIB HOUSE - THAT NIGHTIt's a noisy restaurant with a large bar area. We PAN TOa booth of off-duty cops, out of uniform now, includingRay, Sanchez, Sharon and a few more male officers.They're all a bit high. Sharon shows the signs, too.They are passing around a photo now as one COP looks atit and says...                            COP             Beautiful.... And Sanchez says proudly.                            SANCHEZ             Yeah. My wife's got him in             agility class.                            RAY             No shit.Ray is handed the photo, and we see that they're talkingabout Sanchez's dog, the name "REX" printed on the photo.                                               (CONTINUED)                                                         24.CONTINUED:                           RAY             'Rex.' Rex is good. I wonder who             the first person was to name a dog             'Fido,' and what the hell does it             mean?                           SHARON             I like how you're always asking             the big questions, Ray.There is some laughter.     Ray is a smart-ass and a flirt.                           RAY             I got a big question for you, Pogo             -- but I can only ask it when             we're alone.She moves some of the change on the table, sliding ittoward Ray.                           SHARON             Here -- use this -- call your wife             and ask her instead.                           SANCHEZ             I happen to know Ray's wife is             busy tonight.They laugh and drink and Ray asks her...                           RAY             Why doesn't your partner ever come             out with us?                           SHARON             Robby's a family man.                           RAY             I'm a family man.                        SHARON          Yeah, but his family actually          likes him.More laughter. Sharon's eyes do a quick roam of the bar.Ray catches this.                        RAY          That Lambert -- I guess he's not          showing either.She shrugs this off like it's not important and starts toslide out of the booth.                                               (CONTINUED)                                                          25.CONTINUED:                           RAY             Where are you going?                            SHARON             The head.   Do you mind?                           SANCHEZ             She's just gonna freshen up her             makeup.                           RAY             You're wearing makeup?She leaves the booth with a wry frown.                           SHARON             That reminds me, Ray. You still             have that eye-liner you borrowed             from me?She grins, leaving the laughter behind her.ANGLE - DOORCatch has entered the bar. He is watching Sharon leavethe booth and walk to the rest rooms. He looks back atthe raucous booth and hesitates. He sits at a smalltable near the door.INT. BATHROOM - NIGHTSharon is drying her hands in the bar's bathroom, staringinto the mirror. No smile now. We see into her mind fora second.FLASHBACK - MANPointing the gun at her face today.BACK TO SHARON (PRESENT)in the mirror and see how shaken she still is.ON CATCHA waitress is leaving his table, and he looks back atSharon's booth and sees that she still isn't there. Hestarts to turn, and then freezes as he hears...                                                (CONTINUED)                                                         26.CONTINUED:                              SHARON (O.S.)             There you are.She has stepped out of the bathroom and spotted him.      Heis surprised, face to face now.                           SHARON             We thought you wouldn't show.    Why             you sitting here?He shrugs.                           CATCH             I don't talk to a lot of people.             Would you...?He half rises and gestures to the other chair. Sheglances back at her booth, then sits. She's nervous,too.                           SHARON             I didn't have a chance to thank             you. I'm Sharon Pogue.She puts out her hand. He stares at that hand for justhalf a beat before taking it. They shake. The feel ofher hand holding his evokes the memory of the accident,but he covers this.                           SHARON             You look familiar.                           CATCH             I guess I live on the beat you             patrol.Her way to cover nervousness is to be blunt, even tough.                           SHARON             Why would you do that -- jump a             man with a gun?                           CATCH                    (shrugs)             He was going to shoot you.                           SHARON             He could've shot you. You have a             death wish? You a bungee jumper?                          CATCH             No. I didn't have time to think             about it.                                                (CONTINUED)                                                          27.CONTINUED:                           SHARON             What d'you think about it now?                           CATCH             I figure... it was worth the risk.                           SHARON             For someone you don't even know?                           CATCH             Yeah -- and for what you do. I             think cops are great. Out there,             trying to keep it safe. You know?             Tough job. Firemen are             everybody's heroes. Kids wave at             firemen. People should wave at             cops. Did you ever think about             how many people are walking around             this town because you saved them?                           SHARON             I never thought about it.                           CATCH             ... because you helped them or             because you arrested somebody who             would've hurt them or because you             just... did your job?                           SHARON             Now I'm walking around this town             because of you. Ever think about             that? Maybe you should be a cop.                        CATCH          I don't know... I look pretty dumb          in a hat...He has made her smile.                        CATCH          ... and I don't drive and, like I          said, I don't talk to many people.          Am I talking too much? I am. You          go ahead.                         SHARON          Okay. What d'you do? You          employed around here? Oh, God.          Sorry. Every time I try to talk          to somebody, it comes out like an          interrogation.                                                (CONTINUED)                                                          28.CONTINUED:                           CATCH             Where do you want to be ten years             from now?                             SHARON             What?                           CATCH             Somebody taught that to me. Kind             of a shortcut. You ask somebody,             what are your plans for             tomorrow -- what're your dreams             for ten years from now. It's             supposed to get things started.                             SHARON             Does it work?                           CATCH             I never tried it.                             SHARON             Bullshit.                           CATCH             No. Really. I just remembered it             -- God is my witness.                             SHARON             Not in here.    It's mostly cops.Now she has made him smile, the first real smile we'veseen from Catch. It's open and real and she is charmedby it.                           SHARON             You have a nice smile.She's a bit self-conscious, saying that, and just as shesays it, the waitress arrives with shots and beers forboth of them. Sharon looks up, questioning, and thewaitress nods toward the booth. Catch and Sharon see thecops, staring, smiling, raising their glasses. There isa hint of teasing in their grins. And now Sharon is moreself-conscious, and a bit tough again, taking her drinkand turning back to Catch.                           SHARON             So... what were we talking about?             Oh, yeah, you were giving me some             line about starting a             conversation.                                                 (CONTINUED)                                                           29.CONTINUED:                             CATCH             The shortcut.                             SHARON             Okay.    I'll play.They clink glasses and drink.         Then...                           SHARON             Tomorrow I've got a night watch             shift. If the weather clears, in             the morning I'll go hiking. If it             rains, I'll go to the gym -- and             the laundromat. Ten years from             now... I want to be living in some             mountainous place.                              CATCH             Tibet?                           SHARON             Could be Tibet. Could be             Colorado. Your turn.But now Ray Juliette is approaching the table.                           RAY             Hey, Pogo -- don't keep him all to             yourself. Come on over, Lambert,             join the group. We'll buy you             dinner, give you a medal for             saving Pogo's ass.Sharon drains her shot and stands.                           SHARON             Actually, I'm kind of tired, Ray.             I'm taking off.                              CATCH             Oh.     I'll... walk you to your car.Catch stands and turns to Ray.                           CATCH             Thanks for the drink.                           RAY             Least we could do. We don't like             her very much -- but we don't want             to lose her.Sharon frowns and waves to the booth of cops.        Ray smilesand shakes hands with Catch as a good-bye.                                                 (CONTINUED)                                                          30.CONTINUED:                           CATCH             Take care.And Catch and Sharon leave.EXT. BAR - NIGHTAs Catch and Sharon exit the building, walk toward hercar.                           SHARON             It's not a great neighborhood.             Maybe I should walk you to your             car.                           CATCH             I don't have a car.They walk on, silent a moment.      This doesn't come easyfor her.                           SHARON             Want a ride home?                           CATCH             Oh, thanks, but... I like to walk.                           SHARON             It's starting to rain.   Don't be a             hero.He hesitates, nervous about it, but then...                          CATCH             Yeah. If it's no trouble.             Thanks.They walk to her car.                           SHARON             Okay... ten years from now, what             d'you want to be doing?They walk side by side a moment.      He shrugs.   Then -- inhis open way...                          CATCH          I don't know.    This is pretty          good.She glances at him, taking this in, then fumbles a bitwith her car keys, and he asks -- nervously again...                                                (CONTINUED)                                                        31.CONTINUED:                           CATCH             Can you drive okay?She gets a little defensive.                        SHARON          I'm not drunk. You think I'm          drunk? I'm not. You'll know I'm          drunk when I'm throwing up, and I          never throw up, so don't worry          about it.He nods, looks at her dead-on a moment.                        CATCH          The only time I worry is when          people tell me not to worry.                        SHARON          Get in the car, will you?INT. CAR - NIGHTAs they get in and she STARTS the ENGINE.                        CATCH          I'm on Lundy Street, just off          Pico.They drive a while. She notices his anxiety.     He gripsthe armrest when she speeds up.                        SHARON          I'm good at this.                        CATCH          Streets are wet.                        SHARON          Are you one of those people who          drive ten miles an hour in the          rain? I hate that.                           CATCH          I never drive.She glances at him, and he notices her glance.                        CATCH          I'll be alright.                                              (CONTINUED)                                                           32.CONTINUED:He's forcing himself to relax. He takes a deep breath,sitting back in his seat. He watches her as she drives.After a moment...                           CATCH             Y'know, I can picture you in             Colorado.                            SHARON             Oh yeah?   What am I doing there?                           CATCH             Driving around... pissed off.She smiles in spite of herself, slows down.                           SHARON             I'm not pissed off at you.                           CATCH             Give me some time.Now she laughs. She drives, not to his building, but toher own street. She parks, takes a deep breath. Thissounds a bit hard-bitten because she's using hertoughness to cover.                            SHARON             Those guys  in the bar are my             friends --  sort of. We work             together,  we tell jokes and we             bullshit,  but I can't say to             them...She halts.                            CATCH             What?She says this clipped and fast and even tougher:                       SHARON         Every time I close my eyes, I see         that goddamn gun pointing at me         and I don't know why I'm telling         you unless it's because you were         there and because I had three         drinks, but I'm not ready to go         inside and close my eyes and I         don't want to go to your place and         I don't want to keep driving         around, so what the hell do we do?                                                 (CONTINUED)                                                          33.CONTINUED:                           CATCH             Whew. I feel like we're boxing,             and you've got me on the ropes.                    (pause)             We'll do whatever you want.                            SHARON             What I want  is to know how you             happened to  be walking by that             parking lot  at that minute. What             if you hadn' t been there?For a moment, she shows her fear.                           CATCH             I guess we were supposed to meet.They stare a while, then she opens her door.                           SHARON             If you want -- you can come in for             a minute.INT. SHARON'S APARTMENT - NIGHTAs they walk in, she moves into the kitchen.                             SHARON             Want a drink?                             CATCH             No thanks.She pours one for herself while he looks about. It's astiff drink. Now that he's here, her I-don't-want-to-make-a-fool-of-myself alarm is on. She flops on thesofa, watches him.                           SHARON             Sit down or something.                           CATCH             I'm circling awhile.He's looking around at the clutter of her life -- theintimate details.                            SHARON             You're not supposed to look             around. I didn't have time to             straighten up.                                                 (CONTINUED)                                                           34.CONTINUED:                           CATCH             So... it's more real this way.                           SHARON             It's rude.He turns to her.                           CATCH             Now that I'm in here, you seem mad             about it.                           SHARON             I'm not mad. You'll know when I'm             mad. I don't usually let somebody             in here, but here you are. That's             all. Let's talk about something             stupid.                           CATCH             You first.She smiles in spite of herself.                           SHARON             Okay -- one thing I don't believe             is that 'supposed to' business.             We were 'supposed to' meet. That             sounds a little fringy to me, like             something you might hear on public             access TV. You believe that?                           CATCH             Some people say we each give off a             particular odor -- that can only             be detected by one other person's             brain.                           SHARON             So, we... smell each other?   Who             says that?                           CATCH             I have no idea.                    (as they smile)             I'm more in the destiny school,             we-met-in-another-life school. Do             you believe that? Do you think             when we die -- we come back in             another form?                                                 (CONTINUED)                                                          35.CONTINUED:                             SHARON             You mean like   a duck? No. I             think dead is   dead. I've been             thinking about   it all day -- and I             don't want to   think about it             anymore.He looks at her, steps close to her, takes the drink outof her hand, puts it to his lips and drinks it all down.He puts the glass on the table.                           SHARON             Why'd you do that?                            CATCH             See?   Now you're thinking about             me.She gets a half smile, assessing him. Her look isdirect, and the attraction is there. He feels it, too,and he deflects it, nodding toward a large photomural ofsnowcapped mountains.                             CATCH          Let me guess.       Colorado.                        SHARON          It's Austria, but I can't picture          myself in Austria. I'm not good          with languages, so I couldn't          qualify for the departments over          there.She rises and goes to a desk and takes the holstered gunoff her ankle. She takes the cuffs off her belt, themace from her jacket, the shield from her shirt pocket,puts them all in a desk drawer. She takes off her jacketand throws it over a chair. Disarmed, she turns to him.Her look is all wanting and pushing away, almost fiercein her struggle. He sees this.                           SHARON             Thanks for... coming up here.                           CATCH             Does that mean I'm going?                             SHARON                      (flustered)             No.    You don't have to.    I...                              CATCH             You okay now?                                                 (CONTINUED)                                                     36.CONTINUED:Her eyes grow a bit hard, defensive.                             SHARON             Oh.    You're here as a medic.                           CATCH             Is this the mad part?She smiles in spite of herself -- again. He has gottento her. She wants to fall into this guy, but she'spumping those brakes. They are standing close together.                           SHARON             Maybe going is a good idea.                           CATCH             Can I come back some time?                             SHARON             Why?                           CATCH                    (shrugs)             Must be the smell.That makes her laugh, and her resistance falls away withher surprised laughter, and she puts her hands around theback of his neck. Her touch is electric to him. She isgoing in for a kiss, and he is retreating. They stare amoment -- and then he suddenly takes her shoulders andlets loose his own longing. It is a hungry andpassionate kiss, and in the very midst of it, he breaksoff and pulls back, his darkness rushing at him. She isstaring, surprised, and he is looking a bit shaken,getting the words out just above a whisper.                             CATCH             I better go.She doesn't know what to say. The moment hangs. Heleaves. Once he closes the door, the breath escapes her,and she shakes her head -- feeling like an idiot. Shelost control. With a stranger.                             SHARON             Oh, God.EXT. STREET - NIGHTCatch leaving Sharon's building in a turmoil of emotions,staring hard at his thoughts -- and he steps into thepath of a car. The CAR SCREECHES to a stop, and thescream of those brakes and white light of the head lampsparalyze Catch, and he sees --                                                         37.FLASHBACK - SLIVER OF IMAGEHeadlights suddenly washing into a vehicle he is driving.BACK TO SCENE    (PRESENT)This sliver of memory jolts HIM -- and then another onecomes.FLASHBACK - HEADLIGHTScoming closer and the scream of brakes from his memory,and all of this is exploded --BACK TO SCENE    (PRESENT)by the angry DRIVER shouting at him.                        DRIVER          What the hell do you think you're          doing?!Catch is numb -- completely shut down there in the middleof the street. The Driver exits his car and comes towardhim, raging.                        DRIVER          Are you crazy?!Catch isn't even aware of him. The man gawks at this --and now Catch walks off. It is raining. The streets arewet.ANGLE - RESIDENTIAL STREET - NIGHTAs Catch continues his walk, he is still a bit shaken --but when he passes a parked car with the window halfopen, rain getting in, he hesitates. He can't just walkon. He looks about. He tests the lock. He opens thedoor, rolls up the window, closes the door, walks on.But a MAN is just exiting a doorway to the street -- andcalls out...                           MAN          Hey!    Hey!   What did you do?Catch stops and turns in the rain.     The Man hurriestoward him, upset, angry.                                              (CONTINUED)                                                               38.CONTINUED:                              MAN             That's my car!     What the hell were             you doing?                             CATCH             Nothing.    I just...The Man shoves him.                             MAN             I saw you!    What did you take out             of there?!                            CATCH             No, I rolled up the window.       It's             rain...The Man gets in his face, shaky...                           MAN             You take my phone?!       Hah?!He shoves Catch again, and Catch's desperate confusionexplodes in a surprising reaction, grabbing the Man'sjacket front in one hand and not punching him but quicklyslap, slap, slapping him, saying...                              CATCH             Hey!   Hey!    Wake up!    Wake up!The Man is now speechless, frozen, terrified, as Catch'seyes hold him with a fierceness -- and a sadness.                              CATCH             I helped you.                    (pause)             I helped you.Catch lets him go, and immediately begins walking away,hunching into the rain, his expression dark and troubled.He gets five steps away and turns. The Man steps back --but Catch only says...                              CATCH             I'm sorry.And he walks on.        The Man watches him go.INT. CATCH'S APARTMENT BUILDING CORRIDOR - NEXT DAYCandace, Catch's neighbor, is waiting for the slow,RATTLING ELEVATOR with her son.                                                      (CONTINUED)                                                       39.CONTINUED:The elevator door opens -- and there is Catch, seated ona newly-bought wicker chair in the elevator with a smalltable across his lap, other boxes nearby and along-stemmed rose in his hand, wrapped for giving.                             CATCH             Oh.   Sorry.He rises and hurriedly gets his purchases off theelevator so the woman and little boy can enter.                             CANDACE             Shopping day?He smiles at her, a bit less subdued than before as hegets his things into the hall -- and he manages a speciallook for Tommy, a wink. He frees the elevator; they stepinside. As the door starts to close, Catch's face"follows" the sliding door with a funny look for the boy.We hear Tommy laugh as the door closes. Catch carrieshis new possessions to his apartment.EXT. OLDER HOUSE - LATE DAYA well-kept older home, well-planted, pretty. A woman ofnearly 60 is tending the flowers. She hears someoneapproaching the gate in the wooden fence. She looks up.Sharon is at the gate, in uniform, on her dinner break.The older woman is her MOTHER, Elaine Pogue. There is anold strain between them, a sadness -- and a nervousnessin Elaine. She's a quiet woman. She smiles at herdaughter as Sharon comes through the gate. They hugtentatively, a lot of baggage here. Sharon turns to thegarden.                           SHARON             It's looking great, Mom.                           MOTHER                    (pleased)             Thanks, honey. It's the best year             ever for the impatiens. The very             best.There is a beat of awkward silence.                             MOTHER             Let's go in.INT. POGUE HOME - DAYAs they enter.                                             (CONTINUED)                                                          40.CONTINUED:It's a bit dark inside, older furniture, lots of keepsakeclutter and photos. Sharon is restless in here -- badmemories.                           SHARON             Looks the same. Still smells like             cigarettes. I thought he quit.                           MOTHER             He's down to six a day.                           SHARON             Your hair looks nice.Her Mother touches her hair, self-consciously. She can'thelp glancing at her daughter in all that gear --bullet-proof vest under her shirt, radio, cuffs -- andthat gun.                              MOTHER             Are you well?Sharon steps close to the mantel. There is a photo ofher there, graduating from the police academy, aprofessional, not a family shot. She is surprised.                           SHARON             I guess I'm well. Is this always             here?                            MOTHER             Yes.   It's always there.                           SHARON             Did Larry tell you I came by where             he's working? Is that why you             called me?                           MOTHER             I called because we want to invite             you to our renewal of vows. It's             three weeks from Saturday.                              SHARON             Who's 'we.'     You said 'we' want to             invite you.                              MOTHER             The family.Sharon takes that in, still looking about.                                                 (CONTINUED)                                                          41.CONTINUED:                           SHARON             How come you're renewing your             vows?                           MOTHER             It's sort of... a fresh start.                            SHARON             Your idea?                           MOTHER             No. Both of us. It's a way of...             having the marriage blessed.                           SHARON             Wasn't it blessed before?Her Mother sighs, sad for all the trouble between them.                           MOTHER             Sherry... of course it was             blessed. You just...                           SHARON             I just what, Mom?                           MOTHER             You just think about the bad, and             you never remember the good. I             wish you remembered the good.Sharon stares deeply at her.                           SHARON             Sorry.  I wish I did, too.                    (then, almost                     like a child)             Does he? Remember any good about             me?                           MOTHER             Of course. He doesn't hate you.             He just... still feels hurt.                             SHARON             Hurt?    I hurt him?                       MOTHER         Being arrested like that.         Somebody doesn't forget that.                      SHARON         Oh? How come you forgot what he         did?                                                 (CONTINUED)                                                        42.CONTINUED:                           MOTHER             It wasn't as bad -- you always             make it sound worse. And it             hasn't been that way for years.                        SHARON          I'm glad it hasn't been that way.          That means it worked, Mom. That          was the point. That's why I did          it. Christ. Why do I get          punished for it?                        MOTHER          Honey, nobody's punishing you.          We're inviting you. Will you          come?                        SHARON          Of course I'll come.                        MOTHER          We didn't think you'd want to.                          SHARON          Why not?Now her Mother shows a trace of fear.     She says gently...                        MOTHER          We don't want any trouble... on          that day. Please.                           SHARON             Mom, I'm your daughter. I don't             want any trouble -- ever. I'll             come to the ceremony. I won't             come to argue, and I won't come in             uniform.They each get a small, sad smile.                           MOTHER             It's on the 23rd. Saint Monica's.                           SHARON             I'd like you to send me an             invitation. Mrs. Vander said it's             a beautiful invitation.Her Mother starts to leave the room.                              MOTHER             I'll show you.                                               (CONTINUED)                                                        43.CONTINUED:                           SHARON             Mom. I'd like to get one... in             the mail... from my family. Okay?                           MOTHER             Yes.Sharon goes to the door, then stops and turns, lettingher guard down all the way to say...                           SHARON             Tell Dad... thanks.And she leaves.EXT. SHARON'S APARTMENT - EVENINGSharon is climbing the   outdoor staircase to herapartment, tired after   her shift, drained a bit   by hervisit home. When she    reaches her door she sees   that along-stemmed rose has   been masking-taped to her   door.Written on the masking   tape is: "Catch Lambert"    and aphone number.She pauses, staring at this, gets a little grin.INT. SHARON'S BEDROOM - NIGHT (HOURS LATER)Sharon is dressed for bed in a sleep shirt, lying on thebed, surrounded by old photos and a couple of photoalbums from her girlhood. In a vase on her bed table isCatch's rose.Sharon is feeling blue, looking at her young self withinthe family that has shut her out. She closes the book,angry at herself for nearly crying. She sits up andcatches sight of the rose and rummages in the drawer andpulls out the tape with Catch's phone number on it.She's very conflicted    about this. She puts the tapedown, but it sticks to    her fingers. She tears it off andtries to throw it onto    the table, but it hangsoff herthumb. She sighs and     steels herself and dialsthenumber.INT. CATCH'S APARTMENTHe has bought a shelf unit that "needs some assembly" andhe's at work with a screwdriver, his new chair and tablenearby, the phone on the floor. PHONE RINGS, and hepicks it up.                                                          44.FULL SHOTAs we INTERCUT the call:                          SHARON            Do you have a machine?                           CATCH            What?                          SHARON            Do you have an answering machine?                           CATCH            Yes.                          SHARON            Will you hang up please, and I'll            call your machine.                           CATCH            Why?She hangs up. He stares at the phone a moment,bewildered. He hangs up, and his PHONE RINGS. He letsit ring. His MACHINE comes on with no recording, only aBEEP.                          SHARON            Hi. Maybe we can... have            breakfast or something. I get up            early and run in Ballard Park.            There's a Denny's across from the            park. Like eight or so. If            you're there, you're there.She hangs up, sighs a heavy one.                           SHARON            Oh, God.And she falls back on her bed.INT. DENNY'S - MORNINGCatch walks in, glances at the clock. It's 7 A.M. He'snervous -- and excited. He takes a seat where he canwatch the park, the runners. He waits.INT. SHARON'S APARTMENT - MORNINGShe has tossed and turned all night. She is awake,turning to look at her clock-radio. It is 7:14. Sheraises a hand over it.                                                (CONTINUED)                                                          45.CONTINUED:It changes to   7:15 and the RADIO COMES ON.    She slams herhand down on   it, cutting it OFF. She lays    back andheaves a sigh   that becomes a moan, sits up   again andpicks up the   phone, dials the number on the   tape.                        SHARON          Hi, don't pick up. Look, I didn't          sleep much and anyway this is a          bad idea. I was feeling funky          last night and I'm all right now          so let's just leave it where it's          at. Bye. Oh, thanks for the...          Bye.She hangs up and lays back down and pounds her head intothe pillow and covers herself, even her head, with thesheet.INT. DENNY'S - MORNINGCatch is waiting, watching out the window.      It's 8:05,until we...                                                DISSOLVE TO:INT. DENNY'S - MORNING... and now it's 8:38, and Catch is still waiting andwatching.INT. SHARON'S BEDROOM - MORNINGShe is still in bed, under the sheet. Someone beginsKNOCKING on her door and she sits up, bleary andfrustrated.                                SHARON             Damn it!She stumbles out of the bedroom to her door.                                SHARON             What?!     Who?!                                CATCH (O.S.)             It's me.                                SHARON             Oh, Jesus.                                                (CONTINUED)                                                          46.CONTINUED:She opens the door.    He wears a stern look.     She is notapologetic.                           SHARON             I was just falling asleep.             Finally.                           CATCH             We made a date.                           SHARON             It wasn't a 'date.'                        CATCH          Okay, an 'appointment.'     I keep my          appointments.She gives an exasperated moan and turns to stagger backto bed. He closes the door and follows.                          SHARON          I called you.    I called you at          seven.                        CATCH          I get up early. I walked there.          I waited there.                        SHARON          Check your messages.She heads for the bed, passing a     mirror, looking at herrumpled self and groaning at the     sight.  She climbs intobed and snuggles there and puts     the sheet over her head.He is entering the bedroom. He      carries a Denny's take-out bag.                           SHARON                    (under the sheet)             I need more sleep. Come back in a             month.                           CATCH             Come back? What makes you think             I'd come back here?The lump under the sheet says...                           SHARON             Then why are you here?                                                (CONTINUED)                                                          47.CONTINUED:                           CATCH             I'm here to tell you that when you             tell someone you're going to be             somewhere then that someone             rearranges his life and you should             be more aware of that and a lot             more considerate instead of             just...She has come out from under the sheet and is watchinghim.                           SHARON             What's in the bag?                            CATCH             What?   None of your business.                           SHARON             Did you bring some coffee?                           CATCH             You think you deserve coffee?                           SHARON             What else did you bring?   Food?                           CATCH                    (opening the bag)             You definitely don't deserve food.             I've got coffee, sugar, sweetener,             non-dairy...                            SHARON             Just black.   Black. Thanks.She sits up. He hands her the coffee.         She sips,relishing the sip, then studies him.                           SHARON             So what kind of life did you             rearrange in order to get to             Denny's? You never said one word             about yourself last night. What             d'you do?                           CATCH             What's the difference?                           SHARON             What's the difference?! You're             standing in my bedroom. That's             the difference. Who are you?                                                (CONTINUED)                                                         48.CONTINUED:                           CATCH             Somebody who keeps appointments.                           SHARON             You're ducking. Don't duck.                    (then a thought)             Oh, shit -- you're married, right?Convinced -- she picks up one of the throw pillows fromthe bed and tosses it at him.                           CATCH             I'm not.                           SHARON             I don't believe you.                           CATCH             You don't believe me?   Give me             back the coffee.                           SHARON             No.                           CATCH             Give me the coffee.She hands him the coffee. He hits her with the pillowand hands her back the coffee. He has made her smile,but she continues, half teasing now.                           SHARON             Oh, God. Oh, wait -- you're             involved in some criminal             activity, aren't you? Great --             That's all I need.                           CATCH             My name is Catch Lambert. I don't             work. I don't commit any crimes.             I like being with you. We can             start from here -- from now.                          SHARON             Bullshit. I'm... I let you in             here. I'm not going to be some             fool. I need the details.                           CATCH             And I need to start from here.                           SHARON             That's ridiculous. Why?                                                (CONTINUED)                                                        49.CONTINUED:                           CATCH             That's the way it is.                            SHARON             Oh.   Your rules.                            CATCH             My rules.                           SHARON             Jesus. Okay. Fine. I don't             really want to know you anyway.             Goodbye.He is conflicted -- but he won't relent. He walks to thedoor. She stares, waiting. But he never turns around.He walks out. She is mystified, exasperated. She hearsher FRONT DOOR CLOSE. She puts the coffee on her bedtable -- and finds herself staring at that damn rose.She suddenly gets up and begins to dress hurriedly --with a plan.EXT. BOULEVARD - DAYSharon is driving, speeding a bit, getting to Catch'sbuilding ahead of him.EXT. CATCH'S BUILDING - DAYHe approaches his apartment building, unlocks the frontdoor, walks in the entrance area. Now we see, across thestreet, Sharon exit her car and follow him.EXT. BUILDING - DAYThe front door has locked automatically. Outside thereis a panel of buzzers and apartment numbers. Sharon hitsall the buttons. Somebody BUZZES her in.INT. LOBBY - DAYSharon enters, looks at the elevators. It's not moving.She goes to the stairs, listens, hears him TRUDGING UPthe stairway. She follows silently.INT. HALLWAY - DAYAs Catch reaches his apartment door, unlocks it, opens itand walks in.                                                          50.INT. CATCH'S APARTMENT - DAYBefore he can close the DOOR behind him, it BANGS openwider, startling him -- and Sharon is in the doorway,staring hard at him.                         SHARON                 (sarcastic)          Can I come in?She walks in and closes the door and starts lookingaround as he says...                          CATCH          Yeah.   Sure.   Come in.Despite his recent "decorating" the apartment is stillnearly empty. No books, magazines, photographs, noclutter of life. She glances into the equally sterilekitchen.                        SHARON          You live here? Nobody lives here.          This place is some kind of front,          a scam, a drop -- or what?                        CATCH          This is what you told me about --          right?                          SHARON          What?                        CATCH          Your interrogation.      Do I need a          lawyer?He has made her look at herself, and take a breath.                        SHARON          I just don't want to be jerked          around.                          CATCH          I'm not.                        SHARON          Then tell me straight out.      Who          are you?He is silent, and she starts to leave.     Moment of truth.                        CATCH          What is it you're looking for?                                                 (CONTINUED)                                                          51.CONTINUED:                             SHARON             Your life.    I don't want any             surprises.                          CATCH             This is it. I sleep here. I walk             around town. That's all of it.                           SHARON             That's all of it?                           CATCH             Yeah. Except for you -- the way I             feel about you.                             SHARON             Which is?                             CATCH             Surprising.    I thought it was             impossible.    I thought I was...                           SHARON             You thought you were what?       Gay?                            CATCH             Dead.   In a way.                           SHARON             I'm supposed to understand that?                           CATCH             No. Did you ever wonder what             'scratch' meant, when people say,             'we'll start from scratch'? This             is scratch. We can start from             here.She looks at him, looks at his empty place, his non-life,and back at him again.                             SHARON             I don't know.    I just don't know.She breaks off the stare and heads for the door.     Hewatches her go.EXT. UPSCALE NEIGHBORHOOD - DAY (SAME DAY)As Catch charges up the stairs to the wide porch of Mrs.Chu's well-kept home, carrying a grocery bag, head fullof his thoughts.                                                         52.INT. MRS. CHU'S HOME - DAYAs Catch enters. She is watching TV. He does glanceinto the living room briefly to throw her a quick hellosmile, before moving to the kitchen. She SNAPS OFF theTV and begins turning the photos face down as she sendsher voice to the kitchen.                        ELANORA          I remember that. That was a          smile.INT. KITCHEN - DAYHe is putting groceries away as she rolls into the room.He doesn't look at her, tries to be casual, but histhoughts are bubbling out.                        CATCH          You know the cop -- the woman cop?          She... visited me.Mrs. Chu registers surprise at this, but keeps it coveredand casual.                         ELANORA          Oh?   Where did she sit?                        CATCH          I have a chair now.                        ELANORA          You're... seeing her?He darkens a bit as he works.                        CATCH          She has a lot of questions.    She          wants to know everything.                        ELANORA          Of course she does. Everybody          does.                        CATCH          We could start from today.    What's          so wrong with that?                        ELANORA          Tell her.The can in Catch's hand bangs on the cupboard, and hestops, suddenly uptight.                                               (CONTINUED)                                                        53.CONTINUED:                              CATCH             Tell her what?Mrs. Chu comes closer.                           ELANORA             Tell her, Catch. Tell somebody.             It's been almost two years.                              CATCH                       (a warning)             Nora...                           ELANORA             Every time I tell somebody, it             gets a little bit easier. I'm not             saying it goes...His next warning is tough and absolute.                              CATCH             Nora!She is silenced. The moment hangs. She rolls her chairto him, takes a box of cookies out of his hand, opens thebox and eats one, defusing the moment.                              ELANORA             She nice?He starts to work again.                              CATCH             She's tough.                              ELANORA             She pretty?                           CATCH             That doesn't matter.                            ELANORA                    (smiles)             She is pretty.                       CATCH         She's sort of pissed-off at me.                             ELANORA         Apologize.                             CATCH         For what?                                               (CONTINUED)                                                          54.CONTINUED:                           ELANORA             It doesn't matter. We like it             when men apologize.He stares at her a while.                           CATCH             I'm sorry I yelled at you.She smiles and hands him the box.                              ELANORA             Have a cookie.     See?INT. POLICE REPORT ROOM - NIGHTSharon is typing at the computer, dark and dogged in herwork.  Lieutenant Sanderman is watching her through theglass wall of the watch commander's office. He comes outof the office and moves to where Sharon is typing.                              SANDERMAN             Sharon...                           SHARON                    (typing)             Lieutenant...We can see the   computer screen now. Sharon is searchingfor any prior   record of "Catch Lambert" -- arrests,convictions.    She has several "Carl Lamberts" on thescreen, even a   "Casper," no Catch.                           SANDERMAN             Anything bothering you?                            SHARON             Why?   What'd I do?                           SANDERMAN             Nothing. I'm talking about your             general attitude lately.Sharon stops typing.     She can find nothing.    She clearsthe screen, sighs.                           SHARON             My attitude's fine. End of a long             day. I'm tired.                           SANDERMAN             Family matters getting to you?                                                 (CONTINUED)                                                       55.CONTINUED:                              SHARON             Family?!                           SANDERMAN             Your brother, Larry...                           SHARON             What about Larry?                           SANDERMAN             You know Nester -- on the Culver             City P.D.? He went out on a             violent domestic dispute             yesterday. A neighbor called it             in. It got a little ugly. No             arrest -- a warning.This hits her hard.                              SHARON             Larry.     Oh Christ.                           SANDERMAN             Nester said it's not the first             time.Sharon is quiet a while, taking it in, shaken by it.                           SHARON             Thanks for telling me.EXT. RESIDENTIAL STREET (CULVER CITY) - DAY (NEXT MORNING)Sharon, not in uniform, is approaching Larry's house. Ithas a small yard with kids' toys strewn about and a tire-swing. She walks up on the porch and RINGS the DOORBELL.She hears VOICES inside, LARRY AND KATHY, a quickmurmuring, low-voice argument, can't make out the words.In a moment, Larry opens the door.                           LARRY             Jesus, you're up early.                           SHARON             I wanted to catch you before you             went to work.                           LARRY             I thought you were on late shifts.                           SHARON             I don't sleep much. Can I come             in?                                                        56.INT. LARRY'S HOME - LIVING ROOM - DAYThe place is messy.    A TV can be heard -- CARTOONS.                          LARRY          What's up?                          SHARON          Where's Kath?                        LARRY          She's busy with Larry Jr. right          now.Sharon nods, but then walks past him.INT. CHILD'S ROOM - DAYAs Sharon walks into this toy-strewn room. Larry Jr. issitting on the floor, watching a small TV. Kathy is notwith him. Sharon kneels beside the boy a moment.                          SHARON          Hey, Champ.But he stays focused on the TV, some darkness, someunsayable worry in his eyes. She picks up a toy car,speaks softly.                        SHARON          Y'know, they call this one a woody          'cause it has wood on the sides.                          LARRY JR.          I know.Now he looks at her with sad and bottomless eyes. She ishurting for him. Larry is now in the doorway. Sharonkisses the child's head and walks out, passing herbrother.                        LARRY          Why'd you come by?                          SHARON          To see Kathy.INT. HALLWAYAs Sharon heads for the master bedroom, Larry takes herarm.                        LARRY          She's not feeling good.                                             (CONTINUED)                                                         57.CONTINUED:Sharon pulls away from her brother.                           SHARON             I'll just say hello.INT. BEDROOM - DAYSharon walks in. Kathy is sitting on the bed, her facebadly bruised. They stare. Kathy speaks quietly, hereyes filling.                           KATHY             Don't make it worse.                              SHARON             It gets worse?                           KATHY             He's okay now. He's torn up about             it. Don't make him mad.Sharon moves closer. She reaches out, touches Kathy witha comforting touch as the woman turns her bruised faceaway.                            SHARON             When Larry and I were growing up,             our mother said that all the time.             'Don't make your father mad.'                    (pause)             Has he hit Larry Jr. yet?                           KATHY             He never would.                            SHARON             Oh.   Just you, huh?Larry is in the doorway now, angry.                           LARRY             What d'you think you're doing in             my house, Shar? In my home.She walks out of the room and he follows her.INT. LIVING ROOM - DAYShe turns on him.                            SHARON             You see a pattern here, bro?                                                (CONTINUED)                                                         58.CONTINUED:                           LARRY             I lost my temper. Things got out             of hand. It won't...                           SHARON             People always say that: 'I've got             a temper.' Like it's an excuse.                        LARRY          I don't need a goddamn lecture.She comes very close to him.                       SHARON         You want to hit someone?       Next         time your 'temper' flares      up, Lar,         and you just have to hit      somebody,         you go home and hit your      father.                       LARRY         You blame everything on him.                       SHARON         I'm blaming you, you fucking         coward.He grabs her shirt hard.                        LARRY          You don't come in here...He pushes her into the wall.                        LARRY          You don't come in here and call me          names.                         SHARON          What do you call a man who uses          his wife as a punching bag?                  (pause)          Coward.He swings a slap at her. She blocks it and punches himhard in the face, and he crashes down on the floor.Kathy comes running, calling out...                           KATHY             Don't hurt her, Lar...!                                                (CONTINUED)                                                       59.CONTINUED:Kathy sees that it's Larry on his ass. The little boycomes out of his room. There is a surprised moment.Then Kathy picks up the child and takes him back to hisroom. Larry is sitting up, shaken, his nose bleeding.Sharon goes close to him, rigid with fury.                           SHARON             I know how it feels, 'cause I             remember. I remember standing             between you and Dad and taking the             blows for you -- and for what?!             You turned out to be just like             him, you bastard.                    (pause)             And so did I.And she leaves the house and SLAMS the DOOR.INT. SHARON'S APARTMENT - NIGHTShe is just returning home after her shift, very tired,drained. She absently turns ON the TV, the STEREO. Shenotices a blinking light on her MESSAGE MACHINE and hitsthe button.                           LARRY (V.O.)             I bet you feel real proud of             yourself, Shar, knocking me down             in front of my family. You know             what I've got in my hand? I've             got a Polaroid picture of my             busted-up face, and I'm thinking             of sending it to your department,             to your lieutenant. I'm going to             turn you in to the police, Shar,             and see how you like it.The message ends.     She stands there a moment.                           SHARON                    (quietly)             Oh, God. Oh, shit.She sits on the edge of a chair, worried, deep in herthoughts, hitting bottom -- the darkness engulfing her.In a moment, she looks at her desk, walks there, opens adrawer, pulls out that piece of tape with Catch's numberon it -- but it is all stuck to itself. She hesitates,then starts to pick it apart when a KNOCK at the doormakes her jump. She wonders, then, somehow, she knows.She walks to the door.                                              (CONTINUED)                                                           60.CONTINUED:                           SHARON             It's you, right?She unlocks   and opens the door, stares at Catch, veryvulnerable,   on the very edge, her pain and fear overLarry just   under the surface. Catch holds a box ofcookies as   an offering.                            SHARON             Can you just shut up?    Just shut             up and listen.                           CATCH             I didn't say anything.                           SHARON             I don't want to talk. I don't             care if you have to play some game             and pretend you're a... 'angel of             mercy' or... whatever. I don't             care, but I don't want to hear             about it. All right? I don't             want to hear anything.She steps back, allowing him in, and closes the door andturns to him.                           SHARON             It's a bad night.He sees her pain and puts his arms around her, pushesthrough his fear and holds her -- and she lays her headon his chest. He embraces her fully, and the effect onhim goes deep, to his core, where there is both pain andlonging, but he holds on to her, even rocks her a bit.She sighs. In a moment...                           SHARON             This is good... but I'm too tired             to stand up anymore.He walks her to the couch and has her sit, and thenslowly, gently, he "disarms" her. He lifts her leg,takes the ankle holster and gun off, puts it on thetable. He turns her, takes the cuffs off her belt fromthe middle of her back. He reaches into her pants pocketand removes the Mace. From her shirt pocket he takes herI.D. shield. He has her lie down on the couch now, theirfaces close, eyes locked. They linger...                           SHARON             You want to kiss me?                                                  (CONTINUED)                                                       61.CONTINUED:He looks a little lost, but he nods, helpless. He comestoward her lips -- finally -- but just before they touch,she says, softly...                           SHARON             Kiss me someplace I've never been             kissed.He's not sure what to do. He begins to look her over --as if hunting, and she gets a soft smile. He startsslowly toward her ear -- but she shakes her head. Hershirt is out of her belt and her midriff bare, and hestarts to move there, but checks her with a look. Sheshakes her head. He hunts. Her smile deepens a bit. Hetakes her hand and turns it over, going for the softflesh on the underside of her forearm, and she closes hereyes. He kisses her there softly, and then again, andthen he lavishes kisses from her wrist to the undersideof her elbow as she sighs with pleasure and draws up herknees in a kind of sensual glow that is leading themto... No. He stops. She looks at him, a deep look, softvoice.                           SHARON             Why do you stop? You always stop.She has a glimpse of his mystery, the old sorrow, thedeep pain. He hugs her drawn-up knees, closing his eyesa moment. Then he sits on the couch, puts a pillow onhis lap and raises her slightly, lays her head on thepillow. He strokes her hair, her scalp as she closes hereyes and sighs, slowly moving toward sleep. Our TRUMPETMUSIC slides in here, lush and dreamy as we linger awhile, and then --                                           SLOW DISSOLVE TO:INT. SHARON'S APARTMENT - MORNINGJust after dawn. Catch has slept on the couch. He isbeginning to awaken now as the first light strikes thewindows. The dreamy TRUMPET FADES OUT. Catch's eyesclear, sleep replaced by thought, and he is suddenlyshaken by --FLASHBACK - CATCH'S POV-- a sliver of memory. But in this one, he is driving.We see his hands on the wheel. Then his POV looks to theside and we see an Asian-American woman seated besidehim, attractive, about his age. Her name is Annie. Sheis saying something to him. We don't hear the words.When the FLASHBACK ENDS --                                                        62.BACK TO SCENE (PRESENT)Catch sits up on the couch, jolted.   He gets anothersudden --FLASHBACK - HEADLIGHTSglaring through his windshield, blinding him. He gasps,sitting there on the couch, but it's all over. Hestands, rattled, and he moves toward Sharon's bedroom.INT. BEDROOM - MORNINGSharon is peacefully asleep. He stands over her withtroubled eyes, but this slowly changes to a loving look.He bends close to her face. He feels her breath on him.He wants to lie down with her -- but he raises a hand andvery gently brushes her cheek. She stirs. He does itagain. She sighs a peaceful sigh, opens her eyes. Hesmiles at her.                          CATCH          New day.EXT. BOULEVARD - DAYSharon is driving Catch home. They are now on a mainboulevard of stores, office buildings. They stop at alight. Both are surprised by a voice calling out fromthe pedestrians crossing the street.                          PINDELLA (O.S.)          Catch?They look up to see a well-dressed man pausing in themiddle of the crosswalk to face their car. He is in hisforties, tall, with grey-blond hair. This is RICHARDPINDELLA. He has a small smile and wave for Catch.Sharon is curious, looking at Catch. Catch throws theman a dark look and then turns away, ignoring him,nervous, intense.                          PINDELLA          Catch?                        CATCH                 (to Sharon)          Drive, will you?Pindella is moving toward the car, Sharon watching him,wondering.                                            (CONTINUED)                                                         63.CONTINUED:                             CATCH             Drive!The light changes. Pindella hurries to the curb as thecars surge forward. Sharon drives slowly, checking themirror to see Pindella stare after them -- then enter theoffice building on the corner.                        CATCH          Will you get off this street?She makes a turn, glancing at Catch.                             SHARON          What?       You owe him money?But his dark look persists, and he doesn't answer.Then...                        CATCH          If you take a right and stop -- we          can walk from here. I'd rather          walk.He is nervous, being in the car -- and glad to leave itwhen she pulls over. She watches this, wondering.EXT. NEIGHBORHOOD - DAYSharon exits the car and locks it, staring at Catch.                        SHARON          If you're in trouble...                             CATCH             I'm not.                           SHARON             If you're in trouble with him,             maybe I can help.                           CATCH             Forget about him. Somebody I used             to know. I don't want to know him             anymore. That's all. Forget             about it. Walk with me.She hesitates,    then falls in   beside him as he walks on.They walk along    in silence,   the neighborhood growing moreseedy, tougher    as they go.    Catch is relaxing now, tryingto push it all    away. Sharon    looks around her.                                                (CONTINUED)                                                           64.CONTINUED:                           SHARON             This is not a great place to walk.                           CATCH             I like it here. It's fine.                            SHARON             I work here.   It's not fine.                           CATCH             What's the problem?                           SHARON             Besides the shootings, break-ins,             rapes, cart thefts? We've got a             loose dog raiding garbage cans,             knocking 'em over. Can't catch             him. Got somebody blowing a             trumpet between midnight and             three. Can't find him.As someone approaches them, Catch makes eye contact andsmiles a small, friendly smile-in-passing. He gets abrief smile in return. He and Sharon amble on. He doesit again.                           SHARON             You know everybody here?He nods to another YOUNG MAN he's never met...                           CATCH             How's it goin'?                           YOUNG MAN             Goin' uphill, man.Catch and Sharon smile.                           CATCH                    (to Sharon)             You try it.                            SHARON             Try what?                          CATCH             Go ahead. We need this.             Everybody.She has misgivings. A young woman is bustling along.Sharon makes eye contact and presents a nervous smile anda nod -- but the woman looks at her sternly and bustleson.                                                 (CONTINUED)                                                             65.CONTINUED:                           SHARON             I feel like a jerk. I feel like a             smiley face.Catch smiles, Sharon frowns, but when an OLD MAN passes,she gives a small smile. The Man lights up.                              OLD MAN             Mornin'.Catch looks at her. She tries to shrug it off, but can'tquite hide her pleasure. Now Catch is pausing as a womanis walking her six-year-old daughter to their parked car.Catch makes eye contact with the girl and does a goofywave that makes her smile. Sharon smiles, too. As thegirl's MOTHER is unlocking the car, the girl shyly looksback at Catch for more fun. He does that quick fingertrick -- trying to catch his own thumb, and the girlgiggles But the Mother is impatient.                              MOM             Go on.The girl gets in. The Mother is about to close the door.She frowns, mean-eyed.                              MOM             Move your arm!The girl slides in further,         and the Mother slams thedoor. The girl follows her          mother with hurt eyes as shewalks around to the driver's         side. Catch has paused towatch this, his eyes gentle         on the girl. The Mother isabout to enter the car when         she sees Catch staring.                           MOM             What are you staring at?                           CATCH             She feels bad 'cause you yelled at             her.                          MOM             What?! Who the hell do you think             you are?Sharon is uncomfortable.       Catch persists, never flinchingat the woman's anger.                        CATCH          She just needs you to smile at          her.                                                  (CONTINUED)                                                           66.CONTINUED:                           MOM             It's none of your business!                           CATCH             Why not smile at her?   What's it             cost?                           MOM             Who the hell are you to talk to             me?!Catch's anger is like flint in his eyes.         It surprisesSharon. She's upset by this.                           CATCH             You're so damn impatient.                           WOMAN             Get away from me!                           CATCH             You're so busy being pissed off,             and time is going by.                           WOMAN             What?!                           CATCH             It's not her fault.The Woman gets into the car and slams the door.                           WOMAN             I'm calling the police!                            CATCH             No.  I'm calling the police.                    (turns to Sharon)             Hey -- police.The Woman speeds her car away.       Sharon gets in Catch'sface.                           SHARON             Jesus Christ, Catch.                           CATCH             Maybe she'll think about it now.                                                  (CONTINUED)                                                          67.CONTINUED:                       SHARON         You had no right to do that. God!         You think you know everything?!         Who the hell are you, some expert         on raising kids?! The         neighborhood angel?! Jesus!                       CATCH         No. No, I just... some people are         walking around blind...                       SHARON         That's not your problem!                       CATCH         Don't tell me what my problem is!                       SHARON         Okay, fine -- you tell me what it         is!                       CATCH         Maybe it's not my problem. Maybe         it's your problem. Maybe you're         going around blind.                           SHARON             Blind to what?!                        CATCH          Blind to what's going on around          you. Blind to what people need.          We're supposed to take care of          each other. We're supposed to          keep each other safe. That's the          way it should be -- if you're not          going around blind, like that          woman...                           SHARON             Or like me, right? What about             you? How come you can see?That stops him, the darkness rising.    He looks about,trying to contain it.                        CATCH          I think I'll... walk the rest of          the way on my own.                           SHARON          Yeah.    Fine.                                              (CONTINUED)                                                         68.CONTINUED:                           CATCH             I'll call you later -- about the             hiking.                             SHARON             I'll be out.She turns and walks away.      He is still angry, but sorryto see her go.                             CATCH             Shar... wait.    Hey!But she   keeps walking, and he watches her walk away.Then he   walks on, upset, mad at himself, trying to poundthrough   it, walking quickly. He is passing an alley,when he   hears a CRASH. He looks in...EXT. ALLEY - DAYHe sees a large dog that has just knocked over a garbagecan. He and the dog stare. Catch walks into the alley,approaches the big dog, squats down to look the animal inthe eye, and begins petting it. The big mutt is nowleaning into the petting, and Catch's eyes go deep -- andslowly find their way to a sad smile.EXT. CITY STREETS - DAYSharon and Robby    are patrolling in their unit. Robby isdriving. Sharon     is watching out the window with a deep-eyed look, a bit    down because of her argument with Catch.She is staring as    she rolls along.SHARON'S POVShe is watching the people on the street, NOTICING, foronce, just how isolated they are, each in a box, passingwithout connecting.ON SHARONwatching.INT. CATCH'S APARTMENT - LATER THAT DAYWe've never seen the apartment flooded by sunlight likethis, all blinds open.                                                (CONTINUED)                                                        69.CONTINUED:We START in the kitchen, staring at the drawer that isnow so loaded with toys, it won't shut. Some brightly-painted soldiers are sticking out of the drawer.In the living room there are two chairs now, and morelamps and tables. Our PAN REVEALS that the dog from thealley is sitting in the living room, watching Catch --whom we now see is hanging a picture on the wall -- amountain scene. He holds the picture in one place, thenmoves it to another, wondering. His fight with Sharonstill colors his mood, but he's working through it.                           CATCH             Do we go for... symmetry? Or...             more off-center. Japanese.He glances at the dog as he moves the picture.                           CATCH             Are you into this? Bob?The dog watches him.EXT. LARRY'S HOUSE - EVENINGIt is early evening of the same day, and Sharon is justoff shift, out of uniform in her own car, parking onLarry's street and walking to the door. She knocks --and takes a step back. Larry opens the door, alreadyangry, his nose bandaged, eyes blackened a bit from theblow.                           LARRY             I don't want you around here.                           SHARON             Let's go talk in the yard.They stare. She starts walking back into his darkeningfront yard, looking over her shoulder. She walks to atree where the tire swing hangs, waits there. He goesback inside, but leaves the door open. In a moment hereappears, coming outside, closing the door behind him.ON SHARON AND LARRYAs they meet by the tire swing.    His eyes burn her, hateand pain.                           SHARON             You took a swing at me.                                               (CONTINUED)                                                          70.CONTINUED:                           LARRY             You asked for it -- calling me a             coward. You knew I'd swing. You             think I look bad now? Look at             this.He has a Polaroid photo in his hand, holds it in front ofher, dried blood and bad bruising on his face.                           LARRY             Nice, huh? Beautiful. The             cops'll love this, right?             Evidence. Don't you guys love             evidence?He puts it in his pocket, and they stare a moment more.                           LARRY             You wanted me to swing.She looks away.     She nods, speaks softly.                           SHARON             I'm sorry I hit you so hard.                           LARRY             But you're not sorry you hit me.                           SHARON             Jesus, Larry, what about Kathy's             face?!                        LARRY          That's not your business! Nobody          called you, right? She didn't ask          for you to come here. This is my          family. You don't get it, 'cause          you've got no family. Nobody. So          you try to run everybody else's          life. Jesus Christ -- get your          own life. That's the goddam          problem. Get your own goddamn          life.Their stare holds, but she is giving way.                        SHARON          Okay. I'm sorry I came here.       I'm          sorry I hit you. Okay?                           LARRY          Okay what?This is very hard for her.                                                (CONTINUED)                                                         71.CONTINUED:                           SHARON             Don't go to my department, all             right?                           LARRY             Why the hell not?                           SHARON             Larry...                           LARRY             Why not?!                           SHARON             Because the job's all I got.                        LARRY          That's what I said, right?    No          life.She nods, her voice smaller, almost a whisper.                        SHARON          That's what you said.He makes her wait, thinking it over.                        LARRY          And you won't come around here.          You won't call. Ever.In a moment Sharon nods.                           LARRY             And I don't want you to come to             Mom and Dad's celebration...Her eyes snap to his, surprised.                           LARRY             Not the church. Not the party.             Stay away. I don't want you             around. I don't want to see you,             Shar.After another moment, she nods again -- and he snatchesthe photo out of his shirt pocket and pushes it againsther chest and walks away. The photo falls to the ground.Larry says without turning...                              LARRY             Go get a life.... and she snaps.                                                (CONTINUED)                                                          72.CONTINUED:                             SHARON             I got a life!The words burst out of her, thick with tears, but she'snot crying. Larry stops and turns.                           SHARON             How the hell would you know about             my life?!                             LARRY             I know.                        SHARON          You know nothing about me, because          you don't want to know. The          family doesn't want to know me.          Well, too bad. Sharon's got a          life. Sharon's got a boyfriend.          Sharon's going hiking in the          morning with her boyfriend. She's          not sitting alone miserable like          you want. Too bad!She reaches down, snatches the Polaroid photo off theground, walks to her car, enters and slams the door ashard as it is possible to slam it.EXT. SANTA MONICA MOUNTAINS - DAYMoving through the panorama are two small figures on ahiking trail, traveling uphill on a ridge.ON SHARON, CATCHSharon is pounding along, barely out of breath. Shestudies the beautiful view, and it helps her. It liftsher. Catch is falling behind, breathing heavily.                           CATCH             Hey. Hey!   Can you wait up a             minute?!She waits.     He catches up.                           SHARON             I thought you walked all over the             city.                                                 (CONTINUED)                                                          73.CONTINUED:                           CATCH                    (gasping)             The city is flat. Okay? Can we             stop here? Can we examine the             view? Have a Milky Way? I've             burned every calorie I ever had.But she walks on.                           SHARON             My favorite lunch spot is another             half mile.                            CATCH             Up?!She smiles and walks on, and he follows, calling out.                           CATCH             I'm not one of those competitive             guys, you know!EXT. POND - DAY (BIT LATER)Sharon is already unpacking their lunch as Catch trudgesup and collapses near a stream-fed pond. She hands him asandwich, but he shakes his head.                           CATCH             No thanks. I can't eat and have a             heart attack at the same time.She smiles again and takes a bite and stares off, andsoon enough her dark thoughts come and cover her, andCatch notices.                           CATCH             As soon as you get happy, you get             sad.                            SHARON             I'm okay.   Everything's code four.                           CATCH             Everything's what?                           SHARON             Everything's fine.                           CATCH             Fine? This isn't fine. I know             fine. This is something else.             Something happened yesterday.                                                 (CONTINUED)                                                          74.CONTINUED:                            SHARON             Yesterday -- you mean you want to             hear about it?                           CATCH             Sure I do.                           SHARON             No kidding. Why? You never talk             about yesterday.                           CATCH             All my days are the same.He keeps staring, waiting. She is chewing a sandwich,looking at him. Finally, she begins -- with no emotion.                           SHARON             Yesterday. Okay. Yesterday we             rolled on a 415. Juliette and             Sanchez had these four guys             against a wall, but they were             H.D.B. and definitely unco-op. It             got pretty jumpy, but we got them             in the car with a couple of             bruises and Robby got a sprained             wrist, so I did the rest of the             shift with a rookie who lost it             over a D.B. in Sunset Park, old             woman who'd been dead maybe six,             seven days, and I usually do all             right but the smell got to me, and             I can still smell her. Then we             arrested a prostitute working out             of her home, and I carried her             little girl out to the social             worker, and the kid was holding on             real tight and making my shoulder             wet and I wanted to punch her             rock-head mother, and then shift             ended and I had a nice visit with             my brother Larry.He is staring at her.     He takes her hands, holds them.                           CATCH                    (softly)             I'm sorry. That would make             anybody sad.                           SHARON             Sorry you asked?                                                 (CONTINUED)                                                          75.CONTINUED:                            CATCH             No.   No, you can always tell me.She stares a moment, then speaks with an irony he doesn'tpick up on.                           SHARON             Well... I feel better now.    You             feel better?                            CATCH             I feel fine.   Great.He takes off his T-shirt and begins stripping off hisshorts, his underwear!                           SHARON             What are you doing?!She is surprised, smiling, as he plunges into the pond,her darkness dissipating.                           SHARON             Catch! There's no swimming here!             And you can't be naked in a state             park!He dives under and surfaces again.                           CATCH             Take the day off, Pogo!                           SHARON             What if a park ranger comes?!He dives and surfaces once more.       We STAY CLOSE ON him.                           CATCH             Take your badge off for once.             Don't be such a damn Marine about             everything. Just...He stops because she isn't there. He looks about. Thensuddenly he sees her, poised on a boulder right abovehim, in her underwear about to dive! He yelps and getsout of her way, and she dives off the rock in classic,near-professional form, a beautiful, sleek dive. Shehits the water just right and surfaces, and they splashand swim and frolic and dunk each other in unabashedplay.                                                 (CONTINUED)                                                           76.CONTINUED:At one point she jumps at him to dunk him, and he catchesher. They are in chest-deep water and their faces areclose. They pause -- then she goes in for a kiss, but hepulls his head back, avoiding that kiss and says...                           CATCH             Someplace I've never been kissed.She smiles, staring, then slowly reaches her hands to hisface, gently closes his eyes and is about to kiss him onthe closed lids, but she changes her mind and insteadputs her lips tenderly on each of the small scars on hisface. Then she moves away. He opens his eyes. Shewalks to the shore, moves to her clothes and startsgetting dried and dressed, giving him a soft look.Catch comes to the shore    to dry himself, but as hedresses, Sharon glances    at his body -- and the scarringon his chest and arms.     He is troubled about this,avoiding her eyes. Then     he makes a decision.                            CATCH             They tell me I was in an accident.             Long time ago.                           SHARON             Looks like a bad one.                           CATCH             I don't remember it.    I...She waits -- but he says no more. She continues        todress, sliding her shorts over her wet underwear       -- butbefore she puts her shirt on, she turns her back       to takeoff her wet bra. He glances at her. She looks         over andcatches him glancing. They both smile softly,ironically, as they finish dressing.                           SHARON             We should be thinking about lunch.             We have to pack up.                           CATCH             So soon?                            SHARON             Some of us have to work.                    (teasing)             You ever work?                          CATCH         Yeah.     I worked.                                                 (CONTINUED)                                                            77.CONTINUED:                            SHARON             Oh?   You remember that?   Working?She smiles and walks off toward the food. He staresafter her, his smile fading into thoughtfulness, memory,as he dresses.EXT. COFFEE HOUSE - DAYCatch is standing outside, looking in through the largewindow, searching. His eyes settle on a man, and hestares. The man, about his age, is having coffee andreading the paper. Catch is staring deeply, musteringhis courage. He walks into the place.INT. COFFEE HOUSE - DAYCatch hesitates, then walks over and stands beside thisman until he -- JACK MOLINA -- looks up. Jack beams withrecognition and surprise.                           JACK             Catch -- Jesus!Catch is held back, smiling a bit, but on thin ice here,dipping into his past.                          JACK             How are you? Sit down. Been             years. You been out of town?                        CATCH                 (sitting)          I've been around.Jack's smile clouds as memory kicks in.                        JACK          Oh, man, I'm really sorry about          what happened. I never got a          chance to say...Catch, with a steady look, says...                        CATCH          We don't need to go there.Jack nods a moment.                           JACK             Okay. All right. So... what             d'you want, a coffee?                                                   (CONTINUED)                                                         78.CONTINUED:                            CATCH             I want my old job back.                    (pause)             What d'you think?                           JACK             You been workin'?                           CATCH             No, but I'm up to speed.                           JACK                    (thinks)             Well, it's not good with Randal             anymore.                           CATCH             No?                           JACK             No, he's out of it, but Danny             Coley's got something going.             Wanna go see 'im?Catch stares, nods.                           CATCH             Finish your coffee.EXT. PARKING LOT - DAY (LATER SAME DAY)In a seedy parking lot, tough part of town, Robby andSharon are arresting two teenage girls. One of them isleaning on the car as Sharon searches her. Robby standsback with the other (cuffed) girl. Robby is staring atSharon through this moment -- noting the difference inher, still very professional -- but softer. The girl isupset, near tears. Sharon is gentle in her search.                           SHARON             I have to check these jacket             pockets. What's your name --             Allison?The girl nods, not trusting her voice.                           SHARON             I need to unsnap this, Allison.             I'm checking your waistband. You             got to Whitney School?                           ALLISON             St. Mark's.                                                (CONTINUED)                                                        79.CONTINUED:Sharon is searching, Robby is noting all this, his eyesappreciating the difference.                           SHARON             Lift your arms higher. Got a good             basketball team at St. Mark's.             You play basketball?EXT. STREET - NIGHT (LATER THAT NIGHT)Sharon and Robby are still on the job, their unit rollingdown a residential street of apartment buildings. Aparked car is BLASTING MUSIC, and Robby halts beside it.Sharon starts making dancing moves to the MUSIC, sittingthere beside Robby, and he stares at her as she grooves,kidding it. Then Robby HITS the HORN to get the driver'sattention in the parked car. Robby makes a gesture tolower the volume, and the man SNAPS OFF his TAPE. Robbyrolls on, glancing at Sharon. She wears a small smile,checking their beat.                        ROBBY          What's going on, Pogo?    You're not          happy or anything?                        SHARON          Well, it's a mix, Robby. Life is          shit, but I'm dating this great          dead guy.She smiles at Robby's look.                            SHARON             He says before I came along, he             thought he was dead. Sounds             better when he says it --                     (stops abruptly)             Listen.                           ROBBY             What?                           SHARON             Shhh.   Sh!Robby stops the unit, rolling the windows down.     Theyhear the FARAWAY SOUND of...                           SHARON             The trumpet player.Robby pulls over.                                               (CONTINUED)                                                        80.CONTINUED:                           ROBBY             This time we got his ass.They exit the car and stand in the street, looking up,scanning the dark buildings -- but the sound is hard totrack, a FAINT BALLAD on a skillful HORN.                             SHARON             Wow.                             ROBBY             Got 'im?                           SHARON             Look at that moon.They stare at the full moon. In a moment, we hear thesound of ROARING CARS, their TIRES SCREECHING as theyturn onto this street, one car speeding ahead to cut offthe other and force it to stop. The two male drivers arescreaming at each other. Robby shakes his head.                           ROBBY             Full moon, man. Hey!They run toward the drivers who are exiting their cars toconfront each other. One big guy carries a baseball bat.Robby heads off one DRIVER while Sharon intercepts theBAT-MAN.                           DRIVER             This guy's crazy!                           BAT-MAN             This asshole side-swiped me!                           SHARON             Are you McGuire?                             BAT-MAN             What?!                             SHARON             Mark McGuire?                             BAT-MAN             No.                           SHARON             Then put that bat away.   Put it in             your trunk. Now.The man hesitates, then moves toward his trunk.                                              (CONTINUED)                                                            81.CONTINUED:                           DRIVER             I never touched his car.                        BAT-MAN          You lying bastard!The man charges, bat in hand, and Sharon makes a flyingtackle, bringing him down hard on the street -- and weimmediately...                                                  CUT TO:INT. SHARON'S BEDROOM - NIGHT (LATER)as she lies on the bed, on her stomach, her top off, andCatch straddles her, massaging her back and shoulderwhich are sore from her tackle.                              SHARON          Ow.     Ow!                              CATCH         Sorry.                          SHARON         No.     That's good. Deeper.                       CATCH                (as he works)         How heavy was this guy?                              SHARON         Like a truck.                          CATCH         God.     Tractor-trailer?                              SHARON         Pickup.        Ow.   Ow! That's really         good.She begins to moan as he digs out the pain. He isfighting against the erotic charge of this, trying tokeep it medicinal, but he's got his hands all over hernaked back, and she is moaning -- so he stops and takes abreath.                           CATCH             I better... More oil.He reaches to the bed table and puts oil on his hands,noticing a card that stands open on the tabletop, a verypretty invitation.                                                  (CONTINUED)                                                             82.CONTINUED:                           CATCH             This is pretty.                           SHARON             Don't get oil on it.                           CATCH             Renewal of vows -- that's great.             Is this your parents?                          SHARON             Yes. Just put it down.   I'm not             going.                           CATCH             Why not?She doesn't answer. He puts it down, comes back to theslow rubbing of her shoulders, her neck. In a moment...                           SHARON             If I go, my brother'll hurt    me             with the department. I got     mad             and knocked him down. All     they             need is a complaint. Just     leave             it alone and keep rubbing.     Okay?She moans in pleasure as he rubs, trying to push allother thoughts away.                           CATCH             So... he says you can't go?                           SHARON             Can't you rub without talking?                    (then)             It's been bad with my family a             long time, so the hell with it             anyway. If they don't want me             there, I don't want to be there.             All right?                           CATCH             All right.                    (then, as he works)             Bad how?                           SHARON             Oh, Jesus!But we see her eyes turn inward toward the old pain and,for once, she shares it.                                                    (CONTINUED)                                                          83.CONTINUED:                             SHARON             My father used to knock us around,             all of us. But I'm the one who             called the cops -- finally.                     (pause)             They say I turned against the             family.Catch works in silence a while, absorbing this, lookingat Sharon with more tenderness than ever. In a moment...                           CATCH             But... they invited you.                           SHARON             You don't know anything about it.             So forget it.                           CATCH             Well... I know about family.                            SHARON             Oh, yeah?   What about it?                           CATCH             It's... a door you don't close.                           SHARON             I didn't close the door.                           CATCH             You're closing it now. Right?             Family invites you, you go.             Family shows up, you welcome them             in. That's family.                          SHARON             Oh, sure. What if they don't             deserve it?                           CATCH             Then you forgive.                           SHARON             You have all the answers.                           CATCH             No. I just... It seems like a             chance, doesn't it? A chance to             make things right. I'd take it.             Then you tried -- y'know? And             it's up to them.                                                 (CONTINUED)                                                       84.CONTINUED:Sharon is considering his words, but she's also deep inher old pain, defensive, challenging.                           SHARON             You close with your family?That hits him, but he keeps rubbing her, gentle now,looking a little lost. He doesn't answer.                          SHARON          See?    So why should I listen to          you?But as he works her back in silence, we see her facingher pain and thinking through it.INT. SHARON'S APARTMENT - NEXT MORNINGJust after dawn. Catch is on the couch, stirring in hissleep, in the grip of an unsettling dream. We hear whathe hears: the VOICES of his wife, his son, murmurings.We're not sure of the words, even laughter. Catch's eyessnap open, jolted out of sleep, but the VOICES don'tstop, and he suddenly sits up. The VOICES FADE as hecatches his breath, gulping air. He tries to calm down.In a moment, he rises and moves to Sharon's bedroom.INT. BEDROOM - MORNINGHe comes to the side of the bed and sees that she isasleep. He sits on the bed and studies her, his darkthoughts dissipating as he watches her sleep, his eyesgoing deep. In a moment he begins to raise a hand tobrush her cheek -- the way awakened her before -- but hestops before touching her. Instead, he brings his faceclose to her and lightly kisses her.She stirs. He kisses her again. She opens her eyes.They stare at each other. She raises a limp hand andtouches his face. He begins to come close, slowly, foranother kiss. She welcomes it. They kiss on the mouth,very tenderly. They kiss again -- deeper. They kissagain, and she holds him, and he moves fully onto thebed, lying over her and supporting his weight on hiselbows and kissing and kissing and letting go for once,hungry for her because she is in his heart now, and sheis a salvation, and there is a moment when they bothpause and stare clear-eyed, acknowledging what they aredoing, and both of them abandon their fear and pain andbegin to smile, and they make love that way, smiling, aswe slowly...                                              DISSOLVE TO:                                                        85.INT. BLUES CLUB - NIGHTThe night of that same day finds us at this neighborhoodyplace with a lot of down-to-earth atmosphere and not alot of noise, like Harvell's in Santa Monica -- earthyblues and jazz from a small band in a darkish club, smalldance floor. We PAN during this slow number and ARRIVEAT a few dancing couples, including Sharon and Catch whomostly just hold each other and sway. When their eyesmeet, there is a lot of deep pleasure there.The music ends. The small crowd applauds. Couples headback to the tables, but the little band goes right into amore up-tempo but still earthy blues. Sharon stops andpulls Catch back onto the dance floor. He smiles andfollows.This number has a driving beat, and, slowly, we watchSharon drop her inhibitions and become more and more   freeout there, and Catch is smiling and wowed by her, and   shelaughs, wowing herself, and she keeps going, getting   wildand playful, and it's something to see. We LINGER ON    thejoy and abandon. She's earned it. They go a littlecrazy, happy crazy, and in a while we...                                              DISSOLVE TO:SAME - HOURS LATERThe blues club is emptying out. It's late. The band isfinishing what seems to be its last number, for the lastof thinning crowd -- including a tired, happy Sharon andCatch who applaud the end of the number. Catch stares ather.                        CATCH          What's your favorite song?He rises -- as if to go to the band with a request.     Shesmiles, spent.                        SHARON          Catch, I'm beat. So are they.   I          think they're finished.                         CATCH          One more.   It's a surprise.She watches as he leaves her, walks to the bandstand.     Hetalks to the leader who is the PIANO PLAYER.SHARON'S POVFrom the instrument cases on the floor behind the piano,Catch picks up a trumpet case, opens it. Now Sharon'stired smile is changing to curiosity, wonder.                                                       86.ON CATCHAs he puts the mouthpiece on the horn, nervous, butexcited, too, speaking to the Piano Player.                             CATCH            Thanks, Danny.                          DANNY (PIANO PLAYER)            Gonna be good having you back,            Catch.Catch comes to the edge of the bandstand, grinning a bitat Sharon, at his surprise for her, nervously fingeringthe horn. He puts it to his lips.ON SHARONMouth-open surprise -- and then smiling with the wonder -- and Catch begins to play, closing his eyes andrendering a ballad, like the haunting "ANGEL EYES."Sharon's smile slowly fades, replaced by a much deeperlook, not only because he is so good, but because he isshowing her his heart, his love and even his pain -- morethan he can show her any other way. We INTERCUT as heopens his eyes briefly, watching her, sending her themusic, closing his eyes again to fall into the song -- asSharon's eyes fill at the beauty and sadness of it, andat this look inside her man. We LINGER. Then...                                             DISSOLVE TO:EXT. CLUB - NIGHTWe keep the sound of CATCH'S TRUMPET going as he andSharon exit the club and begin to stroll away, armsaround each other. In a moment, he stops. He can't goanother step. He has to kiss her. He holds her face andcomes in for the kiss, and above the music we hear hersay softly.                          SHARON            Where I've never been kissed.He stops and stares a moment, then takes her hand andwalks her out into the middle of the traffic-lessboulevard and there, in the center of the street, kissesher, and she responds, and it is their finest, fullestmoment, lifting on the MUSIC, and it is ironic andprophetic that at its peak they are washed over by therevolving light from a police car and a SIREN that CHIRPSonce as they break, staring.                                             (CONTINUED)                                                        87.CONTINUED:                           SHARON             Oh, God.We WIDEN to see Ray and Sanchez in their police unit 20feet away. Ray uses a small electronic bullhorn tosay...                           RAY             Are you in danger there?                           SHARON             Go away.                           RAY             I was talking to him, Pogo.                        CATCH          No thanks, Ray. Everything's code          four. Go away.Sharon laughs aloud and walks (with Catch in hand) to thepolice car, her joy overwhelming any embarrassment. Shegestures behind them at the jazz club.                        SHARON          See that place? He's going to be          playing there every weekend.Catch notes the pride with which she says this.                        RAY                 (impressed; to Catch)          Oh, yeah? What d'you play?                        SHARON          It's music, Ray. You wouldn't          like it.She waves and walks off with Catch, arms around eachother. The cops watch them go.                                              DISSOLVE TO:INT. CATCH'S BEDROOM - DAY (NEXT MORNING)Sharon is asleep, alone in the tousled bed.INT. LIVING ROOM - MORNINGCatch is dressed, putting a leash on Bob, glancing intothe bedroom at Sharon.                                              (CONTINUED)                                                     88.CONTINUED:There is love in his look, and then a passing question,too, a residue of fear now that their relationship hasbegun in full -- but it all ends up in a soft smile forher as he walks Bob to the door. He hesitates at thedoor -- then walks into the kitchen and slides open thatdrawer of toys, stares at them.INT. BEDROOM - MORNING (MINUTES LATER)Sharon is waking, sleepy. She rises, finds a robe andslips it on, calling out softly for Catch.INT. LIVING ROOM - MORNINGSharon sees that Catch and Bob are gone. She drifts tothe window, looks at the day, looks down at the street --and she sees them.SHARON'S POVShe sees Catch and Bob on their way into the park acrossthe street from the building.ON SHARONShe smiles and moves into the bedroom to dress.EXT. CITY PARK - DAY (MINUTES LATER)Catch is walking Bob in the park, but is also checkingfor someone, studying the playground. He begins walkingtoward the swings.ANGLE - SANDBOXTommy, Catch's neighbor, is playing in the sand with ametal truck. Catch walks up to Tommy, carrying a bulgingplastic bag -- but Tommy's attention is on Bob, and petsthe big, friendly dog.ANGLE - CANDACEShe sits on a bench nearby, watching this, smiling a bit.                                                     89.ON CATCH, TOMMYCatch kneels in the sand, beside the boy, and he spillsout the contents of the bag -- action figures,superheroes, soldiers. Tommy goes wide-eyed at thearray. Catch is pleased by the boy's reaction. Catchkeeps a layer of emotion covered here.                         CATCH           You like these?                         TOMMY           Yeah!                         CATCH           Well... They're for you. We can           pretend it's your birthday.Tommy stares at him, then back at the toys in delight.Candace is walking toward them, and Catch turns to her.                         CATCH           I hope you don't mind.                         TOMMY           They're for me, Mom!Her look of surprise questions him.                        CATCH           Yeah. I've... kind of been saving           them up.                         CANDACE           For Tommy?He nods. She kneels close to her boy, the toys, pleasedbut not quite knowing what to say.                         CANDACE           Well, thank you. Thanks a lot.Catch nods, grins at Tommy who is already at play withthe figures.ANGLE - SHARONShe has entered the park and witnessed this from adistance. She is angling toward the playground.ON CATCHHe watches Tommy at play with the figures, but it'salmost too much for him. He touches the boy and rises,smiles and nods at Candace and begins to walk off.                                                           90.ON SHARONShe hurries her steps to intersect with Catch.ON CANDACE, TOMMY                          CANDACE            Wow, Tommy -- Look at them all.            Did you say thank you?Now Tommy looks up. Catch is moving away with Bob,walking home. Tommy stands up, Candace calls out to stopCatch.                             CANDACE            Excuse me!ON CATCHBut he is walking on, some of the emotion seepingthrough, not darkness, some old joy welling up. We see,in b.g., Tommy starts to run after him to say thanks. Wenow have a convergence of Tommy, Sharon and Catch, who ismoving steadily toward the street, crossing a bike pathnow. A BIKER is coming on. All in one moment Catchhears the WHIZZ of the BIKE, Tommy calling out "Thankyou," and Candace shouting "Be careful!" And Catch goescold inside and turns quickly and rushes onto the bikepath, taking the collision with the bike so Tommy is sureto be safe. Catch and the biker fall hard. Sharon stops-- holding her breath. Tommy watches, wide-eyed, andCandace comes running.Catch is rising, a little sore and soiled.        The biker isangry.                          BIKER            Goddammit -- I saw the kid.            Jesus. I wasn't even close.But Catch is walking     away with that frozen, numb look,all shut down by his     fear and his memory as Bob trotsalong beside him and     the Biker comes after him and Tommyand Candace watch him     go and Sharon hurries her steps tocatch up. The Biker      reaches Catch first.                             BIKER            Wait a minute!     Hey!But Catch won't turn to him, walking on -- and the mangets in front of him, raging.                                              (CONTINUED)                                                          91.CONTINUED:                           BIKER             Why the hell did you cause a             wreck?! I told you -- I saw the             kid, you idiot. I was...Pain and darkness build in Catch's eyes until he says ina quiet, choked voice, right into the Biker's face...                           CATCH             One more word, and your life will             change forever.The man stops talking, looking at the dead certainty inCatch's eyes. He wants to say more, to save face, butCatch's look holds him like a fist. Sharon has stopped,frozen, watching. The Biker turns away and walks back tohis downed bike as Catch moves on. Sharon can hardlybelieve all of this, following Catch again.ON CATCH, SHARON                               SHARON             Catch!   Catch!It takes a moment for her voice to penetrate, then hequickly turns and sees her approaching.                           SHARON             Are you all right? Your elbow's             bleeding. I...But he is tight, nearly frozen, everything held in.                               SHARON             What's wrong?He walks away from her, and this shakes her, and shecatches up again.                           SHARON             Where are you going? Catch --             you're scaring me. Please...But he walks on, desperate, and she gets in his way,faces him.                           SHARON             Please, Catch, don't... Can't you             talk to me?!He turns and walks off, heading for the street.                                                 (CONTINUED)                                                               92.CONTINUED:                               SHARON             Please.   Wait.     I... Catch!He has walked into traffic -- not completely unmindful ofthe cars, but desperate to get away. She watches this,frozen, as HORNS BLARE. He has to stop in the middle ofthe street to wait a moment, and he stands there,stricken.ON CATCHAs the traffic moves around him and the dog -- a HORNBLARES, BRAKES SCREECH, and he thrown into a storm of...FLASHBACKSThat come sharper and faster than before, bits and piecesof memory outside any order: He is driving, Annie smilesat him, headlights blind him, Annie screams, the littleboy in Annie's arms grins at him, BRAKES SCREAM, Anniesays something to him, calmly, but he can't hear her, theheadlights blind him again and BRAKES SCREAM again, and:BACK TO SCENE (PRESENT)Catch stands there shaken and shut down.ON SHARONWatching him, shocked and frightened for him. She seesthe traffic let up, and Catch crosses and walks towardhome. She watches him go.EXT. BUSY STREET - DAY (LATER)As Robby and Sharon's police unit moves along withtraffic. In a moment they pull over and park beside anoffice building. It is the same building the man enteredshouting, "Catch!" Sharon watches the building'sentrance. After a while...                           ROBBY             Are you going to tell me why we're             sitting outside this building             again?                          SHARON            Watching for somebody.       Tall guy.            40s. Grey-blond hair.                                                     (CONTINUED)                                                           93.CONTINUED:                           ROBBY             What's it about?                              SHARON             It's personal.                           ROBBY             Fine -- what am I supposed to do?                           SHARON          Chill.She watches the building, studying the people who comeand go.INT. CATCH'S APARTMENT - DAYCatch is at home, still shaken by what happened to him inthe park. He reaches for the PHONE, punches in a number.It RINGS and Elanora Chu picks up. Catch is deep in hispain.                           ELANORA (V.O.)          Hello?                           CATCH                    (softly)          Hi.                        ELANORA (V.O.)          Hi! How are you? Have you been          out in this great afternoon?          Brenda took me for a walk.She senses the silence on the other end and quiets a bit.                        ELANORA (V.O.)          Anything wrong?                        CATCH          I've been... remembering.She is quiet for a moment.                        ELANORA (V.O.)          Catch... This is good.                           CATCH          It's awful.                           ELANORA (V.O.)          No.     No, there's good to remember.                                                 (CONTINUED)                                                         94.CONTINUED:He doesn't speak, shakes his head.                              ELANORA (V.O.)             Catch?                              CATCH             I'll call you.He hangs up, staring at his thoughts.EXT. BUSY STREET - DAYSharon is still staking out the office building. Robbyis fidgeting. She just keeps watching. When Robbybegins to speak, she puts up a hand to stop him, goingvery still, staring out the window at the man who Catchwas afraid of, Richard Pindella. The man enters thebuilding. Sharon gets out of the car, intense...                           SHARON             Give me fifteen.And she hurries after the man.INT. OFFICE BUILDING - DAYAs Sharon enters, sees the man at the elevators. He getsinto an elevator, and she just misses him. She watchesthe elevator indicator. It stops at two. She hurries upthe stairs.INT. CORRIDOR - DAYAs Sharon bangs into a hallway through the stairway door.She looks one way, looks the other way down the longhall, and sees the man just entering a door. She walksto that door. It is marked "private." She knocks andwalks in.INT. OFFICE - DAYShe enters a comfortable office, many shelves, books,couch and chairs, big desk. She hears the man's voicefrom an anteroom. He's coming toward her.                           PINDELLA (O.S.)             Excuse me -- that's a private             entrance...He sees her now, sees the uniform.                                               (CONTINUED)                                                           95.CONTINUED:                           PINDELLA             Oh... is there a problem?He's calm, gentle in the eyes. She stares a moment,trying to keep her emotions undercover.                             SHARON             I'm not sure.    Who am I speaking             to?                           PINDELLA             I'm Dr. Pindella.She takes her time, afraid.                           SHARON             What kind of doctor?                             PINDELLA             What is this?                           SHARON             Do you know a Catch Lambert?                             PINDELLA             Oh.   Yes!   Is he in trouble?                           SHARON             I... need to talk to you.He glances at his watch, worried for Catch.                           PINDELLA             Well, I have a patient in five             minutes. But I can...                             SHARON             Are you a...?                           PINDELLA             I'm a psychiatrist.                           SHARON             And Mr. Lambert...                           PINDELLA             My relationship with Mr. Lambert             is confidential.She's dying inside -- but covering, lying, forcing herway into this.                                                  (CONTINUED)                                                          96.CONTINUED:                           SHARON             He's your patient. He's your             patient we... know all this. This             is police business. I'm officer             Sharon Pogue -- L.A.P.D.                           PINDELLA             Look... I want to help Mr. Lambert             but I can't tell you anything that             isn't public record.                           SHARON             In general. In general.   He's             your patient, and he...                           PINDELLA             He's not my patient. He walked             away from treatment. That was...             nearly a year ago.                           SHARON             Why did he walk away?                           PINDELLA             I can't discuss that, but if you             know how to reach him, I would             appreciate being able to talk to             him.                        SHARON                 (desperate)          You can help by just   telling me          what's in the public   record.          It'll take me half a   day to do a          search. Can you tell    me? Just...She is unable to play this out as a "cop," her emotionscoming through. Pindella sees this. She sits on theedge of a chair and takes a breath, speaks more softly.                        SHARON          Can you please tell me what's in          the record?He stares a moment, sympathetic -- and realizing...                        PINDELLA          You were with him -- in the car.          Your uniform threw me. Are you          his friend?She looks at him, nods.                                                (CONTINUED)                                                               97.CONTINUED:                              SHARON             More.He takes that in, leans back on the desk.                           PINDELLA             I can tell you he was in an             accident, hospitalized, referred             to me as an outpatient...                              SHARON             What accident?                           PINDELLA             A bus... a city bus hit his             vehicle. That was a couple of             years ago. It was... an awful             thing. His family was in the van.             His wife and child. His wife's             parents...                           SHARON             A bus... and a van. Where?        On...             the freeway?Something is pulling at her memory. Her vision turnsinward, and she stops breathing for a moment --remembering. She was there. And here we get a...FLASHBACK - CARNAGEA glimpse of the carnage -- what she saw, first on thescene -- with Catch lying there. All the while Pindellais speaking.                           PINDELLA (V.O.)             I think so. Yes. Near Santa             Monica.  On the freeway. He was             severely injured but... thrown             clear.  The others were trapped in             the van.BACK TO SHARON (PRESENT)still in shock, looks at Pindella again.                            SHARON             Survivors?   Only him?      I... don't             remember.                              PINDELLA             Remember?                                                      (CONTINUED)                                                          98.CONTINUED:                            SHARON                     (quietly)             Yes.   I was there. I was there.Pindella stares, then...                           PINDELLA             His wife's mother survived, but...             she was paralyzed.She takes a moment, absorbing this.                            PINDELLA             Elanora Chu.   She's still in town,             I believe.                           SHARON             Does he... still see her?                            PINDELLA             He used to. I don't know.                    (pause)             I'm glad to see... he has someone             else who cares about him. I know             he's running from this. He left             all his friends, his home, his             whole life.                           SHARON             He says... he doesn't remember the             accident.                           PINDELLA             He lost a lot of memory. I tried             to help him with that. He             resisted. Walked away.She stares.                           SHARON             I think he remembers me.Very subdued now, she asks...                           SHARON             How does he live?                        PINDELLA          He received a large settlement          from the city, but he...barely          touches it. He was a professional          musician.She stares at him and nods.                                                (CONTINUED)                                                          99.CONTINUED:                          SHARON             Trumpet.As he says that, we hear our TRUMPET MUSIC begin -- afast and furious MUTED TRUMPET, incredible RIFFS, and weuse this to carry us, as we...                                                DISSOLVE TO:INT. POLICE HEADQUARTERS - DAYSharon is in the report room, using the computer,hunting. We MOVE AROUND to see her and the screen. Sheis searching the police records to find the accident.The CONTINUING TRUMPET RIFFS are the motor for this. Shesuddenly stops as we FOCUS ON the name: "LAMBERT." Thenwe watch her as she punches up the data and she reads.                                                DISSOLVE TO:INT. SHARON'S APARTMENT - NIGHTWe MOVE THROUGH Sharon's nearly dark apartment, itsstillness in strange contrast to the manic TRUMPET RIFFS.We PAN to find her curled in a chair, staring deeply,sadly, drinking a drink. As we PAN, we DISCOVER she islooking at that mural of the mountains and through thisto her thoughts, and then she makes a decision and risesand goes to the phone, punches in a number.INT. CATCH'S BEDROOM - NIGHTHe is sitting on his bed, back against the headboard,sitting there fully dressed, shoes and all, knees up --as he plays his muted trumpet, hard and fast, playing theincredible riffs we've been hearing, playing in a drivenway, keeping his demons away. When the RING of the PHONEbreaks through, he stops suddenly. He waits. HisMACHINE CLICKS ON and BEEPS. We INTERCUT the call asSharon's voice comes on, subdued.                           SHARON             Catch, it's me. Can you pick up?But he sits there, waiting, listening.                           SHARON             Why don't we... meet tomorrow?             I'll be in Westwood. Can you meet             me there? Westwood and Cole.             About two o'clock. Okay?                                                (CONTINUED)                                                           100.CONTINUED:He sits there. He slowly puts the horn down. He reachesfor the phone now -- but she hangs up before he picks upthe call.                                                 CUT TO:EXT. WESTWOOD STREET - CORNER - NEXT DAYCatch waits on a busy street corner in Westwood Villagenot far from Santa Monica. He is waiting, glancing overthe passing crowds for Sharon. He sees her. She is offduty, out of uniform. He watches her until she spotshim. She smiles a little, but there is a mix of fear andsadness in her smile. They walk to each other and stopand hug, but it is brief, and then she keeps walkingslowly, and he walks beside her. There is a strainlingering between them.                           CATCH             Shar, I'm sorry about yesterday.             I...                            SHARON             That's okay.                           CATCH             It's hard to explain, but it's...             I'm okay now.                           SHARON             You don't have to explain.He glances at her, wondering, walking along.                           CATCH             So... why'd we meet here?                           SHARON             So you're the trumpet player who             was waking people up -- on my             beat.They walk along in silence a moment.                           CATCH             I used to practice late...             outside. On my roof.                           SHARON             On your roof? That's why we             couldn't find you.                                                 (CONTINUED)                                                          101.CONTINUED:                           CATCH             I didn't know it bothered anybody             until you mentioned it. You             arresting me?They smile nervous smiles. She walks on, leading himsomewhere. He looks about, beginning to show someagitation, but covering it.                        CATCH          You going to tell me where we're          going?                 (as she doesn't                  answer)          That's okay. I mean... I'll go          anywhere with you, Shar. Jaws of          death. The mall on a Saturday.          Just about any...He slows his steps, looking across the street and downhalf a block...HIS POVWe see an ivy-covered brick building there, with a signthat is too far away for us to read.ON CATCH AND SHARONHe looks quickly away from that building.       She sees hisgrowing agitation.                        SHARON          You can trust me, you know.She takes his hand.                        SHARON          I've got you now. I'm holding on          -- like before.                        CATCH          What d'you mean?                           SHARON             Like I held you before.   Like I             did -- at the accident.He suddenly pulls his hand out of hers, shocked, and itshakes her.                                                 (CONTINUED)                                                          102.CONTINUED:                           SHARON             What makes it so... unspeakable,             Catch? What makes it like that?He begins to shut down, to grow cold and numb and nothear this.                           SHARON             Is it because you were driving?He turns away, closing his eyes.                           SHARON             I read the reports, and it wasn't             your fault. It wasn't. Is it             because you survived and they             didn't?She puts her hand out for him again.                           SHARON             Catch. Please. Hold on, and             we'll go in there together...He does not take her hand, so she takes his and walks afew steps toward that building.                           SHARON             You can talk to them. You can say             goodbye or I love you or             whatever...He pulls his hand away again, more violently, a layer ofrage over his pain.                           CATCH             This is wrong! It's wrong!   Why             are you doing this?!                            SHARON             To help you.                           CATCH             I don't need your help! I don't             need this. We don't need this --             we're fine...                           SHARON             We're not. We're not fine, Catch.             Nothing is fine -- no matter how             much you pretend.It is as if she's fighting for his life again -- and herown.                                                 (CONTINUED)                                                          103.CONTINUED:                           SHARON             You pretend that nothing happened.             You walk all over the city helping             people, but you're dying inside.                           CATCH             I'm not dying! I'm not             pretending! I don't remember! I             don't remember any of it. So             leave me alone! What good does it             do? It's gone! And I'm all right             this way! Why do you have to             change it? I'm all right.She points at the building across the street.                           SHARON             Then walk in there.He can't even look at the place.                           SHARON             Walk in there, and I'll walk in             with you. Walk in there and say             it's real -- what happened is             real. Your family died.                           CATCH             Don't talk about that!    Don't!                       SHARON                (breaking down)         All right -- you talk about it!         You tell me your family died and I         say yes, I know, I'm sorry, and         you say, I loved them... and I         say, what an awful thing to lose a         family...                       CATCH                (unravelling)         Damn you, Shar. Damn you -- why         won't you stop?!                           SHARON             So you can have a life!                       CATCH         I have a life! We could have a         life. We could get up and go to         work and come home to each other         and never, never talk about         before. We don't need to do that!         Why do we need to do that?!                                                (CONTINUED)                                                          104.CONTINUED:                           SHARON             Because it happened! Because it's             the truth! I'm sorry. I'm so             sorry it happened, but...                           CATCH             Nothing happened! If we say it,             then that's the truth, that can be             the truth. Say it. Nothing             happened. Say it, Shar.                           SHARON             Catch -- take my hand.    Please.                             CATCH             Say it!    I'm asking you to say it.Her tears come, and she shakes her head.                             SHARON             I can't.                             CATCH             Why not?                           SHARON             Because I want it too much. I             want everything with you. I want             all of you -- not just the part             that isn't hiding and running             away...                             CATCH             Why are   you pushing so hard? Why             does it   have to be your way? Why             does it   have to be your truth?             This is   who I am! This is the way             I am!                           SHARON             Not anymore. It doesn't have to             be this way anymore because you're             not alone -- because we're the             family now. We can be the             family...                           CATCH             You like to push people, don't             you? You just have to push and             shove and make it right for you --             for you. You push everybody,             Shar. You even pushed your family             away, didn't you?                                                 (CONTINUED)                                                            105.CONTINUED:He has stung her. The tears are in her throat.         She hasto take a moment, but she pushes through to sayquietly...                           SHARON             I just... want to say...                           CATCH             You already said it.   You said it             all.                           SHARON             When you're ready, I'll be there             for you. I just want to say that.And she turns and walks away. He watches her go, angry,scared and sorry for what he said. He takes a few stepsafter her, wanting to call out and to stop her. We seehim almost call to her. He is coming apart, watchingher, needing her so much, but unable to call out.He is shaky. He takes a glance at that building, thenaway. He stares after Sharon -- but she's out of sightnow. He steels himself, then looks across the streetagain at that building.He is desperately afraid. He stares at the building along while. He begins to cross the street. He makesfists to keep from shaking. He walks to the entrance.EXT. BUILDING - DAYThis is the "Wellston Memorial Chapel and Mausoleum."The sign is on one of the brick pillars. The iron gateis open. He can't walk in there. He just can't. Hewalks away quickly, as if escaping.EXT. POLICE BUILDING PARKING LOT - NEXT DAYThe new shift    of cops is heading for its cars -- Sharonand Robby, Ray    and Sanchez, others. The mood is relaxed,teasing talk,    but Sharon is way down. She tries to pushher mood away    and tough through it.                           RAY             Rib House after shift today?             4:30?                           ROBBY             I think I'll head home.                                                  (CONTINUED)                                                        106.CONTINUED:                            RAY             Pogo?   Bring your friend.                           SHARON             No, I think I'll turn vegetarian.                        RAY          Gotta have that meat to keep your          strength up.                        SHARON          How come it's not working for you?There is a scattering of laughter -- almost by rote -- asSharon enters her car without even the hint of a smile.Robby notices. She just punches up the CAD monitor, allbusiness. Our TRUMPET MUSIC comes in, aching now, andtakes us into...INT. SHARON'S APARTMENT - NIGHTShe is exercising on the machine, sliding into hercrunches, fast and furious, but all the pain and sorrowis in her eyes, and in a moment she just stops. TheTRUMPET MUSIC KEEPS GOING ON through this. She looksover at the phone.INT. CATCH'S APARTMENT - NIGHTWe PAN OVER Bob-the-Dog, watching something. We see afew scattered sheets of music lying about, hearingRUSTLING, and we ARRIVE AT Catch, seated on the floor,shuffling through a stack of sheet music, driven, lookingfor something. The PHONE RINGS. He ignores it. He isopening up each chart of music, shaking it out,searching.Sharon's voice comes on his machine, almost hollow withsorrow.                         SHARON (V.O.)          Catch.  Can you... pick up?                 (pause)          Will you call me?He keeps searching, seeming to not even    listen. TheMACHINE CLICKS OFF. He shakes the next     music chart andsomething falls out. He stares at this     piece of paper,picks it up, slowly turns it over. It     is a picture ofhimself, a man blowing a horn, drawn in    crayon by a fouror five-year-old. Catch stares at this     with a depth thatgoes on forever, as the MUSIC ENDS.                                                       107.EXT. STREET - NEXT DAYSharon and Robby are rolling to a stop in a strip mallparking lot, exiting their car. No rush. She's stillvery downbeat. As they walk from the car, he keepsglancing at her, concerned for her.                         ROBBY          Pogo...?She puts up a hand to brush all the words away. Shecan't talk about it. She pushes through it by doing thework.                        SHARON          Which store is it?                        ROBBY          The little market there. They          came through a back window last          night. Mostly vandalism...They walk on, but as Sharon reaches the sidewalk, alittle child, three years old or so, toddles out the doorof a shop. A SKATEBOARDER is rattling along, and Sharonmakes a grab for the child, taking his arm gently...                         SHARON          Whoa...... and pulling him to safety as the Skateboarder passesby shouting...                         SKATER          Sorry!And now the WORRIED MOTHER is emerging from the shop...                        WORRIED MOTHER          Oh, God, thank you. Billy!She picks up her boy, walks back into the shop. Sharonstands there -- as it all blooms inside of her, rocksher, really, this little act, evoking Catch, who he is,what he said and what he means to her. Robby is a fewsteps ahead, waiting for her, but she can't move yet,looking around her now at the people walking among theshops and cafes. She picks one. She catches the eyes.She gives a brief smile. The smile is answered, shyly,kindly, the person moves on.                         ROBBY          Pogo?She doesn't move for a moment.    Then she turns to Robby.                                             (CONTINUED)                                                          108.CONTINUED:                           SHARON             There's something I have to do.    I             need an address and phone.                           ROBBY             What's the name?                            SHARON             Elanora Chu.Robby looks at her, then nods, giving her this.                            ROBBY             Let's do it.They walk back to the car.EXT. UPSCALE RESIDENTIAL STREET - DAYWe see Sharon walking quickly from her police car to thefront of Mrs. Chu's home. Robby waits in the unit.EXT. CHU HOME - DAYSharon walks under that covered portico to the frontdoor, but before she rings the bell, a voice startles hera bit.                            ELANORA (O.S.)             Pogo?Mrs. Chu emerges from the shadows of the portico, rollingher wheelchair toward Sharon. She has a smile for her --but with some reserve.                           SHARON             I'm Sharon Pogue. I know all             about the...                            ELANORA             Elanora.Sharon nods, very held back.        She gestures toward thewheelchair self-consciously.                           SHARON             I'm sorry for... what happened.     I             know about the accident.                           ELANORA                    (hopeful)             He told you?!                                                 (CONTINUED)                                                           109.CONTINUED:                          SHARON             No. I found out, and... I             remembered. I was there.                              ELANORA             Oh.   Yes.Sharon stares a moment, begins with some of her toughcover in place, over her emotions.                           SHARON             I guess he comes here a lot -- to             talk to you.                           ELANORA             He shops for me. Twice a week.                           SHARON             Oh. And when he comes here -- he             never mentions the past, never             talks about the accident?                              ELANORA             No.                           SHARON             And you... let him do that?    All             this time? Why?                           ELANORA             It's what he needs.                           SHARON             Walking all over the city like...                              ELANORA             Like an angel.     Yes. Sweet man.                           SHARON             But... you let him get so lost.Elanora is a bit defensive now.                           ELANORA             I let him find his own way through             it. Why did you come here,             Sharon?                           SHARON             Because... I want to know how to             help him.                           ELANORA             You are helping him.                                                  (CONTINUED)                                                         110.CONTINUED:                           SHARON             I don't think so.                              ELANORA             Why not?                           SHARON             He... he was paying me back, I             guess, for the accident, for             helping him. That's why he             felt... so close to me. But...                           ELANORA             Is that what you think?                           SHARON             But now he probably hates me.             I...                              ELANORA             What happened?                           SHARON             I took him to the cemetery, and...                              ELANORA             The cemetery!Elanora's look darkens and she begins to shake her headin worry.                           SHARON             I thought it might help him...             come back, you know? But he             wouldn't even go in. He screamed             at me.                            ELANORA                    (upset)             What made you take him there?                           SHARON             For the truth...                           ELANORA             He knows the truth.                           SHARON             But he won't even say it, or...                                                (CONTINUED)                                                          111.CONTINUED:                           ELANORA             That's his way. That's his way             through all this. He made a wall             -- around that whole day, that             night -- other things, too. He             keeps them behind the wall -- his             little boy, my daughter. He can't             help it. The cemetery?! Do you             know how hard it is for me to go             to the cemetery? Can you imagine?Sharon is shaken by this, realizing, crumbling a bit asMrs. Chu goes on.                           ELANORA             That's where it stares you in the             face -- the loss. And it's too             much sometimes.Elanora takes a breath, acknowledging how upset she is.                           ELANORA             See? I'm still finding my way             through it. And Catch -- it             almost kills him to think about it             or say it or drive a car or see             the place where it happened or...             go by the cemetery.                           SHARON             I was trying to help him... come             back to some kind of life. I...                           ELANORA             But he was coming back. Do you             realize how much he changed in the             past weeks? His apartment, his             life, his music is coming back.             He fell in love! He even got a             job, Sharon -- for you. For the             two of you. Isn't that coming             back? Why do you have to rush?             Everybody has to rush these days.Sharon, battered by the truth of this, is totally exposednow, realizing, admitting.                           SHARON             I was scared. I push so hard...             when I'm scared.                           ELANORA             Scared of what?                                                 (CONTINUED)                                                           112.CONTINUED:                           SHARON             Losing him. So I did. I lost             him. He won't talk to me. I... I             didn't know what I was doing.Elanora sighs, looking at her, and her anger drains away,studying Sharon's misery.                           ELANORA             You were finding your way.    What             else can we do? You think    I'm             always sure what to say to   him,             what not to say? I do what    I             think is right and hope he   sees             the love in it.She shakes her head at Sharon's tears, her warmth showingnow, liking this girl.                           ELANORA             Look at you -- so worried now, so             miserable. That's the love in it.                           SHARON             Did I... make it worse for him?                           ELANORA             I don't know. I really don't.             But I think he'll see the love in             what you did.Sharon stares, without much hope. She puts out her handto touch Elanora's, to say goodbye. Elanora takes herhand and holds on a moment, staring into the girl, withstrength. Sharon nods and walks off, dark and sad.Elanora watches her go.INT. SHARON'S APARTMENT - DAYIt's the next day, and Sharon is preparing to go to herparents' renewal of vows. She is at the bottom -- withCatch gone from her life -- but she is doing her best togo through with this.We START ON a table, looking at the invitation and nextto that is a wrapped gift. We hear Sharon moving about,see her nervous, half-dressed, speaking to herself. Inthe b.g. we hear our TRUMPET-BASED MUSIC. Very soulful.                           SHARON             I just came by to... wish you             well. To... congratulate you and             wish you well. Shit.                                                  (CONTINUED)                                                        113.CONTINUED:She checks the mirror again, doesn't like the look,starts undressing, comes back to the table with the gifton it, wonders if she should add more decoration to thebox. She does, and as the trumpet plays on we --                                           CUT TO:SHARONdressed differently, re-wrapping the gift and then --                                           CUT TO:SHARONdressed differently, rewrapping it again and then --                                           CUT TO:SHARONsitting still in a chair, holding the gift on her lap,looking at the clock, nervous, scared, sad.EXT. STREET - DAY (SAME DAY)Catch is walking down a commercial street -- no Bob-the-dog, no strolling gait. He is focused, deep-eyed, on amission of some kind. Our MUSIC CONTINUES over this andon into...EXT. STREET - DAYThe MUSIC CONTINUES over Sharon driving to the church,parking, taking a deep breath, exiting the car. There isno one else outside the church. The ceremony has alreadybegun. She's planned it that way. She enters the churchas the MUSIC FADES OUT.INT. CHURCH - DAYAs Sharon comes in quietly. The church is not full, butperhaps 50 people sit in the front pews, watching theceremony at the altar: The priest, Mr. and Mrs. Pogue,altar boys. Sharon moves forward and slips into a pew afew back from the altar. The slight disturbance ofpeople sliding over to let her in causes a few people toglance over.                                           (CONTINUED)                                                          114.CONTINUED:One of them is Kathy. They trade a brief, nervous nod.Then Kathy whispers to her husband...                           KATHY             She came.We see Larry grow tense and angry.                           KATHY             Don't say anything.   Think of your             parents.Larry doesn't look at Sharon. The little boy, lookingfine in a tiny suit and tie, and being bored, leans tolook at his aunt.Sharon and Larry, Jr. trade a look.     She winks, thensettles back in her pew, watches.ON ALTARWe get our first   look at Sharon's FATHER, Carl Pogue, 62.Standing beside   his wife, a rather big, stolid guy, takenwith the moment,   both he and his wife emotional overthis. He wears    a hearing aid. The priest is speaking.ON SHARONwatching with a mix of feelings as the mass continues andthe vows are renewed, the priest reciting the rituals.EXT. STREET - DAYThe PRIEST'S VOICE from the church plays over this scene,invoking the blessings, saying the prayers of the mass aswe watch Catch continuing his mission, slowing his stepsnow and pausing at the entrance to the Welston MemorialChapel. He hesitates. We see the price he's paying andthe determination. He walks through the gate.EXT. CHAPEL GROUNDS - DAYHe walks into a courtyard of several small buildings in agarden setting -- all red brick and ivy, fountains andflowers. He is fighting his way through this, movingcloser to one of the buildings. He is nearly alone onthe chapel grounds, and, as he reaches the sheltered wallof this building, he is alone.                                               (CONTINUED)                                                       115.CONTINUED:This is a wall   of bronze vaults within the bricks, and oneach vault is   a plaque -- a name. His breath shivers inhis body as he   struggles to lift his eyes. Slowly, hisgaze comes to   rest on a name: "LAMBERT."As he stares, the PRIEST'S VOICE from Sharon's churchFADES OUT, and we are left with silence. Catch isshaky,. He takes a step closer to the wall, to the name,to them -- and he tries to speak, but can't. He triesagain -- his voice intimate, just above a whisper atfirst.                            CATCH             Annie. Chet. I don't... want you             to think I forgot about you. It's             just that I... I couldn't find             you.                    (pause)             I woke up, and you were gone.             Everything was gone. It all             just... disappeared. In one             minute. I couldn't remember that             minute. I lost it. It took me so             long to find it. I think I found             it all now. I used a calculator.             I did. I figured it out. You             know... we get about 1400 minutes             a day and so I figured it out. I             was 33 years old and three months             and eight days, so it was... I've             got it here...He fishes a piece of paper out of his pocket. His handis shaking as he reads a number off the paper.                           CATCH             It was minute number 17 million             eight hundred ten thousand, two             hundred... or so.He puts the paper away.                           CATCH             That's the one I lost. And...             when I lost that minute, I guess I             tried to lose it all, all the             memories -- because they hurt. I             tried, but... I couldn't do it.We --                                                         116.FLASHBACK - INT. VANto that minute and, for once, we go in order and     play outeach piece of it. We see Catch driving the van,      his wifeANNIE beside him. His son Chet is in back with      hisgrandparents, Elanora and her husband. The boy      is a bitwhiny, pouty.We INTERCUT the flashback WITH --CATCHat the grave, struggling through this.                          CATCH            Chet... you weren't feeling so            good, remember? It was your            birthday, and you ate too much.We see   Annie and Catch both glance back toward Chet, andwe get   present sound in this FLASHBACK scene as Catch andAnnie   both say, "What's the matter? Hm? Aww." And thenAnnie   looks out the window and turns to Catch and -- weCUT TO   Catch at the grave, his eyes filling.                          CATCH            And, Annie, you said... you            said...In the FLASHBACK we see Annie turn to him again, and thistime we hear her say, softly...                          ANNIE            Slow down in the rain, all right?We GO TO Catch at the grave, fighting tears.                          CATCH            And I don't know if I slowed down.            I don't know. I hope I did,            but... I didn't always listen. I'm            sorry. I'm really sorry.Back in the FLASHBACK, we see Annie reach around asElanora hands Chet to her. Then we're BACK at the graveand INTERCUTTING so that we see Catch speaking throughhis tears and we also see this tender moment played outin the van.                          CATCH            ... You put him on your lap, and            he looked at me, and I made a            face. Remember? I made you            smile, Chet.                          (MORE)                                                (CONTINUED)                                                           117.CONTINUED:                           CATCH (CONT'D)             And then we all smiled, and it was             a great minute. It was. I'm             really glad... I found that             minute. No matter what.Catch stares at the grave, in tears, as the rest of thatminute now plays out, punishing him. It lasts only aboutthree seconds: a bus out of control, headlights suddenlyglaring through the windshield, Catch turning the wheel,BRAKES SCREAMING, PEOPLE SCREAMING -- and then it's over.And Catch has been battered by the memory, and isweeping, but has not looked away. He is still staring atthe name of his family, and he is able to say, in abroken voice...                           CATCH             I won't forget... anymore.     I love             you.He steps forward and puts his hand on the plaque, restsit there. We STAY ON this, then in a moment, we...                                                 DISSOLVE TO:INT. CHURCH - DAYThe renewal of vows is over, and Sharon is standing inthe aisle, nervous and not sure what to do. Guests areup and milling about, many leaving the church. "See youat the house." "See you at the party." Etc. APHOTOGRAPHER is setting a group shot at the front of thechurch. Mr. and Mrs. Pogue, Larry and Kathy and thelittle boy...                          PHOTOGRAPHER             All right. The whole family in             this one. Just...Out of the milling crowd comes Sharon, taking a breathand braving it, walking up there, speaking quietly.                           SHARON             Where do you want me?The Photographer turns to her, wondering.                           SHARON             I'm the daughter.                            PHOTOGRAPHER             Oh!   Oh, well, how about...                                                 (CONTINUED)                                                            118.CONTINUED:We see the family shift so that Larry and his family areon one side of the parents. Sharon follows thePhotographer's gesture to stand at the other side, besideher Mother. Her Father has not looked at her. The photois taken. Sharon now turns to her mom and dad. This isdifficult, the strain is thick in the air.                           SHARON             You both look so great.                           MOTHER                    (nervous)             You, too.                           SHARON             I just wanted to...The Father speaks to her, his voice not hard, but flat,not warm either. No smile.                           FATHER             You coming to the party?                             SHARON             Sure.He nods, then turns to greet well-wishers. Sharon isleft alone by the drifting away of the family, but oneold couple greets her, the older woman (Mrs. Vander)wearing her new blue dress, her HUSBAND beaming besideher.                             MRS. VANDER             Sherry!    Look how nice you look.                           HUSBAND             Big police officer now.                           SHARON             Not so big.                    (to Mrs. Vander)             Nice dress.Sharon moves off toward a side exit, trying to catch upwith Larry and his family.EXT. SIDE OF CHURCH - DAYAs Larry and his family exit -- and Sharon comes out ofthe church, calling ahead.                             SHARON             Larry...                                                  (CONTINUED)                                                          119.CONTINUED:He starts to just walk on, ignoring her, but Kathy takesthe little boy and walks ahead, with a look at Larry, atSharon.ON SHARON AND LARRYThey nod to a few passing guests. Then they're alone.His nose is still bandaged, but less so, anger andbetrayal in his eyes.                           LARRY             How did you have the guts to walk             into a church after breaking your             word?                           SHARON             I have to be here. It's a chance             to make things right, and I'm             taking it.                           LARRY             Why even talk go me? You got what             you wanted. You laugh about it?             You tell your cop friends how             you...                        SHARON          You think I talk about it?!    You          think...She stops herself, catching her rush toward the oldanger. She goes calmer, deeper, even sad.                          SHARON          Here, Lar.She hands him something. It is the Polaroid photo. Helooks at it, surprised. They lock eyes. She speakssoftly.                        SHARON          I was invited. I'm here. I'm          going to the party. You do what          you want.And she walks off toward the parking lot.INT. POGUE HOME - DAYWe're in the midst of the party. We see Sharon driftinga bit, a hello here and there. She feels out of place.                                                (CONTINUED)                                                         120.CONTINUED:Though the home and yard are thick with people, there issome tension, especially in the core group -- all whoknow about the estrangement of Sharon. Now and then anervous glance from her mother is directed at Sharon, ora hostile glance from Larry.Sharon passes the videographer, who is pointing light,camera and microphone at the Vanders -- having them puttheir good wishes on tape. She smiles, then looks overand sees her Father across the room. He is alone. Shesteels herself and heads his way. He makes eye contact,then averts his look. She is approaching him, about tospeak, when he walks up to some friends and starts jokingwith them, leaving Sharon hurt, humiliated.Her mother has seen this and comes to her, speakingquietly, nervously.                           MOTHER             Don't make him talk about...             anything today.                           SHARON             Mom, I was going to fix his tie.             His tie is crooked.She sighs, pushing through her hurt to say...                           SHARON             It was a nice ceremony.                           MOTHER                    (worried)             Yes. We're running out of             chicken, though. Nobody's eating             the ham.                           SHARON             It's a great party, Mom.   You look             happy.Some joy is allowed to surface in her Mother's face.                           SHARON             Thirty-five years and still in             love, huh?Her Mother's look clouds a little, nervous again.                           MOTHER             You think that's wrong, don't you?                           SHARON             Of course not...                                                (CONTINUED)                                                         121.CONTINUED:                           MOTHER             I always... I feel like             apologizing to you. But I love             him.                          SHARON             I know.                           MOTHER             And then I feel like apologizing             to him for loving you. I'm the             one in the middle. I'm the only             one in this family who knows how             to forgive anybody.And she walks away. Sharon's eyes follow her, surprisedand thoughtful. She watches her Mother approach herFather and straighten his crooked tie. Then Kathy ismoving toward Sharon. Sharon turns to her and they bothspeak quietly -- at the same time.                           BOTH             You look great.Then they smile sad smiles.       Kathy gestures to her face,the faded bruise.                           KATHY             Tons of makeup. On Larry, too.They smile wryly again.                           SHARON             Sorry about that, but... I             couldn't stand him doing that to             you. I took it on...                           KATHY             Don't worry. I'm not your mother.             If he tries it again, I'm gone.             I'm out of there, me and Larry             Junior. He knows that.They stare, and Sharon gives her a hug, Kathy returns it.ON LARRYWe see Larry, across the room, notice this hug. He keepshis expression intact for the group he's in, but we see aflare of anger in his eyes.                                                          122.ON SHARONmoving across the living room.She sees Larry Jr. sitting alone and goes to him, sitsbeside the child -- who looks sad.                          SHARON            What's up with you?                          LARRY JR.            They won't let me watch T.V.                         SHARON            Oh. Well... let's pretend this is            T.V. It's a show about a party.They look about the room.                          SHARON                   (as if it's a secret)            That man... is really a super            hero.                            LARRY JR.            Is not.                          SHARON            Is too. And so is she. Look.            See? Red tights under her            dress... Oh-oh, that man gave her            a drink with something in it.                            LARRY JR.            With what?                          SHARON            With stuff to make her sleep.            He's a bad guy.The woman sips her drink, and the boy smiles, gettinginto it.                            LARRY            She drank it.                         SHARON            Watch. She'll fall down any            minute.The boy is suddenly swooped up, lifted away by hisfather. Larry puts the boy down near the door.                          LARRY            Hey, sport, you should go play            outside.                                                (CONTINUED)                                                       123.CONTINUED:He turns to Sharon.                           LARRY             Stay away from my family.Then he turns to the crowd, smiling a smile withouthumor, speaking loudly.                           LARRY             Hey, everybody, keep it down.             Somebody might call the police.There is some nervous laughter, people watching them now.Sharon is angry and embarrassed, keeping her voice low.                           SHARON             What're you doing?                           LARRY                    (to crowd)             Once the cops leave, we can really             party.The crowd around them is all staring now -- as he turnsback to Sharon.                           LARRY             Why don't you give everybody a             break -- and go home?In the hushed tension that follows, a GLASS falls andSHATTERS, and more people quiet down and stare. Sharonlooks at her glaring brother, looks at her Mothernervously picking up the broken glass -- no supportthere. Angry and shaken, she turns to the door.She walks to the door, opens    it, starts to leave, startsto close the door behind her,    and she stops, take takes abreath, battling hard against    the old patterns of hurtand anger. She looks at that     nearly-closed door. Shepushes it open and walks back    in.We see a surprised and angry look from Larry, a worriedlook from her Mother -- but Sharon is moving through thecrowd, searching until she sees her Father. She headstoward him. He sees her and walks into the kitchen,avoiding her. She follows him. We see Larry and hisMother exchange an anxious look -- and then move towardthe kitchen.INT. KITCHEN - DAYSharon enters, waits, others are leaving the kitchen,leaving her alone with her dad, but he starts to followthem.                                           (CONTINUED)                                                          124.CONTINUED:                           SHARON             Don't walk away. Okay?He acts as if he just noticed her.                              FATHER             What?She gestures toward his hearing aid.                              SHARON             Is it working?     Do you need to             check it?He absently touches the device.                              FATHER             It's fine.                              SHARON             Dad...But the kitchen door opens. We hear the party going onout there. Larry and Sharon's Mother enter, her Motherlooking at her husband and back to her daughter, veryfrightened. Larry is raging in a near whisper.                           LARRY             What the hell are you doing?!                           MOTHER             Sharon, please.                           SHARON             Please? Please what?! Will you             stop protecting him? You were             always protecting him! Don't talk             to your father. Don't bother your             father!She turns to her dad.                           SHARON             I'm going to bother you for one             minute, Dad. Okay? Can you             handle that?Larry advances on her.                           LARRY             Just get the hell out...And she turns on him in a fury that halts him.                                                 (CONTINUED)                                                          125.CONTINUED:                        SHARON          This isn't about you, Larry -- or          you, either, Mom. This is between          me and my father, so leave us          alone for one goddam minute!She turns back to her father.                        SHARON          How about you, Dad. Do you want          me to leave?                           FATHER             Up to you.                           SHARON             Dad... I'm asking. Am I welcome             here?                           FATHER             Jesus -- you're here, aren't you?             What d'you want?                           SHARON             I want to know!                    (then, quieting)             Do you want me here? Do you love             me, Dad? I want to know.The question's out, and she's totally exposed now -- andthe silence that follows breaks her heart. She nodstoward his hearing aid. Her voice is close to a whisper,thick with tears.                           SHARON             Do you... need to... check that             again?                              FATHER             I feel like...He can't finish it.                            SHARON             What, Dad?   You feel like what?                           FATHER             I feel like I don't have a             daughter anymore.She takes the blow and doesn't crumble, only her eyesshow the depth of the pain. She speaks quietly, softly.                                                 (CONTINUED)                                                           126.CONTINUED:                           SHARON             Well... you do. It's a shame             you're going to miss knowing her.             You're going to miss all that.And she leaves, brushing past Larry and her Mother.INT. LIVING ROOM - DAYSharon comes out of the kitchen, blinking   back tears.The party goes on around her, oblivious.    She stops onher way to the door because she sees the   video crewmoving, hunting the next guest -- and she   makes adecision and walks toward them, stops in   the light, facesthe camera.                           SHARON             I'm next.As they roll tape, people turn, gather, watch.       Sharonspeaks over a torrent of emotions.                           SHARON                    (to camera)             Hi, Mom and Dad. Congratulations.We see her family coming out of the kitchen and walkinginto this, surprised, stopping still.                           SHARON             Y'know... being in this house             reminds me of something.  I was             about ten, I guess, and Larry and             I were playing aliens -- remember,             Lar? We're making a lot  of noise,             and Dad comes home from work tired             and pissed off...                                                 CUT TO:HER FATHERwatching this. Her Mother is near panic, Larry staringhard, Kathy wondering. INTERCUT their reactionsduring...SHARON                           SHARON             We're yelling like mad, and Dad             bursts into the room and says,             what the hell are you doing? And             I'm scared. I'm really scared.                           (MORE)                                                 (CONTINUED)                                                       127.CONTINUED:                           SHARON (CONT'D)             And I say, we're playing alien             invasion, Dad, and he says, oh,             yeah, I'll show you a damn             invasion, and he picks me up,             picks me up off the floor and             throws me on the couch. I hit             that couch and bounce off, and he             grabs Larry and throws him on the             couch, and then... then he starts             making these monster sounds, and             he says, we came to earth to kick             ass, and I run at him and jump on             him and he tosses me on the couch             and then Larry, and we're laughing             so hard I almost wet myself, and             he keeps tossing us and growling             and beeping, and it was... it was             great. It was great, and I'm             never going to forget that.             Never. And I miss that. I miss             it. So I just... I wanted to tell             you tanks for that, Dad. Thanks.             That's all.                    (pause)             Bye.She hands the microphone back and walks away as thesurprised looks, the deep looks of her Father, Mother,Larry and Kathy follow her. She walks to the front doorand leaves.EXT. POGUE HOUSE - DAYSharon exits    and starts to walk away. She sees Larry Jr.look up from    his play. He smiles at her. She returnsthe smile --    it means a lot to her, and she walks on. Asshe reaches    the gate, she notices something across thestreet that    halts her. She stops still, surprised and sopleased.HER POVCatch is there, waiting near her car, watching her now.BACK TO SCENE - FULL SHOTas Sharon walks to him, so glad he's there, needing him-- but still not sure of what he's feeling about her,until she gets close and sees his eyes and the way heopens his arms -- and they embrace, and she holds ontight, eyes closed.                                           (CONTINUED)                                                         128.CONTINUED:They break the embrace, still holding on, searching eachother's eyes.                            CATCH             Sorry, Shar.   For what I said.                              SHARON             Me, too.In a moment, he gestures toward the Pogue house.                              CATCH             Was it bad?                           SHARON             They don't like me in there.                           CATCH             Then they don't deserve you in             there.She stares a moment more, still together.                           SHARON             That's a nice thing to say.                           CATCH             It's not a thing to say.   It's the             truth.She can only look away, not wanting to cry.                           CATCH             Why do you try so hard not to cry?She stares at him again. Her throat fills with tears,mouth is trembling a bit. She starts quietly, finally,with nothing held back -- but this is not anger as muchas mourning.                              SHARON             It's not fair.The tears come, and she doesn't fight them, emptying theold, old wound, speaking through her weeping now. Thefirst time we've seen her cry.                           SHARON             It's not fair. Things got better             for them because of what I did.             Things got better, and I'd still             do it. I'd do it all over again.             And it's not fair they shut me             out. It's not.                                                (CONTINUED)                                                               129.CONTINUED:                            CATCH             No.                           SHARON             It's not fair. I was     19, and I             didn't know what else    to do. I             didn't know how else    to stop it.             It's not fair I don't    have a             family anymore.                            CATCH             No.   It's not, Shar.    It's not.He raises his hands to her face, places a palm gently oneach cheek, and she covers his hands with her own andcloses her eyes. They remain that way awhile. In amoment he lightly kisses her forehead. There is a depthto his words...                        CATCH          We're the family, Pogo.She opens her eyes, staring deep into       his. He has saidit all -- as it is and as it will be.        She smiles a bitthrough her tears and nods. He puts        an arm around hershoulder and holds her tight against       him as they walk toher car. She puts an arm around his        waist.They reach the car, and she unlocks it, gets in behindthe wheel as Catch gets into the passenger seat.INT. CAR - DAYSharon just sits behind the wheel, still shaky fromcrying. She puts the key in the ignition, but doesn'tmove -- no longer sad, but drained now. He watches her.In a moment, he gets out of the car.EXT. CAR - FULL SHOTCatch comes around to Sharon's window. She rolls thewindow down, concerned, wondering what he's doing. Is heleaving? But he reaches for her door and opens it andsays without a fuss...                           CATCH          I'll drive.She stares a long moment,    realizing,    but also making nofuss about it as she gets    out of the    car, walks aroundand enters the passenger    side. They     close the car doors.Catch STARTS the CAR and    drives them    away. Drives themhome.                                                   FADE OUT.                            THE END
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+                                                                ANGELS & DEMONS                                                                 Written by                                           Akiva Goldsman                                                                                                April, 2008                              INT      PAPAL APARTMENT      DAY                    CLOSE ON an ornate ring.     It's intricately carved with a seal, an          image of St. Peter casting a net.     The ring is carried on a satin          pillow through a darkened, regal apartment.     In the distance,          BELLS ARE TOLLING   -- the slow, solemn tones that announce a death.                    A dozen men in scarlet cassocks, ROMAN CATHOLIC CARDINALS, bend          down to inspect the ring, nodding in affirmation, part of an          ancient ritual.                    A younger man (the CAMERLENGO) in a black cassock takes a silver          knife and scratches the ring's seal twice, once horizontally and          once vertically, in the sign of the cross.                    Now the ring is placed on a lead block.    The Camerlengo raises a          silver mallet and SMASHES it down, shattering the ring into a          thousand tiny pieces.                    As the Cardinals confirm to their satisfaction that the ring has          been destroyed, the HUSHED VOICE of a NEWS REPORTER comes over the          image.                                                     REPORTER                            -- the Ring of the Fisherman, which                            bears the official papal seal and by                            Vatican law must be destroyed                            immediately following the Pope's                            death.                    IN THE HALLWAY JUST OUTSIDE THE APARTMENT,                    the Cardinals file out in a solemn procession. Behind them, the          Camerlengo closes and locks the doors to the apartment entrance,          helped by an AIDE who stretches red silk across the doors in the          form of an X.                                                     REPORTER (O.S.)                            The Pope's Chamberlain, or                            "Camerlengo," then seals the papal                            apartments ---                    At the juncture point of the doors, the Camerlengo places a glob          of hot wax, then raises a seal and BURNS it into the wax with a          hot SIZZLE.    TWO SWISS GUARDSMEN, traditionally attired, step in          front of the doors, their eight-foot swords held in a low cross.                                                     REPORTER (O.S.) (cont'd)                            --- and Swiss Guard will remain posted                            outside the doors for at least nine                            days of mourning, a period known as                            tempe sede vacante, or ---                                                      2.                                        INT      ST.   PETER'S BASILICA         DAY                    In St. Peter's Basilica, we move in toward an empty chair, a chair          so magnificent it can only be called a throne.                                                     REPORTER (O.S.)                            --- "the time of the empty throne."                    A ring appears around the empty throne and --                                                                             DISSOLVE TO:                    INT      CERN - DETECTOR ROOM          DAY                    -- a ring as ornate in its way as the Ring of the Fisherman, except          this one is a mass of technological sophistication.    It's twenty-          five feet across, covered with wires, sensors, gizmos.    It's the          centerpiece of a massive laboratory the size of a football field.                    SCIENTISTS and TECHNICIANS read off checklists in a variety of          languages, none of them English so far.    The place is a hive of          activity and sound; cooling water WHOOSHES through pipes, the          static HUM of high levels of current floats in the air.                    VITTORIA VETRA, an intense woman in her mid-thirties with the long          stride of an impatient person, makes her way across the floor to          PHILLIPE, the project manager, a Frenchman around fifty.    She          follows him as he climbs down a scaffolding that surrounds the          detector wheel and heads toward a console across the room.                                                    VITTORIA                                 (in Italian, subtitled)                            Somebody pulled us off the grid,                            Phillipe.                                                    PHILLIPE                                 (responds in French,                                  also subtitled)                            You hit 36kV down there yesterday.                            The whole synchrotron only loads 18.                                                    VITTORIA                                 (switching to French)                            And the LEAR's specked up to 42. It's                            all approved by the Director, you want                            me to call him?                    Reluctantly, Phillipe sits down at a console and starts entering          commands, shaking his head.                                                       3.                                                                         PHILLIPE                             Waste of power, what're you                             extracting, still ten to the seventh                             APs a second?    How long to produce                             a gram at that rate?                                                     VITTORIA                             About two billion years.     At that                             rate.                    He looks at her sideways, didn't like the sound of that.    He          hits a few last keystrokes and a series of flashing lights          reconnect what looks like a lower laboratory complex to the main          grid.    She nods her thanks and starts to go.                                                     PHILLIPE                             Vittoria.                                  (switching to soft                                   ITALIAN)                             Please don't blow us all to heaven.                    And on the word "heaven," everything goes white and --                                                                              DISSOLVES TO:                    INT      ST.    PETER'S BASILICA          DAY                    --- a veil of thin white silk billows down over the face of the          dead pontiff. TWO VATICAN FUNEREAL WORKERS pull a second veil over          his face, then another over his head and hands.                    A burled cypress lid slides over the top of the coffin, which is          carried out of frame and into ---                    EXT     ST.    PETER'S SQUARE           DAY                    --- St. Peter's Square, packed with THREE HUNDRED THOUSAND MOURNERS,          including kings, queens, presidents, and prime ministers.                                                     REPORTER (O.S.)                             Following the elegy Mass, the body of                             the pontiff, borne by the traditional                             twelve pall bearers will be sealed in                             a zinc crypt deep in the Vatican                             Grottoes along with the bodies of                             twenty-five other popes.                    The PROCESSION OF CARDINALS is a ribbon of red making its way          through the kaleidoscope of colors of the assembled religious          dignitaries.    On the brilliant array of colors ---                                                                                   CUT TO:                                                      4.                                        INT      CERN - DETECTOR ROOM          DAY                    --- another array of colors, this one like the best fireworks          display you've ever seen.     Pulling back, we realize it's on one          of the giant monitor screens in the detector room at CERN, all of          which are lit up with similar arrays.                    Something has happened and there's an enormous amount of          excitement in the room.    More Scientists and Technicians pour          in, take their seats at consoles, CONFER excitedly.    A          computerized voice speaks English over a loudspeaker:                                                    VOICE (O.S.)                            Beam on beam collisions are active.                    It repeats the message in Italian, German, French, and Chinese.                    INT      CERN TUNNEL      DAY                    Elevator doors open in a subterranean tunnel and Vittoria steps          out.    A long tube, about four feet across, runs off into the          distance, and as Vittoria heads off in the other direction, we see          that the tunnel, and its cylinder, go on forever that way too.          TWO MORE TECHNICIANS hurry down the tunnel and jump into the          elevator she just vacated.                    Vittoria steps up to a security panel and places her chin in a          cup.    A vertical laser sweeps across her eyeball and we --                                                                                 CUT TO:                    INT      ST.   PETER'S BASILICA         DAY                    --- an ancient carved incense holder that swings back and forth at          the end of a chain, swung by a PRIEST in St. Peter's Basilica. A          THOUSAND FAITHFUL are gathered for ---                                                     REPORTER                            --- the Pope's elegy Mass, led by                            Cardinal Saverio Mortati, Dean of the                            College of Cardinals ---                    At the front, CARDINAL MORTATI stands behind a massive altar, arms          outstretched, praying in Latin for the assembled luminaries.                    As he performs the service, intoning in a dead language --                    INT      ANTIMATTER LAB      DAY                    --- Vittoria steps through an airlock and emerges in a gleaming          white underground lab.     Everything, everywhere, is white.                                                       5.                                        There are a dozen columns of polished steel about three feet tall,          each of which supports a transparent canister the size of a tennis          ball can.    They appear empty.                    LEONARDO BENTIVOGLIO, sixtyish, black pants and a short-sleeve          black shirt, is at work at a command console in the center of the          room.    (They speak to each other in Italian, subtitled.)                                                     VITTORIA                             Power should be back five by five.                                                     LEONARDO                             It is, extraction's already started.                    He turns around, and we thought his black pants and shirt looked          familiar -- now we see his Roman collar and realize this physicist          is also a priest.                                                     LEONARDO (cont'd)                             We're in God's hands now.                    While Leonardo and Vittoria work at the console, we move slowly          across the room toward those strange vertical pillars.                    INT       ST.   PETER'S BASILICA        DAY                    In St. Peter's, we're in a complimentary move, down the aisle past          the College of Cardinals, one hundred sixty-five aging men in          brilliant red robes, seated near the altar.                                                      REPORTER (O.S.)                             The College of Cardinals will lock                             itself in the Sistine Chapel for                             Conclave literally, the word means                             "with key" -- the process by which                             the Church chooses a new leader for                             the world's one billion Catholics.                    We move onto the altar, close enough to Mortati to get a good look          at him.    He's in his late seventies, grave, eyes closed in          religious fervor as he consecrates the communion host.                    INT      ANTIMATTER LAB       DAY                    In the lab, we're still moving, close to one of the pillars and to          the transparent tube on top of it.    The tube isn't empty, as we          first thought, there's something suspended in the middle of it, a          drop, round and white, floating in mid-air.                    INT      ST.    PETER'S BASILICA        DAY                    Mortati reaches the religious climax of the ceremony and holds          aloft the round white communion host.                                                   6.                                        A THOUSAND VOICES begin singing in St. Peter's, we go in close on          the host and dissolve to ---                    INT      ANTIMATTER LAB       DAY                    --- that otherworldly drop, also round and white, a perfect match          for the host, but so different, hovering in the tube like a hot          blob of mercury, defying gravity.                    Everything abruptly goes black and a title bleeds on screen:                                              ANGELS AND DEMONS                                                                                                    CUT TO:                    INT      HARVARD COLLEGE - NATATORIUM DAWN                    The bottom of a swimming pool.    A lithe figure SLASHES like a          knife through the water, doing laps.                    The swimmer is the only one in the pool, but still pushes like          he's got someone to beat.    His strokes echo off vacant bleachers          in an oldish college natatorium.                    As he reaches the end of the pool, he sees a murky figure through          the water.    The swimmer stops, pulls off his goggles.                    ROBERT LANGDON is fiftyish, but looks ten years younger, must have          something to do with two hundred laps at dawn every day.                    CLAUDIO VINCENZO is heavier, dressed in a sport jacket and slacks,          looks exhausted.    He speaks with an Italian accent.                                                    VINCENZO                            Professor Langdon?                                                    LANGDON                            Swim might help your jet lag.                                                    VINCENZO                            I beg your pardon?                    Langdon gets out and pulls a towel off a nearby bench.                                                    LANGDON                                 (GESTURING)                            Bags under your eyes, up at five a.m.,                            Italian accent... Do I hear Naples in                            those Rs?                                                    7.                                                                        VINCENZO                                 (smiles, shows an ID)                            Claudio Vincenzo, Corpo della                            Gendarmeria Vaticano.                                                    LANGDON                            Vatican Police?    I was expecting                            another letter.                                 (Vincenzo looks confused)                            My request for access to the Archives?                    Vincenzo has no idea what he's talking about.                                                    LANGDON (cont'd)                            Shouldn't you be in Rome?   Busy time                            for you guys.                                                    VINCENZO                            In fact I was in New York, on                            vacation.    I got a call in the                            middle of the night --- find Robert                            Langdon. A matter of great urgency.                                                    LANGDON                            Urgent Vatican business, involving me?                            I doubt that.                    He heads for the locker room.        Vincenzo calls after him.                                                    VINCENZO                            They said to show you this.                    Langdon turns back. Vincenzo's holding a single sheet of paper in          his right hand. Langdon, curious, makes his way back to him.          Takes the paper ---                    --- and, it is safe to say, feels the earth give way beneath his          feet.     He looks up, eyes wide, and mutters a single word:                                                         LANGDON                            llluminati?                                                                                     CUT TO:                    EXT     HARVARD CAMPUS DAWN                    As the sun comes up, Langdon and Vincenzo leave the natatorium.                                                    VINCENZO                            Yes, of course, but it couldn't be                            the llluminati as we knew them, they                            disappeared a hundred years ago.                                                   8.                                                                         LANGDON                           Did they?     Look at the paper.                                                        VINCENZO                           I've seen it.                                                        LANGDON                           Look again.                    Vincenzo looks at it. The word llluminati is written in ornate          script.    Vincenzo looks back up --- so?                                                   LANGDON (cont'd)                           Turn it upside down.                    Vincenzo does. Incredibly, the word reads exactly the same way          upside down.                                                   LANGDON (cont'd)                           It's called an ambigram, the same                           backwards and forwards. That's common                           in a symbol, like a Jewish star, or                           yin-yang, or a swastika, but this is a                           word. People have searched for the                           llluminati ambigrammatic symbol for                           four centuries, modern symbologists                           even tried to create it, but nobody                           could pull it off, not even by                           computer. Most had concluded it was a                           myth. I wrote a book about it.                                (REALIZING)                           Which is why you're here, isn't it?                                                   VINCENZO                           "The Art of the llluminati," by Robert                           Langdon.                                                                               CUT TO:                    INT     LANGDON'S APARTMENT          DAY                    A hand skims along a bookcase and stops at that very title, a          heavy academic tome.    Langdon pulls it out and drops it on the          desk in his apartment with a THUD.                    (The apartment is cluttered with esoterica, the home of a man          whose taste in furnishings was very fashionable about four hundred          years ago.    A single man -- no kid stuff, no cats.)                    Langdon flips the book open to an illustrated section in the          middle, filled with renderings of previous attempts to create the          symbol he now holds in his hand.                                9.                                                      LANGDON          Incredible.    Either someone just          figured out how to make this, or they          found it.    Recently.    Which would          mean the llluminati have returned.               (looks at Vincenzo)          An ancient brotherhood, enemies of the          church, surfacing just after the death          of a Pope?    I'd pull you off          vacation too.                                  VINCENZO          It's worse than just that.    Four          cardinals were kidnapped from their          quarters inside the Vatican some time          between three and five a.m. this          morning. Shortly afterward, the Office          of the Swiss Guard received that          document, along with the threat that          the Cardinals will be publicly          executed, one per hour, starting at          seven p.m. tonight, in Rome.                                  LANGDON               (mind racing ahead)          Conclave?                                  VINCENZO          Was to begin today.    We have          postponed its start for a few hours, a          story of illness, there are no          suspicions. Yet.                                  LANGDON          What do you want from me?                                   VINCENZO          The perpetrators of this heinous act          sent that -- ambigram, you say? -- as a          provocation, a taunt.     But it may          also be their undoing.     If you can          help us learn their identity, perhaps          we can stop them.                                     LANGDON          Why me?                                  VINCENZO          Your expertise.    Your erudition. And          your involvement with recent Church --          shall we say "mysteries?"                                                      10.                                                                        LANGDON                            I wasn't under the impression that                            episode had endeared me to the                            Vatican.                                                     VINCENZO                            Oh, it didn't.     But it made you --                            what is the word?                                 (Italian pronunciation)                            Formidable.     Formidable.    A plane                            is standing by twenty minutes from                            here. Will you come with me?                    Langdon doesn't move, just stares at the ambigram, still amazed.                                                     VINCENZO (cont'd)                            Professor Langdon, you have spent ten                            years of your academic life searching                            for the very symbol you now hold in                            your hand.     And the madman who                            created it, or who knows the secrets                            of its origin-- that person is in Rome.                                 (checks his watch)                            How much longer must we pretend you                            have not already decided to come?                                                                                CUT TO:                    EXT     AIRPORT       DAY                    A small private plane SCREAMS into the sky.                    EXT     ROME      DAY                    We soar over Rome, the Eternal City. A helicopter WHOOSHES into          frame below us.                    INT      HELICOPTER         DAY                    The papal helicopter is plush inside, and nearly silent. A very          pricey piece of equipment.    Vincenzo stares out the window.                                                     VINCENZO                            If the llluminati have returned and                            are in Rome, we will hunt them down                            and kill them.                    Langdon, seated across from him, stifles a laugh.                                                    LANGDON                            Spoken like a Roman Catholic.                    Vincenzo looks at him sharply.                                                   11.                                                                         LANGDON (cont'd)                            The llluminati didn't become violent                            anti-Papists until the 17th century.                            Initially, they were physicists,                            mathematicians, astronomers.      Their                            name means "the Enlightened Ones." In                            the 1500s, they started meeting                            secretly to share their concerns about                            the church's inaccurate teachings.                            They were dedicated to the quest for                            scientific truth.     And for that, the                            church -- to use your words -- hunted                            them down and killed them.      Drove                            them underground.                    Langdon turns and looks out the front window of the helicopter as,          up ahead, the marble facade of St. Peter's Basilica blazes like          fire in the afternoon sun.                                                    LANGDON (cont'd)                            Into a secret society.                    EXT     ST.   PETER'S SQUARE         DAY                    Pulling away from the helicopter, we see a coat of arms emblazoned          on its side -- two skeleton keys crossing a shield and papal crown.          The helicopter SWOOPS over St. Peter's Square, filled with more          tourists than usual, due to the impending start of Conclave.                    We drift toward a structure on the far side of the Square, closer          to its huge, ornate windows.    As we approach, large swaths of          black drop down, draping over the windows, closing off our view.                    INT      SISTINE CHAPEL        DAY                    Inside, WORKERS continue to drape large bolts of black velvet over          the windows, sealing this room off from outside.    Pulling back,          we realize it's not just any room ---                    --- it's the Sistine Chapel.   As the last window is blackened,          the room is bathed in a profound darkness lit only by candles.                    ONE HUNDRED SIXTY-ONE MEN in red robes are gathered inside the          Chapel, the College of Cardinals.    They talk in a polyglot of          languages, milling about the place, conferring, catching up on old          friendships.                    Cardinal Mortati, the Dean of the College who led the Pope's elegy          mass, is the type of man one crosses a room to see, not the other          way around.                                                 12.                                        He chats in Italian with two other Cardinals, until a black-          cassocked aide (FATHER SIMEON) outside the open doors of the          Chapel catches his eye.    Mortati excuses himself, steps through          the open doorway, and into ---                    INT      SALON      DAY                    -- the salon just outside the Chapel.    Father Simeon is an unctuous          man in his fifties with eyes that are always looking for whoever's          behind you.    (They speak in Italian, subtitled.)                                                       MORTATI                            And?                                                    FR. SIMEON                            Commandante Rocher assures me the                            Guard is doing everything humanly                            possible to find the prefiriti.                                                    MORTATI                            A very long way for him to say very                            little.                                                    FR. SIMEON                            What if you were to begin in their                            absence?                                                    MORTATI                            They are the four leading candidates.                            If they're not present, they're not                            eligible.    There will be no                            consensus without them, wid are we to                            vote for?                    Father Simeon gives him a look -- perhaps you?                                                    MORTATI (cont'd)                            It is as much a sin to offer flattery                            to accept it.                                                    FR. SIMEON                                 (chastened, but not                                  REALLY)                            The Camerlengo asks how long you can                            postpone the opening prayer without                            making another announcement to the                            public?                                                    MORTATI                            Two years and three months.                                 (Simeon looks confused)                            The conclave of 1316?                                 (never mind)                                          (MORE)                                                 13.                                         MORTATI (cont'd)                           Tell the Camerlengo the Cardinal                           Electors will take every minute                           required to perform their sacred                           trust.    No further announcements are                           necessary.                                                   FR. SIMEON                           He's be concerned about the public                           dimension.    People will think-                                                   MORTATI                                (cutting him off)                           What we tell them to think.                                                                               CUT TO:                    EXT    VATICAN - STREET       DAY                    On the ground now and behind Vatican walls, Langdon and Vincenzo          walk briskly around a corner and are met by ERNESTO OLIVETTI, a          solidly-built man in his late thirties.                                                   OLIVETTI                           Professor Langdon, welcome to Vatican                           City.    Ernesto Olivetti, Inspector                           Generale of the Vatican Police Force.                    He takes Langdon by the arm and gestures down a narrow passageway.                                                   OLIVETTI (cont'd)                           This way, please, we'll meet in the                           headquarters of the Swiss Guard.                                                   LANGDON                           I assumed you were Swiss Guard.                                                   OLIVETTI                           No. The Gendarmerie is responsible                           for everything inside the Vatican                           walls, with the exception of the                           security of His Holiness and the                           Apostolic Palace.   That is Swiss                           Guard.    The Commandante Generale of                           the Roman Carbinieri has joined us as                           well, in an advisory capacity, and                           the Guarda Nacionale have sent a                           representative.                                                   LANGDON                                (CONFUSED)                           So jurisdictionally, this is-                                                   OLIVETTI                           A God damn nightmare.                                                 14.                                        They turn a corner and approach a squat stone building labeled          "Offizia della Guarda Suiza."                    TWO SWISS GUARDSMEN are standing outside the entrance to the          building.    They're somewhat comically dressed in puffy tunics          vertically striped in brilliant blue and gold, with matching          pantaloons and spats, topped by a black beret.                    Langdon can't completely hide a smile.    Olivetti notices.    The          Guards raise their eight-foot swords, allowing the three of them          to enter the building.                    INT     SWISS GUARD OFFICES - CORRIDOR      DAY                    The interior of the Swiss Guard offices is ornate and filled with          artwork, like every other Vatican building.    As they walk,          Langdon studies the row of statues of male nudes that lines both          sides of the hallway, all wearing fig leaves.                                                   LANGDON                           The Great Castration.                                                   OLIVETTI                           I beg your pardon?                                                   LANGDON                           1857. Pius IX felt the male form might                           inspire lust, so he got a hammer and                           chisel and unmanned two hundred                           statues.    These plaster fig leaves                           were added later.                    Olivetti stops abruptly, outside a heavy steel door with a          security keyguard beside it.                                                   OLIVETTI                           Are you anti-Catholic, Professor                           Langdon?                                                   LANGDON                           Me?   No, I'm anti-vandalism.                                                   OLIVETTI                           I urge you to guard your tone in there.                           The Swiss Guard is a calling, not a                           profession, and it encourages a certain                           -- zealotry.   Commander Rocher, the                           head of the Guard, is a deeply                           spiritual man, and he was close to the                           late Pope.    Understood?                                                   LANGDON                                (SINCERE)                           I just hope I can help.                                                  15.                                                                        OLIVETTI                           So do I.     You were my idea.                    He enters a five-digit number on the keypad and the steel doors          slide open.                    INT     SWISS GUARD HEADQUARTERS          DAY                    The headquarters of the Swiss Guard is in a lushly adorned          Renaissance library crammed with sophisticated communications and          surveillance equipment.    It's crowded, Swiss Guard (in suits and          ties, the pantaloons are more for show), uniformed Carbinieri, and          Vatican Police crammed around different stations, some working          together, others arguing, mostly in Italian.                                                        OLIVETTI                           Wait here.                    He crosses the room to a tall, fair-haired man around sixty,          weathered like steel -- maybe "tempered" is the better word.                    While they confer, Langdon notices a woman to his left.    We          recognize Vittoria Vetra, the physicist we saw at CERN.                    She catches Langdon's eye, forces a grim smile, recognizes they're          both strangers here.    Olivetti comes back with COMMANDER ROCHER,          the tall man, very much in charge.    He speaks with a French/Swiss          ACCENT∑                                                   ROCHER                                (to Vittoria)                           Ms. Vetra?    I'm Commander Rocher,                           Commandante Principale of the Swiss                           Guard.    Thank you for coming.     And                           Professor Langdon?                                                   LANGDON                           That's right. Rocher looks him up and                           down, so, you're Langdon.                                                   ROCHER                           Thank God, the symbologist is here.                           Ms. Vetra, this way, please.                    He leads Vittoria across the room, to a surveillance monitor.          Langdon, puzzled by the cold shoulder, looks at Olivetti, who          leans in.                                                   OLIVETTI                           There's been a development.    We                           received another threat from the                           kidnapper.                                                 16.                                        Across the room, they hear Vittoria GASP.   Olivetti goes to join          them, nodding to Langdon to follow.                    AT THE MONITOR,                    Langdon and Olivetti join Rocher and Vittoria and stare at the          image on a video monitor -- it's a familiar-looking canister, in          which a metallic drop of liquid shimmers in the middle, suspended.          The acronym CERN is stenciled up its side.     On its base is an          LED display, counting down from about six hours.                    At the top of the monitor flashes superimposed text -- LIVE FEED,          CAMERA #86.                                                     VITTORIA                                  (CONTINUING)                            -- canister was stolen from our lab                            around midnight last night.     The                            intruder killed my research partner,                            Leonardo Bentivoglio, and mutilated                            him in order to bypass security.                    They look at her, don't quite see the connection.                                                    VITTORIA (cont'd)                            We use retinal scanners.                                 (they still don't get it)                            They cut out his eyes.                    They cringe.                                                    VITTORIA (cont'd)                            That canister contains an extremely                            combustible substance called                            antimatter.    We need to locate it                            immediately or evacuate Vatican City.                                                    ROCHER                            I'm quite familiar with incendiaries,                            Ms. Vetra.    I haven't heard of                            antimatter.                                                    VITTORIA                            It's new, energy research technology.                            It uses a reverse polarity vacuum to                            filter out anti-matter positrons                            generated in particle accelerations in                            the Large Hadron Collider at CERN.                    They look at her blankly.    She points at the screen,                                                 17.                                                                       VITTORIA (cont'd)                           The anti-matter is suspended, there,                           in an airtight nanocomposite shell                           with electromagnets at each end. But                           if it were to fall out of suspension                           and come into contact with matter --                           say, the bottom of the canister -- the                           two opposing forces will annihilate                           one another. Violently.                                                   ROCHER                           And what might cause it to fall out of                           suspension?                                                    VITTORIA                           The battery going dead.     Which it                           will.                                 (looks at the screen)                           In six hours and eleven minutes.                    Silence for a moment.                                                   VITTORIA (cont'd)                           Where is that camera?   Number eighty-                           six?                                                    OLIVETTI                           It's wireless.     It too was stolen.                           That could be anywhere inside the                           Vatican walls.                                                   VITTORIA                           You've got to find it.                                                   ROCHER                           We're a bit preoccupied with four                           missing cardinals at the moment.                                                   VITTORIA                           You don't understand.    An                           annihilation is a cataclysmic event.                           It would be a blinding explosion,                           equivalent to about five megatons.                           The blast radius alone would be --                    Softly, Langdon speaks up from behind her.                                                   LANGDON                           "Vatican City will be consumed by                           light."                    A few voices fall still.   They turn and look at him.                                                 18.                                                                       ROCHER                           Those are the exact words the                           kidnapper used.                    INT     ROCHER'S OFFICE       DAY                    A few moments later, they're crowded around the communications          console at Rocher's desk, where a dimly-lit video recording is          playing back on a computer screen.    (The office is behind a          glass wall to one side of the headquarters.)                    The images on the recording are of FOUR OLDER MEN, some in their          sixties, the others in their seventies, filmed in dim light behind          bars in a dank, dungeon-like space.                    A lightly accented VOICE speaks from behind the camera.                                                   VOICE (O.S.)                           We will destroy your four pillars...                           brand your preferiti and sacrifice                           them on the altars of science... and                           then bring your church down upon you.                           Vatican City will be consumed by                           light.                                                    LANGDON                           It's an ancient llluminati threat.                                 (Rocher pauses the recording)                           The destruction of Vatican City                           through light.     The four pillars --                           he probably means the kidnapped                           cardinals.     You didn't mention they                           were the preferiti.                                 (to Vittoria)                           The favorites to be chosen as the new                           Pope.     Play it again.                                                   VOICE (O.S.)                           We will destroy your four pillars...                           brand your preferiti and sacrifice                           them on the altars of science...                                                       LANGDON                           Stop it there.                    Rocher does                                                   LANGDON (cont'd)                           "Brand" them, another llluminati                           legend, this one says there are a set                           of five brands, each one an ambigram.                                         (MORE)                                                 19.                                         LANGDON (cont'd)                           The first four are the fundamental                           elements of science -- earth, air,                           fire, water.    The fifth -- is a                           mystery.    Maybe it's this.                    He pulls the "llluminati" ambigram from his pocket.                                                   ROCHER                           He said they'd be killed publicly. In                           churches.                                                   LANGDON                                (nods, not surprised)                           Revenge for La Purga.                                                       ROCHER                           La Purga?                                                    LANGDON                           Don't you guys read your own history?                           1668.     The church kidnapped four                           llluminati scientists and branded                           their chests with the symbol of the                           cross.     To "purge their sins."                           Murdered them and left their bodies in                           the street as a warning to others to                           stop questioning church rulings on                           scientific matters.     It was after La                           Purga that a darker, more violent                           llluminati emerged.     This sounds                           like retribution.                                 (to Rocher)                           Is there any more?                    Rocher hits play again.                                                   VOICE (O.S.)                           .... and then bring your church down                           upon you.    Vatican City will be                           consumed by light...                    While listening this time, Langdon notices a darkened video          monitor, inlaid at an angle on Rocher's desk.    It faces away          from the outer office, and instead of an on/off switch, there is          an oddly-shaped keyhole.                                                   VOICE (O.S.) (cont'd)                           A shining star at the end of the Path                           of Illumination.                    Langdon looks up sharply.                                                 20.                                                                       LANGDON                           The Path of Illumination?                    Rocher stops the video.                                                   LANGDON (cont'd)                           I need to get into the Vatican                           Archives.                    Rocher shakes his head, looks at Olivetti harshly, is embarrassed.                                                   OLIVETTI                           Professor, this is not the appropriate                           moment to-                                                   ROCHER                           Your petition has been denied seven                           times, Mr. Langdon.                                                   LANGDON                           This has nothing to do with that,                                (FAST)                           The Path of Illumination is an ancient                           trail through Rome that leads to the                           Church of the Illumination, a secret                           place where llluminati members could                           meet in safety.    If I can find the                           Segno, the sign that marks the start                           of the Path, I'm willing to bet the                           four churches along it are where he                           intends to murder your cardinals. If                           we can get to one of them before he                           does, we can stop it.    But to find                           the start of the path, I need to get                           into the Archives.                                                   ROCHER                           Even if I wanted to help you, access                           is only by written decree of the                           curator and the Board of Vatican                           Librarians.                                                   LANGDON                           Or by papal mandate.                                                   ROCHER                           Yes.    But as you've no doubt heard,                           the Holy Father is-                                                   LANGDON                           What about Il Camerlengo?   Let me                           talk to him.                                                 21.                                                                       ROCHER                           The Camerlengo? He's just a priest                           here, the former Pope's Chamberlain.                                                   LANGDON                           Doesn't the power of the Holy See rest                           with him during tempe sede vacante?                    They just stare at him. Shit, this guy's good. Langdon checks his          watch, getting irritated.                                                    LANGDON (cont'd)                           Hey, fellas --- you called me.                                                                               CUT TO:                                        INT     PAPAL OFFICES      DAY                    A spectacular view of St. Peter's Square, through the windows of          the Papal offices.    Moving down, we find a figure dressed in a          simple black cassock, his back to us, staring out at the crowd.          FATHER SEBASTIAN GUTTIEREZ, the Camerlengo, speaks with a soft          Spanish accent.                                                   CAMERLENGO                           His Holiness once told me that a Pope                           is a man torn between two worlds...                           the real world and the divine.                    Assembled in the grand office are Langdon, Rocher, Olivetti, and          Vittoria.    The Camerlengo's back is still turned.                                                   CAMERLENGO (cont'd)                           He warned that any church that ignored                           reality would not survive to enjoy the                           divine.                    He turns around.    He's younger than we thought, in his mid-          thirties, deep, dark eyes.    The kind of priest who often          inspires, before the years of dogma catch up with him.                                                   CAMERLENGO (cont'd)                           It seems the real world is upon us                           tonight.                                (to Langdon)                           I'm familiar with llluminati lore, and                           the legend of the brandings.    La                           Purga is a dark stain on the church's                           history; I'm not surprised this ghost                           has come back to haunt us.                                                    22.                                        He sits behind the massive desk, and if he seemed young before, he          seems like a child now, overcome by the position he's in.    But          when he speaks to Rocher, he's in command.                                                    CAMERLENGO (cont'd)                            Commandante, have you begun a search                            for this explosive device?                                                    ROCHER                            Of course, but it could be anywhere,                            and the safety of the cardinals is my                            primary concern at the moment.                                                    CAMERLENGO                            The Sistine Chapel is a fortress, as                            long as the cardinals are in conclave,                            your security concerns are at a                            minimum.    Devote as much of your                            resources as possible to a search for-                                                    ROCHER                            Signore, if you're about to suggest                            we make a naked-eye search of all of                            Vatican City, I must-                                                    CAMERLENGO                                 (SHARPLY)                            Commander.    Though I am not His                            Holiness, when you address me, you are                            addressing this office.    Do you                            understand?                                                          ROCHER                            Yes, Padre,                                                     CAMERLENGO                            Good.    Now -- you said the image on                            screen was illuminated by artificial                            light.    May I suggest methodically                            cutting the power to various sections                            of the City.     When the image on your                            screen goes dark, you'll have a more                            specific idea of the device's                            location.                    Rocher looks at Olivetti -- gotta admit, that's a pretty damn good          idea.                                                    CAMERLENGO (cont'd)                            Ms. Vetra.    Besides yourself and                            your research partner, who knew about                            your antimatter project?                                                 23.                                                                        VITTORIA                            Only the director of CERN.    But                            Leonardo kept detailed journals; if he                            told anyone else about what we were                            doing, he would have made a note of                            it.                                                    CAMERLENGO                                 (PAUSE)                            Do you have these journals?                                                    VITTORIA                            I can have them flown here from Geneva                            in an hour.                    He pauses, thinking, then turns the phone on his desk to face her.          While she picks it up to dial, the Camerlengo comes around his          desk to speak privately to Langdon.                                                    CAMERLENGO                            Mr. Langdon.    You're correct that I                            may grant you access to the Archives.                                                    LANGDON                            Thank you, Padre.                                                     CAMERLENGO                            I said you're correct that I may, not                            that I will.     Christianity's most                            sacred codices are in that archive.                            Given your recent entanglement with                            the church -- I need to ask you a                            question first.                    Langdon looks at him -- fire away.                                                    CAMERLENGO (cont'd)                            Do you believe in God, sir?                                                    LANGDON                                 (DELICATELY)                            Father, I simply believe that                            religions can often-                                                    CAMERLENGO                            I didn't ask if you believe what man                            says about God, I asked if you believe                            in God.                                                    LANGDON                            I'm an academic. My mind tells me I                            will never understand God.                                                   24.                                                                        CAMERLENGO                            And your heart?                                                    LANGDON                            Tells me I'm not meant to.                    The Camerlengo looks at him -- that's not quite good enough.                                                    LANGDON (cont'd)                            I believe that faith is a gift, which                            I have not been fortunate enough to                            receive.                    The Camerlengo looks at him for a long moment. Pretty damn good          answer.    He puts a hand on Langdon's shoulder and leans in.                                                    CAMERLENGO                            Be delicate with our treasures.                                                                                   CUT TO:                    EXT     APOSTOLIC PALACE       DAY                    The back doors of the Apostolic Palace BANG open and Langdon is          ushered out (fast) by Olivetti, the head of the Vatican Police.                                                    OLIVETTI                            The archives are this way.                    They turn down a narrow passageway. A VOICE calls from behind          them.                                                    VITTORIA (O.S.)                            Professor Langdon!                    Vittoria catches up to them.                                                    VITTORIA (cont'd)                            If this path really leads to the                            Church of Illumination, that may be                            where they've hidden the antimatter.                                                    LANGDON                            "A shining star at the end of the                            Path."    My thoughts exactly.                                                     OLIVETTI                                 (to Vittoria)                            If we find this bomb, can you                            deactivate it?                                                 25.                                                                       VITTORIA                           No, but I can change its battery, as                           long as it has more than five minutes                           of life.    That would give us another                           twenty-four hours to get it back to                           CERN.                    Olivetti nods to her, come on along. They walk again, holds a hand          out to Langdon.                                                   VITTORIA (cont'd)                           Vittoria Vetra. Are you really a                           symbologist, or was he mocking you?                                                   LANGDON                           Both.    You're a physicist?                                                   VITTORIA                                (NODS)                           Bio-entanglement physics.                           Interconnectivity of life systems.                                                       LANGDON                           Okay.                                                   VITTORIA                           What are we looking for in the                           archives?                                                   LANGDON                           A little book written by Galileo.                                                   VITTORIA                           Galileo was llluminati?                                                    LANGDON                           And a devout Catholic.     He thought                           science and religion weren't enemies,                           but two different languages telling                           the same story.     He wanted like                           minds to be able to find the Church of                           Illumination, but he couldn't exactly                           advertise its location, so he created                           a coded path.     An unknown llluminati                           master sculpted four statues, each a                           tribute to one of the four fundamental                           elements -- earth, air, fire, water --                           and put them out in public, in                           churches throughout Rome.     Each                           statue held a clue, pointing to the                           next. And at the end of the trail was                           the Church of Illumination.                                                   26.                                        Vicenzo, leading them, turns up Via Sentinel and starts up the          hill toward the Archives. They follow, quickly.                                                   OLIVETTI                           What makes you think he's going to                           murder the cardinals in the churches?                                                   LANGDON                           The llluminati called those four                           churches by a special name -- L'Altare                           di scienza.    The altars of science.                                                   VITTORIA                                (making the                                 CONNECTION)                           "Sacrifice them on the altars of                           science," he said.                    Langdon stops in his tracks.                                                         LANGDON                           Oh.   Oh, wow.                    He's staring up at the impressive facade of the Vatican Archives.          He takes a deep breath, then steps forward to enter.    But          Vincenzo doesn't follow.    Langdon looks at him.                                                   LANGDON (cont'd)                           We go in alone?                                                   OLIVETTI                           Vatican Police aren't allowed access                           to the archives, only Swiss Guard. Lt.                           Chartrand will meet you inside. I'll                           be here when you're done.                    Langdon turns back to the Archives with a look of deep contentment          -- he's wanted in here for a long, long time.                    And steps through the double doors.                                                                               CUT TO:                    INT     APOSTOLIC PALACE        DAY                    The Camerlengo walks briskly through the hallways of the Apostolic          Palace, deep in thought.    He reaches the top of the Royal          Staircase, and can hear the RUMBLING of activity in the Sistine          Chapel below.                    Looking down the stairs, he sees the doorway open, and the          gathering of cardinals inside.    As he reaches the base of the          stairs, Cardinal Mortati, who has been summoned, steps outside to          meet him, flanked by his aide, Father Simeon.                                                 27.                                        Vincenzo, leading them, turns up Via Sentinel and starts up the          hill toward the Archives.    They follow, quickly.                    They speak in English, their common language.                                                   CAMERLENGO                           You've been informed of the new                           situation?                                                   MORTATI                                (NODS)                           May God's mercy be upon us.                                                   CAMERLENGO                           And the other cardinals?                                                   MORTATI                           Await your word.                    The Camerlengo thinks, feels the weight of this decision on his          young shoulders.                                                   CAMERLENGO                           May I ask your guidance, Padre?                                                   MORTATI                           My belief is we should proceed with                           the sealing of conclave.                                                       CAMERLENGO                           At this hour?        That would be highly                           unorthodox.                                                   MORTATI                           And yet within church law.    It's in                           my power, I've been chosen Great                           Elector.                                                   CAMERLENGO                           The cruelest honor in Christendom.                                                   MORTATI                           The only ambitions I have are for my                           church.    St. Peter's church, which                           is under attack at its most vulnerable                           moment.    This is not a coincidence.                           Is it possible our enemies hope to                           distract us from our sacred task?                                                   CAMERLENGO                           The church will not fall in a day. We                           may be wise to consider evacuation.                                                  28.                                                                       MORTATI                           That is exactly what they want,                           publicity and panic.    We must not                           give them oxygen for the media fire.                                                   CAMERLENGO                           What of the safety of the cardinals?                                                   MORTATI                           Surely there is not an elector present                           who values his physical being more                           than the unbroken leadership of the                           Holy See.                                                   CAMERLENGO                           And the people in St. Peter's Square?                                                   MORTATI                           They care as deeply about their church                           as we do.    Their faith will sustain                           them.                                                   CAMERLENGO                           But if their faith does not protect                           them from an explosion?                                                   MORTATI                           We're all bound for heaven eventually,                           are we not?                                                   CAMERLENGO                           Spoken like one who has enjoyed the                           blessings of a long and full life.                    Mortati bristles at the thinly-veiled insult.                                                   MORTATI                           Signore, do not confuse the power of                           the office you temporarily hold with                           your true place here in the Vatican.                           You were a favorite of His Holiness,                           but His Holiness is with his Father                           now.                                                        CAMERLENGO                           Mea culpa.                    Satisfied, Mortati looks back over his shoulder, at the anxious          faces in the Chapel.    Then turns back to the Camerlengo.                                                   MORTATI                           Seal the doors.                                                 29.                                        With a heavy THUD, the huge doors close and bolts SLAM into place.          An ancient key GRINDS in an ornate lock, two heavy chains RATTLE          into place, FOUR SWISS GUARD take position in front of the doors          and at that very moment --                    INT      VATICAN ARCHIVES      DAY                    -- two huge, modern glass doors WHOOSH open, revealing what looks          like a 23rd century library.     It's a massive underground space,          like a darkened airplane hangar, with a dozen glass boxes evenly          spaced throughout.     They're lit up from within, each containing          row upon row of bookshelves, neatly filled with books, papers, and          arcana.                    LT. CHARTRAND, a twenty-five year old member of the Swiss Guard          (in a suit and earpiece, not the traditional garb), leads Langdon          and Vittoria toward the glass enclosures.                                                    CHARTRAND                                 (Swiss accent)                            The chambers are hermetic vaults,                            oxygen is kept at lowest possible                            levels.    It's a partial vacuum                            inside. More than ten minutes in the                            vault is not recommended without                            breathing apparatus.                    He stops at one particular chamber and gestures to the sign on its          door -- "Il Processo Galileano."                                                    CHARTRAND (cont'd)                            I'll be just outside the door.                    Langdon starts toward the entrance to the vault, but Chartrand          puts a hand on his chest, stopping him.                                                    CHARTRAND (cont'd)                            Watching you, Mr. Langdon.                    Langdon looks at him.    He's not popular around here.                    INT      GALILEO VAULT      DAY                    The electronic revolving door spins and admits Langdon to the          interior of the vault. He takes a deep breath, holds it, and lets          it out.                    Vittoria follows shortly behind him, and she's unprepared -- the          lack of oxygen hits her hard, she dizzies.                                                  30.                                                                        LANGDON                           Take a moment.     If you feel double                           vision, double over.                                                   VITTORIA                                (bends over)                           Feels like I'm... scuba diving... with                           the wrong mixture.                                                   LANGDON                           Plenty of time.                    He checks his watch.   It's 7:07.                                                   LANGDON (cont'd)                           Uh... actually, I take that back.                                                                               CUT TO:                    INT     A DARK SPACE       DAY                    In a dark space, a tea bag bobs delicately up and down in a cup of          hot water.    An elegant man in his forties, dressed in a casual          suit, no tie, HUMS softly to himself as he steeps his tea.    No          idea of his name, but his suit is gray, so how about MR. GRAY.                    The tea is on an old wooden table, being heated by a small can of          sterno.    While Mr. Gray bobs the tea bag, he stares at something          to his right.                    Money.    A lot of it, in a number of different denominations,          neatly segmented in a briefcase.    And three passports, all          different colors (and nationalities), neatly placed on top of it.                    Satisfied, Mr. Gray CLICKS the briefcase shut and slides it under          the table, tucking it up against the wall.    He removes the cup          from the heat, still bobbing the tea bag.                    He walks, lit by candlelight that throws harsh shadows on strange          walls.    He heads down a very dark hallway, past a row of          stonewalled cells, and within each is the dimly lit figure of the          older men we saw on the videotape earlier -- the kidnapped          cardinals.                    He stops at the last cell, where the man, CARDINAL LAMASSE, looks          up at him from the wooden bench he's sitting on.                                                   MR. GRAY                           You have no idea what you're missing.                                                   LAMASSE                           Conclave will go on without us.    The                           voice of God will not be silenced.                                                 31.                                                                        MR. GRAY                            I was referring to my tea.    Last                            chance, I'd be happy to make you a                            cup.                                                    LAMASSE                            May God forgive you for what you've                            done.                                                     MR. GRAY                            Father, if God has issues they won't                            be with what I've done --                                  (seems genuinely saddened)                            -- but with what I'm about to do.                                        A MOMENT LATER,                    Mr. Gray's hand takes the burning tin of sterno and tosses it into          a fireplace, where the liquid fire consumes a pile of dry          kindling.    He picks up something else and places it in the heart          of the flames.                    A long-handled iron rod.                                                                                   CUT TO:                    INT     VATICAN ARCHIVES       DAY                    Inside the archive, Vittoria is searching the lower shelves while          Langdon, on a ladder, digs through folio bins higher up.                                                     LANGDON                            -- confiscated from the Netherlands by                            the Vatican shortly after Galileo's                            death.     I've been petitioning to see                            it for almost ten years.     Ever since                            I realized what was in it.                                                    VITTORIA                            What makes you so sure the Segno is                            there?                                                    LANGDON                                 (while searching)                            The number 503.    I kept seeing it over                            and over in llluminati letters, scribbled                            in the margins, or sometimes just signed                            that way, "503."      It's a numerical                            clue, but to what?     Five, of course, is                            the sacred llluminati number -- the                            pentagram, Pythagoras, a dozen other                            examples in science -- but why three?                                          (MORE)                                                   32.                                          LANGDON (cont'd)                            It made no sense. And then I thought --                            what if it were a Roman numeral?                                                         VITTORIA                                 (THINKS)                            D-I-I-I?                                                    LANGDON                            D3.   Galileo's third text.                                 (ticking them off)                            Dialogo.    Discorsi.                                        His eyes light up as he pulls a slender volume out of a folio bin          on one of the top shelves.                                                         LANGDON (cont'd)                            Diagramma.                                        A MOMENT LATER,                    Langdon, now wearing white cotton gloves, sets the tiny manuscript          on a viewing stand.                                                    LANGDON                            Diagramma della Verita.        The Diagram                            of Truth.                                                    VITTORIA                            I know about Dialogo and Discorsi --                            Galileo laid out his theories about                            the earth revolving around the sun,                            and the church forced him to recant.                            But what was this?                                                    LANGDON                            This is where he got the word out. The                            truth, not what the Vatican forced him                            to write.    Smuggled out of Rome and                            printed in Holland on sedge papyrus.                            That way any scientists caught with a                            copy could simply drop it in water and                            the booklet would dissolve.                    Carefully, he turns the first page.                                                    LANGDON (cont'd)                            Between its delicate nature and the                            Vatican burnings, it's said this is                            the only copy that remains.                                 (turns the second page)                                          (MORE)                                                 33.                                          LANGDON (cont'd)                           And if I'm right the Segno should be                           hidden --                                 (and the third)                           -- on page number --                                 (and the fourth)                           -- five.                    He stops.   They study the page,                                                   LANGDON (cont'd)                           Latin.    Can you --- ?                                                       VITTORIA                           A bit.                    She reaches for the book, to pull it towards her, but Langdon          SLAPS her hand.    He holds up his own, glove                                                       LANGDON                           Finger acids.                    She rolls her eyes and leans in, studying the page.     There are          sketches on the page as well.                                                   VITTORIA                                (READING)                           Movement of the planets... elliptical                           orbits... heliocentricity...                    Langdon's nervous. This doesn't sound right. Vittoria turns the          page, turns it back.                                                   VITTORIA (cont'd)                           I'm sorry, I don't think there's                           anything that could be interpreted                           as a-                                                       LANGDON                           Do that again.                    She turns the page, then turns it back.    Noticing something in          the deep crevice of the margin as the page moves, Langdon grabs a          magnifying glass on the end of a long pole and swings it over.                    There, in the print gutter, what looked like a smudge is revealed          under the magnifier to be --                                                   LANGDON (cont'd)                           A line of text.    In English.                                                                           (CONT'D)                                                  34.                                                                        VITTORIA                            English?    Why English?                                                    LANGDON                            No one spoke it at the Vatican.    It                            was considered polluted.    Too free-                            thinking, the language of radicals                            like Shakespeare and Chaucer.                    He rotates the book.                                                        LANGDON (cont'd)                            Another line.                    He keeps rotating the book, finds two more tiny lines written at          the very edges, barely visible to the naked eye.                                                    LANGDON (cont'd)                            "The path of light is laid, the sacred                            test..."    I need a pen, we have to                            transcribe this.                                                    VITTORIA                            Sorry, Professor.    No time.                    Before Langdon can do anything to stop her, she RIPS the page from          the text and shoves it in her pocket.                    Langdon's jaw drops.    He shoots a look over his shoulder at Lt.          Chartrand, but the man's back is turned.                                                    LANGDON                            Ah, what the hell.                    He SNAPS the magnifying glass off the end of its pole.                                                                               CUT TO:                    EXT    VATICAN ARCHIVES DAY                    The doors SLAM on a Vatican police car and the tires SQUEAL as          Olivetti hits the gas.                    INT     CAR DAY                    Olivetti is behind the wheel, Vittoria's in front, Langdon leans          in from the back seat.                                                    OLIVETTI                            Twenty minutes till eight, where are                            we headed?                                                 35.                                                                       LANGDON                           I'll know in a minute, give me the                           paper.                    Vittoria pulls the page from the Diagramma out of her pocket and          hands it to Langdon.    He pulls the magnifier from his coat and          studies the thin paper, turning it in his hands.                                                   LANGDON (cont'd)                                (READING)                           From Santi's earthly tomb with demon's                           hole...                                                   OLIVETTI                           Where did you get that paper?!                                                   LANGDON                           'Cross Rome the mystic elements                           unfold.                                                   VITTORIA                           We borrowed it.                                                   LANGDON                           The path of light is laid, the sacred                           test...                                                   OLIVETTI                           Are you insane?!                                                   LANGDON                           Let angels guide you on your earthly                           quest.                                                   OLIVETTI                           You removed a document from the                           Vatican Archives?!                                                   LANGDON                           Huh?    Oh, um -- well, she moved so                           fast.∑.                                                   VITTORIA                           The first marker sounds like it's at                           Santi's tomb.                                                       LANGDON                                (MUSING)                           Sounds like.                                                   VITTORIA                           But who is Santi?                                                       36.                                                                                 LANGDON                            Raphael.                                                      VITTORIA                            Raphael?     The sculptor?                                                    LANGDON                            Santi was his last name.                                                    VITTORIA                            So the path starts at Raphael's tomb!                                                       LANGDON                                    (not entirely                                     CONVINCED)                            Yeah.                                                    OLIVETTI                            Raphael is buried at the Pantheon.                                                    VITTORIA                            Is the Pantheon even a church?                                                    OLIVETTI                                 (snatching up the                                  RADIO)                            Oldest Catholic church in Rome!                    Langdon has fallen silent, but it all makes perfect sense, so he          says nothing as Olivetti cranks the wheel hard --                    EXT     ROME - STREET        DAY                    -- the car fishtails into a 180, and they take off in the opposite          direction, headed for the Pantheon.                                                                                 CUT TO:                    EXT    PANTHEON - SIDE STREET             DAY                    The police car pulls to a stop, as quietly as possible, across an          open plaza from the Pantheon.                    Two black Alfa-Romeos with   tinted windows glide to a stop on          either side of them.    As   Langdon and the others get out,          Commander Rocher and THREE   MORE SWISS GUARD, all in black suits,          surround them. Rocher goes   straight to Langdon, highly skeptical.                                                    ROCHER                            I've just pulled a dozen of my best                            men from Vatican City during conclave                            and left the search for the antimatter                            device in the hands of secondary                            officers.    You'd better be right.                                                 37.                                                                       LANGDON                           I believe I am.                                                   ROCHER                           The Pantheon is one of the busiest                           tourist spots in Rome, how could he                           hope to get away with it?    It's                           impossible.                                                   LANGDON                           As impossible as kidnapping four                           cardinals from Vatican City?    The                           poem is precise.                    Olivetti catches eyes with Langdon, who's still clutching the page          pulled from the Diagramma. He slips it quietly into his jacket          pocket.                                                   ROCHER                           The poem.    Unbelievable.    I'm                           basing this operation on an American's                           interpretation of a four hundred year                           old poem.                                                   VITTORIA                           The information we have clearly refers                           to Raphael's tomb, and Raphael's tomb                           is inside that building.                    She points to the Pantheon, its edifice shimmering in the early          evening light.                                                   LANGDON                           The Pantheon is your one chance to                           catch this guy.                                                   ROCHER                           One?    I thought you said four.    A                           pathway, four markers.    We'll have                           four chances to catch him.                                                   LANGDON                           You would have, a hundred years ago.                           The Vatican had all the pagan statues                           in the Pantheon removed and destroyed                           in the late 1800s.    Whatever marker                           was there to lead us to the next                           church is gone now.    The path is                           dead.    This is your chance.                    Rocher looks at him for a long moment, then turns abruptly to a          UNIFORMED OFFICER.                                                 38.                                                                       ROCHER                           Separate approaches.     Cars to Piazza                           della Rotunda, Via degli Orfani,                           Piazza Sant'Ignazio, and                           Sant1Eustachio.    No closer than two                           blocks, no uniforms, three minutes.                           Understood?                    The Officer salutes and they snap into action.                                                   ROCHER (cont'd)                           And I need a set of eyes inside.                    Two BEEFY GUARDSMEN in black suits step forward.                                                   VITTORIA                           Wait a minute, you'll scare him off.                                                   ROCHER                           They're not in uniform.                                                   VITTORIA                           I'm sorry, two weightlifters in                           matching black suits and earpieces,                           they're hardly disguised.                                                   ROCHER                           There's no time to get undercover men                           here.                                                   VITTORIA                           Fine.    I'll go.                                                   ROCHER                           I'm not sending a wom-                    Her arched eyebrow stops his sentence in its tracks.                                                    ROCHER (cont'd)                           -- a civilian into this situation. You                           have no communications and you can't                           carry a walkie-talkie, it's too                           conspicuous.                                                   VITTORIA                           Tourists have cell phones, don't they?                                (pulls out her own and                                 holds it to her ear)                           Hi honey, I'm at the Pantheon, you                           should see this place!                                                   39.                                        Rocher seems to be thinking about it.           Langdon looks at her, his          protective instincts aroused.                                                   LANGDON                           You can't send her in there alone.                                                   ROCHER                           I don't intend to.                    EXT    PANTHEON - TWO MINUTES LATER                    CLOSE ON a pair of hands, linked.    Vittoria and Langdon, holding          hands like lovers, walk slowly toward the entrance to the          Pantheon. A COUPLE DOZEN TOURISTS, blissfully unaware, mill about          the square while up on the rooftops, SNIPERS have them in view.                    Langdon looks around, this wasn't what he had in mind.          Vittoria          glances at him, amused.                                                   VITTORIA                           You're crushing my hand.                                                         LANGDON                           I'm sorry.                                                   VITTORIA                           A nervous newlywed?                                                   LANGDON                           Ancient newlywed.                                                         VITTORIA                           Try harder.                    He puts an arm around her waist, feels a lump in her back.                                                   LANGDON                           You really know how to use that gun                           gave you?                                                   VITTORIA                           I can tag a breaching porpoise from                           forty meters off the bow of a rocking                           ship.                                                   LANGDON                           Thought you said you were a physicist,                                                    VITTORIA                           I am.     Long story.                                                         LANGDON                           Make it short.                                                     40.                                                                               VITTORIA                                  (THINKS)                             Can't be done.         What time is it?                    Langdon raises his hand and checks his watch.                                                     LANGDON                             Seven minutes to eight.                                                     VITTORIA                                  (of the watch)                             Was that Mickey Mouse?                                                           LANGDON                             Long story.                                                           VITTORIA                             Make it short.                                                           LANGDON                                  (THINKS)                             Can't be done.                    And with that they step through the entrance and into --                    INT     PANTHEON       DAY                    -- the Pantheon, a massive, circular room with a 141-foot          unsupported span even larger than the cupola of St. Peter's. There          are a DOZEN TOURISTS scattered around, and a TOUR GROUP on one          side hearing a lecture from a MUSEUM DOCENT.                    Langdon looks up at the hole in the ceiling through which a bright          shaft of light is shining.                                                     LANGDON                             The oculus. That could be the                             "demon's hole" in the poem.                    Looking around, Vittoria sees several sarcophagi scattered around          the room, all pointing obliquely in a certain direction. As they          move stealthily through the crowd, they speak in low tones:                                                     VITTORIA                             Why are the tombs at an angle?                                                           LANGDON                             To face east.          Sun worship.                                                     VITTORIA                             But this is a Christian church.                                                  41.                                                                        LANGDON                                 (SHRUGS)                            New religions often adopt existing                            holidays to make conversion less                            shocking. December 25th was the pagan                            holiday of the Unconquered Sun. Made                            it a handy choice for Christ's                            birthday.                                                    VITTORIA                            You're saying Christianity is                            repackaged sun worship?                                                    LANGDON                            Where do you think halos came from?                            Not just sun worship though, the                            Catholics borrowed Communion from the                            Aztecs, canonization from Euphemerus,                            the cruciform from the Egyptians ---                                                    VITTORIA                            No wonder they don't like you around                            here.                                                    LANGDON                            Just trying to keep the conversation                            lively.                                 (POINTS)                            Check the recesses.    I'll go left.                            See you in a hundred eighty degrees.                    He starts to the left, she goes to the right, walking in the          shadowy recesses behind the pillars at the edges of the room.                    Langdon walks slowly, checking out faces.       Tourists.   Couples.          Teenagers.    More tourists.                    Around every column, there are shadows, and in those shadows --                    --- nothing.                    He looks at his watch.    Five minutes to eight.       And then --                    --- a SHRIEK from the other side of the room.      He whirls, sees          Vittoria backing away from something.                                                        LANGDON (cont'd)                            Vittoria!                    He races across the room, reaches her at the far side. Her face is          ashen.    She's pointing at something, aghast.                                                 42.                                                                       VITTORIA                           Raphael's tomb!    But --                    Langdon rushes forward to the crypt. There doesn't seem to be          anything out of the ordinary, except ---                                                    VITTORIA (cont'd)                           --- it's the wrong one!                                                   LANGDON                           What are you talking about?!                    He leans down, looks at the plaque on it.                                                   VITTORIA                           He was moved here, in 1759. A century                           after Diagramma was published!                                                   LANGDON                           That's not possible, the poem said-                                                   VITTORIA                           Where was he originally buried?                                                   LANGDON                           I don't know... Urbino, I think...                                (thinking like crazy)                           Santi's earthly tomb... what else                           could it possibly... Santi 's tomb...                    His eyes flit around the room, from one ornate sarcophagus to          another.    And then it hits him:                                                   LANGDON (cont'd)                           Damn it!    "Santi's tomb" must mean                           one of the chapels he built!    He's                           not buried in it, he designed it! Rich                           people commissioned burial chapels in                           churches all over Rome in his day!                                (looks up)                           And the "demon's hole," it isn't the                           oculus, it's an undercroft, a crypt,                           common sixteenth century term!                    At that very moment, the tour group is passing them, and the          elderly Docent asks his group the perfunctory wrap-up:                                                   DOCENT                           Does anyone have any questions?                    Langdon busts in on the group.                                                  43.                                                                       LANGDON                           Yes!    Did Raphael Santi ever design                           a chapel with an ossuary annex and                           angel figure commissioned by the                           Catholic Church?!                    The Docent blinks.    Wasn't expecting quite so esoteric a          question.                                                        LANGDON (cont'd)                           Well?!                                                   DOCENT                           I'm sorry, I... I can only think of                           one.                    Langdon suppresses the urge to grab him by the lapels and shake it          out of him.                                                        LANGDON                           One'll do.                                                                                 CUT TO:                    EXT    PANTHEON DAY                    A clock in the square outside the Pantheon says 7:56.    Langdon          and Vittoria face Rocher, Olivetti, and half a dozen Swiss Guard.                                                   ROCHER                           Wrong?   What do you mean, wrong?!                                                    LANGDON                                 (FAST)                           The first altar of science is the                           Chigi Chapel, in the church of Santa                           Maria del Popolo, about a mile from                           here!     It used to be called Capella                           della Terra, Chapel of the Earth.                           Earth, the first element!     This is                           it, I'm certain.                                                   ROCHER                           You were certain of the Pantheon.                                                   LANGDON                           Please, we have four minutes!                    Rocher looks at Langdon with contempt, then BARKS orders to his          men in Italian.    They begin to head for their cars.                                                   VITTORIA                           Back to the Vatican?!        You can't!                                                 44.                                                                       LANGDON                           Commandante, if you care at all about                           your church-                                                   ROCHER                           My church?   My church feeds the                           hungry, comforts the sick and dying.                           What does your church do, Professor?                                (no answer)                           Ah, that's right, you haven't one.                    He turns and walks away, glaring at Olivetti.                                                   ROCHER (cont'd)                           Take him if you want, but I'm done                           with him.                                                                               CUT TO:                                        EXT    PIAZZA DEL POPOLO      DAY                    Olivetti's car SCREECHES to a halt in the Piazza del Popolo at          sunset.    Langdon, Vittoria, Olivetti, and Vincenzo, the Vatican          cop who first came to see Langdon, all climb out, start scanning          the square.                                                   LANGDON                           This is the place.                    He points to an obelisk in the center of the square.                                                   LANGDON (cont'd)                           An obelisk, with a pyramid at the top.                           Both Masonic symbols.                                                   VITTORIA                           The Freemasons?   Are Illuminati?                                                   LANGDON                           The Illuminati were infiltrators.                           There isn't a powerful organization on                           earth they didn't place members in.                           Look at a dollar bill some time. A                           pyramid, an occult symbol representing                           convergence upward, with the eye of                           illumination above it, and beneath it                           the Latin for "New World Order."                                                    45.                                                                        VITTORIA                            The United States government was                            infiltrated by Illuminati?                                                    LANGDON                            FDR's vice-president was a high-                            ranking Freemason.    Convinced him                            the words in Latin actually meant "New                            Deal."                    A church bell begins to TOLL.                                                          OLIVETTI                            Eight o'clock!                    Langdon takes off running, toward and eleventh-century church at          the southwest corner of the plaza, covered in scaffolding.                    At the front door of the church,                    Langdon hops over the sawhorses blocking the entrance and tries          the door.    Locked.    A sign says the place is under          construction.                    At a side door,                    Olivetti races alongside the church, followed by the others.          He reaches a door with a large, heavy ring, and pulls it toward          him. But the door won t budge.    He pushes, throws his shoulder          into it.    Locked.                                                    LANGDON                                 (APPROACHING)                            No, no, it's an annulus!                    But Olivetti just races onward, looking for another door, followed          by Vincenzo.    As they disappear around the back of the church,          Langdon steps up to the large ring, gives it an almighty twist --                    INT       SANTA MARIA DEL POPOLO            DUSK                    -- and the heavy door CLUNKS open.                    The interior of the church is an obstacle course of torn-up          flooring, brick pallets, mounds of dirt.    Silt drifts in the          dying sunlight that shines through the broken windows and walls.                    Nothing moves.    Dead silence.    Langdon and Vittoria walk          slowly to the middle of the floor, at one end of the chapel.          There are eight recesses, four on either side of a central aisle,          all covered with large sheets of plastic, to protect them during          construction.                                                   46.                                                                        LANGDON                                 (WHISPERING)                            The chapel is in one of those apses.                    The plastic RUSTLES ominously.       Anything could be behind any one          of them.                    Vittoria pulls the gun from her waistband and holds it in front of          her.    Langdon notices, it makes him uncomfortable.                                                    LANGDON (cont'd)                            You have to give that back.                    She looks at him --- what are you, nuts? Something rushes at them          from the side, she whirls --                    --- and nearly blows Olivetti to kingdom come as he and Vincenzo          barrel in through the side door.                    Langdon gestures --- everybody quiet. Olivetti points to the left          gestures to Langdon and Vittoria to go to the right.                    They separate, to either side of the main aisle.                    AT THE FIRST CHAPEL,                    Langdon pulls the plastic aside, eyes scan the chapel.      Nothing.          ON THE OTHER SIDE,                    Olivetti does the same, at another chapel.      Nothing.                    AT THE THIRD CHAPEL,                    Vittoria pushes the plastic aside, gun in front of her.      There's          a sudden movement to her left, she whirls --                    --- and a rat scurries away.                    AT THE FOURTH CHAPEL,                    Langdon pushes the plastic aside, steps inside --                    -- and GASPS.                    Moving behind him, we see a Christian chapel like no other we've          ever seen.    Finished entirely in chestnut marble, overhead it          has a domed cupola with a field of illuminated stars and the seven          planets (as known in Galileo's day).                    Further down the wall, there are tributes to earth's four seasons          but most incredible of all are the two huge structures that          dominate the room from either side.                                                    47.                                        Pyramids.    Ten feet high.                    Vittoria steps in behind him.                                                      LANGDON                            Pyramids.      In a Catholic church.                            This is it.                    Behind them, the plastic rustles, as if drawn by a wind, and as          Langdon turns, he hears, faintly, a DOOR CLOSING far away.                    He turns back, eyes drawn to the floor.    There is a large oval          medallion there, with a skeleton carved into it.    It's slightly          off center, raised.    As if it's been opened recently, and          hurriedly replaced.                                                    LANGDON (cont'd)                            The demon's hole.                    IN THE DEMON'S HOLE,                    we're looking up now as the medallion GRINDS to the side.     Faces          peer down at us -- Langdon, Vittoria, Olivetti, and Vincenzo. They          recoil from a stench.                    UP TOP,                    Langdon squints, trying to see inside.                                                    LANGDON                            Anybody got a flashlight?                    Vincenzo hands him one.    Langdon shines it down into the crypt.          There are shapes, but thirty feet down and hard to make out.                    There's one in particular, in the darkness, seems too short to be          a person, but it's moving slightly.                                                    OLIVETTI                            Can you tell what it is?                                                    LANGDON                            Not from up here.                    He reaches down, rattles the ladder that leans against the wall of          the crypt.    Takes a deep breath, looks at the others.                                                          LANGDON (cont'd)                            Those guns.          Keep 'em handy?                                                 48.                                        IN THE DEMON'S HOLE,                    Langdon reaches the bottom, still shining the light at the figure          in the distance.    It's brighter here, he can see it's flesh-          colored, but still indistinct.    He takes a step toward it --                    -- and something CRUNCHES under his feet.                    He shines the light down.    He's standing on a pile of human skulls                                                    OLIVETTI                                 (calling down)                            You okay?                                                       LANGDON                            More or less.                    He takes two more steps, closer to the swaying figure on the other          side of the crypt.    He can now clearly see a man's naked back.                                                    LANGDON (cont'd)                            He's here!    I think he's -- sitting.                                 (moves closer)                            Hello?                                 (closer still)                            Are you all right?                    It's a human figure.     As Langdon draws close, he sees the source          of the movement --- rats, gnawing at the dead body.                    They scurry away as Langdon comes around the front, and we pull          back to see what he sees.                    It's Cardinal Lamasse.                    He's been buried in the earthen floor of the crypt up to his waist          his jaw broken, his mouth crammed full of dirt.                    But that's not the worst of it.    Langdon GAGS as he sees the          blackened word that has been branded into the red flesh of the          Cardinal's chest.    It's an ambigram, like we've seen before, but          this time it says --                                                   EARTH.                                                                                CUT TO:                                        INT     SISTINE CHAPEL      DAY                    Cardinal Mortati sits regally at the main altar at the front of          the Sistine Chapel as the electors, one by one, cast their votes          in the traditional manner.                                                  49.                                        An AFRICAN CARDINAL at the front of the line kneels before him.                                                    AFRICAN CARDINAL                                 (SUBTITLED)                            I call as my witness Christ the Lord,                            who will be my judge that my vote is                            given to the one who before God I                            think should be elected.                    The African Cardinal stands, holds his ballot over his head, t          lowers the ballot to the altar, where a plate sits atop a large          chalice.                    He places the ballot on the plate, then picks up the plate and          uses it to drop the ballot in the chalice.    He then replaces the          plate over the chalice, bows to the cross, and heads for his seat.                    The next cardinal steps up to repeat the process.                    A SHORT TIME LATER, A DISSOLVE,                    and the line is gone.    Mortati holds the chalice with all the          votes.    He shakes it, chooses one---                                                    MORTATI                            Eligo in summum pontificem --                    -- and reads an unfamiliar name.                    He makes a note in a ledger, then raises a threaded needle and          pierces the ballot through the word "Eligo," sliding the ballot on          the thread.                    A SHORT TIME LATER,   ANOTHER DISSOLVE,                    and there are a hundred and sixty-one ballots on the thread,          Mortati looks up from his ledger and speaks to the room.                                                    MORTATI                            The first ballot has failed.                    He takes He thread carrying all the ballots and ties the ends          together to create a ring.                    He lays the ring of ballots on a silver tray.     Dusts the tray          heavily with a yellowish powder.                    A DOOR OPENS                    on a small incinerator. The ring of ballots is hurled inside and          bursts immediately into flame.                                                   50.                                        A dark, brackish smoke billows up from the burning ballots, and we          follow the smoke up, up, into the chimney --                    EXT     ST.   PETER'S SQUARE         DUSK                    --- and to the roof of the Sistine Chapel, where the black iUPke          puffs out into the early evening sky.                    Below, a CROWD OF THOUSANDS GROANS in disappointment as the          message is sent --- no new pope yet.                    But while they are all watching the smoke, we turn our attention?          to the opposite direction, to the east, across Rome, to where ---                                                                                  CUT TO:                    EXT     PIAZZA DEL POPOLO        DUSK                    --- those black Alfa Romeos, four this time, glide silently to a          halt outside the church where Langdon just found the corpse. Swiss          Guard in black suits pour out of the vehicles and hurry into the          church, trying to attract as little attention as possible.                    INT     SANTA MARIA DEL POPOLO          DUSK                    The inside of the church is being sealed off as a crime scene.          Rocher, just arriving, takes charge as the plastic is RIPPED off          the Chigi Chapel.                                                    ROCHER                            Get that body out of there and search                            the rest of the building.                    Swiss Guardsmen drop into the demon's hole to remove the body.                                                     ROCHER (cont'd)                                 (to another Guardsman)                            Outside -- a perimeter.    Secure but                            invisible.     No lights, no guns, no                            one knows.     Understood?                    Langdon, lost in thought, drifts through the small chapel, studying          the intricate carvings and other artwork.                                                    LANGDON                            Earthly symbology... everywhere...                    Rocher passes through his field of vision, livid:                                                    ROCHER                            Why the hell didn't you figure this                            out in the first place?                                                 51.                                        It was more a rhetorical question, but Langdon answers honestly,          still lost in thought, his voice soft.                                                   LANGDON                           I made a mistake.                    He drifts toward a statue, of the highest quality white marble,          resting in a niche on the far side, out of the way of the mayhem.                    Vittoria joins him.                                                       VITTORIA                           Is it Raphael?                                                    LANGDON                           The chapel is.     But the sculptures                           are Bernini.                                (STUNNED)                           The unknown Illuminati master was                           Bernini.                                                   VITTORIA                           Didn't he work for the Church?                                                   LANGDON                           Almost exclusively.    It means the                           Illuminati even infiltrated the                           Vatican.    They hid in plain sight.                    He steps closer to the statue.    It's of two life-size human          figures, intertwined, one a regal, bearded man, the other a          cherub, floating overhead.                                                   LANGDON (cont'd)                           Habakkuk and the Angel.                                                       VITTORIA                           Habakkuk?                                                   LANGDON                           The prophet who predicted the                           annihilation of the earth.    This is                           the first marker.                    He steps closer, studying it carefully.                                                   LANGDON (cont'd)                           "Let angels guide you on your lofty                           quest..."                    His eyes move slowly over the statue, and ours do too, from the          angel's innocent face, down his arm, and to his right hand, which          is outstretched, one finger extended --                                                 52.                                        -- pointing the way.                                                    LANGDON (cont'd)                            The Path is alive.                                                                               CUT TO:                                        EXT     PIAZZA DEL POPOLO        DUSK                    Langdon dashes down the stairs outside the church and into the          middle of the piazza.    It's getting dark now, shadows streaking          the square.                                                     LANGDON                            Southwest...   it points southwest...                    He gets his bearings, looks to the southwest, sees nothing but          buildings in the way.                    He runs back up the church steps, where Vittoria and Rocher are          just coming outside.    Langdon's mind is racing.                                                     LANGDON (cont'd)                            Earth-air-fire-water, we're looking                            for a Bernini sculpture having                            something to do with air...                                  (to Rocher)                            And the next church is southwest of                            here.                                                    ROCHER                            You're sure this time?                                                    LANGDON                            I need a map.    One that shows all                            the churches in Rome.                    Rocher just stares at him, studying him.                                                    LANGDON (cont'd)                            I could use it now.                    Rocher starts down the steps toward his car.                                                       LANGDON (cont'd)                            And a compass!                    He looks around, sees the rickety scaffolding outside the church,          and ---                                                     53.                                        A MOMENT LATER,                    --- he climbs into our view, now on the scaffolding.       He's moving          upward, fast, toward ---                    EXT     CHURCH ROOF       DUSK                    --- the roof of the old church, also undergoing renovation. The          view of Rome is spectacular from up here, and Langdon rushes to          the western wall, looking intently off in that direction.                    He sees something that makes him suck in his breath, hears a voice          from behind him ---                                                           VITTORIA   (O.S.)                             Robert!                    --- and turns as Vittoria tosses something small and black up to          him.                    A compass.    He catches it, holds it steady, and walks toward the          edge of the roof as the compass needle swivels and settles on SW.                    Langdon looks up, following the line of the needle, up over the          rooftops of Rome, to a massive structure in the distance, exactly          in line with the compass needle.                    A huge dome on the horizon blots out the setting sun.                    ST.   PETER'S BASILICA.                                                                                   CUT TO:                    INT      CAR      NIGHT                    CLOSE ON a map of Rome, unfolded in the back seat of a racing car          and spread out over Langdon and Vittoria's laps.    Langdon has a          pen and is drawing a line on the map, through --                                                     LANGDON                             The black rectangles with crosses are                             churches, and none of them intersect                             the line until it comes to an end,                             right in the middle of St. Peter's                             Square.                    Night has fallen, and the four Alfa Romeos are now speeding across          Rome.    No sirens, but lots of speed.    Olivetti drives, Rocher          is in the passenger seat.                                                   54.                                                                         ROCHER                             Your theory doesn't hold up,                             Professor.    Michelangelo designed                             St. Peter's, not Bernini.                                                     LANGDON                             The Basilica is Michelangelo, but the                             square is Bernini.    The second                             marker must be a statue in the square.                                                     VITTORIA                             It's ten minutes till nine!   Can we                             go any faster?!                                                     ROCHER                             Not unless we want the full attention                             of the world press.                    She looks down, to two television screens mounted into the backs          of the front seats.    Both are tuned to coverage of the papal          selection process, REPORTERS doing stand-ups from the middle of          crowded St. Peter's Square.                    We move in on one of the images, then into the image, coming out -                                                                                CUT TO:                    EXT     ST.   PETER'S SQUARE     NIGHT                    --- on a television monitor in St. Peter's Square. The Reporter, a          JAPANESE WOMAN, is giving a stand-up report on the progress so          far, gesturing to the chimney over the Sistine Chapel.                    The crowd has grown, now four thousand, maybe five. FLASHBULBS          POP.    A few PROTESTERS CHANT.                    Almost silently, behind them all, half a dozen black Alfa Romeos          race in, too fast, and come to an abrupt halt.                    IN ROCHER'S CAR,                    they all get out, trying to avoid causing a panic.                    Langdon walks into the square, eyes focused on an object in the          middle.                                                     LANGDON                             Another obelisk.    We're close.                    He looks up, at row after row of statues that ring the square from          atop the oval colonnades.                    SHARPSHOOTERS scurry among the statuary, setting themselves up.                                                   55.                                        In the crowd, Rocher MUTTERS into his radio and to undercover          SWISS GUARD scattered throughout.    The crowd is unaware of them.                    Langdon keeps walking, turning in circles, looking above him, to          the tops of the colonnades that border the square.                                                   VITTORIA                           There must be a hundred statues up                           there, which one is it?                                                   LANGDON                           How in God's name would anyone make a                           sculpture about air?                    And indeed there are.    Langdon looks at his watch.      Two          minutes to nine.                    And then he freezes.    Staring down, not up.                    He takes a step back. There is a fresco carved into the square          beneath his feet, or more accurately --                                                         LANGDON (cont'd)                           Bas relief!                    He takes a step back, to look at the carving, as does Vittoria.                                                    LANGDON (cont'd)                           The other half of sculpture is bas                           relief.                                (to Vittoria)                           Look for more!     Something having to                           do with air!                    They move through the crowd, pushing people aside, causing a bit          of a ruckus as they try to uncover the elaborate carvings in the          stone of the square.                    (IF WE ARE EAGLE-EYED, at this point we will see TWO ROBED MEN,          one helping the other, who carries a cross, as they pass through          the crowd behind Langdon.)                    Remembering something, Langdon rushes forward, toward the center          of the square, uncharacteristically brusque with the crowd,          shoving his way through now.                    He draws close to one carving in particular, slows to a stop, and          stares down at it, eyes wide.                    It's a carving of an angel's face, cheeks billowing outward as it          blows a gust of wind, symbolized by five vertical streaks.    Its          title is ---                                                   56.                                                                          LANGDON (cont'd)                              "West Ponente."    The West Wind.    An                              angel's face and five streaks.   Air!                    So this is it, but now what?    They look around frantically,          scanning the crowd.    So does Rocher, so does Olivetti.    The          BELLS of St. Peter's start to TOLL the hour.                    NEARBY,                    a LITTLE GIRL dances with a doll.      Happily unaware of what's          going on.                    ELSEWHERE,                    some PROTESTERS tangle.      Some believe one thing, others don't.                    Swiss Guard and Vatican Police race in to break it up. But there's          no bloodshed.                    CLOSE TO THAT,                    a ROBED MAN carrying a small wooden cross falls to the ground.          Somebody near him SCREAMS.                    NEARBY,                    the Little Girl is jostled by a HOMELESS MAN, drops her doll.                    THE ROBED MAN                    is helped to his feet by the Police.      He's fine.   He wanders          away, holding his cross high.                    And as he passes us, we catch just a glimpse of his face ---                    --and recognize Mr. Gray.                    THE LITTLE GIRL                    bends down, picks up her doll, and sees --                    -- IT'S COVERED IN BLOOD.                    She looks down at the ground, sees a trail of blood, follows it          with her eyes to where ---                    -- the Homeless Man, dressed in torn rags, leans against a          fountain, gasping for breath.                    ACROSS THE CROWD,                                                  57.                                        Vittoria and Langdon hear the SCREAMS.    They're closest, and          they're at the fountain in just a few seconds.                    Langdon drops to his knees, turns the Homeless Man over.          Through the man's torn shirt, he can see a black and red brand          burned into his chest.                    Three letters, ornate script, reading the same front to back:                                                    AIR.                    Vittoria grabs his arm,   feels for a pulse.                                                     VITTORIA                             He's still alive!                    But the dying Cardinal is gasping for breath, his mouth opening          and closing like a fish on a dock.                    She bends down, arches his neck, closes her mouth over his, and          blows air into his lungs.                    Immediately, a fog of red mist BILLOWS from two puncture holes in          the man's chest, covering Langdon in blood --- his face, his          clothes.                                                     VITTORIA (cont'd)                             His chest! They punctured his lungs!                    Langdon recoils in horror, overcome, completely out of his depth.                    Rocher arrives, as does Olivetti, as do a DOZEN MORE SWISS GUARD          and VATICAN POLICE.    Rocher looks around, defeated and enraged,          as the Cardinal expires and the Crowd panics, fleeing in all          directions.                    He presses his radio to his lips and keys the mic.                                                     ROCHER                             Clear the square.                                                                                CUT TO:                    INT     BATHROOM      NIGHT                    Blood and water swirl down a drain. Langdon looks up from the          sink, water rushing from his face. He dries himself, looks in the          mirror.    He holds up his hands. They're shaking.                    He's standing in a lavish marble bathroom, now cleaned up and          changed into black pants and a black long-sleeved shirt.    No          Roman collar, they don't just give you those, but clearly the          clothes of a priest.    He steps out of the bathroom and into ---                                                 58.                                                  INT     PAPAL OFFICE     NIGHT                    -- the papal office, where the Camerlengo, Rocher, Olivetti, and          Vittoria are gathered again, as are HALF A DOZEN other security          officers.     It's crowded, busy, little knots of jurisdictional          arguments and competing theories around the room.                    The Camerlengo, at his desk, is stunned, speaking to Olivetti.          Langdon edges close enough to hear, but not too close.                                                    CAMERLENGO                            When did this call come in?                                                    OLIVETTI                            Three, four minutes ago.    The same                            voice as on the tape.    We're                            analyzing the accent now, Alsatian is                            our best guess at the moment.                                                    CAMERLENGO                            And he actually claimed responsibility                            for the death of His Holiness?                                                    OLIVETTI                            Not personally, but he said it was the                            Illuminati.    He said they murdered                            him.                                                    CAMERLENGO                            That's ridiculous, the Holy Father                            died of a stroke.    Did he say how                            they claim to have done it?                                                    OLIVETTI                            The Pope's own medication.     A drug                            known as Heparin?                    There is silence for a moment.      Rocher looks up.    Looks away.                                                    VITTORIA                            The Pope took Heparin?                                                    CAMERLENGO                            He had thrombophlebitis.    He took an                            injection once a day.    But no one                            knew that.                                                       OLIVETTI                            Someone knew.                                                  59.                                                                       ROCHER                           His Holiness had health concerns; he                           was subject to seizures as well. But                           he took steps to make sure he was --                           watched.    For safety.    That's all                           he wished to be made public, and                           that's all we should discuss.                                                   VITTORIA                                (ignoring him)                           Heparin is lethal in the wrong dosage.                           An overdose would cause massive                           internal bleeding and brain                           hemorrhages.    At first it might look                           like a stroke, but in a few days his                           body would show signs, we could easily-                    Rocher spins on her, livid.                                                   ROCHER                           Ms. Vetra, in case you're unaware,                           papal autopsies are prohibited by                           Vatican Law.    We are not about to                           defile His Holiness's body just                           because his enemies claim to-                                                   CAMERLENGO                           Of course we're not.    We'll make a                           public announcement refuting this                           absurd claim.                    Father Simeon, Cardinal Mortati's aide, steps forward.                                                   FR. SIMEON                           I'm afraid that's out of the question.                           Cardinal Mortati has insisted this                           entire matter be kept internal.                                                   CAMERLENGO                           Cardinal Mortati shouldn't even be                           aware of this, he's locked in                           conclave.                                                   FR. SIMEON                           His final instructions before sealing                           the doors were very clear -- no outside                           communications unless absolutely                           necessary.                                                   CAMERLENGO                           Cardinal Mortati will remember that he                           is Dean of the College of Cardinals,                           not His Holiness himself.                                                 60.                                                                       FR. SIMEON                           As you say. Yet, technically, now that                           Conclave has begun, it is his                           privilege and duty to control public                           announcements. I've drafted a short                           release about the incident in the                           square, but any other statements are                           specifically prohibited. For that, the                           Cardinal has asked me to remind you --                           we have a chimney.                    The Camerlengo just stares at him, a power struggle. Which he is          going to lose.                                                   CAMERLENGO                           As you say.                                (turns away)                           Commander Rocher, the search for the                           device?                                                   ROCHER                           We've turned the power off and on to                           about twenty percent of Vatican City.                           Nothing on the video yet.                                                   CAMERLENGO                           Mr. Langdon, you've been right so far,                           if belatedly, about the Path. It's now                           nine fifteen, how quickly can you find                           the next church?                    Langdon refers to a map spread out on the desk.                                                   LANGDON                           The line of the breath in the carving                           points due east, directly away from                           Vatican City, but there are five                           lines, so there's room for error.                    While he talks, an AIDE in a business suit is ushered quietly in          the door by a Swiss Guardsman.    He's carrying a satchel.          Vittoria recognizes him, and he goes to her.                                                   LANGDON (cont'd)                           There are about twenty churches that                           intersect it.    None of their names                           invoke "fire," but there must be a                           Bernini sculpture inside one of them                           that does.    I'm going to need to get                           back into the Archives to find it.                                                   61.                                                                        CAMERLENGO                                 (to Olivetti)                            Escort him.                    Langdon looks to Vittoria -- you coming? She looks up from a table,          where she's opened the satchel brought in by the Aide. She holds          two leather-bound books in her hand.                                                    VITTORIA                            The journals I asked for.    I'd like                            to stay here and study them.    If                            Leonardo told anyone else about our                            project, that could be the killer.                                                         CAMERLENGO                            Fine.                    The group starts to break up, half of them headed for the doors.          As Langdon rolls up the map on the desk, the Camerlengo notices          his black clothes for the first time.                                                    CAMERLENGO (cont'd)                            Professor, would it surprise you to                            find those clothes suit you?                    Langdon manages a sliver of a smile, starting to like this guy.                                                    LANGDON                            It would surprise the hell out of me.                                                                                CUT TO:                                        EXT     ST.   PETER'S SQUARE     NIGHT                    St. Peter's has been cleared out, the throng moved to barricades          at its edges so that the crime scene can be properly investigated.          Flashbulbs POP everywhere.                    The row of TV REPORTERS is nearly shoulder to shoulder, and we          move along them --- first up is an ITALIAN REPORTER:                                                     ITALIAN REPORTER                                  (SUBTITLED)                            -- a statement just released by the                            Vatican expressing sympathy for the                            family of the mugging victim, a                            tourist from Dusseldorf --                    Still moving, we pass a CHINESE REPORTER.                                                    62.                                                                          CHINESE REPORTER                                  (SUBTITLED)                            --- who is now confirmed dead.                            Vatican Police have a suspect in                            custody, and after photographing the                            crime scene ---                    Still moving,   a FRENCH REPORTER.                                                     FRENCH REPORTER                                  (SUBTITLED)                            --- will allow the crowds of faithful                            back into St. Peter's Square, where                            security will be doubled.                    Still moving, a BBC REPORTER,    in English.                                                    BBC REPORTER                            Sadly, the Vatican spokesman points                            out, where crowds go --                    And finally, an AMERICAN.                                                     AMERICAN REPORTER                            --- so often follows crime. We're                            trying now to get the name of the                            tourist who was- wait a-                    The American Reporter looks confused, somebody's talking to her in          her earpiece.                                                    AMERICAN REPORTER (cont'd)                            We're getting word now of -- smoke,                            smoke from the Sistine Chapel chimney,                            apparently there's been another vote I                    And almost as one, the row of TV cameras all swing away from the          crime scene in the square and up, to the Sistine Chapel chimney,          where there is indeed a thick cloud --                    --- of black smoke.    Still no new pope, and the subject is          effectively changed.                                                                                   CUT TO:                    INT     VATICAN ARCHIVES      NIGHT                    Langdon and Lt. Chartrand, the young Swiss Guardsman, walk quickly          down the row of hermetically sealed vaults in the Vatican          Archives.                    Langdon's leading, looking at the names on the outsides of each of          the individual vaults.                                                 63.                                                                        CHARTRAND                            What are you looking for this time?                                                       LANGDON                            Assets.                                                    CHARTRAND                            I beg your pardon?                                                    LANGDON                            Artwork is valuable, and corporations                            tend to keep track of their holdings.                                                    CHARTRAND                            The Catholic Church is not a                            corporation, Signore, it is a beacon,                            a source of inspiration for one                            billion lost and frightened souls.                                                    LANGDON                            Sure sure, I get that.                    He stops, pointing up at a sign on the end of one of the vaults --          BANCO VATICANO.                                                    LANGDON (cont'd)                            But it's also a bank.                    He takes one last breath of oxygen-rich air, pushes through the          revolving door --                    INT     VAULT     NIGHT                    --- and comes through the other side, eyes scanning the place.    A          moment later, Chartrand follows him through the door.     Langdon          looks at him --- you're coming in too?                                                    CHARTRAND                            Cfmmander Olivetti said I was not to                            leave your side this time.                                                    LANGDON                                 (a mutter)                            Wasn't me, it was her,                    MOVING FAST ALONG THE LEATHER-BOUND VOLUMES, Langdon searches the          place as fast as he can.                    BAM!                    A book drops onto a table, pages flip by, Langdon studies it,          SLAMS it shut.                                                    64.                                        BAM! BAM! Two more books, flipped open, compared, pages rifled,          nothing.                    BACK IN THE STACKS,                    his hand finds a five-inch thick ledger marked "Bernini."                    ON A TABLE,                    it SMACKS down and opens to the first page. Langdon sits, begins          turning the pages, one by one.                    LOOKING AT THE PAGE,                    his vision momentarily blurs.         He rubs his eyes, it clears          again.                    He looks up, at a vent over the doorway. Thin ribbons flutter in          the breeze of the minimal oxygen that's being pumped in.                    He goes back to work.   Chartrand watches him.                                                                                    CUT TO:                    INT     PAPAL OFFICE     NIGHT                    Looking out the window of the papal office, we see the barricades          removed from the edges of St. Peter's Square.    The crowds          return.                    Pulling back, we see the Camerlengo looking out at them, thinking,          troubled.    There are still half a dozen Security Officials in          the papal office, but the Camerlengo turns and looks at Vittoria,          working alone at a desk on the far side of the office.                    AT THE DESK,                    Vittoria pores over the journals sent from Geneva.    Sensing          something, she looks up.    The Camerlengo is standing over her.          He speaks quietly.                                                   CAMERLENGO                           What sort of signs?                                                          VITTORIA                           I'm sorry?                    The Camerlengo looks over his shoulder, to make sure their          conversation is private.                                                   CAMERLENGO                           If the Holy Father were given an                           overdose of Heparin... what signs                           would his body bear?                                                     65.                                                                        VITTORIA                            Bleeding of the oral mucosa.                                 (off his questioning look)                            His gums.    Postmortem, the blood                            congeals and turns the inside of the                            mouth black.                                                    CAMERLENGO                            Even though he died fourteen days ago?                                                    VITTORIA                            It wouldn't show up until at least a                            week after his death.                    He looks around the room once more.          Then back to her?                                                    CAMERLENGO                            He was... very important to me.                                                           VITTORIA                            I understand.                    He thinks for a long moment, then --                                                           CAMERLENGO                            Please come.                    --- turns and leaves the room.         She makes sure no one's looking,          then follows him out.                    She leaves the journals behind.                                                                                     CUT TO:                    INT     VATICAN ARCHIVES     NIGHT                    CLOSE ON the Bernini ledger, which Langdon is now almost halfway          through.    He tiyrns a page, scans the list of items written          there, then moves on to the next.                    He blinks, his vision blurring again. He looks over at Chartrand,          who's suffering even worse, panting for air, hands on his knees.                                                    LANGDON                            You don't smoke, do you?                                                    CHARTRAND                                 (yes, a lot)                            A little bit.                                                    LANGDON                            Sit down before you fall down.                                                 66.                                        Chartrand half-stumbles into a chair on the opposite side of the          table.    Langdon goes back to what he was doing, flipping a page--                    --- and then immediately flipping it back.                    There is a hand-written notation alongside one of the entries.                                                    LANGDON (cont'd)                            My Italian's no good, what does this                            note say?   Next to the entry for The                            Ecstasy of St. Teresa?                    Chartrand leans over the ledger, squinting hard, trying to focus.                                                    CHARTRAND                            "Moved at suggestion of the artist."                                                    LANGDON                            Moved to another church?      At                            Bernini"s suggestion?                    Chartrand, really suffering for air, can't follow it.                                                       CHARTRAND                            I don't know.                    Langdon flips the page back, to a photograph of the sculpture in          question.                    THE STATUE                    is of a woman, seemingly in the throes of ecstasy, while an angel          hovering over her holds a spear aloft.                    Langdon raises an eyebrow.                    The word "Seraphim" jumps up from the page, words in quotes after          it -- "Seraphim, meaning 'the fiery one...'"                                                       LANGDON                            Fire.                    More words pop out at us -- "His great golden spear... filled with          fire..."                                                       LANGDON (cont'd)                            Fire.                    Still more -- "woman inflamed by passion's fire..."                    And now a close-up of her enraptured face.                                                     67.                                                                               LANGDON                            Fire.                    And now three things happen in quick succession:                    -- Langdon SLAMS the ledger shut,                    -- the ribbons on the air vent fall as the oxygen into the vault is          cut off, and                    -- one by one, ALL THE LIGHTS IN THE ARCHIVES GO OUT.                    Total silence for a moment.                    Langdon and Chartrand look at each other in the darkness.                                                           LANGDON (cont'd)                            The door -- ?                                                           CHARTRAND                            Electronic.                                                    LANGDON                            That's too bad.                                                                                CUT TO:                    INT     ST.   PETER'S BASILICA          NIGHT                    The Camerlengo, flanked by two Swiss Guardsmen, escorts Vittoria          rapidly across the deserted floor of St. Peter's Basilica.                                                    VITTORIA                            Where are we going?                                                    CAMERLENGO                            To see my father.                                                    VITTORIA                            I don't understand.                    They circle past a pillar and she sees an orange glow up ahead,          seeming to emanate from beneath the floor in the center of the          basilica.                                                    CAMERLENGO                            I was orphaned when I was nine years                            old.    A bombing in Madrid -- Basque                            separatists protesting the visit of a                            Catholic archbishop.                    As they draw closer, she sees it's the entrance to a sumptuous          underground chamber, surrounded by scores of glowing oil lamps.                                                   68.                                                                          CAMERLENGO (cont'd)                              The archbishop felt responsible, and                              he adopted me the following day.    I                              was raised by him, and by the church.                    The Camerlengo starts down a winding stairway, rimmed by the          lamps,                    ON THE STAIRCASE,                    they descend, lit by the spectral glow of the oil lamps.                                                      CAMERLENGO (cont'd)                              He was the wisest man I ever met, even                              with my youthful foolishness. He                              always saw the middle way.    I wanted                              to be ordained, but I also refused to                              be excused from military service.                              So he suggested I fly rescue missions,                              helicopters bringing the wounded to                              hospital.                    He stops at the bottom of the stairs and looks up at her.                                                      CAMERLENGO (cont'd)                              He was a great man.                                                         VITTORIA                              He died?                                                      CAMERLENGO                                   (NODS)                              Fourteen days ago.                    Vittoria, stunned, realizes who he's talking about.                                                                                 CUT TO:                    INT     VATICAN ARCHIVES       NIGHT                    KA-CHUNG! Emergency lights switch on in the Vatican Archives,          casting a weird, reddish glow over everything.                    But the ribbons at the oxygen panel remain limp.                    Below, Langdon pushes, again and again, on the deadened exit          button, trying to activate the doors.    Nothing doing.                    He's weak, weaving, barely on his feet.                    Chartrand's already slumped against a wall, his radio in hand,          keying it over and over again, but getting only static.                                                   69.                                                                             LANGDON                            Anything?                    Chartrand gestures weakly around the room.                                                    CHARTRAND                            Walls... lead-lined... no signal.                    Langdon blinks, his vision becoming seriously impaired. He holds          his eyes closed for a moment, opens them, it's not much better.                    Langdon looks at the glass wall on the far side of the vault. Then          at the row of bookcases.    Gets an idea.                    He goes to the last bookcase, which is about six feet from the          glass wall. He hoists himself up on the shelf of the bookcase          opposite it, wedges himself in.                    And pushes with one leg.      The giant bookcase teeters, but just          barely.                    Langdon hoists himself further up, gets both legs up against the          bookshelf.                    Pushes again -- more movement this time.                    Now he puts everything he has into it, straining like hell.    The          bookcase starts to tip, goes just past the point of no return,          starts to fall, gloriously headed straight for the glass wall,          which it SLAMS into with enormous power and --                    --- stops.                    Leaning against the wall.     Forget cracks, there's not even a          scratch.                    Langdon CURSES under his breath, looks around for another idea.                    He hears a soft THUD from the other side of the room, sees          Chartrand has slumped over, unconscious.                    But his jacket has fallen open, revealing the sidearm he carries          in a shoulder holster.                    LANGDON'S HAND                    slips the gun out of the holster and hefts it.     Safe bet he's          never held one of these before.                    He staggers over toward the glass wall, raises the gun, and pulls          the trigger.    Nothing happens.    Trigger doesn't even move.                                                 70.                                        After a moment of oxygen-poor thinking, he figures out how to          CLICK off the safety.    Tries again.                    (Pow.)                    The sound of the shot is barely audible to Langdon.     His brain's          going fast.                    If he was hoping to bring the whole wall down, he failed, but          there's a faint HISSING sound coming from the bullethole, and he          goes to it and takes a deep breath of air from the outside.                    He stands back, his brain clearing momentarily.                    Seized by an idea, he looks up at the wall, at its four corners,          and at the tiny web of cracks radiating out from the hole he just          made in the center.                    He raises the gun again and fires off FOUR SHOTS in quick          succession.    They're in an odd pattern-- upper left corner, upper          right, not quite as high, lower middle-left, and the very lower          right corner.                    Now there are four new holes, each HISSING slightly, and the first          hole, in the center.                    Shaking his head once more to clear it, Langdon steps forward to          the glass wall, but instead of barreling against it or throwing a          chair, he simply raises one hand, places it flat over the first          hole he made, the one in the center of the glass wall ---                     -- and presses gently.                    Almost immediately, a SHARP SOUND comes from the hole beneath his          hand and a jagged crack leaps out from the first hole, shooting up          to connect with the hole in the upper left corner.                    He presses just a touch harder and a SECOND CRACK starts,          shooting down to the lower right.    Then a third, and a fourth,          the glass is cracking like ice in springtime, all four extremities          connecting with the central hole, and with a huge GROANING SOUND -          -                    -- the entire glass wall falls to pieces at his feet.                    Air RUSHES into the vault.                    And, wouldn't you know it, the power comes back on in the Archives.                                                                                CUT TO:                                                 71.                                        INT     VATICAN GROTTOES      NIGHT                    Vittoria, the Camerlengo, and the two Swiss Guard reach the          entrance to the Holy Vatican Grottoes just as --                    -- their power goes out.                    Two flashlights CLICK on, and the Guardsmen lead the way in.   On          both sides, hollow niches line the walls.    Recessed in the          alcoves, as far as the flashlights let them see, the hulking          shadows of sarcophagi loom.                    On top of each tomb are life-sized marble carvings of each Pope,          shown in death and wearing full papal vestments, arms folded          across their chests.                                                   CAMERLENGO                           If the Holy Father was murdered, the                           implications are profound.    Vatican                           security is impenetrable, no one from                           the outside could have gotten anywhere                           near him.                                                   VITTORIA                           Meaning it was someone on the inside.                                                   CAMERLENGO                           We can trust no one                    He steps up his pace, taking the lead, knows exactly where he's          going.    The others fall behind, as everyone slowly realizes what          he intends to do.    And they're not at all sure they're up for          it.                    AT THE LATE POPE'S SARCOPHAGUS,                    the Camerlengo closes the last few feet alone. He knees down in          front of the bright marble carving, a likeness of the late Pope.          He WHISPERS.                                                   CAMERLENGO                           Father... Holy Father... You told me                           when I was young that the voice in my                           heart was that of God.    You told me                           I must follow it no matter what                           painful places it leads.    I hear it                           now, asking me the impossible.    Give                           me strength.    Forgive me.    What I                           do, I do in the name of everything you                           believe.                    BEHIND HIM,                                                   72.                                        the others watch as he finishes his private prayer, stands, and          turns to them.                                                      CAMERLENGO (cont'd)                              Remove the covering.                    Nobody moves.      Just stares at him.                                                      CAMERLENGO (cont'd)                              Did you hear me?                                                      SWISS GUARDSMAN                              Signore, by law we are at your                              command.    But we are also bound by-                                                      CAMERLENGO                              I ask your forgiveness for putting you                              in this position.    Vatican laws are                              established to protect the church. But                              it is in that very spirit that I                              command you to break them now.                    A moment of silence, and then --                    -- they step forward.    Set their flashlights on the floor.          And step to the tomb.    Bracing their hands against the marble          covering near the head of the tomb, they plant their feet and          push.                    It doesn't move.                    They push harder.                    Vittoria and the Camerlengo join them.                    With an almost primal GROWL of stone on stone, the lid slides,          rotating off the top of the casket and coming to rest at an angle.                    The Camerlengo picks up a flashlight and shines it in the crypt.                    Vittoria leans forward.                    The light creeps up the Pope's body, over his burial vestments,          past his folded hands, and finally to his face.                    His cheeks have collapsed, the Pope's mouth gapes wide      --                    -- and his tongue is black as death.                                                                                     CUT TO:                                                 73.                                        EXT     VATICAN ARCHIVES      NIGHT                    The face of Langdon's Mickey Mouse watch is smeared with blood          from a cut on his hand, but we can still read the time.                    It's 9:41.                    Langdon and Chartrand stagger down the front steps of the Vatican          Archives, where they're immediately met by three Vatican Police          cars.    Olivetti leaps out of one and meets them at the base of          the steps, holding his hands up in defense almost before Langdon          can lay into him.                                                   LANGDON                           Are you out of your minds?!                                                   OLIVETTI                           Please.    In the car.                                                   LANGDON                           Someone tried to kill me.                                                   OLIVETTI                           Do you know where the next church is?                                                       LANGDON                           Yes.                                                   OLIVETTI                           Then get in the car!                    Langdon jumps in the back seat of the car with Olivetti, and they          SQUEAL away from the Archives.                    IN THE CAR,                    they continue as the DRIVER tears through the streets of Rome.                                                   OLIVETTI                           We had no idea that --                                                   LANGDON                           You heard me ask permission!    You                           assigned me an escort!    Don't try to                           tell me you didn't know I was in                           there!                                                   OLIVETTI                                (let me finish)                           Of course I knew, but we had no idea                           that portions of our white zones are                                                  74.                                                                       OLIVETTI (cont'd)                           cross-wired with that building.                           Commander Rocher was extending the                           search, if he'd known the Archives                           were on that grid, he never would have                           killed the power.                    Langdon looks at him evenly, sees in Olivetti's eyes that they may          be thinking the same thing.                                                   LANGDON                           Or there is the other possibility.                    Olivetti doesn't answer.     But he's thinking about it.                                                   LANGDON (cont'd)                           Infiltration is the Illuminati                           specialty -- why not the head of the                           Swiss Guard?                                                   OLIVETTI                                (AGONIZED)                           Perhaps.                                                   LANGDON                           I want to speak to the Camerlengo.                                                   OLIVETTI                           Il Camerlengo is unavailable,                                                        LANGDON                           Unavailable?        Why?                                                   OLIVETTI                           He's found evidence that the Holy                           Father was indeed murdered.    He is                           seeking guidance.                                                        LANGDON                           From whom?                    Olivetti looks at him   -- what are you, an idiot?                                                        OLIVETTI                           From God.                                                        LANGDON                           Oh, right.                                                     OLIVETTI                           Please.      Make an effort.                                                                               CUT TO:                                                 75.                                        INT     PAPAL OFFICE      NIGHT                    Vittoria, escorted by the two Swiss Guardsmen from the grottoes,          returns to the papal office.                    She goes to the desk where she was sitting earlier, to resume her          examination of the journals.                    But the desk is bare.                                                       VITTORIA                           The journals.        Where are they?                    The Guardsmen look at her blankly.                                                   VITTORIA   (cont'd)                           Who took the journals from this desk?!                    INT      APOSTOLIC PALACE - GREAT STAIRCASE        NIGHT                    The Camerlengo, in deep meditation, slowly descends the stairs          that lead to the Sistine Chapel.                    At the bottom, Four Swiss Guard (in traditional garb) guard the          locked doors.                    The Camerlengo reaches them.    Hesitates.      Looks heavenward for          one last word of encouragement, and then --                                                   CAMERLENGO                           Unseal the doors.                    INT     SISTINE CHAPEL       NIGHT                    There is an audible GASP from the assembled cardinals as the heavy          locks CLUNK open, the chains RATTLE away, and the main doors of          the Sistine Chapel sweep open.                    The Camerlengo walks in, a stark presence in his black cassock          amid the sea of red robes. Cardinal Mortati steps from behind the          altar to meet him.                                                   MORTATI                           Signore, do you realize that for the                           first time in Vatican history, a                           Camerlengo has just crossed the sacred                           threshold of conclave after sealing                           the doors?                                                                                 CUT TO:                                                   CAMERLENGO                           There has been a development.                                                 76.                                        EXT      ROME - STREET      NIGHT                    Olivetti's Alfa Romeo races through the streets of Rome, trailed          by three other cars.                    INT     SISTINE CHAPEL       NIGHT                    The Camerlengo has just passed on the shocking news, and the          whispered word "murder" can be heard in several languages.                    Even Mortati is shaken.   The Camerlengo speaks to the Cardinals.                                                   CAMERLENGO                           Please... a moment... if I...                    He strides quickly up the steps of the altar to address the group          -- again, to the shock and surprise of this most conservative and          rule-bound group.                    But no one stops him.                                                   CAMERLENGO   (cont'd)                           It is true we are under attack from an                           old enemy.    And this time they've                           struck from within, murdering our Holy                           Father and threatening us all with                           destruction at the hands of their new                           god, science.    So what are we to do?                    INT      OLIVETTI'S CAR      NIGHT                    CLOSE ON the dashboard clock in Olivetti's car, which now reads          8:57.    Langdon looks up from it, staring intently through the          windshield.                    On the horizon, he sees a faint orange glow.                                                       LANGDON                           Oh no.                    INT     SISTINE CHAPEL       NIGHT                    The Camerlengo continues, and the cardinals are listening.                                                   CAMERLENGO                           Since the days of Galileo, the church                           has tried to slow the relentless march                           of science, sometimes with misguided                           means, but always with benevolent                           intention.    Still, they call us                           backward, ignorant.                                                 77.                                                                       CAMERLENGO   (cont'd)                           But who is more ignorant?   The man                           who cannot define lightning, or the                           man who does not respect its awesome                           power?                    INT      OLIVETTI'S CAR      NIGHT                    Through the windshield of Olivetti's car, we see that orange glow,          closer now.    It's a building on fire.                    INT      SISTINE CHAPEL      NIGHT                    The Camerlengo continues, growing passionate.                                                   CAMERLENGO                           The promises of science have not been                           kept.    We're a fractured and frantic                           species, moving down of destruction in                           the name of progress.                    EXT     SANTA MARIA DELLA VITTORIA       NIGHT                    The police cars come to an abrupt stop in front of the Church of          Santa Maria della Vittoria.    Flames glow like evil eyes through          the stained-glass windows fifty feet above the ground.                    A small CROWD has gathered, stabbing at their cell phones.    A          SIREN WAILS in the distance.                    INT      SISTINE CHAPEL      NIGHT                    Mortati's Aide, Father Simeon, takes advantage of the open Sistine          Chapel doors and slips inside.    He takes a place just behind          Mortati as the Camerlengo goes on.                                                   CAMERLENGO                           Science and religion are not enemies.                           But there are things that science is                           simply too young to understand.    We                           are here to lead, but how?                    EXT     SANTA MARIA DELLA VITTORIA       NIGHT                    With three sharp CRACKS, Olivetti fires into the lock in the front          door of the church.    He KICKS it open --                    -- and flame RIPS out into the night air.                    INT      SISTINE CHAPEL      NIGHT                    The Camerlengo speaks faster now:                                                    78.                                                                       CAMERLENGO                           Shall we cloak ourselves in silence                           and secrecy, as in the past?    Or do                           we open the doors, take down the                           blackened curtains, and speak to our                           flock?                    INT     SANTA MARIA DELLA VITTORIA       NIGHT                    Olivetti, Langdon, and four other VATICAN POLICE make their way          into the burning church.    There is a massive pile of church pews          in the center aisle, burning wildly.                    INT     SISTINE CHAPEL       NIGHT                    The Camerlengo's wrapping up:                                                   CAMERLENGO                           Signores, I ask, no, I pray that you                           break this conclave.    Open the                           doors.                    INT     SANTA MARIA DELLA VITTORIA       NIGHT                    In the burning church, two heavy incensor cables run from the          walls of the church and rise above the burning pews at an angle,          strung tightly to a center point.    Langdon follows the wires up          with his eyes --                    INT     SISTINE CHAPEL       NIGHT                                                   CAMERLENGO                           Evacuate St. Peter's Square.                    INT     BURNING CHURCH       NIGHT                     -- the wires meet at a center point, just above the roaring          flames, where --                    INT     SISTINE CHAPEL       NIGHT                                                   CAMERLENGO                           Tell the world the truth.                    INT      BURNING CHURCH     NIGHT                     -- the third cardinal, still alive, is suspended over the searing          flames.                    A word is branded into the center of his bared chest:                                                     FIRE.                                                    79.                                        Vatican Police, led by Olivetti and Vincenzo, race into the          building and draw their weapons.    Olivetti SHOUTS to them in          Italian, looking for a way to cut down the agonized cardinal.                    Langdon races toward the pyre, but is repelled by a wall of heat          ten feet away.                    The Cardinal SCREAMS, and Langdon looks to the sides, following          the cables that reach to the walls.                    One of the Vatican Cops ducks                    INTO THE LEFT SIDE AISLE,                    which is lit only by the wild orange flames.    He creeps forward,          gun in front of him, toward a fire extinguisher mounted on the          wall.                    He reaches for it --                    -- but a HAND reaches for him from behind, he's pulled off his          feet and --                    IN THE MAIN AISLE,                    Olivetti and Vincenzo whirl as TWO GUNSHOTS come from the darkened          side aisle.    They race toward it.                    AT THE BONFIRE,                    Langdon SHOUTS to two more Vatican Cops, pointing upward.                                                    LANGDON                            The cleat, on the wall!   Get                            something to stand on!                    He's pointing at a cleat, maybe ten feet up on the wall, where the          right guide wire is attached.                    Vatican Cops 2 & 3 drag a half-burned pew out of the fire and pull          it underneath, leaning it against the wall for greater height,                    Langdon starts to climb it, to uncleat the wire.                    IN THE DARKENED LEFT AISLE                    Olivetti creeps forward, gun at the ready, Vincenzo close behind          him.                    They see a form on the floor in front of them and Olivetti bends          down -- it's the first Vatican Policeman.                    Dead in a pool of his own blood.                                                     80.                                        Vincenzo, standing behind Olivetti, looks down, horrified, and in          that moment of distraction, a figure creeps up behind him --                    -- and twists his head 180 degrees with one smooth motion.                    Olivetti whirls, but his gun comes around a split-second slower          than he does and in that split-second a shadow falls over him,          something SLASHES through the air and --                    IN THE MAIN AISLE,                    Langdon struggles to climb the pew that's leaned against the wall          as Vatican Cop 4 finds a long-handled candle snuffer and races          toward the edge of the fire with it.                    Blinking back the intense heat, he manages to hook the Cardinals          manacled foot with it, he turns to Langdon--                     -- who, stretched as far as he possibly can, just manages to          loose the wire from its cleat, holding tightly to it so as not to          let the Cardinal go into free-fall.                    But the pew on which he's balanced starts to wobble, then- --                    -- BLAM!    BLAM!                    Two gunshots THUD into the chests of Vatican Cops 2 & 3, who were          supporting the pew.    They fall, the pew tips --                    -- and Langdon,   falling   --                    -- loses his grip on the chain.                    The Cardinal falls toward the flames. Vatican Cop 4 tries to pull          him to safety, but doesn't have enough of WHIRRS through the          pulley until it reaches its the Cardinal to an abrupt stop, six          feet lower                    -- and directly in the middle of the bonfire.                    His SHRIEK of agony echoes through the burning church.                    Langdon SLAMS to the floor just at the edge of the burning church          pews, maybe CRACKING a rib on the hard floor of the church.                    A FIGURE steps out of the shadows, looming over him, Langdon looks          up, expecting a gunshot, but instead --                     -- sees the bleeding figure of Olivetti, staggering toward him,          clutching his slit throat in his last moments of life.                    NEARBY,                                                    81.                                        Vatican Cop 4 is desperately trying to pull the Cardinal from the          flames, the end of the candle-snuffer is now hooked around the          Cardinal's foot, he pulls him closer, reaches out, can almost grab          his ankle --                     -- until he is SHOT in the back.    He falls to the floor,          drawing and dropping his gun in the process, losing his grip on          the long-handled pole as well.                    On the ground, bleeding, he sees his gun, just a foot away from          his hand.                    He reaches for it.                    And a foot steps on his wrist, BREAKING it.                    Mr. Gray stands over him,     implacable.                    FROM A DISTANCE,                    we see Mr. Gray fire two shots into the ground where Cop 4 is          lying.                    Then he turns toward us.                    NEARBY,                    Langdon, still on the ground, looks up at the sound of the shots.          Through the burning church pews he can see Mr. Gray, starting          toward him.                    Langdon crawls, on all fours, through the outskirts of the          bonfire, toward a recessed part of the wall ten or fifteen feet          away.                    Mr. Gray steps up behind him, raises his gun           --                                                          VOICE   (O.S.)                             Polizia!                     -- and turns.    TWO MORE COPS, Roman Carbinieri, have run into          the burning church and are making their way down the center aisle,          straight toward him.                    Mr. Gray raises his left (non-gun holding) hand, displaying a          leather billfold with a badge in it.                                                     MR. GRAY                                  (good Italian accent)                             Gendarmeria Vaticano!                    Recognizing the ID, the two Cops glance away for a second, to          search the rest of the church --                                                   82.                                        -- and Mr. Gray BLASTS two shots into each of them.                    They drop, dead, but one of them squeezes off a single round          before falling.                    Mr. Gray looks down, at his right shoulder, where a dark red stain          is spreading on his suit.    He touches it, more annoyed than          anything.                    UNDERNEATH THE BURNING PEWS,                    Langdon has crawled as close as he dares to the raging fire, and          the sleeve of his shirt is ablaze.    He rolls out the other side          of the embers, stamping out the flames, gets to his feet, and          takes off running.                    Mr. Gray pursues, only slowing his gait slightly to DOUBLE TAP two          shots into the head of a dying Vatican Cop.                    ACROSS THE CHURCH,                    Langdon hurls himself over a balustrade and into a chapel on the          far side of the church.    Bullets SHATTER the glass of an          elevated crypt, three feet off the floor.    (Inside is a superbly          detailed wax statue of a saint in death.)                    Langdon dives under it and crawls backwards, staring in horror at          Mr. Gray's feet as they approach the chapel from across the          church.                    Langdon's back THUDS into a wall.                    Dead end.                    But there's an old wooden grating in the wall.   He turns, KICKS          it with both feet.                    The grating CRUNCHES into pieces, revealing a narrow crawlspace                    IN THE CRAWL SPACE,                    Langdon army-crawls through it.                    Mr. Gray's face appears in the entry to the crypt.    He pauses to          change clips on his handgun --                    -- the floor beneath Langdon abruptly runs out   --                    -- Mr. Gray raises his gun     --                     -- and Langdon disappears. The gunshots THUD into cement wall          where he was, not where he is.                                                   83.                                        UNDERGROUND,                    Langdon CRUNCHES to a hard landing on a subterranean stone floor,          rolls over, and sees Mr. Gray above him, now pointing down.                    But there's another crawl space, and Langdon scurries into it.                    IN THE SECOND CRAWL SPACE,                    it's hopelessly dark, an even tighter space than the last one,          filled with cobwebs that Langdon blindly claws his way through.                    He hits another hole in the floor, falls a second time ---                    INTO THE CATACOMB,                     -- and lands on top of a pile of long-decayed skeletons in the          nearly-black bottom of the church's underground warren of hiding          places.                    He looks up.    He's ten feet from the nearest handhold, only a          fool would follow him down here                    BACK UP IN THE BURNING CHURCH,                     -- and Mr. Gray is no fool.      He steps back over the balustrade          and leaves the chapel.                    The waxen face of the carving in the sarcophagus melts in the          intense heat of the out-of-control fire.                                                                                 CUT TO:                    INT      SISTINE CHAPEL - SALON        NIGHT                    In the salon outside the Sistine Chapel, the Camerlengo waits          alone.    From inside can be heard the sound of VOICES in debate.                    Finally, the big doors open and Cardinal Mortati emerges, goes to          him.                                                    MORTATI                            My son... God answers all prayers.                    He puts a hand on the Camerlengo's shoulder.                                                    MORTATI (cont'd)                            But sometimes the answer is no.                    The Camerlengo closes his eyes    -- this is a terrible, terrible          mistake.                                                 84.                                                                       MORTATI                           The College will not break conclave.                                                   CAMERLENGO                           We can't hide this anymore.        The                           burning church --                                                   MORTATI                           A despicable act of terrorism.                           Father Simeon will make a suitable                           announcement lamenting the loss of                           life.      May I suggest you direct                           your energies to helping the Swiss                           Guard confront the possibility of this                           explosive device, and leave church                           leadership --                    He gestures to the open doors to the Sistine Chapel, and the          assembled cardinals within.                                                   MORTATI       (cont'd)                            -- to its leaders.                    The Camerlengo looks at him for a long moment, then turns and          wa1ks away.                    Father Simeon, who had been lurking in the open doorway to the          chapel, now glides up beside him and touches Mortati's arm.                                                    FR. SIMEON                           Eminence.    There is a growing fear                           that without the four prefiriti, a two-                           thirds majority for any candidate may                           be impossible.    Unless --                    He trails off, gestures vaguely.                                                       MORTATI                           Speak plainly.                                                   FR. SIMEON                           It is the recommendation of many that                           you ask to be removed from your post                           as Great Elector --                    Mortati raises an eyebrow, seeing where this is going.                                                   FR. SIMEON (cont'd)                            -- thereby making yourself eligible                           to wear the Ring of the Fisherman.                                                 85.                                        Mortati looks at him for a moment, then looks back, over his          shoulder, where a small knot of Cardinals, who have clearly          discussed this, are looking at him in confirmation.                                                   MORTATI                           If it is God's will, may His will be                           DONE                                                                                  CUT TO:                    INT     OFFICE OF THE SWISS GUARD       NIGHT                    CLOSE ON a handwritten page, half-filled with mathematical          computations; the other half with a scratchy handwritten prose.                    (IF WE'RE EAGLE-EYED, we'll notice the phrase we move past just as          we cut into the scene is "may His will be done," the same phrase          we just heard Mortati utter.)                    Commandante Rocher is at his desk, Vittoria's leather-bound          journals on the desk in front of him.    He's studying them          carefully, and seems troubled by what he reads.                    Through the glass walls of his office, we can see a commotion in          the still-chaotic Swiss Guard headquarters.    Someone is walking          toward us, briskly, a WOMAN'S VOICE complaining loudly in Italian.                    Rocher calmly places the journals on top of the screen of the          video monitor inlaid in his desk, the one we saw earlier, with a          keyhole where a power switch should be.                    He pushes a button and the monitor rotates shut, into an inlaid          panel in the desk's surface.    It closes just after --                                                   VITTORIA (O.S.)                           Those journals are private property.                    -- Vittoria arrives in the doorway, livid.                                                   VITTORIA (cont'd)                           I demand that you return them to me.                                                   ROCHER                                (no attempt at a                                 DENIAL)                           They are material evidence in a                           Vatican investigation.                                                   VITTORIA                           I am an Italian citizen and I have a                           right to-                                                 86.                                                                        ROCHER                           This isn't Italy.     It isn't even                           Rome.    The Vatican is its own                           country, with its own laws, and when                           those journals crossed our border they                           became our property.     You will get                           them back when I have decided they                           contain nothing of value to this                           investigation.                    She looks at him, then down at the desk, where the outline of the          hidden panel is visible in the veneer of the wood.                                                   VITTORIA                           Do you have something to hide,                           Commandante Rocher?                                                   ROCHER                           Do you, Doctor Vetra?                    He stresses her title, as if it offends                                                                                CUT TO:                    EXT     SANTA MARIA DELLA VITTORIA        NIGHT                    The burning church, now mostly extinguished.    But a LARGE CROWD          has gathered, along with a dozen police and fire vehicles.                    INT     SANTA MARIA DELLA VITTORIA        NIGHT                    As FIREMEN put out the last of the flames (not using water, but          Halon gas, which creates no steam), a metallic TAPPING sound comes          from somewhere.                    One of the Firemen approaches another, gets his attention   -- stop          what you're doing and listen.                    They shut down a hose and stop, listening.                    There it is again.    They SHOUT in Italian to the others, now          everybody shuts down their hoses and listens.                    The metallic TAPPING echoes in the smoldering church.                    They walk toward it -- it's coming from an oval plate in the          floor, like a manhole cover, heavy and carved.   We've seen one          of these before, it leads to a Demon's Hole.                    The TAPPING is louder now, rhythmic.    Somebody's down there.          Crowbars are produced, the cover of the Demon's Hole is pried off          and shoved aside, revealing --                                                  87.                                         -- Robert Langdon, wedged into the top of the opening, holding a          rock in one hand as he clings precariously to the walls he has          climbed.                    Strong hands reach down, haul him to his feet      --                    AT THE FRONT OF THE CHURCH,                     -- and those same feet hurry to the front of the smoldering          church, coming to a stop in front of --                    -- Bernini's Ecstasy of St. Teresa.                    The statue he came here to find.    Now, as the Italian-speaking          police and firemen work around him, Langdon moves, as if in his          own world.    He looks to the statue, repeating fragments of the          poem he has by now memorized:                                                   LANGDON                           Let angels guide you on your lofty                           quest...                    Directly over the recumbent saint, against a backdrop of gilded          flame, hovers Bernini's angel.    The angel's hand clutches a          pointed spear of fire.                                                   LANGDON (cont'd)                           Cross Rome the mystic elements                           unfold...                    Langdon's eyes follow the direction of the shaft, arcing toward          the right side of the church.                                                        VOICE (O.S.)                           Professor?                    A ROMAN POLICEMAN, a member of the Carbinieri, comes up to          Langdon, discussing him in Italian with TWO OTHER COPS as he          approaches.                                                   ROMAN COP                           Langdon, is it?                    Langdon ignores him, pointing at the wall instead.                                                   LANGDON                           What direction is that?                                                   ROMAN COP                           Direction?   West, I think.    Mr.                           Langdon, we've confirmed with the                           Vatican that they invited you into                           this investigation, but what I-                                                   88.                                                                             LANGDON                              Map.                    A MOMENT LATER,                    as if by command, a map CRINKLES out on the floor of the church.          It's detailed, a fire department map, and Langdon drops down on          all fours, studying it.                                                      LANGDON                              We're here... Piazza Barberini...                    Langdon whips a glance over at the angel, gets bearings, and          rotates the map to match.                    His finger travels over the map and      --                    CLOSE ON THE MAP,                    we watch as his finger crosses church after church after church,          tiny black boxes with crosses in them.    There must be two dozen.                                                         LANGDON                              Damn it.                    He sits back for a moment.                    The Roman Cop bends down next to him.          Treats him like a crazy          person.                                                      ROMAN COP                              Professor, I need to know what you saw                              here.                                                      LANGDON                              Fire and death.    Show me where Santa                              Maria del Popolo is.                                   (the Cop doesn't                                    UNDERSTAND)                              The Church, it was the first altar of                              science.                    The Cop points to a spot at the top center of the map.                                                      LANGDON      (cont'd)                              And St. Peter's is...                    The Cop points to a spot at the bottom center.                    Langdon's eyes widen, he grabs the Cop by the lapels       --                    -- and pulls a pen from the man's pocket.                                                 89.                                        He turns back to the map and draws a straight line, from north to          south, connecting the two churches the Cop just pointed to.                                                   LANGDON (cont'd)                           And we're over here --                    He puts the pen on a point on the eastern side of the map.                                                   LANGDON       (cont'd)                            -- and west is --                    He draws a line straight across the map, to the west, sucking in          his breath as he realizes something.                                                       LANGDON   (cont'd)                           'Cross Rome...                    Now he stands, slowly, and as he stands, we rise up, to get a          birds-eye view of the map on the floor.                    On which he has drawn a perfect cross.                                                   LANGDON (cont'd)                           It's a cross.    The poem meant it                           literally.    The four altars of                           science form a perfect cross.                    The Cop, who has no clue what he's talking about, gets a call on          his radio and turns away to take it.                                                   LANGDON (cont'd)                                (muttering to himself)                           Which means the fourth element, water,                           should be right about --                    He drops to his knees again, and traces the horizontal line to          where it stops on the western side of the city, exactly as far          from the center line as was the church on the eastern side.                                                       LANGDON   (cont'd)                           Here.                                                   ROMAN COP                                (behind him)                           Professor, I am asked to escort you to                           the Vatican immediately.    Commander                           Rocher has asked to see you.                                                   LANGDON                                (ignoring him)                           Water.                                                   90.                                        As Langdon peers down, we see the line on the map comes to a stop          in the center of a place called Piazza Navona, and as we go in          closer on the map, an odd-shaped object in the middle of the          Piazza starts to move, to ripple, right there on the map, and we          hear the sound of running water as it slowly dissolves to --                                                                             DISSOLVE TO:                                        EXT      PIAZZA NAVONA        NIGHT                     -- Bernini's spectacular Fountain of the Four Rivers in the          Piazza Navona.                    There is a black van parked beside the fountain, and we drift over          toward it.    Passing through the passenger window, we go inside          to find --                     -- Mr. Gray, facing the rear of the van, his jacket off and his          shirt open, engaged in battlefield surgery on his injured right          shoulder.    Using a long-handled tweezers, he digs into his own          flesh, gets a hold of the bullet that pierced him, and tosses it          onto the metal floor of the van with a TING.                    It lands beside a lumpy tarp, and as metal hits metal, the tarp          jumps.                    There's a human being in there.       Mr. Gray speaks to the lump.                                                   MR. GRAY                           Were it up to me, it would not be this                           way.    It is a sin to kill with pain.                                (SIGHS)                           But I am a sinner.                    We pan off him quickly and look out the driver's window, up at a          clock tower on the far side of the plaza.                    It's sixteen minutes to eleven.                                                                                  CUT TO:                    EXT     BURNING CHURCH        NIGHT                    Langdon hurries down the steps of the still-smoldering church,          followed closely by the Roman Cop and TWO OTHER COPS.                                                      ROMAN COP                           Professor!       The Vatican insists that-                                                    91.                                                                        LANGDON                                 (turning on him)                            The Vatican is about to see its fourth                            Cardinal murdered tonight.                    He realizes he spoke too loudly, and there is quite a crowd          assembled outside the smoking church.    Langdon lowers his voice          and presses in.                                                    LANGDON (cont'd)                            Now you can either do what they tell                            you and force me to go to the Vatican,                            where we can all mourn his death                            together, or you can show them how                            real cops act and take me to the                            Piazza Navona, where we might be able                            to stop it.                    The Cop looks at him, thinking, confers with another Cop in rapid          Italian.    Langdon checks his watch.                                                    LANGDON (cont'd)                            By all means, talk it over.    But in                            fourteen minutes he'll be dead.                                                                                CUT TO:                    EXT      ST.   PETER'S SQUARE         NIGHT                    St. Peter's Square is even more crowded than before.    Another          move down the row of international television reporters, but this          one's about twice as fast as the last one.    (Anybody not          speaking English is subtitled.)                                                    SOUTH AFRICAN REPORTER                             -- possibility of terrorism, as the                            church has now confirmed arson at one                            of its oldest and holiest churches                    Moving on, to an Asian Reporter:                                                    ASIAN REPORTER                            -- resulting in at least six confirmed                            deaths --                    To a Brazilian:                                                    BRAZILIAN REPORTER                             -- initial rumors that one of the                            dead was Cardinal Ebner of Frankfurt --                    To an American:                                                 92.                                                                       AMERICAN REPORTER                            -- been refuted by the Vatican, which                           has asked international media not to                           engage in, quote, "wild speculation"--                    And to a French Woman:                                                   FRENCH REPORTER                            -- as conclave goes on, with no sign                           of agreement on a new pope yet.                                                                               CUT TO:                                        INT     OFFICE OF THE POPE         NIGHT                    In the papal office, the Camerlengo sits, alone, in front of the          fireplace, staring into the flames, thinking.                    Behind him, a small knot of Swiss Guard debate their next move in          Italian.    He speaks softly to them, in Italian, subtitled.                                                   CAMERLENGO                           At 11:15, if the church is still in                           peril, give the order to evacuate the                           cardinals.    But with dignity, let                           them exit into St. Peter's Square,                           with their heads held high.    I don't                           want the last image of this church to                           be frightened old men sneaking out a                           back door.    If Cardinal Mortati                           protests, escort him bodily.    Do you                           understand?                    The Guardsmen are uncomfortable with that idea.                                                   SWISS GUARDSMAN                           If you think it is the right thing,                           Signore.                                                   CAMERLENGO                           I'm certain it's the wrong thing,                           and I will be removed from my post                           for it.    But I also know we have                           no choice.                    They just look at him.   You're the boss.                                                   CAMERLENGO   (cont'd)                           Please clear the room so that I may                           pray on the matter.                                                 93.                                        They get out.    He stares into the flames.                                                                                 CUT TO:                                        EXT      PIAZZA NAVONA      NIGHT                    Piazza Navona is lightly peopled on this soft summer night with so          much attention directed toward the Vatican.                    The hood of a car glides into view, nearly silent, on the far side          of the fountain.    Langdon and the two Roman Cops step out and          survey the area.                    Langdon looks to the fountain.    Its central core is twenty feet          tall, a rugged mountain of marble with caves and grottoes through          which water churns.    Atop it stands an obelisk that climbs          another forty feet.                                                   LANGDON                                (eyes searching)                           Let angels guide you...                    But there's no angel anywhere.      He turns to the first Roman Cop.                                                   LANGDON (cont'd)                           Isn't there an angel on this fountain?                                                       ROMAN COP                           Not anymore.                                                   LANGDON                           The marker's no good without an angel,                           pointing to the final-                                                   ROMAN COP                           Blame Mussolini.    He wanted it for                           his summer-                    But the Cop stops mid-sentence as he notices the black van parked          on the far side of the fountain.                    Silently, the Cops gesture to each other to go opposite ways          around the fountain, and to Langdon to stay where he is.                    Langdon, frustrated but no action hero, watches them as they          slowly encircle the van.                    AT THE DRIVER'S SIDE,                    the First Cop approaches the Driver's Window, sees Mr. Gray          sitting implacably behind the wheel.    He taps lightly with a          knuckle, his drawn gun at his side, just out of view.                                                     94.                                        Mr. Gray opens the window.                                                           MR. GRAY                             Si?                    The Roman Cop looks down, ever so briefly, at a small spreading          bloodstain on Mr. Gray's shirt.    When he looks back up --                    -- there is a silenced pistol pointing directly at him.                    PHOOM.                    He takes a bullet in the forehead, slumps forward against the          window, and --                    FROM A DISTANCE,                    we see his body pulled rapidly into the van through the driver's          window.    Whole thing took about three seconds.    DINERS at an          outdoor cafe don't even notice.                    FROM LANGDON'S POINT OF VIEW,                    on the other side of the fountain, the van rocks slightly, but he          can't see anything out of the ordinary.                    He turns, looks to the Second Cop, who is just now approaching          from the rear of the van.                    WITH THE SECOND COP,                    this one's got his gun in front of him, he's ready for anything.          We creep around the back of the van with him, and just as he comes          around to where he can see the driver's side --                     -- the barrel of the silencer presses into his forehead.   A          quick exchange in Italian:                                                           SECOND COP                             Per favore?                                                           MR. GRAY                             Non posso.                    PHOOM.                    Another bullet, another slumping Cop, and                    FROM LANGDON'S POINT OF VIEW,                    the van rocks again, but he can't see anything more detailed than          that.    All he knows is the two cops aren't coming out from the          other side of the van, something is going on --                                                  95.                                        -- and the bell in the clock tower starts to BONG.                    EVEN UNARMED,   LANGDON STARTS TO MOVE FORWARD,   JUST AS   --                    -- the sliding door on the fountain side of the van SLAMS open                     -- revealing the figure of the FOURTH CARDINAL, wrapped in chains          and with manacled hands and feet.    He thrashes against the iron          links, but the chains are too heavy.    One of the links bisects          his mouth like a horse's bit, stifling his cries for help.    Mr.          Gray hovers over him.                    Langdon GASPS   --                    -- and Mr. Gray shoves the bound figure roughly out of the van.                    The Cardinal rolls, falling into the fountain with an enormous          SPLASH.    His weighted body sinks immediately to the bottom.                    There is a moment, frozen in time, in which Langdon locks eyes          with Mr. Gray, still hunched in the back of the van as the clock          tower continues to BONG, the only sound we can hear.                    Langdon looks at him, then down at the body in the fountain, then          back up at Mr. Gray--                    -- who salutes him ---                    -- the van door SLAMS shut, and the van tears ass out of there.                    Langdon looks from its receding taillights to the idling police          car, its door hanging open, he could jump in and give chase, but          then his eyes go back to the fountain, where the drowning cardinal          must not have much time left, and it's really no decision at all.                    Langdon covers the distance to the fountain in two quick strides          and leaps in.                    IN THE FOUNTAIN,                    the water is waist deep and like ice.    Steady streams of bubbles          rise up from the bottom, churning it.                    Langdon reaches the body of the Cardinal, plunges in   --                    UNDERWATER,                    -- and struggles to get both arms underneath the drowning man.                    Through the watery haze, we can see the man's bare chest, branded          with the final ambigram:                                                   WATER.                                                 96.                                        Langdon struggles to lift him, but the weight is too much, he can          barely get him a few inches off the bottom of the fountain, much          less all the way to the surface.                    Langdon, running out of air, bursts to the surface and   -- ON THE          SURFACE,                    -- takes a deep breath, then plunges back   --                    UNDERWATER,                    -- but he still can't move the Cardinal.                    He makes eye contact with the dying man, who seems to be accepting          his fate, maybe even welcoming it.                    Langdon changes his grip, strains like hell, and actually gets him          a few inches higher this time, but nowhere close to the air          supply.                    But with the new position, his eyes fall on something behind the          cardinal -- a plastic tube, six inches across, streaming bubbles          into the fountain.                    He goes back   --                    ABOVE THE SURFACE                     -- takes another breathy and sees the fountain of bubbles rising          up to the surface just above the tube.    Air!                    Several PASSERS-BY notice the commotion in the fountain as Langdon          dives back under the water.                    UNDERWATER,                    Langdon drags the body of the Cardinal a few feet across the          bottom of the fountain and RIPS the tube free from its mooring,          pulling it to the Cardinal's mouth.                    He clamps it down over the man's lips, and the Cardinal sucks a          few greedy breaths from it.    Enough to keep him alive.                    Langdon takes the tube and draws a couple breaths of his own, then          digs his hands back underneath the Cardinal to lift him, but this          time --                    -- SIX MORE HANDS come in from all sides.                    Several Passers-by have jumped into the fountain to help, and as          they all strain together --                                                   97.                                        ON THE SURFACE,                     -- the Cardinal's bound body breaks the surface and he GULPS deep          lungfuls of air.                    He is saved.    Langdon sags against the side of the fountain,          exhausted and freezing, as the others pull the Cardinal's body to          safety.                    In the distance, SIRENS.                    Langdon, gathering himself, goes to the Cardinal, speaks in rapid          Spanish, subtitled.                                                    LANGDON                            Cardinale Guidera?                                                         CARDINAL GU                            Si...si...                                                    LANGDON                            The Church of Illumination.    It's                            where you were being held, isn't it?                    Guidera nods weakly as, around them, it seems like everybody          arrives at the fountain -- Carbinieri, Swiss Guard, Vatican          Police, paramedics -- car after car after car.                                                    LANGDON (cont'd)                                 (still to Guidera)                            Where is it?!                                                    CARDINAL GUIDERA                            Castel... Sant'Angelo...                                                                               CUT TO:                                        INT   OFFICE OF THE SWISS GUARD           NIGHT                    CLOSE ON a row of weapons in a cabinet in the Office of the Swiss          Commander Rocher selects a pistol and slips it into a harness.                    While his back is turned to the room, Lt. Chartrand, the young          Swiss Guardsman who escorted Langdon to the Archives, hurries up          behind him.                                                    CHARTRAND                            Langdon says Cardinal Guidera will be                            killed in Piazza Navona.    He's on                            his way there with two Carbinieri.                                                 98.                                                                       ROCHER                           Send everyone we can spare.                    He closes and locks the cabinet, heads for the door.     Alone.                                                       CHARTRAND                           You?                                                   ROCHER                           Staying here to continue the search                           for the explosive.                    He leaves.    Chartrand looks back at the weapons cabinet.     Sees          the space from which the pistol was taken.                                                                                 CUT TO:                    EXT     CASTEL SANT'ANGELO         NIGHT                    We fly over a bridge, flanked by a dozen angel statues standing          sentinel on either side, leading directly toward--                     -- the Castel Sant'Angelo, Castle of the Angels, its ancient          stone ramparts lit by floodlights.    Soaring swiftly up its          facade, we close in on a mammoth bronze angel standing atop the          citadel.                    It points the way, all right, its sword aimed directly downward,          at the castle itself, as if to say you've found it.                    DOWN ON THE GROUND,                    several Police Cars come to a stop in front of the castle at the          same time.                    Langdon climbs out the back of one just as Vittoria gets out of a          car driven by a SWISS GUARDSMAN.                    Langdon grabs her, thrilled to see her.                                                   LANGDON                           You're all right?                                                   VITTORIA                           I'm all right, what about you?!                                                   LANGDON                           Cold and wet but alive.       Where's                           Rocher?                                                   VITTORIA                           I don't know. He took the journals,                           he's hiding something.                                                 99.                                        More Cops arrive, and a SECURITY GUARD is pressed into service          behind them, opening the massive front doors to the Castle,                                                    LANGDON                            This is it.    The Church of                            Illumination is somewhere in the                            castle.                    Cops pour into the courtyard of the castle.       Langdon and          Vittoria follow.                                        EXT     CASTEL SANT'ANGELO - COURTYARD          NIGHT                    They dash around the outer bulwark of the Castle.       The courtyard          beneath them looks like a museum of ancient warfare     -- catapults,          stacks of marble cannonballs, fearful contraptions.                    As the Cops quickly and silently search every nook, Langdon and          Vittoria follow closely.                                                    LANGDON                            The Vatican used this place for                            centuries as a hideout, a prison for                            enemies of the church -- there are                            passages and catacombs everywhere. It                            makes sense, the Illuminati                            infiltrated the Church's own                            stronghold.    Bernini was chief                            architect here, he left clues                            everywhere, it's even surrounded by a                            pentagonal park!                    They reach the central core of the castle.                    Another angel statue, similar to the one atop the citadel, stands          in front of them, its sword held in the same position, pointing          downward at an angle.                    Langdon studies it, follows the line of the angel's sword       -- and          sees a gated drive that cuts across the courtyard itself.                                                       LANGDON   (cont'd)                            There.                    A MOMENT LATER,                    he and Vittoria are down in the courtyard, at the mouth of the          gated drive. The gate is open and leads to a tunnel, a gaping          entry in the central core.                                                  100.                                                                          LANGDON                              A traforo.    Commanders on horseback                              used them to ride directly into a                              castle from the outside.                    He gestures to the nearby Cops, who are already on it, and they          all head into the darkened tunnel.                    INT   TUNNEL       NIGHT                    Police flashlights switch on and their beams bounce crazily off          the walls of the tunnel.                    Footsteps CRUNCH as they all press in, Langdon and Vittoria          content to let men with guns lead the way.                    It gets darker as they descend, and then, by the echo of their          footfalls, they can tell they've entered --                    A LARGE CHAMBER.                    More lights are switched on, illuminating the space, which          terminates in three stone walls.                                                      LANGDON                              It's a dead end.                    But the Police attention is focused on the black van parked in the          center of the room.                    Roman Police snap into action, flashlight beams bounce everywhere,          guns point in every possible window of the van, SHOUTS for          whoever's inside to get the hell out now, now, now.                    The doors are flung open.                    The van is empty.                    Except for the two dead policemen from the Piazza Navona.                    The police frenzy reaches an even higher level, URGENT MESSAGES          passed along on radios, half the Cops turning and heading back out          of the tunnel.                                                      LANGDON   (cont'd)                              Where are they going?                    Vittoria listens to the orders being given in Italian.                                                      VITTORIA                              Back to search the outer castle.                                                   101.                                                                       LANGDON                           No... no, it has to be here!                    But there's no stopping the Cops, and the only two that remain are          posted outside the van, guarding their fallen colleagues.                                                   VITTORIA                           Robert, it's a dead end.                    Langdon walks forward, to the stone wall at the end of the tunnel,          and feels his way along it.                    It joins smoothly with the wall on the right side.                                                          VITTORIA   (cont'd)                           Robert...                    But he waves her off, this has to be it.    He feels all along the          wall toward the other corner, and as he looks down at the ground,          his eyes widen.                                                   LANGDON                           Bring a flashlight.                    Vittoria borrows a flashlight from one of the two remaining Cops,          who now get a CRACKLY MESSAGE on their walkie-talkies and race out          of the tunnel, toward the top, leaving Langdon and Vittoria alone          in the dead end.                    She brings the light to Langdon, who shines its beam down at the          floor.    There, in the corner, is a granite block.                                                   LANGDON (cont'd)                           None of the other blocks are granite.                           And they're all square.                    He bends down, looks closer.                                                   LANGDON (cont'd)                           This one's a pentagram.   It points --                    Sure enough, the block is carved in the shape of a pentagram, with          the tip pointing into the corner.                                                   LANGDON           (cont'd)                            -- at nothing.                    But as he shines the light, there's something off about the shadow          it casts in the corner of the room.    It creates an odd, dark          slit.                    Langdon crouches in the corner and slides his hand along the back          wall of the chamber.    When he reaches the point at which it          should intersect the side wall --                                                  102.                                        -- his hand disappears.                                                      LANGDON       (cont'd)                              The walls overlap.                    He flattens himself against the back wall, shining the light          straight at what should be the intersection of the walls.    Half          the flashlight's beam falls on the side wall, and the other half --                    INT     SECRET PASSAGE         NIGHT                    -- shines through into the secret passage behind the wall.                    Langdon draws in his breath and forces himself through the tiny          slit, just wide enough for a determined person to squeeze through.                    Vittoria follows.                    They look ahead, shining the light. They're in an extremely narrow          passageway.                    They start carefully down it, flashlight in front of them.   They          whisper.                                                      LANGDON                              Do you still have the gun?                                                      VITTORIA                              You told me to give it back.                    She pulls the gun from her waistband.                                                         VITTORIA   (cont'd)                              I ignored you.                                                      LANGDON                              Ignore me any time you like.                    To their right, they pass half a dozen tiny jail cells, the iron          bars on most eroded away.    Several of the larger cells are          intact, and on the floor of one they see black robes and red          sashes.                    They approach an iron doorway in the wall. The door is ajar and          beyond it there is some sort of passage. Langdon squints at two          words above it -- II Passetto.                    Vittoria gestures    -- that way?                    Langdon shakes his head no.                                                 103.                                                                       LANGDON (cont'd)                                (WHISPERS)                           Leads to the Vatican.    Or from it.                           An ancient escape route.                    They round a corner, where the tunnel takes a ninety degree turn          to the right.    At the corner, Langdon notices another          pentagrammal block in the floor.                    He bends, studies the direction it's pointing,         feels the wall    --                                                   LANGDON         (cont'd)                           Another overlap.                     -- and finds another overlapping angle, this one even smaller          than the last.    The wall is actually joined at the floor, seems          to open out at the middle (in roughly the shape of a human form          turned sideways), and joins again at the top.                    HE TAKES A DEEP BREATH,   SLIPS THROUGH THE GAP        --                    -- and finds himself at the base of a set of steep spiral stairs.                    Langdon looks up, to the top of the stairs.            There is an          archway, adorned with a tiny carved angel.                    Vittoria slips through the gap, sees the carving too.                                                        VITTORIA                           An angel.                    Langdon, sensing they're close, starts up the stairs.                                                                                         CUT TO:                    INT      APOSTOLIC PALACE - HALLWAY            NIGHT                    Commander Rocher, eyes dead-set, walks down a hallway in the          Apostolic Palace.    He passes two Swiss Guardsmen with radios.                                                   ROCHER                           Get on the radio and put the word out.                           Conclave is to remain sealed.                                                   SWISS GUARDSMAN                           But the Camerlengo gave the order for                           evacuation at eleven fif-                                                   ROCHER                           I'm countermanding it.                                                        SWISS GUARDSMAN                           BUT-                                                   104.                                                                        ROCHER                            That door stays SHUT! Do you                            understand?                                                          SWISS GUARDSMAN                            Yes sir.                    Rocher keeps walking.                                                                                 CUT TO:                    INT   CHURCH OF ILLUMINATION    NIGHT                    Langdon and Vittoria creep into the Church of Illumination, and we          get our first good look at it.                    The embellishments, though faded, are replete with familiar          symbology.    Pentagram tiles.    Planet frescoes.    Pyramids.                                                    VITTORIA                            We have thirty minutes left, I can                            still change the battery if we can                            find the cannister.                    Langdon nods, but he's fascinated by the place.                    In the center of the room, there is an open fireplace, its embers          still smoking.    The four Illuminati brands, their faces wiped          clean, have been placed back in a molded velvet case.                    Langdon, fascinated, spots an empty slot in the very center of the          case, surrounded by the four used brands.                    But this one's missing.                    Vittoria arrives over his shoulder, having completed a quick          search of the place.                                                          VITTORIA   (cont'd)                            It isn't here.                                                    LANGDON                            There's a fifth brand.                                                          VITTORIA                            What?                    He touches the indentation in the velvet, puzzling it out.                                                    LANGDON                            Two crossed keys.                                                105.                                                                       VITTORIA                           The symbol for the Vatican?                                                   LANGDON                           The papacy.                                (THINKING)                           They're going to kill him.    Before                           they blow up the Vatican they're going                           to kill and brand the pope himself.                                                   VITTORIA                           But there is no pope.                                                   LANGDON                           Technically, there is.                                                   VITTORIA                           The Camerlengo?!    We have to-                                                   MR. GRAY (O.S.)                           Please place your gun on the floor.                    They freeze. Vittoria looks at Langdon, who nods     -- you'd better          do it.    She does.                                                   MR. GRAY       (cont'd)                           Now turn around.                    They turn and face Mr. Gray.    He looks quite dapper, and not too          much the worse for wear.    There is a briefcase on the ground          beside him, and he's changed into a fresh shirt.                                                       MR. GRAY   (cont'd)                           Kick it to me.                    She does.    He picks it up, ejects the clip and the round in the          chamber, pockets them, and tosses the gun into the smoldering          fire.                                                   LANGDON                           You could have been long gone by                           now.                                                   MR. GRAY                           Some do God's work for love, others                           for money.    Which do you take me                           for?                    As if to answer his own question, he picks up the briefcase from          the floor beside him.    Then studies Langdon for a moment.                                                 106.                                                                        MR. GRAY                            You're not one of them.                                                    LANGDON                            Neither are you. I was expecting a                            fanatic.                                                    MR. GRAY                            When they call me -- and they all                            call me -- it is so important to                            them that I know what they ask is                            the Lord's will.    Or Allah's, or                            Yahweh's.    And I suppose they're                            right.    Because if He were not                            vengeful, I would not exist, would                            I?                    He picks up his briefcase.                                                        MR. GRAY (cont'd)                            Be careful.        These are men of God.                    He turns to go.    Langdon can't help himself:                                                    LANGDON                            Why didn't you kill us when you had                            the chancer                    Vittoria looks at Langdon like he's nuts.        Mr. Gray turns back,          seems puzzled by the very thought.                                                    MR. GRAY                            Because no one asked me to.                    He leaves.                    Langdon and Vittoria pause for a moment, look at each other     --                                                    LANGDON                            We've got to get to the Vatican.                                                                                   CUT TO:                    INT     PAPAL OFFICES - HALLWAY          NIGHT                    Rocher reaches the office of the Pope. Two uniformed Swiss Guard          are stationed outside.                    Another Swiss Guardsman steps out of the office, reporting back          from within.                                                   107.                                                                       SWISS GUARDSMAN                           The Camerlengo says he will grant you                           an audience.                                                   ROCHER                           I'd like to see him alone.                    The Swiss Guards look at each other.                                                   SWISS GUARDSMAN                           That's impossible, sir.    No one-                                                   ROCHER                           Have you forgotten who you work for?!                    Rocher is truly intimidating when he wants to be.                                                          SWISS GUARDSMAN                           No,   sir.                    He nods to the other Guards, who raise their swords, allowing          access.                                                                                  CUT TO:                    INT     SECRET PASSAGE         NIGHT                    Vittoria and Langdon barrel down the stone stairs, into the          passage, and through the open doorway to Il Passetto.                    INT     IL PASSETTO      NIGHT                    The passetto is narrow and dark, lit only by streaks of moonlight          coming through the vertical slits in the walls.                    But up ahead, there's light.      They race for it.                                                                                  CUT TO:                    INT     OFFICE OF THE POPE            NIGHT                    The Camerlengo kneels in prayer in front of the fire. He hears a          sound behind him and turns as the door to the papal office opens.                    Rocher enters, closes and locks the door behind him.                                                   CAMERLENGO                           Have you come to make me a martyr?                                                                                  CUT TO:                                                  108.                                        INT/EXT       IL PASSETTO       NIGHT                    Vittoria and Langdon race up a flight of stairs, and the passetto          comes out into the open for a hundred yards or so as it leaves the          Castel Sant'Angelo.                    Ahead, they see a rope ladder over the side.        They look down.                    Directly below them, Mr. Gray is getting into an Alfa Romeo parked          discretely at the end of a dead end street, making his escape.                    DOWN ON THE STREET,                    the car door SLAMS.                    IN THE CAR,                    Mr. Gray turns the key.                    UP ON THE PASSETTO,                    Langdon and Vittoria are running toward the Vatican again when the          EXPLOSION rips through the still night.                    They stagger and turn back, in time to see Mr. Gray's car go up in          an enormous fireball.                                                         VITTORIA                            Men of God.                    Langdon grabs her arm and they take off.        The Passetto descends          again, into --                    INT       IL PASSETTO       NIGHT                     -- another underground space.        The outline of a steel gate          looms ahead, blocking their way.                    But as they draw closer, they find the ancient lock hanging open,          and the gate swings freely.    This tunnel has been used, and          recently.                    FURTHER AHEAD,                    they plow onward, and now there is a low ROARING sound from above          them.    Langdon pauses, looks up.                                                    LANGDON                            We're under St. Peter's Square.                    They keep on.                                                                                   CUT TO:                                                109.                                        INT      PAPAL OFFICES - HALLWAY      NIGHT                    In the hallway outside the Pope's office, there are raised VOICES          from behind the closed door.    Lt. Chartrand approaches          nervously.                    He and the Guards look at each other, don't know what to do. From          the other direction, Father Simeon, Cardinal Mortati's Aide,          strides toward them.                                                    FR. SIMEON                            I demand to speak to the Camerlengo.                    AN ANGRY SHOUT from behind the door draws their attention --what          the hell is going on in there?                                                                                   CUT TO:                    INT      IL PASSETTO      NIGHT                    Langdon and Vittoria hit another gate, this one heavier, but it          too is unlocked.    The sound of St. Peter's Square fades behind          them now.                    UP AHEAD,                    they turn a corner and, without warning --- the tunnel ends.                    There is only a thick iron door, and as Langdon searches it with          his flashlight, he finds no handle, no knob, no keyhole, no          hinges.                                                    LANGDON                            Senza chiave!    A one-way portal, the                            only access is from the other side!                    With a ROAR of anger, he starts to POUND on the door.      Vittoria          joins in.                    INT      OFFICES OF THE POPE - HALLWAY        NIGHT                    CLOSE ON a watch -- 11:40.     Outside the door to the Pope's          office, Lt. Chartrand is desperate.                    While Father Simeon attempts to argue with him in Italian,          Chartrand turns, hearing the POUNDING coming from down the hall.                    He heads toward it, rounds a corner   --                    INT      POPE'S PRIVATE LIBRARY       NIGHT                     -- and steps into the Pope's private library, where the POUNDING          is louder.                                                110.                                        He steps to a heavy door in the wall, looks unused for a century,          but it's clearly the source of the sounds.    He looks down, sees          three keyholes in the door, and an ancient key in each of them.                    Chartrand puts his ear to the door, hears VOICES    --                    INT     IL PASSETTO      NIGHT                     -- and, on the other side, Langdon and Vittoria squint at the          light as the heavy door is hauled open before them.                    Chartrand looks at them in amazement    -- how'd you get here?                                                   LANGDON                           The Camerlengo is in danger!                    INT     PAPAL OFFICES - HALLWAY         NIGHT                    Chartrand, Langdon, and Vittoria round the corner and race down          the hallway toward the Pope's office, just as --                     -- a BLOODCURDLING SCREAM comes from behind the closed doors. The          Swiss Guard move fast, throwing open the door.                    INT      POPE'S OFFICE      NIGHT                    Langdon and the others race into the pope's office and find a          truly bizarre scene.                    Rocher is near the fireplace, brandishing his sidearm, aimed at          the Camerlengo, who lays on the floor, writhing in agony.                    His cassock is torn open, and his bare chest is seared black.     A          large, square brand is on the floor at Rocher's feet.                    Two of the Swiss Guard act without hesitation    -- they open fire.                    Two bullets SLAM into Rocher's chest and he crumples.                    Father Simeon bursts into the room, and as he does the Camerlengo          rolls over onto one side, points his index finger at Simeon, and          cries out a single word:                                                       CAMERLENGO                           ILLUMINATUS!                                                       FR. SIMEON                           You bastard!        You sanctimonious-                    He rushes at the Camerlengo and Chartrand reacts on instinct,          putting three bullets in Father Simeon's back.                                                   111.                                        He falls to the floor, dead.                    Chartrand and the Guards dash to the Camerlengo, who clutches his          chest, convulsing in pain.                    Langdon walks toward him, stunned, as the Guards pull the          Camerlengo's hands away from his wound, revealing the fifth brand.                    The crossed keys, seared into the flesh of his chest.                    Langdon looks at Rocher in utter disbelief. Rocher's still alive,          trying to say something, holding out a hand.                    Everyone else in the room is focused on the Camerlengo, so Langdon          bends down, takes the dying man's hand.                    Rocher looks up at him, desperation in his eyes, trying to          communicate something but too weak to say more than:                                                          ROCHER                           For safety.                    And his eyes close.                    Langdon withdraws his hand from Rocher's, and finds the dying man          has pressed something into his palm.                    A key.                    Langdon looks at it, and it gives him a thought. He turns, looks          at the Camerlengo, whose chest is exposed.                    The crossed keys are indeed branded there      -- but they're upside          down.                    Langdon slips the key in his pocket and approaches the Camerlengo          as Chartrand gets to his feet, on his radio.                                                   CHARTRAND                           I need a Medevac to St. Peter's                           Square, right now!                    The Camerlengo struggles to a sitting position.                                                   CAMERLENGO                           Order the evacuation.    We only have                           nineteen minutes.                                                   LANGDON                                (POINTING)                           The keys.    They're upside down.                                                  112.                                                                       VITTORIA                           You think it's a sign?                                                   LANGDON                           Everything has been a sign, why should                           this be any different?                    He looks at Rocher, dead on the floor.        Back at the branded          keys.                                                   LANGDON (cont'd)                           Crossed keys -- the symbol for the                           papacy, upside-down.                                                         CAMERLENGO                           St. Peter.                                                   LANGDON                                (YES)                           The first pope, he was crucified                           upside-down, on Vatican Hill.    Right                           beneath where we're standing.                                                   CAMERLENGO                           "Upon this rock I will build my                           church."...                                                   LANGDON                           Or bring it down upon itself.                    He looks back at Rocher, and at Father Simeon, dead on the floor.                                                   LANGDON (cont'd)                           They were conservatives, the former                           Pope was becoming more and more                           liberal.    Maybe they loved their                           church so much they were willing to                           destroy it.                                                   CAMERLENGO                                (thinking, repeats)                           Upon this rock I will build my church.                                                   LANGDON                           St. Peter's tomb is the very core of                           Christendom.                                                   CAMERLENGO                           The bomb is in St. Peter's tomb!                                                   LANGDON                                (almost admiring it)                           The ultimate infiltration.                                                     113.                                                                          VITTORIA                              I can still change the battery if we                              hurry!                                                                                 CUT TO:                    EXT      ST.   PETER'S SQUARE           NIGHT                    The square is more crowded than ever, and now the helicopter.          Chartrand called SWOOPS in low overhead as Vatican Police          frantically try to clear a landing area.                                                                                 CUT TO:                    INT      ST.   PETER'S BASILICA          NIGHT                    Langdon, Vittoria, the Camerlengo, and two Swiss Guard are          hurrying across the deserted floor of St. Peter's Basilica when          the lights go out.                                                      CHARTRAND                              The grid is still cycling -- the power                              to this section must be down.                    They race down the center aisle, to the candlelit balustrade which          surrounds the winding staircase into the grottoes.                                                        CAMERLENGO                              Oil lamps.      Grab one!                    They do, and run down the center stair.                    On the staircase,                    the ninety-nine burning oil lamps throw exaggerated shadows on          stone walls.                                                      VITTORIA                              What's down here?                                                      LANGDON                              The Necropolis.    City of the dead.                    Oh.                    The Camerlengo drops to his knees and opens an iron grate in the          marble floor.                                                                                 CUT TO:                                                 114.                                        INT     THE NECROPOLIS        NIGHT                    Vittoria, Langdon, the Camerlengo, and Chartrand drop down through          an open hole and into an underground city of ancient, winding          streets.    Part museum, part ruin, they run past ancient          structures, some hundreds, some thousands of years old.                    The rectangular tombs are similar to little houses, complete with          doorways, thresholds, windows, and terraces.                    AROUND A CORNER,                    the Camerlengo seems to know exactly where he's going; he leads          them down a narrow stone passageway.                    AROUND ANOTHER CORNER,                    they hurry up a small hill.    At the top of the grade, there is a          stone grotto, toward which the Camerlengo is racing.                    He reaches the grotto, searches, but finds nothing.                    Langdon and Vittoria come to a stop behind him, breathing hard.                                                     CAMERLENGO                             It must be here!    It must be!                    He rips aside some protective tarps, finds that underneath the          actual burial site is an underground area, part of a dig in          progress.                    He climbs down into it, we see just the top of his head as   --                    -- a soft glow seems to emanate from beneath him.                    The Camerlengo's head is wreathed in light for a moment, and then,          as he climbs out, we see that he's holding in his hands --                    -- the glowing canister of anti-matter.                    ON THE GROUND NEARBY,                    Vittoria drops to her knees, a tiny silver pellet in one hand, two          wires leading from opposite ends of it.                                                     VITTORIA                             Set it down flat.                    The Camerlengo does.     Langdon bends close.   Vittoria checks          the timer.                                                     VITTORIA (cont'd)                             We still have seven minutes.   Good.                                                    115.                                        She leans down, reaching for the canister's baseplate.                    As she does, a drop of sweat rolls to the tip of her nose She          freezes.                    Wipes the sweat away, thinking about it                                                    VITTORIA (cont'd)                            It's hot down here.   Isn't it?                                                           LANGDON                            What's wrong?                                                    VITTORIA                            Heat decreases battery life.      We may                            have less than five minutes.                                                           CAMERLENGO                            So?                                                    VITTORIA                            If I pull the power with less than                            five minutes, the residual charge                            won't hold suspension. We should leave                            it and get clear if we can. At least                            if it goes off down here the damage                            will be-                                                           CAMERLENGO                            NO.                    And with that, he snatches up the canister and takes off running,          back the way they came.                                                           VITTORIA                            Wait!                                                    LANGDON                            Father, please!                    But he's already gone, around a darkened corner.                    EXT      ST.   PETER'S SQUARE           NIGHT                    In St. Peter's Square, the helicopter that was brought in for the          Camerlengo waits, propellers spinning.                    The Crowd seems even bigger now, and a REPORTER tells us why:                                                    REPORTER                             -- in St. Peter's Square where,                            despite a bomb threat and order of                            evacuation, the crowd is actually                            growing in size as we await --                                                    116.                                        INT      ST.   PETER'S BASILICA           NIGHT                    The Camerlengo emerges from the spiral staircase, accidentally          kicks over one of the oil lamps, spilling its burning oil on the          floor of the Basilica.                    He ignores it, racing for the front doors.                    INT     THE NECROPOLIS          NIGHT                    Langdon and Vittoria come around a corner in the Necropolis,          having taken slightly longer to find their way.                    Langdon spots the circular entry by which they first came in.                                                           LANGDON                            There it is!                    They race toward it and climb up.                                        INT      ST.   PETER'S BASILICA           NIGHT                    They hurry across the floor of St. Peter's Basilica and burst out          the huge doors that open onto St. Peter's Square, just as --                    EXT      ST.   PETER'S SQUARE           NIGHT                    -- the helicopter lifts off.                    The Crowd watches in amazement, and the PILOT stands in the          square, talking animatedly to two Swiss Guard, gesturing toward          the helicopter.    But if he's not flying it...                    Langdon looks up at the helicopter as it climbs, straight upward.                                                           LANGDON                            Oh my God...                    INT     HELICOPTER       NIGHT                    The Camerlengo is indeed at the controls of the helicopter,          piloting it upwards and away from the crowd below.    The canister          is beside him on the passenger seat.                    EXT      ST.   PETER'S SQUARE           NIGHT                    The crowd falls silent, all eyes turning upward, watching the          helicopter recede into the clouds.                                                    117.                                        INT     HELICOPTER       NIGHT                    The canister BEEPS on the seat beside the Camerlengo -- still a          few minutes left on its timer, but the urgently flashing red power          light can't be considered a good sign.                    The Camerlengo looks at it.                    Crosses himself.                    Raises the crucifix from around his neck and brushes it against          his lips.                    EXT      ST.   PETER'S SQUARE          NIGHT                    All eyes are upturned, all voices have fallen still, watching as          the helicopter's anti-collision lights disappear into the clouded          night sky.                    EXT     IN THE SKY       NIGHT                    High above the square, the helicopter still climbs, rotating in          circles.                    INT     HELICOPTER       NIGHT                    CLOSE ON the canister as the red light flashes even faster, and a          shrill BEEPING fills the cockpit.                    EXT      ST.   PETER'S SQUARE          NIGHT                    In the crowd, faces turn, PEOPLE point.        There's something in          the sky above them.                    Langdon and Vittoria see it too -- a faint white speck, far up in          the sky.    This is the explosion?                    EXT     IN THE SKY       NIGHT                    No, the faint white speck is a billowing parachute    -- and the                    Camerlengo dangles at the end of it.                    ABOVE HIM,                    the helicopter continues to climb, far up into the night.                    INT     HELICOPTER       NIGHT                    And in the canister, the BEEPING sound becomes continuous and the          light winks out altogether.                                                    118.                                        The shimmering bead of anti-matter falls out of suspension and          drops, slowly, toward the bottom of the canister, it barely          touches the surface --                    EXT     IN THE SKY         NIGHT                     -- and the helicopter explodes in a blinding pinpoint of white          light.                    EXT      ST.   PETER'S SQUARE          NIGHT                    Up in the sky over St. Peter's Square, the pinpoint of light is          tiny at first, then it shoots out to either side in a searing          white line, then the white line balloons out on either side,          expanding into a gigantic ball of hot white light.                    And then the sound hits.                    THIS is the explosion, and it is so much more ferocious than we          could have imagined.                    The entire image is bleached white, with only the faint outlines          of people visible within it.                    And then concussive force of the blast hits, like heat waves,          rippling everything in its way.    SCREAMING and panic.                    EXT     IN THE SKY         NIGHT                    The Camerlengo, clinging to the parachute, is buffeted wildly,          spun over and over, tangling him in his cords, which makes him          fall faster.                    EXT      ST.   PETER'S SQUARE          NIGHT                    The second wave of the blast comes, and this one's ten times as          powerful as the first.                    Everything standing is flattened -- PEOPLE, camera trucks, the          fountain in the middle of the square collapses in a shower of          marble and water.                    INT      ST.   PETER'S BASILICA         NIGHT                    Ceiling tiles fall and SMASH on the floor inside St. Peter's,          statues topple.                    EXT     IN THE SKY         NIGHT                    The Camerlengo falls, unconscious now, tumbling over and over,          dropping too fast. He SLAMS off an angled rooftop, headed for the          ground.                                                     119.                                        EXT       ST.   PETER'S SQUARE           NIGHT                    In the square, Langdon and Vittoria dodge falling debris.          Vittoria loses her footing as a chunk of plaster CRUNCHES off a          building, plummeting toward her.                    Langdon pulls her to safety as the plaster PULVERIZES itself in          the square.                    EXT      IN THE SKY       NIGHT                    The Camerlengo CRUNCHES off the side of another building and          drifts downward, fast, toward the crowd in St. Peter's.                    His unconscious form SMASHES through a dozen people before SLAMMING          to the ground at one edge of the square.                    AND IN THE SKY ABOVE,                    the blast suddenly turns inward on itself, the heat and light and          sound all seeming to suck back up into a perfect horizontal line,          which then collapses in from the sides, until once again it is          just a speck of white hot light --                     -- that disappears into the night.                    EXT      ST.    PETER'S SQUARE          NIGHT                    The only sound that remains in the square is a soft night wind.                    The wounded pick themselves up off the ground.                    The crowd, realizing the blast is over, turns its attention to the          body of the Camerlengo, on the far side of the square.                    Langdon and Vittoria try to make their way toward him, but the          crowd surges past them, and we soar over the heads of the crowd,          wanting to get there first, wanting to be the first ones to see                    --- his eyes open. He's alive.                    WIDE ON THE SQUARE AS                    a great CHEER rises up from the crowd.                                                                               CUT TO:                    INT      SISTINE CHAPEL          NIGHT                    The CHEERS from outside are clearly audible in the Sistine Chapel,          where the doors have been thrown open and they have gotten the          news.    Jubilation reigns.                    A SWISS GUARDSMAN runs in, finds Cardinal Mortati.                                                    120.                                                                        SWISS GUARDSMAN                            Signore Mortati, he is alive!              The                            Camerlengo is alive!                                                           MORTATI                            Praise God.                    But he looks around him -- the Cardinals have split into small          groups, they're discussing something with great animation amongst          themselves.                    Mortati watches, doesn't like what he's seeing.                                                                                           CUT TO:                    INT     OFFICE OF THE SWISS GUARD                NIGHT                    Langdon and Vittoria, on a bench in the office of the Swiss Guard,          are having superficial wounds treated.    The buzz in the office is          intense, just as excited as in the square and the Sistine Chapel.                    Langdon looks over at Vittoria.                                                           LANGDON                            Are you okay?                    She looks back at him, nods. Smiles. He reaches over, interlaces          his fingers with hers, and takes her hand.                                                           LANGDON    (cont'd)                            Thank God.                    She smiles, turns his hand, noticing the glass on his wristwatch          is broken.    He notices, seems distressed.                                                    VITTORIA                            Do we have time for that story now?                                                    LANGDON                            Do I have someone to tell it to?                    She smiles and kisses the back of his hand          -- yes.        A ROAR          comes from outside and we see --                    EXT      ST.   PETER'S SQUARE           NIGHT                     -- the crowd in St. Peter's Square, in rapture. There is SINGING,          there's CHANTING of the Camerlengo's name.    It's exactly          midnight.                                                121.                                        INT     SISTINE CHAPEL       NIGHT                    In the Sistine Chapel, Cardinal Mortati is in hushed, urgent          conversation with a group of seven or eight Cardinals.                                                   MORTATI                           Signores... you are no doubt aware                           that by Holy Law the man is ineligible                           for election to the papacy.    He is                           not a cardinal, he is a priest, a                           chamberlain.    And there is the                           matter of his inadequate age.    I'm                           sorry, the protocols of conclave are                           not subject to modification.    I will                           not call a ballot on this matter.                    The African Cardinal who cast his vote earlier speaks up.                                                   AFRICAN CARDINAL                           But Signore, you would not call the                           ballot.    Surely you remember -- you                           gave up your post as Great Elector.                    Mortati looks at him.    Boxed into a corner.                    Outside, the crowd in St. Peter's can be heard, singing joyously.                    A SECOND CARDINAL steps forward.                                                   SECOND CARDINAL                           They are singing in St. Peter's                           Square!   What happened here tonight                           transcends our laws!                                                   MORTATI                           Does it?    Is it God's will that we                           abandon reason and give ourselves over                           to frenzy?   Discard the rules of the                           church?                    A THIRD CARDINAL now, a peacemaker:                                                   THIRD CARDINAL                           Perhaps they need not be discarded.                    They all look at him.                                                   THIRD CARDINAL   (cont'd)                           I am thinking now of Romano Pontifici                           Eligendo, Numero 63.                    Most of the Cardinals look puzzled -- but Mortati's face darkens.                                                122.                                                                       THIRD CARDINAL (cont'd)                           Balloting is not the only method by                           which a Pope can be elected.    There                           is another, more divine method.                                                   MORTATI                           "Acclimation by Adoration."                                                       THIRD CARDINAL                           Si, signore!                    The Second Cardinal sparks to this idea.                                                   SECOND CARDINAL                           Of course!                                (answering those around                                 him who look confused)                           Election by Adoration occurs when                           all the cardinals, as if by                           inspiration of the Holy Spirit,                           freely and spontaneously,                           unanimously and aloud, proclaim one                           individual's name.                                                   THIRD CARDINAL                           And the law states that Adoration                           supersedes all other eligibility                           requirements.    The candidate need                           only be an ordained member of the                           clergy.                                (DRAMATICALLY)                           BUT!                                (they listen)                           He must be present in the Sistine                           Chapel at the moment of election.                    Many cries now of "Bring the Camerlengo to us!"                    Mortati looks deeply troubled.                                                                               CUT TO:                                        INT     ROCHER'S OFFICE      NIGHT                    Bandaged now, Langdon and Vittoria are ushered into Rocher's          office by a Swiss Guardsman.                                                   SWISS GUARDSMAN                           Please wait here while we arrange your                           transportation.    May I get you                           anything?                                                  123.                                        They shake their heads, no thanks.        Settle into chairs to the          side of Rocher's desk.                    They look uncomfortable   -- it's weird to be in a dead man's          office.                    Vittoria looks at his desk.     Thinks of something.                    She gets up and goes to it, running her hand lightly over it.                                                   LANGDON                           What are you doing?                                                   VITTORIA                           Leonardo's journals.          I want them                           back.                    She feels in the surface of the desk and finds the square outline          of the inlaid panel where Rocher hid the journals.    She tries          prying it open, but that doesn't work, she tries pushing down on          the front of it --                     -- and the panel slowly rotates open.    The journals, which were          laid on top of the television monitor, slide out and onto the          desk.                    Vittoria scoops them up and is about to close the panel again          when --                                                         LANGDON                           Wait a minute.                    He looks down at the monitor.        Thinking.                    At its odd, key-shaped on/off switch.                    He pulls something from his pocket      -- the key Rocher gave him,          just as he died.                    IN LANGDON'S MIND,                    he sees Rocher's face, looking up at him, dying:                                                         ROCHER                           For safety.                    BACK IN THE OFFICE,                    Langdon looks at the key, and its odd shape.    Looks down at the          monitor, the same odd shape where its switch should be.                                                 124.                                        IN LANGDON'S MIND,                    they're back in the Pope's office, but Rocher is alive, and saying          words he said earlier:                                                    ROCHER                            The Holy Father was subject to                            seizures... but he took steps.                    BACK IN THE OFFICE,                    Rocher's voice continues over, but Langdon mouths the words as he          remembers them:                                                    ROCHER'S VOICE (O.S.)                            "MADE SURE HE WAS WATCHED."                    IN LANGDON'S MIND,                    Rocher is back in the office again, finishing his sentence:                                                        ROCHER                            For safety.                    IN ROCHER'S OFFICE,                    Langdon holds the key up, repeating those last words:                                                        LANGDON                            For safety.                    He lowers the key to the monitor, extending it toward the keyhole                    -- and it's a perfect fit.      He twists it.                    And with a ZZZZT of power, the monitor winks to life.   An image          comes into focus.                                                        VITTORIA                            Where's that?                                                    LANGDON                            That...is the papal office.                    On the monitor,                    they are indeed looking at an image of the Pope's office.    There          are two dead bodies on the floor, covered with sheets, and VATICAN          POLICE are photographing everything.    Must be live.                    IN ROCHER'S OFFICE,                    Langdon's figuring it out.                                                125.                                                                        LANGDON                            The Pope spent a lot of time in                            contemplation, alone.    If he was                            worried about seizures, he must have                            asked Rocher to install a camera                            without telling anyone.    To keep an                            eye on him.    For safety.    And                            maybe --                    He reaches down to the screen, toward a touch panel at the bottom.                    You don't have to be a symbologist to understand these symbols-          play, pause, fast forward.                    And rewind.   Langdon touches it.                    ON THE MONITOR,                    the image ZIPS backwards, rapidly, to the shooting, and the all          the way back to when Rocher and the Camerlengo were alone          together. Rocher stands just behind him, the Camerlengo still          kneels before the fireplace.                    As the image starts to play forward, in real time, we go in close          on the monitor and come out --                    INT     POPE'S OFFICE       NIGHT                    -- in the papal office, to watch the scene in person.                                                    CAMERLENGO                            The scientist kept journals?      So?                                                    ROCHER                            You figure prominently in them.                    The Camerlengo turns his eyes back to the flames, stirring the          embers with a poker.                                                       CAMERLENGO                            Really.                                                    ROCHER                            Leonardo wasn't just a physicist, he                            was a Catholic priest.    Deeply                            conflicted about the implications of                            his work and in need of spiritual                            guidance.    About a month ago, he                            requested an audience with the Pope.                            But you'd know that, because you                            granted the audience, and were present                            during it.                    The Camerlengo twists the poker in the fire.     Speaks softly.                                                126.                                                                       CAMERLENGO                           The fool thought he had duplicated the                           moment of creation.                                                   ROCHER                           And the Holy Father urged him to go                           public.    His Holiness thought the                           discovery might actually prove the                           existence of a divine power -- begin                           to bridge the gap between religion and                           science.                                                   CAMERLENGO                           Science.    The new God.    Ignore the                           weapons and chaos and madness.                    The Camerlengo looks up at him, and his expression is different          than we've ever seen it.    Contemptuous.    Angry.    Violent.                                                   CAMERLENGO (cont'd)                           His work was not religious, it was                           sacrilegious!                                                   ROCHER                           But you saw the Pope's position as a                           softening of church law.    An old                           man's weakness.    Your father's                           weakness.                                                   CAMERLENGO                           He raised me to protect the church.                           Even from within.                                                   ROCHER                           So you brought an old enemy back from                           the dead to frighten people.                                                   CAMERLENGO                           Nothing unites hearts like the                           presence of evil.                                                   ROCHER                           It didn't work, Father.                                                   CAMERLENGO                           It isn't finished.                                                   ROCHER                           I've informed Father Simeon of what I                           learned and he'll get word to the                           Cardinals the moment conclave opens.                    The Camerlengo looks at him calmly for a moment   --                                                127.                                                                        CAMERLENGO                            I was planning on doing this alone.                     -- and then removes the poker from the fire. But it isn't a          poker, it's a long-handled brand, with a cross of some kind at the          end.                    Rocher pulls his gun, holds it at his side.                                                       ROCHER                            Put that down.                    The Camerlengo rips open his cassock with his free hand.                                                    CAMERLENGO                            But perhaps it's better that you're                            here.                                                    ROCHER                                 (raising the gun)                            Put it down!                    But the Camerlengo RAMS the red-hot brand into the exposed flesh          of his bare chest.    His skin SIZZLES and smokes, Rocher SHOUTS,          the Camerlengo SCREAMS in agony, and we know the rest --                     -- the door bursts open, Swiss Guard pour in, Rocher is shot,          Father Simeon races toward the Camerlengo --                                                       FR. SIMEON                            You bastard!       You sanctimonious-                     -- and the Camerlengo rolls over, pointing one long finger at          Father Simeon and CRYING OUT:                                                       CAMERLENGO                            ILLUMINATUS!                    As we saw before, Lt. Chartrand FIRES THREE TIMES, killing Father          Simeon in his tracks, we pull back, the image turns to --                    INT      ROCHER'S OFFICE      NIGHT                     -- video again, and as we complete the move out from the monitor,          we see it isn't Langdon and Vittoria watching the image this time --                    --- but Cardinal Mortati, flanked by two other red-robed Cardinals          and a half-dozen Swiss Guardsman.                    Langdon and Vittoria stand to one side as Mortati turns and looks          at them.    Suddenly, he seems very, very old.                                                                                CUT TO:                                                128.                                        INT     GRAND STAIRCASE       NIGHT                    The Camerlengo, escorted by two Swiss Guardsman, descends the          Royal Staircase that leads to the Sistine Chapel.                    Though he is injured and limping, he radiates confidence, even          benevolence, a man certain this is the greatest day of his life.                    He approaches the chapel doors, speaks to the Swiss Guard posted          there as he approaches.                                                   CAMERLENGO                           I have been summoned by the College of                           Cardinals.                    Oh, they know all about it.    They lift their swords, the doors          sweep open, the Camerlengo strides boldly across the threshold --                    INT     SISTINE CHAPEL       NIGHT                     -- and stops, right there, the look of imminent ascendancy frozen          on his face.                    The Cardinals are looking at him, all right, but not in joy, not          in wonder, not for leadership.    One hundred sixty-one faces are          turned toward his, with an expression of ---                    -- utter condemnation.                    He stands there for a moment, searching their faces, trying to          figure out what could possibly have happened.                    But it doesn't matter.                    They know.   And he knows they know.                    He takes two steps backwards, almost involuntarily.                    Starts to teeter, balances himself in the doorway.                    Then straightens himself, smoothes his cassock.                    And turns and walks away, back up the staircase.                    Two Swiss Guard move to go after him, quickly, but Cardinal          Mortati gestures to them.                                                   MORTATI                           Gently.    But within our walls.                    The Swiss Guard follow the Camerlengo up the staircase.                                                                                  CUT TO:                                                 129.                                        INT      ST.   PETER'S BASILICA      NIGHT                    The Camerlengo comes out of a doorway and into St. Peter's          Basilica.    He heads for the main doors --                     -- just as HALF A DOZEN SWISS GUARD step in from outside,          blocking his way.    Some MURMUR softly into their radios.                    He stops, turns around to come back the way he came ---                     -- but TWO SWISS GUARD appear in that doorway, also with radios.                    He turns again, no way to go but toward the front of the Basilica.                    He sees the candlelit balustrade near the front, the one that          leads to the grottoes and the Necropolis.    He picks up his pace.                    The Swiss Guard follow, at a slight distance.                    The Camerlengo reaches the spiral staircase and stops, looking          down, seeing the oil lamp he kicked over earlier.                    He thinks.     He picks up a fresh lamp, holds it to his face    --                     -- and blows out its flame with a soft PUFF.                    ACROSS THE BASILICA,                    we're with the Swiss Guard as they walk slowly toward him.                    But they hear a CRY from ahead, he's gone down the stairs a short          distance, and they can hear the sound of liquid SLOSHING.                    They break into a run as they realize what he's about to do,          they're twenty feet away, then ten, then just close enough to see          the Camerlengo as he --                     -- SMASHES a burning oil lamp at his feet.     The flames leap          onto his oil-soaked clothes and --                     -- HE IGNITES IN A PILLAR OF WHITE FLAME.                                                                                 CUT TO:                    INT      SISTINE CHAPEL      NIGHT                    CLOSE ON a bundle of one hundred sixty-one slips of paper, pierced          by a needle and strung together.                    They're tossed into the fireplace in the Sistine Chapel, where          they too burst into flame.                    We rise up again, ahead of the smoke this time, all the way up to      --                                                    130.                                        EXT     ST.    PETER'S SQUARE          DAWN                     -- the chimney above St. Peter's Square, where the throng is          still gathered, waiting for some word as the sun rises on the          horizon. And this time, the smoke that billows from the chimney    --                    -- is white.                    There is a new pope.    The crowd ROARS its approval, BELLS begin          to toll --                    INT     PAPAL APARTMENT          DAY                     -- the red silk sash covering the doors to the papal apartment is          SLICED apart --                    -- the wax seal BREAKS as the doors are flung open, and we   --                                                                          DISSOLVE TO:                    EXT     ST.    PETER'S SQUARE DAY                     -- St. Peter's Square, later the same day. The Crowd, if you can          believe it, is even bigger.                    A STRING OF REPORTERS fills us in for the last time (non-English          speakers subtitled).                                                    BBC REPORTER                            Church sources now confirm that                            Camerlengo Father Sebastian Guttierez                            has died of internal injuries                            sustained in his heroic fall --                    A BRAZILIAN REPORTER:                                                    BRAZILIAN REPORTER                             -- which has spurred calls for his                            immediate canonization and sainthood.                            The Vatican also announced the death                            of three of its cardinals in the fire                            at Santa Maria Delia Vittoria --                    An AMERICAN REPORTER:                                                    AMERICAN REPORTER                             -- but all eyes here are on the papal                            balcony as we await the appearance of                            the new Holy Father, who, despite                            terrorist attempts at disruption --                    We move off the Reporter and up, toward the papal balcony, its          doors hanging open, curtains billowing.                                                  131.                                                                       AMERICAN REPORTER (cont'd)                            -- seems to have been selected in one                           of the swiftest and smoothest                           conclaves in modern church history.                                                                             DISSOLVE TO:                    INT     PAPAL APARTMENT DAY                    Inside the papal apartments, Robert Langdon sits stiffly on a          straight-backed chair in a hallway.    Couldn't look more          uncomfortable if he tried.                    A Swiss Guardsman stands on either side of him.                    The door to his right suddenly opens, another Guardsman nods to          him, and Langdon gets to his feet, straightening his jacket.                    INT     OFFICE OF THE POPE DAY                    Langdon is shown into the office, where a robed figure is being          dressed by two VATICAN ATTENDANTS -- the clothes he dons are          unmistakably papal vestments.    The figure, his back to us,          gestures to a nearby table.                    One of the Swiss Guardsmen goes to the table and picks up an          envelope, hands it to Langdon.                                                   SWISS GUARDSMAN                           A token of thanks from His Holiness.                    Langdon, puzzled, opens the envelope and lets the contents fall          into his hand.                    It's a thin volume, but a familiar one -- the only surviving copy          of Galileo's Diagramma.    Langdon nearly GASPS.                    The figure in the papal robes turn around.       It is, of course,          Cardinal Mortati.                                                   MORTATI                           This should help you complete your                           scholarly work, Professor.                    Langdon is too stunned to speak,                                                   MORTATI   (cont'd)                           I ask only that in your last will and                           testament you ensure it finds its way                           home.                                                     LANGDON                           I   -- yes, I   -- of course.                                                 132.                                        Mortati takes a few steps forward, studying Langdon,                                                   MORTATI                           When you write of us -- and you will                           write of us -- may I ask one thing?                    Langdon looks at him questioningly.                                                        MORTATI   (cont'd)                           Do so gently?                                                        LANGDON                           I'll try.                                                   MORTATI                           Religion is flawed, Mr. Langdon, but                           only because man is flawed.                           Including this one.                    He touches his chest lightly.                    The Aides now pick up the miter, the spade-shaped papal hat.   He          stands still while they place it on his head, completing his          attire.                                                   LANGDON                           I hear you've chosen the name Luke.                           There have been Marks and Johns, but                           never a Luke.                                                   MORTATI                           It's said he was a doctor.                                                   LANGDON                           Is that a message?    Science and                           faith all in one?                                                   MORTATI                           The world is in need of both.                           Science can heal, or science can kill.                           It depends on the soul of the man                           using the science.                    Langdon looks at him.   Likes the sound of that.                                                   LANGDON                           You'll lead wisely.                                                   MORTATI                           I'm an old man.    I'll lead briefly,                    Mortati comes closer to Langdon, raises his right hand, and makes          a gentle sign of the cross over him, murmuring softly.                                                133.                                                                       MORTATI (cont'd)                           Thanks be to God, for sending someone                           to protect His church.                                                  LANGDON                           I -- don't believe He sent me,                           Father.                                                       MORTATI                           Oh, my son...                    He smiles.                                                   MORTATI (cont'd)                           Of course He did.                    He turns, and his Aides part the billowing silk curtains that lead          to the papal balcony.                    We move forward with him as he steps out over St. Peter's Square          and a great ROAR rises up from below.                    Cardinal Mortati, Pope Luke I, holds his arms out to his sides, an          embrace to take in the world --                     -- and behind him, hidden in the shadows of the papal apartment,          just behind the billowing curtains, Robert Langdon folds his hand          in front of him --                    -- and bows his head.                                                                                                                                 THE END
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+                                          ANNA KARENINA                                                                    Written by                                          Tom Stoppard                                                                                  Based on the novel by Leo Tolstoy.          INT. POKROVSKOE--NIGHT                                   CLOSE--Expert fingers--female, unlovely, capable--shape a small lump of          dough which, with some shreds of cabbage, becomes a filled bun called a pirozhok . . .          which is now placed on a baking tray to join rows of pirozhoki ready for the oven.                                   CLOSE-- One hand opens the oven, and, mittened by an apron, removes          a tray of perfectly baked pirozhoki, which the other hand replaces with the          fresh tray . . . slightly burning itself on a knuckle.                                                                           TITLE OVER:                          FEBRUARY 1872           POKROVSKOE, KONSTANTIN LEVIN'S ESTATE           300 MILES SOUTH OF MOSCOW:                                                            INT. KITCHEN, POKROVSKOE, SAME TIME--NIGHT                                   Agafia sucks her knuckle and checks what's cooking on the stove-top. She is          the cook-housekeeper.                                                   AGAFIA           He needs to come in if he's to wash himself.                                   A Kitchen Maid at the sink obediently dries her hands on her apron. A          dozing dog, Laska, pricks up her ears.                                                            EXT. YARD, POKROVSKOE, SAME TIME--NIGHT                                   It's snowing. The Kitchen Maid, shawled, with a lantern, makes her way          across the yard towards the cowshed, a short distance, and pushes open the          frozen door. Laska is at her heels, but is made to stay outside.                                                                            3          INT. COWSHED, POKROVSKOE, SAME TIME--NIGHT                                   The herd stirs at the lantern light. The bull, Berkut, with a ring through          his nose, snorts as the girl goes by. At the back of the shed a cow is calving.                                   Levin is midwifing, sleeves pulled back, blood and slime up to his elbows.          He is 34. His steward, Vasili, holds up a lantern. Levin pulls carefully at          the emerging forefeet.                                                   LEVIN           Good girl . . . good girl, Pava.                                   The calf's head emerges.                                                   KITCHEN MAID                          (ARRIVING)           Agafia Mishaylovna says dinner's like to           spoil.                                   The calf enters the world like a diver. Levin is feeling great pride and          pleasure.                                                   LEVIN           . . . her father's colour.                                                   VASILI           Worth coming home for, Konstantin           Dmitrich!                                                   LEVIN           I stayed too long in Moscow.                                   The cow nuzzles and licks her calf.                                                                                                                              4          INT. DINING ROOM, POKROVSKOE--NIGHT                                   Cleaned up, in a smock shirt, Levin bites hungrily into a pirozhok, talking.          He has a book on a book-rest. Agafia ladles soup for him. Three generations          of family portraits look down on him.                                                   LEVIN           . . . She's a beauty. That's twelve cows sired           by Berkut!                                                   AGAFIA           So one of you is doing what the good Lord           made you for.                                   Levin evades, ducks into spooning up soup, finding his place in his book.          Agafia goes out. Alone, Levin closes the book and stares into himself.                                                            INT. (MOSCOW)-- DAY                                   CLOSE--Expert fingers scrape a cut-throat razor across a lathered          cheek . . . and again, skirting luxuriant facial hair on pampered skin.                                                                           TITLE OVER:           PRINCE OBLONSKY'S HOUSE, MOSCOW                                                            INT. OBLONSKY'S DRESSING ROOM, OBLONSKY           HOUSE, SAME TIME-- DAY                                   There is a door to the landing and a door to the bedroom.                                                                                                                              5          Prince Stepan Oblonsky-- Stiva to his friends--is 34 and liked by every-          body. A barber comes in every morning to shave him. His valet, Matvey, is          older and almost a friend. He holds up an enormous pear.                                                   MATVEY           What should I do with this?                                   Oblonsky puts the barber on hold to have a look.                                                   OBLONSKY           Where did you find it?                                                   MATVEY           In your hat. Your Excellency.                                   Oblonsky thinks about it, lets the barber finish. He stands and removes his          dressing gown.                                                   OBLONSKY           Yes . . . I picked it up somewhere for Daria           Alexandrovna and the children.                                   Matvey is ready with Oblonsky's shirt, which he puts over his master's head          like a horse's collar.                                                            INT. "DAY NURSERY," OBLONSKY HOUSE, SAME                          TIME--DAY                                   There is a sloping lineup of five children, aged eight, five, four, three and          two, dressed and brushed for presentation to their mother, Princess Daria          Oblonsky, known as Dolly . . . who we now see is heavily pregnant. Stand-          ing by is a French governess, Mlle. Roland, and a Nurse. Mlle. Roland          is buxom.                                                                                                     6          Dolly picks up the youngest, Vasya, to kiss him and hands him to the          Nurse, and kisses the others in ascending order.                                                   DOLLY           Bonjour, Lili; bonjour, Masha; bonjour,           Grisha; bonjour, Tanya.                                    Who's coming to see Grandmama?                                                            INT. OBLONSKY'S DRESSING ROOM, SAME TIME--                          DAY                                   Oblonsky, dressed now and holding a cup of coffee, checks from the window.                                                                           OBLONSKY'S POV--                                   Dolly, in furs, the four youngest children and the Nurse, who carries Vasya,          all wrapped up against the cold weather, have come out of the house to a          waiting sleigh, as noisy as starlings, bickering, competing, reprimanding.          The Oblonsky's Coachman assists, with a rug to spread across knees.                                   Oblonsky hands his coffee to Matvey and lights a small cigar. He detours          to take a sugared almond from a dish of sweets, and leaves the room . . .                                                            INT. SCHOOLROOM, OBLONSKY HOUSE, SAME                          TIME--DAY                                   Tanya is at her lessons with Mlle. Roland. When Oblonsky's face appears          smiling round the door, Tanya jumps up and runs to him, greeting him,          laughing, kissing his face, hanging on his neck.                                                                                                                              7                          OBLONSKY           My Tanruchoshka! Mind my cigar.                                   He pops the sugared almond into her mouth and puts a conspiratorial finger          to his lips. Mlle. Roland, who has stood up for him, clucks in reprimand.                                                   OBLONSKY (CONT'D)           Be good today. I'm off.                                   Tanya runs back to her seat and bends to her schoolbook. Oblonsky looks          Mlle. Roland in the eye. He moves his head slightly, unmistakably ask-          ing her to come outside. Mlle. Roland moves her eyes at him in humorous          reproach. Clearly, this is familiar ground. Oblonsky closes the door behind          him.                                    mlle. roland                          (PAUSE)           Read the chapter carefully. I'll come back to           test you on it . . . Read it twice.                                                            INT. (ST. PETERSBURG)--DAY                                   CLOSE--Pretty fingers put on several rings, and then pick up a FabergÈ          jade paper-knife to slit an envelope and withdraw a letter.                                                                           TITLE OVER:           ALEXEI KARENIN'S HOUSE, ST. PETERSBURG           400 MILES NORTH OF MOSCOW                                                                                                                              8          INT. ANNA'S BOUDOIR, KARENIN HOUSE, SAME                          TIME--DAY                                   It is early in the day. Anna's maid, Annushka, has been dressing Anna.          Annushka is young, loyal, modest.                                   Anna is at her dressing-table-bureau, which is host to at least two pho-          tographs of a small boy (Serozha) and a child's unframed drawing of          "Maman." As she starts reading the letter, Anna's eyes frown.                                                            FLASH BACK, VERY SHORT, ALMOST SUBLIMINAL--                                   INT. (LINEN CLOSET)--DAY                                   Oblonsky and Mlle. Roland in a passionate embrace, vertical, clothed.                                                            BACK TO SCENE                                   Anna turns the page, reads on, concerned.                                                            FLASH BACK-- SHORT, A BEAT OR TWO--                                   INT. LINEN CLOSET, OBLONSKY HOUSE--DAY                                   Still kissing, Oblonsky hoists up her skirts.                                                            BACK TO SCENE                                   Anna turns to the second page.                                                                                                                              9          FLASH BACK-- SHORT                                   INT. BEDROOM LEVEL, OBLONSKY HOUSE--NIGHT                                   Oblonsky, coming in quietly and late from a night on the town, enters his          dressing room. He stops. He smiles a foolish apologetic smile.                                                            REVERSE-- (DRESSING ROOM)                                   Dolly is waiting for him, shocked, enraged, holding out a billet-doux on          pink paper: a love note.                                                            BACK TO SCENE                                   Anna speaks as in exasperation to a naughty child.                                                   ANNA           Tsk, oh . . . Stiva!                                                            INT. KARENIN'S STUDY, KARENIN HOUSE--DAY                                                   ANNA           . . . and Dolly found a note from the           governess.                                   Anna is speaking to her husband "confidentially." Karenin, a busy man,          drains his coffee cup and hands it (as with Oblonsky and Matvey) to his          valet, Korney, who bows and withdraws. Karenin continues transferring          papers from his desk to his portfolio . . .                                   Which done, he nods to his private secretary, Mikhail Slyudin, who comes          forward to receive it, bows and leaves.                                                                            10                          KARENIN           Well . . . ?                                   Karenin is twenty years older than Anna and a senior figure in govern-          ment. He has an unattractive reedy voice and is pleased with himself as a          model of probity. He has the habit of cracking his knuckles.                                                   ANNA           Stiva wants me to come to Moscow . . . to           persuade Dolly to forgive him.                                                   KARENIN           I'm to be deprived of my wife so that adul-           tery may be forgiven? I can't excuse him           just because he's your brother.                                                   ANNA           It's for Dolly's sake too.                                                   KARENIN           (has to go)           I have four committees today . . .                                   There is another interruption: Serozha, aged seven and a half, and his          tutor, Vasily Lukich, enter for a ritual "good morning." Serozha is a little          frightened of his father, but the mother and son are in love. Anna goes          straight to Serozha, her heart lifted, to hug him.                                                   KARENIN (CONT'D)           Good, good!--I have the world waiting           for me, there's never time to look at your           exercises!                                                                                                                              11                          LUKICH           Sergei Alexeyich is doing very well, Your           Excellency.                                                   ANNA           (a button missing)           Tsk-tsk, who put this shirt on you? Never           mind. I'll come and hear you read.                                                   KARENIN           Tomorrow, perhaps. Thank you, Lukich--           perhaps tomorrow.                                   Lukich bows. Anna goes with Serozha, relinquishing him finally. She closes          the door on them.                                                   ANNA           Alexei, do you think nine years of mar-           riage and children should count for nothing           against a . . . an infatuation?                                   Karenin cracks his knuckles, concedes.                                                   KARENIN           No. Very well.           (kisses her hand)           But sin has a price, you may be sure of that.                                                            INT. OBLONSKY'S DRESSING ROOM, OBLONSKY                          HOUSE--DAY                                   Oblonsky has been bunking down on his couch. He moans and groans. He          gets up and tries the door to the bedroom. It's locked. He knocks timidly.                                                                                                     12                          OBLONSKY                          (PITEOUSLY)           Dolly . . . please think of the children . . .                                   He listens hopefully. The other door, leading to the upper landing, is opened          violently by Dolly.                                                   DOLLY           You think of the children! Their lives are           ruined now!                                   She slams the door behind her.                                                            INT. BEDROOM LEVEL, OBLONSKY HOUSE, SAME                          TIME--DAY                                   Oblonsky comes out of his dressing room to see the main bedroom door          slammed. He attempts to go in but the door is locked.                                                   OBLONSKY           Oh, Dolly . . . I beg you . . .                                   Matvey come to the top of the stairs with a telegram.                                                   MATVEY           Telegram. Should I send up the barber?                                                   OBLONSKY           No, just the razor.                                   Oblonsky tears open the telegram.                                                                                                                              13                          MATVEY           Don't worry, sir, things will shape them-           selves, you'll see.                                                   OBLONSKY                          (RELIEVED)           My sister Anna's coming tomorrow. We're           saved.                                                            INT. OBLONSKY'S OFFICE, MOSCOW--DAY                                   Inner doors open and Oblonsky comes out of his private office. He is his          genial self. Everyone in the general office-- minor officials, clerks-- stands          up for him and bows. Oblonsky is wearing government uniform--green          coat with gold embroidery on the collar--instead of his own coat. Oblonsky          is helped out of one coat into the other.                                                   DOORKEEPER           Some man came without an appointment,           Your Excellency . . . waiting outside.                                   Oblonsky opens the door to look. Levin is sitting waiting on a bench, wear-          ing a sheepskin coat, cap and scuffed boots.                                                   OBLONSKY           Levin! Where did you disappear?                                   He seizes Levin and kisses him.                                                   LEVIN                          (NERVOUS)           I'm very anxious to see you. I need your           advice.                                                                                                     14                          OBLONSKY           Well, then, come into my room.                                   Oblonsky leads Levin back through the general office, where everyone stands          up again. Levin's sheepskin and boots attract curious glances.                                                   OBLONSKY (CONT'D)           This is my oldest friend, Konstantin Dmit-           rich Levin! Someone send word I'll be a few           minutes late.                                                            INT. OBLONSKY'S PRIVATE OFFICE, SAME TIME--DAY                                   Oblonsky leads Levin inside and closes the door.                                                   OBLONSKY           I've been hard at it. Sit down.                                   Levin undoes his coat and sits down.                                                   LEVIN           Hard at what exactly?                                                   OBLONSKY           Why, we're overwhelmed with work!                                                   LEVIN           Oh--paperwork.                                                   OBLONSKY           Paperwork is the soul of Russia. Farming           is only the stomach. When am I going to           come and shoot some snipe?                                   Seeing the clothes Levin is wearing, he laughs.                                                                            15                          OBLONSKY (CONT'D)          Oh, but look at you, in Western clothes          you told me you'd never wear again. Some-          thing's up.                                                   LEVIN          Yes. I'm in love. I've come back to propose.          Have you guessed who she is?                                                   OBLONSKY           (rolls his eyes comically)          I have a suspicion. Why didn't you propose          when you were here?                                                   LEVIN          I decided it was impossible. Kitty is of the          heavens, an angel, and I am of the earth--          but then I thought and thought, and . . .          there's no life for me without her! . . . Do I          have a chance?                                                   OBLONSKY          Of course you do. The Shcherbatskys are          giving a soiree this evening. Get there early          before the crowd. If I may suggest . . .                                                   LEVIN          Anything! What?                                                   OBLONSKY          New boots.                                                   LEVIN          Right. Anything else?                                                                                                     16                          OBLONSKY                          (HESITATES)           We'd better have dinner together.                                    Come on, we'll meet later at l'Angleterre.           Or do you prefer the Hermitage?                                   Oblonsky ushers Levin back into the general office.                                                            INT. GENERAL OFFICE, SAME TIME--DAY                                   . . . Everyone stands up as before. The Doorkeeper produces Oblonsky's top-          coat and helps him into it.                                                   OBLONSKY           No--five-thirty at l'Angleterre--I owe them           more than the Hermitage, so it wouldn't be           fair to withdraw my custom.           (taking his hat)           Boots, and a coat. And a proper hat.                                   He ushers Levin out.                                                            EXT. L'ANGLETERRE RESTAURANT, MOSCOW--DAY                                   Firstly, a Moscow street scene, busy with people going about their business,          on foot and in conveyances.                                   Secondly, Levin approaches L'Angleterre in his new fur-collared coat, top          hat and boots.                                                                                                                              17          INT. L'ANGLETERRE RESTAURANT, MOSCOW--                          NIGHT                                   Oblonsky and Levin preside over the debris of three dozen oysters, with          champagne in a bucket to hand. Oblonsky is in a maudlin mood, afloat          on champagne.                                                   OBLONSKY           It's so unfair. You marry for love, you're           a good husband. Children arrive. Years           depart. And all of a sudden your wife is           tired, her hair is thin, her body . . . while           you yourself still have your . . . vigour . . .           and you find yourself distracted by a pretty           woman . . .                                                   LEVIN           Forgive me, but I find that incomprehen-           sible . . . As though I'd leave this restaurant           and steal a roll from a baker's shop.                                                   OBLONSKY           Well, you know, a freshly baked roll . . .                                                   LEVIN           But I'm talking about love, and you're talk-           ing about . . . your appetite.                                                   OBLONSKY           Easily confused. Now look, do you know           Count Vronsky?                                                   LEVIN           Who? No. Why?                                                                                                     18                          OBLONSKY           He's your rival. He turned up from St.           Petersburg after you left.                                                   LEVIN                          (AGHAST)           Who is he?                                                   OBLONSKY                          (CHANGING TACK)           You don't have to worry about him. He's           one of those rich, good-looking cavalry offi-           cers who've got nothing to do but make love           to pretty women . . .                                   A waiter arrives to remove the oyster shells, while an Elderly Waiter places          a bowl of soup in front of Levin and a lobster in front of Oblonsky.                                                   OBLONSKY (CONT'D)           Cabbage soup?                                                   ELDERLY WAITER           Potage aux choux a la Russe, as the gentle-           man ordered.                                                   LEVIN           It's what I wanted.                                   Oblonsky laughs. The Waiter departs.                                                   LEVIN (CONT'D)                          (ANGRY)           Understand that for me, tonight is a ques-           tion of life and death.                                                                                                     19                          OBLONSKY           Oh, Kostya! Kitty would be mad to refuse           you. And Dolly is on your side, you know.           She says her sister Kitty was always meant           to be your wife and will be.                                   Levin jumps up in elation, collects himself, and sits.                                                   LEVIN           Dolly said that? I've always thought your           Dolly's a gem.                                                   OBLONSKY           Oh, she is, she is . . .                          (THOUGHTFULLY)           I loved her to distraction.                                                            INT. (ST. PETERSBURG)--NIGHT                                   A little out of focus and further obscured by puffs of steam, the wheels          of a locomotive and its tender plus a carriage or two, with part of the          superstructure--the whole kit and caboodle turning out to be a rich child's          table-top model railway--go by the Camera like a WIPE revealing the          momentarily gigantic face of Anna . . . who is crouching down to watch          the toy go by.                                                            INT. DAY NURSERY, KARENIN HOUSE--DAY                                   Serozha is at present snivelling.                                                   SEROZHA           But why?                                                                                                     20                          ANNA           Because that's where Aunt Dolly lives.                                                   SEROZHA           But why?                                                   ANNA                          (PATIENTLY)           I told you, Serozha. She's not well. I must           go to see her.                                                   SEROZHA           But why?                                                   ANNA           Now, don't make Mama cry. I'll be back           before you know, and bring you a present.                                                   SEROZHA           Don't want a present. I want you to stay.                                   Anna is on the brink of tears.                                                   ANNA           Oh . . . my little Kutik . . .                                                   SEROZHA           What present?                                                   ANNA           That's better.                                   She dabs her eyes.                                                                                                                              21          INT. KARENIN HOUSE--NIGHT                                   Kapitonich, the Karenins' Hall Porter, an "old soldier," comes out of the          house to where a private carriage is waiting. The coachman is Konrad.          Anna comes out with Annushka, who has a large soft bag containing          everything her mistress needs for the journey. Kapitonich holds the carriage          door for them.                                                            INT. MOVING TRAIN--NIGHT                                   Anna has a window seat. Next to her is Annushka.                                   In the opposite window seat is Countess Vronsky, at sixty losing the battle to          keep her youthful beauty. She has a lap dog (and perhaps a FabergÈ-topped          walking cane). Next to her is her Maid.                                   Anna is not happy to be leaving. She holds a small framed photo of Sero-          zha, which she then puts away in her red bag. Countess Vronsky smiles at          her. Anna wipes her eyes, explains.                                                   ANNA           It's the first time I've left my little boy.                                                   COUNTESS VRONSKY           So you are leaving your son and I am return-           ing to mine. I am Countess Vronsky.                                   Anna knows the name.                                    countess vronsky (cont'd)           I've been in St. Petersburg for the christen-           ing of a granddaughter--my elder son mar-           ried Princess Chirkov. You're a charming           creature. Why don't I know you?                                                                            22                          ANNA           I've never been in Moscow society, really.                                                   COUNTESS VRONSKY           But you know my name?                                                   ANNA           I've heard you mentioned . . .                                                   COUNTESS VRONSKY           Talked about, you mean. Ah, love!                                   Anna, found out, smiles tentatively.                                                   ANNA           Was it love?                                                   COUNTESS VRONSKY           Always. My sons are ashamed of me. But I'd           rather end up wishing I hadn't than end up           wishing I had--wouldn't you?                                                   ANNA           I . . . I don't know . . .                                   Anna looks at the snow on the window. She is unsettled by the conversation.                                                            EXT. SHCHERBATSKY HOUSE. MOSCOW--NIGHT                                   A sleigh (i.e., a cab) brings Levin.                                                                                                                              23          INT. ENTRANCE HALL, SHCHERBATSKY HOUSE,                          SAME TIME--NIGHT                                   The Hall Porter lets Levin into the house. A Footman takes Levin's hat          and coat. Levin is uneasy--he seems to be first to arrive. He decides he has          come too early. He pulls his coat back from the Footman.                                                   LEVIN           I'll come back.                                                                           UP ABOVE                                   Princess Ekaterina (Kitty) Shcherbatsky is eighteen. Eager to see who has          arrived, she hurries from the direction of the reception room and looks down          into the entrance hall in time to see Levin snatch his hat back from the          Footman.                                                   KITTY           Konstantin!                                                   LEVIN           I'm too early.                                                   KITTY                          (PLEASED)           No! Come up!                                                                           DOWN BELOW                                   Kitty runs off out of Levin's view. He flings his hat and coat at the Foot-          man and runs up the stairs.                                                                                                                              24          INT. RECEPTION ROOM, SHCHERBATSKY HOUSE,                          SAME TIME--NIGHT                                   Levin hurries in and finds Kitty seated prettily in a "receiving" pose. She          is alone.                                                   KITTY           Look at me! I'm receiving for Papa and           Maman who are late to dress. It's my first           reception.                                   Levin plays along, kissing her hand elaborately.                                                   LEVIN           Princess Ekaterina! Delighted, delighted!                                                   KITTY                          ( FORMAL)           I'm so pleased you were able to be with us,           Konstantin Dmitrich!                                                   LEVIN                          (DROPPING IT)           Kitty . . . you look . . . you look--                                                   KITTY           Stiva told us you were back. How long are           you staying?                                                   LEVIN           I don't know. It depends on you.                                                   KITTY           On me?                                                                                                     25          He has got ahead of himself. Doors are flung open and the hosts, Prince and          Princess Shcherbatsky, and a crowd of guests who have arrived together, are          greeting each other. Levin has to make a quick decision, and he makes the          wrong one--to go on.                                                   LEVIN           What I mean to say--I came with only one           purpose--I want to--will you be my wife?                                   Kitty panics. A wave of Guests is almost upon her.                                                   LEVIN (CONT'D)           I'm sorry--sorry--wrong moment--but           will you?                                                   KITTY           I can't. I'm sorry.                                   Kitty flees. Levin seems stunned, surrounded now by greetings, laughter,          and servants with trays of drinks.                                                   LEVIN           Yes. It was impossible.                                   Prince and Princess Shcherbatsky receive a young married member of Kitty's          set, Countess Nordston . . . and introduce Levin, who hears and sees noth-          ing. He turns away, leaving the Countess hung out to dry.                                   Levin finds himself face to face with Burisov, a silky Officer in sky blue          uniform, who introduces himself.                                                   BURISOV           Burisov. Are you the brother of Nikolai           Levin?                                                                                                     26                          LEVIN           Yes.                                                   BURISOV           He's in Moscow, he's staying at the Unicorn           in Khitrovka.                                                   LEVIN           How do you know?                                                   BURISOV                          (SMILES)           It's the sort of thing I know.                                   He bows to Levin and turns away to greet someone.                                   Levin reacts, decides to leave. He makes for the door. He nearly collides          with someone, gives and receives an apology, and suddenly understands who          this man in Guards uniform must be. Levin turns.                                                   LEVIN           Count Vronsky?                                                   VRONSKY           Yes.                                   Levin pauses awkwardly. Vronsky hesitates, bows and continues on. Levin          witnesses Kitty seeing Vronsky approaching, and sees her face light up.          Vronsky kisses her hand.                                                   VRONSKY (CONT'D)                          (BANTERING)           Princess Kitty . . . It's been so long, and yet           it seems like yesterday.                                   His banter is lost on her. She laughs happily.                                                                            27                          KITTY           It was yesterday!                                   Levin turns away and leaves.                                                            EXT. SHCHERBATSKY HOUSE--NIGHT                                   Levin comes out of the grand house where several coaches are waiting. Hum-          bled and angry with himself and the world, he takes off his top hat and          considers putting his fist through it, but jams it back on his head. A horse-          cab comes along. Levin waves it down.                                                            EXT. KHITROVKA, MOSCOW--NIGHT                                   A mean street, an area of poverty and crime. Levin pays off his cab.                                                            INT. THE UNICORN, KHITROVKA--NIGHT                                   Levin goes up a dimly lit, dingy staircase. Snatches of MUSIC and SING-          ING drift up the stairs.                                                            TOP OF THE STAIRS                                   Levin knocks at a door, then louder. The door is flung open. Nikolai          Levin is the spirit of consumptive, bohemian radicalism. He peers at Levin,          surprised.                                                   LEVIN           It's Kostya.                                   Nikolai roars with laughter which turns to wheezing.                                                                            28                          NIKOLAI           God, look at him! You look like a capitalist!                          (THEN SUSPICIOUSLY)           What do you want?                                                   LEVIN           Nothing. I came to see you.                                   Nikolai goes back into the room, shouting for "Masha." Levin follows him.                                                            INT. NIKOLAI'S ROOM, KHITROVA, SAME TIME--                          NIGHT                                   Levin sees that he is in a tiny apartment. A Young Woman looks at him          fearfully from the inner doorway.                                                   LEVIN           Good evening, miss . . . madame . . .                                                   NIKOLAI           Don't talk to her like that. It frightens her.           You sound like a magistrate.           (shouts at her)           More vodka for my brother, quick about it.                                                   LEVIN           I don't want anything.                                   Masha goes to Nikolai and whispers to him, calming him.                                                   NIKOLAI           I'm all right.                                   He fills a wineglass with vodka and gulps it greedily.                                                                            29                          NIKOLAI (CONT'D)           Who told you where to find me?                                                   LEVIN           A colonel in the Third Department. They're           watching you.                                                   NIKOLAI           Good. They must think I'm dangerous.                                   Levin involuntarily smiles at the self-puffery.                                                   NIKOLAI (CONT'D)           What have you got to smile about?                                                   LEVIN           Nothing.                                                   NIKOLAI           That's right. The day is coming. I gave up           my birthright for it. You're on the wrong           side of history. Not because privilege is           immoral but because it's irrational.                                   Wheezing, he goes for the bottle again. Masha tries to take it from him,          appealing to Levin.                                                   MASHA           He is sick.                                                   NIKOLAI           Let go or I'll beat your lights out.                                   He pushes her away and pours himself more vodka.                                                                                                     30                          NIKOLAI (CONT'D)           I took Mary Nikolova from a brothel but I           consider her my wife. If her presence offends           you you're free to leave. Are you married?                                                   LEVIN           No.                                                   NIKOLAI           Why not? Are you waiting to fall in love?                                                   LEVIN           No.                                                   NIKOLAI           Good. Romantic love will be the last illu-           sion of the old order. You should marry one           of your peasants.                                   Levin's reaction is almost violent, surprising Nikolai.                                                   LEVIN           Yes. I damn well should!                                                   NIKOLAI           (toasts, casually)           The brotherhood of man.                                   Levin recovers himself. He takes out his wallet.                                                   LEVIN           Nikolai, you have to see a doctor. Then           come and stay with me at Pokrovskoe till           you get your health back.                                                                                                     31                          NIKOLAI                          (SCORNFULLY)           With my wife?                                   Levin becomes flustered.                                                   LEVIN           If you . . . or go abroad to a spa. I'll send you           more if that's what you . . .                                   Masha reaches for the money Levin has put on the table. Nikolai knocks          her hand away. He throws the banknotes at Levin. He coughs himself into          a paroxysm. Levin tries to embrace him. Nikolai throws him off.                                                   LEVIN (CONT'D)                          (CRIES OUT)           What about the brotherhood of brothers?                                   Masha snatches up the banknotes.                                                            INT. STATION (MOSCOW)--DAY                                   There is a scattering of people of all classes on the platform waiting for the          arriving train.                                   By the entrance/exit gate, a Guards Officer stands holding a bouquet. The          Stationmaster stands by. A strip of faded red carpet has been laid on the          planks.                                                   STATIONMASTER           The private coach will stop opposite the           carpet.                                   The Guards Officer nods. He sees Vronsky arriving.                                                                            32                          VRONSKY           Hello, what's this?                                                   GUARDS OFFICER           Austrian royalty on their honeymoon. I've           got them for four days.                                                   VRONSKY           Bad luck. What do they like? Art?                                                   GUARDS OFFICER           Food.                                                   VRONSKY           Here's the train.                                                            EXT. PLATFORM, THE ARRIVING TRAIN, SAME                          TIME--DAY                                   Vronsky moves closer to the slowing train, scanning the windows going by.                                                            EXT. PLATFORM ENTRANCE GATE, SAME TIME--DAY                                   The Guards Officer and the Stationmaster are disconcerted to see the obvious          "private coach" stop seriously short (or long) behind luggage wagons, etc.                                                   STATIONMASTER           I'll see to it.                                   He hurries away towards the engine.                                   Oblonsky hurries through, relieved not to be late.                                                                                                     33          EXT. PLATFORM, SAME TIME--DAY                                   Vronsky is saluted by his mother's Major Domo, a tall man in livery with          a cockade.                                                   MAJOR DOMO           Second carriage, Your Excellency. I'll see to           the Countess's luggage and bring it on to the           house.                                   Vronsky nods, and makes his way towards the second coach, against the          flow of disembarked passengers.                                                            EXT. TRAIN (ENGINE), SAME TIME                                   The Stationmaster speaks to the Engine Driver.                                                            EXT. EXIT/ENTRANCE GATE, SAME TIME--DAY                                   The Guards Officer with the bouquet stands uncertainly while arriving          passengers go past him.                                                            EXT. "PRIVATE COACH," SAME TIME--DAY                                   The Royal Austrian Honeymooners peer anxiously through the window.                                                            INT. TRAIN, SAME TIME-- DAY                                   Countess Vronsky remains sitting. Annushka packs away Anna's blanket          and pillow. Anna looks out of the window.                                                                                                     34                          ANNA           I'll come back.                                   Anna moves to the door opening on to the "porch." Vronsky is on the point          of entering. He steps back to allow her by. They barely exchange a glance          as she passes him, but, simultaneously, each of them looks back. Anna looks          away quickly. His look lingers before he turns away to enter the carriage.                                                            INT./EXT. PORCH--DAY                                   Anna, from her vantage point spots Oblonsky, calls to him. Annushka,          with her bag, comes onto the porch and descends to follow her mistress.                                                            EXT. PLATFORM, SAME TIME--DAY                                   Anna steps down to the platform and embraces Oblonsky. They are delighted          to see each other.                                                   ANNA                          (ACCUSINGLY)           You don't look ashamed.                                                   OBLONSKY                          (CONTRITE)           I am, I really am.                                                            INT. TRAIN, SAME TIME-- DAY                                   Countess Vronsky remains in her seat. Vronsky bends at the window, look-          ing at Oblonsky and Anna.                                                                                                                              35                          VRONSKY           Yes, of course. Oblonsky's sister . . .           Karenina.                                                   COUNTESS           Charmante, don't you think?           (to her Maid)           Wait for me in the carriage. I'll take Tosca.                                   She takes the dog. The Maid leaves with her bag.                                                   VRONSKY           . . . You stayed longer in St. Petersburg.                                                   COUNTESS VRONSKY           Long enough for you to start a little love           affair, I hear.                                                   VRONSKY           I can't think what you're referring to,           Maman.                                   He glances back to the window, where Anna turns back to enter the train.                                                            EXT. PLATFORM, SAME TIME--DAY                                   As Anna turns back, a Railwayman with a hammer for tapping wheels          is in her way. He steps back for her with a bow and a "Madame!" Anna          glances at him and moves past him. The man taps a wheel, making a ring-          ing sound which means the wheel is okay.                                   As Anna mounts the steps, a Train Guard looks up and down the plat-          form, holding a green flag.                                                                                                     36          INT. TRAIN, SAME TIME-- DAY                                   Anna enters from the porch.                                                   ANNA           There, Countess, you have found your son           and I have found my brother.                                                   COUNTESS VRONSKY           Madame Karenin has a son, too. It's the first           time they have been apart, so she frets about           him.                                                   VRONSKY           Excuse me for not recognizing you before.                                                   COUNTESS VRONSKY           We passed the time telling each other about           our sons.                                                   ANNA           Yes, I've been hearing all about you.                                                   VRONSKY           That must have been very boring for you.                                   The ringing sound of the wheel-tapper's hammer is faintly audible in          Anna's hesitation. Anna shuts off the gallantry.                                                   ANNA           Au revoir, Countess.                                                   COUNTESS VRONSKY           Au revoir, my dear. Let me kiss your pretty           face.                                                                            37          Countess Vronsky does so. Anna turns to offer her hand to Vronsky. As          Vronsky takes her hand, the train lurches and moves, unsteadying them          both.                                                            EXT. PLATFORM, SAME TIME--DAY                                   Oblonsky-- and everyone still on the platform--is shocked by a dreadful          scream and shouting. The train, having moved a few feet, stops. Oblonsky          hurries towards the scene of the accident, right opposite the gate. The Station-          master overtakes him.                                                            EXT. TRACKS, SAME TIME, DAY                                   The Wheel-Tapper lies between the wheels, mangled.                                   Oblonsky joins the horrified onlookers. The Guards Officer arrives, too,          with his bouquet. Then Vronsky arrives. He turns to the Guards Officer.                                                   VRONSKY           Keep your people inside until this has been           cleared up.                                                            EXT. PLATFORM AND EXIT GATE--DAY                                   Countess Vronsky, Vronsky, Anna and Oblonsky, Oblonsky almost in tears,          come towards the gate. A Porter follows with Anna's large suitcase, hat-          boxes, etc. Annushka has the travelling bag.                                                   OBLONSKY           . . . the sole support of a large family, they           say.                                                                                                     38                          ANNA           Can't anything be done for them?                                   Vronsky glances at her.                                                   VRONSKY           Wait for me, Maman.                                   Vronsky retraces his steps.                                                   COUNTESS VRONSKY                          (TO ANNA)           I've you to thank for that.                                   She knows her son. Anna hasn't understood, but when Oblonsky looks back          he sees Vronsky with the Stationmaster, taking money from his wallet.                                                   OBLONSKY           What a good fellow . . .                                   Anna catches on, doesn't like it.                                                            INT. OBLONSKY COACH--DAY                                                   ANNA           Have you known Count Vronsky long?                                                   OBLONSKY           Did you like him? He's in love with Kitty.                                                   ANNA           Oh . . .                          (PAUSE)           But we should be discussing you and Dolly.                                                                            39          She scolds him like a naughty boy.                                                   ANNA (CONT'D)           What have you got to say for yourself?                                                   OBLONSKY           I've said it all--on my knees--in tears . . .           Now I need you to say it. I'm going to the           office, so you'll have Dolly to yourself.                                                   ANNA                          (SEVERELY)           Don't be home late.                                                            INT. RECEPTION ROOM, OBLONSKY HOUSE,                          MOSCOW--DAY                                   Dolly pours tea for Anna. Dolly smiles at her wanly-- brightly.                                                   DOLLY           Kitty's coming by to see you. She's all           grown-up, and a bit frightened of you--the           belle of St. Petersburg society!                                                   ANNA           Is that who I am?                                    Dolly . . . Stiva has told me.                                   Dolly bursts into tears. Anna embraces her.                                                   ANNA (CONT'D)           Dolly, I'm sorry from the bottom of my           heart.                                                                            40                          DOLLY          I don't know what to do.                                                   ANNA                          (SOOTHING)          I know, I know.                                                   DOLLY          I can't bear to be with him. And he doesn't          care, he's got what he wants.                                                   ANNA          What he wants is you. He loves you, Dolly.          You and the children are everything to him.                                                   DOLLY          Are we? And there is room for a governess?                                                   ANNA          That was shameful, disgraceful. But it was          not love. It was the animal in man, not the          soul. Stiva's remorse is from the soul.                                                   DOLLY          What about me? Does his remorse make it          easier for me?--                                                   ANNA          I know you are suffering. But, Dolly, you          must tell me . . . is there enough love left in          your heart . . . enough to forgive him?                                                   DOLLY          When I think of them together, I can't for-          give him, no!                                                                            41                          ANNA           My poor lamb. So you'd rather accept your           fate . . .                                                   DOLLY           My fate?                          (OUTRAGED)           But I haven't done anything! It's him                          WHO'S--                                                   ANNA           Do you love him, Dolly?                                   Dolly nods tearfully.                                                   ANNA (CONT'D)           You love him, and he loves you, but you           can't forgive, so your lives must continue           like this for ever, with both of you wretched.                                   She's winning.                                                            INT. RECEPTION ROOM, OBLONSKY HOUSE--DAY                                   Anna, Kitty, Tanya and Grisha are at a handsome card table where          board games, dominoes, cards, etc., are kept. There is a spill of alphabet          bricks, each with a letter printed in it. They are spelling out their names in          alphabet bricks. Grisha is on Anna's lap pulling at her hair. The spelling          business, including misspellings by Grisha, creates a noise of laughter and          mock-rebuke. Tanya at the same time is trying to pull a ring from Anna's          finger.                                   Kitty is not at all frightened of Anna now; enraptured by her, laughing.                                                                                                     42                          ANNA           Grisha, don't pull so hard, you're getting it           all in a tangle--and look for another G for                          GRIGORI--           (She takes off her ring for Tanya)           --here, darling, you can wear it till you go                          TO BED--                                   Dolly sits apart, embroidering. She looks up at the sound of voices down-          stairs, Oblonsky coming home. The children hear their father and abandon          the card table, running out to greet him. Dolly stands up to leave by a dif-          ferent door, giving Anna a collusive glance.                                   Anna pushes aside the alphabet bricks.                                                   ANNA (CONT'D)           Well, that's the end of that.                                                   KITTY           Will you stay for the Bobrishchev's ball,           Anna?                                                   ANNA           Oh . . . I always feel dull at a ball.                                                   KITTY           How can you ever be dull?                                   Oblonsky arrives in the doorway with Tanya and Grisha hanging on him.                                                   KITTY (CONT'D)           Stiva! Tell Anna she must come to the ball.                                                   OBLONSKY           Of course she must.                                                                            43          He cocks an eye at Anna: how did it go with Dolly? Anna moves her head:          upstairs.                                                   ANNA           . . . and God go with you.                                   Kitty catches the moment.                                                   OBLONSKY                          (LEAVING)           You can introduce me to your new governess.                                                   TANYA           She's old! She's a hundred!                                   Which leaves Anna and Kitty alone.                                                   ANNA           I know why you want me to come. You want           everyone to be there because you're sure it's           going to be your night.                                                   KITTY           How did you know?                                   Anna's smile is her acting out a mock-mysteriousness.                                                   ANNA           I know everything.                                   She has moved alphabet letters around to spell out VRONSKY. She laughs          at Kitty's tearful, joyful nodding, genuinely happy for Kitty.                                                   ANNA (CONT'D)           Oh, to be your age again . . . surrounded by           that blue mist, like mist on the mountains                                                                            44           that clears slowly to reveal the terrifying,           beautiful valley you must enter to become           grown-up . . . I was eighteen too, when I           got married . . .                                   A quiet note of regret hangs in the air between them for a moment before          Anna dispels it.                                                            INT. RECEPTION ROOM, OBLONSKY HOUSE--NIGHT                                   With only a lamp or two lit, and the door open, Anna sits alone at the          card table, with a neglected book, one hand playing idly with the alpha-          bet bricks. Their pleasant clicks are the only sound as she remains lost in          thought. She closes her book, marking the place. She is going to go up to bed.          She hears the sound of the doorbell.                                                            INT. ENTRANCE HALL, OBLONSKY HOUSE, SAME                          TIME--NIGHT                                   Vronsky has been let in spattered with snow.                                                   SERVANT           . . . no, Your Excellency . . . He's just gone           up. . . . The Princess retired early . . . Is           there a message?                                   Vronsky glances up and sees Anna looking down. Their eyes meet. A second          passes. Vronsky is about to speak. Anna turns away and moves out of his          view, towards further stairs, with her book.                                                   VRONSKY           No.                                                                                                     45          EXT. NEAR POKROVSKOE--DAY                                   Levin is coming home in a sleigh, driven by his one-eyed coachman, Ignat.          He is huddled under a bearskin blanket. The house is in sight.                                   The sleigh overtakes a Peasant Woman, Serafina, walking to the house car-          rying a big bundle of willow wands strapped to her back: a strong young          woman with a handsome face. She stops and bows her head. Levin looks at          her. She then looks him in the face.                                   Laska, barking joyfully, races from the house.                                                            INT. BATHHOUSE, POKROVSKOE-- DAY                                   The bathhouse has a stove which heats water. There is a brazier to create          instant steam, but not now. Levin, almost naked, lies on a plank deck,          thoughtful, staring at something . . . no, at someone: Serafina, who is put-          ting on her clothes. Postcoitum. She has no angst. Dressed, she crosses herself.                                                   LEVIN           Will you go to confession?                                   Serafina nods indifferently.                                                   LEVIN (CONT'D)           God will forgive you.                                                   SERAFINA           And you also, master. He is watching.                                                   LEVIN           God forgive us then, for committing the act           of love.                                   She nods without irony.                                                                            46                          SERAFINA           He is merciful.                                                   LEVIN           "Not according to my deserts, O Lord,           but according to thy mercy"--that's a fine           prayer. But I'm full of doubt. Sometimes I           even doubt that God exists.                                                   SERAFINA           How can there be anything if God didn't           make it?                                                   LEVIN           I don't know. One day science will tell us.                                                   SERAFINA           That's sinful talk if the priest heard you.                                                   LEVIN           Well, I won't go to confession.                                                   SERAFINA                          (SHRUGS)           Your father built the church. You're con-           fessed a while yet.                                   Levin feels outplayed.                                                   SERAFINA (CONT'D)           Will you bring me something from           Moscow?                                                   LEVIN           What would you like?                                                                            47                          SERAFINA           Soap, the kind wrapped in paper to look           pretty, and smelling like for a proper lady.                                   Levin is touched. He nods.                                   SOUND OVER--MUSIC OVERLAP WITH THE BALL.                                   INT. THE BALL, MOSCOW--NIGHT                                   Kitty enters the Ball, a proper lady.                                   This is a gilded affair, conducted by a Master of Ceremonies. The Host          and Hostess are positioned to welcome each guest. Dancing has started-- a          waltz.                                   Kitty and her parents enter the ballroom and are received by their hosts.          Everything has come together for Kitty--her dress, her hair, her skin, her          moment. She radiates happiness. An Officer stands aside to let them pass,          openly admiring Kitty, smoothing his moustache. A Youth having trouble          with his white tie hurries past but turns back to Kitty.                                                   YOUTH           Kitty! May I have a waltz?                                                   KITTY           You may, Boris. I'll save you the third just           because it's your first ball.                                                   YOUTH                          (THRILLED)           You're my first conquest.                                   The Master of Ceremonies, Korsunsky, arrives and without permission          sweeps her into the waltz.                                                                            48                          KORSUNSKY           It's a relaxation to dance with you, Princess.                                   Kitty sees Anna arriving with Oblonsky and gives a little gasp at her          God-given beauty.                                                   KORSUNSKY (CONT'D)           But back to work! Where do you want to           be taken?                                                   KITTY           There.                                   Korsunsky waltzes her brilliantly through the dancers and twirls her to          rest in front of a small group including Anna and Oblonsky-- floating          Kitty's train.                                                   KORSUNSKY                          (BOWING)           So that your ankles may be seen.                                   Anna appraises Kitty at a glance and gives her a tiny nod signifying top          marks. Kitty glows.                                                   KITTY           How are you, Stiva?                                                   OBLONSKY           Thanks to Anna, I am a happy man. Would           you like to dance?                                                   KITTY           No, ask Anna.                                                                                                                              49                          ANNA                          (DEMURS)           No . . . I don't . . .                                   She looks up and sees Vronsky coming straight towards her.                                                   ANNA (CONT'D)           Come on then.                                   Just as Vronsky is about to bow, she takes Oblonsky's arm and he whirls          her away. Kitty smiles for Vronsky but his eyes have followed Anna, know-          ing she cut him. He remembers himself after an awkward hiatus. Kitty's          mother and father are watching from afar. Vronsky obliges. He invites her          into the waltz.                                                   PRINCE SHCHERBATSKY           . . . this vile, idiotic matchmaking of           yours . . .                                                   PRINCESS SHCHERBATSKY           For goodness' sake, what have I done?                                                   PRINCE SHCHERBATSKY           Levin is a thousand times better than this           Petersburg fop. If he had royal blood my           daughter wouldn't need him!                                   Vronsky's mind is absent and the waltz ends after only a few steps. He          stand waiting for the music to start.                                                   KITTY           Is anything the matter?                                                                                                                              50                          VRONSKY           No. You look . . . as lovely as ever, Princess           Kitty.                                   The music starts and they dance on.                                   At the end of the waltz, Vronsky leaves Kitty with her mother, bows and          departs. Princess Shcherbatsky is beginning to have doubts. She starts to ask.                                                   KITTY                          (SHARPLY)           Don't ask me, Maman!                                   Boris the Youth pops up to claim his dance. Dancing, Kitty sees Vronsky          talking to a couple of Officers. She is anxious but not disillusioned.                                   Grumpy Prince Shcherbatsky is dancing with Countess Nordston.                                                   COUNTESS NORDSTON           He'll dance the mazurka with Kitty, you'll           see. I call the mazurka the now-or-never.                                   Anna watches the dancing. She rejects an offer with a smile. She sees Vron-          sky and to her discomfort Vronsky looks up and catches her looking.                                   She turns away at once, and notices that ladies are curtseying and men are          bowing as the Host and Hostess escort an overweight but glittering young          couple towards a decorative buffet in an adjoining salon: the Austrian          royal honeymooners . . . attended by the Guards Officer from the station.          Anna stands and curtseys as they pass by into the salon . . . where Oblonsky          is roaring with laughter, champagne in hand.                                                   AUSTRIAN PRINCESS           . . . we were shut up in the train for an hour!                                                                                                     51          Anna steals a sidelong glance towards Vronsky but he is no longer there.          She looks for him among the dancers, smiles at Kitty going by with the          enthusiastic, inexpert Boris.                                   Suddenly, Vronsky is at Anna's side.                                                   VRONSKY           Dance with me.                                                   ANNA                          (CALMLY)           I am not used to being spoken to like that           by a man I met once at a railway station.                                                   VRONSKY           I dare say, but if I'm not to dance with you,           I'm getting out of this operetta and going           home.                                                   ANNA           Then, for Kitty's sake.                                   She gives him her hand.                                   Kitty looks for Vronsky, can't see him, then is taken aback to see him with          Anna. Kitty watches Anna dancing. Anna says something which makes          Vronsky laugh. Anna laughs. Anna blossoms in front of Kitty's eyes. Vron-          sky twirls Anna around and she comes smiling into his arms.                                   It goes on like that. Kitty watches them from within the arms of young men,          old men, from the wall. Anna and Vronsky dance slow, they dance fast,          gaily, solemnly, gazes locked.                                   Others are noticing too: Countess Nordston, Princess Shcherbatsky, and          eagle-eyed matrons. Anna, oblivious, has found a release in herself.                                                                            52          Countess Nordston finds Kitty sitting alone. Korsunsky announces the          Mazurka.                                                   COUNTESS NORDSTON           You're not dancing the mazurka? I won't           have it.                                   She pulls Kitty to her feet.                                    countess nordston (cont'd)           I'm engaged by General Glub--I give him           to you.                                                            THE MAZURKA . . .                                   Korsunsky supervises a large circle of couples who change partners as they go          round, with one couple dancing in the middle of the circle.                                                   KORSUNSKY           . . . the lady chooses a lady and a           gentleman . . . !                                   The lady in the middle beckons to Anna and the man who, changing part-          ners, happens to be dancing with her. They enter the middle where they          have their solo turn as a couple, while the original couple reenter the circum-          ference. Anna is flushed with pleasure. Among the surrounding dancers,          Vronsky has no eyes for his partner, only for Anna. Kitty, dancing, watches          Vronsky incredulous.                                                   KORSUNSKY (CONT'D)                          (ADDRESSING ANNA)           . . . and the lady chooses a lady and a           gentleman . . . !                                                                                                     53          Anna looks smilingly around the dancing circle and sees Kitty staring          at her. Anna "wakes up." Everything which made her drunk makes her          sober in the instant. She waits until the change of partners brings Kitty          and Vronsky together. She beckons them into the middle. Her own partner          expects to re-join the circumference with Anna, but she makes an apology          and escapes through the circle, running towards the door.                                   With a howl and clatter, the St. Petersburg express seems to crash through          the ballroom.                                                                           MONTAGE                                   An abstract, nightmarish, discordant noise of clattering and howling          accompanies unexplained flame--light on wood, glass, iron . . . blackness          opens like a door on a blizzard of light, and slams shut.                                   Anna's face, eyes closed, floats ghostlike.                                                            INT. TRAIN, SAME TIME--NIGHT                                   Anna comes to consciousness in the dimly lit carriage, making sense of what          seems like a hallucination. Wind and snow batter on the window. The          Carriage Stoker, in long coat and cap, deals with the stove, clears frost off          a thermometer on the wall. He leaves, opening the door to snow and wind          and slamming it behind him.                                                            EXT. RUSSIA--NIGHT                                   The train "speeds" (35 m.p.h.) through a blizzard.                                                                                                                              54          INT. THE TRAIN                                   Anna has a reading lamp hooked over her armrest, and a novel. She cuts          a page with a paper-knife. But the book cannot hold her. She is reading          without taking it in. She turns back a page and tries again, but almost at          once she turns to the window where the dark reflection of her face looks back          at her. Kitty's face staring as she stared at Anna, betrayed.                                   Anna turns away from the window. The Guard comes through the door,          letting in wind and snow, and shuts it. He walks through the carriage.                                                   GUARD           Bologoye! Fifteen minutes.                                   The train is slowing.                                                            EXT. BOLOGOYE--NIGHT                                   The train clanks to a halt at a small station. Anna (and a few others)          get down from the train. She wears a heavy cloak. The wind blows a few          snowflakes through the station but the roof keeps off the snow. She is glad of          the fresh air. Here and there, men are walking, smoking, laughing together.          She feels better.                                   A tall outline of a man in a greatcoat and military cap emerges from the          flickering gloom. She catches her breath. He salutes her.                                                   VRONSKY           Can I be of service to you?                                                   ANNA           I didn't know you were . . . Why are you           leaving?                                                                                                     55                          VRONSKY           You know why. I have to be where you are.           I can't not.                                                   ANNA           This is wrong. If you're a good man, forget           everything that happened, as I will.                                                   VRONSKY           I'll never forget a single thing about you,           not a word, not a gesture--                                                   ANNA           That's enough!                                   She climbs the steps on to the porch. At the door to the carriage she pauses.          The encounter has left her feeling elated and frightened.                                                            EXT. STATION, ST. PETERSBURG--DAY                                   The train arrives. Vronsky gets down from the train and starts to walk          towards Anna's carriage. His German valet, Franz, runs up to him (from          second class).                                                   VRONSKY           Take the luggage home.                                   Franz runs back the other way. Vronsky walks on, then stops when he          sees Karenin waiting on the platform, smiling and going forward to hand          Anna down the steps. Kapitonich enters the carriage. Vronsky hesitates.                                                   ANNA                          (ANXIOUS)           Is Serozha all right?                                                                            56                          KARENIN           Oh, is that all I get? Yes, he's quite well.                                   Vronsky steps forward. Anna knows he's there. She angles herself to avoid          looking at him.                                                   VRONSKY           Did you have a good night?                                   He bows to Karenin.                                                   ANNA           Yes, quite comfortable. Count Vronsky.                                   Karenin extends a hand indifferently then dismisses Vronsky, drawing          Anna with him.                                                   KARENIN           I have to get back to the Committee . . .                                   He walks Anna away.                                                   KARENIN (CONT'D)           Well--were you a success?                                                   ANNA           I? Oh--Dolly and Stiva . . . yes, I think           so . . .                                   Vronsky watches them go.                                                                                                                              57          EXT. VRONSKY'S APARTMENT, ST. PETERSBURG--                          DAY                                   A snowy St. Petersburg street. Vronsky arrives home by cab. He has a flat          in an old apartment block.                                                            INT. VRONSKY'S FLAT, ST. PETERSBURG, SAME                          TIME--DAY                                   Vronsky rings the doorbell. A Servant opens the door. A male voice shouts          "If it's someone demanding money, don't let him in!"                                                   VRONSKY           I'll announce myself.                                   Veronsky enters the main room. The occupant of the flat is a 2nd Lieuten-          ant, Petritsky, wearing his greatcoat over shirt and trousers.                                                   PETRITSKY           Vronsky! The master himself. Baroness,           coffee from the new coffeepot for Count           Vronsky.                                   Petritsky indicates a pretty young woman in satin.                                                   PETRITSKY (CONT'D)           I hope you are pleased by this ornament to           your quarters.                                   Vronsky bows and kisses her fingers.                                                   BARONESS           I'll be off home if I'm in the way.                                                                                                     58                          VRONSKY          You're at home where you are, Baroness.                                                   BARONESS          Ah!--Pierre, you never say such pretty          things to me. We were just discussing my          husband. He won't divorce me, you see. And          do you know why?                                                   VRONSKY          No.                                                   BARONESS          Because he likes eating off my family silver.                                                   VRONSKY          Ah.                                                   BARONESS          I want to bring an action. Just because I'm          supposed to be unfaithful, I don't see why I          have to eat off Pierre's crockery. Look at it.                                                   VRONSKY          It's my crockery.                                                   PETRITSKY          How was Moscow?                                                   VRONSKY          Provincial.                                                                                                                              59          INT. SEROZHA'S BEDROOM, KARENIN HOUSE--                          NIGHT                                   Anna, her dress changed, lies on Serozha's bed, on her side, one arm under          his bedclothes scratching his back gently. He lies quietly on his stomach,          with his eyes closed, his face inches from hers. In the dim light of a night-          light she gazes at him for long moments.                                                   SEROZHA                          (MUTTERS)           You've stopped.                                   She resumes scratching. He grunts contentedly.                                                   SEROZHA (CONT'D)                          (SLEEPILY)           Thank you for my present.                                                   ANNA           Sssh . . .                                   She kisses him and continues to lie there, gently scratching. He falls quickly          asleep. She removes her arm and restores his bedclothes.                                                            INT. BEDROOM FLOOR, KARENIN HOUSE--NIGHT                                   There is a suite of rooms: the Bedroom connects to Anna's Boudoir/Dressing          Room; and thence to Karenin's small Sitting Room/Dressing Room, which          connects to the rest of the house. The rooms--like the whole house-- are lit          by gas lamps but also by candles at key points.                                                                                                                              60          INT. KARENIN'S DRESSING ROOM, SAME TIME--                          NIGHT                                   Korney, the Valet, gathers up a discarded shirt, etc. Karenin in a dressing          gown is reading in a comfortable chair, by a candle lamp. Korney leaves.                                                            INT. BOUDOIR, SAME TIME--NIGHT                                   Anna is at her bureau. She frowns and tears up the letter she is writing.                                                            INT. DRESSING ROOM, SAME TIME--NIGHT                                   Karenin looks at the clock-- nearly midnight-- and closes his book. He          blows out the candle. He comes to the boudoir announcing himself with a          smile.                                                   KARENIN           Time for bed!                                                            INT. BOUDOIR, SAME TIME--NIGHT                                   Karenin comes to put his hand on Anna's shoulder.                                                   ANNA           I'm writing to Dolly . . . and to Kitty.                                                   KARENIN           You are . . . good.                                   Anna shakes her head and clasps his hand.                                                                                                                              61          INT. BEDROOM, SAME TIME--NIGHT                                   Candles each side of the bed. Karenin cracks his knuckles. He unlocks a          drawer and opens a tin box lying in the drawer.                                   Anna, disrobing, registers these sounds.                                                   KARENIN           What are they saying in Moscow about the           new Statute?                                                   ANNA           What new Statute?                                   Karenin takes a contraceptive sheath, made from animal intestine (re-          usable) from the tin.                                                   KARENIN           The new Statute I carried in Council.                                   Anna blows her candle out and gets into bed.                                                   ANNA           No one mentioned it.                                                   KARENIN           Ah. Really?                                   He comes to bed in his nightshirt.                                                   KARENIN (CONT'D)           Here it made quite a sensation.                                   He gets into bed. Anna waits dead-eyed. Karenin blows his candle out.                                                                                                     62          INT. KITTY'S ROOM, SHCHERBATSKY HOUSE,                          MOSCOW--DAY                                   Kitty, a hollow-eyed version of herself, in a demure nightdress, sits upright          on a chaise longue with her legs stretched out. The Family Doctor deferen-          tially removes one of her slippers as though it were an intimate garment.                                                   FAMILY DOCTOR           Forgive me, Princess, but I must . . .                                   With a silver "fork" the Doctor tests the sole of her foot for a reflex. Kitty          is miserably going along with a farce she despises.                                                            INT. OUTSIDE KITTY'S ROOM, SAME TIME--DAY                                   The Prince and Princess are hovering. The Princess flutters with anxiety,          the Prince is in a temper.                                                   PRINCE SHCHERBATSKY           Am I the only one who knows what's wrong           with her?                                   But a Celebrity Doctor, as shiny as his own gold watch which he is check-          ing, is bearing down on them, riding over a Footman's attempt to announce          him.                                                   PRINCESS SHCHERBATSKY           Oh, thank God, doctor--my friends say           you're the only one who can save her!                                                   CELEBRITY DOCTOR           Possibly, Princess, possibly! At your service,           Your Excellencies. Where is the patient?                                                                                                     63          INT. KITTY'S ROOM, SAME TIME--DAY                                   Kitty is sobbing with shame: the Celebrity Doctor has stripped her to the          waist and is tapping her chest. The Family Doctor can't bear it and excuses          himself.                                                   CELEBRITY DOCTOR           Come, come, Princess, we are not backward           people--I handle naked bodies every day.           Deep breath now . . .                                                            INT. OUTSIDE KITTY'S ROOM, SAME TIME--DAY                                   The Family Doctor and the parents are in a huddle. The Prince is apoplectic.                                                   PRINCE SHCHERBATSKY           By God. I'll challenge the scoundrel!                                                   FAMILY DOCTOR           It's the modern way . . .                                                   PRINCESS SHCHERBATSKY           (to the Prince)           You're not a doctor!                                                   FAMILY DOCTOR           Her symptoms . . . loss of appetite, fast                          PULSE--                                                   PRINCE SHCHERBATSKY           Well, whose pulse wouldn't be fast if some           brute of a--                                   The Celebrity Doctor comes briskly out of Kitty's room, checking his watch.                                                                            64                          CELEBRITY DOCTOR           Nervous palpitations. We must treat the           nerves. A tubercular cavity is suspected, too           soon to tell. Soden water every two hours. I           must see her again tomorrow.                          (HE BOWS)           Prince! Princess!                                   He's gone. The Prince enters Kitty's room.                                                            INT. KITTY'S ROOM, SAME TIME--DAY                                   Kitty is humiliated and triple-wrapped against the violation of her bosom.                                                   PRINCE SHCHERBATSKY           Don't you fret, my little Kate! You'll wake           up one fine morning and say to yourself--"I           feel well and happy and I'll go out for a           walk with Papa!"                                   The Prince is mortified when Kitty's sobs redouble.                                                            INT. ART EXHIBITION, ST. PETERSBURG--DAY                                   The social set Anna now moves in is the brilliant circle with connections          to the Court on one hand and to the demi-monde of artists on the other. A          leading light of this set is Princess Betsy Tverskaya, a rich society beauty.          Betsy's immediate circle includes Tuskevich, her "admirer."                                   Anna lifts her eyes to see Vronsky in front of her, talking to Betsy. Vronsky          sees Anna and bows. She acknowledges him and kisses Betsy, and moves          on, studying the next picture. Vronsky watches Anna move on. Betsy cocks          an eye at him.                                                                            65          INT. PIANO RECITAL, ST. PETERSBURG--DAY                                   A few rows of chairs in someone's reception room, a mixed audience of guests,          a flashy pianist . . . Betsy with a "toy" dog on her lap, Tuskevich on one          side, Anna on the other.                                   The dog yaps and sneezes. Betsy hands the dog to Tuskevich, who goes to          exit with the dog. As Tuskevich leaves, Vronsky comes in. Anna sees him.          She turns back to the piano. Betsy glances at her.                                                            EXT. PARK, ST. PETERSBURG--DAY                                   Anna and Betsy, on a bright snow-white day, are being driven through a          park in Betsy's smart equipage . . . towards a horseman walking towards          them: Vronsky salutes the little carriage as it trots by him. Anna keeps          looking straight ahead. Betsy acknowledges Vronsky's salute.                                                   BETSY           I want to give a small dinner before the opera.           Is there anyone you would like me to ask?                                                   ANNA           Yes . . . Yes, the Metropolitan Bishop of St.           Petersburg.                                   Betsy laughs.                                                            INT. STAIRS AND ENTRANCE HALL, KARENIN                          HOUSE--NIGHT                                   Annushka puts Anna's opera cloak over her shoulders, while Korney stands          ready with Karenin's cloak and opera hat. Karenin comes down the stairs          to join Anna. Kapitonich stands ready to let them out.                                                                            66                          KARENIN           Countess Lydia tells me you haven't been to           one of her evenings since you returned.                                                   ANNA           The last one was to meet a missionary, the           one before was for a lecture on the union of           the Greek and Roman churches.                          (CLIMBS DOWN)           I'm sorry--I know you're fond of her. Come           on, or we'll be late.                                   Kapitonich opens the door to let them out.                                                            INT. "FRENCH THEATRE," ST. PETERSBURG--NIGHT                                   This is a small theatre with a "promenade" area where a group of Guards          Officers of high and low rank mix together to enjoy the chanteuses, the          comedians and the can-can girls. Vronsky is with his Commanding Officer,          Colonel Demin.                                                   DEMIN           Here's the thing, Vronsky. A posting has           come up and there's a promotion in it for           you.                                                   VRONSKY           Thank you, sir.                                                   DEMIN           The garrison in Tashkent.                                                                                                                              67                          VRONSKY           Tashkent? But . . . I would like to stay in           Peter, sir, if you don't mind.                                                   DEMIN           I don't mind. But your mother . . .                                   The can-can music starts up, to many cheers. Demin claps enthusiastically.          Vronsky is angry.                                                            INT. OPERA HOUSE, ST. PETERSBURG--NIGHT                                   An attendant takes Vronsky's coat and gives him a token for it. There is          a performance going on within, resolving into applause as he mounts the          stairs.                                   Karenin, an escapee looking at his pocket watch, comes down the stairs, goes          down past Vronsky, looks back at him for a moment, and continues.                                                            INT. BETSY'S OPERA BOX--NIGHT                                   Vronsky enters the box as the performance prepares to resume. It is the          Tverskoy box, occupied by Princess Betsy and her husband, who is likeable,          overweight and, strangely enough, looking at an antiquarian book; wear-          ing white gloves. Vronsky bows to them and sits down next to Betsy. He          takes her opera glasses and looks through them at the Karenin box.                                                   BETSY           You didn't come to my dinner.                                                   VRONSKY           I had to see my Commanding Officer.                                                                                                     68                          BETSY           "She" didn't come either.                                   Vronsky watches Anna through the glasses. Countess Lydia Ivanovna is          next to her. Lydia is in her forties, sallow, no beauty, sincerely religious,          and determined.                                                            INT. KARENIN OPERA BOX, SAME TIME--NIGHT                                                   LYDIA           . . . work never ceases for great men.                                    Your husband is a saint and we must all           cherish him for Russia's sake.                                   Anna winces a smile.                                                   LYDIA (CONT'D)           I hope you can come on afterwards--Father           Kristof's report on the Chinese mission will           be with lantern slides.                                                   ANNA           I'm expected at the Tverskoys.                                                   LYDIA           No doubt, but I'm sure Princess Betsy can           wait for you, my dear.                                   Anna glances at Betsy's box and sees Vronsky there. The opera resumes.                                                   ANNA           Yes. In fact, I think I won't go to Betsy's.                                                                                                     69          INT. TVERSKOY OPERA BOX, SAME TIME--NIGHT                                   Vronsky looks through Betsy's glasses.                                                   BETSY           You're caught.                                                   VRONSKY           I'm afraid I am becoming ridiculous.                                                            INT. BETSY'S RECEPTION ROOMS, TVERSKOY                          HOUSE--DAY                                   Discreet Footmen move chairs to accommodate the guests who move to join          one of the conversation circles that make a buzz in the room. Betsy sits by          the samovar with her little court, including Tuskevich. The Guests include          the Princess Myagkaya, stout, red-faced, outspoken, and two Society ladies,          Lisa Merkalova and "Anna's Friend."                                   Vronsky arrives.                                                   LISA MERKALOVA           Now, there's a phenomenon, look-- Anna's           shadow has arrived before Anna!                                                   ANNA'S FRIEND           I'm Anna's friend . . . but this making-up-           one's-mind-to-it in public is not polite to a           distinguished man like Karenin.                                                   PRINCESS MYAGKAYA           In my opinion Karenin is a fool, and Anna           is the best of us.                                                                                                     70                          LISA MERKALOVA           And we all love you for your contrary opin-           ions, Princess.                                   Vronsky looks around. He knows everybody in the room.                                                   BETSY           Alexei . . . You look desperate. That's not           attractive.                                                   VRONSKY           I'm losing hope.                                                   BETSY           Hope of what? Persuading a virtuous           woman to break her marriage vows?                                                   VRONSKY           And how is Tuskevich?                                                   BETSY           That's not attractive either. Besides, I was           never virtuous.                                                   VRONSKY           No--you're right. She won't come. I'm           going home.                                                            EXT. TVERSKOY HOUSE, ST. PETERSBURG--NIGHT                                   The Karenin coach arrives. It's Anna arriving at Betsy's. She enters the          house in almost unseemly haste. Several coaches are waiting.                                                                                                                              71          INT. CAB, ST. PETERSBURG, SAME TIME--NIGHT                                   Vronsky, in a state, lets himself be carried along. Then he changes his mind.          He puts his head out of the window to shout to the Coachman.                                                   VRONSKY           Turn round!                                                            INT. BETSY'S RECEPTION ROOMS, TVERSKOY                          HOUSE--NIGHT                                   Anna enters. Faces turn to her. She glances around. She knows at once          that Vronsky isn't there. Betsy beckons to her across the room. Anna, self-          possessed, smiling, nodding to friends, pressing a hand held out to her,          offering the other hand to be kissed, glides through a crowd of Betsy's guests.                                                   VOICES           Wasn't Nilsson glorious? One sees that she           has studied Kaulbach, of course . . .                                    There's something Louis Quinze about           Tuskevich . . . as if he came with the           furniture . . .                                   Betsy is smoking elegantly. She kisses Anna.                                                   BETSY           He's gone. But you're just in time for the           surprise.                                   There is a series of minor explosions outside and the darkness out there turns          into an illuminated garden lit by fountains of fire, sprays of light. The          guests react with cries of pleasure and applause.                                                                                                     72          Anna turns at once to the window near her, puts her face up against the          glass, putting her hands to her temples as if to see the illuminations better.                                                                           REVERSE                                   Her self-possessed face, lit by fireworks, falls apart in misery.                                   The firework display continues for a short minute and is applauded. Betsy          acknowledges the congratulations and sycophancy which are her due. Foot-          men come through the room with trays of ices.                                   Anna is still at the window, unaware that there is only darkness outside.          In the room, Betsy notes the oddity: Anna alone with her back to the room.                                                            REVERSE ON ANNA                                   Anna opens her eyes. She is lost for a moment, perplexed.                                    vronsky (O.C.)           May I have the honour of bringing you an           ice?                                   Anna turns, understanding nothing.                                                   VRONSKY (CONT'D)           Ices are being served.                                                   ANNA           I would prefer to try a cigarette.                                   She sits down. Vronsky takes out a cigarette case. He lights her cigarette.          She tries it and coughs.                                                                                                     73                          VRONSKY                          (IN FRENCH)           Courage!                                   Anna smiles. Puffs delicately once.                                                   ANNA           Thank you.                                   She gives the cigarette to him.                                                   ANNA (CONT'D)           I'll try another one sometime.                                                   VRONSKY           When?                                   She looks at him in surprise. He dunks the cigarette in an abandoned dish          of ice cream.                                                   VRONSKY (CONT'D)           Where?                                                   ANNA           Just as I was thinking your manners have           improved since Moscow. You behaved badly,           very badly.                                                   VRONSKY           And who was responsible for that?                                   Anna gets up and walks over to Betsy's chair.                                                   ANNA           Give me a cup of tea.                                                                            74          Betsy obediently gets up to fill a cup from the samovar. Vronsky follows          Anna. This is watched by more than one guest. Betsy hands the cup          to Anna.                                                   BETSY           How nice--Alexei Aleksandrevich has           arrived.                                   Karenin enters smiling. Lisa Merkalova and Anna's Friend share a          delicious-malicious moment.                                                   LISA MERKALOVA           I'm not sure my nerves can stand another           Alexei at this moment.                                   As Betsy and Karenin move smilingly to greet each other, Karenin's radar          picks up the two women's intimate laughter.                                   Karenin remains at apparent ease, as though unaware of people's glances          at Vronsky and Anna, and he kisses Betsy's hand. Princess Myagkaya has          meanwhile gone over to Anna. Anna likes her and is glad of the diversion.                                                   PRINCESS MYAGKAYA           So the Schuzburgs asked us to dinner. The           sauce was said to have cost a thousand rou-           bles, and it was ghastly. We had to ask them           back. I gave them a sauce that cost eighty-           five kopeks and it was a triumph.                                   Anna and Vronsky laugh. Princess Myagkaya moves on.                                                   VRONSKY           Were you glad to see me or not?                                                                                                                              75                          ANNA           This must stop. You make me feel as if I           were guilty of something.                                                   VRONSKY           What do you want me to do?                                                   ANNA           I want you to go to Moscow and beg Kitty           to forgive you.                                                   VRONSKY           No, that's not what you want. Moscow? I           can do better than that. Tonight I refused a           posting to Tashkent. I can change my mind,           and you'll never see me again.                                                   ANNA           If you have any thought for me, you will           give me back my peace.                                                   VRONSKY           I have no peace to give. There can be no           peace for us--only misery or the greatest           happiness. You are my whole life now.                                   She looks at him and nods slowly, as if in thought.                                   Betsy diplomatically leads Karenin to Anna.                                                   BETSY           Your husband is impossible!-- his opinions           are all wrong but he talks so brilliantly he           wins every argument.                                   Anna looks up at her, hearing nothing.                                                                            76                          ANNA           What?                                   She notices Karenin, who kisses her hand. Vronsky acknowledges Karenin.                                                   KARENIN           I called to take you home.                                                   ANNA           No, I'm staying. Send the carriage back           for me.                                                   KARENIN           Of course.                                   He bows to Betsy. Ignoring Vronsky, he turns away.                                                                           LATER                                   Vronsky is with one group of guests, Anna with another. She is animated,          excited, at a small table, involved in a game of cards-- which she wins, to          local applause. She speaks a "must go" to Betsy, and swiftly goes to the door.                                                            INT. ENTRANCE HALL, TVERSKOY HOUSE--NIGHT                                   Dressed for outdoors, Anna comes down the staircase. The Doorkeeper sees          her, opens the door and signals.                                                            EXT. TVERSKOY HOUSE, SAME TIME--NIGHT                                   The Karenin coach moves to the entrance door, which is held open by the          Doorkeeper.                                                                            77          INT. TVERSKOY HOUSE, SAME TIME--NIGHT                                   Anna hears hurried footsteps on the stairs. She hesitates. She continues          towards the door. Vronsky catches up with her. The Doorkeeper holds the          door open.                                                   VRONSKY           Do you want me to go to Tashkent?                                                            EXT. TVERSKOY HOUSE, ST. PETERSBURG, SAME                          TIME--NIGHT                                   The two horses are restless in the freezing air. Konrad looks to the open door.          Nobody coming.                                                            INT. TVERSKOY HOUSE, ST. PETERSBURG, SAME                          TIME--NIGHT                                                   VRONSKY           So I'll go to Tashkent.                                                   ANNA           No. I don't want you to go.                                   She turns and goes out. Vronsky follows her.                                                            EXT. TVERSKOY HOUSE, ST. PETERSBURG, SAME                          TIME--NIGHT                                   Vronsky opens the carriage door for her. She gets into the coach, he closes the          door. He watches the coach go. His face.                                                                                                     78          INT. KARENIN COACH, SAME TIME--NIGHT                                   Her face.                                                            INT. ENTRANCE HALL, KARENIN HOUSE--NIGHT                                   Kapitonich lets Anna in.                                                            INT. KARENIN'S DRESSING ROOM, KARENIN                          HOUSE--NIGHT                                   Karenin, reading by candlelight in his dressing gown, hears the sounds of          Anna's return, all the way to her entrance. He cracks his knuckles.                                                   ANNA           Waiting up? How unlike you!                                                   KARENIN           Yes, I stayed up to talk to you.                                   Anna keeps going, to her dressing room/boudoir.                                                   ANNA           What about? It's late. Where's Annushka?                                   He waits for her to return without her cloak.                                                   KARENIN           I sent her off.                                                   ANNA           Well, if you want to talk, but we should go           to bed.                                                                            79                          KARENIN          I have to warn you about something.                                                   ANNA          Warn me? It's really rather late . . .                                                   KARENIN          I wish to warn you that you may inadver-          tently, by indiscretion and carelessness, give          the world occasion to talk about you.                                                   ANNA          I am not a committee. Please say what you          want to tell me.                                                   KARENIN          You and Count Vronsky attracted attention          tonight.                                                   ANNA          You don't like it when I don't talk to people,          and you don't like it when I do.                                                   KARENIN          I didn't notice anything, myself. But I saw          that everyone else noticed. I consider jeal-          ousy to be insulting to you and degrading          to me. I have no right to inquire into your          feelings. They concern only your conscience.          But I'm your husband and I love you. It's          my duty to remind you that we are bound          together by God, and this bond can only be          broken by a crime against God.                                                                                                                              80                          ANNA           I have nothing to say to you, and I'm tired.                                                   KARENIN           And you have a son.                                   She returns to the boudoir. After a moment he follows.                                                            INT. ANNA'S BOUDOIR, KARENIN HOUSE, SAME                          TIME--NIGHT                                   Karenin finds her in her underwear, throwing aside her dress. He apolo-          gises for that.                                                   KARENIN           Forgive me.                          (TURNING ASIDE)           If I am wrong, I ask your pardon.                                                   ANNA                          (LIGHTLY)           I don't know what you're talking about, and           it's really too late for this. Excuse me, please.                                   Because she wants to undress, Karenin leaves her.                                                            INT. BEDROOM, KARENIN'S HOUSE, SAME TIME--NIGHT                                   Anna lies in bed next to Karenin, elated.                                                   ANNA                          (ALMOST INAUDIBLE)           Too late.                                                                            81                         CLOSE--                                   In the next instant, seemingly in her own bed, she gasps and jerks as though          her body has taken a blow.                                   The CUTS are now between a fragmented narrative of voracious sex ("SEX AS          BEFORE") and "prelude to sex," this being a sequence of shots starting with:--                                                            EXT. VRONSKY APARTMENT, DAY                                   Anna arrives, heavily veiled, by cab. She enters the building.                                                            SEX AS BEFORE                                   INT. VRONSKY APARTMENT, SAME TIME--DAY                                   Vronsky opens his door to Anna. They don't speak. He takes her hand and          brings her in.                                                            SEX AS BEFORE                                   INT. VRONSKY'S APARTMENT, SAME TIME--DAY                                   Vronsky leads Anna through the apartment to the bedroom.                                                            SEX AS BEFORE                                   INT. VRONSKY'S BEDROOM, SAME TIME--DAY                                   Vronsky takes off Anna's outer clothes, slowly and carefully, starting with          her hat and veil.                                                                            82          SEX AS BEFORE                                   INT. VRONSKY'S BEDROOM, SAME TIME--DAY                                   Anna, in underclothes, unbuttons Vronsky's shirt.                                                            SEX AS BEFORE                                   INT. VRONSKY'S BEDROOM, SAME TIME--DAY                                   Anna and Vronsky are standing kissing passionately. He has no shirt.                                                            SEX AS BEFORE                                   INT. VRONSKY'S BEDROOM, SAME TIME--DAY                                   Anna ends up half off the edge of Vronsky's bed, climaxing upside down          and falling to the floor. Vronsky, also half off the bed, looks down at her.          He reaches down for her. She grasps hold of his hand, huddled, hugs it to          her, distressed to tears.                                                   ANNA           Oh God forgive me. It's the end of           everything--I've got nothing left now, only           you. Remember that.                                                   VRONSKY           Anna . . . Anna . . . how can I not remem-           ber? You're my happiness.                                   He draws her back on to the bed, kisses her face, her shoulder . . .                                                                                                                              83                          ANNA           Happiness! You murdered my happiness.                                   She tries to leave but he attacks her as a lover, and she gives way, responding.                                                   ANNA (CONT'D)           Murderer. Murderer. Go on. Go on. Go on.                                   She starts hitting him.                                                   ANNA (CONT'D)           Yes. Go on. Go on. Go on.                                                            EXT. SPRING MELT (POKROVSKOE)--DAY                                   In sunshine, a large chunk of ice loses its purchase on winter and goes          floating along a stream of tiny ice floes between grassy banks almost free of          snow, with early aconites showing.                                                            EXT. POKROVSKOE--DAY                                   The icy stream flows under a footbridge which has a broken handrail.          Vasili, the steward, is on the bridge with a Carpenter. Levin, on horseback, is          displeased.                                                   LEVIN           I thought that had been done.                                                   VASILI           I gave the order. What can you do with           these people?                                   Levin rides on, into an expanded prospect of fields and woods, snow on the ground.                                                                            84                         LATER                                   When Levin gets in view of the house, he is puzzled by the distant sight of          a three-horse sledge arriving.                                                            INT. DINING ROOM, POKROVSKOE--DAY                                   The new arrival is Oblonsky, enjoying his food.                                                   OBLONSKY           Ah--potage aux choux a la Russe!                                   Agafia comes in with the roast fowl.                                                   OBLONSKY (CONT'D)           Agafia!--if you opened up in Moscow,           l'Angleterre would go out of business.                                    Do you want news of Moscow?                                                   LEVIN           Of Babylon? No.                                                   OBLONSKY           You're right, what do you care? You love the           country--you've got it. You love agricultur-           ing, and, Lord knows, you've got it. You love           shooting--you've got it. You've got every-           thing you want!                                   Agafia, leaving, throws Levin a look (no wife).                                                   LEVIN           All right, go on, then. Have you stopped           stealing bread rolls?                                                                            85                          OBLONSKY           Ballet girl, oriental type. How can I help it?                                                   LEVIN           So, nothing new to tell me. How is--how           are the Shcherbatskys?                                                   OBLONSKY           You mean Kitty.                                                   LEVIN           I . . . Is she engaged now?                                                   OBLONSKY           No. Vronsky went back to St. Petersburg.                                   He waits for this to sink in.                                                   OBLONSKY (CONT'D)           Kitty will be at Ergoshovo visiting Dolly in           the summer. You could . . .                                                   LEVIN           Oh yes, as if I had time in the summer! And           I've got extra land this year at Kashin for           the haymaking.                                                   OBLONSKY           Kashin? That's on the Ergoshovo road, isn't           it? Won't you call when Kitty is there?                                                   LEVIN                          (HEATEDLY)           Especially not then. I humiliated myself once.                                   Now it's a row.                                                                            86                          OBLONSKY           Damn you, Kostya, you love Kitty and you           can't forgive her because, first, you funked           it, then you bungled it, then you ran away           from an eighteen-year-old girl who was           made a fool of by a uniform. It's Kitty I'm           sorry for--not you!                                                   LEVIN           Her heart told her no. Did you come to           shoot snipe or criticize me?                                                            EXT. COPSE (POKROVSKOE)-- LAST LIGHT                                   Levin and Oblonsky, with Laska, wait with their guns, a few yards apart.          Levin has calmed down.                                                   LEVIN           For you, getting married is . . . a social engage-           ment. Not for me. For me, it's the condition of           personal happiness and living the right way.           I'll never again be carried away by passion. I           renounce it. I'll have to find another way . . .                                                   OBLONSKY           Look out--here they come!                                   A couple of snipe come drumming over the trees. The men fire simultane-          ously. One snipe falls.                                                   OBLONSKY (CONT'D)           Bad luck!                                   Oblonsky laughs. Despite himself, Levin laughs too. Laska retrieves the bird.                                                                            87          INT. DAY NURSERY, OBLONSKY HOUSE--DAY                                                  SPRING                                   Dolly has had her baby. She is holding the infant, having just finished          feeding him. Kitty is with her.                                                   DOLLY           There. Oh, I'm sore with his feeding! Would           you like to hold him?                                   Dolly gives the baby to Kitty, who takes him almost unwillingly. Dolly          buttons herself. Kitty's maternal instinct won't engage. Dolly notes it.                                                   DOLLY (CONT'D)           Well, don't hold him like a parcel . . . It's           Aunt Kitty, darling. . . . Little face . . .           little fingers . . . look at you . . . Doesn't           he make you ashamed of dwelling on your           troubles . . . ?                                                   KITTY           I have no troubles.                                                   DOLLY           That man wasn't worth the tears, believe me.                                                   KITTY                          (IRRITATED)           I don't care about him. I don't even think           about him. Or her. Except to hate her.                                                   DOLLY           Then we'll never speak of it again.                                   Dolly relieves Kitty of the baby.                                                                            88                          DOLLY (CONT'D)           There are better men waiting for you. Stiva           says . . . Kitty, my lamb, did Konstantin           Levin . . . ?                                                   KITTY                          ( FLARES)           What has Levin got to do with it? Anyway,           I'll never get married. The whole business           of . . . it's become disgusting to me . . . and           look what it's done for you! Why do they           call it love?                                                   DOLLY           Because it's love.                                   Lovingly, she settles the baby in his crib, her face filled with tender joy at          the bargain.                                                            EXT. IDYLLIC COUNTRYSIDE--DAY                                                  SPRING                                   A lovers' idyll, by a stream on a warm day. Anna, lightly dressed, smoking          a cigarette, watches Vronsky fill his wineglass from a tethered bottle in the          stream. There is a pony trap which brought them. He comes back to sit by          her. She kisses him.                                                   ANNA           I want you to. I don't care about it.                                                   VRONSKY           You should care. You're not supposed to.                                                                                                     89                          ANNA           Pooh! Who says?                                                   VRONSKY           Everybody. Doctors.                                   She laughs and throws her cigarette into the stream.                                                   ANNA           You're squeamish. You a soldier! Would you           faint?                                                   VRONSKY           Anyway, someone might be watching.                                   Anna looks all around. Vast emptiness. She lifts a dock leaf to look under          it. She looks up at the sky.                                                   ANNA           But I'm damned anyway.                                                   VRONSKY           I'm not. I'm blessed.                                   Anna pushes him onto his back and straddles him.                                                   ANNA           You love me.                                                   VRONSKY           Yes.                                                   ANNA           Only me.                                                                                                     90                          VRONSKY           No.                                                   ANNA           Apart from Frou-Frou.                                                   VRONSKY           Yes.                                   Anna holds his face between her hands and works her body on him.                                                   ANNA           But me more than your horse?                                                   VRONSKY           Yes.                                                   ANNA           Are you happy?                                                   VRONSKY           Yes.                                                   ANNA           And you love me?                                                   VRONSKY           Yes.                                                   ANNA           How much?                                                   VRONSKY           This much.                                   Anna drags the front of her skirts out of her way.                                                                            91                          ANNA           This much?                                                   VRONSKY           Yes.                                                   ANNA           This much?                                                   VRONSKY           Yes.                                                   ANNA           This much?                                                   VRONSKY           Yes.                                                   ANNA           This much? And this much? And this           much?                                                   VRONSKY           Yes.                                                   ANNA                          ( FIERCELY)           And . . . this . . . much . . . ?                                   She falls on him. He strokes her hair.                                   Her hand comes into view, the index finger bloody. She carefully paints his          lips with it. She kisses his lips clean, and rolls off him onto her back.                                                                                                                              92                          ANNA (CONT'D)           So this is love. This.                                                            INT. KARENIN'S STUDY, KARENIN HOUSE--DAY                                                  SUMMER                                   Korney brings Countess Lydia. Karenin comes from behind his desk to          invite her to a chair.                                                   KARENIN           Countess . . . I thought you would be at           Peterhof now.                                                   LYDIA           I've come from there. I'm distressed that you           haven't taken your usual house this year.                                                   KARENIN           Anna wanted a change. She is spending the           summer at Tsarskoe.                                                   LYDIA           Near Princess Betsy. And . . .                                   Karenin waits.                                                   LYDIA (CONT'D)           The Guards are in summer camp at           Tsarskoe.                                   Karenin waits.                                                                                                                              93                          LYDIA (CONT'D)           Alexei Alexandrovich, forgive me but you           are too tolerant! Your wife . . .                                   Karenin affects surprise.                                                   KARENIN           Oh, is this about my wife?                                   He smiles at her.                                                   KARENIN (CONT'D)           My wife is beyond reproach. She is, after           all, my wife.                                   Countess Lydia gets the message. She rises to go. Karenin kisses her hand          and accompanies her to the door. She leaves him, and his social mask gives          way to his disturbance.                                                            INT. DEMIN'S HOUSE, TSARSKOE--NIGHT                                   The Commanding Officer is throwing a party for his officers: serious drink-          ing, Soldier Servants, a crowded table on the large verandah, Soldier Sing-          ers in white linen tunics performing operetta and folk songs. Vronsky, in          party spirit, is with Petritsky and another friend, Yashvin, singing along.                                   An officer we don't know is, surprisingly, hailed as "Vronsky!"--he's          Vronsky's elder brother, Alexander. He gestures "Later!" and goes to Vron-          sky. The brothers embrace.                                                   ALEXANDER           Alyosha . . . a message from Maman. Her           friend Princess Sorokina has a house here,           and a virgin daughter, that's not part of the                                                                            94           message, but they'll all be at the races and           you're expected to supper afterwards.                                   The song ends and Demin, half drunk, climbs on the table, shouts for silence          and a toast.                                                   DEMIN           Gentlemen--I give you--the regiment!                                   General uproar. "The regiment."                                                            EXT. DEMIN'S GARDEN, TSARSKOE--NIGHT                                   On a garden bench where the noise of the party is quieter, Vronsky and          Alexander talk.                                                   ALEXANDER           I heard you turned down a promotion.                                                   VRONSKY           That was Maman interfering.                                                   ALEXANDER           Yes. And now she's come up with a princess           for you.                          (SERIOUSLY)           Alexei--we're brothers, so don't take           offence. Getting married puts the pack on           your back--it leaves your hands free for           climbing the ladder. Getting serious about           a married woman is like carrying your pack           in your arms.                                                                                                                              95                          VRONSKY           So they talk about me. I'm leaving, Sasha.                                                   ALEXANDER           An assignation?                                                   VRONSKY           Come on, I'll introduce you.                                                            EXT. STABLES, TSARSKOE--NIGHT                                   Vronsky with Alexander beside him clucks his tongue at the black opening          of a stable and calls softly for Frou-Frou. There's a stir within and the          mare's head appears. Vronsky opens the door.                                                   ALEXANDER           Beautiful. A man would come to no harm.           Do you think you'll win tomorrow?                                                   VRONSKY           Makhotin's Gladiator is favourite, sixteen           hands--Frou-Frou looks dainty beside           him, but she's got heart. Haven't you, my           darling?                                   He kisses Frou-Frou.                                                            EXT. MEADOW--DAY                                   Vronsky sees Anna before she sees him. He pauses to look at her, struck by          her beauty, full of love for her. She is lost in thought.                                                                                                                              96                          VRONSKY           Anna.                                   She has not been expecting him. She is concerned.                                                   ANNA           Alexei, what is it?                                   He shakes his head: nothing. She comes to him and hides her face in his          breast. He holds her tight, taking her hand and kissing it.                                                   VRONSKY           I couldn't bear not to see you before the race.                                   She hugs him, kissing his tunic.                                                   VRONSKY (CONT'D)           What were you thinking about?                                   She continues to hide her face. He lifts her face.                                                   VRONSKY (CONT'D)           Tell me.                                                   ANNA           I'm pregnant.                                   Vronsky presses her hand to his face.                                                   VRONSKY           Ah . . . My love.                                   He kisses her brow and her eyes.                                                                                                                              97                          VRONSKY (CONT'D)           Well, love was never a game to us. Here's an           end to living in corners, existing day to day           on lies. Yes, now we can be together.                                                   ANNA           How can we, Alexei?                                                   VRONSKY           Tell Karenin everything.                                                   ANNA           Do you think my husband will make you a           present of me?                                                   VRONSKY           Leave him.                                                   ANNA           Leave him and be your mistress?                                                   VRONSKY           Yes. Run away.                                                   ANNA           I would never see my son again. The laws           are made by husbands and fathers.                                                   VRONSKY           What, then? I'll never forgive myself for           your unhappiness.                                   Anna looks into his face.                                                                                                                              98                          ANNA           Unhappiness? I'm like a starving beggar           who has been given food.                                   She smiles rapturously.                                                   ANNA (CONT'D)           I unhappy? No, this is my happiness!                                   She kisses him deeply.                                                            EXT. MAZE, KARENIN'S RENTED HOUSE,                          TSARSKOE--DAY                                   It's a good maze. Anna and Serozha are running, laughing, between the          hedges. It's a game. She is trying to find her way to him, chasing him. A          hedge divides them. Serozha darts away from her, runs into a dead end,          doubles back. She spots him, follows him, and now he has eluded her again.                                   Serozha finds his way out of the maze and is confronted by Karenin.                                                   KARENIN           How are you, young man? Your tutor           doesn't seem to be in evidence. We'll have a           look at your lesson books.                                   Anna, coming out of the maze, sees Karenin, recovers.                                                   ANNA           Alexei!--you got away at last. Can you stay?                                                   KARENIN           Why . . . ?                                   Serozha looks scared to tears. Anna kisses him.                                                                            99                          ANNA           Go and find Vasily Lukich.                                   Serozha runs into the house.                                                   ANNA (CONT'D)           I have to change. Princess Betsy is sending           her trap for me. Would you like to come?--           she's taking me to watch the race.                                   Karenin smiles coldly.                                                   KARENIN           Races, surely. No, I'll come on later, and           then I must get back to town.                                   Anna returns to the house. She wipes her kissed hand on her skirt.                                                            EXT. THE RACES--DAY                                   This is a rough-and-ready racecourse but the venue for a high society occa-          sion, with a grandstand for top people and a grander section, ornamented          for greater comfort, for members of the Imperial family. It is also a fashion          parade for some.                                   The racecourse itself is an oval approached by a straight. There are nine          fences, water-jumps, etc., of various difficulty. The "jockeys" are officers in          the Guards, the Hussars and other regiments.                                   Among them is Vronsky, attended by a Trainer who is fussing over Frou-          Frou's bridle and calming her. Vronsky looks with interest at a big power-          ful horse which must be Gladiator, with Captain Makhotin already in the          saddle. Makhotin and Vronsky greet each other with a nod.                                                                                                     100                         KARENIN                                   -- arrives at the races . . . making his way towards the front, smiling,          raising his hat to acquaintances . . . his eyes busy looking for his wife. He          reaches the front and looks up at the Ladies' Stand.                                                            EXT. THE LADIES' STAND, THE RACES, SAME TIME--                          DAY                                   Anna and Betsy are here, and, not far away, so are Countess Vronsky and          the Princesses Sorokina: the mother is a fading fortyish; the daughter is          eighteen, blonde and pretty.                                   Below the ladies section is a planked standing area for gentlemen, who also          may stand to watch the races from the stepped aisle of the seated section.          Soldiers, Horse People and Locals watch from the turf.                                   A race is flowing towards the winning post, with accompanying crowd reac-          tion, but it is clear from Anna's detachment, exchanging chat with Betsy,          that this is not Vronsky's race.                                                                           KARENIN                                   --looks up to the ladies' stand. Betsy smiles at him in greeting, but Anna          seems unaware.                                   Countess Vronsky appraises the young princess.                                                   COUNTESS VRONSKY           Exquisite creature . . . you really ought to be           the spoil of victory today . . .                                   The young princess smiles at her. Countess Vronsky turns her glasses towards          the Starting Post.                                                                            101          EXT. NEAR THE STARTING POST, THE RACES, SAME                          TIME--DAY                                   . . . Vronsky mounts Frou-Frou. The Riders move to the starting line.                                                                           KARENIN                                   . . . watches Anna who is looking through her glasses towards the Starting          Post while the current race finishes to cheers.                                                            KARENIN, SMILING AROUND, WATCHES AS:--                                   Anna's anxious attention turns to a horse and rider who fell further          down the course-- and to the ambulance wagon (with a red cross sewn          on it) . . .                                   Karenin mounts the steps of the aisle, raising his hat to ladies he knows.          Anna ignores him.                                   On the wooden boards below, where gentlemen are watching, Oblonsky calls          up to Betsy.                                                   OBLONSKY           Princess! A bet! What do you fancy in the           next?                                                   BETSY           Kusolev.                                                   OBLONSKY           I'm on Vronsky. A pair of gloves?                                                                                                                              102                          BETSY           Done!                          (TO ANNA)           Alexander Vronsky . . .                                   In the aisle at the top of the stand, Karenin watches as:--                                   Vronsky's brother Alexander, escorting his wife, Varya, bows to Anna and          Betsy, but significantly Varya succeeds in not noticing them.                                                            EXT. STARTING POST, THE RACES, SAME TIME--DAY                                   The riders line up . . . and they're off.                                                                           VRONSKY'S POV                                   The stands and spectators are distant, the first fence coming at him, horses          on either side. His neighbour falls at the fence but Frou-Frou is clear, with          Gladiator half a length in front. The next fence is coming up. Gladiator          and Frou-Frou jump cleanly but a following horse falls badly.                                                            EXT. LADIES' STAND, THE RACES, SAME TIME--DAY                                   Spectators on either side of Anna and those behind and in front collectively react.                                                            KARENIN SEES THAT:                                   Anna reacts not at all. Her gaze through her glasses stays unwavering          on Vronsky. Karenin notes this, and from then on his attention is fixed on          Anna. When the horses come opposite the stand, she lowers her glasses and          follows Frou-Frou taking the lead from Gladiator.                                                                            103                         VRONSKY                                   -- eases Frou-Frou past Gladiator. The horses take the next jump.                                                                           LADIES' STAND                                   With one hand Anna grips her folded fan.                                   Karenin's face is a mask as he watches Anna unconsciously half-destroying          it. She raises her glasses.                                                            ANNA'S POV THROUGH GLASSES                                   Frou-Frou approaches the last fence with Gladiator half a length behind,          on the near side to Anna.                                                                           VRONSKY                                   -- working the reins, rising and falling in rhythm with the horse, looks          ahead to the winning post, and before knowing it he makes an error, losing          the rhythm, dropping back into the saddle and raising the horse's head, just          as Frou-Frou takes off.                                                            ANNA'S POV (THROUGH GLASSES)                                   Frou-Frou rises, Gladiator rises. Frou-Frou disappears. Gladiator clears          the fence in Anna's foreground. Simultaneously, there are shrieks and          exclamations all around her-- OFF CAMERA-- and the view through          the glasses zigzags in search of Frou-Frou, impeded by horses jumping the          fence.                                                                                                     104          She lowers the glasses and sees Frou-Frou on the ground, rolling over, and          Vronsky on the ground.                                                                           COUNTESS VRONSKY                                   -- sees this, too, her mouth set tight with contempt.                                                                           KARENIN                                   --looks shocked. Almost in the same moment he hears Anna's anguished          cry, conspicuous in the hubbub that follows the crowd's exclamation.                                                   ANNA           Alexei . . . !                                                   KARENIN           I'm here.                                   This is adroit. He comes down several steps and pushes through to offer his arm,          but Anna has lost control, trying to escape like a bird beating against its cage.                                                   KARENIN (CONT'D)           Would you like to leave?                                   Anna ignores him, puts her glasses to her eyes, searching out Vronsky.                                                            ON THE COURSE                                   Vronsky extricates himself from his broken horse and, in terrible recrimina-          tion, tries to pull Frou-Frou to her feet by the reins. Frou-Frou struggles          to get up but her back is broken. Officials, officers, and a doctor have come          running.                                                                            105                         ANNA                                   . . . sees an Officer hurrying to the Imperial party to report.                                                   ANNA           Stiva! What are they saying?                                                   OBLONSKY           Vronsky's unhurt--but the horse . . .                                   Anna relapses into sobs, attempting to hide her face behind her destroyed          fan. Betsy gives Anna her fan.                                                                           VRONSKY                                   --is restrained by an Officer.                                                   OFFICER           Her back's broken!                                   The Officer takes a pistol from his holster. Vronsky, enraged and in grief,          takes the pistol from him.                                                                           KARENIN                                   --persists with Anna.                                                   KARENIN           I'm asking you . . . if you wish to go . . .                                   He touches Anna's arm. She jerks it away.                                                                                                                              106                          ANNA           No, leave me alone.                                                   BETSY           I'll bring her home, Alexei.                                                   KARENIN                          (SMILING POLITELY)           Excuse me, Princess, but Anna is not well           and I want her to come with me.                                   A gunshot is heard from the course. Anna turns her tear-streaked face          towards it.                                                            INT. MOVING COACH--DAY                                   Anna's hysteria has solidified into a blank despair. Karenin seems to want          to pretend that nothing important has happened.                                                   KARENIN           You know . . . they say the Emperor dis-           approves of the races . . . the danger of           injury . . . but I . . .                                   Anna looks at him contemptuously.                                                   ANNA           What?                                                   KARENIN           I'm saying there is a value in manly sport,           for the military--                                                                                                                              107                          ANNA           I don't understand.                                                   KARENIN           In my opinion, it's not the sport itself that's           wrong, it's the spectacle, it's making a cruel           spectacle out of--                                                   ANNA           What are you talking about?                                   Karenin changes tack.                                                   KARENIN           I have to tell you--                                                   ANNA           Yes.                                                   KARENIN           I have to tell you, you behaved improperly           today.                                                   ANNA           And how was that?                                   She has raised her voice. He raises a warning finger, and reaches to close the          communication window behind the coachman's box.                                                   KARENIN           By making plain your feelings when one of           the riders fell. Your conduct was improper.           It must not occur again. I have said it before.                                   Anna smiles faintly. He is misled by that.                                                                            108                          KARENIN (CONT'D)           You are going to say my concern is unneces-           sary and ridiculous. You are my wife. I am           wrong to think that . . . yes--perhaps I was           mistaken.                                   Anna looks at him despairingly.                                                   ANNA           No, you were not mistaken. I love him. I           am his mistress. I can't bear you, I'm afraid           of you, I hate you. Do what you like to me.                                   Karenin is literally winded--gasping for breath, slowly getting his breath-          ing under control. Anna huddles away from him in her corner. Karenin          recovers himself only to the point of sitting stock-still, looking at nothing,          not moving.                                   The coach lurches, unbalancing him so that he is pushed against Anna. He          recoils as if from a contamination.                                   The coach slows. The coach stops. A Servant comes to the coach door, opens          the door.                                                   KARENIN           Wait, please. Move away.                                   The Servant backs off.                                                   KARENIN (CONT'D)           I will not have a scandal. Therefore . . . You           will not see . . . this man again. You will           behave in such a way that nothing is known           against you, by society or by the servants.           In return, you will keep the privileges of a                                                                            109           wife--and the duties. Tomorrow you will           return home. That is all.                                   Anna gets out of the coach and runs into the maze.                                                            EXT. MAZE--NIGHT                                   Anna comes to Vronsky. She is still shaken by the showdown with          Karenin in his coach, but is now overtaken by concern for Vronsky after his          fall.                                                   ANNA           Are you hurt?                                   Vronsky shakes his head. He is moved by the sight of her, full of love and          desire, but in her embrace he detects something new, a nervous exaltation.                                                   VRONSKY           What's happened?                                                   ANNA           I told him I'm your mistress.                                   Vronsky lifts her face, strokes her cheek. He waits.                                                   ANNA (CONT'D)           He thinks I can give you up and go on           living.                                   He embraces her for that, relieved, grateful, loving--understanding that          she is not going to give him up.                                                                                                                              110                          VRONSKY           No, you cannot.                                                            INT. (ST. PETERSBURG)--NIGHT                                   Imperial hands (the Tsar's for all we know) place over Karenin's head a          broad red ribbon from which hangs a heavy medal. Karenin bows low.                                                            INT. IMPERIAL SALON, ST. PETERSBURG--NIGHT                                   At an ornate doorway a Major-Domo announces.                                                   MAJOR DOMO           Their Excellencies Minister Karenin and           Madame Karenin!                                   Karenin, wearing his medal, and Anna smile their way into a party, to a          patter of polite applause. Further grandees are being announced, but are not          applauded . . . Prince and Princess Berghatskoy . . . Ambassador Chamber-          lain . . . Baron and Baroness Verdlov . . . Prince and Princess Tverskoy . . .                                                   BETSY           Alexei Aleksandrevich . . . congratulations.           You're the only man my husband would do           this for.                                                   ANNA           (To Prince Tverskoy)           Tell me your latest find for your library.                                                   PRINCE TVERSKOY           Not in front of the Princess.                                                                                                     111          Betsy draws Anna away for a moment.                                                   BETSY           I can tell you're happy. You've put on a little           weight.                                                   ANNA           Both true.                                                            INT. SEROZHA'S BEDROOM, KARENIN'S HOUSE--                          NIGHT                                   Anna, in the same dress, kisses Serozha tenderly so as not to wake him, and          leaves the room.                                                            INT. BEDROOM LEVEL, KARENIN HOUSE, SAME                          TIME--NIGHT                                   Anna enters the suite where Karenin, in his dressing gown, puts down his          book. He is elated by his evening.                                                   KARENIN           Time for bed!                                                            INT. BEDROOM, KARENIN HOUSE, ST. PETERSBURG--                          NIGHT                                   Anna is in bed. Karenin is getting ready for bed. Anna listens apprehen-          sively to the little noises of Karenin's pre-coital preparations.                                                                                                                              112                          KARENIN           . . . not that I care for decorations but . . .                                                   ANNA           Alexei . . . I can't . . . I'm sorry . . . But I'm           his wife now.           (she turns to him)           I am having his child.                                   Karenin stares at her. He turns back to the open drawer and puts things          back the way they were. He locks the drawer. He puts on his dressing gown          and leaves the room. Anna waits a moment and follows him.                                                            INT. SITTING ROOM, KARENIN HOUSE, SAME TIME--                          NIGHT                                   It's dark. Anna hears the crack of his knuckles and can see him faintly,          sitting in the dark.                                                   KARENIN           Tell me what I did to deserve this.                                                            EXT. HAYMAKING (KASHIN)--DAY                                   A prospect: next to a country road, a large expanse of meadow is being          mown forty swathes at a time by forty mowers swinging their scythes almost          in unison.                                   CLOSER--Levin is suffering but keeping up, bathed in perspiration. His          place is behind an old man, Theodore, who is scything as if without effort.          Just in time for Levin, Theodore calls a halt and takes Levin's scythe to          sharpen it with a whetstone. Levin attracts a few grins and comments.                                                                                                     113                          YOUNG PEASANT           Konstantin Dmitrich, you'll know your           rows when the field's all done!                                   Levin's row has stalks of differing heights between the even swathes on          either side. There is some laughter, but the men are uneasy.                                                            EXT. HAYMAKING (KASHIN)-- SUNDOWN                                   It's time to stop for the day. More tomorrow. The Mowers with their scythes          walk back across the large meadow of cut swathes. From the other direc-          tion, a crowd of Village Women are coming to meet them carrying food and          drink.                                                            EXT. HAYMAKING (KASHIN)--DUSK                                   A fire has been lit. The Mowers eat their meal in the company of women.          Serafina tends to a cooking pot in the firelight. Levin watches her discreetly.          He has settled down at a discreet distance from the men. His attention          is caught by a grown-up Boy and his young Wife who have chosen to sit          slightly apart. He is charmed by them, watching the girl serve her husband.                                   Theodore comes to Levin with a jug. Levin takes a swig.                                                   LEVIN           How many mowers is it, Theodore?                                                   THEODORE           Forty-two, master. In your father's time it           was work for two days for thirty men . . .                          (SLYLY)           . . . though he never picked up a scythe           himself.                                                                            114                          LEVIN          The men don't like me for it.                                                   THEODORE          They like what they're used to.                                                   LEVIN          It settles me.                                                   THEODORE          How is that, master?                                                   LEVIN          When I'm mowing, I don't ask myself why          I'm here.                                                   THEODORE          You're here to be master, Konstantin Dmi-          trich, to be your father's son, and father to a          son who will be master after you, as it has          always been by the grace of God.                                                   LEVIN          My father owned you, Theodore. My grand-          father owned your father. Owned you like          chattels, to be bought and sold. Was that by          the grace of God?                                                   THEODORE          It was. Those were good times when your          father had the keeping of us. That's my          youngest you were looking at there. His          young life is perilous now since the Free-          dom came and work must be found.                                                                                                     115                          LEVIN           It's true I was looking at him.                                                   THEODORE                          (LAUGHS)           At his wife too, I dare say.                                   Levin is abashed, found out.                                                   LEVIN           They look happier than I've ever been. Is it           living simply that I'm looking for?                                                            EXT. HAYMAKING (KASHIN)--NIGHT                                   Night under the stars. Some of the men have gone, some have settled in for          the night. The cooking fire is burning out. Levin remains where he was,          watching, thinking: drawn to "the simple life."                                                            EXT. HAYMAKING (KASHIN)--DAWN                                   Levin wakes . . . woken by hoofbeats and the jingle of harness.                                   Levin sees a coach coming towards him. The coach comes nearer, leather          boxes strapped to the roof.                                   Levin sees that a young woman is looking out of the side window, holding          on to the white ribbons of her bonnet. He sees that it is Kitty, on her way to          Ergoshovo. (Princess Shcherbatsky is also inside, dozing.)                                   The coach passes on, leaving Levin lovelorn, the dawn light on him. The          sight of Kitty has turned him round again.                                                                                                     116          INT. STATION, ST PETERSBURG--DAY                                                  AUTUMN                                   Vronsky stands at the entrance to the platform holding a bouquet, waiting          for a train. He looks pretty fed up.                                                            INT. "FRENCH THEATRE," ST. PETERSBURG--NIGHT                                   As before, the set-up is a small stage, a small auditorium, and an area for          drinking, cruising, etc., a combination of music hall and a bar with a few          tables. Vronsky is here as the escort of a Foreign Prince (an Indian), watch-          ing a "risquÈ" show with Can-Can Girls, much relished by the visitor.                                   Vronsky's glance casts about in the gloom. The champagne is flowing. Vron-          sky spots a trio--Lisa Merkalova, Betsy, and Stremov, a politician and          Karenin's rival.                                   Vronsky catches Betsy's eye. She beckons him. He excuses himself to the          Foreign Prince, who doesn't notice, and goes over to the other table. Under          the music, he is introduced to Stremov, and kisses the hands of the women.          He takes the empty chair.                                                   VRONSKY           He's some kind of prince at home. Exhaust-           ing. Where is Tuskevitch this evening?                                                   BETSY           Why ask me?                                   At which moment, Makhotin appears at the table. Vronsky relinquishes          his chair.                                                                                                                              117                          VRONSKY           Captain Makhotin . . .                                   Vronsky bows to the women.                                                   VRONSKY (CONT'D)           I must leave you. I'm on duty tonight.                                                   MAKHOTIN           Lucky woman. Give her my respects, and to           Karenin if you see him.                                   Vronsky freezes in anger.                                                   BETSY           Don't. Would you compromise me? And           Lisa?                                   Lisa and Stremov are enjoying it. Vronsky turns away. The Foreign Prince          is applauding enthusiastically when Vronsky rejoins him.                                                   STREMOV                          (SMIRKS)           I only say that a man who can't govern his           wife has perhaps gone as far as he can go in           government.                                                            INT. BEDROOM, VRONSKY'S FLAT, ST. PETERSBURG--                          DAY                                   Vronsky wakes. He has fallen asleep in his clothes. A note has been deliv-          ered, propped up by the bed. He reaches for it.                                                                                                                              118          EXT. KARENIN HOUSE, ST. PETERSBURG--NIGHT                                   A cab brings Vronsky. The Karenin coach is waiting outside. As Vronsky          approaches the door, it opens and Kapitonich comes out with a folded rug.          Kapitonich is wrong-footed by seeing him. Karenin comes out of the door,          into the gaslight. When he sees Vronsky he hesitates for a fraction but con-          tinues. Kapitonich is holding open the door of the coach. Vronsky bows,          Karenin, expressionless, touches his hat and gets into the coach, taking the          rug. Vronsky walks into the house as the coach moves off.                                                            INT. ENTRANCE HALL, KARENIN HOUSE, SAME                          TIME--NIGHT                                   Kapitonich comes in, closing the door. Vronsky gives him his hat and coat.                                                   KAPITONICH           Good evening, Your Excellency.                                   Kapitonich is uneasy. A Footman comes from a service door. He sees Vron-          sky and looks to Kapitonich.                                                   VRONSKY           I am expected.                                   Kapitonich nods to the Footman.                                                            INT. RECEPTION ROOM, KARENIN HOUSE, SAME                          TIME--NIGHT                                   Anna, six months pregnant, is seated almost formally. The Footman lets          Vronsky in and retires closing the door. Anna runs to Vronsky.                                                                                                                              119                          ANNA           No!--no. I will not live like this!                                   He holds her, calming her, hushing her.                                   He leads her into a Winter Garden conservatory off the Reception Room.                                                   ANNA (CONT'D)           Waiting hour after hour while you're drink-           ing champagne with naked actresses--           don't think I don't know!--Lisa Merkalova           still calls on me.                                                   VRONSKY           It's punishment enough that I'm on escort           duty, without . . .                                                   ANNA           Yes--I'm sorry--it's my demon, I can't help it.                                                   VRONSKY           You wrote that you were ill.                                                   ANNA           Did I? Well, I am!                          (GAILY)           But don't worry! It won't be for long, I'll           soon be out of your way--soon!                                                   VRONSKY           Stop.                                                   ANNA           No, it's true. I was told it in a dream.                                                                                                     120                          VRONSKY           There, it was only a bad dream.                                                   ANNA           Yes, and I'm only going to die having your           baby.                                                   VRONSKY           That's all nonsense!                                   She kisses him all over his face.                                                   ANNA           Tell me it is, tell me it is. You love me. Only me.                                                   VRONSKY           Your note said your husband would be out.                                                   ANNA           He was late. Serves him right. And you.           Why do you call him my husband? He isn't           my husband--he's a clock, a wooden doll--                                                   VRONSKY           But it was awkward . . . a matter of your           honour. You made an agreement.                                   Anna flares up again.                                                   ANNA           Do you think of my honour when you're           sharing whores with your Hindoo!                                                   VRONSKY           Your demon again!                                                                            121                          ANNA           I'll be glad to die, before you start to hate me!                                                   VRONSKY           Anna . . .                                   Anna gives a gasp. She laughs.                                                   ANNA           Put your hand there. There! Did you feel           him move!                                                            INT. COMMITTEE CHAMBER, ST. PETERSBURG--NIGHT                                   "The Committee" is in session. Stremov has the floor. He is referring to a          map of Russia on an easel, splotched with colours. Karenin is there but not          listening, his thoughts far away.                                                   STREMOV           I must respectfully ask Minister Karenin           whether his proposals for the regulation of           these colourful Gypsy tribes, of these schol-           arly God-fearing Jews, and of--but I'm           afraid I have lost the Minister's attention . . .                                   All turn to look at Karenin, who sits staring at nothing, unaware even of          the pause. He wakes. For a beat he hardly knows where he is.                                                            INT. ENTRANCE HALL, KARENIN HOUSE--NIGHT                                   Kapitonich lets Karenin in. Karenin is brisk.                                                                                                                              122                          KARENIN           Who is here?                                                   KAPITONICH           Only Madame, Your Excellency.                                   Karenin goes up the staircase. There is an urgency in him, a fury.                                                            INT. ANNA'S BOUDOIR, KARENIN HOUSE, SAME                          TIME--NIGHT                                   Karenin walks in and goes to her bureau, empties out little drawers and          receptacles, looking for the key to the main drawer. Anna comes in from the          bedroom, alarmed, in her nightdress.                                                   ANNA           I wanted to see him because . . .                                                   KARENIN           I do not wish to be told why a woman wants           to see her lover.                                   He pulls furiously at the locked drawer, then looks around for an implement.                                                   ANNA           What are you . . . ?                                                   KARENIN           I want his letters.                                   Karenin finds an iron bootjack. Anna tries to stop him. He pushes          her aside and smashes the wood around the lock, then, struggling against her,          he takes from the open drawer a pretty cardboard box, a good guess. He          confirms that it contains letters.                                                                            123                          KARENIN (CONT'D)           I am going to Moscow tomorrow, and           then to the provinces with a commission           to investigate conditions among the Jews           and Gypsies--whose conditions I infinitely           prefer to my own. I will not return to this           house until divorce has put you into the           street. Meanwhile my son will be sent to           live with my eldest sister.                                                   ANNA                          (WAILS)           Alexei . . . please . . . leave me Serozha . . . !                                   Karenin looks at her with contempt.                                                   KARENIN           Do you think I would let you have my son?           You are depraved, a woman without honour. I           thank God the curse of love is lifted from me.                                   He walks out with the box of letters.                                                            EXT. STREET, MOSCOW--DAY                                                  WINTER AGAIN                                   Oblonsky arrives outside his office building in a cab. He enters.                                                            INT. GOVERNMENT BUILDING, MOSCOW--DAY                                   Saluted by the Hall Porter, Oblonsky mounts a semi-grand staircase and          arrives at the entrance to his department. He goes in.                                                                            124          INT. OUTER ROOM, OBLONSKY'S OFFICE, SAME                          TIME--DAY                                   Levin stands up in his almost new, hardly used coat, top hat and boots.                                                   OBLONSKY           Levin! What . . . ?                                   Levin smiles, hopefully, sheepish.                                                   LEVIN           I need your advice . . .                                   It's a reprise. Oblonsky understands. He seizes Levin and kisses him.                                                            INT. RECEPTION ROOM, OBLONSKY HOUSE--NIGHT                                   A small group. Dolly is playing the piano. Kitty turns the pages for Dolly.          The old Prince Shcherbatsky and the Princess are with Countess Nordston          and Oblonsky.                                                   COUNTESS NORDSTON           Well, is he coming?                                   Kitty, keeping half an eye on the door, sees Levin enter and misses the page-          turn. Oblonsky goes to greet Levin.                                                   LEVIN           Am I late? Who is here?                                                   OBLONSKY           Of course you're late! Come and meet . . .           Countess Nordston.                                                                                                     125                          COUNTESS NORDSTON           (drily, amused)           We nearly met at the Shcherbatsky's last winter.                                   Levin, puzzled, bows to her and to the Prince and Princess, who are respec-          tively pleased and making the best of it, and then to Dolly who approaches.                                                   PRINCE SHCHERBATSKY           Come into the fold . . .                                                   DOLLY           Kitty is here.                                   Levin is shaken. Dolly leads him to Kitty, who is frightened, shy and          shamefaced. Dolly leaves them.                                                   KITTY           Konsantin . . . what a long time since we           saw each other.                                                   LEVIN           Since you saw me, but I saw you not so long           ago.                                                   KITTY           When?                                                   LEVIN           You were driving to Ergoshovo . . . I was at           Kashin for the haymaking.                                                   KITTY           Oh, but why didn't you . . . ?                                   They are both embarrassed by the wrong step.                                                                            126                          LEVIN           I'm so glad to see you. You're just the same.                                                   KITTY           I hope not--I was young and silly in those           days.                                                   LEVIN           Months and months ago!                                                   KITTY           And you haven't changed.                                                   LEVIN           No. I haven't.                                   Kitty looks up at him, decoding. They gauge each other shyly.                                                   OBLONSKY           Permit me to announce--soup Marie Lou-           ise, carp with asparagus, and roast beef! I           went to the market in person!                                   But Matvey at that moment presents Oblonsky with a visiting card on a          salver. Oblonsky reads it.                                                   OBLONSKY (CONT'D)                          (TO MATVEY)           An extra place.                                                            INT. ENTRANCE HALL, OBLONSKY HOUSE, SAME                          TIME--NIGHT                                   The new arrival is Karenin. Oblonsky is pleased.                                                                            127                          OBLONSKY           Karenin!--I'm glad you came.                                                   KARENIN           I've been on tour in the regions, a govern-           ment commission . . . I'm sorry--I have           come to tell you our connection must be           severed. I'm going to divorce your sister.                                                   OBLONSKY           Divorce? Dear me, what are you talking           about? Don't be in a hurry. Stay to dinner           and later talk it over with Dolly--                                                   KARENIN           Prince Oblonsky, everything is over between           our families.                                                   OBLONSKY                          (REPROACHFULLY)           Alexei . . . divorce is one thing but dinner           is quite another.                                                            INT. DINING ROOM, OBLONSKY HOUSE--NIGHT                                   Dinner for eight-- clockwise, Oblonsky, Countess Nordston, Prince Shcher-          batsky, Kitty, Karenin, Dolly, Levin and Princess Shcherbatsky.                                   Two Servants and Matvey serve at the table, clearing away the "carp with          asparagus." The Princess is challenging Karenin.                                                   PRINCESS SHCHERBATSKY           You Petersburgers think yourselves so de           bon ton compared with dull, old-fashioned                                                                            128           Moscow, but we know how to do things--           only the other day, I hear, Vasya Pryachnikov           fought a duel with Kvitsky and killed him.                                   Oblonskky attempts to divert the conversation.                                                   OBLONSKY           Well, what's this government commission,           Karenin . . . ?                                   But Karenin ignores him. Oblonsky looks on helplessly.                                                   KARENIN           What was the challenge about?                                                   PRINCESS SHCHERBATSKY           Pryachnikov's wife, naturally.                                                   PRINCE SHCHERBATSKY           It was a matter of honour, defending a           woman's honour . . .                                   Karenin remains cool.                                                   KARENIN           It sounds like barbarism to me . . . And           what if the lover had killed the husband?--           would that have preserved the wife's honour           too?                                                   COUNTESS NORDSTON           Still, not many of us can say that our lover           died for love!                                                                                                                              129                          KARENIN           Love? Thou shall not covet thy neighbour's wife.                                                   COUNTESS NORDSTON           Would you die for love, Konstantin Dmitrich?                                                   LEVIN           I would. But not for my neighbour's wife.                                   Levin is nettled to find that he seems to have made a joke, for the Countess          especially. Kitty remains serious, watching Levin, loving him.                                                   LEVIN (CONT'D)           An impure love is not love, to me. To admire           another man's wife is a pleasant thing, but           sensual desire indulged for its own sake is           greed, a kind of gluttony, and a misuse of           something sacred which is given to us so           that we may choose the one person with           whom to fulfill our humanness. Otherwise           we might as well be cattle.                                                   COUNTESS NORDSTON           Ah, an idealist!                                   Reconciliatory laughter eases the atmosphere. Levin feels abashed at coming          out of his shell. He steals a glance at Kitty and finds her looking at him.          She smiles at him and drops her eyes.                                                            INT. RECEPTION ROOM, OBLONSKY HOUSE--NIGHT                                   The dinner party settles in.                                   Dolly and Karenin sit knee-to-knee in a corner.                                                                            130                          DOLLY           . . . but she will be nobody's wife, she'll be           ruined.                                                   KARENIN           I tried to save her. She chose ruin.                                                   DOLLY           Alexei Aleksandrevich--look at me. You           will have no peace of mind until you forgive           her. It was Anna who taught me that.                                                   KARENIN           I do not wish to forgive. I am not a cruel           man. I have never hated anyone. But I hate           her with all my soul for all the wrong she           has done me.                                   Levin and Kitty are at the card table, with a spillage of the alphabet pieces.                                                   OBLONSKY           It's your turn to play us something,           Countess.                                   KITTY AND LEVIN                                                   LEVIN           Since we last met, there is something I have           often wanted to ask you.                                                   KITTY           What is that?                                   Levin sorts through the alphabet pieces as though he is putting off the          moment, but he quickly puts four letters spaced out in a row: D N M N.                                                                            131                          LEVIN           This.                                   Kitty tries.                                                   KITTY           Do Not . . .                                   Levin adds an I next to the D.                                                   KITTY (CONT'D)           Did. Did Not.                                   Levin shakes his head. He adds an E next to the second N. Kitty concentrates.                                                   KITTY (CONT'D)           The last word is Never.                                   Levin nods. Kitty puts letters in place. They read DID NO MEAN          NEVER.                                   Levin looks into her eyes.                                   Kitty finds letters and presents Levin with T I D N K. Levin adds NOW          to the K. Kitty nods. Levin adds OT to the N. Kitty nods.                                   Levin adds an O to the D. Kitty shakes her head. She puts an H after the T.                                                   LEVIN           I know what it says.                                   Dolly, looking across the room, sees Kitty and Levin serious and smiling,          rapt.                                   Levin places extra letters: THEN I DID NOT KNOW. Kitty nods.                                                                            132                          LEVIN (CONT'D)           Then. But now?                                   Kitty finds C Y F A F.                                                   LEVIN (CONT'D)           Can You.                                   Kitty nods.                                                   LEVIN (CONT'D)           Can you Forgive. And Forget.                                   Levin puts down I L Y.                                                   LEVIN (CONT'D)           I never stopped . . .                                   He looks up to see silent tears streaming down her face. His own eyes flood.                                                            EXT. STREET, MOSCOW--NIGHT                                   Karenin walks away from the Oblonsky house. He lifts his face to meet the          snowflakes. He looks tortured. Snow melts on his face like tears. He takes          from his wallet a telegram.                                                            CLOSE UP TELEGRAM:           I BEG YOU TO COME. I NEED YOUR FORGIVENESS.           I AM DYING.                                                   KARENIN           Die, then.                                   He stands in the snow, uncertain.                                                                            133          INT. TRAIN (MOSCOW TO ST. PETERSBURG)--NIGHT                                   Karenin sits like a statue.                                                            INT. ENTRANCE HALL, KARENIN HOUSE--DAY                                   Karenin is let into the house by Kapitonich.                                                   KARENIN           How is your mistress?                                                   KAPITONICH           Safely delivered of a daughter, Your           Excellency.                                                   KARENIN           So . . . she is well?                                                   KAPITONICH           The mistress is very poorly. The doctor . . .                                   Karenin, going to the stairs, sees Vronsky's cloak and cap on the coat stand.                                                            INT. BEDROOM LEVEL, KARENIN HOUSE, SAME                          TIME--DAY                                   Karenin comes up the staircase. When he reaches his dressing room he hears          Anna shouting for "Alexei" in her delirium. He hesitates. Anna shouts the          name again. Karenin enters Anna's boudoir.                                                                                                                              134          INT. ANNA'S BOUDOIR, KARENIN HOUSE, SAME                          TIME--DAY                                   Karenin sees Vronsky sitting with his hands over his face. Vronsky jumps          up in confusion.                                                   VRONSKY           She's dying. Please let me stay.                                   Karenin looks at him coldly and enters the bedroom.                                                            INT. BEDROOM, KARENIN HOUSE--DAY                                   Anna is not seeing or hearing, struggling against the Doctor and the Mid-          wife, while Annushka holds her hand.                                                   DOCTOR           Thank God! She talks only of you.                                   In her delirium, Anna keeps up a bright prattle.                                                   ANNA           Why doesn't he come? He is kind. He will           forgive me.                                                   MIDWIFE           He's here--look--look--can't you see him?                                                   ANNA           I want Alexei! Why doesn't he come? Give           me some water. No, I mustn't, it's not good           for my little girl. Or let her have a nurse.           Yes--don't bring her here, because Alexei           is coming and it will hurt him to see her.                                                                            135                          ANNUSHKA           He's come, my dear--look there . . .                                   Annushka gives way to Karenin, who kneels by the bed, taking Anna's          hand.                                                   DOCTOR                          (TO ANNUSHKA)           More ice.                                   Annushka hurries out.                                                   ANNA           Oh, what nonsense. I must be asleep, that's           what it is. You think he won't forgive me           but you don't know him. No one knows           him except me. I'm not afraid of him now.                                   Karenin gazes at her. He looks at her as he's never looked at her.                                                   ANNA (CONT'D)           I'm afraid of death, though.                                   Karenin tries to speak but cannot. He starts making shushing noises as to a          baby. She quietens down. She seems to recognise him.                                                   ANNA (CONT'D)           Oh, my dear. Don't look at me like that.           I am not the one you think. I'm afraid of           her. She fell in love with another man. I'm           the real one. But I'm dying now, then she'll           be dead, too. Poor man! Let him come in.           Alexis! Alexis!                                                                                                                              136          INT. BOUDOIR, KARENIN HOUSE, SAME TIME--DAY                                   Vronsky hears her calling. He comes into the bedroom.                                                            INT. BEDROOM, KARENIN HOUSE, SAME TIME--DAY                                   Vronsky covers his face, unmanned. The Doctor nods to the Midwife--          "Leave them alone." They leave.                                                   ANNA           Take your hands away from your face. Look           at my husband. He's a saint! Take his hand.           Alexei--take his hands away.                                   Karenin pulls Vronsky's fingers, and holds on to Vronsky's hand.                                                   ANNA (CONT'D)           Forgive him, too. Thank God, thank           God . . .                                                                           DAWN                                   Anna is asleep. Karenin is alone with her. The crisis seems to be over. She          opens her eyes.                                                   ANNA (CONT'D)           So you came.                                   Karenin puts his face down to her shoulder. She strokes him.                                                   ANNA (CONT'D)           If I had died as I wanted, you would be free           of your troubles at last.                                                                            137                          KARENIN           I am free of them.                                   Anna closes her eyes and sleeps again.                                                            BOUDOIR, KARENIN HOUSE, SAME TIME--DAY                                   Karenin comes in. Vronsky is there. He looks up abjectly.                                                   VRONSKY           Whatever you think of me, please believe           me, I love her--I could not have done other-           wise than what I . . . what I did.                                   Karenin nods and sits next to him.                                                   KARENIN           But you must leave now. I promise to send           for you if she asks for you. I don't know what           happened. I forgive you. I forgive Anna. My           soul is filled with joy. I will remain with her           and look after her for ever.                                   Karenin stands up and offers his hand. Vronsky grasps it and starts          shaking.                                                   KARENIN (CONT'D)           Come now, come now . . .                                   Karenin embraces him, comforting him.                                                                                                                              138          INT. VRONSKY FLAT, ST. PETERSBURG                                   Vronsky arrives back at his flat . . . and finds his mother waiting for him          in his sitting room.                                                   COUNTESS VRONSKY           Look at you. You look like what you are. A           laughingstock. I fancy you are to be asked           to leave the regiment.                                                   VRONSKY           I would like you to go, Maman.                                                   COUNTESS VRONSKY           I will go when I'm ready to go. A little           affair with a married woman puts a finish-           ing touch to a young man's education--but           this morbid, selfish obsession . . . ! You have           publicly humiliated a man who has devoted           his life to Russia, and it will not be forgot-           ten. You'd better come back to Moscow           with me. You're finished here.                                                   VRONSKY           In Petersburg?           (he taps his breastbone)           I'm finished here.                                                            INT. BEDROOM, VRONSKY FLAT--DAY                                   For the first time, Vronsky is wearing civilian clothes . . . looking reflect-          ingly at his uniform hanging in his wardrobe. He places his cavalry cap          carefully on a shelf and closes the wardrobe.                                                                                                     139          INT. BEDROOM, OBLONSKY HOUSE, MOSCOW--                          DAY                                   Levin is half-dressed in clothes to be married in, assisted by Matvey and          watched over by Oblonsky, who is in wedding clothes. Levin is frantic.          Oblonsky is perplexed. Matvey is unflappable, holding Levin's coat ready          and following him around.                                                   LEVIN           . . . no, I'll go to her and tell her it's not           too late to stop this business! Better now           than when we're married and she realises           she doesn't love me!                                                   OBLONSKY           But she does love you!                                                   LEVIN           How can she? I mean, look at me! Suppose           she's only marrying me to get married?           Suppose she's still in love with Vronsky?                                    She's making a terrible mistake! I'll go           to her and tell her she's free, that's what I           must do . . .                                                   MATVEY           Your coat, sir.                                   Levin snatches the coat and puts it on, and dashes out of the room.                                                                                                                              140          INT. ENTRANCE HALL, SHCHERBATSKY HOUSE--                          DAY                                   Levin, in disarray, is let into the house. The entrance hall is crowded, loud          and chaotic with children, maids, governesses and Kitty's mother. Tanya,          Masha and Lili are bridesmaids. Grisha is a page. Princess Shcherbatsky,          trying to create order among last-minute bouquet distribution, hair-          adjustments, shoe-changing, etc., sees Levin and explodes.                                                   PRINCESS SHCHERBATSKY           Konstantin!--what-- ?                                                   LEVIN           I have to talk to Kitty.                                                   PRINCESS SHCHERBATSKY           You're not allowed to see her!                                   Levin gallops up the stairs.                                                            INT. KITTY'S ROOM, SHCHERBATSKY HOUSE--DAY                                   Kitty, dressed for the church, is whispering into the crack of the bedroom door.                                                   KITTY           No. I don't understand at all! What's the           matter with you?                                                            INT. OUTSIDE KITTY'S ROOM, SAME TIME--DAY                                                   LEVIN           You can't love me. Think it over! Let people           say what they like!                                                                            141                          KITTY                          ( FRIGHTENED)           Are you mad? Have you changed your           mind?                                                   LEVIN           Yes. If you don't love me.                                                   KITTY           But I do love you!                                   Levin hesitates, desperate.                                                   LEVIN           Do you? Well, I love you!                                                   KITTY           Oh, Konstantin!                                   They link hands through the opening, each with a hand to kiss.                                                            OVER-- CHURCH ORGAN MUSIC                                   INT. CHURCH--DAY                                   A mere fragment of a long and ornate marriage ceremony . . .                                   The grizzled Priest lights two decorated candles, holding them askew in his          left hand, and he uses his right hand to touch Levin and, more tenderly,          Kitty. He gives the couple the candles, Kitty taking hers in her gloved hand.          Levin looks blissfully at Kitty.                                                                                                                              142                         MIX TO                                   The Priest lifts crowns from their heads, and invites them to kiss each other,          relieving them of their candles.                                   The Choir bursts with pride.                                                            INT. NURSERY, KARENIN HOUSE--DAY                                   The baby girl, two months old, is being fed by a Wet Nurse. Replete, the          baby is given over to the Nursemaid who lays the child in her crib.                                   Karenin watches all this. The women ignore him: they are used to him          now, and Karenin is harmless. Karenin stares fascinated at the baby, who          stares back.                                                            INT. BOUDOIR, KARENIN HOUSE, ST. PETERSBURG--                          DAY                                   Anna stares at herself in the mirror. The act of raising a pair of scissors is          an effort. She isolates a thick lock of her hair, and snips it off.                                                            INT. BEDROOM, KARENIN HOUSE--DAY                                   Anna's hair is short all over. She sits up in bed, listening to Princess Betsy,          who has brought the current gossip.                                                   BETSY           . . . and there was her husband wearing her           best ballgown, rouge all over his face . . .           ma chere, le scandale! . . . But I'd better tell           you some regimental news . . .                                                                            143          INT. ENTRANCE HALL, KARENIN HOUSE--DAY                                   Karenin enters and sees a glamorous Footman standing in the entrance          hall, holding a white fur cape.                                                   KARENIN           Who is here?                                                   FOOTMAN           Princess Elisabeth Federovna Tverskaya,           Your Excellency.                                                            INT. BEDROOM LEVEL, KARENIN HOUSE--DAY                                   Karenin approaches the bedroom door.                                    anna (O.C.)           No--I don't want to see him.                                    betsy (O.C.)           . . . but your husband surely wouldn't . . .                                                            INT. BEDROOM, KARENIN HOUSE, SAME TIME--DAY                                   Anna sees Karenin who is about to retreat.                                                   KARENIN           Please excuse me.                                                   ANNA           No--stay.                                                                                                                              144                          BETSY           I am so glad to see you. Everyone asks after           you.                                   Karenin bows to her and kisses Anna's hand.                                                   KARENIN           You look feverish.                                                   BETSY           We have been talking too much--so I'm           going.                                                   ANNA           Princess Betsy came to tell me . . .                                    I don't want to hide anything from you . . .           Count Vronsky asked to come to say           goodbye--he's going away. I have said I           can't receive him.                                   Betsy kisses Anna.                                                   BETSY           Goodbye, my treasure.                                   Karenin follows Betsy out. Anna gives in to a moment of grief, and recovers          herself when she hears the crack of Karenin's knuckles. He comes in.                                                   KARENIN           I agree with you. As he is going away, there           is no need for Count Vronsky to come here.                                                                                                                              145                          ANNA          I have just said so, so there's no need to          repeat it.                                                   KARENIN          But it is for you to decide.                                                   ANNA          Yes, and I decided.                                                   KARENIN          Then I am very glad that--                                                   ANNA          That we agree, so perhaps we can stop talk-          ing about it.                                                   KARENIN          Of course. Is there anything I can do for          you?                                                   ANNA          Yes, can you please please please stop crack-          ing your knuckles.                          (PAUSE)          I'm a bad woman. But I can't breathe. Your          kindness which I can't repay, and your                         FORGIVENESS--                                                   KARENIN          You begged me for my forgiveness.                                                   ANNA          But I didn't die and now I have to live with          it! If only you would have gone on hating me.                                                                            146                          KARENIN          But then--what? What? What do you want?                                   Do you know what you want?                                   Do you want to see Count Vronsky?                                                   ANNA                          (QUIETLY)          Not to say goodbye.                                                   KARENIN          I can't hear.                                                   ANNA          Not to say goodbye.                                                   KARENIN                          (PAUSE)          You would be lost. Irretrievably lost. You          would have no position. And worse if we          divorce. You would be the guilty party.          That means you cannot legally remarry.          Your union with Count Vronsky would be          illegitimate, and so would your daughter          who now has the protection of my name.          And that is what you want! It would be a          sin to help you destroy yourself.                                                   ANNA          You forget something. Count Vronsky and I          love each other.                                                   KARENIN          And this love sanctifies a criminal folly?                                                                            147                          ANNA                          (CRIES OUT)           All I know is that I sent him away and it's as           if I'd shot myself through the heart!                                                   KARENIN                          (PAUSE)           I see. And Serozha . . . ?                                   It's the crux for Anna, and she is prepared for it.                                                   ANNA           I would die for him, but I won't live like           this for him. When he knows about love,           he'll forgive me.                                   Karenin can see where this takes him.                                                   KARENIN           Then I must choose the smaller sin. Vronsky           robbed me of my cloak and I will give him           my coat. I will give you grounds to divorce           me, and I'll accept the scandal, the humilia-           tion and the consequences to my career.                                                   ANNA           No . . . I can't . . .                                                   KARENIN           You may write to him but I would prefer           you not to see him until you have left this           house.                                                                                                                              148          EXT. ROAD BRIDGE, ST. PETERSBURG--DAY                                   Two coaches, each with considerable luggage, have a rendezvous, one coach          on the bridge.                                                            INT. COACH, SAME TIME-- DAY                                   Anna is holding Baby Anya. Annushka and the Nurse are with her.                                                            INT. SECOND COACH, SAME TIME--DAY                                   Vronsky, in civilian clothes, is alone, looking anxiously out of the window.                                                            INT. COACH, SAME TIME-- DAY                                   Anna gives the baby to the Nurse, as the coach halts.                                                            EXT. ROAD BRIDGE, SAME TIME--DAY                                   Anna gets out of her coach and runs the few yards to Vronsky's coach. He          opens the door for her.                                                            INT. SECOND COACH, SAME TIME--DAY                                   Anna is kissing Vronsky's face and being kissed, weeping, smiling.                                                   VRONSKY           You look like a boy. But so pale. We'll go           south . . . to the sea air and sunshine . . .                                                                                                     149          INT. BEDROOM ("THE SOUTH")--DAY                                   Early morning. In a big untidy bed, Vronsky and Anna lie asleep, naked          and satiated. The style of the room, and the warmth of the light, tell of          the journey made, confirmed by the view from the window, an attractive          panorama from an elevation above the sea. In the room, there are open,          unpacked or partly unpacked trunks and cases, and, abandoned untidily,          Anna's and Vronsky's clothes.                                                            INT. KARENIN'S STUDY, KARENIN HOUSE--DAY                                   Slyudin is in attendance on Karenin at his desk.                                                   SLYUDIN           . . . and Madame Odette in person, so to speak,           Your Excellency, with your permission . . .                                   A respectful cough at the door reveals an obsequious male Shopkeeper. Kar-          enin is bewildered.                                                   KARENIN           Madame Odette . . . ?                                                   SHOPKEEPER           Excuse the liberty, Your Excellency . . . it's           for a bonnet and some ribbons Her Excel-           lency has overlooked. If you wish us to           address ourselves to Her Excellency, please           be so good as to tell us where we might . . .                                   Karenin is stricken into immobility, his face hiding in one propped-up hand.          A tear falls on the blotter. Slyudin rescues him, ushering the Shopkeeper out.                                                                                                                              150          Countess Lydia arrives in full fluttering cry.                                                   LYDIA           I have forced my way in! I have heard!                                                   KARENIN           Countess, every shopkeeper has heard.                                                   LYDIA           My dear friend! Don't give way to sorrow.           Our Lord Jesus Christ has you in his care.                                                   KARENIN           No, I'm done for. I don't understand any-           thing. All day long I'm being asked to           make decisions about bills and servants, the           kitchen, Serozha's clothes . . .                                                   LYDIA           I understand. I understand everything. I am           going to act. The household arrangements           you can leave to me. I will come every day. I           will be a second mother to Serozha.                                   He clasps both her hands and kisses them. Lydia falls to her knees.                                                   LYDIA (CONT'D)           He that humbleth himself shall be exalted!           You must not thank me. Thank Him whose           love pours through me!                                                                                                                              151          EXT. SNOWY COUNTRYSIDE, POKROVSKOE, SAME                          TIME--DAY                                   The sleigh brings Levin and Kitty home through deep snow all around. The          house comes into view.                                                                           SLEIGH                                   They have been on honeymoon travels, attested by hotel labels on the lug-          gage. Kitty, eager and anxious, looks at the approaching house. Not too          bad. Levin takes her hand. She smiles at him, to calm him.                                                            EXT. THE HOUSE, POKROVSKOE, SAME TIME--DAY                                   Agafia and Vasili come out on the porch. The house has been painted, the          window frames smartened up, and paper flowers are tied to the posts of          the porch. The sleigh pulls up. Levin carries Kitty through the snow to the          porch. Agafia bobs. Vasili bows.                                                   LEVIN           This is Agafia, and Vasili, the steward . . .           My wife, Ekaterina Alexandrovna Levin.                                                   KITTY           I am very pleased to meet you both.                                   Kuzma sidles by with a bow and goes to take the luggage from the sleigh.                                                   LEVIN           And that was Kuzma. Come inside!                                                                                                                              152                          VASILI           Careful--door's still a bit . . .           (to Levin's look)           it's all right, it'll be dry tomorrow . . .                                                            INT. SITTING ROOM, POKROVSKOE, SAME TIME--                          DAY                                   Levin shows Kitty in. He is immensely relieved. It never looked better. At          the same time he realises that Agafia is agitated: a word in private.                                                   LEVIN           Is it all right?                                   Kitty nods, smiles gamely--it's not like home.                                                   LEVIN (CONT'D)           Sit down a minute.                                                   KITTY           No--I want to see everything.                                   Agafia panics.                                                   LEVIN           A moment.                                   Levin follows Agafia out.                                                            INT. STAIRS, POKROVSKOE, SAME TIME--DAY                                   Agafia follows Levin up the stairs. She is outraged.                                                                                                     153                          AGAFIA           . . . and now I'm doing kitchen maid's           work because Nadya's parents won't let her           set foot in this house, and who can blame           them!--it's indecent!                                                            INT. GUEST BEDROOM, POKROVSKOE, SAME TIME--                          DAY                                   Levin enters the small bedroom. Agafia waits outside.                                   Nikolai is in the bed-- wasted, near death. He lies in squalor. Masha is          wiping his face. She stands up at Levin's approach. Levin bends over Niko-          lai, presses his gaunt hand. Nikolai opens his eyes.                                                   LEVIN           It's me, Konstantin.                                                   NIKOLAI           Yes, good. The doctor here is useless--get           me a doctor from Moscow.                                                   LEVIN           Where did you go? I asked for you every-           where, when I was getting married.                                   Nikolai sighs and closes his eyes. Levin retreats, looks to Masha.                                                   MASHA                          (WHISPERS)           I'm sorry . . . I couldn't leave him. I know           I've done wrong.                                                                                                                              154                          LEVIN           Yes. My wife . . . You can't stay now.                                   Levin goes outside to Agafia and closes the door.                                                            INT. OUTSIDE GUEST BEDROOM, POKROVSKOE,           SAME TIME-- DAY                                                   AGAFIA           I couldn't go against Nikolai Dmitrich's           orders . . .                                                   LEVIN           Yes--yes . . . She's going.                                   An unwelcome thought strikes Levin.                                                   LEVIN (CONT'D)           Did the doctor see her?                                   Agafia nods guiltily.                                                            INT. SITTING ROOM, POKROVSKOE--DAY                                   Kitty has remained. Levin, in miserable agony, is sitting holding her          hand.                                                   LEVIN           I will nurse him with Agafia . . . The           woman will find somewhere in the village.           You won't see her. She knows it's impossible           for you to meet her. It is a torment to me           that I have brought you under the same roof                                                                            155           as this unfortunate . . . this fallen . . . and in           your precious, in your delicate condition . . .                                   Kitty detaches herself abruptly and leaves the room. He hears her going          upstairs. After a moment, he follows.                                                            INT. OUTSIDE GUEST BEDROOM, POKROVSKOE,           SAME TIME-- DAY                                   Kitty comes out of the Guest Bedroom.                                                   KITTY           Good. A clean nightshirt and sheets. A           towel and a clean pail of warm water. Ask           Agafia for vinegar, and to prepare a bed           somewhere for Masha. Wait.                                   Kitty goes back into the room and returns at once with a chamber-pot which          she thrusts at Levin.                                                   KITTY (CONT'D)           And bring the perfume bottle in the outside           pocket of my handbag.                                   She goes back into the room and doesn't return. Levin, humbled, goes down          the stairs.                                                            INT. GUEST ROOM, POKROVSKOE--DAY                                   Nikolai has been stripped. Masha washes his body. Kitty enters with her          arms full of clean linen.                                                                                                                              156                         LATER                                   Nikolai lies naked in clean sheets. Masha hauls him up into a sitting posi-          tion. Kitty puts a nightshirt over his head. Nikolai protests feebly.                                                   KITTY           I'm not looking.                                   Masha and Kitty pull the nightshirt over his body. Kitty pulls the sheet up          over him. Masha adjusts the fresh pillow. She combs his hair (and beard).                                                                           LATER--NIGHT                                   Nikolai lies quietly in a neat bed in the neat room, with medicine and          water jug, etc., tidily by the bed. Masha keeps vigil by candlelight, holding          his hand, singing to him quietly.                                                   NIKOLAI                          (WHEEZING)           I'm going . . .                                                            INT. BOYS' ROOM, POKROVSKOE, SAME TIME--DAY                                   Levin comes into the room he shared with his brother. The room has been          abandoned for years . . . two bare beds, a washstand, a wooden chest. It          contains a jumble of books, shoes, a pair of skates.                                   Levin hears sleigh bells arriving.                                                            EXT. THE HOUSE, POKROVSKOE, SAME TIME--DAY                                   The sleigh draws up, bringing a Priest.                                                                            157          INT. GUEST ROOM, POKROVSKOE--DAY                                   Levin, feeling out of place, is at the washstand. He notices there is a prettily          wrapped new cake of soap. He picks it up and puts it to his nose.                                   Masha and Kitty are kneeling by the bed. The Priest bends over Nikolai          holding up an icon in front of Nikolai's face and murmuring the prayers.          Levin, embarrassed, puts down the soap and comes forward and kneels too.                                                                           LATER                                   Nikolai is at the point of death. Levin stares, torn between the mystery          and the lack of mystery, the ordinariness of the body finally wearing out.          The death rattle comes. Masha kisses the dead hand. The Priest continues          to murmur. Kitty takes hold of Masha's hand. Levin stares into Nikolai's          face: if this is death, what is life?                                                                           LATER                                   Nikolai lies dead, candles burning at his head and feet.                                                            INT. DINING ROOM, POKROVSKOE--DAY                                   Levin counts money, for the services of the Priest . . . who is eating bread          and soup.                                                   LEVIN           Thank you, Father . . . and how much . . . ?                                   He offers a handful of paper money.                                                                                                                              158                          PRIEST           At your benevolence. It is a custom, not a           levy, Your Excellency . . . Jesus overturned           the money-tables outside the temple, but . . .                                   He shrugs and puts the money away, and returns to his soup.                                                            EXT. GRAVEYARD, POKROVSKOE--DAY                                   The snow is almost gone. Nikolai's grave has flowers strewn on the mound.                                                            EXT. THE HOUSE AND YARD, POKROVSKOE--DAY                                   Pava's yearling and several more calves, delirious with release, mill through the          yard with the herd, to pasture, with a Herdsman and Laska urging them on.                                   Masha is leaving, alone behind the Coachman. She sits quietly and doesn't          look back. Levin and Kitty watch her drive away.                                                   KITTY           You're such an expert on love, Kostya . . .           why didn't you know it when you saw it?                                                            INT. GOVERNMENT BUILDING, SAME TIME-- DAY                                   Lydia hurries along grand deserted hallways. She knows her way. A door          ahead of her opens and a dozen Politicians and Civil Servants carrying          portfolios cross her path, with Stremov at the centre of their unheard conver-          sation. Stremov is smiling, triumphant.                                   Lydia expects to see Karenin among them. She hurries on to the door they          came from.                                                                            159          INT. COMMITTEE CHAMBER, SAME TIME--DAY                                   When Lydia enters, Karenin, alone in the chamber, is sitting immobile,          defeated. He starts gathering his papers. Lydia comes to him. Her agitation          explained, she takes an opened letter from her bag.                                                   LYDIA           Alexei, they're back! Here in St. Petersburg!           She has written to me.                                   Karenin accepts the letter and reads it.                                                   KARENIN           To you? . . . I think I don't have the right to           refuse . . . It's the boy's birthday . . .                                                   LYDIA           My friend . . . you would be blowing on the           embers of a fire which must be allowed to           die . . . Let me write to her.                                                            EXT. TOY SHOP, ST. PETERSBURG--DAY                                   Anna is looking into the display window of a toy shop. She is excited, glow-          ing. She enters the shop.                                                            INT. VRONSKY'S FLAT, ST. PETERSBURG--DAY                                   Returning from the toy shop with a wrapped parcel, Anna comes in. Luggage          is stacked up in the hallway and Franz is unpacking stuff in the main room.                                   She sees that a hand-delivered letter is waiting for her. She opens it. Anna reads          the letter. For a moment she is devastated by it--but then, furious, she tears it up.                                                                            160          EXT. KARENIN HOUSE, ST. PETERSBURG--DAY                                   It's very early morning. The street is not awake. A hired cab brings Anna          to her former home. She is heavily veiled, and carries the wrapped parcel          from the toy shop. The cab is to wait for her. She rings the doorbell.                                   A sleepy Servant opens the big wooden door.                                                   ANNA           I'm here to see Sergei Alexeyich.                                   The young Servant doesn't know her. Anna steps past him, pushing money          into his hand.                                                            INT. ENTRANCE HALL, KARENIN HOUSE, SAME                          TIME--DAY                                   Kapitonich, pulling on his livery greatcoat, comes to the inner glass door          and lets Anna in. He does not recognise her.                                                   ANNA           I have brought something for Sergei           Alexeyich.                                   Kapitonich scrutinises her, prepared to forestall her.                                                   KAPITONICH           He is not up yet. Would you wish to wait?           Who shall I say . . . ?                                   Kapitonich peers at her and realises who she is. He steps back and bows.                                                   KAPITONICH (CONT'D)           Please come in, Your Excellency.                                                                            161          Anna goes quickly to the stairs.                                                   KAPITONICH (CONT'D)           Allow me to announce you. The tutor may           be there and not dressed.                                   Anna shakes her head and is almost running away from him. Kapitonich          gives chase.                                                            INT. STAIRS, KARENIN'S HOUSE, SAME TIME--DAY                                                   KAPITONICH           Please allow me!                                                            INT. UPPER LEVEL, KARENIN HOUSE, SAME TIME--                          DAY                                   Anna dashes past two Housemaids who gape at her, and disappears round          the corner. She's a little mad now.                                                            INT. UPPER STAIRS, KARENIN HOUSE, SAME TIME--                          DAY                                   Anna, wild-eyed, climbs the stairs and meets the tutor, Vasily Lukich,          coming down, buttoning his waistcoat. Lukich is startled, not knowing her.                                                   ANNA           I've come to see Sergei Alexeyich.                                   Kapitonich reaches these stairs, calling, "Your Excellency . . . !"                                                                                                                              162          INT. TOP FLOOR, KARENIN HOUSE, SAME TIME--                          DAY                                   Anna dashes for Serozha's door and flings herself through it.                                                            INT. "SEROZHA'S ROOM," KARENIN HOUSE, SAME                          TIME--DAY                                   It's no longer Serozha's room. A large Woman sits up in bed. She's probably          the Cook. She cries out. Anna reels back. She looks panicked.                                   Kapitonich catches up, out of breath.                                                   KAPITONICH           He's been moved to the small sitting room.                                                            INT. UPPER STAIRS, KARENIN HOUSE, SAME TIME--                          DAY                                   At the bottom of the Upper Stairs, Lukich, the Housemaids and a couple of          half-dressed Footmen have their heads together. They move aside as Anna          hurries by, seeing nothing.                                                            INT. UPPER LEVEL, KARENIN HOUSE, SAME TIME--                          DAY                                   Kapitonich catches up with Anna at the door of the "small sitting room."                                                   KAPITONICH           I'll just look in.                                   Anna shakes her head and walks past him, into the room.                                                                            163          INT. BEDROOM, KARENIN HOUSE, SAME TIME--DAY                                   The curtains are drawn closed. The room is dim. Anna sees Serozha sitting          up, yawning, his eyes closed, and falling back on the pillow. She comes to          the bed and whispers his name. Serozha raises himself on his elbow, opens          his eyes and smiles dreamily and falls forward into her arms.                                                   SEROZHA           Mama.                                                   ANNA           Oh, my dear little boy.                                                   SEROZHA           I knew you would come. Today is my           birthday.                                   Serozha rubs his face on her neck, falls back on the pillow, only half awake          and going back to sleep. Anna looks at him avidly, touching his forearms,          his shoulders, the hair over his ears. She can't stop her own tears. He comes          awake.                                                   SEROZHA (CONT'D)           Are you crying?                                                   ANNA           I won't cry. It's time for you to get dressed.           And I almost forgot your present, look . . .           open it . . .                                   Serozha takes off her hat.                                                   SEROZHA           You don't want that . . . Let me see.                                                                                                     164          Serozha tears open the package, lifts the lid of the cardboard box and finds          a puppet, a beautifully dressed marionette.                                                   SEROZHA (CONT'D)           Oh, he's grand!                                                            INT. UPPER LEVEL, KARENIN HOUSE, SAME TIME--                          DAY                                   Korney, the Valet, among others, has joined the "conference" and is blaming          Kapitonich.                                                   KORNEY           It's your fault for letting her in!--you           should be sacked.                                                   KAPITONICH           Oh yes, you would have sent her packing!           Ten years I've been keeping the door and           the mistress was always kind to me. You           should stick to stealing the master's clothes.                                                   LUKICH           I've had enough of this--it's my job to get           the boy out of bed before His Excellency           comes . . .                                                            INT. SEROZHA'S ROOM, KARENIN HOUSE, SAME                          TIME--DAY                                   Lukich cautiously opens the door. He sees mother and son working the pup-          pet and laughing quietly. Lukich backs off. Anna looks round to see the          door closing.                                                                            165                          ANNA           Darling Kutik, Maman can't stay . . .                                   Serozha clings to Anna.                                                   SEROZHA           Don't go!--he's not coming yet.                                                   ANNA           Yes, I must, and you must love Papa--           he's better than I am. When you're           grown-up . . .                                                   SEROZHA           No one in the whole world is better than           you.                                   Anna hugs him.                                                            INT. OUTSIDE SEROZHA'S ROOM, KARENIN HOUSE,           SAME TIME-- DAY                                   The Servants in a huddle look round at the sound of a door, and approach-          ing footsteps round a blind corner.                                   There is no one in view when Karenin comes around the corner. The Ser-          vants have vanished. He goes to Serozha's door. Anna comes out.                                   He stops, astonished. Anna looks at him boldly, then pulls down her veil.          Karenin bows. Anna walks past him.                                                                                                                              166          INT. VRONSKY'S FLAT, ST. PETERSBURG--DAY                                   Anna comes "home" from Karenin's house. The visit has changed her. She          sits down in her hat and coat. Annushka comes in.                                                   ANNA           Where's Anya?                                                   ANNUSHKA           She's still asleep. Should I take your coat?                                   Anna shakes her head.                                                   ANNUSHKA (CONT'D)           Are you feeling unwell, Madame?                                                   ANNA           I'm not sleeping.                                                   ANNUSHKA           I can send out for something.                                   Anna nods.                                                                           LATER                                   Twilight. Anna appears not to have moved. The baby is heard crying in          another room. Anna's face remains set, but she reacts on hearing Vronsky          coming in.                                                   VRONSKY           Why are you in the dark?                                   He turns on a gaslight.                                                                            167                          VRONSKY (CONT'D)           Yashvin is going to call . . . you remember him.           (about her clothes)           Are you going out?                                                   ANNA           To where? To whom?                                                   VRONSKY           What's the matter?                                                   ANNA           I didn't know what happened to you.                                                   VRONSKY           But I told you yesterday . . . My brother . . .                                                   ANNA           Does it take all day for you to meet your           brother? Does he need you more than I do?                                   Vronsky sits next to her and puts his arms round her.                                                   VRONSKY           What's happened?                                   Anna shakes her head.                                                   VRONSKY (CONT'D)           Well . . . Alexander agreed to everything.           Mother's house in Moscow will go to him,           and the country estate will be our new           home . . . as soon as the divorce . . . Karenin           hasn't answered your letter yet?                                   Anna shakes her head. She stands up at last and takes off her hat.                                                                            168          INT. VRONSKY'S FLAT, ST. PETERSBURG--NIGHT                                   Yashvin is a welcome visitor.                                                   YASHVIN           It's wonderful to have you both returned.                                                   ANNA           How good you are to come. You're the very           first person to call on me since our return.                                   Yashvin gets the point of that. He is embarrassed.                                                   ANNA (CONT'D)           I received a note from Princess Betsy asking           me if I'd call on her between six-thirty and           eight. Or was it seven?                                   Yashvin got the point of that, too.                                                   ANNA (CONT'D)           Alas, between six-thirty and seven is just           when I'm unable to see her!                                                   YASHVIN           But perhaps you'll meet at the opera tonight?                                                   ANNA           I would love to be there if I could get a box.                                                   YASHVIN                          (BOWS)           Madame, your box is number four! You'll           find me there with Princess Myagkaya. Will           you come, Vronsky?                                                                            169          Vronsky shakes his head. Yashvin kisses Anna's hand.                                                   ANNA           I see why . . . Alexei is so fond of you.                                   Yashvin laughs and bows himself out.                                                   VRONSKY           You know you can't go to the theatre?                                                   ANNA           Annushka!                                                   VRONSKY           For heaven's sake--                                   Annushka comes.                                                   ANNA           A bath. I'll come in and choose a dress.                                   Annushka goes.                                                   VRONSKY           Anna--I implore you--don't you know . . . ?                                                   ANNA           I'm not ashamed of who I am or what I've           done: are you ashamed for me? Why do           you keep a room at the hotel? Aren't we           together? Have you changed towards me?                                                   VRONSKY           It's because I love you and care about you.                                                                                                     170                          ANNA           If that's the case, I don't know why you           aren't coming with me.                                                   VRONSKY           That would make it worse.                                                   ANNA           You're afraid. Well, I'm not.                                                            INT. OPERA HOUSE, ST. PETERSBURG--NIGHT                                   Before the performance, the stairs, galleries and corridors, giving access          to the stalls and boxes, are crowded with the town's highest society. And          Anna, at her most beautiful, is magically cleaving through it. Awareness          of her presence is like a contagion, and yet everyone manages not to catch her          eye . . . so while all around her there are people impeding each other with          greetings, Anna's path opens before her.                                   She knows what is happening. It shocks her but her eyes barely show it.          The spell is broken by Princess Myagkaya (she of the 85 kopek sauce) who          hails her.                                                   PRINCESS MYAGKAYA           Anna . . . !                                   She picks up on the surrounding effect of this, and rubs it in with mischief,          taking Anna's arm.                                    princess myagkaya (cont'd)           Something has done you good--you look           wonderful.                                                                                                                              171          INT. VRONSKY'S FLAT, ST PETERSBURG--NIGHT                                   Vronsky sits and broods. Angrily, he changes his mind. He jumps up call-          ing for Franz.                                                            EXT. OPERA HOUSE, ST. PETERSBURG--NIGHT                                   Vronsky's cab draws up outside the brightly lit, deserted opera house. He          alights.                                                            INT. STAIRS, GALLERY, OPERA HOUSE--NIGHT                                   Vronsky comes up the stairs. The place is deserted, apart from Atten-          dants . . . one of whom takes Vronsky's cloak and gives him a token.                                                            INT. ANNA'S BOX, OPERA HOUSE, SAME TIME--                          NIGHT                                   On stage, Act One is just ending, and the curtain falls. The applause gives          way to chatter.                                                   PRINCESS MYAGKAYA           Should we visit or stay put?                                   Anna sees Vronsky entering on the side-aisle below. He looks up at the          boxes, seeking her. She turns away.                                                   ANNA           Stay put.                                   Princess Myagkaya has engaged the attention of Stremov in the neighbour-          ing box.                                                                            172                          PRINCESS MYAGKAYA           Minister! Congratulations. Come in for a           moment.                                   But Stremov only bows coldly and turns away. Yashvin notes this and          begins to chew his moustache anxiously. Anna's neighbour on the other side,          a meek husband of a battle-axe, admires her openly.                                   Anna sees that Vronsky has stopped to talk to Countess Vronsky and the          Princesses Sorokina. The young Princess seems animated by Vronsky, who          bows himself away.                                   Princess Myagkaya sees where Anna is looking.                                    princess myagkaya (cont'd)           Princess Sorokina and her daughter, they're           from Moscow, neighbours of Countess Vron-           sky, quite well off, no sons, she's a widow.                                   Anna gives her a smiling but wounded look.                                    princess myagkaya (cont'd)           My dear, I'm a sales catalogue.                                                            INT. OPERA HOUSE, SAME TIME--NIGHT                                   Vronsky meets Alexander in the aisle and greets him.                                                   VRONSKY           You'll come up to see us afterwards . . . ?                                                   ALEXANDER           Talk to Varya.                                                                                                     173          Alexander indicates his seat to Vronsky. Vronsky sits by Varya.                                                   VRONSKY           Will you call on Anna?                                                   VARYA           Oh, Alexei . . . I'm fond of you . . . but . . .                                                   VRONSKY           For God's sake, Anna isn't a criminal!                                                   VARYA           I'd call on her if she'd only broken the law.           But she broke the rules.                                   Vronsky is angry and offended. He gets up, bows to Varya. When he looks          up, he sees Betsy beckoning to him from her box.                                                            INT. ANNA'S BOX, SAME TIME--NIGHT                                   Anna watches Vronsky, sees him acknowledge Betsy's summons.                                                   PRINCESS MYAGKAYA           Who has made the decor? Haven't we got           a programme? Colonel, would you be so           kind . . . ?                                                   YASHVIN           Of course.                                   Anna's neighbour, emboldened, offers her his programme.                                                                                                                              174                          NEIGHBOUR           Please . . . I would be honoured if you would           take mine . . .                                                   ANNA           Thank you, how very . . .                                   The Neighbour's Wife, catching this, reacts as though electrocuted.                                                            INT. BETSY'S BOX, SAME TIME--NIGHT                                   Princess Betsy is smoking. Prince Tverskoy is examining an ancient book.          Vronsky enters the box. He bows to the Prince, and kisses Betsy's hand.                                                   PRINCE TVERSKOY           Catullus, printed in Venice, 1501 . . .           remarkable.                                   A grovelling House Manager appears in their midst, to tell Betsy she can't          smoke in the box.                                                   HOUSE MANAGER                          (BOWING)           A thousand apologies, Princess, but . . .                                   Princess Betsy blows smoke and hands the cigarette, in its holder, to a figure          standing quietly in the shadowy corner of the box: Makhotin. Makhotin          takes the cigarette from the holder, crushes it in his left palm. He feels          humiliated . . . but that's love. The House Manger bows and leaves.                                                   VRONSKY           Captain Makhotin . . .                                   The Angry Wife's voice cuts through the audience chatter.                                                                            175                          WIFE'S VOICE           It's a disgrace! Take me home!                                   Vronsky turns round to look. He sees the Husband trying to calm his Wife.                                                   WIFE           Fetch my cloak!                                   Vronsky sees Anna looking straight ahead. Yashvin is eating his moustache.                                                            INT. ANNA'S BOX, SAME TIME--NIGHT                                   The scene next door is a social catastrophe for Anna, but she is riding it.          Princess Myagkaya takes her hand. Yashvin shrinks into his corner, morti-          fied. The whole opera house is becoming aware of the "scandal." The Angry          Wife has raised her voice.                                                            INT. NEIGHBOUR'S BOX, SAME TIME--NIGHT                                                   WIFE           What are we coming to?                                   The Husband has succeeded in putting his wife's cloak over her shoulders.          Her exit line is for the benefit of the entire audience.                                                   WIFE (CONT'D)           Is this the opera house or a--or a French           music hall-- ?!                                   The Wife and her Husband leave the box.                                                                                                                              176          INT. BETSY'S OPERA BOX, SAME TIME--NIGHT                                   Vronsky is tormented. He moves to leave the box.                                                   BETSY                          (SARCASTIC)           Yes, why don't you? Rescue her and put           your seal on the fiasco.                                   Vronsky knows it and is trapped.                                                   BETSY (CONT'D)           Alexei . . . you see why she must divorce.           Marriage will solve everything. When will           it be?                                                   VRONSKY           As far as I'm concerned, she's my wife.                                                   BETSY           But, as you saw, she isn't.                                                   VRONSKY           We're going to Moscow, and then to my           place in the country.                                                   BETSY           That sounds like a good idea.                                                   VRONSKY           But for a day or two, Anna will be at home,           at my flat.                                   Betsy shrugs.                                                                                                     177                          VRONSKY (CONT'D)                          (PAUSE)           Then, I'll say goodbye now.                                                            INT. VRONSKY'S FLAT, ST. PETERSBURG--NIGHT                                   Angry and upset, Anna sweeps into the flat in her opera cloak. Vronsky          follows her in.                                                   ANNA           . . . you had an excellent night! Does your           mother want you to marry the widow or the           child?                                                   VRONSKY           Either one.                                                   ANNA           Don't make a joke of it. If you loved me, you           would have locked me in to stop me going.                                   She throws aside her cloak and goes into the bedroom.                                                            INT. BEDROOM, VRONSKY FLAT, SAME TIME--NIGHT                                   Annushka, asleep in a chair, waiting loyally, wakes up.                                                   ANNA           Go to bed.                                   Vronsky comes in as Annushka goes out. He comes to Anna and puts his          arms round her.                                                                                                     178                          VRONSKY           Yes, it was my fault.                                                   ANNA           I won't sleep.                                                   VRONSKY           I know how to make you sleep.                                                  LATER--IN BED                                   Vronsky makes love to Anna but it's not working for her. Her eyes stray          around. By the bed is a carafe of water, an empty glass and a pharmacy          bottle as dark as ink, with a handwritten label.                                                            EXT. MOSCOW--DAY                                   High summer. Heat and dust.                                                            INT. TEA SHOP, MOSCOW--DAY                                   Anna, with some dainty shopping by her, is taking tea in a genteel cafe. Her          eye is caught by a mother and son at another table. The boy is a "Serozha."          Anna misses her son acutely in that moment.                                   Then Dolly enters the tea shop. Anna's heart lifts for a moment and she          is about to greet her, but then realises that Dolly is one of a trio of "society          ladies," and Anna lowers her head. When she sneaks a look, she catches          one of the ladies whispering to the others. Anna realises that she has been          recognised by a stranger, and is notorious. She "hides" in her purse, finding          money to leave on the table so that she can escape. A sound makes her look          up and she sees that Dolly has sat down opposite her.                                                                                                     179                          DOLLY           Anna . . . I am very glad to see you. Are you           well? How is your little one?                                   Anna nods, words won't come.                                                   DOLLY (CONT'D)           Stiva wanted to invite you and Count Vron-           sky to the house but it's impossible . . .                                                   ANNA           I understand.                                                   DOLLY           No, no--you don't. Kitty and her husband           are with us. She's in Moscow to have the baby.                                                   ANNA           Kitty . . . ? Oh, tell her how pleased I am . . . !                                                   DOLLY           Perhaps I'll wait a year or two.           (she gulps a laugh)           Oh . . . love!                                                   ANNA           Yes . . . love! Don't you disapprove of me for           what I've done?                                                   DOLLY           No. I wish I'd done the same. But no one           asked me! Well . . . I wouldn't have been           brave enough.           (she blinks tears)           Stiva, you know . . . he doesn't change . . .           like all men, I suppose.                                                                            180          She doesn't notice her tactlessness but it lands on Anna, who manages a          smile.                                                            EXT. GRAND HOTEL, MOSCOW--NIGHT                                   INT. HOTEL SUITE, MOSCOW--NIGHT                                   Anna, in a nightdress, is awake in the night, staring out of the grand          window of a grand hotel, smoking.                                                            INT. HOTEL BEDROOM, SAME TIME--NIGHT                                   Anna comes back to bed. Vronsky is asleep. She unstops a pharmacy bottle          (a different one) and pours a draught mixed with water.                                                            INT. BEDROOM, MOSCOW HOTEL--DAY                                   Anna sleeps alone in the bed. Annushka, after a tap on the door, comes in          cautiously, worried.                                                   ANNUSHKA           Madame . . . Madame . . .                                   Anna sits up.                                                   ANNUSHKA (CONT'D)           Are you ill?                                                   ANNA           What time is it? Is Anya up?                                                                                                                              181                          ANNUSHKA           It's afternoon, Madame.                                                   ANNA           I'm all right. It's all right.                          (PAUSE)           Get them to bring up all our trunks and           travel cases. We've been here long enough.                                                            INT. HOTEL SUITE, MOSCOW--DAY                                   Vronsky comes in, noting the empty trunks and cases stacked up. Anna          comes from her room to greet him. She is making an effort to be pleasant,          but she looks excited, febrile.                                                   ANNA           I had an inspiration. Why do we have to           wait here? Why can't we wait in the coun-           try? I don't want to hear any more about a           divorce, or think about it.                                                   VRONSKY           Good! I'm bored here. When should we go?                                                   ANNA           If I bore you here, I'll bore you in the           country.                                                   VRONSKY           I didn't say you bore me. Moscow bores me.           When should we go? . . . Tomorrow?                                   But Anna's mood has turned.                                                                                                     182                          ANNA          I can't be ready by tomorrow.                                                   VRONSKY          The day after, then.                                                   ANNA          If you like.                                                   VRONSKY          No, wait. That's Sunday. I have to see          Maman.                                                   ANNA          That's twenty minutes away in the train--          you could go to see her tomorrow--or was          it that you wanted to spend Sunday with          Princess Sorokina?                                                   VRONSKY          Please don't spoil everything. I can't see          Maman tomorrow because she won't have          read the papers she has to sign. Oh, and          then there's the bank . . . But we can leave          on Tuesday.                                                   ANNA          In that case, let's not bother. I'll leave on          Sunday or not at all.                                                   VRONSKY          That's absurd!                                                                                                                              183                          ANNA           It's absurd to you because you have no           understanding for my life here.                                                   VRONSKY           Anna . . . Anna . . .                                                   ANNA           You've stopped loving me. You've given           up everything for me, and it's turned you           against me. Why lie about it?                                                   VRONSKY           Stop. I put off our departure for a day or           two, and you tell me I don't love you.                                                   ANNA           Because I've been living off your love and           there's none left, so this is over! Finished.                                   She leaves him, slamming the door.                                                            INT. BEDROOM, HOTEL, SAME TIME--DAY                                   Anna comes in and lies down on the bed, closes her eyes, sits up, pours a          dose from the medicine bottle by the bed, and lies down. Vronsky comes in.          He takes her hand.                                                   ANNA           I'm sorry. I don't mind when we go.                                                   VRONSKY           I'll telegraph Maman. We'll go on Sunday.           I'll do anything you want.                                                                            184                          ANNA           You should leave me.                                                   VRONSKY           I don't want to. I love you.                                                   ANNA           Why?                                                   VRONSKY           You can't ask why about love.                                                            INT. DINING ROOM, HOTEL SUITE--DAY                                   Anna comes straight from bed. She is drugged and shaky. The room is          empty but there is a coffee tray on the table. Anna feels the coffeepot and          pours herself a cup.                                                            INT. STUDY, HOTEL SUITE--DAY                                   Vronsky is at his desk. Anna enters with her coffee. Vronsky is reading a          telegram. Seeing her enter, he puts the telegram under his papers.                                                   VRONSKY           So--will you be all packed? I'll be out           today making the arrangements.                                                   ANNA           Is that your way of telling me you'll be at           your mother's with that simpering little           princess?                                                                                                                              185                          VRONSKY           No. I'll be with my lawyers. I'm waiting for           some documents. Then I'm having dinner           to say goodbye to old comrades.                                                   ANNA           Well, I know what that means.                                                   VRONSKY           My God, this is unendurable.                                   He controls himself.                                                   VRONSKY (CONT'D)           I can invite them here if you like.                                                   ANNA           Thank you, but if I'm not fit to dine in soci-           ety, I won't eat with the band. Who was the           telegram from?                                   Vronsky retrieves the telegram and hands it to her.                                                   VRONSKY           I didn't show it to you, because Stiva keeps           telegraphing what we already know. Kare-           nin promises nothing, but will consider . . .                                   Anna tosses the telegram aside unread.                                                   ANNA           I told you I don't care about the divorce, so           why hide the telegram? What else do you           hide from me?                                                                                                     186                          VRONSKY           I hide nothing from you.                                                   ANNA           Why do you care about the divorce?           What has it got to do with us loving each           other?                                                   VRONSKY           Until we're married, our daughter is legally           Karenin's. I care about it because we need to           be free to marry.                                                   ANNA           You're perfectly free to marry anyone your           mother wants.                                                   VRONSKY           But we aren't talking about--                                                   ANNA           Yes, we are, and, by the way, compared to           your mother I'm the Virgin Mary.                                   Vronsky is silent with anger. He gets up and goes out, returning with his          hat in his hand.                                                   VRONSKY           Is there anything you wish to say to me?                                   She remains silent. He leaves again. She lights a cigarette.                                                                                                                              187          EXT. HOTEL BUILDING, SAME TIME--DAY                                   The Sorokina Coach draws up outside the door. The coach with its crest          and the Coachman's livery (a bright yellow cockade) are highly distinctive.                                                            INT. HOTEL SUITE, SAME TIME--DAY                                   Anna, with her cup of coffee, comes in and looks down from the window.                                                                           ANNA'S POV--                                   Vronsky, hat in hand, at the coach window, accepts a large envelope from a          lilac-gloved hand. He bows. With a wave of the hand and a flash of golden          hair, the coach pulls away. Vronsky goes back inside.                                                            INT. STUDY, HOTEL SUITE, SAME TIME--DAY                                   With the envelope, Vronsky comes in. Anna is as he left her, the cigarette          stubbed out.                                                   ANNA           So it's the child.                                                   VRONSKY           She brought papers from Maman.                                   He hesitates, thinking she is about to speak.                                                   VRONSKY (CONT'D)           Anna?                                   She stays silent. He leaves.                                                                            188          INT. BEDROOM, HOTEL SUITE, SAME TIME--DAY                                   Anna finds Annushka filling several half-filled cases.                                                   ANNA           Unpack everything. We're not going.                                   She lies down on the bed. Annushka would like to comfort her.                                                   ANNUSHKA           Anna Arkadyeva . . .                                                   ANNA           When Count Vronsky comes back, tell           him . . . I don't want to be disturbed.                                                            INT. BEDROOM, HOTEL SUITE--NIGHT                                   Anna is listening for Vronsky's return. She hears him come in. She hears          him approach. Then she hears Annushka's voice, then Vronsky's voice. She          waits in suspense, disappointed as Vronsky's steps retreat.                                                            INT. STUDY, HOTEL SUITE--NIGHT                                   Anna, holding a candle-lamp, finds Vronsky asleep on the couch. She hesi-          tates, but turns away.                                                            INT. BEDROOM, HOTEL SUITE--DAY                                   Anna wakes. She re-collects herself. She looks at the bedside clock. In a sud-          den hurry she leaves the bed and the bedroom.                                                                                                     189          INT. OUTSIDE THE BEDROOM, HOTEL SUITE, SAME                          TIME--DAY                                   Anna finds Annushka waiting.                                                   ANNA           Count Vronsky . . . ?                                                   ANNUSHKA           He went out early, to the stables, he said.                                   Anna collapses on a chair and weeps.                                                   ANNA           Oh, Annushka . . . I should have           died. Do you remember?                                                   ANNUSHKA           Don't take it to heart, Anna Arkadyeva . . .                                                   ANNA           I've made him hate me.                                                            INT. CLOSE (HOTEL)--DAY                                   Anna's hand writes in a hurry: "I'm to blame. Come home. I'm          frightened."                                                            INT. HOTEL SUITE, SAME TIME--DAY                                   Anna seals the note and gives it to Annushka.                                                                                                                              190                          ANNA           Tell Michael to hurry.                                   Annushka runs out with the note.                                                            INT. HOTEL SUITE--DAY                                   Anna is keeping watch at the window . . . and is rewarded by the return-          ing coach. She hurries out.                                                            INT. STAIRS, HOTEL--DAY                                   Anna looks down into the entrance hall. Michael, the Coachman, comes in          and comes up the stairs to her. She sees that he is holding her note.                                                   MICHAEL           Count Vronsky had already left, Your Excel-           lency. He took a cab to the station . . . to the           Countess.                                                            INT. LOCAL TRAIN--DAY                                   Anna clutches her red bag to her, sitting among passengers.                                   Anna looks about her. Across the carriage she sees through the window that          her train is overtaking another passenger train on the next line.                                   She looks at the windows of the other train "going by" . . . seeing the pas-          sengers inside.                                   Unexpectedly, she seems to see a Man who might be Vronsky sitting opposite          a laughing Woman who might be Princess Sorokina.                                                                            191          Anna's body jerks involuntarily. She half rises. The image, however, is          brief and is borne away, as her own train goes by, accelerating. The win-          dows opposite pick up speed as she leaves them behind--                                   And then she has the same illusion again-- a "Vronsky" and a "Sorokina"          glimpsed in the other train and snatched away in the instant.                                   Now she stands up and goes to the opposite window, where the windows          of the other train are flashing by in the (anachronistic) manner of pro-          jected film-frames, and she sees "Vronskys" and "Sorokinas" flashing by at          gathering speed. And then the train has gone and there's nothing going by          but the view.                                   Anna collapses into the nearest seat.                                                            EXT. LOCAL STATION, SAME TIME--DAY                                   The train arrives at a small station.                                   Anna steps down from the train. The platform is well populated by people          waiting to board the train or to meet the arriving passengers. There is an          energy about the people-- shouting, laughter, movement. Porters shout for          custom. A couple of Young Men seem to be laughing rudely directly at her,          but they pass by, ignoring her.                                   Anna pauses, bewildered, lost, not knowing what to do next.                                   She sees the Sorokina Coachman on the platform, recognising his distinctive          livery, a cockade in his hat.                                                   ANNA           Are you waiting for the Princess Sorokina?                                                                                                                              192                          COACHMAN           No, Your Excellency, both princesses are at           the house of Countess Vronsky. I'm waiting                          FOR HIM--                                   Anna turns back, agitated, expecting Vronsky to appear, but what comes          is a Footman carrying three hatboxes and a large box from a dress shop.                                   Anna walks away, along the platform, impeded by people going by her,          aware that some are staring at her as she passes. A Boy selling drinks grins          at her. A little group of Ladies and Children meeting a bespectacled man          off the train are laughing and chattering but fall silent and look at her. She          increases her pace. She hurries away towards the far end of the platform.          Beyond her, a goods train is slowly approaching. Between her and the train,          two Maidservants are walking towards her. They turn their heads to look          at her, remarking on her dress.                                                   MAIDSERVANT           Look at that lace on her . . .                                   There is a rough bench near the end of the platform. Anna reaches it and          sits down. The two girls turn again to look back at her, and are struck          by the sight of Anna sitting alone in profile. The goods train reaches her          and the first wagon goes past her. The two girls stop and watch, vaguely          puzzled by her.                                   As they watch, the beautiful woman on the bench gets up and walks the          few steps to the edge of the wooden platform and into the path of the train,          disappearing from view between the wheels of one of the wagons.                                                            EXT. (POKROVSKOE)--DAY                                   CLOSE--A SCYTHE CUTS A SWATHE THROUGH           STANDING HAY.                                                                            193          EXT. RAILS--THE RED HANDBAG                                   --lying separate against a rail, is clipped by a rolling train-wheel and          knocked aside, spilling its contents . . .                                                            EXT. (POKROVSKOE)--DAY                                   A scythe cuts a swathe through standing hay.                                                            EXT. HAYFIELD, POKROVSKOE, SAME TIME--DAY                                   It's nearly the last of the hay. The scythe is being swung by Theodore,          known from last year. He is one of a dozen Mowers. Levin is among them,          wielding his scythe. They have almost reached the end of the field, where the          last of the hay is being pitchforked up on to the last piled cart. Theodore's          daughter-in-law, now visibly pregnant, is still adept with a pitchfork.                                   It's a lowering thundery day at the end of summer.                                                   LEVIN           I'll be buying in feed before winter's over.                                                   THEODORE                          (SCYTHING)           Well, you don't press people hard, but you           live rightly, for your soul, not your belly.                                                   LEVIN           My soul! What's that? I know what my           belly is. How do we know what's rightly?           I believe in reason.                                                                                                                              194                          THEODORE           Reason? And was it reason that made you           chose a wife?                                                   LEVIN                          (PAUSE)           No.                                                   THEODORE           You're a great one for reasoning, Konstantin           Dmitrich, but what's rightly is outside your           mathematic--that's what's rightly about it!                                   This stops Levin's scythe. He is illumined.                                   Theodore swings the scythe again. Levin walks away, gives his scythe to a          Labourer by the cart, and keeps walking. He quickens his pace.                                                            EXT. POKROVSKOE--DAY                                   The first drops of rain, few and heavy, arrive.                                                            EXT. HOUSE AND PORCH, POKROVSKOE, SAME                          TIME--DAY                                   Cries of alarm and laughter burst from a Mushrooming Party approaching          the house. Children run ahead, the adults walk faster, then run, helping          with baby carriages and picking up small children and baskets of mush-          rooms . . . urged on from the porch by Agafia.                                   Levin, coming from the hay field, joins the rout.                                                                                                                              195          The grown-ups are: Levin, Oblonsky, Dolly, the Oblonsky Nurse, Prince          and Princess Shcherbatsky.                                   The children are: Tanya, Grisha, Masha, Lili and Vasili. Dolly carries          her youngest. The children are eighteen months older than when we first          saw them.                                                                           PORCH                                   The heavens open as everyone gets under cover.                                                   LEVIN           Where's Ekaterina Alexandrovna?                                                   AGAFIA           It's all right, the mistress is giving Mitya           his bath.                                   It is evident from her tone that Kitty and Agafia have made it up long ago.                                                            INT. NURSERY, POKROVSKOE, SAME TIME--DAY                                   Rain on the window and on the roof. The rain is so loud that it is the          foreground sound in the scene; and the dialogue, while we can pick it out          without difficulty, is the background sound.                                   Levin enters, wet.                                   Dmitri (Mitya), two months old, is lying on his back in a basin, supported          by Kitty's palm under his head. Kitty squeezes a sponge over his body,          which he likes.                                                                                                                              196                          LEVIN           I came looking for you . . . I understood           something . . .                                                   KITTY           And what was that?                                   Kitty lifts Mitya onto a towel on her lap, wraps him and gives him to          Levin, who is enchanted by him.                                                   LEVIN           He smiled at me.                                                   KITTY                          (UNCONSCIOUSLY ABSURD)           He's very advanced for his age.                                   She picks up her rings to replace them on her fingers.                                                   KITTY (CONT'D)           What did you understand?                                   But the baby starts to yell for the breast. Kitty starts to undo her blouse.                                   Levin shakes his head: he'll tell her some other time, or maybe not.                                                            EXT. PORCH, POKROVSKOE--NIGHT                                   The storm has passed. Everything drips.                                   Oblonsky comes from inside and lights a cigar. Indistinctly seen and heard          through the window, the Mushrooming Party occupies the dining room.          Oblonsky smokes thoughtfully, melancholy.                                                                                                     197          EXT. FLOWERING MEADOW--DAY                                                  SPRINGTIME                                   Baby Anya, old enough to stagger on her feet, wavers through wild flowers          half her height. She falls over, almost disappearing.                                   This is being watched, with a mixture more pleasure than pain, by Kar-          enin. He is in early retirement, sitting with a book in a garden seat, dressed          comfortably under a straw hat. There is the SOUND OVER of people          playing croquet.                                   Serozha, aged ten, enters his view, going to Anya to haul her upright, and          keeping hold of her hand as she staggers on. Karenin's pleasure increases          slightly.                                   OVER this, the growing SOUND of a battlefield.                                                            EXT. BATTLEFIELD (BALKANS)--DAY                                                  CLOSE                                   Vronsky, in an unfamiliar uniform, sabre pointing forward, is mounted at          full gallop with the SOUND of the charge all around him in the smoke and          noise of guns. Something heavy and invisible with its own SOUND--like          the flap of an awning--takes him from his horse into the air and gone,          leaving spouts of blood poised for an instant in the smoke.                                                            EXT. FLOWERING MEADOW, AS BEFORE                                                  NATURAL SOUND                                                                                                                              198          Serozha picks up Anya like a parcel under his arm and walks on with her          towards the indistinct figures of Croquet Players strolling in the heat haze,          a couple of parasols held aloft.                                                            FADE TO BLACK.
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+ANNIE HALL written by Woody Allen Marshall Brickman(Sound and Woody Allen monologue begin)FADE IN:White credits dissolve in and out on black screen. No sound. FADE OUT: creditsFADE IN:Abrupt medium close-up of Alvy Singer doing a comedy monologue. Hewearing a crumbled sports jacket and tieless shirt; the background is stark. ALVY There's an old joke. Uh, two elderly women are at a Catskills mountain resort, and one of 'em says: "Boy, the food at this place is really terrible." The other one says, "Yeah, I know, and such ... small portions." Well, that's essentially how I feel about life. Full of loneliness and misery and suffering and unhappiness, and it's all over much too quickly. The-the other important joke for me is one that's, uh, usually attributed to Groucho Marx, but I think it appears originally in Freud's wit and its relation to the unconscious. And it goes like this-I'm paraphrasing: Uh ... "I would never wanna belong to any club that would have someone like me for a member." That's the key joke of my adult life in terms of my relationships with women. Tsch, you know, lately the strangest things have been going through my mind, 'cause I turned forty, tsch, and I guess I'm going through a life crisis or something, I don't know. I, uh ... and I'm not worried about aging. I'm not one o' those characters, you know. Although I'm balding slightly on top, that's about the worst you can say about me. I, uh, I think I'm gonna get better as I get older, you know? I think I'm gonna be the- the balding virile type, you know, as opposed to say the, uh, distinguished gray, for instance, you know? 'Less I'm neither o' those two. Unless I'm one o' those guys with saliva dribbling out of his mouth who wanders into a cafeteria with a shopping bag screaming about socialism. (Sighing) Annie and I broke up and I-I still can't get my mind around that. You know, I-I keep sifting the pieces of the relationship through my mind and-and examining my life and tryin' to figure out where did the screw-up come, you know, and a year ago we were... tsch, in love. You know, and-and-and ... And it's funny, I'm not-I'm not a morose type. I'm not a depressive character. I-I-I, uh, (Laughing) you know, I was a reasonably happy kid, I guess. I was brought up in Brooklyn during World War II. CUT TO:INT. DOCTOR'S OFFICE-DAYAlvy as young boy sits on a sofa with his mother in an old-fashioned, cluttered doctor's office. The doctor stands near the sofa, holding a cigarette and listening. MOTHER (To the doctor) He's been depressed. All off a sudden, he can't do anything. DOCTOR (Nodding) Why are you depressed, Alvy? MOTHER (Nudging Alvy) Tell Dr. Flicker. (Young Alvy sits, his head down. His mother answers for him) It's something he read. DOCTOR (Puffing on his cigarette and nodding) Something he read, huh? ALVY (His head still down) The universe is expanding. DOCTOR The universe is expanding? ALVY (Looking up at the doctor) Well, the universe is everything, and if it's expanding, someday it will break apart and that would be the end of everything!Disgusted, his mother looks at him. MOTHER (shouting) What is that your business? (she turns back to the doctor) He stopped doing his homework. ALVY What's the point? MOTHER (Excited, gesturing with her hands) What has the universe got to do with it? You're here in Brooklyn! Brooklyn is not expanding! DOCTOR (Heartily, looking down at Alvy) It won't be expanding for billions of years yet, Alvy. And we've gotta try to enjoy ourselves while we're here. Uh?He laughs. CUT TO:Fall shot of house with an amusement-park roller-coaster ride built over it. A line of cars move up and then slides with great speed while out the window of the house a band shakes a dust mop. ALVY'S VOICE My analyst says I exaggerate my childhood memories, but I swear I was brought up underneath the roller- CUT TO:INT. HOUSEAlvy as a child sits at the table eating soup and reading a comic book while his father sits on the sofa reading the paper. The house shakes with every move of the roller coaster. ALVY'S VOICE -coaster in the Coney Island section of Brooklyn. Maybe that accounts for my personality, which is a little nervous, I think.CUT TO:Young Alvy at the food-stand concession watching three military men representing the Army, the Navy and the Marines arm in arm with a blond woman in a skirted bathing suit. They all turn and run toward the foreground. The girl stops before the camera to lean over and throw a kiss. The sign over the concession reads "Steve's Famous Clam Bar. Ice Cold Beer, "and the roller coaster is moving in full gear in the background. ALVY'S VOICE You know, I have a hyperactive imagination. My mind tends to jump around a little, and have some trouble between fantasy and reality. CUT TO:Full shot of people in bumper cars thoroughly enjoying bumping into each other as Alvy father stands in the center of the track directing traffic. ALVY'S VOICE My father ran the bumper-car concession. (Alvy as a child moves into the frame driving a bumper car. He stops as other cars bombard him. His father continues to direct the traffic) There-there he is and there I am. But I-I-I-I used to get my aggression out through those cars all the time.Alvy backs up his car off screen.INT. SCHOOLROOM - DAYThe camera pans over three austere-looking teachers standing in front of the blackboard. The chalk writing on the board changes as each teacher lectures. While Alvy speaks, one of the male teachers puts an equation on the blackboard.- "2 X 10 = 20 " and other arithmetic formulas. ALVY'S VOICE I remember the staff at our public school. You know, we had a saying, uh, that "Those who can't do, teach, and those who can't teach, teach gym." And ...uh, h'h, of course, those who couldn't do anything, I think, were assigned to our school. I must say- CUT TO:A female teacher standing in front of an old-fashioned schoolroom. The blackboard behind her reads "Transportation Administration. The camera pans her point of view: a group of young students sitting behind their desks. Alvy as a child sits in a center desk wile all around him there is student activity;there is note-passing, ruler-tapping, nose-picking, gumchewing. ALVY'S VOICE I always felt my schoolmates were idiots. Melvyn Greenglass, you know, fat little face, and Henrietta Farrell, just Miss Perfect all the time. And-and Ivan Ackerman, always the wrong answer. Always. Ivan stands up behind his desk. IVAN Seven and three is nine.Alvy hits his forehead with his hand. Another student glances over at him, reacting. ALVY'S VOICE Even then I knew they were just jerks. (The camera moves back to the teacher, who is glaring out at her students) In nineteen forty-two I had already dis-As Alvy talks, the camera shows him move from his seat and kiss a young girl. She jumps from her seat in disgust, rubbing her cheek, as Alvy moves back to his seat. 1ST GIRL (Making noises) Ugh, he kissed me, he kissed me. TEACHER (Off screen) That's the second time this month! Step up here!As the teacher, really glaring now, speaks, Alvy rises from his seat and moves over to her. Angry, she points with her band while the students turn their heads to watch what will happen next. ALVY What'd I do? TEACHER Step up here! ALVY What'd I do? TEACHER You should be ashamed of yourself.The students, their heads still turned, look back at Alvy, now an adult, sitting in the last seat of the second row. ALVY (AS ADULT) (First off screen, then onscreen as camera moves over to the back of the classroom) Why, I was just expressing a healthy sexual curiosity. TEACHER (The younger, Alvy standing next to her) Six-year-old boys don't have girls on their minds. ALVY (AS ADULT) (Still sitting in the back of the classroom) I did. The girl the young Alvy kissed turns to the older Alvy, she gestures and speaks. 1ST GIRL For God's sakes, Alvy, even Freud speaks of a latency period. ALVY (AS ADULT) (Gesturing) Well, I never had a latency period. I can't help it. TEACHER (With young, Alvy still at her side) Why couldn't you have been more like Donald? (The camera pans over to Donald, sitting up tall in his seat, then back to the teacher) Now, there was a model boy! ALVY (AS CHILD) (Still standing next to the teacher) Tell the folks where you are today, Donald. DONALD I run a profitable dress company. ALVY'S VOICE Right. Sometimes I wonder where my classmates are today.The camera shows the full classroom, the students sitting behind their desks, the teacher standing in the front of the room. One at a time, the young students rise u from their desks and speak. 1ST BOY I'm president of the Pinkus Plumbing Company. 2ND BOY I sell tallises. 3RD BOY I used to be a heroin addict. Now I'm a methadone addict. 2ND GIRL I'm into leather.INT. ROOMClose-up of a TV screen showing Alvy as an adult on a talk show. He sits next to the show, host, Dick Cavett, a Navy man sits on his right. Static is heard throughout the dialogue. ALVY I lost track of most of my old schoolmates, but I wound up a comedian. They did not take me in the Army. I was, uh ... Interestingly enough, I was-I was four-P.Sounds of TV audience laughter and applause are heard. DICK CAVETT Four-P? ALVY Yes. In-in-in-in the event of war, I'm a hostage.More audience laughter joined by Dick Cavett and the naval officer.INT. THE HOUSE WHERE ALVY GREW UPAlvy's mother sits at the old-fashioned dining-room table peeling carrots and talking as she looks off screen. MOTHER You always only saw the worst in people. You never could get along with anyone at school. You were always outta step with the world. Even when you got famous, you still distrusted the world.'EXT. MANHATTAN STREET-DAYA pretty Manhattan street with sidewalk trees, brownstones, a school; people mill about, some strolling and carrying bundles, others buried. The screen shows the whole length of the sidewalk, a street, and part of the sidewalk beyond. As the following scene ensues, two pedestrians, indistinguishable in the distance, come closer and closer toward the camera, recognizable, finally, as Alvy and his best friend, Rob, deep in conversation. They eventually move past the camera and off screen. Traffic noise is heard in the background. ALVY I distinctly heard it. He muttered under his breath, "Jew." ROB You're crazy! ALVY No, I'm not. We were walking off the tennis court, and you know, he was there and me and his wife, and he looked at her and then they both looked at me, and under his breath he said, "Jew." ROB Alvy, you're a total paranoid. ALVY Wh- How am I a paran-? Well, I pick up on those kind o' things. You know, I was having lunch with some guys from NBC, so I said ... uh, "Did you eat yet or what?" and Tom Christie said, "No, didchoo?" Not, did you, didchoo eat? Jew? No, not did you eat, but Jew eat? Jew. You get it? Jew eat? ROB Ah, Max, you, uh ... ALVY Stop calling me Max. ROB Why, Max? It's a good name for you. Max, you see conspiracies in everything. ALVY No, I don't! You know, I was in a record store. Listen to this -so I know there's this big tall blond crew-cutted guy and he's lookin' at me in a funny way and smiling and he's saying, "Yes, we have a sale this week on Wagner." Wagner, Max, Wagner-so I know what he's really tryin' to tell me very significantly Wagner. ROB Right, Max. California, Max. ALVY Ah. ROB Let's get the hell outta this crazy city. ALVY Forget it, Max. ROB -we move to sunny L.A. All of show business is out there, Max. ALVY No, I cannot. You keep bringing it up, but I don't wanna live in a city where the only cultural advantage is that you can make a right turn on a red light. ROB (Checking his watch) Right, Max, forget it. Aren't you gonna be late for meeting Annie? ALVY I'm gonna meet her in front of the Beekman. I think I have a few minutes left. Right?EXT. BEEKMAN THEATER-DAYAlvy stands in front of glass doors of theater, the ticket taker behind him just inside the glass doors. The sounds of city traffic, car horns honking, can be heard while he looks around waiting for, Annie. A man in a black leatherjacket, walking past the theater, stops in front of, Alvy. He looks at him, then moves away. He stops a few steps farther and turns around to look at Alvyagain. Alvy looks away, then back at the man. The man continues to stare. Alvy scratches his head, looking for Annie and trying not to notice the man. The man, still staring, walks back to Alvy. 1ST MAN Hey, you on television? ALVY (Nodding his head) No. Yeah, once in a while. You know, like occasionally. 1ST MAN What's your name? ALVY (Clearing his throat) You wouldn't know it. It doesn't matter. What's the difference? 1ST MAN You were on ... uh, the ... uh, the Johnny Carson, right? ALVY Once in a while, you know. I mean, you know, every now- 1ST MAN What's your name?Alvy is getting more and more uneasy as the man talks; more and more people move through the doors of the theater. ALVY (Nervously) I'm ... I'm, uh, I'm Robert Redford. 1ST MAN (Laughing) Come on. ALVY Alvy Singer. It was nice nice ... Thanks very much ... for everything.They shake hands and Alvy pats the man's arm. The man in turn looks over his shoulder and motions to another man. All excited now, he points to Alvy and calls out. Alvy looks impatient. 1ST MAN Hey! 2ND MAN (Off screen) What? 1ST MAN This is Alvy Singer! ALVY Fellas ... you know-Jesus! Come on! 1ST MAN (Overlapping, ignoring Alvy) This guy's on television! Alvy Singer, right? Am I right? ALVY (Overlapping 1st man) Gimme a break, will yuh, gimme a break. Jesus Christ! 1ST MAN (Still ignoring Alvy's protestations) This guy's on television. ALVY I need a large polo mallet! 2ND MAN (Moving into the screen) Who's on television? 1ST MAN This guy, on the Johnny Carson show. ALVY (Annoyed) Fellas, what is this-a meeting o' the teamsters? You know.. . 2ND MAN (Also ignoring Alvy) What program? 1ST MAN (Holding out a matchbook) Can I have your autograph? ALVY You don't want my autograph. 1ST MAN (Overlapping, Alvy's speech) Yeah, I do. It's for my girl friend. Make it out to Ralph. ALVY (Taking the matchbook and pen and writing) Your girl friend's name is Ralph? 1ST MAN It's for my brudder. (To passersby) Alvy Singer! Hey! This is Alvy- 2ND MAN (To Alvy, overlapping 1st man's speech) You really Alvy Singer, the ... the TV star?Nodding his head yes, Alvy shoves 2nd man aside and moves to the curb of the sidewalk. The two men follow, still talking over the traffic noise. 1ST MAN -Singer! 2ND MAN Alvy Singer over here!A cab moves into the frame and stops by the curb. Alvy moves over to it about to get in. ALVY (Overlapping the two men and stuttering) I-i-i-i-it's all right, fellas. (As Alvy opens the cab door, the two men still behind him, Annie gets out) Jesus, what'd you do, come by way of the Panama Canal? ANNIE (Overlapping Alvy) Alright, alright, I'm in a bad mood, okay? Annie closes the cab door and she and Alvy move over to the ticket booth of the theater as they continue to talk. ALVY Bad mood? I'm standing with the cast of "The Godfather." ANNIE You're gonna hafta learn to deal with it. ALVY Deal! I'm dealing with two guys named Cheech! ANNIE Okay. (They move into the ticket line, still talking. A billboard next to them reads "INGMAR BERGMAN'S 'FACE TO FACE ,'LIV ULLMANN") Please, I have a headache, all right? ALVY Hey, you are in a bad mood. You-you- you must be getting your period. ANNIE I'm not getting my period. Jesus, every time anything out of the ordinary happens, you think that I'm getting my period!They move over to the ticket counter, people in front of them buying tickets and walking off screen. ALVY (Gesturing) A li-little louder. I think one of them may have missed it! (To the ticket clerk) H'm, has the picture started yet? TICKET CLERK It started two minutes ago. ALVY (Hitting his hand on the counter) That's it! Forget it! I-I can't go in. ANNIE Two minutes, Alvy. ALVY (Overlapping Annie) No, I'm sorry, I can't do it. We-we've blown it already. I-you know, uh, I-I can't go in in the middle. ANNIE In the middle? (Alvy nods his head yes and let's out an exasperated sigh) We'll only miss the titles. They're in Swedish. ALVY You wanna get coffee for two hours or something? We'll go next- ANNIE Two hours? No, u-uh, I'm going in. I'm going in. She moves past the ticket clerk. ALVY (Waving to Annie) Go ahead. Good-bye. Annie moves back to Alvy and takes his arm. ANNIE Look, while we're talking we could be inside, you know that? ALVY (Watching people with tickets move past them) Hey, can we not stand here and argue in front of everybody, 'cause I get embarrassed. ANNIE Alright. All right, all right, so whatta you wanna do? ALVY I don't know now. You-you wanna go to another movie? (Annie nods her head and shrugs her shoulders disgustedly as Alvy, gesturing with his band, looks at her) So let's go see The Sorrow and the Pity. ANNIE Oh, come on, we've seen it. I'm not in the mood to see a four-hour documentary on Nazis. ALVY Well, I'm sorry, I-I can't ... I-I-I've gotta see a picture exactly from the start to the finish, 'cause-'cause I'm anal. ANNIE (Laughing now) H'h, that's a polite word for what you are.INT. THEATER LOBBY.A lined-up crowd of ticket holders waiting to get into the theater, Alvy and Annie among them. A bum of indistinct chatter can be heard through the ensuingscene. MAN IN LINE (Loudly to his companion right behind Alvy and Annie) We saw the Fellini film last Tuesday. It is not one of his best. It lacks a cohesive structure. You know, you get the feeling that he's not absolutely sure what it is he wants to say. 'Course, I've always felt he was essentially a-a technical film maker. Granted, La Strada was a great film. Great in its use of negative energy more than anything else. But that simple cohesive core ... Alvy, reacting to the man's loud monologue, starts to get annoyed, while Annie begins to read her newspaper. ALVY (Overlapping the man's speech) I'm-I'm-I'm gonna have a stroke. ANNIE (Reading) Well, stop listening to him. MAN IN LINE (Overlapping Alvy and Annie) You know, it must need to have had its leading from one thought to another. You know what I'm talking about? ALVY (Sighing) He's screaming his opinions in my ear. MAN IN LINE Like all that Juliet of the Spirits or Satyricon, I found it incredibly ... indulgent. You know, he really is. He's one of the most indulgent film makers. He really is- ALVY (Overlapping) Key word here is "indulgent." MAN IN LINE (Overlapping) -without getting ... well, let's put it this way ... ALVY (To Annie, who is still reading, overlapping the man in line who is still talking) What are you depressed about? ANNIE I missed my therapy. I overslept. ALVY How can you possibly oversleep? ANNIE The alarm clock. ALVY (Gasping) You know what a hostile gesture that is to me? ANNIE I know-because of our sexual problem, right? ALVY Hey, you ... everybody in line at the New Yorker has to know our rate of intercourse? MAN IN LINE - It's like Samuel Beckett, you know- I admire the technique but he doesn't ... he doesn't hit me on a gut level. ALVY (To Annie) I'd like to hit this guy on a gut level.The man in line continues his speech all the while Alvy and Annie talk. ANNIE Stop it, Alvy! ALVY (Wringing his hands) Well, he's spitting on my neck! You know, he's spitting on my neck when he talks. MAN IN LINE And then, the most important thing of all is a comedian's vision. ANNIE And you know something else? You know, you're so egocentric that if I miss my therapy you can think of it in terms of how it affects you! MAN IN LINE (Lighting a cigarette while he talks) Gal gun-shy is what it is. ALVY (Reacting again to the man in line) Probably on their first date, right? MAN IN LINE (Still going on) It's a narrow view. ALVY Probably met by answering an ad in the New York Review of Books. "Thirtyish academic wishes to meet woman who's interested in Mozart, James Joyce and sodomy." (He sighs; then to Annie) Whatta you mean, our sexual problem? ANNIE Oh! ALVY I-I-I mean, I'm comparatively normal for a guy raised in Brooklyn. ANNIE Okay, I'm very sorry. My sexual problem! Okay, my sexual problem! Huh?The man in front of them turns to look at them, then looks away. ALVY I never read that. That was-that was Henry James, right? Novel, uh, the sequel to Turn of the Screw? My Sexual ... MAN IN LINE (Even louder now) It's the influence of television. Yeah, now Marshall McLuhan deals with it in terms of it being a-a high, uh, high intensity, you understand? A hot medium ... as opposed to a ... ALVY (More and more aggravated) What I wouldn't give for a large sock o' horse manure. MAN IN LINE ... as opposed to a print ...Alvy steps forward, waving his hands in frustration, and stands facing the camera. ALVY (Sighing and addressing the audience) What do you do when you get stuck in a movie line with a guy like this behind you? I mean, it's just maddening!The man in line moves toward Alvy. Both address the audience now. MAN IN LINE Wait a minute, why can't I give my opinion? It's a free country! ALVY I mean, d- He can give you- Do you hafta give it so loud? I mean, aren't you ashamed to pontificate like that? And-and the funny part of it is, M-Marshall McLuhan, you don't know anything about Marshall McLuhan's...work! MAN IN LINE (Overlapping) Wait a minute! Really? Really? I happen to teach a class at Columbia called "TV Media and Culture"! So I think that my insights into Mr. McLuhan-well, have a great deal of validity. ALVY Oh, do yuh? MAN IN LINE Yes. ALVY Well, that's funny, because I happen to have Mr. McLuhan right here. So ... so, here, just let me-I mean, all right. Come over here ... a second.Alvy gestures to the camera which follows him and the man in line to the back of the crowded lobby. He moves over to a large stand-up movie poster and pulls Marshall McLuban from behind the poster. MAN IN LINE Oh. ALVY (To McLuban) Tell him. MCLUHAN (To the man in line) I hear-I heard what you were saying. You-you know nothing of my work. You mean my whole fallacy is wrong. How you ever got to teach a course in anything is totally amazing. ALVY (To the camera) Boy, if life were only like this!INT. THEATER. A CLOSE-UP OF THE SCREEN SHOWING FACES OF GERMAN SOLDIERS.Credits appear over the faces of the soldiers. THE SORROW AND THE PITY CINEMA 5 LTD., 1972 MARCEL OPHULS, ANDRE HARRIS, 1969 Chronicle of a French town during the Occupation NARRATOR'S VOICE (Over credits and soldiers) June fourteenth, nineteen forty, the German army occupies Paris. All over the country, people are desperate for every available scrap of news. CUT TO:INT. BEDROOM-NIGHT Annie is sitting up in bed reading. ALVY (Off screen) Boy, those guys in the French Resistance were really brave, you know? Got to listen to Maurice Chevalier sing so much. ANNIE M'm, I don't know, sometimes I ask myself how I'd stand up under torture. ALVY (Off screen) You? You kiddin'? (He moves into the frame, lying across the bed to touch, Annie, who makes a face) If the Gestapo would take away your Bloomingdale's charge card, you'd tell 'em everything. ANNIE That movie makes me feel guilty. ALVY Yeah, 'cause it's supposed to.He starts kissing Annie's arm. She gets annoyed and continues to read. ANNIE Alvy, I ... ALVY What-what-what-what's the matter? ANNIE I-you know, I don't wanna. ALVY (Overlapping Annie, reacting) What-what-I don't ... It's not natural! We're sleeping in a bed together. You know, it's been a long time. ANNIE I know, well, it's just that-you know, I mean, I-I-I-I gotta sing tomorrow night, so I have to rest my voice. ALVY (Overlapping Annie again) It's always some kind of an excuse. It's- You know, you used to think that I was very sexy. What ... When we first started going out, we had sex constantly ... We're- we're probably listed in the Guinness Book of World Records. ANNIE (Patting Alvy's band solicitously) I know. Well, Alvy, it'll pass, it'll pass, it's just that I'm going through a phase, that's all. ALVY M'm. ANNIE I mean, you've been married before, you know how things can get. You were very hot for Allison at first. CUT TO:INT. BACK STAGE OF AUDITORIUM - NIGHT.Allison, clipboard in band, walks about the wings, stopping to talk to various people. Musicians, performers and technicians mill about, busy with activity. Allison wears a large "ADLAI" button, as do the people around her. The sounds of a comedian on the stage of the auditorium can be heard, occasionally, interrupted by chatter and applause from the off screen audience. Allison stops to talk to two women; they, too, wear "ADLAI" buttons. ALLISON (Looking down at the clipboard) Ma'am, you're on right after this man ... about twenty minutes, something like that. WOMAN Oh, thank you.Alvy moves into the frame behind Allison. He taps her on the shoulder; she turns to face him. ALVY (Coughing) Excuse ... excuse me, when do I go on? ALLISON (Looking down at the clipboard) Who are you? ALVY Alvy ... Alvy Singer. I'm a comedian. ALLISON Oh, comedian. Yes. Oh, uh ... you're on next. ALVY (Rubbing his hands together nervously) What do you mean, next? ALLISON (Laughing) Uh ... I mean you're on right after this act. ALVY (Gesturing) No, it can't be, because he's a comic. ALLISON Yes. ALVY So what are you telling me, you're putting on two comics in a row? ALLISON Why not? ALVY No, I'm sorry, I'm not goin'- I can't ... I don't wanna go on after that comedian. ALLISON It's okay. ALVY No, because they're-they're laughing, so (He starts laughing nervously) I-I-I'd rather not. If you don't mind, I prefer- ALLISON (Overlapping) Will you relax, please? They're gonna love you, I know. ALVY (Overlapping) I prefer not to, because ... look, they're laughing at him. See, so what are yuh telling me-They move closer to the stage, looking out from the wings. ALLISON (Overlapping) Yes. ALVY (Overlapping) -that I've got to ... ah ... ah ... They're gonna laugh at him for a couple minutes, then I gotta go out there, I gotta ... get laughs, too. How much can they laugh? (Off screen) They-they they're laughed out. ALLISON (Off screen) Do you feel all right?As Allison and Alvy look out at the stage, the camera cuts to their point of view: a comedian standing at a podium in front of huge waving pictures of AdlaiStevenson. The audience, laughing and clapping, sits at round tables in clusters around the room.The camera moves back to Allison and Alvy watching the stage. Alvy is swinginghis hands nervously. COMEDIAN (Off screen, onstage) You know ...Alvy starts looking Allison up and down; people in the background mill about. ALVY (Above the chatter around him) Look, what's your-what's your name? COMEDIAN (Off screen) ... General Eisenhower is not ... ALLISON (Looking out at the stage) Allison. ALVY Yeah? Allison what? ALLISON (Still looking off screen) Portchnik. COMEDIAN ... a group from the ... ALVY (Coughing) Thank you. I-I don't know why they would have me at this kind of rally 'cause ... (He clears his throat) Excuse me, I'm not essentially a political comedian at all.The audience starts to laugh. ALVY I ... interestingly had, uh, dated ... a woman in the Eisenhower Administration ... briefly ... and, uh, it was ironic to me 'cause, uh . . . tsch . . . 'cause I was trying to, u-u-uh, do to her what Eisenhower has been doing to the country for the last eight years. The audience is with him, laughing, as Allison continues to watch offstage.INT. APARTMENT BEDROOM.Allison and, Alvy are on the bed, kissing. There are books all over the room; a fireplace, unlit, along one of the walls. Alvy suddenly breaks away and sits on the edge of the bed. Allison looks at him. ALVY H'm, I'm sorry, I can't go through with this, because it-I can't get it off my mind, Allison ... it's obsessing me! ALLISON Well, I'm getting tired of it. I need your attention.Alvy gets up from the bed and starts walking restlessly around the room, gesturing with his hands. ALVY It-but it-it ... doesn't make any sense. He drove past the book depository and the police said conclusively that it was an exit wound. So-how is it possible for Oswald to have fired from two angles at once? It doesn't make sense. ALLISON Alvy.Alvy, stopping for a moment at the fireplace mantel, sighs. He then snaps his fingers and starts walking again. ALVY I'll tell you this! He was not marksman enough to hit a moving target at that range. But ... (Clears his throat) if there was a second assassin ... it- That's it!Alvy stops at the music stand with open sheet music on it as Allison gets up from the bed and retrieves a pack of cigarettes from a bookshelf. ALLISON We've been through this. ALVY If they-they recovered the shells from that rifle. ALLISON (Moving back to the bed and lighting a cigarette) Okay. All right, so whatta yuh saying, now? That e-e-everybody o-o-on the Warren Commission is in on this conspiracy, right? ALVY Well, why not? ALLISON Yeah, Earl Warren? ALVY (Moving toward the bed) Hey ... honey, I don't know Earl Warren. ALLISON Lyndon Johnson? ALVY (Propping one knee on the bed and gesturing) L-L-Lyndon Johns Lyndon Johnson is a politician. You know the ethics those guys have? It's like-uh, a notch underneath child molester. ALLISON Then everybody's in in the conspiracy? ALVY (Nodding his head) Tsch. ALLISON The FBI, and the CIA, and J. Edgar Hoover and oil companies and the Pentagon and the men's-room attendant at the White House?Alvy touches Allison's shoulder, then gets up from the bed and starts walking again. ALVY I-I-I-I would leave out the men's-room attendant. ALLISON You're using this conspiracy theory as an excuse to avoid sex with me. ALVY Oh, my God! (Then, to the camera) She's right! Why did I turn off Allison Portchnik? She was-she was beautiful. She was willing. She was real ... intelligent. (Sighing) Is it the old Groucho Marx joke? That-that I-I just don't wanna belong to any club that would have someone like me for a member?EXT. BEACH HOUSE - DAYAlvy's and Annie's voices are heard over the wind-browned exterior of a beach house in the Hamptons. As they continue to talk, the camera moves inside the house. Alvy is picking up chairs, trying to get at the group of lobsters crawling on the floor. Dishes are stacked up in a drying rack, and bags of groceries sit on the counter. There's a table and chairs near the refrigerator. ANNIE Alvy, now don't panic. Please. ALVY Look, I told you it was a ... mistake to ever bring a live thing in the house. ANNIE Stop it! Don't ... don't do that! There. The lobsters continue to crawl on the floor. Annie, bolding out a wooden paddle, tries to shove them onto it. ALVY Well, maybe we should just call the police. Dial nine-one-one, it's the lobster squad. ANNIE Come on, Alvy, they're only baby ones, for God's sake. ALVY If they're only babies, then you pick 'em up. ANNIE Oh, all right. All right! It's all right. Here.She drops the paddle and picks up one of the lobsters by the tail. Laughing, she shoves it at Alvy who jerks backward, squeamishly. ALVY Don't give it to me. Don't! ANNIE (Hysterically) Oooh! Here! Here! ALVY (Pointing) Look! Look, one crawled behind the refrigerator. It'll turn up in our bed at night. (They move over to the refrigerator; Alvy moves as close to the wall as possible as Annie, covering her mouth and laughing hysterically, teasingly dangles a lobster in front of him) Will you get outta here with that thing? Jesus! ANNIE (Laughing, to the lobster) Get him! ALVY (Laughing) Talk to him. You speak shellfish! (He moves over to the stove and takes the lid of a large steamer filled with boiling water) Hey, look ... put it in the pot. ANNIE (Laughing) I can't! I can't put him in the pot. I can't put a live thing in hot water. ALVY (Overlapping) Gimme! Gimme! Let me do it! What-what's he think we're gonna do, take him to the movies?Annie hands the lobster to Alvy as he takes it very carefully and drops it gingerly into the pot and puts the cover back on. ANNIE (Overlapping Alvy and making sounds) Oh, God! Here yuh go! Oh, good, now he'll think- (She screams) Aaaah! Okay. ALVY (Overlapping Annie) Okay, it's in. It's definitely in the pot! ANNIE All right. All right. All right.She moves hurriedly across the kitchen and picks up another lobster. Smiling, she places it on the counter as Alvy stands beside the refrigerator trying to push it from the wall. ALVY Annie, there's a big lobster behind the refrigerator. I can't get it out. This thing's heavy. Maybe if I put a little dish of butter sauce here with a nutcracker, it will run out the other side, you know what I mean? ANNIE (Overlapping) Yeah. I'm gonna get my ... I'm gonna get my camera. ALVY You know, I-I think ... if I could pry this door off ... We shoulda gotten steaks 'cause they don't have legs. They don't run around.Annie rushes out of the room to get her camera as Alvy picks up the paddle. Trying to get at the lobsters, he ends up knocking over dishes and hitting the chandelier. Holding the paddle, he finally leans back against the sink. Annie, standing in the doorway, starts taking pictures of him. ANNIE Great! Great! (Screaming) Goddammit! (Screaming) Ooooh! These are ... p-p-p-pick this lobster up. Hold it, please! ALVY All right! All right! All right! All right! Whatta yuh mean? Are yuh gonna take pictures now? ANNIE It'll make great- Alvy, be- Alvy, it'll be wonderful ... Ooooh, lovely! ALVY (Picking up the lobster Annie placed on the counter earlier) All right, here! Oh, God, it's disgusting!Alvy drops the lobster back down on the counter, sticking out his tongue and making a face. ANNIE Don't be a jerk. One more, Alvy, please, one more picture. (Reluctantly Alvy picks up the lobster again as Annie takes another picture) Oh, oh, good, good!EXT. OCEAN FRONT-DUSK.The camera pans Annie and Alvy as they walk along the shore. ALVY So, so-well, here's what I wanna know. W-what ... (He clears his throat) Am I your first big romance? ANNIE Oh ... no, no, no, no, uh, uh. No. ALVY Well, then, w-who was? ANNIE Oh, well, let's see, there was Dennis, from Chippewa Falls High School. CUT TO:FLASHBACK OF DENNIS LEANING AGAINST A CAR - NIGHTBehind him is a movie theater with "MARILYN MONROE, 'MISFITS' " on the marquee.He looks at his watch as the younger Annie, in a beehive hairdo, moves into theframe. They kiss quickly and look at each other, smiling. ALVY'S VOICE (Off screen) Dennis-right, uh, uh ... local kid probably, would meetcha in front of the movie house on Saturday night. ANNIE'S VOICE Oh, God, you should've seen what I looked like then. ALVY'S VOICE (Off screen, laughing) Oh, I can imagine. P-p-probably the wife of an astronaut. ANNIE'S VOICE Then there was Jerry, the actor. CUT TO:FLASHBACK OF BRICK-WALLED APARTMENT - NIGHTThe younger, Annie and Jerry lean against the wall. Jerry is running his band down Annie's bare arm. Annie and Alvy walk into the room, observing the youngerAnnie, in jeans and T-shirt, with Jerry. ALVY'S VOICE (Laughing) Look at you, you-you,-re such a clown. ANNIE'S VOICE I look pretty. ALVY'S VOICE Well, yeah, you always look pretty, but that guy with you ... JERRY Acting is like an exploration of the soul. I-it's very religious. Uh, like, uh, a kind of liberating consciousness. It's like a visual poem. ALVY (Laughing) Is he kidding with that crap? YOUNGER ANNIE (Laughing) Oh, right. Right, yeah, I think I know exactly what you mean, when you say "religious." ALVY (Incredulous, to Annie) You do? ANNIE (Still watching) Oh, come on-I mean, I was still younger. ALVY Hey, that was last year. JERRY It's like when I think of dying. You know how I would like to die? YOUNGER ANNIE No, how? JERRY I'd like to get torn apart by wild animals. ALVY'S VOICE Heavy! Eaten by some squirrels. ANNIE'S VOICE Hey, listen-I mean, he was a terrific actor, and look at him, he's neat-looking and he was emotional ... Y-hey, I don't think you like emotion too much.Jerry stops rubbing the younger Annie's arm and slides down to the floor as she raises her foot toward his chest. JERRY Touch my heart ... with your foot. ALVY'S VOICE I-I may throw up! CUT BACK TO:EXTERIOR. BEACH-DUSKIt's now sunset, the water reflecting the last light. The camera moves over the scene. The off screen voices of Alvy and Annie are heard as they walk, thecamera always one step ahead of them. ANNIE He was creepy. ALVY Yeah, I-I think you're pretty lucky I came along. ANNIE (Laughing) Oh, really? Well, la-de-da! ALVY La-de-da. If I-if anyone had ever told me that I would be taking out a girl who used expressions like "la-de-da" . . . ANNIE Oh, that's right. That you really like those New York girls. ALVY Well, no ... not just, not only. ANNIE Oh, I'd say so. You married- CUT TO:INT. NEW YORK CITY APARTMENT-NIGHTA cocktail party is in progress, the rooms crowded with guests as Alvy and Robin make their way through the people. A waiter, carrying a tray, walks past them. Alvy reaches out to pick up a glass; Robin reaches over and picks it of the tray first. There is much low-key chatter in the background. ANNIE (Off screen) -two of them. ROBIN There's Henry Drucker. He has a chair in history at Princeton. Oh, the short man is Hershel Kaminsky. He has a chair in philosophy at Cornell. ALVY Yeah, two more chairs and they got a dining-room set. ROBIN Why are you so hostile? ALVY (Sighing) 'Cause I wanna watch the Knicks on television. ROBIN (Squinting) Is that Paul Goodman? No. And be nice to the host because he's publishing my book. Hi, Doug! Douglas Wyatt. "A Foul-Rag-and-Bone Shop-of-the-Heart."They move through the rooms, Robin holding a drink in one hand, her arm draped in Alvy's; the crowd mills around them. ALVY (Taking Robin's hand) I'm so tired of spending evenings making fake insights with people who work for Dysentery. ROBIN Commentary. ALVY Oh, really, I heard that Commentary and Dissent had merged and formed Dysentery. ROBIN No jokes-these are friends, okay?INT. BEDROOMAlvy sits on the foot of the bed watching the Knicks game on television. TV ANNOUNCER (Off screen) Cleveland Cavaliers losing to the New York Knicks.Robin enters the room, slamming the door. ROBIN Here you are. There's people out there. ALVY Hey, you wouldn't believe this. Two minutes ago, the Knicks are ahead fourteen points, and now ... (Clears his throat) they're ahead two points. ROBIN Alvy, what is so fascinating about a group of pituitary cases trying to stuff the ball through a hoop? ALVY (Looking at Robin) What's fascinating is that it's physical. You know, it's one thing about intellectuals, they prove that you can be absolutely brilliant and have no idea what's going on. But on the other hand ... (Clears his throat) the body doesn't lie, as-as we now know.Alvy reaches over, pulls Robin down onto the bed. He kisses her and moves farther up on the bed. ROBIN Stop acting out.She sits on the edge of the bed, looking down at the sprawled-out Alvy. ALVY No, it'll be great! It'll be great, be-because all those Ph.D.'s are in there, you know, like ... discussing models of alienation and we'll be in here quietly humping.He pulls Robin toward him, caressing her as she pulls herself away. ROBIN Alvy, don't! You're using sex to express hostility. ALVY "'Why-why do you always r-reduce my animal urges to psychoanalytic categories?' (Clears his throat) he said as he removed her brassiere..." ROBIN (Pulling away again) There are people out there from The New Yorker magazine. My God! What would they think?She gets up and fixes the zipper on her dress. She turns and moves toward the door.INT. APARTMENT-NIGHTRobin and Alvy are in bed. The room is in darkness. Outside, a siren starts blaring. ROBIN Oh, I'm sorry! ALVY Don't get upset! ROBIN Dammit! I was so close.She flips on the overhead lamp and turns on her side. Alvy turns to her. ALVY (Gesturing) Jesus, last night it was some guy honking his car horn. I mean, the city can't close down. You know, what-whatta yuh gonna do, h-have 'em shut down the airport, too? No more flights so we can have sex? ROBIN (Reaching over for her eyeglasses on the night table) I'm too tense. I need a Valium. My analyst says I should live in the country and not in New York. ALVY Well, I can't li- We can't have this discussion all the time. The country makes me nervous. There's ... You got crickets and it-it's quiet ... there's no place to walk after dinner, and... uh, there's the screens with the dead moths behind them, and... uh, yuh got the-the Manson family possibly, yuh got Dick and Terry- ROBIN (Interrupting) Okay, okay, my analyst just thinks I'm too tense. Where's the goddamn Valium?She fumbles about the floor for the Valium, then back on the bed. ALVY Hey, come on, it's quiet now. We can-we can start again. ROBIN I can't. ALVY What- ROBIN My head is throbbing. ALVY Oh, you got a headache! ROBIN I have a headache. ALVY Bad? ROBIN Oswald and ghosts. ALVY Jesus!He begins to get out of bed. ROBIN Where are you going? ALVY Well, I'm-I'm gonna take another in a series of cold showers.EXT. MEN'S LOCKER ROOM OF THE TENNIS CLUB.Rob and Alvy, carrying tennis rackets, come through the door of the locker room to the lobby. They are dressed in tennis whites. They walk toward the indoor court. ROB Max, my serve is gonna send yuh to the showers- ALVY Right, right, so g-get back to what we were discussing, the failure of the country to get behind New York City is-is anti-Semitism. ROB Max, the city is terribly worried. ALVY But the- I'm not discussing politics or economics. This is foreskin. ROB No, no, no, Max, that's a very convenient out. Every time some group disagrees with you it's because of anti-Semitism. ALVY Don't you see? The rest of the country looks upon New York like we're-we're left-wing Communist, Jewish, homosexual, pornographers. I think of us that way, sometimes, and I-I live here. ROB Max, if we lived in California, we could play outdoors every day, in the sun. ALVY Sun is bad for yuh. Everything our parents said was good is bad. Sun, milk, red meat, college ...INT. TENNIS COURTAnnie and Janet, in tennis whites, stand on the court holding tennis rackets and balls. They are chattering and giggling. ANNIE (Laughing) I know, but ooh- here he comes. Okay. Rob and Alvy enter the court and walk over to the two women. Rob kisses Janet and makes introduction. ROB You know Alvy? JANET Oh, hi, Alvy. ANNIE (To Rob) How are yuh? ROB (To Alvy) You know Annie? JANET I'm sorry. This is Annie Hall. ALVY Hi. ANNIE Hi.Annie and Alvy shake hands. JANET (Laughing) Alvy. ROB (Eager to begin) Who's playing who here? Alvy Well, uh ... you and me against them? ANNIE (Overlapping Alvy) Well ... so ... I can't play too good, you know. JANET (Laughing) I've had four lessons!The group, laughing and chatting, divide up-Rob and Annie moving to the other side of the net, Alvy and Janet standing where they are. They start to play mixed doubles, each taking turns and playing well. At one point in the game, Annie starts to talk to Rob, then turns and sees a ball heading toward her. ALVY (Hitting the halt back) Holy gods!INT. LOBBYAlvy, dressed, puts things into a gym bag. One knee is on the bench and his back is turned from the entrance. Annie walks toward the entrance door dressed in street clothes and carrying her tennis bag over her shoulder. Seeing Alvy,she stops and turns. ANNIE Hi. Hi, hi. ALVY (Looking over his shoulder) Hi. Oh, hi. Hi. ANNIE (Hands clasped in front of her, smiling) Well, bye. She laughs and backs up slowly toward the door. ALVY (Clearing his throat) You-you play ... very well. ANNIE Oh, yeah? So do you. Oh, God, whatta- (Making sounds and laughing) whatta dumb thing to say, right? I mean, you say it, "You play well," and right away ... I have to say well. Oh, oh ... God, Annie. (She gestures with her hand) Well ... oh, well ... la-de-da, la-de-da, la-la.She turns around and moves toward the door. ALVY (Still looking over his shoulder) Uh ... you-you wanna lift? ANNIE (Turning and aiming her thumb over her shoulder) Oh, why-uh ... y-y-you gotta car? ALVY No, um ... I was gonna take a cab. ANNIE (Laughing) Oh, no, I have a car. ALVY You have a car? (Annie smiles, hands folded in front of her) So ... (Clears his throat) I don't understand why ... if you have a car, so then-then wh-why did you say "Do you have a car?"... like you wanted a lift? ANNIE I don't ... (Laughing) I don't ... Geez, I don't know, I've ... I wa- This ... yeah, I got this VW out there ... (Laughing and gesturing toward the door) What a jerk, yeah. Would you like a lift? ALVY (Zipping up his bag) Sure. W-w-w-which way yuh goin'? ANNIE Me? Oh, downtown! ALVY Down- I'm-I'm goin' uptown. ANNIE (Laughing) Oh, well, I'm goin' uptown, too. ALVY Uh, well, you just said you were going downtown. ANNIE Yeah, well, I'm, but I ...Alvy picks up his bag and moves toward the door. As he turns his bag around, the handle of the tennis racket bits Annie between the legs. ALVY (Laughing) So sorry. ANNIE (Laughing) I mean, I can go uptown, too. I live uptown, but ... uh, what the hell, I mean, it'd be nice having company, you know I mean, I hate driving alone. ALVY (Making sounds) Yeah.They walk out the door.EXT. NEW YORK STREET- DAYAlvy and Annie in the VW as Annie speeds down a city street near the East River. ALVY So, how long do you know Janet? Where do you know her from? ANNIE (Laughing) Oh, I'm in her acting class. ALVY Oh - you're an actress. ANNIE Well, I do commercials, sort of ...She zooms down the wrong lane, cars swerving out of her way. A horn blows. ALVY I, uh ... well, you're not from New York, right? ANNIE No, Chippewa Falls. ALVY Right! (A pause) Where? ANNIE Wisconsin. ALVY (Finally reacting) Uh, you're driving a- ANNIE Uh, don't worry, I'm a very- (A car moves closer to the VW, almost on top of it in the wrong direction. Annie swerves away at the very last minute) -a very good driver. (Alvy rubs his head nervously, staring out the window as Annie speeds along) So, listen-hey, you want some gum, anyway?Annie looks down beside her, searching for the gum. ALVY No, no thanks. Hey, don't- ANNIE Well, where is it? I- ALVY No, no, no, no, you just ... just watch the road. I'll get it- ANNIE Okay.They both fumble around in her pocketbook. Alvy looks up to see the entire front of a truck in Annie's windshield. She swerves just in time. ALVY -for yuh. ANNIE Okay, that's good.Alvy continues to look for the gum while Annie zooms down the city streets. ANNIE All right. ALVY I'll getcha a piece. ANNIE Yeah ... so, listen-you drive? ALVY Do I drive? Uh, no, I gotta-I gotta problem with driving. ANNIE Oh, you do? ALVY Yeah. I got, uh, I got a license but I have too much hostility. ANNIE Oh, right. ALVY Nice car. ANNIE (A bit rapidly) Huh? ALVY You keep it nice. (He pulls a half-eaten sandwich out of her bag) Can I ask you, is this-is this a sandwich? ANNIE Huh? Oh, yeah.EXT. STREET-DAYCars are parked on both sides of the street as the VW rounds the corner. ANNIE I live over here. Oh, my God! Look! There's a parking space! With brakes squealing, Annie turns the VW sharply into the parking spot. Annie and Alvy get out, Alvy looking over his shoulder as he leaves the car. ALVY That's okay, you ... we-we can walk to the curb from here. ANNIE Don't be funny. ALVY You want your tennis stuff? ANNIE Huh? Oh ... yeah. ALVY You want your gear? Here you go.Alvy reaches into the back of the car and takes out tennis equipment. He hands her her things. People pass by on the street. ANNIE (Laughing) Yeah, thanks. Thanks a lot. Well... ALVY (Sighing) Well, thanks, thank you. You-you're a wonderful tennis player. ANNIE (Laughing) Oh.Alvy shakes hands with Annie. ALVY You're the worst driver I've ever seen in my life . . . that's including any place ... the worst ... Europe, United ... any place ... Asia. ANNIE (Laughing) Yeah. ALVY And I love what you're wearin'.Alvy touches the tie Annie is wearing around her neck. ANNIE Oh, you do? Yeah? Oh, well, it's uh ... this is, uh ... this tie is a present, from Grammy Hall.Annie flips the bottom of the tie. ALVY Who? Grammy? Grammy Hall? ANNIE (Laughing and nodding her head) Yeah, my grammy. ALVY You're jo- Whatta yuh kid- What did you do, grow up in a Norman Rockwell painting? ANNIE (Laughing) Yeah, I know. ALVY Your grammy! ANNIE I know, it's pretty silly, isn't it? ALVY Jesus, my-my grammy ... n-never gave gifts, you know. She-she was too busy getting raped by Cossacks. ANNIE (Laughing) Well ... ALVY Well ... thank you again. ANNIE Oh, yeah, yeah. ALVY I'll see yuh. ANNIE (Overlapping, gesturing) Hey, well, listen ... hey, you wanna come upstairs and, uh ... and have a glass of wine and something? Aw, no, I mean ... I mean, you don't have to, you're probably late and everything else ... ALVY No, no, that'll be fine. I don't mind. Sure. ANNIE You sure? ALVY (Overlapping) No, I got time. ANNIE Okay. ALVY Sure, I got ... I got nothing, uh, nothing till my analyst's appointment.They move toward Annie's apartment building. ANNIE Oh, you see an analyst? ALVY Y-y-yeah, just for fifteen years. ANNIE Fifteen years? ALVY Yeah, uh, I'm gonna give him one more year and then I'm goin' to Lourdes. ANNIE Fifteen-aw, come on, you're . . . yeah, really?INT. ANNIE'S APARTMENTAlvy, standing, looks around the apartment. There are lots of books, framed photographs on the white wall. A terrace can be seen from the window. He picks up a copy of Ariet, by Sylvia Platb, as Annie comes out of the kitchen carrying two glasses. She hands them to Alvy. ALVY Sylvia Plath. ANNIE M'hm... ALVY Interesting poetess whose tragic suicide was misinterpreted as romantic, by the college-girl mentality. ANNIE Oh, yeah. ALVY Oh, sorry. ANNIE Right. Well, I don't know, I mean, uh, some of her poems seem - neat, you know. ALVY Neat? ANNIE Neat, yeah. ALVY Uh, I hate to tell yuh, this is nineteen seventy-five, you know that "neat" went out, I would say, at the turn of the century. (Annie laughs) Who-who are-who are those photos on the wall? ANNIE (Moving over to the photographs) Oh ... oh, well, you see now now, uh, that's my dad, that's Father-and that's my ... brother, Duane. ALVY Duane? ANNIE (Pointing) Yeah, right, Duane-and over there is Grammy Hall, and that's Sadie. ALVY Well, who's Sadie? ANNIE Sadie? Oh, well, Sadie... (Laughing) Sadie met Grammy through, uh, through Grammy's brother George. Uh, George was real sweet, you know, he had that thing. What is that thing where you, uh, where you, uh, fall asleep in the middle of a sentence, you know-what is it? Uh ... ALVY Uh, narcolepsy. ANNIE Narcolepsy, right, right. Right. So, anyway, so ... (Laughing) George, uh, went to the union, see, to get his free turkey, be-because, uh, the union always gave George this big turkey at Christmas time because he was ... (Annie points her fingers to each side of her head, indicating George was a little crazy) shell-shocked, you know what I mean, in the First World War. (Laughing hysterically, she opens a cabinet door and takes out a bottle of wine) Anyway, so, so ... (Laughing through the speech) George is standing in line, oh, just a sec ...uh, getting his free turkey, but the thing is, he falls asleep and he never wakes up. So, so... (Laughing) so, he's dead ... (Laughing) he's dead. Yeah. Oh, dear. Well, terrible, huh, wouldn't you say? I mean, that's pretty unfortunate.Annie unscrews the bottle of wine, silent now after her speech. ALVY Yeah, it's a great story, though, I mean, I... I ... it really made my day. Hey, I think I should get outta here, you know, 'cause I think I'm imposing, you know ... ANNIE (Laughing) Oh, really? Oh, well ... uh, uh, maybe, uh, maybe, we, uh ... ALVY ... and ... uh, yeah, uh ... uh, you know, I-I-I... They move outside to the terrace, Alvy still holding the glasses, Annie the wine. They stand in front of the railing, Annie pouring the wine into the held-out glasses. ANNIE Well, I mean, you don't have to, you know. ALVY No, I know, but ... but, you know, I'm all perspired and everything. ANNIE Well, didn't you take, uh ... uh, a shower at the club? ALVY Me? No, no, no, 'cause I never shower in a public place. ANNIE (Laughing) Why not? ALVY 'Cause I don't like to get naked in front of another man, you know-it's, uh ... ANNIE (Laughing) Oh, I see, I see. ALVY You know, I don't like to show my body to a man of my gender- ANNIE Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah, I see. I guess- ALVY -'cause, uh, you never know what's gonna happen. ANNIE (Sipping her wine and laughing) Fifteen years, huh? ALVY Fifteen years, yeah. ANNIE Yeah. Oh, God bless!They put their glasses together in a toast. ALVY God bless. ANNIE (Laughing) Well, uh ... (Pausing) You're what Grammy Hall would call a real Jew. ALVY (Clearing his throat) Oh, thank you. ANNIE (Smiling) Yeah, well ... you-She hates Jews. She thinks that they just make money, but let me tell yuh, I mean, she's the one yeah, is she ever. I'm tellin' yuh. ALVY (pointing toward the apartment after a short pause) So, did you do shoot the photographs in there or what? ANNIE (Nodding, her hand on her hip) Yeah, yeah, I sorta dabble around, you know.Annie's thoughts pop on the screen as she talks: I dabble? Listen to me-what a jerk! ALVY They're ... they're... they're wonderful, you know. They have ... they have, uh ... a ... a quality. As do Alvy's: You are a great-looking girl ANNIE Well, I-I-I would-I would like to take a serious photography course soon.Again, Annie's thoughts pop on: He probably thinks I'm a yo-yo ALVY Photography's interesting, 'cause, you know, it's-it's a new art form, and a, uh, a set of aesthetic criteria have not emerged yet.And Alvy's: I wonder what she looks like naked? ANNIE Aesthetic criteria? You mean, whether it's, uh, good photo or not?I'm not smart enough for him. Hang in there ALVY The-the medium enters in as a condition of the art form itself. That's-I don't know what I'm saying-she senses I'm shallow ANNIE Well, well, I ... to me-I ... I mean, it's-it's-it's all instinctive, you know. I mean, I just try to uh, feel it, you know? I try to get a sense of it and not think about it so much.God, I hope he doesn't turn out to be a shmuck like the others ALVY Still, still we- You need a set of aesthetic guide lines to put it in social perspective, I think.Christ, I sound like FM radio. RelaxThey're quiet for a moment, holding wine glasses and sipping. The sounds of distant traffic from the street can be heard on the terrace. Annie, laughing, speaks first. ANNIE Well, I don't know. I mean, I guess-I guess you must be sorta late, huh? ALVY You know, I gotta get there and begin whining soon ... otherwise I- Hey ... well, are you busy Friday night? ANNIE Me? Oh, uh. (Laughing) No. ALVY (Putting his band on his forehead) Oh, I'm sorry, wait a minute, I have something. Well, what about Saturday night? ANNIE (Nodding) Oh ... nothing. Not-no, no! ALVY Oh, you ... you're very popular, I can see. ANNIE (Laughing) I know. ALVY Gee, boy, what do you have? You have plague? ANNIE Well, I mean, I meet a lot of ... jerks, you know- ALVY Yeah, I meet a lotta jerks, too. ANNIE (Overlapping) -what I mean? ALVY I think that's, uh- ANNIE (Interrupting) But I'm thinking about getting some cats, you know, and then they ... Oh, wait a second-oh, no, no, I mean (Laughing) oh, shoot! No, Saturday night I'm gonna- (Laughing) gonna sing. Yeah. ALVY You're gonna sing? Do you sing? Well, no, it isn't (Overlapping) No kidding? (Overlapping) -this is my first time. Oh, really? Where? I'd like to come. (Laughing) Oh, no, no, no, no, no! No, I'm interested! ANNIE (Laughing) Oh, no-I mean, I'm just a-auditioning sort of at club. I don't- ALVY (Overlapping) No, so help me. ANNIE (Overlapping) -it's my first time. ALVY That's okay, 'cause I know exactly what that's like. Listen- ANNIE (Interrupting) Yeah. ALVY (Overlapping) -you're gonna like night clubs, they're really a lotta fun.INT. NIGHT CLUB-NIGHTAnnie stands on center stage with a microphone, a pianist behind her. A Bright light is focused on her; the rest of the club is in darkness. There are the typical sounds and movements of a nightclub audience: low conversation,curling smoke, breaking glass, microphone bum, moving chairs, waiters clattering trays, a ringing phone as Annie sings "It Had to Be You.EXT. CITY STREET-NIGHT.Alvy and Annie walk quickly down the sidewalk. ANNIE I was awful. I'm so ashamed! I can't sing. ALVY Oh, listen, so the audience was a tad restless. ANNIE Whatta you mean, a tad restless? Oh, my God, I mean, they hated me. ALVY No, they didn't. You have a wonderful voice. ANNIE No, I'm gonna quit! ALVY No, I'm not gonna letcha. You have a great voice. ANNIE Really, do you think so, really? ALVY Yeah! ANNIE Yeah? ALVY It's terrific. ANNIE (Overlapping) Yeah, you know something? I never even took a lesson, either.They stop in the middle of the sidewalk. Alvy turns Annie around to face him. ALVY Hey, listen, listen. ANNIE What? ALVY Gimme a kiss. ANNIE Really? ALVY Yeah, why not, because we're just gonna go home later, right? ANNIE Yeah. ALVY And-and uh, there's gonna be all that tension. You know, we never kissed before and I'll never know when to make the right move or anything. So we'll kiss now we'll get it over with and then we'll go eat. Okay? ANNIE Oh, all right. ALVY And we'll digest our food better. ANNIE Okay. ALVY Okay? ANNIE Yeah.They kiss. ALVY So now we can digest our food. They turn and start walking again. ANNIE We can digest our- ALVY Okay. Yeah.INT. DELI-NIGHTAnnie and Alvy sit down in a booth. The deli is fairly well lit and crowded. Conversation, plates clattering, can be heard over the dialogue. The waiter comes over to them to take their order. ALVY (To the waiter) I'm gonna have a corned beef. ANNIE (To the waiter) Yeah ... oh, uh, and I'm gonna have a pastrami on white bread with, uh, mayonnaise and tomatoes and lettuce. (Alvy involuntarily makes a face as the waiter leaves) Tsch, so, uh, your second wife left you and, uh, were you depressed about that? ALVY Nothing that a few mega-vitamins couldn't cure. ANNIE Oh. And your first wife was Allison? ALVY My first... Yes, she was nice, but you know, uh, it was my fault. I was just... I was too crazy. ANNIE Oh.INT. DARKENED BEDROOM-NIGHTAlvy and Annie in bed together. ANNIE M'm, that was so nice. That was nice. ALVY As Balzac said ... ANNIE H'm? ALVY "There goes another novel." (They laugh) Jesus, you were great. ANNIE Oh, yeah? ALVY Yeah. ANNIE Yeah? ALVY Yeah, I'm-I'm-I'm a wreck. ANNIE No. (She turns and looks at Alvy, then laughs) You're a wreck. ALVY Really. I mean it. I-I'll never play the piano again. ANNIE (Lighting a joint and laughing) You're really nuts. I don't know, you really thought it was good? Tell me. ALVY Good? I was- ANNIE (Overlapping) No. ALVY No, that was the most fun I've ever had without laughing. ANNIE (Laughing) Here, you want some? ALVY No, no, I-I-i, uh, I don't use any major hallucinogenics because I took a puff like five years ago at a party and ANNIE Yeah? ALVY -tried to take my pants off over my head ... (Annie laughs) ... my ear. ANNIE Oh, I don't know, I don't really. I don't do it very often, you know, just sort of, er ... relaxes me at first. ALVY M'hm. (He pushes himself up from the bed and looks down at Annie) You're not gonna believe this, but- ANNIE What? What? CUT TO:INT. BOOKSTORE-DAYAnnie and Alvy browsing in crowded bookstore. Alvy, carrying two books, "Death and Western Thought" and "The Denial of Death", moves over to where Annie is looking. ALVY Hey? ANNIE H'm? ALVY I-I-I'm gonna buy you these books, I think, because I-I think you should read them. You know, instead of that cat book. ANNIE (Looking at the books Alvy is bolding) That's, uh ... (Laughing) that's pretty serious stuff there. ALVY Yeah, 'cause I-I'm, you know, I'm, I'm obsessed with-with, uh, with death, I think. Big- ANNIE (Overlapping) Yeah? ALVY -big subject with me, yeah. ANNIE Yeah?They move over to the cashier line. ALVY (Gesturing) I've a very pessimistic view of life. You should know this about me if we're gonna go out, you know. I-I-I feel that life is-is divided up into the horrible and the miserable. ANNIE M'hm. ALVY Those are the two categories ... ANNIE M'hm. ALVY ... you know, they're- The-the horrible would be like, uh, I don't know, terminal cases, you know? ANNIE M'hm. ALVY And blind people, crippled ... ANNIE Yeah. ALVY I don't-don't know how they get through life. It's amazing to me. ANNIE M'hm. ALVY You know, and the miserable is everyone else. That's-that's all. So-so when you go through life you should be thankful that you're miserable, because that's- You're very lucky ... to be ... (Overlapping Annie's laughter) ... to be miserable. ANNIE U-huh.EXT. PARK-DAYIt's a beautiful sunny day in Central Park. People are sitting on benches, others strolling, some walking dogs. One woman stands feeding cooing pigeons.Alvy's and Annie's voices are heard off screen as they observe the scene beforethem. An older man and woman walk into view. ALVY Look, look at that guy. ANNIE M'hm. ALVY There's-there's-there's-there's Mr. When-in-the-Pink, Mr. Miami Beach, there, you know? (Over Annie's laughter) He's the latest! just came back from the gin-rummy farm last night. He placed third. ANNIE (Laughing) M'hm. Yeah. Yeah.The camera shows them sitting side by side relaxed on a bench. ALVY (Watching two men approach, one lighting a cigar) Look at these guys. ANNIE Yeah. ALVY Oh, that's hilarious. They're back from Fire Island. They're ... they're sort of giving it a chance-you know what I mean? ANNIE Oh! Italian, right? ALVY Yeah, he's the Mafia. Linen Supply Business or Cement and Contract, you know what I mean? ANNIE (Laughing) Oh, yeah. ALVY No, I'm serious. (Over Annie's laughter) I just got my mustache wet. ANNIE Oh, yeah? ALVY (As another man walks by) And there's the winner of the Truman Capote look-alike contest.EXT. STREET-NIGHTAlvy and Annie walk almost in silhouette along the dock, the New York City skyline in the background. Alvy has his arm around Annie and they walk slowly.No one else is around. ANNIE You see, like you and I ... ALVY You are extremely sexy. ANNIE No, I'm not. ALVY Unbelievably sexy. Yes, you are. Because ... you know what you are? You're-you're polymorphously perverse. ANNIE Well, what does-what does that mean? I don't know what that is. ALVY Uh ... uh, you're-you're exceptional in bed because you got -you get pleasure in every part of your body when I touch you. ANNIE Ooooh!They stop walking. Holding Annie's arms, Alvy turns her to face him. The South Street Bridge, lit up for the night, is in the background. ALVY You know what I mean? Like the tip o'your nose, and if I stroke your teeth or your kneecaps ... you get excited. ANNIE Come on. (Laughing) Yeah. You know what? You know, I like you, I really mean it. I really do like you. ALVY You- Do you love me? ANNIE Do I love you? ALVY That's the key question. ANNIE Yeah. ALVY I know you've only known me a short while. ANNIE Well, I certainly ... I think that's very- Yeah, yeah ... (Laughing) yeah. Do you love me? ALVY I-uh, love is, uh, is too weak a word for what... ANNIE Yeah. ALVY - I ... I love you. (Over Annie's laughter) You know I lo-ove you, I-I love you. (Over Annie's laughter) I-I have to invent- Of course I love you. ANNIE Yeah. ALVY (Putting his arms around her neck) Don't you think I do? ANNIE I dunno.They kiss as a foghorn sounds in the distance.INT. ALVY'S APARTMENTAlvy, somewhat distraught, is following Annie around his apartment, which is filled with boxes and suitcases, clothes and framed pictures. They both carry cartons. ALVY Whatta you mean? You're not gonna give up your own apartment, are you? ANNIE (Putting down the carton) Of course. ALVY Yeah, bu-bu-but why? ANNIE Well, I mean, I'm moving in with you, that's why. ALVY Yeah, but you-you got a nice apartment. ANNIE I have a tiny apartment. ALVY Yeah, I know it's small. ANNIE (Picking up the suitcases and walking into the bedroom) That's right, and it's got bad plumbing and bugs. ALVY (Picking up some pictures and following Annie into the bedroom) All right, granted, it has bad plumbing and bugs, but you-you say that like it's a negative thing. You know, bugs are-are-uh, entomology is a ... (Annie, reacting, tosses the suitcases and some loose clothing onto the bed. She sits down on the edge, looking away. Alvy walks in, pictures and carton in band, still talking) ... rapidly growing field. ANNIE You don't want me to live with you? ALVY How- I don't want you to live with me? How- Whose idea was it? ANNIE Mine. ALVY Ye-ah. Was it ... It was yours actually, but, uh, I approved it immediately. ANNIE I guess you think that I talked you into something, huh? (putting pictures on the mantel) ALVY No-what, what ...? I ... we live together, we sleep together, we eat together. Jesus, you don't want it to be like we're married, do yuh?He moves over to the carton of books on the window seat and reaches in. He starts tossing books off screen. ANNIE (Looking up at Alvy) How is it any different? ALVY (Gesturing) It's different 'cause you keep your own apartment. (Holding a book, he starts walking around the room) Because you know it's there, we don't have to go to it, we don't have to deal with it, but it's like a-a-a free-floating life raft ... that we know that we're not married.He tosses the book on the bed and walks back to the window seat. ANNIE (Still sitting on the bed) That little apartment is four hundred dollars a month, Alvy. ALVY (Looking at Annie) That place is four hundred dollars a month? ANNIE Yes, it is. ALVY (Whistling) It's-it's got bad plumbing and bugs. Jesus, I'll-My accountant will write it off as a tax deduction, I'll pay for it. ANNIE (Shaking her head) You don't think I'm smart enough to be serious about. ALVY Hey, don't be ridiculous.Alvy moves over to the bed and sits down next to Annie. ANNIE Then why are you always pushing me to take those college courses like I was dumb or something? ALVY (Putting his hand to his forehead) 'Cause adult education's a wonderful thing. You meet a lotta interesting professors. You know, it's stimulating.EXT. COUNTRY HIGHWAY - DAYAnnie and Alvy, in Annie's VW, driving to their summerhouse. The camera moves with them as they pass a house with a lighted window, blooming foliage. There is no dialogue, but it is a comfortable quiet. Classical music plays in the background. CUT TO:INT. COUNTRY HOUSE - NIGHTAnnie, sitting cross-legged on a wooden chest in the bedroom, is browsing through a school catalogue. Alvy lies in bed reading. ANNIE (Reading) Does this sound like a good course? Uh, "Modern American Poetry"? Uh, or, uh-let's see now ... maybe I should, uh, take "Introduction to the Novel." ALVY Just don't take any course where they make you read Beowulf. ANNIE What? (Laughing) Hey, listen, what-what do you think? Do you think we should, uh, go to that-that party in Southampton tonight? Alvy leans over and kisses her shoulder. ALVY No, don't be silly. What-what do we need other people for? (He puts his arms around her neck, kissing her, Annie making muffled sounds) You know, we should-we should just turn out the lights, you know, and play hide and seek or something. ANNIE (Laughing) Well, okay. Well, listen, I'm gonna get a cigarette, okay? ALVY (Yelling out to her as she leaves the room) Yeah, grass, right? The illusion that it will make a white woman more like Billie Holiday. ANNIE (Off screen) Well, have you ever made love high? ALVY Me, no. You ... I-I-you know, if I have grass or alcohol or anything I get unbearably wonderful. I get too, too wonderful for words. You know, I don't-I don't know why you have to, uh, get high every time we make love. ANNIE (Moving back into the room and lighting a joint) It relaxes me. ALVY Oh, you-you have to be artificially relaxed before we can go to bed? ANNIE (Closing the door) Well, what's the difference, anyway? ALVY Well, I'll give you a shot of sodium pentothal. You can sleep through it. ANNIE Oh, come on, look who's talking. You've been seeing a psychiatrist for fifteen years. (She gets into bed and takes a puff of marijuana) You should smoke some o' this. You'd be off the couch in no time. ALVY Oh, come, you don't need that.Alvy, sitting down on the bed, moves over to Annie and takes the weed from her. ANNIE What are you doing? ALVY (Kissing her) No, no, no, what ... You can once, you can live without it once. Come on. ANNIE Oh, no, Alvy, please. Alvy, please. (Laughing and making sounds) M'mrnm. ALVY M'm, wait, I got a great idea. (He gets up and goes over to the closet, taking out a light bulb. He goes back to the bed and turns out the lamp on the night table) Hang in there for a second. I got a little-little artifact. A little erotic artifact, that-that I brought up from the city, which I think, uh, is gonna be perfect. (He turns the lamp back on, having replaced the bulb with the red one from the closet) I just ... there ... There's a little Old New Orleans ... essence. Now-now we can go about our business here and we can even develop photographs if we want to. There, now there. (He undresses and crawls into bed, taking Annie in his arms) M'mmm. M'mmm. Hey, is something wrong? ANNIE Uh-uh-why? ALVY I don't know. You- It's like you're- you're removed. ANNIE No, I'm fine.As Annie speaks, her inner self (ghostlike, moves up from the bed and) sits down on a chair, watching. ALVY Really? ANNIE U-huh. ALVY I don't know, but you seem sort of distant. ANNIE Let's just do it, all right? ALVY (Kissing and caressing Annie) Is it my imagination or are you just going through the motions? ANNIE'S SPIRIT Alvy, do you remember where I put my drawing pad? Because while you two are doing that, I think I'm gonna do some drawing. ALVY (Reacting) You see, that's what I call removed. ANNIE Oh, you have my body. ALVY Yeah, but that's not-that's no good. I want the whole thing. ANNIE (Sighing) Well, I need grass and so do you. ALVY Well, it ruins it for me if you have grass (Clearing his throat) because, you know, I'm, like, a comedian- ANNIE (Overlapping) M'hm. ALVY (Overlapping) -so if I get a laugh from a person who's high, it doesn't count. You know-'cause they're always laughin'. ANNIE Were you always funny? ALVY Hey, what is this-an interview? We're supposed to be making love. CUT TO:INT. OFFICE.A typical old-fashioned theatrical agency in a Broadway office building. Autographed 8 X 12 is plastered in the sloppy room. The agent, chewing a cigar, sits behind his desk talking to one of his clients, a comedian, who stands with his hands in his pockets. A young Alvy sits stiffly in a chair nearby watching. AGENT This guy is naturally funny. I think he can write for you. COMIC (Buttoning his jacket) Yeah, yeah. Hey, kid, he tells me you're really good. Well, lemme explain a little bit o' how I work. You know, you can tell right off the bat that I don't look like a funny guy when I come-you know, like some o' the guys that come out. You know, right away (Gesturing) they're gonna tell yuh their stories, you're gonna fall down, but I gotta be really talented. Material's gotta be sensational for me 'cause I work, you know, with very, very ... Come on, I'm kinda classy, you know what I mean? Uh ... uh ... lemme explain. For instance, I open with an opening song. A musical start like (Ad-lib singing) and I walk out (Ad-lib singing) "Place looks wonderful from here and you folks look wonderful from here! (Singing) "And seein' you there With a smile on your face Makes me shout This must be the place." Then I stop right in the middle and then I open with some jokes. Now, that's where I need you, right there. For instance, like I say, "Hey, I just got back from Canada, you know, they speak a lotta French up there. The only way to remember Jeanne d'Arc means the light's out in the bathroom!" (He laughs. Seated Alvy looks up smiling) "Oh, I met a big lumberjack ..." ALVY'S VOICE (To himself) Jesus, this guy's pathetic. COMIC (Overlapping above speech) ... big lumberjack ... ALVY'S VOICE (To himself while the comic continues his routine) Look at him mincing around, like he thinks he's real cute. You wanna throw up. If only I had the nerve to do my own jokes. I don't know how much longer I can keep this smile frozen on my face. I'm in the wrong business, I know it. COMIC (Overlapping above speech) "'Cherie, come back. I love you. (Shaking his lips and mimicking) But, uh, Cheri, what will I do with this, uh?' He says, 'Aw, Marie, sometime you make me so mad."' (Laughing) Oh, they scream at that. Now, write me somethin' like that, will yuh? Kinda French number, can yuh do it? Huh, kid?INT. THEATER - NIGHTThe darkened auditorium is filled with college students applauding and cheering,excited, as Alvy stands on spotlighted stage holding the microphone. ALVY (Gesturing) W-where am I? I-I keep ... I have to reorient myself. This is the University of Wisconsin, right? So I'm always ... I'm tense and ... uh, when I'm playin' a col- I've a very bad history with colleges. You know, I went to New York University and, uh, tsch, I was thrown out of NYU my freshman year ... for cheating on my metaphysics final. You know, I looked within the soul of the boy sitting next to me- (The audience laughs; they're with him) -and when I was thrown out, my mother, who's an emotionally high-strung woman, locked herself in the bathroom and took an overdose of mah-jongg tiles. (More applause and laughter) And, uh, tsch, I was depressed. I was ... in analysis, I-I, uh, was suicidal; as a matter of fact, uh, I would have killed myself but I was in analysis with a strict Freudian and if you kill yourself ... they make you pay for the sessions you miss.INT. BACKSTAGE OF THEATER.Students mill around Alvy banding him pens and paper for autographs.Annie is next to him, talking over the chattering fans. ANNIE Alvy, you were ... Alvy, you were just great, I'm not kidding. It was- You were so neat. ALVY C-c-coll- College audiences are so wonderful. ANNIE Yeah. Yeah. And you know something? I think that I'm starting to get more of your references, too. ALVY Are yuh? ANNIE Yeah. ALVY Well, the twelve o'clock show is completely different than the nine. YOUNG WOMAN (Interrupting) May I have your autograph? ANNIE (Over lapping above speech) Oh. ALVY (To Annie, while autographing) You're so sure about it. ANNIE Oh, I'm really, uh, looking forward to tomorrow. I mean, you know, I think that it'll be really nice to meet Mother and Father. They start moving toward the exit, a girl snapping a picture of Alvy with a flash camera as they walk through the crowd. ALVY Yeah, I know, they'll hate me immediately. (To one of his fans) Thank you. ANNIE No, I don't think so. No, I don't think they're gonna hate you at all. On the contrary, I think- ALVY Yeah. ANNIE It's Easter. You know, we'll have a nice dinner, we'll sit down and eat. I think they're gonna really like you.EXT. ANNIE'S PARENTS' HOME-DAYThe camera shows a neat two-story house surrounded by a well-manicured green lawn, then cuts to:INT. DINING ROOM.Alvy and the Halls are eating Easter dinner. The sun is pouring through a big picture window, shining on a large, elegantly laid out table. Alvy sits, at oneend,- rubbing his nose and chewing, the Halls flanking him on either side: Mr.and Mrs. Hall, Grammy, and Annie's brother, Duane. MOM HALL (Holding her wine glass) It's a nice ham this year, Mom. Grammy Hall takes a sip of her wine and nods. ANNIE (Smiling at Duane) Oh, yeah. Grammy always does such a good job. DAD HALL (Chewing) A great sauce. ALVY It is. (Smacking his lips) It's dynamite ham.Grammy Hall stares down the table at Alvy; a look of utter dislike. Alvy tries not to notice. MOM HALL (To Dad Hall, smoothing her hair) We went over to the swap meet. Annie, Gram and I. Got some nice picture frames. ANNIE We really had a good time.Grammy continues to stare at Alvy; he is now dressed in the long black coat andhat of the Orthodox Jew, complete with mustache and heard. MOM HALL (Lighting a cigarette and turning to Alvy) Ann tells us that you've been seeing a psychiatrist for fifteen years. ALVY (Setting down his glass and coughing) Yes. I'm making excellent progress. Pretty soon when I lie down on his couch, I won't have to wear the lobster bib.Mom Hall reacts by sipping from her glass and frowning. Grammy continues to stare. DAD HALL Duane and I went out to the boat basin. DUANE We were caulkin' holes all day. DAD HALL Yeah. (Laughing) Randolph Hunt was drunk, as usual. MOM HALL Oh, that Randolph Hunt. You remember Randy Hunt, Annie. He was in the choir with you. ANNIE Oh, yes, yes.Alvy, leaning his elbow on the table, looks out toward the camera. ALVY (To the audience) I can't believe this family. (Making chewing sounds) Annie's mother. She really's beautiful. And they're talkin' swap meets and boat basins, and the old lady at the end of the table (Pointing to Grammy) is a classic Jew hater. And, uh, they, they realty look American, you know, very healthy and ... like they never get sick or anything. Nothing like my family. You know, the two are like oil and water.The screen splits in half - on the right is Alvy's family - his mother, father,aunt and uncle-busily eating at the crowded kitchen table. They eat quickly and interrupt one another loudly. On the left the Halls in their dining room. Both dialogues overlap, juxtaposed. ALVY'S FATHER Let 'im drop dead! Who needs his business?! ALVY'S MOTHER His wife has diabetes! ALVY'S FATHER Di-diabetes? Is that any excuse? Diabetes? ALVY'S UNCLE The man is fifty years old and doesn't have a substantial job. ALVY'S AUNT (Putting more meat on her husband's plate) Is that a reason to steal from his father? ALVY'S UNCLE Whatta you talkin' about? You don't know what you're talking about. ALVY'S AUNT Yes, I know what I'm talking about. ALVY'S MOTHER (Interrupting) George, defend him! ALVY'S UNCLE (Over Alvy's father's muttering) No Moskowitz he had a coronary. ALVY'S AUNT You don't say. ALVY'S MOTHER We fast. MOM HALL Stupid Thelma Poindexter ... to the Veterans Hospital. DAD HALL My God, he's the new president of the El Regis. Let me tell you, the man is somethin' else. MOM HALL That's Jack's wife. We used to make that outta raisins. ANNIE Oh, yes, that's right. Did you see the new play? MOM HALL Oh, you remember her, Annie. ANNIE Yes, I do.The two families start talking back and forth to one another. The screen is still split. MOM HALL How do you plan to spend the holidays, Mrs. Singer? DAD HALL Fast? ALVY'S FATHER Yeah, no food. You know, we have to atone for our sins. MOM HALL What sins? I don't understand. ALVY'S FATHER Tell you the truth, neither do we. CUT TO:INT. DUANE'S BEDROOM-NIGHTDuane, sitting on his bed, sees Alvy walking past the open door. DUANE Alvy. ALVY (Walking in) Oh, hi, Duane, how's it goin'? DUANE This is my room. ALVY (Looking around) Oh, yeah? (He clears his throat) Terrific. DUANE Can I confess something?Alvy sighs and sits down, leaning his arm on Duane's dresser. Duane's face is big lighted by a single lamp. DUANE I tell you this because, as an artist, I think you'll understand. Sometimes when I'm driving ... on the road at night ... I see two headlights coming toward me. Fast. I have this sudden impulse to turn the wheel quickly, head-on into the oncoming car. I can anticipate the explosion. The sound of shattering glass. The ... flames rising out of the flowing gasoline. ALVY (Reacting and clearing his throat) Right. Tsch, well, I have to-I have t-o go now, Duane, because I-I'm due back on the planet earth. He slowly gets up and moves toward the door.INT. THE HALLS' LIVING ROOM.Mom and Dad Hall walk into the living room; Annie is with them. MOM HALL Now, don't let it be so long, now. ANNIE No. DAD HALL And look up Uncle Bill, you promise. ANNIE Okay. Okay. MOM HALL Oh, he's adorable, Annie. ANNIE You think so? Do you really? MOM HALL We're going to take them to the airport. DAD HALL Oh, no-Duane can. I haven't finished my drink. ANNIE Yes, Duane is. I'll be right- MOM HALL M'mmm. ANNIE I just have time to get the, uh-She walks out of the room as Mom and Dad Hall kiss.EXT. ROAD - NIGHTDuane, behind the wheel, stares straight ahead. It is raining very hard, the windshield wipers are moving quickly. The headlights of another car brightens the interior of Duane's car as the camera shows first Duane, then Annie, then Alvy tensely staring straight ahead.EXT. STREET- DAYThe camera bolds on a quiet New York City street; the buildings, brownstones. It's a warm day-people sit on front stoops, window boxes are planted. Annie walks into the frame first, then Alvy, who is walking to her right. They walk quickly, side by side, their voices heard before they move into the frame. ANNIE (Off screen) You followed me. I can't believe it! ALVY (Off screen) I didn't follow you! ANNIE You followed me! ALVY Why? 'Cause I ... was walkin' along a block behind you staring at you? That's not following! ANNIE Well, what is your definition of following? ALVY (Gasping) Following is different. I was spying. ANNIE Do you realize how paranoid you are? ALVY Paranoid? I'm looking at you. You got your arms around another guy. ANNIE That is the worst kind of paranoia. ALVY Yeah-well, I didn't start out spying. I-I thought I'd surprise yuh. Pick you up after school. ANNIE Yeah-well, you wanted to keep the relationship flexible, remember? It's your phrase. ALVY Oh, stop it. But you were having an affair with your college professor. That jerk that teaches that incredible crap course "Contemporary Crisis in Western Man"! ANNIE "Existential Motifs in Russian Literature"! You're really close. ALVY What's the difference? It's all mental masturbation. ANNIE (Stopping for a moment) Oh, well, now we're finally getting to a subject you know something about!She walks away. ALVY (Catching up to her) Hey, don't knock masturbation! It's sex with someone I love. ANNIE (Continuing to walk quickly) We're not having an affair. He's married. He just happens to think I'm neat. ALVY (Still walking next to her) "Neat"! There's that- What are you-twelve years old? That's one o' your Chippewa Falls expressions! "He thinks I'm neat." ANNIE Who cares? Who cares? ALVY Next thing you know he'll find you keen and peachy, you know? Next thing you know he's got his hand on your ass! They both stop in the middle of the street. ANNIE You've always had hostility toward David ever since I mentioned him! ALVY David? You call your teacher David? ANNIE It's his name. ALVY Well, listen, that's, a nice bi-it's a biblical name. Right? W-What does he call you? Bathsheba?He walks away. ANNIE (Calling after him) Alvy! Alvy! You're the one who never wanted to make a real commitment. You don't think I'm smart enough! We had that argument just last month, or don't ou remember that day? CUT TO:INT. KITCHEN.Alvy is at the sink washing dishes as the screen cuts to the scene of last month's argument. Annie's voice is heard. ANNIE (Off screen) I'm home! ALVY (Turning) Oh, yeah? How'd it go? ANNIE (Comes into the kitchen and puts down a bag of groceries on the kitchen table) Oh, it was ... (Laughing) really weird. But she's a very nice woman. ALVY Yeah? ANNIE And I didn't have to lie down on the couch, Alvy, she had me sitting up. So I told her about-about the-the family and about my feelings toward men and about my relationship with my brother. ALVY M'm. ANNIE And then she mentioned penis envy ... Did you know about that? ALVY Me? I'm-I'm one of the few males who suffers from that, so, so ... you know. ANNIE M'hm. ALVY G-go on, I'm interested. ANNIE Well, she said that I was very guilty about my impulses toward marriage, and-and children. ALVY M'hm. ANNIE And then I remembered when I was a kid how I accidentally saw my parents making love. ALVY Tsch. Rea- All this happened in the first hour? ANNIE M'hm. ALVY That's amazing. I-I-I ... I've been goin' for fifteen years, I-you know, I don't got ... nothing like that in- ANNIE Oh, I told her my dream and then I cried. ALVY You cried? I've never once cried. Fantastic ... ANNIE (Taking groceries from the bag) Yeah. ALVY I whine. I-I-I sit and I whine. ANNIE In-in ... Alvy, in my dream Frank Sinatra is holding his pillow across my face and I can't breathe. ALVY Sinatra? ANNIE Yeah, and he's strangling me ... ALVY Yeah? ANNIE ... and I keep, you know, it's- ALVY (Taking a bottle of juice and some celery from the bag) Well, well, sure ... because he's a singer and you're a singer, you know, so it's perfect. So you're trying to suffocate yourself. It-it makes perfect sense. Uh, uh, that's a perfect analytic ... kind of insight. ANNIE (Pointing her finger at Alvy) She said, your name was Alvy Singer. ALVY (Turning to Annie) Whatta you mean? Me? ANNIE Yeah, yeah, yeah, you. Because in the dream ... I break Sinatra's glasses. ALVY (Putting his band to his mouth) Sinatra had gl- You never said Sinatra had glasses. So whatta you saying that I-I'm suffocating you? ANNIE (Turning, ajar in her hand) Oh, and God, Alvy, I did ... this really terrible thing to him. Because then when he sang it was in this real high-pitched voice. ALVY (Thinking) Tsch, what'd the doctor say? ANNIE (Putting away some groceries) Well, she said that I should probably come five times a week. And you know something? I don't think I mind analysis at all. The only question is, Will it change my wife? ALVY Will it change your wife? ANNIE Will it change my life? ALVY Yeah, but you said, "Will it change my wife"! ANNIE No, I didn't. (Laughing) I said, "Will it change my life," Alvy. ALVY You said, "Will it change. . ." Wife. Will it change ... ANNIE (Yelling out, angry) Life. I said, "life."Alvy turns toward the camera. ALVY (To the audience) She said, "Will it change my wife." You heard that because you were there so I'm not crazy. ANNIE And, Alvy ... and then I told her about how I didn't think you'd ever really take me seriously, because you don't think that I'm smart enough.She walks out of the room. ALVY (To Annie's back, gesturing) Why do you always bring that up? Because I encourage you to take adult-education courses? I think it's a wonderful thing. You meet wonderful, interesting professors'. CUT TO:EXT. STREETAnnie stands at the open door of a cab, Alvy next to her gesturing as people and cars move by. ALVY Adult education is such junk! The professors are so phony. How can you do it? ANNIE A bit rapidly. I don't care what you say about David, he's a perfectly fine teacher! ALVY (Interrupting) David! David! I can't believe this! ANNIE And what are you doing following me around for, anyway? ALVY I'm following you and David, if you- ANNIE (Interrupting) I just think we oughta call this relationship quits! Annie gets into the cab; Alvy leans over and closes the door.ALVY That's fine. That's fine. That's great! (He turns toward the camera as the cab drives away) Well, I don't know what I did wrong. (Gesturing) I mean, I can't believe this. Somewhere she cooled off to me! (He walks up to an older woman walking down the street carrying groceries) Is it-is it something that I did?WOMAN ON THE STREET Never something you do. That's how people are. Love fades.She moves on down the street.ALVY (Scratching his head) Love fades. God, that's a depressing thought. Have to ask you a question. (He stops another passer-by,a man) Don't go any further. Now, with your wife in bed, d-d-does she need some kind o' artificial stimulation like-like marijuana? MAN ON THE STREET We use a large vibrating egg.He walks on. ALVY (Continuing to walk) Large vibrating egg. Well, I ask a psychopath, I get that kind of an answer. Jesus, I-I, uh, here ... (He moves up the sidewalk to a young trendy-looking couple, arms wrapped around each other) You-you look like a really happy couple. Uh, uh ... are you? YOUNG WOMAN Yeah. ALVY Yeah! So ... so h-h-how do you account for it? YOUNG WOMAN Uh, I'm very shallow and empty and I have no ideas and nothing interesting to say. YOUNG MAN And I'm exactly the same way. ALVY I see. Well, that's very interesting. So you've managed to work out something, huh? YOUNG MAN Right. YOUNG WOMAN Yeah. ALVY Oh, well, thanks very much for talking to me.He continues to walk past some other passersby and moves into the street. A mounted policeman comes by and stops near him. Alvy looks at the horse, as if to speak. ALVY'S VOICE-OVER You know, even as a kid I always went for the wrong women. I think that's my problem. When my mother took me to see Snow White, everyone fell in love with Snow White. I immediately fell for the Wicked Queen.The scene dissolves into a sequence from the animated Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. The Wicked Queen, resembling Annie, sits in the palace before her mirror. Alvy, as a cartoon figure, sits beside her, arms crossed in front of him. WICKED QUEEN We never have any fun anymore. CARTOON FIGURE ALVY How can you say that? WICKED QUEEN Why not? You're always leaning on me to improve myself. CARTOON FIGURE ALVY You're just upset. You must be getting your period. WICKED QUEEN I don't get a period! I'm a cartoon character. Can't I be upset once in a while?Rob, as a cartoon figure, enters and sits down on the other side of the Wicked Queen. CARTOON FIGURE ROB Max, will you forget about Annie? I know lots of women you can date. CARTOON FIGURE ALVY I don't wanna go out with any other women. CARTOON FIGURE ROB Max, have I got a girl for you. You are going to love her. She's a reporter-The cartoon figures of Alvy and Rob walk past the Wicked Queen; the screen dissolves into the interior of a concert ball. Rob's voice carries over from the cartoon scene as the screen shows Alvy with the female reporter. It's verycrowded, noisy; policeman and reporters are everywhere. Alvy stands with his hands in his pockets, watching the commotion. CARTOON FIGURE ROB'S VOICE-OVER -for Rolling Stone. FEMALE REPORTER I think there are more people here to see the Maharishi than there were to see the Dylan concert. I covered the Dylan concert ... which gave me chills. Especially when he sang "She takes just like a woman And she makes love just like a woman Yes, she does And she aches just like a woman But she breaks just like a little girl." (They move toward the aisles as a guard holds up his hands to stop them) Up to that I guess the most charismatic event I covered was Mick's Birthday when the Stones played Madison Square Garden. ALVY (Laughing) Man, that's great. That's just great. REPORTER You catch Dylan? ALVY (Coughing) Me? No, no. I-I couldn't make it that ni- My-my raccoon had hepatitis. REPORTER You have a raccoon? ALVY (Gesturing) Tsch, a few. REPORTER The only word for this is trans-plendid. It's trans-plendid. ALVY I can think of another word. REPORTER He's God! I mean, this man is God! He's got millions of followers who would crawl all the way across the world just to touch the hem of his garment. ALVY Really? It must be a tremendous hem. REPORTER I'm a Rosicrucian myself. ALVY Are you? REPORTER Yeah. ALVY I can't get with any religion that advertises in Popular Mechanics. Look- (The Maharisbi, a small, chunky man, walks out of the men's room, huge bodyguards flanking him while policemen bold back the crowds) there's God coming outta the men's room. REPORTER It's unbelievably trans-plendid! I was at the Stones concert in Altamount when they killed that guy, remember? ALVY Yeah, were yuh? I was-I was at an Alice Cooper thing where six people were rushed to the hospital with bad vibes.INT. ALVY'S BEDROOM-NIGHTThe reporter is sitting up in bed, lighted cigarette in her hand. Alvy, lyingnext to her, rubs his eyes and puts on his eyeglasses. REPORTER (Looking down at him) I hope you don't mind that I took so long to finish. ALVY (Sighing) Oh, no, no, don't be ... tsch ... don't be silly. You know, (Yawning) I'm startin' it-I'm startin' to get some feeling back in my jaw now. REPORTER Oh, sex with you is really a kafkaesque experience. ALVY Oh, tsch, thank you. H'm. REPORTER I mean that as a compliment. ALVY (Making sounds) I think-I think there's too much burden placed on the orgasm, you know, to make up for empty areas in life. REPORTER Who said that? ALVY (Rubbing his chin and shoulder) Uh, oh, I don't know. It might have been Leopold and Loeb. (The telephone rings. Alvy picks it up, rising up slightly from the bed, concerned, as he talks) Hello. Oh, hi ... Uh, no, what-what's the matter? What-what-what? You sound terrible ... No, what- Sure I- Whatta yuh -what kind of an emergency? ... No, well, stay there. Stay there, I'll come over right now. I'll come over right now. Just stay there, I'll come right over.He hangs up. The reporter sits in bed still, taking in the situation.INT. ANNIE'S APARTMENT HALLWAYAnnie, looking slightly distraught, goes to open the door to Alvy's knock. ALVY What's- It's me, open up. ANNIE (Opening the door) Oh. ALVY Are you okay? What's the matter? (They look at each other, Annie sighing) Are you all right? What- ANNIE There's a spider in the bathroom. ALVY (Reacting) What? ANNIE There's a big black spider in the bathroom. ALVY That's what you got me here for at three o'clock in the morning, 'cause there's a spider in the bathroom? ANNIE My God, I mean, you know how I am about insects. ALVY (Interrupting, sighing) Oooh. ANNIE -I can't sleep with a live thing crawling around in the bathroom. ALVY Kill it! For Go- What's wrong with you? Don't you have a can of Raid in the house? ANNIE (Shaking her head) No.Alvy, disgusted, starts waving his hands and starts to move into the living room. ALVY (Sighing) I told you a thousand times you should always keep, uh, a lotta insect spray. You never know who's gonna crawl over. ANNIE (Following him) I know, I know, and a first-aid kit and a fire extinguisher. ALVY Jesus. All right, gimme a magazine. I- 'cause I'm a little tired. (While Annie goes of to find him a magazine, Alvy, still talking, glances around the apartment. He notices a small book on a cabinet and picks it up.) You know, you, you joke with-about me, you make fun of me, but I'm prepared for anything. An emergency, a tidal wave, an earthquake. Hey, what is this? What? Did you go to a rock concert? ANNIE Yeah. ALVY Oh, yeah, really? Really? How-how'd you like it? Was it-was it, I mean, did it ... was it heavy? Did it achieve total heavy-ocity? Or was it, uh... ANNIE It was just great! ALVY (Thumbing through the book) Oh, humdinger. When- Well, I got a wonderful idea. Why don'tcha get the guy who took you to the rock concert, we'll call him and he can come over and kill the spider. You know, it's a-He tosses the book down on the cabinet. ANNIE I called you; you wanna help me ... or not? H'h? Here. She hands him a magazine. ALVY (Looking down at the magazine) What is this? What are you, since when do you read the "National Review"? What are you turning in to? ANNIE (Turning to a nearby chair for some gum in her pocketbook) Well, I like to try to get all points of view. ALVY It's wonderful. Then why don'tcha get William F. Buckley to kill the spider? ANNIE (Spinning around to face him) Alvy, you're a little hostile, you know that? Not only that, you look thin and tired.She puts a piece of gum in her mouth. ALVY Well, I was in be- It's three o'clock in the morning. You, uh, you got me outta bed, I ran over here, I couldn't get a taxi cab. You said it was an emergency, and I didn't ge- I ran up the stairs. Hell - I was a lot more attractive when the evening began. Look, uh, tell- Whatta you- Are you going with a right-wing rock-and roll star? Is that possible? ANNIE (Sitting down on a chair arm and looking up at Alvy) Would you like a glass of chocolate milk? ALVY Hey, what am I-your son? Whatta you mean? I-I came over TV --_ ANNIE (Touching his chest with her hand) I got the good chocolate, Alvy. ALVY Yeah, where is the spider? ANNIE It really is lovely. It's in the bathroom. ALVY Is he in the bathroom? ANNIE (Rising from chair) Hey, don't squish it, and after it's dead, flush it down the toilet, okay? And flush it a couple o' times. ALVY (Moving down the hallway to the bathroom) Darling, darling, I've been killing spiders since I was thirty, okay? ANNIE (Upset, hands on her neck) Oh. What? ALVY (Coming back into the living room) Very big spider. ANNIE Yeah? ALVY Two ... Yeah. Lotta, lotta trouble. There's two of 'em. Alvy starts walking down the ball again, Annie following. ANNIE Two? ALVY (Opening a closet door) Yep. I didn't think it was that big, but it's a major spider. You got a broom or something with a- ANNIE Oh, I-I left it at your house. ALVY (Overlapping) -snow shovel or anything or something. ANNIE (Overlapping) I think I left it there, I'm sorry.Reaching up into the closet, Alvy takes out a covered tennis racquet. ALVY (Holding the racquet) Okay, let me have this. ANNIE Well, what are you doing ... what are you doing with- ALVY Honey, there's a spider in your bathroom the size of a Buick.He walks into the bathroom, Annie looking after him. ANNIE Well, okay. Oooh.Alvy stands in the middle of the bathroom, tennis racquet in one band, rolledmagazine in the other. He looks over at the shelf above the sink and picks up a small container. He holds it out, shouting off screen to Annie. ALVY Hey, what is this? You got black soap? ANNIE (Off screen) It's for my complexion. ALVY Whatta-whatta yuh joining a minstrel show? Geez. (Alvy turns and starts swapping the racquet over the shelf, knocking down articles and breaking glass) Don't worry! (He continues to swat the racquet all over the bathroom. He finally moves out of the room, hands close to his body. He walks into the other room, where Annie is sitting in a corner of her bed leaning against the wall) I did it! I killed them both. What-what's the matter? Whatta you- (Annie is sobbing, her band over her face) -whatta you sad about? You- What'd you want me to do? Capture 'em and rehabilitate 'em? ANNIE (Sobbing and taking Alvy's arm) Oh, don't go, okay? Please. ALVY (Sitting down next to her) Whatta you mean, don't go? Whatta-whatta -what's the matter? Whatta you expecting -termites? What's the matter? ANNIE (Sobbing) Oh, uh, I don't know. I miss you. Tsch.She beats her fist on the bed. Reacting, Alvy puts his arm around her shoulderand leans back against the wall. ALVY Oh, Jesus, really? ANNIE (Leaning on his shoulder) Oh, yeah. Oh. (They kiss) Oh! Alvy? ALVY What?He touches her face gently as she wipes tears from her face. ANNIE Was there somebody in your room when I called you? ALVY W-w-whatta you mean? ANNIE I mean was there another- I thought I heard a voice. ALVY Oh, I had the radio on. ANNIE Yeah? ALVY I'm sorry. I had the television set ... I had the television- ANNIE Yeah.Alvy pulls her to him and they kiss again. CUT TO:INT. ALVY'S BEDAlvy is lying in bed next to Annie, who is leaning on her elbow looking down at him. He rubs her arms and she smiles. ANNIE Alvy, let's never break up again. I don't wanna be apart. ALVY Oh, no, no, I think we're both much too mature for something like that. ANNIE Living together hasn't been so bad, has it? ALVY It's all right for me, it's been terrific, you know? Better than either one of my marriages. See, 'cause. . . 'cause there's just something different about you. I don't know what it is, but it's great. ANNIE (Snickering) You know I think that if you let me, maybe I could help you have more fun, you know? I mean, I know it's hard and ... Yeah. ALVY I don't know. ANNIE Alvy, what about ... what if we go away this weekend, and we could- ALVY Tsch, why don't we get ... why don't we get Rob, and the three of us'll drive into Brooklyn, you know, and we show you the old neighborhood. ANNIE Okay, okay. Okay. ALVY That'd be fun for yuh. Don't you think- ANNIE Yeah.Alvy raises up his head and they kiss.EXT. HIGHWAYAnnie is behind the wheel in her VW, Rob is beside her, Alvy in the back seatleaning forward so that his head is between them. They're driving down the highway. ANNIE -me, my God, it's a great day! ALVY (Interrupting) Hey, can yuh watch the road? Watch the -- ROB (Overlapping) Yeah, watch the road! ALVY You'll total the whole car. ANNIE (Laughing) Hey, you know, I never even visited Brooklyn before. ROB I can't wait to see the old neighborhood. ALVY Yeah, the neighborhood's gonna be great. ROB We can show her the schoolyard. ALVY Right. I was a great athlete. Tell her, Max, I was the best, I was all schoolyard. ROB Yes, I remember. (Annie laughs) He was all schoolyard. They threw him a football once, he tried to dribble it. ALVY Yeah, well, I used to lose my glasses a lot.EXT. AMUSEMENT PARK.Alvy Annie and Rob move toward the roller coaster on the screen. The area's deserted. Sea gulls are heard. ALVY Oh, look, look, there's that ... that's -that's my old house. That's where I used to live. ANNIE (Laughing) Holy cow! ROB You're lucky, Max-where I used to live is now a pornographic equipment store.Annie laughs. ALVY I have some very good memories there. ROB What kind of good memories, Max? Your mother and father fighting all the time. ALVY Yeah, and always over the most ridiculous things.FLASHBACK - INT. ALVY'S HOUSE.Alvy's father sits in his chair. His mother is polishing a door while Alvy lies on the floor playing. Annie, adult Alvy and Rob quietly walk into the scene to watch. ALVY'S FATHER You fired the cleaning woman? ALVY'S MOTHER She was stealing. ALVY'S FATHER But she's colored. ALVY'S MOTHER SO? ALVY'S FATHER So the colored have enough trouble. ALVY'S MOTHER She was going through my pocketbook! ALVY'S FATHER They're persecuted enough! ALVY'S MOTHER Who's persecuting? She stole!Alvy's father gets up and gets his hard hat. He sits back down and starts polishing it. ALVY'S FATHER All right-so we can afford it. ALVY'S MOTHER How can we afford it? On your pay? What if she steals more? ALVY'S FATHER She's a colored woman, from Harlem! She has no money! She's got a right to steal from us! After all, who is she gonna steal from if not us? ADULT ALVY (Yelling into the scene) You're both crazy! ROB They can't hear you, Max. ALVY'S MOTHER Leo ... I married a fool! ROB (Pointing) Hey, Max! Who's that?As the three friends watch Alvy's old living room, the scene has suddenly shifted. A huge crowd stands around the room, laughing, eating, chatting and vibrating with the turns of the roller-coaster ride. ALVY It-it-it's the welcome-home party in nineteen forty-five, for my cousin Herbie. ADULT ALVY (Pointing) Look, look, there's-there's that one over there, that's Joey Nichols, he was my- (Young Alvy stands next to Joey Nichols, who's sitting in one of the easy chairs. They smile at each other; people and noise all around) -father's friend. He was always bothering me when I was a kid. JOEY Joey Nichols. (Laughing) See. Nichols. See, Nichols! (Joey shows young Alvy his cuff links and a tie pin, which are made from nickels, as Alvy stands with hands on hips, unconcerned. Joey then slaps his band to his forehead and puts a nickel on his forehead) Yuh see, nickels! You can always remember my name, just think of Joey Five Cents. (Laughing) That's me. Joey Five Cents!Joey grabs Alvy's cheeks and pinches them. YOUNG ALVY (Turning away) What an asshole!A group of women stands near a buffet table eating and listening to Alvy mother and her sister, Tessie, and a young girl, as the three friends watch. ALVY'S MOTHER I was always the sister with good common sense. But Tessie was always the one with personality. When she was younger, they all wanted to marry Tessie.She touches Tessie's shoulder. Tessie starts to laugh. ADULT ALVY (Pointing, to Rob) Do you believe that, Max? Tessie Moskowitz had the personality. She's the life of the ghetto, no doubt. ALVY'S MOTHER (To the young girl) She was once a great beauty.Tessie nods her head "yes." ROB Tessie, they say you were the sister with personality. TESSIE (Addressing the young girl) I was a great beauty. ROB Uh, how did this personality come about? TESSIE (Grabbing the young girl's cheek) I was very charming. ROB There were many men interested in you? TESSIE (To the young girl) Oh, I was quite a lively dancer.Tessie gyrates back and forth imitating a dancer while Annie and the adult Alvy lean on each other laughing. ROB (Laughing) That's pretty hard to believe.EXT. STREET.Alvy and Annie walk contentedly down a street; Alvy's arm is draped around Annie. People walk by them on the street as they move toward their apartmentbuilding. ANNIE Well, I had a really good day, you know that? It was just a real fine way to spend my birthday. ALVY Ah? Oh, well, your birthday's not till tomorrow, honey, I hate to tell yuh. ANNIE Yeah, but it's real close. ALVY Yeah, but no presents till midnight. ANNIE (Laughing) Oh, darn it.INT. APARTMENTAnnie and Alvy sit on the sofa. Annie's unwrapping a gift while Alvy watches. ANNIE (Making sounds) This is- (Making sounds) Huh?She pulls out flimsy black lingerie from the box. ALVY Happy birthday. ANNIE What is this? Is this a...Present? (Laughing) Are you kidding? ALVY Yeah, hey, why don't yuh try it on? ANNIE Uh, yeah, uh ... t-t-this is more like a present for you, yeah, but it's- ALVY Try it ... it'll add years to our sex life. ANNIE (Looking up at Alvy and laughing) Uh huh. Yeah. Forget it. Alvy leans over and hands her another box as she puts down the lingerie. ALVY Here's a real present. ANNIE (Opening the gift) What... huh? ALVY Check it out. ANNIE Oh, yeah? What is this, anyway? (continuing) Let me see. Okay, let's... oooh, God! (She takes out a watch from the box) Oh, you knew I wanted this ... (Laughing) God, it's terrific, God! ALVY (Making sounds) Yeah, I know. Just-just put on the watch, and-and ... that thing, and we'll just ... ANNIE (Laughing) Oh! My God! (Making sounds)Alvy kisses Annie.INT. NIGHT CLUB.Annie, spotlighted onstage, stands in front of the microphone, smiling. She looks downward and sings "Seems Like Old Times. " The audience applauds loudly as the music fades out. ANNIE (Laughing) Thank you.Alvy sits at the bar, clapping and staring at Annie as she walks over to him and sits down. The low murmur of the night club is surrounding them. ALVY (Reacting) You were-you were sensational. I mean, I-you know, I-I told yuh that if yuh stuck to it, you would be great, and-and, you know, I-I-you-you were sensational. ANNIE (Looking at Alvy, smiling) Yeah, well, we have the, I mean, they were just a terrific audience, I mean, you know, it makes it really easy for me, because I can be ... huh?Tony, a famous record personality, pushes through the crowd, moving toward Alvy and Annie. An entourage follows him as he makes his way to their table. TONY Excuse me.He shakes hands with Annie, smiling. ANNIE Oh. TONY Hi, I'm-I'm Tony Lacey. ANNIE Well, hi! TONY Uh, we just wanted to stop by and say that we really enjoyed your sets. ANNIE (Laughing) Oh, yeah, really, oh! TONY I though it was ... very musical, and I liked it a lot. ANNIE Oh, neat ... oh, that's very nice, gosh, thanks a lot. TONY Are you ... are you recording? Or do- Are you with any label now? ANNIE (Laughing) No, no, no, not at all. TONY Uh, well, I'd like to talk to you about that sometime, if you get a chance.Seated Alvy looks the other way, reacting. ANNIE Oh. What about? TONY ... of possibly working together. ANNIE (Looking for the first time at Alvy) Well, hey, that's, that's nice. Uh. Oh, listen, this is, uh, Alvy Singer. Do you know Alvy? Uh ... and ... uh ... Tony Lacey. TONY No, I don't-I don't know, but I-I know your work. I'm a big fan of yours.Tony reaches over and shakes hands with Alvy. The nightclub crowd surrounds them all with their low chatter and cigarette smoke. ALVY Thank you very much. It's a pleasure. TONY (Turning to introduce his entourage) This is, uh, Shawn, and, uh ... Bob and Petronia. ANNIE Hi. ENTOURAGE Hi. ANNIE (Laughing) Hi, hi, Bob ... TONY Uh ... w-we're going back to the Pierre. We're staying at the Pierre ... and we're gonna meet Jack and Angelica, and have a drink there, and ... if you'd like to come, uh, we'd love to have you. ANNIE Yeah. TONY And we could just sit and talk ... nothing. Uh, not a big deal, it's just relax, just be very mellow.Annie and Tony and his entourage turn to look at Alvy. ALVY (Fingers to his mouth, reacting) Remember, we had that thing. ANNIE What thing? ALVY (Staring at Annie and clearing his throat) Don't you remember we-we-we discussed that thing that we were- ANNIE (Overlapping) Thing? ALVY (Overlapping) -yes, we had, uh ... ANNIE (Looking at Alvy, reacting) Oh, the thing! Oh, the thing ... (Laughing) ... yeah ... yeah.Annie turns, looks at Tony as he smiles and gestures with his hands. TONY Oh, well, I-if it's inconvenient, eh, we can't do it now ... that's fine, too. W-w-w-we'll do it another time. ANNIE Hey- TONY Maybe if you're on the Coast, we'll get together and ... and we'll meet there.He shakes hands with Annie. ANNIE (Reacting) Oh. TONY It was a wonderful set. ANNIE Oh, gosh. TONY (Smiling) I really enjoyed it. (Looking at Alvy) Nice to have metcha. Good night. ENTOURAGE Bye-bye. ANNIE Nice to see you ... bye. Yeah. Bye. She turns and looks at Alvy. ALVY (Reacting) What's ... you ... well, what's the matter, You w-wanna go to that party? ANNIE (Looking down at her hands, then up at Alvy) I don't know, I thought it might be kind of fun, you know what I mean, it'd be nice to meet some new people. ALVY (Sighing) I'm just not ... you know, I don't think I could take a mellow eve- 'cause I-I don't respond well to mellow, you know what I mean, I-I have a tendency to ... if I get too mellow, I-I ripen and then rot. You know, and it's-it's not good for my ... (Making sounds) ANNIE All right, all right, you don't wanna go to the party, so uh, whatta you wanna do?INT. MOVIE THEATER.The screen is projecting the beginning of "The Sorrow and the Pity": a street filled with fleeing cars, belongings tied on top and piled in the back seats. Subtitles pop on:"The Jewish warmongers andParisian plutocrats triedto flee with their gold and jewels"as a narrator explains in German. CUT TO.Split screen: Annie and her psychiatrist on the left; Alvy and his on the right. Annie, talking, sits in a white molded chair, as does her doctor. The office is very modern: stark, white and chrome. Alvy, talking to his psychiatrist, lies on a deep leather sofa, the doctor seated away from him. This office looks more like a well-worn den: bookcases overflowing, dark wood.The dialogue is separated in each screen, though no one talks simultaneously. ANNIE (To her doctor) That day in Brooklyn was the last day I remember really having a great time. ALVY (To his doctor) Well, we never have any laughs anymore, is the problem. ANNIE Well, I've been moody and dissatisfied. ALVY'S PSYCHIATRIST How often do you sleep together? ANNIE'S PSYCHIATRIST Do you have sex often? ALVY Hardly ever. Maybe three times a week. ANNIE Constantly! I'd say three times a week. Like the other night, Alvy wanted to have sex. ALVY She would not sleep with me the other night, you know, it's- ANNIE And ... I don't know ... I mean, six months ago I-I woulda done it. I woulda done it, just to please him. ALVY I mean ... I tried everything, you know, I-I-I put on soft music and my-my red light bulb, and ... ANNIE But the thing is-I mean, since our discussions here, I feel I have a right to my own feelings. I think you woulda been happy because ... uh, uh, I really asserted myself. ALVY The incredible thing about it is, I'm paying for her analysis and she's making progress and I'm getting screwed. ANNIE I don't know, though, I feel so guilty because Alvy is paying for it, so, you know, so I do feel guilty if I don't go to bed with him. But if I do go to bed with him, it's like I'm going against my own feelings. I don't know I-I can't win. ALVY (Simultaneously, with Annie) You know ... it's getting expensive ...my analyst ... for her analyst. She- she's making progress and I'm not making any progress. Her progress is defeating my progress. ANNIE (Simultaneously, with Alvy) Sometimes I think-sometimes I think I should just live with a woman. CUT TO:INT. APARTMENTAlvy and Annie sit close together on the sofa in some friends' apartment. Their friends, another couple, stand behind the sofa in the background. Excited, they talk almost all at once. WOMAN FRIEND Wow, I don't believe it ... you mean to tell me you guys have never snorted coke? ANNIE Well, I always wanted to try, you know, but, uh, Alvy, uh ... he's very down on it. ALVY Hey, don't put it on me. You kn- Wh-what is it, I don't wanna put a wad of white powder in my nose 'cause the-the nasal membranes ...They all start talking at once. ANNIE You never wanna try anything new, Alvy. ALVY (Counting on his fingers) How can you say that? I mean, (Making sounds) who said I-I-I-I said that you, I and that girl from your acting class should sleep together in a threesome. ANNIE (Reacting) That's sick! ALVY Yeah, I know it's sick, but it's new. You know, you didn't say it couldn't be sick.Annie laughs, chatters. WOMAN FRIEND Just come on, Alvy. (All four are now sitting on the sofa. The male friend starts to prepare lines of cocaine; Alvy and Annie look at each other, reacting) Do your body a favor. Try it, come on. ALVY Oh, yeah? ANNIE Yeah. Come on. It'd be fun. ALVY (Moving forward on the couch) Oh, I'm sure it's a lot of fun, 'cause the Incas did it, you know, and-and they-they-they were a million laughs. ANNIE (Laughing) Alvy, come on, for your own experience. I mean, you wanna write, why not? MALE FRIEND It's great stuff, Alvy. Friend of mine just brought it in from California. ANNIE Oh, do you know something-I didn't tell yuh, we're going to California next week. GIRL Oh, really? ANNIE Yeah ... ALVY ... I'm thrilled. As you know, uh ... uh, on my agent's advice I sold out, and I'm gonna do an appearance on TV. ANNIE (Interrupting) No, no, no that's not it at all. Alvy's giving an award on television. Gee, he talks like he's violating a moral issue sitting here. GIRL You're kidding? ALVY It's so phony, and we have to leave New York during Christmas week, which really kills me. MAN (Interrupting) Alvy, listen, while you're in California, could you possibly score some coke for me?Annie laughs. ALVY (Over Annie's laughter) Sure, sure, I'll be glad to. I-I'll just put it in a-a-a h-h-hollow heel that I have in my boot, you know. (Alvy picks up the small open gold case of cocaine base the man placed on the coffee table and looks at it, reacting) H-h-how much is this stuff? MAN It's about two thousand dollars an ounce. ANNIE God. ALVY Really? And what is the kick of it? Because I never ...He puts his finger into the drug, smells it and then sneezes. The powder blows all over the room as the man, woman and Annie react silently. CUT TO:CALIFORNIA. BEVERLY HILLS STREET-DAYIt's a warm, beautiful day. Rob, Annie and Alvy in Rob's convertible are moving past the spacious houses, the palm trees. The sunlight reflects off the car. Annie, excited, is taking the whole place in. Background voices sing Christmas carols. VOICES (Singing) We wish you a Merry Christmas, We wish you a Merry Christmas, We wish you a Merry Christmas, And a -Happy New Year. ROB (Over the singing) I've never been so relaxed as I have been since I moved out here, Max. I want you to see my house. I live right next to Hugh Hefner's house, Max. He lets me use the Jacuzzi. And the women, Max, they're like the women in Playboy magazine, only they can move their arms and legs. ANNIE (Laughing) You know, I can't get over that this is really Beverly Hills. VOICES (Singing) We wish you a Merry Christmas, And a Happy New Year. ALVY Yeah, the architecture is really consistent, isn't it? French next to- VOICES (Singing over the dialogue) Oh, Christmas ... tree, Oh, Christmas tree, How bright and green Our ... ALVY -Spanish, next to Tudor, next to Japanese. ANNIE God, it's so clean out here. ALVY It's that they don't throw their garbage away. They make it into television shows. ROB Aw, come on, Max, give us a break, will yuh? It's Christmas. Annie starts snapping pictures of the view. ALVY Can you believe this is Christmas here? VOICES (Singing) Oh Christmas tree, Oh Christmas tree ...They pass a large house with spacious lawn. Sitting on the lawn is a Santa Claus complete with sleigh and reindeer. Voices continue to sing Christmas carols; Annie continues to take pictures. ANNIE You know, it was snowing-it was snowing and really gray in New York yesterday. ROB No kidding? ALVY Right-well, Santa Claus will have sunstroke. ROB Max, there's no crime, there's no mugging. ALVY There's no economic crime, you know, but there's-there's ritual, religious- cult murders, you know, there's wheat- germ killers out here. ROB While you're out here, Max, I want you to see some of my TV show. And we're invited to a big Christmas party.They continue driving, now in a less residential area, passing a hot-dog stand."Tail-Pup" concession; people mill about eating hot dogs. VOICES (Singing, louder now) Remember Christ our Savior Was born on Christmas day To save us all ... from Satan's power As we were gone astray.They pass a theater, the marquee announcing "House of Exorcism Messiah of Evil.Rated R. Starts at 7:15."INT. TV CONTROL ROOM.Several monitors line the wall in front of an elaborate console. Rob and Alvy,along with Charlie, the technician, stand in the small room watching the screens showing Rob as a television star on a situation comedy. They chatter, analyzing the footage, over the sounds of the taped television comedy. ALVY (Overlapping the chatter) Oh. ROB Look, now, Charlie, give me a big laugh here. ROB ON TV SCREEN A limousine to the track breakdown? ROB (Watching) A little bigger.TV monitors go black as the technician turns of the monitors to fix the laugh track. ALVY Do you realize how immoral this all is? ROB Max, I've got a hit series. ALVY Yeah, I know; but you're adding fake laughs.Technicians turn the monitors back on, showing Rob on the screen with another character, Arnie. ARNIE Oh, I'm sorry. ROB ON TV SCREEN Arnie. ARNIE Yeah. ROB (Turning to the technician) Give me a tremendous laugh here, Charlie. ALVY Look, uh ...Loud laughter from the TV monitors. ROB (To Alvy) We do the show live in front of an audience. ALVY Great, but nobody laughs at it 'cause your jokes aren't funny. ROB Yeah, well, that's why this machine is dynamite. ROB ON TV SCREEN You better lie down. You've been in the sun too long. ROB (To the technician) Yeah ... uh, now give me a like a medium-size chuckle here ... and then a big hand.The sounds of laughter and applause are heard from the TV. ALVY (Removing his glasses and rubbing his face) Is there booing on there?The monitors show a woman on the screen. WOMAN We were just gonna fix you up with my cousin Dolores. ALVY (Overlapping the TV) Oh, Max, I don't feel well. ROB What's the matter? ALVY I don't know, I just got-I got very dizzy... (Coughing) I feel dizzy, Max. ROB Well, sit down. ALVY (Sitting down) Oh, Jesus. ROB You all right? ALVY I don't know, I mean, I- ROB (Crouching before Alvy, looking at him) You wanna lie down? ALVY No, no-my, you know, my stomach felt queasy all morning. I just started getting ... ROB How about a ginger ale? ALVY Oh, Max ... no, I maybe I better lie down.INT. HOTEL ROOM.Alvy lies in bed, one elbow propped up, a doctor sitting next to him looking concerned. The doctor bolds out a plate of chicken; Alvy listlessly stares at it. Annie, in the background, is on the phone. ANNIE (Talking into the phone) Yes. DOCTOR (Holding out the food) Why don't you just try to get a little of this down? This is just plain chicken. ALVY (Taking a piece of chicken and holding it) Oh, oh, no, I can't-I can't eat this. I'm nauseous. (He gasps and makes sounds) If you could-if you could just give me something to get me through the next two hours, you know I-I have to go out to Burbank ... and give out an award on a TV show. ANNIE (On the phone, overlapping the doctor and Alvy) Well ... H-h huh ... Oh, good ... Yes, I'll tell him. DOCTOR Well, there's nothing wrong with you actually, so far as I can tell. I mean, you have no fever, no ... no symptoms of anything serious. You haven't been eating pork or shellfish.Annie bangs up and moves over to Alvy. ANNIE (Sitting on the edge of the bed) Excuse me. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, Doctor. Uh, Alvy-Alvy, that was the show. They said everything is fine. They found a replacement, so they're going to tape without you. ALVY (Making sounds) I'm nauseous. (He sighs and gasps) Oh, jesus, now I don't get to do the TV show?Reacting, Alvy puts up his band in disgust, then starts eating the piece of chicken he has been holding. The doctor and Annie watch him, reacting. ANNIE Yeah. Listen, Doctor, I'm worried. DOCTOR Now, Mrs. Singer, I can't find anything -- ALVY Christ! ANNIE Nothing at all? DOCTOR No, I think I can get a lab man up here. ALVY (Grabbing the rest of the chicken from the plate) Oh, jesus. Can I have the salt, please? ANNIE What do you mean? Do you think he's- DOCTOR (Handing the salt to Alvy) Yes, excuse me. (To Annie) Perhaps it would be even better if we took him to the hospital for a day or two.Alvy begins to eat. ANNIE Uh-huh ... Oh, hospital? DOCTOR Well, otherwise, there's no real way to tell what's going on. ALVY (Making sounds, gasping) This is not bad, actually.EXT. BEVERLY HILLS STREET RESIDENTIAL AREA - DAYRob, Annie and Alvy in Rob's car pull into a long circular driveway as an attendant walks over to the car. A sprawling house is seen to the right; a couple moves toward the front door, and the driveway is crowded with other parked cars. Loud music is heard. ALVY (Getting out of the car) Hey, don't tell me we're gonna hafta walk from the car to the house. Geez, my feet haven't touched pavement since I reached Los Angeles.INT. HOUSEA Hollywood Christmas party is in session, complete with music, milling people,circulating waiters bolding out trays of drinks. It's all very casual. French doors run the entire width of one wall; they are opened to the back lawn, guests move from the room to outside and back in. It is crowded; bits of conversation and clinking glasses can be heard. Two men, California-tanned, stand by the French doors talking. 1ST MAN Well, you take a meeting with him, I'll take a meeting with you if you'll take a meeting with Freddy. 2ND MAN I took a meeting with Freddy. Freddy took a meeting with Charlie. You take a meeting with him. 1ST MAN All the good meetings are taken. CUT TO:FULL GROUP SHOTA man stands talking, people in groups behind him. Two born like gadgets are attached to his shoulders; he's wearing a bizarre space costume. 3RD MAN Right now it's only a notion, but I think I can get money to make it into a concept ... and later turn it into an idea. CUT TO:Alvy and Rob stand near the French doors leading to the back lawn, eating and drinking and watching the people walking in and out of the house. ROB You like this house, Max? ALVY M'hm. ROB I even brought a road map to get us to the bathroom. ALVY Whee, you shoulda told me it was Tony Lacey's party. ROB What difference does that make?Alvy looks into the room, where Annie and Tony Lacey are having an animated conversation.ALVY I think he has a little thing for Annie. ROB Oh, no, no, that's bullshit, Max. He goes with that girl over there. ALVY Where?Rob nods his head toward a tall woman dressed all in white conversing with a group of people close-by. ROB The one with the V.P.L. ALVY V.P.L.? ROB Visible panty line. Max, she is gorgeous. ALVY Yeah, she's a ten, Max, and that's great for you because you're -you're used to twos, aren't you? ROB There are no twos, Max. ALVY Yeah, you're used to the kind with the- with the shopping bags walking through Central Park with the surgical masks on muttering. ROB M'hm. ALVY And ... uh- ROB (Interrupting) How do you like this couple, Max?A couple moves over toward Rob and Alvy. The man's arm is around the woman; they stand very close. In the background, Annie and Tony are still talking. ROB And I think they just came back from Masters and Johnson. ALVY Yeah, intensive care ward. (Watching the woman in white) My God-hey, Max, I think she's ... I think she's giving me the eye. As Rob and Alvy observe the guests, the woman in white starts walking toward them. ROB If she comes over here, Max, my brain is going to turn into guacamole. ALVY I'll handle it. I'll handle it. Hi. GIRL IN WHITE You're Alvy Singer, right? Didn't we meet at EST? ALVY (Reacting) EST? No, no, I was never to est. GIRL IN WHITE Then how can you criticize it? ALVY Oh. ROB Oh, he-he didn't say anything. ALVY (Laughing) No, no, I came out here to get some shock therapy, but there was an energy crisis, so I ... He's my-my food taster. Have you two met? ROB (Shaking his head) Hi. How do you do. GIRL IN WHITE Do you taste to see if the food's poisoned? ALVY Yeah, he's crazy.The girl in white laughs. ALVY (Looking at Rob and the girl) Hey, you guys are wearin' white. It must be in the stars. ROB Yeah. Right. ALVY Uri Geller must be on the premises someplace. ROB We're gonna operate together.Rob and the girl walk of together as the camera moves in on Tony and Annie standing by the buffet table. TONY We just need about six weeks, in about six weeks we could cut a whole album. ANNIE I don't know, this is strange to me, you know. TONY just ... that's all you need. You can come and stay here. ANNIE Oh. TONY There's a whole wing in this house. ANNIE (Laughing) Oh yeah, stay here? U-huh. TONY You can have it to use. Why-why are you smiling? ANNIE (Laughing) I don't know. I don't know.She picks up an hors doeuvre. CUT TO:The two men still talking about meetings surrounded by other groups of people milling about. 1ST MAN Not only is he a great agent, but he really gives good meetings. 2ND MAN M'mm.Tony, band in band with the girl in white, is leaving the party room with Alvy and Annie to show them the rest of the house. TONY This is a great house, really. Everything. Saunas, Jacuzzis, three tennis courts. You know who the original owners were? Nelson Eddy, then Legs Diamond. Then you know who lived here? ALVY Trigger.Annie and the girl in white laugh. TONY Charlie Chaplin. ALVY Hey. TONY Right before his un-American thing.They stop in a den-like screening room. A man is slouched back on one of the comfortable sofas that fill the room. It is much quieter in here; a contrast to the noise and crowd downstairs. ALVY Yeah, this place is great. ANNIE Yeah. TONY Uh, you guys are still-uh, you're still New Yorkers. ALVY Yeah, I love it there. ANNIE (Laughing) Yeah. TONY Well, I used to live there. I used to live there for years. You know, but it's gotten-it's so dirty now. ANNIE Yeah. ALVY I'm into garbage. It's my thing. ANNIE Boy, this is really a nice screening room. It's really a nice room. TONY Oh, and there's another thing about New York. See ... you-you wanna see a movie, you have to stand in a long line. ANNIE Yeah. TONY It could be freezing, it could be raining. ANNIE Yeah. TONY And here, you just- GIRL IN WHITE We saw "Grand Illusion" here last night. ALVY AND ANNIE (In unison) Oh, yeah? MAN ON THE SOFA (Looking over his shoulder at the group) That's a great film if you're high. (The group laughs, looking down at the man on the sofa. He looks up at them, smiling, a joint in his hand, and offers them a cigarette) Hey, you. TONY (Shaking his head no) Come and see our bedroom. We did a fantastic lighting job. Okay? ANNIE Oh, good. Okay. ALVY I'm cool.Tony and the girl in white leave the room, Annie and Alvy following. ANNIE (Taking Alvy's arm) It's wonderful. I mean, you know they just watch movies all day. ALVY Yeah, and gradually you get old and die. You know it's important to make a little effort once in a while. ANNIE Don't you think his girl friend's beautiful? ALVY Yeah, she's got a great-lookin' fa- A pat on the androgynous side. But it's...They pass a man talking on the phone in the hallway. MAN ON THE PHONE Yeah, yeah. I forgot my mantra.As they come down stairs the party is still in big gear. People are looser now; conversations are more animated, some talk quietly in more intimate corners, some couples are dancing. Alvy stands alone sipping a drink near the huge Christmas tree. A tall woman, passing by, shakes his hand, then leaves. He continues to sip his drink, alone, watching Tony and Annie in the center of the room dancing.The screen shows a plane in flight, Los Angeles far below, then: CUT TO:AIRPLANE. INT. AIRPLANEAnnie and Alvy sit, the stewardess behind them serving other passengers. Anniestares out the window bolding a coffee cup; Alvy reads. Both are preoccupied, thinking their own thoughts. ANNIE'S VOICE-OVER (To herself) That was fun. I don't think California is bad at all. It's a drag coming home. ALVY'S VOICE-OVER (To himself) Lotta beautiful women. It was fun to flirt. ANNIE'S VOICE-OVER (As she sips coffee) I have to face facts. I-I adore Alvy, but our relationship doesn't seem to work anymore. ALVY'S VOICE-OVER (An open magazine lies in his lap) I'll have the usual trouble with Annie in bed tonight. Whatta I need this? ANNIE'S VOICE-OVER If only I had the nerve to break up, but it would really hurt him. ALVY'S VOICE-OVER If only I didn't feel guilty asking Annie to move out. It'd probably wreck her. But I should be honest.He looks over at Annie. ANNIE (Looking back at Alvy) Alvy, uh, let's face it. You know something, don't think our relationship is working. ALVY Tsch, I know. A relationship, I think, is-is like a shark, you know? It has to constantly move forward or it dies. (He sighs) And I think what we got on our hands (Clearing his throat) is a dead shark.INT. ALVY'S LIVING ROOM-DAYA lighted Christmas tree stands in the middle of boxes, books, and the general disarray of packing and figuring out what belongs to whom as Alvy helps Annie move out. ALVY (Holding up a book) Whose "Catcher in the Rye" is this? ANNIE (Walking into the room with an armload of books) Well, let's see now ... If it has my name on it, then I guess it's mine. ALVY (Reacting) Oh, it sure has ... You know, you wrote your name in all my books, 'cause you knew this day was gonna come. ANNIE (Putting down the books and flipping back her hair) Well, uh, Alvy, you wanted to break up just as much as I do. ALVY (Riffling through the books) There's no-no question in my mind. I think we're doing the mature thing, without any doubt. ANNIE (Holding a framed picture and moving about) Now, look, all the books on death and dying are yours and all the poetry books are mine. ALVY (Looking down at a book) This "Denial of Death". You remember this? ANNIE Oh- ALVY This is the first book that I got you.Annie goes over to Alvy. They both look down at the book; the fireplace, burning nicely, is behind them. ANNIE -God. ALVY Remember that day? ANNIE Right. Geez, I feel like there's a great weight off my back. M'mmm. ALVY Thanks, honey. ANNIE (Patting Alvy's shoulder) Oh, no, no, no, no, no. I mean, you know, no, no, no, I mean, I think it's really important for us to explore new relationships and stuff like that.She walks away. ALVY There's no-there's no question about that, 'cause we've given this ... uh, uh, I think a more than fair shot, you know?He tosses the book into the carton. ANNIE (Off screen) Yeah, my analyst thinks this move is keen for me. ALVY (Off screen) Yeah, and I-I tru- you know, I trust her, because my-my analyst recommended her. ANNIE (Walking in with another armload of books) Well, why should I put you through all my moods and hang-ups anyway? ALVY Right. And you-and you know what the beauty part is? ANNIE What? ALVY (Holding a small box of buttons) We can always come back together again. Because there's no-there's no problem. 'Cause ... Right. ANNIE (Overlapping) Exactly, but ... exactly. Ooooh! ALVY You know, I-I-I don't think many couples could handle this. You know, they could just break up and remain friends. ANNIE (Taking a button from a box) Hey, this one's mine, this button. This one, you rem- ALVY (Interrupting) Yeah. ANNIE I guess these are all yours. Impeach, uh, Eisenhower ... Impeach Nixon ... Impeach Lyndon Johnson ... Impeach Ronald Reagan.EXT. NEW YORK CITY STREET-DAYPeople milling about on the sidewalk as Alvy walks out of a store and moves toward the foreground. ALVY (Into the camera, to the audience) I miss Annie. I made a terrible mistake.A couple, walking down the street, stops as the man talks to Alvy. MAN ON THE STREET She's living in Los Angeles with Tony Lacey. ALVY Oh, yeah? Well, if she is, then the hell with her! If she likes that lifestyle, let her live there! He's a jerk, for one thing. MAN ON THE STREET He graduated Harvard. ALVY Yeah. He may- Listen, Harvard makes mistakes too, you know. Kissinger taught there. The couple strolls away as an older woman walks up to Alvy while others walk by. OLD WOMAN Don't tell me you're jealous? ALVY Yeah, jealous. A little bit like Medea. Lemme, lemme-can I show you something, lady? (He takes a small item from his pocket to show the woman) What I have here ... I found this in the apartment. Black soap. She used to wash her face eight hundred times a day with black soap. Don't ask me why. OLD WOMAN Well, why don't you go out with other women? ALVY Well, I-I tried, but it's, uh, you know, it's very depressing.RECENT FLASHBACK - INT. ALVY'S COUNTRY KITCHENAlvy's arms and legs fill the screen as he slowly gets up from the floor bolding up a live lobster. He puts it on a grill tray. ALVY (Pointing to the lobster) This always happens to me. Quick, g-go get a broom. His date, a girl wearing short shorts, leans against the sink and lights a cigarette. She makes no move to help. GIRL DATE (Smoking) What are you making such a big deal about? (As she talks, the lobster drops from the tray to the floor. Alvy jumps away, then gingerly scrapes the tray toward the lobster) They're only lobsters. Look, you're a grown man, you know how to pick up a lobster. ALVY (Looking up in stooped-over position) I'm not myself since I stopped smoking. GIRL DATE (Still leaning against the sink, her hand on her hip) Oh, when'd you quit smoking? He gets up of the floor with the lobster on the tray. ALVY Sixteen years ago. GIRL DATE (Puzzled) Whatta you mean? ALVY (Mocking) Mean? GIRL DATE You stopped smoking sixteen years ago, is that what you said? Oh, I-I don't understand. Are you joking, or what? CUT TO:A solitary Alvy walking along the FDR Drive where he had walked with Annie. - The New York skyline is still in the background, the sea gulls go by, the fog horn blows. He walks slowly, moving off screen.INT. ALVY'S BEDROOM - DAYAlvy sits on his bed talking on the phone. ALVY Listen, honey, Central Park's turning green ... Yeah, I sa-I saw that lunatic that we-where we used to see ... with the, uh, uh, pinwheel hat and, you know, and the roller skates? . . . Listen, I-I want you to come back here ... Well, I-I-then I'm gonna come out there and getcha. CUT TO:An airborne plane. CUT TO:EXT. LOS ANGELES AIRPORT.People milling about as Alvy, in the outside phone-booth center, talks. ALVY Whatta you mean, where am I? Where do- where do you think I am? I'm-I'm out ... I'm at the Los Angeles Airport. I flew in ... (Sniffling) Tsch, I-well, I flew in to see you ... (Muttering) Hey, listen, can we not debate this on-on the telephone because I'm, you know, I-I feel that I got a temperature and I'm-I'm getting my-my chronic Los Angeles nausea. I-I don't feel so good.Alvy's conversation is still heard as the screen shows him behind the wheel of a car on a busy street; he causes a near-accident by jerking the car too slowlytoward an intersection. ALVY'S VOICE-OVER Well, where-wherever you wanna meet, I don't care. I'll-I'll drive in. I rented a car I'm driving ... that ... Whatta you mean? What-why is that such a miracle? I'm driving myself --EXT. OUTDOOR CAFƒ - DAYPeople sit at umbrellaed tables with checkered tablecloths at a Sunset Boulevard outdoor cafe. Street traffic goes by while they dine. There's a mild California breeze. The restaurant is somewhat crowded as Alvy makes his way around the tables looking about. He finally sits down at an empty table; nearby sits a woman with a younger man. A waitress brings Alvy a menu and waits for his order. ALVY (To the waitress) I'm gonna...I'm gonna have the alfalfa sprouts and, uh, a plate of mashed yeast.Annie, wearing a flowered dress and wide hat, moves into view. Alvy,noticing her, watches as she walks over to his table. He rises and they shake hands. ANNIE Hi.Alvy wipes at his nose as he stares. He smiles, the street traffic moving behind him. Annie smiles back. ALVY You look very pretty. ANNIE Oh, no, I just lost a little weight, that's all. (Alvy adjusts his glasses, not exactly knowing where to start; a bit uneasy) Well, you look nice. ALVY (Nodding his head) You see, I-I've been thinking about it and I think that we should get married. ANNIE (Adjusting her sunglasses) Oh, Alvy, come on. ALVY Why? You wanna live out here all year? It's like living in Munchkin Land. ANNIE (Looking around) Well, whatta you mean? I mean, it's perfectly fine out here. I mean, Tony's very nice and, uh, well, I meet people and I go to parties and-and we play tennis. I mean, that's ... that's a very big step for me, you know? I mean ... (Reacting, Alvy looks down at his hands, then up) I'm able to enjoy people more. ALVY (Sadly) So whatta you ... You're not gonna come back to New York? ANNIE (Smiling) What's so great about New York? I mean, it's a dying city. You read "Death in Venice." ALVY Hey, you didn't read "Death in Venice" till I bought it for yuh. ANNIE That's right, that's right. (Still smiling) You only gave me books with the word "death" in the titles. ALVY (Nodding his head and gesturing) That's right, 'cause it's an important issue. ANNIE Alvy, you're incapable of enjoying life, you know that? I mean, your life is New York City. You're just this person. You're like this island unto yourself. ALVY (Toying with his car keys) I can't enjoy anything unless I ... unless everybody is. I-you know, if one guy is starving someplace, that's ... you know, I-I ... it puts a crimp in my evening. (Looking down at his hands, sadly) So wanna get married or what? ANNIE (Seriously) No. We're friends. I wanna remain friends. ALVY (In disbelief) Okay. (Louder, to the waitress) Check, please. Can I -can I ... Can I ... Can I ... ANNIE (Interrupting) You're mad, aren't you? ALVY (Shaking his head) No. (Then nodding) Yes, of course I'm mad, because you love me, I know that. ANNIE Alvy, I can't say that that's true at this point in my life. I really just can't say that that's true. I mean, you know how wonderful you are. I mean, you know ... you're the reason that I got outta my room and that I was able to sing, and-and-and, you know, get more in touch with my feelings and all that crap. Anyway, look, I don't wanna- Listen, listen, listen, uh (Laughing) h'h, so whatta you up to anyway, huh? ALVY (Shrugging his shoulders) The usual, you know. Uh, tryin't'write. I'm workin' on a play. (Sighing) Jesus. So whatta yuh saying? That you're not comin' back to New York with me?He nods his head in disbelief. ANNIE (Nodding) No! (Pauses) Look, I gotta go.She starts to rise. ALVY You mean that ... (He gets up and starts following her past diners at other tables) I-I-I-I flew three thousand miles to see you. ANNIE I'm late. ALVY Air miles, you know. I mean, you know what that does to my stomach?They move down the steps of the cafe' toward the parking lot. ANNIE If you must know, it's a hectic time for Tony. The Grammys are tonight. ALVY The what? ANNIE The Grammys. He's got a lotta records up for awards. ALVY You mean they give awards for that kind o' music? ANNIE Oh! ALVY I thought just earplugs.Annie gets into her car. Alvy moves over to his rented convertible. ANNIE Just forget it, Alvy, okay? Let's just forget the conversation.She closes the door, starts the motor. ALVY (Yelling after her) Awards! They do nothing but give out awards! I can't believe it. Greatest, greatest fascist dictator, Adolf Hitler! Annie drives away. Alvy gets behind the wheel, starts the motor. Putting the car in gear, he inadvertently moves forward, hitting a bunch of trash cans witha loud crash. Putting the car in reverse, Alvy notices a beige car that has just turned into the parking lot. For a brief moment, the screen shows a flashback of the bumper-car ride at the Brooklyn amusement park. Alvy's fatheris on the Platform directing traffic; young Alvy is in a small car bumping others right and left. Alvy, hack in the parking lot, backs up his convertible,purposefully smashing the side of the beige car as another flashback of bumper-car ride appears, this time-as, Alvy's father directs traffic-a Marine in a small car bits the back end of a soldier's car, and Alvy, back in the parking lot, moves his car over to another parked car and bits it full force.Another flashback appears. people in the small cars really racing around the track now, bumping into one another over and over again, Alvy's father directing the flow, as the film cuts back to the parking lot, where Alvy reverses the convertible and rams it into the front end of yet another car.He sits behind the wheel as people rush out of various cars and as sirens start blaring, coming closer and closer, stopping finally as a motorcycle cop gets off beside Alvy's car and walks over to him. ALVY (Getting out of the car) Officer, I know what you're gonna say. I'm-I'm not a great driver, you know, I-I have some problems with-with-with- OFFICER (Interrupting) May I see your license, please? ALVY Sure. (Searching, he finally fishes his license out of his pocket) just don't-don't get angry, you know what I mean? 'Cause I-I have - I have my-my license here. You know, it's a rented car. And I've ...He drops the license and it falls to the ground. OFFICER Don't give me your life story (Looking at the piece of paper on the ground) -just pick up the license. ALVY Pick up the license. You have to ask nicely 'cause I've had an extremely rough day. You know, my girl friend- OFFICER (Interrupting) Just give me the license, please. ALVY Since you put it that way. (He laughs) It's hard for me to refuse. (He leans over, picks up the license, then proceeds to rip it up. He lets the pieces go; they float to the ground) ... have a, I have a terrific problem with authority, you know. I'm... it's not your fault. Don't take it personal. CUT TO:INT. JAIL-CELLS CORRIDOR.A guard moves down the ball to the cell where, Alvy stands with other inmates.He unlocks the door and opens it, letting Alvy out. ALVY So long, fellas. Keep in touch. He walks down the corridor off screen.EXT. A STREET IN FRONT OF THE COURT HOUSE - DAYPolicemen are walking up and down the courthouse steps as Alvy and Rob move out the door of the building, down the steps to the street. ROB Imagine my surprise when I got your call, Max. ALVY (Carrying his jacket over his shoulder) Yeah. I had the feeling that I got you at a bad moment. You know, I heard high-pitched squealing.They walk over to Rob's convertible and get in. ROB (Starting the car) Twins, Max. Sixteen-year-olds. Can you imagine the mathematical possibilities? ALVY (Reacting) You're an actor, Max. You should be doing Shakespeare in the Park. ROB Oh, I did Shakespeare in the Park, Max. I got mugged. I was playing Richard the Second and two guys with leather jackets stole my leotard.He puts on an elaborate helmet and goggles. ALVY (Looking at Rob's helmet) Max, are we driving through plutonium? ROB Keeps out the alpha rays, Max. You don't get old. CUT TO:INT. REHEARSAL HALL OF A THEATER.An actor and actress sit on hard wooden chairs in a sparse rehearsal ball. They face each other. The actress resembles Annie; the actor, Alvy. ACTOR You're a thinking person. How can you choose this lifestyle? ACTRESS What is so incredibly great about New York? It's a dying city! You-you read "Death in Venice". ACTOR You didn't read "Death in Venice" till I gave it to you! ACTRESS Well, you only give me books with the word "death" in the title.The camera pulls back, showing Alvy sitting with two men at a table set up near the actors. A mirror, running the whole width of the wall, reflects the two actors, a script lying on the table between them. It is obvious now that they are rehearsing a scene that Alvy wrote. ACTOR (In mirrored reflection) It's an important issue. ACTRESS (In mirrored reflection) Alvy, you are totally incapable of enjoying life.The camera moves back to actual actor and actress. ACTRESS You're like New York. You're an island. ACTOR (Rising with emotion) Okay, if that's all that we've been through together means to you, I guess it's better if we just said goodbye, once and for all! You know, it's funny, after all the serious talks and passionate moments that it ends here ... in a health -food restaurant on Sunset Boulevard. Goodbye, Sunny.The actor begins to leave as the actress jumps up from her chair. ACTRESS Wait! I'm-I'm gonna ... go with you. (The actor comes back. They embrace) I love you.The camera cuts to Alvy, who turns and looks straight into the camera. ALVY (To the audience, gesturing) Tsch, whatta you want? It was my first play. You know, you know how you're always tryin' t' get things to come out perfect in art because, uh, it's real difficult in life. Interestingly, however, I did run into Annie again. It was on the Upper West Side of Manhattan.Annie, singing "Seems Like Old Times, " overlaps Alvy's speech and continues over the next scene, where Alvy, standing in front of a Manhattan theater, shakes hands with Annie and her escort. The theater marquee reads "OPHULS PRIZE FILM: 'THE SORROW AND THE PITY'." ALVY'S VOICE (Over the theater scene and, Annie's singing) She had moved back to New York. She was living in SoHo with some guy. (Laughing) And when I met her she was, of all things, dragging him in to see "The Sorrow and the Pity." Which I counted as a personal triumph. Annie and I ... (Alvy's voice continues over the scene shot through a window of Manhattan cafe showing Alvy and Annie sitting at a table, laughing and enjoying themselves) ... we had lunch sometime after that, and, uh, just, uh, kicked around old times.A series of flashbacks following in quick succession while Annie continues to sing:Annie and Alvy going up the FDR Drive, the day they met playing tennis, Annie driving, Alvy bolding up partially eaten sandwich.Annie and Alvy in the Hamptons house kitchen, Annie banding a live lobster to Alvy, who drops it in the pot on the stove.Annie and Alvy walking side by side by the shoreline.Alvy at the tennis club, packing his bag, as he looks over his shoulder and sees Annie, hands on her face, then clapping, as she offers him a ride home in her car.Annie opening the door to Alvy the night he came over to kill the spider; Annieand, Alvy in the bookstore buying the "Death" titles; Annie and, Alvy in their Hamptons house, Annie reading a school catalogue, the night Alvy puts in the red light.The memories continue to flash on the screen: Annie and Alvy at a friend's house, Alvy blowing the cocaine all over the sofa; Annie and Alvy playing tennis; Annie and Alvy having a picture taken backstage at the college performance in Annie's hometown; Alvy bolding Annie close, the night he came over to kill the spider.And continue: Annie carrying her luggage and clothes into Alvy's bedroom, Alvy following, the day she first moved into his apartment. Annie holding up her sexy birthday present from Alvy, then leaning over and kissing him; Annie and Alvy walking down a city street, holding each other close; sitting on the parkbench, observing the people; and kissing, on the FDR Drive, the New York City skyline behind them.The music stops.Returning to the present, the camera, focusing through the cafe window, shows Annie and Alvy across street. They look about at the city traffic. Lunch is over; it's time.Alvy and Annie shake hands and kiss each other friendly like. Annie crosses the street, Alvy watching her go. Then he turns, and slowly walks down the street off screen. His voice is heard over the scene: ALVY'S VOICE-OVER After that it got pretty late. And we both hadda go, but it was great seeing Annie again, right? I realized what a terrific person she was and-and how much fun it was just knowing her and I-I thought of that old joke, you know, this- this-this guy goes to a psychiatrist and says, "Doc, uh, my brother's crazy. He thinks he's a chicken." And, uh, the doctor says, "Well, why don't you turn him in?" And the guy says, "I would, but I need the eggs." Well, I guess that's pretty much how how I feet about relationships. You know, they're totally irrational and crazy and absurd and ... but, uh, I guess we keep goin' through it because, uh, most of us need the eggs. THE END DISSOLVES INTO:BLACK BACKGROUND; credits popping on and off in white.
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+FADE IN: TIGHT CLOSE - JOE THERRIAN - MORNING He's in his mid-thirties, his face relaxed in sleep, childlike. Nestled soundly a tangle in the arms of his wife. THE CAMERA STAYS CLOSE. SLIGHTLY BLURRED, SOFT, SLOWLY SWINGS ROUND TIGHT CLOSE - SALLY THERRIAN She's in her mid-thirties, with large deep eyes. She watches her husband unguarded in sleep. Her pretty face, alert, she's barely breathing. Traces the just visible lines around his eyes, and mouth. Brushes fingertips against his eyelashes. TIGHT CLOSE - SALLY'S HAND PULLS THE BEDROOM SHADE. It retracts with a loud WHACK, sun, sky, trees. STEVEN (O.S.) And breath...and chataronga... EXT. POOL AREA - DAY We're in the middle of a yoga lesson. Joe and Sally stand on their mats. Steven, their instructor, wanders around the couple issuing soft-spoken instructions. A large room with hard wood floors, dominated by a huge fireplace. The dining room on one side, living room on the other. Floor to ceiling windows overlook the back porch garden pool... The house is classic Neutra. All GLASS and SMOOTH LINES. The calm is broken by the telephone. Joe and Sally ignore it until the answering machine picks up. They break their yoga poses and listen. The CAMERA hovers over the answering machine. LUCY (O.S.) (over answering machine; sweet, British, slightly desperate) Joe, it's Lucy. Remember me? It's the black sheep here. Bah...not funny. Haven't heard from you, need you, call me. Love you madly. Hi, Sally. Joe, I'd love to talk to you before I go... JOE Go where? LUCY (O.S.) (over answering machine) It's a damn nuisance you aren't here, big brother. Sorry I drone on. I miss you. I lo-- The machine cuts her off. NEW ANGLE Joe and Sally have resumed their positions. This wasn't the call they were waiting for. WIDE SHOT AMERICA, forty-one, and ROSA, fifty, struggle up the steps of the back porch carrying grocery bags and packages, come through the sliding glass door... THE CAMERA FOLLOWS THEM Through the dining room and into the kitchen, watches the two unpack groceries, flowers, etc., and start to dress the dining room table. They speak quietly to each other in Spanish. JOE America, could you just... America closes the sliding doors between the kitchen and the dining room, giving the couple their privacy. JOE (CONT'D) (calls out) Thank you, America! STEVEN Okay, let's just take a deep breath, let your ribs expand and relax. And reach up and into downward dog. Otis, the Bisenji/Sheperd mix, sleeping on his leopard pillow, stirs, stretches and groans. JOE AND SALLY Good boy, Otis. The phone RINGS again. VOICE (O.S.) (over answering machine) Hello, I have Dr. Harmon calling for Sally Therrian. Sally jumps out of the down dog position and runs to the phone, all angles. SALLY Hello, hi, hi...and? Thank God. Sally stands with the phone to her ear, her back to Joe. EXT. POOL AREA - CONTINUOUS Joe watches her from his position, not concentrating on the teacher waiting a sign. Sally returns to the lesson. They do their handstands against the wall, on either side of the front door. SALLY No luck. JOE Oh, well, we'll just have to try again. Sound like a plan? Sally nods, she and Joe, at Steven's instructions, come out of their handstands and lie on the floor in a stretched relax, facing one another. SALLY Happy anniversary, baby. JOE Happy anniversary. They smile. STEVEN And change sides... America slides open the dining room doors. The dining table is covered with bundles of freshly cut flowers. Rosa is singing in Spanish. AMERICA (with the authority of long years of service) Mr. Joe, we have to have the house. If you please now... JOE It's yours. The CAMERA glances off photos of the couple: portraits and candids, their wedding day, with friends, on vacation, tumbling on the lawn, and the like. Some framed and hung, some taped to the fridge or simply leaning on a shelf. It's clear that at least a handful are by the same photographer, black and whites, grainy and beautiful. There are lots of photos of Joe and his sister Lucy, documenting their relationship from childhood. There's an ANNIE LEIBOWITZ photo-shoot of Sally carelessly displayed somewhere. INT. BEDROOM - LATER Joe stands behind Sally in front of the full length mirror, his arms around her, stroking her belly. JOE I love you. Most beautiful woman in the world. SALLY Hardly... JOE Accept a compliment. SALLY I think you're the most beautiful woman in the world. They move toward the bed. JOE What did you get me? SALLY In the morning, after everyone's gone and there's just us. She pushes him on the bed. JOE Kiss my eyes. She does. SALLY My wrists. He does. JOE Kiss the back of my knees. SALLY Through the sweats or not? JOE Not. She pulls down his sweats. She kisses the back of his knees. He turns, stares up at her. SALLY What? JOE You didn't kiss anyone else's knees, did you? Sally shakes her head. SALLY No. Did you? JOE (after a beat) No. I missed that. SALLY I missed all of you. We're okay, aren't we? JOE We're great. SALLY I mean, you're really back. JOE For good. They begin to make love...the phone RINGS. JOE (CONT'D) Don't get it. SALLY Well, it might be Clair. They're threatening not to come... JOE What? SALLY They can't find a sitter... (into the receiver) Hello? Excuse me? Yes, uh, hold on. (she looks at Joe) Just a moment. (puts the call on hold) It's Skye Davidson. She needs directions to the house. You invited Skye fucking Davidson to our anniversary party? JOE Okay. I'm sorry, look, I meant to tell you. It was the only chance I had to meet her. SALLY You invited her to our anniversary party? I didn't even invite my mother. JOE She goes on location tomorrow. Sally, I'm sorry. Look, I can't keep her on hold. SALLY (pissed) No, no of course not. It's Skye fucking Davidson, for fuck's sake. JOE (regards her) You want me to uninvite her? SALLY No, no of course not. How old is she? Twenty-fucking-two? She gets out of bed, starts into the bathroom. The CAMERA is with her. SALLY (CONT'D) (into the bathroom mirror) And she's a stinking fucking actress, for fuck's sake. JOE (into the receiver) Skye! (his face lights) I'm so glad you're able to make it...it's our sixth, actually. (flattered) You read the book again? Well, no, the ending to chapter six...it's just that it's not filmic. We tried it in an earlier draft, but, it just wasn't filmic... Well, sure, we can absolutely look at that again. If you're coming from Laurel, you want to take Sunset west, we're just past Will Rogers State Park. Three blocks west of that, you want to hang right. It's about three quarters of a mile up a big white thing on the left. Sally's started the bath, and is watching him from the doorway. He meets her eyes mid-sentence. JOE (CONT'D) Oh? I don't think tonight. I'm sure they're well behaved. All our friends have dogs, and they always want to bring them. We'd be outnumbered, you see? So we sort of put a ban on it. Sorry. He rolls his eyes. Sally walks back into the bathroom, she isn't buying it. JOE (O.S.) (CONT'D) I'm looking forward to meeting you, too. And Skye, I'm thrilled that you're willing to take this leap with me. Eternally grateful, really. SALLY (into the bathroom mirror) I'm going to throw up. JOE (O.S.) I can't imagine anyone else playing Genna. SALLY (sanguine) Really? INT. BEDROOM - LATER The doorbell rings. There are two closed doors on either side of the room. The bed shows no sign of consummated sex. Joe comes through the left hand door, nearly dressed. JOE Who the fuck can be here at this time? It's not even seven! Sally comes through the other door, one shoe off, one on. SALLY Oh Jesus, who else is always early for Christ's sake? NEW ANGLE Sally kisses his cheek on her way to the door. SALLY (CONT'D) Promise you'll be nice to the neighbors. JOE I'll say as little as possible. Sally exits the bedroom. HOLD ON JOE For a moment, then Sally re-enters, kisses him deeply. SALLY I love you. INT. FOYER - EARLY EVENING The house is filled with exquisite flower arrangements, candles everywhere. JERRY and JUDY ADAMS are on the porch, just beyond the glass of the front door. Their argument is inaudible. They're in their mid-thirties, conservatively dressed. She's stunning, genetically nervous. Jerry carries a briefcase. She's got the gift. Sally opens the door. Hugs and buses them, hello. JUDY I know we're early, we're so early. Sorry. JERRY You have to sign your taxes anyway. SALLY (a grin) Of course we do. (to Judy) We have to sign our taxes. JOE (kisses Judy; all charm) You can never be too early or too thin. JERRY Happy anniversary, buddy! Six months ago, who would have thunk it? Jerry hugs Joe. JOE (sotto) Well, not me, to be honest. JERRY (sotto) Don't fuck up again. It's got a ripple effect. Sally suffers, we all suffer. JUDY (offers) We have a gift? JOE Thanks, I'll take that. Champagne? JUDY Lovely. Joe moves toward the kitchen. JERRY (a moment, to Sally) We closed. SALLY Fantastic. (takes his hand) Out here. They step out onto the porch. Judy's left alone, unsure whether to follow or not. JUDY (finally, to no one, and to no response) The house looks beautiful, are those hydrangeas? She stands awkwardly in the middle of the foyer. EXT. PORCH - CONTINUOUS JERRY Joe officially owns No. 4, Cheyenne Walk, Chelsea, London, England. No small doing. SALLY I love you, you're a genius. Behind them, in the foyer, Judy wanders aimlessly. JERRY I suppose. Sally, that's quite a gift. I'm not sure it's in your best interest. SALLY I adore him. JERRY The realtor'll be here tomorrow in the morning. The house had to go on the market to insure the loan on the London flat. SALLY I know. I know that. Don't spoil it. JERRY What you earn has to double in order to cover expenses in London, it's an outrageously expensive city. SALLY We've only been over this how many times? JERRY You only made half your quote this year. SALLY Well, you're a tower of support. JERRY I worry because you don't. It's my job. I'm feeling guilty. I would've liked it if you waited until the two of you were on more solid ground. SALLY (direct, simple) We couldn't be on more solid ground. JERRY Whatever you say. Listen, I love you. Otis is barking. JOE (O.S.) Otis! No barking! SALLY (touched) And Joe's huge in Europe. He's like a rock star in London. His novels sell millions. JERRY Not millions. SALLY He's directing now. JERRY They're paying him scale. The CAMERA catches sight of Joe behind them. He moves through the foyer and into the living room with a tray of glasses and Judy in tow. SALLY He gets huge advances on his novels. He's going back to that. You know how he hates it here. JERRY There's still time to undo this. SALLY (kisses his cheek) We'll be fine. JERRY (re: barking dog) Did you invite them? SALLY The Roses? And of course they said yes. JERRY That was the plan. And you're thrilled to have them. SALLY Whatever you say. JERRY Did you tell Joe to behave? SALLY Yes. JERRY Did he promise? SALLY Scout's honor. JERRY Before I forget. (pulls a novel from his briefcase) Put it on the bookshelf. She flips the book -- on the back is a full page picture of RYAN ROSE. SALLY You're out of your mind. JERRY Just do what I say, alright? SALLY How much bowing and scraping do you want us to do? JERRY Beats a lawsuit. INT. LIVING ROOM - CONTINUOUS Joe and Judy sit on opposite sides of the sofa -- slightly uncomfortable with each other. JOE (to fill the silence, conspiratorial grin) I love gifts. What did you guys get us? JUDY (chokes on the champagne) Nothing that can't be exchanged. JOE Oh. Well. Good. JUDY Congratulations on the deal. How exciting. Is Sally doing Sally? I mean it's Sally. The character that's based on Sally. The character that's based on Sally in the book. JOE The novel. No, Skye Davidson is playing the lead. JUDY Oh my God, I'm a huge Skye Davidson fan. She's very beautiful. JOE Yes, she is. JUDY (trying harder) But I am right, yes? She's based on Sally. JOE It's a novel. JUDY Still. Well. Let's drop it. JOE Yes. JUDY I'm not much of a reader, but I do love autobiographies, even biographies sometimes. Mostly non-fiction. Did you read the new Styron? JOE No. JUDY It's very good. (a moment) I understand you won the Booker Prize. JOE Yes I did. JUDY (another moment) Is your script much like the novel? Jerry says it's very good. But you know, you read the novel, and then you see the movie - and most of the time you say, "what's this?" You know? I sometimes think we're better off not reading the novel at all. Because, we come with expectations... and of course, we know where we're going. Don't you find? JOE Don't I find what? JUDY I don't know why Joe, we've known each other how long... JOE Not long. JUDY (benign) Don't be silly. JOE Joking. JUDY Yes I know. I started to say... I started to say Joe that -- JOE Do I put you off? JUDY You manage to throw me off balance. I adore you. JOE And I you. JUDY But I'm always afraid I'll say something stupid. JOE Ah. JUDY And so I always manage to, do you see? Like the book/script thing, do you see? JOE Mmm hmmm. INT. FOYER CAL and SOPHIA GOLD are there with their children - JACK and EVIE - eight and six respectively. Carrying gifts and totes with toys and changes. Jerry and Sally have gathered them up and ushered them in. SALLY You know Jerry. CAL Yes, of course. SOPHIA I'm the wife. We've met. JERRY (hugs her) You, I know. SALLY (to Evie) Hey, beautiful girl. She picks up the four-year-old, swings her around. Jack hides behind his father's legs. SOPHIA (a grin) Jack? Jack, you promised. The little boy comes out from behind his father's legs, covers his eyes with his hands. JACK (sings) Happy anniversary to you. We're glad Joe came home. Don't split up again. Cause we like the food. Much laughter and clapping. JOE (in the archway) Jack. Did you compose that yourself? CAL Absolutely. JOE Had a little help? CAL Absolutely not. JOE It has your ring. CAL I'm not that good. JERRY Cal, my wife Judy. JUDY Nice to meet you. CAL I think we've met, actually. No? At another one of these things? JUDY No, I don't think so. JERRY (to Cal) Congratulations on the Academy Award. Great performance. Really warranted. SOPHIA He thought so. JERRY Sally always manages to get robbed. SALLY (a mortified grin) Enough about me. SOPHIA Evie has a little something for you. Evie shakes her head. SOPHIA (CONT'D) You do. EVIE (even) I don't think so. SALLY Since when are you so shy? EVIE (her mother's daughter) Never. SOPHIA (bright smile) Honey, we have gifts for you and all sorts of surprises. Where is America? I know she's here somewhere. Joe reaches for the gifts. JOE I'll take them. SOPHIA No, I have a little talking to do with America. Privately. I'll find her. SALLY (to Sophia) In the kitchen. JOE Who'd like to go and find Otis? EVIE Me! JACK I guess. JUDY The infamous dog? JOE He's the best dog in the world. (to Judy) They're both coming tonight. Not my idea. JUDY Ours. JOE It's Jerry's worst idea. CAL What's that? JOE The neighbors from hell. The kind that lay in wait. I'd rather move actually. Wouldn't I? (to Sally) Wouldn't I? SALLY (small smile) Yes. JOE (to the kids) Okay. Last one to find Otis is a smelly old bum. Joe goes off with the children to find Otis. Cal sits at the piano, plays. INT. FOYER - FRONT DOOR - CONTINUOUS Joe holds Evie in one arm. Jack stands beside him, holds his hand. MONICA and RYAN ROSE face him across the threshold -- the NEXT DOOR NEIGHBORS. She's in her late twenties - and beautiful, eyes everywhere - star struck and house struck. Ryan is somewhat older, a little awkward in company, swallowing resentment and a little self righteous. JOE Well, hello you two. (putting Evie down; to Jack) These are the people who live next door. Say hello. Jack does. JOE (CONT'D) And close the door, Jack. Because if we leave it open, Otis will run out and you know what will happen then? JACK Uh, uh. JOE He'll run next door into their backyard and he'll bark and bark and bark and eat their pitbull for his dinner. Is it a pitbull? RYAN (not amused) No, actually. JOE (to Jack) Oh whatever. We don't want that to happen, do we? JACK No? RYAN It's a rottweiler, actually. (to Jack) I don't think our rottweiler is in any danger, Jack. JOE Well, Jack and I are very relieved. RYAN I thought this was a party. Are we going to talk about the dog thing? MONICA Please, Ryan. JOE (kisses her cheek and shakes his hand) No, he's absolutely right. You're absolutely right, Ryan. Dog talk must be banned. Canine conversations are completely discouraged... it's really good of you to join us. Can I get you a drink? RYAN Not for me, thanks. An awkward moment. MONICA (checks with Ryan) Something soft. JOE Right away. Are you sure you wouldn't like something soft, Ryan? RYAN I'm sure, yes. Sally has watched some of this from the archway, joins them super-friendly. SALLY Hi. Monica and Ryan? MONICA Sally? SALLY Yes. And you've met Joe. RYAN Yes. SALLY (a deep breath) Well, so glad you decided to come. MONICA We could hardly say no. SALLY Oh? Joe slips the coke into Monica's hand. SALLY (CONT'D) (takes the gift) Thank you. This was so unnecessary. I hope you've noticed that Otis isn't barking as much. We keep him in at night. RYAN At 4:30 today he barked for a solid fifteen minutes. I have it on tape. SALLY You're keeping a record, are you? RYAN It's just very distracting when you're trying to work. MONICA Ryan. RYAN (to Joe) I'm sure you understand. SALLY Well the neighborhood is full of dogs, and it's not always Otis. RYAN Well today it was Otis. And you should keep him away from our yard. Because Sheila will defend herself. MONICA Ryan! SALLY (cuts off response from Joe; to Ryan) Are you working on a new book? RYAN (caught short; flattered) Well, yes, actually. MONICA He always has two or three going... SALLY Really? Joe can't manage more than one at a time. With huge gaps in between. NEW ANGLE MAC and CLAIR FORSYTHE wave from the door. Clair's arms are full of presents. Mac carries three video cameras under his arm. He's got Otis by the collar. MAC You lose this? JOE (re: Otis) Ah there's our snookums now. RYAN Yes, well, but I haven't won a Booker either. Or the Whitebread. MAC The gate was open. SALLY Well, not yet. (she reacts to Mac) The gate was open? JOE It's taken care of. MONICA I think Ryan needs a new publisher. I think he's outgrown him. They're just not doing their job. A silence. Awkward smiles go all around. SALLY Hors d'oeuvres or something? MONICA Yes, great! It's a beautiful house. SALLY Thank you. I understand you're an interior decorator. MONICA Yes. SALLY I so wish I'd known. MONICA Well, whoever did this is amazing. SALLY I did it. JOE (comes on them with the Forsythes in tow) She rarely cops to it. (kisses Sally's cheek) Otis is home. CLAIR (re: the gifts) Where can I put these? Sally takes the gifts from her. CLAIR (CONT'D) What a fucking day! We only just got a sitter. I don't know her from fucking Adam. She could be a serial killer. I'm going to have to call every ten minutes. You have to let me give out the number. SALLY Of course. MAC She already has. CLAIR It's alright, isn't it? SALLY Of course it's alright. MAC Clair is a hovering mother. CLAIR I'm not. SALLY This is Monica and Ryan. Mac and Clair. Clair takes a glass of champagne off the tray as they make their way down the hall. CLAIR (a wide professionally ingratiating smile) So nice... MONICA And for us... Truly. CLAIR Well... MONICA You will never know. CLAIR (pleased) Oh. (to Sally) I have a four-thirty call. AM. So we may have to leave early. SALLY Why didn't you bring him? CLAIR What? SALLY Why didn't you bring him? CLAIR (searches) He's allergic. SALLY Oh. CLAIR To dander. Otis. SALLY Oh. CLAIR Didn't I say? SALLY Well, probably. CLAIR They can tell from the eyelashes, you know? He's got eyelashes yay long. They must be a foot long. The older you are when you have a baby, the more likely this stuff is to crop up. SALLY (muted) Oh. The Roses are happy to stand there on the fringe. Next to someone they've only seen on screen and magazine covers. Clair's not in the least put off by them. She manages to smile at them inclusively from time to time. CLAIR So they tell me. Not soon enough, of course. (kisses her cheek) How are you, Sal? You look fantastic. It changes your life, you know. A baby. It puts everything in perspective, doesn't it. Doesn't it, Mac? You can't be the center of your own world, anymore. MAC (as grounded as Clair isn't) It's an object lesson in grace. (on seeing Cal Gold on the back porch) Wow! Look who's here before me! My leading man is on time for once. CAL (at the piano) Those who can't direct. MAC Fuck you. EXT. POOL AREA Mac and Cal sit on the porch sharing a joint. Cal is maybe the only living complete works of Shakespeare and pulls out his most arcane quotes on occasion. CAL Are those our dailies? You're totally outrageous. It's their anniversary. Is nothing sacred! Well...so...how am I? MAC (laughing) Oh man, you are so fucking funny in the kitchen scene. CAL I liked the third take, the accidental disaster with the silverware. MAC Nothing you do is accidental... MEDIUM FULL SHOT The CAMERA spots GINA TAYLOR through moving bodies. Tall, beautiful, centered grace. She's got a Leica around her neck... drops her two large camera bags on the floor. Several of the other guests greet her, Mac among them. TIGHT CLOSE Joe sweeps her up to his arms. It's an intimate, appreciative embrace. Theirs was a mid-30s relationship, certainly pre-Sally. Maybe his first important love. GINA (re: the cameras) I'm the hired help. JOE (affectionate) Fuck you. GINA I never put myself in harm's way. JOE Anymore. GINA No, not anymore. Happy anniversary, scout. NEW ANGLE Sophia bursts from the kitchen. SOPHIA Oh my God! America told me your neighbors are coming? SALLY And here they are! SOPHIA And she was saying how happy you were to finally have them over. Because you're both, so, what - introspective? And you should have done it ages ago. I'm Sophia Gold. (rescuing Sally) Come meet my husband, Cal. MONICA Cal Gold? SOPHIA The very one. And you are... SALLY Monica and Ryan. RYAN Rose. SOPHIA Sorry? RYAN Ryan Rose. SOPHIA Yes. She shakes his hand. He's amazed at the solid grip. SALLY He's a novelist. SOPHIA Ah. SALLY Like Joe. SOPHIA Hmm. (to Sally) Where are my kids? SALLY In the guest room. I've laid out a paint table for them. SOPHIA I hope they're watercolors! SALLY Nevermind. SOPHIA (to Monica) Would you like to meet my husband? It's all Monica can do to keep from putting her hand to her chest. MONICA I'd be thrilled. SOPHIA Then he'll be thrilled. She ushers them toward the living room. JOE (re: Sophia, appreciative) She's such pure evil. Sally approaches, gives Gina a warm kiss on the chest. SALLY Thanks for coming. GINA Happy anniversary. You're a good match, you two. (to Joe) Can you help me with this stuff? JOE (re: one of her bags) That for us? GINA What a nose. You missed your calling. JOE Can I open it? GINA (defers) Sally? JOE Please? SALLY He's impossible. Go on then. Joe rips open the gift. It's a framed black and white of Joe, Sally and Otis lying on the couch. It's clear which photos in the house are Gina's. It's a breathtaking print, an amazing caught moment. All light and shadow. A touching study. SALLY (CONT'D) (respectful of the talent) It's beautiful, thank you so much. Joe, moved somehow, hugs Gina to him. Kisses her. JOE I love you, Gina Taylor. Sally's uncomfortable, a little jealous... feels intrusive. Aware that Gina got there first. Knew him when. And always captures something naked and vulnerable in his face. CUT TO: INT. GUEST ROOM - CONTINUOUS In the center of the room a low table with paints and crayons and glue and baubles. Two child size chairs either side. Empty, the table hasn't been touched. Evie stands against the far wall. She wears a helmet and is surrounded by toy suction arrows. The arrows make a perfect outline of her head and body. Jack stands three feet away, bow in hand -- the archer prepares his next shot. INT. LIVING ROOM Cal is at the piano, charming the neighbors. Judy chats with Mac. Jerry is on his cellphone, holding his Palm Pilot, his hand pressed against his ear to block out the chatter. Sally joins Cal on the piano stool. Sophia moves to Clair on the couch, kisses her cheek. SOPHIA You look so well, Clair. A wraith. CLAIR (pleased) You think so!? I've been working out a lot since the baby. And I've been working. And that takes it's toll, you know. SOPHIA I'm glad that's all over for me. CLAIR Don't you miss it? SOPHIA Never. CLAIR Really. SOPHIA Not for a second. Cal can have all that. CLAIR Really? SOPHIA So where is young Jonah? CLAIR With a sitter. We have a sensational sitter. Jonah's really comfortable with her. You know, a second mom sort of. Like part of the family. Amazing with kids. She inadvertently touches the beeper on her belt, and it beeps. She jumps. SOPHIA What is that thing? CLAIR So this sitter can always reach me. I'm still not used to leaving him. SOPHIA You should have brought him. CLAIR (shrugs) Dander. He's allergic. Otis. SOPHIA Oh. Do you have any pictures? CLAIR Pictures. They're always in my tote. I left my tote in the damn trailer. But! He's Mac all over again. Imagine Mac shrunk to two-and-a-half feet. The fact is they probably didn't even need me for this birth. SOPHIA Are you the funniest person I know, or what? CLAIR I can't think how you gave it all up, Soph. Sophia sends her a soft, content smile. Otis comes over and nuzzles Clair's knee. CLAIR (CONT'D) (freeks) Oh my God, the dog! INT. KITCHEN/HALLWAY - CONTINUOUS Clair leads Sally towards the bedroom. CLAIR It sounds hysterical, but Otis just rubbed up against me and I'd kind of like to change into something of yours. You know it could be disaster. He's so allergic. It's terrifying. SALLY Borrow whatever you like. CLAIR I'll change back before we leave. SALLY (pointed) Whatever you like. I'm afraid it'll all be too big for you. (a moment) Are you alright, Clair? CLAIR I'm fine. I'm fine. Well, I'm a little stressed. And I've been taking pills to get my weight down since the baby. SALLY I'd say it was down. CLAIR And the doctor said they might make me a little jumpy. I've got a ghastly headache, actually. SALLY You want a Tylenol, or something? CLAIR I'd love a Xanex. (a moment) Sally, please don't tell Sophia that I'm not breast feeding. SALLY Why would she care? CLAIR You know Sophia. She's so damned judgemental. And she's so damned... perfect. And so fucking... serene. Just fucking don't tell her. Because you know Mac thinks she's God. And I can feel him comparing. SALLY You need to knock off the pills, Clair. CLAIR Just don't fucking tell her. SALLY It's not going to come up. INT. FOYER - LEVI PANES THROUGH THE GLASS DOOR - DAY A Peter Sellers look-a-like holding a violin case. JOE (opens the door) Panes! How are you? PANES Oh, you know, I am. JOE Has she called? PANES She'll never call again. She called last week to tell me she'll never call again. Where's Sally? SALLY (O.S.) Here I am. Panes, my love! Sally starts down the hallway. SALLY (CONT'D) (for Panes; a long supportive hug; a kiss) Good, you brought your violin. I want you to play. PANES It's a machine gun. I thought I'd kill myself. SALLY Are you lovesick? PANES Suicidal. It's much less codependent. SALLY Will champagne help? PANES Not enough. Sally takes Panes into the living room where everyone chats, drinks, smokes. They all like each other out of habit, if nothing else. Ryan and Monica are on the fringe, stand at the edges of conversation. There's always someone at the piano, and they can all pretty much play. SALLY Panes is here! PANES (gives everyone a shy, pained little wave) Oh great. Everyone stops, turns, toasts. EVERYONE Panes! MONICA/RYAN (a little late; into silence) Panes. Panes gives them another little wave. Doorbell rings. TIGHT CLOSE - SKYE DAVIDSON SKYE Hi. She's the young, beautiful actress who'll play the lead in Joe's film. JOE (his face lights up) Skye! She's in jeans, but somehow looks dressed to the 9s. SKYE You're Joe, aren't you? (nods knowingly) I recognized you from the book jacket. Joe grins from ear to ear. Uncharacteristically star struck in front of this beauty. JOE How do you do, Skye? SKYE Oh, I love that. (throws arms around him) I'm just great. I'm so happy to be here. And I apologize for invading you. And I'm so happy you asked me to. I'm so touched. I know how private you and Sally are. JOE (uncomfortable) Yeah, well, it's just us and a few hundred of our closest friends. SKYE (genuine) When I read your work I felt that you knew me. Women must tell you that. And this one in particular speaks to me, do you know? I am Genna. How many women must tell you that. And the script is wonderful. Wonderful and lean and visual... JOE I'm so happy you like it. I'm so relieved you said yes, and I'm really, um, what, thrilled, yes actually, to finally meet you. SKYE You're going to be a remarkable director, a brilliant director. There's a long moment. JOE (finally) I think you're my first Goddess. Sally and Panes have been watching from the living room. PANES She's even better looking in the flesh. SALLY Really? I need a drink. Come hide with me. INT. KITCHEN - MOMENTS LATER America and Rosa are working at the counter, Panes and Sally come through. SALLY Oh, Jesus, Panes. I can't, I can't believe that bitch is in my house. PANES You don't know she's a bitch. SALLY She's all over him, are you blind? PANES It could be worse. SALLY How? PANES She could be playing the role in Joe's movie that should be yours. SALLY Fuck you, Panes. PANES You see, that's worse. SALLY I just wanted tonight to be with the people we love. PANES Like your business managers? SALLY They're not just our business managers, Panes. PANES Oh, okay, forgive me. Your neighbors are here, for fuck's sake. SALLY Exactly what I mean. It's all ruined. PANES It's not ruined, for fuck's sake. It's one of your parties. SALLY I don't want it to be just one of our parties. PANES "How are you really doing, Panes?" "Lousy, thank you, I'm falling apart." SALLY Like the last time. PANES No. No, not like the last time. She was the rest of my life. SALLY Like the last time. PANES I wasn't finished. SALLY Okay. PANES "We can't stand seeing you like this, Panes. I hate you being alone. Why don't you stay with us for a while?" "I'd love to, thanks." SALLY It's our anniversary, Panes. PANES I didn't hear me say tonight. SALLY We're just feeling our way back. PANES "Otherwise, we'd insist on your being here." SALLY You know it's true. Skye bursts into the kitchen, Sally and Panes freeze. SKYE (stuck) Oh my God, sorry. I'm interrupting. SALLY I'll be right out. PANES (over Sally) Come on in. SKYE I'm in the same room with Sally Nash. Oh my God. You're my icon. I've been watching your films since I was a little girl. Like, four years ago I followed you all around the Beverly Center - at least half a day, working up the courage to introduce myself. Joe enters the kitchen, watches. SALLY I don't think I ever spent half a day in the Beverly Center. SKYE Whatever, do you remember? I've seen all your movies. When I was in rehab, the second time, they wouldn't even let us see your drug addict movie. They said you were too real. I worship you. And I couldn't be more flattered, because I know the part I'm playing in Joe's movie is based on you as a young woman. Joe winces, uncomfortable, picks up the bottle of wine and leaves. SKYE (CONT'D) And I'm overwhelmed. And I want to do it justice. And I hope we can spend time together. And I'm gushing. It's my worst quality. PANES Not at all. SKYE Oh my god. I've been so rude. I'm Skye Davidson. Has anyone ever told you, you look like Peter Sellers? PANES No, never. SALLY (overlapping Panes) Everyday. PANES I'm Levi Panes. Will you excuse us, Skye? It's time for Sally's meds. Panes steers Sally out of the kitchen. SALLY It's nice to meet you... again. They go. Skye is left in the kitchen alone. SKYE (to America) Oh my God, she remembers me! INT. FOYER - MEDIUM CLOSE Sally and Panes start down the hall in search of privacy. SALLY (under her breath) Thank you, thank you, thank you. CLAIR (on the way down; a dream in white) My God, your wardrobe is incredible. It took me forever to decide. Oh, and I found Dr. X, thank you. You saved my life. She moves past them. SALLY (a moment; sotto) Shit! PANES (re: the dress) I'd cut off her red wine if I were you. SALLY Shit. It's my Galiano. PANES What does that mean? SALLY About five thousand dollars. With my discount. The CAMERA follows them into the bedroom. They flop down onto the bed and into FRAME. INT. LIVING ROOM - CONTINUOUS More guests have arrived. Sophia and her children play with Otis. America and Rosa pass round hot hors d'oeuvres. Joe places Gina's photo on the mantelpiece. GINA (regards him) Directing suits you. JOE I'm not so sure. Look again in three months. GINA It must be nice having so many strangers kiss your ass all of a sudden. JOE Ow! Gina, you obviously need to get fucked. GINA Just did. Jealous? JOE When does he graduate high school? GINA (laughing) Oh, very jealous. Joe laughs. GINA (CONT'D) I saw Lucy when I was in London, she seems okay. It's hard to tell with her. JOE Shit, I forgot to call her back. She's off on a trip somewhere. Oh God, my grandad's flat in London's been sold. GINA In Cheyene Walk? Lucy's going to have a meltdown. Oh, I'm so sorry. JOE I should have damn well bought it. Well, we can't afford it. The movie's going to eat up a year of my life and I'm getting paid next to nothing. Do you know how much Skye Davidson's getting? Four million. GINA Yeah, but I hear she gives a mean blow job. JOE You really need to be fucked. INT. BEDROOM - CONTINUOUS SALLY So how are you really doing, Panes? PANES Why don't you go fuck yourself? SALLY (laughs) No. Really. For real. Really. PANES I'm worried about your Galiano. SALLY (slaps him) You're a shit. PANES No, really, five thousand with your discount. He rolls out from under her swat, she misses him. PANES (CONT'D) You hurt, you know. You're stronger than you think. They lie prone across the bed, about a foot apart. Contemplating the floor. PANES (CONT'D) (finally) How's the movie going? Your movie. You are making a movie, aren't you? SALLY Yes. Fine. PANES That's it? Yes. Fine? SALLY I don't want to talk about it. PANES Why not? SALLY I never like to talk about my work. PANES Alright. Well, that's something new. SALLY No. Not something new. PANES Well, something's wrong. SALLY Nothing's wrong. It's great, okay? Having the time of my life. Mac's a fantastic director. And what can anyone say about Cal that hasn't been said. And it's great working with friends, blah blah blah. PANES (a moment; little smile) Um. Happy for you. SALLY Thanks. PANES So tell me, how's it going? SALLY Oh you know. No doubts. No second thoughts. Am I a monster? PANES You're my best friend. SALLY That's not an answer, is it? PANES Yes, you're a monster. She takes his hand. Sounds of the party come from below. SALLY (a moment) Thank you, Panes. PANES You don't need to thank me. SALLY (another moment) We're going to have to go back out there. PANES I guess. But neither of them moves. INT. LIVING ROOM - CONTINUOUS SANFORD JEWISON is at the piano playing his own stuff, oblivious to the din. The CAMERA gets a glimpse of Ryan through the French doors at the pool, alone, a glass of Perrier in his hand. MEDIUM CLOSE Monica alone, uneasy, starts to pour herself a glass of champagne. Jeffrey gets to the bottle first. JEFFREY Let me. (pours for her) I'm Jeffrey. MONICA Monica. JEFFREY And you know our friends, how? MONICA We live next door. JEFFREY Oh. You're them. MONICA Excuse me? JEFFREY We've heard lots about you. MONICA (lost) You have? EXT. POOL - CONTINUOUS Judy Adams lost herself a little, steps outside, sits alone... JUDY (smiles over at Ryan) Hi. RYAN Hi. A little close in there. JUDY Yup. INT. MUSIC LIBRARY - CONTINUOUS A small, narrow room. Not much more than an alcove. With space for a desk, stereo equipment, and shelves packed with CDs. The topmost shelf is a line of record albums. Joe's picking through the CDs. Monica wanders in from the living room, toting a glass of champagne... watches him for a moment. MONICA Your Eames table is incredible. And the B&B. I just put that in a client's home, actually, but in red. JOE You're an interior decorator, right? MONICA (nods) Sally did all this herself? JOE In fits and starts -- and then, later, of course, she had to accommodate me. So things shifted a little bit then, became more eclectic. And it keeps changing. MONICA (somehow at a loss) Mmm. It says something about the two of you maybe. JOE Yeah, we're in a constant state of flux. (re: champagne) I see you've moved up from the soft stuff. MONICA Oh, yes. You know Ryan's been sober eight years. And it's difficult if I... you know. It's better if I don't. JOE Uh-huh. MONICA I'm a little nervous, so... JOE Oh. MONICA A little out of my element. JOE No you're not. MONICA Well, yes. Yes, in fact. A little on the outside, yes. And there's been all this friction. JOE Hm. MONICA I don't know why, but these misunderstandings have a way of escalating. JOE Very well put. MONICA I think a lot of this could have been avoided if Sally made more of an effort. JOE What? MONICA But you're very private people. You know, there's a kind of elitism... JOE (pissed) Elitism? MONICA The wrong word, maybe. Delete that. And, you know, the dog barks incessantly. JOE And you know, he really does not. MONICA And Ryan works at home. JOE And your phone calls are nasty and abusive. And I've come this close to suing you for harassment. And you're only here because we're supposed to be sucking up to you. Her eyes well with tears. JOE (CONT'D) Oh shit. I'm sorry. MONICA Well, that's what Ryan thought. I was more generous, actually. JOE Oh shit. I'm sorry. I'm a total fucking maniac. Delete all that, okay? I spoke for myself, this needn't rub off on my wife. Oh shit. I get pissy sometimes. Much worse than Otis. Otis doesn't bite. It's just, I really love my dog and he doesn't really bark a lot. We live in a canyon. We hear dogs barking at night, too. And it's not Otis. Monica starts to laugh. MONICA Alright. It appears she's consumed more than one glass of champagne. JOE Easy tiger. MONICA Alright. Please don't tell Ryan I'm drinking. JOE Scout's honor. MONICA (grins) I'll be your best friend. She feels they've bonded. She pulls a well-thumbed copy of Joe's novel from her purse. MONICA (CONT'D) Would you sign it for me. (digs for a pen) I'm sure this is inappropriate. JOE We're way past inappropriate. Monica giggles, presses back the bubble rising in her chest and moving toward her throat. Manages not to burp. MONICA (as he signs it) I'll treasure this. He moves towards the doorway, Monica at his heals. JOE I need to leave you now. MONICA I will treasure this. JOE (shouting down the hall) Sally!!!! INT. DAILIES ROOM - LATER - DAY Sally's team prepares clues for charades. Sally writes them down, throws them in a bowler hat. Her teammates are Panes, Sophia, Mac, Ryan, Sanford and Jeffrey. SALLY Panes? PANES From Jewish Folk Poetry, a song cycle... MAC What? SALLY Trust him. PANES It's Shostakovich. Ryan spots his book on the shelf and pulls it out, delighted. SALLY Sandy... SANFORD The Wind Up Bird Chronicle. SALLY (turns to him) Ryan? RYAN (pleased) I didn't know you had this. SALLY Oh. Well, yes. It's extraordinary. You think you could sign it for us? RYAN Absolutely. You always wonder where your books end up. Why don't we use it? JUDY Good idea. RYAN There's not a chance in hell anyone will get it... MAC Down by Law. SOPHIA Who's not going to get that in fifteen seconds. INT. LIVING ROOM - CONTINUOUS Joe's team works on it's clues. Teammates: Gina, Cal, Clair, Skye, Monica, Jerry and Mary-Lynn. Everyone is talking over each other and fighting for attention. There are a lot of strong personalities here. JOE Can we... one at a time? Hold it down, and one at a time. You're last, Cal. CAL Why last? MONICA The Katzenjammer Kids. There's a hush. MONICA (CONT'D) You know. It's the Funnies. The Katzenjammer Kids. It's my mother's favorite charade's clue. No one ever gets it. Pause. JOE Alright. Good. Fine, I vote for that. He writes it down. MONICA With a "Z." K. A. T. Z. GINA When the Pawn Hits the Conflicts He Thinks Like a King What He Knows... People hoot, throw their cocktail napkins. GINA (CONT'D) What? SKYE Utopia Parkway... They all start talking on top of each other again. INT. LIVING ROOM - LATER The teams have come together. JOE Who's keeping time? Mac raises his hand on Sally's side, Jerry on Joe's. JOE (CONT'D) Two minutes. SALLY (deferring first turn to Joe) It's alright. Be our guests. She offers the hat. JOE (offers the hat) You darling. Panes reaches into the hat. PANES (reads clue; to Joe) What is it? Joe whispers to him. PANES (CONT'D) What's a sign for that? JOE Come on, Panes... JERRY Go! Panes mimes a belly laugh. JEFFREY What the hell is that? SALLY What is it Panes? Panes sighs. SOPHIA Two words. He belly laughs. JUDY Funny. A finger to his nose - elongate the word. SANFORD Funnies? Panes does an "ON THE NOSE." Gets on all fours. Licks his paws. RYAN The Katzenjammer Kids. The team applauds delight. Panes preens. Joe's team looks over at Monica. JERRY (already pissed) It's only just started. Great. The husband's on the other fucking team. Jerry reaches into the hat. Looks at the clue. MAC Go. JERRY Hey! Would you? MAC It was fifteen seconds. JERRY I don't think so. MAC Are you always this much fun? SALLY (a grin) Take your time, Jer. JERRY I'm ready. He gives the clue "a song." CAL Song. He gives "cycle." GINA Cycle. CAL Two words. Second word. Jerry goes to work on "sounds like" for the word Jewish. Strokes beard, thinks, tries "sounds like" again. TEAM Think. Pain. CAL (among others) Ponder. JERRY Come on, folks. CAL First word. Jerry does the sign for the "short word." TEAM To, the, but, or... Jerry shakes his head. Goes to the third word. TEAM (CONT'D) Third word. One syllable. Jerry pulls his ear, "sounds like". Slides his finger through the O created by his thumb and forefinger. TEAM (CONT'D) Fuck...sounds like... Fork. Flock... he does the finger sign again. TEAM (CONT'D) Fuck. Folk. Jerry gives them "on the nose." TEAM (CONT'D) Second word. MAC Thirty seconds. Jerry turns, gives them a dirty look. JOE Jer. Over here. Over here. TEAM Second word. He strokes his beard again. SKYE (blurts out) From Jewish Folk Poetry. Jerry looks at her, amazed. She stands, throws hands up in triumph, does a little victory circle. The CAMERA CUTS through the rest of the game, aggressive, competitive, verging on hostile. Sally is often aching from laughter, tears streaming down her face. JERRY Time. Hey! Time. Judy! Time you guys. Hey!! JUDY (she's up; turns to him, zeig heil's him) Ya Vhol. What are you, a fucking Nazi? JERRY Well it's fucking time. TIME CUT TO: CLOSE SHOT JERRY (CONT'D) (shouting guesses) Walk. Cripple. Limp. Ankle. Second syllable. Second syllable. Move on to the fucking second syllable. Gina giving clues starts to laugh. JERRY (CONT'D) (sings out) The clock is ticking! Gina loses it, cracks up. MAC Time. TIME CUT TO: Jeffrey's on his feet, giving the clue. SALLY'S TEAM (unison) Quote. Play. SOPHIA Oh shit. It's one of Cal's. Obscure Shakespeare, folks. Cal gives her a little wave from the other side. SOPHIA (CONT'D) (calls over to him) Maybe something original for a change. Cal blows her a kiss. SALLY'S TEAM (in unison) Ten...twenty...thirty...seven, eight. Thirty-eighth word...thirty-seventh word. Gina's been taking shots through the course of the game, and the FRAME will freeze black and white on one of another delicious moment. There's a spectacular shot of Sally, unaware, laughing, sad soft eyes on Joe. MEDIUM CLOSE - AMERICA She watches the game from the archway, waits for a break. Sky's up. Joe's team yells frantic guesses. Jerry's suicidal. Sally's team watches, self-satisfied, throw barbed asides. SALLY (to Joe's look; innocence) I didn't say a word. MAC Time! JERRY What was it? What the fuck was it? SALLY (small grin) Ryan's novel. JERRY Ryan's novel? JUDY Ryan's novel, Jerry. AMERICA (sings out) Dinner! SALLY Still champions. JOE Panes is not on your team anymore. PANES What did I do? SALLY Panes is not on my team anymore. I'll have Panes if I like. AMERICA Dinner. SALLY Dinner. JOE It's an unfair advantage. SALLY You've got Cal. You've got Gina. You've got Skye? We're the leftovers. JOE Okay, knock it off. SALLY Truce? JOE Truce. SALLY Dinner. (on the move) Don't be angry. JOE (pissed) I'm not fucking angry, for God's sake. EXT. POOL AREA - MAGIC HOUR Evie and Jake run along the side of the house. Behind the glass walls the CAMERA catches adults moving through the living room and into the dining room. INT. DINING ROOM - MAGIC HOUR Most everyone's moved through to the dining room. The table is filled with platters of beautifully prepared food. Candles, flowers. ASTRID, newly arrived, carrying a miniature furball, of questionable breed, is first in line and halfway around the table. She feeds "Anouk" bits from the table enroute. ASTRID (barely looks up as Sally comes into the room) So who won? SALLY (raises her hand) A triumph. When did you get here? ASTRID Ten, fifteen minutes ago. SALLY Why didn't you come in? ASTRID I hate the sight of blood. You guys don't take prisoners. SKYE (charmed by the bundle in Astrid's arm) Oh how sweet. The furball bares teeth and growls. ASTRID She's insanely jealous. INT. LIVING ROOM - MEDIUM CLOSE ASTRID - NIGHT She slips another morsel into Anouk's mouth, murmurs baby talk, allows the dog to take a bit of chicken from between her teeth. CLAIR That's revolting, Astrid. People sit in small groups, eating dinner, catching up. Latecomers, bunch around Joe. Sam Feckman, an actor also in Mac's film, holds forth. Panes finds room next to Skye. PANES Is there space here? SKYE Yes. PANES Do you need anything else? SKYE No, no thanks. He sits on the floor along side her. They eat in silence for a moment. PANES (finally) I was impressed. SKYE Oh? PANES The charades. SKYE Thank you. PANES That was my clue. SKYE Oh? PANES The Shostakovich. SKYE Really?? PANES (does Seller's Indian) Oh yes, indeed. That was my clue, you see. Skye giggles appreciative response. PANES (CONT'D) (still Indian) So you are well acquainted with this Shostackovich, as am I. Other arrivals pick their way through bodies and plates. Walk over to Sally and kiss her cheek. Joe and Gina and Jeffrey sit off to the side. JOE I hate the idea of some one else living in it. Joe pulls Sally to him and wraps his arms around her. JOE (CONT'D) Sally's never even seen it. I thought we'd raise our kids there. Sally held in Joe's arms, smiles. The cat who ate the canary. JOE (CONT'D) Have I ever told you how Lucy and I nearly squashed each other getting into the dumb waiter. GINA/JEFFREY/SALLY Yes./Often./I stopped counting. JOE The dumb waiter was our... GINA Escape hatch. JOE (eyes her) Escape hatch. And Dad was having a go about the garden. Something was misplanted... SALLY Not properly watered. JOE Whatever! (to Gina) You know how he gets. Well, he went absolutely bonkers. Lucy and I were frantically trying to scramble into the dumb waiter and I didn't fit any more. It was almost fatal. And that, my dear friends, is the day... SALLY/JEFFREY I realized I had become a man. Ta da! GINA You're not a man, Joe. You're a boy. JOE (childishly) So? GINA (laughs) I love you, Joe Therrian. SALLY (at a loss, small) Me too. Sophia watches from across the living room. NEW ANGLE INT. LIVING ROOM - NIGHT Astrid squeezes in next to Sally, on her second portion of everything. She allows Anouk to nibble from her plate. ASTRID You're not upset that I brought the dog? SALLY Would it make a difference? ASTRID Anouk isn't like a dog, really. More like a small person. So is there anyone here for me? No one looks new. (fixes on Ryan) Who's that? SALLY You don't want that. It's married and it's the neighbor. ASTRID Oh I think he's cute. How's the marriage part working out? SALLY You're fucking desperate. ASTRID Like you didn't know. (re: Skye) Who invited the bimbo? SALLY One guess. INT. LIVING ROOM The CAMERA stays close on the cake as America wheels the cart into the living room. The top of it sports Sally and Joe's faces on either side of Otis, a detailed edible photograph. There are three sixes across the top. There's a freed up pathway. Cal taps the side of his champagne glass with a fork. SOPHIA (re: the cake as it comes in) Part of our gift. Honey!! CAL (clinks his glass) Here, here. Clair picks up discarded dinner plates. Otis takes care of those behind couches, under tables. The gifts are stacked high, near the fireplace. Sally is on the floor, nestled between Joe's knees, leaning back against him. His arms are wrapped around her, face pressed against hers. There's a SERIES OF CUTS through speeches, gifts, entertainment. Sophia and Cal do a well rehearsed, very funny, impromptu something with their kids. Panes and Mac do an interpretive dance symbolizing the marriage. Cal and Sophia carry sleeping children down the hall. There are speeches about Sally and Joe, outrageously dirty, funny, sometimes touching - that cover their recent separation, the custody of Otis, their trying to have a baby... Panes plays a piece on the violin. Someone else sings. And finally... MEDIUM CLOSE - SKYE She looks out at the guests... NEW ANGLE They look back at her. SKYE I wasn't prepared to say anything. I'm honored to be a part of tonight. To be in the same room, with my favorite living actress... The CAMERA barely catches the grimace on Mac's face; Clair elbows him. SAM (sings out) Still living. SKYE And my favorite novelist. And all their amazing -- SAM (sings out) And talented. SKYE Friends. And talented friends. This room is so filled with love.. ASTRID (sings out) And the winner is... PANES Let the woman speak. SKYE And I brought a gift of love. A gift that is love. She pulls an envelope from behind her back, which she's decorated in flower-child fashion; it harkens back to the sixties, puts it into Sally's hand, kisses her cheek. SKYE (CONT'D) (tears up) Happy anniversary. Thank you for making me a part of it. SALLY (pours the pills into her hand) What are they? JOE (pleased, surprised) Dolphins. Great. SALLY It's ecstasy, Sal. SKYE I think there are sixteen there. JOE (kisses Skye) This is an amazing present. What a sweetheart you are. Skye's pleased she's made him happy. SALLY (regards Joe; to Skye) What a sweetheart you are. A pall descends on the party. There's a FULL SHOT of the group. Nobody quite knows what to do. There's torn wrapping paper all over the room. ASTRID (Anouk still in her lap) It's late. (kisses Anouk) You sleepy baby? There are awkward excuses. Some of the guests leave. INT. LIVING ROOM - MOMENTS LATER The core group remains. JOE I think we should all take it tonight. Everyone's staying, stays. No driving. That's the rule. I love you Sally-Mae. You're going to have a fabulous time. SALLY I'm worried about my spine. I'm very worried about my brain and my spine. SOPHIA (laughs) Oh honey, you're gonna love it. JOE (to her Look) Sophia's going to do it, Panes is going to do it, trust me. INT. KITCHEN - CONTINUOUS Cal carries the envelope into the room. CAL (on seeing America, bursts into) America, America God shed his light on me. He dances her around the kitchen, he picks up the sterling dish, arranges the pills, carries them back to the living room. INT. LIVING ROOM - CONTINUOUS Ecstasy is passed from guest to guest. Ryan expects Monica to abstain. MONICA (his glare; simply) I want to try it, Ryan. EXT. POOL - LATER The drug has begun to take effect. The party is now in full swing. Music is playing, and Sophia and Clair are dancing. People are swimming, some naked, some in swimsuits. Judy floats around the pool on an inflatable dog. Sally and Skye cuddle together on one of the benches round the pool, chatting; a friendly, feely touchy conversation. Joe passes around bottles of water and chewing gum to everyone, emceeing the event. Everyone is relaxed and open, except Ryan, who sits beside Monica at the edge of the garden, separated from the others. MONICA I love it here. Don't you love it here, Ryan? I love it here. And I love tonight. And I love these people. And this feels utterly fantastic, Ryan. (touches her own cheek, ever so lightly; shivers against the sensation) Utterly fantastic. RYAN You know what Sally Therrian was saying about your spine and your brain? She didn't pull that out of thin air. It causes brain damage. You'd better drink a lot of water. MONICA Do you want to go home, Ryan? RYAN Yes. MONICA I think you should then. You should look in on Sheila. RYAN I'm not going to leave you alone. MONICA They're really nice people, Ryan. They're like us... RYAN They're nothing like us. MONICA I think you need to speak for yourself, Ryan. But I think you're really nice people... She puts arms around him, kisses his cheek. He stiffens. RYAN Are you making an ass of yourself? MONICA There's only you, Ryan. You know what, Ryan? You're beautiful. I love you so much... You need... RYAN I don't need a drug. MONICA You need a good review and you'll be fine. The whole color of the world will change, mark my words. She gets up. RYAN Ready to go? MONICA I'm going to go get my swimsuit. I do know, Ryan, this is non addictive so you mustn't worry. (turns back) Ryan, you're a great man. The CAMERA follows Monica along the side of the pool. She passes Sophia and a very exuberant Clair. The CAMERA stays at the pool. Clair tears off Sally's Galiano, flings it to the ground and dives topless into the pool. CLAIR This water is great! JERRY (swimming past her) Wanna dive for a baton? MEDIUM CLOSE UP - JUDY She stands at the side of the pool. JUDY Okay, I'm about to throw five colored batons in the water. Then I'm going to count to three, and then you may start diving. I'm playing too. The red one is ten extra points. Ready? (she throws batons in) One, two, three, go!! There is a melee of diving and screaming. CUT TO: EXT. BACKYARD LANDING It's at the end of a bridge, overlooking the pool. Voices drift up from below. Mac and Joe walk in circles pacing around one another. MAC You got your DP? JOE What? Oh yeah, the camera man? They gave me a list. MAC And you got Skye Davidson. Pretty big leagues for a first timer. Do you even like movies? JOE Not particularly. Weird, isn't it? God I'm rally up. Do you feel anything yet, Mac? MAC Kind of. Hey, look - John Seale, Oliver Stapelton, Darius Khonji - they're friends. And great DP's I could give them a call for you. JOE Thanks, Mac. (regards him) And thanks for being so supportive about all this. (throws arm around him, hugs him close) I really love you, you know. MAC Hey, I'm happy for you, buddy. Anything I can do. JOE (lets go of Mac) God, I really need to jump about a bit. (begins jumping) How's your film going? CAL It's going. It's going. JOE And how's the diva doing? MAC Well, you know...good days, bad days. JOE I meant Sally. MAC I meant Sally. JOE (stops jumping, studies him) Oh. You're serious. MAC (throws and arm around him) No. No. (a beat) Let me tell you something. Directing's the best preparation possible for fatherhood. The sleep depravation alone. JOE Oh don't. Everyone says that. INT. MUSIC LIBRARY Sally's taken Gina's photograph of them from the mantelpiece in the living room, and looks for a spot for it on the CD shelves. Sophia is studying the CDs very intently. They are both bopping to the music. SALLY (re: the photograph) Isn't this a fabulous picture? SOPHIA Yes. SALLY She's such a great photographer. SOPHIA Hm. SALLY So where should I put it? SOPHIA I thought it was okay where it was. SALLY It's much more personal in here. SOPHIA A notch above the storage room. SALLY We're always in here. (regards the photo) She really gets him, doesn't she? SOPHIA The both of you. SALLY But she really gets to the heart of Joe, doesn't she? She's a genius. SOPHIA So how much do you hate her? SALLY Big time. They both laugh, then... SOPHIA Well, I don't trust her. I never have. SALLY She took our wedding photos, for chrissakes. You don't trust anyone. SOPHIA (a moment simply) I trust you. SALLY Oh Soph... SOPHIA You'll hate it in London. It's wet and miserable. A medical hellhole Sally. It's socialized. Beds in the corridors. Terrible plumbing. SALLY And the food sucks, I know. SOPHIA You are not having your baby in London. You're going to have your baby at Cedars in Beverly Hills, America, delivered by Dr. Milton Cohen. Period. And you're getting that epidural right away, don't let anyone talk you into any of that Lamase bullshit. There's no excuse for pain like that. SALLY Sophia! I'm not even pregnant! SOPHIA Well good. Thank God. SALLY Let's go in the kitchen and spy on everyone. SOPHIA Oh honey, let's. They've started to walk through the house. SALLY (stops short; turns to her) What do you mean, thank God? SOPHIA Well, are you sure about this baby thing? It's not the ticking clock shit, is it? SALLY No, no, not at all... I mean I've still got plenty of time. Don't I? I mean I still have a good six years, whatever. We could have three kids yet, if we wanted. And I know I've always said I never wanted kids, and I didn't... but this year, I really, truly, feel ready... SOPHIA Honey, I'm not worried about you. You are going to be a fantastic mom. Not an issue. I pressed you, remember? Joe, on the other hand, is a different story. SALLY (laughs) Oh Soph, Joe loves kids. Joe wants kids. Joe thinks he needs kids. SOPHIA He wants playmates. Oh he's a sweetheart, Sal, you know I love him. But he's not going to be a good father. He's just not parenting material. SALLY Hey, let's sit down. I bet the rug feels really nice against your skin. Sally drops out of frame. SOPHIA Don't try and change the subject. (sitting, joining Sally) Oh God, it feels great! He's just a little narcissistic, irresponsible and unreliable. SALLY And Cal's this massive adult? SOPHIA Cal knows who he is. Did you notice how happy Joe was when the drugs came out tonight? SALLY You weren't exactly horrified. SOPHIA (laughing) I don't have a drug problem. SALLY Neither does Joe. SOPHIA His sister does. Big time. And the New York Times says addiction is genetic -- I'll e-mail you the article. Sally stares at her friend suddenly mute, eyes wide. SOPHIA (CONT'D) You don't have kids to keep a marriage together, Sally. It's only five months since Joe came back. SALLY (getting up) We're fine. We're great. We're having a baby and we're moving to London. SOPHIA (following her) Well, you weren't fine last summer when you went Sylvia Plath on me in Connecticut. SALLY Not nice. Not kind. SOPHIA Ha! Not half so not kind as your husband was in his portrayal of you in his novel. SALLY Why are you doing this? SOPHIA His image of you is a possessive, fragile neurotic. SALLY (tearing up) But I am a possessive, fragile neurotic. SOPHIA (also tearing up) No you are not. You're Sally Nash. Listen to me, you're Sally Nash. You're my best friend and I love you more than anyone, and you're not going to move to London to have the offspring of a sexually ambivalent man-child. "Oh now I'm a novelist, oh now I'm a director..." English prick bastard Joe Therrian who's probably going to leave you for Skye Davidson anyway. They hug a bit weepy. SOPHIA (CONT'D) He's always one step removed, always looking over his shoulder always looking for something else, something more intoxicating, and I don't mean drugs. I love him, Sal, but he's a child. He's not ready. (a choked sob, tears well and fall) Oh God, you're so lucky you don't have kids. You can't stick your head in the oven. You can't take a handful of Percoden if you want to, or slit your wrists. You can't do yourself in. Kids rob you of that option. Trust me. (a beat) Oh my God, this ecstacy must be really good. EXT. POOL SIDE - CONTINUOUS Joe and Cal sit by the edge of the pool watching Skye dance by herself at the far end. Joe has his hand on Cal's chest. Cal is stroking Joe's hair. JOE Isn't Skye amazing? CAL She's got great tits. JOE She's a constant surprise. CAL And you've only just met. JOE Yeah, I know... But she's only twenty seven and... (taps his head) The wisdom. She's an old soul. She knew that Shostakovich thing. Did you notice? CAL Absolutely. And she's got great tits. JOE Yeah, God she really does have great tits, great tits. i can't wait to work with her. CAL The camera loves her. A great actress. JOE With great tits. I'm going to ask her if I can touch them. He gets up to go towards Skye, is stopped by... EXT. MEDIUM SHOT - CLAIR Clair is climbing up the pool steps. CLAIR Has anyone seen Mac? JOE (pointing further up the property) I saw him wandering over there, I think. How're you feeling, Clair? CLAIR I'm so good. She kisses Joe and Cal, and goes off to find her husband. CAL Poor Mac. It's been a bit of a struggle. I'm sure Sally's told you. JOE No, what? CAL The movie. JOE Oh, she's really enjoying it. I think. Is Mac okay? CAL I don't know what's going on. I don't care to guess. Mac's really unhappy. She isn't there, that's all. She's no idea what she's playing, not a clue. JOE Who, Sally? CAL And, you know it isn't rocket science, this script. She can barely get the lines out. There was a scene last week - she sobbed, through every take. I know crying's easy for her but it's a fucking comedy, Joe. Something's gone. You know, that thing that was Sally - that always surprised you. It's gone. I think she's scared. And that's death. JOE I still think she sails above the rest. I mean not like her early films. But those were all such great directors. CAL Mac's a pretty great director, Joe. He's a woman's director. And nothing's happening. Course he won't fire her, because of the friendship... But it was discussed. He had to battle his studio to get her in the first place. JOE What? CAL Hey, listen, I love her. She's Sophia's best friend. (to Joe's stare) I never said any of this, alright. I'll deny it on the stand... (into the silence) You guys are gonna have kids. That is so great. Maybe that's what this is all about. Maybe she doesn't want to do this anymore. You know adults don't do this for a living. You guys are gonna have your kids, you'll be directing -- one asshole in the family is enough. Sophia knew that intuitively. Look at Clair. Clair's a mess. (throws an arm around him) Make sure she gets the epidural. Forget that natural childbirth shit. Everything's going to be what it's supposed to be. "Life is but a walking shadow. A poor player who struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more..." And speaking of me, the role of Leo in your film? JOE (stares at him) Leo? CAL Any thoughts on casting yet? JOE (regards him) Leo? It was out to Jude Law. Jude passed. CAL Well, I can't make any promises, and of course I haven't read the script but I loved the novel...when are you shooting? JOE October-ish. CAL I have a small window of time. JOE Leo. Leo's twenty-eight, Cal. CAL Scratch the two, write in a four. JOE Scratch the two, write in a four. CAL You've got a lot of fucking gall. Thirty nine. JOE Five years ago, I was at the party, remember? Joe looks up and sees Sally standing in the sun room. He blows her a kiss. She kisses her finger tips and puts her hand flat against the window pane. INT. BEDROOM CLOSET - TIGHT CLOSE - SALLY She's in her wardrobe pacing back and forth a bit frantic. Trying on clothing, tossing garments to the ground. The floor is a heap of discarded ideas. She pulls on jeans and a t-shirt. Very similar to what Skye is wearing. She sits a moment on the floor. The sounds of the party below are muted. SALLY (O.S.) Oh Warren, that was awful, I can't sing. The CAMERA stays with Sally as she gets to her feet, walks along the corridor, toward the sound of her voice. INT. DAILIES ROOM - NIGHT Mac is on the edge of the couch, elbows on knees, staring at the television screen - watching his dailies. At some point he drops his head. Stops watching... INT. MOVIE SET CAL'S VOICE FROM THE T.V. (O.S.) You sing like a bird. SALLY'S VOICE FROM THE T.V. (O.S.) A bird with dropsy. A caged bird. That hasn't long to live. CAL'S VOICE FROM THE T.V. (O.S) You seem so alive up there. Sally stands at the open door. Stunned. Watches Mac watch her. Watches herself, with a professional, acute eye. More critical than Mac's could ever be. SALLY (ON TV) I was faking it. I've been feeling caged for sometime. Funny, huh? MAC (moans) No, it's not... Fuck fuck fuck fuck. INT. CORRIDOR - CLOSE SHOT - SALLY She backs up into the corridor mortified. Leans against the wall. CAL'S VOICE FROM THE T.V. (O.S.) It's preposterous. You're free to do whatever you like. SALLY'S VOICE FROM THE T.V. Yes, well, we'll see won't we? MAC (O.S.) Jesus Christ. SALLY (a deep breath) Well...wow... INT. HALLWAY - CONTINUOUS Clair's started down the hallway, reaches the landing. Sally rushes into the guest bedroom to avoid her. Clair, just missing Sally, wanders into the dailies room. INT. DAILIES ROOM - CONTINUOUS CLAIR Mac? Oh there you are. What are you doing, honey? No more work. Don't you feel breezy. MAC I'm in mourning. CLAIR You can cut around it, whatever it is. You always do. MAC Not this time. CLAIR It's always not this time. If you can do it around me, you can do it around anyone. She walks in front of the television set, blocks it with her body, switches it off. MAC (an observation) You don't have any clothes on. CLAIR How nice for everybody. Come swimming. The water's glorious. (re: the film) You'll fix it. You'll come up with one of your brilliant ideas. MAC Or I won't. I can't help her. I'm out of my depth. CLAIR Things always look much worse in the morning. MAC I don't know how to make her funny. CLAIR You're coming swimming in the pool, and in a few minutes you won't even remember what it's about. You won't care who's in your damn movie. MAC (really stoned) What what's about? CLAIR I...wait, what are you talking about? INT. GUEST ROOM MEDIUM CLOSE Jack and Evie are asleep across the bed. NEW ANGLE Sally sits at the edge of the bed, regards the sleeping children. Reaches over and smoothens the tangled, tousled hair. Studies their faces. EXT. POOLSIDE - JOE'S POV Monica sits on the steps of the pool. She looks frightened, uncomfortable. JOE Are you okay? MONICA I don't think so. I feel. I feel a bit funny. JOE Let's go for a walk. He puts his arm around her and leads her away from the pool. EXT. BACKYARD LANDING - NIGHT MONICA I've never done this before. JOE Oh? It's easy. You just put one foot in front of the other... That's a good girl. MONICA I'm a little in the puke zone. JOE (giving her some water) Here, drink this. Drink lots of water. (puts the bottle in her hand) Hold on to this. Take deep breaths. Nice and slow. (sits her down; produces a lollipop) Would you like a lolly? MONICA What am I, five? JOE You're never too old for a lolly. I'm having one. MONICA (a grin) Okay. He pulls out another one. JOE Lemon or raspberry? MONICA Lemon. JOE Lemon it is. The two suck on their lollipops for a moment. MONICA (finally) Ryan's really angry with me. JOE I think he's really angry with me too. MONICA (laughs) It's really not the same thing. (a moment) He was really nicer when he drank. JOE I'm sorry. MONICA Eight years, though. That's quite an accomplishment. JOE That's a lot of those. MONICA Medallions. JOE A lot of cakes. MONICA Yes. JOE And he doesn't smoke? MONICA He has to find non-smoker's meetings that used to be almost impossible, you know? It's gotten much better. JOE How long have you been married? MONICA Nine...nine, yes? Nine years, just about. JOE You must have been a baby. MONICA Oh yes. Nineteen...just. (a moment) I'm cold. JOE Come here. Joe holds Monica. MONICA (a moment) That's very nice. JOE I like you. MONICA I'm so glad. You know, I recognize that passage in your book. The bit about us running into each other in the movie theatre. JOE Sorry? MONICA I know you changed it to a bookstore. And the color of my hair. But the moment was exactly the same. The same, you know, dynamic. And almost verbatim, wasn't it? JOE (humors her) Yeah, it was. For a writer nothing's sacred. (thinks a moment) No, nothing at all. MONICA I think it's great that I made an impression at all, you know. Joe regards the open trusting face, is touched by it. Leans in, kisses her lips very lightly... and again. Her arms can't make up her mind, whether to come up around him or not. Finally do. SALLY (O.S.) Otis!! Otis, come! Oh fuck! She appears beside them. SALLY (CONT'D) Someone left the goddamn gate open. Otis got out. Skye and I, well the... I came out of the house and the fucking gate was wide open. JOE Oh for fuck's sake. Nobody uses that gate. MONICA (horrified) I'm sorry. SALLY (raging) There's a goddamn sign on the gate. MONICA I'm so sorry. SALLY You fucking cow, can't you read?! MONICA (at a loss) I... SALLY How long ago was it? JOE Stop being such a bitch, Sal. MONICA I'm so sorry. JOE It was a mistake. This isn't a plot to do in Otis. SALLY Don't be so sure. JOE Listen to yourself... (to Monica) Don't worry, it's alright. We'll find him. (to Sally) What's wrong with you? SALLY (re: Monica) She left the fucking gate open. JOE Well he can't have gone far. SALLY Can't have gone far? He's like a greyhound. He could be miles away. JOE He'll find his way back. SALLY There are fucking coyotes out there. JOE (calming) Sally, calm down. We're not going to find him any quicker by you being hysterical. Monica retreats, backs off a step or two. SALLY Fuck you. JOE Or shitty!! Otis!! CUT TO: INT. KITCHEN - CONTINUOUS America and Rosa are cleaning up. Ryan hangs around chatting. RYAN How long have you worked for the Therrians? AMERICA (shrugs, polite but annoyed) A long time. RYAN So you were here when they were doing the work on the boundary fence? AMERICA Oh yes. RYAN Did you know the contractor? AMERICA Very well. RYAN Was it a contractor? AMERICA It's the way they do things. RYAN To code? Her back is to him. She exchanges a glance with Rosa, and the Spanish equivalent of "who is this wanker?" RYAN (CONT'D) Did you see permits? Did he have a license? AMERICA You should talk to Mr. Joe. Monica bursts into the room. MONICA Ryan, you've got to come! You've got to help me find the dog! I let their dog out. We need to find the dog. RYAN You're not serious. MONICA I left the gate open and Otis got out! He could get hit by a car! RYAN God willing. MONICA We have to find the dog, Ryan. RYAN Why? MONICA (regards him) Because we're nice people, and because what goes around comes around. (desperate) Because, God help you if something happens to that dog? RYAN Excuse me? MONICA All the ugly phone calls? We're not the only people with a tape recorder, Ryan. (a beat) They've gone to the canyon, we should go towards the PCH. EXT. CANYON - MOMENTS LATER Panes and Skye search the canyon for Otis. They both carry lanterns. PANES Otis!! Shostakovich identified with the Jew. He felt persecuted, hunted, crushed under the thumb of Stalinist imperialism. SKYE Not to mention Andrew Zhdanov... Otis, come!! PANES Andre Zhdanov? How the hell do you know about Andre Zhdanov? SKYE Who doesn't know about the infamous composer's conference of 1948 where Zhdanov persecuted the leaders of Soviet Music - Shostakovich, Prokofieve, and Myaskovsky. PANES I'll tell you who doesn't know, cute girls don't know. SKYE Do Peter Sellers again. PANES (a la Sellers) Otis you crazy dog! Otis are you in this God forsaken Canyon? My people are very hungry. SKYE I just did a movie about Bob Yar, I played Gittle, the Jewish milkmaid who gets shot in the head, and they used Shostakovich's 13th Symphony. PANES Set to the poem of Yetveshenko! SKYE Exactly! So I dug it, and I did a lot of research. PANES Do you really, you really, like Shostakovich? SKYE Yeah. PANES Would you, like, marry him? SKYE If he were still alive, maybe. PANES How about someone who really really liked Shostakovich? SKYE (smiling) Are you asking me to marry you? PANES No, I'm just testing to see how deeply perverted and impulsive you are. SKYE (laughing) Very. PANES Oh good, I'm worse... Are you really twenty-two? SKYE Who told you that? No. I'm twenty... (lops off two years) Five. EXT. CANYON - CONTINUOUS Sally and Joe have lanterns. Panes and Skye are up ahead. We hear them calling for Otis. SALLY Otis!!!! JOE (on her heels) Otis!!!! SALLY Otis, good boy, come here. Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god. JOE This is a nightmare. We should have kept him upstairs. SALLY It was done. When Sophia put the kids to bed, America brought Otis in the room and closed the door. It was done. JOE Well someone clearly let him out before Monica opened the gate. SALLY Oh fuck you, and fuck Monica while you're at it. But I guess that's what I interrupted. JOE Jesus, Sally. You are a medical miracle. The only person who's ever taken ecstacy and become angrier. SALLY Yeah, let's talk about that. You seem to be rather an expert. I don't remember in the last five months of counselling your ever mentioning ecstacy or going to rage parties. JOE Rave parties?! That's so typical - you would think it was called rage. Perfect! SALLY What else don't I know about, Joe? Let's get really clear here. JOE Sally, so I took a few pills. I went out dancing. I tried to forget how upset I was about splitting up with you. I haven't lied to you. I told you about the people I've slept with. I just didn't mention the few occasions I took drugs because you're so fucking judgmental I knew I'd never hear the end of it, and you have so little faith and so little trust in me. Sally, we're back, I love you. Trust that. Please let's not do this. SALLY Otis! Come! Good boy! Come! JOE Otis! SALLY I'm not sure we understand that word in the same way. JOE Love? SALLY You walked out on a five year marriage. JOE That hasn't the first fucking thing to do with love. It's whether we can live together... like this! All the time. SALLY It's not like this all the time. JOE DO I want anyone else? No. Do I want to be with you for the rest of my natural life? I'm trying. SALLY And how hard it hit? JOE Just stop right there, Sally. We've been through this. SALLY You've been through it. That's how you love people. When it's easy for you, when it's convenient for you. JOE Sally, first of all, you're talking bullshit. And second... SALLY You want to talk about bullshit? Lucy called you three times this week. She's a fucking mess, Joe. Your sister is a fucking mess. She needs you. I talk to her more than you do. JOE That is not true. SALLY It is true. You know how you love, Joe? You dedicate a book to someone. JOE Every novel I've had published in every language I've dedicated to Lucy. SALLY Right. And when was the last time you spoke to her? Joe is silent. SALLY (CONT'D) And how fucking dare you cast Skye Davidson in that part? Have you any idea how humiliating that is for me? I'm an actress! It's about our marriage for fuck's sake. Everybody knows that... JOE It's a novel. SALLY About me! JOE Who the fuck do you think you are? The part of Genna is not just about you. It's about every woman I've ever loved in my entire life. Including my mother. The character is also clearly in her early twenties, Sally. SALLY What are you saying? JOE Hello? Last birthday was? SALLY I don't look my age, Joe. JOE Sally, I have never considered you for this part because you are too old to play it. And you are out of touch with reality if you think differently. SALLY It's a shit novel anyway. JOE Well there you go. I let you off the hook. You're one goddamn lucky actress. SALLY Not really. I mean your books have always been pop, but this is the shallowest of the bunch. That's what all our friends think, anyway. JOE Okay. If we could've, by some miracle, stripped ten years off your face, still couldn't have got the thing made. Because I don't mean anything as a director, and your name doesn't mean fuck all anymore. And the people that can hire you are afraid to, because they think you're phoning it in. That you don't have... Oh Christ, Sally. SALLY Who? Who? Who thinks that? JOE Your director and your co-star of your current movie. Don't dish if you can't take it, Sally. SALLY Mac? Mac says it? Cal? Joe doesn't respond. SALLY (CONT'D) Cal, too? JOE Sally, for Christ's sake. SALLY Anyone else? JOE This is insanity. (moves toward her) Sally... SALLY Don't. JOE Don't push me away. SALLY I had an abortion two weeks ago. JOE Don't do this. SALLY I found out I was pregnant and it scared the shit out of me. JOE (threatens) Don't do this! SALLY I told you when we met I never wanted children. I don't want kids in my life. We talked about it. You weren't listening. JOE You changed your mind. SALLY I wanted you back. Joe slaps her hard across the face. SALLY (CONT'D) You think this was to hurt you?! My God, Joe. It isn't about you. JOE What?! You aborted our child?! SALLY I'm a monster. Exactly. JOE You're not ready. SALLY Don't make allowances. I'll never be ready. Some people just shouldn't have children. I'd be a terrible fucking mother, Joe. I did want it for us. But I couldn't do it. I don't really think I can do it. JOE I wasn't part of that picture at all, was I? I wasn't part of that decision. Did I occur to you at all? It's a fucking farce. It's a fucking farce. How long did you think you could keep it going. You're amazing. Do you have any idea what you've done to us? SALLY Yes. JOE I'll never forgive you. SALLY I know. JOE I have no idea who you are. They stand their in silence. Joe is devastated. We hear Skye and Panes up ahead calling for Otis. INT. POOL - CONTINUOUS SILENT UNDERWATER SHOTS Of Mac, Judy and Clair. Mac directs an underwater ballet, a la Esther Williams. There's a sequence of TIGHT OVERLAPPING SHOTS of Mac, smiling, swimming underwater. His image of himself... SLO-MO compounded by water-weight. The drug has clearly taken effect. Mac opens his mouth to direct his actors, forgets where he is, begins to choke, and cough, is clearly in trouble. Oblivious, Judy and Clair turn somersaults. Mac begins to panic. He is drowning. He begins to sink. Panic gives way to acceptance. Jerry's body flies past FRAME, splashes hard into the pool. The LENS is water-splattered. MEDIUM-CLOSE SHOT UNDERWATER Jerry's body sweeps past the lens, smooth and sleek as a Dolphin. He grabs Mac... EXT. POOL - CONTINUOUS Jerry pulls Mac to the surface. Clair and Judy are out of the pool. Jerry drags the limp body from the pool, pumps Mac's chest - it's clear he knows what he's doing. Mac coughs up a load of water. CLAIR Oh my God. Honey??? There's a moment. Mac begins to sob. JERRY He's okay, Clair. You wanna give him a little room? MAC (his face against concrete) Man, I must really be stoned. (wipes tears from his face with his hand) Thanks, buddy. CLAIR Honey? Mac raises his hand, arrests her from coming nearer. MAC I'm fine, babe. JERRY Give him a minute, Clair. MAC (humiliated) Hey. (looks over at Jerry) Thanks, buddy. JERRY Anytime, sport. MAC (wants to say "don't call me sport") Yeah, thanks pal. CLAIR (helpless) Honey? They all stand around watching him. Mac gets up. MAC I'm fine, babe. I'm gonna take a little walk. I need a minute. Let's forget it. My life didn't pass in front of my eyes. So, it probably wasn't that close. JERRY Probably not. MAC (to Jerry) So, you've got lifeguard papers, or what? JUDY There's a test, you know. JERRY (embarrassed) Forget it, Judy. CLAIR (still scared) Honey? MAC I'll be fine. Really babe. Give me a minute. The CAMERA stays on Mac as he walks around the side of the house, down the steps through the basement. INT. BASEMENT - MEDIUM FULL SHOT Mac begins to tremble, sob convulsively. He bites down on his lip, clinches his first, tries to pull himself together. MAC (paces; at himself) You're okay. Buck up. Come on, be a man. It could happen to anybody. (tears start again) If you don't stop, I'm going to punch your face in. (another moment) He pulls a towel off a stack and they all fall on the floor. MAC (CONT'D) Oh shit. I can't fucking do anything right. Come on, come on. Oh thank you God for giving me this chance. Thank you for having Jerry here to save me. I promise I will never cheat on my wife again. I will never take drugs again, and I will be a great fucking husband and a loving father. I am a great father! I have terrific friends. I am a brilliant director. Well-respected. I won a Golden Globe, how 'bout that? Yeah, man, it's alright, it's alright, it's alright. And God, I will be humble. INT. MUSIC LIBRARY - MEDIUM FULL SHOT Gina regards the photographs she brought for Joe and Sally. She lifts it from the shelf, the phone rings, the machine picks up. MAN'S VOICE Joe, Joe! It's your Dad! Pick up, Joe... Gina sets the photo on the desk, leans it up against the wall. Joe and Sally's faces stare out of it. GINA (picks up receiver) Harry, hi, it's Gina! Gina. Is everything alright? (a deep intake of breath) Oh my God. When? He's not here. They're out looking for Otis. The dog, Harry. (tears start down her face) I love you so much. Lucy's a fighter, she'll make it. Whether she wants to or not. Harry. I'm so sorry. I will. (writes down the number) Yes I will. Take care, Harry. Bye. She puts down the phone. Stares into Joe's face, looks up at a photo on the wall that she took of Joe and Lucy. EXT. BACKYARD LANDING Jerry and Judy are making out. JUDY Are you my big brave boy? Are you my brave hero? JERRY You're crazy baby. I love you. JUDY Are you my big hard hero? JERRY Do you want me to save you? Do you want me to save you? JUDY Oh yeah... JERRY Oh yeah... I'm gonna save you. JUDY Oh yeah? JERRY Let me heal you, baby. JUDY (mantra) Oh Jesus oh Jesus oh Jesus. Grunts, groans, a scream, a peel of giggles. JERRY Oh yeah. INT. MASTER BEDROOM - CONTINUOUS Gina pulls Joe's clothes out of the closet, out of the drawers. There's an overnight bag on the bed. EXT. POOL AREA Cal and Sophia lie cuddled on a lounge chair, blissed out, counting the windows of the house. SOPHIA ...no, no, start again. CAL AND SOPHIA One, two, three, four... Clair wanders up. She's changed into her own clothes. CLAIR I've lost my husband and my beeper. Have either of you seen either of them? INT. LIVING ROOM - LATER Clair, Mac, Sophia, Cal and Gina are waiting. The overnight bag rests near the coffee table. No one speaks. There are sounds of the search party approaching. NEW ANGLE Panes, Skye, Sally and Joe come into the room dogless. JOE What is it? GINA Let's go upstairs, okay? Joe looks from Gina to the others. GINA (CONT'D) Let's go upstairs. They move out of the room. SALLY (on the way upstairs) Is it Otis? Skye and Panes look at the other guests. SKYE What happened? INT. MASTER BEDROOM Gina closes the door. JOE The suspense is killing me. GINA Harry called. JOE (growing dread) And? GINA (there's now way to say it) Lucy overdosed. JOE (a long moment) But she's alright. GINA She's in ICU. Joe's legs give way. He sort of sits on the floor. JOE (laughs; shakes his head) Stupid tart. GINA She left a note. JOE (realizes the import; to Gina) Fuck you. Tears start down Sally's face. GINA You need to call your dad. JOE Leave us alone right now. GINA I've booked you a flight and packed you a bag. You just need to get into a car and go. SALLY Would you leave us alone right now? GINA I love her too, Joe. JOE Alright, good. Thanks for your trouble. So will you leave Sally and me alone right now? SALLY (a shrug; simply) Everybody hates the messenger. Gina exits. SALLY (CONT'D) (to Joe) I'm coming with you. Joe starts to cry. Sally holds him, kisses him, strokes him, rocks him. JOE (inconsolable) I don't want you to go. He wipes tears away that start afresh; his nose is running, he wipes that too. JOE (CONT'D) I can't got tonight. I don't want to be on a plane on my own tonight. SALLY I'll be with you. JOE I don't want to go tonight. SALLY You don't have to. They sit on the floor. Sally soothing, rocking Joe like a baby. JOE (bereft) Stupid tart. INT. KITCHEN - LATER Gina's put up some coffee. Sophia, Cal, Mac and Clair stand around awkwardly. Sally comes into the room. MAC How's he doing? SALLY Not good. GINA He's gonna miss his flight. SALLY Yeah. Al the guests are a little stunned. GINA Is he not going? I booked a flight. SALLY He's not going tonight. GINA I told his father he'd be on that flight. SALLY Well you could tell him otherwise. It was good of you to be all this help. But he doesn't want to go tonight. GINA Jesus, Sally. I'm not the enemy. SALLY And you're not the wife. GINA It's not a contest. SALLY Damn straight. CAL Should I go up? SALLY I don't think so. CAL You want us to stay? SALLY Maybe not. MAC So much for ecstacy, right? They all laugh a little. SOPHIA Let's get the kids. CLAIR Oh my God, the sitter. SALLY (laughs) Oh Clair, you're so... You know. You just put things in perspective. INT. MUSIC LIBRARY - CONTINUOUS Joe listens to the answering machine message Lucy left that morning. He plays it again and again. HE fast forwards to his father's voice. Presses the STOP button. Sits there, stunned. JOE (dials phone, a moment) Hey, Dad... INT. GUEST BEDROOM - CONTINUOUS Cal and Sophia bundle up their sleeping kids. The CAMERA follows them to the landing as they head downstairs, pass Sally who is coming up. SOPHIA I'm going to be home all weekend, call if you need anything. Sally kisses Cal's cheek. CAL Hang in. INT. MASTER BEDROOM - CONTINUOUS Panes and Skye are fucking on Joe and Sally's bed. Sally walks in on them searching for Panes' ear, her best buddy. SALLY (resigned) Oh perfect! EXT. BACKYARD LANDING - MEDIUM FULL SHOT Jerry and Judy lie alongside each other, hands propping heads. They aren't privy to anything that's happened. JERRY I call that a perfect day. JUDY A perfect night. JERRY Damn near. (long moment) And a damn near perfect drug. JUDY Hm. We should do it again. JERRY Just every once in a blue moon, you know. JUDY Hm. (a long moment) You think we should ask them for their landscaper? JERRY Hm. Do you like fucking out of doors? JUDY Not as a rule. JERRY (a long moment) They didn't sign their goddamn tax returns! EXT. HOUSE - CONTINUOUS Sally stands at the threshold, watches Cal and Sophia load their kids into the car. INT. FOYER - CONTINUOUS Clair and Mac and Gina hug and say their goodbyes to Sally. GINA (kisses Sally; whispers) Take good care of it. SALLY Count on it. EXT. HOUSE - CONTINUOUS Monica and Ryan return from their unsuccessful search. They come through the gate with it's sight: KEEP GATE CLOSED. Monica and Ryan start for the kitchen entrance. INT. KITCHEN - FROM MONICA AND RYAN'S POV Sally and Joe are alone in the room. They hold each other, weep... RYAN (appalled) Jesus Christ, it's a fucking dog! MONICA (regards them) Don't go in, Ryan. RYAN What? MONICA Let's just go home, okay? INT. KITCHEN - CONTINUOUS A much embarrassed Panes and Skye enter. PANES Coffee? JOE Sure. PANES I'll do it. Panes starts to make some; Skye starts to clean up glasses and ashtrays. SALLY You don't need to do that. SKYE I don't mind... SALLY Relax. You've done enough. EXT. KITCHEN - CONTINUOUS We see Judy and Jerry bounding around the side of the house. Jerry has his briefcase in his hand. They are laughing. They enter the kitchen. The camera stays outside. We see them brought up short by the gloom, but hear nothing. INT. KITCHEN - CONTINUOUS Sally and Joe are at the table, signing their tax returns. Jerry supervising. All is quiet. Judy's sunk into a chair. INT. FOYER - CONTINUOUS Morning's finally come. Light fills the room, empty except for party debris. INT. LIVING ROOM - CONTINUOUS It's empty but for glasses, wrapping paper, abandoned dishes of leftover cake. INT. EMPTY KITCHEN - CONTINUOUS INT. GUEST BEDROOM - CONTINUOUS The bed is rumpled and indented from the sleeping children. Their drawings and paints strewn all over the floor...and Walls. INT. EMPTY DEN - CONTINUOUS INT. MASTER BEDROOM - CONTINUOUS The bed still shows the remains of Panes and Skye's love making. The CAMERA moves through the suite into the bathroom. Sally's in the tub. Joe comes into the room in the buff. JOE Can I come in? Sally looks up at the nakedness. SALLY Sure. HE slips into the tub with her. They lie there facing each other. OE My plane leaves in a few hours. SALLY Okay. Do you want me to come with you? JOE (simply) No. SALLY Okay. JOE (a moment) Pretty much a disaster, tonight, wasn't it? SALLY I guess. JOE Life gets messy. Ugly messy. But I don't understand you. And I don't think I ever understood Lucy. I don't understand throwing it away. How do you throw all that away? Any of it. I want it all. You guys want guarantees? I want the possibilities. And all kinds of crap comes with that. A lot of bad shit. And I think that's okay with me because, because of the rest of the stuff. All the good shit. All the surprises. It's a fucking miracle when you come down to it. (a moment) We'd have had amazing children, you and me. We'd have had a ride. You'd have surprised yourself. (regards her) I'll never love anybody else, you know. SALLY (a little choked laugh) Me too. JOE That's under lock and key. SALLY Me too. Joe reaches out of the tub for gift-wrapped box. He hands it to sally. It's their ritual gift-giving site. Sally opens the gift. Takes out a Calder mobile. JOE Happy anniversary. SALLY It's a Calder. JOE I know. SALLY He's my favorite. JOE I know. It's for the baby's crib. SALLY Ah... She hands him a small wooden box. He opens it, takes out a set of keys. SALLY (CONT'D) They're the keys to your grandad's flat. Happy anniversary, baby. JOE Oh, Sally Mae... He can't say anymore. SALLY I know. JOE Will you make love with me? SALLY Sure. She reaches out with both arms. INT. BATHROOM - TIGHT CLOSE Joe and Sally tenderly make love. It's the dissolution of their marriage. INT. FOYER - NINE A.M. America and Rosa begins to clean up the debris from the party. EXT. HOUSE - CONTINUOUS A taxi pulls up. Joe gets in with his bags. The cab backs out... INT. MASTER BEDROOM - MEDIUM CLOSE The two wedding rings rest on the nightstand, hers nestled in his. Sally's hand opens the drawer, sweeps the rings into it. EXT. HOUSE - LATE MORNING The "FOR SALE" sign is hammered into the ground. DISSOLVE TO: EXT. HIGH SHOT - CONTINUOUS Otis wanders along the street, up the driveway and disappears through the flap in the kitchen door. FADE OUT.
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+                                  ANONYMOUS                                  Written by                                 John Orloff1   BLACK SCREEN                                                   1    TITLES BEGIN over the SOUNDS of city traffic.                                                    FADE UP:2   EXT. THEATER DISTRICT OF BROADWAY - DUSK                       2    The sidewalks are filled with theater-goers heading for    their shows. Cabs line the streets.    SIDE ALLEY    A cab quickly turns into the alley, coming to a    screeching halt. A Man in a Grey Suit jumps out and    rushes to the side entrance of a theater.    In the background we see that the title of the play,    "Anonymous", is written on the theatre's marquee...3   INT. BROADWAY THEATER - BACKSTAGE - DUSK                       3    We follow the Man in the Grey Suit as he rushes through    narrow backstage hallways, passing several ACTORS    dressing in Elizabethan costumes, applying their make-    up, etc...    TITLES CONTINUE.4   INT. BROADWAY THEATER - BACKSTAGE/EMPTY STAGE - DUSK           4    The curtains are still closed, and the sound of the    audience excitedly MURMURING behind them is heard. .    Stagehands are moving stage lights as--    A STAGE MANAGER    takes a nervous peek through the curtains to check the    audience-- it's a full house. He holds a prop umbrella    in one hand, anxiously checks his watch in the other.    He looks on both wings of the stage-- and then relief    floods his face as he sees The Man in the Grey Suit    hurrying over to him. The Stage Manager wordlessly    hands him the umbrella and signals to a stagehand in    the background.    The curtains start to OPEN and the MURMUR of the    audience dies down.                                                               1                                                     pg. 25   INT. BROADWAY THEATER - THE STAGE - CONTINUOUS                5    The man with the umbrella stands on the empty stage, a    single light on him. He is "PROLOGUE". (We will see    the same actor later as the "Prologue" of Henry V).    "Prologue" regards his audience for a   beat before:                              PROLOGUE                Soul of the Age!                The applause, delight, the wonder of                our stage!                Our Shakespeare, rise...                       (beat, repeating)                Our Shakespeare... For he is all of                ours, is he not? The most performed                playwright of all time! The author of                37 plays, 154 sonnets, and several                epic poems that are collectively known                as the ultimate expressions of                humanity in the English language. And                yet... And yet...                       (beat)                Not a single manuscript of any kind                has ever been found written in                Shakespeare's own hand. In four                hundred years, not one document-- be                it poem, play, diary or even a simple                letter.                       (beat)                He was born the son of a glove-maker,                and at some unknown time, armed with                but an elementary school education, he                went to London where, the story goes,                he became an actor and eventually a                playwright.    OFF STAGE    A stagehand takes a wooden hammer and beats against a    flat metal pate, creating the SOUNDS of THUNDER.    Another stagehand starts to lift shutters in front of a    stage light back and forth to create LIGHTNING STRIKES.    ON STAGE    "Prologue" opens his umbrella.                             PROLOGUE (CONT'D)                He died at the age of 56, and was                survived by his wife and two daughters                who were, like Shakespeare's own                father, irrefutably illiterate.                                                              2                                                 pg. 3OFF STAGEIn the rafters a stagehand opens valves.   It starts toRAIN.                         PROLOGUE (O.C.) (CONT'D)            His will famously left his second best            bed to his widow. But it made no            mention of a single book or            manuscript.The actor who will play "Ben JONSON" (mid 30's) appearsin the wings, bearded, ready to go on stage, holding aprop leather manuscript. Behind him a group ofElizabethan "soldiers" strap on their swords.ON STAGE"Prologue" continues, as do TITLES.                         PROLOGUE (CONT'D)            Is it possible Shakespeare owned no            books at his death because... he could            not read? That he wrote no letters            because he, like his father before him            and his children after him, could not            write?                   (lets that sink in, then)            Our Shakespeare is a cypher, a ghost;            his biography made not by history...            but by conjecture. His story not            written with facts, but with...            imagination.The rain has intensified. "Prologue" turns and thecamera starts to leave him and the TITLES END....                         PROLOGUE (CONT'D)                   (more energetic)            So! Let me offer you a different            story. A darker story... Of quills            and swords. Of power and betrayal.            Of a stage conquered, and a throne            lost!A FLASH OF LIGHTNING, and for a moment only sheets ofRAIN are visible. No stage, no "Prologue". Then,trough the rain, we see a form of a man... BenJonson... running. Then we make out the shapes ofhouses... a street. We're not on a stage anymore. Weare:                                                          3                                                      pg. 46    EXT. BANKSIDE LONDON - 1604 NIGHT                             6     Jonson-- carrying the manuscript-- runs up the street     toward a large circular theater.     He frantically opens the wooden door to the theater--7    INT. THE ROSE THEATER - NIGHT                                 7     --and he quickly bolts it behind him, turns, and     desperately looks for a place to hide. He runs towards     the stage as--8    EXT. THE ROSE THEATER - CONTINUOUS                            8     About a dozen uniformed guards reach the door. They     are led by Sir Richard POLE (40), Captain of the Guard.                            POLE               Break it down!     And several of the guards charge the door with their     pikes, HITTING it hard.                            POLE (CONT'D)               Again!9    INT. THE ROSE THEATER - CONTINUOUS                            9     Jonson hurries backstage, and disappears from our view     just as--10   EXT/INT. THE ROSE THEATER - CONTINUOUS                    10     --the guards SMASH the door open.    Pole is the first     in.                             POLE               Jonson!   Jonson!!    Show yourself!     The soldiers immediately spread out into different     parts of the theater. Jonson's gone. Because--     JONSON     has moved under the stage silently scurrying like a rat     trying to find a place to hide among the stacks of     props and costumes (swords, masks, flags and banners,     shields, barrels, canons, etc.) But Jonson freezes     when he sees--                                                               4                                                pg. 5THROUGH THE CRACKS OF THE STAGE'S FLOORBOARDS--the soldiers jump onto the stage and spread out, Poleamongst them.                          POLE (CONT'D)            Out with you! Jonson! We'll smoke            you out like a rat if we have to!                   (beat)            Jonson?! Jonson!!Nothing.    A beat, then--                         POLE (CONT'D)                   (to a soldier)            Torch it.The soldier hesitates.                          POLE (CONT'D)            Torch it!   All of you!The soldiers obey, lighting fire to the walls, thegalleries, the columns as--JONSONGASPS in horror. Desperate-- he spies an open metalbox nearby filled with un-used fireworks.He tosses the fireworks out of the box-- and thenplaces the bound manuscripts in their place, thencloses the box. Then-- he grabs a nearby rapier as--FLAMES--begin to take hold everywhere: the columns at thefront of the stage... the trompe-l'oeil walls... theseating galleries... the columns...A TRAP DOORopens center-stage, and Jonson JUMPS out, the rapier inhis right hand, ready for a fight. But-- threesoldiers jump onto the stage, pikes ready.Jonson-- no fool- turns and runs for the other end ofthe stage-- but then runs smack into four othersoldiers!Ballocks!Jonson turns this way and that-- nowhere to run-- grinswryly, drops his sword. Raises his hands in surrender.                                                          5                                                      pg. 611   EXT. THE ROSE THEATER - NIGHT                            11     Jonson, his hands tied behind him, is pushed through     the door, Pole following.     A small crowd of actors, whores, etc., watch the     theater burn. The guards have to push their way     through them.     INSERT     The fire reaches the fireworks below the theater's     stage, and--     BACK TO SCENE     -- the SOUND of fireworks EXPLODING makes Jonson turn     and see:     THE THEATER     Timbers CRASH and fireworks EXPLODE over the theater.12   EXT. THE THAMES RIVER - DAWN                             12     A longboat carrying Jonson, Pole and the guards makes     its way towards the Tower Of London.13   INT. TOWER OF LONDON - AN INTERROGATION ROOM - DAWN      13     Jonson is thrown into a chair, a guard on either side     of him. It's dark-- the only light coming from a few     torches in the walls, and a large fire pit at the far     side of the room.     An INTERROGATOR (30's) faces him.   Dressed all in     black, he is wispy thin.                            INTERROGATOR               You are Benjamin Jonson, playwright?               Son of William Jonson, glass-blower,               son of James Jonson brick-layer?     Jonson nods.                            INTERROGATOR (CONT'D)               And have you ever been arrested               before, Mr. Jonson?                            JONSON               I'm a writer, aren't I?   Of course               I've bloody well been--                                                              6                                                     pg. 7And a guard BACKHANDS Jonson on the face full force--hard enough to send Jonson and the chair to the ground.His nose starts to bleed.As the Guards pull him up, the Interrogator looksacross the room-- there is someone else there, aFIGURE, watching, but cloaked in the darkness.Jonson notices the figure as well.      We hear a voicefrom the darkness.                          FIGURE             Ask him about the plays.                            JONSON                      (to the Interrogator)             Plays?                    (to the Figure)             Which would you prefer, my lord? A             pastoral? An historical? An             historical-pastoral, or an hysterical             historical pastoral--And SMACK!    He's hit by the guards again.   He SPITS outa tooth.                          INTERROGATOR             We are not interested in your plays,             Jonson. We are interested in the             plays given to you by Edward de Vere,             Earl of Oxford.Jonson stares at him a beat, and then looks into thedarkness.                          JONSON             I'm sorry my lord, but I am not sure I             know whereof you speak. I have had             the honor of meeting his lordship--And SMACK--                                              FLASH CUT TO:FACESlaughing. Not in this room, somewhere else. Somewhereoutside. Before we really understand what we areseeing we are:BACK IN THE CELLJonson blinks, trying to stay conscious.      His mouth isripped, bleeding. So is his nose.                                                              7                                                       pg. 8     The skin has broken on his forehead.     The Interrogator     leans into the bloody Jonson.                               INTERROGATOR                  Where are the plays?     Before Jonson even has a chance to answer-- SMACK!                                                        CUT TO:     MORE FACES     Laughing.    We are:14   INT. THE ROSE THEATER - DAY                                  14     And it is nine years earlier. The faces come from an     audience watching a play. They find the performance     hysterical.15   EXT. ROSE THEATER/BANKSIDE LONDON - CONTINUOUS               15     The Rose towers above the nearby buildings "Bankside"     (the part of London that houses the theaters,     whorehouses, etc.).     The Rose towers above the nearby buildings "Bankside"     (the part of London that houses the theaters,     whorehouses, etc.).                              SOUTHAMPTON (O.S.)                  Well?     TWO MEN     walk towards the theater. Edward de Vere (47), the     Earl of OXFORD, an intensely handsome man. His clothes     have seen better days.     His companion is Henry Wriothesley, Earl of SOUTHAMPTON     (22). Blonde, attractive, a bit of a pretty boy-- and     extremely enthusiastic.                               SOUTHAMPTON (CONT'D)                  Wonderful, isn't it?                               OXFORD                         (frowning slightly)                  Well, it's certainly... big.                                                                  8                                                  pg. 9                       SOUTHAMPTON          I promise you, Edward, you've seen          nothing like it before! Nothing!                       OXFORD          Bricklayers and whores watching          Aristophones?   You're quite right,          Henry, not only have I never witnessed          it, I'm not sure I care to.                       SOUTHAMPTON                 (teasing)          You're an elitist, you know that,          Edward?Oxford pauses at the entrance.                       OXFORD          There won't be puppets, will there?Southampton grins and gives a few coins to an USHER,who escorts the two of them (the retainers stayoutside) inside.                        USHER          My lords...INT. THE ENTRY OF THE ROSE THEATER - CONTINUOUSThe usher takes them up a flight of stairs.    Oxfordobserves everything as they walk.                       SOUTHAMPTON          The stage-craft is quite spectacular.          Far more elaborate than anything I've          seen at court. I've witnessed be-          headings that god as my witness look          as real as at the Tower, cannons fired          in battle...They come to the second floor, where a SELLING-MAID hasa box of food and drink in front of her bosom-- muchlike a match-stick girl.                        SELLING-MAID          Ale?   Mutton, mi' lord?Southampton waves her off as they follow the usher upanother flight of stairs.                                                          9                                                   pg. 10                        SOUTHAMPTON           ...and last week, they had some sort           of a device to hoist cherubs into the           air and fly over the entire audience!                        OXFORD           An apÚ mekhanes theÛs. Deus ex           machina. Machine of the Gods.And as they ascend up more stairs, Oxford catchesglimpses of the stage and performance through therafters and over the heads of the attending audience.                        OXFORD (CONT'D)           Whenever the Greeks wrote their heroes           into a situation from which they           couldn't write their way out--Oxford is becoming intrigued by the theater, almostdespite himself.                        OXFORD (CONT'D)           --Out came the apÚ mekhanes theÛs...           As when Hippolytus is saved by           Artemis, or Medea flown to Athens...           Always good for an apÚ mekhanes theÛs           was EuripidesOxford continues up, two steps behind Southampton.They come to the third floor and enter the box seatingarea reserved for nobles, giving Oxford his first reallook at the theater itself. Oxford looks around andsees-FROM OXFORD'S POVAudience members LAUGHING-- others DRINKING-- maidsSELLING food-- the actors ACTING...It's alive.   Magical.BACK TO OXFORDOxford takes it all in, almost stunned by it.ON-STAGEThe actor William SHAKESPEARE (30) plays a commoner.He is handsome, sexy, charismatic; and holds a tankardof ale, and SWIGS from it constantly.Another actor SPENCER (30) plays "FASTIDIOUS"; apompous, over-dressed, caricature of a nobleman.                                                            10                                                    pg. 11He wears an enormous feather on his hat. Also on stageis an actor called John HEMINGE (late 40's), who plays"Sogliardo"                         SHAKESPEARE            And whither were you riding now,            signior?                         "FASTIDIOUS"            Who, I? What a silly jest's that!            Whither should I ride but to the            court?                         SHAKESPEARE            O, pardon me, sir, twenty places more;            your hot-house, your pig-house, or            your whore-house!The audience ROARS in laughter as Shakespeare looksbelow at a buxom young lady among the "groundlings".He smiles seductively. She smiles back.BACKSTAGEJonson (now 25 and clean-shaven) is watching theperformance from behind a curtain, silently speakingthe lines with the actors.IN THE RAISED SEATINGA group of playwrights and poets watch the play with anair of judgement. They are: Christopher "Kit" MARLOWE(32), young, brilliant, a bit foppish (he likes theboys), Thomas NASHE (late 30's)-- a heavy-set, a harddrinking satirist-- and Thomas DEKKER (29), considereda bit of a hack by his colleagues.They are called the "Mermaid's Wits" because theyfrequent a pub named The Mermaid's Tavern.                         NASHE                   (takes a swig of ale)            His second play, and almost a full            house.                   (burps)            He's got a wit, does Jonson.                         MARLOWE            That might be so, but like a grain of            wheat hid in a bushel of chaff: you            shall seek all day ere you find it,            and when you have it, it's not worth            the search!                                                             11                                                 pg. 12The others smile as a WOMAN passes.                         WOMAN          Ale!   Ale!!                       DEKKER          Marlowe-- spot me a few pence, will          you? Henslowe still owes me for          "Shoemaker's Holiday".                       MARLOWE                 (retrieving coins)          That would be because no one saw          "Shoemaker's Holiday".                         DEKKER          Ale here!Marlowe gives the woman a few pennies as--                       NASHE          Kit... Isn't that one of your          unrequited loves in the box over          there?Marlowe glances across the theater and spotsSouthampton siting next to Oxford.                       MARLOWE                 (frowns)          But with whom? Tell me not he prefers          the company of such old grey men as          that!Nashe squints.                       NASHE          I think-- yes, by the beard, that's          the Earl of Oxford. Old Tom Hooker          used to play for him. Had his own          acting troupe for private Court          performances and the like.                       DEKKER          I wonder if he needs any material?                       MARLOWE          Certainly not any of yours.                       NASHE          No, no-- that was years ago. Had a          falling out with the Queen, I heard.          He's more of a recluse than a patron          these days.                                                          12                                                     pg. 13ON STAGEShakespeare points to "Fastidious".                          SHAKESPEARE             Who, he, the noble there? Why, he's a             gull, a fool, no salt in him i' the             earth; man, he looks like a fresh             salmon kept in a tub!Shakespeare struts around as though he owned the place.The more he talks, the more the audience ROARS inlaughter.                          SHAKESPEARE (CONT'D)             He sleeps with a musk-cat every night,             and walks all day hang'd in perfumed             chains for penance.                           A GROUNDLING             Oi!   So that's what I been smelling!More groundlings laugh.     Interestingly--NOBLEMENin the box seats do not.ON STAGEShakespeare continues his rant, speaking directly tothe groundlings.                          SHAKESPEARE             He has his skin tann'd in civet, to             make his complexion strong, and the             sweetness of his youth lasting in the             sense of his sweet lady. And, sadly,             the poor man's brain is lighter than             his feather...As the audience HOWLS in laughter, we see:A NOBLEMANwith a feathered hat gets up in fury, and exits thetheater, his lady with him. The Audience LAUGHS at himas he goes.ON STAGEShakespeare smiles triumphantly.                                                              13                                                   pg. 14                         SHAKESPEARE (CONT'D)            He is a good and empty puff, but he            loves you well, signior. I wish you            well with him.OXFORDWatches the nobleman with the big feathered hat passby.BACKSTAGELater in the play...Shakespeare returns backstage and takes a deep swigfrom his tankard. He's actually drunk, though hisperformance didn't show it at all. He spots Jonson,and grabs him.                        SHAKESPEARE (CONT'D)            Jonson! Wonderful dialogue!            Wonderful. I hope your next--                          HENSLOWE (O.C.)            Will!   Will Shakespeare!Shakespeare turns to see a furious Philip HENSLOWE(50'S) heading his way.                         HENSLOWE (CONT'D)            That's not ale in that goblet is it?Shakespeare hides the goblet behind his back.                         SHAKESPEARE            Ale? Me? Drink during a performance?            I am a professional sir!                   (burps)            A complete and--He is interrupted by SCREAMS.    Not from actors onstage, but by the audience.IN THE THEATERComplete panic erupts as dozens of The Queen's GuardSTORM into the theater. Everyone tries to get out asquickly as possible, including the other actors, HenryCONDELL (20's), Thomas POPE (30's), William SLY (13).SIR RICHARD POLE, THE CAPTAIN OF THE GUARD--jumps on stage.                                                            14                                                    pg. 15                        POLE           This play has been declared seditious           and illegal by Lord William Cecil!The audience begins to BOO at the mention of Cecil.                        POLE (CONT'D)           All are herewith ordered to disperse           immediately!                        A GROUNDLING           Why don't you disperse William Cecil's           arse!                        POLE           Arrest that man!IN OXFORD'S BOX                          SOUTHAMPTON           Damn it all.    Well! Off to Essex's           then?He gets up. Oxford does not, seemingly interested inthe real drama below as everyone hurries from thetheater.                          SOUTHAMPTON (CONT'D)           Edward?Oxford turns to him, distracted, and nods.ON STAGEJonson pushes his way on stage.                        JONSON                  (to Pole)           Seditious? Seditious?! It's a comedy           for god's sake! There's nothing           seditious about--                        POLE           Oi, is that right, is it?    And you           know this because?                        JONSON           Because I wrote the bloody thing!      And-           -                        POLE           Arrest him as well!Jonson is grabbed by guards.                                                             15                                                       pg. 1617   INT. A JAIL CELL - DAY                                        17     Jonson is THROWN into the cell, the door SLAMMED behind     him.                             JONSON                      (to the door)               A pox on you!                      (beat)               And your carbuncled father!     Jonson looks around-- the cell is filled with a dozen     or so other prisoners.                            ESSEX (O.S.)               People taxed to the point of               starvation, Spain running the New               World, open revolt in Ireland,               Catholic plots everywhere you turn...                                                        CUT TO:18   INT. TENNIS COURT AT ESSEX HOUSE - DAY                        18     Robert, Earl of ESSEX (28), is playing tennis against     Southampton. He's handsome, red-headed, and, we will     learn, very ambitious.                            ESSEX               ...and how do the Cecils spend their               time and energy? Shutting a theater!               A theater, for god's sake? It's               madness! No wonder the mob hates them               so!     The court is inside, and slightly different from     today's game: the back walls are playable, somewhat     like racquet-ball.     Oxford sits on a bench, watching.   Essex SLAMS a shot,     but it goes--                              OXFORD               Out!     Essex looks furious, but holds his tongue.   Southampton     prepares to serve.                            OXFORD (CONT'D)                      (to Southampton)               Henry, how many people were at that               play?                                                                  16                                                     pg. 17     Southampton pauses before serving.                           SOUTHAMPTON               Hmm? I'm not sure, two thousand,               maybe more.     Southampton SERVES.   Essex returns, and another heated     rally begins.                            OXFORD               And how many performances are there of               a play like that?                            SOUTHAMPTON               Five or six I suppose.     He HITS the ball again, and this time Essex misses it.                             ESSEX               By the--!                            OXFORD                      (to Essex)               So! Ten thousand souls. All               listening to the writings of one man--               the ideas of one man. That's power,               Robert. And if there is one thing the               Cecils understand, it's power.                            ESSEX                      (snorts)               And when did words ever win a kingdom?               I think I'll keep my sword, thank you               very much.     Southampton SERVES as Oxford smiles at Essex's naivetÈ.19   INT. CHANGING ROOMS/ESSEX HOUSE - DAY                      19     Southampton and Essex are dressing out of their tennis     clothes and into their normal clothes, assisted by two     valets.                            ESSEX                      (to the valets)               Leave us.                      (they exit)               Henry... Some of my men have...               intercepted... some of William Cecil's               recent correspondence with King James               of Scotland...                                                               17                                                 pg. 18Southampton pauses in clothing himself.   This isserious.                       ESSEX (CONT'D)          Cecil's all but promising him the          throne...                        SOUTHAMPTON          To James?   Elizabeth would never agree          to-                       ESSEX          Elizabeth is old. Ill. Not of her          old mind. Sometimes she doesn't even          recognize me. And yet, still she          refuses to name an heir.                       SOUTHAMPTON          But a Scotsman? On the Tudor throne?                       ESSEX          You are not in the Privy Council.          Elizabeth does everything the Cecils          wish of her. Everything!BEHIND THEMOxford enters. They don't notice, though. Heinstantly realizes he shouldn't say anything. Helistens as:WIDER                        ESSEX (CONT'D)          Think, Henry, if James owes Cecil his          throne, Cecil will have more influence          in the next reign than he does in this          one. And after William Cecil, his          hunch-backed son will take his          place...                 (careful)          That is why we must do everything in          our power to ensure that the right man          succeeds her.                 (beat)          A man deserving of the Tudor crown.Southampton stiffens at that last phrase.                       ESSEX (CONT'D)          I ask you for the support of you and          your men, Henry.... if it comes to a          fight.                                                          18                                                       pg. 19     Southampton looks at Essex hard.                             SOUTHAMPTON                You know you need not ask. I stand                with you, as I always have.     Essex smiles at him warmly. They both HEAR something     shuffle behind them. They turn, and see:     WHERE OXFORD WAS STANDING     Nothing.   He is gone.     BACK TO SOUTHAMPTON AND ESSEX     They exchange a slightly worried look.                                                         CUT TO:20   EXT. ESSEX HOUSE - DAY                                         20     Moments later, Oxford and Southampton are exiting the     elaborate building that serves as Essex's London     residence.                             OXFORD                Essex played rather poorly, didn't he?     Southampton just nods, distracted.   Oxford reaches out     to him, and touches his shoulder.                             OXFORD (CONT'D)                       (warning)                Henry... The Cecils brook no rivals.     Southampton pauses, confused for an instant, then--                             SOUTHAMPTON                       (re: his discussion with                        Essex)                You heard?     Oxford nods.                             SOUTHAMPTON (CONT'D)                Always concerned for me, aren't you                Edward?     They keep walking towards Southampton's men.                             SOUTHAMPTON (CONT'D)                And what would you have me do?                                                                   19                                                  pg. 20                       OXFORD          I would have you deny him.                       SOUTHAMPTON          The son of the Queen?                       OXFORD          That is rumor only, Henry--They stop. Southampton makes sure that his men are outof earshot.                       SOUTHAMPTON          Rumor? My god, all you have to do is          look at Essex to see the Queen's          reflection. Everyone thinks he's her          son, everyone! And I for one would          rather bow to a Tudor, bastard though          he may be, than a Scotsman!                        OXFORD          I desire nothing more than to see the          next king be the rightful king. But          what Essex contemplates will surely          lead to Civil War.                 (beat)          No. If this is to be done, it must be          done carefully, skillfully.                       SOUTHAMPTON          As I heard it, Elizabeth exiled you          from her presence for the last twenty          years because of your "skill" at Court          politics.And then he feels instantly ashamed of having saidthat.                       OXFORD          I only have your interests in mind,          Henry. For as you so rightly point          out, my interests are already lost.                       SOUTHAMPTON          I know. Forgive me. You know how I          feel about you. You have been a great          friend to me ever since my father          died. I promise you that I will do          nothing rash without consulting you          first.Oxford nods, still worried, and Southampton heads forhis horse.                                                           20                                                      pg. 21                            OXFORD               Henry! Will you do me one thing more?               Deliver a gift for me? A rather...               elaborate gift?21   EXT. CECIL HOUSE - SUNSET                                  21     The stone house is nothing like a stereotypical Tudor     house; it's enormous, and very ornate and intricate in     design.     It faces the river, and has an elaborate docking area     which is now filled with all sorts of longboats letting     the noblemen off for a week-end get away.22   INT. CECIL HOUSE - GREAT HALL - DUSK                       22     Most of England's nobility is assembled in small     groups, talking. It's a dour, quiet affair. Some     music, no life. Quite Puritan.     Southampton is there, but Essex and Oxford are nowhere     to be seen.     A HUNCH-BACKED MAN     --makes his way through the room, causing conversations     to cease as he walks by. Even the most senior of the     nobles bow their heads slightly in greeting him. This     is Sir ROBERT CECIL (mid 30's).     He pauses near Southampton.                              SOUTHAMPTON               Sir Robert.                            ROBERT CECIL               My lord of Southampton.                      (looking around)               Have you seen Essex?                            SOUTHAMPTON               I believe he is still in the viewing               chamber with her majesty...                              ROBERT CECIL                        (sharp, annoyed)               Alone?                                                               21                                                  pg. 22                       SOUTHAMPTON                 (smiles)          With your father in London dealing          with all the troubles in Ireland, who          else should the Queen turn to but          Essex?Robert Cecil looks annoyed, but holds his tongue as theSOUND of pikes HITTING the floor silences the hall.A FOOTMAN clears his throat and--                       FOOTMAN          By the grace of god, her majesty,          Elizabeth, Queen of England, Wales and          Ireland!DOUBLE DOORSopen, and Elizabeth (in her 60's) enters. She iswearing a large sparkling pearl-encrusted dress with awide collar.She walks slowly and carefully, and has a slight tremorin her head and hands. She seems un-certain; likeshe's not sure she recognizes all the faces around her(Alzheimer's?). And she compensates for it by beingall the more regal, all the more un-human.Essex is on her arm, dressed in a splendid jewel-encrusted doublet.Robert Cecil FROWNS at the sight of Essex on her arm.Essex ignores Cecil's glare, notices Southampton--                       ESSEX                 (to Elizabeth)          Ah-- Majesty, I've been told my lord          of Southampton has a gift for you.                       ELIZABETH                 (eyes sparkle)          A gift?                       SOUTHAMPTON          Yes, your grace, though not from me.Southampton CLAPS his hands and a door across the roomOPENS.A DWARF enters, followed by dancing faires, actorsswirling sparklers, and musicians playing music.                                                           22                                                  pg. 23Elizabeth's rheumy eyes widen in complete delight, asmile of total jubilation crosses her face.Robert Cecil, on the other hand, looks horrified.                       ELIZABETH          Are you this gift, my precious little          man?                       DWARF          No, no, my most majestic majesty. I          am a free man. My gift is a play,          majesty.                       ELIZABETH          A play?The dwarf bows his assent.                       ROBERT CECIL                 (to the Dwarf)          Plays are the work of the devil, born          from a cesspool of plague, whoredom,          thievery, fornication, and heresy.          You may tell your master that her          majesty--                       ESSEX                 (interrupting)          --Will gladly accept your gift.Robert Cecil turns to Essex, shocked.                       ESSEX (CONT'D)                 (to Elizabeth)          Of course that is if you so desire,          majesty.                 (to Robert Cecil)          The choice is her majesty's to make,          not yours. Is that not so Sir Robert?Robert frowns as Elizabeth looks around, unsure of thepolitical tides around her. Then--                       ELIZABETH                 (to the dwarf)          Comedy? Or tragedy?                       DWARF          Comedy, majesty.                       ELIZABETH                 (delighted)          A comedy!                       (MORE)                                                           23                                                       pg. 24                               ELIZABETH (CONT'D)                      (beat)               By whom?                            DWARF               By... Anonymous, your majesty...                             ELIZABETH               Anonymous...?                      (then)               Oh, but I do so admire his verse...     Elizabeth lets go of Essex, and offers her hand to the     Dwarf, who smiles brightly.                            ELIZABETH (CONT'D)               Lead us to this gift.     And the Dwarf leads Elizabeth towards the door. Essex     follows, and Southampton locks into step next to him.     They exchange a knowing look as--     Robert Cecil steps in line far after the Queen, not     happy with this turn of events as we hear--                            "QUINCE" (O.S.)               Bless thee, Bottom! Bless thee!      Thou               art translated!                                                           CUT TO:23   EXT. THE GROUNDS AT CECIL HOUSE - NIGHT                          23     Sheer magic. Candles everywhere: in stakes, in the     ground, in the trees. They light a make-shift "stage"     surrounded by huge oak trees on three sides.                            "BOTTOM"               I see their knavery: this is to make               an ass of me; to fright me, if they               could. But I will not stir from this               place, do what they can.     Chairs have been brought out and put in rows in the     grass. Elizabeth is watching center front row (of     course). She loves it, SQUEALING in delight like a     young woman. Essex is next to her.                                                                     24                                                   pg. 25ON STAGESeveral actors are mid-scene in "A Midsummer Night'sDream" (Act 3, Scene 1), their make-up quite elaborateand fantastical: "Bottom", who is costumed as a man--except that he has a DONKEY'S HEAD, "Quince", acommoner, "Puck", played by the dwarf who is nowdressed like a cupid, and "Titania", Queen of thefairies, who is presently asleep in a bed of fur. Puckhides behind a tree watching.                         "BOTTOM" (CONT'D)            I will walk up and down here, and I            will sing, that they shall hear I am            not afraid.BACKSTAGEOxford watches from behind a curtain, carefullyobserving the Queen's reaction. Somehow we feel thatseeing her again after so many years stirs up some deepemotion in him.ON STAGE                         "BOTTOM" (CONT'D)                   (sings)            The ousel cock so black of hue,            With orange-tawny bill,            The throstle with his note so true,            The wren with little quill--Titania awakens in her nest-like bed of fur.                         "TITANIA"            What angel wakes me from my flow'ry            bed?ELIZABETHstrongly reacts to Titania awakening.   It stirs somememory in her. A pleasant memory.OXFORDwatches, delighted by her reaction.FROM HIS POVWe see Elizabeth watching. But it is an Elizabeth only26 years old (referred to as YOUNG ELIZABETH in thisscript). We HEAR the sound of other dialogue, but fromthe same play. We are:                                                            25                                                      pg. 2624   INT. HEDINGHAM CASTLE - GREAT HALL - NIGHT                    24     Thirty-eight years earlier. And YOUNG ELIZABETH watches     an earlier, slightly less sophisticated staging of "A     Midsummer Night's Dream" (the costumes and sets are a     bit more thrown together).     All the actors are children from 7-12 years old or so.     FROM BACKSTAGE     A boy watches in the exact same position as we just saw     Oxford. This is BOY OXFORD-- now only 10 years old.     But he is made up and wears a winged costume for the     character of "Puck".                             "OBERON" (O.S.)                ...and the owner of it blest ever                shall in safety rest. Trip away; make                no stay;                meet me all by break of day.     And the characters of "Oberon" and "Titania" exit.     Boy     Oxford hurries--     ON STAGE                             "PUCK"                If we shadows have offended, think but                this, and all is mended, that you have                but slumber'd here while these visions                did appear...     Next to Young Elizabeth, JOHN DE VERE, Oxford's father,     also watches, his face beaming with pride.                             "PUCK" (CONT'D)                ...And this weak and idle theme, No                more yielding but a dream, gentles, do                not reprehend; if you pardon, we will                mend.     A STERN LOOKING MAN     is watching a few seats   away from Young Elizabeth.   He     is WILLIAM CECIL (40's,   Robert's father). He is a     Puritan, dressed all in   black (with a white lace     collar), and has a long   beard. He is frowning,     loathing the play.                                                                  26                                                        pg. 27     ON STAGE                             "PUCK" (CONT'D)                So, good night unto you all. Give me                your hands, if we be friends, and                Robin shall restore amends.     The play now over, Young Elizabeth applauds with     delight, as do the small group of courtiers all around     her.                               YOUNG ELIZABETH                Lovely.    Lovely!                                                         CUT TO:25   INT. HEDINGHAM CASTLE - KITCHEN - LATER                        25     A make-shift "back-stage" where all the young "actors"     are removing their costumes and make-up, including Boy     Oxford, who sits in front of a make-shift, leaning     mirror.     Much excited talking and commotion, until Boy Oxford     notices everyone has gone silent. He turns-- his winged     costume still on-- just as--                               YOUNG ELIZABETH (O.S.)                Ah!    There he is.     Young Elizabeth and her senior Court, including William     Cecil and John De Vere, have entered.     Boy Oxford bows deeply.                             YOUNG ELIZABETH (CONT'D)                       (to Boy Oxford)                Your father tells me you wrote this                evening's play yourself.     Boy Oxford glances at his father-- should he answer     directly? His father NODS.                             BOY OXFORD                I did indeed, your majesty.                             YOUNG ELIZABETH                You sport with me.                       (smiling)                Compose something.                               BOY OXFORD                Now?                                                                   27                                                  pg. 28                        YOUNG ELIZABETH          Yes.   Now.                       BOY OXFORD          On what subject, your grace?She thinks.   Then--                       YOUNG ELIZABETH                 (smiles)          Truth...                       BOY OXFORD                 (thinks, then--)          For... Truth... is Truth...          Though... never so old...          and time cannot make that false,          which once was true.She smiles, claps.                       YOUNG ELIZABETH                 (to John de Vere)          My lord of Oxford. It seems you have          added a poet to your family's long          line of warriors.                       BOY OXFORD          Madam, I am as accomplished with the          sword and the musket as I am with          verse.                       YOUNG ELIZABETH                 (amused)          Are you indeed?                       BOY OXFORD                 (nods seriously)          It is my only desire to one day be          your majesty's most trusted servant in          matters both of war and state, if you          will but have me.                       YOUNG ELIZABETH                 (charmed)          Why, Lord Cecil, it seems we may very          well have found your replacement.                       WILLIAM CECIL          We hope not too soon, majesty, we hope          not too soon.                                                           28                                                       pg. 29                            YOUNG ELIZABETH                      (teasing)               And how liked you our young lord's               play, William?     William Cecil stiffens in discomfort.                            YOUNG ELIZABETH (CONT'D)                      (to Boy Oxford,                       conspiratorially)               Our Lord Cecil is our most religious               of subjects, and no doubt thinks your               little masque will deliver your soul               straight into the arms of Lucifer               himself. Don't you, William?     The Boy Oxford looks at William Cecil, perplexed by     such a thing.                            WILLIAM CECIL               That is God's decision, your majesty.               Not mine.     William Cecil looks directly at John de Vere resulting     in an uncomfortable silence.     Elizabeth notices.                            YOUNG ELIZABETH               Well, if plays are indeed such a sin,               I pray I do not find my salvation               until very late in life.     Boy Oxford smiles.   He might very well be in love.                                                        CUT TO:26   INT. A JAIL CELL - DAY                                        26     Thirty-eight years later. The door SWEEPS open and a     snoring, sleeping Jonson is awakened by--                              GUARD (O.S.)               Jonson!    Ben Jonson!     The other prisoners make way as the guard approaches     Jonson. The guard tosses a wax-sealed piece of     parchment onto Jonson's lap.                            GUARD (CONT'D)               You've been released.     Jonson looks at it, confused.                                                                  29                                                           pg. 30                                GUARD (CONT'D)                   Got powerful friends, now, don't you?26A   EXT. A BOAT - RIVER THAMES - DAY                                26A      Jonson is in a nobleman's longboat (for the first time      in his life). Across from him sits FRANCESCO--      Italian, 60's-- wearing a doublet with the Oxford coat      of arms on its chest.      The City of London is far in the distance.      Jonson looks around uncomfortably at the luxurious boat      for a moment before--                                JONSON                   And who are you?      Francesco just stares back.                                JONSON (CONT'D)                   And where are we going?      Francesco is silent.      WIDER      The boat approaches a large stone house, Oxford Stone.                                                            CUT TO:      A RED ROSE      as it is cut from its bush by ink-stained hands.       We      are:27    EXT. OXFORD STONE - GARDEN - DAY                                 27      Oxford smells the rose, inhaling its essence. Then he      turns and sees Francesco escorting Ben Jonson towards      him.      Before they reach him he glances at his wife ANNE De      Vere (40's) who sits in the distance knitting with one      of their daughter's, BRIDGET (17).      Jonson is quite uncomfortable to be at such a grand      place. Jonson CLEARS his throat.                                JONSON                   My lord...                                                                      30                                                  pg. 31                       OXFORD          The Tudor rose. The most beautiful of          flowers, don't you think?                       JONSON          It looks to me to have quite a number          of thorns, my lord.                        OXFORD          So it does.   So it does.                       JONSON          I am told, my lord, that I owe my          freedom to you.                       OXFORD          That is true. And it was quite hard          to come by. One does not cross my          father-in-law lightly.Jonson doesn't know who he is talking about.                       OXFORD (CONT'D)          Lord William Cecil. I have the          questionable distinction of being          married to his only daughter.Oxford looks over to his wife who watches themsuspiciously. He begins to walk away forcing Jonson andFrancesco to follow.                       OXFORD (CONT'D)          It did, however, serve as helpful when          I wrote to your jailers to release you          in my father-in-law's name.Jonson suddenly looks worried and turns and looks backto Anne.                       JONSON                 (in a panicked whisper)          My lord-- I'm sorry, does that mean my          release is not officially sanctioned?                        OXFORD          Don't be an idiot Jonson, of course it          wasn't.                 (beat)          But you are free, are you not?They have come to an entrance to a GARDEN MAZE and Annewatches them as they disappear into the maze.                                                           31                                                     pg. 3228   EXT. MAZE - DAY                                           28     Oxford turns to Jonson.                            OXFORD               I enjoyed your little comedy last               week, Jonson. You have potential,               great potential.                            JONSON               Thank you, my lord.                            OXFORD               But it's politics did seem to have               quite an effect on the Tower. My               father-in-law's men felt it quite               seditious.                            JONSON               Politics? My play had nothing to do               with politics! It was just a simple               comedy--                             OXFORD               That showed your betters as fools who               go through life barely managing to get               food from plate to mouth, were it not               for the cleverness of their servants.                      (beat)               All art is political, Jonson.               Otherwise it would just be decoration.               And all artists have something to say,               otherwise... they'd make shoes. And               you're not a cobbler, are you, Jonson?     As they enter the center of the maze, Oxford turns to     his servant.                               OXFORD (CONT'D)                      (nods)               Francesco.     Francesco steps forward and hands Jonson a leather     bound manuscript. Jonson looks at it confused and     opens it.                            JONSON               A play, my lord?                            OXFORD               One you shall stage Bankside.                               JONSON               Stage?                                                              32                                                  pg. 33                       OXFORD          Under your name.                       JONSON          My name, my lord?                       OXFORD          I can't very well use my name, can I?          I'm the seventeenth Earl of Oxford.          The Lord Great Chamberlain of England,          Viscount Bolebec, Lord Escales,          Sandford and Badlesmere, etc, etc.          No. I have a... reputation to          protect. In my world, one does not          write plays, Jonson. People like you          do.Jonson tries not to be offended.                       JONSON          Yes. My lord. You wrote an entire          play, my lord. I know how difficult--                       OXFORD          Not a play, Jonson, I've written many.          No doubt, many more than you yourself.          A good number performed at Court years          ago, others never seen by a living          soul.                       JONSON          And you want... me to apply my name to          this play?                       OXFORD          No. I mean you to put your name to          all of them.                         JONSON          All of them?                       OXFORD          Well don't look like I just gutted          your pet dog, Jonson. I mean to make          you the most popular-- and therefore          the most monetarily successful--          playwright in all of London.Jonson pales.   This is a disaster for him.                       OXFORD (CONT'D)          I wish you god speed and good morrow.Jonson looks down at the manuscript, reads a few lines.                                                           33                                                      pg. 34                            JONSON               My lord-- I really--     He looks up, but Oxford is gone, having left the maze     without so much as a good-bye.                              JONSON (CONT'D)               My lord?     But before he can follow, Francesco tosses a leather     pouch of coins at his feet.                            FRANCESCO               That is for your trouble, Signor               Jonson. And your silence. If I hear               you break that silence, then... not so               good for Signor Jonson.     And Francesco follows after his master as Jonson picks     up the pouch, examining its contents.     And then Jonson realizes he doesn't know how to get out     of the maze. He chases after them.                             JONSON               Hello?   My lord?! I--     And he's lost. He looks this way and that, then picks     a path (the wrong one).29   EXT. CECIL HOUSE - DAY                                      29     Robert Cecil is standing at the opulent river   entrance     to Cecil House, waiting for an enormous barge   docking.     William Cecil (now 75) is at the front of the   barge,     waiting to disembark. He constantly holds an    ornately     carved white cane.                            WILLIAM CECIL               So! I am gone for three days, and you               somehow manage to let her spend all of               them solely in the company of the Earl               of Essex...     Robert Cecil looks at him sharply.   How did he know.                            WILLIAM CECIL (CONT'D)               Don't think because I was in London, I               didn't know exactly what went on here               in my absence.                                                                34                                                      pg. 35                            ROBERT CECIL               He is an Earl, father. I cannot deny               him--                             WILLIAM CECIL               Of course not! You don't deny him               anything. You find excuses. She is               unwell, she is reading, she is seeing               the Ambassador from Russia. For God's               sake, use your imagination, Robert.               Whatever will you do when I am gone?                      (beat)               We will have to deal with Essex soon.               His ambitions are becoming a nuisance.30   INT. CECIL HOUSE - HALLWAY - DAY                           30     William Cecil enters an impressive hallway and turns to     his son.                            WILLIAM CECIL               Now tell me about the play.     Robert Cecil looks surprised for an instant that he     knows about that as well.                            ROBERT CECIL               It-- it was an anonymous gift. Essex               insisted it be performed, just to               spite me in front of Court...                            WILLIAM CECIL               Of course he did.                      (concerned)               But what was it about?                            ROBERT CECIL               About? Some nonsense about fairies               and cherubs.                            WILLIAM CECIL               ...And dancing asses?     Robert looks surprised at his father who has stopped     suddenly.                            WILLIAM CECIL (CONT'D)                      (realizing, to himself)               Edward...                      (to Robert Cecil)               Have you any idea what you have-- No,               how could you...                                                               35                                                    pg. 36     And he starts back up the stairs.                              ROBERT CECIL               Father...    It was just a play...                             WILLIAM CECIL               And do you know how long it took me to               banish them from her presence? She               adores them! Adores them! And Edward               knows it.                      (beat)               Mark my words, Robert, he has done               this for a purpose.                              ROBERT CECIL               Purpose?    What purpose?                            WILLIAM CECIL                      (thinking, to himself)               What purpose indeed?                      (to Robert)               But through your carelessness I must               now deal not only with Essex, but               Edward as well. For whether in shadow               or in person, Edward has returned to               Court!     And with that he slams the door shut.     Robert Cecil walks over to a nearby window. Visibly     upset he starts to stare out of the window and     remembers...                                                        CUT TO:31   OMIT                                                          31     THROUGH A THIRD STORY WINDOW     We see servants carrying big trunks. There are at least     120 men on horses. They all wear the Oxford's crest.                             WILLIAM CECIL (O.S)               Robert.32   INT. CECIL HOUSE - HALLWAY - DAY                              32     And it is thirty years earlier.     BOY ROBERT CECIL (now 9) is staring out of the window.     His back must have been deformed either in utero or at     birth, because even now he is hunchbacked.                                                                  36                                                   pg. 37                       WILLIAM CECIL(O.S.)                 (more commanding)          Robert! Come here.Finally Boy Robert Cecil turns and sees Young Oxford(now 17) entering the hallway with William Cecil andhis wife and daughter, Young ANNE (15). In front ofthem, lined up, are several men whom we will learn areTUTORS.Boy Robert Cecil doesn't move.                       WILLIAM CECIL (CONT'D)                 (to Young Oxford)          I am sorry, my lord. But my son          Robert prefers the company... of          himself...Boy Robert Cecil watches as his father turns to hismother and sister.                       WILLIAM CECIL (CONT'D)          May I present my wife, Lady Cecil, and          my daughter, Anne.Young Anne curtsies.                       YOUNG ANNE          I am sorry for your loss, my lord.          The realm lost a great lord with your          father's death. We hope you will be          happy in our house--                       BOY ROBERT CECIL (O.S.)          Are you going to live here forever?Everybody turns and sees the odd hunchback child hasfinally come over.                         YOUNG OXFORD                   (smiles)          No.    Only until I reach my maturity.                        BOY ROBERT CECIL          Why?                       WILLIAM CECIL          Because the Queen has bade it so.                 (to Young Oxford)          My lord, when we first met, you said          you wished to become a great man of          State. Both the Queen and I hope to          make that so.                       (MORE)                                                            37                                                 pg. 38                       WILLIAM CECIL (CONT'D)          To that end, I have the honor of          introducing you to your tutors.                 (indicates one of them)          Seven to eight you shall be tutored in          French by Mister Crane--                      YOUNG OXFORD          Monsieur. Ca me fait plaisir de vous          connaitre.Master Crane bows his head.                       WILLIAM CECIL          Nine to ten is Greek with Mister          Simmons.                       YOUNG OXFORD                 (in Greek)          Dalon, an d'ego, hoti mathamata ge          esti ha trafo psychas.                       BOY ROBERT CECIL          Is that Homer?                        YOUNG OXFORD                  (sharp)          No.   Plato.Boy Robert frowns at the correction.                       WILLIAM CECIL                 (slight frown, then)          And you know your uncle, Mister          Golding, who has petitioned me to          allow you to assist him in his          translations of ancient Latin texts          into English.                       YOUNG OXFORD                 (in Latin)          Continetne, ut spero, Ovidii          Metamorphose? Mihi honori erit,          patrueMister Golding bows his head in appreciation.                       WILLIAM CECIL          Then cosmography with Doctor Richards.          Two to three is geography and history,          and four to five fencing.William Cecil seems to have finished.                                                          38                                                       pg. 39                            YOUNG OXFORD                      (to William Cecil)               And composition? Poetry?                            WILLIAM CECIL               This is a Puritan home, your grace.               We believe such activities to be the               worship of false idols, and therefore               a sin before the eyes of God.                            YOUNG OXFORD               A sin? But surely there must be room               for beauty and art in life, my lord.                            WILLIAM CECIL               Not in this household.33   INT. CECIL HOUSE - GREAT HALL - DAY                         33     Young Oxford is fencing with a tutor. He's quite good.     In fact, he's better than the tutor, who is twice his     age.     Boy Robert Cecil casually watches as he plays chess     against himself.     Young Oxford, with a fierce, beautifully executed     attack, disarms his tutor. The tutor's sword FLIES     into the air, and hits--     THE CHESS BOARD     making the pieces scatter.     WIDER     Boy Robert Cecil looks up, his face furious, to see     Young Oxford coming over to him.                            YOUNG OXFORD               You were losing anyway.                            BOY ROBERT CECIL               I was also winning.     Young Oxford picks up the sword, throws it to his     tutor, who catches it.                            BOY ROBERT CECIL                            (CONT'D)               You know I am going to one day succeed               my father at the Queen's side. Not               you.                                                                39                                                    pg. 40     Young Oxford motions to go, then picks up the black     king, and tosses it to Boy Robert Cecil, who can't     catch it because of his deformity. It CLANGS on the     floor.                            YOUNG OXFORD                 Really?34   INT. CECIL HOUSE - HALLWAY - DAY                           34     Moments later, the Young Oxford heads down the hall     alone, heading for his rooms, his sword still in his     hand.                                                     CUT TO:     POEMS     neatly written on parchment.   We are:35   INT. CECIL HOUSE - YOUNG OXFORD'S ROOM - DAY               35     And a SERVANT is looking at the poems, then quickly     stuffing them into a bag.     But then he HEARS footsteps coming. Panicked, he looks     for someplace to hide-- a tapestry half covers a door--     he runs to it-- the door is locked!     So he hides behind the tapestry just as the door opens,     and Young Oxford enters.     After a few steps, Young Oxford senses something amiss.     Looks at his--     WRITING DESK     where the parchments are scattered.     YOUNG OXFORD     goes to his desk, picks up one of the pieces of     parchment. It has poetry on it. His poetry. He goes     through some other pages. And realizes other pages are     missing. He becomes infuriated. He sees--     UNDER THE TAPESTRY     Two feet.                                                               40                                                        pg. 41     WIDER     Young Oxford CHARGES the tapestry, sword in hand.     He     THRUSTS the sword THROUGH the tapestry.     The man screams in agony as he falls. He doesn't just     die, but screams and screams and screams.     Young Oxford steps back-- half in horror... half in     triumph. The SOUND of APPLAUSE takes us to:36   INT. THE ROSE THEATER - BACKSTAGE - DAY                      36     Thirty-three years later.     Shakespeare is on stage, taking a bow. The audience is     APPLAUDING and SCREAMING their approval of a     performance that has just ended. He steps backwards--     BACKSTAGE     --where Jonson stands holding the manuscript Oxford     gave him.                              SHAKESPEARE                 Is it any good?                              JONSON                 How in blazes should I know?                              SHAKESPEARE                 You haven't even read it?     And Shakespeare is drawn back--     ON STAGE     --where he bows again, then steps--     BACKSTAGE     --so Jonson can answer him.                              JONSON                 I read a line or two-- I promised                 Henslowe I'd finish "Eastward Ho" by                 Saturday.                              SHAKESPEARE                 And you say he's a nobleman?     Jonson doesn't answer.                                                                 41                                                       pg. 42                             SHAKESPEARE (CONT'D)               Powerful?   Rich??     Jonson still doesn't answer, which is answer enough.                            SHAKESPEARE (CONT'D)               Ohhhh, you have to do it then, don't               you?     And Shakespeare goes back on stage.37   EXT. BANKSIDE LONDON - DAY                                  37     Jonson and Shakespeare are walking along Bankside,     still mid-conversation. They pass all sorts of vendors     selling fish, fresh water, food, etc...                            JONSON               I tell you Will-- I came to London to               become a great poet, to, to, be the               conscience of our times, the soul of               our age! To change the world, not to               become someone else's--                            SHAKESPEARE                      (amused)               Change the world? With rhyme?                            JONSON               Yes, why not? Why can't a man change               the world with words?     Shakespeare laughs at him.                            JONSON (CONT'D)                      (mimicking Oxford)               "I can make you the most popular and               the richest playwright in all of               London."                      (takes a swig)               Ballocks! I can do that myself, thank               you very much.38   INT. THE MERMAID'S TAVERN - NIGHT                           38     Shakespeare is perusing the manuscript.   Some of the     actors from the Rose are in the BG.                            SHAKESPEARE               You know, it's actually not half               bad...                                                                42                                                         pg. 43     Jonson takes a swig of ale, then--                              JONSON                 Not half--?! You're an actor, what in                 God's name do you know about writing?!                 He's an amateur, Will, a complete and                 utter amateur. Last week gardening,                 this week playwrighting, next week                 hawking.                        (takes another swig)                 No. I won't do it. It would be an                 affront against the Muses...                              SHAKESPEARE                        (smiles)                 Well we musn't offend the muses,                 whatever we do.                        (thinks, then)                 How much money did you say he gave                 you?                              JONSON                 What, you think my name can be bought,                 if the number's great enough, do you?     Shakespeare smiles enigmatically.                              SHAKESPEARE                 No, not at all... I think we should                 keep your good name quite intact,                 thank you very much.     Jonson frowns, confused as we--                                                          CUT TO:     A RED WIG     as it is placed on the head of Elizabeth.   We are:39   INT. WHITEHALL PALACE - OLD ELIZABETH'S BEDROOM - DAY           39     Elizabeth is behind an elaborately painted screen.     Several ladies-in-waiting attend her, helping her get     ready for the day. It's an intricate process. Make-     up, multiple articles of clothing, jewelry...                              WILLIAM CECIL (O.S.)                 King Philip of Spain sees the current                 Catholic revolt in Ireland as a                 weakness of ours. A weakness to be                 exploited....                                                                    43                                                  pg. 44Elizabeth's wig is being glued into place.                       ELIZABETH          Ireland?THE OTHER SIDE OF THE SCREEN (THEN INTERCUT EACH SIDEOF SCREEN AS NEEDED)William Cecil hasn't realized that his son Robert hassneaked in the room behind him to listen in.                        WILLIAM CECIL          There are rumors of his sending          financial aid, and even troops. We          must act quickly.                 (beat)          We must replace the Lord Lieutenant of          Ireland, and send additional troops          immediately, majesty.                        ELIZABETH          Replace?   With whom?William Cecil hesitates slightly, then--                       WILLIAM CECIL          I would recommend the Earl of Essex,          your majesty.                       ELIZABETH          Essex?  To Ireland?                 (frowns)          For how long?                       WILLIAM CECIL          As long as the present crisis          warrants, majesty.                       ELIZABETH          Impossible. He cannot be spared. We          feel his counsel is of greater import          with each passing day.Not what William Cecil wanted to hear.                       WILLIAM CECIL          I only recommend we send your most          able subjects where they are most          needed, majesty.                 (beat, a last-ditch                  effort)          Philip of Spain dreams still of taking          your kingdom from you.                       (MORE)                                                           44                                                  pg. 45                       WILLIAM CECIL (CONT'D)          Of burning you at the stake as a          heretic. Give him a foot-hold in          Ireland, and--                       ELIZABETH          But Essex?                       WILLIAM CECIL          Essex's martial abilities are, in my          opinion, the only antidote to the          plague of Philip.                 (clears his throat)          Though, Essex would not,          unfortunately, be able to remain in          the Privy Council if he is in          Ireland...                       ELIZABETH          And who would you advise to replace          him?Three ladies-in-waiting approach with three differentgown. Elizabeth studies them as:                       WILLIAM CECIL          Sir Robert Cecil.                       ELIZABETH          Your son?                       WILLIAM CECIL          He is my own advisor first, my son          second, majesty. His counsel has been          invaluable to me, and no doubt will be          to you as well.Elizabeth points to one of the dresses, and waves thehandmaidens away.                       ELIZABETH          Yes, yes, yes. We will send Essex to          Ireland and place Robert on my Privy          Council.But William's flash of victory is dampened by--                       ELIZABETH (CONT'D)          I saw a play this last weekend,          William. It made me think of... days          long past. Of memories... long past.          Long past. I should like to see more          of them...          Has Edward been happy, William? With          your daughter?                                                           45                                                    pg. 46     William Cecil doesn't answer. Instead he thinks,     remembers, as we hear his younger voice...                             WILLIAM CECIL (O.S.)               Murdered!                                                        CUT TO:40   INT. CECIL HOUSE - GREAT HALL - DAY                           40     Thirty years earlier.     William Cecil is standing in front of an enormous     fireplace, pacing in a pique of anger.                            WILLIAM CECIL               By your own hand!                            YOUNG OXFORD               He was stealing my poems.                            WILLIAM CECIL               He was doing my bidding!                             YOUNG OXFORD               Yours?                           WILLIAM CECIL               Of course. As soon as Robert informed               me that you were disobeying my               express--                             YOUNG OXFORD               Robert?   Robert told--     William Cecil SLAMS his fists on a table.                            WILLIAM CECIL               Enough! Thou shalt not worship false               idols in my household! Your               everlasting soul hangs in the balance.               Not poems. Your soul!                            YOUNG OXFORD               My poems are my soul!     William Cecil turns away in frustration as much as     disgust.                            WILLIAM CECIL               You have placed me in a grave               position, Edward.                            (MORE)                                                                  46                                                       pg. 47                             WILLIAM CECIL (CONT'D)               I cannot have my reputation soiled by               this regrettable lack of control on               your part... No. I will not have it.               We can claim self-defense, he drew               sword first.                      (beat)               But... I wish something in return.     Young Oxford looks worried.                            WILLIAM CECIL (CONT'D)               My daughter is young, impressionable.               She has feelings for you, Edward. It               is to be expected, living in such               close quarters...                            YOUNG OXFORD               Sir. For the last three years you               have managed to seize much of my               inheritance--                            WILLIAM CECIL               Hold your tongue, Edward, before you               make a claim you cannot retract! I               have been legally reimbursed for your               education and living expenses.                            YOUNG OXFORD               And now you suggest you be               "reimbursed" the rest of my once               considerable estates through your               daughter's bed?     William Cecil studies Young Oxford's face.                            WILLIAM CECIL               No. This is how I suggest you keep               your noble head from the executioner's               block.     YOUNG OXFORD     stares at him.   The SOUND of CHURCH BELLS RINGING takes     us to:41   INT. WESTMINSTER ABBEY - DAY                                41     And Young Oxford and Anne are being married by a     bishop.                                                                47                                                       pg. 48                            BISHOP               ...and in the fear of god, duly               considering the causes for which               matrimony was ordained. One was the               procreation of children...     WILLIAM CECIL     appears triumphant.   He looks beaming over to...                            BISHOP (CONT'D)               ...to be brought up in the fear and               nurture of the Lord and praise of God.               Secondly, it was ordained for a remedy               against sin.     YOUNG ELIZABETH     Who presides over the whole affair. The first time we     see a dress on her which makes her truly regal.                            BISHOP (CONT'D)               Thirdly, for the mutual society, help               and comfort, that the one ought to               have of the other, both in prosperity               and adversity, into the which holiest               state these two persons present come               now to be joined.     AT THE ALTAR     Young Anne looks at her young husband, lovingly. Young     Oxford is a bit overwhelmed and unsure of it all. And     then we HEAR a trumpet BLARING, which takes us to:42   INT. THE ROSE THEATER - DAY                                 42     Thirty-two years later.     Vendors hawk food and drink as they walk through the     audience.     IN OXFORD'S BOX     Oxford sits, Francesco behind him, exhilarated by the     scene below him.     IN THE GALLERIES     Marlowe, Dekker and Nashe are looking at their single-     sheet programs.                                                                48                                                pg. 49                        NASHE           "Henry V" by... No one?                        MARLOWE           And why would any of you admit to           trying to better me in a historical           drama? Comedy, yes, tragedy, perhaps.           But never will one of you best me in           historicals.Marlowe takes a swig of ale, and spots Jonson coming tojoin them.                        MARLOWE (CONT'D)           Or will we be seeing a most hysterical           historical?Jonson sits next to Marlowe.                        MARLOWE (CONT'D)           Hmm? Ben? Waiting to see how it's           received before you lay claim??Before Jonson can answer--ON STAGEAn actor, CONDELL (40's), dressed all in white (evenhis face is painted white) enters stage. He is"Prologue". He addresses the audience directly.                        "PROLOGUE"           Oh, for a muse of fire, that would           ascend the brightest heaven of           invention. A kingdom for a stage,           princes to act, and monarchs to behold           the swelling scene! Then should           warlike Harry, like himself, assume           the port of Mars, and at his heels           should famine, sword, and fire crouch           for his employment. Can this cockpit           hold the vasty fields of France?IN THE GALLERIESJonson seems surprised.   This is not what he expected.This is good.                                                    CUT TO:HORSE HOOVESas they POUND on cobblestone.   We are:                                                              49                                                      pg. 5043   EXT. THE ENGLISH COUNTRY-SIDE - DAY                        43     And Southampton is riding his horse at full gallop     through the countryside. About two dozen retainers     follow, the first few with Southampton's coat-of-arms     on flags.44   INT. THE ROSE THEATER - DAY                                44     It is later in the play.     On stage, about 15 actors are in full battle armor.     They include: "HENRY V", played by the actor called     Spencer, "WESTMORELAND", "EXETER", "SALISBURY". All     the men on stage now wear battle armor.                             "HENRY V"                This day is called the feast of                Crispian: he that outlives this day,                and comes safe home, will stand a tip-                toe when this day is named, and rouse                him at the name of Crispian.     IN THE GALLERIES     Marlowe, Dekker, Nashe and Jonson all watch, obviously     impressed. Nashe takes a swig of Ale.     IN OXFORD'S BOX     Oxford watches, loving the stagecraft involved in the     production.                             "HENRY V" (CONT'D)                He that shall see this day and live                t'old age, will yearly on the vigil                feast his neighbors, and say 'To-                morrow is Saint Crispian.     ON STAGE     "Henry V" speaks to his men.                             "HENRY V" (CONT'D)                Then will he strip his sleeve and show                his scars.     The actor playing "Henry" kneels at the front of the     stage. He speaks to the groundlings as though they are     his troops.                                                               50                                                   pg. 51                        "HENRY V" (CONT'D)           And say 'These wounds I had on           Crispin's day.' Old men forget: yet           all shall be forgot, but he'll           remember with advantages what feats he           did that day. This story shall the           good man teach his son.THE GROUNDLINGSbecome literally spellbound.                        "HENRY V" (CONT'D)           And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go           by, from this day to the ending of the           world, but we in it shall be           remembered; we few, we happy few, we           band of brothers; for he to-day that           sheds his blood with me shall be my           brother; be he ne'er so vile, this day           shall gentle his condition: and           gentlemen in England now a-bed shall           think themselves accursed they were           not here, and hold their man-hoods           cheap whiles any speaks that fought           with us upon Saint Crispin's day!The entire audience stands and CHEERS madly.OXFORDwatches, with a pride he has never felt.IN THE GALLERIESThe "wits" look at each other amazed.ON STAGE                        "SALISBURY"           My sovereign lord, bestow yourself           with speed. The French are bravely in           their battles set and will with all           expedience charge on us.                        "HENRY V"           All things are ready, if our minds be           so.                        "WESTMORELAND"           Perish the man whose mind is backward           now!                                                            51                                                         pg. 52                              "HENRY V"                 You know your places: God be with you                 all!     THE "HUT"     which is a round tower on top of the stage, contains     several small cannons manned by stagehands. They shoot     BLANK CANNON SHOTS.45   EXT. THE CITY GATES OF LONDON - DAY                           45     Southampton and his retainers gallop through a City     gate. Above the gate, the severed heads of murderers     sit on pikes.46   INT. THE ROSE THEATER - DAY                                   46     Actors portraying French soldiers STORM the stage,     swords brandished. "Henry" and his men begin fighting     them, their swordplay elaborate and impressive.47   EXT. LONDON BRIDGE - DAY                                      47     Southampton and his entourage gallop over London     Bridge.48   INT. THE ROSE THEATER - DAY                                   48     The battle rages on stage.     One hardy audience member starts to actually ATTACK one     of the French "soldiers" himself. He's quickly joined     by a few comrades-- and it quickly becomes a madhouse;     half play, half real fight, as more audience members     join the "battle". The play quickly degenerates into a     bloody brawl between actors and audience.49   EXT/INT. ROSE THEATER - DAY                                   49     Southampton arrives at the theater.   He jumps   off his     horse, and hurries--     INTO THE STAIRWELL     jumping two steps at a time. We HEAR the sound of     APPLAUSE. The play is now over. Southampton hurries     into--                                                                  52                                                    pg. 53OXFORD'S BOXHe sees Oxford, who is applauding.    All the actors ofthe play are taking their bows.                         SOUTHAMPTON            William Cecil's convinced the Queen            that only Essex can save Ireland from            the Revolt.Oxford processes this.                         SOUTHAMPTON (CONT'D)            I've pledged to go with him, Edward.            We sail in an hour.                         OXFORD            Henry--                         SOUTHAMPTON            I ask for your blessing, Edward.                         OXFORD            I can't give it to you.IN THE GALLERIES                         NASHE            I for one wish to see this anonymous            colleague of ours.                   (stands)            Playwright! Playwright!!Marlowe and others join in.   And--BACKSTAGEShakespeare, standing next to a small table of props,quickly dips his fingers in an inkwell to make themstained. He grabs a large feathered quill and tucks apiece of parchment under his arm, then hurries--ON STAGE--where he bows deeply, loving the adulation.IN OXFORD'S BOX                         SOUTHAMPTON            If he is to be my king, then it is my            sacred duty to be with him in battle.                                                             53                                                        pg. 54     Oxford tries to understand Southampton, but then     notices Shakespeare on stage. His mouth opens in     shock, and he turns to look across the theater at--     JONSON     who guiltily looks away.   Marlowe's mouth is open, his     hands stop applauding.     IN OXFORD'S BOX     Southampton is angered by Oxford's distraction.                             SOUTHAMPTON (CONT'D)                I am sorry to have disturbed your                entertainment.     And he exits.                             OXFORD                Henry-- Henry!!     But the younger man is gone.     ON STAGE     Shakespeare bows, then--                             SHAKESPEARE                I, I... It's been... I, I, want                to... thank my actors, whose great                acting brought... my words... to life                due to their most finest acting.                Ah... Thank you.                              OXFORD (O.S.)                An actor?!!                                                         CUT TO:50   INT. OXFORD STONE - STUDY - DAY                                50     The multi-arched ceiling is painted blue with gold     stars. Globes-- both terrestrial and astral-- abound.     Jonson stands in front of a very angry Oxford.                             OXFORD                An actor for god's sake?                             JONSON                My lord, I thought that--                                                                   54                                                       pg. 55                             OXFORD                You presumed to think? On my behalf?                Whatever made you believe you had that                prerogative?     A beat.   Jonson is a bit afraid.                             JONSON                My lord, your voice is completely                different than mine. My, my, my                characters are--                             OXFORD                Voice? You have no voice! That's why                I chose you!                       (beat, softer)                You at least kept my name from him?     Jonson NODS.                             OXFORD (CONT'D)                And will continue to do so?     Oxford studies him, believes him.   Then he opens a     cabinet.     In it, manuscript after manuscript are stacked.     Jonson     looks behind him, stunned by the number.     Oxford looks up and down the cabinet. He pulls one     out, decides no, and puts it back, looking for just the     right one... He pulls another out, then hands it to     Jonson.                             OXFORD (CONT'D)                A romantic tragedy. In iambic                pentameter.                             JONSON                       (amazed)                All, my lord? Is that possible?                             OXFORD                Of course it is!51   INT. OXFORD STONE - HALLWAY - DAY                             51     Jonson exits Oxford's study, still amazed at the     manuscript as he walks.     He passes ANNE, Oxford's wife (now 40's), who is on her     way to the study with their eldest daughter, BRIDGET     (17).                                                                  55                                                       pg. 56     She watches him go by and immediately realizes that she     has seen him before. But she stays silent.52   INT. OXFORD STONE - STUDY - DAY                             52     Oxford is writing at a desk as Anne enters.                            ANNE               Who was that man?    I've seen him               before.     Oxford holds up a finger to prevent her from speaking     while he finishes writing a thought. It's a long     thought. Anne is obviously annoyed, and interrupts     him.                            ANNE (CONT'D)               Edward-- we must discuss our Bridget's               dowry.                              OXFORD                        (looking up - confused)               Dowry?     He remembers when he spies his daughter.                            ANNE               She cannot go into marriage without a               dowry that is becoming to the daughter               of the Earl Oxford.                            OXFORD               I can give her Brooke House and a               hundred pounds.                            BRIDGET               A hundred pounds? Father?     Mother!                            OXFORD               That is all we have to give at the               moment.     The matter over, Oxford goes back to his writing.                            ANNE                      (furious)               Edward. Edward! Speak to me! Our               family is in financial ruins, and, and               you, you play the flute while Rome               burns!     Oxford turns.                                                                56                                                 pg. 57                       OXFORD          Nero fiddled whilst Rome burned.And then he goes back to writing.                       ANNE          For god's sake, who cares Edward?          When your own daughter can't even have          a suitable dowry?She stares at him.                       ANNE (CONT'D)          My god, you're writing again, aren't          you? After you agreed-- after my          father expressly forbade it!Oxford turns to her, full of emotion                       OXFORD          Anne-- If you could have seen them--          the mob... They, they didn't just sit          there like the reptilia of court,          faces motionless, fangs momentarily          retracted. No! They, they jumped on          stage, they fought the French! A          butcher-- he actually broke his arm!          He was so--                        ANNE          Stop!   Stop it at once!!Anne storms over and grabs the parchment from underhim, and begins RIPPING it up.                       ANNE (CONT'D)          Why!? Why must you write?! Why must          you continue to humiliate this family?He stares at her, almost uncomprehendingly.   Then--                       OXFORD          The voices, Anne... The voices. I, I          can't stop them... They, they come          when I sleep, when I wake, when I sup,          when I, I, I walk down a hall! The          sweet longings of a maiden, the, the          surging ambitions of a courtier, the          foul designs of a murderer, the          wretched pleas of his victims.    Only-          - only when I put their words-- their          voices-- to parchment are they cast          loose, freed... Only then is my          mind... quieted... at peace.                                                          57                                                       pg. 58     Anne steps back, frightened of him.                            OXFORD (CONT'D)               I... would go mad if I didn't write               down the voices.     She stares at him, horrified.                            ANNE               Art thou possessed?     He stares back at her.   A long beat                            OXFORD               I... don't know.                            SHAKESPEARE (O.S.)               "Two households, both alike in               dignity, In fair Verona, where we lay               our scene"53   EXT. LONDON BRIDGE - DAY                                    53     Shakespeare and Jonson are walking along London Bridge--     the only bridge that spanned the Thames at the time, it     is a street lined with multi-storied buildings-- almost     like a mall.     Shakespeare caries and reads from a manuscript of     "Romeo and Juliet"                            SHAKESPEARE               "From ancient grudge break to new               mutiny, Where civil blood makes civil               hands unclean."                      (no longer reading)               Incredible!! The whole bloody thing               in verse?!                            JONSON                      (nonchalant)               It's really not that difficult, if you               try.                            SHAKESPEARE               And have you ever tried?     Jonson gives him a sharp look, and pauses to pick some     onions from a stand.     Shakespeare notices a BUXOM BLONDE women selling apples     at the next stand.                                                                58                                                 pg. 59                       SHAKESPEARE (CONT'D)                 (performing for the                  Blonde)          "But soft, what light through yonder          window breaks?          It is the east, and Juliet is the sun.          Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious          moon,          Who is already sick and pale with          grief, That thou her maid art far more          fair than she."The Buxom Blonde smiles at Shakespeare seductively.                       SHAKESPEARE (CONT'D)                 (to Jonson)          I'll have little trouble parting the          legs of barmaids after that          performance!                       JONSON          You can't play Romeo.Jonson leaves the stall, and continues down the street.Shakespeare hesitates, then gives the girl a dazzlingsmile. She smiles back, then Shakespeare runs afterJonson.                        SHAKESPEARE                 (to Jonson)          Why not? I won't let that oaf Spencer          have another go at one of my roles.          No-- only Will Shakespeare can pump          the life into Romeo's veins.                 (grins at another passing                  girl)          And his cod piece!                 (beat, desperate)          Ben-- Ben! I'm an actor, every inch          of me, down to my very toes... I want-          - no, I need, crave-- to act. I can't          just idle the day by with--                       JONSON          So bloody well act like a writer! And          for God's sake, keep off the stage.          Writers don't have time to act.                                           DISSOLVE TO:                                                          59                                                        pg. 6054   INT. THE ROSE THEATER - DAY                                  54     A performance of "Romeo and Juliet". About a dozen     actors are dancing. It is Act 1, Scene 5. "ROMEO",     played by Spencer, is staring longingly at "Juliet".     "Romeo" turns to his servant.                              "ROMEO"                 What lady's that, which doth enrich                 the hand of yonder knight?                              "SERVANT"                 I know not, sir.                              "ROMEO"                 O, she doth teach the torches to burn                 bright! It seems she hangs upon the                 cheek of night like a rich jewel in an                 Ethiop's ear; beauty too rich for use,                 for earth too dear!     The actor playing Romeo plays to the women in the     audience. And     THE WOMEN     respond, eye lashes twittering.     THE WITS     Watch in awe!   Now they're all taking swigs of ale.     BACKSTAGE     Shakespeare mouthing silently the lines of "Romeo".     IN OXFORD'S BOX     Oxford watches the dance carefully.                              "ROMEO" (CONT'D)                 Did my heart love till now? Forswear                 it, sight! For I ne'er saw true                 beauty till this night.                                                  DISSOLVE TO:55   INT. RICHMOND PALACE - GREAT HALL - NIGHT                    55     Twenty-eight years earlier. A dance is taking place.     YOUNG OXFORD-- now 20 is dancing with Young Anne.     But     his eyes are on:                                                                 60                                                  pg. 61Young Elizabeth, who is dancing with the SpanishAMBASSADOR.YOUNG ELIZABETHseems less than interested in her dancing partner.    SheSTARES intently back at Young Oxford.WIDERThere is a natural change in the music, and all thedancers switch partners-- it's part of the dance.Young Oxford goes to Young Elizabeth, the SpanishAmbassador goes to Anne.YOUNG ELIZABETH AND YOUNG OXFORDstare into each others eyes as they dance the intricatemoves.                       YOUNG ELIZABETH          My lord of Oxford.Elizabeth smiles.                       YOUNG ELIZABETH (CONT'D)          We liked your play tonight very much.          Your young King Henry reminded us of          you.                       OXFORD          Did he?                       YOUNG ELIZABETH          Rash, yet brave. A boy-- and yet a          man. Fair on the eyes, fairer to the          ear...WIDERMuch of the Court is watching this.   They can tellthere are sparks between them.All the dancers change partners, including Elizabethand Oxford. A few dance moves, and Oxford once againfinds himself with Elizabeth.                       YOUNG ELIZABETH (CONT'D)          We are glad of your return from the          continent. Two years is far too long          to be without such excellent          amusements.Young Oxford dips his head slightly in acknowledgment.                                                            61                                                     pg. 62                          YOUNG OXFORD             If I had known my absence would cause             your grace so much... longing, I would             have returned much-- much-- sooner.Was that a come-on?    Young Elizabeth decides to findout.                          YOUNG ELIZABETH             Your wife must be much pleased by your             presence once more at her side...Young Oxford glances over at--YOUNG ANNEwho is now dancing with the Spanish Ambassador. Butshe watches Young Elizabeth and Young Oxford with agreat deal of jealousy.WILLIAM CECILFollows his daughter's look. He doesn't like what hesees any more than Young Anne does.BACK TO YOUNG ELIZABETH AND YOUNG OXFORDStill dancing.                          YOUNG OXFORD             If she is, it is but a small comfort             to me. I am returned only under my             father-in-law's insistence.A beat as this sinks in.                          YOUNG ELIZABETH                    (surprised)             Cecil had told me your match was one             of love.                          YOUNG OXFORD             And so he would wish.                    (long beat)             But how could one ever love the moon,             after having first seen the sun?He stares intensely into her eyes.    And she staresright back.                                              DISSOLVE TO:                                                              62                                                       pg. 6357    EXT. RICHMOND PALACE - BALCONY - DAY                         57      Three Ladies-in-waiting run onto the balcony to join      Bessie, who is looking across the palace grounds,      watching--56    EXT. RICHMOND PALACE - FOREST - SAME TIME                    56      Young Elizabeth and Young Oxford, both on horseback,      unaccompanied, trot over a small bridge.56A   EXT. RICHMOND PALACE - BALCONY - SAME TIME                  56A      The Ladies-in-waiting giggle, but are interrupted by--                             WILLIAM CECIL (O.S.)                Where is her majesty?      Bessie turns to William Cecil.                             BESSIE                My lord. Her majesty went riding with                the Earl of Oxford.      The Ladies-in-waiting share knowing smiles.56B   EXT. RICHMOND PALACE - FOREST - SAME TIME                   56B      Young Elizabeth and Young Oxford share flirty glances,      and then Young Elizabeth spurs her horse to a gallop,      and dashes into the fog. Young Oxford immediately      follows.                                                        CUT TO:58    INT. A ROYAL TENT - LATER                                    58      A servant places a silver plate filled with shucked      oysters onto a table filled with quail, venison, wine,      etc...      Young Elizabeth sits across from Young Oxford.   It's      just the two of them dining.                             YOUNG ELIZABETH                And which country did you like the                most on your travels, my lord?                             YOUNG OXFORD                I think Italy, your grace.                                                                  63                                                         pg. 64                            YOUNG ELIZABETH               And why is that? The weather?       The               food?                            YOUNG OXFORD               No their theater, which they call la               Commedia dell'arte. And, of course,               the women.     She raises an eyebrow.                              YOUNG ELIZABETH               The women?                            YOUNG OXFORD               They were more... clear with their               desires than our English ladies. When               they want something, they take it.               They do not wait to be taken...                                                SLOW DISSOLVE TO:59   OMIT                                                            5960   INT. RICHMOND PALACE - RECEIVING CHAMBER - NIGHT                60     A door SLAMS open, and Young Elizabeth and Young Oxford     dash in, ripping each others clothes off in the     fireplace-lit room.     Young Elizabeth gently pushes Young Oxford towards her     throne... She kisses him. Then begin to make love.     On the throne.                                                    DISSOLVE TO:     LATER     Postcoital, the fire still lit. Young Elizabeth is     half asleep, half awake, nestled in furs in front of     the fireplace... much like Titania in "Midsummer     Night's Dream"...     Young Oxford watches her as she stirs and wakes.      She     smiles at him.                            YOUNG ELIZABETH               I can't decide. Are you Prince               Hal...? Or Romeo? No. Benedick,               maybe...?               No--                            (MORE)                                                                    64                                                    pg. 65                         YOUNG ELIZABETH (CONT'D)                   (smiles)          --Puck                         YOUNG OXFORD                   (smiles)          Puck?                         YOUNG ELIZABETH          Yes, Puck!She's only teasing.                       YOUNG OXFORD          Ah, but Puck would never fight for you          in the Netherlands...                       YOUNG ELIZABETH                 (surprised, smiles)          The Netherlands?But then she realizes he's serious, and the smilevanishes.                       YOUNG OXFORD          Well, why not? It's an open secret on          the continent that you support the          rebels against Spain-- and that you          are commissioning Englishmen to help          their cause. Spain's loss is          England's gain, is it not?Her eyes narrow as she studies his face.                       YOUNG ELIZABETH          Is this why you bedded me? For a          commission?                        YOUNG OXFORD          No.   No-- of course not--    I--She stands, wrapped in her sheets, furious at thethought of once more being used.                         YOUNG ELIZABETH          Leave me.    Leave at once!A beat.                         YOUNG OXFORD          Bess--                       YOUNG ELIZABETH          How dare you! How dare you!! I          command you to leave my presence.                                                             65                                                 pg. 66And she steps back, waiting for him to exit.Young Oxford stands... and starts to approach her...He's nude, his back to us.She steps back, a bit stunned by his impertinence.   Hesteps towards her as--                        YOUNG OXFORD          O Mistress mine, where are you          roaming?          O stay and hear... your true-love's          coming,          That can--                 (looks up and down her                  body)          --kiss both high and low...A bit stunned by his approach, she stumbles backwardson her sheets.                       YOUNG OXFORD (CONT'D)          Trip no further, pretty sweeting....But he's sexy... and naked. And spouting poetry.     Shestops retreating and allows his approach.                       YOUNG OXFORD (CONT'D)          Journeys end in lovers' meeting--          Every wise man's son doth know.A small smile escapes her lips.                       YOUNG OXFORD (CONT'D)          What is love? 'tis not hereafter;          Present mirth hath present laughter;          What's to come is still unsure:He starts to kiss her neck.   Cautiously at first.   Butshe likes it.                       YOUNG OXFORD (CONT'D)          In delay there lies no plenty--          Then come kiss me, Sweet-and-twenty,          Youth's a stuff will not endure.She responds to him, melting from both his words andtouch. They start to kiss deeply, passionately... And--                       YOUNG ELIZABETH                 (passionately)          You will stay in England... And in...          my chambers...                                                           66                                                       pg. 67     The flash of disappointment on Young Oxford's face     about that last bit is tempered by Young Elizabeth's     sheet falling to the floor. They begin to make love     passionately once more.                            NASHE (O.S.)               I could do it if I wanted to...61   INT. THE MERMAID'S TAVERN - DAY                             61     Twenty-seven years later. Jonson, Marlowe, Dekker and     Nashe sit silently at a table, mugs of ale in hand.     Having just returned from "Romeo and Juliet", all are a     bit in shock. The actors from the perfomance are there     as well in the BG.                            MARLOWE                      (to Nashe)               Do what?                            NASHE                      (a little drunk)               A play in iambic, in iambic pen...in-               bic-pentameter. It's not that hard.                            JONSON               Think you so? Have you ever tried?                            NASHE               Of course not. But I could if I               wanted...                            DEKKER               It wasn't all in verse.                              NASHE               Ha!   See!   Even easier!     Shakespeare enters and makes a bee line for them.                            SHAKESPEARE                      (excited)               Henslowe wants "Romeo" to run a               fortnight.                      (unbelievable news)               A fortnight! Innkeeper! A round for               everybody! Inkeeper!!                      (no response)               Billy!!!     And Shakespeare goes over to the bar.                                                                67                                                       pg. 68                                NASHE                 A fortnight?                              DEKKER                 The maids love the romantic tragedies.                              MARLOWE                 Precisely why I avoid them.                             NASHE                 Aw, well. No worries. A one-trick                 pony. He'll never be able to do it                 again.62   INT./EXT. THE ROSE THEATER - DAY                            62     A MONTAGE of various plays:     "TWELFTH NIGHT"     Viola and Sebastian are reunited...     "CAESAR"     Caesar is attacked by Brutus, Cinna, Cassius, etc...     "MACBETH"     The witches are on stage.     These three performances are INTER-CUT with:     PLAYBILLS     outside the Rose, announcing each play's title.      At     first, Shakespeare's name is small, with each     succeeding play his name gets bigger. And--     AFTER EACH PERFORMANCE     Shakespeare bows to the ever-increasing applause of his     audience. He looks up to see the Mermaid's Wits all     watching him with stony silence.     And as each play is seen, Jonson and the rest of the     Wits seem more and more depressed.     And after each performance, Shakespeare seems to be     greeted with more and more adulation.     The MONTAGE ends with...                                                                68                                                       pg. 69     A PLAYBILL     in front of the theater announcing "William     Shakespeare's Hamlet". Shakespeare's name is now above     the title. We HEAR the audience howl with LAUGHTER as--63   INT. ROSE THEATER - DAY                                     63     An actor playing "POLONIUS" does an obvious caricature     of William Cecil, dressed in black with an exaggerated     rendition of Cecil's beard.                               "POLONIUS"                         (over-acting)                  ...Beware of entrance to a quarrel,                  but being in, bear it that the opposed                  may beware of thee. Give every man                  thy ear, but few thy voice, take each                  man's censure, but reserve thy                  judgment....64   INT. WHITEHALL PALACE - AUDIENCE CHAMBER - DAY              64     Elizabeth watches the same play at a court performance.     We see Elizabeth smiling amused as "Polinous" continues     his rant...                               "POLINOUS"                  ....Costly thy habit as thy purse can                  buy, but not expressed in fancy, rich,                  nor gaudy, for the apparel oft                  proclaims the man. This above all, to                  thine own self be true.     Elizabeth absent mindedly starts to scratch her chest,     irritated by some sort of itch, but still focused on     the play.65   INT. ROSE THEATER - DAY                                     65     Jonson watches tight lipped...     The character of GERTRUDE", the Queen, is joined by     "HAMLET". "Polonius" is behind a curtain, listening     in, and is seen by the audience. "Hamlet" appears     enraged.                               "GERTRUDE"                  What wilt thou do? Thou wilt not                  murder me? Help, ho!                                                                69                                                      pg. 70                            "POLONIUS"                      (behind curtain)               What ho, help!     "Hamlet" draws his sword.                             "HAMLET"               How now?   A rat? Dead, for a ducat,               dead!     "Hamlet" stabs "Polonius" through the curtain.                            "POLONIUS"               O, I am slain.     "Polonius" emerges from behind the curtain, covered in     pig's blood, and dies an anguished death.     There is stunned silence in the audience. And then one     lone Groundling CLAPS, then another, then the whole     audience.                            GROUNDLING               Not a day too soon for old Cecil!!66   INT. WHITEHALL PALACE - AUDIENCE CHAMBER - DAY             66     Elizabeth is still scratching her chest, but more     vigorously as some of the members of court give     uncomfortable glances at each other over the death of     William Cecil-- er "Polonius" onstage.                            "GERTRUDE"               O me, what hast thou done?                            "HAMLET"               Nay, I know not. Is it the King?                            "HAMLET" (CONT'D)               Thou wretched, rash, intruding fool,               farewell! I took thee for thy better:               take thy fortune; Thou find'st to be               too busy is some danger. Leave               wringing of your hands: peace! sit you               down, And let me wring your heart; for               so I shall, If it be made of               penetrable stuff,               If damned custom have not brass'd it               so               That it is proof and bulwark against               sense.                                                               70                                                    pg. 71     Elizabeth can't take the itching anymore. She RIPS     open her bodice and violently scratches some sort of     rash on her chest.67   INT/EXT. ROSE THEATER - DAY                               67     Oxford is in his usual box, but completely alone.   He     has a smile of satisfaction on his lips while...     JONSON     Looks over to Oxford with astonishment... While on     stage the world sees for the first time "Hamlet"     contemplating suicide.                            "HAMLET"               To be, or not to be: that is the               question: whether `tis nobler in the               mind to suffer the slings and arrows               of outrageous fortune, or to take arms               against a sea of troubles, and by               opposing end them...     Loud thunder and...     RAIN STARTS TO FALL     And as only the stage and the galleries are covered,     the groundlings are pelted with the cold drops of     water. But they stay. They stay. They cover     themselves up, and silently watch on.                            "HAMLET'               ...To die, to sleep- no more- and by a               sleep to say we end the heartache, and               the thousand natural shocks that flesh               is heir to...     The audience-- soaked, pelted with rain-- watches     immobile.     And then a again a loud thunder clap takes us to the     end of the play...     SHAKESPEARE     Bows to the thunderous applause. It is still raining,     but nobody wants to leave. While-     THE MERMAID'S WITS     watch in the crowd, a complex range of emotions, but     jealousy and loathing at the top of the list.                                                              71                                                        pg. 72      ON STAGE      some of the audience members grab Shakespeare, and pull      him on their shoulders, carrying him triumphantly out      of the theater.                                                         CUT TO:68    EXT. STREET IN FRONT OF TOWER OF LONDON - DAY                 68      Marlowe walks towards the Tower of London.68A   INT. TOWER OF LONDON / POLE'S ROOM - DAY                     68A      Silence....Marlowe is waiting patiently...      He is sitting across from Pole, the Captain of the      Guard, who is reading his report....                              POLE                        (looks up)                 Are you certain of this?                        (almost confused)                 William Cecil was murdered?                              MARLOWE                 Not literally, of course. He was a                 character, a fictional character. But                 the metaphor was clear for anyone to                 see. And see, they did.      Pole reads more from the parchment.                              MARLOWE (CONT'D)                 Will you shut it down?      Pole continues to read.                              POLE                 That is not for me to decide...      He brings out a pouch of coins, and tosses it across      the table.                              POLE (CONT'D)                 Your service to his lordship is once                 again greatly appreciated.      Marlowe takes the pouch of money.                                                                   72                                                      pg. 73                            ROBERT CECIL (O.S.)               He butchered you!69   INT. CECIL HOUSE - WILLIAM CECIL'S STUDY - DAY             69     Robert Cecil is furious, pacing back and forth in front     of William Cecil, who sits behind a large wooden desk.     William Cecil is pale and sweaty-- he is deathly ill,     and sits in a wooden chair with small spoked wheels     attached to the legs-- sort of an Elizabethan     wheelchair.                            ROBERT CECIL               Not only in front of Court! But the               entire City as well! We must arrest               this Shakespeare and-                            WILLIAM CECIL               No, Robert, think. If he is really as               popular as you say, we would only               anger the mob. No. We must strike at               Edward directly.     William Cecil slowly-- and shakily-- bends down from     his chair as--                            ROBERT CECIL               But we cannot maintain our authority               if the mob thinks us laughing stocks--                            WILLIAM CECIL                      (angry)               Our authority comes from Elizabeth and               from God! Elizabeth! Elizabeth is               the key to all.     Robert Cecil looks hurt by his father's anger.                            WILLIAM CECIL (CONT'D)                      (gentler)               Robert... You must think deeper. You               must compensate. Compensate for               your... malformations... with the               gifts God did grant you... With               cunning. With ruthlessness.     William Ceci pushes a hidden button on the side of his     desk-- a spring loaded secret drawer POPS open. Robert     Cecil has never seen it before.     Cecil produces a folded piece of parchment from the     drawer, offers it to Robert Cecil.                                                               73                                                        pg. 74                             WILLIAM CECIL (CONT'D)                From King James of Scotland.      Robert Cecil looks surprised.69A   INT. CECIL HOUSE - HALLWAY - MOMENTS LATER                 69A      Robert Cecil is pushing William Cecil in his      wheelchair. They are completely alone.                              WILLIAM CECIL                James knows of the Queen's affection                for Essex... and the rumors of his                birth. He is justly concerned.                       (beat)                You will reply to him.                             ROBERT CECIL                I will reply to him?                             WILLIAM CECIL                I am dying, Robert--                       (before Robert can                        protest)                We both know this to be true. And I                will not witness the next coronation.69B   INT. CECIL HOUSE - WILLIAM CECIL'S BEDROOM - MOMENTS       69B      LATER      Robert Cecil wheels his father in.                             WILLIAM CECIL                Help me to my bed, my son.                       (Robert Cecil does so)                If we are to secure your place at the                side of the next king, you must get                that king his throne, not I.      A beat as this registers on Robert Cecil.                              WILLIAM CECIL (CONT'D)                You will write to James that I am                gravely ill, but that all is in hand.                Much of the Privy Council has already                secretly agreed to his ascension to                the English throne due to your                tireless, but secret, entreaties on                his behalf.                       (beat)                And then tell him Essex will not                return from Ireland alive.                                                                 74                                                         pg. 75     Robert Cecil looks surprised.                             WILLIAM CECIL (CONT'D)               This is how kings are made, Robert.               So it was with Elizabeth, and so it               shall ever be. There were many rival               claims to her throne, but none               survived to make their claim. James               must know that you will do the same               for him, and he will reward you for               it.                      (beat)               But we must do one thing more...     William Cecil has a coughing fit-- reaches for a glass     vial of medicine at his bedside-- takes it.                            WILLIAM CECIL (CONT'D)               Like Essex, Edward must be removed.                            ROBERT CECIL                      (confused)               Edward?     William Cecil is slowly falling asleep...                            WILLIAM CECIL               He uses the tools at his disposal, as               we use the tools at ours. But ours               will win... as they always have.                            ROBERT CECIL                      (more confused)               I-- I don't understand, father.    What               does Edward--                            WILLIAM CECIL               Edward seeks what we seek.   To choose               the next King.     Off Robert Cecil's surprised face we hear:                            YOUNG ELIZABETH (O.S.)               I am with child...                                                          CUT TO:70   INT. RICHMOND PALACE - LONG GALLERY - DUSK                      70     Twenty seven years earlier. Young Elizabeth is pacing,     terribly agitated. Bessie, the lady-in-waiting we have     seen constantly at her side is the only other person     present.                                                                    75                                                 pg. 76                       WILLIAM CECIL          Are you certain?Young Elizabeth turns to Bessie.                       BESSIE          Two cycles have passed, my lord.William Cecil thinks.                       YOUNG ELIZABETH          I wish to marry him...William Cecil looks startled.                       WILLIAM CECIL          Marry him, your grace? He is already          married.                       YOUNG ELIZABETH          I can do what I will.                        WILLIAM CECIL          Can you?She gives him a sharp look.                       WILLIAM CECIL (CONT'D)          Most of the Catholic princes of Europe          wish to topple you and end your          Protestant reign... The only things          that stop them are the channel, and          the hope that they might marry you,          and thereby achieve your realm through          other means.Young Elizabeth hears him, thinks on it, then beginspacing again.                       YOUNG ELIZABETH          I love him...                       WILLIAM CECIL          Would you risk your throne for him?          Would you risk England for him?He knows the answer to that.                       WILLIAM CECIL (CONT'D)          We must do as we have done before...          You must go on Progress, somewhere          isolated, accompanied by only those          whom you most trust.                       (MORE)                                                          76                                                     pg. 77                            WILLIAM CECIL (CONT'D)               After the birth, I will find a               suitable house for the child to be               reared in.     Young Elizabeth is uncertain.                             YOUNG ELIZABETH               And Edward?                            WILLIAM CECIL               He must never know.71   INT. CECIL HOUSE - PRIVATE CHAPEL - DAY                   71     A simple, cold space, like William Cecil himself.     William Cecil is alone in prayer. A few beats, then he     senses he is not alone. He turns and sees Young Oxford     (still 20).                            YOUNG OXFORD               What have you done?                            WILLIAM CECIL               I am praying.                            YOUNG OXFORD                      (ignoring him)               She won't see me! I've gone to her               chambers three times, and she will not               receive me. And now she's gone!     William Cecil regards Young Oxford for a beat, then     stands.                            WILLIAM CECIL               She's on Progress.     With this he leaves the chapel.72   INT. CECIL HOUSE - HALLWAY - CONTINUOUS                   72     Young Oxford runs after him.                             YOUNG OXFORD               Where?   Where did she go?     William Cecil is silent.                            YOUNG OXFORD (CONT'D)               What did you say to her? Tell me!                                                              77                                                      pg. 78                            WILLIAM CECIL               The Queen does not ask for my advice               about matters of the heart, Edward.               If she had, she hardly would have               chosen you for her pleasure.     He has a point.                            WILLIAM CECIL (CONT'D)               You must have known her eye would move               elsewhere, Edward. It always has.               You are neither the first, nor the               last, of her lovers.     Young Oxford looks up at him like a bucket of cold     water has hit him.     William Cecil stops. He looks at Oxford with a stern     face.                            WILLIAM CECIL (CONT'D)               Go back to my daughter, Edward. She               will accept you with open arms, as she               always has. Behave as your great               title demands you behave. Tend to               your estates, your investments.                      (a beat)               And make me a grandson, an heir!     Off Young Oxford's pained expression.                                                        CUT TO:73   INT. MERMAID'S TAVERN - NIGHT                                 73     Twenty-seven years later. Jonson is alone, trying to     write at a small table, though it's obvious from his     fits and starts and crossing outs that he is having     difficulty.                            MARLOWE (O.S.)               It's difficult to write, isn't it?               After watching something like               "Hamlet"...     Jonson looks up. Marlowe sits, uninvited.    Jonson     looks annoyed at the interruption.                            MARLOWE (CONT'D)               I've seen you watch him. Will.               During a performance. It eats at               you... at your soul...                                                                  78                                                  pg. 79Jonson stares at him, his answer obvious.                       MARLOWE (CONT'D)          Why do you think Will hasn't been          arrested? You or I make the slightest          joke about a nobleman of no          consequence, and we find ourselves in          a cell quicker than a fart spreads in          the trade winds. Will-- he murders a          caricature of old William Cecil          himself, and still whores all the way          to Westminster and back.                       JONSON                 (shrugs)          Perhaps they haven't noticed..Jonson gets up and walks towards the door.                       MARLOWE          I made sure they did...Jonson turns around.                       JONSON          You informed on one of your own?   To          the Tower?                       MARLOWE          Watch who you judge, Ben, for as God          is my witness, you may well find          yourself doing the same before you          meet your maker. We do what we have          to, to survive, and survive well, in          this life. All of us. And Will is          definitely not one of us. You know          he's illiterate, don't you?Jonson is stunned.                       MARLOWE (CONT'D)          No? Oh, he can read well enough-- how          else could he learn his lines? But          the man never actually learned to form          his letters.                       JONSON          Why are you here, Kit?                       MARLOWE                 (smiles)          So who did write it? You?   No.    You'd          take credit for it. No...                       (MORE)                                                           79                                                          pg. 80                             MARLOWE (CONT'D)                It must be someone who wants their                anonymity protected. Someone who                might even pay to have it protected.      Jonson is getting nervous.                               MARLOWE (CONT'D)                A nobleman.      Jonson looks up.   Marlowe smiles, knowing he is closer      to the truth.                               MARLOWE (CONT'D)                But which?    You know, don't you, Ben?                             JONSON                You've had too much to drink, Kit.                You're beginning to sound like one of                your plays.      Jonson stands and hurries out of the Tavern.73A   EXT. BANKSIDE LONDON    - MOMENTS LATER                      73A      Jonson heads down the street, Marlowe chasing after      him.                             MARLOWE                Ben! Tell me. We can go to him                together. Guarantee his anonymity...                for a price.                             JONSON                You reported on me as well, didn't                you, Kit? Last year. That's why I                was arrested, wasn't it? Because you                went to the Tower?                             MARLOWE                       (lying)                Ben, Ben... I had nothing to do with                that.      Jonson studies Marlowe for a beat and then walks away.                             MARLOWE (CONT'D)                Ben-- I'll just go to Will! He'll                tell me because he has so much more to                lose than you. Fame. Fortune. And                you'll profit nothing from it.                Nothing!      But Jonson is gone.                                                                   80                                                    pg. 8174   EXT. MILITARY CAMP - IRELAND - DAY                         74     A military encampment with dozens of tents on a cliff     by the Irish seaside.     CLOSER     Essex's tent is larger, and guarded. An OLD SERVANT     carrying a tray with a silver pitcher approaches. A     guard opens the tent for him to enter.     INT. ESSEX'S TENT - CONTINUOUS     Essex is having a Council of War with his generals and     senior officers, including Southampton. They all stand     around a table, consulting a map of Ireland.                            ESSEX                      (pointing)               If the Rebels have stripped the               northern borders... Then we must               march south... and take Cahir               Castle...     The SERVANT stays in the background as he pours wine     into various goblets. Southampton notices him-- the     servant's hand shakes as he pours the wine.                            GENERAL                      (clears throat,                       uncomfortable)               My lord. `Tis a well-defended               fortress.    Two thousand men at               least. We cannot--     Southampton notices the Servant's shaking hand slipping     into a pocket as--                            ESSEX               So what would you have me do? Spend               the entire spring encamped? I am sent               to Ireland to end this infernal               rebellion, not idle my days with--                            SOUTHAMPTON               Robert!     In an instant Southampton draws a silver engraved     pistol and SHOOTS the servant!     Everyone is shocked-- but then we see:                                                               81                                                     pg. 82     THE SERVANT     had drawn his own, small wooden pistol.     ESSEX     shares a look with Southampton.75   EXT. OXFORD STONE - GARDEN - DAY                           75     To Establish. A foggy day. In the Foreground we see     the maze. Oxford and his fencing master, BEAULIEU     (20's) are in the center of the maze dueling with     rapiers for exercise.     CLOSER     They wear outfits that are slightly more protective     than ornamental.     They duel for a few moments, and then Oxford TOUCHES     Beaulieu's shoulder. The speak entirely in French.                             BEAULIEU               Point!     Oxford backs off, as does the fencing master.                            OXFORD                      (in French)               Bien. Faisons du travail... le Coup               droit d'autoritÈ?                            BEAULIE               Mais oui, mon seigneur.                              OXFORD               Bien.    En garde!     And they once again begin to duel. But we quickly     surmise something is amiss. Beaulieu is much more     aggressive than he was before. Oxford realizes it, but     is an expert swordsman, and defends himself well.     And then Beaulieu aggressively moves forward, and STABS     Oxford in the leg.                            OXFORD (CONT'D)               Qu'est ce que vous faites?     But Oxford has little chance to react, because Beaulieu     continues his attack.                                                               82                                                       pg. 83                              OXFORD (CONT'D)               Beaulieu?    Beaulieu?!     This has become an assassination attempt, not an     exercise.     ENTRANCE OF THE MAZE     Francesco is entering the maze with a silver tray     carrying a pitcher and two goblets.     CENTER OF THE MAZE     Though wounded, Oxford is a superior swordsman. And he     begins his own attack-- with a ferocity that surprises     Beaulieu.     IN THE MAZE     Francesco heads for the center as--     IN THE CENTER OF THE MAZE     Oxford PIERCES Beaulieu's heart with his rapier, and     Beaulieu SCREAMS--     IN THE MAZE     Francesco hears the scream, and starts to run.                              FRANCESCO               Signor?    Signor?!     IN THE CENTER OF THE MAZE     Oxford collapses as Francesco rushes in.                           FRANCESCO (CONT'D)               Signor? Mio dio! Signor! What has               happened--     Oxford checks his leg wound, and glances at the dead     Beaulieu. He tries to wave off Franceso's aid, but to     no avail as--                            OXFORD               Beaulieu-- he, he tried to kill me...76   EXT. BANKSIDE LONDON - DAY                                  76     Jonson, slightly drunk, walks down a street, a whore     under his arm, and notices a commotion up ahead: people     talking by an alley near the Mermaid's tavern.                                                                83                                                    pg. 84                            JONSON                      (to a passer-by)               What's all that, then?                            MAN               A body...     Jonson peers over and sees:     A BODY     on its back in the alley. Someone turns it over.    It's     MARLOWE, a dried stab-wound in his eye.     JONSON     is stunned.                            MAN (CONT'D)               Must have been a cut-purse. Nowhere's               bloody safe anymore, I'll tell you               that...                                                       CUT TO:77   INT. A BEAR-BAITING THEATER - DAY                            77     A small, open air theater where a chained bear is being     led around the theater. A set of mastiffs are being     led on the opposite side of the theater.     The spectators are unruly, loudly making bets for the     mauling to come.     Jonson is among them, taking a look at the bear, deciding     whether to bet on it or not.                            BEAR BAITER               Sampson! Sired by the great Arthur               himself! No dog's yet been bred that can               take him down!     Shakespeare suddenly sits next Jonson hardly notices.                            SHAKESPEARE               I need more money.                            JONSON               More--? You already make more than any               playwright Bankside.                                                                 84                                                 pg. 85                       BEAR BAITER          But then here, good friends, I bring you          a pack of dogs so fierce, so dangerous,          that Medusa herself would shrink in fear!                       SHAKESPEARE          I'm going to build my own theater, Ben,          one that fits the scale of my work--Jonson suddenly turns to him.                        JONSON          Your work?                       BEAR BAITER          Not a one has had a morsel of food in a          week! Bred by the great John Sinclow!                       A MAN          Fourpence on three dogs!                       SHAKESPEARE          They insist only a gentleman can own the          land.                       ANOTHER MAN          A shilling on four!                       SHAKESPEARE          The bribes are outrageous, but I found          some one who will make me a coat-of-arms,          and change the Stratford lists for me.                        JONSON          Impossible.                       ANOTHER MAN          Eight shillings on six dogs!   Eight          shillings on six dogs!                       JONSON          I'll take that bet!!   Eight shillings on          the bear, six dogs!                        ANOTHER MAN          Done!                       SHAKESPEARE          Bad bet, that.                       JONSON                 (to Shakespeare)          You'll have to make do with what          you've got. I won't be your beggar.                                                          85                                                      pg. 86Shakespeare gives him a look to kill.                          SHAKESPEARE             This isn't a request, Ben.   I'll have             more money.                          JONSON             Or what? You'll slit my throat like             you did Kit's?                          MAN             Release the dogs!   Release the dogs!Shakespeare shows no reaction.                          JONSON             I know he went to see you last night,             Will. And I know he was planning to             expose you if you didn't agree to his             terms.IN THE PITThe bear baiting begins.WIDERShakespeare stares at Jonson.                          SHAKESPEARE                    (dead serious)             You're mad, Ben. Kit was my friend.                          JONSON             Be careful, Will. You kill me off             too, and you won't have any good plays             to act in after this is all done.Some of the spectators BOO while others CHEER, and--                          SHAKESPEARE             I'll have my guineas, Ben. One way or             another, I'll have my guineas.And he gets up and leaves as the--DOGSstart to go for the bear's throat.     Thge cheering goes toa roar as we--                                                       CUT TO:                                                                 86                                                       pg. 87      SHAKESPEARE      Wears a beard and fake nose. He tries to stay hidden so      Jonson doesn't see him. We are:78    EXT. LONDON BRIDGE - DAY                                      78      Jonson is waiting not far from him by a stand and      drinks an ale.      Then Oxford's servant, Francesco, appears.      After the two men have exchanged couple of words,      Francesco gives Jonson a leather folder containing a      manuscript and a purse jingling with coin. Jonson      takes them and leaves.      Jonson safely gone, Shakespeare starts to follow      Francesco who heads back over the bridge.78A   EXT. THE THAMES RIVER - DUSK                                 78A      Shakespeare is in a small boat following Francesco, who      is in Oxford's boat. They head towards Oxford Stone.      EXT. OXFORD STONE - DUSK      Shakespeare watches as Francesco enters Oxford Stone.79    OMIT                                                          79                                                         CUT TO:80    INT. OXFORD STONE - STUDY - DUSK                              80      Shakespeare is waiting, clearly uncomfortable. It's      not the kind of room he's used to being in. He holds      his wig and his nose.      A door opens, and Oxford enters, walking on a stick      because of his leg injury. He is followed by his      servant, Francesco.                             OXFORD                So! You are the famous Shakespeare                whose labors I have enjoyed so much.                I am at your service, sir.                                                                   87                                                 pg. 88Shakespeare is uncomfortable. He wasn't expectingOxford himself. Then he just goes for it.                       SHAKESPEARE          My lord-- I- I need more money.                       OXFORD                 (sharp)          I beg your pardon?                       SHAKESPEARE          My expenses have, ah, aggrandized...          since this all began.                       OXFORD          "Aggrandized"?                       SHAKESPEARE          And if, if your lordship doesn't agree          to an increase in my, ah, fee, I shall          be forced to make certain... facts          public.                       FRANCESCO          Have you any idea to whom you are          speaking?                       SHAKESPEARE          I am addressing the writer of          Hamlet... of Juliet and her Romeo.   Am          I not?Oxford is silent. Francesco goes to physically ejectShakespeare from the room.                      FRANCESCO          Out. Get out! How dare you insult my          master in--                          OXFORD          Wait!                 (beat)          How much?Shakespeare looks at Francesco, then Oxford.                       SHAKESPEARE          Four hundred pounds. A year.                          FRANCESCO          A year?                          OXFORD          Pay him.                                                          88                                                      pg. 89     Francesco is shocked.                            OXFORD (CONT'D)                      (impatient, in Italian)               Pagalo!     Shakespeare smiles.81   EXT. OXFORD STONE - DUSK                                   81     Shakespeare exits, tossing a leather pouch filled with     coins. He smiles.82   INT. OXFORD STONE - STUDY - DUSK                           82     Oxford watches Shakespeare walk down the road through a     window.                            FRANCESCO               Forgive me for speaking of things               above my place or understanding,               signor. But... Is this wise? They               have already tried to kill you once.                            OXFORD               Wisdom, Francesco, is a quality I have               unfortunately never possessed...     Francesco stares at Oxford who is deep in thought.     The sound of heated love making takes us to...83   INT. CECIL HOUSE - YOUNG OXFORD'S BEDROOM - NIGHT          83     Twenty-five years earlier. Young Oxford (now 25 and     with a beard) is making love to someone. We can't tell     who at first, and assume it is Elizabeth. And then we     see, it's BESSIE, Young Elizabeth's lady-in-waiting.                                                DISSOLVE TO:84   INT. CECIL HOUSE - YOUNG OXFORD'S BEDROOM - NIGHT          84     An hour later, post-coital. A fire is burning, and     Bessie is finishing dressing herself.                            BESSIE               Edward... You know she would be               furious if she found out about this...                                                               89                                                     pg. 90      Young Oxford doesn't answer. He is deep in thought.                             BESSIE (CONT'D)                She still loves you.                              YOUNG OXFORD                No.   She abandoned me.                             BESSIE                You don't know, do you?      He looks at her quizzically.                              BESSIE (CONT'D)                The Queen.   She had your child.85    EXT. CECIL HOUSE - EARLY MORNING                           85      A carriage drives towards the house.85A   INT. CARRIAGE - EARLY MORNING                             85A      Young Anne de Vere holds her sleeping daughter in her      arms.86    INT. CECIL HOUSE - HALLWAY - EARLY MORNING                 86      Bessie carefully closes Oxford's bedroom door and      suddenly freezes.      She turns and sees Young Oxford's wife with her little      daughter at her side standing in the hallway staring at      her.      For a moment nobody dares to move, then Bessie rushes      off...                             WILLIAM CECIL                I cannot be certain, majesty, when                the... relationship began.                                                      CUT TO:87    INT. RICHMOND PALACE - GREAT HALL - DAY                    87      Young Elizabeth looks out a window, obviously      distressed. William Cecil is across from her, his face      tense.                                                                90                                                       pg. 91                             WILLIAM CECIL                But sometime soon after your return to                Court.                               YOUNG ELIZABETH                You're sure?                             WILLIAM CECIL                They-- they haven't been very                discreet, majesty. I presume he                wanted you to know. To... to hurt                you.      She is crushed.                             WILLIAM CECIL (CONT'D)                Majesty, there is more. The lady is                pregnant.      Young Elizabeth freezes, stunned.   Then--                               YOUNG ELIZABETH                Arrest them.    Arrest them both!      William Cecil bows and exits.      Now alone, Young Elizabeth lets her emotions out.   She      picks up a vase and THROWS it into a wall.87A   EXT. TOWER OF LONDON - DAY                                87A      From high above, we see a carriage arrive.    It stops,      and William Cecil gets out.88    INT. TOWER OF LONDON - YOUNG OXFORD'S CELL - DAY           88      Young Oxford (now 26) is looking out a window at the      river beyond. He has been imprisoned for some months.      His beard has become ragged, his clothes have seen      better days.      William Cecil enters.                             WILLIAM CECIL                Your whore gave birth last week.      Young Oxford turns to William Cecil. The stare at each      other for a beat.                                                                91                                                   pg. 92                        WILLIAM CECIL (CONT'D)          The Queen has decided to release you.          It seems time does indeed heal all          wounds.                 (beat)          These are her conditions for your          release. One. You will not          acknowledge the child. Two. You will          never see the mother again. Three.          You will avoid Court at all costs.          Her majesty would prefer not to be          reminded of you in any way ever again.A beat as Young Oxford thinks on all this.                         YOUNG OXFORD          Banished...?                        WILLIAM CECIL          No. You have the freedom of the          kingdom. Just not of the Court.                 (beat)          Those are her terms. Here are mine.          You will go back to my daughter. You          will make some effort to make her          happy and you will finally act          according to your station in life, and          accept the responsibilities of your          great title.Oxford reluctantly NODS.    William Cecil goes to leave.                          YOUNG OXFORD          My lord!     I, too, have a condition.William Cecil turns.                       YOUNG OXFORD (CONT'D)          I will go back to your daughter if...          You tell me the name of the child.                       WILLIAM CECIL          I don't know if the whore has even          delivered the--                        YOUNG OXFORD          No.   The other one.Cecil's face goes to stone.                       WILLIAM CECIL          The other one?                 (realizing)          Who told you?                                                            92                                                       pg. 93     Cecil is obviously annoyed by this development.                            YOUNG OXFORD               I will go back to your daughter. I               will make you as many grandchildren as               she can bare...     William Cecil thinks.                            YOUNG OXFORD (CONT'D)               Or I can remain here...     William Cecil decides.                            WILLIAM CECIL               There is no record of his true birth,               no trail that leads to you, or the...               mother. His foster parents never knew               the truth, and both are now dead...                              YOUNG OXFORD               The name?                            WILLIAM CECIL               Make even a hint of this to the child,               or anyone else, and this agreement is               void, and I'll see your head on the               block within a fortnight. And the               boy's as well.                            YOUNG OXFORD                      (excited)               It's a boy...?89   EXT. CECIL HOUSE - GARDEN - DAY                             89     Young Oxford (cleaned up) is watching a BOY about five     years old dueling with a tutor. The boy is quite good.     The boy notices Young Oxford, and stops duelling.                              BOY               Hello...                              YOUNG OXFORD               Hello.     Young Oxford smiles at the boy.                            YOUNG OXFORD (CONT'D)               I'm Edward, the Earl of Oxford.                                                                93                                                        pg. 94                              BOY                 My lord...     The Boy bows, a serious expression on his face.                              YOUNG OXFORD                 They tell me one day you're to be an                 Earl as well.                              BOY                 I shall be the Earl of Southampton.                              YOUNG OXFORD                        (smiling)                 Well then, we shall be Earls together,                 shan't we?                                                          CUT TO:90   INT. WESTMINSTER ABBEY - DAY                                    90     Twenty-five years later. William Cecil's body is in     state, in his coffin, in the center of the apse.     ELIZABETH     looking completely stricken, approaches the coffin,     holding Cecil's white cane. She places it at his side.     In the background we hear the Archbishop of Canterbury     reading from the bible.                              ARCHBISHOP (O.S.)                 ... In the sweat of thy face shalt                 thou eat bread, till thou return to                 the earth: for out of it wast thou                 taken, because thou art dust, and to                 dust shalt thou return...     ROBERT CECIL     scans the room, to see how it is all playing out.     OXFORD     watches stoically, his wife and children at his side.                                                                    94                                                       pg. 9591   EXT. WESTMINSTER ABBEY - DAY                                91     The funeral over, Elizabeth exits the portal of     Westminster Abbey and heads to her carriage. A huge     crowd of mourners has assembled.     Robert Cecil steps into place right behind her.                            ELIZABETH               We wish to recall Essex from               Ireland...     Robert Cecil is instantly concerned, but hides it well.     They continue to walk.                            ELIZABETH (CONT'D)               We feel a terrible void, now that your               father is no longer at our side...     Robert Cecil bows his head as he walks.                            ROBERT CECIL               A wise decision, your majesty. If               nothing else, it will give him an               opportunity to respond to all these               rumors.     Still walking, she turns to him sharply.                             ELIZABETH               Rumors?                            ROBERT CECIL               I'm sorry, majesty, I thought you'd               heard.                             ELIZABETH               Heard what?                            ROBERT CECIL               Essex is in negotiations with Philip               of Spain...                            ELIZABETH               Peace is at hand. We know this.                            ROBERT CECIL               Majesty-- it is said that Essex has               promised Phillip all of Catholic               Ireland in return for...     He hesitates.                                                                95                                                       pg. 96                            ELIZABETH               In return for what?                            ROBERT CECIL               Spain's support of Essex's claim to               the throne of England...     They have arrived at her carriage.                             ROBERT CECIL (CONT'D)                      (beat)               It is, as of yet, just rumor.                            ELIZABETH               Bring him to me, William.   Bring him               to me at once!                            ROBERT CECIL                      (correcting)               Robert, majesty.     Elizabeth stares at him for an instant, then gets into     her carriage, unsure of herself.                            ROBERT CECIL (CONT'D)               My father's death has been a great               loss for us all...     She ignores him, trying to collect herself. Robert     Cecil turns to the driver, NODS, and the carriage takes     off.     As soon as it is away, Robert Cecil turns and some in     the crowd of commoners begin to BOO at him.                                                        CUT TO:     HORSE HOOVES     as they gallop over emerald green grasses.   We are:92   EXT. A MILITARY FIELD IN IRELAND - DAY                        92     A group of horsemen gallop into Essex's camp. A     MESSENGER jumps off his horse and heads for Essex's     tent.93   INT. ESSEX'S TENT - DAY                                       93     Where Essex and Southampton are having dinner as the     messenger enters. He bows.                                                                  96                                                      pg. 97                            MESSENGER               My lord...     He hands him a sealed envelope. Essex takes it, begins     to read. Frowns, SLAMS the parchment down. He looks     into the distance, trying to process what he's just     read.     Southampton picks up the parchment and begins reading.                            SOUTHAMPTON               She can't believe this...                            ESSEX               Oh, can't she?                            SOUTHAMPTON               It's Robert Cecil. He failed to kill               you, now he tries to kill your name.     Essex heads for the flap of the tent.                            ESSEX               We leave with the tide!                                                        CUT TO:94   INT. THE MERMAID'S TAVERN - NIGHT                             94     Shakespeare enters the tavern carrying a rolled up     parchment. He passes various actors drinking, then     hurries over to Jonson, Nashe and Dekker, who are deep     in drink.                            SHAKESPEARE               Well, I've got it!     Shakespeare unravels the parchment.   He puts it on the     table with a flourish.     It shows a coat-of-arms containing a spear and a     falcon. The colors are numerous, and garish.                            SHAKESPEARE (CONT'D)               The herald just finished it not an               hour ago.                      (smiles)               Well?     Everyone is confused by it.                            NASHE               It's quite... colorful.                                                                  97                                                  pg. 98                       DEKKER          What in blazes is it?                       SHAKESPEARE          My coat-of-arms! It cost a bloody          fortune, but, by god, you can call me          gentleman now!Jonson looks over at Shakespeare. Shakespeare lockseyes with him, but looks away, ashamed of something.                       DEKKER          I can't quite make out the motto...          Non sanz... Non...                       SHAKESPEARE          "Non sanz droict".                       NASHE          Not without--                        JONSON          Right!? Not without right?                 (beat)          You went to him, didn't you? You          lying knave-- you went to him!Shakespeare doesn't want to discuss this with theothers present.                        SHAKESPEARE                  (smiles)          Ben.   Ben! Let me buy you a--He grabs Jonson's shoulder, but Jonson pushes him away.                      JONSON          What? You've already killed off one          competitor. Now you want another dead          as well?Shakespeare looks at the confused Nashe and Dekkernervously.                       SHAKESPEARE          I don't know what you mean.   Ben, we          should really--                       JONSON          I swore to him I wouldn't tell you his          name. Swore it! Do you have any idea          what he might do to me? Do you?                 (to Nashe)                       (MORE)                                                           98                                                     pg. 99                            JONSON (CONT'D)               He's not even a writer you know. He               can't even--                            SHAKESPEARE               Ben-- you've had too much to drink.     Shakespeare grabs Jonson.                            JONSON               Unhand me!     Shakespeare backs off. Jonson pulls out a piece of     parchment from his shirt.                            JONSON (CONT'D)               Here!                      (looks around)               A quill! A quill!     Nashe and Dekker look at each other, slightly     embarrassed. Jonson finds a quill deep in his pants.     He thrusts it at Will, who ignores it.                            JONSON (CONT'D)                      (re: the parchment)               Go on, Will. Write something for us.               Now. Go on! Amaze us with your               verse. Your wit! No? Try astounding               us with the letter "E". Or an "I"--               it's just a straight line!     Shakespeare stares at him.                            SHAKESPEARE               You haven't got any ink.     And he exits.                                                      CUT TO:95   EXT. THE CITY GATES OF LONDON - DAY                         95     Southampton and Essex are on horseback, followed by     several dozen armed retainers, GALLOPING towards the     city of London.96   EXT. WHITEHALL PALACE - COURTYARD - DAY                     96     The party rides into the first gate. The palace is the     city residence of the Queen, and is at the edge of the     City.                                                                99                                                      pg. 100     Essex and Southampton jump off their horses.97   INT. WHITEHALL PALACE - HALLWAY - DAY                        97     Essex and Southampton walk quickly down the long     hallway, opening door after door. Servants scurry     behind them, terrified of the intrusion, trying to stop     them. They open the doors into--98   INT. WHITEHALL PALACE - AUDIENCE CHAMBER - DAY               98     The ladies-in-waiting scream in fear when they see the     two men in battle gear.                            ESSEX                      (to Southampton)               Wait for me.     And he continues on into--99   INT. WHITEHALL PALACE - OLD ELIZABETH'S BEDROOM -            99     CONTINUOUS     --where Elizabeth is still dressing, putting on make-     up, etc. She is NOT wearing her wig, and is only     wearing her undergarments. She looks quite ugly.     She turns to see Essex, shocked at his intrusion.     Essex FREEZES.   He knows he has just made an enormous     faux-pas.                            ESSEX               Majesty, I, I...     She stares at him, horrified to be seen in such a     manner. The she regains her composure and--                             ELIZABETH               Get out!   Out!!!     He steps back in horror-- not at her appearance, but     what he has just done. The doors SLAM in front of him     as we--                            ELIZABETH (O.S.)                            (CONT'D)               The insolence!                                                                100                                                       pg. 101100   INT. WHITEHALL PALACE - AUDIENCE CHAMBER - DAY              100      Elizabeth, now dressed and wearing her wig on her      throne, is raging at Robert Cecil.                             ELIZABETH                Who in God's name does he think he is?                Abandoning his post without my leave!      She begins to absent-mindedly unbutton the top of her      bodice.                             ELIZABETH (CONT'D)                Coming into our presence in such a                manner, neither announced nor invited,                half his army in my courtyard. He's                gone mad... mad!                             ROBERT CECIL                No. Unfortunately for us, your                majesty, he is quite sane. He simply                believes he is your royal equal.      She turns to him sharply, furious at the thought.101   EXT. ESSEX HOUSE - DAY                                      101      It looks like an armed camp, with part of Essex's army      encamped in the front courtyard. The soldiers are all      tense.      Oxford, followed only by Francesco, rides into the      courtyard. He is immediately surrounded by armed men,      their muskets pointed at him. Oxford raises his hands.                             OXFORD                I am Edward, Earl of Oxford.                              SOUTHAMPTON                Edward!   Edward! Thank god you're                here.      Southampton comes towards him.                             SOUTHAMPTON (CONT'D)                Elizabeth has revoked all of his royal                licenses! She believes every lie                Cecil tells about him.                       (seeing Oxford's wound)                Edward? What happened to your leg?                                                                 101                                                        pg. 102                             OXFORD                       (shrugs)                Nothing.      Oxford continues towards the door. Southampton      follows, his concern for Oxford's wound noticeable.102   INT. ESSEX HOUSE - HALL - DAY                                102      Oxford, Southampton and Essex are alone. Oxford is      sitting in a chair, while Essex paces impatiently,      Southampton standing between them.                             ESSEX                She won't accept my letters. I cannot                get to her. Cecil plans to arrest me                any day. I know it.                       (beat and more determined)                But that won't be as easy as he                thinks.                             OXFORD                Fight him in London, and you only                validate every rumor and lie Cecil has                ever told about you.                             ESSEX                Then what do you suggest I do? Let                myself be arrested so I can be tried                and executed for crimes I did not                commit?                            OXFORD                No. I will go to Elizabeth, myself,                alone--                             ESSEX                How? Cecil won't let her see a letter                without reading it first.                             OXFORD                I won't send her a letter.   I will                send her a book.      Essex looks confused, but Oxford ignores it.                             OXFORD (CONT'D)                She will call for me. And while I am                with her, you will come-- not with an                army, not with swords, but with her                loyal subjects. The cobblers, the                tinkers, the bricklayers of London.                             (MORE)                                                                  102                                                         pg. 103                              OXFORD (CONT'D)                 All, all calling for Robert Cecil's                 banishment from Court. Words, Robert,                 words, will prevail with her, not                 swords.       Essex looks unsure.                                ESSEX                 And the mob?    How will I--                              OXFORD                 Leave that to me.103    OMIT                                                         103103A   INT. OXFORD STONE - A STUDY - NIGHT                         103A       Oxford is in his rooms, writing feverishly by       candlelight.       He completes a thought... closes the manuscript...       writes down the title with a flourish:       The Tragedie of Richard III104    INT. A ROOM ABOVE THE MERMAID'S TAVERN - DAY                 104       A room for the whores to take their tricks.    Small,       with nothing much beyond a straw bed.       Shakespeare is bedding a buxom young lady.       And then the door OPENS. Francesco enters, and Oxford       follows, holding a manuscript. Shakespeare looks       shocked. She starts to SCREAM and yell as she pulls a       sheet to cover herself.                              FRANCESCO                        (to the whore)                 Hold your tongue, whore, and get out!       She does so as Oxford walks over to Shakespeare. He       tosses the manuscript to him. Shakespeare starts to       look at it. The whore is partially dressed, so--                              FRANCESCO (CONT'D)                        (to the whore)                 Out, woman!                               WHORE                 Oi.   `Oo's going to pay me then?                                                                   103                                                        pg. 104      Shakespeare gives a look to Oxford-- he certainly isn't      going to pay for it.      Oxford nods to Francesco, who gives the whore a few      coins. She smiles, and leaves.                             OXFORD                You shall begin rehearsals                immediately. But it is not to be                performed until I tell you. And you                may only have a day's notice.      Shakespeare looks confused.                             SHAKESPEARE                That will be expensive-- keeping all                the actors ready. Having the props                made but not--      Oxford tosses a very large pouch of coins at him, and      then begins to leave.                             OXFORD                Oh, and congratulations. You've had                an epic poem published today.                             SHAKESPEARE                       (confused)                Published? You mean like in a book?      Renaissance MUSIC BEGINS as we--                                                         CUT TO:      A PIECE OF PAPER      as a printer presses down the press onto it. The title      page is printed in front of us. It's called "Venus and      Adonis". A MONTAGE BEGINS.105   INT. A PRINT SHOP - DAY                                      105      And the printer brings the page out from the press and      checks it for proper alignment.                             SHAKESPEARE (V.O.)                `The boar!' quoth she; whereat a                sudden pale,                Like lawn being spread upon the                blushing rose...                Usurps her cheek; she trembles at his                tale,                             (MORE)                                                                  104                                                        pg. 105                              SHAKESPEARE (V.O.)                 And on his neck her yoking arms she                 throws:       The printer nods his approval...   The poem continues       with:105A   EXT. THE PRINT SHOP - DAY                                  105A       Shakespeare exits the Print Shop, continuing to read       the book, now out-loud.                              SHAKESPEARE (V.O.)                 She sinketh down, still hanging by his                 neck,                 He on her belly falls, she on her                 back.                        (not quoting)                 Oh, I like this...                                                   DISSOLVE TO:106    OMIT                                                        106       A COVER OF "VENUS AND ADONIS"       that is held by a woman.                              LADY IN WAITING (O.S.)                 'Fondling,' she saith,                 I'll be a park, and thou shalt be my                 deer;                 Feed where thou wilt, on mountain or                 in dale:       We are:107    INT. WHITEHALL PALACE - AUDIENCE CHAMBER - DAY              107       A LADY-IN-WAITING is reading out loud to other Ladies.       They listen giggling now and then. We only see them       from the back.                              LADY IN WAITING                 Graze on my lips; and if those hills                 be dry,                 Stray lower, where the pleasant                 fountains lie.                                                                  105                                                         pg. 106                               SECOND LADY IN WAITING                         (continuing)                  Seeds spring from seeds, and beauty                  breedeth beauty;                  Thou wast begot; to beget is thy duty.                  By law of nature thou art bound to                  breed...      They look up and see--      ELIZABETH      standing across the room.   How much has she heard?      WIDER      They all stand abruptly, worried. The women who was      reading the book puts it down on a table.      Elizabeth silently walks over to them, and picks up the      book. She opens it as we--                                                           CUT TO:108   INT. WHITEHALL PALACE - HALLWAY - DUSK                         108      Robert Cecil walks down the long hall, heading for an      audience with the queen. Two guards open a door,      letting him into--109   INT. WHITEHALL PALACE - OLD ELIZABETH'S BEDROOM - DUSK         109      Elizabeth is looking out the window. It's raining      outside. She is NOT wearing her wig, not much make-up,      and looks quite... odd.      Robert Cecil enters.                               ELIZABETH                         (turns)                  You find me disgusting, don't you?                  Repugnant. Wrinkled?                               ROBERT CECIL                  You, you are the sun, majesty.   The                  glory of--                               ELIZABETH                  Liar!      Robert Cecil shuts his mouth.                                                                   106                                                 pg. 107                        ELIZABETH (CONT'D)          Is it so hard to believe that once I          was young? That I was... beautiful?          Your father knew me as such...                 (beat)          You have read the book?She doesn't have to say which one. Robert Cecil sees acopy of "Venus and Adonis" on a table. He NODS.                       ELIZABETH (CONT'D)          He writes to me. To remind me of that          beauty. That love. How I... took          him. How I... adored him...Robert Cecil knows to be silent.   She looks out thewindow.                       ELIZABETH (CONT'D)                 (throaty, sexually)          Graze on my lips; and if those hills          be dry,          Stray lower, where the pleasant          fountains lie...She smiles seductively, transported in time.                        ELIZABETH (CONT'D)          I've been foolish. Proud. Yes. Too          proud. Gloriana... The Virgin          Queen... A statue. Bloodless.                 (beat)          "Thou wast begot; to beget is thy          duty.          By law of nature thou art bound to          breed, That thine may live when thou          thyself art dead"...                 (beat)          Your father told you of the child?A beat.                       ROBERT CECIL                 (hint of a smile)          Which one, your majesty?Elizabeth's eyes flare in anger for an instant, thenshe regains composure.                         ELIZABETH          His.   Mine.   He still lives?Robert Cecil nods.                                                           107                                                  pg. 108                       ELIZABETH (CONT'D)          He was well placed? A nobleman?                       ROBERT CECIL                 (hesitates)          Yes... your majesty.                          ELIZABETH          Who?Robert Cecil hesitates.                       ELIZABETH (CONT'D)          I am your Queen! Now who is my son!!?                       ROBERT CECIL          His grace, the Earl of... Southampton,          your majesty.She seems surprised. Perhaps she was expecting Essex.But then she smiles, and NODS in approval.                       CECIL          Majesty... You are not having doubts          about James of Scotland succeeding          you, are you?Elizabeth goes into a rage.                       ELIZABETH          James?! He is the son of Mary! She          plotted and schemed to steal the          throne from under me! No son of hers          will rule while a yet Tudor lives!Robert Cecil is surprised by her fury. He bows hishead as Elizabeth tries to collect herself.                       ELIZABETH (CONT'D)          I will decide what is best for my          kingdom! Not you! Not you!!                 (calmer)          I have bid Edward to come to me on my          return to London on Monday next. It          is decided.She says no more, the audience over. Robert Cecilhesitates, and then she glares at him... He bows andexits, the fury on his face plain.Elizabeth looks at her own reflection in the window...                                                            108                                                      pg. 109                              ELIZABETH (CONT'D)                        (sotto)                 And so, in spite of death, I shall                 survive,                 In that, my likeness still is left                 alive.                                                          CUT TO:110    EXT. BANKSIDE LONDON - DAY                                   110       Ben Jonson walks with a manuscript in his hands. He       stops for a moment when he sees the new Globe theater.       Workers are still painting the walls.       He pauses when he sees a poster in front advertising a       performance of "Richard III" on Monday next.110A   INT. THE GLOBE THEATER - DAY                              110A       Jonson sticks his head in and takes in the glorious new       theater Shakespeare and Burbage have built.       The actor Condell is on stage, rehearsing the character       of "Gloucester". He walks on stage with a limp, and       has a large hump on his back. He is a caricature of       Robert Cecil.                              "GLOUCESTER"                        (in character)                 But I, that am not shaped for sportive                 tricks, nor made to court an amorous                 looking-glass...       Richard BURBAGE, the theater's stage manager, is       watching his performance with Spencer and a group of       actors.       Jonson stops and watches the rehearsal for a beat.                              "GLOUCESTER" (CONT'D)                        (in character)                 I, that am curtail'd of this fair                 proportion, deformed, unfinish'd, sent                 before my time into this breathing                 world...                              SPENCER                 Good part, that...                                                                109                                                  pg. 110                       "GLOUCESTER"          ...and that so lamely and          unfashionable that dogs bark at me as          I halt by them.                 (out of character)          Is this wise?                       BURBAGE          It's only the one performance.   Go on!                       "GLOUCESTER"          I need a drink...And "Gloucester" heads backstage.                       JONSON                 (to Burbage)          Burbage. Wonderful theater. Wonderful!          The best Bankside! But only one          performance? Is it that bad?                       BURBAGE          Hardly, it's Will's new play. Richard          the Third. We've been hired to          perform it free to the public.                         JONSON          Free?                       BURBAGE          Aye. Some anonymous nobleman paid for          everything. God knows Will never          would.   Been rehearsing all week,          just found out this morning, we go up          next Monday.Jonson thinks a beat-- that's odd-- but then holds uphis manuscript.                       JONSON                 (grins)          My best so far. I guarantee more than          one performance. Though I'll not pay          for the tickets myself.                 (winks)          No need to.                       BURBAGE          Sorry, Ben...Jonson looks confused.                                                            110                                                          pg. 111                             BURBAGE (CONT'D)                Will... He's part owner... I'm sorry                Ben, but I had to agree no Jonson                plays at the Globe... Ever.      Jonson is in shock.                                                           CUT TO:111   INT. THE MERMAID'S TAVERN - NIGHT                              111      Jonson is deep in drink, by himself.   He listens as      patrons of the bar say:                             MAN                       (to a woman)                You doin' tomorrow?                              WOMAN                You askin?                             MAN                Managed to get two tickets to                Shakespeare's latest. Cost me a                fortune.                             PASSING MAN                Ballocks, did it! They're giving them                away free.      Some of the actors from the rehearsal enter, all jolly      and excited. They head for the bar. They are: The      ACTOR WHO PLAYED "GLOUCESTER", Spencer, Pope, Heminge,      etc...                             SPENCER                Best villain in the history of                theater, Richard the Third. No doubt.                               HEMINGE                Come on.    Better than Mephistopheles?                             SPENCER                No doubt! Your Marlowe-- god rest his                soul-- is fine for your everyday                scalawag, and your Jonson won't even                try the hard drama. No, this is                Shakespeare, for god's sake! The man                knows drama. I tell you, not even the                Greeks compare!                       (toasting)                To Shakespeare! And villainy!                                                                    111                                                        pg. 112                             ALL                To Shakespeare! And villainy!      Jonson gets up, furious, and exits, quite drunk.     The      actors don't even notice him.112   EXT. STREET IN FRONT OF TOWER OF LONDON    - NIGHT           112      Jonson stumbles down the streets, alone, deep in his      own private hell. It's raining.                             WHORE                Fancy a tumble? Only sixpence!      Jonson waves her off.     He looks up and sees:      FROM HIS POV:      The Tower of London. He makes a decision.113   OMITTED                                                      113114   INT. THE TOWER OF LONDON - POLE'S ROOM - DAY                 114      Jonson sits in the same spot where Marlowe was sitting      earlier. And he hates himself for it. Rain drips down      the windows.      Pole looks up from some papers.                             POLE                I haven't got all day, man.                             JONSON                I... There is a-- there is a play to                be performed... on Monday.                             POLE                There's many plays to be performed                next Monday, isn't there?                              JONSON                Yes, my lord, but this one is to be                performed one performance, and one                performance only. On Monday. All                Bankside is talking of it.                       (beat)                The History of King Richard the Third.                By William Shakespeare.      Pole is confused.   So?                                                                  112                                                       pg. 113                             JONSON (CONT'D)                He kills his brother the king, and                half the royal family to get the                throne for himself--                             POLE                I know who Richard the Third was.                             JONSON                Yes. Of course you do. But in                William Shakespeare's version, he is                played as a hunch-back.      Pole realizes this is significant.115   INT. CECIL HOUSE - THE PRIVATE CHAPEL - DAWN                115      Robert Cecil has prayed all night. His lips silently      move in a prayer for a miracle.      When Pole appears he doesn't stop his prayer. Only      after Pole whispers in his ear does he stop and look      slowly up to the simple cross and close his eyes in      relief.116   EXT. LONDON - DAY                                           116      From high, high above a city of 200,000 souls. It's a      beautiful sunny day, but black storm clouds are on the      horizon.      All of London is on its feet. They all are on their way      to Bankside.      The London Bridge is crammed one way. The River Thames      is full of many small boats of theatergoers.117   EXT. BANKSIDE - IN FRONT OF THE GLOBE - DAY                 117      We see that a huge crowd has formed in front of the      Globe.118   INT. THE GLOBE THEATER - BACKSTAGE - DAY                    118      Everyone is busy, preparing for the performance;      actors, stage-hands, etc...      Shakespeare adjusts an actor's costume when Burbage      walks up besides him.                                                                 113                                                          pg. 114                               BURBAGE                  We have to turn `em away by the                  hundreds! Look! Never seen anything                  quite like it!        And both men look out the curtains to the crowd        outside.        The theater is full to the last seat. The people are        crammed together like sardines.118A    INT. OXFORD STONE - OXFORD'S ROOM - NIGHT                   118A        Oxford is being dressed in front of a mirror...    His        finest clothes... Powder to face...        Francesco assists him.118AA   INT. THE GLOBE THEATER - THE GALLERIES - DAY             118AA        Jonson is leaning against the edge of the balustrade,        watching the Groundlings fill in. He bites his nails        nervous.        Nashe joins him as--                               NASHE                  So! I heard the Earl of Essex paid for                  this whole performance! Man's never even                  been to the theater, and still he's heard                  of Will--        Dekker also joins them.                               DEKKER                  Essex!? Impossible. My cousin's one of                  his men-at-arms. Hasn't been paid in                  weeks. They're all just sitting there,                  waiting.                                  JONSON                  Waiting?     Waiting for what?                               DEKKER                  Wants to have an audience with the Queen.                  As if Cecil would ever let Essex near her                  now.                               NASHE                  By the mass, Cecil in favor, Essex out!                  Who can keep up with it all!?                         (takes a swig)                               (MORE)                                                                    114                                                         pg. 115                              NASHE (CONT'D)                 Zounds, I tire of politics, politics,                 politics.119   EXT. THE THAMES RIVER - DAY                                   119      Oxford is in a long-boat, headed for Whitehall Palace.      The oars of the boat cut neatly and silently into the      water.120   INT. WHITEHALL PALACE - OLD ELIZABETH'S BEDROOM - DAY         120      Elizabeth is doing her toilette. She seems excited like      a school girl before her first date. Her Ladies in      waiting are attending to her.121   INT. THE GLOBE THEATER - DAY                                  121      The audience HUSHES as--      ON STAGE      "GLOUCESTER", the future Richard III, enters. He is      hunch-backed, and looks as much like Robert Cecil as      possible in terms of beard and costume. First the      people are in stunned silence, but then like magic the      hissing starts. It is followed by more hissing and the      first boos.      The actor playing Gloucester nervously looks around...      IN THE GALLERIES      Dekker seems surprised at the similarity to Robert Cecil.                              DEKKER                        (to Nashe)                 Tired of politics are you? Seems you                 picked the wrong day to come to the                 theater, then...      Jonson gives Dekker a sharp look.   What's going on here?      ON STAGE      "Gloucester" addresses the audience.                              "GLOUCESTER"                 Now is the winter of our discontent                 made glorious summer by this son of                 York. Grim-visaged war hath smooth'd                 his wrinkled front....                                                                   115                                                          pg. 116      The hissing and booing has swelled so strong that the      actor stops for a moment. But then he finds the courage      again to continue.      Jonson looks down at the Groundling's reaction, and      spots--      FRANCESCO      in the audience. But among the Groundlings, not in      Oxford's usual box seat.      JONSON      looks over to Oxford's box.   It's empty.                               "GLOUCESTER"                  ...and now instead of mounting barded                  steeds to fright the souls of fearful                  adversaries, he capers nimbly in a                  lady's chamber to the lascivious                  pleasing of a lute. But I, that am                  not shaped for sportive tricks, nor                  made to court an amorous looking-                  glass...122   OMIT                                                           122123   INT. WHITEHALL PALACE - ROBERT CECIL'S ROOM - DAY              123      Robert Cecil watches himself in a mirror as armor is      placed on him by servants.                               "GLOUCESTER" (O.S.)                  I, that am curtail'd of this fair                  proportion, deformed, unfinish'd, sent                  before my time into this breathing                  world,....124   EXT. BANKSIDE - IN FRONT OF THE GLOBE THEATER - DAY            124      The huge crowd has stayed in front of the Globe. It      seems they are waiting for something. We hear hissing      and booing from the crowd inside the theater.                               "GLOUCESTER"                  ...and that so lamely and                  unfashionable that dogs bark at me as                  I halt by them.                                                                    116                                                         pg. 117125   INT. THE GLOBE THEATER - DAY                                  125      On stage, "Gloucester: continues despite the concert of      hissing and booing...                             "GLOUCESTER"                And therefore, since I cannot prove a                lover, I am determined to prove a                villain and hate the idle pleasures of                these days...126   EXT. ESSEX HOUSE - DAY                                        126      Essex mounts his horse, Southampton at his side. Their      sixty or so men behind them ready for the march to      Elizabeth.                             ESSEX                Edward knows what he is doing...      Does                he not?                             SOUTHAMPTON                He promised us a mob. They'll be                here.      Essex looks concerned, but says no more.127   INT. WHITEHALL PALACE - ROBERT CECIL'S ROOM - DAY             127      The servant tightens the last strap of Robert Cecil's      armor. He smiles at himself in the mirror.                             "GLOUCESTER" (O.S.)                Plots have I laid!      CANNONS DRAWN BY HORSES      as they roll down a cobbled street.   We are:128   EXT. LONDON BRIDGE   - DAY                                    128      Soldiers move people and carts off the street. Others      put CANNONS into place and then cover them with canvas      tarps.                             "GLOUCESTER" (O.S.)                Inductions dangerous, by drunken                prophecies, libels and dreams, to set                my brother Clarence and the king in                deadly hate the one against the other.                                                                   117                                                         pg. 118129   INT. THE GLOBE THEATER - DAY                                  129      Shakespeare watches from backstage, getting more and      more nervous by the audience's reaction.                               AN AUDIENCE MEMBER                         (to the actor playing                          "Gloucester")                  A pox on you!                               FRANCESCO                  A pox on Cecil!                               MORE AUDIENCE MEMBERS                  A pox on Cecil! A pox on Cecil!      The actors are getting nervous.      People start throwing      lettuce and tomatoes at them.                               NASHE                  Why is Oxford's man with the Groundlings?      BACKSTAGE      Shakespeare and Burbage exchange a worried glance.130   EXT. ESSEX HOUSE - DAY                                        130      The BELLS of St. James' Cathedral mark the hour as five      o'clock. Essex looks to Southampton nervously.131   INT. THE GLOBE THEATER - DAY                                  131      The play continues. "Gloucester" is plotting yet      another death on his way to the throne.                               "GLOUCESTER"                  Hath she forgot already that brave                  prince,                      Edward, her lord, whom I, some three                  months since,                      Stabb'd in my angry mood at Tewksbury?                     A sweeter and a lovelier gentleman-                      Fram'd in the prodigality of                  nature,     Young, valiant, wise, and                  no doubt right royal-                                    FRANCESCO                  Down with Cecil!      The actor playing "Gloucester" hesitates.     The audience      is getting unruly.                                                                   118                                                    pg. 119                         FRANCESCO (CONT'D)            Up with Essex! To Essex House!     To            Essex House!!IN THE GALLERIESJonson is putting the pieces together.   He stands.                         JONSON            This is what Essex is waiting for--                   (realizing)            Oxford is bringing him a mob.Jonson heads for the stairs.                         NASHE            Why would Oxford--                         JONSON            I don't know, I don't know! But, the            Tower-- Cecil, he already knows. He            knows!                   (looks at Francesco)            I-- I have to warn them!Nashe and Dekker are baffled as Jonson rushes down thestairs.                         VARIOUS GROUNDLINGS            Up with Essex! Essex! Death to            Cecil!BACKSTAGEShakespeare turns to Burbage.                         SHAKESPEARE            We must close the play. Now!!                         BURBAGE            Close the...? Are you off your head?We can start to HEAR the audience chanting "Ess-ex,Ess-ex"...ON STAGEIt's getting unruly.                         "GLOUCESTER"                   (repeating)            Fram'd... in the prodigality of            nature, Young, valiant, wise, and no            doubt right royal-                                                              119                                                       pg. 120      "Ess-ex, Ess-ex, Ess-ex"      ON THE GROUND      Jonson pushes his way through the crowd, trying to head      for Francesco. But they're separated by a sea of people.                             FRANCESCO                To Essex House! To Essex House!                Death to Cecil! Traitor!      A moment as the whole audience thinks on this. And      then these chants are repeated by hundreds in the      audience as they are pushing towards exits.      And Jonson-- still struggling to reach Francesco-- is      carried along with the mob.132   EXT. OUTSIDE THE GLOBE THEATER - DAY                        132      The mob pours out of the doors.      Storm clouds are gathering.   A RUMBLE of thunder sounds      in the distance.133   INT. WHITEHALL PALACE - HALLWAY - DAY                       133      Oxford is waiting for his audience, looking out a      window, nervously.134   EXT. BANKSIDE LONDON - DAY                                  134      The crowd pours through Bankside, growing in numbers as      more people come out of taverns, whore-houses, etc...      A shop-owner comes out of his store, confused.   Another      MAN grabs him.                             MAN                To Essex!   And then to the Queen!                       (joins in the chanting)                Ess-ex! Ess-ex!      The shop-owner begins to get the spirit of the mob.135   EXT. LONDON BRIDGE - DAY                                    135      If anything, the crowd is twice the size it was moments      ago. They head down the shop-lined bridge, full of      bravado.                                                                 120                                                      pg. 121      JONSON      is in the middle of the uncontrolled mob.   He spots      Francesco nearby.      WIDER      The mob has to slow down on the bridge. There is not      much room. And then it happens!      We are at the front of the mob, when the first soldiers      appear and pull down the tarps revealing the cannons.      People scream as an Officer appears and--                               OFFICER                Fire!      And then the cannon FIRES. There is PANIC all around,      and-      JONSON      runs with the crowd, trying to escape.137   EXT. ESSEX HOUSE - DAY                                     137      Essex and Southampton look tense.   They expected a mob      here by now.                             SOUTHAMPTON                They should be here by now...      Essex frowns.                             ESSEX                We go as we are! Now!!      And he spurs his horse, and GALLOPS down the street.                             ESSEX (CONT'D)                To the Queen!      Southampton has no choice, and follows.   So do the 60      or so men behind them.136   INT. WHITEHALL PALACE - HALLWAY - DAY                      136      Oxford hears a cannon shot. But it could also be the      sound of thunder. He goes to the window, sees the rain      clouds, and dismisses the sound. A LADY IN WAITING      enters.                                                                121                                                          pg. 122                                  LADY-IN-WAITING                   My lord.    Her majesty will be with you                   shortly.138   Omitted                                                        138139   EXT. LONDON BRIDGE - DAY                                       139      The mob is in panic.      And--      JONSON      is in the middle of it.                                FRANCESCO                   Signor Jonson! We are betrayed!    Run!                   Run!      Jonson looks on in horror as Francesco is KILLED by a      soldier wielding a pike.140   EXT. WHITEHALL PALACE - COURTYARD - DAY                        140      Essex and his men ROAR past the token guards at the      front gate, and gallop into the--      MAIN COURTYARD      Essex rears his horse, looks around at the many windows      that surround them from above.                                ESSEX                   To the Queen! To the Queen!      His men repeat his plea.      And then, once again, another      trap springs.      THE GATE      SLAMS closed.    And--      GUARDS ARMED WITH MUSKETS      line up in a colonnade in the story above.      Pole is in      command.                                POLE                   Take your aim!      SOUTHAMPTON      realizes--                                                                    122                                                        pg. 123                                SOUTHAMPTON                 It's a trap!                                ESSEX                 Spread out!       But before his men can obey--       IN THE COLONNADE       Pole orders--                                POLE                 Fire!!       IN THE COURTYARD       AND a hundred shots FIRE down into Essex and his men!141    INT. WHITEHALL PALACE - HALLWAY - DAY                       141       Oxford HEARS the SHOTS fired.    Confused, he goes to a       window, looks out and sees:       FROM HIS POV:       Men fall all around Essex and Southampton.141A   EXT. WHITEHALL PALACE - COURTYARD - DAY                    141A       Pole walks down the colonnade.                                POLE                 Re-load!142    INT. WHITEHALL PALACE - AUDIENCE CHAMBER - DAY              142       Elizabeth heads for the window just as a door behind       her SLAMS open, and Robert Cecil hurries in with a       dozen guards.                              ROBERT CECIL                 Majesty! You must away! Essex is in                 armed revolt! He's come to usurp you!                             ELIZABETH                       (confused)                 Essex? I-- Edward is--       She seems like a confused old woman.                                                                  123                                                       pg. 124                             ROBERT CECIL                You must flee! Quickly! Majesty! He                means to kill you and take your throne                for himself!      It takes only an instant for that to sink in. She      looks enraged. And then she turns with a flurry, and      heads back the way she came. The guards that were with      Robert Cecil follow her.143   EXT. WHITEHALL PALACE - COURTYARD - DAY                     143      Another fusillade is SHOT, and more of Essex's men go      down.      And then doors OPEN on the ground floor, and guards      RUSH out to take down the survivors.      Essex and Southampton valiantly fight, but there's just      too many.      They're soon surrounded... And Essex, knowing all is      lost, raises his sword in defeat.      Southampton sees this, and does the same.144   INT. WHITEHALL PALACE - HALLWAY - CONTINUOUS                144      Oxford watches all of this through the window.                             ROBERT CECIL (O.S.)                She won't forgive him this, Edward.      Oxford turns, devastated.                              ROBERT CECIL (CONT'D)                Essex will be convicted and executed                for treason.                       (beat)                As will your son.      Oxford looks shocked.                             ROBERT CECIL (CONT'D)                       (smiles)                What? Didn't you think I knew? Of                course I knew, Edward. My father told                me all his secrets. All of them.                       (smiling)                Though the most fascinating was not                made known to me until after his                death.                             (MORE)                                                                 124                                                  pg. 125                       ROBERT CECIL (CONT'D)          He hated you, Edward, how he hated          you. And yet he married his only          daughter to you. I never knew why,          until I read his last letter to me.                       OXFORD          He wanted his grandson to be an Earl.                        ROBERT CECIL          No, Edward.   He wanted his grandson to          be a king.Oxford now looks confused.                       ROBERT CECIL (CONT'D)          Elizabeth had several children,          Edward, not just yours. She was          sixteen for the first. Bloody Mary          was still Queen, and our future          Gloriana was out of favor. No one          thought her very important at all.          Except my father, of course. And when          her first child was born, a male, my          father took it, and hid it. The          grandson of Henry VIII, the foundling          of course had to be reared a nobleman.          John De Vere, the previous Earl of          Oxford, agreed to accept the task.Oxford goes ashen.                        OXFORD          You lie...                        ROBERT CECIL          Do I?                 (beat)          Why do you think he worked so hard to          become your guardian after your father          died? He had it all planned years in          advance. He would teach you          everything he knew about statecraft,          marry his daughter, and, after          Elizabeth's death, proclaim you heir.          His own grandchild to follow you on          the throne. But he couldn't possibly          predict what kind of failure you would          become. How you would fail in          politics, ignore your estates to the          point of bankruptcy, all to write...                 (sneers)          Poetry.                 (beat)          Or that you would commit incest.                        (MORE)                                                            125                                                        pg. 126                               ROBERT CECIL (CONT'D)                        (beat)                 Delicious isn't it? Right out of a                 Greek tragedy.                              OXFORD                 Elizabeth would never have--                               ROBERT CECIL                 What?  Slept with her son?                        (beat)                 I don't think she ever knew, to tell                 you the truth. Though you never know                 with the Tudors. They all have had                 such strange tastes in bed-fellows.                        (beat)                 You could have been a king, Edward.                 And your son after you. Except for                 the fact that... you were you.145    EXT. WHITEHALL PALACE - COURTYARD - DAY                     145       It's raining, hard.       Oxford almost stumbles out of the building onto the now       empty courtyard. The remains of the battle are still       visible. Wounded, screaming horses struggle to       stand...       Oxford's a shell-- devoid of emotion. Broken. Hardly       alive at all. He drops to his knees, the rain pouring       down on him.       We see the silhouette of a man watching through a       window from the second story above. It's--145A   INT. WHITEHALL PALACE - HALL - SAME TIME                   145A       --Robert Cecil, a slight smile on his face.       Pole approaches him from behind. Robert Cecil doesn't       turn or acknowledge Pole, but speaks to him as he       stares at Oxford.                              ROBERT CECIL                 I want a fair trial for Southampton...                 Evidence, witnesses, no false                 confessions. It must be above                 reproach. Though with a guilty                 verdict of course. Oh, and Pole--                        (turns)                 If there is any mention of that play--                        (looks back at Oxford)                              (MORE)                                                                  126                                                        pg. 127                             ROBERT CECIL (CONT'D)                --Make certain the secretaries refer                to it as Richard the Second. There                will be no mention of hunchbacks in                the official record...                                                         CUT TO:146   EXT. OXFORD STONE - GARDEN - DAY                             146      Oxford is sitting in a chair, watching the river      Thames, alone. Snow is falling and Oxford is covered      in a thick blanket. He looks ill.      Anne walks up behind him.                             ANNE                Sentence has been passed.      Oxford looks over at her.   Anne smiles.   This news      gives her great pleasure.                              ANNE (CONT'D)                They are to be be-headed.                       (with venom)                Both of them. Essex tomorrow,                Southampton in a week.                       (beat)                Your son is going to be killed,                Edward. By his own mother. Put that                in one of your plays!      And she leaves him with that.147   EXT. THE TOWER OF LONDON - COURTYARD - DAY                   147      Essex-- dressed in black, but with a bright red      waistcoat-- is led up a scaffold by guards, his hands      bound behind him.      Snow covers the courtyard. There are only a few      witnesses, as befitting Essex's rank.      ESSEX      stands, looking at life one last time. The Executioner      approaches with an axe. Essex turns, realizing it is      time.                               ESSEX                Strike true.      He kneels, resting his head on a wooden bench.                                                                  127                                                          pg. 128                              ESSEX (CONT'D)                 God save the Queen!      And BAM!   Just as the axe lands we--                                                           CUT TO:      FROM A WINDOW      we see the body of Essex fall onto the scaffolding, his      head into a basket. We are:148   INT. THE TOWER OF LONDON - A CELL - DAY                        148      Southampton, a prisoner, is watching his future fate      from a room high in a tower.                                                      DISSOLVE TO:      BOOTS      as they walk, limping along tiled floors.      We are:149   INT. WHITEHALL PALACE - AUDIENCE CHAMBER - DAY                 149      Doors fly open and Oxford appears before Elizabeth, who      is on her throne, regal and all in white, surrounded      by courtiers, including Robert Cecil. But she looks      very old, very ill.      Everyone goes silent as Oxford approaches Elizabeth.      Oxford makes no notice of them. He bows deeply in      front of her.                                ELIZABETH                 Leave us.    All of you.      People start to exit.     But not Robert Cecil.                                ROBERT CECIL                 Majesty, I--                                ELIZABETH                 Leave us!      Cecil exits, obviously worried.       When they are alone:                              ELIZABETH (CONT'D)                 You look old...      Oxford smiles sadly.                                                                    128                                                pg. 129                       OXFORD          I thank your majesty for seeing me.                       ELIZABETH          You cannot have him.                       OXFORD          He is our son.                       ELIZABETH          Who did commit High Treason!                       OXFORD          They only wished for a place in          government equal to their station.          Equal to their birth.                       ELIZABETH          You caused this! Your play, your          words, caused my people to mob against          me! Do you think I wasn't aware of          your plot with this man Shakespeare,          that I wouldn't recognize your voice?          It should be your head on the block          next week, not Southampton's!Oxford kneels.                       OXFORD          Then take my head. In our son's          stead.Elizabeth turns away from him, angered.   She walks to awindow, turns her back on him.                       OXFORD (CONT'D)          Neither they nor I ever conspired          against you. Cecil alone was our aim.          He has corrupted your--                        ELIZABETH          Cecil?  He has kept me my throne!                 (beat)          Mary, Queen of Scots... Philip, King          of Spain... Four French Louis's...          Eight Popes-- they all wanted my head.          My throne. All of them!                 (beat)          Yet here I remain... Because of the          Cecils.                       OXFORD          We would have protected you--                                                          129                                                 pg. 130                        ELIZABETH          You would have protected me? You? My          "loyal" Earls?                 (snarls)          You think Essex and Southampton were          the first to conspire against me, to          try to take my throne? No!                 (beat)          Only the Cecils could I trust!          Commoners! They could never claim my          throne. Never! Their wealth, their          power, their survival, all depended on          me. Me and no other!A long beat before--                       OXFORD          Let our child live...                       ELIZABETH                 (furious)          All Englishmen are my children!She has a coughing fit. Oxford patiently waits untilshe has recovered. Finally...                       ELIZABETH (CONT'D)          Does he know?Oxford shakes his head.                       ELIZABETH (CONT'D)          And if I give him to you?                       OXFORD          He will never learn of it from me.She pauses for a long moment...    And then she decides.                        ELIZABETH          He must never know... Never.                 (beat)          Take him.Oxford dares to smile, relieved.                        OXFORD          But only after my death! Only then!          When all is complete. After James is          crowned king, his crown safe, only          then can you claim your son... our          son.                 (beat)          This Island will be whole.                        (MORE)                                                           130                                                         pg. 131                              OXFORD (CONT'D)                One Island, one kingdom, one King.                       (with disgust)                Scotsman though he be.                       (beat)                That, that will be my final gift to my                people.                       (beat)                And I shall remain pure... Un-taken!      Elizabeth again looks out a window.                             ELIZABETH                Treason... that is all that has come                from you... your son... Your plays...                None will be claimed by you. None.      And she leaves the throne chamber. Oxford looks after      her as the SOUNDS of BELLS slowly begin GONGING as we-                                                   DISSOLVE TO:150   EXT. LONDON - DAY                                             150      The bell-ringing comes from St. Paul's Cathedral, the      largest church in the City.                                                          CUT TO:151   EXT. THE THAMES RIVER - DAY                                   151      On the frozen river Thames we see the funeral      procession for the greatest Queen England has ever      seen. Everybody follows the carriage with the casket      of the queen.      All the lords and ladies of the land.   All wear      elaborate black clothing.      First is Robert Cecil.   Proudly.   Not far walks Oxford.      He is a statue. Devoid of emotion. And then joyous      CHORAL MUSIC replaces the CHURCH GONGS as we--                                                          CUT TO:      A GOLD CROWN      as it is placed on a head.    We are:                                                                   131                                                       pg. 132152   INT. WESTMINSTER ABBEY - DAY                                152      JAMES I (late 30's) is being crowned by the Archbishop.      All the lords and ladies of the land are standing in      attendance.      ROBERT CECIL      is watching James. His face betrays his proud      feelings. All of Robert Cecil's desires have come true.      Oxford's wife Anne is there, but Oxford is nowhere to      be seen.                             ARCHBISHOP (O.S.)                God save the King!                             EVERYONE IN THE ABBEY                God save the King!                                                        CUT TO:153   EXT. STREET IN FRONT OF TOWER OF LONDON - DAY               153      It's foggy. Oxford stands next to a carriage, waiting      as the gates open, and Southampton-- scruffy and a bit      worse for wear-- is escorted out.      Southampton smiles weakly when he sees Oxford waiting      for him. The two men walk towards each other and      embrace.      Both men have tears in their eyes.                             SHAKESPEARE (O.S.)                No, no, no, no.                                                        CUT TO:154   INT. THE GLOBE THEATER - DAY                                154      Shakespeare is on stage, supervising a rehearsal of      "Much Ado About Nothing". He doesn't look pleased.                             SHAKESPEARE                The line won't get a laugh that way.                You must accent the word sirrah--                              JONSON (O.S.)                Will!   Will Shakespeare!                                                                 132                                                        pg. 133      Shakespeare turns and sees Jonson heading his way.      Jonson is completely drunk, waving a sword in one hand,      a tankard in another.                               JONSON (CONT'D)                So!    Off to the palace are you?      Shakespeare immediately sees Jonson's condition.                              SHAKESPEARE                Ben!                             JONSON                A command performance for our new                king! Even in bloody Scotland they've                heard of bloody Will Shakespeare, have                they? Fraud. Charlatan.                Counterfeiter of wit! Murderer!      The actors on stage are all watching, nervous.                             SHAKESPEARE                Ben, please...      But Jonson CHARGES Shakespeare. Shakespeare easily      dodges the drunk Jonson. Jonson ROARS and attacks      again.      Shakespeare dodges again, turns, and manages to grab      Jonson by the throat. They are face to face.                             SHAKESPEARE (CONT'D)                You came to me, Ben. You came to me!      They stare at each other and then Shakespeare SHOVES      him off. Jonson falls to the ground.                                                         CUT TO:155   EXT. OUTSIDE THE GLOBE THEATER - LATE AFTERNOON              155      Jonson-- only semi conscious-- is carried by the actors      and dumped into the street. They leave him there. He      wallows in the mud for a beat. Then--                             SERVANT (O.C.)                Master Jonson?      Jonson looks up to see one of Oxford's servants      standing above him.                                                                  133                                                       pg. 134156   INT. OXFORD STONE - OUTSIDE OXFORD'S BEDROOM - DUSK         156      The servant guides Jonson towards Oxford's bedroom just      as Anne and a DOCTOR emerge from it. She recognizes      him.                             ANNE                       (to servant)                What is this man doing in my house?      The servant doesn't know what to say.                             ANNE (CONT'D)                       (to Jonson)                You will leave at once. My husband is                quite ill--                             JONSON                It was your husband who sent for me,                madam.                             ANNE                And I am dismissing you--      A SECOND DOCTOR exits the sick man's room.                             SECOND DOCTOR                Are you Jonson?      Jonson nods.                             SECOND DOCTOR (CONT'D)                He's asking for you.                             JONSON                Excuse me, your grace.                                                        CUT TO:157   INT. OXFORD STONE - OXFORD'S BEDROOM - CONTINUOUS           157      Oxford, in bed, looks quite ill, sweat covering his      brow.      He furiously writes on a small tablet on his lap. He      holds up his hand for silence as Jonson enters, the      doctor following behind him.                             OXFORD                Thank you, doctor.      The doctor exits.                                                                 134                                                  pg. 135                       OXFORD (CONT'D)          Come over here, Jonson...He points to a chair by the bed. When Jonson sits downhe notices a big pile of manuscripts by the side of thebed.                        OXFORD (CONT'D)          Did you know, Jonson, that my family          can trace its peerage farther back          than any family in the kingdom?   We          fought at Crecy. At Bosworth Field.          At Agincourt.                 (beat)          I inherited my Earldom as one of the          wealthiest men ever to breathe English          air... and at last breath, I shall be          one of the poorest.Jonson looks on sadly.                        OXFORD (CONT'D)          Never a voice in government. Never a          sword raised in glorious battle. No          immortal deeds for my heirs to know me          by.                 (beat)          Words, merely words, are to be my          legacy...                 (beat)          You alone watch my plays and know them          as mine. When I hear the applause,          the cheering, of the audience, all          those hands clapping, they are          celebrating... another man. But in          that cacophony of sounds, I strained          to hear the sound of two hands only.          Yours.                 (beat)          But heard them, I never did.Jonson stares at him.                       OXFORD (CONT'D)          Death takes away all pretense and          demands honesty from its target. You,          you have never told me... never told          me what you thought of my work...To answer is not an easy task for Jonson's ego.    Hehesitates.                                                            135                                                    pg. 136                       JONSON                 (almost a whisper)          I find... your words... the most          wondrous ever heard on our stage.    On          any stage... Ever.The two men now looking each other in the eye.                       JONSON (CONT'D)                 (sotto)          You are the soul of the age...Oxford smiles at the thought of it.   Then--                       OXFORD          Promise me... promise me, Jonson, that          you will keep our secret safe. That          you won't expose Shakespeare...                         JONSON          My lord?                       OXFORD          I have seen it in your face... He          vexes you. How could he not? But he          is not your burden. He is mine.Then he nods to the manuscripts by his side.                       OXFORD (CONT'D)          All my writings. The plays, the          sonnets... Keep them safe. Keep them          from my family. From the Cecil's.          Wait a few years, and then, publish          them.Jonson looks stricken.                       JONSON          I am not worthy of this charge, my          lord. I... I betrayed you... I told          them of your--                       OXFORD          I have made it my life to know the          character of men, Jonson. I know you.          You may have betrayed me, but you will          never betray my words...He puts the last manuscript on the pile.Jonson looks at the--                                                              136                                                           pg. 137      FRONT PAGE      Which reads "DEDICATION", then more words, starting      with:      "To the Earl of Southampton"158   INT. OXFORD STONE - OUTSIDE OXFORD'S BEDROOM - DUSK             158      Jonson leaves Oxford's room, visibly shaken.    The      manuscripts are under his arm.      Anne, Oxford's wife is still there, surround by      doctors.      Then she sees Jonson leaving.                                ANNE                   Get out! You, your friends, your                   blasphemous theaters, have brought                   nothing but ruin and dishonor to this                   family.                                JONSON                   Ruin? Dishonor? Madam. You, your                   family, me, even Elizabeth herself                   shall be remembered solely because we                   had the honor to live whilst your                   husband put ink to paper.      He turns and exits.                                                            CUT TO:159   EXT. OXFORD STONE - DUSK                                        159      Jonson exits the building and walks away. He reads the      dedication on the first page of the manuscript as he      walks.                                JONSON (V.O.)                   To the Earl of Southampton. The love                   I dedicate to your lordship is without                   end; whereof this pamphlet, without                   beginning, is but a superfluous                   moiety.      Jonson freezes, and looks back at Oxford's house,      realizing there is another whole layer to all this;      exactly what he can only guess.                                                            CUT TO:                                                                     137                                                       pg. 138160   INT. OXFORD STONE - OXFORD'S ROOM - NIGHT                    160      A few hours later. Oxford has died in his bed. Anne      watches as a doctor covers his face with a sheet.                             JONSON (V.O.)                What I have done is yours; what I have                to do is yours; being part in all I                have, devoted, yours.161   EXT. A SMALL CHURCH - DAY                                    161      A casket is being interred into the family mausoleum.      Anne is there, as are Oxford's children. So is Robert      Cecil.                             JONSON (V.O.)                Were my worth greater, my duty would                show greater; meantime, as it is, it                is bound to your lordship, to whom I                wish long life... still lengthened                with all happiness.      Southampton is there as well.   Watching. Tears roll      down his cheeks.                                                         CUT TO:162   INT. TOWER OF LONDON - INTERROGATION ROOM - NIGHT            162      Where we began.      A bucket of water is DUMPED on Jonson. He regains      consciousness and looks around. Somewhat confused he      sees:      Robert Cecil limping out of the dark towards him.      Robert Cecil leans down, and very close to his ear,      whispers:                             CECIL                I can make all this go away, Jonson...                To be but a dream. Like one of your                plays... Or, I can bring you so much                pain-- pain that were you given a                thousand years, and a thousand quills,                you could never justly describe...      Cecil steps back.                                                                 138                                                    pg. 139                       CECIL (CONT'D)          I know you have them. All his          manuscripts. My sister saw you leave          Oxford Stone with them under your arm.Jonson takes a long time before answering. Will hebetray Oxford?                       JONSON          They were destroyed...   burned...   by          your own men...Cecil doesn't know whether to believe him or not.                       INTERROGATOR          He's lying...                       JONSON          My lord? Why would I lie? Is there a          man alive who has reason to hate him          more than I?Jonson stares directly at Cecil, knowing he is speakingabout Cecil as well as himself.                       JONSON (CONT'D)          He was something I could never be. An          undeniable perfection... that plagued          my soul... And to him I was...          nothing. A messenger. Nothing more.Cecil stares into his eyes for a long moment, searchingfor the truth. Then he smiles.                        CECIL          Let him go!   He tells the truth.Robert Cecil turns to leave, but then turns a lasttime.                       CECIL (CONT'D)          And Jonson-- better him, won't you?          Wipe his memory for all time. For          you. And for me.Robert Cecil smiles at Jonson, who can only stare athim. Finally:                       JONSON                 (sotto)          I am afraid that this is not possible,          my lord.Robert Cecil's smile freezes and he leaves.                                                              139                                                         pg. 140163    EXT. STREET IN FRONT OF TOWER OF LONDON - DAWN               163       Jonson is getting released. He walks away....a lonely       figure.164    EXT. THE ROSE THEATER - DAWN                                 164       Wide from above...Still smoking from the fire....All       the sudden we make out Jonson searching through the       rubble.164A   INT. WHITEHALL PALACE - AUDIENCE CHAMBER - NIGHT            164A       Set for a Court performance of a play. Courtiers bow       as King James I enters the chamber, Robert Cecil two       steps behind him. James takes his seat right in front       of the stage, as Elizabeth used to.164B   EXT. THE ROSE THEATER - DAWN                                164B       Jonson's eyes search the ground.   And, eventually, he       finds it--       THE METAL BOX       that seems to somehow have survived the conflagration.       JONSON       opens the box.       INSIDE THE BOX       Are the manuscripts Oxford gave him. Jonson smiles,       relieved. They are singed at the edges, but they are       there. We hear--                               PROLOGUE (O.S.)                  O-- for a muse of fire... that would                  ascend the brightest heaven of                  invention...                                                   DISSOLVE TO:       AN ACTOR       playing Prologue. He is the same actor who introduced       the "play" at the beginning of the film. But now he       wears Elizabethan clothing-- but again, all       monochromatic and grey.                                                                   140                                                     pg. 141                             PROLOGUE (CONT'D)                A kingdom for a stage, princes to act,                and monarchs to behold the swelling                scene!165   INT. WHITEHALL PALACE - AUDIENCE CHAMBER - NIGHT          165      And he is standing on the stage.                             PROLOGUE                Let us, ciphers to this great accompt,                on your imaginary forces work.      King James' watches enthusiastically, Robert Cecil      right next to him.                             JAMES I                We had seen some of this Shakespeare's                plays in Edinburgh, Sir Robert. I                must tell you, we enjoyed them                immensely, and look forward to seeing                many more, now that we are in                London... I presume you are as avid a                theater man as myself?      Robert Cecil's smile remains frozen.                             ROBERT CECIL                Of course, your majesty...      The CAMERA moves away from them and we realize we are      on the theater stage where we started.166   INT. BROADWAY THEATER - STAGE - DUSK                      166      "Prologue" turns and addresses his audience (and us) in      the modern theater.                              PROLOGUE                Robert Cecil remained the most powerful                man in the Court of King James, though he                could not prevent the public theaters                from becoming ever more popular. William                Shakespeare, however, spent the remaining                years of his life not in the playhouses                of London, but in the small town of his                birth, Stratford upon Avon, as a                businessman and grain merchant.                       (beat)                              (MORE)                                                               141                                               pg. 142                        PROLOGUE (CONT'D)          Ben Jonson succeeded in his desire to be          the most celebrated playwright of his          time, becoming England's first Poet          Laureate. And in 1623, he wrote the          dedication to the collected works of the          man we call William Shakespeare.                 (beat)          And so... though our story is finished,          our poet's is not. For his monument is          ever-living, made not of stone but of          verse, and it shall be remembered... as          long as words are made of breath and          breath of life.The curtains close.END CREDITS start to roll...                                              FADE OUT.
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+                                       "ANTITRUST"                                      Screenplay by                                     Howard Franklin                                      SHOOTING DRAFT                                           2001                               ON A BLACK SCREEN               it says: "The coolest thing?"                                     VOICE                         Wow. That's hard. I'd have to say                          it's the day we launched Outpost                          '98.               We hear a (famous) Seattle alternative band.               EXT. OUTPOST CAMPUS - DAY (BEGIN MAIN TITLES)               Quick cuts, seductive angles: 70 hot-air balloons rise over                a vast, green corporate campus. Their mylar skins are                imprinted with Outpost '98 logos; their gondolas are dressed                in Outpost-colored bunting.               18,000 Outpost employees cheer. They're spread out over                rolling lawns, amid Arabian tents and costumed Acrobats.                Over the balloon-dotted sky, the graphic re-appears: "The                coolest thing?"                                     DIFFERENT VOICE (DARYL)                         It's the beverages.               INT. OUTPOST OFFICE - DAY (CONTINUE TITLES & MUSIC)               A Programmer sits in his handsome office, forested landscape                out the window. The screen says: DARYL, M.I.T. '95                                     DARYL                         Gary always makes sure we've got the                          coolest stuff to drink.               JUMP CUTS of tall refrigerators: Snapples, Cokes, Fruitopias,                Zaps, Jolts, Barques & Sprites are lined-up behind glass                doors. "The coolest thing?"                                     DIFFERENT VOICE (DIANA)                         Knowing your work means something.               INT. OUTPOST CAMPUS - DAY (CONTINUE TITLES & MUSIC)               A 24-year-old Korean-American Girl sits at the edge of a                plashing, post-modern fountain. DIANA, STANFORD '97                                     DIANA (V.O.)                         Knowing everywhere in the world,                          this is the software people use.               MONTAGE of world capitals & remote places: Stockbrokers &                Farmers, News Anchors & Students, CEO's & Eskimos boot-up                Outpost '98, or log-on with Outpost Internet Traveler.                                     DIANA (V.O.)                         20 years ago, Gary had an idea, that's                          all he had. And now the company's                          bigger than IBM.               Over the last shot (a Ghetto Kid uses Outpost Word in the                library): "The coolest thing?"                                     VOICE (V.O.)                         It's the people. Which is weird.               EXT. COFFEE HOUSE/TERRACE - DAY (CONTINUE TITLES & MUSIC)               A Programmer sits with two colleagues, drinking lattÈs at                the edge of Lake Washington. MITCH, BERKELEY, '98                                     MITCH                         Big companies are s'posed to be                          impersonal.               MONTAGE: Programmers play competitive games at an Outpost                picnic; Toddlers play on computers in an Outpost Day Care                Center; Geeks confer at a diagram-covered whiteboard;                Employees listen/dance to the Seattle band we've been hearing,                on-stage, at the Outpost '98 launch.                                     MITCH (V.O.)                         There's this myth that doing a start-                         up is cooler. But there's no community                          with a start-up. No permanence.               BACK TO SCENE: COFFEE HOUSE/TERRACE (CONTINUE TITLES)               One of Mitch's colleagues is nodding. DONNY, HARVARD, '97                                     DONNY                         It bums me out when the media say                          we're cultish, or whatever. Why?                          'Cause we care about each other?               Donny didn't mean to sound so mushy. Nobody knows where to                look for a second.                                     MITCH                         'Love you too, bro.               As they laugh: "The coolest thing?"                                     VOICE (TERRY)                         I'll tell you what's not cool.                                     TERRY                         How Gary gets this superbad rap.               MONTAGE of magazine covers (Newsweek, Vanity Fair, WIRED)                featuring Gary Boyd. They say, eg: "Who Owns Cyberspace?" On                a Time cover, he's composited by the Capitol Dome: "ROBBER                BARON OR VISIONARY? Outpost's Antitrust Woes"                                     TERRY (V.O.)                         There's this prejudice against super-                         smart people. People like Gary.               GARY (early 40's) reads a statement before a Congressional                Sub-Committee. His voice is pleasant but firm:                                     GARY                         A kid working in his garage can create                          the next Outpost, the new IBM. All                          it takes is a great idea.               A bloated Senator looks hostile.                                     GARY                         That's why nobody can have a monopoly                          in a business built on ideas.               As we watch, CAMERA pulls back from the screen on which the                movie is being projected. REVERSE INTO:               INT. COLLEGE AUDITORIUM - EVENING (END MAIN TITLES)               Over an audience of 40 or so computer students we read:               STANFORD UNIVERSITY               We pick out MILO CONNOR, watching keenly. He's 21: clear-               eyed, alive, innocent. He sits with his best friend, TEDDY                CHIN, third-generation Chinese-American.                                     DIFFERENT VOICE (V.O.)                         The coolest? Gary. He's like you or                          me. If we happened t'be insanely                          rich.               Some appreciative laughter in the auditorium. But behind                Milo, LARRY LINDHOLM squirms in his seat. He whispers:                                     LARRY                         Can we go?                                     VOICE (FROM THE FILM)                         For me? It's Seattle!                                     LARRY                         'Starting to get nauseated.               BRIAN BISSEL, in front of Milo, twists in his seat:                                     BRIAN                         Do you mind?               Larry gets up.               Two Outpost Recruiters, REDMOND PRICE, 31 (gray suit) and                DANNY BAYLOR, 29 (Outpost '98 golf shirt) note the walkout.                Danny scans headshots in a Stanford Yearbook. (On-screen                behind them we see Seattle: night streets wet-down &                shimmering; Young People entering a club; Young People                climbing Mt. Shasta.) Finding Larry's picture, Danny points                out the name to Redmond, who shrugs: unconcerned.                                     VOICE FROM THE MOVIE                         Did anybody mention the beverages?               INT. HALLWAY OUTSIDE AUDITORIUM - CONTINUOUS               The double-doors swing open (over them, a plate reads: THE                HEWLITT-PACKARD AUDITORIUM) and Larry comes out.               UP THE HALLWAY - CONTINUOUS               ALICE POULSON, a very pretty girl of 21 (more hiply dressed                than the geeks) searches the hall, reading the names over                the doors (NEC Communications Classroom, Toshiba Computer                Lab, Mitsubishi Classroom). She spots Larry.                                     ALICE                         Is it over?                                     LARRY                         They still have to give 'em                          refreshments laced with mind-altering                          drugs.                                     ALICE                         You are a fanatic.                                     LARRY                         'Gonna wait outside.               EXT. STANFORD COMPUTER SCIENCE BLDG. - A MOMENT LATER               Tilting down the neo-classical edifice, we read the name                etched over the entrance: WILLIAM GATES COMPUTER SCIENCE                BUILDING. We find Larry and Alice sitting on the steps.                                     LARRY (AT FIRST O.S.)                         Alice? You gotta make him do the                          start-up with Teddy and me.                                     ALICE                         "Make" him?                                     LARRY                              (thoughtfully)                         You know what I mean.               As we hear Larry speak, we cut back into:               THE AUDITORIUM - CONTINUOUS               The lights are on. Milo & Teddy stand by a table dressed in                Outpost bunting, laden with refreshments & giveaways:                mousepads, T-shirts, caps & books with the Outpost logo on                them (a simple contour drawing of a frontier outpost). While                most Students chat earnestly with Recruiters, Milo & Teddy                load their plates with pizza and tortilla chips.                                     LARRY (V.O.)                         I'm not exactly worldly, but I'm the                          Secretary of State next to him.               Milo puts some brownies on his plate.                                     LARRY (V.O.)                         And they're all throwing this --                          stuff at him. Stock options. Pay                          packages.               Spotting a book on the table, Milo picks it up.               EXT. GATES BLDG. - CONTINUOUS                                     LARRY                         I'm just screwed.                                     ALICE                              (that's not true)                         You know what he's like. He just                          wants to work on stuff that's cool.                                     LARRY                         You don't wanna move, do you?                                     ALICE                         I can paint anywhere.               Larry looks at her: you didn't answer my question.                                     ALICE                         I'd like to stay here, yeah. And I                          kind of think he should be with Teddy.               THE AUDITORIUM - CONTINUOUS               Milo and Teddy discuss the book almost joyfully. (We see a                page of code: utterly indecipherable.)                                     ALICE (V.O.)                         I mean, nobody else can follow what                          they're talking about half the time.                                     MILO/TEDDY                              (under Alice)                         'Could be a condition-variable in                          the locking code -- If it didn't seg                          fault, first!               EXT. GATES BLDG. - CONTINUOUS                                     ALICE                         Maybe you shouldn't push it so hard.                          About Outpost. No offense, you sound                          insane.                                     LARRY                         I can't help it. I feel like they'd                          do anything to keep their --                                     ALICE                         Anything? That's not even credible.                          If he wants to go up there? To check                          it out? I think you should encourage                          him.                              (seeing Larry's                               incredulity)                         It's his life. But everybody's                          treating him like this -- valuable                           object. You're hurting your own case.               INT. AUDITORIUM - CONTINUOUS               Brian, already wearing one of the Outpost caps, effuses to                Redmond.                                     BRIAN                         He's my god. I hear he actually calls                          recruits sometimes. Or is that an                          Urban Legend?                                     REDMOND                         Gary's running the biggest software                          company in the world, Brian. He's                          being harassed by the Justice                          Department, and he's got a new baby.               Across the room, Milo (eating chips, perusing code) reaches                for a napkin but unwittingly grabs some bunting. It unravels                in a long TP-like streamer -- just as Danny approaches,                peering at Milo's ID tag.                                     DANNY                         Milo? I'm Danny.                                     MILO                         Oh hi.               He tries to sluff the paper off his hand; Danny holds out a                cell phone.                                     DANNY                         Gary would like to speak to you?               Milo and Teddy look at each other: right. But Danny looks                like he means it. Milo's grin fades. He takes the phone.                                     MILO                         ...Hello?                                     GARY (ON THE PHONE)                         Milo? Gary Boyd. I'm hoping you and                          your friend can come up here. We've                          made some amazing strides in digital                          convergence. I'd love to show them                          to you.                                     MILO                         You would? Wow. When would we come?                              (he waits; he looks                               up)                         'Think he hung up.               Danny holds out two plane tickets, in 1st class folders.               INT. UNIVERSITY AVENUE DINER (PALO ALTO) - NIGHT               Alice examines one of the tickets almost suspiciously.                                     ALICE                         But how does he know that's what you                          guys're working on?               Larry, Teddy & Brian are at the table with Alice & Milo.                It's a student hang-out, with loud music.                                     MILO                         All the companies know. The faculties                          tell 'em. At the target schools.                                     LARRY                         In exchange for endowments. They                          should just drop the pretense and                          name the schools after 'em.                                     BRIAN                              (to Teddy)                         I can't believe you refused a ticket!                                     TEDDY                         My parents're already freaked-out                          I'm staying here. 50 miles from                          Chinatown.                                     BRIAN                         Well maybe if you told 'em how much                          money you'd be making --                              (to Milo)                         You're going up there. Right?                                     LARRY                         I think you should go.                                     MILO                              (amazed)                         You do?                                     LARRY                         I mean, it's your life.               As Alice predicted, Milo is pleased by Larry's remark.                "Empowered." Larry smiles conspiratorially at Alice.               INT. MILO & ALICE'S APARTMENT - MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT               In a tidy, playfully decorated room, Alice stirs in bed,                sees the space next to her is vacant.               TINY ROOM - CONTINUOUS               Milo sits at a desk, thinking, agitated, in the dim light of                a PC. He looks up, sees Alice in the doorway.                                     MILO                         I think I kind of lost it. I was                          just so thrilled to be talking to                          the richest, most powerful... 'Didn't                          know I even cared about that stuff.                                     ALICE                         C'mon, how often do you talk to                          somebody who's been on the cover of                          Time. Three of four times.               She picks her way through geek clutter (motherboards, code                manuals, Coke cans) sits next to him.                                     MILO                         A lot of what Larry says is true.                          They just clone stuff, or reverse                          engineer it, and everybody gets stuck                          with their inferior version cause                          they --                                     ALICE                         Then you've gotta ask him about that.               He looks at her: you've gotta be kidding.                                     ALICE                         It's important.                                     MILO                         If he's really a bully, he won't cop                          to it, anyway.                                     ALICE                         Bully? Are we talking about Gary                          Boyd? Or your dad.               He doesn't deny it: she sees right through him.                                     MILO                         When I was a kid? And he was moving                          us all over the place? I spent all                          my time writing stuff on Outpost                          1.0. I thought Gary Boyd was the                          greatest.                                     ALICE                         But he's not quite the same guy                          anymore. Don't get your hopes too                          high?               INT. 737 - FIRST CLASS CABIN - DAY               In the cabin, everybody types on a notebook but Milo. He                looks out the window expectantly: at the Seattle skyline.               INT. SEA-TAC AIRPORT - GATE 13 - DAY               Milo comes off the plane. Danny and Redmond greet him.               INT/EXT. HIGHWAY/CAR - DAY               Redmond drives his black Lexus 85 m.p.h. Danny leans forward                from the backseat.                                     DANNY                         'Couldn't convince Teddy to come?                                     MILO                         He's pretty tight with his family.                                     DANNY                         We could move 'em up here.                                     MILO                         He just likes to write code. He's                          bummed there's so much secrecy and                          competition, everybody trying to own                          everything.                                     REDMOND                         Who do you mean by "everybody."               Milo almost blushes. He makes an awkward segue.                                     MILO                         So -- how far are we from the campus?                                     REDMOND                         Oh we're not going to the campus.               EXT. GARY BOYD'S COMPOUND - LAKE WASHINGTON - DAY               Beyond a rocky beach, buildings are cunningly carved into a                wooded hillside. Glass walls are framed in rich wood. The                main house is 28,000 sq. ft. Then there's the guest house,                pool building, reception hall, library...               EXT. GATEHOUSE - CONTINUOUS               Redmond pulls up. A discreet Guard in a Mr. Rogers cardigan                recognizes him. The gates swing open.               EXT. BOYD HOUSE - DAY               They pull up by a Lexus SUV with a baby seat. Another Man in                a cardigan stands in the open front door.                                     MILO                         Who's that?                                     DANNY                         I think they call him the "Houseman."                          'Cause "guard" sounds too weird.               Milo just sits there, eyeing the monumental residence.                                     DANNY                         Don't be nervous. The house is the                          weirdest thing about him.                                     REDMOND                         It's like he knows everybody expects                          him to be this worldly, colorful                          zillionaire. But he's just a guy who                          likes software.               INT. BOYD MANSION - DEN-LIKE ROOM - DAY               Milo and the Houseman cross a long room with a lake view. We                hear music by Satie. The Craftsman furniture and lamps are                custom-made. A Cezanne hangs on the wall.               ANOTHER DEN-LIKE ROOM WITH A VIEW               There's a Craftsman crib here, stuffed animals, another                Cezanne. Even the toys seem arranged. They enter an               ANTEROOM/CONFERENCE ROOM - CONTINUOUS                                     HOUSEMAN                         Have a seat. He won't be long.               Milo sits on a bench. He tries not to look, but his childhood                hero is partly visible through a glass panel in the door:                Gary (in a suit and tie) has an open American face. But                something goes on behind his pleasant features and self-               possessed mien: his desire (or need) to solve the problem at                hand is so intense it makes him appear vexed -- even                vulnerable.               CONFERENCE ROOM - CONTINUOUS               As Gary concentrates, two Outpost Senior Managers speak:                PHIL TATE, 40 (bald); and RANDY GRIMES, 36, (gray eyes).                                     PHIL                         We tried the big vaporware number,                          Gary, it's no-sale.                                     RANDY                         Can we buy into their IPO? Or is                          that a Justice Dept. problem?                                     PHIL                         There is no public offering. The guy                          who wrote it joined some freakazoid                          cult in San Luis Obispo. 'Wrote this                          just to run their web site.               ANTEROOM - CONTINUOUS               Gary speaks with precise hand gestures: settling the matter.                Phil and Randy gather their papers, and stand. They exit,                nodding at Milo as they pass. Then Gary comes out.                                     GARY                         Milo? Excuse the tie. I was on TV.               Milo is a little dazzled as they shake hands: such a fam-                iliar face, such a big figure in his young life.                                     MILO                         ...That's okay.               INT. DEN-LIKE ROOM - MOVING               Now New Age music plays. They move back through the same                room, but the Cezanne has been replaced by a Hieronymus Bosch                (bodies roiling in Hell). Milo is -- puzzled.                                     GARY                         The house knows the paintings I like,                          it knows my favorite music. Same for                          anybody else who's in the system.               NEXT ROOM - STILL MOVING               As they walk, Milo watches a Cezanne "original" digitally re-               configure to a Bosch, brushstrokes and all.                                     MILO                         Cool!                                     GARY                         Would you like a Coke or something?                                     MILO                              (too shy, too nervous)                         Oh. No thanks.               He opens a glass-doored refrigerator, scans a shelf with                rows of Snapples -- in alphabetical order.                                     GARY                         When we started, I just hired my                          smart friends. That was great. We                          got a little bigger, I had to hire                          smart strangers. Much harder.               He selects a Kiwi-Raspberry, they walk on.                                     GARY                         Now I don't get to hire anybody. But                          I know you're the guy to write                          Skywire.               INT. GARY'S WORKROOM (LAKE VIEW) - MOMENTS LATER               They enter. An entire wall is taken-up by a Bosch triptych.                As Gary crosses to the other side of the room, Milo stands                by a table covered in art books -- hundreds of them (Soutine,                Chinoiserie, Roy Lichtenstein...)                                     MILO                         You know a lot about art, I guess.                                     GARY                         There's a rumor going around, maybe                          you've heard it.               Gary heads back, carrying something spherical.                                     GARY                         There's more to life than computers?                          I'm looking into it.               Glancing down at the daunting display of books, Gary looks                vaguely afflicted. He mutters:                                     GARY                         'Once I start looking into something.               Looking up now (and much more at ease) he holds up a shiny,                detailed metal object: model satellite.                                     GARY                         I've only shown this to three other                          people. I bought 200, we've launched                          12 so far. I keep the coordinates in                          this room.                              (as Milo takes it,                               carefully)                         It's left over from SDI. Reagan's                          Star Wars technology? They orbit 426                          miles up.                                     MILO                         Low enough to relay internet traffic.                                     GARY                              (he smiles: exactly)                         Among other things... We know                          convergence is the real super-highway:                          all the PC's, TV's, phones, etc.                          linked together. Why cram it into a                          cable if you can use the whole sky?                                     MILO                              (turning the sleek                               object)                         Skywire.               INT. GARY'S WORKROOM - LATER               Milo and Gary peer at a monitor, side-by-side. Milo sips his                own Snapple now. Gary speaks his language.                                     GARY                         The content filer has t'be written                          into the media files so bits coming                          off the satellite can be read by                          multiplatforms. Really, omniplatforms.                          Including whatever new hardware                          emerges.                                     MILO                         It needs a more object-oriented                          language. This doesn't scale, does                          it?                                     GARY                         You'd have to start practically from                          scratch. But this is all you'd be                          working on. No marketing meetings,                          no product seminars. We can't waste                          the time. Half the Valley's working                          on convergence. So're media                          conglomerates, cable companies, phone                          companies. 'Can't finish second,                          Milo. There is no second... Now what                          would you like to ask me?               Milo has a deer-in-the-headlights look.                                     MILO                         ...Ask you?               INT. GARY'S HOUSE - ANOTHER ROOM - DUSK               As they walk, Milo chides himself for his reticence. Gary                seems to read his mind.                                     GARY                         I know what people say, and not just                          the Justice Department. We clone                          ideas, inflict our second-rate                          versions on the world, we haven't                          done anything original since 1.0.               Milo's amazed by Gary's acuity. And his candor.                                     GARY                         Do I think that's fair? No. I'd put                          some of our apps up against anybody's.                          But is there some truth to it?               They have come to a stop in a windowed entryway. Milo watches                Gary keenly. Gary nods. He knits his brow.                                     GARY                         When you get to a certain age, you                          start wondering. About your legacy.                          I doubt you even remember Outpost                          1.0 --                                     MILO                         I do!                                     GARY                              (pleased)                         Yeah? I wanna feel like I did when I                          wrote that. But I'm 42, that's 100                          in cyber-years. I look at you and                          see the things that got me here.                              (the furrows deepen)                         But somehow got away.               EXT. CUPERTINO HILLS (SILICON VALLEY) - NIGHT               A block of floodlit "tract mansions," Taco Bell palaces of                the Valley's newly rich. Milo & Alice cross a vacant lot to                where the lights twinkle below. Their '89 Honda Civic is                parked nearby. Milo is excited.                                     MILO                         If my dad'd leveled with me like                          that even once... The weird thing                          is, my fantasy he could somehow be                          like the old Gary? It's his fantasy,                          too.                                     ALICE                         I think that's great, Milo. I do.                                     MILO                         ...But?                                     ALICE                         Didn't you visit the campus?                                     MILO                         I forgot. That's why you have to                          help me decide.                                     ALICE                         No way. You have this -- destiny.                                     MILO                         C'mon, I wouldn't have a destiny                          without you. My destiny would be                          dying at 20. From eating --                                     ALICE                         Don't bring that up. Like a different                          girlfriend would'd've let you die?                                     MILO                              (shrugs)                         You saved my life in alot of ways.               He's sweet. She kisses him. He holds onto her.                                     ALICE                         It's not just Gary that makes you                          wanna go there? 'Cause it's a big                          place. You might not even see him                          again.               He'd hate to think that's true. But he manages a smile.                                     MILO                         I know.               EXT. MILO & ALICE'S APARTMENT - DAY               The Honda is loaded with luggage and boxes, some of which                are tied to the roof. Milo & Alice stow a final piece.                                     MILO                         When's Brian coming for the TV?                                     ALICE                         Prob'ly waiting by the phone for                          Outpost to call. We'll leave it for                          him?               As they head back in, they see a Toyota park at the curb.                                     ALICE                         'Give you guys some time alone.               She continues inside. He waits, watches Teddy cross the                sidewalk to join him.                                     MILO                         ...You got my E-mail?                                     TEDDY                         And your phone messages. You wanna                          do what you do, it's not a crime.                                     MILO                         Is that how Larry feels?                                     TEDDY                         Uh. Not exactly.               A brown Buick parks behind Teddy's car. As they speak, a                rumpled, 50ish MAN in an off-the-rack suit gets out.                                     MILO                         Wanted to say goodbye to him...                                     TEDDY                         Hey, we got seed money for the                          startup! A million-five!               Milo grins, he high-fives Teddy.                                     TEDDY                         We rented a loft in Sunnyvale.                              (he gives Milo the                               number)                         You know what's the bad part? We                          can't talk about work anymore. We're                          competitors! The venture capitalists                          made us sign like 100 confidentiality                          forms.                                     MILO                         Outpost made me sign 1,000. 'Guess                          we'll find out what else we have to                          talk about. Life stuff.               They embrace. It's awkward, but it's heartfelt.               INT. MILO & ALICE'S APARTMENT - A MOMENT LATER               Milo enters, reading Teddy's phone number.                                     MILO                         Guess what? They got their --               The rumpled Man sits on a radiator, watching CNN on a TV,                the last remaining piece of furniture. Alice enters, holding                a jam jar filled water, hands Milo a business card.                                     ALICE                         Milo, this is Mr. Barton from the                          Justice Department.                              (gives Barton the                               water)                         Sorry about the glass.               Milo reads the card: Lyle Barton, Asst. Prosecutor, DOJ,                Seattle Branch Office. Milo's a little spooked.                                     BARTON                         Don't worry, Milo. I'm here as a                          friend. Or maybe a supplicant.                                     MILO                         Right... What's that mean again?                                     BARTON                         Beggar. We're at a disadvantage with                          Outpost. Our experts aren't as smart                          as theirs. Sometimes we can't tell                          which technologies pose the threat                          of a monopoly. We need a really smart                          guy to help us pick our fights. I'm                          taking a shot in the dark, here. I                          can offer you 32,000 a year, a Buick.                          I'm hoping you've got a feeling it's                          the right thing to do.                                     MILO                              (fiddling with the                               card)                         It's just -- I kind of feel the need                          to do something with my ability.                          Create something...                                     BARTON                         Like I said: shot in the dark.               Milo tries to give back the card.                                     BARTON                         If you see something there that rubs                          you the wrong way? Do the right thing.               And he goes.                                     MILO                         That took some fun out of --                                     ALICE                         We're not gonna let it.               She kisses him. They head out. We linger. On TV a graphic                says: SAN LUIS OBISPO, CA: MASS SUICIDE - LIVE. Emergency                Medical Personnel roll gurneys with bodies out of a new                Mediterranean mansion. Footage shows bodies (including a few                children) on bunkbeds, uniformly shod in black Nikes.                                     CNN VOICE                         -- ingested the fatal mixture of                          sedatives crushed in apple sauce.                          According to the cult's eerily                          professional website, it was "time                          to move on..."               EXT. OUTPOST CORPORATE CAMPUS - DAY               Crane past identical, low, steel & glass buildings, amid the                vast lawns & fir trees... Past a building under                construction... To find Redmond's Lexus, cruising.               INT./EXT. REDMOND'S CAR/CAMPUS - CONTINUOUS               Milo looks out the window, Redmond gives the tour:                                     REDMOND                         There're 20 buildings, I mean not                          counting the Gyms, the Day Care,                          etc.               The Day Care is a Michael Graves-looking building with a big                cartoon-dog sculpture on its roof, ears cocked to the sky. A                Teacher leads her little charges inside.                                     REDMOND                         Gary's put millions in there. And                          the people with kids? They're not                          hotshot geeks, they're just payroll                          clerks or whatever.               Two Men in suits, with briefcases, (conspicuous amid the                Geeks in jeans and T-shirts) enter Building #19.                                     REDMOND                         You'll see alot of that: Department                          of Justice goons snooping around.               The car pulls into a lot full of Miatas, BMW's, Boxters.               CLOSE ON - THE OUTPOST LOGO               THEN TILT UP TO SHOW:               EXT. BUILDING 20 QUAD - DAY               The logo is of inlaid stone. Redmond & Milo walk over it.                Milo carries a box with some personal effects, including a                small painting. Redmond wears a photo I.D. tag.                                     REDMOND                         So how'd you like the house?                                     MILO                         His Snapples were in alphabetical                          order.                                     REDMOND                              (he laughs)                         Well, he micro-managed the company                          till it got too big...                              (he opens the door)                         'Guess he needs to micro-manage                          something.               INT. BLDG. 20 LOBBY - CONTINUOUS               At the desk, a RECEPTIONIST looks up, stands to hang a                temporary ID pass around Milo's neck.                                     RECEPTIONIST                         Milo, I'm Judith. Welcome!               Milo smiles. Redmond uses his magnetic swipe card on an inner                door (a security cam is at every door); he holds the door                open for Milo.               INT. HALLWAY - CONTINUOUS               They walk up a long carpeted hallway, past open offices where                Geeks (mostly males under 30) sit at workstations.                                     REDMOND                         Everybody has the same office, there's                          no dumbass corporate hierarchy.               They pass a room in which Geeks play video games. Just outside                it, a chubby programmer, DESI, sips a Diet Coke.                                     DESI                         Get out while you can, dude!                                     REDMOND                         Desi, Milo.                                     DESI                         The guy who was at Gary's house?               He bows deep, with mock-obeisance. Milo blushes, Redmond                laughs, he snags Milo's elbow. They walk again, passing a                service hall with a Civil Defense sign.                                     REDMOND                         Best bomb shelters in America,                          accessible from every building. You                          gotta figure we're a major target,                          right?               ANOTHER HALLWAY - A MOMENT LATER               Up the hall, a young woman (LISA) is about to go into her                office. She pauses half a second, looks at Milo, goes in.                She's beautiful.                                     REDMOND                         Whoa. Lisa actually looked at you.               As they pass her office, they look in: she's already at her                workstation, studiously avoiding their gaze.                                     REDMOND                         Every geek here's got a thing for                          Lisa. But that's about the biggest                          reaction she's had to anybody.                                     MILO                              (shy, changing the                               emphasis)                         She's a programmer?                                     REDMOND                         Heavy graphical background, doing                          design-interface for Skywire apps.                              (he all but winks)                         You'll be working with her.                                     MILO                         I've got a girlfriend, remember?                                     REDMOND                         Right. That's rare around here. You                          know how nuns' re-married to Jesus?                          'Posties are married to Outpost.               INT. MILO'S OFFICE - MOMENT LATER               A handsome, modest office like all the others: workstation,                whiteboard, window. They enter.                                     REDMOND                         Here's your world.                              (pointing at the desk)                         Copy of Gary's book, also the audio                          version, narrated by Gary.               Milo puts down his box, picks up the book: The Next Highway                (Gary by a highway on its cover). As we look at it:                                     VOICE (SHROT)                         The card's encoded. Tells us who                          came through the door and when.               INT. OFFICE OF PHYSICAL SECURITY - LATER               In an office with a bank of monitors that play feeds from                security cameras, BOB SHROT, 40, Head of Physical Security,                issues Milo his swipe card. Redmond watches.                                     SHROT                         Unauthorized entries sound like this.               He drags the card through a sample slot, producing an                unbelievably loud, piercing EEEEEEEE. He shouts over it:                                     SHROT                         If you see a tailgater, report him.                                     MILO                         Tailgater?                                     SHROT                              (kills the alarm)                         Somebody coming in on your swipe.                              (gives Milo a photo                               ID)                         You see somebody wandering around                          without ID, it's your duty to                          challenge him. I don't give a shit                          if you're a stock-option billionaire.                          If you don't challenge, I'll have                          your butt.               INT. HALLWAY - LATER                                     MILO                         He seems a little -- tense.                                     REDMOND                         Geeks pull his chain cause he's non-                         tech. Ex-cop or something. They moon                          cameras, or use ATM's as swipe cards.                          The cameras're our real security so                          he's a little demoralized.               EXT. BUILDING 20/PARKING LOT - DAY               As they walk, Milo watches two Hardhats roll a spool of fiber-               optic cable into the building under construction.                                     MILO                         What're they building?                                     REDMOND                         #21. Way behind schedule. It's top-                         secret, but everybody knows it's a                          digital broadcast space. They see                          the dishes on top, the fiber optics                          going in.                                     MILO                         Gary's not into fiber optics. He's                          betting everything on the satellites.                                     REDMOND                         You wanna survive in the software                          business, you cover your bets... I                          gotta say, this is the weirdest car                          anybody ever requested.               They approach a 1990 Deux Chevaux, cheap but charming.                                     REDMOND                         Oh, right. Your girlfriend's an                          artist.               INT. BLDG. 20 CAFETERIA - DAY               Blond wood, smoked glass -- a room as sleek as the Geeks who                lunch here are nerdy. Milo and Redmond push trays.                                     REDMOND                         I phoned her at your hotel, told her                          about our corporate housing options.                          She sounds neat.               Lisa's at a table, looking at Milo. When their eyes meet,                she busies herself, placing the plates back on her tray.                                     MILO                         ...She is.                              (turning away from                               Lisa)                         She is!               Lisa passes behind them, smiles fleetingly at Milo. At a                table, Randy and Phil note the "interaction." Meantime:                                     REDMOND                         'Might be some friction on the                          domestic front. You're expected you                          to put in ridiculous hours. People've                          accused us of breaking up                          relationships to get their undivided                          attention.               He laughs.               INT. BLDG. 20 HALLWAY - CONTINUOUS               Lisa moves swiftly up the hall. She looks up it and down it                (making sure no one's looking) before ducking into               MILO'S OFFICE - CONTINUOUS               She goes to the box on Milo's desk (his personal effects) --                starts rooting through it.               INT. CAFETERIA - LATER               Redmond and Milo have eaten; Redmond stacks their plates.                                     REDMOND                         Your counselor'll fill you in on                          everything else. That's who you'll                          be working with almost daily.               INT. MILO'S OFFICE - LATER               Milo has fed the old Skywire disks into his machine. He reads                a complicated screen.                                     VOICE                         Busy?               Milo looks up. It's Gary. Milo is thrilled.                                     MILO                         No! Just waiting for my counselor to                          come by and introduce himself.                                     GARY                         Okay. I'm Gary.               Milo's smile deepens. Gary notices the small painting (by                Alice) hanging on the wall. He stares at it.                                     GARY                         'Think I should buy some originals?                                     MILO                         ...Do I?                                     GARY                         Somebody said I'm just another                          Philistine. With reproductions.                                     MILO                         That's insane. You're ahead of your                          time.                                     GARY                         That's what I told her. My wife.               Milo colors as Gary drags a second chair in front of the                screen; didn't realize he was contradicting Mrs. Boyd.                                     GARY                         'Thinks I'll be less of a control                          freak if I have a hobby. 'Just gives                          me something else to obsess about...               Milo smiles as Gary sits down, studies the screen.                                     GARY                         Anything we can salvage from the old                          code before you start fresh?               Milo can't quite get over: Gary's his counselor.                                     MILO                         Uh, might be one or two things.                                                               DISSOLVE TO:               EXT. QUAD - OUTSIDE MILO'S OFFICE - LATER               Two awe-struck Geeks see Gary through the window.                                     GEEK 1                         He's been in there like an hour.                                     GEEK 2                         Shit.               INT. MILO'S OFFICE - CONTINUOUS               MILO SCROLLS THE SCREEN:                                     MILO                         Could work with a new switch. There                          may be a few more things hidden.                                     GARY                         Don't spend too much time searching.                          You ever vetted somebody's old code                          before?                              (when Milo shakes his                               head)                         It's a different skill. Stay close                          to the surface. The best-hidden                          secrets are in plain sight. You know                          the best place to hide a leaf, right?                              (when Milo shakes his                               head)                         In a tree.               INT. EMPTY HOUSE - EVENING               We're in an old (empty) Craftsman house. Through a front                window, we see Alice lead Milo up a path. As they enter:                                     ALICE                         ...The corporate condos were as                          romantic as they sound.               Milo's grinning as he takes in the house.               THE BEDROOM - MOMENT LATER               Windows give onto a garden with a small studio. Milo's still                beaming, Alice is pleased. Till he says:                                     MILO                         You know he's never been anybody's                          counselor before?                                     ALICE                         Milo! What about --?               She gestures at what she hopes will be their home.                                     MILO                         Oh, It's great. It's great!                              (they start to kiss,                               but:)                         'Think I should tell him I learned                          everything using 1.0? Maybe I could                          show him one of my early programs.               She pulls him back into the kiss.               MONTAGE W/ MUSIC               1.) MILO types intently in his office.               2.) GARY sits with MILO at his desk, discussing code. Pan to                the window; we see a different pair of awed Geeks.               3.) Milo & Alice read in bed. He's reading Gary's book.               4.) MILO shows GARY one of his early programs, written on                1.0.: it's simple-looking, with some childish writing scrawled                on it. Gary seems touched.               INT. OUTPOST CONFERENCE ROOM - DAY               Two DOJ AGENTS depose Gary. (A video-cam records his answers.)                Two Outpost LAWYERS sit next to him. One of the Agents is                reading from a document:                                     DOJ AGENT                         "Infotek's urgent need to license                          Outpost Office is such that we can                          use it as a tool in the current                          negotiation."                              (looks up)                         When you wrote the word "tool," what'd                          you mean by it?               Gary studies his copy of the E-mail. He looks vexed.                                     GARY                         I don't remember.                                     DOJ AGENT                         What d'you think you meant by it?                                     GARY                         I'm confused. Am I supposed to                          speculate under oath?               The Agent shifts in his seat. We get an idea of Gary's                negotiating skill (making the other party look unreasonable,                while offering nothing).                                     OTHER AGENT                         Since you didn't have an answer to                          that question, Mr. Boyd --                                     GARY                              ("confused" again)                         Didn't I? Have an answer? "I don't                          remember."               The Agents confer. Gary sees Phil, looming outside the open                door. One of the Agents sees him, too. He doesn't try to                hide his annoyance:                                     DOJ AGENT                         Did you wanna take a break, Mr. Boyd?               INT. AN OFFICE - A MOMENT LATER               Gary takes a manila envelope from Phil, opens it.                                     PHIL                         Your protege's moving so fast we can                          barely keep up with him.               Gary reads the page from the envelope: computer code.                                     GARY                         This is good. Who did it?                                     PHIL                         'Start-up not 50 miles from here.                          Kid's on Prozac.                                     GARY                         Maybe we should all get on it.               INT. MILO'S OFFICE - DAY               Milo stares at his screen, frustrated. Gary enters.                                     GARY                         How's it going?                                     MILO                         Maybe I'm going too fast.                                     GARY                              (sharply; incredulous)                         Too fast? At least four companies're                          on the verge of workable convergence                          systems, Milo, they --               Catching himself, Gary trails off. He sits down, exhales.                                     GARY                         Even when I had a hand in every aspect                          of the company I knew the one thing                          you can never control is somebody's                          creative process.               Gary seems sincerely contrite. (He needn't be: Milo just                wants to please him. Besides: Milo sees he'd like to stop                obsessing about convergence, to be a "worldly zillionaire,"                engrossed in his hobbies; but, after all, what could be more                engrossing than Skywire?)                                     MILO                         It's okay. Really.                                     GARY                              (reaching into his                               pocket)                         Take a look at this. Slightly                          different approach.               Reading the page Gary got from Phil, Milo knits his brow.                                     MILO                         You did this -- overnight?                                     GARY                         You're making me young again.               INT. LISA'S APARTMENT - NIGHT               PAN OFF a TV, where local news footage shows a mangled,                smoking BMW, post-wreck, on a lonely nocturnal highway.                                     NEWS VOICE                         ...A graduate of MIT, he was on the                          antidepressant Prozac, and had been                          warned not to drink and drive. (Etc.)               Lisa watches the news report, knowingly.               INT. BUILDING 20 HALLWAY - DAY               Lisa heads up the hall, carrying a CD-ROM.               INT. MILO'S OFFICE - DAY               Milo's typing.                                     LISA                         Milo?               He looks. He stands.                                     MILO                         Lisa.                                     LISA                         You know my name.                                     MILO                         You know mine.                                     LISA                         You're famous around here.                                     MILO                              (winces)                         I'm getting a teacher's pet rep.                                     LISA                         I wouldn't worry about it. You've                          gotta figure most people around here                          were their teachers' pets.                                     MILO                         ...Were you?                                     LISA                         We moved around so much I barely                          knew my teachers.                                     MILO                         Me too! Were you an Army brat or                          something?                                     LISA                         ...Something like that. Yeah.                                     MILO                         Didn't mean to pry. I just have this                          theory. Some of us who got to good                          at this? We were -- escaping                          something.               This seems to jolt her. She pales a little. What a mysterious                girl. But this only adds to her allure.                                     MILO                         Did I say something?                                     LISA                         No, I know what you mean. I used to                          spend my life wishing people could                          be like computers. Least they make                          sense. Sometimes you think they've                          betrayed you. Like a person would.                          But then you see, no, you just missed                          a step. You can go back and make it                          all work.               This strikes a deep chord with Milo, all of it.                                     MILO                         I used to wish that. All the time.               They're looking at each other: he gets self-conscious.                                     MILO                              (re: the CD-ROM)                         What've you got there?                                     LISA                         Graphical interfaces. For Skywire?                          I'm s'posed to coordinate with you.                                     MILO                         Show me.               They sit. As she inserts the disk, he finds himself looking                at her. On the screen, the frontier outpost we know as the                logo appears. It's struck by a bolt from the sky. The outpost                comes alive with light, music, movie-images through its                windows, a ringing phone. Finally, the word SKYWIRE burns                into it. It's neat, she's really good.                                     MILO                         Cool!                                     LISA                         Yeah? I ran it for lots of platforms,                          ranging from the narrowest bandwidth                          to --               Simultaneously, they reach for the mouse. Their hands touch.                They look at each other. Something happened.                                     MILO                         ...Sh-Show me the next one.               She nods, manipulates the mouse. He stares at the screen                strenuously, fighting the impulse to stare at Lisa.               INT. ANTEROOM - GARY'S OFFICE               Gary's SECRETARY types as Milo enters. She smiles at him.                                     SECRETARY                         Have a seat. He's with someone, but                          I know he wants to see you.               INT. GARY'S OFFICE - CONTINUOUS               Gary's face is red. The two Lawyers who sat in on his                deposition are with him again.                                     LAWYER                         Because we bundled it, the judge is                          threatening to enjoin the whole --                                     GARY                         I'm confused, Ted.               Gary has used the phrase before, but the pretense of                ingenuousness is gone; it's witheringly condescending.                                     GARY                         Didn't you tell me they'd be Chapter                          12 by the time they could hope to                          enjoin? I'm very confused, because                          you said they'd be ready to settle.               ANTEROOM - CONTINUOUS               Milo hears Gary yelling behind the closed door. It's                indecipherable, but we discern an enraged "bullshit!" Milo                flips through a copy of Wired, trying to ignore it. The                Lawyers come out, passing swiftly, rather grimly.                                     SECRETARY                         Go on in.                              (when Milo looks                               dubious)                         He's always happy to see you.               INT. GARY'S OFFICE - A MOMENT LATER               Agitated, Gary rather compulsively lines-up the papers, pens,                etc. on his desk; he barely hears the knock at the open                doorframe.                                     GARY                         Milo. What's up?                                     MILO                         Well -- you sent for me.                                     GARY                         Right... Right.               Still distracted, he finds a page of code on his desk, gives                it to Milo. Once again, Milo marvels.                                     MILO                         You really wrote this just today?                                     GARY                              (dark, unsmiling)                         What're you implying.                                     MILO                              (taken aback)                         Nothing!               Their eyes are locked. Gary blinks, sags into his chair.                                     GARY                         Everything I do is under scrutiny.                          The questions they ask, trying to                          make anything strategic look sordid.                              (knits his brow)                         I'm confused. Doesn't everybody in                          business try to get ahead?                                     MILO                              (uncomfortable)                         I'm sure.                                     GARY                         The purpose of this company isn't to                          destroy our competitors any more                          than the purpose of living is to                          breath. But the software business is                          binary: you're a zero or a one. Being                          obsessive isn't a crime. It's a                          character trait.               Milo just wants to get out. He studies the code to hide his                discomfort. Gary watches him.                                     GARY                         It scales, don't you think?                                     MILO                         Definitely.               He smiles. For the first time it looks forced.               INT. SEATTLE RESTAURANT - NIGHT               A youthfully upscale place, a converted red-brick warehouse.                Alice looks great. The Waiter pours wine.                                     ALICE                         This feels fairly grown up, I'd say.               Milo smiles (again it looks forced) raises his glass.                                     MILO                         To our new life.                              (she's looking at him)                         ...What's wrong?                                     ALICE                         That's what I need to ask you.                              (when he says nothing)                         You know you can't keep anything                          from me.                                     MILO                         He gave me some new code-fixes this                          morning. I said, "Did you really do                          this just today?" Cause I was                          impressed. He said "What're you                          implying?"               She just looks at him. He grows a little defensive:                                     MILO                         It's the way he said it. Just the                          way my dad did, when he was caught                          in a lie. That's how you knew you                          were onto something ugly.                                     ALICE                              (just confused)                         What would it mean, anyway? If he                          didn't write it?                                     MILO                         That's what I'm asking myself. Does                          he have some genius stowed away? Why                          not let him write Skywire.                              (upset)                         'Not saying it makes sense.               A Busboy leaves a basket of rolls. Glum, preoccupied, Milo                takes one without looking, brings it to his lips --                                     ALICE                         Milo!               He looks at Alice, looks at the roll, blanches.                                     MILO                         I'm so stupid.               He throws the roll back into the basket.                                     ALICE                         He's your boss. He's not your --                                     MILO                              (he's nodding)                         I know, I know.                                     ALICE                         If you can't deal with him on that                          basis, you better get a new counselor.                                     MILO                              (the very idea hurts)                         Isn't that -- extreme?                                     ALICE                         What's extreme is what that ER doctor                          said when he pumped your stomach.                          Eat another sesame seed and that's                          it.               We see the rolls: covered in seeds.                                     ALICE                         I mean, if one little comment from                          Gary is gonna upset you this much --                                     MILO                         You're right. It's -- a working                          relationship. Don't know what I was                          expecting.               He smiles. But his heart's not in it. She hates to see him                suffer. She picks up her glass.                                     ALICE                         C'mon. Let's do the toast?               EXT. TERRACE OUTSIDE CAFETERIA - DAY               Milo sits alone, marking up pages of code as he eats. He                doesn't notice Lisa, standing with her tray.                                     LISA                         Did you wanna be alone?                                     MILO                         No. Please.               He indicates she should sit.                                     LISA                         They just pushed up the schedule on                          Skywire apps. How fast are you going?                                     MILO                         "There is no second place." Plus                          every time I get jammed-up, Gary has                          an inspiration.                              (looks at her, curious)                         Is it like that with your counselor?                                     LISA                         Mine's not the CEO. He barely                          remembers to take a shower.                                     MILO                         Right, right. But does he ever just,                          like, hand you code?                                     LISA                         Maybe once. I re-wrote it, anyway.                                     MILO                              (he smiles)                         You're compulsive.                                     LISA                         Mmm-more like -- I have a little                          trouble. Trusting people.                                     MILO                         Why's that?                                     LISA                         Long story. Not that interesting.               She smiles charmingly to cover whatever she's feeling. The                more enigmatic she is, the more intrigued he is.               EXT. BLDG. 20 QUAD - DAY               Milo and Lisa walk, eat ice cream out of paper cups with                Outpost logos. They laugh. We go nearer.                                     MILO                         So, when you were talking about                          wishing people were more like                          computers. Was that then? Or now?                                     LISA                         Then and now.                              (when he looks at her)                         But not right now.               She maintains eye contact. Her meaning is clear.                                     VOICE                         Milo!               Milo turns, sees Brian (Stanford classmate, Outpost zealot)                give an envelope to a Guard at the door of #20; he trots                over to Milo, who is as flustered as another guy might be                having been found in bed with a girl.                                     BRIAN                         Just dropped off a resume. Almost                          got in the front door.               He looks at Lisa, back to Milo, wondering why he isn't being                introduced.                                     MILO                         You're living here?                                     BRIAN                         'Thought if I relocated it could                          help my case. I'm writing programs                          for the local public access station.                          Where any whack-job with 100 bucks                          gets his own show? God, does it suck.                              (gives him a business                               card)                         Can you help me?                                     MILO                         Sure, I'll see what I can do.               Seeing how flushed Milo is, Brian thinks he must have                blundered in on something. He starts to back away.                                     BRIAN                         Well I parked illegally. See y'later?                                     MILO                              (watching Brian go)                         'Forgot to introduce you.                              (a beat)                         I have a girlfriend.                                     LISA                         That's great. I -- didn't know.                                     MILO                         She saved my life.               EXT. GAS STATION - NIGHT               The station is closed. Milo's car is parked, empty.                                     MILO (O.S.)                         How's it going down there?               We find him, in an illuminated phone booth.                                     TEDDY (ON THE PHONE)                         I've been hacking for five night's                          straight, I'm really making headway.               INTERCUT WITH:               INT. TEDDY'S LOFT (SUNNYVALE) - CONTINUOUS               A funky space, posters on the wall, a red Stanford pennant,                rubber trees at either end of his desk.                                     TEDDY                         But these, like, White Supremacists                          trashed my office, last week.                                     MILO                         What?!               On the wall beyond Teddy the word GOOK (in blood red) has                been covered over with paint but still bleeds through.                                     TEDDY                         They're in the neighborhood. They                          usually hassle Vietnamese grocers.                                     MILO                         Jesus, Teddy.                                     TEDDY                         I'm cool. They didn't touch the                          machine. Or my disks. Probably didn't                          know what they were. So, you a Moonie                          yet?                              (he waits)                         Milo?                                     MILO                         I met this girl.                                     TEDDY                         What? Come on. Is it serious?                                     MILO                         I don't know.                                     TEDDY                         Did you tell Alice?                                     MILO                         No! I keep thinking it'll go away.                          But there's this -- connection. She's                          been hacking since she was little,                          she had to move around a lot. Plus I                          see her every day, we're working on                          the same program. She's -- beautiful.                                     TEDDY                         A beautiful geek? I don't wanna sound                          paranoid, or like a pig, but what're                          the chances?                                     MILO                         What d'you mean?                                     TEDDY                         I dunno. I guess Larry's got me                          totally suspicious of that place.                                     MILO                         What does that mean?                                     TEDDY                         Milo, geeks don't have two                          girlfriends. Most don't have one.                                     MILO                         I didn't plan this.               EXT. BUILDING #20 QUAD - DAY               Through a window, we watch Milo traverse the quad.                                     GARY (O.S.)                         What'd the girl say?                                     PHIL                         There may be a little less trust                          after your outburst.               We are               INT. GARY'S OFFICE - CONTINUOUS               Gary turns back inside, where Phil reads Milo's new code.                                     PHIL                         Hasn't affected his work, though.                                     GARY                         Nothing does. Still. I want him to                          like me.               Phil is confused by Gary's sincerity; so is Gary.               EXT. BUILDING #20 PARKING LOT - EVENING               Desi and another Geek watch in astonishment: Gary walks Milo                to his car, his arm circled over Milo's shoulder. He seems                to be -- apologizing.               EXT./INT. MILO & ALICE'S HOUSE - EVENING               Milo comes eagerly up the path: can't wait to tell Alice                what just happened. He enters -- pulls up short. Alice is                waiting for him. She's white.                                     MILO                         ...What's wrong?               She doesn't know how to say it.                                     MILO                         What!                                     ALICE                         Teddy was killed last night.                                     MILO                         What're you -- what?                                     ALICE                         It was a hate crime.               Milo is staggered. She moves to him...                                     ALICE                         I'm sorry. I'm so sorry.               He hangs onto her, for support.               EXT. SUNNYVALE LOFT BLDG. (SILICON VALLEY) - DAY               Establish the funky building, vestiges of police tape on the                door, a limo and many cars parked out front.               INT. LOFT - MAIN FLOOR - CONTINUOUS               A mixture of Teddy's relatives and Computer Friends have                gathered. In the BG, Teddy's Dad weeps volubly.               INT. TEDDY'S WORKSPACE - CONTINUOUS               Teddy's brother, NELSON, shows Milo the workspace: red                Stanford pennant, rubber trees on the desk. Milo, in a suit,                peers at the painted-over epithet on the wall.                                     NELSON                         They trashed his hard disk, all his                          back-ups. Nothing's left.                                     MILO                         They caught the guys?               Nelson shows Milo a San Jose Mercury: mugshots of two skin-               headed Aryan Nations Members in their 20's.                                     NELSON                         It's an airtight case. They found                          the weapon with Teddy's blood on it                          and their fingerprints. They'd been                          arrested twice for beating-up Asians.                          How come they weren't in jail?               Milo unpins a picture of himself & Teddy from a board.                                     MILO                         He told me about the break-in. He                          didn't seem to take it that seriously.                                     NELSON                         You guys don't take anything seriously                          do you? That's not on a hard drive?               Milo is stung by this. Alice appears in the doorway.                                     ALICE                         Nelson? Your mom wants you. It's                          time to go to scatter the ashes.               Milo is pinning the picture back up. The pushpin falls to                the floor, he kneels to retrieve it. On the floorboards, he                sees a thin, shiny plastic filament. He picks it up.                                     MILO                         I didn't know he was working with                          fiber optics.               But when he looks up, Nelson's gone.                                     ALICE                         We gotta go too, honey.               As he heads out with Alice, he unthinkingly stuffs the                filament in his suit pocket.               EXT. BLUFF OVER THE PACIFIC - DAY               A raw beautiful bluff. The sea stretches to infinity behind                a smaller group of Mourners. A LAY MINISTER intones the Lord's                Prayer.               EXT. BLUFF - LATER               Milo approaches Larry with trepidation. Larry nods, it's                okay. They hug each other. They walk slowly back toward the                cars.                                     MILO                         I know you lost all his work. Maybe                          I could come down here and --                                     LARRY                         You are naive. Look at your employment                          contract: you can't work anywhere                          else in this field for at least few                          years.                              (he smiles sadly)                         Not that I don't miss you.                                     MILO                         Just thought his work should go on.                                     LARRY                         He was on the verge of something,                          too. He was gonna show us the next                          day. He said "The answer's not in                          the box, it's in the band." Know                          what it means?                                     MILO                         It's only meaningful when you've got                          40,000 lines of code to back it up.                                     LARRY                         Man, could he write code. Totally                          elegant. He had his own style.                                     MILO                         Those really weird, short lines.               They smile. For a moment, they've brought Teddy back to life.                Alice comes up from behind, to fetch Milo.                                     LARRY                         Take good care of this guy.               EXT. BLDG. 20 - DAY               Arriving for work, Milo sees Outpost flags at half mast.               INT. HALLWAY - DAY               As Milo comes up the hall, Lisa is standing there. We get                the feeling she's been waiting for him.                                     LISA                         You okay?               He looks at her, perhaps hearing Teddy's words ("what're the                chances?"). He nods, moves on. She watches him head up the                hall.               INT. MILO'S OFFICE - DAY               Milo types. There is a rapping on the doorframe. Gary.                                     GARY                         I heard what happened.                                     MILO                         Were the flags for Teddy?               Gary nods. Spontaneously Milo stands, hugs Gary.                                     GARY                         Had you talked to him much lately?                                     MILO                         Just once. 'Guess I was worried we                          didn't have anything to talk about,                          since work was off-limits. Non-                         disclosure.                                     GARY                         Did you?                                     MILO                         Talk about work? Never!                                     GARY                         I meant did you find other stuff to --                                     MILO                         Oh. Yeah.                                     GARY                         You've been coming in early.                                     MILO                         It helps. Alice said it would help.                          To focus on something.                              (a little guilty)                         'Don't know what I'd do without her.               INT. MILO & ALICE'S HOUSE - MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT               Milo sits on the couch, in dim light. Alice comes in.                                     ALICE                         You okay?                              (sits by him, holds                               him)                         I miss him, too.                                                               DISSOLVE TO:               EXT. DINING ROOM TERRACE - DAY               Milo eats alone. Through the window, he sees Lisa inside.                She's eating alone, too. Gary comes trotting up.                                     GARY                         Milo?               He is unclasping a manila envelope; he takes pages out.                                     MILO                         Wow. You must have 20,000 lines of                          code there...                                     GARY                         34,000. But they're real short lines.                          'Just came out that way.               Seeing Gary's code, Milo knits his brow: it must be sort of                like -- Teddy's.                                     GARY                         Been thinking about the push mechanism                          in the handler. And it came over me:                          it's in the wrong place.                                     MILO                              (an uncertain smile)                         The wrong place?                                     GARY                         The answer's not in the box. It's in                          the band.               Milo's smile freezes. As he stares at Gary, we zoom with a                reverse dolly so that the background retreats queasily but                Gary remains dominant in frame. For Milo, it feels like the                very ground is going out from under him.               Gary continues to explain, pointing at lines of code. And                Milo pretends to listen. But he can't even make out the words                Gary speaks -- he hears only a jumble of echoes.               Milo nods mechanically; he wants to scream. Or run. He                perceives, amid the echoes, that Gary is standing, smiling,                saying "See you later." And he's gone.               Milo touches the pages, like some talisman of Teddy.                                     LISA (O.S.)                         Milo? You okay?               It strikes him she always shows up at these moments. He                gathers his wits before looking up.                                     MILO                         Gotta go home. 'Think I ate something.               INT./EXT. MILO'S CAR/OUTPOST PARKING LOT - DAY               Pulling out of the lot, Milo seizes the car phone. He hits                HOME on the speed-dial. Gets a busy signal. Rings off. He's                about to press re-dial when he sees the Outpost logo branded                on the receiver.               He throws it down like it's contaminated.               EXT. MILO & ALICE'S HOUSE - DAY               Middle-of-the-day sounds: chirping birds, school children.                Milo pulls to the curb at a bad angle.               EXT. INT./FRONT DOOR/FOYER - DAY               He fumbles with his keys. When he gets inside:                                     MILO                         Alice? Alice!               He moves into the bedroom. He sees her through the window,                painting in the studio.               EXT./INT. BACK GARDEN/STUDIO - MOMENT LATER               He stands outside the studio. Waits for her to look up. She                does. She smiles. Then she sees something's wrong. He waits                for her to come out here, where it's safe to speak.               EXT. BACK GARDEN - LATER               He paces, agitated. She watches him. She's skeptical, but                doesn't want to appear unsympathetic.                                     ALICE                         Are you saying you think they had                          something to do with his death? Nelson                          said it was an airtight case.                                     MILO                         I don't know what I'm saying. Maybe --                          maybe they hired those guys.                                     ALICE                         I can't see Outpost putting its                          reputation in the hands of people                          like that.                                     MILO                         I don't know! I just know it was                          Teddy's code. All these ideas flying                          in from everywhere. You know how he                          says "Any kid working in his garage                          can put us out of business?" It's                          like they know what every kid's doing.                                     ALICE                         They hack into people's programs?                                     MILO                         Nobody does work like this on-line.                          It's in your PC, or in a mainframe.                          Self-contained. They'd have to be,                          like, watching people. Physically.                              (he freezes)                         Oh Jesus.               INT. BEDROOM - A MOMENT LATER               Milo's at the closet, rummaging among the clothes hanging                there. Alice comes up behind him. He finds his suit jacket.                He digs in one pocket, then another. He finds the fiber optic                strand (from Teddy's floor). Shows it to her.                                     MILO                              (almost silently)                         It's a camera.               EXT. BACK GARDEN - AGAIN               They've trooped back outside. She's worried she's indulging                his paranoia.                                     MILO                         It isn't a broadcast studio. It's --                          a surveillance post or something.                          That's why they have the dishes on                          top.                                     ALICE                         You're scaring me. I think we should                          just go.                                     MILO                         Go where? You can't get away from                          people like this.                                     ALICE                         "Like this?" It's Gary you're talking                          about.                                     MILO                              (it really hurts)                         You think I don't know that?                                     ALICE                         Milo. Why would he --                                     MILO                         How should I know? "Solving a                          problem," I guess. Or needing to                          control everything. I don't know.                              (can't think about it)                         I've gotta get in there.                                     ALICE                         Even if all this were true. There're                          20 other buildings. All of them filled                          with computers and --                                     MILO                         It's the only one with dishes on the                          roof. The studio's a front. That's                          why they keep postponing its opening.                              (muttered, obsessive)                         ...gotta get in there.                                     ALICE                         Milo, you told me those DOJ Agents                          are all over the place. How could                          they hope to hide a surveillance                          post?                              (as he mulls this)                         And how can you get in there, anyway?                          With the cameras and the swipe cards --                                     MILO                         I can't just walk away!                                     ALICE                         You can't just walk in, either.                                     MILO                         They stop the construction work at                          six or seven. The parking lot's mostly                          clear by two or three in the morning.                          Even the early Geeks don't get there                          before five.                                     ALICE                         Is it two? Or is it three? Have you                          ever really noticed?               He knows what she's saying: he's unqualified for this, a                space-cadet. She tries to hold him. But he wriggles away.                                     MILO                         No! I can't just keep my head in the                          sand. That's how I got into this                          mess.               He paces, he thinks. She watches him, worried.                                     MILO                         I know how to get in there. But you've                          gotta help me.                                     ALICE                              (scared, reluctant)                         ...Whaddo I do?                                     MILO                         So you believe me?               She can't lie. She shakes her head.                                     ALICE                         Just tell me what to do.               BEGIN MONTAGE:               INT. MILO'S OFFICE - NIGHT               Standing at his window, Milo can see #21. Workers in Hardhats                come out of it, carrying lunchboxes. Milo holds a small                writing pad. He notes the time.               EXT. SUBURBAN MAIN STREET - DAY (CONTINUE MONTAGE)               Alice parks in front of a drugstore. As she gets out of the                car, she looks around uneasily.               INT. DRUGSTORE - (CONTINUE MONTAGE)               Alice is at the counter, buying a wind-up alarm clock.               INT. MILO'S OFFICE - MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT (CONT. MONTAGE)               Milo watches a car pull out of the parking lot, leaving only                one or two others. He writes down the time.               INT. TOYSTORE - (CONTINUE MONTAGE)               Alice is at the counter, among children and mothers,                purchasing a chemistry set.               INT. MILO'S OFFICE - NIGHT (CONTINUE MONTAGE)               He watches a SECURITY GUARD (DELBERT) go into #21 on his                rounds, notes the time: 3:45 AM.               INT. MILO & ALICE'S - STUDIO - NIGHT (CONTINUE MONTAGE)               Alice, wearing dishwashing gloves, ties the alarm clock to a                small Tupperware container with copper wire.               Milo (wearing latex gloves) is at the sink, mixing chemicals                from the toy chemistry set. Alice approaches with the                container affixed to the clock. As she holds it out Milo                pours the mixture into it.                                                                SHORT FADE:               OVER BLACK we hear ticking. The screen lightens to show:               INT. SUPPLY CLOSET (BUILDING 20)               Milo's alarm clock is set for 11:00. It sits amid mops and                cleaning products.               INT. BLDG. 20 HALLWAY - DAY               Milo stands in the open door of a refrigerator, as if                searching for a soda. He's looking up the hall, waiting for                someone. He consults his watch. 10:53.                                     MILO                         Come on.               Here comes a GUARD; he nods to Milo as he passes. The Guard                opens a door with his card. Milo rushes through the door on                the Guard's swipe -- "tailgating."                                     GUARD                         Sir, you gotta use your own --                              (noticing)                         Where's your ID?               Milo cops an attitude. He's not completely convincing.                                     MILO                         Do you know who I am?                                     GUARD                         It's my job, I gotta --                                     MILO                              (he's getting better)                         The kind of stock options I'm sitting                          on?               INT. PHYSICAL SECURITY OFFICE - DAY               Bob Shrot, the ex-cop in charge of physical security, looks                up as the Guard escorts Milo into the room.               INT. SUPPLY CLOSET - CONTINUOUS               The bomb explodes. The blast is tiny but loud (glass cleaning                bottles ring; plastic bottles moan).               INT. SECURITY OFFICE - CONTINUOUS               Milo sits, watches Shrot encode a new card for him, finding                his info on a terminal. On a monitor behind Shrot, Milo sees                Programmers being ushered out of the building.                                     SHROT                         Every geek has to try this once to                          show me how smart he is --               ANOTHER GUARD rushes in.                                     ANOTHER GUARD                         There was an explosion in a Y-sector                          closet, we're evacuating the whole                          sector.               Shrot comes to his feet, grabs a holster (with gun) off a                shelf. Milo, looking flummoxed, stands.                                     SHROT                         Un-nh, can't wander around without                          ID now. Just park your ass in that                          chair.               Milo sits. Shrot goes out with the Guard.                                     GUARD (O.S.)                         Whole place reeks of fuckin' ammonia.               Milo moves quickly to the wall, reads a chart with the Guards'                Schedule, runs his finger down it til he finds the name of                the Guard on the 3 AM shift: DELBERT, KEN.               INT. HALLWAYS - A FEW QUICK CUTS - CONTINUOUS               Guards open closet doors, shine their flashlights.               INT. PHYSICAL SECURITY OFFICE - CONTINUOUS               Milo has moved to Shrot's seat. He's encoding a fresh card                with Ken Delbert's information.               INT. SERVICE HALLWAY - CONTINUOUS               Panning off the civil defense sign we find Shrot standing at                a closet, examining a piece of the alarm clock.               INT. PHYSICAL SECURITY OFFICE - CONTINUOUS               Milo is at work, bringing up schematic screens, diagnosing                the system with his unique concentration.               Panning to the window, we see the evacuated Programmers                enjoying themselves on the lawn. It's a rare, exciting event:                they jump around, miming explosions.               INT. SERVICE HALLWAY - CONTINUOUS               Shrot and the Guard collect pieces of the bomb out of the                debris, puts them in a tray.               INT. PHYSICAL SECURITY OFFICE - CONTINUOUS               Milo brings up the screen that controls the #21 cameras. On                the monitors, he sees nothing very interesting: a hallway, a                room under construction...               He pulls down a menu. RECORDING is highlighted. He clicks                PLAYBACK. The image hardly changes, but a Guard wanders                through. He types, the tape rewinds (the Guard moves                backwards). He finds a neutral spot (showing an empty                hallway), stops the tape.               INT. SERVICE HALLWAY - CONTINUOUS               Gary, Randy & Phil approach Shrot; Gary stares at him.                                     RANDY                         What is it?                                     SHROT                         Not much. Glorified cherry bomb.                          Right by the civil defense sign?                          Some geek's idea of irony. I been                          saying we need a camera in this hall.                                     RANDY                         There's nothing in this hall.                          Someone's pulling your chain, as                          usual.                                     SHROT                              (thinking aloud)                         Unless it's a diversion. Milo's in                          my office. He was tailgating, so I --               Gary explodes, with incredulity.                                     GARY                         Milo? Try to have a clue. Try to                          think.               Gary strides off. Shrot feels unfairly maligned.                                     RANDY                         That kid's the great white hope.                                     SHROT                         I could get it out of him.                                     RANDY                         You're not listening.               Randy and Phil head up the hall. Shrot watches them. Even if                his "intellectual superiors" are convinced of Milo's                innocence, he isn't.               He walks swiftly back toward his office. Then he runs.               INT. PHYSICAL SECURITY OFFICE - CONTINUOUS               Milo reads a warning message. DOWNLOADING PLAYBACK STREAM TO                RECORD CYCLE WILL CAUSE BIT OVERLOAD. DO YOU WISH TO PROCEED?                Y/N. He types Y.               The glitch freezes the tape (we see it lock into place): it                shows the empty hallway.               INT. HALLWAY - CONTINUOUS               They've let the Programmers back in. They head up the hall                as Shrot heads down it. He pushes past them gruffly.               He knows he's enhancing his Neanderthal image (they make                cracks) but he's more interested in obeying his instinct.               INT. PHYSICAL SECURITY OFFICE - CONTINUOUS               Milo immobilizes another camera in #21... and another.               INT. HALLWAY CONTINUOUS               Shrot rounds the corner. His office is in view, now.               INT. PHYSICAL SECURITY OFFICE - CONTINUOUS               Milo, at the keyboard, closes up windows, one by one.               INT. SECURITY OUTER OFFICE - CONTINUOUS               Shrot is back, he has only to round the corner to see Milo.                We assume his POV as he does so:               Milo sits in the chair where Shrot left him.                                     MILO                         Everything okay?               INT. MILO'S OFFICE - NIGHT               Pan off the clock (3:20 AM) to find Milo at his desk, looking                at the clock with a certain dread. It's time.               EXT. BLDG. 20 QUAD - NIGHT               Milo walks the path between the two buildings, fiddling                nervously with the dummied swipe card.               Hearing footfalls behind him, he whirls: it's a Geek loping                to his car. He smiles. Milo smiles: waits, walks on.               Nearing #21, Milo looks around, making sure no one else is                around. His POV (panning): A Programmer works late, visible                through a lighted window in #20... The dog sculpture with                cocked ears sits atop the Day Care, its quizzical expression                seeming to wonder what Milo is up to... The Geek he just saw                racing by on foot now pulls out of the parking lot in his                James Bond BMW...               Milo arrives at the entrance. Heart pounding, he brings the                card to the slot. Will he trigger that awful alarm?               He slides the card, the door clicks.               INT. BLDG. 21 - LOBBY - CONTINUOUS               He enters: concrete floor, unpainted walls, construction                lights. At the inner door he looks up at the camera.                                                                    CUT TO:               A MONITOR               that shows us where Milo stands, minus Milo. Widen:               INT. SECURITY OFFICE - CONTINUOUS               A GUARD packs up his stuff, getting ready to go home. The                new guard, KEN DELBERT enters.                                     DELBERT                         How's it goin'?                                     GUARD                              (shaking out his cup)                         Big night. Switched from tea to                          coffee. Brought new meaning to my                          work.                                     DELBERT                         Yeah? Maybe I'll start my rounds                          with #21 tonight.                                     GUARD                         You are a wild man.               INT. BLDG. 21 - INNER HALLWAY - CONTINUOUS               Milo moves up a hall with unpainted walls, bare floors,                unconnected wires. The only illumination is from construction                lights on the concrete floor. Opening doors, he sees:               Bare rooms. Wall plates ready to receive electrical equipment,                bundles of wire hanging out. In other words: the building is                as advertised, so far.               EXT. BUILDING 20 - NIGHT               Delbert comes out with his flashlight, heads across the clean-               swept path that leads to #21.               INT. BLDG. 21 - HALLWAY - CONTINUOUS               Milo nears a set of double-doors at the end of the hall. He                hears a low ominous hum from within. Convinced he's found                something, he quickens his pace. He's about to swipe his                card when a beam of light bounces along the wall.               He presses himself into an alcove. Through a chink in the                unfinished wall he sees:               Delbert come in the front door. His rounds consist of shining                his torch up at the cameras, making sure the red lights are                on.               He walks right past Milo (who doesn't breath).               Delbert swipes open the double doors, leans in: the humming                gets louder.               ON MILO: pressing himself into the alcove.               Delbert turns around, heads back down the hall... exits the                building.               Milo waits a beat before heading to the end of the hall.                Using the card, he enters               A BIG SPACE               A studio-to-be, architectural touches like soffits framed in                but not plaster-boarded. The portentous hum comes from around                a corner. He approaches, convinced the answer lies here.                Clearing the wall he sees:               A squat emergency generator sitting on the floor, powering                construction lights. Something you'd buy at Sears.               EXT. #21 ENTRANCE/A MOMENT LATER - (BINOCULAR SHOT)               Through infra-red binoculars we see Milo come out, looking                left and right, to make sure he hasn't been observed.                                     VOICE (RANDY)                         Well. Now he knows: nothin' in there.               We are               INT. PHIL'S OFFICE - BLDG. 20 - CONTINUOUS               Randy turns back into the room, where Phil is sifting through                papers spread over a coffee table.                                     RANDY                         Maybe he'll get back to work.                                     PHIL                         Speaking of which...                                     RANDY                         Yeah, yeah.               Randy pulls the blinds shut, joins Phil.               EXT. QUAD - CRANE SHOT CONTINUOUS               From a high angle, we track Milo, as he walks along the path                to a bench. The camera passes briefly behind a dark object                in the foreground (dog sculpture) as we track him.               QUAD - TIGHTER - CONTINUOUS               Milo sags onto the bench. He stares out, perplexed, suffering.                Then he knits his brow. He seems to be studying -- the ground.               Or rather the shadow stretched out in front of him: the                looming silhouette of the dog atop the Day Care.               He stands up, turns around. REVERSE ON:               The whimsical canine. Push toward it's ears cocked to the                sky... Then toward a single ear, framed by fur-brown concrete,                but with a smooth, concave inner surface of enamelled metal:                satellite dish.                                     MILO                              (muttering)                         ...in a tree...               EXT. DAY CARE CENTER - A MOMENT LATER               At the entrance, Milo applies the swipe-card.               INT. DAY CARE CENTER - CONTINUOUS               He steps in on colorful carpeting, amid balls & tricycles.                Kid's artwork hangs on the wall. He moves through this room,                into the               COMPUTER ROOM               20 screens glow. They hang suspended over a wide, ringed                table, a chair at each keyboard. Indeed, Gary has spared no                expense for the toddlers: they're flat, sleek, digital                screens. At the moment, they show colorful, childish contour                drawings that say WHERE I WANNA WORK (e.g.: a spaceship).                There are a dozen more screens on tables at the perimeter of                the room showing screensavers (eg: angelfish swimming).               Milo moves slowly around the table, studying the screens.                Not surprisingly, most of the WHERE I WANNA WORK drawings                are of desks or tables with computers.               Tracking just ahead of Milo, we get to a screen that shows a                workstation with a red pennant on the wall, a rubber plant                at each end of a desk. Even in contour form it's -- familiar.                Milo passes it. And comes back to it.               Staring at it, he sits. He begins typing. [The drawing still                occupies the screen, but in a window he's brought up at the                bottom, there is dense, DOS-looking code.] He types furiously --                numbers, symbols, backslashes. Whatever he's trying to do is                a challenge even to him. He deletes lines, begins anew, his                frustration evident.               As he works through the layers of code, the pixels on the                screen start to fill in. The contour lines slowly dissolve                into a live broadcast image of Teddy's workstation in                Sunnyvale (eerily empty, now).               When all the pixels have fallen into place, Milo hears CLICK                CLICK CLICK CLICK CLICK from every direction, as all the                screens in the room fill in with live broadcast images. All                of them show variations on a theme:               A workstation seen by a camera over-the-shoulder of a                programmer (if he were present). The stations are of various                shapes and sizes, but in each case we have an unobstructed                view of screen & keyboard. At this hour, few programmers are                present. One guy has fallen asleep, his head on a desk. A                Japanese Geek is hard at work: it's day there.               INT. PHIL'S OFFICE - CONTINUOUS               Phil and Randy work at the coffee table.                                     PHIL                         Did you download Corey? In San Jose?                                     RANDY                         Damn. 'Have to go back over there.                              (he stands, stretches)                         Be so much easier if we could walk                          in the front door.                                     PHIL                         You don't look anything like a three-                         year-old.               INT. DAY CARE - COMPUTER ROOM - CONTINUOUS               Milo works the keyboard. Again, the code gets dense and                obscure as he goes deeper. He succeeds in calling-up a                graphical interface. Among the menus he can choose from are:                TARGET SCHOOLS, PD UPLOADS, RX UPLOADS.               He clicks Target Schools, a menu shoots down (Berkeley, Cal                Tech, etc.). He clicks Stanford, then Chin, Teddy. Two windows                open. In one, there is a video stream of Teddy winning an                award in the Gate's Bldg. In the other, uploaded police video                stenciled SUNNYVALE PD) of the White Supremacists whose mug-               shots we saw in the San Jose Mercury; they're being                interrogated.               In the first window, Teddy's image dissolves into a handheld                crime-scene video (marked SV-PD) of a ransacked grocery store.                "DIE GOOK!" is painted on a wall. Milo looks confused: some                "narrative" is unfolding, but it remains obscure without                audio.               He types some more.               In the bottom window, he brings up convoluted text regarding                the audio. About the only phrases we can understand are:                "Audio Block ON" and "Hardware Requirement: Magnetic Filter                Type PBX-R17."               His eyes cast about the room for some suitable hardware                substitute. He digs in his shirt pocket. He takes out his                swipe card, studies it. He casts about some more, till he                sees some kids' safety scissors in a jar.               INT. BUILDING 20 - SERVICE HALL - CONTINUOUS               Randy whistles as he heads up the hall. Arriving at the door                with the Civil Defense sticker, he swipes his card.               INT. DAY CARE COMPUTER ROOM - CONTINUOUS               On-screen, long-lens footage shows a low building; the Aryan                Nations suspects come out of it. A still photo appears in                the 2nd window: a steel hasp.               Milo's eyes are narrowed: what am I seeing? Meantime, he is                reaching under the table where he has removed a plate from                the mainframe terminal, exposing hardware within.               He has trimmed the swipe card to size and is wedging its                magnetic strip into a metal slot. He wiggles the card. We                hear an eerie fibrillation, which flattens into the voice of                a serene, eminently sane female:                                     MULTIMEDIA NARRATOR                         -- run this methamphetamine lab known                          to Federal Authorities, per ND 47,                          from which we removed the implement,                          fingerprints intact.               Crime-scene video streams in now stenciled FBI by the                time/date). A handheld camera pans a blood-spattered wall                then shows a mutilated Asian murder victim. (All of this                footage is made even eerier by the jerky glitches always                present in streaming video, and its sinister graininess.)                                     MULTIMEDIA NARRATOR                         FBI footage, procured by ND 47, shows                          the aftermath of an Aryan Nations'                          killing in Denver. Note the evidence                          of torture, which is typical.               Milo pales as he realizes he is watching a primer on how                racial killings are done.               He hears a creaking noise behind him, and whirls.               It's the classroom hamster, on his wheel.               INT. STAIRWELL/BOMB SHELTER - CONTINUOUS               Still whistling, Randy descends some metal stairs, enters a                vast bomb shelter (canned foods, etc.)               INT. DAY CARE - COMPUTER ROOM - CONTINUOUS               Milo has tapped into his own file: footage of him lecturing                at Stanford (as an RA), pointing to a whiteboard.                                     MULTIMEDIA NARRATOR                         -- complete immersion in code-writing                          renders him both unobservant and                          suggestible [click]. On two occasions                          he went truant from classes to attend                          Comix Conventions.               The audio crackles and drops out again. Milo's eyes narrow:                he sees video of Alice, sitting on a folding chair, speaking                to someone. She has a harder look, pulls on a Marlboro.               What's he seeing? He wiggles the jerry-rigged hardware almost                urgently, till the narration crackles back on:                                     MULTIMEDIA NARRATOR                         -- Rebecca P, a Connecticut art stu-                          dent facing Federal drug charges,                          whose records were supplied to us by                          N.D. 47.               He hears her voice under the Narration, answering an unseen                Interrogator (sounds like Phil). It's a job interview. Milo                subtly, unconsciously shakes his head, as if to deny what                his eyes see. The narration begins to fibrillate, again:                                     MULTIMEDIA NARRATOR (O.S.)                         Armed with his personal files, she                          was easily able to ingratiate herself                          with the socially maladroit Milo --               The audio drops out as Milo sees uploaded medical files and                ER photos of himself marked STANFORD MEDICAL CENTER: he's                waxen, bloated, gasping for breath. With a certain dread,                Milo jams the card in deeper:                                     MULTIMEDIA NARRATOR                         ...she planted the sesame seed both                          to test the extent of his proclivity                          and to provide a bonding experience,                          since she would quote "save his life."               Milo is devastated, disbelieving. Now he sees real-time ER                footage: an Allergy Victim, bloated, twitching, gasping,                dying...                                     MULTIMEDIA NARRATOR                         -- should it be needed Milo's allergy                          is the ideal --               The audio crackles out. But Milo doesn't have the heart to                bring it back: he can fill in the rest.               INT. UNDERGROUND TUNNEL - CONTINUOUS               Randy traverses a well-lit tunnel. Still whistling.               INT. COMPUTER ROOM - DAY CARE CENTER - NIGHT               Numb now, Milo clicks randomly: crime footage, personal                records, animations -- it all flies by with Chuck Worman-               like speed.                                     MULTIMEDIA NARRATOR                         Note that the cult members are found                          reclining after swallowing the [click]                          Syringe marks best hidden at base of                          scrotum [click] mimics high blood                          alcohol [click] indistinguishable                          from kidney failure.               Milo closes his eyes, leans back: overwhelmed. Suddenly he                sits forward, whispers almost fervently as he types:                                     MILO                         Please don't be one of them.               INT. DAY-CARE - UNDERGROUND ROOM - CONTINUOUS               Camera moves slowly through stacks of pre-school supplies,                toward a windowed door at the back of the room.               RANDY appears in the window, lit ominously from below. He                applies his swipe card.               INT. COMPUTER ROOM - CONTINUOUS               Milo watches footage of Lisa taken by surveillance cam- eras:                she is outside #21, trying to peek in the door.                                     MULTIMEDIA NARRATOR                         ...needs to be watched, due to her                          heightened level of suspicion --               In one window, footage of Lisa casing the hallway before                going into Milo's office; in another, footage of her eating                lunch with Milo.                                     MULTIMEDIA NARRATOR                         -- and to her possible contagion of                          key employees.               Milo clicks. A MAN's pair of mug shots appear. In the other                window, a grade-school yearbook photo of Lisa.                                     MULTIMEDIA NARRATOR                         In August '86 Lisa informed her mother                          of the sexual molestation by her                          stepfather, and of his threat to                          kill her should she tell anyone.               Milo watches streaming local news footage of a man being                taken from a courtroom in shackles (jerky, grainy). He's                lost the audio, but doesn't need it, anymore.               INT. DAY-CARE STAIRWELL               Randy climbs up to the main floor... whistling.               INT. COMPUTER ROOM - DAY CARE - CONTINUOUS               Milo watches eerie crime-scene footage: a Girl with her throat                slashed.               But then, hearing nearly-distant whistling, he clicks on                windows furiously: closing them.               INT. DAY CARE BACK ROOM - CONTINUOUS               Randy rounds a corner. He enters the               COMPUTER ROOM - CONTINUOUS               The screens show the children's contour images, again. Where's                Milo?               Randy takes a seat at the same console Milo was at, and begins                to type. Camera booms slowly down beneath table-level to                find:               MILO hanging onto the underside of the table, knuckles white,                as he clings to metal table braces. The toes of his sneakers                are jammed into the space between a black plastic data tower                and the table bottom.               Randy shifts in his seat, his knee rising toward Milo's back.                Milo arches it, avoids a knee by mere millimeters.               RANDY: brings up a shot of a Programmer at work, zooms in on                his screen to begin collecting his code.               MILO: begins to lose his grip as sweat forms on his brow                and, worse, on his hands. They're giving way.               RANDY: clicks. A printer across the room start making a hard-               copy of the purloined code.               MILO: stares in horror as the data tower his toes are jammed                on top of starts to shift -- threatening to disengage from                its ports. He tries to lift it back up with heels of his                shoes.               RANDY: knits his brow as his screen flickers. He keeps typing,                but starts to lower his head: he's going to look under the                table.               MILO: winces as he presses the tower upward with his heels,                while trying to maintain his balance...               RANDY: lowering his head, keeps his eyes on the screen, hits                keys. Just as he is about to clear the level of the table --                the screen re-illumines. He comes back up.               MILO: having extended his legs to support the tower, feels                his hands slipping...               RANDY: closes up the window...               MILO: flops to the carpet(!) just as --               RANDY pushes away from the table... From the floor               MILO watches him walk over to the printer, collect his                hardcopy, and disappear from view.               Milo listens: the door clicks shut, the whistling recedes.               BACK ROOM - A MOMENT LATER               Milo traces Randy's steps. He sees the door with the Civil                Defense sticker, intuits how Randy got here, i.e, how one                moves, unobserved, between the Day Care and #20.               He sags against the wall. Wondering what to do, now.               EXT./INT. MILO'S CAR/STREET - DAWN               Milo sits in his idling car, staring at his own house, up                the street. How can he go in there?               He puts the car in gear, does a U-Turn.               EXT. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE - SEATTLE - EARLY MORNING               The Deux Chevaux is parked on the street outside a government                building. Not many people are around, yet. A Janitor hoses                down the sidewalk.               INT. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE - RECEPTION AREA MORNING               Milo slides a business card across a reception desk. It's                the one the rumpled Prosecutor, Lyle Barton, gave him that                day in Palo Alto.                                     MILO (O.S.)                         He gave me this. 'Said I should come                          see him if --                                     DOJ RECEPTIONIST                         He's not in yet.                                     MILO                         Can I wait in his office?                                     DOJ RECEPTIONIST                         It's locked, dear.               He looks over his shoulder, then back again, frightened.                                     MILO                         Please.                                     DOJ RECEPTIONIST                         Wait in his outer office.               INT. BARTON'S OUTER OFFICE - MORNING               Milo sits on a wooden bench, foot tapping. Hearing Barton's                voice, he comes to his feet. Barton enters with a Co-Worker,                holding a container of coffee, discussing the particulars of                a case.                                     CO-WORKER                         Do I make the call, or do you?               Milo is relieved the second he sees Barton's kindly face.                                     MILO                         Mr. Barton, do you remember me?                                     BARTON                         ...It's -- Milo, isn't it?                                     MILO                         Yes sir. I need to talk to you.                                     BARTON                         Give me two seconds with Lacy here?                              (unlocks his door)                         Go on in, I won't be a moment.               Milo enters as Barton finishes up with his colleague.                                     BARTON (O.S.)                         I'll make the call, but I think you                          need to send a Fax first (etc.).               INT. BARTON'S OFFICE - CONTINUOUS               Milo paces. He surveys framed diplomas, commendations and                photos on the wall. He takes comfort in their solidity:                pictures of Barton's teenage Kids, Barton and Wife at the                Grand Canyon. There's a college football photo, a young Barton                with his team. Milo studies it, smiles. Move in on the photo,                till we see the number on Barton's Notre Dame football jersey:                ND 47.               Milo's smile fades. It takes a moment before he even hears                Barton behind him.                                     BARTON                         Milo?                                     MILO                         Yeah. Hi. Thank you for seeing me.                                     BARTON                         Have a seat.               As Milo takes the seat in front of the desk (mind spinning)                Barton moves to his own chair.                                     BARTON                         What seems to be the problem? You                          look a little upset.                                     MILO                         I am. I am, sir.               What's he gonna say?                                     BARTON                         Milo?                                     MILO                         My friend, my best friend, Teddy,                          was killed in Silicon Valley.                                     BARTON                         My goodness.                                     MILO                         It was racially motivated. He's                          Chinese. He was. And... I know                          sometimes the FBI gets involved with                          that. Don't they?                                     BARTON                         If there's a Civil Rights violation.                          But generally we let the local police                          and DA do their work first.                                     MILO                         I -- just wanna help bring these                          guys to justice. They're neo-Nazis.                                     BARTON                         Let me look into it, see what's being                          done. Frankly, it's not my area.                                     MILO                              (he gets up)                         'Just didn't know who else to talk                          to.                                     BARTON                              (circles an arm over                               Milo)                         And Outpost? You're happy there?                                     MILO                         Yes sir.               INT. MILO & ALICE'S HOUSE - MORNING               Alice is on the phone in the front room. Agitated, she puffs                on a pencil (surrogate cigarette). We hear Phil through the                receiver:                                     PHIL (ON THE PHONE)                         'Didn't mention he was going to the                          Justice Department?                                     ALICE                         No.               INTERCUT WITH:               INT. PHIL'S OFFICE - CONTINUOUS                                     PHIL                         Not like him, is it? To do a thing                          like that without telling you. You're                          not losing your hold on him, are                          you?                                     ALICE                         He'll tell me when he gets home.                                     PHIL                         That'll be a test, won't it?                                     ALICE                         Instead of busting my chops you should                          do something about that girl. Fire                          her. Or something.                                     PHIL                         Lisa's an extremely valuable member                          of the Skywire team. We've got our                          eyes on her. You keep yours on Milo.                                     ALICE                              (as she hangs up)                         Prick.               EXT. MILO & ALICE'S HOUSE - MORNING               Milo comes up the path. He pauses as he nears the door: he's                not sure he can pull this off.               INT. HOUSE - CONTINUOUS               As Milo enters, Alice rushes to meet him.                                     ALICE                         It's almost nine, I've been so                          worried!                              (she takes his hands)                         What did you see in there?                                     MILO                         Nothing.                                     ALICE                         Nothing?               She watches him as he collapses onto the couch.                                     MILO                         It's what they said it is. An                          unfinished broadcast studio. You                          were right... I just drove to Seattle                          and back.                                     ALICE                         ...Why?                                     MILO                         Remember Lyle Barton?               She shakes her head.                                     MILO                         The Justice Department guy who came                          to the apartment when --                                     ALICE                         I remember.                                     MILO                         After I broke into 21 -- which was                          insane, thank God they didn't catch                          me! -- I just drove around. Trying                          to figure out what possessed me. You                          know what? I've been putting my own                          guilt on Gary.                                     ALICE                         Guilt?                                     MILO                              (quietly)                         If I'd stayed down there, maybe this                          wouldn't've happened.                                     ALICE                         Poor baby. You know that's not true.               She sits by him, touches her hand to his face tenderly. He                closes his eyes for a moment, steels himself to her touch.                Then he forces himself to cup his hand over hers.               But he can't stand it. He gets up, looks out the window.                                     MILO                         I thought, instead of indulging all                          these paranoid delusions, risking my                          job, alienating Gary, scaring you, I                          should do something useful with my                          grief. Help them find Teddy's killers.               He doesn't see her smile: is that all. Assuming an                appropriately concerned expression, she moves toward him:                                     ALICE                         I was so worried about you.               She turns him around, kisses him. Her eyes are closed. His                remain open. He's looking at her. Trying to comprehend the                treachery.               She touches him, breathes heavily. She wants more than kisses:                to prove to herself how wrong Phil was, her professional                pride insulted. Or perhaps it's more personal than that,                especially with Lisa as a potential rival.                                     MILO                              (through their kisses)                         ...been such a long night.               But she doesn't stop. She moans as she presses herself to                him: wants proof of his devotion.               INT. BEDROOM - LATER               He's on top of her in the moment just after. Her eyes are                closed. He stares at her -- glares at her -- with what we                recognize as spent anger.                                     ALICE                         That was -- different.                                     MILO                         ...Different?               Shit. She knows.                                     ALICE                         You didn't feel it? So intense.               What's clear is, she liked it. A clap of thunder takes us                to:               EXT. PIZZA PARLOR - NIGHT               It's pouring. Milo stands outside, wearing a slicker, looking                in the window at someone.               INT. PIZZA PLACE - MOMENT LATER               Lisa reads a paperback at a table, a slice of pizza on her                plate, an umbrella hooked to her chair. Sensing someone                standing over her, she looks up. She smiles.                                     LISA                         So you're not avoiding me.               Milo sits across from her. He doesn't know where to start.                                     LISA                         What's wrong?               He looks around, wants to make sure no one's listening. He                speaks very quietly.                                     MILO                         I snuck into #21.                                     LISA                         Why would you do a thing like --                                     MILO                         You thought about it too. You've                          been suspicious for a while. But                          it's not happening in there. It's                          happening in the Day Care.                                     LISA                         The Day Care?               Two Men with even features enter the restaurant. One has a                laptop case slung over his shoulder.                                     MILO                         Can we go someplace else?               EXT. CITY PARK - NIGHT               They're in a bandshell. The rain falls heavily, drips off                the eaves. She holds the filament from Teddy's workspace.                                     MILO                         It's easy to know who the smart geeks                          are, the schools tell 'em. They upload                          medical files, school records,                          pharmacy files. They'd be happy just                          to steal code forever. But when a                          program gets close to fruition. Like                          Teddy. He was almost there.                                     LISA                         But why would they --?                                     MILO                         You know. There is no second place.                          And what's the risk? The killings're                           undetectable, they're hand-tailored,                          they make "sense." I mean, they're                          in the information business. They                          have scenarios for all of us, too.                          In case we find out too much.               She's peering at him. He reads her mind.                                     MILO                         I'm not one of them. Not trying to                          "suss you out."               She wants to believe him.                                     MILO                         They killed my best friend! I'm living                          with somebody they pay to go to bed                          with me. Can't you trust somebody                          just once? I don't wanna be alone                          here.               His plea is so ardent, his humanity so transparent. But she                can't quite do it.                                     LISA                         I'm sorry, Milo... I'm sorry.               She smiles sadly as she backs away.                                     MILO                              (forcefully)                         I know why you're so secretive. Why                          you won't let anybody near you.                              (quieter)                         I know what he did to you.                                     LISA                         Oh yeah?               She tries to sound tough; there are tears in her eyes.                                     LISA                         So that's in my -- file?               He wants to comfort her. He takes a step toward her. She                shakes her head: no.                                     LISA                         Is that my -- scenario?                              (when he hesitates)                         Tell me.                                     MILO                         They'd frame him.                                     LISA                              (horrified)                         He's out of prison?                                     MILO                              (he nods)                         They're already watching you. If                          they had to, they'd give him this                          drug that mimics an alcoholic                          blackout. He'd wake up not even                          remembering his "act of revenge."               She draws her hands to her face as the facade cracks. She                weeps silently. He moves to her, carefully, slowly, seeing                her fear, her trauma. He touches her shoulders. She tenses,                tries to back away.                                     LISA                         No.               But he holds on.                                     MILO                         Nobody's gonna hurt you.               Slowly, he wraps his arms around her.               She remains tense for a moment, then yields, pressing her                face into his shoulder. The rain drums on the bandshell.                After a moment:                                     LISA                         ...Milo?                                     MILO                         Hmm?                                     LISA                         I always felt if a -- boy I liked                          ever found out -- he'd run. He'd                          think I was unclean.                                     MILO                         No, no. Never.               She clings to him tightly, now, the wall of her mistrust                breached after all the years of pain, secrecy, shame.               A wide shot: they hold each other, alone in the storm.                                     VOICE (PHIL)                         All his suspicions were allayed?               INT. LIBRARY-LIKE OFFICE - DAY               Alice nods. She sits in front of leather-bound books.                                     VOICE                         You're sure.               She's at Gary's house. On the hot seat. Phil and Randy watch                her. Gary does, too, but deep in shadow, behind a desk, at a                remove. Rain falls heavily on the Lake.                                     ALICE                         He said it made sense that Gary's                          code was like Teddy's, that that                          clichÈ about great minds was true.                          Said it was all about his own guilt.                              (she shrugs)                         Plus, he has a tendency to get Gary                          mixed-up with his dad once in a while.                          It always passes.                                     PHIL                         He wasn't acting?                                     ALICE                         I don't think he knows how.               Phil looks convinced. Gary doesn't.               EXT. HIGHWAY/GAS STATION - MORNING               From across the highway (cars with morning commuters whiz                by) we see Milo pumping gas at a self-serve; Lisa fills-up                in the next lane. Ostensibly, they have run into each other                on the way to work. They are smiling, casual.               Only when we cut close do we see that their expressions bear                no connection to their words.                                     LISA                         What about the FBI?                                     MILO                         They've got this guy in the DOJ,                          maybe others. We tell the wrong                          person, it's over.                                     LISA                         Who can we trust?                                     MILO                         There's always a logical answer --                          you just have to define the question.               She defines it:                                     LISA                         How do you let go of a secret without                          telling the wrong person.               She pretends to need help lifting her car hood: "a helpless                female." He comes over to help her.                                     MILO                         We don't tell anybody.                              (she's puzzled)                         We tell everybody. At once. So there's                          no secret left to protect. When                          everybody knows, they don't dare                          touch us.               INT. PHYSICAL SECURITY OFFICE - MORNING               Bob Shrot is on the phone. Behind him, a nerdy security                programmer, LEN DIETZ, is at the console that controls the                security cameras (the ones Milo futzed with).                                     SHROT                              (into the phone)                         No, Tony can't fill in for you, he's                          not at your authorization level.               Scrolling, Len knits his brow: he's found something odd.                                     LEN                         Bob? You better look at this.               EXT. GAS STATION - CONTINUOUS               Milo checks Lisa's oil for her.                                     MILO                         Do we post it on the Net?                                     LISA                         There're so many disinformation sites                          about Gary already. Where he has                          devil's horns or they crop him in                          with Saddam Hussein.               INT. PHYSICAL SECURITY OFFICE - CONTINUOUS               Shrot stands over Len's shoulder.                                     SHROT                         Could it be a glitch? Something the                          construction workers caused?                                     LEN                         Unlikely. All 14 cameras are frozen.                          Do we call Randy and Phil? Tell 'em                          there may have been a break-in?                                     SHROT                         Not yet. 'Love to bust my ass cause                          I'm not in frigging Mensa.                              (walks to the window)                         I swear to God, it's that kid Milo,                          I told 'em so in the first place,                          but they didn't even wanna hear about                          it.                              (turns to Len)                         Let's run a printout on card entries.               EXT. GAS STATION - CONTINUOUS               Milo shows Lisa the oil stick. She nods.                                     LISA                         The mainstream media. TV, or a                          newsmagazine.                                     MILO                         Right. But Gary's tied-in to a lot                          of media conglomerates. Have to be                          careful who we pick.                                     LISA                         We could cross-reference a data base                          on media ownership. But not on our                          own computers. Not even at home.                                     MILO                         Certainly not at my happy home.               He slams the hood.               INT. PHYSICAL SECURITY OFFICE - DAY               Shrot and Len watch a laser printer, as it spits out line                after line after line of swipe card entries...                                                         MATCH DISSOLVE TO:               A LASER PRINTER spits out code. We are:               INT. MILO'S OFFICE - DAY               Milo watches new Skywire code emerge from his printer.               Gary is in the doorway behind him: watching Milo, scrutin-                izing him. Sensing someone, Milo turns and looks.                                     MILO                         Gary, hi.                                     GARY                         You look a little tired.                                     MILO                         I'm okay. It's going well!                                     GARY                         'Have a look?                                     MILO                         Sure.               Gary takes the page. As he reads it over:                                     GARY                         Why did you move around so much?                          When you were a kid.                                     MILO                         ...My dad was a compulsive gambler.                          Only he didn't think he was. That                          applied to guys who didn't have a                          "system." "Losers," who played games                          of chance. He could "read" people,                          so chance had nothing to do with it.                          No matter how deep a hole he dug                          himself, he'd give you the whole                          speech. And you'd better not point                          out the obvious.                              (he shrugs)                         His creditors would catch up to him.                          Loan sharks or whatever. He'd wake                          us in the middle of the night. Off                          we'd go, again.                                     GARY                         What would you tell the kids? At                          your new school? You had to come up                          with a good story, right?               Milo thinks: he's testing me.                                     MILO                         No. I just went deeper into the                          machine. Preferred being the geek to                          having to explain. Lying would've                          been worse.                                     GARY                         ...Worse?                                     MILO                         Cause he was a liar. And I hated                          him.                              (mimicking a voice)                         "Get your head out of that machine,                          wise up to the real world." The more                          he mocked me the deeper I went. Cause                          if being savvy meant being like him --                              (he shrugs)                         Guess that's why I'm kind of clueless,                          even now. Didn't cultivate my                          conniving side. 'Not sure I even                          have one.                                     GARY                         Don't be so hard on yourself. With a                          brain like yours, you could connive                          with the best of 'em I bet.               Gary smiles. There's no way to read it.               EXT. PUBLIC LIBRARY - NIGHT               Establish the humble building, in a Park.               INT. LIBRARY - NIGHT               Lisa and Milo sit together in front of a monitor. A Kid does                his homework on a computer at the next table. Milo shakes                his head, as he scrolls.                                     MILO                         He's buying up pretty much everything:                          cable companies, baby bells, picture                          libraries, museum rights, film                          archives... Getting ready for Skywire.                                     LISA                              (she's thinking)                         What about "60 Minutes."                                     MILO                         Yeah, they dig stuff like this.                              (he types, then reads)                         "CBS News has partnered with Outpost                          Information Systems in a cable news                          network due to launch Fall of 2001."                                     LISA                         But still, you can't say CBS wouldn't                          love to break something like --                                     MILO                              (he's shaking his                               head)                         Say there's just one "mole" working                          there, like Barton at the DOJ. How                          do we know he's not the guy we've                          contacted? Or she? Or the guy she                          works for?               At the next table, she notices a Lady reading Time.                                     LISA                         Time?                                     MILO                              (types, reads)                         Time-Warner has a 40 per cent stake                          in Gary's set-top device. That also                          takes out CNN.                              (scrolling & scrolling)                         "GE joins Outpost in new venture,"                          which means NBC is out. "Disney joins                          Outpost," ABC is out. "Outpost and                          Newscorp in new deal," Fox is out.                          Any of these places could have a                          mole. Or all of 'em.                              (still scrolling)                         It's like a a continuous loop. We                          can go to some alternative press                          place that 1,000 people read, get                          them and us killed. But anything big                          enough for this is a parent of or a                          subsidiary to something Gary's got a                          finger in!                                     HOMEWORK KID                         Shhh.                                     MILO                         Sorry.                                     LISA                         Milo?               She's thought of something. He's watching the nerdy Kid,                smiling sadly, perhaps identifying with him.                                     LISA                         How close are you?                                     MILO                         What?                                     LISA                         He's got 12 satellites up. He's got                          dishes on top of 21. He's building                          this --                              (gestures at the screen)                         mega-network for Skywire. Let's use                          it.               Move in on Milo as he thinks it over with a mixture of                excitement and skepticism.               EXT. LIBRARY/PARK - NIGHT               Milo and Lisa walk in the park outside the library, thinking                it through.                                     MILO                         We can't just assume they're standing                          by to receive Skywire 12 months from                          launch. I'd have to write in an aglet.                                     LISA                         A what?                                     MILO                         It's how on-line services push logos                          they wanna sell you. You don't ask                          for 'em, they just appear. 'Have to                          work on it somewhere besides my office                          or my house. And then the quality of                          the broadcast wouldn't exactly be                          digital, that's 12 months away.                                     LISA                         But they'd still get the idea, right?                                     MILO                         You'd have to design a graphic                          interface to make the data pop. Maybe                          some audio, too. To tie it all in to                          Gary. How long would that take you?                                     LISA                         It's a standard GUI. Once I've got a                          concept, it's maybe three day's work.                                     MILO                         Gary knows I'm close on Skywire. We                          have to do this fast.                                     LISA                         Before they kill somebody else, too.                                     MILO                              (a new wrinkle)                         Oh, man. I'd have to get into Gary's                          house. To get the satellite positions.                                     LISA                         You mean -- break in?                                     MILO                         I don't know --                                     LISA                         And what if the broadcast dishes on                          top of 21 aren't hot yet? You said                          the place isn't finished.               The complications pile up. They walk. They think.                                     LISA                         I'll go look.                              (when he looks dubious)                         They'll just have a few more pictures                          of me snooping around.               They come to a fountain and balustrade at the edge of the                park, stop walking.                                     MILO                              (looks at her)                         Why were you so careless?                                     LISA                         I thought the worst they would do is                          fire me. Who knew they took                          termination so literally?               Gallows humor. What a game girl. He's nuts about her.                                     MILO                         Why were you snooping in my office?                                     LISA                         Oh.                              (she gets bashful)                         I liked you. I was checking you out.               He kisses her. There are no constraints now, there's no                "adulterous" guilt: they kiss with a passion deferred.               INT. MILO'S OFFICE - NIGHT               Slow push-in on the phone on Milo's desk: it's ringing.               INT. ALICE'S STUDIO - CONTINUOUS               Alice is calling him. Her face hardens, she hangs up.               INT. MOTEL ROOM - LATER               As we pan the Best Western decor (in semi-darkness):                                     MILO (O.S.)                         'Think everybody in this place is                          here the same reason we are?                                     LISA (O.S.)                         'Cause their apartments might be                          bugged?               Milo grins. He & Lisa lie in bed.                                     MILO                         I told Teddy about you.                                     LISA                         What'd he say?                                     MILO                         "A beautiful geek? What're the                          chances?"               She smiles, rather bashfully.                                     MILO                         I felt guilty. 'Cause I "owed so                          much" to Alice. But even then I was                          starting to wonder. Is it so great                          to be so consumed by this one thing                          that you let another person do your                          thinking for you? If you have a                          lucrative skill, it's all anybody                          wants from you. You grow older but                          you don't grow up. You turn into --                          into --                                     LISA                         Gary.               It's painful for him: losing a second father.                                     MILO                         Larry used to say how the guys who                          wrote the first cool operating                          systems, like the UNIX guys at                          Berkeley? They just gave it away.                          They figured it was human knowledge,                          it belonged to the world, like                          Shakespeare or aspirin. 'Know what                          I'm gonna do after we broadcast the                          incriminating stuff? Air the Skywire                          code. Then nobody can have a monopoly.               INT. ALICE & MILO'S HOUSE - LATER               Alice is in bed. In the darkness, Milo comes in as quietly                as possible. But she switches on the bedside lamp.                                     ALICE                         Where were you?                              (holding his gaze)                         You know you can't keep anything                          from me.                                     MILO                         Okay, yeah. I did something naughty...                          There's this amazing Comix store in                          Seattle.                              (is she buying it?)                         To tell you the truth, I did it once                          or twice at Stanford. 'Guess I can't                          keep anything from you...               Of course she buys it: it's in the file.                                     ALICE                              (she smiles)                         I won't turn you in.               INT. PHYSICAL SECURITY OFFICE - MORNING               Shrot and Len go over the print-out of the card entries.                                     LEN                         Every entry was authorized.                                     SHROT                         Keep looking.                                     LEN                         What're we looking for?                                     SHROT                         Any irregularity in the pattern.               INT. MILO & ALICE'S HOUSE - MORNING               Morning TV is on in the kitchen. A Seattle station airs a                puff piece about a party at Gary's house: people in formal                clothes (including Gary & his Wife) hold drinks and eat                canapÈs on the terrace over Lake Washington. (Gary's haircut                is different: it's file footage.)                                     TV VOICE                         Last years' party-goers pledged over                          $2 million to the Museum; this year's                          event promises to raise even more.                          Lured in part by the chance to see                          the stunning Boyd house...               Alice, grinding coffee, isn't paying attention. Milo is.                                     MILO                         Look at this.                                     ALICE                         What?                                     MILO                         Why doesn't he ask us to his party.                          He's never even met you.                                     ALICE                         He has thousands of employees, Milo --                                     MILO                         It's for the Museum. He knows you're                          a painter. If anybody should be                          invited --                                     ALICE                         Milo --                                     MILO                         I know you think I'm too attached to                          him, but still. I am close to Gary.                          And you're the most meaningful person                          in my life.                              (he gets up)                         I'm going back to the Comix place,                          why should I be killing myself.                                     ALICE                         Milo, you --               But he's out the door. She's not entirely displeased by such                a dramatic demonstration of his loyalty to her.               EXT. BUILDING 21 - DAY               Close on a satellite dish. We pan from the base of the dish                to the wiring: a cable is fused to a component box.               Lisa is on the scaffolding, having climbed it brazenly, in                broad daylight. She holds a small metal box with a meter and                two clamps. She applies the clamps to the base of the cable.                The needle on the meter dances.                                     GUARD                         Hey! Get down here!               She was expecting to be busted. Still, she's scared.               EXT. SAINT CATHERINE'S DAY SCHOOL - DAY               A Catholic school on a wooded lane. Schoolgirls in uniform                play on the swings and hopscotch courts.               INT. LIBRARY - SAINT CATHERINE'S               Milo types madly on a four-year-old PC. It takes him a moment                to notice SISTER BEATRICE.                                     MILO                         This is a lifesaver. My PC crashed                          just before finals.                                     SISTER BEATRICE                         None of us knows how to use it. I'm                          thinking of taking a course.                              (she wants to look)                         May I?                                     MILO                         Sure.               With her, we see the complex lines of code.                                     SISTER BEATRICE                         Forget it.               INT. PHYSICAL SECURITY OFFICE - DAY               Lisa sits with Bob Shrot. She's unfolding a page of sketch                paper.                                     LISA                         I needed t'see it up close for a                          graphic. The outpost with a dish on                          top? I climbed up there to get it                          right.               She hands him an unfinished rendering of the dish. He looks                at her, at the drawing, at her again. She's scared, but tries                to hide it.                                     SHROT                              (hands back the drawing)                         Next time you ask.               Relieved, she gets up. The meter tumbles to the floor, thud.                She goes white. But when she looks up, she sees               Shrot didn't see it: Len is standing in the inner door, waving                a printout.                                     LEN                         'Might of found something.               Lisa grabs up the meter as Shrot joins Len. As she goes out,                she hears:                                     LEN                         Delbert seems to enter #21 twice.                          Without leaving the first time.                                     SHROT                         Let's get him in here.               INT. SEATTLE MONORAIL CAR - NIGHT               Milo looks up as his train comes into a station. Lisa enters                the car, carrying a stack of comix. He stands, they kiss, he                takes the comix.                                     MILO                         Great. I knocked off the aglet, as                          soon as I get a passable version of                          Skywire we're there.                                     LISA                         The dishes are juiced up, too.                                     MILO                         Thank God.                                     LISA                         Milo? Shrot suspects somebody broke                          into #21. I was in his office when                          he was reviewing the card readouts.                                     MILO                              (confused)                         They know I broke in. Alice helped                          me.                              (figuring it out)                         Shrot's not one of them. He's                          blundering into this on his own.                                     LISA                         He doesn't know about the Day Care.                                     MILO                         Hardly anybody does, that's the beauty                          part. No cameras, the DOJ doesn't                          bother with it, it's accessed by a                          tunnel they boast about. You know                          the best place to hide a leaf?                                     LISA                         Yeah, that's old, in a tree.                                     MILO                         Oh.                                     LISA                         Milo? What if Shrot notices somebody                          entered the Day Care at four A.M.?                          And tells them about it?               They look at each other: the consequences of this discovery                would be deadly.               INT. BUILDING 20 CAFETERIA - DAY               A busy lunch hour. Milo is eating with some other Programmers,                including Desi. There's a stir of excitement in the room.               Gary comes straight to Milo's table; all conversation                instantly drops out.                                     GARY                         Milo?               Milo stands. Gary hands him a heavy vellum invitation.                                     GARY                         I'm giving a benefit for the art                          museum Thursday night. Thought you'd                          like to bring Alice.               Everybody at the table is listening.                                     MILO                         That's great! Thanks.                                     GARY                              (as he goes)                         'Sorry about the late notice...               Milo sits down. Everybody's looking at him.                                     DESI                         "Sorry about the late notice?"               INT. PHYSICAL SECURITY OFFICE - DAY               Delbert is seated across from Shrot and Len. Shrot holds the                printout.                                     SHROT                         Why did you enter #21 twice?                                     DELBERT                         Huh?               Shrot hands Delbert the printout. Delbert looks at it: dense                with coded entries. He stares at it.                                     DELBERT                         This thing's screwed-up. Look here.                              (shows it to them)                         'Shows me going into the Day Care                          that night. I never been in the Day                          Care.               Shrot narrows his eyes...               INT. PUBLIC LIBRARY - DAY               Milo sits with Lisa as she brings up the graphic interface                she's designed for the Skywire broadcast. It's an Outpost                desktop, with recognizable logos, fonts, etc.                                     LISA                         One window'll be obits I downloaded,                          based on the scenarios you described.                          The other windows'll accommodate the                          surveillance stuff you told me about.                          The idea is, this works with anything,                          since we can't edit.               He nods. [It's not necessary for us to understand what she's                saying, just so Milo does.] She holds up an audio copy of                Gary's book, The Next Highway.                                     LISA                         Same with the excerpts I'm choosing:                          they'll play against any of the images                          you described.                                     MILO                         Perfect.                              (something preys on                               his mind)                         How am I gonna get away from the                          party long enough to --                                     LISA                         You could always say you have to go                          the bathroom.                                     MILO                         That's lame, isn't it?                                     LISA                         You'll come up with something.               He already looks nervous. We begin to hear live music.               EXT. GARY'S HOUSE - NIGHT               The music echoes from inside. Push past a line of cars and                limousines in the lit-up drive, Milo's car at the head of                it.               Milo and Alice get out. As they go inside, she pulls a tag                from the sleeve of his just-bought dinner jacket.               INT. GARY'S HOUSE - ENTRANCE HALL - CONTINUOUS               As Milo and Alice enter, he sees a Balthus painting re-               digitize to a Mondrian.                                     ALICE                         They called the house to ask who's                          your favorite painter.               Alice smiles, Milo forces a smile: it'll be even harder to                sneak away, now.               They pass a doorway where a Houseman stands, to keep guests                from entering residential rooms (the ones Milo must pass                through to get to Gary's workroom). A Guy in a pretentiously                hip tux tries to peek in.                                     HOUSEMAN                         Sorry, Sir, this part of the residence                          is restricted.               Milo looks a little more tense...               PARTY ROOM - A MOMENT LATER               The room is full of people. A long windowed wall has been                opened onto a lakeside terrace, where more Guests drink and                chat, and an orchestra plays.               A giant Mondrian digitizes on the wall: the world's largest                ID card. Milo sinks a little more.               Across the room, Gary, his Wife (a blandly pretty blond) and                two Men are grouped around a Monet set on an antique easel                (thus clearly the real thing; Mrs. Boyd has prevailed.) Gary                notices the giant digital Mondrian.               MILO takes two flutes of champagnes off a tray. He hands one                to Alice as Gary et. al. approach.                                     GARY                         Alice, I'm Gary. This is my wife,                          Clarissa.                              (handshakes, etc.)                         Milo, this is Barry Linder, who's                          visiting from Hollywood.               LINDER is a short, tan man of 50.                                     LINDER                         I hate being the Hollywood guy. It's                          so limiting. Meet my friend, Ricky.               RICKY is 25-years-old; he looks like a Polo model.                                     RICKY                         Hi, guys.                                     GARY                         Barry's studio's gonna help fill the                          Skywire pipeline, thought you guys                          should meet.                                     MILO                              (his mind elsewhere)                         Cool.               ANGLE: the orchestra, playing.               ANGLE: a group of SOCIETY TYPES chatting.                                     SOCIETY WOMAN                         He's a sweetheart. He gave 10,000                          PC's to the Library Association.                                     SOCIETY MAN                         All 10,000 of which will be signed                          onto his browser, no doubt.                                     SOCIETY WOMAN                         And so what?!                                     ANOTHER MAN                         Wait'll all the books are on-line.                                     SOCIETY WOMAN                         And so what?               ANGLE: Milo, Alice, Gary, Barry Linder, Clarissa, Ricky.                Milo looks utterly preoccupied...                                     LINDER                         The merchandising implications are                          epic. A kid's watching the movie, he                          points and clicks at the laser blaster --                          before the reel's even over he's                          ordered the toy.                                     ALICE                         But, I mean -- Devil's Advocate --                          won't that influence the content?                          Won't the artists complain? The                          directors or writers or whoever?                                     LINDER                         Artists? Darling, the only art left                          in America is business. You're in                          Picasso's house!               Gary smiles as everyone toasts him, except Milo; he hasn't                heard any of it.                                     MILO                         Where's the bathroom?                                     LINDER                         The irreverence!               Laughter.               TRACK MILO as he wends his way through laughing, chatting                Guests, dread and determination on his face. He moves away                from us, enters the               ENTRANCE HALL               speaks to the Houseman who guards the residential rooms.                                     HOUSEMAN                         You'll have to use one over there.               He indicates an area on Milo's side of the door.                                     MILO                         There's like eight women waiting in                          line. They take forever.                              (winces: painful                               bladder)                         Please?                                     HOUSEMAN                         Right here.               He points to a door immediately behind him. As the Houseman                watches, Milo goes into the               BATHROOM               He stands there a moment, breathes deeply. He cracks open                the door. The Houseman is turning away another Guest; Milo                makes his move.               DEN-LIKE ROOM - CONTINUOUS               Looking over his shoulder, Milo hurries to a door at the far                end of the room, silently cursing the Mondrian that inevitably                appears.               The Houseman looks over his shoulder, sees the closed bathroom                door, assumes Milo's still inside.               INT. PARTY ROOM - CONTINUOUS               Gary chats with his guests. Alice looks up at the digital                art, now a Bosch again.               INT. GARY'S HOUSE - VARIOUS ROOMS - CONTINUOUS               Milo walks fast. As he passes from one room to next, he sees                a Mondrian: he's been in this room. All the austere,                tastefully decorated rooms are blending together.               He stands in the center of the room making quarter turns.                Through each of four (open) doorways he sees a perfectly-               appointed "den," the ultimate expression of bland, rich,                professionally-decorated taste.               He's lost.               He starts into one room -- backs up -- goes into another.               INT. ENTRANCE HALL - CONTINUOUS               The Houseman looks over his shoulder again. He sees the                Mondrian and, in the room beyond that, another Mondrian.               He moves to the bathroom door, knocks on it. Opens it. He                pulls a sleek walkie-talkie from his jacket.               INT. ANOTHER DEN - CONTINUOUS               Milo, still lost, is getting frantic. He doubles back, cuts                toward another wing of the house. Through an open doorway he                sees:               A young, chillingly calm NANNY, watching him. The Baby fusses                in her arms. Milo smiles, keeps moving.               INT. GARY'S HOUSE - A DEN - CONTINUOUS               A Second Houseman follows the trail of Mondrians. He sees                Mondrians in two different directions. He hesitates, picks a                direction, keeps moving.               INT. PARTY ROOM - CONTINUOUS               The first Houseman moves through the Guests, toward Gary.               INT. GARY'S WORKROOM - CONTINUOUS               Milo has finally made it. Sitting at Gary's work station, he                slips a CD-ROM into the PC. It floods with text. The music                echoes from far off. The entire wall behind him is filled                with a Mondrian.               INT. DINING ROOM - CONTINUOUS               As Linder chats, the first Houseman sidles up to Gary,                whispers in his ear. We see Gary smile, excuse himself. He                and Alice share a look as he moves off.               We go with Gary. His smiles fades instantly. He pushes through                Guests, who thank him for hosting such a brilliant "do;" he                hardly hears them.               INT. GARY'S WORKROOM - NIGHT               Milo writes frantically on his tiny pad, copying from the PC                screen:               LONGITUDE - 77 Degrees 03 Minutes 58 Seconds East               LATITUDE - 38 Degrees 55 Minutes 14 Seconds South               ALTITUDE - 426 MILES               He flips the page, begins entering the fixes for the next                satellite. Thinking he's heard something, he looks up.               Nobody's there.               INT. ANOTHER DEN - CONTINUOUS               The Second Houseman turns in several directions, confused by                the trail of Mondrians. Passing into the next room, he runs                into a Third Houseman, also confused. Each follows a different                Mondrian, in a different room.               INT. GARY'S HOUSE - A DEN - CONTINUOUS               Unlike the Housemen, Gary doesn't follow the paintings. He                moves swiftly, seems to know where Milo is.               GARY'S WORKROOM - CONTINUOUS               Milo still working...               PARTY ROOM - CONTINUOUS               Alice looks up at the digital painting: still a Bosch. Her                face sets grimly.               INT. GARY'S WORKROOM - CONTINUOUS               Milo clicks, closing the window. Concentrating, he doesn't                see what we see on the wall behind him: the Mondrian drains                away... And the wall fills up with the hellish Bosch triptych.               After a moment, Milo senses something.               Gary stands in the doorway. Watching him. Milo doesn't                breathe. Gary crosses the room, eyes locked with Milo's.               Gary comes behind Milo. He reads the screen. It's filled                with text, whatever Milo loaded in when he sat down.                                     GARY                              (reading the screen)                         "Dear Lisa. I've enjoyed working                          with you. I'd be lying if I didn't                          say I find you attractive. But in my                          heart I know that Alice..."                              (he looks up)                         You left my party to send E-mail?                                     MILO                         I couldn't do it at work cause of                          security or at home for -- obvious                          reasons.               Gary stares at Milo. He looks skeptical. The party music                floats in from afar as the moment stretches.                                     GARY                         You could've handwritten it.                                     MILO                         I'm not much good at handwriting. Or                          parties.                                     GARY                         Oh, that's right. You're "clueless."               This hangs there.                                     MILO                         Gary, I'm sorry if I was rude --               The Second Houseman sticks his head in.                                     HOUSEMAN                         Everything OK, Mr. Boyd?                                     GARY                         No problem.                              (when he's gone)                         Is there?                                     MILO                         Gary, I --                                     GARY                         You see what's hanging on the wall?               He looks over. Milo looks over. Among the framed                commendations, awards, degrees we see Milo's childhood                program, written on Outpost 1.0. Gary has had it framed.               Milo absorbs it. Even now, he feels something for Gary.                                     GARY                         I hope you know what you mean to me.                          Not just because of what you're doing.                          Because of who you are.                                     MILO                         I do know, Gary. I feel the same                          way. I thought I was coming here for                          a job. But it's meant a lot more.               Milo smiles almost tenderly. He doesn't know if Gary buys                it. Perhaps if he could see Gary's eyes. But they're obscured                by Bosch's writhing bodies, reflected on his eyeglasses.               Gary moves away from Milo, he stands over the table with the                art books, vaguely looks through one.                                     GARY                         When will you have a Beta version?               Milo wonders: does he know? He picks his words carefully.                                     MILO                         I'm pretty close. But when I wrote                          the last contact switches, it wiped                          out a piece of the content filer.                          You know what it's like, writing                          software.                                     GARY                         I do know. You focus on the big                          problem. But somewhere down the chain,                          something breaks down. Something                          gets destroyed. At first it's                          upsetting. You feel you've lost                          control.               Gary puts down the book. Something in his tone draws Milo.                                     GARY                         So you have to remind yourself: it's                          just the process. Something's always                          lost along the way to anything                          worthwhile. Some little bug, some                          glitch. 'Can't get bogged down in                          that, you're doing something other                          people could never do. They lack the                          imagination, the brain, the nerve.                          Let them fret about every unforeseen                          consequence. You have to solve the                          problem. That's who you are.               Is this a confession? A plea for understanding? Or just a                pep-talk to keep Milo focused on Skywire?               EXT./INT DRIVEWAY/MILO'S CAR - LATER               In the car, Milo and Alice pull away from the lights and                limos in icy silence. Several beats.                                     ALICE                         Are you gonna tell me where you went?                                     MILO                         I went to see the Skywire model in                          Gary's office. You know. Just to                          hold it again.               He looks at her. She stares ahead, out the windshield.                                     ALICE                         Are you having an affair, Milo?               He'd better have his story straight with Gary and Alice.                                     MILO                         No. No. I sent an E-mail to somebody,                          just now. To tell her how I feel                          about you.                              (looks at her)                         You know I'm clueless, without you.                          You know I --                                     ALICE                              (fighting tears)                         Just shut up?               Or is she faking it? Has he lost the trust of all of them?                He's afraid, now.               EXT. INT. DAY CARE - DAY               Move in on the building, past Kids playing in the yard.               INT. DAY CARE - COMPUTER ROOM - DAY               We hear the children's shouts OS. Short, with a fingerprint                kit, is dusting the keyboards. Len stands over him.                                     LEN                         Get the backslash, the colon, keys                          kids don't use but geeks do.                              (looking around,                               perplexed)                         What would Milo want in here, anyway?                                     SHROT                         They know. 'Just they don't trust me                          with it. So we'll get the evidence,                          first, ask questions later.               EXT. LIBRARY PARK - EVENING               By the balustrade, in the dimness, Milo stands with Lisa.                                     LISA                         Does he know you know?                                     MILO                         He suspects I know something. I think                          he was sort of -- explaining himself                          to me, in case I do.                              (he breathes)                         We have to go in tonight. I'm two                          hours from a Beta version.                              (knows she won't like                               it)                         But I've gotta go home for an hour.                                     LISA                         Why?!                                     MILO                         She called to apologize. I said I                          was pulling an all-nighter. She said                          then come home just to say Hi. Which                          I always do when we fight, it's                          suspicious if I don't.                                     LISA                         Please don't go.                                     MILO                         At this point the worst thing I could                          do is anything out of the ordinary.               She looks at him, worried, then takes a disk out of her                backpack.                                     LISA                         Here's the interface.               He takes it. They kiss. She watches him go, worried.               EXT./INT. MILO'S HOUSE - NIGHT               As Milo comes up the path, he sees Alice in the kitchen.               He opens the front door, steps in. She comes from the kitchen                in an apron, wiping her hands. The apron is spattered, her                hair is askew.                                     ALICE                         I'm a mess! I got this Hunan cookbook,                          since we're always afraid for you to                          eat in Chinese restaurants. I've                          been mincing things into teeny-tiny                          pieces all afternoon.               He smiles to hide his terror. Is she killing him now? Or                just testing his reaction? Or is it a sincere overture?                                     MILO                         Great!                                     ALICE                         Look at me! I'm gonna change.               When she turns away, we see the fear on his face.               INT. THE BEDROOM - A MOMENT LATER               Alice pulls into a dress.               IN THE KITCHEN - CONTINUOUS               Milo, at the stove, sniffs at the food that simmers in a                wok. He grabs a a spoon, examines it; but it's minced too                fine to discern one ingredient from another.               BEDROOM               Alice pulls her hair back with a ribbon...               KITCHEN               Milo churns the garbage in the wastebasket, reads the label                on a jar, the label on a can...               BEDROOM               Alice applies blush-on.               KITCHEN               Milo goes through the spice cabinet...               LIVING ROOM - A MOMENT LATER               Milo paces. He stops when she comes from the bedroom.                                     MILO                              (he smiles)                         You look beautiful.                                     ALICE                         Yeah? Give me a goodbye kiss.                                     MILO                         ...What?                                     ALICE                         I know you. You're gonna run back to                          work right after dinner. I want my                          kiss now.               Either she's the most cold-blooded woman in the world, or...               He takes her in his arms, kisses her long and hard -- as if                his life depended on it. When he releases her, she pretends                to swoon. She backs toward the kitchen.                                     ALICE                         Be right back.               KITCHEN - A MOMENT LATER               Camera is positioned on the counter, just behind the big                bowl as Alice spoons the food into it... She sprinkles on                some final ingredient, also minced.               DINING ROOM - CONTINUOUS               Milo's fingers drum the table top...               KITCHEN - CONTINUOUS               Alice picks up the dish. We don't see her face.               ON THE DISH - MOVING - CONTINUOUS (ALICE'S POV)               We hold the dish out in front of us. The food shines in the                light, a poisonous yellow gleam. We move from kitchen to                dining room, slowly, deliberately...               Milo comes into view beyond the dish, wearing a forced smile.                We come all the way to the table with the dish, where Alice                sets it down.               She sits. Milo, still vamping, pours wine. He picks up his                fork. Stares at it.                                     ALICE                         Milo?               His mind churns furiously.                                     ALICE                         Milo?                                     MILO                         Don't we have any chopsticks?                                     ALICE                         Oh, right. Hold on.               When she's gone, he flips his left arm over and drags the                tines of his fork against it, making score-marks, like those                used by allergists to test for sensitivity.               He dabs the sauce onto the tracks, wipes it clean. He stares                at it.               INT. KITCHEN DRAWER - CONTINUOUS               Alice roots through ladles, bottle openers, cheese graters,                spatulas. At the bottom of the drawer, she finds two pairs                of take-out chopsticks, wrapped in white paper.               INT. DINING ROOM - CONTINUOUS               Milo looks from his watch to his arm -- no reaction yet.                                     MILO                              (under his breath)                         One more minute...               But here's Alice. She slips into her seat.                                     ALICE                         Here we go.                                     MILO                         Great.               He unwraps the chopsticks rather slowly.                                     MILO                         ...wanna savor this.                                     ALICE                         It's gonna get cold.                                     MILO                         Right. Wait. A toast.                                     ALICE                         You're just afraid to eat it.               She smiles, picks up her glass.                                     MILO                         To the artist.               They toast. She sips her wine. He sips his. He wants                desperately to glance at his inner arm once more. But she's                watching him, waiting for him to eat.               He picks up the chopsticks, gathers up a tiny bite. She                watches keenly. He brings the food to his mouth, passes it                between his lips, swallows.               He closes his eyes, ostensibly to savor the food, in fact                bracing for a paroxysm.               She watches him expectantly -- either for his verdict on the                food, or for the first fatal spasm.                                     MILO                              (his voice cracks)                         It's great. It's great.               She grins. She takes a bite. The moment she looks away, he                turns over his arm to get a look, face full of fear.               The tracks are still flat, there's no redness. He shovels a                large bite into his mouth, ecstatic to be alive. Then another                bite, greedy with life.               INT. COMPUTER SECURITY OFFICE - NIGHT               Shrot and Len are in a high-tech office. On a monitor, we                see a blown-up image of a fingerprint taken from Milo's                keyboard; Milo's name is printed under it.               In a second window, other fingerprints flash by: thousands                of prints lifted off keyboards in the Day Care.               Shrot waits for a match to click in.               INT. MILO'S OFFICE - NIGHT               Milo scrolls his Skywire code, concentrating intensely. Till                he feels some stickiness on his thumb and forefinger. He                rubs them together, peers at his keys.               Dolly-zoom in on a trace of fingerprint powder.               Fear seizes Milo. He ejects his the Skywire CD -- it is a                bright silver color, with a Skywire logo on it -- slips it                in an equally distinct silver (CD) jewel-case.               INT. BLDG. 20 HALLWAY - MOMENT LATER               Milo smiles at Desi as he moves up the hall. He almost bumps                into Gary's Secretary.                                     SECRETARY                         Milo, hi! How was the party?                                     MILO                         Great! Great! Thanks for asking!               He continues up the hall. He ducks into the service hall.               INT. COMPUTER SECURITY OFFICE - CONTINUOUS               Shrot watches as               The computer produces an alarm-like buzzing. The second window                locks onto the matching print. The prints flash in unison,                garishly confirming the match.               INT. TUNNEL/STAIRWELL - CONTINUOUS               Milo races along the tunnel that leads from #20 to the Day                Care...               INT. COMPUTER SECURITY OFFICE - CONTINUOUS               Shrot punches a number on the phone.                                     LEN                         You calling Phil and Randy?                                     SHROT                         I'm calling Gary.               INT. STAIRWELL/DAY CARE BACKROOM - CONTINUOUS               Milo climbs the stairs, fumbles with the swipecard, enters                the Day Care.               INT. COMPUTER SECURITY OFFICE - CONTINUOUS               Len is at the console. On a security monitor, he has called-               up video from a moment ago: Milo hurrying up the hall, almost                running into Gary's Secretary.               Shrot has an eye on the video as he speaks on the phone.                                     SHROT                         He's left his office, we think he's                          gone back to the Day Care for some                          reason. Can you tell me why, Gary?                              (he listens)                         Whatever you say.                              (hangs up angrily)                         Wants to consult with Phil. Was it                          Phil's idea to run the fingerprints?               Shrot straps on his service revolver as he heads out.                                     SHROT                         Come with me.                                     LEN                              (trying to catch up)                         Where we going?               INT. DAY CARE - COMPUTER ROOM - CONTINUOUS               Milo is under the table, detaching one of the the black                plastic data towers that contain the "primers," stored                surveillance material, etc.               INT. PHIL'S OFFICE - CONTINUOUS               Phil hangs up the phone. He turns to Randy, who is with the                two men: the blond GUNTHER, the pale-eyed RIMAN.                                     PHIL                         He's in the Day Care.               INT. DAY CARE - CONTINUOUS               Milo carefully detaches a second data tower.               EXT. BLDG. 20 - CONTINUOUS               Shrot and Len hurry out of the building, toward the Day Care                across the quad. Len is ill-at-ease:                                     LEN                         Bob, I'm a programmer, not a cop.               In his haste, Shrot doesn't even hear him.               INT. BUILDING 20 HALLWAY - CONTINUOUS               Gunther, Riman & Randy head down the service hallway, en                route to the bomb shelter stairs.               INT. DAY CARE - CONTINUOUS               Milo, lugging one bulky black data tower under each arm                (wondering if he should just ditch one) gets as far as the                main, colorfully-carpeted room --               Shrot is there, gun drawn. Len stands just behind.                                     SHROT                         What are you doing?                                     MILO                         You're better off not knowing.               Shrot thinks he's being mocked, as usual.                                     SHROT                         What're you doing?!               Milo sets down one of the towers.                                     MILO                         They're surveilling programmers from                          in here. They steal their code.                          Sometimes -- I know this sounds insane --                          sometimes they kill one.               Shrot looks skeptical.                                     MILO                         They let me break into 21. 'Cause                          there's nothing in there. You know                          they've been keeping things from                          you. 'Getting in the way when you                          try t'do your job. That's why you                          never told 'em your suspicions about                          me. Right?               Shrot doesn't deny it.                                     MILO                         If you had I'd be dead now.               Milo's sincerity is striking. Shrot cogitates.                                     MILO                         You've been following your gut all                          along. Please don't stop now?               INT. STAIRWELL - CONTINUOUS               Gunther, Riman and Randy climb the metal stairs, turn at a                landing, climb some more.               When they get to the next landing, Riman opens the door.                They enter               THE DAY CARE - BACK ROOM               Hearing voices inside, Gunther draws a gun; they move forward                stealthfully. They enter the               COMPUTER ROOM - CONTINUOUS                                     RANDY                         What's going on here?               Randy sees: Shrot and Len.                                     SHROT                         Who're these guys?                                     RANDY                         Where is he?                                     SHROT                         We're too late. Take a look.               He shines his light under the table, where the towers have                been detached.                                     SHROT                         What's in here worth taking, anyway?               EXT. QUAD - CONTINUOUS               Milo hurries away from the Day Care. He has just one data                tower, now, so he can move faster.               INT. DAY CARE COMPUTER ROOM - CONTINUOUS               Randy starts to push past Shrot --                                     RANDY                         He must be out there still --               He gets to the front room, where the jettisoned data tower                still sits (but he doesn't see it).                                     SHROT                              (calling after)                         Forget about it. His car's not in                          the lot, he's gone!               Shrot watches anxiously to see if he's stopped Randy.               EXT. OUTPOST - PARKING LOT - NIGHT               Milo moves low among the high-priced cars, lugging the tower.                He gets to his Deux Chevaux, opens the trunk --                                     VOICE                         Hey!               Milo turns. It's Desi, again.                                     DESI                         Wanna get a cheeseburger or something?                                     MILO                         Maybe another time.               As calmly as possible, he stows the tower, slams the trunk,                gets in the car.               INT. DAY CARE - COMPUTER ROOM - CONTINUOUS               Randy hangs up the phone.                                     RANDY                              (to Shrot & Len)                         Fellas, I'm gonna have to ask you to                          leave here now.                                     SHROT                         Wait a second. I'm the one who found                          out he was mucking around in here in                          the first place.                                     RANDY                         We're all grateful for that. Really.                          Go out the way you came in?               Reluctantly, Shrot & Len head out toward the front room.               INT./EXT MILO'S CAR/HIGHWAY - NIGHT               Milo is on the phone, he drives as fast as one can in his                car.                                     MILO                         Meet me at the other location.                                     LISA (V.O.)                         Tell me you're not calling on your                          car phone?!               INT. DAY CARE - COMPUTER ROOM - CONTINUOUS               Randy, Riman & Gunther have turned the Day Care into a                surveillance post. They hear Milo & Lisa's conversation on                speakers.                                     MILO (V.O.)                         They know, I had no choice. Get out                          of the house now! Do you have a                          laptop?               INT. LISA'S HOUSE - CONTINUOUS                                     LISA (ON THE PHONE)                         It's three years old, it --               INT. MILO'S CAR - CONTINUOUS                                     MILO (ON THE PHONE)                         Bring it to the other location.                                     LISA                         But you said the other --               He rings off. He reads something off a business card.               INT. LISA'S HOUSE - CONTINUOUS               Scrambling, Lisa grabs her old laptop, finds her keys.               INT. GARY'S HOUSE - GARY'S WORKROOM - CONTINUOUS               Phil's on the phone.                                     PHIL                         Yeah, alright.                              (hangs up, briefs                               Gary)                         He's off campus, he's taken some                          surveillance data with him.               Gary's eyes narrow.                                     PHIL                         She's bringing her laptop, it's wired.                          Second she boots up, we're on 'em.               EXT./INT. BUILDING/MILO'S CAR - RURAL ROAD - NIGHT               Milo reads the address off the business card, which has a                satellite dish as its logo. (He holds it in front of him.)               When he brings down the card, it reveals a real-life satellite                dish through the windshield.               As the car pulls up by a low cinderblock building, we read a                sign that says KNQR - PUBLIC ACCESS.               INT. KNQR - RECEPTION AREA - CONTINUOUS               Milo rushes in, lugging the tower. There's a linoleum floor,                framed one-sheets for tacky public access shows (Yoga, blow-               dried Evangelist, Nude Talk Show). Behind the reception desk                sits a beefy RENT-A-GUARD with an earring.                                     RENT-A-GUARD                         Help you?                                     MILO                         Brian here? Brian Bissel?                                     RENT-A-GUARD                              (picks up the phone)                         Who wants to see him?               INT./EXT. LISA'S CAR/HIGHWAY - NIGHT               Lisa drives fast, checking her rear-view-mirror to make sure                she's not being followed. Pan to the seat next to her: her                laptop lies on the passenger seat.               INT. DAY CARE COMPUTER ROOM - CONTINUOUS               A monitor shows a green interface with yellow coordinates                (like an air traffic controllers' screen). Randy sits at the                keyboard in front of it, phone cradled on shoulder.                                     RANDY                              (into the phone)                         Nothing. They haven't booted-up yet.               INT. KNQR - CONTINUOUS               Milo speaks to Brian.                                     MILO                         This is the biggest Beta demo in                          like the history of software. You'd                          be my partner.                                     BRIAN                         You can't pre-empt Yoga, that's our                          biggest show.                                     MILO                         Brian! You wanna be a big deal, don't                          you? That's your dream in life.               Brian is examining the data tower. He touches the Outpost                logo branded into it, rather reverently.               Lisa comes in, laptop slung over her arm.                                     BRIAN                         Will I get to work for Outpost?                                     MILO                         No. But you can write your own ticket                          in the Valley after this. We're gonna                          bring down Outpost.                                     BRIAN                         What?                                     MILO                         What'd they ever do for you?               Brian's thinking it over. He shrugs.                                     BRIAN                         Okay.                                     MILO                         Great. Great! We need to drag a lot                          of heavy stuff in front of the door --                                     BRIAN                         What?!                                     MILO                              (to the Rent-a-Guard)                         Wanna be a part of history?                                     RENT-A-GUARD                         Not really.                                     MILO                              (digging in his pocket)                         Well -- would you like to pick up an                          extra -- 232 dollars?               INT. GARY'S HOUSE - CONTINUOUS               Gary is pacing...                                     PHIL                              (on the phone)                         Nothing yet, Gary...               INT. KNQR - RECEPTION AREA - CONTINUOUS               The Rent-a-Guard drags a file cabinet in front of the door,                where he has already dragged the couch, some chairs, a garbage                can, two lamps...               INT. SATELLITE ROOM (UPSTAIRS) - KNQR - CONTINUOUS               Three TV's of various sizes and wood veneers are turned on:                one to NBC ("ER") one to CBS ("48 Hours") one to ABC                (toothpaste commercial). On an in-house monitor a leathery                Woman in a leotard does yoga.               Lisa is cabling her laptop into the station's computer. Brian                boots it up: it runs the satellite. Milo cables the data                tower into the laptop.               Cables go in every which direction: the whole set-up has a                distinctly gerry-rigged look.               Go tight on the laptop power switch. Lisa toggles it on.               INT. DAY CARE COMPUTE ROOM - NIGHT               The yellow coordinates start blinking on. Randy sits at a                console.                                     RANDY                              (into the phone)                         We've got a fix on 'em.                              (typing)                         218 North Jericho Road.               Gunther and Riman grab holstered guns, race out. Randy types                some more, speaks into the phone:                                     RANDY                         Public access TV station. KNQR.               INT. GARY'S HOUSE - CONTINUOUS               Phil hangs up, blows a sigh of relief.                                     PHIL                         He's taken it to the public access                          station.               Phil sags gratefully into a chair... only to see Gary plow                past him. At his workstation Gary types, mutters:                                     GARY                         That's what he was doing in here.               The Bosch wall screen fills up with a dark blue background,                longitude and latitude lines...                                     PHIL                         Gary?               Gary throws a printed spiral notebook at him.                                     GARY                         Help me change the Skywire settings.                          Add five degrees to each satellite                          coordinate.                                     PHIL                         Gary, don't worry, we --                                     GARY                         Just do what I'm asking!               Gary hits a switch. A wood panel slides into the wall,                revealing a bank of four TV's.               INT. CAR/HIGHWAY - CONTINUOUS               Gunther and Riman speed toward the station.               INT. SATELLITE ROOM - WNQR - CONTINUOUS               Milo slips his disk in the laptop. Lisa cables the video                tower to the laptop.                                     BRIAN                         You're interfaced with our dish.                                     MILO                              (to Lisa)                         Gimme the coordinates?               Lisa reads from Milo's little pad.                                     LISA                         Longitude 77 degrees, 03 minutes, 58                          seconds East.               Milo types on the laptop.                                     LISA                         Latitude 38 degrees, 55 minutes, 14                          seconds South.               INT. GARY'S WORKROOM - CONTINUOUS               Phil reads to Gary as he types.                                     PHIL                         19 seconds South. Altitude 431 Miles.               EXT. SPACE - NIGHT               We see the Earth far below. The Skywire Satellite orbits                majestically into frame, shifts five degrees to the left.               INT. SATELLITE ROOM - KNQR - CONTINUOUS               Milo hits enter. Milo, Lisa, Brian, shift their collective                gaze to the three funky TV sets.               "ER" plays, uninterrupted, Dan Rather, Diane Sawyer on ABC,                the Yoga lady, the audio of all four blending in a chaotic                low melange that adds to the tension (particularly the frantic                medical emergency on "ER").                                     BRIAN                         Is it your software?                                     MILO                         Is it your dish?                                     LISA                         Maybe it's the satellite.                                     MILO                              (he thinks)                         Let's try #2.               INT. GARY'S WORKROOM - CONTINUOUS                                     GARY                         Okay, #2.                                     PHIL                         Longitude 48 degrees 06 minutes --               EXT. KNQR - CONTINUOUS               Gunther and Riman squeal into the station parking lot.               INT. SATELLITE ROOM - CONTINUOUS               Lisa looks out the window to the parking lot, below. Milo is                typing in coordinates.                                     LISA                         They're already here. My laptop must                          be wired!                                     BRIAN                              (anxiously)                         Milo?                                     MILO                              (typing)                         We're there.               Milo hits enter.               INT. GARY'S WORKROOM - CONTINUOUS               Gary hits enter.               EXT. SPACE CONTINUOUS               A second Skywire satellite shifts regally away from the Earth,                as if shunning the signal.               INT. SATELLITE ROOM KNQR - CONTINUOUS               Milo, Lisa, Brian watch the TV's. "ER" et al.                                     MILO                         Damn!               EXT./INT. KNQR - ENTRANCE - CONTINUOUS               Gunther and Riman tear through the barricade the Rent-A-Cop                has erected with ruthless precision.               INT. SATELLITE ROOM - CONTINUOUS               Milo cogitates while Lisa reviews the satellite coordinates --                                     LISA                              (to Brian)                         You checked your connections?                                     BRIAN                              (to Milo)                         Yes! Should you reboot?               Milo is scrolling the software, trying to figure out which                of a 1,000 possible glitches is getting in the way.                                     MILO                         ...He knows.                                     LISA                         What?                                     MILO                         He's been altering the coordinates                          since we logged on. He's a step ahead.                          Let's jump to #12.               INT. GARY'S WORKROOM - CONTINUOUS                                     PHIL                         Ready for number three?                                     GARY                         Let's go.                                     PHIL                         Longitude 109 --                                     GARY                         Wait... He knows.                                     PHIL                         What?                                     GARY                         'Knows I'm altering the coordinates.                          Let's jump to #12.                                     PHIL                         Gary?                                     GARY                         Just do it.               INT. KNQR - UPSTAIRS HALLWAY - CONTINUOUS               The Rent-A-Guard drags furniture, props, lights, in front of                the entrance to the satellite room.               INT. ENTRANCE - KNQR - CONTINUOUS               Gunther and Riman have created an opening in the barricade.                They step through it. They hear the racket the Rent-a-Guard                is making upstairs. They head that way.               INT. STAIRWAY/UPSTAIRS HALLWAY - CONTINUOUS               The Rent-A-Guard is holding a lightstand as they ascend,                guns drawn.                                     GUNTHER                         Step aside. We won't hurt you.               Riman takes the lightstand from him. The Rent-a-Guard puts                his hands up, sidles across the hallway as they tear into                the barricade.               INT. SATELLITE ROOM - CONTINUOUS               Lisa reads to Milo.                                     LISA                         Latitude 47 degrees.                                     MILO                         Wait a second. He knows I know.                                     BRIAN                         What?!                                     MILO                         He's working backwards, too.                              (to Lisa)                         Let's do number five?                                     LISA                         Longitude 66.               Milo types.               INT. STAIRWELL - CONTINUOUS               Gunther and Riman rip down the barricade, reach the door.                They whip it open, guns drawn. They see:               An empty supply room. [The barricade was a decoy.]               INT. SATELLITE ROOM - CONTINUOUS               The Rent-A-Guard has joined Milo et al in here. He tries to                slide a heavy shelf in front of the door, but it's not yet                in place. Lisa has dialed 911. She's scared.                                     LISA                         Come now. They've got guns!               OS, we can hear Gunther and Riman pounding at the door.                                     GUNTHER (O.S.)                         Open the door, Milo!                                     BRIAN                              (to Milo)                         You there yet?                                     MILO                              (typing)                         One more second.               He hits enter. The door is kicked open. Gunther & Riman enter,                Gunther with a gun, Riman still carrying the light stand.               He immediately bashes the KNQR computer with it. Lisa looks                devastated.                                     BRIAN                         Hey, hey, relax, relax!               He holds up the computer cable, to show Riman it was never                plugged in, anyway.                                     LISA                         Oh my God.                                     BRIAN                              (to Gunther)                         Should I call Phil? Or do you?               Gunther knits his brow. He notices Milo: still staring at                the TV screens.                                     BRIAN                         Milo? Wake up. Our regular programming                          will not be preempted tonight.               Milo's gaze stays fixed to the screens. Riman grabs him by                the shirt. But Gunther's concerned by Milo's behavior:                                     GUNTHER                              (staring at Milo)                         Wait.               As Milo watches the screens, a pixilated, ghostly image begins                to appear on all of them: the animated Skywire logo (lightning                strike, etc.).               Brian lurches across to the laptop, ejects the CD-ROM. It's                beige-colored, says Outpost Word.                                     BRIAN                         ...When did you know?                                     MILO                              (still watching the                               screens)                         You should've called a few times to                          bug me about your job prospects.                                     LISA                         Milo? Who's got Skywire?               INT. GARY'S WORKROOM - CONTINUOUS               Gary and Phil watch as the Skywire logo gets steadily stronger                on Gary's TV's. Phil is confounded:                                     PHIL                         If Milo didn't launch Skywire, who                          did?               We hear a low steady hum.                                                                    CUT TO:               A CABLE plugged into a dusty wall-port that doesn't even                have a plate on it. Panning along the cable, we widen to                show:               INT. UNFINISHED STUDIO (#21) - CONTINUOUS               In dim construction light, not far from the Sears generator,                Len sits on the concrete floor. The second data tower is                patched into a laptop. The distinct silver jewelcase lies by                the CD-rom drive. Shrot paces:                                     SHROT                         Now what are we doing? I don't get                          any of this shit!                                     LEN                         I launched Skywire. Just pray the                          last set of coordinates Milo sent me                          connected us to Gary's satellite.                                                                    CUT TO:               FOUR TV SETS               Each shows the standard Outpost desktop: Outpost logo, fonts,                colors. [This is the all-purpose interface Lisa created for                to Milo.] A window at the top shows a succession of Obituaries                with photos Lisa has downloaded from newspapers: "Programmer                Dies in Highway Crash;" "Programmer Among Cult Suicides;"                "Programmer Victim of Racial Killing," etc.) The obituaries --                eight of them -- fade up and down in a continuous cycle.                Meantime:               Lower on the screen, the material from the day-care data                tower appears, following the same succession we saw when                Milo brought up Teddy's data, i.e., footage of a young                Programmer at college, surveillance footage of him typing                away (from behind), medical records that describe his                vulnerability or a crime primer that describes his scenario.                Between the obits and the primers, cause and effect is                (eventually) established.               The crowning note is the audio, Gary in VOICE OVER, gleaned                (by Lisa) from the audio version of his own book:                                     GARY'S VOICE OVER                         Most of us who write software achieve                          our greatest work before age 30. As                          I grow older I know how important it                          is to access fertile young minds!               REVERSE ON               Gary watching.               INT. KNQR - SATELLITE ROOM - CONTINUOUS               We hear sirens grow near. Gunther watches the broadcast,                still gripping his gun.                                     RIMAN                              (to Gunther)                         You know the scenario for this.               This sounds ominous. Lisa wonders what it means. Milo wonders                what it means. He swallows hard.                                     MILO                         'Last thing you wanna do is hurt us                          now.                              (not at all sure)                         Right?                                     GUNTHER                              (to Brian)                         Who's seeing this?                                     BRIAN                              (with dread)                         Who isn't?                                                                    CUT TO:               A MONTAGE               1. MOVE PAST ROWS & ROWS OF PC's playing surveillance footage,                a crash-scene upload, and an obituary, in a college computer                lab. Students watch, agog.                                     GARY'S VOICE OVER                         We work hard to stay ahead because                          we know any kid working in his garage                          can put us out of business.               2. TIMES SQUARE - Pedestrians and motorists (with craned                necks) watch the Jumbo-Tron, now the world's biggest desktop.                In one window, college video of a promising Programmer, in                the other, footage of a cult suicide. (Sometimes the                Programmer in question is simultaneous with his obit,                sometimes not, but the connection by now becomes clear).                                     GARY'S VOICE OVER                         The first rule of the software                          business is: those who don't innovate                          are doomed to die.               3. The cuts accelerate. In a NETWORK CONTROL ROOM, Technicians                flip switches, trying to bring back scheduled programming.                At the NIKKEI, the Brokers are transfixed by what comes over                the Big Board. In a VEGAS CASINO Gamblers sip their drinks                as they watch it on closed-circuit horserace monitors. On a                STREET CORNER, a Crack Dealer watches on his beeper. At a                STADIUM, the Stones play but (tilting up) the Diamond Vision                behind them plays Milo's broadcast. In an ELECTRONICS STORE,                a wall of TV's -- 200 of them -- plays grisly primer footage                for Shoppers. A guy takes a shiny wrapped copy of Outpost                '98 from his basket, returns it to the shelf... In the Day                Care Computer Room, it plays on all the monitors as Randy                moves through the room with a big buzzing electro-magnetic                hoop, which he runs over each tower, wiping out data.               Through all the cuts, we hear Gary's narration:                                     GARY'S VOICE OVER                         That's why we work so hard to invent                          or acquire great new applications.                          Consumers don't care where new ideas                          come from, just so long as they're                          offered at competitive prices. Isn't                          that what the free market's about?                          Sure, we like being #1, but it's                          pressure, too. This business is                          binary: you're a zero or a one.               INT. JUSTICE DEPT. - WASHINGTON D.C. - CONTINUOUS               A group of Government Lawyers, working late (Chinese takeout,                loosened ties) watch with a dawning sense of unbelievable                good luck.                                     JUSTICE DEPT. LAWYER                         'Guess we should wake the Attorney                          General.               TIGHT ON: A PC SCREEN - Teddy Chin's recruitment file is in                one window, the hate crime footage is in another.                                     GARY'S VOICE OVER                         I've been called "aggressive" but to                          me, that's really a compliment.               REVERSE: SUNNYVALE LOFT - CONTINUOUS               Larry watches with his start-up partners. His eyes close: it                hurts to see Teddy, again.                                     GARY'S VOICE OVER                         Look at all the jobs and technologies                          my "aggression" has created.               INT. LYLE BARTON'S HOUSE - FRONT ROOM - CONTINUOUS               OPEN on a framed photo of Barton, his Wife and Kids. The                broadcast plays, OS.                                     BARTON'S WIFE (O.S.)                         Lyle? Phone for you.               She comes in. No Barton. The front door is wide open, the TV                is still on.                                     GARY'S VOICE OVER                         We really are a family here at                          Outpost.               INT. MILO & LISA'S HOUSE - BEDROOM - NIGHT               Paintings are gone from the wall, clothes flung around. Move                in on a note pinned to the pillow, as the TV plays.                                     GARY'S VOICE OVER                         I think that's why outsiders sometimes                          sees us as "cultish" or "secretive."                             Milo, It wasn't so bad, really.                                        XX "Alice"               EXT. OUTPOST CAMPUS - NIGHT               High wide shot: sirens scream as unmarked sedans and squadcars                squeal into the sanctified parking lot.                                     GARY'S VOICE OVER                         Is loyalty and group spirit somehow                          "sinister" nowadays?               INT. GARY'S WORKROOM - CONTINUOUS               Open on Gary's TV monitors, then pan into the room. Phil has                departed; the Outpost Lawyers have taken his place.                                     LAWYER                         The "murder" stuff is all innuendo:                          bad PR, legally null. 'Could probably                          be spun as Urban Legend. There is a                          case for corporate espionage, but if                          you cop a plea, you'll get a slap --                                     GARY                         Cop a plea? I'm confused, Ted. You                          think I knew about this?               The Lawyers suppress their opinion.                                     GARY                         I'm running the company, fighting                          the DOJ, raising a family. Randy and                          Phil obviously overreacted. To this                          endless, antitrust witchhunt.                                     LAWYER                              (get real)                         The government's gonna offer 'em a                          helluva deal to tie you into this.                          Whether you knew about it or not.                                     LAWYER 2                         Randy, Phil and whoever else knew                          about it.                                     GARY                         That won't be a problem.               INT./EXT. CAR/RURAL ROAD - CONTINUOUS               Gunther & Riman turn off a rural road...                                     GARY (O.S.)                         As for PR, Skywire'll take care of                          all that.               ...onto a tarmac. A private jet sits lit up, waiting.               INT. GARY'S WORKROOM - CONTINUOUS                                     GARY                         The world's seen it now. They know                          it's gonna dominate the convergence                          market even beyond how Outpost '98                          dominates the desktop.               INT. PRIVATE JET - 35,000 FT. - CONTINUOUS               Continuous dolly past: Gunther, as he takes a Chivas from                the Stewardess; Lyle Barton who slips on his headset; Alice,                sorting through video casettes; Randy & Phil, playing gin                rummy; Brian, eating a hamburger. Meantime:                                     GARY (O.S.)                         Go after us, you give foreign                          competitors a shot at the platform                          that'll hold sway for 30 years: you                          threaten not just our chip and PC                          partners like when you came after                          the browser.               INT. GARY'S WORKROOM - CONTINUOUS                                     GARY                         You threaten TV networks, phone                          companies, catalog outlets, publishing                          houses, movie studios, travel agents,                          airlines, stock brokerages -- you                          sabotage the whole economy. Talk                          about undermining innovation!                                     LAWYER 2                              (he's writing on a                               legal pad)                         Easy to spin, old as the hills: What's                          good for Outpost is good for America.               He hands the pad to Gary.               INT. KNQR - SATELLITE ROOM - CONTINUOUS               Milo watches the screens, anxiously.                                     MILO                         Come on, Bob. Load in the other disk.               INT. GARY'S WORKROOM - CONTINUOUS               Gary is reading from the Lawyer's pad.                                     GARY                         "I had no knowledge of these                          activities, but I have to ask myself                          if the competitive environment I                          encouraged in some small way                          contributed --"                                     LAWYER                         Gary?               Gary looks up. The Lawyer nods soberly at the TV's.               In one window, the Skywire code scrolls slowly past. In the                other, it says: "Here's the code for the operating system                that made this braodcast possible. Take it. Use it. Make the                new convergence technologies as free as the Web."               Under the windows, these words scroll continuously: HUMAN                KNOWLEDGE BELONGS TO THE WORLD.               Watching, Gary knits his brow: he looks wounded.               INT. COLLEGE COMPUTER LAB - CONTINUOUS               In the lab that began the montage, move past rows of Students                scribbling madly as the code unfolds, or saving it to their                hard drives.               Off-screen, a Student says, "Well, the genie's out of that                bottle."                                                                SHORT FADE:                                     CYBER PUNDIT (OVER BLACK)                         The Board ousted Gary Boyd as                          Chairman, they're assisting the DOJ                          in the breakup of Outpost into                          divisions.               FADE IN ON:               TV - PLAYING LARRY KING LIVE               The CYBER PUNDIT chats with LARRY KING.                                     LARRY KING (ON TV)                         That's gotta kill him, right?                                     CYBER PUNDIT (ON TV)                         Outpost was his baby, sure. On the                          other hand, we just learned Gary                          Boyd owns the Skywire satellites.                          Personally.                                     LARRY KING (ON TV)                         Outpost doesn't own em.               We are:               INT. SUNNYVALE LOFT - DAY               Larry Lindholm sits on a couch watching TV. MOVERS are                carrying out computer equipment all around him. He tries to                ignore them.                                     CYBER PUNDIT (ON TV)                         Conglomerates're lined up to finance                          the launch of the remaining                          satellites. They'll pay him a huge                          premium to get on-line.                                     LARRY KING                         That'd change with a criminal                          indictment.                                     CYBER PUNDIT                         There's no hard evidence he knew                          about this. Anybody who could                          implicate him seems to've vanished.                                     LARRY KING (ON TV)                         Isn't there a stigma? Bankrolling                          this guy?                                     CYBER PUNDIT (ON TV)                         Stigma? Larry! 60 billion buys you                          some slack in this world.                                     LARRY KING (ON TV)                         And the kid who wrote Skywire --                          then gave it away? They're calling                          him the digital Robin Hood.                                     CYBER PUNDIT (ON TV)                         Milo. Surprised he's not your guest.                                     LARRY KING (ON TV)                         We tried!                                     CYBER PUNDIT (ON TV)                         You better believe everybody's trying                          to sign him up.               As Larry (King) chuckles, Larry (Lindholm) looks up.               Milo and Lisa wear backpacks. As Milo sluffs his off:                                     MILO                         Larry, Lisa.               Larry switches off the TV as he comes to his feet. A Mover                passes by, hauling out a monitor. Larry explains:                                     LARRY                         Your app kind of blew mine out of                          the water.                                     MILO                              (he shrugs)                         We'll come up with the next big thing.                                     LARRY                         ...You wanna work -- here?                                     MILO                         Got out of my other commitment.               Larry hugs Milo. Turns to Lisa:                                     LARRY                         May I?               He hugs Lisa, too. A Mover grabs Milo's backpack from the                floor.                                     MILO                         Hey, wait!                              (when the Mover looks)                         Not giving everything away.               The Mover sets it down, moves on.                                     LARRY                         C'mon. Bring your stuff.               Milo grabs up his pack, the three of them head away from                camera.                                     LARRY                         You guys'll be using Teddy's old                          space, is that okay?                                     MILO                         Cool.                                                             FADE TO BLACK:                                         THE END
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+A N T Z CHARACTERS VOICES "Z"...............................................WOODY ALLEN "WASP #1".........................................DAN AYKROYD "WASP #2".........................................JANE CURTIN "GEN. FORMICA"...................................DANNY GLOVER "MANDIBLE".......................................GENE HACKMAN "AZTECA".......................................JENNIFER LOPEZ "DRUNK SCOUT"....................................JOHN MAHONEY "WEAVER"...................................SYLVESTER STALLONE "PRINCESS BALA"..................................SHARON STONE "QUEEN"..........................................MERYL STREEP "CARPENTER"................................CHRISTOPHER WALKEN Z (O.S.) (over a dark screen) All my life, I've lived and worked in the big city... We see: EXT. AN ANT MOUND - DAY The camera swoops towards the entrance, then dives inside, past a couple of tough-looking soldier ants who stand at the gates of the ant colony like insect bouncers...into an access tunnel that snakes this way and that, past a row of ants plodding along... ...and into the MAIN CHAMBER of the colony, a huge, teeming vista that seems to stretch away forever, filled with ants rushing here and there on their business. We see -- a "traffic cop" directing foot traffic, waving his arms like crazy so both sides move at once -- a column of soldier ants marching along in formation -- a chain of ants letting down a matchbox elevator filled with workers. Z (V.O.) ...which is kind of a problem, since I've always felt uncomfortably in crowds. INT. MOTIVATIONAL COUNSELLOR'S OFFICE - DAY We join Z, a worker ant with issues. He's lying on a couch, recounting his woes. Z I feel...isolated. Different. I've got abandonment issues. My father flew away when I was just a larva. My mother didn't have much time for me...when you have five million siblings, it's difficult to get attention. (pause) I feel physically inadequate -- I've never been able to lift more than ten times my own weight. Sometimes I think I'm just not cut out to be a worker. But I don't have any other options. I was assigned to trade school when I was just a grub. The whole system just...makes me feel...insignificant. MOTIVATIONAL COUNSELLOR (enthusiastic) Terrific! You should feel insignificant! For the first time, we see the ant MOTIVATIONAL COUNSELLOR. He's a mixture of Tony Robbins and Ron Popiel (the hyperactive late-night TV huckster, and founder of "Ronco"). Z ...I should? MOTIVATIONAL COUNSELLOR (hopping around enthusiastically) YES!!! You know, people ask me, "Doctor, why are you always happy?" And I tell them it's mind over matter. I don't mind that I don't matter! Do you get it? Do you get it? Z gives a fake smile. MOTIVATIONAL COUNSELLOR (incredibly "up") Z, we're part of the fastest growing species in the whole world! The counsellor rolls down a chart from the wall. An arrow shows ant population going up, up, up. MOTIVATIONAL COUNSELLOR Ask me why we're so successful. Z Why are we so successful? MOTIVATIONAL COUNSELLOR I'm glad you asked me that question! The motivational counsellor opens some blinds...and we see a vista of the ant-filled chamber below. MOTIVATIONAL COUNSELLOR What do you see out there? Z ...Ants... MOTIVATIONAL COUNSELLOR Right! Ants! Millions of creatures, each with his assigned task, all pulling together! Down below, we see a group of ants carrying a boulder up an incline. One worker ants slips, and the boulder rolls down, crushing his leg. The other ants rush over -- it looks like they're going to help their fallen comrade, but instead, they climb right over him, and pick up the boulder, continuing with their task. MOTIVATIONAL COUNSELLOR You see? Being an ant is being able to say, "Hey -- I'm meaningless, you're meaningless." Z But -- but I've always felt life was about finding meaning...and then sharing it with someone special, someone you love. The motivational counsellor puts his arm on Z's shoulder...he seems to understand... MOTIVATIONAL COUNSELLOR Z...you need help. (looking at a clock) Whoops! We're gonna have to stop there. Your minute is up! The counsellor ushers Z out of his seat and towards the door. MOTIVATIONAL COUNSELLOR Now back to work! We've made real progress! Remember -- let's be best superorganism we can be! INT. EARLY MEGA-TUNNEL - DAY A gigantic tunnel, with the size and scale of the "Chunnel". A banner strung overhead reads: "The Mega-Tunnel -- Tunneling Our Way to a Bright Future!" Along the walls hang 50's work- incentive style posters with messages like, "You asked for it, you got it -- more work!" and "TWO MEALS A WEEK IS ENOUGH!!!" Line after line of ants is working on the tunnel, digging, passing clumps of dirt from ant to ant, everyone synchronized. CLOSE on a clump of DIRT being passed from hand to hand. PULL OUT TO REVEAL AZTECA, a feisty, cynical, female worker ant, who stands there, waiting to pass the dirt on. Z is daydreaming behind her, with clumps of dirt starting to pile up in front of him. AZTECA Hello?! Earth to Z! You better snap out of it, or there's gonna be a lot of pissed off ants! Z looks back, and sees the ants behind staring at him angrily. Z (snapping out of it) Sorry Azteca. Here you go, fellas! Fresh dirt! Alley oop! (looking at the dirt) Shouldn't we be wearing gloves? I mean this dirt is very...dirty. Doesn't anyone think of hygiene? (Z's stomach growls) Boy am I hungry. I'm so hungry I'm seeing double. It looks like there's two million ants in here. When's lunch? Tomorrow, or the day after? AZTECA (sweetly) Z, old pal... (shouts) SHUT UP!!! It's bad enough there's a food shortage without you complaining about it every day. Z The squeaky wheel gets the oil. AZTECA No, Z. The squeaky wheel gets thrown away, alright? You're a good ant, Z, even though you are a pain in my rear- segment. I don't wanna see anything happen to you. So quit mouthing off, before you get in trouble. A WHISTLE BLOWS. Z Thank goodness. Breaktime. All the ants put down their tools. A beat. Then the WHISTLE BLOWS AGAIN. All the ants pick up their tools again. AZTECA (resigned) Break's over. Z (getting back to work) This colony needs another tunnel like a hole in the ground. Why are we even digging this thing? AZTECA Who cares, Z. All I know is, we gotta dig. We're not the ones in charge. INT. TOWN CENTER - DAY The huge, spacious main chamber of the colony. Looming over the scene is the royal palace, which seems to be inaccessible, perched on top of a hill-like pedestal. Around the base of the pedestal, a crew of workers loiters, seemingly aimlessly...can these be the only unemployed ants in the place? GENERAL FORMICA STAIRS! The workers look up and GROAN. Then they start forming a stairway with their own bodies, linking arms, stepping on each other's shoulders. It's extremely unpleasant work. One ant is a little tardy, and just manages to get in place before... GENERAL FORMICA, the Pattonesque military leader of the colony, STEPS ON HIS HEAD, using it as the first step as he ascends to the palace, his aide-de-camp Carpenter in tow. As Formica mounts the "stairs" we can hear the workers going, "OUCH! OOF! YIKES!" etc. GENERAL FORMICA Cut the chit-chat down there! (turning to Carpenter) We've spoiled these workers, Carpenter. They've never had it so good, and listen to them -- always grumbling and complaining... Formica steps on the foot of one of the "stairway" ants, who muffles a yelp. CARPENTER ...Yes, sir. GENERAL FORMICA What have they got to complain about? Three square meals a day... CARPENTER Actually, sir, we've cut them down to three roughly rectangular meals a week. FORMICA Don't give me statistics, Carpenter. I know what I'm talking about. DOORS! Formica and Carpenter have reached the top of the staircase. There, the two guard ants on either side of the massive throne room doors pull them open -- and one door hinge SQUEAKS. FORMICA (to guard ant, while passing) Oil that, soldier. INT. THRONE ROOM - DAY The QUEEN is on her throne, her huge abdomen sprawled behind her. QUEEN Ah! General Formica. Formica salutes and marches to her, Carpenter behind him. Note: Throughout this scene, the Queen is giving birth repeatedly. Each birth is accompanied by a herald playing a short "Happy Birthday" fanfare on his trumpet. Mid-wife ants bring each baby to the Queen for inspection, who COOS a few words. The midwives put the babies on a moving bassinet- line, powered by ants on a treadmill. QUEEN General, the severe food shortage that faces the colony...pains me. The thought of any of my children going hungry... (she shudders; then, to baby) Who's the cutest widdle worker? You are! Yes, you! Don't forget to brush your teeth! (to mid-wife) Ship 'er out. (back to Formica) What steps are you taking to remedy the situation? FORMICA We are launching a major offensive to expand our foraging territory... QUEEN Yes, what else? FORMICA Please don't worry, your majesty. Leave the worrying to me. As you know, I'm not an ant of half- measures. I don't pussyfoot around. This crisis is my number one priority, and I promise you it's being dealt with swiftly, and decisively. The Queen's attention is interrupted by another baby being put in her arms. QUEEN (to baby) No snacking between meals! Off you go! (to Formica) Now -- what were we saying? FORMICA (Oliver North-style) I do not recollect, your majesty. Will that be all? QUEEN Yes, General Formica. Carry on, my good man! I don't know what we would do without you. Formica clicks his heels and bows his head. Carpenter bows low. Formica smartly about faces -- BALA (O.S.) General Formica! PRINCESS BALA hurries through a second doorway, carrying a swatch book. Something about her sets her apart from the HANDMAIDEN ANTS with her. Her tiara, probably. Formica tilts his head quizzically to Carpenter behind him. CARPENTER (sotto) Princess Bala, sir. Your fiancee. FORMICA Princess! You look -- outstanding. Is there anything I can do for you? BALA Well -- I thought -- since we're getting married...it might be nice if we...got to know one another. Formica looks confused. QUEEN Bala has always been a hopeless romantic, General. BALA It's just that -- well, I'm honored that you selected me, and everything, I just thought the marriage might go a little more smoothly if -- we had a conversation? FORMICA (uncomfortable) Conversation...yes...well... (to Carpenter) Wasn't she briefed? QUEEN (holding up a baby) Look, General! A darling baby soldier! (emotionally, to baby) Don't try to be a hero! Just make sure you come back in one piece! (handing it off) Next! FORMICA (using the interruption) I'll take your suggestion under advisement, Princess. In the meanwhile -- Formica turns to go. BALA General -- we have to talk sometime! FORMICA Very well. Carpenter, is there a convenient time to talk vis-a-vis: relationship? CARPENTER Actually, sir, we're ahead of schedule. We have thirty-six seconds available right now. FORMICA Outstanding. Princess...? Bala's a little fazed...but grabs her chance. BALA So, um...how was your day? What did you do? FORMICA (scouring his mind) Well... (that's it!) I declared war! BALA (sadly) Oh...and I was afraid we had nothing in common... CARPENTER (under his breath) Fourteen-fifty hours, sir. FORMICA Duty calls! He strides across the floor. Bala watches him go, her antennae drooping unhappily. FORMICA No squeak. Outstanding! We see through the now-open doors into the throne-room as Formica and Carpenter double-time out of the frame. The Queen sees that Bala is unhappy. QUEEN (sympathetically) I felt the same way before I got married. Confused. Scared. BALA (hopefully) You did? QUEEN Yes -- but I did my duty and sorted out all those messy feelings. The wonderful thing about ant life is that everything is arranged. Even marriage. You're lucky -- General Formica is a paragon of anthood. BALA (unconvinced) Yes...he's wonderful... The doors swing shut on them -- revealing the two guard ants who were CRUSHED in the wake of Formica's exit. INT. BALA'S QUARTERS - DAY Bala enters, followed by her handmaidens, who are in a state of giggling infatuation over Formica. Bala is scowling as she leafs through a wedding catalogue. HANDMAIDEN #1 (swooning over General Formica) The General's body segments are so...symmetrical. HANDMAIDEN #2 (giggling) I'd let him order me into battle anyday. Bala hurls the swatch book against the wall. HANDMAIDEN #1 Princess? What's wrong? BALA Wrong? How could anything be wrong? I'm going to marry General Formica and be a queen and have millions of babies, just like my mom. (concerned) Do I look fat to you? HANDMAIDEN #2 (knowingly, to Handmaiden #2) Pre-wedding jitters. HANDMAIDEN #1 You just need to blow off some steam. Let's go to the bar at the Royal Club! BALA The Club's so stuffy. I want to try someplace different. HANDMAIDEN #2 There isn't anyplace else -- (making a joke) Except the worker bar. BALA The worker bar! Yes! That's where I want to go! The handmaidens look shocked. HANDMAIDEN #1 But -- we can't -- there'll be workers there. INT. ANT BAR - NIGHT A long bar filled with ants. The bar itself seems to stretch for miles, and there are hundreds of ants trying to get a drink...unfortunately, there's only one bartender. Z is at the bar with WEAVER, a burly ant soldier. Z We declared war again? (off Weaver's nod) Are you scared? WEAVER (shrugs) I'll be back. The BARTENDER, a grizzled veteran, slaps down what looks like a couple of large green beer mugs. Actually, they're aphids, little green critters he fills up from a number of kegs hanging from the ceiling. The kegs are specialized ants with hugely distended stomachs, which spray liquid into the aphids. APHIDS (as they're slapped on bar) Ouch! Ouch! BARTENDER Two aphid beers. Z (as Bartender leaves) Did you see that? How he gave you the beers, not me? I'm telling you, he's got something against workers. WEAVER I don't know what you're talking about, Z. Z Come on -- everybody dumps on us workers. You soldiers get all the glory. Plus you get to go out into the world, meet interesting insects, and kill them. WEAVER Yeah, but you get to spend all day with those fabulous worker babes. We can see that Weaver is eyeing a nearby table of "Worker Babes", including Z's friend Azteca. Z Weaver, they're career girls. They're obsessed with digging. (sighs) No, I'll probably never meet the girl for me. WEAVER Who said there was a girl for you? I was talking about a girl for me. (quaffing his aphid beer) Don't you want your aphid beer? Z I can't help it. I have a thing about drinking from the anus of another creature. Call me crazy. WEAVER Z, we've known each other a long time, right? Z Of course. You were born two seconds after me. WEAVER And all the time I've known you, you've been grumping and groaning. You should quit making waves. Go with the flow. Z Weaver, I'm an insect, not a liquid. Down the bar, there's a commotion. A grizzled old SCOUT ant has had too much to drink. DRUNK SCOUT Have you been to Insectopia? Have you? No, ya goddam larvas! But I have... (becoming emotional) ...Mosquitos n' caterpillars n' beetles -- all livin' in peace, stuffin their guts with food...No rules, no regulations...you can be your own ant there... (howling drunkenly) It's Insectopia! Insectopia! Z Hey, Weaver, listen! DRUNK SCOUT I was cut off from my unit -- found it by mistake -- (slurring) It changed my life! (spraying another soldier with saliva) You see -- ya follow the great yellow egg, and you come to the land of red and white -- SOLDIERS You've had enough for one night! Come on, Gramps, before you get in trouble. The soldiers pull him from the bar, carrying him out. Z (excited) Hey, did you hear what he said?! WEAVER Poor guy's had one too many scouting missions. MUSIC STARTS UP. INT. ANT BAR ENTRANCE - NIGHT Princess Bala is peering in at the entrance to the ant bar, accompanied by her worried-looking handmaidens. HANDMAIDEN #2 We shouldn't be doing this -- it isn't proper! BALA I'm the Princess, aren't I? HANDMAIDEN #2 Of course -- BALA And do Princesses do improper things? HANDMAIDEN #2 Of course not -- BALA Then if I go to the worker bar, it isn't improper. Anyway, don't worry. No one will recognize us in our disguises. She adjusts her "disguise", a hardhat, tied down Jackie O.- style with an ant's version of a Chanel scarf. BALA I'm just a common worker, cooling off after a rough day! Music starts. An ant BARKER takes the mic at one end of the dance floor. BARKER (on loudspeaker) Okay, folks. It's six-fifteen, and that means it's time to dance. Every ant gets up to dance. Weaver turns to Z. WEAVER (draining his beer) Time to cut a rug, Z! Z I'm not in the mood. (disgusted) Even when they're off work, they follow orders. WEAVER Well, you just sit here and be a party-pooper. Weaver joins the rest of the ants who are lining up for the dance. The Barker calls out the steps in a bored monotone -- all the ants already know the steps. Everyone dances in perfect synch. BARKER (southern twang) And a left-right-quarterstep-back step-halfstep -- a left-right- quarterstep-backstep-halfstep -- a left-right-quarterstep-backstep halfstep -- AT THE ENTRANCE, Bala smiles mischievously at her handmaidens. BALA I'm going to ask one of these mindless, primitive worker-types to dance with me! HANDMAIDEN #1 But General Formica would be furious! BALA (enjoying the idea) I know. The handmaidens are appalled. Bala whirls away from them, sets her sights and searches the crowd -- zeroing in on -- Z, who's watching the other ants dance. Z What a bunch of losers. Mindless zombies capitulating to an oppressive system -- BALA Wanna dance? Bala's standing right there. Z is instantly smitten. Z Me?! Yes!!! I mean -- (regaining suavosity) Just let me finish my beer. Not breaking eye contact with Bala, Z smiles suavely. Reaches suavely for a beer. Suavely grabs the candle in a glass jar off the bar. Suavely singes his face. He plays it off with a rakish little laugh. A bit apprehensive, Bala heads onto the floor. Z follows her. Z So uh -- how come I haven't seen you around here before? BALA (covering up) I work in the palace, I don't get out much. Z The palace, hunh? I bet those royals really live it up. Of course they're all a little, you know, from inbreeding -- BALA (shocked) What? Z and Bala step onto the dance floor with the rest of the ants, but Z can't do any of the steps. Z Now, let's see, I -- it's been a while since I -- I think you -- Bala watches Z, trying to follow along. It's the blind leading the blind, as Z tries in vain to follow the barker's rapid instructions. Z Here, I'll lead. Z starts doing his own, individual dance. With a suave expression on his face, he leads Bala in a helter-skelter mixture-of Tango, Charleston, and hand-jive. BALA Are you sure this is a real dance? Z Well, actually, uh -- I'm sort of making it up -- BALA (surprised) Really? Z Why should everyone dance the same way? It's as exciting as watching fungus grow. BALA You're right! Z (surprised) You -- you think I'm right? BALA Why can't I just do whatever I want to do? Why can't I just go wild?! Yahoo! Bala starts to get into it, making up her own steps in reply to Z's, loosening up, having fun. For a moment, the two of them are actually sexy together. Then they get a little too wild -- and the other ants, who are still doing their intricate dance, start to collide with Bala and Z. Z almost knocks over a big soldier ant. We can only see the ant's back at the moment. SOLDIER Hey! Watch your step, worker. Z has turned around to see the soldier ant, MAJOR MANDIBLE, glaring at him. Mandible is about twice Z's size. He's got one eye missing, and half of his left antenna his been chewed off. BALA You watch yours, soldier, or my worker friend will beat you up! Z (terrified) Oh, that's okay, I'll let him off this time. (whispering to Bala) Are you crazy? This guy's built like a pebble! (ineptly trying to placate the soldier) You know they do great prosthetic antennas nowadays -- BALA Aren't you gonna stand up for yourself? Z's caught between a rock and a hard place. He doesn't want to get beaten up, but on the other hand, he doesn't want to lose face in front of Bala. More soldiers have gathered around, looking hostile. SOLDIER How come you don't dance like the rest of us? Z glances over at Bala. Then, shaking with nervousness, he says defiantly... Z Because -- because I'm an individual! SOLDIER #2 An individual? Never heard of it. MANDIBLE You look like a worker to me. WEAVER Hey, lay off my little buddy! Z, meanwhile, looks far away, ecstatic, as if he's just realized something very important. Unfortunately, just at this moment, A soldier pushes Weaver...Weaver pushes him back...somebody makes a dive for Z -- and before you know it, there's a regular bar brawl going on, with Weaver in the middle of it, cracking heads together, punching ants in the face, having a great time. Just then, the Princess' handmaidens hurries over. HANDMAIDEN #1 Princess Bala! Princess Bala! Z, who's scrabbling around on the floor, overhears. Z Princess? You're a Princess? HANDMAIDEN #2 The police are coming! BALA Uh oh. (to Z) Goodbye! Gotta run! Z Wait! When can I see you again? BALA Let me think. Hmmnn... (thinks) Never. Bye! Bala rushes off with her handmaiden, just before a squad of whistle-blowing POLICE wade into the crowd. Z Wait! Princess! Wait! But she's already gone, leaving Z holding her scarf. CUT TO: INT. DORMITORY - THE NEXT DAY Z is talking to Weaver, who's getting ready to go off to war. Nearby, columns of ant soldiers march by. WEAVER Get real, Z! She just dropped the scarf by accident! Z Are you kidding? There were sparks between us! This scarf is a sign! WEAVER It's a sign that you're crazy! Do you know what the penalty for impersonating a soldier is? Z What's gonna go wrong?! I take your place for the royal inspection. Bala comes strolling down the line, she sees me -- bingo! Love is rekindled, and she takes me up to the palace for a little... (wags his eyebrows suggestively) tea and crumpets... and you take your place again, and go march around to your heart's content! Weaver looks unconvinced. Z You have to help me. Please, Weaver. Think of all the things I've done for you! WEAVER (thinks) I can't think of any. Z (pause) Well I'm gonna start doing things for you... WEAVER Will you introduce me to some worker girls? Z You bet! They'll really go for a sensitive guy like you! WEAVER Maybe I'll get lucky. (Weaver thinks about it) You know, Z, I wouldn't do this for anyone but you... Weaver hands Z has helmet. WEAVER Wear this. Z (overjoyed) You're a real buddy. WEAVER (sourly) Yeah, I know. Z What do I do? WEAVER Don't tell anyone you're a worker. Follow that column over there. And come right back after the inspection! Weaver points to a bunch of soldiers hurrying by in formation. Z (overjoyed) Thanks! I owe you! Z skips off and joins the column, marching in time with the soldiers but too excited to keep from jazzing it up a little. INT. TOWN CENTER - NIGHT The ant army has gathered in a huge HALL in front of a reviewing stand. We can hear the murmuring of thousands of soldiers -- but all we can see is a HUGE POSTER of an ant General pointing right at the camera. The poster reads, "GENERAL FORMICA WANTS YOU -- to obey". Z turns to some of the soldiers near him. Z Any of you guys know when the Princess will show up? She's kind of a personal friend. The soldiers look at Z like he's nuts. LOUD VOICE ATTEN-SHUN! MARTIAL MUSIC sounds, and we hear thousands of ant feet as they snap to attention. Z imitates the soldiers awkwardly. GENERAL FORMICA struts to the middle 6f the screen, slapping his thigh with a swagger stick (the antenna of some unfortunate insect) FORMICA First of all, let me make one thing clear. Nobody ever won a battle by thinking for himself. All this "thinking" stuff is a load of crap. If the almighty had wanted you boys to think, he wouldn't have given you huge mandibles and a brain so small you'd misplace it if it wasn't trapped inside your head. In the audience, Z starts laughing -- he thinks Formica's just made a joke. Z (slapping his thigh) "Trapped inside your head" -- that's a good one -- Z notices nobody else is laughing. He stops. Z Geez -- tough room. From the stage, Formica is squinting at the audience, trying to make out who was laughing, but there are just too many ants. He continues. FORMICA (striding back and forth) We ants survive as a species because we do what we're told. We survive because we work together, as one, we get the job done, we do whatever it takes to persevere! (dramatic pause) Hell, we're not an army of ants...we're one giant ant, with giant fists, and giant jaws! The soldiers CHEER! Z CHEERS along with the rest of them. Z (to the soldier ant next to him) Lays it on a little thick, doesn't he? If you ask me, he's one giant bore. FORMICA Now I've heard a lot of scuttlebutt about a food shortage. Well you boys are gonna be taken care of. But in the meantime we're gonna eat the enemy for breakfast, we are gonna eat the enemy for lunch, and we are gonna eat the enemy for dinner! Z Geez, and I forgot my toothbrush. FORMICA (reflective moment) Dammit, I'm proud to be an ant. (he looks out at his army) And I know each and every one of you boys will do your duty. Dismissed. Z applauds and whistles as the other ants look at him in confusion. Z (clapping) Bravo! Bring on the Princess! COLONEL Stow the gab there, soldier! Let's move 'em out! The soldiers turn to the right and start to march out past the reviewing stand. A COLONEL marches at the head of Z's column as Z looks around for the Princess. COLONEL Eyes...left! Finally, as Z's part of the army marches past the end of the reviewing stand, he sees her, looking bored, standing next to the Queen, who is giving the royal wave. Z (waving) Princess! Princess Bala! Hey! It's me! Z! I've got your scarf! ON THE REVIEWING STAND, Bala sees Z -- that is to say, she sees one of the thousands upon thousands of ants marching by... BALA (peering out) Who is that idiot? QUEEN Darling, you must encourage the troops -- wave! Bala waves unenthusiastically, little more than flopping her hand back and forth on her wrist. Down below, Z takes this as a sign that Bala has seen him. Z (excited) Excuse me, guys -- That's my date. Well, it's been fun. Have a great war! Z tries to squeeze his way back towards the royals, but he's surrounded by a solid wall of soldiers -- and they're carrying him along with them. Z Hey! Wait! Z loses sight of the Princess as he's carried away. BARBATUS, a hard-as-nails "grunt" soldier ant, taps Z on the shoulder. BARBATUS You new, kid? Z I just joined up. But I'm quitting! I got a trial membership! BARBATUS Trial membership? Kid, when you join this ant's army, you're in for the full hitch. At that moment, Z is swept out of the cramped corridor they've been marching along, as the army emerges into the OPEN AIR outside of the colony. EXT. ANT MOUND - NIGHT It's a starry, moonlit night. The shadows crowd around the panicked Z, who looks up at the sky as we see the army on the march... Z Wait a minute, there's been a mistake! I've got to get back to the colony! Z starts to fall out of line, but Barbatus, looking concerned, stops him. BARBATUS Are you crazy, kid? They shoot deserters! Z swallows hard. BARBATUS You just stick by old Barbatus. He'll watch out for you. (off Z's look) Whatsamatter, kid? Leave a girl behind? Z Yeah. Well -- no. She's kind of playing hard to get. As a matter of fact, she's playing completely unattainable. (nervously) So, what's on the schedule? A brisk walk? a foraging expedition? BARBATUS No -- we're going to attack the termites! Z (alarmed) Attack? But -- I hate attacking! It's so hostile! Around Z and Barbatus, the ants start up a marching song, which we intersperse with dialogue between Barbatus and Z to form a montage/time-cut as the ant army marches on to the termite capital. ANT SOLDIERS (to the tune of "When Johnny Comes Marching Home") We ants go marching one by one, hurrah, hurrah! We slaughter termites just for fun, Hurrah! Hurrah! Z So -- these termites, they're little, shy, retiring insects? BARBATUS (grim smile) No such luck. Those dirty terms are five times bigger than us, and they shoot acid from their foreheads! SOLDIER ANTS We ants go marching two by two, hurrah! Hurrah! We'll all be dead before we're through, hurrah! Hurrah! Montage shots of an ant column marching diagonally across the screen, fading into another column marching diagonally downwards across the screen... Z Well, what exactly does our platoon do? Serve beverages? Process paperwork? BARBATUS Our platoon has the best assignment of all. We're the first into battle! ANT SOLDIERS We ants are marching three by three, hurrah! Hurrah! Dead ants is what we soon will be, hurrah! Hurrah! ...montage shot of Z's column crossing a bridge composed of living ants -- all of whom look extremely uncomfortable as they're getting stepped on... Z So we're going back for more armor, right? I mean, these guys are from outer space, how are we supposed to beat them?! BARBATUS Superior numbers, kid! EXT. TERRAIN NEAR TERMITE STUMP - NIGHT Z looks up to see...looming high above them...the TERMITE CITY, which is built in the stump of a dead tree. From here it looks like a demonic Mount Fuji. The COLONEL ANT shouts an order. COLONEL ATTAAAAAAAAACK!!! The front line of ants starts rushing towards the termite colony...Z is swept along... BARBATUS Over the TOOOOOOOOOOOOO-OP!!! Z is swept along and up the side of the stump as thousands of ants invade the colony through every possible entrance. Up...over the lip of the stump...and down inside, to the very middle of the termite colony... Into a disquietingly peaceful scene. They're in the middle of the hollowed-out trunk, and ants keep pouring in -- but there's not a termite to be seen. Barbatus looks around suspiciously. BARBATUS It's too damn quiet. Then we hear a strange tapping noise. Barbatus looks over, and sees that Z's teeth are chattering with fear. BARBATUS Don't be scared, kid. Barbatus's got yer back. Z (petrified) Maybe they went out for the evening. Let's leave them a message and head home. COLONEL (ignoring him) Light it up! A nearby soldier ant take a firefly out of his knapsack and pinches him. The firefly, yelling "Yipe! Yipe! Yipe!", shoots into the air like a flare, lighting up the interior of the stump with eery, shifting luminescence. Then we notice, hollowed into the inside of the stump like innumerable pockmarks, termite holes staring out upon the stump...and, with an unearthly ROAR, we see the first of hundreds of termites emerging to pour into the center of the tree, right onto the ant army. COLONEL They're here!!! BARBATUS (to Z) Keep your head down! Within moments, Z finds himself in the middle of a BLOODBATH. The ants have broken into the colony, but are taking heavy losses from the gigantic, blind, acid-spewing termites. The battle scene is as sprawling and chaotic as something out of Braveheart. In a few QUICK SHOTS from Z's perspective, we see: -- A squad of ants rushes towards a termite soldier, but are literally melted into smoking heaps of flesh by a jet of acid from its forehead... -- A termite warrior is overwhelmed by a crowd of ants and is pulled to pieces with hideous ripping sounds... -- Another termite warrior takes on an ant soldier one on one and slowly crushes his head in his huge jaws... Z (looking around) Guys! Guys! It isn't too late for all of us to just talk this over! Just then, a termite burst up from the ground and turns to face Z. Z is dwarfed by this hulking, roaring, drooling monstrosity. Z Wait! Please! Acid makes me come out in spots! -- Could I just say I have always had the greatest respect for your species? I mean, eating wood -- why didn't I think of that? I -- The termite rears, getting ready to melt Z, when OOF! he's knocked backwards by... Z BARBATUS! You -- you saved my life! BARBATUS Don't get all sappy about it! As Barbatus and some other soldiers kill the termite, the Colonel strides up to Z, puffing on a cigar. COLONEL I love the smell of formic acid in the morning. Z Look out! A stream of termite acid engulfs the colonel, instantly burning him to a cinder clutching a still-burning cigar; Z's paratroop buddies turn in terror to see a herd of termites rumbling towards them. Z, terrified, dives into the hole that the huge termite made... INT. TERMITE TUNNEL - NIGHT ...and tumbles headlong into a corridor of the termite mound. The corridors here are primitive, caveman-like, pocked with jagged access holes. No sooner has Z landed in the tunnel than a termite comes burrowing out from one of the side walls, snapping at Z's head. Z just avoids getting decapitated, and digs straight through the wall in order to escape... INT. TERMITE QUEEN'S CHAMBER - NIGHT ...straight into the hub of the entire termite complex -- the Queen's chamber. This is nothing like the civilized court of the ant colony -- it's a huge, stinking, fetid dungeon whose walls are held up by one massive (to Z) column of piled stones. The termite queen, a repulsive, slimy, squirming, foot-long monster, is attended by a crew of diminutive, blind termite nurses. The queen turns to look Z right in the eye. Z Excuse me. I seem to be lost, and I was wondering if you could give me -- Before Z can say, "directions", the queen gives out a piercing, blood-curdling shriek. The nurses start shrieking too. Z (backing away) I'll let myself out. But the queen's shriek has summoned a soldier termite -- the biggest one we've seen yet -- who is charging headlong at Z, jaws snapping open and shut like huge scissors. Z (backing away) Shoo! -- Torro! Torro! At the last moment, Z jumps out of the way -- and the termite runs headfirst into the supporting column of the chamber. As if on a spring release, the termite's jaws clamp shut -- and shatter the base of the column. The walls of the room begin to rumble... The termite turns to eat Z...but is crushed by a stone falling from the ceiling, which gives a final shudder and collapses, raining earth and stones down on the queen. As the walls of the chamber crumble, melees of ants and termites pour into the room from the corridors around and above...they keep struggling until... ANT OFFICER (points at Z) He's killed their Queen! Z Hey, I'm sorry, it was a mistake -- ANT OFFICER VICTORY!!! We can see that the termite warriors, deprived of their leader, are suddenly confused and directionless, easy prey for the ants. Z (facetious) This is terrific! Let's exact crippling war reparations! Let's set up a puppet government! ANT OFFICER Let's slaughter them all! The ants set about killing the disoriented termites when...we hear another rumble coming from the outside...the ants look up confusedly... ...And a (from the ant's point of view) five-hundred foot long tongue bursts through the top of the chamber with a CRASH. The ten or so ants standing directly below are smashed by the tongue, which squirts out a spray of saliva around the crater. As quick as it appeared, the tongue retracts, with a hideous SLUUURPING sound. We can now see the end of the snout of an ant-eater poking through a hole in the ceiling high above... ANT OFFICER INCOMING! The tongue comes down again, smashing some more ants, whose bodies are slurped up by the tongue...the ants scatter, but to no avail, as the tongue comes smashing down again and again... Z heads into a side corridor as the tongue smashes down again, barely missing him! Z retreats along the corridor as the tongue searches for him, across the tunnel from intersecting access-tunnels, getting closer and closer to Z, dragging more and more screaming ants and struggling termites... ....Then the tongue disappears. Silence. Z wipes his brow... And we hear a thunderous SNIFFING noise as the anteater searches for more prey... and the tongue starts rumbling down the corridor right towards Z, the tip squirming as it ricochets along the walls! Z gets up and runs, the tongue lapping towards him, reminiscent of the stone sphere that nearly crushed Indiana Jones in Raiders of the Lost Ark! The walls disintegrate under the pressure of the tongue, which gets closer to Z...closer... ...and just misses him as Z tumbles out of the stump and down to the ground...Z sits there, dazed, as we see the huge form of the anteater withdraw its tongue and, with a final contented burp, shuffle off into the distance. EXT. TERMITE STUMP - MORNING Z makes his way across the corpse-strewn battlefield, an expression of horror on his face. BARBATUS (O.S.) Z! Over here! Z (hopeful) Barbatus? Z looks down at his feet, where Barbatus's still-living, decapitated head is looking up at him. Z (shocked) Barbatus! BARBATUS Be honest, kid -- am I hurt bad? Z No, no, you're...lookin' good. You've got good color in your cheeks. BARBATUS No -- I can see it in your eyes. I'm a goner. It's alright, Z. In this ant's army, a soldier's life ain't worth a sack of fungus. (he winces) I can't feel my legs... Z Hang in there, buddy! You can make it! Just -- take deep breaths, I'll try and find your body -- it's gotta be around here somewhere! BARBATUS (gasping) I wonder...what...was it all...for... Z Barbatus, hang on -- Barbatus!! BARBATUS Don't make my mistake, kid... don't...be a grunt...your whole life... Barbatus dies, leaving Z heartbroken. CUT TO: INT. EARLY MEGA-TUNNEL - DAY Weaver is "passing" as a worker, working alongside much smaller worker ants. He actually loves the work. He's throwing up dirt like a bulldozer. He's so enthusiastic, he scoops up a WHOLE ANT in his shovel and tosses him aside. Azteca, who's standing next to him in line, is shocked by, and a little attracted to, this turbo-worker. AZTECA Hey, slow it down, big boy. You're making the rest of us look bad...How come I haven't seen you around here before? WEAVER (covering) I'm new...I was born yesterday. AZTECA Tell me about it. WEAVER Nobody told me digging was so much fun! You pick up the dirt, you move it, you pick it up again, you move it again -- lots of repetitions, you exercise the forceps, and the pincers -- AZTECA (ogling him) Mmm, yes, I see what you mean... While Azteca is checking out the hunky new worker, work has effectively stopped...clods are piling up behind Weaver. A Foreman comes striding down the line, furious. FOREMAN What's the holdup here?! Weaver whips his shovel up to his shoulder and salutes, as if he's dealing with a superior officer. WEAVER Sorry, sir -- I was just having a little chat with my friend -- FOREMAN (yelling at Weaver) Who said you could have a chat? You're not a chatter, you're a digger! So shut up and dig! AZTECA Leave him alone! He's new. FOREMAN You too? Well just for that, you lose your day's rations! Now get back to work! The Foreman heads down the line, shoving and berating the other workers as he goes along. AZTECA (surprised at herself) I don't know what came over me, talking back like that. I must be going crazy... WEAVER Sorry I got you in trouble. But listen, you can share my rations. AZTECA (flirting) Are you asking me out to dinner? WEAVER (blushing) No -- I mean yes -- I mean -- if you don't have other plans. AZTECA I'll make myself available...Listen, better watch out with the backtalk. I don't know want you to end up like the guy who used to work next to me. I'm afraid he got... downsized. EXT. ANT MOUND - DAY Some guard ants are looking out across the sandy main entrance to the hive. GUARD ANT Look! They're back! The army's back! Alert the colony! The other ant starts ringing a bell, rushing down into the colony. CUT TO: INT. TOWN CENTER - DAY A huge crowd is forming, eager to welcome the army back. A band is striking up a triumphant victory song, confetti and streamers are being thrown, as General Formica strides in, followed by Carpenter. EXCITED ANTS The army's returned! Our brave boys are back! (etc.) Everyone waves little flags as the tuba player Oompah-oompah- oompahs... ...and Z walks into the hall, looking bedraggled and exhausted, his helmet hanging over his ears. The band slows to a halt. At the edge of the crowd, Azteca, sitting on Weaver's shoulders, can just about see over the crowd. AZTECA It looks like only one soldier made it back! Weaver looks distraught. WEAVER (to himself) Poor Z -- I should never have let you go! Far down the hall, Z is describing the battle. Z It was horrible...a massacre, a massacre upon a massacre. First we massacred them, then they massacred us, then it was halftime. I've never seen such violence, such bloodthirstiness, such bad manners...I'm the only one that made it! The atmosphere is somber. This is a tough one to try and put a spin on...but that doesn't stop Formica from trying. FORMICA ONE TO NOTHING! WE WIN! The band strikes up again, and everyone cheers. Z No -- you -- you don't understand! FORMICA Damn, I'm proud of you, boy. I wish I had a hundred ants of your caliber. The world would tremble. Now, time for some R and R. You're invited to the royal victory party! Z Royal victory party? Will...will Princess Bala be there? FORMICA Of course. The entire royal family will be there to honor you. Z (thinks) ONE TO NOTHING! Renewed CHEERS, as Z is lifted onto the shoulder of some of the soldiers who stayed behind. AZTECA Wait a minute, that's no soldier -- that's Z! WEAVER Z? Our Z? The little guy made it! Z is following Formica away from the cheering crowd. EXT. ABOVE TOWN CENTER - DAY Z and Formica are going up the royal "stairway" together. FORMICA Son, you're an ant after my own heart. A warrior. An ant that looks death right in the face and laughs. Z Well, I generally just make belittling comments and snicker behind death's back. So, tell me, fellow war-monger...do you think Princess Bala likes men in uniform? FORMICA Well she better -- she's engaged to one. Me! Z Engaged? As in you're getting married? FORMICA Affirmative. Z So...you two are in love? FORMICA In love? (shakes his head) I'm just a plain old soldier at heart. I'll tell you what I love -- the field -- blood -- death -- orders...and the company of other warriors. Formica gives Z a manly slap on the back. Z looks a little uncomfortable as we... CUT TO: INT. THRONE ROOM - DAY Z follows Formica and Carpenter into the throne room. At the end of the hall, a society band is playing. The room is full of courtier ants and officers. Waiters are gliding around holding trays of hors d'ouevres. Z Wow, what a spread -- you know, there's a food shortage in the rest of the colony. FORMICA Yes, and do you know why there's a food shortage? Z ...Not enough food? FORMICA Negatory. Too many ants. And while we soldiers go out there, and fight, and bleed, and die for the colony, the namby-pamby workers live it up back home. Feeling a little hot, Z wipes his brow. Z Well I, I don't think "living it up" is the right term -- how about "working themselves to death"? FORMICA I tell you son, sometimes, at night, I see myself in battle, fighting a horrible, faceless enemy, with the future of our whole species at stake. And always, the dream ends with each of us plunging his sword into the other's heart... Z (spooked) Oh, hey, that's great, I think I see an old war buddy over there, it's been fun chatting. Good luck with the hallucinations. Z escapes from Formica, who gazes after him suspiciously. Z mingles in with the crowd, then he sees Princess Bala standing with a group of officers who are eating hors d'oeuvres. OFFICER (telling a joke) What do you call it when 10,000 workers are killed in a tunnel cave- in? (a beat) Who cares? They're workers! The officers laugh, but Bala looks bored in this stuffy social scene. Z But...don't you think the worker class is the very foundation of the colony -- (realizes he's getting odd looks) I mean, uh, without them, who would we stand on? More laughter. BALA You're the hero of the recent termite campaign, aren't you? Z Well, if single-handedly vanquishing the enemy and slaughtering a whole nestful of termites makes someone a hero, yes I am. Z reaches for a tray of canapes that a waiter is carrying by, and KNOCKS the whole thing CLATTERING to the ground. Z (feigning nonchalance) And you are...? BALA I'm Princess Bala. Z Ah, yes. (affected) Well, charmed, I'm sure. So, Princess, have you ever danced with a hero? BALA Yes. Z (deflated) Oh...oh well then, one more won't matter. She moves towards the dance floor. Z spit-combs his antennae, struts after her -- until he trips on his sword. He tumbles, falls, but hops to his feet just as Bala turns toward him, turning it into a ballet plies. Z Just warming up... She frowns...there's something familiar about this guy. But then they start dancing. ACROSS THE ROOM: The Queen and General Formica watch the party. QUEEN All these parties are so marvellously alike. FORMICA They should be... (suspicious) But there's something funny about that soldier. Formica strides over to where Z and Bala are dancing. FORMICA (glowering) May I cut in? Z (intimidated) Oh, of course -- BALA (pulling Z back) No, General. I'm dancing with the war hero. Z (trying to placate Formica) Uh, sorry, General, I...I've always had this animal magnetism, it -- Bala YANKS Z back onto the dance floor, dancing away from Formica. BALA You dance... Z Divinely? BALA No weirdly...You remind me of someone... Formica catches Bala's eye. She frowns at him, and decides to get a little shocking. BALA He was swarthy...primitive... earthy...sensual. As she says these things, Z tries to act accordingly. BALA He was a worker. I danced with him at a worker's bar just the other day. I'm not shocking you, am I? Z (proudly) No...as a matter of fact... BALA (shocked) OH MY GOD, IT'S YOU! YOU'RE A WORKER!!! A filthy, stupid, disgusting WORKER! Everybody gasps. The dancing stops cold. Z Gee, uh, could you say it a little louder, I think there are some ants in the next colony who didn't hear you. BALA I CAN'T DANCE WITH A WORKER! Z (offended) That's not what you said the other night -- BALA (now she's panicked) Quiet -- sshhh!! Z (digging it in) -- At the worker bar! You were pretty hot to trot then! BALA SSHH!!! SSHH!!! A livid Formica is stalking over towards them. FORMICA (furious) What's this? A worker has been masquerading as a war hero?! Z Well it wasn't a masquerade, really, it was more what I'd call a clever ruse -- FORMICA ARREST HIM! Z Can't we all settle this like adults -- we're not larvae anymore -- Angry officers begin to surround Z, who hides behind Bala in fear, using her as a shield. QUEEN Oh my god! He's taking her hostage! Z No I'm not -- I mean -- nobody move! Or the Princess gets it! People shout and scream, as Z backs up with the Princess...into the kitchen. INT. KITCHEN - DAY Z backs up into the kitchen, still pulling Bala along with him. Here, ant chefs are preparing food for the party, vomiting little florets onto a platter. Formica and the soldiers follow them in. Z (to Formica) Stay back, you lunatic! Do you think I don't know how to use this? Z realizes that he's pointing his finger at them. Z Uh-oh. The officers rush for...and Z, with Bala in tow, falls backwards into an opening marked, "GARBAGE". EXT. ANT MOUND - DAY HOLD ON: the GARBAGE CHUTE EXIT. Nothing happens for a moment. Then -- From a distance, we hear the faint sound of SCREAMING, dopplering closer -- -- and then Z and Bala come flying out of the exit, right into the mud, cutting off the scream abruptly. Bala sits up, coated in mud. Z is nowhere to be seen. Because she's on top of him. PRINCESS This is thoroughly unacceptable! Z You're telling me... She gets up and runs back towards the colony entrance, where soldiers are already issuing to get her... BALA I'm coming! I'm coming! But...just as Bala'a about to be rescued...what looks like a gigantic LASER BEAM sweeps along the rim of the colony, sizzling the ground as it moves along...and IGNITES the lead soldier into FLAMES! Bala looks stunned. Z watches in horror as another soldier ant is FRIED, and we look up to see a GIGANTIC MAGNIFYING GLASS casting the beam...we can just about make out the huge, grotesque figure (a seven year old kid) holding it. Bala, who has no idea what's really going on, turns from the colony and runs the other way. BALA I'm going! I'm going' ...unfortunately, this draws the fire of the laser, which follows after her in what looks like a strafing run, SIZZLING in her footsteps. Z, who's running towards the princess, suddenly realizes that he's running towards certain doom...and joins Bala in legging it away from the colony; under a brown leaf, which bursts into flames...between the redwood-like stalks of some flowers...and finally into the relative safety of some grass...where they throw themselves on the ground, exhausted. CUT TO: EXT. WEED CLUMP - DAY Z and Bala dust themselves off. BALA What was that thing? Z How should I know? BALA I order you to find out where we are! Z Alright, alright, I'll try to get directions from one of the locals. Z tries to flag down some passing bees. Z Excuse me, I -- (it passes him by; he tries the next) Pardon me -- (same response) And they call them social insects. BALA Climb up that tree and get a better view! Bala points to a thin blade of grass. Gingerly, Z tests the grass and starts climbing up it...but his weight bends it, so that he's lowered back to the ground, face to upside-down face with Bala. BALA I've been kidnapped by the village idiot. Z Who's the bigger idiot -- the idiot who gets kidnapped, or the idiot who lets herself get kidnapped by the idiot? BALA How dare you speak to me like that? I'm the Princess! Z squares up with her. Z Theoretically, yes. But is the monarchical hierarchy applicable without the underlying social structure to support it? BALA Of course! It defines society! To deny the precept is to say that order is an arbitrary distinction applied by the society itself! Z But can there be a society composed of just two ants? BALA No! There's no such thing as "just two ants." You never see just two ants -- you see a million ants! Z Look around, sweetheart. She looks around. She doesn't like what she sees. She glowers at Z. BALA I -- hate -- you. Z Well I guess that makes us even. BALA Ha! Don't make me laugh. You're crazy about me! That's why you lied and cheated to get near me! Z Oh come on, you're the one who came after me -- the swarthy, earthy, sensual worker! BALA (repulsed) I was slumming it! I danced with you because you were the most pathetic specimen in the place! Z Is that the same standard you used to choose General Formica? BALA I didn't choose him. What kind of idiot would... (unconvincingly) ...choose who she wanted to marry? She shakes herself out of it. BALA Now, worker, you shall take me back to the colony, and have your head cut off and stuck on a sharp pole! Z Well, that's an appealing offer, but...considering the options... (he decides) You go back. Me, I'm going to Insectopia. BALA Insectopia? You stupid worker, that's just a fairy tale! Z Yeah, well I have it on a reliable source... (he knows that was maybe stretching it) that it exists. Now you follow the yellow egg... (looking around) That direction. BALA Worker! Come back here now! Z I've got a name. It's Z. BALA That's not a name! That's just a letter! Z, meanwhile, hits the road. Bala has no idea of where to go. Just then, the scariness of the outside world comes through to her. We start hearing NOISES -- the equivalent of scary jungle sounds in a Tarzan movie -- the HISSING, CROAKING, CHIRRUPING... Bala sees eyes looking out at her from all directions...and spots a colossal monster (a sparrow) fixing her with his beady gaze. BALA (clears her throat) Worker? (no response...louder now) Oh WORKER? Where are you? (getting desperate) Z? Z? Wait for me!!! Bala heads off after Z. INT. MEGA-TUNNEL - DAY The mass of worker ants are swinging pick-axes in the tunnel. The foreman moves up the line, BERATING the workers, yelling at them to dig faster. AZTECA I tell ya, I'm gettin' sick of bein' yelled at. WORKER #1 What do you want, we're just workers. WEAVER You know, you're not just workers -- you can be whatever you want to be! Look at Z! He started as a worker -- then he became a soldier! AZTECA That's right! He slaughtered hundreds of termites single-handedly! WORKER #2 I heard about this guy. (turning to the other workers) He crashed a party at the palace. Then he took a hike with one of the royal babes! And when they tried to stop him, he just looked at a couple'a guards, and they burst into flames! WORKER ANT #1 You're nuts, how could a worker do all that? WEAVER Well, because he's more than a worker...he's a...what did he call it, Azteca... AZTECA Invisible! WEAVER No -- an individual! WORKER #2 What's that? WEAVER Well, it's...someone with his own point of view...someone who does what he wants, not whatever he's told to do! AZTECA (eyes lit up, watching Weaver) Someone who follows his heart! WEAVER (taking Azteca's hand) Right...because every ant's important! WORKER #2 (scoffs) But that would mean I'm important. WORKER #1 I'm outta here, this sounds like trouble to me. But more ants are gathering 'round. WEAVER We can all be individuals! Just like Z! Weaver and Azteca hold hands. More ants are gathering around, dropping their tools... EXT. BIKE PATH - DAY LONG SHOT. A glimmering desert landscape (think of "The Sun's Anvil" in Lawrence of Arabia). Two small figures can be seen, tiny dots moving across the arid whiteness. They're Bala and Z, who are crossing a concrete path in the park, which they perceive to be a "desert". BALA Water...water... Z Water...water -- oh, you already said that. BALA (walking along) My skin's dry, my exoskeleton is cracking...I wish I'd never met you, you ruined my life. Z I ruined your life? Look, I was perfectly happy until I met you -- alright, I was miserable, but I was happily miserable. Over Z's line, we can see a GIGANTIC WHEEL, getting larger and larger and heading right towards them, a GIGANTIC WHEEL (the front wheel of a bicycle which is heading right towards them). BALA Look out! Bala pushes Z out of the way just as the wheel rolls past with a cacophonous CRUNCHING, GRINDING noise -- like a gigantic millwheel. BALA We're going to die! Z Come on -- it's gone! What are the chances of that happening again? No sooner has he said it than the rear wheel of the bike thunders past. Z Well I'll be. Bala notices that they're clutching one another in fear; she pushes him away. BALA Why didn't I listen to my mother ...why'd I have to go looking for trouble? Any ant would have given their left legs to be in my position...what's wrong with me? Z Want a list? BALA (urgent) Wait, I hear something! We can, in fact, hear a low, musical PLUNK.. there's a pause and then we can hear it again... Z and Bala walk over a rocky "dune" (the soft shoulder of the path). Beyond, the grass starts up again. They have come to the end of the "desert" (i.e. the other side of the path) Through the blades of grass, we can see... Z It's...it's... BALA WATER!!! EXT. LAKE - DAY A LAKE (a puddle) stretches before them. It is, in fact, the overflow of a drinking-fountain whose drain is jammed...as Z and Bala run to the lake, water dribbles from the fountain and into one edge of the pool (to the ants, it's a waterfall). Bala and Z run to the edge of the water and start slurping. They smile at each other, until they remember that they don't like each other. Z This lake is huge! And so close to the colony! Think of the vacation potential! BALA Cut me down a soft leaf so I can take a nap. Z Listen, "Princess", you can't order me around. Out here, you're not the boss anymore -- out here, you're just -- -- But before he can finish, a water droplet from the fountain falls on him. It may not sound like much, but to Z it's as though a ten-foot diameter sphere of jello had engulfed him. Z's stuck inside because of the surface tension of the droplet, which doesn't burst, just quivers up and down. Inside, Z is slowly, frantically drowning and screaming for help. But his screams are muffled in the water. BALA (annoyed) Out here I'm just what? Z (through the water) Hlllllllp! BALA (hands on hips) Stop fooling around in there. By now the droplet has started rolling, and Z is being turned upside-down. He manages to get one foreleg out of the droplet, and, in a frantic attempt to pull himself out, pulls Bala in by the leg. BALA Let me go!!! But it's too late -- they're now both stuck in the droplet, and, as Z continues to drown, he also has to deal with Bala yelling at him -- though we can't hear exactly what it. is she's yelling through the water. Then, having run out of air, she too starts thrashing, alternately trying to swim and trying to slap him as Z tries to defend himself. Finally all this commotion is enough to make the droplet burst, spilling the two coughing, sputtering, drenched ants onto the ground. They both lie there, miserable, wet, and cold. BALA (chants to herself) I'm going to be rescued soon. I'm going to be rescued soon. I'm going to be rescued soon. Z watches her incredulously. Z Princess, has it ever occurred to you that they're not going to rescue you? BALA General Formica won't let me die out here. I'm his fiancee. Z Look. How many other Princesses are there? BALA Five thousand three hundred and ninety -- no. About five thousand four hundred by now. Z And only you can become a Queen? BALA Well...no, but -- Z So what makes you so special? BALA (hesitates) Well...I am the oldest. Bala turns from Z. She's thinking things over, realization dawning on her. BALA By three seconds... She looks out into the grass forest. BALA (to herself) You're right. There are as many Princesses...as there are blades of grass. Z, overhearing her, slowly puts his hand on her shoulder. INT. MEGA-TUNNEL - DAY Formica and Carpenter are walking into the entrance of the tunnel with a squad of soldiers. FORMICA Dammit, this tunnel is priority A-1! We can't afford any delays on this project! CARPENTER I've never seen anything like it, General, they're they're...well, look! Ahead of them, a group of a few hundred workers have stopped work and are sitting down, chanting... WORKER ANTS Z! Z! Z! Z! A worker moves forward to join the strikers, tossing down his tool. FOREMAN (yelling at him) Where do ya think you're going? Get back to work! WORKER #1 Buzz off, I'm important! (joining the others) Z! Z! Z! Z! At the center of the group, Weaver and Azteca are holding hands, leading the chant. FORMICA Notice the big one, holding hands with the female? CARPENTER Well, uh, who notices workers, sir? FORMICA (calculating) No one should have to. Have him brought to me. INT. FORMICA'S CHAMBERS - NIGHT A nervous Weaver is sitting across from Formica, flanked by a couple of stoic guards. Carpenter stands smiling by the side door. There is no obvious threat to Weaver, but the atmosphere is truly intimidating. FORMICA So this Z...he fancies himself an individual? WEAVER Yeah...I mean...well...I don't know, really, sir. FORMICA (patronizing) Well now you haven't fallen for this silly idea of individuality, have you? WEAVER Oh, no, sir! FORMICA Good. You're a good soldier. WEAVER Thank you, sir. Weaver begins to relax a bit. FORMICA So tell me. Where's Z? WEAVER I...I have no idea, sir. FORMICA Okay, son. He pats Weaver on the shoulder. FORMICA We know what makes an ant colony strong, don't we? We know that no ant can be an individual. No single ant matters, right? WEAVER (enthusiastically) That's correct, sir! FORMICA (points at a guard) Not that one. (another guard) Or that one. WEAVER No, sir! Formica nods at Carpenter, who smiles and opens a door. Two soldiers walk in, holding Azteca. The color drains from Weaver's face. FORMICA (calmly, with satisfaction) Or that one? Her life doesn't matter, does it? AZTECA Don't tell that tightass anything, Weaver! Weaver starts to get up, but the guards behind him hold him down. WEAVER Wait! Just let her go! Z's long gone anyway, following some golden egg to Insectopia! You'll never catch him! Formica's face lights up. FORMICA Insectopia, hunh?...See why individuality is so dangerous? It can always be used against you. (to the guards) If this sissy here wants to dig, he'll dig. Send them both back to the tunnel project. Double their workload. The guards exit with Weaver and Azteca. FORMICA What do we have on this "Insectopia"? CARPENTER Scattered reports, sir. Rumors. Nothing reliable. FORMICA Desperate times call for desperate measures. Get me Ant Team Six. CARPENTER (frightened) Ant Team Six... EXT. GRASS JUNGLE - DAY Z and Bala are lost, wandering through the grass BALA (looking hopeless) I swear, we've passed this blade of grass three times. Z keeps marching on. BALA Face it, Z, we're lost! We must have walked halfway across the world by now! How did I get into this mess... Z (too shy to look at her) Come on...tell me there wasn't just a little...something between us that first night at the bar. The night we danced. BALA (sadly) What difference does it make...we're both going to starve to death, or get squished, or set on fire... But Z is just gawking. The shot expands to show that they have stumbled onto... Z ...The land of red and white... EXT. FALSE INSECTOPIA - DAY A PICNICGROUNDS...A red and white picnic blanket, which to the ants looks like a vast, undulating pavilion, stretches before them. They gaze up at two obelisks: a salt and pepper shaker. Behind that is a gigantic tupperware jar full of potato salad, and sandwiches stacked high. It all looks perfect, with the clean lines and monumental proportions of fascist architecture. In fact, it looks a little too perfect. Z We've found it! Insectopia! Look at all this food' BALA (amazed) You were right...you were right! (smiling happily) Z, it's beautiful! Z Let's dig in! Z goes over to a gigantic sandwich, but -- BOOIIING! -- he's prevented from getting at it by the saran wrap covering it. Z There's - there's some kind of force field! Bala joins him, laboring against the saran wrap. Then both of them hear laughter from above. MALE WASP (O.S.) (lockjawed accent) Muffy, look, party-crashers. FEMALE WASP (O.S.) (laughing) They're simply too much, Chip! Bala and Z look up to see two large, yellow WASPS hovering in the air above them. The husband and wife wasps have lockjawed, William F. Buckleyesque accents. MALE WASP (to Z and Bala) You down there, haven't you ever been to a picnic? Z Hunh? FEMALE WASP Habla Ingles? (to Male Wasp) Well I really don't know who they are. Z We're ants! The Male Wasp zooms in closer. MALE WASP Poopsie, we know some ants, don't we? (to Z) Are you related to the Fifth Avenue ants? FEMALE WASP Darling, do you have to talk to any insect from off the street? MALE WASP Just being friendly, Poopsie. BALA Hello? I'm not just "any insect". My mother is the Queen. (momentously) I'm Princess Bala! MALE WASP (under his breath) They're Eurotrash, dear. We hear a loud RUMBLING noise -- the family is about to sit down for their picnic lunch. Gigantic hands reach down and pull away the "force fields". MALE WASP Lunch! (to Z) A little piece of advice, sport -- bob and weave! Bob and weave! BALA What do you mean? MALE WASP Well -- like my father used to say -- there's no such thing as a free meal! The wasps dive in to the picnic, darting in for a bite, and then dashing away again... THE WASPS Excuse me -- I'll have some potato salad -- thank-you! -- don't mind if I do! After you! (etc.) -- But all is not well. We pull back to reveal that Z and Bala are standing in front of a giant sneaker logo, which is attached to a giant sneaker. Which moves. Z I sort of imagined Insectopia a little differently -- Just at that moment, we hear a whistling in the air -- and the female wasp is crushed by a huge swatter that sweeps out of the sky, sending the picnic blanket billowing up in an aftershock that throws Bala and Z to the ground. BALA Oh...my...God. MALE WASP (shaking her) Muffy! Muffy! Wake up! But she doesn't move. The Male Wasp stares up at the sky. MALE WASP (heartbroken) WHYYYYYYYYYYYYY???? But Z, also looking up, has no time to commiserate. Z Bala, look out!! They are only saved by the fact that they are so small - .the holes of the swatter pass over them. The woman, realizing that the swatter won't work on ants, throws it to the side and tries stomping on them... Before Bala can get away, a sneaker falls on her with a thunderous BOOM that shakes the ground. BALA MMMffllmmm... The shoe rises, as the person wearing it steps away...and we see that Bala is stuck in one of the ridges of the waffle- soled sneaker, adhering to a big piece of bubblegum! BALA Z! Help me!!! But Bala is carried off on the sneaker in a huge, looping, ferris-wheel-like motion. BOOM. The sneaker on which Bala is stuck falls again, as the woman tries to step on Z, too -- Z Bala! (mournfully) I'll never see her again... -- But he does, instantly, as the shoe rises again, showing Bala stuck deeper in the bubblegum -- BALA Z!!! Get me out of heeeeere! -- The woman has decided to walk away from the picnic to get the bubblegum off her shoe...Z heart sinks as the shoe Bala's stuck on lopes off into the distance... Z (thinks) These things always come in twos... He sees a SECOND SHOE starting to rise -- Z Take me to your leader! Z runs towards the shoe as it rises... and at the last moment catches on to the snaky, swinging shoe-lace. Z Whoooooooaaaa!!! The sneaker lifts off into the air, with Z holding on for dear life to the lace, and getting further and further away from Bala as he's drawn to a vertiginous height...the landscape can be seen rolling and pitching crazily in the background... Z Bala! Come back here! For a moment, the sneaker seems to pause in the air...then it descends again, in a stomach-churning, roller-coaster free- fall as the sneaker on which Bala is stuck rises up again... BALA Z!!!!!!! I'm stuck! -- But Z is trying to keep his lunch down as he descends. The sneaker hits the ground, and Z can feel himself again...it's now or never. Z (Tarzan whoop) Aa-ee-ya-ee-yaaaaaaaah!!!!!!! As the sneaker rises again, he swings off the lace, hurtling through the air and catching one of the laces of Bala's sneaker...the momentum swings him up and under the sole... BALA Z! You're here! Z gets smashed into the bubblegum next to Bala. Now he's stuck too. Z (ruefully) Yeah. I'm here. The sneaker descends again. Z and Bala hold hands and SCREAM as they see the ground rise too meet them... THUD! They're squished deeper into the bubblegum. The sneaker rises again... BALA (emotional) Z...if we don't make it...I just want you to know.... Z (touched) Yes? BALA This is all your fault!!! The sneaker rises, and seems ready to fall again...but instead it just hovers there. (The person wearing it is balancing on one leg and about to scrape off the bubblegum with a penny). Z We're safe... Just then, the hand holding the penny looms up...the penny is, by ant standards, about sixty feet high. The huge image of Abraham Lincoln stares down at them. Z Who the hell is that?!!! The penny starts scrapes the bubblegum off the sneaker, bringing Bala and Z along with it. They're carried through the air as the penny gets thrown away...turning over and over in a lopsided orbit as Bala and Z SCREAM... ...and land with a CRASH in total darkness. EXT. LAKE - DAY The "lake" where Z and Bala were nearly drowned by the water droplet. The earth shakes as a HUGE, MONSTROUS creature approaches the lake - and begins to drink from it. The creature seems to hear something, and, growling, turns its ugly head. It's a Pomeranian, one of those yappy little lap-dogs -- but seen from ant perspective, it's something out of a horror movie. TOUGH VOICE (O.S.) Ant Team Six -- take him out! The monster bears its huge fangs at the approaching intruders -- a bunch of flying ants who look as though they're attacking the Death Star! The monster rears and snaps at two of the ants, who are making a diversionary run... and then gets it from the rest of the ants, who land on his soft, wet nose and start stinging away like crazy. The monster rears back in pain -- and runs away, YIPPING! The members of ANT TEAM SIX, a crack team of hardcore flying- ant commandoes a la Seal Team Six, break off the attack and land. MAJOR MANDIBLE And don't come back, you sissy! MAJOR MANDIBLE, Ant Team Six's lethal commander, steps into frame. He's the one-eyed killer we met in the bar earlier. The rest of his team fan out to search the area. MANDIBLE Talk to me. COMMANDO ANT Z and the Princess were here, sir. Signs of a struggle. MANDIBLE Let's get a read on that feremone track. COMMANDO ANT #1 (to the others) Get the sniffer! Two other commandoes come running up with what looks like a piece of machinery on a tripod -- only it's an ant -- a highly specialized, blind ant with an incredibly acute sense of smell. TRACKER ANT Bala...find Bala... The tracker, drool running out of its long proboscis, sniffs the air and starts signalling like a geiger counter... TRACKER ANT (as he's swivelled) Nnononononononoyeahyeahnononononono no... Finally the tracker stops swivelling, pointing in one direction and saying, "Yeahyeahyeahyeah..." COMMANDO ANT #3 Got 'em! Ten clicks from here! MANDIBLE Z -- you dirt-digging, fancy-dancing, wisecracking, royalty-grabbing, rebel SCUM! (yelling into the distance) I AM COMING FOR YOU! YOU ARE ONE DEAD ANT, MISTER! Mandible's muscles bulge. The veins in his head throb. This is one ass-kicking ant. Even Mandible's troops look scared of him. MANDIBLE Let's MOVE! GO, people! GO! GO! GO! GO! GO! Ant Team Six takes to the air, heading in the direction indicated by the tracker ant. INT. TRASH BAG - DAY Darkness. Out of it we hear the voices of Z and Bala. BALA Come on, Z. Z Forget it. You go ahead, I give up. I...I don't know what I was thinking. "Insectopia". In one corner of the screen, we can see an irregular little hole through which a shaft of light is falling. Bala proceeds towards it, the hole appears to get bigger and bigger... Z (defeated) There's only one thing worse than an ant who goes around mindlessly following orders, and that's an ant who's too dumb to go around mindlessly following orders. Bala stops...she notices that they're being watched. She's emerging from a tied off garbage bag -- the yellow ties loop away gracefully. Bala and Z have been tossed into a garbage area. And above them and below them, peering from garbage cans, recycling containers, bags, etc., a multi-cultural assortment of insects are regarding them. A laid-back FLY voices their thoughts. FLY What's with the bummer attitude? A nearby BUTTERFLY joins in. BUTTERFLY Yeah -- nobody stresses out in Insectopia! BALA Did you say... Z (joining Bala) ...Insectopia? Z and Bala look around. Just to get things straight, the garbage dump doesn't look disgusting -- that would be seeing it through human eyes. Instead, we're looking at it through ant eyes -- and, reimagined this way, it's Paradise. Not the ordered, sterile, paradise of the picnic, but an earthly land of plenty. The sides of the plastic garbage bags are sheer, reflective walls of smoothest obsidian...the garbage cans are gigantic, thick metal columns put there by the gods (think the pyramids); a coke bottle, refracting the sunlight into a gorgeous rainbow, trickles a fountain of sweet nectar into the pink, bittersweet flesh of a grapefruit half, which appears as a multi-chambered concave dome. Everywhere, insects are disporting themselves -- a multi- species love-in that's like an insect version of Woodstock. Bala and Z are awe-struck. Bala turns to Z. BALA (happily) Z, we made it! FLY (alighting on the grapefruit) C'mon in! The nectar's fine! Like a kid at an amusement park, Z slides down the smooth side of the garbage bag, whooshing this way and that until he slides into one end of a straw (a red and white striped tunnel), and is shot out... Z Yippeeeeee! ...into a bottle-cap filled with lemonade, which he alternately drinks and swims through... Down at the bottlecap, Z is drying himself off. Then he sees, emerging from behind a lemon peel, a gigantic TERMITE. Z (terrified) AAAAAGH!!! Surprisingly, the termite seems equally terrified... FLY (to Z) Hey, take it easy! There's nothin' to be afraid of! Z Yeah, well, I make it a practice not to trust anyone who shoots acid out of their forehead. CRICKET Dude, here in Insectopia, we don't judge people by how many arms and legs we've got. FLY Yeah, back home, they called me a fruitfly. But here, I'm known as... (with attitude) Superfly. CRICKET Anyway, big Gus is mellow. The termite sticks his hand out. A drop of acid drips from his head and splashes at Z's feet. Z (taking his hand, disgusted) Charmed. Z reaches out and shakes the termite's hand, as Bala watches, smiling. CUT TO: EXT. INSECTOPIA - NIGHT The insects are having a cookout, their faces illuminated by the still-red ember of a match. Platters heaped with food lie untouched as they pat their bellies... Z and Bala sit next to one another, smiling shyly as if they had just met for the first time. Z So...you never did tell me...what made you come out to the worker bar that night? BALA Just looking for fun, adventure, trouble, I guess. Z Well, "trouble" is my middle name. Actually, my middle name is .985, but I don't tell people. Hey, Bala, I...I actually have something of yours...you left it at the bar that night. Z takes out Bala's scarf, which he's been keeping folded in a pocket. Z Sorry, it's been through a war, not to mention everything else... BALA You held onto this all that time? Z Well, I...I know it's a little strange, but...I thought it might come in handy if I...needed a scarf someday. (embarrassed) Well, to be honest, I just liked having it. He hands it back to her. Bala looks at Z, frankly, openly. For a moment Z is shy. Then he looks at her too. They're two lovers, leaning closer, about to have their first kiss, when -- BEETLE Hey Z! The moment is wrecked. Z looks up. A chubby beetle stands there with Gus the termite. BEETLE Wanna bring back dessert? There's a thirty foot long blimp in the next can, made completely of chocolate! Z (annoyed) Sure. I wasn't busy or anything. Z gets up to go with them. Z Great timing, guys. Ever wonder why they call you "pests"? EXT. INSECTOPIA, TOP OF CAN - NIGHT As Ant Team Six lands and takes up position above the feast. The tracker ant is going nuts. TRACKER ANT Yesyesyesyesyes -- One of the commandoes puts his hand over the tracker's mouth to shut him up. Mandible communicates with his troops by pulling down his one functional antenna and gruffly whispering into it, as though it were one of those commando headsets. His troops do likewise. MANDIBLE Talk to me. COMMANDO #1 I've got a read on the Princess -- but target Z isn't accounted for. MANDIBLE Let's move in. EXT. INSECTOPIA - NIGHT Back at the feast, a cricket strums on his legs like a guitar, opining about life and the universe to a bunch of other chilled-out, hippyesque insects...Bala taps her feet to the song. CRICKET What if, like...we're just these tiny little things, and we're just like part of this whole other huge universe, that's like, so big we don't even know it exists? LADYBUG Man...that's so deep... At that moment Ant Team Six rapels down from the top of the garbage bin, landing amongst the insects. MANDIBLE EVERYBODY DOWN! The cricket gets up to confront Mandible, but Mandible cold cocks him with a right to the jaw. The other insects, too surprised to fight, just do as they're told. MANDIBLE Alright, you hippy scum! Make one move and I'll exterminate you! A couple of commandoes grab Bala by the arms and heave her up. BALA Stop! You don't understand! MANDIBLE I don't have to understand, Missy -- I've got orders. Now where's Z? CUT TO: INT. INSECTOPIA - NIGHT Z, the termite, the beetle and the fly are happily carrying a huge M&M back to the feast. FLY Man, your girl is fly, know what I'm saying? Z (overdoing it) Oh, Bala? I guess she's okay, you know, for a princess. I mean, I usually date queens, or you know, empresses, because sometimes the lesser nobility are too much in awe of my smouldering sensuality. Please stop me if I'm making you feel inadequate. They throw down the M&M, which lands with a THUD. Z notices that the rest of the insects look spooked. Z What's the matter? This place is as cheery as a Roach Motel at check-out time. Z looks around. LADYBUG Bala's been kidnapped! Some flying ants took her back to the colony! Z She's been kidnapped?! But I can't live without her! Z just stands there, heartbroken. Z (determined) I'm going back. I've got to get her. Who'll come with me? Z looks around. Nobody's volunteering. Nothing but sheepish looks and shuffling from the insects of Insectopia. Z looks disheartened. He's about to leave when -- MALE WASP (O.S.) I'll go. The male wasp is hovering nearby. Z (surprised) You?! MALE WASP I know what it's like to lose someone...I keep hearing the sound of Muffy's flapping wings...so I'll take you. Z hops on the wasp's back. Z Let's go, pal! The wasp takes off, leaving the other insects looking a little chastized. FLY Geez. I feel like a real stinkbug. CUT TO: EXT. SKY ABOVE COLONY - MORNING The wasp and Z fly high above the colony... Z Wow...I never saw things this way... From here, we can see the whole layout of the land around the colony...the "desert" (an asphalt path) and across it, the "lake" (the overflowing water fountain) Z Things look so close together from up here...there's the desert...and the lake... (thinking about something) it's not far from the colony at all... Suddenly, the wasp bounces up and down in the air. MALE WASP Sorry. Turbulence. INT. FORMICA'S CHAMBERS - DAY Formica sits at his desk, going over some plans. Formica's chambers are located inside a snake skull, with the eye sockets serving as windows, and the mouth serving as a door. The walls are hung with trophies -- the heads of other insects. Ant Team Six burst in the doors of Formica's office, carrying the struggling and kicking Bala. One of the commandoes sets the tracker ant one the floor...then Formica gets up from his desk as the commandoes bring the princess to him. FORMICA Princess Bala. Good. (with urgency) Where's Z? Bala replies warily. BALA He's...he's dead. (covering for Z) You don't have to look for him anymore. He was eaten by a praying mantis. FORMICA (regretfully) It's a shame he died prematurely...I was hoping to kill him myself. BALA Well you'll never be able to hurt him where he is now. (sadly) I miss him already. FORMICA (surprised) You miss him? Why? BALA (angry) Because...because he's twice the ant that you are. I could never go through with marrying you. I'm -- I'm an individual, and when I get married, it'll be to someone I choose. The soldiers look shocked. For a moment, Formica looks furious. Then he just shrugs. FORMICA (shaking his head) Princess Bala, I'm just a simple old soldier, and the ways of the feminine mind are a little too complex for me. But one thing I do know is, there are more Princesses where you came from. I just hope they're not all like you. In the meantime, maybe we can arrange for you to see Z again after all. He gestures to the commandoes, who drag her out the door. We notice that the tracker ant has been left behind. EXT. ANT MOUND - DAY Z hops down from the wasp, who has landed near the entrance to the colony. MALE WASP Good luck, Z. For a wingless insect, you're alright by me. Z Thanks, Chip. They shake hands and the wasp flies off. Z (to himself) How am I going to get in? The place is crawling with soldiers! Z starts for the nearest entrance -- but he's spotted by a couple of SOLDIER ANTS. SOLDIER ANT You there! Worker! Z's caught -- it's over. He turns around with his hands up. Z Don't bite! I surrender! SOLDIER ANT What are you doing out here! All workers are to remain inside the colony, by orders of General Formica! Z can't believe his luck -- and his curiosity is piqued. Z (heading inside) Well...if you insist... INT. MEGATUNNEL - DAY The Queen, with Formica striding at her side, is carried by a personal escort of fifty or so struggling workers to the bottom end of the Mega Tunnel, where a red ribbon waits to be cut. QUEEN Very impressive, General. Behind her, hundreds of thousands of workers are crowded, looking confused and expectant. Some of them clutch little flags and noisemakers... MANDIBLE Wave that flag, you maggot! ...which we see are being handed out to them by Ant Team Six. FORMICA Is there anything wrong, your majesty? The Queen is looking around unhappily. QUEEN It's just...How I miss Bala. I wish she were here for this special moment. Formica warmly places his hand on the Queen's shoulder. FORMICA (falsely supportive) She is, your majesty. She is. The CAMERA heads up the long, long tunnel, where we see... INT. MID SKYLIGHT TUNNEL Bala, tied and gagged. She's at the point in the Megatunnel where it begins to curve upwards towards the surface. She struggles against her bonds, but can't get loose. CUT TO: INT. ANT MOUND - DAY Elsewhere in the colony, a column of soldiers marches by, and we hear the TROMP-TROMP-TROMP of their boots. When they've gone, Z pokes his head out from behind a pile of dirt...he heads in the opposite direction of the soldiers... INT. OUTSIDE FORMICA'S CHAMBERS - DAY Z creeps around the outside of Formica's chambers. This part of the colony seems to be deserted. Z Geez, this place really empties out in August. Where is everybody? Z walks up to the skull that houses Formica's chambers and peeks in the eye socket. INT. FORMICA'S CHAMBERS Inside, the Tracker Ant, who's been left behind, switches "on", eyes glowing. Z enters the chamber cautiously. TRACKER ANT (sniffing) Z! Z! I smell Z! For a moment, Z's afraid. Then he sees the small Tracker Ant doesn't seem hostile. Z You "smell" me? Well look, I -- I've been out in the wilderness for a while, and -- The tracker ant keeps sniffing. Z waves his hand in front of the blind ant's eyes. Z (getting it) Hey, wait, you're...you're one of those pheremone sniffers, aren't you? Maybe you can help me...I'm looking for a friend of mine, Princess Bala. TRACKER ANT (enthusiastic) Bala! Yeahyeahyeahyeahyeah! Find Bala! Yeahyeahyeahyeah! Z picks up the tracker ant. Z Just remember, I met her first. Z, carrying the little tracker ant, heads out, following its lead... Through this and that passage, as the Tracker Ant gets more and more insistent...And finally straight to a blank wall. TRACKER ANT Yeahyeahyeahyeahyeahyeahyeah... Z Bala's through there? TRACKER ANT Bala...Yeahyeahyeahyeahyeahyeah... Z Great. More digging. This is why I left in the first place. Z can answer his own question. He puts down the tracker ant, with a look on his face like a kid forced to eat broccoli, starts digging through the wall... INT. SKYLIGHT APEX - DAY Meanwhile, A member of Ant Team Six -- the stupidest member, in fact, waits at the very top of the tunnel, where it narrows almost to a point. He's hanging from a winch, and has a little hammer and chisel in his hand. He's WHISTLING, awaiting instructions. INT. MEGA-TUNNEL - DAY Z emerges from the tunnel he's dug, spits a load of dirt out of his mouth and wipes his hands off. Nearby, Bala lies there, bound and gagged. Z Bala! Z unties Bala and undoes her gag. BALA Z! You came back! They HUG. Z Why do they have you tied up here? BALA There's something going on, Z -- From here, Z can see far down the tunnel to where the crowd is gathering. BALA They're having a ceremony to open the Megatunnel... We can hear the sound of WATER SHIFTING somewhere above. He looks up the tunnel...in the distance, we can make out the silhouete of the commando set to break open the wall... Z Bala, that -- that lake we found -- I think the tunnel's right underneath it! (horrified) -- Formica's going to flood the colony!!! That's what he meant when said there were too many ants! BALA Oh no... Bala looks too shocked to move. Z starts pushing her into the tunnel he made, and starts heading down towards the crowd. BALA Z! what are you doing? Z I know it's crazy, but -- I can't just leave. Don't argue with me. If I've learned anything, it's that the problems of two people don't add up to a hill of ants in this world. Or beans. Something like that. Anyway, I've got to warn the others. Z looks into Bala's eyes. Z Head for the surface, Bala. If I don't make it, well...we'll always have Insectopia. Z kisses Bala. Then he starts running down the tunnel towards the crowd... BALA (following him) Z!!! Wait for me! INT. ANT MOUND - DAY All the SOLDIERS are filtering out of the assembly area, leaving the workers behind. As his troops march by, Formica steps to the side and hands the Queen a pair of scissors to cut the ribbon strung across the Megatunnel. FORMICA Your majesty, I'm afraid matters of state keep me from attending the ceremony. QUEEN But General -- this tunnel is your baby! You're sure you can't stay ? FORMICA 'Fraid not, your majesty. (with regret) Goodbye, your majesty. QUEEN Very well, General -- I know you -- all work and no play! FORMICA Alright, let's move out! Formica, surrounded by his bodyguards, hurries off as the Queen readies to cut the ribbon... QUEEN In the name of the colony, I declare this tunnel open! INT. MEGA-TUNNEL - DAY Z and Bala sprint towards the bottom end of the tunnel... Z Stoooooop! -- and then pull back to see Queen cut the ribbon -- she looks up and sees -- QUEEN Bala! BALA Mom! Z calls out to the crowd. Z Listen up! We've all got to get out of here! This place is going to flood! The workers are unconvinced. WORKER #1 Are you nuts? Z You've got to believe me! WORKER #2 Oh yeah? What makes you so special, Mr. Know-It-All? Z I'm Z. The workers are even more sceptical. A laugh goes up from the crowd. WORKER #3 You're Z? Gimme a break! Z's ten milimeters tall! WORKER #4 -- and he can kill termites with his bare hands! You're just some scrawny worker with a mental problem! Z I am Z! WORKER #1 No you're not! WEAVER Yes he is. Weaver steps out of the crowd. Z Weaver! Weaver runs up to Z and hugs him, starting to cry. WORKERS Hey...it is Z...listen to what he says! [etc]. WEAVER Z...I'm so sorry! I -- Z Don't worry about it, pal. Nearby, Bala and the Queen hug. The Queen looks over at Z. QUEEN (distastefully) Oh...it's that social-climbing worker again -- what does he want? Z (in response) To save you all! Now we've got to go! CUT TO: EXT. ANT MOUND - DAY Outside of the colony, where Formica, surrounded by the army, gives a signal to Mandible by drawing his finger across his throat... MANDIBLE (talking into his antenna) Let 'er rip! INT. SKYLIGHT APEX - DAY AT THE TOP OF THE TUNNEL, the commando starts chiseling away furiously at the wall...and nothing but dust falls down. The commando looks at the dust as it falls down, down the long tunnel...he looks up at the dry wall...Hmmm... Then... THE WALL BURSTS OPEN. And a TORRENT starts pouring out -- swallowing the terrified commando as if he were a crumb and heading down the tunnel like a freight train, ripping up the walls as it goes... INT. EARLY MEGA-TUNNEL - DAY Everyone turns to hear the rumbling sound coming down the tunnel -- AZTECA Listen! WORKER #1 He's right!!! From here, we can see deep into the tunnel, at the point where it levels out...and the torrent can be seen rushing down at them... Z LET'S MOVE IT! All of a sudden there's panic as every ant tries to scramble away from the oncoming water...in the confusion, the Queen's bearers drop her and scramble over her. QUEEN You there! Stop! I say! The Queen turns, and for a brief moment is silhouetted against the white-capped torrent of water... ...and then she picks her abdomen up like a skirt and high tails it away from the torrent, running so fast that she passes some of her bearers on the way... And then the torrent spits out of the mouth of the Megatunnel, quickly filling up the chamber and branching into all of its side tunnels, as we see: A group of workers RUNNING up a side tunnel and getting consumed by a wave, which crashes down on them like a hand slapping a table... Another group, the members of which are getting swallowed up one by one; one of the ants runs up on the ceiling of the tunnel and keeps on going, upside-down...it works for a while but eventually he, too is swallowed up... -- In the Nursery, nurses are evacuating stacks of crying ant babies... In one of the larger access-tunnels, down which thousands of workers are fleeing, a group of ants turns and decides to make a stand for it -- they link up in a mass and form a LIVING DAM. It holds for a while but then BURSTS scattering and smashing ants along the sides of the tunnel before eating them up... And we... CUT TO: INT. TOWN CENTER - DAY The huge main chamber of the colony, where most of the workers -- as well as Z, Bala, Weaver, Azteca, and the Queen -- have run to. The chamber is rapidly flooding from all sides. Water flows out of every escape tunnel the workers try...and the crowd is becoming more and more closely packed together as the waters rise around them. AZTECA There's no way out! QUEEN We're all going to drown!!! BALA Z...what can we do? Z clenches his fist...he feels utterly powerless...then he shouts... Z Dig! The workers turn to look at him questioningly. Z We've got to dig a trench around us! -- But one of the workers raises his hands. WORKER #1 Uh...we don't dig any more. We're individuals. WORKER #2 Yeah. We're too important to dig. You taught us that, Z. You hate digging! Z (at his wits end) Yeah, but I hate drowning more! Now dig! WEAVER You heard the ant -- DIG!!! The workers start to dig a circular moat around themselves, passing the dirt back into the middle of what remains of the dry ground. -- But they seems to be making little headway against the water as it continues to rush in... The ant labor we saw up to now were nothing compared to this. As the moat gets deeper, the pile grows higher and higher...Weaver is digging up huge chunks of earth...nearby, Azteca is digging like crazy too...Z runs around, directing traffic and encouraging the workers... Z That's it! Pass the dirt back to the center! Go on! Nearby the Queen stands there, looking squeamish. Z Your highness...time to get your hands dirty! Gingerly, the Queen reaches out for a clod of dirt...and passes it along. Next thing you know, she's practically crushed by a huge load thrown up by Weaver. The water keeps rushing in...but now we notice that... ...the pile of dirt in the middle of the "island" created by the digging of the moat is growing higher and higher, reaching up towards the ceiling of the chamber... ...And the water is getting swallowed up by the moat, swirling around angrily. Now Z looks up, and sees that with a little more effort they can reach the top -- Z We need to form a scaffolding around this mound -- let's DO IT! The workers start to cluster around the mound, covering it, forming a tight network of living bodies around the mound up towards the ceiling... Z Now climb! The ants start to scale the scaffolding, up towards the top of the chamber...it's a swarming mass of ants, hauling each other up, giving each other legs up, climbing ever and ever higher towards the top... Where they start to dig through the very ceiling... ...as, at the bottom of the mound, Z starts to organize the hauling away of the Queen, as though she were a big cargo container... Z Okay boys -- take her up! Z slaps the Queen on the butt, and she's winched away on a cable composed entirely of ants linked arm in arm like those plastic toy monkeys... EXT. ANT MOUND - DAY ...And Azteca's head pokes through the ground...she hauls herself up, and hundreds of ants pour up from the ground, widening the hole... INT. TOWN CENTER - DAY The water is rising...but almost all of the ants have escaped...Z clambers up the mound, as the scaffolding of ants rolls up from the bottom.... And the rushing water finally wears down the earthen core of the structure. As Z hauls himself through the hole in the ceiling. The entire structure collapses into the angry waters below, which seem furious to have missed their prey... EXT. ANT MOUND - DAY WORKER He did it! Z! Z! Z! Z! Z! The "Z" cheer goes up, with everyone joining in. But the jubilation is short-lived, for, appearing on the ridge, surrounding the workers, is FORMICA'S ARMY, circling the mass of workers, backing them in towards the roiling water behind them. Formica himself appears in the front lines, with Carpenter and Mandible at his side. FORMICA Z. I should have known. All that work, all that preparation, come to nothing. All because of one stinking ant. He steps forward to address the surrounded, trapped workers. FORMICA ALRIGHT. WHICH ONE OF YOU IS Z? The workers, trembling but silent, cower inside the unbroken circle of soldiers. FORMICA WHAT ARE YOU, DEAF? I ASKED YOU, WHERE'S Z? Formica laughs, shaking his head. FORMICA Folks, you may have survived that flood, but there's no way you're gonna escape from me. I'll make you a deal. Hand over the rebel leader Z, and you survive. This sends a ripple of murmurs through the workers. FORMICA But if you don't hand him over, you're all going to die, each and every single..."individual" one of you. The workers all look at each other. FORMICA What shall it be, workers? The workers remain frightened but silent. Z trembles, terrified. FORMICA Have it your way. As Formica raises his swagger stick to order the attack, a lone figure steps out from the crowd. Z Wait... Z stands there, shivering with fear. Z ...I'm Z. For a moment, Z stands alone, under the glare of Formica's gaze. Then another figure steps out from the throng of workers. WEAVER No, I'm Z. Z turns, astonished, to see Weaver, still and unwavering, bravely risking his life for his friend. Then, AZTECA also steps forward. AZTECA I'm Z! Next, Bala comes forward. BALA No, I'm Z. More and more ants step forward. WORKERS I'm Z! I'm Z! I'm Z and so is my brother! I've been Z for weeks now! QUEEN (regally) We are Z. Now, the workers are all shouting the same declaration. ALL I am Z! I am Z! I am Z! Z is plainly flabbergasted. Formica is outraged. He gives the signal. FORMICA ATTACK! The army swells forward on all sides, pushing the workers towards the swirling water. Some workers surround the Queen to protect her. All seems lost, when THE FLY from Insectopia alights on the rim of the horizon. FLY Hey, guys! THE WASP appears on the other side of the horizon. WASP It's them! Suddenly, on all sides, A MASSIVE INSECT ARMY appears on the ridge, looking not unlike ambushing Indians in a John Ford film. Formica's soldiers stop in their tracks, awed by the unfolding spectacle. It looks like all of Insectopia has turned out: spiders, caterpillars, rhinoceros beetles, all manner of creatures crawling and flying have shown up, and now surround the army, dwarfing them. WASP Are these hooligans giving you trouble, Z? FLY Say the word, Z, and we kick their butts. The ant army remains frozen, unsure of what to do next. Formica is furious. If ants had veins, Formica's would be bulging out of his face. FORMICA What are you doing?! ATTACK!! (berating his army) Come on, you yellow-bellies! (turning on Carpenter) Don't just stand there, Carpenter! Make an example of yourself! CARPENTER Uh, actually, we are outnumbered sir... Formica turns towards the insects gathered against him. With his chin raised pridefully, Formica steps forward, and CHARGES Z! FORMICA AHHHHHHH!! Formica runs so quickly and with such force that his helmet blows off his head. Z's eyes get big, he stumbles backwards, slipping, and Formica goes flying over him, toward the whirlpool behind. He scrabbles at the edge of the water, and then tumbles over. For a moment, it looks as if he's gone. FORMICA (O.S.) Help...help me... Z goes to the edge of the precipice and looks over. Formica is struggling in the waters of the very flood he created, which are roiling not far below. He looks up into Z's eyes, a new expression crossing his features: fear. FORMICA Please...I...I can't swim...Help me... Formica goes under for a bit, then his head comes up again -- but he's not going to be able to stay afloat for long... Suddenly he sees a line dropped down. Above, Z looks down on him. Z I thought you said that the life of one ant doesn't matter. Formica looks at the line...and in that moment seems to realize his error... FORMICA I guess it does...to the ant. Formica reaches up and takes the line, and is pulled up by Z and a bunch of other ants (the line, we see, extends from a nearby spider, one of the cavalry from Insectopia). Formica is left, broken and alone, by the precipice, while HORDES OF ANTS surround Z to congratulate him. Bala fights her way to his side and the two of them embrace. Then the ants pick up Z and Bala, and, CHEERING, bear them away. Only Carpenter stays behind. He walks up to Formica, carrying his dented and dusty helmet. He cleans it the best he can with his jacket sleeve and hands it to his fallen general. CARPENTER Sir, if it's any consolation, I still think you're completely worthless as an individual. FADE TO: CLOSE UP OF Z As he addresses the audience, stand-up style. Z So, uh, that's pretty much it. Just your basic "simple worker overthrows the government and winds up with the princess" kind of a story. You know: there was the big parade and everything... CUT TO: INT. TOWN CENTER - DAY A HUGE ASSEMBLY OF ANTS applauds as Z who is given a medal by the Queen. CUT TO: GENERAL FORMICA'S FACE, looking extremely dispeptic. Z (V.O.) General Formica was almost unemployable. He eventually got a gig as a honeydew keg. PULL BACK TO REVEAL Formica clinging to a wall, his belly hideously distended with honeydew. Z (V.O.) The Queen asked me to take over his job, but I said "Sorry, but I'm really not the general type. I'm more the specific type." So they gave the job to Weaver instead. CUT TO: WEAVER, in Formica's old office, in a general's uniform, his feet up on Formica's desk, smoking a cigar. Carpenter is on his hands and knees scrubbing the floor. Z (V.O.) Weaver cut the defense budget in half. Now we only have an army of five million. cut back to Z, ADDRESSING THE AUDIENCE. Z And me, I guess you could say that I lived happily ever after. Bala enters the frame, embraces and kisses him. Z I mean, I've got the whole package, right? A great life, a beautiful wife, and a few kids. BALA A few? WE PULL BACK TO REVEAL INT. Z'S HOUSE - DAY Z and Bala stand in the midst of their living room, up to their knees in THOUSANDS OF CHILD ANTS. The children cover every horizontal surface. They run around, cry, laugh, and tease each other. Z looks around the room, looks back at us, and shrugs. Z Well, so nothing's perfect. But you know? I wouldn't change a thing. The camera pulls up...and away from the ground...to reveal that this whole story has been taking place in a small area of CENTRAL PARK. We pull back and back, and see all the familiar landmarks from the story: the bike path, the drinking fountain, etc. We tilt up into the NEW YORK SKYLINE. BIG MUSICAL FLOURISH. FADE OUT. THE END 
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+                     THE APARTMENT                           by            Billy Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond                        THE APARTMENTA DESK COMPUTERA man's hand is punching out a series of figures on thekeyboard.                         BUD (V.O.)            On November first, 1959, the            population of New York City was            8,042,783.  if you laid all these            people end to end, figuring an            average height of five feet six and            a half inches, they would reach            from Times Square to the outskirts            of Karachi, Pakistan.  I know facts            like this because I work for an            insurance company --THE INSURANCE BUILDING - A WET, FALL DAYIt's a big mother, covering a square block in lowerManhattan, all glass and aluminum, jutting into the leadensky.                         BUD (V.O.)            -- Consolidated Life of New York.            We are one of the top five companies            in the country -- last year we            wrote nine-point-three billion            dollars worth of policies.  Our            home office has 31,259 employees --            which is more than the entire            population of Natchez, Mississippi,            of Gallup, New Mexico.INT. NINETEENTH FLOORAcres of gray steel desk, gray steel filing cabinets, andsteel-gray faces under indirect light.  One wall is linedwith glass-enclosed cubicles for the supervisory personnel.It is all very neat, antiseptic, impersonal.  The only humantough is supplied by a bank of IBM machines, clacking awaycheerfully in the background.                         BUD (V.O.)            I work on the nineteenth floor --            Ordinary Policy Department -            Premium Accounting Division -            Section W -- desk number 861.DESK 861Like every other desk, it has a small name plate attached tothe side.  This one reads C.C. BAXTER.                         BUD (V.O.)            My name is C.C. Baxter - C. for            Calvin, C. for Clifford -- however,            most people call me Bud. I've been            with Consolidated Life for three            years and ten months.  I started in            the branch office in Cincinnati,            then transferred to New York.  My            take-home pay is $94.70 a week, and            there are the usual fringe benefits.BAXTER is about thirty, serious, hard-working, unobtrusive.He wears a Brooks Brothers type suit, which he boughtsomewhere on Seventh Avenue, upstairs.  There is a stack ofperforated premium cards in front of him, and he is totalingthem on the computing machine.  He looks off.ELECTRIC WALL CLOCKIt shows 5:19.  With a click, the minute hand jumps to 5:20,and a piercing bell goes off.                         BUD (V.O.)            The hours in our department are            8:50 to 5:20 --FULL SHOT - OFFICEInstantly all work stops.  Papers are being put away,typewriters and computing machines are covered, and everybodystarts clearing out.  Within ten seconds, the place isempty -- except for Bud Baxter, still bent over his work,marooned in a sea of abandoned desks.                         BUD (V.O.)            -- they're staggered by floors, so            that sixteen elevators can handle            the 31,259 employees without a            serious traffic jam.  As for            myself, I very often stay on at the            office and work for an extra hour            or two -- especially when the            weather is bad.  It's not that I'm            overly ambitious -- it's just a way            of killing time, until it's all            right for me to go home.            You see, I have this little problem            with my apartment --                                            DISSOLVE TO:STREET IN THE WEST SIXTIES - EVENINGBud, wearing a weather-beaten Ivy League raincoat and anarrow-brimmed brown hat, comes walking slowly down thestreet skirting the puddles on the sidewalk.  He stops infront of a converted brownstone, looks up.                         BUD (V.O.)            I live in the West Sixties - just            half a block from Central Park.  My            rent is $84 a month.  It used to be            eighty until last July when Mrs.            Lieberman, the landlady, put in a            second-hand air conditioning unit.The windows on the second floor are lit, but the shades aredrawn.  From inside drifts the sound of cha cha music.                         BUD (V.O.)            It's a real nice apartment -            nothing fancy -- but kind of            cozy -- just right for a bachelor.            The only problem is - I can't            always get in when I want to.INT. THE APARTMENT - EVENINGWhat used to be the upstairs parlor of a one-family house inthe early 1900's has been chopped up into living room,bedroom, bathroom and kitchen.  The wallpaper is faded, thecarpets are threadbare, and the upholstered furniture couldstand shampooing.  There are lots of books, a record player,stacks of records, a television set (21 inches and 24payments), unframed prints from the Museum of Modern Art(Picasso, Braque, Klee) tacked up on the walls.Only one lamp is lit, for mood, and a cha cha record isspinning around on the phonograph.  On the coffee table infront of the couch are a couple of cocktail glasses, apitcher with some martini dregs, an almost empty bottle ofvodka, a soup bowl with a few melting ice cubes at thebottom, some potato chips, an ashtray filled with cigarstubs and lipstick-stained cigarette butts, and a woman'shandbag.MR. KIRKEBY, a dapper, middle-aged man, stands in front ofthe mirror above the fake fireplace, buttoning up his vest.He does not notice that the buttons are out of alignment.                         KIRKEBY                   (calling off)            Come on, Sylvia.  It's getting late.SYLVIA, a first baseman of a dame, redheaded and saftig,comes cha cha-ing into the room, trying to fasten a necklaceas she hums along with the music.  She dances amorously upto Kirkeby.                         KIRKEBY            Cut it out, Sylvia.  We got to get            out of here.He helps her with the necklace, then turns off the phonograph.                         SYLVIA            What's the panic?  I'm going to            have another martooni.She crosses to the coffee table, starts to pour the remnantsof the vodka into the pitcher.                         KIRKEBY            Please, Sylvia!  It's a quarter to            nine!                         SYLVIA                   (dropping slivers of                   ice into the pitcher)            First you can't wait to get me up            here, and now -- rush, rush, rush!            Makes a person feel cheap.                         KIRKEBY            Sylvia -- sweetie -- it's not            that -- but I promised the guy I'd            be out of here by eight o'clock,            positively.                         SYLVIA                   (pouring martini)            What guy?  Whose apartment is this,            anyway?                         KIRKEBY                   (exasperated)            What's the difference?  Some            schnook that works in the office.EXT. BROWNSTONE HOUSE - EVENINGBud is pacing back and forth, throwing an occasional glanceat the lit windows of his apartment.  A middle-aged womanwith a dog on a leash approaches along the sidewalk.She is MRS. LIEBERMAN, the dog is a Scottie, and they areboth wearing raincoats.  Seeing them, Bud leans casuallyagainst the stoop.                         MRS. LIEBERMAN            Good evening, Mr. Baxter.                         BUD            Good evening, Mrs. Lieberman.                         MRS. LIEBERMAN            Some weather we're having.  Must be            from all the meshugass at Cape            Canaveral.                   (she is half-way up                   the steps)            You locked out of your apartment?                         BUD            No, no.  Just waiting for a friend.            Good night, Mrs. Lieberman.                         MRS. LIEBERMAN            Good night, Mr. Baxter.She and the Scottie disappear into the house.  Bud resumespacing, his eyes on the apartment windows.  Suddenly hestops -- the lights have gone out.INT. SECOND FLOOR LANDING - EVENINGKirkeby, in coat and hat, stands in the open doorway of thedarkened apartment.                         KIRKEBY            Come on -- come on, Sylvia!Sylvia comes cha cha-ing out, wearing an imitation Persianlamb coat, her hat askew on her head, bag, gloves, and anumbrella in her hand.                         SYLVIA            Some setup you got here.  A real,            honest-to-goodness love nest.                         KIRKEBY            Sssssh.He locks the door, slips the key under the doormat.                         SYLVIA                   (still cha cha-ing)            You're one button off, Mr. Kirkeby.She points to his exposed vest.  Kirkeby looks down, seesthat the buttons are out of line.  He starts to rebuttonthem as they move down the narrow, dimly-lit stairs.                         SYLVIA            You got to watch those things.            Wives are getting smarter all the            time.  Take Mr. Bernheim -- in the            Claims Department -- came home one            night with lipstick on his shirt --            told his wife he had a shrimp            cocktail for lunch -- so she took            it out to the lab and had it            analyzed -- so now she has the            house in Great Neck and the children            and the new Jaguar --                         KIRKEBY            Don't you ever stop talking?EXT. BROWNSTONE HOUSE - EVENINGBud, standing on the sidewalk, sees the front door start toopen.  He moves quickly into the areaway, almost bumpinginto the ashcans, stands in the shadow of the stoop with hisback turned discreetly toward Kirkeby and Sylvia as theycome down the steps.                         KIRKEBY            Where do you live?                         SYLVIA            I told you -- with my mother.                         KIRKEBY            Where does she live?                         SYLVIA            A hundred and seventy-ninth            street -- the Bronx.                         KIRKEBY            All right -- I'll take you to the            subway.                         SYLVIA            Like hell you will.  You'll buy me            a cab.                         KIRKEBY            Why do all you dames have to live            in the Bronx?                         SYLVIA            You mean you bring other girls up            here?                         KIRKEBY            Certainly not.  I'm a happily            married man.They move down the street.  Bud appears from the areaway,glances after them, then mounts the steps, goes through thefront door.INT. VESTIBULE - EVENINGThere are eight mailboxes.  Bud opens his, takes out amagazine in a paper wrapper and a few letters, proceeds upthe staircase.INT. SECOND FLOOR LANDING - EVENINGBud, glancing through his mail, comes up to the door of hisapartment.  As he bends down to lift the doormat, the doorof the rear apartment opens and MRS. DREYFUSS, a jovialwell-fed middle-aged woman, puts out a receptacle full ofold papers and empty cans.  Bud looks around from his bentposition.                         BUD            Oh.  Hello there, Mrs. Dreyfuss.                         MRS. DREYFUSS            Something the matter?                         BUD            I seem to have dropped my key.                   (faking a little search)            Oh -- here it is.He slides it out from under the mat, straightens up.                         MRS. DREYFUSS            Such a racket I heard in your            place -- maybe you had burglars.                         BUD            Oh, you don't have to worry about            that -- nothing in there that            anybody would want to steal...                   (unlocking door quickly)            Good night, Mrs. Dreyfuss.He ducks into the apartment.INT. THE APARTMENT - EVENINGBud snaps on the lights, drops the mail and the key on asmall table, looks around with distaste at the mess hisvisitors have left behind.  He sniffs the stale air, crossesto the window, pulls up the shade, opens it wide.  Now hetakes off his hat and raincoat, gathers up the remains ofthe cocktail party from the coffee table.  Loaded down withglasses, pitcher, empty vodka bottle, ice bowl and potatochips, he starts toward the kitchen.The doorbell rings.  Bud stops, undecided what to do withthe stuff in his hands, then crosses to the hall door,barely manages to get it open.  Mr. Kirkeby barges in pasthim.                         KIRKEBY            The little lady forgot her galoshes.He scours the room for the missing galoshes.                         BUD            Mr. Kirkeby, I don't like to            complain -- but you were supposed            to be out of here by eight.                         KIRKEBY            I know, Buddy-boy, I know.  But            those things don't always run on            schedule -- like a Greyhound bus.                         BUD            I don't mind in the summer -- but            on a rainy night -- and I haven't            had any dinner yet --                         KIRKEBY            Sure, sure.  Look, kid -- I put in            a good word for you with Sheldrake,            in Personnel.                         BUD                   (perking up)            Mr. Sheldrake?                         KIRKEBY            That's right.  We were discussing            our department -- manpower-wise --            and promotion-wise --                   (finds the galoshes                   behind a chair)            -- and I told him what a bright boy            you were.  They're always on the            lookout for young executives.                         BUD            Thank you, Mr. Kirkeby.                         KIRKEBY                   (starting toward door)            You're on your way up, Buddy-boy.            And you're practically out of liquor.                         BUD            I know.  Mr. Eichelberger -- in the            Mortgage Loan Department -- last            night he had a little Halloween            party here --                         KIRKEBY            Well, lay in some vodka and some            vermouth -- and put my name on it.                         BUD            Yes, Mr. Kirkeby.  You still owe me            for the last two bottles --                         KIRKEBY            I'll pay you on Friday.                   (in the open doorwaY)            And whatever happened to those            little cheese crackers you used to            have around?He exits, shutting the door.                         BUD                   (making a mental note)            Cheese crackers.He carries his load into the kitchen.The kitchen is minute and cluttered.  On the drainboard arean empty vermouth bottle, some ice-cube trays, a jar withone olive in it, and a crumpled potato-chip bag.Bud comes in, dumps his load on the drainboard, opens theold-fashioned refrigerator.  He takes out a frozen chickendinner, turns the oven on, lights it with a match, rips theprotective paper off the aluminum tray and shoves it in.Now he starts to clean up the mess on the drainboard.  Herinses the cocktail glasses, is about to empty the martinipitcher into the sink, thinks better of it.  He pours thecontents into a glass, plops the lone olive out of the jar,scoops up the last handful of potato chips, toasts animaginary companion, and drinks up.  Then he pulls awastebasket from under the sink.It is brimful of liquor bottles, and Bud adds the emptyvodka and vermouth bottles and the olive jar.  Picking upthe heavy receptacle, he carries it through the living roomtoward the hall door.INT. SECOND FLOOR LANDING - EVENINGThe door of Bud's apartment opens, and Bud comes out withthe wastebasket full of empty bottles.  Just then, DR. DAVIDDREYFUSS, whose wife we met earlier, comes trudging up thestairs.  He is a tall, heavy-set man of fifty, with a bushymustache, wearing a bulky overcoat and carrying an agedmedical bag.                         DR. DREYFUSS            Good evening, Baxter.                         BUD            Hi, Doc.  Had a late call?                         DR. DREYFUSS            Yeah.  Some clown at Schrafft's            57th Street ate a club sandwich,            and forgot to take out the toothpick.                         BUD            Oh.                   (sets down wastebasket)            'Bye, Doc.                         DR. DREYFUSS                   (indicating bottles)            Say, Baxter -- the way you're            belting that stuff, you must have a            pair of cast-iron kidneys.                         BUD            Oh, that's not me.  It's just that            once in a while, I have some people            in for a drink.                         DR. DREYFUSS            As a matter of fact, you must be an            iron man all around. From what I            hear through the walls, you got            something going for you every night.                         BUD            I'm sorry if it gets noisy --                         DR. DREYFUSS            Sometimes,  there's a twi-night            double-header.                   (shaking his head)            A nebbish like you!                         BUD                   (uncomfortable)            Yeah.  Well -- see you, Doc.                   (starts to back                   through door)                         DR. DREYFUSS            You know, Baxter -- I'm doing some            research at the Columbia Medical            Center -- and I wonder if you could            do us a favor?                         BUD            Me?                         DR. DREYFUSS            When you make out your will -- and            the way you're going, you should --            would you mind leaving your body to            the University?                         BUD            My body?  I'm afraid you guys would            be disappointed.  Good night, Doc.                         DR. DREYFUSS            Slow down, kid.He starts into the rear apartment as Bud closes the door.INT. THE APARTMENT - EVENINGBud, loosening his tie, goes into the kitchen, opens theoven, turns off the gas.  He takes a coke out of therefrigerator, uncaps it, gets a knife and fork from adrawer, and using his handkerchief as a potholder, pulls thehot aluminum tray out of the oven.  He carries everythingout into the living room.In the living room, Bud sets his dinner down on the coffeetable, settles himself on the couch.  He rears up assomething stabs him, reaches under his buttocks, pulls out ahairpin.  He drops it into an ashtray, tackles his dinner.Without even looking, he reaches over to the end table andpresses the remote TV station-selector.  He takes a sip fromthe coke bottle, his eyes on the TV screen across the room.The picture on the TV set jells quickly.  Against abackground of crisscrossing searchlights, a pompous announceris making his spiel.                         ANNOUNCER            -- from the world's greatest            library of film classics, we            proudly present --                   (fanfare)            Greta Garbo -- John Barrymore --            Joan Crawford -- Wallace Beery --            and Lionel Barrymore in --                   (fanfare)            GRAND HOTEL!There is an extended fanfare.  Bud leans forward, chewingexcitedly on a chicken leg.                         ANNOUNCER            But first, a word from our sponsor.            If you smoke the modern way, don't            be fooled by phony filter claims --Bud, still eating, automatically reaches for the station-selector, pushes the button.A new channel pops on.  It features a Western -- CockamamieIndians are attacking a stagecoach.That's not for Bud.  He switches to another station.  In afrontier saloon, Gower Street cowboys are dismantling thefurniture and each other.Bud wearily changes channels.  But he can't get away fromWesterns -- on this station, the U.S. Cavalry is riding tothe rescue.  Will they get there in time?Bud doesn't wait to find out.  He switches channels again,and is back where he started.On the screen, once more, is the announcer standing in frontof the crisscrossing searchlights.                         ANNOUNCER            And now, Grand Hotel -- starring            Greta Garbo, John Barrymore, Joan            Crawford --                   (Bud is all eyes and                   ears again)            -- Wallace Beery, and Lionel            Barrymore.  But first -- a word            from our alternate sponsor.                   (unctuously)            Friends, do you have wobbly            dentures -- ?That does it.  Bud turns the set off in disgust.The TV screen blacks out, except for a small pinpoint oflight in the center, which gradually fades away.In the bathroom, Bud, in pajamas by now, is brushing histeeth.  From the shower rod hang three pairs of socks onstretchers.  Bud takes a vial from the medicine shelf,shakes out a sleeping pill, washes it down with a glass ofwater.  He turns the light off, walks into the bedroom.In the bedroom, the single bed is made, and the lamp on thenight table is on.  Bud plugs in the electric blanket, turnsthe dial on.  Then he climbs into bed, props up the pillowbehind him.  From the night table, he picks up the magazinethat arrived in the mail, slides it out of the wrapper,opens it.  It's the new issue of PLAYBOY.  Bud leafs throughit till he comes to the piece de resistance of the magazine.He unfolds the overleaf, glances at it casually, refolds it,then turns to the back of the magazine and starts to read.What he is so avidly interested in is the men's fashionsection.  There is a layout titled WHAT THE YOUNG EXECUTIVEWILL WEAR with a sub-head reading The Bowler is Back.Illustrating the article are several photographs of malemodels wearing various styles of bowlers.Bud is definitely in the market for a bowler, but somehowhis mind starts wandering.  He turns back to the overleafagain, unfolds it, studies it, then holds the magazine upvertically to get a different perspective on the subject.By now the sleeping pill is beginning to take effect, and heyawns.  He drops the magazine on the floor, kills the light,settles down to sleep.  The room is dark except for the glowfrom the dial of the electric blanket.Three seconds.  Then the phone jangles shrilly in the livingroom.  Bud stumbles groggily out of bed, and putting on hisslippers, makes his way into the living room.  He switcheson the light, picks up the phone.                         BUD            Hello? -- Hello? -- yes, this is            Baxter.INT. PHONE BOOTH IN A MANHATTAN BAR - NIGHTOn the night is a hearty man of about forty-five, nothinggut personality, most of it obnoxious.  His name is DOBISCH.Outside the booth is a blonde babe, slightly boozed, andbeyond there is a suggestion of the packed, smoky joint.                         DOBISCH            Hiya, Buddy-boy.  I'm in this bar            on Sixty-first Street -- and I got            to thinking about you -- and I            figured I'd give you a little buzz.BUD - ON PHONE                         BUD            Well, that's very nice of you --            but who is this?INT. PHONE BOOTH                         DOBISCH            Dobisch -- Joe Dobisch, in            Administration.BUD - ON PHONE                         BUD                   (snapping to attention)            Oh, yes, Mr. Dobisch.  I didn't            recognize your voice --INT. PHONE BOOTH                         DOBISCH            That's okay, Buddy-boy.  Now like I            was saying, I'm in this joint on            Sixty-first -- and I think I got            lucky --                   (glances toward blonde)            -- she's a skater with the Ice            Show --                   (he chuckles)            -- and I thought maybe I could            bring her up for a quiet drink.BUD - ON PHONE                         BUD            I'm sorry, Mr. Dobisch.  You know I            like to help you guys out -- but            it's sort of late -- so why don't            we make it some other time?INT. PHONE BOOTH                         DOBISCH            Buddy-boy -- she won't keep that            long -- not even on ice.  Listen,            kid, I can't pass this up -- she            looks like Marilyn Monroe.BUD - ON PHONE                         BUD            I don't care if it is Marilyn            Monroe -- I'm already in bed -- and            I've taken a sleeping pill -- so            I'm afraid the answer is no.INT. PHONE BOOTH                         DOBISCH                   (pulling rank)            Look, Baxter -- we're making out            the monthly efficiency rating --            and I'm putting you in the top ten.            Now you don't want to louse yourself            up, do you?BUD - ON PHONE                         BUD            Of course not.  But -- how can I be            efficient in the office if I don't            get enough sleep at night?INT. PHONE BOOTH                         DOBISCH            It's only eleven -- and I just want            the place for forty-five minutes.The blonde opens the door of the phone booth, leans in.                         BLONDE            I'm getting lonely.  Who are you            talking to, anyway?                         DOBISCH            My mother.                         BLONDE            That's sweet.  That's real sweet.Dobisch shuts the door in her face.                         DOBISCH                   (into phone again)            Make it thirty minutes.  What do            you say, Bud?BUD - ON PHONE                         BUD                   (a last stand)            I'm all out of liquor -- and            there's no clean glasses -- no            cheese crackers -- no nothing.INT. PHONE BOOTH                         DOBISCH            Let me worry about that.  Just            leave the key under the mat and            clear out.INT. THE APARTMENT                         BUD                   (into phone; resigned)            Yes, Mr. Dobisch.He hangs up, shuffles back into the bedroom.                         BUD                   (muttering to himself)            Anything you say, Mr. Dobisch -- no            trouble at all, Mr. Dobisch -- be            my guest --He reappears from the bedroom, pulling his trousers on overhis pajama pants.                         BUD            -- We never close at Buddy-boy's --            looks like Marilyn Monroe --                   (he chuckles a la Dobisch)Putting on his raincoat and hat, Bud opens the hall door,takes the key from the table, shoves it under the doormat.His eyes fall on the Dreyfuss apartment, and there is someconcern on his face.  He picks up a pad and pencil from thetable, prints something in block letters.  Tearing off thetop sheet, he impales it on the spindle of the phonograph,then walks out, closing the door behind him.  The note reads:                        NOT TOO LOUD                THE NEIGHBORS ARE COMPLAININGEXT. BROWNSTONE HOUSE - NIGHTBud comes out the door, in slippered feet, pants and raincoatover his pajamas.  As he sleep-walks down the steps, a cabpulls up in front of the house.  Bud ducks discreetly intothe areaway.  Mr. Dobisch, bareheaded, emerges cautiouslyfrom the cab.  Between the fingers of his hands he iscarrying four long-stemmed glasses, brimful of stingers.The blonde steps out, holding his hat.                         BLONDE            This the place?                         DOBISCH            Yeah.                   (to cab driver)            How much?                         CABBIE            Seventy cents.Dobisch, his hands full of stingers, turns to the blonde,indicates his pants pocket.                         DOBISCH            Get the money, will you?The blonde plants the hat on top of his head, unbuttons hisovercoat, reaches into his pants pocket.  As she does so,she jogs his elbow.                         DOBISCH            Watch those stingers!The blonde has taken out Dobisch's money clip, with about ahundred dollars in it.                         DOBISCH            Give him a buck.The blonde peels a bill off, hands it to the cabbie, hangson to the rest of the roll just a second too long.                         DOBISCH            Now put it back, honey.                   (she does)            Atta girl.The cab drives off.  Dobisch and the blonde start up thesteps to the house.                         BLONDE            You sure this is a good idea?                         DOBISCH            Can't think of a better one.                         BLONDE                   (holding door open                   for him)            I mean - barging in on your            mother -- in the middle of the night?                         DOBISCH                   (edging past her with stingers)            Don't worry about the old lady.            One squawk from her, and she's out            of a job.In the areaway, Bud has overheard them, and it doesn't makehim any happier.  He steps out on the sidewalk, shufflesdown the street.INT. SECOND FLOOR LANDING - NIGHTThe blonde and Dobisch, his hands full of stingers, come upto Bud's door.                         DOBISCH            Get the key, will you.Automatically, she reaches into his pocket.                         DOBISCH            Not there.  Under the mat.                         BLONDE                   (puzzled)            Under the mat?                   (picks up key)                         DOBISCH                   (impatiently)            Open up, open up -- we haven't got            all night.The blonde unlocks the door to the apartment, opens it.                         BLONDE                   (suspiciously)            So this is your mother's apartment?                         DOBISCH            That's right.  Maria Ouspenskaya.                         BLONDE                   (sticking her head in)            Hiya, Ouspenskaya.Dobisch nudges her inside with his knee, kicks the door shutbehind him.The landing is empty for a second.  Then the door of therear apartment opens, and Dr. Dreyfuss, in a beaten bathrobe,sets out a couple of empty milk bottles with a note in them.Suddenly, from Bud's apartment, comes a shrill female giggle.Dr. Dreyfuss reacts.  Then the cha cha music starts fullblast.                         DR. DREYFUSS                   (calling to his wife,                   off-screen)            Mildred -- he's at it again.Shaking his head, he closes the door.EXT. CENTRAL PARK - NIGHTBud, in raincoat and slippered feet, turns in off thestreet, plods along a path in the deserted park.  He stopsat a damp bench under a lamp post, sits.  In the background,lights shine from the towering buildings on Central ParkSouth.Bud huddles inside his raincoat, shivering.  He is verysleepy by now.  His eyes close and his head droops.  A gustof wind sends wet leaves swirling across the bench.  Buddoesn't stir.  He is all in.                                            FADE OUT.FADE IN:INT. LOBBY INSURANCE BUILDING - DAYIt's a quarter to nine of a gray November morning, and work-bound employees are piling in through the doors.  Among themis Bud, bundled up in a raincoat, hat, heavy muffler andwool gloves, and carrying a box of Kleenex.  He coughs,pulls out a tissue, wipes his dripping nose.  He has a badcold.The lobby is an imposing, marbled affair, as befits acompany which last year wrote 9.3 billion dollars worth ofinsurance.  There are sixteen elevators, eight of themmarked LOCAL - FLOORS 1-18, and opposite them eight markedEXPRESS - FLOORS 18-37.  The starter, a uniformed Valkyriewielding a clicker, is directing the flow of traffic intothe various elevators.Bud joins the crowd in front of one of the express elevators.Also standing there is Mr. Kirkeby, reading the Herald-Tribune.                         BUD                   (hoarsely)            Good morning, Mr. Kirkeby.                         KIRKEBY                   (as if he just knew                   him vaguely)            Oh, how are you, Baxter.  They            keeping you busy these days?                         BUD            Yes, sir.  They are indeed.                   (he sniffs)The elevator doors open, revealing the operator.  She is inher middle twenties and her name is FRAN KUBELIK.  Maybeit's the way she's put together, maybe it's her face, ormaybe it's just the uniform -- in any case, there issomething very appealing about her.  She is also anindividualist -- she wears a carnation in her lapel, whichis strictly against regulations.  As the elevator loads, shegreets the passengers cheerfully.                         FRAN                   (rattling it off)            Morning, Mr. Kessel -- Morning,            Miss Robinson -- Morning, Mr.            Kirkeby -- Morning, Mr. Williams --            Morning, Miss Livingston -- Morning,            Mr. McKellway -- Morning, Mr.            Pirelli -- Morning, Mrs. Schubert --Interspersed is an occasional "Morning, Miss Kubelik" fromthe passengers.                         FRAN            Morning, Mr. Baxter.                         BUD            Morning, Miss Kubelik.He takes his hat off -- he is the only one.  The express isnow loaded.                         STARTER                   (working the clicker)            That's all.  Take it away.                         FRAN                   (shutting the door)            Watch the door, please.  Blasting            off.INT. ELEVATORBud is standing right next to Fran as the packed expressshoots up.                         BUD                   (studying her)            What did you do to your hair?                         FRAN            It was making me nervous, so I            chopped it off.  Big mistake, huh?                         BUD            I sort of like it.He sniffs, takes out a Kleenex, wipes his nose.                         FRAN            Say, you got a lulu.                         BUD            Yeah.  I better not get too close.                         FRAN            Oh, I never catch colds.                         BUD            Really?  I was looking at some            figures from the Sickness and            Accident Claims Division -- do you            know that the average New Yorker            between the ages of twenty and            fifty has two and a half colds a            year?                         FRAN            That makes me feel just terrible.                         BUD            Why?                         FRAN            Well, to make the figures come out            even -- since I have no colds a            year -- some poor slob must have            five colds a year.                         BUD            That's me.                   (dabs his nose)                         FRAN            You should have stayed in bed this            morning.                         BUD            I should have stayed in bed last            night.The elevator has slowed down, now stops.  Fran opens the door.                         FRAN            Nineteen.  Watch your step.About a third of the passengers get out, including Bud andMr. Kirkeby.  As Kirkeby passes Fran, he slaps her behindwith his folded newspaper.  Fran jumps slightly.                         FRAN                   (all in the day's work)            And watch your hand, Mr. Kirkeby!                         KIRKEBY                   (innocently)            I beg your pardon?                         FRAN            One of these days I'm going to shut            those doors on you and --She withdraws her hand into the sleeve of her uniform, andwaves the "amputated" arm at him.                         FRAN            Twenty next.The doors close.INT. NINETEENTH FLOOR - DAYKirkeby turns away from the elevator, and grinning smugly,falls in beside Bud.                         KIRKEBY            That Kubelik -- boy!  Would I like            to get her on a slow elevator to            China.                         BUD            Oh, yes.  She's the best operator            in the building.                         KIRKEBY            I'm a pretty good operator myself --            but she just won't give me a            tumble -- date-wise.                         BUD            Maybe you're using the wrong            approach.                         KIRKEBY            A lot of guys around here have            tried it -- all kinds of            approaches -- no dice.  What is she            trying to prove?                         BUD            Could be she's just a nice,            respectable girl -- there are            millions of them.                         KIRKEBY            Listen to him.  Little Lord            Fauntleroy!Leaving Bud at the employees' coat-racks, Kirkeby headstoward his office, one of the glass-enclosed cubicles.  Budhangs up his hat and raincoat, stows away the gloves andmuffler.  Out of his coat pocket he takes a plastic anti-histamine sprayer and a box of cough drops, and stillcarrying the Kleenex, threads his way to his desk.  Most ofthe desks are already occupied, and the others are fillingrapidly.Once seated at his desk, Bud arranges his medicaments neatlyin front of him. He takes a Kleenex out of the box, blowshis nose, then leaning back in his swivel chair sprays firstone nostril, then the other. Suddenly the piercing bell goesoff -- the workday has begun. Being the ultra-conscientioustype, Bud instantly sits upright in his chair, removes thecover from his computing machine, picks up a batch ofperforated premium cards, starts entering figures on hiscomputer.After a few seconds, he glances around to make sure thateverybody in the vicinity is busy. Then he looks up a numberin the company telephone directory, dials furtively.                         BUD                   (cupping hand over                   phone mouthpiece)            Hello, Mr. Dobisch? This is Baxter,            on the nineteenth floor.INT. DOBISCH'S OFFICE - DAYIt is a glass-enclosed cubicle on the twenty-first floor.Through the glass we see another enormous layout of desks,everybody working away. Dobisch is holding the phone in onehand, running an electric shaver over his face with the other.                         DOBISCH            Oh, Buddy-boy. I was just about to            call you.                   (shuts off electric shaver)            I'm sorry about that mess on the            living room wall. You see, my            little friend, she kept insisting            Picasso was a bum -- so she started            to do that mural -- but I'm sure it            will wash off -- just eyebrow pencil.BUD - ON PHONE                         BUD            It's not Picasso I'm calling about.            It's the key -- to my apartment --            you were supposed to leave it under            the mat.DOBISCH - ON PHONE                         DOBISCH            I did, didn't I? I distinctly            remember bending over and putting            it there --BUD - ON PHONE                         BUD            Oh, I found a key there, all            right -- only it's the wrong key.DOBISCH - ON PHONE                         DOBISCH            It is?                   (takes Bud's key out                   of his pocket)            Well, how about that? No wonder I            couldn't get into the executive            washroom this morning.BUD - ON PHONE                         BUD            And I couldn't get into my            apartment -- so at four a. m. I had            to wake up the landlady and give            her a whole song and dance about            going out to mail a letter and the            door slamming shut.DOBISCH - ON PHONE                         DOBISCH            That's a shame. I'll send the key            right down. And about your            promotion --                   (leafs through report                   on desk)            -- I'm sending that efficiency            report right up to Mr. Sheldrake,            in Personnel. I wouldn't be            surprised if you heard from him            before the day is over.BUD - ON PHONE                         BUD            Thank you, Mr. Dobisch.He hangs up, feels his forehead. It is warm. Clipped to hishandkerchief pocket are a black fountain pen and, next toit, a thermometer in a black case. Bud unclips thethermometer case, unscrews the cap, shakes the thermometerout, puts it under his tongue. He resumes work.A messenger comes up to his desk with an interoffice envelope.                         MESSENGER            From Mr. Dobisch.                         BUD                   (thermometer in mouth)            Wait.He turns away from the messenger, unties the string of theenvelope, takes his key out, puts it in a coat pocket. Froma trouser pocket, he extracts Dobisch's key to the executivewashroom, slips it discreetly into the envelope, reties it,hands it to the messenger.                         BUD                   (thermometer in mouth)            To Mr. Dobisch.Puzzled by the whole procedure, the messenger leaves. Budnow removes the thermometer from his mouth, reads it. It'sworse than he thought. He puts the thermometer back in thecase, clips it to his pocket, takes his desk calendar out ofa drawer, turns a leaf. Under the date WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 4there is an entry in his handwriting -- MR. VANDERHOF. Budconsults the telephone directory again, picks up the phone,dials.INT. VANDERHOF'S OFFICE - DAYThis is another glass-enclosed cubicle on another floor. MR.VANDERHOF, a Junior Chamber of Commerce type, is dictatingto an elderly secretary who sits across the desk from him.                         VANDERHOF            Dear Mr. MacIntosh --                   (phone rings and he                   picks it up)            Vanderhof, Public Relations. Oh,            yes, Baxter. Just a minute.                   (to secretary)            All right, Miss Finch -- type up            what we got so far.                   (he waits till she is                   out of the office;                   then, into phone)            Now what is it, Baxter?BUD - ON PHONE                         BUD            Look, Mr. Vanderhof -- I've got you            down here for tonight -- but I'm            going to be using the place            myself -- so I'll have to cancel.VANDERHOF - ON PHONE                         VANDERHOF            Cancel? But it's her birthday -- I            already ordered the cake --BUD - ON PHONE                         BUD            I hate to disappoint you -- I mean,            many happy returns -- but not            tonight --VANDERHOF - ON PHONE                         VANDERHOF            That's not like you, Baxter. Just            the other day, at the staff meeting,            I was telling Mr. Sheldrake what a            reliable man you were.BUD - ON PHONE                         BUD            Thank you, Mr. Vanderhof. But I'm            sick -- I have this terrible            cold -- and a fever -- and I got to            go to bed right after work.VANDERHOF - ON PHONE                         VANDERHOF            Buddy-boy, that's the worst thing            you can do. If you got a cold, you            should go to a Turkish bath --            spend the night there -- sweat it            out --BUD - ON PHONE                         BUD            Oh, no. I'd get pneumonia -- and if            I got pneumonia, I'd be in bed for            a month -- and if I were in bed for            a month --VANDERHOF - ON PHONE                         VANDERHOF            Okay, you made your point. We'll            just have to do it next Wednesday --            that's the only night of the week I            can get away.BUD - ON PHONE                         BUD            Wednesday -- Wednesday --                   (leafing through calendar)            I got somebody penciled in -- let            me see what I can do -- I'll get            back to you.He hangs up, riffles through the directory, finds thenumber, and with a furtive look around, dials again.                         BUD                   (into phone)            Mr. Eichelberger? Is this Mortgage            and Loan? I'd like to speak to Mr.            Eichelberger. Yes, it is urgent.INT. EICHELBERGER'S OFFICE - DAYAlso glass-enclosed, but slightly larger than the others. MR.EICHELBERGER, a solid citizen of about fifty, is displayingsome mortgage graphs to three associates. A fourth one hasanswered the phone.                         ASSOCIATE                   (holding out phone to Eichelberger)            For you, Mel.Eichelberger puts the charts down, takes the phone.                         EIGHELBERGER            Eichelberger here -- oh, yes,            Baxter --                   (a glance at his                   associates; then                   continues, as though                   it were a business call)            What's your problem? -- Wednesday            is out? -- oh -- that throws a            little monkey wrench into my            agenda -- Thursday? No, I'm all            tied up on Thursday -- let's            schedule that meeting for Friday.BUD - ON PHONE                         BUD            Friday?                   (checks calendar)            Let me see what I can do. I'll get            back to you.He hangs up, consults the directory, starts to dial a number.INT. KIRKEBY'S OFFICE - DAYIt's another of those glass-enclosed cubicles, on thenineteenth floor. Kirkeby is talking into a dictaphone.                         KIRKEBY            Premium-wise and billing-wise, we            are eighteen percent ahead of last            year, October-wise.The phone has been ringing. Kirkeby switches off the machine,picks up the phone.                         KIRKEBY            Hello? Yeah, Baxter. What's up?BUD - ON PHONE                         BUD            Instead of Friday -- could you            possibly switch to Thursday? You'd            be doing me a great favor --KIRKEBY - ON PHONE                         KIRKEBY            Well -- it's all right with me, Bud.            Let me check. I'll get back to you.He presses down the button on the cradle, dials Operator.INT. SWITCHBOARD ROOMThere is a double switchboard in the center, with nine girlson each side, all busy as beavers. In the foreground werecognize Sylvia, Kirkeby's date of last night.                         SYLVIA            Consolidated Life -- I'll connect            you -- Consolidated Life --The girl next to her turns and holds out a line.                         SWITCHBOARD GIRL            Sylvia -- it's for you.Sylvia plugs the call into her own switchboard.                         SYLVIA            Yes? Oh, hello -- sure I got home            all right -- you owe me forty-five            cents.KIRKEBY - ON PHONE                         KIRKEBY            Okay, okay. Look, Sylvia -- instead            of Friday - could we make it            Thursday night?SYLVIA - AT SWITCHBOARD                         SYLVIA            Thursday? That's The Untouchables --            with Bob Stack.KIRKEBY - ON PHONE                         KIRKEBY            Bob WHO? -- all right, so we'll            watch it at the apartment. Big deal.                   (he hangs up, dials)            Baxter? It's okay for Thursday.INT. NINETEENTH FLOOR - DAYBud, at his desk, is on the phone.                         BUD            Thank you, Mr. Kirkeby.                   (hangs up, consults                   directory, dials)            Mr. Eichelberger? It's okay for            Friday.                   (hangs up, consults                   directory, dials)            Mr. Vanderhof? It's okay for            Wednesday.During this, the phone has rung at the next desk, and theoccupant, MR. MOFFETT, has picked it up. As Bud hangs up --                         MOFFETT                   (into phone)            All right -- I'll tell him.                   (hangs up, turns to Bud)            Hey, Baxter -- that was Personnel.            Mr. Sheldrake's secretary.                         BUD            Sheldrake?                         MOFFETT            She's been trying to reach you for            the last twenty minutes. They want            you up stairs.                         BUD            Oh!He jumps up, stuffs the nose-spray into one pocket, ahandful of Kleenex into the other.                         MOFFETT            What gives, Baxter? You getting            promoted or getting fired?                         BUD                   (cockily)            Care to make a small wager?                         MOFFETT            I've been here twice as long as you            have --                         BUD            Shall we say -- a dollar?                         MOFFETT            It's a bet.Bud snake-hips between the desks like a broken-field runner.At the elevator, Bud presses the UP button, paces nervously.One of the elevator doors opens, and as Bud starts inside,the doors of the adjoining elevator open, and Fran Kubeliksticks her head out.                         FRAN            Going up?Hearing her voice, Bud throws a quick "Excuse me" to theother operator, exits quickly and steps into Fran's elevator.                         BUD            Twenty-seven, please. And drive            carefully. You're carrying precious            cargo -- I mean, manpower-wise.Fran shuts the doors.INT. ELEVATOR - DAYFran presses a button, and the elevator starts up.                         FRAN            Twenty-seven.                         BUD            You may not realize it, Miss            Kubelik, but I'm in the top ten --            efficiency-wise and this may be the            day -- promotion-wise.                         FRAN            You're beginning to sound like Mr.            Kirkeby already.                         BUD            Why not? Now that they're kicking            me upstairs --                         FRAN            Couldn't happen to a nicer guy.                   (Bud beams)            You know, you're the only one            around here who ever takes his hat            off in the elevator.                         BUD            Really?                         FRAN            The characters you meet. Something            happens to men in elevators. Must            be the change of altitude -- the            blood rushes to their head, or            something -- boy, I could tell you            stories --                         BUD            I'd love to hear them. Maybe we            could have lunch in the cafeteria            sometime -- or some evening, after            work --The elevator has stopped, and Fran opens the doors.                         FRAN            Twenty-seven.INT. TWENTY-SEVENTH FLOOR FOYER - DAYIt is pretty plush up here -- soft carpeting and tallmahogany doors leading to the executive offices. The elevatordoor is open, and Bud steps out.                         FRAN            I hope everything goes all right.                         BUD            I hope so.                   (turning back)            Wouldn't you know they'd call me on            a day like this -- with my cold and            everything --                   (fumbling with his tie)            How do I look?                         FRAN            Fine.                   (stepping out of elevator)            Wait.She takes the carnation out of her lapel, starts to put itin Bud's buttonhole.                         BUD            Thank you. That's the first thing I            ever noticed about you -- when you            were still on the local elevator --            you always wore a flower --The elevator buzzer is now sounding insistently.  Fran stepsback inside.                         FRAN            Good luck. And wipe your nose.She shuts the doors. Bud looks after her, then takes aKleenex out of his pocket, and wiping his nose, crosses to aglass door marked J. D. SHELDRAKE, DIRECTOR OF PERSONNEL. Hestashes the used Kleenex away in another pocket, enters.INT. SHELDRAKE'S ANTEROOM - DAYIt is a sedate office with a secretary and a couple oftypists. The secretary's name is MISS OLSEN. She is in herthirties, flaxen- haired, handsome, wears harlequin glasses,and has an incisive manner. Bud comes up to her desk.                         BUD            C. C. Baxter -- Ordinary Premium            Accounting -- Mr. Sheldrake called            me.                         MISS OLSEN            I called you -- that is, I tried to            call you -- for twenty minutes.                         BUD            I'm sorry, I --                         MISS OLSEN            Go on in.She indicates the door leading to the inner office. Budsquares his shoulders and starts in.INT. SHELDRAKE'S OFFICE - DAYMr. Sheldrake is a $14,000 a year man, and rates a four-window office.It is not quite an executive suite, but it is several pegsabove the glass cubicles of the middle echelon. There islots of leather, and a large desk behind which sits MR.SHELDRAKE. He is a substantial looking, authoritative man inhis middle forties, a pillar of his suburban community, ablood donor and a family man. The latter is attested to by aframed photograph showing two boys, aged 8 and 10, inmilitary school uniforms.As Baxter comes through the door, Sheldrake is leafingthrough Dobisch's efficiency report. He looks up at Budthrough a pair of heavy-rimmed reading glasses.                         SHELDRAKE            Baxter?                         BUD            Yes, sir.                         SHELDRAKE                   (studying him)            I was sort of wondering what you            looked like. Sit down.                         BUD            Yes, Mr. Sheldrake.He seats himself on the very edge of the leather armchairfacing Sheldrake.                         SHELDRAKE            Been hearing some very nice things            about you -- here's a report from            Mr. Dobisch -- loyal, cooperative,            resourceful --                         BUD            Mr. Dobisch said that?                         SHELDRAKE            And Mr. Kirkeby tells me that            several nights a week you work late            at the office -- without overtime.                         BUD                   (modestly)            Well, you know how it is -- things            pile up.                         SHELDRAKE            Mr. Vanderhof, in Public Relations,            and Mr. Eichelberger, in Mortgage            and Loan -- they'd both like to            have you transferred to their            departments.                         BUD            That's very flattering.Sheldrake puts the report down, takes off his glasses, leansacross the desk toward Bud.                         SHELDRAKE            Tell me, Baxter -- just what is it            that makes you so popular?                         BUD            I don't know.                         SHELDRAKE            Think.Bud does so. For a moment, he is a picture of intenseconcentration. Then --                         BUD            Would you mind repeating the            question?                         SHELDRAKE            Look, Baxter, I'm not stupid. I            know everything that goes on in            this building -- in every            department -- on every floor --            every day of the year.                         BUD                   (in a very small voice)            You do?                         SHELDRAKE                   (rises, starts pacing)            In 1957, we had an employee here,            name of Fowler. He was very popular,            too. Turned out he was running a            bookie joint right in the Actuarial            Department tying up the switchboard,            figuring the odds on our I.B.M.            machines -- so the day before the            Kentucky Derby, I called in the            Vice Squad and we raided the            thirteenth floor.                         BUD                   (worried)            The Vice Squad?                         SHELDRAKE            That's right, Baxter.                         BUD            What -- what's that got to do with            me? I'm not running any bookie joint.                         SHELDRAKE            What kind of joint are you running?                         BUD            Sir?                         SHELDRAKE            There's a certain key floating            around the office -- from Kirkeby            to Vanderhof to Eichelberger to            Dobisch -- it's the key to a            certain apartment -- and you know            who that apartment belongs to?                         BUD            Who?                         SHELDRAKE            Loyal, cooperative, resourceful C.            C. Baxter.                         BUD            Oh.                         SHELDRAKE            Are you going to deny it?                         BUD            No, sir. I'm not going to deny it.            But if you'd just let me explain --                         SHELDRAKE            You better.                         BUD                   (a deep breath)            Well, about six months ago -- I was            going to night school, taking this            course in Advanced Accounting --            and one of the guys in our            department -- he lives in Jersey --            he was going to a banquet at the            Biltmore -- his wife was meeting            him in town, and he needed someplace            to change into a tuxedo -- so I            gave him the key    and word must            have gotten around -- because the            next thing I knew, all sorts of            guys were suddenly going to            banquets -- and when you give the            key to one guy, you can't say no to            another and the whole thing got out            of hand -- pardon me.He whips out the nasal-spray, administers a couple of quicksquirts up each nostril.                         SHELDRAKE            Baxter, an insurance company is            founded on public trust. Any            employee who conducts himself in a            manner unbecoming --                   (shifting into a new gear)            How many charter members are there            in this little club of yours?                         BUD            Just those four -- out of a total            of 31,259 -- so actually, we can be            very proud of our personnel --            percentage-wise.                         SHELDRAKE            That's not the point. Four rotten            apples in a barrel -- no matter how            large the barrel -- you realize            that if this ever leaked out --                         BUD            Oh, it won't. Believe me. And it's            not going to happen again. From now            on, nobody is going to use my            apartment --In his vehemence he squeezes the spray bottle, which squirtsall over the desk.                         SHELDRAKE            Where is your apartment?                         BUD            West 67th Street. You have no idea            what I've been going through --            with the neighbors and the landlady            and the liquor and the key --                         SHELDRAKE            How do you work it with the key?                         BUD            Well, usually I slip it to them in            the office and they leave it under            the mat -- but never again -- I can            promise you that --The phone buzzer sounds, and Sheldrake picks up the phone.                         SHELDRAKE            Yes, Miss Olsen.INT. SHELDRAKE'S ANTEROOM - DAYMiss Olsen is on the phone.                         MISS OLSEN            Mrs. Sheldrake returning your            call -- on two --She presses a button down, starts to hang the phone up,glances around to see if the typists are watching, thenraises the receiver to her ear and eavesdrops on theconversation.INT. SHELDRAKE'S OFFICE - DAYSheldrake is talking into the phone.                         SHELDRAKE            Yes, dear -- I called you earlier --            where were you? Oh, you took Tommy            to the dentist --During this, Bud has risen from his chair, started inchingtoward the door.                         SHELDRAKE                   (turning to him)            Where are you going, Baxter?                         BUD            Well, I don't want to intrude --            and I thought -- since it's all            straightened out anyway --                         SHELDRAKE            I'm not through with you yet.                         BUD            Yes, sir.                         SHELDRAKE                   (into phone)            The reason I called is -- I won't            be home for dinner tonight. The            branch manager from Kansas City is            in town -- I'm taking him to the            theatre Music Man, what else? No,            don't wait up for me -- 'bye,            darling.                   (hangs up, turns to Bud)            Tell me something,  Baxter  -- have            you seen Music Man?                         BUD            Not yet. But I hear it's one swell            show.                         SHELDRAKE            How would you like to go tonight?                         BUD            You mean -- you and me? I thought            you were taking the branch manager            from Kansas City --                         SHELDRAKE            I made other plans. You can have            both tickets.                         BUD            Well, that's very kind of you --            only I'm not feeling well -- you            see, I have this cold -- and I            thought I'd go straight home.                         SHELDRAKE            Baxter, you're not reading me. I            told you I have plans.                         BUD            So do I -- I'm going to take four            aspirins and get into bed -- so you            better give the tickets to somebody            else --                         SHELDRAKE            I'm not just giving those tickets,            Baxter -- I want to swap them.                         BUD            Swap them? For what?Sheldrake picks up the Dobisch reports, puts on his glasses,turns a page.                         SHELDRAKE            It also says here -- that you are            alert, astute, and quite            imaginative --                         BUD            Oh?                   (the dawn is breaking)            Oh!He reaches into his coat pocket, fishes out a handful ofKleenex, and then finally the key to his apartment. He holdsit up.                         BUD            This?                         SHELDRAKE            That's good thinking, Baxter. Next            month there's going to be a shift            in personnel around here -- and as            far as I'm concerned, you're            executive material.                         BUD            I am?                         SHELDRAKE            Now put down the key --                   (pushing a pad toward him)            -- and put down the address.Bud lays the key on the desk, unclips what he thinks is hisfountain pen, uncaps it, starts writing on the pad.                         BUD            It's on the second floor - my name            is not on the door -- it just says            2A --Suddenly he realizes that he has been trying to write theaddress with the thermometer.                         BUD            Oh -- terribly sorry. It's that            cold --                         SHELDRAKE            Relax, Baxter.                         BUD            Thank you, sir.He has replaced the thermometer with the fountain pen, andis scribbling the address.                         BUD            You'll be careful with the record            player, won't you? And about the            liquor -- I ordered some this            morning -- but I'm not sure when            they'll deliver it --He has finished writing the address, shoves the pad over toSheldrake.                         SHELDRAKE            Now remember, Baxter -- this is            going to be our little secret.                         BUD            Yes, of course.                         SHELDRAKE            You know how people talk.                         BUD            Oh, you don't have to worry --                         SHELDRAKE            Not that I have anything to hide.                         BUD            Oh, no sir. Certainly not. Anyway,            it's none of my business -- four            apples, five apples -- what's the            difference -- percentage-wise?                         SHELDRAKE                   (holding out the tickets)            Here you are, Baxter. Have a nice            time.                         BUD            You too, sir.Clutching the tickets, he backs out of the office.                                            DISSOLVE TO:INT. LOBBY INSURANCE BUILDING - EVENINGIt is about 6:30, and the building has pretty well emptiedout by now. Bud, in raincoat and hat, is leaning against oneof the marble pillars beyond the elevators. His raincoat isunbuttoned, and Fran's carnation is still in his lapel. Heis looking off expectantly toward a door marked EMPLOYEES'LOUNGE - WOMEN.Some of the female employees are emerging, dressed for thestreet. Among them are Sylvia and her colleague from theswitchboard.                         SYLVIA            So I figure, a man in his position,            he's going to take me to 21 and El            Morocco -- instead, he takes me to            Hamburg Heaven and some schnook's            apartment --They pass Bud without paying any attention to him. Bud hasheard the crack, and looks after Sylvia, a little hurt. Thenhe glances back toward the door of the lounge, as it opensand Fran Kubelik comes out. She is wearing a wool coat overa street dress, no hat.                         FRAN                   (passing Bud)            Good night.                         BUD                   (casually)            Good night.She is about three paces beyond him when he suddenly realizeswho it is.                         BUD            Oh -- Miss Kubelik.                   (he rushes after her,                   taking off his hat)            I've been waiting for you.                         FRAN            You have?                         BUD            I almost didn't recognize you --            this is the first time I've ever            seen you in civilian clothes.                         FRAN            How'd you make out on the twenty-            seventh floor?                         BUD            Great. Look -- have you seen The            Music Man?                         FRAN            No.                         BUD            Would you like to?                         FRAN            Sure.                         BUD            I thought maybe we could have a            bite to eat first -- and then --                         FRAN            You mean tonight?                         BUD            Yeah.                         FRAN            I'm sorry, but I can't tonight. I'm            meeting somebody.                         BUD            Oh.                   (a beat)            You mean -- like a girl-friend?                         FRAN            No. Like a man.She proceeds across the lobby toward the street entrance,Bud following her.                         BUD            I wasn't trying to be personal --            it's just that the fellows in the            office were -- whether you wondering            about you ever --                         FRAN            Just tell 'em -- now and then.                         BUD            This date -- is it just a date --            or is it something serious?                         FRAN            It used to be serious -- at least I            was -- but he wasn't -- so the            whole thing is more or less kaputt.                         BUD            Well, in that case, couldn't you -- ?                         FRAN            I'm afraid not. I promised to have            a drink with him -- he's been            calling me all week --                         BUD            Oh, I understand.He follows her out through the revolving doors.EXT. INSURANCE BUILDING - EVENINGFran and Bud come out.                         BUD                   (putting his hat on)            Well, it was just an idea -- I hate            to see a ticket go to waste --                         FRAN                   (stops)            What time does the show go on?                         BUD            Eight-thirty.                         FRAN                   (looks at her watch)            Well -- I could meet you at the            theatre -- if that's all right.                         BUD            All right? That's wonderful! It's            the Majestic -- 44th Street.                         FRAN            Meet you in the lobby. Okay?Bud nods happily, falls in beside her as she starts down thestreet.                         BUD            You know, I felt so lousy this            morning -- a hundred and one            fever -- then my promotion came            up -- now you and I -- eleventh row            center -- and you said I should            have stayed in bed.                         FRAN            How is your cold?                         BUD                   (high as a kite)            What cold? And after the show, we            could go out on the town --                   (does a little cha                   cha step)            I've been taking from Arthur Murray.                         FRAN            So I see.                         BUD            They got a great little band at El            Chico, in the Village -- it's            practically around the corner from            where you live.                         FRAN            Sounds good.                   (a sudden thought)            How do you know where I live?                         BUD            Oh, I even know who you live            with -- your sister and brother-in-            law -- I know when you were born --            and where -- I know all sorts of            things about you.                         FRAN            How come?                         BUD            A couple of months ago I looked up            your card in the group insurance            file.                         FRAN            Oh.                         BUD            I know your height, your weight and            your Social Security number -- you            had mumps, you had measles, and you            had your appendix out.They have now reached the corner, and Fran stops.                         FRAN            Well, don't tell the fellows in the            office about the appendix. They may            get the wrong idea how you found            out.                   (turning the corner)            'Bye.                         BUD                   (calling after her)            Eight-thirty!He watches her walk away, an idiot grin on his face. Despitewhat he told Fran, his nose is stuffed up, so he takes outthe anti-histamine and sprays his nostrils. Then, carriedaway, he squirts some of the stuff on the carnation in hisbuttonhole, moves off in the opposite direction.EXT. DOWNTOWN STREET - EVENINGFran comes hurrying along the street. She is late. Herobjective is a small Chinese restaurant, with a neon signreading THE RICKSHAW - COCKTAILS - CANTONESE FOOD. Shestarts down a flight of steps leading to the entrance.INT. CHINESE RESTAURANT - EVENINGThe bar is a long, narrow, dimly-lit room with booths alongone side. Beyond a bamboo curtain is the main dining room,which does not concern us. The place is decorated in EarlyBeachcomber style rattan, fish-nets, conch-shells, etc.The help is Chinese. At this early hour, there are only halfa dozen customers in the place -- all at the bar except forone man, sitting in the last booth with his back towardcamera. At a piano, a Chinese member of Local 808 isimprovising mood music.Fran comes through the door, and without looking around,heads straight for the last booth. The bartender nods toher -- they know her there. As she passes the piano player,he gives her a big smile, segues into JEALOUS LOVER.Fran comes up to the man sitting in the last booth.                         FRAN                   (a wistful smile)            Good evening, Mr. Sheldrake.Sheldrake, for that's who it is, looks around nervously tomake sure no one has heard her.                         SHELDRAKE            Please, Fran -- not so loud.                   (he gets up)                         FRAN            Still afraid somebody may see us            together?                         SHELDRAKE                   (reaching for her coat)            Let me take that.                         FRAN            No, Jeff. I can't stay very long.                   (sits opposite him,                   with her coat on)            Can I have a frozen daiquiri?                         SHELDRAKE            It's on the way.                   (sits down)            I see you went ahead and cut your            hair.                         FRAN            That's right.                         SHELDRAKE            You know I liked it better long.                         FRAN            Yes, I know. You want a lock to            carry in your wallet?A waiter comes up with a tray: two daiquiris, fried shrimp,eggrolls, and a bowl of sauce.                         WAITER                   (showing all his teeth)            Evening, lady. Nice see you again.                         FRAN            Thank you.The waiter has set everything on the table, leaves.                         SHELDRAKE            How long has it been -- a month?                         FRAN            Six weeks. But who's counting?                         SHELDRAKE            I missed you, Fran.                         FRAN            Like old times. Same booth, same            song --                         SHELDRAKE            It's been hell.                         FRAN                   (dipping shrimp)            -- same sauce -- sweet and sour.                         SHELDRAKE            You don't know what it's like --            standing next to you in that            elevator, day after day -- Good            morning, Miss Kubelik -- Good            night, Mr. Sheldrake -- I'm still            crazy about you, Fran.                         FRAN                   (avoiding his eyes)            Let's not start on that again,            Jeff -- please. I'm just beginning            to get over it.                         SHELDRAKE            I don't believe you.                         FRAN            Look, Jeff -- we had two wonderful            months this summer -- and that was            it. Happens all the time -- the            wife and kids go away to the            country, and the boss has a fling            with the secretary or the            manicurist -- or the elevator girl.            Comes September, the picnic is            over -- goodbye. The kids go back            to school, the boss goes back to            the wife, and the girl --                   (she is barely able                   to control herself)            They don't make these shrimp like            they used to.                         SHELDRAKE            I never said goodbye, Fran.                         FRAN                   (not listening)            For a while there, you try kidding            yourself that you're going with an            unmarried man. Then one day he            keeps looking at his watch, and            asks you if there's any lipstick            showing, then rushes off to catch            the seven-fourteen to White Plains.            So you fix yourself a cup of            instant coffee -- and you sit there            by yourself -- and you think -- and            it all begins to look so ugly --There are tears in her eyes. She breaks off, downs what'sleft of the daiquiri.                         SHELDRAKE            How do you think I felt -- riding            home on that seven-fourteen train?                         FRAN            Why do you keep calling me, Jeff?            What do you want from me?                         SHELDRAKE                   (taking her hand)            I want you back, Fran.                         FRAN                   (withdrawing her hand)            Sorry, Mr. Sheldrake -- I'm full up.            You'll have to take the next            elevator.                         SHELDRAKE            You're not giving me a chance, Fran.            I asked you to meet me because -- I            have something to tell you.                         FRAN            Go ahead -- tell me.                         SHELDRAKE                   (a glance around)            Not here, Fran. Can't we go some            place else?                         FRAN            No. I have a date at eight-thirty.                         SHELDRAKE            Important?                         FRAN            Not very -- but I'm going to be            there anyway.She takes out an inexpensive square compact with a fleur delis pattern on it, opens it, starts to fix her face. Thewaiter comes up with a couple of menus.                         WAITER            You ready order dinner now?                         FRAN            No. No dinner.                         SHELDRAKE            Bring us two more drinks.                                            CUT TO:EXT. MAJESTIC THEATRE - EVENINGIt is 8:25, and there is the usual hectic to-do -- taxispulling up, people milling around the sidewalk and crowdinginto the lobby. In the middle of this melee, buffeted by thethrong, stands Bud, in raincoat and hat, looking anxiouslyfor Fran.                                            CUT TO:INT. CHINESE RESTAURANT - EVENINGFran and Sheldrake, in the booth, are working on the secondround of drinks.                         SHELDRAKE            Fran -- remember that last weekend            we had?                         FRAN                   (wryly)            Do I. That leaky little boat you            rented -- and me in a black negligee            and a life preserver --                         SHELDRAKE            Remember what we talked about?                         FRAN            We talked about a lot of things.                         SHELDRAKE            I mean -- about my getting a divorce.                         FRAN            We didn't talk about it -- you did.                         SHELDRAKE            You didn't really believe me, did            you?                         FRAN                   (shrugging)            They got it an a long playing            record now - Music to String Her            Along By. My wife doesn't understand            me -- We haven't gotten along for            years -- You're the best thing that            ever happened to me --                         SHELDRAKE            That's enough, Fran.                         FRAN                   (going right on)            Just trust me, baby -- we'll work            it out somehow --                         SHELDRAKE            You're not being funny.                         FRAN            I wasn't trying.                         SHELDRAKE            If you'll just listen to me for a            minute --                         FRAN            Okay. I'm sorry.                         SHELDRAKE            I saw my lawyer this morning -- I            wanted his advice  -- about the            best way to handle it --                         FRAN            Handle what?                         SHELDRAKE            What do you think?                         FRAN                   (looking at him for a                   long moment - then)            Let's get something straight,            Jeff -- I never asked you to leave            your wife.                         SHELDRAKE            Of course not. You had nothing to            do with it.                         FRAN                   (her eyes misting up again)            Are you sure that's what you want?                         SHELDRAKE            I'm sure. If you'll just tell me            that you still love me --                         FRAN                   (softly)            You know I do.                         SHELDRAKE            Fran --He takes her hand, kisses it. The bar has been filling up,and now two couples are seating themselves in a nearby booth.One of the women is Miss Olsen.                         FRAN                   (pulling her hand                   away gently)            Jeff -- darling --She indicates the other customers. Sheldrake glances overhis shoulder.                         SHELDRAKE            It is crowding up. Let's get out of            here.They rise. Sheldrake leaves some money on the table, leadsFran toward the entrance. As they pass Miss Olsen's booth,she turns around slowly, and putting on her glasses, looksafter them.Sheldrake slips a bill to the piano player, who gives them abig smile, slides into JEALOUS LOVER again. Retrieving hishat and coat from the checkroom girl, Sheldrake steers Franthrough the door.Miss Olsen watches them with a cold smile.EXT. CHINESE RESTAURANT - EVENINGFran and Sheldrake come up the steps.                         SHELDRAKE                   (to a passing cab)            Taxi!It passes without stopping.                         FRAN            I have that date -- remember?                         SHELDRAKE            I love you -- remember?Another taxi approaches. Sheldrake gives a shrill whistle,and it pulls up. He opens the door.                         FRAN            Where are we going, Jeff? Not back            to that leaky boat --                         SHELDRAKE            I promise.He helps her into the cab, takes out of his coat pocket thepage from the pad on which Bud wrote the address of theapartment.                         SHELDRAKE                   (to cab driver)            51 West Sixty-Seventh.He gets in beside Fran, shuts the door. As the cab pullsaway, through the rear window the two can be seen kissing.                                            CUT TO:EXT. MAJESTIC THEATRE - EVENINGIt's 9 o'clock, the lobby is deserted, and standing on thesidewalk all by himself, is Bud. He takes a Kleenex out ofhis pocket, blows his nose, stuffs the used Kleenex inanother pocket. He looks up and down the street, consultshis watch, decides to wait just a little longer.                                            FADE OUT:FADE IN:BAXTER'S DESK CALENDARThe leaves are flipping over. Mr. Sheldrake seems to beusing The Apartment regularly -- for the name Sheldrake, inBud's handwriting, appears on the pages dated Monday,November 9, Thursday, November 12, Thursday, November 19,Monday, November 23, and Monday, November 30. Mr. Sheldrakealso seems to be Baxter's only customer by now, since theother leaves of the calendar are blank.                                            DISSOLVE TO:INT. NINETEENTH FLOOR - INSURANCE BUILDING - DAYIt is a gloomy December morning, and hundreds of desk-boundemployees are bent over their paper-work.Bud Baxter, in raincoat and hat, is clearing out his desk.He has piled everything on his blotter pad -- referencebooks, papers, a fountain pen set, pencils, paper clips andthe calendar. Watching him from the next desk is adumbfounded Moffett. Bud picks up the blotter pad with hisstuff on it, and as he moves past Moffett's desk, Moffetttakes out a dollar bill, drops it grudgingly on the loadedpad. Bud flashes him a little grin, continues between thedesks toward the row of glass-enclosed offices housing thesupervisory personnel.He comes up to an unoccupied cubicle. A sign painter isbrushing in some new lettering on the glass door -- it readsC. C. BAXTER, Second Administrative Assistant. Bud studiesthe sign with a good deal of satisfaction.                         BUD                   (to painter)            Would you mind --?                   (the painter turns around)            C. C. Baxter -- that's me.With an "Oh, " the painter opens the door for him.INT. BAXTER'S OFFICE - DAYBud enters his new office, deposits his stuff on the baredesk, looks around possessively. The small cubicle boastsone window, carpeting on the floor, a filing cabinet, acouple of synthetic-leather chairs, and a clothes-tree -- toBud, it is the Taj Mahal. He crosses to the clothes-tree,removes his hat and coat, hangs them up. From OFF comes --                         KIRKEBY'S VOICE            Hi, Buddy-boy.                         DOBISCH'S VOICE            Congratulations, and all that jazz.Bud turns. Kirkeby, Dobisch, Eichelberger and Vanderhof havecome into the office.                         BUD            Hi, fellas.                         EICHELBERGER            Well, you made it, kid -- just like            we promised.                         VANDERHOF            Quite an office -- name on the            door -- rug on the floor -- the            whole schmear.                         BUD            Yeah.                         DOBISCH            Teamwork -- that's what counts in            an organization like this. All for            one and one for all -- know what I            mean?                         BUD            I have a vague idea.Kirkeby signals to Vanderhof, who shuts the door. The fourcharter members of the club start closing in on Bud.                         KIRKEBY            Baxter, we're a little disappointed            in you -- gratitude-wise.                         BUD            Oh, I'm very grateful.                         EIGHELBERGER            Then why are you locking us out,            all of a sudden?                         BUD            It's been sort of rough these last            few weeks -- what with my cold and            like that --He has picked up the desk calendar, shoves it discreetlyinto one of the drawers.                         DOBISCH            We went to bat for you -- and now            you won't play ball with us.                         BUD            Well, after all, it's my            apartment -- it's private            property -- it's not a public            playground.                         VANDERHOF            All right, so you got yourself a            girl -- that's okay with us -- but            not every night of the week.                         KIRKEBY            How selfish can you get?                   (to the others)            Last week I had to borrow my            nephew's car and take Sylvia to a            drive-in in Jersey. I'm too old for            that sort of thing -- I mean, in a            Volkswagen.                         BUD            I sympathize with your problem --            and believe me, I'm very sorry --                         DOBISCH            You'll be a lot sorrier before            we're through with you.                         BUD            You threatening me?                         DOBISCH            Listen, Baxter, we made you and we            can break you.He deliberately flips a cigar ash on Bud's desk. At the sametime, the door opens, and Sheldrake comes striding in briskly.                         BUD            Good morning, Mr. Sheldrake.The others swivel around.                         SHELDRAKE            Morning, gentlemen.                   (to Bud)            Everything satisfactory? You like            your office?                         BUD            Oh, yes, sir. Very much. And I want            to thank you --                         SHELDRAKE            Don't thank me -- thank your            friends here -- they're the ones            who recommended you.The four friends manage to work up some sickly smiles.                         DOBISCH            We just dropped in to wish him the            best.                   (quickly brushes                   cigar ash off desk)                         KIRKEBY                   (as they move toward                   the door)            So long, Baxter. We know you won't            let us down.                         BUD            So long, fellas. Drop in any time.            The door is always open -- to my            office.They leave. Sheldrake and Bud are alone.                         SHELDRAKE            I like the way you handled that.            Well, how does it feel to be an            executive?                         BUD            Fine. And I want you to know I'll            work very hard to justify your            confidence in me --                         SHELDRAKE            Sure you will.                   (a beat)            Say, Baxter, about the apartment -            now that you got a raise, don't you            think we can afford a second key?                         BUD            Well -- I guess so.                         SHELDRAKE            You know my secretary -- Miss            Olsen --                         BUD            Oh, yes. Very attractive. Is she --            the lucky one?                         SHELDRAKE            No, you don't understand. She's a            busybody -- always poking her nose            into things -- and with that key            passing back and forth -- why take            chances?                         BUD            Yes, sir. You can't be too careful.He glances toward the glass partitions to make sure thatnobody is watching.                         BUD            I have something here -- I think it            belongs to you.Out of his pocket he has slipped the compact with the fleur-de-lis pattern we saw Fran use at the Rickshaw. He holds itout to Sheldrake.                         SHELDRAKE            To me?                         BUD            I mean -- the young lady -- whoever            she may be -- it was on the couch            when I got home last night.                         SHELDRAKE            Oh, yes. Thanks.                         BUD            The mirror is broken.                   (opens compact,                   revealing crack in mirror)            It was broken when I found it.                         SHELDRAKE            So it was.                   (takes the compact)            She threw it at me.                         BUD            Sir?                         SHELDRAKE            You know how it is -- sooner or            later they all give you a bad time.                         BUD                   (man-of-the-world)            I know how it is.                         SHELDRAKE            You see a girl a couple of times a            week -- just for laughs -- and            right away she thinks you're going            to divorce your wife. I ask you --            is that fair?                         BUD            No, sir. That's very unfair --            especially to your wife.                         SHELDRAKE            Yeah.                   (shifting gears)            You know, Baxter, I envy you.            Bachelor -- all the dames you            want -- no headaches, no            complications --                         BUD            Yes, sir. That's the life, all right.                         SHELDRAKE            Put me down for Thursday again.                         BUD            Roger. And I'll get that other key.Sheldrake exits. Bud takes the calendar out of the deskdrawer, makes an entry.                                            DISSOLVE TO:BAXTER'S DESK CALENDARAgain the leaves are flipping over, and again we seeSheldrake's name in Bud's handwriting -- booked for thefollowing dates: Monday, December 14, Thursday, December 17,Monday, December 21, Thursday, December 24.                                            DISSOLVE TO:INT. SWITCHBOARD ROOM - DAYPerched on top of the switchboard is a small decoratedChristmas tree, and the operators are dispensing holidaygreetings to all callers.                         OPERATORS            Consolidated Life -- Merry            Christmas -- I'll connect you --            Consolidated Life -- Merry            Christmas -- I'm ringing --In the foreground, Sylvia is engaged in a privateconversation of her own.                         SYLVIA                   (into mouthpiece)            Yeah? -- YEAH? -- Where? -- You            bet --She tears off her headset, and turns to the other girls.                         SYLVIA            Somebody watch my line -- there's a            swinging party up on the nineteenth            floor --She scoots out the door. The other girls immediately abandontheir posts, and dash after her.INT. NINETEENTH FLOOR - DAYIt's a swinging party, all right. Nobody is working. Severaldesks have been cleared and pushed together, and on top ofthis improvised stage four female employees and Mr. Dobisch,with his pants-legs rolled up, are doing a Rockette kickroutine to the tune of JINGLE BELLS. Employees are ringedaround the performers, some drinking out of paper cups,others singing and clapping in rhythm.One of the cubicles has been transformed into a bar, and itis jammed with people. Mr. Kirkeby and Mr. Vanderhof arepouring -- each has a couple of bottles of liquor in hishands, and is emptying them into the open top of a water-cooler.But the stuff is flowing out as fast as it flows in --everybody is in line with a paper cup waiting for a refill.Bud comes shouldering his way out of the crowded cubicle,holding aloft two paper cups filled with booze. Since hispromotion he has bought himself a new suit, dark flannel,and with it he wears a white shirt with a pinned roundcollar, and a foulard tie. He also has quite a glow on.Detouring past necking couples, he heads in the direction ofthe elevators.The doors of Fran's elevator are just opening, and theswitchboard operators, led by Sylvia, come streaming out.                         SYLVIA                   (to a colleague)            -- so I said to him: Never again! --            either get yourself a bigger car or            a smaller girl --As they head for the party, they pass Bud, who is approachingthe elevator with the two drinks. Fran is just closing theelevator doors.                         BUD            Miss Kubelik.The doors slide open again, and Fran looks out. Instead ofthe customary carnation in the lapel of her uniform, shewears a sprig of holly.                         BUD                   (holding out one of                   the drinks)            Marry Christmas.                         FRAN            Thank you.                   (takes drink)            I thought you were avoiding me.                         BUD            What gave you that idea?                         FRAN            In the last six weeks you've only            been in my elevator once -- and            then you didn't take your hat off.                         BUD            Well, as a matter of fact, I was            rather hurt when you stood me up            that night --                         FRAN            I don't blame you. It was            unforgivable.                         BUD            I forgive you.                         FRAN            You shouldn't.                         BUD            You couldn't help yourself. I mean,            when you're having a drink with one            man, you can't just suddenly walk            out on him because you have another            date with another man. You did the            only decent thing.                         FRAN            Don't be too sure. Just because I            wear a uniform -- that doesn't make            me a Girl Scout.                         BUD            Miss Kubelik, one doesn't get to be            a second administrative assistant            around here unless he's a pretty            good judge of character -- and as            far as I'm concerned, you're tops.            I mean, decency-wise -- and            otherwise-wise.                   (toasting)            Cheers.                         FRAN            Cheers.They down their drinks. Bud takes the empty cup from her.                         BUD            One more?                         FRAN                   (indicating elevator)            I shouldn't drink when I'm driving.                         BUD            You're so right.He reaches into the elevator, takes a cardboard sign off ahook, hangs it on the elevator door. It reads USE OTHERELEVATOR.                         BUD            By the power vested in me, I            herewith declare this elevator out            of order.                   (leading her toward                   the party)            Shall we join the natives?                         FRAN            Why not?                   (as they pass a                   kissing couple)            They seem friendly enough.                         BUD            Don't you believe it. Later on            there will be human sacrifices --            white collar workers tossed into            the computing machines, and punched            full of those little square holes.                         FRAN            How many of those drinks did you            have?                         BUD                   (holding up four fingers)            Three.                         FRAN            I thought so.They have now reached the entrance to the bar, which isoverflowing with thirsty natives.                         BUD            You wait here. I think I hear the            sound of running water.He leaves her outside the cubicle, and elbows his waythrough the crowd toward the booze-filled water cooler. Outof another cubicle comes Miss Olsen, cup in hand. She toohas had quite a few. Seeing Fran, she walks up to her, withan acid smile on her face.                         MISS OLSEN            Hi. How's the branch manager from            Kansas City?                         FRAN            I beg your pardon?                         MISS OLSEN            I'm Miss Olsen -- Mr. Sheldrake's            secretary.                         FRAN            Yes, I know.                         MISS OLSEN            So you don't have to play innocent            with me. He used to tell his wife            that I was the branch manager from            Seattle -- four years ago when we            were having a little ring-a-ding-            ding.                         FRAN            I don't know what you're talking            about.                         MISS OLSEN            And before me there was Miss Rossi            in Auditing -- and after me there            was Miss Koch in Disability -- and            just before you there was Miss            What's-Her-Name, on the twenty-            fifth floor --                         FRAN                   (wanting to get away)            Will you excuse me?                         MISS OLSEN                   (holding her by the arm)            What for? You haven't done            anything -- it's him -- what a            salesman -- always the last booth            in the Chinese restaurant -- and            the same pitch about divorcing his            wife -- and in the end you wind up            with egg foo yong on your face.Bud comes burrowing out of the crowded cubicle, balancingthe two filled paper cups, spots Fran.                         BUD            Miss Kubelik.Fran turns away from Miss Olsen.                         FRAN            Well -- thank you.                         MISS OLSEN            Always happy to do something for            our girls in uniform.She moves off as Bud joins Fran, who is looking a little pale.                         BUD            You all right? What's the matter?                         FRAN            Nothing.                   (takes the drink)            There are just too many people here.                         BUD            Why don't we step into any office?            There's something I want your            advice about, anyway.                   (leads her toward his cubicle)            I have my own office now, naturally.            And you may be interested to know            I'm the second youngest executive            in the company -- the only one            younger is a grandson of the            chairman of the board.INT. BAXTER'S OFFICE - DAYBud ushers Fran in, and is confronted by a strange couplenecking in the corner. He gestures them out, crosses to hisdesk.                         BUD            Miss Kubelik, I would like your            honest opinion. I've had this in my            desk for a week -- cost me fifteen            dollars -- but I just couldn't get            up enough nerve to wear it --From under the desk he has produced a hatbox, and out of thehatbox a black bowler, which he now puts on his head.                         BUD            It's what they call the junior            executive model. What do you think?Fran looks at him blankly, absorbed in her own thoughts.                         BUD            Guess I made a boo-boo, huh?                         FRAN                   (paying attention again)            No -- I like it.                         BUD            Really? You mean you wouldn't be            ashamed to be seen with somebody in            a hat like this?                         FRAN            Of course not.                         BUD            Maybe if I wore it a little more to            the side --                   (adjusting hat)            is that better?                         FRAN            Much better.                         BUD            Well, as long as you wouldn't be            ashamed to be seen with me -- how            about the three of us going out            this evening -- you and me and the            bowler -- stroll down Fifth            Avenue -- sort of break it in --                         FRAN            This is a bad day for me.                         BUD            I understand. Christmas -- family            and all that --                         FRAN            I'd better get back to my elevator.            I don't want to be fired.                         BUD            Oh, you don't have to worry about            that. I have quite a bit of            influence in Personnel. You know Mr.            Sheldrake?                         FRAN                   (guardedly)            Why?                         BUD            He and I are like this.                   (crosses his fingers)            Sent me a Christmas card. See?He has picked up a Christmas card from his desk, shows it toFran. It is a photograph of the Sheldrake clan groupedaround an elaborate Christmas tree -- Mr. and Mrs.Sheldrake, the two boys in military school uniforms, and abig French poodle. Underneath it says:                     SEASON'S GREETINGS                     from the SHELDRAKES                Emily, Jeff, Tommy, Jeff Jr.,                         and Figaro.                         FRAN                   (studying the card ruefully)            Makes a cute picture.                         BUD            I thought maybe I could put in a            word for you with Mr. Sheldrake --            get you a little promotion -- how            would you like to be an elevator            starter?                         FRAN            I'm afraid there are too many other            girls around here with seniority            over me.                         BUD            No problem. Why don't we discuss it            sometime over the holidays -- I            could call you and pick you up and            we'll have the big unveiling --                   (touching the brim of                   his bowler)            -- you sure this is the right way            to wear it?                         FRAN            I think so.                         BUD            You don't think it's tilted a            little too much --Fran takes her compact out of her uniform pocket, opens it,hands it to Bud.                         FRAN            Here.                         BUD                   (examining himself in                   the mirror)            After all, this is a conservative            firm -- I don't want people to            think I'm an entertainer --His voice trails off. There is something familiar about thecracked mirror of the compact -- and the fleur-de-lispattern on the case confirms his suspicion. Fran notices thepeculiar expression on his face.                         FRAN            What is it?                         BUD                   (with difficulty)            The mirror -- it's broken.                         FRAN            I know. I like it this way -- makes            me look the way I feel.The phone has started to ring. Bud doesn't hear it. Hecloses the compact, hands it to Fran.                         FRAN            Your phone.                         BUD            Oh.                   (picks up phone from desk)            Yes?                   (throws a quick look                   at Fran)            Just a minute.                   (covers mouthpiece;                   to Fran)            If you don't mind -- this is sort            of personal                         FRAN            All right. Have a nice Christmas.She exits, closing the door. Bud takes his hand off themouthpiece.                         BUD                   (every word hurts)            Yes, Mr. Sheldrake -- no, I didn't            forget -- the tree is up and the            Tom and Jerry mix is in the            refrigerator -- yes, sir -- same to            you.He hangs up, stands there for a moment, the bowler still onhis head, the noise from the party washing over him. Heslowly crosses to the clothes-tree. picks up his coat -- anew, black chesterfield. With the coat over his arm, hestarts out of the office.INT. NINETEENTH FLOOR - DAYThe party has picked up tempo. On top of the desks, Sylviais doing a mock strip tease -- without taking any clothesoff. There is hollering, drinking and clapping all around her.Bud moves past the floor show, paying no attention. Kirkebyspots him, detaches himself from the cheering section aroundSylvia.                         KIRKEBY            Where you going, Buddy-boy? The            party's just starting.                   (catching up with him)            Listen, kid -- give me a break,            will you -- how about tomorrow            afternoon? I can't take her to that            drive-in again -- the car doesn't            even have a heater four o'clock --            okay?Bud ignores him, continues walking through the ranks ofempty desks.                                            DISSOLVE TO:INT. CHEAP BAR - COLUMBUS AVENUE IN THE SIXTIES - EVENINGIt is six o'clock, and the joint is crowded with customershaving one for the road before joining their families forChristmas Eve. There are men with gaily wrapped packages,small trussed-up Christmas trees, a plucked turkey in aplastic bag. Written across the mirror behind the bar, inglittering white letters, is HAPPY HOLIDAYS. Everybody is inhigh spirits, laughing it up and toasting each other.Everybody except Bud Baxter. He is standing at the bar inhis chesterfield and bowler, slightly isolated, broodingover an almost empty martini glass. The bartender comes up,sets down a fresh martini with an olive on a toothpick,takes his payment from a pile of bills and coins lying infront of Bud. Bud fishes out the olive, adds it to half adozen other impaled olives neatly arranged in fan shape onthe counter. He is obviously trying to complete the circle.A short, rotund man dressed as Santa Claus hurries in fromthe street, and comes up to the bar beside Bud.                         SANTA CLAUS                   (to bartender)            Hey, Charlie -- give me a shot of            bourbon -- and step on it -- my            sleigh is double parked.He laughs uproariously at his own joke, nudges Bud with hiselbow. Bud stares at him coldly, turns back to his martini.The laughter dies in Santa Claus' throat. He gets his shortof bourbon, moves down the bar to find more convivial company.Standing near the end of the curved bar is a girl in hermiddle twenties wearing a ratty fur coat. Her name is MARGIEMacDOUGALL, she is drinking a Rum Collins through a straw,and she too is alone. From a distance, she is studying Budwith interest. On the bar in front of her is a container ofstraws in paper wrappers. She takes one of them out, tearsoff the end of the paper, blows through the straw -- sendingthe wrapper floating toward Bud. The paper wrapper passesright in front of Bud's nose. He doesn't notice it.Margie, undaunted, lets go with another missile.This time the wrapper lands on the brim of Bud's bowler. Noreaction. Another wrapper comes floating in, hits Bud'scheek. He never takes his eye off his martini.Margie leaves her place, and carrying her handbag and herempty glass, comes up alongside Bud. Without a word, shereaches up and removes the wrapper from Bud's bowler.                         MARGIE            You buy me a drink, I'll buy you            some music.                   (sets the glass down)            Rum Collins.Not waiting for an answer, she heads for the juke box. Budlooks after her noncommittally, then turns to the bartender.                         BUD            Rum Collins.                   (indicating martini glass)            And another one of these little            mothers.At the juke box, Margie has dropped a coin in and made herselection. The music starts -- ADESTE FIDELIS. She rejoinsBud at the bar just as the bartender is putting down theirdrinks in front of them. Bud removes the new olive, adds itto the pattern on the counter in front of him. They bothdrink, staring straight ahead. For quite a while, there iscomplete silence between them.                         MARGIE                   (out of nowhere)            You like Castro?                   (a blank look from Bud)            I mean -- how do you feel about            Castro?                         BUD            What is Castro?                         MARGIE            You know, that big-shot down in            Cuba with the crazy beard.                         BUD            What about him?                         MARGIE            Because as far as I'm concerned,            he's a no good fink. Two weeks ago            I wrote him a letter -- never even            answered me.                         BUD            That so.                         MARGIE            All I wanted him to do was let            Mickey out for Christmas.                         BUD            Who is Mickey?                         MARGIE            My husband. He's in Havana -- in            jail.                         BUD            Oh. Mixed up in that revolution?                         MARGIE            Mickey? He wouldn't do nothing like            that. He's a jockey. They caught            him doping a horse.                         BUD            Well, you can't win 'em all.They sit there silently for a moment, contemplating theinjustices of the world.                         MARGIE                   (to herself)            'Twas the night before Christmas            And all through the house            Not a creature was stirring --            Nothing --            No action --            Dullsville!                   (drinks; to Bud)            You married?                         BUD            No.                         MARGIE            Family?                         BUD            No.                         MARGIE            A night like this, it sort of            spooks you to walk into an empty            apartment.                         BUD            I said I had no family -- I didn't            say I had an empty apartment.They both drink.                                            CUT TO:INT. BUD'S APARTMENT - EVENINGThe living room is dark, except for a shaft of light fromthe kitchen, and the glow of the colored bulbs on a smallChristmas tree in front of the phony fireplace.Hunched up in one corner of the couch is Fran, still in hercoat and gloves, crying softly. Pacing up and down isSheldrake. His coat and hat are on a chair, as are severalChristmas packages. On the coffee table are an unopenedbottle of Scotch, a couple of untouched glasses, and a bowlof melting ice.                         SHELDRAKE                   (stops and faces Fran)            Come on, Fran -- don't be like that.            You just going to sit there and            keep bawling?                   (no answer)            You won't talk to me, you won't            tell me what's wrong --                   (a new approach)            Look, I know you think I'm stalling            you. But when you've been married            to a woman for twelve years, you            don't just sit down at the breakfast            table and say "Pass the sugar --            and I want a divorce." It's not            that easy.                   (he resumes pacing;                   Fran continues crying)            Anyway, this is the wrong time. The            kids are home from school -- my in-            laws are visiting for the            holidays -- I can't bring it up now.                   (stops in front of her)            This isn't like you, Fran -- you            were always such a good sport --            such fun to be with --                         FRAN                   (through tears)            Yeah -- that's me. The Happy            Idiot -- a million laughs.                         SHELDRAKE            Well, that's more like it. At least            you're speaking to me.                         FRAN            Funny thing happened to me at the            office party today -- I ran into            your secretary -- Miss Olsen. You            know -- ring-a-ding-ding? I laughed            so much I like to died.                         SHELDRAKE            Is that what's been bothering            you -- Miss Olsen? That's ancient            history.                         FRAN            I was never very good at history.            Let me see -- there was Miss Olsen,            and then there was Miss Rossi --            no, she came before -- it was Miss            Koch who came after Miss Olsen --                         SHELDRAKE            Now, Fran --                         FRAN            And just think -- right now there's            some lucky girl in the building            who's going to come after me --                         SHELDRAKE            Okay, okay, Fran. I deserve that.            But just ask yourself -- why does a            man run around with a lot of girls?            Because he's unhappy at home --            because he's lonely, that's why --            all that was before you, Fran --            I've stopped running.Fran has taken a handkerchief out of her bag and is dabbingher eyes.                         FRAN            How could I be so stupid? You'd            think I would have learned by            now -- when you're in love with a            married man, you shouldn't wear            mascara.                         SHELDRAKE            It's Christmas Eve, Fran -- let's            not fight.                         FRAN            Merry Christmas.She hands him a flat, wrapped package.                         SHELDRAKE            What is it?He strips away the wrapping to reveal a long-playing record.The cover reads: RICKSHAW BOY - Jimmy Lee Kiang withOrchestra.                         SHELDRAKE            Oh. Our friend from the Chinese            restaurant. Thanks, Fran. We better            keep it here.                         FRAN            Yeah, we better.                         SHELDRAKE            I have a present for you. I didn't            quite know what to get you --            anyway it's a little awkward for            me, shopping --                   (he has taken out a                   money clip, detaches                   a bill)            -- so here's a hundred dollars --            go out and buy yourself something.He holds the money out, but she doesn't move. Sheldrakeslips the bill into her open bag.                         SHELDRAKE            They have some nice alligator bags            at Bergdorf's --Fran gets up slowly and starts peeling off her gloves.Sheldrake looks at her, then glances nervously at his wristwatch.                         SHELDRAKE            Fran, it's a quarter to seven --            and I mustn't miss the train -- if            we hadn't wasted all that time -- I            have to get home and trim the            tree --Fran has started to remove her coat.                         FRAN            Okay.                   (shrugs the coat back on)            I just thought as long as it was            paid for --                         SHELDRAKE                   (an angry step toward her)            Don't ever talk like that, Fran!            Don't make yourself out to be cheap.                         FRAN            A hundred dollars? I wouldn't call            that cheap. And you must be paying            somebody something for the use of            the apartment --                         SHELDRAKE                   (grabbing her arms)            Stop that, Fran.                         FRAN                   (quietly)            You'll miss your train, Jeff.Sheldrake hurriedly puts on his hat and coat, gathers up hispackages.                         SHELDRAKE            Coming?                         FRAN            You run along -- I want to fix my            face.                         SHELDRAKE                   (heading for the door)            Don't forget to kill the lights.            See you Monday.                         FRAN            Sure. Monday and Thursday -- and            Monday again -- and Thursday            again --                         SHELDRAKE                   (that stops him in                   the half-open door)            It won't always be like this.                   (coming back)            I love you, Fran.Holding the packages to one side, he tries to kiss her onthe mouth.                         FRAN                   (turning her head)            Careful -- lipstick.He kisses her on the cheek, hurries out of the apartment,closing the door. Fran stands there for a while, blinkingback tears, then takes the long-playing record out of itsenvelope, crosses to the phonograph. She puts the record on,starts the machine -- the music is JEALOUS LOVER. As itplays, Fran wanders aimlessly around the darkened room, herbody wracked by sobs. Finally she regains control of herself,and picking up her handbag, starts through the bedroomtoward the bathroom.In the bathroom, Fran switches on the light, puts her bag onthe sink, turns on the faucet. Scooping up some water, shewashes the smeared mascara away, then turns the faucet off,picks up a towel As she is drying her face, she notices inthe pull-away shaving mirror the magnified reflection of avial of pills on the medicine shelf. Fran reaches out forthe vial, turns it slowly around in her hand. The labelreads: SECONAL - ONE AT BEDTIME AS NEEDED FOR SLEEP.Fran studies the label for a second, then returns the vialto the shelf. She opens her handbag, takes out a lipstick.As she does so, she sees the hundred dollar bill Sheldrakeleft in the bag. Her eyes wander back to the vial on themedicine shelf. Then very deliberately she picks up Bud'smouthwash glass, removes the two toothbrushes from it, turnson the faucet, starts filling the glass with water.                                            DISSOLVE TO:INT. CHEAP BAR - COLUMBUS AVENUE - NIGHTThe joint is deserted now except for the Santa Claus, who isleaning against the bar, quite loaded, and Bud and MargieMacDougall, who are dancing to a slow blues coming from thejuke box. Bud is still in his overcoat and bowler, andMargie is wearing her fur coat. The bartender is sweeping upthe place.                         BARTENDER                   (to Santa Claus)            Drink up, Pop. It's closing time.                         SANTA CLAUS            But it's early, Charlie.                         BARTENDER            Don't you know what night this is?                         SANTA CLAUS            I know, Charlie. I know. I work for            the outfit.He polishes off his drink, walks out unsteadily. Thebartender approaches the dancers.                         BARTENDER            Hey, knock it off, will you? Go home.Bud and Margie ignore him, continue dancing -- or ratherswaying limply cheek-to-cheek. The bartender crosses to thejuke box, pulls the plug out. The music stops, but not Budand Margie -- they continue dancing.                         BARTENDER            O-U-T -- out!He goes to the front of the bar, starts to extinguish thelights. Margie picks up her handbag from the bar, and Buddowns the remains of his drink.                         MARGIE            Where do we go -- my place or yours?                         BUD                   (peering at his watch)            Might as well go to mine --            everybody else does.He leads her through the dark bar toward the entrance. Thebartender holds the door open for them as they go out.                                            DISSOLVE TO:EXT. BROWNSTONE HOUSE - NIGHTBud and Margie come walking down the street. As they reachthe house, Bud starts up the steps, but Margie continuesalong the sidewalk.                         MARGIE            Poor Mickey -- when I think of him            all by himself in that jail in            Havana --                   (opening her handbag)            -- want to see his picture?                         BUD                   (from steps)            Not particularly.Margie, realizing her mistake, hurries back to join him.                         MARGIE            He's so cute -- five-foot-two --            ninety-nine pounds...like a little            chihuahua.They pass through the front door into the vestibule.INT. STAIRCASE - BROWNSTONE HOUSE - NIGHTBud and Margie are mounting the stairs toward the apartment.                         MARGIE            Can I ask you a personal question?                         BUD            No.                         MARGIE            You got a girl-friend?                         BUD            She may be a girl -- but she's no            friend of mine.                         MARGIE            Still stuck on her, huh.                         BUD            Stuck on her! Obviously, you don't            know me very well.                         MARGIE            I don't know you at all.                         BUD            Permit me -- C.C. Baxter -- junior            executive, Arthur Murray graduate,            lover.                         MARGIE            I'm Mrs. MacDougall -- Margie to you.Bud has taken the key out of his pocket, opened the door tohis apartment.                         BUD            This way, Mrs. MacDougall.He ushers her in.INT. APARTMENT - NIGHTIt is exactly the way we left it. There is no sign of Fran,except for the gloves she dropped on the coffee tableearlier. Bud switches on the light, shuts the door.                         MARGIE                   (looking around)            Say, this is Snugsville.                         BUD                   (helping her out of                   her coat)            Mrs. MacDougall, I think it is only            fair to warn you that you are now            alone with a notorious sexpot.                         MARGIE                   (a gleam)            No kidding.                         BUD            Ask anybody around here. As a            matter of fact, when it's time for            me to go -- and I may go just like            that --                   (snaps his fingers)            -- I have promised my body to the            Columbia Medical Center.                         MARGIE                   (shuddering deliciously)            Gee. Sort of gives you goose-bumps            just to think about it.                         BUD            Well, they haven't got me yet, baby.            Dig up some ice from the kitchen            and let's not waste any time --            preliminary-wise.                         MARGIE            I'm with you, lover.She takes the bowl of melted ice Bud has handed her,disappears into the kitchen. As Bud starts to remove hiscoat, he becomes aware of a scratching noise from thephonograph. He crosses to it, sees that the needle is stuckin the last groove of a long-playing record.Bud lifts the record off, examines it curiously, then putsit aside and substitutes the cha cha record. As the musicstarts, he dances over to the coat-rack beside the door,hangs up his chesterfield and bowler. He turns back into theroom, still dancing, suddenly spots Fran's gloves on thecoffee table. He picks up the gloves, looks around for someconvenient place to get rid of them. Moving over to thebedroom door, he opens it, tosses the gloves toward the bedinside. He shuts the door, starts to turn away, freezes in adelayed reaction to something he saw inside. He quicklyopens the door again, looks.Sprawled across the bed, on top of the bedspread, is Fran.The light from the bathroom falls across her. She is fullydressed, still in her coat, and apparently asleep.Bud steps into the bedroom, closing the door behind him,walks over to Fran.                         BUD            All right, Miss Kubelik -- get up.            It's past checking-out time, and            the hotel management would            appreciate it if you would get the            hell out of here.                   (Fran doesn't stir)            Look, Miss Kubelik, I used to like            you -- I used to like you a lot --            but it's all over between us -- so            beat it -- O-U-T -- out!                   (no reaction; he puts                   a hand on her                   shoulder, shakes her)            Come on -- wake up!She doesn't respond. But something falls out of her hand,rolls across the bed. Bud picks it up, looks at it -- it ishis sleeping-pill vial, now uncapped and empty.                         BUD                   (a hoarse whisper)            Oh, my God.For a second he is paralyzed. Then he drops the vial, grabsFran, lifts her into a sitting position on the bed, shakesher violently.                         BUD            Miss Kubelik! Miss Kubelik!Fran's head droops to one side, like a rag doll's. Bud letsgo of her, rushes out.In the living room, the phonograph is still cha cha-ing away.Bud dashes to the phone, picks it up. Then it occurs to himthat he doesn't know whom to call and he hangs up. Out ofthe kitchen comes Margie, with a bowlful of ice cubes.                         MARGIE            I broke a nail trying to get the            ice-tray out. You ought to buy            yourself a new refrigerator.Bud, not listening, runs past her to the hall door and out.                         MARGIE                   (calling after him)            I didn't mean right now.INT. SECOND FLOOR LANDING - NIGHTBud arrives at the door of the Dreyfuss apartment, startsringing the doorbell and pounding with his fist.                         BUD            Dr. Dreyfuss! Hey, Doc!The door opens, and Dr. Dreyfuss stands there sleepily,pulling on his beaten bathrobe.                         BUD                   (words tumbling over                   each other)            There's a girl in my place -- she            took some sleeping pills -- you            better come quick -- I can't wake            her up.                         DR. DREYFUSS            Let me get my bag.He disappears from the doorway.                         BUD            Hurry up, Doc.Bud turns and runs back into his apartment.INT. APARTMENT - NIGHTMargie has settled herself comfortably on the couch, and isfixing the drinks. The cha cha music is still going. Budcomes flying in, heads for the bedroom.                         MARGIE            Hey -- over here, lover.Bud stops in his tracks, suddenly aware of her.                         MARGIE            What's all this running around?            You're going to wear yourself out.Bud strides over to her purposefully, yanks her up to herfeet.                         MARGIE            Not so rough, honey.                         BUD                   (taking the glass out                   of her hand)            Good night.                         MARGIE            Good night?                         BUD                   (thrusting the fur                   coat at her)            The party's over.                         MARGIE            What's the matter? Did I do            something wrong?                         BUD                   (easing her toward door)            It's an emergency -- see you some            other time.Dr. Dreyfuss comes hurrying in, carrying his medical bag. Hestops, bewildered by the sound of music and the sight of awide-awake girl in the apartment.                         BUD            Not this one --                   (pointing to the bedroom)            -- in there, Doc.Dr. Dreyfuss proceeds into the bedroom.                         MARGIE            Say, what's going on here, anyway?                         BUD            Nothing.                   (propelling her                   toward the door)            Just clear out, will you?                         MARGIE                   (pointing back)            My shoes.Bud reaches under the coffee table, where she left hershoes, retrieves them.                         MARGIE                   (bitterly)            Some lover you are. Some sexpot!Bud shoves the shoes at her, takes a bill out of his wallet,hands it to her.                         BUD            Here -- find yourself a phone booth            and call your husband in Havana.                         MARGIE            You bet I will. And when I tell him            how you treated me, he'll push your            face in.                   (he shoves her                   through the open door)            You fink!Bud slams the door shut, starts toward the bedroom. Halfwaythere, he becomes aware that the cha cha record is still on.He detours to the phonograph, switches it off, continuesinto the bedroom.In the bedroom, the overhead light is on, and Dr. Dreyfussis working on the unconscious Fran. He has removed her coat,and is shining a flashlight into her eyes, examining herpupils. Bud approaches the bed worriedly.                         BUD            She going to be all right, Doc?                         DR. DREYFUSS            How many pills were in that bottle?                         BUD            It was half-full -- about a dozen            or so. You going to have to take            her to the hospital?Dr. Dreyfuss ignores him. Out of his medical bag, he takes astomach tube with a rubber funnel at the end. Then he startsto lift Fran off the bed.                         DR. DREYFUSS            Help me, will you?Between them, they get Fran into an upright position.                         DR. DREYFUSS            Into the bathroom.They half-carry, half-drag Fran's limp form toward thebathroom.                         BUD            What are you going to do, Doc?                         DR. DREYFUSS            Get that stuff out of her stomach --            if it isn't too late. You better            put some coffee on -- and pray.Bud starts away as Dr. Dreyfuss takes Fran into the bathroom.Bud loses no time getting into the kitchen. He fills analuminum kettle with water, strikes a match, lights the gasburner, puts the kettle on. Then he takes a jar of instantcoffee and a chipped coffee mug out of the cupboard, shakesan excessive portion of coffee into the mug, sticks a spoonin it. He watches the kettle for a moment, mops his browwith a handkerchief, then starts back toward the bedroom.Bud crosses the bedroom to the half-open door of thebathroom, looks in anxiously. From inside come the sounds ofa coughing spasm and running water. Bud turns away, undoeshis tie and collar, paces the bedroom floor. Something onthe night table attracts his attention -- resting againstthe base of the lamp is a sealed envelope. Bud picks itup -- on it, in Fran's handwriting, is one word, JEFF. Heturns the letter over in his hand, trying to decide what todo with it.Dr. Dreyfuss emerges from the bathroom, carrying a pale,still unconscious Fran. Bud quickly conceals the suicidenote behind his back.                         DR. DREYFUSS            Bring my bag.He lugs Fran into the living room. Bud stashes the letter inhis back pocket, picks up the medical bag, follows them.In the living room, Dr. Dreyfuss lowers Fran into a chair.Her chin falls to her chest. Dreyfuss takes the bag fromBud, fishes out a hypodermic syringe, draws 2 c.c.'s from abottle of picrotoxin.                         DR. DREYFUSS            Roll up her right sleeve.Bud does so. Dr. Dreyfuss hands the hypodermic to Bud,searches for a spot for the injection.                         DR. DREYFUSS            Nice veins.He swabs the spot with alcohol, takes the hypodermic backfrom Bud.                         DR. DREYFUSS            Want to tell me what happened?                         BUD            I don't know -- I mean -- I wasn't            here -- you see -- we had some            words earlier -- nothing serious,            really -- what you might call a            lovers' quarrel --                         DR. DREYFUSS                   (making off-scene injection)            So you went right out and picked            yourself up another dame.                         BUD            Something like that.                         DR. DREYFUSS            You know, Baxter, you're a real            cutie-pie -- yes, you are.Bud just stands there, taking it. Fran stirs slightly, andfrom her parched lips comes a low moan. Dr. Dreyfuss grabsher by the hair, lifts her head up.                         DR. DREYFUSS            If you'd come home half an hour            later, you would have had quite a            Christmas present.With his free hand, Dr. Dreyfuss slaps Fran viciously acrossthe face. Bud winces. Dreyfuss, still holding Fran by thehair, takes a box of ammonia ampules out of his bag. Hecrushes one of the ampules in his hand, passes it under hernose. Fran tries to turn her head away. Dreyfuss slaps heragain, hard, crushes another ampule, repeats the process.Bud is watching tensely. From the kitchen comes the whistleof the boiling kettle, but Bud pays no attention.                         DR. DREYFUSS            Get the coffee.Bud hurries into the kitchen. He turns off the gas, poursthe boiling water into the mug with the instant coffee,stirs it. From off, come the sounds of more slapping andsome moaning. Bud carries the coffee out.In the living room, Dr. Dreyfuss is working another ammoniaampule under Fran's nose. Her eyes start fluttering. Dreyfusstakes the coffee mug from Bud, forces it between Fran'slips, pours coffee into her mouth. Fran resistsinstinctively, half the coffee dribbling over her chin anddress, but Dr. Dreyfuss keeps at it.                         DR. DREYFUSS            Let's get some air in here. Open            the windows.Bud complies promptly -- pulls up the shades, opens thewindows wide.                         DR. DREYFUSS                   (putting the empty                   mug down)            What's her name?                         BUD            Miss Kubelik -- Fran.                         DR. DREYFUSS                   (to Fran, slowly)            Fran, I'm a doctor. I'm here            because you took too many sleeping            pills. Do you understand what I'm            saying?                   (Fran mutters something)            Fran, I'm Dr. Dreyfuss -- I'm here            to help you. You took all those            sleeping pills -- remember?                         FRAN                   (mumbling groggily)            Sleeping pills.                         DR. DREYFUSS            That's right, Fran. And I'm a doctor.                         FRAN            Doctor.                         DR. DREYFUSS            Dr. Dreyfuss.                         FRAN            Dreyfuss.                         DR. DREYFUSS                   (to Bud)            Get more coffee.Bud picks up the mug, leaves.                         DR. DREYFUSS                   (to Fran)            Tell me again -- what's my name?                         FRAN            Dr. Dreyfuss.                         DR. DREYFUSS            And what happened to you?                         FRAN            I took sleeping pills.                         DR. DREYFUSS            Do you know where you are, Fran?                         FRAN                   (looking around blankly)            No.                         DR. DREYFUSS            Yes, you do. Now concentrate.                         FRAN            I don't know.Bud is coming back with the coffee.                         DR. DREYFUSS                   (pointing to Bud)            Do you know who this is?                   (Fran tries to focus)            Look at him.                         FRAN            Mr. Baxter -- nineteenth floor.                         BUD            Hello, Miss Kubelik.                         DR. DREYFUSS                   (to Bud)            Mister -- Miss -- such politeness!                         BUD                   (to Dr. Dreyfuss, discreetly)            Well -- we work in the same            building -- and we try to keep it            quiet --                         FRAN                   (to Bud, puzzled)            What are you doing here?Bud throws Dr. Dreyfuss a look, as if to say that Fran'smind still wasn't functioning properly.                         BUD                   (to Fran)            Don't you remember? We were at the            office party together --                         FRAN            Oh, yes -- office party -- Miss            Olsen --                         BUD            That's right.                   (to Dr. Dreyfuss;                   improvising rapidly)            I told you we had a fight -- that's            what it was about -- Miss Olsen --            you know that other girl you saw --                         FRAN                   (still trying to                   figure out Bud's presence)            I don't understand --                         BUD            It's not important, Fran -- the            main thing is that I got here in            time -- and you're going to be all            right --                   (to Dr. Dreyfuss)            -- isn't she, Doc?                         FRAN                   (closing her eyes)            I'm so tired --                         DR. DREYFUSS            Here -- drink this.He forces her to swallow some coffee.                         FRAN                   (pushing the mug away)            Please -- just let me sleep.                         DR. DREYFUSS            You can't sleep.                   (shaking her)            Come on, Fran -- open your eyes.                   (to Bud)            Let's get her walking. We've got to            keep her awake for the next couple            of hours.They lift her from the chair, and each draping one of herarms over his shoulder, they start to walk her up and downthe room.                         DR. DREYFUSS                   (urging Fran on)            Now walk, Fran. One, two, three,            four -- one, two, three, four --            that's the idea -- left, right,            left, right -- now we turn -- one,            two, three, four --At first, Fran's feet just drag along the floor between them.But gradually, as Dr. Dreyfuss' voice continues droninghypnotically, she falls into the rhythm of it, repeating thewords after him and putting her weight on her feet.                         DR. DREYFUSS            Left, right, left, right -- walk,            walk, walk -- one, two, three,            four -- turn -- left, right, left,            right -- now you got it --                                            DISSOLVE TO:INT. THE APARTMENT - DAWNThrough the bedroom window comes the first faint light ofdawn. Fran has been put to bed by an exhausted Dr. Dreyfuss.She is in her slip, and Dreyfuss is just drawing the blanketover her. Her eyes are closed, and she is moaning fitfully.Watching from the doorway is Bud, in shirtsleeves now, wearyand disheveled.                         DR. DREYFUSS            She'll sleep on and off for the            next twenty-four hours. Of course,            she'll have a dandy hangover when            she wakes up --                         BUD            Just as long as she's okay.                         DR. DREYFUSS                   (massaging his calves)            These cases are harder on the            doctor than on the patient. I ought            to charge you by the mile.They have now moved out into the living room, where theoverhead light and the Christmas tree bulbs are still on.                         DR. DREYFUSS            Any of that coffee left?                         BUD            Sure.He goes into the kitchen. Dr. Dreyfuss takes a small notebookwith a fountain pen clipped to it out of his bag, sinks downon the couch.                         DR. DREYFUSS            How do you spell her last name?                         BUD                   (from kitchen)            Kubelik -- with two k's.                         DR. DREYFUSS            What's her address?                   (no answer from Bud)            Where does she live?Bud appears from the kitchen, stirring the coffee powder ina cup of hot water.                         BUD                   (apprehensive)            Why do you want to know, Doc? You            don't have to report this, do you?                         DR. DREYFUSS            It's regulations.                         BUD                   (setting the coffee down)            She didn't mean it, Doc -- it was            an accident -- she had a little too            much to drink and -- she didn't            know what she was doing -- there            was no suicide note or anything --            believe me, Doc, I'm not thinking            about myself --                         DR. DREYFUSS                   (sipping the hot coffee)            Aren't you?                         BUD            It's just that she's got a family --            and there's the people in the            office -- look, Doc, can't you            forget you're a doctor -- let's            just say you're here as a neighbor --                         DR. DREYFUSS                   (a long look at Bud)            Well, as a doctor, I guess I can't            prove it wasn't an accident.                   (closes notebook)            But as your neighbor, I'd like to            kick your keester clear around the            block.                   (indicating coffee)            Mind if I cool this off?He uncaps the bottle of Scotch, pours a large slug into hiscoffee.                         BUD            Help yourself.                         DR. DREYFUSS                   (taking a big gulp of                   the spiked coffee)            I don't know what you did to that            girl in there -- and don't tell            me -- but it was bound to happen,            the way you carry on. Live now, pay            later. Diner's Club!                   (another swig)            Why don't you grow up, Baxter? Be a            mensch! You know what that means?                         BUD            I'm not sure.                         DR. DREYFUSS            A mansch -- a human being! So you            got off easy this time -- so you            were lucky --                         BUD            Yeah, wasn't I?                         DR. DREYFUSS                   (finishing coffee)            But you're not out of the woods            yet, Baxter -- because most of them            try it again!                   (picks up bag, starts                   toward door)            You know where I am if you need me.He walks out, closing the door after him. Bud dejectedlyturns off the overhead light, kicks out the plug of theChristmas tree lights, trudges into the bedroom.Fran is fast asleep. Bud picks up her dress, gets a hanger,drapes the dress over it, hangs it from the door. An earlymorning chill has invaded the room, and Bud switches an theelectric blanket to keep Fran warm. Then he slumps into achair beside the bed, looks at Fran compassionately. Thelight on the dial of the electric blanket glows in thegrayish room. Bud just sits there, watching Fran.                                            FADE OUT:FADE IN:INT. STAIRCASE - BROWNSTONE HOUSE - DAYMrs. Lieberman, followed by her dog, is climbing the stairsto Bud's apartment, puffing asthmatically. She seems quiteangry as she arrives at the door and rings the bell. Thereis no answer. She starts knocking impatiently.                         MRS. LIEBERMAN            Mr. Baxter. Open up already!Finally the door opens a crack, and Bud peers out. He lookslike a man who has slept in his clothes -- rumpled, bleary-eyed, unshaven.                         BUD            Oh -- Mrs. Lieberman.                         MRS. LIEBERMAN            So who did you think it was -- Kris            Kringle? What was going on here            last night?                         BUD            Last night?                         MRS. LIEBERMAN            All that marching -- tramp, tramp,            tramp -- you were having army            maneuvers maybe?                         BUD            I'm sorry, Mrs. Lieberman -- and            I'll never invite those people again.                         MRS. LIEBERMAN            What you get from renting to            bachelors. All night I didn't sleep            ten minutes -- and I'm sure you            woke up Dr. Dreyfuss.                         BUD            Don't worry about Dr. Dreyfuss -- I            happen to know he was out on a case.                         MRS. LIEBERMAN            I'm warning you, Mr. Baxter -- this            is a respectable house, not a            honky-tonky.                   (to the dog)            Come on, Oscar.Bud watches her start down the stairs with the dog, withdrawsinto the apartment.INT. THE APARTMENT - DAYBud closes the door, crosses toward the bedroom, looksinside. Fran is asleep under the electric blanket, breathingevenly. He tries to shut the bedroom door, but it won'tclose completely because Fran's dress, on a hanger. ishooked over the top. He goes to the phone, picks it up,dials the operator.                         BUD                   (his voice low)            Operator, I want White Plains, New            York -- Mr. J. D. Sheldrake --                   (an added thought)            -- make it person to person.INT. LIVING ROOM - SHELDRAKE HOUSE - DAYThe decor is split-level Early American. There is a hugeChristmas tree and a jumble of presents, open gift boxes,and discarded wrappings.Sheldrake and his two sons, TOMMY and JEFF JR., are squattingon the floor, testing a Cape Canaveral set the kids got forChristmas. Sheldrake is in a brand new dressing gown, with amanufacturer's tag still dangling from it, and the boys arein pajamas and astronaut's helmets. As for the Cape Canaveralset, it is a miniature layout of block-houses, launchingpads, and assorted space-missiles. Tommy has his finger onthe button controlling one of the rockets.                         SHELDRAKE                   (counting down)            7-6-5-4-3-2-1 -- let her rip!Tommy presses the button, and a spring sends the rockettoward the ceiling. Just then, the phone in the entrancehall starts ringing.                         JEFF JR.            I'll get it.He hurries to the phone.                         TOMMY            Hey, Dad -- why don't we put a fly            in the nose cone and see if we can            bring it back alive?                         SHELDRAKE            It's a thought.                         TOMMY            Maybe we should send up two flies --            and see if they'll propagate in            orbit.                         SHELDRAKE            See if they'll what?                         TOMMY            Propagate -- you know, multiply --            baby flies?                         SHELDRAKE            Oh -- oh!                         JEFF JR.                   (coming back from the phone)            It's for you, Dad. A Mr. Baxter.                         SHELDRAKE                   (getting up)            Baxter?                         JEFF JR.            Person to person.Sheldrake heads quickly for the phone.                         TOMMY                   (to Jeff Jr.)            Come on -- help me round up some            flies.In the entrance hall, Sheldrake picks up the phone, turnshis back toward the living room, speaks in a low voice.                         SHELDRAKE            Hello? -- yes -- what's on your            mind, Baxter?BUD - ON PHONE                         BUD            I hate to disturb you, but something            came up -- it's rather important --            and I think it would be a good idea            if you could see me -- at the            apartment -- as soon as possible.SHELDRAKE - ON PHONE                         SHELDRAKE            You're not making sense, Baxter.            What's this all about?BUD - ON PHONE                         BUD            I didn't want to tell you over the            phone but that certain party -- you            know who I mean -- I found her here            last night -- she had taken an            overdose of sleeping pills.SHELDRAKE - ON PHONE                         SHELDRAKE            What?From the stairway beyond him comes:                         MRS. SHELDRAKE'S VOICE            What is it, Jeff? Who's on the phone?Sheldrake turns from the phone. Halfway down the stairs isMrs. Sheldrake, in a quilted house-robe.                         SHELDRAKE                   (a nice recovery)            One of our employees had an            accident -- I don't know why they            bother me with these things on            Christmas Day.                   (into phone)            Yes, Baxter -- just how serious is            it?Out of the corner of his eye, he watches Mrs. Sheldrake comedown the stairs, pass behind him on the way to the livingroom.BUD - ON PHONE                         BUD            Well, it was touch and go there for            a while -- but she's sleeping it            off now.He glances through the half-open door toward the sleepingFran.                         BUD            I thought maybe you'd like to be            here when she wakes up.SHELDRAKE - ON PHONE                         SHELDRAKE            That's impossible.                   (an apprehensive look                   toward the living room)            You'll have to handle this situation            yourself -- as a matter of fact,            I'm counting on you --INT. THE APARTMENT - DAY                         BUD                   (into phone)            Yes, sir -- I understand.                   (taking Fran's letter                   out of his pocket)            She left a note -- you want me to            open it and read it to you?                   (a beat)            Well, it was just a suggestion --            no, you don't have to worry about            that, Mr. Sheldrake -- I kept your            name out of it so there'll be no            trouble, police-wise or newspaper-            wise --As Bud continues talking on the phone, Fran, in the bedroom,opens her eyes, looks around vaguely, trying to figure outwhere she is. She sits up in bed, winces, holds her head inher hands -- she has a fierce hangover.                         BUD                   (into phone)            -- you see, the doctor, he's a            friend of mine -- we were very            lucky in that respect -- actually,            he thinks she's my girl -- no, he            just jumped to the conclusion --            around here, I'm known as quite a            ladies' man --In the bedroom Fran, becoming aware of Bud's voice, crawlsout of bed and holding on to the furniture, moves unsteadilytoward the living room door.                         BUD                   (into phone)            -- of course, we're not out of the            woods yet -- sometimes they try it            again -- yes sir, I'll do my            best -- it looks like it'll be a            couple of days before she's fully            recovered, and I may have a little            problem with the landlady --Behind him, Fran appears in the bedroom doorway, barefootedand in her slip. She leans groggily against the door post,trying to focus on Bud and to concentrate on what he's saying.                         BUD                   (into phone)            -- all right, Mr. Sheldrake, I'll            keep her in my apartment as long as            I can -- any sort of message you            want me to give her? -- well, I'll            think of something -- goodbye, Mr.            Sheldrake.He hangs up the phone slowly.                         FRAN                   (weakly)            I'm sorry.Bud turns around, sees her standing there on rubbery legs.                         FRAN            I'm sorry, Mr. Baxter.                         BUD            Miss Kubelik --                   (hurries toward her)            -- you shouldn't be out of bed.                         FRAN            I didn't know -- I had no idea this            was your apartment --                         BUD                   (putting his arm                   around her)            Let me help you.He leads her back into the bedroom.                         FRAN            I'm so ashamed. Why didn't you just            let me die?                         BUD            What kind of talk is that?                   (he lowers her onto                   the bed)            So you got a little over-            emotional -- but you're fine now.                         FRAN                   (a groan)            My head -- it feels like a big wad            of chewing gum. What time is it?                         BUD            Two o'clock.                         FRAN                   (struggling to her feet)            Where's my dress? I have to go home.Her knees buckle. Bud catches her.                         BUD            You're in no condition to go            anywhere -- except back to bed.                         FRAN            You don't want me here --                         BUD            Sure I do. It's always nice to have            company for Christmas.He tries to put her back to bed. Fran resists.                         BUD            Miss Kubelik, I'm stronger than you            are --                         FRAN            I just want to go brush my teeth --                         BUD            Oh -- of course. I think there's a            new toothbrush somewhere.He crosses to the bathroom, takes a plaid robe off the hookon the back of the door, hands it to Fran.                         BUD            Here -- put this on.In the bathroom, he finds an unused toothbrush in a plasticcontainer. His eyes fall on his safety razor. With a glancetoward the bedroom, he unscrews the razor, removes theblade, drops it in his shirt pocket. Then he empties theblades from the dispenser, puts those in his pocket. Now henotices a bottle of iodine on the medicine shelf, stashesthat in another pocket, just as Fran appears in the doorwaywearing the robe.                         BUD                   (handing her the toothbrush)            Here. How about some breakfast?                         FRAN            No -- I don't want anything.                         BUD            I'll fix you some coffee.He crosses the bedroom, heading for the kitchen, stops.                         BUD            Oh -- we're all out of coffee --            you had quite a lot of it last            night --He thinks for a moment, hurries toward the hall door.INT. SECOND FLOOR LANDING - DAYBud comes out of his apartment, leaving the door half open,heads for the Dreyfuss apartment. He rings the bell, peersdown over the banister to make sure Mrs. Lieberman isn'tsnooping around. Mrs. Dreyfuss opens the door.                         BUD            Mrs. Dreyfuss, can I borrow some            coffee -- and maybe an orange and a            couple of eggs?                         MRS. DREYFUSS                   (contemptuously)            Eggs he asks me for. Oranges. What            you need is a good horse-whipping.                         BUD            Ma'am?                         MRS. DREYFUSS            From me the doctor has no secrets.            Poor girl -- how could you do a            thing like that?                         BUD            I didn't really do anything --            honest -- I mean, you take a girl            out a couple of times a week --            just for laughs -- and right away            she thinks you're serious --            marriage-wise.                         MRS. DREYFUSS            Big shot! For you, I wouldn't lift            a finger -- but for her, I'll fix a            little something to eat.She slams the door in his face, Bud starts back to hisapartment.INT. THE APARTMENT - DAYFran enters shakily from the bedroom, looks around for thephone, locates it, picks it up. As she starts dialing, Budcomes in from the hall.                         BUD            Who are you calling, Miss Kubelik?                         FRAN            My sister -- she'll want to know            what happened to me.                         BUD                   (alarmed)            Wait a minute -- let's talk this            over first.                   (hurries up to her,                   takes the receiver away)            Just what are you going to tell her?                         FRAN            Well, I haven't figured it out,            exactly.                         BUD            You better figure it out -- exactly.            Suppose she asks you why you didn't            come home last night?                         FRAN            I'll tell her I spent the night            with a friend.                         BUD            Who?                         FRAN            Someone from the office.                         BUD            And where are you now?                         FRAN            In his apartment.                         BUD            His apartment?                         FRAN            I mean -- her apartment.                         BUD            What's your friend's name?                         FRAN            Baxter.                         BUD            What's her first name?                         FRAN            Miss.                   (she is impressed                   with her own cleverness)                         BUD            When are you coming home?                         FRAN            As soon as I can walk.                         BUD            Something wrong with your legs?                         FRAN            No -- it's my stomach.                         BUD            Your stomach?                         FRAN            They had to pump it out.                         BUD                   (hanging up the phone)            Miss Kubelik, I don't think you            ought to call anybody -- not till            that chewing gum is out of your            head.                   (leads her into bedroom)                         FRAN            But they'll be worried about me --            my brother-in-law may be calling            the police --                         BUD            That's why we have to be careful --            we don't want to involve anybody --            after all, Mr. Sheldrake is a            married man --                         FRAN            Thanks for reminding me.She pulls away from him, starts to get into bed.                         BUD                   (contritely)            I didn't mean it that way -- I was            just talking to him on the phone --            he's very concerned about you.                         FRAN            He doesn't give a damn about me.                         BUD            Oh, you're wrong. He told me --                         FRAN            He's a liar. But that's not the            worst part of it -- the worst part            is -- I still love him.The doorbell rings.                         BUD            Must be Mrs. Dreyfuss --                   (starts into living room)            -- remember the doctor -- from last            night -- that's his wife.He opens the hall door. Mrs. Dreyfuss brushes past him witha tray full of food.                         MRS. DREYFUSS            So where is the victim?                   (Bud indicates the bedroom)            Max the Knife!She sweeps into the bedroom, Bud tagging along.                         MRS. DREYFUSS                   (to Fran)            Nu, little lady, how are we feeling            today?                         FRAN            I don't know -- kind of dizzy.                         MRS. DREYFUSS            Here. The best thing for dizzy is a            little noodle soup with chicken --            white meat -- and a glass tea.She sets the tray down on Fran's lap.                         FRAN            Thank you. I'm really not hungry.                         MRS. DREYFUSS            Go ahead! Eat! Enjoy!She hands her the soup spoon, turns to Bud.                         MRS. DREYFUSS            You wouldn't have such a thing as a            napkin, would you?                         BUD            Well, I have some paper towels --                         MRS. DREYFUSS            Beatnik! Go to my kitchen -- third            drawer, under the good silver,            there is napkins.                         BUD            Yes, Mrs. Dreyfuss.He starts out with a worried backward glance toward the two.Fran is just sitting there, the spoon in her hand, nottouching the soup.                         MRS. DREYFUSS            So what are you waiting for -- a            singing commercial?                         FRAN            I can't eat.Mrs. Dreyfuss takes the spoon from her, starts to feed her.                         MRS. DREYFUSS            You must eat -- and you must get            healthy -- and you must forget him.            Such a fine boy he seemed when he            first moved in here -- clean and            cut -- a regular Ivy Leaguer. Turns            out he is King Farouk. Mit the            drinking -- mit the cha cha -- mit            the no napkins. A girl like you,            for the rest of your life you want            to cry in your noodle soup? Who            needs it! You listen to me, you            find yourself a nice, substantial            man -- a widower maybe -- and            settle down -- instead of nashing            all those sleeping pills -- for            what, for whom? -- for some Good            Time Charlie?                   (sees Bud approaching                   with napkin)            Sssh!                         BUD                   (gaily)            One napkin, coming up.                   (hands it to Fran)            I wish we had some champagne to            wrap it around.                         MRS. DREYFUSS                   (to Fran)            What did I tell you?                         BUD                   (uncomfortable)            Look, Mrs. Dreyfuss, you don't have            to wait around. I'll wash the            dishes and --                         MRS. DREYFUSS            You wash 'em, you break 'em. I'll            come back for them later.                   (to Fran)            If he makes trouble, give me a yell.She exits.                         FRAN            She doesn't seem to like you very            much.                         BUD            Oh, I don't mind. As a matter of            fact, I'm sort of flattered -- that            anybody should think a girl like            you -- would do a thing like            this -- over a guy like me.                         FRAN                   (glancing at night table)            Oh. Did you find something here --            an envelope -- ?                         BUD            Yes, I've got it.                   (takes envelope out                   of back pocket)            Don't you think we'd better destroy            it? So it won't fall into the wrong            hands -- ?                         FRAN            Open it.Bud tears open the envelope, takes out Sheldrake's hundreddollars.                         BUD            There's nothing here but a hundred            dollar bill.                         FRAN            That's right. Will you see that Mr.            Sheldrake gets it?                         BUD                   (shrugging)            Sure.He puts the money in his pocket.                         FRAN                   (holding out tray)            Here -- take this, will you?Bud relieves her of the tray, sets it down.                         BUD            You want me to move the television            set in here?                   (Fran shakes her head)            You play gin rummy?                         FRAN            I'm not very good at it.                         BUD            I am. Let me get the cards.                         FRAN            You don't have to entertain me.Bud opens the bureau drawer, takes out a deck of cards, ascore pad, and a pencil.                         BUD            Nothing I'd like better -- you know            togetherness. Guess what I did last            Christmas. Had an early dinner at            the automat, then went to the zoo,            then I came home and cleaned up            after Mr. Eichelberger -- he had a            little eggnog party here. I'm way            ahead this year.He pulls a chair up to the bed, starts to shuffle the cards.                         BUD            Three across, spades double, high            deals.                   (they cut)            Eight -- ten.                   (he starts to deal)                         FRAN                   (pensively)            I think I'm going to give it all up.                         BUD            Give what up?                         FRAN            Why do people have to love people,            anyway?                         BUD            Yeah -- I know what you mean.                   (flips over down card)            Queen.                         FRAN            I don't want it.                         BUD            Pick a card.She does, and they start playing.                         FRAN            What do you call it when somebody            keeps getting smashed up in            automobile accidents?                         BUD            A bad insurance risk?                         FRAN                   (nodding)            That's me with men. I've been            jinxed from the word go -- first            time I was ever kissed was in a            cemetery.                         BUD            A cemetery?                         FRAN            I was fifteen -- we used to go            there to smoke. His name was            George -- he threw me over for a            drum majorette.                         BUD            Gin.He spreads his hand. Fran lays her cards down, and Bud addsthem up.                         BUD            Thirty-six and twenty-five --            that's sixty-one and two boxes.                   (enters score on pad)                         FRAN            I just have this talent for falling            in love with the wrong guy in the            wrong place at the wrong time.                         BUD                   (shuffling)            How many guys were there?                         FRAN                   (holding up four fingers)            Three. The last one was manager of            a finance company, back home in            Pittsburgh -- they found a little            shortage in his accounts, but he            asked me to wait for him -- he'll            be out in 1965.                         BUD                   (pushing the deck                   toward her)            Cut.                         FRAN                   (she does, and he                   starts dealing)            So I came to New York and moved in            with my sister and her husband --            he drives a cab. They sent me to            secretarial school, and I applied            for a job with Consolidated - but I            flunked the typing test --                         BUD            Too slow?                         FRAN            Oh. I can type up a storm, but I            can't spell. So they gave me a pair            of white gloves and stuck me in an            elevator -- that's how I met            Jeff --                   (her eyes mist up,                   and she puts her                   cards down)            Oh, God, I'm so fouled up. What am            I going to do now?                         BUD            You better win a hand -- you're on            a blitz.                         FRAN            Was he really upset when you told            him?                         BUD            Mr. Sheldrake? Oh, yes. Very.                         FRAN            Maybe he does love me -- only he            doesn't have the nerve to tell his            wife.                         BUD            I'm sure that's the explanation.                         FRAN            You really think so?                         BUD            No doubt about it.                         FRAN                   (a thoughtful beat, then)            Can I have that pad and the pencil?                         BUD                   (handing her score                   pad and pencil)            What for?                         FRAN            I'm going to write a letter to Mrs.            Sheldrake.                         BUD            You are?                         FRAN            As one woman to another -- I'm sure            she'll understand --                         BUD            Miss Kubelik, I don't think that's            such a good idea.He gently takes the pad and pencil away from her.                         FRAN            Why not?                         BUD            Well, for one thing, you can't            spell. And secondly -- if you did            something like that -- you'd hate            yourself.                         FRAN                   (fighting back tears)            I don't like myself very much anyway.                         BUD            Pick up your cards and let's go.                         FRAN            Do I have to?                         BUD            You bet. I got a terrific hand.Fran, her eyes drooping sleepily, picks up her cards, makesa discard.                         BUD            You sure you want to throw that card?                         FRAN            Sure.                         BUD            Gin.He removes the cards from her hand, starts to add them up.                         BUD            Fifty-two and twenty-five -- that's            seventy-seven -- spades is double --            a hundred and fifty-four -- and            four boxes -- you're blitzed in two            games.He enters the score on the pad. As he starts to shuffleagain, he notices that Fran has slid down on the pillow, andthat her eyes are closed -- she is asleep.Bud rises, adjusts the blanket over her. He stands therelooking at her for a moment, runs his hand over his chin.Realizing he needs a shave, he crosses to the bathroom.In the bathroom, Bud washes his face, squirts some shavingcream into his hand, starts to apply it.EXT. BROWNSTONE HOUSE - DAYA Volkswagen draws up to the curb in front of the house.Kirkeby gets out on the street side, Sylvia squeezes herselfout through the other door. Kirkeby raises the front hood ofthe Volkswagen, reaches into the luggage compartment, takesout a cardboard bucket with a bottle of champagne on ice.Together, he and Sylvia start up the steps of the house,Sylvia already cha cha-ing in anticipation.INT. APARTMENT - DAYIn the bathroom, Bud has just finished lathering his facewhen the doorbell rings. He starts into the bedroom.                         BUD                   (muttering to himself)            All right -- all right, Mrs.            Dreyfuss.He glances at the sleeping Fran, picks up the tray, carriesit into the living room, pulling the bedroom door closedbehind him. But it doesn't shut completely, because ofFran's dress hooked over the top.Bud crosses to the hall door, opens it. Outside are Kirkeby,with the champagne bucket, and Sylvia.                         KIRKEBY            Hi, Baxter.                         BUD                   (blocking the door)            What do you want?                         KIRKEBY            What do I -- ?                   (to Sylvia)            Just a minute.He pushes his way into the apartment past Bud.                         BUD            You can't come in.                         KIRKEBY                   (closing the door                   behind him)            What's the matter with you, Buddy-            boy? I made a reservation for four            o'clock, remember?He heads for the coffee table, sets the champagne down. Budshoots a quick glance toward the bedroom door, gets rid ofthe tray.                         BUD            Look, you can't stay here. Just            take your champagne and go.                         KIRKEBY            Baxter, I don't want to pull rank            on you -- but I told the lady it            was all set -- you want to make a            liar out of me?                         BUD            Are you going to leave, Mr. Kirkeby,            or do I have to throw you out?As Bud spins him around, Kirkeby notices the dress on thebedroom door.                         KIRKEBY            Buddy-boy, why didn't you say so?                   (indicating dress)            You got yourself a little playmate,            huh?                         BUD            Now will you get out?INT. SECOND FLOOR LANDING - DAYOutside the door of Bud's apartment, Sylvia is cha cha-ingimpatiently. Up the stairs comes Dr. Dreyfuss, in hisovercoat and carrying his medical bag.                         SYLVIA                   (knocking on the door)            Hey, come on, what are we waiting            for? Open up, will you?She continues cha-cha-ing. Dr. Dreyfuss has unlocked thedoor to his apartment, and is watching Sylvia, appalled bythe fact that Baxter seems to be at it again. He startsinside.                         DR. DREYFUSS                   (calling)            Mildred --  !He shuts the door behind him.                         SYLVIA                   (knocking on Baxter's door)            What's holding things up?INT. APARTMENT - DAYKirkeby looks toward the door in response to Sylvia'sknocking.                         KIRKEBY            Say, why don't we have ourselves a            party -- the four of us?                         BUD            No!He forces Kirkeby toward the hall door. Kirkeby, glancingpast him through the partly-open door of the bedroom,catches sight of Fran asleep in bed.                         KIRKEBY                   (grinning smugly)            Well, I don't blame you. So you hit            the jackpot, eh kid -- I mean,            Kubelik-wise?                   (Bud opens the door,                   gestures him out)            Don't worry. I won't say a word to            anybody.INT. SECOND FLOOR LANDING - DAYKirkeby comes backing out the door of Bud's apartment, minusthe champagne bucket.                         KIRKEBY            Stay with it, Buddy-boy!                   (Bud shuts the door                   on him)            Come on, Sylvia.                         SYLVIA            What gives?                         KIRKEBY            A little mixup in signals. Let's go.                         SYLVIA            Go where?                         KIRKEBY                   (leading her toward stairs)            What's your mother doing this            afternoon?                         SYLVIA            She's home -- stuffing a turkey.                         KIRKEBY            Why don't we send her to a movie --            like Ben-Hur?                         SYLVIA            That's fine. But what are we going            to do about grandma and Uncle            Herman and Aunt Sophie and my two            nieces --INT. APARTMENT - DAYBud comes into the bedroom. As he heads for the bathroom,Fran stirs slightly, opens her eyes.                         FRAN            Who was that?                         BUD            Just somebody delivering a bottle            of champagne. Like some?                         FRAN                   (shaking her head)            Would you mind opening the window?She turns off the electric blanket as Bud crosses to thewindow, pushes it up. Then a thought strikes him, and helooks at Fran suspiciously.                         BUD            Now don't go getting any ideas,            Miss Kubelik.                         FRAN            I just want some fresh air.                         BUD            It's only one story down -- the            best you can do is break a leg.                         FRAN            So they'll shoot me -- like a horse.                         BUD                   (approaching the bed)            Please, Miss Kubelik, you got to            promise me you won't do anything            foolish.                         FRAN            Who'd care?                         BUD            I would.                         FRAN                   (sleepily)            Why can't I ever fall in love with            somebody nice like you?                         BUD                   (ruefully)            Yeah. Well -- that's the way it            crumbles, cookie-wise. Go to sleep.Fran closes her eyes. Bud returns to the bathroom, picks uphis razor, starts to shave. But something seems to be wrongwith the razor -- and unscrewing it, he realizes that thereis no blade. Sheepishly, he takes out the blade he hid inhis shirt pocket, inserts it in his razor, screws it shut.Then he resumes shaving.                                            FADE OUT:FADE IN:INT. SHELDRAKE'S ANTEROOM - DAYIt is the morning after Christmas, and Miss Olsen and theother girls are just settling down to work. Sheldrake, inhat and coat, approaches from the elevators, comes throughthe glass doors.                         SECRETARIES                   (ad lib)            Good morning, Mr. Sheldrake.                         SHELDRAKE                   (ignoring them)            Miss Olsen, will you come into my            office, please?He strides into the inner office. Miss Olsen picks up herstenographic pad, follows him in.INT. SHELDRAKE'S OFFICE - DAYSheldrake is removing his hat and coat as Miss Olsen comesin, shuts the door behind her.                         MISS OLSEN            Did you have a nice Christmas?                         SHELDRAKE            Lovely. You were a big help.                         MISS OLSEN            Me?                         SHELDRAKE            Thank you for giving that little            pep talk to Miss Kubelik at the            office party.                         MISS OLSEN                   (dropping her                   business-like mask)            I'm sorry, Jeff. You know I could            never hold my liquor --                         SHELDRAKE            But I thought you could hold your            tongue.                         MISS OLSEN            It won't happen again.                         SHELDRAKE            You bet it won't. I'll arrange for            you to get a month's severance            pay --                   (she looks at him, uncomprehending)            That's right, Miss Olsen. I'm            letting you go.                         MISS OLSEN                   (quietly)            You let me go four years ago, Jeff.            Only you were cruel enough to make            me sit out there and watch the new            models pass by.                         SHELDRAKE            I'd appreciate it if you'd be out            of here as soon as you can.                         MISS OLSEN                   (formal again)            Yes, Mr. Sheldrake.She turns and walks out of the office, shutting the door.Sheldrake looks after her for a moment, then goes to hisdesk, picks up the phone, dials the operator.                         SHELDRAKE                   (into phone)            This is Mr. Sheldrake. I'd like Mr.            Baxter's home telephone number --            that's C.C. Baxter, in Ordinary            Premium Accounting --INT. SHELDRAKE'S ANTEROOM - DAYMiss Olsen has put on her coat, and is going through herdesk drawers, cleaning out her personal belongings -- nailpolish, emery boards, an extra pair of glasses, etc. As shestows them away in her handbag, one of the buttons on thetelephone lights up. Miss Olsen hesitates for a second, thenwith a quick look around, she pushes the button down,carefully picks up the receiver, listens in.INT. SHELDRAKE'S OFFICE - DAYSheldrake is dialing the last two digits of a telephonenumber. After a moment, someone answers.                         SHELDRAKE            Hello, Baxter? Jeff Sheldrake. Can            you talk?INT. THE APARTMENT - DAYBud, wearing slacks, a shirt open at the neck, and a cardigansweater, is at the phone. A pillow and a blanket on theliving room couch indicate where he spent the night.                         BUD                   (looking off)            Yes, she's in the shower -- she's            coming along fine, considering.SHELDRAKE - ON PHONE                         SHELDRAKE            Good. Is there anything you need --            money -- ?BUD - ON PHONE                         BUD            No, thank you, Mr. Sheldrake. As a            matter of fact, I've got some money            for you -- a hundred dollars --SHELDRAKE - ON PHONE                         SHELDRAKE            Oh.                   (a beat)            Well, if there's anything I can do            for you --BUD - ON PHONE                         BUD            For me? I don't think so. But I was            hoping maybe you could do something            for her --SHELDRAKE - ON PHONE                         SHELDRAKE            Like what? Put yourself in my            place, Baxter -- how can I help            her -- my hands are tied --INT. APARTMENT - DAYFran now appears in the bedroom, wearing the plaid robe, andtoweling her damp hair.                         BUD                   (into phone)            Well, at least you can talk to            her -- let me put her on -- and            please be gentle --He puts the receiver down, crosses toward the bedroom door.                         BUD            There's a call for you --                         FRAN                   (approaching)            For me?                         BUD            -- Mr. Sheldrake.                         FRAN            I don't want to talk to him.                         BUD            I think you should. I have to run            down to the grocery anyway -- all            that's left around here is one            frozen pizza --                   (takes raincoat and                   old hat from hanger)            I'll be right back -- okay?Fran nods, watches him go out. Then she glances toward thephone, which is off the hook. Reluctantly she advancestoward it, picks it up.                         FRAN                   (into phone)            Hello, Jeff.                   (a long beat)            Yes, I'm all right.SHELDRAKE - ON PHONE                         SHELDRAKE            Fran, why did you do it? It's so            childish -- and it never solves            anything -- I ought to be very            angry with you, scaring me like            that -- but let's forget the whole            thing -- pretend it never            happened -- what do you say, Fran?                   (no answer)            Fran --INT. SHELDRAKE'S ANTEROOMMiss Olsen, glued to the phone, is listening intently.SHELDRAKE - ON PHONE                         SHELDRAKE            Are you there, Fran?FRAN - ON PHONE                         FRAN            Of course I'm not here -- because            the whole thing never happened -- I            never took those pills -- I never            loved you -- we never even met --            isn't that the way you want it?SHELDRAKE - ON PHONE                         SHELDRAKE            There you go again -- you know I            didn't mean it that way, Fran. Just            get well -- do what the nurse tells            you -- I mean Baxter -- and I'll            see you as soon as I can. Bye, Fran.                   (he hangs up)INT. SHELDRAKE'S ANTEROOM - DAYMiss Olsen hangs up the phone, sits there for a moment,weighing what she has overheard. Then she makes a decision,picks up the phone again, dials a number. As she waits foran answer, she glances toward Sheldrake's office.                         MISS OLSEN                   (into phone)            Hello, Mrs. Sheldrake? This is Miss            Olsen -- fine, thank you -- Mrs.            Sheldrake, I was wondering if we            could have lunch together? -- well,            I don't know how important it is,            but I think you might find it            educational -- it concerns your            husband -- all right, one o'clock,            at Longchamp's, Madison and 59th.She looks up as the door to the inner office opens andSheldrake comes out. He stops when he sees that Miss Olsenis still there.                         MISS OLSEN                   (hanging up phone)            Don't worry, I'm on my way.                   (she rises)            I was just making a personal call.She opens her handbag, takes out a coin, puts it down on thedesk.                         MISS OLSEN            Here's a dime.She marches out through the glass doors toward the elevatorsas Sheldrake stands there, watching her.                                            DISSOLVE TO:EXT. BROWNSTONE HOUSE - DAYBud comes down the street, carrying a large brown paper bagoverflowing with groceries. He goes up the steps of thehouse and through the front door.INT. STAIRCASE AND SECOND FLOOR LANDING - DAYAs Bud starts up the stairs, with the groceries, Mrs.Lieberman comes hurrying down toward him.                         MRS. LIEBERMAN                   (breathlessly)            Oh, Mr. Baxter -- I'm glad you're            here -- I was just going to get the            passkey.                         BUD            What for?                         MRS. LIEBERMAN            I thought I smelled gas coming from            your apartment.                         BUD            Gas?He races up the stairs two at a time, fumbling franticallyfor his key. Reaching the door of his apartment, he unlocksit, dashes in.INT. THE APARTMENT - DAYBud comes bursting through the door. The living room isempty, and the bedclothes have been removed from the couch.                         BUD                   (calling)            Miss Kubelik!He dumps the bag of groceries on a table, rushes into thekitchen. The burner has been turned on under the kettle, butthere is no flame, and gas is hissing from the vents. Budsnaps it off, starts out again.                         BUD            Miss Kubelik!Meanwhile Fran has appeared from the bathroom, and isapproaching the bedroom door. She is still in her robe, andis holding a double sock-stretcher with one of Bud's sockson it. Bud, rounding the corner from the kitchen at fullspeed, collides with Fran in the bedroom doorway. He grabsher arms with obvious relief.                         BUD            Are you all right?                         FRAN            Sure.                   (sniffs)            What's that funny smell?                         BUD            Gas.                   (indicating kitchen)            Didn't you turn it on?                         FRAN            Yes. I was boiling some water to            get the coffee stains out of my            dress.                         BUD                   (accusingly)            You turned it on -- but you didn't            light it.                         FRAN            Are you supposed to?                         BUD            In this house, you're supposed to.                         FRAN            Oh.Bud starts to take off his hat and coat, notices the sock-stretcher in her hand.                         BUD            What are you doing with that?                         FRAN            I was washing my stockings, so I            decided I might as well do your            socks.                         BUD            Thank you.                         FRAN            It's very curious -- I could only            find three and a half pair.                         BUD            Well, things are a little            disorganized around here.He carries the bag of groceries into the kitchen, Frantrailing after him. During the following, he removes thecontents of the bag -- bread, eggs, bacon, spaghetti, groundround, frankfurters, and assorted canned goods -- sets themout on the drainboard.                         FRAN            I'd say. What's a tennis racquet            doing in the kitchen?She produces the racquet from behind the stove.                         BUD            Tennis racquet? Oh, I remember -- I            was cooking myself an Italian            dinner.                   (Fran looks at him oddly)            I used it to strain the spaghetti.                         FRAN                   (thinking it over)            Why not?                         BUD            As a matter of fact, I'm a pretty            good cook -- but I'm a lousy            housekeeper.                         FRAN            Yes, you are,                   (indicating the                   living room)            When I was straightening up the            couch, you know what I found? Six            hairpins, a lipstick, a pair of            false eyelashes, and a swizzle            stick from the Stork Club.                         BUD                   (shrugging)            It's just that I'm the kind of guy            who can't say no -- I don't mean to            girls -- I mean --                         FRAN            You mean to someone like Mr.            Sheldrake.                         BUD            I guess so.                         FRAN            I know so. He's a taker.                         BUD            A what?                         FRAN            Some people take, some people get            took -- and they know they're            getting took -- and there's nothing            they can do about it.                         BUD            I wouldn't say that --                   (trying to change the subject)            What would you like to have for            diner? There's onion soup and            canned asparagus --                         FRAN            I really ought to be getting home.            My family will be flipping by now.She starts into the living room. Bud follows her.                         BUD            You can't leave yet. The doctor            says it takes forty-eight hours to            get the stuff out of your system.                         FRAN                   (wistfully)            I wonder how long it takes to get            someone you're stuck on out of your            system? If they'd only invent some            kind of a pump for that --She sits on the arm of a chair.                         BUD            I know how you feel, Miss Kubelik.            You think it's the end of the            world -- but it's not, really. I            went through exactly the same thing            myself.                         FRAN            You did?                         BUD            Well, maybe not exactly -- I tried            to do it with a gun.                         FRAN            Over a girl?                         BUD            Worse than that -- she was the wife            of my best friend -- and I was mad            for her. But I knew it was            hopeless -- so I decided to end it            all. I went to a pawnshop and            bought a forty-five automatic and            drove up to Eden Park -- do you            know Cincinnati?                         FRAN            No, I don't.                         BUD            Anyway, I parked the car and loaded            the gun -- well, you read in the            papers all the time that people            shoot themselves, but believe me,            it's not that easy -- I mean, how            do you do it? -- here, or here, or            here --                   (with cocked finger,                   he points to his                   temple, mouth and chest)            -- you know where I finally shot            myself?                         FRAN            Where?                         BUD                   (indicating kneecap)            Here.                         FRAN            In the knee?                         BUD            Uh-huh. While I was sitting there,            trying to make my mind up, a cop            stuck his head in the car, because            I was illegally parked -- so I            started to hide the gun under the            seat and it went off -- pow!                         FRAN                   (laughing)            That's terrible.                         BUD            Yeah. Took me a year before I could            bend my knee -- but I got over the            girl in three weeks. She still            lives in Cincinnati, has four kids,            gained twenty pounds -- she sends            me a fruit cake every Christmas.                         FRAN                   (suddenly suspicious)            Are you just making that up to make            me feel better?                         BUD            Of course not. Here's the fruit            cake.                   (shows it to her                   under Christmas tree)            And you want to see my knee?                   (starts to raise                   pant-leg)                         FRAN            No, thanks. The fellows in the            office may get the wrong idea how I            found out.                         BUD            So let 'em. Look, I'm going to cook            dinner for us. We'll have the fruit            cake for dessert. You just sit            there and rest. You've done enough            for one day.                         FRAN                   (smiling)            Yes, nurse.Bud starts happily into the kitchen.                                            DISSOLVE TO:INT. LOBBY INSURANCE BUILDING - DAYIt is mid-afternoon, and traffic is light. A Yellow Cab haspulled up in front of the entrance, and the driver, astockily-built young man in a leather jacket and cap, getsout and comes through the revolving doors into the lobby.His name is KARL MATUSCHKA, and he is Fran's brother-in-law.As he cases the elevators, the starter comes up to him.                         ELEVATOR STARTER            Can I help you?                         MATUSCHKA            I'm looking for one of the elevator            girls -- Miss Kubelik.                         ELEVATOR STARTER            So am I. She didn't report this            morning.                         MATUSCHKA            She didn't. Where can I get some            information -- who's in charge here?                         ELEVATOR STARTER            That comes under General Office            Administration. See Mr. Dobisch,            twenty-first floor.                         MATUSCHKA            Thanks.He steps into an elevator, the doors of which are justclosing.INT. DOBISCH'S OFFICE - DAYDobisch is sitting behind his desk, lighting a cigar.Kirkeby, who has dropped in for a little visit, is perchedon the edge of the desk.                         KIRKEBY            -- so yesterday afternoon I take            Sylvia up to the apartment, and            guess who he's got stashed away in            the bedroom?                         DOBISCH            Who?                         KIRKEBY            Kubelik.                         DOBISCH            No kidding. Buddy-boy and Kubelik            having themselves a little toot!                         KIRKEBY            Toot? It's more like a lost weekend.            Neither of them showed up for work            today.                         DOBISCH            A.W.O.L.?                         KIRKEBY            What gripes me is the two of them            were guzzling my champagne while            Sylvia and I wound up at the            Guggenheim Museum.The glass door opens and Matuschka comes in.                         MATUSCHKA            Mr. Dobisch?                         DOBISCH            Yeah.                         MATUSCHKA            My name is Karl Matuschka -- my            sister-in-law, she runs one of the            elevators here -- Fran Kubelik.                         KIRKEBY                   (exchanging a glance                   with Dobisch)            Miss Kubelik?                         MATUSCHKA            You know her?                         DOBISCH            Of course. There may be a lot of            employees here -- but we're one big            happy family.                         MATUSCHKA            Well, she lives with us -- and my            wife, she's getting a little            nervous -- on account of Fran            hasn't been home for two days.                         KIRKEBY                   (another look at Dobisch)            That so.                         MATUSCHKA            Anyway, we was wondering if somebody            in the office would know what            happened to her.                         DOBISCH            I see.                   (to Kirkeby)            What do you think, Al? Can we help            the man?                         KIRKEBY                   (after a pregnant pause)            Why not? We don't owe Buddy-boy            anything.                         DOBISCH            Yeah. What's Buddy-boy done for us            lately?                         MATUSCHKA                   (scowling)            Who is Buddy-boy?                                            DISSOLVE TO:INT. THE APARTMENT - EVENINGBuddy-boy is bending over a hot stove, preparing an Italiandinner. He takes a saucepan of spaghetti off the fire, andpicking up the tennis racquet with the other hand, pours thespaghetti on top of the racquet strings. Then he turns onthe faucet, runs water over the spaghetti. With the combinedtechnique of Brillat-Savarin and Pancho Gonzales, he gentlyagitates the racquet, letting the water drain off thespaghetti. As he works, he hums a theme from Tschaikowsky'sCapriccio Italien.Fran walks in, still in her robe.                         FRAN            Are we dressing for dinner?                         BUD            No -- just come as you are.                         FRAN                   (watching him)            Say, you're pretty good with that            racquet.                         BUD            You ought to see my backhand.                   (dumping spaghetti                   into platter)            And wait till I serve the meatballs.                   (demonstrates)                         FRAN            Shall I light the candles?                         BUD            It's a must -- gracious-living-wise.As Fran starts into the living room, Bud begins to ladlemeat sauce onto the spaghetti, humming operatically.In the living room, the small table has been set for two,and prominent on it is the champagne bottle that Mr. Kirkebyleft behind, still in its cardboard bucket, but freshly iced.As Fran lights the candles, she notices the napkins on thetable, peels a price-tag off the corner of one of them.                         FRAN            I see you bought some napkins.                         BUD            Might as well go all the way.He carries the platter of spaghetti and meat sauce in fromthe kitchen, sets it on the table, sprinkles some cheese onit. Then he crosses to the coffee table, where a fullmartini pitcher stands in readiness, fills a couple ofglasses. Fran seats herself at the table.                         BUD            You know, I used to live like            Robinson Crusoe -- shipwrecked            among eight million people. Then            one day I saw a footprint in the            sand -- and there you were --                   (hands her martini)            It's a wonderful thing -- dinner            for two.                         FRAN            You usually eat alone?                         BUD            Oh, no. Sometimes I have dinner            with Ed Sullivan, sometimes with            Dinah Shore or Perry Como -- the            other night I had dinner with Mae            West -- of course, she was much            younger then.                   (toasting)            Cheers.                         FRAN            Cheers.They drink.                         BUD            You know what we're going to do            after dinner?                         FRAN            The dishes?                         BUD            I mean, after that?                         FRAN            What?                         BUD            You don't have to if you don't want            to --                         FRAN            I don't?                         BUD            We're going to finish that gin game.                         FRAN            Oh.                         BUD            So I want you to keep a clear head.The door bell rings. Carrying his martini glass, Bud crossesto the door, starts to open it.                         BUD            Because I don't want to take            advantage of you -- the way I did            yesterday in bed.By now the door is open, and Bud is speaking to Fran overhis shoulder. He turns, finds himself face to face with KarlMatuschka, who is standing grimly in the doorway.                         MATUSCHKA            Baxter?                         BUD            Yes?Matuschka shoves him roughly aside, strides past him towardFran, who has risen to her feet.                         MATUSCHKA            What's with you, Fran -- did you            forget where you live?                         FRAN                   (to Bud)            This is my brother-in-law, Karl            Matuschka.                         BUD                   (friendly)            How do you do, Mr. Matuschka?                         MATUSCHKA                   (pushing Bud away; to Fran)            Okay, get your clothes on. I got            the cab downstairs.                         BUD            Now, wait a minute. I know what            you're thinking -- but it's not as            bad as it looks --                         MATUSCHKA                   (shoving him away)            It's none of my business what you            do, Fran -- you're over twenty-            one -- but your sister happens to            think you're a lady.                         BUD            All we were going to do is eat and            wash the dishes --                         MATUSCHKA                   (grabbing him)            Look, Buddy-boy -- if there wasn't            a lady present, I'd clobber you.                         FRAN                   (separating them)            All right, Karl -- I'll get dressed.She exits into the bedroom, removing her dress from thedoor, and closing it. Matuschka leans against the wallbeside the hall door, eyeing Bud truculently. Bud raises afinger to remonstrate with him -- then breaks into a nervous,ingratiating smile.                         BUD            Care for a martini? Champagne?                   (Matuschka continues                   glaring at him)            How about a little spaghetti with            meat sauce? Made it myself.                   (Matuschka just scowls)            Your sister-in-law sure is            terrific --                   (realizes his mistake;                   switching abruptly)            Must be murder driving a cab in New            York -- I mean, with all that            cross-town traffic --He gestures with the martini glass, spilling the contentsover his shirtfront. Through the partly open hall door, Dr.Dreyfuss sticks his head in.                         DR. DREYFUSS            Hi, Baxter.He steps into the apartment, passing Matuschka withoutseeing him.                         DR. DREYFUSS            How's the patient?                         BUD                   (quickly)            Oh, I'm fine, Doc.                         DR. DREYFUSS            Not you -- Miss Kubelik.                         MATUSCHKA                   (stepping forward)            What's the matter with Miss Kubelik?                         BUD            Oh, this is Mr. Matuschka -- he's            Miss Kubelik's -- he's got a cab            downstairs --                         MATUSCHKA                   (to Dreyfuss)            Fran been sick or something?Dr. Dreyfuss looks at Bud.                         BUD            No, no -- just had a little accident.                         MATUSCHKA                   (to Dreyfuss)            What does he mean, accident?                         DR. DREYFUSS            Well, these things happen all the            time --                         MATUSCHKA            What things?                   (grabbing Dreyfuss)            Say, what kind of doctor are you,            anyway?                         BUD                   (hastily)            Oh, not that kind. He just gave her            a shot and pumped her stomach out --Behind them, the bedroom door has opened, and Fran comesout, wearing her coat over her dress.                         MATUSCHKA            What for?                         FRAN                   (coming up)            Because I took some sleeping pills.            But I'm all right now -- so let's go.                         MATUSCHKA            Why did you take sleeping pills?                         BUD                   (promptly)            On account of me.                         MATUSCHKA                   (whirling on him)            You?                         BUD            Who else?Matuschka lashes out with a left to Bud's jaw, and while heis off balance, catches him with a right to the eye. Budfalls back against the Christmas tree, which topples with acrash. Fran pulls Matuschka away from him.                         FRAN            Leave him alone, Karl.She kneels beside Bud.                         FRAN                   (tenderly)            You fool -- you damn fool.                         MATUSCHKA            Come on, Fran.                         FRAN            Goodbye, Mr. Baxter.She kisses him on the cheek, rises, starts toward the door.                         FRAN            Goodbye, doctor.She follows Matuschka out. Bud looks after her, starry-eyed.                         DR. DREYFUSS            I don't want to gloat, but just            between us, you had that coming to            you.                   (tilts Bud's chin up,                   examines his eye)            Tch, tch, tch. Are you going to            have a shiner tomorrow. Let me get            my bag.                   (he starts out)                         BUD                   (calling after him)            Don't bother, Doc. It doesn't hurt            a bit.He is on Cloud Nine.                                            FADE OUT:FADE IN:INT. NINETEENTH FLOOR - DAYBud is coming from the elevators toward his office. He iswearing his chesterfield, bowler, and a pair of dark glasses.He opens the office door, starts in.INT. BUD'S OFFICE - DAYBud crosses directly to the phone, removes his glassesrevealing a swollen left eye. He dials a number.                         BUD                   (into phone)            Mr. Sheldrake's office? This is C.C.            Baxter. Would you please tell Mr.            Sheldrake I'd like to come up and            see him? It's rather important.            Will you call me back, please?He hangs up, takes off his hat and coat, deposits them onthe clothes- tree. Then he paces around the office,rehearsing a speech out loud.                         BUD            Mr. Sheldrake, I've got good news            for you. All your troubles are over.            I'm going to take Miss Kubelik off            your hands.                   (nods to himself with satisfaction)            The plain fact is, Mr. Sheldrake,            that I love her. I haven't told her            yet, but I thought you should be            the first to know. After all, you            don't really want her, and I do,            and although it may sound            presumptuous, she needs somebody            like me. So I think it would be the            thing all around --                   (the phone rings and                   he picks it up)            -- solution-wise.                   (into phone)            Yes? I'll be right up.He hangs up, crosses to the door, opens it.                         BUD                   (to himself)            Mr. Sheldrake, I've got good news            for you --Putting on his dark glasses, he heads for the elevators,still talking to himself.INT. NINETEENTH FLOOR - DAYKirkeby and Dobisch are just stepping out of an elevatorwhen Bud approaches. They grin smugly when they see that heis wearing dark glasses.                         KIRKEBY            Hi, Buddy-boy. What happened to you?                         DOBISCH            Hit by a swinging door? Or maybe a            Yellow Cab?Bud pays no attention, walks right past them into theelevator, still muttering to himself. The doors close.                         KIRKEBY                   (as they move away                   from the elevators)            That guy really must've belted him.                         DOBISCH            Yeah, he's punchy. Talking to            himself.INT. TWENTY-SEVENTH FLOOR FOYER - DAYThe elevator doors open.                         ELEVATOR OPERATOR            Twenty-seven.Bud steps out. As he heads for Sheldrake's office, hecontinues rehearsing his speech.                         BUD            You see, Mr. Sheldrake, those two            days she spent in the apartment --            it made me realize how lonely I'd            been before. But thanks to you, I'm            in a financial position to marry            her -- if I can ever square things            with her family.He opens the door to Sheldrake's anteroom.INT. SHELDRAKE'S OFFICE - DAYSheldrake is pacing in front of his desk. A couple ofsuitcases are standing in a corner of the room. The intercombuzzes, and Sheldrake presses the lever down.                         SECRETARY'S VOICE            Mr. Baxter is here.                         SHELDRAKE            Send him in.A beat, then the door opens, and Bud marches in determinedly.                         BUD            Mr. Sheldrake, I've got good news            for you --                         SHELDRAKE            And I've got good news for you,            Baxter. All your troubles are over.                         BUD                   (reacting to the echo)            Sir?                         SHELDRAKE            I know how worried you were about            Miss Kubelik -- well, stop            worrying -- I'm going to take her            off your hands.                         BUD                   (stunned)            You're going to take her off my            hands?                         SHELDRAKE            That's right.                   (indicating suitcases)            I've moved out of my house -- I'm            going to be staying in town, at the            Athletic Club.                         BUD            You left your wife?                         SHELDRAKE            Well, if you must know -- I fired            my secretary, my secretary got to            my wife, and my wife fired me.            Ain't that a kick in the head?                         BUD            Yeah --                         SHELDRAKE            Now what was your news, Baxter?                         BUD                   (recovering with difficulty)            It's about Miss Kubelik -- she's            all right again -- so she went back            home.                         SHELDRAKE            Swell. And don't think I've            forgotten what you did for me.                   (opens door to                   adjoining office)            This way, Baxter.Bud advances slowly toward the door.INT. ADJOINING OFFICE - DAYIt is a slightly smaller and less lavish edition of Sheldrakes office. Sheldrake ushers Bud through the door, points tothe chair behind the desk.                         SHELDRAKE            Sit down. Try it on for size.Bud obeys like an automaton, lowers himself into the chair.                         SHELDRAKE            You like?                   (indicating office)            It's all yours.                         BUD            Mine?                         SHELDRAKE            My assistant, Roy Thompson, has            been shifted to the Denver office,            and you're taking his place.                   (no reaction from Bud)            What's the matter, Baxter? You            don't seem very excited.                         BUD            Well, it's just that so many things            have been happening so fast -- I'm            very pleased -- especially for Miss            Kubelik. Now that I've gotten to            know her better, I think she's the            kind of girl that definitely ought            to be married to somebody --                         SHELDRAKE            Oh, sure, sure. But first the            property settlement has to be            worked out -- then it takes six            weeks in Reno -- meanwhile, I'm            going to enjoy being a bachelor for            a while.                   (starts back toward                   his own office)            Oh, by the way, you can now have            lunch in the executive dining            room --                         BUD            Yes, sir.He removes his dark glasses reflectively.                         SHELDRAKE            That's just one of the privileges            that goes with this job. You also            get a nice little expense account,            the use of the executive washroom --                   (breaks off, peers at                   Bud's face)            Say, what happened to you, Baxter?                         BUD            I got kicked in the head, too.                         SHELDRAKE            Oh?With a shrug, he exits into his own office, closing the doorbehind him. Bud sits there, unconsciously bending theglasses in his hand until they suddenly snap in two. Budglances down at the two broken halves, as though surprisedby his own violence, tosses them on the desk.                                            DISSOLVE TO:INT. LOBBY INSURANCE BUILDING - EVENINGWe are close on the building directory. Listed underPERSONNEL is J.D. SHELDRAKE, Director, and just below that a man'shand is inserting the name C.C. BAXTER in the slot marked Asst.Director. The lettering is complete except for the final R.Camera pulls back to reveal the sign painter we saw earlier,working on the directory. Watching him is Bud. He is wearinghis chesterfield and bowler, and still has a slight weltunder his left eye. It is after six o'clock, and there isvery little activity in the lobby.Fran, wearing her coat over street clothes, approaches fromthe direction of the elevators, stops when she sees Bud.                         FRAN            Good evening, Mr. Baxter.Bud turns to her in surprise, removes his bowler.                         BUD            Oh, Miss Kubelik. How do you feel?                         FRAN            Fine. How's your eye?                         BUD            Fine.There is a moment of constraint between them.                         FRAN            How's everything at the apartment?                         BUD            Nothing's changed. You know, we            never finished that gin game --                         FRAN            I know.                   (a beat)            I suppose you heard about Mr.            Sheldrake --?                         BUD            You mean, leaving his wife? Yeah.            I'm very happy for you.                         FRAN            I never thought he'd do it.                         BUD            I told you all along. You see, you            were wrong about Mr. Sheldrake.                         FRAN            I guess so.                         BUD            For that matter, you were wrong            about me, too. What you said about            those who take and those who get            took? Well, Mr. Sheldrake wasn't            using me -- I was using him. See?                   (indicating his name                   on directory)            Last month I was at desk 861 on the            nineteenth floor -- now I'm on the            twenty-seventh floor, paneled            office, three windows -- so it all            worked out fine -- we're both            getting what we want.                         FRAN            Yes.                   (looks at her watch)            You walking to the subway?                         BUD            No, thank you.                   (fumbling)            I -- well, to tell you the truth --                   (glancing around lobby)            -- I have this heavy date for            tonight --He points off toward the newsstand. Standing there is atall, attractive brunette, obviously waiting for someone.Fran looks off in the indicated direction.                         FRAN            Oh.                         BUD            Aren't you meeting Mr. Sheldrake?                         FRAN            No. You know how people talk. So I            decided it would be better if we            didn't see each other till            everything is settled, divorce-wise.                         BUD            That's very wise.                         FRAN            Good night, Mr. Baxter.                         BUD            Good night, Miss Kubelik.Fran walks toward the revolving doors. Bud watches her for amoment, then strides briskly across the lobby toward thenewsstand. He goes right past the waiting brunette, stops infront of a rack of pocket books, examines the merchandise. Aman now comes out of a phone booth, joins the waitingbrunette, and they go off together. Bud picks out a coupleof paperbacks, pays the clerk behind the counter. Stuffing abook into each coat pocket, he moves slowly toward therevolving doors.                                            DISSOLVE TO:INT. SHELDRAKE'S OFFICE - DAYSheldrake is swiveled around sideways behind his desk, witha bootblack kneeling in front of him, shining his shoes.Reaching for the intercom, Sheldrake presses down one of thelevers.                         SHELDRAKE            Baxter -- would you mind stepping            in her for a minute?                         BAXTER'S VOICE            Yes, Mr. Sheldrake.The bootblack finishes the second shoe with a flourish,gathers up his equipment. Sheldrake tosses him a half dollar.                         BOOTBLACK            Much obliged.He exits into the anteroom as the door of the adjoiningoffice opens and Bud comes in, carrying several charts.There is no trace left of his black eye.                         BUD                   (putting charts on desk)            Here's the breakdown of figures on            personnel turnover. Thirty-seven            percent of our female employees            leave to get married, twenty-two            percent quit because --                         SHELDRAKE                   (breaking in)            You're working too hard, Baxter.            It's New Year's Eve -- relax.                         BUD            Yes, sir.                         SHELDRAKE            I suppose you'll be on the town            tonight -- celebrating?                         BUD            Naturally.                         SHELDRAKE            Me, too. I'm taking Miss Kubelik            out -- I finally talked her into            it --                         BUD            I see.                         SHELDRAKE            The only thing is I'm staying at            the Athletic Club -- and it's            strictly stag so if you don't            mind --                         BUD            Don't mind what?                         SHELDRAKE            You know that other key to your            apartment -- well, when we had that            little scare about Miss Kubelik, I            thought I'd better get rid of it            quick -- so I threw it out the            window of the commuter train.                         BUD            Very clever.                         SHELDRAKE            Now I'll have to borrow your key.                         BUD            Sorry, Mr. Sheldrake.                         SHELDRAKE            What do you mean, sorry?                         BUD            You're not going to bring anybody            up to my apartment.                         SHELDRAKE            I'm not just bringing anybody --            I'm bringing Miss Kubelik.                         BUD            Especially not Miss Kubelik.                         SHELDRAKE            How's that again?                         BUD                   (flatly)            No key!                         SHELDRAKE            Baxter, I picked you for my team            because I thought you were a bright            young man. You realize what you're            doing? Not to me -- but to yourself.            Normally it takes years to work            your way up to the twenty-seventh            floor -- but it takes only thirty            seconds to be out on the street            again. You dig?                         BUD                   (nodding slowly)            I dig.                         SHELDRAKE            So what's it going to be?Without taking his eyes off Sheldrake, Bud reaches into hispocket, fishes out a key, drops it on the desk.                         SHELDRAKE            Now you're being bright?                         BUD            Thank you, sir.He turns abruptly, starts back into his own office.INT. BUD'S NEW OFFICE - DAYBud comes in, shutting the door behind him, stands rooted tothe spot for a moment. Then he takes some pencils out of hisbreast pocket and drops them into a container on the desk,closes his account book, slams a couple of open file drawersshut.As he crosses to the clothes closet, the connecting dooropens and Sheldrake comes in, key in hand.                         SHELDRAKE            Say, Baxter -- you gave me the            wrong key.                         BUD            No I didn't.                         SHELDRAKE                   (holding it out)            But this is the key to the executive            washroom.                         BUD            That's right, Mr. Sheldrake. I            won't be needing it -- because I'm            all washed up around here.He has taken his chesterfield and bowler out of the closet,and is putting the coat on.                         SHELDRAKE            What's gotten into you, Baxter?                         BUD            Just following doctor's orders.            I've decided to become a mensch.            You know what that means? A human            being.                         SHELDRAKE            Now hold on, Baxter --                         BUD            Save it. The old payola won't work            any more. Goodbye, Mr. Sheldrake.He opens the door to the anteroom, starts out.INT. SHELDRAKE'S ANTEROOM - DAYBud comes out of his office, carrying his bowler, stridespast the secretaries and through the glass doors to thefoyer. An elevator is just unloading, and beside it ahandyman is cleaning out one of the cigarette receptacles.Bud crosses to the elevator, and as he passes the handyman,he jams his bowler on the man's head -- surrendering hiscrown, so to speak. The elevator doors close. The handymanstraightens up, looks around in bewilderment.                                            DISSOLVE TO:INT. THE APARTMENT - NIGHTBud is in the process of packing. In the middle of theliving room are several large cardboard cartons filled withhis possessions. The art posters are off the walls, thebric-a-brac has been removed from the shelves, and Bud isstowing away the last of his books and records. He crossesto the fireplace, opens one of the drawers in the cabinetabove it, takes out a forty-five automatic. He holds the gunin the palm of his hand, studies it appraisingly.The doorbell rings. Bud snaps out of his reverie, drops thegun into one of the cartons, goes to the door and opens it.Standing outside is Dr. Dreyfuss, with a plastic ice bucketin his hand.                         DR. DREYFUSS            Say, Baxter -- we're having a            little party and we ran out of            ice -- so I was wondering --                         BUD            Sure, Doc.                         DR. DREYFUSS                   (stepping inside)            How come you're alone on New Year's            Eve?                         BUD            Well, I have things to do --                         DR. DREYFUSS                   (noticing cartons)            What's this -- you packing?                         BUD            Yeah -- I'm giving up the apartment.He goes into the kitchen, opens the refrigerator, starts topry out the ice-cube trays.                         DR. DREYFUSS            Where are you moving to?                         BUD            I don't know. All I know is I got            to get out of this place.                         DR. DREYFUSS            Sorry to lose you, Baxter.                         BUD            Me? Oh, you mean my body. Don't            worry, Doc -- it'll go to the            University -- I'll put it in            writing --He dumps the ice-cubes, still in their trays, into thebucket Dr. Dreyfuss is holding. Then he pulls Kirkeby'sunopened bottle of champagne out of the refrigerator.                         BUD            Can you use a bottle of champagne?                         DR. DREYFUSS            Booze we don't need. Why don't you            join us, Baxter? We got two brain            surgeons, an ear, nose and throat            specialist, a proctologist, and            three nurses from Bellevue.                         BUD            No, thanks -- I don't feel like it.            Look, Doc -- in case I don't see            you again -- how much do I owe you            for taking care of that girl?                         DR. DREYFUSS            Forget it -- I didn't do it as a            doctor -- I did it as a neighbor.                   (stopping in doorway)            By the way, whatever happened to her?                         BUD                   (airily)            You know me with girls. Easy come,            easy go. Goodbye, Doc.                         DR. DREYFUSS            Happy New Year.Bud closes the door, returns to the kitchen, brings out abox of glassware and the tennis racquet. As he starts todeposit the racquet in a carton, he notices a strand ofspaghetti clinging to the strings. He removes it gently,stands there twirling the limp spaghetti absently around hisfinger.                                            CUT TO:INT. CHINESE RESTAURANT - NIGHTIt is five minutes before midnight, New Year's Eve. Sittingalone in the last booth is Fran, a paper hat on her head, apensive look on her face. There are two champagne glasses onthe table, and the usual noisemakers, but the chair oppositeher is empty. Above the general hubbub, the Chinese pianistcan be heard playing. After a moment, Fran glances off.Threading his way through the merrymakers crowding the barand overflowing from the booths is Sheldrake. He is indinner clothes, topped by a paper hat. Reaching the lastbooth, he drops into the chair facing Fran.                         SHELDRAKE            Sorry it took me so long on the            phone. But we're all set.                         FRAN            All set for what?                         SHELDRAKE            I rented a car -- it's going to be            here at one o'clock -- we're            driving to Atlantic City.                         FRAN            Atlantic City?                         SHELDRAKE            I know it's a drag -- but you can't            find a hotel room in town -- not on            New Year's Eve.                         FRAN                   (a long look at Sheldrake)            Ring out the old year, ring in the            new. Ring-a-ding-ding.                         SHELDRAKE            I didn't plan it this way, Fran --            actually, it's all Baxter's fault.                         FRAN            Baxter?                         SHELDRAKE            He wouldn't give me the key to the            apartment.                         FRAN            He wouldn't.                         SHELDRAKE            Just walked out on me -- quit --            threw that big fat job right in my            face.                         FRAN                   (a faint smile)            The nerve.                         SHELDRAKE            That little punk -- after all I did            for him! He said I couldn't bring            anybody to his apartment --            especially not Miss Kubelik. What's            he got against you, anyway?                         FRAN                   (a faraway look in                   her eye)            I don't know. I guess that's the            way it crumbles -- cookie-wise.                         SHELDRAKE            What are you talking about?                         FRAN            I'd spell it out for you -- only I            can't spell.The piano player is consulting the watch on his upraisedleft arm. He drops the arm in a signal, and the lights goout. At the same time, he strikes up AULD LANG SYNE.All over the dimly lit room, couples get to their feet,embracing and joining in the song.In the last booth, Sheldrake leans across the table, kissesFran.                         SHELDRAKE            Happy New Year, Fran.Fran's expression is preoccupied. Sheldrake faces in thedirection of the pianist, and holding his glass aloft, singsalong with the others.As AULD LANG SYNE comes to an end, the place explodesnoisily -- there is a din of horns, ratchets, and shoutedgreetings. The lights come up again.In the last booth, Sheldrake turns back toward Fran -- butshe is no longer there. Her paper hat lies abandoned on hervacated chair.                         SHELDRAKE            Fran --                   (looking around)            -- where are you, Fran?He rises, cranes his neck, trying to spot her in the crowd.                                            DISSOLVE TO:EXT. BROWNSTONE HOUSE - NIGHTFran, a coat thrown over the dress she was wearing at theRickshaw, comes down the street almost at a run. There is ahappy, expectant look on her face. She hurries up the stepsof the house and through the front door.INT. STAIRCASE AND SECOND FLOOR LANDING - NIGHTFran mounts the stairs eagerly. As she reaches the landingand heads for Bud's apartment, there is a loud, sharp reportfrom inside.Fran freezes momentarily, then rushes to the door.                         FRAN            Mr. Baxter!                   (pounding on door)            Mr. Baxter! Mr. Baxter!The door opens and there stands Bud, the bottle of champagnehe has just uncorked still foaming over in his hand. Hestares at Fran unbelievingly.                         FRAN                   (sagging with relief)            Are you all right?                         BUD            I'm fine.                         FRAN            Are you sure? How's your knee?                         BUD            I'm fine all over.                         FRAN            Mind if I come in?                         BUD                   (still stunned)            Of course not.INT. THE APARTMENT - NIGHTFran comes in and Bud shuts the door. The room is the sameas we left it, except for an empty champagne glass standingon the coffee table.                         BUD            Let me get another glass.He goes to one of the cartons, takes out a champagne glasswrapped in newspaper, starts to unwrap it.                         FRAN                   (looking around)            Where are you going?                         BUD            Who knows? Another neighborhood --            another town -- another job -- I'm            on my own.                         FRAN            That's funny -- so am I.                   (Bud, pouring                   champagne, looks up                   at her)            What did you do with the cards?                         BUD                   (indicating carton)            In there.Fran takes the deck of cards and the gin rummy score pad outof the carton, settles herself on the couch, starts toshuffle the cards expertly.                         BUD            What about Mr. Sheldrake?                         FRAN            I'm going to send him a fruit cake            every Christmas.Bud sinks down happily on the couch, and Fran holds out thedeck to him.                         FRAN            Cut.Bud cuts a card, but doesn't look at it.                         BUD            I love you, Miss Kubelik.                         FRAN                   (cutting a card)            Seven --                   (looking at Bud's card)            -- queen.She hands the deck to Bud.                         BUD            Did you hear what I said, Miss            Kubelik? I absolutely adore you.                         FRAN                   (smiling)            Shut up and deal!Bud begins to deal, never taking his eyes off her. Franremoves her coat, starts picking up her cards and arrangingthem. Bud, a look of pure joy on his face, deals -- anddeals -- and keeps dealing.And that's about it. Story-wise.                                            FADE OUT.                                                         THE END
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+A P O C A L Y P S E N O W Original screenplay by John Milius. Inspired by Joseph Conrad's "HEART OF DARKNESS". This draft by Francis Ford Coppola. December 3, 1975. 1 PRIMEVAL SWAMP - EARLY DAWN It is very early in the dawn - blue light filters through the jungle and across a foul swamp. A mist clings to the trees. This could be the jungle of a million years ago. Our VIEW MOVES CLOSER, through the mist, TILTING DOWN to the tepid water. A small bubble rises to the surface; then another. Suddenly, but quietly, a form begins to emerge; a helmet. Water and mud pour off revealing a set of beady eyes just above the mud. Printed on a helmet, in a psychedelic hand, are the words: "Gook Killer." The head emerges revealing that the tough-looking soldier beneath has exceptionally long hair and beard; he has no shirt on, only bandoliers of ammunition - his body is painted in an odd camouflage pattern. He looks to the right; he looks to the left; he looks INTO CAMERA, and slowly sinks back into the swamp, disapperaring completely. Our VIEW HOLDS, We begin to HEAR natural, though unrecognizable JUNGLE SOUNDS, far off in the distance. We PAN TO REVEAL a clump of logs half submerged in the swamp; and part of what seems to be a Falstaff beer can in the mud. A hand reaches out, and the beer can disappears. As we TILT UP, we NOTICE that the log is hollow and houses the rear of a M-60 machine gun, hand painted in a paisley design. Now the VIEW MOVES AWAY, ACROSS the ancient growth, PAST the glimmer of what seems to be another soldier hiding in ambush, wearing an exotic hat made from birds and bushes. ACROSS to a dark trail where the legs of those in black pajamas move silently across our ever TIGHTENING VIEW. Their feet, boots and sandals leave no impression; make no sound. A slight flicker of light reveals a pair of eyes in the foliage across the path, waiting and watching. The VIEW PUSHES ALONG WITH the Vietnamese, MOVING FASTER AND FASTER WITH them, until suddenly, directly in front about ten feet away, an enormous AMERICAN clad in rags and bushes and holding a 12 gauge automatic shotgun casually at his side, steps in front of them. He smiles laconically, and BLASTS OUT FIVE SHOTS that rip THROUGH US. By the second shot, the whole jungle blazes out with AUTOMATIC FIRE. Out VIEW TURNS as the men around us are thrown and torn, screaming and scattering into the jungle. More AMERICANS appear; unexplainably, out of the growth. It is now that we fully SEE the bizarre manner in which they are dressed. Some wear helmets, others wear strange hats made from feathers and parts of animals. Some of them have long savage-looking hair; other crew-cut or completely shaved; they wear bandoliers, flak jackets, shorts and little else. They wear Montagnard sandals or no shoes at all, and their bodies and faces are painted in bizarre camouflage patterns. They appear one with the jungle and mist, FIRING INTO US as they move. The soldier we saw earlier emerges from the swamp, dripping mud, his MACHINE GUN BLASTING FIRE. We begin to move quickly with one Vietnamese, breathlessly running for his life; we MOVE INTO the jungle with him, only to be impaled on a large spear of a smiling AMERICAN painted and wearing feathers like an Indian. OUR VIEW FALLS WITH him to the ground, STARING UPWARDS, as FLAME and EXPLODING MUD scatter above us. Men scream and die around us. The screams amid the GUNFIRE and EXPLOSIONS are piercing and terrible, as though the jungle itself is frightened. An AMERICAN wearing a jungle hat with a large Peace Sign on it, wearing war paint, bends TOWARD US, reaching down TOWARD US with a large knife, preparing to scalp the dead. OUR VIEW MOVES AWAY, along with the running sandals of a Vietnamese soldier, MOVING FASTER AND FASTER, only to be stopped by still another of the savage-looking AMERICANS with primitive ornamentation, wearing only a loin-cloth and green beret. He opens his flame-thrower directly ON US and the NVA soldier and we are incinerated in flame, bright psychedelic orange-red flame. Outrageous, loud, electric ROCK MUSIC OVERWHELMS the SOUNDTRACK : MAIN TITLE : APOCALYPSE NOW 2 TITLE SEQUENCE The CREDIT TITLES proceed as the FLANE CONSUME US, growing more intense, brighter, more vivid, purifying; transforming into an intense white heat that we can barely look at, like the sun itself. Then it EXPLODES, breking apart, and shattering once again. It begins to cool, as the TITLES CONTINUE. It is as though WE ARE MOVING through the white center of cooling flame, forming a spinning web, and becoming more distant. The TITLES CONTINUE. We are MOVING TOWARD planetary nebulae; MOVING through the stars; MOVING closer to the Earth. We can BARELY HEAR the MUSIC now. We MOVE CLOSER to the earth; beautiful, covered in clouds, as though SEEN from a satellite. The TITLES CONTINUE. We are MOVING CLOSER to the earth; through the soft clouds, close enough that we can MAKE OUT the Western Hemisphere; CLOSER to North America; CLOSER, to America, then California; Los Angeles, STILL CLOSER to the odd, finger-like shapes of : 3 EXT. MARINA DEL REY The VIEW finally SETTLES ON a partically luxury cabin cruiser harbored at a particular dock late in the day. It is large, pleasure boat: The people are relaxing in bathing suits and towels and robes. They are drinking cocktails, and snapping pictures. The boat belongs to the head of a large American Corporation, and this is his party. This man, CHARLIE, is sitting, his shirt off to catch some of the late sun. Others have their faces smeared with white suntan oil that reminds us of war paint. Charlie is going on and on : CHARLIE ... It's crazy -- sugar is up to 200 dollars a ton -- sugar ! LAWYER What about oil ? CHARLIE Food, oil --look, let me show you something. This is the economy of the United States in two years -- He takes a newspaper, draws a circle. CHARLIE (continuing) This is West Germany. (he draws another, bigger circle) This is Japan. (another , bigger) This is Italy. (a dot) This is Iran. (a very big circle) And this is Saudi Arabia... In two years ? (a gigantic circle) Do you understand ? ACCOUNTANT What's to prevent it ? CHARLIE Maybe nothing. But I'll tell you, I didn't build a two-billion-dollar company in the last twenty years by doing nothing. We can protect our interests. (pause, for a drink) We are still the most powerful nation in the world. Militarily. He leans to his associates, in a half-whisper. CHARLIE (continuing) You know bodyguard; he was a captain in Viet Nam. You talk to him, except he won't talk. This kind of man can kill you with his pinky. A nice quiet fella, though. The VIEW BEGINS TO PULL AWAY from this group. CHARLIE (continuing) Carries a attache case at all times. You know what's in it ? (another sip) An Ingram Machine pistol. Gradually, Charlie's voice softens as we MOVE AWAY, and a NEW VOICE, the voice of someone thinking, COMES IN OVER it : CHARLIE WILLARD (V.O.) I don't tahe chances, and Bullshit. You can kill neither should this country. with the ridge of your If we're strong, we should hand to the throat; you protect our interests, and can crush a skull with we should have the respect your knee... but you of the world, even if it can't kill anybody with takes another war. your pinky. The VIEW MOVE ALONG the guests of this small party : Pictures being taken, some people are swimming. It is the good life. Now WILLARD'S VOICE TRACK DOMINATES. WILLARD (V.O.) The attache case has been empty for three years, but it makes him safe to think there's a machine pistol in it. I don't like automatic weapons. They jam. I saw a friend of mine get ripped open because he flicked his M-16 to automatic, and it jammed. How much money did the contractors make on the M-16 ? Our VIEW IS MOVING through the people on the boat; some reading, flirting, drinking. WILLARD (V.O.) (continuing) He likes to hear stories about Nam. I tell him I can't; they're not cleared. The truth is he wouldn't understand. We can now SEE A MAN with his BACK TO US, looking the opposite way. An attache case resting near to him. We MOVE CLOSER. WILLARD (V.O.) (continuing) There's no way I can tell them... what really happened over there. I wouldn't've believed it if someone'd told me. We are now RESTING on his back. Occasionally, he sips from a beer, but we cannot see his face. WILLARD (V.O.) (continuing) There was only one part that mattered -- for me, anyway. I don't even know if I remember all of it. I can't remember how it ended, exactly -- because when it ended I was insane. DISSOLVE TO : 4 EXT. A STREET IN SAIGON - DAY A Saigon boom street in late 1968. There are bars and shops for servicemen; the rickshaws, the motorbikes. Our VIEW MOVES TOWARD one particular officer; B.L. WILLARD , in uniform, a Captain of the Airborne, followed by four or five Vietnamese kids trying to shine his shoes and sell him things. WILLARD (V.O.) But I know how it started for me -- I was on R. and R. in Saigon; my first time south of the DMZ in three months. I wasn't sure, but I thought this guy was following me. Willard looks back. 5 HIS VIEW an American CIVILIAN. 6 MED. VIEW Willard ducks into a bar. 7 INT. THE SAIGON BAR - DAY Not much in this place -- a bar, linoleum flooring, a few tables and chairs, and a juke box. The lounge is fairly crowded. Willard takes off his cap and walks quietly past the soldiers at the bar. Some of them, catching sight of his ribbons, stop talking as he moves by. An INFANTRY CAPTAIN enters the bar, buys a couple of drinks and approaches Willard's table. CAPTAIN How about a drink ? WILLARD Sure, thanks. He sits down at the table with the drinks. CAPTAIN Winning the war by yourself. WILLARD (he calls for the waiter) Part. CAPTAIN Which part is that ? WILLARD My part. (TO THE WAITER) Beer, with ice and water. CAPTAIN That's good gin. WILLARD I'm sure it is, but I had hepatitis. CAPTAIN Delta ? WILLARD No. CAPTAIN North ? WILLARD Yeah. Way north. CAPTAIN What unit were you with ? WILLARD None. CAPTAIN Rangers, eh? WILLARD Sort of. The JUKE BOX starts BLARING. Annoyed , Willard looks over his shoulder. CAPTAIN Were you Longe Range Recon -- WILLARD No -- I worked too far north for LRRP. He reaches into his shirt pocket for a cigarette, and the Captain leans over the table to light it for him. Willard notices the CIVILIAN on the street has glanced in the bar, then enters and sits down at a table by the doorway. CAPTAIN That's quite an array of ribbons... WILLARD Let's talk about you. CAPTAIN I was an FO for the 25th. WILLARD Tracks ? CAPTAIN Yeah. WILLARD Fat. That's real fat. CAPTAIN Sometimes. WILLARD At least you always have enough water. How many gallons does each one of those damn things carry ? CAPTAIN Thirty -- sometimes fifty. WILLARD You know, I can remember once, getting back below the DMZ -- and the first Americans we ran into were a track squadron. I just couldn't believe how much water they had. We'd been chewing bamboo shoots for almost a week, and before that, for two weeks, we'd been drinking anything -- rain water, river shit, stuff right out of the paddies. And there were these guys standing by their trucks spilling water all over. I could've killed them. (solemnly) I swear to God I would have, too, if ... CAPTAIN I didn't know we had units up there in North Vietnam. WILLARD We do. CAPTAIN How long were you up there ? WILLARD A long time. CAPTAIN A year ? Waiter another beer. WILLARD I go up on missions. Listen Captain, buy me all the beer you want, but you better tell that asshole over there you're not going to find out anymore about me. Willard glances over his shoulder and indicates the Civilian. The Civilian is given a sign by the Captain. He rises and comes over to the bar. WILLARD (continuing) What do you want ? CIVILIAN (indicating the Army jeep) If you're B.L. Willard, 4th Recon Group, we'd like you to come with us. WILLARD Whose orders ? CAPTAIN Headquarters 11 Corps -- 405th A.S.A Battalion -- S-2 -- Com-Sec -- Intelligence -- Nha Trang. WILLARD Who are you ? CIVILIAN The agency. Willard looks at the Civilian a moment, and then walks roght out toward the jeep without saying another word. The Civilian follows. 8 EXT. HELICOPTER - DUSK A darkly painted "HUEY" ROARS over low paddies and jungle before emerging onto an open plain. It crosses a barbed wire and sand-bagged perimeter and lands in a heavily fortified, concealed compound. WILLARD (V.O.) They took me to some place outside Nha Trang... Intelligence Headquarters for all operations in South East Asia. I'd worked for Intelligence before -- Armed men jump from the Huey -- among them Willard. A large camouflaged cover is moved, revealing an underground corridor -- they enter. 9 FULL SHOT - UNDERGROUND PLOTTING ROOM A door swings wide -- Willard steps through and comes to attention, blocking the view of the room. A strange reddish light pervades. The room is covered with plastic maps and filled with smoke. The whole place has been hewn out of the ground itself and there is a sense of the cut-back jungle growth slowly reclaiming it. WILLARD Captain B.L. Willard, G-4 Headquarters, reporting as ordered, sir. COLONEL (O.S.) Okay, Willard, sit down. Willard sits in a chair that is set in a center of a bare concrete floor. Across from him, around steel desks and tables sit several men. The nearest one, a COLONEL puts his cigar out on the bottom of his shoe -- behind him sits a MAJOR and a seedy-looking CIVILIAN. COLONEL Have you ever seen this officer before, Captain Willard ? He points to the Major. WILLARD No, sir. COLONEL This gentleman or myself ? WILLARD No, sir. COLONEL I believe on your last job you executed a tax collector in Kontum, is that right ? WILLARD I am not presently disposed to discuss that, sir. MAJOR Very good. He turns to the Colonel and nods his approval. The Colonel gets up and goes to a large plastic map. COLONEL You know much about about Special Forces; Green Berets, Captain ? WILLARD I've worked with them on occasions and I saw the movie , sir. The officer smiles at this. COLONEL Then you can appreciate Command's concern over their -- shall we say 'erratic' methods of operation. (pause) I have never favored elite units, Captain, including your paratroopers or whatever. Just because a man jumps out of an airplane or wears a silly hat doesn't give him any priviliges in my book -- not in this man's army. MAJOR We didn't need 'em in Korea -- no sir, give me an Ohio farm boy and an M-1 Garand, none of this fancy crap -- no sir. CIVILIAN (stopping him) Major. COLONEL We have Special Forces A detachments all along the Cambodian border. Two here and another one here -- twelve or fourteen Americans -- pretty much on their own; they train and motivate Montagnard natives; pick their own operations. If they need something, they call for it, and get it within reason. What we're concerned with is here. 10 CLOSE VIEW - ON THE MAP COLONEL The A detachment at Nu Mung Ba. It was originally a larger base, built up along the river in an old Cambodian fortress. The area has been relatively quiet for the past two years -- but -- 11 MED VIEW COLONEL ... Captain, we know something's going on up there -- Major -- The Major looks at some papers in front of him. MAJOR Communications naturally dwindled with the lack of V.C. activity, this is routine, expected ... but six months ago communication virtually stopped. COLONEL About the same time -- large numbers of Montagnards of the M'Nong descent began leaving the area -- this in itself is not unusual since these people have fought with the Rhade Tribe that lived in the area for centuries. But what is unusual is that we began to find Rhade refugees too -- in the same sampans as the M'Nongs. These people aren't afraid of V.C. They've put up with war for twenty years -- but something is driving them out. MAJOR We communicate with the base infrequently. What they call for are air strikes, immediate -- always at night. And we don't know what or who the air strikes are called on. WILLARD Who ? MAJOR You see, no one has really gone into this area and come back alive. WILLARD Why me ? MAJOR Walter Kurtz, Lieutenant Colonel, Special Forces. We understand you knew him. He puts Kurtz' dossier in Willard's hand. WILLARD Yeah. COLONEL He's commanding the detachment at Nu Mung Ba. The Colonel gets up and walks over to a tape recorder, flicks it on. The recording is first STATIC -- the AIR CONTROLLER then asks for more information on target coordinates -- it all sounds very routine, military. Then a frantic VOICE comes on, talking slurred, like someone dumb, except very fast. VOICE (ON TAPE) Up 2 -- 0 -- give it to me quick -- Mark flare -- affirmative damn -- Immediate receive -- hearing automatic weapons fire man ... GUNFIRE is HEARD and a lower, slower VOICE in background. SECOND VOICE Blue Delta five This Big Rhine -- three Need that ordinance immediately Goddamn give it to me immediate Christ -- Big Rhino -- Blue God -- Delta damn -- goddamn. A heavy BURST of AUTOMATIC WEAPONS FIRE -- INSANE LAUGHTER -- STATIC, and faintly, very faintly we HEAR HARD ROCK MUSIC -- more STATIC -- suddenly a low, clear VOICE peaceful and serene, almost tasting the words. THIRD VOICE This is Big Rhino six -- Blue Delta. MAJOR That's Colonel Kurtz. KURTZ (V.O.) I want that napalm dropped in the trees -- spread it among the branches. We'll give you a flare -- an orange one -- bright orange. (STATIC) We'd also like some white phosporous, Blue Delta. White phosporous, give it to me. STATIC interrupts -- the Major turns the machine off. WILLARD I only met Kurtz once. CIVILIAN Would he remember you ? WILLARD Maybe. COLONEL What was your impression of him ? Willard shrugs. CIVILIAN You didn't like him. WILLARD Anyone got a cigarette. The Major offers him one; they wait as he lights up, thinks. WILLARD (continuing) I thought he was a lame. COLONEL A lame ? WILLARD This is years ago, before he joined Special Forces, I guess. We had an argument. COLONEL About what ? WILLARD I don't know. He was a lame, that's all. COLONEL But why ? WILLARD He couldn't get through a sentence without all these big words; about why we kill. COLONEL Well, he's killing now. WILLARD Maybe. CIVILIAN What does that mean ? WILLARD Maybe it's not Kurtz. I don't believe he's capable of that. I just don't believe it. COLONEL It's got to be Kurtz. CIVILIAN The point is that Kurtz or somebody attacked a South Vietnamese Ranger Platoon three days ago. Last week a Recon helicopter was lost in the area -- another took heavy damage -- direct fire from their base camp. WILLARD Our Recon flight ? CIVILIAN Ours. WILLARD Touchy. CIVILIAN You can see, of course, the implications, if any of this -- even rumours leaked out. WILLARD You want me to clean it up -- simple and quiet. CIVILIAN Exactly -- you'll go up the Nung River in a Navy P.B.R. -- appear at Nu Mung Ba as if by accident, re-establish your acquintance with Colonel Kurtz, find out what's happened -- and why. Then terminate his command. WILLARD Terminate ? CIVILIAN Terminate with extreme prejudice. 12 FULL VIEW - ON THE DELTA A waterway leading out to the ocean -- it is broken and divided into hundreds of channels, islands, water farms. A Navy patrol boat (P.B.R.) is waiting by a dock area. This is small, light craft, very fast, and heavily armed. Its men stand at attention in a small and simple military ceremony. Willard approaches them in battle- dress: Tiger suit, full field pack, forty-five, helmet, M-16. The boat commander salutes Willard. 13 MED. VIEW We hear the introductions faintly, UNDER Willard's VOICE. WILLARD (V.O.) I met the P.B.R. crew; they were pretty much all kids, except for Phillips, the Chief -- Gunner's Mate Third Class L. Johnson -- Lance Johnson; Gunner's Mate Third Class J. Hicks -- The Chef -- Radio Operator Second Class T. Miller; they called him Mr. Clean. WILLARD Chief, try to keep out of where we're going -- Why we're goin' and what's gonna be the big surprise. CHIEF All right with me, I used to drive a taxi. WILLARD Let's go. The Chief nods. They all break formation and jump aboard and otherwise go about their work. The twin diesels kick up -- and t he boat moves away from the dock. The Chef jumps aboard; Lance mans the forward twin fifty-caliber machine guns -- they wave to the guards on the dock and move away into the complexity that leads to the ocean. DISSOLVE TO : 14 FULL VIEW - STORMY SEA The boat slams through the heavy sea ; hurtling off the top of a wave and crashing full into the trough of another. 15 MED. SHOT - BOAT COCKPIT - WILLARD AND CHIEF Willard holds on to whatever he can -- he looks very pale. Water crashes over the bow and drenches everyone. The Chief mans the wheel and the ENGINES WHINE. Lance climbs back from his position. He looks at Willard, who just stares ahead into space, swallowing. DISSOLVE TO : 16 LONG SHOT - BOAT DUSK The dusk is spectacular through the broken storm clouds -- the sea is calm again. DISSOLVE TO : 17 VIEW ON THE BOAT - PROCEEDING UP THE COAST The Chief is at the helm -- Willard approaches him. CHIEF The Delta closes off to us about ten miles out of Hau Fat. We'll be able to pick up some supplies -- bit I think there are only two points we can draw enough water to get into the Nung River. It's all Charlie's turf from there on out. WILLARD We're gonna have some help to get in the river. You know these waters, Chief ? CHIEF 'Bout six months ago I took a man up to Lo Mung Bridge. He was regular Army too. Shot himself in the head. I brought his body back down. WILLARD Shot himself. What for ? CHIEF Beats me -- the sun was too much for him, or the mud. Who knows ? Pause, looking at Willard. 18 CLOSE SHOT - ON WILLARD Suddenly, his attention is diverted -- there is a slow buffeting, as if the air around them is being sucked out and replaced quickly. The boat shakes slightly. There is a distant ROLLING NOISE like interrupted thunder. All the men have stopped whatever they're doing -- stand up and look out toward the shore and the green jungle hills beyond. The buffeting and NOISE CONTINUES -- they all stand silently -- suddenly it stops. WILLARD Arch light. CHEF I hate that -- Every time I hear that noise something terrible happens. CHIEF Anybody see some smoke ? CLEAN Too far inland. LANCE There they are. He points up to the sky. 19 FULL SHOT - ON THE SKY Way up -- past any clouds and barely discernible, we SEE the black silhouttes of four B-52 bombers, their vapor trails streaming white against the dark blue sky. CLEAN Charlie don't ever hear 'em. Not till it's too late -- don't have to hit you neither, concussion'll do it for a quarter mile or better. Burst your ears -- suck the air outta your lungs. 20 FULL SHOT - BOAT - CREW They are looking up. Willard sits down, unconcerned. He takes out the dossier given him by ComSec. He flips through the letters and other documents. WILLARD (V.O.) The dossier on A detachment had letters from Kurtz' wife and the wives and families of his men. All asking where to send future mail, understanding the necessery silence due to the nature of their work -- None of the men had written home in half a year. Occasionally, in the b.g., we FEEL the terrifying buffeting of the distant B-52 BOMBING. 21 CLOSE - ON WILLARD studying, examining a report. 22 MONTAGE - PICTURES OF KURTZ Kurtz' face evolves through the various stages of his career as represented in the pictures in the dossier, as Willard reads : WILLARD (V.O.) Lieutenant Kurtz has shown a dedicated and well-disciplined spirit. He is a fine officer, combining military efficiency -- with a broad background in the Humanities, the Arts and Sciences ... Another picture of Kurtz in Germany, standing next to the 161st Petroleum Supply Group sign. WILLARD (V.O.) (continuing) ... He views his military career as the dedication of his talents to bringing our values and way of life to those darker, less fortunate areas in the world. A SHOT of Kurtz at jump school. WILLARD (V.O.) (continuing) ... I feel Captain Kurtz' request for Special Forces training is highly unusual in regard to his past humanitarian concerns, and his somewhat liberal politics, though I can see no reason to deny it. A CLOSE SHOT of Kurtz with Green Beret on in the Vietnam jungle. His face is blank and vacant. WILLARD (V.O.) (continuing) ... We feel Major Kurtz' need to bring a sense of Western culture to the backward peoples of these areas will be of use in accordance with our 'Vietnamization' programs ... MOVE IN TO Kurtz' empty eyes until the photograph is just a BLURRED MASS OF DOTS. DISSOLVE TO : 23 EXT. HAU FAT - AN ADVANCE STAGING AREA WILLARD (V.O.) One day later we came to an advanced staging area along the coast. This was our last chance to pick up supplies before approaching the mouth of the Nung River. The VIEW OF THE COASTLINE leading up along the long load- ing docks at Hau Fat, an advance staging area for opera- tions "Brute Force" and "Mailed Fist." Everywhere are tents -- oil drums -- sandbagged bunkers -- helicopters -- tanks -- guns -- men. Nobody builds advanced staging areas like the Americans. As the P.B.R. approaches the docking area, Lance notices something. LANCE Hey. They look as a Chris-craft speeds by pulling a fancy water- skier who waves as he slaloms by. The men just look at one another. 24 VIEW ON THE DOCK The P.B.R. pulls in -- the men scan the busy surroundings. CHIEF Lance -- I want you to go with the Captain an' get three extra drums of fuel and maybe scrounge some more 50 caliber. LANCE Yeah -- look at those uniforms. 25 FULL SHOT - PARADE GROUNDS - TROOPS A platoon drills in the hot, lazy sun; they are clean and pale, in contrast to Lance and the others, just off the airplane. CHIEF Poor bastards, have a long year to go. The troops turn and march TOWARD US with six weeks of Advanced Infantry Training to back them up. 26 FULL SHOT - DOCK - P.B.R. - CREW They are tying up at the dock -- a young SERGEANT is fill- ing cut papers concerning them and talking with Willard. SERGEANT I don't know anything about these papers, sir. WILLARD They're in order -- it's perfectly clean -- just check with ComSec- Intel like I said. SERGEANT Well, you know I don't have the priority to do that, sir. It says here not to contact Com-Sec- Int. Who's your commanding officer ? WILLARD Right now -- I am. SERGEANT Well who the hell verifies that ? WILLARD I do. He signs it quickly, leaving the Sergeant totally confused. CHIEF No shit -- what's all the activity for around here ? SERGEANT The show -- WILLARD What show ? SERGEANT Big show in the parade grounds this noon -- some boss stuff -- WILLARD This -- Bob Hope or the like -- SERGEANT No sir, I think -- this'll be a little bit different -- CHIEF Where's it gonna be ? He points -- 27 FULL SHOT - PARADE GROUNDS - PEDESTAL A large, well-built pedestal has been erected -- this is surrounded by a deep moat filled with punji stakes and garnished with concertina wire. It is empty -- DISSOLVE TO : 28 FULL SHOT - PARADE GROUNDS - TROOPS The entire area around the pedestal and right up to the wire is mobbed with seething American fighting men. Some of these boys have just gotten here -- others have been in the jungle for months. All have one thing in common, to see and if possible grab an American girl. Their need far surpasses that of the run-of-the-mill rapist, pervert, or child-molester. To counter their need of course are the moat, punji stakes and barbed wire -- but implementing this are seven "riot control positions" equipped with the lastest in teargas launchers, attack-trained German shep- herds and assorted psychological warfare aides. Even so armed, the great mass of wild men are right up to the wire. 29 FORWARD AREA jammed in the crowd CHEF It's really too much -- I mean I've collected every picture of her since she was Miss December. CLEAN Yeah -- you can really get hung up on them like the cat in the Delta. CHIEF What cat ? CLEAN One that went up for murder -- he was an Army Sergeant. CHIEF I never heard about that. CLEAN Yeah -- he really dug his Playboy mag, man -- I mean like he was there when it arrived -- He just knew. CHEF So what happened ? CLEAN He was working A.R.V.N. patrols and had one a them little cocky gook asshole Lieutenants -- anyhow, the Lieutenant took his new Playboy one day, sat on the end of the dock, and wouldn't give it back. CHEF Yeah -- typical A.R.V.N. CLEAN Then went too far -- he sat there and starts mutilating the centerfold. Poking pins in her an' all that. Sergeant says, don't do her like that. You leave your shitty little hands off that girl. Gook Lieutenant says Fuck you in Vietnamese -- Sergeant says, don't do that again. You'll wish you hadn't. Then he stood up, flicked his iron to rock and roll and gave the little zero a long burst through the Playboy mag. Man, it blew him clean off the dock -- Hell, just the magazine was floatin' there all full of holes. CHIEF They nail him for it bad ? CLEAN He's in the L.B.J. -- didn't give him no medals or nothing -- In the b.g., we begin to HEAR a SWELL of TWO THOUSAND MALE VOICES; the ENGINES of four helicopters approaching. All heads turn skywards while one descends onto the pedestal kicking up a lot of dust and general resentment. On the nose amd doors of the black Huey are painted large Playboy rabbits. Finally the blades are trimmed and a strange silence descends over the men. The door of the copter slides partially open -- two young Green Berets step out with M-16's to varied catcalls. When this abates a young, extremelly well-dressed man emerges. He is the epitome of a Hollywood AGENT. Hair is combed impeccably and free of dandruff -- clothes are formal but hip -- shoes are shined -- Quite some dude -- his presence causes some stirring but seems to strangely quiet the man. He walks over to the microphone. AGENT I'd like to say hello from all of us up here, to all of you out there. All of you who've worked so hard during Operation Brute Force -- Paratroopers -- Infantry -- Airmen -- Medics -- Marines -- and Sailors. And I want you to know that we feel proud of you and know how hard your job is. To prove it -- we've brought some entertainment we think you're gonna like: The Playmate of the Year and her two runners up ! He pulls open the door and three unbelieveably beautiful sex playmates in fringed go-go outfits leap out and start dancing to the Creedence Clearwater Revival singing "Suzy Q." 30 MONTAGE ON THE GIRLS AND MEN VARIOUS SHOTS as the girls dance in an incredibly erotic manner -- smiling. The faces of the G.I.'s pass -- their jaws drop -- some look almost horrified. Chef is hypnotized -- Mr. Clean cries. Chief mouths unspoken obscenities with sentimental tenderness. Others grab the air in front of them. With each movement their need increases by the square. 31 FULL SHOT - PEDESTAL - GIRLS - MEN They crush forward starting to scream -- men fall on the wire -- the guards in the "riot control positions" forget -- the attack dogs are trampled. The mob as one surges forward onto the wire. Men scream and fall into the moat, which is filling up fast. The Agent sees this all as he has seen it before. He casually pulls the pin of a smoke grenade; the girls retreat into the copter -- he follows, then the two Green Berets. The ROTARS WHINE -- the black Playboy Huey lifts off just as the first crazed men reach it. They grab frantically for the wheels, but miss. The Huey wheels up into the blue sky, leaving them all below. Such are the ways of war. CUT TO: 32 EXT. FULL VIEW - DAY The P.B.R. moving further up the primitive coastline. There are few signs of civilization; no villages, no boats -- just the overwhelming presence of the jungle. WILLARD (V.O.) Two days out of Hau Fat, there was nothing but us and the coastline. I felt like I had set off for the center of the earth... Suddenly, Chief looks out, ahead. CHIEF Smoke ! WILLARD Where ? They all turn. Chief points up the coast. 33 FULL SHOT - THE COASTLINE A thick train of black smoke rises from the green jungle. WILLARD Black smoke ... secondary burning. The Chief grabs field glasses. CHIEF Yeah -- fishing village -- helicopters over there. Hueys, lots of 'em. WILLARD First Air Cavalry. They're the ones gonna get us into the River. 34 FULL SHOT - THE BEACH AND VILLAGE A vast field of devastation -- smashed and smoking palm trees -- deep, ragged craters -- gutted and burning huts -- shattered sampans and bodies washing around in the surf. 35 MED. SHOT - BEACH - WILLARD AND CREW They wade through the water to the beach where they are met by a heavily armed group of men. Overhead jets swoop by FIRING ROCKETS, the NOISE drowning out Willard's attempt at conversation with some of the men. We can't hear any of the talk, but we notice that the Sergeant turns up to a particular Huey, and points to it. 36 FULL SHOT - HELICOPTERS Three Hueys swoop in low -- they are heavily laden with machine guns -- rockets and loudspeakers. The two out- side copters hover, while the center copter lands, raising a lot of dust. It cuts its rotors and the other copters pull up and off to the side. Two armed soldiers jump from the doors and stand with guns ready. Then a tall, strong looking man emerges. He wears a well-cut and neatly-stretched tiger suit. It is COLONEL WILLIAM KILGORE -- tough looking, well-tanned, with a black mustache. He crouches over, holding his hat in the rotor wash. It is no ordinary hat but a L.A. Dodgers baseball hat. He walks out, and then stards to his full immense height and with his hands on his hips he surveys the field of battle. His eyes are obscured by mirror-fronted sunglasses. KILGORE (bellowing) Lieutenant: Bomb that tree line back about a hundred yards -- give me some room to breathe. A Lieutenant and radio man nod and rush off. 37 CLOSE VIEW ON WILLARD He was not quite prepared for this. 38 VIEW ON KILGORE turning to his GUARDS KILGORE Bring me some cards. GUARD Sir ? KILGORE Body cards, you damn fool -- cards ! The soldier rushes over and hands him two brand new packages of playing cards wrapped in plastic. Two other soldiers get out of the copter and walk over. They are well-tanned and carry no weapons. They seem more casual about the Colonel than anyone else. The Sergeant walks up, leading Willard, the Chief and Lance. WILLARD (formally) Captain B-L. Willard, sir -- 4th Recon Group -- I carry priority papers from Com-Sec Intelligence 11 Corp -- I believe you understand the nature of my mission. KILGORE (not looking up) Yeah -- Na Trang told me to expect you -- we'll see what we can do. Just stay out of my way till this is done, Captain. He cracks the plastic wrapping sharply -- takes out the deck of new cards and fans them. The Colonel strides right past Willard with no further acknowledgement. The others follow, 39 TRACKING VIEW The Colonel walks through the shell-pocked field of devastation. Soldiers gather around smiling; as Kilgore comes to each V.C. corpse he drops a playing card on it -- carefully picking out which card he uses. KILGORE (to himself) Six a spades -- eight a hearts -- Isn't one worth a Jack in this whole place. The Colonel goes on about this business. 40 TRACKING ON KILGORE moving through the corpses, dropping the cards. On of the two tanned soldiers rushes up and whispers something to him. He stops. KILGORE What ? Here. You sure? The soldier points to Lance, who immediately puts down the card he was holding. Kilgore strides over to the young man, who almost instinctively moves closer t Willard. KILGORE (continuing) What's your name, sailor ? LANCE Gunner's Mate, Third Class -- L. Johnson, sir. KILGORE Lance Johnson? The surfer? LANCE That's right, sir. Kilgore smiles -- sticks out his hand. KILGORE It's an honor to meet you Lance. I've admired your nose-riding for years -- I like your cutback, too. I think you have the best cutback there is. LANCE Thank you, sir. KILGORE You can cut out the sir, Lance -- I'm Bill kilgore -- I'm a goofy foot. 41 VIEW ON WILLARD His entire, top priority mission has been put in the background. KILGORE (O.S.) This is Mike from San Diego and Johnny from Malibu -- they're good solid surfers -- none of us are anywhere near your class, though. Lance blushes, sort of mumbling thanks. WILLARD My orders are from Com-Sec Intel -- B.L. Willard, 4th Recon -- KILGORE Just hold up a second, Captain -- I'll get to you soon enough -- We've got things to do here. Willard eats it, for now. Kilgore puts his hand on Lance's shoulder, and continues flipping the cards in- discriminately on the bodies as they talk. KILGORE (continuing) ... we do a lot of surfing around here. Like to finish up operations early and fly down to Vung Tau for the evening glass. Have you ever surfed the point at Vung Tau? I liked the beach breaks around Na Trang a lot -- good lefts. He passes a twisted gun emplacement with about five bodies -- sprinkles cards all over them. KILGORE (continuing) ... we keep three boards in my Command Huey at all times. You never can tell when you're gonna run into something good. I got a guy in Cam Rau Bay that can predict a swell two days in advance. We try to work it in. He stops at a particularly wild-looking Viet Cong who has died with his mouth agape -- staring wild-eyed in horror at the sky. Kilgore pauses. KILGORE (continuing; to himself) Hell, that's an Ace if I ever saw one. He puts the card in the gaping mouth. 42 CLOSE VIEW OVER THE VIET CONG We SEE the Colonel and the others walk off -- the dead Viet Cong and card are in the immediate f.g. The card has the shield of the CAV printed bautifully, and above it the motto: DEATH FROM ABOVE. KILGORE Where've you been riding, Lance? LANCE I haven't surfed since I got here. KILGORE That's terrible -- we'll change that -- I'd like to see you work -- I've always liked your cutback; got a hell of a left turn, too. DISSOLVE TO : 43 EXT. THE HELICOPTER - MED. SHOT Willard is sitting with Kilgore on acouple of chairs by a table set up in front of the command copter. Everywhere we SEE armed men, sandbags, barbed wire, oil drums etc. Hueys are constantly ROARING over. ARTILLERY BOOMS in the far distance. Kilgore looks at the map. KILGORE Why the hell you wanna go up to Nu Mung Ba for? WILLARD I got bored in Saigon. KILGORE What's the furthest you been in? WILLARD Haiphong. KILGORE Haiphong? Shit, you jump in ? WILLARD No. Walked. KILGORE What'd you do for supplies? WILLARD (he shrugs) Mercenaries -- agents, traitors -- they put out caches. KILGORE Can you trust them? WILLARD No. They put out two or three for every one I needed. When you get to the one you'll use, you just stake it out. If something feels wrong, you just pass it up. On one mission, I had to pass up three and ended up living on rats and chocolate bars. KILGORE Nu Mung Ba. Last I heard, Walter Kurtz commanded a Green Beret detachment at Nu Mung Ba. WILLARD When did you hear? KILGORE 'Bout a year ago? Is Kurtz still alive? WILLARD Who knows. KILGORE Seems to me he got himself fragged. i heard some grunt rolled a grenade in his tent. Maybe a rumor. Helluva man -- remarkable officer. Walter Kurtz woulda been a General some day. General of the Army. Shit, Head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Did you knew Kurtz? WILLARD I met him. KILGORE Don't you agree? WILLARD He musta changed ! (pointing to the map) I got to get into the Nung River, here or here. KILGORE That village you're pointing at is kinda hairy. WILLARD Hairy ? KILGORE I mean it's hairy -- they got some pretty heavy ordnance, boy -- I've lost a few recon ships in there now and again. WILLARD So? I heard you had a good bunch of killers here. KILGORE And I don't intend to get some of them chewed up just to get your tub put in the mouth of the goddman Nung River. You say you don't know Kurtz? WILLARD I met him. KILGORE You talk like him. I don't mind taking casualties, Captain, but I like to keep my ratio ten to one in this unit -- ten Cong to one. WILLARD You'll find enough Cong up there. KILGORE What about this point here? He puts his finger on the map. KILGORE (continuing) What's the name of that goddamn village -- Vin Drin Dop or Lop; damn gook names all sound the same. He motions to one of his surfers. KILGORE (continuing) Mike, you know anything about the point at Vin Drip Drop? MIKE Boss left. KILGORE What do you mean? MIKE It's really long left slide, breaks on the short side of the point -- catches a south swell. LANCE Nice. Willard looks at Lance -- then at Kilgore. KILGORE Why the hell didn't you tell me about that place -- a good left. (to Willard) There aren't any good left slides in this whole, shitty country. It's all goddamn beach break. MIKE It's hairy ,though. That's where we lost McDonnel -- they shot the hell out of us. It's Charlie's point. KILGORE How big it is? MIKE Six to eight feet. Kilgore gazes out across the parked helicopters. KILGORE (to himself) A six-foot left. Willard nudges Lance -- who gets the idea. LANCE Boss. What's the wind like. MIKE Light off shore -- really hollow. WILLARD We could go in tomorrow at dawn -- there's always off-shore wind in the morning. CHIEF The draft of that river might be too shallow on the point. KILGORE Hell, we'll pick your boat up and lay it down like a baby, right where you want it. This is the Cav boy -- airmobile. I can take that point and hold it as long as I like -- and you can get anywhere you want up that river that suits you, Captain. Hell, a six foot left. (he turns to an advisor) You take a gunship back to division -- Mike, take Lance with you -- let him pick out a board, and bring me my Yater Spoon -- the eight six. TOM I don't know, sir -- it's -- it's -- KILGORE (hard) What is it? TOM Well, I mean it's hairy in there -- it's Charlie's point. Kilgore turns and looks to Willard, exasperated. WILLARD Charlie don't surf. 44 FULL SHOT - HELICOPTERS - DAWN What seems like hundreds of Hueys standing, their rotors churning a great wind -- Inside, the men of the 1st Cavalry Airmobile -- toughest unit in Vietnam. Kilgore's helicopter is being loaded with ammunition and has surfboards strapped underneath. 45 MED. VIEW Kilgore strides up to the side door, dressed for battle. He looks out, around. He turns to his door GUNNER. KILGORE How do you feel, boy? GUNNER Like a mean motherfucker, sir. He turns to his R.T. man. KILGORE Let's go. 46 FULL VIEW Helicopter rotors build up speed -- gas turbines belching fire from their jet pipes -- dust flying as fifty helicopters rise; ROAR OVER CAMERA and deploy into attack formation. 47 NEW VIEW Helicopters moving THROUGH the FRAME: almost a dance of dragonflies. 48 INT. COMMAND COPTER - MED. SHOT - KILGORE, WILLARD, OTHERS Willard looks ahead -- Kilgore sits near the door. Below they see the jungle whisk by and they are suddenly over the ocean, low and fast. 49 MONTAGE CLOSE SHOTS of rocket pods -- mini-guns in bizarre looking mounts. CLOSE SHOTS of the three surfboards strapped below the command helicopter, next to the fearsome weaponry. And finally, CLOSE SHOTS of the men -- nervous, excited very few of them really scared -- they fondle their rifles, grenade launchers, anti-personnel grenades, claymore mines; plastic explosives cord; flame-throwers; M-60 machine guns; expandable rocket launchers; mortars and bayonets. 50 INT. COMMAND COPTER Kilgore cranes his neck and almost leans out to watch the waves -- then he sits back relaxed. KILGORE (to Willard) We'll come in low out of the rising sun -- We'll put on the music about a mile out. WILLARD Music? KILGORE Yeah. Classical stuff -- scares the hell out of the slopes -- the boys love it. 51 MED. SHOT POV behind the PILOT and CO-PILOT -- the ocean rushes below. PILOT Big Duke six to Eagle Thrust -- turn on coordinates 1-0 -- niner, assume attack formation. The helicopter banks into a tight turn and bears toward the coast. RADIO (V.O.) Eagle Thrust formation target 2800 yards -- begin psch-war operations. 52 CLOSE SHOT - LOUDSPEAKERS The ocean rushes below as suddenly the LOUDSPEAKERS BLARE out Wagner's "Ride of the Valkyries." 53 FULL SHOT - HELICOPTERS From the water we SEE the massive grouping of Hueys -- gun- ships -- troop carriers -- medevac and recon -- ROAR over low in battle formation BLARING out "Ride of the Valkyries." 54 INT. HELICOPTER - MED. SHOT -CREW POV behind pilot -- PILOT 700 -- 600 yards -- 500 -- Commence firing. The whole copter shakes. 55 EXT. VIET CONG FISHING VILLAGE - FULL SHOT A Vietnamese coastal fishing village built along the beach and palm trees -- with rice paddies behind. This village commands a delta where ocean and river merge. Sampans are pulled into a cover where they are being unloaded. We SEE bunkers with N.V.A. regulars ambling about. Suddenly we HEAR the distant MUSIC -- Everyone stops; they stare out to see. Men scream orders -- women run from huts bearing ammunition and rifles -- Everywhere there is activity to prepare for the defense of the village. Camouflage is removed from anti-aircraft emplacements. People feverishly unlimber weapons of all types and run to tunnels and trenches. The MUSIC GROWS LOUDER with the FAINT SOUND of ROTORS 56 EXT. THE HELICOPTER FORMATION - AERIAL VIEW coming directly at us; WAGNER BLARING. 57 HIGH ANGLE looking down through the helicopters as they approach the village. 58 INT. HELICOPTER - MED. SHOT - CREW POV behind pilot PILOT 700 yards -- 600 -- 500 -- commence firing. The whole copter shakes. 59 EXT. HELICOPTERS - MONTAGE We SEE rockets ROAR from pods -- MACHINE GUNS RATTLE -- grenade launchers POUND away -- and MINI-GUNS pour streams of lead and tracers with the SOUND of a DIESEL HORN. 60 FULL SHOT - HELICOPTERS POV behind lead gunship. They ROAR in over the beach streaming FIRE from doors, pods and nose -- The ground is alive with smoke and fire -- a hut EXPLODES. The leads ship banks sharply up over the trees -- men run below SHOOTING back. 61 MED. SHOT - ANTI-AIRCRAFT EMPLACEMENT EXPLOSIONS crash around -- the MUSIC and SOUND of the COPTERS almost drown them out. The gunner FIRES frantically -- COPTERS are ROARING over -- GUNFIRE rips around. The gunner is blown away. 62 MED. CLOSE ON WILLARD as the ship he is in swoops down, its MACHINE GUNS FIRING into the village. 63 MED. SHOT - SWOOPING COPTER The Pilot leans out and SHOOTS a charging V.C. in the head with his .38, then ducks back in. CO-PILOT We're down, Eagle Thrust -- we're hit. We got a hot L.Z. here. BULLETS RIP through the plexiglass. The Pilot FIRES back. CO-PILOT (continuing) Hell of a hot L.Z. Need immediate air strike on the tree line, Eagle Thrust. 64 INT. COMMAND COPTER - MED. SHOT - WILLARD, KILGORE, OTHERS Kilgore has R.T. equipment -- he leans out near the door gunner. KILGORE Big Duke Six to Hell's Angels Four -- bring it in on along tree line and huts. RADIO (V.O.) Hell's Angels Four to Big Duke Six -- we'll need green smoke -- suggest you have the FAC mark it. KILGORE Haven't got time, Hell's Angels -- lay it right up the tree line. 65 FULL SHOT - JET SQUADRON Four F-4H Phantoms peel off and streak toward the coast. 66 INT. COMMAND COPTER - VIEW ON WILLARD AND KILGORE KILGORE Fucking savages. WILLARD Who? KILGORE The enemy. Who else? 67 HELICOPTER'S POV - THE JETS The jets streak by below laying in huge gobs of orange napalm along the trees. KILGORE (O.S.) (on radio) Very good, Hell's Angels -- suggest you follow with cannon fire. 68 INT. COMMAND COPTER - MED. SHOT They circle the battle. RADIO (V.O.) This is Baker Delta Four -- Captain hit bad -- need dust-off. Receiving heavy automatic weapons fire from huts about thirty yards to our left. KILGORE Big Duke Six to Baker Delta Four -- hold -- we're right over you. He turns to door gunner. KILGORE (continuing) Right along the doors, boy. The gunner FIRES leaning out -- KILGORE (continuing) Fine... fine... little higher. Through the roof; yeah, that's good. He leans back in. KILGORE (continuing) Didn't anybody bring me any bombs, grenades, claymores or anything? LIEUTENANT You didn't tell me to, sir. KILGORE (grumbling) You shoulda known. Suddenly, BULLETS SMASH through the copter -- Plexiglass SHATTERS; the copter vibrates and turns sharply. Kilgore is thrown down where he hangs on. KILGORE (continuing) Sonuvabitch -- anybody hurt? WILLARD Automatic weapons flashes along those trees -- probably eleven millimeter guns and AK-47's. KILGORE The trees, eh... He grabs the R.T. KILGORE (continuing) Eagle Thrust Four -- Big Duke Six. Join me in sparaying some trees. RADIO (V.O.) Affirmative, Big Duke Six -- We're even got some rockets left. KILGORE Take her in low, Lieutenant. 69 FULL SHOT - THE TREES, HELICOPTERS The two helicopters swoop up out of the smoke and blast the trees with ROCKETS, MACHINE GUNS and GRENADE LAUNCHERS. Other copters join -- The V.C. break and run through the rice paddies in the f.g. -- BULLETS EXPLODING around them -- they scream and fall FIRING back. 70 INT. COMMAND COPTER - MED. SHOT - KILGORE, WILLARD Kilgore looks out as three V.C. break and run through the rice paddies -- the helicopter turns and follows them -- the door gunner swings out and BLASTS two of them into the mud. He takes a bead on the third. KILGORE Hold it, boy. He puts his arms across the sights -- the gunner swings back inside. KILGORE (continuing) Take her up to 300 feet, Lieutenant. They rise above the paddy -- the man below runs for all he's worth. Kilgore motions to the door gunner who steps aside. Kilgore buckles himself into the gunner's harness. KILGORE (continuing) Rifle. A hand passes him a M-16. KILGORE (continuing; hard) My rifle, soldier. There is some fumbling and then a hand passes him a 300 Weatherby Magnum with a zebra wood stock -- mother of pearl inlays and a variable power scope. Kilgore takes it and opens the bolt. 71 VIEW ON WILLARD Amazed at these proceedings. 72 VIEW ON KILGORE as he loads the rifle with huge cartridges. He gets into the sling and slams the bolt shut. 73 MOVING POV. ON THE V.C. He is running hard, but starting to sink into the mud. The Huey DRONES overhead, its huge shadow behind him on the mud. He turns and FIRES with a pistol. 74 INT. COPTER - MED. SHOT - KILGORE, WILLARD Kilgore leans out; pulls the gun in tight -- takes careful aim and the Cong is BLASTED flat into the paddy. Kilgore leans back, opens the bolt, ejecting the spent cartridge out the door. He hands Weatherby back into the copter. 75 VIEW ON WILLARD The gaudy rifle passed by him. SOLDIER (O.S.) That's 27, sir. WILLARD Anyone got a card? Somebody hands Willard the deck. He takes a card and flips it out of the copter, never lifting his gaze from Kilgore. DISSOLVE TO : 76 FULL SHOT - BATTLEFIELD - THE CAV, V.C. Americans run through the hooches FIRING and throwing GRENADES. Helicopters swoop overhead -- JETS ROAR by -- Uniformed N.V.A. regulars burst from a tunnel en- trance and charge the Americans. The SHOOTING is at point blank range -- automatic, as the V.C. are cut down. 77 INT. COMMAND COPTER - KILGORE, WILLARD, LANCE, ETC. Kilgore leans out carefully, looking over the battle- field. He has the R.T. He leans back, deliberately avoiding Willard to speak to Lance. KILGORE The L.Z.'s cooling off fast -- we'll move in another company an' then we'll own it. (he laughs to himself) Charlie's point. He looks out toward the ocean. KILGORE (continuing) Good swell. LANCE What, sir? KILGORE I said it's a good swell -- hell of a good swell 'bout six feet. Let's get a look at it. Lance looks at Willard and then agrees. 78 FULL SHOT - COPTER, SURF The pilots are used to this -- they bank sharply and swoop in on the lineup of waves, coming in low over the point and streaking down a long, lined-up green wall as if surfing it. They tip up over and up at the last minute as the wave breaks. DISSOLVE TO : 79 FULL SHOT - BEACH HUTS, SOLDIERS Americans line up blindfolded Viet Cong and N.V.A. regular troops outside a burning hut. GUNFIRE is DISTANT and sporadic -- an occasional MORTAR round SCREAMS in. A soldier yells in Vietnamese in a southern accent and the prisoners are marched away. Other soldiers are already setting up heavy weapons emplacements -- 50 cal machine guns etc. Three Hueys ROAR in, fanning the smoke with their wind. The center one, the command ship, lands. JETS SCREAM over and the two gunships pull up at 200 feet. Another Huey zooms in low and lands behind the Colonel's. The doors open, guards jump out, check the situation, and out steps Kilgore and Lance. From the other copter are more guards, Kilgore's surfers and others of the P.B.R. crew. Willard follows. 80 FULL SHOT - THE POINT They stride out across the debris-strewn beach. Kilgore stands majestically on the point watching the waves. A SHELL SCREAMS overhead. SOLDIER Incoming ! They all dive, except Kilgore. He is watching a big set -- the SHELL EXPLODES in the water about a hundred yards away, sending up a huge geyser of spray. Kilgore is unmoved. KILGORE Look at that. They look. LANCE This L.Z. is still pretty hot, sir, maybe we oughta stand somewhere else. Kilgore pays him no mention. WILLARD I'm waiting for the fucking boat, Colonel. KILGORE (without looking) It'll get here, soldier. He turns to Mike and Johnny who have their faces in the sand. KILGORE (continuing) Change. MIKE Wh -- what? KILGORE Change -- get out there -- I want'a see if it's ridable -- change. MIKE It's still pretty hairy, sir. KILGORE (bellowing) You want'a surf, soldier? He nods yes meakly. KILGORE (continuing) That's good, boy, because it's either surf or fight. They turn and hurry off -- Kilgore grabs an M-1 from one of the guards. They all think he's going to shoot the surfers or someone. They move back uneasy. KILGORE (continuing) I'm gonna cover for 'em -- that's all. He cocks thye weapon. Lance looks around uneasily. The Colonel walks over. KILGORE (continuing) You think that section on the point is ridable, Lance? LANCE I think we ought to wait for the tide to come in. A SHELL SCREAMS OVER -- they all hit the dirt except for Kilgore. It EXPLODES throwing sand through the air. Kilgore leans down yelling over the NOISE. KILGORE Doesn't happen for six hours. Lance looks up at him terrified, holding onto his helmet. KILGORE (continuing) The tide -- doesn't come in for six hours. DISSOLVE TO : 81 FULL SHOT - SURF - MIKE AND JOHNNY They walk through shallows carrying brightly colored boards. They look very scared. JETS SCREAM overhead, FIRING CANNONS. Helicopters wheel by carrying out wounded. They wear olive drab surfing trunks with the Cav's shield on the left leg. The same shield is emblazoned on the boards along the word "Airmobile". They edge into the water and paddle through the mild shorebreak. 82 FULL SHOT - THE POINT - SURFERS They paddle up the point in the calm channel -- the beautiful waves breaking beyond them. 83 CLOSE SHOT ON JOHNNY, MIKE They paddle on their stomachs, keeping low -- breathing hard and constantly looking around scared out of their minds. 84 MED. SHOT - KILGORE AND LANCE Kilgore looks at them with his field glasses. Lance kind of sits below taking cover in a shell hole. KILGORE They far enough? LANCE Sure -- fine -- Kilgore turns and takes a giant electric megaphone from a waiting lackey. KILGORE (through megaphone) That's far enough -- pick one up and come on in -- 85 FULL SHOT - THE POINT, SURFERS They line themselves up on the point. A good set is building. Mike turns strokes into it -- takes off -- drops to the bottom and turns -- trims up into a tight section -- everything right except he keeps looking around frantically. 86 CLOSE SHOT ON LANCE AND KILGORE Another SHELL SCREAMS over and EXPLODES down the beach. Lance looks over at Willard. LANCE (to himself) Maybe he'll get tubed. WILLARD What? LANCE Maybe he'll get inside the tube -- where -- where they can't see him. A SERIES of SHELLS ROAR in. WILLARD Incoming ! Lance ducks -- puts his hands over his head. The SHELLS SCREAM over Kilgore and out towards the point. Kilgore looks through his glasses -- two EXPLOSIONS in the water are HEARD. KILGORE Son of a bitch. Lance looks up and out toward the point in horror. 87 FULL SHOT - THE POINT Two surfboards float in the channel bobbing up and down on the waves. 88 MED. SHOT - LANCE AND KILGORE LANCE (to himself) The tragedy of this war is a dead surfer. Willard looks over, beginning to think Lance is crazy, too. WILLARD What's that? LANCE Just something I read in the Free Press. KILGORE They just missed a good set -- the chicken shits ! Lance looks up. 89 FULL SHOT - THE POINT , SURFERS They come up near their boards and climb on -- smoke hangs over the water. KILGORE (O.S.) (megaphone) Try it again, you little bastards. 90 BACK TO SCENE He turns to Willard. KILGORE (continuing) I´m not afraid to surf this place. I'll surf this place. 91 CLOSE SHOT ON KILGORE He turns, glowering to his lackeys. KILGORE Bring that R.T., soldier. He grabs it. KILGORE (continuing) Big Duke Six to Hell's Angels -- Goddamit, I want that treeline bombed -- yeah -- napalm -- gimme some napalm -- son of a bitch -- yeah, I'll take H.Z. or C.B.U.'s if you got any of them -- just bomb 'em into the Stone Age, boy. He throws the R.T. back to a soldier -- another SALVO WHISTLES over -- everyone drops. KILGORE (continuing; to himself) Son of a bitch. As the SHELLS EXPLODES on the beach behind him, KIlgore raises his M-16 and EMPTIES it full automatic in the general direction of the trees. He mumbles a few un- intelligible swear words and jams a new clip into his rifle turning to Lance -- KILGORE (continuing) We'll have this place cleaned up and ready for us in a jiffy, boy. Don't you worry. He FIRES another clip as the JETS SCREAM overhead. 92 FULL SHOT - RIVER - COPTERS A sky-crane without pod descends slowly toward us -- The P.B.R. hangs below it. The Chief, mr. Clean and Chef stand watching this sight alomg with other soldiers. A man guides the descending copter till the boat settles carefully in the shallows. The Chief and others leap aboard; unshackle the hoists -- load on ammunition and fuel. The battle is still going on around them. They all look up as a wadge of PHANTOMS streak over low and peel off one by one to begin their bombing run. 93 FULL SHOT - PHANTOMS - MONTAGE Phantoms RAKE the trees with 20 mm CANNONS -- FIRE five inch ROCKETS in salvo -- "Bull Pup" MISSILES -- drop H.E. (high explosives) and C.B.U's (Cluster Bomb Units) and finally an immense amount of NAPALM. 94 FULL SHOT ON THE P.B.R. The Chief is at the helm --the engine starts; Clean and Chef work feverishly, ducking for cover every-so- often when an EXPLOSION hits nearby. The boat begins to back out of the shallows. The EXPLOSIONS of NAPALM are reflected on their faces; the ROAR of the FIRE drowns out almost everything. CHIEF Forget that extra drum -- it's too damn hot. CLEAN Clear on starboard -- Where's Lance an' the Captain? CHIEF I saw that Colonel's Huey on the point -- Two HELICOPTERS SCREAM over FIRING ROCKETS. CHIEF (continuing) Let's just get outta here. 95 FULL SHOT - THE POINT - KILGORE, WILLARD , LANCE, OTHERS Kilgore watches the waves with his field glasses -- smoke drifts over. Lance crouches below. Willard is up looking off in another direction. SHELLS SCREAM over, but even their noise is drowned out by the fierce SHRIEK of the PHANTOMS and the deafening BLAST of HIGH EXPLOSIVES. Willard stares at the tree line where it comes down to the river. The JETS are making a hell of the tree line; a hell of fire and bust- ling steam thet nothing could live in. Willard's glance goes further downriver through the black smoke and there merging in the river -- small and vulnerable, is his boat. WILLARD (to Lance) Look. There it is; the boat. Lance looks over -- a tremendous relief on his face. But still there remains the threat of Kilgore, standing stark against the sky. Willard silently motions Lance toward the boat. LANCE (whispers) He'll kill us. WILLARD He can't kill us. (realizing as he says it) We're on his side. Kilgore FIRES another clip at the tree line, and then strides back without looking at them. KILGORE (almost to himself) You smell that. (louder) You smell that? LANCE What? KILGORE Napalm, boy -- nothing else in the world smells like that -- They reflect the glow from the burning trees. KILGORE (continuing; nostalgically) I love the smell of napalm in the morning. One time we had a hill bombed for 12 hours. I walked up it when it was all over; we didn't find one of 'em ... not one stinking gook body. They slipped out in the night -- but the smell -- that gasoline smell -- the whole hill -- it smelled like ... (pause) victory... He looks off nostalgically. WILLARD You know, some day this war's gonna end.. KILGORE (sadly) Yes, I know. Suddenly he senses something -- he stops -- lifts his hand -- then frantically licks his fingers and puts them up in the air. KILGORE (continuing) The wind -- LANCE What? Sure enough there is a rushing breeze that increases. KILGORE (rising maniacally) Feel it -- it's the wind -- it's blowing on shore -- It's on shore ! He leans down and practically grabs Lance. KILGORE (continuing; screaming) It's gonna blow this place out. It's gonna ruin it ... WILLARD The kid can't ride sloppy waves. They turn and stare out to sea. 96 FULL SHOT - THE POINT - SURFERS The wind has changed. Instead of blowing spray back over the waves and hollowing them out, this strange wind is causing white caps and cross chop.. reducing the swell to slop. Mike and Johnny lay low on their boards, overjoyed. WILLARD (O.S.) The kid can't stand sloppy waves. 97 MED. SHOT - THE BEACH - LANCE, KILGORE, WILLARD WILLARD You don't expect this kid to ride that crap, do you? He's a goddamn artist, he needs something to work with... Slapping Lance on the shoulder. LANCE Yeah, I'm an artist, goddamit ! KILGORE (apologetically) Yeah -- yeah, I can understand how you feel. He turns toward the trees. KILGORE (continuing) It's the napalm -- it's causing the wind -- ruining my perfect left. He staggers off toward the trees followed by his guards and other lackeys. KILGORE (continuing; mumbling) The napalm -- ruin -- napalm my perfect left -- my perfect left point break -- napalm -- Lance motions with his eyes to Willard. 98 FULL SHOT ON THE P.B.R. The P.B.R. along the river shallows -- The Chief and crew waiting and yelling. 99 MED. VIEW ON WILLARD AND LANCE WILLARD Are you finished surfing? LANCE Yeah... thanks. WILLARD Want to say goodbye to the Colonel? LANCE Nah. WILLARD Then let's get the hell out of here. They break and run like hell toward the boat in the distance. OUR VIEW TRACKS with them. They are cheered by the crew -- suddenly, Willard sees some- thing and stops... Lance continuing. In a pile of equipment that the Hueys have left are two surfboards -- Willard looks at them. LANCE No -- no, Captain. WILLARD Which one's the Colonel's? LANCE The Yater -- the clear one with the thin stringer. Willard glances over to it with determination. There is still MORTAR FIRE coming in between him and the board. Suddenly, Willard makes a run for it. CHIEF (O.S.) Incoming ! Incoming -- son of a bitch. The ROUNDS bracket the P.B.R. and line up the beach toward Willard. He stands there and doesn't move, the surfboard under his arm. The shells kick up sand. Lance has dropped. Fragments whistle by, one rips a chunk of foam and fibreglass from the rain of the board. WILLARD (calm) This one , Lance? LANCE Yeah, Jesus Christ ! Once again, Willard takes off fast as hell with the board under his arm. Lance follows toward the boat, through the water. Willard hands the board up to Mr. Clean, and they both scamper abroad, exhausted and relieved. CLEAN What'd you that for? WILLARD When I was a kid I, never had a Yater spoon. Mr. Clean stuffs the board in the stern 50 Cal. mount. The boat turns -- ENGINES RUNNING HARD and ROARS OFF toward the deeper water of the river -- the board clearly visible on the stern. DISSOLVE TO : 100 FULL SHOT ON THE RIVER - P.B.R The P.B.R. ROARS BY going down the river at full speed. It is swerving and zig-zagging to avoid potential enemy fire. 101 MED. SHOT ON THE CREW They all are in full battle positions -- their twin fifty Cal. guns turning; warily covering the jungled banks. The Chief is at helm -- Willard crouches against some armor plate, huddled with his M-16 ready. Chef is behind him at the radio. Lance leans back from his forward turret. LANCE (yelling) Maybe we better stay in under the trees till dark -- we got his Yater. WILLARD He didn't look like he'd take that sitting down. They all look up into the sky -- expecting the worst. WILLARD (continuing) Let's put some distance between us and Charlie. The Chief nods. CHIEF Lance --- LANCE Yeah. CHIEF Why don't you roll us a big joint? I think the Captain'd like that. They all look at Willard uneasily. After a suspensful pause, Willard smiles: WILLARD Take one a mine -- He fishes into his breast pocket -- pulls out a huge cigar-sized joint. They all smile -- Willard lights up. DISSOLVE TO : 102 FULL SHOT - THE P.B.R. It zig-zags away from us down the river at high speed. DISSOLVE TO : 103 FULL SHOT - THE TREES, BOAT, CREW - NIGHT The boat is hidden under some trees along the river bank. The men wait tensely listening -- LANCE You hear it again? WILLARD No -- I don't think so. But it'll be back. They were circling. It'll be back. LANCE You think he'd of shot us? WILLARD When? LANCE Any time -- us -- Americans. Lance looks over at Willard. WILLARD I don't think he´d of shot us on the beach but -- he'd of shot us if he saw me taking the board -- LANCE A Yater spoon is hard to get -- especially here. WILLARD He's a man who knows what he wants -- he does know what he wants. CHEF Can I go get those mangos now? CHIEF I'll go with you in a while -- judt hold tight awhile -- LANCE Captain -- that was all true about the rats and chocolate and stuff? WILLARD Sure. LANCE And you could just tell when the supplies were booby trapped? WILLARD It's a feeling you get in the jungle. When you get good, you can find a track and tell not only how many they are, but their morale, how far they're going, whether they're near their camp, the weapons they're carrying. CLEAN How can you tell their weapons.. an' how far they're going? Willard smiles. WILLARD Mostly from the imprints when they put them down to rest. their morale from the way they drag their feet, or the joints that may be lying around. If they're near a base camp, they wouldn't be conserving food; they'll be throwing it away half-eaten. If the branches aren't broken, their weapons are slung. But all this is just technique.. There's a feeling you get after a while, that's what's important. I was going through a village once. I was looking for a certain party. I took off my boots, and walked into each hut. It was midnight. I went into three like that and suddenly I realized I´d gone into each hut the same way -- standing up -- so the next one I went in on my belly. An RPD burst took out the door a bit above my head. (he shrugs) Things like that. A pause, and then suddenly his attention is diverted -- They all are silent -- It is pitch dark -- we HEAR the distant SOUND of ROTOR-BLADES and indistinguishable language on a loudspeaker -- The talk stops -- the ROTORS grow LOUDER until almost overhead. KILGORE (V.O.) (over a loudspeaker) I'm not gonna hurt or harm you, boy -- I just want the board back -- You can understand -- It was one of my best -- You know how hard it is to get a board you like, boy. I'm not gonna hurt or harm you -- Just leave it where I can find it -- The HELICOPTER DRONES on into the night -- the same speech starts again further off -- Finally the noise ceases. CLEAN Jesus -- that guy's too damn much. CHIEF I wonder if that was the same copter. WILLARD He's probably got 'em all over the river with that recording. We better move now while it's dark. Chef steps forward with a plastic basket. CHIEF Yeah, Chef -- go ahead -- take Lance with you -- WILLARD I'll go with him -- They all look at him. WILLARD (continuing) I wanta get my feet on solid land once in awhile -- He grabs an M-16 and follows Chef over the side. 104 MED. SHOT - THE JUNGLE - CHEF, WILLARD - NIGHT They cautiously walk through the underbrush. WILLARD Chef. CHEF Yes, sir -- WILLARD Why they call you that? CHEF Call me what, sir? WILLARD Chef -- is that 'cause you like mangoes an' stuff? CHEF No, sir -- I'm a real chef, sir -- I'm a sauciere -- WILLARD A sauciere -- CHEF That's right, sir -- I come from New Orleans -- I was raised to be a sauciere.. a great sauciere. We specialize in sauces; my whole family. It's what we do. I was supposed to go to Paris and study at the Escoffier School; I was saving the money. They called me for my physical so I figured the Navy had better food. WILLARD What are you doing out here? CHEF Cook school -- that did it. WILLARD How? CHEF They lined us all up in front of a hundred yards of prime rib -- magnificent meat, beautifully marbled.. Then they started throwing it in these big cauldrons, all of it -- boiling. I looked in, an' it was turning gray. I couldn't stand it. I went into radio school. They move into a slight clearing. WILLARD (whispering) -- quiet -- Chef crouches close -- redies his M-16. Willard ges- tures that he heard something; he points. 105 MED. SHOT - DIFFERENT ANGLE PAN SLOWLY over jungle -- END REVEALING Willard and Chef. WILLARD (silent) There... He points -- motions Chef to move away -- they cover the spot. A few yards from them they hear something move. It is obviously no small jungle creature. They walk toward a patch of black elephant grass; their guns at the ready. They look at each other. Willard is cold, methodical, doing something he knows well. There is a noise again -- some of the growth rustles. He and Chef move a distance apart, and join in stalking the probable V.C. Willard directs the Chef with hand gestures, and bird and cricket sounds. They move stealthily, closing the apex of their triangle on the hunted. The two men drop low into the elephant grass, and remain motionless. Then Willard makes the cricket noise, and they move closer. Willard's left hand edges out along the M-16's far end, so that he only has to point the finger of that hand and he will hit what he wants. He makes another command and they rush the trapped enemy. 106 MED. SHOT - THE ELEPHANT GRASS - WILLARD AND CHEF Suddenly there is a RUSHING SOUND -- The grass folds down quickly toward them -- willard plants his feet and from the hip lets go FULL AUTOMATIC. The Chef retreats FIRING short BURSTS into the grass -- the grass folds almost to Willard -- then a huge tiger leaps out at them; snarling magnificently. They FIRE wildly, emptying their clips. CHEF It's a motherfucking tiger -- goddamn... He turns and bolts through the jungle, as scared as a man can be. CHEF (continuing; screaming) Goddamn -- Jesus Christ tiger -- motherfucking tiger -- ohhhhhhhhh -- Willard jams another clip in his gun and backs out of the clearing, covering the bushes and runs, scared out of his head as well. 107 FULL SHOT - THE BOAT - THE CREW They all are armed -- Lance has the twin 50's pointed into the jungle. Chef comes screaming out of the brush, throws his rifle into the boat and dives headfirst after it. CHEF (hysterical) Ohhhh -- tiger ! Oh goddamn ! It's a tiger ! Jesus Christ ! Goddamn, a tiger ! Ohhhhhhhh. The Chief tries to grab him; takes his gun away, but is unable to take a hold of the Chef, as he slithers around the boat, trying to find safety. willard follows from the jungle -- The Chef is moaning and stares off into the night. LANCE What's this tiger shit? WILLARD No shit... I think I shot the hell out of him. LANCE You think? WILLARD I wasn´t looking.. I was running. CLEAN Was a big tiger -- no shit? WILLARD Who stopped to measure him -- let's get the hell out of here. CHEF A motherfucking tiger -- I could've been killed. The ENGINE ROARS to life -- the P.B.R. pulls away with great speed. CHIEF You forgot the mangoes, didn't you? CHEF Mangoes? There as a fucking tiger in the woods -- I could've been eaten alive. I'm never going into that jungle again. I gotta remember never get out of the boat; never get outta the boat. They move off; swallowed by the darkness. The JUNGLE NOISES remain, as OUR VIEW BEGINS a MOVE INTO the jungle. WILLARD (V.O.) He was right, the Chef -- never go into the jungle, unless you're ready to go all the way. DISSOLVE TO : 108 EXT. THE BOAT IN MARINA DEL RAY - NIGHT Willard, thinking, his BACK TO US. Suddenly, he turns around, and we SEE his face. WILLARD (V.O.) What was in the jungle? What was there, waiting for me? He lights the cigarette; the light of his match illuminating his face momentarily. There is something different about him; a maturity, a cool inner peace. WILLARD (V.O.) (continuing) ... Kurtz was in there. Or was he; was it Kurtz? He was just a name to me now; I couldn't remember a face, a voice -- he just didn't add up to me. all his liberal bullshit about the end of savagery -- and the role of our culture, our way of life... Willard looks toward the group of people on the boat -- there is still some MUSIC. They talk and drink and laugh. WILLARD (V.O.) (continuing) Our way of life -- I really started to look forward to meeting Kurtz again. DISSOLVE TO : 109 WATERWAY - MOVING FORWARD - DAY We HEAR: RADIO -- must remember that we owe our thanks for these to the wonderful services of the U.S.O. -- here's another oldie -- this one dedicated... 110 VIEW ON CHEF by himself on the P.B.R.; he has wiped mud under his eyes to kill the glare; it is incredibly hot. He is barechested, wearing a hat made of a banana palm. RADIO ... to the fire team at An Khe from their groovy C.O. Fred the Head -- 111 VIEW ON THE GROUP RADIO The Rolling Stones and "Satisfaction..." CHEF Outa sight. The SONG BLARES ON -- they all dig it. PAN TO Willard, sitting alone in the rear, reading from his file on Kurtz. We REVEAL Lance in the b.g., water- skiing behind the P.B.R., slaloming back and forth on his single ski to the MUSIC -- jumping the wake occasion- ally. 112 NEW VIEW - ON THE P.B.R. Lance waterskiing to "Satisfaction." 113 VIEW ON CLEAN alert, at the rear of the boat -- his M-16 ready, just in case. 114 VIEW ON WILLARD Willard opens a letter from the packet. We can SEE it is a private correspondence -- feminine writing on the envelope. WILLARD (V.O.) The dossier of A Dtachment contained letters from the families and wives of Kurtz' men There were letters from Kurtz' wife as well. 115 CLOSE SHOT - ON THE LETTER It is addressed to Colonel Walter Kurtz -- in the corner is the return addess of Mrs. Colonel Walter Kurtz -- Willard's hand fushes through the packet and comes up with apicture of a very attractive, thirty-five year old American Beauty... She is classically American. 116 CLOSE SHOT - ON WILLARD looking at the picture -- puts it back, then opens the letter, straightens it. WILLARD (V.O.) Dearest Walt -- I have to confess something. I know how you feel about this, but I had to ask Bob to find out what he could -- I just couldn't stand it anymore, not knowing where you are, whether you're alive or dead. I'm sorry Walt, I'm sorry I said that. Bob didn't tell me anything -- he said he couldn't -- I can't stand it anymore, Walt -- I just can't stand it. Willard looks out at the jungle. Deep imppenetrable jungle -- dark and primeval forests pass by. The Rolling Stones CHANT on in the b.g. WILLARD (V.O.) (continuing) I have to take the kids to school every morning now -- carpools just never work out. Jeff came home with a black eye on Tuesday but said he won anyway. He wouldn't tell me what the fight was about. Jeff keeps asking where you are -- he has maps of Viet Nam in his room now. He misses you very much. I can't take this much longer, Walt. I love you and I just can't stand it. 117 CLOSE ON WILLARD He folds the letter up, files through some others quickly and gets to a peculiar envelope stamped Top Secret with a stenciled date on it. It is also noted that this was the last correspondence to leave Nu Mung Ba. It is addressed to Kurtz' wife. He opens the letter -- it is written in a scrawled savage hand to no one in partic- ular. It reads: Sell the house Sell the car Sell the kids Find someone else Forget it I'm never coming back Forget it -- He folds up the letter. 118 CLOSE SHOT - WILLARD He looks out at the ominous jungled mountains. DISSOLVE TO : 119 FULL SHOT - P.B.R. - RIVER OUTPOST - RAIN The P.B.R. pulls in towards an American outpost that is being used as a forward medical evacuation center. Various helicopters pads are SEEN, but only one heli- copter -- the H-34 painted with Playboy rabbits that brought the girls to Hau Fat. Several soldiers in rain- coats come out the dock as the P.B.R. pulls up. 120 MED. SHOT - WILLARD, SOLDIERS Willard looks into some empty tents -- looks around the dreary muddy camp. Two soldiers pass. WILLARD Soldier -- where'´s your C.O.? SOLDIER Stepped on a booby trap, sir -- got blown all to hell -- WILLARD Well , who's in command here? SOLDIER I don't know -- don't have any idea -- I'm just the night man -- He turns and walks off babbling incoherently -- WILLARD What about you, soldier? The soldier he was talking to turns around smiling idiotically and making animal noises. He stumbles off after his friend. 121 MED. SHOT - DIFFERENT ANGLE - WILLARD He looks around disgustedly VOICE (O.S.) (whispering) Captain -- Willard turns around looking for where the voice came from. VOICE (O.S.) (continuing) Over here, Captain -- He turns to see the Hollywood Agent under the flap of a large tent so that he won't get wet. He wears the same clothes as before, but is much dirtier. He motions Willard into the tent. 122 INT. TENT - MED. SHOT - WILLARD, AGENT They duck inside -- it is dark and damp. On cots around astove sit the three playmates and the pilot. The nearest one, CATHY, a blonde, picks leeches out of her feet. The other two, TERRI and LYNDA, play cards with the helicopter pilot. Willard looks over the situation. AGENT You came in on that boat, didn't you? WILLARD Yeah -- AGENT Where are you headed? WILLARD What's it matter? Get to the point. AGENT Look -- you know the girls -- Thta's Terri -- she was playmate of -- WILLARD Yeah, I caught your show at Hau Fat. They all look over. AGENT Oh -- I see -- Well, girls, this is Captain -- eh -- WILLARD Captain Willard -- go ahead. AGENT Look -- we got in a little trouble -- they rudely took our helicopter for MedEvac work on this -- uh Operation Brute Force -- They just brought it back this morning. WILLARD Yeah. AGENT Well I mean like they also took our fuel -- We've been here two days. WILLARD Dreadful. AGENT Look -- the girls could get killed -- we're not supposed to be this close combat, I mean real combat. WILLARD Well -- AGENT We could use some fuel -- just a half drum -- just enough to get us out a here. WILLARD We need all our fuel. He turns and starts to leave. AGENT But, Captain, think what these girls have done for the boys -- think of how they've risked -- Willard is almost out of the tent. TERRI Captain -- He turns around. TERRI (continuing) It's really rough here -- Captain -- we're just not built for it -- The Pilot laughs. PILOT That's rich -- TERRI Do us a favor -- I'd do one for you -- if I could -- Willard just stares at her -- even though she's in jeans and field jacket she is something to see -- The Agent takes Willard aside -- Terri goes back to the others. AGENT Look -- you know who that is, Captain -- you know what she's saying -- you'll never see stuff that good outside of a magazine for the rest of your life. WILLARD I'm not that fond of blondes -- maybe I like brunettes -- AGENT Take your pick -- they all like you -- I can tell -- WILLARD I like all of them -- AGENT Good -- like I said, take your pick. WILLARD I said I like all of them. AGENT Now just a second -- I'm doing you a favor, buddy -- what're you trying to pull? Willard turns to leave again. WILLARD We need all our fuel anyway. AGENT Wait -- wait -- don't get up tight -- what I meant was we'd need a whole drum for that -- WILLARD Sit down -- we'll talk about it. Willard sits down on a metal chair -- motions the Agent to do likewise. AGENT What's there to talk about -- this whole thing disgusts me. WILLARD My men -- AGENT What ! WILLARD That's what there is to talk about -- my man -- I take a good care of my men -- The girls are trying to pretend they're not listening -- the helicopter Pilot is cackling to himself. AGENT You're out of your skull -- WILLARD We have a lot of pride in our unit -- AGENT How far do you think you can push -- what kind of people do you think -- WILLARD Esprit de corps -- AGENT No -- absolutely not -- WILLARD One for all -- all for one -- AGENT You can keep your fucking fuel -- Willard gets up. WILLARD You make some of your closest friends in the army -- war has a way of bringing men together. AGENT Get out -- WILLARD Men of all races -- nationalities -- He gets up and starts out. AGENT Two drums -- Willard turns around slowly. AGENT (continuing) Two whole drums -- WILLARD We can use some fifty caliber and a 16 too -- AGENT I don't know what you're talking about -- Get fucked -- WILLARD I will -- I assure you that -- You got a fifty on that H-34 -- leave the ammo in boxes -- I'll get my men to bring the first drum with 'em -- He turns to go under the tent flap. WILLARD (continuing) Have the girls freshen up a bit -- comb their hair -- put on something -- you know what I mean -- He leaves. 123 FULL SHOT - P.B.R. - CREW They are all working on patching the boat and cleaning it up in general. Mr. Clean sits in f.g., cleaning an M-16. CLEAN You keep this thing in this condition an' it's gonna jam, Lance -- mark my words. LANCE Why don't you go pet the water buffaloes -- get off my back. Behins them on the beach stand several water buffaloes eating mud or whatever they do. They are painted jungle brown and green camouflage with grey bottoms -- on their sides the words have been stenciled in black: 1 Each -- Buffalo, Water B-1A U.S. Army No. 15239 Willard walks through them down to the boat. CHIEF Careful, Captain, they've been known to charge. WILLARD All right I got a little surprise for you -- They all look up. WILLARD (continuing) I've arranged with those people we saw at Hau Fat to give us some 50 caliber in trade for a couple a drums of fuel -- CHEF No shit. WILLARD Chef -- since you're such a fan of Miss December's I think you should be detailed with Lance and Clean to take the first drum up there. CHEF I don't believe you -- CHIEF What're you trying to say, Captain -- WILLARD You'll see soon enough -- get going, sailor -- CHIEF No shit -- hot damn -- 124 INT. TENT - MED. SHOT - LYNDA, CHEF He has followed her into the tent awe-struck -- she casuallu starts unbuttoning her fatigue jacket and taking off her pants. he just stands there, his arms at his sides. CHEF I've got every one of your pictures -- I've got the centerfold -- the Playmate's review -- the Playmate of the Year run-off -- everything, even the calender -- LYNDA Well, get undressed and let's get it over with -- CHEF I can't believe it -- I'd a never even got to see you if it wasn't for this war -- She lies down on the cot in only her panties. CHEF (continuing) You wouldn't mind -- uh kinda draping that jacket over you sort of the way you were in the calender, would you? LYNDA Come on -- cut this crap -- I gotta get back to Saigon -- CHEF Just let me look awhile -- I just don't believe -- CUT TO: 125 INT. TENT - CLOSE SHOT - LANCE, CATHY They have just finished making love. cathy looks very pleased. Lance finishes tying his boots -- she draws on his back. He gets up -- starts to leave. LANCE Well -- uh thanks -- see you around. CATHY Yeah. He leaves -- she pulls herself up and starts combing her hair -- Mr. Clean walks in. CATHY (continuing) Who are you? CLEAN I'm next -- She shrugs. DISSOLVE TO : 126 INT. TENT - MED. SHOT - WILLARD, TERRI He finishes tying on his boots -- pulls on his jacket -- his gun belt and picks up his M-16. She looks up at him -- WILLARD Ma'am -- I'd like to thank you for what you an' all your friends have done for us -- I want you to know that me an' the men appreciate you coming all this way -- riskin' your lives -- living uncomfortably an' doing all you can to entertain us. I want you to know personally, Miss, that for the past few minutes you have made me feel at home. She picks up a shoe to throw at him. he turns, exits f.g. WILLARD (continuing) Just wanted to say that, ma'am. The SHOE CLANGS off his helmet. CUT TO: 127 EXT. THE P.B.R. APPROACHING DO LUNG BRIDGE - FULL SHOT - NIGHT The boat edges in toward the wrecked bridge in the distance. Along the banks are sandbagged fortificvations with U.S. soldiers in them. There is a bright fire burning uncontrolled in the distance; the sparks and white light from welding on the bridge momentarily lights up the night. WILLARD (V.O.) Two days and nights later, we approach the Do Lung Bridge. 128 VIEW ON THE FACES OF THE P.B.R. CREW watching. Everywhere are wrecked boats -- parts of trunks sticking out of the water -- smashed helicopters on the banks. The bridge is in a state of siege. Mortars and rockets arc through the night indiscriminately and rip through the nearby jungle. Soldiers are everywhere -- scurrying from trenches, carrying materials for the bridge or tending to the wounded, the maimed and the dead. Light automatic WEAPON FIRE is HEARD occasionally. The P.B.R. edges in under the span of the old bridge. Soldiers run up through the water. They are obscured in the darkness. SOLDIER I gotta get out a here -- I´ll pay -- I got money. CHIEF Get away from this boat. WILLARD Who's your C.O., soldier? The Soldier ducks back and runs away. SOLDIER Fuck you, you'll get what's coming to you. Other men approach the boat. A young LIEUTENANT steps forward. LIEUTENANT Captain Willard? WILLARD That's me. LIEUTENANT Captain Willard -- we got these from Nha Thrang two days ago -- they expected you here then -- He hands up a plastic bag, maximum security markings, Willard takes it. LIEUTENANT (continuing) You don't know how happy that makes me, sir. WILLARD Why? LIEUTENANT Now I can get out a here -- if I can find a way out. WILLARD We'll be needing some supplies and fuel -- do you know anybody who can give me a hand? LIEUTENANT I'd just clear out as soon as I could if I were you, sir. They're gonna start working on the bridge with torches again. Charlie will start throwing it in hard -- WILLARD What is this bridge? LIEUTENANT It's of strategic importance for keeping the highway into Bat Shan open -- the generals don't like to admit that Bat Shan is surrounded. He points to the men getting ready to work. LIEUTENANT (continuing) Every night we build it and by 0800 they've blown it up -- it and a lot of good men -- But the generals like to say the road is open -- ha ! Nobody uses that road except Charlie. He turns and splashes off into the darkness. LIEUTENANT (continuing) This is the cesspool of hell. SOLDIER (O.S.) Incoming. SHELLS WHISTLE OVER and CRASH into the bridge -- MEN SCREAM in the distance -- the EXPLOSIONS are thunderous. CHIEF (yelling) All right -- Lance, go with the Captain an' see what you can scrounge -- Willard climbs out with Lance. CHIEF (continuing; to Willard) Better make it fast, sir -- we don't really need much anyway. Willard nods and they scurry off the bank under the bridge. 129 MED. SHOT - WILLARD, LANCE They dash up the embankment and along the barbed wire on the edge of the road. SHELLS SCREAM overhead, they don't know where to run. VOICE Straight ahead, son of a bitch. They dive towards the voice. 130 CLOSE SHOT - TRENCH They dive in, a SOLDIER is crounched in f.g. holding his buddy who is crying uncontrollably. SOLDIER You came right to it, son of a bitch -- WILLARD Son of a bitch, sir. The Soldier doesn't respond. WILLARD (continuing) Where's your chief supply officer? SOLDIER Beverly Hills -- WILLARD What? SOLDIER Straight up the road -- a concrete bunker -- Beverly Hills -- where else you think he'd be? WILLARD C'mon -- There is an apparent lull and they dash out along the road. Suddenly to their right an M-60 STARTS OPENING UP from a sandbagged emplacement. SOLDIER (O.S.) Get your asses down, buddy. They drop and crawl to the slit trench and run up to the emplacement. Several SOLDIERS man a M-60. One has a sniper rifle -- another tries to spot for the Gunner. Willard and Lance edge up along the trench. Willard trips. VOICE Watch your feet, asshole -- Willard looks down. VOICE (continuing) You stepped on my face. LANCE We thought you were dead. VOICE The whole world loves a smart ass. They move ahead more carefully. The Gunner BLASTS away into the night, there is a pile of brass cases about three feet high next to him. Finally he stops swearing to himself. WILLARD What're you shooting at, soldier? GUNNER Gooks. He turns and sees it's an officer. GUNNER (continuing) I´m sorry, sir. WILLARD It's all right, sergeant -- what's out there? GUNNER They were tryin' to cut through the wire -- I got 'em all I think. OTHER SOLDIER Oh yeah -- listen. There is a low moaning SCREAM from out in the wire -- it stops for aminute then continues hideously. GUNNER He's trying to call his friends -- send up a flare. The Spotter does, it arcs up, then bathes them in eerie light. The Gunner FIRES a long BURST. SPOTTER Those are all dead, stupid, he's obviously underneath 'em -- They think about this as the flare goes out. The SCREAMING gets more intense. GUNNER Wake up the Roach. The Spotter moves down to where a tall lanky SOLDIER is leaned up against the trench. He kicks him hard several times. Roach wakes and just looks up. On his helmet are the words: "GOD BLESS DOW." ROACH Yeah, man. SPOTTER Slope in the wire -- hear him. He listens, he does, he nods. SPOTTER (continuing) Bust him. Roach gets up somewhat annoyed but very cool. He saunters up the machine gun dragging his M-79 which has paisley designs all over it. GUNNER Hear him? ROACH Sure , yeah. GUNNER You need a flare -- ROACH No, it´s cool. He opens the breech of his shotgun-like weapon and plunks the big slug into it. He snaps it closed then rests it across his forearm over the trench -- he listens to the SCREAM, calculating. ROACH (continuing) He's close -- real close. He adjusts his sights so that the gun is aimed high into the air. He listens again then FIRES. The GRENADE WHISTLES off into the night. There is a sharp EXPLOSION that cuts off the scream. Then the THUD of bodies or pieces of bodies coming down around them. ROACH (continuing) Muhhh Fuhhh ... He staggers back down the trench to go to sleep. 131 FULL SHOT - P.B.R. - BRIDGE - CLEAN, CHEF They stand in the shallows waiting for Willard and Lance. Clean is nervous, he constantly checks his M-16. SHELLS WHISTLE by and CRASH in the distance. CHEF Geez, I wish they'd hurry. A SOLDIER comes up on his way with some others to start building the bridge. SOLDIER Hey, buddy, that boat still runs, eh? CLEAN Yeah, it still runs. SOLDIER Do me a favor buddy, please. CLEAN What is it? He takes out a handful of crumpled envelopes. SOLDIER Send these out when you get back to the world. He puts them in Clean's hand. SOLDIER (continuing) It's to everyone I really knew -- the first girl I screwed -- my brother -- best friend -- I wanted to tell 'em how much I enjoyed knowing 'em -- it's been a great twenty years. I gotta let 'em know. CLEAN What're you askin' me for -- put 'em in the first helicopter comes in tomorrow. SOLDIER Nobody comes in here. He points up at the mountain ridges. SOLDIER (continuing) The N.V.A. 312th -- over there the 307th -- on that hill we counted fourteen different guns in one minute -- they got rockets mortars, snipers in those trees, there's a million of those shitty little bastards out there -- we're all gonna die. He grabs Clean and looks at him with a maniacal urgency. SOLDIER (continuing) I'm gonna be dead. Clean takes the letters. SOLDIER (continuing) You got a chance in that boat -- by morning you could be five miles down the river. CLEAN We ain't goin' down the river. The Soldier looks at him as if he is joking. CLEAN (continuing) What's up river from here anyhow -- The Soldier doesn't answer, just stares dumbfounded. SOLDIER Spooky. CLEAN Charlie? SOLDIER No, it'd be spooky without the war -- give 'em back. He takes the letters and leaves, somewhat disappointed and disgusted. Willard and Lance come back down the beach carrying some belts of ammunition and a couple of extra M-16's. CHIEF Wow, you must a found the C.O., eh? WILLARD We found some bodies -- let's get out a here. 132 FULL SHOT - DIFFERENT ANGLE - P.B.R. They edge through the shallows as the men light up their welding torches to start work on the pontoon bridge -- then pull away and accelerate fast. 133 MED. SHOT - THE P.B.R. CREW The Chief is at the helm -- they all look back in the distance where the bridge was -- the hills flash with artillery discharges -- there is a fiery glow from the bridge area and the CONCUSSION of heavy EXPLOSIONS. DISSOLVE TO : 134 EXT. FULL SHOT - P.B.R. - CREW - RAIN The boat moves uneasily upriver, through this tropical downpour. Mr. Clean is in thef.g., oiling and cleaning his 50-cal, his M-11 and M-79 -- the rest of the crew are forward, taking shelter from the rain under the canvas canopy. Clean works methodically under an umbrella he was set up by leaning the surfboard against gun mount. 135 EXT. THE RUSHING RIVER - NEW VIEW - RAIN The river is moving fast against them. all manner of de- bris; tree trunks, sweeping by the P.B.R. CHIEF (to Willard) I can't see a fucking thing. There is a loud CRACKING SOUND, as one of the pieces of tree- trunk whacks the hull, and bounces off. Willard climbs forward, and looks down. CHIEF (continuing) We hit a big enough one this hull will shatter like a Corvette. Fucking plastic boat. Willard practically hangs off forward with a long pole, warding off the big debris moving toward the P.B.R. Clean joins him, helping. WILLARD (shouting to Chief) What about ducking into one of those tributaries till this river slows down? CHIEF Who knows what's up there? WILLARD Can't be any worse than this. What do you think? CHIEF I think this river wants to take us home fast. I'm practically goin' in reverse. Willard points his pole in the direction of the mouth of a tributary. WILLARD Well, get in there. CHIEF This whole area is lousy with V.C. -- We don't stand a chance. Lemme turn around and we'll be in Hau Fat in six minutes. There is a really loud WHACK against the hull. willard really mad, throws the pole at the Chief, who ducks. WILLARD Get in there ! CHIEF This is my crew and my fucking boat, and I'm the responsible party. WILLARD Get in there now or I'll bury you in this river. It's clear that Willard will kill the Chief if he doesn't do as he says. CHIEF (finally relents, turns the helm) You're fucking crazy. You're going to get us all killed. The P.B.R. navigates through the rush and into the mouth of the tributary. DISSOLVE TO : 136 EXT. THE TRIBUTARY - P.B.R. - RAIN Rain is pouring down, but the P.B.R. is slowed down to a snail's pace by Hyacinths, literally across the waterway. Willard, Chef and Clean in the water, cutting through them with machetes. 137 VIEW ON LANCE having climbed to the highest point of the cockpit. LANCE It breaks through in about twenty feet. 138 VIEW ON WILLARD cutting through. he looks to Chef, who has stopped cut- ting, and is staring into the jungle. WILLARD What do you see? CHEF I don't know. He looks out -- the jungle at this point is very dark and high -- totally impenetrable. WILLARD Keep cutting. They work feverishly, knowing something is wrong. 139 VIEW ON CHEF cutting with all he's got. CHEF I know it sounds stupid, but I feel like the goddamn jungle's watching us. WILLARD Probably is. CHEF Whatdoya think it thinks. WILLARD That we're dumber than we look. Chef stops again, looks hard, trying to penetrate the darkness and from the very depth of it -- the darkness of it, comes a stream of tracers, lazily arching out at them. It whips between them -- the SOUND FOLLOWING much later. Other BULLETS SMASH through and ricochet off the deck fittings. GLASS SHATTERS, and a huge hunk of paint is removed from the armor shield by a 20 mm cannon. CHIEF Lance -- 'bout twenty meters starboard. Lance leaps down to his position. Willard, Clean and Chef cut feverishly, as the trapped boat struggles to get free. CHEF There in the trees ! Everything is confusion -- yelling -- GUNFIRE -- the THUD of heavy BULLETS ripping inti the P.B.R.'s fibreglass hull. 140 VIEW ON LANCE Lance's twin guns return the FIRE. The Chief moves to one of the heavy guns and joins Lance in returning the FIRE. 141 VIEW ON THE MEN IN THE WATER pushing, cutting. Bullets SMASH and EXPLODE around. Clean climbs onto the boat, and leaps onto a gun emplace- ment. 142 MED. VIEW Nobody really knows where the erratic fire is coming from. CHIEF (back at the helm) Elevate Lance, in the tree. No, I saw another. CHEF Thirty meters up, Lance; I saw the fucking flash. Lance grits his teeth, FIRING -- 143 CLOSE SHOT ON CLEAN 144 POV BEHIND CLEAN He BLASTS short bursts of tracers into the jungle, cutting it to salad. Suddenly more tracers from another direction -- Clean swings around -- BULLETS smash against his shield and rip chunks from the surfboard. He BLASTS a long heavy burst at the jungle -- trees crumble. CLEAN I'm ripping 'em, man, son-of-a- bitch, it's jammed, oh God, it's jammed. Clean is riddled by MACHINE GUN FIRE. Chief runs to Mr. Clean -- it is obvious that he is dead. He looks angrily to Willard. Willard and Chef are practically through. Willard leaps up, as Chef finishes the last strokes. He moves toward the cockpit. WILLARD Throw me that ordnance. Chef throws him an M-79 and several shells -- Willard opens it, jams a huge projectile and pulls himself over the edge of the cockpit. WILLARD (continuing) Give me some kind a field a fire -- BULLETS rip by. CHEF (exhausted) We're through. He climbs aboard and collapses. CHEF (continuing) Oh, God -- LANCE (FIRING) I ain't finished ! I ain't finished ! WILLARD Bring that bow ordnance into those trees. He jams his gun up as he sees a flash and FIRES -- there is a low POP and a WHISTLE as the GRENADE arches into the jungle. 145 POV. - BEHIND THEM He FIRES another burst as the GRENADE EXPLODES brightly. There is another POP and WHISTLE , another BLAST. A large tree falls, just as the craft speeds up through the thin- ning growth. We HEAR strange SCREAMING from the trees and jungle, hideous MOANS and terror-filled CRIES. 146 CLOSE SHOT ON THE CHIEF He jams the throttle forward -- the boat surges ahead. Willard FIRES another GRENADE from his M-79. 147 FULL SHOT ON THE P.B.R. The boat slams through the hyacinth growth, moving through the river, FIRING BACK at unseen enemy in the jungle. DISSOLVE TO : 148 FULL VIEW ON THE P.B.R. - TWILIGHT The boat moves ahead at half speed through a wide, flat area in the river. 149 MED. VIEW The men sit around, exhausted, brutalized, wounded. They look like animals, but they are relaxed, be- cause they know they're too far from the banks to be shot at. They smoke pot and eat silently. Lance smokes a joint and looks at his gun. Splotches of paint have been blown away from the armor shield -- pieces of deck are ripped and ragged around the mount. The boat is a floating wreck. Clean's body is being prepared in a plastic sack by Chief. All of the men are silent. Chef comes up from below; he has been wounded in the shoulder. CHEF There's some bad holes, man, and the cracks -- water's coming through the cracks. Food's shot to hell. WILLARD How much is left? CHEF Less than half -- sure is a mess down there. Chief has been silent by the body of Clean in a plastic sack. WILLARD And the grass? CHEF Still got a lot of that stuff from Nha Trang. But we're running low on the other. Chief pushes Clean's body into the river. 150 VIEW ON WILLARD He notices something in the distance. 151 WILLARD'S POV A light. 152 MED. VIEW Willard stands up, pointing up the river. WILLARD Hey. They all look over. WILLARD (continuing) That's a light down there -- CHEF Yeah, it is. CHIEF What the hell is it? WILLARD In the middle of the jungle -- a goddamn light. 153 FULL SHOT - THE P.B.R. - THE TWILIGHT The P.B.R. approaches the distant light -- which seems to be on the dock of an overgrown plantation building. 154 VIEW ON WILLARD, CHIEF straining to see; he uses field glasses. 155 POV - THROUGH THE GLASSES Seems to be some figures standing on the dock. The figures pull back behind some drums. 156 BACK TO SCENE WILLARD Watch it ! They duck as SHOTS RING OUT from the dock, stitching the water across the P.B.R.'s bow. The crew crouches, guns trained on the dock as the boat still approaches. WILLARD (continuing) They're not Cong. CHIEF (over the loud-hailer) We're Americans. Another BURST, closer. CHEF Maybe you shouldn't say we're Americans? Willard stares at the dock and building, trying to figure it out. WILLARD Chef, try your French. Chief hands the loud-hailer to Chef, who shrugs and shouts: CHEF Nous sommes Americains -- Silence. CHEF (continuing) Nous ne voulon pas vous agresser. 157 VIEW ON WILLARD He looks through the glasses. 158 POV THROUGH THE GLASSES Gradually, a small group appears from behind the drums on the dock. WILLARD (O.S.) French Nationals -- they may not be too friendly, though. 159 BACK TO SCENE We drift closer to the dock. The Chef starts enjoying speaking French. CHEF Nous sommes Americains -- nous sommes des amis -- There is silence as the boat drifts closer. Then: FRENCHMAN (shouting out) Vous parlez Francais comme une vache espanole. CHEF (to himself) I thought it was pretty good, myself. CHIEF What'd he say? CHEF Said I speak French like a Spanish cow. FRENCHMAN (O.S.) Laisser tomber vos armes -- CHEF Put the guns straight up -- stand away from the mounts. WILLARD Do it. They do. FRENCHMAN (O.S.) Vous pouvez approcher mais doucement -- CHEF Take her in slow. 160 FULL SHOT - DIFFERENT ANGLE - DOCK The men on the dock move forward, cautiously. They are a young man, PHILIPPE, about 25, strong and handsome, save for a scar down on the side of his face and through his left eye, which is covered by a patch. He is dressed in a tiger suit and the red beret of the French colonial para- troops. Also of the red beret are HENRY LeFEVRE, a bear- ded, dark-looking man of 35, and TRAN VAN KAC, a middle- aged half-breed slave. They all bear automatic weapons and suspicious in their eyes. As the boat pulls up to the dock, another Frenchman joins the group, obviously the head man, GASTON De MARAIS, about fifty, small and deli- cate, with a strength about him. PHILIPPE Hands on the heads. CHIEF I can't steer with my goddamn feet. CHEF Hey, they speak American. GASTON Who is the commanding officer? CHIEF I -- WILLARD I am -- I'm Captain B.L. Willard. This is Chief Warrant Officer Phillips -- it's his boat. We were shot up bad downriver and need repairs and food -- we can pay you in gold. GASTON Philippe -- Philippe moves to another position -- Kac grabs the rope from the deck and ties it to the dock. LANCE I'll help you with -- PHILIPPE Do not move -- Gaston looks at the skyward pointed twin fifties admiringly. GASTON Fifty calibers, eh, Captain -- WILLARD As I said, we can pay you in gold. GASTON Entirely unnecessary, Captain. He puts down his gun -- the others do likewise -- GASTON We share a common enemy -- you are our guests. (he steps back) I am Gaston de marais -- this is my family's plantation. It has been such for 121 years. It will be such after I die. This is my son, Philippe -- he has fought in Algeria and held the rank of Captain. And Henry LeFevre -- a sergeant; he was at Dien Bien Phu. My personal servant, Tran Van Kac --- Then he motions to the trees. A young man in a tiger suit and three women come forward from different positions -- all wear bush clothing and bear weapons. GASTON (continuing) My youngest son -- Christian -- 161 CLOSE SHOT - CHRISTIAN He carries an M-60 machine gun in his hand -- a belt of ammunition trailing off behind him. GASTON Christian's wife -- Ann-Marie -- A tall girl, goodlooking, but severe -- she carries an M-16. GASTON (continuing) And my youngest daughter -- Claudine. 162 CLOSE ON CLAUDINE an attractive girl about eighteen. She wears a red paratrooper beret and a well-fitted bush suit. She carries an M-79 grenade launcher and plenty of ammunition. 163 FULL VIEW - P.B.R. - CREW, GASTON, OTHERS They stand there, exhausted and amazed. Philippe yells in Vietnamese -- about a dozen native men in tiger suits, heavily armed, walk out of the trees from all around them. They look the Americans over warily and assemble at Philippe's command. WILLARD American weapons? GASTON We took them from the dead. (smiles) Now -- I assume you want to rest, to shower. We'll attend to your repairs after dinner. CHEF Shower. Willard's men look at one another, dazed. WILLARD We don't want to bother you any, we -- GASTON A man of war is never bothered to aid an ally -- you will follow me, Captain. Willard steps off -- then stops, reaches back and picks up his M-16 by the stock. WILLARD A habit of men of war, sir -- you understand. GASTON Of course, Captain -- an unfortunate necessity. The men are relieved. They pick up their weapons and follow. CHIEF What about the boat? PHILIPPE My men will keep it for you -- CHIEF Yeah -- well, I'll stay with the boat. WILLARD Chief. (pause) Come with us. They look at each other a moment. The Chief shrugs and follows. 164 FULL SHOT - PLANTATION - WILLARD, GASTON, OTHERS Gaston stops, points to a guest house off the main struc- ture which is a typical jungle plantation house, save the many sandbagged gun emplacements and barbed wire. GASTON A suitable accomodation for your men, captain -- you will, of course, be quartered with us -- He indicates that the men should follow Philippe. The Chief is hesitant. WILLARD Go ahead -- Philippe leads them on, muttering. GASTON Captain, this way. Willard follows -- they walk over past the house and toward the jungle, approaching a huge crater, 100 feet across and about thirty feet deep. The bottom is filled with water and young French and Vietnamese children swim in it. On the opposite rim, sit two men and a woman with machine guns. Gaston strides up and looks down at the crater with pride. GASTON (continuing) Magnificent, eh, Captain? Willard looks. GASTON (continuing) It is very good -- there is no current -- It is very good. I have never seen one like it in all Indochina. I was in Paris when it arrived -- do you know what might have caused -- WILLARD Looks like a two thousand pound to me. Yeah, a two thousand pound bomb. GASTON No, I've seen those in Normandy. This is much better. (pause) My country -- my country could never originate this. Magnificent. Gaston stands in serious admiration for this feat; Willard looks between him and this big hole in the ground in amezement. 165 INT. WORKMEN'S SHOWER - EVENING A foreman's shower from the old plantation days. The Chief steps out of it, refreshed, though still exhausted. Lance stands there, about to step in, absolutely filthy, caked with blood. His reaction is odd; rather than just stepping into the shower, he seems almost frightened, reluctant to step in. Chef is waiting behind him. CHEF A hot shower, hot damn. He pushes him forward into the water. The dirt and caked mud go swirling off his face and shoulders, and he relaxes as though he suddenly remenbers what a shower is. 166 EXT. THE DOCK - P.B.R. - EVENING battered and torn -- a few of Philippe's Vietnamese guard at the boat. 167 INT. WILLARD'S QUARTERS - EVENING A beautiful European room with tall ceilings. Still elegantly furnished, although old and decaying. Willard sits in a comfortable chair in the corner of the room, looking out over the carpet, the bed with its elegant spread; the wash basin; the bidet. His battle dress is black with muck, with bloodstaines and burns. He rises from the chair and steps to a dresser above which is a large mirror. There is an album on the marble top of the dresser. He turns to a page at random. 168 VIEW ON WILLARD haggard, looking down at the album. WILLARD (V.O.) I wondered -- how long has this room been like this; how long has the furniture been standing in these places? 169 VIEW ON THE ALBUM Some old photographs of people standing around a car in the 20's in front of the plantation. Another picture shows a child playing by the rubber trees near the plantation. WILLARD (V.O.) Was it like this sixty years ago? Eighty years? But here, even eighty years is nothing. He turns the page, The plantation being built. Pictures of the framing, skeletal against the sky and jungle. 170 VIEW ON WILLARD fascinated WILLARD (V.O.) It was jungle, once; and it will be jungle, again... 171 VIEW ON THE ALBUM Onlu the very beginnings of the house; the first struc- tures. Then another picture of the jungle site where it was to be built. 172 CLOSE VIEW ON WILLARD He looks up and sees his own face, reflected in the garish mirror. He barely recognizes himself. 173 MED. VIEW Willard looks at himself in the mirror, in this odd, out- of-time room. 174 INT. DINING ROOM GROUP - TRACKING SHOT TRACK DOWN the long table, covered with delicious food. The P.B.R. crew sits with others of the De Marais group. The table is headed by St. LeFevre. Chef's face lights up as he regards the wonderful European-style food. CHEF This food is wonderful ! I can't believe the chef is a slope. (turning to Clean) Some more? Opposite the table, sitting next to the Chief, Lance reaches hungrily for bread and other food with his hands. CHEF (continuing) Hey -- Lance. LANCE Huh? Oh. Um, wouldya .. wouldya pass me the Rice-a-roni, please. And then he looks to his friends for approval. Our VIEW REVEALS that behind a transparent silk curtain there is another, more elaborate table, where the De Marais family is dining with Willard. Our VIEW MOVES through the curtain and settles in a MEDIUM VIEW of the group. The men rise as a very attractive woman enters the room. Willard finally does as well, and she moves to the chair next to him. GASTON Roxanne, I hope you are feeling better. ROXANNE Je vais bien maintenant. GASTON May I present Captain Willard? He is of a paratroop regiment. You know the difference between a paratrooper and a regular soldier, don't you , my dear? ROXANNE (smiling and taking Willard's hand) Yes, they come from the sky. She sits -- there's an uneasy silence. Willard is caught with this exotic woman on one side of him, and the ongoing conversation on the other. He is forced to face toward Gaston, and drawn to look at Roxanne. WILLARD I would like to know more about the .. uh, plaque... Philippe turns around, points to an elaborately scripted wooden plaque with various tallies on it. GASTON Attacks repulsed, as I was saying. (hard) This is only for this war, Captain. Viet Cong -- 54; North Vietnamese regular forces -- 15; South Vietnamese -- 28 -- regular forces and otherwise. (pause) Americain -- 6. Of course, they were, perhaps, mistakes, Captain. WILLARD Of course. I -- Once we make our repairs, we could send word, we could have you evacuated from here. GASTON Captain? WILLARD You'll get blown outta here some day. GASTON We will never 'evacuate', Captain -- this is our home. Indochina is ours; it has been so for a hundred and twenty-one years, there is something to say for that. WILLARD The Vietnamese think it's theirs -- I guess the Americans do, too. GASTON But we civilized it. A place belongs to those who bring light to it, don't you agree. WILLARD I always thought the French came here to get the rubber. PHILIPPE Excuse me, I must attend to my men. He gets up, and leaves abruptely -- followed by his wife. ROXANNE May I ask where the Captain is going in his little boat? WILLARD We were going upriver when we got caught in a storm, ma'am. GASTON Upriver? Why upriver? There is nothing there, only jungle. WILLARD Do you know that jungle? GASTON When I was a boy, my father would take me there, to hunt. There are a few savages, but no man can live there, no white man. WILLARD What about an American named Kurtz? There is a pause. GASTON We have never heard of him. Gaston rises, and takes Roxanne's hand. GASTON (continuing) Bon nuit, Roxanne -- bon nuit, Captain. Willard turns. WILLARD Good night. Gaston leaves. Willard and Roxanne are left alone. The servants clear the table. ROXANNE You must realize, Captain -- we have lost much here -- I, my husband. Gaston -- his wife and son. WILLARD I'm sorry to hear that. ROXANNE (rising) Cognac? WILLARD I should be checking on the boat. ROXANNE The war will still be here tomorrow. She walks out of the room. WILLARD (thinking) I guess so. He follows. 175 INT. SITTING ROOM - FULL SHOT - WILLARD AND ROXANNE Roxanne sits, pouring a brandy, while Willard stands. ROXANNE Do you miss your home, Captain? Have you someone there? WILLARD No. Not really. I was discharged from the army four years ago. I went home, wasted some time, bought a Mustang Mach 1, drove it a week. Then I re-upped for another tour. No, everything I love is here. ROXANNE Then you are like us. She reaches out to him; indicating that he sit. ROXANNE (continuing) What will you do after the war? WILLARD I just follow my footsteps, one at a time, trying to answer the little questions and staying away from the big ones. ROXANNE What's a big question? WILLARD Kurtz. (pause) I know you've heard of him. ROXANNE Yes. WILLARD What did you hear? ROXANNE That strange things.. terrible things have occured around this American, Kurtz. WILLARD What things? ROXANNE Gaston would never tell me. It was asubject not to be spoken of, Captain. WILLARD Yes. ROXANNE Did you know -- deeper in the jungle, upriver -- there are savages? WILLARD I know. ROXANNE But Captain, I mean -- cannibals. A long pause. Then she looks at the cognac she poured for him. ROXANNE (continuing) What a pity, you don't drink. Since my husband died, there are so many things I must do alone. She takes a sip. Willard moves to the French doors, which have been left partly open to let a breeze in. He steps onto a terrace overlooking the river. 176 EXT. THE TERRACE - MED. VIEW - WILLARD - NIGHT A machine gun emplacement is situated on the terrace cover- ing the front of house, from the river. ROXANNE (from the sitting room) Are you warm, Captain? WILLARD The river is beautiful. In fact, we REALIZE that he is checking the boat. 177 WILLARD'S POV. The P.B.R. is under guard by a couple of Gaston's Vietnamese. 176 MED. VIEW ON WILLARD, ROXANNE She, thinking it romantic to talk about the river, comes up behind him. ROXANNE I spend hours watching that river from my bedroom window. It fascinates me. She moves her body close to his; and, in a moment, he is kissing her. 179 CLOSE ON WILLARD, ROXANNE One eye steals another look at the P.B.R. 180 VIEW ON THE P.B.R. Two of the guards leave -- two remain, getting ready for the long night. 181 VIEW ON WILLARD, ROXANNE - ON THE TERRACE His hands wander over her body as she clings to him. Then she takes his hand, and leads him back into the sitting room, and up the stairs. 182 INT. ROXANNE'S ROOM - FULL VIEW It is dark. She leads him into her room and closes the door. He stands there. In the center of the room is a large canopied bed with mosquito netting hanging down over it. The windows also have netting and barbed wire -- there is a .30 calibre machine gun mount in the far one. He look around. she goes over to the bed, and turns down the sheets. Then she slips out of her dress and stands there facing him. He puts down his gun and strips off his shirt. She lays down on the bed and watches him. ROXANNE I have been lonely here, Captain. He moves to her, slipping into the bed. M-16 is leaning against the wall in his reach. FADE OUT. 183 EXT. ROXANNE'S TERRACE - NIGHT We can VIEW into the room, as Willard has silently slipped out of her bed, and is a dark sinister figure kneeling in final preparations for going out in the night. Without a sound, he comes out to the terrace, and scales down the wall of the old building, disappearing into the darkness. 184 EXT. THE DOCK - P.B.R. - NIGHT Two Vietnamese guard the P.B.R. -- suddenly, feet first, the first disappears into the thicket. 185 CLOSE VIEW ON WILLARD in the thicket; we realize he has just killed the man with a knife. Willard stalks the second guard and makes quick work of him with his knife. He even enjoys it. Silently, he drags the body out of sight. 186 MED. VIEW ON THE P.B.R. The dark figure boards the boat silently. He disappears into the hold. 187 NEW VIEW He lifts out several cases of supplies, working quickly, with a grace that indicates he is a man who has done his best work alone, and at night. CUT TO. 188 INT. ROXANNE'S ROOM - CLOSE SHOT - WILLARD - MORNING He sleeps soundly alone in the bed - we HEAR SOMEONE moving around in the room. He wakes suddenly -- PULL BACK TO REVEAL Roxanne combing her hair and buttoning up her blouse. She notices he is awake and smiles. ROXANNE I will fix you breakfast. He starts to get up. WILLARD I'm afraid I won't have time -- I gotta -- ROXANNE Whe you reach the boat you will find that half your fifty calibre stores -- a case of grenades, a mortar and two M-16's and a case of clips are being transfered to us by your order. He stops -- seemingly stunned. WILLARD So that's it. ROXANNE You may think what you wish, Captain, but I like you very much. She turns to go. WILLARD What if I say no. ROXANNE Then Philippe will have to kill all of you. She leaves. 189 EXT. DOCK - FULL SHOT - WILLARD, OTHERS He walks down onto the dock. Gaston's men are transferring ammunition boxes. Gaston is standing with Philippe, who are covering the Chief and crew with M-16's. GASTON Two of my men deserted last night. It happens from time to time. I assume my daughter told you of our conditions. WILLARD Your daughter. CHIEF They taking half our ammo, Captain -- said it was your orders. He pauses for a second. WILLARD That's right -- I did. The Chief spits in the water disgustedly and starts the engines. Willard looks hard at Gaston. WILLARD I guess this is whAt men of war do -- eh? GASTON We endure, captain -- you can blow up the house and we will live in the cellar -- destroy that and we'll dig a hole in the jungle and sleep on it. Burn the forest and we'll hide in the swamp. all the while, we do but one thing -- clean the blood off our bayonets. (pause) Au revoir, Captain. 190 LONG SHOT - DOCK - P.B.R. Willard climbs on board and it pulls away. 191 EXT. P.B.R. - MED. SHOT - WILLARD, CHIEF The BOAT ROARS out across the river. The Chief looks over at Willard. They stare at each other for a moment. CHIEF Next time we get in a good fire fight -- I'd like to know how she was, Captain. Willard just smiles at the Chief. he leans over and pulls up a floorboard -- the men stare in amezement; it contains the contents of all those ammo boxes. .50 calibre; clips; grenades. CHEF Holy shit. CLEAN What did you put in all those ammo boxes? WILLARD Rocks, sand -- those two men who deserted. CHIEF When'd you do it? WILLARD While you were sleeping. He lets the board drop. Willard moves to the back of the boat. 192 FULL SHOT - P.B.R. - RIVER , CREW The river has narrowed and runs swifter -- the water dark and deep. The trees are higher in this area and much of the river is shaded on one side. There is no undergrowth, just the tall trees and ferms. They move ahead at half speed, alert, ready for anything. WILLARD (V.O.) We moved deeper and deeper into the jungle. It was very quiet there. It was like wandering on a prehistoric planet, an unknown world ... where the men thought they crawled to, I don't know. For me, we crawled toward Kurtz -- exclusively. Willard looks out ahead and points. They all turn their guns in that direction. We PAN TO REVEAL a small village of huts along the bank. 193 FULL SHOT - DIFFERENT ANGLE - VILLAGE 194 POV. OF THE P.B.R. They pass in front of the village which is rundown and completely deserted. The huts are on stilts to avoid the flooding of the river -- they are just skeletons of what they once were. CHEF (O.S.) Flood. CHIEF (O.S.) No -- most of 'em are still standing -- might've been disease. WILLARD (O.S.) I don't know -- there'd still be some sign -- it's just like the one this morning. DISSOLVE TO : 195 POV BOAT - FULL SHOT - JUNGLE The canopy of trees grows taller and stretches out across the river filtering the sun. The forest itself has grown darker and more twisted with ferns and creepers. Strange birds fly out of the trees as the boat passes -- a huge snake slips along an overheading limb. The depth of the jungle is dark, ominous -- yet cool and strangely inviting. 196 FULL SHOT - BOAT - JUNGLE Suddenly the river widens, the trees give way to marsh and as they emerge into the light a strange shadow falls upon the boat. It is the shadow cast by an enormous vertical tail section of a B-52 bomber thrusting out from the mud. Pieces of aluminum hang loosely from it, oxi- dizing in the sun. Creepers have already started to grow up around its heights -- the jungle is claiming it. But once under its shadow, they have passed a gateway. A gateway to paradise. The river widens and the trees at its edge are soft and seductive. The hills beyond are purple and lush. Strange orange colored water-fowl swim lazily out of their way. The water itself is glass smooth and black as if there were no bottom. The sun is warm and the breeze gentle and laced with wild gardenians. It is indeed the most peaceful valley in all the world and each man looks upon it and has never known such a sense of peace and well- being. Each man in his heart feels a need to stay -- his soul cries to stop -- stop their madness -- this spiral into hell. Here is all that can be had of earth. But no hand moves. The boat drifts on its own toward a hole at the end of the clearing. A hole into the jungle from which a darkness permeats. The boat follows the river into this hole. DISSOLVE TO : 197 FULL SHOT - P.B.R. - RIVER - DAWN The skull looms in the f.g. -- the P.B.R. is pulled back about seventy yards -- Early morning mist still hangs on the water -- as it clears, we SEE another post and skulls on the opposite bank, It is strangely quiet. CHIEF -- All right, Lance -- Lance's TWIN FIFTIES split the silence as they POUR into the skulls on the opposite bank -- Suddenly there is a tremendous EXPLOSION and SECONDARY ONES from the jungle as shrapnel rips into the jungle and water from CLAYMORE MINES obviously set to cover the mound of skulls. The smoke clears. LANCE The other one -- WILLARD No -- leave it -- CHIEF Why -- Charlie put it there to kill -- WILLARD Thta's not Charlie's work -- There is silence. WILLARD Whoever put'em there didn't do it to kill people -- They put 'em up as signs -- CHIEF Signs? WILLARD Yeah -- like keep out -- Willard motions -- the Chief accelerates -- they move ahead past the smoking mound. 198 EXT. THE RIVER - FOG - DAY The P.B.R. pushed deeper into this mysterious area. Mist swells in and around the river, as the boat moves into an obscure fog. The Chief cuts the engine, and they coast. WILLARD (V.O.) Toward the night of the fifth day out of Do Lung Bridge, we judged ourselves about eight miles from Kurtz' base. Everything was still, the trees, the creepers, even the brush seemed like it had been changed into some kind of stone. It was unnatural, like a trance. Not a sound could be heard. I began to think I was deaf -- then the fog came suddenly, and I was blind too. The boat disappears in the thick fog. 199 MED. CLOSE ON WILLARD We catch glimpses of him, even though we are close. WILLARD Listen. CHIEF What is it? WILLARD Listen. They are silent. We can HEAR the most ominous SOUND COMING FROM THE BANKS. The GROANING, OR WAILING .. of HUNDREDS OF MEN. CHIEF They're on the banks of the river. 200 VIEW ON LANCE Frantically, he swings the twin fifties around. LANCE Jesus ! 201 VIEW ON CHIEF We can barely SEE him -- in and out of the fog. CHIEF No, Lance. Not while you can't see. 202 VIEW ON WILLARD listening. The SOUND IS TERRIBLE, HORRIFYING. CHIEF Will they attack? WILLARD If they have boats ... or canoes... they'd get lost in the fog. We can't move either -- we'll end up on the shore. CHEF God... LANCE Sounds like hundreds of them. WILLARD Shhhhhh. The CHORUS OF GROANS in unbearable. But it is not ahostile cahnt; or a war chant, but rather the SOUND OF HUMAN ANGUISH. WILLARD (continuing) It doesn't sound hostile -- it sounds like they've seen us coming and it sounds like -- I don't know, a funeral. I don't understand. 203 VIEW ON LANCE A glimpse of him, almost in tears. We then SEE glimpses, fog moving, of all the men on the P.B.R. DISSOLVE TO : 204 MED. VIEW - THE P.B.R. MOVING THROUGH the thinning mist. The Navy craft proceeds cautiously. WILLARD (V.O.) Two hours after the fog lifted, we moved slowly to a spot we thought was roughly a mile and a half below Kurtz's camp. We approached a long sand-bank stretching down the middle of the river. CHIEF Which way? Right or left? WILLARD Who knows? Right. CHIEF Looks pretty shallow. The P.B.R. moves toard the right-most channel. Chef takes a long pole and begins sounding depth. 205 VIEW ON WILLARD The men are really tense now -- Lances swivels his gun from bank to bank. Chief keeps his fingers on an M-16. Willard takes out the TOP SECRET packet he received at Do Lung. Tears it open. We MOVE IN ON him. WILLARD (reading) Upon reaching objective. Target key personnel and commence operation. Should difficulty arise from which extraction is impossible, break radio silence Com-Sec Command code Strong Arm -- indicate purgative air strike -- code -- Street Gang. (pause) Purgative air strike ! Purgative ! They'd kill me too ! Suddenly Chef lays out flat on the bow. Hundreds and hundreds of slender sticks fly onto the P.B.R. rattling against the boat. CHIEF Shit ! Fucking arrows ! They're shooting fucking arrows at us. 206 CLOSE ON WILLARD looking toward the banks. 207 WILLARD'S POV Frags of men -- naked limbs, arms, breasts, glaring eyes entangled in the dense jungle gloom. And hundreds of pathetic wooden arrows flying out toward them. 208 VIEW ON THE P.B.R. crazily zig-zagging up the river in the midst of the childish assault. WILLARD Steer her right. 209 VIEW ON THE P.B.R. arrows hitting the deck. The men open up everything they've got. Lance is FIRING the two fifties wildly. WILLARD Keep going.. keep going. They're just fucking sticks ! Chief, stay at the helm. But Chief seems out of control -- he lets the clip of his M-16 go. Then slowly lets the rifle fall out of his hands, and falls to Willard's feet, a primitive spear having caught him right through the ribs. Willard looks down in horror. 210 VIEW ON CHIEF laying at Willard's feet -- the long spear through him, bleeding onto Willard's boots. He looks up at Willard, about to say something. CHIEF A spear? He dies. 211 MED. VIEW ON THE P.B.R. The men are still crazily FIRING into the empty jungle long after those who attacked beat their retreat. WILLARD Stop it. Stop it ! Slowly he pulls his boots from under Chief. They are absolutely soaked in blood. He is stunned -- sits down and begins to unlace the bloody boots, and take them off. LANCE Chief's dead. Willard unlaces the other boot, and holds the bloody boot in his hand. WILLARD (V.O.) It was the strangest thing -- I don't know that I can explain it. Two of my men dead, and all I could think of was whether Kurtz was dead too. That's all I wanted: to see Kurtz, to hear Kurtz. He starts to wipe the blood off the boot. WILLARD (V.O.) (continuing) Somehow, in the middle of this ... carnival, Kurtz had grown into something -- a gifted officer; a great man. Somehow, he was the only light in this hopeless, hopeless darkness. And now I was too late -- he was probably gone, disappeared... by a grenade rolled into his tent -- or by some spear on the head. Christ, I felt like howling like those animals in the fog. 212 EXT. THE BOAT AT MARINA DEL REY - NIGHT The people at Charlie's cocktail party on the boat. Some flashbulbs are going off. Some people are dancing to the MUSIC. OUR VIEW MOVES SLOWLY TOWARD Willard, on the edge of the party. WILLARD (V.O.) Here they are in Los Angeles. Everything is safe. There's a supermarket around the corner, the police station around the other. It would seem ridiculous to them that I was shot to hell because I had lost the privilege of listening to the mysterious Colonel Kurtz. (pause) Of course I was wrong. He was waiting for me. Kurtz was alive and he was waiting for me. DISSOLVE TO : 213 EXT. THE RIVER - P.B.R. DAY The P.B.R. moving up the river. The men are practically in a trance now, looking at the banks of the river. They don´t even make an effort to touch their weapons. 214 WHAT THEY SEE Hundreds and hundreds of Montagnard natives -- dressed in the most ornate and primitive manner: feathers, parts of birds and animals; cod-pieces -- all in body and face paint of the most savage nature. But there is a purity about them, men and boys, standing passively watching the small Navy craft flying the strange flag of red, white and blue. 215 VIEW ON THE P.B.R. The men of the crew are not the same men who began this voyage. Their manner is lifeless as though in a trance. The various decorations and paraphenelia that they have picked up along the way seem oddly relevant to the savages that stand before them. The Chef has made a hat of birdfeathers; Lance's face has been painted with mud under the eyes to block the glare of the sun. He wears certain animal skins; trinkets; some animal teeth. Their uniforms have been torn and patched throughout the difficult journey. They start to move to their gun positions. WILLARD Just stand here with me where they can see us. Do nothing. 216 VIEW FROM BEHIND THE P.B.R. MOVING SLOWLY TOWARD the fantastic human wall of feathers and war paint, standing on canoes across the river. The men on the crew stand in a group, their hands visibly without weapons. The natives standing across the river make no hostile gestures as they approach. They accept the small boat moving toward them with a sort of inevi- tability. The boat moves closer, approaches the wall of feathers -- which slowly and automatically gives away, in almost a ritual of birth, undulating, allowing the little boat to penetrate. 217 VIEW ON WILLARD Mus on his face (to protect it from the sun), the palms of some jungle vegetation protecting his head, he looks something like atribal chieftan himself. His intuition was right. He senses that they would be allowed to pass. 218 FULL VIEW ON THE RIVER Hundreds of Montagnards who had been lining the river now run, absolutely silently, along the banks, keeping pace with the P.B.R. There is no hostility in these faces, only curiosity and a sort of grief. 219 VIEW ON WILLARD, THE CREW They look up toward the bank. 220 THEIR POV The temple at NU MUNG BA, a fortified encampment, built around the ruins of a former Cambodian civilization. Stone walls, barbed wire, cracked pyramids and rows and rows of Escher-like sandbags arranged in an endless maze around the fortress. 221 VIEW ON WILLARD He picks up his field glasses and looks through. 222 WILLARD'S POV - THROUGH GLASSES A sign entangled in the barbed wire -- its lettering strict and military: FOURTH SPECIAL FORCES MISSION F-82 NU MUNG BA The GLASSES POV MOVES REVEALING another sign written in a wild psychedelic hand. OUR MOTTO: APOCALYPSE NOW ! The POV OF THE GLASSES MOVE once again and come upon an astonished sight, a black man dressed in a tatter of colored fabrics, feathers, and an Australian bush hat. He looks something like a multi-colored harlequin waving frantically to the P.B.R. The POV OF THE GLASSES MOVE OFF of him. 223 VIEW ON WILLARD not believing what he's just seen. 224 THE GLASSES POV Once again the young black man is now waving his Australian hat. 225 VIEW ON THE P.B.R. Willard shouts out to the starnge greeter. WILLARD We've been attacked. AUSTRALIAN (shouting back) I know, I know, it's all right. Come in this way. It's mined over there. This way. It's all right. Willard look at Chef who is at the helm. He shrugs and they do as this man says. The P.B.R. moves towards the water's edge where there is a dock covered with concertina wire. The odd Australian stands waving his hat, guiding them safely in. A thick greasy smoke hangs from fires that burn near the fort; fresh shell craters indicate a recent battle. Near the dock there is a tangled clump of corpses -- half sub- merged in the water. Other piles of bodies lie about, some of them on fire. Fire literally burns from out of the ground. Chef nods at the bodies. CHEF Charlie? WILLARD Looks that way. CHEF (looking at the Australian) Who's he? WILLARD God knows. The boat pulls up. The Australian harlequin hops on board; the crew regards him with their dark faces splat- tered with mud and blood. WILLARD (continuing) Who the hell are you? AUSTRALIAN Moonby. Got any Winstons? WILLARD Moonby what? AUSTRALIAN Moonby, 4th battalion, Royal Australian Regiment, Task Force. Ex-Corporal Moonby, deserted. WILLARD (incredulously, indicating the hundreds of natives) What is this? MOONBY Oh, they're simple enough people. It's good to see you, baby. Nobody has any Winstons? Chef automatically offers Moonby a Winston. MOONBY This boat's a mess. WILLARD Where's Kurtz? I want to talk to him. MOONBY Oh, you don't talk to Colonel Kurtz. (he puffs, then smiles) You listen to him. God, these are good. I kept these people off you, you know. It wasn't easy. WILLARD Why did they attack us? MOONBY Simple. They don't want him to go. WILLARD You're Australian? MOONBY Pre-Australian, actually. But I'd dig goin' to California. I'm California dreamin'. WILLARD (almost to himself) So Kurtz is alive. MOONBY Kurtz. I tell you, that man has enlarged my mind. He opens his arms wide, to indicate the breadth of his mind's expansion. MOONBY (continuing) But lemme tell you, he is the most dangerous thing in every way that I've come on so far. He wanted to shoot me. The first thing he said is, 'I'm going to shoot you because you are a deserter.' I said I didn't desert from your army, I deserted from my army. He said, 'I'm going to shoot you just the same.' WILLARD Why didn't he shoot you? MOONBY I've asked myself that question. I said to myself, why didn't he shoot me? He didn't shoot me, because I had a stash like you wouldn't believe. I hid it in the jungle; the wealth of the Orient: Marijuana -- Hashish -- Opium -- cocaine -- uncut Heroin; the Gold of the Golden Triangle. and Acid -- I make Koolaid that makes purple Owsley come on like piss. Now I'm Kurtz' own Disciple -- I listen he talks. About everything ! Everything. I forgot there's such a thing as sleep. Everything. Of love, too. CHEF Love? MOONBY Oh, no, not what you think... Cosmic love. He made me see things -- things, you know. The whole time Moonby is chattering on, Willard has picked up his field glasses and scans the fortress. 226 WILLARD'S POV - THROUGH THE FIELD GLASSES Men in small groups, huddled over food. Now he settles on the entrance in the temple. There are stakes in front, and on top of them are horrible shrunken heads. 227 BACK TO SCENE WILLARD Sounds like he's gone crazy. MOONBY No, Colonel Kurtz couldn't be crazy -- if you heard him talk, just last week, you'd never think he was crazy. WILLARD Is that where he is? By the shrunken heads. MOONBY Those heads, yes. Well, the rebels... WILLARD (to his men) We're going ashore. Tie her up -- and leave your guns up, Lance. LANCE What? WILLARD Bring your rifles, that's all. (looking at Moonby) Take us to him. MOONBY Right on -- he's been waiting for -- WILLARD And shut up. Moonby nods and shrugs, and hops off the P.B.R. willard and the men follow. 228 MOVING VIEW - WILLARD, MOONBY AND THE CREW As they proceed closer to the fortress-temple, men appear where a moment before there was only jungle. They are mostly Montagnards, but far more savage looking than any we've seen before. They wear only loinclothes and bandoliers of ammunition. their bodies are painted in strange patterns. They carry Army M-16's, Russian AK-47's and a wide variety of knives and clubs. Women emerge from the brush as well. they are armed and equally primitive looking. Interspersed among them are a few taller men with paler skins, with the remnants of Army insignia on them. The paint on their bodies is, if anything more bizarre. We CONTINUE TO MOVE ACROSS the entire group up to the stone gates of the fort, where thirty or so more are seen silhouetted against the sky. Willard and his men look up at people more primitive and more savage than any since the time of Captain Cook. They encounter, in the center of the group, what once appears to have been an American. he is tall, gaunt, wears a flak jacket, but is otherwise naked, save a loincloth. His face is darkened from dirt, battle smoke, strange camouflage patterns. His hair and beard are long, matted with mud and grease. He carries an AK-47 decorated with scalps and human ears. Willard approaches this beast, who seems shy and retiring. WILLARD Who are you? MOONBY (breaking in) His name is... WILLARD I'm not ever goin' to tell you to shut up again. Moonby shuts up. The MAN tries to speak, but nothing comes out. He is dumbstrucked at seeing them, as they are to see him. MAN Colby. Exec. officer, A-Team... Special Forces. F-82 -- Col. Walter Kurtz, commanding. WILLARD What happened here? COLBY What -- happened here. WILLARD Charlie? COLBY NVA regulars. They're coming again tonight. Tet -- their big -- assault. Willard is the man in the middle -- he doesn't know what to say to this man, but he understands the forces that pounded him. He takes his arm. 229 REVERSE ON COLBY looks at Willard, not understanding. 230 REVERSE ON WILLARD Six months later, and he and Colby would be identical. WILLARD I'm taking you back. Moonby slaps himself in the head with his hand. MOONBY Oh, no, don´t say that. COLBY Take us back. Take us back ! But, the operation -- the team. Colonel Kurtz has such plans for -- the team. WILLARD Take me to him, Major. Colby starts, and then, seeing the shrunken heads on poles, he turns, agitated, to Willard: COLBY I had nothing to do with these operations -- I did not do the planning -- none of us did. It was all Colonel Kurtz -- he was the genius. You'll see -- the genius of our Colonel. He should be made a General, don't you think? A General? It's... Suddenly, frightened, he stops. Without looking Willard knows that Kurtz is standing behind him. He turns. Kurtz has stepped out from his headquarters: He is a powerful man, though obviously very ill. He slowly attempts to pull the remnants of his uniform together, though it is ripped and bloodied, and now combined with primitive ornaments designating him a tribal chief, as well as his U.S.A. Colonel's insignia. He is feverish, with long blonde hair and beautiful features. His eyes almost hypnotize. His midsection is bandaged from what seems to be a serious wound. 232 VIEW ON WILLARD This is not what he expected. He is quiet, and then, automatically, he comes to an attention. WILLARD Colonel Kurtz, I guess. KURTZ I'm Kurtz. WILLARD (he salutes) Captain B.L. Willard reporting his presence, sir. 233 VIEW ON KURTZ looking at him a long time. Then he returns the salute, and simply: KURTZ At ease... (pause, as he regards him) Sit down. 234 MED. VIEW There is, of course, no chair or anything like a chair. But behind and around him, Kurtz's men begin to sit on the ground, cross-legged. Finally, Willard sits as well. Then Kurtz does. Moonby lights a joint, and passes it respectfully to Kurtz -- throughout the scene, the joint is passed from man to man, ritualistically. KURTZ (slowly) Why did you come to ... my province. WILLARD We were attacked -- down river. We need supplies and medical help. KURTZ You were not coming here, to see me? WILLARD (finding it more and more difficult to go on with this lie) No -- no, sir. KURTZ You came up my river -- in that small boat. So simple. I always thought the final justice would come from the sky, like we did. (pause) You are the final justice, aren't you? WILLARD What do you mean, Colonel? KURTZ (gently) What other reason could you have come? A Captain. Ranger. Paratrooper. Graduate of the Recondo School. Am I right about these things? WILLARD You know you're right. There is a clear, incredible intelligence about this man. KURTZ Then the Agency approached you. Maybe in a bar in Quinon or Pleiku. Simple. A year's pay for one life. Perhaps a village elder, or a tax collector. Nobody's orders but your own. Exciting work. 235 CLOSE ON WILLARD He remains silent. 236 CLOSE ON KURTZ He smiles. KURTZ You've spent tome at the Royal Tracking School of Malaysia. I can tell from the way the laces on your boots are tied. I understand you, Captain. We understand each other. There is a long pause, as the two men regard each other. Then Willard reaches to his holstered .45 -- withdraws it, and places it on the dirt before Kurtz, as an act assuring Kurtz that he is not an assasin. WILLARD Do you know me? KURTZ Yes. Kurtz reaches down; takes the .45 -- and without another word or gesture, shoots and kills a man. KURTZ (continuing) Do you know me ? He throws the .45 back on the dirt. Rises, and walks back into the cavernous headquarters behind the shrunken heads. Moonby scampers off after him, a respectful distance behind. Even Willard is stunned. CHEF Holy shit. 237 EXT. KURTZ'S OUTPOST - FULL VIEW - TWILIGHT Dotted with campfires; Montagnard families -- it is like a primitive civilization. 238 VIEW BY THE TEMPLE WALL Willard is alone by a campfire -- his M-16 leans by a wall next to him. He is exhausted. Lance sleeps by the fire, a little distance away. Chef approaches, crouches down. CHEF Captain -- they've been probed all this week -- Cong and NVA regulars. There's gonna be a big offense any time. WILLARD I know. Lance stirs; starts to wake up. CHEF What are we doing here? WILLARD Kurtz. I'm supposed to kill him, just like he said. KURTZ Yeah, I can see that. He's fuckin nuts -- WILLARD Yeah. CHEF He killed that guy without feeling anything. WILLARD Not a thing. CHEF When you kill Cong, don't you feel something. WILLARD Sure. (thinking) Recoil... I feel the recoil of my rifle. Willard rises. Chef looks at him, confused and frightened. 239 FULL SHOT - WALL - WILLARD, CHEF , LANCE Willard walks along the top of a thick wall -- sandbagged and dug out every so often for an M-60 or a mortar emplacement. Wild looking savages man these guns, and seem to bow to Willard as he passes. WILLARD This is good -- triple overlapping fields of fire -- walls so thick ordinary artillery just cleans the moss off their surfaces. A woman tentatively moves to Willard, bowing, and then runs off to her bunker. WE ARE TRACKING with them as they move past the groups of people, huddled by their fires... men, women and children. Skulls, shrunken and otherwise hang from every hut -- adorn every sandbagged bunker -- dried scalps hang from barbed wire. A child is chewing on a big piece of almost raw meat. WILLARD (continuing) I've done things, when I was alone in the jungle -- that I never told anyone about. They continue past amount where the shattered wreck of half a helicopter is laying. It has been altered and fortified with sandbags and concertina wire. The wreck lays on its side so that a 7.62 mini-gun that was mounted there sticks up above the sandbags. The emplacement is built on amound so the gun commands a clear field of fire into the jungle beyond. Some Americans, barely recognizible because of their beards and savage manner, sit near the gun. Several Montagnard children giggle at their feet and play with bayonets. CHEF This is evil -- evil, Captain. We're all gonna die here. WILLARD Yeah, I know. CHEF I don't get it -- You said your mission was to kill him. Let's do it, an' get our asses outta here. This Kurtz is ruining the war; I mean, this don't look good for America ! WILLARD (lost in his thoughts) ... he's an amazing officer. CHEF You got to kill this sonuvabitch -- Lance and me, we don'´t understand none of this -- Jesus, Captain -- I don't wanna die here -- Do it quick. Lance just stands there; his eyes vacant.. He sort of nods, sucking a joint. WILLARD Yeah. I know. He thinks. 240 INT. KURTZ HEADQUARTERS - NIGHT VIEW FROM INSIDE -- Willard approaches the stakes with the shrunken heads. Chef and Lance with him. Willard steps in -- Lance and the Chef crouch outside, waiting. 241 WILLARD'S VIEW An austere stone savern in the temple: Kurtz's head- quarters. Electric lights hanging in odd contrast to the ancient stone. We SEE what is left of the maps and other military charts -- they had been tacked up on big boards, but have now fallen into decayed disuse. There are other indications of the modern headquarters this had been. Now all those things are no longer impor- tant. Kurtz sits alone, slumped back in a wicker chair. There is a large wooden planning table next to him, with maps, lamps and apile of debris that is practically garbage. There are native decorations to ward off evil spirits; and graffiti on the stone walls, things ranging fromm "Viet Nam, love it or leave it" to quotes of Nietzsche "Nothing is true -- everything is permitted." Moonby, who had been crouching in a corner, moves to Willard. MOONBY He's asleep -- don't bother him. KURTZ I'm awake. Willard steps in closer. Kurtz looks to Moonby. KURTZ (continuing) You. Get out. Moonby hesitates -- not wanting to leave him alone with Willard. KURTZ (continuing; suddenly) I said get the fuck out ! (to himself) I'm going to kill the little weirdo myself tomorrow. (he shows some pain when moving his midsection) He´s only stayed alive this long because he's a good orderly and medic. He knows how to use a hypodermic. WILLARD You're gonna get hit tonight, bad -- a whole regiment of NVA regulars. KURTZ That's right, the little gook- pricks. But they are noble little gook-pricks, noble. Because they fight with their guts, like animals. And for an idea ! That's rich. We fight with ingenious machines and fire, like Gods, and for nothing. But I'll call in a major blotto airstrike tonight. We'll have ourselves a helluva airstrike tonight, a lightshow. How do you like The Doors': 'C'mon Baby Light My Fire...' Willard shrugs. KURTZ (continuing) Do you? WILLARD Yeah, I like it... KURTZ I love it. He rests back, grinning. WILLARD You've gone crazy. KURTZ (angrily) No. My thinking is clear. (calmly) But my soul has gone mad. Suddenly Kurtz is seized with a terrible pain from his stomach wound. He groans horribly, clutching at it. He literally falls from his chair onto the dirt floor. KURTZ (continuing) My gut -- Oh, Christ, my gut ! Willard leans over him; checking the seriousness of the wound. 242 EXT. THE HEADQUARTERS - NIGHT Lance is crouching by the stone entrance -- Chef leans in, witnessing the proceedings inside. CHEF (muttering) Kill him -- come on, why don't you kill him 243 INT. THE HEADQUARTERS - MED, VIEW - KURTZ AND WILLARD - NIGHT Willard examining the wound. KURTZ (in pain) Oh shit -- on the table; morphine. Willard moves to the table, opens the medical packet. He takes out a morphine capsule, leans over the writhing Kurtz and injects him with the drug. KURTZ (continuing; looking up in pain) You see how stupid it would have been to blow out my brains? I'm dying from the gut anyway. Willard quickly prepares another shot. Kurtz, truly frightened, holds up his hand. KURTZ (continuing) No -- I don't want to sleep. I want to think. Water. Give me water. WILLARD You can't have water after morphine. KURTZ Still playing by the rules. (almost affectionately) You're a damn good kiler. WILLARD (still holding the second morphine) How's the pain? KURTZ How's yours? WILLARD I can handle it. KURTZ Pain is easy to handle -- but nobility.. the nobility of a man is judged by how much Truth he can handle. WILLARD What Truth? KURTZ The truth that you were sent here to murder me, ans so far you haven't done it. And do you know why? (looks at him) Yes, you know why. (he looks) Your mission makes about as much sense as those idiots who sent you on it. Asshole ! Schmuck ! How long does it take you to figure out that nobody knows what they're doing here. (coldly) Except me. He rests back. The drug is beginning to take effect. KURTZ (continuing) Gimme water. WILLARD No water. KURTZ You know what you're doing? You are interfering with my plans ! He crawls in pain toward the canteen Willard watches him impassively. KURTZ (continuing) This water's got Moonby's acid in it -- He drinks sloppily from the canteen, water spilling all over. Then he throws the canteen to Willard. KURTZ (continuing) Drink it -- drink it for tonight. Think of it. A whole regiment of those shitty little Cong -- War. Total war -- war like you've never known it. It's beautiful -- you'll love it. Trust me. 244 EXT. THE HEADQUARTERS - MED. VIEW - LANCE AND CHEF - NIGHT We can SEE into the headquarters: Kurtz offers the canteen to Willard. Chef is terrified -- Lance is stoned out. CHEF Lance -- the fucker's not gonna do it. KURTZ Goddamn -- You've gotta dig napalm on Speed, too. It's spectacular, you'll see. Lance stands up holding his M-16, looks into the cavern with Chef. 245 INT. HEADQUARTERS - NIGHT Willard stands there, holding the morphine needle in his hand. KURTZ Look into the jungle. You can't -- it's too terrible. You have to smear yourself with warpaint to look at it -- you have to be a cannibal. (whispered) That's why warpaint was invented. Then it becomes your jungle. Willard shoots himself in the arm with the morphine. WILLARD How did we get here? KURTZ Because of all the things we do, the thing we do best -- is lie. WILLARD I think think a lie stinks. KURTZ Oh Captain, that is so true. WILLARD Stinks. I could never figure -- (he drinks from the canteen) I could never figure how they can teach boys how to bomb villages with napalm -- and not let them write the word 'fuck' on their airplanes. Willard drinks more of the LSD water. KURTZ (angrily) You could never figure it because it doesn't make sense. WILLARD Fuck no. KURTZ I'll tell you what makes sense ! Air strikes ! White Phosphorus ! Napalm ! We'll bomb the shit out of them if they don't do what we want. WILLARD We'll exterminate the fuckers ! Chef steps into the Headquarters -- he is terrified. He draws his bayonet. CHEF Captain -- kill him. KURTZ Think of it -- for years, millions of years, savages with pathetic painted faces were scared shitless that fire would rain down from the sky. And goddamn, we made it happen. God bless Dow ! CHEF Kill him ! Chef rushes at Kurtz with his bayonet -- instinctively, Willard GUNS him -- then there is additional automatic FIRE. Chef is being riddled by bullets. 246 VIEW ON LANCE He has let loose with his M-16 at Chef, like some sort of mindless, programmed killer. LANCE (FIRING) Hot damn ! Then hes tops -- Chef falls to the dirt -- there is an instant of silence, then: 247 EXT. OF THE TEMPLE AT NU MUNG BA - NIGHT The DOORS begin LIGHT MY FIRE , loud and overwhelming, as illuminating flares light up the blackness. 248 MED. CLOSE VIEW of enormous loudspeakers protected behind spirals of razor-sharp concertina wire. LIGHT MY FIRE is blasted out to the enemy, poised to attack. 249 ANOTHER LOUDSPEAKER Cannibal-painted men in savage decorations wait. Bay- onets are fixed. Men are stoned to acid, injecting speed, sniffing cocaine, eating grass, smoking hashish in water pipes. One looks up to the sky. 250 EIS VIEW A rocket illuminates the sky, strobing, as in a psyche- delic hallucination. 251 VIEW ON THE SOLDIER SOLDIER Wow... Another behind him is chanting the word NAPALM softly t himself. 252 MED. VIEW ON THE GATE Willard strides out of the darkness, into the positions around the gate. He looks like a magnificent warrior -- Genghis. All the men: Montagnards, fierce Americans, even the savage men of the P.B.R. crew either bow, salute or kneel before Willard. The color pulsates around the edge of the image, red and green, mauve and purple. We SEE Lance; waiting, with his weapons -- garlands of teeth around his neck, his face painted. 253 FULL VIEW - MONTAGE Enemy ARTILLERY BLASTING away at the fortress. 254 CLOSE SHOT - A MORTAR A hand drops a shell and it FIRES. 255 CLOSE SHOT - ROCKET LAUNCHER It FIRES. EXPLOSIONS around the fort, red and orange and blue and green. They hit and grow, outward like some sort of cosmic flower. 256 CLOSE SHOT - A FLAME-THROWER (ON TANK) Shoots out a stream of burning napalm that looks like a death ray gun, radiating outward with ice-blue energy. 257 SHOT ON LOUDSPEAKERS blasting out music. 258 MED. CLOSE VIEW ON YOUNG SOLDIERS With the MUSIC, like those people you see listening to radios in their cars. 259 SHOT ON THE COMMAND BUNKER - WILLARD , KURTZ , OTHERS (In SLOW MOTION) Shells WHISTLE in and EXPLODE on the walls in the compound. The men behind them are setting up rocket launcher (missile) . Everywhere metal and rock and flame fly and it is beautiful to see. Willard looks through the infra-red sniper scope. 260 WILLARD - INFRA-RED POV Strange, luminescent images of North Vietnamese approach- ing the outer perimeters. Thousands of them. 261 FULL SHOT ON KURTZ KURTZ Mini-gun. Colby. Sergeant. Mini-gun. 262 MED. SHOT - MINI-GUN A SERGEANT in feathered head-piece and wildly painted operates the mini-gun with several native helpers. SHELLS BURST around them. When they FIRE the SOUND is incredibly loud and steady like a high-pitched foghorn. A solid stream of molten lead seems to pour into the darkness as 7000 rounds a minute rip into the enemy. The pass of the lead reaches out in beautiful patterns as the Ser- geant sweeps the area. The sergeant laughs maniacally as the GUN resumes FIRING, right up to the moment he is blown to eternity by an all-engulfing 105mm shell. 263 VIEW ON WILLARD Exhilarated, and moving with the MUSIC. WILLARD Napalm. Colby pushes a row of plungers: Advancing NVAs il- luminated by napalm drums, phosphorescent napalm EXPLODES beautiful, like a magnificent firework. 264 VIEW ON KURTZ KURTZ Claymores, claymores. The SOUND DISTORTED of tremendous HOWLING EXPLOSIONS penetrate the track of LIGHT MY FIRE one after another. Kurtz's face is illuminated by each of these. His face seems to change from one grotesgue primitive face to another, as though the whole history mankind is evolv- ing in front of us. The SCREAMS of maimed and dismembered men almost pene- trates the INCREDIBLY LOUD MUSIC and we HEAR Kurtz's men LAUGHING and SCREAMING in delight. Kurtz looks out over the field of slaughter. 265 FULL SHOT - NVA CHARGE through wires and claymore glass, each wilder and more extreme. They burn in the pools of luminescent napalm but press relentlessly on. SHELL BURSTS overhead. They chant to themselves as they advance. NVA have reached the walls and throw down scaling ladders and start up. Suddenly the sky is bright with flares which produce weird psychedelic light. Blared out at tremendous vol- ume over and above the DIN OF BATTLE is LIGHT MY FIRE. 266 FULL SHOT - WALL - EVERYBODY The Americans and Montagnards stand up screaming. Spurred by MUSIC, they charge up. M-16's in both hands, blasting, kicking, bayoneting, gouging, splittin throats, biting necks, both sides collide in the utter and most horrible savagery. 267 MED. SHOT - WILLARD standing on the wall BLASTING as bodies fall around him; he thrusts his bayonet into one attacker, removes it with a foot and stabs another. From him he takes his AK47 and BLASTS more as they come. 268 MED. SHOT - LANCE The VC rush his position. Willard trips a claymore that BLASTS most of them to shreads. More fill in. Lance opens up FULL AUTOMATIC . Willard and Lance move down to the nest wall, FIRING , bodies tumbling over. Lance is caught in a CROSSFIRE and hit several times. He pulls himself up -- FIRES a final BURST and then falls under the enemy's feet. 269 VIEW ON MOONBY sees this and scampers off into the jungle, muttering madly to himself. 270 MED. VIEW - WILLARD AT THE R.T. shouting into the radio WILLARD Code -- Street Gang -- Street Gang ! Purgative air strike; Street Gang ! He turns and runs back through the compound with the receding Montagnards. SHELLS are EXPLODING everywhere. The light patterns are fantastic. Men fall, Viets break over the walls and charge. They crouch and rip into them FULL AUTOMATIC. They break the charge and continue cutting their way through the NVA masses like torches through metal. 271 FULL SHOT - COMMAND POST - KURTZ Kurtz watches as invaders swarm through his domain. Women and children rush upon him now. Kurtz flicks some switch- es and the whole north wall EXPLODES in overwhelming FIRE. The gates are uprooted. The stone lions tumble, crushing men below. Kurtz cocks an M-16 and walks off the bunker. 272 VIEW ON WILLARD watching this spectacle. 273 MED. SHOT - DIFFERENT ANGLE - KURTZ He rounds the shadow wall. Kurtz sees a group of Viets and rushes up and prepares a machine gun mount. They don't see him. He braces the gun at his side and steps out. KURTZ (yelling) Charles ! They stagger and fall, shattered and bleeding, save one who's merely lost his weapon. Kurtz looks at him, his gun empty. He drops it and flips open the flap of his holster. The Viet soldier goes for his pistol. Kurtz beats him to the draw and bloes him into the night. He moves over to pick up the NVA light machine gun. Holding it at his hip, he stands atop one of the ruined walls and FIRES into the masses. His native men see him and rush for the chance to die beside him. They are quickly encircled by onrushing Viets and are being overrun. The machine gun jams and Kurtz grabs a rifle. When it's empty and the bayonet is off he wields it as a club. 274 MED. SHOT - LOW ANGLE - KURTZ taking swings with his rifle, standing atop the wall and battering the oncoming enemy like Davy Crockett at the Alamo. 275 FULL VIEW - THE FORTRESS The air strike hits with all its force. Balls and rain of fire sweeps down on the temple, the enemy, everything. It is the biggest firework show in history. The wall Kurtz was standing on, and he falls with it. Willard sees this and makes his way toward him as the air strike continues. All around us is a spectacle of MUSIC and light and fire and overwhelming color. 276 TRACKING SHOT ON WILLARD following Kurtz's trail in the mud. He has crawled on all fours back into the jungle to die. He stalks Kurtz into the jungle ; moving around and cutting off the crawling Kurtz KURTZ Go away -- hide yourself. WILLARD What are you doing? KURTZ Going back - to the jungle to die. WILLARD I'm taking you back. You can still live. KURTZ I had immense plans. WILLARD I'm gonna get you out of here. KURTZ I was on threshold of great things. Willard slings Kurtz's bleeding body around his neck, holding his hand, dragging hom through the jungle. The spectacle continues in the b.g. 277 EXT. THE P.B.R. - THE RIVER This wreck of a boat is still afloat. Willard crawls out of the jungle, carrying the dying Kurtz and manages to get him onto the boat. 278 EXTREME FULL SHOT The spectacle of total psychedelic war: the fortress of Nu Mung Ba. FADE OUT. FADE IN. 279 EXT. THE TEMPLE - MORNING The entire temple is devastation. Vultures by the hundreds circle overhead. There are a few survivors. Everywhere is smoke and heaps of bodies. Colby, a Sergeant, and some Montagnards sit near them. Their eyes are red and glazed, their jaws hang slack and they tumble occasionally. They stagger away from the field of slaughter. Willard looks down and sees something. Moves over to it, kicks several bodies away and in the f.g. below is Lance, dead. Colby stumbles over. Willard holds Lance up by his hair. COLBY Who is he? WILLARD He was the tragedy -- the tragedy of this war. CUT TO: 280 THE P.B.R. battered, moving slowly down the river. 281 TIGHTER VIEW Colby is at helm. Kurtz lies feverish, delirious. Willard sits by him. As the boat moves, Montagnards, those left alive, come and pay their respects by the riverbanks. Colby takes an automatic weapon and FIRES it into the air. Some of the natives move in terror, frightened of him. The battle is not over. KURTZ Don't. Don't frighten them away. Willard looks down at him. WILLARD So you understand this? Kurtz looks up at him, past him with fury, longing in his eyes. There is a slight smile. KURTZ Do I not? 282 EXT. RIVER - MED. VIEW The boat moves as though naturally carried by the river. KURTZ My river... my people... my jungle... my ideas... my country... my wife... (he looks at Willard) ... my death. WILLARD You had immense plans... immense plans... KURTZ Yes... WILLARD I'm taking you back. Kurtz looks up to him, then an expression of overwhelming intense and hopeless terror, hopeless despair. A whisper at some image, at some vision, he cries out twice, a cry that is no more than a breath. KURTZ The horror, the horror. We HEAR the distant SOUND of HELICOPTERS approaching. The SOUND of ROTORS in the distance. They look up, craning their eyes at the sky. Colby points. COLBY There. Over the jungle mountains the small formation of MEDEVAC helicopters hooping toward them. COLBY (continuing) How did they know? WILLARD They must have seen the fire. The helicopters are closer now but high up. Two of them breaking off, spiraling in TOWARD US. COLBY They're coming to rescue us. They're Medevac. 283 CLOSE SHOT ON WILLARD He stares up at the sky. WILLARD (to himself) They're coming to take us back. Copters directly overhead. WILLARD (continuing) Yeah. COLBY Colonel Kurtz, he's dead. WILLARD Yeah. He raises his M-16 and FIRES the entire clip at the ap- proaching rescue helicopter. 284 FULL SHOT - THE COPTER It frantically pours on the power and wheels up to the sky. 285 FULL SHOT - WILLARD, COLBY WILLARD Yeah. Colby takes his rifle and joins Willard in FIRING at the retreating American helicopters. 286 HELICOPTER'S POV - ON THE BOAT The men in the boat FIRING AT US as we fly further into the air, the boat getting smaller and smaller. WILLARD (V.O.) ... Don't remember a lot about my rehabilitation... but I was sent back to the world before the fall of Saigon... 287 EXT. MARINA DEL RAY - EXTREME HIGH ANGLE - NIGHT MOVING DOWN back to the pleasure boat at the Marina. Pause. Willard is very silent. WILLARD I never answered questions about Kurtz -- I gave them a few of his unimportant papers -- but for the most part I saved everything. There were other letters, personal ones written earlier to his wife. I brought them to het. I watched the fall of Saigon on television in a bar in Alameda... 289 EXT. CALIFORNIA NEIGHBORHOOD - DAY A bright clear day in a scrubbed-clean California neigh- borhood. Some kids are playing in the street. Willard, years later, dressed as a civilian, proceeds past the lawn to the attractive home, carrying a packet under his arm. He passes a lanky, young teen-aged boy working on a motor-scooter. Willard looks at him. The boy looks back. WILLARD Hi. Then the door opens, and KURTZ'S WIFE is standing at the door. She is still beautiful, blonde, and dressed in mourning even though she doesn't wear black. There is a sense of purity about her, though she is not young. KURTZ'S WIFE Come in, Captain Willard. He enters. 289 INT. KURTZ'S HOME - DAY Everything good and secure and desirable about America. She stands in the center of the room, a little nervous. KURTZ'S WIFE Can I get anything for you? There are pictures of Kurtz, not too many... but he is there in the various stages of his career. Then she sits suddenly, and Willard sits by her. KURTZ'S WIFE (continuing) Did you know him very well? WILLARD You get to know each other pretty well out there. KURTZ'S WIFE And you admired him? WILLARD He was a remarkable man. It was impossible not to -- KURTZ'S WIFE Love him... Yes, it is true. That's the hard part for me... I knew him better than anyone ... I knew him best. WILLARD You knew him best. KURTZ'S WIFE You were his friend... You must have been, if he had given you this... (the packet) If he sent you to his home. He was the best this country had -- he was -- WILLARD Yes, I know... KURTZ'S WIFE I'll never get over it -- But I'll always remember him... WILLARD Both of us... KURTZ'S WIFE Men looked up to him... (she loses herself in a thought) He died as he lived... WILLARD His death was -- yes, he died as he lived. KURTZ'S WIFE Were you with him, when... WILLARD Yes I was... He said his last words to me. Pause. 290 MED. CLOSE SHOT ON WILLARD A little of the madness is still with him. He knows what she will ask. KURTZ'S WIFE What were they? 291 MED. CLOSE SHOT ON KURTZ'S WIFE KURTZ'S WIFE Tell me. 292 MED. CLOSE ON WILLARD remembering that incredible day moving down the river. Our VIEW LOOSENS KURTZ'S WIFE Tell me what he said. KURTZ (V.O.) The horror ! The horror ! WILLARD He spoke of you, ma'am. He sits there looking at her. 293 EXT. TIGHT HIGH ANGLE ON THE MARINA DEL REY BOAT The cocktail party is breaking up. Willard is one of the few guests left. We MOVE FROM Willard standing alone on the deck of the boat. Moving back through the departing guests. Charlie is getting ready to leave himself. We MOVE CLOSER to Willard. DISSOLVE TO: 294 EXT. THE RIVER - P.B.R. - DAY the boat floating down the river. Kurtz's body; an exhaust- ed, half-dead Colby. And HOLDING Kurtz, Willard. We HEAR THE DOORS' "THE END" as we present the END TITLES. FADE OUT. THE END
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+                                    APRIL FOOL'S DAY                                       Written by                                       Danilo Bach                                                                                                                                             rev 1st draft                                                                  July 30, 1986                                                  FADE IN                                   EXT. FERRY LANDING - NEW ENGLAND SHORE - DAY          The sparkling waters. The chirping spring day. We are on an isolated          stretch of country shore , and a quiet, sheltered island is visible          distantly across the Sound. There is asense of anticipation,          excitement. VOICES can be heard. THE CAMERA is the POV of a VIDEO          CAMERA, and a group of college kids wait just o.s. On-screen, however,          for the moment, a proper, sweet-faced young COED faces the camera and          -- reluctantly, under the urging of her friend behind the video lens -          - sets the scene.                                                  SWEET COED                         (SHYLY)          Hi... My name is Mary O'Reilly O'Toole O'Shea and...over there is the          island my friend Muffy owns... It's spring break... and she's invited          us over for the weekend, and we're waiting for the ferry now to take          us there...           (blushing, mortified to cameraman)          I don't know what else to say!                                   CAMERAMAN (CHAZ'S VOICE)          Tell us something about yourself.                                                  SWEET COED          Something about myself? Oh, Gee...          (composing herself, earnestly)          Well, I want to work with handicapped children... My parents are my          best Friends... Next semester I start convent school, and I... fuck on          the first date.                                   O.S. her friends explode with LAUGHTER. Brassy former deb NIKKI          BRASHEARS gives us a big, wet wink, dropping the act.                                   SWEET COED/NIKKI          April Fool...                                                  CHAZ'S VOICE          Whoo! Outrageous woman! Nikki, you are my kind o' gal!                                   He PANS THE CAMERA over to KIT-- a pretty, unaffected, natural beauty,          bright and very much aware.                                                  CHAZ'S VOICE          C'mon, Kit, how about you?                                   Kit waves him off, laughing in spite of herself. She's got nothing to          say.                         KIT          Pass.                                                  CHAZ'S VOICE          C'mon , Arch? Skip?                                   He PANS over to the other two college boys on the dock here - ARCH, a          big, good-natured, easygoing WASP jock (rugby and crew); and SKIP, Mr.          Preppy, the perfect image of the lazy spoiled, indulged, and reckless          upper-crust kid. Skip also happens to be Muffy's cousin.                                                  ARCH          (ponders it with due consideration)          Yeah, sure... I fuck on the first date...                                   Skip cracks up. Arch's laughter follows.                                   NIKKI (O.S.)          Where's Rob?                                   Chaz QUICK-PANS the camera back to Kit, following the action.                                                  CHAZ'S VOICE          (teasing, with innuendo)          Yeah, Kit, where is he?                                   ARCH (O.S.)                         (MORE TEASING)          Oh, Kit...                                   Concerned, Kit keeps her humor anyway, waving the lens away again.                                                  KIT          Oh, c'mon, Chaz, give me some room, will you?                                   He does, finally shutting down the videopak. The image reverts to FILM          again.                                                  NIKKI          (looks at her, persisting)          Well?          INT. VOLVO WAGON IN MOTION - MAIN HIGHWAY - DAY                                                  CUT TO:                                   The driver -- a still great-looking, turned-out Fairfield County-type          SUBURBAN LADY -- and the passenger, ROB FERRIS a cleancut,          goodlooking, 20 year old public school grad ≠sit in uncomfortable          silence on opposite ends of the front seat.                                                  ROB          (gestures, awkwardly)          Here'll be fine, thanks...                                   EXT. HIGHWAY INTERSECTION - DAY                                   The Volvo wagon pulls over. Rob drags out his daypack, too.                                                  ROB                         (ABASHED)          Thanks... for the lift, I mean...                                                  SUBURBAN LADY          (smiles, no reason for disappointment)          It was a real lift for me, too, hon.                                   A late model Detroit sedan slows at the intersection, turning off the          highway to take the junction in the direction Rob is going. A road          sign indicates: "BAR HARBOR MOUNT DESERT" in another direction.                                   Rob hefts his gear, hurrying to flag the sedan.                                   The Volvo wagon continues on, braking for the next undergraduate          male hitchhiking down the road.                                   INT. KITCHEN - ST. JOHN HOUSE- DAY          CLOSE ON a wall calendar. A HAND reaches INTO FRAME, tearing off          "MARCH" to begin "APRIL".                                   WIDEN TO REVEAL CLARA, the middle-aged housekeeper and offseason          caretaker for the house. With her overcoat and purse on one arm, she          drops the "MARCH" calendar page in a wastebasket, then crosses to the          pantry where a door and wooden steps lead down to the basement.                                                  CLARA                         (CALLING)          The rooms are all in order, double- and triple-checked, and I'm on my          way...                                   She hears a CLATTER from down below.          INT. BASEMENT - DAY                                   MUFFY ST. JOHN drags a woman's body across the floor. The arm comes          off in her hand.                                                  MUFFY          Shit.                                                  CLARA'S VOICE          Need any help down there?                                   Clara comes clopping down the steps. Muffy turns, the mannequin's arm          still in her hand. Old workclothes and a head kerchief take the place          of Muffy's normally impeccable prep Seven Sisters outfit (including          the regulation penny loafers) in all this dust. Early 20's, pretty in          an off-beat sort of way, Muffy is every inch a blue-blood.                                                  MUFFY          (puffing with the effort)          No, Clara, thanks. Just trying some last minute straightening down          here... god, I don't think I've ever worked so hard in my life...!                                                  CLARA          Sure you don't want me to stay? There's nobody gonna be around          here to help till first ferry back Monday, y'know...                                                  MUFFY          (continuing with her work)          Nope, you're a peach, Clara. But this one's mine. I told my father I'd          do it, and I will. My way. I don't want him to have any excuses.                                                  CLARA          (dubiously , turning to go)          All right, then. Have a nice party.                                                  MUFFY          (a buoyant laugh)          Nice? It has to be better than nice... it's gotta be bloody          unforgettable!                                   Clara climbs the stairs.                                                  CLARA          Good luck.                                                  MUFFY (CONT)          Bye, Clara. See you Monday.                                   Soon there's the upstairs SOUND of the kitchen door closing behind          Clara.          Muffy finally props the mannequin, clearing away the remaining          clutter. She goes to open a basement window for ventilation. It is a          ground-level transom, hinged at the top. Through it Clara is visible          departing the grounds.                                   Then Muffy hears a DRIPPING. She turns, hesitating, and follows the          sounds.                                   INT. UTILITY ROOM                                   Part of the basement, an old washroom and more, with tub, slop sink          and large incinerator. Muffy enters, pulling the chain on the bare,          overhead bulb. It illuminates the room, and the tub underneath --          slightly rusty at the drain, but otherwise spotless -- and the slowly          dripping faucet.                                   EXT. FERRY LANDING - MAINLAND - DAY                                   CHAZ, the videocameraman and the only member of the group we haven't          seen till now, is the first to spot the ferry approaching.                                                  CHAZ          Here she comes...                                   He's a real hi-tech freak and Ivy League wiseass, a free spirit in          neo-punk neck curl and button-down shirt. He shoulders his lightweight          videopak again, taping it. Arch and Skip watch with him from the end          of the pier. But Kit and Nikki, waiting nearer the office, are          distracted by the SOUND of an arriving car.                                   ANGLE - PARKING LOT                                   It's not Rob, though. It's NAN, another newcomer. She pulls her car          next to the others in the gravel lot behind the landing office and -          gets out quickly, dragging a hefty suitcase out of the back seat. She          is an unfamiliar face to Kit and Nikki --a shy, earnest, small-town          girl, overdressed for the occasion.                                                  NAN                         (HURRIED)          Hi... is this the ferry to the St. John house?                                                  NIKKI I          Any second now.                                                  NAN          Oh, thank goodness ! I didn't know if I was on the right road...                                   Kit smiles welcome, lending a hand as Nan struggles the bag up the          ramp.                         KIT          Hi. Kit Graham... Nikki Brashears.                                                  NAN          Nan Youngblood.                                                  NIKKI          (needling, about the suitcase)          Planning on staying a while?                                                  NAN          (flushes, embarrassed)          Oh, no... just some work for finals, when we get back... you don't          know how far behind I am...                                   Arch outhustles Chaz for her bag. Her simple attractiveness exerts an          appeal.                                                  ARCH          Hi. Arch Cummings . I've seen you around. Jewett Hall, right?                                                  CHAZ          Chaz Vyshinsky. You got great legs.                                                  NIKKI          (pointed1y, reminds him)          Chaz, Arch already has her bag.                                   Meaning, Chaz is Nikki's man, especially for this weekend.                                                  NAN          (volunteering, happily)          Well, I only met Muffy this term in Drama Society . I volunteered to          do their costumes... I like to sew... Did you see her in Ghosts? She's          so talented. She was wonderful!                                                  SKIP          (to Nan, approvingly; in greeting)          Congratulations, on finding your way.                                   The landing BUMPS, the ferry touches down. They look up.                                                  ANGLE CHANGE                                                  FERRYMAN                         (BARKS)          Stand clear!                                   The large, raw-boned FERRYMAN holds open the wooden stile for the one          and only passenger from the island ≠ Clara -- to disembark. Clara          passes them , giving first Skip and then the others a look, shaking          her head in sad appraisal.          FERRYMAN (cont.)                         (GROWLS)          Ok, let's go.                                   It's not the friendliest greeting in the world. The ferryman keeps the          stile open for them to board singly. There is also a younger assistant          on board -- BUCK, a pleasant, openfaced townie in his 20s.                                   FERRYMAN (cont.)          To the rear. Outa the operator's way.                                   Nikki clutches at Skip's arm.                                                  NIKKI                         (IN MOCK-TERROR)          This is it? No going back? Trapped for days on an island where          men are men, and women oughta know better?                                                  ARCH                         (BEHIND HER)          Try to control yourself, Sister O'Toole.                                                  NIKKI                         (SUGGESTIVE )          You could tie me in chains...                                   Chaz boards, passing Buck, the assistant.                                                  CHAZ          (a low whisper)          Your fly's open, and your Hostess Twinkie's hanging out...                                   The assistant gapes, falling for it, groping his fly. Which is closed,          of course. He looks up, grinning. Chaz kisses him on the cheek, winks          and moves on.                                                  BUCK          Sh -i-i-t...                                   Kit is hanging back on the dock.                                                  FERRYMAN          Come on if you're coming.                                                  KIT                         (URGENTLY)          Excuse me. But we're still waiting for somebody --                                                  FERRYMAN                         (GRUFFLY)          It's Friday. My last run of the week. I don't get paid overtime.                         KIT          But you've got to wait. They said it's the only way over.          If he misses this...                                   Arch WHISTLES loudly, seeing and alerting them.                                   PARKING LOT - THEIR POV          A late model Detroit sedan (the one we saw earlier turning off the          highway) pulls to a fast stop in the lot. Rob hurries out; a CHEER          comes up from the group on the ferry. Kit closes her eyes in relief.          Rob comes hurrying up the ramp.                                                  ANGLE ≠ LANDING          ...followed closely by HARVEY 'HAL' EDISON, JR.                                                  HARVEY          Wait up!                                   Harvey is the driver of the sedan, and after he carefully locks up, he          comes running with his bag, too. He is a rangy, straight-arrow Ivy          League farmboy from the Border South, and he's the last of Muffy's          invited guests. He also, somewhat incongruously, sports a Bruce          Springsteen badge.                                                  ROB          (to Kit, kissing her)          Sorry... Nik, Chaz...          (to Skip and Nan whom he doesn't know)          Rob Ferris...                                   They return greetings.                                                  HARVEY                         (RIGHT BEHIND )          Hi! Harvey 'Hal' Edison, Jr., but please call me Hal. Only my folks          call me Harve... and I can't stand it. Boy, this sure is a pretty          spot.                                   Stylistically, he's a Martian. Chaz stares at him.                                                  CHAZ          You're friends with... Muffy St. John?                                                  HARVEY                         (PROUDLY)          Sure am. We sit together in Econ 345. I let her copy my marginal          utility curves.                                                  NIKKI          I get it. That's a joke.          Preppy Skip adds his greeting.                                                  SKIP          (an ironical nod)          Harve.                                                  HARVEY          (correcting him, blithely)          Hal...          (noticing interest his badge)          Springsteen, he's still the Boss!                                                  FERRYMAN                         (IMPATIENTLY)          Ok, c'mon, I don't have all day.                                   He slams the stile down after Harvey, the last to board, and gets busy          with the stubborn motor. His assistant helps. Chaz tapes.                                                  HARVEY          (enthusiastically, putting down his fear)          YOU all buddies?                                                  NIKKI          Except for Skip and Nan. Them we just met.                                                  KIT                         (AMIABLY)          But we will be.                                                  CHAZ                         (MEANING SKIP)          Watch what you say around him, though. He's Muffy's cousin.                                                  HARVEY          (tickled, to Skip)          No kiddin'?                                                  SKIP          Distant. Over the horizon.          Otherwise, I wouldn't be invited...          (frowns, tellingly)          Old money never mixes family with friends.                                                  NIKKI          This is true. For as long as I've known her.                                                  KIT                         (JOKING)          To protect her family, I guess.                         SKIP                         (UNSMILING)          To keep her friends.                                   He turns to Arch, holds up his hand, and CLICK, a switchblade opens          into the lens.                                   SKIP (cont.)          Choose your weapons, big guy.                                                  ARCH          (nervously, a laugh)          Hey, what's this...?                                                  SKIP          You up for a game of stretch?                                                  CHAZ          (still taping, to Skip)          Your fly's open.                                                  SKIP          Eat it.                                                  CHAZ          (undaunted, to Rob)          Your fly's open.                         (SHRUGS)          Ok, so don't believe me.                                   He keeps the tape rolling. Rob discreetly looks down. His fly is          open. Kit looks at him dubiously. Rob zips. Chaz beams, getting it all          for posterity. The engine finally engages. The ferry lurches.                                                  ROB          (smiles weakly to Kit)          We're off!                                   They are indeed.                                   EXT. THE SOUND - DISTANT POV - DAY                                   The ferry pulls away from the mainland.                                   EXT. THE FERRY - DAY                                   A CLOSER ANGLE. The sturdy, barge like ship craft makes progress. The          Ferryman and Buck remain at the stern.                                   ECU - THE DECK                                   As Skip's knife flies INTO FRAME, it bites into the boards and holds.          SKIP AND ARCH                                   at their game. Arch stretches, can't reach the knife, and topples          over.                                   Skip hoots triumphantly.                                                  SKIP          First round, the champ!                                   NIKKI AND HARVEY                                   Nikki, much to her chagrin, finds herself the object of Harvey's          attentions.                                                  HARVEY          Y'know what I find amazin'? Muffy's her real name. I mean,          I'm Harvey, but they call me Hal, so I thought, 'Muffy', it must          stand for something... Muffin?                                                  NIKKI          Muffers, Moffo, Muff-child , Muffin' stuff, the Muffster...                                                  HARVEY                         (GRINS)          I bet you're her oldest friend.                                                  NIKKI                         (BORED)          Actually, she's three months older than I am.                                                  HARVEY          You know what I mean.                                                  NIKKI          Harvey... are you planning a career in politics when you grow up?                                                  HARVEY          I've given it some thought. Why?                                                  NIKKI          Oh, just a hunch.                                                  HARVEY          First, though, I'm hopin' to interview with her daddy's          company, Southern Regional Sales, next year before graduation...          Y'know, he's worth more'n 50 mill over the counter!                                   She just stares at him.          CLOSE UP - THE KNIFE                                   digging into the deck again.                                   ARCH (O.S.)          Jesus...                                   ARCH and SKIP                                   The knife is at an impossible distance.                                                  SKIP                         (LAUGHING)          Go for it, big fella.                                   Arch swallows his pride and makes a hopeless attempt.                                                  CHAZ          fastens onto Nan, immersed in one of her books. He carries his own.                                                  CHAZ          (sitting beside her)          Whatcha readin'?                                                  NAN          Milton. Paradise Lost. For Professor Russo's course on the          English epic... It's a shame. It's a dying form. Not too many people          read it nowadays, even in college. What's yours?                                                  CHAZ                         (SHOWS HER)          Suck and fuck.                                   Naked bodies writhing in heat. Women with their tongues sticking out          in desparate desire... Nan tries to control her reaction to his stack          of graphic pornographic video catalogues and magazines.                                                  CHAZ (CONT)          The origins of American pornographic film. I'm taking an          independent study this term.          (the passion and commitment show)          My advisor's really behind me on it. We're not gonna be sheltered          college kids all our lives. Someday I'm gonna have kids --          you're gonna have kids ≠ and someday that kid's gonna come up          to me and say, 'God, Dad, porn's really a major part of our          lives. You were there, how'd it get started?' I wanna be          able to answer their questions.                         (SMILES)          Besides, it's research I can do by myself.                                   ROB AND KIT          They keep their voices low.                         KIT                         (STILL MIFFED)          That's not my point --                                                  ROB          You don't want me to hitch, you want me to buy a car. OK, but          I'm a state university boy, I don't have the perks like some          of you private college kids do.                                                  KIT          Oh, c'mon, don't pull that.                                   Rob just drops his arms in frustration.                                   KIT (cont.)          I mean, it may show something about your attitude toward me,          always being late.                                                  ROB          Kit...                                   Arch's voice interrupts.                                                  ARCH'S VOICE          (annoyed, loudly, overriding the other conversations)          Hey, I'm really not interested anymore --                                                  SKIP          C'mon, just one more                                   The others look up at the interruption.                                                  ANGLE                                   Arch pushes the knife back into Skip's hand, tired of playing knife-          toss.                                                  ARCH          I said, enough's enough--                                                  SKIP          One more try, double or nothing.                                   He flips the knife to Arch, handle first.                                                  ARCH                         (PISSED OFF)          C'mon, give it a fuckin' rest!                                   He flips it back hard. Something happens. Skip looks up stunned.          Arch's voice catches in his throat in horror.                         ANOTHER ANGLE                                   Skip stares back, disbelieving, looking down and pulling his hand away          from his chest, where the blood begins to seep and the jackknife          sticks out, buried hilt-deep between his ribs.                                                  SKIP                         (PALE)          Oh, fuck.                                                  SKIP          Nan screams. Skip stumbles, teetering there at the edge of the ferry.          Rob and Chaz leap to their feet. The ferrymen both look up in          disbelief. Arch steps forward to help. But Skip, weaving, topples and          splashes overboard. He goes under.                                                  ARCH          (panicked, hurrying to the side)          I'll get him, I'll get him!                                   But he stops just at the edge of the ferry, immobilized by fear.                                   Rob rushes forward, with Chaz in reserve, pulling Arch out of ∑the          way. But Buck, the assistant ferryman, pre-empts them all, diving in.                                   Arch, frozen, watches from the deck with the others.                                   Buck resurfaces, but without any sign of Skip. Rob doesn't wait any          longer. He pulls off his shoes and dives in. Chaz gets ready to follow          suit. The panic mounts. Suddenly:                                                  SKIP'S VOICE          Hi, this what you're looking for?                                                  THEY TURN;                                                  ANGLE CHANGE                                   Skip pulls himself up, dripping, on the other side of the ferry. He          holds up the knife -- and the padded sash beneath his shirt he used to          imbed the knife -- and grins from ear to ear. The others stare,          totally freaked.                                   Arch lets go, jumping in the air. Rob and Buck surface, to see as          well.                                                  ARCH          We got 'em! Whoo-ee, did we nail 'em!                         CHAZ          (as it dawns, to Skip)          April Fools... you crazy jerks. You crazy motherfuckin' jerks...          somebody could've gotten hurt out there!                                   Relief descends. Rob isn't laughing. But nobody's more impressed than          assistant Buck, still treading water.                                                  BUCK                         (GRINNING)                         SH-I-I-I-T                                                  NIKKI          You maniacs... you almost gave us a heart attack!                                   Kit glowers at them and gives Rob a hand to get out.                                                  ARCH                         (TO CHAZ)          Well, at least we don't go in for this your-shoelace≠is-untied crap!                                                  ROB          (dripping, to Arch and Skip)          I owe you one.                                                  SKIP          (smiles, to Buck in the water)          How's it goin' out there?                                                  BUCK          That was great!                                                  SKIP          I was really counting on these other turkeys to save          my ass.                                                  CHAZ          Oh, too bad.                                   Skip extends a hand to Buck to help him out.                                                  SKIP          Sorry about that.                                   But Buck's in no hurry. The ferryman steps forward.                                                  FERRYMAN          (unamused, to Buck)          Ok, c'mon, get out.                                   They are approaching the landing dock on the island.          FERRYMAN (CONT.)          (to Buck, gruffly)          C'mon I'm gonna need some help here.                                   Buck obeys, but his way, enjoying it, ducking under the craft to swim          to the other side to help.                                                  FERRYMAN (CONT)          And watch out for the wire!                                   Too late. There's a sickening THUMP I The young assistant suddenly          breaks the surface qf the water, panicked and stunned, gasping for          air.                                   It happens too fast for any of them to do anything. Buck thrashes,          dazed, off-balance, falling back into the path of the ferry as it          glides toward the landing.                                                  FERRYMAN          Buck, look out--                                                  ROB                         (IN DREAD)          Oh, shit...                                   The ferryman grabs the controls, but it can't help.                                   The ferry, unstoppable, plows into Buck, pinning him against one of          the piers. Buck screams.                                                  FERRYMAN          Buck!                                   The ferryman rushes forward to help.                                   For a moment the others are spared the horror of it as the          Ferryman's back blocks their view.                                   But then Buck, thrashing in the water, tears himself, loose, screaming          and bobbing. up, his head and torso covered in blood, the side of his          face and his shoulder hideously deformed.                                   It is awful. It is ghastly. And it is unforgettable.                                                  KIT                         (IN HORROR)          Oh, god!          EXT. DOCK - ISLAND - DAY                                   SAM POTTER, the middle-aged township constable, hears the cries and          the screams. He drops what he's doing in his outboard and comes          running.                                   EXT. LANDING - ISLAND - DAY                                   The ferryman jumps into the shallow water, pulling Buck onto shore.          Rob, Chaz and Arch jump after to help, but the ferryman pushes them          angrily away.                                                  FERRYMAN          Get away from him!                                   Buck is hysterical. The gashes of torn flesh seem to drip from his          skull. Seeing Rob and the others, he screams, lunging vainly at∑ them          in agony.                                                  BUCK          They did it... them!                                                  FERRYMAN                         (RESTRAINING HIM)          Easy Buck... it's OK... OK... There's time for          Later... easy...                                   But it's hard for him to restrain his own rage.                                   Constable Potter arrives, throwing the ferryman a towel to use. The          ferryman catches it, pressing it against Buck's torn face. One          maddened, glaring eye still stares out hideously at the group.                                                  CONSTABLE POTTER                         (TO ∑FERRYMAN)          Get him to the hospital, Cal! Take my boat!                                   He helps the ferryman lift Buck. But the powerful ferryman needs no          further help, carrying Buck to the Constable's motorboat moored          nearby, laying Buck in, untying the line and pulling the motor to          life. Buck continues to shriek, terrifyingly.                                   The ferryman cast one last glance back.                                   EXT. THE LANDING                                   The SOUND of the motorboat fades away. Potter turns back to the          stunned group, eyeing them.                                                  CONSTABLE POTTER          All right... Let's have it.          INT. MUFFY'S PASSENGER VAN - DAY                                   Muffy drives up. She slows, seeing, through the windshield the somber          scene at the pier... her friends in troubled conversation with          Constable Potter.                                   EXT. LANDING - DAY                                   Muffy gets out, parking the new van beside an old island pick-up which          is kept at the dock. She's clean, and dressed in her more usual preppy          garb. She approaches.                                                  MUFFY          What's going on? Sam... what's wrong?                                                  CONSTABLE POTTER                         (IN DISGUST)          Tricks. Pranks. Better ask your friends... Buck's been hurt. 'Cal just          took him on over to the mainland. Just lucky I was here...                                   She returns his stare in dread silence. He boards the ferry.                                   CONSTABLE POTTER (CONT.)          I came over to check on a report of some unauthorized          activity in the area... Your dad around?                                   She startles, the question 50 unanticipated.                                                  MUFFY          No, he's in Sutton Place. Why?                                                  CONSTABLE POTTER          No word from him, or anybody else?                                                  MUFFY                         (STILL PUZZLED)          No...                                   He tries the engine. Nothing.                                                  CONSTABLE POTTER          Just like I thought. . Burned out. Worthless...                                   He steps back onto the shore.                                   CONSTABLE POTTER (CONT.)          I'll have to borrow your outboard to get back to shore.                                                  MUFFY          We keep all the keys on the board in the kitchen, but I          think there's an extra one underneath the cushion there.          She points to the boat seat. Potter is much obliged.                                   EXT. ROAD - DAY                                                  CONSTABLE POTTER          (to the others, sternly)          I'm glad you're stuck here, all o' you. If there's anvthin' else, or          anything happens to Buck... I want to know where to find you.                                   The van moves slowly along a narrow road through the forest. From what          we can see of its occupants, the mood is pretty grim. Behind it, the          old island pick-up truck follows.                                   INT. PICK-UP                                   Rob drives with Kit and Skip beside him in the cab. Nobody says          anything . Skip is off somewhere in his own private hell. Finally he          reaches over to roll down his window, but the handle rotates uselessly          in his grip.                                                  SKIP          These goddamn windows!                                   He starts banging violently on the door, on the window.                                                  SKIP          They've never been fixed...                                                  KIT          Look, Skip, it wasn't your fault. It was an accident. You didn't know.                                                  SKIP                         (BITTER)          Sure.                                   He leaves off his banging. Pause.                                                  ROB                         (SIGHS)          What a way to start a weekend, huh.                                                  SKIP          Muffy. Nothing bad ever happens to her.                                   EXT. ST. JOHN HOUSE. DAY.                                   It is a truly grand affair, two stories at least, rambling and          picture-perfect with extensive tended grounds, garage, and          outbuildings. Muffy gets out first, hopping around to the back to open          the rear van gate for the bags. Nan beholds the house for the first          time.                         NAN                         (OVERWHELMED)          Oh; Muffy...                                   Rob pulls the pick-up right behind them.                                   INT. ENTRY HALL - DAY                                   As they come in with their bags.                                                  MUFFY          Well, there's an awful lot to be done with this place.                                                  ARCH          You sound as if you own it.                                   She helps with bags, shepherding them on ahead.                                                  MUFFY          I will, if all goes well. Next month when I turn 21. It's my first-          stage inheritance.                                                  HARVEY                         (AMAZED)          First stage? What's your second?                                                  NIKKI                         (DRYLY)          Texas. You might be talking to your future boss, Harve.                                                  CHAZ          Mom, I am home!                                   They all look to see him standing in the entrance to the living room.                                   INT. LIVING ROOM                                   as they follow Chaz into the room. A series of picture windows give a          spectacular view of the sound.                                                  ARCH          Yeah, I could get real used to this.                                                  MUFFY          We used to spend our summers here before my mother died.                         (BEAT)          This is a very special place to me.                                                  NAN          It's like a dream.                         NIKKI          On a clear day you can see the Kennedys.                                                  CHAZ'S VOICE          (from the dining room)          Wow, look at this...!                                   INT. DINING ROOM                                   The others enter to see what Chaz's shout is all about.                                   Chaz stands before a large, beautifully polished dining table that is          set for each of them -- each place carefully marked with a name card          and a Ken or Barbie doll with the person's name on it. The settings          themselves are idiomatic and economical -- plastic spoon-and-fork          combination sets and paper cups, plates, napkins, etc.,                                                  CHAZ          (in mock awe)          Look! Our very own place settings... with our very own place          cards -- with Ken or Barbie! Outasight!                                                  NAN                         (GIGGLES)          Just like in Agatha Cristie.                                                  ARCH          (in the spirit)          And sporks...                                                  HARVEY                         (QUIETLY)          Sporks?                                                  ARCH          And napkins with little Hallmark bunnies! Gee, Muff, you really spared          no expense.                                                  MUFFY                         (ENTERING JAUNTILY)          Why not? How do you think father made all his money?                                                  NIKKI                         (ENTERING)          The old-fashioned way. He inherited it.                                                  NAN          (meaningfully, with her Barbie)          I used to have all her outfits.                                                  CHAZ          Don't anybody move!          Chaz jumps back from the table, whipping out his videocam to record          the moment, and panning them all at ∑ .their respective places.                                                  CHAZ (CONT)          One of us in this room...          (bellowing a mystery laugh)          ...pulls his wang.                                   He ends the pan on Arch, who gives him the finger.                                   INT. KITCHEN - LATE AFTERNOON                                   CLOSE UP - A HOT DOG                                   dropping onto a hot skillet .                                   WIDEN TO REVEAL                                   Muffy, Nikki and Kit cooking a dinner of hot dogs... baked.                                                  NIKKI          ...if only the choices weren't so limited. God, I'm so ready for a          change. Any kind of change.                                                  MUFFY          Well, you know, everything they say about older men? It's true.                                   Kit and Nikki stare at her, open-mouthed.                                                  KIT          Muffy!                                                  NIKKI          Like how much older are we talking about? Twenty-six?                                                  MUFFY          Add about thirty years.                                                  NIKKI          I don't believe ∑you, St. John!                                                  KIT                         (TURNING AWAY)          I don't want to hear about this.                                                  NIKKI          Come on! ∑                         MUFFY          It was only a weekend. It's over now.          (beat, shrugs)          I was curious.                                                  KIT          He wasn't married?                                                  MUFFY                         (BLITHELY)          How should I know?                                   Kit and Nikki just drop everything and continue to stare at her .                                                  MUFFY          It was quite a weekend.                                   Nikki starts to laugh.                                                  NIKKI          Come to daddy.                                   They all start to laugh now, wickedly, conspiratorially.                                                  NIKKI          Come sit on daddy's knee, little girl...                                   Nikki falls to the floor in hysterics.                                                  KIT          My goodness, daddy, what big                         (BREAKING UP)          ...what big... teeth you have.                                                  ALL          The better to eat you with, my dear.                                   INT. STUDY - LATE AFTERNOON                                   A richly paneled room with a fireplace, desk, leather-upholstered          chairs and lots of books.                                   A door opens and Harvey steps through, looks back over his shoulder          and enters. He is just snooping around. He surveys the books, the          framed diplomas on the walls along with autographed photos of U.S.          presidents and other heads of state.                                   He steps over to the desk, opens a cigar box sitting there, takes out          a cigar and slips it into his pocket.          EXT. BACK LAWN - SUNSET                                   Arch and Chaz are in the back lawn overlooking the sound. They are          fooling around with Chaz's camera, maybe clowning a bit.                                   EXT. VERANDA - THE SAME                                   A'broad veranda which runs along the entire length of the back of the          house. Skip and Nan are sitting on the railing, gazing over the          sounds. Skip has a drink.                                                  SKIP          (quietly, with deliberation)          The poor boy can say, "Fuck you, Dad. I'm my own person." What is his          father going to do? Kick him out of the house? Disinherit him? His          life won't have changed that much. He's got nothing to lose.                                   PAUSE.                                                  NAN          His father's love.                                                  SKIP          That's already been lost. Died a long, long time ago.                                                  NAN                         (SOFTLY)          Skip, you're giving up. You're giving up before you've          even gotten started.                         (BEAT)          Look at how young we all are. How young and foolish and innocent and          stupid...                                   Skip raises his glass and gulps down the rest of his drink.                                   EXT. OVERLOOK - DUSK                                   A secluded area halfway down between the house and the shore. Rob sits          alone on a wooden bench and thinks. O.S. the dinner bell sounds.                                   EXT. VERANDA - DUSK                                   With bell in hand, Muffy turns and heads back into the house. Chaz and          Arch come up onto the porch and follow her in.                                   INT. DINING ROOM ~ DUSK                                   Rob is just coming in from outside as Muffy enters from the kitchen          with the hot dogs and beans. Everyone else is standing around the          table.                         CHAZ          Boy, Muff, you sure know how to make a guy look forward to dessert.                                                  ARCH          Please, God, let it be ding dongs.                                                  NIKKI          St. John hospitality taken to the extreme.                                                  HARVEY          I think it's real friendly. Makes me feel right at home.                                   Everyone starts to sit down at his designated place.                                                  KIT          How friendly will we feel once we've finished with those beans?                                                  ON NAN                                   As soon as her ass hits the seat, she lets slip an outrageous fart.          She springs to her feet, her face turning beet red.                                                  THE GROUP                                   All conversation stops, each person looking for the guilty party. Nan          discreetly sits back down: but again, as soon as her tail meets the          chair, another blast escapes her...                                   All eyes are on her as she reaches beneath her and pulls out a whoopee          cushion.                                                  NAN          You guys!                                   Everybody laughs.                                                  KIT          So it's going to be one of those dinners, huh?                                   Arch is laughing the loudest when suddenly his chair collapses beneath          him and he drops sprawling onto the floor.                                   INT. LIVING ROOM - NIGHT                                   Skip is searching through the darkened living room for something,          while in the adjoining room dinner is proceeding quietly.          INT. DINING ROOM - NIGHT                                   CLOSE ON- CHAZ' HAND                                   as he grabs the salt-shaker and spills some of it out onto the table.          He samples a couple of grains. It's the real thing. He starts salting          his food.                                                  WIDER                                                  ROB          I wonder how Buck is doing?                                                  PAUSE                                                  NAN          Do you think we should call or something?                                                  MUFFY                         (QUIETLY)          I'll call later.                                                  KIT          I think we should change the subject.                                                  ARCH          Well, Harvey's got his job interview all figured out, but          what about the rest of us? Anybody know what they're going to          be doing come graduation?                                   PAUSE.                                   They sit dumbly.                                   Another PAUSE.                                                  NIKKI          Good choice, Arch.                                                  NAN          I can't decide. I'd like to go to graduate school in English. I love          the sound of our language. But I'm afraid there's not much future in          it.                                                  NIKKI          I mean, what are you' supposed to do with a liberal arts major          anyway?                                                  MUFFY          You fill out a lot of forms, and then some friend of your family gives          you a job delivering mail in his ∑corporation...                         ARCH          This is really incredible. Look at us... Here we are... privileged,          independent, the hope of the future... and most of us still don't know          what we're going to do with our lives!                                                  KIT                         (PROUDLY)          Rob knows. He's going to medical school.                                   Rob looks up from his plate.                                                  ROB          Kit...                                                  CHAZ                         (EXCITEDLY)          Hey, no shit? You got early acceptance?                                                  ROB          (reddens, to Kit)          We can talk about it some other time.                                                  KIT          Why? You had your meeting with your counselor, didn't you?                                                  MUFFY                         (OBSERVANTLY)          Kit... I don't think Rob really wants to talk about it in front of          everybody.                                   She gets up from the table and steps over to the sideboard.                                                  ROB                         (STUBBORNLY)          No, I don't mind.                                                  KIT                         (AT MUFFY)          Why not? We're all friends.                                                  NIKKI                         (LAUGHS)          Well, sorta...                                                  ROB          He said to forget it.                                   Kit looks up in surprise. They all stare, quieting.          ROB (CONT.)                         (WITH DIFFICULTY)          He said my grades might be OK; but that basically I possess an          essential lack of seriousness, and that's what they look for.                                                  ARCH          Oh, shit, him too? That's what my guy said! An' I said, you're          kidding! How can anybody be serious about anything when some          moron can steal a bomb or push a button and blow the rest of us          right into Mad Max. He wasn't impressed.                                                                           ROB          He's right. That's bullshit on parade.                                                  ARCH          Well fuck you. It sounded good at the time.                                   Muffy turns from the sideboard and sets a tray of champagne glasses in          the center of the table. There are eight of them. Each one is filled          with a pinkish, bubbly liquid.                                   Everybody reaches for a glass.                                                  CHAZ          What is this? Dom Perignon sparkling rose?                                                  HARVEY          It smells like Ripple.                                                  NIKKI          You've outdone yourself again, St. John.                                   The back screen door slams shut o.s. behind Skip, leaving the house.                                   They look up.                                                  ARCH          Who was that?                                                  MUFFY                         (QUIETLY)          Skip.                                                  NAN                         (TENTATIVELY)          Can I make a toast?                                   They turn attention toward her, and she stands, emboldened by their          acceptance.          NAN (CONT.)          Well... Someone once said to me to cherish the friends you make in                         COLLEGE--                                                  ARCH          I cherish all the friends I make.                                                  NAN                         (CONTINUING)          Because... they'll be the friends you cherish most the rest of your          life. So, well, here's to us... here's to my life... because I'm very          glad to be here, and to be a part of all of you...                                                  KIT          Muffy, anything you want to add to that?                                                  MUFFY          Why me?                                                  NIKKI          Because you're the hostess.                                   Muffy thinks for a moment, then adds...                                                  MUFFY          In his "Life of Johnson" James Boswell said, "We cannot tell the          precise moment when friendship is formed. As in filling a vessel drop          by drop, there is at last a drop which makes it run over; so in a          series of kindnesses, there is at last one which makes the heart run          over."                                   Arch has started to make snoring sounds.                                   MUFFY (cont.)          So with this toast may our hearts run over and our friendships be          formed.                                   They stand unanimously, raise their glasses in agreement, start to          drink and spill it all down the front of their shirts.                                   Dribble glasses.                                   Everybody groans.                                                  MUFFY                         (GRINNING MISCHIEVOUSLY)          April Fool.          INT. UPSTAIRS HALLWAY ≠ NIGHT                                   Muffy shows Nikki, the last of them, to her room. Nan says goodnight          from her door.                                                  NAN          Goodnight.                                                  MUFFY          Goodnight.                                   Muffy leads Nikki to a narrow, sparse single, popping open the door.                                                  NIKKI          Oh, great. Quarantine.                                                  MUFFY                         (IMPISHLY)          Just holler if you need anything.                                                  NIKKI          Another room.                         (TURNS)          Muffy...                                   Muffy turns back to her.                                   NIKKI (cont.)          (beat, seriously)          I know you and Arch had something going before I met him...                                                  MUFFY                         (SMILES)          Arch is sweet, but he's only got two expressions. Collar up and collar          down.                                                  NIKKI          I found that out--                         (BEAT)          I guess what I'm trying to say is... you always seem to get there          first... but this time Chaz is mine, OK?                                                  MUFFY                         (AMUSED)          What about Hal?                                                  NIKKI '          Harvey? Mr. Junior Achievement? Oh please...                                   Muffy returns her smile,continuing down the corridor.          INT. ARCH'S POOM - UPSTAIRS - NIGHT                                   Arch throws his duffle bag on a bed, delighted. It's a private suite          with two beds.                                                  ARCH          Hey, all right... ladies, we are qonna have privacy...                                   He turns his collar up on his polo shirt, then eagerly pushes the two          beds together.                                   The other door (to the connecting bathroom) swings open. Arch's face          drops as Chaz walks in, lugging his gear.                                   ARCH (CONT.)          You gotta be kiddin'...                                                  CHAZ          (unloading his gear).          Unless Muffy knows something about us we don't.                                   He blows Arch a kiss, pulling the two beds apart again.                                   INT. HARVEY'S ROOM - NIGHT                                   CLOSE UP a match flaring to life.                                   WIDEN TO FEVEAL Harvey lighting the cigar he took earlier out of the          study. He puffs on it contentedly, imagining himself a man of power.          Then he steps over to the bed and opens his suitcase to begin          unpacking.                                                  HARVEY          (to himself; rehearsing)          Don't tell me you've never thought of me in that way, Muffy. I felt a          spark between us the very first moment we laid eyes on each other...          in Econ 345. Why, just think of it, Muffy... with my talent and          your... money.                                   He crosses to the closet with his navy blazer.                                                  HARVEY                         (CONTINUED)          Why just think of it... Muffers, with my raw... driving talent and          your...                                   He opens the closet door.                                   HARVEY (CONT.)          ...and your...                                   CLOSE - HIS POV          A newspaper PHOTOGRAPH, circled in red marker, of a garish car          accident is pinned to the inside of the door.                                                  HARVEY                                   He puzzles, taking down the clipping, putting it down on the dresser          as he moves there to put away his rolled socks. He opens the top          drawer.                                                  POV                                   The same thing. Full of newspaper clippings of awful, fatal car          crashes, all circled in the same accusatory red ink.                                                  RETURN ≠ HARVEY                                   getting nervous.                                   Suddenly, Chaz burst in on him. Harvey turns quickly, shoving the          clippings back in the drawer and slamming it shut.                                   They stare at each other for a long, uncomfortable moment.                                                  CHAZ                         (FINALLY)          Wrong room.                                   He ducks back out the door, pulling it quietly closed behind him.                                   INT. UPSTAIRS HALLWAY - NIGHT                                   Outside Harvey's door. Chaz sighs, shakes his head, starts to move          away when suddenly there is a LOUD BANG o.s. from inside Harvey's          room. Chaz turns quickly back to the door, reaches for the handle,          stops himself, thinks better of it and moves away again.                                   INT. NIKKI'S ROOM - NIGHT                                   Nikki steps up to the sink in the adjoining bathroom, turns the faucet          and is squirted by a spray of water jetting out of the rigged          plumbing.                                   She quickly shuts off the water and just stands for a moment,          dripping. trying to control her anger. Like, enough with Muffy's,          jokes already.                                   She comes out of the bathroom with a towel, drying her face, and walks          to the dresser. She strips off her shirt, pulls open the top dresser          drawers and sees... an eyeless black rubber bondage hood and other          miscellaneous S&M accessories.          She picks them up in disbelief.                                   INT. ARCH AND CHAZ'S BATHROOM - NIGHT                                   Arch, unloading his shaving bag, which mainly contains a 30-day supply          of rubbers, opens the medicine cabinet. On its shelf... a kit neatly          filled with hypodermic syringes, needles, rubber tubing, razor blades          ...everything you could ever want for fixing.                                                  ARCH          Jesus...                                   INT. FPONT STAIRCASE - NIGHT                                   Muffy, on her way down to straighten up, passes Rob and Kit on their          way up.                                                  MUFFY          Goodnight.                                                  KIT          G'night.                                   INT. NAN'S ROOM ≠ NIGHT                                   CLOSE ON the shower head on the bathroom gushing water.                                   Nan is taking a shower.                                   CAMERA DOLLIES BACK slowly out of the bathroom and into the bedroom.          O.S. the shower is turned off. All is quiet.                                   Then, very faintly at first, WE HEAR something -- it sounds like          crying. As it grows gradually louder we realize that it is crying -- a          baby crying.                                   Nan appears suddenly in the bathroom doorway. A towel is wrapped          around her. She listens.                                   The crying is louder now, but muffled -- a baby crying for its mother.          It seems to come from a large mahogany wardrobe on the other side of          the room.                                   Nan tenses, slowly approaohing, then flinging open the wardrobe door.                                                  CLOSE ANGLE                                   A small cassette recorder plays. The tape runs out. The baby's cries          stop.          Nan rips out the cassette, and sinks back onto the bed, burying her          head in her hands.                                   INT. ROB and KIT'S ROOM - NIGHT                                   Rob and Kit are standing together staring INTO CAMERA. REVERSE to see          the object of their attention. Hanging on the wall in front of them is          a large oil portrait with the eyes out out. Something is moving behind          the canvas ≠watching them.                                   Rob steps forward and lifts the painting off the wall. Behind it is an          inset bookcase. Sitting on one of the shelves, at the proper height to          have lined up with the holes in the portrait, is a child's Felix-the-          cat nursery clock. The eyes of the plastic cat move back and forth,          like a pendulum marking seconds.                                   INT. UPSTAIRS HALLWAY - NIGHT                                   Rob sets the painting on the floor outside their bedroom door, leaning          it up against the wall.                                   CAMERA DOLLIES IN for a CLOSE UP of the portrait. It looks much          creepier with the now vacant eye sockets.                                   INT. ROB AND KIT'S ROOM - NIGHT                                   They are undressing on opposite sides of the bed. The silence between          them is thick enough to be cut with a knife. Kit sits down slowly on          the edge of the bed and quietly slips under the covers. Rob gets in on          his side.                                   They sit in silence for a moment, making no move to join each other in          the middle of the bed.                                                  KIT          Rob?                                   No answer.                                                  KIT          You still angry with me? About dinner?                                                  ROB          No. I'm sorry. I'm not angry with you. I'm just angry.                                   He leans over, turns off the bedside lamp... and the light in the          bathroom comes on. Beat.                                   He gets out of bed and crosses to the bathroom, reaches in          and turns off the light...          ...and the overhead light comes on. Kit starts to laugh and quickly          covers her mouth. Rob walks to the door, turns off the overhead          light...                                   ...and the bedside lamp comes on again. Kit laughs harder, but still          tries to stifle it.                                   Rob shoots her a look, then goes and sits on the edge of the bed. He          reaches to turn off the bedside lamp again, then thinks better of it          and starts to unscrew the bulb instead.                                                  ROB          (burning his fingers)          Ouch! Jesus!                                   Kit can't stop herself any longer. She laughs out loud. Rob          perseveres, finally unscrewing the bulb enough to plunge the room into          darkness.                                   Silence.                                                  ROB          Very funny.                                   Kit breaks up laughing again. To her it is funny. And soon Rob is          laughing too. He swings his legs up under the covers beside her.                                   INT. LIVING ROOM - NIGHT                                   Muffy turns off the last of the lights downstairs, leaving the porch          light on for Skip.                                   INT. UPSTAIRS HALL - NIGHT                                   Muffy moves through the quiet to her room. Arch grabs her. She jumps.                                                  MUFFY                         (COLLECTS HERSELF)          Arch do you know what time it is?                                                  ARCH          Um-hmm.                                                  MUFFY          (turning down his collar)          Goodnight, Arch.                                   Gently but firmly, she extricates herself, closing the bedroom door          behind her.                         ARCH                                   Undaunted, he scuttles down the hall to Rob and Kit's closed door to          listen in. He frowns, the slides farther down to Nikki's room, knocks          once softly, and enters.                                                  HIS POV                                   Nikki is already occupied, however, with Chaz. She catches Arch's          stare, signalling him to get the hell out.                                                  REVERSE                                   Arch valorously steps back, closing the door and returning to try Nan.                                   The light underneath her door flicks off, however. The door is also          locked.                                   Arch curses, returning to his large but empty room. He slams the door          for everybody's benefit.                                   INT. MUFFY'S BEDROOM - NIGHT                                   Muffy, undressing, hears, and smiles.                                   INT. ARCH'S ROOM - NIGHT          Arch is pacing the bedroom, horny and alone. He gets an idea, goes and          rummages through Chaz' stuff and comes up with a video cassette of a          porno movie.                                   Carrying -the cassette he crosses to the door and turns the handle.          The doorknob comes off in his hand.                                   He throws it down in disgust, goes and sits in a chair and broods. The          chair collapses beneath him.                                   EXT. BACK PATH - NIGHT                                   Skip makes his way boldly, carelessly, drunkenly along. Overgrown          weeds and tall spring grass choke the path, shadowing his way. He          takes one last drink, killing the bottle, and hurls it out into the          night.                                   After a long pause there is the distant sound O.S. of the bottle          landing in water with a splash.                                   EXT. OLD , BOATHOUSE - NIGHT                                   Skip emerges from the overgrowth. The abandoned old structure and its          dock squat ahead at water's edge. Beneath the boathouse, floating in          the water, is a grungy old skiff covered by a tarp.          Skip turns away from the dock, and flicks his lighter among the weeds,          finding marijuana growing there. He CACKLES with triumph.                                   Something MOVES nearby. He doesn't pay attention, taking out his knife          to cull the dried leaves. He cups them in his hand against the wind,          douses his lighter, and hurries out onto the dock to the boathouse          entrance to prepare his joint.                                   INT. BOATHOUSE - NIGHT                                   as Skip enters. It is pitch black in here, and aside from the gentle          lapping sounds of water against the pilings down below O.S., all is          still.                                   Skip flips a lightswitch in the darkness and nothing happens. He edges          slowly along a wall away from the door. Then he becomes aware of          another living presence in the boathouse. It is a slow breathing          sound--completely inhuman.                                                  SKIP          Hello?                                   There is no answer, but the breathing continues. Then a sharp rapping          sound very near, like a foot striking the wood flooring.                                                  SKIP          Who's there?                                   Pause. No answer. We hear in the darkness the sound of his switchblade          clicking open. And then he waits, straining his ears to hear.                                   Finally, Skip reaches into his pocket, puils out his lighter          and flicks it on.                                   Something snags him from behind.                                   Skip gasps, helpless, as a thick rope controlled by powerful, shadowed          hands tightens around his neck.                                   His knife, dried leaves and lighter cascade to the floor.                                   EXT. ST. JOHN HOUSE - NIGHT - LATER                                   Only the porch light remains glowing. The house is dark.                                   INT. ROB AND KIT'S ROOM - NIGHT                                   Rob wakes, hearing the CRY from Muff's room. Kit, naked against him,          wakes too. They hear the muffled cry again. It is not from lovemaking.          Rob throws off the covers.          INT. UPSTAIRS HALLWAY - NIGHT                                   Rob wraps himself with a towel, stepping quickly out to Muffy's door.          Everything else is dark and quiet.                                                  ROB          (hushed, at door)          Muffy?                                   No answer. He tries her door, but it's locked tight.                                   A beat. Then:                                                            ROB (cont.)                         (CONCERNED)          Muffy?                                                                           MUFFY'S VOICE                         (UNCERTAINLY)          Yes?                                                  ROB          You OK?                                                                           MUFFY'S VOICE                         (DISTANTLY)          Yes... Thank you...                                   He pulls back from the door.                                                  ROB          (reluctantly, puzzled)          OK... well, goodnight...                                   No response. He turns back for his room, catching sight of Chaz, who          has come out of Nikki's room, to investigate, too.                                   EXT. HOUSE - MORNING                                                            Harvey is out on the second floor balcony exercising vigorously. No          one else is in evidence until a bedroom window flies open and Nikki,          naked from the waist up and believing herself unwatched, leans out and          stretches, breathing in the sweet morning air.                                   Then she sees Harvey grinning at her. She quickly covers herself and          pulls back inside.          INT. KITCHEN ≠ DAY                                   Rob and Kit are the first ones down. They enter from the dining room,          surprising Muffy at the stove.                                                  KIT                         (BRISKLY)          Good morning!                                   Muffy turns abruptly, startled. Rob and Kit stop abruptly, too.                                                  ANGLE                                   Muffy is barefooted, dressed in an old, worn chenille robe.          Her hair, normally carefully groomed, is unkempt, wild and stringy          about her pale face. Talk about unguarded moments. Her present          appearance, is the last way one would ever expect to find Muffy St.          John.                                                  RETURN ANGLE                                   She shrinks back from them with a frightened, apologetic smile.          Scrambled eggs bubble in the skillet on the burner.                                                  MUFFY          I... I was hungry...                                   She bumps against the stove, backing away. She self-consciously runs a          hand through her hair.                                   MUFFY (cont.)          I... I must look a mess...                                   She scuttles out the door to the utility room and the back stairs          beyond, leaving the eggs to burn.                                   INT. BACK STAIRS ≠ DAY                                   Arch encounters her, too, as he comes bounding down in his workout          shorts.                                                  ARCH          Morning!          She backs away from him, scurrying up the stairs.                                                  MUFFY          I... forgot to get dressed...                                   INT. KITCHEN - DAY                                   Arch enters, joining his wonderment to Rob and Kit's.                         ARCH          Who made her night?                                   EXT. BACK PORCH - DAY - LATER                                                  CUT TO:                                   Arch, Chaz, Harvey and Nikki burst out the door in old clothes,          sweats, shorts, whatever -- an unlikely foursome for some informal          soccer scrimmaging.                                                  ARCH          (always in search of more players)          Where's Skip?                                                  CHAZ          That depends on what he's on.                                   Rob and Kit cross their path, heading down to the water in their          swimsuits and overshirts.                                                  NIKKI          You gotta be kidding...                                                  ARCH          (teasingly, an invitation)          Nan? What about it?                                   Nan watches from the porch, book in hand.                                                  NAN          Oh, no, thanks.                         (FALSELY)          Besides, I thought I'd wait and see what Muffy wanted to do...                                   Arch shrugs and the soccer free-for-all begins in earnest, with          special attention given to the interplay between Harvey and Nikki.                                   Up on the porch, Nan finally sees Muffy emerging from the distant tool          shed. Muffy is dressed plainly, oddly conventional, with a perceptible          sense of disorder about her. She keeps to herself, turning toward the          woods beyond, with cutting blade and mushroom basket in hand.                                   Nan puts down her book, hurrying off the porch. But by the timeshe          looks up again, Muffy is gone...          EXT. DOCK - DAY                                   Rob and Kit are standing together on the dock. He is dripping wet and          covered with goose flesh. She has not been in yet. And while he is          vigorously toweling off his arms and chest, trying to get the blood          circulating again, she stands behind him with another towel and          gently, lovingly dries his back. She finishes and he steps away from          her and gazes out across the sound.                                                  KIT          Rob? What's wrong?                                   Pause.                                                  ROB          I swear it wasn't this cold yesterday .                                   This isn't what she meant, and he knows it.                                                  KIT          Are you giving up?                                                  ROB          (turning to her; gently)          What about you? What about your future? You're the one with the four          point.                          (DEJECTED)          ...maybe it's crazy--you investing so much energy in me.                                                  KIT                         (QUIETLY)          I don't know. I'm scared. I don't know if I want what Mom and          everybody else expects of me. I don't want to go to law school.                                                  ROB                         (PROTESTING)          You've got a great mind                                                  KIT          ...only it's not made up.                                   Smiling sadly, he crosses to her, puts his arms around her.                                                  ROB          Great... Do you realize how perfectly unmatched we are?                                                  KIT          It's made up about one thing though.                                                  ROB          Yeah? What's that?          She looks up and kisses him softly.                                                  ROB          Will you feel the same about me a year from now? Two years, five years          from now?                                   She takes his hand and leads him down the pier and into the boathouse.                                                            INT. BOATHOUSE - DAY          As they come inside. Kit closes the door, and immediately they are in          each other's arms.                                   The surging waves swirl beneath them, visible through the shrunken          floorboards. Rob and Kit stretch out. All the passion, all the          tenderness, all the intensity makes them oblivious to the fact that          something is moving on the water below...                                   And when Kit finally opens her eyes to it, Skip's face bulges          gruesomely up at her through the slatted floor!                                   Kit screams and scrambles to her feet--Rob completely uncomprehending          until he sees it too: Skip's body, pale and bloodied, draped within          the grungy skiff passing beneath them on the waves.                                   EXT. DOCK - DAY                                   By the time he pulls on his swimsuit and comes rushing out          with Kit, however, Rob's shock has turned to rage.                                                  ROB          Skip! You sonofabitch!                                   But there's no response, Skip's body unmoving on the self-powered          skiff which continues bobbing out to sea.                                                  ROB                                   starts to wonder whether it really is a joke. He hurries forward,          plunging 'into the water to reach the boat.                                                  ROB          Skip... Skip!                                   But it's too far and getting farther, and the waves are too strong.                                   EXT. ST. JOHN HOUSE - DAY                                   Rob and Kit come struggling up the path. Chaz trains his videopak on          them from the porch . He, Arch, Harvey and Nikki unwind with beer and          sandwiches after their sweaty workout.                         CHAZ          (commentary while he tapes)          Respectable young Quaker couple returning after quiet afternoon of          nonviolent sex.                                                  ARCH                         (CALLING )          Well, how was it?                                                  ROB          Where's Skip? Anybody seen him?                                                  NIKKI          Who wants to know?                                                  ROB          Goddammit, can't you give me a straight answer!                                   They sit up with the force. Nan comes out on the porch, hearing .                                                  KIT                         (FRANTICALLY)          We saw him... on a boat... drifting by the pier. He wasn't movinq. He          looked dead... unless he was joking...!                                                  CHAZ          Well, if it was Skip...                                                  KIT          I saw his face!                                                  ROB                         (DEMANDINGLY)          Has anybody seen him since last night?                                   They all realize they haven't.                                   ROB (cont .)          Jesus Christ...                                   Rob turns, rushing into the house.                                   INT. ENTRY HALL - DAY                                   Rob stops as he notices, near the foot of the stairs where he'd parked          it upon first entering the house yesterday afternoon, Skip's overnight          bag.                                   He turns and bounds up the stairs.          INT. UPSTAIRS HALLWAY - DAY                                   Rob runs down to Skip's door and flings it open. A cheap rubber          hobgoblin drops suddenly in front of him, suspended from the ceiling          on frail, metal springs.                                   Rob jumps back with a startled cry, then angrily tears the thing out          of his way and throws it down.                                   This is the last of Muffy's little April Fool's gags, and as with the          overnight bag, it signifies that Skip has been nowhere near this room.                                   But Rob steps inside and looks around just to make sure.                                   The room is untouched, the bed unslept in.                                   EXT . PORCH - DAY                                   Rob hurries out, as Muffy finally appears, emerging from the wooded          grounds, basketful of mushrooms in hand. She approaches.                                                  MUFFY          (noticing their distress )          Something wrong?                                   Rob rushes by her.                                                  ARCH          Wait! I'll go with you!                                                  CHAZ          Me too!                                   EXT. DOCK - DAY                                   As Rob, Arch and Chaz come running down to the water. They stop and          look around, seeing nothing.                                   No answer.                                                  ARCH          (aloud: for Skip)          Hey, asshole!                                                  CHAZ          Wait a minute! Look at this!                                   He has found on the little pebbled beach beside the dock, Skip's          switchblade. It is in pieces. There's blood on the broken blade.                                                  CHAZ          This was Skip's.                         ARCH          What do you think? That guy on the ferry?                                                  ROB          I don't know. I don't know what to think.                                                  ARCH          I say we go looking for him, him or Skip. One of them's bound to still          be around... somewhere.                                                  CHAZ          You mean split up?                                                  ROB          Let's not take any chances. He was... He was pretty big.                                                  ARCH          No sucker's taken me yet.                                   He rips a loose board off the dock for a club.                                   EXT. UTILITY ROOM - HOUSE ≠ DAY                                   In the gathering twilight, Muffy puts the basket of mushrooms away on          a shelf. Someone grabs her wrist. She gasps. It's Nan. Nan steps from          the shadows.                                                  NAN          I know why you're avoiding me...                         (DISTRAUGHT)          I guess it's your idea of a joke... that's why you invited me. How'd          you find out? From one of his preppy 'friends'? Who else have you          told?... Who else knows, except the father!                                                  MUFFY                         (ASTONISHED)          I... don't know what you're talking about.                                                  NAN          Oh? The tape just got there? You know very well... my abortion!                                   She comes apart, in tears. Muffy stares, uncomprehending.                                   NAN (cont.)          I thought you wanted to be friends... you think you can play with          people's feelings just because you're rich and can do what you want.          Well, you can't...!                                   She rushes out the rear door. Muffy tries to recover, confused.                                   She continues on to the back entrance to the kitchen.          INT. KITCHEN - DAY                                   Swinging open the door, she almost runs into Harvey.                                                  HARVEY                         (SHEEPISHLY)          Sorry... I was just checkin' to make sure everybody was all right.                                   He beats a hasty retreat the other way, passing Nikki on her way in          Nikki raises an eyebrow at Muffy, misinterpreting the tension in the          air.                                                  NIKKI          Harvey? No kidding'?                                   Maybe that explains your clothes.                                                  MUFFY                         (NERVOUSLY)          What d'you, mean?                                                  NIKKI          Oh, c'mon.                                   Muffy exits hurriedly, upset.                                   EXT. WOODS - DAY                                   The path is narrow and tortuous . Arch uses his club to clear the way,          trying to follow its twists and turns. He also tries to make vocal          contact.                                                  ARCH          Hey, shithead! chickendick!... yeah, you! Skip!                                   He moves deeper and deeper into the forest.                                                  LOW ANGLE                                   Up ahead on the pathway a thick, black viper slithers out of the          undergrowth, stops, sensing Arch's presence, and coils itself against          his approach.                                                  WIDER                                   as Arch stalks forward, not looking at the ground.                                                  LOW ANGLE                         ARCH                         (THUNDERING )          Skip!                                   Arch steps right over the snake and continues on.                                                  WIDER                                   as Arch hears a noise. He stops. SOMEONE ELSE is here with him, very          nearby.                                                  ARCH          Skip?                                   He turns and moves back along the trail, peering into the dense          foliage on either side.                                                  LOW ANGLE                                   as he steps over the snake again going back the other way.                                                  WIDER                                   He stops again, looks all around him, then turns once more and starts          to move very slowly with short little steps back in the other          direction.                                                  ARCH          Skip?                                                  LOW ANGLE                                   He is edging closer and closer to the snake. He is bound to step on it          this time.                                   The snake coils itself to strike.                                   Arch's foot comes down just missing it, less than six inches away,          when suddenly the ground seems to move. A noose springs up, tightens          around his ankle, and Arch is lifted into the air upside down,          swinging wildly, dropping his club.                                   Now the viper strikes, and Arch sees it. He is shrieking with horror          as he tries to bat the creature away from him. But he keeps swinging          into it, and the snake keeps striking at him, trying to find an          opening.                                   Suddenly a long, gleaming blade ENTERS FRAME and chops the snake in          two.                                   Arch looks up, his face white and frozen into a mask of sheer terror,          no longer able even to scream          EXT. BACK YARD - LATE AFTERNOON                                   Kit, Nikki and Harvey are waiting on the back porch when Rob emerges          from the woods nearby.                                                  KIT          (calling to him)          No Skip?                                   Chaz now comes out of the woods on the other side of the yard.                                                  CHAZ          No luck.                                                  ROB                         (TO CHAZ)          Where's Arch?                                                  CHAZ          He isn't with you?                                                  NIKKI          I don't like this... I definitely don't think I like this...                                                  KIT          I think it's about time we called the police.                                   The screen door BANGS again. They look up. It's Muffy. She returns          their stares stiffly, without expression . She holds flowers cut with          hand shears.                                                  MUFFY          Eight-two-four-eight. Constable Potter has an office at his home.                                                  KIT                         (TO ROB)          I don't think we should wait any longer...                                   Rob moves into the house past Muffy. Kit follows him.                                   MUFFY (to be played like Muffy)          Who wants some tea?                         (BEAT)          It'll calm our nerves...                                   She exits toward the kitchen . Nikki. perplexed by her behavior, looks          strangely after her.                                   EXT . GROUNDS OF HOUSE - LATE AFTERNOON          Nan sits alone on a stone bench beside a small Buddha statue in a          secluded corner of the garden behind the house. She has been weeping.          Her face tells the story.                                   Now a gentle wind springs up rustling the leaves of the thick bushes          surrounding her. She looks up.                                   INT. LIVING ROOM ≠ SUNSET                                   Rob is on the phone trying to reach the Constable. He hangs up the          receiver, then lifts it and starts to∑ dial again. Kit, standing          beside him. now wanders silently off into the dining room .                                   INT. KITCHEN - HOUSE - SUNSET                                   As Kit enters, Muffy comes in from the pantry, breathless and          apologetic, her hands full of tea boxes.                                                  MUFFY          I didn't know what kind anybody would like so I just... got them          all...                                                  KIT          Let me help.                                                  MUFFY                         (CAREFULLY)          Has he reached the Constable?                                                  KIT          Rob? No, we haven 't been able to get through to the mainland yet.                                   Muffy eases. Kit turns the tap to fill the kettle. The pipes begin to          BANG. The tap sputters and coughs out a spurt of brown water before          running dry.                                                  L1UFFY          Oh... ∑the main... it's probably broken.                                                  KIT                         (STUNNED)          No water?                                   Nikki and Harvey enter, having heard the pipes banging.                                                  NIKKI          What's happening.                                                  KIT          No water.                         NIKKI          What!                                                  MUFFY          It happens sometime... But there's still the well all the island homes          have some kind of pump... or well... for emergencies.                                   Nikki reaches for a large flashlight beam.                                                  NIKKI          Jesus. I'll go. Just point me in the right direction.                                                  HARVEY                         (GALLANTLY)          Not without me.                                   Harvey accompanies Nikki out the back door, leaving Kit and Muffy          alone again.                                                  MUFFY          (bearing up under Kit's stare)          I'm not worried. I'm sure those two... Skip and Art... they're just up          to some kind of stupid trick . . .                                   Kit moves out of the kitchen uneasily.                                   EXT. WELL - DUSK          Nikki milkes ghost sound8, following Harvey out through the dark. It          makes him nervous.                                                  HARVEY                         (UNCOMFORTABLY)          I don't think you should really do that.                                                  NIKKI                          (SEEING)          Is that it?                                   The well is the old-fashioned kind.                                   NIKKI (cont.)          Boy, when she said `well,' she really meant 'well'. who dug this          thing? Pocahontas?                                   She reaches for the wooden bucket attached by metal nook to the thick          rope. Harvey pre-empts.                                                  HARVEY          Here, let me do it. I've probably had more experience than you.                                                  NIKKI          You mean, back home on the farm?                         HARVEY          I know you think I'm a hick, but I'd like to change your mind about          that, if you'd only give me the chance.                                                  NIKKI          Why?                                                  HARVEY          Because, I'd really like to plow your field.                                                  NIKKI                         (SMILES" IMPRESSED)          Draw me some water.                                   He's glad to oblige, opening the hinged wood well cover and lowering          the bucket slowly. The dark hole seems to go on forever. Suddenly,          there's a muffled CLATTER deep within the well.                                                  HARVEY          Aw, crap...                                                  NIKKI          What happened?                                                  HARVEY          I lost the bucket.                                                  NIKKI          Harve.                                                  HARVEY          Hal. The rope was rotten, any fool coulda seen that.                                                  NIKKI          You didn't.                                                  HARVEY          Here, shine your light down so I can get a fix on it.                                   She rises on her toes, flashing the powerful beam down the dank hole.          Harvey bends over to look. A rotted piece of the well cover breaks off          in his hand. He lurches forward.                                                  HARVEY          Oh... oh, Jesus!                                   He slams back in ashen horror.                                                  NIKKI                         (STARTLED}          ...what...                         HARVEY          Stay back! Don't look!                                                  NIKKI          I'm a big girl now. I think I ∑can handle a few spiders and                         FROGS ---                                   She shines the beam down again, bending in for a look.                                                  HARVEY                         NIKKI --                                   She should've listened to him.                                                  HER POV                                   Nan's body lies twisted and jammed among the slime. Her dress is torn,          revealing a white breast with veins of blood streaming across it and          into the water. Next to her, Arch's severed head gapes up in a rictus          grin, joined in its leer by Skip's decapitated head.                                                  NIKKI                                   It's like the very guts have been torn out of her. She screams,          stumbling back.                                   EXT. WELL ≠ DUSK                                   as Rob runs up, everyone else is already there.                                                  ROB                         (BREATHLESS)          What is it?                                                  KIT                         (ASHEN)          You don't want to know.                                                  NIKKI                         (STILL PANICKED)          In the well ! Oh, God, the well!                                   Rob grabs the flashlight from Chaz's hands and leaps up to take a          look.                                   After a long, horrifying glimpse he has to step back to control his          overwhelming nausea. He shudders violently.                                                  NIKKI                         (COLD FEAR)          We have to leave, all of us, we have to get away.                         ROB          (closing the well cover)          We can't get away. Everyone back into the house . Now.                         (JUMPING DOWN)          Let's go!                                   EXT. BACK OF THE HOUSE - NIGHT                                   Looking in through the windows we can see Rob alone in the living room          still trying the phone.                                   PANNING ACROSS to the dining room windows, we see Nikki seated at the          table with Kit and Chaz on either side of her. Harvey stands behind          them against the wall.                                   EXT. DINING ROOM - NIGHT                                   Kit is trying to comfort Nikki who is still in shock.                                                  KIT          It's okay, Nikki. With the others... they were outdoors. But we're          inside now, and we're safe.                                                  NIKKI                         (QUIETLY)          It's all because of what happened on the ferry, isn't it?                                                  CHAZ                         (HIMSELF UNNERVED)          It was an accident. Don't they know that?                                   Muffy enters from the kitchen with a glass of water. Harvey pulls her          quietly aside.                                                  HARVEY          Muffy, where do you keep your guns?                                                  MUFFY                         (BLANKLY)          Guns? We don't keep guns in this house.                                   The others turn and look back at them. There is an uncomfortable          pause.                                                  MUFFY          (handing Nikki the glass)          Here.                                   NIKKI ,          Oh, God! Not the water!                         MUFFY          It's all right. It's Perrier.                                   Suddenly the phone rings O. S. They all look toward the living room.                                   INT. LIVING ROOH - NIGHT                                   ...as Rob snatches up the receiver.                                                  ROB                         (DESPERATELY)          Hello!                                   He listens for a moment, then almost collapses with relief.                                   ROB (cont.)          Constable Potter... Thank God it's you...                                   The others stand and start drifting in from the dining room.                                   INT. MAINLAND HOSPITAL - NIGHT                                   Constable Potter is calling from a pay phone near the reception desk.          He listens for a moment, then ...                                                  POTTER          What are you talking about?                         (LISTENS)          That ain't possible .                         (LISTENS)          And I'm telling you, I'm here at the hospital now visiting Buck. He          came out of surgery last night--It might interest you to know he'll be          all right-- and Cal's been here too, the whole time.                                   ANGLE WIDENS to reveal the ferryman Cal standing anxiously beside him.                                   INT. LIVING ROOM ≠ NIGHT                                   Rob looks like he's just been clubbed on the back of the head.                                                  ROB                         (PLEADING )          Constable?...                         (LISTENS)          Here. She's all right.                         (LISTENS)          With Muffy? What do you mean?                                   He looks up at the others who have gathered around him expectantly.                         ROB                         (FINALLY)          Yes, all right... Please... Please hurry.                                   He hangs up. Pause.                                                  ROB          (anything, but jubilant)          He's on his way. We're supposed to wait here... to stay together...                                                  CHAZ          What about the ferryman?                                                  ROB          It isn't him. They've been together all day.                                                  CHAZ          What?                                                  KIT          I don't understand.                                   They look at each other ominously.                                                  ROB                         (STANDING)          I don't either.                         (BEAT)          He's going to send up a flare as he's nearing the dock. Then          we're to go down as a group to meet him there.                         (MOVING AWAY)          In the meantime... we just wait.                                   He goes out of the living room.                                   INT. FRONT ENTRY - NIGHT                                   Rob bolts and double-locks the front door. He also fastens the chain          just for good measure.                                   INT. LIVING & DINING ROOMS - NIGHT                                   Chaz and Nikki secure all the doors and windows to the outside.                                   INT. STUDY - NIGHT                                   Kit enters, checks and locks the windows. She turns on the lamp. On          the desk -- prominently displayed and catching her eye -- a FRAMED          PHOTOGRAPH.          CLOSE - THE PHOTOGRAPH                                   It is a black-and-white picture, probably Muffy as a child. But          what's confusing is there's another little girl next to her in the          picture, who looks just like Muffy, too...                                                  KIT                                   ...doesn't understand. She glances at the walls for more pictures.                                   Muffy enters suddenly, interrupting her. Kit startles, turning. They          face each other.                                                  MUFFY                         (UNNATURALLY COMPOSED)          It's my father's study.                                                  KIT                         (NERVOUSLY)          I just came in to make sure everything was secure          to lock the windows.                                                  MUFFY          Good idea. Sometimes... with the tides... it can take someone all          night to get here from the mainland... and even then, sometimes they          don't make it...                                   INT. HARVEY'S BEDROOM - NIGHT                                   Harvey is unlocking his suitcase which is back up on the bed. He          reaches in and pulls out a small revolver. He drops the cylinder,          checking to see that it's loaded, then snaps it back in place. He          tucks the weapon into the waistband at the small of his back, then          slips on his navy blazer.                                   INT. BASEMENT - .NIGHT                                   No one is around and no one has been down here since earlier in the          day when Muffy apparently brought down the painting with the vacant          eye-holes from outsid~ Rob and Kit's bedroom.                                   CAMERA PANS off the painting, now hung on a blank wall, to the          transcan window which is still propped open to the outside.                                   INT. LIVING ROOH ≠ NIGHT                                   Chaz, Nikki, Kit and Harvey are here, trying to wait it out.                                                  HARVEY          (peering out the window)          What's taking him so long?                         KIT          (quietly; without conviction)          It could be the tides.                                                  CHAZ          Wait a minute. Aren't we supposed to be staying together? Where're          Muffy and Rob?                                                  KIT          Rob's checking the back of the house.                                                  CHAZ          And Muffy?                                                  NIKKI          She's been acting less than normal anyway.                                                  KIT          (picking up on it)          What do you mean?                                                  NIKKI          You mean all day and you haven't noticed?                                                  HARVEY          Well, who isn't?                                                  NIKKI          ...and those nurse's shoes.                                                  CHAZ          What nurse's shoes?                                                  NIKKI          The clodhoppers she's been wearing today... crepe soles...                                   It's as though some common nerve of suspicion has been touched. They          all stir.                                                  HARVEY          She was arguing with Nan in the hall, before you and Rob... before you          came back alone.                                   They turn full attention on him.                                                  HARVEY          About something Nan found in her room.                                                  CHAZ          What?                         HARVEY                         (EMBARRASSED)          Something about an abortion.                                   They all pause.                                                  NIKKI          I found somethin"g in my room, too                                   She reaches into her bag and pulls out the black rubber bondage hood.                                                  NIKKI          ...only I don't think it was intended for me .                                                  CHAZ                         (SARCASTIC )          Oh, really?                                                  HARVEY          (to Chaz; defending Nikki)          And What did you find?                                                  CHAZ          I didn't find anything.                                                  HARVEY          We're supposed to believe that?                                                  CHAZ          That's right.                         (TRUMPING HIM)          I spent the night with Nikki.                         (BEAT)          What about you?                                                  HARVEY          What about me?                                                  CHAZ          What's your little secret?                                                  HARVEY                         (EVASIVELY)          I don't know What you're talking about.                                                  CHAZ          Oh, come on, sport. I walked in on you last night , and you were          acting like your ass was on fire...                                                  HARVEY          It wasn't anything... Just some clippings... of some car accidents.                         CHAZ                         (INSINUATING)          Nothing personal in that, I suppose?                                                  HARVEY          No! Who hasn't been in a car accident? It's a common thing.                                                  CHAZ          I haven't.                                   There is a slight pause. Rob comes into the living room, holding a          flashlight and stands just inside the doorway.                                   The others shift uncomfortably.                                                  NIKKI                         (QUIETLY)          What I'd like to know is, how did Muffy find out about these          things and why -- ?                                                  KIT          Stop it! Just stop it all of you!                         (BEAT)          What is wrong with us? Nhat happened to all our talk about friendship,          and undying loyalty?          (looking from one to the other)          Do you know what we're saying? That we're actually sitting here          discussing the possibility that Muffy, a generous friend, has invited          us all here to --                                   She stops suddenly, freezing in mid-sentence, and they all turn,          following the direction of her look, to see Muffy standing in the          entryway behind Rob.                                                  MUFFY          I'm going upstairs.                                                  ROB          Muffy? We should all stay together.                                                  MUFFY          This is my house.                         (BEAT)          I'll be in my room.                                   She turns and heads up the stairs.                                   Pause.                         NIKKI                         (FINALLY)          She's got a point.                         (STANDING)          We're starting to get on each other's nerves.                                                  HARVEY          As long as we all stay within shouting distance of each other...                                                  NIKKI                         (TO CHAZ)          You coming?                                   He joins her, and they quietly head for the stairs.                                                  ROB          I'm goinq to find the way up to the attic.                                                  KIT          Why?                                                  ROB          I'm sure we can watch for the Constable better from up there.                                   Kit hesitates.                                                  HARVEY          It's all right. I can keep watch on the stairs.                                   Rob ho1ds out his hand to her. She takes it and they walk together          toward the stairs.                                   INT. MUFFY' S BEDROOM - NIGHT                                   Muffy enters, closes the door quietly and locks it behind her. She          crosses to her bed, slowly sits down and loses herself in troubled          thought about everything that is going on.                                   INT. MAIN STAIRWAY ≠ NIGHT                                   Harvey steps up to the halfway landing and sits down. He looks above,          looks below, then opens a magazine and begins thumbing through it.                                   INT. NIKKI'S ROOM - NIGHT                                   Nikki's suitcase is open on the bed, and she is moving nervously about          the room, gathering her things and cramming them into it.                                                  CHAZ          Nikki, come on...                         NIKKI          What do you mean, Nikki, come on? Don't give me any of this Nikki,          come on.                                                  CHAZ          What are you doing?                                                  NIKKI          Look, stay if you like. Lock your door. Dig a trench. Hang out. But          once I leave this place, I'm never coming back.                                   She walks out the door, and Chaz follows her to...                                   INT. UPSTAIRS HALL - SAME                                   They cross the hall.                                                  CHAZ          (catching up to her)          We're all supposed to stay together here.                                                  NIKKI          Yeah, that's been real effective...                                   She goes into...                                   INT. BATHROOM - SAME                                   ...and starts to collect all her stuff from in here. Chaz comes in          behind her.                                                  CHAZ          So what are you going to do? Just waltz on down to the pier. By          yourself. Check your bag with the porter. Then wait for an ocean liner          to happen by and pick you up. Is that it?                                   NIKKI,          (pushing past him)          I can't stay here any longer.                                   She goes back out into the hallway. Chaz follows.                                   INT. UPSTAIRS HALL - SAME                                   as they cross back to Nikki's bedroom.                                                  CHAZ          What if the Constable never even comes?                                                  NIKKI          Then I'll swim all the way back to the mainland... I can be strong if          I have to.          INT. NIKKI'S ROOM - NIGHT                                   as they re-enter.                                                  CHAZ          Look, just relax--                                                  NIKKI          Three people are dead and you're telling me to relax?                         CHAZ          Nikki, now just hold on a minute, and look at me. Look at me.                                   She stops and looks at him.                                   CHAZ (CONT.)          Now, am I nervous? Yes. Maybe even a little bit scared? Yes.          Am I running around like a chicken with its head cut off?                                                  NIKKI          Nice image.                                                  CHAZ          No.                         (BEAT)          I mean, come on, babe. Lighten up a little, huh?                                   He quickly slips the S&M mask over his head, clowning around.                                   CHAZ (CONT.)                         (MUFFLED)          Look at this. What, me worry?                                                  NIKKI          Very funny, Chaz.                                                  CHAZ                         (MUFFLED)          You've got to look on the bright side of things. Everything'll be all          right... Huh? Huh?                                                  NIKKI          Don't be a jerk.                                                  CHAZ                         (MUFFLED)          Oh. Now I'm turning you on. Right?                                   NIKKI,          Take that thing off.                         CHAZ                         (MUFFLED)          Why? I kind of like it in here.          (moving blindly toward her)          Kiss me, you savage she-devil.                                                  NIKKI          Get out of here.                                   She pushes him and he falls backward across the bed.                                                  CHAZ                         (MUFFLED)          Ooooh, stop it some more. I love it when you're rough.                                   She turns and goes out of the room again. Chaz remains lying across          the bed.                                                  CHAZ                         (MUFFLED)          Course it would help a little if I could breathe in here. For when          things start to get really passionate.                         (BEAT)          Nikki?                                   CAMERA FRAMES the open bedroom window for a beat. The curtains luff          slightly in response to a gentle breeze wafting in.                                   INT. UPSTAIRS HALL - MOMENTS LATER                                   Nikki comes down the hall with some more clothes on her arm. She          arrives at her door, opens it (she had not closed it the last time she          went out), and goes inside.                                   INT. NIKKI'S ROOM - SAME          Chaz is still lying across the bed as last seen, except that now his          hands cover his crotch.                                                  NIKKI                         (NOTICING)          Real subtle, Chaz.                                   She continues packing, moving around the room.                                   NIKKI (CONT.)          Now I'm supposed to throw off my clothes and jump on you? Just wind          her up and watch her go? You've got a lot to learn, buddy.                                   No response. Chaz lies perfectly still. Not even his chest appears to          be moving.                         NIKKI          (looking at his crotch again)          What is this? Show and tell?                         (BEAT)          I'll show you mine if you show me yours?                         (BEAT)          Well, forget it... You may as well just stick it back in your pants.                         (BEAT)          Chaz?... Chaz?                         (NO ANSWER)          Say something, goddammit!                                   She swats his hands away from his crotch. Beneath them, on his pants,          is a slowly growing blood stain.                                   Nikki gasps, her mouth contorting into a scream that will not come.          She turns suddenly in response to .a NOISE O.S., and sees a DARK          FIGURE stepping out from behind the slowly closing bedroom door.                                   INT . ATTIC STAIRS - NIGHT                                   It is almost pitch black. O.S. there is the sound of a lightswitch          being flicked on and off.                                   ROB (O.S.)          No lights.                                   Suddenly a flashlight beam pierces the darkness, and Rob and Kit can          now be seen ascending the stairs to the attic.                                   INT. ATTIC - NIGHT                                   ...as they arrive at the top. Rob sweeps the one large room with her          flashlight. Piles of old furniture are stacked here and there, covered          with grimy sheets.                                                  KIT          No one's been up here in years.                                   Rob crosses to the garret windows overlooking the sound.                                   PAUSE.                                                  KIT          Can you see him?                                                  ROB          NO. There must not be a light on the boat.                                                  KIT          Or... he's chosen not to use it.                         ROB          Kit? He said something else on the phone, about Muffy.                                                  KIT          What?                                                  ROB          He said not to trust anybody. That's why we were to stay together. No          one was to be left alone with anyone else... Then he said, especially          not with Muffy.                                                  KIT          So that's why you let her go upstairs?                                                  ROB          That's why I let her go.                                                  KIT                         (BEAT)          What did he mean by that?                                                  ROB          I don't know. He wouldn't explain it.                                                  KIT          But that's ridiculous...                                                  ROB          Is it? He's known her longer than we have.                                   He sweeps the flashlight back toward the stairs.                                                  KIT          Rob, wait a minute. What's that?                                                  ROB          Where?                                   She takes the flashlight from him and aims it on something near the          door--the Barbie and Ken dolls from the previous night's dinner.                                                  ROB          It's just the dolls.                                                  KIT          She's been up here.                                                  ROB          So?          She moves toward them while Rob stays by the windows looking out. As          she gets closer to the dolls, however, Kit realizes that they have not          just been stuck there haphazardly.                                                  KIT                         (ALARMED)          Rob?                                   Rob comes over to join her as we CUT TO:                                                  HER POV                                   of the dolls as the flashlight moves across them, slowly revealing          them one by one. The last to be seen are a Barbie and the heads of two          Kens stuck in a bowl of water.                                   ROB AND KlT                                   staring at them, frightened and astonished.                                                  ROB          Jesus...                                                  KIT                         (LOSING IT)          Rob? . . .                                                  ROB          It's Arch and Skip and Nan.                                                  KIT          Rob??...                                                  ROB          Wait...                                   He takes the flashlight from her and reveals two more: a Barbie and a          Ken lying next to each other with no clothes on, both of them          splattered with bright red nail polish.                                                  ROB          What are these other two?                                   Suddenly the room is flooded with light. Rob turns sharply and sees          outside the window the Constable's flare hanging in the night sky.                                                  ROB          He's here!                                   O.S. there is a PISTOL SHOT from downstairs. Kit screams.                         ROB          Come on!                                   He jumps to his feet, grabs hold of her hand and pulls her with him          out of the attic.                                   INT. UPSTAIRS HALL - NIGHT                                   as they come racing down from the attic. Rob heads for the          main staircase...                                                  ROB          Hal!                                   ...while Kit runs down the hall to Nikki's room and flings          open the door.                                                  KIT          Nikki?                                   She isn't there.                                   Kit backs into the hallway. Downstairs O.S. she can hear Rob moving          about, calling for Harvey, but up here all is quiet and threatening.                                   She hurries silently down to Chaz' room, opens the door and steps          inside.                                   INT. CHAZ' ROOM - NIGHT                                   It is dark again in here, but the video camera is still operating. Kit          closes the door behind her and leans forward, barely whispering...                                                  KIT          Chaz?... Nikki?...                                   She turns on the light and sees the bed, both beds: they are drenched          in blood.                                   Kit reaches for the doorknob. It comes off in her hand.                                                  KIT          Rob!!!                                   She's frantically pounding on the door and trying to jam the doorknob          back in, to get it to work.                                   There's a NOISE outside the window. She turns aghast. Suddenly the          door flies open.                         ROB                         (ENTERING)          I can't find Hal--                                   He stops in mid-sentence as he sees the beds. Kit is already through          the door. Rob follows her out.                                   INT. UPSTAIRS HALL . - NIGHT                                   Rob is running with her toward the stairs.                                                  KIT          Rob, what about Muffy?                                                  ROB          Forget her!                                                  KIT                         (STOPPING HIM)          She's my friend!                                   She breaks away from him and dashes down to Muffy's door. Rob has no          choice but to follow her.                                                  KIT                         (KNOCKING)          Muffy! Muffy!!                                   She tries the door, but it's locked.                                                  ROB          (pulling her away)          Let's go.                                   Rounding the corner to the shadowy back stairs, Rob suddenly bumps          into something, someone there. He screams aloud, dropping his          flashlight.                                   It is Harvey. His body dangles from the rafters high above the top of          the rear stairs, a thick rope around his neck.                                   Now Rob has become unnerved, and it is Kit's turn to take the lead.                                                  KIT          This way!                                   And they head back toward the main staircase.          EXT DOCK. -- NIGHT                                   The flarelight wanes. Constable Potter looks up anxiously. Soon he          will be waiting in darkness . (Unlike the previous night's scene, now          there are no outdoor lights on here.)                                   EXT. BACK OF THE HOUSE - NIGHT                                   Rob and Kit burst out of the dining room as if the house were on fire.          Kit stops to pull the doors shut behind them.                                                  ROB          (yanking her away)          Forget the doors!                                   Within moments they have crossed the back yard and disappeared into          the brush leading down to the water.                                   EXT. PATHWAYS - NIGHT                                   The night is a landscape of terror. As Rob and Kit race through the          darkness, the forest seems to fold in on top of them, completely          enclosing them within itself.                                   EXT. DOCK - NIGHT                                   They arrive at the water's edge and slow down abruptly. Though they          can see Potter's boat rocking gently in the water, moored to the dock,          they cannot make out any sign of the Constable.                                                  ROB          (in guarded approach)          Constable... Mr. Potter?                                   No answer. The silence is chilling. They proceed out onto the dock.          They come to the boat.                                                  ROB                         (WHISPERING)          If there's another flare, we can signal him.                                                  KIT          Maybe he went on to the house.                                   Rob unlashes the mooring, grabbing hold of the line to pull the boat          in. It won't budge, the line snagged in the water where it dips in.          Rob tugs harder, freeing something to the surface.                                                  CLOSE ANGLE                                   It is Constable Potter, his body turning once before sinking again          under its tethered weights.          An animal cries out behind them. Rob wastes no more time, pulling the          rope and the boat quickly toward them. They jump in.                                   There is a flashlight in the toolbox. Rob grabs it, shining it onto          the controls. But there's no key in the ignition, and no other way to          start it.                                                  ROB          Shit... no key!                                   Kit, meanwhile, picks up the LETTER that's lying on the bottom of the          boat.                                                  KIT          Rob!                                   He turns.                                   KIT (cont.)          Look!                                   She presses it into his hands. He shines the flashlight.                                                  CLOSER ANGLE                                   Its waterstained, but still legible... The letterhead reads, 'STATE          HOSPITAL FOR THE CRIMINALLY INSANE,' and it is dated 'MARCH 31,'          addressed to Potter, and reads:                                                  RETURN ANGLE                                                  ROB          "...Pursuant to our previous communication, please be advised that the          patient under discussion has still not been found and returned to          custody, and it now believed to be attempting to return to her home in          your jurisdiction. If encountered, exercise extreme caution and notify          us immediately, as Miss St. John has ∑been a patient here for three          years and is still considered incorrigibly unstable and extremely          dangerous..."                                   Kit looks up, frantic.                                                  KIT          Miss .St. John? What's it talking about? Muffy hasn't been in any          state mental institution for the last three years -- she's been at          Vassar!                                                  ROB          I don't know... but we've gotta get this boat started.                         KIT          How?                                                  ROB          The house. Didn't Muffy say there was another key back in the kitchen?                                                  KIT                         (IN DREAD)          Oh, no...                                                  ROB          We've got no choice.                                                  KIT          I know.                                                  ROB          Shit.                                                  PAUSE                                                  KIT          Rob?                                                  ROB          Huh?                                                  KIT          Rob, I really don't want to go back there.                                                  ROB          I know.                                                  KIT          Shit.                                   Another pause. Neither one is making the move to go.                                                  ROB          I'd have you stay here, but--                                                  KIT          No.                                                  ROB                         (BEAT)          Listen, Kit, we'll get out of here, I promise you. We've been through          so much together...                                   She has started to cry softly.          ROB (cont.)          ...it isn't going to end here.                                                  KIT                         (BEING BRAVE)          Okay.                                   He kisses her. Pause.                                                  ROB          Well...                                                  KIT          Yeah...                                                  ROB          Let's go.                                                  KIT          Let's go.                                                  ROB          Let's go.                                   Brief pause, then he turns to go.                                                  ROB          Shit...                                   They move slowly off the dock.                                   EXT. GROUNDS OF HOUSE - NIGHT                                   Rob and Kit move up to the shrubbery skirting the back lawn and gaze          across at the house. It is completely dark within and remains wrapped          in silence as before.                                                  KIT          Rob, look! The doors. They've been closed.                                   Sure enough, the doors they come out by minutes ago, the ones they          didn't stop to close, are now shut tight.                                                  ROB          Come on.                                   They move stealthily through the bushes around to the side of the          house. They stop.                                                  ROB          There.          He is pointing toward the open basement window across a thirty foot          space of clear lawn.                                                  ROB          That's how we're going in.                                   Kit swallows hard.                                   She nods.                                                  ROB          Are you with me?                                   They break from their cover and run, keeping low, to the side of the          house. Rob peers through the window into the darkness inside , pushes          the transom all the way open, and then drags himself through on his          belly.                                   INT. BASEMENT - NIGHT                                   He drops to the floor, turning to give Kit a hand. She enters the          same, dusting herself off next to him. Rob turns on the flashlight,          using it cautiously.                                                  ROB          (moving through darkness)          The stairs... Where are the stairs?...                                                  KIT          What's that?                                   They pause, hearing                                   DRIPPING SOUNDS in the darkness , comi ng from the depths of the          utility room.                                   Rob leads the way, cautiously, toward the sound.                                   INT . UTILITY ROOM                                   The flashlight cuts through the dark, revealing the tap DRIPPING in          the tub.                                   Before, the tub was clean. NOW, however, stubborn crimson STAINS smear          the basin, like blood that has refused to be washed away. Other stains          darken the floor.                                                  REVERSE ANGLE                                   Kit's eyes widen in growing horrow. Rob turns the beam toward the          stains that track across the floor, following them.                         KIT                         (FEARFULLY)          Rob...                                   INT. BASEMENT                                   The trail leads out of the utility room to the large, cast-iron          incinerator. Rob steps forward, slowly opening its door, angling the          beam inside.                                   THEIR POV - INCINERATOR                                   Inside, Muffy's characteristic attire -- the clothes we saw her          wearing yesterday after their arrival -- lie stuffed inside, bloodied          and charred.                                                  KIT          Muffy's clothes...                                                  ROB                         (PUZZLED)          I don't get it.                                   The beam momentarily sweeps the wall next to Kit. She sees something.                                                  KIT          (an urgent whisper)          Rob!                                   She gets him to turn the beam back to the wall where she is. She helps          train it on what she saw.                                   POV - THE WALL                                   It is a growth ∑chart that has been marked in ink faded over the          years. There are growth measurements for 'MUFFY'... and for ∑a child          named 'BUFFY"... with similar heights on similar dates.                                   RETURN ON KIT                                   She gasps, finally connecting it.                                                  KIT          Oh, god... oh no!...                                   He doesn't yet understand.                                                  KIT          ...the picture of the girls in the study... the letter... what the          Constable was trying to tell you... It's not Muffy it's her twin          sister, Buffy! She has a twin sister!          Rob's eyes have a glazed look. They are fixed somewhere else.                                                  KIT          Rob, don't you see?                         (BEAT)          Rob?                                   She follows his look and sees, on the wall near the growth chart, that          he has trained his flashlight beam on the eyeless portrait from the          night before. Only now, there are REAL EYES BEHIND THE PAINTING,          STARING OUT AT THEM.                                                  KIT                         (HUSHED)          Rob!                                   He casts about for a weapon, coming up with a length of lead pipe.                                                  ROB          Pull it away...                                                  KIT          (too frightened to move)          Rob?                                                  ROB          Pull it away!                                   They advance together on the painting, Rob keeping his flashlight on          the eyes the entire time. Kit slowly reaces out, lifts the painting          from the wall and drops it, jumping back... just as MUFFY'S HEAD rolls          forward from a shelf behind the painting, right into Kit's lap!                                   Kit screams as she bobbles the head in her hands like a hot potato,          trying to get rid of it.                                   Suddenly a loud NOISE slams at the basement window. Rob grabs Kit,          covering her mouth and snapping off .the flashlight. The head falls to          the. floor at their feet. They turn...                                                  THEIR POV                                   ...just in time to see the window they entered being nailed shut from          the outside. All else they can make out are Buffy's hands and her          tell-tale nurse shoes. Then these two move of sight around the outside          of the house.                                                  BASEMENT                                   Rob clicks on the beam in the direction they went and sees the stairs.          They race to them, up them, the door to the pantry is not locked. It          gives way under Rob's pressure.                                   INT. PANTRY ≠ NIGHT                                   Kit scrambles up behind him. They can hear Buffy outside in the yard          APPROACHING the kitchen door.                                   INT. KITCHEN - NIGHT                                   Rob and Kit hurry in. Rob searches frantically for the key board.                                                  ROB          The boat key... it's gotta be here...                                   His flashlight sweeps the walls of shelves. Suddenly, Buffy is at the          kitchen door. Though the door in locked, there's no bolt or chain to          fully secure it. The knob RATTLES furiously under Buffy's grip, the          door SHUDDERS.                                   Rob spots a walk-in cupboard. He hurries to it. Kit gropes along the          shelves, searching the objects hanging along the distant wall.                                                  KITCHEN DOOR                                   A long, ugly-looking knife blade slips in through the crack in the          door. Buffy is using it to try to pry open the door.                                                  CUPBOARD                                   Rob opens the door. Success. His beam falls on the key board on the          inner wall.                                                  ROB          Kit... I                                   He steps in, following his beam into the darkness. The cupboard door          SLAMS shut behind him. He turns, trapped.                                   CLOSE ANGLE - KITCHEN DOOR                                   The door springs open.                                                  KITCHEN                                   Kit spins, crying out as she sees:                                                  HER POV                                   The shadowed figure of BUFFY, barefooted, disheveled, in a smock,          dagger in hand. She advances, breathing heavily.                         KIT                                   stumbles back desperately.                                                  KIT          No...                                   INT. CUPBOARD          Rob is desperately trying to break out, but the door won't open.                                                  ROB          Kit! Let me out! Let me out of here! Kit!!                                   He is kicking the door, hurling himself at the door, but all to no          effect. He barely has room to maneuver.                                   KIT (O.S.)          Rob!!!                                   INT. KITCHEN          Kit turns to Rob's voice, takes a step toward the cupboard, but          suddenly Buffy is there, cutting her off.                                   Kit backes away, into the dining room.                                   INT. CUPBOARD                                                  ROB                         (POUNDING FUTILELY)          Kit! Run, Kit, run!                                   INT. DINING ROOM                                   Kit reels back under Buffy's steady advance. Kit can't see her clearly          in the dim light, but she can make out, beneath Buffy's wild, stringy,          dangling hair, the madness, the likeness of Muffy -- the familiar face          somehow twisted by hate and madness into a stiff, hideous, unnatural          deformation.                                   Buffy closes in, readying the long, greedy knife.                                   INT. CUPBOARD                                   Rob, still struggling, knows Kit is about to die.                                                  ROB          Kit! I love you!                                   INT . DINING R.OOM                                   Cornered, helpless, Kit stumbles back toward the closed double doors          that lead to the living room.                         KIT          Buffy?... please, we didn't mean any harm... we're leaving... we just          want to go home... please... please...                                   Buffy raises the dagger in hand.                                   INT. CUPBOARD                                   No longer trying to escape. It's hopeless.                                                  ROB          (for all he's worth)          Kit! I love you! I love you, Kit!                                   A man's HAND reaches out from the side, lightly touching Rob's          shoulder. Rob jumps, turning.                                                  ANGLE                                   It is Buck, standing practically right beside him, staring at Rob. His          face is the same bloody, hideous mess it was the day before, after the          accident.                                   Rob screams.                                                  BUCK          I love you too, babe.                                   Rob swings at him, but only succeeds in smashing his knuckles against          the door.                                   Buck grabs him and violently plants a kiss on his cheek.                                   INT. DINING ROOM                                   Kit slams back against the double doors, nowhere to go.                                                  KIT          No... Oh, God...                                   and Buffy strikes. The knife jabs into the door, close to Kit's head.          Kit gasps, momentarily spared. She pushes apart the double doors and          stumbles back into...                                   INT. LIVING ROOM                                   All the lights are on, and when Kit takes her eyes off Buffy long          enough to find out why, she discovers everyone is here -- Skip, Chaz,          Nikki, Arch, Harvey, Nan, even the Constable and the ferryman. They          sit or casually stand, quietly talking or reading magazines, taking no          notice of her whatsoever.          INT. CUPBOARD                                   Rob is screaming uncontrollably. Buck calmly peels all the blood and          gore right off his face and slaps in onto Rob. Rob keeps screaming.          Then Buck reaches out and unlatches the door. It was right there the          whole time.                                   INT. LIVING ROOM                                   Kit is totally bewildered...                                                  KIT                         (LOOKING AROUND)          What.... ?                                   Then she looks back at Buffy who steps into the living room, and          smiling, holds up the knife and plunges it into her own hand. The          blade is retractable.                                                  KIT          (wrought with emotion)          Oh, fuck you!! Fuck you, you guys!!                                   Suddenly everyone in the room comes to life, roaring with laughter.                                   INT. KITCHEN                                   Rob stumbles out of the cupboard, Buck's gory make-up still stuck to          his face.                                                  ROB          Kit! !                                   Still frightened and confused, Rob hasn't put it together yet. He runs          out of the kitchen...                                   INT LIVING ROOM                                   ...through the dining room and into the living room where he stops          dead cold upon seeing everybody.                                                                           ROB          Ki--!                                   The group laughs louder at the sight of him. Buck walks up behind Rob          and claps him on the shoulder. Rob jumps and screams involuntarily.          The group laughs louder still...          INT. LIVING ROOM -- MOMENTS LATER                                   Muffy is wiping off the last of her "Buffy" make-up.                                                  MUFFY          You guys are really terrific. I love you all. And I thank you from          the bottom of my heart for being such good sports.                                                  ROB                         (STILL SHAKEN)          Oh, sure. Quite welcome. Any time.                                   He sits, or rather lands, on the sofa next to Kit.                                   Laughter.                                                  MUFFY          Rob, you and Kit, you two were the best. You figured it all          out. The clues really worked.                                                  ROB          What clues?                                                  KIT          What's this all about? And don't anyone say "April Fool's" or I'll          smack them in the teeth.                                                  MUFFY          How about if I told you it was the script for a weekend special          that's going to help me keep this house...                                   Rob and Kit stare, mystified.                                                  MUFFY                         (SMILING)          Look, next month I get the house as part of my inheritance, it's true,          but only if I can show my father that it can carry itself... what with          taxes and expenses. Otherwise, he'll just sell it out of the family.          So, I'm planning on turning it into a country inn. Not just another          stuffy old run-of-the-mill country inn, but one that specializes in          offering once-in-a lifetime Whodunit Weekends. I needed a rehearsal. I          had to try out the idea on somebody.                                                  ROB                         (TO OTHERS)          And you guys played along?                                                  ARCH          Don't look at me!                                                  NIKKI          We all got sucked in just as bad as you!                         MUFFY          Once they were killed off, yes. Everybody had to cooperate. Otherwise,          none of it would have worked!                                                  ROB          So I guess there's no crazy twin sister Buffy?                                                  MUFFY          Oh, there's a crazy twin all right, but his name isn't Buffy.                                                  NIKKI          His name?                                   Muffy smiles, directing attention toward "cousin" Skip.                                                  CHAZ          Skip?!                                                  KIT          He's your brother?!                                                  ARCH          You bastard, you were in on the whole deal, too.                                                  SKIP                         (PROTESTING)          Only the set-up. Muffy told me to say I was her cousin and to pull          that prank on the ferry. I had no idea what was going to happen with          Buck.                                                  MUFFY                         (INTRODUCING)          Buck Williams. make-up artist par excellence, from Hollywood.                                   Buck reaches down and tosses Arch's decapitated head to him.                                                  BUCK          Here, catch.                                   Arch bobbles the head nervously. The others laugh.                                                  BUCK          Just some old props I redressed with the help of photographs Muffy          sent me.                                                  NIKKI          It sure fooled me.                                                  ARCH                         (TO SKIP)          So what castle are you going to inherit?                         CONSTABLE POTTER                         (CRITICALLY)          Well, first he's got to prove he can manage his own allowance.                                                  KIT          (to the Constable)          Which means, I guess, that you're no constable either.                                                  MUFFY          Kit Graham, meet my Uncle Frank St. John of St. John et Freres, Wall          Street.                                   Uncle Frank smiles and waves at Kit, but Harvey steps right over to          him and starts pumping his hand.                                                  HARVEY          Hi! Harvey "Hal" Edison, Jr. Pleased to meet you, sir.                                                  MUFFY          Usually we don't even see Uncle Frank in the summer, he's so busy.          But this time he made an exception.                         UNCLE FRANK          I haven't had this much fun since my Hasty pudding Show sophomore year          at Harvard. God, lowe you kids!                                                  FERRYMAN CAL                         (EAGERLY)          How'd I do? I never did no acting before. Boy, was I shaking!                                                  MUFFY          Cal's our regular ferryman between the mainland and the islands around          here... but I thought he was up to the dramatic challenge.                         (BEAT: SMILING)          Well, that's it. Now you know it all.                                                  NIKKI          We have been had.                                                  ROB          You're lucky you didn't get yourself killed.                                                  MUFFY                         (LAUGHING)          I almost did with Harvey. And who could know there would be a snake          out in the woods with Arch? But with the paying guests, they'll know          what they're in for: and the scenario won't be nearly so extreme.                                                  UNCLE FRANK          Otherwise, even Lloyd's of London won't cover you.                         MUFFY          ...And I regret that, well, some of those fake clues I planted in the          bedrooms I guess were taken too seriously. I'm sorry about          that.                                   She avoids looking at Nan so as not to draw attention to her.                                   MUFFY (cont.)          But we had fun, didn't we? I mean, come on.                                   She starts passing .out chilled champagne bottles to the men          to open, and setting up glasses on a sideboard.                                   MUFFY (cont.)          I know I'll never forget this weekend for as long as I live.                                                  ARCH          You're telling me. Man, when I was swinging around out there in the          woods, I nearly crapped my pants.                                                  CAL          What do you mean, nearly? I was there, remember?                                   Silence. Arch turns red.                                                  CHAZ                         (QUIETLY)          Arch? You browned your trousers?                                                  ARCH                         (BEAT; STAMMERING)          Well... I...                                                  UNCLE FRANK                         (GOOD-NATUREDLY)          It's all right, Arch. They'll be out of the dryer soon.                                   Suddenly everyone roars with laughter. Champagne corks start popping,          and before you know it, the scene is resembling the locker room of the          winning team of a championship series.                                   INT. DINING ROOM - MORNING                                   Breakfast. Spirits are high. Friendships rekindled, and the spread is          incredible. Muffy enters with a fresh basket of piping hot biscuits.          Only Nikki, Harvey, and Cal are not present.                                                  ARCH          Great ham.                                                  BUCK          Great eggs.                         CHAZ                         (TEASING)          Just what we need. Another country inn.                                                  UNCLE FRANK          Well, if the food's any indication, it's already half-way there.                                                  SKIP          Pass the toxic wastes, please.                                   Uncle Frank frowns at Skip as Cal enters.                                                  CAL                         (PLEASANTLY)          The St. John Island Bar Harbor ferry leaves in thirty minutes. No          stragglers, please.                                   INT. KITCHEN - MORNING                                   Rob and Kit are the first ones in, busing their dishes.                                                  ROB          Boy, what a difference being alive makes.                                                  KIT                         (TURNS; SOFTLY)          I don't care what Columbia says about you.                                                  ROB          I do.                                                  KIT                         (BEAT)          Is this the road to med school?                                                  ROB          I think it is. I'm going to try.                                   He takes her by the hand and gazes at her.                                                  ROB          But if I make it or not, no matter what happens, we'll be together?          You and me?                                                  KIT                         (QUIETLY)          If that's what you want.                                                  ROB                         (HUGGING HER)          That's what I want.          Muffy enters with a stack of dishes, followed by Nan who quietly sets          her plate on the counter and leaves.                                                  MUFFY          Where's Nikki?                                                  KIT          I don't know. Too much champagne?                                   o.s. they hear a muffled cry.                                   INT. NIKKI'S ROOM - MORNING                                   ...as Harvey finishes plowing her field. They lie still for a moment.                                                  NIKKI                         (STILL GASPING)          God... don't tell me that was something you learned on the farm!                                   EXT. BACK PORCH - MORNING                                   Uncle Frank is hugging Muffy. (nothing seedy). They are alone out          here.                                                  UNCLE FRANK          I'll make a full and glowing report to your father tomorrow so he can          draw up the deed along with the other trust papers for Wednesday's          signing. I'm so proud of you.                         (BEAT)          I wish I could say the same about your brother.                                                  MUFFY          Oh, Uncle Frank, he's been a great help this weekend, really. Let me          get him out here so you can--                                                  UNCLE FRANK          I've already spoken with him.                                   The screen door opens, and Rob steps out onto the porch. He comes over          to them, but does not butt into their conversation, and Uncle Frank          just keeps going as if Rob weren't even there.                                   UNCLE FRANK (cont.)          His conduct and his academic performance remain inexcusable. He knows          your father can't be expected to entrust him with anything until he          shows some signs of responsibility and initiative.                                                  ROB          (embarrassed to be overhearing)          Excuse me.          He turns and walks back into the house.                                   O.S. a horn honking.                                   EXT. HOUSE - MORNING                                   The van and the old pickup are idling out front. Uncle Frank is          honking on the van horn.                                                  UNCLE FRANK          Come on! Let's go!                                   Cal is alone behind the wheel of the pickup.                                   Skip walks casually up to the van, then pointedly turns away and heads          over to the pickup instead. Uncle Frank scowls.                                   ANGLE - FRONT DOOR                                   Rob and Kit come out the door and stop beside Muffy.                                   More honking.                                                  KIT          Well, I hate to say it -- I still ought to kill you -- but thanks.                         (THEY HUG)          See you back there.                                                  UNCLE FRANK          Come on. If time is money, we're losing a fortune.                                   Nikki now runs out followed closely by Harvey. They say their quick          farewells and move along to the waiting vehicles.                                   Harvey discreetly opts to ride in the pickup, while Nikki climbs          aboard the van, passing Chaz who just glares at her. He knows. Finally          Nan comes out of the house. With a curt nod to Muffy, she heads on          toward the van when...                                                  MUFFY          Nan!                                   She hurries to catch up with her.                                                  MUFFY          Let me say again how sorry I am. It wasn't intended.                         NAN          And now all is forgiven. I played along, didn't I? What's done is          done.                         (BEAT)          I've learned a lot, Muffy, I really have. I suppose I should say thank          you, but I don't think I would be able to without it sounding false.          So I'll just say goodbye.          (beat; an afterthought)          Thanks for showing me your house.                                   She turns and crosses to the van and climbs aboard. The others callout          their last goodbyes. Muffy waves, and then they are gone and Muffy          turns and walks forlornly back into her house.                                   EXT. FERRY LANDING - MORNING                                   Cal and Uncle Frank are the first ones onto the ferry.                                                  UNCLE FRANK          Cal, I want to thank you personally. You've been a real sport about          this.                                                  CAL          Aw, it was fun.                                                  UNCLE FRANK          I know you've had your eye on that p1ace ever since we were kids.          And I'm sure we could make a deal with you. I know you haven't been          spending your money on anything else all these years... But... this          time it just isn't in the cards.                                                  CAL          It's still in the family.                                                  UNCLE FRANK          Yes, that's the way.                                   He moves on. Others are passing them now. Chaz stops and wags his          finger at Cal.                                                  CHAZ          This time, no funny business.                                   INT. LIVING ROOM - MORNING                                   Muffy stand, overlooking the mess. Not knowing exactly where to          begin, she starts emptying ashtrays into each other, then just stops.                                   She walks out of the living room and through the entry hall and slowly          climbs the stairs.          EXT. SOUND ≠ DAY                                   From far away the ferry can be seen chugging away, slowly returning to          the mainland.                                   EXT. FERRY - DAY                                   closer now we can see what's happening on board... Rob and Skip lean          against the rail and talk quietly. Kit and Arch and Buck sit together          and chat... Chaz sits alone, and Nikki sits apart from him, also          alone.                                   Nan is up front, gazing out over the bow, while Harvey stands beside          her trying to make conversation. Finally, he gives up and strolls to          the back of the craft, pointedly passing Nikki.                                   He alights next to Uncle Frank, who has his briefcase open on his lap.                                   Now Nikki stands and goes and sits down next to Chaz.                                                  CHAZ                         (BEAT)          Feeling better?                                                  NIKKI                         (QUIETLY)          I'm okay now, thanks.                                   Pause.                                                  NIKKI          Chaz, I'm sorry.                                                  CHAZ          Why? What do we mean to each other anyway?                                                  NIKKI          More than this a couple of days ago.                                                  CHAZ                         (SMILES SADLY)          A couple of days ago... A couple of days ago I was a great, young,          budding filmmaker who was going to turn pornography into high art.          Today I'm just a stupid college kid with a toy camera and about as          much idea as where he's going as... as...                                   He gives up.                                                  NIKKI                         (TENDERLY)          Don't be down.                         CHAZ          Sure.                                   Pause.                                                  NIKKI          I'll tell you what I've learned from all this. I'm tired of having one          fling after another. I don't want any more of that. I want a          boyfriend.                         (BEAT)          Chaz? Will you be my boyfriend?                                   He looks at her, slowly softening. Yes, he will.                                   Rob turns away from Skip now, steps over and surveys the quiet group.                                                  ROB          Some party, huh?                                                  ARCH                         (REFLECTIVELY)          You know what I think's weird?... how, when we thought 'Buck here got          hurt because of Skip's prank, and when things started happening and we          thought maybe some of us were getting killed, how we all just kind of          naturally accepted the fact that it was 'oh , yeah, sure, because of          the prank.'                                                  SKIP                         (FROWNS)          What're you talking about?                                                  ARCH          Well, it's like pranks really piss people off. It unleashes things,          you know? Makes any kind of behavior possible, and we accept it.                                                  NIKKI          When anything g.oes, everything goes.                                                  CHAZ          Yeah.                                                  ROB          What really amazes me is how easy we made it for her. Everyone was          just out for himself. We could've stopped Muffy cold if we'd only          stuck together, if we'd only worked like a team.                                                  CHAZ          Yeah, she really got us good.                                                  SKIP          Well, I know what I'd do, if I wasn't her brother...                         NIKKI          (almost without thinking)          Go back and give her a taste of her own medicine, that's what we          should do.                                   Nikki steps. Leeks up, hearing herself. Skip returns the stare.                                                  SKIP          (shrugs, smiling)          Did I say anything?          The others look at each other, a beat, registering.                                                  ARCH          Hey...                                                  CHAZ          Go back and scare the shit outta her for a change? Outrageous!                                                  NIKKI          She sure wouldn't be expecting it...!                                                  HARVEY                         (EXCLUDING HIMSELF)          Well, I don't know. I got a stack o' books this high...                                                  ROB          (stepping into the fray)          Harvey's right.          (to them all)          Look, what're you talking about? We've had our fun. Now we got work to          do.                                                  ARCH          Yeah. Enough's enough. At least for me anyway.                                                  CHAZ          Pussies.                                                  KIT          Well, I kinda like the idea -- and I don't have work to get back to.                                   She squares her shoulders.                                                  ROB          (looks up, in surprise)          Kit...                                                  KIT                         (DECIDEDLYL          Muffy can dish it out. It might be interesting to see if she can take          it.                         CHAZ          All right! A real catfight!                                                  ROB          (open-mouthed at her)          I don't believe you...                                                  KIT                         (PROVOCATIVELY)          Just because you've decided to get serious about your life, doesn't          mean the rest of us can't have our fun                                                  NIKKI          (whoops, turning)          Buck, got any spare professional tricks you could throw our way!                                   Buck looks up, confused, only now plugging in.                                                  KIT          So how many does that make us?                                                  SKIP                         (EXCLUDING HIMSELF)          Much as I'd like to...                                                  NAN                         (GENTEELLY)          No, I don't think so, thank you.                                   Nikki continues count. Rob makes it easy for her.                                                  ROB                         (EMPHATICALLY)          Four.                                   He meets Kit's stare squarely, giving her time to change her mind. But          Kit smiles back, victorious.                                                  CHAZ          (one of the four)          Outasight!                                                  KIT          Cal, we want to get back to the island.                                                  FERRYMAN          Now? You just left                                                  KIT          I know.                         FERRYMAN                         [PONDERING)          ...Well, not in this...                         (SMILES SLIGHTLY)          ...but you might find something around after we dock.                                   EXT. LANDING - MAINLAND - DAY                                   The big ferry drifts into the slip, and the passengers begin to          disembark.                                   INT. MUFFY'S BEDROOM - HOUSE - DAY                                   The phone on the bedstand RINGS. Muffy answers it on the second ring.                                                  MUFFY                         (SLEEPILY)          H'lo?                                                  INTERCUT WITH:                                   EXT. LANDING - DAY                                   Skip is talking on a pay phone.                                                  SKIP                         (CHEERILY)          Hi, it's me. Surprise.                                                  MUFFY          (grumpily, stirring)          What'd you forget now?                                                  SKIP          Nothing. Just calling to tell you the party's not over.                                   She moans.                                                  MUFFY          I know. The clean-up's going to take Clara and me at least a week.                                                  SKIP          No, I mean, some of the gang's planning on coming back to give you          some of your own medicine.                                                  CU MUFFY                                   Coming awake.                                                  MUFFY          You're kidding.                         SKIP          Does a bear shit in the woods?                                                  MUFFY          Those bastards...                                                  SKIP          Hey, they're your friends.                                                  MUFFY          Which ones?                                                  SKIP          That wouldn't be very sporting if I told you, would it?                                                  MUFFY                         (INSISTENT)          Skip...                                                  SKIP          Rob and Kit and Nikki and Chaz.                                                  MUFFY          Figures... Thanks.                                                  SKIP          Well, Uncle Frank told me about his recommendations. So, I didn't want          you to think there were any hard feelings.                                                  MUFFY                         (AFFECTIONATELY)          Oh, Skip, you dope. You know Daddy'll come around just as soon as you          decide to buckle down.                                                  SKIP          Yeah...                         (BEAT)          Anyway, don't let the bastards eat you up.                                                  MUFFY          I'll try not to act too surprised when they arrive.                                                  SKIP          I love you, Sis.                                                  MUFFY          You too, goofball.                                   Skip hangs up.                                   ARCH (O.S.)          Asshole.                         SKIP          I beg your pardon?                                   ANGLE WIDENS to include Arch, who has been standing beside Skip          the entire time.                                                  ARCH          It was even your idea.                                                  SKIP          A petty consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.                                                  ARCH          Bullshit. St. John blood is thicker than water, that's what you mean.                                                  SKIP                         (ARCHLY SARCASTIC)          Don't you know? Old money sticks together.                                   Arch goes to his car and drives away.                                   At some distance, Harvey is ∑chasing down Uncle Frank as the latter          closes in on his Mercedes sedan.                                                  HARVEY          Well, can I look you up in a couple of months? Maybe you could arrange          a job interview for me.                                                  UNCLE FRANK          Sure, sure .          (reaches into his pocket)          Here's my card.                                                  HARVEY                         (TAKING IT)          Thank you, sir. Thanks a lot. I sure appreciate it, and it's been a          real pleasure meeting you.                                   But Uncle Frank is already in the car and starting it up. Harvey looks          down at the card.                                   CLOSE UP - UNCLE FRANK'S BUSINESS CARD                                   It reads simply: Franklin St. John, St. John et Freres.                                   BACK TO SCENE                                                  HARVEY          Hey, wait a minute! There's no phone number here! No address! No          nothing!          Too late. Uncle Frank is driving away. He speeds past Skip who is          walking down the road further along. He doesn't even stop for his own          nephew.                                   Harvey kicks the dirt angrily. O.S. behind him a horn toots. Harvey          turns and scowls at Nan, who would like to get past. He steps aside,          and she peels away but she stops for Skip.                                   They exchange a few words. Then he climbs into the front seat beside          her, and she drives off.                                   Now Harvey is alone. He looks around for a beat, then tosses the card          away and moves toward his car.                                   EXT. SHORELINE - LATE AFTERNOON                                   Rob and Chaz are trudging along.                                                  CHAZ          What the fuck was he talking about anyway? We might find something          around after we dock?                                   They walk out onto a private peer and eye the boats moored there.                                                  ROB          What the fuck do you think he was talking about?                                                  CHAZ          Oh.                                   VOICE (O.S.)          Hey! What are you two doing down there?!                                   Rob and Chaz look o.s. in response to the voice.                                   EXT. SHORELINE - FURTHER ALONG - LATER                                   Still trudging.                                                  CHAZ          Well, now we've been identified.                                                  ROB          Swell.                                                  CHAZ          It's getting late.                                                  ROB          What a great idea this was.                                   They round a bend and stop dead.                         THEIR POV                                   In the distance, Kit and Nikki are climbing into a boat. Nikki sees          them and waves.                                                  NIKKI                         (CALLING}          We got one!                                   Rob and Chaz.                                                  ROB          I thought we looked there an hour ago.                                                  CHAZ          Who cares? Let's get this show on the road!                                   He starts running to the boat. Rob reluctantly follows.                                                  CHAZ          (calling back to them)          Did you find a key? How're we going to get the motor started?                                   EXT. BACK OF THE HOUSE - SUNSET                                   The house stands quiet, the dying rays of sunlight reflected off the          large bay windows overlooking the sound.                                   EXT. THE SOUND - DUSK                                   as, huddled together in a rowboat, Chaz, Nikki, Rob and Kit arduously          make their way back to the island.                                   INT . FRONT ENTRY - NIGHT                                   Looking at the front door. Someone is visible through the translucent          glass pane coming up to the door.                                   A knocking sound.                                   INT. VARIOUS SHOTS AROUND THE HOUSE - SAME                                   as o.s. the knocking continues. No sign of Muffy.                                   INT. FRONT ENTRY                                   Muffy finally emerges from the study, crosses to the door and opens          it. Nikki walks in.                         NIKKI                         (AWKWARDLY)          Muffy, hi! Surprise!                                                  MUFFY          Nikki, what on earth are you doing here? Is something wrong?                                                  NIKKI          No, no, nothing's wrong. Chaz and I just figured there was nothing we          had to get back to that couldn't wait and you could probably use a          hand with the clean-up. It's our way of saying thank you.                                                  MUFFY          Oh, great. Where is Chaz?                                   Nikki is already moving into the living room.                                                  NIKKI          Putting the boat up in the old boathouse. He'll be up in a minute.                                   EXT. DOCK AND BOAT HOUSE ≠ NIGHT                                   Nobody around and no sign of a boat...                                   EXT. FRONT OF THE HOUSE - NIGHT                                   ...still and waiting                                   INT. LIVING ROOM - NIGHT                                   Muffy and Nikki are seated across from each other.                                                  NIKKI          I wonder what's keeping Chaz? He should have been up here by now.                                                  MUFFY          Maybe he stopped to shit in the woods. You know Chaz.                                                  NIKKI          Still... I'm beginning to not like this.                                                  MUFFY          By the way, where did you get the boat to come back here?                                                  NIKKI          The boat? Oh, Cal gave us one.                                                  MUFFY          I see.                                   PAUSE.                         NIKKI          Listen, I need a drink of water.                         (RISING)          You just stay here. I can get it myself.                                   She walks out of the living room. Muffy looks after her and smiles to          herself.                                   INT. KITCHEN - NIGHT                                   as Nikki enters. She doesn't turn on any lights, but simply crosses to          one of the kitchen windows and opens it.                                   She gazes out into the night for a moment, then backs out of          the kitchen...                                   INT. DINING ROM - NIGHT                                   ...pulling the swinging door closed behind her. She turns, takes two          steps toward the living room and stops; remembering her water.                                   She goes back to the kitchen door, but suddenly it will not open for          her. Frustrated, she heads back through the dining room, but stops          dead halfway across and turns slowly and looks back at the kitchen          door. She goes out of the dining room...                                   INT . DOWNSTAIRS HALL - SAME                                   ...and walks up to the other door into the kitchen. It too it's closed          and will not yield.                                   INT. LIVING ROOM - NIGHT                                   as Nikki returns.                                                  MUFFY          What about your water?                                                  NIKKL          Oh', uh, I drank 'it in there.                         (BEAT)          Listen. Muffy , I'm really getting worried about Chaz. I think we          should go out and see what's happened.                                                  MUFFY          That's okay. You go. I'll wait here.                                                  NIKKI          No, really. I don't want to go alone. I'm still scared from last          night. Please come with me.                         MUFFY          I'm sure Chaz is fine. I'll stay here by the phone just in case. It's          safer this way.                         (BEAT)          Do you want a flashlight?                                                  NIKKI                         (IRRITATED)          No, that's okay. I'll be fine.                                   She strides out of the living room.                                   EXT. HOUSE - SAME          as Nikki comes out the front door and heads off into the woods.                                                  NIKKI                         (MUTTERING)          Shit.                                   INT. LIVING ROOM - NIGHT                                   Muffy sits quietly a moment, thinking. Then she gets up and goes          toward the kitchen.                                   INT. DOWNSTAIRS HALL -                                   She comes to the kitchen door, pushes it open... no sweat... and enters.                                   INT . KITCHEN - SAME                                   Muffy doesn't turn any lights on either. She goes to the sink, sees          that there is no used water glass, then' she notices the open window.          She smiles.                                   She does get herself a bottle of Perrier out of the fridge, opens it,          pours it and walks back out of the kitchen, leaving the window          untouched.                                   EXT. WOODS - NIGHT                                   Nikki stumbles through the darkness. Suddenly she disappears from view          with a loud SPLASH.                                                  NIKKI          Fuck!                                   She comes up sputtering to the surface of a small forest pool she has          fallen into.                                                  NIKKI          Fuck!! Who dug the goddamn swimming pool?!?          She drags herself out.                                   KIT (o.s.)          Nikki?                                                  NIKKI                         (CALLING BACK)          Yeah!                                   She walks, dripping wet, into a clearing nearby where Kit it making          Chaz up to look bloody and gruesome.                                   NIKKI .          We have to go to plan B.                                                  CHAZ          She wouldn't come out? Doesn't she care about me?                                   No one answers him.                                   CHAZ (cont.)          How do I look?                                                  NIKKI          A lot goddamn, fucking better than I do!                                   INT. KITCHEN - NIGHT                                   No one is here as' Rob pops his head up outside and slips in through          the open window.                                   He stops in the middle of the kitchen and listens. Then he          goes into...                                   INT. DOWNSTAIRS HALL - SAME                                   He creeps down the hall, then turns and starts to tiptoe up the          back stairs.                                   CAMERA DOLLIES further down the hall to...                                   INT. FRONT ENTRY - SAME                                   ...just as Nikki bursts in through the door.                                   NIKKI ,          Muffy! Muffy! Come quick! It's Chaz...          INT . LIVING ROOM - SAME                                                  NIKKI                         (RUNNING IN)          ...he's hurt! Oh, Godl!                                   She stops suddenly. Muffy isn't here. Frustrated, Nikki runs          back into...                                   INT. FRONT ENTRY - SAME                                   She looks around.                                                  NIKKI          Muffy!!                                   She dashes into...                                   INT. STUDY - SAME                                                  NIKKI          Muff--!!!                                   ...and stops short. Muffy is lying face down in a pool of blood. Her          throat's been cut. The useless phone receiver is clutched in her hand          (making that constant phone company noise that lets you know the phone          is off the hook).                                                  NIKKI                         (RISING PANIC)          Muffy?                                   Her throat gags a couple of times, as if she is about to be sick. She          turns and flies out of the room.          O.S. the front door slams shut behind her.                                   EXT. WOODS - NIGHT                                   NIKKI (O.S,)                         (HYSTERICAL)          Chaz!! Chaz!!                                   She runs into another clearing (the CAMERA has been here waiting for          her) where Chaz is revealed lying on the ground, looking much more          hideous than Muffy.                                                  NIKKI          Chaz, get up! ∑Hurry, Chaz!... come on!                                   He doesn't move.                         NIKKI          Chaz, stop playing around! Get up!!                                   She starts kicking him in the side.                                                  NIKKI          Chaz!                                   Chaz doesn't stir, but he does speak now without moving his lips.                                                  CHAZ          (hissing, pretending to be dead)          Will you quit kicking me? It hurts.                                                  NIKKI          It's supposed to hurt! The game's over! Get up!                                                  CHAZ          (still not moving)          No. I'm dead. You're blowing the whole thing. Where's Muffy?                                                  NIKKI                         (SHRIEKING)          Muffy IS dead!!! In the house!!!                         (WHIMPERING)          Oh, God...                                                  CHAZ          (sitting up suddenly)          What?                                                  NIKKI          (turning to the woods)          Kit! Kit, come out!                                   There is rustling O.S., then Kit starts to emerge.                                                  KIT          What's going on?                                   INT. STUDY - SAME                                   Muffy is still lying face down as we saw her last. She hears footsteps          going upstairs.                                   INT. ATTIC - SAME                                   Rob is creeping up the attic stairs when he hears footsteps o.s. too.          He pauses, his face draining of color.          EXT. HOUSE - NIGHT                                   as Chaz, Nikki and Kit come racing up to the door and run inside.                                   INT. STUDY - SAME                                   as they come charging in...                                                  NIKKI          She's gone!                                   Nothing left, but the pool of blood and a thin trail of smeared drying          blood to indicate that she's been dragged away.                                                  KIT          What?...                                                  CHAZ          Look, she's been dragged away.                                                  NIKKI                         (PANICKING)          Chaz! somebody's still in this house!                                                  CHAZ          We could follow the trail.                                                  KIT                         (DREAD)          Oh, no... what about Rob?                         (HALF BEAT)          Rob!!                                   She races out of the study.                                   INT. ATTIC - NIGHT                                   The three of them come clambering up the stairs, Kit in the lead. They          turn a corner. Then they see him... dead on the floor.                                                  KIT          Rob...?                                   They run over to him.                                                  KIT          (dropping to her knees)          Rob? Rob??          (shaking him: wailing)          Rob!!!          (dissolving into tears)          It was only a game!                         CHAZ                         (SCARED SHITLESS)          What the fuck is going on here?!                                                  NIKKI                         (POINTING)          Chaz, look!                                   Clutched in Rob's lifeless hand is a leather bookmark we may have          noticed before. Chaz slips it out from beneath his fingers.                                                  CHAZ                         (DAZED)          This was Nan's...                                                  NIKKI                         (TREMBLING)          Nan...                                   Suddenly there is a loud KNOCK beneath them O.S. They all look up.          Someone is coming slowly up the stairs, the loud footsteps O.S.that          could only be made by a heavy boot, thundering closer... and closer...                                   Kit and Nikki and Chaz huddle around Rob's body and await their          approaching doom.                                   Suddenly a dark figure fills the doorframe at the top of the stairs. A          hand with a knife is raised. ∑Nikki screams. Chaz spies a lamp on the          floor. He turns it on...                                                  NIKKI          Muffy!                                   Muffy walks into the room , lowering the knife.                                                  MUFFY          Good job, you guys. I'm really scared.                         (LOOKING DOWN)          The fun's over, Rob.                                                  KIT          (tears in her eyes)          Muffy, he's dead!                                                  NIKKI          Somebody else is here! In this house!                                                  MUFFY          Sure. Sure.                         (BENDING OVER)          Let's see if the dead are ticklish, shall we?                         KIT          (pulling her away; screaming)          Don't you touch him!!                                                  MUFFY          Okay, okay, take it easy.                                                  NIKKI          Muffy, it's not a game anymore!                                   Just then there is a loud CRASH o.s. of glass breaking down on the          first floor. After the slightest pause there is another crash o.s.,          and another...                                   Someone is smashing in all the bay windows along the back porch. Nikki          screams.                                                  MUFFY                         (ALARMED)          What the--?                                   And she runs back down the attic stairs, followed quickly by the          others.                                   INT. UPSTAIRS HALLWAY - SAME                                   as Muffy bursts out of the stairway and into the hall. Then          Kit.                                   Suddenly the door to the stairwell slams shut on Nikki and Chaz          cutting them off. A key turns in the lock. Muffy and Kit turn back to          see a male figure in the darkness who'd been hiding behind the door.                                   Kit is nearest to him, and without warning, he lunges at her and          buries a knife into her stomach ∑up to the handle.                                   Kit screams and chokes, trying to fight him off: but he stabs her          again, and again and again, plunging the knife deep into her with          every thrust.                                                  KIT          Muffy! Stop him! Help! He's killing me! Oh, God! He's killing me!                                   Muffy, initially paralyzed with fear, now runs for her life, down the          hallway, down the stairs...                                   INT. ENTRY HALL - SAME                                   ...and to the front door as Kit's screams O.S. fade to silence. Muffy          yanks on the door handle, but the door will not open. She pulls again          and again desperately, but it won't budge,          She turns and runs out of the entry hall. Just as she CLEARS FRAME,          the front door swings silently open...                                   INT. DOWNSTAIRS HALLWAY - SAME                                   Muffy is racing past the back stairs toward the kitchen when A HAND          reaches out from the pantry and hooks her around the face.                                   She is pulled backward, screaming, through the swinging door into the          darkened pantry.                                   INT. PANTRY ≠ SAME                                   It is Skip!                                   He pulls her head back, exposing her throat. He raises a knife to it,          still stained with Kit's blood.                                                  SKIP                         (RAVING)          It's all over, Muffy! Everything'll be mine!                                                  MUFFY          Skip! No! ! !                                   He makes a move to slit her throat, when Muffy kicks open          the swinging door and sees...                                                  HER POV                                   ...standing on the other side, smiling, in various states of fake          blood and mess... Rob, Kit, Nikki, Chaz and Nan. Muffy's eyes pop out.          Skip's hands relax. And the others burst out laughing.                                                  FADE OUT                                                  FADE IN                                   EXT. THE HOUSE ≠ DAY                                                  CLOSE UP                                   A SIGN being lifted into the air. It reads:                                   APRIL BAY LODGE          Just Another Country Inn          Proprietors: St. John et Frere                                   PULL BACK to see Muffy supervising the raising of the sign in front of          the house, while Skip drives up in the van, bringing the first          customers to the door.                          
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+Apt Pupil by Brandon Boyce Based on the novel by: Stephen King PRODUCTION DRAFT #4A 4/25/96 rev. FADE IN: Through the window of a moving vehicle, we see a series of small, middle-class houses. This could be any suburban street in America. INT. CITY BUS - DAY A boy is seated near the back of a moving bus. This is TODD BOWDEN, 15, as All-American as they come. He stares out at the other passengers indifferently. Then something catches his eye. EXT. RESIDENTIAL STREET - SANTO DONATO - DAY TITLE: SANTO DONATO, CA FEBRUARY 1984 Todd pedals his bike down a quiet street and pulls up to an unassuming bungalow set far back on its lot. This is the kind of house one would hardly notice driving through the peaceful suburban community of Santo Donato. Todd gets off his bike and heads up the front steps. On the way, he bends down to pick up the L.A. Times. Two signs, in laminated plastic, are secured neatly above the door bell. The first reads: "ARTHUR DENKER". The second reads: "NO SOLICITORS, NO PEDDLERS, NO SALESMEN". Todd RINGS the bell. Nothing. He looks at his watch. It is twelve past ten. He RINGS again, this time longer. Still nothing. Finally, Todd leans on the tiny button, staring at his watch as he does so. After more than a minute of SOLID RINGING, a voice is heard from within. DUSSANDER (O.S.) All right. All right. I'm coming. Let it go! Todd lets go as a chain behind the heavy door starts to rattle. Then it opens. An old man stands behind the screen. He is KURT DUSSANDER, a.k.a. Arthur Denker. Mid-seventies. Standing there in his bathrobe and slippers, a cigarette smashed in his mouth, he looks like a cross between Boris Karloff and Albert Einstein. Dussander stares at Todd, who tries to speak, but suddenly cannot. DUSSANDER (continuing) A boy. I don't need anything, boy. Can't you read? I thought all American boys could read. Don't be a nuisance, now. Good day. The door begins to close. Todd waits till the last moment before speaking. TODD Don't forget your paper, Mr. Dussander. The door stops. Dussander opens it slowly. He unlatches the screen and slips his fingers around the paper. Todd does not let go. DUSSANDER Give me my newspaper. TODD Sure thing, Mr. Dussander. Dussander snatches the paper away and closes the screen door. Quickly, almost imperceptibly, the old man's eyes survey the area: across the street, up and down the sidewalk, the boy's bicycle. DUSSANDER My name is Denker. See? (pointing) Denker. Perhaps you cannot read after all. What a pity. Good day. As the front door closes, Todd speaks rapidly into the narrowing gap. TODD Bergen-Belsen, January '43 to June '43. Auschwitz, June '43 to June '44. Then you went to Patin. The door stops, still partly open. TODD (CONT'D) After the war, you escaped to Buenos Aires. From 1950 to '52 you were in Cuba, and then... From 1952 to '58... I don't know. No one does. But in 1965, you popped up in West Berlin, where they almost got you. The door opens wider. DUSSANDER Listen, boy. I don't know what is the matter with you. But I don't have time for this game. Now, get out of here before I call the police. TODD Call them if you want. DUSSANDER Fine. The heavy door slams shut. TODD It's okay by me Herr Kommandant. I'm sure the police would love to meet the "Blood- fiend of Patin." In a flash the front door is open, so is the screen. Dussander is through the doorway and descending upon Todd with the rolled umbrella raised to strike him. Todd stumbles back against the porch rail. DUSSANDER You get away from this house, God damn you! I'll beat you all the way home. But Todd regains his composure quickly. He brushes himself off and levels his eyes at the old man who now hardly seems the threat he was a few seconds ago. TODD After 1965, no one saw you again... Until I did. Three weeks ago on the downtown bus. If you want to call the cops, go right ahead. I'II wait on the steps. DUSSANDER You'll do no such thing. TODD I won't? Listen, old man, if I want to start screaming right here, I will. If I want to ride down to the police station and bring the cops back myself, then I will. I will do what ever I want. Do you understand? (pause) But if you like, I could come in for a minute. We could talk. Pause. DUSSANDER I'd be out of my mind to let an insane boy like you into my home. Pause. DUSSANDER (CONT'D) Is that what you want, to come into my home? So be it. There is no arguing with crazy people. Dussander turns and steps back through the screen door. He stops at the threshold of the house and turns. He is holding the screen door open with one leg, the front door open with the other. He looks straight ahead. A moment later, Todd steps into the house. INT. DUSSANDER'S HOUSE - DAY Dussander's home is what you would expect of a single, poor, old man. Nothing fancy, nothing out of the ordinary. Todd looks around, perhaps half-expecting to find a Nazi flag or an oil painting of Der Fuehrer hanging above the mantle. But he doesn't, and moves into the living room where an old picture of a woman sits framed on an end table. DUSSANDER My wife. She died in 1955 of lung disease. At that time I was working at the Menschler Motor Works in Essen. I was heartbroken. Todd's attention drifts away and his fingers slip over to a lampshade next to the photograph. He begins to feel it as though he were inspecting it for something. DUSSANDER (CONT'D) Stop that! Todd jumps back a little but then recovers. TODD Tell me, wasn't it Ilse Koch who made the lampshades out of human skin? DUSSANDER Now I don't know what you're talking about. TODD Sure you do, Mr. Dussander. DUSSANDER Denker. Denker. Denker. You don't listen, boy. The television has fried your brain. Pause. TODD Your hands are shaking. DUSSANDER Yes, they're shaking. I'm old. We all shake. You are most tiresome, and rude. Now if you have a point I wish you'd come to it. TODD We're in no rush. If I thought you had plans, I'd say cancel them, but since I know you don't... DUSSANDER You know nothing of my business -- TODD What business? You sit in that ugly chair and watch soap operas all day. Except on Friday afternoons when you walk down to the movie theater. And twice a week you take the bus downtown to do your shopping. You always use the express lane because you never have more than ten items. DUSSANDER You have been following me? TODD Of course, I followed you. You think I normally go around to peoples' houses and accuse them of being Nazi fugitives? DUSSANDER Perhaps for me you made an exception. TODD No, for you I had to be sure. For Kurt Dussander I had to be absolutely certain. ...Now, I am, and that's why I'm here. Todd sits on the sofa. DUSSANDER Oh, yes, I see now. As I am this ex-Nazi fellow, as you say, then this must be the part where I offer you my hidden stash of gold, taken from the mouths of old Jewish men, of course, which I keep buried in the basement. Isn't that right, boy? Well, I'm afraid you're wasting your time. I have no money. If I did I might even give you some just to be done with this nonsense. TODD I don't need money. You don't have any anyway. At least, I don't think so. You probably had to spend it all to sneak in the country. A good American passport is expensive on the black market, that I know. DUSSANDER Do you? Good for you. TODD Yes, I do. I know it all, Dussander. You're my One Great Interest. DUSSANDER Your what? TODD My One Great Interest. Well, not you personally, but, ...well, it's something I learned back in eighth grade. Our teacher, Miss Harmon, she said we'd have to find our One Great Interest in life. You know, the thing that would really grab us. Once we did that, everything would fall into place. Like hers, she said, wasn't teaching, but collecting nineteenth-century postcards. I guess there's no money in that, so she has to be a teacher. Anyway, she told us to start thinking about it. So I did, but nothing happened. Until the following summer, in Ronny Pegler's garage. That's where I found it. INT. RONNY PEGLER'S GARAGE - DAY Todd and RONNY, both 13, rummage through several large boxes in the corner of the garage. We see that the boxes are filled with old war magazines. Ronny tosses several of them to the ground as he digs for his dad's old copies of Penthouse. Ronny selects one Penthouse and rifles through it. He discards it a moment later. RONNY One of these has three girls doing it at the same time. But the old war magazines catch Todd's attention. He picks one up curiously and carefully flips through the tattered pages. We see a few of the photographs: Nazi storm troopers, prisoners behind barbed wire, the ovens. RONNY (CONT'D) I got it! Check this out. ...Todd, look. TODD Hang on a sec. As young Todd stares into this secret world, his voice comes in... TODD (CONT'D) It was all there... pictures of stuff I'd never seen, stuff they never put in the books anymore, especially the ones they give us to read. And here were stacks of them. INT. DUSSANDER'S LIVING ROOM - DAY Todd speaks excitedly. Dussander, very bored, clearly indulges him. TODD It... grabbed me. It was just like Miss Harmon said. I couldn't believe it. But there it was, the camps, the uniforms, the ...the way they saluted each other. But what am I telling you for? You know more about this stuff than anybody. DUSSANDER Yes, what are you telling me for? TODD (ignoring him) Then last year I wrote my big term paper on Dachau. I got an A+. It was the only A+ she gave. I mean I always do real well. A's on everything. That's why I'm accelerated. DUSSANDER Accelerated? TODD You know, accelerated. I skipped two grades, second and ninth. I didn't need them. That's why I'm already a junior. Dussander sits. DUSSANDER I see... TODD Some kids resent me for it. That's not important. Anyway, my paper really floored my history teacher. I guess because I got through all those books without throwing up. But I learned something. I learned that when you talk about the camps now, you have to remember to sound really disgusted. I mean, you can't just say what happened like the magazines did and leave it at that. If I tried that the teacher would have freaked and called my parents in. INT. RONNY PEGLER'S GARAGE - DUSK Todd sits on one of the boxes surrounded by dozens of the old magazines. The door to the house opens and Ronny, looking cross, pokes his head out. RONNY Todd, your mom's on the phone. She says you have to come home for dinner. ...Todd? Todd, lost in the sea of old photographs, doesn't notice Ronny at first. Then he looks up at him. In his eyes is a glint of a darkness that we will come to know better. TODD What? RONNY (suddenly wary of Todd) Your mom's on the phone. ANGLE on Todd. INT. DUSSANDER'S LIVING ROOM - DAY TODD Nowadays you have to... soften it. DUSSANDER Why do I care about this? TODD Because, I don't want it softened. Todd hops up and begins to pace the floor. Dussander stares at him blankly, unsure of where this is going. DUSSANDER I am sure you trouble your parents to no end. TODD Actually, I'm pretty low maintenance. That's what my dad says. DUSSANDER You told your parents about me, then? TODD You think I'm crazy? DUSSANDER I think you're crackers, but go on. I'm riveted. Todd looks deep into Dussander's eyes. Dussander is uncomfortable. Slowly, Todd reaches out and brushes his finger against Dussander's hand. Dussander gets up. DUSSANDER (CONT'D) What are you doing? Pause. TODD And then it happened... I was on my way to the library. It was raining... FLASHBACK: INT. CITY BUS - DAY Todd's voice narrates what we are seeing. Todd, seated near the back of the bus, watches Dussander climb aboard. Todd thinks nothing of it at first, but soon finds that he is unable to take his eyes off him. Todd is trying to place the old man's face in his mind... TODD (V.O.) You climbed on the bus and started this slow walk down the aisle. Just like you were examining a new batch of inmates. I don't think anybody gave you a second glance but me, but somehow ...people seemed to move out of your way. And under your arm you carried a rolled up umbrella. But what really did it, what really set me off was the coat. You were wearing this long black rain coat. My mind suddenly flipped back to a picture of you taken at Patin. You in your S.S. greatcoat with a riding crop under your arm. INT. DUSSANDER'S LIVING ROOM - DAY TODD It was incredible. Dussander stares back at him flatly. DUSSANDER All of this... because of a rain coat? TODD Well, it wasn't that easy. I mean, I had to really check up on it. And every picture of you in those books is forty years old, at least. I went back to the library to find the picture. And then I matched it with the photos I took. DUSSANDER You took photographs of me? TODD Yeah, I got this little camera. Fits right in the palm of my hand. DUSSANDER (crunches cigarette into ashtray) Clever boy. TODD But even then I couldn't be sure. I needed real proof. So I went to the mall and bought a fingerprint kit from the hobby shop and a book that tells you what you're supposed to look for and then dusted your mailbox while you were at the movies. Pretty smart, huh? DUSSANDER You... put dust on my mailbox? For fingerprints? You took photographs of me? What else did you do?... I don't believe any of this. TODD I already had a copy of your fingerprints. They're on your want sheet from the Israeli government. It's on database at UC Irvine. Can you believe that? DUSSANDER Bourbon. He storms toward the kitchen and stops. DUSSANDER (CONT'D) Would you care for a drink, boy? TODD Sure, you got a Coke? DUSSANDER No Kok. TODD Milk? DUSSANDER Milk. Dussander disappears into the kitchen. Todd stands alone in the living room. He lets out a long, nervous breath, showing for the first time the presence of something other than the cold confidence he has been putting up for Dussander. He knows he has crossed into dangerous territory from which there is no going back. But after a moment he composes himself; he has come this far. The sternness returns to his eyes. Todd is all business. He takes a breath, and then speaks loudly enough for Dussander to hear him in the kitchen. TODD It takes eight good matches, they're called compares, actually, for a fingerprint to get accepted in court. DUSSANDER (O.S.) Is that right? FLASHBACK: EXT. DUSSANDER'S FRONT PORCH - DAY Todd steps up onto the porch and looks around calmly. He pulls the powder and brush from his pocket and begins to examine the mailbox for prints. TODD (V.O.) Yeah, there were two sets of prints. The first I figured were the mailman's. Once I knew what I was looking for, yours were easy to spot. INT. DUSSANDER'S LIVING ROOM - DAY DUSSANDER (O.S.) You should be a detective. The SOUNDS of a refrigerator opening and closing come from the kitchen. Drinks being poured. Todd begins to move slowly toward the kitchen. TODD Maybe I will... Mom thinks I'd be good at it. INT. DUSSANDER'S KITCHEN - DAY He reaches the doorway just as Dussander turns around with the drinks. TODD I found fourteen compares. Dussander approaches him carrying a tumbler of milk and a glass of bourbon. He hands the tumbler to Todd, who brings it up to his lips and hesitates. TODD (CONT'D) You have some. DUSSANDER Good Gott. He snatches the cup and swallows twice. DUSSANDER (CONT'D) You see? It's milk, boy. From Dairylee Farms. On the carton is a picture of a smiling cow. Todd pauses and then begins to drink. DUSSANDER (CONT'D) (more to himself than Todd) ...And two missing children. (pause) Boy what you have done, I have to explain this to you because clearly you don't understand, what you have done is a violation. TODD A violation? DUSSANDER Yes. TODD Kind of like those experiments with the decompression chamber. Now, that was a violation, Dussander. DUSSANDER That fucking name. Enough of that. I demand it. TODD You what? DUSSANDER I demand -- TODD You demand nothing from me. Ever. Get it? Pause. DUSSANDER Boy, I will tell you this once more, and for the last time. My name is Arthur Denker. It has never been anything else. It has never even been Americanized. If you must know, and apparently you must, I was named by my father who greatly admired the stories of Arthur Conan Doyle. I did serve in the reserves, I admit, and in the late thirties, when I was first married, I supported Hitler. I supported him most, I suppose, because for the first time in years there was work and there was tobacco. ...Would you like a cigarette? TODD No. My dad used to smoke. Mom made him quit. Now he's addicted to Nicorette... that's nicotine gum. Dussander turns toward the counter and pulls a kitchen match from a cabinet. He lights his cigarette with his back to Todd. DUSSANDER Nicotine gum. Dussander's eyes drift to the collection of kitchen knives neatly stuffed in their block on the counter in front of him. He lingers a moment, pulls deeply on the cigarette, then turns and continues. DUSSANDER (CONT'D) Anyway, Hitler lost his mind at the end, directing phantom armies at the whim of his astrologer. He even gave his dog, Blondi, a death capsule. On May 2nd, 1945, my regiment surrendered to the Americans. I remember that a private named Gonzales gave me a chocolate bar. I wept. Bored, Todd sinks into a chair at the table. DUSSANDER (CONT'D) I was interned at Essen where I was treated very well. We listened to the Nuremberg trials on the radio and when Goering committed suicide, I bought half a bottle of schnaps and got drunk. When I was released, I put wheels on cars at the Essen Motor Works until I retired in 1963. In 1967 I emigrated here, to California, and became a U.S. Citizen. I am as American as you are. I vote. No Buenos Aires, no Berlin, no koo-ba. And that's it, my whole story. I hope you're satisfied. But if not, it's, as you say, tough shit for you. Now, you go. Enough of this. Dussander points to the door, but Todd remains motionless in his chair. TODD That was pretty good. So much to remember. But I guess it helps when you have forty years to practice your story. DUSSANDER Oh, to hell with this and to hell with you. I'm calling the police. Your father is going to beat your behind when he picks you up at the police station. TODD No. My parents don't believe in violence. DUSSANDER Well, they should start. I'm calling. Dussander steps past Todd and picks up the receiver of the phone hanging on the wall above the table. The boy still sits motionless behind him. Dussander dials a "9", and then, with more difficulty, a "1". He stands with his finger poised over the final "1". Tiny beads of sweat roll over his forehead. His shoulders drop. Todd stands up. Their faces are close together. TODD Hang up the phone. DUSSANDER This is unforgivable. Do you know the things you're accusing me of? TODD Do it. Slowly, Dussander brings the receiver down onto its hook. DUSSANDER If you don't want money, what do you want? TODD I want to hear about it. DUSSANDER Hear about what? TODD The camps. Everything. The experiments. The examinations. All the stuff the writers are scared to put in their books because people will think they're sick. That's what I want, ...everything. DUSSANDER Everything? TODD Exactly. And you're going to tell it to me. DUSSANDER You're a monster. TODD According to history you're the monster. DUSSANDER How could you ask me to remember such things? I can barely remember to take my heart medicine. TODD You were there. You did those things. No one can tell it better than you can. And you will tell it, starting today. Right now. If you don't, I'll tell everyone who you are. I swear it. DUSSANDER Why should I? Why should I do any of it? TODD Because you hung up the phone. That's why. ...And just so you know, just so there is no misunderstanding whatsoever. Everything I have on you, the compares, the want sheet, all the photographs, are all in an envelope under my mattress. I'm going to put it there every time I come to see you. If anything happens to me, if I should suddenly disappear, some one will find it. Believe me -- DUSSANDER That's a foolish thing to do. What if your mother goes in your room anyway? What if she hires a maid? TODD You better hope she doesn't. (looking at watch) We're wasting time. Let's get started. I have to be home for dinner. Today I want to hear about the ovens. How you baked them after they were dead... and before. Pause. DUSSANDER (to himself) A boy... a boy... TODD But before we start, put your teeth in. You look better with your teeth. EXT. DUSSANDER'S HOUSE - DUSK It is later the same day. Todd emerges from the house. The setting sun tells us he has been inside for several hours. He picks up his bike and hops on. He stops. He turns to look up the street in both directions. No one. A moment later he pedals off down the street. MAIN TITLES INT. HIGH SCHOOL CLASSROOM - DAY TITLE: SEPTEMBER 1984 A typical high school image. Rows of students sit listening to a lecture from MR. PROXMIRE, fifties, as he weaves his way through the aisles. PROXMIRE But in 1902, Panama didn't exist. The country we know as Panama was part of Columbia. As the teacher continues to lecture, the camera stops on JOEY, 17. On his desk is a folded note. He hands it across the aisle and motions for it to be sent to Todd a few rows over. The note moves across the room, avoiding the meandering teacher, on its way to Todd. PROXMIRE (CONT'D) Now the nations of the west knew they needed a canal through Central America. They were tired of waiting for their ships to sail around Cape Horn. This was the new century, the age of modernization. And the U.S. was at the forefront. Teddy Roosevelt was in the White House, looking for any chance to assert the might of America. When Columbia balked at the offer made by the U.S. and England, Roosevelt sent his naval war ships to sit off the coast of Panama, just sit there, where they could be seen from the coast. The FEMALE STUDENT across the aisle from Todd now has the note. She whispers to him but he doesn't hear. Todd is trying to say awake with great difficulty. The girl extends the note just as Proxmire passes. He stops, turns around, plucks the note from the girl's hand and heads for the front of the class. PROXMIRE (CONT'D) Finally Columbia gave up the territory for about a tenth of its original price. And as Roosevelt would say later, "The U.S. stole the Panama canal fair and square." Without glancing at it, Proxmire crumples the note and drops it into the waste basket by his desk. INT. HIGH SCHOOL - LOCKER AREA - DAY It is in between classes. The denizens of STUDENTS crowd around their lockers. Among them is Todd. He searches through his locker and selects a book. Suddenly the door SLAMS shut to reveal the face of Joey standing against the lockers. Todd, startled, jumps back. JOEY (laughs) Take it easy, Jesus. It's just me, flinch- man. TODD (serious) Don't do that. JOEY I got news for you. You're gonna like it. TODD Walk with me to French. The two walk down the corridor. JOEY Someone likes you. Someone good. TODD Who? JOEY Well, I heard my sister talking on the phone with Lisa Herman, and... well -- TODD You going to tell me who it is? Two CHEERLEADERS pass them. JOEY (lowering voice) You didn't hear it from me. TODD Fine. JOEY Becky Trask. TODD Was that so hard? JOEY So ask her out and the weekend after next you can double with me and Vanessa. TODD What about this weekend? JOEY I'm already planning on being grounded. TODD Grounded? What for? JOEY Where the hell you been? Report cards were sent out today. I know that never affects you... They arrive at the door of Todd's classroom as the BELL SOUNDS. JOEY (CONT'D) Shit. Don't forget what I told you. Joey runs off, leaving Todd looking after him. EXT. DUSSANDER'S BACK PORCH - DAY TITLE: OCTOBER 1984 It is late afternoon. Dussander sits in a rocking chair facing out into the backyard. Todd is in the lawn chair off to the side. He has just finished a McDonald's cheeseburger and is about to start another one. Dussander eats a Big Mac, washing it down with bourbon. A large cat keeps jumping onto Dussander's lap while he is eating. He brushes it away annoyed. TODD I've never seen anyone drink bourbon with McDonald's before. ...So, How did the stuff get to Patin? DUSSANDER In railroad cars marked "Medical Supplies." It came in long crates that looked like coffins. TODD That's fitting. Was it always Zyklon-B? The cat jumps into Dussander's lap again. He throws it down, this time harder. DUSSANDER No, from time to time we would be sent something else. Experimental gases. The High Command was always interested in improving efficiency. Once they sent us a gas code-named "Pegasus." A nerve gas. Thank God they never sent it again. It... Todd sits up a little, leaning in. TODD It what? DUSSANDER It didn't work very well. It was quite boring. TODD Bullshit. You're lying. What did it do? DUSSANDER It killed them. What do you think it did, made them walk on water? It killed them. The cat jumps up a third time. This time Dussander picks it up and tosses it a good six feet. The animal hits the ground and runs away. TODD Tell me. (slurps on his Coke) Tell me. DUSSANDER I won't. I refuse. Where are my cigarettes? He finds the pack and fumbles a cigarette to his lips. He lights it. Todd watches calmly, giving the old man a moment to collect himself, and then... TODD What did it do? DUSSANDER It made them dance. TODD Dance? DUSSANDER Like Zyklon-B, it came in through the shower heads. After a few seconds the prisoners began to leap about. Some were screaming. Most of them were laughing. They began to vomit and to... to defecate helplessly. TODD You mean they... they... shit themselves? ...Woah. But Dussander ignores him, staring out into the yard as he begins to remember more easily. DUSSANDER They began to twitch all over and make high, strange sounds in their throats. At last they collapsed and just lay there on the concrete, twitching and yodeling, with blood streaming from their noses. But I lied to you, boy. It didn't kill them. Either because it wasn't strong enough or because we couldn't bring ourselves to wait that long. I suppose it was that. I sent five men in with rifles to end their agonies. These were five men I trusted. It would have looked bad on my record to have wasted so many cartridges at a time when the Fuehrer had declared every cartridge a national resource. I was always given high marks for efficiency. TODD Yeah, I bet. Dussander looks down at the remains of the meal in his lap. As if his own story has suddenly disgusted him, he balls the food up in its wrapper and shoves it into the paper bag. DUSSANDER How do you eat this crap everyday? TODD Why didn't you just do the job yourself? You carried a gun, didn't you? DUSSANDER (incredulous) I was the commandant of the camp. TODD So you never killed anybody? DUSSANDER (getting frustrated) The entire world was at war, boy. People died. TODD That's not a real answer. I'm asking about you. DUSSANDER Boy, I was a soldier in a position of power. You don't get to be there by selling ...girl scout's cookies. TODD I know what the SS was, Dussander. Who are you talking to? It was a bunch of dumb, rich kids who bought their way into the service so they wouldn't have to go fight on the front. Dussander stares at Todd, wanting to say something. Todd shovels a few more fries into his mouth, then looks up and sees Dussander eyeing him. DUSSANDER That's enough for today, boy. I beg you. I'm tired. TODD Yeah, fine. That was good story though. You always tell them good, once I get you started. ANGLE on Dussander. DUSSANDER'S DREAM #1: EXT. OPEN FIELD - DAY Dussander is asleep in his bed. A low groaning sound comes in very slowly. Dussander's eyes open. He sits up, looks around, sees that his bed is in the middle of a large open field. It is grassy, but certainly not beautiful. Something is wrong about this place. He stands out of the bed, wearing pajamas. But it is cold. He takes the sheet and wraps himself in it. The groaning is getting louder, more human. We have never seen him frightened, until now. He steps a few paces from the bed. The groans have becomes low screams. There is no where to go. Slowly, as if he knows what he's going to see, he looks down at the ground. It's just grass. But the human voices are now wailing desperately. His knees buckle, but he tries to fight it. He reaches his knees and lowers his head toward the ground. The white sheet flows around him and blows off in a gust of wind. The screams are now at a feverish pitch. His ear is inches from the grass and his eyes, marked with unmistakable terror, are wide open as... INT. DUSSANDER'S BEDROOM - NIGHT Dussander bolts upright in his bed. EXT. OUTDOOR SHOOTING RANGE - DAY RICHARD (DICK) BOWDEN, 38, is a taller, grayer version of his son. He stands over Todd's shoulder watching him shoot at a paper target. He still has on a tie from work, but the knot has been loosened and his shirt sleeves rolled up. Both Dick and Todd wear headphones and orange shooting glasses. Dick chews gum. They are alone on the range. Todd fires a few rounds from his father's .30-.30. A strained tension exists between the two Bowdens. DICK You're tight. Don't hold your breath so long. TODD Forget it. I can't concentrate. He pulls off his headphones in disgust and hands the rifle to his father. Dick takes it and begins to reload it for him. DICK I know your upset. So am I. So is your mother. TODD These honors classes... they aren't as easy as I thought they'd be. I totally admit it, I didn't prepare enough. I'm sorry. DICK Well, fine, but now is not the time to slack off. You got a chance to finish at the top of your class-- TODD Nobody wants that more than I do, Dad. DICK Well you haven't been hitting the books very much. TODD I know... DICK And seeing as you're not playing soccer this year it's not like you don't have enough time-- TODD That still bothers you, doesn't it? DICK (with difficulty) No, son. If you weren't enjoying it, then you shouldn't play. TODD I think it bothers you and you're not telling me. Dick decides to take a shot himself. He readies himself and fires. DICK That was lousy. Here. (gives the gun back to Todd) I want to see your grades come up, buddy. That's all that bothers me. And if you say you need more time to study, then that's what we'll do. The first thing is to cut out all the time you spend reading to Mr. Denker. It's a nice thing to do, but it's not helping our school work a bit. Dick is looking at his son, unsure if he has just seen a contortion of rage on his son's face. But Todd is cocking the rifle and... DICK (CONT'D) Hey, Todd. You still with me? TODD Yeah... no. Dad, don't do that. Please. Don't punish Mr. Denker for something that's my fault. I mean, he'd be lost without me-- DICK He'll be fine without you. He was fine before and he'll be fine after. There's nothing wrong with wanting to help people, but you gotta make sure you got yourself squared away first. That's what matters. Todd turns to face his father, and speaks to him with a new seriousness. TODD Dad, am I like other kids? DICK Not by a long shot. TODD Then trust me on this. Don't lose faith in me because I blew a couple of exams. I will get my grades back up. In fact I've already started. Three days a week I go over to Freddy Tremain's for extra help. He's a wiz at trig. But please, Dad, whatever you do, don't punish a helpless old man for something that's my fault. Pause. DICK Did you practice that in front of a mirror or something? Todd smiles. Feeling his father caving in, he aims the rifle and squeezes off a round. Dick keeps his eyes on Todd as he shoots. DICK (CONT'D) Hey, he's not...? TODD (it takes him a second) ...No. DICK Just checking. (thinks for a moment) All right... We'll give your way a shot. If you think you can do it, if you really do, and your serious, then... okay. You really like the old guy, don't you? TODD I'm making a difference in somebody's life. It's that simple. Todd aims the rifle down range and pulls the trigger. The gun jams. Todd tries to move the lever but it gets stuck. DICK Okay, okay. (takes the rifle) Don't ever force it. Watch. Dick begins to methodically unjam the gun. INT. DUSSANDER'S KITCHEN - DUSK TITLE: NOVEMBER 1984 Dussander looks shabbier than in previous scenes. His clothes and hair reflect an increasing disregard for personal appearance. He goes to the basement door and, leaning carefully over the steps, retrieves a fresh bottle from his stash, stored precariously on some shelves leading down to the basement. He comes back to the counter and cracks the bottle open. Todd's irritated voice booms in from the living room. TODD (O.S.) Don't get too drunk. We still have a little while. Dussander mumbles contemptuously and then speaks so Todd can hear him. DUSSANDER You don't have to do that, you know. INT. DUSSANDER'S LIVING ROOM - DUSK Todd has built a fire, probably the first fire Dussander's fireplace has seen in twenty years. The room is bathed in a warm orange glow as the winter sun sets outside. Todd uses the poker to adjust one of the logs. TODD Screw you. I'm doing this for me. This place is freezing. Dussander comes back in with his drink and settles into his easy chair, which has been positioned in front of the hearth. DUSSANDER Yes, it must be fifty degrees outside. I'm sure to you it seems positively frigid. TODD Why didn't you pay your gas bill? DUSSANDER It slipped my mind. I will attend to it tomorrow. TODD Slipped your mind. I noticed it didn't slip your mind to stock up on a new case of bourbon. DUSSANDER Leave me alone. Todd finishes with the fire and sits on the floor a few feet away. TODD All right, so finish your story, because I'm still not clear. You cook up this stew, and you bring the prisoner in, and you let them smell it, and suddenly they tell you everything? DUSSANDER Oh, don't misunderstand me. Certainly with a pistol pressed to their head, a prisoner would tell us everything we wanted to know, sometimes more. But mine was a much more ... elegant method. Remember, it had been months since they had smelled real potatoes simmering over an open flame, and boy, when that delicious odor hit their noses their mouths would drop and out would pour an account of every minor infraction their friends had committed, I mean it was magnificent... TODD And you let them eat the soup? DUSSANDER Oh, we never promised them the soup in exchange for information. We never mentioned it at all. Pause. Todd is impressed. TODD Wow, that's really good, Dussander. I mean that's... (pointing) that's thinking. Dussander does not respond. He gazes deeply into the fire. DUSSANDER ...But, as the war pressed on, the time for such civilized measures became a luxury. I remember by April of '45, we had barely enough food to feed ourselves. The sound of the Russian mortars grew louder everyday, but still, the train cars from France and Poland kept coming. This was a time of desperation. The ovens burned day and night and still I knew we would not beat the arrival of the Russian forces. Many of my men, the cowardly ones, deserted during the night. But the men that remained, the same ones I had called upon so many times, ...continued the work. At first we thought a massive fire in the main building would serve our purpose. We could just crowd them in and pull a gas torch up to each of the windows. But with so many of them, we couldn't be sure the bodies would burn properly. We needed something ...certain. Then a young, bright soldier, I shall never forget his enthusiastic smile, pointed to a pair of bulldozers near the Western gate which had been used during construction. How perfectly simple it was. The bulldozers carved a narrow trench, four meters deep, down the center of the camp. For two hours they dug until I realized we may not have enough gas to finish the job. So the inmates were given shovels and told they were building a shelter from the incoming artillery. When they were done, I immediately called for a practice drill and three thousand naked bodies began to march into the trench. It took less than twenty minutes to get them in place. Quickly the bulldozers moved down the sides of the pit sending the piles of earth into the massive grave. Those who tried to free themselves were shot, of course, but very few cartridges were wasted that day. The machines were too fast. Back and forth they went... packing the dirt. One by one the tractors ran out of gas and my men had to scurry along with shovels. But by sunset... it was done. I gave the order to evacuate. In the distance the plumes of Russian mortar fire rose like an approaching thundercloud. But I knew that no matter what happened, ...no one would ever forget what we did here. Dussander stares into the fire. Todd, wide-eyed, is locked on Dussander when... The PHONE RINGS. They look at each other, a bit puzzled. Clearly, it does not ring very often, and when it does, Dussander cannot help but be apprehensive. It rings again. Dussander gets up and moves toward the kitchen, Todd watches him go. DUSSANDER (CONT'D) Hello? (Pause. Then with apprehension) Yes? ...No, no trouble at all. ...Yes. ...Yes, he's here. ...I see. (his face softens) ...Really? ...No, no plans. ...Ah, lovely. ...My dear, I'd be delighted. ...Certainly. ...Of course I will. ...Yes, until then. ...All right. ...Good-bye. He hangs up and turns to Todd with a odd grin. DUSSANDER (CONT'D) It seems I am to be your guest for Thanksgiving dinner. INT. OLD TOYOTA CAR - ROADSIDE - NIGHT Todd and Becky are in the backseat of Becky's car. They are on a date and have parked on the side of a road overlooking the lights of their town. At 16, BECKY TRASK, is an attractive girl who has recently discovered that boys like her and she likes them. They are kissing in the back seat. MUSIC plays on the stereo. Becky's blouse is unbuttoned. She stops kissing Todd. BECKY Is everything all right? TODD Yeah, I'm fine. Becky smiles to herself, unconvinced. BECKY You're nervous. I think it's sweet. TODD No... No, I'm cool. BECKY Do you want me to do something else? Todd just stares at her. He doesn't know what he wants. Becky decides for him. She slides down out of the frame. Todd is startled at first, but lets her. After a moment, he closes his eyes. EXT. DUSSANDER'S BACK PORCH - NIGHT Dussander sits in his rocking chair. A small blanket drapes across his lap. He smokes a cigarette and holds a near-empty glass. On the ground beside him, there is a small bowl. DUSSANDER Here kitty-kitty. Here kitty-kitty. Out in the yard, the large cat emerges from the darkness and moves across the grass. It sees Dussander and, more importantly, the bowl next to him. We see that the bowl is filled with milk. DUSSANDER (CONT'D) Come, puss-puss. That's right. I'll wait. Dussander sits perfectly still. Cautiously, the cat moves toward the porch. DUSSANDER (CONT'D) That's right, puss-puss. You can smell it now, can't you? The cat creeps to the edge of the steps. It takes them one at a time. DUSSANDER (CONT'D) That's right, kitty-kitty. That's right. After a moment the cat edges up to the bowl. Its tail twitches nervously. Finally, it begins to lick up the milk. Dussander crunches the cigarette out in his empty glass. His movements are slow and patient. From under the blanket he pulls a pair of yellow rubber gloves. He begins to put them on. The cat jumps back for a moment. Dussander freezes. He waits the cat out. Soon the animal is back at the bowl. Dussander continues with the gloves. He watches the cat's tail. As the animal gets comfortable, its tail flips under the rail of the rocking chair. Dussander slams the chair back. The CAT SHRIEKS. Dussander flips the blanket on top of the cat and wraps it into a tight, squirming, HISSING bundle. He stands out of the chair. DUSSANDER (CONT'D) Gotcha. INT. BECKY'S TOYOTA - ROADSIDE - NIGHT It is later. Becky sits behind the wheel. Todd is next to her. A different song is on the RADIO. They sit for a moment in silence, clearly uncomfortable. TODD I'm sorry. BECKY It's all right. Maybe you'll be more in the mood later. TODD I don't know. That's never happened before. Becky lights a joint. She takes a puff and exhales toward Todd. TODD (CONT'D) Can you blow that the other way? BECKY Maybe you don't like me. TODD No, I do. BECKY (exhaling out the window) Maybe you don't like girls. For a moment it is as though Todd's face were purple with rage. But a moment later the expression is gone. Todd turns away. Becky sees that her comment has hurt him. BECKY (CONT'D) That was a lousy thing for me to say. I'm sorry, honey. She kisses him on the cheek. He nods reluctantly. TODD Let's just go home. INT. DUSSANDER'S KITCHEN - NIGHT Dussander bursts through the door with the bundle. A single paw emerges from the corner of the blanket and flails at Dussander, clawing him across the neck. DUSSANDER Oww, you mother-fucker. They move across the room to the stove. With difficulty, Dussander pulls open the oven door, revealing the glowing red interior. The animal SCREAMS and claws at Dussander's neck and arms, escaping more and more from the blanket with every gyration of its body. With a mighty shove Dussander plunges the cat toward the opening, but the animal braces its paws on the edge of the stove. The two are deadlocked. But Dussander's hands are too close to the heat. He screams. His grip loosens just enough. With a desperate cry, the animal charges up Dussander's body, over his head, and leaps to the floor. Dussander dives after it. DUSSANDER (CONT'D) Come here! But the animal is too swift. In a second, it is atop the counter and out the open window above the sink. Although defeated and exhausted, Dussander cannot contain his excitement. His panting gives way to a twisted, hearty laugh. TODD'S DAYDREAM: INT. EXAMINATION ROOM - DAY This is a 1940's laboratory. Todd is in his boxer shorts. Dussander is next to him, wearing a lab coat and his S.S. officers hat. Todd looks down on the examination table. A YOUNG GIRL, about 16, is held to the table with clamps. She is naked, staring at Todd. Behind the table is a glass window and behind that is another room where OTHER SCIENTISTS are monitoring equipment. Over Dussander's methodical voice, Todd's dream shows flashes of what is being done: some sort of sexual experiment on the girl. DUSSANDER (to other scientists) Test run eight-four. Electricity, sexual stimulus, metabolism. Based on the Thyssen theories of negative reinforcement. Dreamlike SOUNDS and images pass before us: Todd's breathing, the girl's cry, electrical equipment, naked flesh, maybe Todd's, maybe the girl's. DUSSANDER (CONT'D) Subject is a young Jewish girl, approximately sixteen years of age, no scars, no identifying marks, no known disabilities -- Inside the control room, a SCIENTIST monitors a volt meter, calling out the readings as Dussander yells for the voltage to be increased. As the meter rises, the girl SCREAMS more violently. Perhaps her eyes roll back, her tongue flutters in her mouth. Through all of this, the scientists call out and the record heart rate, blood pressure, brain activity, voltage, etc. Todd's eyes close. His breathing accelerates as does the motion of his hips until... INT. HIGH SCHOOL CLASSROOM - DAY Todd snaps out of his daydream. His trigonometry class is having an examination. He sits at his desk, staring blankly at the paper before him. Most of the answer spaces are empty. He knows he is going to fail another test. EXT. OUTOOOR SHOOTING RANGE - DAY Todd is blasting away, rapid-firing the rifle down range at an unfortunate paper target. The protective headphones lay on the counter beside him, as does his backpack. He stops shooting when a voice snaps over the P.A. speaker next to him. VOICE (O.S.) You, on lane twelve. You need to have your headgear on at all times. (click) And no rapid firing. Todd looks over at the man frowning at him from inside a small booth. Todd puts on the headgear, and after a moment, the man goes back to reading a newspaper. Todd looks up and down the range. One or two other shooters are concentrating on their targets. Todd quickly hoists his rifle up and aims it at the man in the booth. He snaps off a single dry round. Todd smiles weakly at the sound of the click. Unnoticed by anyone, he turns back toward the target, strangely comforted. INT. DINING ROOM - BOWDEN HOUSE - DAY Thanksgiving dinner. All the Bowden's are there, including Dick's parents, VICTOR and AGNES. Dussander sits at the head of the table, Todd next to him. The family has finished dinner and is having coffee. Dick and his father smoke cigars. Todd's mother, MONICA BOWDEN, still pretty at 36, pours Dussander some more coffee. MONICA Todd loved that dog. A lot more than Dick did. DICK We all loved that dog. AGNES I remember when you had to put it down, Todd cried for two weeks. Just about broke my heart. DUSSANDER Excuse, me, Mrs. Bowden. Put it down? I've been here over twenty years but that's a new one. VICTOR Means put it to sleep, Victor. Dussander still looks puzzled. He looks to Todd, but Victor jumps in. VICTOR (CONT'D) Well, it's how they kill it, Arthur. They do it all the time at the pound, ...sick dogs, dogs nobody wants. MONICA It's very humane. DUSSANDER I see. Todd shoots him a fiery glare that the others don't notice. MONICA Some more pie? DUSSANDER As my departed wife used to say, 'One must never overdo the sublime.' AGNES It was delicious, Monica. VICTOR Tell me, Arthur, if you don't mind me asking. What did you do during the war? AGNES Now don't get too personal, Victor. A quick moment between Todd and Dussander. DUSSANDER I was a student at the University until my reserve unit was called in 1943. (notices Victor) But we were not a combat unit, thank God. Mechanical engineers. Help me find my cigarettes, Todd. Would you? In those days, not even the call of higher learning could exempt an able body from military service. Dussander's cigarettes are right in front of him. Todd fetches one and, bringing it to his own lips, lights it for him. MONICA Todd Bowden! DUSSANDER (laughs knowingly) My dear, I do apologize. My hands are too arthritic to strike a match, I'm afraid. Your son has been good enough to help an old man with his filthy habits. MONICA Well...as long as you don't inhale. TODD Cigarettes are gross, Mom. VICTOR Well, Victor, you were doing your part like we all were, I suppose. Of course, if you were in the Pacific Fleet I'd have to shoot you. Everyone laughs, except Todd. DICK (to Dussander) My dad is very proud of the fact that the Bowden men have hit every major conflict since the Civil War. VICTOR That's right. Dickie served two tours in Vietnam. Earned a bronze star and a purple heart. DICK It's one family tradition I'd like to put an end to. Todd and I blow a few caps down at the range every week. That's all the combat he needs. TODD (perking up, offended) What's that supposed to mean? DICK Forget it. DUSSANDER (looking at Todd) Perhaps your son would excel in combat. MONICA Todd could excel at anything. Right, honey? Todd doesn't answer. His eyes are still on Dick. Dick notices him. AGNES (getting up, starts to clear some dishes) Oh, let's don't even talk about this. I can't stand to think of you boys fighting another war. DUSSANDER The Purple Heart. You were injured? TODD He was knocked unconscious and woke up in a hospital. A long pause. Dick is embarrassed and offended by Todd's stab. He puffs on his cigar. Agnes comes in from the kitchen and picks up some more dishes. Dick stands suddenly to help her. DICK Mom, let me get that for you. EXT. RESIDENTIAL STREET - SIDEWALK - NIGHT Todd and Dussander walk together in silence. Todd is clearly in a bad mood. Dussander prods him. DUSSANDER You shouldn't be so hard on your father. TODD Why don't you mind your own business. DUSSANDER (amused at Todd's short fuse) Boy, It's not so easy to raise children. Your father does the best he can, I'm sure. Having his own father there is bound to cause some anxiety on his part-- TODD Oh, give me a frigging break, will you? Look who's talking to me, for Christ's sake. And what was that crap about the dog? If you were any more charming I was going to puke. DUSSANDER Heavens, boy, wasn't that precisely the point? I used the evening to our advantage. TODD Our advantage? Our advantage? DUSSANDER Certainly now they will offer no objections if you continue to come over and read to me. TODD You sure take a lot for granted. Do you think there's anybody forcing me to come over to your scuzzy house and watch you slop up booze all day? Do you? DUSSANDER Lower your voice. People will hear. TODD So what? Dussander stops. DUSSANDER No, nobody forces you to come. In fact, you are welcome to stay away. Believe me, boy, I have no scruples about drinking alone. None at all. They start walking again. Dussander turns up his driveway. Todd follows. TODD You know, if they found out what you are, they'd spit on you. DUSSANDER I am sure they would have nothing but revulsion for me. But what would they say about you, boy, when I told them you had known about me for nine months... and said nothing? Dussander unlocks his door and steps in. DUSSANDER (CONT'D) Come and see me if you please, and stay home if you don't. Good night, boy. He closes the door. INT. DUSSANDER'S KITCHEN - DAY TITLE: DECEMBER 1984 Todd places a brightly wrapped Christmas present on the table in front of Dussander, who looks at it skeptically. TODD Go ahead, open it. Wait, I better pull down the shades, first. DUSSANDER What for? TODD Just to be safe. DUSSANDER (getting up) To hell with this. You open it. TODD Oh, relax, old man. Sit down and open it. Todd opens the refrigerator and pulls out a can of Coke. Dussander slowly sits back down. DUSSANDER You wrapped it yourself, I see. He begins to remove the bow, and then the paper. He moves very cautiously, as if the package might explode at any moment. Finally, he removes the lid and his expression shifts from one of fear to one of exasperation. TODD Merry Christmas! We see that the box contains a replica of an officer's S.S. uniform, complete with hat and jackboots. Dussander reads the label. DUSSANDER Pete's Quality Costume Clothiers - Serving You Since 1976. TODD Go ahead, try it on. DUSSANDER Are you out of your mind, boy? What makes you think I would put something like that on? TODD I thought you'd like it -- DUSSANDER Like it? My God, you're a bigger fool than I thought. Maybe I'll put it on and do a little shopping downtown. Is that what you thought? You stupid, boy. TODD Don't call me stupid. DUSSANDER You... You know, you are correct. I am the stupid one. For months I have suffered your indignities. I have exposed my past to you while watching you stuff your face with those wretched hamburgers. I have stocked my refrigerator with Coca Cola and ding dongs. All for you, I have done these things and I'm tired of it. But because I value my life and my freedom, what's left of it anyway, I do them. But I'll die before I put this thing on, you fucking piss-ant. TODD That's enough. You don't get to talk to me like that. Dussander bangs the table. DUSSANDER I should smash you. TODD Do it. Please. (pause) Indignities? What you've suffered with me is nothing compared to what the Israelis would do to you. Remember what happened to Eichmann? You forget that, I think. And, you know, that's my fault. I have let you forget. You have gotten comfortable with this situation. Well, don't you for one minute ever forget who holds the cards here. Don't you ever forget that envelope under my mattress. I tried to do this the nice way, I tried to do something to please you, but you don't want it. So fine, we'll do it the hard way. You will put this on because I want to see you in it. Now strip. DUSSANDER I hope you go to hell -- INT. DUSSANDER'S KITCHEN - DAY It is five minutes later. Dussander stands in the uniform. He looks at it indignantly. DUSSANDER The insignia is all wrong. The boots should be leather, not imitation. TODD That suit cost me over eighty bucks... with the boots. DUSSANDER And this material... what? Polyester? TODD Quiet. Straighten that hat. Dussander ignores him. TODD (CONT'D) Straighten that hat, soldier! DUSSANDER Good Gott. Dussander does what he is told. TODD Actung! Slowly Dussander straightens up. TODD (CONT'D) Now, march... Do it! Dussander begins to move his feet in place. TODD (CONT'D) That's it. March. Dussander has gotten into a rhythm, marching faster in place. TODD (CONT'D) About face. Dussander spins sharply on his heels. He continues to march. TODD (CONT'D) About face. Dussander is stomping in place vigorously. He spins on command, facing Todd. He gives a Nazi salute. Todd watches him march for a moment. At first he enjoys the domination, but as Dussander gets caught up in the marching, Todd's expression changes. TODD (CONT'D) Okay, that's enough. Dussander is still marching furiously. TODD (CONT'D) I said that's enough! Suddenly Dussander stops. He collapses into a chair, exhausted. He sits there panting for a moment. DUSSANDER Boy... be careful. You play with fire. DUSSANDER'S DREAM #2: INT. DUSSANDER'S BEDROOM - NIGHT Dussander wakes to a strange, faint rumble. He climbs out of bed and walks across his bedroom toward the source of the sound. We follow him as he moves farther and farther away from his bed. Soon it is apparent that he is in a space much larger than his room. Yet he is still in darkness, as if his room has suddenly ended and continues into a black void. But the rumble gets louder, more mechanical sounding. As the sound crescendoes we see what Dussander sees. A train car. Steam rises in the air as if the train has just come to a complete stop in the night. Dussander stares at the boxcar coldly, and we realize that something is staring back at him. Eyes, dozens of them, glare back at him from between the slatted boards of the train. Some are low to the flooe, like those of children. Others are higher. Dussander snaps at them in German. DUSSANDER (in German) Come out. ...Come out, now! No one exits the train. Yet, the eyes seem to move around cautiously within the boxcar. Dussander is getting angry. His orders aren't being carried out. Suddenly the door of the train slides open. But still only the eyes are visible. DUSSANDER (CONT'D) (in German) Line up in front of the train. Now! Again, no one gets off. Enraged, Dussander takes a few steps toward the train. In a flash the eyes charge at him. But these are not the eyes of prisoners. These are wolves. Dussander can only cover his face with his arms as the snarling teeth descend upon him. INT. DUSSANDER'S BEDROOM - NIGHT Dussander wakes from his nightmare in a cold sweat. His pajamas are soaked. Disoriented and out of breath, he climbs out of bed and clicks on the light. The closet. He stares at the closed closet door for a moment and then moves toward it slowly. He opens the door and runs his fingers across the assortment of shirts and jackets. His hand stops near the back. INT. DUSSANDER'S BEDROOM - FIVE MINUTES LATER Dussander is seated on the side of the bed smoking a cigarette. He is dressed, with the exception of the boots and hat, in the SS uniform. He appears calmer, less agitated. He crunches out the cigarette and slips under the covers. He turns off the light. He closes his eyes. For the moment, he is at peace. INT. HIGH SCHOOL - LOCKER AREA - DAY Todd stands facing his open locker. He is staring at his report card. Sweat collects on his forehead. He looks like he is about to explode. He wipes his brow with his sleeve and turns around to see if anyone notices him. TWO STUDENTS catch his eye. They are both Asian. They are smiling and pouring over each other's report cards. Todd zips open his backpack, giving us a quick glimpse of the disassembled rifle pieces inside. He throws the report card in and zips up the bag. Slinging the bag over his shoulder, he slams the locker shut and heads off down the hall. INT. HIGH SCHOOL GYMNASIUM - DAY Todd is shooting baskets with Joey. It is after school. Todd wears a white T-shirt. Off to the side, we see the dress shirt he was wearing earlier and his school bag. JOEY So what are you going to do? TODD Fuck if I know. Todd throws up a clumsy shot. It misses. JOEY You're throwing it flat. Let it roll off your fingers more. TODD (snapping at him) I don't need a lesson. Todd adjusts his grip on the ball anyway. He shoots again. No good. JOEY Your dad, man. I don't know. I mean, I'm a fuck up. My dad is used to this crap from me. Todd does not respond to his friend's attempt at humor. He is slamming the ball around with great force. He bounces it hard off the back wall to give himself a rebound. He is mumbling to himself. JOEY What? TODD What? JOEY You said something? TODD No. JOEY You're talking to yourself, Bowden. It's not the first time I've noticed it. What is going on with you? TODD Nothing, Joey. I fucked up. I'II fix it. I'II fix it. JOEY (hurt) All right, man. Whatever you say. Look, I got to get to practice. No response from Todd. JOEY (CONT'D) If you need to talk, you can call me. You know that. I'II see you around. Joey walks off. Todd continues shooting the ball. TODD (mumbling) You're talking to yourself, Bowden. You're talking to yourself, Bowden. He throws up a shot. It is good. TODD (CONT'D) I'II fix it. I'II fix it. A strange SQUAWKING sound is heard. Todd doesn't hear it at first, but as the sound grows louder Todd stops the ball and looks around. His eyes focus on the area near an open doorway. Sunlight streams into the empty gym. Todd walks closer, seeing that the sound is coming from an injured bird that has crawled in from outside. He goes up to it. The bird is black. Its wing is damaged. It SQUAWKS loudly, looking up at Todd. Todd begins mumbling again. He starts to dribble the ball thoughtlessly. As his words become clearer, the bouncing gets harder. TODD (CONT'D) I'll fix it. I'll fix it. I'll fix it. Todd is bouncing the ball very hard next to him. The bird continues to SCREAM. Slowly the ball drifts from beside Todd to in front of him, gaining force with every bounce. He brings it up to his face and with both hands throws it down with all his might. When it comes back up, it is smeared with blood. He throws it down again, this time it comes up with feathers smeared in the blood. The squawking has stopped. Blood splatters on Todd's shirt. His eyes close. He stops the ball, looks around. No one has seen him. He notices his shirt. Calmly, he tears it off, wraps the ball in it, and tosses it in a nearby trash can. EXT. RESIDENTIAL STREET - DAY Todd pedals his bike through town, carrying a brown paper bag under one arm. He turns down Dussander's street. He stops in front of the house and heads for the front door. INT. DUSSANDER'S KITCHEN - DAY Dussander emerges from the basement just as Todd comes into the kitchen. Todd sniffs the air, frowns. TODD What the fuck happened in here? DUSSANDER Ah, boy... I burned my TV dinner, I'm afraid. TODD Something's come up. Sit down. Dussander's studies Todd for a moment. Although Todd appears calm, his tone reflects a somber, business-like attitude. DUSSANDER I see. (sits at table) What seems to be the trouble? Todd sets his grade card and the envelope on the table. Dussander picks up the grade card and examines it. DUSSANDER Quarterly Progress Report. (he reads silently) You seem to have fallen on the rocks, my boy. One B, three C's and a D. Hardly the work of a "National Merit Scholar," or whatever you call yourself. TODD This isn't a joke, Dussander. I can't blame this on teachers or honors classes anymore. DUSSANDER Looks like you have a problem then. TODD I have a problem? You still don't get it. I'm out of excuses. Do you know what's going to happen when my dad sees that? He's going to hit the fucking roof. He'll get it all out of me. The truth, you...everything. DUSSANDER Boy, it's not my fault your grades have fallen. TODD Don't be so sure. Dussander throws Todd a dismissive wave. He gets up to get a drink DUSSANDER Please, you don't spend that much time here. I hardly think-- TODD (quickly, as if confessing something) I can't study anymore. Pause. Dussander looks at him oddly, a bit surprised. But then opens the cabinet and pulls out a glass, allowing Todd to continue. TODD (with difficulty) I try. But it's... different now. I sit in front of my books and start thinking about... about corpses, and electrified fences and people getting strangled with piano wire. All that crap you tell me. The next thing I know it's after midnight. I sit in class like a zombie, ...useless. But that's not the half of it. Check out the letter. Dussander goes back to the table and picks up the envelope. He opens it. DUSSANDER (reading letter) 'Dear Mr. and Mrs. Bowden, this note is to suggest that we have a group conference concerning Todd's first semester grades. In light of his previous good work in this school, the sudden deterioration in his grades suggest a specific problem which should be addressed before his academic advancement is jeopardized permanently. Such a problem can often be solved by a frank and open discussion. I am ready to work out a time for us to meet. In a case such as this, earlier is usually better. Sincerely yours, Edward French.' Who is this Edward French, the headmaster? TODD French? Fuck no. He's a stupid guidance counselor. DUSSANDER Guidance counselor? What is that? TODD He guides and he counsels. You read the fucking note. Do you realize I could have to go to summer school? Me, in there with all those fuck-ups. I do not want to go to summer school. DUSSANDER Or to the reformatory. TODD What did you say? DUSSANDER Boy, ...you have a far greater problem than your school grades. Before you speak to me about what they will "get out of you", remember the facts. ...Seventy thousand people died at Patin. Have you forgotten that? To the world at large I am the most despicable of criminals, a monster. Do you think I would stand aside and let you turn me in so easily? Without a fight? Is your American self-confidence so bloated that you have never once realized you are an accessory to my crimes. You have criminal knowledge of an illegal alien, and have not reported it. Don't you see that? And if I'm caught, I will tell the world all about you. When the reporters put their microphones in my face it will be your name I'll repeat over and over again. Todd Bowden, yes that's his name. How long?... oh, for months, almost a year. He wanted to know everything... That's how he put it, yes - everything. TODD They'd never believe you. DUSSANDER Perhaps, perhaps not. It's a gamble. How would you explain all those books you were reading to me? My eyes are not what they were but I can still read fine print. I can prove it. TODD So what? I'd say you tricked me. DUSSANDER Why would I do that? TODD For friendship, because you're lonely and had no one in your life. No jury would take your word over mine. A Nazi? Forget it. Just get it out of your head. You can't threaten me and you can't scare me. What you can do is find me a pencil. DUSSANDER A pencil, what for? Todd sets the small paper bag on the table. Dussander opens it and removes a small bottle. The label reads: "ink eradicator." He also removes an x-acto knife and a few sheets of rub-off letters. TODD That will take care of the report card, I think. About that fucking letter, I don't know. Todd sits down at the table. He takes the bottle from Dussander and examines the report card. TODD (CONT'D) Fuck... come on, a pencil. A sharp one. With an eraser. Dussander pauses. He knows Todd is right. Slowly, he goes to the counter and opens a drawer. He rummages through it as Todd sits with his back to him. Dussander picks out a pencil with an extremely sharp point. He holds it point out and approaches Todd. He gets closer, the point moves in toward the back of Todd's head. He holds the point inches from the boy's neck. He deliberates. DUSSANDER Will this do? Todd grabs the pencil. Dussander turns toward the window. He thinks for a moment. DUSSANDER (CONT'D) Tell me, does this French know your parents in a social way? TODD Him? Fuck, no. They wouldn't mix with a geek like him. DUSSANDER How about professionally? Has he ever called them before? TODD No. I've never needed it. Why? DUSSANDER I have an idea. It will require you to make one phone call. INT. HIGH SCHOOL - OFFICE WAITING AREA - DAY Kurt Dussander, a.k.a. Arthur Denker, a.k.a. Victor Bowden, Todd's grandfather, sits outside an office marked, "Edward French - Guidance." Dussander looks the best he has ever looked. His hair is clean and combed. His face is shaved. And he is smartly dressed in his best blue suit. As he waits, he glances down at a piece of paper. We see that it is a "crib- sheet" of Todd's family tree. Several names appear on the sheet, connected to other names by lines and arrows. By each name is one or two word description, such as "dead: cancer, 1981" or "divorced, Dallas, Tex." The door opens up. Dussander pockets the note. EDWARD FRENCH, 40's, stands in the doorway. He wears a turtle neck under his sportcoat. FRENCH Mr. Bowden? DUSSANDER Mr. French, a pleasure. There is a bit of hesitation on French's part, but they shake hands. Dussander notices the shoes on French's feet, bright red converse high-tops. DUSSANDER (CONT'D) My, those are some... colorful shoes. INT. HIGH SCHOOL - FRENCH'S OFFICE - DAY French makes his way around his desk. Dussander stands by the door. FRENCH To you, sir, I'm sure they seem quite out of the ordinary. But when it is your job to get confused sixteen year-olds to open up to you, you take whatever steps you need. Please have a seat. They both sit. DUSSANDER And the shoes work? FRENCH They seem to help, believe it or not. Well, I thank you for coming down, Mr. Bowden, but I'll be frank with you... DUSSANDER Yes, please do. FRENCH The fact that you're here and not Todd's parents tells me a great deal. DUSSANDER I'm sure. My son and his wife asked me to come in and discuss this sorry business with you, Mr. French. Todd is a good boy, believe me. This trouble with his grades is only temporary. Dussander pulls out his cigarettes and then, thinking twice, puts them back. FRENCH It's all right. (pulls an ashtray from desk drawer) There's no smoking on school grounds, but if it will make you more comfortable, I'll never tell. DUSSANDER A terrible habit, but thank you. (lights up) I suppose I should begin by informing you that my son and my daughter-in-law are having troubles at home. Rather bad troubles, I should think. FRENCH I appreciate your candor. DUSSANDER (leaning in) The mother drinks. FRENCH Oh. DUSSANDER Yes. The boy has told me that he has come home on two occasions and has found her sprawled out on the kitchen table. He knows how my son feels about her drinking and so on these occasions he has put dinner in the oven himself and forced enough black coffee down his mother's throat so that she will at least be awake when Richard gets home. FRENCH That's bad. Has Mrs. Bowden thought about getting professional help for her problem? DUSSANDER The boy has tried to persuade her, but she is far too ashamed, I think. If she was given a little time... You understand? FRENCH Of course. Your son... Todd's father... DUSSANDER He is not without blame, believe me. The hours he works. The meals he has missed. They take a toll on a family. I was raised to believe that a man's family came before his work or anything else. I tried to teach my son that... but -- FRENCH There's only so much we can teach our kids, Mr. Bowden. ...What about Monica's mother or father? Couldn't they talk to her? DUSSANDER Her mother, Sabrina, lives in a nursing home in Florida. I'm afraid after her husband died she lost her will to live. FRENCH Probably not the best person for Monica to speak to. DUSSANDER Indeed. FRENCH Mr. Bowden, I don't have to remind you, I'm sure, of Todd's stellar academic record. National Merit Scholar finalist, Academic All-Stars. DUSSANDER Yes. I keep his certificates on the wall of my store. I run a small bookstore in San Remo. A hint of skepticism crosses French's eyes. FRENCH (glancing at folder on desk) Yes, I see that. Anyway, Todd is, and I hate to phrase it this way, but he's one of the ones worth fighting for. He's a special kid, we both know that. But If Todd's grades don't improve drastically and quickly... he'll be opening a real nasty can of worms. Summer school would just be the beginning. His whole college acceptance schedule would be thrown way off course. The good schools won't know what to make of him. I'm sure he'd hate that and so would you. DUSSANDER Of course. FRENCH So let's get to the bottom line, shall we? What I'm proposing is some family counselling at the Counselling Center downtown. Everything is in confidence, of course. A man in charge down there, Harry Shumacher, is a good friend of mine. I think Todd and his parents should go see him together. It might be difficult for Todd to go to his parents with this; I think you should do it. Maybe we can get everybody on track by the end of the next quarter. It will be tough, but not impossible. DUSSANDER I'm not sure that would be the best thing for the boy. The parents might resent him if I took them that proposal right now. Things are very delicate. To swing the scale too far in the wrong direction might cause more harm than good. The boy has promised to work harder in his studies. He is most concerned by the drop in his grades, more alarmed than you might expect. He has his mind set on attending Stanford or Berkeley next fall and does not wish to see his plans altered. FRENCH Yes, well -- DUSSANDER Also, the parents would resent me. Monica already thinks I meddle too much in her affairs. FRENCH I have a great deal of experience in these matters, Mr. Bowden. And please understand that my interest in your son's marital problems begins and ends with the effect they are having on Todd. And right now I think they are having quite an effect. I really think counselling is in order here. DUSSANDER Allow me to make a counter proposal. You have, I believe, a system for warning parents of poor grades? FRENCH Yes, Interpretation of Progress cards. IOP cards. The kids call them flunk card. They only get them when their grades in a class fall below the seventy percent. That means a "D" or an "F". Why? DUSSANDER And they are sent out when? FRENCH Mid-quarter. That's about three weeks into the new marking period. DUSSANDER Allowing for Christmas break, the next time they are sent out will be in late January, correct? FRENCH Yes, that's right. DUSSANDER Good. Then what I suggest is this... EXT. DUSSANDER'S BACK PORCH - DAY Dussander still wears the blue suit. The tie has been loosened and top button undone. Todd still wears his backpack. TODD You what? DUSSANDER I told him you were getting back on track by your own accord. I gave him my word. If you get even one flunk card-- TODD Are you out of your fucking mind? I'm going to get three or four flunk cards. I failed an economics test today, so there's another one. DUSSANDER Boy, it was the best I could do without arousing suspicion. TODD I could have done better myself -- DUSSANDER Well you didn't, did you? This is the way it is and now you are upset because the only way you can make things right is to work. TODD You're insane. I'm upset because it can't be done. DUSSANDER It can. And it will. You will work. TODD I don't take orders from you. Maybe you've forgotten -- DUSSANDER (turning on him) Listen, boy. Before today it was possible, just barely possible, that you could have denounced me and come out clean yourself. The way your nerves have been lately I don't think so, but never mind that. It was - at least technically possible. But now things have changed. Today I impersonated your grandfather, one Victor Bowden. And it was you who arranged the meeting. What would people make of that? If things come out now... perhaps you were right, your age and a good attorney might keep you out of jail, but you would be humiliated, boy, publicly. You would be infamous. Your parents too. Do you know what such a scandal would do to them? To you? Think about that. Todd is stunned. He turns away, then back again, struggling for the right words. TODD You fucker. DUSSANDER It's a done deal, boy. If you don't like it, you can discuss it at family counselling. TODD God! I wish... I wish -- DUSSANDER Never mind your wishes. Your wishes make me sick. All I want to hear is that you understand the situation. Todd is furious. He sees there is no other way, but continues fighting. TODD Look, you gotta believe me. There is no way in hell that I can pull myself out of a half year slide in a couple of weeks. I wish I could, but we're just going to have to think of something else. DUSSANDER Boy, the time for discussion is over. This is the way it is. You are going to work. And I am going to be right here with you. TODD What are you talking about? EXT. BIKE PATH - DAY Todd is standing with his bike on a dirt path. He is looking out at something. The wind blows throw his hair. A distant glimpse of some buildings off to the side tell us he is on a hill. DUSSANDER (V.O.) You are going to spend the rest of this quarter, all of your vacation and the first three weeks of January studying. During your free period you will study. During lunch, you will study. And after school and on weekends you will come here and do the same. EXT. BIKE PATH - TUNNEL - DAY Todd pedals his bike furiously toward the camera. He approaches a tunnel lined with corrugated metal below an overpass. TODD (V.O.) Not here, at home. DUSSANDER (V.O.) No. At home you will dawdle, you will talk on the telephone, watch TV. Here, I can make sure that nothing distracts you from your studies. Todd emerges from the tunnel. DUSSANDER'S DREAM #3: EXT. PRISON YARD - NIGHT Spotlights, like those from a guard tower, criss cross over a small compound surrounded by an electrified fence. Inside the pen, wolf-like dogs snarl and gnash their teeth. The spotlight catches the source of their aggravation... Dussander, caught ghoulishly in the roving light, stands in uniform outside the pen. He is laughing. In his hand is his Luger. He fires through the fence, killing one of the dogs. They go wild. He laughs harder. He shoots again, and then again. It is like shooting fish in a barrel. The light beam passes the pen to reveal that the dogs have transformed into human prisoners. They maneuver helplessly to avoid Dussander's bullets. But he fires faster, his laugh growing more extreme. His movements in between shots becomes a sort of dance. One prisoner flies against the fence in a pools of sparks. As Dussander's waltz reaches it's climax, one prisoner remains in the pen. He looks up. It is Todd. Angle on Dussander's toothy grin. The gun comes up... INT. DUSSANDER'S BEDROOM - NIGHT - IMMEDIATELY AFTER Dussander wakes up. A CLANKING SOUND echoes from the street. Dussander looks like he could have been having a wonderful sex dream, but he turns his head toward the direction of the street. He clicks on the light. Dressed in the SS uniform, he gets up and moves toward the window. Through the window, bathed in the glow of a street lamp, a derelict, who we will come to know as ARCHIE, rummages through Dussander's trashcans. Under his arm are a few of the empty bourbon bottles. INT. BECKY'S TOYOTA - NIGHT The car pulls into the driveway of Todd's house. Becky is smoking a joint and blowing the smoke out the window. They both look a little tipsy, as if they have been to a party. She holds the joint up to Todd. He contemplates, then takes it. Todd's first toke of marijuana isn't very small. Becky looks on, surprised. She reaches out for the joint and Todd waves her off. He pulls again, this time ingesting a huge hit. He holds it, then exhales. He gives the roach back to Becky. TODD Their light is still on. I'll get out on your side. Don't say anything. Becky gets out. Todd slides over and does the same. She crushes the joint out on the pavement and puts the rest in her purse. INT. DUSSANDER'S BEDROOM - NIGHT Dussander watches Archie collect the cans and bottles. There is something about Archie that makes Dussander wonder if he has seen him before. Archie looks up, right into Dussander's window, as if he were expecting him to be there. The two stare at one another for a long moment. Suddenly Dussander is aware that he is dressed in the SS uniform. He quickly steps back from the window. His breathing is short and erratic as he waits in the shadows for Archie to finish. After a long moment, the noise from the street stops. We hear only the faint steps of Archie walking away. INT. TODD'S BEDROOM - BOWDEN HOUSE - NIGHT Todd and Becky's lips are locked in a passionate kiss. In their exuberance they fall onto the bed. As they try to undress and kiss at the same time, Becky begins to moan. Todd brings his fingers to his lips. TODD Shhh. Their clothes tumble off around them. TODD (CONT'D) Don't move. He slides off her and opens the drawer by his bed. He pulls out a condom. By now she is naked. Todd slips out of his underwear and falls on top of her. The RADIO plays in the b.g. as Todd begins to grind away with his hips. She moans softly with delight. The CAMERA MOVES off of them to reveal a man in a lab coat setting up a volt meter. This is one of the scientists from Todd's laboratory nightmare. The CAMERA continues TO PAN across the bedroom, showing the other scientists preparing for the electricity experiment. The CAMERA STOPS on Dussander, clipboard in hand, observing everything carefully. Todd releases with a final thrust. Becky is MOANING in a series of high, fast yelps. Todd lies still on her body. Becky is speechless, still quivering from the unusually intense love making. INT. DUSSANDER'S BEDROOM - NIGHT The bedroom is dark except for the glowing tip of a cigarette. Dussander is in bed, wide awake... INT. DUSSANDER'S KITCHEN - DAY TITLE: JANUARY 1985 Todd sits alone at the table, eating while he studies. Dussander crosses the frame behind him, drink in hand. Todd is noticeably annoyed by Dussander's presence. EXT. BIKE PATH - TUNNEL - DUSK It is raining. Todd is riding fast. He wears a raincoat with the hood up. He talks to himself loudly, but we can't make out what he is saying. He enters the tunnel. The muddy run-off inside the tunnel catches Todd by surprise. He loses control of the bike and falls into the mud. TODD Fuck. Todd gets up and tries to free his bike, but the mud and water do not make the job easy. He is almost finished when a gruff voice catches his attention. ARCHIE (O.S.) Hey, kid, you having some trouble? Todd looks up and sees a figure moving toward him in the shadows of the tunnel. Todd quickly pulls out a pocket knife. He flicks open the blade and hides it behind his leg. TODD No. I got it... thanks. The figure steps closer. The light catches his face to reveal Archie. He is an unshaven, filthy mess, and when he speaks his words are slurred from years of steady drinking. ARCHIE That case maybe you could loan me a dollar. Help out a Vietnam vet? How 'bout it? Todd eyes the man cautiously. He looks around. No one is nearby. The constant din of the rain echoes within the confines of the tunnel. TODD I... I don't know... I don't think so. Todd palms the knife out of sight and slowly approaches the bum. ARCHIE C'mon, you got something for me. I know you do. TODD Well, maybe... I have to check. Todd's hands go into his pockets. He stops a few feet from the bum. ARCHIE See, I got to get up to L.A. Got a job waiting for me up there. Todd moves closer. Close enough to touch the bum. TODD I thought I did have a couple of quarters... The bum looks at him hopefully. Todd looks back at him, sizing him up, really noticing him for the first time. ARCHIE You know, (his voice drops) For a dollar I'll give you a blow job. Take you right up there where it's still dry. You never had so good, kid. You'll come your brains out. Todd freezes for a moment. The bum is right in his face. Suddenly Todd throws a handful of change at the bum and sprints back to his bike. He hops on and is gone in a flash, leaving the bum there to pick up the scattered coins. As Todd zips away, the hood is off his head. The rain begins to beat away the splattered mud from his face. INT. HIGH SCHOOL - HISTORY CLASS - DAY Mr. Proxmire makes his way through the rows of desks. He is passing out papers. PROXMIRE Our illustrious administration, in its quest to make my job as difficult as possible, has decided that home room teachers are now responsible for handing IOP cards for all your classes. So for those of you getting flunk cards, you'll find them attached to last week's exam. Moans erupt from the class. Todd sits motionless at his desk. The moment of truth. Proxmire passes him and places the exam face down on Todd's desk. Todd hesitates before turning it over. He is sweating. He flips the paper over and glares at the small card clipped to the top of the paper. He picks up the card and reads it: "I'm sure glad I didn't have to give you one of these for real! Great improvement, Todd. -- Anne Leland." Todd cannot contain his delight. Nearby students stare curiously at the strange boy beaming over his flunk card. INT. DUSSANDER'S KITCHEN - DAY Dussander sits at the table. He holds the IOP card out at arm's length to read it. The bourbon bottle next to him is empty. Todd sits across from him. DUSSANDER Well, this calls for a celebration, no? Dussander gets up and goes to the refrigerator. TODD Look, I guess I owe a lot of this to you. I'm not proud of it, but it's true. DUSSANDER (eyeing him cautiously) Your gratitude humbles me. (pause) How about some Ritz crackers and Velveeta? TODD Sure, what the hell. Dussander goes about his task, taking items from the cabinets, etc. Todd watches all of this intently, but without expression. DUSSANDER I would have expected you to be doing back flips down the hallway after such good news. You are so quiet. Todd does not respond. DUSSANDER (CONT'D) Today, I think, I give you the day off from studying. How's that? How about one of my stories instead? I still have a few good ones saved up. TODD I don't care. Whatever you want. Todd is wringing his hand together nervously under the table. Dussander places a box of crackers on the table and goes back to the counter. DUSSANDER Let's see. I could tell you about the special soap we made. Or there is always the story of how I escaped from Berlin after I was foolish enough to go back. That was a close one, I promise you. TODD Anything, really. DUSSANDER No, none of these I think. You don't seem to be in the mood. Dussander slices open a pack of Velveeta and puts it on a plate. DUSSANDER (CONT'D) I think today I will tell you the story of an old man who was afraid. He was afraid of a certain young boy who was, in a queer way, his friend. The boy proved to be a very good student, but perhaps not in the way his mother or his teachers had envisioned. At first the old man disliked the boy intensely, but then he grew to... to enjoy the boy's company. Of course, there was still a great deal of distrust between them. He puts a glass of Coke in front of Todd and goes back to the counter. He opens a drawer, takes something out, closes it. DUSSANDER (CONT'D) Each knew something that other wanted to keep secret. But over time, the old man began to feel that things were changing. He felt his hold on the boy slipping away from him. Dussander goes to the cellar door. His back is to Todd. He opens the door and clicks on the light. Todd stands up silently. DUSSANDER (CONT'D) So. One sleepless night the old man got out of bed and wrote down the story of his involvement with the boy. Everything he could remember, from the first day forward. Todd has moved across the floor, careful not to let the floor creak under his steps. He is right upon Dussander. Dussander reaches out with one arm for a fresh bottle, grasping onto the railing with the other. His body hangs over the steep staircase. DUSSANDER (CONT'D) When he finished his hand was stinging from arthritis but he felt good for the first time in weeks. He felt safe. He gets his balance again and turns to face Todd. Dussander holds the kitchen knife he was using earlier down at his side where Todd can see it. A tense silence passes between them. Todd is frozen. Dussander steps past him and back into the kitchen. He closes the cellar door behind him. DUSSANDER (CONT'D) He climbed back into bed and slept until it was time for General Hospital. Dussander sits back in his chair, cutting the seal on the fresh bottle. DUSSANDER (CONT'D) On the following day the old man put on his best suit and went down to one of the local banks and rented a safety deposit box. The bank officer explained to the old man that he would have a key and the bank would have a key. To open the box both keys would be needed. No one but the old man could use the old man's key without a signed, notarized letter of permission from the old man himself. With one exception. Todd sinks into a chair across from Dussander and takes a sip of Coke. DUSSANDER (CONT'D) That exception is made in the event of the box-holder's death. TODD Then what? DUSSANDER Then the box is opened in the presence of a bank official and a representative of the Internal Revenue Service. The contents of the box are inventoried. In this case they will find only a twelve-page document. Non- taxable... but highly interesting. Todd understands what the old man has told him. He slams his glass down on the table and jumps out of his chair. TODD You can't... you can't do that. DUSSANDER My boy, it is already done. TODD But... Christ! Look at you. You could go at any time. Todd stares at Dussander in disbelief. After a moment he storms out the back door to the porch. EXT. DUSSANDER'S BACK PORCH - DAY Todd is leaning over the rail looking out at the yard when Dussander steps onto the porch. He carries with him the bottle of bourbon and a glass. TODD Then there is nothing for me. DUSSANDER But there is. As the years go by, as I get closer to the grave, your hold on me will become worth less and less. A man five, ten years older than I worries more about his ailing heart than being extradited to Israel. And there will come a day - if I live long enough - when I decide what you know no longer matters. Then, and only then, I will destroy my document. TODD But... but so many things can happen to you in between. Accidents. Sickness. You could slip in the shower, for Christ's sake... Dussander shrugs and lights another cigarette. He begins to sing softly, then gets caught up in the song... Todd turns away, angry. DUSSANDER Que sera, sera... Whatever will be, will be... The future's not ours to see... Que sera, sera... Pause. Dussander sees he has pressed Todd's button. He moves closer. DUSSANDER (CONT'D) My dear boy, I see you thinking about it, even now. It is in your eyes. Killing me. It would take only a flick of a knife. Or maybe push me down the steps, make it look like an accident? I am old. You are strong. You are angry. Good assets for killing. But there is something missing... Dussander speaks with a near whisper in Todd's ear. DUSSANDER (CONT'D) To have some one in your control. To have them know that they are alive because you have not decided to the contrary. Do you have that power? Ask yourself. It is no easy question. I think you know that. There is a long pregnant pause. Then Todd lets out a sigh, as if to dismiss what he has just heard. He turns to face Dussander. TODD You know this means we're through. You won't be seeing me around here anymore. DUSSANDER No, I suppose I won't. TODD I'm never coming here again. DUSSANDER And so it comes to an end. Here. Dussander pours a splash of bourbon into the boy's glass. TODD What are you doing? DUSSANDER A drink. To our lives together, the beginning... and the end. Todd picks up his glass. TODD I think you should fuck yourself. He CLICKS his glass against Dussander's. DUSSANDER My boy, don't you see that we are fucking each other? He drinks. Todd, reluctantly, does the same. FADE TO BLACK. EXT. MAIN STREET - SANTO DONATO - DAY TITLE: APRIL 1985 Dussander, dressed smartly for a day out of the house, emerges from a matinee at the movie theater and strolls down the sidewalk, the umbrella under his arm. He stops at an empty bench and sits to wait for the bus. Archie sits down next to him. At first Dussander doesn't pay attention to him, but Archie's behavior tells us that he is keenly aware of Dussander's presence. Dussander stares out into the street, but Archie fidgets about, his eyes roaming, and finally slides a little closer to Dussander. Dussander looks at him flatly. Archie grins. Dussander turns away, prepared to dismiss this odd behavior as that of a crazed derelict. Then Archie speaks... ARCHIE (leaning over) I notice the kid don't come around no more. Dussander doesn't respond. He catches Archie in a glance and sees that he is staring at him. DUSSANDER What? ARCHIE Little blond-hair boy. ...What's the matter, you ain't his friend no more? Dussander is like stone, flashing the eyes of a man who is not to be harassed. Finally... DUSSANDER You mistake me for somebody else. ...Pardon me, my bus is coming. Dussander stands, slightly rattled only to those who know him well. He looks down the street for the bus. Archie doesn't move. Rather, he inspects Dussander from head to toe, stopping on the shoes. ARCHIE Damn... Cuban high heels. Nice ones, too. The SQUEAL of brakes grows louder as the bus comes to rest in front of Dussander. He has become perceptibly more nervous as he waits for the passengers to exit. He climbs up the first step. ARCHIE I ain't seen a pair like that since I was in Havana. (talking louder because of the bus) That's the only place you can get'em. Can't get'em exported... Government don't let you. The door closes behind Dussander. The bus pulls away. Through the window of the bus Dussander watches Archie as he continues his speech to no one. INT. HIGH SCHOOL OFFICE - DAY TITLE: MAY 1985 Todd sits nervously in a chair next to a tough, leather-clad trouble maker. A SECRETARY sits behind a long desk. Her phone beeps and she picks it up. SECRETARY Go in, Todd. They're waiting for you. Todd approaches a door marked: "Dr. Carl N. Morgan - Principal." He goes in. INT. HIGH SCHOOL PRINCIPAL'S OFFICE - DAY Todd opens the office door. As his eyes scan the floor he notices a familiar pair of yellow high-tops. He looks up to see Ed French leaning against the wall. Seated at the desk is MORGAN, a thin, stern man, around 50. Todd's face shows a moment of trepidation, but he regains his composure almost instantly. MORGAN Have a seat, Todd. Todd does as Morgan pours over Todd's files. MORGAN (CONT'D) I see from your record and from what Mr. French tells me that after a minor slip up last semester you're right back on course. Straight A's for the quarter so far. And I hear your little slip didn't bother the folks up at Stanford too much either. FRENCH A good break for you, Todd. MORGAN Looks like that little talk with your... (looks at file) grandfather... really helped. Well, we don't want to keep you too long. (to French) You tell him. FRENCH Well, it seems Sally Chong didn't do to well in A.P. biology. MORGAN She failed it. FRENCH I'm afraid so. She refused to take part in the fetal pig dissection. The teacher begged her to drop the class, but Sally thought she could pass anyway. MORGAN Stubborn girl... What we're telling you, son, is that because Sally Chang - FRENCH Chong. MORGAN Because Sally Chong wouldn't hack up a baby pig, you snuck by her in the rankings. So if you can keep your grades up for two more months -- any reason that shouldn't happen? TODD No. MORGAN Then you'll make valedictorian, Todd. Congratulations. FRENCH Congratulations, Todd. French shakes Todd's hand, an uneasy moment passes between the two of them. INT. HIGH SCHOOL OFFICE - DAY Todd comes out of Morgan's office. French follows him. FRENCH Todd, you really should be proud of yourself. To tell you the truth, I'm amazed you pulled it off. TODD Thanks, I guess. He starts to walk away. FRENCH I was glad to hear you made varsity baseball. I spoke to the coach. He says your coming along real well. TODD Thanks. FRENCH It's turning out to be a good year for you. TODD Yeah. He turns to go, but French stops him again. FRENCH Todd, wait. He steps up to Todd and lowers his voice, as if he were hedging a touchy subject. FRENCH (CONT'D) Todd, you've got a lot of good things going on right now. You should be enjoying yourself. TODD I am. French's looks says, "No, you're not." FRENCH How are things at home? Todd realizes he is not going to get out of this easily. TODD Look, things with my parents were bad for a while. But they're doing a lot better. Thanks for your concern, really. I should get back to class. He is pulling away from French as he speaks. FRENCH (unconvinced) Okay, Todd. I know this isn't the place to talk about this. But my door is always open... TODD I know. Thanks. Todd walks away. FRENCH And it's going to stay open. But Todd does not turn around. French stares after him. The BELL RINGS, and Todd is swallowed by the stream of students emerging from the class rooms. EXT. HIGH SCHOOL - DAY Todd is kneeling down at the bike rack. His backpack is on the ground next to him. He unlocks his bike and begins to coil the chain around his wrist when Joey walks by. He sees Todd and considers going by, but stops. We can tell they haven't spoken in a while. JOEY Hey there. Todd looks up. He seems pleasant, but there is little warmth in his voice. TODD Hey. Pause. They look at each other. Joey wants to talk. Todd slips the chain lock into a pocket on his backpack. Joey jingles his car keys anxiously. JOEY I... ah, I heard about Stanford. I heard a couple of weeks ago actually. ...Congrats. TODD Thanks. JOEY I got into school to. Long Beach. It's no Stanford, but... Joey shrugs. It's an awkward moment. He walks closer. TODD No, no... that's good, Joe. JOEY Well, ...I just wanted to say hi. Here let me get that. Joey reaches for Todd's backpack. He lifts it. The heaviness puzzles him. Todd takes it from him. JOEY (CONT'D) What do you have in there? Todd stares at him stone-faced. Joey doesn't like Todd's expression. Todd takes the bag from him and puts it on. TODD You busy now? JOEY Uhh... TODD Come with me. Hop on. JOEY Hop on? I have a car now, Todd. TODD You can't drive where we're going. EXT. DIRT PATH - DAY Joey sits on the handle bars as Todd pedals over the rugged terrain. Joy looks scared, but appears to be enjoying the ride and the chance to be with his old friend. The next shot shows Todd's bike laying on the ground. The wheels still turn slowly. The camera moves to reveal Todd and Joey standing on a rocky ledge. Orange Country sprawls out before them. Under the cross-hairs of a telescopic sight, a truck, from the freeway below, zooms out of frame. The image vanishes. We see Joey looking through the scope which he holds in one hand. JOEY This is so cool. TODD Point it over here. That's the middle school. You can see right into our old class room. JOEY Oh yeah... But I still don't see what you need the rest of it for. Doesn't your Dad notice? The hunting rifle, disassembled, sticks out of Todd's backpack on the ground. TODD He hasn't yet. JOEY Yet?... Jesus, Todd. He is trying to joke, but the seriousness is clearly in his voice. TODD And over here, that's your dad's office. And there's the old drive-in. Joey isn't looking through the scope anymore. He holds it out to Todd, watching him. JOEY Here. Take it. Todd grabs the scope. But Joey doesn't let go. He finally locks Todd in a stare that he has been avoiding for months. He wants to say something. Todd takes the scope. He sees that Joey is serious. He takes a few steps toward the edge, toward the gun. He looks out. TODD It's such a rush, you know?... To be up here. Don't you feel it? So high above them they never know we're here. It's like an ant farm. We're the gods on Mt. Olympus, Joey. They can't see us, they can't hear us, but every so often we can make them feel us. Just so they never forget. Look... He looks through the scope at the freeway. He picks out passing cars. TODD (CONT'D) There goes a future track star. There goes a judge. A mom and her two kids. A policeman. That one's a school teacher, that one's a drug dealer... You see, Joey, it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter how smart you are ...or how many grades you skip. There's always someone who can take it all away. The right person snaps their fingers... and it's done. Joey takes a few steps backward. Todd doesn't notice. JOEY Todd, I'm gonna go. I'm gonna... walk home. Todd turns his head toward Joey, but it is as though no one is there. He looks away again. JOEY (CONT'D) Todd... Pause. Todd looks again. But this time Joey is really gone. A slight chuckle escapes Todd's mouth. EXT. DUSSANDER'S STREET - EVENING TITLE: JUNE 1985 Dussander plods down the sidewalk with his sacks of groceries. He is a little more winded, moves a little slower than previously. Suddenly Archie emerges from behind a group of trees. He moves quickly up to Dussander, catching him off guard. ARCHIE I can do that. I can help you carry those. Dussander jumps back. Archie stops. ARCHIE (CONT'D) You don't gotta be afraid. I can carry those. Dussander does not move. But slowly his face changes and we realize that he remembers Archie from the bus stop. DUSSANDER I don't need any help. ...Excuse me. He starts off again. Archie follows. ARCHIE Hey, I ain't a bad guy. You don't gotta worry. I'm a veteran. I just want-- DUSSANDER (snapping at him) What? What do you want? Why do you bother me? Archie is taken aback by the sudden viciousness. ARCHIE (plaintively) You got a nice face. DUSSANDER No I don't. ARCHIE Look, we're practically neighbors. I stay right over there most nights. (pointing across the street) I see you walking down the street. I come up to help. It's called being neighborly. They are nearing Dussander's yard. DUSSANDER Piss off. Fed up with his belligerence, Archie strips the bags from Dussander's hands with ease. Dussander knows he is outmatched. ARCHIE Ain't no reason to be rude. You see, I know something about you. ...I know your a nice guy. I'm nice too, ...just like the kid. Dussander looks up and down the street. No one is around. DUSSANDER I see. ARCHIE And I know you got some bourbon in these bags. I ain't ashamed to say I could use a drink about now. But I don't need no charity. If you want to invite me in, like a friend, we could have a nice drink. DUSSANDER A drink. ARCHIE That's what I'm saying. Long pause. DUSSANDER You smell like a toilet. ARCHIE Maybe you let me use your shower. But first a drink. After that I'll do anything you say. INT. DUSSANDER'S LIVING ROOM - EVENING Dussander and Archie come through the front door. Archie scans the room. ARCHIE Yeah, this is nice. Real nice. DUSSANDER Let me take those. (takes the bags) Right this way. Dussander moves toward the kitchen. Archie watches him walk away. A smile crosses his face as he follows him to the kitchen. INT. LIVING ROOM - BOWDEN HOUSE - EVENING Todd and his parents are together in the living room. Todd is studying for his trigonometry final. Monica sits at the couch addressing graduation announcements. Dick is at his desk, pouring over a pile of receipts. MONICA I guess your parents don't need a graduation announcement. DICK No. TODD Grandma and Grandpa aren't coming? MONICA (to Dick) I thought you told him. DICK Christ, I forgot. Todd, my aunt Patty, Dad's sister, died on Wednesday. Mom and Dad have to drive up to Fresno to settle her estate. We can't ask Dad to drive six hours each way for graduation. MONICA If we ask them, they'll do it. DICK That's why. You understand, don't you, Todd? Todd thinks for a moment, realizes something. TODD Of course, Dad. It's all right. Tell Grandpa I'll spend the week with him and Grandma when they get back. MONICA What about Mr. Denker? I almost forgot about him. TODD No, He won't want to come. INT. DUSSANDER'S KITCHEN & BASEMENT - EVENING Archie, seated at the table with his back to Dussander, is in the middle of a sprawling monologue about his life to which Dussander half-listens. Dussander goes to the cabinets and takes out two glasses. He pours the drinks and sets the glasses on the table. Archie picks his up and is about to drink. DUSSANDER (CONT'D) Ah-ah. Dussander picks up his glass to toast Archie. Archie CLINKS his glass to Dussander's and downs the shot. DUSSANDER (CONT'D) I believe we need another bottle, my friend. ARCHIE Well if you're offering, I'm accepting. Dussander goes to the cellar door to retrieve another bottle. DUSSANDER No trouble at all. Now where is my bottle opener? Ah, here it is. Dussander pulls something out of a drawer. He goes to the table and stands right behind Archie. DUSSANDER (CONT'D) Why don't you drink mine? Archie picks up the glass and begins to drink, slower this time. Dussander pulls Archie's tattered hat off his head and sets it on the table. He then begins to stroke the matted knots of Archie's hair. DUSSANDER (CONT'D) You don't mind do you? ARCHIE No. I don't mind. ...Maybe in the morning - everything goes okay - you could let me have ten dollars. DUSSANDER Perhaps. ARCHIE Maybe even twenty. DUSSANDER Perhaps. We shall see. Pause. ARCHIE You can relax, you know, I've done this before. DUSSANDER It's all right. So have I. Dussander raises a meat fork up to the back of Archie's neck. He starts to plunge it in just as Archie turns back to look at him. The fork goes in crooked. Archie explodes from the chair, HOWLING, his arms flailing like those of a grizzly bear. With the fork protruding from his back, Archie tosses the table to the side. The empty bottle tumbles to the middle of the floor and shatters. Archie spins and slams a fist into Dussander's temple. Dussander collapses against the counter. Archie moves about wildly, trying to grab the fork and pummel Dussander at the same time. Blood is streaming freely from his wound. Dussander grabs a frying pan from a rack of drying dishes on the counter. As Archie approaches, Dussander swings the pan into Archie's descending fist. Archie winces and staggers backward. He stomps down on the broken bottle and screams. His guard falls briefly. Dussander is upon him. He swings the pan, catching Archie squarely in the face. Archie brings his hands up to his face, which now oozes with blood. Blinded by the blow, Archie charges Dussander, who crouches to the side, and as Archie passes, hurls himself into the man's back, sending him through the open door of the cellar. Archie flies down the stairs face-first, tumbling into the packed dirt floor like a derailed train. Dussander, exhausted and bloodied, exhales deeply. Looking down at the crumpled body below, he straightens his tie, brushes the hair from his face, and then surveys the kitchen. DUSSANDER (CONT'D) What a mess. He rises slowly and brushes himself off before heading down the steps to finish the bum for good. After about three steps he stops abruptly. He appears puzzled, but after a moment the expression changes. A look of searing pain rushes across his face. Dussander brings his hand to his chest. He collapses on the stairs. He is having a heart attack and knows it. DUSSANDER (CONT'D) Oh my God. He looks down at Archie, up to the kitchen, then back down to the cellar. A moment of decision. The stairs appear ten times longer in each direction than they did a minute ago. Getting to his feet, he turns slowly toward the kitchen. He starts up the steps at a painfully slow pace, counting with each step. DUSSANDER (CONT'D) Ein... Zwei... Drei... INT. LIVING ROOM - BOWDEN HOUSE - NIGHT - LATER The same scene as before. DICK Monica... how long did we rent those jet skis in Hawaii? MONICA About two hours. Why? DICK This receipt says we had two jet skis for twenty-three hours a piece. The bill is fifteen hundred dollars. Didn't you look at the receipt before you signed it? Todd doesn't look up from his textbook. TODD Way to go, Mom. MONICA That bill was written in Japanese. I told you that. DICK Numbers are numbers, Monica, in any language. MONICA That guy didn't speak a word of English. I told you not to rent from him. The PHONE RINGS. Monica gets up to get it. MONICA (CONT'D) I'll get it. DICK That's not the point. You should always read the bill before you sign. I've told you that a hundred times. (to Todd) Fifteen hundred dollars. TODD Maybe it's in yen. Pause. Dick looks at the bill. DICK Hey, maybe you're right. Monica comes back into the room. MONICA Todd, it's Mr. Denker. He sounds excited about something. You better speak to him. Todd rises from the couch. His mood shifts instantly. TODD (into phone) Mr. Denker? INTERCUT: between Todd in his living room and... INT. DUSSANDER'S KITCHEN - NIGHT Dussander leaning against a wall in his blood-stained kitchen. The wall above Dussander read 6:50. DUSSANDER Come over right away, boy. I'm having a heart attack, a bad one, I think. TODD Gee, that sounds exciting, Mr. Denker, but I was studying for my trig final -- DUSSANDER I understand that you cannot talk, but you can listen. I cannot call 911... at least not yet. There is quite a mess here. I need help... and that means you need help. TODD Well if you put it that way -- DUSSANDER Tell your parents I've had a letter, an important letter, and I need you to read it to me. TODD Yeah, sure. I'll be right there. DUSSANDER Now we see what you are made of, boy. Dussander hangs up the phone and falls into a chair. INT. LIVING ROOM - BOWDEN HOUSE - NIGHT TODD Bye. (hangs up) I've got to run over to Mr. Denker's for a minute. MONICA Is everything all right? TODD Oh, he just got a letter from a nephew in Hamburg or Dusseldorf or one of those places. DICK I thought his family was killed in the war. Todd zips up his jacket. TODD So did he. That's why he sounded excited. I shouldn't be too long. I'll take your car, Mom? MONICA I don't know, you have a final tomorrow. TODD I know, I was almost finished studying anyway. DICK Don't be gone too long, Todd. TODD See you in a bit. He kisses Monica on the cheek. He is out the front door. EXT. RESIDENTIAL NEIGHBORHOOD VARIOUS STREETS - NIGHT Todd's driving reflects his state of mind: erratic and out of control. He meets a police car at an intersection and almost runs a red light. The police car doesn't bother him, however, and a moment later he pulls the Honda up to Dussander's house. INT. DUSSANDER'S KITCHEN - NIGHT Todd appears in the door of the kitchen. His face tells us that what he sees is ten times worse than whatever he expected. The room is a gruesome sight. Blood and broken glass are everywhere. The table has been knocked to the side. Dussander, barely conscious, slumps in a chair. TODD What the fuck...? Todd moves to the center of the room, careful not to step in any blood. He doesn't know what to do. His attention falls on Dussander. Suddenly he rushes to him and begins to inspect his body carefully. TODD (CONT'D) Where are you bleeding?... wake up. Dussander does not respond. Todd shakes him harder. TODD (CONT'D) Wake up, goddamnit! Dussander stirs a little, aggravated. TODD (CONT'D) I thought you said you had a fucking heart attack. DUSSANDER It's not my blood, for Christ's sake. Pause. TODD What did you say? DUSSANDER It was self-defense, boy. Go downstairs. You'll see what needs to be done. Dussander points to the open cellar door. TODD Fuck you. I'm not going down there. What happened? What did you do? Dussander only stares back at him, then looks away, almost smiling through his incredible pain, as if to challenge Todd. TODD (CONT'D) What the hell is this? Dussander does not respond. Todd stares at him for a moment, then moves toward the cellar. INT. DUSSANDER'S BASEMENT - NIGHT Todd is half-way down the stairs when he freezes. Sprawled out on the ground below him is Archie, motionless. The meat fork still protrudes from his neck like an antenna. TODD Jesus Fucking Christ. INT. DUSSANDER'S KITCHEN - NIGHT Suddenly Dussander is more awake than we realize. When he hears Todd discover the body, he slides his chair over to the cellar door and slams it shut. His face is red with pain as he pushes the dead bolt into place, locking Todd in the cellar. INT. DUSSANDER'S BASEMENT & KITCHEN - NIGHT Todd races up to the door. He tries the handle and then pounds on the door with his fist. The following conversation cuts back between Todd and Dussander on opposite sides of the door. TODD Open the fucking door! Right now. Right now! Dussander shoves his chair under the doorknob. He drags the table against the door as he speaks. Todd is screaming on the other side and begins to kick at the door violently. DUSSANDER You give me no choice, boy. TODD What are you doing? Open the door. DUSSANDER If you won't help me, then I'll make you help me. If you don't, we are finished. TODD Fuck you, old man. This is your problem. I didn't do this. Open the door! Todd pounds awayat the door. Tears now stream down his cheeks. His relentless pounding has Dussander enraged. Dussander pounds back at the door to shut Todd up. It works. DUSSANDER Enough. Enough. Enough! If you don't stop screaming like a fucking school girl I'm going to... A surge of pain from his chest silences him. He recovers, speaking slowly and deliberately. DUSSANDER (CONT'D) Now listen to me, boy, very carefully. If you don't help me, I'm going to die here. And if I die, there is no Stanford for you. There is no scholarship. There is jail. My document... TODD Fuck your document. I got nothing to do with this. Don't make it sound like I do. I came here, I saw this shit, and now I'm getting the fuck out of here. That's what I'm gonna tell the police. DUSSANDER Why not tell them the truth? Tell them I locked you in the cellar. Tell them I wouldn't let you out until you buried the body. TODD I'm not listening to this. INT. DUSSANDER'S BASEMENT - NIGHT Todd runs down the stairs and leaps over Archie's body. Under the dim glow of a single naked bulb hanging from the ceiling, he searches for a way out. He crosses the dirt floor toward a tiny window high on the opposite wall. INT. DUSSANDER'S KITCHEN - NIGHT DUSSANDER You must be at the window, yes? As you can see I had it barred a few years ago. A bad element started to move into the neighborhood, you know how it is. TODD (O.S.) Fuck. INT. DUSSANDER'S BASEMENT - NIGHT Todd realizes he can't get through the bars. He turns around to find another option. In the obscured background, Archie begins to stir. Silent and bewildered, he feels the area around him and rises slowly to his knees. Todd doesn't see him and moves into a dark corner of the cellar, rummaging through the piles of cluttered junk for something to help him escape. He disappears for a moment into complete darkness and then emerges holding a shovel, a fresh confidence on his face. He holds it like a sledge hammer. DUSSANDER (O.S.) We are wasting time now, boy. (switches to a loud whisper) Come back to the door. You are not going to find anything down there to help you. TODD (to himself) Oh really? Todd runs toward the staircase and is only a few feet from Archie when he sees him. Todd, mortified, lets out a scream. This startles Archie, who cannot speak. He only gurgles a SICKENING WHINE, the fork still sticks out of his neck. Blood drips into his eyes from a gash above his forehead. Yet even on his knees, he is an imposing figure. INT. DUSSANDER'S KITCHEN - NIGHT Dussander, puzzled by the commotion, presses his ear against the door. INT. DUSSANDER'S BASEMENT - NIGHT Archie blocks the stairs from Todd. TODD Get out of the way. But Archie is too disoriented to move. Summoning all his courage, Todd pokes the shovel into him, as if to prod him out of the way. But when the blade of the shovel touches him, Archie counters violently, grabbing the metal end and swinging it to the side. Todd holds tightly to the handle, an act which sends him flying across the cellar. The shovel stays with Archie, and now he wields it like it were a child's toy. He slashes it viciously through the air. Todd hides under the stairs, watching Archie duel with the shadows. Todd bumps into something. Archie hears him. Through the slats in the staircase we see Archie jabbing the shovel at Todd. TODD Stop it! Stop it! INT. DUSSANDER'S KITCHEN - NIGHT Alarmed, Dussander reaches for the lock, but hesitates, forever mindful of the chance of being duped. His ear goes back against the door. DUSSANDER What are you doing, boy? It's not going to work, whatever it is. INT. DUSSANDER'S BASEMENT - NIGHT Archie pushes the shovel in too far and can't retrieve it. Todd grabs the other end and pulls it through. TODD Fuck this. Fed up, he comes around from under the stairs and confronts Archie. Archie sees him and takes a step toward him. TODD (CONT'D) I mean it get the fuck away from me. Archie steps closer. Instantly, Todd tightens his grip on the shovel. He is no longer afraid. He swings the shovel at Archie's head striking him. Archie staggers back, stunned, but then charges forward. Todd strikes him again, this time with more force and anger. Todd lifts the shovel to strike again, but this time catches the ceiling light with the metal blade. The glass shatters. The room goes black. A second later we HEAR a SHARP, authoritative BLOW, followed quickly by another, then another. INT. DUSSANDER'S KITCHEN - NIGHT Dussander knows something is wrong. He slides the bolt back and slowly turns the handle. He opens the door slightly and speaks into the darkness. DUSSANDER Hello? INT. DUSSANDER'S BASEMENT - NIGHT A shaft of dull light from the kitchen cuts across the cellar floor, revealing Archie's slain body. An expanding pool of blood seeps out from his head. As the door upstairs opens wider, the light falls on Todd standing over Archie, the shovel still in his hands, his face spattered with blood. The Todd we knew only a minute ago has been transformed. He stares up at Dussander, not with the eyes of a boy, but with those of a man. A man who can no longer be saved. INT. DUSSANDER'S KITCHEN - NIGHT Quietly Dussander moves away from the door, leaving Todd alone with what he has done. He slides the furniture away from the door, knowing, as Todd does, that the two of them are now working together. INT. DUSSANDER'S BASEMENT - LATER Todd's face is suddenly illuminated as he screws a fresh light bulb into the dangling cord. He picks up the shovel. Archie's body still lies where it fell. Todd goes to the open area of the floor and with a forceful stomp, plunges the shovel into the dirt. INT. DUSSANDER'S BASEMENT - NIGHT - LATER Todd smacks the back of the shovel on the finished grave to pack the dirt, then smooths the area over to destroy any markings. He is sweaty, dirty, and tired. But his manner is cool and efficient as he concentrates intently on the matters at hand. He runs upstairs, hopping over the bloody spot where Archie's body used to be. INT. DUSSANDER'S KITCHEN - NIGHT Todd bursts through the door. He notices the old man in his chair. Dussander doesn't look good. Todd levels his eyes at him. His voice snaps with the authority of an S.S. commander. TODD Where's the fucking pinesol? Dussander points to the cabinet under the sink. Todd throws the door open and pulls out bottles of cleaner. TODD (CONT'D) Rags. I need rags. DUSSANDER Cellar. Under the stairs. Todd checks the clock, it is 9:25. He gets the bottle and a bucket and goes for the cellar. INT. DUSSANDER'S BASEMENT - NIGHT A SERIES OF SHOTS showing Todd cleaning up the mess. He is on the stairs sponging up the blood. Then we see him skimming the area where the pool of blood was with the shovel. The NEXT SHOT has him sprinkling fresh dirt over the same area. Then, on his knees, he carefully picks up bits of broken glass from the light bulb and drops them into a bucket. In the FINAL SHOT, Todd stands on the steps as his eyes comb the cellar. The shovel has been cleaned and replaced. The floor looks smooth and even. Satisfied, he goes upstairs. INT. DUSSANDER'S KITCHEN - NIGHT The table has been put back in its spot. Todd is in his boxer shorts. A SHOT of a washing machine, somewhere else in the house, shows us that Todd is cleaning his bloodied clothes. Now he is washing the dishes in the sink. The water in the sink is a murky pink. He pulls the meat fork from the suds and holds it up. TODD I ought to run this through your chest, you know that? DUSSANDER It couldn't hurt more than a heart attack. He looks at the clock - 10:15. TODD Christ, my parents are going to freak. DUSSANDER Stay calm, boy. You are doing fine. Todd dries the murder weapon and puts it away. For a moment he slows down, a hint of a smile suddenly comes over him. Dussander sees something is different about him. DUSSANDER (CONT'D) What are you thinking about? The sound of Dussander's voice snaps Todd out of his funk. He is all business again. TODD Fuck off. INT. DUSSANDER'S KITCHEN - NIGHT - LATER Todd is back in his clothes. He wears a white T-shirt. He brings a knife up to Dussander's neck and slices down his suit, still stained by Archie's blood. TODD Your pants are okay. The shoes... no. Todd takes off Dussander's shoes and balls them up in the tattered suit. TODD (CONT'D) Put this on. He holds up Dussander's bathrobe. The old man slips into it with difficulty as Todd dumps the bloodied clothing into a trash bag. Dussander looks at Todd's T-shirt. DUSSANDER Is that my undershirt? INT. DUSSANDER'S KITCHEN - NIGHT - LATER The blood and glass have been removed. Todd runs a mop over the floor. His job is almost over. Sweat pours down his face. The same for Dussander. DUSSANDER Hurry up, for God's sake. TODD Don't you die on me, you old bastard. Not now. Todd puts the mop away. He surveys the room as before. Dussander does the same. There is a strange silence as the two of them look around the room for anything damning. DUSSANDER I think we're okay. TODD Me too. DUSSANDER Call an ambulance. Todd turns to face Dussander. He brings his face up to his and speaks softly. TODD The key. DUSSANDER What are you talking about? TODD The safety deposit box. I want the key... DUSSANDER For God's sake, boy... TODD I want the key and I want to know where the bank is. Dussander cannot argue. DUSSANDER Hillcrest Savings on Domingo Avenue. The key is behind the clock on the mantle piece. INT. DUSSANDER'S LIVING ROOM - NIGHT Todd goes straight for the mantle. He moves the clock and finds the key. INT. DUSSANDER'S KITCHEN - NIGHT Todd holds a blank piece of paper in front of Dussander and hands him a pen. TODD Sign this. DUSSANDER What for? TODD Sign it. Dussander starts to scrawl his name across the paper. TODD No! At the bottom... neatly. With great difficulty, Dussander does as he is told. Todd folds the paper and stuffs it into his pocket with the pen. He picks up the phone and dials. DISPATCHER (V.O.) 911 emergency. Do you need an ambulance? TODD Yes. It's my friend, Mr. Du-- Todd nearly bites his lip in half. Dussander notices the slip and cringes. TODD (CONT'D) Denker. He had a heart attack. DISPATCHER (V.O.) Is he conscious? TODD Yeah, he's awake. I'm really scared. The address is 9 -- DISPATCHER (V.O.) We have the address here. The ambulance is on the way. It should take about ten minutes. I'll stay on the line with you -- TODD No. I have to call my parents. Just send the ambulance -- He hangs up. TODD (CONT'D) It smells too clean in here. Todd sees a pack of cigarettes on the table. TODD (CONT'D) (offering) Cigarette? Dussander is not amused. Todd lights two cigarettes and lets them burn down in the ashtray. He picks up the phone again and dials. TODD (CONT'D) Mommy, it's me. Let me talk to Dad. MONICA (V.O.) What is it? TODD Just let me talk to him. MONICA (V.O.) Hold on -- DICK (V.O.) Todd, what's wrong. TODD Mr. Denker had a heart attack. DICK (V.O.) Jesus. Is he conscious? TODD Yeah, he's awake. DICK (V.O.) Thank God. Todd, call an ambulance. TODD I did. They're on the way. DICK (V.O.) All right, son. Don't touch him. I'll be there in five minutes. TODD Okay. He hangs up. He sits down across from Dussander. The old man is near death, but through the slit of an eye he watches Todd. The stare between them is lethal. For a long moment this continues until... TODD (CONT'D) Fuck! DUSSANDER What? What is it? TODD The letter. Where is the goddamn letter? I told my parents I came over to read you a letter from Germany. DUSSANDER A letter. Yes, we'll say it's from Willi Frankel -- TODD We need a letter. I told them it was your nephew, I think. DUSSANDER My bedroom. Look in the dresser. Second, no third, drawer... from the top. There is a small wooden box. You will have to break it open. I lost the key. There are letters, very old ones. From a friend. All in German. None of them are signed or dated. A page or two will be fine. Todd turns to go and stops. TODD Are you crazy? I don't read German, you numb fuck. DUSSANDER Why would Willi write me in English? If you were to read me the letter in German, I would understand even though you would not. Your pronunciation would be terrible, but I could manage -- TODD All right. All right. Todd dashes out of the room. EXT. RESIDENTIAL NEIGHBORHOOD STREETS - NIGHT Dick's Porsche speeds along the same streets that Todd took two hours earlier. INT. DUSSANDER'S BEDROOM - NIGHT Todd bursts through the door and drops to his knees in front of the dresser. He yanks on the drawer. It comes half way out and stops. TODD Goddamn you, come out. The drawer flies out, knocking Todd back. He digs through it, the contents of Dussander's fake lives spilling about the room. He finds the box at the bottom. As he expected, it is locked. Without a moment's hesitation, he slams the box down on the post of the bed frame. It doesn't open, but bits of the frame fly across the room. On the third attempt the tiny box shatters. Todd freezes, cocks his head. Outside he hears the distinct ROAR and sputter of the Porsche engine. He grabs two pages of a letter. There is nothing he can do about the mess in the room. He closes the door on his way back to the kitchen. INT. DUSSANDER'S KITCHEN - NIGHT - LATER Todd enters the kitchen and places the pages on the table just in time to look up and see Dick standing in the kitchen doorway. TODD Dad. We hold on Dick for a moment as he takes it all in: Dussander, Todd, and the room. A hint of uncertainty crosses his face. INT. DUSSANDER'S KITCHEN - NIGHT - LATER A PARAMEDIC straps Dussander onto a stretcher. Todd is talking to the other one. TODD He started laughing at something in the letter. I don't know what it was, it's in German. Dick sees the letter on the table and picks it up. Todd watches him. Without much of a thought, Dick puts the letter back on the table. PARAMEDIC Well, we'll take care of him now. We're going to take him to St. Luke's. It's a good thing you called when you did. You saved his life. The medics wheel Dussander out. DICK You did real good, son. (looking around the room, as if searching for something) You did real good... Todd doesn't like Dick's apprehension. He grabs his father's hand and leads him out of the room. TODD C'mon. Let's make sure he gets checked in all right. INT. HOSPITAL ROOM - DAY TWO ORDERLIES push a gurney through the door. A man in his late thirties, DAVID KRAUSS, walks with them. A NURSE, following behind, addresses him. NURSE He needs to rest now. You can come back tomorrow after ten. David approaches the gurney. Lying prone is BEN KRAUSS, 70. David kisses him on the forehead. DAVID I'll be back in the morning with the girls. BEN I can't wait to see them. The orderlies lift Ben onto his bed. NURSE (to Ben) The doctor will be in to see you in a few minutes. BEN Thank you. The orderlies, the nurse and David leave the room. Ben notices his roommate in the next bed. It is Dussander, who has been watching all of this quietly. BEN (CONT'D) My nephew, David. Dussander smiles politely. BEN (CONT'D) His parents died when he was very young. He is like a son to me. I have no children of my own. DUSSANDER I see. BEN David is very protective of me. Of course, I don't mind. I enjoy his company. A few years ago he started working with me at the university. I teach chemistry. My name is Ben, by the way. DUSSANDER Arthur. BEN A pleasure, Arthur. What do you do? DUSSANDER I'm retired. Pause. BEN These tubes in my arm. No one said they would itch like this. DUSSANDER You will find, in time, you don't notice. Ben looks oddly at Dussander. The wheels of his memory slowly, very slowly, begin to turn. BEN Well, we'll see. Looks like I'll be here for a while. I didn't want to alarm my nephew just yet, but this break in my leg... well, we'll see what the doctor says. DUSSANDER Yes, of course. But for now, you must forgive me, my medication has made me drowsy. Do not be offended if I fall asleep. BEN Don't be offended if I keep talking anyway. It beats wondering if I'm ever going to walk again. I tell you, my friend, the ways of God are not meant to be understood. But Ben's words are lost on a sleeping man. He continues to stare at Dussander. INT. DUSSANDER'S HOUSE - DAY Todd comes through the front door, using his key to get in. INT. DUSSANDER'S KITCHEN - DAY Todd grabs the letter off the table and stuffs it into a plastic trash bag. INT. DUSSANDER'S BEDROOM - DAY Todd manages to get the drawer back into the dresser. He throws all the remaining debris and bits of wood into the trash bag. He goes to the closet and searches through the clothes. He finds the S.S. uniform, now tattered from many night of fitful sleep, and places it in the trash bag. INT. HILLCREST SAVINGS AND LOAN - DAY The BANK CLERK behind the counter is a fat, elderly woman, pleasant-faced and not too sharp. Todd stands solemnly on the other side of the counter. She stares hard at a piece of paper. We see that it is a note: "Please allow my grandson, Todd, to retrieve my insurance documents from my safety deposit box. Thank you, Arthur Denker." It is Dussander's phony signature at the bottom. TODD He's really sick. ...Please. The woman looks up at Todd, the key in his hand, then back down at the note. INT. BANK SAFE - DAY The woman inserts her key into the first lock and Todd does the same in the second. A moment later he is holding the box in his hands. BANK CLERK I sure hope your granddaddy feels better. You can bring that in here. She escorts him to a small room where he can view the contents of the box. She leaves. INT. BANK - SMALL ROOM - DAY Todd puts the box on a table and opens it. It is nearly empty: a few old photographs, some financial records. There is no document. Todd is swept up in a wave of emotion-- anger, relief, contempt. He's been played like a fool, but is nonetheless grateful. Ultimately, he is so overwhelmed a laugh springs from his lips. TODD Son of a bitch. He scoops out the contents of the box and puts them in his pocket. INT. BANK SAFE - DAY On the other side of the door, the clerk listens curiously to Todd's words. She pushes her ear against the door to hear more. EXT. WOODED AREA - DUSK Todd has dug a hole in a remote location. He empties the letters, the S.S. uniform, and the contents from the safety deposit box into the hole. A little lighter fluid. A match. Todd watches the evidence burn. INT. HOSPITAL ROOM - DAY - LATER Todd stands next to the bed holding a small clump of flowers. Dussander notices the bouquet. DUSSANDER You shouldn't have. Todd is aware that Ben is listening, even though he is pretending not to. Todd goes to put the flowers in a glass of water. He sets the glass on the table by the bed. TODD They're from my mother. He sits in the chair by the bed and lowers his voice. TODD (CONT'D) Here. He flicks a tattered photo onto the bed. We recognize it as one from the safety deposit box. It is a black and white portrait of a woman and a small boy. TODD (CONT'D) Everything else I burned. Dussander grins weekly. DUSSANDER I had to protect myself from you, boy. Todd drags a screen over to prevent Ben from hearing. Long pause. DUSSANDER (CONT'D) I suspect that we shall never see each other again. TODD No, I don't think we will. Dussander looks almost hurt to hear Todd say it. Pause. TODD (CONT'D) Well, I better go. DUSSANDER Wait, boy... There is something I want to ask you. TODD What? Dussander waves him over with his finger. Reluctantly, Todd brings his ear an inch from Dussander's mouth. DUSSANDER ...Was it like you thought? Todd pulls his head back, stands up. He contemplates the question, ...confessing. He touches Dussander on the shoulder. TODD I should go. He turns for the door. DUSSANDER Perhaps... perhaps I could persuade you to wait here just until I fall asleep. This medicine makes me quite woozy... please. Todd resigns himself to stay. He picks up a magazine and begins to read, not even looking at Dussander. INT. HOSPITAL ROOM - DAY - LATER Todd emerges from behind the screen toward the door. Dussander is asleep. BEN Excuse me, young man. Todd is startled. BEN (CONT'D) You're a fine boy to visit your grandfather like that. TODD Thanks. But he's just a friend. BEN Is that right? Well, you are a good friend to him. Tell me, is he bad off? He doesn't talk much. TODD The doctors say he'll be out soon. BEN That is good news, indeed. Tell me, from the way he speaks I'd guess he's been naturalized, like me. Is he? Todd is starting to be wary of where this is going. TODD He's from Germany... From Essen. Do you know that town? BEN I was only in Germany once. I'm Polish. Originally, I mean, I'm from Radom. I wonder if he was in the war. TODD I really couldn't say. BEN It doesn't matter, I suppose. It was a long time ago, the war. Soon in this country we may have a president born after the war was over. How about that? Todd starts to leave. TODD I'm sure you're right. BEN Your friend is lucky to have you. A great man once said, 'No man is an island entire of itself.' TODD John Donne. Take care, sir. Todd heads for the door. He stops, turns back to Dussander's bed. He contemplates something... waking him. He decides against it. TODD (CONT'D) Good-bye. BEN Good-bye. Todd exits. Ben sits quietly for a moment, thinking. He turns on the television-- "The Price is Right". We hear it over the following. Ben glances over at the screen which separates him from Dussander. Slowly his eyelids begin to get heavy. He starts to nod off. But as sleep begins to envelope him, his eyes suddenly fly open. A surge of terror burns across his face. He sits up frightened. A single crutch stands next to the bed. He grabs it. He strips away his covers and the restraints on his leg, once or twice shoving his hand over his mouth to quell a painful scream. He gets to his feet awkwardly, hobbling, half-dragging his bad leg. Every step he takes is a study in agony. ANGLE on the screen. It slides out of the way, revealing Ben staring down at the sleeping Dussander. In the pained struggle to keep silent, he brings his face right up to Dussander's, close enough to smell his breath. INT. HOSPITAL CORRIDOR - CONTINUING Ben stumbles out of his room into the hall. The crutch falls to the ground. He slides against the wall toward the nurses' station. Tears stream down his face. As he clutches the wall, we glimpse the faded green numbers on his forearm. He reaches the nurse's desk. She is on the phone. He grabs her by the shoulder and pulls her face up into his. She lets out a startled SCREAM. But Ben's emotion stops her from resisting. He is sobbing uncontrollably. Orderlies appear and pull him off of her. He collapses to the ground, consumed by grief. BLACK. INT. HOSPITAL ROOM - DAY Dussander slowly wakes up for the first time since his surgery. A large black man, DARREN, stands above him changing the IV bag. He notices Dussander is awake. Dussander's voice is low and hoarse from hours of sedation. DUSSANDER Where's the nurse? DARREN My name is Darren. I'll be taking care of you from now on. I'll tell the doctor you've woken up. Darren finishes with the IV unit and goes to the door. Dussander watches him, a bit puzzled, but his eyes are closed again before Darren is out of the room. INT. HOSPITAL ROOM - DAY - LATER Dussander wakes up again. Something is different in his room. He looks to the table next to him. All his magazines are gone. He looks to the other side of the room. Ben is gone, his bed stripped of all linen. Finally he looks to the door. It is cracked open. Two men in suits are talking in the hallway. One we will come to know as Detective GETTY. The other is a subordinate. Dussander is clearly bothered by what he sees. He reaches over for the call button and rings it several times. A moment later Darren comes in. Getty sees this and stops talking. He watches Dussander from the hall. DARREN Did you need something? DUSSANDER What is going on here? Where is Ben? DARREN Mr. Krauss has been moved. I'm going to give you something. It will help you sleep. Darren readies Dussander's arm for an injection. DUSSANDER I don't want it. Who is that man? Before Dussander can protest, Darren sticks him with the needle. DARREN Your surgery was a success. Just try to relax. FADE TO BLACK. INT. HOSPITAL ROOM - MORNING WEISKOPF (O.S.) (in German) Wake up. Wake up, old man. Dussander's eyes open. The first thing he sees are three men, all in suits, standing over him. DUSSANDER (in German) Are you speaking to me? The voice comes from WEISKOPF, 40's. His suit is dark gray, well tailored, probably European. He speaks eloquently despite an accent that shows roots of Europe and the Middle East. WEISKOPF (back in English) No one else is here. Dussander looks over at Ben's former bed. WEISKOPF (CONT'D) Mr. Krauss is recuperating elsewhere. Are you awake now, Dussander? DUSSANDER Yes, of course, but you seem to have me confused with someone else. My name is Arthur Denker. Perhaps you want a different room -- Weiskopf sits on the edge of the bed. Dussander notices the pin on his lapel. A small, silver Star of David. WEISKOPF My name is Weiskopf. You are Kurt Dussander. DUSSANDER I know no one by that name. Shall I ring for the nurse? Dussander reaches for the Call button and stops in horror. He looks at his hands. His fingertips are smeared with black ink. He looks up at the men in disbelief. WEISKOPF The man in the next bed was Benjamin Krauss. He was imprisoned for ten months at Patin. You were responsible for the death of his wife and two daughters. His identification of you was quite specific. I'm sure his reward from my government will help offset the burden of his broken leg. DUSSANDER My name is Arthur Denker. I am an American-- WEISKOPF Please don't bother. Your papers will not stand up to serious examination and you know it. The detective, GETTY, snaps a few pictures of Dussander. The other man is FBI Special Agent DAN RICHLER. RICHLER We have all we need here, Isaac. DUSSANDER Who are you men? What are your names? RICHLER My name is Richler, FBI. This is Detective Getty from the Orange County Sheriff's Department. WEISKOPF And I think you know who I work for. When you get your strength back, you will be moved. Until then, this entire ward will be under surveillance. You can expect to be in Tel Aviv by the end of the summer. The three men are out the door. INT. TODD'S BEDROOM - NIGHT Todd's room is dark as he lies on the floor, writing something on a pile of index cards. The only light comes from the hallway through the open door of the bedroom. Todd is deep in thought, but from the bits of shredded index cards we can tell the writing is not coming easily. TODD The road ahead reveals itself, uh, God, no. The road ahead... grrrr, The fucking road ahead. Monica appears in the doorway. MONICA Todd? Todd doesn't notice her. He stares down at the card. Finally he looks up, as if it took her voice a few seconds to register in his mind. His response is hardly audible. TODD Huh? MONICA What are you doing there in the dark? TODD Oh, ...working. Monica reaches in to his room to turn on the light. She touches the switch but then pulls her hand back. Todd is back at the note card. She looks at him oddly, worried, but then steps away from the door and goes downstairs. Todd's lips are moving, as if he were speaking to himself. He pauses. Then, in a sudden gust of inspiration begins to write furiously. He finishes and stands up, catching his reflection in the mirror above his desk. In the eerie half-light, he stares at the ghost-like image of himself. EXT. HIGH SCHOOL - FOOTBALL FIELD (GRADUATION) - DAY Todd, in cap and gown, is seeing his parents to their seats in the second row. Ed French comes up to Todd and puts his hand on his shoulder. Todd is startled. TODD Mr. French. FRENCH Hello, Todd. It's your big day, isn't it? They shake hands. French sees Dick and Monica sitting behind Todd. Before Todd can stop him, he introduces himself. FRENCH (CONT'D) These must be your parents. (extends hand) Hi, Ed French. It's good to finally meet you. Dick and Monica are the picture of happiness, hardly the dysfunctional drunkards that French believed them to be. They all shake hands. DICK Dick Bowden, nice to meet you. This is my wife, Monica. MONICA Are you one of Todd's teachers? French is a bit puzzled. FRENCH No. I'm his guidance counsellor. A WOMAN behind Monica taps her on the shoulder. WOMAN Monica, I thought that was you. Monica turns away from French. Suddenly, the band strikes up opening notes to "Pomp and Circumstance." TODD (to French) That's our cue. FRENCH (to Dick) It was nice meeting you. DICK You too. (to Todd) Good luck, son. FRENCH I'll talk to you and your wife after the ceremony. Todd and French dash off in different directions. EXT. GRADUATION - DAY - LATER Standing at the podium is a black, female graduate, TASHA LITTLE. She is reading the end of a poem by Emily Dickinson. Principal Morgan and Todd sit in chairs next to the podium. In the b.g. is the graduating class, Joey is among them. French sits among the faculty, who are lined up to the right of the podium. TASHA Thy sacred emblems to partake - Thy consecrated bread to take And thine immortal wine! There is polite applause from the audience as she takes her seat and Morgan goes to the podium. MORGAN Thank you, Miss Little for that superb invocation. Pause. More applause. MORGAN (CONT'D) And now it gives me great pleasure to introduce a young man who's academic achievement at this institution stands as testament to the power of hard work and determination. Todd had a tough time a few months ago, so by God, he buckled down, hit the books, and pulled himself through it. Todd's eyes scan the crowd indifferently. He notices Becky, seated in the audience near some friends. MORGAN (CONT'D) Ladies and gentlemen, students and faculty, here to deliver the student remembrance for the class of 1985, this year's valedictorian, Todd Bowden. The crowd burst into applause. EXT. DUSSANDER'S HOUSE - DAY A half dozen police cars are in front of the house. One OFFICER is blocking off the entire yard with yellow tape. A news van pulls up. EXT. GRADUATION - DAY - CONTINUING Todd shakes Morgan's hand and takes the podium. The crowd quiets. Todd begins: TODD We all have dreams that we carry with us. Perhaps it is a dream of prosperity, or happiness. But now, so early in our lives, it seems that all we should ask for is to be at peace with the world, because only then can we be at peace with ourselves. INT. DUSSANDER'S HOUSE - DAY Weiskopf and Richler, both wearing rubber gloves, are carefully looking through the contents of Dussander's dresser. They pour over everything, placing some items in clear plastic bags. A few DEPUTIES are milling around. Richler picks up a small photograph of a young woman. Todd's voice comes in: TODD (V.O.) We learn from our education that we are the master's of our own destinies. We learn what it is that separates us from the others, why we are special. RICHLER What about this? WEISKOPF Yes. All photographs. Detective Getty comes in. GETTY You boys better come down to the cellar. You're not going to believe this. INT. DUSSANDER'S BASEMENT - DAY Getty comes down the steps followed by Weiskopf and Richler. Weiskopf gazes across the cellar. Whatever he sees disturbs him. He turns away and goes back up the stairs. TODD (V.O.) Each of us have unique talents and interests unlike those of anyone else. The challenge now, as we stand at the doorway to adulthood, is to channel our abilities into our goals. Richler, moves to the rail and looks out, disgusted. He pulls a handkerchief from his pocket and covers his nose and mouth. A DEPUTY, wearing rubber gloves, carries the shovel up to him. EXT. GRADUATION - DAY - CONTINUING As Todd speaks, he notices his parents, Becky, various teachers. His eyes stop on Ed French, who is looking oddly at something in the crowd. ANGLE ON FRENCH French notices an elderly couple walking down the aisles of seated spectators as if they are looking for someone. TODD (O.C.) We forge our own paths. Our education is but a stepping stone to the world. They are Victor and Agnes Bowden, looking for Dick and Monica. Todd sees them too. He pauses almost imperceptibly. He looks back at French. TODD (CONT'D) Our.. Our true destinies await us. There we become the... Todd's grandparents come down the aisle to see Dick and Monica in the second row. They start to slide in, causing a slight ruckus. Dick is surprised to see his parents, but smiles and makes room for them. French watches all of this curiously. TODD (CONT'D) There we become the men and women that will make a difference. But we must take away from this place a sense of purpose for ourselves. We now begin to see the road ahead. It is a road from which we cannot veer. A connection is made between French, Todd, and the Bowden family. EXT. GRADUATION - DAY - LATER Morgan is reading the last of the names as the graduates file past and collect their diplomas. MORGAN Andrew Woodman... Donald Young... Karmisha Youngblood... David Zedek... Kyle Zuckerman. The graduating class of 1985. The crowd cheers as the graduates throw their caps into the air. The band begins to play. MORGAN (CONT'D) Now we invite all the friends and parents to join the students and faculty in the main courtyard for refreshments. Todd, still pale, bolts off the stage. He reaches his parents. French starts to walk down to the Bowdens. Todd goes up to his mother. MONICA Honey. TODD Mom, I don't feel so good. MONICA What's wrong? TODD I don't know, I feel like I'm going to pass out. Can we go home? AGNES You looked real good up there, Todd. Todd ignores her. DICK Don't you want to see your buddies? TODD I want to go, Dad. Right now. Todd and his family start off. As they leave the CAMERA MOVES to show Ed French working his way through the crowd past the spot where they had been standing. INT. HOSPITAL ROOM - NIGHT The following series of images appear under music: The quiet wing of this hospital has transformed into a frenzied sea of reporters, cameramen, photographers, and police officers. Everyone is struggling for a glimpse of the infamous celebrity through the window that looks into Dussander's room. Inside, Weiskopf and Richler are speaking to the doctors. Getty stands to the side, instructing the DEPUTY who guards the door. Through all of this Dussander lies like a fossil in his bed as the bodies whirl around him. Darren enters the room to change Dussander's IV bag. Suddenly the door flies open and a young photographer dashes in, snapping pictures wildly. Getty and the other officers descend upon him. The camera flashes. Other photographers try to get in but are blocked. Pandemonium. Yet Dussander seems oblivious to the commotion. His eyes are nothing more than glazed slits, his mouth hangs open. Darren runs toward the door to help. Dussander's eyes open slightly. There is life behind them after all. He turns his attention imperceptibly toward his IV bag... The camera moves away from Dussander to the window. Outside in the parking lot, groups of protesters have gathered. Some hold candles. Others chant and wave signs. News reporters surround them. INT. LIVING ROOM - BOWDEN HOUSE - DAY ANGLE on a ticking wall clock. Todd appears apprehensive as he sits down on the couch next to his mother. She puts her arm around him. He is pale and glassy-eyed. His parents don't look much better. Dick is especially nervous and stands off to the side, watching everyone intently. Richler and Weiskopf sit across the room in chairs. RICHLER Todd, my name is Dan Richler. I'm a special agent with the FBI. This is my associate, Dr. Weiskopf. WEISKOPF Hello. DICK What kind of doctor are you? WEISKOPF I'm a school teacher. RICHLER Dr. Weiskopf is a professor at the Judaic Institute in Munich. He is assisting the Israeli government in certain matters. He is here today, only as an observer. A moment passes between Weiskopf and Todd. RICHLER (CONT'D) Thanks for calling us up, Mr. Bowden. You saved us the trouble of tracking through the 911 records. DICK Actually, it was Todd's idea to call. He thought... we thought there might be some way we could help your investigation. RICHLER Todd, if you wouldn't mind, I'd like to hear about your involvement with Dussander... but you knew him as Arthur Denker, right? TODD Yeah. I never knew of that other name till I saw it in the paper. RICHLER How did you know him? Todd starts to rub his stomach. TODD I met him at the movies. Last summer. ...He asked me where to pick up the number seven bus. He said his eyes weren't too good. ...Will you excuse me for a minute? He gets up before Richler can answer walks toward the stairs. MONICA You okay, honey? TODD I just gotta use the bathroom. I'll be right back. He vanishes up the stairs. They all watch him go. Monica turns to Richler. MONICA He's not feeling well. ANGLE on Dick. MONICA (CONT'D) Can I get you some coffee? INT. BOWDEN HOUSE - BATHROOM - DAY The faucet runs at full blast to hide the noise as Todd digs through the medicine cabinet and takes out a bottle of Pepto- Bismol. He takes off the cap and gulps down what is left in the bottle. He finishes and takes a few deep breaths. As he turns around he catches his reflection in the mirror. An empty bottle in his hand, a bright pink ring around his lips, a few pink splotches down his shirt-- he looks totally ridiculous. Todd can't help but laugh. INT. BOWDEN HOUSE - LIVING ROOM - DAY The interview continues. The clock ticks on. Richler drinks from a coffeee cup. Todd is back in his seat. RICHLER Todd, let me tell you what we're really interested in here. You told the admitting nurse that Denker had a heart attack while you were reading him a letter. TODD That's right. I was. That's what I was doing there. It was in German but he insisted I try to read it anyway. Once or twice he got pissy about the pronunciation but I asked him what did he want from me. I don't speak German. Mr. Denker... Dussander... got really excited at one point. He yelled out, "Yes, that's what you would do all right." but I didn't know what he was talking about. Then he grabbed his chest. RICHLER And that's when you called the ambulance, right? TODD That's right. RICHLER Well, this is the part we can't figure out. The letter itself, Todd... do you remember what happened to it? TODD I guess it was still on the table. I couldn't swear to it, but -- DICK Wait, I saw a letter. It was in German. I didn't think anything of it at the time. But, yeah, it was on Airmail stationery. RICHLER Then it should still be there. This is our problem. DICK It isn't? RICHLER No. MONICA Maybe somebody broke in. RICHLER Why would somebody break into his house simply to steal a letter? ...Unless... there was someone... someone right here in Santo Donato who would want to protect him for some reason. Maybe a close friend, or even another fugitive. I know it sounds like a bunch of Robert Ludlum stuff, but when Dussander was taken to the hospital, we think our Mr. X scooted over to the house and swiped the letter. TODD That doesn't make sense. RICHLER Why not, Todd? TODD Well, if Denk... if he had an old Nazi buddy in town, why didn't he come over himself and read the letter to him? If you could have heard the way he corrected me at every word-- RICHLER A good point. Except maybe this other fellow is in a wheelchair, or blind. TODD Guys that are blind don't normally go scooting out to steal letters. RICHLER (smiling) True. Did Dussander have any friends that you knew of? TODD No, not really. RICHLER How about phone calls? Pause. TODD No, I heard his phone ring maybe five or six times in all the time I knew him. It was never anything out of the ordinary. Salesmen. Wrong numbers. RICHLER Did you ever hear him speak German on those occasions? TODD No. He hardly ever spoke German. He always said he would teach me someday, but he never got around to it. WEISKOPF Did he ever talk about his past? Todd looks at Weiskopf. This is the first question he has asked and Todd is more wary of him than of Richler. Todd shrugs innocently. TODD Not really. Little bits, I guess. MONICA Well, don't you remember what he told us at Thanksgiving? Todd looks at her. MONICA (CONT'D) He said he was in college-- DICK (shutting her up) Monica. They don't care what we know, they care what Todd knows. Silence. Richler notices the tension in the room. He looks at Weiskopf. Finally, he speaks to Dick. RICHLER Look, I'm sure this whole thing has come as a terrible shock. I think we've done enough for the day. He and Weiskopf stand. Dick is almost surprised that they are leaving so soon. WEISKOPF Thank you, Todd. Mr. and Mrs. Bowden. Weiskopf nods good-bye. DICK Wait a minute... Agent Richler, before you go-- Todd's not a suspect in this, is he? I mean he's just talking to you, right? RICHLER That's right. DICK Because Todd always thought he was helping that old man. We didn't know any of this before today. RICHLER Mr. Bowden, you and Todd have nothing to worry about. I assure you. Your son has been a great service to us. Thank you, Todd. For now that's all we need. Our next step is to turn that house upside down. We're bringing in some special teams to look through everything. We may come up with something. We'll be in touch if we need you. They are almost to the door, when Richler stops. RICHLER (CONT'D) Oh, Todd, by the way.... (casually, pulls a photo out of a folder he is carrying) Have you ever seen this man before? He holds the photo up to Todd. It is a picture of Archie in military dress, probably a blow-up of his military ID. Todd stares at it for a moment. His face shows no reaction. TODD No. RICHLER Okay, thanks. He smiles. Weiskopf opens the door and the two men leave. INT. BOWDEN HOUSE - TODD'S BEDROOM - DAY From his window Todd sees Richler and Weiskopf talking by their gray sedan. TODD You'll be back, won't you boys? Won't you, Special agent Jackoff. You and the sheeny professor. ...I know, let's show him an old army picture, that'll screw him up. ...Fuck you. Fuck-You. INT. BOWDEN HOUSE - UPSTAIRS HALLWAY - DAY Dick is half-way up the stairs when he hears yelling coming from Todd's room. He pauses a moment. Most of Todd's words aren't clear, but the profanity sure is... INT. BOWDEN HOUSE - TODD'S BEDROOM - DAY After a moment, the sedan pulls away. Todd turns away from the window and we see that he is holding the barrel of the rifle in one hand and the scope in the other. He takes a few breaths, tries to calm down. A burst of nervous laughter slips out of him. There is a KNOCK at the door. Two seconds later Dick comes in. DICK'S POV: Todd stands in the middle of his room. The gun pieces are nowhere in sight. DICK Everything all right, son? TODD Yeah... fine. DICK You sure? TODD I'm fine, Dad. DICK Your mother and I feel terrible... like we... TODD It's not your fault. Dick grabs his son and pulls him close. Todd doesn't know how to respond. For Dick, it is like hugging a phone pole. He knows something is terribly wrong. Todd stands stiff in his father's arms until he releases him. DICK You know we love you, don't you? TODD I know, Dad. He smiles at his father, comfortingly. Dick is not comforted. DICK Look, ahh, your mother and I are going to go down and talk to our lawyer. I don't want you to worry about a thing. It's just a precaution. I don't trust these cops. We're not going to be gone long. TODD Don't worry about me, I'll be fine. DICK Your old man is on top of things, all right? I am going to take care of this. TODD I know, Dad. Dick kisses Todd's forehead. He turns to leave and stops. DICK This afternoon, if you're up for it, we'll go do something. How 'bout it? TODD Sure. Dick tries to smile and goes out, the door, leaving Todd alone. EXT. BOWDEN HOUSE - DRIVEWAY - DAY The garage door opens and Dick backs the Porsche into the street. Monica is with him. Todd, from the upstairs window, watches them go. INT. BOWDEN HOUSE - BATHROOM - DAY Todd is near the end of his rope, trying to hold himself together. We see him splashing water on his face in the bathroom. He gazes into the mirror, transfixed by the ghost- like image reflected back at him. Todd pounds his fist against the sink. He can stand it no longer. He darts out of the bathroom. EXT. HOSPITAL ENTRANCE - DAY Todd drives his mother's Honda wagon towards the entrance of the hospital and for the first time witnesses the scope of Dussander's discovery. News vans are everywhere. The protesters have grown in number. A line of cars wait for admittance into the parking lot. A policeman stands a few feet away from Todd, directing cars in, turning others away. He is moving toward Todd. Horns honk around him. Todd sees that more police officers are standing by the door of the hospital. The nearby policeman notices Todd and walks closer. Todd doesn't wait. He pulls the car out of line and drives off. INT. HONDA WAGON - DAY Todd holds the steering wheel with a white-knuckled grip. His face is sweaty and flushed. He rocks back and forth as he tries to reassure himself... TODD We're okay. We're okay. We're o-kay. He is almost calm when he nears his house. But it doesn't last. He sees something he can hardly believe. TODD (CONT'D) You got to be fucking kidding me. EXT. BOWDEN HOUSE - DRIVEWAY - DAY An old Vo1vo is parked on the street in front of the house. Standing on the porch, sneakers and all, is Ed French. Todd pulls into the driveway and gets out. French has a cautious air about him as he walks toward Todd. FRENCH Hello, Todd. TODD Mr. French, what brings you to the wild side of town? The two of them are standing on opposites sides of the car. French pulls a folded newspaper page from his pocket. He starts to move around the car toward Todd, but Todd circles the other way, keeping the car in between himself and French. FRENCH Todd... I found something troubling in the morning news. Are your parents home? TODD No. FRENCH I know the man in this picture is the man who came to see me. TODD It's sort of a bad time right now. Why don't you go home? FRENCH I will. But first I need a couple of things explained to me. INT. HOSPITAL - OUTSIDE DUSSANDER'S ROOM - DAY Richler is speaking to the reporters. Cameras and lights are in his face. His words are low, serving as a backdrop, but we can tell that he is telling them of the plans to relocate Dussander. Weiskopf stands close by... FRENCH (V.O.) Todd, why don't you tell me what happened? EXT. BOWDEN HOUSE - DRIVEWAY - DAY While Todd almost seems to be enjoying this odd dance around the car, French does not. TODD You know, Mr. French, sometimes one thing just leads to another and before you know it... things get out of control. FRENCH I'm afraid that's not much of an answer, Todd. When do you expect your parents home? TODD I don't know, Ed. You want to come in and wait? I'll put on a pot of tea. We'll talk about old times. FRENCH I think you might need some help, Todd. That's why I'm here. INT. HOSPITAL - DUSSANDER'S ROOM - DAY Dussander is alone in the room as Richler addresses the reporters outside. His eyes open wide and his movements are the liveliest they have been since he was discovered. He reaches over to his IV unit and begins to disconnect the tube from the bag... TODD (V.O.) You know? You're right. I do need help. I really do. EXT. BOWDEN HOUSE - DRIVEWAY - DAY Todd becomes more animated, more threatening with every word. Somehow it is as though French is now retreating from Todd as they circle the car. FRENCH Let me help you, Todd. I want to. You're too smart to do anything crazy. TODD Can I ask you something, Ed? You don't mind if I call you Ed, now that I'm out of your fucking school, do you? FRENCH What? TODD You know all this crap you see on TV about forensics... hairs and fibers, that stuff? How much of it do think is true and how much is just bullshit? French is puzzled by the question. He has no answer. TODD (CONT'D) Oh, how would you know? You're a fucking guidance counsellor. French stops. FRENCH Todd, this is silly. Why don't we go inside? INT. HOSPITAL - DUSSANDER'S ROOM - DAY Liquid spills onto the floor as the tube comes loose from the bag. Dussander sits back and pulls the free end of the tube up to his mouth. His lips wrap around it and his face tightens as he begins to blow.... EXT. BOWDEN HOUSE - DRIVEWAY - DAY Todd starts moving again. French does the same. TODD Here's a little factoid for ya. I'll bet you didn't know this one. Hairs fall out of your head all the time. But it's even worse when you're nervous. And you know what? I've been real fucking high-strung lately. Todd comes around the rear of the car and stops at the door to the back seat. He opens it. FRENCH Listen, Todd... Please. Todd bends down to get something from the back seat. His voice is muffled from the inside of the car. TODD That's how it all happened, you know. One thing lead to another and before I knew it... Todd pops back up holding the rifle, fully assembled and aimed at French's chest. TODD (CONT'D) ...you showed up in my driveway, wearing those same fucking sneakers. FRENCH Whoa. To-- Todd rapid-fires. French's chest explodes red as his lifeless body sails back onto the grass. In the front yard, a dozen birds evacuate a tree in a panicked exodus. Todd swoons back on his heels, overcome by something. But it isn't pain, rather, it's a rush of pleasure. A laugh slips out. INT. HOSPITAL - DUSSANDER'S ROOM - DAY Dussander takes the tube from his mouth and lets it fall to the floor. The camera moves along the tube and stops at Dussander's arm, where it ends. He lies back in his bed and waits... EXT. BOWDEN HOUSE - DRIVEWAY - DAY Todd regains his balance. French stares wide-eyed as Todd steps up to him, the muzzle aimed at French's head. Todd grins widely. For the first time he looks ...happy. A single round obliterates half of French's skull. Todd chokes back a giggle like a drunk chokes back a belch. INT. HOSPITAL - DUSSANDER'S ROOM - DAY Dussander lurches up in the bed in a spastic, contortive fit as the air embolism reaches his heart. His arm flails against the IV unit, sending it crashing to the floor. The monitors next to him reflect a drastic turn in his condition. The door flies open and a pair of nurses charae in through the swarm of journalists. Richler and Weiskopf run in and the eager cameramen follow. The room is bathed in flash explosions as the nurses try to subdue Dussander. INT. BOWDEN HOUSE - GARAGE - DAY Todd throws open a cabinet door above the workbench and eyes the boxes and boxes of ammunition. He lets out a beautifully wicked laugh as he dumps all of the cartons into his backpack. He leaves the cabinet door open as he slips the bag over his shoulder. EXT. BOWDEN HOUSE - DRIVEWAY - STREET - DAY Todd zooms out of the garage on his bike, the rifle slung over one shoulder, the backpack over the other. He zips past French's body and out into the street. In the distance, we hear the faint, but rising wail of sirens. A front door or two slams shut as Todd passes. Suddenly he cuts up between two houses. A man standing in his back yard sees Todd and freezes. Todd ignores him. He steers the bike through the yard and picks up the dirt path he has used so many times before. INT. HOSPITAL - DUSSANDER'S ROOM - DAY From above we see Dussander's eyes, wide open, motionless. Yet the expression on his face is one of odd satisfaction. A doctor pounds on his chest, barks orders. The trauma team prepares the defibrillator, but we know they are too late... EXT. DIRT PATH - DAY Todd rides fast over the dry, rocky ground. The wind streaks back his hair. His excitement is as palpable as the grin dancing across his face. An aerial shot follows him as he angles the bike off the trail and up a steep embankment. As the camera moves ahead of him, we see the crest of the hill, and beyond it... The freeway, teeming with rush-hour traffic. BLACK. 
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+                            ARBITRAGE                                                                             Written by                        Nicholas Jarecki                                                                                                                                                                4/17/11          BLACK.                                   Over CREDITS we HEAR:                                    MARIA (O.S.)           ...but you took a huge bet on the           housing crisis in the middle of the           biggest boom anybody'd ever seen. Why?                                    ROBERT (O.S.)           I'm a child of the 50's. My father           welded steel for the Navy. And my           mother worked at the VA.                                                            INT. ROBERT'S MANSION - DAY                                   As the conversation continues we see:                                   1. A MAID clean an expansive living room, waxing a mahogany          table.                                   2. A BUTLER open sliding doors to an empty grand sitting          room.                                   3. An overhead shot as a SERVANT carries packages up a long          winding staircase.                                                   ROBERT           They lived through the Depression,           Pearl Harbor, and the Bomb. And they           didn't think bad things might           happen; they knew they would happen.                                                   MARIA           Is that what's happening now?                                                   ROBERT           When I was a kid my favorite           teacher was Mr. James. Mr. James           said that world events always           revolve around five things:           (extending his fingers one-                          BY-ONE)                                                            INT. ROBERT'S LIVING ROOM - DAY                                   And right on cue, we see for the first time -- ROBERT MILLER          (60) -- sitting on a sofa across from MARIA BARTIROMO and a          CAMERA CREW, mid-interview. ELLEN MILLER (58) watches on a          nearby MONITOR.                                                   ROBERT           M-O-N-E-Y.           Goldenrod - 4.17.11 2.                                                   MARIA                          (LAUGHING)           Was this freshman econ?                                                   ROBERT           This was fifth-grade econ.           (smiles, off her laugh)           But this is something we've seen           over and over again, time and time           again, that competition for this--           limited amount of dollars out           there, can make even the best of us           manic. So it's not surprising that           we see these asset bubbles, but           when reality sets in of course,           they burst.                                   CUT TO BLACK.                                                  "ARBITRAGE"                                                            CLOUDS GIVE WAY TO A:                                   FALCON 900EX - SOARING THROUGH THE SKIES AT 550MPH                                   And we push tighter into the plane, cutting into the engine,          as we hear a sonic boom and focus inside, revealing...                                                            INT. FALCON                                   A sleek, slate-gray cabin, divided into three seating areas.                                   At the back of the plane, five AIDES DE CAMP chatter in hushed          tones, pouring over a sea of red-inked paper.                                   In the galley, GAVIN BRIAR (42), pours a coffee. He brings it                         BACK TO                                                  ROBERT                                   who sits alone in his private area facing the cockpit,          scribbling his own red-ink across a stack of CONTRACT          DOCUMENTS. His effortless slouch, silver hair, and all-          commanding mannerisms make one thing clear: Robert's our man.                                                   GAVIN           (handing him the coffee)           Here you go...                                   Robert sips it.           Goldenrod - 4.17.11 3.                                                   GAVIN (CONT'D)                          (SITTING)           You're disappointed.                                                   ROBERT           Quants? Derivatives structures?           What was that about?                                                   GAVIN           It makes no sense.                                                   ROBERT           That's what you said last week.           Why'd we go down there?                                                   GAVIN           To sign.                                                   ROBERT           And did we sign?                                                   GAVIN           No.                                                   ROBERT           No. We did not. Instead I fly two           thousand miles for a marketing           meeting... And where was Mayfield?           What was this "emergency"? What was           that about?                                                   GAVIN           (after a beat)           Did you speak to the auditors?                                                   ROBERT           Why?                                                   GAVIN           What if... we don't don't close this           week...                                   We push into a close-up of Robert, as he contemplates what          this would mean.                                                            EXT. WESTCHESTER AIRFIELD - MOMENTS LATER                                   The ROAR of thirty million dollars landing near tall grass.                                                            EXT. HANGAR - CONTINUOUS                                   Robert walks down the passenger steps onto the tarmac,          followed by Gavin and the aides.           Goldenrod - 4.17.11 4.                                   They approach a waiting MERCEDES MAYBACH. The aides hand file          BOXES and BRIEFCASES to the Hispanic driver, RAMON, who loads          them into the trunk.                                                            EXT. STREETS - CONTINUOUS                                   The blur of city lights as the limo passes over bridges and          towards the city and Park Avenue and finally approaches                                                            EXT. GRACIE SQUARE - ROBERT'S MANSION - CONTINUOUS                                   An enormous turn-of-the-last-century Stanford-White-designed          red-brick MANSION- two already-giant townhouses combined.          Robert and Gavin exit the limo and head inside.                                                            INT. ROBERT'S MANSION - ENTRY HALL - CONTINUOUS                                   It's our first glimpse of Robert's home, and it doesn't          disappoint. It's an 1850's Tudor given a full once-over,          maintaining period details but updated with a Modernist          flair. It actually works.                                   A SERVANT takes Robert's briefcase from him as he enters,          handing him three small PRESENTS which he puts under his arm.                                   We HEAR sounds of a DINNER PARTY complete with CHILDREN          laughing. Hold on Robert's face- some mixture of excitement          and anticipation.                                                            INT. DINING ROOM - CONTINUOUS                                   A party in progress, dinner already served.                                   Seated around a large square table are: ELLEN (58, Robert's          wife), BROOKE (28, Robert's daughter), PETER (31, Robert's          son), TOM (Brooke's boyfriend), ANNE (Peter's wife), and          THREE GRANDCHILDREN.                                   Ellen's playing with one of the kids. She sees Robert.                                                   ELLEN                          (LIGHTING UP)           Look, your grandfather's here!                                   The kids clamor for Robert's attention. He moves around the          table, hugging them all.                                                   ROBERT           Hi, guys!           Goldenrod - 4.17.11 5.                                                   GRANDCHILD           Hi Grampi! What did you bring us?                                   Robert hands out the presents, and the kids unwrap them in a          frenzy. He continues making the rounds until he finally gets to          Brooke and Peter, seated next to each other.                                   They embrace, but we notice clear restraint, a marked contrast          to his behavior towards their kids.                                                   BROOKE           It's your birthday, Dad, not theirs.           You're spoiling them rotten.                                                   ROBERT                          (GRINNING)           It's my job! It's my job. You guys           turned out fine!                                                   BROOKE                          (HALF-SMILE)           Debatable.                                                   ROBERT           (to Peter, as they hug and                          SMILE)           How you doin', son? Good?                                   Robert rounds the table and takes his seat next to Ellen as          she discreetly waves to the SERVANTS.                                                   ELLEN           We had to eat. The kids were           starving...                                                   ROBERT           (hugging her, happy)           No, no that's okay. Where's my           drink, is this mine, here?                                   Another SERVANT enters with a CAKE flickering birthday          candles. Everyone notices and starts CLAPPING.                                                   ALL           HEY! HAPPY BIRTHDAY! YAY!                                   Robert smiles. They finish cheering, then CLINK glasses for a          toast.                                                   ROBERT           Thank you, thank you, thank you all           very much, it's such a surprise, I           didn't even know it was my birthday!                                   Everyone laughs a little.           Goldenrod - 4.17.11 6.                                                   ROBERT (CONT'D)           What did Mark Twain say about? He           said-- old age... is clearly a case           of mind over matter. If you don't           mind, it doesn't matter.                          (MORE LAUGHTER)           I've done a lot of things in my life,           worked very hard, but being here,           looking around-- at all these shining,           radiant faces, I know that my best           work is right here in this room, right           now... I'm deeply proud of all of you.           That's the best gift your mother and I           could have hoped for,                          (KISSES ELLEN)           so, thank you...                                                   PETER                          (CALLING OUT)           ...and to have sold the company           to Standard this morning!                                   They all LAUGH.                                                   ROBERT                          (SMILES)           That, too, Peter, but- no business           tonight-- no business!                                                   ELLEN           Oh, here we go!                                   More group LAUGHTER.                                                   ROBERT           Although your one-track mind assures           me you've got not only your mother's           genes, but you've got mine, too!                                   More LAUGHTER. Robert laughs, too. He sees Ellen hug Peter          across the room.                                                   ROBERT (CONT'D)           Now, I'm aware that may seem           uncharacteristic, but maybe it's taken me           sixty years to realize what's truly           important -- and it's you guys so thank           you all very much.                                                   ALL           (as they applaud)           Hear, hear!           Goldenrod - 4.17.11 7.                                   INT. STUDY - MOMENTS LATER                                   A warm, clubby room, kept traditional. Robert pours out two          SCOTCHES.                                                   ROBERT           Kids are wild.                                                   BROOKE                          (LAUGHING)           I don't know about me as a mom.                                                   ROBERT           No, no no, you should have-- I want           more "you's" around.                                   Robert brings the drinks to the banquette where Brooke rests          with an open FOLDER. He resumes signing papers.                                                   BROOKE                          (LAUGHS)           It's all about you, isn't it.                          (POINTS)           Four... and nineteen.                                                   ROBERT           Yeah, yeah yeah...                                   Brooke nods, tries to smile.                                                   BROOKE           So what was that all about?                                                   ROBERT           What?                                                   BROOKE           The last time you made a speech like that           we lost the Firestone bid.                                                   ROBERT                          (LAUGHS)           Yeah, well... I just... wanted it           to be about the family tonight.                                   She nods again, unconvinced, then pulls out a MAGAZINE.                                                   BROOKE           You see this?                                   He looks closely at it. A "Forbes" cover story:                                   "Robert Miller, the Oracle of Gracie Square: Investor profits          in uncertain times by predicting housing crisis."           Goldenrod - 4.17.11 8.                                                   ROBERT           (shakes his head)           Yeah... Oy. You know how I feel           about that. Trash can.                                                   BROOKE           Peter's got a copy pinned up in the           conference room.                                                   ROBERT           (sits back, takes a drink)           Well, you gonna keep skirting around it?                                   Brooke leans back and stares at him.                                                   BROOKE           Why sell our company? We make a           great return, we give money to the           causes we believe in...                                                   ROBERT           My darling, you are still in your 20's.           I am 60. That's a big difference in           point of view.                                                   BROOKE           Dad, you're not that old.                                                   ROBERT                          (LAUGHS)           It catches up alright. And maybe           there's some other things I'd like to           do. Maybe I would like to spend a           little more time with you guys...           outside the office.                                   Brooke shoots him a look.                                                   ROBERT (CONT'D)                          (GROWING IMPATIENT)           What?                                   Staring at him, then                                                   BROOKE                          (LAUGHS)           I'm just trying to imagine what we           would do.                                                            INT. ENTRY HALL - LATER                                   Ellen is supervising the yawning children as the party winds          down. She sees Robert put on his OVERCOAT.           Goldenrod - 4.17.11 9.                                                   ELLEN           Where are you going?                                                   ROBERT           Office.                                                   ELLEN           Now?                                                   ROBERT           Yeah I gotta finish up that thing.                                   She holds a beat, then approaches and straightens his collar.                                                   ELLEN                          (SMILES)           But, I haven't given you your           birthday present yet...                                                   ROBERT                          (SMILING BACK)           I'll be back as soon as I can.                                   He kisses her and starts to exit. She stares as he walks out.          Hold on her.                                                            EXT. LOWER BROADWAY - NIGHT                                   A TAXI stops in front of a large frosted-glass apartment          entrance. Robert exits, paying the DRIVER through the window.                                                   ROBERT           (into his phone)           Yeah, Gavin, it's me, uhh... When           you get this -- I want you to call           Chris Vogler at Fremaut, tell him I           need to see him right away, okay?                                                            INT. LOFT APARTMENT - NIGHT                                   JULIE C‘TE (32) sits at the head of a marble table in the          exquisite space. It's the modern mirror of Robert's mansion,          the lines carried through fully this time. And Julie is the          modern woman: sleek, fit, and flowing, even at home.                                   She's intently focused, handwriting personal notes onto a stack          of INVITATIONS for the "Julie CÙte Gallery - Paintings by Victor          Rodriguez - April 10th" as she downs the last of a WHITE WINE.          She's got a seating chart out that she's working on.                                   The INTERCOM RINGS. Julie heads over, sees Robert's face on          the VIDEO MONITOR. She holds a beat.           Goldenrod - 4.17.11 10.                                   EXT. LOFT APARTMENT - SAME                                   Robert waits in the cold, staring into the camera as Julie          watches him from inside the loft, not moving.                                   After a second, the door BUZZES open.                                                            INT. JULIE'S LOFT - SAME                                   Robert enters. Julie is already back at the table, writing.          She's arranging 4 POLAROIDS of different paintings on a wall,          along with a SEATING CHART. He walks down the long hall.                                   He comes up behind her, running his arms across her stomach.                                                   JULIE           (standing in frustration)           Okay...                                   She crosses to the open kitchen and pours out more wine,          lights a cigarette. Robert trails.                                                   ROBERT           Alright, I'm sorry. I'm sorry I'm           late. I'm always late-- you know           that-- and I'm sorry. And I'm           always saying I'm sorry about being           late.           (crosses to her)           It doesn't mean I wouldn't rather           be here with you.                                   They stare at each other as she drags off the cigarette, then          stubs it out. He gestures to the dining table.                                                   ROBERT (CONT'D)           The show's gonna be beautiful.                                                   JULIE                          (FINALLY--)           You gonna be there?                                                   ROBERT           (slight beat, then                          DEFINITIVE)           I will be there.                                   She stares, still in the moment. Then she heads to the fridge          and slides out a homemade BIRTHDAY CAKE. He stares at it.                                                   ROBERT (CONT'D)                          (LAUGHING)           Oh wow, that's great.           Goldenrod - 4.17.11 11.                                                   JULIE           I made this for you.                                                   ROBERT           You made this? This is amazing. One           candle, thank you very...                                   She reaches for the cake, grabbing a piece of it with her          hand and... SMEARS IT ONTO HIS FACE.                                   The tension breaks, and they LAUGH. He grabs her and they          kiss furiously, pulling at each other's clothes as she pushes          him backwards into the bedroom and they begin to make love.                                                            INT. GREENBERG & COMPANY - OFFICE HALL - THE NEXT DAY                                   Robert enters the palatial quarters, decorated with ornate          18th century furniture. As we'll see soon, it's a stark          contrast to his functional empire. He follows a striking          British RECEPTIONIST down a long hallway passing a massive          glass conference room. They arrive at                                                            INT. GREENBERG'S OFFICE - SAME                                   The receptionist escorts Robert in. Standing to greet him is          JEFFREY GREENBERG (53), handsome and charming.                                                   JEFFREY           Thank you, Diane.                                   She exits. Robert sits. A moment of silence.                                                   JEFFREY (CONT'D)           So?                                                   ROBERT           I'm here.                                                   JEFFREY           Guess what's not?                                                   ROBERT           Jeffrey, I told you, I'm...                                                   JEFFREY           "...working on it," yeah. Well, while           you're doing that, lemme tell you what's           not working...                                                   ROBERT                          (LEANING FORWARD)           Jeffrey...           Goldenrod - 4.17.11 12.                                                   JEFFREY                          (LOUDER)           ...what's not working is my four           hundred twelve million dollars that's           sitting in your account so you can           pass your audit, the four hundred           twelve million that you needed, you           said, for two weeks, and which has           been languishing now for           (looks down at paper)           thirty-two days, while it could be           elsewhere invested, earning an actual           return, instead of couching the absurd           lie that you're spinning.                                                   ROBERT           What do you want me to say?                                                   JEFFREY           That you're gonna get a signature           from Mayfield, and that my hostage           money and my fee are going to be sent           to me promptly, say... by tomorrow?                                   A beat.                                                   ROBERT           I am solving the problem. I am getting           you your money and your fee. You will           have them very shortly.                                                   JEFFREY           When?                                                   ROBERT           As soon as they sign the contract.                                                   JEFFREY                          (BEAT)           You know, I'm not the one with the           liability, pal. I just made a loan.           You're looking at jail for a           thousand years for fraudulent           conveyance and...                                                   ROBERT           ...Stop it! You don't have to talk           to me like that!...                                                   JEFFREY           I didn't get you into this mess!                                                   ROBERT           You were a friend of mine!...           Goldenrod - 4.17.11 13.                                                   JEFFREY           ...remember when you asked me if it           was a good idea to divert half your           liquid assets into a fucking copper           mine? What did I tell you?                                                   ROBERT           (stands, heading to door                          WITH COAT)           Are we done here? I think we're           done here.                                   Jeffrey stares at him contemplatively for a moment, then          appears to reach some sort of conclusion.                                                   JEFFREY                          (MATTER-OF-FACT)           Friday morning I take my money back.                                                   ROBERT                          (SHAKES HEAD)           You can't do that...                                                   JEFFREY           ...the fuck I can't, it's in an escrow bill           with one-day call rights...                                                   ROBERT           ...I need the money there until they           sign, Jeffrey. What if they check again?                                                   JEFFREY           That's really not my problem, is it?                                                   ROBERT           (stares, fumes)           Not your fuckin problem...                                                            EXT. STREET - MADISON AVENUE                                   Off Robert as he storms the pavement.                                                            INT. ROBERT'S LIMO - CONTINUOUS                                   And enters his waiting limousine, SLAMMING the door.                                                   ROBERT                          (TO RAMON)           Let's go.                                   They drive off. Robert turns on the TELEVISION.           Goldenrod - 4.17.11 14.                                                   CNBC ANNOUNCER           The DOW continues its uptick this           morning on new housing starts to           rise 132 points. Asian markets fared           less well, especially in Russia,           where further nationalization plans           caused foreign investment to           sputter, leading to various...                                   Close on Robert, trying hard to contain his building rage.                                   His phone VIBRATES a TEXT, from Julie: "See you at 8!" He          stares at it, breathes in deeply.                                   The CARPHONE rings: "Gavin."                                                   ROBERT                          (BARKS)           What?                                    GAVIN (O.S.)           Seven-thirty tonight at the Four Seasons.           We'll get it straight with Mayfield then.                                                   ROBERT           (calming a little)           Good. Very good.                                                            INT. ROBERT'S BEDROOM - LATER                                   Ellen stands tying Robert's TIE in front of a dressing mirror.                                                   ROBERT           Is this too blue?                                                   ELLEN           It's the third one you've tried.                                   She finishes tying it. He looks in the mirror.                                                   ROBERT           Ay, yay yay. I look old.                                                   ELLEN           You look regal, and wise, and granted           a little worried. What is going on?           Are you afraid of this meeting?                                                   ROBERT           They haven't signed the papers.                                                   ELLEN           I thought that's why you flew down there.           Goldenrod - 4.17.11 15.                                                   ROBERT           (rubbing his eyes)           So did I, but for some reason           they're stalling. I didn't get any           sleep on the plane and...                                                   ELLEN           Now come on. It will all work out.           Just follow the plan.                                                   ROBERT           What plan is that?                                                   ELLEN           "Confidence equals contract."                                                   ROBERT                          (LAUGHS)           You sound like a fortune cookie.                                                   ELLEN           They're your words, actually.                                                   ROBERT           Then you married an idiot.                                                   ELLEN                          (BEAT)           Okay, but I was thinking, idiot,           that, after the deal is done, which           it definitely will be, why don't we           just take off? Pete's in the best           place he's ever been, your daughter           is always as brilliant, right? So,           I wanna have some fun. I wanna have           fun with you!                                   He stares at her softly, but stays silent.                                                   ELLEN (CONT'D)           Let's go to Ravello- the house there.           We haven't been there forever..                                                   ROBERT                          (GROWING UNCOMFORTABLE)           There hasn't been time.                                                   ELLEN           We have to make time. We go for a           year. Let's take a year and get fat           and have fun and go on an adventure. I           mean-- seriously-- how much money do           we need?. Do you wanna be the richest           guy in the cemetery?           Goldenrod - 4.17.11 16.                                   He straightens his jacket, laughs.                                                   ROBERT           I don't wanna be in the cemetery!                                                   ELLEN           Oh, by the way, Mary called from St.           Victor's Hospital, again, she said they           still haven't gotten the check yet...                                                   ROBERT           I'm taking care of it.                                                   ELLEN           The gala is Friday. Should I be           selling my ring? What's going on?                                                   ROBERT           I've had to move some things around           for the merger.                                                   ELLEN           It's only two million.                                                   ROBERT           (walks up to her, laughs)           Only two million?                                                   ELLEN                          (SMILES)           Yeah!                                                   ROBERT           You remember-- Riccio's? Full meals...           two bucks... all you can eat... three           bucks...                                                   ELLEN           I do remember. But I do not           remember you being so sentimental           unless you were trying to change           the subject.                                   A KNOCK at the door.                                                   ROBERT           (as he heads out, smiling)           I don't know what you're talking           about...                                   Ellen slaps his behind.           Goldenrod - 4.17.11 17.                                   INT. MAYBACH - NIGHT                                   Robert and Gavin ride, both shuffling papers.                                                            INT. FOUR SEASONS RESTAURANT - CONTINUOUS                                   Robert trails Gavin up the stairs as he types out a TEXT          MESSAGE to Julie: "Wrapping up mtg- be there soon."                                   The MAITRE'D spots Robert and greets him as he approaches.                                                   MAITRE'D           Mr. Miller, good to see you, sir.           Your party has already arrived.                                   He leads Robert and Gavin into the                                                            INT. POOL ROOM                                   Where we see Brooke and Peter seated with a group of          EXECUTIVES including AIMES (45), and BARNES (43).                                   Displeasure immediately registers on Robert's face.                                                   ROBERT           (sotto, to Gavin)           Where the hell is Mayfield?                                   Gavin shakes his head. They approach the table.                                                   BARNES           (as they sit)           Mr. Miller, thank you for coming.           We were just getting acquainted           with Brooke and Peter here.                                                   ROBERT                          (SMILING)           I hope they didn't beat you up           too much.                                                   AIMES           They've been terrific.                                                   PETER           Dad, we've been talking about operations.           Tim thinks once we consolidate we can save           about fifty percent on our back-office.                                   Robert phone VIBRATES. It's "Julie" calling. He silences it.           Goldenrod - 4.17.11 18.                                                   ROBERT           I'd love to hear about that, but...                          (A BEAT)           I had thought Mr. Mayfield planned to           join us tonight.                                                   AIMES                          (NODS)           Jim should be here in twenty minutes; he           suggested we get right into details.                                                   BARNES           I was just telling Brooke: now that           we can market your quants' track           records, we have access to a host of           new capital that...                                   Robert drifts as the suits prattle on.                                                   DISSOLVE TO:                                                            INT. POOL ROOM - LATER                                   The execs are still chattering. Robert is sweating. Julie          calls again. Robert silences it again. Then he gets a text:          "9:40pm - FUCK YOU."                                                   BARNES           ...assuming we shed debt through some           small liquidations, I'd say...                                                   ROBERT           I'm sorry, gentlemen, we've been here           nearly two hours now. Where is Mr.           Mayfield?                                                   AIMES           He just texted me. He's very sorry,           but he's been detained.                                                   ROBERT           Detained where?                                   Silence.                                                   ROBERT (CONT'D)                          (RISING)           Alright, I think I can leave you with           my family?                                                   BARNES           Of course. Again, Mr. Miller, a privilege.           Goldenrod - 4.17.11 19.                                                   ROBERT           Yeah, yeah yeah.                                   Robert refuses Aimes' hand and heads out. Brooke rises.                                                   BROOKE                          (INDICATING)           Dad...                                   They move off to the side.                                                   GAVIN                          (TO AIMES)           This is the bullshit way you try to           close a deal?                                                   AIMES           Port? Would you like to have some port?                                                            INT. FOUR SEASONS RESTAURANT - MOVING                                   As Brooke catches up with her father in the hallway.                                                   BROOKE           Did you get my message?                                                   ROBERT           No. What's up?                                                   BROOKE           We need to sit down.                                                   ROBERT           What is it?                                                   BROOKE           I don't want to talk about it here.                                                   ROBERT                          (SHARP)                          BROOKE--                                                   BROOKE           I found some strange entries in the           "Old Hill" books.                                                   ROBERT           What kind of entries?                                                   BROOKE           I'm not sure yet, but there's           definitely something off.           Goldenrod - 4.17.11 20.                                                   ROBERT           Alright, come by about eleven           tomorrow and we'll look at it then.           And Brooke?                                                   BROOKE           Yeah.                                                   ROBERT           See if you can find out what           happened to Mayfield.                                   26 She nods, as Robert dashes down the hall. 26                                                             EXT. JULIE C‘TE GALLERY - A LITTLE LATER                                    Robert exits his MAYBACH in front of a big scene in progress:           trendy FOLKS overflowing into the street, cameras FLASHING...                                                             INT. GALLERY - CONTINUOUS                                    The space is cavernous, modern luxe -- a Liagre design with           thirty-foot columns and slab granite. The ART COLLECTION on           display is indeed beautiful- photo-realist paintings -- and           each one tells a strange story.                                    Robert enters and scans the room. No Julie. He approaches the           gallery ASSISTANT.                                                   ROBERT           How're they doing?                                                   ASSISTANT           Great. Everyone loves them.                                                   ROBERT           Yeah, but how are they doing?                                                   ASSISTANT           So-so.                                    He scans the party further. No Julie.                                                   ROBERT           Where's Julie?                                                   ASSISTANT           She's in the back.                                                             INT. GALLERY - OFFICE IN BACK - CONTINUOUS                                    We pick up on Julie bumping two rails of COCAINE.           Goldenrod - 4.17.11 21.                                   She's dressed in a burnt red, form-fitting Lanvin dress, hair          coiffed, perfectly made-up-- if we didn't suspect anything,          we'd think she was the precise image of New York art-world          success.                                   Julie pulls her hair back and straightens, enters the main          gallery...                                                            INT. GALLERY - CONTINUOUS                                   Where she quickly sees Robert searching for her through the          crowd. She stops dead, considers going back into the office...                                   But she stands firm. Robert finds her eyes. He stares at her.                                   She stares back, with a simple look that says, plainly:          "Go away."                                   She turns and heads off to talk to a group of PATRONS,          including the painter VICTOR. One of the group is a DASHING          YOUNG MAN- is he flirting with her?                                   Robert approaches, staring at the young man, then at Julie.          She's all smiles, but she doesn't immediately introduce him.          He stands there, until--                                                   ROBERT           Hey, Julie.                                                   JULIE           Oh...           (to the group)           This is Robert Miller, one of our           collectors. This Katrina Stanton, and           Alex Stanton and their daughter Ava,           who is a talented young artist.                                   Robert shakes hands with the group, exchanging pleasantries,          especially kind to young AVA (15).                                                   ROBERT           Oh, really? Painter?                                                   AVA           Drawings.                                   Julie begins to walk off, disappearing into the crowd.                                                   ROBERT                          (LOOKING AROUND)           Yeah, that's great.           (as he notices Julie           leave, to the group)                          (MORE)           Goldenrod - 4.17.11 22.                          ROBERT (CONT'D)           I like the size of the paintings, I wanna talk           to you about them in a second.                                   Robert trails Julie, moving up to her quickly. He reaches out          to touch her and she spins towards him violent, definitive.                                                   ROBERT (CONT'D)           What? Why are you doing this?                                                   JULIE           Go -- away.                                   Julie heads back to the buyers.                                   Dismayed, Robert takes a last glance, then recedes out          towards the entry desk.                                   He approaches the gallery assistant he was talking to earlier          and picks up the buy sheet at the desk, marking some pieces.                                                   ROBERT           I will take                          (POINTING)           those two. And the Rubik's cube on           the back wall.                                                   ASSISTANT           (pointing to list)           Right there, number seven.                                                   ROBERT           Don't tell her it was me.           (off her nod)           I mean it.                                                   ASSISTANT           You got it.                                   Robert walks out and hails his driver.                                                            INT. ROBERT'S BEDROOM - LATER                                   Off Robert, in bed with Ellen who is asleep. He gets up and          stumbles to the bathroom, puts on a robe.                                                            INT. PRIVATE ELEVATOR                                   He approaches the basement level carrying a folder of          papers...           Goldenrod - 4.17.11 23.                                   INT. SERVICE KITCHEN                                   And sits at the counter, staring at a REPORT of some kind. He          refills a glass of SCOTCH, downs it.                                                            INT. JULIE'S LOFT - NIGHT                                   Julie's a touch worn from the evening, but she's still          composed. She sits with five guests including her gallery          assistant, the HANDSOME YOUNG MAN from earlier, TWO WOMEN,          and TWO GUYS who look like painters. One does a line of          COCAINE off a "Fantom" magazine.                                                   PAINTER           ...fucking Dalwood wouldn't know a Van           Gogh from a Van Eyck. And they call it           a "State of Contemporism..."                                   Julie's phone RINGS. She looks at the Caller-ID, (which shows          her home line calling) confused.                                                   JULIE                          (INTO PHONE)           Who's this?                                    ROBERT (O.S.)           It's me.                                                   JULIE           What do you want?                                    ROBERT (O.S.)           I'm here.                                                   JULIE           Where?                                                            INT. JULIE'S LOFT - BEDROOM                                   Robert watches Julie through a crack in the doorway. He's on          her CORDLESS phone. We INTERCUT.                                                   ROBERT           I'm in your bedroom. Can you get           those people out of here?                                                   JULIE           Are you serious?                                                   ROBERT           Look down the hall. Do you see me?           Goldenrod - 4.17.11 24.                                                   JULIE                          (LOOKING)           I see you.                                                   ROBERT           Okay, so I'm serious.                                   She hangs up and begins to clear out the guests.                                   Robert sits, unbuttoning his collar.                                                            INT. JULIE'S LOFT - LIVING ROOM                                   The guests finally leave. Julie heads to the bedroom...                                                            INT. JULIE'S LOFT - BEDROOM                                   And finds Robert sitting, looking a little too comfortable.                                                   JULIE           You just come in and out whenever           you want?                                                   ROBERT           I thought we should talk...                                                   JULIE           (laughs, then in a rage)           One damn night in a month I told           you was important to me, et tu es           meme pas capable d'etre la...                                                   ROBERT           ...I was working, do you           understand? I'm under enormous           pressure, I have obligations...                                                   JULIE           ...I don't want to hear about your           obligations. If you cared -- YOU           WOULD HAVE BEEN THERE!                                                   ROBERT           I was there! I was there! I was           late, but I was there. And I'm           here now.                                                   JULIE           No, no, no. You're here when it's           convenient for you to be here.           C'est pas ca l'amour. Love means           YOU FUCKING SHOW UP!           Goldenrod - 4.17.11 25.                                   She walks off into the                                                  LIVING ROOM                                   Robert follows her. They stand at a great distance as she          downs a red wine.                                                   ROBERT           I'm sorry.                                                   JULIE           Why did you buy those paintings?                                                   ROBERT           Because I liked them.                                   Her face falls slightly, but she keeps her grace -- and          her anger.                                                   JULIE           Okay, thank you for helping me get           started. But if I'm gonna fail--           then let me fail!                                                   ROBERT           Julie, you're not gonna fail. Why           would you fail?                                   He crosses towards her.                                                   ROBERT (CONT'D)           You know, I'm not the kinda guy who           wants to throw money away but if           you wanna start a business, you           have to project a certain image.                                                   JULIE           What image?                                                   ROBERT           Success.                                   He sits down next to her.                                                   ROBERT (CONT'D)           The market's a disaster right now;           nobody's moving anything. That's           why you gotta show sales. People           look at you then and they say           "Whoah, how'd she do that?" -- and           that's what they remember. Always.                                   She stares at him, laughs a little in devastation, then...           Goldenrod - 4.17.11 26.                                                   JULIE                          (QUIETLY)           You're never gonna leave her.                                   Hold on Robert's face as he stares at her, silently.                                                   CUT TO:                                                                           BEDROOM                                   Julie is on the bed, holding herself, crying.                                   Robert comes up next to her, hugs her.                                                   ROBERT           Come away with me. Let's just take           your car and go...                                                   JULIE           ...Where?...                                                   ROBERT           There's a place upstate. Very           beautiful, on the water. We can           wake up there together- just you           and me. I'd like that.                                   She's keeps crying, but...                                                   JULIE           Me, too.                                                            EXT. HIGHWAY - DEAD OF NIGHT                                   A MERCEDES 450 SEL driving the interstate towards          Connecticut. Billie Holiday sings her 1959 "Just One More          Chance." We hold on a two-shot through the windshield: Julie          rests her head on Robert's shoulder.                                   And the camera moves closer into Robert's face, Julie snuggled          next to him, Billie's music lulling the moment into          tranquility, and finally, just finally, Robert has a moment's          respite, as he slowly closes his heavy eyelids, nodding off          into a trance of desperately needed sleep until...                                   A SCRAPING METALLIC NOISE jolts us back to                                                            EXT. HIGHWAY                                   Reality -- as the car drifts into the CENTER MEDIAN where          the tire catches on a small metal SCRAP and BLOWS OUT,          flipping the car over and over until it CAREENS to a halt.           Goldenrod - 4.17.11 27.                                   INT. CAR                                   Robert's eyes flutter open as he comes to, groggy. He's badly          injured, but breathing. He starts to feel his body. Movement          returns...                                   He looks over at Julie.                                   It is instantly obvious she is dead: she's been nearly          decapitated, a deep gash ripping through her neck.                                   Shock, followed quickly by panic.                                   We hear a DRIPPING sound. A gas leak...                                   Robert reaches into his pocket and dials 911... He looks at          the phone just before pressing "Send"... and hangs up.                                   He tries to open the door. It's stuck. He KICKS at it. It opens.                                                            EXT. TWO-LANE HIGHWAY - NIGHT                                   He drags himself out of the car. Stands. Smoke is still          rising from the smashed hood. He pulls up his shirt. A DEEP          BRUISE: a broken rib from the steering column. He winces.                                   He takes a few steps forward, moving around to the passenger          side. He looks again at Julie. Horrific. He reaches out to          touch her, then stops.                                   Hold on his face. He sinks to his knees, putting his head in          his bloody hands. He SCREAMS.                                   Then he rises, and begins hiking to the side of the road.                                                            EXT. FIELDS - DEAD OF NIGHT                                   Robert walks and walks through tall grass.                                   In the distance behind him, A MASSIVE EXPLOSION lights up the          sky in a fireball as the gas tank finally catches, incinerating          the car and its contents.                                                            INT. GAS STATION BATHROOM                                   Robert cleans himself up in the sink, applying soap and water          to his cut stomach, scrubbing frantically, He takes all the          paper towels and puts them in his pocket.           Goldenrod - 4.17.11 28.                                   EXT. GAS STATION - LATER                                   Robert picks up a PAYPHONE by the bathrooms, cradling it to          his ear with his sleeve and dialing with his other finger          through his shirt fiber.                                                   ROBERT                          (INTO PHONE)           Yes, I wanna make it collect...                                                   OPERATOR           Your name, sir?                                                   ROBERT           Lawrence Grant.                                   RINGING, then...                                    JIMMY (O.S.)           Who the fuck is this?                                                   ROBERT           Jimmy, it's me.                                    JIMMY (O.S.)           Robert?                                                   ROBERT           I want you to listen to me very           closely...                                                            EXT. CAR WRECKAGE SITE                                   POLICE CARS flash lights. An EMT unloads Julie's charred          CORPSE into a BODY BAG. INVESTIGATORS sift through rubble.                                   DET. MICHAEL BRYER (43) sits in a TAN SEDAN, drinking a cup          of deli coffee. Barely awake, he stares out the window at a          bunch of STATE TROOPERS arguing with his partner, MILLS.                                   MILLS breaks away from the uniforms and approaches, shaking          his head. Bryer gets out of the car.                                                   BRYER           You gotta be fucking kidding me.                                                   MILLS           Catching detective wants us to rule           before he calls it.                                                   BRYER           We've been having the same fuckin'           argument for twenty years.                          (MORE)           Goldenrod - 4.17.11 29.                          BRYER (CONT'D)           They can't handle one drunk           motorist kills herself?                                                   MILLS           I'm not so sure about this...                                   Bryer heads over to the car, his interest piqued.                                   Mills shines his flashlight towards the passenger side.                                                   MILLS (CONT'D)           Car roll had multiple impacts, but           she was here                          (POINTS)           and her feet                          (POINTS)           were down there.                                   Bryer immediately sees what he means-- dented metal, even in          the burnt door.                                                   BRYER           ... So who kicked out the door?                                   Bryer bends his head down to the car's passenger side,          looking off into the distance of the path Robert took just          moments before.                                                            EXT. GAS STATION                                   About twenty yards down the road, a BLACK SUV hums, waiting.          Robert opens the passenger door and gets in.                                                            INT. CAR - CONTINUOUS                                   Inside is JIMMY GRANT (23), Black.                                                   ROBERT           Let's go.                                   They start to drive. Jimmy looks over at Robert; he's pretty          banged up.                                                   JIMMY           You gonna tell me what this is?                                                   ROBERT           It's better you don't ask.                                                   JIMMY           So all you're sayin' is, you need a           ride somewhere.           Goldenrod - 4.17.11 30.                                                   ROBERT          That's correct.                                                   JIMMY          Because I want to be very clear          about this: you called me to give          you a ride. I'm giving you a ride.                                                   ROBERT          No, you're not. We're not here.                                                   JIMMY          Oh, no? Then where the fuck are we?                                                   ROBERT          We're both alseep right now. At          home. Which is where you left your          phone, right?                                                   JIMMY          Right.                                                   ROBERT          Because if anyone checks...                                                   JIMMY          Why is anyone gonna check?                                                   ROBERT          They're not, as long as we're not here.          Anybody know you're here?                                                   JIMMY          No.                                                   ROBERT          Somebody knows you're here?                                                   JIMMY          No!                                                   ROBERT          But somebody knows-- you're not there.                                                   JIMMY          Well, my girl...                                                   ROBERT          Oh, Jesus, Jimmy...                                                   JIMMY          Man, you call up two am, what the          fuck you want? She asked me where I          was going.           Goldenrod - 4.17.11 31.                                                   ROBERT           What'd you say?                                                   JIMMY           I told her I had to run out a minute.                                   A beat.                                                   ROBERT           Do you trust her?                                                   JIMMY           Is this the kinda shit you used to           do to my dad?                                                   ROBERT           Do you trust her?                                                   JIMMY           Yes, I fucking trust her!                                                   ROBERT           Good. So you're at home, and I'm at           home. My wife gets up at five am for           Pilates -- I will be there next to           her, where I've been all night. And           you'll do the same with yours.                                   Jimmy exhales a long sigh.                                                   JIMMY           This is some pretty fucked up shit.                                                   ROBERT           Jimmy...                                                   JIMMY           No, man, come on, I don't hear from           you since the fuckin' funeral, you           call me up out of the blue, using           my father's name, ask me...                                                   ROBERT           ...what do you want, you want           money? I will give you five           thousand dollars! I will give you           ten thousand dollars! I'll give you           whatever you fuckin'...                                   Jimmy swerves the car to the side of the road and stops.           Goldenrod - 4.17.11 32.                                                   JIMMY           You wanna talk to me like that you           can get the fuck outta my car and           you can walk! You want that?! You           wanna fuckin' walk home?!                                                   ROBERT           (after a beat)           Listen... I'm sorry. I'm not           myself. I need your help.                                   Jimmy waits a moment, then re-enters the road.                                   Robert winces in pain.                                                   JIMMY           You alright?                                   Robert is holding his side. He pulls up his shirt. Jimmy sees          the awful purple bruise from the steering column.                                                   JIMMY (CONT'D)           Jesus, man! We gotta get you to a hospital.                                                   ROBERT           No, I just... have to get home...           I'll deal with it in a couple of           hours.                                                   JIMMY           What if you don't make it a couple           of hours?                                                   ROBERT           Then I don't make it.                                                            EXT. THIRD AVENUE - NIGHT                                   The SUV stops a few blocks from Robert's house.                                                   JIMMY           (through the window)           Call me, alright, and let me know           it's okay.                                                   ROBERT           (as he exits)           Better we don't talk for a while.                                                   JIMMY           (can't believe it--           through the window)           So what you get in a bind and just           call up the only nigger you know?           Goldenrod - 4.17.11 33.                                   Robert looks at Jimmy, eyes tearing.                                                   ROBERT           I'm sorry, Jimmy. I really am. Just           go home.                                                   JIMMY           Yeah, alright, man. Take care of that.                                   Jimmy's car drives off. Robert hobbles up the block.                                                            INT. ROBERT'S MANSION - NIGHT                                   Robert enters the basement. He runs into a security          monitoring room. We see a street view of cameras outside the          door he just entered. He pulls DISCS out of VIDEO RECORDERS.                                                            INT. ROBERT'S MANSION - SERVICE KITCHEN                                   Robert stands in front of a bin marked INCINERATOR. He is          wearing a new T-SHIRT and SLACKS.                                   He places all of his bloodied clothes and the video discs          into the incinerator, pouring LIGHTER FLUID on top of them.          Staring at the clothes, he notices one cuff link is missing.                                   He strikes a match, setting the items on fire and closes the          hopper.                                   As he exits the burning area--                                                   SERVANT           Everything okay, sir?                                   Robert turns, startled.                                                   ROBERT           I'm fine, Glen. Go back to bed.                                   The servant shuffles off.                                                            INT. ROBERT'S BEDROOM - NIGHT                                   Robert quietly undresses, leaving on the white UNDERSHIRT. He          presses at his rib, winces again. Then he gets into bed and          stares at the ceiling.                                                   ELLEN                          (HALF-ASLEEP)           Where did you go?           Goldenrod - 4.17.11 34.                                                   ROBERT           What?                                                   ELLEN                          (DREAMY)           I woke up for a minute, you weren't           here...                                                   ROBERT           I just went to... eat some ice cream.                                                   ELLEN           Was it good?                                                   ROBERT           (pained, shifting his body)           Yes...                                                   ELLEN           Good. Don't forget to take your Lipitor in           the morning...                                                   ROBERT           Ellen...                                                   ELLEN           What?                                                   ROBERT           Do you still love me?                                                   ELLEN           Of course I do...                                   She rolls over. Hold on Robert's face.                                                            EXT. PARK BENCH - DAY                                   SYD FELDER (64) sits next to Robert.                                                   SYD           Hypothetically, the situation           you're describing would be           involuntary manslaughter.                                                   ROBERT           And such a person...                                                   SYD           ...would be in a lot of trouble,           especially if that person was closing           a merger with a large public bank           where any publicity or arrest could           delay or derail the transaction.                          (MORE)           Goldenrod - 4.17.11 35.                          SYD (CONT'D)           But that's only if there was some           evidence that could link him to           the crime.                                                   ROBERT           Fingerprints, DNA?                                                   SYD           Very hard to collect after an explosion.           The real world's different from television.                                                   ROBERT           What about cell phone records?                                                   SYD           Did this person make any calls from the area?                                                   ROBERT           Not from a cell phone, no.                                                   SYD           Then they won't be able to place him there.                                                   ROBERT           What would you advise such a person           to do?                                                   SYD           To confess immediately.                                                   ROBERT           Failing which?                                                   SYD           To put as much distance between himself           and the event as possible, if possible.           But let me tell you something, and I'm           speaking to you as a friend now: there           are about fifty things that person           wouldn't have thought of. And the more           time that passes, the more lies that           are told, the worse it gets for him.                                   Robert stands.                                                   SYD (CONT'D)                          (FRENCH ACCENT)           Robert...                                                   ROBERT           Yeah.                                                   SYD           They're going to come to you.           Goldenrod - 4.17.11 36.                                                   ROBERT           I know.                                                   SYD           An accident's not the worst           trouble. If we talk to them now we           can probably work it out.                                                   ROBERT           You tell me what happens if the           Standard deal does not close, and I           gotta tell my investors about our           real losses?                                                   SYD           Nothing good.                                                   ROBERT           And what'd you say about the Justice           Department? Depending on what they           decide to arrest me on-- fraud           conviction gets me twenty years?                                                   SYD           I did.                                                   ROBERT           (laughs in pain)           What choice do I really have?                                                            EXT. FREMAUT ACCOUNTING HEADQUARTERS - LATER                                   We follow CHRIS VOGLER (52) through the busy lobby out to the          street. He crosses Park Avenue and gets into Robert's limo.                                                            INT. LIMO - CONTINUOUS                                   Robert opens the Percocet bottle, downs four PILLS.                                   Chris enters and sits. Robert mimes a question.                                                   CHRIS           You're aware Congress plans to           extend the audit requirements for           private funds.                                                   ROBERT           Of course I am aware. I gave           testimony to the committee.                          (ZEROING IN)           You know this.           Goldenrod - 4.17.11 37.                                                   CHRIS           Well, Standard wants to prepare for           it now. So I was asked to go through           every one of your trading books and           reconfirm their assets.                                                   ROBERT           No. Absolutely not. That's impossible.                                                   CHRIS           Don't worry. I put the team on           different books and I left "Old           Hill" for myself.                          (SMILES)           Anyway, I'm here to tell you-- I           cleared it.                                                   ROBERT           The audit's cleared?                                                   CHRIS           The report will be issued today.           Actually, I'm calling it my "swan song."                                                   ROBERT           You're leaving?                                                   CHRIS           Yeah, on Friday, it's a five-year clock.                                                   ROBERT                          (EXACERBATED)           And why?                                                   CHRIS           Uhh.. To prevent exactly what we're           doing. But honestly, there's nothing           left to worry about. It's -- great.                                   The carphone RINGS.                                                   ROBERT                          (TO CHRIS)           Get out.                                   Chris exits.                                                   ROBERT (CONT'D)                          (INTO PHONE)           What?                                    GAVIN (O.S.)           How was it?           Goldenrod - 4.17.11 38.                                                   ROBERT           What?                                    GAVIN (O.S.)           The show.                                                   ROBERT           What the fuck are you talking about?                                    GAVIN (O.S.)           The show, Julie's show?                                                   ROBERT           Oh... Oh, it was fine...                                   A beat as Robert rubs his eyes.                                    GAVIN (O.S.)           Mayfield's here.                                                   ROBERT           He's here? Where?                                    GAVIN (O.S.)           Sherry Netherland. Checked in about an           hour ago.                                                   ROBERT           He called?                                    GAVIN (O.S.)           No, Brooke has a friend on the           executive committee who said he's           taking meetings in his room...                          (NO RESPONSE)           Maybe he's settling in.                                                   ROBERT           You think we're dealing with a           fucking idiot?                                    GAVIN (O.S.)                          (BEAT)           I spoke to legal. They said Standard will           sign once they get the audit report.                                                   ROBERT           That's being issued now.                                    GAVIN (O.S.)           How do you know that?                                                   ROBERT           Never mind that, just find out why           Mayfield hasn't called us.           Goldenrod - 4.17.11 39.                                    GAVIN (O.S.)           How am I...?                                                   ROBERT           Do I have to do every Goddamn thing           myself? JUST FIND OUT! WILL YOU           PLEASE...? THANK YOU!                                   He hangs up and exhales deeply.                                                            INT. MILLER CAPITAL - LATER                                   We track through a Spartanly-furnished trading office: high-          design with lacquer and muted mahogany. PEOPLE at COMPUTERS          make phone calls. CLOCKS show different time zones.                                                            INT. ROBERT'S OFFICE - CONTINUOUS                                   Brooke sits across from Robert. They're reviewing papers.                                                   BROOKE           I cannot reconcile it...                                                   ROBERT           Reconcile what?                                                   BROOKE           The "Old Hill" Fund. Dad, are you           listening to me?                                                   ROBERT           Of course I'm listening.                          (SITS FORWARD)           Okay, those trades are in the special           book. They don't get audited on the           same balance sheet.                                                   BROOKE           Yeah, but look at the sheet! It           can't be right. There's a four           hundred million dollar hole here. I           mean that can't be right.                                                            INT. ROBERT'S OFFICE RECEPTION - CONTINUOUS                                   Det. Bryer enters the glass doors and badges the          RECEPTIONIST.                                                   RECEPTIONIST           May I help you?           Goldenrod - 4.17.11 40.                                                   BRYER           Detective Bryer. I was hoping to           see Mr. Miller.                                                   CINDY           Is he expecting you?                                                   BRYER           Possibly.                                                            INT. ROBERT'S OFFICE - CONTINUOUS                                                   BROOKE           ...the way that this sheet reads, half           of the fund's assets are missing.                                                   ROBERT                          (LAUGHS)           That's ridiculous. That can't be right.                                                   BROOKE           I know, it's ridiculous, and yet...                                                   ROBERT           Okay, I'll look into it. I promise           you I'll look into it.                                   The Intercom handset RINGS.                                                   ROBERT (CONT'D)                          (INTO PHONE)           Yeah.                                    CINDY (O.S.)           There's a detective Bryer here to           see you?                                                   ROBERT           (stiffens, then into phone)           Give me two minutes, then send him in...                                                   BROOKE           Everything alright?                                                   ROBERT           Yes, my other meeting just got here           early. We'll have to pick this up later.                                                   BROOKE           Okay. And Mom wants to know about           the hospital check?                                                   ROBERT           Brooke, we'll pick it up later, alright?           Goldenrod - 4.17.11 41.                                                   BROOKE           Okay.                                   Brooke exits. Robert steels himself.                                    CINDY (O.S.)           Detective Bryer, hi, I'm Cindy, Mr.           Miller's personal assistant, right           this way.                                                            INT. ROBERT'S OFFICE CORRIDOR - CONTINUOUS                                   As Brooke exits, she and Bryer cross paths. She eyes him...          He doesn't look familiar. Off Brooke, curious.                                                            INT. ROBERT'S OFFICE - CONTINUOUS                                   Robert leads Bryer towards two sofas where they sit opposite          each other.                                                   ROBERT           Yeah, I'm sorry to keep you           waiting. You can sit there. We just           heard about it. Really terrible.                                                   BRYER           Okay, so you were an investor in           her gallery?                                                   ROBERT           Correct.                                                   BRYER           How'd you meet her?                                                   ROBERT           Through... I think it was a charity           function. My wife and I have a foundation.                                                   BRYER           Uh-huh. When'd you last see her?                                                   ROBERT           Last night, at the gallery.                                                   BRYER           Did you stay till the doors closed?                                                   ROBERT           No, I think I left about ten.                                                   BRYER           Where'd you go?           Goldenrod - 4.17.11 42.                                                   ROBERT           Home.                                                   BRYER           You go straight home?                                                   ROBERT           Yeah.                                                   BRYER           You stay home?                                                   ROBERT           Yeah.                                                   BRYER                          (SMILES)           Your wife home?                                                   ROBERT                          (SMILES BACK)           Yes.                                   Bryer shifts, edging forward.                                                   BRYER           Okay. Okay, so now, back to the           gallery. Did you see her with anyone?                                                   ROBERT           See her with anyone-- what do you           mean?                                                   BRYER           You know like a boyfriend, someone           she might've left with?                                                   ROBERT           Not that I noticed. No. No, no.                                                   BRYER           Reason I ask, is, that we haven't           located the driver.                                                   ROBERT           The driver?                                                   BRYER           Yeah, someone else was driving.                          (BEAT)           Sometimes, the driver, will go for           help-- and he'll die tryin', you           know...           Goldenrod - 4.17.11 43.                                                   ROBERT          This is awful. This is truly awful.                                                   BRYER          We're searching the area right now.          So no boyfriend that you know of?                                                   ROBERT          Actually we didn't talk about          personal matters.                                                   BRYER          She was just an employee, right?                                                   ROBERT          Well not an employee. I was an investor.                                                   BRYER          Why'd you invest?                                                   ROBERT          Why did I invest?                                                   BRYER          Yeah, why'd you invest?                                                   ROBERT          She had a great eye. She found me                          (POINTS)          those Bryce Marden's there. They          went up in value very quickly, and          on the basis of that I agreed to          fund some of the gallery.                                                   BRYER           (after a beat)          Would you mind if we searched          her apartment?                                                   ROBERT          Why would I mind?                                                   BRYER          It's in your company's name.                                                   ROBERT          Oh, right. Yeah. Of course. Sure,          go ahead.                                                   BRYER          Now, Mr. Miller...                                                   ROBERT          Mmm-hmm?           Goldenrod - 4.17.11 44.                                                   BRYER          Why would you lease an apartment          for Ms. CÙte? Is that something you          normally do for your employees?                                                   ROBERT          Actually I said that she wasn't an          employee, but-- I think she'd just come          over from Paris if I remember, and she          needed a place to entertain buyers.                                                   BRYER          So you leased her this apartment.                                                   ROBERT          It was through our holding company.          You seem a little confused by all          this...                                                   BRYER                          (LAUGHS)          I am. But I'll get there. Gimme time.                                                   ROBERT          Alright.                                                   BRYER          Now, I don't mean to be          indelicate...                                                   ROBERT          But you're going to be          indelicate...                                                   BRYER          Well, from what I've been able to          gather, she wasn't exactly an art          star. I mean, she worked for a          couple a dealers in Paris, but...                                                   ROBERT          Oh, okay, I get it, so why would          I invest in her and help her find          a place?                                                   BRYER          Something like that, yeah.                                                   ROBERT          It's very simple, detective. I invest          in people I believe in. I thought          she'd do well, so I backed her, she          did. It's is simple as that.           Goldenrod - 4.17.11 45.                                                   BRYER           (nods, stands as Robert                          STANDS)           Well that seems to make sense.                          (BEAT)           So we're all good with the           apartment, then?                                                   ROBERT           Sure.                                                   BRYER           Thanks.                                   Robert shows him to the door. Bryer turns back.                                                   BRYER (CONT'D)           What happened to your head?                                                   ROBERT           What?                                                   BRYER           That's a nasty cut; I've been           looking at that for the last five           minutes. Does it hurt you?                                                   ROBERT           (touching the cut)           Oh, no, I just hit it on the           medicine cabinet.                                                   BRYER           Last night?                                                   ROBERT           This morning.                                                   BRYER           Hate when that happens.                                                   ROBERT           Yeah. Me, too.                                                   BRYER           Well, thanks for the chat.                                                   ROBERT           No problem.                                   Bryer heads out.                                   We hold on Robert as he closes the door and winces in pain.           Goldenrod - 4.17.11 46.                                   INT. ELLEN'S OFFICE - OUTER SUITE - DAY                                   A serene khaki suite with high-post windows and white          upholstered furniture. On the walls are gala posters from          various charity events.                                   MAE (30s) sits at a reception desk typing. The phone RINGS.                                                   MAE                          (INTO PHONE)           Ellen Miller's office...                                                            INT. ELLEN'S OFFICE - CONTINUOUS                                   Ellen's standing, cradling the phone and packing her handbag.          Across her desk, SUSAN (30s) reviews the guest list for the          hospital event.                                                   ELLEN                          (INTO PHONE)           And it, it transformed them, seriously.                                                   MAE                          (SOFTLY)           There's a Detective Bryer in the lobby.                                   Ellen holds up her hand, buying a moment.                                                   ELLEN                          (INTO PHONE)           And thanks again for your           generosity. Alright, we'll see you           then. Thank you, bye.           (hanging up, to Mae)           I'm sorry, what?                                                   MAE           Detective Bryer.                                                   ELLEN           What does he want?                                                   MAE           I don't know.                                   Ellen smooths her suit and puts her bag over her shoulder.                                                   ELLEN           (heading to the door)           Well, I'm late so-- I just can't           deal with it right now.                                                   MAE           Okay, what about these?           Goldenrod - 4.17.11 47.                                                   ELLEN           Send them a thank you note, Zappos has           been so generous-- Thanks, bye guys.                                                            EXT. ELLEN'S OFFICE                                   Ellen exits the building, passes the doorman and then Bryer,          who is waiting in his car outside the multi-unit townhouse          where she keeps her office.                                   She doesn't notice him as she passes and enters a TOWNCAR.          She's about half-way into the car when he approaches.                                                   BRYER           (calling after her)           Mrs. Miller?                                                   ELLEN                          (STARTLED)           Yes?                                                   BRYER           (shows his badge)           Detective Bryer.                                                   ELLEN           Did you just call my office?                                                   BRYER           Yeah, I was hoping to talk to you.                                                   ELLEN           Well, I don't have time right now,           sorry..                                                   BRYER           (turning on the charm)           Just take a couple a seconds. It's           about your husband.                                                   ELLEN           Well, fine, but, make an appointment.                                   She closes the door and rides away. Bryer smiles in          frustration, walks back to his car.                                                            INT. TOWNCAR - DAY                                   Off Ellen's face as she tries to keep it together, shaking.           Goldenrod - 4.17.11 48.                                   INT. JULIE'S LOFT - DAY                                   A FORENSICS TEAM sweeps the apartment, collecting          fingerprints, rug samples, etc.                                   Mills supervises from the side. Bryer approaches.                                                   MILLS           How'd it go?                                                   BRYER           Well, the wife blew me off-- which           was interesting. And he didn't           admit to the affair, but then he           wouldn't, would he?                                                   MILLS           Why didn't you pick him up?                                                   BRYER           He's a very rich man. What happened           with the pay phones?                                   Mills pulls out a SHEET from Verizon.                                                   MILLS           Got about fifteen calls in a three-           mile. Two of `em look a little           strange: got an incoming-- that's           probably a local drug deal...                                                   BRYER           And the one we care about?                                                   MILLS           Collect call. About a minute and a           half. Made from the Chevron station           on West Lake Road.                                                   BRYER           Who'd he call?                                                   MILLS           Cellphone in Harlem. Still waiting           on the address.                                                   BRYER           (thinks, gets up and                          PACES)           So, you're at the crash site.           Alright, and... you make it outta           the car. Now... You're smart           enough not to use your own           cellphone. So you get to the pay           phone...                          (MORE)           Goldenrod - 4.17.11 49.                          BRYER (CONT'D)           and you're a billionaire, right?           You're a billionaire-- so whaddya           do...?           (Mills shrugs for the                          PUNCHLINE)           You call someone in Harlem?                                                            INT. MILLER CAPITAL - OFFICE CORRIDOR - DAY                                   Robert is heading down the hall towards the elevators. Gavin          jogs up to him.                                                   GAVIN           (out of breath)           Robert, I just heard about Julie...           I'm so sorry. Her Gallery called.           Her mom's flying in today.                                                   ROBERT           (managing a nod)           Her Mom...? Service here?                                                   GAVIN           Tomorrow at nine am.                                                   ROBERT           Well we should pick up the expenses           for that. Whatever she wants.           You'll take care of that           personally, for me?                                                   GAVIN                          (NODDING)           Of course... Are you okay?                                                   ROBERT           You reach Mayfield?                                   The ELEVATOR arrives and Robert gets in.                                                   GAVIN           Not yet, but we'll get him...                          (STARES)           Robert, I...                                                   ROBERT           Thanks. Appreciate your concern.                                   Gavin's still staring as the doors close.                                                            EXT. CONVENT AVENUE - JIMMY'S APARTMENT BUILDING - DAY                                   PEDESTRIANS hurry by this busy stretch of Upper Manhattan.           Goldenrod - 4.17.11 50.                                   INT. UNDERCOVER CAR - SAME                                   Bryer and Mills wait. Jimmy approaches.                                                   MILLS           Let's flash him.                                   They drive up on the sidewalk, blocking Jimmy's path, and          Mills exits the car.                                                            EXT. JIMMY'S APARTMENT - CONTINUOUS                                                   MILLS           Mr. Grant?                                                   JIMMY           Yes?                                                   MILLS           NYPD Homicide, would you mind           stepping into the car?                                                   JIMMY           What's this about?                                                   BRYER           (through the window)           Just get in the car, Jimmy.                                                   JIMMY           Am I under arrest?                                                   BRYER           (through the window)           You wanna be?                                                            INT. INTERROGATION ROOM - LATER                                   Jimmy sits across the table from Mills and Bryer. They show          him PHOTOS of Julie's burned body at the crash site.                                                   BRYER           So let's do this again.                                                   JIMMY           Man, for what? My answers ain't           gonna change.                                                   BRYER           You were asleep.                                                   JIMMY           Right.           Goldenrod - 4.17.11 51.                                                   BRYER           And your phone rings.                                                   JIMMY           Right.                                                   BRYER           And it's a wrong number.                                   Jimmy doesn't answer.                                                   BRYER (CONT'D)           Why do you accept the charges on a           collect call from a wrong number?                                                   JIMMY           I don't think I wanna answer any           more questions.                                                   BRYER           And you stay on the phone a minute and           a half on a wrong number? What the           fuck do you talk about, area codes?                                                   JIMMY           I want to talk to my lawyer.                                                   MILLS           Listen, kid, we know you went out           there. We ID'd your photo with your           neighbor who saw you getting into           your truck ten minutes after this           call was made.                                                   JIMMY           Well if you got all that, what the           fuck you need me for, officer?                                                   BRYER           I don't think you understand the           gravity of the situation here,           Jimmy. This is a homicide.                                                   JIMMY           Lawyer.                                                            INT. SYD'S LIMO - DAY                                   Robert rides with Syd. He reviews a DOCUMENT entitled          "MAPLE LANE TRUST - James L. Grant - Beneficiary."                                   Robert signs the document, closing the folder.           Goldenrod - 4.17.11 52.                                                   ROBERT           You're gonna sign him out?                                                   SYD           I called in Earl Monroe.                                                   ROBERT           The basketball player?                                                   SYD           Civil rights attorney. You remember           Crown Heights?                                                   ROBERT           He's the best?                                                   SYD           He's the best above 96th Street- and           that doesn't make him any cheaper.                                   Robert slumps back, staring out the window.                                                   ROBERT           You've gotta get Jimmy out of this.                                                   SYD           It might not be that easy. If he           doesn't cooperate they're likely to           indict him on obstruction.                                                   ROBERT           What would he be looking at?                                                   SYD           Hard to say. With his prior... Five           years, maybe ten.                                   Robert's silent.                                                            INT. BOND RELEASE AREA - DAY                                   Jimmy stands at the counter as EARL MONROE (50s, Black) signs          papers. Bryer waits.                                                   BRYER                          (TO JIMMY)           This is not going to go away.                                   Jimmy ignores him and exits with Earl.                                                            EXT. STREET - CONTINUOUS                                   Jimmy and Earl exit the buidling.           Goldenrod - 4.17.11 53.                                                   EARL           I'll call you tomorrow if there's any           news. Don't worry about anything. And           don't talk to anyone else. You take care.                                   Jimmy nods and walks up the street towards Syd's limo in the          distance.                                                            INT. SYD'S LIMO - CONTINUOUS                                                   ROBERT           Come on, get in.                                   Jimmy enters. The limo drives off.                                                   JIMMY           All you said was you wanted a           fucking ride! You didn't tell me           you killed that girl!                                                   ROBERT           Jimmy...                                                   JIMMY           I'm trying to put my life back           together. Okay, I appreciate you           helped us, but now you're pushing           it too far.                                                   ROBERT           It's gonna be okay.                                                   JIMMY           Like it was your ass sitting in           there? Like you know a fucking           thing about how it's gonna be?                                                   ROBERT           We've got you the best criminal lawyer--                                                   JIMMY           --Don't you got your own son for this?           Why the hell you didn't call him?                                                   ROBERT           Cause he woulda fucked it up, okay?                                                   JIMMY           Well I'm sorry your son's a fuckin'           idiot, but that ain't my fault.                                                   SYD           This isn't productive.           Goldenrod - 4.17.11 54.                                                   JIMMY           Oh, okay. So tell us then, Syd,           what happens now?                                                   SYD           We meet with Earl and we go from           there. I understand that right now           they don't have enough to charge           you with anything.                                                   ROBERT           Your under suspicion.                                                   JIMMY           Under suspicion? Motherfucker, I'm Black!                                                   ROBERT           I am aware of that.                                                   JIMMY           And what exactly would you like me           to do about it?                                                   SYD           (BUZZING the driver)           Gentlemen, my driver will take you           where you wanna go, but I cannot be           a party to this conversation, so           this is where I get out...                                                            EXT. STREET                                   Syd steps out of the limo and watches as it rolls away up          Tenth Avenue.                                                            INT. LIMO - CONTINUOUS                                                   JIMMY           Why couldn't you have just stayed?                                                   ROBERT           I couldn't.                                                   JIMMY           Why not?                                                   ROBERT           Because I have responsibilities.           And if I stayed there, a lot of           people would've been hurt.                                                   JIMMY           Somebody was hurt.           Goldenrod - 4.17.11 55.                                                   ROBERT           Other people, Jimmy. I've got business           troubles, you understand...? People           rely on me.                                   Jimmy chews on this, dissatisfied.                                                   ROBERT (CONT'D)           Listen... I want to talk to you a second.           Come here. I wanna show you something.                                   Jimmy slides over to sit next to Robert.                                                   ROBERT (CONT'D)           Now, you know, your father asked me           to look after you.                                                   JIMMY           Yeah.                                                   ROBERT           Yeah, I know I messed up, alright?           I'm sorry. But I do want to help           you, you know that.           (handing Jimmy the folder)           So I've been able to set up a           situation for you.                                                   JIMMY           What's that?                                                   ROBERT           It's a trust. In your name, assets           of $2 Million dollars. Take a look           at that.                                                   JIMMY                          (ASTOUNDED)           Are you serious? You think money's           gonna fix this?                                                   ROBERT           What else is there?                                   Jimmy laughs, then rises and knocks on the limo's partition.                                                   JIMMY           (to the driver)           Yo, yo man, pull over.                                                   ROBERT           (stares at him)           What are you gonna do?           Goldenrod - 4.17.11 56.                                                   JIMMY           I look like a fucking snitch to you?                                                   ROBERT           I don't know, Jimmy. I don't know.           Are you?                                   Jimmy laughs in disgust, begins to open the door.                                                   ROBERT (CONT'D)           Wait, wait, wait. Sorry. Just--           read it. Just take it home and read           it. It's not gonna hurt you.                                   Jimmy grabs the document and gets out. Robert stares ahead          into space. His CELLPHONE RINGS.                                                   ROBERT (CONT'D)                          (AGITATED)           What?                                    CINDY (O.S.)           I've got Chris Vogler from Fremaut           accounting, you asked me to           interrupt you.                                                   ROBERT           Yeah, put him through...           (he hears Chris come on)           Chris...                                    CHRIS (O.S.)           Robert, I've run into some problems.           We're doing a "non-recommend."                                                   ROBERT                          (BEWILDERED)           What...?                                    CHRIS (O.S.)           They got compliance involved. I'm sorry.                                                   ROBERT           Chris...                                    CHRIS (O.S.)           I've gotta go.                                                   ROBERT           Chris? CHRIS! Goddamnit, Chris!           Goldenrod - 4.17.11 57.                                   INT. MILLER CAPITAL - ACCOUNTANT'S OFFICE - DAY                                   Brooke sits alone in the accountant's office we saw earlier.          She reviews SPREADSHEETS on his COMPUTER and compares them          with PRINTOUTS from a FILE CABINET that she has broken open.                                   Numbers from the screen reflect across her reading glasses as          she stares in disbelief. She DIALS a number.                                                   BROOKE                          (INTO PHONE)           Peter...? I'm looking at some           statements right now... How much           did you book last quarter?... No,           I'm not... No, Peter, I'm really           just asking you...                                   She's looking at an entry on the screen:                                   "Miller Capital Management - PETER MILLER GROUP - $68.3MM"                                                   BROOKE (CONT'D)                          (INTO PHONE)           Thirty-five million. For your           entire group, right?... It wasn't           sixty-eight?... Of course it's a           big number... No, I'm not... Oh,           Peter I'll talk to you later .                                   Brooke taps the keyboard and a PRINTER spits out pages.          Suddenly, BEN (40s), an accountant we saw earlier, appears.                                                   BEN           What are you doing in my office?                                   Brooke bolts up, startled. She collects the papers she          printed.                                                   BEN (CONT'D)           Hello?                                                   BROOKE           (holding up pages)           Can you explain these?                                                   BEN           Explain what?                                                   BROOKE           Old Hill. All the numbers you've falsified.                                                   BEN                          (BEAT)           You don't know what you're saying.           Goldenrod - 4.17.11 58.                                    Brooke nods, heads to the door. Ben put his arm on her           shoulder to stop her.                                                   BROOKE           Get out of my way.                                                   BEN           Brooke...                                                   BROOKE           You're hurting my arm.                                                   BEN           Can't you just leave it alone?                                    She stares at him. He drops his arm. She exits and turns.                                                   BROOKE           You're fired, Ben.                                                   BEN           You can't fire me.                                                   BROOKE           I just did.                                                   BEN           Who do you think asked me to make           those changes?                                    She stares, then approaches him.                                                   BROOKE          83 You tell me. 83                                                             INT. POLICE CONFERENCE ROOM - DAY                                    Bryer and Mills sit with Flores as he stares at a SHEET.                                                   MILLS           He was doing a little dealing a while           back, but it looks like he stopped.                                                   FLORES           Any family?                                                   BRYER           Nah, they're all dead.                                                   FLORES                          (READING)           So he's a good student, magnet           school, whatever.                          (MORE)           Goldenrod - 4.17.11 59.                          FLORES (CONT'D)           Then his mom dies and he gets           popped for gun possession. Even so,           how come he got probation?                                                   BRYER           Well, he had an excellent lawyer.                                                   FLORES                          (READING CLOSER)           How the fuck does this kid afford           Felder and Chausse...?                                   Mills drops another FOLDER on the table.                                                   BRYER           We pulled his parents' tax returns.           Guess where his father worked for           twenty years?                                                   FLORES                          (READING)           Miller Capital?                          (READING)           He was the fucking driver?!                          (LAUGHS)           Wow, this guy's good...                                   He puts down the sheet and leans back.                                                   FLORES (CONT'D)           Where are you at with the kid?                                                   MILLS           So far he won't budge.                                                   FLORES           Well he's a convicted felon. Go get           a warrant, put him in front of a           grand jury. Let's see how long he           holds out when he realizes he's           looking at ten years off the prior.                                                            INT. FREMAUT - VOGLER'S OFFICE HALLWAY - LATER                                   Robert storms the hallway, passing a waiting SECRETARY.                                                   SECRETARY           I'm sorry, Mr. Miller, as I           explained from downstairs, he's on           a call right now, and he said...                                   He brushes past her.           Goldenrod - 4.17.11 60.                                                   SECRETARY (CONT'D)           Mr. Miller!                                                            INT. VOGLER'S OFFICE - CONTINUOUS                                   Robert enters, locking the door behind him. Chris bolts up.                                                   CHRIS           What the fuck...?                                                   ROBERT           Tell me what is going on.                                   Robert comes closer. Chris is freaking out.                                                   CHRIS           I can't.                                                   ROBERT           Tell me what's going on!                                                   CHRIS           I can't!                                   Robert GRABS Chris by the collar.                                                   ROBERT           Why not?!                                                   CHRIS           It's not me!                                                   ROBERT           What do you mean it's not...?                                                   CHRIS           THE AUDIT PASSED!                                                   ROBERT           (slackening his grip)           The audit passed? What do you mean           the audit passed?                                                   CHRIS           It passed! It passed a week ago!           Like I said. Everything's fine! We           confirmed the money, it's all           straight and done.                                                   ROBERT                          (BEYOND CONFUSED)           Then... why did you tell me that           it didn't?           Goldenrod - 4.17.11 61.                                                   CHRIS           Because they asked me to hold it.                                                   ROBERT           They? Who's they?           (thrashes him again)           Who is they?!                                                   CHRIS           Mayfield.                                                   ROBERT                          (TO HIMSELF)           Mayfield?                                   Robert thinks... and starts LAUGHING. Chris looks at him          strangely as he walks out.                                                   CHRIS           What?                                                   ROBERT           They're negotiating. He wants a           better price.                                                            EXT. FREMAUT - DAY                                   Robert exits the building with what looks to be, for the          first time in the film, a real smile.                                   He walks towards his limo, DIALS his cell.                                                   ROBERT                          (INTO PHONE)           Sherry Netherland...? Yes, James           Mayfield, please...           (as he enters his car)           Mr. Mayfield... I think it's time           we had a talk.                                                            INT. COURTHOUSE HALL - AFTERNOON                                   Bryer walks with DEFERLITO (48), who rifles through a FOLDER.                                                   DEFERLITO           ...cause it's not gonna hold.                                                   BRYER           The warrant doesn't need to hold.           It just needs to scare him into           giving up Miller.           Goldenrod - 4.17.11 62.                                                   DEFERLITO           What is it, Mike, you're stalled-           out mid-career so you're reaching           for a high-note? Who gives a fuck?                                                   BRYER           This is about Judge Rittenband, isn't           it? It's cause he's running again?                                                   DEFERLITO           You wanna cost the Judge his seat on a           profiling claim? Against Earl Monroe?                                                   BRYER                          (SWITCHING TACKS)           I'm getting a piece of new evidence           that'll seal it a hundred percent.                                                   DEFERLITO           Good, then come back when you got it.                                                   BRYER           I'll have it before you go in the           jury room... Look, Ray. We like           this kid. I don't wanna lose him.           Think about it: if we flip him, you           get Robert Miller. What's that           worth to Rittenband, and to you for           that matter...?                          (HARD)           Twenty years, Ray. Twenty fucking           years, we watch these guys- they           out-lawyer us, they out-buy us. I'm           fucking sick of it. Where's the           consequence? The guy did it. He           does not get to walk just cause           he's on CNBC.                                   Deferlito stops, stares, then signs the ARREST WARRANT.                                                   DEFERLITO           You better not fuck me.                                   He walks off. Bryer holds a beat, then pulls out his CELL.                                                   BRYER                          (INTO PHONE)           Yeah... I need a serious fuckin'           favor...           Goldenrod - 4.17.11 63.                                   INT. ROBERT'S OFFICE CORRIDOR - LATER                                   Robert enters, moving much slower. As he approaches Cindy, he          sees a worried look on her face.                                                   CINDY           Brooke's waiting for you...                                                   ROBERT           Did we have a meeting?                                                   CINDY           No, but she looked upset.                                                            INT. ROBERT'S OFFICE - CONTINUOUS                                   Robert enters. Brooke's at the window in a chair. It's clear          that she has been crying.                                                   ROBERT                          (APPROACHING HER)           Sweetie, you okay? What's wrong?                                   Brooke holds out her hands. She has two copies of the "Old          Hill Fund" balance sheets.                                   Robert stands there a moment, staring at her.                                                            EXT. 5TH AVENUE - AFTERNOON                                   We see Brooke and Robert from overhead like little dots as          they cross 5th Avenue towards Central Park.                                                            EXT. CENTRAL PARK - CONTINUOUS                                   They walk solemnly towards a park bench in front of a lake.          Robert sits, motions to Brooke.                                                   ROBERT           You wanna sit?                                                   BROOKE           I'll stand.           (as he sits)           Didn't you think I'd find out?                                                   ROBERT           I did.                                                   BROOKE           Then why didn't you tell me?           Goldenrod - 4.17.11 64.                                                   ROBERT          Because I hoped you wouldn't.                                                   BROOKE          Oh, come on. You tell me the truth          now -- or I am done.                                                   ROBERT          I made a bad bet.                                                   BROOKE          No, you committed fraud.                                                   ROBERT          That's a dangerous word, Brooke.                                                   BROOKE          What would you prefer? That you          cheated? That you stole money from          people who trusted you? That you          lied? That you lied right to my          face? Why?                                                   ROBERT          Because we were going broke!          Everything was finished. We'd have          nothing.                                                   BROOKE          How. How does that happen?                                                   ROBERT          You remember Alexanderov? Well he          came to see me one day last year.          He said "Robert, we've got a great          opportunity- there's a copper mine,          it's in Russia, it's under-          exploited- there's billions under          the ground, and to get it out, all          we need is a couple hundred          million, you put in a hundred,          we'll put in a hundred- we'll          triple it all in six months." So, I          go check it out. And the geological          survey's right, friendly          government. And to lock it in, you          hedge it, right? Sell the copper          ahead on the commodities exchange          and it all works, it's fine, and          you're making a fortune.           (beat, then real fast)                          (MORE)           Goldenrod - 4.17.11 65.                          ROBERT (CONT'D)          But then there's something I hadn't          accounted for-- variation margin--          and that friendly Russian          government all of a sudden not so          friendly anymore and they're          blocking the export of the copper          so I gotta make it up, I gotta put          the cash in to cover the hedge. But          I'm not worried about it because          it's still springing money, there's          so much money coming out of the          ground you can't believe. You can't          stop it. And, yes, I'm the oracle,          I've done housing, I've arb'd          credit swaps, I have done it all,          and yes, again, I know it's outside          the charter, but it is FUCKING          MINTING MONEY! IT'S A LICENSE TO          PRINT MONEY! FOR EVERYBODY!          FOREVER! IT IS GOD!...                                                   BROOKE          Until...                                                   ROBERT          Until it's not... The money's          trapped. You can't get it out.          Probably never will.                          (BEAT)          It's like a plane crash. It just happens.                                                   BROOKE          Well it does not just happen.                                                   ROBERT          Not just happen, honey you are so          naive sometimes. It HAPPENS. And          like every father I pray that it          doesn't HAPPEN to you, which,          thanks to me, it probably won't          happen to you...                                                   BROOKE          Thanks to you, we may all be arrested.                                                   ROBERT          Nobody's getting arrested. That's why          I borrowed the money from Jeffrey.          Plug the hole, I put it there for a          month, they see the books are fine, I          transfer the company, I pay back          Jeffrey-- with interest!-- make all          of our investors whole, and what's          left we keep. At least we get to keep          the house.           Goldenrod - 4.17.11 66.                                                   BROOKE           Everybody wins?                                                   ROBERT           Yes.                                                   BROOKE           If the company sells. If I lie for you.                                                   ROBERT           You don't have to lie. You didn't           know about it.                                                   BROOKE                          (INCREDULOUS)           I'm the Chief Investment Officer of           this company. What do you think           they'll say at the depositions?           "She didn't know?" They'll take away           my brokerage license- failure to           supervise you -- my name in every           paper and blog while I visit your ass           in jail!                                                   ROBERT           What did you want me to do? Did you           want me to let our investors go           bankrupt? Is that what you wanted?           For people to get really hurt?                                                   BROOKE           What... gives you the audacity to           think you can make those decisions?                                                   ROBERT                          (STANDS)           Because it's my job!                                                   BROOKE           No, it's illegal. It's illegal. And           I am your partner.                                                   ROBERT           You are not my partner! You work for me!           (off her bewildered stare)           That's right. You work for me!                          (SITS)           Everybody works for me!                                   They pass a moment in silence. He looks at her destroyed          expression.           Goldenrod - 4.17.11 67.                                                   ROBERT (CONT'D)           Brooke. Brooke. Come here. Please?           Please. Just, just come here. Just           for a second and sit down.                                   She sits.                                                   ROBERT (CONT'D)                          (DEEP SIGH)           There's something I wanna tell you.           And whatever you decide I won't           blame you...           (she turns to look at him)           I'm on my own path. It's up to you           to move with it or against it. But           I'm the patriarch; that's my role.           And I have to play it.                                                   BROOKE           (stares a while, then)           For a moment I thought you were           gonna say you were sorry.                                   She walks off.                                   Hold on Robert alone in the park.                                                   ROBERT                          (SOTTO)           I'm sorry.                                                                                     EXT. JIMMY'S APARTMENT - DUSK                                   Jimmy approaches the building. Bryer exits his sedan and          walks over to him.                                                   JIMMY                          (SEEING BRYER)           Oh, man, what?                                                   BRYER           Jimmy, take a ride with me.                                                   JIMMY           Where? Back to the station?                                                   BRYER           No man, just get in the car.                                                   JIMMY           What if I say no?           Goldenrod - 4.17.11 68.                                                   BRYER           I'm not threatening you. I'm just           asking you -- take a ride with me.                                   Jimmy considers, gets into Bryer's car.                                                            INT. SEDAN - DRIVING                                   They drive a while in silence.                                                   JIMMY           Alright, man, what?                                                   BRYER           Look, it's pretty fuckin' simple. I           know you went to pick him up.                                                   JIMMY           This is what you wanna talk about? I told           you I ain't makin' no more statements.                                                   BRYER           And I know why.                                                   JIMMY           Somebody cares?                                                   BRYER           Take a look at this.           (hands him a case folder)           I've got his phone calls, I got his text           messages. I've got the relationship with           the girl. And they were fucking, by the           way.                          (BEAT)           And then I've got you. I've got the time           log from the pay phone. I've a got a           fucking tollbooth photograph of you           driving your car through the Triborough.                                   Jimmy thumbs through the FOLDER. There's no tollbooth PHOTO.                                                   JIMMY           Where you got that...? That's           bullshit, cause I didn't do it.           That's impossible.                                                   BRYER           Really?                                   Jimmy's silent.           Goldenrod - 4.17.11 69.                                                   BRYER (CONT'D)           You lied to me. You lied to the           police. You obstructed justice.                                                   JIMMY           Talk to Earl, Detective.                                                   BRYER           Fuck Earl! You see this?           (holds up the grand jury                          DOCKET)           This means that tomorrow, grand           jury hears your case in court. And           tomorrow in court I'm gonna ask for           a felony obstruction indictment,           and with with your prior, you are           going to prison for fifteen fucking           years... You might get out in ten.           You'll be what then? Thirty-three,           with no job, no girl, no life.                                   Bryer pulls the car over.                                                   BRYER (CONT'D)           Look: I know you think Miller's           your friend.                                                   JIMMY           Who's Miller?                                                   BRYER           I know about your father.                                                   JIMMY           (beat, then hard)           You don't know a Goddamn thing           about my father.                                                   BRYER           I know Miller paid his bills while           he was dying. I know he got Syd           Felder to get you out of trouble on           your gun charge. That doesn't add           up to this.                                                   JIMMY           You done?                                                   BRYER           Okay, he's driving, he crashes- he           runs away- who does he call? Calls           you. Why do you think that is?                          (SHORT BEAT)                          (MORE)           Goldenrod - 4.17.11 70.                          BRYER (CONT'D)           `Cause you're disposable- you're           the one person he could call that           just doesn't fuckin' matter. You're           a- you're a throwaway. You're just           another part of his transaction.                                                   JIMMY           (tries to open the locked door)           Will you open the door?                                                   BRYER           So what, what? You're his new           nigger now?                                   Jimmy grabs at the door violently. It's locked.                                                   JIMMY           Open-- OPEN THE FUCKING DOOR!                                                   BRYER           You didn't kill that girl. He did.                                                   JIMMY           (containing his rage)           Will you -- open -- the door?                                                   BRYER           He's using you. I know it - you           know it. Do the right thing. Now           get outta my fuckin' car.                                   Bryer unlocks the door. Jimmy exits and walks up the block.                                                            INT. ROBERT'S OFFICE - LATER THAT NIGHT                                   It's nearly empty. Ramon, the limo driver, plays Solitaire at          a COMPUTER. Robert sits with Syd in the next room.                                                   SYD           He's gonna walk.                                                   ROBERT           You're certain?                                                   SYD           Courts aren't for certainty, but he           says he was at home, why shouldn't           he be? A phone call doesn't make           him a liar.           (off Robert's nod)           But what's baffling to me, though,           despite your sentimental history           together, is why you would put your           family's future in this kid's hands.           Goldenrod - 4.17.11 71.                                                   ROBERT                          (BEAT)           He's not like us.                                                   SYD           Is that a good thing?                                                   ROBERT           (laughs, plays with his                          SCOTCH GLASS)           I don't know.                                   Robert stands and collects PAPERS into his BRIEFCASE.                                                   SYD           How's Ellen?                                                   ROBERT           She's good. Fine.           (stops packing, looks up)           Why?                                                   SYD           I heard something...                                                   ROBERT           Yes...?                                                   SYD           She met with Gil Deuchman.                                                   ROBERT           The estate lawyer?                                                   SYD           Yeah. Has she mentioned anything?                                                   ROBERT           Not to me.                                   They sit in silence.                                                            INT. CRIMINAL COURT - FELONY INDICTMENTS - THE NEXT DAY                                   We see Jimmy in the witness box before 23 GRAND JURORS. The          prosecutor, DeFerlito, asks questions. Earl Monroe sits next          to Jimmy.                                                   DEFERLITO           That was the early morning of April 11th.                                                   JIMMY           Yes.           Goldenrod - 4.17.11 72.                                                   DEFERLITO           You received a phone call?                                                   JIMMY           Yes.                                                   DEFERLITO           Who called you?                                   Jimmy stares at DeFerlito.                                                   JIMMY           It was a wrong number.                                                   DEFERLITO           That's a lie, isn't it, Mr. Grant?                                                   JIMMY           No.                                                   DEFERLITO           You stayed on the phone one-and-a-           half minutes... Mr. Grant, isn't it           the case that you know exactly who           called you and exactly why? Why are           you lying to this court?                                                   JIMMY           I'm not lying.                                   DeFerlito turns and walks back to the prosecutor's table. He          picks up a PHOTOGRAPH and hands it to a CLERK.                                                   DEFERLITO           I'm going to introduce into evidence           People's A. This is a toll booth           photograph taken in the northbound ninth           lane of the Triborough bridge. Mr. Grant,           directing your attention to the           photograph, would you please read the           date and time stamp indicated on the           lower right hand corner?                                   Jimmy stares at the photograph in disbelief.                                                   JIMMY           This is crazy.                                                   EARL           (whispers in Jimmy's ear)           You're gonna have to answer that.                                                   DEFERLITO           Mr. Grant, please answer the question.           Goldenrod - 4.17.11 73.                                                   JIMMY           April 11th, two thirty-three am.                                                   DEFERLITO           Mr. Grant, directing your attention           to the same photograph, would you           please read the license plate           number of the vehicle passing           through the toll?                                                   JIMMY           D D G five five four two.                                                   DEFERLITO           (handing in another sheet)           This is People's B, a printout from           the Department of Motor Vehicles           plate registry... Mr. Grant,           directing your attention to that           printout, are those numbers on the           toll photograph the same ones that           are on your own license plate?                                   Jimmy's still staring at the picture. Earl watches, concerned.                                                   DEFERLITO (CONT'D)           Mr. Grant?                                                   JIMMY           Yes.                                                   DEFERLITO           Yes, the numbers are the same?                                                   JIMMY           Yes.                                                   DEFERLITO           How do you explain that?                                                   JIMMY           I can't.                                                   DEFERLITO           But that is your car in this           photograph, isn't it?                                                   JIMMY           No.                                                   DEFERLITO           No, that is not your car?           (off his silence)           Answer the question, Mr. Grant.           Goldenrod - 4.17.11 74.                                                   JIMMY           This is not my car in this picture.           I don't know how you all did that,           but this is not my car.                                                   DEFERLITO           You expect this grand jury to           believe that that is not your car           when there is a printout from the           department of motor vehicles...                                                   EARL           That's asked and answered, Mr. Deferlito.                                                   DEFERLITO           Mr. Monroe, you are aware that you're           not permitted to go on record.                                                            INT. GRAND JURY COURT HALL - LATER                                   Jimmy bursts out of the courtroom doors trailed by Earl.                                                   EARL           Jimmy. Jimmy-- what was that?                                                   JIMMY           They're lying!                                                   EARL           Okay, now here's what...                                   Before Earl can finish responding, Bryer exits and walks over          to them.                                                   BRYER           I can halt the decision.                                                   EARL           We need a minute, Detective.                                                   BRYER           What about you, Jimmy? You need a minute?                                   Jimmy doesn't answer. Bryer sits down next to them.                                                   BRYER (CONT'D)           Cause if you do we could...                                                   JIMMY           You can get the fuck outta my face.           How `bout that?.           Goldenrod - 4.17.11 75.                                                   BRYER           So you wanna keep playing games? Or           you ready to tell me something?                                                   EARL           Detective, I need to talk to my client.           Now if you would just please...                                                   JIMMY           How you- How you all just gonna lie           like that? Huh? How you all just           gonna lie?!                                                   BRYER           We didn't lie. You lied.                                                   JIMMY           That wasn't my car.                                                   EARL           ...Jimmy, don't say anything else.                                                   BRYER           Sure it wasn't. And it was a           telemarketer called you from the pay           phone? He stopped at the Chevron to           make a late night sale?                                                   JIMMY           That picture was some bullshit...                                                   EARL           ...Jimmy, stop! Detective, what's           going on?                                                   BRYER           Well, tell him. Go ahead, Jimmy.           Tell him. See how the boss'll like           this one.                                   Earl stares at Jimmy, waiting. The bell RINGS.                                                   BRYER (CONT'D)           Last chance.                                   Jimmy's silent. Bryer shakes his head and walks off.                                                   EARL           (rising, to Jimmy)           Wait here.                                   Bryer and Earl enter the courtroom.                                                  CLOSE ON:           Goldenrod - 4.17.11 76.                                   Jimmy, as he stares out the 11th floor window towards          Brooklyn. In the distance, the Woolworth building.                                                            INT. FRANK CAMPBELL FUNERAL HOME - DAY                                   About thirty people in a room too big for them. At the front          are tasteful flower BOUQUETS surrounding Julie's CASKET.                                   Robert enters and spots some of the people from the art          opening, including Julie's gallery assistant. She looks at          him quietly, then quickly looks away.                                   There is no organized service; people are just walking up to          the casket and saying prayers. Robert takes his place and          holds a moment at the casket.                                   The gallery assistant comes up behind him.                                                   ASSISTANT           Mr. Miller. I would like to introduce           you to Julie's mom, Sandrine.                                   A beautiful woman in her 50's, SANDRINE, sits crying. Robert          approaches as she stands.                                                   ROBERT           I am so, so sorry.                                                   SANDRINE           (nods, then)           I just wanted to thank you for what           you did for my daughter.                                                   ROBERT           (shaking his head softly)           No...                                                   SANDRINE           You believed in her, and you gave           her a chance. She was happy. I know           she was happy.                                                   ROBERT           It's just...                          (EMOTIONAL)           not fair, is it?                                   Sandrine starts to tear. Robert moves in and HUGS her, hard.                                                   ROBERT (CONT'D)                          (WHISPERS)           This shouldn't have happened.                                   Hold on Sandrine's face, in pain.           Goldenrod - 4.17.11 77.                                   INT. ROBERT'S MANSION - GYM - MORNING                                   Close on Brooke's legs, running on a treadmill. Ellen          exercises on a STAIRMASTER next to her. We hear the sound of          Ellen's small talk begin to fade in.                                                   ELLEN           ...she's rail thin. She's a blond.           I would not have known who she was           if she hadn't come up and           introduced herself to me. She           looked totally different... and...           (notices Brooke increasing           the machine's resistance)           You're going straight to level six           don't you think you better pace           yourself a little bit?                                                   BROOKE           (fakes a smile)           I'm good. I wanna run.                                                   ELLEN           Everything okay with you and Tom?                                                   BROOKE           We're fine.                                                   ELLEN           Are you worried about the deal closing?                                                   BROOKE                          (STRIDES FASTER)           No.                                                   ELLEN           You want me to guess?                          (NO RESPONSE)           Brookie, come on, don't be silly,           tell me what's...                                   Brooke stabs "Stop" on the machine, quickly cooling down.                                                   BROOKE           (heading to pick up her                          BELONGINGS)           You know, I can't stay for           breakfast I have to just... I have           to get in to work, I don't know           what I was thinking.                                                   ELLEN                          (A BEAT)           Did you uh, finish the deal with           the hospital?           Goldenrod - 4.17.11 78.                                                   BROOKE           No.                                                   ELLEN           Did he write the check?                                                   BROOKE           No.                                   Ellen stops her machine.                                                   ELLEN           Why not?                                                   BROOKE           Issues related to the closing.                                                   ELLEN           We don't lie to each other, Brooke.                                                   BROOKE           I'm not lying to you. It's           complicated; you wouldn't understand.                                   Ellen crosses closer to Brooke blocking her exit.                                                   ELLEN                          (A BEAT)           Uh, I know that a policeman showed           up at the office? Do you know what           that's about?                                                   BROOKE           I honestly have no idea.                                                   ELLEN           What about your father's head-           where he cut his head and the pain           that he's hiding in his stomach           and, now           (starts to tear)           For some reason that's way to           complicated for me to understand,           there's no money for a routine           gift? Does that seem a little           strange to you?                                                   BROOKE           Of course it's strange.                                                   ELLEN           So tell me what's happening.           Goldenrod - 4.17.11 79.                                                   BROOKE                          (A BEAT)           What do you want me to say? He's my           dad. I have to trust him.                                                   ELLEN           No. You have to do what's right for           you. Not him, not me, not anyone.           This is your life.                                   Ellen grabs Brooke and hugs her hard. Brooke hugs back,          kissing her mother on the cheek, tearing.                                                   BROOKE                          (WHISPERS)           I love you.                          (HEADING OUT)           I gotta go.                                   Hold on Ellen alone as Brooke exits.                                                   ELLEN                          (SOTTO)           Fuck.                                                            INT. SHERRY NETHERLAND HOTEL - RESTAURANT - DAY                                   JAMES MAYFIELD (50s) waits alone at a table. Robert enters.          They shake hands, then sit.                                                   ROBERT           You keep sending people to my           office to "do business."                                                   MAYFIELD           They're just getting acquainted.                                                   ROBERT           With the intricacies of my           operation so that you can... not           buy it?           (to a waitress as he sits)           Just coffee, please.                                                   MAYFIELD           You remember what it was like on           our side of the fence. Everything           just moves... a little slower. Plus           this whole audit mess doesn't help.           You know, clearing that all up...                                                   ROBERT           Fuck you.           Goldenrod - 4.17.11 80.                                                   MAYFIELD          Excuse me...?                                                   ROBERT          FUCK - YOU. I'm the Oracle of          Gracie Square. You came to me. I          did not come to you.                                                   MAYFIELD          Robert, I think we're getting off          on the wrong foot...                                                   ROBERT          No, no, no. Forget it, forget it...          Forget the deal. I don't even care          about the deal. No, I run a          comfortable -- excuse me -- I run a          THRIVING business, that has returned          year-to-date 15.4% percent to our          investors, or approximately $583          Million dollars from a trading          operation that you don't have and          that we both know that you need, or          else you never would've called me in          the first place. You on the other          hand, you've taken a salary of           (sotto from the waitress           pouring his coffee)          18 Million?           (returns to volume)          And what have you delivered? A          falling stock price of negative 14          dollars? Is that what it is? You've          also lost approximately... THREE AND          A HALF BILLION FOR YOUR INVESTORS-          TELL ME -- WHY - THE FUCK - DO I -          NEED YOU?                                                   MAYFIELD          Let's just calm down...                                                   ROBERT          ...so we issue a press release today,          say there is no deal, never was a          deal. You're not gonna be buying Old          Hill, you're not gonna be buying          Quantum- you're not gonna be buying          anything; You? You're just a browser.          Now, me? I'll continue to enjoy my          earnings, and while I SOAR on princely          wings, to my next winning enterprise,          your stock drops another couple bucks          on yet another - failed - acquisition          - attempt. Bodes well for your tenure,          doesn't it?           Goldenrod - 4.17.11 81.                                                   MAYFIELD           Your price is too high.                                   Robert stands.                                                   ROBERT           You have a nice day, James.                                                   MAYFIELD                          (QUICKLY)           Four hundred.                                                   ROBERT           Five-fifty.                                                   MAYFIELD           Four-fifty.                                                   ROBERT           Five twenty-five. That's it. Yes or no?                          (SHORT BEAT)           And if it's no, send any further           communication right to my trash can.                                                   MAYFIELD           (extending his hand)           It's a deal.                                                   ROBERT                          (GRASPING IT)           One other thing -- six months and I'm           gonna be gone. I'm outta here. My           daughter's gonna take it over. You           know her, you trust her.                                                   MAYFIELD           Alright.                                                   ROBERT           And you're gonna have to make my           son a VP.                                                   MAYFIELD                          (LAUGHS)           Robert...                                                   ROBERT           No, no. He doesn't have to do           anything, he just gets the salary,           he gets the office. Both of `em on           five-year employment contracts, and           my lawyers draft them. Yes or no?                                                   MAYFIELD           Yes.           Goldenrod - 4.17.11 82.                                   Robert pulls out a pen and jots down the deal points they          have just outlined onto the paper menu.                                                   MAYFIELD (CONT'D)           What are you doing?                                                   ROBERT           I'm writing the deal.                                                   MAYFIELD           Are you serious?                                                   ROBERT           (ripping off the tablecloth)           I'm serious. I'm very serious. Sign it.                                   Mayfield thinks a moment, then reaches over and signs the menu.          Robert does the same and then folds it into his pocket.                                                   MAYFIELD           I'll send over a draft of the press release.                                   As Robert stands to go, he clutches his bruised rib.                                                   MAYFIELD (CONT'D)           Are you all right?                                                   ROBERT           I'm fine... Before I go -- how much           would you have paid...?                                                   MAYFIELD           Six hundred. And you would've taken...?                                                   ROBERT           Four seventy-five.                                                   MAYFIELD           So we made a good deal.                                                   ROBERT           (as he heads away)           Yeah.                                   Robert turns back to the table.                                                   ROBERT (CONT'D)           Actually, I lied. I would've taken four.                                   Mayfield shrugs and returns to his paper. Robert walks out of          the restaurant, beaming.           Goldenrod - 4.17.11 83.                                   INT. MILLER CAPITAL - CONFERENCE ROOM - LATER                                   Peter, Gavin, and many of the various STAFF we have met are          gathered around a long conference table. Robert stands at the          front of the room.                                                   ROBERT           ...Anyway I will be seeing most of           you at the gala tomorrow night. But           as the sale's official as of this           afternoon, you are now free to talk           about it. Any questions?                                                   PETER                          (JOVIAL)           Will we get new business cards?                                                   ROBERT                          (NODS)           Yes, everyone but you.                          (HEADING OUT)           Alright, it's a great day. Your           hard work made it happen                                   They all clap as Gavin and Robert exit the room.                                                   GAVIN                          (SOTTO)           So how'd you make Mayfield come around?                                                   ROBERT           I met his price. I just took it out of           your share.                                                   GAVIN           Robert?                                                   ROBERT           Yeah.                                                   GAVIN           Good work.                                                   ROBERT           Well, thank you. Now go get me that           fucking hospital check.                                   Gavin walks off. Robert's cell RINGS.                                                   ROBERT (CONT'D)                          (INTO PHONE)           Yeah.                                    SYD (O.S.)           It's not good...           Goldenrod - 4.17.11 84.                                   EXT. JIMMY'S APARTMENT - DUSK                                   Robert heads through a dark service entrance towards a          buzzer, then down a long hallway.                                                   ROBERT (PRE-LAP)           Hello.                                                            INT. JIMMY'S APARTMENT                                   Reina, Jimmy's girlfriend (24, Hispanic) stands at the door          with Robert and Jimmy. She turns and heads to the bedroom.                                   Jimmy heads to the kitchen.                                                   JIMMY           You want something to drink?                                                   ROBERT           What you got?                                                   JIMMY           Not much.                                                   ROBERT           You got any milk?                                                   JIMMY           No.                                                   ROBERT           I'll take a water.                                   Jimmy starts running the tap. Robert notices the moving BOXES.                                                   ROBERT (CONT'D)           Where are you going?                                                   JIMMY           What?                                                   ROBERT           The boxes.                                                   JIMMY           I was planning on Virginia, but it           looks like I'm not going anymore.                                   Jimmy returns with the water. Robert take a drink.                                                   JIMMY (CONT'D)           You waiting for me to say something?           Goldenrod - 4.17.11 85.                                                   ROBERT          I told you not to take the toll.                                                   JIMMY          Yes, you did.                                                   ROBERT          I said "Listen to what I have to          tell you and follow my directions,          listen to me closely, do the          following just like I say."                                                   JIMMY          Yes. You said all that.                                                   ROBERT          But you took the toll anyway.                                                   JIMMY          No, I did not.                                                   ROBERT          Come on, Jimmy, don't fucking lie          to me...                                                   JIMMY          I'm not lying! I took ninety-five all          the Goddamn way there. I did what you          said: I didn't stop. I didn't take          the Triborough. I followed all your          fucking instructions.                                                   ROBERT          So where'd they get the photograph from?                                                   JIMMY          You tell me.                                                   ROBERT          So, you're saying... it's a fake?                                                   JIMMY          How'd you get so fuckin' rich again?                                                   ROBERT          Don't be such a wiseass...                                                   JIMMY          Hey, this is my fuckin' life, man!          Earl's telling me it could be ten          years? Ten fucking years! How much          are ten years worth, Robert?           (off his silence)           Goldenrod - 4.17.11 86.                                                   JIMMY (CONT'D)          Look man, I told you, I ain't no fuckin          snitch, but this is bad. This is real          bad. Reina and I got a whole plan we're          about to make happen next week!                                                   ROBERT           (as Jimmy sits)          What plan?                                                   JIMMY          I got money saved up; I'm buying a business.                                                   ROBERT          What business?                                                   JIMMY          I bought an Applebee's.                                                   ROBERT          What's an Applebee's?                                                   JIMMY          It's a fucking restaurant, man, it's          a chain restaurant.                                                   ROBERT          You bought an Applebee's in Virginia?                                                   JIMMY          Is this really what you came here to          talk about? What are you gonna do?                                                   ROBERT                          (SITS)          It's not really that simple, Jimmy.          I'm in a situation now.                                                   JIMMY          What situation?                                                   ROBERT          I told you... right now, if I were to          speak, a lot of people would get hurt.          Jobs, families. A lot of innocent          people. Do you think you can          understand that?                                                   JIMMY          Yeah but what about me? What about my          situation?           (off his silence)          They showed me pictures, man;          that's fucked up what you did.           Goldenrod - 4.17.11 87.                                                   ROBERT                          (SOTTO)           It was an accident.                                                   JIMMY           And yeah, I know, all the people           counting on you, whatever, but --           you told me Earl was gonna make           this right. Now you know I care           about you, all the things you did           for us, and for my father, but Earl           said they're offering me a deal, no           charges at all. I walk away. They           just want to know who I went to           pick up.                          (BEAT)           Why are you putting me in this           position, man? Why are you putting           me in this situation?                                                   ROBERT                          (LEANS FORWARD)           Can you just hang tight? Just a           little longer?                                                   JIMMY           Alright, man, but Earl said the deal's           on the table for twenty-four hours.           After that, they're filing the case,           and Earl says we're gonna lose.                                                   ROBERT           (nods, stands)           Alright I hear you. I'll be back           with you as soon as I can. Just           hang with me a little bit.                                   Jimmy nods. Robert walks out. Reina crosses back into the          living room as he approaches the door and exits.                                                   REINA           You gotta give him up.                                                   JIMMY           You said take the money.                                                   REINA           That was to keep quiet, not to go away.                          (BEAT)           What's he offering you now?                                                   JIMMY           What can he offer me?           Goldenrod - 4.17.11 88.                                   Reina crosses to Jimmy and hugs him as he starts to cry, then          wipes away his tears.                                                            INT. ROBERT'S LIMO - NIGHT                                   The limo drives down Fifth Avenue. Robert's on the phone.                                    SYD (O.S.)           We went to the toll authority. They           said they gave the tape to the cops.           I've requested our investigator go           examine it at the evidence room, but           honestly what's the point?                                                   ROBERT           He says he didn't take the toll.                                    SYD (O.S.)           And you believe him?                                                   ROBERT           (after a beat)           Does Standard have clawback?                                    SYD (O.S.)           What? What do you mean?                                                   ROBERT           Let's just say I decide to go in...                                    SYD (O.S.)           Have you lost your mind?                                                   ROBERT           No, just listen, listen to me. If I           were to surrender, now, could they roll           back the deal?                                    SYD (O.S.)           (after a beat)           No, what's done is done. There's no           intent to defraud. You haven't warranted           any behavior. So it's just money.                                                   ROBERT           Four years, you think?                                    SYD (O.S.)           At this point- I dunno, they're not           gonna make it easy.... I really suggest           you think about this.           Goldenrod - 4.17.11 89.                                                   ROBERT                          (BEAT)           Call the DA, get it started.                                   Robert hangs up. He stares out the window at Central Park.                                                            INT. ROBERT'S MANSION - NIGHT                                   He enters the foyer and ascends the steps to his bedroom.                                                            INT. ROBERT'S BEDROOM - CONTINUOUS                                   No Ellen. He looks at his watch: "8:34PM."                                   He moves over towards the bed and dials the tableside PHONE.                                                   ROBERT                          (INTO PHONE)           Yeah, Glen. Did Mrs. Miller say where           she was going tonight...? Aha... No,           I'm sure... I'll try her cell.                                   He clicks off and DIALS another number, hears Ellen's voice          mail come on the line, and hangs up.                                   He exhales and lies down on the bed in his clothes, staring          at the ceiling. He lies motionless a moment.                                   And then he sits up, thinks, and shakes his head.                                   He quickly picks up the phone, stabbing at the keys.                                                   ROBERT (CONT'D)                          (INTO PHONE)           Syd...? Yeah- Did you make that call           to the DA yet...? Thank God. No, no,           no. No. Listen to me, call Earl, tell           him to get his car, tell him to meet           us at my house in twenty minutes...           And, Syd...? Bring a notary.                                                            EXT. TRIBOROUGH BRIDGE - NIGHT                                   A steady stream of CARS passes through the toll. We follow a          BLUE LEXUS as it approaches the far right lane.                                                            INT. LEXUS - SAME                                   Earl Monroe pays the TOLL CLERK through the window, getting a          RECEIPT. Then he pulls his car to the side of the road, parking          at a BUILDING labelled "Port Authority - Administration."           Goldenrod - 4.17.11 90.                                    He opens a LAPTOP on the passenger seat, typing numbers from           the toll receipt into a little box on the screen. A portable           PRINTER spits out pages. Earl stamps them with a NOTARY.                                                             INT. TOLL AUTHORITY - NIGHT                                    Earl waits at the front desk of the drab government office.           BRENT, a balding man in his 30's, approaches.                                                   BRENT           Hi I'm Brent Owens, the night           supervisor. How can I help you?                                                   EARL           (handing him some papers)           Hello, Brent. I'm Earl Monroe. I'm           executing a criminal evidence request.           I need to get a look at one of your           lane tapes.                                    Brent looks over the papers, confused.                                                   BRENT           I don't understand. This says you           want to look at a tape made ten           minutes ago...?                                                             INT. ROBERT'S LIMO - CONTINUOUS                                    Robert and Syd stare ahead, silently. Syd tries to say something.                                                   ROBERT           (holding up his hand)           Wait. Wait. Just wait.                                   121 Syd slumps back. They keep staring at nothing. 121                                    A RAPPING noise on the window startles Syd, who rolls it           down, sees Earl, and opens the door.                                    Earl climbs inside, removing a FOLIO from his breast pocket           as he talks.                                                   EARL           Okay, they won't release tapes           without a court order, but they did           give me a print out, the same kind           they used at Jimmy's indictment.                                    Earl reaches inside the folio and removes the PHOTOGRAPH he           got from the toll authority. He lays it on the counter.                                    It's from a toll camera, showing his car and license plate.           Goldenrod - 4.17.11 91.                                                   ROBERT                          (TO EARL)           The Lexus- that's your car, your plate?                                   Earl nods.                                                   ROBERT (CONT'D)                          (TO SYD)           You got Jimmy's?                                   Syd lays the PHOTOGRAPH we saw earlier of Jimmy's car going          through the toll onto the counter next to the one Earl has          just placed there.                                   Robert picks up a high-end MAGNIFYING GLASS and leans over to          look at the two photos.                                                  CLOSE-UP:                                   He scans the photograph of Earl's car, moving slowly          through it left-to-right.                                   Then he scans the photograph of Jimmy's car, passing left-to-          right until --                                   He passes back by the license plate area and stops --                                   The lines around the license plate of Jimmy's car are all          slightly-pixelated.                                   He switches back to the plate on Earl's car. The lines are          fine. Back to Jimmy's. Pixelated.                                   Robert puts down the magnifier, straightens, and smiles.                                                   ROBERT (CONT'D)           Son of a bitch.                                   Earl's dark laugh cackles across the soundtrack as we                                                   CUT TO:                                                            INT. JUDGE'S CHAMBERS - THE NEXT DAY                                   Earl sits across from DA Deferlito and Bryer. JUDGE          RITTENBAND reviews both TOLL PHOTOS with a MAGNIFYING GLASS.                                                   RITTENBAND           Well they look a little different to me,           too... Is there a reason you haven't           allowed Mr. Monroe's investigator to           conduct his own analysis?           Goldenrod - 4.17.11 92.                                                   DEFERLITO           We've had some issues regarding           chain-of-custody...                                                   RITTENBAND           ...You don't have them anymore.           You're to meet him with the evidence           in the next hour.                                                   DEFERLITO           I'm afraid that's not possible.                                   A beat.                                                   RITTENBAND           Where's the tape?                          (ANOTHER BEAT)           Am I not speaking loud enough?                                                   BRYER           Your honor...                                                   RITTENBAND           Yes?                                                   DEFERLITO           It seems there's been...                                                   RITTENBAND           ...Let him tell me.                                                   BRYER           We don't know where it is.                                                   RITTENBAND           Come again?                                                   BRYER           It's not in the evidence locker.                                                   RITTENBAND           Where is it?                                                   BRYER           We don't know.                                   Silence. Rittenband leans forward.                                                   RITTENBAND           I'll ask you one last time,           detective. Where is the tape?                                                   BRYER           (after a beat)           We lost it.           Goldenrod - 4.17.11 93.                                                   RITTENBAND           Hmmm... In light of these           developments, and I would think you           should be very happy to hear this,           with Mr. Monroe's approval I'm going           to offer Mr. Deferlito the           opportunity to voluntarily dismiss           the indictment to save us all a           bunch of embarrassment.                                                   DEFERLITO           I don't feel comfortable with that,           your honor.                                                   RITTENBAND           Further I'm going to put all charges           against Mr. Grant under seal.           (Bryer starts heading to                          THE DOOR)           This case is dismissed with prejudice           and it is not to be refiled. HOLD ON,           Detective.           (Bryer stops.)           If you have another suspect in the           automobile death then you are to present           him, but Mr. Grant is free from any           further inquiry in this matter. This is           over. Do I have your understanding?                                                   EARL           Thank you.                                   Deferlito gets up angrily, huffs past Bryer.                                                   RITTENBAND           Close the door, detective,           please...                                   Bryer closes it. The judge holds up the toll photos.                                                   RITTENBAND (CONT'D)                          (BEAT)           You finessed these, didn't you...?                                                   BRYER           I'm sorry?                                                   RITTENBAND           ...You finessed it. I know it, and           you know it.                                   No response.           Goldenrod - 4.17.11 94.                                                   RITTENBAND (CONT'D)           I know who you're after. I saw all the           evidence, not just the toll photo. You           gotta get him the right way.                                                   BRYER           Oh, okay.           (approaches the judge)           So let me get this straight: What           you're telling me is I'm supposed to           sit around with my thumb up my ass           and my fingers crossed hoping that           one of these fucking days, somewhere           down the line, one of these rich           assholes is gonna say the wrong thing           LOUD enough so that we can't choose           to ignore it anymore?                                                   RITTENBAND                          (BEAT)           Get the fuck outta of my office.                                                   BRYER           Yes, your honor.                                                            INT. COURTHOUSE HALL - MOMENTS LATER                                   Mills waits on a nearby bench, watching as Bryer exits the          chambers dialing his phone. DeFerlito walks up to Bryer, and          grabs him. Bryer breaks free, aggressively, phone to his ear.          Mills approaches. Bryer waves him away.                                                   BRYER           (on the phone)           Well when do you expect her...? When           do you expect her? Okay, well so I           don't have to call a ninth time, will           you take down what I'm sayin', word           for word...? Okay, you got a pencil?           You ready? Okay, here goes: "Mrs.           Miller- Exactly how fuckin' stupid do           you really think I am?"                                                            EXT. OUTDOOR COFFEE SHOP - AFTERNOON                                   Robert and Jimmy sit. Jimmy looks at the TRUST DOCUMENT.                                                   ROBERT           You didn't hurt anybody. You helped           a lot of people.           Goldenrod - 4.17.11 95.                                                   JIMMY           And this piece of paper makes           everything okay?                                                   ROBERT           No, it makes it easier.                                                   JIMMY                          (BEAT)           You worried I'm gonna say something?                                                   ROBERT           No.                                   Jimmy keeps staring at the document.                                                   JIMMY           Robert, look: you asked me to come           meet you and I'm here, but I came           because I wanted to get something           straight between us: we're even.                                                   ROBERT           Okay, we're even. But just for the           record though, what you did...           (picks up the trust document)           Was way beyond the money.                                                   JIMMY                          (LAUGHS)           Nothing's beyond money for you.                                                   ROBERT                          (LAUGHS BACK)           Thanks a lot.                                                   JIMMY           (pointing to the document)           And if I take this, then what does           that say about me?                                   He thinks a moment, then folds the document and puts it in          his pocket.                                                   JIMMY (CONT'D)           Fuck it. I'm gonna take your money           and do something good with it.                                   Hold on Jimmy.                                                            INT. ROBERT'S BEDROOM - NIGHT                                   Ellen is dressed in a full BALL GOWN. She sits at on the sofa          finishing a drink.           Goldenrod - 4.17.11 96.                                   Robert enters and begins changing into a TUXEDO.                                                   ROBERT           Hey, sweetie. What time you wanna           get there...? I don't wanna get           there too soon...                                   She doesn't say anything. He waits a moment, then...                                                   ROBERT (CONT'D)           (tying his tie)           You okay? What is it?                                                   ELLEN           You spoke to Brooke?                                   He slows... Something's brewing.                                                   ROBERT           Did she tell you that?                                                   ELLEN           No. She didn't have to.                                                   ROBERT           Yeah, I explained to Brooke that...                                                   ELLEN           ...you explained, did you?                          (A BEAT)           Did you tell her everything?                                                   ROBERT           Yes.                                                   ELLEN           Everything?           (off his silence)           Lift up your shirt.                                                   ROBERT           What?                                                   ELLEN           Lift up -- your shirt.                                   He doesn't move.                                   She stands and heads towards him. Then she hits him with a a          NEWSPAPER, right at his broken rib.                                   He winces a little, then looks down at the floor.                                   It's the Post article chronicling Julie's death.           Goldenrod - 4.17.11 97.                                                   ELLEN (CONT'D)          Did you tell her about that?                                                   ROBERT                          (LONG BEAT)          Ellen I don't know what you think          you know...                                                   ELLEN          Oh, don't treat me like an idiot.          You've been sneaking off to see her for          months. You don't think I know that?                                                   ROBERT          What do you think you know?                                                   ELLEN          I never cared, really, about your          secretaries, your- gallerists,          whores, whatever you wanna call them.          I cared about our home. And now you          have brought this to our door.                                                   ROBERT          I did what was necessary.                                                   ELLEN          No you did what was necessary for          you, Robert, for your interests.                                                   ROBERT          For my interests?                                                   ELLEN          Yes.                                                   ROBERT          Everything I do is for us, for this          family, and now you're gonna tell          me how to run my business.                                                   ELLEN          This isn't about your business,          this is our life! Where do you          think we're going tonight? Why do          you think I've even tolerated this          for so long?                                                   ROBERT           (he's had enough)          What you've tolerated? Wow!                                                   ELLEN          I'm glad you find that funny.           Goldenrod - 4.17.11 98.                                                   ROBERT           What about me? What about the           complaints? The unhappiness? The           drinking? The shopping? The           trainers? Everything! But yes, the           charities, the wonderful sainted           charities, you know, all the           wonderful works that you do. How do           you think I've paid for them?                                                   ELLEN           I didn't ask you because I didn't           want you to lie.                                                   ROBERT                          (WALKS OFF)           It's cause you didn't want to give           `em up!                                                   ELLEN           But I thought that we had an           understanding. And you broke that           understanding when you brought           Brooke into it.                                                   ROBERT           No, I kept her out.                                                   ELLEN           When you made Brooke complicit-- when           you risked her future-- and I'm done.                                   She opens a FOLDER revealing some legal documents, slides          them toward him.                                                   ROBERT           What is this?                                                   ELLEN           Read it.                                   He crosses to the bed and puts on his glasses. We see the          title: "SEPARATION AGREEMENT" and hold on him reading for a          few brief seconds until...                                                   ROBERT           "All ownership and voting rights           transfer to the Miller Charitable           Foundation, to be administered by           Brooke Miller?" Did you really           expect me to sign this thing?                                                   ELLEN           You're not following.           Goldenrod - 4.17.11 99.                                                   ROBERT           Apparently not, no. No.                                                   ELLEN           (like talking to a child)           Okay, uhm, the police have been           trying to talk me. I assume they           want to know where you were that           night. And you know what? I'm not           gonna lie for you anymore. Not           unless you sign that.                                   A beat.                                                   ROBERT           Yeah, this leaves me with nothing.                                                   ELLEN           I think you'll find a way to           manage. I'm sure you have all kinds           of things offshore for a rainy day.                                                   ROBERT                          (SHAKES HEAD)           This is fuckin' crazy.                                                   ELLEN                          (FAST)           No, if you sign, then I'll tell your           lie. I'll say you were at home with           me that night, all night, together,           here, and you'll be free and clear.           And the people who need our money           will get it. That's my price.                                                   ROBERT           You're out of your mind. I am not           signing that. I will not sign that!                                                   ELLEN           Well then... I'll have to tell them           that you came home at four-thirty           bruised and bleeding...                                                   ROBERT                          (LAUGHS)           That's fucking ridiculous! What...           (crosses close to her)           Are you trying to blackmail me?                                                   ELLEN           I think we call it negotiating.           Goldenrod - 4.17.11 100.                                                   ROBERT           You're not gonna win that one.           There's no fucking way.                                                   ELLEN           You know what, it'll cause just           enough trouble- the kind of trouble           that you don't want-- In fact,           according to my lawyer                                                   ROBERT                          (PACES)           Fucking lawyer...                                                   ELLEN           It's enough to give them probable           cause and then they can subpoena           your cell phone, GPS, DNA,                                                   ROBERT           Fuck the DNA! I'm sick of this!                                                   ELLEN           And whatever else they can think of.           So really Robert what you have is a           choice: you can spend the next three           years in court and in the tabloids           or-- you can be at your business.                                                   ROBERT                          (SHAKES HEAD)           You won't do it. You won't do this.           You won't do it to the kids.                                                   ELLEN           Just try me.                                   He stares at her, trying to make it work, but he can't.                                                   ELLEN (CONT'D)                          (FINALLY CRIES)           You broke -- our little girl's heart.                                                   ROBERT           It's how it all works, Ellen. You           know that.                                                   ELLEN           I do, but she didn't.                                                   ROBERT           She'll be better for it. The world is cold.           Goldenrod - 4.17.11 101.                                                   ELLEN           (turns and heads out)           Then you're gonna need a warm coat.                                   We hold on Robert's face. PRE-LAP Bill Evans' "My Foolish Heart."                                                            INT. MAYFIELD'S LIMO - NIGHT                                   The car rides up Madison Avenue. Mayfield marks up a bunch of          memos in a leather-bound folder. An aide we met earlier, JOHN          AIMES, sits nearby.                                                   AIMES           There's just one more thing... And           I hate to mention it now, but I           just received it...                                                   MAYFIELD           Speak, John.                                   Aimes opens a FOLDER, handing it to Mayfield.                                                   AIMES           I had Stern Marling run a secondary           audit on the Miller financials.                                   We catch a glimpse of the top sheet as Mayfield reads:                                   "STERN MARLING CONFIDENTIAL AUDIT - MILLER CAPITAL - We have          reviewed the records you submitted and have found no way to          legitimately substantiate a recent capital transfer of $412          Million..."                                   We hold on Mayfield's face as he tries hard to conceal the          spreading realization.                                                   MAYFIELD           Who authorized this?                                                   AIMES           I did.                                                   MAYFIELD           (after a beat)           And what did you conclude?                                                   AIMES           It's in front of you.                                                   MAYFIELD                          (LAUGHS)           I didn't ask you what the paper said,           John. I asked you what you thought.           Goldenrod - 4.17.11 102.                                                   AIMES           (after a beat, carefully)           Well... what do you think?                                                   MAYFIELD           I think... I think... that I don't           see anything wrong here.                                   Mayfield closes the folder and places it with the rest of his          papers. Aimes nods.                                                            EXT. PLAZA HOTEL                                   They arrive at the Plaza Hotel and exit the car                                                            INT. PLAZA HOTEL - GRAND BALLROOM - NIGHT                                   We see throngs of the wealthy ascend the steps leading up to          the opulent hall. Lining the walls are plaques for:          "Mt. Sinai Hospital - Miller Oncology Center."                                                            INT. GRAND BALLROOM - LATER                                   Seated at one of the many round tables are Robert, Ellen,          Peter, Gavin, Syd, Jeffrey, and a few spouses and attendants.          Chamber MUSIC plays while everyone eats dinner.                                   We focus in on Robert as he stares intently out into the          room, his eyes a mixture of ferocity and resignation. In the          distance, we hear a SPEAKER'S voice fade in. It's Brooke.                                                   BROOKE           ...and to receive this prestigious           award, I invite now to the stage           the man who led this generous           effort, and whose financial trading           firm, Miller Capital, has just this           morning been acquired by Standard           Bank and Trust, a dedicated           businessman, family man, scholar,           philanthropist and all-around           humanitarian, a man I am lucky to           call -- my mentor, my friend -- and           my father -- Mr. Robert Miller...                                   Robert stands against deafening APPLAUSE as he makes his way          to the stage and, in one continuous shot, gives Brooke a hug,          takes the podium, opens his notes, and begins to talk.                                    FADE TO BLACK.
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+                                   Arcade                                     by                                David S. Goyer                       Last revised November 6, 1990INT. ARCADE WORLD -- ELECTRONIC DARKNESSWe don't know if it's night or day.  It's just black.And maybe...maybe intermittent SPARKS racing by.  So quick we barelyperceive them.  Like the sparks you imagine when your eyes are closed.BREATHING,slow and hollow, filling up the entire world.  It's eerie as hell.  Afeeling of utter loneliness.And now the breathing recedes, fading into the darkness.  Whatever itwas...it's gone now.MAIN CREDITS ROLL.We hear CELLOS.  Four of them.  Weaving an intricate melody.And now the visuals.  BRIGHTLY COLORED SHAPES spinning in.  Equallyintricate, matching the music.  They grow and flourish, like flowersopening up in time lapse photography.FRACTALS...is what they're called.  The visual manifestation of geometric formulas.The Mandelbrot Set.  The Julia Set.  Each mathematic form made up ofprogressively smaller forms and on into infinity.Glorious and beautiful.  Forms folding in upon themselves andregenerating.This is creation we're witnessing.This is life in the making.							DISSOLVE TO:INT. COUNSELOR'S OFFICE -- DAYAN EYEFor a brief moment we still hear the CELLOS.  And in the eye, the last ofthe fractals are spinning away, leaving us with the iris.  A nice blueone.  This is ALEX MANNING'S eye.				ALEX (V.O.)		Time.  That's all I ever think about		anymore.  It's like there's never enough of		it, you know?								CUT TO:INT.  MANNING HOUSE, HALLWAY -- DAYThis is a flashback, in case you're wondering.  We'll continue to hearAlex's VOICE as we move through the house in slow motion.  Everything isvery bright and dreamlike.Right now we're moving with the camera, slowly moving down a long hallway.At the end of the hallway is an open door.We stop at the doorway.  We're afraid to go in.				ALEX (V.O.)		It's strange.  When the future's in front		of you, it seems to go on forever.  I mean,		you never really get there.  It's always		one step ahead of you.  It's like there's		no present. There's no "now".  As soon as		you think, "I'm here", the moment's already		gone.  Either everything's in the future,		or it's in the past.			(beat)		There's no "now".				MAN (V.O.)		So where are you then?				ALEX (V.O.)		I'm in the past.We move through the doorway.INT.  MANNING HOUSE, BEDROOM -- DAYEverything looks normal at first.  A typical bedroom with sunlightstreaming in through the windows.  A bed, made-up. Flowers in vases.Everything looks perfect.Then we move further in, and over to the right.  There's something on thefloor, curled up in the entranceway to the bathroom.  Halfway in, halfwayout.It's a woman's body.  She's wearing a dress, her legs awkwardly bent.  Wecan't see her face from this angle. But in her limp hand is a gun.  Andall around that hand, speckling the pristine white tile of the bathroomand the carpeting beyond, is BLOOD.A shrill BELL shatters the moment.								CUT TO:INT.  COUNSELOR'S OFFICE -- DAYThe bell continues.  It's a school bell signaling the end of the period.ON ALEXas we see her for the first time, startled.  She's seventeen and pretty,though in a simple way.  Her eyes are the most striking.  Deep.  Intense.If Alex has a problem, it's the fact that she thinks too much, and it'sreflected in her eyes.Across from her is MR. WEAVER, a high-school guidance counselor and thatwas his voice we heard with Alex's. He's unexceptional, middle-aged,incapable of really hearing what Alex has to say.  This is his officewe're in. Typical "SAY NO TO DRUGS" teen propaganda decorate the room.Fun.As the BELL dies we hear the army of FOOTSTEPS outside, students millingin the halls.Alex glances at the door and starts to rise from her chair.				MR. WEAVER		We don't have to stop now...				ALEX			(cutting him off)		That's okay.  I've got a test coming up		anyway.  Gotta study.				MR. WEAVER			(sighs)		I have to tell you, I'm a little concerned		about you, Alex.  It's been three months		now since your mother, uh...				ALEX			(offering, fixing him with			a stare)		Killed herself?Mr. Weaver stops, more than a little uncomfortable.				MR. WEAVER			(reluctant)		Yes.  Now your father...				ALEX		He's a basket case.  You've talked to him.		You know that.  He might as well be dead		too.Alex glances down at the floor, anything to avoid looking at thecounselor.  She heaves a backpack onto to shoulder.				ALEX			(continuing)		Look Mr. Weaver, I don't even know why I		came here.  I fine.  Really.			(looking up)		It's like I said.  It's just part of the		past now.  It doesn't matter anymore.She turns, and before Mr. Weaver can respond, she's out the door.INT.  HIGH-SCHOOL HALLWAY - DAYAlex moves quickly through the mass of STUDENTS, wiping the remnants ofhalf-tears on her coat sleeve.								CUT TO:INT.  HIGH-SCHOOL CAFETERIA - DAYFun-time.  Total chaos.  If you've been to high-school you know the riff.Bad food, teen-age melodrama, and a squadron of SUPERVISORS trying to keepa lid on things.ALEXmakes her way to the far corner of the cafeteria where a cluster of kidslounge around a table.  These are Alex's FRIENDS.  And while none of themare your garden variety pocket-protector-type nerds, these kids aren'texactly part of the "in-crowd".  They're a little off.  Quirky.  All ofthem come from screwed up families, and that's what bonds them.  They are:GREG HOLLISTON -- Alex's boyfriend.  Hopeful artist (not bad, either) andkind of punk looking.  Greg and the others are big fans of thrift-shopclothing.  Because they don't have the money, they improvise.NICK DRAKE -- Greg's best friend and future computer pioneer.  He'sattractive and he's got an edge.  A bit of a hot-shot.  Genius in themaking.BENZ AND STILTS -- Inseparable.  Benz is flunking out of school and wouldlike nothing better than to spend the rest of his life reading comicbooks.  He's tall, perpetually unkempt, awkward, and nervous.  Stilts,contrary to his nickname, is quite short and never without his skateboard.Stilts is constantly hitting on...LAURIE -- The sixth member of the group.  A teen Theda Bara and as cynicalas you can get.  She's what's affectionately known as an "art chick".The boys in the group, particularly Nick and Stilts, are avidskateboarders and are frequently seen with their boards.  Stilts is alwaysleafing through an issue of THRASHER magazine.Right now the group is in the midst of an argument.  Nick has a pocketvideo game in his hands which he casually plays.  He can get through thesegames in his sleep.  It BEEPS and WHIRS.				NICK			(to Benz)		You're an idiot, you know that? What're you		going to do when you get out of here?				BENZ		I was thinking about writing for one of		those Filipino mail order brides...Stilts and Greg burst into laughter.				STILTS		I think I saw that on the Home Shopping		Network.  The Girlfriend Hour, right after		Auto Accessories.				BENZ			(giggling)		Exactly.				LAURIE		You guys are sick.Alex flops down in a chair and everyone turns.				GREG		So how'd it go?Alex shrugs, trying to make light of it.				ALEX		He thinks I'm "sublimating".				STILTS		What the hell does that mean?				LAURIE		It means she's screwed up.				STILTS		Fucked up.  That's what they said I was.				BENZ		You are fucked up.				STILTS		Yeah, but only because I want to be.				GREG		Would you guys knock it off?Greg turns back to Alex and looks her in the eye.				GREG			(continuing)		Listen to me, Alex.  These counselor's		don't know anything.  They're full of shit.		If you don't fit the pattern of the perfect		kid, they freak.				ALEX			(nodding)		I know.				GREG		So tell me you're okay, then.				ALEX		I'm okay.				GREG			(smiles)		Good.   Cause I'd freak if you weren't.Greg leans over and kisses Alex.  The rest of the group launches intoexaggerated GROANS, with Benz and Stilts fluttering their eyes and making"smooching faces" at each other.  The kiss is over and everyone LAUGHS.Things are okay now.				GREG			(to Alex)		Hey...watch this...Greg pulls an old Polaroid camera from his backpack.  He leans in close toher and holds the camera at arm's length, aiming it back at them.  FLASH!And the moment's captured forever.Greg pulls the Polaroid out and peels off the backing. Before the pictureeven develops, he begins rubbing his fingers over it, manipulating theemulsion.				NICK			(engrossed in his game			again)		You making another one, Greg?				GREG		Sure.  Practice.				BENZ		Lemme see...Greg pulls some papers from his backpack and slides them over to Benz.The papers are color xeroxes of Polaroid blow-ups.  Greg has messed withthem, creating swirling, psychedelic patterns with the images.  Stilts andLaurie lean in.				STILTS		Cool.				GREG			(still working)		See, when the emulsion's still warm you can		move it around...			(stops)		There.Greg holds up the Polaroid for Alex to see.POLAROIDGreg and Alex are side by side, grinning...all around them the world hasspun into strange colors.  It's an odd effect.Greg drops the photo in his shirt pocket and pats it.				GREG		Safe keeping.Meanwhile, Nick's pocket video game emits an EXPLOSION NOISE.				NICK		Shit.  I'm out.He sets the game down, dejected.				BENZ		You guys going to Dante's after school?				GREG		I don't know.				BENZ		Check it out...Benz pulls a flyer from inside his coat.  It's an ad for a new game called"ARCADE", featuring a pair of evil eyes and glowing hands coming out of acircuit board.  The tag at the bottom reads, "COMING THIS FALL.  REALITYWILL NEVER BE THE SAME".				NICK			(excited)		That's the new Slip-Stream game. Those guys		are good.  It's supposed to be interactive.		Graphics are unbelievable.				BENZ		Yeah?  They were handing these out at		Dante's.  Test marketing it or something.		Gonna have a demonstration today.				STILTS		Cool.				LAURIE		Can you say anything but "cool"?				STILTS		Of course I can.  I can say all sorts of		things...				GREG			(annoyed)		Guys...Benz pulls back the flyer and looks at it again.				BENZ		So how 'bout it?				NICK		I'm game...			(to Greg)		Greg?Greg turns to Alex.				GREG		Come on.  We'll hit Dante's after school,		try the game out, maybe get some dinner.				ALEX		And then keep on driving?				GREG		Sure.  Never come back.  Disappear forever.				LAURIE			(nodding)		I could go for that.Alex laughs.  Laurie took the words right out of her mouth.								CUT TO:EXT.  DANTE'S INFERNO -- DAYThe Inferno is a run-down video arcade near the beach, notable because thegames it sports are generally defective and out of date.  Nevertheless,it's become our group's hang-out.  It has its charms.A huge mural, chipped and faded with age, adorns the front of thearcade...something straight out of Hieronymus Bosch. Demons in day-glo.The yawning mouth of an enormous devil surrounds the entrance.ALEX AND THE OTHERSpull up across the street, caravan style.  Greg and Alex are in onecar...an ancient Buick Skylark.  No Honda Accords or VW Rabbits for thisgroup.At the moment, there's quite a bit of activity at the Inferno's entrance.KIDS are clustered around and Slip-Stream employees are passing out Arcadepromo sheets.THE GROUPheads for the entrance, plowing their way through the crowd.  Stilts andBenz have their skateboards, jumping up onto the curb with them, thenpopping them up into their arms.INT.  DANTE'S INFERNO -- DAYInside, the Inferno is a mishmash of video games, ancient carnival propsand old horror movie posters.  Dusty, creepy under the right circumstancesand filled with leering faces...  in short, any kid's bedroom taken to ahorrific extreme.  At Dante's Inferno, they've got the latest games sideby side with chestnuts like Pac-Man.THE GROUPmakes their way inside, joining a cluster of KIDS in the center of TheInferno.  And there it is...ARCADEIt looks out of place in the midst of The Inferno.  Shiny black,high-tech, and almost self-contained, like some sort of space-age verticalcoffin.  Laser-etched graphics on the sides bear the ARCADE logo and thesame strange, frightening face.Alex and her friends are suitably impressed, most notably, Nick and Benz.				BENZ		Check it out...				STILTS		Definitely cool.Nick is silent, letting his eyes explore the machine.  He turns to Gregand grins.				NICK		Super computers, micro-processors... That's		the future we're looking at.Another kid, DELOACH, pushes his way to the front of the group.  Hisfighting a losing battle against acne.				DELOACH			(looking around)		So how come they're previewing it in this		shit-hole?				STILTS		If you weren't such a dick, you'd know what		a cool place this was.				DELOACH		Gimme a break, they got fucking Space		Invaders here.  That's shit's for retards.				STILTS		So...are you trying to say I'm retarded?		Is that what you're implying?				DELOACH		No, but since I'm standing here, I'm		noticing that you're an ugly little fuck		and you're making me sick...That's it for Stilts.  He launches himself at DeLoach, catching him offguard and KNOCKING him to the floor.Nick, Alex, and Greg are on them in a minute, trying to extract the twofrom each other.A LARGE MANpushes his way towards them and effortlessly scoops both boys up, wrappinga beefy hand around the scruffs of their necks.  This is FINSTER, theproprietor...enormous, bald, and always irritable.				FINSTER			(shaking them)		Cut it out!!!His face contorts and he spits as he speaks.  Nice guy. Alex stepsforward, always the voice of reason.				ALEX		It's okay, Mr. Finster...				FINSTER		No it's not.			(to the boys)		You guys are shits and I'm throwing you out.				DELOACH			(acting tough)		Your place sucks.  Who gives a shit about		"ARCADE" anyway?				VOICE (O.S.)			(booming, metallic)		WHAT DID YOU SAY?Everyone turns.  The voice came from...ARCADEIt's up and running now.  The inside panel emits an eerie green light.From speakers inside the compartment we can here BREATHING...the samebreathing we heard earlier. Coming from a machine like this, it's creepyas hell.Even Finster is impressed.  He releases the boys and stares at themachine.				LAURIE			(a whisper)		Jesus...				ANOTHER VOICE (O.S.)		Not bad, huh?A MAN steps out from behind the ARCADE machine.  He grins happily, dressedto kill, sporting a SLIP-STREAM ID tag. This is DIFFORD, P.R. man forSLIP-STREAM.				DIFFORD		Hi, kids.			(nods)		Mr. Finster...The ARCADE machine continues to breathe, inhale, exhale... The eyes in theface are glowing now, in unison with the breathing.Difford draws closer and indicates the machine behind him with a nod.				DIFFORD			(smooth as silk)		We're glad you people could make it, and		we're anxious to have you try out our new		product.  We think it's going to be a big		seller.  But you're the people that make it		happen.  You're the market share everyone's		tearing each other apart to get at.  It's		your opinion that's going to make or break		us.				NICK		So what's so different about Arcade? You		guys've been talking about it for months.Difford turns to Nick and salutes him.				DIFFORD		A man after my own heart.  Straight to the		point.			(to everyone)		What's different about ARCADE is the way it		reacts.  It responds like a human does.  It		learns.  It adapts. Each time you play, it		changes its strategy.				NICK		That's impossible.				DIFFORD			(taking the bait)		Is it?  Why don't you see for your self?Difford reaches into his coat pocket and pulls out a quarter.  He tossesit at...NICKwho snags it out of mid-air and grins.				GREG		Go for it, Nick.Difford steps aside and waves Nick to the machine.  The rest of the kidscrowd around.ARCADEisn't just your typical video game.  First of all there are threescreens...front, left, and right...which provide a panoramic view whileplaying.  Second, the player wears "data gloves" (which provide an actualsensation of touch) and stereoscopic goggles which in turn are wireddirectly into the machine.  The results give the user the feeling thathe/she has actually entered the video game universe.Difford thinks he has a hit on his hands, and his excitement shows.				DIFFORD			(indicating equipment)		The CyberGloves are keyed into the game's		response mechanism.  You'll be able to pick		things up inside the world...tools, weapons		... it'll feel like they're really in your		hands...Nick pulls on the gloves, securing them with velcro straps.				DIFFORD			(continuing)		The goggles heighten the experience. When		we said "Reality will never be the same",		we weren't kidding.Difford places the goggles on Nick's face.  Then he points to the controlboard, which features two joy-sticks and a large RED BUTTON labeled"ESCAPE".				NICK			(skeptical)		"Escape"?				DIFFORD		In case things get too intense.  It		automatically freezes the game, gives you a		breather.  Things can get pretty wild...				BENZ			(scoffing)		Nick won't need it.				DIFFORD		You're good, eh?				NICK			(grins)		The best.Nick winks at Alex and Greg.				NICK			(to Difford)		So what's the scenario?  Am I saving a		princess?  Fighting Zombies?				DIFFORD		It changes.  There are eleven levels. Each		one is a different layer of the ARCADE		universe.  The concept is, you're entering		the video game itself, making your way		across the circuit board to the logic core		... ARCADE's brain.				NICK		So how do I start?				DIFFORD		The game will guide you.Nick turns back to the machine and pops the quarter into the coin slot.He punches the "START" button on the top of one of the joy-sticks.Immediately the screens come to life.  Darkness with shooting stars oflight racing back and forth.ON SCREENA three-dimensional computer-generated FACE appears out of the darkness,spinning in from far away and coming to rest.				ARCADE		I AM ARCADE.			(breathing)		YOU WANT TO PLAY GAMES?  YOU PICKED THE		WRONG MACHINE.The crowd of kids is suitably impressed.  Even Alex is amused.So far, so good.				ARCADE		WHAT'S YOUR NAME?				NICK		Nick.				ARCADE			(almost contemptuous)		NICK.  KISS REALITY GOODBYE.SUDDENLY,A LIGHTBEAM above the video screen illuminates Nick's face.				LAURIE			(concerned)		What's it doing?!				DIFFORD		Memorizing Nick's features.  Watch.ON SCREENthe face of ARCADE spins away and a computer-generated figure appears,complete with a pixel-rendered version of Nick's face!VIDEO NICKis dressed in futuristic armor with exaggerated CyberGloves and a fullhelmet on instead of goggles.  He also wears elbow and knee pads andcarries a thrasher in his hands, sort of a cross between a souped-upskateboard and the Silver Surfer's board.  It's his means oftransportation.The screen prints out:  "NICK.  ENTER THE VORTEX".VIDEO NICKhops onto the thrasher.  Abruptly the world around him begins to spin, andVideo Nick is shooting a curl, a whirlpool of light...down, down, fasterand faster, until...BOOM!  Empty space and video Nick is falling towards a circuit grid.  It'sthe electronic universe rushing up to meet him...				ARCADE		ONE WORD OF ADVICE, NICK.  YOU SPEND TOO		MUCH TIME IN ONE PLACE, AND I SEND OUT THE		SCREAMER.  YOU DON'T WANT TO BE AROUND WHEN		THAT HAPPENS.			(laughs)		SEE YOU ON THE OTHER SIDE.ON SCREENVideo Nick plummets from the sky like a meteor, slamming into the groundwith an explosion of dust.  The dust clears.Video Nick is standing on an eerie plain, with strange reed-like plantsdotting the ground and mist coiling around everything.  It looks likeEarth, and yet...it doesn't.VIDEO NICKhops onto the thrasher and begins to move.  And move it does.  With aWHOOP! the ARCADE world is rushing past us. The game has begun.ON NICK'S FACEAs a smile gradually creeps across it.  He's having the time of his life,gloved hands manipulating the joy-sticks like mad.  From his reactions, wecan tell that this is one of the most incredible things he's everexperienced.THE OTHER KIDSwatch Nick, then the screen, then Nick again...				BENZ		Check it out!				GREG		Come on, Nick...Now everyone is laughing, urging Nick on.  It's like they've alldiscovered the most amazing toy...something that's going to turn theirworld upset down.DIFFORDis pleased as punch, watching the kids' reactions more than the game.ON SCREENImages are rushing past at blinding speed, LASERS, EXPLOSIONS, and godknows what...ON NICKAs sweat begins to trickle down his fast.  His hands move faster andfaster, in response to the game.The screen.Nick.The screen and...BAM!!!  Nick SLAMS down the escape button and rips off his goggles.  Thevideo image freezes.NICKHe's practically hyperventilating, sweat pouring down his face.  He leansover, resting a hand on the control board. And for a moment, everyone issilent.  Then...				GREG		Nick...you okay?Slowly, Nick lifts his head.  He's now sporting a devilish grin.				NICK		You gotta try this thing.Nick pulls off his CyberGloves and holds them out for Greg. Greg turns toAlex.				ALEX		Go for it.				GREG		Hold my keys, then.He hands her his keychain and takes the CyberGloves from Nick.  Greg pullsthem on, then straps on the goggles.				GREG			(to Difford)		So how do I get back in?				DIFFORD		Just hit "ESCAPE" again.ON SCREENGreg hits the button and immediately the image unfreezes. Once again,we're on the thrasher board, rushing across the plains.GREG'S FACEAs a smile slowly creeps across it.								CUT TO:INT. DANTE'S INFERNO - LATERAt the front of The Inferno, Difford and two SLIP-STREAM HELPERS areunpacking cardboard boxes.  The KIDS have clustered around them,momentarily forgetting the ARCADE machine.Difford pulls cut a handful of game cartridges as well as goggles whichdangle over his arm.				DIFFORD		Here's what we're going to do.  What I'm		holding are the home versions of ARCADE,		the prototypes...This is met with an enthusiastic response from the kids.				DIFFORD			(continuing)		In a month or so we're planning on releasing		ARCADE in both versions, but we're still		fine tuning, and that's where you guys luck		out.  So what we'll do is have you register		with us, and then we're going to loan these		out to you for a week or so.  The only thing		you have to do in return is answer some		marketing questions. Sound fair?The kids can't line up fast enough.OUR GROUPis right up front, with Nick and Alex being the first two in line.Difford winks at Nick.				DIFFORD		So what do you think?				NICK		Sign me up.Alex is glancing around now.  She sees Benz, Stilts, and Laurie, but notGreg.				ALEX		Where's Greg?Laurie jerks her thumb back at the ARCADE machine.				LAURIE		He's still working on the game.And Alex finds Greg for a moment, spotting him over the heads of the otherkids.ON GREGHis face is a mirror of Nick's...sweat pouring down, grinning from ear toear.  It's addictive as hell.  SIGHTS and SOUNDS rush past us on the threescreens, racing at incredible speeds.And now, from within the game, we hear a strange sound...a SCREAM ofsorts, halfway between a shriek and a sonic boom.				ARCADE		TIME'S UP, FRIEND.The SHRIEK/SONIC BOOM reaches a nightmarish pitch and suddenly the screensEXPLODE WITH LIGHT.AT THE FRONT OF THE INFERNO...everyone turns in response.  It's as if someone set off a flashbulb.ALEXpushes her way back through the kids, making her way to the ARCADEmachine.ARCADEGreg is nowhere to be found.  In fact, the CyberGloves and goggles aredangling from the control board, abandoned.Alex turns to a nearby KID.				ALEX		Where's Greg?The kid shrugs.				KID		Don't know.  I think I saw him walk out,		but I'm not sure...Alex isn't listening anymore.  She's staring at the floor of the ARCADEmachine.GREG'S POLAROIDis on the floor...the photo of Greg and Alex which he manipulated.Alex picks it up, glancing around.  She scans the faces of the crowd andshe doesn't see Greg anywhere.  She turns away.ON SCREENA video figure is lying on the computer-generated ground. It sits up,brushing dust from itself, and looks around. It faces us.  Only the imageisn't of Nick anymore.  It's VIDEO GREG now.UP FRONT,Alex has re-joined her friends.  The four of them are now clutching ARCADEhome versions in their arms, CyberGloves and all.  They look like kids onChristmas Day.				ALEX		Has anyone seen Greg?				STILTS		He's probably outside.  You know how he is.		Gets bored...				NICK		Yeah, outside.Nick heads for the door with the rest of the group in tow.								CUT TO:EXT. DANTE'S INFERNO -- DAYOutside, Greg is still nowhere to be found.  Benz, Stilts, and Laurie havepiled into their car, waiting for Nick to take the wheel.NICK AND ALEXare up by Greg's Skylark.				ALEX		So where is he?				NICK		Guess he took off...  You have his keys,		right?Alex holds them up and gives them a shake.				NICK		Hmmm.  He said you were going to have		dinner?				ALEX		Yeah...				NICK		So take his car home.  Wait.  I'm sure he's		up to something...				ALEX			(cutting him off)		But he was playing the game.  I mean, you		saw him...BEHIND THEM,Laurie reaches over the seat and honks Nick's horn.  Laurie and the othersburst into LAUGHTER.  Stilts sets his skateboard on the street and rollsit towards Nick.BACK TO NICK AND ALEXNick stops the board with his foot and steps onto it, balancing.  He wavesto the others and turns back to Alex.				NICK		It's nothing, okay?  Just take his car home.		He'll show up.Nick tousles Alex's hair.  He shakes his ARCADE cartridge at her.				NICK		Don't worry about it.And with that, Nick's off, rolling back to his car and leaping over thedoor, skateboard and all.  Laurie and the others are still screaming withlaughter.Nick hits the ignition and guns the car, pulling out with a dramaticSCREECH and sailing off down the street.ON ALEXclutching Greg's car keys.  She glances on the front seat, where her ownARCADE cartridge rests.THE CARTRIDGEhas the same glowing eyes that were laser-etched on the machine inside TheInferno.				ALEX		Fuck-you.								CUT TO:EXT. MANNING HOUSE -- NIGHTThe Manning place is your basic suburban ranch house, totallyunexceptional.  The lawn looks a little ragged and a pile of newspapers,frayed and yellowing, have accumulated by the front door.  Inside, thehouse is dark. Lonely.ALEXpulls up in Greg's Skylark, scooping the ARCADE kit into her arms.								CUT TO:INT.  MANNING HOUSE -- NIGHTAs Alex enters the dark house, we can hear WHISPERS coming from furtherwithin.  It's a little creepy, but Alex seems unconcerned.She negotiates her way through the darkened house, on into the den.DEN -- FOLLOWING THROUGHDim, flickering LIGHT illuminates the den, casting long shadows across aSLEEPING FIGURE on the couch.This is Alex's father, JIM...hopelessly middle-aged and getting older bythe moment.  It's the t.v. that's doing the whispering.  CNN or something.From what little we can see of the rest of the house, it looks like amess.Alex bends down and jostles her father's shoulder.				ALEX		Dad...Dad...Jim stirs, though barely.  He turns a sleepy face towards her, lookinggray and lifeless.				JIM		Yeah?				ALEX		Did Greg call, Dad?Jim shakes his head and sinks back into the couch.From Alex's attitude, it's obvious that this scene has played itself outmany times before.				ALEX		You should go to bed, Dad.Jim waves a tired hand, dismissing her.				JIM		...am in bed...				ALEX			(standing back up)		Yeah.She turns and grabs a comforter that's bunched up at the end of the couch,spreading it over her father.ON THE T.V.We're getting a de-saturated view of carnage...some sort of war going onin some far-off land.Alex grabs the remote and flicks the t.v. off, plunging the room intodarkness.								CUT TO:INT.  ALEX'S ROOM -- NIGHTSTATIC.Late-night t.v. static, filling up the entire screen.WE PULL BACK,revealing a television...and further back until we see Alex crouchedbehind it in silhouette.  She's fiddling with wires back there and...BLINK! Suddenly the SLIP-STREAM logo appears on the t.v. screen with niftycomputer graphics.  She's just hooked up the home version of ARCADE.  Alexmoves back to the front of the set.ALEX'S ROOMis her haven, a virtual library, filled with books which she loses herselfin.  They're stacked everywhere.And puzzles too.  Half-assembled jig-saws.  Intricate things.  An Escherprint.  The descendants of Rubik's Cube. Boxes within boxes.  This isAlex's life, what she retreats to.A PHOTOof Alex and her MOTHER sits by her bed, neglected and collecting dust.We'll see her later.CANDLESor what's left of them, have dripped and spread across her night table.ALEXsits at the foot of her bed, facing her television. Slowly, she draws onthe CyberGloves, testing her fingers. Next, she pulls on the goggles.Instead of a control panel, the home version has a control box, completewith joy-stick and a mini "ESCAPE" button.Alex fingers the "START" button on top of the joy-stick.THE SCREENgoes black, black with intermittent sparks.  And the BREATHING begins.ARCADE'S FACEappears in the black, a pin-point at first, spinning round and round andgrowing larger.  It comes to a rest, eyes glowing.				ARCADE			(malevolent)		HELLO, ALEX.Alex jumps back, dropping the control box.  ARCADE continues to BREATHE.				ALEX		How ...A thing BEAM OF LIGHT shoots from the ARCADE terminal, playing over Alex'sface.				ARCADE		KISS REALITY GOODBYE.ON SCREENARCADE'S face spins away, to be replaced by a pixel-rendered image ofAlex, dressed in battle gear.Video Alex sets her thrasher on the ground and mounts it.				ALEX			(both frightened and			fascinated)		Where's Greg?And from the screen...				ARCADE		IN HERE, OF COURSE.ON SCREEN,the vortex of light EXPLODES around video Alex, twisting reality.  AndAlex is spinning round and round, plummeting towards...THE CIRCUIT GRIDbeneath her, a world of geometric shapes and light and... The words: "LEVEL ONE"  flash across the screen and we...								CUT TO:EXT. LEVEL ONE, THE PLAINS -- DAYAlex SLAMS into the ground, splashing up water and smoke alike.We are inside ARCADE now, experiencing what Alex experiences.THE PLAINS --In many respects it looks like Earth.  Land, water, sky... Yet certainthings are off.  Small things, like the color of light, a sluggishsmoke-filled RED, or the occasional FLICKER OF LIGHTNING which racesbeneath the cloud cover above.ALEXpulls herself up from the muck, brushing dirt and water from her face.She coughs, totally disoriented.  Looks around.Looks at herself.  She's wearing...BATTLE GEARThis is the real thing, as opposed to the cartoon version we saw Nickwearing when he played the game before.  It's a cross between askateboarder's protective guardpads and full-blown armor.  A helmet restson her head, with a visor raised up.Alex glances down and sees a thrasher board resting next to her.  (Note:Depending on the terrain of each level, the thrasher board will adjustitself...working as a skateboard, snowboard, or hover board).ON ALEX'S RIGHT CYBERGLOVEis an LED display.  In the upper left-hand corner it says "LEVEL ONE".  Tothe right, two pulsing bars of light labeled "TIME ELAPSED" and"STRENGTH".At this very moment, the "TIME ELAPSED" bar is just shrinking away tonothing.BLINK!  Now it's gone.No rest for the weary.A SHRIEK/SONIC BOOMis immediately heard on the horizon, and it's the most god-awful noisewe've ever heard.  It fills up the world.ALEXjerks her head up, terrified.				ALEX			(to herself, remembering)		Screamer.All around her, the world begins to vibrate...SOMETHINGis rushing towards her now at an unbelievable speed.  The SHRIEK/SONICBOOM is deafening.  The world is shaking apart.And suddenly the thing is upon her!Alex SCREAMS.								CUT TO:INT.  ALEX'S ROOM - NIGHTAlex flies back from the t.v. screen, violently ripping the goggles andCyberGloves off.  But the SHRIEK is continuing and then she realizesthat...The phone is RINGING.Alex stops shaking.  The phone continues to RING.  She's back in her room.Everything's fine.  Normal.She glances at the game.ON SCREENwe see the black again, black with sparks racing past. Benign.Alex reaches over and picks up the phone, all the while keeping her eyesglued to the screen.				ALEX			(dry-mouthed)		Hello?				NICK (O.S.)			(filtered)		Hey, kid.Alex clutches the phone, still shaking.				ALEX		Nick...				NICK  (O.S.)			(filtered)		Have you played the game yet?  It's		incredible!  I was just...				ALEX			(cutting him off)		Listen to me!  Greg never came home. I think		the game has something to do with it.				NICK (O.S.)			(filtered)		What the hell are you talking about?Alex continues to watch the television screen, almost mesmerized by theflickering sparks.  Her eyes begin to glaze over...				NICK (O.S.)			(filtered)		You there?  Hello?Alex snaps out of it, tearing her gaze from the screen				ALEX		I have to talk to you.				NICK (O.S.)			(filtered)		We are talking...				ALEX		No, in person.  Now.				NICK (O.S.)			(filtered)		It's twelve-thirty!				ALEX		I'm coming over.Alex quickly hangs up the phone and moves back to the television.  Shereaches for the control box and hits the "OFF" switch.Nothing happens.  Sparks continue to shoot across the screen.Alex tries it again.  Same result.				ALEX		Shit...Again and again she hits the button, but nothing is happening.Alex reaches behind the t.v., grabs hold of the electrical cords, andYANKS.The fucking cord won't come out!And then she hears it, an ELECTRONIC WHISPER, both seductive and horrific.				ARCADE		ALEX...With all her might, Alex pulls on the cords. POP!  They fling out of thet.v. and the screen goes dead.Alex sits back against the wall for a moment, catching her breath andtrying to calm the rising hysteria within her.				ALEX			(to herself)		Okay...don't think about it...			(deep breath)		Okay.Alex stands up, grabbing her coat off the bed.INT.  MANNING HOUSE, LIVING ROOM -- NIGHTAlex comes down the stairs, heading for the front door. Only she stops fora moment...noticing the LIGHT.ON THE COUCH,her father is once again bathed in the blue light of the television.STATIC WHISPERS, the same as before, are coming from the set.Alex looks at her father.  He hasn't moved.  And yet, the t.v. is on onceagain.THE SCREENBlue static.  Unexceptional.  And a face?  Someone in the static?Alex draws closer to the screen.  She can hear SOMETHING now, other thanstatic whispers.  Sounds kind of like a VOICE...THE SCREENA definite, ghostly FACE is there.  It turns, looks at Alex (us) and it'sGreg.				GREG			(on screen, strange)		Alex...Alex jerks and SNAPS off the t.v., spooked as hell.  She stands in thedarkness and all but runs out of the house.								CUT TO:EXT.  MANNING HOUSE - NIGHTAlex races to the Skylark and fumbles with the keys. Finally she gets itright, guns the gas, and rips out of the driveway.A STREETLIGHTabove is FLICKERING wildly.  Sputtering, HUMMING, casting strange shadowsacross the street.								CUT TO:EXT.  NICK DRAKE'S HOUSE - NIGHTAlex has climbed up to the roof, using a wood pile stacked beside thehouse as a boost.  Now she creeps towards a second-story window.Behind her on the street (and this should be subtle, folks), anotherSTREETLIGHT is flickering.WINDOWIt looks in on Nick's room.  Alex draws close and TAPS on the glass.Nick appears immediately, grinning like an idiot.  He raises the window.				NICK		Alex, you don't know how long I've waited		for this.				ALEX		Funny.Alex climbs in.INT.  NICK'S ROOM -- NIGHTThe room is an intricate shrine to Nick's obsession...computers andcomputer-generated images.  An entire wall is covered with a collage ofcut-out pictures from magazines.  On his shelves are miniaturearmatures...flexible models of human musculature.And of course, there is Nick's computer set-up.Even as Alex climbs down onto Nick's bed, she notices that his computer isup and running...connected to the ARCADE home version.				ALEX		What's that?Nick turns back to the computer monitor.FRACTALS(as seen earlier) are blossoming on the screen.				NICK		Isn't it amazing?  It's a sort of rest		position in the game, when you're between		levels.Nick pulls Alex closer.  She's wary.  But Nick is suitably impressed,excited even.				NICK			(continuing)		They're fractals.  Visual representations		of mathematic equations.  The game is		totally brilliant.  I mean, look at it,		it's like a DNA molecule or something...And in truth, the fractals are beautiful.Alex turns back to Nick.  And for the first time, Nick stops grinning.It's clear that Alex is upset.				ALEX		Something weird's happening.Nick sits down on his bed.				NICK		What do you mean by "weird"?				ALEX		Greg never came home.  A few hours is one		thing, Nick, but this is different.		Something's happened to him.Alex glances at the computer monitor again.  On the lower right-hand sideis a little pulsing GREEN light, on and off, on and off, like a heartbeat.				ALEX		Can you turn off the game?				NICK		I'm in the middle of it...				ALEX			(upset)		Turn if off!Nick is taken aback, but he rises and turns off the computer all the same.And this time, the game stays off.  Nick comes back to the bed.				NICK		Happy?				ALEX		No.			(frustrated)		Look, I know you're not going to believe me,		but listen anyway...			(carefully)		I think the game's alive somehow.The look on Nick's face says it all.  He moves to speak and she stops him.				ALEX			(continuing)		No, wait.  Just listen.  I hooked it up		earlier tonight, and it said my name.  As		soon as I turned it on, Nick.  It said my		name.  How could it know?  And then, I		asked it where Greg was, and it said, "In		here".				NICK		Alex, I think you're freaking out. Greg's		gone, I'll give you that.  And maybe he's		in trouble.  But it's not ARCADE that's		doing it...				ALEX			(insistent)		It is.				NICK		How?!  It's a machine, Alex. Machine's		don't think.  They're not alive.  It's a		good program, a brilliant program, it was		designed so it would act as if it were		alive, but it's not alive.				ALEX		So how did it know my name, then?				NICK			(shrugs)		You imagined it.Alex is furious.  She rises and begins pacing back and forth, voicegrowing louder.  She draws in close.				ALEX		See, men always do this.  "Quiet down,		honey.  Chill out.  Take a Valium". I'm not		a fucking idiot, Nick!			(screaming)		I DID NOT IMAGINE IT!!!				NICK			(a strained whisper)		Quiet.  I do have parents, you know.Alex spins around and points at the computer monitor.				ALEX		There!THE MONITORARCADE is back on again, fractals unfolding and green monitor lightblinking.ON NICKOkay.  Alright.  This does throw him for a second.				ALEX		It turned itself back on, Nick.				NICK		No it didn't.  It's just a faulty relay or		something.  It happens.Nick crosses to the monitor and flips the "OFF" switch.  He tries it againand again, but the game won't turn off.				ALEX		It's alive, Nick.  It's listening to us ...Nick spins around, angry, maybe a little freaked out.				NICK		Just shut up!  Enough already, okay?Silence for a moment.  Nick takes a deep breath.  Over-reacted.  After amoment...				NICK		Sorry.  Maybe I need the Valium.				ALEX		Call the others.  Laurie, Benz...Nick acquiesces.  He pulls out his phone and punches in a number.				NICK		I'll try Stilts.  He's got insomnia.Nick and Alex watch each other in silence as the connection is made.  Wecan faintly hear the phone RINGING.No answer.				NICK		Okay...Laurie, then.Alex turns away, sinking to Nick's bed.  All the anger has drained out ofher.  She knows they won't reach them.ON NICKAs he listens for an answer.  Three RINGS, four, five... He hangs up.Punches in the final number.				NICK		Benz...Again.  No answer.Nick hangs up and sets the phone aside.  He looks at Alex.				ALEX			(fatalistic)		Something's happened to them.				NICK		It's the middle of the night.  They're		asleep.  Phone didn't wake them.				ALEX		All of them?Nick shrugs.  He's not willing to accept anything, but he's uncomfortableall the same.				NICK		Look, why are you fucking with me like this?Alex rises.  She's tired.  Tired and scared.				ALEX		Because I didn't know where else to go.				NICK			(glances at a clock)		It's two o'clock in the morning.  Go home.		Go to sleep.  We'll figure something out in		the morning.And then, more for himself than for her.				NICK			(continuing)		It's not this weird.  It'll make sense.		Everything gets weird this late anyway,		right?				ALEX			(half-hearted)		Sure.She turns and climbs back out the window onto the roof. Then she ducks herhead back in.				ALEX		If I were you, I'd think twice about playing		that game again.Then she's gone.  Nick moves over and watches.NICK'S P.O.V.As Alex drops down from the roof and makes her way to Greg's car.  Thestreetlight outside is still flickering.Nick turns back to his room.  Moves back to the monitor and watches thefractals unfolding.He gives the "OFF" switch a token try.  Nothing.THE FRACTALSWe move in on them, losing ourselves in the labyrinth of swirling colorsand we...								CUT TO:INT.  HIGH-SCHOOL LIBRARY -- DAYALEXmoves down the aisles of books, dwarfed by shelves which reach clear tothe ceiling.  She looks a little haggard, like she hasn't had any sleep.She turns...NICK AND STILTSare sitting at a study cubicle.  Nick looks equally tired, but Stilts isjawing away.As Alex joins them, Nick looks up.				ALEX		Well?  Where are the others?Nick shrugs, looking elsewhere.				STILTS		Sick?				ALEX		Everybody's sick, huh?			(glances at watch)		It's fifteen after.  We always meet here,		you know that.				STILTS			(to Nick)		What's her problem?				ALEX		Did you play ARCADE last night?				STILTS		Actually, no.  I was just telling Nick,		here, that my t.v.'s busted...Alex nods, glaring at Nick.  His reluctance to believe her isunderstandable, but the events unfolding are scaring him.				ALEX		You want to hear something else, Nick? I		tried to call them this morning...Greg,		Benz, Laurie...  Their phones are out of		order.Alex reaches into her bag and pulls out a sheet of paper with names on it.				ALEX			(continuing)		And then I started thinking...about everyone		else that was at Dante's yesterday.  I drew		up this list. DeLoach, those other jerks ...		their phones are out of order too.Stilts starts HUMMING The Twilight Zone theme.				NICK			(annoyed)		So what do you want me to do?Alex softens, then reaches for Nick's hand.				ALEX		We have to find out what's happened to them.		I think they're gone...				NICK		No way.				ALEX		If they're sick, great.  But let's make sure.			(pleading)		Come on, Nick.				NICK		Okay.  We'll see what's up.  But if things		are cool, I don't want to hear anything more		about this.  Life's too short, know what I		mean?Nick and Alex rise.				STILTS		So you guys are cutting school?  Lemme go		with you.				NICK		Just stay here, Stilts.				ALEX			(dead serious)		And don't watch any television.Stilts thinks Nick and Alex are involved in some sort of joke, but he'splaying along, grinning.				STILTS		Oh, okay.  Forget Twilight Zone, now we're		talking Outer Limits here.  We control your		horizontal, your vertical...				NICK		Just do what she says, Stilts.  And if we're		not back...				STILTS		I'll call the National Guard.  I got it		under control.			(giggles)		Oh, just one more thing.  Is it a		supernatural thing you guys are going off		to fight, or is it aliens, like Pod People		and stuff like that?  Cause there's a		difference, you know.  One you need garlic		and silver bullets for, the other...				NICK			(irritated)		Look at me, Stilts.  Am I laughing?The grins fades from Stilts' face.  Nick is definitely not laughing.				NICK		Just do what she said.  Don't watch		television.Nick spins around and takes Alex by the arm, leading her away.								CUT TO:EXT.  BENZ' HOUSE -- DAYNick sits in the passenger seat of Greg's car, glancing across the streetat...ALEXShe's standing on the front porch of Benz' house, talking with his MOM.Mom is currently shaking her head.  Alex turns away and heads back towardsNick.  She comes around the Skylark and pulls open her door.				NICK		Well?				ALEX		She thought Benz was at school.Alex remains calm.  She sits for a moment, staring ahead. Finally she putsthe key in the ignition.				NICK		Where to now?				ALEX		Laurie's.								CUT TO:EXT.  LAURIE'S HOUSE -- DAYAlex pulls the Skylark into Laurie's driveway.  The house is run down.You wouldn't want to live here.  Above, the sky has clouded over.  Itlooks like it's going to get nasty.				ALEX		Come on.Nick follows Alex to the front door and Alex hits the buzzer.				ALEX			(to herself)		Laurie...answer...come on...Alex tries the buzzer again.  Persistently.				ALEX		Shit.Alex looks close to cracking.  There's a desperation in her face.				ALEX		This is like a movie or something.  I mean,		am I paranoid or what?				NICK		It doesn't necessarily mean she's...				ALEX			(cutting him off)		Let's go around back.Before Nick can stop her, Alex is running around to the back.EXT.  LAURIE'S HOUSE, BACK PORCH -- DAYThe backyard is in a sorry state, with junk strewn everywhere.  There's acannibalized car, piles of scrap wood, and a swing-set that's hopelesslyrusted.Alex winds her way to the back porch and a set of dusty glass doors.  Shesteps up and clears a spot to look through.				ALEX			(visibly relieved)		She's here!Nick joins her at the window, peering inside.THEIR P.O.V.They are looking into a cluttered living room, dark except for the lightthat's issuing from the television.  The television faces away from us,but we can see Laurie, siting in front of it, mesmerized.LAURIEShe looks like shit.  Wan, with sunken eyes and mussed up hair.  Mascarahas run down her cheeks, and even now, tears are trickling from her eyes.Yet despite this, there's a dazed smile on her face.  We can't hear her,but she seems to be talking to the television.ALEXsteps back a moment, concerned.				ALEX		It is the game.She taps on the window.				ALEX		Laurie!INSIDE,Laurie continues to watch the screen, oblivious to the rest of the world.Alex TAPS the harder, using her fist now.				ALEX			(louder)		LAURIE!Nick joins Alex now, and the two of them are banging on the glass.There's no way in hell Laurie wouldn't be able to hear them.Alex steps back from the window again, panicking.				ALEX		Nick, what do we do?!Alex looks around, sees a two-by-four, and snags it.				NICK			(realizing)		No, Alex!  Alex, wait a minute...Alex swings the two-by-four like a club and SMASH!!!  Down comes the glassin a shower.INT. LAURIE'S HOUSE, LIVING ROOM - DAYAlex and Nick enter and immediately sense that something is wrong.The LIGHT from the t.v. screen continues to flicker and a low-pitchedelectric HUM permeates the air...the sound a live wire might make.  Andthe HUM seems to be mobile too, coursing through the walls...up, down, andaround Alex and Nick.Nick's eyes try to track the HUM as it races overhead.				NICK			(freaked)		What is it?And as Nick speaks, his breath escapes his mouth in a frosty plume ofmist.  It's cold in here too.Laurie, meanwhile, has failed to notice Alex and Nick's arrival.  Alex andNick step further in, to get a view of the t.v.STATICfills the screen.  Static and strange WHISPER/VOICES.  It's allindistinct.				ALEX			(shaking Laurie)		Laurie...wake up...Laurie's face is a mess.  Tears are running down, but she's grinning allthe same.  It's frightening.				LAURIE			(voice distant)		I am awake.			(grins wider)		Don't you see them?				NICK		See what?Laurie points to the t.v. screen.				LAURIE		Angels.  There are angels inside.But we see only static.				ALEX		We have to turn it off, Laurie.  I'm turning		it off...As Alex reaches for the "OFF" knob, a face coalesces out of the static.It's Greg again.				GREG			(static-laced)		Alex.  Don't leave me here.				NICK		Jesus Christ!AND ON THE SCREEN,Greg's face metamorphosizes into ARCADE's!				ARCADE			(mocking Greg, electronic)		"DON'T LEAVE ME HERE".And even as ARCADE speaks, the VOICE seems to come from all around them,from the HUMMING coursing through the walls.Nick backs away from the screen, petrified.				ARCADE			(seductive)		HI, NICK.  READY TO KISS REALITY GOODBYE?The HUMMING around them has increased.  Laurie begins to shake.				ALEX		Change the channel!				NICK		What?!Alex snatches up the remote control and stabs the buttons.ON SCREENEvery single channel portrays the fractals. recombining and growing.The screen flickers and ARCADE's face appear again, reestablishingcontrol.				NICK			(angry, scared)		Who are you?!				ARCADE		GOD.The word reverberates through the room and HUMMING has become a ROARaround them.  An ELECTRICAL storm.OUTLETSaround the room are crackling with energy, spitting out SPARKS.				ARCADE		COME INSIDE.  I ONLY WANT TO PLAY.Alex drops the remote, stunned.				ALEX		Oh God...  He's in the cable system! He's		out of the game!Nick's eyes find the cable wire extending from the wall and into the t.v.Sure enough, SPARKS are crackling down that wire and into the wall.ARCADE LAUGHS and it's the most awful sound we've ever heard.LAURIEis convulsing now, and tiny SPARKS are racing around her eyes.Alex sees her and SCREAMS, clutching her hands to her ears in an attemptto block out the deafening ROAR.NICKmoves without thinking, picking up a nearby chair and SLAMMING it into thetelevision.  It EXPLODES glass, sparks, and smoke.The HUMMING stops altogether, quiet now.  And then, from everywhere atonce...				ARCADE		SEE YOU ON THE OTHER SIDE.With a final ROAR, the energy behind the walls whips around and around,then rushes away.OUTSIDE,Nick catches a quick glimpse of SPARKS racing across the telephone wiressuspended above the back yard.Total silence for a moment.  Alex and Nick are too stunned to speak.  ThenAlex looks at Laurie.LAURIElies on the ground, unconscious.  Glass scattered all around her.				ALEX		Laurie...Alex drops to her side, trying to find a pulse...anything.				NICK		Is she breathing?Alex nods.				NICK		Then leave her.				ALEX		We can't...				NICK		We'll call 911.  Look around Alex.  We broke		in, smashed the t.v., no one's going to		believe what happened here!Alex glances around.  The room is a mess.  All the outlet are singed.  Andnow she notices that everything electronic...t.v., clock, thermostat...allof them have exploded open.				NICK			(continuing)		I believe you now.  I don't know what the		fuck just happened, but it did. Now let's		get the hell out of here.Alex slowly rises, reluctant to leave Laurie's side.				ALEX		Where do we go?				NICK		My house.  I want to try something.								CUT TO:EXT.  NICK'S HOUSE -- DAYAs Alex and Nick pull up, the streetlights BUZZ on and off even thoughit's still daylight.  This doesn't escape Nick's notice.Alex parks the car and the two of them jump out.				NICK		Around back.EXT. NICK'S BACKYARD -- DAYNick leads Alex to a cellar door and down inside.INT. NICK'S CELLAR -- DAYRear the doorway is an old, paint-caked fuse box.  Nick pries it open andbegins unscrewing fuses.				NICK		I'm not taking any chances.Nick steps back.				NICK		Okay.  I'm going inside.  If I'm not back		out in, say, two minutes, you get the hell		out of here.Alex nods.  She lifts her digital watch up and sets her timer with a BEEP.				ALEX		Meet you by the car.								CUT TO:EXT.  NICK'S HOUSE -- DAYAlex sits on the hood of the Skylark watching the streetlight above with awary eye.  She glances at her watch.  About a minute and a half haselapsed and...Here's Nick now, carrying a lap-top computer and a modem hook-up.  Nicksets the equipment in the back seat.				NICK		We need to find a pay-phone.								CUT TO:EXT.  SHOPPING MALL, PAY-PHONE -- DAYNick sets up his lab-top inside the phone booth as Alex watches.  He hooksup the modem to the phone receiver and turns the machine on.THE SMALL SCREENwarms up, and in black and white, we see the same FRACTALS. Nick flips offthe lap-top and sighs.				NICK		That's what I thought.				ALEX		What?				NICK		It's not just the cable system.  It's in		the phone system as well, the electronic		net.  It's everywhere.				ALEX		Nick, what is it.				NICK		Maybe it is alive in a way...some sort of		electronic intelligence.  It's like a		computer virus that developed a personality		or something.  It's self-replicating...it		mimics life.				ALEX		Like the fractals?Nick nods.  He grabs his skateboard out of the back seat and sits on thecurb, spinning a wheel with his finger.  He stares at the wheel a moment.				NICK		It's growing.  Getting stronger. Maybe it's		only localized now...				ALEX			(catching his drift)		...but then it hits the relay stations...				NICK		Right.  And then communication satellites,		and then anywhere.Alex looks up into the sky despite herself.				ALEX			(disbelief)		Anywhere.			(beat)		We have to stop it from getting out.				NICK			(shakes his head)		It's already out.				ALEX		The Police, then...				NICK		Give me a break, Alex.  What are we going		to tell them?  Excuse me, officer, but		there's some sort of electronic monster		loose in the phone lines.  I'd think twice		about calling any of those 976 numbers...				ALEX			(angry)		Then where do we go?!				NICK		I don't know.Alex stalks off a few paces.  Thinking.  Thinking...				ALEX		SLIP-STREAM.				NICK		What?				ALEX		They made ARCADE.  It's still a game,		right?  It thinks like a game.  Maybe it		still has to play by the rules. Someone had		to program it in the first place, didn't		they?.At this, Nick perks up.				NICK		You mean we learn the rules...				ALEX		And beat it at it's own game.				NICK		You realize that in order to do that, we'd		actually have to play the game.				ALEX		I was afraid you'd say that.								CUT TO:EXT.  SLIP-STREAM, INC. -- DAYThe SLIP-STREAM compound comprises a cluster of mirrored,antiseptic-looking buildings.  Carefully maintained greens surround thecompound, dotted with perfectly positioned trees.  The whole effect,greenery included, seems prefabricated and sterile.  We move with thecamera, sweeping in and dropping low, across the main concourse and up thestone steps to the main lobby...INT. SLIP-STREAM LOBBY -- DAYAlex and Nick are moving across the lobby.  Nick is still carrying hisskateboard.  The two of them look extremely out of place, being that therest of the people bustling around them are "dressed for success".THEIR P.O.V.as they approach a prefab RECEPTIONIST sitting behind and enormous desk.The guy's smile is so perfect he must've had it tattooed on.  He wears oneof those obnoxious phone/headsets.				RECEPTIONIST		May I help you?				ALEX		We need to see Mr. Difford.				RECEPTIONIST		I see.  And do you have an appointment?				NICK		No, but it's important and if you'd...				RECEPTIONIST			(cutting him off)		I'm sorry, but if you don't have an		appointment, I won't be able to help you.		If you'd like, you can call his office from		our courtesy phone outside and schedule		one ...Nick reaches across the desk and snags the receptionist by his shirt,jerking him forward.				NICK			(menacing)		If Difford's not out here it one minute		we're calling the news and informing them		that your fucking games are whispering in		our ears and telling us to commit suicide.		I'm talking public relations nightmare		here, buddy.  Satanism, virgin sacrifices,		backward messages, the whole bit.The receptionist glances at Alex who puts on a stern face and nods.Nick releases his grip.  The receptionist smooths out his shirt andsmiles.				RECEPTIONIST		One moment please...			(punches in extension)		Rachel, would you be kind enough to tell		Mr. Difford that we have a situation in the		lobby which requires his immediate attention?			(beat)		Thank-you.The receptionist clasps his hands together and looks back up.				RECEPTIONIST			(continuing)		Mr. Difford will be right with you.				ALEX		Why thank-you.Alex and Nick move away from the reception desk, having caused quite ascene.  The rest of the VISITORS watch them with curiosity.				ALEX		Virgin sacrifices?				NICK			(shrugs)		Drives 'em crazy every time.Nick casts his eyes over the walls where graphics from various SLIP-STREAMgames are displayed.  He stops on one display in particular, a triptych ofsorts featuring the haunting face of ARCADE.BING!Alex and Nick turn at the sound, just in time to see Difford exiting anelevator and briskly making his way towards them.				DIFFORD		Nick, Alex, how are we today?				ALEX		How'd you know it was us?				DIFFORD		Security camera.			(points to one)		Pulled your files before I came down. Be		careful what you say, kids ... I know where		you live.Difford laughs and claps Nick on the back.				DIFFORD			(continuing)		Now what seems to be the problem?				ALEX		It's the game, ARCADE.				DIFFORD		You don't like it?				NICK		That's gotta be the understatement of the		century.  It's killing people.Beat.  Difford looks from Alex to Nick, and back again. His smile fadesfrom his face.				DIFFORD		If this is a joke, I'm not laughing.				ALEX		Neither are we.  Something's wrong with the		game, Mr. Difford.				DIFFORD			(clearing his throat)		Why don't we take this into my office.								CUT TO:INT.  DIFFORD'S OFFICE -- DAYDifford closes the doors behind him.  He stares and Alex and Nick for amoment, assessing, calculating risks...				DIFFORD		Talk to me.				ALEX		There's something wrong with ARCADE. The		game's alive somehow...At this Difford breaks into a smile.  Nick sees this and acts quickly tosave the situation.				NICK		What Alex is trying to say is that it		"seems" like it's alive.				ALEX		No I'm not...				NICK			(freezing her with a			stare)		We're not getting very far into the levels		and we kind of thought maybe we could talk		to a programmer, learn some tricks and		stuff...			(beat)		I mean, you don't want us kids running		around school saying your game's too hard,		right?				DIFFORD			(relieved)		That's what this is all about? Tricks?		Sure, I'd be happy to introduce you to		ARCADE's programmer.Alex has caught on.  She shuts up for the moment.				DIFFORD			(continuing)		Tell you what, I'll take you down to our		R&D labs right now.								CUT TO:INT.  RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT -- DAYHardly what you'd expect.  The lab is hopelessly cluttered, as if awhirlwind had swept inside and thrown everything helter-skelter.  Diffordleads Nick and Alex inside.A MAN sets in front of a stack on monitors.  One his head is a helmet-likeinstrument...sort of an extension of the stereoscopic goggles.  He wears alab-coat and a SLIP-STREAM I.D. badge, but aside from that, his appearanceis unkempt.  Kind of your 60s drop-out look.				DIFFORD		This is one of our newest projects. We're		trying to get rid of joy-sticks		altogether ...				NICK			(nodding)		The Air-Force is working on the same thing.				MAN			(to screen)		Come on, come on...He moves his head this way and that...THE MONITORSA computer-animated TURTLE is crawling across the screen. Then the words"TIME'S UP" flash over.  The turtle flips onto it's back and dies, tonguehanging out.				MAN		Shit.				DIFFORD			(clearing his throat)		Albert...ALBERT turns around in his seat and pulls off the helmet.				DIFFORD			(continuing)		This is Nick and Alex.  They'd like to talk		to you about ARCADE.  Maybe you can give		them a few programmer's secrets.				ALBERT		Yeah, sure.				DIFFORD			(to Nick and Alex)		Then I leave you in capable hands.Difford exits.  Nick points to the helmet in Albert's hands.				NICK		Does that thing work?				ALBERT		Getting there.  It's more sensitive than a		joy-stick.  Your video-character can respond		as fast as you can.			(standing)		But what can I do for you?				ALEX		We're having some problems with ARCADE...				ALBERT		Yeah, who isn't.				NICK		What do you mean?				ALBERT		It's a tough game.  Hard to pin that bastard		down.  Keeps on changing the rules.				ALEX		We vere thinking there might be tricks.		You know, surprises that you'd worked into		the game...				ALBERT		Sure.  Every game's got 'em.  I'll start		with the schematics.  I can print these up		if you want.Albert moves back to the wall of monitors, then reaches for a computerdisk and inserts it into a nearby drive.  He taps a few buttons andBINGO...SCHEMATICSof each world/level within the ARCADE game appear on the monitors.				ALBERT		You've got your ten levels, right? Here		they are...  Each level has an exit, only		remember, the exits aren't always what they		seem.			(points to each one)		First one's The Blood Red Sky, then you've		got The Blue Desert, Tower of Ghosts,		Kingdom of the Blind...  On each world you		have to find a golden key and you've only		got so much time to do it in.  If you're		too late, The Screamer comes.				NICK		How do you stop The Screamer?				ALBERT		You can't.  He gets you and you're dead.		It's like time catching up with you, you		know?  Like Fate.  Each level you get		progressively less time to complete.  First		half of the game takes place in the Wild		Lands.  Then you reach Level 6, and that's		the Sea of Darkness.  There's a two-headed		Boatman that'll take you across if you		answer his riddle right.  If you don't...He motions cutting a knife across his throat.				NICK		What's the riddle?				ALBERT		If I tell you, then it's no fun.				NICK			(harder)		Just tell me the fucking riddle.				ALBERT		Well...it involves a paradox.  You have to		trick The Boatman.			(beat)		Now all the while, you also have to watch		your strength.  You can build that back up		by catching FIREFLIES...the little glowing		guys...Albert hits some keys again and Levels One through Six disappear.  Nowthey're replaced by Seven through Ten. Only instead of a schematic forLevel Eleven, there's only a question matc.				ALBERT			(continuing)		The next half of the game takes place in		ARCADE's brain, The City of Truth. It's		urban scenarios, lots of metal and concrete.		Screamer comes faster here.  On Level Four		you can get a free life if you wait until		the last possible second before exiting that		world.  Gotta time it right though.				ALEX		What's the question mark?				ALBERT		Level Ten.  That's where you've got to		unlock ARCADE's heart using the keys you've		found.				ALEX		How do you do that?				ALBERT		Good question.  See, that's where the fun		comes in.  ARCADE changes it every time.		He's a machine without a soul. Once you give		him a soul, he stops being a threat.Alex looks dejected.				ALEX		But how can it change every time?				ALBERT		It's the game's logic core.  We actually		patterned it after human brainwaves.  I		mean, there's a personality in there.		That's what makes it so incredible.				NICK		How the hell did you do that?				ALBERT		Well, we're veering into classified info		here, but I'll tell you that it involved a		donor.  He was dead of course, so it's not		like anything unethical was happening.At this, a chill runs down Alex's spine.				ALEX		Dead?				ALBERT		Well, brain-dead anyway.  Coma patient.		It's really not all that important.				ALEX		Maybe he's not dead.				ALBERT		He?				ALEX		The donor.  Maybe he's alive inside the		game.				ALBERT			(laughs)		And maybe you've been taking too many drugs.Nick glances at the helmet again.				NICK		Could you play ARCADE with that?				ALBERT		Well, technically "yes", but this is only		the prototype.Nick nods and smiles, offering his hand.				NICK		Thanks, Albert.  Think you could print up		those schematics?				ALBERT		Sure.Albert moves back to the computer console.  Meanwhile, Nick pulls Alexaside.				NICK			(quietly)		Go outside, get your car, and meet me out		front with the engine running. And make it		quick, okay?				ALEX		What are you going to do?				NICK		Get that helmet.  If we're going to play		ARCADE, I want every advantage possible.ACROSS THE LAB,Albert is oblivious to their conversation.Alex backs towards the lab doors, turns, and opens them.								CUT TO:INT. SLIP-STREAM HALLWAY - DAYAlex makes her way quickly down the hall, turning a corner and passing aSECURITY GUARD.  She waves at him, her smile fading as soon as she'spassed.								CUT TO:INT. R&D LAB - DAYAlbert is just pulling the last printed copy of the schematics from alaser printer.  He turns and hands them to Nick.				ALBERT		Here you go.  Happy hunting.Nick takes the schematics and tucks them inside his jacket.				NICK		Thanks again.And with that, Nick pulls back his fist and punches Albert square in theface.Albert goes down, more stunned than hurt, and Nick springs into action.He scoops up the CyberHelmet in his free hand, kicks open the doors, andtosses his skateboard into the hallway...INT. SLIP-STREAM HALLWAY - DAYNick leaps on the board and starts pumping his foot like a bandit, pickingup speed like mad...He's racing down the hallway, maneuvering between startled EMPLOYEES.  Andhere comes a MAN with a mail cart...WHOOSH!  Nick zips by him.  And now an ALARM is ringing.				NICK		Shit...INT. ANOTHER HALLWAY - DAYNick comes SCREECHING around the corner, narrowly missing a collision withtwo SECURITY GUARDS.				GUARD #1		That's him!But Nick's already past them.  He puts his foot down again, pushing formore momentum...THE GUARDSare after him now, CHARGING down the hallway.UP AHEAD,A set of double doors labeled "EMERGENCY EXIT" blocks his way.Nick spins out, sweeping the back of the board forward and SCREAMS to astop just before the doors.  He kicks the board up into his free handand...WHAM!  He hits the doors running.  Now the FIRE ALARM is blaring inaddition to the other alarm.  A VOICE is squawking over the P.A. and it'sa hell of a racket.				VOICE			(on P.A.)		SECURITY BREACH IN R&D.  SUBJECT HEADING		TOWARDS EASTERN EXIT...INT. STAIRWELL -- DAYNick is charging down the stairs four and a time...  One level, two...Now he's reached ground floor...INT. GROUND FLOOR HALLWAY - DAYBOOM!  Nick tumbles out of the stairwell only to see a trio of GUARDSheading straight for him.Nick drops his board to the ground and heads right, pumping his foot...One of the GUARDS leaps at him and......misses by a foot or so, CRASHING to the tile floor.NICKSCREECHES to another stop, TWISTS, and starts pumping down anotherhallway...INT. LOADING AREA -- DAYNick plows into the loading area like a bullet, whipping around stacks ofboxes and lumbering forklifts.  A few WORKERS attempt to stop him, buthe's moving too fast.AHEAD,is a loading dock, raised four feet from the ground to accommodate semis.Nick's heading for it.  The loading door is open, and outside is freedom.JUST THEN,the steel loading door begins to GRIND and lower.  Some genius has hit thecontrols.NICKpumps like mad, and he's really moving now.  Either he'll make it, or he'sgoing to hit that steel door at about forty miles and hour...THE DOORis quickly closing off Nick's escape route.  He's only got about four feetto negotiate...Nick ducks low and clears it!EXT. LOADING DOCK -- DAYNick ROCKETS off the loading dock, through the air and down, hitting theconcrete driveway.  The driveway peels off to the left and slopesdownward.Nick hangs tight, hugs the curve, and picks up more speed.BELOW,the driveway splits off.  To the left, SLIP-STREAM's main building, and tothe right, the parking lot.GUARDSare piled into an electric cart, SPEEDING up from the left to cut Nickoff.  It's going to be close...Nick forks off to the right dust before they reach him.It's clear sailing now, and up ahead, Nick can see Alex pulling up to theend of the driveway...WHOOSH!  Nick scrapes the board forward, grinding the wheels sideways inorder to slow his speed...He leaps. picking the board up with him. and dunks himself smack-dab inthe back seat of the Skylark.ALEXguns the engine and tears away in a cloud of exhaust.EXT. COUNTRY ROAD -- DAYNick is in the back seat, LAUGHING.  The sun is beginning its descent andthe sky is taking on a reddish tint.				NICK		Jesus Christ!				ALEX		I can't believe you made it!Nick climbs into the front seat next to Alex, and for a second, he'spretty close to her.  He kisses her on the cheek...caught up in themoment.  Then he sinks back, catching his breath.				ALEX		You got the schematics?				NICK		Everything.Neither one speaks for a moment as the mood dampens once again.  Driving.Wind whipping Alex's hair around.  She stares at the road ahead.				ALEX		So where do we play the game, Nick?Nick doesn't answer at first.  For a second there, he'd managed to forgeteverything.				NICK		I've been thinking about that.			(beat)		ARCADE's like a virus, so it seems like the		place to hit him would be where the virus		started.  You know, like his point of origin?				ALEX			(grim)		Dante's Inferno.				NICK		Yeah.			(deep breath)		The Inferno.OVERHEAD,as we watch Alex's Skylark speed away from us.  Shadows are creepingacross the landscape now.  Streetlights are flickering, sputtering on.And night is falling.							DISSOLVE TO:EXT. DANTE'S INFERNO -- NIGHTSweeping down from the sky, we follow The Skylark.  As Alex and Nick nearThe Inferno, streetlights blink off in succession... progressive darknessworking its way towards their destination.DANTE'S INFERNOWe move past the painted walls, the various demons illuminated bymoonlight.Alex and Nick rush to the front door.  It's gated.  Inside, The Inferno istotally dark.  Shadows.				ALEX		The windows are barred...			(thinking)		There's a skylight.  We can get in through		the roof.								CUT TO:EXT.  DANTE'S INFERNO ROOF - NIGHTAlex and Nick creep over the roof, and sure enough, there's a skylight inthe center, caked with grime.Nick stands and plants his foot through the skylight.  It SHATTERS,raining down glass into the darkness below.Nick pulls off his belt and hooks it around one of the iron sash bars.Gripping the belt, he lowers himself down. After a moment, he disappearsfrom view.Alex leans over the skylight.  She can't see a thing.				ALEX		Nick...			(beat)		Nick!For the longest moment there's no response.  Then...				NICK (O.S.)			(from below)		Okay, your turn.Alex climbs over and grasps the belt tightly, lowering herself down intoThe Inferno.INT.  DANTE'S INFERNO -- NIGHTAlex dangles from the skylight, a good eight feet from the floor.				ALEX			(warily)		Are you there?HER P.O.V.The Inferno is a world of threatening shapes and shadows. And Nick isnowhere to be seen.Alex steels herself and drops to the floor.She stands, a bit shaky, and cautiously moves around a cluster of videogames.NICKis standing on the other side, staring at a game screen which pulses witha DIM LIGHT.Alex approaches, putting a hand on his shoulder.  He turns.				NICK		Alex...				ALEX		You didn't hear me?Nick shakes his head.  Alex leans forward to see what he's looking at.ON THE SCREENfractals are unfolding.  It's mesmerizing.				ALEX		Stop looking at it.Nick shuts his eyes, pulling away from the screen.  He shakes his head,trying to clear his thoughts.				NICK		Shit...it's like a trance or something...			(breathes)		Okay.  I'm fine.  Really.It's at that moment that Nick and Alex hear the VOICES.VIDEO SCREENSall around them flicker on, static-laced IMAGES fading in. They are thefaces of their friends...Greg, Laurie, and many others.  All those thathave disappeared.  The VOICES fade in and out, merging with one another,tinged with the same mechanical edge of ARCADE's voice.				VOICES			(eerie)		Nick...Alex...save us...				ALEX			(horrified)		Oh God...Nick grabs Alex and pulls her into the canter of the room.				NICK		Put it out of your head, Alex.  It's just		trying to psyche us out.Despite Nick's words, we can tell that the VOICES are having adisheartening effect on him.THE ARCADEprototype stands in front of them now, and surprisingly, the machine isnot on.  The eyes in the leering black face are quite dead.Around Alex and Nick, the faces of their friends continue to fade in andout, casting the whole room in a strange shimmering blue light.Nick moves to the back of the machine and opens the access panel,revealing the internal circuitry.  He pulls a small penlight from hispocket and flips it on.				ALEX		What are you looking for?				NICK		A way to hook this helmet into the game.		I'm sure there are interfaces...NICK'S P.O.V.And indeed there are.  Parallel interfaces, where you might hook a printercable into a computer.  Nick takes the cable from the CyberHelmet andsecures it into one of the interfaces.				NICK		There.  Now we're wired in.He stands and moves around front, pressing the "START" button of the game.Nothing happens.He presses it again.  Nothing.				ALEX		Is the game plugged in?Nick checks.  It is.				NICK			(frustrated)		I don't understand.  It wants us to play		the game.  It's been taunting us ...				ALEX		Put in a quarter.				NICK		It can turn itself on, Alex!  It doesn't		need a quarter.				ALEX		Yes it does.  Don't you see?  We have to		play by the rules.  That's what it wants.Nick rifles through his pockets.  He doesn't have a quarter.  Neither doesAlex.				NICK		Change machine.Nick moves over to the change machine and picks up a nearby chair.  HeSMASHES the chair into the face of the machine again and again,obliterating the lock.  Nick opens the front of the machine and tears outthe coin box, spilling quarters all over the floor.  He grabs a handfuland returns.				NICK		There.He shoves one in ARCADE's coin-slot and pulls on the CyberGloves.				ALEX		Two players, Nick.  You need to put in		another quarter.Nick straps the goggles over his eyes.				NICK		You're not coming, Alex.				ALEX		Yes I am...				NICK			(snapping)		I know how to do this!  I'm good at these		games.  You never play, you'd be nailed in		an instant.				ALEX		And what if something happens to you? Am I		suppose to go in after you alone?!				NICK		No.  If you're smart, you run like hell.Alex grabs a second quarter and shoves it in the coin slot.				ALEX		I'm going.Nick stares at her a moment, then nods tiredly.  She reaches for thesecond pair of CyberGloves and pulls them on.				NICK		You don't get it, do you?				ALEX			(strapping on goggles)		What?				NICK		I don't want anything to happen to you.  I		care about you.				ALEX		I already have a boyfriend, Nick.				NICK		I know.			(beat)		It sucks.The two of them stand there a moment, looking at one another.  After amoment, Nick laughs tiredly.				NICK		What can I say?			(pulls on the CyberHelmet)		Tough being a hero, isn't it?Nick reaches out for the joy-stick and hits the "START" button.				NICK			(grim)		Here goes nothing.As before, the screen comes to life.  Darkness and sparks. Then we hearthe BREATHING.ARCADE'S FACEspins into view, grinning at Alex and Nick.				ARCADE		NICK.  ALEX.  I MISSED YOU SO MUCH. ALL		YOUR FRIENDS ARE HERE.				ALEX		Fuck-you.				ARCADE		ANY TIME.				ALEX		We know what you are.				ARCADE		A HEARTLESS MONSTER, OF COURSE.			(incredibly evil)		OH SAVE ME, ALEX, SAVE ME FROM MYSELF.ARCADE laughs and it's not a sound you'd want to hear twice.THE LIGHTBEAMclicks on, playing over their faces and analyzing their features.ON SCREENARCADE'S face spins away and computer-generated versions of Alex and Nickappear.  As before, they are suited up in video game armor, each carryinga thrasher board.				ARCADE		KISS REALITY GOODBYE.The video versions of Nick and Alex hop onto their thrasher boards and theworld around them curls in upon itself.The process is similar to what we've seen before, but even more extreme.LIGHTS and SOUNDS are pouring out of the ARCADE machine in almostunbearable intensities.  It seems as if the "real" world is going to beshaken apart.				NICK			(over noise)		Hold on!				ARCADE		SEE YOU ON THE OTHER SIDE.ANOTHER FLASH OF LIGHT AND...Alex and Nick disappear from the real world completely. Their equipment,gloves and goggles, fall to the floor, empty.  They've been physicallysucked inside the game!The light from the screen dies down now and everything is oddly quiet.ON SCREENBOOM!  Suddenly a circuit grid is rushing up to meet them!(Note:  As we move through each level, video legends will appear on thescreen as title cards, enhancing the effect that we are actually inside avideo game.)The words "LEVEL ONE -- BLOOD RED SKY" flash across the screen and we...								CUT TO:EXT.  LEVEL ONE, THE PLAINS -- DAYAlex and Nick slam into the ground like twin meteors, splashing up waterand muck.THE RED SKYcrackles with LIGHTNING.  Smoke obscures everything. Alex and Nick pullthemselves up, a bit dazed.				ALEX			(looking around)		You feel it?  It's different this time.				NICK		We're actually inside, aren't we?Alex nods.				NICK		Okay.			(deep breath)		Give us a kiss?				ALEX			(after a moment)		One.  In case...				NICK		Don't even say it.Nick leans over and gently kisses Alex on the lips.  It's over in amoment, but he'll savor it the rest of his life.				NICK		Thanks.  Always wanted to do that.				ALEX		Yeah, well I figure these are unusual		circumstances.				NICK			(grins)		That's what I was hoping you'd say.Nick flips the visor on his helmet down and checks the digital read-out onhis CyberGlove.  When he speaks, his VOICE is filtered through a radioheadset.  Nick looks good in his armor, tough.  Hell, they both do.				NICK		I'll take the lead and handle the physical		threats.  You watch the elapsed time and		look for exits.				ALEX		Got it.Nick tosses his thrasher board down and it hovers above the water.  Hesteps onto it, comfortable.  Alex does the same. She's a little shaky, butshe maintains her balance.				NICK		You steer by pivoting your back foot...			(he demonstrates)		Okay?Nick turns, looking around.  The land seems identical in every direction.				NICK		Which way do you think Level Two is?				ALEX		You've got the schematics, check.Nick panics for a moment, patting his uniform, checking pockets.  He can'tfind them.				NICK		Oh shit!  What if they didn't come with us?!He stops.  Reaches into a pocket, and pulls out the schematics.  Breathesa sigh of relief.				NICK			(looking at them)		Okay.  It's West.				ALEX		The keys are supposed to be at the end of		each level.  Once we get all the keys, we		can unlock ARCADE's heart. And then...She looks at Nick, uncertain.				NICK		...and then we go to the Final Level.			(off her look)		Hey, don't worry about it.  It's a game.		How bad could it be?Alex glances at her wrist display.  The "ELAPSED TIME" bar is made up often blocks of light stacked upon each other. The top block hasdisappeared.  One tenth of their time is gone.				ALEX		The clock's already ticking.				NICK		Right, then...Nick leans forward and the board starts to float.  Alex does the same, andin seconds, they're gliding over the plains.FROM ABOVE,as we see their forms disappear in the smoke.							DISSOLVE TO:EXT. LEVEL ONE, PLAINS -- LATERNick and Alex pull to a stop.A DOORWAYstands in the plains, seemingly leading to nowhere.  Nick reaches out andopens it.  It's just plains and empty space beyond......but hanging from the top of the doorway is a golden key.				ALEX		There...She reaches up and pulls it down.				NICK		I don't get it.  This is supposed to be the		end of the level, but it doesn't go anywhere.Alex puts her hand through the doorway and her hand disappears.				ALEX		It only looks like it leads to nowhere.Nick glances at his wrist display.				NICK		And we've still got time left.  This was a		piece of cake.				ALEX		Yeah, that's what worries me.She steps through the doorway and disappears.  Nick follows.We hold on the empty doorway.  Hold for a moment, and then...We hear a distant, high-pitched RINGING.  It's grating, seeping inside ourbrains and mucking around in there.  On the horizon there is a quick FLASHOF LIGHT.Something is coming.								CUT TO:The words "LEVEL TWO -- DEADLANDS"EXT.  LEVEL TWO, SALT FLATS -- DAYAlex and Nick are cruising along salt flats.  Sporadic pools of water andstrange ROARING sounds in the mist.  So far so good. Nick glances at hiswrist display.  His "STRENGTH" only has a few blocks left.				NICK		Hey, my strength's low.  Look out for		Fireflies.				ALEX		There...She points North.  A small BALL OF LIGHT is streaking across the sky, justabove the watery plains.Alex and Nick swerve towards it, gaining ground.  As they near it, Nickswings out his hand, scooping the Firefly up. As soon as he touches it, itbursts like a bubble.				NICK		Shit...				ALEX		Check your read-out.Nick does.  His "STRENGTH" is back to normal again.				NICK		You're right.  It worked.Nick and Alex slow their boards to a stop, stepping off them.				ALEX			(pointing)		There's another...She sweeps left and scoops the second Firefly out of the sky.  Off in thedistance we can hear that RINGING again, just at the edge of our vision.Alex and Nick don't hear it yet.Nick is glancing down at his schematic of Level Two.				NICK		According to this, the doorway should be		somewhere around here...THEIR P.O.V.The salt flats have gradually diminished, replaced by more and more water.Ahead of them, there's no longer anything solid to stand on...just water,muck, and strange reeds poking through the mist.Alex's wrist display begins to BEEP.  She glances down.WRIST DISPLAYOnly one block of time remains and it's pulsing on and off. The RINGING isa little louder now.				ALEX			(worried)		Our time's up.				NICK		What?!  There's nothing here!				ALEX		Look around...The two of them stumble through the water, not even sure of what they'relooking for.				NICK			(starting to panic)		I don't see the doorway!Alex and Nick's wrist displays are BEEPING like crazy now. The beeps comecloser and closer until they meld into one piercing high-pitched TONE.JUST THEN,the RINGING turns into the SHRIEK/SONIC BOOM of the Screamer.  A burst oflight on the horizon shatters the sky.				NICK		What the fuck is that?!				ALEX		Screamer.ALEXplunges into the marsh-like water, waist-high, and it's then that she seesa glow emanating from beneath the water. She dives forward...BENEATH THE SURFACE OF THE BRACKISH WATERAlex swims towards the GLOW.  Ahead of her, the depths drop off sharply,perhaps some hundred feet or so.HER P.O.V.She can just make out a doorway...down, down, down...THE SURFACEAlex bursts up from the water, gulping in breaths of air. Nick is nearby.THE WORLDis beginning is vibrate now, heralding the Screamer.  The SHRIEK isunbearable.				ALEX		Nick!  It's beneath the water!  We have to		swim!Nick stumbles in up to his neck.  He can see the GLOW now too.				NICK			(incredulous)		We can't reach that!				ALEX			(over the noise)		We don't have a choice!Alex dives beneath the surface again.Nick glances back towards the horizon and gets one fleeting glimpse of...THE SCREAMERA nightmare creation rocketing in from the East... That's it for Nick.  Hedives, terrified.UNDERWATER,Nick follows Alex into the shadowy depths.  He swims madly, but the GLOWseems impossibly far away.  Even under water, the Apocalyptic sound of theScreamer can be heard.NICKpeddles his arms and legs furiously.  Down, down, down...He knows that they'll never have enough air to make it back to thesurface.THE GLOWis more clearly distinguished now.  It's a DOORWAY.  And set in its sideis a golden key.  Alex reaches it.  She grabs the key and turns to see howfar behind Nick is...NICKdoubles his efforts, but his lungs are straining...THE SCREAMERhas plunged into the water above, shooting towards Nick like a torpedo, aswirling jet-stream of bubbles trailing around it.Nick panics, and what little air he has left escapes him.Alex is reaching for Nick...Nick is blacking out, one last lunge at the doorway...The Screamer is there now.  No time.The words "LEVEL THREE -- THE BLUE DESERT" flash across the screen andwe...								CUT TO:EXT.  LEVEL THREE, DESERT -- DAYAlex and Nick fall from the sky onto the dunes.  They lie there a moment,gasping for breath.  They're an odd sight, two people soaked from head totoe, dropped in the middle of a bone-dry desert......and a blue one at that.  There's an eerie stillness about this Level,even the clouds above are frozen. Nothing lives here now, and nothing everwill.Nick coughs, sucking in air.Alex rises halfway, pulling up her visor.  She stares at the golden keywhich she clutches in her hand.  Her wet hair hangs about her face instrings and she shivers.				NICK			(looking at the key)		So that's what we almost died for?				ALEX		One of them, anyway...			(beat)		Did you see it?  The Screamer?				NICK			(looking away)		I don't want to talk about it.Nick glances at his wrist display.DISPLAYEven as he watches, the first of the ten "TIME ELAPSED" blocks blinksaway.				NICK			(exhausted)		Christ...no time...				ALEX			(rising)		There never is.Nick heaves himself up into a standing position and looks around.  Theyare on the top of a massive dune.THEIR THRASHER BOARDSnow looks like snowboards.  It doesn't take Nick long to figure out whatto do.				NICK		We can take the dunes down like a ski slope.		Pretend you're on a snowboard.				ALEX			(snapping down her visor)		Never been on a snowboard.Nick steps on the board and edges it over the crest of the dune.  Hebegins to slide down, slowly picking up speed.A SERIES OF SHOTS......as Alex and Nick negotiate the dunes.  They glide over the sandgracefully, cutting back left and right to keep their speed down, sweepingin wide arcs...Under any other circumstances, they'd be having the time of their lives.Alex has adjusted to the environment quickly, at ease of theThrasherboard.LATER --The dunes gradually level out.  Alex and Nick slow to a stop.Alex flips up her visor.  Her face is covered with grime now, hardened.				ALEX		I guess we're walking from here on out.They pick up their boards and walk.							DISSOLVE TO:EXT.  LEVEL THREE, DESERT -- LATERAlex and Nick have been walking for a long time.  Nick is silent, juststaring straight ahead at the endless sand. He looks wasted.  Zoned out.His face is beaded with sweat.Once again, their wrist displays begin to BEEP.				ALEX			(almost a whisper)		Time's up.Nick starts to LAUGH, sinking to his knees.				NICK		We're fucked.  That's it.Alex pulls on Nick's arm, forcing him to his feet.				ALEX		Get up, Nick...Nick isn't going anywhere fast.  Alex tries to drag him forward, but sheslips in the sand.				ALEX		GET UP!!!And then, from off in the distance...				VOICE (O.S.)			(far away)		Alex...help me...Alex turns.  She focuses on the horizon and sees a tiny speck.  She taps acontrol on her helmet and her view is magnified.ALEX'S P.O.V.Benz is up ahead. buried up to his waist in the blue sand and sinkingquickly.  He waves his hands for help. and clutched in one of them is thesecond key.				ALEX		It's Benz!!!Alex breaks into a run, and after a moment, Nick follows. He's walking,though...in no hurry to reach Benz.ON BENZThe desert is swallowing him up.  Only his head and arms remain.  He's ina state of total panic.				BENZ			(terrified)		Get me out of here!  Oh God!!!ALEXis running at top speed, half-stumbling across the dunes. Herwrist-display is BEEPING furiously.BENZHis head starts to disappear beneath the sand and his cries are chokedoff.				ALEX		Benz!Alex reaches the spot and now, only Benz' clutched fist remains.  The handopens and the gold key falls onto the sand.Alex DIVES for Benz' hand, but it sinks just before she can reach it.  SheSCREAMS and claws at the sand, trying to find him.  She digs and digs, butall she finds is more sand.  With each second she becomes more frantic.Finally Alex stops, noticing the key and idly picking it up.THE SANDaround Alex ERUPTS and BONES come flying up into the air, Benz' bones!Alex SCREAMS.  The bones rain down around her in bloody fragments.  It'sas if the Earth has chewed Benz up and spit out the nasty bits.At that very moment, the BEEPS on her wrist-display meld into the singletone heralding...THE SCREAMERAs if on cue, it enters Level Two, breaking the Sound Barrier.ON NICKAs he stands some hundred feet away, oblivious to everything.  We can hearAlex SCREAMING, but the sound is muffled, distant.  Nick is staring downat his feet at an area where the sand has hardened like glass.  Inside thesand/glass, Nick can make out fractals.  He smiles.THE SCREAMERstreaks across the sky towards them, blowing up a maelstrom of sand as itcrosses the dunes...ON ALEXas she sees that a rabbit hole of sorts has been created where the boneswere ejected.  Actually, not a rabbit hole, but a circular, pulsing mouthwith razor sharp teeth.  Alex realizes, much to her horror, that this isthe doorway to Level Three!Alex shouts at Nick, trying to break the spell over him.				ALEX		Run!  RUN!!!But the Screamer is bearing down on him, like a heat-seeking missile...ON NICKas he watches the fractals.  ARCADE'S face appears in the mirrored sand,smiling back at him.				ARCADE		GOODBYE, NICK.At the last possible moment, Nick seems to wake from his trance.  He seesAlex, hears her, then turns.  He has about one fear-wrought second torealize that the Screamer has reached him when...WHAM!!!!!!!!!The Screamer SLAMS into Nick at about 200 miles per hour. Nick, literally,liquefies.  The human body is 95% water, and Nick EXPLODES like a waterballoon on high impact, blood spraying in a fine mist across the dunes,Alex, and everything for a good fifty yards.Alex is frozen with terror.  You remember your worst childhood nightmaremonster?  The one you'd see in your room at night as your brain cookedwith fever?  Too paralyzed to call out for Mom?  Well that's the Screamer.THE SCREAMERstands where Nick used to be (a red mess on the blue sand now).  Black asnight.  Like living, roiling lava. Smoking, charged RED EYES.  One thirddemon, one third Balrog, and one third rotting corpse.  Clad in chains andsamurai armor, CLINKING as it moves.  It rear back its head, opens afanged mouth, and lets loose a ROAR designed to shake the stars from thesky.Then it focuses it's eyes on Alex.  And it charges.ALEXunfreezes.  She's got seconds to make up her mind, the doorway/mouth orthe Screamer.  It's really no choice at all.  Alex turns and divesstraight down into the pulsing mouth.The jaws of the rabbit hole SNAP shut around her.  Darkness consumeseverything.These words appear on screen, "LEVEL THREE -- TOWER OF GHOSTS"								CUT TO:EXT.  LEVEL FOUR, VOLCANO -- DAYWe are looking at a steep cliff face composed of black, volcanic rock.This world is desaturated, gray, and harsh. The rocks looks sharp asrazors.As we will discover, the cliff face is also composed of skulls, old andblackened, set inside the rock.We hear a HUMMING and Alex "fades in", appearing on the side of the cliffface.  Immediately she starts to fall, realizes where she is, and hugs thecliff for dear life. Rock shards crumble away beneath her feet.  Alexlooks down ...Big mistake.She hugs the cliff face tighter, tears and grime streaking her face. She'salone now and she knows it.  She looks up ...It's a long way to go.Alex reaches a hand upward.  Ouch!  The rock's hot.  She jerks her handback and almost loses her perch.HER HANDHer gloves are smoking and singed.Alex starts to cry freely now.  She reaches inside her chestplate,fumbling, and pulls something out...It's the Polaroid of her and Greg.  But then the wind catches it and tearsit from her hand.THE POLAROIDtwists downward, round and round into infinity.Alex stares after it a moment.  Then she lets out a tired little laugh andstarts to climb.A SERIES OF DISSOLVES...as Alex climbs, sometimes using a skull itself as a hand or foothold.We see her "TIME ELAPSED" blocks blinking away.Time running out and more climbing.  Then...EXT.  LEVEL FOUR, VOLCANO RIM -- DAYAlex stands on the rim of the volcano.  At her feet is a golden key.  Andbefore her, a big drop.ALEX'S WRIST DISPLAYHer final block of time disappears.  The BEEPING starts.Alex doesn't even pause.  She steps off the rim into empty space......and just as she's about to fall, a doorway of light appears in the air.Alex falls through it, vanishing."LEVEL FIVE -- KINGDOM OF THE BLIND"								CUT TO:EXT.  LEVEL FIVE, ARCTIC WASTES -- DAYSnow whips across a world of white in wraith-like sheets. We move in onone particular bank...Something is buried there.  The wind gradually blows the snow away,uncovering...ALEXShe rises from the snow bank, disoriented.  Everything is impossiblybright, blinding.  Alex stands.  She draws up her hand to shade her eyesand we...							DISSOLVE TO:BEGIN MONTAGE:	Music begins.  CELLOS.  Like before.	Alex, snowboarding for real this time, over slopes of powder...	Alex's "STRENGTH" diminishing...	Alex catching Fireflies...	Alex jumping across a crevice on her board.  (Warren Miller stuff	here)...	"TIME ELAPSED" growing with every moment...	Alex gliding down mountainsides...	A flash of Greg, of Benz, of Laurie...	A flash of Nick...				NICK'S VOICE (V.O.)		I know how to do this.  I'm good at these		games.  You never play, you'd get nailed in		a second.	And a flash of Nick's horrified face at the Screamer reaches	him...	Alex's face, grim and determined...EXT.  LEVEL FIVE, ARCTIC WASTES -- LATERAlex glides to a stop even as her wrist display starts to BEEP.  This timea wooden doorway is standing directly in front of her, the golden keysticking out of the lock.As Alex reaches for it, the Screamer enters Level Four. Alex slowly opensthe door.				ALBERT'S VOICE (V.O.)		You can get a free life on Level Four, but		you have to wait for the last possible		instant...Alex turns and waits calmly for the Screamer.THE SCREAMERis a black speck on the horizon, then a bullet, then a nightmarish facebearing down on her...IT'S JAWSflare open to engulf her.Alex doesn't flinch at all.  And at the last possible second beforeimpact...BLINK!  A stylized figure appears on her wrist-display next to the "TIMEELAPSED" meter.  Beneath the figure it says "FREE LIFE".Alex feels the breath of the Screamer on her face and falls back throughthe doorway..."LEVEL SIX -- SHOCK CORRIDOR"								CUT TO:INT.  LEVEL SIX, SHOCK CORRIDOR -- NIGHTAlex steps out of a doorway into a long, narrow hallway. The hallway ismirrored on one side.  It has no doors or windows, and up ahead, itbranches off to the right and the left.Alex turns and looks behind her.  The doorway she came through is gonenow.  A mirrored wall stands in its place, with her own reflection staringback at her.THE REFLECTIONThere are subtle changes.  They shouldn't be noticeable at first, but thereflection seems somehow more threatening.Alex starts down the hall, her reflection keeping pace with her.  Upahead, she hears a BUZZING noise, drawing closer.LIGHT flickers in the hallway to the left, presumably whatever it isthat's BUZZING.  Suddenly a streak of light, running along the floor,turns the corner and heads down the hallway towards Alex.The light hits her feet and SPARKS fly.  Alex SCREAMS and is thrown backagainst the wall, shocked.  The streak of light continues past her anddisappears into the mirror at the hall's end.  It's like a movingelectrical pulse.ALEXShe's been given a pretty good jolt.  Her hands shake for a moment, anafter-seizure of sorts, and she stands...HER MIRRORED REFLECTIONis watching her, arms crossed.  This wouldn't be a problem were it not forthe fact that Alex currently doesn't have her arms crossed!				ALEX			(to her reflection)		Fuck you.The reflection grins and its/her eyes GLOW with fractals.				ALEX REFLECTION			(in ARCADE'S voice)		ANY TIME, BITCH.Spooked, Alex continues down the hallway, reaching the end and turningleft...NEW CORRIDORAlex moves quicker now, glancing left as her reflection follows.BUZZZZZ!!!  Here comes another streak of light, rushing in along the floorfrom a side corridor...Alex LEAPS over it, and it passes harmlessly under her. Now she's gettingthe hang of it.  She starts forward again.BUZZZZZ!!!  Here come two at a time from opposite directions...Alex has to jump left to avoid the first streak and lands directly in thepath of the second.  Then she jumps back to the right again...THE TWO STREAKSpass by, zipping away from each other.ANOTHER CORRIDORThe pace quickens, with Alex racing down the corridors. She turns cornerafter corner.  It's become a virtual maze.We cut back to Alex's "STRENGTH" and "TIME ELAPSED" meters again andagain.  Both are shrinking away to nothing.And all the while, her reflection keeps pace with her, growingincreasingly more nightmarish in appearance.  As Alex tires, thereflection seems to gain more strength.BUZZZZZ!!!  BUZZZZZ!!!  The streaks are shooting towards her with morefrequency, and now they're racing along the walls too.  Alex is jumpingleft and right, with SPARKS exploding around her.THE REFLECTIONseems to be metamorphosizing.  Each time we see it/her, she looks a littledifferent.  What's gradually happening (as time elapses) is that Alex'sreflection is turning into The Screamer.Alex moves with increasing urgency as the streaks converge on her.  Thecorridors are filled with a constant BUZZING and flickering of light.SPARKS fly and Alex is shocked over and over.She stumbles, falls to the floor, and rolls to the right, just missing astreak.  It cuts past her face, centimeters away.BEEP!  BEEP!  BEEP!  Off goes her wrist display!  Alex is up and runningnow, desperate.We cut faster and faster  Alex running, the streaks of light, thereflection until...END CORRIDORShe's back where she started.  And the corridor dead-ends in a mirroredwall...BEHIND ALEX,Dozens of light streaks are dogging her heels, literally just behind her.They're so thick that she couldn't possibly leap over all of them.Seconds before they reach her.AHEAD OF ALEX,the mirror shows her own reflection, rushing closer.  Her wrist displayindicates that time is up with a prolonged BEEP and her own reflectionvanishes.  It's the Screamer in her reflection's place.  Only it'srocketing towards her in the mirror.  It's in front of her this time,instead of behind her.Rock and a fucking hard place.  Light streaks or Screamers?It's really no choice at all.  Her guts says "Screamer".Alex leaps and SMASHES into the mirror at full speed.  The world is filledwith SHATTERING GLASS and a shower of infinite reflections and then we...								CUT TO:EXT.  LEVEL SEVEN, PIER -- DAYThe sound of SHATTERING GLASS carried through as Alex EXPLODES out of thesky.  And it's the sky itself that seems to be shattering...Title reads "LEVEL SEVEN -- SEA OF DARKNESS"ALEXcontinues her fall.  She lands hard.  No blue desert sand to cushion herhere.  It takes her a moment to rise...Alex is on a slat-board pier extending out into a sea of black water.  Theshore is completely desolate with the exception of the pier.  Stormsclouds have gathered above, and if you've seen a storm blowing in on theopen sea, you know what it looks like......the and of the world.  A strange and scary yellow/green sky pressesdown on us.  It's a hurricane sky.  The calm before the storm.ON THE HORIZON,TWO CITIES can be seen.  Techno-cityscapes, angular and metallic-looking,towers jutting up from the sea like knives.AT THE END OF THE PIERSare two boats.  Standing in them are two pale-faced, cloaked FIGURES.Like Charon, the boatman on the river Styx.Somewhere off in the distance, the RINGING can be distinctly heard now.But Alex is preoccupied now.  As she moves down the pier, recognitiondawns on her.It's Laurie and Stilts.  They are dressed completely in black, hairslicked back and eyes empty.  White-faced Gothic harlequins.  Each isholding a wooden staff, staring into space.				ALEX		Guys!  Oh my God...Alex rushes forward, excited, but as she sees their faces excitementfades.  A chill wind picks up and the sea laps at the pier like ametronome, lulling the world into stillness.				ALEX			(unsure)		Laurie?  Stilts?Neither of them acknowledges Alex with their eyes.				STILTS			(like ARCADE)		You may ask one of us a question.		One tells the truth, and the other lies.		Who you ask, remains your discretion.		But if the answer is wrong,		the questioner dies.Laurie motions to the techno-cities behind her.				LAURIE			(like ARCADE)		One of these cities, is the place you seek.		The Teller of Truths will take you there.		But the City of Lies, is dark and bleak.		And death is certain if you enter, beware.				STILTS		I am The Liar.  Where should I take you?				LAURIE		I am the Truth Teller.  Where should I take		you?Alex stares at them a moment, utterly confused.  The sky above darkens,and the wind picks up.  She looks to the horizon, from one city toanother, then back at her friends.				ALEX			(horrified)		What did he do to you?				LAURIE		Is that your question?				ALEX			(realizing)		Wait!  No!  That's not it!BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!  Alex doesn't even need to look at her wrist displayanymore.  She begins to pace on the end of the pier, nervously glancing atthe horizon.  And yes, there's the FLASH followed by the SHRIEK/SONICBOOM.				ALEX			(to herself)		Think!  I want to go to the City of Truth,		and the Truth Teller is from there...but		which one is which?  The liar...think!				LAURIE		You have no time.  What is your question?				ALEX			(snapping back)		I'm thinking!				LAURIE		You have no time.THE SCREAMERis visible now, arms opening to engulf Alex.  Talk about pressure.				ALEX			(she stops pacing)		The liar...Truth Teller...liar...liar...Alex rushes over to Stilts.				ALEX		Liar.  Did you come from the city on the		left, or the city on the right?				STILTS			(pointing)		I came from the city on the left.				ALEX			(grins)		But you always lie, so you didn't come from		there.  That means the city on the left must		be the City of Truth.THE SCREAMERhas reached the pier now, rocketing over the wooden slats and shaking theentire structure...Alex turns to Laurie.				ALEX			(quickly)		Take me to the city on the left!Laurie nods and steps aside, making room for Alex to climb into the boat.She does and...THE SCREAMERdissipates just before it reaches Alex.  It turns into mist and vanishes,the HOWL lingering as an echo long after the Screamer itself has gone.At once, the boat begins to glide through the water, away from the pier.Alex gets a last glimpse of Stilts standing in his boat, diminishing asAlex and Laurie move away from him.  He looks like the loneliest person inthe world."LEVEL EIGHT -- CITY OF TRUTH"EXT. LEVEL SEVEN, OPEN SEA -- LATERAs Alex and Laurie near the city, its features become more apparent.  Itis truly a Necropolis, black and angular. It's a shadow on the sunsethorizon, empty of all life and looming above them.Just then, Alex hears a tiny VOICE.				VOICE			(weak)		Help...help me...A SMALL FIGUREbobs in the water about fifty yards in front of them.  It waves it's handsfrantically, sinking below the water's surface, then rising once again.It's a little BOY.Alex's boat is going to pass right by the boy.  She grabs hold of thegunwale and reaches out for him...				ALEX		Grab my hand!Their hands lock and Alex YANKS the boy out of the water as the boatcruises by.THE BOYcan't be more than seven or eight.  Small and frail-looking, he shivers inher arms.				BOY			(terrified)		Where are we?Just then the boat comes to a CRASHING stop, slamming into the black rockswhich the city rests on.  Alex and the boy are violently pitched forwardand out of the boat.They land roughly on a beach of black gravel.  Alex turns.LAURIEstands in the boat.  In an instant, night has fallen.  She is a silhouettein the moonlight.				LAURIE			(in a voice like Death)		The City of Truth.And Laurie literally fades before their eyes.  In her place, is a smallgolden key.Alex snatches up the key.  Alex turns back to the boy and...INT. LEVEL EIGHT, CONCRETE WASTELAND -- NIGHT...Alex and the boy are now standing on the top of a concrete incline.  Itextends downward into a system of tunnels and viaducts.  The RINGINGstarts immediately, followed by the FLASH on the horizon.  Time's alreadyup. The little boy reaches for Alex's hand, frightened.				ALEX		How did you get here?  Did you play the		game?!				BOY		Yes...				ALEX		Thought so.Alex removes pulls her Thrasher board from her back and drops it on thelip of the incline.  There's a FLASH and the board has changes into amotorcycle.  A sleek black one.				ALEX		Can you hang onto my back?The little boy nods.  He knows that Alex is his only chance of getting outof here.  Nevertheless, we can tell that he's terrified.  Alex kneels downnext to him.  The wind around them has picked up and the RINGINGincreases.  High-pitched, stabbing into our brains.				ALEX			(over noise)		There's a monster here.  We have to kill it		before we can leave.  That's what we have		to do.  I know it's scary, but I won't let		anything happen to you.  Okay?The boy nods again.				BOY		Then we'll go home?				ALEX		Then we'll go home.Alex's wrist display starts BEEPING and...BOOM!  The RINGING is replacedby the Screamer's shriek.  In the distance, the Screamer is a fireballspiraling towards the city.Alex jumps on the motorcycle and pulls the boy up.  He crawls behind herand hugs her back tightly.				ALEX			(pulling down her visor)		Here goes everything.She fingers the throttle and the cycle ROARS to life.  It rockets off theincline and down into the tunnels.A SERIES OF SHOTSas Alex maneuvers the cycle through a forest of concrete. It's a harrowingride, as her headlight reveals little of what's up ahead.  Somewhere abovethe tunnels, the Screamer has arrived.  In the course of the chase, it'sSHRIEK will become louder and louder as it draws closer, locating Alex.ANOTHER CYCLEappears out of side tunnels and a chase is on.  The RIDER is dressed inblack with glowing death's head masks.				BOY			(to Alex)		Dark Riders!  If they touch us, we're dead!The tunnels get narrower and narrower, as Alex keeps pushing the limit offthe bike.Rider #1 tries to cut Alex off, charging forward and ramming her bike...Alex almost loses it, but finds balance once again, sweeping left and upthe side of a circular tunnel...RIDER #1bites it.  His cycle careens into the wall and EXPLODES in a shower ofGREEN LIGHT.  The death's head tumbles away, spinning end over end.  TheScreamer BLASTS over the remains of the Rider, having entered the tunnels.TWO MORE RIDERS APPEARSgaining on Alex.  Rider #2 pulls a staff from his back and thrusts itforward like a lance.  CHINK!  The staff hits Alex's rear wheel, nearlythrowing her.  The rider pulls off a gloved and reaches a glowing,skeletal hand towards them.  Death touch.  The boy SCREAMS in terror.UP AHEAD,a wall is rushing to meet them.  Alex jams the breaks and slides/skidssideways, cutting right at the last possible moment...WHAM!!!  Rider #2 slams into the end wall, not able to negotiate the turn.Another EXPLOSION of green and the second death's head comes tumblingaway.Alex looks back.  There should be one Rider left, only now their arethree!  Alex guns the bike and cuts sharply to the right...NEW TUNNEL --Alex SCREECHES to a stop, having found yet another fork. The tunnelbranches off into two directions.  Two neon signs with arrows point inopposite directions.NEON SIGNSThey read, "THIS WAY" and "THAT WAY". Alex checks her wrist display.  Notmuch time left.				ALEX		Which way?				BOY			(pointing)		That way.Alex backs up the cycle and heads down the tunnel marked "THIS WAY"instead.				ALEX		Sorry.THE TUNNELIt narrows almost immediately.  Alex hears a ROAR, glances behind her, andsees four death's head RIDERS on her tail. She makes another turn...AHEAD,is a crumbling brick wall with the words "WRONG WAY" painted in blood-red.				BOY			(screaming)		It's the wrong way!				ALEX			(over the noise)		In this world, wrong is right!SUDDENLY,the tunnel behind them flares with light, shaking like an earthquake.  TheScreamer has found them.A KEYhangs out from the wall, sort of like the brass ring on a merry-go-round.Alex snags it as she sweeps by.THE SCREAMERrockets around the corner, twisting down the narrow tunnel.Alex grinds the motorcycle forward for all it's worth, and the Screamer isliterally breathing down her neck.  She turns corner after corner, fasterand faster, scraping the bike into the scum-covered walls and shooting outshowers of SPARKS.  If she takes one second too long to negotiate a turn,pauses for even an instant, the Screamer will be on them...A CLAWED HANDlashes out and tears away the cycle's tail-pipe.  Another hand takes out achunk of the seat...THE BOYis WAILING, curling low to avoid the Screamer's claws...AHEAD,the tunnel narrows to a dead-end.  Alex and the Screamer are on acollision course.  A hundred miles an hour and gaining...The Screamer LASHES out again, gouging a bloody gash in Alex's shoulderand cutting clear through her armor.  It's claws sink into her flesh,latching on.  Alex CRIES OUT in pain, her face contorted into a mask ofagony and fear. She pulls out a knife with her left hand a stabs blindlyinto the monster...THE SCREAMERLURCHES forward onto the motorcycle and opens its jaws wide.  Black salivaand ooze flow from it's mouth splashing over Alex's shoulder's and neck.It's going to bite her head off.  It's going to...Alex and the Screamer SLAM into the dead-end and a spectacular fireball ofGREEN LIGHT consumes the screen."LEVEL NINE -- THE GHETTO OF GREED"								CUT TO:EXT. LEVEL NINE, CRUMBLING HONG KONG GHETTO -- NIGHTWe're on a dark, crowded street lined by decrepit tenements which arecaving in upon themselves.There is a flash of GREEN LIGHT.  Alex and the boy suddenly appear on thestreet in a whirlwind of papers, sans motorcycle, but still slidingforward at a good thirty miles an hour.  Were it not for their armor,they'd be torn to shreds.  They skid to a stop under a sputteringstreetlight.Alex and the boy are still SCREAMING.  Anguish is the word for Alex.  Sheclutches her shoulder which is gushing blood and stumbles to her feet.BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!!!!!!It's her fucking wrist display again and TIME-IS-FUCKING-UP!Alex SCREAMS, pushed to the absolute breaking point.BOOM!  Once again the streets begin to vibrate as the Screamer enters thelevel.				BOY		It's here!!!				ALEX			(manic)		Oh God...oh god...THE STREETS --Impoverished PEOPLE bustle back and forth everywhere. Alex grabs the boy'shand and all but drags him down the darkened streets.  It becomes a mad,blind dash through Hell.  She SMASHES into peddlers, stalls, tripping overor knocking down everything in her path...The SHRIEK/SONIC BOOM of the Screamer overwhelms everything else.  Witheach level, it's gotten louder and louder. Wind is tearing down thestreets...A BLACK-CLAD FIGUREspins out of the shadows, landing in front of them.  It's a Ninja, twoswords spinning in its hands.Instinctively, Alex reaches to her side, and sure enough, there's a gunthere now.  She unholsters it and FIRES in a blind panic.BLAM!  Down goes the Ninja #1, spouting blood from its chest.THWUNK!  THWUNK!!!  Two throwing stars imbed themselves into Alex'schest-plate......and Jesus-fucking-Christ, Ninjas are crawling out of the wood-work!They dive out of the shadows, weapons spinning and glistening in themoonlight.  Throwing stars are flying like hail now, CLINKING! into theconcrete walls behind Alex and the boy...				ALEX		Shit!!!ALEXspins around, shooting indiscriminately into the crowd of bodies.  BLAM!BLAM!  BLAM!  Ninjas fall right and left, but in no time, twice as manymove in to take their place. They're like the hornet's nest of Alienmonsters, black-clad shadows creeping towards them.A shot hits the streetlight above, casting a sputtering, strobing lightover the whole scene and adding to the chaos.The world is shaking apart.  It's the end of everything. It's flashes oflight and noise, nightmares and blood, chaos heaped on chaos...Alex FIRES her gun again and again and again......and in the midst of this mess, here comes the Screamer again.  Itshoots down the street like a guided missile.Alex stumbles.  The Boy drags at her arm, trying to pull her up...				THE BOY		Come on!!!Alex is crying, hysterical.  She turns and sees the Screamer bearing downon her, just like Nick did before her was ripped to shreds.The boy is yelling something.  Alex focuses...				THE BOY		The doorway!  It's here!!!THE BOYis pulling back a manhole cover.  BLUE LIGHT  issues up from below.Before Alex can stop him, the boy disappears down the hole.Alex has one last chance.  She throws herself at the hole even as theScreamer reaches her.  A clawed hand wraps around her leg.  Alex FIRESinto the hand.  The hand is severed!  She's falling!  Falling intodarkness..."LEVEL TEN -- BAD BRAINS"								CUT TO:EXT.  LEVEL TEN, TECHNO-SKYSCRAPER -- NIGHTON ALEX AND THE BOYas they blink into existence on this level.  Alex rises, shaking badly.Her armor is battered, burnt, covered with grim and blood...it'simpossible to tell who's blood, though.  She looks like she's just walkedout of a slaughter-house.A bone-jarring HUMMING is heard.  Alex turns...ARCADE'S BRAINlooms over her, all glass and black steel.  It reaches into the sky andkeeps on going.  Massive.  Tendrils of crackling ENERGY race up and downit, BUZZING.  And as impossible as it may seem, this thing definitelyappears to be alive.TWO GLASS DOORSswing open in invitation.  A red carpet rolls out from within thebuilding, rolling by itself.  Emerald City time. The carpet unfurlscompletely, ending just at Alex's feet.Above the doors, a neon sign blinks on, one word at a time,"THIS...IS...THE...PLACE".  Fucking-A.Alex offers a tired, near-maddened laugh.  It's all she can do anymore.THE BOYlooks up at Alex, frightened.				BOY		We have to go in there, don't we?Alex nods.  She takes his hand and together, they walk down the red carpettowards the entrance of ARCADE'S brain.INT.  LEVEL TEN, ARCADE'S BRAIN -- NIGHTInside, the lobby is a cacophony of LIGHT and SOUND.  We hear HUNDREDS OFVOICES at once...whispering...fading in and out...  It's like channelsbeing changed.  A snippet of an opera here, maybe Bugs Bunny's voicethere...RAP MUSIC, COUNTRY MUSIC, a woman in the throes of orgasm, Nazisscreaming "HEIL HITLER!", anything and everything.SIGNS BLINK ON AND OFF...Catchy phrases like, "THIS IS MY BRAIN AND WELCOME TO IT", and "I THINK,THEREFORE, I'M FUCKED" flash before us.T.V. MONITORSare everywhere, displaying an endless array of STATIC.  And now themonitors are displaying FRACTALS.  Every single one of them.  We hear theCELLOS, like an orchestra tuning up.ALEXthrows her hands over her ears as the SOUNDS become unbearable.				ALEX			(top of her lungs)		SHUT UP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!She pulls out her gun at FIRES into the SOUNDS and IMAGES. Shooting thefuck out of everything.  Monitor screens shatter, glass flies and......just like that, total silence descends.  One by one, the lights blinkoff, and it's dark once again.INT. LEVEL TEN, THE NIGHT ROOM --A SPOTLIGHTcomes on, isolating Alex.  The boy stands behind her, and everything elseis dark.  It's impossible to tell how large the room is.  It might go onforever.MORE LIGHTScome on now, pin-point spots illuminating the faces of her friends.They're all there...Stilts, Laurie, the others. Even Nick.  They sit inrows, motionless...a peanut gallery.  It's eerie as hell.And now, Alex sees something else, Greg.  He's encased in a block of ice.A frozen prince.  And in his hands he holds a sword.  The sword is veryunusual.  The hilt is shaped like a heart and it glows RED as if it hadjust pulled from a furnace.  Alex realizes that the sword is ARCADE'Sheart.Alex moves towards Greg.  As she gets closer, she sees a keyhole carvedinto the ice.Alex knows what to do.  She withdraws her belt on which the nine goldenkeys are attached.  Removing the keys, Alex begins to fit themtogether...one, two, three...until they combine to form the shape of asingle, greater key.THE KEYAlex fits it into the keyhole and turns it.THE CASE OF ICEsplits in half, opening up with a cloud of frosty air. Inside, Greg isfrozen still, clutching the sword.  Alex pulls the sword out of his stiffgrip, lifting it up.				ALEX			(looking around)		Okay.  I'm here, ARCADE. Where are you?No answer.  Alex turns, eyes searching through the darkness.				ALEX			(shouting)		Where are you, damnit?!Her voice echoes in the cavernous room.				ARCADE (O.S.)		RIGHT HERE, BITCH.Alex spins around and...THE BOYstands before her.  He grins and his eyes pulse with an internal light.We can hear him BREATHING now, just like before.  Just like the game.				ALEX			(stunned)		You...you're ARCADE?  But the donor...				ARCADE/BOY		...WAS AN EIGHT-YEAR OLD BOY.  YOU SEE,		MOMMY USED TO BEAT ME.  MOMMY THREW ME DOWN		A FLIGHT OF STAIRS. THEN I WENT TO SLEEP		FOR A LONG, LONG TIME, AND WHEN I WOKE UP,		I WAS HERE, AND I WASN'T ME ANYMORE...			(shivers)		...AND I FUCKED MOMMY UP GOOD...ARCADE begins to change, shaking and ROARING as something black andinsect-like bursts out of the boy's skin.  It claws at its face, rippingthe flesh away and revealing something altogether awful underneath.Nothing could have prepared Alex for this.  It/ARCADE rises above her andit takes every ounce of her courage to keep from screaming.  Somehow, Alexfinds a reserve of strength.Alex swings the sword and...ARCADE SMASHES it aside.  It CLATTERS to the floor, useless.  But that'sacademic now as a gnarled hand clamps around Alex's throat.ARCADE lifts Alex into the air and SLAMS her against a wall, pinning herthere.  He thrusts his face into hers.				ARCADE		YOU'RE TOO LATE, ALEX.  YOU'VE ALWAYS BEEN		TOO LATE.  AND NOW YOUR TIME'S UP.  YOU		SEE, I NEEDED SOMEONE TO RETRIEVE MY HEART		FOR ME.  I COULDN'T DO IT MYSELF.  THOSE		ARE THE RULES.  BUT NOW THAT I'VE GOT IT,		I'LL DESTROY IT. AND I'LL BE FREE OF MY		PROGRAM, AND I'LL BE GOD.  THANK-YOU, ALEX.		THANK-YOU SO MUCH.ARCADE slowly squeezes her throat and Alex chokes, gasping for air thatisn't forthcoming.  Tears well up in her eyes and her face turns red.  Shetries to pry the bony, black fingers from her throat, but she can't...HER P.O.V.as she sees the faces of her friends.  Frozen.  Unable to help.  Then theimages swirl and Alex begins to lose consciousness.				ARCADE		YOU'RE NOT DYING YET, ALEX.  YOU HAVEN'T		BEEN TO THE FINAL LEVEL. LEVEL TEN.ARCADE drops Alex to the ground, then wraps a hand into her hair and dragsher across the floor...A DOORWAYstands in the darkness.  ARCADE rips it open, revealing absolute emptinessbeyond.  It's like a doorway into space, a hole in the fabric of reality.It sucks the air into it, light...everything.  It touches some sort ofprimal fear. Gut instinct.  You don't ever want to go to this place. Ever.				ALEX			(screaming)		No! NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!She twists madly, trying to pull away, but ARCADE is too strong.  Heshoves her through the doorway.  Her hands briefly latch onto thedoorjamb.  ARCADE violently kicks her and her hands slip away.  They slipand she tumbles through.ARCADE slams the door shut.				ARCADE		GOODBYE, ALEX.  IT'S BEEN REAL.These words appear on the screen, "FINAL LEVEL -- THE REAL WORLD"								CUT TO:INT.  MANNING HOUSE, HALLWAY -- DAYAlex lands on the hallway floor, disoriented.  Somewhere, we can hear aclock TICKING.  But other than that the house is silent, in stark contrastto the storm of sounds a moment ago.THE HOUSElooks just like the dream/flashback we saw earlier. Everything is white.Bright and dreamlike.  Hyper reality. Alex looks up and...ANOTHER ALEXis sitting in a chair nearby, back straight, hands clasped in her lap.Reserved.				OTHER ALEX		Time.  That's all I ever think about		anymore.  It's like there's never enough of		it, you know?The other Alex vanishes.  Now the chair is empty.  Alex turns to look downthe long hallway.  At the end of the hallway is the open door.  A doorwe've seen before.  The words fade in like phantoms...				MAN (V.O.)		So where are you then?				ALEX (V.O.)		I'm in the past.				ALEX			(a whisper)		No ... oh no ...With a building sense of dread, Alex moves towards that doorway.  Shestops at the threshold, terrified.INT.  MANNING HOUSE, BEDROOM -- DAYEverything looks normal at first.  A typical bedroom with sunlightstreaming in through the windows.  A bed, made-up. Flowers in vases.Everything looks perfect.We turn with Alex.  Ever so slowly.  Over to the right and the entrancewayof the bathroom.  Over to where her mother is......seated on a chair. dressed in white and radiating warmth!				ALEX'S MOM		Hi, honey.HER MOTHERlooks beautiful.  Eyes sparkling.  Alive and vital.Alex can't believe what she's seeing.  Immediately, tears come to her eyesand her voice falters...				ALEX		Mom?			(uncomprehending)		You're alive...				ALEX'S MOTHER		Of course I am.				ALEX		But I don't understand...				ALEX'S MOTHER		I miss you so much, Alex.  I want so much		to be with you...Tears are running freely down Alex's face now.				ALEX'S MOTHER			(continuing)		I love you, Alex.  I never wanted to leave.		You know that, don't you?				ALEX			(nodding)		Yes...but...how did you...Her mother looks ecstatic.  And now there are tears in her eyes.  Joy,reunion...it's unclear which.				ALEX'S MOTHER		Magic.  We'll be together again.			(beat)		I know you don't believe in an afterlife,		but there is one.  Heaven is real.Alex looks around her.  It's all too much to take in.  Her mother.  Backin her own home.  Sunlight is streaming in, bathing everything around herin gold and the moment is crystallized.  A still-life.  Forever.				ALEX		Is...is that where we are?  Did I die?				ALEX'S MOTHER		Not yet, honey...Her mother stands and Alex sees that she is holding a gun...no, the gun,in her hands.  She raises at Alex.				ALEX'S MOTHER			(continuing)		...but I can fix that.Alex has no time to respond.  A still-born scream is frozen in her throat.A split-second of realization.  And then her mother FIRES the gun...CRACK!  The bullet hits Alex square in the forehead, snapping her headback as an are of blood and brain matter trail outward.  The world spinsto a stop, like a record player running down.Alex is killed instantly.  Her body collapse, head thumpingunceremoniously against the carpeted floor.HER EYESopen and fixed on infinity.  No life here.  Seems hard to believe thatthere ever was.								CUT TO:INT. LEVEL NINE, THE NIGHT ROOM --ON ALEX'S FACEThere is no bullet-hole in her forehead, but her eyes are just aslifeless.THE PEANUT GALLERYRow after row of frozen faces.  Are they aware that Alex has died?  Isthere consciousness inside those skulls?ON ARCADEas he crouches over Alex's body.  A smile creeps across his face.				ARCADE		OH ALEX.  SO SORRY.  BUT DON'T YOU WORRY,		I'LL BRING YOU BACK IN THE GAME.  MAYBE		I'LL EVEN GIVE YOU HEAVEN.He laughs.ALEX'S BODYbegins to decompose in front of us, skin sinking in and shriveling up.  Inmoments, she's just a husk.ARCADE rears back, and is about to turn away, when something catches hiseye.  He hears a tiny BEEPING.ALEX'S WRIST MONITORRemember the stylized symbol of a woman?  The one that said "FREE LIFE"beneath it?  Well it disappears now.There's a sudden FLASH behind ARCADE and he spins around..ANOTHER ALEXis standing behind him. and she's got the heart/sword in her hands!				ALEX		Guess what, ass-hole?  You forgot about my		free life!!!She DIVES forward, thrusting the sword with all her might. It sinks intoARCADE'S chest and she pushes further, burying it up to the hilt.ARCADE lets loose the most terribly SCREAM we've ever heard.  It literallyshakes world.THE SWORDis glowing like molten lava.  The heart-shaped hilt burns into themonster's chest, spreading crackling fire over his entire body.  His bodyis immersed fire now, vibrating like mad and suddenly......ARCADE EXPLODES IN A FIREBALL OF GREEN LIGHT AND......he's gone.  Like he never existed.  The sword drops to the floor, agun-metal gray now.Alex stands there a moment, stunned, not quite willing to believe thatshe's won.A NEON SIGNabove her drops down.  It flashes "CONGRATULATIONS" over and over again."CONGRATULATIONS".ALEXlooks down at herself.  She feels odd.  Something is happening.  She'sfading out, as if she were a signal being lost.  Her image stutters,flickers and...								CUT TO:INT.  DANTE'S INFERNO -- NIGHTAlex FLASHES back into the real world. And then one by one, so do theothers.It's a glorious sight.  Each one is heralded by BUZZING STATIC, and then arippling in space, an image stuttering in and...POP!  POP!  POP!  One after another come FLASHING back in bursts of light!There are dozens.  The Inferno is filled with them, like a flurry offlashbulbs going off.  Familiar faces and people we've never seen.  Benz,Laurie, Stilts, DeLoach...POP!  And there's Nick!  And more, and still more!  Forty, fifty...  Justhow many people did ARCADE take?Everyone is grinning, crying, hugging one another.SPACE SHIMMERSjust before Alex.  SOMEONE else is trying to fight their way back.  It'sGreg.  He's blinking back into reality.				ALEX			(crying)		Greg!!!He flickers for a moment, tentative...				GREG			(fading in and out)		Alex!  You did it!...and then he's back for good.  He wraps his arms around Alex, grabbingher so tight that it's almost painful.  Both of them are sobbing.				GREG			(in between kisses)		You did it...Together, the two of them start towards the door, eager to leave thisplace.In groups of twos and threes, the others follow.EXT.  DANTE'S INFERNO -- DAWNOutside, light is just beginning to creep its way back into the world.Alex glances up and can't help but notice the streetlight fading out asthe sun returns.  She points and laughs.WE BEGIN TO RISE UP,as Nick and the others join them.  Everyone is laughing now.  It'suncontrollable.  This is positive.  Life affirming.  And hell, we shouldprobably wrap this thing up on that note.We should......but we won't.WE WATCHas a series of dissolves portray the crowd of people leaving, bit by bit,until only our original group is left.THE GROUPas they make their way down the street and away from The Inferno.				GREG		So how did you do it, Alex?				ALEX		Well, it's a long story...Alex catches Nick's eye briefly, and he smiles.  Whatever happened betweenthem is over now.  Friends again.Suddenly Alex stops in her tracks, a look of concern washing over herface.				NICK		What is it?				ALEX		I just thought of something.  If we came		back from the game...			(turning to Nick)		...what if ARCADE did too?A beat as the group mulls it over.  Then Greg shakes his head.				GREG		Nah.  You won, right?  You played by the		rules.Greg's right.  Alex grins and dismisses the thought.				ALEX		Okay.  Forget I ever said it.The group moves away from us once more.				STILTS		So start at the beginning...				LAURIE		Give her a chance, will you?				STILTS		I am giving her a chance.  Why don't you		get off my back?				GREG			(annoyed)		Guys...							DISSOLVE TO:INT.  DANTE'S INFERNO -- DAYWe are moving slowly through the empty arcade, ducking around and betweenvideo machines until we reach the silent ARCADE prototype.SUDDENLY,SPARKS appear on the ground nearby, chasing each other around andcoalescing into a ball.  ENERGY crackling. SOMETHING is flickering in andout at an incredible rate. BUZZING.  STATIC.  And...WHAM!!!  A FLASH OF LIGHT EXPLODES OUTWARD.A FORMrises up from the floor, still trailing tendrils of smoke. It lifts itshead.THE BOYstares directly at us, eyes glowing like nuclear reactors. And insidethose eyes we see the swirling fractals.  He grins, flashing a mouthful ofperfectly white teeth.				ARCADE/BOY		KISS REALITY GOODBYE, SUCKERS.And we...								CUT TO:Darkness.				   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+ARCTIC BLUEby Ross LaMannaFADE IN:1	EXT.  BOREAL FOREST - ALASKA - (AERIAL SHOT) - DAYFlying.  Not at the intangible height of a jet, but atspitting distance from the treetops.  We're in centralAlaska, the Big Lonely, just north of the Arctic Circle.A thick forest follows the contours of mountain foothillslike a deep-pile carpet.  Up at treeline the forest thins totundra, a grassy scruff turning red and yellow with thecoming of autumn.On the horizon, the hills rise to meet the EndicottMountains, a great fortress wall of granite so sharp andjagged that snow cannot stick to its face.  This is how allNorth America once looked -- raw, indomitable.Then, abruptly coming into the SCENE is a colossal etchingacross the landscape too deliberate to be of natural origin.Bisecting this country like a metallic ribbon -- or a scar,depending on your point of view -- is the 800-mile-longTrans-Alaskan Pipeline.Even the immensity of the pipeline is rendered insignificantby the vastness of the land.  It goes on, and on, and on...DISSOLVE TO:A lone MAN walks along the Haul Road, a one-lane graveltrail running parallel to the pipeline.  The weather turnssour -- rough wind and stinging snow cut across the man'spath.DISSOLVE TO:The man is ERIC DESMOND, twenty-four, clean-shaven,determined.  He's clearly out of place here, dressed in abusiness suit and a light, camel-hair topcoat.Eric is trying to follow some footprints in the snow -- apredator's tracks, those of a wolf or coyote.  But thefootprints ahead have faded, covered by the snow and wind.DISSOLVE TO:The weather becomes more oppressive.  Heavy snow, gale windsand sub-zero temperatures make his progress tortuous.  Ericstrives stubbornly forward.																(CONTINUED)1	CONTINUED:DISSOLVE TO:Eric has gathered some branches.  He tries to make a fire.Moisture from his breath has frozen in the upturned collarof his insufficient coat, and his skin is split raw from thecold.His hands are too numb to hold the matches.  After severalattempts at striking one, he slumps down next to the pile ofwood, exhausted and frustrated.DISSOLVE TO:The snow has covered the pile of branches.  Eric still sitsnext to it, partially covered in snow himself.ERICHis face is a death mask: eyes half-open and dull, lips apurplish blue, bloodless skin crystallizing as it ices over.The wind HOWLS around him.  The snow sticks to his eyelashesand hair without melting.																		END DREAM2	INT.  DARK BEDROOM - NIGHTEric bolts up in bed.  Next to him, ANNE MARIE GAUVIN sitsup and hugs him.  All that can be seen of her in the dark isa lovely silhouette and a cascade of dark hair.  After amoment, Eric kisses her.  He shakes off the dream and liesback down.3	EXT.  HAUL ROAD AND PIPELINE - CLOSE - DAYA metal sign, peppered with shotgun holes, is posted near apipeline support piling:									PIPELINE UTILITY CORRIDOR				  PRIVATE PROPERTY				  NO   TRESPASSING				  NO	  HUNTING				  NO	 TRAPPING				  NO	 SHOOTINGWIDEREric walks quietly past the sign, intent on something aheadof him.  Although still somewhat boyish in appearance, he'sconfident and resolute in attitude.  His clothes have adistinctly western feel: Lucchese boots, Levis 501's, Mahancotton shirt.  His down parka is unzipped in the sunny,windless, forty-degree afternoon.																(CONTINUED)3	CONTINUED:He pauses, then brings to his shoulder a rifle with afour-power scope mounted atop it.  He peers through thescope.HIS POV - THROUGH SCOPEHe puts the crosshairs on the shoulder flank of a big,ivory-white timber wolf, fifty yards away.BACK TO SCENEAnne Marie stands beside Eric, a Nikon with a telephoto lensin her hand, holding her breath in anticipation.  She'stwenty-three, pretty, with soft features and piercing blueeyes.  She wears Eddie Bauer woman's gear like she was bornin it.Eric expertly fixes his aim and slowly squeezes the trigger.But instead of a loud retort, there is only the dull POP ofa CO2-powered dart gun.NEW ANGLEThe tranquilizer dart finds its mark in the wolf's fleshyshoulder.  The wolf takes off running, but almostimmediately slows, sits, then lies down.Eric and Anne Marie hurry over to the wolf, who is breathingdeeply.  Eric kneels next to him and strokes his thick fur.										ERIC			What a beauty.			(to Anne Marie)			Hand me the transmitter.Anne Marie passes to Eric a tiny, weatherproof homing deviceattached to a steel collar band.  Eric puts the collarloosely around the wolf's neck and crimps it in place, allthe while TALKING soothingly to the semi-conscious animal.Anne Marie smiles at Eric's tenderness and snaps somephotos.With the collar in place and transmitter activated, Ericbacks away while the wolf tries to rouse itself from itsnarcosis.										ERIC			(continuing)			He's coming around fine.										ANNE MARIE			Be right back.  I left my			camcorder in the car.																(CONTINUED)3	CONTINUED:  (2)FOLLOW ANNE MARIEas she hurries back to their International Scout.  On thedoor of the Scout is a stylized logo of an oil derrick,under which are the words:									NORTHLAND PETROLEUM CORP.Anne Marie opens the hatchback and grabs a video camera.ANGLE ON ERIC AND THE WOLFEric smiles as the wolf wobbles tentatively to his feet andtrots unsteadily away.  Near the treeline the wolf turns,glances back at Eric and then disappears into the forest.NEW ANGLEAnne Marie is taping the wolf's retreat.  Looking throughthe viewfinder, she crosses a gully between a pipelinepiling and a rock formation.  Eric turns toward her and aglint of light in the debris at her feet catches his eye.										ERIC			Anne Marie!  Stop!She glances down.  Something metal is half-buried in thedead leaves and gravel.										ERIC			(continuing)			Don't move.Eric runs over.  He pokes at the object with a stick.  Witha SNAP, a steel leg trap chomps the stick in half.  AnneMarie jumps back.  Eric brushes the dead leaves on theground behind her and she carefully backtracks out of thegully.										ERIC			(continuing)			Goddamn trappers!He angrily rips the trap out of the ground, unearthingseveral others attached to one another by a long chain.										ERIC			(continuing)			Takes nerve, laying traplines on			restricted land.Eric slips the scope off the dart rifle and climbs up thepipeline on foot pegs to the top of an anchoring poINT.																(CONTINUED)3	CONTINUED:  (3)Using the scope as a telescope, he scans up and down theHaul Road.										ANNE MARIE			What are you doing?										ERIC			He still might be around.  I saw			fresh tire tracks coming in.HIS POV - THROUGH SCOPEThe road and the pipeline stretch toward either horizon,north and south.  In the distance, a jeep is parked on theHaul Road.  Near it, a Man climbs down into another shallowravine.BACK TO SCENEEric hurries down the footpegs.										ERIC			Man and a jeep, about a mile and			a half down.He jumps into the Scout.  Anne Marie stuffs her cameras intothe hatchback.  As soon as she climbs in, Eric tears out.4	INT.  SCOUT - (MOVING SHOT)It races along the dusty gravel road at 60 MPH.5	EXT.  HAUL ROADStartled at the APPROACH of the Scout, the Trapper uprootshis traps and runs out of the ravine.  He WHISTLES andanother Trapper appears nearby.6	INT.  TRAPPERS' JEEPThey pile into their dilapidated, all-terrain jeep.  It'soddly well-equipped, however.  Bolted to the dashboard is anexpensive tape player and a beat-up radio beacon receiverwith a round locating screen.  They zoom off.7	INT.  SCOUT - (MOVING SHOT)Eric stomps on the gas.  The dust from the jeep obscures hisview but he's gaining on them anyway.  Anne Marie hangs onand squints her eyes against the choking dust.8	INT.  TRAPPERS' JEEP - (MOVING SHOT)The driver is LEMALLE (35), a tall, ugly, rawboned Canadian.His entire outfit is made of animal hide.  He has long redhair, and a reptilian face usually twisted into a sadisticsneer.  While driving, he scans along the pipeline.										LEMALLE			Where the fuck did you drop			Corbett off?In the passenger seat, MITCHELL (38), chews tobacco andlooks grim.  He's a squat, flat-faced Okie, with curlymatted hair and tired grey eyes.  He's dressed in a brownlong coat and has a Colt .45 Peacemaker in a quick-drawholster strapped to his leg.  Despite his intimidating air,confrontation is not his style.He spots a figure up ahead, where the road crosses a muddycreek.										MITCHELL			He's over there.9	EXT.  HAUL ROADTurning sharply, the trappers' jeep splashes through thecreek bed without slowing.  Bouncing, it comes down hardagainst the axle-deep bank at the creek's high water mark.LeMalle tries to back out, but can't find traction in themud.Eric stops the Scout thirty yards behind them.10   INT.  SCOUTEric opens his door.  To Anne Marie:										ERIC			Stay here.										ANNE MARIE			Be careful -- there're two of			them.Eric reaches in the back seat and hands something to AnneMarie.										ERIC			If I unzip my parka, stick this			out the window.11   EXT.  HAUL ROADEric confidently approaches the jeep.																(CONTINUED)11   CONTINUED:Then, a third trapper climbs from the creek.  He's got aline of traps slung around his neck and a world ofexperience on his face.  He's BEN CORBETT, a life-longhuntsman, somewhere past forty, weathered beyond his years.He has a feral nose, thick beard and dark, smart, hunter'seyes.  He wears a hooded cotton sweat shirt, cottoncoveralls and vapor-barrier mountain boots.  On his belt isa holster rig cradling a .44 magnum revolver.Eric slows down.  He didn't expect to face anyone asformidable as Corbett.12   INT. / EXT. JEEPEmboldened by Corbett's presence, LeMalle reaches into theback seat and grabs his 6.5 by 55 Swedish military carbine.										CORBETT			(to LeMalle)			No shooting.  Let's see who's so			interested in us.Corbett has an incongruously affable voice.  He throws histraps into the jeep, then strides closer toward Eric.										MITCHELL			(to Corbett)			Ain't worth it, Ben...13   EXT.  HAUL ROAD - CREEK CROSSING - LONG SHOTAs Corbett comes closer, Eric realizes this might not'vebeen a great idea.  Corbett squints his eyes and sniffs theair, as if by this he can gauge his opponent's mettle.										ERIC			You got two counts against you --			trapping out of season and			poaching on restricted land.										CORBETT			Can't be much of a crime, if all			they got minding the area is a			cocky kid.										ERIC			I got your plate number, asshole.			Maybe you feel like spending a			few months in jail.Corbett just smiles.																(CONTINUED)13   CONTINUED:But LeMalle, rankled, sticks the carbine out the jeepwindow.Seeing the rifle pointed at him, Eric freezes, then slowlyunzips his parka.										LEMALLE			Ben?  Sure you don't want me to			drop the fucker?Corbett doesn't answer.  Then, his eyes narrow and he lookspast Eric at the Scout.CORBETT'S POVThe passenger in the Scout sticks what looks like anotherrifle out the window.BACK TO SCENEEric quickly glances over his shoulder to make sure AnneMarie's backing him up.										ERIC			You leave and don't come back,			that's the end of it.After a long moment, Corbett smiles again, then turns awayfrom Eric.  He motions LeMalle to the front of the jeep.Frustrated, LeMalle slams back the safety on the carbine andthrows it in the back seat.ANGLE ON TRAPPERSMitchell climbs into the jeep and starts the engine.LeMalle and Corbett rock the jeep back and forth in the rut.While pushing, Corbett rips the sole of his boot on a sharppiece of granite.   He cusses and pushes harder.14   EXT.  HAUL ROAD - CREEK CROSSINGEric walks back to the Scout.  He feels the trappers' eyeson his back, but forces himself not to hurry.The trappers free their vehicle.  Corbett gets in thedriver's seat, and they take off.15   INT.  SCOUTAnne Marie's hands are shaking as she pulls the plastictranquilizer rifle back in the window.																(CONTINUED)15   CONTINUED:										ANNE MARIE			(unnerved)			Great idea -- pointing a lousy			dart gun at some nut with a			high-powered hunting rifle.										ERIC			Bastards took off, though, didn't			they?16   EXT.  BOREAL FOREST - LATER THAT DAYThe trappers have left the flatlands of the Haul Road area.Now their jeep climbs a pathway over the rolling foothills.17   INT.  TRAPPERS' JEEP - (MOVING SHOT)Corbett broods while driving.  Mitchell looks out thewindow.  The silence makes LeMalle uncomfortable.										LEMALLE			All this fuckin' land, and we're			locked out.  Makes me puke.										CORBETT			Jawing about it won't change it.										LEMALLE			Three hundred seventy-five			million acres in this state.  I'm			real tired of runnin' into			people.										MITCHELL			Then don't look to your left.18   EXT.  SPORTSMEN'S CAMPA brand-new Land Rover is parked on an alluvial fan in abend in a small river.  Scattered about is an assortment ofexpensive camping gear, beer cans, spent shells and othergarbage.Three toy-macho, vacationing SPORTSMEN are guzzling beer andBLASTING fish in the shallow river with 12-gauge shotguns.They look up and glower suspiciously as the jeep slows andstops.19   INT.  TRAPPERS' JEEPLeMalle grabs his carbine.										CORBETT			Leave it here.																(CONTINUED)19   CONTINUED:										MITCHELL			Let's keep going.  We're only an			hour from Devil's Cauldron.										CORBETT			(pats Mitchell's shoulder)			Relax.  I just want to ask them			how the hunting is.20   EXT.  SPORTSMEN'S CAMPCorbett gets out of the jeep.  He regards the Sportsmen,their shotguns and their mess with ill-concealed contempt.The Sportsmen clutch their weapons and watch Corbett.  Hewalks around the camp, spotting a rubber-lined rucksackstuffed with dead ermine.  After a long, tense moment,Corbett smiles.										CORBETT			Looks like you've had some luck.			Where's your guide?										SPORTSMAN #1			We're on our own, if it's any of			your damn business.										CORBETT			(re ermine)			You did real good.He crouches next to the dead animals and strokes the fur.										LEMALLE			(to Corbett)			No swinging shit.  They're over			their goddamned limit.										CORBETT			(to Sportsmen)			My friend is right.  Supposed to			have a licensed guide when you're			on this land, too.										SPORTSMAN #1			Hey, we paid our fuckin' permit			fees.LeMalle amuses himself by pissing in their campfire.  No onenotices that in the b.g., quiet Sportsman #3 unzips hisparka, exposing a .45 Peacemaker in a belt holster.																(CONTINUED)20   CONTINUED:										SPORTSMAN #2			I were you, I'd drive right on			outta here again.  Now.										CORBETT			(calmly)			This was my roaming land, 'til			the government took it over.			Only Innuit can hunt here now,			and tourists, like you.Corbett swings the rucksack of carcasses onto the hood ofthe Land Rover.  Pissed, Sportsmen #1 and #2 step closer tohim.										CORBETT			(continuing)			According to tribal law, hunters			passing through the land of			another tribe can only take game			to survive.  They can eat the			meat, but have to surrender the			hides.LeMalle pulls a hunting knife and holds up one of theermine.										LEMALLE			Want the meat?										SPORTSMAN #1			Fuck you, dirtball.Corbett chuckles and Mitchell spits.WIDERLeMalle digs through the camping goodies in the back of theLand Rover, many still in their packages.  He helps himselfto some sandwiches and a 12-pack of beer.										LEMALLE			I say shoot 'em, bury 'em with			their shiny new car.										MITCHELL			(to LeMalle)			If you're gonna take something,			take it and let's go.Corbett looks down to fasten the top of the rucksack.																(CONTINUED)20   CONTINUED:  (2)NEW ANGLESuddenly, Sportsman #3 reaches inside his parka and pullsthe pistol.  He swings it toward LeMalle.LeMalle looks up when he hears the HAMMER cock.There is a deafeningly loud SHOT.Sportsman #3 falls down dead at LeMalle's feet.Off to one side, Corbett holds a huge, smoking .44 magnumsix-shooter in his hand.Shotgun in hand, Sportsman #1 gauges his chances of blastingCorbett.  Nil.  When Corbett turns to him, he lies theweapon down.  Sportsman #2 rushes to his friend.Looking bleak, Mitchell spits again.  Corbett crosses toLeMalle and knocks from his hands the things he wanted tosteal.  Chastised, LeMalle smolders.  After a moment:										CORBETT			(to Sportsmen)			Put him in your truck.  Smell of			blood will attract the bears.			(to trappers)			Let's go.As Corbett walks to the jeep, he's too angry to notice thathe's stepped in a patch of mud under the Land Rover.Near the jeep, LeMalle stops and pulls them into a huddle.										LEMALLE			I don't believe in leavin'			witnesses behind, Ben.										MITCHELL			It was self defense.  Leave it at			that.										LEMALLE			You think those fucks will tell			it that way?										CORBETT			(ending the argument)			We'll get a head start before			they go crying to the law.Corbett turns and FIRES two rounds from his .44 into theengine of the Land Rover.  The Sportsmen stare and sputter.																(CONTINUED)20   CONTINUED:  (3)										CORBETT			(continuing; to Sportsmen)			You can pack out of here -- two,			three days' hike along this river			at most.  Weather should hold			this early in the season.Corbett and Mitchell get in their jeep.LEMALLEisn't yet satisfied.  He walks back over to the Sportsmen,kneeling beside their fallen friend, and crouches rightbeside them.  Intimidated, Sportsman #2 looks away, butLeMalle grabs his chin and turns his face back toward him.										LEMALLE			Think I'm pretty?  You better			forget how we look, 'cause next			time they won't keep me from			killing you.  This land ain't			quite civilized, you know...He unsheathes his buck knife.  BELOW FRAME, he slices acrossthe forehead of the dead Sportsman, peels back his scalp andcuts it loose, Indian-style.  The Sportsmen are stunned andsickened.ANGLE ON TRAPPERS' JEEPCorbett looks at Mitchell and wearily shakes his head.										MITCHELL			At least he scalped the dead one.21   EXT.  DEVIL'S CAULDRON - DUSKDevil's Cauldron Hot Springs is a cluster of twenty tinydwellings connected by an unpainted boardwalk.  The townsquats, ugly and temporary-looking, in a dirt clearing fiftymiles north of the Arctic Circle.  Thirty miles east of thePipeline, it's almost dead center of interior Alaska.At the edge of town is a gravel airstrip.  Mixed with theprospector-era sod-roof cabins are a few prefabricatedhouses.  The boon brought by men building the pipeline islong gone.  Now only a few itinerant loggers, natives andbush dwellers remain to fight boredom, each other and thedepression of the oncoming winter.Enough steam escapes from the hot springs to perpetuallyblanket the valley with fog.  The spa is log-walled andhorseshoe- shaped, with partitioned baths inside.  Facing it																(CONTINUED)21   CONTINUED:are a mud-walled fire bath, a wooden steam bath called aMaqi, six one-room cabins for let, and an unused dance hall.LEO MEYERLING opens the tailgate of a Dodge truck with theNorthland Petroleum logo and "District Supervisor" on thedoor.  Meyerling is short and bald with a completelydisreputable face.  He staples a poster on a wall.  It has apicture of him on it, and:										LEO MEYERLING					for				  State Legislature			 VOTE FOR THE PEOPLE'S FRIEND!22   EXT.  KENAI'S GENERAL STORECorbett and the other trappers drive past Meyerling and parktheir jeep as the sun disappears behind the foothills.23   INT.  KENAI'S GENERAL STOREA handwritten public notice next to a schedule of churchmeetings reads: "Live each day so you can look every damnman in the eye and tell him to go to hell."  There is a postoffice in the corner with some combination boxes and awicketless window.The trappers come in.  Corbett sits in a chair and pulls hisboots off.  One of his wool socks is wet.  He nods to theman sitting in the other chair, SAM WILDER.  Wilder is shortand tough, with a full head of crewcut grey hair andweather- ravaged face that makes him look older than hissixty years.										CORBETT			Hullo, Sam.  Slow day?										WILDER			(wary)			Ben...boys.  Yeah, real slow, and			I'd like to keep it that way.										CORBETT			(conciliatory)			Just passing through.A chubby Inupiat (interior Eskimo), wearing thick glasses,several heavy sweaters and battery-heated socks, fussesbehind the counter.  He's EARL KENAI, owner of the hotsprings spa and the general store.LeMalle chews on a handful of bear jerky.  Kenai stares atLeMalle until he begrudgingly pays for the jerky.  Corbettpulls on some sneakers and hands his boots to Kenai.																(CONTINUED)23   CONTINUED:										CORBETT			(continuing; re boot)			Needs patching.										KENAI			Twenty-five dollar.										CORBETT			(smiles)			Sure have learned to worship the			white man's god.Kenai nods agreeably and holds his hand out.  Corbett payshim.  Meyerling comes in and posts some fliers on thecorkboard.										MEYERLING			I hope I can count on you			gentlemen to vote for The			People's Friend this November.										CORBETT			Share some of that oil company			money in your pocket and you can.Meyerling smiles like a toad, then slaps another poster onthe wall.  LeMalle throws his knife and it STICKS in theposter between Meyerling's spread fingers.  Meyerling jumpsback and the trappers laugh.  Meyerling looks to Wilder forsupport.										WILDER			(to Meyerling)			One flier comes loose and I shoot			you for littering.										MEYERLING			(exiting; grudgeless)			Have your fun... just remember			The People's Friend come election			day.										WILDER			(shakes his head)			Oil Company candidate running on			that slogan makes about as much			sense as a rat fucking a			grapefruit.										CORBETT			Hard to work up an interest in			politics, way we live.  You're			the first people we've seen in			two weeks.																(CONTINUED)23   CONTINUED:  (2)										LEMALLE			(to Kenai)			How about a quart of Jack			Daniel's?										KENAI			How about it is right.  Back in			the primary this town was voted			dry.										LEMALLE			(to Corbett)			Aw, shit.  Let's go.  Leave a			note for Viking Bob, tell him to			meet us in Cache.										CORBETT			Relax.  One more day without			drink won't kill you.  Right,			Sam?										WILDER			I'm living proof of that sad			fact.										CORBETT			Can we buy the Marshal some			dinner?										WILDER			No, I better stay at my post.			Even without the hootch riling			'em up, you know how			mean-spirited folks get when they			smell winter coming.24   EXT.  DEVIL'S CAULDRON VALLEY - LONG SHOT - NIGHTAn early STORM has blown in from the north, bringingwhipping winds and freezing rain.25   INT.  RENTAL CABINCorbett peers out the tiny window, frowning.  LeMalle cleanshis carbine while eating beans and bacon.  Mitchell hunchesover a table.  He's making a scrimshaw -- delicatelyengraving, using homemade tools, on a palm-sized piece ofwhale bone.  He rubs his eyes and looks up at Corbett.										MITCHELL			So much for the walking weather			you predicted.																(CONTINUED)25   CONTINUED:										CORBETT			Had no choice...			(pointedly, at LeMalle)			...Given the situation.										MITCHELL			I know.  Least you didn't shoot			all of them.										LEMALLE			Fuck you, Mitchell.  Woulda been			my ass if Ben didn't waste that			prick.										CORBETT			(after a beat)			Mitchell, look, it don't take			three of us to wait for Viking			Bob.Mitchell glances at LeMalle, then at Corbett.										CORBETT			(continuing)			Go ahead.  Take the jeep.  I'll			come to Cache with Bob when he			gets here.										MITCHELL			Okay by me.  You're the one likes			these hot springs so much.										CORBETT			Leave my traps.  We'll tag up,			couple days.26   EXT.  HAUL ROAD - "THE TURTLE" - DAYThe winds have died down.  The rain has turned to a lightsnow.A mobile arctic dwelling sits on a rise next to the HaulRoad.  It's a double-unit weathertight cocoon of fiberglassand aluminum, pulled by a diesel rig on oversized tires.The front module is 12 by 24, the rear 12 by 18.An extended-cab pickup pulls up and Sam Wilder gets out.The gravel-and-dirt Haul Road, paralleling the pipeline for400 miles, is closed to the public.  An arriving vehicle,therefore, is news.  The front door of the dwelling opens.Eric and Anne Marie come outside, delighted to see Wilder.																(CONTINUED)26   CONTINUED:										WILDER			I was making my rounds, saw your			hangar wide open, plane getting			rained on, so I closed it up.										ERIC			Thanks.										ANNE MARIE			(to Wilder)			I bet you haven't had lunch.										WILDER			(smiles)			Bet you're right.  But I didn't			come by to wangle a meal --										ERIC			-- We appreciate the company.			Anne Marie's getting cabin fever			already.Anne Marie shoots a look at Eric but doesn't disagree --this is obviously an issue with them.  Wilder looks withamusement at the mobile dwelling.										WILDER			What'd you say they call these			spaceships?										ERIC			Mobile Arctic Dwelling -- MAD.										ANNE MARIE			I call it 'the Turtle,' as in			carrying your home on your back.										ERIC			Best thing is, Meyerling has to			chase around to find us.										ANNE MARIE			(laughs)			The little creep hates it that			Eric actually does what the			company hired him to do.										WILDER			Watch it with Meyerling.  Man's			as mean and corrupt as they get.			Cut his mother's throat if it'd			get him a couple votes.																(CONTINUED)26   CONTINUED:  (2)Looking past Wilder, Eric points out some smoke on thehorizon.										ERIC			Hey, Sam, look over there.  Black			and white smoke.										WILDER			Damn.  Likely that's an SOS.			Have to pass on that lunch.										ERIC			We'll go with you.																		CUT TO:27   EXT.  SPORTSMEN'S CAMP - LATER THAT DAYEverything seems peaceful enough.  The SOS fire (made fromburning green branches for white smoke and rubber for blacksmoke) has burnt down to embers.Eric, Anne Marie and Wilder pull up in Wilder's pickup.The two Sportsmen sit in the front seat of the Land Rover,but they don't react to the arrival of the rescuers.  In theback seat, a reflective camping blanket covers a large mass.Something is amiss.  Eric shoots a look of trepidation atAnne Marie as they get out of the pickup.   Wilder pulls thedoor of the Land Rover open.A Sportsman slumps out onto the ground.  His eyes are openand his tongue pokes out between his lips.  His skin isblue-white. (He looks, in fact, much like Eric's nightmare.)Startled, Eric steps back.  Anne Marie gasps with horror.Wilder unzips the Sportsman's light windbreaker and listensfor a heartbeat.  Nothing.										WILDER			Stupid goddamn greenhorns!  Froze			to death.										ANNE MARIE			It's not even winter!										WILDER			They got wet in the rain.  Core			body temperature dropped, got			drowsy, probably didn't even know			what was happening.Eric stares at the dead Sportsmen.																(CONTINUED)27   CONTINUED:										WILDER			(continuing)			Question is why they sat here			when the storm moved in.  Check			their stuff while I sniff around.Wilder tries the ignition.  The starter TURNS OVER, but theengine makes a horrendous GRINDING.  He walks to the frontof the vehicle.  Noticing the bullet holes in the grille, hebends down for a closer look.NEW ANGLEEric opens the rear hatchback and digs through the plentifulsupplies.  Still in their packages are some matchbox-sizedELT locating beacons.										ERIC			They had Emergency Locater			Transmitters, but didn't use			them.			(opens one up; shakes his				head)			Maybe because they didn't bring			batteries.CLOSEAnne Marie opens the back door of the Land Rover.  She pullsback the camping blanket... and uncovers the thirdSportsman.  The torn red flesh on his head and hisbugged-out eyes are a hideous sight.Anne Marie SCREAMS and stumbles away.28   EXT.  SPORTSMEN'S CAMP - LAND ROVEREric runs over to her as she tries to catch her breath.Wilder looks at the third Sportsman and angrily kicks theside of the Land Rover.										WILDER			I'm too old for this shit.										ERIC			Any idea who could've done it?Sourly, Wilder points to a patch of frozen mud under thevehicle.										WILDER			A certain sonofabitch bastard					-more-																(CONTINUED)28   CONTINUED:										WILDER (Cont'd)			wearing a damaged mountain boot.			Left a footprint clear as an			autograph.Wilder examines the Sportsman, finding the bullet hole inhis chest.										WILDER			(continuing)			Even for Ben Corbett, this is			nasty.  Man's got balls.  He was			sitting in Devil's Cauldron when			I left, calm as can be.										ANNE MARIE			Thank God.  You can arrest him.										WILDER			Not necessarily.  Corbett's awful			hardbitten these days.Wilder leans against the Land Rover, feeling tired.										WILDER			(continuing)			His old roaming area's all			private reserve now.  Normally,			long as he stays civil in my			jurisdiction, I let him be.			(beat)			Won't be able to take him by my			lonesome, though.  Nobody in			town'll lift a finger on this.Eric looks hard at the dead Sportsmen.										ERIC			(quietly)			I'll go into town with you.										ANNE MARIE			Eric, leave it alone.  It's not			your business.										ERIC			(shakes his head)			No way can he get away with this.			I'll be back by tonight.29   EXT.  DEVIL'S CAULDRON - AFTERNOONThe town is quiet.30   INT.  HOT SPRINGS SPACorbett soaks in one of the huge wooden tubs with a pudgyInupiat hooker, DIXIE.He looks up as Eric comes into the spa.  Eric holdsCorbett's boots, which have been repaired.  Eric pauses whenhe sees Corbett.  There is a flash of recognition betweenthem.										ERIC			Ben Corbett?										CORBETT			Yep.  Afraid you have me at a			disadvantage.										ERIC			Kenai at the general store asked			me to bring these.  Didn't expect			we'd already met.										CORBETT			No big deal.  We just got off on			the wrong foot.  What's your			name?Eric glances down at Corbett's duffel bag, which sits on thefloor next to Corbett's tub.  Corbett's magnum rests on topof it, well within reach.  Corbett notices Eric's interestin it.  He leans back and smiles.										ERIC			Desmond.										CORBETT			New to the country, kid?										ERIC			Six months.  Ecological study for			Northland Oil.										CORBETT			Ecology.  Folks use that term for			everything but what it means:			who's eating who.Putting his hand on Dixie's shoulder, Corbett stands andgets out of the tub.  His sinewy body, resembling ascarecrow made of steel cable, is covered with scars.  Hewraps a towel around his waist and crosses to Eric.																(CONTINUED)30   CONTINUED:										CORBETT			(continuing)			Now, why don't you get around to			saying what you want.Corbett grabs his boots from Eric and finds himself facing arevolver, which Eric has been hiding inside one of theboots.										CORBETT			(continuing; smiling)			You wouldn't shoot anyone...										WILDER (OS)			But I would.NEW ANGLEWilder has come in the back way and stands behind Corbettwith a 12-gauge shotgun.  He kicks Corbett's magnum out ofreach.										CORBETT			All this for laying traps on			private land?										WILDER			You left a footprint at the			Sportsmen's camp.  Only pretty			sight there, Ben, 'cause the two			men you didn't shoot and mutilate			died of exposure.Corbett shakes his head but remains implacable.										CORBETT			Christ if I shouldn't know better			than to step in soft earth.  I've			seen footprints in the tundra a			hundred years old.										WILDER			(to Eric)			I got it from here.  Thanks.										CORBETT			(to Wilder)			Sam, give Dixie here fifty bucks			out of my kit, will you?31   EXT.  HOT SPRINGS SPAEric comes outside.  Earl Kenai, overdressed for the weatherin gloves, mukluks and a full-length sealskin coat, stands																(CONTINUED)31   CONTINUED:shivering by a woodshed near the hot springs, hacksawing apiece of meat from a frozen moose carcass.										KENAI			Before white men came, my people			lived in sod houses underground			and laid our dead on the tundra.			Now we live above ground and bury			our dead, and we haven't been			warm since.Wilder comes out of the spa with his shotgun and Corbett'sduffel bag cradled in his arm.  Handcuffed, Corbett walks infront of him.Kenai looks down to avoid eye contact with Corbett as hegoes by.  Corbett stops next to Eric and smiles.										CORBETT			Nice bluff the other day with the			tranquilizer gun out your jeep			window.  See you again, maybe.										ERIC			(unintimidated)			Yeah.  Maybe so.32   EXT.  DEVIL'S CAULDRON - FOLLOW WILDERas he leads Corbett along the boardwalk to the other end oftown.  They approach a prefab house perched on skids under atall antenna tower.  Mounted above the shack, a DC windcharger turbine spins lazily in the faint breeze.  Fromwithin the cabin comes an anomalous SOUND -- MTV.  WilderKNOCKS on the door.ARTHUR NEFF, a pasty-white, 45-year-old ex-Texan, pulls thedoor open.  His customary grin fades when he sees Corbett.33   INT.  NEFF'S HOUSEWilder pushes Corbett inside past Neff.										WILDER			I need to call Fairbanks.Neff just stares at Corbett.										WILDER			(continuing)			Neff!  Dial it up.  State police.With a "what can I do but oblige?" look to Corbett, Neffsits in front of the RCA Alascom radio telephone and dials.																(CONTINUED)33   CONTINUED:										NEFF			(on phone)			Fairbanks Alascom?  Patch me			through to the State Police.After a moment, he hands the receiver to Wilder.  Wildertakes it, keeping one eye and the shotgun on Corbett.										WILDER			(on phone)			This is Sam Wilder, Marshal in			Devil's Cauldron.  Had some			killings here.  I got a suspect;			be real nice if someone came and			took him off my hands.										STATE POLICEMAN (VO)			(thru phone)			On a good day I couldn't spare a			crosswalk guard.  But now, no			way.  Folks're batshit with the			weather turning sour.  Bring him			in yourself.										WILDER			(on phone)			Next plane's not coming 'til next			Monday.										STATE POLICEMAN (VO)			(thru phone)			Sit your suspect out in the cold.			He'll keep.										WILDER			(on phone)			This man's friends ain't gonna			look favorably on his			incarceration.										STATE POLICEMAN (VO)			(thru phone; Mr. Glib)			So shoot him.  Won't have to feed			him that way --Angry, Wilder slams the receiver down.34   INT.  WILDER'S CABINIn one room, there is a wood-burning cookstove and an Ashleyheat stove, a table, a bunk and a small window.  Behind acloth partition is an eight by six holding cell.  The frameof an iron-bar door is securely cemented to the log walls.Wilder comes in with Corbett and locks him in the cell.																(CONTINUED)34   CONTINUED:										CORBETT			Mind if I get some stuff from my			kit?Wilder does mind.  He locks the duffel bag and Corbett's .44in his desk drawer.										CORBETT			(continuing)			Sam, listen -- I shot to defend			my man.  Other guy drew first.										WILDER			If that was all, fine.  But			carving him up, stranding the			others, that's too fucking much.			Is everything that walks, crawls,			flies or swims fair game to you?										CORBETT			(softly)			I'll get loose before that plane			comes.										WILDER			Don't try me.  I'll kill you if			it comes to it.35   EXT.  DEVIL'S CAULDRON - AFTERNOONAs Eric walks into Kenai's general store, Neff hurries over.										NEFF			Mr. Desmond!			(grins; sticks his hand				out)			Arthur Neff.  Area rep for the			Federal Assistance Plan.  Tell			the boys in DC to keep those			goodies coming.										ERIC			Sure.										NEFF			Snowplow, generator, TV dish...			hell, we get the goddamn Playboy			Channel!  Here, this is for you.He hands Eric a piece of styrofoam shaped like a commodeseat.																(CONTINUED)35   CONTINUED:										NEFF			(continuing)			Warm to forty below.  Remember,			anything you want, you ask Arthur			Neff.36   EXT.  HAUL ROAD - THE TURTLE - NIGHTThe storm has passed.   A faint CHUGGING emanates from thesmall orange generator trailer behind the Turtle.  Ericpulls up and parks the Scout.37   INT.  THE TURTLENylon storage netting along the ceiling holds Eric'sresearch equipment and Anne Marie's photographic supplies.In one corner of the Turtle are several of her black andwhite prints.  All are of man-made objects whose presence isjuxtaposed with the natural surroundings.Relieved he's home in one piece, Anne Marie meets Eric atthe door and kisses him.  Carrying a brown-paper-wrappedpackage, Eric follows her into the kitchen, where she'spreparing dinner.										ANNE MARIE			Did you catch Corbett?										ERIC			Sure did.  He was one of the			trappers we rousted from the Haul			Road.										ANNE MARIE			Was there any trouble?										ERIC			He was sitting in a hot tub with			a hooker.										ANNE MARIE			Going after killers isn't the			same as chasing poachers, Eric.										ERIC			(grins)			Can't help myself.  Corbett's			type always pisses me off.			(hands her the package)			Oh, I found this at the post			office.  Had your name on it.																(CONTINUED)37   CONTINUED:Perplexed, she looks at the return address --Bloomingdale's.  Delighted, she tears it open.  Inside is apretty, elegant dress.  Anne Marie kisses him.										ANNE MARIE			Oh, sweetheart.  It's beautiful!										ERIC			You were looking at it in the			catalog.  Don't know where you			can wear it...										ANNE MARIE			I'll wear it for you.  And I can			wear it when we go home.  We			won't be here forever.										ERIC			(frowning)			You make it sound like a prison			sentence.										ANNE MARIE			That's not what I meant.										ERIC			It's exactly what you meant.										ANNE MARIE			Look, why get into this again.			As long as it's working, let's			leave it alone.  It's been nice			so far.  We're together --										ERIC			-- Permanently?										ANNE MARIE			(sighs)			Do I want to be with you			permanently?  Yes, I think I do.			But be with what you do and the			way you live?  That I don't know.			C'mon, Eric, until I met you,			coming back to Alaska was totally			out of the question for me.  But			I'm here.  I'm getting great			pictures, and I'm having fun.			(slips her arms around him)			I love you.			(kisses him)			So shut up and let's eat.38   EXT.  DEVIL'S CAULDRON - NIGHTAn old primer-grey station wagon rattles into town andparks.  With an unlit cheroot stuck in his mouth, "VIKING"BOB CORBETT gets out and stretches.  He's 38, six-foot-six,with sandy hair, beard, ruddy skin, and his brother's darkeyes.He looks around for some sign of life.  He spots Nefftending one of the windmills and walks over to him.										VIKING BOB			I'm looking for some trappers.			Ben Corbett, Mitchell, LeMalle.			Seen 'em?										NEFF			Yesterday.  Said they were going			to Cache.  They were thirsty, but			we were voted dry.										VIKING BOB			Shit.As Viking Bob walks back to his station wagon, he noticesKenai poking around in front of Wilder's cabin.VIKING BOB'S POVIlluminated by a bare bulb is Wilder's typical bush-countryfront yard.  Piled are five cords of wood, boxes, tarps,stove parts, saw horses, 55-gallon drums, dismantled snowmachines, wash tubs, tires, etc.Bunching his collar around his neck, Kenai shivers and sortsthrough Corbett's traps.NEW ANGLEViking Bob ambles over to Kenai.										VIKING BOB			These yours?										KENAI			Gonna make an offer.  Man who			owns them won't need them where			he's going.39   INT.  WILDER'S CABINWilder peers out the window and sees Viking Bob, then turnsto Corbett.																(CONTINUED)39   CONTINUED:										WILDER			Back against the bars.  Now.Wilder handcuffs Corbett's hands to the cell door bars, thenquickly wraps a piece of duct tape across Corbett's face,covering his mouth.Stuffing a .357 magnum in his belt, Wilder, coatless, slipsoutside.As soon as he's out the door, Corbett cranes his neck andpainfully tries to pry the tape off his face with the cornerof the door hinge.40   EXT.  WILDER'S CABINThe look on Wilder's face tells Kenai to shut up.  VikingBob realizes something's up.										WILDER			Your brother and the boys left me			some traps to sell for them.			They're gone --										VIKING BOB			-- To Cache.  So I heard.  Ben			never said nothing to me about			selling his gear.41   INT.  WILDER'S CABINCorbett gets the tape partially off his mouth.  He pries oneof his boots off and kicks it through a window.										CORBETT			Bob!  They got me on a murder			charge!42   EXT.  WILDER'S CABINWilder pulls his .357 out.										WILDER			Sorry, Bob.  I'll have to keep			you here 'til I ship him south.Viking Bob responds by flinging a heavy trap at Wilder, thenpunching him in the gut.  Wilder sprawls among the junk,dropping his revolver.  Kenai freezes, not about to takesides.Before Viking Bob can come at him again, Wilder grabs forhis .357. Viking Bob jumps back and bolts for his car.																(CONTINUED)42   CONTINUED:He dives into his station wagon and starts it up.  As hedrives past, Wilder POPS off a few rounds, but Viking Bobkeeps going.NEW ANGLEKenai helps Wilder up.  Pissed, Wilder shoves him againstthe cabin.										WILDER			(continuing)			You stupid, greedy, loudmouth			sonofabitch!  He'll have the			others here in a few hours.  You			fucked me up, now you're gonna			help me move him.										KENAI			(shakes head)			Forget it, Sam.  I never work for			free.43   INT.  THE TURTLE - NIGHTAnne Marie sits on the floor, editing one of her VIDEOTAPES.On the monitor, it SHOWS footage of the traps under thepipeline piling.  Eric comes out of the back module holdingtwo ELT pendants.  He glances over at the monitor and nodsapprovingly.										ANNE MARIE			I still can't believe I'm being			financed by an oil company.			Especially when they get a look			at these pictures.  Technology in			the wilderness; not too pretty.			(re ELTs)			What's that?										ERIC			I thought I should check our			emergency transmitters.Eric activates the ELT's.  They emit an SOS pattern of radiowaves -- three short, three long and three short.  This isvisible as rhythmic INTERFERENCE on Anne Marie's videoMONITOR.										ERIC			(continuing)			Avalanche season is coming.																(CONTINUED)43   CONTINUED:										ANNE MARIE			Winter.  Two straight months of			night -- we may never get out of			bed.			(kisses him)			Which would suit me fine.										ERIC			Prolonged darkness makes people			crazy.										ANNE MARIE			Not me.  I'm equipped.She turns on a small S-VHS video camera and snaps off theroom lights.										ANNE MARIE			(continuing)			Allow me to give you a practical			demonstration of low-light			infrared photography...She does so by seductively undressing for the camera.  She'sSEEN on the MONITOR, illuminated by the "light" from the hotstove.  Eric appreciates the show.  He crawls toward her.										ANNE MARIE			(continuing)			High-tech in the wilderness.			Gets me excited, too.										ERIC			Come here...Laughing, he wrestles her to the rug.44   EXT.  HILLS ABOVE DEVIL'S CAULDRON - NIGHTThere is a full moon and a clear night sky.  Viking Bob'sstation wagon is parked out of sight.  He sits inside,waiting.He hears an ENGINE starting in the distance.  Sitting up, hegrabs some binoculars.HIS POVWilder's extended cab truck pulls out, heading west.45   EXT.  FOOTHILLS - NIGHTIn the bright moonlight, two people are seen in Wilder'struck as it speeds along a dirt road.Viking Bob follows at a discreet distance, headlights off.																(CONTINUED)45   CONTINUED:NEW ANGLEViking Bob turns and takes the literal high road -- a narrowtrail above the roadway that Wilder's truck is on.He zooms ahead and gets in front of his quarry, then dropsback down onto the road and waits in ambush.As Wilder's truck approaches, Viking Bob turns on his brightlights and crouches behind his car door with a shotgun.Wilder's truck screeches to a stop.CLOSERKenai gets out with his hands up.Viking Bob slowly approaches Wilder's truck.										VIKING BOB			Ben?No answer.  Viking Bob looks in the cab.  Kenai's passengeris Dixie, the Inupiat hooker.  Viking Bob grabs Kenai andpushes the barrel of the shotgun hard against his cheek.										VIKING BOB			(continuing)			Where's Ben Corbett?										KENAI			I have no argument with you, Bob.			Wilder said I could keep his			truck if I drove it ten miles			away from town.										VIKING BOB			Where did they go?										KENAI			He didn't say, but I would guess			the opposite way from here.Viking Bob shoves Kenai against the truck, then punches himfor good measure.  Cussing, he runs back to his stationwagon and drives off.																		CUT TO:46   INT.  THE TURTLE - REAR MODULE - NIGHTEric and Anne Marie are asleep.  Eric starts awake at the OSsound of a high-pitched vehicle HORN and an approachingENGINE.47   EXT.  HAUL ROAD - THE TURTLEEric pulls the door open.  Wilder is untying Corbett fromthe snowmobile.										WILDER			I got an emergency on my hands.Corbett smiles at Eric as he walks inside.48   INT.  THE TURTLEEric, Wilder and Corbett sit in the front module.  AnneMarie, nervous, wearing a down robe, serves coffee.  Shestares at Corbett, trying to reconcile his quiet demeanorwith what she saw that afternoon.  Corbett smiles at Eric.										WILDER			(to Eric)			...You give us a ride in the			Cessna you got hangared at the			pumping station, we'll be in			Fairbanks in a few hours.										ERIC			That's what we should've done in			the first place.										WILDER			I could've sat tight for the			transport, 'til Bob came poking			around.										CORBETT			(to Wilder; re Anne Marie)			A lot to ask, dragging him away			from such a good-looking girl --										ERIC			(irritated)			-- To take you to jail?  It'll be			my pleasure.										WILDER			(to Eric)			You better get some sleep.										CORBETT			Good idea.  Flying over mountains			can give you some nasty			surprises.  Go too low, one of			the clouds might have a big rock			inside it.																(CONTINUED)48   CONTINUED:										ERIC			(hard)			I'll get you there all right.Eric takes Anne Marie to the rear module, leaving Wilderwith his prisoner.																		CUT TO:49   INT.  THE TURTLE - LATER THAT NIGHTA bottle of Eric's Scotch sits almost empty on the tablebeside Wilder.  Wilder dozes in a chair facing Corbett.Corbett is awake.  He contorts his body to bring hishandcuff chain under his feet and get his hands in front ofhim.  He eyes Wilder's .357.  It's in a lefty Sam Browneholster.  No way to take it without waking Wilder.Corbett stands and inches toward the door.  As he pulls itopen, the insulation makes enough NOISE to stir Wilder.Wilder gets up and pushes Corbett back into his chair.										WILDER			Goddammit, I don't need this			aggravation.  I'll shoot you,			Ben.  Bank on it.										CORBETT			I don't want to hurt you, Sam.										WILDER			I'm not too old to knock the snot			out of you!										CORBETT			Nothing personal.Wilder's mind clears enough to realize that Corbett's handsare in front of him.  He reaches for his .357.  Corbettbutts into Wilder's midsection with his head.  Amazingly,Wilder stays on his feet.Corbett hurries back to the door.  Wilder lunges,bull-determined to hold onto him.  Corbett smashes Wilderacross the face with his clenched hands.  Wilder goes downhard, hitting his head on the table, and stays there.Corbett instinctively kneels to see if Wilder is stillbreathing.  But then, hearing MOVEMENT in the rear module,Corbett flees.50   INT.  THE TURTLE - REAR MODULEEric is pulling on his pants.51   INT.  THE TURTLE - FRONT MODULEEric rushes in.  The outside door is open and Wilder lies onthe floor.   His holster is empty.  Anne Marie comes in andcrosses to Wilder.Eric pulls a floor trap door open and digs through thecompany-issue equipment, coming up with a huge Remingtonbolt-action bear rifle.  Unfamiliar with weapons, Eric tearsopen a box of shells and fumbles to load the rifle.52   EXT.  THE TURTLECorbett is trying to start Eric's Scout.Eric fires a loud warning SHOT from the Turtle doorway.										ERIC			You want to try that handgun			against this rifle, go ahead.Corbett sits in the Scout for a long moment, weighing hisodds.  He takes his hands off the steering wheel...Eric SHOOTS again, this time SMASHING the side-view mirrorand window next to Corbett's head.Still handcuffed, Corbett gets out of the Scout.  Holdingthe .357 gingerly by the butt, he puts it on the hood of theScout.										CORBETT			Some day you might have to face			me without a gun.53   INT.  THE TURTLEEric leads Corbett in.  Anne Marie is cradling Wilder'shead. She's crying.  Eric looks at Wilder.  There is bloodcoming from his ear and he's fading fast.										WILDER			(thickly)			Fetch him back?			(Eric nods)			Don't let him walk...Eric nods again.  Wilder holds his gaze on Eric, then simplystops breathing.																(CONTINUED)53   CONTINUED:Eric is stunned.  Quietly, Corbett sits down.  Clutching therifle, Eric sits on the floor and glares at Corbett.										CORBETT			(softly)			Does he have people?										ERIC			(after a beat)			A daughter in Oregon.										CORBETT			Send him down to her.  There's			money in my duffel bag, back at			his cabin.Corbett's benign attitude is chilling.										ERIC			I better call in.He turns the shortwave radio on.  It SPARKS and burns out.The remainder of the liquor has been poured inside it.										ERIC			(continuing)			Thought of everything, huh?										CORBETT			Surviving is what I know --										ERIC			-- Killing is what you know.			(to Anne Marie)			Pack some food while I prep for			the flight.			(off her look)			I'm sure not gonna let him go.Covering Corbett with the rifle, Eric handcuffs him to thesturdy metal bracket of a wall unit.54   EXT.  CACHE, ALASKA - (MOVING SHOT) - NIGHTViking Bob approaches in his station wagon on a narrow dirtroad.  The huge night sky all but smothers the weak lightfrom the town up ahead.Cache seems a mistake -- a jumble of unpainted buildings inthe middle of a big nothing, twenty miles north of theArctic Circle.  Still, it's more animated than Devil'sCauldron.  There are a hundred permanent residents, severaltaverns and a three-store, fly-in shopping center.																(CONTINUED)54   CONTINUED:Even though it's the middle of the night, people roam thestreets, drinking and socializing.  With only a couple feetof snow on the ground, this is still summertime.  Understorefront awnings, drunken INDIANS sleep on the concrete.Viking Bob cruises the main drag, looking for the othertrappers.  He spots their jeep in front of adangerous-looking saloon called the "Bear Sign Inn."ANGLE WITH VIKING BOBas he parks and gets out of his station wagon.  He hears afamiliar VOICE around the side of the building.										LEMALLE (OS)			C'mon, girl, talk to me,			negotiate with me...55   EXT.  CACHE - ALLEYDrunk, LeMalle stands in an alley with a bored, acne-scarredOriental PROSTITUTE.  He weaves and leers, his hand stuckinside her blouse.										VIKING BOB			LeMalle.  We got a problem.			Where's Mitchell?										LEMALLE			Goddamn!  Viking Bob!  Mitchell's			inside, boring bastard...Grumbling, Viking Bob separates LeMalle from the Prostituteand drags him by the collar out of the alley.																		CUT TO:56   INT.  BEAR SIGN INN - NIGHTMeyerling's campaign posters cover the walls.  Many havebeen pulled down and muddied underfoot by the drunken crowd.In a booth covered with grafitti, Mitchell squints and workson his scrimshaw.  LeMalle, somewhat sober, eats a plate ofmuktuk -- whale blubber.  Viking Bob pours him more coffee.										MITCHELL			(to Viking Bob)			...Ben never sent a signal.										VIKING BOB			Musta never got a chance to					-more-																(CONTINUED)56   CONTINUED:										VIKING BOB (Cont'd)			activate.  Wilder's aiming to			take him to Fairbanks, we can			count on that much.										MITCHELL			Meaning he'll need a plane.										VIKING BOB			Closest planes for hire are here			in Cache.										MITCHELL			Hang on...			(to LeMalle)			Remember that Cessna we saw at			the pumping station on the Haul			Road?  Belongs to the guy they			got patrolling the pipeline.										LEMALLE			There you go.  Wilder's always			chummy with the fuckin'			Bambi-lovers.										VIKING BOB			It's a long shot.										MITCHELL			You got a better idea?57   EXT.  HAUL ROAD - THE TURTLE - DAWNWisps of light cut across the cold blue sky.Eric comes out of the Turtle, leaving the front door ajar.He throws a knapsack of supplies into the back of the Scout.58   INT.  THE TURTLECorbett's right hand is still handcuffed to the wall unit.Terrified about being alone with Corbett, Anne Mariecautiously puts a cup of coffee in front of him.										CORBETT			How long have you been up north?										ANNE MARIE			(after a beat)			Six months.										CORBETT			Can't be.  Too keen a sense of			this place in your pictures.																(CONTINUED)58   CONTINUED:										ANNE MARIE			Six months this time.  I was born			in the Aleutians.										CORBETT			Your people Alaskan?Anne Marie doesn't want to talk to a killer, but Corbett isso soft-spoken and charming that she answers despiteherself.										ANNE MARIE			My dad was a Navy doctor.										CORBETT			Knew you had no native blood,			even with your dark hair.  Blue			eyes give you away.  My wife had			blue eyes.										ANNE MARIE			Had?										CORBETT			She's dead.										ANNE MARIE			Oh.										CORBETT			Had some good years.  Met her in			'66.  She showed up one day in			Coldfoot.  No one knew her.  One			Sunday morning, she marched into			a bar and announced she was			available as a wife to the			highest bidder.  Didn't work out			in three months, she'd return the			money and leave, no hard			feelings.			(off Anne Marie's amazed				look)			My bid was eight thousand			dollars.  Beautiful girl.										ANNE MARIE			How did she..?										CORBETT			I was gone, in September, laying			traplines.  She went to our cache			for some meat.  Got mauled by a			bear.  Tore open her skull.					-more-																(CONTINUED)58   CONTINUED:  (2)										CORBETT (Cont'd)			Might've lived if she got help,			but the exposed part of her brain			froze.Anne Marie shudders.  Smiling good-naturedly, Corbett looksaround, spotting the package Anne Marie's new dress came in.										CORBETT			(continuing)			What about you -- why come back?			Classy girl like you seems more			suited to the finer things.										ANNE MARIE			That's why I left, moved to			Washington.  When I met Eric I			was doing day shoots -- products			and fashion, mostly.  Pretty			dull.  Eric was teaching college,			and then he got the job with			Northland Oil.  We wanted to stay			together, so we talked them into			funding some wilderness			photography... and here I am.As she's talking, the Turtle ROCKS slightly.  She looks outthe tiny window.HER POV - THROUGH WINDOWEric is putting Wilder's body inside an enclosed storagecompartment built flush into the side of the Turtle.BACK TO SCENEHorrified, Anne Marie turns away.										CORBETT			You should know something.										ANNE MARIE			I don't want to talk any more.										CORBETT			Wasn't my intention to hurt			Wilder.  I'm telling you the			truth.  I liked the man.  I only			meant to get loose... to survive.			Your cheechako boyfriend better			understand that.			(beat)			Listen, I've got some money put			away --																(CONTINUED)58   CONTINUED:  (3)										ANNE MARIE			-- Don't ever think you can buy			Eric off, Mr. Corbett --										ERIC (OS)			-- Cheechako?Eric comes in, none too thrilled about Anne Marie chattingwith Corbett.										ANNE MARIE			(translating)			Outsider.He carefully stuffs Wilder's magnum in his belt and ignoresAnne Marie's disparaging look as he does.										ERIC			(to Corbett)			Let's go.										ANNE MARIE			Wait a second.59   INT.  THE TURTLE - REAR MODULEAnne Marie leads Eric out of earshot from Corbett.  Erickeeps a cautious eye on him.										ANNE MARIE			Maybe you should drive him into			Devil's Cauldron, let them decide			what to do with him.										ERIC			(reassuringly)			Fairbanks is a three-hour flight.			I'll be back by dinnertime.Realizing he's determined, she sighs and kisses him.										ERIC			(continuing)			Be careful, okay?										ANNE MARIE			That's my line.																		CUT TO:60   EXT.  HAUL ROAD & FELDSPAR CREEK - DAWNEric and Corbett drive toward the deserted pumping station.They cross over a prefabricated steel portal bridge spanninga fast-running creek.61   INT.  SCOUT - (MOVING SHOT)The wind whips through the shot-out wing window.  Corbett'shandcuffs are lashed to the seat frame with sturdy nylonrope.62   EXT.  PUMPING STATIONThe pumping station consists of three corrugated steelbuildings.  The largest is an airplane hangar.Just beyond the hangar is a narrow blacktop landing striprunning parallel to the Haul Road.63   INT.  SCOUT - ANGLE THROUGH WINDOW - (MOVING SHOT)Eric pulls up to the hangar.  Suddenly, LeMalle steps outfrom behind the building.64   EXT.  PUMPING STATIONLeMalle recognizes the International Scout.  He swings hisrifle up to stop it.Eric slams it in reverse and SCREECHES back around thehangar.										MITCHELL (OS)			Aim for the tires!LeMalle FIRES as the Scout rounds the corner.  He hits afender, doing no damage.  Angry, he runs after the vehicle.65   INT.  SCOUT - (MOVING SHOT)Eric slams on the brakes and turns the Scout around.										CORBETT			Let me out and keep going.  They			catch us, they'll kill you.Eric doesn't need any convincing of that.  He tears out.66   EXT.  PUMPING STATIONMitchell runs out in front of them and BLASTS the front ofthe Scout with his .45 Peacemaker.  Steam HISSES out of theradiator.  Eric floors it and races past Mitchell, almosthitting him.																(CONTINUED)66   CONTINUED:Mitchell and LeMalle SHOOT at the retreating vehicle.  Oneof the Scout's back tires gets blown out.67   INT.  SCOUT - (MOVING SHOT)Eric slows, shifts into four-wheel drive and continues,driving on the rim.68   EXT.  PUMPING STATIONChewing an unlit cheroot, Viking Bob pulls up next toMitchell and LeMalle in the trappers' jeep.  They pile in.69   EXT.  HAUL ROADEric backtracks as fast as possible in the crippled vehicle.70   INT.  TRAPPERS' JEEP - THROUGH WINDSHIELD - (MOVING SHOT)As the Scout heads for the Feldspar Creek bridge, itdisappears from sight over a hill.71   EXT.  HAUL ROAD & FELDSPAR CREEKViking Bob zooms over Feldspar Creek.  They come over therise, but the Scout still can't be seen ahead of them.REVERSE ANGLEThe Scout sits idling in a depression near the creek bed,below the Haul Road.  Above, the trappers speed past withoutnoticing.After giving the trappers time to get around the next bend,Eric drives the Scout up the embankment and crosses backover the bridge.72   INT.  SCOUTEric stops the vehicle.  He grabs a five-gallon gas can anda piece of cloth from the back.73   EXT.  HAUL ROAD & FELDSPAR CREEKThe prefab bridge is the transportable type used by the ArmyCorps of Engineers, left over from the building of thepipeline.  Eric stuffs the gas can between the abutment andthe honeycombed underside of the bridge.  He puts the raginside the spout of the can, lights it with a match and runslike hell back to the Scout.74   EXT.  HAUL ROADThe trappers realize their quarry is missing.  Viking Bobslams on the brakes and looks around.75   INT.  SCOUT - (MOVING SHOT)Eric speeds away.										CORBETT			They'll still catch us.  All			you're doing is pissing them off.76   EXT.  HAUL ROAD & FELDSPAR CREEKThe gasoline can EXPLODES, tearing the bridge couplings awayfrom the concrete abutment.77   EXT.  HAUL ROADThe trappers see the explosion behind them.  They turnaround and head toward it.78   EXT.  PUMPING STATION - HANGAREric parks the Scout sideways to block the way to theairstrip.With the magnum at the ready, Eric cuts Corbett's handcuffsloose from the seat and hurries him toward the hangar.The leeward side of the structure is a huge metal door onrollers.  Eric unlocks it and rolls it back.  Inside is aCessna 182, dusted with snow and ice blown through thecracks by crosswinds.  Eric brushes the windshield with hissleeve.79   EXT.  HAUL ROAD & FELDSPAR CREEKThe trappers pull up and find the far side of the bridgeburning and disconnected from the creek bank.80   INT.  HANGAR - CESSNAEric helps Corbett into the cockpit, then secures hishandcuffs to the frame of the seat with more nylon rope.81   EXT.  HAUL ROAD & FELDSPAR CREEKViking Bob assesses the damage to the bridge.  Loose fromthe abutments, it wobbles like a diving board.  Below, thewater is too deep and fast-moving to be traversable.82   INT.  HANGAR - CESSNAEric tries to turn the ENGINE over.  The starter is sluggishfrom cold and lack of use.83   EXT.  HAUL ROAD & FELDSPAR CREEKViking Bob looks at the others, bursting with frustration.He climbs into the driver's seat.										VIKING BOB			Get in.  We can jump it.They hop in.  He SCREECHES backwards to get a running start,REVS the engine, pops the clutch, and tears toward thebridge.As they reach the midpoint of the bridge it begins to buckleunder them.  With a sickening WRENCHING, the crossbarsupports crumple.The jeep flies through the still-burning gasoline, becomesairborne, and SCRAPES to a rude stop on the edge of thepavement on the other side, the back wheels dangling inspace.LeMalle and Mitchell gingerly get out and push the ass endof the jeep onto solid earth.84   INT.  HANGAREric finally STARTS the plane and taxis out onto the landingstrip.85   EXT.  PUMPING STATIONThe trappers drive up to where the Scout blocks their path.They pile out of their jeep and run toward the landingstrip.86   INT.  CESSNA - (AERIAL SHOT)It picks up speed and takes off.ANGLE THROUGH WINDOW - (AERIAL SHOT)Below, the trappers watch the plane zoom over their heads.LeMalle points his carbine at it, but Viking Bob pushes therifle down.87   INT.  CESSNA - (AERIAL SHOT)Corbett scowls as he sees the trappers helpless below him.88   EXT.  PUMPING STATIONViking Bob watches, wide-eyed with fury.  Mitchell spits.LeMalle punches the wall.  Then he turns and repeatedlyBLASTS the Scout, parked nearby, with his carbine.89   INT.  CESSNA - (AERIAL SHOT)Eric's knapsack, an emergency kit and several five-galloncans of aviation fuel are tucked behind the seats.										ERIC			How the hell were they smart			enough to find us?										CORBETT			Smart?  Sure.  That's why I'm			sitting in this plane and they're			down there blowing me kisses.Eric retracts the landing gear and banks toward thesouthwest.  Corbett notices that Eric seems a little unsureof the controls.										CORBETT			(continuing)			Been driving long?										ERIC			I needed a pilot's license to			take the job here, so I got one			in six weeks.										CORBETT			That makes the flight more			interesting.Eric ignores the jibe.  He stays at 2,000 feet, making thelandscape all the more immediate.Corbett stares out the window and broods.  He spots an open,snow-covered area where some dark blotches mar thewhiteness.										CORBETT			(continuing)			See the blood?  Pack of wolves			took down a moose.  Greedy,			gut-ripping sons of bitches.  I'd			kill the last wolf on earth,			right in front of the President			of the U.S.  Stinking, cowardly			predator, the wolf.																(CONTINUED)89   CONTINUED:										ERIC			Sounds like professional			jealousy.										CORBETT			Hunting and trapping was a damn			fine life.			(beat)			Me and Mitchell, Bob and LeMalle,			we were teams.  I'd always go			with Mitchell.  Good man,			Mitchell.  I'd let Bob worry			about goddamn LeMalle.  We'd hire			a plane in October.  On the way			to a dirt airstrip somewhere,			we'd drop supplies.  We'd land,			tell the pilot to come back for			us a few days before Christmas.ANOTHER ANGLE - (AERIAL SHOT)While talking in an even tone, Corbett intently studies theinstrument panel and scans the landscape below.										CORBETT			The idea was to get to the			supplies before the bears did.			Along the route we'd set our			traps.  Made our year's living in			three months.Corbett spots a flat plateau farther in the mountains, abovethe tree line.										CORBETT			(continuing)			Lot of times we didn't even have			a landing strip.  We'd set down			on a plateau, like that one			there.  Yeah, that one's easy;			you could glide right in...Suddenly, he turns in the seat and pins Eric against thedoor with his left foot.The plane flies erratically.  With his right foot, Corbettkicks the fuel jettison lever on the instrument panel,jamming it on.90   EXT.  CESSNA - (AERIAL SHOT)The lever, used to empty the fuel tanks in case ofemergency, does so with great expediency.  All the gas isinstantly discharged.91   INT.  CESSNA - (AERIAL SHOT)Corbett releases Eric and calmly sits back up in his seat.Eric rubs his neck, incredulous.  Corbett's move was toofast and too outrageous.  In a moment, the engine SPUTTERSto a stop.  Eric struggles to hold the stick steady andglide the plane down to the plateau Corbett pointed out.										CORBETT			Hope you got your money's worth			on those lessons.92   EXT.  CESSNA - (AERIAL SHOT)There's an even chance of hitting a mountain instead of theplateau.  Eric pushes the Cessna's nose down.  The plateaucomes up fast.The plane drops lower and lower, pitching and yawing in thewind.It CRASH LANDS, its metal underbelly SCREECHING as it hitsthe jagged granite under the snow.  It stops suddenly,flipping tail over nose.93   INT.  CESSNAIt rests upside down in the snow.  The men are dazed.Behind Eric, one of the extra fuel cans, now hanging upsidedown, leaks gas.  In front of him, the engine is ON FIRE.Eric undoes his seat belt and rights himself, but his leggets caught in the tangled belt.  He pulls out a Swiss Armyknife and cuts the rope binding Corbett's handcuffs to theseat.  Corbett pushes the passenger door open.  Panicking,Eric tries to pull loose of his seat belt, painfullywrenching his ankle.94   EXT.  CESSNACorbett rolls out into the snow.  With no time to grab hissupplies, Eric clambers from the wreckage.  He and Corbettcrawl/roll down the incline of the plateau, away from theplane.A moment later the leaking gas reaches the burning engineand the Cessna EXPLODES.WIDEREric tries to stand.  He cries out and falls into thepowdery snow, clutching at his ankle.																(CONTINUED)94   CONTINUED:Corbett realizes Eric is at a disadvantage.  But before hecan bolt, Eric grabs for the .357 magnum under his coat.  Helies on the snow, gasping, pointing the gun at Corbett'smidsection.										ERIC			Stay put!										CORBETT			You got the belly to look me in			the eye and pull the trigger?Eric cocks the gun's hammer with his thumb.										ERIC			Be no different than shooting a			rabid dog.The men face off for a tense moment.Corbett smiles and zips up his jacket, dispelling thetension.  Letting the hammer down, Eric looks back at theburning plane.										ERIC			(continuing)			Next time you want to kill			yourself, don't include me.										CORBETT			I took the odds on getting down			in one piece, and I made it.  Now			we're in my territory.										ERIC			With light clothing and no			supplies, this is nobody's			territory.										CORBETT			You sound like the tourists.			Know-it-alls who read about			survival in a magazine.  Fuck			you.  You won't make it off this			mountain.Corbett drops his facade of conviviality.  Eric is too angryto be intimidated.  He takes the scarf from around his neckand wraps his ankle with it.										ERIC			Let's go.																(CONTINUED)94   CONTINUED:  (2)										CORBETT			(re Eric's ankle)			I'm not gonna carry you out of			here.										ERIC			That's right.  You're not.										CORBETT			Look, take these cuffs off.  We			need to work together.										ERIC			Forget it.Eric holds his wristwatch up, points the hour hand at thesun, counts forward to noon, and, accordingly, makes anapproximation of their direction.										ERIC			(continuing)			Last time I checked the flight			plan, we were forty miles			northeast of Devil's Cauldron.			Southwest is that way.  No sense			waiting for a goddamn taxi.Grimacing with pain, he gets up.  Clutching the magnum, heshoves Corbett in front of him and starts walking.  Corbettfrowns -- it's tough to trudge through the snow with hisarms cuffed tightly behind his back.Eric looks around and tries not to let his emotions registeron his face.  They wouldn't be farther from the rest ofhumanity on another planet.  Smelling fear on Eric, Corbettenjoys the view.  And waits.95   EXT.  ENDICOTT MOUNTAINS - LATER THAT DAYThe Endicott range is full of jagged peaks, icy streams andgnarled tundra valleys.  Squinting in the glare of the snow,Eric and Corbett trek through the grandiose Gates of theArctic area.  The smoldering plane wreckage is a hard-won,snow-covered mile behind them.Intricate patterns of fragmented rock, strips of scruffytundra and bedrock outcrops produce lonely, forebodingmosaics upon the landscape.  The air is still.  The silenceis itself a disconcerting presence.  Ten miles ahead and twothousand feet lower, the forest begins.  But here, on therock face of the mountains, Eric and Corbett might as wellbe in a desert.																(CONTINUED)95   CONTINUED:										ERIC			It'll be interesting, trying to			build a fire without any wood.										CORBETT			Welcome to the environment, Mr.			Ecology.  Out here, one mistake			is all you get.Determined and dour, Eric pushes on.										CORBETT			(continuing)			Why in hell you care enough about			me to die taking me in?										ERIC			I don't plan on dying.It's all academic.  The sheer magnitude of the surroundingsmakes them feel they're the only people in the world.																		DISSOLVE TO:96   EXT.  ENDICOTT MOUNTAINS - DUSKThe sun drops behind the mountains.  A wind whips up,chilling the men through their clothing.  Eric tries not toshiver.  He spies a small rock formation with a graniteelbow protruding from it, making an enclosed triangle ofsolid rock.										ERIC			We'll stop here, dig out a snow			shelter.										CORBETT			Snow shelter.  Okay.  You dig.			I'll have a little sit-down.Corbett sits on his haunches and smiles while Eric digs nearthe rocks.  Although he knows Corbett is testing his everymove, Eric refuses to let his patronizing air get to him.										CORBETT			(continuing)			Even in the drifts, this snow's			too powdery to make a shelter.			When you're done jerking around,			reach down the back of my coat.Eric approaches him suspiciously.  He puts his hand downthrough Corbett's collar.  Something is stowed inside ahomemade flap in the lining of his coat.  Eric pulls out a																(CONTINUED)96   CONTINUED:folded nylon tarp with twine threaded through cornereyeholes.  He shakes the eight by eight orange tarp open...																		CUT TO:97   EXT.  NYLON SHELTER - EVENINGEric and Corbett have stretched the tarp out tent-style nextto the granite rock formation, making a minimal butfunctional refuge from the cold night.98   INT.  NYLON SHELTERThe men huddle inside the tarp.  Eric keeps a wary eye onCorbett -- at all times he treats him like a rattlesnake.Eric unwraps his ankle and rubs it.  It's swollen to thesize of a softball.										CORBETT			Still quite a hike to Devil's			Cauldron.			(beat)			Days.  A long stretch to go			without sleep, my friend.  You			can hide behind that pistol for			now, but take your eyes off me			long enough to sneeze --										ERIC			-- Turn around.While poking the .357 in Corbett's ribs, Eric one-handedlyunlocks Corbett's right manacle, pulls his arm through thegranite elbow, then locks it back up again.  He's learning.																		FADE TO:99   EXT.  HAUL ROAD - DREAM  - (AS IN SCENE 3)Eric is hurrying along the pipeline in his business suit,following the predator's paw prints in the snow.  He peersahead and his prey becomes visible.  But it isn't a wolf,it's Corbett.  His hands and face are covered in blood.																		END DREAM100  EXT.  ENDICOTT MOUNTAINS - DAWNThe sun peeks over the mountain tops, drenching them withlight and color.101  INT.  NYLON SHELTERThe light hits Eric's eyes.  He bolts awake from a fitfulsleep.  Corbett sits, already awake, looking like he'duproot the rock to which he's chained if he could.  He waitsfor an opportunity -- any opportunity -- with the patienceof a vulture.																		CUT TO:102  EXT.  ENDICOTT MOUNTAINS - SMALL VALLEY - DAYEric and Corbett trudge up to the bank of a frozen streambisecting their path.  It's simple -- to continue, they haveto cross it.  Corbett takes in the scenery, in no particularhurry.  Frustrated, but making dead sure he's always got thedrop on Corbett,  Eric puts a tentative foot on the ice.										CORBETT			Ice is too thin -- you can see			the water moving underneath.										ERIC			We're not sitting here 'til			November.  There's a cargo plane			coming to Devil's Cauldron in			four days, and I'm putting you on			it.										CORBETT			We get wet, we freeze to death in			a couple hours.										ERIC			I've been on ice like this when I			was a kid, skating.  Spread your			weight, keep moving.  Go on.Corbett is not about to be outdone in the guts department bysomeone with a Master's Degree.										CORBETT			(gestures 'you first')			Be my guest.										ERIC			(points .357)			I'm right behind you.Frowning, Corbett tentatively steps onto the ice and inchesacross the fifteen feet to the other bank.NEW ANGLEHe turns and, indeed, Eric is right behind him.																(CONTINUED)102  CONTINUED:										CORBETT			Wait 'til I'm across!Eric doesn't want to be too far from his prisoner.  He keepscoming.  The ice GROANS and HISSES under their weight.Corbett is three feet from solid ground.  He drops to hisknees, then stomach, and rolls like a log the rest of theway.Eric splays out on the ice and crabwalks across.  The icemakes an ominous CRACKING and water begins to seep throughair holes.Standing, Corbett weighs his chances of bolting from Eric.Eric crawls doubletime.  He makes it onto solid ground justas the ice under him breaks off in a big, thin, clear plate.CLOSEREric sits on some rocks.  Corbett glares it him.										CORBETT			Most dangerous thing in the			world: A regular Joe, in over his			head.  You trying to prove how			tough you are for me, or for			yourself?										ERIC			It wasn't my idea to crash the			plane.										CORBETT			Let's camp.  There's grayling			under this ice. I'll snare some			for dinner.										ERIC			(standing)			We've got another two hours of			daylight.										CORBETT			Pushing it is flat wrong.  All			you prove is your ignorance about			breaking trail.Eric is not convinced.   Grumbling, Corbett gets up andtakes the lead as they continue southward.103  INT.  THE TURTLE - DARKROOM - DAYTrying to keep busy, Anne Marie develops some prints in thedarkroom she's made from the front bathroom.  She glances ather watch and sighs, her mind on Eric's overdue return.104  INT.  THE TURTLE - FRONT MODULEAnne Marie comes out of the darkroom and hangs the prints upto dry.  Outside, (OS), a car HORN blares a couple of times.Grinning, she runs to the door.105  EXT. / INT.  THE TURTLEMeyerling's Dodge truck pulls up.  Anne Marie comes outside.Her smile wilts when she sees it's not Eric.  As Meyerlingclimbs the embankment to the Turtle, he glances at Wilder'ssnowmobile parked alongside the Turtle.										MEYERLING			I've been trying to raise you on			the shortwave for two days.He pushes past Anne Marie and goes into the Turtle.										ANNE MARIE			Have you talked to Eric?										MEYERLING			I have not, but I very much want			to.  What do you know about the			trouble in Devil's Cauldron?										ANNE MARIE			I was hoping you had some news --										MEYERLING			-- Get this straight: I'm the			District Supervisor.  Whatever			you do reflects on me.  It wasn't			my idea to bring you people up			here, but I'm stuck with you.			You are absolutely not to involve			yourself in any local disputes.			Whichever side you take, you			alienate the other.  Mr. Corbett			is quite well-known in this			region.  People admire him --										ANNE MARIE			-- Corbett's a killer.																(CONTINUED)105  CONTINUED:										MEYERLING			I don't care if Ben Corbett makes			meatloaf out of nuns and babies,			he's not your concern.			Understood?Anne Marie just glares at him.  Meyerling examines thedamaged shortwave.										MEYERLING			(continuing)			What happened here?										ANNE MARIE			The radio's on the fritz.										MEYERLING			Where'd you say Eric is?										ANNE MARIE			Somewhere along the pipeline.										MEYERLING			What about that hotheaded			marshal, Sam Wilder?  I heard he			was in the middle of this mess.										ANNE MARIE			Sam?  We haven't seen him.										MEYERLING			Really.  I thought maybe that was			his snowmobile outside.			(beat)			By the way -- your truck also 'on			the fritz?'										ANNE MARIE			(blanching)			Why?										MEYERLING			It's out by the pumping station,			shot full of holes.Noting Anne Marie's distressed reaction to this news, hecrosses to the door.										MEYERLING			(continuing)			Still nothing to tell me?			(no reply)			Suit yourself.106  EXT.  ENDICOTT MOUNTAINS - DAYEric limps further down from the mountains.  Corbett keepspace in front of him and his magnum.  As their altitudedecreases, there is ever thicker vegetation.Their tracks in the snow stretch up behind them into thedistance.  The magnificence and grandeur of the surroundingscannot be overstated.  Picture the most rustic, overwhelmingwilderness imaginable, and then make it ten times larger.NEW ANGLE - LATERThe men's way is once again interrupted, this time by asheer granite drop. The steep decline would be tough tonegotiate with mountaineering equipment and proper footwear.Corbett peers over the edge and shakes his head.										CORBETT			Have to backtrack, find another			way down.										ERIC			Forget it.  It would take days.										CORBETT			(assessing the drop)			Going to be a bit of a challenge			with handcuffs on.Eric realizes he's right.  After some deliberation, Ericcautiously approaches him.  With the .357 cocked and ready,he undoes one of the cuffs, leaving them hanging fromCorbett's wrist.  He then unthreads the nylon twine fromCorbett's tarp.ANGLE - GRANITE SHEEREric and Corbett are tied, belt to belt, with the nylonrope.  Corbett inches down first, feet spread for maximumfooting, gloveless hands grasping at anything.Eric mimics Corbett's moves and follows the same path.Unable to grasp the rocks effectively, he stops and takeshis gloves off.  Continuing, he winces -- the rock is coldand sharp.  His hands are soon numb and bloody.  Even in thedry, below-freezing air, Eric is sweating.He looks down and hangs on more tightly.  Sliding to levelground two hundred feet below would pummel him to hamburger.Corbett pauses and rests his cheek against the rocks.  Ericis right above him.																(CONTINUED)106  CONTINUED:Suddenly, Corbett's foot slips.  His right handinstinctively goes for a hold.  The dangling handcuffs snareon a protuberance, knocking him off balance.The fulcrum of Corbett's body leans out into the empty air.Eric moves down a little, braces himself and extends hisleg, giving Corbett something to grab.  Corbett takes holdof Eric's shoe and tries to teeter back against the rockwall.  Adrenaline screams through Eric's system.Corbett looks up at Eric.  A careless move will send themboth tumbling.  Eric clutches harder at the rocks and waitsfor the worst.After a long moment, Corbett regains his balance and lets goof Eric's foot.  He continues his descent.  Eric lets outhis breath and tries to swallow.  His mouth is as dry as thegranite.																		CUT TO:107  EXT.  TREELINE - LATER THAT DAYHandcuffed again, Corbett hikes in front of Eric along thetop of some foothills.  Now and again he glances behind,gauging Eric's weariness, waiting for a moment'scarelessness.  Around them there is heavy vegetation now --snow-covered sedge tussocks, knee-deep muskeg and twistedthickets that are treacherous and slow to tramp through.Above them, ominous clouds and sharp, cold winds are comingdown from the north.But below, a mile ahead, the edge of the forest is like thehem of a great green garment stretching endlessly southward.The combination of altitude and latitude creates anamazingly sharp topographical dividing line.  Within a fewthousand yards, the landscape abruptly changes from scrubbrush to thick coniferous forest.										CORBETT			Better get into those trees			before that squall blows down.Then, Corbett pauses as a walloping sound ECHOES across thefoothills.Just ahead, two enormous bull moose are fighting.  They rameach other with six-foot-wide antlers.Corbett stares, transfixed, admiring.										CORBETT			You talk about ecology -- there			it is.																(CONTINUED)107  CONTINUED:Eric turns, surprised at Corbett's unabashed awe.Catching the men's smell the moose bound away, and the spellis broken.108  EXT.  MINING SETTLEMENT - EVENINGViking Bob, Mitchell and LeMalle head somberly back toCache.  They drive along a hydraulic gold mining sluice on anearby river and come into town.As the trappers park their jeep, some MINERS greet them,shouting over the ROAR of the water.										MINER #1			Where's Ben at?										MITCHELL			You'll want to hear about it with			a drink in your mitt.																		CUT TO:109  INT.  BEAR SIGN INN - CACHE - EVENINGOutside, a STORM rages.  LeMalle is drunk, but still able tostuff himself with a thick steak.  Mitchell drums hisfingers and listens to everyone talk.  With them at the barare the Miners, LOGGERS, CAT SKINNERS (bulldozer drivers)and some leathery WOMEN.										MINER #1			...Figures, Corbett getting			hauled off by a Federal marshal.			God almighty, how I hate the U.S.			government.										LOGGER			We should pass a hat.  Send			Corbett a few bucks.  We owe him.Someone's hat comes off.  It quickly gets filled with bills.										MINER #1			Government and business.  They			ruined this state.			(re Meyerling poster)			Like that little weasel, for			instance.										WOMAN CAT DRIVER			'People's Friend,' my lily-white					-more-																(CONTINUED)109  CONTINUED:										WOMAN CAT DRIVER (Cont'd)			butt.  I heard Northland got a			conservation program, up along			the pipeline.										LOGGER			Hold it.  Meyerling told me that			stuff's nothing but P.R. for the			TV and papers down in Juneau.										LEMALLE			He's full of shit.  We got run			out of there by some fuckhead			driving a Northland truck.NEW ANGLEViking Bob hurries in and whispers something in Mitchell'sear.  Mitchell shoots LeMalle a look and gets up.  Thethreesome hastily exit, leaving behind the hat full ofmoney.110  INT.  BEAR SIGN INNViking Bob, Mitchell and LeMalle stand in a quiet cornernear the front door.										VIKING BOB			I called the cops in Fairbanks,			see when Ben is standing trial.			They don't know shit about Ben or			Wilder!										LEMALLE			Get the fuck out of here.										VIKING BOB			It's a three-hour flight.  They			shoulda got there yesterday.										LEMALLE			Maybe they went back to Devil's			Cauldron.										MITCHELL			Naah, Wilder knows we got friends			in town.										VIKING BOB			That plane might've been to throw			us off the track.  Remember the			bait-and-switch Wilder pulled			with the Eskimo and his truck?																(CONTINUED)110  CONTINUED:										LEMALLE			Wilder still woulda made			Fairbanks by now.  Fuck a duck!			Ben musta got loose.										VIKING BOB			Okay, let's backtrack, try to			pick up his trail.  You know the			kid out on the pipeline that			Wilder's buddies with?										MITCHELL			(smiles)			We were just talking about him.111  EXT.  FOREST - CAMPSITE PREPARATION MONTAGE - EVENINGThe STORM brings gusting winds and below-zero temperatures.Eric and Corbett move through the storm in slow motion.Both recognize the need for a truce in the face of a commonenemy.  The snow and wind cut through their clothing likerazors.  They poke around for dead wood with which to make afire.  The trees are small and healthy; little is found.										CORBETT			(shouts over WIND)			Just gather birch.  It'll smoke			like hell, but it'll burn green.Awestruck by the intensity of the storm, Eric tears branchesfrom birch trees and piles them in Corbett's handcuffedarms.They hurry back to the nylon tarp, strung between two treetrunks, FLAPPING violently in the storm.  Hunching againstthe wind, Eric pulls off his gloves and reaches in hispocket for some precious matches.  His fingers are so coldhe can't hold them, and he drops several in the wet snow.Angry, he shoots a look at Corbett. Corbett is holding hishands inside his coat.  He pulls them out and quickly takesthe remaining matches from Eric.Crouching down, back to the wind, Corbett grasps a matchbetween his numb fingers and awkwardly strikes it.  He holdsthe flame next to the kindling.  It doesn't catch fireimmediately.  Corbett lets the match burn out against hisfingers.  He tries another match.  This time, a flame takeshold but could succumb to the wind at any moment.On his knees and elbows, Corbett nurses along the tiny fire.Eric can't control his shivering.  He gets on his knees nextto Corbett and holds his coat open to further baffle thewind.  Corbett keeps his hands cupped around the flame, not																(CONTINUED)111  CONTINUED:caring that it's burning his skin.  Finally the fire beginsto grow.  Relieved, Eric and Corbett look at each other witha glimmer of a grudging mutual respect.The fire, now unattended, is smoky as Corbett predicted, butburns along nicely.																		END MONTAGE112  EXT. / INT.  NYLON SHELTER - NIGHTCorbett and Eric sit under the nylon shelter.  The STORMrages outside.  Eric empties his pockets of Eskimo potato,reindeer lichens, bistsort sorrel and other plants for hisdinner.Corbett has fashioned a snare from his boot laces and a treebranch, and placed some crushed roots as aromatic bait nextto a small animal burrow outside the shelter.  A squirrelsticks his nose out of the burrow to investigate.Corbett sits catlike, ready to pounce.  Eric grimaces asCorbett yanks on the snare and the squirrel's SQUEALS (OS)abruptly cease.113  INT.  NYLON SHELTERCorbett pulls his dead dinner inside.										CORBETT			I need your pocket knife.			(Eric hesitates)			I have to eat, too.After a beat, Eric pulls open the small blade on his SwissArmy knife and pushes it with his foot to Corbett.  Smiling,Corbett admires the fancy knife.  Then, BELOW FRAME, heskins and guts his catch.										CORBETT			(continuing)			Damn lucky this storm didn't blow			down when we were on those			baldheaded mountains.  It			continues, we better stay put.										ERIC			It could blow over tomorrow, too.										CORBETT			I'm still figuring: You're either			real brave or real dumb.																(CONTINUED)113  CONTINUED:										ERIC			I just want this over with.										CORBETT			(laughs)			Where in hell Meyerling dig you			up?										ERIC			You know Meyerling?										CORBETT			Sure.  The People's Friend.  Kiss			your ass with precision if			there's a vote in it.Corbett eats the squirrel Eskimo-style.  Raw.  He uses theknife like a native, too, holding the meat in his teeth,then expertly cutting off a mouthful with a quick slice.Eric stares, disgusted.  Off his look:										CORBETT			(continuing)			Always eat your meat raw when the			weather's cold.  Does you more			good, long as the entrails look			clean.Corbett uses snow and the squirrel's fur to wipe the bloodfrom his face, then wipes the knife off and lays it, open,next to his leg.										ERIC			I'll hold onto that.With a wry smile, Corbett pushes it back over to Eric.While Eric eats his dinner, Corbett listens to the STORM andwatches him eat.										CORBETT			Sure love to know where you fit			in up here.										ERIC			I'm here to do my job.										CORBETT			You want to fool yourself about			that bullshit job, fine.  Damn			shame you have to drag your			girlfriend along.  You think a			woman like that will be happy			making moose stew for a man					-more-																(CONTINUED)113  CONTINUED:  (2)										CORBETT (Cont'd)			making your salary?  Look, I'll			give you five grand.  Take the			money and go home where you both			belong.										ERIC			Don't fucking insult me.Corbett smiles -- maybe he's beginning to understand Eric.										CORBETT			Folks come to Alaska for a real			short list of reasons:  Money.			Adventure.  Solitude.  Those			cover most everyone.  But			frontiers also draw another type			of man.  One with a demon in his			gut.  He comes to the edge of the			world to face that demon, and lay			it to rest.										ERIC			Yeah?										CORBETT			Yep.  Sometimes they do, but			usually they end up crazy or			dead.Eric ponders Corbett's words as he eats.114  INT.  THE TURTLE - NIGHTAnne Marie is frantic with worry.  She has the AM/FM RADIOon for company.										RADIO (VO)			...This is "Tundra Topics" on			KFAR.  Remember, as the nights			get longer, be sure to stay on a			regular sleep schedule.  The			depression from the coming of			winter that doctors call			'Seasonal Affective Disorder' --			or 'Arctic Blue' to us lay folk			-- is preventable.Anne Marie tunes the radio to "Pipeline of the North" onKIAK.																(CONTINUED)114  CONTINUED:										RADIO (VO)			(continuing)			...John Byers was hospitalized in			Fairbanks today for an infection			in an abscessed tooth.  Mr. Byers			had a toothache and attempted to			remove the tooth himself with a			pair of pliers...Suddenly, a BUMP rocks the Turtle.  Someone is outside.Startled, Anne Marie turns the lights off and looks out thewindow.No sign of a vehicle or a person.  As she pulls on herparka, she glances at the big rifle leaning against thewall, but doesn't touch it.115  EXT.  THE TURTLEHer visitor, whoever it is, is behind the Turtle.  AnneMarie cautiously rounds the corner and stops dead.NEW ANGLEA foraging GRIZZLY sniffs around, attracted by the smell offresh carrion -- Wilder.  Eight feet tall and eleven-hundredpounds, it's used to having its way.  Right now, it'shungry.With a casual swipe of its paw, its massive claws puncturethe Turtle's aluminum skin, popping open the door of theutility compartment.  The bear pokes its head inside, andWilder's body slumps out into the snow.  The bear pushes atthe corpse with its snout.  Salivating, it prepares to digin.Anne Marie looks around, wondering what the hell to do nEXT.Wilder's snowmobile is a few yards behind her, parkedagainst the side of the Turtle.  She inches toward it.Testily, the bear looks up, SNIFFING loudly.Keeping her eyes on the bear, Anne Marie feels for thesnowmobile ignition keys.  They're not there.  She feelsaround inside the saddlebags and finds three emergency roadflares.Anne Marie IGNITES the flares.  They illuminate the areawith an eerie reddish glow.  She YELLS at the bear, wieldsthe flares like Excalibur and moves forward.The bear, reluctant to leave so hearty a pre-hibernationmeal, GROWLS and cocks its head back and forth to assess thethreat.  As Anne Marie inches ahead, the bear stands on hindlegs to its full height to meet the challenge.																(CONTINUED)115  CONTINUED:Anne Marie tosses a flare toward the bear.  It grunts whenthe flare hits it, and shuffles backwards.  Anne Mariethrows another flare.  With a ROAR from hell, the bearcharges.  Anne Marie falls back.  Still holding the lastflare, she's forced into a crawl space under the Turtle.ANGLE - UNDER THE TURTLEAnne Marie tries to squeeze out the other side, but she'spinned in by the unevenness of the hard ground.  The bearswipes at her, its huge paw inches away.  Anne Marie jabs atthe paw with the flare, but that only makes the bear morequarrelsome.She twists around, looking for a defense.  Above her is thecabling from the generator to the circuit box for theTurtle's electrical system.  She tugs at it, but it won'tbudge.  The bear SNIFFS at Anne Marie with its big wetsnout.  Anne Marie notices warning a sign on a controlvalve:										?  DANGER!!										?  BLACK WATER										?  UNTREATED SEWAGEGrimacing, she tries to turn the valve.  After much effort,it SNAPS and opens, releasing a stream of fetid sewage.WIDERThe bear gets a muzzle full of the stuff.  HOWLINGunhappily, it backs away, GRUNTING and SNEEZING.  Greatlyoffended, its appetite gone, it lopes into the forest.Anne Marie squirms out from under the Turtle and, gaggingfrom the horrible smell, pulls off her wet parka.																		CUT TO:116  EXT.  WOODS NEAR THE TURTLE - SERIES OF SHOTS - NIGHTWearing one of Eric's coats, Anne Marie stands in the centerof three similarly-sized trees.  A FLARE supplies the light.The big Remington rifle leans against the tree closest toher.She tosses one end of a hundred feet of nylon rope over asturdy tree branch twenty-five feet from the ground.  Thenshe throws the other end over an opposing branch andstretches the rope like a clothesline.																(CONTINUED)116  CONTINUED:She attaches a second length of rope perpendicular to thefirst and throws it over a third tree branch, midway betweenthe other two.  She kneels and ties something BELOW FRAME tothe cross-length rope.Pulling mightily on the perpendicular rope, she hoistssomething heavy to the level of the branches.  The flareburns out, plunging the area into darkness.Anne Marie wraps the rope around the tree trunk andnervously tries to LIGHT another flare.  As she does, theforest seems closer, sinister, filled with lurking ogres.Seized with an instinctual fear, she grabs the rifle andruns back to the Turtle.																		FADE TO:117  EXT.  ENDICOTT FOOTHILLS - DAYThe storm has passed, leaving a fresh covering of powderysnow in drifts like sand dunes.  Eric and Corbett trektoward Devil's Cauldron through the ever-thickening forest.Corbett has made them snow goggles by cutting slits instrips of tree bark worn like sunglasses.  Eric, using atree branch as a walking stick, still limps on his soreankle.  For the first time, he keeps the magnum stuck in hiswaistband.										CORBETT			There's a cabin, maybe twenty			miles south of here.										ERIC			(kneels to adjust his ankle				wrap)			Too bad we're heading west.										CORBETT			There's a snowmobile. Inside a			day we could be on the Yukon.  I			got money there.  Remember that			five thousand?  Make it ten.  Be			smart.  Take it and walk away.										ERIC			(bristling)			You don't get it, do you?Corbett takes advantage of Eric's poor peripheral visionfrom the visor by kneeing Eric in the face.  Eric fallsbackwards into the snow.  Corbett takes off like ajackrabbit.  Eric spits out some blood, shakes the stars outof his eyes and yanks the .357 from under his coat.																(CONTINUED)117  CONTINUED:										ERIC			(continuing)			Stop!Corbett bounds through the snow, dodging trees andsnow-covered rocks.Eric squeezes off a SHOT, and is startled by the recoil andthe blast.  He scrambles to his feet and SHOOTS again.Corbett zigzags and disappears from sight over a snowbank.NEW ANGLE - FOLLOW CORBETTCorbett runs over a frozen stream, invisible under a coverof snow.  Suddenly, the ice SHATTERS under him.  Corbett isimmersed in frigid, waist-deep water.  He gasps from thesudden temperature drop.ERIChobbles after him, CUSSING bitterly to himself.CORBETTcrawls to solid ground.  Disoriented from the shock to hissystem, he rolls over to catch his breath.WIDEREric appears over a snowbank.Corbett tries to run, but his frozen, waterlogged legs feellike pig iron.  Stumbling and panting, he looks for a safeplace to cross the stream.  Eric easily catches up to him.Corbett sits in the snow, shivering.  He looks up as Erictrots over.Eric glares at Corbett and rubs the bruise on his cheek.										CORBETT			Nothing personal.  Just wanted to			see what you'd do.Noticing Corbett's sopping legs, Eric becomes furious.										CORBETT			(continuing)			Have to get these wet things off.										ERIC			You're not going to slow us down!			Keep moving!																(CONTINUED)117  CONTINUED:  (2)										CORBETT			Inside of three hours you'd be			dragging my dead carcass.Fuming, Eric helps Corbett up.118  EXT.  ENDICOTT FOOTHILLS - EVENINGThe sun sinks below the horizon, creating across themountains a spectacular show of color and shadows.  The windHOWLS.119  INT.  NYLON SHELTEREric stokes a fire at the mouth of the shelter.  Corbett'spants and boots hang to dry from branches next to it.  Hehuddles under the tarp, covered by his coat, drowsy andlistless.										ERIC			Stay awake!  You want to go			hypothermic?										CORBETT			If that means freeze my balls			off, no thanks.			(yawns)			I'll be okay.Eric examines him.  Corbett's skin is white and rigid, hislips are pale blue.  He scowls at Eric.										CORBETT			(continuing)			Told you I'm fine!										ERIC			(holds up three fingers)			How many do you see?										CORBETT			(irritable)			What?!  Fuck off.  Save yourself.										ERIC			You don't feel cold?										CORBETT			It's a spring day...He starts to doze off.  The shivering he's been repressingnow racks his body.  Eric sits him up, closer to the fire,and puts his own parka over Corbett's shoulders.  With hisfoot, Eric rolls some hot rocks bordering the fire closer to																(CONTINUED)119  CONTINUED:Corbett's legs.  Eric rubs his arms and hands, but it isn'tenough.  Eric loathes the specter of death, even Corbett's.He shakes him, trying to keep him awake.										ERIC			Wake up, goddammit!  You've got			classic hypothermia --			crankiness, fatigue, can't feel			your coldness.  Worst thing you			can do is fade out.Corbett is headed someplace far away.  Sighing, Eric turnshim so his back faces the fire.  He unbuttons Corbett'sshirt, then unbuttons his own shirt and lies across Corbett.Eric gasps -- Corbett feels like a slab of ice.  Corbett'steeth chatter.  He's completely unconscious.										ERIC			(continuing)			One more thing -- this doesn't			mean we're going steady.DISSOLVE TO:Later, Corbett rests fitfully.  It could go either way.Eric chews on some roots and pokes at the fire to keep itlively.DISSOLVE TO:It's night.  Some color has returned to Corbett's skin.Eric turns as Corbett mumbles and clutches at the front ofhis shirt.  His eyes open.  He tries to sit up, but he's tooweak.										ERIC			Stay still.										CORBETT			Where's my ELT?										ERIC			Emergency transmitter?  All your			gear is back at Wilder's.										CORBETT			You got one?										ERIC			It was blown up with the plane.										CORBETT			Too bad.  We'd be out of here in			a few hours.																(CONTINUED)119  CONTINUED:  (2)										ERIC			How?  Nobody this far north			monitors that frequency until			avalanche season.			(beat)			Besides, I'm surprised a tough			guy like you uses fancy			electronics.										CORBETT			I'm surprised a flat-ender like			you knows cold-weather remedies.										ERIC			Read a lot of adventure stories			when I was a kid...Corbett smiles.										CORBETT			I'm hungry.  Go kill me some			dinner.										ERIC			An appetite.  Maybe you won't die			after all.										CORBETT			Hate to disappoint you.120  EXT.  HAUL ROAD - THE TURTLE - NIGHTThe AURORA makes a dazzling display in the cold clear sky.Below, the only light on the endless expanse of dark earthcomes from the Turtle.CLOSERFlashlight in hand, wearing one of Eric's coats, Anne Marierefuels the generator.  Something catches her eye --ANNE MARIE'S POVIn the distance, headlight beams jostle along the Haul Road.BACK TO SCENEAnne Marie caps the diesel fuel can and stows it away.										ANNE MARIE			(grinning)			It's about time...She hurries back into the Turtle.121  INT.  THE TURTLEAnne Marie brushes her hair and makes herself presentable.122  EXT.  THE TURTLEThe vehicle gets closer.  It's the trappers' jeep.  It slowsand parks on the Haul Road next to the Turtle.123  INT.  THE TURTLEAnne Marie peers out the window.  She gasps as sherecognizes the jeep.  Ducking from sight below the window,she grabs Eric's coat and hurries into the rear module.124  EXT.  THE TURTLEMitchell stays in the jeep.  Viking Bob and LeMalle get outand walk cautiously toward the Turtle.LeMalle stands midway between the jeep and the Turtle,cradling his carbine.  Viking Bob goes up the steps.125  INT.  THE TURTLE - REAR MODULEAnne Marie remembers something she should've taken with her:the rifle.  Too late.  She hears Viking Bob's FOOTSTEPS (OS)come up the wooden stairs outside.126  EXT.  THE TURTLEViking Bob knocks on the front door.  He peers through thesheer curtain on the window, into the front module.										VIKING BOB			Hullo?He shrugs to the others, then tries the door.  It'sunlocked.Mitchell gets out of the jeep, spits and follows the othersin, his hand close to the Colt Peacemaker strapped to hisleg.127  INT.  THE TURTLEAnne Marie climbs out a window in the back.  She closes itbehind her just as Viking Bob pokes his head in the rearmodule.The trappers snoop around, noticing that the coffee pot isstill warm, etc.  The emptiness is ominous.  LeMalle picksup the big Remington bear rifle.  He opens the breech todetermine if it's loaded, and sniffs the barrel to see if																(CONTINUED)127  CONTINUED:it's recently been fired.  Viking Bob notices the damagedradio.										VIKING BOB			Somebody left in a big hurry.			(to LeMalle)			Check outside.128  EXT.  THE TURTLELeMalle goes outside and shines his flashlight around.NEW ANGLEIn the back, Anne Marie drags an evergreen tree branchbehind her to cover her tracks in the snow, then climbs intothe utility compartment where Wilder's body was stored.A moment later, LeMalle comes around the corner.  He noticesbear tracks and scat from the prior night's visit.										LEMALLE			(calls out to others)			Grizzly sign.  Looks fresh.Viking Bob and Mitchell converge with LeMalle.  They pointtheir flashlights around, spotting footprints and marksgoing off into the woods.129  EXT.  WOODS NEAR THE TURTLETense and silent, the trappers follow the marks.  A breezeRUSTLES the needles of the evergreens around them.  Theystop at the point the footprints end.  A rhythmic CREAKINGabove them makes LeMalle shine his light upward.NEW ANGLEThe light REVEALS Wilder's feet swinging back and forthabove their heads.  His body is suspended in the manner of atrail cache.  Viking Bob lets out a startled grunt.  He andMitchell shine their lights on Wilder's face.										MITCHELL			It's Sam Wilder!										VIKING BOB			Musta wanted to keep him from the			bears.  If Ben killed him, he			sure as hell wouldn't hang him up			like this.										MITCHELL			Where's the kid?																(CONTINUED)129  CONTINUED:										LEMALLE			Who gives a husky fuck?  Where's			Ben?The trappers look glumly at one another.130  INT.  UTILITY COMPARTMENT - THE TURTLEAnne Marie jams herself behind a pile of her photoequipment.  She stops as she hears the trappers' boots (OS)CRUNCH in the snow past her and go inside the Turtle.131  INT.  THE TURTLEThe trappers peel off their overcoats.  They look around atthe comfortable surroundings.										MITCHELL			I should get me a job with an oil			company.He sits on the couch and lays his scrimshaw and engravingtools out on the coffee table.  LeMalle helps himself in thewell-stocked larder.										LEMALLE			I say we eat, torch this fuckin'			thing, and move on.LeMalle digs through the cupboards and comes up with a freshbottle of Scotch.										VIKING BOB			Go easy.										LEMALLE			Cool out.  I ain't about to get			blasted.																		CUT TO:132  EXT.  THE TURTLE - LATER THAT NIGHTFlashlight in hand, gloriously drunk, LeMalle stumblesoutside.  He crosses to the jeep to grab a box of Twinkiesand, as long as he's at it, take a leak in a snowbank.Bleary-eyed, he notices the damage to the utilitycompartment inflicted by the bear.He walks to it, stepping over the bear scat.  He marvels atthe size and depth of the clawmarks.																(CONTINUED)132  CONTINUED:										LEMALLE			Big mother musta wanted something			real bad in here...LeMalle tries the door, but it's jammed shut.  He tucks hisflashlight under his arm and gives another tug.  This timethe door cracks open.CLOSER - HIS POVHe peers through the opening and shines his flashlight in.A pair of eyes stare back at him.WIDERLeMalle jumps back, startled, and pulls out his knife.   Hetries the door again.  It WRENCHES open......He's looking at his own face in one of Anne Marie'smirrored photo reflector boards.Letting his breath out, LeMalle pokes around the equipmentin the compartment.  Ever larcenous, he pulls a few itemsout, examines them, and, disinterested, leaves them in thesnow.  Doing so, he comes close to uncovering Anne Marie,who sits motionless and terrified in the back of thecompartment.Nothing in the compartment catches LeMalle's fancy.  Leavingthe door hanging open, he wanders away.133  INT.  UTILITY COMPARTMENT - THE TURTLEAfter he's gone, Anne Marie reaches over and closes thedoor.  She can hear the trappers' (OS) CONVERSATION inside:										VIKING BOB (OS)			I know in my gut he was here.			First light, we try to get scent			of his trail.Sighing, Anne Marie stuffs her hands inside her parka andtries to get comfortable.  It's going to be a long night.																		FADE TO:134  EXT.  ENDICOTT FOOTHILLS - DAWNEric and Corbett wearily trudge through the woods.  Corbetthas the tarp wrapped around him for extra warmth.  As hewalks, he sniffs at one of Eric's Eskimo potato roots andtakes a tentative nibble.																(CONTINUED)134  CONTINUED:										CORBETT			Used to see the natives eating			roots when I was a kid in Nome.										ERIC			Nome?  I figure you'd be a			whaler, coming from there.										CORBETT			Told that's what our old man was.			Planned on going to sea, me and			Bob, 'til I read Jack London.			Started trapping when I was ten.			Mailed the furs to Sears.  Eight			bucks for a skunk, three for a			muskrat.			(off Eric's look)			That was fine money.										ERIC			Killing wildlife not good enough			anymore, so you go on to bigger			and better things.										CORBETT			You got a knack for seeing things			the way you want to see them.They walk in silence.  Corbett tightens the tarp against thecold air and looks at Eric.										CORBETT			(continuing)			Don't judge me.  You're a joke,			coming here from a fucked-up			culture, telling us what to do!										ERIC			Yeah, it is fucked up -- but it's			not too late to keep that from			happening here.										CORBETT			(temper flaring)			All you do is keep folks from			working the land, living like			they're meant to.  You don't			understand shit!  Trappers,			hunters -- we're part of the			environment.  Who's protecting			us?			(sourly)			I've seen plenty like you.  So					-more-																(CONTINUED)134  CONTINUED:  (2)										CORBETT (Cont'd)			full of yourselves there's no			room for other people's way of			life.										ERIC			What do you know about people?			You live like an animal!  A			savage goddamn throwback like you			belongs out here, as far away			from the rest of us as possible.										CORBETT			I'm real sad you don't approve of			me.He shoves Eric with his handcuffed hands.										CORBETT			(continuing)			Tell me what I should do,			Professor.  You got all the			answers.  I shouldn't hunt?			Fine, I'll just phone up and have			a salad delivered.Livid, Eric backs away and knocks Corbett's hands away fromhim.										ERIC			Don't push me..!										CORBETT			Cowardly bastard.  I'm in			handcuffs and I still scare the			piss out of you.Eric smashes his fist into Corbett's face.  Corbett reelsback, more surprised than hurt.  Eric moves in, furiouslythrowing punches.  Corbett plows his clenched fists intoEric's midsection, doubling him over.  Gasping, Eric ramshis head into Corbett and they fall into the snow.Despite the handcuffs, Corbett gets a few blows in.  Theywrestle fiercely, and Eric ends up on top of Corbett.  He'sabout to throw another punch when Corbett looks up at him.										CORBETT			(continuing)			First you save my ass, now you			want to kill me.  Make up your			goddamn mind.																(CONTINUED)134  CONTINUED:  (3)Eric lowers his fist and climbs off of Corbett.  Corbettgets up and they continue on their way in sullen silence.135  EXT.  DEVIL'S CAULDRON - DAYSunday morning.  Chimney smoke rises straight up in thestill morning air and mingles with the wisps of fog hangingabove the Devil's Cauldron valley.A scratchy RECORDING of a HYMN ("We Will Gather at theRiver") plays through a PA system, ECHOING forlornly off thehills.  The PEOPLE of Devil's Cauldron walk through the newsnow to the center of the settlement.  Some, older Womenmostly, head for the dance hall, where the HYMN originates.136  INT.  DANCE HALLThe Women SING along with the HYMN.  They face a shelfholding the PA, a rusty TV and record player.  And, in frontof the shelf, an unmanned pulpit.137  EXT.  DEVIL'S CAULDRONThe Men, including Neff, split off from their mates and gointo the Maqi.138  INT.  MAQINeff joins some other Men sweating on benches in theprimitive steam bath.   Kenai sits closest to the fire.  Histhick glasses are steamed up, but he finally looks warm.										NEFF			Wilder's missing church services;			you believe it?										KENAI			I just as soon he stay gone.			Fool could've got us all killed,			arresting Ben Corbett here in			town.139  EXT.  FOOTHILLS ABOVE DEVIL'S CAULDRON - DAYExhausted, Corbett and Eric climb across the last set offoothills before the Devil's Cauldron valley.  The towncomes into view below them; faintly the MUSIC carries frombelow.  Corbett looks at Eric and breaks the silence:										CORBETT			What makes you so sure my boys			won't be waiting for us?																(CONTINUED)139  CONTINUED:										ERIC			They think you're in Fairbanks.			If not, they still won't find you			before the plane comes tomorrow.										CORBETT			Don't bet on it.										ERIC			I already have.										CORBETT			You don't know how true that is.Eric sweeps the snow from between two rocks and sits down.										ERIC			We'll wait here until nightfall.			No fire, no tarp.Corbett sits next to him.  After a long moment:										CORBETT			Didn't mean it, you being a			coward.  You're a lot of things,			but chickenshit isn't one of			them.										ERIC			Maybe...maybe not.  I'll tell you			what scares me -- stumbling			through life, like an ordinary			jerk.  That's why I want to work			on the front lines, where what I			do means something.			(beat)			Soon as I got here, I realized my			job was bullshit.  Oil company			propaganda.  I was ready to			leave, then I thought screw it,			I'll outsmart them, do the work			anyway.			(beat)			I don't know anymore.  Maybe I am			fooling myself.  That's what I'm			afraid of most of all.										CORBETT			Hell, I still get a knot in my			gut every season, wondering how			much longer I can go on.  No			'Home for Retired Trappers' that					-more-																(CONTINUED)139  CONTINUED:  (2)										CORBETT (Cont'd)			I ever saw.  We're like Eskimos			-- get too old to be useful,			we're left on the ice to die.The men listen to the faint MUSIC echoing through the silentfoothills.										CORBETT			(continuing; softly)			My wife used to go to chapel on			Sundays.  See her friends, 'cause			I was away so much.			(beat)			Should've been home that day.			She'd be getting dressed right			about now...Eric glances over as a look of utter desolation crossesCorbett's face.140  EXT.  HAUL ROAD - THE TURTLE - DAYThe trappers file out the front door.										VIKING BOB			My guess is he's loose and			heading for Chukfoktulik.  He'll			need supplies; that's the closest			settlement without a lawman.LeMalle carries his booty with him.  Viking Bob looks at himdisapprovingly as he puts the big Remington rifle in thejeep.										LEMALLE			I ain't gonna leave a seven-			hundred-dollar Remington behind.										VIKING BOB			(exasperated)			What you gonna do with it?  Large			bore's for shit on small game.										LEMALLE			Not in the right hands it ain't.To demonstrate, he rapid-fires several SHOTS from the hip,taking the radio antenna off the roof of the Turtle,shattering panes of glass in an accurate succession, andblasting the door latch off the utility compartment.																(CONTINUED)140  CONTINUED:Pleased, LeMalle slams back the bolt, ejecting a spentshell.  He glances curiously at the door of the utilitycompartment and starts toward it.										LEMALLE			(continuing)			Thought that door was open last			night...										VIKING BOB			Quit fucking around.  Get in.LeMalle climbs into the back of the jeep.  With Viking Bobdriving, they pull away.141  EXT.  TRAPPERS' JEEP - (MOVING SHOT)Grinning maliciously, LeMalle hangs the Remington out thewindow as they retreat.  Taking careful aim, he SHOOTS.142  EXT.  THE TURTLELeMalle's bullet hits the metal fuel tank of the generator.The kerosene fumes EXPLODE, splattering BURNING KEROSENE onthe rear module of the Turtle.The trappers don't slow down to enjoy the show.  Viking Bobhurries on to more important business.143  INT.  UTILITY COMPARTMENT - THE TURTLEAs soon as the SOUND of the jeep fades away, Anne Marieclambers out of the utility compartment.  Haggard and numbwith cold, she helplessly watches as the fire ravenouslydevours the rear module.  Shielding her face from theflames, Anne Marie reaches under the accordion cover betweenthe modules.  With great effort, she unbolts the couplingbracket.144  INT.  DIESEL RIG - THE TURTLEAnne Marie STARTS the engine, SLAMS it into gear, andlurches the front module away from the burning rear module.She shuts the motor off and, trying to hold back the tears,watches the rear module BURNING.																		DISSOLVE TO:145  EXT.  DEVIL'S CAULDRON - NIGHTBone weary, Eric and Corbett walk toward town, staying onthe outskirts to avoid being seen.  They look at one another-- this moment seemed impossible not very long ago.  No oneseems to notice as they limp into Wilder's cabin.146  INT.  WILDER'S CABINIt's dark.  Eric locks Corbett up in the holding cell, notnoticing that Corbett seems almost pleased to be there.  Heblocks the windows, pumps up the pressure on the white gaslantern and heads back outside again.147  INT.  NEFF'S HOUSENeff pries himself from his MTV to answer a KNOCK at thedoor.  Eric hobbles in.  Neff notes Eric's weatherbeatencondition.										NEFF			You don't mind me saying, Mr.			Desmond, you look like hell.										ERIC			Have you heard anything from the			girl staying with me, Anne Marie?										NEFF			Not a damn thing.  What's going			on?  Mr. Meyerling was here, all			steamed up, looking for you.										ERIC			Look, Neff, I've got Ben Corbett			with me --										NEFF			-- Here?!  Where's Wilder?										ERIC			Back at my place... he, uh, broke			his leg.										NEFF			If Corbett's men find out --										ERIC			-- I'm putting him on the plane			to Fairbanks, eleven tomorrow.										NEFF			Jiminy Christmas.			(beat)			What do you want from me?										ERIC			Corbett ruined my two-way.  Go to			my place on the Haul Road, tell			Anne Marie I'm okay and to sit			tight.																(CONTINUED)147  CONTINUED:										NEFF			I'll go at dawn.										ERIC			Thanks.  Don't tell anyone you			saw me.After Eric goes, Neff closes his door and bolts it.148  EXT.  DEVIL'S CAULDRON - VARIOUS ANGLES - NIGHTThe temperature dips as the winds shifts and blows down fromthe north.  Another storm approaches.  The temperate days oflast week seem ages ago.Kenai, Neff, and other TOWNSMEN batten Devil's Cauldron downfor the STORM.  Kenai is bundled up in the cold.  The mentighten guy wires on the radio tower, windmills and caches;bring firewood indoors; close off unused rooms in thegeneral store and spa.  Then Neff and Kenai split off fromthe others.149  INT.  HOT SPRINGS SPAVia a catwalk, Neff and Kenai climb up into the ceilingstruts above the partitioned cubicles in the spa to caulk aroof leak with pitch.  Neff is sullen from his conversationwith Eric. Kenai, however, is smiling at Neff.										NEFF			Why the smirk?										KENAI			Bet I could make some money			turning Ben Corbett in.  Maybe			more for lettin' him loose.			(off Neff's flustered look)			I was up in my cache.  Saw the			Northland man come talk to you.										NEFF			You're out of your greedy goddamn			mind.										KENAI			Corbett coming here stinks of			trouble.  We should make the best			of it before it turns around and			bites us in the ass.										NEFF			Stay out of it.150  INT.  WILDER'S CABIN - NIGHTEric stirs a pot of beans on the cookstove.  Corbett watchesfrom the cot in the cell.										CORBETT			Talk to that good-looking girl of			yours?										ERIC			You broke the radio, remember?										CORBETT			(smiles)			I'm sure she's fine.  Seemed like			a clever kid.Corbett sits up as Eric hands him a plate of beans.										CORBETT			(continuing)			You were real resourceful out			there.  Got me thinking of this			perimeter man, froze all his			fingers one winter.  So he hacked			the tips off and sharpened the			exposed bones.  Gets along better			than ever.  Yeah, maybe I			underestimated you.										ERIC			I liked you better frozen.  You			didn't talk so much.										CORBETT			You're damn lucky, glimpsing this			country before it's ruined, gone			for good.  You saw wonders you'd			only dreamed of.  That alone			makes you different than the			sorry bastards back where you			came from, because you have			dreamt them.Corbett sees he's hit a nerve with Eric.										CORBETT			(continuing)			Remember that demon in the gut?			Sometimes it's nothing more than			wondering if the so-called			civilized life has bred the balls			and brains out of you.  That's			what you want out of this, isn't			it?																(CONTINUED)150  CONTINUED:										ERIC			All I want want is you in jail --A KNOCK at the door interrupts.  Eric lowers the flame onthe gas lantern and peers out through a corner of thecardboard in the front window.  Frowning, he cracks the dooropen and slips outside.151  EXT.  WILDER'S CABINIt's Neff and Kenai.  Neff looks guiltily at Eric.										NEFF			(explaining)			He saw you and Corbett come in...										KENAI			Dixie's waiting at the infirmary.			She'll put a splint on that			injured leg.Eric is skeptical of Kenai's concern.										NEFF			Don't let him fool you.  Real			reason he's here is to buy			Corbett's traps.Eric looks at Kenai, then at Neff.  Neff nods that it'sokay.  As extra precaution, Eric handcuffs Corbett's rightwrist to the frame of the cot inside the cell.										ERIC			(to Kenai)			Okay.  You can talk to him.  But			I'll keep the keys with me.152  INT.  HOT SPRINGS SPA - NIGHTOutside the wind HOWLS.  Eric enters and walks into thehallway connecting the bath partitions.  A hand grabs hisarm.  Startled, he turns around.It's Dixie, wearing a threadbare flannel robe.										DIXIE			Earl says you get discount.			Twenty-five dollar.Eric shakes his head -- typical Kenai.  He gives her threetens.  She smiles and leads Eric toward the "infirmary."It's actually a bath partition outfitted with an examiningtable and a first-aid kit.153  INT.  WILDER'S CABIN - NIGHTNeff paces nervously.  Corbett smiles at him and Kenai.										NEFF			(apologetically)			Look, Ben, we don't want any			trouble.  The kid's got the key,			and besides, he looks edgy enough			to use that magnum he's carrying.										CORBETT			Relax.  I'll get loose in time.										KENAI			Any traps you don't want, I'll			pay cash money.										CORBETT			Guess someone should use them.			Open the bottom drawer in			Wilder's desk.  My kit's in			there.  Might as well unload			everything.Kenai tugs on the drawer.  It's locked.  Undaunted, hejimmies it open with a knife.  Neff groans.  Kenai goes tothrow Corbett the duffel bag, but Neff grabs it.  He checksfor weapons, pulling out a hunting knife.  Satisfied, hehands Corbett the bag through the bars.With his free hand, Corbett digs through his belongings:clothing, freeze-dried provisions, jerky, paperback books.He looks up and shrugs.154  INT.  HOT SPRINGS SPA - NIGHTEric's ankle is in a resin cast.  His foot rests on a stool.While waiting for the cast to set he soaks in the bathtub, ahot towel draped over his face.  Above him, on a wallbracket, a closed circuit TV plays a war-surplus PORNO FILM.The door CREAKS open and Dixie comes in.  She impassivelychecks his cast -- which is interesting, as she's nowwearing panties, clog shoes and nothing else.  Eric takesthe towel off his face and sits up, astonished.										DIXIE			I wash your back for you.  You			will like it.Before Eric can protest, the door OPENS again.  It'sMeyerling.  He snaps his fingers at Dixie to shoo her andshe scurries away.																(CONTINUED)154  CONTINUED:										MEYERLING			I hate to interrupt playtime, but			why the hell are you caught up in			a local matter when I gave you			express instructions to the			contrary?!										ERIC			Cut the shit, Leo.  I might need			your help...155  EXT.  CHUKFOKTULIK, ALASKA - NIGHTConsisting of a handful of sod-roof cabins, mostly bars,Chukfoktulik is a way station in the coniferous forest,sixty miles southeast of Devil's Cauldron.156  INT.  TRAPPERS' JEEPWith the seats pushed back, LeMalle peels the town's loneWHORE out of her parka.  He's got the motor running forwarmth.  Her gold tooth glints in the light from thebuilding next to them.  The locating screen on the beat-upradio beacon receiver bolted to the dash GLOWSphosphorescent green.										WHORE			They got nice beds upstairs,			honey.										LEMALLE			I'm standin' guard duty.			Besides, rather spend the room			money on sloppy seconds.Over the sound of LeMalle's exertions there begins aninsistent succession of BEEPS.  The Whore looks overLeMalle's shoulder at the locating device.										WHORE			Hey, Tiger --LeMalle turns and immediately loses interest in the Whore.Pushing her off of him, he blows the jeep's HORN threetimes.157  INT.  HOT SPRINGS SPA - NIGHTEric and Meyerling are in the middle of an argument.										ERIC			...I won't let a killer walk!																(CONTINUED)157  CONTINUED:										MEYERLING			Alleged killer.										ERIC			What does this matter to you?										MEYERLING			(sneering)			You can't see past your lousy			little assignment, sniffing			around the pipeline.  The few			voters there are in this district			look up to Corbett, and I'm not			about to alienate them.										ERIC			I should release Corbett because			you want some votes?										MEYERLING			This miserable wilderness is a			state of the union.  Policy's			made here the same way as in the			civilized world: at the ballot			box.  That's the beauty of it --			these icebox cowboys are living a			century too late.  Get them on			your side, it's like buying			Manhattan for beads.  With a			handful of votes you control the			greatest frontier since white men			stumbled onto the New World.										ERIC			Some day these people'll wake up,			and you'll be the first one			they'll run out of here.Eric's attention turns to a rhythmic INTERFERENCE on the TVscreen.  There are three short bursts, followed by threelong bursts.  Something about it is very familiar.Scowling, he sits up.										ERIC			(continuing)			Shit...			(to Meyerling; distracted)			Do what you have to.  So will I.Eric climbs out of the water and pulls his pants on.158  INT.  WILDER'S CABIN - NIGHTKenai sorts through the tangle of Corbett's traps.   Thedoor bursts open and Eric hobbles in.  Gun drawn, Ericunlocks the cell door.  He rips Corbett's shirt open.Looking around, he sees Corbett's duffel bag sitting by thecot.  Digging through it, he finds at the bottom of the bagan ELT with a small red LED flashing on it.Furious, he flings it against the wall, smashing it.159  INT.  TRAPPERS' JEEP - CHUKFOKTULIK - NIGHTThe green dot on the screen and rhythmic BLEEP go suddenlydead, just as Viking Bob and Mitchell run up to the jeep.										LEMALLE			Northwest.  Devil's Cauldron.LeMalle dumps the half-naked Whore out onto the snow.Viking Bob starts the jeep and they roar off.160  INT.  WILDER'S CABIN - NIGHTEric shoves Kenai and Neff out the door.										NEFF			What's wrong?										ERIC			Just stay out of my face until			I'm gone!He slams the door.  Corbett smiles his Cheshire smile.										ERIC			(continuing; picks up ELT)			Emergency transmitter?  What			happened to signal mirrors or			two-tone smoke fires?										CORBETT			Lets us watch each other's backs			over a wide area.  Only thing			messed me up this time was			getting arrested in the baths.			ELT was in my duffel bag, not			around my neck where it should've			been.										ERIC			No way they'll find you on a			five-minute signal.  And no way					-more-																(CONTINUED)160  CONTINUED:										ERIC (Cont'd)			they'll get here in eight hours			in this weather, unless they're			right around the corner.										CORBETT			They haven't disappointed me yet.161  EXT.  DEVIL'S CAULDRON - DAWNFat, dry snowflakes pour through the still air.  Gloomyclouds hang immediately overhead.  Visibility is ten feet;the temperature is below zero.162  INT.  WILDER'S CABINIt's 5:30 AM.  Sitting at Wilder's desk, Eric pries the topsfrom some bullets and dumps the gunpowder into a styrofoamcup. He rings the top of the cup with bluetip matches, thenseals it with masking tape.  Watching him from the cell,Corbett smiles.										CORBETT			Flashbomb, eh?Eric doesn't answer.  He pulls on a heavy overcoat ofWilder's.  Putting the unused bullets back in Wilder's desk,Eric finds Corbett's .44 magnum.  He puts it and somespeedloaders full of .357 hollowpoints in his pockets.163  EXT. / INT.  DEVIL'S CAULDRON - MONTAGEEric hobbles across town to the hot springs under cover ofthe early hour and heavy snowfall.  He paces out severalcircuitous routes from the rental cabins to the airstrip atthe edge of town, pausing now and again along the way.He hears a door SQUEAK open and someone COUGH nearby, so hestands motionless in the snow.Bundled in wool blankets, Kenai trundles down to hisouthouse.After Kenai passes by, Eric sneaks inside the spa.  Heclimbs up into the catwalk.As Kenai goes back to his cabin, he notices that the antiquebear traps on display in front of the general store aremissing.  Suddenly, Eric grabs him and pulls him into thespa doorway.																		END MONTAGE164  INT.  HOT SPRINGS SPAEric's unexpected appearance startles Kenai.										ERIC			I need to rent a cabin.										KENAI			What's the problem with Sam			Wilder's place?										ERIC			Will you rent me a cabin, or not?										KENAI			Pretty clever:  If the trappers			got that signal beacon and get			here in time, Sam's is the first			place they'll look.  They may			figure you're waiting for an			airplane, so you can't stay in			the shack by the airstrip.  Last			place they'd expect you is on the			far side of town.			(shakes his head)			I can't afford any trouble --										ERIC			(takes out all his cash)			-- Here's a hundred dollars.  And			if you or anyone else will back			me up on this --										KENAI			(grabs money)			-- Forget it.  And try not to			bleed on my throw rugs.			(walks away, then turns				back)			Why do this?										ERIC			If you have to ask, you wouldn't			understand.NEW ANGLEOutside, there is the high-pitched WHINE of a snowmobile(OS) driving into town.  Eric cautiously follows the SOUND.165  EXT.  DEVIL'S CAULDRON - CLOSE ON ERICHe listens as the vehicle cuts across town toward Neff'shouse.  The snowfall is too thick to see who it is.  Eric																(CONTINUED)165  CONTINUED:moves in as close as he dares.  The ENGINE stops (OS) andFOOTSTEPS crunch up Neff's driveway.WIDER ANGLE - NEFF'S HOUSEA person in a hooded parka stands on Neff's stoop, about toknock.  Magnum drawn, Eric suddenly appears from the curtainof falling snow.  He shoves the person against the side ofthe house.NEW ANGLEIt's Anne Marie.  She gasps.  Seeing Eric, she's more angrythan relieved.  Eric puts the gun back in his waistband.										ANNE MARIE			Eric!  Why aren't you in			Fairbanks?He pulls her away from Neff's doorstep.  Her angerdissolving, she wraps her arms around him.										ANNE MARIE			(continuing)			Oh, Christ, sweetheart.  Four			days!  I thought you were dead,			or worse.										ERIC			You can't stay here.  Go back to			the Turtle.  I'll meet you back			there in a few hours.										ANNE MARIE			(stung by his coolness)			What's going on?										ERIC			I'll tell you everything later.										ANNE MARIE			Where's Corbett?										ERIC			Here.  A transport plane is due			at eleven.  Once I put him on it,			it's all over.										ANNE MARIE			So what's the problem?																(CONTINUED)165  CONTINUED:  (2)										ERIC			There isn't one, unless Corbett's			men get here before the plane			does.Anne Marie grasps the situation with a sickening clarity.										ANNE MARIE			Let the people here handle it.			It's their marshal Corbett			killed!CUTAWAY - NEFFhas been eavesdropping on the conversation through hiswindow.  The news about Wilder stuns him.BACK TO SCENE										ERIC			Please, Anne Marie, you being			here only complicates things.										ANNE MARIE			I'm staying.Eric knows she won't relent.										ERIC			Take the snowmobile, park it			behind Wilder's cabin.Sighing, she STARTS the snow machine.  Most of her photogear is lashed to the saddlebags.  As she pulls away, Ericlimps back to Neff's house and knocks on the door.			INT.  NEFF'S HOUSEShaken, Neff opens the door and lets Eric in.										NEFF			I was just on my way to your			ladyfriend's, but I guess she			found you.										ERIC			Yeah.  Sorry I barked at you last			night.										NEFF			I'm the one should be sorry...			Goddamn Kenai, always out for a			score.  I never should've let him			go over there.																(CONTINUED)165  CONTINUED:  (3)										ERIC			I'd sure like that favor you			offered a while back.Neff gets a seasick look on his face.										NEFF			Look, Mr. Desmond, I didn't count			on it turning this ugly.										ERIC			What are you talking about?										NEFF			Bastards killed Sam, you think			they won't kill the rest of us?										ERIC			There'll be three, four men at			the most.  I have some backup,			nothing will happen.										NEFF			I'm real sorry.  In a while,			you're gone from this country.			But we live here.  No one wants			to mix it up with those hombres.Neff opens the door for Eric.										ERIC			(angry)			You don't care enough about Sam			to --										NEFF			-- Sam Wilder was my cousin.			He's why I came to Alaska.  All			his letters, saying what a			paradise it is.  But me ending up			dead won't do Sam a lick of good.166  EXT.  WILDER'S CABINAnne Marie waits in front as Eric hobbles up.  She looks athis bad ankle.										ANNE MARIE			You're hurt.										ERIC			Nothing broken.  C'mon, we have			to hurry.He leads her inside.167  INT.  WILDER'S CABINCorbett is calmly reclining on the cot in the holding cell.										CORBETT			Could've told you no one would			help...Seeing Anne Marie, he smiles.										CORBETT			(continuing; to Anne Marie)			Maybe you can talk sense into			your boyfriend.										ERIC			Shut up!										CORBETT			(to Anne Marie)			Either way, you better clear out.			I don't want anyone innocent			getting harmed.This comment has the intended effect on Anne Marie.  Angry,Eric throws Corbett a coat.  Corbett puts it on.  Reachingthrough the bars, Eric cuffs Corbett's hands together.										ERIC			We're moving.  Let's go.As they exit, Corbett's sardonic look makes Anne Marieshiver.168  INT.  RENTAL CABINThe ten-by-ten cabin is furnished with two sagging cots, abeat-up color TV set, a cookstove and a half-drum heatstove.  Built into the rear wall is a rustic dumb waiterthat once lowered perishables into the icy waters of anow-dry stream.Eric checks his watch.  6:15 AM.  He bolts the door andblocks the windows, opening one enough to let sound in fromoutside.  He extinguishes the Benman lantern and douses thefire in the heat stove so no smoke will emit from thechimney.  Anne Marie slumps into the corner next to the dumbwaiter.										ERIC			You'll catch a chill by that dumb			waiter shaft.  Sit on the cot.			(hands her the .44)			Keep this pointed at him if I get			preoccupied.																(CONTINUED)168  CONTINUED:Anne Marie reluctantly takes the huge gun.  Trying to allayher fears, Eric sits and brushes the hair from her face.Corbett intently watches them.  Before he can say anything,Eric shoots him a cold look.  Corbett stays quiet.169  EXT. / INT.  DEVIL'S CAULDRON - VARIOUS ANGLES - DAYA pall hangs over the town.  People know to stay inside.Time crawls by.In his house, Neff, for once, has his TV turned off.  Hetries to read and listens for sounds outside.In the spa, water DRIPS somewhere.  All the stalls areempty.In his sod house, Kenai looks out his one tiny window at thecurtain of snow.  Dixie comes up behind him and puts herhands on his shoulders.  He looks up at her, glum.In Wilder's empty cabin, his belongings are scattered aboutas if expecting his imminent return.In the rental cabin, Eric checks his watch.  10:45 AM.170  EXT.  DEVIL'S CAULDRON - NEAR WILDER'S CABIN - DAYThe sound of a MOTOR grows in volume, then abruptly ceases.The trappers' jeep APPEARS in the snowfall on the road intotown.  It coasts quietly in and stops behind the cover of awoodpile across from Wilder's cabin.The trappers get out of the jeep.  LeMalle has Eric'sRemington, Mitchell has his Peacemaker, and Viking Bobcarries LeMalle's old carbine.  Mitchell spits.  It's socold outside that the spittle freezes and CRACKS before ithits the ground.They fan out and approach Wilder's cabin.ANGLE WITH TRAPPERSThe cabin comes more clearly into view as the trappers movecloser.  There is no sign of life.  Viking Bob gestures forthe others, now positioned on either side of the cabin, tocrouch down for cover.										VIKING BOB			(calls out)			Ben?  Ben Corbett?No response.  Carbine held at his hip, Viking Bob walks upto the door and, with a mighty kick, BREAKS it in.																(CONTINUED)170  CONTINUED:REVERSE ANGLE - THROUGH WILDER'S CABIN DOORViking Bob points the carbine at an empty room.  He notices,however, Corbett's duffel bag on the floor of the cell.171  EXT.  DEVIL'S CAULDRONThe trappers march through town like an advancing army,looking for some sign of Corbett.  LeMalle stops to digthrough his pockets for some food.  All he comes up with isthe stump of a candy bar.  Viking Bob looks at himimpatiently.										VIKING BOB			Look, we pull Ben's ass out of			the fire, I'll get you a whole			damn crate of Snickers bars.										LEMALLE			(insulted)			I'm right fuckin' here with you.To prove his point, LeMalle trots from dwelling to dwelling,looking through windows and letting himself in through anyunlocked door.  This proves fruitless, so he lets out afrustrated YELL.  Pointing the Remington skyward, he letsoff a couple thunderous SHOTS that ECHO back off thefoothills.172  INT.  RENTAL CABINHearing the shots, Eric pushes Anne Marie against the floor.Cautioning her to stay put, he crawls to the window andtries to see through the snowfall.  After a moment ofsilence, from outside, not too far away:										LEMALLE (OS)			Ben!  Speak out before I torch			every dump in town!Eric points the magnum at Corbett.										ERIC			Answer and I'll shoot!										CORBETT			You kill me, you sign your death			warrant.			(re Anne Marie)			And hers.173  EXT.  DEVIL'S CAULDRON - NEAR MAQIViking Bob and Mitchell come running over to LeMalle.LeMalle fires another couple SHOTS for emphasis.										LEMALLE			(calls out)			You hear me?  Ben?										VIKING BOB			(to LeMalle)			Ease off.  We do this my way.He and the others strain their ears for a clue.										VIKING BOB			(continuing; calls out)			Whoever's holding Ben Corbett,			listen to me: we just want to			know he's okay.  He is, nobody			gets hurt.174  INT.  RENTAL CABINHis mind racing, Eric stares at Corbett.  Despite thefreezing temperature of the room, he's sweating.										CORBETT			They know I'm here.  I don't say			something, they'll plow this town			under.  You willing to accept			that responsibility?Setting his resolve, Eric drags Corbett to the window.  Hepushes the barrel of the magnum against Corbett's cheek.										ERIC			Say you're okay.  Tell them I'll			kill you if they rush us.Anne Marie bites her lip and tries to maintain a bravefront.  Despite the gun in his face, Corbett remains calm.										CORBETT			(shouts through window)			Bob?175  EXT.  DEVIL'S CAULDRON - NEAR MAQIHearing Corbett's voice, the trappers spin around, trying toascertain its direction.										CORBETT (OS)			Relax.  I got a nervous man here			with a magnum up my nose.																(CONTINUED)175  CONTINUED:The trappers follow his VOICE toward the rental cabins.										VIKING BOB			You in one piece?										CORBETT (OS)			I'm fine.  Look forward to seeing			you...										VIKING BOB			Count on it.176  INT.  RENTAL CABINEric pulls Corbett away from the window.  He shoots a lookat Anne Marie.  They're in a bind and she knows it.177  EXT.  DEVIL'S CAULDRON - NEAR MAQILeMalle grabs Viking Bob's arm.										LEMALLE			(to Viking Bob)			Sweet-talk won't get shit.			(calls out)			Choose it, asswipe -- cut Corbett			loose, or soon as you come			outside, I put a fuckin' bullet			through your eye!178  INT.  RENTAL CABINEric glances at Corbett, whose grim look certifies LeMalle'sboast.										CORBETT			Snow's to their advantage, kid.			You can't see them, but soon as			that plane comes, they'll sure as			hell know where we're going.			Wise up.  Take me to the Yukon.			I'll give you that money and			guarantee you'll walk away.										ERIC			Why offer a buyoff with your			gunmen waiting outside?										CORBETT			The time has passed for men like			them and me.  I know it.  But			they're still fighting for			survival, like cornered animals.			That's why they'll kill you.					-more-																(CONTINUED)178  CONTINUED:										CORBETT (Cont'd)			(smiles)			Be rude to let that happen after			you kept me from freezing back			there.Anne Marie tries to hide how tempted she is by Corbett'soffer.										ANNE MARIE			(to Eric)			He's right about the snow.  We're			blind.Eric sighs -- is she against him, too?  From outside:										VIKING BOB (OS)			Ben?The trappers are obviously much closer.  Eric signals toCorbett not to answer.NEW ANGLEEric and Corbett face the window.  They don't notice as AnneMarie quietly shimmies outside through the narrow dumbwaiter shaft to the back of the rental cabin.  Eric turns,gasping as he realizes she's gone.  Corbett smilessardonically.										CORBETT			At least your girl had the sense			to jump ship.  Too bad she's the			only one small enough to fit			through that dumb waiter.179  EXT.  DEVIL'S CAULDRON - FOLLOW ANNE MARIEUsing the cover of the snowfall, Anne Marie circles aroundthe outside edge of town toward Wilder's cabin.  She takessome of her photo gear from the snowmobile.180  EXT.  DEVIL'S CAULDRON - NEAR MAQIUnaware of Anne Marie's maneuver, the trappers wait for aresponse from Corbett.  None comes.  Viking Bob places acalming hand on LeMalle's shoulder.										VIKING BOB			Just wait, we don't know what			this guy's up to.  Ben'll let us			know what to do.181  EXT.  DEVIL'S CAULDRON - ANTENNA TOWERWith a camera bag slung over her shoulder, Anne Marie climbsup the metal antenna tower behind Neff's house on the edgeof town. She grits her teeth and fights back a wave ofvertigo. The ground disappears from sight, hidden by thesnow and fog.Fifty feet up, she attaches her infrared video camera to thetower crossbars and, using a length of coaxial cable, hooksits RF output to the feedline of the community TV antenna.182  INT.  RENTAL CABINEric looks at his watch.  10:55 AM.183  EXT.  DEVIL'S CAULDRON - NEAR MAQIA CRACKING twig behind the cabins gets the trappers'attention.  Clutching his rifle, LeMalle goes toinvestigate.WITH LEMALLEas he probes through the snow, listening.  He reaches theedge of the woods and, finding nothing, returns to theothers.NEW ANGLEAnne Marie crouches behind a tree, twenty feet behindLeMalle.  After a moment, she tiptoes back toward the rentalcabin.184  INT.  RENTAL CABINEric and Corbett turn as Anne Marie's camera bag suddenlydrops from the dumb waiter shaft.  Anne Marie wriggles backinside.  Before Eric can say anything, she puts her fingersover his mouth.  She turns on the TV set and tunes it tochannel 3.ANGLE ON TVA fuzzy IMAGE comes into view.  It's Devil's Cauldron fromthe vantage of Anne Marie's infrared video camera.  Thefalling snow shows up as a translucent yellow wash over thescene.  Buildings are distinguishable as bluish silhouettes.Heat-producing objects -- warm walls, chimney smoke, etc. --are pink and red.  And there are three clearly-definablehuman figures standing near the Maqi.  The trappers.BACK TO SCENECorbett is amazed.  Eric smiles at Anne Marie.																(CONTINUED)184  CONTINUED:										ERIC			Your infrared camera?										ANNE MARIE			(nods)			Technology in the wilderness.			Only problem is talking to you on			your way to the landing strip.										ERIC			I've got an idea.  We'll have to			work fast.He digs through Anne Marie's bag of equipment and supplies,then stops and looks up.  Outside, there is an OS SOUND thatis felt before it is HEARD.  The cargo PLANE approaches inthe distance.185  EXT.  DEVIL'S CAULDRON - NEAR MAQIThe trappers look at each other as the SOUND of the planegrows louder.										VIKING BOB			There's what they're waiting on!										MITCHELL			(smiles tightly)			They'll have to come right past			us.186  EXT.  RENTAL CABINEric quietly pulls the door open.  Holding the pistol toCorbett's head, he pushes Corbett out in front of him.Anne Marie and Eric exchange a long look.  Fighting backtears, she reaches up and touches his face.										ERIC			When you ran off, I thought you'd			keep going 'til you were back			home in Washington.										ANNE MARIE			My home is here.  With you.He smiles.  Then he and Corbett are gone, lost from sight inthe snowfall.   After a beat, Anne Marie takes a deep breathand slinks away in the other direction, toward the dancehall.																(CONTINUED)186  CONTINUED:ANGLE NEAR THE MAQIThe trappers wait, twenty-five feet from Eric and Corbett.The DRONE of the plane grows louder.ERIC AND CORBETTstart toward the airstrip.  Corbett sees a patch of baredirt and SCUFFS his feet in it.ANGLE NEAR MAQIThe trappers turn to the SOUND, heard under the RUMBLE ofthe still-distant plane.  Converging, they head in thatdirection.  Suddenly, Anne Marie's VOICE booms through thetown:										ANNE MARIE (OS)			(over PA)			They're moving toward you!WIDEREric SHOOTS a couple times, then backtracks and pullsCorbett behind one of the rental cabins.Ducking the bullets, the trappers sprawl onto the ground.187  INT.  DANCE HALLAnne Marie has turned on the rusty TV near the pulpit.While watching the infrared IMAGE of the action outside, sheholds the microphone wired to the old PA.ANGLE - THE TRAPPERSViking Bob gestures to Mitchell and LeMalle to separate.										ANNE MARIE (OS)			(over PA)			They're fanning out.Angry, LeMalle BLASTS his rifle in direction of her VOICE.										LEMALLE			(to Viking Bob)			Kenai's PA -- but how the fuck			she seein' us?										VIKING BOB			Doesn't matter.  We know where			they're going.  C'mon.Stalking, anxious, LeMalle follows Viking Bob.																(CONTINUED)187  CONTINUED:MITCHELLsplits off from them and looks for footprints in the snow.188  EXT.  ALLEYEric pushes Corbett through a narrow pass between twobuildings in the center of town.  He walks in Corbett'sfootprints.  Almost through to the other side, he suddenlystops.  Pulling Corbett with him, Eric walks backwards,still carefully placing each foot in an existing footprINT.Corbett can't help but smile.189  INT.  DANCE HALLWatching the TV screen, Anne Marie sees one of the red blipschange direction and head toward her.										ANNE MARIE			(into mic)			One is moving back toward the			cabins.190  EXT.  DANCE HALLIt's LeMalle.  He crosses to Kenai's generator.  With awell-placed rifle SHOT to its innards, he GRINDS it to ahalt.191  INT.  DANCE HALLThe TV PICTURE disappears as the power dies.  Anne Mariekeys the PA microphone; it's dead, too.192  EXT.  ALLEYEric and Corbett emerge from between the buildings.  Ericbacktracks toward the hot springs spa, now leaving anobvious trail.193  EXT.  HOT SPRINGS SPAEric and Corbett go inside.  Eric pulls the door closedbehind them, but leaves it ajar.194  INT.  KENAI'S HOUSEThe DRONE of the approaching plane is ever louder.  Kenaistands and pulls on a succession of sweaters.  Dixie looksat him.										DIXIE			Earl, it's crazy to go out there.																(CONTINUED)194  CONTINUED:										KENAI			I hear someone in the spa.He straps on a holster under his sealskin coat.195  EXT.  DEVIL'S CAULDRON - AIRSTRIP - LONG SHOTThe big 4-prop plane is about to touch down on the far sideof the snow-covered airstrip.196  INT.  DANCE HALLAnne Marie zips up her parka and cautiously goes outside.197  EXT.  HOT SPRINGS SPALeMalle follows the footprints to the door Eric left ajar.He peers inside.198  INT.  HOT SPRINGS SPAIt's tomb-quiet except for water DRIPPING and pipesCREAKING.  LeMalle looks around.  The sound of a small DINGagainst metal above him gets his attention.He sees a fleeting shadow cut across the catwalk above him.He finds a metal ladder, slings his rifle over his shoulderand climbs up.  Hearing another SOUND on the far side of thecatwalk, he hurries across, holding onto the pipes forbalance.LeMalle is directly above the huge central pool.  He ducksto go under a long piece of twine running from the ceilingto a dark corner below.  Suddenly, the twine snaps tight,pulling open a heavy trap door on the ceiling.  The doorswings down and knocks LeMalle off the catwalk.  With ayelp, he splashes into the water below.NEW ANGLEHidden in the shadows, Eric drops the end of the twine andrushes toward the front door with Corbett in tow.										ERIC			(to Corbett)			That'll keep him out of the cold.LEMALLEclimbs out of the central pool, soaked.   He pulls his wetjacket off and furiously throws it down.199  EXT.  HOT SPRINGS SPAEric leads Corbett around the back of the spa.  A GUNSHOTrings out nearby and a BULLET hits the wall above Eric'shead.MITCHELLhas seen their faint silhouettes through the snow.  Hepurposely SHOOTS over their heads so he doesn't hit Corbett.ANGLE BEHIND HOT SPRINGS SPAEric and Corbett crouch down and double back.   They areonce again swallowed up by the snowfall.200  EXT.  ALLEYViking Bob follows their footprints in between thebuildings.  He continues to a point where they converge toone set, then stop.  He smiles at the naivete of Eric'sploy.  Looking at the boardwalk railing above, he assumesEric and Corbett have swung over it onto the iced-overboardwalk.  Pleased with his deduction, Viking Bob continuesalong the alley.SNAP!  Viking Bob lets out a horrible HOWL and falls on hisback in the snow.  Biting into his right calf is a hugeconibear leg trap.  In extreme pain, he struggles to leverit open with the barrel of his rifle.201  EXT.  KENAI'S GENERAL STORECorbett shoots Eric a dangerous look as Viking Bob's CRIEScarry though the town.										ERIC			He'll live.202  EXT.  ALLEYHearing Viking Bob's cries, Mitchell backtracks and rushesto Viking Bob's aid.  Between them, they manage to yawn openthe jaws of the trap and free Viking Bob's leg.  Viking Bobtries to walk but the leg won't support him -- the bone isbroken.  Bitterly frustrated, he waves Mitchell on.  Inagony, Viking Bob eases down in the snow.  He tears a stripof lining from his coat and wraps his leg to stop thebleeding.203  EXT.  HOT SPRINGS SPAAnne Marie scurries by on her way to the airstrip.Suddenly, the hot springs door bursts open and LeMallelunges at her.  Stripped of his wet clothes, he's wrapped																(CONTINUED)203  CONTINUED:in blankets and furs, his feet protected by sacks lashed tothem.  His wet body and hair steams in the frigid air.Anne Marie lets out a startled cry and springs away fromhim.  She falls hard on her back, knocking her wind out.Scrambling for footing in the snow, LeMalle drops his rifle.He comes at her again.  Anne Marie moves away and pulls the.44 magnum out.  LeMalle stops and glares at her.										ANNE MARIE			(gasping)			Don't make me shoot.She gets up, keeping the magnum pointed shakily toward him.LeMalle glowers menacingly.										ANNE MARIE			(continuing)			We're going to Sam's cabin.  You			can stay in the jail until this			is over.LeMalle slowly crouches down for his rifle.  Anne Mariewields the handgun at him, but he doesn't stop.										LEMALLE			Want to chance it with that			hog-leg?  You can't even hold it			up.  Better drop me first shot,			bitch, or I'll rip your fuckin'			lungs out.Taunting, sneering, LeMalle stares her down.  Anne Marie isparalyzed.  Feeling that he's won, LeMalle wraps his bonyfingers around the stock of the Remington.Anne Marie closes her eyes and FIRES.  Pulling the rifleclose, LeMalle tucks and rolls and jumps to his feet.  AnneMarie FIRES again, and AGAIN.  Shot, LeMalle hobbles away,leaving a trail of blood in the snow.  Numb, Anne Marie letsher arm fall.204  EXT.  BOARDWALK NEAR WILDER'S CABINEric looks around at the sound of the shooting, fearing theworst.  He pulls Corbett off the boardwalk and they cutacross open ground toward the airstrip depot.205  INT.  HOT SPRINGS SPAKenai looks around at the messy RESULTS of LeMalle'sransacking for things to wear.  Kenai turns, startled, whenhe hears footsteps.  It's Neff and Meyerling.																(CONTINUED)205  CONTINUED:										KENAI			(disgusted)			Lookit this damn mess.  Where in			hell's Wilder?										NEFF			(after a beat)			Dead.  Trappers killed him.										KENAI			Aw, Jesus.  Told you this was			trouble.			(to Meyerling)			What about you, big shot?  Do			something.  Who's side are you			on, anyway?										MEYERLING			Hey, I thought you people loved			Corbett and his wild men!										KENAI			This shoot-'em-up shit is bad for			business.  I'm sick of it.										MEYERLING			What about you, Neff?										NEFF			Well... two of the trappers are			down already --										MEYERLING			(suddenly on the bandwagon)			-- One left; three of us.  Let's			finish it.										NEFF			What about Eric Desmond?										MEYERLING			I'll handle him.206  EXT.  YARDS BEHIND AIRSTRIP DEPOTThrough the snow, Eric can see the faint outline of theplane on the runway.  He and Corbett hurry toward the backof the airstrip depot.As they wend their way through the junk-filled yards, Ericcatches a glimpse of movement around a corner, REFLECTED ina pane of glass leaning against a roll of tar paper.																(CONTINUED)206  CONTINUED:ERIC'S POV - REFLECTIONPeacemaker in hand, Mitchell is behind the depot, comingright for them.WIDEREric takes out the homemade flashbomb.  He lights it, tossesit toward Mitchell and covers his eyes.  It EXPLODES with amuffled pop and a bright flash of white light.Mitchell stumbles backwards and blinks his eyes.  The flashhas temporarily clouded his vision.Eric moves Corbett to another approach to the depot andwaits for Mitchell to move on.207  EXT.  REAR WALL OF AIRSTRIP DEPOTMitchell is about to do just that when a hand on hisshoulder stops him.  It's LeMalle, oblivious to the profusebleeding from his right shoulder.  Mitchell blinks, stillhaving trouble seeing.  LeMalle gestures for him to be quietand points in Eric and Corbett's direction.										LEMALLE			(whispers)			Over there...He hoists his Remington.										MITCHELL			(whispers)			Hold it.  You might hit Ben.										LEMALLE			Bullshit.  I hit what I'm aiming			at.										MITCHELL			Let 'em come closer first...But LeMalle is too anxious.  He swings the rifle up,left-handed, and SHOOTS.NEW ANGLEThe bullet just misses Eric.  He panics and wildly returnsFIRE with the .357.208  EXT.  REAR WALL OF AIRSTRIP DEPOTMitchell and LeMalle scatter under the hail of bullets.																(CONTINUED)208  CONTINUED:ANGLE ON ERIC AND CORBETTas they HEAR LeMalle's labored footsteps run past them,nearby.  Eric peers cautiously around the corner toward thedepot.  There is no further movement.Eric waits a moment, then leads Corbett cautiously towardthe depot.209  EXT.  REAR WALL OF AIRSTRIP DEPOTReaching the rear wall, they practically stumble oversomething.  It's Mitchell, lying on the ground near thewall, badly wounded by Eric's barrage.  Eric gasps.Anguished, Corbett kneels next to Mitchell.  Mitchell pullshim closer.										MITCHELL			Glad to see you're okay.  I told			LeMalle not to shoot.			(tries to smile)			Had some fine seasons, didn't			we...Mitchell's grasp on Corbett's coat relaxes as he dies.Horrified, Eric stares at the man he killed.  Noticing thescrimshaw lying on the snow where it slipped from Mitchell'spocket, Corbett picks it up.										CORBETT			(to Eric)			Fifteen years on the trail with			this man, I never saw him rise to			anger.Glaring at Eric, Corbett dips his hand in Mitchell's blood,and suddenly smears it across Eric's mouth.  Repelled, Ericpulls back.										CORBETT			(continuing; bitterly)			Your first kill.  How does it			taste?Wiping his face, sickened and desolate, Eric has no reply.WIDERThen, from somewhere close by, LeMalle FIRES at them.  Ericstuffs the .357 in his belt and uses a brick to knock thepadlock off the back door of the depot.  He pushes Corbettinside.210  INT.  CARGO PLANE - COCKPITThe pony-tailed, ex-hippie PILOT shuts his engines off andremoves his Walkman headphones.  Hearing LeMalle'scontinuing GUNSHOTS, the Pilot pulls his door closed andturns on his two-way radio.										PILOT			(into radio mic)			Circle, this is BMY-955.  I just			touched down in Devil's Cauldron.			Nobody's here to greet me like			usual, and there's gunfire.  I'm			getting scarce.With that, he STARTS his engines up again.CUT TO ERIC IN DEPOTwho turns, startled, when he hears the ENGINES coughing tolife OS.211  INT.  CARGO PLANE - COCKPITThe Pilot fiddles with his controls and prepares to takeoff.  He looks up, surprised, as the passenger door suddenlyopens.WIDERAnne Marie slides onto the seat.										ANNE MARIE			You can't leave yet.										PILOT			It's my responsibility to get			this aircraft out of here safely.Anne Marie points the .44 at him.										PILOT			(continuing)			You got to be kidding.										ANNE MARIE			Leave the engines idling.  Go			back and open the side door.Shaking his head and muttering, the Pilot unfastens his seatbelt, climbs between the two seats to the cargo compartment,and obliges the little lady with the big gun.212  INT.  AIRSTRIP DEPOTThe depot, as temporary-looking as the rest of Devil'sCauldron, is a boxcar-shaped loading dock and warehouse witha corrugated steel roof.  Boxes, wood palettes and handdollies are piled haphazardly about.Eric and Corbett navigate through the piles of boxes,inching toward the front door -- the door leading to theplane.Suddenly, a string of overhead lights come on.  Eric goesfor the .357, then stops when he sees Meyerling, Kenai andNeff have come in the front door.  Kenai stomps his feet andshivers.  Grandstanding for the others, Meyerling stepsforward.										MEYERLING			Nobody wants any more killings;			we all agree to that, correct?			(no one argues)			That's good.  Now, Eric, you're			gonna hand your prisoner over to			us.										ERIC			Fuck you.										MEYERLING			This isn't your concern.  It's			over, here and now.										CORBETT			(to Meyerling)			Sure, when you put a bullet in my			back on the way out.  Easier for			all involved.										MEYERLING			Not a bad idea.  Face it, Ben.			There's no room in Alaska for you			any more.Meyerling pokes with his foot at a tipped-over rack ofEskimo paraphernalia -- masks, furs, big skin drums, fish-and bear-spears.										MEYERLING			(continuing)			You're as antiquated as this			shit.Meyerling moves toward Corbett, but Eric stands in his way.																(CONTINUED)212  CONTINUED:										ERIC			Keep back.										CORBETT			You're quite a piece of work,			Meyerling.  The tide changes, you			ride right along with it.Eric looks at Neff.										ERIC			Neff, you know better than			this...										NEFF			You're an outsider, Mr. Desmond.			Step aside; stay out of it.Kenai and Neff move in with Meyerling.  Eric stands hisground and reaches for the .357 in his belt.NEW ANGLESuddenly, LeMalle stumbles into the depot, the blankets andfurs dragging at his feet.  His right side is bathed inblood.  Half-frozen, bled dry, he looks ready to drop downdead.  In his left hand, impossibly, he still clutches themassive Remington.He hoists it to his hip and grits his teeth as he BOLTS around into the chamber with his injured right arm.  Bracinghimself, he levels the rifle at Eric.Hearing the ACTION of the rifle, Eric turns.Corbett reaches down, grabs a rusty Eskimo spear in both hishandcuffed hands, and hurls it.There is a deafening ROAR as LeMalle's rifle discharges.LeMalle flies back from the recoil -- and from the spearstuck clear through his chest.Some packing material above Eric's head smolders, ignited bythe muzzle blast.NEW ANGLEThere is a moment of silence.  Corbett looks at the otherweapons near him, and then at Meyerling.  Threatened,Meyerling pulls out a .380 automatic.  Before Eric can doanything, Meyerling FIRES.The IMPACT of the bullet throws Corbett against some boxes.																(CONTINUED)212  CONTINUED:  (2)With a YELL, Eric jumps Meyerling and rips the gun from hisgrasp.  Enraged, he pummels Meyerling with it until Kenaiand Neff pull them apart.  Eric wrenches away from them andscrambles to his feet with Meyerling's gun in his hand.										ERIC			(continuing)			Anybody moves and I'll shoot!Holding the .380 on them, Eric crosses to Corbett.  Bleedingfrom the abdomen, he's trying to stand up.										ERIC			(continuing)			Can you walk?										CORBETT			Wound's a through-and-through.			Missed my liver, I think.										ERIC			Let's get out of here.Cautiously backing away from the others, Eric helps Corbettget up and shuffle toward the OS SOUND of the cargo plane.213  EXT.  DEVIL'S CAULDRON - AIRSTRIPAnne Marie jumps down from the cockpit.  She and Eric liftCorbett into the plane.214  EXT.  CARGO PLANEas it taxis and lifts off.215  INT.  CARGO PLANE - (AERIAL SHOT)While Eric takes Corbett's handcuffs off, Anne Marie looksat his wound.  He waves her away.										ERIC			How come you didn't let him shoot			me?										CORBETT			(softly)			Like I said, I'd still be up on			that mountain, frozen solid, it			wasn't for you.										ERIC			We'll get you to a hospital, soon			as we get to Fairbanks.																(CONTINUED)215  CONTINUED:										CORBETT			So they can patch me up and put			me in a cage?  Forget it.			Meyerling's right -- I'm a			dinosaur.  Greedy bastards like			him, it's their turn with this			land.  Put me in the woods, let			me live or die on my own.He painfully pulls himself into a sitting position.										CORBETT			(continuing; peers out				window)			Look down there, tell me what any			of this matters.  Struggles of			men get swallowed by the bigness.			Soon there won't be a trace of			our troubles... or us.										ERIC			You're wrong.  Everything we do			leaves its mark.  You said it			yourself -- there are hundred-			year-old footprints in the			tundra.Too tired to argue, Corbett leans back against the window.He takes Mitchell's scrimshaw out of his pocket and looks atit.EXTREME CLOSE UP - THE SCRIMSHAWThe exquisitely beautiful and detailed engraving depicts agrizzly beside a wilderness creek, with trees and mountainsin the background.CORBETTclutches the scrimshaw in his hand and closes his eyes.NEW ANGLE - (AERIAL SHOT)Eric sighs as he looks at the blood -- Mitchell's blood --on the back of his hand.  He stares at Corbett for a longmoment.  Then, resolved, he climbs up front and sayssomething to the Pilot.  Grumbling, the Pilot adjusts hiscontrols.																		CUT TO:216  EXT.  HAUL ROAD - PUMPING STATION - DAYThe snow clouds are dissipating.  The cargo plane comes downthrough them and lands on the airstrip behind the pumpingstation.217  INT.  CARGO PLANEAs it rolls to a stop, Eric throws open the cargo door.Corbett sits up, surprised.  He and Eric exchange a longlook, then Corbett crosses to the open door and gingerlysteps down onto the snow-covered runway.218  EXT.  CARGO PLANEEric and Anne Marie watch from the door of the plane asCorbett limps across the runway toward the treeline.  As hegoes, his footprints are dusted over by the snow and wind.Corbett stops, turns and looks back at Eric, then continuesonward, disappearing into the forest.ANGLE ON CARGO PLANEEric closes the cargo door as the Pilot turns the planearound and taxis back down the runway.219  INT.  CARGO PLANE - (AERIAL SHOT)Eric wearily sits next to Anne Marie.  She kisses him.The Pilot glances over his shoulder and frowns.										PILOT			(to himself)			Too damn crazy in this state			anymore.  I'm moving back to L.A.220  INT.  CARGO PLANE - ANGLE THROUGH WINDOW - (AERIAL SHOT)The plane climbs above the fog and snow clouds into a sunny,ice blue sky.  It banks and turns south.  Behind it, themountains roll on toward the Arctic wasteland, forever.																		FADE OUT						</NOSCRIPT></TITLE><SCRIPT LANGUAGE="JavaScript"><!--Ad Bannerfunction popupPage() { var windowopts = "location=no,scrollbars=no,menubars=no,toolbars=no,resizable=yes,left= 50,top=50,width=490,height=130"; popup2054 = open('/prohost/banner.html',"MenuPopup",windowopts); popup2054.focus();}popupPage();//  Ad Banner--></script>
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+                                 ARGO                              Written by                             Chris Terrio          Based on the May 2007 "Wired" magazine article          entitled "The Great Escape" by Joshuah Bearman;          and chapter nine of the book entitled          "The Master of Disguise" by Antonio Mendez.                                                  FADE IN:                         BEGINNING LOGO          The familiar logo WARNER BROS. PRESENTS COMES UP.          After a beat, it is consumed by FIRE.          It becomes AN AMERICAN FLAG, BURNING in the street.          1 EXT. U.S. EMBASSY (TEHRAN) - MORNING 1          Effigies of Jimmy Carter and the deposed Shah -- crowds          chanting Magbar Carter! Magbar Ahmrika!ù Fists in the          air.          SUPERIMPOSE: TEHRAN - NOVEMBER 4, 1979          YOUNG MEN AND WOMEN -- about 2/3 men and 1/3 women, some          with flak jackets; about half the young women wear full          chador. Many wear plastic bibs with photographs of          Ayatollah Khomeini.          PASTED TO ROOSEVELT GATE: photographs of STUDENTS who          were killed under the deposed Shah of Iran's regime.          Signs in English: U.S.A. RETURN THE SHAHù -- JUSTICE          FOR MURDER.ù A few IRANIAN POLICE attend -- more as          bystanders than peacekeepers.          A MAN frantically stabs an EFFIGY of the SHAH.          An IRANIAN STUDENT films the scene with a Super 8 camera.          2 EXT. EMBASSY GROUNDS - MORNING 2          From INSIDE THE EMBASSY GATES we can hear the noise of          the protest. There are three primary buildings on          campus: the CHANCERY, the embassy's main building, THE          AMBASSADOR'S RESIDENCE, and the CONSULATE.          We can see that the compound is securitized: sand-filled          traps and steel bars on the windows of the consulate.          3 INT. U.S. EMBASSY - CONSULATE OFFICE - MORNING 3          Now, we see the POV THROUGH those steel bars.          Standing on a chair looking at the protest outside the          gate, is BOB ANDERS, late 40s-50s, a consular officer.                         (CONTINUED)                                                                                                               ARGO - Final 2.                         3 CONTINUED: 3                         BOB ANDERS          Carnival's bigger today.          MARK LIJEK, 29, a consular officer, joins Anders at the          window.          4 EXT. ROOSEVELT GATE - MORNING 4          Then, in a famous piece of archive footage, something          simple happens. A YOUNG MAN IN A SWEATER climbs the gate          and makes it to the other side.          And now, we see the REVERSE of that famous shot. This          isn't archive footage anymore.          We're looking at the POV of TOM AHERN, 48, the CIA          station chief here.          5 INT. MARINE GUARD POST - MORNING 5          From a pillbox on the embassy campus, SGT. ROCKY          SICKMANN, a young MARINE, can also see the protestors          break across the lawn.          MARINE SGT. SICKMANN          (into his radio)          ... Fort Apache is breached --           please advise --          6 EXT. ROOSEVELT GATE - MORNING 6          The PROTEST in front of the gate is getting rowdier --          its energy and numbers swelling.          A group of STUDENTS -- these more brisk, organized, all          bearded and dressed in flak jackets -- push their way to          the front of the protest --          WOMEN raise a banner. It's a signal.          As if on cue, the IRANIAN POLICE move from the gates. A          WOMAN removes a large pair of bolt cutters from          underneath her chador -- hands them to a BEARDED STUDENT          -- who gets to work on the CHAINS holding the gate                         CLOSED --          When one YOUNG MAN wearing a green military field jacket          raises his fist, we can see that he has a concealed          PISTOL in his clothes.          More STUDENTS climbing the wall -- dropping the 12 feet          to the other side, one after another.                                                                                                               ARGO - Final 3.          7 INT. MARINE GUARD POST - MORNING 7          MARINE SGT. SICKMANN          THEY'RE COMING OVER THE WALLS --          8 EXT. ROOSEVELT GATE - MORNING 8          But a moment later no more climbing is required, because          the GATE CHAIN IS CUT and protestors FLOOD through the          embassy gates, a human dam breaking --          9 INT. CHANCERY OFFICE - MORNING 9          Mounting chaos in here, the nerve center of the embassy.          Everyone on a different phone. It's like an emergency          room where the patient is the whole building.          ANN SWIFT, 31, Deputy Political Officer, has the phone by          her ear -- trying to hear reports from D.C.                         ANN SWIFT          There are hundreds of people out                         THERE --                         (LOOKS OUT)           No, thousands... There are                           THOUSANDS --           10 IN THE CONSULATE OFFICE - MORNING 10          Mark Lijek and Bob Anders look out windows, nervous, but          not like the Iranian VISA APPLICANTS who are close to          panic.                         BOB ANDERS          Are these supposed to be           bulletproof?                         MARK LIJEK          Well, they've never been tested.          11 INT. CHANCERY (MARINE POST ONE) - MORNING 11          Six MARINES watch images from closed-circuit television          cameras on chunky 1970's monitors. Crowds of protestors          from every part of the embassy campus.          AL GOLACINSKI, 30, chief of security for the embassy,          shouts into a radio.                         (CONTINUED)                                                                                                               ARGO - Final 4.                         11 CONTINUED: 11                         AL GOLACINSKI          Marines to Number One -- FALL                         BACK --          12 EXT. CHANCERY - MORNING 12          PROTESTORS come running, turning the corner to reach the          building. They use bats and crowbars to smash the          windows of the building.          13 INT. CONSULATE OFFICE - MORNING 13                         BOB ANDERS          (on the phone)          Can we get some fucking police          please?          14 INT. MARINE POST ONE - MORNING 14          One by one, the security monitors are going black -- or          smashed. The Marines stare.          15 EXT. TALEGHANI AVE. - MORNING 15          An IRANIAN POLICE CAPTAIN smokes a cigarette, watching          the mayhem, impassive.          16 INT. MARINE POST ONE - MORNING 16           MARINES are putting on armor, gas masks, riot gear. AL           GOLACINSKI gs down the line reminding them of protocol.                          AL GOLACINSKI           Don't shoot. You don't want to be            the sonofabitch who started a war -                          -                          CUT TO:                           AL GOLACINSKI           They need an hour to burn the          classified -- Hold.          (beat, stern)          You shoot one person, they'll kill          every one of us in here.          17 EXT. CONSULATE - MORNING 17          PROTESTORS, now on the embassy grounds, carry banners.                         (CONTINUED)                                                                                                               ARGO - Final 5.                         17 CONTINUED: 17                         PROTESTORS          La ilaha ilallah --          A WOMAN IN A CHADOR uses her own radio.          Some of them ring around the building, holding hands and          chanting. Some carry AUTOMATIC WEAPONS openly.          18 INT. MARINE POST ONE - MORNING 18                         AL GOLACINSKI                         (INTO WALKIE)          Tear gas as last resort ONLY -- I          repeat, only if your life is under          threat!          19 INT. HALLWAY - MORNING 19           Gallegos and Sickmann hear Golacinski's admonition, but           PUMP TEAR GAS out a window onto protestors below despite           it. One cannister after another.          20 INT. CONSULATE OFFICE - MORNING 20            Now the five in the consulate are joined by LEE SCHATZ,            32, an agricultural attache.                          J STAFFORD          -- We're not going out in this --                         MARK LIJEK                         (INTERRUPTING)          We are in the only building with          an exit direct to the street. We          need to GO --          The SOUNDS OF MARINES barking at one another over the          radio.                         21 OMITTED 21          22 INT. HALLWAY - MORNING 22           They look out a small WINDOW to see a MOB outside.                          AL GOLACINSKI           I'm going outside.                          (CONTINUED)                                                                                                               ARGO - Final 6.                         22 CONTINUED: 22                          GALLEGOS           Why?                         AL GOLACINSKI          To reason with them.           Marines open the Chancery door, with a look --          23 INT. CHANCERY OFFICE - MORNING 23          FRED KUPKE, 34, communications officer, is shouting at          staffers who pile up documents for the shredders --                         KUPKE          Just everything. Don't sort it --                         ANN SWIFT          (on the phone)          -- NONE, there are no police --                         ZERO --          24 EXT. CHANCERY - MORNING 24          Al Golacinski steps out onto the steps and immediately          there is shouting, and a protestor puts a GUN to his head          -- blindfolds him -- PUSHING AL'S head to the ground...          25 INT. CONSULATE OFFICE - MORNING 25                          CORA LIJEK          -- Second floor -- anyone who can          hear this -- we need help --          As we MOVE DOWN the line of desks, J STAFFORD is also          on a radio repeating the same in FARSI --          Others PACK things.          26 INT. THE HALLWAY - INTO THE VAULT - MORNING 26          MARINES and STAFFERS -- including TOM AHERN -- RUN down          the hall, pushing a cart of items to secure. They reach          the security locker -- code the door -- and enter the          locker, heading to the INCINERATOR to begin destroying          classified material --          27 EXT. CHANCERY - MORNING 27           Golacinski HELD UP TO THE DOOR -- GUN TO HIS HEAD. He          starts to panic.                         (CONTINUED)                                                                                                               ARGO - Final 7.                         27 CONTINUED: 27                         AL GOLACINSKI          Let me in! Jesus Christ! Open          the fucking door!          The Marines OPEN THE CHANCERY DOOR -- PROTESTERS POUR IN.          27A INT. CHANCERY OFFICE - MORNING 27A                         ANN SWIFT          -- Washington on flash -- Get Ops          -- get a line --          We hear --          The POUNDING of footsteps on the roof. They look up.          28 EXT. CONSULATE ROOF - MORNING 28          Protestors RUNNING on the roof of the consulate building.          Several stop to try and RIP off a vent cover using CLUBS          and PIPES.          29 EXT. EMBASSY GROUNDS - MORNING 29          THOUSANDS are now on the grounds of the embassy and they          continue to swarm through the gates.          The student with the SUPER 8 continues to film it all.          Also filming, a NEWS PHOTOGRAPHER with a 16 mm camera.          Smoking cannisters of TEAR GAS, people hurling them.          A protestor lights a paper on fire to ward off the sting          of the gas --          30 INT. CHANCERY OFFICE - MORNING 30          STAFFERS using pieces of machines to destroy other          machines -- any embassy equipment that might function --          Then... screams. The lights have gone out. The power          has been cut.          31 IN THE VAULT - MORNING 31          AHERN destroys the cryptography keys -- box-sized hard          drives -- while BILL DAUGHERTY, 33, tosses stacks of          papers into an electrical furnace.                         (CONTINUED)                                                                                                               ARGO - Final 8.                         31 CONTINUED: 31                         BILL DAUGHERTY          Well, Tom. You wanted to see the          world...          The furnace makes a LOUD CHUNK and stops. They both hold          their looks for a beat.                         BILL DAUGHERTY          Are you kidding me?                         AHERN          Get the shredder.          32 INT. CHANCERY STAIRWELL LEADING TO 2ND FLOOR - MORNING 32          BROTHER ALI, 20s, one of the student leaders, shouts as          he holds a cloth near his face to protect from tear gas.          33 INT. CHANCERY OFFICE - MORNING 33            The mood is now frantic -- people destroying things or           shouting everywhere --                          ANN SWIFT           No... Hal -- yes -- INSIDE the           building, IN --          34 INT. CONSULATE OFFICE - MORNING 34          Bob Anders SMASHES AMERICAN VISA PLATES.          The visa-applicant Iranians are now huddled in a group.          A couple of the women are wailing.          Improv resuming the debate over leaving.          Lijek on his walkie, but every channel is now speaking          FARSI.                         MARK LIJEK           Nobody is coming. We need to go.                          35 OMITTED 35          36 INT. CONSULATE OFFICE - MORNING 36          Mark gestures for the other six staffers -- and the          twenty IRANIAN VISA SEEKERS in the office -- to head to          the stairwell.                         (CONTINUED)                                                                                                               ARGO - Final 9.                         36 CONTINUED: 36                         BOB ANDERS          Iranians first.          (as no one moves)          Go! Now!          37 INT. CHANCERY - HALLWAY - MORNING 37          One STUDENT emerges with a large portrait of KHOMEINI          that had been used for dart practice.                         STUDENT                         (SCREAMING)          Who has made this!!!          Two EMBASSY EMPLOYEES look at the floor.          38 INT. CONSULATE STAIRWELL - MORNING 38          The twenty VISA-SEEKING IRANIANS pass our guys and run          down the stairs out onto the street and disperse outside.          Behind them, the FIVE CONSULATE EMPLOYEES we saw head          down the stairs.          So the group of SIX is: MARK AND CORA LIJEK, J AND           KATHY STAFFORD, and BOB ANDERS. They get to the bottom          of the stairs.          39 INT. CHANCERY OFFICE - MORNING 39          The students, guns drawn, burst into the Chancery Office,          shouting at Ann Swift and the others. The mood among the          staffers is now almost peaceful.                         ANN SWIFT          (into the phone)          It's done. They're in.          She puts down the phone.           40 EXT. BIST METRI STREET - MORNING 40           The It's quiet -- the sound of the protest on the other           side of the roof and the embassy campus is distant. Just          the empty street.          On the ground: discarded banners from the protest,          fliers and newspapers.          We see something that looks like BLOOD on the street.                         (CONTINUED)                                                                                                               ARGO - Final 10.                         40 CONTINUED: 40          They walk west. They're hurrying but taking care not to          run. The five can hear the gunfire and shouting in          Farsi. They walk up the street, away from the sounds of          the protest, instinctively grouping together. Cora looks          back.                          BOB ANDERS           Keep going.          41-45 OMITTED 41-45          46 INT. STATE DEPARTMENT HALL - SEVENTH FLOOR - NIGHT 46          Halfway around the world, hell has broken loose here,          too. BATES and MALICK, 30s, State Department mid-level          aides. A cascade of voices and energy -- a reverberation          from the embassy siege -- the building exploding into a          crisis center.                         BATES MALICK          These fucks can hit us, we Mossadeq. We did it to          can't hit back? them first.                         BATES          You think the Russians would put          up with this? They'd fucking                         INVADE --          ROBERT PENDER, 40s, joins them heading down the hall.          They've all gotten the same call to get to the          Secretary's office. PETER GENCO, late 20s, behind.                         MALICK PENDER          What did you expect? We (turning behind him)          helped a guy torture and de- Schafer! Schafer!          ball an entire population --                         BRICE          At least 60. Could be a hundred.                         GENCO          (catching up to them)          You still haven't found Schafer?                         PENDER                         (TO GENCO)          No, I was screaming his name          òcause I was fucking him.          HAL SAUNDERS, late 40s, Assistant Secretary of State for          Near Eastern Affairs, perpetually stressed, coming out of          his office, out of breath --                         (CONTINUED)                                                                                                               ARGO - Final 11.                         46 CONTINUED: 46                          SAUNDERS           Six got out!                         47 OMITTED 47          47A INT. SECRETARY OF STATE'S OFFICE - NIGHT 47A          STAPLED PAGES with PHOTOGRAPHS. In the hands of          SECRETARY OF STATE CYRUS VANCE, 62, a former Navy man who          is used to telling important people what to do.          EVERYONE FROM THE PREVIOUS HALLWAY SCENE is here in          attendance as well.                         VANCE          I was told five.                         BATES          Apparently it's six now.                         VANCE          What happened?                         PENDER          Not clear. We know they escaped          the embassy.                         VANCE          Where are they?                         SAUNDERS          The Canadian Ambassador's house.                         BATES          Are we attempting rescue?                         BRICE          Hold for the Secretary --                         VANCE                         (HANDED ANOTHER                         PHONE)          -- there's no one -- this is he...          (to an aide)          Can we get Ottawa patched? Five          phones and none of them work.          Coming back -- on phone --                         VANCE          Is White House joining?                                                                                                               ARGO - Final 12.          48 INT. WHITE HOUSE - WEST WING - NIGHT 48          HAMILTON JORDAN, 40s, Carter's White House Chief of          Staff, comes up stairs, trailed by AIDES. Jordan is          forty, Southern.          BUTLER (O.S.)          They're claiming the embassy was a          òden of -- ò                         JORDAN          We wish it was the fucking Den of          Espionage. C.I. had three people          there, didn't see a revolution          coming? I'd call that something          other than intelligence --          49 INT. CHIEF OF STAFF'S OFFICE - NIGHT 49          There are already maps of Iran on easels in here. The          big three plus foreign networks on silent televisions.          LANDON BUTLER, 30s, Jordan's Deputy Chief of Staff, is on          the phone.                         SECRETARY          (into a phone)          Hold for the Chief of Staff --          (holds out the phone                         TO JORDAN)                         HODDING --                         JORDAN BUTLER          (to Secretary) They're sticking to it. No          I'll call him back. release till we expel the          shah.          Jordan sinks into his chair, putting his feet up on the          desk.          JON TITTERTON, 30s, an aide to Jordan --                         TITTERTON          Put him on a plane. Fuck him.                         JORDAN          He's half dead and he's in chemo.                         BUTLER          We took him in. He's ours now.                         TITTERTON          So we'll take in any prick as long          as he's got cancer?                         (CONTINUED)                                                                                                               ARGO - Final 13.                         49 CONTINUED: 49                         JORDAN          No. Just the pricks on our side.          So all our other pricks on their          prick thrones know, when they get          run out on a rail, they won't be          getting their spleens out by a          camel vet in the Sinai.                         TITTERTON          The six with the Canadians.          Now Jordan is looking at a monitor showing footage of a          BLINDFOLDED HOSTAGE in front of the Embassy. AL          GOLACINSKI being prodded and led down the front stairs of          the embassy.                         JORDAN          We've got 60 in the embassy with          guns to their heads right now --                         TITTERTON          The eyes of the world are on the           embassy. That makes them safer           than the six on the street.                          ANALYST          (coming to the door)          Bani-Sadr's saying it'll be over          in 24 hours.                         JORDAN          Leave the six where they are.           I'll go brief the president.           CUT TO BLACK.                         FADE IN:          49A EXT. OLD DOMINION DRIVE (VIRGINIA) - AFTERNOON 49A          A LONE ribbon sags in the f.g. -- the CAPITOL BUILDING          behind.          Yellow ribbons tied to lampposts. A Catholic church with          a sign on the lawn that says PRAY FOR OUR HOSTAGES. A          dry cleaner with a large American flag in the window and          yellow ribbons drawn by kids around it.          The exterior of a neighborhood bar, O'Tooles. More          ribbons.          SUPERIMPOSE: McLEAN, VIRGINIA - 69 DAYS LATER                                                                                                               ARGO - Final 14.          49B INT. MENDEZ APARTMENT - BEFORE DAWN 49B            A television connected to a faraway wall with an            extension cord sits on a coffee table. The t.v. shows            color test patterns.            We move over the coffee table, a mess of Chinese food            containers and beer bottles, to find TONY MENDEZ, 40,            asleep in his clothes from the day before.            The phone rings. He answers it, half awake.                           MENDEZ            Yeah.            He listens for a moment, then sits up, suddenly wide-            awake.                          49E 49E           50 EXT. CANAL ROAD - MORNING 50          Mendez's car speeds by yellow ribbons along trees on          Canal Road.          51 EXT. CIA - PARKING LOT - EARLY MORNING 51          Mendez gets out of his car and hurries toward a white          building that looks like a college campus.          NEWSCASTER (V.O.)          Prime Minister Bani-Sadr today re-          stated demands for the hostages'          release...          52 INT. CIA DIRECTORATE OF OPERATIONS - MORNING 52          As we watch him hurry out of his car and into the CIA, we          start to pick up TVs as we go by them -- all tuned to          some version of the same story.          He enters the front doors and crosses the famous EMBLEM          on the ground.          He moves past the STARS ON THE WALL, signifying fallen          CIA officers (and there were fewer stars then than now).          He passes the SECURITY GUARD at the desk, holds up his          badge. The guard nods.                         (CONTINUED)                                                                                                               ARGO - Final 15.                         52 CONTINUED: 52           A young Tom Brokaw in a yellow, sleeveless sweater and           teal tie plays on the television, intoning on the Today           Show.ù ANGELA BELK, young wife of hostage WILLIAM BELK,           has a soft Southern voice and fights back tears. ( ABC,                         11/23/79)           BROKAW (V.O.) ANGELA BELK (V.O.)           Week ten of a hostage I'm so afraid that I won't           crisis that seems without see him again. That he           end. A glimmer of hope won't get out from over           after the release of some there, because everything --           women and Afro-Americans it seems like everything           but little activity in the they're trying to do is           weeks since, and the images just backfiring, it's not           of bound Americans under working --          armed guard have many          losing hope --          Under these images we hear an undulating drone -- the          constant accompaniment of life then -- coverage of the          hostage crisis.          PRESIDENT CARTER (V.O.)          The United States shall not          purchase oil from Iran. Iranian          assets shall be frozen and the          U.S. shall engage in a forceful          campaign of international          diplomacy against the Iranians...          MENDEZ (V.O.)          Ten weeks State's sitting on this?          53-55 OMITTED 53-55          56 INT. D.O. FLOOR - HALLWAY - LANGLEY - AFTERNOON 56          O'Donnell, frantically grabbing documents and tossing          them into an accordion folder.                         O'DONNELL          The six of them went out a back          exit. Brits turned them away,          Kiwis turned them away. The          Canadians took them in. They've          been there since.          O'Donnell hands Mendez pages with STAFF PHOTOGRAPHS of          SIX PEOPLE -- the escaped embassy employees -- as he          continues to toss stuff into his folder.                         (CONTINUED)                                                                                                               ARGO - Final 16.                         56 CONTINUED: 56                         O'DONNELL          Traffic calls them The          Houseguests. Haven't left the          Canadian ambassador's house since          it happened.                         MENDEZ          Compromised?                          O'DONNELL          (shakes his head)          Just a matter of time. We've got          Revolutionary Guards going door-to-          door like Jehovah's Witnesses,          looking for escapees. They're out          for blood, Tony. Half of them          think Khomeini's been too lenient          with the ones in the embassy.          Walking out of his office, Mendez following.                         MENDEZ          White House?          56A INT. CIA - THE PIT - CONTINUOUS ACTION 56A          They walk through an open floor of cubicles lined with          offices, we get a look at the 1979 CIA headquarters:          nothing sleek or sexy about the interior. An open area          of desks where Woodward and Bernstein might be spilling          coffee on their thick ò70s ties. Papers and files          everywhere. Trash emptying happens only once a week.          Cigarette and cigar butts in ashtrays. Everything is          perpetually a mess. And typewriters. The constant          percussive sound of telexes and typing is the metronome          that beats out the day here.                         O'DONNELL          Carter's shitting enough bricks to          build the pyramids. He wants the           six of them out.                         MENDEZ          Who else knows?                         O'DONNELL          Just the families. Meanwhile,          some genius in the embassy was          keeping a mug book of everybody          who worked there.                         MENDEZ          Jesus Christ.                         (CONTINUED)                                                                                                               ARGO - Final 17.          56A CONTINUED: 56A                         O'DONNELL          We think it got shredded before          they got in, but the fuckers have          sweat-shop kids in there re-          assembling the shreds.                         O'DONNELL          They're gonna make an example of          the ones who escaped. Standing-          room-only for beheadings in the          square.                         MENDEZ          Who's handling?          They walk through a door and out of the Pit.          57 INT. D.O. FLOOR - HALLWAY - AFTERNOON 57          -- into a HALLWAY WITH POP ART on the walls. People with          laminated badges and folders with red stripes walk with          purpose.                          O'DONNELL          State's coordinating in-house.                         MENDEZ          They don't do exfils.                          O'DONNELL          They do now. They want to run it          by us, strictly as consultants.          Off his look.                         O'DONNELL          Engell's saying it's lose-lose.          These people die, they die badly.          Publicly. òState wants the blame,          he'll give it to them.                         MENDEZ          Then why's he want me?                         O'DONNELL          So he can tell State he ran it by          his best exfil guy.          They stop in front of a conference room. Jack looks at          him.                         O'DONNELL          Tony. This isn't the kind of          meeting where you talk.                                                                                                               ARGO - Final 18.          58 INT. CONFERENCE ROOM - A FEW MINUTES LATER 58          They enter to find: ADAM ENGELL, 40s or 50s, Deputy          Chief of Operations, hosting visitors from the State          Department: PENDER and BATES from State. The State guys          are both dressed better than the CIA guys, except for          Engell.          Other CIA Operations OFFICERS and ANALYSTS sit in          audience.                         ENGELL          Okay. This is Bob Pender from          State O.S. He's been talking to          Morgan at ExtAff.          GENCO, a State Department Assistant, removes a drape from          the photographs of SIX FACES, State Department I.D.          photos. Pender indicates the first two photos -- and          during this, we may flash to scenes of the Houseguests in          the Canadian ambassador's residence --                         PENDER          Mark and Cora Lijek, 29 and 25.          He's a consular officer and she's          an assistant. Newlyweds. They          just got there a couple of months          ago. No language skills or in-          country knowledge.          (re: the next photo)          Henry Lee Schatz. Agricultural          attache from Idaho. He was there          to sell U.S. tractors to Iranian          agro. Hid out with the Swedes          during the takeover then made his          way to join the others with the          Canadians.          (re: next photo)          J Stafford. Late twenties.          He's smart and a climber. Speaks          Farsi. Arranged the hire of his          wife Kathy --                         BATES          Understaffed so the faculty wives          were the typing pool.          That gs without comment in this room of men.                         PENDER          (then, finally)          Bob Anders. Senior consular          officer, oldest of the group.          Most likely to be group leader.          So.                         (MORE)                         (CONTINUED)                                                                                                               ARGO - Final 19.                         58 CONTINUED: 58                         PENDER (CONT'D)          (now, shifting gears)          What we like for this are          bicycles. We've identified          backroads from the Shemiran          district -- a couple of rat lines          through the mountains to the          crossing at Tabriz. Cars are off          the table because of the          roadblocks.          Pender nods to Bates, who gs to a map, indicating the          north of Iran.                         BATES          We wait till the weather clears up          then we deliver six bikes and          provide maps to the Turkish          border.                         PENDER          We have intelligence they can ride          bicycles. Or we're prepared to          send in somebody to teach them.          The professional spies shifting at the stupidity of it.          But nobody speaks up. And then --                         MENDEZ          You can send in training wheels          and wait at the border with          Gatorade.          Attention turns to Mendez. O'Donnell shifts. Engell,          not happy.                         MENDEZ          It's 300 miles to the Turkish          crossings. They'd need a support          crew behind them with a tire pump.                         ENGELL PENDER          (directed at Mendez) Who is --          We've only been asked to          sharpshoot this, State's          handling the op.                         O'DONNELL          Tony's an exfil spesh. He got a          lot of the shah's people out after          the fall.                         (CONTINUED)                                                                                                               ARGO - Final 20.                         58 CONTINUED: (2) 58                         MENDEZ                         (TO PENDER)          If these people can read OR add,          any minute they're gonna figure          out they're six short of a full          deck. It's winter. You wanna          wait around for a nice spring day          for bike rides?                         (A BEAT)          The only way out's through the          airport. You build them new          identities, a Moses gs in, takes          them out on a commercial flight.                         BATES ENGELL          We're exploring that They wouldn't clear airport          option. control. Komiteh own the          place.                         BATES          They would pose as reporters. The          government issued 70-something --          Jumping in--MARIO MALINOV, 30s, an ambitious Bulgarian          CIA analyst, Bronx Science and MIT, raised in Queens,                         BATES MALINOV          -- visas for American 74.          journalists.                          MALINOV          And the Revolutionary Guards keep          them on 74 leashes.                         MENDEZ          They get caught with journalist          creds, you've got Peter Jennings          with a noose around his neck in an          hour.          PAUL LAMONT, late 20s, a Master's from the Woodrow Wilson          School before he joined CIA --                         LAMONT          World Noose Tonight.          Pender looks at Bates, who is trying to impress his boss.                         BATES          North American accents give us          limited options. So we get the          Canadians to issue them          passports...                         (CONTINUED)                                                                                                               ARGO - Final 21.                         58 CONTINUED: (3) 58                         GENCO          English teachers from the          international school. Tested          model. It's worked before.                         MENDEZ          The school was shut eight months          ago.          Bates, meanwhile, removing a binder from his accordion          folder: in the binder, a photograph of an emaciated kid          in Namibia.                         BATES          So do-gooders. They're six          Canadians who've been over there          inspecting crops. Making sure the          kids get enough to eat. Get them          creds for an AG NGO --          But he's already lost Mendez, who is going through a          newspaper on the table.                         BATES MALINOV          A Feed the Children thing -- These kids are black.          O.S. can make binders with These are African kids.          starving kids --                         LAMONT GENCO          Are there starving kids in We can get ethnically          Iran? appropriate kids.                         PENDER ROSSI          I'm sure there's skinny A logo with... seeds.          kids... òSeeds of Hope'...          Mendez holds a page from the newspaper up to Pender.                         MENDEZ          What do you see in the picture,          sir?          A beat. Pender dsn't like this, but he'll play.                         PENDER          Tehran.                         MENDEZ          What's on the ground?                         PENDER          Snow.                         (CONTINUED)                                                                                                               ARGO - Final 22.                         58 CONTINUED: (4) 58                         MENDEZ          So what crops are the do-gooders          inspecting under Frosty?          Pender shifts.                         MENDEZ          Exfils are like abortions. You          don't wanna need one, but when you          do, you don't do it yourself.          The meeting is breaking up. Pender, followed by Bates,          leaves the room. Engell, who has just been made to look          bad and inherited a problem, stops by Tony.                         ENGELL                         (TO MENDEZ)          You have a better plan?          Mendez dsn't respond.                         ENGELL           Get one.           58A-59 OMITTED 58A-59          60 INT. CANADIAN AMBASSADOR'S RESIDENCE - DINING ROOM - 60                         NIGHT          At dinner around a dining room table: the SIX          HOUSEGUESTS; KEN TAYLOR, 40s, Canadian ambassador. He          ds much to support the myth that Canadians are always          in a good mood. Next to him is PAT TAYLOR, Filipino,          40s. We're joining various conversations, including one          with LEE SCHATZ, 29, an American agricultural attache,          the sixth escapee we heard about.                         TAYLOR          -- Martin was the worst one.          Martin the Maximo King --                         PAT TAYLOR          (to Lee Schatz)          -- he looked like a cartoon witch          doctor, bone through his nose, so          she asked to take her picture with                         HIM --          J Stafford, keeping to himself.                         KATHY STAFFORD          (to J Stafford)          You okay?                         (CONTINUED)                                                                                                               ARGO - Final 23.                         60 CONTINUED: 60                         CORA LIJEK          -- if your family's hungry, you          don't want to hear about          international law --          MARK LIJEK CORA LIJEK          And she's off! Defending Not defending. Explaining.          them again -- Stockholm                         SYNDROME --                         MARK LIJEK          Same thing.          The sound of a fork on a glass. Ken Taylor is standing           up.                         TAYLOR          I read today that Tehran was voted          the second most desirable city in          the world to live in. Everywhere          else tied for first.                         (TOAST)          To getting through ten weeks. To          our guests.                         LEE SCHATZ          (raising his glass)          Our hosts. Mr. Ambassador...          BOB ANDERS CORA LIJEK          Hear, hear... And Mrs.          But the liquid in their wine glasses is beginning to          shake. The noise of a HELICOPTER. Taylor tries to be          pleasant.                         TAYLOR           You should get into the crawl            space.          61-67 OMITTED 61-67          68 INT. MENDEZ'S CAR - NIGHT 68          Mendez listens to the radio as he drives home along the          bridge, the Jefferson Memorial beyond.          NEWSCASTER (V.O.)          The White House Christmas tree was          taken down today after never          having been lit, as the cruel          stalemate in Iran continues.                         (CONTINUED)                                                                                                               ARGO - Final 24.                         68 CONTINUED: 68          This is a --                         69 MONTAGE 69          that jumps around the world -- scenes of our principals          and overlapping news accounts play.          FRANK REYNOLDS (V.O.)          Today, a clear threat to place the          remaining 50 Americans on trial as          spies.           69A INT. CANADIAN AMBASSADOR'S RESIDENCE (TEHRAN) - NIGHT 69A          The Houseguests getting up from dinner. Kathy Stafford          hesitates.                         J STAFFORD          (to Pat Taylor)          Kathy dsn't want to go down          again.          BOB ANDERS J STAFFORD          Jesus Christ -- She's claustrophobic.                         CUT TO:          69B FOOTAGE OF NILOFUR EKTEBAR - AKA TEHRAN MARY 69B          The Penn-educated Tokyo Rose of the hostage crisis.          She's reading a statement to the camera.          TEHRAN MARY (V.O.)                         (PERFECT AMERICAN                         ENGLISH)          Those who remain here are spies.          They will be treated as spies who          have interfered with the          sovereignty of the people of Iran.          69C INT. MENDEZ' CAR - NIGHT 69C           Mendez driving -- thinking --          69D INT. CANADIAN AMBASSADOR'S RESIDENCE (TEHRAN) - NIGHT 69D           MARK LIJEK J STAFFORD           You're putting us all at They're not going to come          risk -- into the house.                         (CONTINUED)                                                                                                               ARGO - Final 25.          69D CONTINUED: 69D           LEE SCHATZ BOB ANDERS           It's her choice. Leave her (angry)          be. G'head. Put flowers in          their gun barrels --          SAHAR, housekeeper, is visible here cleaning up after          their meal.          70 INT. MUSHROOM INN - DAY 70          A dark room where hostages are kept in groups of two.          A 21-year-old with an automatic weapon --           CROSS-CUTTING WITH --          71 INTERVIEW FOOTAGE OF AYATOLLAH KHOMEINI 71          KHOMEINI (V.O.)                         (SUBTITLED)          If Carter ds not send back the          Shah, it is possible that they          will be tried and if they are          tried, who knows what will happen.          72 INT. SMALL-TOWN BAR - DAY 72          News footage of men inside a small-town bar. It's a          broadcast of RON MILLER reporting from barometer          communityù Pecatonica, Illinois, on ABC News', America          Held Hostage.ù ( 11/21/79)          RON MILLER (V.O.)          So, like the government in          Washington, the people in          Pecatonica are grappling for          solutions.          JACK STROUP, Vietnam vet, red beard, a cap with the          Kenworth trucks logo, a denim jacket.          STROUP (V.O.)          Even in our little community here,          people are drawn up, they're          tense.                         73 OMITTED 73                                                                                                               ARGO - Final 26.          74 INT. CARPET FACTORY - DAY 74          ANGLE - A SMALL HAND          pieces shreds together to form the words: U.S.          DEPARTMENT OF STATE -- TEHRAN -- CLASSIFIED.          He is working on reassembling the seized EMBASSY PAPERS --          a giant pile of shredded documents -- with the skill of a          blindfolded child Mozart at the harpsichord.          We see the unmistakable image of a FACE being formed from          the shredded material.          75 ANGLE - CLOSEUP OF AYATOLLAH KHOMEINI 75           (Footage from a Mike Wallace interview. ù60 Minutesù           11/18/79.)           KHOMEINI (V.O.)                          (FARSI)           Our young people have taken over           this nest of corruption. America           can't do a damn thing about it --                         76 OMITTED 76                         77 ARCHIVE FOOTAGE 77          Rage at an anti-Iran protest in front of the White House.          Signs: DEPORT ALL IRANIANSù/ùCAMEL JOCKEYS GO HOME.ù          An IRANIAN-AMERICAN MAN is kicked as he crouches on the          ground. A MIDDLE-AGED WOMAN looks murderous as she waves          an American flag at the camera.                         CUT TO:          78 INT. SMALL-TOWN BAR - DAY 78          Back to the ABC News report, the bar in Pecatonica.          STROUP (V.O.)          I'm like that guy screamin' in          that movie-program Network,          y'know? I've had it. And if need          be, I'll bear arms again.                                                                                                               ARGO - Final 27.          79 INT. CANADIAN AMBASSADOR'S RESIDENCE (TEHRAN) - NIGHT 79          The Houseguests descend into the crawlspace, a darkened,          cramped area -- first the Lijeks, then Anders and          Schatz... then J and Kathy Stafford.          The trapdoor closes and the crawlspace gs COMPLETELY          BLACK.                         CUT TO:          80 INT. MENDEZ APARTMENT - KITCHEN - NIGHT 80           WALTER CRONKITE (V.O.)                          (ON TV)          And that's the way it is, on this,          the 70th day of captivity for the          American hostages in Iran.          Mendez is watching Cronkite on a small television in his          kitchen. In front of him, a folder with Xeroxed          photographs of the HOUSEGUESTS.          He changes the channel and finds a GOOFY SEVENTIES          COMMERCIAL -- He picks up the phone.          81 INT. CHRISTINE'S HOUSE - CROSS-CUTTING - NIGHT 81           IAN MENDEZ, 7 and about to turn 8, is watching a movie on            his bed. He picks up on the second ring.                           IAN            Hello.            MENDEZ (V.O.)            Buddy-man.                           IAN            Mom's asleep.                           MENDEZ            You do homework tonight?                           IAN           Yeah.                           MENDEZ            What was it?            But Tony can hear a television soundtrack with ominous           electronic music.                          (CONTINUED)                                                                                                               ARGO - Final 28.                         81 CONTINUED: 81                          MENDEZ            What do I hear?                           IAN                           (COMING CLEAN)            òBattle for Planet of the Apes.'            Am I in trouble?            A beat.                           MENDEZ            What channel?                           IAN            Nine.           81 Mendez turns on his living room television to the three- 81            hour BATTLE FOR PLANET OF THE APES.ù                           MENDEZ            Catch me up.            Tony listens, staring ahead at the TV . A desert           landscape dotted with technological garbage. An ape          played by Roddy MacDowell walks across the landscape.           He's staring at the television, but now really paying          attention.          The apes walk into the ruins of what was once a great          city.          RODDY MacDOWELL (V.O.)          (on TV, as Caesar)          This is the hell my forefathers           used to speak about. (Etc.)                          ON TONY           staring at the movie. Wheels turning in his head.                          CUT TO:          82-85 OMITTED 82-85           86 INT. SCI-FI LAB - A MINOTAUR - DAY 86          A bull/human experiment in a SCI-FI lab, coming to bovine          life. A SEXY SPACE NURSE is administering some kind of          shot to him. A SECOND NURSE stands by.                         SPACE NURSE          My creation... My creation...                         (CONTINUED)                                                                                                               ARGO - Final 29.                         86 CONTINUED: 86          The Minotaur lifts his head, KNOCKS into the Nurse.                         SPACE NURSE                         (BREAKING CHARACTER)          What the fuck, Brian?          DIRECTOR (O.S.)          Cut!          A.D. (O.S.)          WE'RE CUTTING!          A bell. WIDER REVEALS that we're on a...          87 INT. WARNER BROS. SOUNDSTAGE - DAY 87          A DIRECTOR, 40s, whispers something to an A.D., mid-          thirties.          A.D.          (inquiring into a                         WALKIE)          John Chambers. John Chambers make-          up...                         CUT TO:          88 INT. WARNER BROS. SOUNDSTAGE - DAY 88          JOHN CHAMBERS, Hollywood's first Oscar winner for makeup,          walks onto set carrying a fishing tackle box of supplies.          SUPERIMPOSE: BURBANK, CALIFORNIA - JANUARY 19, 1980          The A.D. joins Chambers, walking him onto the set.          A.D.          He says the Minotaur's prosthetic          is too tight so he can't act.                         CHAMBERS          If he could act he wouldn't be          playing the Minotaur.          He smiles and waves at the Minotaur and begins to work on          his prosthetic with a brush and solvent.                         CUT TO:                                                                                                               ARGO - Final 30.          89 INT. NEAR CRAFT SERVICES TABLE - DAY 89          Chambers is foraging through ò70s SNACKS. At the craft          service table. A guy in his SPACE ARMOR PANTS without          the top is eating as well.          A P.A. approaches, carrying a PHONE on a long cord.          P.A.          Mr. Chambers.                         CHAMBERS                         (STILL FORAGING)          Who is it?          P.A.          Kevin Harkins?          Chambers gives the kid a look, takes the phone from him          and puts it to his ear.                         CHAMBERS          Hey, Tony.          90 INT. CIA - CONFERENCE ROOM - DAY 90          Pender and Engell sit at the table; O'Donnell hovers. A          few State Department and CIA ANALYSTS here, including          Malinov and Lamont; and DAVID MARMOR, early 30s, Engell's          guy.                         O'DONNELL          (quiet, to Malinov)          Is he coming?          Engell nods for the door to be shut.                         ENGELL                         (TO PENDER)          Okay. Our N.E. put together a          work-up. David.                         MARMOR          They would pose as teachers from          the international school.                         PENDER          We went through all that -- it's          boarded up --          O'Donnell looking at the clock.                         (CONTINUED)                                                                                                               ARGO - Final 31.                         90 CONTINUED: 90                         MARMOR          Suppose the airport guards don't          know that --                         PENDER          Suppose. Suppose Heckle and          Jeckle go over and save them --          The door swings open.                         MENDEZ          Hi. Sorry. Hi.                         O'DONNELL          Have a seat, Tony.          He dsn't. There's an energy in him we haven't seen          before.                         MENDEZ          They're a Canadian film crew on a          location scout for a science          fiction movie --          A shift in the room.                         MENDEZ          Star Wars, Star Trek. They need          an exotic place to shoot. We put          it out -- the Canadian producers          put it out -- that they're looking          at Turkey, Egypt, whatever. Then          we go to the consulate and say we          wanna look at Iran. I fly in          there and we fly out together as a          film crew. Done.                         MARMOR                         (DRY)          òIn an exfiltration, flamboyant          cover identities should be          avoided, as it increases                         OPERATIONAL' --                         MENDEZ          This is more plausible than          foreigners who want to go to          school in Iran --                          ENGELL          So you're going to wake up          tomorrow in the movie business?          We have credentials for --                          (CONTINUED)                                                                                                               ARGO - Final 32.                         90 CONTINUED: (2) 90                         MENDEZ          I've got a contact in L.A.                         ENGELL                         (CATCHING ON)          Chambers.                         MENDEZ                         (TO PENDER)          John Chambers. He's a Hollywood          prosthetics guy, ds contracting          work for us on the side. If I go           see him, he'll set us up. A          couple days to make it look real.          Mendez and O'Donnell turn their eyes on Pender, who is          the decision-maker here.                         PENDER          (after a beat, to                         MENDEZ)          Remind me who you are again?          91 INT. CIA - THE PIT - A FEW MINUTES LATER 91          Tony stands in small messy KITCHEN AREA, pouring coffee.          On the coffeepot somebody's pinned a note: CHANGE FILTER          IF YOU USE! DO UNTO OTHERS.          O'Donnell approaches, quietly stands behind him, smoking          quietly. Mendez turns around.                         O'DONNELL          We want you to go to L.A. If you          can make the movie thing credible,          we'll take it to the Director.          (a beat; a cigarette                         DRAG)          Don't fuck up. The whole          country's watching you. They just          don't know it.          92 INT. T.W.A. FLIGHT - MORNING 92          Mendez sits in an aisle seat. The PASSENGER next to him          is looking at the headline of The New York Times: NEW          THREATS FOR HOSTAGE TRIBUNALS.ù          Mendez is reading THE FIVE C'S OF CINEMATOGRAPHY.                                                                                                               ARGO - Final 33.          93 INT. MIDDLE-CLASS TEHRAN HOUSE - NIGHT 93          Six KOMITEH force their way into a house.                         KOMITEH SOLDIER          SAVAK! SAVAK!          A Komiteh drags away a MAN in his forties while the man's          wife cries. Automatic weapons are aimed at him, point-          blank.          From ACROSS THE STREET, an IRANIAN WOMAN, 20s, watches.                         94 OMITTED 94          95 INT. CANADIAN AMBASSADOR'S RESIDENCE - LIVING ROOM - 95                         NIGHT          Lee Schatz and Bob Anders play poker in a room decorated          with Persian carpets and mosaics. The gunfire audible          here too. Staring at their cards.                         LEE SCHATZ           50 caliber?                          BOB ANDERS          Mmm. 50, 35.          95A INT. CANADIAN AMBASSADOR'S RESIDENCE - DINING ROOM - 95A                         NIGHT          Pat Taylor helps THE SAME WOMAN we just saw, SAHAR, 20s,          clear the table. She is their housekeeper.                         SAHAR          Your friends from Canada, ma'am.          All this time. They never go out.          A significant moment of eye contact. Then Sahar gs          back to clearing the table.          96 INT. CANADIAN AMBASSADOR'S RESIDENCE - KITCHEN - LATER 96          Kathy Stafford is roughly washing wine glasses at the          sink.                         J STAFFORD          You've washed them three times.          He puts his arm on her shoulder. She keeps scrubbing.                                                                                                               ARGO - Final 34.          97 INT. CANADIAN AMBASSADOR'S RESIDENCE - BATHROOM - NIGHT 97           Ken Taylor is brushing his teeth in the mirror. Pat           comes in.                          PAT TAYLOR           Sahar knows.          98 EXT. BURBANK - AFTERNOON 98           The water tower on Warner Bros. studio -- which in 1980          read, Burbank Studios.ù          99 INT. CHAMBERS' STUDIO - AFTERNOON 99          Chambers leads Mendez into his makeup studio and starts          to open windows. Around the studio: stunt double-masks,          deformed monster foreheads, dental implants on shelves.          Planet of the Apes prosthetics. Mr. Spock ears on          Styrofoam stands. (Chambers created all these --          really.)                         MENDEZ          What are you shooting?                         CHAMBERS          A monster movie.                         MENDEZ          Any good?                         CHAMBERS          The target audience will hate it.                         MENDEZ          Who's the target audience?                         CHAMBERS          People with eyes. Talk to me.                         MENDEZ          It's an exfil.                         CHAMBERS          From where?                         MENDEZ          Worst place you can think of.                         CHAMBERS          Universal City.                          (CONTINUED)                                                                                                               ARGO - Final 35.                         99 CONTINUED: 99          Mendez picks up a Newsweek magazine under a can of Tab on          a makeup table: blindfolded Iran hostages on the cover.          Chambers takes it in for a moment -- the gravity of it.                         CHAMBERS          How you getting in the embassy?                         MENDEZ          Six got away. They're hiding in          the city. I'm going over to get          them.                         CHAMBERS          What am I making?                         MENDEZ          I need you to help me make a fake          movie.                         CHAMBERS          You've come to the right place.                          MENDEZ          I need to set up a production          company and build a cover around          making a movie.                         CHAMBERS          That we're not going to make.                         MENDEZ          No.                         CHAMBERS          You want to go around Hollywood          acting like you're an important          person in the movie business.                         MENDEZ          That's right.                         CHAMBERS          But you don't want to actually do          anything.                         MENDEZ          No.                         CHAMBERS          You'll fit right in.                                                                                                                ARGO - Final 36.          100 INT. SMOKE HOUSE - AFTERNOON 100          A couple of empty highball glasses on the table.          Chambers is looking at PHOTOGRAPHS of the SIX. Mendez is          taking notes. On a photo of Cora Lijek.                         CHAMBERS          This one's got an M.A. in English.          She should be your screenwriter.          Sometimes they go on scouts òcause          they want the free meals.          (re: Bob Anders)          This guy's the director.                         MENDEZ          Can you teach a guy how to be a          director in a day?                         CHAMBERS          You can teach a rhesus monkey to          be a director in a day. Look, if          you're gonna do it, you've got to          do it. The Khomaniacs are fruit          loops, but they have cousins          selling eight tracks and prayer          rugs on La Brea. You can't build           cover stories around a movie that          dsn't exist. You need a script.           You need a producer.                         MENDEZ          I'm the producer.                         CHAMBERS          No, you're not. òAssociate' at          best. If it's a twenty-million          dollar Star Wars rip-off, you need          somebody who's a somebody to put          his name on it.          Here we see some AUTOGRAPHED ò70s CELEBRITY 8X10s hanging          on the wall.          The waiter brings a bill.                         CHAMBERS          Somebody respectable. With          credits. Who we can trust with          classified information. Who'll          produce a fake movie. For free.          101 EXT. BEVERLY HILLS - EVENING 101          They walk up the driveway of a ò70s Bel Air home.                         (CONTINUED)                                                                                                               ARGO - Final 37.                         101 CONTINUED: 101           SIEGEL (V.O.)           Yeah, come in.          102 INT. SIEGEL HOUSE - HALLWAY - EVENING 102          And there's LESTER SIEGEL, a semi-legendary producer in          his semi-legendary seventies. He's equal parts bookie          and rabbi. His father sold perfume on the Lower East          Side. Lester is halfway to dressed in a tuxedo.                         SIEGEL                         (SHAKES HANDS)          I only got a couple minutes. I'm          getting a lifetime achievement           award tonight.                         CHAMBERS          Mazel tov, Lester.                         SIEGEL          Aaah, I'd rather stay home and          count the wrinkles on my dog's          balls. These fuckin' things are          like getting measured for your          coffin. òHe don't look so good.          Let's give him an honorary award.'          TIME CUT TO:          103 INT. SIEGEL'S DEN - ANGLE ON TV - TED KOPPEL - EVENING 103          Reporting on Iran.           SIEGEL (O.S.)          A little experiment. You be me          hearing you.          The TV we're watching sits in a room with a couple of          Golden Globes and pictures of a younger Lester.                         ANOTHER ANGLE                         SIEGEL          Six people in the middle of a city          of, what, four million --          ON TV, a wild-eyed woman in the crowd (in one of the most          widely-played clips of the hostage crisis) makes an ax-          falling gesture with her arm repeatedly.                         (CONTINUED)                                                                                                               ARGO - Final 38.                         103 CONTINUED: 103                         SIEGEL          -- who chant òDeath to America'          all the livelong day. You wanna          set up a picture in a week. Lie          to a whole town of people who lie          for a living. Have Double-O-Seven          here sneak into a country that          wants CIA blood with their          breakfast cereal. Duck Iranian          intelligence. Then walk the Brady           Bunch out of the most watched city           in the world...                         MENDEZ          ... and past a hundred Komiteh at          the airport.                         SIEGEL          Look, I wanna help you but... In          the Army, we did suicide missions          that had better odds. So lemme          hit it again for the cheap seats:          NO.          Chambers gives Mendez a look.                         CHAMBERS          (to Lester, as he                         GETS UP)          Enjoy your fish dinner tonight.          Chambers stops at the muted television. More images of          angry crowds.                         CHAMBERS          You ever think, Lester, how it's          all for the cameras?                         SIEGEL          They're getting the ratings, I'll          give òem that --           Siegel looks at the TV: at that moment, a HOSTAGE TAKER           holding up photos of hostages for CAMERAS in front of          him. He takes a beat.                         SIEGEL          We're gonna need a script.          A beat of silence. A LOOK from Siegel to Chambers.          CHAMBERS (V.O.)                         (PRE-LAP)          How òbout The Horses of Achilles?                                                                                                               ARGO - Final 39.          104 EXT. BY LESTER'S POOL - MORNING 104          Chambers, on hold on the phone, walks to Siegel holding          up The Horses of Achilles script in a William Morris          binder. Stacks of scripts on a table outside. Siegel's          new A.F.I. award is being used as a coaster.                         SIEGEL          Nobody makes Westerns anymore.                         CHAMBERS          (looking through it)          It's ancient Troy.                         SIEGEL          If it's got horses in the title,           it's a Western.                         CHAMBERS          (into the phone)          Yeah, Kenny, please. It's John          Chambers, about the office space.                         (THEN)          It dsn't matter. It's a fake          movie.                         SIEGEL          If I'm doing a fake movie, it's           gonna be a fake hit.                         CHAMBERS                         (TO PHONE)          Is A006 still open on the lot?          105 INT. SIEGEL'S LIVING ROOM - DAY 105          Mendez, on the PHONE near a fully stocked bar.          O'DONNELL (V.O.)          The Canadians are done. Say          they're bearing too much risk.          106 INT. O'DONNELL'S OFFICE - CROSS-CUTTING - DAY 106                         O'DONNELL          Foreign Secretary cornered Vance          in Brussels and told him she's          serving eviction papers. The          Cardinal wants all cover options          on his desk Friday morning.                         MENDEZ          That's too soon.                         (CONTINUED)                                                                                                               ARGO - Final 40.                         106 CONTINUED: 106                         O'DONNELL          Engell's prepping the Bikes Option          and the Teachers Option. You've          got 72 hours to make yours          better...          107 INT. SIEGEL'S LIVING ROOM - DAY 107          Mendez is looking down at the SCRIPT in front of him. He          opens to the first page.          ANGLE ON HIM          reading, thinking.          108 EXT. LESTER'S POOL - DAY 108          Mendez walks up to the table where Siegel and Chambers          are already eating.                         MENDEZ          (entering, reading)          òFade in on starship landing. An          exotic, Middle Eastern vibe.          Women gather, offering ecstatic          libations to the sky gods.'                         (LOOKS UP)          òARGO. A science-fantasy          adventure.'          Mendez throws down the script.                         SIEGEL          It's in turnaround. It's dog           shit.                         MENDEZ          It's a space movie in the Middle           East. Ds it matter?           Chambers looks at the BULLSEYE logo on the cover page.           Reacts.                          CHAMBERS                         (TO LESTER)           Can we get the option?                         MENDEZ          Why do we need the option?                          (CONTINUED)                                                                                                               ARGO - Final 41.                         108 CONTINUED: 108                          SIEGEL           You're worried about the           Ayatollah? Try the WGA.           109 EXT. CROSSROADS OF THE WORLD (HOLLYWOOD) - DAY 109           Tony and Lester turn off Sunset Blvd. and into the office          complex.                         SIEGEL          He's only a prick if you catch him          on the wrong day.                         MENDEZ          Is it the wrong day?                         SIEGEL          It's always the wrong day.           They've arrived at a door with a sign: MAX KLEIN           PRODUCTIONS/BULLSEYE FILMS.ù                         110 OMITTED 110           111 INT. MAX KLEIN'S OFFICE - A FEW MINUTES LATER 111          We see all kinds of MOVIE POSTERS AND MEMORABILIA ALL          OVER THE OFFICE.                         KLEIN          You're gonna get this into          production in one month?                         MENDEZ           One month.                         KLEIN          Who are you again?                         MENDEZ          Kevin Harkins. Studio Six Films.                         SIEGEL          He's the money.                         KLEIN          I thought you were retired,          Lester.                         (CONTINUED)                                                                                                               ARGO - Final 42.                         111 CONTINUED: 111                         SIEGEL          -- Till I read the Argo. Look,          how òbout we say fifteen thou and          close on this?                         KLEIN          You want me to be honest with you,          Les?                         SIEGEL          Naah, bullshit me, Max.                         KLEIN          Okay. Because I enjoyed your          films, the early ones. I took          this meeting out of respect          because I wanted to tell you òno'          to your face.                         SIEGEL          Thank you. Very respectful.                         KLEIN          You're done, Lester. You've gotta          get your cataracts fixed and read          the trades. MGM just capitalized          for six new films and they're          desperate for Sci-Fi. They've          already offered me four times what          you are.                         SIEGEL                         (A BEAT)          What can I say? Congratulations.          (shrugs to Mendez)          He's got me.          A beat. Mendez ready to go --                         SIEGEL          But see -- it worries me, what you          said, and I'll tell you why. A          couple weeks back I was sitting in          Trader Vic's enjoying a Mai Tai          when my pal Warren Beatty came to          wish me well and we had a little          chat. Seems he was attached to          star in Zulu Empire -- which was          gonna anchor that MGM slate -- but          Warren confided in me that the          picture's gone over-budget òcause          the Zulu extras wanna unionize.                         (MORE)                         (CONTINUED)                                                                                                               ARGO - Final 43.                         111 CONTINUED: (2) 111                         SIEGEL (CONT'D)          They may be cannibals swallowing          each other up but they want health          and dental, so the movie's kaput --          which means that MGM deal ain't          gonna happen and your script ain't          worth the buffalo-shit on a          nickel. So.          Lester takes some documents out of a folder.                         SIEGEL          The way this looks to me --          through the cataracts, I grant you          -- is that you can either sign          here and take ten thousand for          your toilet-paper script -- or you          can go fuck yourself.          Siegel smiles kindly and holds a pen and the contracts          out to Klein. Klein takes them.          112 EXT. STREET - A FEW MINUTES LATER 112                         MENDEZ          You know Warren Beatty?                         SIEGEL          I took a leak next to him at the          Golden Globes.                         (BEAT)          Taco?                         113 OMITTED 113          114 EXT. WARNER BROS. LOT - LATE DAY 114          Lester and Tony eat tacos at a picnic table on the lot.                         MENDEZ          You got kids, Lester?                         SIEGEL          Two daughters.                         MENDEZ          You see them much?                         SIEGEL          I talk to them once a year, maybe.                         MENDEZ          Why's that?                         (CONTINUED)                                                                                                               ARGO - Final 44.                         114 CONTINUED: 114                         SIEGEL          I was a terrible father.                         (BEAT)          The bullshit business is like coal          mining. You can't wash it off          before you kiss your wife and          kids... You?                         MENDEZ          A son. Lives with his mother in          Virginia.                         SIEGEL          You're divorced?                         MENDEZ          Taking time off.          (then, quiet)          He's gotta... stay where he is.                         SIEGEL                         (BEAT)          Kids need the mother.          114A EXT. ARGO PRODUCTION OFFICE (LOT - NY STREET) - MORNING 114A          Chambers and a GRAPHIC ARTIST walk through the set. We          REVEAL a couple of CYLON RAIDERS, helmets off, taking a          break from shooting and leaning against the wall.          115 INT. O'DONNELL'S OFFICE - DAY 115          O'DONNELL reads from the EYES ONLY document.                         O'DONNELL          They caught the shah's chief of          security trying to get on a plane          to Paris.                         INTERCUT WITH:          116 INT. PRODUCTION OFFICE - MORNING 116           WIDER REVEALS that the production office is being set up.           A couple of FURNITURE GUYS move chairs in.           Mendez is looking at a POSTER. It reads: Studio Six           Productions presents: ARGO. A COSMIC WAR.ù                          (CONTINUED)                                                                                                               ARGO - Final 45.                         116 CONTINUED: 116                         MENDEZ          (to a graphic artist)          òWar' sounds like Star Wars.          Let's use a different word.          Mendez closes the door to his private office.                         O'DONNELL          òSince the incident, the number of          guards at the airport has doubled.          Thorough background examinations          should be expected.'                         MENDEZ          I need another week.                         O'DONNELL          You don't have it.          117 INT. ARGO PRODUCTION OFFICE - NIGHT 117           Mendez gs out into the main part of the office -- it's          Tony, Siegel, and Chambers now.          They have hung up all their ARGO MATERIALS on the wall          and are reviewing them.                         MENDEZ          We've got a script. We've got           business cards.We've got a poster.           If I'm them? It's nothing we          couldn't make at home.                         CHAMBERS          I did a movie with Rock Hudson           once.                          (A BEAT)          òYou need to sell a lie, you get          the press to sell it for you.'          118 INT. ARGO PRODUCTION OFFICE - DAY 118          Now it's noisy in here now -- a PUBLICIST, ASSISTANTS and          controlled chaos --                         SIEGEL          (on the phone)          -- press event and reading... No,           I promised Variety exclusive on          that one...          Mendez is making a list with a PUBLICIST.                          (CONTINUED)                                                                                                               ARGO - Final 46.                         118 CONTINUED: 118                         MENDEZ          òBiggest Canadian production in          history.' Canadian Gone With The                         WIND --                         PUBLICIST ASSISTANT #2          Canadian Sci-Fi Gone With Studio Six Films.          The Wind.          As Chambers pulls Mendez --                         SIEGEL          (on the phone)          I gotta get back to you, Phil. I          can't get my own mother a ticket.          I had to tell her it was          cancelled.                         MENDEZ          Are you turning people away?                         SIEGEL          (covering the phone)          You know what gets more suckers          than a sign that says òBrooklyn          Bridge For Sale'? òBrooklyn          Bridge: Approved Buyers Only.'          (as they go)          Philip? You there?          Chambers leads us into the main room, leading Tony to a          table where JACK KIRBY, 62, comics artist, fusses with          large COMIC PANELS of ARGO CONCEPT DRAWINGS spread over a          table.          Kirby starts to distribute storyboards. Some hold on to           them and an ASSISTANT begins putting them up on the          board.          Mendez looks at them. Impressed. He picks up a drawing           of some futuristic-looking vehicles.                          MENDEZ           Any way to make the chariots look          more -- Middle-Eastern -- ?                         KIRBY          Mesopotamia... Egypt...                         MENDEZ          Iran.          Kirby takes out a marker and starts to sketch a           futuristic-looking desert glider.                                                                                                               ARGO - Final 47.                         119 OMITTED 119                          120 OMITTED 120                         121 OMITTED 121                          122 OMITTED 122           123 EXT./INT. BEVERLY HILTON - LATE DAY 123          A black sedan pulls up to the hotel. A driver opens the          back door. Mendez, Siegel, and Chambers get out of the          car. They're wearing suits.          They walk past a sign that reads: PRESS EVENT and          READING FOR ARGO. A couple of posters with the explosion-          in-space ARGO: A COSMIC CONFLAGRATION logo.          124 INT. BEVERLY HILTON - STARDUST LOUNGE - DUSK 124          Tony is on a balcony outside the ballroom. He passes the          bar on his way in.          Inside he sees Chambers, Lester and a PUBLICIST who          promptly moves Tony into a conversation with a REPORTER.                         PUBLICIST          Janet from the Times -- You know          Johnny Chambers and Lester Siegel.          This is Kevin Harkins. He'll tell          you a bit about the film --          We leave Mendez with the L.A. Times --          FOLLOWING Siegel --          Jack Kirby's storyboard drawings throughout the room.          Four or five ACTORS IN SCI-FI COSTUMES.          WOMAN (O.S.)          Lester.          He turns around. NINA, a woman in her early sixties,          made up to look younger.                         SIEGEL          You're gorgeous. You're in the          reading?                         (CONTINUED)                                                                                                               ARGO - Final 48.                         124 CONTINUED: 124                         NINA          I'm playing Serksi, the Galactic          Witch.          BACK TO: Mendez. A Publicist is guiding Mendez toward          an anemic-looking man --                         PUBLICIST          (to Mendez,                         INTRODUCING)          Rodd from Variety. Kevin Harkins.          BACK TO Siegel and Chambers, walking away from NINA.                         SIEGEL          Keep that fucking space witch away          from me.                         CHAMBERS          You know her?                         SIEGEL          I was married to her.          Mendez, now talking to RODD, from VARIETY.                         RODD                         (TO MENDEZ)          You said shooting in Iran with an          N?                         MENDEZ          Tehran.                         RODD          You ever watch the news?          Publicist hands Mendez a LASER GUN and a photographer          snaps his picture. Siegel walks by, downing one from the          bar.           BACK TO SIEGEL AND CHAMBERS          A Hollywood Reporter writer talking to Siegel. The           publicist stands by --                         REPORTER          So the title refers to...                         SIEGEL          The Argo, it's the, y'know, the                         THING --                         (CONTINUED)                                                                                                               ARGO - Final 49.                         124 CONTINUED: (2) 124           Siegel takes a couple of canap√©s from a passing Waiter,            starts eating.                          REPORTER          ... Jason and the Golden Fleece,          or...?                         SIEGEL                         (CHEWING)           -- the spaceship, it flies around          space, alllll over space --                         REPORTER          Is it the Argonaut?          Siegel dsn't know what he's talking about.                          SIEGEL          No.                         REPORTER          Then what ds òArgo' mean?          And finally Lester's had it -- with his mouth full --                          SIEGEL          It means Argo fuck yourself.                         PUBLICIST          Let's all take our places for the          reading.          And we SETTLE ON MENDEZ. He takes a glass of wine from a           passing waiter's tray, downs it, and puts it on another          WAITER'S tray. We FOLLOW that waiter THROUGH a swinging          door, INTO the kitchen and prep area, where a small black          and white TV plays...                         125 ARCHIVE FOOTAGE 125          Tehran Mary speaks into a microphone.          TEHRAN MARY (V.O.)                         (ON TV)          As the Imam Khomeini said, we have          found no evidence that proves that          these people are diplomats.          126 INT. O'DONNELL'S OFFICE - NIGHT 126          O'Donnell, watching the same footage on the News.                         (CONTINUED)                                                                                                               ARGO - Final 50.                         126 CONTINUED: 126           TEHRAN MARY (V.O.)                          (ON TV)          All evidence proves that these          people are spies.          The ARRAY OF VIDEO CAMERAS on tripods recording her.          NINA (V.O.)                         (AS SERKSI)           Our world has changed.           127 INT. BEVERLY HILTON HOTEL - STARDUST LOUNGE - DUSK 127          The reading of Argo is happening around a table.                         PRINCESS ALEPPA          The fire of hope stopped burning          in this galaxy long ago.          A HANDSOME LEAD, ACHILLES CRUX, says his line.                         ACHILLES CRUX           Fire the thrusters!!           128 INT. AROUND THE CANADIAN AMBASSADOR'S RESIDENCE (TEHRAN) 128                         - NIGHT                         MARK LIJEK          -- fifty-seven -- fifty-eight --          Mark counts out as Lee Schatz ds push-ups. Bob Anders          watches a television in the b.g., subtitled in Farsi.          JIMMY CARTER (V.O.)                         (ON TV)          We will not yield to international          terror or to blackmail.          129-130 OMITTED 129-130          131 INT. MUSHROOM INN (AMERICAN EMBASSY, TEHRAN) - NIGHT 131          Five of the EMBASSY HOSTAGES -- men from their 20s to          their 50s -- are roused from their sleeping mats by          Komiteh. Hoods are put over their heads.          PRINCESS ALEPPA (V.O.)          The old ways are lost, but there          is still hope.                         (CONTINUED)                                                                                                               ARGO - Final 51.                         131 CONTINUED: 131          TEHRAN MARY (V.O.)          We will begin the trials and will          carry out the sentences.          This MONTAGE: Voice upon voice, image upon image, landing          on television sets.                         132 OMITTED 132          133 INT. AMERICAN EMBASSY (TEHRAN) - BASEMENT - NIGHT 133           The four hostages, hoods on their heads, placed against           the wall. HOSTAGE TAKERS raise their guns at the men.           GREEN JACKET PRINCESS ALEPPA (V.O.)           (Farsi) If we find his ship, we           Fire! will find our chance.          Aboard the Argo lies my          hope. My hero. My           husband.          They pull their triggers. But nothing happens. It's a          mock execution (actually occurred -- February 5, 1980).          The five hostages, after a beat, either scream or          collapse.          134 INT. CANADIAN AMBASSADOR'S RESIDENCE - NIGHT 134          J Stafford, watching Khomeini on TV, to Bob Anders --                         J STAFFORD                         (REALIZING THE          gravity of it)          He's marginalized the moderates           now.                         MARK LIJEK          A hundred and twelve --          134A INT. BEVERLY HILTON - DUSK 134A          NESTOR THE DROID          We're hit. We'll never clear the           Perseus Range!          We see the ROW OF PRESS PEOPLE. Not unlike the ones           watching Tehran Mary.                                                                                                               ARGO - Final 52.          134B INT. CANADIAN AMBASSADOR'S RESIDENCE - NIGHT 134B          Lee Schatz collapses from his push-ups. Breathing          heavily.                         MARK LIJEK          And we have a new champion.          Bob Anders looks up from Khomeini, who keeps talking in          the b.g., and applauds.          134C OMITTED 134C           134D INT. CANADIAN AMBASSADOR'S RESIDENCE - NIGHT 134D          SAHAR quietly cleans a table. She's watching the          Houseguests.          CHAMBERS (V.O.)          òCrane down over the battlefield          and hold there...'          135 INT. BEVERLY HILTON HOTEL - NIGHT 135          Chambers, at the table, sitting next to Siegel. Mendez          sits off to the side.                         CHAMBERS                         (READING STAGE                         DIRECTIONS)          ò... on a single red flower          growing from the ruins of the          starship in the desert. Fade to          black. The End.'          APPLAUSE.                         136 OMITTED 136           136A OMITTED 136A           137 INT. TONY'S HOTEL ROOM - EVENING 137           Mendez, lying on his bed with the phone. Near him, a copy            of VARIETY turned to a full-page ad. ( This is real --           Variety): STUDIO SIX PRODUCTIONS PRESENTS: ARGO: A           COSMIC CONFLAGRATION.                                                                                                                ARGO - Final 53.          138 INT. NEAR O'DONNELL'S OFFICE - MORNING 138          O'Donnell comes from the kitchen to find ENGELL waiting.          He hands O'Donnell a copy of Variety. ARGO TO BEGIN          SHOOTING IN MARCH. Oscar-winner Chambers, Siegel Among          Producers.ù          And there is a photo of Mendez from the press event.          Smiling and holding a laser gun.          139 INT. TONY'S HOTEL ROOM - MORNING 139          Mendez, seeing red, pacing --                         MENDEZ          Why'd he do it?          O'DONNELL (V.O.)          He did it òcause he did it.                         INTERCUT WITH:          140 INT. O'DONNELL'S OFFICE - MORNING 140                         O'DONNELL          He saw a covert intelligence          officer saying òcheese' with R2-          D2. They're going with the          teachers.                         MENDEZ          It's a death sentence, Jack.                         O'DONNELL          Well then it's on Engell.                         (A BEAT)          It's done, Tony. Wash your hands.          He hangs up. Mendez, looking out the hotel window at          L.A.          141 INT. ARGO PRODUCTION OFFICE - MORNING 141          While Tony packs a bag of papers from his desk.                         SIEGEL          I made thirty pictures. Half of          them the pricks upstairs tried to          shut me down.          Mendez finishes packing, zips up the bag.                         (CONTINUED)                                                                                                               ARGO - Final 54.                         141 CONTINUED: 141                         SIEGEL          My ass is staying right here and          running a movie company.          Mendez stops zipping as Siegel takes a bottle of Jack and          three shot glasses from a drawer.                         SIEGEL                         (POURS)          Ey. The first shot of the          picture.          Lester gives glasses to each of them. Chambers holds up          his glass.                         CHAMBERS          Argo fuck yourself.          They raise to that.          MENDEZ AND SIEGEL          Argo fuck yourself.          They each do a shot. Then Tony picks up his bag and          heads out. Before he gs --                         MENDEZ          How'd you always get around the          pricks upstairs?                         SIEGEL          There's always another prick one          floor higher up.          142 EXT. STATE DEPARTMENT - DAY 142          Mendez approaches the iconic building.          143 INT. STATE DEPARTMENT LOBBY - DAY 143           Mendez catches up with Jack on the second level of the           lobby, opposite the row of flags.                          O'DONNELL           What did you do to get the            meeting?                          MENDEZ            I used your name.           Jack looks to Tony.                         (CONTINUED)                                                                                                               ARGO - Final 55.                         143 CONTINUED: 143                         MENDEZ          You can forget about that time-          share in Ocean City, Jack.          144 INT. STATE DEPARTMENT - SEVENTH FLOOR - RECEPTION ROOM - 144                         DAY          Tony and O'Donnell sit in the waiting area, across from a          SECRETARY. They look down the hall to see:          CIA DIRECTOR ADMIRAL STANSFIELD TURNER, 50s, and          SECRETARY OF STATE CYRUS VANCE walk down the hall          together, discussing something in hushed tones.                         O'DONNELL          (under his breath)          Brace yourself. It's like talking          to those two old fucks on òThe          Muppets.'          Vance and Turner enter the room without recognizing them.          Mendez and O'Donnell stand up.          145 INT. STATE DEPARTMENT - SEVENTH FLOOR OFFICE - ANGLE - 145                         DAY          A concept drawing from Argo.          TURNER (O.S.)          Aliens and robots.          MENDEZ (O.S.)          Yes, sir.                         ANOTHER ANGLE          The four men are gathered in the back of Vance's office,          around a table. Over them we see the STATE DEPARTMENT          EMBLEM.          TURNER is looking at the storyboard.                         TURNER          You're telling me there's a movie          office in Hollywood right now          that's funded by the Central          Intelligence Agency.                         MENDEZ          Yes, sir.                         (CONTINUED)                                                                                                               ARGO - Final 56.                         145 CONTINUED: 145                         VANCE          What's wrong with the bikes again?          Vance, with a copy of Comics Week. THE NEXT STAR WARS?          Next to it, a photograph from the press event: Mendez          holding a laser gun. CANADIAN EPIC WILL BE FILMED IN THE          MIDDLE EAST.          TURNER O'DONNELL          ... you think this -- We tried to get the message                         UPSTAIRS --                         TURNER          -- this is more plausible than          teachers?                         O'DONNELL          One, there are no foreign teachers          in Iran anymore --                         MENDEZ          -- two, we think everybody knows          Hollywood people. And everybody          thinks they would shoot during          Stalingrad with Pol Pot directing          if it'd sell tickets.                         (BEAT)          There are only bad options. It's          about finding the best one.                         TURNER          You don't have a better bad idea          than this?                         O'DONNELL          This is the best bad idea we have,          sir. By far.          Vance and Turner exchange looks.                         TURNER                          (TO MENDEZ)          The United States government just          sanctioned your science fiction          movie.          146 INT. MENDEZ'S APARTMENT - BEDROOM - NIGHT 146          Mendez is packing to go. He packs a passport with his          photo and the name KEVIN COSTA HARKINS. He takes off his          wedding band and places it with care -- almost with          ceremony -- in a spot on his dresser.                                                                                                               ARGO - Final 57.                         147 OMITTED 147          148 INT. O'DONNELL'S CAR - NIGHT 148          O'Donnell is driving, Mendez in the passenger seat. They          just sit there for a moment. In the car.                         O'DONNELL          I'm required to remind you that if          you're detained, the agency will          not claim you.                         MENDEZ          Barely claim me as it is.                         O'DONNELL          Your òIn Case Of's' good?                         MENDEZ          Just Christine.          They don't need to look at one another. A shared          understanding.                         MENDEZ           Guess I should have brought some          books to read in prison.                         O'DONNELL          Nah. They'll kill you long before          prison.          Tony gets out of the car, pulls his bags from the back          seat, and slams the door. Headed into the airport.          149 INT. ARGO PRODUCTION OFFICE - DUSK 149          Siegel is standing in the office watching Jimmy Carter          speak mournfully on TV, Chambers watching from a desk          behind him.                         SIEGEL          Bad news, bad news, even when it's          good news it's bad news. Christ.          (a phone starts                         RINGING)          John Wayne's in the ground six          months and this is what's left of           America.                          (CONTINUED)                                                                                                               ARGO - Final 58.                         149 CONTINUED: 149                         CHAMBERS          (picking up the                         PHONE)          Studio Six.                         INTERCUT WITH:          150 INT. DULLES AIRPORT - NIGHT 150                         MENDEZ          We've got a green light.          Chambers gives Siegel a thumbs-up.                         MENDEZ          Keep the office running till you          hear otherwise.           (this means thank                           YOU)           Argo fuck yourself.          151 INT. ARGO PRODUCTION OFFICE - DUSK 151                          CHAMBERS           Argo fuck yourself.                         152 OMITTED 152           153 INT. CHRISTINE'S HOUSE - NIGHT 153           The phone in the living room rings. No one is home.          154 INT. DULLES AIRPORT - NIGHT 154           Mendez hangs up the airport pay phone.                          CUT TO:          155 INT. DULLES AIRPORT - LATER 155          He sits near a mailbox inside the terminal writing on a          postcard with the Washington Monument on it.          HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THE BUDDY-MAN. NO PHONE FOR A WHILE.          JACK WILL CALL. LOVE YOU BOTH. Then he adds: SO MUCH.          He drops the card in the box and heads toward a gate          marked LUFTHANSA.ù                                                                                                               ARGO - Final 59.                         156 OMITTED 156           157 INT. CANADIAN AMBASSADOR'S RESIDENCE - LIVING ROOM - DAY 157          The Houseguests are gathered around Bob Anders.                         BOB ANDERS          -- it was thirty seconds for          Christ's sake. To get some air in          the yard. I couldn't breathe --          MARK LIJEK J STAFFORD          You know what the rules All it takes is one second          are. to spot you.                          BOB ANDERS          Who saw me go out?          MARK LIJEK CORA LIJEK          It dsn't matter. You did I did, actually. I saw          go out. you.                         BOB ANDERS          (to Cora Lijek)          Miss Hall Monitor. Creeping          around with her notebook --                         MARK LIJEK                         (SOMETHING ROUSED)          Don't talk to her that way.          CORA LIJEK BOB ANDERS          (to Mark) Little Laura Ingalls.          I'll defend myself. Okay? Watching every move --          A sound at the door, and they go silent.                         LEE SCHATZ          Dad's home.          Ken carrying his briefcase, cheerfully oblivious to what          he's walked into.                         TAYLOR          You're getting a visitor.                         158 OMITTED 158           159 INT. WEST WING - MORNING 159           An NSC LIAISON, holding a file with a red stripe, walks           to Jordan's office.                                                                                                               ARGO - Final 60.          160 INT. CHIEF OF STAFF OFFICE - MORNING 160          He finds Jordan sitting on a long table, looking          exhausted, silently watching one of the monitors: The          Today Showù on NBC.                         JORDAN          A man in Scranton's putting a flag          on his lawn for every day of          captivity.                         (BEAT)          When he runs out of lawn, Kennedy          wins the primary.          Vance hands him the folder.                         LIAISON           The six with the Canadians are           coming out.          Jordan, brought back from Scranton and politics by this,          opens the file and looks at it.                         JORDAN          (after a moment)          Who signed off on this?                         161 OMITTED 161          161A EXT. ISTANBUL - DAY 161A          ESTABLISHING SHOT. WIDE. OVER the city, featuring the          famous domed mosques.          SUPERIMPOSE: ISTANBUL - JANUARY 25          162 EXT. ISTANBUL - PLAZA ON THE WATER - DAY 162          Mendez walks, the BOSPHORUS in the b.g. He reaches the          doors of an OFFICIAL-LOOKING BUILDING and gs inside.          163 INT. IRANIAN CONSULATE (ISTANBUL) - DAY 163          Mendez sits in a reception room with a few VISA          APPLICANTS. Photographs of the Ayatollah Khomeini hang          on the wall. Two REVOLUTIONARY GUARD OFFICIALS in ill-          fitting suits sit at a desk.                                                                                                               ARGO - Final 61.          164 INT. IRANIAN CONSULATE - VISA OFFICE - DAY 164          The IRANIAN CONSUL OFFICIAL, late 30s, is smoking.                         CONSUL OFFICIAL          What will be the purpose of your          visit to Iran?                         MENDEZ          Business. Film production.          The Consul Official looks at his Canadian passport.                         CONSUL OFFICIAL          Why didn't you get your visa in          Canada?                         MENDEZ          My boss waited until I was here to          send the telex.                         (LIGHTING CIGARETTE)          If he had a thought in his head,          it would die of loneliness.           Pointed look from Mendez. The universal condition of          boss hatred almost always works for him, and it ds now.          Consul nods. Stamps the passport. KINGDOM OF IRAN -- He          crosses out KINGDOM and writes by hand: ISLAMIC REPUBLIC          OF.          164A EXT. BLUE MOSQUE - MORNING 164A          Tony walks through the doorway revealing the historic          mosque, we hear the call to prayer echo through the          courtyard. Tony walks through the courtyard. We see          some TOURISTS with ò70s Instamatics. Locals are HEADING          IN TO PRAY.          165 INT. HAGIA SOPHIA - UPPER LEVEL - LATER 165          We see the beautiful ceiling of the former cathedral.          PULL BACK to reveal Tony stands looking out over the          second level balcony. A MAN walks up behind him.          MAN (O.S.)          òIran is a hundred percent not in          a pre-revolutionary state.' End          quote.          Mendez looks up: a MAN, late 40s-50s with a British          accent, is talking to him. PETER NICHOLLS, an Oxbridge          type and a very good spy.                         (CONTINUED)                                                                                                               ARGO - Final 62.                         165 CONTINUED: 165                          MENDEZ           Can't be right all the time.                          NICHOLLS           Mr. Harkins.                          MENDEZ           When'd you get back?                          CUT TO:           165A INT. HAGIA SOPHIA - LOWER LEVEL - DAY 165A          FIND Mendez and Nicholls.                         MENDEZ          Were you metal detecting?                          NICHOLLS          None left to find. Shah escaped          with a 747 so laden with gold bars          it nearly didn't make it off the          runway.                         MENDEZ          But you kept busy.                         NICHOLLS          Ferrying out the torture apparatus          of our friend's fallen          dictatorship.          Both these men do this work and share an unspoken          understanding. They stop and look up at a MOSAIC on the          wall. An ancient rendition of Christ, fashioned before          the Muslims took the city and converted this church to a          mosque.           Nicholls has WHITE AND YELLOW SLIPS OF PAPER with Farsi          writing on them in hand. He gives them to Tony.                         NICHOLLS          It's getting worse. Everybody who           lands at Mehrabad now fills out          one of these.          (a WHITE one)          That slip makes a copy to this one          underneath.          (a YELLOW one)          Passenger keeps Yellow, Airport          keeps White.                         (MORE)                         (CONTINUED)                                                                                                               ARGO - Final 63.          165A CONTINUED: 165A                         NICHOLLS (CONT'D)          When you leave the country, they          match them up to verify you came          into the country when you said you          did.                         MENDEZ          So if they look, they'll know six          people didn't come in with me.                         NICHOLLS          If they look.          Nicholls and Tony turn away from the mosaic,          surreptitious work now done, and meander toward the          middle of the great room.          166 INT. HAGIA SOPHIA - CONTINUOUS ACTION 166          Nicholls and Tony walk towards the inner courtyard.                         NICHOLLS          When you land, you should go          straight to the Ministry of          Culture and Islamic Guidance to          kiss the ring. Get on record as          having applied for a film permit.          If they catch you later, at least          they'll be confused while they're          torturing you... Your biggest          problem may be convincing the six          of them to go with you. They're          foreign service. They're willful.          Nicholls takes a picture.                         MENDEZ          How's June?                         NICHOLLS          Left.                         MENDEZ          I'm sorry.                         NICHOLLS          She picked out a ring and gave me          a choice. She's a Chinese          national. If I married her, I'd          have to resign, so. You and           Christine?                         MENDEZ          Good. Yeah.                          (CONTINUED)                                                                                                               ARGO - Final 64.                         166 CONTINUED: 166           He said that without hesitation. Maybe here we realize           that Mendez is a very good liar.          166A EXT./INT. PRODUCERS' BUILDING - NIGHT 166A            Lester is BOUNCING A RUBBER BALL. The PRODUCER from later            in the movie walks by.                           PRODUCER            You're working late.                           SIEGEL            òTil the dawn's early light.                           PRODUCER            You got stamina, Lester. I wanna            be you.                           SIEGEL            You wouldn't be me for long. I'm            80.            Producer walks away and Lester looks into the òArgo'            office as he squeezes the ball.            FROM INSIDE THE OFFICE -- In the foreground, we see what            Lester is looking at: a phone. Stubbornly silent.                          167 OMITTED 167                          168 OMITTED 168                          169 OMITTED 169           170 INT. BRITISH AIRWAYS DC-10 - MORNING 170          Mendez sits in a window seat. A FLIGHT ATTENDANT speaks          with a pleasant British accent.          FLIGHT ATTENDANT (V.O.)          The Captain has informed us that          we have entered Iranian airspace.          Members of our cabin crew will be          coming through to collect any          remaining alcoholic beverages at          this time.                                                                                                               ARGO - Final 65.          171 INT. MEHRABAD AIRPORT TERMINAL - DAY 171          Mendez walks through the terminal of a crowded 1960s-era          airport. Newly-hung portraits of the Ayatollah Khomeini          watch over the duty-free shops.          SUPERIMPOSE: TEHRAN - JANUARY 26          The MOBS OF PEOPLE WITH BOXES OF THEIR WORLDLY BELONGINGS          puts in high relief that Tony is going into a place that          everyone else is desperately fleeing.          172 INT. MEHRABAD AIRPORT IMMIGRATION - DAY 172          Tony fills out a white form. It makes an impression on a          YELLOW form.          Tony presents his passport to a REVOLUTIONARY GUARD          IMMIGRATION OFFICIAL. Official looks at it, Tony hears          the sound of a woman screaming in Farsi.          Three lanes away, at the outgoing immigration station, a          Revolutionary Guard is dragging away the woman's HUSBAND.          The Immigration Official stamps Tony's passport -- takes          the white form, gives Tony the yellow one -- and waves          him through.          173 EXT. TEHRAN - DAY 173          Archive footage may be mixed with new footage. Normal          city life mixed with men with automatic weapons. The          contradictions of Tehran at this moment.          173A EXT. TEHRAN - DAY 173A          A Massive HELICOPTER SHOT OF TEHRAN. We TILT DOWN to see          a traffic jam SPRAWLS AROUND THE AZADI MONUMENT. Bikes,          mopeds, pedestrians, peddlers and old, patched together          cars compete for space. No one gets anywhere.          174 INT. TAXI - DAY 174          Mendez sits in the back of a taxi in the Tehran traffic,          some of the worst traffic in the world. We see the AZADI          MONUMENT out his window.          ANGLES OUT HIS WINDOWS          The Ayatollah looks down from everywhere.                         (CONTINUED)                                                                                                               ARGO - Final 66.                         174 CONTINUED: 174          A MAN IS HANGING FROM A CRANE. People mill underneath.          Women in chadors at Kentucky Fried Chicken.          An ARMED GANG in the back of pickup truck pulls up near          his taxi.          We see PROPAGANDA painted on a wall/window.          175 INT. TAXI/EXT. MINISTRY - DAY 175           The taxi pulls up to a FORMAL, PINK BUILDING.           The Driver stops. They've arrived.           176 INT. MINISTRY OF CULTURE AND ISLAMIC GUIDANCE - DAY 176          MEHDI BEHROUZ, 33, is the newly appointed Deputy Minister          of Culture and Islamic Guidance. Like many of the stars          of the Revolution, he was educated in the U.S. Right now          he's looking at the ARGO script.                         BEHROUZ          This film crew is just yourself?                         MENDEZ          Six more are joining me today.          They're coming from Canada.                         BEHROUZ          You'd like to film at the bazaar?                         MENDEZ          The bazaar, maybe the palace.                         BEHROUZ                         (NOT PARTICULARLY                         FRIENDLY)          I see. The exotic Orient. Snake          charmers and flying carpets.                         (A BEAT)          You come to us at a complicated          time. Before the Revolution, 40          percent of the movie theaters in          Tehran were showing pornography.          Our function is purification as          well as promotion of the arts.                         (TAKES SCRIPT)          I'll review for the Minister.                                                                                                               ARGO - Final 67.          177 EXT. CANADIAN EMBASSY - DAY 177          A TAXI pulls away.          Mendez, carrying his luggage, stands at a wrought iron          gate with MAPLE LEAVES worked into the iron. Ken Taylor          comes out of the building, opens the gate himself.                         MENDEZ          Mr. Ambassador.                         TAYLOR          Ken Taylor.          He shakes Tony's hand and they start to walk to Taylor's          car.                         TAYLOR          I was expecting more of a G-Man          look.                         MENDEZ          You're thinking of FBI, sir.          They get into the car.          178 INT. TAYLOR'S CAR - OUTSIDE EMBASSY - CONTINUOUS ACTION 178          Taylor gives Tony SIX BLANK CANADIAN PASSPORTS.                         TAYLOR          These are blank, y'know. The          stamps?                         MENDEZ          I'll take care of that.                         TAYLOR          How long?                         MENDEZ          A day to prep them with their          cover stories. Two if they need          it.                         TAYLOR          And you'll fly out with them?          Tony nods. A distant sound of a crowd outside.                         (CONTINUED)                                                                                                               ARGO - Final 68.                         178 CONTINUED: 178                         TAYLOR          There's something you should know.          We think one of our housekeepers          figured out who they are. We          don't know if we can trust her.          Now the noise outside is louder. Taylor turns to the          window. Tony joins him.                         TAYLOR          So sooner is better.          They stand listening to the demonstration sounds, echoing          over the rooftops of the city.                         179 OMITTED 179           179A INT. CIA - O'DONNELL'S OFFICE - NIGHT 179A                         O'DONNELL          He got to the embassy.          O'Donnell closes the door. Pender, wearing an undone          tuxedo, as if he's just been pulled from a formal event.          They stay standing.                         O'DONNELL          I can't tell you more than that          òcause I don't know any more.                         PENDER          (cutting to it)          The Times and A.P. found out          they're with the Canadians.          Somebody in one of the families          talked.                         O'DONNELL          Mother of God.                         PENDER          I just put Vance on a plane to          take the editors to Le Cirque. He          thinks he can get them to sit on          it. For now.                         (A BEAT)          Your guy better get them and get          the hell out.                                                                                                               ARGO - Final 69.          180 EXT. SHEMIRANAT (TEHRAN) - DAY 180          Ken Taylor drives up to a nice, but not huge, home in the          expat/diplomatic neighborhood of Tehran. Automatic gates          open.          181 EXT./INT. CANADIAN AMBASSADOR'S RESIDENCE - DAY 181          Taylor leads Mendez inside. Pat Taylor waits for them in          the hall. Takes Tony's hand.          182 INT. CANADIAN AMBASSADOR'S RESIDENCE (TEHRAN) - DAY 182           They enter the LIVING ROOM... and here are the SIX          HOUSEGUESTS. They're looking at Mendez like kids waiting          to be told the lesson plan.          183 INT. CANADIAN AMBASSADOR'S RESIDENCE - LIVING ROOM - 183                         NIGHT          Each Houseguest has a copy of the ARGO script.                         BOB ANDERS          It's theater of the absurd.                         MARK LIJEK          What are the chances?                         MENDEZ          The chances are good.                         MARK LIJEK          What's the number value of ògood'?          30 percent chance of success? 80          percent?                         CORA LIJEK          We just --                         BOB ANDERS           What was the objection to picking          normal cover identities?                         MENDEZ          There are no Canadians in the          country for normal reasons.          KATHY STAFFORD MARK LIJEK          They'll sniff us out The Swedish consul said          regardless. they accused him of being          an American at the airport          and held him for an hour.                         (CONTINUED)                                                                                                               ARGO - Final 70.                         183 CONTINUED: 183                         BOB ANDERS          We can't stand up to that. We          don't know what the hell movie          people do.                         MENDEZ          That's why I'm here. I'll be with          you. This is what I do.                          CORA LIJEK            Have you gotten people out this           way before?                          MENDEZ           This would be a first.                          CUT TO:          184 INT. CANADIAN AMBASSADOR'S RESIDENCE - LIVING ROOM - 184                         NIGHT          THE HOUSEGUESTS --          minus J and Kathy Stafford, go into the living room.          Mendez stays in his seat; J approaches him.          J STAFFORD KATHY STAFFORD          Do you know that every ... J, don't.          day...                         J STAFFORD          ... every day they catch another          friend of the shah at the airport.          Kangaroo trials then firing          squads. Just for having American          names in their phone books.          He puts the Iranian newspaper in front of Mendez.                         J STAFFORD          You've been here an hour and          you're asking us to trust you with          our lives, Mr. --                         MENDEZ          Harkins.                         J STAFFORD          Is that your real name?          A beat.                         MENDEZ          No.                         (CONTINUED)                                                                                                               ARGO - Final 71.                         184 CONTINUED: 184          J Stafford nods, as if this has proven a point. He          gs back into the living room, followed by Kathy.          ANGLE ON THE PHOTOGRAPH          in the Tehran Times. A MAN IN A SUIT at Mehrabad          Airport. Terrified, being led out at gunpoint.          185 EXT. CANADIAN AMBASSADOR'S RESIDENCE - VERANDA - NIGHT 185          Mendez comes out and lights a cigarette. Ken Taylor is          already there.                         TAYLOR          We've got orders to close the          embassy and go back. There's          nowhere for them to stay.          186 INT. CANADIAN AMBASSADOR'S RESIDENCE - LIVING ROOM - 186                         NIGHT                          J STAFFORD           I'm serious, too. This is what?          BOB ANDERS J STAFFORD          Don't do this, J... ... the part where we say,          òThat's so crazy it just          might work'? C'mon...                         BOB ANDERS          I saw it in Burma. They get          people out. They know how.                         J STAFFORD          Snitches in banana republics.          They get them over the border          after the coup...          BOB ANDERS J STAFFORD          That's your opinion. ... pay the guards at the          crossing a hundred bucks to          look the other way...                         MARK LIJEK          His opinion got us out of the          embassy in the first place.                                                                                                               ARGO - Final 72.          187 EXT. CANADIAN AMBASSADOR'S RESIDENCE - VERANDA - NIGHT 187                          MENDEZ           If we go, you need to leave            immediately. There's a                           DANGER --                          TAYLOR          Pat and I discussed it. If they          catch you at the airport, they          come here and we go on trial for          harboring the enemy. It's a risk          we took.          (after a moment)          Can you pull this off?                         MENDEZ          I don't know.          188 INT. CANADIAN AMBASSADOR'S RESIDENCE - LIVING ROOM - 188                         NIGHT                         J STAFFORD          -- even if they do. They find us          here, we're not lying, we're just          hiding. We go out there with fake          passports, we're spies, period,          execution.                         CORA LIJEK          So how long do we stay? A month?          A year?                         J STAFFORD          That man out there, he's got bad          cards, he's gonna lose. If he          loses, it's our lives.                         KATHY STAFFORD          (after a beat)           And his life too.            Another beat. ANGLES ON the Houseguests.                           CUT TO:                          189 OMITTED 189                                                                                                                ARGO - Final 73.          189A INT. CANADIAN AMBASSADOR'S RESIDENCE - LIVING ROOM - 189A                          NIGHT                          MENDEZ            Your cover identities were created            specifically for each one of you.           Mendez, now dressed to leave, is handing each Houseguest          an envelope.                         MENDEZ          What I need you to do is memorize          everything inside. Who you are,          what you are, where you've been.          Cora Lijek looks at a document from inside her envelope.          A union card for the Canadian Writers Guild with her          picture on it.                         MENDEZ          When we're done, you'll know these          so well that you'll dream as these          people.          Mendez nods at them, and gs. The Houseguests look at          what's inside their envelopes -- all except J Stafford,          whose envelope remains sealed.          190 INT. SHERATON HOTEL - NIGHT 190           A TELEFAX MACHINE spells out a message, letter by letter:           MR KEVIN HARKINS - CARE OF HOTEL SHERATON.ù                         191 OMITTED 191          192 INT. SHERATON ROOM - NIGHT 192          Tony is PREPPING the CANADIAN PASSPORTS -- expertly          copying Farsi stamps with a small sharpened stick. A          KNOCK on the door. Tony hides the passports. Answers          the door.                         BELLHOP          Sir, a telex arrived for you.          The BELLHOP hands Tony a piece of paper. He reads it.                         CUT TO:                                                                                                               ARGO - Final 74.          193 INT. SHERATON ROOM - NIGHT 193          Mendez takes a small 1978 model radio out of his          suitcase. He unscrews the casing and from inside takes          out what looks like a 6-inch transistor board for the          radio.          On either side of the board: telephone jacks.          He detaches the cords from the hotel phone and plugs them          into the jacks on the transistor board. It's a phone          scrambler.          MENDEZ (V.O.)          òThe Minister of Culture and          Guidance has approved your          location scout.'          194 INT. SHERATON ROOM - A FEW MINUTES LATER 194          Mendez, on the phone --                          MENDEZ          (reading the telefax)          òHe will send a representative to          meet you and your crew at the          Khayyam entrance to the Grand          Bazaar tomorrow at 3 PM.'                         INTERCUT WITH:          195 INT. O'DONNELL'S OFFICE - NIGHT 195          O'Donnell on the phone.                          O'DONNELL          They called your bluff.                         MENDEZ          Or maybe they're cooperating.                         O'DONNELL          N.E. says absolutely not. Seven          Americans walking the bazaar,          you're asking for a riot, it's the                         HIVE --                         MENDEZ          Seven Canadians, Jack.                         O'DONNELL          Never give them multiple shots at          a cover. Are they even ready?                         (CONTINUED)                                                                                                               ARGO - Final 75.                         195 CONTINUED: 195                         MENDEZ          They're getting there.                         O'DONNELL          Terrific. There's no prize for          òMost Improved.'                         MENDEZ                         (ESCALATING)          I don't have a choice. We say no,          they come to the residence and          pull everyone out at gunpoint.          How do you think the covers hold          up with their fingernails pulled          out?          196 INT. CANADIAN AMBASSADOR'S RESIDENCE - KITCHEN - NIGHT 196          Mark Lijek is studying pages from the envelope Tony gave          him. J Stafford is sitting near him, having a drink,          watching Iranian State Television footage of the          Ayatollah. J Stafford translates out loud.                         J STAFFORD          òWe are a nation of 35 million          and... many of these people are          looking forward to martyrdom.ò          Kathy Stafford looks into the room. J stops talking,          looks up.                         J STAFFORD                         (TO KATHY)          Five minutes?          He smiles at her. Kathy, who looks like she hasn't been          sleeping, nods and leaves. J takes a drink. After a                         MOMENT --                         J STAFFORD          She pleaded with me.          Mark, looking to J. This is new.                         J STAFFORD          When it started in the streets          nine months ago. She begged for          us to leave. She packed our bags.          I said, òA little longer.' And          what I was thinking was, òThis is          a good thing for me. Stay. Show          Newsom you've got the balls. Grab          for the ring.'                         (MORE)                         (CONTINUED)                                                                                                               ARGO - Final 76.                         196 CONTINUED: 196           J STAFFORD (CONT'D)                          (A BEAT)          I think we're gonna die here.          197 INT. KOMITEH HEADQUARTERS (AMIR ABAD DISTRICT) - DAY 197          The feeling here is dangerous. Young men carrying          automatic weapons casually.          Behrouz stands next to ALI KHALKALI, 30s, a Revolutionary          Committee security official. There are RECONSTRUCTED          EMBASSY PICTURES ON THE WALL.          We see the FAMOUS PICTURES OF THE HOSTAGES BEING MARCHED          DOWN THE STEPS.          197A INT. KOMITEH HEADQUARTERS STAIRWAY - CONTINUOUS ACTION 197A          A Kafka-esque stairway. We see a YOUNG KOMITEH call up          from the bottom and head up the stairs.          JUMP CUT TO: one flight to go.          Now on the level WITH CAMERA, we carry him INTO the          office as he hands off the ARGO script and STUDIO SIX          BUSINESS CARD. Khalkali has some words in Farsi for the          young man.          198 EXT. SHERATON BALCONY - MORNING 198          Tony looks at one of the Argo storyboards -- one          depicting an EXOTIC SPICE MARKET, a BAZAAR -- in the          light.          CORA LIJEK (V.O.)           This isn't what we agreed to.           199 INT. CANADIAN AMBASSADOR'S RESIDENCE - KEN'S OFFICE - 199                         MORNING          The Houseguests are gathered in the office. Cora hands          the telefax to Bob Anders. J Stafford, looking on.                         CORA LIJEK          You said òa day to learn your          covers then straight to the          airport.' You said that.                         BOB ANDERS          They suspect something?                         (CONTINUED)                                                                                                               ARGO - Final 77.                         199 CONTINUED: 199                         MENDEZ          What I know is we need to act like          a movie crew. We go to the bazaar          today, we fly out tomorrow.          Silent assent among the group. Then J Stafford,          sitting with his wife, speaks up --                         J STAFFORD          We won't do it.                         MARK LIJEK          He told them there were six of us.          They're expecting six.                          J STAFFORD                         (TO MENDEZ)          You are about to show the only          card we're holding. Which is that          they don't know we're here.                         MENDEZ          I'm asking you to trust me.                         J STAFFORD          I don't trust you.                         BOB ANDERS          (fed up, to J)          What's the alternative? This is          the ball game, J. What world          are you living in?                         J STAFFORD          The one where they're hanging          people from construction cranes,          Bob.          J takes Kathy's hand and gs, leaving Mendez with the          others. After a moment --                         MARK LIJEK                         (TO MENDEZ)          So we'll see you at two?          200 INT. CARPET FACTORY - MORNING 200          A KOMITEH BOSS inspects the work of the CARPET WEAVER          KIDS -- whose numbers have grown into the HUNDREDS -- as          they labor quietly.          Some HEADSHOTS are in various stages of repair.                         (CONTINUED)                                                                                                               ARGO - Final 78.                         200 CONTINUED: 200          Dozens of documents are now complete, sitting on the          floor in rows. Some pages from the EMBASSY MUG BOOK are          now re-assembled. The boss picks one of the pages up:          meticulously worked so that text and photos are now          intact.          201 INT. CANADIAN AMBASSADOR'S RESIDENCE - DAY 201                          PAT TAYLOR          This one.          She gives Bob Anders a Canadian maple leaf lapel pin,          which he affixes to his shirt. Cora Lijek paints lighter          hair dye onto her hair. The Houseguests are making          subtle efforts to disguise themselves.                         CORA LIJEK          (at a mirror, quoting                         INSTRUCTIONS)          So don't be recognizable, but look          exactly like your passport          picture.                         MARK LIJEK          Not that picture. You won't want          to scare them.          A nervous smile. Trying to deal with anxiety.          J and Kathy Stafford look to each other. Sitting          reading newspapers while the other Houseguests prep for          the scout. The PHONE starts ringing.                         PAT TAYLOR          (answering the phone)          Hello?          A cloud comes over Pat as she listens.                         PAT TAYLOR          No, there's no one like that here.          She hangs up the phone fast, as if it were hot to the          touch.                         BOB ANDERS           Who was it?          Pat shakes her head.          ON J STAFFORD          listening. Kathy takes his hand.                          (CONTINUED)                                                                                                               ARGO - Final 79.                         201 CONTINUED: 201                          KATHY STAFFORD                          (TO J)          Somebody knows.          202 INT. SHERATON ROOM - DAY 202          Tony getting dressed. Thinking.          He gets up and leaves, and we start to hear the sound of          a man talking fast in Farsi.          203 EXT. CAR RENTAL - DAY 203          It's a CAR RENTAL MAN, 60s, speaking. Tony is looking at          a MINIVAN on a lot of beaten-up rental cars.                         MENDEZ          This one, how much? One day, how          much?          204 INT. CANADIAN AMBASSADOR'S RESIDENCE - DAY 204          Four of the Houseguests are waiting on the couch, dressed          in their best approximation of the clothes of a movie          scout crew. Cora has the maple leaf flag pin on her          shirt.          They turn when they see Tony come in the door.           Tony as he steps down into the living room, down the hall                           --           205 INT. CANADIAN AMBASSADOR'S RESIDENCE - KITCHEN - DAY 205           ... to find J Stafford sitting at the table. They are          badly shaken.                         MENDEZ          I promise you that if you will          play along today, I will get you          out tomorrow.                         J STAFFORD          I wish I could believe you, Mr.          Harkins.                         MENDEZ          My name is Tony Mendez.           Mendez gs back out to the minivan. STAY WITH J and          Kathy.                                                                                                               ARGO - Final 80.          206 INT. MINIVAN - DAY 206          Mendez, in the driver's seat, looks at the house, then at          his watch. He starts up the van, filled with four of the          Houseguests.          Then he looks in the rearview and sees one of the back          doors open. J and Kathy Stafford board.          207 EXT. TEHRAN - DAY 207          Tony drives the minivan through streets of Tehran. The          Houseguests sit in silence, looking out the windows.          There is a vehement DEMONSTRATION going on -- stars-and-          stripes burning in Molavi Square -- and it's taking place          right in their way.          They stop at the demonstration, then realize people          aren't passing by as much as celebrating in the street.          Tony is forced to nose his way through the crowd --          chanting and yelling -- some SLAPPING THE WINDOWS.          They finally get through and pull away. With the          demonstration receding behind them, Tony tries to regain          their focus.                         MENDEZ          Tell me who you are.          This recalls attention from the windows.                         LEE SCHATZ          Mike McEwan, cameraman.                         BOB ANDERS          Robert Baker, director.                         MARK LIJEK          Timothy Harris, location manager.                         CORA LIJEK          Mary Ann Boyd, screenwriter.                         KATHY STAFFORD          Rachel Dewart, production          designer.          Kathy looks at her husband.                         J STAFFORD          Sean Bissett, associate producer.                         MENDEZ          Let's make a movie.                                                                                                               ARGO - Final 81.          208 EXT. STREET NEAR THE BAZAAR - DAY 208          The minivan double-parks on Musavi Street. Taxis, men          loading and unloading rolled-up carpets onto pickup          trucks, chaos.          A YOUNG MAN IN SUIT WITH NO TIE waits. This is REZA, mid-          20s, a low-level administrator in the Ministry of          Guidance.          Mendez gets out and they speak and shake hands. The          image FREEZES. In a BLACK AND WHITE PHOTOGRAPH.          They exchange pleasantries and Reza leads them down a          narrow street toward the bazaar.          209 EXT./INT. TEHRAN BAZAAR - DAY 209          Reza is leading Mendez and the group of Houseguests          through the Tehran Bazaar. A word about the place: the          world's largest bazaar. 10 kilometers of narrow alleys.          Chinese-made Swiss watches, banks, mosques, butchers,          fabric stores, gold stands. Boys with hand-trucks loaded          down with piles of fabric cut through the crowd. Older          Islamic architecture elbows up against neon signs and          rickety wooden stands with second-story balconies like          Bourbon Street.          Bob Anders walks toward the front.                         REZA          You are the director?                         BOB ANDERS          Yes.                         REZA                         (PLEASANT)          Is this film a foreign bride film?                         BOB ANDERS          I'm sorry?                         REZA          A film where a foreign bride is          brought to Iran, but she dsn't          understand the language and          customs and there are          misunderstandings and laughs.                         BOB ANDERS          No.                         (CONTINUED)                                                                                                               ARGO - Final 82.                         209 CONTINUED: 209                          REZA           (not happy with that)           Mmmm.          Mendez walking toward the back of the group. Lee, the          cameraman, is looking through a viewfinder down the alley          of the bazaar.                         MENDEZ                         (QUIET)          Mike?                         LEE SCHATZ          (not looking up)          Yeh.                         MENDEZ          If I said you were looking through          the wrong end of that viewfinder,          would I be right?          Lee turns the viewfinder around and looks through it          again.                         LEE SCHATZ           Yep.                          ANGLE          Mendez talking to Lee from a distance. A zoom, a closer          snapshot of LEE. Then of CORA LIJEK, who walks through          the bazaar with an open ARGO SCRIPT in her hand.          The Revolutionary Guard photographer is taking pictures          of each of the Houseguests, picking their portraits off          one by one like a sniper.          210 EXT. CANADIAN AMBASSADOR'S RESIDENCE (TEHRAN) - DAY 210          Two sedans turn onto the property and head up the          driveway.          Ali Khalkali, the revolutionary official, gets out of one          of the cars. He's joined by a couple other OFFICIALS and          by two armed REVOLUTIONARY GUARDS.          Sahar is moving through the garden, she sees the men          approach. She gs to greet them at the gate.                         SAHAR          (Farsi, from behind                         THE GATE)          Yes?                                                                                                               ARGO - Final 83.                         211 OMITTED 211          212 INT. TEHRAN BAZAAR - DAY 212          Reza leads Mendez and the Houseguests deeper into this          city within a city; fundamentalist ground zero. BAZAARIS          stand at their shop doors; puzzled; unfriendly; watching          the visitors.          Kathy Stafford, the production designer on the scout,          takes a Polaroid of a window adorned in gold. The          SHOPKEEPER, a 70-ish bazaari, sees her do so.          He hurries out of his store, speaking in rapid-fire Farsi          at her. The Houseguests stop. Reza speaks to the          Shopkeeper.                         REZA                         (TO KATHY)          He wants the photograph you took.                         MENDEZ          She's the production designer.          Her job is to take photographs.          SHOPKEEPER getting more and more heated in Farsi.                         REZA          He says he did not give you          permission to take a photograph of          his store.          Other BAZAARIS and SHOPPERS are starting to gather.          Kathy holds out the Polaroid toward the Shopkeeper.                         KATHY STAFFORD          He can have the photograph. Tell                         HIM --          The Shopkeeper knocks the Polaroid out of her hand.          213 INT./EXT. CANADIAN AMBASSADOR'S RESIDENCE - ENTRANCE - 213                         DAY                          KHALKALI                          (FARSI)           When did they arrive?                           SAHAR                          (FARSI)           I'm sorry?                          (CONTINUED)                                                                                                               ARGO - Final 84.                         213 CONTINUED: 213                          KHALKALI                          (FARSI)          The guests of the ambassador. How          long have they been in this house?          214 INT. TEHRAN BAZAAR - DAY 214          People are now starting to surround Mendez and Reza and          the Houseguests. Bazaaris more and more heated. Women          in chadors are screaming and finger-pointing.                         ANGRY MAN                         (IN ENGLISH)          America NO!... NO!          Then he speaks in Farsi and makes shooting gestures with          his hand.                         LEE SCHATZ          (quiet, to Mendez)          He's saying the Shah killed his          son with an American gun.          Cauldron heating up and --          215 INT./EXT. CANADIAN AMBASSADOR'S RESIDENCE - ENTRANCE - 215                         DAY          ON Sahar -- her face impassive -- and then --                         SAHAR                         (FARSI)          Two days. They arrived two days          ago.          Khalkali looks to the other Officials.          216 INT. TEHRAN BAZAAR - ANGLE ON MORE AND MORE BAZAARIS - 216                         DAY          A CROWD starts to gather around the group.                         ON KATHY          Her claustrophobia as the crowd closes in -- an ANGRY          BAZAARI WOMAN sticks her finger in Kathy's face --                         CORA LIJEK          (to one of the women)          Canada... Ca-na-da...                         (CONTINUED)                                                                                                               ARGO - Final 85.                         216 CONTINUED: 216          She's showing a Canadian flag, Bob Anders' lapel button --                         LEE SCHATZ          (quiet; to Mendez)          He says we're the CIA taking          photographs to plan the bombing of          the city.          217 INT./EXT. CANADIAN AMBASSADOR'S RESIDENCE - ENTRANCE - 217                         DAY           Khalkali eyes Sahar, gauging her. She hides her fear          well.                          KHALKALI                          (FARSI)          Sister, those who are with him,          Rasool of Allah, we are tender          among ourselves.                         (BEAT)          But stern against the kuffar.                         SAHAR          As god wills it.                         KHALKALI                         (QUOTING MOSSADEGH)          But those who sit silently have          sinned.          Ds he know? Ds he not know? Is he trying to trick          her? His opacity makes it impossible to know. He holds          his look to her -- and she holds hers.          218 INT. TEHRAN BAZAAR - DAY 218           Reza indicates an exit to the street.           219 INT./EXT. CANADIAN AMBASSADOR'S RESIDENCE - ENTRANCE - 219                         DAY          -- and Sahar, so dignified and stony she is almost          shaming these men --                         SAHAR          Everyone in this house is a friend          of Iran.          Khalkali makes his decision. He wordlessly turns to go.                                                                                                               ARGO - Final 86.          220 INT. TEHRAN BAZAAR - DAY 220          The CROWD heckles the Houseguests as they walk toward the          exit.          221 INT. CANADIAN AMBASSADOR'S RESIDENCE - FOYER - DAY 221          Sahar calmly closes the door.          After she ds, she lets the facade go. All of a sudden          scared. Maybe she tears up. Either way, it's clear she          knows the stakes of the game she is playing.          222 INT. CANADIAN AMBASSADOR'S RESIDENCE - AFTERNOON 222          The aftermath. The Houseguests, badly shaken, come          inside. Each dealing with shock and adrenaline.          Ken Taylor comes up next to Mendez and, for once,          Taylor's ambassadorial calm is breaking.                         TAYLOR          They drew you out there to take           your picture.                         MENDEZ          Nobody broke.           At the door to the residence, Tony can see Pat Taylor,          holding Sahar's hand, both looking spooked as the          Houseguests come inside.                         TAYLOR                         (SOBERED NOW)           And tomorrow?            A beat on Mendez, who stamps out his cigarette and           follows.                          MENDEZ            Tomorrow they'll be ready.            We start to hear the sound of the evening's call to           prayer, amplified over a megaphone, in the distance.                          THEN --          223-224 OMITTED 223-224                                                                                                               ARGO - Final 87.          224A MONTAGE - EXT. TEHRAN - DUSK 224A          The call to prayer echoing as night falls in Tehran. In          an alley where cloaked women hurry past posters of          Khomeini. On a street where a five-year-old boy, in the          care of his eight-year-old brother, watches a pickup          truck of armed komiteh speed past.          224B INT. CANADIAN AMBASSADOR'S RESIDENCE - NIGHT 224B          Mendez holds a passport and some papers in front of Bob          Anders' face. It feels late. The Houseguests are tired,          sweating, sitting around a dining room. Mendez, sleeves          rolled up, drilling them. The ARGO STORYBOARDS are          scattered around the room.                         MENDEZ          Where was your passport issued?          Bob Anders dsn't know. ANGLES ON the Houseguests.                         ANDERS          Vancouver.                         MENDEZ          Where were you born?                         BOB ANDERS          Toronto.                         MENDEZ          Toronno like piranha. Canadians          don't pronounce the T.                         LEE SCHATZ          Some border guard's gonna know          that?                         MENDEZ          If you're held for questioning,          they'll bring in somebody who          knows that.                         MENDEZ          (to Cora Lijek)          Last three Canadian prime          minsters.                         CORA LIJEK          (an A student)          Trudeau, Pearson, Diefenbaker.                         (CONTINUED)                                                                                                               ARGO - Final 88.          224B CONTINUED: 224B                          MENDEZ           Good.           (to J Stafford)           Your job on the film.                          J STAFFORD           Producer.                          MENDEZ          Associate Producer. What's the          name of the last film you worked          on?                         J STAFFORD          Uh... High and Dry.                         MENDEZ          Who paid for the movie?                         J STAFFORD          C.F.D.C.                         MENDEZ          What's your middle name?          J Stafford is silent. He looks down to consult the          paper in front of him, but before he can, Mendez pulls          the paper.                         MENDEZ          He's an American spy. Shoot him.          A beat on Stafford, frustrated --                         MENDEZ          They'll try to break you by          getting you agitated. You need to          know your r√©sum√© so well that you          don't flinch.                         J STAFFORD          (nearly defeated,                         LOOKING AWAY)          You think your little story will          matter when there's guns to our          heads?                         MENDEZ          My story's the only thing between          you and the gun to your head.          A beat. Mendez puts the r√©sum√© back in front of          Stafford. Kathy looks at her husband: he just isn't          good at this.                         (CONTINUED)                                                                                                               ARGO - Final 89.          224B CONTINUED: (2) 224B                         MENDEZ          Let's go again.          224C INT. CIA - THE PIT - AFTERNOON 224C          O'Donnell, walking toward his office. It's the first          time today Malinov has seen him.                         MALINOV                         (GOOD NEWS)          They made it through the location          scout.          O'Donnell ignores him. He gs straight to his office.          Looking like he's seen a ghost.          224D EXT. CANADIAN AMBASSADOR'S RESIDENCE - VERANDA - NIGHT 224D          Mendez, finishing a cigarette outside. We might hear the          distant sound of a phone ringing.          Ken Taylor emerges. Waits a beat.                         TAYLOR          Kevin.          224E INT. CANADIAN AMBASSADOR'S RESIDENCE - KEN TAYLOR'S 224E          OFFICE - CROSS-CUTTING - NIGHT          Mendez picks up the complicated-looking satellite phone          in Ken Taylor's home office. As soon as he ds --                         O'DONNELL          Go to black on green.          Jack's calling him here, so he knows something's wrong.                         MENDEZ          What is it?                         O'DONNELL          Go to black on green.          Mendez turns knobs on the satellite phone.          224F INT. O'DONNELL'S OFFICE - CROSS-CUTTING - AFTERNOON 224F          We see Jack is on a GREEN PHONE.                         (CONTINUED)                                                                                                               ARGO - Final 90.          224F CONTINUED: 224F                         O'DONNELL          It all just changed. They called          the game. You've got to come          back.          ON Mendez, not believing what he's hearing.                         O'DONNELL          (quiet, fast, clear)          Joint Chiefs are planning a          military rescue of the hostages in          a month. Delta Force started          training to storm the grounds. So          if the six of them get brought          down there, they won't be held for          long.                         MENDEZ          I never would have exposed them if          I wasn't authorized to take them          out.                         O'DONNELL          It's over, Tony.                         MENDEZ          They will be taken. Probably not                         ALIVE --                         O'DONNELL          LISTEN TO ME. The thinking's          changed. Six Americans get pulled          out of a Canadian diplomat's house          and executed, it's another world          outrage. Six Americans get caught          playing movie make-believe with          the CIA at the airport and          executed, it's a national          embarrassment. They're calling          the operation.                         MENDEZ          We're responsible for those          people.                         O'DONNELL                         (GENUINELY SAD)          What we are is required to follow          orders. I'm sorry.          Mendez hangs up. O'Donnell sits listening to the dial          tone for a moment, then puts the phone on the receiver.                         (CONTINUED)                                                                                                               ARGO - Final 91.          224F CONTINUED: (2) 224F          Then, very suddenly, he looks at an old coffee cup near          him and backhands it off his desk.          TIME CUT TO:          224G INT. CANADIAN AMBASSADOR'S RESIDENCE - KEN TAYLOR'S 224G          OFFICE - NIGHT          Maybe only a minute, maybe ten or more have passed.          Mendez sits at Taylor's desk, numb. Cora Lijek knocks          but dsn't get a response. She tentatively opens the          door and sticks her head inside.                         CORA LIJEK          We're ready to try again.                         MENDEZ          (after a beat)          I think the most important thing           you can do to be ready for          tomorrow is rest.          TIME CUT TO:          225 INT. CANADIAN AMBASSADOR'S RESIDENCE - LIVING ROOM - 225                         NIGHT          Now the mood among the Houseguests is lighter. Bob          Anders, a handful of liquor bottles in his arms, puts          them down on a table. Music plays on a record player.                         BOB ANDERS          Scorched earth policy tonight.          Nothing gets left.          Taylor comes in, drink in hand, thoughts heavy, looks at          Tony.                         MENDEZ          So you know.                          TAYLOR                         (NODS)          ExtAff wants you to burn the          passports before you leave.          Mendez looks at the Houseguests, setting the table.                         TAYLOR          If we tell them, they'll panic.          It's better if you just don't          show.                         (A BEAT)                         (MORE)                         (CONTINUED)                                                                                                               ARGO - Final 92.                         225 CONTINUED: 225                         TAYLOR (CONT'D)          It was always a fucked mission.          You came closer than anybody else.          Kathy and Cora are cracking each other up.          No one sees Mendez take a bottle of Macallan from the          table and put it in his bag.          226 INT. CAR - NIGHT 226          Mendez drives through nighttime Tehran, back to the          hotel.          There is a dangling TOTEM from the rearview mirror. It          reflects light.          He passes a VAN ON FIRE.                         227 OMITTED 227          228 INT. SHERATON ROOM - NIGHT 228           Mendez takes the bottle of Macallan from his bag. He           takes a drink, then drinks more.                          229 OMITTED 229           230 INT. ARGO PRODUCTION OFFICE - DAY 230          Chambers, listening on a phone, shakes his head at          Siegel. He hangs up.                         CHAMBERS          It's off. They want us to pack up          the office.           A beat on Lester. He's devastated but he's not showing           it.                           SIEGEL            They can wait. Let's go get a            drink.           231 EXT. TEHRAN - DAWN 231          The city waking up.                                                                                                               ARGO - Final 93.          232 INT. CANADIAN AMBASSADOR'S RESIDENCE - DAWN 232          The Houseguests, getting dressed. Suiting up for the          airport.          Ken Taylor watches in the hall.          233 INT. SHERATON ROOM - DAWN 233          Mendez -- who looks like he hasn't slept -- sits at a          table, looking out the window.          234 INT. CANADIAN AMBASSADOR'S RESIDENCE - DAWN 234          Lee Schatz puts his Infant of Prague holy card into an          Argo script. Packs the script.          Cora Lijek is sitting next to her husband.          Kathy Stafford looks at the clock.                         KATHY STAFFORD          (to J Stafford)          He's late.          235 EXT. SHERATON BALCONY - DAWN 235          Tony comes out to the balcony with a hotel ice bucket in          one hand and the Canadian passports in the other. He          puts the passports in the bucket, LIGHTS A MATCH.          He looks down at the match, at the passports. The first          stirring of the morning calls-to-prayer echo in the          distance.          HOLD for a long beat ON Tony. Thinking.          Then, HE BLOWS OUT THE MATCH.          236 INT. O'DONNELL'S OFFICE - NIGHT 236          O'Donnell is packing up for the night. Paper towels sit          on top of the coffee spill on his rug.          His phone rings. He picks up.                         O'DONNELL          Yeah.                                                                                                               ARGO - Final 94.          237 INT. SHERATON ROOM - DAWN 237                         MENDEZ          Somebody is responsible for things          when things happen, Jack. I am          responsible.                         (A BEAT)          I'm taking them through.          And before Jack can answer, Tony hangs up. Stands. A          duffel bag over his shoulder, Tony turns out the light in          the hotel room. Gs.          238 INT. CIA (LANGLEY) - O'DONNELL'S OFFICE - NIGHT 238          O'Donnell, thinking. Looking at the phone. Then, with a          sudden decision, he gets up.          Rushing out of his office, into --          239 INT. CIA - THE PIT - NIGHT 239          -- where he catches ALAN SOSA, 50s, head of the          Directorate of Support -- the CIA's chief financial          officer -- leaving for the night.                         O'DONNELL          We need to confirm those seven          tickets out of Tehran on                         SWISSAIR --                         SOSA          N.E. shut that down.                         O'DONNELL          I'm saying it's back on!                         SOSA          I can't do it. It's backstopped          pending Executive Branch GO.                         O'DONNELL          What the fuck ds that mean?                         SOSA          Carter's got to say yes for us to          get the tickets.          240 INT. CANADIAN AMBASSADOR'S RESIDENCE - DAWN 240          Pat Taylor comes to answer an insistent knocking on her          front door. She opens it.                         (CONTINUED)                                                                                                               ARGO - Final 95.                         240 CONTINUED: 240           She's shocked to see him. Ken Taylor now appears behind           Pat. In the hall behind him: The Houseguests are          assembled, waiting to go. They look their parts -- or,          much more so than they did on the scout. Cora Lijek has          darker hair. The Staffords look on, fully dressed.          241 INT. OUTSIDE ENGELL'S OFFICE - NIGHT 241                         O'DONNELL          Where's Engell?                         SECRETARY          He's in a meeting.                         O'DONNELL          Pull him out.          (as she hesitates)          PULL HIM OUT!          242 INT. CANADIAN AMBASSADOR'S RESIDENCE - DAWN 242          Pat Taylor is embracing the Houseguests, saying goodbye.                         PAT TAYLOR          Sahar's on a bus.                         MENDEZ          Good. And you two leave right          now.          Ken Taylor nods. Mendez shakes his hand.          243 INT./EXT. MINIVAN - DAWN 243          Mendez gets into the driver's seat. Lee Schatz on the          passenger side.          We see Ken's black embassy sedan waiting, driven by a          PAKISTANI DRIVER.          Mendez pulls away.          243A INT. KEN'S OFFICE - LATER 243A          Ken Taylor watches a SGT. CLAUDE GAUTHIER, 30s, Canadian          military policeman, use a sledgehammer to SMASH          EVERYTHING IN THE OFFICE TO PIECES.          Pat Taylor comes to the door. She's holding a suitcase.                         (CONTINUED)                                                                                                               ARGO - Final 96.          243A CONTINUED: 243A                          TAYLOR           (to Gauthier, as he                          LEAVES)           Get to your flight.           244 INT. OUTSIDE ENGELL'S OFFICE - NIGHT 244                          ENGELL           N.E. said NO, this is not a long-           leasher...           O'DONNELL ENGELL           ... watching a show behind ... and it never has been,           a one-way whorehouse YOU don't decide if it           mirror... gs...                          O'DONNELL           It is going.                          ENGELL          You're goddamn close...                         O'DONNELL          Am I goddamn close?                         ENGELL          You're goddamn close to the line          with me.                         O'DONNELL                         (INTERRUPTING)          I'm not leaving him at the airport          with six people and his dick in          his hand. Tell the Director to          call the White House. DO YOUR          FUCKING JOB.          Engell just stares O'Donnell down.          245 INT./EXT. MINIVAN - MORNING 245          The van speeds down the hills of the Shemiran district.          MENDEZ (V.O.)          The first checkpoint is just to          look at your passport.          246 FLASHBACK - INT. CANADIAN AMBASSADOR'S RESIDENCE - NIGHT 246          Mendez is sitting in the living room instructing the          Houseguests.                         (CONTINUED)                                                                                                               ARGO - Final 97.                         246 CONTINUED: 246                         MENDEZ          Your passports came straight from          the Canadians, so you're gonna be          fine.          247 INT. CIA (LANGLEY) - THE PIT - NIGHT (A MOMENT LATER) 247                         (PRESENT)          O'Donnell, charging in --                         O'DONNELL          Where's the Director?                         MALINOV          He's on the plane.                         O'DONNELL          Find White House Chief of Staff.                         MALINOV          How would I find him?                         O'DONNELL          We're a fucking SPY AGENCY! FIND          HIM!          248 FLASHBACK - INT. CANADIAN AMBASSADOR'S RESIDENCE - NIGHT 248                         MENDEZ          The second checkpoint --          249 INT. CIA - THE PIT - NIGHT (PRESENT) 249                          MALINOV           Jordan's in the West Wing. He's           not taking calls.          A beat on O'Donnell.                          O'DONNELL          Where are his kids?                         LAMONT          WHAT?                         O'DONNELL          Where do his kids go to school?          250 FLASHBACK - INT. CANADIAN AMBASSADOR'S RESIDENCE - NIGHT 250          He gives out yellow immigration forms to the Houseguests.                         (CONTINUED)                                                                                                               ARGO - Final 98.                         250 CONTINUED: 250                         MENDEZ          The second is immigration. You'll          hand them these. They say you          landed two days ago.          251 INT. MINIVAN - MORNING (PRESENT) 251          Cora Lijek fingers her yellow immigration form in one          hand, holds Mark's hand with the other.          MENDEZ (V.O.)          These guys are bureaucrats left          over from the shah. They can't be          bothered to second-guess you.          252 INT. CIA - THE PIT - NIGHT 252          Malinov slams a phone down.                         MALINOV          Pace Academy in Buckhead, Georgia!          O'Donnell dials a number.                         O'DONNELL          Yes, it's Mr. Murphy calling from          Pace Academy for Mr. Jordan... I'm          afraid it IS an emergency...          253 INT. WHITE HOUSE OPERATOR ROOM - NIGHT 253          WHITE HOUSE OPERATOR          Hold just a moment.          She plugs a wire into an old-fashioned Ma Bell          switchboard.          MENDEZ (V.O.)          Third checkpoint is the trap.          254 INT. MINIVAN - MORNING 254          The van pulls up to the airport. We see THRONGS of          people trying to get in -- so they can get out.          Tony pulls the car to a semi-open place and tries not to          run anyone over.                                                                                                               ARGO - Final 99.          255 FLASHBACK - INT. CANADIAN AMBASSADOR'S RESIDENCE - NIGHT 255                         MENDEZ          It's manned by Revolutionaries.          Most of them were educated in the          U.S. or Europe.                         BOB ANDERS          Or Canada?                         MENDEZ          They know how many òT's are in          Toronto.          256 INT. WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF OFFICE - NIGHT (PRESENT) 256          Jordan is in a meeting with two staffers, his feet up on          the desk. His secretary opens the door without knocking,          hurries to Jordan, whispers something in his ear. He          immediately grabs the phone.                         JORDAN          Hello?          O'DONNELL (V.O.)          Jack O'Donnell from C.I.                         JORDAN          Wait -- WHO -- ?          O'DONNELL (V.O.)          Tehran Houseguest operation is          ready NOW. We don't have the          President's go-ahead. They are          going to be captured.          Jordan stands up with the phone.                         JORDAN          (yelling out his                         DOOR)          DAVID! Pick up!          257 INT. KOMITEH HQ - MORNING 257          The office we visited earlier. A YOUNG KOMITEH comes up          the stairs again. This time, he's RUNNING.                         (CONTINUED)                                                                                                               ARGO - Final 100.                         257 CONTINUED: 257          KHALKALI, the fiery guy who came to the residence, along          with two YOUNG KOMITEH compare (one who delivered the          pictures): on one side, copies of re-assembled          diplomatic photographs of Americans from the embassy --          like the ones of the Houseguests we saw early in the film          -- and, on the other side, the candid photographs from          the bazaar.          258 INT. CIA - THE PIT - NIGHT 258                         LAMONT          Telex on Flash.          The telex begins to print, line by line...          EYES ONLY -- OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES          -- HOLLYWOOD OPTION APPROVED -- GOOD LUCK. ( Carter          White House telex, 1/29/1980.)                         O'DONNELL          Copy D.S.! Confirm the tickets!          GO!          259 INT. SWISSAIR COUNTER (MEHRABAD) - MORNING 259          Mendez's and the Houseguests' passports sit on the          counter.                         SWISSAIR REP          I'm sorry, sir. I don't have          those reservations...          SWISSAIR REP looks at some green text on her screen, hits          another button.                         SWISSAIR REP          My apologies. They just came          through.          She hits another button and tickets start to print.          260 INT. CIA - THE PIT - NIGHT 260                         MALINOV          (to O'Donnell)          Swissair says they've picked up          the tickets.                         O'DONNELL          Get the L.A. office -- tell them          to be ready in case they call.                         (CONTINUED)                                                                                                               ARGO - Final 101.                         260 CONTINUED: 260                         MALINOV          We told them to shut that down!          He RUNS toward a phone --          261 INT. MEHRABAD AIRPORT - FIRST CHECKPOINT - MORNING 261          The PASSPORT OFFICIAL is looking at the Canadian          passports of the six and waving them through. Mendez has          already passed. Everyone except Kathy Stafford.          The Passport Official looks at Kathy, who is doing her          best to look friendly and casual. Then he looks at          Kathy's passport, in which she looks stern and angry.          Kathy Stafford smoothes down her hair, frowns like she           ds in the passport photo. The Passport Official half          smiles and waves her through. They've all cleared the          first checkpoint.          262 INT. KOMITEH HQ - MORNING 262          Khalkali comes upon a diplomatic photograph of a man with          glasses.          He starts to leaf through the photographs from the          bazaar.          QUICK CUT TO:          263 EXT. BAZAAR - POV OF THE REVOLUTIONARY GUARD PHOTOGRAPHER 263                         - DAY          Mark Lijek being photographed at the bazaar the previous          day.          QUICK CUT BACK TO:          264 INT. KOMITEH HQ - MORNING 264                         KHALKALI --          looks at the black and white still of Mark Lijek,          compares it to his diplomatic picture, the first portrait          we saw of Mark toward the beginning of the film. MATCH.          Khalkali stands up. SHOUTS in Farsi to another Komiteh --                                                                                                               ARGO - Final 102.          265 INT. MEHRABAD AIRPORT - SECOND CHECKPOINT - MORNING 265          Bob Anders stands in front of a rough-voiced IMMIGRATION          OFFICER. He's holding Bob Anders' YELLOW IMMIGRATION          FORM and leafing through a file of hundreds of WHITE          IMMIGRATION FORMS, the duplicates. Without success.                         IMMIGRATION OFFICER #2          (in Farsi; to Officer          #1, re: his own                         WHITE PILE)          Nothing.                         IMMIGRATION OFFICER          (to Bob Anders)          When did you say you arrived in          Iran?                         BOB ANDERS          Two days ago.                         IMMIGRATION OFFICER          What was the purpose of your          visit?                         BOB ANDERS          We were looking at locations to          make a film. I'm the director.          Immigration Officer pauses and looks up. Looks at the          six other faces. He looks every bit as confrontational          as Tony acted in rehearsal.                         BOB ANDERS                         (VERY CALM)          We have a letter from the Minister          of Culture ...           The Immigration Officer gestures for the letter. Bob          takes the letter inviting them on their location scout          out of a folder. Tony, barely perceptibly, nods.          266 INT. KOMITEH HQ - MORNING 266          Khalkali is now speaking with MORADI, an older Komiteh          official. They speak Farsi and it's untranslated, but we          get it. He is showing the photograph of Mark Lijek from          the bazaar and comparing it to the U.S. diplomatic          photograph.          Moradi picks up the phone as Khalkali heads out.                                                                                                               ARGO - Final 103.          267 INT. MEHRABAD AIRPORT - SECOND CHECKPOINT - MORNING 267          Immigration Officer is conferring with Immigration          Officer #2 as they look at the letter from the Minister          of Culture. The Houseguests and Mendez wait.          Finally, Immigration Officer #2 shrugs.                         IMMIGRATION OFFICER          Okay -- Yes -- Okay --          He waves them through. Second checkpoint done.          268 INT. CIA - THE PIT - NIGHT 268          Malinov, a phone to his ear. Ringing.                         MALINOV          C'mon c'mon c'mon --          269 INT. ARGO PRODUCTION OFFICE - NIGHT 269          The phone in the office rings. No one is there.          270 EXT. WARNER BROS. STUDIOS - NIGHT 270           Siegel and Chambers are walking back to the Argo office.           They are within sight of the Argo bungalow, but a P.A.            steps in front of them.           P.A.          (a stage whisper)          I'm sorry, we're shooting.          He motions for them to wait. A movie -- it looks like a          police procedural -- is shooting on the lot between them          and the office.          271 INT. AIRPORT GATE - MORNING 271          ANNOUNCEMENT (V.O.)          Swissair announces general          boarding for Flight 363 to Zurich.          Passengers, mostly European businessmen, get up and          approach the gate.                                                                                                               ARGO - Final 104.          272 INT. MEHRABAD AIRPORT - THIRD CHECKPOINT - MORNING 272          Mendez checks in with the Houseguests with his eyes.          They are now in sight of the airport gates. And here are          six Komiteh. Young men -- none more than 33 or so --          holding automatic weapons.          They have created their own checkpoint. It looks recent,          A SCREENED-OFF AREA WITH TABLES.                         KOMITEH #1          Passports.          He looks at the Canadian passports and then almost          immediately speaks.                         KOMITEH #1          You come.          He directs Mendez and the Houseguests into the screened-          off area. Speaks in Farsi to another Komiteh.          273 INT. CIA - THE PIT - NIGHT 273                         LAMONT          (holding the phone)          Purser's telling Swissair they're          not on the plane.                         O'DONNELL          They should have boarded already.                         MALINOV          (on another phone)          Still no answer in L.A.          274 INT. MEHRABAD AIRPORT - THIRD CHECKPOINT - MORNING 274                          MARK LIJEK           A film.          Mark mimes turning the rotor of a movie camera. Komiteh          #1 dsn't understand.          AZIZI (O.S.)          Sit down.          A young man with a beard -- AZIZI, late 20s -- arriving          on the scene, speaking in Farsi to the others and then in          very good American English. He looks at the six and the          face he singles out is J Stafford's.                         (CONTINUED)                                                                                                               ARGO - Final 105.                         274 CONTINUED: 274                          AZIZI           (harsh, icy; in                           FARSI)           You. You had no business in Iran.          He motions for J STAFFORD to step forward. Mendez          shifts. A tense moment.                         J STAFFORD                         (FARSI)           We did. We were preparing to make          a movie here, sir.                         AZIZI                         (FARSI)           You don't have journalist visas.                         J STAFFORD                         (FARSI)           Not a documentary. A movie.          J Stafford reaches into his pocket and gives Azizi a          copy of the Argo Variety ad.                         J STAFFORD                         (FARSI)           You see?          (to Mendez; English)           Kevin, where's your briefcase?          A beat on Mendez. Who then opens his accordion folder          and takes from it the ARGO STORYBOARDS. J Stafford          spreads them out on the table.          Three other Komiteh in the room lean forward, their          AUTOMATIC WEAPONS at their sides, and look at the          STORYBOARD DRAWINGS. The Persian Empire futurism of Jack          Kirby's drawings.                         J STAFFORD                         (FARSI)           These are the villains. Y'see          these guys here? And these are          the hers... in the spice          market...          J Stafford points at the various drawings. He speaks          with an ease and confidence that we didn't know he had.                         J STAFFORD                         (FARSI)           They know our hero is the Chosen           One, so they kidnap his son in the           spice market ... They have these           chariots... like this one...                         (MORE)                         (CONTINUED)                                                                                                               ARGO - Final 106.                         274 CONTINUED: (2) 274           J STAFFORD (CONT'D)           they go like this... whoooosh,           hmm? They can fly... The people            are just farmers, but they rise up            and find their courage and defeat            the alien king--           Mendez watches. It's a performance. The three young          Komiteh are now wide-eyed, pointing, whispering in Farsi,          like teenagers around a comic book.          Azizi says something to another Komiteh in the room.                         THEN --                         AZIZI          (to J Stafford; in                          ENGLISH)           You don't go until we verify.                         MENDEZ          You can call our office.          Mendez hands Azizi his card. STUDIO SIX FILMS. Kevin          Harkins. A 213 (818 wasn't around yet) phone number.          ANGLES ON THE HOUSEGUESTS          as Azizi leaves the room with the business card and three          young Komiteh barely look up from the drawings --          275 EXT. WARNER BROS. STUDIOS - NIGHT 275          P.A., still holding Chambers and Siegel. The ACTOR          playing the cop is conferring with the director. He's          not happy with something. They're holding everyone until          the next take, and --          P.A.          Going again please! We're                         ROLLING --          276 EXT. CANADIAN AMBASSADOR'S RESIDENCE - MORNING 276          A PICKUP TRUCK with 5 Komiteh -- including Khalkali --          automatic weapons out -- drives up to the Canadian          Ambassador's residence.          277 INT. MEHRABAD AIRPORT - KOMITEH STATION - MORNING 277          Azizi, who apparently has some authority here, enters,          telling another Komiteh in Farsi to get off the phone.                         (CONTINUED)                                                                                                               ARGO - Final 107.                         277 CONTINUED: 277          Azizi looks at the Studio Six business card and picks up          the receiver.          278 EXT. WARNER BROS. STUDIOS - NIGHT 278                         SIEGEL          I'm sorry, pally. We're just gonna           be in the movie. Call my agent.          P.A.          Sir. SIR!          Siegel and Chambers walk through the shot toward the Argo          office.          279 INT. MEHRABAD AIRPORT - KOMITEH STATION - MORNING 279          Azizi dials the long international number. And it is a          DIAL, so this takes a long time.          280 INT. MEHRABAD AIRPORT - THIRD CHECKPOINT - MORNING 280          One of the young Komiteh is loudly debating with another          Komiteh the air-worthiness of a futuristic desert glider          in the storyboards. He's miming the thing crashing.          J Stafford and the Houseguests are silent. Mendez can          see the line of passengers on their Swissair flight          dwindling.          281 INT. MEHRABAD AIRPORT - KOMITEH STATION - MORNING 281          Azizi rings the phone three times -- four times -- he's          going to hang up --          CHAMBERS (V.O.)          (out of breath)          Studio Six Films.          282 INT. ARGO PRODUCTION OFFICE - NIGHT 282          A beat of silence. Chambers catching his breath,          listening. The door to the office wide open.          283 INT. MEHRABAD AIRPORT - KOMITEH STATION - MORNING 283                          AZIZI           May I speak to Mr. Kevin Harkins --                          (CONTINUED)                                                                                                               ARGO - Final 108.                         283 CONTINUED: 283          CHAMBERS (V.O.)          He's out of the country on a          location scout. Can I take a          message?          284 INT. ARGO PRODUCTION OFFICE - NIGHT 284          Chambers listens for a response. Siegel now catches up.          285 INT. MEHRABAD AIRPORT - KOMITEH STATION - MORNING 285                         AZIZI          No message.          286 INT. MEHRABAD AIRPORT - MORNING 286          ANNOUNCEMENT (V.O.)          Swissair announces final boarding          of Flight 363 to Zurich. All          passengers should be at the gate          at this time.          287 EXT. CANADIAN AMBASSADOR'S RESIDENCE - MORNING 287          Khalkali and Komiteh are forcing the front door of the          house open.          288 INT. MEHRABAD AIRPORT - THIRD CHECKPOINT - MORNING 288          Azizi comes back into the screened-off area. Looks at          J Stafford, then at Mendez. Then says something in          Farsi to the three Komiteh in the holding area. Then he          leaves.          The three young Komiteh look at the drawings, then at J          Stafford. Silence for a moment.                         MENDEZ                         (PUSHES THE                         STORYBOARDS TOWARD                         THEM)          Our gift to you. From our film.          Komiteh #1, who speaks enough English to understand,          translates to the others. They forget their          revolutionary mission for a second, happy with their          gift. They'd high-five if they could. They're kids.          Komiteh #1 motions for the Houseguests to go.                                                                                                               ARGO - Final 109.          289 INT. CANADIAN AMBASSADOR'S RESIDENCE - FOYER - MORNING 289          Khalkali and a dozen Komiteh, guns drawn, rush into the          residence. Empty liquor bottles. The remains of what          looks like breakfast for a group of people.          But the place is empty.          290 INT./EXT. MEHRABAD AIRPORT - FLIGHT GATE - MORNING 290          A BUSLOAD of passengers about to be ferried to the          airplane.          A Swissair Rep is closing the gate to Flight 363. She          looks up to see the Houseguests and Mendez hurrying          through the terminal, headed toward her. She holds the          gate, speaks in German into a walkie, and --          291 INT. CANADIAN AMBASSADOR'S RESIDENCE - KEN'S OFFICE - 291                          MORNING           The Komiteh search the house. Khalkali gets on the           phone.                         292 OMITTED 292          293 INT. MEHRABAD AIRPORT - FLIGHT GATE - MORNING 293          Kathy Stafford's ticket is taken and she walks through          the door. Hurries toward the transport bus. The other          five Houseguests and Mendez behind her and --          294 INT. MEHRABAD AIRPORT - KOMITEH STATION - MORNING 294          A phone rings and a Young Komiteh picks up the call. He          listens for a moment. Then he drops the phone and RUNS          into the airport terminal and --          295 INT. RUNWAY TRANSPORT BUS - MORNING 295          The Houseguests sit aboard the bus, headed to a waiting          DC-10.          The DRIVER puts the bus into gear. It dsn't go. He          shakes his head. This goddamn thing. Shifts gears          again. Now it gs.                                                                                                               ARGO - Final 110.          296 INT. MEHRABAD AIRPORT - MORNING 296          Young Komiteh RUNNING through the terminal, pushing          through a crowd, making a woman drop her suitcase,          contents scattering. An automatic weapon at his side.          297 EXT. SWISSAIR DC-10 - MORNING 297          The Houseguests head up the stairs to the plane.          298 INT. MEHRABAD AIRPORT - FLIGHT GATE - MORNING 298          Azizi and the three Komiteh from the third checkpoint          stand up from the table with the Argo storyboards. Young          Komiteh shouts at them and they take up their weapons and          join him, running --          Azizi and the three Komiteh arrive at Flight 363's gate.          The door is CLOSED.          299 INT. SWISSAIR DC-10 - MORNING 299          The Houseguests put their carry-on luggage into the          overhead bins. A FLIGHT ATTENDANT is already holding a          detached seatbelt preparing to do her safety mime.          PILOT (V.O.)                         (GERMAN-ACCENTED                         ENGLISH)          Ladies and gentlemen, from the          flight-deck. We're looking at a          brief delay --           Passengers groan a bit as they read paperbacks or          International Herald Tribunes. Mark Lijek's arm is          around Cora. Lee Schatz is moving his mouth in what          looks like a prayer. Kathy Stafford's fingers shake as          she holds an arm rest. J Stafford tries to stay her          hand.          Mendez is sitting looking out the window toward the          terminal.          300 INT. MEHRABAD AIRPORT - FLIGHT GATE - MORNING 300          Azizi yells to the Swissair Rep, dragging her back toward          the gate. We can't hear what she says back, but she's          shaking her head.                                                                                                               ARGO - Final 111.          301 INT. SWISSAIR DC-10 COCKPIT - MORNING 301          From the window, we can see a GROUND CREWMAN give a          thumbs-up. The scrubbed Swiss PILOT, 50s, gives a thumbs-          up back.          He gently releases the throttle lever.          302 INT. SWISSAIR DC-10 - MORNING 302          Mendez and the Houseguests feel the plane start to move.          303 INT. MEHRABAD AIRPORT - MORNING 303          Azizi gs to the WINDOW. He can see the Swissair plane          slowly backing onto the runway.          He picks up a walkie and pushes through the flight gate          door, setting off an alarm, followed by the three other          Komiteh.          He reaches the METAL BARS outside and can't get past.          He CALLS INTO THE WALKIE.          304 INT. MEHRABAD FLIGHT TOWER - MORNING 304          An Iranian FLIGHT TRAFFIC CONTROLLER calmly speaks into          his radio in British-accented English.          FLIGHT TRAFFIC CONTROLLER          SwissAir 363, you are Number 2 for          departure.          305 INT. SWISSAIR DC-10 - MORNING 305          Out the window of the plane. Two IRANIAN POLICE CARS and          a CANVAS-TOPPED TRUCK are headed down the runway toward          the plane.          306 INT. SWISSAIR DC-10 - MENDEZ'S POV - MORNING 306          looking out from his window seat.          307 EXT. AIRPORT RUNWAY - MORNING 307          An IRAN AIRLINES 747 takes off, revealing the Swissair          jet behind it. Only empty runway ahead of Swissair 363          now and --                                                                                                               ARGO - Final 112.          308 INT. MEHRABAD FLIGHT TOWER - MORNING 308          ANGLE ON BOOTS          taking stairs two at a time.          Three KOMITEH WITH AUTOMATICS rush up the tower stairs --          309 EXT. AIRPORT RUNWAY - MORNING 309          We're SPEEDING BEHIND two Iranian police cars and a          canvas-topped TRUCK as they speed toward the Swissair          plane. In the back of the truck we can see half a dozen          Komiteh, weapons drawn and --          310 INT. SWISSAIR DC-10 - COCKPIT - MORNING 310          FLIGHT TRAFFIC CONTROLLER (V.O.)                         SWISSAIR 363 --          The Pilot puts his hand on the throttle control.          311 INT. MEHRABAD FLIGHT TOWER - MORNING 311          FLIGHT TRAFFIC CONTROLLER          -- you are cleared for take-off.          The Flight Traffic Controller moves his head-set mic away          from his mouth to take a drink of very strong Iranian          tea, and -- the door to the Control Room BURSTS OPEN.          Three Komiteh with automatics, shouting instructions to          the Traffic Controller, who spills his tea --          312 INT. SWISSAIR DC-10 - MORNING 312          Mendez looking out the window --          313 EXT. AIRPORT RUNWAY - MORNING 313          ANGLE ON THE THREE IRANIAN VEHICLES          speeding ahead -- they're GAINING ON us --          313A INT. COCKPIT - CONTINUOUS ACTION 313A          The CO-PILOT looks out the window. Sees they are being          pursued by militia and police. He looks to the Pilot.                         (CONTINUED)                                                                                                               ARGO - Final 113.          313A CONTINUED: 313A          A beat. The Pilot reaches down and pushes all four          engines to go FULL THROTTLE.          313B EXT. AIRPORT RUNWAY - CONTINUOUS ACTION 313B          ANGLE ON THE JEEPS          We start to PULL AWAY FROM them -- leaving them behind --          beginning to RISE UP --          314 INT. MEHRABAD FLIGHT TOWER - MORNING 314          The Flight Controller has his arms up... THROUGH the          floor-to-ceiling windows of the tower, as three Komiteh          watch a Swissair DC-10 angle upward and leave the          ground...          315 EXT. AIRPORT RUNWAY - MORNING 315          The Komiteh from the Jeep are now standing on the runway          watching the plane disappear.          316 EXT. TEHRAN STREET NEAR AIRPORT - CONTINUOUS ACTION 316          We are looking at a street corner in Tehran when the          PLANE CRESTS THE STOREFRONT, heading upward and away.          317 INT. CIA (LANGLEY) - NIGHT 317          O'Donnell and the Kids gathered around some phones and          monitors in the Pit.                         LAMONT                         (TAKING OFF                         HEADPHONES)          We have wheels up.           He starts to punch the air. O'Donnell stays his arm.                         O'DONNELL          Wait.          318 INT. SWISSAIR DC-10 - MORNING 318          The Houseguests -- holding their breath --          Mendez -- looking out the window -- scanning the air          around the plane -- behind every cloud --                         (CONTINUED)                                                                                                               ARGO - Final 114.                         318 CONTINUED: 318          FLIGHT ATTENDANT (V.O.)          Ladies and gentlemen, it is our          pleasure to announce that          alcoholic beverages are now          available, as we have cleared          Iranian airspace.          The Houseguests shout and embrace and celebrate. Bob          Anders high-fives Lee Schatz, then the other Houseguests.          Mark Lijek, crying, embraces Cora.          Kathy Stafford is laughing. She kisses her husband's          hand.          Some of the other passengers look up from their          newspapers, annoyed at this Canadian fuss.          319 INT. CIA (LANGLEY) - THE PIT - NIGHT 319          All eyes watch Malinov, listening, headphone to one          ear...                         MALINOV          They're CLEAR!          Cheers in the Pit. O'Donnell embraces Malinov.          320 INT./EXT. ARGO PRODUCTION OFFICE - NIGHT 320          Siegel throws down a phone and rushes outside... to where          Chambers smokes.                         SIEGEL          OUUUT! THEY'RE OUT!          Chambers and Lester scream like kids who've just scored          the game-winning touchdown. The P.A. tries to shush          them.          321 INT. SWISSAIR DC-10 - MORNING 321          A mini-champagne bottle pops. The Houseguests are          celebrating: New Year's Eve and a Super Bowl victory          party in a DC-10 aisle.          FIND Mendez, sitting alone, apart from the celebration.          Looking out the window. Mendez turns to see that someone          is standing in the aisle next to him. J Stafford.          Tony looks up at J.                         (CONTINUED)                                                                                                               ARGO - Final 115.                         321 CONTINUED: 321          FLIGHT ATTENDANT (O.S.)          I'm sorry, sir. You need to sit          down.          But J dsn't pay attention to the Flight Attendant.          He extends his hand to Mendez. Who takes it. A moment          between them.                         FLIGHT ATTENDANT          Sir?          J gs back to his seat.          HOLD ON Tony Mendez.          322 INT. ARGO PRODUCTION OFFICE - NIGHT 322          Drinking straight from a bottle of Beefeater.                         SIEGEL          It's history, is what it is.          òHistory plays out first as farce,          then as tragedy.'                         CHAMBERS          The quote's the other way around.                         SIEGEL           Who said it?                           CHAMBERS           Marx.                          SIEGEL           Groucho?                          CHAMBERS           Karl.          322A EXT. BORDER CROSSING - ABADAN, IRAQ - MORNING 322A            An IRAQI BORDER GUARD, checking passports at a chain-            link, barbed-wire fence, speaks to a WOMAN IN HIJAB who            is turned away from us. The Guard stamps the Woman's            passport.            BORDER GUARD (ARABIC)            You are admitted to the Republic            of Iraq.            He closes the passport and the Woman turns around: it is            SAHAR.                          (CONTINUED)                                                                                                               ARGO - Final 116.          322A CONTINUED: 322A           She stands and stares at the line of REFUGEES still            waiting to cross: WOMEN balancing blankets tied up with            all they own. An OLD MAN being helped by his SON. A            couple of KIDS, a SEVEN YEAR-OLD shushing an INFANT in            her arms. Lives that have become another tableau of            refugees.            Sahar, now one of them, walks into Iraq.           323 INT. CIA (LANGLEY) - NIGHT 323          The celebration is quieter and drunker now.                         LAMONT          (a couple of beers                         ALONG)          We are the good guys!                          ROSSI LAMONT          Six down, fifty to go. Call the Times, nail it to          the fucking door. The CIA          are the good guys.                         MALINOV          The Canadians are the good guys.                         LAMONT          -- we're not greedy -- them too --                         MALINOV          Only. Canada takes the credit, or          they'll retaliate against the          hostages. Great Satan wasn't          involved. No CIA.                         LAMONT          Is that right, Jack?                         O'DONNELL          Involved in what? We're as          surprised as anybody. Thank you,          Canada.          Jack raises a glass of Scotch and takes a drink.                         324 ARCHIVE FOOTAGE 324           A homemade sign that reads: THANK YOU CANADA!ù           ( Homecoming ceremony for Houseguests 2/1980.) Hundreds          are gathered to welcome the six back.                         (CONTINUED)                                                                                                               ARGO - Final 117.                         324 CONTINUED: 324          TED KOPPEL (V.O.)          Finally, a sliver of really good          news.           AMERICA HELD HOSTAGE, DAY 87, BROADCAST (1/29/80).                         CUT TO:          325 CANADIAN MINISTER OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS 325           FLORA MacDONALD, late 60's. ( A.H.H. 1/29/80)          FLORA MacDONALD (V.O.)          It was a simple operation, really.          326 INT. STATE DEPARTMENT - LOBBY - DAY 326          The Houseguests arrive in the State Department lobby.          Television lights everywhere.          TED KOPPEL (V.O.)          The six fled the country posing as          Canadian diplomats. They simply          walked away.          Camera flashes, wild cheers. Banners: WELCOME HOME          CORA AND MARK!ù IDAHO LOVES YOU, LEE!ù WELCOME HOME,          BOB ANDERS!ù It's the first moment of national          celebration since the beginning of the crisis.                         327 ARCHIVE FOOTAGE 327          IRANIAN FOREIGN MINISTER SADEQ GHOTBZADEH speaks angrily          into a microphone.          SADEQ GHOTBZADEH (V.O.)          Sooner or later, here or anywhere          in the world, Canada will pay for          this violation of the sovereignty          of Iran. ( News conference          1/29/80.)          328 MORE ARCHIVE FOOTAGE ( 1/30/1980) 328           Of the State Department WELCOME HOME CEREMONY.           Ambassador KEN TAYLOR is presented with a HUGE FLORAL           BOUQUET. Cheering crowds all around him.                         329 OMITTED 329                                                                                                                ARGO - Final 118.          330 EXT. BY LESTER'S POOL - DAY 330          Siegel in a bathrobe, looking out over L.A., holding          The New York Times in front of him: SIX U.S. DIPLOMATS,          HIDDEN BY CANADA, LEAVE IRAN SAFELY. Next to that, an          article about Ken Taylor: DIPLOMAT DIRECTED ESCAPE IN          IRAN. (Front page, NYT 1/30/80.)                         SIEGEL          She said, òWhy couldn't we pull          off something like that?' You          know what I said to her?          331 INT. CIA (LANGLEY) - THE PIT - DAY 331          Mendez stands at a desk on the main floor.                         MENDEZ          Wha'd you say to her?          332 EXT. BY LESTER'S POOL - DAY 332                         SIEGEL          I said, òArgo fuck yourself.'          333 INT. CIA ARCHIVES - DAY 333          And suddenly it's dead-quiet. We're in a vault inside a          vault in the basement of the main building.          Mendez's suitcase is laying on a low counter, an ARCHIVES          OFFICER t-tagging and cataloging various items.          Separating Mendez's personal things from material related          to the operation.          Mendez empties his briefcase and the officer puts a          sticker on the VARIETY featuring the ARGO ad. Another on          the ARGO script. He's putting things into a box that          reads: USCIA CLASSIFIED MATERIAL.          Mendez opens his accordion folder -- flips through it --          it's empty -- no. There's something inside.          In one of the compartments is a STORYBOARD FROM ARGO.          One that the Komiteh missed. While the Archives Officer          is turned around, Mendez slips the storyboard back into          the accordion folder and puts it back with his personal          things.                                                                                                               ARGO - Final 119.          334 EXT. CIA - FRONT PARKING LOT - AFTERNOON 334           O'Donnell is on his way out, heading toward Tony who is           heading in. Seeing Mendez, he stops dead.                          O'DONNELL           And I left my autograph book at            home. His Eminence called me. He           wants to see you.                         MENDEZ          He wants to fire me himself.                         O'DONNELL          He wants to give you the          Intelligence Star. You're getting          the highest award of merit of the          Clandestine Services of these          United States. Ceremony's two          weeks from today.          Mendez stops walking. A beat.                         MENDEZ          If they push it a week, I can           bring Ian. That's his winter           break.                         O'DONNELL          The op was classified so the          ceremony's classified. He can't          know about it. Nobody can know          about it.                         MENDEZ          They're gonna hand me an award,          then they're gonna take it back?                         O'DONNELL          If we wanted applause, we would          have joined the circus.                         MENDEZ          I thought we did.          O'Donnell claps Tony on the shoulder. Tony walks towards          the entrance and Jack heads to his car.                         O'DONNELL          (yelling to Tony; an                         AFTERTHOUGHT)          Carter said you were a great          American.                         (CONTINUED)                                                                                                               ARGO - Final 120.                         334 CONTINUED: 334                         MENDEZ                         (YELLING BACK)          A great American what?                         O'DONNELL          He didn't say.          335 INT. ARGO PRODUCTION OFFICE - ANGLE ON A POSTER - DAY 335          on the wall. ARGO: A COSMIC CONFLAGRATION.          A hand takes the poster down.                         ANOTHER ANGLE          Chambers is disassembling the office. Boxes packed.          Everything now off the walls.          A PRODUCER walks by, sees Chambers in the door.                         PRODUCER          What happened to your picture?                         CHAMBERS          It's in turnaround.          He turns out the lights.          336 EXT. ROAD UP TO CHRISTINE'S HOUSE - LATE AFTERNOON 336          Mendez's car heads up the road, past a mailbox. Pulls up          to the house.          337 EXT. CHRISTINE'S HOUSE - LATE AFTERNOON 337          Mendez, a duffel bag on his shoulder, knocks on the door.          He waits. After a moment, Christine opens the door.                         MENDEZ          Hi.                         CHRISTINE          Hi.          They look at each other.          Before she can speak, he's embraced her. Holds tight.           It's something in between romantic and fraternal. Not          reconciliation, necessarily, but warmth. She          reciprocates. It feels right, and good.                         (CONTINUED)                                                                                                               ARGO - Final 121.                         337 CONTINUED: 337          WIDEN to HOLD ON them holding each other in the dark hall          of the very American, even Hummel-kitschy house. HOLD          there for a while.          338 INT. CHRISTINE'S HOUSE - IAN'S BEDROOM - ANGLE ON TV - 338                         NIGHT          A scene of the Old West on a television.                         ANOTHER ANGLE          Ian is watching 1973's sci-fi Western Westworld in the          bedroom. Ian dsn't have to describe the scene to his          father this time. WIDEN to see that his head is on a          pillow on Tony's lap.          CARD #1: THE IRAN HOSTAGE CRISIS ENDED ON JANUARY 20,          1981, WHEN THE REMAINING EMBASSY HOSTAGES WERE RELEASED          AFTER 444 DAYS IN CAPTIVITY.          339 INT. IAN'S BEDROOM - NIGHT 339          We can hear the sounds of gunslinging from the movie.          Glow-in-the-dark stars on the wall. A Star Wars X-Wing          fighter. A couple of rubber Planet of the Apes figures          that look like they've been chewed by a dog.          CARD #2: OSCAR-WINNING MAKEUP ARTIST JOHN CHAMBERS WAS          AWARDED THE CIA'S INTELLIGENCE MEDAL OF MERIT, ITS          HIGHEST CIVILIAN HONOR. HE REMAINED FRIENDS WITH TONY          UNTIL CHAMBERS DIED FROM DIABETES COMPLICATIONS IN 2001.          The CAMERA MOVES OVER the dresser of Ian's toys --           CARD #3: THE INVOLVEMENT OF THE CIA COMPLEMENTED EFFORTS           OF THE CANADIAN EMBASSY IN FREEING THE SIX HELD IN           TEHRAN. TO THIS DAY, THE STORY STANDS AS AN ENDURING           MODEL OF COOPERATION BETWEEN GOVERNMENTS.           -- settling on a motley group of action figures.           CARD #4: ALL OF THE HOUSEGUESTS RETURNED TO THE U.S.           FOREIGN SERVICE AFTER THEIR ORDEAL IN IRAN.           Then FIND, almost unnoticeable among Ian's science           fiction collection, a piece of cardboard behind Captain           Kirk and Han Solo figures.           It's a STORYBOARD FROM ARGO. The one missed by the          Komiteh at the airport.                         (CONTINUED)                                                                                                               ARGO - Final 122.                         339 CONTINUED: 339           CARD #5: TONY MENDEZ WAS NOT GIVEN BACK HIS INTELLIGENCE           STAR UNTIL 1997, WHEN THE ARGO OPERATION WAS DECLASSIFIED          BY PRESIDENT CLINTON.          LINGER ON the ARGO STORYBOARD. A MAN in a futuristic          chariot sheltering a KID from what look like laser beams.          CARD #6: HE LIVES IN RURAL MARYLAND WITH HIS FAMILY.           FADE TO BLACK.                         THE END
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+ArmageddonFADE INBlackness. Then a hint of green becomes EARTH. It lies across an expanse of  space. Richly colored. Fertile.A GIGANTIC ASTEROID cuts into frame, Burning into EARTH'S ATMOSPHERE and  striking down in the currant area of Guzumel, Mexico.Voice An impact equivalent to ten thousand nuclear weapons detonating  simultaneously.A HUGE DINOSAUR FOOT steps down hard and is VAPORIZED with a deafening ROAR.Voice One hundred trillion tons of dirt and rock hurled into the atmosphere. EARTH, seen from space, is rocked with an IMMENSE SHOCKWAVE. A SHEET OF DEBRIS  washes across the North and South Hemispheres.Voice A blanket of dust the sun is powerless to penetrate. For five thousand  years our world is robbed of light as a nuclear winter falls. In that darkness,  a civilisation is removed from existence.EARTH is now completely entombed in a dark, cold hell. Letters push towards us--"A R M A G E D D O N"65 MILLION YEARS LATEREARTH, reflected off the face of ASTRONAUT PETE SHELBY'S HELMET. It appears  close enough to touch. Shelby, attached to SHUTTLE ATLANTIS BY LIFELINE,  struggles to replace a piece of the shuttle's operational arm.Shelby (with radio squawking) Houston, I can't get this thing to work...EXT. N.A.S.A. - MISSION CONTROL - DAYGolden The size of Texas. In a hub of computers and tracking equipment, we find DAN GOLDEN, former  Astronaut from Apollo 8 (first crew to orbit the Moon) and now N.A.S.A's  second-in-command. Golden is watching Shelby on a SERIES OF VIDEO SCREENS.  FLIGHT DIRECTOR WALTER CLARK sits with rows of N.A.S.A Techs. Golden stands over  him, arms on the back o his chair.Clark Atlantis, what's the problem?Shelby (V.0) It just isn't working. Any suggestions?Clarke Hang on Pete. We'll figure something out for you.Golden taps Clark and sits down.Golden (to Shelby) We got the top scientific minds in the world working on  this. (a slight smile) Try "whacking" the thing. Shelby Okay, Houston, commence whacking.Selby begins Whacking the satellite with his glove. The SATELLITE comes n-line,  lights up like a Christmas tree.A HORRIFYING RUMBLING SOUND. SHOTGUN LIKE PELLETS assault the satellite.  SHRAPNEL rips into it's delicate gold skin. The satellite EXPLODES. Shelby's  lifeline breaks; he spins off, suit leaking from twenty punctures.INT. SHUTTLE ATLANTISCOMMANDER JAMES TURNER turns to his leftGeneral "WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?"EXT. SHUTTLE ATLANTISSTOTGUN LIKE PELLETS shred through Atlantis' N.A.S.A. logo, peeling the shuttle  down to her ribs. FIERY EXPLOSION.EXT. SPACECLOSE ON SHELBY as he twirls away from Atlantis. His helmet is fogging. He gasps  for air, wretching, his eyelids leaking blood. He tries to form wordsShelby Ple...he...me....Shelby's SHOULDER-CAM angle spins end-over-end....INT. N.A.S.A - MISSION CONTROL MONITORS go dead.N.A.S.A. Technician #1 All systems crashing!N.A.S.A. Technician #2 Massive failure. We lost them.Utter silence. Utter desolation. DOLLY IN ON GOLDEN'S FACE. Utter disbelief.INT. WKU MOUNTIAN OBSERVATORY - NIGHTTHEO and PEARL (at telescope), and JIMBO (at the console), 20's, are  star-gazing. Astronomy books, Starbucks cups, etc., spread all over. Nine Inch  Nails plays on the radio. These three could land a date if only they would lose  the road flares (plaid shirts, glasses) that signal the painful fact that they  are die-hard science nerds THEO'S POV - THROUGH WKU TELESCOPE - Far off in space  is a dusty, murky swarm of matter - something resembling a FLOATING EXPLOSION.Jimbo When are we going to let N.A.S.A in on what we've found?Theo We don't even know what we have yet. Comet, asteroid - it could be  anything up there. And don't be so eager to red flag N.A.S.A. They don't call us  when they discover anything.Jimbo Yeah, but this is their sandbox were playing in.Theo This is our discovery. We're going to hold a press conference. We're  going to be famous. SPACEWATCH'll name this thing after us. Job offers are going  to fly in from all the big companies. J.P.L., that think tank up at M.I.T., hell  even N.A.S.A. 'll be chasing us.Pearl I'm going on Oprah, Larry King, Letterman...Jimbo Hell with them, I'm going on Howard Stern....Pearl (concentrating) This things really acting up tonight. We should find out  if anyone else knows about this.Theo How?Jimbo (master of factly) Call N.A.S.ATheo And say what? "Hi, we're a couple astronomer geeks who found something  really bitchin; floatin' in space." You can't just call N.A.S.A. It's like  calling the White House. Besides, you'll never get the number.Jimbo I have the number. I got it from "Mega monster."Pearl Who?Jimbo He's some super-hacker, I went to high school with. Guy's totally wired  into every encrypted government installation.Theo He's also an ex-con.Jimbo They never proved he shut down the power in those seven states.Theo grabs the phone.INT. HOUSTON TEXAS - JOHNSON SPACE CENTER - NIGHTGolden and his crew, devastated and exhausted, search for answers. We cut around  the room.Clark What the hell was that?Technician 1 Space junk?Technician 2 Too big, too much. It took out the whole shuttle.Clark The press is going to want answers. What are we going to say?Golden Nothing. Not until we know what happened.INTERCUT - N.A.S.A. MISSION CONTROL/WKU OBSERVATORYINT. N.A.S.A. - MISSION CONTROLTwo N.A.S.A. techs, FLIP and SKIP, looking very haggard, furiously typing  numbers into the circulator. The phone RINGS, Flip answers.Jimbo (whispers to Pearl & Theo) I got mission control....!Flip Yeah, Mission Control.Jimbo (into phone) Uhh hi, I'm an astronomer in Kentucky, and I was wondering  if you guys had seen some strange activity in the southern middle quadrant of  the asteroid belt between Antares Major and Epsilom Scorpio....Flip Who is this?Jimbo My name? Uhh....Louis Lipshitz...Flip This is a restricted line. How did you get it? Where are you?Jimbo Lexington... Massachusetts.Flip Can you tell me the exact co-ordinates..?Theo Hang up! Hang up now!Jimbo hangs up the phone.Theo Lexington.. uhh...Massachusettes. Idiot. I told you not to call them.EXT. MANHATTAN ISLAND - SUNRISEEstablishing. The sun rises over the Brooklyn Bridge.EXT. MANHATTEN - MADISON AVENUE - EARLY MORNINGLITTLE GUY, still yawning, exits an apartment with a Jack Russell terrier on a  long RETRACTABLE LEASH. TERRIER'S POV as the little dog attacks the city,  looking for a place to relieve himself. The Man stops in front of a "Crazy  Eddie's" T.V. store. Floor-to-ceiling T.V.'s in the window broadcasting  E.S.P.N.'s "Morning Exercise Show" with hot women SWEATING.The Jack Russell strains on the leash to a FIRE HYDRANT. A SHOE is next to the  hydrant, connected to a HUGE SAMOAN GUY watching the pelvic thrusting on T.V.  The dog lifts his leg and pees, hitting both hydrant and shoe. The huge Samoan  guy kicks the dog. The dog YELPS.Little Guy You kick my dog again and I'll go nuclear on you.The T.V. images BLINK and STATIC. A massive SONIC BOOM emanates directly above.  The huge Samoan guy looks up as---A ROCK, the size of a basketball, strikes him and EXPLODES into the pavement,  spewing sparks and concrete, throwing PEDESTRIANS to the sidewalk.INT. "CRAZY EDDIE'S" T.V. STOREFIFTY T.V.s are BLOWN across the showroom floor. SALESMEN and CUSTOMERS dive to  the floor, SCREAMING.EXT. MANHATTEN - "CRAZY EDDIES"Little guy, lying on the sidewalk, recovers. His DOG LEASH runs from the leash  grip into a 10 FOOT CRATER in the sidewalk. The huge Samoan guy's LEGS protrude. Little Guy Samson?Pedestrian Somebody call 9-1-1!INSIDE THE CRATER - THE JACK RUSSELL dangles by the leash. Embedded in the hole  30 feet below is A SMOKING, RED HOT OBJECT. INT - N.O.R.A.D. - CHEYENNE MOUNTAINThe U.S.'s Early Warning Air Defence. Two U.S.A.F RADAR TECHNICIANS are hunched  over radar screens.Radar Tech 1 I got one, two, three boggies...the whole board's lighting up!The RADAR TECH 2 hits a KLAXON, stabs phone line buttons.EXT. MANHATTEN - MORNINGTraffic is ground to a halt. CAMERA MOVES into a cab. STU, the Cabbie, with an  ASIAN TOURIST, who's craning his neck out the window.Asian Tourist What's the problem? Stu Could be a couple of things: shootin',  stabbin', dead guy (shrugs) Well, it's Friday, payday. Could be a jumper.A projectile the size of a dump truck SCREAMS through the sky and blasts through  three huge buildings.More projectiles explode in the intersection. Cars get thrown everywhere. Stu's  cab slams upside down into JOHNNY'S BAR.ONE BLOCK DOWN. THE ENTIRE TOP FIVE STORIES -- A sheared section topples and  hits the street below. Bricks, mortar and gargoyles everywhere.EXT. WASHINGTON D.C. - PENTAGON - DAYEstablishing, over which we hear RINGING PHONES.EXT. PENTAGON - GENERAL TEMPLE'S OFFICE - DAYChaos in the corridors. GENERAL TEMPLE, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, a  man of stature, bursts out of his office, met by his SECRETARY.Secretary We're getting reports as far away as Greenland and parts of Mexico!Temple Get me Dan Goldman on the secure phone.Temple enters his office and picks up a secure phone.INT. MISSION CONTROL - INSIDE THE GLASS-ENCASED ROOMGolden enters the room and sits down. Technician Flip hands him a secure phone.  Golden sinks into his chair. In the b.g., VIDEO MONITORS show twenty live feeds  from T.V. stations across the country.Temple (V.O.) Can you go secure?Golden (presses a button on the phone) I am secure. Go ahead, General.He listens...WE HEAR the distinct gargled voice of a secure line.Golden When?Temple (V.O.) Twelve minutes ago. Now you know what happened to your shuttle.INTERCUT - GOLDEN / TEMPLEINT. PENTAGON - GENERAL TEMPLE'S OFFICE - DAYTemple paces in his office.Temple I'm going to brief the President. What's going on here, Dan? Why didn't  we have warning?Golden Tell the president it's called "budget cuts." We don't have enough  telescopes to track the skies.Temple Is it over?Golden I don't know. We'll figure it out. (hangs up)INT. MISSION CONTROL - INSIDE THE GLASS-ENCASED ROOMFlip enters the room. Skip writes notes....Golden (to Skip and Flip) Fly a team up to New York. Contact every Space Watch  facility in the world. We gotta find what part of the sky this is coming from.Skip I'll call J.P.L. and get the Hubble telescope on it.Golden Did we find who made the phone call last night?Flip The F.B.I.'s on it.INT. KENTUCKY - DORMITORY ROOMTheo is sleeping. The door is RAMMED in. Two F.B.I. AGENTS ROAR into the room,  overwhelming him.EXT. KENTUCKY - COLLEGE CAMPUSPearl and Jimbo are walking across campus. TWO BLACK SEDANS pull up. The kids  increase their pace.The sedans SKID to a stop. F.B.I. AGENTS spring from the  cars, cuff them and CUT TOMANHATTEN - JOHNNY'S - DAYStu's upside down cab, in front of Johnny's. A tow truck removes dented cars  from the trashed intersection. Career drunks, FRANK, FRED and WILLIE, stand in  the threshold looking out at the devastated intersection. Stu sits on top of his  cab, Listening to the guysFrank This city sucks...Fred What the hell was it?Willie They're sayin' it's space rocks.Stu Rocks from space, my ass. That, my friends, was the work of the big  Saddam. That was big-ass Iraqi missilesINT. MANHATTAN - SUBWAY - DAYF.B.I. AGENTS and N.A.S.A. SCIENTISTS examine a CHUNK OF ASTEROID, still  smouldering, which has ripped through the roof and floor of a subway car. The  plastic seats and aluminium panelling of the car has melted.EXT. KENTUCKY - INTERROGATION ROOM - AFTERNOONJimbo, Theo and Pearl sit in front of three F.B.I. AGENTS. Two N.A.S.A.  ASTRONOMERS look over the kids' TELESCOPE PHOTOS with concern.Jimbo So, that N.A.S.A. guy wasn't kiddin; about bein' arrested and....Federal Agent Please shut up.Jimbo Yes, absolutely, yes sir.N.A.S.A. Astronomer I'm a N.A.S.A. astronomer. When were these photos taken?Federal Agent And which of you called N.A.S.A. Mission Control last night?Jimbo (points at Theo) Him.Theo (points at Jimbo) Him.Jimbo I was calling the Houston area code, which is 713. I was calling 712,  which is outside Spokane, Washington, where my Aunt Zelda....N.A.S.A. Astronomer Tell us the exact ascension angle of your telescope when  this was taken.Theo It's our discovery. No way.N.A.S.A. Astronomer Your "discovery" killed close to 100 people in New York  alone - people who could've used a warning.Jimbo, Theo and Pearl lower their eyes.Jimbo Our math must've been off! we thought it was gonna pass the Earth!Pearl Ascension 712, retention 345.F.B.I. Agent 2 And you've told no one about this- not your teachers, not your  friends?N.A.S.A. Astronomer (into cellular phone) J.P.L., please. Search  co-ordinates...INT. PASADENA CALIFORNIA - J.P.L. - NIGHTN.A.S.A.'s Jet Propulsion Laboratory home of the HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE. Two  J.P.L. TECHNICIANS man the Hubble's control console. J.P.L. Technician 1 New info! Plot co-ordinates 712 by 345. Let's move on  high-resolution imaging. J.P.L. TECHNICIAN 2 punches the co-ordinates into a control console.EXT. OUTER SPACE - CONTINUOUS (DAY)The HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE floats by in geosynchronous orbit. The telescope  tilts, repositioning in view.INT. PASADENA CALIFORNIA - J.P.L. - NIGHTImages from the Hubble arrive on a high resolution printer. J.P.L. Technician 1  grabs four PHOTOS from the printer. Technician 2 swipes stuff off the console,  making room. Together they arrange the four photos. They star silently at the  awesome COMPOSITE PHOTO.J.P.L. Technician 1 Motherfu......INT. N.A.S.A. - MISSION CONTROL - ENCLOSED ROOM - NIGHTGolden and all his TECHNICIANS crowd around a console, staring at a smaller  version of the COMPOSITE PHOTO.Golden Copies to the Pentagon, Colorado Space Command, and the Washington  office. We gotta compute size, composition, speed, impact pointWE SEE the photo -- A HUGE ASTEROIDEXT. OUTER SPACE - CONTINUOUS - DAYCAMERA PUSHES THROUGH A CLOUD OF ROCKY, ICY DEBEIS, penetrating the cloud until  the HUGE ASTEROID CORE comes into clear view -- a mass of dirt and ice -- rough,  craggy, menacing. INT. N.A.S.A. - BRIEFING ROOM - NIGHTGolden and Clark enter. A group of ten N.A.S.A. SENIOR TECHNICIANS are all  talking at once.Golden Okay guys, one of the worst days in N.A..S.A history just got worse.  Ten million to one. A rogue comet came from deep space and collided with an  asteroid. Some  kids actually got a picture of the collision event and told no one.  The stuff that hit this morning was the collision's forward-thrown matter, mere  pebbles from what's  about to come. Walter? Clark A big asteroid. E.T.A., eighteen days. A lot bigger than the five mile  one that obliterated the dinosaurs.Silence. Everybody stares at each other.The phone CHIRPS.Golden's Secretary Director, the Pentagon.Golden hits a button.A LARGE T.V. SCREEN establishes AUDIO/VISUAL link.INTERCUT; PENTAGON - SITUATION ROOM/ N.A.S.A. - BRIEFING ROOMINT. PENTAGON - SITUATION ROOM - NIGHTTemple sits with the Joint Chiefs, White House Chief of Staff, the Directors of  the N.A.S.A., C.I.A., etc.Temple Dan, we're all here. Tell us what we're up against. Golden (V.O.) In it's simplest terms? The end of Mankind. One asteroid, one  mile wide or bigger, impacts the Earth with the equivalent force of all the  nuclear weapons in the  world, times a thousand. Half our population will die within 24  hours from tidal waves and heat pulses. The other half won't be so lucky. In the  end, it will be men  eating the flesh of other men. (beat) It's not the end of the  world, General, the world - Earth - will still be here. But there will be no  life - maybe cockroaches and  some resilient strands of bacteria. Temple Well, that's really positive, Dan. The President just got off the phone  with the Russians. They're just about to launch a new Mars Probe on the biggest  rocket in the world.  Golden and the N.A.S.A. BRASS exchange sceptical looks.Golden (V.O) With the worst guidance system in the world. Their Mars Probe in  '96 was found by a pygmy tribe in Africa. Temple They're going to pull off the probe and replace it with four Atlas  Class IV nuclear warheads. Enough punch in their opinion - not to break it up -  but to slow it down enough to miss Earth's orbit. Golden (V.O) Their launch date is set for next month.Temple They're going to move it up.Golden (V.O) To when?Temple Sixteen hours from now.All the N.A.S.A. Technicians CLAMOR at once.Golden (V.O) What are they gonna do, glue, spit, and scotch tape it together?  Even if they get a nuke out to the asteroid, a surface nuclear detonation is not  going to work.  The only way is to split the thing in half and hope the two pieces  slide past us. Temple Thank you for bringing up the impossible, Dan.Colinswood People, the President's joining us, Mr. President?President (V.O) Well, this has been a tough day. The media's all over this.  They're going to get nothing. Telling the public we might all be dead in  eighteen days achieves nothing but panic. Golden (V.O) Mr President, finding this speck in the sky is a very hard thing  to do unless you have the exact co-ordinates. There are only twelve telescopes  powerful enough  to see it right now. You've got a full moon goin' for four days -  makes it all but impossible to see.. Once these things draw closer to Earth,  you'll never keep a lid on  this. No way. INT. N.A.S.A. BRIEFING ROOM - NIGHTThe video screen blinks off. Golden looks at his Techs.Golden How many of you are as scared as I am?Golden raises his hand. All the other N.A.S.A. Techs, one by one, raise their  hands.Golden One giant leap for Mankind. Everyone remember that? This is what we are  going to do. We're going to fly to that asteroid with a nuclear device, implant  it and get off  before it blows. Quincy? All eyes turn to N.A.S.A. Chief of R&D, RONALD QUINCY. Quincy has coke bottle  glasses and a 198 I.Q.Quincy Look: set a fire cracker off in your open palm, you get a third degree  burn. Close your fist, It'll do some serious damage. If we can get a nuke deep  in one of the asteroid's fault lines, she'll split in two, like a diamond. Golden You're all looking art us like we're crazy. We're not.Skip Dan, our currant shuttle fleet is too old and too slow.Golden What I'm going to tell you is a breach of national security and could  land me in jail, but in eighteen days there arnt' gonna be any jails,  so....We're not gonna use a  current shuttle. Gentlemen, I'm talking about the X-71. Skip It's done?Quincy Has been for three months.EXT. ARIZONA DESERT - FLIGHT TESTING FACILITY - DAYN.A.S.A.'s flight testing facility. A flat, hard, dry area dominated by an  ENORMOUS HANGER. The HANGER DOOR is open; breeze blows back a BLACK SILK  TARPAULIN, revealing the X-71's NOSE. Technicians come and go. INT. N.A.S.A - BRIEFING ROOM - DAYGolden Time is our enemy. This is like the race to the Moon, guys - what this  Agency was founded on.Skip Boss, we're good at space travel, but you're talkin' about drilling a  hole.Golden Quincy's been working on excavating the ice from the Moon - he's gonna  reorient his thinking. Right, Quince?Quincy Right. And the first thing I'm gonna do is talk to the guy I ripped  off. His name is Harry S. Stamper. He's the best oil driller in the world. Golden I don't care who he is, what he's doing.EXT. NORWAY COAST - NORTH SEA - "TROLL" OIL RIG - DAYSUPER -  DAY TWOClose on a GOLF BALL. THWACK! The golf ball EXPLODES off the tee from an oil  rig. The "TROLL" is the largest man-made structure in the world - 12 aircraft  carriers big and 1200 feet tall. A self-contained city. HARRY STAMPER, world's foremost expert on offshore deep drilling, immaculately  attired in golf attire and spikes, stands on a patch of Astroturf with a five  iron in his hand. Piped-in MOZART drown out the rig noise. EXT. "TROLL" - DRILLING PLATFORM - "A" DERRICK - DAY The main drilling platform. On "A" derrick, Chief Driller, A.J. FROST, 30,  handsome, is at the controls. Roughnecks "JIMBO" CARTWRIGHT, "BEAR" BROWN,  "CHICK" CHAPPLE, TITO GUEVARA, and MAX LOGAN, handle 20 foot sections of PIPE  DRILLING SRTRING with a HYDRAULIC TONG AND CLAMP. Roughneck BENNIE MORGAN, late 20's an ox of a man, comes across the platform,  pulling an oily green coveralls and donning his hard-hat. Bennie examines the  rig's DOWNHOLE PRESSURE GAUGE. Bennie Chick! take a look at this!Chick Pressure's been up all morning. She kicked twice on me.A.J.'s eyes move to a TALL BLOND MAN on his lunch break across the rig.A.J. What did our always-at-lunch-Swedish geologist say?Bennie Jah, jah, jah. No bleeper. Too much pressure.Chick You askin' the old man?A.J. nods and walks off.EXT. "TROLL" RIG - TOP TIERHarry HITS another ball. WE REVEAL his target, a GREENPEACE BOAT anchored off  the rig. The BALL strikes the side of the boat, just missing the head of ONE of  the PROTESTERS.Harry Almost caught that little bastard.He admires his shot as his daughter, GRACE, walks up. Grace is late 20's,  business dress, Harvard Law.Grace Having fun?Harry HITS another ball. It misses the boat, skips across the water.Grace Sure sliced the shit outta that one. (frowns)Harry Watch your language, Gracie.Grace Seagulls swallow those and they die.Harry Stupid birds.Harry's EYES move to a GROUP OF GREENPEACE PROTESTERS across the rig, being held  back by Stamper Oil SECURITY GUARDS. Grace I just talked with A.J.Harry Talking to him quite a bit these days....Grace (awkward pause) "A" rig's acting up. The drill string kicked twice this  morning, gave Chick a nasty bruise in the head.Harry Good. He's not vulnerable there.Grace Chase Manhatten okayed the bridge financing for the Micronesia Project,  but at 21 percent interest. And Lloyd's of London refuses to underwrite the  Venezuela> Project....  Harry Thieves and cowards, all of 'em. Twist their arms.Grace I am.Harry Keep twisting. Like a pit bull.Grace Oh, and that magazine article - they want some human interest stuff -  likes and dislikes. "Likes" I said Golf, Fly Fishing, Single Malt Scotch, Old  Movies. What about  "Dislikes?"Harry Any kind of flying and oil company executives. Go deal with 'em. I  always look better when you're doing the talking.Harry HITS another ball. CLANG.Grace You know you donate 300 grand a year to Greenpeace.Harry smiles at the contradiction.Harry What'd your mother call me?Grace Complicated.Harry Yeah well....I'm complicated.Grace walks off, passing A.J., winking at him. A.J. winks back.A.J. What's his mood?Grace Complicated.A.J. walks up to Harry.Harry I understand we're having problems with "A" rig.A.J. I'm on top of it (Harry picks up his bag) Harry, you have a second?Harry Yeah. One.A.J. I'll hurry. I've worked for you for a long time.Harry Twelve years.A.J. And you've been real good to me....Harry Another company make you an offer, kid?A.J. No. The reason I am here, today, standing here, talking to you. I'm  obviously talking to you...but it's, you know, not, uhh...it's not an  oil-related matter exactly....Harry You're sweating, A.J.A.J. You know there comes a time in a man's life when...(to himself) No,  that's a clichÈ...(to Harry) Can I start again? I, uhh, fell...I've fallen...Harry You hurt yourself?A.J. In love, I mean. Fallen in love. It's the damnedest thing, but this  person you...know...really well.ACROSS THE PLATFORM - Grace escorts five angry OIL INDUSTRY EXECUTIVES over to  Harry. A KLAXON SOUNDS. Harry, alarmed, rushes right past them, toward the "A"  Derrick. They follow, snapping at his heelsOil Executive 1 You explicitly promised results at 25 thousand feet.Harry We have results.Oil Executive 2 But we don't have oil. We've given you everything you've  asked....Harry Horseshit. What the...? Chick! Bennie! Somebody better tell me why the  hell "A" derrick is not turning!Chick hurries up to Harry.Chick The uhh....the Greenpeace guys.Harry approaches "A" Derrick. Five MEMBERS of Greenpeace have handcuffed  themselves in a circle around the drilling pipe.Harry Hey there, what can I do for you?Greenpeace Leader This is an official protest.Harry 'Course it is. I love you guys. You like dolphins and whales, I like 'em  too. Hey, I know you. You too. Didn't you have shorter hair?Greenpeace Leader Stamper, do you know what this thing does to the eco-system?Harry How'd you get out here? Canoe? Rowboat? Oh, that boat down there with a  thousand horsepower diesel!Greenpeace Leader How can you wake up every day and look at yourself in the  mirror?Harry The same way you did when you blow-dried your hair this morning. And you  used a curling iron, I betcha. Did you know most electricity's from burning oil?  I'' stop drillin' when the world - stops usin' it. Bennie, start 'er up! Greenpeace Leader Wait........Harry Can't wait! I'm a businessman! Those goons over there gave me 57 mil. to  find oil and they ain't leavin' till I do! 'cause they have no lives! The drill string begins to turn in the hole.Greenpeace Leader We....we threw away the key.Harry Sorry. Time is money. BENNIE!The MASSIVE HYDRAULIC KELLY begins to descend on the Greenpeace Activists'  heads.Greenpeace Leader STOP!!!!Harry Bennie! Third gear!The Greenpeace Leader miraculously produces a key and frantically begins  unlocking the handcuffs.Grace turns to the oil executives.Grace He's good at public relations.A.J. approaches Grace; they watch Harry.Grace So? (A.J. stares at her) What? (no response) What? (no response) A.J.?Suddenly, across "A" Derrick, a KLAXON SOUNDS.Chick She's kickin'!The civilians get the hell away.Harry and A.J. run toward the rig.Chick Pressure's north of seven thousand!A.J. We gotta clear the Derrick!Harry (looks at wellhead) Chick, rig up another pipe. (Chick and Bennie look  at Harry with uncertainty) NOW, NOT TOMORROW. CHick and Bennie begin clamping, and tong a PIPE STRAND onto the DRILL STRING  like an INDY PIT STOP CREW.A.J. Harry, we've hit pressure. We gotta bleed it off. e go any deeper, we'll  blow the rig.Harry Thanks for that opinion. Chick, full speed!A.J. The bit's five thousand feet down! Full speed'll rip the pipe apart!Harry You learn all this in college? I been doing this thirty years, kid. Get  on the controls.A.J. moves reluctantly to the DRILLING CONTROLS. Chick nods to A.J., who engages  the gears. The PIPE STRING turns at FULL SPEED. The new drill pipe descends ten  feet into the hole, then....The torque rips the NEWLY ATTACHED PIPE from the drilling string. The drill  spins freely.A.J. hits the "stop! lever and stares at Harry.The roughnecks converge around the wellhead.A.J. I'm goin' down. Reattach it. Gimme a wrench and a band coupling.Chick hand the items to A.J.A.J. descends into the drilling hole.INT. DOWN THE DRILLING HOLE - DAYA.J., holding his breath under water, shimmies down the drilling pipe  feet-first, inside the water-filled concrete tube running from the rig to the  ocean floor. A.J. begins wrestling the disconnected sections together. EXT. RIG - "A" DERRICKThe wellhead KICKS. The rig platform shakes and shudders. SEAWATER erupts from  the wellhead.Chick The drill hole's flooding!Grace A.J.!!Harry strips off his jacket and climbs into the wellhead. He takes a huge breath  and disappears into the brine-filled drilling hole. INT. DRILLING HOLEA.J. is pinned against the hole wall by one of the disconnected pipes. Harry  comes down the hole. He plants his back against the hole wall and kicks the  pipe, freeing A.J. A slow, deep, RUMBLE emanates from below. The Briny water  inside the hole suddenly turns BLACK and VISCOUS. A.J. and Harry exchange an alarmed look. Harry, then A.J., pull for the surface,  up the drilling hole as -- EXT. DRILLING PLATFORM - "A" DERRICK - DAY-- the wellhead KICKS again. The rig platform SHUDDERS violently. The derrick  sways. SEAWATER SPEWS up from the wellhead. Chick Get back, she's gonna blow!Grace, Chick, Bennie and the other Roughnecks huddle around the flooded drilling  hole, waiting. Tense, agonising seconds pass. Harry scrambles out, covered in....CRUDE OIL.He grabs Grace and pulls her away.Grace Where's A.J.!!!?Harry RIGHT BEHIND ME! RUN!The platform SHAKES. Harry, Grace, and the others sprint away as --A GEYSER OF CRUDE OIL erupts from the drilling hole, blowing A.J. out of the  hole fifteen feet above the wellhead. A.J. crashes to the platform floor. CRUDE OIL rains down on Grace and the Roughnecks...they run to A.J.Grace Never do that again!CLOSE ON A.J. - he's looking back at the DRILL HOLE, panting, traumatised,  greasy oil raining on his head.A.J. You know how I told you there were two obstacles? I didn't do the  first,'cause he's tough...but I did the second...! (pulls out case; opens it) I  got it at uhm..Tiffany's. I can't give it to you until I talk to him, but try it on. She reaches for the ring. It slips from A.J.'s hand and falls through the grated  floor, pinging off the rig's steel pylons, 100 feet into the sea below. Grace Don't worry! Tiffany's insures up to a week from purchase!A.J. stares despondently over the railing.Harry, black with crude oil, staggers past A.J.A.J. (pointedly) Good plan, Harry.Harry (walks over to Oil Execs) There's your oil, gentlemen. Now get the hell  off my rig.INT. N.A.S.A. - MISSION CONTROL - DAYGolden, Clark, Skip, Flip and the rest of the Mission Control Technicians watch  a live feed from Russia. A RUSSIAN ENERGIA SUPER BOOSTER ROCKET sits on its  launch platform. Flip Look it that sucker. They got a nuke up there in sixteen hours?Skip It'll never fly. Never.Clark Three things the Russians make well, guys - vodka, gymnasts and rockets.  Don't count 'em out.Golden It's the late 20th century, I run the U.S. Space Program, and I'm  praying to God the Russians are better at this than we are.... EXT. RUSSIA SPACE CENTER - SMOLINSKAYA A.F. BASE - DAYThe ground begins to SHAKE uncontrollably. EXHAUST billows out from the Rocket's  BOOSTERS. The Russian rocket blasts off and lifts into.... Something's wrong. The Rocket stops accelerating and stands still for a moment.  It falls to Earth; BLOWING UP in a thunderous inferno. INT. N.A.S.A. - MISSION CONTROL - DAYGolden, Clark, and all the N.A.S.A. Techs stare at the burning rocket.Golden So, where's our oil driller?EXT. RIG - "A" DERRICKA champagne cork POPS and WIDEN TO Harry, Grace, A.J., and all fifty Roughnecks.  The wellhead's been capped; pumping 2500 gallons per minute. Harry To Hole Number Seventy-Six!Roughnecks (UNISON) Hole Number Seventy-Six!The Oil Executives stand off, watching.Oil Executive 1 Seventy-Six?Oil Executive 2 This is Harry's Seventy-Sixth straight hit.Oil Executive 1 The man's a legend.We hear the WHOP, WHOP, WHOP of HELICOPTER BLADES. Harry, Grace and A.J. turn  toward the noise.TWO U.S. ARMY BLACKHAWK HELICOPTERS whirr across the choppy ocean.EXT. OIL RIG - TOP TIER HELI-PAD - MINUTES LATERThe helicopters land on the heli-pad on the oil rig's top tier, MAJOR STINSON,  50's, wearing formal dress and sunglasses along with two strapping ADJUTANTS  stride across the rig. Major Stinson Harry Stamper? I'm Major William Stinson, United States Army. I  need a few words with you. In private.Harry Say it now, say it quick, or get off my rig, Major. I've got a business  to run here.Major Stinson You've been summoned back to the States.Harry Who's doin' the summoning?Major Stinson Your Government, Mr Stamper.INT. SOMEPLACE IN KENTUCKY - HOLDING CELL - NIGHTJimbo, Theo and Pearl sit in a holding cell some place. Jimbo's banging on the  door.Jimbo Hey, zipperheads! Ever watch "L.A. Law?" Right to remain silent, right  to an attorney? My brother's a bad-ass lawyer - he's gonna sue your asses to  Mars. I was in pre-  law for a month - you can't put somebody in jail for makin' a phone  call!!! Pearl It isn't about that, Jimbo. We saw something we weren't supposed to.Theo Something they're not telling the public.Jimbo Yeah, that's why they were so hot for the co-ordinates. Do you think  it's an asteroid? Or comet?Theo I dunno - but I bet it's a whopper.INT. N.A.S.A. FLIGHT MISSION ROOM - DAYHarry, AJ. and Grace are led into the room by Stinson. Quincy's eyes move to  Harry --Quincy He's here.Quincy, Clark and Golden stand, approach --Quincy (cont'd) Dan Golden, meet Mister Harry Stamper, the finest oil driller  in the world.Golden Mister Stamper..(shaking hands) Dan Golden, I'm Director of --Harry I know who you are. I watched T.V. once. Apollo 8, right? First manned  lunar orbit.Golden That was a long time ago. I run this place now. And we've got a serious  problem on our hands that Quincy here thinks you might be able to help us out  with -- Quincy eagerly outstretches his hand. They shake. Quincy doesn't let go.Quincy I'm a big fan, Mr. Stamper.Harry I kinda caught that. (to Golden) What's the problem, gentlemen?Golden I wonder if we might speak alone?Harry These two are my right and left arms. Grace Stamper and Albert Jack  Frost. Stupid name, so we call him A.J.. (handshakes) They run my company. You  talk to me, you  talk to them. Golden Okay.Golden direct everyone into --INT. N.A.S.A. - BRIEFING ROOM - DAYGolden, Temple, Clark, Harry, Grace, and A.J. sit in a dark room viewing a  VIDEOTAPE. Quincy stands beside the projector, supplying narration. On the tape  we see Harry on a rig platform shaking hands with an ARAB BUSINESSMAN -- Harry Great, home movies.Grace and A.J. smile.Quincy Nineteen eighty five. The first well drilled over 50 thousand feet.  They said it couldn't be done. You did it. Incredible. ON THE SCREEN - Harry's on another rig, shaking hands with an INDONESIAN  BUSINESSMAN. Harry leans over and kisses the bit. The Businessmen shake their  heads, awed. Quincy (cont'd) Nineteen Ninety-One. Directional drilling through two miles of  anthracite. They also said that couldn't be done. You did it. Incredible. Harry looks at Quincy strangely; this sure is a bizarre form of celebrity.Quincy (cont'd) Ninteen Ninety-Three. The first hole over seventy thousand.  Once again they said --Golden Move it along, Quincy.Quincy Right, sorry. Mister Stamper, you're the world's foremost expert in  deep drilling. You hold specialized patents in high speed bits, drilling fluids,  downhole motors Can I call you Harry? Harry Stick with Stamper.Golden Well, Mister Stamper, we need you to drill a hole. It's in a difficult  place.Harry I've drilled in them all.Golden Not...this place. This is really out there. (beat) Space, Mister  Stamper.Harry As in...outer?SATELLITE PHOTOS OF THE ASTEROID come up on the screen --Temple You've watched the news the last 24 hours? You heard about the meteor  shower? (Harry nods) What you don't know is that an asteroid is on a collision  course with  Earth. If it hits us, Earth as we know it will be over. Golden We're manning a mission to that asteroid to plant a nuclear device in  it's core. To do that we need to drill an eight hundred foot hole. Harry looks at A.J. and Grace.Harry A.J., is this guy shitting me?A.J. I don't think they shit people at N.A.S.A., Harry --Harry An eight hundred foot hole. On a moving asteroid. In space.Golden All we want is your advice in perfecting our drilling arm, any help you  can provide. We'll pay your usual consultancy, of course.  Harry Show me your rig.INT. N.A.S.A. - RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT - DAYQuincy leads Golden, Harry, A.J., Grace, and Clark through N.A.S.A.'s Research  and Development area. This place looks like "Q's" weapons shop from the James  Bond movies as funded by every company on the fortune 500 -- Huge, clinically clean, dominated by MASSIVE ROCKET ENGINES. TECHNICIANS in  white coats and hairnets work on a variety of equipment. TECHNICIANS hunch over a ROVER VEHICE, not the golf cart used on the moon. This  is low, squat, sturdy, with an enclosed airlocked passenger compartment. Quincy The "Armadillo" - our fourth generation rover. It carries a six-cell  solar engine with 824 horses. This was a joint venture with the Germans. (winks)  It's designed by Porsche. Quincy motions to TWO TECHNICIANS. They roll over a ROBOTIC ARM on a gurney,  powered by an ELECTRIC MOTOR. The robotic arm is connected to an OIL DRILLING  BIT. Harry Where's the Kelly?Quincy This baby works without one.Harry How does it work?Harry starts to inspect the bit.Quincy It works through a series of complexly designed differential gears.Harry's face tightens, as he studies the bit further --Harry This is my Patent.Quincy "Drilling Power Transfer Without Conventional Hydraulics," by Harry S.  Stamper. You registered it with the U.S. Patent Office last year. Harry You stole it.Quincy We just borrowed it, Mister Stamper.Quincy unpockets a remote control panel and presses a button. The drill bit  presses down into a block of concrete and begins to rapidly CHEW through it, as  Harry marvels at the realisation of his design.Quincy (cont'd) We built this arm to mine ice from the moon -- greatest  discovery in space in thirty years.Harry What'd this cost?Golden Ten million.Quincy Twenty-our million.Harry Boy, I'm in the wrong line of work. So, that's where my taxes go. For  thievin' incompetent, government employed rip-off artists?A.J. No torque adjustment, no pressure release valve....a big hunk of junk.Quincy We're working on that.Harry What happens if you hit gas? You have three seconds. Drill faster, run  like hell, or pray. (beat) Time's up. You're dead., The rig just blew. Golden Gentlemen, gentlemen, wait a second. The crux of the matter....Harry Hang on. I betcha everyone in this room has a PH.D.Golden Or three....Harry I left school after tenth grade. I earned my PH.D every day offshore  drilling holes. You can't get it in a book. Drilling holes is about instinct -  about smellin' it. Drillin' holes is an art. You want the crux of the matter?(beat) You stole my  patent, and you don't have a goddamn idea how to use it. As for this piece o'  crap, don't insult me. (walks around the rig) I'll rebuild it - the right way - and drill the  hole for you. Grace Uhm, pop, could we discuss this...?Harry Just give me a space suit.Golden You won't need one. You're not going up.Harry You don't have a choice. I think all you PH.D's know that.Harry walks off. Grace and A.J. follow.Golden (calling after Harry) Harry. Let's figure this out.INT. N.A.S.A. - CONFERENCE ROOM - DAYHarry sits opposite Golden and Temple. Grace and A.J. stand behind him.Harry First of all, you're going to buy my patent.Temple Of course, completely in order. What is the price?Harry Fifty million dollars.Uncomfortable pause. Temple clears his throat.Temple Mr. Stamper, this mission is to preserve the future of....Harry You're right, too low. I'm still pissed. Seventy million.Temple Done.Harry looks to Grace.Harry Give that money to my Greenpeace buddies. (smile) Told  you...complicated.Harry goes to shake, pulls back --Harry (cont'd) And I never want to pay taxes again.Temple I'll call the I.R.S., try to uhm, explain the situation.They begin to shake. Harry withdraws his hand.Harry I have this great log cabin in Montana. It's kind of a  nature...getaway...thing.Temple You want us to buy that, too?Harry No. I fly fish there. But the fly fishin's sucked ever since they put in  that goddamn hydro-electric dam. I want it gone by the time I get back. Temple reluctantly nods. They stand to shake, Harry pulls away again.Harry (cont'd) Now about my crew.Golden The deal was for you, not others.Harry I'm only as good as the men I work with. The ones in those home movies  of yours.Golden It's out of the question.Harry half-smiles to Grace.Golden (cont'd) Okay, who?Harry :My chief tool pusher. You game A.J.? A.J. Wouldn't miss it, Harry.Harry And my roughnecks, Roustabouts, and Rockhound?Temple Rock what? Is that a dog?Harry No. Just a meek, geek geophysicist.Golden What kind of men are these?INT. SUPERSTRETCH LIMOUSINE - DAYBennie, Chick (30's, a street philosopher), Max (35, hulky), TITO, and ROCKHOUND  (small, wiry) are riding in high style. Chick is hanging out of the sun roof  with his shirt off. Radio's on full blast. Rockhound's pouring whiskey from the  fancy decanters. Chick We're living LARGE!Bennie (talking on a cellular phone) Give me nickels on Miami, Washington, San  Diego, and Green Bay. (listens) Quit whining. Last thing I need is to be friends  with my bookie. (listens, then angry) (MORE) Bennie (cont'd) Look, when the entire Mexican Army had Butch and the Sundance  Kid trapped in that Hacienda, did they wait to die? Hell no. They went out guns  blazing. I live  by the code of that movie, man. Bennie hangs up the phone, he looks across from him at -- Tito Guevara, late  30's, stocky, tattooed, Latino, (reformed 118th Street L.A. o.g. gangbanger who  was rescued from the streets ten years back and put to work on a rig by Harry)  is reading a book "Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus." Chick drops down into his seat, continues his heated discussion with Max.Chick Charlie Bronson could kick Steve McQueen's ass and have enough left over  to duke it out with Burt Reynolds in his "Smokey and the Bandit" period. Max I'm glad you qualified that shit 'cause you know the Burt Reynolds of  "Deliverence" would have kicked Charlie's ass.  Chick Burt was trouble in that flick.Max What would you say the all-time, slam-bam, take-no-prisoners, kick-ass  Charlie Bronson movie is?Chick All time? Well, let me think. "Dirty Dozen," the first "Death Wish." No,  no! That movie where he hunted the buffalo. I don't remember the name but he  hunted a buffalo and he said like three words during the whole picture. That's my  selection. Max Fine. The buffalo movie. That's your pick. You relly think that buffalo  Charlie could have thrown-down with the Steve McQueen form "Bullitt?" Chick He'da whooped his ass and then his father's. We'll settle this right  now. Rockhound? You heard the debate. You're the Supreme Court. What's the final  verdict? Rockhound Tough call. But for me though, one name -- Poncherello. Eric  Estrada. You know, "Chips."Chick and Max just look at him. A beat. Then --Max What did you ask him for? Guy makes his living looking at rocks.The limo pulls over and stops. The DRIVER gets out and walks to the rear door.  Opens it.EXT. N.A.S.A. - FRONT OF FACILITY - DAYThe Roughnecks get out in front of the JOHNSON SPACE CENTER. They stare up at  the familiar N.A.S.A. LOGO imprinted on the building. Chick and Bennie exchange  looks -- BEHIND THEMA battered Ford pick-up pulls up, driven by 71 year-old "MAMA" MABEL BROWN.  Mabel's six foot-five, 375 pound son, BEAR, gets out of the car. Bear 'Bye, Mama.Mabel Reginald, get over here and kiss your Mama goodbye.Bear In front of the guys?Mabel Never too old to kiss your Mama.JIMBO, six-foot five, 375 pounds, bald, pulls up on a HARLEY DAVIDSON  motorcycle. He climbs off the bike.Chick There ain't no oil in this place. What the hell are we doing here?INT. JOHNSON SPACE CENTER - MEDICAL WING - DAYHarry has just briefed his crew on the mission.Bear ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?Chick Harry, this is some "Star Wars" shit. This ain't for us.Harry It's a job, like any other. Just a different location.Max We work rigs. We understand rigs. We don't know dick about being  astronauts.Rockhound (pointing) I might add that to get us up there they're going to have  to strap our asses on one of those rockets. That means fire, involuntary shit  release, and a slew of other stuff I can't hang with. JIMBO We don't have "The Right Stuff," know what I'm saying? (looking around)  We're Roughnecks. Harry I'd rather die up there fighting this thing than sit  here waiting for it. Harry's line hangs in the air. Everyone exchanges looks.Bear I don't like the idea of waiting around to croak. It's wimpy.Chick If Harry-the-iron-ass is going, I'm going with him.Bear Hell, I'm going just so I can say I went. (shrugs) Once we get up there,  it's making hole.Tito I'm in.INT. JOHNSON SPACE CENTER - EXAMINATION ROOM - DAYMax, Chick, and Tito sit in HOSPITAL SMOCKS on two examination tables. They have  tattoos, long hair. A cigarette dangles from Tito's lips. AIR FORCE NURSES are  everywhere. A NURSE clips a SWATCH OF HAIR from each of the men. She comes to  Tito. He grabs her arm. Takes the scissors from her. Tito Nobody touches my hair but me.He cuts a SWATCH of hair, gives it to her. A SECOND NURSE is in front of Max and  Tito.Max You're not taking any more blood. You vampires already have enough to feed  your coven for a year.Nurse (nasally-voiced) We need to know what substances you've recently  ingested.Tito What, uhh, "substances" you talkin' about?Nurse (matter of fact) Drugs.Ma and Tito eye each other nervously. Head Nurse, HELGA, stands before Chick  with an ENAMA PROBE and a JAR OF VASELINE. Chick An Ena-WHAT?Helga Enema.Chick And you want to stick it where?Helga sticks the ENEMA PROBE in a jar of VASELINE.Chick (cont'd) No way, lady. I came here to drill.Helga So did I.INT. JOHNSON SPACE CENTER - PSYCHOLOGICAL TESTING CENTER - DAYChick sits before a hugely endowed but square female N.A.S.A. CLINICAL  PSYCHOLOGIST.Psychologist Say the first two words that come to mind, beginning with each  letter.Chick Bodacious and....Bountiful. (she holds up "S") Succulent and Sinful.She holds up the letter "F" and HOLD ON CHICK'S REACTION.INT. JOHNSON SPACE CENTER - EXAMINATION ROOM - DAYHarry sits before the Chief Physician, DR. BANKS. Golden looks out the window.  Dr. Banks, dead-serious, flips through the medical and psychiatric test scores. Dr Banks Mr. Stamper, your men...are...take Mr. Chappel. I believe they call  him Chic.Harry Charles, but if you call him that, he'll kill you.Dr Banks (nervous laugh) I assume you're joking. (no response) Your men show  aggression, extreme maladjustment to their surroundings, anti-social behaviour  -- Harry With all due respect, Doctor, I don't know too army guys who are social  when someone is trying to jam a tube up their butt. Dr Banks Does your company have a drug testing program? These toxicology  reports are a throwback to the sixties. All show huge levels of nicotine and  alcohol. Three of the, four show illegal drugs. A couple I had to look up. One of them  had "Kematine" -- a very potent sedative. Harry A lot of people take sedatives.Dr Banks This one is used on horses.Harry I don't tell my men how to live their lives. They're with me to do a job  and they do it well.Golden This is getting us nowhere. Can they fly, or not?Dr Banks (flipping through physical records) Failed. Failed. Really failed.  Under the circumstances...(locks eyes with Golden) They're the finest physical  specimens I've ever seen. INT. N.A.S.A. - LONGSHOTHarry's crew walk together in newly issued N.A.S.A. jumpsuits. Bear and JIMBO  have ripped the sleeves and collars off their X-Large suits. They walk past two N.A.S.A. mathematicians.Mathematician 1 (to mathematician 2) We're screwd.PULL BACK TO REVEALTemple and Golden standing there with their arms crossed, watching the motley  crew of Roughnecks. They're joined by U.S.A.F. test pilots COLONEL SHARP, a  young Chuck Yeager type, and LT. COLONEL LUCAS TRUMAN, 30's, rigid and muscular. Sharp I mean, they kind of look like Armstarong, Lovell, and Glenn. (turns,  soberly to Golden) So, my wife and little girls' lives are in their hands, sir? Golden We need to drill. Do you know how to drill, colonel? (beat) Neither do  I. They're going up.Temple (pointing to his lapel) With my stars came the power to be blunt. These  drillers are not trained for this, Dan.Truman shakes his head. Sharp eyes Golden, waiting for a response.Golden General, it's our job to get them ready to go into space. They're there  to do the drilling. (beat, then) And Colonel Sharp, we all have families. A hard look from Sharp to Temple, as Golden walks away.Temple (to Golden) If they can't drill this hole, my men are going to take  over.INT. N.A.S.A. - RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT DAYQuincy is face-to-face with Golden. TECHS work on the drilling arm in the b.g.  Harry and the Roughtnecks are across the room. Harry That Armadillo car. Get it in here.In rolls the Armadillo, two TECHNICIANS pushing it. Harry and the guys look at  it. Quincy shows it off.Quincy Pressurised titanium alloy cab. Airlocked life support. The chassis's  by General Motors. Heavy duty suspension and six wheel drive. Harry How were you going to power your drill arm?Quincy Turbo-jet engine fuelled by Kerosene and liquid oxygen.Harry I need to be able to start and stop. I need different speeds, and I need  reverse.Quincy A jet engine can't do that.Harry It can if it's hooked up to a clutch. A.J., get me a Mack truck  transmission.Quincy That's so simple it's brilliant.Harry I'm a simple man. But don't underestimate me.A.J. Chick, Max! Mack truck tranny!Chick and Max hurry off. A.J. smiles at Harry.INT. JOHNSON CTR - ASTRONAUT TRAINING - WORKROOM - DAYHarry, A.J., Bennie, Chick, Max, and Tito sit before Quincy, who demonstrates a  series of components on the N.A.S.A. SPACE SUIT. Quincy The new generation EMU - Extravehicular Mobility Unit - provides oxygen  for seven hours, a pressurised enclosure, and temperate control. The gloves and  helmet slide  on and lock with a twist, like this. The cap is worn underneath. It  contains a mike and headphones for two-way communication. We'll be able to see  you from a small  video cam mounted inside the helmet. The Undergarment has 300 feet  of plastic tubing circulating cooling water. Owen... OWEN THE TAILOR, five foot nothing & bald, stands in front of the men.Owen These are made for men 5'8" to 6'2", between 140 and 200 pounds. All of  you fit within those parameters - thank God we won't have to do any  re-tailoring.... Owen stops because --Bear and Jimbo stand in the doorway --JIMBO Yo. This where we get our suits?Bear Sorry, we're late. Doc said we had... What do we got?JIMBO Cholesterol difficulties. Said we gotta enter "The Zone."Bear Shit, the only zone I know is the one around my mama's grill.JIMBO (holding up form) But we're approved.Owen looks at the human mountains standing before hi, and then at the tiny EMU  suit. Alterations will be necessary. INT. JOHNSON CENTER - ASTRONAUT TRAINING - MORNINGClark briefs Harry and the mildly attentive Roughnecks. Sharp, Truman, CO-PILOTS  MEGAN WATTS (30's, tough as nails) and STAN WESTON stand in the back along with  N.A.S.A. Engineers JACK CROSS and RAYMOND SEARS. Clark United States astronauts train for eighteen months. You have nine days.  Officers Sharp, Truman, Watts and Weston are your military instructors and the  only pilots to have flown the spacecraft. (beat) Each is a combat decorated officer  and among the finest men and women we have in the service. Pay attention to  them. Sharp We spend six months on emergency training - we're throwing that out. If  we fail, everyone dies. Game over. That's a heavy load but it's ours to carry.  The purpose of this is to train you in the physical and mental rigors of working  in a weightless enviroment so that you will not panic. So you can do your jobs.  (beat) You will vomit.  Your eyes will be sucked into the back of your heads. You'll be so  tired you can't eat but that won't matter 'cause you'll be so sore you can't  take a dump. By the  way...good morning. INT. NEUTRAL BUOYANCY TANK - DAYSplash, Splash. Harry and the Roughnecks descend underwater. They look like  Michelin Men in their thick space suits. Navy divers are around them as they are  lined up. Through the underwater speaker, WE HEAR a trainer giving them instructions for  their weightless aerobic training. WE HEAR a loud, embarrassing gastric sound  from Bear's suit. Bear Houton, we have a problem. That is some vicious methane.Harry gives a "shut the fuck up" look. Time passes as the guys are dying,  HUFFING and PUFFING. One by one, they reach exhaustion. A cabled harness hoists  each out.INT. JOHNSON CENTER - CARDIO LAB - DAYHarry and his team, in T-shirts and running shorts, jog on a series of  threadmills, wired to EKG machines, nostrils taped shut, breathing tubes locked  in their mouths. EXT. N.A.S.A. T-38 JET HANGER - DAYA gleaming spit-shine hanger full of fifteen N.A.S.A. T-38 fighter jets. Our  drill team walks up looking worn out. They are met at the open hanger door by  pilots CHUCK JR., Vietnam vet, leatherneck-take-no-pussy-bullshit-type-of-guy  and HAMMER. Chuck Jr. On this mission, they tell me you will experience the worst G-Forces  in the history of flight. It's like an elephant sitting on your chest. So, I  intend to flip you, spin you, splat your bodies till your bones hurt. Now load up and  enjoy the flight. The Roughnecks, wearing flight suits and helmets, board the planes. Harry does  not like the look of these things. Bear is trying to figure out how to fit  inside. Bear Thing's made for a child - like my kid's car seat.Chuck Jr. and Hammer walk up to a nervous Harry.Chuck Jr. What's the problem, Texas tough guy?Harry I've got a thing about flying.Chuck Jr. Not good for an astronaut. (looks to Hammer) Hammer, go easy, don't  rip his guts out.Hammer Sure thing, Chuck.INT. JET FIGHTER.Harry plastered to the seat, MOANING so scared he can't puke. The plane  barrel-rolls and dives straight to the ground. Harry is GRUNTING and sweating  trying to stay conscious. EXT. N.A.S.A. T-38 JET HANGER - DAYThe T-38's are pulling up and letting the drill crew out. They walk back with  white sweat, soaked faces and wobbly legs. Harry exits the plane. Harry I hate to fly. I hate to fly. I hate it so much.Harry leans over to puke.INT. N.A.S.A. T-38 JET HANGER - DAYThe Roughnecks walking to the T-38 Hanger. Sharp stands on the stairway to the  707 and calls everyone to attention.Sharp Trainees, AT EASE (in command) We are not done here. We're taking you  for a little ride. This bird will climb to 40 thousand feet and drop to 10  thousand feet to give  you the feeling of weightlessness for 30 seconds. Welcome to  N.A.S.A.'s Vomit Comet. INT. VOMIT COMETThe plane drops. The Roughnecks lift off inside. Everyone's flying around the  cabin. It's a disaster. Guys bump heads. Bear floats like a beached whale. Jimbo  rams the roof. Hary hold a barf bag as he floats. An alarm SOUNDS, then the  plane levels off, the guys go slamming into the floor. INT. JOHNSON SPACE CENTER BATHROOMTracking past a row of stalls, WE SEE the soles of a pair of shoes peeking out.  Then another pair, another, and another over the multiple sounds of guts being  tossed into the toilet. Golden, Clark, and Sharp stand outside the stalls.Golden This is like putting the Hell's Angels in space.INT. N.A.S.A. RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENTHarry and the Roughnecks are welding the Armadillo, working tough and hard.INT. N.A.S.A. LOCKER ROOM - NIGHTThe Roughnecks are getting dressed.Max (to Chick) We're going to go pound some brews where they have a lot of  sweaty, naked women. You in?Chick (shakes head) No. I got to take care of something.The Roughnecks walk out, leaving Chick behind.INT N.A.S.A. CAR - NIGHTDriven by a uniformed N.A.S.A. TECH, Chick pulls up to a house in a residential  neighbourhood. He sits there with a beat, unsure of what to do. EXT. HOUSE - NIGHTChick walks up to the house, KNOCKS. DENISE WILLIAMS answers the door.Chick Hey, Denise.Denise What do you want, Chick?A big six-year old boy, TOMMY, runs up behind his mom.Tommy Who is it, Mommy?Chick looks at Tommy, smiles.Denise It's um...just a salesman, honey.Chick Hi.Tommy (looking straight up) You look like big foot.Chick kneels, extends his hand. Tommy smiles and shakes it. Chick doesn't want  to let go.Chick I got a feeling you're going to be pretty big yourself. Denise Go  inside and play, Tommy.Tommy Okay, mommy. 'Bye, Big Foot.Chick 'Bye, Tommy.Chick watches Tommy run off. He looks to Denise.Denise What was I supposed to tell him? We've got a life here now, Chick, with  someone we can depend on.Chick What I did before was wrong. Every day of my life I regret it. I can see  you've got a good thing going, Denise, I'm not trying to mess that up. But this  thing's come my  way and I got the chance to do something really right. Denise This another one of your scams, Chick?Chick It's no scam. You might just be proud of me.Denise opens the door a little wider, SHE SEES the car in the driveway. The  N.A.S.A. logo stencilled on the door. The N.A.S.A. Tech waiting. Denise What's going on, Chick?Chick I can't tell you now. But if it comes out good, I'll be back. (beat)  Then maybe you'd consider telling Tommy I'm not a...salesman. It's good to see  you. You look really  beautiful. Chick turns and walks away.Denise Hey, Chick. (Chick turns) You be careful.INT. LUCKY LAURIE'S - NIGHTA seedy Houston drinking hole. All the Roughnecks sit at the bar. The bar is  littered with EMPTY MUGS AND SHOTGLASSES. A WOMAN looks at Bennie. Woman What are you boys doin' down here in good 'ol Houston?Bennie (burps) We're in astronaut training.This gets the reaction you'd expect.INT. JOHNSON CENTER - RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT - LATE NIGHTHarry and Quincy go over a list of stuff to order and logistical problems.  N.A.S.A. Tech rushes into the room.N.A.S.A. Tech Space Command spotted more incoming.Quincy (springing up) Where' it headed? How big?N.A.S.A. Tech Don't know.They start to run out of the room. Harry follows.INT. ROCKET ENGINE DEVELOPMENT ROOMThe camera follows up a long ladder to a huge rocket bell housing where A.J. and  Grace are kissing passionately. They notice Harry and Quincy, and the other  Techs heading for Mission Control. Harry locks eyes with A.J. He doesn't like  it. A.J. and Grace know something is up. They follow Harry and the others into  Mission Control. INT. MISSION CONTROL - LATE NIGHTThe room is lit up. Men are scrambling. Phones and satellite charts pop up.  Tracking devices PING. Golden on top of the chaos. A TRACKING TECH plots on a  map. Clark stands over a N.A.S.A. TECH reading a computer screen. Golden Projected impact tracking. I need stats!Tracking Tech Eastern Asian Hemisphere... someplace...ETA 17 minutes.N.A.S.A. Tech We have confirmation. The incoming is about the size of the  Astrodome.Clark We've got to warn.Golden Warn who? The whole South Pacific?Golden, with lack of sleep and stress, falls back into a chair. He closes his  eyes, opens them -- finding Harry in the upper Mission Control Deck. They lock  eyes for a long moment. INT. SHANGHAI - ESTABLISHING - NIGHTThe city ablaze in neon. The harbour, floating junksmanned by Chinese merchants.  A loud sonic boom CRACKS in the sky. There's a BRIGHT FLASH in the sky. Night  becomes day for two seconds. The world slows down, motion creeps. The bright FLASH catches the face of a  little BOY reaching out for his father's hand. The asteroid SHRIEKS down,  hitting the harbour's surface in a red hot FLASH-BOILED at 100 thousand degrees. INT. MISSION CONTROL - NIGHTThe room is silent. Reports are starting to come in about the devastation.  Golden walks up to Harry who is standing with Grace and A.J. He pulls Harry  aside. Golden Stamper, answer me one question - have you ever let anyone down?We go close on Harry's face. Searing flashbulbs popping, WIDEN TOINT. WHITE HOUSE PRESS ROO - NIGHTWE SEE him from behind as he addresses the massive crowd. The U.S. PRESIDENT  stands before a throng of reporters.PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESSPapers headlines, CNN reporters flash on screens. Images of people watching the  news in bars, at home. A NEW YORK POST slams down on the pavement, the headline -  SHANGHAI DISASTER, MASSIVE DEATH TOLL RISING.INT. SOMEPLACE IN KENTUCKY - HOLDING CELL - DAWNJimbo is talking to an F.B.I. AGENT who is on the other side of the bars holding  a newspaper.Jimbo If it's over then why aren't you lettin' us out of this goddamn cell?F.B.I. Agent Be real soon, son.The agent flips the newspaper into the holding cell and walks away.Jimbo Don't walk away, I want to talk to my lawyer. You hear me?Pearl (refering to the newspaper) This says that the asteroid came from the  Southern Hemisphere.Theo Southern Hemisphere?Pearl No kidding. It's a big sky - they want people to look the other way.INT. MANHATTEN - TAXI CABStu the cabbie is riding with a WALL STREET GUY.Stu Kennedy lied about the Bay of Pigs, Nixon...Watergate, say no more.  Clinton. One word. 'Women.' If I know one thing; ALL PRESIDENTS LIE. INT. N.A.S.A. - TRAINING ROOM - MORNINGMorning after the devastating disaster in Shanghai. Harry walks into the quiet  room. Harry's all business. Harry Forty thousand people died last night. But I guess that didn't concern  any of you. I hope you all had a good time last night. The Roughnecks look around. They know there were wrong.Chick I gotta tell you...I'm scared.Harry Well, you should be scared. We all should be. 'Cause if we fail, they  say the Earth will die.Harry sits down, looks out the window at N.A.S.A. Techs working in the room down  below.Harry You think these N.A.S.A. guys are a bunch of clean-cut pussies, that's  it. They can out think you, they can outrun you. This job, gentlemen, is as real  as it gets. I need every one of you. (he looks them in the eye) If you're not up to it,  then walkout of that door. Finally. Theo and Pearl, frustrated, go to the TWO-WAY MIRROR, blocking Jimbo  from view.Theo I'm hungry! When're we gonna eat?Pearl I have p.m.s.!! I need some ibuprofen!Jimbo grabs Randy's legal pad and writes:HELP!! BIG ASTEROID GOING TO HIT EARTH. COORDINATES 712 BY 345.Randy stares at the message.Randy Okay, I'm done here!The door opens. Two F.B.I. AGENTS lead Randy out. Jimbo looks at Theo and Pearl.Jimbo He flunked the bar three times.INT. N.A.S.A. - RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT-- Harry shows Quincy his DRAWINGS of the DRILLING ARM - the way Harry wants it.-- Harry, A.J. and Quincy work with the TURBO PROP ENGINE, transforming it into  a JET FUEL GENERATOR.Quincy We'll run your liquid oxygen from the shuttle through a tube into the  intake manifold. No problem.A.J. I figured out how to bring up the slag. Direct the jet turbine's exhaust  down the drill pipe. It'll blow the stuff right up the hole. Harry Good, A.J. Good.-- Chick, Bennie, Bear, Jumbo welding new pieces of the DRILLING ARM together.  The Roughnecks have changed. Chick and Bennie now have crew-cuts. -- A.J., Harry, Max and Tito build the drilling arm.EXT. ARIZONA - SHUTTLE TAKE OFF AREATWO X-71 SHUTTLES in the hanger. TECHNICIANS scramble around, preparing the  shuttles for the mission.Harry (points) From all of your intel, the deepest fault line is here. This is  my sweet spot. If I can get a clean hole in there, She'll blow in half.... Golden ....and the two pieces will slide right past us. You cannot shatter it.  Getting hit with 20 smaller asteroids is as bad as one big one. You have to  drill, plant the nuke,  lift off, and detonate -- all before the asteroid reaches this  position. (demonstrates position) You have eight hours. Remember it. You must  detonate by this point or,  the two halves will hit us. Harry nods and walks off.Sharp Drill an eight-hundred foot hole in eight hours? Is that possible?Harry doesn't like to be questioned --Harry You just worry about getting me on that rock, Colonel. Let me worry  about the drilling.A moment of conflict between them.EXT. JOHNSON CENTE - ASTRONAUT TRAINING - DAYONE OF THE ARMADILLOS, complete with drilling arm, sits at the bottom of the  tank. Harry and six Roughnecks are already at the bottom, in pressure suits and  helmets. Golden, Quincy, Clark, Sharp, Truman, and all of the N.A.S.A. BRASS, observe.A.J. is the last to enter the tank.INT. N.A.S.A. NEUTRAL BUOYANCY TANK - UNDERWATERA.J. descend to the tank's bottom. Harry, Chick, Bennie, Max and Tito are in  bulky white pressure suits. Jimbo and Bear wear the largest pressure suits ever  made. They talk through their helmet radio links. One drilling arm starts turning. The Roughnecks turn toward a STACK OF 20 FOOT  LONG STAINLESS STEEL DRILLING PIPES on the tank's bottom. ABOVE WATER - SIDE OF  TRAINING TANKGolden hits a stopwatch.Golden (into intercom) Go.INT. N.A.S.A. NEUTRAL BUOYANCY TANK - UNDERWATERBear and Jimbo grab a pipe string and handle onto the mock-up drill arm. They  clamp it on. Bennie and Chick screw a drill bit onto the pipe string. They are  good, very good. The work with the manic intensity of a pit crew at Indy. Harry Done!ABOVE WATER - SIDE OF TANKGolden hits his stopwatch. Smiles. The N.A.S.A. Brass is impressed.Golden These guys are fast. Harry, interior gauge check.INT. N.A.S.A. NEUTRAL BUOYANCY TANK - UNDERWATERHarry We're on A.J.A.J. Let's see what this baby can do.Harry and A.J. move the Armadillo's AIRLOCK DOOR. It has an exterior open/close  button. Harry punches it. The side door opens. Harry enters, then A.J. INT. ARMADILLO - UNDERWATERHarry and A.J., still underwater, climb inside. Harry presses the PRESSURIZATION  button. Simulating pressurisation in space, the water in the cab is blown out,  and air WHOOSHES IN. Harry and A.J. sit dripping in the watertight cab. Through the front window WE  SEE the other Roughnecks in the tank. Harry unlocks his neck seals. Pulls off  his helmet. Harry Lose the helmet, A.J.A.J. snaps out of it. His hands go instinctively to the helmet and in one  motion...CLICK. It's off.Harry (clicks radio) We're in. Run the simulation.The interior PRESSURE GUGE NEEDLES and MONITORS (engine torque, drill direction,  etc.) start bobbing. The drill starts to cut into a BLOCK OF CONCRETE. Golden (V.O) How's she look?Harry Torque adjuster's good. Fuel level good. A.J., downhole pressure?A.J. We can do better. I'm increasing the RPM's to seven thousand. We can get  more torque.Golden (V.O) Negative, A.J. Don't exceed ix thousand. Not on this run.A.J. Relax. I built this thing. She's got more in her. Increasing the RPM's.Golden (V.O) Negative, A.J. A.J. increases the RPM's. The gauge starts to rise. The N.A.S.A. Brass shifts  uneasily in their seats. They're not accoutomed to seeing their astronauts  disobey orders. Golden (V.0) (cont'd) A.J., shut the Armadillo down nowA.J. We can push it, further. Let's see what she can do.Suddenly, the RPM''s shoot into the red. A red siren spins in the control room.  The Armadillo SHAKES violently. The DRILLING BIT grinds to nothing. The  Armadillo BLOWS a tranny. Harry's eyes close. He's pissed.IN THE CONTROL ROOMThe N.A.S.A. Brass looks to Golden. One of them shakes their head. Sharp and  Golden exchange a look. Sharp shakes his head. INSIDE THE TANKA.J. presses a button and the cabin, simulating "depressurisation" in space,  begins to fill with water.INT. NEUTRL BUOYANCY TANK - SIDE OF TANK - DAYEveryone around him just watches, as A.J. climbs out of the tank. After a  minute, A.J. looks up, sees all the eyes in the room on him. EXT. CREW QUARTERS - NIGHTHarry is outside, smoking a Coheba. Harry runs his hand over a SMALL METAL MEDAL  that hangs from his neck. Golden approaches. Golden A.J.'s off the team. We need a list of names from you to fill the slot.Harry A.J. would be the first name on my list.Golden We don't want independent thinkers. And we don't need heroes. We need a  team.Harry You have to have confidence in the men you send up. I understand that.  But I'm the one that has to land on that rock. Not you. (firm) I pick my own  team. Golden One shot. Pull him in line or send him home.INT . HUB OF ROCKET SIMULATOR - NIGHTA.J. and Grace are there talking. Grace is on A.J.'s lap.A.J. I pushed it, I screwed up.Grace These astronauts train for years for what you're training for in a few  days.A.J. I don't know why I didn't just listen to them.Grace So, tomorrow you listen.A.J. and Grace share a look.A.J. I love you, Grace.A N.A.S.A. Tech approaches.N.A.S.A. Technician Harry wants to see you.INT. DESIGN AND PROTOTYPE ROOM - NIGHTHarry and A.J. stand in the centre of a high-tech supply room. SPARE PARTS from  shuttles, PROTOTYPES and WORK TOOLS are everywhere. Harry You tell me what the hell you think you're doing?A.J. I'm trying to work with the team.Harry Bullshit. You're trying to lead this team. You're trying to be me.  You're not me.A.J. What do you want? You want me to quit?Harry If you can't bury this cowboy shit, yeah, I want you to quit.A.J. I don't have to prove anything to anybody, Harry.Harry I listen to N.A.S.A., you listen to me. That's the chain. Either you  follow it, or you're done.A.J. I'll follow it.Harry I stood up for you, because I've made a life of proving people wrong.Harry's hand slides down to the medal hanging from his neck.Harry (cont'd) When I was about your age, I was in Galveston, Texas. I scraped  together some money, bought some old equipment, a little land. I set up a rig  and drilled my first hole. Then I sat there and watched her soak up the sun for six  months - waiting for this baby to pop. Everybody told me to quit. I wouldn't  listen. My wife ran off with a drill-rigger, left me with Grace. Everybody in town thought I  was a fool. But I stayed with it. And in the last hour of the last day, she  popped. She spit out that black gold and I danced in it like a wild Indian. (reflective ) I  captured the magic (holding medal) This is the last piece of pipe that struck  gold that day. Harry takes off the medal. Sets it on the table. He grabs a cutting vice and  cuts the medal in two perfect halves. He hands one half to A.J. Harry (cont'd) Here, take it up there.QUICK MONTAGEInside the neutral buoyancy tank -- Harry's crew goes through all DRILLS one  final time (final mission checks) in quick succession. Everything runs  perfectly. The Armadillo is rebuilt and shown functioning without error. A.J.  works as part of the team. INT. JOHNSON SPACE CENTER - DAYThe hour of the mission. The two teams sit in the orange N.A.S.A. flight  pressure suits. Golden enters and stands before the room. Golden In the book of Revalations, the Bible speaks of a final day on Earth,  when all mankind shall perish, shall cease to exist. This day is known as  Armageddon. (firm) Right  now, that day conflicts with six billion schedules. (beat) For the  first time in the history of this planet, s species possesses the technology to  prevent it's own  extinction. (beat) I've been with N.A.S.A. my entire adult life.  Eleven years as an astronaut, another fifteen on the ground at Mission Control.  Twenty-six years I've had  to answer one question -- why? Why more money? Why the race for  space? Why do we need to know what is up there? (beat) When we come through  this, I'll take  comfort in the fact that I won't ever have to answer those  questions again. You are our warriors up there. You are our last hope. God be  with you. The crew stands......EXT. JOHNSON SPACE CENTER - RUNWAY - DAYTwo sleek BLACK LEAR JETS are parked on the runway. Harry studies them. Grace  approaches.Harry You know I was thinking, Gracie. Over the years, I should have patted  you on the back more....Grace Dad, you don't need --Harry No father has ever been prouder of his child, Gracie. I want you to know  that.Grace's reaction makes it clear that Harry has never said anything like this  before.Grace I love you, Dad.Harry I love you too, Gracie.Grace (as they hug) Keep an eye on A.J. for me.Harry climbs up the metal stairs --A.J. and the rest of Harry's crew comes out of the building. A.J. moves to Grace  as she watches her father disappear into the jet. A.J. Excuse me. (Grace turns) You're really insanely gorgeous and I was jost  sort of wondering if you -- Grace I'm engaged. But my father hasn't given him his blessing so you might  still have a chance. (smiles, then serious) Promise me you won't do anything  stupid up there.A.J. nods. They kiss passionately. Harry's crew sees this and applauds. Grace  blushes, embarrassed.A.J. I love you, Grace.Grace I love you. Come back, Okay?Harry's crew boards LEAR JET 2. A.J. starts toward LEAR JET 1. Grace watches him  walk away, eyeing his suit.Grace A.J.--A.J. (turning) Yeah?Grace When you get back, ask them if you can kep the suit (winks) It's kind of  sexy.EXT. ARIZONA DESERT - BY SHUTTLE FREEDOMThe cone-shaped noses of the two X-71's are towering silhouettes against the  sun. Massive CRAWLERS move the shuttles to the launch tower. EXT. SHUTTLES FREEDOM & INDEPENDENCE LAUNCH - DAYSeen from a distance as silhouettes behind a sun-soaked sky, sixteen figures  walk toward us. As they grow closer, WE SEE the intense game faces of Harry,  A.J., Bennie, Chick, Jumbo, Tito, Rockhound, Max and others approaching the  launch site. They look like N.A.S.A.'s version of the "Dirty Dozen." Harry carries a LARGE MYSTERIOUS METAL CASE, that we've not seen before now.INT. LAUNCH TOWER ELEVATOR - LATERHarry exits the elevator and start to walk to the CATWAL to the Freedom shuttle.  Harry carries his suitcase.N.A.S.A. Tech 1 Sir, was that case authorised for transport?N.A.S.A. Tech 2 Our weight to fuel ratio's calibrated to the kilogram, sir.  How much does that weigh?Harry Sixty pounds.N.A.S.A. Tech 1 That can't go up with you, sir.Harry Wait here.INT. SHUTTLE FREEDOM - AFTERNOONHarry enters the cabin. N.A.S.A.'s crack seven-member "Strap-in-Team" goes to  work. Harry's crew are outfitted with their HELMETS and CHUTE PACKS. Each step  is methodical, each piece of equipment is checked and rechecked. Harry Hey you. Yeah you. Come here.A YOUNG N.A.S.A. TECH approaches. Harry gestures at a row of METAL COMPONENTS  housed in the wall.Harry What's all this crap?N.A.S.A. Technician (pointing to various) Multi-track C.D. player.  Anti-gravity hand washer, utensil washer, and micro-wave oven. (proud) We worked  hard to make the X-71 feel  more like home. Harry just looks at the kid.EXT. ARIZONA DESERT - BY SHUTTLE FREEDOM - DAYMetal components one after the other come out of the shuttle hatchway and SLAM  into a heap on the lake bed. Harry then appears in the hatchway. Harry We don't need music and we don't mind dirty utensils.Harry picks up his LARGE METAL CASE and ducks back inside the Freedom. The  N.A.S.A Techs stare at the ruined components at their feet. INT. MISSION CONTROL - DUSKGolden and Clark prepare for the launch.N.A.S.A. Tech (into intercom) T-minus six minutes and counting.INT. SHUTTLE FREEDOM - COCKPIT - DUSKSharp and Watts settle in. MAJORS PITTS and FISK, two stern Army demolition  experts, finish tying down their equipment.Mission Control (V.O) Roger, Independence and Freedom, auto ground launch  sequencer commencing.Sharp looks at Pitts and FiskSharp You two ready?Pitts (enthusiastically) AIRBORNE!INT. N.A.S.A. - MISSION CONTROL - DUSKGolden, Clark and the N.A.S.A. Techs study the CENTRAL BOARD as final  preparations for take-off commence.Technician Shuttles Freedom and Independence you are cleared for lift off.EXT. ARIZONA DESERT - SHUTTLE TAKE OFF ZONE - DUSKThe ground TREMBLES like an earthquake. EXHAUST BILLOWS out of the ROCKET  BOOSTERS, filling frame. Shuttles Freedom and Independence ROCKET OFF from dual launch pads, STREAKING  BETWEEN CAMERA, climbing to the heavens.INT. SHUTTLE FREEDOM - COCKPIT - DUSKSharp and Watts flip switches, check gauges.Sharp Instituting roll manoeuvre. We have S.R.B. Sep, over.INT N.A.S.A. - MISSION CONTROL - DUSKTechnician You are a 'go' for ET separation.EXT. UPPER ATMOSPHERE - DUSKFreedom and Independence scream away from Earth, dropping their booster  canisters.EXT. SHUTTLE FREEDOM - DUSKHarry, Chick and the others experience their first G-Forces.INT. N.A.S.A. - MISSION CONTROL - DUSKClark Lookin' real good, Freedom.Golden When you meet the Russian, you might want to go easy on the guy. He  just broke the record for the longest solo - thirteen months, seven days. INT. SHUTTLE FREEDOMChick (to Harry) Thirteen months, seven days. (beat) What the hell has he been  doing all by himself?INT. RUSSIAN MIR STATIONLife inside, like the cluttered glove-box of an old car. George Michael's  "Freedom" plays on a piped-in sound system. COSMONAUT LEV ANDROPOV dances and  sings. Lev FREEDOM! FREEDOM! GOT TO GIVE WHAT IT TAKES....Hello Yankees! I love you  America. (reading from English book) Would you prefer an appetiser or aperitif? EXT. RUSSIAN MIR SPACE STATIONPULL OUT of the MIR's window to see Lev dancing with joy. He's celebrating the  forthcoming arrival.PULL FURTHER BACK to catch a wider view of the Russian multi-module Space  Station -- a white winged steel seagull.INT. SHUTTLE FREEDOMThrough the cockpit window, the BLUENESS of Earth's atmosphere becomes the  BLACKNESS of space.INT. MISSION CONTROLClark Freedom, Independence. You're looking good. Prepare to start docking  procedures at the MIR.INT. SHUTTLE FREEDOMSharp addresses the crews of both shuttles over the radio --Sharp Listen up -- the MIR will be spinning to give us gravity so we can work  faster. You might feel queasy or dizzy. We'll dock, transfer the fuel, then  detach from the MIR.  Fast and safe. This stuff is very volatile. INT. RUSSIAN MIR SPACE STATION - DOCKING PORTLev is working feverishly, running highly insulated liquid oxygen and hydrogen  PROPELLANT TRANSFER HOSES from the MIR's several LABORATORY and LIVING MODULES  to the MIR's twin docking ports. A BLUE INDICATOR LIGHT FLASHES. Lev looks out of the MIR's portside window. His  eyes light up. He smiles.EXT. SPACE - LOW EARTH ORBIT - MIR DOCKING PORTSFreedom and Independence approach the MIR station. The MIR is T-shaped, with  TWIN DOCKING PORTS at each end of the T's crossbar. Freedom begins docking at  one end., Independence at the other. INT. SHUTTLES FREEDOM/INDEPENDENCE - AIRLOCK PORT TO MIRTruman Fuel teams prepare to unload.A RED LIGHT (unsafe) turns GREEN (safe). The docking port's HATCHWHEEL spins,  and the door slides open. Harry, Sharp, Watts, Chick, A.J., Bennie, and Truman  enter the MIR. INT. MIR SPACE STATION - DOCKING MODULEThe TEAM comes through the docking module and out pops Lev, hanging upside down  in frame.Lev HELLO YANKEES! Welcome to the home of me, Cosmonaut Lev Andropov. (MORE)On a wall, A COMPUTER BOARD that monitors the fuel transfer is filled with GREEN  LIGHTS.INT. CENTRAL ROOM - CENTER HUB OF MIRHarry, Bennie, and Lev are talking in the combination kitchen/ rec room of the  MIR -- a little bigger than a walk-in closet. Lev grabs a VIDEO CAMERA and  starts video-taping Harry and Bennie. Lev I hear rumour on radio. My country broke. No steaks in freezer. They plan  to sell me and the MIR (moving in closer, conspiratorial) Can you confirm this? Bennie We wouldn't know. What's the camera?Lev Oh, I also di-rec-tor. Russian cinema. MIR movies. Each has title.Lev grabs remote control. On a large TELEVISION screen VARIOUS IMAGES OF LEV  appear.Lev "Lev loves cargo." "Lev sleeps." "Lev prepares for Americans." "Lev gets  bored so he gets drunk." Funny but...too long. Bennie Looks like you have a lot of free time on your hands.Lev Yeah. I alone by myself.Watts comes into the room. The first woman Lev has seen in a very, very long  time. Lev moves the camera all over her. Lev Hello, fellow space colleague.Watts nods.Watts I'll be in the docking port.Lev Please allow me to escort you. (as they walk out) You California girl?INT. MIR SPACE STATION - REAR MODULESHarry and Bennie enter the MIR's rearmost module. Two propellant hoses run into  TWIN PROPELLANT OUTPUT VALVES on a rear panel. Bennie's eyes move to a LAUNDRY  LINE. BOXERS hang from the line. Bennie This Lev guy is a little off.On the computer board, a small RED LIGHT replaces the GREEN LIGHT. Then another.  No one notices.INT. MIR STATION - DOCKING PORTSCAMERA FOLLOWS MICROSCOPIC AEROSOL BUBBLES OF LIQUID OXYGEN (MACRO SHOT)  DRIPPING from a valve onto a COMPUTER CIRCUIT BOARD. INT. MIR - FUEL STORAGETHE GAUGE STARTS TO rise. A.J. WATCHES. One hundred eighty-five...190...195...A.J. (into intercom) Lev, the pressure's climbing.INT. MIR CORRIDOR(EXTREME MACRO) The Liquid Oxygen oozes into the circuit board. Surgeon-like  microscopic camera tracks it under the keys, reaching a COMPUTER SWITCH. It  SPARKS. INT. DOCKING PORTLev, Sharp, and Chick are walking toward the shuttles. The ELECTRICITY in the  MIR FLUTTERS. Lev stops. Sharp stops. Lev looks over his shoulder toward the  central hub. A chill runs down his spine. DOLLY INTO LEV'S EYES - Lev (whispering) Leak. Run.Lev and Sharp run toward the central hub. Lev punches a KLAXON.Lev (cont'd) LEAK! RUN!Chick takes off running past Lev and Sharp.Sharp (to Chick) E-vac. E-vac. Unhook the shuttles. Move!INT. MIR - FUEL STORAGEA.J. reacts to the KLAXON, starts to climb up the shaft ladder. A.J. struggles  under the heavy weight of his cold suit, finally reaching --- INT MIR - CORRIDOR ABOVE FUEL STORAGECircuits pop VIOLENTLY all around A.J., as the mixture of chemical in the air  starts to CHEW the MIR's walls.INT. MIR - CENTRAL HUBLev, Sharp, and Chick RUN into the hub as the leak continues, growing rapidly  worse, EATING the walls. Sharp sees the LEAK. Runs back toward the docking port. Lev (to Sharp) Seal door.As Sharp SEALS the hatch, Lev returns to look for A.J.INT. MIR STATION - REAR MODULEHarry and Chick react to the KLAXOX BLARES.Harry Unhook the shuttles.Harry and Chick RUN out of the rear module and race through the maze of twisting  corridors.INT. MIR CORRIDORA.J. runs through another corridor, heading for the docking port as the walls  around him POP! Lev files around the corner almost smashing into A.J. INT. MIR STATION - REAR MODULE The smoking circuitry SPARKS, and the REAR MODULE explodes in a VIOLENT  CONCUSSION, LAUNCHING A LONG TONGUE OF FLAME into -- INT. MIR STATION - UPPER  MODULESHarry and Chick race for the DOCKING MODULE as -- BEHIND THEM, A SECOND MODULE  fills with FIRE and EXPLODES, rocking the MIR. Then a third. Fire starts to RIP  THROUGH corridors in the MIR. EXT. MIR STATION - SPACEThe MIR shudders and begins to TILT TO ONE SIDE. INT. MIR STATION - UPPER MODULESEverything is SIDEWAYS. Lev is KNOCKED to the ground. A HEAVY COMPUTER BOARD  falls, separating A.J. and Lev.Attempting to reach A.J., Lev turns back and runs from where he just came.INT. MIR STATION - UPPER MODULES - SEALED CORRIDORA.J. looks left, then right. He doesn't know how to get to the docking port. He  starts running.INT. MIR STATION - DOCKING PORTSSharp re-joins Bennie and Truman. They unhook the FUEL LINES to the shuttles.  Sharp and Chick run aboard Shuttle Freedom. Truman boards Independence. INT. MIR CORRIDORA.J. is at the corridor fork. Right or left? The Russian writing above both  paths doesn't help. Just as he's about to go left -- Lev suddenly appears, grabs  A.J., and PUSHES HIM into the RIGHT CORRIDOR. Lev Run Yankee!INT. SHUTTLE FREEDOMSharp (to Watts as he sits and buckles up) Shut the doors and fire her up!Watts We still have people out there.Sharp It's them or ALL OF US. CLOSE THE DOORS NOW!As the doors are closing, Harry and Chick rush into Shuttle Freedom. Harry's  fingers grab the doors just in time. The doors retract back. Harry Did A.J. make it?Chick I didn't see him.INT. SHUTTLE INDEPENDENCETruman buckles himself in, fires up the Independence.INT. SHUTTLE FREEDOMFreedom is fired up. The MIR shudders again. TILTS further.Sharp We have to GO!INT. MIR CORRIDORA.J. and Lev are running hard as DEBRIS falls behind them and the walls start to  TEAR APART. They turn a corner, headed toward the docking port -- INT. SHUTTLE FREEDOMHarry is at the door, eyes frantically searching for A.J. --Sharp WE GO NOW!Sharp stabs a button on his pilot console. The AUTOMATED DOORS BEGIN to slide  shut.INT. SHUTTLE INDEPENDENCETruman stabs a button on his pilot console. The AUTOMATED DOORS BEGIN to slide  shut.INT. MIR DOCKING PORTA.J. and Lev race into the docking port from a rear corridor. Harry sees them.  Lev dives into Independence just as the doors close. A.J. dives head-long  through the shutting Independence doors. INT. SHUTTLE FREEDOMSharp (to Watts) Full thrusters!EXT. MIR STATION - SHUTTLES FREEDOM AND INDEPENDENCEThe two shuttles RELEASE AWAY from the MIR Station on FULL THRUSTER POWER, just  escaping as --THE MIR STATION EXPLODES in an eternal flash fire, blowing out sections of wall  panels and sending a SOLAR PANEL shooting toward Freedom that just misses her!  The collapsed MIR STATION drifts off into the oblivion of space. INT. SHUTTLE INDEPENDENCEA.J. sits panting on the floor of the shuttle next to the docking port door. Lev  stares down at him.Lev I am Cosmonaut Lev Andropov, what your name?A.J. My name is A.J.Lev You just blew up my home.SUPER -  TWENTY THREE HOURS TO THE MOONGolden and Sharp sitting around going over data. New images of the closer,  meaner asteroid approaching.INT. FREEDOMInterior small sleeping area. Max hanging upside-down in zero gravity. Wakes up  yawning. He looks to Bear.Max Oh, man, did I have a dream.Bear So did Martin Luthor King.Max No, this was a bad dream. We were drilling and the ground ate the bit.  Then it ate the pipe, then the derrick. Then it ate us. Bear That's a dumb-ass dream.Max I'm not coming home.They look at each other.INT. FREEDOM COCKPITHarry, Bear, Chick, and Sharp stand looking out the cockpit rear window toward  the brilliant blue Earth.Bear What are you thinking about, Chick?Chick My kid. You.Bear My Mom, she'd be proud to see me as an astronaut.Chick Harry, what are you thinking?Harry (looking at Earth) How beautiful it is. Thinkin' about all that oil I  sucked out and spit into the air.Funny how a man can live 46 years and realize  he ain't been doing the right thing. INT. N.A.S.A. - PRESS CONFERENCE ROOMBEHIND A CURTAIN - Golden confers with Collinswood.Collinswood The President is counting on you to put out the fire, Dan. Say  whatever you have to. Just do it.Golden walks from behind the curtain. Walks up to the podium, ten VIDEO CAMERAS  swivel into position.For a long moment Golden just stands there, saying nothing.Golden I work for the President of the United States. (long pause; looks over  at Collinswood) But I think it's my duty as a scientist to tell the world what  is happening. Three,  days ago a manned space mission was sent to intercept an asteroid  which has entered the Earth's orbit. (REPORTERS all chatter) This is a difficult  mission. In all  frankness, it is the most difficult mission anyone has ever flown.  (beat) A little over fifty years ago we sent our Armed Forces half-way around  the world to save the  world from an evil empire that threatened mass extinction. The men  and women of this nation united, answered the calland preserved our freedom.  (beat) Once again  we face a threat to our way of life. And once again we look to our  military to preserve our future. The men and women selected to lead this mission  are America's  finest and most decorated career officers in the military. Our  hopes and prayers are with them. Thank you. Golden walks off. The REPORTERS CLAMORReporters (UNISON) Director Golden! DIRECTOR GOLDEN!BACKSTAGE - Golden approaches Collinswood.Collinswood Golden, your drillers better not let us down.Golden We'll do your best.EXT. SPACE - APPROACHING THE MOONThe two Shuttles approach THE MOON, Freedom in the lead, Independence following.Beyond the Moon, too distant to see clearly, THE ASTEROID is on its trajectory  toward Earth. It is a HUGE, GRAGGY MASS surrounded on all sides by a DEBRIS  CLUSTER of rock and ice, the ice glinting on and off in reflected sunlight, like  millions of fireflies. INT. SHUTTLE FREEDOM - COCKPITWatts (unbelieving) My goodness, look at that thing....Sharp We have visual of target, Houston. Velocity thirty-three hundred miles  an hour.INT. HOUSTON - MISSION CONTROLClark sits with Techs Flip and Skip. Golden and Temple pace behind the console.INT. SHUTTLE FREEDOM - REAR CABINHarry, Chick, Bear, and Max finish buckling into their seat restraints and  harnesses.INT. SHUTTLE INDEPENDENCE - REAR CABINA.J., Lev, Bennie, Jimbo and Tito buckle on harnesses. Bennie looks at A.J.  nervously.EXT. SPACE - APPROACHING THE MOONThe Shuttles rapidly close on the moon. The dead, luminous sphere looms larger  in frame.INT. SHUTTLE FREEDOM - COCKPITTHE LUNAR SURFACE completely fills the cockpit windshield. We've lost sight of  the oncoming asteroid.Sharp Visual contact with target lost, Houston.IN THE REAR CABIN - Harry, Chick, Bear, and Max stare in awe at the  ever-approaching Moon.EXT. SPACE - APPRAOCHING THE MOONShuttles Freedom and Independence shoot toward the Moon, pulled by the lunar  gravitational field.INT. SHUTTLE FREEDOM - COCKPITTHROUGH THE WINDSHIELD - THE LUNAR SURFACE is only 150 miles down, looking close  enough to reach down and touch.EXT. SPACE - APPROACHING THE MOONThe two Shuttles whip into lunar orbit, moving around the Moon, continuing to  accelerate, nearing its Dark side.INT. N.A.S.A. - MISSION CONTROLClark (into headset) How we doin', Freedom, over?INT. SHUTTLE FREEDOM - COCKPITWatts Nearing the Dark Side, Houston, a minute thirty and counting.EXT. SPACE - THE OTHER SIDE OF THE MOONOn the Moon's opposite side, THE ASTEROID roars into frame, its trailing  fragments motionless in relation to each other, travelling as a swarm, a cluster  of debris. As it nears the Moon's gravitational field -- TRAILING FRAGMENTS peel away, drawn into the Moon by its lunar gravity. A  relatively DEBRIS-LESS CORRIDOR begins to form on one side of the asteroid. INT. N.A.S.A. - MISSION CONTROLSkip Twenty seconds till we lose radio contact, Director.Clark You're on your own, Willie. You've got to raise your velocity 17  thousand miles an hour or you won't catch the target, over. INT. SHUTTLE FREEDOM - COCKPITSharp See you on the other side, Houston.Skip (V.O) Entering Dark Side, Freedom, and counting: ten, nine, eight,  seven...INT. N.A.S.A. - MISSION CONTROLSkip Radio contact terminated.The radio crackles with STATIC. ON THE TECHNICIAN'S CONSOLES, all of Freedom's  and Independence's COMPUTERIZED SYSTEM MONITORS (pressurization, oxygen,  electrical power, fuel capacity, etc.) GO DEAD. Golden They'll be pullin' nine and half G's for eleven minutes, General.Temple Anyone done that before?Flip Yeah. That Russian monkey in 1957.Clark We'll pick 'em up again in sixteen minutes, Danny.Golden If they're still alive.INT. SHUTTLE FREEDOM - AROUND DARK SIDE OF MOONThe radio is STATIC.Watts Rockets ready for burn, Willie.Sharp (over shoulder to Harry and others) Time to suck it up, people. Just  pretend you're on the big roller coaster at Disneyland...(mumbles under breath)  ...times a  hundred.... Sharp reaches for the BOOSTER ROCKET SWITCH. He gives Watts one last look, then  throws the switch. EXT. DARK SIDE OF THE MOON - FREEDOM AND INDEPENDENCE Freedom and Independence fire their BOOSTERS. The two SHUTTLES explode forward,  hurtling around the Moon's DARK SIDE with a degree of increasing velocity never  before experienced by man. INT. SHUTTLE FREEDOM - REAR CABINHarry, Chick, Bear, and Max get hit with the first G-Forces. Their torsos press  back against their seats. They flex their arms, breathing deeply, expanding  their chest cavities as they were taught in training. Harry I hate to fly, I hate to fly, I hate to fly....INT. SHUTTLE INDEPENDENCE - REAR CABIN A.J., Lev, Bennie, Jimbo, and Tito get slammed back by the first wave of  G-Forces. INT. SHUTTLE FREEDOM - COCKPIT Watts reads her VELOCITY INDICATOR under G-Forces so bad she speaks through  clenched teethWatts Fourteen thousand....sixteen thousand...twenty thousand miles an hour,  Willie...! INT. N.A.S.A. - MISSION CONTROLSilence. Tension. Technicians stare at their consoles.Clark They're hittin' the big G's right about...now.Golden Come on, Willie, you can do this....INT. SHUTTLE FREEDOM - REAR CABINExcruciating, gut-wrenching, turn-your-intestines-inside-out G-Forces. HARRY and  CHICK'S FACIAL MUSCLES distort hideously; their rubbery cheeks and lips flatten  out. They continue anti-G exercises, tensing every muscle, trying to keep blood  flow evenly distributed. INT. SHUTTLE INDEPENDENCEA.J. and Bennie's distorted faces, likewise, go through the anti G-Force  exercises, tensing every muscle.EXT. LUNAR ORBIT - MASTER SHOTIN ONE AWE-INSPIRING SHOT, we see -- Shuttles Freedom and Independence rocketing around the Moon in darkness, further  and further, until finally WE SEE, increasingly, a staggering, mind blowing  visual -- THE ASTEROID'S TRAILING DEBRIS appears, a HUGE CLOUD of tiny ICE CHUNKS AND  PEBBLES, and much larger BOULDERS, and ICEBERGS the size of houses, the ice  glinting with reflected sunlight, throwing off a dazzling SPECTRAL SHOWER OF  LIGHT in all directions, and finally -- THE ASTEROID'S HUGE CORE - it has just cleared the Moon and now flies straight  for it's destination - the cool, blue PLANET EARTH dead ahead across an expanse  of space. Shuttles Freedom and Independence slingshot out of the Lunar orbit and fall in  behind the asteroid, settling into the DEBRIS-LESS CORRIDOR. INT. N.A.S.A. - MISSION CONTROL Continued STATIC on the radio. Everyone sits nervously waiting. Suddenly the  shuttles' computerised SYSTEM MONITORS begin to click back on. Clark Freedom, come in, over. Independence, come in, over.Nothing. Golden grabs the mike.Golden Willie? Come in, over. Willie, can you hear me...? Total silence. A pin could drop. The N.A.S.A. Technicians stare nervously at the  Central Board. Then, suddenly through staticSharp (V.0) Houston, you gotta see this to believe it.... Elation. Held breaths are exhaled. Golden and N.A.S.A. TECHNICIANS smile. No one  is more relieved than Grace. INT. SHUTTLE FREEDOM - COCKPIT Sharp and Watts stare through the windshield at -- THE ASTEROID, below them and dead ahead. We get our first (and only temporary)  clear glimpse of the designated landing field, a relatively smooth, unobstructed  plane on the asteroid's surface. Harry is green, looks like he's gonna blow chunks. Sharp We're awake, we're not pukin'....(looks over shoulder at Harry)  ....well, Harry is. And we got a clear path to the target. Houston, over. INT. SHUTTLE INDEPENDENCE Truman smiles. Truman Copy that, Freedom. INT. N.A.S.A. - MISSION CONTROL Clark gives Golden a thumbs up. Clark We'll take you in, guys. EXT. SHUTTLES FREEDOM AND INDEPENDENCE Freedom, in the lead, and Independence, following to the rear and side, descend  through the debris-less corridor to the waiting asteroid. Suddenly a CLOUD OF ICE AND PEBBLES wafts in front of the Shuttles. INT. SHUTTLE FREEDOM COCKPIT In one terrifying second, visibility is cut to twenty feet. Then BANG! BANG!  BANG! BANG! PEBBLES and SMALL ICE CHUNKS strike the windshield, chipping and denting it. The  impacts are violent; the interior is buffeted around. It's the space equivalent  of bad hailstorm. Sharp Damn it....! Clark (V.O) What is it, Willie? Sharp Problem, Houston. We've got debris all over us! REAR OF COCKPIT - Harry and the others, alarmed, are buffeted around violently. INT. SHUTTLE INDEPENDENCE - COCKPIT No visibility here either. Ice chunks and pebbles BANG against the windshield. Truman I've got no visibility. I've lost orientation to the target! Suddenly, as sudden as it came, the debris clears. But a HUGE ICE BOULDER the size of a three-story building twirls into  Independence's path. It hits a BOULDER which collides with another. Truman Big guy! Dead ahead! Truman stabs his directional thruster button. Shuttle Independence veers to the  right.... INT. SHUTTLE FREEDOM Sharp hits his directional thruster, and Freedom veers to the left.... EXT. THROUGH THE ASTEROID'S TAIL Freedom goes left, Independence right, splitting the ice boulder. Freedom clears the ice boulder by a foot. Independence, not so lucky, clips the  ice boulder, ripping her left thruster clean off. With one thruster,  Independence careens out of control, twirling and spinning. INT. SHUTTLE INDEPENDENCE Truman (panicked) I lost left thruster! No control! I have no control! In the Independence's cargo bay, one of the Armadillos RIPS free from its  moorings and plunges through the CARGO BAY DOORS. INT. SHUTTLE FREEDOM Sharp steers Freedom past the ice boulder.Watts Where's the other ship....?!Suddenly the Independence, with a RIPPED OPEN CARGO BAY DOOR, careens directly  across Freedom's path, filling Freedom's cockpit window, nearly colliding with  her. Sharp hits his thrusters, veering away from the damaged Independence. Sharp and Watts watch Independence twirling toward the asteroid. Suddenly  BANG!!! The INDEPENDENCE'S ERRANT ARMADILLO strikes the Freedom's nose, spider-webbing  the WINDSHIELD. Sharp and Watts recoil in terror. Watts SCREAMS. INT. SHUTTLE INDEPENDENCE The fuselage is spinning. A.J., Bennie and the others are in terror. In the  cockpit, Truman SCREAMS over the radioTruman Houston, MAYDAY, MAYDAY, we're going down! The Shuttle's roof collides with a rock. We hear SCRAPING METAL. The CEILING  dents in, dislodging INTERIOR CEILING PANELS filled with wires and electrical  components; they rain down on A.J. and the others. Choas. The SPARKING CABIN fills with smoke. Truman Crew, go to life support! Everyone grabs for their HELMET, frantically trying to get them on. A.J. gets  his on, but he can't lock his neck seal. He fidgets with the little SEAKL LOCKS. A.J. rips off the helmet. It slips from his fingers and floats off through the  zero-g cabin! A.J. Goddamn it! A.J. throws off his seat harnesses and goes after his helmet. In zero-gravity,  the sides of the twirling cockpit revolve around A.J. as he moves. INT. N.A.S.A. - MISSION CONTROL We hear a CACOPHONY OF VOICES and BANGING ROCKS against Independence's fuselage. Truman MAYDAY, HOUSTON, MAYDAY....!! Golden and the N.A.S.A. personnel can only sit and listen, horrified, impotent  to do anything..... INT. SHUTTLE INDEPENDENCE - REAR CABIN AT THE BACK OF THE CABIN - A.J. reaches his helmet and frantically gets it back  on. The fuselage is still twirling around him. Bennie, strapped in and freaking out, throws off his seat harness and bolts for  the SAFETY EMERGENCY HATCH equipped with EXPLOSIVE RELEASE CHARGES. Truman sees Bennie at the Emergency Hatch. BIG ROCKS smash off the windshield in  front of Truman; the windshield's safety glass is weakened, splintered, to the  point of bursting. Truman Get away from that door!!!! Bennie is wild-eyed, crazed. Bennie Go to hell, man, I ain't dyin' on this thing!!!! A SERIES OF QUICK CUTSA ROCK SMASHES through the windshield, gouging into Truman. Depressurisation.  Truman and Co-pilot Weston are sucked out through the windshield. Bennie BLOWS the Emergency Hatch's explosive charges. The hatch door pulls  Bennie out into space...to his death. INT. N.A.S.A. - MISSION CONTROL FLASH CUTS Independence's System Monitors flash off PRESSURIZATION goes to  zero; CABIN OXYGEN goes to zero; INDIVIDUAL LIFE SUPPORT MONITORS go to zero. Independence's radio transmissions are STATIC and PANICKED VOICES. Golden runs  down the aisle to Independence's monitors. Skip No cabin pressure! Systems-wide failure! INT. SHUTTLE FREEDOM - REAR CABIN Harry and the Roughnecks are SMASHED around in their seats. IN THE COCKPIT - THROUGH THE WINDSHIELD A BOULDER the size of a house looms downslope. Shuttle Freedom is skidding  straight for it. Sharp and Watts watch helplessly as the Shuttle skids toward the boulder. EXT. ASTEROID SURFACE Freedom hits a SMALLER ROCK, which changes its skid angle. It clears the boulder  by a foot and skids to a stop at the base of the slope. INT. SHUTTLE FREEDOM - REAR CABIN Harry and the others JOLT to a stop. No one moves. No one breathes. It's scary  as hell. INT. N.A.S.A. - MISSION CONTROL Golden and the other Technicians wait  breathlessly for some response. Golden GRABS the mike.Golden Freedom. come in. (no response) Independence, come in . no response)  Come in, Freedom.Nothing. Skip buries his face in his hands. Flip chews his pencil. Golden,  having lost one crew already, twists his wedding ring. Sharp (V.O) Houston, it's Freedom. We just landed on this son-of-a-bitch,  over.Golden and the Technicians breath a sigh of relief.Watts (V.O) What's the status of Independence?INT. SHUTTLE FREEDOM - REAR CABINCAMERA PUSHES IN ON HARRY, as he waits for Houston's response to this last  question.Sharp (V.O) We lost her.CAMERA TIGHT ON HARRY. He's lost men before, many men on oil rigs. But not  A.J.....Chick (O.S.) Harry, Harry, Jesus Christ, this can't happen....Harry snaps out of it, turns to Chick.Harry It did happen. They're gone. Deal with it. We got a lot of work to do.Harry unharnesses himself and rises.INT. N.A.S.A. - MISSION CONTROLGolden looks at Grace. She looks back. A tear slides off her cheek to the  console. Harry's daughter doesn't say a word, or break down. She just quietly  rises and walks to the back of the room. Grace rubs her bare ring finger. A  BEAT. CAMERA SPIES the ZERO BARRIER CLOCK. Seven hours, 52 minutes, 000 feet drilled.INT. SHUTTLE FREEDOMChick, Bear, and Max prepare to disembark, donning helmet and glove assemblies,  clicking neck and wrist seals into locking position. Harry comes into the cockpit. Watts is flipping switches and reading gauges.  Sharp's on the radio. A haze fills the cockpit. Watts Engine ignition system isn't responding.INT. N.A.S.A. - MISSION CONTROLINTERCUT - FREEDOM/ MISSION CONTROLGolden What's the problem?Flip Engine ignition. Starting diagnostics.Sharp Houston, I don't know where we are. Tell me how far we overshot Harry's  sweep spot. Advise on currant location, over. Skip motions to Golden and Clark. They hurry over to his console. On Skip's  computer screen is a MAP OF THE ASTEROID containing its geological fault lines. Skip They overshot their landing 26 miles. There's a different fault line, but  it's deeper.Golden How much deeper? Skip Two hundred feet. Golden exchanges a look with Temple. Golden Harry, your fault line's fifty yards off the starboard side. INT. SHUTTLE FREEDOM Harry stalks to the rear. Harry Rockhound. Rockhound Yes, sir. Harry I'm gonna get you some surface samples and you're gonna tell me what I'm  up against. Rockhound Rocks are my life. Watts Willie, we might be stuck. Sharp exchanges grim looks with Pitts and Fisk over this bad information. Harry The good news just keeps comin'. Load up, guys. Sharp watches Harry and the guys exit to the rear. EXT. ASTEROID SURFACE - SHUTTLE FREEDOM Freedom's cargo door opens; its RAMP unfolds to the asteroid's surface. HARRY  looks out. Freedom is in a small, cold, dark valley. The asteroid's face is tilted away  from the Earth and Sun. THE MOON is huge on our rear horizon. The place is  eerily calm and tranquil. Harry walks down the ramp onto the asteroid surface. INT. FREEDOM CARGO BAY - INSIDE ARMADILLO Chick, at the Armadillo's controls, engages gears. EXT. ASTEROID SURFACE - DRILLING SITE The Armadillo rumbles out of the cargo bay, carrying Bear, Max, Rockhound and  Pitts over the wheel wells. The Armadillo drives 50 yards from Freedom and parks. The guys hop down, turning  on their PRO-GRAVITY THRUSTERS. Bear begins off-loading 20-foot long DRILLING  PIPES. Harry takes readings from a SEISMIC INSTRUMENT. Pulls out a SOIL SAMPLER, a  small shovel on a telescoping shaft. He digs it in with his boot. Clang. It  doesn't dig in at all. He walks around, stabbing it into the ground. CLANG.  CLANG. Chick exchanges nervous looks with Bear and Max. Harry Bedrock. Whole goddamn place is Bedrock. Harry examines the ground. Not satisfied. He finds a spot he likes; digs an "X"  in the soil with his boot. Harry (cont'd) Here. Fire up the Bad Boy bit. Chick, Max and Bear go into action. Max screws the Bad Boy bit onto the first  drilling pipe. Bear hoists the pipe up to the DRILLING MECHANISM, muscles it  onto the DRILL DRIVE, then clamps it on. Harry plugs a TEE and GOLF BALL into the craggy surface. He waggles his club, a  5-IRON HEAD, screwed onto the soil sampler's shaft. Pitts What's he doing? Chick Wildcatters are superstitious, Colonel. Harry does this every time we  break ground. He swings....WHACK! The ball rockets off the tee and keeps going...and going... Harry HOLE NUMBER 77. Let 'er rip! Chick throws a lever, lowering the BAD BOY BIT into the rocky, icy surface. Down  the drill pipe goes, unimpeded, 10 feet just like that. It suddenly stops. It's  turning, but not drilling. Bear and Max approach the drill hole. Bear What in hell's down there?Harry Chick, bring 'er up!Chick throws it in reverse. The DRILLING ARM reverses out of the hole. The Bad  Boy bot comes up CHEWED TO SHREDS. Harry and the guys examine the drill bit.  Everyone exchanges a worried look. Max The dream. It's my dream. Harry Shut up, Max. (looks at Bear) What's with the look? Get that off your  face. You've seen bits get eaten before. Bear Not after ten feet. Chick The first ten better be the worst ten. Harry Go to the Terminator. Chick grabs Harry's mysterious METAL CASE. Harry pops open the metal case,  revealing THE TERMINATOR, a super high-tech bit. Harry I designed you. I built you. You are the enemy of all subterranean shit.  You are the king. It's showtime. Harry passes it to Bear, who screws it onto the drilling pipe, Rockhound scoops  up a COLLECTION OF DOWNHOLE ROCK CHIPS. Harry (cont'd) Hit it, Chick. The DRILL PIPE turns. Sediment comes WHOOSHING out of the hole and -- THE DRILL  PIPE descends like a bitch. INT. FREEDOM Sharp, Watts, Pitts and Fisk have a PANEL removed, exposing the guts of  Freedom's wiring and components. Watts and Sharp are inside the panel, scrunched  against the fuselage wall, unbolting a large COMPONENT. Watts hands Pitts and  Fisk a SMALLER COMPONENT. Watts Unbolt the housing. There and there. INT. ARMADILLO The rock CHIPS spew into the COLLECTOR in front of ROCKHOUND. Harry looks on. Harry What do you make of that? Rockhound picks up several chips. Draws them close to his eyes. Rockhound Oh my. Oh my, my, my. This isn't rock. It's uhh, it's uhh,  it's......iron. Harry Iron deposit? Rockhound (shakes head) No. It's been melted. Forged rather. I've only seen  this once - at a volcano in Hawaii. (looks up at Harry) You're drilling into a  big slab of cast-iron, Mr. Stamper. INT. FREEDOM Harry picks up the radio. Harry Give me Dan Golden. INTERCUT - MISSION CONTROL / FREEDOM Golden's handed the phone. Golden Yeah, Harry. What's your situation? INTERCUT - GOLDEN AND TEMPLE IN MISSION CONTROL / HARRY ON FREEDOM Harry Situation? You put me down on the worst possible place on this asteroid.  I'm drillin' into something I shouldn't. The hole just ate one of my  diamond-tipped bits in thirty minutes. That has never happened to me in twenty years. Golden You're forty minutes in. You should be down 150 feet. How far are you? Harry Not far. (beat) Twenty-three feet. CLOSE ON Golden as he looks at Temple. Temple This is an exercise in futility. Golden (to Harry) "Don't tell me what you can't do, tell me what you can."  Remember that, Stamper? Go faster. Harry We will. Golden How? INT. FREEDOM CARGO BAY Sharp and Pitts enter. Fisk hands Sharp the phone. Sharp Sharp, over. PUSH IN on Sharp in EXTREME CLOSE-UP. His jaw tightens. His eyes dart. Sharp (cont'd) Sir, the bird can't fly. Temple (V.O.) Well, you need to get it fixed unless you want to die along with  that asteroid. A LONG PAUSE, as Sharp listens. Sharp :(cont'd) Yes, sir. Temple (V.O.) And, I don't want those drillers knowing about this. They have  enough to worry about just drilling the damn ole. Collinswood (V.O.) Colonel Sharp, this is Chief of Staff Collinswood. Have  Pitts and Fisk prepare to detonate that nuke on the surface. Too many lives are  at stake here. Have them standing by. Sharp On your order sir. EXT. ASTEROID SURFACE - A TINY VALLEY - ESTABLISHING The gnarled WRECK OF SHUTTLE INDEPENDENCE lies below. Twisted metal and cabin  materials strewn everywhere. INT. INDEPENDENCE CRASH SITE CAMERA moves through the wreckage of Independence. Nightmarish. EMERGENCY LIGHTS  still on battery flicker. The shattered windshield; the blown emergency hatch; A  CORPSE lies face down, helmet half on, half off; Independence's huge tubular  NUCLEAR DEVICE. Something moves on the ceiling. REVEAL A.J. hanging upside down, caught in the  twisted fuselage skin. A.J. cuts himself down. He twirls to the ground. Sees  LEGS MOVING UNDER RUBBLE. A.J. throws off the rubble, revealing Lev, dazed but alive. A.J. helps him to  his feet. Lev What happened to the others.... A.J. and Lev move toward the cockpit. A.J. (grabs the radio) Freedom, come in, over. Freedom, come in, over....  Freedom...? (shaking head) It's you and me. A.J. smashes the radio in frustration. EXT. FREEDOM - DRILLING SITE Chick and Bear screw on a new length of drill pipe. Chick engages the gears. The  drill pipe descends. THE TERMINATOR is working. Harry approaches from the  shuttle. Harry How far? Chick Almost 60 feet and startin' to kick ass! Suddenly GRRRR. CLANG. BANG. The drill pipe stops. Harry walks over to the hole. Chick (cont'd) That did not sound good. Harry Increase r.p.m. Chick throws the lever. The drill pipe turns faster, but still doesn,t descend.  Harry and the guys crowd around the drilling hole. Max Freaky, man.Bear I got one of those big-time crappy feelings about this.Harry We gotta get more power down to this bit. (thinks; looks up at Chick)  Full throttle.Chick You sure?Harry Yeah, I'm sure.Chick I don't think she can take it.Harry She's gonna have to.Chick The last time we ran her at full throttle we ripped her up!Harry I don't have time to argue, Chick, now goddamn it, throttle up, or I'll  come up there and do it for you.Chick reluctantly throws the lever to FULL THROTTLE. The TURBINE ENGINE ROARS.  The DRILL PIPE turns faster in the hole. The TURBINE ENGINE is shaking the  Armadillo. The drill pipe is descending again. Suddenly BANG!! The CLUTCH  rupture, spewing the CLUTCH PLATES and GEARS into space.Harry Stop!Chick throws it into reverse. Up comes THE TERMINATOR, CHEWED TO SHREDS. Bear  and Max look at it, then each other. Very worried now. Bear The Terminator's terminated.Chick The clutch is dead.Harry We're goin' to the second rig.Harry stalks off toward the Shuttle.Harry (cont'd) We need the second Armadillo.Sharp We'll bring it out to you.Harry moves to get his pipe tongs. Fisk and Pitts are next to the uncovered  nuclear bomb. Harry looks at the bomb.EXT. FREEDOM - DRILL SITEChick, Bear and Max listen to Harry over the inter-crew link. INTERCUT WITH ABOVE.INT. FREEDOMHarry Why don't we cut to the chase, fellahs? What the fuck is going on with  that other nuke?Harry stares at the nuclear weapon.Sharp Stamper, if you can't drill the hole, we're detonating this thing on the  surface....Chick and the guys eye each other. Harry walks off, pissed off....INT. MISSION CONTROLGolden and Clark are hunched over monitors. Two MILITARY AIDES carrying a  NUCLEAR COMMAND LINK (FOOTBALL) SUITCASE.Golden, alarmed, tries to figure out what they have.INT. SHUTTLE FREEDOMChick, Bear and Max enter through the airlock. Everyone turns and stares at  Sharp. Sharp There's no way in hell you're gonna get that hole dug, and you know it. Harry Well, it wasn't my scientists that told me about the fucking fire  cracker inside the hand story. Are we detonating on the surface or are we gonna  drill? Bear I didn't come up here to die. Chick I say we drill. They say we have until Zero Barrier. Sharp (freaked out) That hole better be dug in two hours, or we're detonating.  Whether you're on this godforsaken rock or not! Harry We're drilling.Harry and his crew file out.INT. MISSION CONTROL - NIGHTGolden (to Temple) What is going on up there?Temple Your drillers aren't doing the job, Dan.Golden After 15 minutes? What do you expect?Temple Golden, we are preparing for surface detonation.Golden A surface detonation isn't going to do it, General. My scientists have  already told you that. It must be detonated inside the asteroid. The alternative  is that the Earth  will be bombarded by smaller matter which will be just as  catastrophic. Temple stares off pensively into the sky.Temple We have a lot better chance of surviving the "smaller matter." The  drillers have two hours (to the Aides) I want you ready on my command. The Adjutants prepare the nuclear command link.Military Adjutant Sir, we have interface with the weapon. Remote detonator  standing by.INT. INDEPENDENCE - CRASH SITELev is sitting on the ground, head in his hands, completely demoralised.Lev I feel like Skywalker Luke when he learn Darth Vader his father. What I  should do?A.J. Get up, we got work to do.Lev A.J., let me cash in my chips.A.J. Lev, we're getting off this rock, if I have to drag your ass the whole  way. (off Lev's look) Now get up! A.J. walks into the Independence cargo bay, detached from the nose section. Then  climbs into Independence's Armadillo. A.J. C'MON LEV, PUT YOUR WEIGHT INTO IT!EXT. INDEPENDENCE - WRECKAGE OF CARGO BAYLev is prying open the cargo bay ramp door (the hydraulics are shot).LEV YOU COME PUSH, YANKEE....INT. - MISSION CONTROLGolden turns to Temple.Golden The asteroid's surface is heating up.Temple What does that mean?Golden It means they may not be able to work on the surface for much longer.  The temperatures will be unbearable. EXT. INDEPENDENCE - WRECKAGE OF CARGO BAY The Armadillo, engine rumbling, is poised to roll Independence's long tubular  NUCLEAR WEAPON which has been ejected with other debris from the broken  fuselage. Lev Wait A.J.! We drive over nuclear weapon and we finished before we started. A.J. So move it. Lev jams a pipe between the ARMING DEVIC and the nuke. As he rolls the nuke  over, the arming device detaches, rips off, and clatters to the ground. INT. MISSION CONTROL Temple Golden, tell your drillers the clock is ticking. I have 6 billion  people down here relying on them! In the b.d. hangs a crayon drawing of sunny day by Temple's daughter. Temple (cont'd) A lot of people are die.... INT. INDEPENDENCE - CRASH SITE The ARMADILLO blasts through the cargo bay door. A.J. and Lev roll off away from  the Independence. A.J. cranes his neck looking out through the Armadillo. A RIDGE with THRE TALL  SPIRES is in the distance, ringed with LIGHT from Freedom's FLOOD LIGHTS. A half-smile from A.J hope. INT. SHUTTLE FREEDOM Sharp comes back from the cockpit, carrying the detonator. Harry's on the phone  to Golden. Harry ...You told me that the only way to deal with this hunk 'o crud is to  get a nuke 1000 feet down. You sticking with that? Golden (V.O.) Firmly. Harry Great. Glad we have that understanding. Golden (V.O.) IF you're gonna pull this off, we have to have a little talk  about time...and temperature. Zero Barrier's in two hours. Harry Wait...wait..what about temperature? When did temperatures come into the  picture? Golden (V.O.) Harry, your suits are good upto 150 degrees Celsius.... Harry And...? How hot is it going to get? Golden (V.O.) We didn't anticipate you being on the asteroid so long. The  clock is ticking... Harry How hot is it going to get?! Golden (V.O.) Three hundred and fifty degrees. Harry's face drops. Harry Thanks for telling us now, Golden....I don't think my bits can handle  those kind of temperatures.... INT. FREEDOM - CARGO BAY Harry clicks off the radio. Watts We've still gotta fix this shuttle, Stamper. Harry Give me some more good news. You've got two new assistants who can fix  your shuttle. Bear, Max, hop to it. There's not a machine they can't fix. We can  handle the hole from here. EXT. SHUTTLE FRREDOMThe airlock opens. Sharp and Pitts are led out by Harry.Harry Colonel Sharp, if we're going to blow this hole, you gotta help ME. I  need some more manpower....EXT. FREEDOM DRILL SITE - MINUTES LATERThe SECOND ARMADILLO rumbles out of Freedom's cargo bay. Chick and the  Roughnecks work like a NASCAR pit crew. Sharp and Pitts lay on their backs  holding down a 1000 pound axle, fighting zero-g. Suddenly, the ground begins to tremble.EXT. ASTEROID SURFACE - FRONT OF "THREE SPIRES RIDGE"A.J.'s ARMADILLO rumbles over a little hill revealing the RIDGE WTH THREE SPIRES  directly in front of them. THE SUN is moving over the asteroid's FAR HORIZON,  causing a "sunrise." It is breathtaking, spiritual...and frighteningly bright. INT. A.J.'S ARMADILLOA.J. Over the hill.Suddenly, the ground under the vehicle shakes sharply. A.J. stops the Armadillo.The ground around the vehicle heaves up and down. The GROUND SPLITS. One  TECTONIC PLATE rises 15 feet in the air. The ground breaks like a wave, up and  down. INT. ASTEROID SURFACE - DRILLING SITEHere, too, the ground shakes. Bear, terrified, drops a DRILL PIPE. Max is shaken  to the ground.Chick is nearly thrown off the Armadillo.Chick Clear the rig!!!Chick jumps down, bouncing. Everybody gets the hell away from the drilling hole.INT. A.J.'S ARMADILLOThe asteroid shakes violently, throwing A.J. and Lev around the cab. ROCKS BANK  down on the Armadillo's top and hood. The ASTEROID SURFACE continues splitting  apart across the slope's fall line. A.J. EARTHQUAKE!The asteroid RUMBLES a few more seconds, then the quake slowly stops. All is  stll. A.J. (cont'd) Let's take a look. EXT. ASTEROID SURFACE Lev gets out; he nervously paces back and forth across the lip of the fissure. Lev This bad. (repeating, mantra) Darth Vader. Darth Vader. A.J. Listen, Mr. Negative. Everyone thinks we're dead. We're not. So, suck it  up. Because if we don't drill that hole, six billion people are going to die.  And I'm not lettin' Harry Stamper get all the freaking credit for saving the world. (firm)  We're gona do this, then we're going home. Lev I l-o-v-e this American confidence! Like John Wayne. (sotto) This why I  suspect you won Cold War. A.J. Hep me get these rocks over there. A.J. and Lev start dragging rocks to use as a "kicker ramp" for the jump. Lev is  oblivious. They pull embedded rock out, revealing DIAMONDS. A.J. holds up a  large chunk. A.J. (cont'd) This outta cut into a sweet wedding ring. Lev (holding chunk) With this I can rebuild my MIR. EXT. ASTEROID SURFACE - DRILLING SITE Chick, Bear, and Max cautiously approach the drill hole. Everything seems okay.  Chick climbs back up to the drill-drive platform. Chick Back to work! Bear grabs the drill pipe and hoists it... back to work. EXT. ASTEROID SURFACE - "THREE SPIRES RIDGE" A.J. is walking along the GAPING, JAGGED FISSURE, 50 feet wide, 50 feet deep,  stretching across the entire slope. Lev This bad, this very bad, very, very bad... A.J. Stick a cork in it, Lev. I'm tryin' to think. A.J. stares at the fissure, his eyes roaming from the fissure...to the  Armadillo...back to the fissure. A.J. (cont'd) Hop on the back. Get our weight distributed better. Lev (uncertain) And why to do this? A.J. Because I'm askin'. And turn your suit's thrusters off. Trust me, okay? A.J. gets in the Armadillo. Lev goes around back, climbs on the REAR BUMPER. He  clicks off his pressure suit's pro-gravity thrusters. Lev Okey-doke. The Armadillo begins backing down the slope. INT. A.J.'S ARMADILLO A.J. throws it in neutral. The Armadillo stops. A.J. Hey, Lev, we're gonna see what this Porche engine can do.... He throws it in drive. The Armadillo lurches ahead. EXT. A.J..'S ARMADILLO - BACK BUMPER The Armadillo's REAR TIRES CHURN FORWARD, slinging rocks and gravel which, in  zero-g, shoot off in a stream into space, never falling. Lev holds on for dear  life. A.J.'S Armadillo churns up the slope like a Bronco 4X4, slinging gravel, heading  for THE JAGGED FISSURE. It FLIES over the fissure's edge as -- INT. A.J.'S ARMADILLO -- A.J. punches the Armadillo's PRO-GRAVITY THRUSTER "OFF" SWITCH. EXT. A.J.'S ARMADILLO - ROOF -- the Armadillo's roof-mounted PRO-GRAVITY THRUSTERS shut down. EXT. ASTEROID - "THREE SPIRES RIDGE" - JAGGED FISSURE The Armadillo, no longer thrusting downwardly, flies across the jagged fissure  in zero-g. The heavy steel vehicle doesn't fall. It ascends, and amazingly,  shoots across the entire 50 foot expanse of jagged fissure. EXT. A.J.'S ARMADILLO - BACK BUMPER Lev looks down. The FISSURE passes beneath him, then SOLID GROUND again. They've  cleared the fissure....but they're not coming down. Lev A.J., up is bad! Down! INT. A.J.'S ARMADILLO A.J. punches the PRO-GRAVITY THRUSTER "START" SWITCH. Nothing.... EXT. A.J.'S ARMADILLO - BACK BUMPER The thruster nozzles SPUTTER, but no thrust. The Armadillo is 50 feet off the  ground and still ascending...into outer space. Lev, his next stop being Planet  Mars, panics. He climbs the roof and peers inside the front windshield, POUNDING  ON THE WINDSHIELD. Lev Down! Not up! Up is bad! Down! INT. A.J.'S ARMADILLO The Armadillo continues lifting into space, from which there is no return. A.J.  toggles the "start" switch. The swtich's INDICATOR LIGHT FLICKERS. A.J. HOLD ON, LEV, I GOT HER WORKIN'!! EXT. A.J.'S ARMADILLO Not quite. Only the right-front and right-rear THRUSTER NOZZLES fire, pushing  the right side downward, rolling the Armadillo over on its side. Lev, on the  bumper, clings to the rear-mounted TOW WINCH AND CABLE ASSEMBLY. Suspended in zero-g, on its side and in mid-air, the Armadillo is pushed by  thrusters, tires-first, against the SHEER, 90 DEGREE CLIFF FACE next to the  slope. All four Armadillo tires slam against the cliff. The Armadillo bounces  off. Lev, grabbing the Armadillo's TOWING CABLE, flies off the rear. The cable spools  out and LEV, hanging on for all he's worth, SLAMS against the cliff face and  descends.... INT. A.J.'S ARMADILLO A.J., lying sideways, keeps toggling the thruster START SWITCH. The indicator  light finally FLASHES "IN" and A.J. rams it into drive -- EXT. ASTEROID SURFACE - CLIFF FACE / ARMADILLO -- the Armadillo, all four thrusters now working, drives sideways across the  cliff face dragging Lev, who bounces against the cliff face and gradually falls,  until he's bouncing on the asteroid surface. The Armadillo finally falls down the cliff face and skids to a stop. INT. A.J.'S ARMADILLO A.J., shaken, takes a deep breath and gets out. EXT. A.J.'S ARMADILLO - REAR A.J. walks to the rear. Lev splayed out 50 feet from the back of the Armadillo,  covered in asteroid surface dirt and grime, looks up at him. Lev Very bad idea, A.J. EXT. FREEDOM - DRILLING SITE Harry orders his crew to start the drill up. The men drill a shitload of feet in  record time. They finally burst through the rock and hit easy sediment. The asteroid is spinning toward sunlight. Here, too, there is a sunrise. Bear's  face sweats inside the helmet. Chick's vision begins to blur. Tito takes a seat  on a nearby rock, exhausted. Chick Mutha...it's getting warm. Bear (worried) We got that sunrise, Harry. These bits are gonna fry up...... Suddenly the TRANSMISSION LINKAGE in the Armadillo BLOWS. Harry Goddamn it! (thinks) We'' take the tranny from the other rig! And if you  wanna complain about the heat, go to some other fucking asteroid....Toughen up. Sharp (to Roughnecks) Let's move it.....let's go, guys. EXT. ASTEROID SURFACE - DRILLING SITE Chick and Bear yank the detached good TRANSMISSION HOUSING from inside Armadillo  2 and carry it across to Armadillo 1. INT. ARMADILLO 1 - CABIN Max finishes unbolting the BROKEN TRANSMISSION HOUSING. He passes it to Chick  who dumps it on the surface. Sharp and Truman work with Bear and Chick who feed  in the good transmission housing. Max presses the airlock. The doors close and the cabin pressurises. Max clicks  off his helmet. He begins installing the transmission housing and the linkage. EXT. ARMADILLO 1 Chick and Bear, atop the drilling platform, begin installing the clutch plates  and transmission linkage. Harry Move guys, move it..... Bolting, bolting, bolting, connecting, connecting..... INT. N.A.S.A. - MISSION CONTROL - DAY Skip is analysing the asteroid's THERMAL READINGS. A MULTI-COLORED THERMAL IMAGE  MAP shows most of the asteroid is GREEN (no heat), but around the chosen landing  site are numerous RED SPOTS (heat). Skip Look at these thermals. This is BEFORE sunlight hits the drill site.  She's really heating up.... INT. ARMADILLO Max is bolting. The DOWNHOLE PRESSURE GAUGE NEEDLE jolts. Max doesn't see it. He  keeps working. EXT. DRILLING SITE Harry's watching the work. Out of the corner of his eye... THE DRILLING ARM  KICKS. Harry turns to it. Nothing happens. His eyes move back to Chick and Bear,  then back to the drilling arm. It kicks up again. Just a few inches. Harry Chick. Unbolt the tranny. Chick We just put it in. Harry Do it. NOW. Chick, confused, starts unbolting the tranny. Suddenly the well kicks hard, one  foot high. Chick's jostled. BANG!! The RIG KICKS HARD, THREE FEET, bucking Chick  off. Chick scrambles back up to the drill platform. The ground shakes. a terrific TREMBLER rumbles through the valley. Harry, Max  and Bear cling to the side of the Armadillo. Chick's nearly thrown off. Harry (cont'd) GET THE TRANNY OUTTA THERE! WE LOSE THE TRANNY, WE'RE DEAD  MEN!! Harry climbs up to the DRILL PLATFORM. The GROUND SHAKES violently, throwing  harry and Chick around the top of the drill platform. Harry Max, you gotta get those bolts undone! INT. ARMADILLO - REAR COMPARTMENT Max is furiously unbolting the TRANNY HOUSING. There are two bolts to go. He  ratches one off.... Max I'm doin' it, I'm doin' it. Max gets to the last bolt.... Harry (V.O.) Go Max, go Max, get the last bolt....! Max gets the last bolt undone. Max DONE!! EXT. ARMADILLO - DRILL PLATFORM Chick and Harry pull the unfastened TRANNY HOUSING out of the Armadillo as -- INT. ARMADILLO - REAR COMPARTMENT Max stares at the DOWNHOLE PRESSURE GAUGES, groping through the compartment for  his helmet. Max Pressure's through the roof! Shit, where's my helmet....!? EXT. ASTEROID SURFACE - DRILLING SITE Suddenly the DRILLING ARM jolts upward, lifting the ARMADILLO SIX FEET off the  ground. Chick She's gonna blow! Harry MAX, GET THE HELL OUT OF THERE!!! INT. ARMADILLO - REAR COMPARTMENT Max is thrown against a wall of the rear compartment. EXT. ASTEROID SURFACE - DRILLING SITE The DRILLING ARM KICKS again, six feet this time, tossing the Armadillo over on  two wheels. INT. ARMADILLO - REAR COMPARTMENT Max is SLAMMED against the wall again. Terrified, he grabs for his helmet and  locks the NECK SEALS. EXT. ASTEROID SURFACE - DRILLING SITE A DEEP RUMBLING emanates from the drilling hole, coming seemingly from the  ASTEROID'S CORE. Harry gets to his feet and SLAMS HIS FIST against the  Armadillo's SIDE. Harry CLEAR THE RIG! Everyone scatters.... INT. ARMADILLO - REAR COMPARTMENT Max, helmet on, is frantically scrambling to the airlock, but there's no time... Max I CAN'T DEPRESSURIZE!! EXT. ASTEROID SURFACE - DRILLING SITE WIth an awesome force, the DRILLING HOLE BLOWS. The DRILLING PIPE EXPLODES  upward, lifting the DRILLING ARM and the ENTIRE ARMADILLO VEHICLE with it. THE  ENTIRE RIG blows upward into space. INT. ARMADILLO - REAR COMPARTMENT Max punches the DOOR LOCK without depressurising the cabin and is sucked  violently out of the rear compartment into open space. EXT. SPACE OVER ASTEROID SURFACE FIFTY FEET OF DRILL PIPE, THE DRILLING ARM, and the entire ARMADILLO RIG with  MAX trailing, BLOWS into space. MAX'S FACE is a screaming mask of terror and  confusion, reaching out, but there's no one to catch him....Harry and the guys  watch in helpless silence as the drill rig and Max ascend into space. Chick Max.....No. No. No. INT. N.A.S.A. - MISSION CONTROL - DAY Skip motions to Golden. He comes over. Skip They just lost the rig. The hole blew out. Golden takes the news stoically. He thinks, looking across the room at Temple.  He looks at the clock. ONE HOUR AND FORTY MINUTES TO GO. Golden Say nothing. EXT. FREEDOM - DRILLING SITE Silence. A stark tableau. Harry and the men standing there, just watching.  Devastated, confused, in shock. This is a total catastrophe. The mission is  over. Sharp nods to Pitts. Pitts picks up the REMOTE NUCLEAR DETONATOR. Sharp Stamper, you ready to blow this? Let's get outta here...! Harry ignores him. He won't accept defeat. Harry Chick, get your butt over here. Chick drags his ass over to Harry. Chick Yeah. Harry We're gonna fix this - make it work. If we weld those two together and  go in one speed.... Chick Harry.... Harry Get your ass up here! Chick doesn't move. The two men stare at each other. Chick I've been with you fourteen years. I've never said this to you, never  thought I would. It's over. Chick walks off toward the shuttle. Bear joins him. Harry, atop of the Armadillo, looks around. His head drops...he's burning up.  His fist clenches the HALF MEDALLION in his hand (where is it - clipped to suit  - in pouch of suit?) His eyes shut tightly. He is going to will victory from  defeat. He will not give up. CAMERA'S at low angle, giving Harry a larger-than-life look. Harry hears something. A LOW RUMBLE. It is confusing. It sounds like......an  ARMADILLO ENGINE. Harry opens his eyes. He slowly turns and looks -- ACROSS THE VALLEY - ON THE DISTANT RIDGE - The front bumper of A.J.'s Armadillo  inches over the ridge crest. HARRY, for the first time on the asteroid, smiles. Miracles do happen. HARRY CHICK...BEAR!!! Chick and Bear about ready to enter the Freedom's airlock, stop and turn. They  see A.J.'S ARMADILLO ROARING down the hillside onto the drilling site. EXT. FREEDOM - DRILLING SITE A.J. and Lev roar up to the drilling site in the Independence's Armadillo. They  come down a hill spectacularly without brakes and it piles into shit, knocking  things down. Lev and A.J. bounce up to Chick and Bear.....hugs and high-fives go around. Bear A.J. Frost. Back from the dead. Chick Now you can die with us. Harry All the bits are gone, A.J. I've been inventing drill bits for  twenty-five years and I don't know what to use. A.J. You wouldn't happen to need a diamond tipper, would you? A.J. pulls out the POUCH OF DIAMONDS, found on the ridge. Harry Boys, we're back in business! INT. N.A.S.A. - MISSION CONTROL - DAY Golden stares at the wall. Grace is curled up on a chair in the corner. Harry (V.O.) We have good news folks. A.J. and the Russian just showed up. No  other survivors. Grace shuts her eyes, smiling. Sobbing. EXT. SHUTTLE FREEDOM - AFTERNOON Chick shuts off an ARC WELDER and moves aside, letting Harry view a DRILL BIT  with A.J.'S DIAMONDS mounted on the top like diamonds in a ring setting. Harry  and the guys smile. EXT. ASTEROID SURFACE - DRILLING SITE The NEWLY CREATED DRILL BIT lowers into the drilling hole and begins turning. It  CHEWS into the shit down below, WHIRRING and RIPPING and......descends quickly. Chick It worked! She's goin' through her like a hot knife through butter! BEGIN MONTAGEThe men drill a shitload of feet in very little time. It is a feverish pace,  their teamwork perfectly timed, as if choreographed. QUICK CUTS--A.J. working the levers on the drill platform. --Hydraulic tongs clamping, unclamping on pipe. --Bear hoisting pipe. --Chick and Bear waiting with connecting pipe. --The drilling arm going up and down. --Newly connected drill pipes descending into the hole. --Harry watching, shouting orders. --There are serious wind storms, giving Harry, A.J., and the other guys  problems. So severe they knock guys across the asteroid. END MONTAGE INT. MISSION CONTROL Skip looks at thermal readings with alarm. Skip Dan, the surface is heating up! EXT. ASTEROID SURFACE - DRILLING SITE Harry Time, A.J. A.J. One hour. Harry Distance, Chick. Chick Eight hundred and twenty feet, Harry. Harry We gotta do 180 in thirty minutes. Chick Downhole pressure's goin' through the roof! Harry Stop! Shut down. Chick throws the lever. The drill pipe stops turning. A.J. Harry, we can't stop. Harry Got to, kid. No choice. A.J. Drill right through the pressure to pay dirt. Harry That's crazy. A.J. Sometimes crazy works. Harry and A.J. stare at each other. Harry Chick, A.J.'s callin' this one. A.J. Full throttle! Chick throws the lever. The DRILL PIPE descends on full throttle. INT. N.A.S.A. - MISSION CONTROL - DAY All the TECHNICIANS stand, staring at the CENTRAL BOARD, where a graph shows the  drilling progress. Flip Nine hundred and eighty...Nine ninety...they're into the fault, they're  doing it. Golden looks at the CLOCK. THIRTY-ONE MINUTES TO GO. He twists his wedding ring. Golden Now just get the thing in the hole. All the TECHNICIANS stare at their monitors. The atmosphere is thick with  tension. Clark chews his nails. EXT. ASTEROID SURFACE - DRILLING SITE The HOLE'S finished, the drill pipe's been pulled; A.J. drives the ARMADILLO  safely away from the site. Watts and Sharp roll a GURNEY containing the NUCLEAR DEVICE (a massive stainless  steel tube) down Freedom's cargo bay RAMP toward the hole. Harry and all the  Roughnecks stand by the HOLE. Harry One thousand feet. Chick (smiles) Thousand and three, Harry. With a half hour to spare. Sharp and Watts roll the NUCLEAR DEVICE GURNEY past the Roughnecks up to the  drilling hole. Harry Get the pipe and bit outta there. Chick gets inside the Armadillo. Grabs the stick-shift. Compresses the clutch  and throws it in reverse. THE DRILL PIPE begins to reverse out of the hole. INT. N.A.S.A. - MISSION CONTROL Skip She's gettin' hotter! Gotta mean gas - methane, helium, probably water  vapor. EXT. ASTEROID SURFACE - DRILLING SITE The DRILL PIPE turns sloely, retracting from the hole. Bear, atop the drilling  platform, is working on something with a wrench. Bear accidently drops his wrench. It falls on the turbine's RIPPED MESH  PROTECTIVE SCREEN and hangs there. Bear looks at it nervously and reaches...THE  WRENCH falls into the turbine spinning at six-thousand r.p.m. With a GRINDING  SQUEAL, the wrench shrapnel blows out of the turbine and -- THE DRILLING ARM reverses speeds and VIOLENTLY THRUSTS THE PIPE FORWARD,  buckling it. A piece of the drill string is BLOWN OUT, smashing into Sharp's  helmet, spider-webbing his faceshield. He's out cold. Harry and the guys dive away from the hole. Chick, confused, works the clutch  furiously to no avail. THE DRILLING ARM RAMS THE PIPE back down the hole, where  it BUCKLES, BENDS AND BREAKS IN HALF. Tito tends to Sharp..his face has lost all color. Harry approaches the hole.  Looks down. FIFTY FEET DOWN IS A MESS OF MANGLED PIPE, blocking the hole. INT. N.A.S.A. - MISSION CONTROL - DAY Golden continues looking at the THERMAL IMAGING. Golden Harry, c'mon, we got thirty minutes. EXT. ASTEROID SURFACE - DRILLING SITE Harry Well, Dan, you're just going to have to goddamn wait 'CAUSE WE GOTTA BIG  PROBLEM UP HERE IN HELL. (turns to guys) Somebody's gotta go down there. Chick Don't look at me. Bear I can't even get my foot in there. Harry turns and eyes A.J.    A.J. stares down the hole. Harry Do or die, kid. CLOSE ON A.J. as he peers into the hole. A.J. Something I've been meaning to talk to you about. When this is all over  and we're back home, I'd like to marry your daughter.... Harry stares at A.J., the look priceless. A.J. (cont'd) Maybe I'll ask her again later.... Harry turns around..looking up at the star-filled sky. A.J. walks over to  Sharp...who's coming to now. Harry (to Golden) Oh yeah, Golden? Golden (V.O.) Go ahead, Harry. Harry Your shuttle pilot just took a nasty shot from a drill string.... Golden Is he alright? Harry I hope so, he's gotta get us off this shithole. INT. DRILLING HOLE A.J, tied to a SAFETY TETHER, comes down the hole with a HAND-HELD CUTTER and a  LENGTH OF ROPE. He reaches the obstruction. The DRILL PIPE has been mashed,  bent, buckled. Severed ends stab into the sides of the hole. A.J. starts cutting  with the hand-held cutter. EXT. DRILLING HOLE The guys stand there, watching. Nothing happens. Agonising seconds pass.  Suddenly the ground rumbles. Another EARTHQUAKE. It slowly starts to subside. INT. DRILLING HOLE The hole shakes. A.J. freezes, sweating. Harry (V.O.) A.J., we need you. I need everything you got. A.J. wrestles with the severed pipes, untangling them, tying the ROPE to them.  He gives the rope a tug. Chick and Bear, above, pull up the broken pipes. EXT. DRILLING HOLE Sharp Enter interface with the weapon. Pitts clicks a six digit code into a DIGITAL PAD on the DEVICE'S REMOTE  DETONATOR. Pitts Device armed. The NUCLEAR DEVICE has a small SLED with RATCHET WHEELS to let it slide down the  hole slowly. Sharp and Watts lift one end of the gurney. THE NUCLEAR DEVICE  slides off the gurney toward the MOUTH OF THE DRILLING HOLE. NT. N.A.S.A. - MISSION CONTROL - DAY The thermal and seismic sensors BEING TRANSMITTED FROM FREEDOM START GOING CRAZY Skip It's a mess up there...! EXT. ASTEROID SURFACE - DRILLING SITE ANOTHER TEMBLOR hits, the worst yet, 9.7 on Earth. Watts falls, losing her grip  on the gurney; her end collapses. THE NUCLEAR DEVICE lurches sideways off the  gurney and rolls away from the drilling hole...... The NUCLEAR DEVICE slides off the gurney.... INT. DRILLING HOLE A.J. experiences the DEEPEST, MOST SINISTER RUMBLE YET, emanating form the  asteroid's core, something from hell. There's a horrendous WHOOSHING SOUND. A WINDSTORM OF PEBBLE, like a blowing tornado, whooshes up from the hole,  smashing into A.J.'S FACESHIELD. EXT. ASTEROID SURFACE - DRILLING SITE Everyone whirls around in the sound's direction as -- ACROSS THE VALLEY FLOOR - A 100 FOOT METHANE GEYSER erupts, spewing a PLUME OF  HIDEOUS GREENISH GAS into space. Then another 200 FEET HIGH! Another 500 FEET  HIGH! The ASTEROID has become alive. The geyser's eruptions loosen the  asteroid's surface material and -- INT. DRILLING HOLE A.J. THIS SUCKS.... A.J. is whooshed violently out of the hole. EXT. ASTEROID SURFACE - DRILLING SITE PEBBLES AND HOT STEAM BLASTS from the drilling hole. Everyone recoils.... Harry Get back!! A.J. shoots out of the pipe, tethering the SAFETY LINE behind him, blowing into  space. The safety tether snaps and RIPS off. A.J. is 70 feet off the surface.  Harry dives for his ripped tether. Catching it, inches before A.J.'s thrown into  space. Harry and Bear grab A.J.'s safety tether and begin to pull him down. Chick  stares at something O.S., his jaw drops. Chick This thing definitely doesn't like us. CHUNKS OF THE ASTEROID, some as big as trucks, others as big as houses, dislodge  from the ASTEROID SURFACE and, slowly at first, but with terrifyingly increasing  speed and momentum..... .... they start rolling. HARRY AND THE GUYS just stand there, disbelieving what they're seeing. On come the ROCKS and ICE CHUNKS, rolling. As they hit smaller surface rocks,  they take little hops, and bigger hops, until they are BOUNDING across the  surface. Harry lashes A.J.'s tether to the Armadillo. Harry and the guys run for their lives. In the midst of this -- -- A 500 FOOT HIGH GEYSER erupts next to the drilling hole. Pitts gets blasted  by the geyser, which blows him across the asteroid floor, SLAMMING him into the  parked Armadillo. A BOULDER rolls at Pitts and squashes him against the  ARMADILLO , killing him. A 20 FOOT ICE BOULDER rolls toward A.J.'s SAFETY TETHER. A.J., suspended 70 feet off the asteroid surface, looks down at the ONCOMING ICE  BOULDER. A.J., terrified, tries to unbuckle the tether, but he can't in time. The boulder hits A.J.'s tether, rolling over it, flattening it to the asteroid  surface, which causes -- --A.J., with a JOLT, to be yanked toward the surface. A.J. scrambles with his  safety harness. Chick, next to the Armadillo, sees A.J.'s plight. He dives inside, engages the  gears. The Armadillo ROARS toward the oncoming ICE BOULDER. A.J., terrified, continues to descend as -- Chick, driving the Armadillo, rams the ICE BOULDER just as it's about to roll  over A.J. The boulder hops up, SMASHES down on the Armadillo's hood, CRUSHING  the steel compartment around Chick, and gently rolls over onto -- A.J., who log-rolls under the Armadillo, as the ice boulder WHOMPS down and  keeps rolling. THE NUCLEAR DEVICE is rolling across the asteroid's surface. Pebbles and debris  CLANGING off the device's REMOTE DETONATOR..... Harry bounds toward the Armadillo. THE LARGEST, JAGGED ROCK rolls at the  vehicle. Harry's caught. There's no place to turn. The rocks rolls straight at  him. Twenty feet....10 feet....Harry FALLS heavily to the ground. Harry gets up and dives down inside a fox-hoe-sized INDENTATION in the asteroid  surface.... The BOULDER rolls right over him. Finally the quake stops. The situation stabilises. Everyone gets to their feet.  Harry and A.J. get up. They look off at -- The MASSIVE BOULDERS rolling away in the distance, smashing into other rock  formations. Harry picks up a DIAMOND. It SPARKLES in the light. Chick grabs one. Holds it  up, marvelling at it. The MASSIVE BOULDERS rolling away in the distance,  smashing into other rock formations. Harry picks up a DIAMOND. It SPARKLES in the light. Chick grabs one. Holds it  up, marvelling at it. Sharp, with bruises on his face, looks through his cracked faceshield down at  Pitt's corpse. Sharp He's dead. Harry Put it down, Chick. Chick tosses down the diamond and follows Harry. Everyone checks themselves.  Looks at others. There's no talk, no time to lose. They reconvene, by the  NUCLEAR DEVICE. It's dented. The alumniium gurney is smashed, mangled. Sharp Three on that side, the rest over here. They hoist the nuclear device and carry it to the drilling hole. They plug one  end of the nuke in the drilling hole and lift the other. The NUKE begins to  insert down the hole. Suddenly Sharp tries to grab a TUBULAR PIECE OF ALUMINIUM  from the broken gurney. Sharp (cont'd) Stop...! -- rams it into the wheels of the NUKE'S RATCHET-WHEEL DELIVERY SLED. The nuke  stops inserting into the hole. Sharp inspects the REMOTE DETONATOR. Sharp (cont'd) The remote's shot. (looks up) It'll have to be manually  detonated. Chick What's that mean? Pause. Harry Means one of us ain't leaving. INT. N.A.S.A. - MISSION CONTROL Golden addresses the room. Golden The situation: the hole is drilled but the remote detonator is not  functional. One of the crew is going to stay behind and....(deep breath)  ...manually detonate the device. Golden looks over at Grace. She is stunned. The news is just sinking in. Golden Don't stay for this. Grace I'm not leaving. Temple In 18 minutes we will be at Zero Barrier. (to Grace) Your father better  be a man of his word. INT. SHUTTLE FREEDOM - CABIN PAN FROM HARRY...to A.J. to...to Chick....to Lev...to Bear. Everyone is huddled  inside the cabin. The SMASHED REMOTE DETONATOR, a 2000-foot spool-drum of ELECTRICAL WIRE and a  KNIFE sit on the table. Sharp (stoically) I'd trade places with any one of you. But we need two people  to fly this mother back. So, we either all stay or you guys draw. Sharp raises a BUNDLE OF ELECTRICAL WIRES in his hand. The crew's going to draw  straws. The highest tension yet. No one breathes, no one moves. Sharp Who's first? (no response) Clockwise then. Sharp holds the WIRE STRAND BUNDLE in front of Lev. Lev stares at it. He smiles nervously and reaches...and draws. The strand is  LONG. Lev exhales. Next... Chick, Chick stares at the bundle, sweating. He grabs a strand. Pulls slowly.  LONG. He exhales. Next... Bear. He stares at the bundle, thinking, choosing. He grabs and pulls quickly,  decisively. LONG. Two strands remain, and two men, Harry and A.J. It's A.J.'s  turn.... A.J. stares at the wire strands - not a bundle now. A.J. shifts in his chair.  The matter will be decided on this last pull. A.J. looks at Harry. They lock  eyes. Harry Your turn. A.J. I ain't gonna draw against you Harry. Chick (starts to get up) I can't watch this. Harry (stern, hard) Sit down, Chick. Chick sits down. Harry looks at A.J. Harry Draw. A.J. stares at the two strands. Gets used to the idea. He reaches and begins to  pull. Stops. Chooses the other strand. And pulls. It is SHORT. A.J. stares at  the SHORT STRAND OF WIRE in his hand. We see a fear on his face that gets  covered by a small smile. A.J. Well, I guess I won. Now I'm the guy who gets to save the Earth. A.J. takes off the half medallion. Harry takes off his half medallion. A.J. We said we'd join these after we drilled the hole. It just ain't gonna be  on Earth. They slide the two halves together to make a whole. Harry and A.J. exchange a  long look. INT. SHUTTLE FREEDOM - COCKPIT Watts flips switches. Suddenly the jets ignite! Watts Ignition! She's started! INT. N.A.S.A. - MISSION CONTROL Skip turns to Golden excitedly. Skip They got Freedom goin'! INT. SHUTTLE FREEDOM - CARGO BAY A.J. and Harry stand in the airlock, helmets on. Harry carries the two thousand  foot spool-drum of wire. The airlock opens. Harry and A.J. descend onto the  asteroid. INT. N.A.S.A. - MISSION CONTROL Golden looks at the CLOCK running down - ten thirty-three... Ten thirty-two... Ten thirty-one... EXT. ASTEROID SURFACE - DRILLING SITE Harry and A.J. approach the NUCLEAR DEVICE. It's half in, half out of the  drilling hole, as they left it. Harry and A.J. alligator-clamp the end of the  wire spool-drum onto the nuke's DETONATION DEVICE. A.J You never answered my question. They finish attaching the wire. A.J. pulls the piece of TUBULAR ALUMINIUM out of the nuke's ratchet wheel  delivery sled. The NUKE descends downhole, slowly spooling out wire from the  SPOOL DRUM. A.J. About Grace, Harry. (laughs nervously) I know it ain't gonna happen now,  but....if things were different...What would you say...? Harry walks back toward Freedom. A.J. follows. Harry I always wanted a son. And if I had....I'd want him to be like you. Harry hands him the pipe section. Harry (cont'd) You're going to need some magic in the world. You can marry  her, A.J. A.J. laughs, being told at this dire time in his life. He looks at Harry with a  hint of bittersweet smile. A.J. Mean "could have...?" Harry No. Go home, A.J. Marry Grace. A.J. I'm not going home Harry. With one hand, Harry stabs the airlock door, and then with a small pipe clamp,  rips A.J.'s air tubes off. Harry It's my hole, I drilled it, and I'm staying with it till the end. Harry grabs him, throws his kicking, screaming body into the airlock. A.J. is  choking. Harry (cont'd) She's always going to be my little girl. The door shuts automatically. Harry is now alone. INT. SHUTTLE FREEDOM - AIRLOCK A.J. explodes from the airlock into the cabin. A.J. Goddamn it, HARRY....! A.J. lunges for the airlock. Sharp grabs A.J. with his good arm, helped by Bear..holding him back. A.J. LET ME GO....LET ME GO....!! SHARP YOU HAVE NO OXYGEN...YOUR TUBES ARE RIPPED...LET IT GO....!! A.J., sobbing, furious, POUNDS on the AIRLOCK WINDOW, staring at Harry outside. A.J. (pounding on the door) HARRY!! Harry turns and walks back to the drilling hole. Sharp looks at him. Sharp This guy really is a hero.... INT. N.A.S.A. - MISSION CONTROL REAR ROOM Skip Director? It's Mr. Stamper. He wants to talk to his daughter. Golden looks over at Grace. Their eyes meet.... A N.A.S.A. Tech hands Grace a mike and exits. She stares at the static on the  monitor. Harry's face fades in and out. Grace knows something is very wrong from  her father's strained, tired face. She forces a smile. INTERCUT with Harry  inside the ArmadilloGrace Daddy. Harry (V.O.) Grace. I...(sighs) This is so hard for me. I don't have.... Tears start to well up in her eyes. Harry (V.O.) (cont'd) ...I just....want you to know how much I love you. Grace I'm so proud of you, Daddy. Grace wipes a tear from her face. Harry (V.O.) (looking at Earth) It's so beautiful up here. So pure. (swallows  hard) I remember something I read once..."The world is a fine place...and worth  fighting for."  looks at Earth, smiles) Gracie, I'm just an iron-ass-warrior doin'  what's best. (pause) Take care of A.J. I'll look in on you from time to time.... Harry pulls off the video link. Grace's monitors go black. Grace touches the  monitor, as Harry's face fades away. Her knees buckle. She sinks to the floor. EXT. ASTEROID SURFACE - DRILLING SITE Harry looks at the detonator in hand. Harry You have three minutes and I'm not waiting. INT. SHUTTLE FREEDOM - COCKPIT Watts and Sharp settle into the cockpit and begin flipping switches. EXT. ASTEROID SURFACE - DRILLING SITE Harry, all business now, situates himself next to the nuke. The manual detonator  in his hand. Harry Let's go, Sharp. Get the hell off this rock. I WILL push this button. INT. SHUTTLE FREEDOM - COCKPIT Sharp hits the THRUSTER SWITCH. EXT. FREEDOM The booster rockets SPUTTER and die. INT. FREEDOM - COCKPIT Nothing happens. He HITS it again. Again. Watts unbuckles and goes to the ENGINE IGNITION SYSTEM. The timer continues counting down to one thirty-four... One thirty-three... One thirty-two... INT. N.A.S.A. - MISSION CONTROL Skip The thrusters are down! 32 seconds. EXT. ASRTEROID SURFACE - DRILLING SITE Harry looks irritably at the SHUTTLE'S SPUTTERING THRUSTER. Harry Sharp, you better get those engines goin'. INT. SHUTTLE FREEDOM - SERVICE HATCH The timer counts 23...22...21. Watts is frantically adjusting the FUEL MODULATOR'S VALVES... Sharp Watts, we gotta get that thing going! Watts THE INTERIORR VALVE'S STUCK! Lev crowds in next to her. Watts (cont'd) (to Lev) BACK OFF!! YOU DON'T KNOW THIS COMPONENT!! Lev backs off. Keeps looking at the modulator, curiously. IN THE COCKPIT - the Timer reads 10...9...9...SHARP keeps hitting the THRUSTER  SWITCH. INT. N.A.S.A. - MISSION CONTROL Golden paces. Technicians stare pessimistically at consoles. Golden Stamper, you gave me your word. You have five seconds. PRESS THE  BUTTON! INT. SHUTTLE FREEDOM - COCKPIT Temple (V.O.) Sharp, I NEED A SOLUTION! BACK TO LEV , Watts and Sharp. Sharp Sir with all due respect, if I knew the PROBLEM, I'd give a SOLUTION,  SIR..! Temple Well, find a solution!! EXT. ASTEROID SURFACE - DRILLING SITE Harry is looking at the shuttle. Close-Up on finger ready to pull the trigger. Harry SHARP, WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING? GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE! Harry's eyes close as the clock counts -10...-11...-12. Temple STAMPER DETONATE! INT. SHUTTLE FREEDOM - SERVICE HATCH Lev (to Watts) WE HAVE JUST THE SAME SHIT PART IN RUSSIA!! SOMETIMES IT NOT  WORK SO WE HIT!! YOU GOTTA GIVE IT WHACK!! WHACK!! HIT!! Watts WHAT!!? Lev GIVE IT WHACK!! Lev grab a wrench and goes ballistic. SMASHES it down on the component, AGAIN  and AGAIN and AGAIN. We hear JET FUEL COURSE through the component and -- -- SHARP hits the IGNITION SWITCH and the THRUSTERS FIRE. EXT. ASTEROID SURFACE - SHUTTLE FREEDOM Shuttle Freedom lifts off the asteroid on full REVERSE THRUSTER POWER, like a  Harrier jet. It ascends backwards, falling away from the asteroid, away from  Earth, toward the Moon. Harry is a solitary figure, left behind. INT. SHUTTLE FREEDOM - COCKPIT Sharp, Watts, A.J., Lev and Bear watch Harry becoming smaller and smaller on the  asteroid. EXT. ASTEROID SURFACE - DRILLING SITE Harry takes his final breaths. Looks around. Harry All right, son-of-a-bitch, it's just you and me.... Harry's FINGER compresses on the detonator button.... A GEYSER OF STEAM next to the drilling hole BLAT up to five feet away. A SECOND  GEYSER, directly underneath Harry, BLOWS. The MANUAL DETONATOR flies from  Harry's hand as he's knocked backward -- -- into the drilling hole! INT. DRILLING HOLE Harry falls ass-first down the hole, his PRO-GRAVITY THRUSTERS pushing him  further and further down. Harry's FINGERS GOUGE into the walls of the hole. He  scissors his legs. HIS BOOTS scrape the sides. He begins climbing up out of the  hole....We see that his air has been punctured. He's losing pressure. He starts  to choke. INT. SHUTTLE FREEDOM They've ascended to a safe distance. Sharp Something's wrong. A.J. Don't worry. He'll come through. Sharp We should have detonation by now. A.J. Harry doesn't fail. Sharp We're going back. A.J. What? Sharp Every life, that you know, will die....unless that nuke is detonated. EXT. ASTEROID SURFACE - DRILLING SITE HARRY'S GLOVED HANDS grip the sides of the hole. Then his helmet appears. He  looks across the asteroid surface to the MANUAL DETONATOR, lying in the dirt. The nuke has now descended several hundred feet into the hole. INT. SHUTTLE FREEDOM WE MOVE DOWN the faces of the terrified men, looking down on the craggy  asteroid.... Chick (unsure) That means we might die too.... Sharp Watts, prepare for re-landing. NOW!! Watts, frozen with fear, begins hitting switches. EXT. ASTEROID SURFACE - DRILLING SITE Harry crawls out of the hole. The nuke is at the bottom of the hole. Harry runs, gasping for air, bounding  across the asteroid surface, dodging geysers and rolling debris. He dives for  the detonator. He stares long and hard. A TEAR wells in his eye. His finger  presses on the detonator...sweat pours over his face.... Harry I beat you. SLOW-MOTION CLOSE-UP on Harry's finger as it presses the detonator. EXT. SPACE The nuclear device DETONATES. A spectacular concussion. The ASTEROID SPLITS in  two halves, as planned, like a split diamond. The TWO BLOWN PIECES wing off into  space, on new vector angles which might miss the Earth.... INT. SHUTTLE FREEDOM - COCKPIT The detonation ROCKS the cabin. Everyone's violently buffeted around. Watts Houston, we have detonation! Watts fumbles for the reverse switches as the flames from the explosion grow  CLOSER....She hits the directional THRUSTERS, jamming it as hard as it will  go...the flames bite up at them. The shuttle veers off toward Earth. A.J. Harry.... A.J. and the others stare out the cockpit window as the NUCLEAR FISSION  EXPLOSION FLAMES OUT, the halves of the asteroid wing off. EXT. AROUND THE WORLD - MONTAGE OF IMAGES IN EXTREME SLOW MO, we see images around the world. WALL STREET deserted....a  crowded BAR with people huddled around a T.V....Extremely tight on a TEAR  falling form a woman's face....ENGLISH FARMERS in a corn field.....a FATHER  holding his SON as they watch the brilliant flaming sky....Golden closes his  eyes and falls to his seat....Arms raise in unison....PEOPLE embrace....AT THE  PYRAMIDS, dappled in firelight, hundreds praying.... INT. N.A.S.A. - MISSION CONTROL Grace is quietly weeping. THE ASTEROID'S DETONATION is computer-imaged on the Central Board. WE SEE the  ASTEROID'S TWO HALVES, moving in new directions. The Technicians stare in  wonderment. Golden Where are they, Flip? Give me some angles, give me some directions,  give me speeds... Flip (analysing new data) The new courses are....they're gonna miss us! The Technicians CHEER. Grace looks up. Wipes her tears. Golden approaches her. Golden I just want to tell you I'm proud to know the daughter of the man who  just saved the world. EXT. ARIZONA - SHUTTLE LANDING AREA Shuttle Freedom touches down. N.A.S.A. QUARANTINE VEHICLES race out to meet it. INT. N.A.S.A. - MISSION CONTROL N.A.S.A.TEHNICIANS sit at consoles, exhausted. There are Coke cans, coffee mugs,  cigarettes overflowing ashtrays. Jimbo, Theo and Pearl, wearing V.I.P. VISITORS  BUTTONS, stand at the back. Jimbo This definitely doesn't look like a glamorous job. INT. SHUTTLE FREEDOM A.J., Chick and Bear unbuckle, begin to rise from seats. Chick I'm dyin' for a Budweiser. Sharp Stay seated. Let the medical quarantine trucks set up. Bear I ain't gettin' another enema from Nurse Ratchet. A.J., Chick and Bear look at each other. A.J. What would Harry do? Bear I think he'd go get a beer. EXT. SHUTTLE FREEDOM The EMERGENCY HATCH DOOR BLOWS in front of surprised N.A.S.A. QUARANTINE  TECHNICIANS. EXT. ARIZONA - SHUTTLE LANDING AREA A.J., Chick and Bear walk away from the shuttle. All he N.A.S.A. QUARANTINE  MEDICS are looking for them. Chick What are you lookin' at? Bear Yeah, okay, you're right, we're the studs who just blew up the Death  Star. A wave of fans are held back by MILITARY POLICE. Sharp, holding his shoulder in pain, is helped across the tarmac by Watts. A VET  BYSTANDER comes up to Sharp and drapes an American flag over his shoulders. Temple, with a huge grin, approaches Sharp. Temple salutes Sharp. Among the masses, Chick catches sight of Denise. Tommy stands next to her,  waving a small flag, proud as can be. Grace runs toward A.J.; he sees her and runs to her. They fall into each others arms. Grace is crying. A.J. is crying. They kiss.  A.J. looks up at the sky. A.J. He's up there, Grace. And he'll never die. Will you marry me? I gotcha a  new rock.... A.J. pulls out one of the DIAMONDS from the asteroid surface, as big as a  doorknob, about two thousand karats. It glitters in the sunlight. Grace stares  at it, agog. As we PULL BACK and CAMERA TILTS TO THE SKIES ABOVE. Where Harry Stamper's soul remains..... THE END
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+					THE ARMY OF DARKNESSProperty of:Western Renaissance Pictures, Inc.6381 Hollywood Blvd., Suite 680Hollywood, California 90028				    THE ARMY OF DARKNESSScreenplay by Sam Raimi and Ivan RaimiJanuary 3, 1991Registered with the Writers Guild of America, 1991c 1991 by Sam and Ivan Raimi.  All rights reserved.Shooting Script  2/26/91------------------------------------------------------------------------------1	  GRAINY BLACK AND WHITE - CLOSE-UP - A MAN'S DESPERATE FACE	 1	   This is Ash, mid twenties, square jaw firmly set and a pair of	   haunted eyes which dart about quickly in fear. Ash speaks to	   the CAMERA with urgency:					   ASH			   Why would you say that I am			   insane?  I wouldn't say that I've			   lost my mind simply because I've			   heard the voices and seen the			   godless things moving in the			   woods. If anything, I think more			   clearly now than ever before. I			   know now that there is such a			   thing as a living Evil. A dark			   and shapeless thing that lives			   not in the spaces we know, but			   between them. In the Dark. In the			   night. And it wants the exact same			   thing as you and I: a chance at			   warm life on this Earth. It			   doesn't care that is already had			   that chance ...once. Now listen			   closely because there isn't much			   time. Listen and believe, because			   it's all true.									   DISSOLVE TO:2	  EXT. A LOG CABIN - NIGHT								2	   nestled in a dark forest. Through the window, we see the tiny	   figure of Ash picking up a book from a desk.					   ASH (V.O.)			   I first saw the damn thing at that			   blasted cabin. The Necronomicon.			   An ancient Sumarrian text, bound			   in human flesh and inked in human			   blood. It contained bizarre burial			   rites, prophesies...and			   instruction for demon			   resurrection. It was never meant			   for the world of the living.									   DISSOLVE TO:3	  INT. CABIN - NIGHT									 3	   Ash flips through the pages from the BOOK OF THE DEAD.					   ASH (V.O.)			   The book awoke something dark in			   the woods.									   SUPERIMPOSE:4	  BOOK OF THE DEAD - CAMERA PANNING STRANGE SCRIPT			 4	   inscribed on the pages.  Illustrations of demonic faces with	   white eyes.5	  EXT. WOODS - NIGHT									 5	   We take the point of view of a wind-like demon, swooping low	   through the woods toward the cabin.  CAMERA rips through the	   cabin door and comes upon a SCREAMING Ash.					   ASH (V.O.)			   It got into my hand and it went			   bad.6	  CLOSE ON ASH'S POSSESSED HAND							6	   twisting into a claw, before the flashing thunder clouds.					   ASH (V.O.)			   So I lopped it off at the wrist.7	  INT. CABIN - NIGHT									 7	   ASH severs his hand from his wrist with the chainsaw.8	  BLOOD RED CLOUDS									   8	   sweep past the moon.					   ASH (V.O.)			   In order to rid myself of the foul			   thing, I read from a passage in			   the book that was supposed to open			   a hole.  A hole in Time that would			   send the Evil back. And it worked.9	  A BANDAGED, ONE HANDED ASH							   9	   recites the incantation from the Necronomicon.10	 EXT. CABIN - NIGHT									 10	   The Time vortex is created.  Trees and a 1973 Delta 88	   Oldsmobile are sucked up into the funnel cloud.					   ASH (V.O.)			   ...I just didn't plan on coming			   along.11	 EXT. CABIN - NIGHT									 11	   Ash, now armed with shotgun and chainsaw, is swallowed by the	   funnel-cloud of the Time vortex.12	 INT. TIME VORTEX									   12	   Ash is rocketing through a funnel of swirling clouds.  He is	   swept away from us, hand over foot, through the dark void of	   Time.13	 ANIMATION - A TENDRIL OF SMOKE						    13	   swirls through blackness as a chorus of women's voices build	   to eerie crescendo, from a musical note to a SCREAM.  The smoke	   swirls, pulls in upon itself, like a thing alive, and forms the	   words:					   "BRUCE CAMPBELL"					   "Vs"	   The smoke is wisked away, then reforms as...					   "THE ARMY OF DARKNESS"	   The title billows past CAMERA REVEALING...14	 INT. TIME VORTEX									   14	   A GRANDFATHER CLOCK	   its hands winding backwards at an insane rate, spins angrily	   past, revealing other debris that has been swept up into this	   funnel cloud. Tumbling weightless through this void we find...15	 ASH												 15	   He SCREAMS but there is no sound. No scream. Only the steady	   BEATING of his heart.16	 ANGLE ON ASH FRONT SCREEN PROJECTION					   16	   He shields his eyes from a sudden bright light.  The funnel	   cloud electrifies.17	 ASH'S BODY										    17	   RIPS at the fabric of Time.18	 EXT. CLOUDY SKY - DAY								   18	   All is quiet.  Then, an electrical disturbance in the shape of	   a human body flashes briefly and is gone.  A moment latter, Ash	   appears and tumbles from the sky, falling past CAMERA.19	 EXT. BARREN WASTELAND - DAY							  19	   ASH falls to the dust.  His double barrelled shotgun lands	   beside him.  The '73 Oldsmobile comes CRASHING to the ground	   a moment later.20	 ASH												 20	   looks up from the dust to behold...21	 TWENTY-FIVE MOUNTED HORSEMEN							 21	   in 12th century armor ride up over a hill.  They halt before	   Ash.22	 WARRIOR #1										    22	   thrusts his longsword into the air, shouting:					   WARRIOR #1			   Hail to him who has come from the			   sky to deliver us from the terror			   of the Deadites!  Hail!23	 ASH												 23	   stares in confusion at the strange medieval figures.24	 TWENTY-FIVE WARRIOR									24	   join in the chant and hail Ash, but suddenly stop as...25	 ARTHUR											   25	   the muscular commander of the group, gallops his horse into	   frame, followed by FOUR HORSEMEN who are his lieutenants. Arthur	   lifts his iron visor and evaluates Ash.26	 ARTHUR'S P.O.V.									    26	   The Delta 88 Oldsmobile. The chainsaw, strapped to Ash's back.	   The handless stump of Ash's right arm.  The Shotgun.27	 A FRIGHTENED ASH									   27	   waves a shaky hand.					   ASH			   Take is easy now chief. I don't			   know how I got here and I'm not			   lookin' for any trouble.28	 WISEMAN JOHN										  28	   An elderly man, in a long black cloak, steps forward.					   WISEMAN JOHN			   My Lord Arthur, I believe he is			   the promised one, written of in			   the Necronomicon.29	 ARTHUR											   29	   Brings his sword down across Ash's chest. Ash cries out in pain	   as...30	 ASH'S CHEST										   30	   is cut. A thin red gash.					   ARTHUR			   He bleeds.  As a man bleeds.  The			   one written of in the Book would			   not bleed.31	 ARTHUR GESTURES									    31	   and CAMERA PANS to four prisoners bound in iron shackles.					   ARTHUR			   Likely, he is one of Henry's men.			   I say to the pit with him!  If he			   is truly the promised one... he			   will emerge.					   WARRIOR #2 AND #3			   Aye!  The pit's a fair test!					   GOLD TOOTHED WARRIOR			   To the pit with the blackard!32	 GOLD TOOTH										    32	   charges his horse at Ash. But he is met with the wooden stock	   of Ash's shotgun as it swings into frame, cracking against his	   jaw.33	 WIDE SHOT - GOLD TOOTH - STUNTMAN						 33	   He tumbles from the horse.34	 ASH												 34	   leaps atop Gold Tooth's horse and jerks the reigns.35	 LONG SHOT - ASH'S HORSE								 35	   rears up, kicking it's hooves into the air.36	 ASH												 36	   gallops off as Warrior #2 runs at him. Ash kicks him in the face	   as he gallops past.  The Warrior is sent reeling.37	 TRUCKING SHOT - ASH									37	   galloping over a hill.  He is almost thrown by the horse, but	   manages to hang on for dear life.					   ASH			   Where the hell they put the			   stirrups on this thing!!??38	 CLOSE SHOT - ASH'S FEET								 38	   grasping at the side of the horse, hoping to find some purchase.39	 LONG SHOT - ASH - STUNTMAN							   39	   he rides past CAMERA, almost falling from the horse.40	 ANGLE ON ARTHUR									    40					   ARTHUR			   LIEUTENANTS!  Fetch me the blackard.41	 TWO OF ARTHUR'S ARMORED HORSEMEN						  41	   unsheathe their broadswords and gallop after Ash. The remaining	   Warriors watch for sport.42	 HIGH SHOT - TWO HORSEMEN								42	   They are gaining an Ash.43	 ASH												 43	   glances behind him.44	 ASH'S P.O.V. - TRUCKING SHOT - TWO HORSEMEN IN PURSUIT		44	   They diverge to either side of CAMERA.45	 ASH												 45	   whips his horse.					   ASH			   GIDDYPU!46	 THE FIRST HORSEMAN									 46	   rides up alongside Ash and swings his Broadsword.	   WHOOSH!!!47	 ASH												 47	   ducks the blade.48	 THE SECOND HORSEMAN									48	   rides up alongside Ash's other flank.  He swings and lands the	   flat part of his blade along Ash's back.	   THUNK!49	 ASH												 49	   ducks as the first horseman swings his blade again.	   WHOOSH!	   ASH looks left...50	 THE SECOND HORSEMAN									50	   winds up for another blow.51	 ASH												 51	   yanks back upon his horse's reigns.52	 THE THREE HORSES									   52	   running side by side. Ash's horse drops back suddenly.53	 THE SECOND HORSEMAN									53	   swings.54	 HIS BROADSWORD										54	   slams the First Horseman across the face.55	 THE FIRST HORSEMAN									 55	   is knocked from his steed.56	 TRUCKING SHOT - THE FIRST HORSEMAN						56	   is moving fast when he hits the ground. His armored form tumbles	   end over end in the dust, clanging to a halt against a rock.57	 THE SECOND HORSEMAN									57	   turns around and gallops back toward Ash.58	 WIDE SHOT - ASH AND THE SECOND HORSEMAN					58	   ride at one another.59	 TRUCKING SHOT - THE SECOND SWORDMAN AS HE RIDES			  59	   swinging his Broadsword.60	 TRUCKING SHOT - ASH AS HE RIDES						   60	   He inserts the stump of his right arm into the female end of	   his chainsaw arm bracket.	   FOOMP!  He twists his stump and the chainsaw bracket locks into	   place.  CLINK!	   He thrusts his chainsaw arm outward, pulling on the starter	   cord; PUTT-PUTT-PUTT... The engine won't turn over.  He curses	   and yanks again.61	 THE SECOND HORSEMAN									61	   draws close. He leans from his horse and swings his Broadsword	   mightily.  The flat portion of the blade connects. THUNK!62	 ASH												 62	   is knocked from his steed.  He tumbles to the dust, narrowly	   escaping his own horse's hooves.63	 ASH												 63	   rolls to his feet and spins to the sound of approaching hooves!64	 THE SECOND HORSEMAN									64	   charges and swings his broadsword.65	 ASH												 65	   raises his chainsaw.  CLINK!  He deflects the blow. Ash swings	   the chainsaw in a roundhouse motion, clipping the Second	   Horseman as he rides past.66	 TRUCKING SHOT - THE SECOND HORSEMAN					    66	   is knocked from his horse.67	 LOW TRUCKING SHOT - THE SECOND HORSEMAN					67	   bounces along the rocky ground, kicking up dust.68	 A SWORD HANDLE										68	   slams against the back of Ash's skull.69	 ASH												 69	   crumples.  He looks up in pain to...70	 ARTHUR											   70	   above him. The sun over his shoulder.71	 EIGHT MOUNTED WARRIORS								  71	   gallop up, dismount and surround Ash with swords drawn.					   ARTHUR			   Bring the prisoner!	   The warriors surge upon Ash. His sawed-off shotgun and chainsaw	   are taken from him.					   ASH			   No!72	 GOLD TOOTH AND OTHER WARRIORS							72	   secure Ash to a set of iron shackles that painfully extend his	   arms. A collar forces his neck upward.					   ARTHUR			   To the castle!73	 WARRIOR #2 ON HORSEBACK								 73	   prods Ash along with a rod attached to his spiked iron collar.	   The Warriors gallop off, forcing Ash and the other prisoners	   to run alongside them.74	 WISEMAN JOHN										  74	   Picks up the chainsaw and sawed off shotgun from the dust.  He	   is troubled by the strange objects. Sunlight glints off the	   blade of the chainsaw, blinding the CAMERA.									   DISSOLVE TO:75	 THE HOT ORB OF THE SUN								  75	   blazing in the sky above the wasteland.									   DISSOLVE TO:76	 EXT. PARCHED LAND - DAY - A WEARY ASH					  76	   bound in his iron shackles, whipped by Gold Tooth, who rides	   alongside him.					   GOLD TOOTH			   Move along now!									   DISSOLVE TO:77	 LONGSHOT - A WIND SWEPT LANDSCAPE OF CRAGGY ROCK			 77	   CAMERA PANS along the line of Arthur and his horsemen, to find	   a 12TH CENTURY BATTLE CASTLE built on the edge of a great cliff.	   A drawbridge is lowered.  Arthur's warriors ride over it.78	 CAMERA TRACKING WITH ASH								78	   shackled alongside other prisoners, is prodded inside the castle	   walls.79	 INT. CASTLE COURTYARD								   79	   SHEILA	   a striking, blonde haired maiden, rushes into frame. She	   searches the faces of Arthur's warriors and grows concerned.	   She pushes through a crowd of villagers and calls up to Arthur	   atop his horse.					   SHEILA			   M'Lord Arthur!  Where is my brother?			   Did he not ride with you?					   ARTHUR			   Eye.  And fought valiantly.  But			   last night fell in battle to Duke			   Henry's men.	   SHEILA	   Her face does not immediately register the grief.  She attempts	   to step forward but stumbles.  She steadies herself against the	   stone wall. Her eyes harden as she sees the first of the	   shackled prisoners: a semi-conscious Ash.	   She flushes with anger and races up to him. She spits and kicks	   at him as he's dragged along.					   SHEILA			   Foul thing!  A pox on your throat!			   Thou art a Murderer!  A black			   Murderer!80	 VILLAGE WOMEN										 80	   restrain her.	   SHEILA	   cries as the Village Women attempt to soothe her.					   VILLAGE WOMAN #1			   May you be consoled by their			   suffering in the pit.81	 THE PROCESSION, ASH AND THE FOUR OTHER PRISONERS			 81	   halt. Iron keys rattle. The shackles are unlocked. Ash and the	   prisoners rub their reddened wrists. They are pushed at	   swordpoint towards a circular iron grate that sits atop the	   ground. This is THE PIT.82	 ASH												 82	   looks to the jeering villagers that surround the pit, wondering	   what they have in store for him.83	 SHEILA											   83	   stares at him in hatred.84	 THE PRISONER NEXT TO ASH								84	   eyes Ash curiously.  This is Duke Henry the Red.					   DUKE HENRY			   You sir, are not one of my			   vassals.  Who are you?					   ASH			   Who wants to know?					   DUKE HENRY			   I am Henry the Red. Duke of Shale.			   Lord of the Northlands and leader			   of its people.					   ASH			   You ain't leadin' but two things			   now, pal. Jack and shit.  And Jack			   left town.85	 A STERN FACED ARTHUR AND HIS FOUR LIEUTENANTS			    85	   address the doomed men:					   ARTHUR			   There is an Evil that has awakened			   in this land.  And whilst my			   people fight for their very souls			   against it, you, Duke Henry the			   Red, wage war on us. Your people			   are no better than the foul			   corruption that lies in the bowels			   of that pit!  May God have mercy			   on your souls.86	 TWO OF ARTHUR'S MEN									86	   crank a massive wench.  Chains tighten and the heavy iron lid	   slides back, revealing a dark hole.  The Pit.87	 FROM THE BOWELS OF THE IRON GRATED PIT					 87	   a echoed wailing rises up.88	 ASH, HENRY AND THE OTHER PRISONERS						88	   stiffen in fear.89	 AN OLD WOMAN AMONGST THE JEERING CROWD					 89					   OLD WOMAN			   Aye. Into the pit with the			   bloodthirsty sons of whores!	   She jams a meat pie into her mouth and cheers excitedly as	   CAMERA PANS TO...90	 HENRY'S WARRIOR #1									 90	   as he's thrown down into the pit.  He disappears into the	   blackness.91	 CAMERA PANS AND HALTS CLOSE ON ASH						91	   watching with disbelief.  We hear the warrior's echoed cry of	   terror, then a SPLASH as he hits bottom.92	 CLOSE ON THE EDGE OF THE PIT							 92	   looking down into the blackness we hear:					   HENRY'S WARRIOR #1 (O.S.)			   I beg of you... by all that's			   holy!  Lower a rope!  Lower... Oh,			   for the love of god!  no!  NO!!!			   AIIIIIiiieee!	   The sound of ripping and scratching.  The SHRIEK of terror is	   cut short as...	   A GEYSER OF BLOOD	   erupts upward from the pit. Then silence.93	 ASH												 93	   is frozen in fear.					   TOWER GUARD (O.S.)			   There!  He's escaping!	   ASH'S TERRIFIED GAZE	   jerks from the pit to...94	 TRACKING SHOT - HENRY'S WARRIOR #2						94	   making a break for it!  He's past the guards, heading for the open	   drawbridge.95	 THE TOWER ARCHERS									  95	   spot him and fire arrows.96	 ANGLE ON											 96	   PING!  PING!	   They bounce off the Warrior's armor.  He's makes it to the open	   drawbridge when...97	 ARTHUR											   97	   pulls back a iron arrow in his crossbow.  ZING!  He lets it fly.	   CAMERA SWISH PANS with arrow...98	 PAN HALTS ON HENRY'S WARRIOR #2						   98	   The iron arrow punctures the Warrior's armor, pegging him to	   a wooden post.  He dies standing.99	 THE CROWD											99	   Cheers.  They turn their attention to the remaining prisoners:	   CAMERA PANS from their bloodthirsty faces to the next prisoner	   in line...100	ASH												 100	   turns to Arthur and in a desperate, cowardly plea:					   ASH			   Hey, I never even saw these			   assholes before..	   He spins to Duke Henry the Red.			   You gotta tell 'em you don't know			   me. We never met. Tell him.					   HENRY			   I do not believe that he shall			   listen.101	THE WARRIORS										  101	   grab Ash and shove him into the pit.102	ASH												 102	   tumbles down into the pit.  He lands in a STEAMING pool of foul	   water at the pit's bottom.  He stands and coughs out a mouthful	   of the rancid water. He looks about.103	INT. PIT - ASH'S P.O.V.								 103	   UNDERGROUND CAVERNS disappear into the blackness.104	ASH												 104	   spins to a small sound.105	INT. PIT - ASH'S P.O.V.								 105	   Nothing.  Just the mist rising from the water.106	ASH												 106	   shifts his glance again.107	A SHADOW											 107	   rounds a corner and disappears from sight.108	ASH												 108	   doesn't notice the misty water behind him beginning to stir.	   Bubbles. A hand emerges. Silently, a pair of bone white eyes	   break the surface.109	ASH												 109	   spins... but there's nothing there.  As he turns back around,	   he is confronted by...	   A FEMALE EVIL DEAD	   It's rotted corpse rockets up from the water inches from Ash's	   face!110	CLOSER											   110	   Putrid water drains from it's empty eye sockets and mouth. It	   jerks like a marionette as it advances.111	ASH SCREAM										    111	   and backs against the steep rock wall of the pit.  He tries to	   scale the steep face. He gets one foot up.112	THE DEADITE'S HAND									 112	   clutches Ash's ankle and yanks him back down.113	DOWN ANGLE ON ASH									  113	   He falls away from the wall, his arms flailing.114	ABOVE THE PIT - GOLD TOOTH AND OTHER VILLAGERS			   114	   hoot and cheer for Ash to be devoured.115	THE PIT - THE DEADITE								   115	   grabs Ash, and begins hammering him with her rotted fists.116	ABOVE THE PIT - SHEILA								  116	   shouts for Ash's death.117	THE PIT - ASH'S FACE								    117	   The Deadite's fist enters frame, slugging Ash.118	LONG SHOT - ASH									    118	   is knocked back into a shallow pool of steaming water.119	THE DEADITE										   119	   races toward Ash, leaps into the air and comes down with a	   kneedrop onto Ash's stomach.120	ASH												 120	   cries out in pain.121	ASH'S LEGS										    121	   cross to form a scissor lock around the Deadite's throat.  He	   flips the beast.122	ABOVE THE PIT - WISEMAN JOHN							 122	   rides into the castle, dismounts and pushes through the crowd	   with a bundle wrapped in cloth.123	THE DEADITE										   123	   grabs Ash by the throat.124	THE PIT - A BLOODIED ASH								124	   is thrown against the rock wall of the pit.125	THE DEADITE										   125	   advances.126	ABOVE THE PIT - WISEMAN JOHN							 126	   shouts down at Ash.127	THE PIT - ASH										 127	   trying to hear what the Wiseman is saying. His head jolts	   backward, barely avoiding the beast's wild swing. Ash squints	   to discern Wiseman John throwing something down to him: an	   object falling at him through the glare above.128	THE CHAINSAW - SLOW MOTION							   128	   tumbling downward.  Blinding beams of sunlight bouncing off its	   blade of steel.  Ash's Excalibur!129	ASH - SLOW MOTION									  129	   summons his strength and leaps upward.130	LOW ANGLE - LOOKING UP - THE CHAINSAW - SLOW MOTION		   130	   Tumbling downward...131	HIGH ANGLE- ASH									    131	   ascending, his teeth gritted, every muscle straining, he soars	   past CAMERA.132	LONG SHOT - SLOW MOTION								 132	   Ash rising up through frame to meet the falling saw.133	ASH'S STUMP										   133	   snags the chainsaw, locking in onto his wrist bracket.CLICK!134	ASH WITH HIS CHAINSAW								   134	   He lands on his feet, in the path of the approaching beast.					   ASH			   Come on, you blasted piece of--	   He thrusts out his chainsaw arm, yanking the starter cord and...	   VERRROOOOOOM!!135	ABOVE THE PIT - THE WARRIOR AND VILLAGERS				   135	   gasp at the ROAR of the chainsaw.  Blue exhaust billows up from	   the pit.136	THE PIT - LOW ANGLE - THE DEADITE						 136	   lunges at Ash.137	DEADITE HAND MEETS SAW								  137	   Buzzzzz!!138	ASH												 138	   is splattered with black bile.139	THE DEADITE'S SEVERED HAND							   139	   flies upward, past the face of the bewildered beast.140	CAMERA MOUNTED TO THE HAND							   140	   as it ascends, Ash and the Deadite grow smaller below.141	ABOVE THE PIT - THE DEADITE'S SEVERED HAND				  141	   flies up into frame and latches onto the face of a drunken	   spectator. It's fingers dig into the eyes and nose. He shrieks	   and flails about, into the screaming crowd. A Warrior tears the	   hand free from his face, tossing it back down into the pit.142	THE PIT - ASH										 142	   raises the chainsaw blade and neatly bisects the falling deadite	   hand.  He spins and with a roundhouse blow...143	CAMERA MOUNTED ON ASH								   143	   Ash decapitates the beast.144	ABOVE THE PIT - THE WARRIORS AND VILLAGERS				  144	   stop cheering from the Deadite. They're starting to like this	   guy's guts and style.145	THE LAST REMNANTS									  145	   of the beast sink beneath the murky waters of the pit.146	ASH												 146	   climbs the steep wall of the pit when a SECOND DEADITE emerges	   from the earthen wall before him.147	ASH												 147	   slams the butt end of the chainsaw into the beast, knocking it	   back into the water.148	ABOVE THE PIT - THE VILLAGERS							148	   gasp as...	   THUMP!149	ASH'S CHAINSAW ARM									 149	   comes up, over the edge of the pit.  Followed by... THUMP!  Ash's	   bloody hand.  Then his bruised face.  Covered in the black blood	   of the Deadites. He crawls to his feet.	   Ash tuns to the crowd, his list clenched.					   ASH			   All right now. Who wants to be			   next?  Who wants some.150	GOLD TOOTH										    150	   look at Ash stupidly. Ash shoves him.					   ASH			   You want some more?  Huh?!	   Gold Tooth and the others give him a wide berth. Ash calls out	   to Henry.					   ASH			   Now climb on those horses and get			   out of here.151	HENRY AND HIS TWO WARRIORS							   151	   quickly mount horses.					   ARTHUR			   Nay. Henry is my prisoners. He--152	ASH												 152	   slaps Henry's horse.					   ASH			   GIDDYUP NOW!!  HYAAAH!153	THE STUNNED CROWD									  153	   parts allowing...154	HENRY AND HIS WARRIORS								  154	   to gallop off toward the open drawbridge and freedom.155	ARTHUR											   155	   stares at Ash with hatred.					   ARTHUR			   For that, I shall see you dead.156	ASH												 156	   removes his sawed off shotgun from Wiseman John's horse and	   turns to Arthur, then the crowd.					   ASH			   This is my boomstick. It's a			   twelve gauge, double barreled			   Remington pump. Next one of you			   primitives touch me...157	ASH SPINS,										    157	   pointing the barrel just past Arthur. He, but no one else, has	   spotted the surviving Second Deadite crawling up from the pit	   on the forgotten chain.	   The crowds gasp is cut short by....BLAMMITY-BLAM!	   The shotgun belches flame. The blast cuts the chain, leaving	   the Deadite teetering at the pit's edge.158	ANGLE ON											 158	   BLAMMITY-BLAM!	   The second shot blows the beast into a backflip, sending it	   summersaulting down into the pit.159	THE SOUND OF THE GUNBLAST							    159	   echoes off the mountains like distant thunder.160	SHEILA, THE WISEMAN, ARTHUR AND THE CROWD				   160	   look to Ash in reverence.161	ASH												 161	   twirls the shotgun about western style: WHOOSH, WHOOSH,	   WHOOSH...  and holsters it.					   ASH			   Bring me your hoo do man.162	EXT. BLACKBIRDS									    162	   fly from a barren tree.163	SOMETHING MOVES IN THE DARKNESS						   163	   It prowls, skimming the surface of the ground, moving swiftly	   past rocks and over the crest of a hill revealing...164	EXT. TEMPLE RUINS - LONG SHOT - NIGHT					  164	   A massive grouping of freestanding rectangular stones, each	   twenty feet tall.  The remains of an ancient temple.  In the	   center of the ruins there burns a roaring bonfire.  As old Woman	   stirs a cauldron atop the flames.  Nearby, Arthur converses with	   his four Lieutenants.165	EXT. WITHIN THE RUINS - NIGHT							165	   CLOSE UP - ASH	   opens his mouth to allow a spoonful of food to enter.  No sooner	   has he swallowed then a piece of fruit is offered.  He waves	   it away with a satisfied burp and turns to drink from a goblet	   on wine, brought to his lips by a female hand.166	ASH AND SHEILA										166	   sits across the flames from Arthur and his men.  She bandages	   Ash's wounds.167	SHEILA											   167	   is dresses in a revealing tunic. She looks good.					   SHEILA			   I pray thee to forgive me.  I			   believed thee one of Henry's men.	   She touches Ash's hand. Ash turns away					   ASH			   First you wanta kill me, now ya			   wanna kiss me.	   He spits out a mouthful of grape seeds.					   ASH			   Lady, just leave me alone.					   SHEILA			   I'm sorry m'lord. Please			   understand... T'is a cruel time			   for us. The Wisemen say you are			   the promised one. Our only hope			   against the darkness that has			   descended on this land.					   ASH			   They're mistaken.	   She stares deeply into his eyes.					   SHEILA			   I think not.  I feel that there			   is reason for your being here.			   It is no accident.166	WISEMAN JOHN AND TWO OTHER CLOAKED WISEMEN				  167	   approach.  They sit in tall stone chairs across the fire from	   Ash.					   ASH			   Well what is it?  Can you send me			   back or not?					   WISEMAN JOHN			   Only the Necronomicon has the			   power.  A power which we both			   require. It contains passages that			   can dispel the Evil from this			   place and return you to your time.					   ASH			   The Necronomicon. Yeah, that's			   the thing that got me here.					   WISEMAN JOHN			   It is in a place far from here.			   It can only be retrieved by the			   Promised one. Other Warriors have			   tried.  Their widows grieve still.			   We have waited long years for you.			   Out only hope is the Necronomicon.			   Thou must undertake to quest for			   it.  Alone must thou travel to			   a distant cemetery. There thou			   shalt find it.					   ASH			   Me?  Now way, no day. Only place I'm			   goin' is home.	   A sudden gust of wind whips up the flames of the fire.169	DOGS												169	   around the fire begin to snarl and fight.170	ASH AND SHEILA										170	   turn to see...171	THE OLD WOMAN										 171	   now standing too close to the fire.  Her robes ignites.  She does	   not respond as flames sweep up her body. She continues to stir	   the caldron.172	ASH												 172	   His haw drops.  He slowly stands as...173	THE BURNING WOMAN									  173	   spins sharply to him.  Her voice changes as she SHRIEKS;					   POSSESSED WOMAN			   YOU SHALL DIE!	   Her eyes are bone white.  She is POSSESSED by the dark spirit.	   Her burning body is violently jerked about in the air by	   invisible hands. Her blackened lips pull back in a wild animal	   snarl. With two voice at once;					   POSSESSED WOMAN			   YOU SHALL NEVER WIN THE			   NECRONOMICON.  WE SHALL FEAST UPON			   YOUR SOUL, AND THEN THE SOUL OF			   MAN!174	THE POSSESSED WOMAN									174	   collapses. Her face turned away from the Wisemen as it lays in	   the dust.175	CLOSE ON POSSESSED WOMAN'S FACE - GROUND LEVEL CAMERA		 175	   Unseen by all, her bone white eyes flare open!  A nasty grin forms	   on her face as she lies in the dust. Behind her, the Wisemen	   approach.176	WISEMAN JOHN										  176	   kneels and reaches for her.177	ASH'S HAND										    177	   clutches Wiseman John, not allowing him to touch her.					   ASH			   It's a trick.  Get an axe.178	THE POSSESSED WOMAN									178	   awakens from her false slumber with a terrible BARK.  In a	   frenzy she hurls WISEMAN JOHN into the bonfire. He SCREAMS and	   rolls in the dust, extinguishing the flames.179	PAPER MACHE STONE ARCHWAY							    179	   With her great strength, the Possessed Woman pushes upon one	   of the giant stone archways. It topples over, crushing two	   warriors beneath it.180	A GIGANTIC STONE									   180	   topples the next stone.	   BOOM!	   Which topples the next, which sets off a chain reaction.	   BOOM!  BOOM!	   Like giant dominoes, they fall.181	ASH												 181	   watches the spectacle in horror as he sees...182	ANGLE ON											 182	   The gigantic falling stones coming right at SHEILA!183	THE FALLING STONE'S P.O.V. - SHEILA					    183	   She SCREAMS!184	SHEILA'S P.O.V. - THE FALLING STONES					   184	   coming toward CAMERA.	   BOOM!  BOOM!  BOOM!185	ASH												 185	   does a flying leap and tackles SHEILA, knocking her out of the	   stone's deadly path.186	ASH AND SHEILA										186	   rolls across the dusty stone courtyard.187	CLOSE SHOT - ASH									   187	   rolls into frame and glances up to see...188	THE POSSESSED AND BURNING WOMAN						   188	   rushing through the air at him with a SHRIEK!189	WIDE SHOT - THE POSSESSED AND BURNING WOMAN				 189	   latches onto Ash like an iron trap, knocking them both to the	   ground.190	ASH												 190	   rolls the Possessed Woman over, and into the path of...191	ANGLE ON											 191	   The falling, gigantic domino-like stones.	   BOOM!  BOOM!  BOOM!192	EXT. WITHIN THE TEMPLE RUINS - PAPER MACHE STONE			 192	   THE POSSESSES WOMAN	   SHRIEKS in agony as... SMASH!  The multi-ton stone crushes her	   legs to paste.  Her legs are pinned but still she battles on,	   clutching Ash about his throat!193	ASH												 193	   gasps for breath as he reaches behind him, into the flames of	   the fire, his fingers groping for a weapon.194	POSSESSED WOMAN - STOP MOTION ANIMATION					194	   Her blackened lips pull back and her mouth opens to an	   impossibly large size, like a snake about to eat an egg.195	ASH												 195	   grasps a flaming log with his bare hands and rams it down the	   monster's oversized throat.  She chokes.196	GOLD TOOTH AND THREE OTHER WARRIORS					    196	   grab the beast and pull it off of Ash.  Arthur comes to meet	   them.  He carries a double-bladed battle axe.197	THE POSSESSED WOMAN									197	   vomits out the flaming log, taking off a man's head.					   POSSESSED WOMAN			   The Evil lives.  Slay me and ten			   will rise to take my place.  All			   will die.  ALL WILL -	   CHOP!198	IN SILHOUETTE, THE AXE								  198	   is brought down upon her throat.  The possessed body flails and	   spasm beneath the Warrior's grip.199	THE HEAD											 199	   rolls, and comes to a halt at Ash's feet.  It's eyes pop open!					   POSSESSED WOMAN'S HEAD			   ---DIE!200	ARTHUR											   200	   grabs the laughing head and tosses it into the darkness.  The	   head sails away as the laughter receded.					   WISEMAN JOHN			   Now.  Will thou quest for the			   Necronomicon?201	CLOSE ON ASH										  201	   He considers.202	INT. CASTLE - BLACKSMITH'S WORKSHOP - DAY				   202	   Ash and the blacksmith step into the shop.203	ASH												 203	   points to the hand piece on a hanging suit of battle armor.204	THE BLACKSMITH										204	   pounds upon the hand armor, modifying it.205	SHEILA											   205	   knits a grey woolen garment as she watches Ash.206	BLACKSMITH'S WORKSHOP - DAY							  206	   THE BLACKSMITH	   attaches the shock absorber spring to the iron hand.207	ASH												 207	   tightens the tension on the shock absorber springs with a	   ratchet like device.208	ASH												 208	   extends his arm triggering the tightly wound spring.	   WHOOSH!  CLANG!209	SHEILA											   209	   gasps.210	ASH'S SPRING-DRIVEN IRON HAND							210	   SNAPS open with great force.211	ANGLE ON											 211	   WHOOSH CLANG!	   ASH'S SPRING DRIVEN HAND	   clenches closed with such great power, that it bends a iron	   goblet.212	CLOSE ON ASH										  212	   He studies his new hand. It will do nicely.									   DISSOLVE TO:213	EXT. CASTLE TURRET - NIGHT							   213	   ASH	   stares over the castle wall to the foreboding wasteland with	   apprehension.  The wind blows upon his hair. Sheila appears	   behind him. She drapes a grey garment over Ash. A magnificent	   cape. Ash draws her body close to his. He wraps the cape around	   her.  Together they stare off into the night, then turn to one	   another and kiss.									   DISSOLVE TO:214	EXT. LANDSCAPE OF CRACKED GROUND 1500MM LENS - DAY		    214	   Arthur's castle in the distance.  In the foreground, five men	   on horseback appear over a ridge, thundering toward us. Their	   long wool capes billowing up behind them in the wind.215	CLOSER ON RIDERS - TRUCKING SHOT						  215	   Arthur and Wiseman John ride, flanked by two of Arthur's	   Warriors.  CAMERA PULLS BACK TO REVEAL...	   ASH	   He wears an iron breastplate with the insignia of Arthur's army	   that compliments his new spring-powered iron hand.  His chainsaw	   juts from it's saddle holster on the horse's back.  Ash's cape	   billows as he rides.									   DISSOLVE TO:216	EXT. MOUNTAIN - DAY									216	   The Horsemen wind down a trail.  Suddenly the horses rear up.	   The men gain control of the frightened steeds.					   ASH			   What's going on?	   ARTHUR	   points to...217	THE TRAIL THAT LIES BEFORE THEM						   217	   It disappears abruptly into a swirling wall of mist that emits	   an eerie whistling.					   WISEMAN JOHN			   This is the edge of the land ruled			   by the Dark Spirit. This path will			   lead you to an unholy place. A			   cemetery. There, the Necronomicon			   awaits.218	ASH												 218	   anxiously eyes the wall of swirling mist.219	THE TWO WARRIORS									   219	   finish placing saddlebags of water and food onto...	   ASH'S HORSE	   which nervously pounds the earth with it's hooves.					   WARRIOR #1			   Lord Arthur, he is supplied.  Now			   I beg of you, let us leave this			   foul place.					   ARTHUR			   A moment.220	WISEMAN JOHN										  220	   moves close to Ash.					   WISEMAN JOHN			   As thou removest the Book from			   it's cradle, you must recite these			   words.  Clatoo, verata, Nicto.					   ASH			   Clatto Verata Nicto.  Okay.					   WISEMAN JOHN			   Repeat them.					   ASH			   Clatto Verata Nicto.					   WISEMAN #1			   Again.					   ASH			   I got it.  I got it.  I know your			   damn words. All right?  Now you get			   this straight: I get the book,			   you send me back. That's the deal.			   After that I'm history.	   Ash rears up on his horse and gallops into the mist221	ARTHUR AND WISEMAN JOHN								 221	   watch as Ash disappears.222	IN A SEA OF MIST									   222	   The sound of THUNDEROUS HOOFS.  A form materializes out of the	   fog:  It is Ash.223	CLOSER ON ASH										 223	   He whips the horse.					   ASH			   HAAAAAA!224	ANGLE ON ASH										  224	   He gallops past.  CAMERA PANS as he disappears into the thick	   fog.									   FADE OUT.225	EXT. TRAIL'S ENTRANCE TO WOODS						    225	   ASH	   rides out of the wall of mist. He finds himself on a trail	   leading into a thick forest.226	EXT. WOODS										    226	   LONG SHOT - ASH	   rides slowly on through the darkening woods.227	CLOSER ON ASH										 227	   He hears a sound and look to...228	A SECTION OF WOODS									 228	   A branch SCRAPING against the bark of a tree.229	ASH												 229	   hears a woman's soft laughter.  He glance to...230	A BUBBLING BROOK									   230	   and nothing more.231	THE EVIL FORCE P.O.V.								   231	   powers through the woods toward Ash.232	ASH												 232	   kick his steed and bolts.233	THE EVIL FORCE										233	   sweeps over the forest floor, gaining velocity.234	ASH												 234	   frantically weaves his horse around storm felled trees which	   jut from the ground.235	THE EVIL FORCE										235	   rips through the trees, splintering them to toothpicks.  It	   burrows underground, and resurfaces, always closing upon Ash.236	ASH												 236	   jerks upon the reins and his steed leaps a fallen tree.  He	   gracefully leaps a second tree.  But as he leaps over the third,	   he is ripped off the horse by a low branch.  He falls hard to	   the mud as the horse gallops off.	   He groggily stands and stumbles onward.237	THE EVIL FORCE										237	   follows Ash down a wooded trail.238	ASH												 238	   running for...239	EXT. WOODEN SHED									   239	   a grain storage house in the clearing ahead.240	ASH												 240	   comes upon the shed's door.  Locked.  He heaves his body against	   it but it won't give.241	INT. SHED - CLOSE ON INTERIOR DOOR						241	   A log, that serves as the door's bolt, holds fast.242	THE EVIL FORCE										242	   emerges from over the ridge.243	ASH												 243	   unscrews his iron hand and holsters it.  He slings the chainsaw	   from his shoulder and snaps it onto his stump bracket.  Click.	   He threads the chainsaw starter cord through the V-SHAPED SLOT	   that extends from his breastplate. CLICK.  He thrusts out his	   arm and the chainsaw ROARS to life!244	INT. SHED - CLOSE ON INTERIOR DOOR						244	   The blade bites into the log that bolts the door.245	THE EVIL FORCE										245	   draws closer.246	INT. SHED											246	   CLOSE ON CHAINSAW BLADE	   halfway through the log.  Sawdust flies.247	EXT. SHED											247					   ASH			   Come on!  Come on!	   The chainsaw dies. He jerks out his arm to restart it. Putt.	   Putt.					   ASH			   Blasted piece of junk!248	THE EVIL FORCE										248	   draws closer.249	ASH												 249	   delivers a mighty kick to the door.250	INT. SHED											250	   ANGLE ON DOOR	   The partially cut log gives way.  Ash tumbles into the storage	   shed. He slams the door shut and slides the remainder of the	   log across the latch, re-bolting it.251	THE EVIL FORCE										251	   Hammers at the door of the Shed.	   BANG!252	INT. SHED											252	   A terrified Ash braces his back against the door.	   BANG!	   Earth shaking in its intensity. The planks of the door shudder	   behind Ash.253	CLOSE ON LOG BOLT									  253	   It cracks.254	ASH												 254	   presses himself against the door for all he's worth, praying	   that whatever it out there, won't get in.	   BANG!  Splinters fly.255	CLOSE ON LOG BOLT									  255	   BOOM!  The crack widens.256	THE DOOR FRAME										256	   behind Ash begins to buckle beneath the hammering blows.257	ASH												 257	   begins to SCREAM.  And the BANGING halts.258	LONG SHOT - INT. SHED								   258	   All is quiet.  Ash hugs the door. Shaking in the silence.  And	   that's when it hits.  LIKE A LOCOMOTIVE!	   Ash and the door he braces are blasted away from the wall of	   the Shed as the Evil Force brings it's tremendous power to bare.259	INT. SHED - SAM-O-CAM - INTERVOLOMETER					 259	   TRACKING WITH ASH AND THE DOOR	   as they are swept up at super speed in the grip of the Evil	   Force.  Ash is seen rocketing through the long hallway of the	   Shed, spinning head over heels.  Ash rips through other doors,	   taking them with him. Ash is now sandwiched between two doors	   as he flies through the air.260	EXT. SHED - SIDE SHOT								   260	   The roof of the shed ripples, sending tiles and wood beams	   flying as the EVIL FORCE surges through the shed like a tidal	   wave.261	EXT. REAR DOOR OF SHED								  261	   It blows out from the place in a flying stack along with the	   other doors.  The flying doors slam against a tree and fall to	   the ground in a stack.262	THE EVIL FORCE										262	   with Ash out of sight, glides forward, into the woods.263	EXT. SHED- DUSK									    263	   LOOKING DOWN UPON - THE STACKS OF DOORS.	   All is quiet.  We hear the sound of a bolt moving. The doorknob	   turns slightly.  The door swings upward and opens... revealing	   a somewhat flattened Ash who picks his groggy and bruised self	   up.	   He beholds...264	EXT. ABANDONED MILL									264	   An empty place of stone and wood.  Driven by the wind, the	   Mill's giant grinding wheel slowly turns with a squeak.265	INT. MILL											265	   ASH	   enters the Mill.					   ASH			   Anybody here?!	   The place is quiet. Ash slumps down against a wall to catch his	   breath.					   ASH			   This place'll do for the night.			   Get the book in the morning.266	INT. MILL - THREE SHOTS - INTERVOLOMETER				    266	   Shadows lengthen on the floor and stretch across the walls.267	ASH												 267	   peers through the window.268	EXT. MILL - LONG SHOT THE SUN - DAY					    268	   a gigantic ball of fire as it sets behind the Mill.  The wind	   kicks up.269	INT. MILL											269	   ASH	   listens as the cabin CREAKS like an old ship beneath the force	   of the gale.270	THE WOODEN SHUTTERS									270	   on the window quietly KNOCK.  Ash shivers and rubs his arms for	   warmth.					   ASH			   Damn this cold.271	ASH												 271	   looks about the Mill and spots an iron stove.272	GASOLINE											 272	   pours out of Ash's chainsaw over some logs in the stove's belly.273	ASH												 273	   lights the fire with his Zippo lighter and huddles near the	   flame for warmth.					   ASH			   'least I won't freeze to death.	   He turns to a tiny sound.274	WIDE SHOT - ASH									    274	   behind him, through the window, a large gnarled hand sweeps	   past.275	ASH												 275	   spins, raises his shotgun and fires.	   BLAMITY-BLAM!	   The window is ripped away in a shower of glass.276	ASH'S P.O.V. - THROUGH THE BROKEN WINDOW				    276	   Only the night woods.  The "gnarled hand" comes back, sweeping	   down in front of the broken window, but it's revealed to be just	   a tree branch swaying in the wind.277	ASH												 277	   reloads. He moves to the front door and peers out through a	   crack.278	ASH'S EYEBALL										 278	   through the crack in the door.279	ASH'S P.O.V. - THE WOODS BEYOND						   279	   CAMERA pushes through the crack to the woods beyond.  There is	   movement.280	LONG SHOT - EXT. MILL								   280	   The tiny figure of Ash steps from the Mill.281	CLOSE UP - ASH										281	   He sweeps the barrel of the shotgun toward the sound of sticks	   breaking.282	ASH'S TERRIFIED HORSE								   282	   It rears up on it's hind legs. It's front hoofs come down toward	   Ash.283	A STARTLED ASH										283	   leaps aside just in time.284	ASH												 284	   snags the horse's reigns.					   ASH			   Easy, boy.	   The horse calms.  Ash ties it to a tree, patting it's head. A	   shadow passes behind him. He turns toward the Mill.285	ASH'S P.O.V.  THROUGH THE MILL'S OPEN DOOR				  285	   He sees am image of himself inside the Mill. Peering out.286	EXT. MILL											286	   ASH	   stares in disbelief, then the wind slams the front door of the	   Mill, halting Ash's view. Ash races for the Mill.287	INT. MILL											287	   ASH	   races through the door and toward CAMERA when...SMASH...Ash's	   reflection shatters. He's run into a mirror. Shivering, he picks	   himself up from the pile of broken glass. He moves to the	   fireplace and hunches before the flames, CAMERA PANS TO....288	THE SHATTERED MIRROR PIECES							  288	   Each piece of mirror reflects an image of Ash.  From the eight	   pieces of mirror spring...289	EIGHT TINY ASHES									   289	   Two inch high versions of himself.  They leap from the mirror	   fragments and land on the floor.290	ASH												 290	   is unaware of them as he kneels close to the fire.291	TINY ASH #1, #2, AND #3								 291	   grab a discarded dinner fork.  Like men on a battering ram, they	   race forward to jam it into Ash's buttocks.292	ASH												 292	   SCREAMS in agony and jerks forward, banging his head into the	   stove pipe.293	TINY ASH #4, #5, AND #6								 293	   lift the barrel of the shotgun in Ash's direction.  Another	   leaps upon the shotgun's trigger. BOOM!294	ASH												 294	   barely dives away from the blast the would have taken his head	   off.295	THE TINY ASHES										295	   SHRIEK with uncontrollable laughter.  They jump away from the	   shotgun and scurry off across the floor.296	ASH												 296	   pulls the fork from his buttocks and heaves it.297	TINY ASH #1										   297	   is running for his life, as fast as his tiny legs will carry	   him.298	TRACKING SHOT - THE FORK								298	   a giant projectile as it ROARS AT CAMERA. PAN with it as it	   WHOOSHES past.	   FA-THONG!299	THE FORK											 299	   skewers tiny Ash #1 to the wooden wall of the mill.300	ASH												 300	   stumbles over a broom handle that has been thrust out in front	   of him by other tiny ASHES.  His head slams into a stove pipe.	   He crumples.  He lands with his cheek pressed against the hot	   stove.  SSSSSSssss.  He pries his face loose with a spatula.301	A BUCKET OF GREASE									 301	   is pushed off a high shelf.	   CLANG!302	IT LANDS ON ASH'S HEAD								  302	   and spills slippery grease about the floor.303	ASH												 303	   with an upside-down bucket on his head, slips and falls, back	   and forth on the grease.  He stands and tries to dislodge the	   bucket.  He trips over the broom handle, again thrust in his	   path.  He falls backward, onto a crochet basket with knitting	   needles jutting from it.304	BUCKET-HEADED ASH									  304	   SCREAMS and jerks upward, slamming his bucket head into the	   stove pipe.  CLANG!  Ash rips the bucket from his head then yanks	   the needles from his buttocks.  He looks about for the little	   imps.305	TINY ASH #2										   305	   crouching behind a log attempting to hide.  BUT...306	ASH												 306	   has seen him.  He "accidentally" elbows the log and Tiny Ash	   #2 into the stove's fire.					   ASH			   Ooops.307	TINY ASH #2										   307	   is burned alive.308	ASH												 308	   glances downward at the pitter patter sound of tiny feet.309	TINY ASH #3										   309	   is dashing across the open expanse of floor.  Ash's gigantic	   foot comes down to crush the little man.  Tiny Ash #3 raises	   a rusty nail into the path of the descending foot.	   RIP!!310	THE NAIL RIPS										 310	   through Ash's shoe.311	ASH												 311	   jerks his leg upward in pain.  Ash dances about the place	   hopping on one foot, HOWLING. He strays into the greasy area	   of the floor and stumbles over the broomstick again thrust in	   his path, swung there by Tiny ASHES #6, #7 and #8. He almost	   regains his balance when he strays into the oil patch, falls,	   and hits his head on the stone floor. BLACKNESS.312	ASH												 312	   awakens on the floor of the Mill, like Gulliver he is bound with	   tiny ropes.  Directly above him, on the edge of a table...313	TINY ASHES #4 AND #5								    313	   suspend Tiny Ash #6 by his legs.314	TINY ASH #7 AND #8									 314	   stand atop Ash's face.  They push from either side of his	   nostrils, plugging his nose.  Ash's mouth opens as he gasps for	   air.  As he inhales...315	SUSPENDED TINY ASH #6								   315	   is released.316	TINY ASH #6 - SLOW MOTION - WIND FAN					   316	   He free falls for a moment, then the tiny body arcing to form	   a perfect swam dive, plunges down into Ash's opened throat.317	ASH												 317	   inhales the living beast whole.  He chokes violently.  He breaks	   his bonds an he hacks for breath.  He puts his finger down his	   throat, trying to make himself vomit up the little man, to no	   avail.	   He looks about to crush some of the little ASHES but they are	   gone.  He places his hand on his stomach and dizzily stumbles	   to a chair.  He goes pale.					   ASH			   Nasty little thing's inside me.	   He stands indignant but double over in sudden pain.			   Well let's see how you like a			   little hot water!	   He grabs the hot kettle from the stove and pours the scalding	   contents painfully down his throat.  He sets down the kettle	   and waits for a moment.  A tiny SCREAM emits from Ash's stomach	   ASH	   emits a bark of LAUGHTER. He clutches as his chest.  Then his	   arm.  He rips back his shirt sleeve.318	CLOSE ON ASH'S ARM - STOP MOTION ANIMATION				  318	   We can see the outline of Tiny Ash #6's body squirming down	   Ash's arm, just beneath the skin.319	ASH												 319	   watches in horror as...320	THE TINY FIGURE									    320	   squirms down his wrist and disappears into his iron hand.  The	   Iron hand snaps open and closes uncontrollably. The possessed	   iron hand swings at him.321	THE IRON HAND										 321	   connects with an uppercut that knocks Ash out of frame.322	ASH												 322	   lands next to an iron vice. He reaches for the EVIL HAND.  But	   the hand has grabbed a mallet that BONK-BONKS him on the head.	   Ash is groggy as he is grabbed by the hair and yanked down into	   the opened vice.323	THE EVIL IRON HAND									 323	   cranks the vice's handle.324	THE VICE											 324	   tightens around Ash's head.  Trapped, he looks to...325	THE EVIL HAND										 325	   rummaging through a wooden toolbox.  It comes upon a crude wooden	   punch.326	ANGLE - THE EVIL HAND - UNDERCRANKED					   326	   stabs rapidly at Ash's good hand.  But Ash expertly dodges each	   stab with an opening of the fingers or a closing of the thumb	   is super fast motion.327	ASH												 327	   with is head still wedged in the vice.					   ASH			   Why you dirty little...AHHHHHH!!328	A PAIR OF IRON PLIERS								   328	   has entered frame and clamps down upon Ash's nose.  He emits	   a nasal SCREAM and shakes the pliers loose.					   ASH			   Soon as I get out of this thing			   I... YIEEEE!!	   THE PAIR OF IRON PLIERS	   dip into Ash's mouth and clamps down upon a back molar.					   ASH			   No!  Not the teeth!	   YANK!329	THE EVIL HAND										 329	   jerks his rear MOLAR from his head and holds up the tooth for	   his inspection.  It sets the tooth down nearly in front of him.	   The Evil hand forms a fist and crushes the tooth to dust.  It	   scurries from view.330	ASH'S HEAD										    330	   struggling in the grip of the vice.					   ASH			   Where the hell are ya!?331	THE EVIL HAND										 331	   grabs a red hot fireplace poker from the fire.					   ASH			   I can't see ya!!	   HIS EVIL HAND	   raises a red hot fireplace poker and presses it against the	   right half of his body.					   ASH			   No, no--not the poke--	   SSSSsssssssss!332	ASH												 332	   jerks his head free from the vice with a SCREAM.  He holds up	   his iron hand.  It's back to normal.  Again under his control.					   ASH			   Okay then.	   But he halts abruptly as he feels a strange sensation: His	   shoulder itches.  He scratches it.  The Itch grows.  It itches	   madly.  He rips back his shirt.  Upon his shoulder... THERE	   BLINKS A THIRD EYEBALL!!!333	THE CAMERA RACES INTO THIS HIDEOUS SIGHT				    333	   It is the eyeball of EVIL ASH.  Beneath it, a mouth and nose	   begin to take shape on the surface of Ash's back.334	ASH												 334	   SHRIEKS and SHRIEKS and races out of the mill.  The CAMERA	   follows him in docu-horror style as he flees into the dark	   woods.335	EXT. WOODS - 12MM LENSE - NIGHT						   335	   ASH	   staggers about in a frenzy, stumbling over logs and through the	   brambles.  He races up to the CAMERA and cries out as this	   protrusion upon his shoulder becomes more pronounced.					   ASH			   Dear God, it's growing bigger!336	THE PROTRUSION SWELLS AND GROWS LARGER.					336	   It's taking the shape of a twin human head as it emerges from	   his shoulder. A head that looks similar to his own, but is Evil	   incarnate.	   He is now a man with two heads!337	TWO HEADED ASH										337	   Staggers through the woods like a drunkard, the two identical	   heads trading insults, and sharply butting against one another.338	THE BAD ASH HEAD									   338	   opens it's mouth and bites the nose of the Good Ash head.339	THE GOOD ASH HEAD									  339	   retaliates by gouging the eyes of the Bad Ash head.340	TWO HEADED ASH										340	   collapses against a tree.  Under the light of the full moon we	   see a terrifying sight:341	TWO ADDITIONAL ARMS									341	   sprout from Ash's body!342	A LEG											    342	   rips out of his stomach.  Another foot POPS out from his back.343	TWO HEADED ASH										343	   Like a human spider he scurries about the forest floor,	   propelled by his four arms and four legs.  Suddenly he stands	   and SHRIEKS as the EVIL ASH begins to pull away from the first.	   He literally splits into two.344	SPLIT SCREEN - WIDE SHOT								344	   When it's over, there are two ASHES.	   GOOD ASH and...345	BAD ASH.											 345	   They square off beneath the moonlight.346	HIGH SHOT AS THE TWO ASHES							   346	   circle one another like wolves.					   GOOD ASH			   What... are you?  Are you me?					   BAD ASH			   WHAT... ARE GOO?  ARE GOO ME?!!  You			   sound like a jerk!					   GOOD ASH			   Why are you doing this?!					   BAD ASH			   Wanna know?  'cause the answers			   easy. It's cause I'm the bad Ash,			   and yer...347	EVIL ASH											 347	   Dances a funny jig around Ash.  He SMACKS Ash across the face	   as he sings:					   EVIL ASH			   ...Little goody two-	   SMACK!			   ...shoes, little goody two-	   SMACK!			   ...shoes, little good--348	EVIL ASH											 348	   the shotgun barrel is suddenly shoved into his frame, pointing	   at his nose.	   BLAMMITY-BLAM!	   The blast blows Evil Ash off his feet.349	WIDE SHOT - EVIL ASH - STUNTMAN						   349	   blown backwards into a double backflip.350	EVIL ASH'S BODY									    350	   slams against a tree, upside-down. Then slides to the ground,	   quite dead.351	GOOD ASH											 351	   clutching the smoldering shotgun.					   GOOD ASH			   Good...Bad...I'm the Ash with the			   gun.352	LONG SHOT - ASH									    352	   staring down at the body of his evil self.					   ASH			   I know better than to bury you			   whole.353	EXT. MILL WHEEL - LONG SHOT - NIGHT					    353	   The giant blades of the Mill are illuminated with bright flashes	   of lightning.  The wind kicks up leaves as Ash throws the body	   of his Evil Twin onto a workbench at the base of the windmill.	   The giant blades of the mill arc down into frame with a WHOOSH-	   WHOOSSH-WHOOSH!354	MONTAGE SEQUENCE:									  354	   Ash's hand light a torch.355	FRIGHTENED BATS FLY									355	   from the base of the windmill.356	CHAINS ARE PULLED TIGHT								 356	   across the body of Evil Ash to secure it.	   CLICK. SNAP. CLINK.357	THE CHAINSAW										  357	   is switched on.  It spews a plume of blue exhaust.358	ASH												 358	   falters for a moment as he stares down at the form of his Evil	   twin.  He grits his teeth... and lowers the saw to the grisly	   task.359	EXT. NIGHT SKY - BLOOD RED CLOUDS						 359	   float past the moon.  We hear the distant WHINE of the chainsaw.360	EXT. GRAVEYARD - NIGHT								  360	   ASH	   with shovel in hand, drags a bloody burlap bag from the Mill.	   Grunting, he pulls the remains of his Evil twin to the base of	   an old Oak Tree in the graveyard.	   Ash mumbles nervously to the bloodies burlap bag at his feet	   as he digs a grave.					   ASH			   Now you see what's what.  Man's			   body is his own personal property.			   Don't anybody try to take that			   away from him.361	ASH												 361	   finishes digging and lifts the bloody burlap sack.  As he heaves	   the bag into the grave, the Evil Ash head spills out.362	INT. GRAVE - THE EVIL ASH HEAD						    362	   It's eyes pop open!  It peers up at Ash from the grave.  It	   croaks;					   EVIL ASH HEAD			   You'll never get that Book. I will			   come back for you.					   ASH			   Hey, what's that you got on your			   face?					   EVIL ASH HEAD			   Huh?363	CLOSE SHOT - THE EVIL DEAD							   363	   It's eyes dart, looking for something on it's face when a	   shovelful of dirt is heaped atop it.364	EVIL ASH HEAD - P.O.V. - EYEMO						    364	   as a shovelful of dirt is heaped atop the CAMERA.365	ASH												 365	   buries it deep.  He raises a crude burial marker high above his	   head;					   ASH				   (muttering under his				    breath)			   Rest in pieces.366	ASH												 366	   backlit by the moon, brings the burial maker swiftly into the	   grave. A flash of lightning reveals...367	THE GRAVEYARD										 367	   in the distance. A burial place of evil. The old mill wheel	   GROANS in the gale.					   ASH			   This must be it. The cemetery.368	ASH												 368	   moves toward the cemetery.369	ASH'S P.O.V. - THE CEMETERY							  369	   In the center, lies a massive slab of black stone.370	ASH												 370	   draws closer, his teeth chattering as the wind blasts at him.	   He glances down to...371	ASH'S P.O.V. - TRACKING SHOT - SKULL					   371	   sitting atop the ground, leering up at CAMERA with empty eye	   sockets. The wind whistles through the empty skull.  The jaw	   bone drops open with a squeak.372	CLOSE ON ASH										  372	   His hair is whipped up by the wind. He looks to...373	THE MASSIVE BLACK STONE IN THE CEMETERY'S CENTER			 373	   backlit by the rising moon, creates eerie beams of light and	   shadow.374	ASH												 374	   arrives at the foot of the massive stone.375	UNDERCRANKED - THE STONE								375	   Atop it sits... THE BOOK OF THE DEAD.376	CAMERA PANS REVEALING...								376	   A SECOND BOOK OF THE DEAD!377	CAMERA PANS AGAIN REVEALING...						    377	   A THIRD!378	CAMERA RACES BACK AT SUPER SPEED TO REVEAL:				 378	   THREE BOOK OF THE DEAD!!!379	A BAFFLED ASH										 379	   steps close.					   ASH			   Wait.  Three books?  Nobody said			   anything about that. Ha!  That			   Wiseman was so busy fillin' me			   fulla his secret words and phrases			   and, and, his... bullshit, he			   forgot to mention anything about			   that.  Like do I take all of 'em			   of one or 'em, or what?  Well...	   He reaches for the first book and opens it.380	ANGLE ON											 380	   WHOOOOOOSH!!!	   To reveal a black hole.  SCREAMS ERUPT from the dark abyss of	   the Book. It begins to suck things into it.381	CLOSE ON BOOK OF THE DEAD - BACKWARDS MOTION				381	   dead leaves and mist are sucked into the book.382	ASH - MAKE-UP APPLIANCE								 382	   Wind hits Ash's face as he feels the suction of the book growing	   stronger.383	ASH'S HAND - PUPPET									383	   is stretched as it's pulled down into the book.384	LONG SHOT - ASH PUPPET								  384	   Ash's arms stretch down into the book's black page.385	ASH'S PUPPET HEAD									  385	   stretched and screaming, is also pulled on by the book.386	ASH PUPPET										    386	   A taffy stretched version of Ash struggles against the pull of	   the black hole. He pulls free and snaps the book shut.387	INTERVOLOMETER SHOT - ASH							    387	   His face vibrates like jello until it finally snaps back to	   normal.					  ASH			   Woah.  Wrong book.	   He turns to study...388	THE TWO REMAINING BOOKS								 388	   ASH	   tries to decide between them.  At first he's sure which one it	   is.  Then, chiding himself for being so easily duped, chooses	   the other.389	THE BOOK											 389	   moves ever so slightly as he reaches for it.					   ASH			   Huh.	   Ash reaches for it again and the book bites him!390	THE BOOK OF THE DEAD - PUPPET							390	   Rodent teeth have appeared on the surface of the Book.  The Book	   flaps it's pages and becomes airborne, flying right at CAMERA	   like a bat!391	BATBOOK P.O.V. - CAMERA RIG - UNDERCRANKED				  391	   Swooping erratically around Ash's head.392	THE BATBOOK										   392	   shrieking, chases Ash around, pecking at his neck.					   ASH			   Dear God, help me... ahhh!!!	   The Batbook is pecking at his eyes!393	ASH												 393	   pulls it from his face and throws it. It lands back on it's	   pedestal.394	ASH												 394	   faces the remaining book.  He slowly reaches for it as the wind	   kicks up. Ash gently lifts it and turns it over.395	CLOSE ON BOOK										 395	   It's cover is bound in the dried skin of a man's face!  Two empty	   eye sockets stare out from it.  This is the Book of the Dead...396	ASH												 396	   bristles in fear.					   ASH			   Okay.   The words.  Say the words.			   KLATOO!... VERATA...  uh...  Uh...			   Necta... uh... Nectar...			   Necktie... uh...	   He hesitates, then calls out boldly.					   ASH			   KLATOO... VERATA...			   NECTtphhhhhhhhhh...	   He deliberately muffles the last word that he can't remember.	   The wind stops.  It seems to have worked.  He looks about with	   growing confidence.					   ASH			   Okay then.	   But he loses his smile as... a LOW RUMBLE is heard on the	   soundtrack.397	LONG SHOT - CEMETARY								    397	   ASH	   A tiny figure among the gravestones which tremble and one by	   one are thrust from the earth.					   ASH			   Hey, wait a minute. Everything's			   cool!  I said the words!  I did!398	EXT. CASTLE - NIGHT									398	   A violent storm in the distance.  Lightning flashes.399	INT. CASTLE COURTYARD - NIGHT							399	   A DOOR	   blows open revealing Wiseman John.  He looks at the gathering	   storm with foreboding.					   WISEMAN JOHN			   Something is amiss.400	HORSES IN THE CASTLE GROUNDS							 400	   WHINNIE in hear. Sheila steps into frame and stare fearfully	   out at the storm.401	EXT. CEMETARY - NIGHT								   401	   ASH runs for his horse, clutching the Necronomicon.402	A BONEY HAND										  402	   rips up from a grave and grabs his leg!403	ASH												 403	   falls.404	THE BOOK OF THE DEAD								    404	   is knocked from Ash's hand.405	ASH												 405	   reaches for it when a SECOND skeleton hand rips from the ground	   and clutches his face.406	THE FIRST SKELETON HAND								 406	   digs into Ash's mouth.  It jerks his face sideways to show	   him...407	A GROUP OF SIX ROTTED ARMS							   407	   that rip from the ground!408	THE SKELETAL HANDS									 408	   toss Ash to...409	THE ROTTED ARMS									    409	   grab Ash's head and bang it on a rock.  Two of the six arms try	   to shake and slap some sense into him. A rotted fist is waved	   at him.  Another rotted arm backhands him. The arms thrust his	   face toward the skeleton hands.410	THE SKELETON HANDS									 410	   curl boney fingers, clenching them into fists.					   ASH			   No.. no more...	   The skeletal fists pepper Ash's face with punches.					   ASH			   Leave me alone!  Leave me aHUUU!411	THE SKELETAL FINGERS								    411	   last out and snag Ash's tongue between their boney pincers,	   shutting Ash up.  With his tongue held, he tries to speak again,	   but the other skeletal hand slaps him, shutting him up.  Both	   hands work double-time at slapping him.412	UNDERCRANKED - ASH									  412	   His face has become a punching bag for the skeletal hands.  They	   pull his ears and gouge his eyes.413	ASH												 413	   open his mouth wide with in a SCREAM!414	SIDE SHOT - COLLAPSIBLE SKELETON ARM					   414	   The boney fist is thrust into Ash's screaming mouth up to the	   skeleton's boney elbow.415	EXTREME CLOSE SHOT - ASH'S EYES						   415	   They bulge as he swallow the arm.416	STOP MOTION ANIMATION								   416	   A ROTTED ARM	   rips through the ground, punching Ash in the stomach.417	SIDE SHOT - COLLAPSIBLE SKELETAL ARM					   417	   ASH	   jerks backward, vomiting out the skeletal arm.  He tumbles to	   the ground.418	THE ARMS											 418	   reach for him, but he is too fast.  He stamps on one of the	   skeletal arms, pinning it to the ground.					   ASH				   (in a snarl)			   Keep you damn filthy bones outta			   my mouth.	   SNAP!  He breaks the boney arm in two and runs away from the sea	   of limbs. A bone arm rips from the grave and reaches for the	   Book of the Dead but Ash scoops it up first.  He leaps over	   another set of groping arms that rip from the ground!419	ASH CLIMBS										    419	   atop the horse. He glances back in fear to see...420	EXT. CEMETARY - OLD OAK TREE							 420	   The burial site of Evil Ash. A bolt of lightning strikes the	   grave marker.421	EVIL ASH'S BURIAL MARKER								421	   is thrust from the ground. A hand breaks the surface of the	   earth.422	EVIL ASH'S BODY PARTS								   422	   fly up from the grave and assemble themselves into a lopsided,	   decayed version of EVIL ASH!423	EXT. MILL - NIGHT									  423	   ASH	   stares in horror at his evil self. All around, skeletons rip	   from the earth and shriek as they come back to life!424	A FEARFUL ASH										 424	   kicks the horse and rides off.425	EXT. MILL - LONG SHOT - NIGHT							425	   ASH ON HORSEBACK	   galloping back the way he came. In the distance we see the	   cemetery. More bodies arise from the ground.426	EXT. WOODS - ASH - NIGHT								426	   Now far from the danger but still he rides hard.					   ASH			   I'm through bein' their garbage			   boy.  I did my part of the			   bargain.	   He pats the saddlebag, where the book is and grins.			   Now they owe me.  Like in the			   deal.  I want back.	   He whips his horse...			   HA!  GIIDDUP NOW!!	   ...and rides off into the darkness.									   DISSOLVE TO:427	EXT. CASTLE - LONG SHOT - NIGHT						   427	   ASH	   A tiny figure, rides toward the castle.428	EXT. CASTLE WALL - NIGHT								428	   GOLD TOOTH and two guards stand atop a tower and shout down to	   the gatekeeper.					   GOLD TOOTH			   Open the gates. The Promised one			   has returned!429	EXT. CASTLE - NIGHT									429	   THE DRAWBRIDGE	   swings down.430	ASH												 430	   rides across the lowered bridge and into the torchlight of the	   castle.431	INT. CASTLE COURTYARD - NIGHT							431	   TWO WARRIORS	   hold Ash's horse as he dismounts. There are excited shouts from	   the villagers					   VILLAGERS			   The stranger has returned!  He's			   brought the book!432	INT. CASTLE COURTYARD - NIGHT							432	   ASH	   is led to the THREE WISEMEN.					   WISEMAN JOHN			   The Necronomicon.  Quickly.433	ASH												 433	   pours a bucket of water over his head and begins drinking.					   WISEMAN JOHN			   Did you bring the Necronomicon!434	ASH												 434	   slurps down more of the water, averting his eyes from the	   Wiseman.					   ASH			   Yes. It's just that...					   WISEMAN JOHN			   Just what?!					   ASH			   Nothing. Here	   Ash produces the Necronomicon.			   Now send be back. Like in the			   deal.435	WISEMAN JOHN										  435	   takes the book and suddenly goes pale.					   WISEMAN JOHN			   No...I sensed something had gone			   awry. The book's power. It's gone.436	THE CROWD											436	   murmurs at this bad news.437	ASH												 437	   suddenly looks very guilty. Wiseman John turns to him.					   WISEMAN JOHN			   When you removed the Necronomicon			   from it's cradle, did you speak			   the words?					   ASH			   Yeah.  basically.					   WISEMAN JOHN			   Did you speak the exact words?!					   ASH			   Well, maybe not every single			   syllable, no.  But basically I			   said them.  Yes.438	WISEMAN JOHN										  439	   bows his head, stung by this information.					   WISEMAN JOHN			   Dung eating fool!  Thou hast doomed			   us. When thou misspoke the words			   the Army of the Dead was awoke.					   ASH			   Hey. We had a deal. You told me,			   you could clean this thing up,			   once I got you the book. You said			   there was a passage in there that			   could get rid of this thing and			   send me back.					   WISEMAN JOHN			   The passage is useless to us as			   long as these evil dead walk. They			   have a terrible desire for this			   book. And they shall come here			   to get it. Once in their			   possession, the Evil shall rule			   the Earth for one thousand			   years...Because of you...we are			   doomed.					   ASH			   You wanted the damn book. You got			   yer book. I did my part of the			   deal.					   WISEMAN JOHN			   We did strike a bargain. I will			   return you to your own time as			   promised.					   ASH			   Yeah. Well good. That was the			   deal.  So uh...when do you think			   we can...439	ASH												 439	   looks about at the condemned faces.440	ASH'S P.O.V. - THE VILLAGERS							 440	   CAMERA PANS past the doomed faces in the crowd.					   ASH			   I mean...when can you send me...441	ASH												 441	   sees Sheila, but looks away, consumed with the guilt that he's	   doomed her.					   ARTHUR			   The Wisemen were fools to believe			   that you were the Promised one.			   That one such as you could have			   saved us!.442	ASH												 442	   is solemn.443	ARTHUR											   443	   and the others turn away in contempt.444	SHEILA											   444	   moves closer.					   SHEILA			   I still believe that thou wilt			   help us.					   ASH			   No.. They're right.  I screwed			   up. I didn't come through for you,			   and...  I'm sorry for it.					   SHEILA			   I still have faith in thee. In			   my heart I know thou wilt still			   succeed.					   ASH			   Sheila... It's over for me. I			   don't belong here and I'm going			   home. I didn't have what it took.			   It's over.	   He bows his head and moves off.	   A high pitched SHRIEK is heard!445	ALL HEADS											445	   look to the sky.446	TWO WINGED DEADITES									446	   possessed women with bat-like wings, swoop down.447	TEN VILLAGERS										 447	   scream as they flee from the winged beasts.448	WINGED DEADITE #1									  448	   Like a delta winged F-15, it banks towards Sheila.					   ASH			   No!449	ASH												 449	   races to intercept.  He plants himself between Sheila and the	   beast.450	WINGED DEADITE #1 - POV								 450	   As it swoops at Ash.451	ASH												 451	   opens his steel hand, then clamps it closed again on the handle	   of his sword.452	ASKEW ANGLE										   452	   The immense shadow of the broad winged Deadite falls over Ash.453	ASH												 453	   swings his sword upward.454	CLOSE SHOT - THE BLADE								  454	   severs the tip of the Beast's rotted wing.455	THE FLYING DEADITE									 455	   shrieks in pain as it soars over Ash. No longer aerodynamically	   sound, it crashes to the ground.456	A GROUP OF WARRIORS									456	   fire their arrows into the beast, pegging it to a tree.  The	   bone white eyes of the creature darken.457	ASH AND ARTHUR										457	   spin to the sound of a woman's SCREAM.458	SHEILA											   458	   in the clutches of WINGED DEADITE #2.					   SHEILA			   M'Lord Ash!  Help me!	   The beast flies off with the fair maiden, soaring over the	   castle wall and into the distance.459	ASH												 459	   shakes his fist at the receding beast.					   ASH			   Damn you!460	THREE MOUNTED SCOUTS								    460	   come riding in through the castle doors.					   SCOUT			   An army of the dead!  They have			   gathered in the wilderness and			   come this way.					   ARTHUR			   How far from here?					   SCOUT			   But two days ride.					   ARTHUR			   Then these winged ones are only			   the first of them.					   WISEMAN			   Perhaps we should go from this			   place while we can.					   GOLD TOOTH			   We could be safe in the mountains.					   WARRIORS			   Yes!  To the mountains!  We must flee!			   They'll take our souls!461	ANGLE ON											 461	   BLAMMITY-BLAM!	   All eyes look to...462	ASH												 462	   who stands on a high castle wall, clutching his smoldering	   shotgun.					   ASH			   Go ahead and run.  Run home and			   cry to mama.  I'm through runnin'.			   I stay we stay and fight.463	ARTHUR											   463	   takes a challenging step forward.					   ARTHUR			   How will we stop an army of the			   dead at out castle walls?  How will			   you fight that?!  With more words?			   Most of out people have already			   fled.  We are but forty men.					   ASH			   We'll get Henry the Red and his			   men to fight with us.					   ARTHUR			   We shall not stand in battle,			   alongside the likes of him. Our			   honor will not allow it.					   ASH			   Then you'll die.  Honor and all.			   Now who's with me?464	THE CROWD											464	   is silent as they consider Ash's words. Then from the rear, the	   Village Blacksmith steps forward.					   BLACKSMITH			   I'll stand by you.465	A WARRIOR											465	   steps forward. Then another.					   WARRIOR #7			   You may count on my steel.					   WARRIOR #8			   And mine!466	THE CROWD											466	   steps forward vowing their allegiance to the cause.467	ARTHUR											   467	   reluctantly joins them.468	EXT. GRAVEYARD - STOP MOTION ANIMATION - NIGHT			   468	   EVIL ASH	   directs teams of skeletons to dig at the graves.					   EVIL ASH			   Dig!  Dig faster!  I want every black			   hearted, worm infested, son of			   a bitch that ever died in battle!			   We'll storm their castle and take			   the book!  Then my lads, eternal			   life shall by ours!469	STOP MOTION ANIMATION - THREE SKELETONS					469	   hoist up a stone casket from the ground and with rusted swords	   pry it open, releasing another skeleton who stands to join their	   ranks.470	TWO ARMORED SKELETONS								   470	   push a bruised Sheila to her knees before Evil Ash.471	CLOSE ON SHEILA									    471	   looking up to Evil Ash in fear. His boney finger comes down into	   frame and strokes her lovely cheek.  She pulls away in	   revulsion.472	EVIL ASH											 472	   looks down at her with lust.					   EVIL ASH			   Why ain't you a sweet little			   thing?	   His boney digit caresses her lips.					   SHEILA			   Don't touch me!  You foul thing!					   EVIL ASH			   Your gonna learn to live me missy.					   SHEILA			   The Promised one will come for			   you.	   SKELETAL EVIL ASH	   yanks her to her feet.					   EVIL ASH			   Darlin' I'm gonna save him the			   trouble.	   He clutches her squirming body in a boney embrace.473	EXT. GRAVEYARD - LONG SHOT							   473	   Silhouetted by the large full moon, Evil Ash forces his kiss	   upon Sheila.  Around them, the skeletons sharpen their swords	   on tombstones.									   DISSOLVE TO:474	EXT. VAST VISTA OF BARREN LAND - DAY					   474	   Ash rides toward the castle of Henry the Red that can be seen	   in the distance.475	WIDE SHOT - ASH									    475	   is suddenly intercepted by FOUR OF HENRY'S HORSEMEN.  They	   surround him.					   HENRY WARRIOR #1			   He wears the insignia of Arthur!					   HENRY WARRIOR #2			   Slay him!	   The draw their swords when...476	HENRY THE RED										 476	   rides up between his warriors and Ash.					   HENRY			   Stay your arms!	   Henry turns to Ash.					   HENRY			   T'is the stranger who spared me			   from the pit. What brings you?					   ASH			   The Army of the Dead.					   HENRY			   What of them?					   ASH			   They're headed towards Arthur's			   castle. We need your help. Fight			   with us.					   HENRY			   So you are a vassal of Arthur now?			   You have taken up sides with him			   against me.					   ASH			   The only side I'm takin' is the			   one that's gonna stop those			   things.	   Henry laughs.					   HENRY			   Why should I endanger my people			   to save my enemy?					   ASH			   Because after they finish with			   Arthur they'll come after you.			   Together, we've got a chance.			   Besides, you owe me.477	EXT. A CRAGGY MOUNTAIN TOP - NIGHT						477	   EVIL ASH AND SHEILA	   ride side by side on skeletal steeds.  Sheila lifts her black	   veil, revealing bone white eyes, set into a face now the texture	   of cracked leather.  She looks with admiration to...478	EVIL ASH											 478	   He is general of the army of Deadites. He thrusts a rusted sword	   into the air and shouts in a gritty voice:					   EVIL ASH			   Who rules?!479	WIDE SHOT - ONE HUNDRED ARMORED SKELETONS				   479	   raise their swords into the air with a shout.480	EXT. CASTLE - DAY									  480	   THREE TRUMPETERS	   stand atop the castle wall and sound their trumpets!  CAMERA PANS	   to reveal...481	THE 1973 DELTA 88 OLDSMOBILE							 481	   being pulled by a team of men and horses, inside the castle	   walls.  Ash is behind the steering wheel.482	INT. CASTLE - BLACKSMITH SHOP - DAY					    482	   ASH AND THE BLACKSMITH	   look under the hood of the Delta 88, parked in the Blacksmith's	   shop.483	THE DELTA'S ENGINE									 483	   is shattered.484	ASH												 484	   frowns.485	ASH AND THE BLACKSMITH								  485	   pour molten iron into a large sand mold.486	THE SAND											 486	   is brushed away revealing gear wheels.487	HAMMERS											  487	   beat upon red hot iron, fashioning helicopter like rotor blades.488	THE BLACKSMITH'S STOVE								  488	   is lowered into the Delta's engine compartment.489	EXT. CASTLE COURTYARD - DAY							  489	   ASH	   walks along, inspecting a line of forty medieval warriors who	   stand at attention. He halts before a warrior and stares hard	   at him. The Warrior glances towards Ash.					   ASH			   You eyeballin' me boy?					   WARRIOR #9			   No, M'Lord.					   ASH			   I can't hear you!					   WARRIOR #9			   NO, M'LORD!!					   ASH			   You squeekin' like a mouse!  Are			   you a mouse boy?!					   WARRIOR #9			   NO, M'LORD!					   ASH			   Where you from, mouse?!					   WARRIOR #9			   I hail from the village of Perth.					   ASH			   Only two things come from Perth:			   steers and queers. Which are you?490	EXT. MOUNTAIN - DAY									490	   ASH	   takes charcoal from a dead fire and chips of dried cow dung.	   He mixes them with sulfur.491	THE BLACK POWDER									   491	   is bound up in a small satchel and affixed to an arrow.492	GOLD TOOTH										    492	   lights the fuse with a torch.493	ASH												 493	   draws back and releases the arrow. ZING!494	THE ARROW											494	   imbeds in a wooden post and EXPLODES. Large pieces of wood are	   sent flying.495	ARTHUR'S WARRIORS									  495	   watch in awe.496	EXT. CASTLE LOOKOUT TOWER - DUSK						  496	   THE CASTLE BELL	   is rung madly.  The signal for battle stations.497	A WARRIOR											497	   rides in through the castle gates screaming:					   WARRIOR			   They're coming!  The Deadites			   approach!498	INT. CASTLE COURTYARD								   498	   A look of shock and fear on all the faces.  ASH comes into	   frame.  CAMERA CRANES UP with him as he scales the ladder to	   the lookout tower. He peers out to the darkening horizon.499	ASH												 499	   hears them before he sees them: The sound of clicking bones.	   Painful moans of tortured souls, the clanging of approaching	   armor.500	ASH'S P.O.V. - THE HORIZON							   500	   Fifty distant silhouettes of the Evil Dead appear on the	   horizon.  Then fifty more.501	EXT. BATTLEFIELD TRACKING SHOT						    501	   THREE KILTED SKELETON SCOTSMEN	   play rotted bagpipes as they march toward the castle. A haunted	   battle melody. Behind them...502	SKELETON #1										   502	   plays the drums upon a set of hollow skulls.503	SKELETON #2										   503	   takes a leg bone upon a third skeleton's ribs. A bone xylophone.	   A bone-o-phone.504	SKELETON #3, #4 AND #5								  504	   blow into arm bones forming woodwind section.505	FOUR VIKING SKELETONS								   505	   CAMERA TRACKING with these helmeted skeletons as they march.	   They are clad in rusting suits of armor, wielding swords and	   spears.  Nasty grins on their faces. One hobbles past on his	   wooden leg.506	EVIL ASH AND SHEILA									506	   ride their steeds to a halt atop a hill.507	A SKELETON AND DEADITE CAPTAIN						    507	   ride alongside Evil Ash and salute him sharply.					   SKELETON CAPTAIN			   M'Lord!  We are positioned on both			   fronts!					   EVIL ASH			   Where are they keeping my book?					   SKELETON CAPTAIN #1			   Most likely...there, in the			   castle's keep. It would be the			   safest place.  It is behind two			   walls that must be taken first.					   EVIL ASH			   Excellent. Proceed.508	SKELETON CAPTAIN #1									508	   With a sweep of his arm, he waves the Army of rot.					   SKELETON CAPTAIN #1			   Forward!509	THE MACABRE MARCHING BAND							    509	   now pound the attack beat on their drums.510	A LINE OF DEADITES									 510	   advance toward the castle. Some crouch behind wooden barricades	   which they roll before them.511	EXT. CASTLE - ATOP THE WALL							  511	   ASH, ARTHUR AND THE WARRIORS					   ASH			   Arrows!					   ARTHUR			   Load!512	TWELVE ARCHERS										512	   pull back arrows on their bow strings.  Each arrow has a small	   charge of black powder attached to it.			   Torch boy!513	A TORCH BOY										   513	   runs behind the archers, lighting the fuses on each of the	   powder charges. As the last arrow is lit....514	ARTHUR											   514	   looks to the approaching army.515	THE LINE OF DEADITES								    515	   rolls their wooden barricades closer.516	ARTHUR											   516	   turns to Ash for the signal.517	ASH												 517	   holds up a finger.  He waits.518	TWELVE ARCHERS										518	   strain, their bows taut with the explosive arrows.  The sound	   of the FUSE BURNING is loud.519	THE BURNING FUSES									  519	   about to disappear into the powder charges.520	ASH												 520	   waits one more beat.  The turns to Arthur.					   ASH			   Fire!					   ARTHUR			   Fire!521	TWELVE ARCHERS										521	   fire a volley of smoking arrows.522	SMOKING AND SPUTTERING ARROWS							522	   rain down from the castle wall.523	TWO WOODEN BARRICADES								   523	   are hit with the explosive arrows. They explode.524	THREE DEADITES										524	   are pierced by the explosive arrows.  BOOM!  BOOM!  BOOM!  They burst	   apart in flames.525	FLAMING DEADITES									   525	   roll on the ground unable to extinguish themselves.526	A BURNING SKELETON									 526	   continues to advance only to collapse into a smoldering heap.527	THE WARRIORS										  527	   CHEER Ash in sensurround.528	A SCOUT											  528	   races up to Ash.					   SCOUT			   M'Lord!  A second division			   approaching from the South.529	ASH												 529	   turns to the South.530	A SECOND WAVE A DEADITES								530	   approach.					   ASH			   CATAPULTS...SOUTH!531	INT. COURTYARD										531	   THREE WOODEN CATAPULTS	   are wheeled into position.					   ARTHUR			   Powder!532	GOLD TOOTH AND OTHER WARRIORS							532	   hoist large sacks of black powder onto spoons of the catapults.	   Their fuses are lit.533	ASH												 533	   gestures. Swords slice through lines which send giant sacks of	   black powder catapulting.534	LONG SHOT - CASTLE									 534	   Three flaming projectiles whine as they hurl over the castle	   walls.535	THREE FALLING SATCHELS P.O.V.'S						   535	   CAMERA CRANING DOWN toward the skeletons as they look upward	   in horror.	   BOOM!  The first blast takes out a skeleton horse and rider. Bones	   fly.	   BOOM!  FOUR DEADITES are obliterated.536	EVIL ASH											 536	   turns to the Skeleton Captain #1 who rides alongside him.					   SKELETON CAPTAIN #1			   Permission to regroup, m'Lord.					   EVIL ASH			   You needn't bother.537	EVIL ASH											 537	   slices off the head of Skeleton Captain #1. He turns to the	   MOUNTED DEADITE next to him.					   EVIL ASH			   You are now my captain. I will			   now allow anything to stop me from			   possessing the Necronomicon. Get			   me into that castle.538	THE NEW DEADITE CAPTAIN								 538	   gulps and races forward into the ranks shouting:					   NEW DEADITE CAPTAIN			   RAM THE GATES!539	TWO GROUPS OF FOUR SKELETONS							 539	   use trees as battering rams and batter the large wooden doors	   of the castle.	   BOOM!-BOOM!540	INT. CASTLE - THE CASTLE DOORS						    540	   begin to buckle beneath the hammering blows.541	TWO VILLAGE WOMEN									  541	   scream!542	TEN WARRIORS										  542	   wedge logs to buttress the buckling castle doors.543	EXT. CASTLE										   543					   EVIL ASH			   Arrows!544	A ROW OF SIX SKELETAL ARCHERS							544	   fire a volley of arrows. As they reload. Behind them...545	A SECOND LINE OF SIX SKELETAL ARCHERS					  545	   fire their arrows.546	A VOLLEY OF DEADITES' ARROWS							 546	   pierce five Warriors atop the castle wall. They fall.547	INT. CASTLE										   547	   TWO DEAD WARRIORS	   fall to the courtyard. Villagers lift them away on stretchers.548	ARTHUR											   548	   shouts to Ash:					   ARTHUR			   Where is Henry?!					   ASH			   He'll be here.					   ARTHUR			   I think he will not. But know			   this.  No matter how this battle			   fares, I was wrong to think you			   a coward.549	EXT. CASTLE										   549	   The battering rams rips through the doors and the army of	   darkness pours into the courtyard.550	A LEGLESS SKELETON									 550	   crawls in with a knife in its teeth.					   ARTHUR			   They're coming in. What now?!551	ASH												 551	   looks terrified. He turns and runs from the castle entrance,	   dropping his sword, and hides in the blacksmith's shop, pulling	   the door closed behind him.552	ARTHUR											   552	   shocked at Ash's cowardly desertion, turns to his men and	   shouts:					   ARTHUR			   Fall back!  Man the Parapet!  Protect			   the book or God save us all!553	THE WARRIORS										  553	   retreat across the courtyard to rope ladders that scale the	   parapet.554	ARTHUR'S MEN CLIMB ATOP THE PARAPET					    554	   The rope ladders are hastily pulled up, leaving no access.555	INT. COURTYARD - SIX OF ARTHUR'S WARRIORS				   555	   are stranded in the courtyard. They fight for their lives but	   are quickly overcome.556	EVIL SHEILA										   556	   takes out the last of the stranded warriors with her sword.557	EVIL ASH											 557	   smiles at Sheila. He turns his attention to the guarded tower	   just beyond the parapet.					   EVIL ASH			   The book shall be mine!	   He raises his rusty sword.			   LADDERS!558	TWELVE EVIL DEAD									   558	   storm the parapet with three crudely built wooden ladders as	   large rocks rain down upon them from above.559	TWO WARRIORS										  559	   push away ladder #1.560	FOUR SKELETONS ON LADDER #1							  560	   swing away from the wall and crash to the ground.561	TWO SKELETONS ON LADDER #2							   561	   leap onto the parapet and battle the men with swords.562	WARRIOR #2										    562	   knocks the deadite off the ledge and shouts back toward Arthur.					   WARRIOR #2			   We can't hold this wall much			   longer!563	A DEADITE ARROW									    563	   pierces his armor and he falls to his death.564	INT. COURTYARD										564	   A VIKING DEADITE	   looks up as he hears...	   CHUG!  CHUG!  CHUG!565	DEADITE'S P.O.V.									   565	   THE DOORS OF THE BLACKSMITH'S SHOP BURST OPEN	   Through the dust and smoke something appears...An iron	   beast...belching steam...It's angry iron blades whirling.	   Behold...566	THE DEATHCOASTER									   566	   The stripped chaise of the Delta  88 Oldsmobile. A steam engine	   is mounted to it's center to power the craft. At the front and	   rear are spinning, helicopter like rotor blades.567	GOLD TOOTH										    567	   shovels coal into the Deathcoaster's furnace.568	ASH												 568	   is at the helm. He pulls a cord.569	THE DEATHCOASTER'S STEAM WHISTLE						  569	   SCREAMS to announce its birth.570	THE VIKING DEADITE									 570	   is cut to ribbons by swirling blades.571	THE VILLAGERS ATOP THE PARAPET						    571	   cheer!572	EVIL DEAD											572	   at the base of the ladders look up in horror to see...573	THE STEAM DRIVEN ROTOR BLADES							573	   slicing through two Deadites at once. The cow-catcher in front	   pushes aside the halved Evil Dead.574	ASH												 574	   operates a crude instrument panel with only two levers to steer	   the craft. It's a bumpy ride.575	WIDE SHOT - THE DEATHCOASTER							 575	   Thwop!  Thwop!  Two more skeletons bite the dust.	   leathery hands pluck a SCREAMING Gold Tooth from the craft.576	GOLD TOOTH										    576	   disappears beneath the squirming corpses. A moment later he re-	   emerges as a skeleton himself, except for the single gold tooth	   that shines against the white of the bone. He stands and joins	   the Deadites.577	EVIL SHEILA										   577	   leaps onto the moving Deathcoaster to face Ash.					   EVIL SHEILA			   Thou didst find me beautiful once.					   ASH			   Honey...You got real ugly.578	EVIL SHEILA										   578	   attacks with a SHRIEK!579	ASH												 579	   spins out his double barreled shot gun and...	   BLAMMITY-BLAM!	   ...blows her off the craft. She does a back flip into the other	   Deadites.580	ASH												 580	   pulls hard on the steering stick and it tears loose from the	   craft.581	THE DEATHCOASTER									   581	   careens out of control.582	ASH												 582	   tumbles from the helm and hits the ground.583	THE DEATHCOASTER									   583	   flips, crushes a group of Deadites against a wall, and explodes.584	ASH												 584	   picks himself up from the dust. He looks upward to...585	LADDER #2 - ARTHUR									 585	   attempts to push the ladder away. A sword comes up into frame,	   stabbing Arthur. He is yanked to his death with a shriek!  Evil	   Ash, with his bloody sword, leaps up from the ladder and onto	   the parapet. He's headed for the Book of the Dead.586	BELOW IN THE COURTYARD - ASH							 586	   races to a set of ropes and pulley that ascend the parapet. Two	   deadites come at him. He grabs the rope with his steel hand and	   slices one end of it with his sword.587	ABOVE HIM - A NET OF BOULDERS							587	   plummet down atop the two deadites, crushing them.	   Simultaneously, Ash is tanked upward by the rope, to the	   parapet.588	ASH												 588	   looks to...589	EVIL ASH											 589	   approaching the Necronomicon.590	ASH												 590	   kicks aside a hay bale and removes a mini-crossbow with four	   flame tipped arrows, loaded and ready. He fires.591	A FLAME ARROW										 591	   imbeds in Evil Ash's leg and ignites his body. Another flaming	   dart hits his shoulder blade. The flames consume his body. He	   burns and SHRIEKS!592	ASH												 592	   watches in horror as...593	THE FLAMES RECEED									  593	   revealing a bone white skeleton with mismatched eyes. SKELETAL	   EVIL ASH!  It races at Ash with a SHRIEK.594	ASH AND EVIL ASH									   594	   bring their swords together with such great force that sparks	   fly.  Ash is forced back against the stone pedestal that holds	   the Necronomicon.	   CLANG!	   With a deft stroke, Ash's sword is flung from his hand.595	ASH'S SWORD										   595	   imbeds in a wooden beam.596	EVIL ASH											 596	   grabs the Necronomicon, then swings his sword at Ash.597	ASH												 597	   grabs a burning iron torch from its mount.598	ANGLE ON											 598	   WHOOSH!  KLANG!  WHOOSH!  KLANG!	   Man and Skeleton battle with flaming torch and sword.599	ANGLE ON											 599	   KLANG!	   The torch is knocked from Ash's hand. It falls over the edge	   of the wall and lands in the courtyard below. It ignites a fuse.	   The burning fuse leads to a sack of black powder. The sack sits	   upon the spoon of a catapult.600	ABOVE...											 600	   SKELETON ASH	   swings his sword. Ash leaps over the blade. The Skeleton swings	   downward, and Ash side steps it.601	ASH												 601	   rabbit punches CAMERA.602	CLOSE ON SKELETON HEAD								  602	   Ash's fist bursts out all it's rotted teeth.603	ASH												 603	   delivers a right hook, spinning the skeleton's head around in	   a circle.604	THE SKELETON										  604	   gives Ash a backwards roundhouse kick to the face. Ash tumbles	   over the edge.605	ASH												 605	   falls to the courtyard below, alongside the catapult. He glances	   at the burning fuse.606	EVIL ASH											 606	   leaps from the parapet and lands atop the catapult. The Skeleton	   looks down at Ash with a nasty grin of bone.607	SKELETON ASH										  607	   Behold...	   He gestures to the Evil Dead that overrun the parapet and now	   battle the last twenty of Arthur's warriors for control of the	   Keep.608	ANGLE ON SKELETON ASH								   608					   SKELETON ASH			   You're finished.	   He extends the Necronomicon to taunt Ash.					   SKELETON ASH			   I possess the Necronomicon. I've			   crushed your pathetic army. Now			   I'll have my vengeance!	   He raises his sword for the death blow...609	THE SHRILL CALL OF BATTLE TRUMPETS						609					   GUARD (O.S.)			   Duke Henry's men!  They've come!610	ASH AND THE SKELETON								    610	   turn...	   A jubilant CHEER rises from the castle as...611	DUKE HENRY THE RED AND FIFTY OF HIS MEN					611	   thunder down the hill, across the drawbridge and into the castle	   courtyard to attack the Deadites!612	THE SKELETON - ATOP THE CATAPULT						  612	   turns back to Ash and raises his sword for the kill.613	ASH												 613	   has grabbed a sword from a fallen warrior. With a single motion	   he slices the hand that holds the Necronomicon from Skeleton	   Ash.614	ASH												 614	   snags the book with one hand and on the backswing, slices	   through the rope, springing the catapult.615	THE SKELETON AND BURNING SATCHEL						  615	   are flung over the castle wall.616	HIGH SHOT - LOOKING DOWN AT CASTLE						616	   THE SKELETON PROJECTILE	   rockets up past camera, waving its boney arms. The burning	   satchel follows.	   BOOM!  The skeleton is blown to bits in mid air.	   A CHEER goes up within the castle courtyard as Henry's Warriors	   crush the last of the Deadites.									   DISSOLVE TO:617	GLORIOUS BEAMS OF MORNING SUNLIGHT						617	   streak over the horizon. Ash enters frame. He holds the	   Necronomicon as he looks wearily out over the battlefield.618	LONG SHOT - THE BATTLEFIELD - MORNING					  618	   Smoking skeletons lay scattered. Henry and Arthur's Warriors	   work together. They toss the deadite bones and armor into a	   bonfire.619	CLOSE SHOT - TWO DEADITE SKULLS						   619	   engulfed by flames, crack in the heat.									   DISSOLVE TO:620	EXT. SEASHORE - ARROWHEADS - DUSK						 620	   are dipped into the flame of a bonfire.  They ignite.621	THE INTEGRATED ARMY OF HENRY AND ARTHUR'S MEN			    621	   Form a row of archers.	   They fire their flaming arrows toward the sea.622	THE ARROWS										    622	   strike a wooden ship that holds the body of Arthur.					   ASH (V.O.)			   We said goodbye to Arthur.  Sure			   we had our problems.  But in the			   end, he was all right.									   DISSOLVE TO:623	EXT. SEASHORE - DUSK								    623	   ASH AND THE OTHERS	   watch the funeral pyre sail off.  It's flickering flames play	   upon their faces.									   DISSOLVE TO:624	INT. CASTLE COURTYARD - NIGHT							624					   ASH (V.O.)			   Peace was made between the two			   peoples.  And a new nation was			   formed.  They offered my a chance			   to stay among them and teach them.			   A chance to lead them.  To be			   King.  But Sheila was gone.			   Besides, I had places to go.	   FLAMES OF THE FIRE - CAMERA PULLS BACK TO REVEAL...625	THE WISEMEN										   625	   mix a vat of liquid over a fire as they recite a passage from	   the Necronomicon.  A flask is dipped into the liquid.	   WISEMAN JOHN	   hands the flask of liquid to Ash.					   WISEMAN JOHN			   The Book tells us that each drop			   allows a man to sleep a century.			   Swallow six drops, and thou shalt			   awaken in thine own time.					   ASH (V.O.)			   Yeah.  Right...	   Ash takes the flask and studies it.			   ...but what other choice did I			   have?									   DISSOLVE TO:626	EXT. CASTLE - LONG SHOT - DAY							626	   ASH	   rides off.					   ASH (V.O.)			   I had to find a place to crash.			   For a very long time.627	EXT. CAVE - DAY									    627	   ASH	   with the aid of his horse, drags the Deathcoaster inside the	   cave.	   He sets the horse free.					   ASH			   YAHH!!	   It gallops off.628	INT. CAVE - DAY									    628	   ASH	   Places a black powder charge at the mouth of the cave.  He	   ignites the fuse and climbs into the car.					   ASH (V.O.)			   I locked the door.629	INT. MOUTH OF THE CAVE								  629	   BOOM!	   The powder charge blows.  The cave's entrance is sealed shut	   with an avalanche of rock.630	INT. CAVE - DEATHCOASTER								630	   The car headlights come on, piercing the blackness.631	INT. DEATHCOASTER									  631	   ASH	   uncorks the flask filled with the Wiseman's brew.					   ASH (V.O.)			   I closed my eyes.	   He lets six drops fall into his mouth.  One for each century	   he must sleep.					   ASH (V.O.)			   I took a drink.	   Ash is unaware that an extra drop has fallen into his mouth!  A	   7th drop!  Ash swallows the liquid.					   ASH (V.O.)			   I didn't know if it was day or			   night. I started... to get			   drowsy... And I slept...632	ASH												 632	   falls into a deep slumber.									   DISSOLVE TO:633	THE DEATHCOASTER'S HEADLIGHTS							633	   fade.									   DISSOLVE TO:634	CLOSER ON ASH'S SLEEPING FACE							634	   now in a different position. Time has passed. He needs a shave.					   ASH			   ...And dreamed.635	THE HANDS ON ASH'S WRISTWATCH							635	   wind faster and faster, then halt and rust in time lapse	   photography. The leather band rots away and the watch falls from	   Ash's wrist.636	THE SUN											  636	   rises then sets.637	THE MOON											 637	   follows.638	A CRACK											  638	   forms along the surface of the aging rock wall.					   ASH (V.O.)			   Dreams last lasted centuries.639	A BARREN TREE										 639	   sprouts buds, they swell forming leaves which change to the	   brilliant colors of fall then drop.640	A FROST											  640	   covers Ash.641	ICICLES											  641	   on the ceiling of the cave melt.  The water drops down onto	   Ash's face.  He stirs.642	ASH												 642	   awakens in a heap of rusted scrap, which was once the	   Deathcoaster. His clothes and armor having deteriorated, he is	   buck ass naked as he staggers to the mouth of the cave. He digs	   at the rocks that block the cave's entrance.  Sunlight streams	   into the hole he has created.643	EXT. HILLSIDE										 643	   ASH	   climbs from the cave and steps into the sunlight.					   ASH (V.O.)			   And when I awoke...644	ASH												 644	   beholds...645	A FUTURISTIC CITY -									645	   after the next Nuclear war: a dead land.646	ASH'S P.O.V.										  646	   A FRACTURED CLOCK TOWER	   lays sprawled on its side.  The time of mankind's death frozen	   on the cracked face of the clock.647	A SHATTERED BRIDGE									 647	   abruptly ends, a third of the way across a river it once	   spanned.  Upon it, rest heaps of futuristic, yet rusted taxicabs	   piled eight deep in some places.	   CAMERA PULLS BACK from a stunned Ash, amidst the atomized pieces	   of iron and bone.					   ASH			   ....I found that I had slept too			   long.648	ASH												 648	   is so small a dot now, and so far away, that we almost can't	   hear his terrified SCREAM!									   CUT TO BLACK.							  THE END.
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+                         ARSENIC AND OLD LACE                              Written by                     Julius J. & Philip G. Epstein                        Adapted from the play by                           Joseph Kesselring   CREDITS   Credits roll, in white letters, on several funny cartoons, all of   them about witches and witchcraft (a caldron over a fire, with two   witches on either side of it - A close-up of one of the witches -   A witches falling down from the sky on her broomstick, and loosing   her hat in the fall - A furious black cat spitting at an owl   seated on a branch - A carafe with two glasses, actually a direct   reference to the film - An Halloween pumpkin pressing her two   forefingers in its ears, with music notes around it - Black bats   flying over a village).   BROOKLYN - GENERAL OVERVIEW - EXTERIOR DAY   A general overview of Brooklyn, near New York, seen from the roof   of a very high building. Written in white letters on this   overview, the following words :                         This is a Hallowe'en                       tale of Brooklyn, where                        anything can happen--                         and it usually does.   Then :                           At 3 P.M. on this                         particular day, this                             was happening-   Several white circles move on the screen, then the whole screen is   covered by a huge base ball, with ´Brooklynª written on it in   black letters.   BASEBALL GAME - SPECTATORS - EXTERIOR DAY   Close-up of the face of man, screaming :          BASEBALL FAN          I'll knock your block off, you big stiff ! You're a bum !   The camera moves away, so we can see the other baseball spectators   behind the first one.   BASEBALL FIELD - EXTERIOR DAY   General view of a baseball field, where a game is being played.   Follow several very quick sequences (one or two seconds each) : A   general view of the spectators. Then a player throwing a ball.   Then a very excited brass band playing. Then a few very excited   spectators. Then another player throwing a ball.   Finally we see a batter missing his ball. We hear the Umpire,   standing behind the catcher and heavily covered with a protection   suit, yelling :       THE UMPIRE       Strike ! You're out !   The batter, who missed the ball, drops his bat on the ground and   comes back to the Umpire. He tears the Umpire helmet and mask   away, and gives him a good punch in the nose. The Umpire falls on   the ground. The catcher then hits the batter. The Umpire rises   slowly from the ground.   Several very quick sequences : The ball-thrower drops his glove   and runs to the fight. Then several excited spectators stand up to   join the fight. Several player, who were waiting for their turn to   go on the field, also run to the fight. Then a view of the fight,   where all the players are hitting each other. Then the popcorn   seller, dropping his basket to join the fight. Then spectators   jumping over the balustrades to join the fight. Then another view   of the players fighting. Then a final view of the Umpire, laying   on the field and leaning on one elbow, and quietly munching some   food.   NEW YORK - A BRIDGE - EXTERIOR DAY   We see a large view of a bridge with a white boat passing   underneath. Written in large white letters on the screen, the   words :                      While at the same time                     across the river in the                        UNITED STATE PROPER                      there was a romance in                              the air.MARRIAGE LICENSE BUREAU - INTERIOR DAYClose-up on the sign ´MARRIAGE LICENSE BUREAUª, with peoplepassing underneath.       AN EXCITED GIRL VOICE       Elmer, here it is.       A MORE QUIET MALE VOICE       I knew you'd find it.       ANOTHER MALE VOICE       Boy, I could sure use a drink.The camera gets down from the sign to floor level. Two journalistsare approaching, one equipped with a camera.       THE PHOTOGRAPHER       I wonder if any big shots are getting married today ?They stop at the door of the room.Larger view of the room, where several people are, either standingin a queue, either sitting at a table and filling forms, eitherchatting in groups of two or threeBack to the two journalists still standing a the door.       THE OTHER JOURNALIST       Looks like the same suckers get married every day.He looks around for a few second, then starts to move away.       THE OTHER JOURNALIST       Come on.The photographer makes him come back. He points to someone in theroom.       THE PHOTOGRAPHER       Hey, the guy with the cheaters.In a line of people queueing in front of a counter, we seeMortimer Brewster, with a hat and a pair of large dark glasses. Heturns around and notices the two journalists looking at him. Heraises the collar of his black coat to try to hide his face. Thegirl in front of him turns around to look at him. She has blondecurly hair and wears a hat with a strange white feather. She isElaine Harper. With both his hands, Mortimer turns her face backtoward the counter.Back to the two journalists at the door of the room.       THE OTHER JOURNALIST       Now what's he hiding from ?He starts moving to get a better look at Mortimer.Mortimer moves in front of Elaine, who smiles.The two journalists are now in the room, and they look atMortimer.       THE OTHER JOURNALIST       Hey, isn't that Mortimer Brewster?       THE PHOTOGRAPHER       Mortimer Brewster, the dramatic critic ?Mortimer looks very embarrassed.Back to the two journalists.       THE OTHER JOURNALIST       No, it's not him. But what a scoop it would be ! The guy       who wrote The Bachelor's Bible finally getting hooked       himself. Nope. It's too good to be true. Come on, let's       snap the mayor in his new fire helmet and go home.       THE PHOTOGRAPHER       Hey, let's stick around, and see who the guy is.Back to the line of people waiting in front of the counter. Themarriage clerk is standing behind a set of metal bars. A couple ofpeople leaves the counter. It's now Mortimer and Elaine's turn.The marriage clerk sings :       THE CLERK       "Two by two they come and go. Hip hip hig hay !"He smiles to Mortimer and Elaine.       THE CLERK       Good morning, children. Your name, please ?       ELAINE       Elaine Harper.She spoke in a very soft voice. The clerk put his hand around hisear.        THE CLERK        Speak a little louder.She speaks louder.       ELAINE       Elaine Harper.       THE CLERK       Thank you. Yours ?Mortimer comes very close to the bars above the counter andwhispers.       MORTIMER       Mortimer Brewster.The clerk puts his hand back around his ear.The two journalists are straining their own ears to be able tounderstand Mortimer's name       THE CLERK       How's that ?Mortimer raises his glasses, but still whispers.       MORTIMER       Mortimer Brewster.       THE CLERK       Speak up, sonny. There's nothing to be afraid of.Mortimer bends down, putting his chin at the counter level. Thenhe stands up again, and opens the gate in front of the clerk. Heknocks his head on the bar above the gate. He straightens his hat,and brings his face close to the clerk's one. He still whispers.       MORTIMER       I want to keep this undercover.       THE CLERK       Love her ? But of course you love her. You're going to       marry her, aren't you ?       MORTIMER       No-no, you don't understand. Come here, come.With his finger, he signals the clerk to come close to him.       MORTIMER       You see, I don't want this to get out for a while. I'm       Mortimer Brewster.       THE CLERK       You're who ?Mortimer stops controlling himself and starts yelling       MORTIMER       Mortimer Brew...He doesn't finish telling his name, takes Elaine's hand, and runsoutside the room, dragging Elaine behind him.The two journalists react to the news.       THE OTHER JOURNALIST       That's him !They start running after Mortimer.CORRIDOR OUTSIDE THE MARRIAGE BUREAU - INTERIOR DAYStill dragging Elaine, Mortimer runs in the corridor.       THE OTHER JOURNALIST       (voice over)       Mister Brewster !Mortimer pushes Elaine into a telephone booth and enters behindher. There is already a man in the booth who is using the phone.With three people in the booth, Mortimer can hardly close the doorbehind him.The two journalists runs in the corridor.       THE OTHER JOURNALIST       Oh, Mister Brewster !But they pass the booth without noticing that Mortimer is inside.In the booth, the man, still holding the phone receiver, tries toprotest the intrusion.       THE MAN ON THE PHONE       Now, look...Mortimer takes the receiver from him and speaks into it.       MORTIMER       Goodbye, dear.He hangs up the receiver, and then pushes violently the manoutside the booth. The man looks very angry, but doesn't try tocome back in the booth.In the booth, a very exciter Mortimer is talking to Elaine.       MORTIMER       Don't you understand ? How can I marry you ? Me, the symbol       of bachelorhood. I've sneered at every love scene in every       play. I've written four million words against marriage !       Not only hooked, but to a minister's daughter, and not only       a minister's daughter but a girl from Brooklyn. And look at       the way you look ! What is that sort of contraption you've       got there ?He taps on a pin on the lapel of Elaine's jacket.       ELAINE       That's a pin I borrowed from your aunts. You know what       they're saying, "Something borrowed..."       MORTIMER       Yeah, I know that "Something borrowed, something blue."       Old, new. Rice and old shoes. Carry you over the threshold.       Niagara Falls. All that silly tripe I made fun for years.       Is this what I've come to ? I can't go through with it. I       won't marry you. And that's that.He takes his glasses off. Elaine whispers :       ELAINE       Yes, Mortimer.       MORTIMER       What do you mean, ´Yes, Mortimerª ? Aren't you insulted ?       Aren't you going to cry ? Aren't you going to make a       scene ?       ELAINE       No, Mortimer.       MORTIMER       And don't ´No, Mortimerª me, either ! Don't you see       marriage is a superstition. It's old-fashioned. It's...       a... a... Ohh !...He kisses her very passionately.He stops kissing her, and gets out of the booth, dragging herbehind him. They enter the marriage bureau.MARRIAGE LICENSE BUREAU - INTERIOR DAYThey get back a the end of the line of people waiting to bemarried.The girl in front of Elaine winks to Elaine. Elaine winks back toher.A man in front of the girls turns toward Mortimer and smiles tohim, in a slightly idiotic way. Mortimer looks at him, a bitsurprised, and gives him a forced smile, showing his teeth.BROOKLYN - RESIDENTIAL DISTRICT - EXTERIOR DAYWe see a street in Brooklyn, in front of nice house. Written onthe screen in large white letters :                        And now, back to                     one of Brooklyn's most                      charming residential                           districts--BROOKLYN - CHURCHYARD - EXTERIOR DAYA churchyard, with a close-up on a tombstone : ´Jacob JohnVendemeer died 1654ª. Written on the screen in large whiteletters :                      --From her in you're                           on your own.We see the gate of the churchyard, with a plate that says : ´Thiscemetery was established in april 1654ªAlong this gate, two cops are doing their beat. The older one,Sargent Brophy, is talking to the younger one, Officer PatrickO'Hara.       BROPHY       O'Hara, don't be a jerk. You don't seem to realize. I'm       turning over to you the nicest, the best beat in Brooklyn.       Now look at that old church. And them old houses.       O'HARA       Did George Washington ever do any sleeping around here ?       BROPHY       Of course he did. Well, this whole neighborhood just stinks       with atmosphere. And look at that old house there.BREWSTER RESIDENCE - EXTERIOR DAYWalking their beat, the two cops have come outside the Brewstersisters residence.       O'HARA       Are the original owners still over there ?       BROPHY       Now, don't crack wise about the Brewster sisters. They're       two of the dearest, sweetest, kindest old ladies that ever       walked the earth. They're out of this world. They're       like... they're like pressed rose leaves.They have come near a police call box. Brophy takes a key out ofhis pocket to open the box       O'HARA       Pressed rose leaves ?In front of the house, there is a ´Room for Rentª sign. WhileBrophy picks up the phone in the call box, O'Hara looks at thesign.       O'HARA       The old girls must be kind of hard up, huh ?       BROPHY       No, no. Their old man left them fixed for life. And don't       you call them ´the girlsª, either.Brophy starts talking in the receiver of the call box.       BROPHY       Brophy. Is Lieutenant around ?       O'HARA       Then, so why here do they rent a room for ?       BROPHY       They don't rent rooms. But you can bet if anybody came       looking for a room, they wouldn't go away without a good       meal and probably a couple of bucks in their pockets.       That's just their way of digging up people to do good to.We get a closer view of the front of the house. A largerectangular stone, with ´Brewsterª engraved on it. A group ofchildren runs in front of the house.BREWSTER RESIDENCE - SITTING ROOM - INTERIOR DAYIn the forefront of the room, Teddy Brewster is playing Mozart'sTurkish March on the harpsichord. He looks a bit like latePresident Theodore Roosevelt. And he is dressed like the Presidentwas dressed on the official pictures we've got of him... And, likethe President, he is wearing a pince-nez.In another corner of the room, Abby Brewster is having tea withReverend Harper, Elaine's father. She looks like an old Englishlady, a bit like Agatha Christie's Miss Marple.       ABBY       Reverend Harper, I do hope you don't disapprove of Mortimer       just because he's a dramatic critic and takes your daughter       to the theater every night.       REVEREND HARPER       It's not so much that I disapprove of his being a critic,       but no man, no man with this published attitude on       marriage...Close-up on the book Reverend Harper just took on the table :´Marriage, a Fraud and a Failure, by Mortimer Brewsterª.       REVEREND HARPER       ...should take any man's daughter anyplace...He sneezes.       REVEREND HARPER       ...at any time.He sneezes again, louder this time. Teddy stops playing and thereis a puzzled look in his eyes.       TEDDY       I must be catching cold.       ABBY       (to Teddy)       No, dear. It was Reverend Harper who sneezed.       (to Reverend Harper)       Bless you.Teddy puts back in his pocket the handkerchief he had taken outand starts playing again.       ABBY       We mustn't be angry with Mortimer. He's so very much in       love with her. And Sister Martha and I are so happy about       it. He used to come to see us only occasionally, and now,       now he's in Brooklyn six nights a week.BREWSTER RESIDENCE - EXTERIOR DAYThe two cops, Brophy and O'Hara, are mounting the steps to theBrewster sisters house.       BROPHY       Remember now, watch your language.       O'HARA       Besides, you know I'm not a swearing man.       BROPHY       You'd be surprised what they'd consider swearing.He rings the doorbell.BREWSTER RESIDENCE - SITTING ROOM - INTERIOR DAYAt the sound of the doorbell, Teddy stops playing.       ABBY       Oh, will you excuse me ?She gets up from her armchair.       ABBY       No, no, Teddy, dear. Thank you. I'll go.She goes to the door and opens it.       ABBY       Oh, come right in, Mr. Brophy.The two cops get in.       BROPHY       Miss Abby, we came for the toys.       ABBY       Oh yes.O'Hara closes the door.       BROPHY       This is Officer O'Hara. He's taking over my beat.       O'HARA       How are you doing ?       ABBY       May I welcome you to our neighborhood, Mister O'Hara.Teddy, with his teacup in hand, joins the group. He speaks with avery serious expression on his face.       TEDDY       Gentlemen, what news have you brought me ?Brophy salutes him and stands at attention.       BROPHY       Colonel, we have nothing to report.Teddy gives an intrigued look to O'Hara, who doesn't seem tounderstand. Brophy elbows him with the arm which is stillsaluting.       O'HARA       Huh ?He eventually understands what his Sargent is trying to tell him.       O'HARA       Oh no, absolutely nothing to report.He salutes but with a less official attitude than his Sargent.Teddy smiles.       TEDDY       Splendid ! Thank you, gentlemen.       (very serious again)       At ease.Brophy puts his arm down. O'Hara looks at his Sargent with aperplexed expression, and takes longer to put his arm down       ABBY       You know the Reverend Doctor Harper from the church next       door ?       BROPHY       Hello, Reverend. This is Officer O'Hara, the new man on the       beat.Teddy looks at O'Hara with a puzzled expression.       O'HARA       How do you do, sir ? It's nice to meet you.O'Hara looks ill at ease under Teddy's stare.       ABBY       The toys are on the chair up here, by the library door.O'Hara moves toward the pile of toys. Teddy's eyes are followinghim with the same puzzled expression. O'Hara feels less and lessat ease.       ABBY       Oh, Teddy, will you run upstairs and bring down your Army       and Navy from Aunt Martha's room. They're all packed.       REVEREND HARPER       That's splendid work you men do, fixing up discarded toys       for the kids at camp.Teddy, who has started to mount the stairs to the upper level,stops in his stride, pretends he is taking a sword out of a sheathat his side, points this imaginary sword in front of him andstarts running up the stairs, yelling :       TEDDY       Charge !When he arrives on the balcony, on which open the bedroom doors,he rushes into his room and slams the door.While Bophy and Reverend Harper remain unmoved, O'Hara, who isstanding by the grandfather's clock, jumps and looks at the clock,which chimes once. The minute hand of the clock falls down to thehalf-hour position. O'Hara is very disturbed and points his stickto his Sargent, who seems to be totally unmoved by the event andlaughs with Reverend Harper and Abby.       BROPHY       It gives us something to do as we are sitting around the       station. You get tired of playing cards.Abby moves away from them to the grandfather's clock. She puts theminute hand back into its original position. Brophy and ReverendHarper joins her by the clock.       BROPHY       So these are the toys ?O'Hara picks up the box in which the toys are stocked.       ABBY       How's Missis Brophy ?       BROPHY       Oh, she's better, thank you. But a little weak, still.       ABBY       Well, I'll better get some beef broth for you to take to       her.       BROPHY       Oh, Miss Abby, please don't bother. You've done so much       already.       ABBY       Oh, Stuff and nonsense ! I won't be a minute.She moves away and exits into the kitchen.       REVEREND HARPER       Gentlemen, if I know what pure kindness and absolute       generosity are, it's because I've known the Brewster       sisters.On the balcony, Teddy gets out of his room with a bugle, andstarts playing it very loudly. O'Hara jumps and drops the box withthe toys on the floor. Reverend Harper and Brophy seem to be lessmoved by the event.Brophy stands back and points his finger up to Teddy.       BROPHY       Oh, Teddy, you promised me you wouldn't do that anymore.Teddy, still standing on the balcony, answers him leaning on thebalustrade.       TEDDY       But I have to call a Cabinet meeting to get the release of       those supplies.       BROPHY       Now don't do that again. Do you hear me ?Teddy goes back into his room, slamming the door behind him. Thegrandfather's clock chimes once, and the minute hand falls back tothe half-hour position. O'Hara jumps and looks at the clock.       BROPHY       He used to do that in the middle of the night, and       neighbors raised Cain with me. They're a little afraid of       him anyway.       O'HARA       Look, Sarge, I promised you I wouldn't swear, but what the       heck...He stops in the middle of his sentence, gives a quick look toReverend Harper, and corrects himself.       O'HARA       ...What's going on here anyway ?       REVEREND HARPER       Oh, he's quite harmless.       BROPHY       He thinks he's Teddy Roosevelt. So what, there's a lot of       worse guys he could think he was.       O'HARA       Huh ?O'Hara gives a quick look toward the upper landing, and then nods.       O'HARA       That's right. I'll make a note of it. He's a very       interesting character.       BROPHY       Isn't it a shame, Father, isn't it a shame, Reverend, that       a nice family like this should be hatching a cuckoo ?The front door opens and Martha Brewster comes in. Like hersister, she looks like an old English lady. She is wearing a shortcape and a hat, and she carries a cylindrical can with a handle.She closes the door.       MARTHA       Oh, well, now, isn't this nice !She goes to Brophy and the Reverend.       BROPHY       Good afternoon, Miss Brewster.       MARTHA       How do you do, Mr Brophy ?       REVEREND HARPER       Good afternoon, Miss Brewster.O'Hara has picked up the toys and he joins the group.       MARTHA       Reverend Harper, how do you do ?       BROPHY       Oh, Miss Martha, this is Officer O'Hara. He's taking over       my duties.       O'HARA       How do you do, ma'am ?       MARTHA       I'm very glad to know you.Abby comes out of the kitchen, carrying a cylindrical can, similarto the one her sister is carrying       O'HARA       Thank you.Abby joins the group.       ABBY       Oh, Martha, you're back.She gives the can to Brophy. Meanwhile, Martha has taken her capeoff.       ABBY       Here's the broth for Missis Brophy. Be sure it's good and       hot.       BROPHY       You bet I will, and thank you very much.Teddy is getting down the stairs, carrying a box full of toysunder his arm. He stops a few steps from floor level       TEDDY       The Army and Navy are ready for action.He resumes his walking down the stairs.       BROPHY       Oh, Colonel, this is grand. It'll make a lot of kids happy.Brophy takes the box from Teddy. Teddy looks into the box O'Harais carrying, and takes a model warship out of the box.       TEDDY       What's this ? The Oregon ?       MARTHA       Oh, Teddy, dear, put it back.She has taken her hat off.       TEDDY       But the Oregon goes to Australia.       ABBY       Now, Teddy...Teddy tucks the model ship under his arm. O'Hara looks at him withpuzzled eyes.       TEDDY       No, it goes to Australia.       BROPHY       These are lovely. Thank you very much.       ABBY       Not at all.Brophy moves toward the front door. O'Hara follows him, stilllooking at Teddy. Teddy doesn't seem to like the way he looks athim, and moves the toy ship away from him.       BROPHY       The children will go crazy.He has reached the front door. Abby has moved near the door, readyto open it for him.       ABBY       Oh, now, don't mention it.O'Hara salutes Teddy.       O'HARA       Well... So long, Colonel.Teddy looks at him and then looks at Brophy, who doesn't salutehim. O'Hara elbows his Sargent with the arm which is saluting.       O'HARA       Hey, Sarge.       BROPHY       Hey ?Brophy looks at Teddy and understands the situation. He alsosalutes Teddy.       BROPHY       Oh, yes.Teddy salutes them.       TEDDY       Dismissed !Brophy and O'Hara bring their arms down.       BROPHY       Well, goodbye and thank you.       ABBY       Good bye.Abby opens the front door. The two cops start going out, Brophyfirst.       ABBY       Careful of the step here now with the toys.       BROPHY       Good night.O'Hara goes out, and then comes one step back and shows his facebehind the door. He winks to Teddy. Teddy raises his eyebrows.       TEDDY       Young man, let that be a lesson to you.O'Hara chuckles, then makes a strange face, and goes out.       ABBY       Goodbye.She closes the door, and goes back to her sister and ReverendHarper.       ABBY       Well...       REVEREND HARPER       Well, I must be going.Teddy, still carrying his model warship, starts mounting thestairs, stops after a few steps, takes his imaginary sword out,points it forward and runs upstairs, yelling :       TEDDY       Charge !He reaches the balcony, turns toward the balustrade and yells.       TEDDY       Charge the blockhouse !He goes into his room and slams the door behind him. We hear thegrandfather's clock chiming once.Reverend Harper looks up at the balcony, then turns to theBrewster sisters with puzzled eyes.       REVEREND HARPER       Blockhouse ?       MARTHA       Oh, the stairs are always San Juan Hill.       REVEREND HARPER       Oh, I...But Reverend Harper doesn't finish his sentence and sneezes veryloudly. He takes his handkerchief out of his pocket to put itunder his nose.       ABBY       Bless you !       REVEREND HARPER       Have you ever tried to persuade him he wasn't Teddy       Roosevelt ?       ABBY       Oh, no !She goes to the grandfather's clock.       MARTHA       Oh, he's so happy being Teddy Roosevelt.Abby moves the minute hand of the clock back in place.       ABBY       Oh, do you remember, Martha ?She comes back to her sister and Reverend Harper.       ABBY       Once, a long time ago, we thought if he'd be George       Washington, it might be a change for him, and we suggested       it.       MARTHA       And do you know what happened ? He just stayed under his       bed for days and wouldn't be anybody.Reverend Harper laughs.       REVEREND HARPER       Well, if he's happy, and what's more important, you're       happy...He starts walking toward the front door, followed by the Brewstersisters. He reaches the door and opens it.       MARTHA       Oh, our only worry for Teddy is after we are gone.They all go out.BREWSTER RESIDENCE - EXTERIOR DAYThe three of them are coming out of the house.       REVEREND HARPER       Yes, indeed. That is quite a problem.       ABBY       But Mortimer's made all the arrangements for Teddy to go to       Happy Dale Sanitarium after we pass on.       REVEREND HARPER       Splendid idea ! A very pleasant place.       MARTHA       Yes...Reverend Harper put his hat back on his head, and starts walkingtoward his own house.       ABBY       Dear, sweet Reverend Harper.The two sisters look at him. We see him cross the churchyard andenter his house.       ABBY       You know, Martha, I really do believe he's beginning to see       the light.They start walking back to the door of their house.       MARTHA       I'm sure we needn't worry about him. He won't interfere       with our plans for Mortimer and Elaine.BREWSTER RESIDENCE - SITTING ROOM - INTERIOR DAYThe two sisters enter their house. Martha closes the door.       MARTHA       Oh, did you just have tea ?       ABBY       Yes. And dinner's going to be late, too.       MARTHA       Ohh ! Why ?They both turn their heads toward the stairs, because they justheard Teddy's door slamming.       ABBY       Teddy ?...She goes to the stairs, followed by Martha. Teddy is coming down.       ABBY       Oh, Teddy, good news for you. You're going to Panama and       dig another lock for the canal.She points her finger toward the cellar door. Martha seemsdelighted by the news.       TEDDY       Delighted !He rubs his hands       TEDDY       That's bully ! Just bully ! I shall prepare at once for the       journey.He starts mounting the stairs, stops and goes back a few stepsdown, takes his imaginary sword out, points it forward, and runsupstairs, yelling :       TEDDY       Charge !Before Teddy slams his door, Abby put her hand on the face of theclock to prevent the minute hand falling down.       MARTHA       Abby ! While I was out ?       ABBY       Yes, dear. I just couldn't wait for you. I didn't know when       you'd be back, and Reverend Harper was coming.       MARTHA       But all by yourself.       ABBY       Oh, I got along fine.       MARTHA       I'll run right downstairs and see.She goes to the cellar door.       ABBY       No, no, dear. There wasn't time. And I was all alone.Martha looks around in the room, then looks at her sister withquestioning eyes.       MARTHA       Well ?       ABBY       Martha, just look in the window-seat.She points to the large chest-bench under the window. Martha seemsdelighted and both sisters go to the window-seat. They bend downto raise the lid of the seat, when someone taps on the windowabove the seat. The two sisters stand up and move the curtainsrevealing Elaine's face.       ABBY       Oh ! It's Elaine !Elaine raises the window and kisses the two sisters.       ELAINE       You, darlings.She winks at them, and then runs away.       MARTHA       But, Elaine !       ABBY       What did she mean ? You don't suppose they've gone and...Martha puts her hand over her mouth.BREWSTER RESIDENCE - EXTERIOR DAYA taxi cab has stopped in front of the Brewster sisters house. Thedriver is half inside the back of his car, apparently looking forsomething. Mortimer is already out of the cab. He is whistling. Heraises his hand and yells :       MORTIMER       Elaine !Elaine is crossing the churchyard to go to her father's house. Shestops and turns around to look at Mortimer.On one of the tombstones is engraved the name ´Amanda Brewsterªand the dates : ´1813-1863ª.The Brewster sisters, who were bending out of their window to geta better view of the scene, are coming back in, looking extremelyhappy.The cab driver gives his coat to Mortimer.       CAB DRIVER       Listen, buddy. This old cab has seen osculation but...He whistles and goes back inside the back of the car to look forother missing items.       MORTIMER       You ain't seen anything yet. You've got to drive us to the       station.The driver comes out of the cab, holding a hat.       CAB DRIVER       You'd better take her hat.       MORTIMER       Oh thanks.The driver goes back inside the car.       CAB DRIVER       Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Wait a... And her brooch.He gives Mortimer the brooch.       MORTIMER       If you find her hairpins, you can keep them. Hold on to       that.He gives his coat back to the driver and runs away.       CAB DRIVER       Yeah !Mortimer runs across the churchyard to meet Elaine.We see the two Brewster sisters peeking behind the curtains oftheir window.       MARTHA       There they are.Mortimer gives Elaine her hat. She doesn't take it.       MORTIMER       Here's your hat.       ELAINE       Just throw it. I don't like that look in your eyes.       MORTIMER       What ? What's the matter ?       ELAINE       Father preached in sermon about it only last Sunday.       MORTIMER       He did ? He did ? What did he say ? What did he say ?Elaine is trying to avoid Mortimer by going around a tree.       ELAINE       He was against it.       MORTIMER       Ah ! But that was only Sunday.He chases her around the tree. They laugh. Mortimer startsclowning.       MORTIMER       Please ! For heaven's sake !       ELAINE       But, Mortimer, right out here in the open with everyone       looking ?       MORTIMER       Yeah ! Right out here in the open with everyone looking.       Let everyone in Brooklyn over 16 look.He starts chasing her again.Behind their curtain, the two sisters are still peeking. Theylaugh and then slightly move the curtains open a few inches tohave a better look.Back to the tree. The couple is hidden by the tree. They separateand move a little away from each other, each one of them appearingon either side the tree.Elaine drags Mortimer by the hand from behind the tree.       ELAINE       But, Mortimer, you're going to love me for my mind, too ?       MORTIMER       One thing at a time.She starts running away from him.       ELAINE       Oh ! There's that look again !Mortimer comes slowly from behind the tree, clowning.       MORTIMER       ´There's that look again, Mortimer !ª You better get used       to it.He becomes more serious and come closer to her.       MORTIMER       Look like you're going to see it often. It goes just before       this.He kisses her very passionately.       MORTIMER       You know what we're doing, darling ? We're wasting time.       Look, I'll go tell my aunts and you tell your old... No,       you'd better not tell your father just yet. You'll run that       cold of his into a pneumonia.       ELAINE       Oh, I can handle Father. He's a dear.       MORTIMER       Look, why don't we wire him from Niagara Falls ?       ELAINE       Niagara Falls ?Mortimer nods.       ELAINE       Then that's why you stopped at your office.       MORTIMER       Yes, certainly ! We're going to go the whole hog. Niagara       Falls ! Everybody ought to go to Niagara Falls. You       should've seen my secretary's face when I made the       reservation. We've got a drawing-room on the train,       the bridal suite in the hotel, and tomorrow morning       we go over the falls in a barrel.Elaine kisses Mortimer very passionately.       MORTIMER       Go on, darling, hurry and pack.       ELAINE       I don't have to. I started packing the day after I met you.She starts moving away. He holds her back.       MORTIMER       There, you see ! You see ? That's what I mean. That's what       I hate about women.Mortimer kisses her.Back to the cab driver who is pacing in front of his car. He rubshis chin.       CAB DRIVER       I wonder what Mary's doing now ?Mortimer and Elaine are still kissing. Mortimer lets go of Elaine.He puts her hat on her head.       MORTIMER       Go on, darling, the train leaves in an hour, and hurry.       ELAINE       It'll be a few minutes before I'm ready. Father may want to       pray over me a little.She moves away.       MORTIMER       Whistle when you're ready. Oh, Elaine...She turns around.       ELAINE       Yeah.       MORTIMER       When you whistle, open the front door fast. If you see a       tall, dark streak of light, it's me.He starts running toward his aunts' house. Elaine runs to herfather's house.She stops at the door of her house and starts whistling.Mortimer, who had also reached his door, stops and turns around.       MORTIMER       What ? Now ?He starts running toward her, but she stops him.       ELAINE       No, not now !She opens her door.BREWSTER RESIDENCE - SITTING ROOM - INTERIOR DAYThe two sisters are eagerly waiting for Mortimer. Martha whispers.       MARTHA       Look surprised when he tells us.Abby laughs. They hear a door slamming in the next room.       MORTIMER       (voice over)       Aunt Abby, Aunt Martha !Mortimer rushes into the room and throws his hat on a chair.       MORTIMER       Hold on to your bustles. We're married. Elaine and I are       married.The two sisters hug and kiss Mortimer.       ABBY       Oh, darling, how wonderful ! Oh, Martha, isn't it       wonderful ? They're married!       MORTIMER       Yeah ! Don't pretend to be so surprised either, you two old       frauds. Can I use the telephone, darling ?       ABBY       Yes, of course.Mortimer goes to the telephone, followed by his two aunts.       ABBY       Isn't it too, too wonderful ?Mortimer sits at the small desk on which the telephone is, andwhistles while dialing.       MARTHA       And to think that it happened right here in this room !She dabs her nose with her handkerchief.       MORTIMER       Oh, now, here, here, now ! Hello ?... Hello ? Benson's       Florists ? This is Mortimer Brewster. Did you send those       roses to Missis Brewster's apartment ?... You did ? Good.       Now, send four dozen more to drawing room A, Canadian       Limited, Grand Central Station. Yes... And hurry then. And       throw in a flock of orange blossoms.He puts the telephone receiver back on his hook, and he turns onhis chair to face his aunts, his arms resting on the back of thechair.       ABBY       But before you go, we can have our celebration. I'll open a       bottle of wine and we'll sing. And we'll invite a few of       the neighbors in.       MARTHA       And, of course, a wedding cake.       MORTIMER       Oh, darling, you won't have time to bake a cake. We're       going to Niagara Falls. I've got a taxi waiting.       ABBY       Oh, it's all ready. It's been ready since..       MORTIMER       Yeah, I bet it's been ready since the first day I met her,       huh ?He stands up.       MORTIMER       What is it ? Did everybody in Brooklyn know I was getting       married, except me ?       MARTHA       Oh, we knew you'd find out about it in time.Mortimer laughs and hugs his aunts.       MORTIMER       Come here. I've got the two nicest aunts in the world. Of       course, you've got the nicest nephew in the world, too.Martha moves away to the kitchen.       MARTHA       Well, I'll run along and get everything ready.       ABBY       Oh, dear. I do hope the Reverend isn't too angry. You know       how your books upset him.       MORTIMER       Well, I'm going to burn all my books. And I'll let the       Reverend Harper light the first match. Oh, by the way, did       I leave some notes here for my new book ?       ABBY       You mean ´Mind Over Matrimonyª ?       MORTIMER       Yes ! Shhh ! Where are they ?       ABBY       I hid them someplace...Abby turns to go searching, and Mortimer pats her behind.       MORTIMER       Come on, come on. Let's go.Abby turns back to him.       ABBY       Now you behave.She goes away on her search.       MORTIMER       Let's find them before Elaine sees them.Teddy comes out of his room on the balcony. He is dressed in fullcolonial costume, complete with pith helmet. He is carrying ashovel and his bugle is stuck in his belt. He walks rapidly downthe stairs.He stops a few steps from the ground floor, when he spotsMortimer. He seems very happy to see him.       TEDDY       Hello, Mortimer !They shake hands.       MORTIMER       How are you, Mister President ?       TEDDY       Bully, thank you. Just bully. What news have you brought       me ?Teddy takes off his pince-nez.       MORTIMER       Just this, Mister President. The country's squarely behind       you.       TEDDY       Yes, I know. Isn't it wonderful ?He puts his pince-nez back on his nose, and shakes hands againwith Mortimer.       TEDDY       Well, goodbye. I'm off to Panama.Teddy walks to the cellar door. Mortimer bends slightly.       MORTIMER       Goodbye, Mister President.Before he opens the door, Teddy turns to Mortimer.       TEDDY       A new lock for the canal, you know.He opens the door, and starts walking down the steps to thecellar. Before the door closes back, we can hear him singing :       TEDDY       ´Oh, tell the news to Motherª.Abby is still looking for Mortimer's note, and, in a drawer, shefinds a piece of paper that seems to annoy her.       ABBY       Oh, dear.       MORTIMER       Did you find those notes ?Mortimer senses there is something wrong in his aunt's voice, andwalks to her.       MORTIMER       What's the matter ?She holds the paper for Mortimer to take it.       ABBY       There's a baby picture of your brother Jonathan.Mortimer takes the picture and looks at it.INSERT - Close-up of the picture. It shows a very ugly child witha very strange face.       MORTIMER       You ought to put that in the fire with my books. My, what a       face !He gives the picture back to Abby.       MORTIMER       I remember now. He used to scare grownups with it.Mortimer walks away from his aunt.       ABBY       Just the thought of Jonathan frightens me. Do you remember       how he used to cut worms in two with his teeth ?Mortimer is searching on the small telephone desk.       MORTIMER       Oh, Jonathan ? Oh, he's probably in prison or hanged or       something by now.He walks across the room and starts searching on the table.       MORTIMER       I saw a play, which had a character in it. Reminded me of       Jonathan.       ABBY       No ? Really?While talking, they both keep on searching everywhere in the room.       MORTIMER       Yeah. Oh, a honey of a lunatic. One of those whodunits       called ´Murder Will Outª.       ABBY       Oh, dear !Abby goes into the kitchen.       MORTIMER       Yeah, what a play. When the curtain goes up, the first       thing you see is a dead body.While talking, he keeps on searching and opens the lid of thewindow-seat. He gives its insides a quick look and closes it back,and then moves away.       MORTIMER       The next thing...He stops in his tracks and looks back at the window-seat. He jumpsback to it, opens the lid and closes it very quickly. He then sitson the seat with a frightened look on his face. Slowly, he kneelsdown on the floor, and opens the lid again, but very slowly. Hetalks to whatever, or whomever, is in the seat.       MORTIMER       Hey, mister.He remains a few seconds seated of the seat, with a very puzzledface.We hear Elaine whistling. Mortimer tries to whistle back, but nosound comes from his mouth. He tries again, but with no moresuccess. He seems in shock.He looks at the kitchen, then at the seat. There is horror on hisface.His two aunts come from the kitchen, singing and carrying thingsfor the celebration.Mortimer shows a forced smile.The two sisters puts things on the table, then they come toMortimer, who is still seated on the window-seat. Abby is carryinga big bowl of rice, and the two girls start throwing rice on him.       ABBY       Happy bridegroom !       MARTHA       Congratulations, darling !       MORTIMER       Never mind that now. I know.Mortimer takes the bowl from Abby's hands and put it on a smalltable. He remains seated while his aunts are standing in front ofhim.       MORTIMER       Now, listen, darlings. Aunt Abby, Aunt Martha, you know how       we've always planned to send Teddy to that Sanitarium,       Happy Dale ?       ABBY       Oh, yes, dear. That's after we're gone.They move away to start setting the table.       ABBY       Yes, we talked with Reverend Harper about it.       MORTIMER       No, no. Teddy's got to go to Happy Dale now. At once ! Now,       he's down in the cellar. Get him up here right away.       MARTHA       But, there's no such hurry as yet, you know.       ABBY       No... When Teddy's working on the canal, you can't get his       mind on anything else.Mortimer stands up and comes to the table where his aunts areworking.       MORTIMER       Well, look, darlings. Look, I'm frightfully sorry, but I've       got an awful shock for you.He takes Abby's hands in his.       MORTIMER       Teddy's killed a man, darlings !Martha laughs.       MARTHA       Nonsense !       MORTIMER       (he yells)       But there's a body in the window-seat !       ABBY       Yes, dear. We know.Mortimer looks even more shocked than before. His two aunts keepon setting the table as if nothing had happened.       MORTIMER       You know ?       MARTHA       Of course.       ABBY       Yes, but it has nothing to do with Teddy.Mortimer wants to speak, but Abby stops him.       ABBY       Now, Mortimer. You just forget about it. Forget you ever       saw the gentleman.       MORTIMER       Forget ?       ABBY       We never dreamed you'd peek.       MORTIMER       What the... Who is he ?       ABBY       He's a Mister Hoskins. Adam Hoskins. That's really all I       know about him, except that he's a Methodist.       MARTHA       Oh ! He's a Methodist ? Isn't that nice.       MORTIMER       That's all you know ? But what's he doing here ? What       happened to him ?Mortimer is more and more shocked and his aunts, very calmly, keepon putting plates and silverware on the table.       MARTHA       He died.       MORTIMER       Look, Aunt Martha, men just don't get into window-seats and       die.       ABBY       No, dear. He died first.Mortimer takes his aunts' hands to stop them from setting thetable.       MORTIMER       Oh, well, now wait ! Stop all this.He takes Abby's hands in his.       MORTIMER       Now look, darlings, how did he die ?       ABBY       Oh, Mortimer, don't be so inquisitive. The gentleman died       because he drank some wine with poison in it.       MORTIMER       But, how did the poison get in the wine ?       MARTHA       Well we put it in wine because it's less noticeable.       When it's in tea, it has a distinct odor.       MORTIMER       You mean you...       (yelling)       You put it in the wine ?       ABBY       Yes. And I put Mister Hoskins in the window-seat, because       Reverend Harper was coming.Mortimer seems ready to faint.       MORTIMER       Ohh ! Look at me, darling.He takes again Abby's hands in his.       MORTIMER       You mean, you mean you knew what you'd done and you didn't       want the Reverend Harper to see the body ?       ABBY       Well, not at tea. That wouldn't have been very nice.Abby goes back table-setting and Mortimer holds himself on theedge of the table.       MORTIMER       Ohh ! It's first-degree.       ABBY       Now, Mortimer, you know all about it and just forget about       it. I do think that Martha and I have the right to our own       little secrets.Martha walks to the kitchen door, but she stops and turns around.       MARTHA       Oh, Abby, while I was out I dropped in on Missis Schultz.       She's much better. But she wants us to take Junior to the       movies again.       ABBY       Well, we must do that, tomorrow or next day.       MARTHA       Yes, but this time we'll go where we want to go. Junior's       not going to drag me into another one of those scary       pictures.The two sisters enter the kitchen.       ABBY       No, they ought not to be allowed to make those pictures       just to frighten people.Mortimer remains alone in the room. He has the face of someone whothinks he is having a nightmare and hopes to wake up soon.He goes to the telephone desk, picks up the phone and dials ´0ª.       MORTIMER       Operator ?... Can you hear my voice ?... You can ?...       Are you sure ?...He puts the phone down.       MORTIMER       Then I must be here.BREWSTER RESIDENCE - EXTERIOR DAYElaine is appearing of her room in her father's house. She has gother purse and her gloves. She plays with a large artificialflower. She whistles.BREWSTER RESIDENCE - SITTING ROOM - INTERIOR DAYMortimer, half-seated on the telephone desk, comes out of hisdream, and goes to the window. By signs only, he tries to explainto Elaine that he's got a problem with the window-seat. We don'tsee her, but we imagine she doesn't understand, because Mortimerrushes to the kitchen.BREWSTER RESIDENCE - KITCHEN - INTERIOR DAYMortimer rushes into the kitchen.       MORTIMER       Aunt Abby ! Aunt Martha !He stops abruptly. A group of costumed and masked children aregathered behind the window. Martha is distributing watermelons,pumpkins and pies to them. The children are sayingincomprehensible words of thanking.Martha closes the window on them, and switches on the lights.       ABBY       Oh, the dears. Isn't Halloween a wonderful time for them ?       MARTHA       Yes, it is. They have so much fun.They both go back to their cooking work in the kitchen. Martha ispreparing some kind of desert in a bowl.       MARTHA       Now, Mortimer, don't be so impatient. We'll let you lick       the bowl out.       MORTIMER       Lick the bowl ? I don't want to lick the bowl. I want to       know what we're going to do !       MARTHA       Well, we're going to celebrate, dear.       MORTIMER       Celebrate ? There's a body in the window-seat !       ABBY       Yes, dear. Mister Hoskins.       MORTIMER       Oh, I know what his name is. I just want to know what we're       going to do. We can't turn you over to the police.Mortimer paces the kitchen, while his aunts are busy cooking.       ABBY       Yes. You just should get stop worrying about it.       MARTHA       We told you to forget the whole thing.       MORTIMER       (yelling)       Forget ? Look, my dear aunt Martha, can't I make you       realize that something has to be done ?Abby leaves the stove where she was working and comes to thetable.       ABBY       Now, Mortimer, you behave. You're too old to be flying off       the handle like this.       MORTIMER       But, but Mister Hodgekiss...       ABBY       Hoskins, dear.       MORTIMER       But whatever his name is, you can't leave him in there.       MARTHA       We don't intend to, dear.       ABBY       No, Teddy's down in the cellar now, digging the lock.Mortimer looks very shocked.       MORTIMER       Oh, you mean you're going to bury Mister Hodgekiss in the       cellar ?       MARTHA       Oh, yes, dear. That's what we did with the others.       MORTIMER       Look, here, Aunt Martha. You can't...He comes close to the table where Martha is working. And all of asudden, he seems to realize what she just said.       MORTIMER       Others ?       MARTHA       The other gentlemen.       MORTIMER       Oh ! When you say ´othersª, do you mean ´othersª ? More       than one ´othersª ?Martha laughs.       MARTHA       Oh, yes, dear. Let me see now. This is eleven, isn't it,       Abby ?       ABBY       Oh no, dear. This makes twelve.       MARTHA       Abby, dear, I think you're wrong. This one is only eleven.       ABBY       No, dear, because I remember when Mister Hoskins first came       in, it occurred to me that he'd make just an even dozen.Mortimer seems completely dejected and he sits down, not evenlistening to his aunts anymore.       MARTHA       But, look, Abby dear, I really don't think you should count       the first one.       ABBY       Oh, I was counting the first one, and that makes it twelve.       MARTHA       It does ?Abby, who is sucking her finger, nods to answer.       MARTHA       Well, she's probably right. Abby usually is. I get them       mixed up sometimes.       MORTIMER       Makes it twelve. Well...The telephone rings. Mortimer puts his hand to his ear.       MORTIMER       Hello ?He suddenly realizes that he doesn't have a telephone in his hand.       MORTIMER       Oh !He rushes out of the kitchen.       ABBY       Well, whatever is the matter with Mortimer today ?       MARTHA       Why, Abby, what do you think happened to him ?They walk out of the kitchen.BREWSTER RESIDENCE - SITTING ROOM - INTERIOR DAYMortimer sits at the telephone desk and picks up the phone.       MORTIMER       Hello ?We hear some whistling, coming from the telephone. Mortimer takesthe receiver a bit away from his ear, surprised. Then he takes itback.       MORTIMER       Not now. Not now. For heaven's sake, keep your shirt on !He slams the phone down on his hook. Then he realizes he has beenrude, and picks it up again.       MORTIMER       Oh... Oh, Elaine, I didn't mean...He realizes there is no one on the phone, and puts it back down.       MORTIMER       Now, let's see. Where were we ? Twelve.       (he yells)       Twelve !He jumps from his chair and rushes toward the kitchen. But, whenhe sees his two aunts setting the table, he stops and goes tothem.       MARTHA       Yes, dear. Abby thinks we should count the first one.       MORTIMER       Never mind about that. Just sit down.Martha sits down.       MORTIMER       Now, tell me, who was the first one ?       ABBY       Mister Midgely. He was a Baptist.       MARTHA       He was such a lonely, old gentleman, Mister Midgely was.       ABBY       All his kith and kin were dead.       MARTHA       We felt so sorry for him.       ABBY       And then, when his heart attack came, and he sat there dead       in that chair, looking so peaceful. Remember, Martha ? We       made up our minds, then and there, that if we could help       other lonely, old men to find that same peace, we would.       MORTIMER       Why, you poor... You mean, he dropped dead right in this       chair ?Mortimer realizes it's the chair he's sitting on, and stands upvery quickly.       ABBY       And then, you see, Teddy came up from digging in Panama,       and he thought Mister Midgely was a yellow-fever victim.       And that meant he had to be buried immediately.       MORTIMER       So ?       MARTHA       So, we all took him down to Panama, and put him in the lock       and gave him a decent Christian burial. There, now you       see ?       (she stands up)       That's why we told you not to bother about it, because we       know exactly what's to be done.Mortimer is sitting on the table, and seems not to know what hemust do next. But he suddenly stands up.       MORTIMER       Wait a minute !He rushes to his aunts.       MORTIMER       Come here, darlings. What about the others ? All twelve of       them didn't walk in here and drop dead.       ABBY       Oh, no, dear. Of course not !       MORTIMER       Well, so, so...Abby whispers something in Martha's ear. Martha looks at Mortimer,smiles, and whispers back in her sister's ear.       MARTHA       Mortimer.       MORTIMER       Wh... what?       MARTHA       Do you remember those jars of poison that were on the       shelves in Grandfather's laboratory all these years ?       ABBY       You know your Aunt Martha's knack for mixing things.       You've eaten enough of her piccalilli.       MARTHA       Well, dear, for a gallon of elderberry wine, I take one       teaspoonful of arsenic, then add half a teaspoonful of       strychnine. And then, just a pinch of cyanide.       MORTIMER       Mmmm ! Should have quite a kick.       ABBY       Yes, as a matter of fact, one of our gentlemen found time       to say : ´How delicious !ª       MORTIMER       He did ? Well, wasn't that nice of him ?       MARTHA       Abby, we mustn't be standing here gossiping all night.       Well, we must get that cake frosted.She moves toward the kitchen, followed by Abby.       MORTIMER       Oh no, darling, don't worry about the cake. I couldn't eat       a thing.       ABBY       Oh, you newlyweds! A sip of wine will give you an appetite.       MORTIMER       That'd be nice, darling, a sip of... A sip of wine !He stands up.       MORTIMER       Wine !He wants to move away, but his foot get entangled in the back of achair, and he almost falls down.BREWSTER RESIDENCE - EXTERIOR DAYElaine appears at the window of her room. She is arranging theartificial flower on the lapel of her jacket. She moves away fromthe window.The cab driver is still pacing on the sidewalk near his car.BREWSTER RESIDENCE - SITTING ROOM - INTERIOR DAYMortimer closes the drapes between the sitting-room and the nextroom. He then goes to the cellar door and opens the door ajar. Acat meows and comes out through the opening. We hear Teddy singingdown in the cellar.       MORTIMER       I'm beginning to think the cat's in on this.He listens to the singing coming from the cellar.       MORTIMER       He's wonderful. Happy as a lark. Singing away, digging       locks.He closes the cellar door.       MORTIMER       Got him working on a yellow-fever victim. Oh, I can see the       headlines now : ´Murder Incorporator Rides Againª right       across the front page. Let me see... Teddy ! Of course.       Everybody knows he's crazy. Let me see. Who can I call up ?       Dewey, La Guardia, Winchell ? No, Winchell's no good. Old       Judge Cullman !He starts moving across the room, putting his hand in the insidebreast pocket of his jacket.       MORTIMER       I wonder if I got his number.He gets a couple of tickets out of his pocket. He sits at thesmall telephone desk.       MORTIMER       What am I doing with tickets ?He throws the tickets on the desk. He picks up the phone, andstarts dialing.       MORTIMER       Information... Hello ? Information ?... Get me the number       of Judge Cullman on North Shore Road, Brooklyn. Yeah, would       you call me back ?BREWSTER RESIDENCE - EXTERIOR NIGHTThe night has come. Elaine is walking very rapidly on thesidewalk. She passes near the taxi. The driver opens the door forher, but she keeps on walking.BREWSTER RESIDENCE - SITTING ROOM - INTERIOR NIGHTMortimer is standing by the window-seat. All the drapes areclosed. He bends down.       MORTIMER       How it would be marvelous if he wasn't there.He slowly opens the lid of the seat. When the lid is a few inchesopen, he peeks inside.       ELAINE       (voice over)       Hey, you !When he hears Elaine's voice, Mortimer slams the lid down and siton the seat.       ELAINE       Thought you were tall, dark streak of light.She is standing by the half-open door, and she makes the gesturesMortimer made when he had told her the same sentence, earlier inthe churchyard.       MORTIMER       What are you doing here?       ELAINE       What am I doing here ? Didn't you hear me whistle ?       MORTIMER       Whistle ? Oh, yes, yes. I heard you whistle. But...He stands up and comes to her in the middle of the room. He givesher a quick kiss.       ELAINE       Hey, how do I look ?She pivots to show him the way she is dressed.       MORTIMER       Oh, you look fine, you look fine. Now, run on home. I'll       call you up tomorrow.       ELAINE       Tomorrow ?He pushes her toward the door.       MORTIMER       Yeah, you know I always call you up every day or two.She laughs.       ELAINE       Oh ! you and your gags ! Where's your hat ? Come on. The       bags are in the taxi.       MORTIMER       Huh ? Taxi ? Huh, huh, huh ?She is pulling him toward the door.       ELAINE       Yeah, come on !       MORTIMER       Oh, Elaine, I'm so sorry. But something's happened.       ELAINE       What'd you do, lose your nerve ? Hey, where's that look       I was going to see so often ?She takes his head to bring her mouth close to his ear, and thenshe starts whistling. He moves away and rubs his ear.       MORTIMER       Oh, stop ! Don't whistle in my ear, please.       ELAINE       Mortimer, what is wrong ? Look at your hair.He bends down for her to see his hair better.       MORTIMER       Oh, my God, what color is it ? Quick ! Has it turned ?       ELAINE       Oh, darling, what's the matter ? What happened ?She starts stroking his face. He bends down on her shoulder.       MORTIMER       Oh, Elaine, if I could only tell you, Elaine. You smell so       nice.The phone rings. Mortimer jumps up       MORTIMER       Oh ! Oh !He pushes her out through the open door.       MORTIMER       You better go home !       ELAINE       But, darling, we were married today.       MORTIMER       All right, go home, go to bed, get some rest !       ELAINE       Rest ?He slams the door on her, and rushes to the telephone. He sitsdown at the desk and picks up the phone.       MORTIMER       Who ? Who ? Judge Cullman ?The front door opens, and Elaine comes back inside the house.       MORTIMER       This is Mortimer Brewster. Look, Judge, I'll tell you why I       called you. It's about Teddy.Elaine crosses the room and sits on the window-seat.       MORTIMER       I've got to come over and see you right away. Oh, I'm       afraid it won't wait until tomorrow, Judge. Yeah, you see,       it's very, very important. We've got to do something about       it immediately. But it's practically a matter of life       and...Mortimer turns his head and sees Elaine sitting on the window-seat. He drops the phone on the desk, and yells :       MORTIMER       Elaine !Elaine, frightened, jumps up from the seat. Mortimer rushes toher.       MORTIMER       Will you get out of here ?       ELAINE       Mortimer, what in the world is going on around here ? I       don't even know where I stand !       MORTIMER       Anywhere, but don't stand there !He moves her away from the window-seat.       ELAINE       But, darling, Niagara Falls !       MORTIMER       If it does, we'll let it !       ELAINE       Now, wait a minute ! Listen. You can't marry me one minute       and then throw me out the house the next !       MORTIMER       Oh, darling, I'm not throwing you out of the house !He lifts her and actually throws her out of the house       MORTIMER       Will you get out of here ?BREWSTER RESIDENCE - EXTERIOR NIGHTElaine bumps into an old man, Mr. Gibbs, standing just outside theentrance of the house. He is holding a newspaper in his hand.She comes back to the door, but Mortimer slams it in her face.BREWSTER RESIDENCE - SITTING ROOM - INTERIOR NIGHTMortimer locks the door and goes back to the phoneBREWSTER RESIDENCE - EXTERIOR NIGHTElaine is knocking desperately on the door. Gibbs is still behindher.       ELAINE       Mortimer !BREWSTER RESIDENCE - SITTING ROOM - INTERIOR NIGHTMortimer is back sitting at the desk and talking into the phone.In the background, we hear Elaine's pounding on the door.       MORTIMER       I'm sorry, Judge. But... a thing happened. But, Judge,       about Teddy, you see...       ELAINE       (voice over)       Mortimer !       MORTIMER       Hold it. You see, Judge, it's his bugle blowing. Yes, the       neighbors have been complaining, and the police are all set       to throw him into a state institution.BREWSTER RESIDENCE - EXTERIOR NIGHTElaine seems quite angry.       ELAINE       How do you like that ?Gibbs shows his newspaper to Elaine       GIBBS       I read an ad here about a room to rent.       ELAINE       Oh ! Shut up !She walks away, leaving Gibbs at the door. She walks quickly bythe taxi. The driver opens the door for her, but she walks on withquick steps.BREWSTER RESIDENCE - SITTING ROOM - INTERIOR NIGHTMortimer is still on the phone.       MORTIMER       Well, I thought that if you sign the papers, I can get       Teddy to commit himself, and get him in Happy Dale... Yes,       it's a wonderful place, Judge... You will ?... Fine ! I'll       be over right as soon as I've made another call.The front door bell rings.BREWSTER RESIDENCE - EXTERIOR NIGHTGibbs is standing by the door, ringing the bell.BREWSTER RESIDENCE - SITTING ROOM - INTERIOR NIGHTAbby comes in the room from the kitchen. Mortimer is still on thephone.       ABBY       Doorbell's ringing, dear.She crosses the room to the front door. She opens the door,revealing Gibbs.       ABBY       Oh, how do you do ? Come in.The kitchen door has remained open, and we see Martha stillworking on her cooking.       GIBBS       (voice over)       I understand you've got a room to rent.Hearing that, Martha drops her cooking and comes into the room.       ABBY       Yes... Do step in.Abby opens the door wide for him to get in.       GIBBS       Well, are you the lady of the house ?       ABBY       Yes, I'm Miss Brewster.       MORTIMER       (voice over)       Yeah, operator ? Give me long distance, please.Martha has joined her sister.       ABBY       And this is my sister. Another Miss Brewster.Gibbs takes off his hat.       GIBBS       My name's Gibbs.Quick shot on Mortimer, still on the phone. He gives a quick looktoward his aunts, but doesn't seem interested.       ABBY       Well, do sit down. I'm sorry, but we're just setting the       table for dinner.She moves an armchair on the other side of the table.       ABBY       Now, this would be a nice comfortable chair.Back to Mortimer.       MORTIMER       Oh. Hello, long distance ? I want the Happy Dale       Sanitarium, Happy Dale, New York.Back to Gibbs and the sisters.       ABBY       Is Brooklyn your home ?       GIBBS       I haven't got a home. I live in a hotel. Don't like it.       MARTHA       A... are your family Brooklyn people ?       MORTIMER       (voice over)       Hello ? Hap...       GIBBS       Haven't got any family.       MORTIMER       (voice over)       Well, operator...       ABBY       All alone in the world ?       GIBBS       Yeah.       MORTIMER       (voice over)       No, no...Abby looks at her sister with a knowing smile.       ABBY       Well, Martha....       MORTIMER       (voice over)       No, Happy Dale... Yes.       ABBY       Well, you've come to just the right house. You sit down.She helps him sit down in the armchair, while Martha is bringing acarafe of wine and a glass.       MORTIMER       (voice over)       Dale. ´Dª like in ´digª, you know, when you dig a lock.       That's right. ´Aª like in ´arsenicª. Got that ?Short close-up on the carafe of wine, now on the table.       GIBBS       Is there always this much noise ?       MARTHA       Oh ! He doesn't live with us.Mortimer is standing, with the telephone set in one hand, and thereceiver on his ear in the other hand. He whispers.       MORTIMER       I can see the headlines now. Oh, please.       (back to normal voice)       Hello ?Back to the table.       GIBBS       I'd really like to see the room. Well, I don't think I'll       like it.He stands up and takes his hat, which he had put on the table.       ABBY       The room's upstairs.Abby is seated at the table, with Martha standing behind her. Shetakes the carafe.       ABBY       Won't you try a glass of our wine before we start up ?       GIBBS       Never touch it.       MARTHA       Well, we make this ourselves. It's elderberry wine.       GIBBS       Elderberry ?He puts his hat back on the table and sits down.       GIBBS       I haven't tasted elderberry wine since I was a boy.       MORTIMER       (voice over)       Oh...       GIBBS       Thank you.Abby starts pouring the wine in the glass.       MORTIMER       (voice over)       Operator ! Well, I don't want the Happy Dale Laundry !       I want the Happy Dale Sanitarium ! Sanitarium !       Sanitarium ! Sanitarium ! Yes, like a broken record !Gibbs takes the glass from Abby.       GIBBS       Have your own elderberry bushes ?       MARTHA       No, but the cemetery's full of them.Gibbs raises his glass.       GIBBS       Well, skoal.In the background, Mortimer is yelling louder and louder. Gibbs,who had the glass almost to his lips, puts it down. The twosisters watch him with expecting eyes.       MORTIMER       (voice over)       Hello, operator! No, operator, what's taking you so long ?       It's only across the river ! I could swim it faster ! Yes !       Hello ! Hello...Gibbs, who had taken the glass back to his lips, put it down oncemore.       MORTIMER       (voice over)       What ?... What, they're busy ? Busy ? They're busy and       you're dizzy ! No, I'm not drunk, madam, but you've given       me an idea !A noise of chairs and various objects falling.Mortimer comes to the table and takes the carafe and a glass.Abby, concentrated on Gibbs raising the glass to his lips again,doesn't see him, but Martha does, and seems very anxious about it.She taps her two forefingers together.       MARTHA       Mortimer ! Ah-ah ah-ah !...Mortimer keeps on pouring the wine in the glass       MORTIMER       Darling, don't ´ah-ah ah-ahª, I'm nervous. Don't do this.Abby sees him. She turns around, and very calmly, holds the handwhich is holding the glass.       ABBY       Mortimer. Not that.He puts the glass down, and suddenly realizes the situation. Helooks at Gibbs, who has taken the glass to his lips. He yells andGibbs, frightened, stands up and drops the glass on the floor.Mortimer points his finger at him.       MORTIMER       Get out of here ! Do you want to be poisoned, do you want       to be murdered, do you want to be killed ? Do you ?Gibbs grabs his hat and runs to the front door. Mortimer runsafter him and falls over an armchair standing in his way. The twosisters seem very upset.Gibbs gets out and slams the door.BREWSTER RESIDENCE - EXTERIOR NIGHTGibbs runs out of the house, and stops by the cab driver, who isseated near his taxi, smoking a cigarette.       GIBBS       They... they're nuts !       CAB DRIVER       Hey, you're telling me !Gibbs runs away in the street.BREWSTER RESIDENCE - SITTING ROOM - INTERIOR NIGHTThe two sisters are seated on the window-seat. Mortimer slowlyraises himself from the overturned armchair.       MORTIMER       Look, you can't do things like that !He stands up and puts the armchair back on its legs.       MORTIMER       Now I don't know how I can explain this to you, but it's       not only against the law, it's wrong.He walks slowly toward them.       ABBY       Oh, piffle !Both sisters are sulking.       MORTIMER       It's not a nice thing to do. People wouldn't understand.He points to the front door and the departed Mr. Gibbs.       MORTIMER       He wouldn't understand. What I mean is... Well... This is       developing into a very bad habit !The telephone rings.       MORTIMER       Oh... Yes...He goes to the desk, sits on the chair, and picks up the phone.       MORTIMER       Hello ?... Who ?... Oh, Happy Dale Sanitarium ? Oh, that's       amazing, operator. Yeah... Happy Dale ? Oh, let me talk to       Mister Witherspoon, please.WITHERSPOON'S OFFICE - INTERIOR NIGHTWitherspoon is sitting behind his desk, the telephone receiver tohis ear.       WITHERSPOON       Mr. Witherspoon speaking... Oh, how do you do, Mister       Brewster ? How are you ?BREWSTER RESIDENCE - SITTING ROOM - INTERIOR NIGHTMortimer is still at the desk, telephoning.       MORTIMER       Uh... uh... Well, Mister Witherspoon, do you... Oh, I'm       fine, thanks. How are you ? Mister Witherspoon, do you       remember that conversation we had about committing my       brother Teddy to Happy Dale ?... You do ? Well, we want to       commit him there immediately.WITHERSPOON'S OFFICE - INTERIOR NIGHT       WITHERSPOON       Oh, dear. Oh, dear. Oh, that's too bad. Well, I'd hoped we       wouldn't have him for some time yet. Well, you see, Mister       Brewster, we have several Theodore Roosevelts at the       moment, and it would lead to trouble. Oh, trouble... Oh,       now, if he thought that... Look, Mr. Brewster, we're a bit       short of Napoleons at present. The Bonaparte. And if...       Oh... oh, I see. Of course. Well, if your mind is made up.       Yes. Yes. Have you had the papers drawn up ?BREWSTER RESIDENCE - SITTING ROOM - INTERIOR NIGHT       MORTIMER       No, but I'm going to attend to it right now and call you as       soon as I have them. Thank you, Mister... What ?... All       right. Thank you, Mister Witherspoon.He puts the phone down.WITHERSPOON'S OFFICE - INTERIOR NIGHTWitherspoon puts his phone down       WITHERSPOON       Another Roosevelt. Oh, dear, dear.BREWSTER RESIDENCE - SITTING ROOM - INTERIOR NIGHTMortimer goes back to his aunts, still sitting on the window-seat.       MORTIMER       Now listen, darlings. I've got to run over to Judge       Cullman's, but, before I go, I want you to promise me       something.       MARTHA       Well, we'd have to know what it was first.       MORTIMER       Well, I love you both very much. And you know I'd do       anything in the world for you, don't you ?       ABBY       Yes, dear.       MORTIMER       All right, then I want you to do one little thing for me,       like good girls.       ABBY       What do you want us to do ?       MORTIMER       Don't do anything. I mean, don't do anything ! Don't let       anyone in the house and leave Mr. Whosit right where he is.       Oh ! Get off that thing. I can't talk to you... I can't       concentrate.He makes them stand up from the window-seat.       MORTIMER       Now, look, darlings, I wouldn't want anything in the world       to happen to either of you.       ABBY       But, what on earth could happen to us?       MORTIMER       Well, darling... Anyway, you'll do that little thing for       me, won't you ? All right.Abby nods.       MORTIMER       Where's my hat ? There it is.He leaves them to pick up his hat.       MARTHA       But, Mortimer.       MORTIMER       (voice over)       What, darling, what ?       MARTHA       We were planning to hold services before dinner.       MORTIMER       Look, couldn't that wait until I get back ?       ABBY       Oh, and you could join us in the hymns !       MORTIMER       Yes, darling, I could join you in the hymns. I'll sing with       you, I'll dance with you, I'll do anything. But...       remember, don't let anybody in the house until I get back.       You promise ?Abby and Martha nod.       MORTIMER       Good.He puts the hat on his head. The hat is ostensibly to large forhim. He opens the front door       ABBY       (voice over)       Mortimer !He was almost out, but he turns around.       MORTIMER       What ?Abby points to the hat, but can't talk.       ABBY       Uh-uh-uh-uh !...       MORTIMER       Stop that ´uh-uh-uhª. What is it ?       ABBY       Mr. Hoskins' hat !Mortimer raises his eyes, and tears the had off his head       MORTIMER       Ohhhh !...He throws the hat away, leaves and closes the door.BREWSTER RESIDENCE - EXTERIOR NIGHTThe cab driver is pacing back and forth on the sidewalk near histaxi.Mortimer comes running out of the house. The driver goes towardhim.       CAB DRIVER       Do you still want me to wait here ?       MORTIMER       Yes ! Call me a cab !       CAB DRIVER       Yeah. Okay, okay !They run together and stop in front of the parked taxi. The driverwaves his arm.       CAB DRIVER       Hey, cab !... Here you are.Another taxi stops near the first one. The driver wants to openthe back door for Mortimer.       MORTIMER       Don't open it. I'll sit with you !       CAB DRIVER       Yeah, that's right. I can go faster that way. Sure.Mortimer climbs in the front of the taxi, next to the driver. Thetaxi drives away, and the first driver remains on the street,touching his cap.       CAB DRIVER       Wait a minute ! What am I doing ? Hey !He pats his own taxi, points his finger to it and waves for theother taxi to come back.       CAB DRIVER       Come here !BREWSTER RESIDENCE - SITTING ROOM - INTERIOR NIGHTAbby picks up Mr. Hoskins' hat. She brushes it with her hand andgives it to Martha.       ABBY       Fancy getting nice Mr. Hoskins' hat all mussed up.       MARTHA       Shame ! Such a nice hat.She crosses the room and, takes a brush on a cupboard near thewindow-seat, and starts brushing the hat.       MARTHA       You know, Abby, Mortimer didn't seem to be quite himself       today.Abby brings two candlesticks on the table       ABBY       No. Oh, well.Martha opens the cupboard, which is full of man's hats. She putsHoskins' hat with the others, and then closes the cupboard       MARTHA       Well, what were you saying about Mortimer ?Abby has lit the candles.       ABBY       Oh, I think I understand why he seemed so upset.       MARTHA       Why ?       ABBY       He's just been married. I believe that always makes a man a       little nervous.       MARTHA       Oh, yes. The poor dears.She crosses the room to the door to switch off the lights       MARTHA       I'm so happy for Elaine. Oh, Abby ! If Mortimer's coming       back for the services for Mr. Hoskins, we're going to need       another hymnal. There's one up in my room.Knocks at the front door. Through the frosted window-panels of thedoor, we see the shadows of two men.       ABBY       Oh, I'll go, dear.       MARTHA       Abby, we promised Mortimer we wouldn't let anyone come in.More knocks at the door. Martha peeks through the drapes of aconvenient window, a few steps above floor-level on the staircase.       MARTHA       Abby ! Two men, and I've never seen them before.       ABBY       Are you sure ?       MARTHA       Yes.       ABBY       Let me look.Abby climbs the steps and comes near her sister to peek throughthe drapes       MARTHA       You look.The two shadows knock again.       MARTHA       Do you recognize them ?       ABBY       No, they're strangers to me.       MARTHA       Well, we'll just have to pretend we're not at home.The front door opens. The tallest of the two men, dressed in blackand wearing a large hat, comes in first. The other one, shorterand hatless, follows him.We get a close-up of the face of the tall man, actually JonathanBrewster. It's full of scars and it makes him look a bit likeBoris Karloff in the Frankenstein films. He looks around the room.       JONATHAN       Come in, doctor.Doctor Einstein, who was waiting at the door, comes into the room,and closes the door behind him.       JONATHAN       This is the home of my youth. As a boy, I couldn't wait to       escape from this house. Now I'm glad to escape back into       it.       DOCTOR EINSTEIN       Yes, Johnny, it's a good hideout.He takes a small bottle from an inside pocket of his jacket, andtakes a sip at it.       JONATHAN       The family must still live here. I hope there's a fatted       calf awaiting the return of the prodigal.       DOCTOR EINSTEIN       A fatted calf ? Oh, Johnny, I'm so hungry.He comes closer to the table.       DOCTOR EINSTEIN       Look, Johnny. Drink.       JONATHAN       As if we were expected.       DOCTOR EINSTEIN       Yes.       JONATHAN       A good omen.Einstein pours some wine from the carafe in a glass. Jonathantakes a glass already full on the table.Abby gets down the few steps, followed by Martha.       ABBY       Who are you ? What are you doing here ?The two men put their glasses down on the table       JONATHAN       Aunt Abby. Aunt Martha. It's Jonathan.       MARTHA       You, you get out of here !       JONATHAN       I'm Jonathan, you know. Your nephew, Jonathan.He takes his hat off.       ABBY       Oh no, you're not. You're nothing like Jonathan, so don't       pretend you are. You just get out of here.She points to the door.       JONATHAN       I see you're still wearing the lovely garnet ring that       Grandma Brewster bought in England. And you, Aunt Martha,       still the high collar to hide the scar where Grandfather's       acid burned you.       MARTHA       Why, his voice is like Jonathan's.       ABBY       Have, have you been in an accident ?       JONATHAN       My face. Doctor Einstein is responsible for that. He's a       plastic surgeon.       MARTHA       But I've seen that face before. Do you remember when we       took the little Schultz boy to the movies and I was so       frightened ? It was that face.Jonathan turns around and look harshly at Einstein, who seems abit uneasy.       DOCTOR EINSTEIN       Take it easy, Johnny. Take it easy. Don't worry. The last       five years, I give him three different faces. I give him       another one right away. That last face. I saw that picture,       too, just before I operated. I was intoxicated.Jonathan grabs Einstein's collar and squeezes it.       JONATHAN       You see, doctor, what you've done to me ? Even my own       family think I'm...Einstein has breathing problems because of Jonathan's squeezing.       DOCTOR EINSTEIN       Johnny, Johnny ! You are home in this lovely house.Jonathan lets go of Einstein, who walks toward the two sisters.       DOCTOR EINSTEIN       You know how many times he tells me about... about       Brooklyn, about this house, and about his aunts he loves so       much ? They know you, Johnny. Please tell him so.       ABBY       Well, Jonathan, it's been a long time.Jonathan sits down.       JONATHAN       Bless you. It's good to be home again.Abby turns toward Martha, and then goes down the few last steps tofloor level.       ABBY       Well, Martha, we mustn't let what's on the stove boil over.She picks up the glasses on the table.       ABBY       If you'll excuse us for a moment, Jonathan. Unless you're       in a hurry to go somewhere.She goes to the kitchen with the glasses. Martha picks up the winecarafe, to the disappointment of Dr. Einstein, and follows hersister toward the kitchen. Before entering the kitchen, she putsthe carafe back on the shelf where it was before. She then closesthe kitchen door after her.       DOCTOR EINSTEIN       Well, Johnny, where do we go from here ? You know, Johnny,       we got to think fast.Close-up on the hands of Jonathan playing with a metallic brain-teaser.       DOCTOR EINSTEIN       The police, they got pictures of that face. I got to       operate on you right away. We got to find someplace. We got       to find someplace for Mister Spenalzo, too.While talking, he has taken another sip from his bottle.       JONATHAN       Don't waste any worry on that rat.Einstein stands up.       DOCTOR EINSTEIN       But we got a hot stiff on our hands.       JONATHAN       Forget Mr. Spenalzo.       DOCTOR EINSTEIN       But, Johnny, we can't leave a dead body in the rumble seat.       You shouldn't have killed him. Just because he knows       something about us, what happens ?Einstein mimes the breaking of a neck with his hands.       JONATHAN       We come to him for help and he tries to shake us down.       Besides, he said I looked like Boris Karloff. That's your       work, doctor. You did that to me.       DOCTOR EINSTEIN       No, please, Johnny, take it easy. We'll find some place       and I'll fix you up right away.       JONATHAN       Tonight.       DOCTOR EINSTEIN       Yes, tonight, but I have to eat first.The two sisters are peeking in the room through a smallrectangular hole in the door of the kitchen.       JONATHAN       This time, I want the face of an absolute nonentity.       DOCTOR EINSTEIN       Yes, Johnny. I know exactly what I'm going to do.He comes close to Jonathan and shows him on his face what he isgoing to do to it.       DOCTOR EINSTEIN       You see, I'm going to take this piece here and lift it       up...       JONATHAN       Be careful about the stitches this time.       DOCTOR EINSTEIN       You leave that up to me. I'll give you nice little ears       and...       JONATHAN       You were careless last time.       DOCTOR EINSTEIN       And new stitches. And on the eyes I'll do a Schmidt. That's       my specialty. You see, I take it together like this...       JONATHAN       Leave the eyes alone. Leave the nose alone.The scene dissolves to :JUDGE CULLMAN'S OFFICE - INTERIOR DAY.The judge is sitting, studying some papers. Mortimer is standingat his side.       JUDGE CULLMAN       Poor Teddy. I imagine it's for the best.He drops the papers on the desk and starts declaiming.       JUDGE CULLMAN       Well... ´Ours not to reason why, ours but to do...ªMortimer is very irritated by the Judge's erratic attitude. Heputs a pen in his hand.       MORTIMER       Sign right here, please, Judge. Excuse me. Right there.       JUDGE CULLMAN       Sometimes I think, with the world in its present chaotic       state...Mortimer takes the pen from the Judge's hand and starts signingthe papers.       MORTIMER       Yes, I know, we'd all be better off at Happy Dale. I sign       here as next of kin, don't I ?       JUDGE CULLMAN       Only last week I created a mild sensation at the Bar       Association, when I said...Mortimer dries the document, and shakes the Judge's hand.       MORTIMER       Yes. Goodbye. Good luck, Judge. Thank you.He walks to the door of the office.       JUDGE CULLMAN       Tell Martha and Abby I'll be over this week. I've been       feeling rather lonely.Mortimer comes back on his steps.       MORTIMER       No ! No ! Oh no ! Never tell them you've been lonely.       Never !       JUDGE CULLMAN       Why, I... I... I...Mortimer comes back to the Judge's desk.       MORTIMER       Judge ! Tell me, are you a drinking man ?       JUDGE CULLMAN       Why, no. I never indulge.       MORTIMER       Good ! Then you'll live longer.He goes back to the door.       JUDGE CULLMAN       Of course a little wine now...       MORTIMER       No ! No ! For heaven's sake, no wine ! No wine !He goes out, slamming the door behind him. The Judge lookspensively at the door Mortimer just closed.       JUDGE CULLMAN       I may be committing the wrong Brewster.The scene dissolves to :BREWSTER RESIDENCE - SITTING ROOM - INTERIOR NIGHTThe Brewster sister are sitting at the table with Doctor Einsteinand Jonathan. The dinner is finished, and both men are smoking.       ABBY       Well, I'm sure you both want to get to wherever you're       going.The two sisters stands up from the table.       JONATHAN       My dear, sweet aunties, I'm so full of your delicious       dinner I'm unable to move a muscle.       DOCTOR EINSTEIN       Yes, it's nice here.Teddy comes out of his room on the balcony. He is still wearinghis colonial costume. He has a book in his hand and a spare pithhelmet under his arm. He rushes down the stairs.       TEDDY       I found it ! I found it !He stops suddenly in the staircase.       TEDDY       Gentlemen, be seated.Jonathan and Einstein pretend they are standing up, but theyimmediately sit back in their chairs.Teddy comes down the last steps and goes toward the table.       TEDDY       Here it is, gentlemen. The story of my life, my biography.He puts the book on the table, in front of Einstein. It's open ona page with a picture.       TEDDY       Here's the picture I was telling you about, General. Here       we are, both of us. President Roosevelt and General       Goethals at Culebra Cut. That's me, General, and that's       you.Einstein looks at the picture.       DOCTOR EINSTEIN       My, how I've changed !       TEDDY       Well, you see, that picture hasn't been taken yet. We       haven't even started work on Culebra Cut. We're still       digging locks. And now, General, we will both go to Panama       and inspect the new lock.He gives the spare helmet to Einstein.       ABBY       No, Teddy. Not to Panama.       DOCTOR EINSTEIN       Oh, maybe some other time, Mister President. Panama is a       long ways off.       TEDDY       Nonsense ! It's just down in the cellar.Jonathan, who hadn't seemed to be much interested by Teddy'sconversation, suddenly looks up.       JONATHAN       The cellar ?       MARTHA       Well, we let him dig the Panama Canal in the cellar.       TEDDY       General Goethals ?Einstein slightly raises the hand holding the cigarette to hisforehead.       DOCTOR EINSTEIN       Yes, sir.       TEDDY       As President of the United States, Commander in Chief of       the Army and Navy, and the man who gave you this job, I       demand that you accompany me on the inspection of the new       lock.       JONATHAN       Teddy ! I think it's time for you to go to bed.       TEDDY       I beg your pardon. Who are you ?       JONATHAN       I'm Woodrow Wilson. Go to bed.       TEDDY       No, you're not Wilson. But your face is familiar. Let me       see... You're not anyone I know now. Perhaps later, on my       hunting trip to Africa. Yes, you look like someone I might       meet in the jungle.Jonathan starts standing up with a very menacing face.       ABBY       I think, perhaps, you had better go to bed, Teddy. He and       his friend want to get back to their hotel.Jonathan sits back in his chair.       JONATHAN       General Goethals, inspect the canal.Einstein stands up and takes his helmet.       DOCTOR EINSTEIN       All right, Mister President, we go to Panama.       TEDDY       Bully, bully ! Follow me, General.He opens the door to the cellar, then turns toward Einstein, tapson the helmet Einstein is carrying and then on his own helmet.       TEDDY       It's down south, you know.Einstein puts the helmet on his head. The helmet is too large forhim, and gets down on his eyes.       DOCTOR EINSTEIN       Oh !Teddy starts going downstairs. Before following him, Einsteinturns around to the others.       DOCTOR EINSTEIN       Well, bon voyage !He waves them goodbye and then follows Teddy downstairs.Jonathan has remained seated, with both his aunts standing on theother side of the table.       JONATHAN       Aunt Abby, I must correct your misapprehension. You talked       of our hotel. We have no hotel. We came here directly.       ABBY       This is not your home, and I'm afraid you can't stay here.Jonathan stands up and looks menacingly at his aunts. Whiletalking, he moves closer to them. They look frightened.       JONATHAN       Doctor Einstein and I need a place to sleep. You remember       that, as a boy, I could be disagreeable. It would not be       pleasant for any of us if... but I don't have to go into       details, do I ?       MARTHA       Perhaps we'd better let them stay here tonight.Einstein appears at the door of the cellar.       DOCTOR EINSTEIN       Hey, Johnny, Johnny. Come here. Quick.He goes back down the stairs to the cellar.       JONATHAN       Oh, I forgot to tell you, Doctor Einstein and I are turning       Grandfather's laboratory into an operating room. We expect       to be very busy.He goes to the cellar door.BREWSTER RESIDENCE - CELLAR - INTERIOR NIGHTEinstein is on the staircase, halfway down to the cellar. On thewall behind him, we see the shadow of Teddy digging.       DOCTOR EINSTEIN       Hey, Johnny, down here, what do you think I find ?He takes off his helmet. Jonathan joins him on the stairs.       JONATHAN       What ?       DOCTOR EINSTEIN       The Panama Canal. And it just fits Mister Spenalzo. See the       hole he's digging. Four feet wide, six feet long. He just       fits ! You'd think he knew we were bringing Mister Spenalzo       along. That's hospitality.Jonathan smiles and looks upstairs.       JONATHAN       Rather a good joke on my aunts. They're living in a house       with a body buried in the cellar.Einstein laughs.       DOCTOR EINSTEIN       Hey, how do we get him in here ?       JONATHAN       Yes, we can't just walk Mister Spenalzo in through the       door. We'll bring the car up between the cemetery and the       house, and after they've gone to bed, we'll bring Mister       Spenalzo in through the window.He goes back up the stairs. Einstein follows him. The shadow ofTeddy keeps on digging.       DOCTOR EINSTEIN       Hey, Johnny...BREWSTER RESIDENCE - SITTING ROOM - INTERIOR NIGHTJonathan comes in through the cellar door, with Einstein followingbehind him. His two aunts are still standing up in the room.       JONATHAN       We're moving the car behind the house. You'd better get to       bed.He crosses the room with Einstein following him.       MARTHA       The car is all right where it is until morning.       JONATHAN       I don't want to leave it in the street. That might be       against the law.He opens the front door, and gets out, still followed by Einstein.       MARTHA       Abby ! What are we going to do ?       ABBY       Well, we're not going to let them spend more than one night       in this house, for one thing. But what would the neighbors       think ? People coming in here with one face and going out       with another.       MARTHA       And what are we going to do about Mister Hoskins ?       ABBY       Oh ! Mister Hoskins ! It can't be very comfortable for him       in there. And he's been so patient, the poor dear. Well, I       think Teddy had better take Mister Hoskins downstairs right       away.Teddy enters by the cellar door.       TEDDY       General Goethals was very pleased. He said the canal was       just the right size.From the table, he picks up the book he had shown to Dr. Einstein,and starts looking at it.       ABBY       Teddy ! Teddy, there's been another yellow-fever victim.       TEDDY       Dear me ! This will be a shock to the General.       ABBY       No, Teddy, we must keep it a secret.       MARTHA       Yeah !       TEDDY       A state secret ?       ABBY       Yes, a state secret.       MARTHA       Promised ?       TEDDY       You have the word of the President of the United States.       Cross my heart and hope to die.He crosses his chest and spits on the floor. Then, he takes hisaunts in his arms.       TEDDY       Now, let's see. How are we going to keep it a secret ?       ABBY       Well, Teddy, I think you'd better get back down into the       cellar. And then, when I turn out the lights, when       everything's dark here, you come up and take the poor man       down to the canal. Now get along, Teddy.Teddy crosses the room to the cellar door.       ABBY       And we'll come down later and hold services.Teddy opens the door, and turns around.       TEDDY       Where is the poor devil ?       ABBY       (voice over)       In the window-seat.       TEDDY       It seems to be spreading. We've never had yellow fever       there before.       MARTHA       Abby. I've never even seen Mister Hoskins !       ABBY       Oh, my goodness! That's right, you were out. Well, you just       come right along and see him now. You know, he's really       very nice looking, considering that he's a Methodist.Both sisters go to the window-seat and are ready to lift the lid,when the drapes above the seat suddenly open wide, revealing avery menacing Jonathan. The two sisters back off, frightened.Jonathan slowly climbs in through the window, and stands up on thewindow-seat.       JONATHAN       We're bringing the luggage through here.He gets down from the window-seat. Then Einstein appears behindthe window, carrying a suitcase. Jonathan helps him to bring thesuitcase in the room.       ABBY       Jonathan, your room is waiting for you. You can go right       up.Einstein, still outside the window, gives Jonathan anothersuitcase.       JONATHAN       I'm afraid we don't keep Brooklyn hours. You two run along       to bed.       ABBY       Oh, but you must be very tired. Both of you. And we don't       go to bed this early.       JONATHAN       It's time I came home to take care of you.Behind Jonathan, Einstein has come into the room and is closingthe window, and then the drapes.       JONATHAN       (to Einstein)       Take the bags upstairs.Einstein takes the two suitcases and starts moving away.       DOCTOR EINSTEIN       For the instruments, I'll come back later.       ABBY       Good night.Einstein slightly bows to Abby.       JONATHAN       Now, we'll all go to bed.       ABBY       I'll wait until you're up and then turn out the lights.Einstein has already almost reached the balcony. Martha startsclimbing, with Jonathan behind her.       JONATHAN       Run along, Aunt Martha. Just off the laboratory, Doctor.Everybody reaches the balcony. Einstein disappears at the end ofthe balcony, and Martha enters her room. Jonathan turns around andlooks down at Abby.       JONATHAN       All right, Aunt Abby.       ABBY       I'll be right up.       JONATHAN       Now, Aunt Abby ! Turn out the lights.Abby goes to the switch near the front door, and switches thelights off. The room is completely dark.Abby climbs the stairs, reaches the balcony, and walks slowly passJonathan, who is still standing at the same place. Then, shequickly enters the room she shares with her sister, who is holdingthe door open for her.Jonathan moves along the balcony and starts climbing the stairs tothe upper floor. He stops after a few steps, and sees the door ofhis aunts' room opening slowly. Abby comes out.       JONATHAN       Aunt Abby.Abby quickly goes back into the room and closes the door. Jonathanresumes his climbing.The camera moves down into total black darkness, and then into theroom, where we see some light underneath the cellar door. We hearsteps, and the door opens to reveal Teddy, still in his colonialcostume, but without the helmet. He stops a few seconds, thenstarts crossing the room, only lit by light coming from underneaththe kitchen door. We hear the lid of the window-seat creaking, andwe guess Teddy has just opened it. Shuffling noises. Then we seethe shadow of Teddy carrying something apparently heavy. We hearthe cat screaming, and we guess Teddy must have stepped on itstail. When Teddy comes into the light from the open door of thecellar, we discover he is carrying a human body, which could onlybe Mr. Hoskins' one taken from the window-seat. Teddy turns aroundand starts going backward down the steps to the cellar. He stops afew seconds to close the door. Then we hear noises of somethingfalling, and we guess that Teddy must have missed a step andfallen all the way down to the cellar.Black screen during one second.Einstein is going down the staircase, lit only by a match he isholding in his hand.       DOCTOR EINSTEIN       He's all right, Johnny.When he gets on floor level, he meets Jonathan.       JONATHAN       I'll open the window. You go round and hand him through.       DOCTOR EINSTEIN       But he's too heavy for me.He burns his finger and blows the match. The scene becomescompletely dark. We see only shadows.       DOCTOR EINSTEIN       You go outside, Johnny, and push, and I'll stay here and       pull. And then together we take him down to Panama. Huh ?       JONATHAN       All right. We must be quick. I'll take a look around       outside the house. When I tap on the glass, you open the       window.       DOCTOR EINSTEIN       Yeah.Jonathan moves to the front door, opens it, stops to look around,and then closes the door.Einstein walks slowly in the room.       DOCTOR EINSTEIN       It's dark in here.He bumps into something. We hear the lid of the window-seatcreaking several times.Einstein light another match, and we discover he has fallen intothe open window-seat, where he is now lying       DOCTOR EINSTEIN       Where am I ? Oh, here I am.He slowly gets out of the seat.       DOCTOR EINSTEIN       Who left this open ?Jonathan taps on the window. Einstein blows the match and opensthe window.       DOCTOR EINSTEIN       Johnny ?We see only shadows in the dark, but we guess Jonathan is handingMr. Spenalzo's corpse to Einstein, who will then put it in thewindow-seat.       DOCTOR EINSTEIN       Okay, Johnny, wait a minute. Hand him over. Now I have him.       ´Allez !ª Up ! Now, wait a minute, Johnny. You lost a leg       somewhere. Hey, help me. He's so heavy. Now I have him. Now       I got him.       JONATHAN       Be careful.       DOCTOR EINSTEIN       Oh, but his shoe came off. Help me, Johnny. He's so heavy.       Now I've got him !Knocking at the door.       DOCTOR EINSTEIN       Hey, Johnny, somebody's at the door. Go open, quick.       I'll manage Spenalzo. Go, quick !Some more knocking. We hear the creaking of the lid of the window-seat, and we guess Einstein is closing it.The front door opens slowly, and Elaine enters the house.       ELAINE       Mortimer ! Aunt Abby !We see the frightened face of Einstein.       ELAINE       (voice over)       Aunt Martha !Jonathan enters through the front door left open by Elaine, closesit and locks it.       ELAINE       (looking frightened)       Who is it ? Is that you, Teddy ?       JONATHAN       Who are you ?       ELAINE       I'm Elaine Harper. I live next door.       JONATHAN       What are you doing here ?       ELAINE       I came here to see my husband, Mortimer.       JONATHAN       Why did you say your name was Harper ?       ELAINE       Well, it is Harper. I mean, it's Brewster. I'm not very       used to it. I'm a brand-new Brewster.Einstein goes to the front door and switches the lights on.       JONATHAN       Doctor !       DOCTOR EINSTEIN       It's all right, Johnny. It's okay.Einstein has his little bottle in one hand, and, with the fingerof the other hand, he tries to explain to Jonathan that the corpseis safely in the window-seat.Jonathan looks at Einstein, and then goes across the room to lookaround. He even moves the drapes of a window to look outside.       ELAINE       (voice over)       Maybe you'd better explain what you're doing here.Jonathan keeps on checking around. He goes to the window above thewindow-seat, and looks outside.       JONATHAN       We happen to live here.He spots an orphan shoe on the floor and picks it up.       ELAINE       (voice over)       You don't live here. I've been in this house every day, and       I've never seen you before. Where are Miss Martha and Miss       Abby ? What have you done to them ?Einstein tries to explain to Jonathan, without using words, thatthe shoe belongs to the corpse in the window-seat.       JONATHAN       Perhaps we'd better introduce ourselves. May I present       Doctor Einstein ?He puts the shoe on the table, then lifts the tablecloth to lookunderneath it.       ELAINE       Doctor Einstein ?       JONATHAN       A surgeon of great distinction. And something of a       magician.       ELAINE       Now I suppose you're gonna tell me that you're Boris...       JONATHAN       (cutting her very harshly)       I am Jonathan Brewster.       ELAINE       Oh ! You're Jonathan.Jonathan comes close to her and looks at her in such a strange waythat she starts walking backward.       JONATHAN       You've heard of me ?       ELAINE       Yes, they talk about you.       JONATHAN       What do they say about me ?Elaine stops walking backward.       ELAINE       Oh, just that there's another brother named Jonathan,       that's all they say. Oh, that explains everything. Now that       I know who you are, I'll just be running along, if you'll       kindly unlock the door.They move to the front door, beside which Einstein is standing,smiling. Jonathan unlocks the door. He opens it a few inches, butstands in the way of Elaine, ready to got out.       JONATHAN       ´That explains everything.ª Just what do you mean by that ?       Why do you come here at this time of night ?       ELAINE       Well, I just thought I saw Mortimer drive up. I suppose it       was you.Jonathan slams the door and locks it.       JONATHAN       You thought you saw someone drive up ?He walks menacingly toward her, and she starts walking backwardacross the room.       ELAINE       Yes. Weren't you just outside ? Isn't that your car ?       JONATHAN       You saw someone at the car ?       ELAINE       Yes.Einstein starts walking behind Jonathan.       JONATHAN       What else did you see ?       ELAINE       Oh, just that, that's all !       JONATHAN       I see. Is that why you came over here ?       ELAINE       Oh no, I came to see Mortimer. But if he's not home, I'll       run...She tries to run away, but Jonathan grabs her arms and holds itvery firmly.       JONATHAN       You've given two names.       ELAINE       You're hurting me !       JONATHAN       I think she's dangerous.Teddy comes in through the cellar door. He has his helmet back onhis head and wears heavy working gloves.       TEDDY       No visitors. It's going to be a private funeral.He crosses the room and starts climbing the stairs. Both Jonathanand Einstein are now holding Elaine.       ELAINE       Teddy ! Teddy, tell these men who I am !Teddy stops a few steps from floor level.       TEDDY       Oh, that's my daughter, Alice.       ELAINE       Oh, no, Teddy ! Teddy !       TEDDY       Now, Alice, don't be a tomboy. Don't play rough with the       gentlemen.He pulls out his imaginary sword and rushes up the stairs.       TEDDY       Charge !He rushes into his room and slams the door.       ELAINE       Teddy !Elaine starts screaming. Jonathan holds a handkerchief over hermouth. Einstein runs to the front door and switches the lightsoff.       JONATHAN       Doctor, the cellar.       ELAINE       Let go of me ! Let go of me !The cellar door is opened, and we see the shadows of the two mendragging Elaine down to the cellar.       MARTHA       What's the matter ? What's happening down there ?The lights are switched back on, and we see Abby and Martha on thebalcony, just coming out of their room. They are both dressed inblack funeral clothes.       ABBY       What's the matter ? What are you doing there ?Jonathan is coming alone out of the cellar.       JONATHAN       We caught a burglar, a sneak thief. Go back to your room.       ABBY       We'll call the police.She starts going down the stairs, followed by Martha.       JONATHAN       I'll handle this. Go back to your room.Abby stops at the top of the stairs.       JONATHAN       Do you hear me ?Knocking on the door, followed by the doorbell. The two sistersstarts going down the stairs.       JONATHAN       Don't answer that.Another doorbell. The two sisters are running downstairs.       JONATHAN       Don't answer that !Elaine rushes through the cellar door, screaming. She runs intoMartha's arms, followed by Einstein.       ELAINE       Let go of me !More knocking and ringing at the door. Abby goes and opens thedoor. Mortimer enters the house..       MORTIMER       Where's Teddy ? Is he upstairs ?Elaine rushes to Mortimer and holds him by the neck. He gets ridof her.       MORTIMER       Never mind that now, darling, please.He starts climbing the stairs and looks, surprised, at Martha.       MORTIMER       What are you doing with your best clothes on ?He suddenly notices Jonathan's presence and stops mounting thestairs.       MORTIMER       Holy... What's that ? What's that thing there that looks       like a cigar-store dummy ?       ABBY       It's your brother Jonathan, and this is Doctor Einstein.       MORTIMER       Aunt Abby, didn't I tell you not to let anybody in the       house ? Who did you say it was ?       ABBY       It's your brother, Jonathan !Elaine grabs Mortimer's coat, and starts talking to him. So doAbby and Martha on either side of him. Since the three of them aretalking together, it is impossible to understand what they say.       JONATHAN       I've come back home, Mortimer.At the voice of Jonathan, the three women stop talking       MORTIMER       What ?       JONATHAN       I've come back home, Mortimer.       MORTIMER       ´I've come back home, Mortimer.ª Listen, it talks !       JONATHAN       Yes, I talk. Mortimer, have you forgotten the things I used       to do to you when you were tied to the bedpost ? The       needles under your fingernails.Elaine grabs Mortimer's coat.       ELAINE       Mortimer, he...       MORTIMER       Wait a minute.Mortimer walks closer to Jonathan.       MORTIMER       Holy mackerel ! It is Jonathan !       JONATHAN       I'm glad you remember, Mortimer.       MORTIMER       Yeah, I remember. How could I forget you ? Where'd you get       that face ? Hollywood ?Jonathan is ready to fight with his brother. Einstein grabs hisarm to stop him and Abby comes between them.       ABBY       Oh, don't you two boys start quarreling again the minute       you've seen each other.       MARTHA       We invited Jonathan and Doctor Einstein to stay.       MORTIMER       What ?       MARTHA       Just for tonight.       MORTIMER       Oh no, you don't, I'm staying here tonight. In fact, I'm       staying here from now on.Elaine taps on Mortimer's arm.       ELAINE       Mortimer, what about me ?       MORTIMER       There's no room for anybody else in the house.       (to Elaine)       Please, darling, just a moment.       (to Jonathan)       So take that little squirt and beat it !       (to Martha)       Now where's Teddy ? I've got to see him right away. Is he       upstairs ?He starts climbing the stairs.       DOCTOR EINSTEIN       Mister Brewster ! We don't take up much room. Johnny can       sleep on the sofa, and I'll sleep on the window-seat.       MORTIMER       Nothing to...He stops going upstairs       MORTIMER       Window-seat ?He comes back downstairs.       MORTIMER       Certainly not on the window-seat. I'm going to sleep on the       window-seat.He crosses the room to sit on the window-seat.       MORTIMER       I'm going to sleep on the windows-eat from now on.       ELAINE       Mortimer !Mortimer stands up and goes to Jonathan       MORTIMER       Now look. Now look, Jonathan. Now, be a good fellow. Here's       ten dollars. Go out and haunt yourself a hotel.Jonathan throws Mortimer's money on the floor. Mortimer tries tostep on it, but instead, he steps on Jonathan's foot.       JONATHAN       Mortimer, you know what I do to people who order me around.Einstein pulls Jonathan's sleeve.       DOCTOR EINSTEIN       Hey, Johnny. Mister Spenalzo.Mortimer bends down to look at Jonathan foot, then he touches hislegs.       JONATHAN       What ?       DOCTOR EINSTEIN       What's going to happen to Mister Spenalzo ?Mortimer takes a fork on the table and stabs Jonathan's leg withit.       DOCTOR EINSTEIN       We can't leave him here in the window-seat. Johnny ?       JONATHAN       Doctor, you know, Doctor, I've completely lost track of       Mister Spenalzo.       MORTIMER       Wait ! Who's this Mister Spenalzo ?       DOCTOR EINSTEIN       A friend of ours Johnny was looking for.       MORTIMER       Don't you bring anyone else in here. Now, come on, beat it,       both of you !       DOCTOR EINSTEIN       It's all right, Johnny. While we are packing, I'll tell you       about him.Jonathan walks to the staircase, and starts going upstairs,followed by Einstein. He stops a few steps before he reaches thebalcony.       JONATHAN       I'll take care of you, Mortimer, in just a little while.He resumes his walking upstairs.       MORTIMER       How do you like that ? The guy stays away for twenty years       and picks tonight of all nights to come back. Oh, Elaine,       what are you doing here ?She falls in his arms.       ELAINE       Mortimer !       MORTIMER       What's the matter, darling ?       ELAINE       I almost got killed.       MORTIMER       Killed ? Aunt Abby, Aunt Martha !       ABBY       Oh, no !       MARTHA       Oh, no ! It was Jonathan !       ABBY       He mistook her for a sneak thief.       MORTIMER       Oh, that.Martha just found the shoe on the table and seems very intriguedby it.       ELAINE       (voice over)       It was worse than that. He's some kind of a maniac.Abby looks at the shoe, and seems also very intrigued. Marthawhispers something to her.       MORTIMER       (voice over)       I know, darling, I know.       ELAINE       (voice over)       Oh, Mortimer, I'm afraid of him.       MORTIMER       (voice over)       Oh, darling, don't worry about it. I'm here now. Now forget       it.Abby whispers back to Martha, who puts the shoe back on the table.The two sisters move away.       ELAINE       We were married today, we were going over Niagara Falls in       a barrel, your brother tries to strangle me, a taxi's       waiting, and now you want to sleep on a window-seat !Mortimer hardly listens to her, but catches the last word.       MORTIMER       Window seat... Witherspoon. Darling, you'd better run along       home.       ELAINE       What ?       MORTIMER       Yes, yes. Go home like a good girl. I got things to do.He sits at the desk and starts dialing on the telephone.       ELAINE       Mortimer ? But... but...       MORTIMER       No, no, please.       (in the phone)       Hello ? Operator ? Get me Happy Dale 2-7-0, please.       ELAINE       But, Mortimer, didn't you hear what I was just saying ?       MORTIMER       Yes, 2-7-0.       ELAINE       Your own brother Jonathan, he was trying to strangle me !       MORTIMER       Please ! This is important !       ELAINE       That ?       MORTIMER       Hello ? Oh, hello, Mr. Witherspoon ? This is Mortimer       Brewster.WITHERSPOON'S OFFICE - INTERIOR NIGHTWitherspoon is sitting behind his desk, the telephone receiver tohis ear.       WITHERSPOON       Yes, Mr. Brewster, yes.He puts an effervescent pill in a glass of water.       WITHERSPOON       Well, I don't understand you.BREWSTER RESIDENCE - SITTING ROOM - INTERIOR NIGHTElaine is crying, standing near the desk, where Mortimer is stillon the telephone.       MORTIMER       (in the phone)       Look, look, I...He raises his head to look at Elaine       ELAINE       He was going to kill me !       MORTIMER       (to Elaine)       Wait a minute, I can't hear the man.       (to Witherspoon on the phone)       What ? I've got the papers all drawn up. I know it's late,       but I want you to come down here and get my brother       immediately ! I's got to be done.       (to Elaine)       Please, darling, please.WITHERSPOON'S OFFICE - INTERIOR NIGHT       WITHERSPOON       By the way, you've had the papers signed by your brother       and the doctor, of course ?BREWSTER RESIDENCE - SITTING ROOM - INTERIOR NIGHTMortimer seems surprised by the question.       MORTIMER       Oh, the doctor ? Oh, holy mackerel ! I forgot the doctor !Mortimer takes a piece of paper from the inside pockets of hisjacket and puts it on the desk. Elaine is still whining at hisside.        ELAINE        Mortimer !       MORTIMER       (yelling to Elaine)       Please, be quiet ! Can't you see I've got to get a doctor ?       (to Witherspoon on the phone)       Hello ? What kind of a doctor ? A family doctor ?       ELAINE       You can take your honeymoon, your wedding ring, your taxi,       your window-seat, and put them in a barrel, and push them       all over Niagara Falls !She walks away       MORTIMER       (to the departing Elaine)       Thank you, darling. Thank you.       (to Witherspoon on the phone)       Oh, look, why don't you come down here anyway ? While       you're getting here, I'll get Teddy's and the doctor's       signatures both.The front door slams violently. Mortimer turns around.       MORTIMER       Yeah. Elaine ! Elaine !       (to Witherspoon)       Yeah, I'll get both signatures. Yeah, well, come right       away.He puts the phone down.       MORTIMER       Elaine ? What's the matter with her ?He stands up and runs across the room to the window-seat.       MORTIMER       Oh, dear !He kneels on the window-seat and looks through the open window.       MORTIMER       Elaine ! Elaine !BREWSTER RESIDENCE - EXTERIOR NIGHTLarge shot of Reverend Harper's residence. Elaine enters the frontdoor, and slams the door behind her.BREWSTER RESIDENCE - SITTING ROOM - INTERIOR NIGHTMortimer is still looking through the open window.       MORTIMER       Elaine !He enters back into the room, and sits on the window-seat.       MORTIMER       (whispering to himself)       Oh, let me sit down. Let me think about this thing. Doctor,       Teddy, signature...He looks at the seat.       MORTIMER       Hoskins !He remains seated a few seconds in deep thought, then he gives aquick look outside the window, stands up and starts lifting thelid. The lid creaks. Mortimer seems very surprised by what he seesinside the seat. He opens the lid completely and let it rest onthe bottom of the window.       MORTIMER       Ye gods ! There's another one !He closes the lid and walks across the room toward the kitchendoor.       MORTIMER       Aunt Abby ! Aunt Martha ! Come in here !       ABBY       (voice over from the kitchen)       We're busy.       MORTIMER       No, you come in here now !Abby, still in funeral clothes, enters the room through thekitchen door.       ABBY       Yes, dear, what is it ? Where's Elaine ?       MORTIMER       Wait a minute. Didn't you promise me not to let anyone in       the house while I was gone ?       ABBY       Jonathan just walked in.       MORTIMER       I don't mean Jonathan !       ABBY       And Doctor...       MORTIMER       And I don't mean Doctor Einstein ! Who is that in the       window-seat ?       ABBY       We told you. Mister Hoskins.       MORTIMER       He is not Mister Hoskins !He opens the window-seat wide and let the lid rest on the bottomof the window.       MORTIMER       There !Abby walks to the window-seat and looks inside, surprised.       ABBY       Who can that be ?       MORTIMER       You're trying to tell me you've never seen that man       before ?       ABBY       I certainly am. Well, this is a fine how-do-you-do ! It's       getting so anyone thinks he can walk in this house !       MORTIMER       Now, you look here, Aunt Abby. Don't you try to get out of       this ! That's another one of your gentlemen, and you know       it !       ABBY       Mortimer, how can you say such a thing ? That man's an       impostor. And if he came here to be buried in our cellar,       he's mistaken.       MORTIMER       You admitted to me you put Mister Hoskins in the window-       seat.       ABBY       Yes, I did.       MORTIMER       Well, this man couldn't have got the idea from Mister       Hoskins !       ABBY       Oh, no.       MORTIMER       By the way, where is Mister Hoskins ?Mortimer starts looking around the room.       ABBY       He must have gone to Panama.       MORTIMER       What ? You buried him ?       ABBY       No, no, not yet. He's just down there waiting for the       services, poor dear. We haven't had a minute, what with       Jonathan in the house.Mortimer suddenly realizes the corpse could be a ´friendª ofJonathan. He quickly closes the lid.       ABBY       Oh, dear. We've always wanted to hold a double funeral.       But I will not read services over a total stranger !She walks back to the kitchen. Mortimer catches her.       MORTIMER       A total stranger. Aunt Abby, how can I believe you ? There       are twelve men down there, some you admit you poisoned       them !       ABBY       Yes, I did. But you don't think I'd stoop to telling a       fib ! Martha !She enters the kitchen.       ABBY       Martha ! Martha ! What do you think has happened ?       MORTIMER       ´A fib !ªMortimer starts dancing around the room. Then he hears a doorclosing on the balcony, and he sits on the window-seat. We seeJonathan on the balcony. He starts going downstairs. Mortimer goestoward him.       MORTIMER       Jon... Oh-oh... Ah-ah...       JONATHAN       This may interest you, Mortimer. I've decided that we're       staying. And I've also decided that you're leaving, and I       mean now.       MORTIMER       Listen, handsome. I'm in no mood to debate the question.       Are you getting out, or am I throwing you out on your ear?       JONATHAN       I've led a strange life, Mortimer.Abby comes in through the kitchen door, followed by Martha.       ABBY       Martha, you come straight along here. You just look and see       what's in that window-seat.Jonathan and Mortimer both rushes across the room and sit on thewindow-seat       MORTIMER       No. No, no, Aunt Abby, don't...He stops when he realizes that Jonathan is sitting with him. Hesuddenly understands the situation, and shows a broad smile to hisbrother. He then stands up       MORTIMER       Jonathan, let Aunt Martha see what's in the window-seat.Jonathan's face shows that he is no more so sure of himself.       MORTIMER       Aunt Abby, darling, I owe you an apology.He kisses her on the forehead.       MORTIMER       I've got some very good news for you. Jonathan is leaving.       And he's taking Doctor Einstein and that cold companion       with him.       (to Jonathan)       Listen, Jonathan. You're my brother, you're a Brewster. So,       I'm giving you a chance to get away and take the evidence       with you. You can't ask for more than that. Well ?Jonathan doesn't move from the window-seat.       MORTIMER       All right, in that case, I'll have to call the police.He goes to the desk.       JONATHAN       Don't reach for the telephone. Remember, what happened to       Mister Spenalzo can happen to you, too.Mortimer picks up the phone.       MARTHA       Spenalzo ?       ABBY       I knew he was a foreigner.       JONATHAN       Put down that telephone, Mortimer.Jonathan puts his hand to his pocket, to take his gun. Thedoorbell rings and we see a policeman's shadow through the frostedglass. Jonathan stands up and Abby rushes to the door.       ABBY       Oh...She opens the door on O'Hara. He is smiling and he's got his stickin his hand.       O'HARA       Hello !       ABBY       Oh, Officer O'Hara !       O'HARA       I saw the lights and thought you might have sickness in the       house...       ABBY       No...He looks around.       O'HARA       Oh, you got company ? Oh, I'm sorry I disturbed you.He starts to walk back out, but Mortimer stops him.       MORTIMER       No ! Come in.       ABBY       Yes, do come in.She closes the door behind him.       MARTHA       Come right in, Officer O'Hara. This is our nephew,       Mortimer.They shake hands, both smiling.       O'HARA       Oh, pleased to meet you.       MORTIMER       And glad to see you, fellow.       ABBY       And this is another nephew, Jonathan.       O'HARA       Pleased to make your acquaintance. Hey, your face is       familiar. Haven't I seen a picture of you somewhere       before ?       JONATHAN       I don't think so.       O'HARA       I'll be running along.       MORTIMER       Oh, come on. What's the hurry ? Why don't you stick around       until my brother leaves.       O'HARA       I got to ring in, Mr. Brew... Say, you're not ´theª       Mortimer Brewster, the book-writer and the dramatic critic,       are you ?       MORTIMER       Yes, why ?       O'HARA       Oh, what a break for me ! I'm a playwright.       MORTIMER       No ?       O'HARA       I'm working on a play now.       MORTIMER       You are ?       O'HARA       Yeah.       MORTIMER       Well, well, well ! Maybe I can help you with it.       O'HARA       Oh, would you ? Oh, what a break ! I get wonderful ideas,       but I can't spell them.       MORTIMER       You can't ?... Oh, I can spell like the dickens.       Constantinople ? Come on, come on, let's go into the       kitchen.       O'HARA       All right.       MORTIMER       You can tell me all about it.       (to Abby)       Couldn't you whip up a sandwich for Officer O'Hara ?       MARTHA       I hope you don't mind eating in the kitchen, Officer       O'Hara.       O'HARA       And where else would you eat ?They all enter the kitchen, laughing, and leaving Jonathan alonein the room. Mortimer lets them in, but comes back into thesitting-room, closing the kitchen door behind him.       MORTIMER       (to the policeman and his aunts)       See you in a moment.He crosses the room toward Jonathan       MORTIMER       Now, listen, Jonathan, this is your last chance. I'll keep       O'Hara busy in the kitchen and give you a chance to get       out. All three of you : you, Doctor Einstein and Spenalzo.       JONATHAN       Mortimer...       MORTIMER       Now if you don't leave here in five minutes, I'll bring in       Officer O'Hara, and introduce him to Mr. Spenalzo.He opens the lid of the window-seat. But O'Hara comes into theroom and Mortimer quickly closes the lid.       O'HARA       Mister Brewster, my play takes place in...Mortimer moves him back to the kitchen.       MORTIMER       I'll be right with you, O'Hara. Right with you. Right with       you. Just give me one moment.Mortimer closes the door behind O'Hara and turns toward Jonathan.       MORTIMER       Now get going ! All three of you.He enters the kitchen, and closes the door behind him. Einsteinarrives silently behind Jonathan and taps on this shoulder.Jonathan turns quickly around. He then goes to the kitchen doorand comes back to Einstein.       JONATHAN       Doctor, this affair between my brother and myself has got       to be settled.       DOCTOR EINSTEIN       But, Johnny, we've got trouble enough as it is. Come, let's       go.       JONATHAN       We're not going. We're going to sleep right here in this       house.       DOCTOR EINSTEIN       What ? With a cop in the kitchen and Spenalzo in the       window-seat ?       JONATHAN       That's all he's got on us. We'll take Spenalzo and dump him       in the bay. After that, we're coming back here. Then if he       tries to interfere...       DOCTOR EINSTEIN       No, no, Johnny. No, please.       JONATHAN       Doctor, we've got a wonderful setup here. We can make a       fortune. Two old ladies as a front. Only Mortimer stands in       our way. I never did like Mortimer.He goes toward the kitchen door. Einstein catches up with him.       DOCTOR EINSTEIN       No, Johnny, please, take it easy. Please !       JONATHAN       Doctor, you know when I make up my mind...       DOCTOR EINSTEIN       Yeah, I know, when you make up your mind, you lose your       head. Look, Johnny, Brooklyn ain't a good setup for you.Jonathan takes Einstein's hand, twists it and brings Einstein downon the floor.       DOCTOR EINSTEIN       Okay, Johnny. Okay !Jonathan releases Einstein's hand, who stands up to massage hishand.       JONATHAN       Take the instruments and hide them in the cellar. Move       fast.Einstein takes the suitcase and walks to the cellar. Jonathanopens the lid of the window-seat.BREWSTER RESIDENCE - KITCHEN - INTERIOR NIGHTIn the kitchen, the Brewster sisters are moving around the room,preparing food on the table. Both men are standing up near thetable. O'Hara, without his cap on his head, has a sandwich in hishand.       O'HARA       Mister Brewster, you don't know what goes on in Brooklyn.       MORTIMER       Oh, I don't know.O'Hara picks up a cup on the table.       O'HARA       No. My mother was an actress.       MORTIMER       Oh ? Legitimate ?       O'HARA       Of course she was. She was my mother.       MORTIMER       Oh, excuse me.       O'HARA       Peaches La Tour was her name.BREWSTER RESIDENCE - SITTING ROOM - INTERIOR NIGHTThe door to the cellar is open. Einstein rushes up from thecellar. He looks a bit frightened.       DOCTOR EINSTEIN       Hey, Johnny, Johnny, come quick !Jonathan, who was looking down into the open window-seat, standsup.       JONATHAN       What's the matter ?       DOCTOR EINSTEIN       You know that hole in the cellar ?       JONATHAN       Yes.       DOCTOR EINSTEIN       Well, we got an ace in the hole.Jonathan closes the window-seat, and walks toward the cellar.BREWSTER RESIDENCE - KITCHEN - INTERIOR NIGHTO'Hara is explaining something to Mortimer.       O'HARA       It's no fly-by-night idea. I've been working on this thing       for twelve years.Mortimer, who had just heard the creaking of the lid of thewindow-seat, turns back toward the policeman.       MORTIMER       Well, you have ?       O'HARA       Yeah.       MORTIMER       Well, rehash it in your mind. I'll be back in a minute.       O'HARA       Oh, swell.       MORTIMER       I like the first act.       O'HARA       But I didn't tell you the first act, Mister Brew... I...Before he can finish his sentence, Mortimer is already out of theroom.BREWSTER RESIDENCE - SITTING ROOM - INTERIOR NIGHTMortimer enters the empty sitting-room. He goes to the window-seat, opens it and talks to the corpse.       MORTIMER       No, I thought I told you...He closes the lid, kneels on the seat and looks through the openwindow.       MORTIMER       Jonathan ! Jonathan ! Jonathan !Jonathan enters from the cellar, followed by Einstein.       JONATHAN       Yes, Mortimer.Mortimer turns around and looks, surprised, at his brother. Thenhe comes into the room       MORTIMER       What are you two doing still here ? I thought I told you to       beat it.       JONATHAN       We're not going.       MORTIMER       You're not going ?       JONATHAN       No.       DOCTOR EINSTEIN       No.       MORTIMER       You stay out of this. All right, you asked for it.He goes to the kitchen door, which he opens slightly.       MORTIMER       Officer O'Hara ?       O'HARA       (voice over from the kitchen)       Coming.Mortimer comes back in the middle of the room.       JONATHAN       Now, if you tell O'Hara what's in the window-seat, I'll       tell him what's down in the cellar.       MORTIMER       Cellar ?       JONATHAN       There's an elderly gentleman down there who seems to be       very dead.       MORTIMER       What were you doing down the cellar ?       DOCTOR EINSTEIN       But what is he doing in the cellar ?       JONATHAN       Now what are you going to tell O'Hara ?O'Hara comes into the room from the kitchen.       O'HARA       Hey, your aunts heard my opening, it's swell. They want to       hear the rest. Shall I bring them in here ?He starts going back into the kitchen, but Mortimer stops him.       MORTIMER       No, no, no, no. You can't do that now. You'd better ring       in.       O'HARA       Oh, the heck with ringing in ! You got me rolling now.       I want to tell you the whole plot.       MORTIMER       You know, you can't tell me in front of those two fellas,       they wouldn't appreciate it.       O'HARA       Huh ? Hey, lowbrows, huh ?       MORTIMER       Let's go some place we can be alone. I'll meet you there       later.O'Hara puts his cap back on his head.       O'HARA       Okay. Say ! How about the back room at Kelly's ?       MORTIMER       Kelly's ?       O'HARA       Yeah.       MORTIMER       Oh yeah, fine place for Bohemian atmosphere. Genius at       work.He escorts O'Hara to the front door.       MORTIMER       You ring in and I'll meet you at Kelly's.       O'HARA       Fine.       MORTIMER       Fine.       JONATHAN       Why don't you both go down in the cellar ?       O'HARA       That's all right with me.O'Hara starts moving toward the cellar, but Mortimer stops him.       MORTIMER       No, no, no. There's a much more literary atmosphere in       Kelly's, I assure you.       O'HARA       Okay.       MORTIMER       We'll meet later       O'HARA       This opening will kill you.He opens the door and starts going out.       MORTIMER       You will.       O'HARA       I'm waiting to be born, you see, and the doctor comes in...Mortimer, who was pushing O'Hara outside, suddenly slaps hisforehead with his hand.       MORTIMER       Oh, the doctor !       O'HARA       Yeah !       MORTIMER       Yeah. Now, Look, you ring in and I'll see you later.       O'HARA       Okay. You won't stand me up, will you, Mister Brewster ?       MORTIMER       No.       O'HARA       This is a great play, you'll like it. I'll see you down       there.       MORTIMER       Can't wait ! Can't wait !Mortimer closes the door.       MORTIMER       Doctor, doctor. Where are those papers ? Oh, there they       are.He goes to the desk and picks up his papers. He then turns toJonathan and Einstein, still standing by the cellar door.       MORTIMER       Oh, oh-oh ! You're smug, aren't you? You think you've got       it over me. But you haven't. You think I'm afraid to go to       the police about Spenalzo because you've got hold of       Hoskins. Well, I'm not !He taps on his papers.       MORTIMER       The moment I get Spenalzo... I mean, the moment the doctor       signs this, I don't care who knows about him, Hoskins, I       mean. And you better feel the same way about Spenalzo. Yes,       Spenalzo !He starts running upstairs.       JONATHAN       Where are you going ?       MORTIMER       To the Doctor. Where do you... Oh !Mortimer stops and starts running downstairs, and then to thefront door.       MORTIMER       When I come back, I expect to find you gone. Wait for me !He goes out and closes the door. Einstein takes a sip at hisbottle.       JONATHAN       We'll wait for him.       DOCTOR EINSTEIN       Did he look guilty !The two sisters come out of the kitchen.       ABBY       Well, Martha, I think we can start the services now.They stop when they see Jonathan and Einstein.       ABBY       Oh ! We thought we heard you leave.       JONATHAN       Perish the thought, dear aunties. That was just Mortimer.       And speaking of services, Aunt Martha, will you make us       some coffee while we take Mister Spenalzo down to the       cellar ?       MARTHA       Oh, no. No, Jonathan. You've got to take him with you !Jonathan opens the lid of the window-seat.       JONATHAN       There's a friend of Mortimer's downstairs waiting for him.       ABBY       A friend of Mortimer's ?       JONATHAN       Take his feet, Doctor. Mister Spenalzo and he will get       along fine together. They're both dead.The two men bend down to take the corpse out of the window-seat.       MARTHA       Oh ! He must mean Mister Hoskins.       DOCTOR EINSTEIN       Mister Hoskins ?The two men stand up and look at the sisters. Jonathan comescloser to them.       JONATHAN       You know about what's down there ?       ABBY       Of course we do. And he's no friend of Mortimer's. He's one       of our gentlemen.       DOCTOR EINSTEIN       Your gentlemen ?       MARTHA       Yes. And we won't have any strangers buried in our cellar.       JONATHAN       But Mister Hoskins ?       MARTHA       Mister Hoskins is no stranger.       ABBY       Besides, there's no room for Mister Spenalzo. The cellar's       crowded already.       JONATHAN       Crowded ? With what ?       ABBY       There are twelve graves down there now.The two men look at each other. Jonathan seems the most surprised.       JONATHAN       Twelve graves.       ABBY       That leaves very little room and we're going to need it.       JONATHAN       You mean that you and Aunt Martha have murdered twelve...       ABBY       Murdered ? Certainly not. It's one of our charities.       MARTHA       Why, what we've been doing is a mercy.       ABBY       So you just take your Mister Spenalzo out of here.They turn to Einstein, who has seated himself and is laughing hishead off.       JONATHAN       You've done all that right here in this house and buried       them in the cellar ?       DOCTOR EINSTEIN       That's wonderful, Johnny !He stands up.       DOCTOR EINSTEIN       We've been chased all over the world, and they stay right       here in Brooklyn, and they do just as good as you do.       JONATHAN       What ?       DOCTOR EINSTEIN       Yeah. You got twelve, they got twelve.Jonathan grabs Einstein by his shirt.       JONATHAN       I've got thirteen.       DOCTOR EINSTEIN       No, Johnny, twelve. Don't brag.       JONATHAN       Thirteen.They both starts counting on their fingers.       JONATHAN       There's Mister Spenalzo. Then the first one in London.       DOCTOR EINSTEIN       Yeah.       JONATHAN       Two in Johannesburg, one in Sydney, one in Melbourne, two       in San Francisco, one in Phoenix, Arizona.       DOCTOR EINSTEIN       Phoenix ?       JONATHAN       The filling station.       DOCTOR EINSTEIN       Filling st... Oh, yes.He mimes the gesture of one having his throat cut.       JONATHAN       Three in Chicago and one in South Bend. That makes       thirteen.       DOCTOR EINSTEIN       You cannot count the one in South Bend. He died of       pneumonia.       JONATHAN       He wouldn't have died of pneumonia if I hadn't shot him.       DOCTOR EINSTEIN       No, no, Johnny, you cannot count him. You got twelve, they       got twelve. The old ladies is just as good as you are.Both sisters seem very happy by Einstein's statement. They smile.       DOCTOR EINSTEIN       They are, are they ? That's easily taken care of. All I       need is one more. That's all. Just one more. And I've a       pretty good idea who it is.He looks menacingly at his two aunts, who do not smile anymore.BREWSTER RESIDENCE - EXTERIOR NIGHTMortimer is walking along the gate of the churchyard, dragging Dr.Gilchrist with him. Gilchrist is trying to tie his necktie whilewalking. Apparently, Mortimer didn't let him dress completely whenhe took him out of his home.       MORTIMER       I'm a very lucky man to have caught you at home, Doctor       Gilchrist.       DOCTOR GILCHRIST       This is most irregular, most irregular.       MORTIMER       I'm sorry to have dragged you out of bed, but, you see,       you're the only one who can help me.       DOCTOR GILCHRIST       I know Teddy blows bugles, but I can't commit a man to an       institution just on that.       MORTIMER       Oh, well, if only you had a little talk with him, I assure       you you'd be convinced by him. Here's the house I...They stop walking when they hear hymns sung by the Brewstersisters.       MORTIMER       There goes Hoskins.       DOCTOR GILCHRIST       Who ?Mortimer looks embarrassed : he doesn't want to explain to thedoctor who Hoskins is.       MORTIMER       What ? What ? Did I say... Oh, I...He moves the doctor to the entrance of the churchyard.       MORTIMER       Now, you better wait.       DOCTOR GILCHRIST       Here ?       MORTIMER       Yes, I'll bring Teddy out. Well, you see, I wouldn't want       to alarm the old ladies, you know, seeing a doctor and       everything. You wait here, huh ?He helps him finish tying his necktie.       DOCTOR GILCHRIST       In the cemetery ?       MORTIMER       Yeah, that'll be good.       DOCTOR GILCHRIST       It's Halloween.       MORTIMER       Oh, don't worry about that. At Halloween, the pixies won't       be out till after midnight. Now look, you wait here. Make       yourself comfortable. Pull up a tombstone. I'll be right       back.He moves away to the house, and passes near the taxi, stillwaiting.       CAB DRIVER       Hey, 22.50 !       MORTIMER       What ?       CAB DRIVER       22.50 !       MORTIMER       Oh, yes, looks good on you !He hasn't stop walking, and goes into the house. The driver, whohad been following him, stops near the entrance of the house.       CAB DRIVER       Yeah ! Not the suit, the meter ! ´Looks good on me.ª       22.50 !A quick shot of Dr. Gilchrist waiting, frozen and slightlyfrightened.Then back on the entrance of the house, near which the driver isstill standing. Teddy and Mortimer come out of the house. Teddy isback in his President Roosevelt costume.       TEDDY       Did you give him a twenty-one-gun salute ?       MORTIMER       Yes, with a Maxim silencer.The driver catches up with them.       CAB DRIVER       Hey, you. Five more bucks and you'll own it.Mortimer and Teddy don't stop walking. The driver follows them.       MORTIMER       Oh no, thanks. It wouldn't fit me.The two men reach the place where Dr. Gilchrist is waiting.       MORTIMER       Oh, Mister President, may I have the pleasure...Teddy seems very happy to meet Dr. Gilchrist, and shakes his handsvigorously.       TEDDY       Doctor Livingstone !       DOCTOR GILCHRIST       Livingstone ?       MORTIMER       (to the doctor)       Well, that's what he presumes.       (to Teddy)       Mister President, the doctor would like to have a few words       with you in private.He bows slightly.       TEDDY       Certainly. Welcome to Washington, doctor.He shakes his hand again, then puts his arm around the doctor'sshoulders and moves away with him into the churchyard.       TEDDY       Arlington is beautiful at this time of year, is it not,       doctor ?       DOCTOR GILCHRIST       Yes, indeed.The doctor looks back at Mortimer, seeming a little frightened.Mortimer remains alone, with the papers in his hand. We still hearthe hymns sung by the Brewster sisters in the background.       MORTIMER       Well now, that's that. It gives me a chance to rest.He sits down on a tombstone.Reverse shot on Reverend Harper's house. Elaine opens the windowof her room.Back to Mortimer seated on his tombstone. A little further behindhim, we see Teddy and the doctor talking.       MORTIMER       Well, so far, so good.He stands up.       MORTIMER       Not so good.He runs to Elaine's window.The cab driver looks at the scene with intrigued eyes.Mortimer is now outside Elaine's window.       ELAINE       Do you or do you not love me ?       MORTIMER       Oh, Elaine. Elaine, how can you say such a thing ? Darling,       of course I love you.       ELAINE       Do you ?Mortimer takes her in his arms.       MORTIMER       Yes, darling.       ELAINE       Hey, then why have you been treating me the way you have ?       MORTIMER       Oh, Elaine.He moves slightly away from her.       MORTIMER       Elaine, Elaine, darling, I love you so much, I can't go       through with our marriage.She goes slightly back into her room.       ELAINE       Have you suddenly gone crazy ?       MORTIMER       No, no, I don't think so, but it's only a matter of time.       Now, look, darling, you wouldn't want to have children       with three heads, would you ? I mean, you wouldn't want to       set up housekeeping in a padded cell.       ELAINE       What are you talking about ?       MORTIMER       Well, I don't quite know really. Look, I probably should       have told you this before, but you see... well, insanity       runs in my family.We hear very clearly the Brewster sisters singing their hymns.       MORTIMER       It practically gallops.       ELAINE       Oh, darling, just because Teddy's a little strange, that       doesn't mean...       MORTIMER       Oh no, darling, no, no. It's way back before Teddy. No,       this goes back to the first Brewster, the one who came over       on the Mayflower. Yeah. You know, you know how in those       days the Indians used to scalp the settlers ? Well, he used       to scalp the Indians.Elaine bends out of her window to hug Mortimer.       ELAINE       Darling, that's ancient history.Medium shot on the doctor and Teddy walking arm in arm among thetombstones.       TEDDY       Yes, Doctor, I'll run for a third term, but I won't be       elected. And that'll mean the last of the Roosevelts       in the White House.       DOCTOR GILCHRIST       That's what you think.       TEDDY       Of course, if the country insists...Back to Elaine's room window. The young couple is still talking oneither side of the window.       ELAINE       Oh, darling, all this doesn't prove a thing. Look at your       aunts. They're Brewsters, aren't they ? They're the       sweetest, sanest people I've ever known.       MORTIMER       Yeah.He turns around to listen to his aunts singing their hymns.       MORTIMER       Well, even they have their peculiarities.       ELAINE       What of it ? So your family's crazy. So you're crazy.       That's the way I want you, the way I love you. I'm crazy       too, but kiss me.       MORTIMER       No, no. I... Ohhh !Mortimer hesitates a little and then gives a passionate kiss toElaine.Back to Teddy and the doctor. Teddy is vigorously shaking thedoctor's hand.       DOCTOR GILCHRIST       Goodbye, Ambassador. I've enjoyed this little talk very       much. Anytime you're in Washington, drop in to see me at       the White House.He walks away, leaving the doctor very shaken by the experience.The doctor runs to Mortimer, still outside Elaine's window andkissing her passionately. The doctor clears loudly his throat toattract Mortimer's attention.       DOCTOR GILCHRIST       Those papers. Those papers.       MORTIMER       Go away.Mortimer suddenly realizes what the doctor is talking about.       MORTIMER       Oh, papers ! Papers ! Yes.He pulls the papers from his jacket pocket, and gives them to thedoctor.       DOCTOR GILCHRIST       I'll enjoy committing him to any place.       MORTIMER       You will ?       DOCTOR GILCHRIST       I've just been appointed Ambassador to Bolivia !       MORTIMER       Ah, you see ? Didn't I tell you ?Elaine suddenly slams her window down... on Mortimer's fingers !Mortimer yells because of the pain. The doctor looks up from thepapers. Elaine also shut the inside shade down, shutting the roomcompletely from the outside world.       MORTIMER       No. Don't worry about that. Just go on signing the papers.       Oh dear. Thank you.Mortimer blows on his hurt fingers, then grabs the papers from thedoctor and runs away.       MORTIMER       Okay, thank you.BREWSTER RESIDENCE - SITTING ROOM - INTERIOR NIGHTClose-up on the empty window-seat, where just remains Mr.Spenalzo's hat.From the open cellar door, Martha is coming out, followed by Abby.They are still dressed in their funeral clothes.       ABBY       All right ! All right ! We'll find out whose house this       is ! I'm warning you, you better stop it. There's no use       doing what you're doing, because it'll just have to be       undone.       JONATHAN       (voice over from the cellar)       Aunt Abby, go to bed !       ABBY       It's a terrible thing to do to bury a good Methodist with a       foreigner.Mortimer comes rushing into the room with the papers in his hand.       MORTIMER       Hello.He blows on the papers to dry the ink of the signature.       ABBY       Mortimer, where have you been ?Mortimer starts running upstairs.       MORTIMER       Uh-uh ? Oh, I was getting some papers signed. Is Teddy in       his room ?       MARTHA       Oh, Mortimer, what is the matter with you ? Running around       getting papers signed at a time like this.       ABBY       Martha and I are going for the police.       MORTIMER       Police !He quickly get back downstairs       MORTIMER       Oh-oh-oh ! Wait-wait-wait ! You can't go for the police.       MARTHA       Oh, no ? You know what Jonathan's doing ?       ABBY       He's putting Mister Hoskins and Mister Spenalzo in       together.       MORTIMER       Oh, darling, let him.BREWSTER RESIDENCE - CELLAR - INTERIOR NIGHTEinstein just finished working, and he is cleaning the bottom ofhis pants. We notice he is wearing Mr. Spenalzo's shoes. A shovelis resting on the wall near him.       DOCTOR EINSTEIN       This is all fixed up nice now. Nice and smooth like a lake.       The President will be very proud of his Panama Canal.He stretches himself       DOCTOR EINSTEIN       Oh, Johnny, bed feels good already. You know, we didn't get       any sleep for forty-eight hours.Jonathan walks behind him, carrying a shovel. He puts the shoveldown against the wall and start mounting the stairs       JONATHAN       You're forgetting, Doctor.       DOCTOR EINSTEIN       What ?BREWSTER RESIDENCE - SITTING ROOM - INTERIOR NIGHTMortimer is trying to calm his aunts down       ABBY       Now, look. If Jonathan and Mister Spenalzo aren't out this       house before morning, we're going for the police.       MORTIMER       Yeah, but I'll get them out, I promise you that !       ABBY       Then you get the wedding silver.       MORTIMER       Yes, but remember, no police ! No police ! All right.He starts mounting the stairs.       MORTIMER       There's a thing. Look, go to bed, will you ? Fine. Get out       of those clothes ! You two look like a double blackout.He reaches the balcony.BREWSTER RESIDENCE - CELLAR - INTERIOR NIGHTJonathan is standing on the bottom of the cellar staircase.       JONATHAN       My brother, Mortimer.He goes back down in the cellar toward Einstein, who has hisbottle in his hand.       JONATHAN       I just heard him upstairs.       DOCTOR EINSTEIN       No, no, no ! I am tired. You forget, I got to operate on       your face tomorrow.He sits down on the bottom steps of the stairs.       JONATHAN       (voice over. We just see his shadow on the wall behind       Einstein)       You are going to operate tomorrow, Doctor. But tonight we       are taking care of Mortimer.       DOCTOR EINSTEIN       No, but Johnny, not tonight ! I'm sleepy. We'll do it       tomorrow. Or the next day.       JONATHAN       (voice over from the shadow on the wall)       Look at me, Doctor. You can see that it's got to be done,       can't you?       DOCTOR EINSTEIN       Yeah, I know that look.       JONATHAN       (voice over from the shadow on the wall)       It's a little late to dissolve our partnership.       DOCTOR EINSTEIN       Okay, okay, Johnny, okay. We'll do it. But the quick way,       huh ? The quick twist like in London.He mimes the breaking of a neck with his fingers, and then takes asip from his bottle       JONATHAN       (voice over from the shadow on the wall)       No, Doctor. I think this calls for something special. I       think, perhaps, the Melbourne method.       DOCTOR EINSTEIN       Not the Melbourne method, please ! Two hours ! And then       when it was all over, what ? The fellow in London was just       as dead as the fellow in Melbourne.BREWSTER RESIDENCE - SITTING ROOM - INTERIOR NIGHTTeddy comes out of his room on the balcony, in his PresidentRoosevelt costume. He takes his bugle to his mouth, ready to playit. Mortimer comes out of the room and lowers the bugle.       MORTIMER       No, no, no. Don't do that, Mister President.       TEDDY       But I cannot sign any proclamation without consulting my       Cabinet.Mortimer puts the papers in front of his eyes.       MORTIMER       This must be secret.Teddy takes the papers and looks at them.       TEDDY       A secret proclamation ? How unusual.       MORTIMER       Yes, it's the only way we can outsmart the other fellow.       TEDDY       Who's the other fellow ?       MORTIMER       That's the secret.       TEDDY       Oh, I see ! Very clever. Well, if it's a a secret       proclamation, it has to be signed in secret.He folds the papers.       MORTIMER       Of course, Mister President.       TEDDY       I'll have to put on my signing clothes.He starts to move back to his room. Mortimer stops him.       MORTIMER       Oh, you already have them on, Mister President.Teddy looks at his costume.       TEDDY       So I have. Wait here.He goes back into his room and closes the door. Einstein appearsat the bottom of the stairs.       DOCTOR EINSTEIN       Hey, Mister Brewster.       MORTIMER       Yes, what is it ? Mice ?Einstein climbs the stairs very rapidly. He takes Mortimer by thesleeve and whispers to him.       DOCTOR EINSTEIN       Hey, Mister Brewster, you get out of this house.       MORTIMER       Can't you see I'm busy ?He tries to get rid of Einstein's hand on his sleeve.We hear the bugle playing the first notes of Beethoven's fifthsymphony.       MORTIMER       (singing the same tune)       Ta-ta-ta taaa !He knocks on Teddy's door. The papers are slid under the door.Mortimer bends down to pick them up.       MORTIMER       Thank you, Mister President. Oh, what a load off my mind.       Boy, could I use a drink ! Thank God for that.He starts going downstairs. Einstein follows him and takes hissleeve again.       DOCTOR EINSTEIN       (whispering)       Get out of here, will you, please ?       MORTIMER       Huh ? What did you say ? Speak up, sonny. I can't hear you.       DOCTOR EINSTEIN       (still whispering)       Johnny's in a bad mood. You get out of here !       MORTIMER       Stop underplaying. I can't hear you.       DOCTOR EINSTEIN       Please listen to me. Get out.Mortimer gets rid of Einstein's hands on his sleeves.       MORTIMER       Stop all this ! What are you doing ? Look, Doc. Are you       really a doctor ?       DOCTOR EINSTEIN       Yes, Heidelberg, 1919. You go...He takes his sleeve again and tries to move him to the front door.       MORTIMER       Heidelberg ? How'd you... How'd you come to hook up with       Jonathan ?       DOCTOR EINSTEIN       I tell you later about that, but you go now. Please listen       to me.They've reached the front door. Mortimer takes Einstein's hand outof his sleeve.       MORTIMER       Tch-tch-tch ! Stop it, Doctor, now stop it !       DOCTOR EINSTEIN       You get out of here ! Look, look, when Johnny's in that       mood, he's a madman. He's a maniac ! And then things       happen. Horrible things.He mimes the cutting of his own throat, and takes Mortimer's handto throw him out.       DOCTOR EINSTEIN       You get out of here !       MORTIMER       Will you stop it ? Now look, stop telling me about       Jonathan, I'll take care of Jonathan, and you take care of       yourself. Now, get going, little fellow.He opens the door to throw him out. He pats him on the behind tomove him, and discover the shape of the bottle under his hand.       MORTIMER       What's that ? What's that ? Wait a minute.He takes the bottle out of Einstein's pocket       DOCTOR EINSTEIN       Oh no ! My schnapps !       MORTIMER       I could use that. I could use that.       DOCTOR EINSTEIN       That's mine.He tries to get his bottle back, but Mortimer holds on it.       MORTIMER       Please. Only for dramatic critics. Now look, you beat it       before things start popping around here.He moves away to the table, with the bottle in his hand. Einsteinjoins his hand in a praying gesture.       DOCTOR EINSTEIN       But, look, Mr. Brewster, please. You've just been married.       You have a nice little wife waiting for you. Please go now.       Please.Mortimer pours some of the schnapps in a glass.Einstein slams the front door with a very nervous punch, and walkstoward Mortimer. He mumbles incomprehensible words, probably inGerman.       DOCTOR EINSTEIN       Tell me, don't those plays you see all the time teach you       anything ?Mortimer is drinking. He lowers his glass.       MORTIMER       Oh, stop it, don't get me on the subject of plays ! I've       got a lot on my mind now. I've got to wait here for Mister       Witherspoon.He looks at his watch.       DOCTOR EINSTEIN       At least people in plays act like they got sense.       MORTIMER       Oh, you think so ? Did you ever see anybody in a play ever       act like they got intelligence ?       DOCTOR EINSTEIN       How can somebody be so stupid ?       MORTIMER       You ought to have my job a few nights. Listen to me,       brother. When you get out of prison, you have yourself       wheeled over to the Garrick Theater. Oh ! Oh ! There's a       play there that's been running so bad that it'll still be       running when you get out. Now, in this, there's a man...       Now listen to this...Behind Mortimer, the cellar door opens silently and Jonathanenters slowly into the room, without Mortimer noticing him.       MORTIMER       Now, he knows he's in the house with murderers. So he ought       to know he's in danger. He's even been warned to get out of       the house. And does he go ?       DOCTOR EINSTEIN       Yes.       MORTIMER       No, he doesn't. He stays ! This fellow doesn't even have       sense to be scared or to be on his guard. No, no. The       murderer even invites him to sit down. What do you think he       does ?       DOCTOR EINSTEIN       Well, I don't know.       MORTIMER       He sits down ! I remember what he did. He deliberately       pulls up a chair like that and he sits down in it.Mortimer goes to a wooden armchair and sits down in it. He putshis glass on the table.       MORTIMER       Isn't that great ? So there he is, all waiting to be       trussed up and gagged. What do you think they used to truss       him up with ?He keeps on laughing while talking.Close-up of Jonathan's face, smiling.       DOCTOR EINSTEIN       (voice over)       Oh, what ?       MORTIMER       (voice over)       The curtain cord.Jonathan looks in the direction of the window... and the curtaincord.       DOCTOR EINSTEIN       Curtain cord ? But didn't he see him get it ?Behind the seated Mortimer, Jonathan is silently walking to thewindow.       MORTIMER       Seen him get it. No. The silly chump sits down with his       back toward the murderer.Mortimer turns slightly on his chair, but without taking his eyesoff Einstein, and, of course, without looking at his brotherbehind him, quietly cutting the curtain cords with a jack-knife.       MORTIMER       All he has to do is look around, but does he ? No !Medium shot on Jonathan cutting the curtain cords.       MORTIMER       (voice over)       No... Look, you see, brother Heidelberg, in a play or even       in a movie, for that matter, ...a fellow never sees or       hears anything. No. That's right.Jonathan folds the jack-knife and puts it in his pocket. Heprepares the cords he has just cut. Einstein takes a napkin on thetable.       DOCTOR EINSTEIN       But what does he do ?       MORTIMER       Oh, what does he do ? Well, the big chump sits there. This       fellow's supposed to be bright. He sits there.Jonathan is now just behind Mortimer's chair, with the cord readyin his hands.       MORTIMER       Now get a load of this. Look, look at the attitude. Large       as life ! He sits there waiting to be tied up and gagged.       The big dope !He bursts out laughing... But only for two seconds, becauseJonathan ties up his arm to the armchair from behind, and Einsteinshoves the napkin in his open mouth. Einstein then helps Jonathanto tie Mortimer's legs to the legs of the armchair. Then, with thehelp of a knife, he puts all the napkin in Mortimer's mouth.       DOCTOR EINSTEIN       You were right about that fellow. He wasn't very bright.Fade out, and then fade in on the same scene a few moments later.The lights have been dimmed. Mortimer is completely tied on thechair, and the gag is tied around his head.       JONATHAN       Yes, Mortimer. I've been away for twenty years. But never,       my dear brother, were you out of my mind.Jonathan is lighting candles on the table.       JONATHAN       In Melbourne one night, I dreamt of you.He opens his instruments case. We see the surgery instrumentsshining in the candles light.Close-up on Mortimer's very frightened face.Einstein sits down near the table. He seems depressed at the sightof his surgery instruments.Jonathan takes a small phial from the inside pocket of his jacket,opens it, smells it and closes it, and puts it back in his pocket.       JONATHAN       The more you struggle, Mortimer, the more you strangle       yourself. Later on, you may consider that a blessing.He takes a curved forceps from the case and plays with it.Close-up on Mortimer's frightened face.Einstein wipes his face with a napkin.Jonathan takes a scalpel from the case and feels the sharpness ofthe blade.Einstein takes a bottle on the table and brings it to his mouth.Unfortunately, the bottle is empty.Jonathan takes a pair of surgery gloves from the box and puts themon.       JONATHAN       Now, Doctor, we go to work.Einstein stands up.       DOCTOR EINSTEIN       Johnny, for me, please, the quick way. Please.       JONATHAN       Doctor, this must be an artistic achievement.       DOCTOR EINSTEIN       Please.       JONATHAN       After all, we're performing before a very distinguished       critic.       DOCTOR EINSTEIN       Johnny, please !       JONATHAN       Doctor !Einstein takes his jacket off. He is almost crying.       DOCTOR EINSTEIN       All right. Let's get it over with. No, but, Johnny, I       cannot see this without a drink.       JONATHAN       Pull yourself together, Doctor.       DOCTOR EINSTEIN       But I can't pull myself together without a drink. Johnny,       you remember when we came in here, there was some wine. And       then they took it. Where did they put it ?A glint of hope appears in Mortimer's eyes at the mention of hisaunts' wine.Einstein runs across the room to the shelves where the carafe ofpoisoned wine has been put away.       DOCTOR EINSTEIN       Johnny, I found some wine. I found some wine.He comes back to the table with the carafe and glasses.       DOCTOR EINSTEIN       Here, I'll split it with you. We both have a drink before       we operate. Oh, I am so happy that we don't have to operate       without a drink.Einstein gives a glass to Jonathan. Mortimer, who recognized thecarafe, is smiling behind his gag. Jonathan smells the glass.Einstein has his glass almost to his lips, when Jonathan stopshim.       JONATHAN       Doctor. One moment, please. Where are your manners ?       (to Mortimer)       Yes, Mortimer. I realize now that it was you who brought me       back to Brooklyn. We drink to you. Doctor ! To my dear,       dead brother.They clink their glass in front of Mortimer's face. Einsteinraises his glass before drinking.       DOCTOR EINSTEIN       Prosit !Teddy suddenly comes out of his room and plays his bugle veryloudly.Both Jonathan and Einstein drop their glass on the floor.Teddy then goes back into his room and slams the door. The grand-father clock chimes once.Mortimer seems very disappointed. He moves back and forth in hischair, moaning.       JONATHAN       That idiot ! He goes next. That's all. He goes next !       DOCTOR EINSTEIN       Not Teddy ! Not Teddy ! Please !       JONATHAN       We'll get to him later.       DOCTOR EINSTEIN       Not Teddy, we won't get to him at all !       JONATHAN       Now, we have to work fast. The quick way.       DOCTOR EINSTEIN       Oh, the quick way, oh yes ! If it has to be, then the quick       way. Yes, I'll help you with it.They starts getting the instruments out of the case.At the front door, we see the shadow of a policeman behind thefrosted glass. He rings the doorbell.Jonathan and Einstein stop what they were doing. Einstein closesthe case and puts it under the table. He also puts all theinstruments lying on the table on the floor, behind the case.Knocking on the door. The door being open, O'Hara enters the room.He spots Jonathan and Einstein.       O'HARA       Hey, the colonel has to quit blowing that horn.       JONATHAN       It's all right, Officer. We're taking the bugle away from       him.       O'HARA       I'd better talk to him myself. Where's the lights ?He finds the switch by the door, and switches the lights on. Hegoes to the stairs and starts mounting them, when he hearsMortimer moaning. He goes down and walks toward Mortimer.       O'HARA       Hey ! You stood me up ! I've been waiting for you for over       an hour at Kelly's. What happened to him ?O'Hara is surprised to find Mortimer tied up on his chair. Hepoints his stick to Jonathan.       DOCTOR EINSTEIN       Nothing. He was explaining a play he saw the other night       and that's what happened to a poor man in the play.He walks away with his jacket in his hands.       O'HARA       Oh, I see. Did that really happen in a play you saw ? How       do you like that ? You can't trust nobody no more. They       practically stole that from the second act of my play. You       know, in the second act, just... Well, maybe I'd better       start at the beginning.Mortimer is moving and moaning on his chair. He tries to explainby movements of his face that he would like to have his gag takenoff.Behind O'Hara, Einstein starts mounting the stairs, and Jonathanstands up at the bottom of them.       O'HARA       Huh ? Oh, yes, sure.He puts his hands to Mortimer's face to take off his gag.Einstein runs upstairs, followed by Jonathan.Suddenly, O'Hara removes his hands and smiles broadly.       O'HARA       Nooo ! You've got to hear the plot !He takes his jacket off.       O'HARA       My mother's sitting there, making up, see. And, like a       flash, suddenly, out of a clear sky, the door comes open       and a man with a black mustache comes in.On the stairs behind O'Hara, Jonathan takes his jack-knife out ofhis pocket and opens it.       O'HARA       He turns to my mother and he says, ´Miss Peaches La Tour,       will you marry me ?ª That's the first scene. My mother       doesn't tell him they're married. That's the surprise !Einstein, who has seen the knife, tries to stop Jonathan. ButJonathan keeps on walking slowly downstairs.       O'HARA       Oh, What a kick ! All right. Twenty-five years pass. Well,       in the meantime, there's me. Growing into a magnificent       specimen. So what do I do ? I join the police force and       become one of New York's finest. Well, I'm cleaning out a       crooked laundry, see ?Close-up on Jonathan's hand holding the knife, the blade of whichis shining in the light.Mortimer stares at the knife       O'HARA       Little do I know it, but there is a dope fiend with a long       knife crawling after me. I'm in great danger. It's getting       you, ain't it ? I can see it in your eyes.Actually, Mortimer's eyes are trying to attract O'Hara's attentionto Jonathan, just behind him now.       O'HARA       Well, you ain't heard nothing yet.Einstein tries to stop Jonathan, but Jonathan pushes him away.Einstein takes off one of his shoes, and hits Jonathan very hardon the head with it. Jonathan falls on the floor.       O'HARA       All of a sudden, a fire breaks out. What an effect ! The       firemen rush in and who do you think is leading them ?       Mayor Fiorello La Guardia !O'Hara turns around and sees Jonathan lying on the last steps ofthe stairs.       O'HARA       What's the matter with him ?       DOCTOR EINSTEIN       Yeah, probably your play put him to sleep.       O'HARA       What ?       DOCTOR EINSTEIN       I personally, I like it very much.       O'HARA       It's probably over his head, huh ?       DOCTOR EINSTEIN       Yeah.O'Hara looks at Jonathan's face.       O'HARA       Where have I seen that face before ?       DOCTOR EINSTEIN       No, please.He kneels beside Jonathan's body, and O'Hara returns to Mortimer.       O'HARA       Well, the scene changes. It's an evolving stage. I'm       walking along my beat, well, like that, casual-like, when a       guy that I'm following, it turns out he's really following       me !Knocks at the door. O'Hara turns to Einstein.       O'HARA       (to Einstein)       Don't let nobody in.       (to Mortimer)       I figure I'll outsmart him. There's a vacant house on the       corner.Einstein peeks through the drapes to have a look at the outside ofthe front door. He rushes to Jonathan.       DOCTOR EINSTEIN       Hey, Johnny, the cops !Einstein tries to wake up Jonathan, but doesn't succeed. He picksup his shoe and rushes upstairs.       O'HARA       So, I ducks in there. I sees the door handle turn, so I       pulls out my gun, braces myself against the wall and I       says : ´Come in !ªHe takes out his gun and points it at the door. Brophy and anothercop, officer Saunders, come in. When they see O'Hara's gunpointing at them, they raise their arms. O'Hara puts his gun backin his holster and welcomes his colleagues.       O'HARA       Oh, hello, boys.       BROPHY       What the Sam Hill's going on here ?       O'HARA       Hello Sarge, what do you think, this is Mortimer Brewster.       He's going to help me write my play.       SAUNDERS       Do you have to tie him up to make him listen ?He starts to untie Mortimer.       BROPHY       O'Hara, you better report in the station. Why didn't you       ring in ? You got the whole force out looking for you.       O'HARA       Right in the middle of the second act. Did they send you       guys here looking for me ?Brophy goes to the telephone and starts dialing.       BROPHY       No, we came to warn the old ladies. There is a difficulty.       The colonel blew that bugle again.       O'HARA       Yeah, I heard him.       BROPHY       The neighbors are all phoning in. The Lieutenant's on the       warpath. He says we've got to put him away someplace.He sees Jonathan lying on the steps.       BROPHY       Now, who the heck is this ?       O'HARA       Oh, that's Mister Brewster's brother. My play put him to       sleep.       BROPHY       Oh ! That's the one that ran away. So he came back.       (in the phone)       Brophy. Get me Mac.       (to O'Hara)       Haven't you got yourself in a mess ! You're two hours       overdue at the station. I better let them know that I found       you.O'Hara bends on Jonathan and shakes him       O'HARA       Hey ! It wasn't that bad, was it ?       BROPHY       (in the phone)       Mac ? Tell the Lieutenant he can call off the big manhunt.       We found him... At the Brewster house... Shall we bring him       in ?... All right, we'll hold him right here.He puts the phone down and turns to O'Hara, who has succeeded inwaking up Jonathan and getting him on his feet. Jonathan stares atBrophy. He thinks Brophy is talking about him.Mortimer looks at his left hand, which has just been freed bySaunders.       BROPHY       The Lieutenant is on his way over.       JONATHAN       So I've been turned in, hey ? All right, you've got me. I       suppose you and my stool-pigeon brother will split the       reward.Brophy and O'Hara each take one arm of Jonathan.       BROPHY & O'HARA       Reward ?       JONATHAN       Yes, reward ! Now I'll do some turning in !Mortimer, who had his hand and legs untied by Saunders but isstill gagged and has his chest still tied on the armchair, moansand moves excitedly on his seat.       O'HARA       (to Jonathan)       Oh, wait a minute, Mr. Brewster.       JONATHAN       You think my aunts are sweet, charming old ladies, don't       you ? Well, there's thirteen bodies buried in the cellar !       Yes, thirteen.Mortimer jumps on his chair and try to scream through his gag.Since he cannot succeed to get off the chair, he stands up, stillgagged and tied to the back of the chair and rushes to Brophy,carrying the armchair with him.       BROPHY       Be careful what you say about your aunts, they happen to be       friends of ours.       JONATHAN       I'll show them to you.       BROPHY       Don't you make any trouble for them, do you hear me !Mortimer walks between Brophy and Jonathan, and tries to saysomething to Brophy through his gag. Saunders, behind Mortimer,keeps on untying him.       BROPHY       (to Mortimer)       Never mind, Mr. Brewster. Leave him to me, I'll take care       of him.       JONATHAN       (to O'Hara)       You come down to the cellar.       O'HARA       (to Jonathan)       Now, wait a minute.Mortimer is still trying to talk through his gag to O'Hara andBrophy, and moves excitedly around the two cops. He moves so muchthat Saunders has stopped trying to untie him.       JONATHAN       Thirteen bodies. I'll show you where they're buried.       O'HARA       Oh, yeah !       BROPHY       Go down to the cellar with him, O'Hara.       JONATHAN       Yes, come to the cellar.He grabs O'Hara's hand and drags him to the cellar door.       O'HARA       Well, look, do I have to ?Mortimer, still gagged, and still carrying his armchair like abackpack, tries to follow them, but Saunders moves him away.Mortimer runs round the table to try again to join the party goingdown to the cellar, with Saunders running behind him.       O'HARA       Sorry, maybe I don't want to go down to the cellar with       him.Mortimer bumps violently into Brophy, who tries to push him away.       BROPHY       O'Hara, go on down the cellar with him !Mortimer then goes to O'Hara, but O'Hara doesn't realize Mortimeris coming to him to prevent him going down to the cellar.       O'HARA       Now, please, Mister Brewster. I'll tell you the rest of my       play later.He pushes Mortimer away from him.       BROPHY       Go on down to the cellar with him.       O'HARA       Gee, do I have to, Sarge ? Look at that puss. He looks like       Boris Karloff.Hearing that, Jonathan screams, jumps on O'Hara and puts his handaround his throat.       O'HARA       (to Jonathan)       Don't !       (to Brophy)       Sarge !The three cops and Jonathan starts fighting. A fist comes out ofthe battle and hits Mortimer on the chin. He staggers back to thecenter of the room, and falls on the floor.We see Einstein cautiously appearing on the landing of the upperfloor of the house. He slowly comes down the stairs.Down in the sitting-room, the fight goes on. Saunders falls on hisback and Jonathan jumps on him. O'Hara, in his turn, jumps onJonathan. Behind them, Mortimer is slowly getting up and gettingrid of his ropes. Apparently, his fall has completely untied him.Einstein, watching this heated fight, moves back to the upperfloor.Mortimer gets rid of his gag, and slowly moves away from thebattle.       BROPHY       (voice over)       Look out, Pat !... Look out, Pat !       SAUNDERS       (voice over)       He's got a gun...       BROPHY       (voice over)       I got him, Pat. Look out !       MORTIMER       Fight. Go on and fight.Mortimer climbs up a few steps on the staircase and sits down on astep.       MORTIMER       That's enough, that's enough. Everybody off.       BROPHY       (voice over)       Pat ! Pat, look out!Mortimer, still seated on the step, quietly gets his cigarettecase from his pocket, takes a cigarette, puts the case back in hispocket, while we hears the noise of the battle still going on downbelow.       MORTIMER       Amazing... Such a fine day, too. All I did was cross the       bridge and I was in Brooklyn. Amazing. Amazing, amazing.He takes a matchbox from another pocket and lights his cigarette.Behind Mortimer, on the wall, we see the shadows of the menfighting. Then we see various objects falling around Mortimer.       MORTIMER       Don't... Don't bother me now.O'Hara is projected on the wall below the staircase, near theplace where Mortimer is still quietly seated.       MORTIMER       Buddy, you could use this in the third act.       O'HARA       Oh yes, I got something better than this. Let me tell       you...Jonathan breaks a chair on his back. O'Hara staggers slightly.       O'HARA       I'll see you later.He goes back in the battle. Jonathan gives him a heavy punch andO'Hara falls in the window-seat, closing the lid over himself inhis fall.Back to Mortimer, still quietly smoking his cigarette, seated onthe same step. He takes papers out of his pocket.       MORTIMER       I got the papers signed. There, they're all signed. What do       I care ? Go ahead, go ahead, fight, fight, fight-fight-       fight !O'Hara cautiously lifts the lid of the window-seat, but seeing achair flying in his direction, he slams it back shut. The chairhits the window-seat and breaks off in small pieces.Back to Mortimer on his steps. He puts the papers back in hispocket.       MORTIMER       I'd better call up and see if Witherspoon has left.He puts his hand through the banister of the staircase to take thetelephone on the desk, but he cannot reach it.       MORTIMER       Telephone. Hey !At this moment, Jonathan comes smashing on the wall below thestaircase. He grabs the telephone and lifts it to throw it on thecops, bringing it within easy reach of Mortimer's hand.       JONATHAN       I'll get every one of you ! I hate cops. I'll brain the       first one that comes near me !Mortimer picks up the telephone handset, and starts dialing.       MORTIMER       Yeah. A little higher, please, brother.Jonathan is watching the cops around him, and he is not looking atall at his brother behind him. Without thinking about it, he liftsthe telephone a little higher.       MORTIMER       Thank you very much. Yeah, that's fine.Jonathan suddenly realizes what Mortimer is doing and turns hishead toward him. Brophy immediately comes behind him and hits himwith his stick. Jonathan starts falling, and Mortimer has to pickup the telephone not to loose it.       MORTIMER       Oh ! Don't do that, please.       BROPHY       Get him, Pat.Saunders comes on the other side of Jonathan and hits him with hisstick.       MORTIMER       (in the phone)       Come on, doc...       (to the cops)       That won't have any effect. I've tried it before...Jonathan falls heavily on the floor.       MORTIMER       Oh, it did. Dear me ! Isn't that amazing ?O'Hara slowly lifts the lid of the window-seat.Saunders bends on the motionless body of Jonathan       MORTIMER       Oh, dear. Wish I could relax like that.The doorbell rings, and we see the shadow of a hatted man throughthe frosted glass. Mortimer looks at the door.       MORTIMER       Witherspoon !       BROPHY       Come in.The visitor enters. It's Lieutenant Rooney, a plain-clothpoliceman. He closes the door behind him. Both Brophy and Saundersstand at attention. Mortimer puts the phone receiver back on itshook. O'Hara comes out of the window-seat, and, seeing hissuperior, stands at attention. Rooney walks to the body ofJonathan.       LIEUTENANT ROONEY       What has occurred ?       BROPHY & SAUNDERS       (speaking together)       Well, we...       LIEUTENANT ROONEY       Never mind ! Didn't I tell you I'd handle this myself ?O'Hara comes out of the window-seat to join his colleagues.       O'HARA       Well, Lieutenant ! We were just acting in self-defense.       LIEUTENANT ROONEY       (pointing to the body of Jonathan)       What happened ? He put up a fight ?       BROPHY       This isn't the one who blows the bugle. This is his       brother. He tried to kill O'Hara.       O'HARA       All I said was he looked like Boris Karloff.       LIEUTENANT ROONEY       Boris ?... Turn him over.Saunders turns Jonathan over and both the lieutenant and Brophybends on the face of Jonathan.       BROPHY       Kind of think he's wanted somewhere.Rooney stands up and looks at Brophy with an ironical smile.       LIEUTENANT ROONEY       Oh ! You ´kind of think he's wanted somewhereª ? If you       guys can't look at the circulars we put up in the station,       you can at least read short detective stories. Certainly,       he's wanted somewhere. In Indiana ! He escaped from the       prison for criminally insane. He's a lifer.Still seated on his step, Mortimer smiles.       MORTIMER       That's my brother !       LIEUTENANT ROONEY       For Pete's sake, that's the way they described him. ´He       looked like Karloffª. Why'd you have to knock him off ?       BROPHY       He tried to get us to go down to the cellar. He says there       are thirteen bodies buried down there.       LIEUTENANT ROONEY       Thirteen bodies buried in the cellar, and that don't tip       you off the guy's come from a nuthouse ?       MORTIMER       Thanks, pal.       O'HARA       Say, lieutenant, about my not ringing in, I want to       explain...       LIEUTENANT ROONEY       Where have you been all night ? Don't bother to tell me.       O'HARA       Oh, I was right here writing a play with Mortimer Brewster.       LIEUTENANT ROONEY       Yeah ?       O'HARA       Yeah.       LIEUTENANT ROONEY       Well, you're going to have a long time on that play.       O'HARA       Yeah ?       LIEUTENANT ROONEY       You're suspended. Now go on. Report in.Teddy comes out of his room, with his bugle under his arm, andwalks downstairs       LIEUTENANT ROONEY       (voice over)       Take this guy out in the kitchen and bring a pillow. I want       to find out where his accomplice is.       TEDDY       (to Mortimer)       What is the meaning of this commotion ?       LIEUTENANT ROONEY       The guy who helped him escape. He's wanted, too.Teddy gives his bugle to Mortimer.       TEDDY       Here.He joins the group of policemen.       LIEUTENANT ROONEY       Forty-eight hours I've been after these guys. Nothing to       eat. No sleep. No wonder Brooklyn's in the shape it's in.       With flatheads like you on the force. Falling for a story       like that ! Thirteen bodies buried down in the cellar.       TEDDY       But there are thirteen bodies in the cellar !       LIEUTENANT ROONEY       Who are you ?       TEDDY       I'm President Roosevelt.       LIEUTENANT ROONEY       (whispering to Brophy)       What the blazes is this ?       BROPHY       He's the guy that blows the bugle.       SAUNDERS       Howdy, Colonel.Saunders and Brophy both salutes Teddy. Teddy salutes them back.Rooney raises his hand to salute, but rapidly puts it down with adisgusted expression on his face.       LIEUTENANT ROONEY       Well, Colonel, you've blown your last bugle.       (pointing to Jonathan's body)       Come on, get this guy out of here.       TEDDY       Dear me ! Another yellow-fever victim ?       LIEUTENANT ROONEY       What ?       TEDDY       All the bodies in the cellar are yellow-fever victims.       BROPHY       No-no-no, Colonel. This is a spy. We caught him at the       White House.       LIEUTENANT ROONEY       Take him out and bring him to. I want to question him.Brophy and Saunders lift Jonathan and carry him to the kitchen.       TEDDY       If there is any questioning of spies, that's my department.He follows the two cops. But Rooney stops him.       LIEUTENANT ROONEY       Hey, you, keep out of that.       TEDDY       You're forgetting that as President, I am also head of the       Secret Service.He follows the two cops in the kitchen. Rooney goes to the table,takes the carafe and smells it. Mortimer watches him, still seatedon his step.       MORTIMER       Huh-huh-huh !Rooney puts the carafe back on the table, and looks at Mortimer.       LIEUTENANT ROONEY       Who are you ? What's your name ?       MORTIMER       Usually, I'm Mortimer Brewster. But I'm not quite myself       today.       LIEUTENANT ROONEY       Oh, you're his brother. Now, look, Mister Brewster, no       argument. He's got to be put away.Mortimer stands up and goes down the steps toward the lieutenant.       MORTIMER       No, no, no arguments, Captain. No arguments. Just a minute,       take it easy. Read this.He takes the papers from his pocket and show them to Rooney.       MORTIMER       Teddy's going to go to Happy Dale tonight. I'm just waiting       here for Mr. Witherspoon.Rooney looks at the documents.       LIEUTENANT ROONEY       Well, as long as he's going someplace. He's scaring the       neighbors, what with that bugle and all. And that cockeyed       story about thirteen bodies being buried...Rooney stops, looks around with a suspicious eye and takes his hatoff.       LIEUTENANT ROONEY       You know, I've been without sleep for forty-eight hours.       I'm liable to think anything.       MORTIMER       I know just how you feel.       LIEUTENANT ROONEY       There's people dumb enough to believe a story like that.       Last year there was a crazy guy, started a murder rumor. I       had to dig up a half acre plot before I could prove...       Ohh ! What's this ?Rooney puts the papers down.       MORTIMER       What's the matter ?       LIEUTENANT ROONEY       These papers are no good.       MORTIMER       Why not ?       LIEUTENANT ROONEY       He signed it Theodore Roosevelt !Rooney shows the papers to Mortimer.       MORTIMER       He what ?...Mortimer looks at the papers with horror in his face and takesthem back.BREWSTER RESIDENCE - EXTERIOR NIGHTThe cab driver is seated with O'Hara and Witherspoon standing oneither side of him.       WITHERSPOON       Is your cab engaged ?       CAB DRIVER       Yeah ! I'm losing dough every minute. Got me offers ?       WITHERSPOON       I'm Mister Witherspoon of Happy Dale Sanitarium, I have       come here to collect a Brewster. I would like you to drive       us back to the sanitarium.He walks to the entrance of the house. O'Hara stays with the cabdriver.       CAB DRIVER       I knew this would end up in a nuthouse !Witherspoon comes back a few steps.       WITHERSPOON       We like to think of it as a rest home.BREWSTER RESIDENCE - SITTING ROOM - INTERIOR DAYWitherspoon enters the room. We hear voices talking excitedly. Andwe see people in some sort of a large alcove at the back of thesitting-room, between the cellar-door and the grandfather clock.       WITHERSPOON       Mister Brewster ? Mister Brewster ?Through the hole in the kitchen door, we see Brophy talking.       WITHERSPOON       Mr. Witherspoon is here.Witherspoon slams the door.In the alcove, Mortimer, Rooney and Teddy are having an argument.Mortimer still has the bugle in his hand.       MORTIMER       Supposing the spy steals this document and finds the name       Theodore Roosevelt on it. Think what that would mean to the       safety of the nation !Rooney holds the document for Teddy, who has a pen in his hand.       TEDDY       No, it's chicanery.       MORTIMER       Oh, wasting the time.Saunders approaches his lieutenant.       SAUNDERS       He's come to. He's ready to talk.       LIEUTENANT ROONEY       Hold him till I get there.       SAUNDERS       Yes, sir.He moves away back to the kitchen.       MORTIMER       Let me explain. The name Brewster is code for Roosevelt.       TEDDY       Code for Roosevelt ?       MORTIMER       Yes, don't you see ? Take the name Brewster. Take away the       ´Bª and what have you got ?       TEDDY       Rooster.       MORTIMER       And what does a rooster do ?       TEDDY       Crows.       MORTIMER       It crows! And where are you hunting in Africa ?       TEDDY       On the veldt !       MORTIMER       There you are ! ´Crowsveldtª.Mortimer gives a quick look at Rooney.       TEDDY       Ingenious ! My compliments to the boys in the code       department.       LIEUTENANT ROONEY       Hey, that's all right ! Do that again for me.       TEDDY       Never mind ! Give me that pen. This is fun.He signs the paper under Rooney's supervision.       MORTIMER       Now, now, all I got to get is Witherspoon.He runs to the table in the middle of the sitting-room, whereWitherspoon is standing. He goes around the table to shake handswith him.       MORTIMER       Oh ! Oh ! Mister Witherspoon, I can't tell you how glad I       am to see you. Mister Witherspoon... Before... Look... You       will take good care of Teddy at Happy Dale ?       WITHERSPOON       Best of care of him, Mister Brewster.       MORTIMER       Oh, that's fine. And no wagon when he leaves.       WITHERSPOON       Why ? To take him away ? Oh, never, never. Taxicabs. We       always... I have one waiting now.       MORTIMER       Yes, look, it means a great deal to me. You will personally       see that Teddy's happy at Happy Dale ?       WITHERSPOON       He'll be very happy at Happy Dale.       MORTIMER       Oh, that's good.       WITHERSPOON       You know, I sometimes envy some of our patients, secretly,       you know.       MORTIMER       Oh, you do ? It must be a nice place. Because I've never       been to Happy Dale.       WITHERSPOON       You never can tell.Mortimer looks surprised by Witherspoon's answer. Then he looksalso a bit horrified.       WITHERSPOON       Oh, this is a particularly happy moment for me tonight,       Mister... Mister Brewster. Yes, I've never met a dramatic       critic and I had been so anxious to.       MORTIMER       Oh, the woods are full of them.       WITHERSPOON       I have here something that will explain what we're trying       to do out there at Happy Dale.He gets a booklet out of his pocket.       MORTIMER       Oh ! A pamphlet about Happy Dale ?       WITHERSPOON       Oh, no-no, it's a play. Something I've been working on for       some time now.When Mortimer sees Witherspoon flipping the pages of his booklet,a slightly frightened look comes to his face.       WITHERSPOON       It's a dramatization of many of the little incidents       that have happened here at Happy Dale.       MORTIMER       Captain ! Captain !... Captain !Rooney, who was checking the documents signed by Teddy, turnsaround.       WITHERSPOON       Now, I want you to read this very carefully. I want you to       be just as harsh as you like. I shan't mind, you know...Rooney comes toward them with the documents in his hand.       MORTIMER       Captain, this is Mister Witherspoon.Witherspoon looks at Rooney with a smile.       WITHERSPOON       Oh, yes, yes, he'll be very happy at Happy Dale. Come, my       boy.Witherspoon takes Rooney's arm. Rooney pushes him away.       LIEUTENANT ROONEY       What is this?       MORTIMER       No, no, no-no, Mister Witherspoon, you got it wrong. This       is... this is Captain Rooney.       WITHERSPOON       The police ?... Oh !The two men shake hands, and Rooney gives the papers toWitherspoon.       LIEUTENANT ROONEY       I'm sure! Here are the papers, all signed. Now you can take       him away, Super.Teddy joins them.       TEDDY       I'll be in my office vetoing some bills.       MORTIMER       Mister President, I have good news for you. Your term of       office is over.       TEDDY       Is this March the four ?       MORTIMER       Practically.       TEDDY       Let's see... Oh ! Now I go on my hunting trip to Africa !       Well, I must get started immediately.Teddy starts walking away, but he stops suddenly and givesWitherspoon a suspicious look.       TEDDY       Is he trying to move into the White House before I've moved       out ?       MORTIMER       Who, Mister President ?Teddy looks at Witherspoon with a disgusted face.       TEDDY       Taft !       MORTIMER       No, no, Teddy this isn't Mister Taft. It's Mister       Witherspoon, he's going to be your guide to Africa.Teddy shakes hands with Witherspoon.       TEDDY       Bully ! Bully ! Wait right here. I'll bring down my       equipment.Witherspoon looks at Teddy walking away with a sweet smile.       WITHERSPOON       Happy man.Teddy starts going upstairs and he meets Abby and Martha comingdown. They're dressed back in their usual clothes. Teddy shakeshands with them.       TEDDY       Goodbye, Aunt Abby, goodbye Aunt Martha. I'm on my way to       Africa. Isn't it wonderful ?For the last time, Teddy takes out his imaginary sword, points itforward and rushes upstairs.       TEDDY       Charge !He gets into his room and slams the door behind him. Witherspoonlooks a bit surprised, and Mortimer holds the hands of thegrandfather clock. Abby joins him       MORTIMER       It's all right, Aunt Abby, I've got it.Witherspoon looks at the scene with slightly anxious eyes.       WITHERSPOON       Oh, dear. And Happy Dale is full of staircases.BREWSTER RESIDENCE - EXTERIOR NIGHTElaine walks across the churchyard toward the Brewster's house.She is wearing a coat over her nightdress.BREWSTER RESIDENCE - SITTING ROOM - INTERIOR NIGHTAbby and Martha are talking with Witherspoon.       MARTHA       You've come to meet Teddy, haven't you ?       LIEUTENANT ROONEY       (voice over)       No, he's come to take him. Teddy's been blowing his bugle       again.Both sisters turn toward Rooney.       ABBY       Oh, no-no, no, he can't go now ! We won't permit it.       MARTHA       We promise to take his bugle away from him. We won't be       separated from Teddy.       LIEUTENANT ROONEY       I'm sorry.       ABBY       Mortimer, how can you allow this ? You promised.       LIEUTENANT ROONEY       Mister Brewster's got nothing to do with this, see. The law       is the law ! Teddy's committed himself and he's got to go.       ABBY       Well, if he's going, we're going, too !       MARTHA       Yes, you'll have to take us with him.Mortimer smiles broadly.       MORTIMER       Why-why... why not ? Why not, indeed ?       WITHERSPOON       Oh well now, indeed, it's sweet of them to want to go, but       it's quite impossible. We never take sane people at Happy       Dale.Mortimer comes very close to Witherspoon, and tries, by mime only,to induce Witherspoon to take his aunts.       WITHERSPOON       Oh, no-no-no-no...       MORTIMER       (whispering)       Now, these two little sane people, mixed up with all the       others, will get lost in the shuffle. You could arrange       that.       WITHERSPOON       Oh, no-no-no-no...       MORTIMER       Just put them in and they'll get all mixed up.       WITHERSPOON       Oh, no ! No, no ! No ! Too dangerous. Dissension, jealousy.BREWSTER RESIDENCE - EXTERIOR NIGHTElaine has now reached the Brewster house and opens a window. Wehear Lieutenant Rooney's voice.       LIEUTENANT ROONEY       (voice over)       Now, let's be sensible, ladies...BREWSTER RESIDENCE - SITTING ROOM - INTERIOR NIGHTRooney is talking to the Brewster sisters.       LIEUTENANT ROONEY       ...Here I am wasting my time when I could be doing some       serious work. You know, ladies, there are still murders       to be solved in Brooklyn. It ain't only his bugle blowing,       and neighbors being afraid of him. But things are going to       get worse. We're liable to have to dig up your cellar.       ABBY       Our cellar ?       LIEUTENANT ROONEY       Yeah.Mortimer seems a bit worried.       MORTIMER       Oh-oh !       LIEUTENANT ROONEY       Yeah, Teddy's been telling around there's thirteen bodies       buried in the cellar.       ABBY       But there are thirteen bodies in our cellar.Witherspoon, who was looking at something on the table, looks up,very surprised by what Abby just said.Behind the window and the drapes, where she is hiding andeavesdropping, Elaine looks very surprised too.Rooney smiles a little, and then becomes suddenly very serious.       LIEUTENANT ROONEY       What ?       ABBY       Yes. You just ask our nephew, Mortimer.Mortimer blows the bugle very loudly. Rooney puts his hands on hisears. Then Mortimer rushes upstairs, yelling :       MORTIMER       Charge !Mortimer reaches the balcony. Teddy comes out of his room, lookingintrigued       MORTIMER       (whispering)       Isn't that amazing ?       ABBY       Now, Mortimer, you behave yourself. You know very well       there are thirteen bodies down in our cellar.       MORTIMER       Certainly there's thirteen bodies down in the cellar. And       there are hundreds more up in the attic, Captain !Teddy taps the side of his head with his finger, goes back intohis room, and closes the door. Mortimer tries to indicate by mimethat his aunts are crazy       LIEUTENANT ROONEY       What is this ?Very quick shot of Elaine peeking behind the drapes       MARTHA       You mustn't mind Mortimer.Saunders comes to his lieutenant.       SAUNDERS       How about it, lieutenant ?       LIEUTENANT ROONEY       I'll be right there.He moves away.       MARTHA       He's been a little strange all day.       LIEUTENANT ROONEY       Well, right now I wouldn't know what is and what ain't       strange anymore. I'll better have a look in that cellar.       MORTIMER       I'll tell you what we'll do, Captain. I'll bring my bodies       down from the attic and you get yours down from the cellar,       and we'll get them all together, and we'll send them to       Happy Dale.He sings the last words, trying again to mime to Rooney that histwo aunts are crazy.       ABBY       No, no, you wouldn't have to dig. The graves are all       marked. We put flowers on them every Sunday.Mortimer walks downstairs.       LIEUTENANT ROONEY       Flowers ?       MORTIMER       Sure, I put neon lights on mine.He whispers to Rooney from the staircase.       MORTIMER       Humor them, humor them. Smile.Rooney doesn't seem to understand what Mortimer is trying to tellhim. But Witherspoon is beginning to understand.       LIEUTENANT ROONEY       What ?       ABBY       There's one down there, a Mister Spenalzo...       MORTIMER       (whispering)       Hasn't got it yet.He resumes his walking downstairs.       ABBY       ...who doesn't belong here and who's going to have to       leave.       MARTHA       But the other twelve are our gentlemen.       LIEUTENANT ROONEY       Your gentlemen ?       MORTIMER       Oh, you'd like mine better. None of mine are gentlemen.       ABBY       You mustn't mind him at all. He got married today.       MORTIMER       (singing)       ´There is a Happy Dale far, far away. There is a Happy"While singing, Mortimer makes signs to Rooney and Witherspoon.And, finally, Rooney understand what Mortimer is trying to tellhim, that his aunts are crazy.       LIEUTENANT ROONEY       (nodding)       Yeah, yeah.       MORTIMER       He got it. It's amazing.       LIEUTENANT ROONEY       (to Witherspoon)       Look, Super, don't you think you can find room for the       ladies ?       WITHERSPOON       Just the ladies ?He looks at Mortimer. Mortimer stops clowning, and becomes veryserious.       MORTIMER       Just the ladies, not me !       LIEUTENANT ROONEY       How about it, Super ?       WITHERSPOON       Well, of course, they'd have to be committed.       WITHERSPOON       Well, Teddy committed himself. Couldn't they commit       themselves also ? All they have to do is sign the papers.       WITHERSPOON       Certainly.       MARTHA       Oh well, if we can go with Teddy, we'll sign the papers.       Where are they ?Witherspoon takes the papers out of the inside pocket of his coat.       WITHERSPOON       I have them, ladies, I have them right here.       LIEUTENANT ROONEY       (to Witherspoon)       Sign them up, will you, Super ? I want this all cleaned up.       I'm going out to talk to that spy. Maybe I can understand       him. Thirteen bodies down in the cellar.Rooney, absent-mindedly, is ready to go down to the cellar, but hechecks himself and goes toward the kitchen instead.       WITHERSPOON       Ladies, if you will sign right here.BREWSTER RESIDENCE - EXTERIOR NIGHTElaine opens a large trapdoor opening on a stairway going down tothe cellar. She starts going down that passage.BREWSTER RESIDENCE - SITTING ROOM - INTERIOR NIGHTEinstein walks on the balcony, carrying a suitcase, and startsgoing downstairs. In the room, we can guess that the two sistersare signing the papers.       ABBY       (voice over)       Right here ?       WITHERSPOON       (voice over)       Yes, please. It's on the right-hand side right there.Martha and Abby are seated at the table, signing the papers.Witherspoon and Mortimer, standing besides them, are helping them.       ABBY       I'm really looking forward to going. The neighborhood here       has changed so.       MARTHA       Yes. Especially since they won that old pennant thing.       WITHERSPOON       Oh... oh, dear, I'm so sorry. We've overlooked something.       It's absolutely compulsory that we have the signature of a       physician.Einstein has reached the bottom of the stairs and he is sneakingout through the front door.       MORTIMER       A doctor... Oh ! Doctor Einstein ! Come here and sign some       papers, please.Einstein turns around.       DOCTOR EINSTEIN       Good night.       MORTIMER       Come here, Doctor Einstein.       WITHERSPOON       A doctor ?       MORTIMER       Oh, yes, yes. Doctor Einstein almost operated on me earlier       this evening. Come on, Doctor.Einstein drops his suitcase by the front door, and comes to thetable.       MORTIMER       Here. Just sign right here, please, Doctor.Einstein signs the paper Mortimer gives him. Meanwhile, Rooney andSaunders are coming out of the kitchen and crossing the room.       ABBY       Were you leaving, Doctor ?       DOCTOR EINSTEIN       Yes, please.       MARTHA       Oh ! Aren't you going to wait for Jonathan ?       DOCTOR EINSTEIN       I don't think we go to the same place.       LIEUTENANT ROONEY       (speaking on the telephone)       Hello, Mac. We picked up that guy that's wanted in Indiana.       His accomplice's description is one on the circular, on the       desk. Read it to me, will you ?Einstein leaves the table, and almost bumps into Saunders, who isbrushing his uniform. He listen to the description of himself thatRooney is repeating from his colleague at the police station.       LIEUTENANT ROONEY       (still on the phone)       Yeah... About forty... Five-foot-three... One hundred and       forty pounds... Pop eyes... Talks with a German accent...       Poses as a doctor... Okay, Mac. Thanks.He puts the phone back on its hook.Witherspoon slaps Einstein on the back, and Einstein startsraising his arms.       WITHERSPOON       It's all right, Lieutenant Rooney. The doctor here has       completed the signatures.       LIEUTENANT ROONEY       Oh, that's great ! Thanks, Doc. You've done Brooklyn a       great service.He shakes Einstein's hand and slaps his back. Einstein cannotbelieve his luck. He smiles and rushes to the door.       ABBY       But Dr. Einstein !Einstein picks up his suitcase, and rushes out of the door, andcloses it behind him.       WITHERSPOON       (to Mortimer)       Now, Mister Witherspoon...       MORTIMER       No, no, you're Mister Witherspoon, I'm Mister Brewster.       WITHERSPOON       (laughing)       It's contagious, yes. It's your turn.       MORTIMER       Now, don't play games...       WITHERSPOON       You sign. You sign as next of kin.       MORTIMER       Oh, next of kin. Why didn't you say so ? I'm all confused.       Don't mind me.Teddy appears on the balcony, all dressed up in his colonialcostume, but without the helmet.       TEDDY       Mr. Witherport.       WITHERSPOON       Spoon.Mortimer picks up a spoon on the table and gives it toWitherspoon.       MORTIMER       Oh, here it is.       TEDDY       Come up and pack my duffel.       WITHERSPOON       Duffel ?       MORTIMER       Yes, duffel. Pack his duffel. He's President, you know ?       WITHERSPOON       Oh !       TEDDY       And bring along my bugle.Witherspoon looks on the table, where the bugle is, and then atMortimer. Mortimer makes a little agreement sign.       MORTIMER       President.Witherspoon picks up the bugle, and starts walking upstairs. Hestops after a few steps, as if he were hesitating.       MORTIMER       Don't charge !Mortimer and Witherspoon are exchanging faces. Martha and Abby arewhispering into each other's ear.       ABBY       Mortimer. Mortimer, we're really very worried about       something.       MORTIMER       Oh, now, darling, don't be worried.He kisses Abby.       MARTHA       Me too, Mortimer.       MORTIMER       Well, of course, darling.He kisses Martha.       MORTIMER       You'll both are going to be very happy at Happy Dale, will       you.       MARTHA       Oh yes, dear, we're very happy about the whole thing,       but that's just it. We don't want anything to go wrong.       MORTIMER       Well, what would go wrong ?       ABBY       Mortimer, will they investigate those signatures ?       MORTIMER       Oh, no, they won't look up Dr. Einstein...       MARTHA       But it's not his signature, dear. It's yours.       MORTIMER       Mine ?       ABBY       You see, you signed as next of kin.       MORTIMER       Oh, what's wrong about that, darling ?       ABBY       Well... Martha, you tell him now.       MARTHA       Well, dear.       MORTIMER       What, dear ?       MARTHA       You're not really a Brewster.Mortimer, who had a happy smile on his face until now, suddenlylooks very surprised.       MORTIMER       Huh ? What ? What ?       ABBY       Your mother came to us as a cook. And you were born about       three months afterwards. And she was such a sweet woman and       such a good cook, we didn't want to lose her. So brother       married her. Your real father was a cook, too. He was a       chef on a tramp steamer.       MORTIMER       You mean... you mean I'm not really a Brewster ?... Oh !He almost falls backward. Both sisters catch him up.       MARTHA       Oh, darling ! Don't feel so badly about it.       ABBY       I'm sure it won't make any difference to Elaine.He yells several whooping cries and then kisses them both veryaffectionately. Then he rushes to the window, jumps into the openwindow-seat, opens the drapes and yells outside.       MORTIMER       Elaine ! Elaine ! Where are you ? Can you hear me ? I'm not       really a Brewster ! I'm the son of a sea cook !We hear Elaine screaming. Elaine comes running upstairs from thecellar.       ELAINE       Mortimer ! Mortimer ! Mortimer ! It's true ! It's true ! I       saw them. Mortimer, it's true.Rooney and Saunders come out of the kitchen.       ELAINE       It's true ! There are thirteen bodies down there !Mortimer tries to make her shut up, and succeeds only by kissingher very passionately on the mouth.       ELAINE       (mumbles through Mortimer's mouth)       But I saw them       LIEUTENANT ROONEY       What's all this screaming about ?Elaine tries to put a few words but Mortimer keeps on kissing her.       ELAINE       (mumbles through Mortimer's mouth)       But I saw them...       MORTIMER       It's way past her bedtime.With his mouth still pressed on her, he lifts her and carries heracross the room to the front door.       MORTIMER       Quiet !       ELAINE       But, Mortimer...       MORTIMER       Goodbye !He opens the door and rushes outside. The two sisters come to thedoor, waving goodbyes to him.       ABBY       Bye.       MARTHA       Goodbye, darling !       LIEUTENANT ROONEY       What is all this ?       ABBY       They're going on their honeymoon.       LIEUTENANT ROONEY       Well, they're off to a flying start.The two sisters burst laughing and turn to the door.BREWSTER RESIDENCE - EXTERIOR NIGHTMortimer comes out of the house, still carrying Elaine with hismouth pressed on her. O'Hara and the cab driver, who were chattingtogether, jump up and look at the strange couple. Mortimer, stillcarrying Elaine, moves along the house, with the cab driverfollowing him.       O'HARA       (finishing the story he was telling the cab driver)       I pull my gun at...       CAB DRIVER       Hey !       MORTIMER       What ?       ELAINE       I really did see...       CAB DRIVER       Hey ! You'll own two cabs !       MORTIMER       Huh ?       CAB DRIVER       I mean the meter !Elaine, eventually, comes out of her hysteria. She puts her armsaround Mortimer, and talks to him in a very sweet voice.       ELAINE       Oh, Mortimer.They kiss very tenderly. The cab driver comes closer to the coupleand looks at their closed-eyes faces.       CAB DRIVER       (imitating Elaine's voice)       Oh, Mortimer.Mortimer turns to him.       MORTIMER       (to the cab driver)       Oh, we're going to Niagara Falls. Call me a cab, dear.       CAB DRIVER       Yes, love.The cab driver realizes his mistake and checks himself.       CAB DRIVER       But, Mister Brewster !       MORTIMER       No, no, I'm not a Brewster. I'm a son of a sea cook.He laughs and lifts a very surprised Elaine on his shoulder, andruns through the churchyard towards Reverend Harper's house.       MORTIMER       Charge !The cab driver puts his hands to his face, then takes them awayand yells :       CAB DRIVER       I'm not a cabdriver. I'm a coffeepot !With one hand on his cap, and the other hand extended on his side,he mimes a coffeepot.In the background, we see Mortimer entering the house, with Elainestill on his shoulder. The cab driver drops his arms and walksback to his taxi.FADE OUT TO BLACK SCREEN                                 THE ENDEND CREDITSBoth the words ´The Endª and the credits are written in whiteletters on a cartoon representing a village with a sorceressflying on a broomstick above the village.
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+                                     ARTHUR                                                            Written by                                 Peter Baynham                                                                                                                                                                 10/16/09          EXT. MANHATTAN - NIGHT                                   A HOMELESS MAN, who from his tatty suit may have been a top          broker this time last year, is picking through a bin in          Manhattan's deserted night-time financial district.                                   The street starts to vibrate. A TERRIFYING GROWL approaches.                                   A huge black shape smashes into view - THE DARK KNIGHT'S          BATMOBILE! Our audience wonder if they've wandered into the          wrong movie. The Homeless Man dives for cover.                                   BAM! The Batmobile smashes into a row of parked cars.                                   We hear manic laughing from inside the car, which screeches          and careers violently into a sign reading `WALL STREET'.                                   Sirens herald THREE POLICE CARS in hot pursuit.                                   The Batmobile roars up Wall Street, bashing against the New          York Stock Exchange, thumping up and down the Federal Hall's          steps and finally smashing at high speed into the rear end of          the famous 'Charging Bull' statue. Two enormous bronze          testicles thud onto the Batmobile's bonnet and roll away.                                   The cop cars screech up, surrounding the Batmobile. TWO OLDER          COPS and A ROOKIE surround it, weapons drawn.                                   A HELICOPTER appears, blazing the Batmobile in white light.                                                   ROOKIE COP           Cooool.                                   An older Cop flashes the rookie a dirty look, then points a          FLASHLIGHT into a tiny window. THE BATMAN - actually drunken          English socialite ARTHUR BACH TEMPLEMEAD in a costume -          lowers the window and offers a handshake.                                                   ARTHUR           Evening, Constable!                                                   OLDER COP 1           (seen it all before)           Hi, Arthur.                                                   ARTHUR           Are you familiar with the           expression `I can explain           everything'?                                                   OLDER COP 1           Out of the car, please.           2.                                                                            ARTHUR           Terribly sorry, but in the film           they used a different model to show           the old Batchap getting in and out.           This one has no doors, so I'd have           to squeeze out the back arsehole           first. Which nobody wants...                          (TO COP 2)           Apart from you, cheeky monkey!                          (BEAT)           It's a joke! Okay, okay.                                   Arthur wriggles awkwardly out of a rear hatch. The bronze          bull teeters, a little scarily. He stands, wobbly. His Batman          utility belt features a big water pistol, a firework, a hip          flask and line of shot glasses. And, inexplicably, a big red          stapler. The younger cop is desperately fighting the giggles.                                                   OLDER COP 1           Okay, explain everything.                                                   ARTHUR           Well. What with having spunked 1.6           million fat Alberts on this little           runaround, I thought why not take           it a step further and try to           actually collar a few ne-er do           wells? It worked for the           billionaire Bruce Wayne, why not           the future billionaire Arthur Bach-           Templemead? Will I have to do           traffic school?                                                   OLDER COP 2           How much have you drunk, Arthur?                                                   ARTHUR           To use the technical medical term -           megabloodyshitloads. Either that or           I've had a stroke! But fret not, I           have a designated driver.                                   The cop shines his flashlight back inside, revealing A          BEARDED HOMELESS OLD MAN IN A CRAPPY 60S `ROBIN' costume.                                                   HOMELESS ROBIN           Where's my five thousand dollars?                                   Arthur counts out a huge wad of cash.                                                   ARTHUR           The Boy Homeless here neglected to           say he'd never driven.                          (MORE)           3.                                                   ARTHUR (CONT'D)           Or that the only reason he's sober           is to be ready for the conspiracy           of leopards about to seize           Manhattan.                                                   HOMELESS ROBIN           It's LIZARDS! English prick!                                   Arthur hands another wad of cash to Cop 1.                                                   ARTHUR           I trust this will cover all repairs           to New York and any inconvenience           to your good selves?                                   He turns and tries to get back in.                                                   ARTHUR (CONT'D)           Up up and away! Ah, no, that's the           other chap.                                   The bronze bull collapses fully, crushing the Batmobile.                                                            INT. 23RD PRECINCT. CELL - NIGHT - LATER                                   Arthur sits, minus mask, in a cell with Homeless Robin and          VARIOUS CRIMINALS and DRUNKS, including A HUGE GUY IN A          CHICAGO CUBS SHIRT, sporting a terrifically swollen eye.                                   JAY, a drunk with a bandaged neck, is ranting away at Arthur,          who's paying close attention, genuinely fascinated. Cash          sticks out of various pockets.                                                   JAY           Then the crazy motherfucker cut me!                                                   ARTHUR           Goodness. Why?                                                   JAY           Said I cut the bombita with pig           killer!                                                   ARTHUR           Rude man. And who threw hot           Americano in whose face again?                                                   JAY           I did in his. No half and half           neither. That shit burnt!                                   Jay laughs hard, as does GARY, another crook. Arthur, out of          politeness, tries to join in the laughter.           4.                                                                            GARY           I burnt my sister's hair.                                                   JAY           (high fiving him)           Cool...                                                   GARY           Ho wanted to evict me, just 'cause           I don't fit her definition of           hygiene. Plenty of places to take a           shit, toilet's just one of them.           Just ask the a-rabs.                                                   ARTHUR           It's like a chat show, this.           (looking into an imaginary                          CAMERA)           It's been said of my next guest, by           Jay the bandaged lunatic, that           she's `a sick-ass, whacked-out,           whacked-up asswipe'.           (to a PROSTITUTE)           Carmella, when did you first dream           of becoming a crack whore?                                                   PROSTITUTE           Mother died when I was six.                                                   ARTHUR           Oh G-d, I hate when that happens.                                                   PROSTITUTE           My father raped me when I was           twelve.                                                   ARTHUR           Sounds like you had six relatively           good years.                                                   JAY           What do you do?                                                   ARTHUR           I model riding boots, I spend           money, I sleep with women. But I           have weekends off and I am my own           boss.                                   The cell door swings open.                                                   OLDER COP 1           Hey, The Drunk Knight. Your Fairy G-           d-lawyer's here.           5.                                                                            ARTHUR                          (STANDING)           I never thought New York's           underbelly could be quite such           agreeable company. I shall never           forget you. Farewell.                                   The crooks look back at him sulkily. Arthur looks guilty.                                                            INT. 23RD PRECINCT. CORRIDOR. NIGHT - LATER                                   Arthur's attorney ELVERTON DEVERE is leaving with him.                                                   DEVERE           I don't think your mother will be           pleased, Arthur.                                                   ARTHUR           Really, Elverton - if a chap can't           help out a few chums, whatever           their station in life.                                   The other crooks from the cell are leaving alongside them.                                                   ARTHUR (CONT'D)           Each has given his or her word to           put the criminal life behind them.                                                            EXT. 23RD PRECINCT. NIGHT - CONTINUOUS                                   Arthur steps into a blaze of paparazzi flashes.                                                   ARTHUR           I am the Batman. Gotham can sleep           easy tonight.                                                   JAY           (points at A CAMERAMAN)           Don't point that shit at me, bitch!           I will FUCK YOU UP!                                   Jay attacks the cameraman violently. Gary piles in.                                                   HOMELESS ROBIN           Yes! Yes! Kill the lizards!                                   Arthur pushes past the press.                                                   PRESS           Arthur! What will your mother say?           Didn't she send you here to get you           out of the British papers? Arthur!           6.                                                            He turns to those crooks who aren't fighting.                                                   ARTHUR           Anyone need a job? My last driver           resigned after I filled his limo           with squirrels. Preferably sober,           clean driving licence?                                   The crooks all look unsure. Apart from one....                                                  TITLES                                                            EXT. MANHATTAN- NIGHT                                   A different, extremely flashy car zips through Central Park,          the back full of released crooks, the huge Chicago guy - his          name's MARTY - at the wheel.                                   The car passes A MALE JOGGER. It stops and backs up. Arthur          opens a door and beckons the jogger, offering champagne. The          jogger gets in. The car sets off again.                                    ARTHUR (O.S.)           Anyone know a good bar?                                                            EXT. CLUB - NIGHT                                   The car pulls up outside a very rough-looking dive club. Out          falls Arthur, laughing his head off, along with champagne          bottles, footballs and rich boy's toys. Following him are          his crook friends, the jogger, TWO MIDDLE-AGED TOURISTS and A          DANCING MAN in a leotard twirling a big sign reading `CHEAP          APARTMENT RENTALS!'                                   Like the pied piper, Arthur leads his disciples into the bar.                                    JUMP CUT TO:                                                            EXT. BAR - LATER                                   Arthur staggers out, leading a bigger crowd! (IN A CONGA?)          He's even more drunk, arm in arm with Carmella the prostitute          and a very attractive young woman, SOFIA. He produces A BIG          ROCKET.                                                   ARTHUR           Stand back!                                   He releases the firework; it flies at a crazy drunk angle,          people screaming and diving for cover. It explodes into a          shop sign reading `CHECKS CASHED'.           7.                                                                            CARMELLA                          (LAUGHING)           Oh, man. Nobody tell you about the           recession?                                                   ARTHUR           The what?                                                            EXT. MANHATTAN - NIGHT                                   A very long line of excited people stand at an ATM, Arthur at          the front.                                                   ARTHUR           Roll up, roll up, folks, let's fix           this thing right now.           (to his first customer)           How much, sir?                                                   FIRST MAN           Um. $800 please.                                                   ARTHUR           Coming right up.           (keys it in)           Fries with that?                                   The man laughs, along with others in the line, including          Sofia who catches his eye.                                                   ARTHUR (CONT'D)           Congratulations everyone! THE           RECESSION'S OVER!                                   Arthur dials a number on his gold iPhone.                                                   ARTHUR (CONT'D)           Pierre? Arthur Bach-Templemead. Can           you squeeze me in for a little           snack? Yeah, just me and a couple           of mates.                                                            INT. FANCY RESTAURANT - NIGHT - CONTINUOUS                                   The Maitre D' enters from the kitchen and is stunned to find          the restaurant incredibly stuffed with people, so there's          standing room only. People are even sitting on tables. It's a          very eclectic mix of people.                                   An angry, stuffy old man and his wife and daughter sit          horrified at the center.           8.                                                            Arthur's flanked by Carmella the prostitute and Sofia from          the ATM line.                                                   ARTHUR           Pierre! We'd like 182 pate de foie           gras, 182 chateaubriand steaks, a           motherlode of chips and your entire           wine cellar please.                                   The daughter of the stuffy couple - she's ERICA - speaks.                                                   ERICA           Arthur?                                                   ARTHUR                          (TAKEN ABACK)           Erica? Fancy meeting you here!           Er...Everybody, this is Erica - the           very best friend forever of my           girlfriend Susan. And Erica's           parents Ernest and Margaret.           (to Erica and her parents)           Are you familiar with the           expression `I can't explain           anything'?                                                   ERICA           Who are the women with you, Arthur?                                                   ARTHUR           Oh, um, this is Sofia. I believe           she works for Avis. Checks the cars           for dings, dead people in the           trunk, that sort of thing. And           this is Carmella. Anyway...                                                   ERICA'S FATHER           What do you do, Carmella?                                                   CARMELLA           Whatever you want. But no           penetration without a rubber.                                   It's all gone a bit tense.                                                   ARTHUR           Carmella's joking. She's actually           a...queen. Of a very small country.                                                   ERICA'S FATHER           Is she now?                                                   ARTHUR           It's terribly small.           9.                                                                            ERICA'S FATHER           I see.                                                   ARTHUR           Rhode Island could beat the crap           out of it in a war.                                                   ERICA'S FATHER           Yes, it's a small place.                                                   ARTHUR           85 cents in a cab from one end of           the country to the other. I'm           talking small.                                                   ERICA'S FATHER           I think I understand how small it           is.                                                   ARTHUR           Just had the entire country           carpeted, this is not a big place.                                                   ERICA'S FATHER           You need to grow up, Arthur.                                                   ARTHUR           That's easy for you to say, you           haven't got 50 pairs of short           trousers hanging in your closet.           Maybe we should go somewhere else.                                                   ERICA           Maybe you should.                                   He gets out his ultra-exclusive Black Visa Card.                                                   ARTHUR           Could I have all those lobsters to           go, please?                                                            EXT. PIERRE HOTEL - DAY                                   The bright dawn sun explodes on the windows of Arthur's          castle-like $56 million penthouse atop the Pierre Hotel.                                                            INT. ARTHUR'S APARTMENT - DAY - CONTINUOUS                                   A huge jacuzzi is full of contented liberated lobsters,          surrounded by the most amazing toy boat armada in history.           10.                                                            We cut around the vast, opulent 20's apartment, scattered          with unconscious revellers from last night. A mixture of old          extravagance and modern excess, the place is stuffed with the          toys of the boy who has everything:                                   An old gun cabinet is stacked with enormous water rifles.                                   A `Bodyworlds' plastinated corpse is posed, swinging from a          chandelier, a bottle of champagne in its hand.                                   Damien Hurst's shark in formaldehyde is half out of its          smashed tank, a REVELLER'S FEET protruding from its jaws.                                   Unconscious partygoers are slumped on plush seats in a home          cinema themed to look like the set of `Roadrunner', while a          screen plays episodes of the cartoon.                                   A naked couple lie in a sleeping embrace in a room converted          entirely into a sandpit, complete with giant toys.                                   Big Chicago Marty, Arthur's new driver, lies on a big sofa,          consulting his sports pager.                                   Homeless Robin is filling pans and antique vases with water.                                   A huge photo of Arthur modelling riding boots fills a wall,          beside an old red London telephone box, converted into an          aquarium, bubbling with colorful fish.                                    GIRL (O.S.)                          (PANTING)           More British!                                                            INT. BEDROOM - DAY - CONTINUOUS                                   Bowler-hatted Arthur and Sofia are having sex...                                                   ARTHUR           Cup of tea? Nice hot cup of hot           Rosy Lee right up your fanny?                                   ....beneath a rotating solar system mobile good enough to          grace a national planetarium, on a bed floating magnetically          three feet above the floor.                                                            INT. ARTHUR'S APARTMENT. HALLWAY - DAY - CONTINUOUS                                   A key is turned and the door to the apartment opens. A          SENSIBLE WOMAN'S SHOE steps over a reveller.           11.                                                            INT. ARTHUR'S APARTMENT. ARTHUR'S BEDROOM - DAY - CONTINUOUS                                   Arthur and Sofia are in an even greater frenzy. The floating          bed is wobbling scarily.                                                   ARTHUR           Hugh Grant Mr Bean self deprecation           mad cow disease Yorkshire pudding           bad teeth rain rain rain rain!                                                            INT. ARTHUR'S APARTMENT. GREAT ROOM - DAY - CONTINUOUS                                   AN OLDER WOMAN'S HAND pulls on A SURGICAL GLOVE.                                                            INT. ARTHUR'S APARTMENT. ARTHUR'S BEDROOM - DAY - CONTINUOUS                                   The older woman enters the room carrying A PLASTIC TRAY AS          USED AT AIRPORT SECURITY. This is JANE HOBSON, the British          aristocracy's longest-serving nanny.                                                   ARTHUR           (brightly, as he humps)           Morning, Hobson!                                   Unfazed, Hobson busies herself picking up Arthur's trousers,          and emptying wallet, matchbooks, and iPhone into the tray.                                                   HOBSON           Morning, Arthur.                                   She hits a remote. The curtains fly open. A HUGE TV flips on,          showing news coverage of Arthur's antics last night.                                                   HOBSON (CONT'D)           I'm afraid your impromptu stimulus           package failed to reignite the           economy.           (reading a receipt)           De Cache Cocktail Lounge: $23,897?                                                   ARTHUR           Umm...Celebration of Kwanzaa.                                   Hobson's reading a text on Arthur's phone: `So excited ur          funding my movie!'                                                   HOBSON           The African heritage festival           celebrated five months from now?                                   She replies: `I was drunk. Piss off.'           12.                                                                            ARTHUR           (noticing Sofia's stopped           having sex with him)           Why are you stopping? Oh, sorry.           How impolite of me. Sofia, this is           Hobson, my nanny.                                                   SOFIA           Nanny?                                                   HOBSON           He's merely shaped like an adult.                                                   SOFIA           Is she going to stay here?                                                   ARTHUR           Hobson, could you come back in a           minute and a half please?                                                   HOBSON           Negative. You're seeing your mother           this morning.                                                   ARTHUR           Nobody told me.                                                   HOBSON           Actually I did, on the other side           of the vast moat of champagne known           as `last night'.                                   Hobson picks up Sofia's panties and bra from the floor like a          crime scene officer.                                                   HOBSON (CONT'D)           I wouldn't recommend letting him           get used to your breasts, dear.           Addictive personality. He was at           mine until he was six.                                                   ARTHUR           Hobson! Really...                                                   HOBSON           I had to dab Tabasco sauce on the           nipples to see him off...                                                   SOFIA           I can't do this.                                   She pulls away from Arthur, grabs her clothes and jumps out          of bed, nearly tipping Arthur out.           13.                                                                            HOBSON           I support your decision 100%. Will           you be requiring a taxi, or just be           getting in a random passing car?                                   Sofia storms to the door, clutching her clothes. Arthur can          see other revellers being removed by HOTEL SECURITY.                                                   HOBSON (CONT'D)           Say goodbye to your new friends,           Arthur. They have to go back to the           recession now.                                   Arthur covers his head with the sheet.                                                   ARTHUR           Cancel my mother please, Hobson.           I'll work from bed today.                                   But Hobson hits a touch-sensitive screen on the wall. The          magnetic bed thuds to the ground. She taps another control.                                   MUSIC: HORRIBLE, DEAFENING DEATH METAL                                                   ARTHUR (CONT'D)           Not the death metal, please!                                                   HOBSON           (shouting over the music)           Aren't you a fan of Carcass?                                   Hobson reads off an album cover in a little wall screen.                                                   HOBSON (CONT'D)           `Vomited Anal Tract' is surely a           classic of its genre.                                                   ARTHUR           OKAY, OKAY, I'LL GET UP!                                   Arthur sits up. Hobson stops the music.                                                   HOBSON           Good boy.                                                   ARTHUR           I'm going for a shower.                                                   HOBSON           I'll alert the media.           14.                                                            EXT. BALCONY SHOWER - DAY                                   Arthur stands naked in his shower - a big glass cube jutting          out from the balcony like something from a David Blaine          stunt. Hot jets of water are blasted from holes in the cube's          ceiling. Arthur can see Manhattan far beneath his bare feet          as he showers.                                                   ARTHUR                          (SINGING)           To Bombay, a travelling circus           came...                                   Arthur grabs a pair of binoculars which hang on a hook.                                                   HOBSON           They brought an intelligent           elephant and Nellie was her           name...Hobson!                                   We see Hobson on a little screen inset into the glass wall.          She's on a phone at Arthur's computer.                                                   ARTHUR           Female Tom Hanks!                                                            INT. SITTING ROOM - DAY - CONTINUOUS                                   Hobson - in front of an Ebay screen full of purchases - picks          up her own pair of binoculars and looks down.                                    ARTHUR (O.S.)           Heading east towards Park Avenue.                                   Through Hobson's binoculars we see A MIDDLE-AGED          BUSINESSWOMAN who does look vaguely like a female Tom Hanks!                                                   HOBSON           She's early today...                                                   ARTHUR           Can we invite her up and dress her           as Forrest Gump?                                                   HOBSON           No.                                                   ARTHUR           Just for a laugh! We'll pay her.                                                   HOBSON           Do your armpits.                          (INTO PHONE)                          (MORE)           15.                                                   HOBSON (CONT'D)           Mr. Miller? My employer           inexplicably agreed to purchase           your...                          (READS SCREEN)           `Authentic 1981 `Funshine' Care           Bear'? For $11,000 plus shipping           costs? Sorry, but that transaction           will take place over my dead body,           and I'm feeling rather well today.                                                            INT. SHOWER - DAY                                   Arthur's still peering down through his binoculars.                                    ARTHUR (O.S.)           Hobson! That was your birthday           present! You like bears!                                   A PRIEST WITH THIN SIDEBURNS emerges from A DINER...                                                   ARTHUR (CONT'D)           Father Wolverine...                                   A MASTURBATING MAN IN A 70TH STORY APARTMENT OPPOSITE...                                                   ARTHUR (CONT'D)           Wank Williams...That man has the           constitution of an ox.                                   Hobson glances up at Arthur, washing himself on the screen.                                                   HOBSON           That reminds me, clean your           genitals. Heaven knows what           wildlife that girl was harbouring           between her thighs.                                                            INT. ARTHUR'S DOJO. DAY - LATER                                   Arthur, in expensive baggy yoga pants and collarless shirt,          is doing self-invented yoga to Indian `meditation' music.                                                   ARTHUR           I give you `Sideways farting           spider'.                                   Hobson is sitting, exasperated, going through various          expenditures.                                                   HOBSON           Arthur, you have to stop giving           money away!           16.                                                                            ARTHUR           I'm a philanthropist.                                                   HOBSON           With the emphasis on the `pissed'.           Really, what is it about unearned           wealth that brings out such idiocy           in those who have it and those who           want it? The way you're going,           you'll have spent your inheritance           before you've inherited it.                                                   ARTHUR           (shifts to new pose)           `Eagle pointing at lesbian.'                                                   HOBSON           Why did you fire Jessica?                                                   ARTHUR           What kind of yoga teacher won't let           a pupil invent positions? She was           a Nazi with a pan pipe C.D.                          (CHANGING POSE)           `Upwards Pooping Astronaut'.                                                   HOBSON           Interesting. It looks more like           `Rich twit hiding from mother.' May           I remind you, she finances your           preposterous existence...                                                   ARTHUR           I know, I know. Never bite the hand           that fists me.                                                            EXT. MANHATTAN - DAY                                   Arthur and Hobson are in a huge Bentley. Marty's at the          wheel, still in his Cubs shirt but sporting a chauffeur's cap          and tie. As he drives, he checks a bleeping sports pager. He          nearly hits a pedestrian, then goes back to the pager.                                                   MARTY           Sorry, fellas.                                                   HOBSON                          (CONSPIRATORIAL)           You don't seriously intend to keep           employing this gentleman?           17.                                                                            ARTHUR           Give the guy a chance, Hobson. He           got laid off in Chicago...                                                   HOBSON           But he doesn't know his way around           New York!                                                   ARTHUR           So? I want interesting, fun people           around me, not drones who just get           the job done...                                   Arthur sees something out of the window.                                                   ARTHUR (CONT'D)           Marty! Stop the car!                                   Marty hits the brakes, pitching Arthur and Hobson forward.                                                            EXT. MIDTOWN MANHATTAN - NIGHT                                   Arthur hurries up to A SMALL GROUP OF TOURISTS.                                    WOMAN (O.S.)           The Chrysler Building. Designed by           William Van Allen...                                   A TOUR GUIDE wearing a name badge reading `Naomi' is talking.          She is gorgeous, wearing vintage clothes, clutching a          clipboard. We understand why Arthur stopped the car.                                                   NAOMI           ...and inspired by the machine age           of the 1920s, this magnificent           structure was the world's tallest           building for 11 months before the           Empire State stole its thunder.                                   She looks out on her sullen, miserable tourists.                                                   NAOMI (CONT'D)           The Chrysler got its name when the           builder went bust in the 1928           Cement Famine and had to melt down           his Chrysler to make the pointy bit           at the top. If you peer closely you           can still make out remnants of a           hub cap and a sticker reading `Honk           twice if you voted Hoover.'                                   Some tourists laugh. Some don't. Arthur's transfixed.           18.                                                                            NAOMI (CONT'D)           That was a joke, folks. It was           built for the Chrysler corporation.                                   Naomi shares an eye roll with A NEWSSTAND GUY who's clearly          in love with her.                                                   NAOMI (CONT'D)           The spire is a beauty, especially           on a winter's morning when the sun           hits it and it just seems to...                                    GRUMPY FEMALE TOURIST                          (INTERRUPTING)           How tall is it?                                                   NAOMI           1047 feet madam, not allowing for           pigeon shit. Okay, let's cross.                                   Naomi leads the tourists across the busy road. She has to go          back to grab a teenager in the headphones, who didn't hear.          Arthur hurries alongside Naomi.                                                   ARTHUR           Can I join your tour please?                                                   NAOMI           Sure. It's $15, plus $5 for the           free authentic street pretzel.           Sorry, my bosses make the prices.                                   Arthur produces his wallet full of high-end credit cards.                                                   NAOMI (CONT'D)           Sorry. I can't take cards.                          (BEAT)           Ah, owe me it. I start on that           corner every day on the hour...                                   Just as Naomi's reaching the other side, a cabbie, driving          very aggressively, nearly hits her.                                                   NAOMI (CONT'D)           Hey, you big blind jerk! Doesn't           your braille windshield work?                                                   CABBIE                          (ANGRY)           !NO ME HINCHAN LAS PELOTAS!           19.                                                                            NAOMI           PEGUELO ENCIMA DE SU ASNO, USTED           PINCHAZO GRANDE SU MADRE ES UN PUTA           ENORMA Y SU PADRE NO TIENE NINGUIN           MARTILLO!                                   The cabbie's shocked - but laughs and blows Naomi a kiss. She          smiles back.                                                   ARTHUR           Wow. What did you say?                                                   NAOMI           Just generalised criticism of his           parents and genitals.           (to the tourists)           Everyone make it over alive?           Excellent. Next we enter Times           Square, world famous for New Year's           Eve, when a Waterford Crystal Ball           descends at eye-poppingly slow           speed for the inexplicable           entertainment of a million drunk           fools. Many people think the square           is actually a square, despite           blatant evidence otherwise.                          (TO ARTHUR)           Sir? What shape is Times Square?                                                   ARTHUR           A circle?                                                   NAOMI                          (LAUGHS)           See? Morons.                                   More tourists laugh this time. Some...                                    GRUMPY MALE TOURIST           When do we get the pretzel?                                                   NAOMI           Soon, sir. Soon.                                   She checks her watch and leads the party inside a laundromat.                                                   NAOMI (CONT'D)           Okay, next the very Laundromat once           used by George Gershwin, Donald           Trump...           20.                                                            INT. LAUNDROMAT - NIGHT - CONTINUOUS                                   Naomi approaches a washing machine just as it ends its cycle          and makes a loud buzz.                                                   NAOMI           ...Mr Big from Sex and the City and           three of the 9-11 terrorists.                                   She starts unloading the machine of a large man's whites -          vests, underwear, shirts, all stained red by a baseball cap.                                                   NAOMI (CONT'D)           Oh, dad.                                   She transfers the laundry into a tumble dryer and feeds it          quarters. Arthur stays close.                                                   NAOMI (CONT'D)           The Welsh poet Dylan Thomas drank           himself to death at the Chelsea           Hotel half an hour after losing a           sock in this very dryer.                                                   ARTHUR                          (CONSPIRATORIAL)           Are you abusing this tour to do           your errands?                                                   NAOMI           Are you abusing the tour to stalk           me?                                                   ARTHUR           Absolutely.                                   Arthur stares at the big tumble dryers.                                                   ARTHUR (CONT'D)           These things are amazing. Have you           ever put all your father's clothes           on and just got inside one?                                   Naomi looks at him, bemused but intrigued as she heads to the          door.                                                            EXT. TIMES SQUARE - DAY                                   Hobson's out of the car looking for Arthur.                                                   HOBSON           Where the blazes is that boy?           Arthur!           21.                                                            EXT. STREET - DAY - CONTINUOUS                                   They emerge into the street.                                                   NAOMI           Ahead, the jewel in Manhattan's           crown, the Empire State Building.           This iconic symbol of American           corporate might was adapted during           World War 2 in case of attack from           enemy forces. At three minutes'           notice the entire structure can           retract into the ground like a           tortoise's head.                                                   TOURIST           That's not possible. I should know,           I'm a civil engineer.                                                   NAOMI           You're not being very civil to me.                                   Some tourists laugh.                                                   ARTHUR           The building doesn't retract; the           ground rises up.                                                   NAOMI           Exactly. The ground rises up! Thank           you, sir.                                                   ARTHUR           They were going to install giant           legs so if a plane was flying at           the tower it could run away. But           where's it going to run?                                                   NAOMI           Manhattan's in the way.                                                   ARTHUR           It'd have to jump in the Hudson.                                                   NAOMI           Victory to the Nazis. Is that what           you want?                                   The group approaches a pretzel stand.                                                   NAOMI (CONT'D)           Okay, folks, your pretzel awaits.                                   The group lines up to get their pretzels.           22.                                                                            NAOMI (CONT'D)           Do I know you from somewhere?                                                   ARTHUR           If you go on Perez Hilton or TMZ.                                                   NAOMI           What are they?                                                   ARTHUR           The gossip websites.                                                   NAOMI           That the internet? Ah, my           computer's too old for all that.                                                   ARTHUR           For the internet? Seriously?                                                   NAOMI           Life's too short for all this           obsessive upgrading.                                                   ARTHUR           You consider the internet an           upgrade? Wow.                                                   NAOMI           So why do people gossip about you?                                                   ARTHUR           Ah, that was a joke. I'm nobody.                                   Arthur feels a tap on his shoulder. Hobson.                                                   HOBSON           You're late for your mother!                                                   NAOMI                          (TO ARTHUR)           Sorry, this pretzel stand is a           watering hole for the crazies.           (raises her voice to                          HOBSON)           The soup kitchen's just up and to           the left, honey.                                                   ARTHUR           Hobson, this is...           (reads her badge)           Naomi.                                                   NAOMI           She's with you?           23.                                                                            HOBSON           Delighted to meet you, Naomi.           Normally one has to go to a bowling           alley to meet a woman of your           stature.                                                   NAOMI           Ooh, Grandma's got jokes.                                                   HOBSON           You aren't the first woman who           walks the streets this young man           has asked.                                                   NAOMI           Who's this? Joan Rivers' older           bitterer sister?                                                   ARTHUR           My nanny.                                                   NAOMI           Obviously. Seriously, who is she?                                                   ARTHUR           My nanny. Well, she started as           that, but these days she's more of           an all-round enforcer and           bodyguard.                                   Naomi looks at her watch and glances to the tourists, chewing          on their pretzels. She starts to walk away.                                                   NAOMI           Sorry, I have to get out the cattle           prod and haul ass. Got another tour           starting in eight minutes.                                                   ARTHUR           Can I call you?                                   Naomi starts to walk away.                                                   NAOMI           I don't give my number to grown men           with nannies. But as you may not be           a grown man, it's 917 476 2030.                                   Manhattan swallows the lovely stranger.           24.                                                            INT. TEMPLEMEAD HOLDINGS - DAY - CONTINUOUS                                   They cross a huge foyer, passing a big sign reading          `TEMPLEMEAD HOLDINGS INC' to the elevator.                                                   ARTHUR           But what if this is the one?                                                   HOBSON           This is just like the Komodo           dragon. Everyone else is happy to           see one in the zoo and leave it           there. You had to own one. Thank           goodness that handbag manufacturer           was prepared to take the poor           lizard away.                                                   ARTHUR                          (HORRIFIED)           You said he's in London Zoo!                                                   HOBSON           He is, Arthur. Are you the only one           allowed to joke now?                                                            INT. TEMPLEMEAD HOLDINGS. RECEPTION AREA - DAY                                   Reception is manned by GRANT, a too-cool-for-school, young          Aryan beefcake straight out of an Abercrombie & Fitch spread.          Arthur and Hobson enter.                                                   ARTHUR           I don't like it here.                                                   HOBSON           Of course you don't. People work           here.                                                   GRANT                          (HATES ARTHUR)           Good afternoon, Mr Bach-Templemead.                                                   ARTHUR           Hi Grant. Tell me - which of your           parents are you most like?           Abercrombie or Fitch?                                                   GRANT           (doesn't get the joke)           I have no connection with that           store. My family name is Von           Krausehoff. Take a seat please.           25.                                                            Arthur and Hobson sit down. Grant picks up a phone.                                                   GRANT (CONT'D)           Vivienne?           (conspiratorial, flirty)           White mid-rise briefs...mmmm.                                                   HOBSON           Don't fret, Arthur. This won't take           long. Then we'll have ice cream.                                   A LARGE OFFICE DOOR opens spookily of its own accord.                                    VIVIENNE (O.S.)           Come in, Arthur.                                   Arthur heads to the door. VIVIENNE BACH-TEMPLEMEAD a          formidable, tanned American widow in her sixties, shakes his          hand.                                                   VIVIENNE (CONT'D)           Arthur.                                                   ARTHUR           Vivienne.                                                   VIVIENNE           You know I prefer `mother'.                                                   ARTHUR           I'm sorry. You look more like a           Vivienne.                                   Vivienne nods to Hobson as the door to her lair shuts. An icy          breeze passes between biological mother and surrogate.                                                            INT. VIVIENNE'S OFFICE - DAY - CONTINUOUS                                   The office boasts many glass cases full of trophies and          framed photos of Vivienne's younger self showjumping and          holding trophies aloft. There's one small photo of Vivienne,          Arthur's late father GERALD and Arthur as a toddler.                                   Vivienne's engrossed in a document, making notations. Arthur,          clearly uncomfortable here, sits in a low sofa before her.                                                   VIVIENNE           (not looking up)           So. How are you, Arthur?                                                   ARTHUR           Quite busy. I have a riding boot           shoot for Petrie Dressage...           26.                                                            But Vivienne's buried in her work, not listening.                                                   ARTHUR (CONT'D)           What else...I'm meeting Ivanka           Trump for brunch to discuss the           environment. She's sending her           helicopter to avoid the traffic...                                   Vivienne's still not listening.                                                   ARTHUR (CONT'D)           Crashed my Batmobile into the           bronze bull on Wall Street...                                   She's still not listening. Has it always been like this?                                                   ARTHUR (CONT'D)           ...which caused a hole to swallow           up the New York Stock Exchange...                                   She's still not listening.                                                   ARTHUR (CONT'D)           ..the world economy to collapse and           the planet to descend into looting           and cannibalism.                                   Still not listening.                                                   ARTHUR (CONT'D)           What else? Um...tripped over in the           shower this morning. Head split           open, found a family of meerkats           hiding in there! Hated the thought           of the little lads being homeless           so I bricked up the remaining half           of my brain, popped them back in           and Hobson glued my skull back           together.                                   Still not listening.                                                   ARTHUR (CONT'D)           I'm thinking of buying a giant. I           think the market's right for it.                                   Arthur stops. He watches Vivienne. He lets out a huge belch.          Nothing. A big fart. Nothing. Opera. Nothing.                                                   ARTHUR (CONT'D)           You really are a shoddy mother.                                   Vivienne eventually looks up.           27.                                                                            VIVIENNE           Did I hear you say you were meeting           Ivanka Trump for brunch? That's           nice. Right. Today we're going to           have a friendly chat. Then a           serious talk. And lastly make a           timetable. How does all that sound?                                                   ARTHUR           Amazing. Do you have any vodka?                                                   VIVIENNE           What happened, Arthur? You were           such a sweet baby.                                                   ARTHUR           I still wake up in my own poo           occasionally.                                                   VIVIENNE           Right, that's it for the chat. Time           to transition to our talk.                                   Vivienne hits a remote control. A large wall-mounted screen          fills with a changing collage of him drunk, dancing, puking,          making out with women, beside countless news headlines.                                                   VIVIENNE (CONT'D)           This insanity has to end, Arthur.           As the delightful coffee-coloured           gentleman who runs this country           said, `The time has come to set           aside childish things.'                                                   ARTHUR           Can't Hobson set them aside for me?                                                   VIVIENNE           Susan is a splendid girl. Her feet           are on the ground, she's of fine           stock...                                                   ARTHUR                          (GETS UP)           Oh. That's what this is all about.           I'm not marrying Susan. I don't           love her.                                                   VIVIENNE           And? You think I spent my marriage           to your father skipping through           meadows?           28.                                                                            ARTHUR          Not after you ran him over in the          Bentley, no. Susan's boring. She's          not funny.                                                   VIVIENNE          Ditto your father. The aristocracy          doesn't marry for `fun', Arthur.          It's about stability. Continuity...                                                   ARTHUR          ...and sinking your fangs into          Susan's father's bank account.                                                   VIVIENNE          The Johnson family's considerable          equity in a stormy financial period          is merely a side issue. Burt is a          pillar of the community.                                                   ARTHUR          His baby formula was taken off the          market in six African countries!                                                   VIVIENNE          A completely innocent error in          places where there's precious          little for children to live for          anyway. The families all got gift          baskets as compensation. That          little bump in the road aside, Burt          is a devout Christian.                                                   ARTHUR          Yes, because they're never insane.          And where did he get Jesus?                                                   VIVIENNE                          (GETTING EXASPERATED)          Burt paid his debt to society years          ago.                                                   ARTHUR          He strangled a fireman! Who          strangles a fireman?                                                   VIVIENNE          Arthur...           29.                                                                            ARTHUR          I'm sorry, Vivienne. I've met          someone else very lovely who, as          far as I know, isn't related to          anyone who would kill an unsung          hero in cold blood.                                                   VIVIENNE          Un-meet her. Arthur, you're the end          of our line. We need an heir.                                                   ARTHUR          I nearly gave you an heir!                                                   VIVIENNE          Oh, give me strength! A Bach-          Templemead having a child by a lap          dancer called `Mystery'?                                                   ARTHUR          That was just her stage name! To          give her more mystery when          she...waved her fanny around. Her          real name was...what was it again?                                                   VIVIENNE          Susan is 33 this year. Her egg          inventory has dropped by 23% since          you met her. You risk having no          sons, or worse, some pea-brained          hunchback who hugs everyone!                                                   ARTHUR          Great! I like hugs! And some of          them are really good at math.           (heading to the door)          You know the `Frog and Toad' books?                                                   VIVIENNE          No.                                                   ARTHUR          Of course you don't. Hobson read          them to me while you were off          riding horses over stripey poles.          They're about fun and friendship,          not how many unspasticated tadpoles          I can squirt up a rich girl.                                                   VIVIENNE          Your father would turn in his grave          to hear this nonsense...           30.                                                                            ARTHUR           That I won't follow in his           footsteps and marry a woman I hate?           I think he might climb out of the           grave and dance on it.                                                   VIVIENNE           Suit yourself.                                   Vivienne holds up the document she was notating earlier.                                                   VIVIENNE (CONT'D)           My will, which I have updated to           designate Grant in reception as the           sole beneficiary.                                                   ARTHUR           You wouldn't! You're my...                                                   VIVIENNE           ...Vivienne? Try me.                                   Vivienne opens a draw and takes out A HUGE RING BOX.                                                   VIVIENNE (CONT'D)           Shall we segue to the timetable           part of our meeting?                                                            INT. ARTHUR'S APARTMENT - DAY                                   The liberated lobsters are now living happily at the bottom          of the London phone box aquarium. Arthur eats lunch alone at          a huge table, THE BIGGEST DIAMOND RING IN THE WORLD is beside          him. Hobson brings a plate of vitamins.                                                   HOBSON           Ah. The ring your father gave your           mother, I recall.                                                   ARTHUR           (feeling its huge weight)           Did he knock her out with it, then           drive her to the church in the           trunk of his Bentley?                                                   HOBSON           No. Your father was a gentleman.                                                   ARTHUR           What's gentlemanly about dying           before I knew him? That's just           rude. Did he ever love my mother?           31.                                                                            HOBSON           They had their days.                                                   ARTHUR           Ah well. At least he doesn't have           to wake up every day to a woman           with a face like saran wrap           stretched over a gargoyle.                                   Arthur stares at the ring again.                                                   ARTHUR (CONT'D)           What about Naomi?                                                   HOBSON           Arthur. I say this with love:                                                   ARTHUR           Uh-oh...                                                   HOBSON           Even by modern male standards           you're a breathtakingly immature           little shit. Coupled with the kind           of money you have access to, that's           deadly. Susan may not have a four           hour stand up routine about the           Flatiron Building, but she's a           solid girl who will look after you.                                                   ARTHUR           I have you for that.                                                   HOBSON           Not forever.                                                   ARTHUR           Yes forever. You're Hobson.                                                            INT. NAOMI'S APARTMENT - DAY - CONTINUOUS                                   Naomi answers a giant old cellphone in her modest apartment,          cooking for her dad, RALPH, a bear of a man slumped in front          of the TV watching CSI. A picture of Naomi and her elderly          mother, in hospital, is on the wall.                                                   NAOMI           Hello?                          (SILENCE)           Hello?           32.                                                             ARTHUR (O.S, ON PHONE)                          (MOCK SINISTER)           This is your English stalker.                                                   NAOMI                          (UNFAZED)           Oh, hi! What's up?                                                   ARTHUR           I'm sorry, I've never really           understood that question. Are you           free tomorrow night?                                                   NAOMI           Sorry, I'm polishing my yacht.                                                            INT. ARTHUR'S APARTMENT - DAY - CONTINUOUS                                   Arthur's on the toilet in a bathroom whose walls are entirely          covered in a photographic mural to make it look like he's          sitting at the top of a ski slope, with skis on his feet.                                                   ARTHUR           Is that a euphemism for something           naughty?                                                   NAOMI           No, it's a lie. I have a creative           writing class. Tonight?                                   Arthur glances down at the ring box on the floor.                                                   ARTHUR           I have a contractual commitment.           Friday?                                                   NAOMI           You got it.                                                   ARTHUR           Paper.                                                   NAOMI           Sorry?                                   A voice-activated toilet paper dispenser spits out a sheet.                                                   ARTHUR           Sorry, I was talking to something           else. So. What do you want to do?           33.                                                            INT. NAOMI'S APARTMENT. DAY - CONTINUOUS                                   Naomi dishes out the food on cheap plates. It's all a big          contrast to Arthur's setting.                                                   NAOMI           A movie?                                                   ARTHUR           Movie? Come on, you've got to try           harder than that.                                                   NAOMI           Pizza.                                                   ARTHUR           What have you always wanted to do?                                                   NAOMI           It's a first date, Arthur. Not our           honeymoon.                                                   ARTHUR           Every date will be our honeymoon.                                                   NAOMI                          (MOCK DISGUSTED)           Ewww. Okay, uh, picnic in the           park...or dinner with a view. I           like views.                                                            INT. ARTHUR'S APARTMENT - DAY - CONTINUOUS                                   Arthur's standing at a sink. A list is beside him, reading          `Picnic in park, movie, dinner, view.'                                                   ARTHUR           What sort of food do you like?                                                   NAOMI           Anything but guts and mushrooms.           Okay, enough questions.                                                   ARTHUR           Oh come on. This all helps build up           a profile of you before I trick you           into my basement. I'd hate to not           have your favourite snacks ready.                                                   NAOMI           Turkey Jerky and Pez. Are we done?           Just that I....           34.                                                            The line goes dead. Hobson is standing behind Arthur, the          ripped out phone cord in her hand.                                                   HOBSON           Time to get engaged, Arthur. The           Komodo dragon can wait.                                                            EXT. JOHNSON MANSION. NIGHT                                   The original Delorean from `Back to the Future' putters up to          Burt Johnson's imposing, tacky mansion. The car stops and the          gull wing door swings up, revealing an extremely drunk          Arthur, clutching a bottle of champagne.                                                            INT. THE JOHNSON MANSION - NIGHT                                   AN EXTREMELY STIFF, MISERABLE OLD BUTLER answers.                                                   ARTHUR           Hi! Is it June 19th at 7 pm?                                                   BUTLER           No, sir. It's 8.34.                                                   ARTHUR           FUCK! We overshot! Time travel can           be a real cunt sometimes, don't you           think? I'll be right back. See you           in an hour and a half ago...                                   The butler doesn't laugh.                                                            INT. BURT'S STUDY - DAY - LATER                                   Arthur and the butler enter the large, paneled study.                                                   BUTLER           Would you care for anything while           you wait?                                                   ARTHUR           A trampoline and a selection of           woodland creatures if that's not           too much trouble.                                   The butler leaves. Arthur gazes around the room, which is          filled with antique Christian iconography. The ceiling fan is          in the shape of a cross. A large, scary Jesus statue, palms          outstretched, stares at him from beside a fish tank.                                   He sees a cocktail cabinet.           35.                                                                            ARTHUR (CONT'D)           Ah!                          (TO JESUS)           Shhhhh...                                   He opens the cabinet. Nothing but bottles of water.                                                   ARTHUR (CONT'D)           Bollocks.                          (TO JESUS)           Sorry. Actually, you couldn't,           um....you know...           (points to the water)           ...turn this into a nice 1990           Romanee Conti, could you?                                   He sips the water as if it's wine. Lifts it to Jesus.                                                   ARTHUR (CONT'D)           Cheers ears.                                   He checks out a huge, very old, rusty sword on the wall.          Beneath it is a small information plaque.                                                   ARTHUR (CONT'D)           `Genuine Sword of the First           Crusade. Excavated Germany, 1972'.                                   He looks around, then reaches up and takes it off. It's VERY          heavy and clanks to the ground, slamming his foot.                                                   ARTHUR (CONT'D)           Jesus Fucking Christ!                          (TO JESUS)           Sorry. It's not like you shouted           `Arthur Fucking Bach' when they           pinned you up. Sorry. Sore subject.                                   Arthur lifts the sword again, brandishing and twirling it,          making the noise of a Star Wars light sabre.                                                   ARTHUR (CONT'D)           Feel the force, Luke.                                   He swings it in a full arc...CLUNK!                                   Arthur has decapitated Jesus! Where's the head? The door          opens. BURT JOHNSON, a large, imposing man with a tiny          crucifix around his neck, fills the doorway.                                                   BURT           Arthur!           36.                                                                            ARTHUR           I, er, had a bit of food stuck in           my teeth and couldn't find a           toothpick.                                   Burt, unperturbed, takes the sword from Arthur.                                                   BURT           Heck, this sword went through three           crusades. Beheaded 1000 moslems.           Nothing you can do to harm it.                                   Burt walks straight past headless Jesus to the water cabinet.          Arthur looks around desperately for the head.                                                   ARTHUR           You don't, um, have anything           stronger, do you?                                                   BURT           Sparkling.                                   Arthur laughs nervously. But Burt's not joking.                                                   BURT (CONT'D)           `The drunkard and the glutton shalt           come to poverty: and drowsiness           shalt clothe a man with rags.'                                                   ARTHUR           Surely a glass of sherry at           Christmas?                                   Burt clinks glasses with him.                                                   BURT           Peace be with you.                                                   ARTHUR           And also with me.                                   He sees Jesus's head! It's sitting on top of one of the          blades of the ceiling fan!                                                   BURT           Arthur. Can I be honest with you?                                                   ARTHUR           You're the real Slim Shady? I knew           it!           37.                                                                            BURT           My faith teaches me to hate the           sin, not the sinner. But with you,           I struggle with that belief.                                   Burt turns away to get a glass of water.                                                   ARTHUR           You could switch to Judaism.           (glances up at the fan)           Bit warm in here. Do you mind if I           put the fan on?                                   Arthur turns the fan on a low setting. It rotates slowly, the          head going around with it. Burt turns away to pour more          water. Arthur grabs the moment to speed up the fan again,          until it's going fast enough and Jesus's head falls off.          Arthur catches it. Arthur gets behind Burt, out of sight          temporarily.                                                   BURT           Anyway, Arthur. However I feel           about you, my daughter loves you.                                                   ARTHUR           Yes, it's a problem, isn't it?                                   Arthur reaches out and, unseen by Burt, he reaches out of          shot and puts the head back on Jesus's body.                                                   ARTHUR (CONT'D)           Let's knock our heads together and           find a way to stop her loving           me....Got it! We'll tell her I'm on           the sex offenders register....No, I           am and she knows.                          (BEAT)           Joke, sorry. Ah. We'll say I'm gay!           I did once dabble actually, so I           can tell a plausible story.                                                   BURT           You made love to a guy?                                                   ARTHUR           One Moslem doesn't make a mosque,           Burt.                                                   BURT           You made love to a Moslem?           38.                                                                            ARTHUR           No, sir, it was Prince Alois of           Lichtenstein and he made love to           me. The fact that it took three           bottles of poppers and a Jacuzzi           full of Krug to loosen me up           confirmed my heterosexuality.                                   Arthur notices that Jesus's head is on backwards.                                   Burt picks up a Bible from his desk and quotes from memory.                                                   BURT           `If there is a man who lies with a           male, they shall surely be put to           death.'                                                   ARTHUR           Crikey. Couldn't there just be some           kind of on-the-spot fine?                                   Burt really hammers the table this time.                                                   BURT           You will stop this talk and marry -           my - fucking...                                   Jesus's head falls off. Arthur peers around. It's nowhere!                                                   ARTHUR           Oh bollocks.                                   Both Arthur and Burt see Jesus's head at the bottom of the          fish tank. It floats back up to the top.                                                   ARTHUR (CONT'D)           It's a miracle! He is risen!                                   But SUSAN, Burt's beautiful daughter, enters with her best          friend Erica - who Arthur met whilst at the restaurant the          other night.                                                   ARTHUR (CONT'D)           Hi Susan. Erica.                                   Burt looks from Jesus's head to the sword, figuring it out.                                                   SUSAN           Sorry to make you wait, Arthur. I           was talking to your mother. I hear           you have something to ask me!                                   Arthur feels Burt's smiling face - and hating eyes - on him.           39.                                                                            ARTHUR           Shall we go?                                                            INT. RESTAURANT - NIGHT                                   A VERY PRECISE FRENCH WAITER performs the specials menu with          ludicrous elan. Susan is rapt, taking it all very seriously.                                    WAITER (O.S.)           ...the chef has bathed the bass in           a parceline of Chilean fennel and           finished him with a little gift of           kobe beef. Also I have a           progressive tasting of Kumamoto           oysters en gelee which evolve on           the palate, from light and           refreshing to complex and spicy. A           short story with a twist at the           end! Le fin.                                   Susan chuckles approvingly, knowingly, the twit. She coos          with delight and claps in appreciation.                                                   ARTHUR           Do you have something with less           words please? The chef doesn't have           to re-cook it, just scrape off the           nouns and trim out all that           gibberish in the middle.                                                   SUSAN           He's just joshing, Dominic. I'll do           the skate in wood ear mushroom.                                                   WAITER           Excellent decision. Sir?                                                   ARTHUR           A bowl of champagne and a spoon.                                   The waiter leaves, despising Arthur.                                                   SUSAN           Arthur, did you really have to be           so icky to Dominic?                                                   ARTHUR           I'm sorry. I just can't handle the           whole specials act. It's not a           Shakespearean soliloquy, it's some           heated up dead things that aren't           on the main menu.           40.                                                            A WINE WAITER slams a bowl and spoon next to Arthur. He pours          in champagne.                                                   SUSAN           You know, I was grumbling to your           mother about how things are with us           sometimes. How I'm sure you're           trying to drive me away...                                   Arthur slurps his champagne.                                                   ARTHUR           Um hm.                                                   SUSAN           But she was explaining that           relationships are like property           purchases; invest only in high-end           stock, avoid anyone 'up-and-           coming', then hold onto the           property through thick and thin to           deliver maximum return! Isn't that           darling?                                                   ARTHUR           Is it possible to buy the house but           then rent it out? Sorry, joke. I'm           not suggesting pimping you.                                   Arthur sees a very frail, rich old woman dripping in          diamonds, passing by on her walking frame.                                                   ARTHUR (CONT'D)           Look. You after our first child is           born.                                                   SUSAN           Arthur. Why can't you learn to           laugh at genuinely amusing things?                                                   ARTHUR           Such as?                                                   SUSAN           YouTube clips of babies giggling.           Dane Cook.                                                   ARTHUR           Susan. Why are we together?                                                   SUSAN           I love you, Arthur. And you love           me, whatever you think.           41.                                                                            ARTHUR           We don't have the same sense of           humour. We don't like the same           films, food, music. You like           horses, I think they're arrogant           idiots...                                                   SUSAN           Don't they say opposites attract?                                                   ARTHUR           That depends on the opposites.           Racists and the Nation of Islam           don't secretly want to 69 each           other. Susan, you're beautiful.           You're bright. You're fucking           loaded. Is there really no one else           who could make you happy?                                                   SUSAN           No.                                                   ARTHUR           Never?                                                   SUSAN           Well, I had a thing at college.           That was serious for a while. But           daddy...                                   She stops herself.                                                   ARTHUR           Daddy what? Prayed to Jesus for it           not to work out, then shot the           bloke behind a meat truck? Because           Jesus would consider that cheating.                                   Susan places her hand on Arthur's.                                                   SUSAN           Ask me, Arthur.                                   Arthur takes Susan's hand.                                                   ARTHUR           Susan. You're the only woman...at           this table.                                   A waiter tops up Susan's wine. Arthur, now very drunk, holds          out his champagne bowl to be refilled.           42.                                                                            SUSAN           You're not happy, Arthur. Nobody           who drinks like you can be happy.                                                   ARTHUR           How do you know? What if the           drunker I get the better it is for           me? Not everyone who drinks is a           poet, Susan. Some of us drink           because we're not poets.                                   The waiter arrives with Susan's fish and Arthur's drink.                                                   SUSAN           A real woman could stop you from           drinking.                                                   ARTHUR           It'd have to be a real big woman.                                                   SUSAN           Ask me, Arthur.                                   Arthur sinks to his knees. Susan waits...and waits. Arthur          has passed out. Susan kicks him awake. He fumbles away in the          gloom, getting out the ring box and trying to get it on her          finger.                                   At table level, Susan waits, irritated.                                    ARTHUR (O.S.)           All done.                                   Susan pulls her hand up, and gazes at the huge, glinting          diamond - pushed onto the end of her thumb.                                                   ARTHUR (CONT'D)           Susan. Would you marry me? Take the           weekend if you want...                                                   SUSAN           Yes, I'll marry you.                                   She nods imperceptibly at the waiter.                                                   WAITER           Ladies and gentleman - the happy           couple!                                   Music starts. A congratulatory round of applause. Confetti is          thrown. The whole restaurant cheers. Susan whips out her          Blackberry and starts hitting keys.           43.                                                                            SUSAN           Erica will be the planner.                                                   ARTHUR           Erica? She hates me.                                                   SUSAN           Who I love, she loves.                                                   ARTHUR           Oh, come on. She always looks like           she wants to set fire to my face           then put it out with an Uzi.                                   Susan's phone rings.                                                   SUSAN                          (ANSWERING)           Hello...thanks, daddy! Sorry, hang           on, I have Erica calling...                                                   ARTHUR           What's going on? I only just bloody           proposed!                                   Arthur's phone rings. The caller I.D reads `Vivienne'. He          kills the call and sits, horrified, as the entire restaurant          celebrates his grim fate.                                   INT. PIERRE HOTEL BASEMENT GARAGE - NIGHT - LATER                                   In the gloom we track past the crushed Batmobile, the          Delorean and other famous cars, to find Arthur sitting in          KITT from `Knight Rider'.                                                   ARTHUR (CONT'D)           What have I done, Kitt? This           mistake's up there with Hitler           joining his school debating team...                                                   VOICE (FEMALE)           Go to bed, Arthur.                                   Arthur jumps out of his skin. But it's Hobson, standing by          the car holding a dressing gown and a mug of cocoa.                                                   HOBSON           And stop this self-pitying bibble.           You're going to be fabulously rich.                                                   ARTHUR           Maybe I'd rather be fabulously           poor. Some poor people I see look           happy.           44.                                                                            HOBSON           That's either because they're far           away or you've just given them           money. Arthur, poor people have to           work. They stand for hours in the           rain, waiting for buses full of           other poor people to take them to           things called `jobs' which they do           all year round to pay for holidays           away from those jobs.                                                   ARTHUR           Don't patronise me. I have a job.                                                   HOBSON           Lying drunk on a bale of hay in           riding boots being photographed by           another pampered prick won't           prepare you for the work I mean.           And I don't want to see you suffer.           Take your fish oil.                                                            INT. NAOMI'S APARTMENT, QUEENS - NIGHT                                   A very old Apple Mac sits on a cluttered desk.                                   Ralph is in his chair, eating Popeye's Chicken n' Biscuits,          watching CSI on an old TV with a tiny satellite dish on top.                                                   RALPH           When are we getting cable?                                    NAOMI (O.S.)           We have satellite.                                                   RALPH           Honey, that's some bullshit aerial           from the 99 cent Store!                                                   NAOMI           It's a satellite dish!                                                   RALPH           I read the box! It said `No           satellite fees to pay because does           not receive satellite signals!'           That's like saying `Hey - eat this           plate of broken glass! It won't           make you fat. 'cause IT'S GLASS!'                                   Naomi comes in, looking absolutely beautiful. She checks her          hair in the mirror.           45.                                                                            NAOMI           It's better than nothing.                                   Ralph unplugs the dish. The picture improves.                                                   RALPH           No it ain't. Honey, I love you, but           you're even cheaper than your mom.           And she bought food from yard           sales.                                                   NAOMI           I miss her too, daddy. But now           she's gone and if I'm going to keep           you in grits and Oprah the rest of           your life, you live by my rules.                                                   RALPH           But you live like you're preparing           for a war. And you earn a decent           salary.                                                   NAOMI           So? I want to know I can look after           you.                                                   RALPH           What's he do, this English bum?                                                   NAOMI           Who cares? He's nice. He's funny.                                   On CSI, a female body is being unearthed.                                                   RALPH           Yeah and I bet that girl said the           same about her date. Honey, stay           home. I don't want you ending up           like that poor girl.                                                   NAOMI           A bad actress holding her breath?                                   She changes the channel to something else.                                                   NAOMI (CONT'D)           Stop watching CSI.                                   A beep from outside. She kisses him and leaves.                                                            EXT. PARK - NIGHT                                   Arthur's Bentley pulls up at a quiet part of Battery Park.           46.                                                             ARTHUR (O.S.)           Sorry we drove around so long.           Navigation isn't my driver's strong           point.                                   There's a huge ding in one side of the car.                                                   ARTHUR (CONT'D)           Or road awareness.                                                            INT. BENTLEY - NIGHT - CONTINUOUS                                   Arthur and Naomi sit in the back of the car, while Marty          checks sports results on his pager.                                                   ARTHUR           Can you put this on please?                                   Arthur's holding a blindfold.                                                   NAOMI           On a first date? Are you crazy?                                                   ARTHUR           Trust me.                                                   NAOMI           Arthur. We're in Battery Park at           night. I've met you once - in the           company of your nanny. You make a           disturbing number of jokes about           stalking and basements. My dad           already has you down as a mass           murderer. And you want me to put on           a blindfold?                                                   ARTHUR           I give you my word - if I kill and           eat you, you'll never see me again.                                   She shrugs and puts on the blindfold.                                                            EXT. NIGHT - LATER                                   Arthur guides Naomi in the dark. She stumbles.                                                   NAOMI           Okay, I'm officially a little           worried.                                   She tries to pull her blindfold off.           47.                                                                            ARTHUR                          (LAUGHING)           Don't worry!                                   Arthur removes her blindfold. She's stunned to find herself          on a huge blanket under a tree in a clearing lit by numerous          candles. Before them is spread the most amazing picnic of all          time. Flowers are everywhere. A log fire burns in a grate.          Soft music plays.                                                   ARTHUR (CONT'D)           You said you wanted a picnic.                                   He pours them glasses of 1928 Krug.                                                   NAOMI           Arthur, I don't know what to say.           It's beautiful.                          (LOOKING AROUND)           Who did all this?                                                   ARTHUR           The picnic fairies. Who liaised           with the flower fairies, the candle           fairies, the log fire fairies, the           hidden sound system fairies...                                   He lifts a silver platter lid to reveal a vast pizza.                                                   ARTHUR (CONT'D)           ...and the pizza fairies.                                   A crack of a twig from somewhere.                                                   NAOMI           Did you take account of the heroin           fairies who hang here at night?                                   But there's nobody there. A cool breeze blows. Naomi shivers.          Arthur uses a remote to turn the log fire flames up.                                                   ARTHUR           It's nice to keep it simple like           this. I'm sick of Michelin-star           restaurants. All that embarrassing           crap with the specials.                                                   NAOMI           Are you kidding? Where I normally           eat, the special's the one that           comes with a free toy.                                   Arthur lifts a grill lid to turn over succulent steaks.           48.                                                                            NAOMI (CONT'D)           You're rich rich, aren't you?                                                   ARTHUR           I get by.                                                   NAOMI           `It doesn't remotely matter how           much or what you spend it on' rich?                                   Arthur shrugs and swigs champagne, pouring more.                                                   NAOMI (CONT'D)           Craziest thing you ever bought?                                                   ARTHUR           I once inadvertently financed a           terrorist cell who said they needed           £100,000 to open a falafel stall.                                   She laughs. She stops laughing.                                                   NAOMI           Oh my G-d, you're serious.                                                   ARTHUR           What's the craziest thing you ever           told a tour party?                                                   NAOMI           I once said the Manhattan we were           in was actually a movie set built           for `You've got Mail', but that           after the film wrapped, everyone           moved to the set because there was           less crime.                                   A sudden, very loud, very out-of-date ring tone. Naomi takes          out a huge ancient Motorola phone.                                                   NAOMI (CONT'D)           Yes, dad? There's a small Tiffany           butter knife about two inches from           his hand but it might take him           eight months to dismember me with           it.                          (PHONE BLEEPS)           Gotta go, battery. Love you too.                                   She ends the call.           49.                                                                            NAOMI (CONT'D)           Mom died last year. For eight           months dad ate nothing but Popeye's           Chicken n' Biscuits in front of           CSI. So I persuaded him to move in           with me. Where he eats Popeye's           Chicken n' Biscuits in front of           CSI.                                                   ARTHUR           Sounds like you're very good to           him.                                                   NAOMI           What are you gonna do? All those           years your folks tucked you in, did           their best to stop you from eating           crap in front of the TV. And then           one day, you're the one saying `No,           honey, it's bad for you! Go to           bed.' Weird, huh?                                                   ARTHUR           (not relating at all)           Yeah. I hate that.           (looks at her phone)           Nice bit of kitsch. Where did you           find that?                                                   NAOMI           AT&T store in 1998.                                                   ARTHUR           It's...You've had it twelve years?                                                   NAOMI           It's a fine phone. Battery life of           eleven seconds, which cuts the crap           right out of conversations.                                   Something weird is happening. The world wobbles imperceptibly          as the background drops away. She hasn't noticed yet.                                                   NAOMI (CONT'D)           I can't believe these mofos who           gotta keep up with the latest           bullshit. CDs come along, so out           with the vinyl. Vinyl's back in,           out with the CDs. I just kept the           vinyl. Way cheaper, and I get to be           incredibly hip once every 20           years....                                   A beat. She looks around. And down.           50.                                                                            NAOMI (CONT'D)           WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?                                   Cutting wide, we see that the picnic was taking place on a          grass covered platform with a tree planted in it - which is          being lifted off the ground by a crane!                                                   ARTHUR           I couldn't decide between picnic in           the park and dinner with a view. So           it's a picnic in the sky! Isn't it           ace?                                   The whole thing is rising higher and higher and higher.                                                   NAOMI           No it is not ace, you crazy English           bastard! This is dangerous!                                                   ARTHUR           Oh, sorry. Forgot. They said to put           these on.                                   He pulls back the blanket to reveal seat belts. He straps her          in.                                                   ARTHUR (CONT'D)                          (LAUGHING)           Naomi, it's okay! It's very safe.           It's this company called `Aerial           Delights'. They specialise in           catering unusual events at a height           of 180 feet above the ground.                                   A gust of wind blows the structure, which swings. Naomi          screams.                                                   ARTHUR (CONT'D)           So what got you into the walking           tours?                                                   NAOMI           You're seriously making date small           talk while this is going on?                                                   ARTHUR           Be still. Breathe deep.           (strikes a Zen pose)           `When you can be calm in the midst           of activity, this is the true state           of nature': Huanchu Daoeren.           51.                                                                            NAOMI           `Lower this freak show to the           ground and get me a cab': Naomi           Snart.                                                   ARTHUR           (handing her something)           Taste this truffle.                                   Naomi tastes it. It's clearly delicious. She gazes around as          the crane swings them out over the Hudson. The view of          Manhattan, of the river, of the Statue of Liberty, is mind          bogglingly gorgeous from up here.                                   Naomi bursts out laughing. She sips champagne.                                                   NAOMI           What the hell. Gotta go sometime,           right? At least it won't be years           of pain like mom. Just a few           seconds of screaming and falling           with a truffle in my mouth.                                                   ARTHUR           So anyway. The tours...                                                   NAOMI                          (CALMING HERSELF)           Okay, okay. Be deep. Breathe still.           The tours are a temporary nine year           fill-in until I'm drowned in a           tsunami of apologies from everyone           who failed to recognise my writing           genius first time round.                                                   ARTHUR           What did you write?                                                   NAOMI           A kids' book. I sent a chapter to a           childrens' publisher. Sunshine           Press'. The rejection letter was           the meanest thing I ever read.                                                   ARTHUR           Kids can be so cruel...                                                   NAOMI                          (INTERRUPTING)           Arthur? We have a problem.           52.                                                                            ARTHUR           I told you, don't worry. These           crane people know what they're           doing!                                                   NAOMI           Not that kind of problem.                                   Arthur feels a blade at his throat. He looks up to see A          JUNKIE, CLEARLY HIGH, standing over him.                                                   JUNKIE           Phone. And the watch. Hurry.                                   Arthur hands him his phone and watch.                                                   ARTHUR           Um. Out of interest, how did you           get up here?                                                   JUNKIE           What you talkin' about, dog?                                   We see a sleeping bag and needles behind the tree!                                                   NAOMI           Great. `Picnic in the sky' followed           by `Robbed in the sky'!                                   Arthur get the giggles as the junkie reaches into his pocket          for his wallet. Naomi gets involuntary giggles too.                                                   NAOMI (CONT'D)           This isn't funny, you lunatic.                                   The junkie stuffs his face with food, swigs champagne from          the bottle, then walks away. Phew. Then...                                    ARTHUR AND NAOMI           NOOOO!                                   The junkie's walking towards the edge, oblivious! Arthur          jumps up, causing the platform to wobble scarily. He grabs          the junkie's arm. The junkie swipes, cutting Arthur's hand.                                                   ARTHUR           OWWW! You don't understand! We're           180 feet up in the sky!                                                   JUNKIE                          (LAUGHS)           You on the same shit as me, yeah?           Good stuff, right?           53.                                                                            ARTHUR           No, we're not high! Well we are,           but only in the literal sense.                                   The junkie hurries away again. He's about to walk off the          edge. Arthur runs and grabs him. They end up in a messy          struggle, the platform rocking badly.                                                   ARTHUR (CONT'D)                          (TO NAOMI)           Hit the panic button! It's next to           the truffle station!                                   Naomi's panicking, searching desperately. Arthur and the          junkie roll over the posh food, right to the edge!                                                   ARTHUR (CONT'D)           Hurry!                                                   NAOMI           I can't find it. Over here?                                                   ARTHUR           No! That's the bouquet of world           hams!                                   Naomi finds the truffle station and hits the panic button.          Down in a Crane Cab an alarm goes off. The driver starts to          lower the platform.                                   Naomi tries to help Arthur as he struggles with the junkie,          but she gets slashed on the ear. She screams.                                   As the platform lowers, it swings back over the river to the          land and tips them all into the river!                                                   CUT TO:                                                            INT. ARTHUR'S CAR - NIGHT                                   Naomi and Arthur - his face bruised - are sitting in the car,          both dripping wet. Naomi's ear and Arthur's hand are          bandaged.                                                   ARTHUR           I had fun tonight.                                   She stares at him as if he's utterly crazy.                                                   NAOMI           I can't believe I'm saying this,           but so did I.           54.                                                            INT. ARTHUR'S PENTHOUSE - BALLROOM DAY                                   The room has started to fill with groom's paraphernalia -          morning suits, top hats, shoes. Erica is sitting with a huge          sheaf of wedding admin and brochures. Vivienne, Burt and          Susan listen attentively, studying seating plans. It all          feels more like a council of war than a wedding preparation.                                                   ERICA           Summarising Phase Alpha: formal           wear for bridal attendants, groom's           attendants, mens' formal wear, St           John the Divine all confirmed...                                   ARTHUR'S lying on a chaise longue, hungover. A TAILOR          stretches a tape measure along him as if measuring a corpse.                                                   ARTHUR                          (TO TAILOR)           Are there breathing holes in the           coffin?                                                   TAILOR           I'm sorry?                                                   ARTHUR           In case I'm passed out drunk rather           than medically dead?                                                   ERICA           Don't worry, Thomas. This whole           thing's just a joke to Arthur.                                   Hobson brings Arthur a glass of water and two Nurofen.                                                   ARTHUR                          (VERY AFFECTIONATE)           Thanks, Hobnobs. You are good to           me.                                   Vivienne, irritated, hands Hobson a coffee cup.                                                   VIVIENNE           Take this away.                          (TO ERICA)           Progress on the reception?                                                   ERICA           Black inked at the Emery Roth Room           at the Ritz-Carlton.                                   The screen lights up with a church graphic.           55.                                                                            ERICA (CONT'D)           A first pass at the guest list.           Bride's family and friends:                                   A 3-d layout of the church appears on a laptop. In the mock          up, the bride's side of the aisle fills with hundreds of          computerised guests, many labelled with famous names.                                                   ERICA (CONT'D)           Groom's family and friends:                                   About a fifth of that number pop up on Arthur's side.                                                   ERICA (CONT'D)           We can arrange to screen off the           area behind your guests, Arthur. To           make it seem less desperate.                                   Arthur groans and leans over a bowl.                                                   ARTHUR           Sorry, everyone. that graphic's too           colourful and this hangover's a 7.6           on the Richter..the Sickter...                                   Arthur's sick. Erica lays out more sheets.                                                   ERICA           Cakes, caterers, floral           arrangements, photographer...                                   Hobson reappears, wipes his mouth and takes the bowl. She          stands with it accidentally-on-purpose, very close to          Vivienne's nose.                                                   HOBSON           Will there be anything else, sir?                                                   ARTHUR           No, thanks.                                                   HOBSON                          (TO VIVIENNE)           Ma'am?                                                   VIVIENNE           No. You can leave.                                                   ARTHUR           Why all this crap now? What's the           rush anyway?                                                   BURT           The wedding is in a month, Arthur.           56.                                                                            ARTHUR           A month? I was thinking more sort           of ten, fifteen years. Just to           really enjoy the anticipation of           the big day.                                   Arthur gets up.                                                   ERICA           Where are you going?                                                   ARTHUR           (gets out his cellphone)           Sorry, Dwight D. Bridalshower,           Operation Ball and Chain will have           to wait.                                                            EXT. MANHATTAN - DAY                                   Arthur is walking Naomi along the Hudson, this time in          daylight. He stops.                                                   ARTHUR           Here we are.                                                   NAOMI           We're not going to end up in the           Hudson again, are we?                                                   ARTHUR           I can promise you won't get wet.                                                   CUT TO:                                                            EXT. HUDSON RIVER - NIGHT                                   The Hudson is bare of craft....until, suddenly, a bizarre          mini submarine shaped like a dolphin, dives out of the water          in an arc. Arthur and Naomi are laughing inside it - until          they almost collide with a Circle Tour boat full of tourists.                                                            EXT. MANHATTAN - NIGHT                                   Arthur and Naomi are hand in hand, walking along the street.          He's a bit drunk, wobbly on his feet, a little morose.                                                   NAOMI           Are you okay?                                                   ARTHUR           Yeah, fine. Actually...           57.                                                            But Naomi sees something on the other side of the road.                                   Arthur gets a a text from Hobson: `TELL her!'                                                   NAOMI           Hey, Richey Rich. Want to go           somewhere really romantic?                                   It's a big tacky shop: JACK'S 99 CENT STORE.                                                            INT. 99 CENT STORE - NIGHT                                   `I'M TOO SEXY' BY RIGHT SAID FRED PLAYING LOUDLY ON SPEAKERS.                                   The space is huge, garish and piled high with countless cheap          household cleaners, candies, foodstuffs and toys. Arthur's          fascinated, a tourist in austerity.                                                   ARTHUR           Everything is 99 cents?                                                   NAOMI           Yip. A whole penny less than those           bourgeois assholes at the Dollar           Store.                                   Arthur reads a doll's label.                                                   ARTHUR           `Warning: This product contains           chromium, which may be linked to           chronic bronchitis and reproductive           hazards."                                                   NAOMI           That one was on the news. Everyone           else recalled them, the pussies.           Not my 99 Cent!                                   Arthur turns the doll over: a sticker reads `China'.                                                   ARTHUR           Maybe China's trying to wipe out           the west's children one by one.                                   He gazes around in wonder.                                                   NAOMI           Oh, I love this place.                                                   ARTHUR           Why?           58.                                                                            NAOMI           Well, I'd like you to believe it's           because I'm a poor girl reduced to           buying `Depressed Chef' burgers-in-           a-can to Right Said Fred because I           don't know where my next paycheck           is coming from. But the truth is -           bargains get me hot. Got it from           ma. Drives my dad crazy. The tour?                                                   ARTHUR           Yes please.                                   She takes his arm.                                                   NAOMI           Looking west, the ladies' hygiene           products. Note that the more           natural-sounding the name, e.g.           this 'Vermont Breeze' Feminine           Spray, the more lethal chemicals it           contains. Watch out for the           products cunningly labelled to make           the dumber consumer think they're           getting the real thing: 'Special           J', 'Crampbell's Soup', ''Aunt           Janina's' Maple-Style Syrup...                                   Arthur holds a tin with a Coffee Mate-style logo, reading          `Friend of Coffee'.                                   The store music changes to RICKY MARTIN: `LIVIN' LA VIDA                         LOCA'                                                   NAOMI (CONT'D)           And ah, the music: Dated sounds for           lonely people to buy cheap shit to.                                   They pass AN OLD WOMAN who is going through a stack of          identical tins of cheap beans.                                                   NAOMI (CONT'D)           I once watched a woman shoplift an           8-pack of toilet scrubbers down her           panty hose to 'Everything I do, I           do it for you'.                                   Arthur just stares at Naomi.                                                   NAOMI (CONT'D)           Why are you staring at me?                                                   ARTHUR           Just fascinated.           59.                                                                            NAOMI           You're good at fascinated.                                                   ARTHUR           You're good at fascinating.                                   A CRASH. The old woman has knocked over all the beans.                                                   ARTHUR (CONT'D)           Are you okay? Let me help you.                                   He hands her a tin.                                                   OLD WOMAN           Not that one.                                                   ARTHUR           (offers her another)           This one?                                                   OLD WOMAN           (shaking the tin)           No. There's less beans in it.                                                   ARTHUR           This one?                                                   OLD WOMAN           (sniffs the tin)           No.                                                   ARTHUR           This one?                                   She stares and thinks. Arthur puts the tin to his ear.                                                   ARTHUR (CONT'D)           No. I think I hear a mouse inside.                                   Arthur shakes and sniffs another tin.                                                   ARTHUR (CONT'D)           Oh my G-d. This is a good one. No           rodents. Packed.                                   He slips her a dollar and whispers to her.                                                   ARTHUR (CONT'D)           Quick, before someone gets it.                                   Naomi gazes at a different Arthur to the fool who nearly got          her killed.           60.                                                                            OLD WOMAN                          (TO NAOMI)           You got a good one here, honey.                                   She hurries away.                                                   ARTHUR           Look. Us in a year's time.                                   ANOTHER OLD COUPLE push a cart past. THE OLD WOMAN sneezes.          The old man produces a tissue and gently wipes her nose.                                                   ARTHUR (CONT'D)           If you got ill, I'd care for you.                                                   NAOMI           I'll get ill.                                   The music changes.                                                   NAOMI (CONT'D)           Oh, man, Phil Collins. Gotta get           out when they start playing Phil           Collins. Want to see how to get a           quarter from a shopping cart?                                                            INT. HIGH END RESTAURANT - NIGHT                                   Arthur, Susan and Erica - her laptop open - are at dinner.          Hobson's salting Arthur's soup, then checking the          temperature.                                                   ERICA           Tiger Woods has confirmed!                                                   ARTHUR           I didn't know you knew him.                                                   SUSAN           I don't.                                                   ARTHUR           Why is he coming?                                                   SUSAN           He agreed to daddy's fee. This is           going to be the happiest day of my           life!                                   She looks at Hobson.                                                   SUSAN (CONT'D)           Why is she here all the time?           61.                                                                            ARTHUR           If you can bring Erica, I can bring           Hobson.                                                   SUSAN           She's my wedding planner.                                                   ARTHUR           She's my Hobson.                                   Hobson leans into Arthur while tidying his napkin.                                                   HOBSON                          (WHISPERING)           Tell Naomi. That's an order.                                                            INT. ARTHUR'S APARTMENT. NIGHT                                   Arthur's giving stunned Naomi a tour of the huge apartment.                                                   ARTHUR           Reminiscent of a French castle           perched 500 feet above New York,           the penthouse was known from early           days as the `Chateau in the Sky'.                                   He leads her out onto a second rooftop ballroom.                                                   NAOMI           A second ballroom. Obviously. Gotta           have a second ballroom.                                                   ARTHUR           Where George Gershwin and the           Astors danced to Shep Fields and           his Rippling Rhythm Orchestra.                                   He grabs her in a ballroom dance move.                                                   ARTHUR (CONT'D)           Come on, cheap girl. We can be Fred           Austere and Stingy Rogers.                                                   NAOMI                          (PULLING AWAY)           I just need one of your collection           of bathrooms.                                                   ARTHUR           Behind the telephone box fish tank.           See you on the balcony.           62.                                                            Arthur goes onto the balcony. Naomi's notices a figure          sitting in the dark, stifling a cough. Hobson.                                                   NAOMI           Hobson?                                                   HOBSON           He's not like other men, you know.                                                   NAOMI           I think I realised that as I           plunged into the Hudson with a           junkie. But I like him. He's fun.                                   Hobson fights another little cough. She gets up.                                                   HOBSON           I know he is. That's the problem.                                                   NAOMI           What does that mean?                                                   HOBSON           I'm sure Arthur will explain.                                                            EXT. BALCONY - NIGHT                                   The live version of Simon and Garfunkel's `The 59th Street          Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy') is playing on speakers. Arthur          and Naomi look out over the view, the park, dark and empty in          contrast to the cheering and clapping on the recording.                                   Naomi sips her wine. Arthur throws back a whisky.                                                   ARTHUR           Your kids' book. What was it about?                                                   NAOMI           `Vlad the Inhaler'. About an           asthmatic boy detective.                                                   ARTHUR           Be serious.                                                   NAOMI           Oh, it was dumb. `The Boy Whose           Heart Escaped'. It was about this           kid who wakes up to find his heart           has climbed out and is shinning           down the drainpipe to freedom.                                                   ARTHUR           I love it.           63.                                                                            NAOMI           Rainbow Press said it was too           disturbing. But it wasn't literal -           there wasn't a kid lying there with           a gaping hole in his chest. It was           just this cute little heart           bouncing up and down shouting `You           can't catch me, mofo!'. I'm           paraphrasing.                                                   ARTHUR           Did he catch the heart?                                                   NAOMI           Never got that far.                                   Arthur wobbles a little more.                                                   NAOMI (CONT'D)           You like the hooch, don't you?                                                   ARTHUR           Only if I'm sad, happy or bored.           There's this bit in a book Hobson           used to read me as a kid that says           it all: `We must stop eating           cookies, Frog!' cried Toad, as he           ate another.'                                                   NAOMI           Frog and Toad! I loved Frog and           Toad!                                                   ARTHUR                          (FROM MEMORY)           `Frog put the cookies in a box.           `There' he said. Now we will not           eat any more cookies.' `But we can           open the box.' Frog tied some           string around the box. `There' he           said, `Now we will not eat any more           cookies'. `But we can cut the           string and open the box'.                                   Naomi lays her head on Arthur's shoulder.                                                   ARTHUR (CONT'D)           So Frog took the box outside. He           shouted in a loud voice, `Hey           birds, here are cookies!' Birds           came from everywhere. They picked           up all the cookies in their beaks           and flew away. `                          (MORE)           64.                                                   ARTHUR (CONT'D)           Now we have no more cookies to eat'           `Excellent!' said Toad, `I am going           home now to bake a cake.'                          (BEAT)           Classic addict.                                   They might be about to kiss. But Arthur holds back.                                                   NAOMI           That was beautiful. It's like you           read it yesterday.                                                            INT. ARTHUR'S BEDROOM - NIGHT - LATER                                   Arthur's blissed out face, lying in bed in the soft light.                                                   HOBSON (OOV)           Frog and Toad stayed on the island           all afternoon.                                   Hobson's reading `Frog and Toad' to Arthur.                                                   HOBSON (CONT'D)           They ate wet sandwiches without           iced tea. They were two close           friends sitting alone together.                                   Hobson closes the book and turns out the light.                                                   ARTHUR           I couldn't tell her, Hobson. She           isn't the Komodo dragon. She's my           toad.                                                   HOBSON           You're quite sure about this?                                                   ARTHUR           Yes.                                                   HOBSON           (under her breath)           Oh, bollocks.                                                            INT. NAOMI'S APARTMENT. DAY                                   Naomi's sitting with Ralph, who's scratching off lottery          tickets.           65.                                                                            RALPH           I don't know, honey. What's this           teabag even doing here? Couldn't he           make it in Lord of the Rings land?                                                   NAOMI           Not that it matters, but he's a           billionaire.                                                   RALPH           You have my full permission to           marry him.                                                            EXT. SHOWJUMPING FIELD. DAY                                   A HORSE clears a showjumping barrier. Grant applauds.                                                   GRANT           Bravo, Vivienne! Well done!                                   Arthur's watching, sweating in the sunshine, while Marty and          Hobson wait in the Bentley.                                                   ARTHUR           I'd be wary, Grant. She's planning           to ride you around the course next.           Her last boyfriend broke his ankle           jumping that ditch. Had to be           destroyed on the spot.                                   Vivienne canters her horse up to them.                                                   VIVIENNE           Arthur. What's so urgent that you           had to come all the way out here?                                                   ARTHUR           I'm in love. With a woman who isn't           exactly who you'd describe as           Susan. She's called Naomi.                                                   VIVIENNE           Arthur, we've been through this!                                                   ARTHUR           Won't you at least meet her?                                                   VIVIENNE           What family is she from?                                                   ARTHUR           The Snarts of Detroit.           66.                                                                            VIVIENNE           Never heard of them.                                                   ARTHUR           No, because they're normal. She's a           walking tour guide, her dad's a           retired car worker.                                                   VIVIENNE           Susan will generate quality sons,           not oil-soaked car monkeys.                                                   ARTHUR           Unbelievable! Why don't you just           keep me here, pay a servant to wank           me into a bottle once a day...                                                   VIVIENNE           Arthur...                                                   ARTHUR           ...then inject it all into a field           of heiresses and see who farts out           a thoroughbred first?                                                   VIVIENNE           We need an heir!                                                   ARTHUR           Fine! You can have one with Stevey           Steroids here! Surely even your           uterus has had a face lift by now.                                   Arthur storms away towards the car.                                                   GRANT                          (STEPPING IN)           That's enough, Arthur...                                                   ARTHUR           None of your business, J Crew.                                                   GRANT           You are so ungrateful to your           mother. She adores you!                                                   VIVIENNE           Arthur. Come back here.                                                   ARTHUR           You can shove your inheritance up           your horse's arse!           67.                                                            Arthur jumps into the car and it pulls away. Vivienne sits          shocked on her horse. But then she throws it into a gallop          and catches up.                                                   VIVIENNE           Suit yourself, Arthur. Follow your           heart. But do be aware I consider           what you've squandered so far an           advance on your inheritance. That's           about $17 million.                                                   ARTHUR           Why would you do that? You'd never           get it back.                                                   VIVIENNE           No. But you'd spend the rest of           your life in court. There's a           simple solution to all this. Marry           Susan. And cheat with the nobody           from Queens.                                                            INT. DINER - DAY                                   Arthur's very drunk, maudlin, sitting opposite Naomi. He's          holding his menu upside down.                                                   NAOMI           Have you been at the cookies?                                                   ARTHUR           I ate the whole jar.                                                   NAOMI           (realising it's serious)           Oh, man. What? What?                                                   ARTHUR           I'm engaged. To another Susan.           Woman. Engaged to another woman.                                   She slams her menu down.                                                   ARTHUR (CONT'D)           I'm so sorry I didn't tell you.                                                   NAOMI           What are you talking about? This is           bullshit. Who do you think you are?           Is this some rich guy thing?                                                   ARTHUR           I was going to tell you! I just...           68.                                                            Naomi gets up and puts on her coat.                                                   NAOMI           Yeah, yeah, you just.                                                   ARTHUR           Please, Naomi! I didn't mean for it           to get to this! I planned to just           be your friend but then I started           to fall for you and I thought `I           can't marry Susan, I might fall for           Naomi!' But I thought `No I have to           marry Susan or I'll be poor so I           won't fall for Naomi' But then I           did fall for you! Because you're           brainy and funny and gorgeous and           too smart to do walking tours.           You're too smart, Snart. Smart           Snart. There's a 99 cent cereal.                          (BEAT)           Anyway, so I went to see Vivienne,           and I said `I can't marry Susan, I           love Naomi she's my Frog my Toad' I           don't know any more.                                                   NAOMI           You're frog.                                                   ARTHUR           Thanks. Then she said `Noooo, if           you don't marry Susan, I'll make           you pay all the inheritance money           back even if you can't - ha ha ha'.           Okay she didn't laugh but she might           as well have, the evil cow. Because           it's like all the money ever and           they'll put not just me but both of           us in prison and your dad, like in           Dickens. There'll be ghosts, and           Oliver and....                                   He stops, his mouth flapping like a fish.                                                   NAOMI           Maybe if I'd spotted this facet of           your personality earlier we           wouldn't be having this           conversation.                                   She heads towards the door. Arthur regains his lucidity for a          moment.                                                   ARTHUR           Toad? Stay a bit longer. Please?           69.                                                                            NAOMI           Why?                                                   ARTHUR           'cause it'll reduce the proportion           of my life I'll spend feeling           utterly miserable.                                   Naomi watches him take another big slug of wine.                                                   NAOMI           Bye, Arthur.                                   Arthur looks confused.                                                   ARTHUR           Bea Arthur? What's she got to do           with all this?                                   She shakes her head and goes.                                                            INT. NAOMI'S APARTMENT - NIGHT                                   Naomi's looking very sad, shaking - because she's comforting          Ralph, who is sobbing on her shoulder.                                                   NAOMI           It's going to be okay. I'll get you           a beer, yeah?                                                   RALPH           I just have to be alone for a           minute...Oh, G-d, I can't bear           it...                                                            INT. DANE COOK CONCERT - NIGHT                                   Arthur sits miserable, drinking, as he sits beside Susan at a          Dane Cook gig.                                                            INT. NAOMI'S APARTMENT. NIGHT                                   Naomi's been crying. She's reading the screen of an ancient          Apple Mac: `THE BOY WHOSE HEART ESCAPED' by N J Snart. She          reads a paragraph - and smiles. This stuff isn't so bad.           70.                                                            INT. ARTHUR'S PENTHOUSE - BALLROOM - NIGHT.                                   Arthur and Susan are getting a dance lesson from a          CHOREOGRAPHER, clicking her fingers to a club anthem version          of the awful Jefferson Starship song. Arthur dances terribly.                                   Hobson watches sadly.                                                            INT. NAOMI'S APARTMENT. NIGHT                                   Naomi's typing, getting back into it.                                                            INT. ARTHUR'S APARTMENT - BATHROOM - DAY                                   The tailor is positioning a top hat on Arthur's miserable          head. He's shirtless and unshaven.                                                            INT. NAOMI'S APARTMENT. DAY                                   The sun is coming up over Queens.                                   An ancient dot matrix printer spits out a final page. Naomi          is at a desk with A PILE OF FINISHED MANUSCRIPTS and          envelopes to various publishers. One is to `Rainbow Press'.                                                            EXT. MANHATTAN - DAY                                   Naomi's pointing at the Chrysler Building for a particularly          grumpy bunch of tourists of all types and ages.                                                   NAOMI                          (YAWNS)           Designed by William Van Allen and           inspired by the machine age of the           1920s, the Chrysler...                                    RUDE MALE TOURIST           Hey. I got a question.                                                   NAOMI           Please, interrupt. Hell, who wants           to come home with me and butt in           with questions while I'm watching           Letterman? `Yo. How tall is Dave?'                          (BEAT)           Sorry, sir. Late night, no sleep,           long day. What's your question?           71.                                                            The opening bars of a familiar song start up somewhere,          filling the street. Suddenly, some of the members of her tour          group start lip syncing to Phil Collins.                                    RUDE MALE TOURIST           How can I just let you walk away,           just let you leave without a trace?                                                   FEMALE TOURIST           When I stand here taking every           breath with you, ooh...                                                   MALE TOURIST 2           You're the only one who really knew           me at all.                                   A van with speakers on the top is parked nearby, pumping out          the music.                                                   NAOMI           What is going on?                                    OLD FEMALE TOURIST           How can you just walk away from me,           when all I can do is watch you           leave?                                    TEENAGE BOY TOURIST           'cause we've shared the laughter           and the pain...                                                   NEWSSTAND GUY           And even shared the tears.                                   A Yellow Cab goes by, the driver lip-syncing out the window.                                    NEWSSTAND GUY (CONT'D)           You're the only one who really knew           me at all.                                   The song hits a hard club mix. Arthur bursts from the back of          the van in a frog outfit! The `tourists' launch into a well-          rehearsed dance.                                                   ARTHUR           (lip syncing too)           So take a look at me now, 'cause           there's just an empty space.           And there's nothing left here to           remind me, just the memory of your           face.                          (MORE)           72.                                                   ARTHUR (CONT'D)           Take a look at me now, `cause           there's just an empty space, And           you coming back to me is against           all odds and that's what I've got           to face...Just take a look at me           now.                                   The song builds to a dance crescendo.                                   A magical moment. The crowd watches. How can she say no?                                                   NAOMI           Sorry to be a wet blanket, folks.           he's getting married. But I guess           he didn't choreograph that bit for           you.                                                   ARTHUR           But..but this took ages to           rehearse. I had the frog outfit           specially made. These aren't actual           tourists.                                                   NAOMI           I gathered that, Arthur. Are you           capable of doing anything without           it being a grand gesture?                                                   ARTHUR           What do you mean?                                                   NAOMI           It's like Hobson said. You're not           like other men. If you were normal,           if the money and the booze didn't           cloud everything, you'd deal with           the fact that you're engaged,           rather than just looking for ways           to win me back. But it was a lovely           routine, really. Fantastic outfit.                                                   ARTHUR           I just wanted to see you.                                   He takes out his flask and has a swig.                                                   NAOMI                          (SYMPATHETIC)           You need to see someone, Arthur.           Seriously.           73.                                                            INT. ARTHUR'S PENTHOUSE. SHOWER - NIGHT                                   Arthur's in his cuboid David Blaine shower. He picks up his          binoculars.                                                   ARTHUR           Hobson! Female Tom Hanks has had a           haircut! Hobson?                                   But Marty pipes up on the little inset Hobson screen. He          looks at a note in Hobson's handwriting.                                                   MARTY           It says here you shouldn't forget           to clean your junk. I guess that's           what...'genitahlio-ah' is.                                                   ARTHUR           Marty? What are you doing there?                                                   MARTY           Hobson left me in charge. She's           gone to bed. She had a headache.                                                   ARTHUR           She's had quite a few headaches           lately.                                                   MARTY           She blacked out.                                                            INT. HOBSON'S ROOM. DAY                                   Hobson's in bed, watching a Discovery Channel documentary          about grizzly bears. Arthur hits pause.                                                   HOBSON           Put my bears back on, Arthur.                                                   ARTHUR           Not until you answer my question.                                   Hobson closes her eyes. She hams the next bit.                                                   HOBSON           I'm travelling down a white tunnel.           To - a garden? Mother? Father? Why           is it so hot? Who's the red           gentleman with the big pitchfork?                                                   ARTHUR           Will you cut it out?           74.                                                                            HOBSON           Arthur. There are three books. This           is important. Take them back to the           library...                                   She feigns a melodramatic death.                                                   ARTHUR           Hobson, please. Don't die any more.           It's getting very boring.                                                   HOBSON           Arthur. Old women, like bears, get           sore heads. Are you okay? You look           a little lost.                                                   ARTHUR           Naomi doesn't want to see me.                                                   HOBSON           A terrible shame she had to go. A           little tart like that could have           saved you a fortune in prostitutes.                                                   ARTHUR           Listen, old woman. Don't ever talk           about Naomi that way again. What           gives you the right to be such a           snob? You're just...you're just...           Mary Poppins with a menopause!                                   Arthur storms out, slamming the door. But within 10 seconds          he returns, humbled, ashamed - a regretful naughty child.                                                   ARTHUR (CONT'D)           Hobson, I've never raised my voice           to you. I'm sorry.                                                   HOBSON           I'm sorry too. You know, Arthur,           you may be growing up.                                                   ARTHUR           Do you want anything?                                                   HOBSON           I want to be younger.                                                   ARTHUR           Sorry, it's your job to be older.                          (THINKS)           Hobson. If you're feeling better           tomorrow, will you accompany me           somewhere?           75.                                                            She pats his hand gently.                                                   HOBSON           Of course, Arthur.                                                            INT. CAR - DAY                                   Marty and Hobson are staring, bemused.                                    ARTHUR (O.S.)           How do I look?                                   Arthur's wearing a huge, ludicrous wig and beard. Hobson and          Marty fight giggles.                                                   ARTHUR (CONT'D)           I can't have this getting out. I'm           in the public eye.                                                   HOBSON           Yes, it would be disastrous to harm           such a dignified profile.                                   He looks, scared, at the building.                                                   HOBSON (CONT'D)           It's going to be okay, Arthur.                                                            INT. AA MEETING - DAY                                   AA MEMBERS are sitting in a circle. MEGAN, a respectable-          looking, smart woman, is speaking.                                                   MEGAN           I was waking up four, five, six           mornings a week in different mens'           beds...                                   Arthur (in his ludicrous disguise), Hobson and Marty enter.                                                   MEGAN (CONT'D)           I wanted to die. To be nobody.                                                            INT. AA MEETING - DAY - LATER                                   A man, JAMES, speaks emotionally.                                                   JAMES           I steal from my friends, my family.           I sold my son's pedal car so I           could score junk...           76.                                                            Arthur - utterly depressed - has his head in his hands.                                                   ARTHUR           Jesus....                                                   JAMES           I accidentally backed my car over           my mother outside Walgreens...                                   Marty chuckles. He tries to fist-bump James.                                                   HOBSON                          (WHISPERS)           Marty! This isn't a sports bar in           Chicago. These people aren't here           to brag.                                                   JAMES                          (SOBBING)           I had a business, a home and it's           all gone! I'm in this fucking grave           and they're pouring the earth in!                                                   ARTHUR           Whoooaaahh. Okay, cut. I don't know           about anyone else, but this isn't           exactly killing my thirst.                                                   LEADER           Well why did you come...What's your           name?                                                   ARTHUR           Gandalf.                                   Arthur thinks. Seriousness - his least favourite thing - is          upon him. He takes a deep breath. But -                                                   ARTHUR (CONT'D)           I'm sorry, you're not going to           convince me my life isn't fun.                          (TO JAMES)           And no offence but if I ran over my           mother, I'd be out celebrating.           Which is what I plan to do right           now. Come on, Hobson. Marty.                                   Arthur leaves, the door swinging behind him.                                    WOMAN (O.S)           I'm Jane. And I believe I have a           dependence on alcohol...                                   The woman confessing is Hobson - on Arthur's behalf!           77.                                                                            HOBSON           ...and because I have done nothing           with the astonishing opportunities           handed to me, apart from pissing           away my inheritance and drinking           enough to kill a rhino.                                   Arthur, having heard, comes back in.                                                   HOBSON (CONT'D)           But imagine being me! I once ended           up in bed with the daughters of           three of the Rolling Stones. But a)           I don't remember a thing about it,           b) apparently I was sick on two of           the women before c) losing control           of my bladder on the third. All           such fun...until the strangers I           pay to be my friends have gone, the           fog parts and there's a hole so           big, you could pour all the           champagne in the world into it and           never fill it up. But I've got so           much potential, a good heart, I'm a           good person, even if I've           completely wasted my short,           precious life because I somehow           convinced myself that happiness is           a Komodo dragon, a case of booze           and the memory of having once           stripped naked to Beethoven for a           coachload of German tourists who I           met outside the Rainforest Cafe.                                   She's done. An awkward silence.                                                   ARTHUR           It's always the quiet ones.                                                            EXT. MIDTOWN MANHATTAN - DAY                                   The car drives through Manhattan.                                                            INT. CAR - DAY                                   Arthur stares out of the window, beaten, drunk.                                                   ARTHUR           Thanks, Hobson. Maybe you can go           every time I crave a drink?           78.                                                            Hobson doesn't even crack a smile. Arthur gets out his phone          and scrolls - past Naomi's name, to Susan's. He dials.                                                   ARTHUR (CONT'D)           Susan? Look, I know the wedding           date is set. But fancy bringing it           forward? I just want to get it over           with. In a good way. Think about           it, yeah?                                   He ends the call. Silence. He looks to Hobson.                                                   ARTHUR (CONT'D)           It's the agony of possibility,           Hobson. It just hurts too much to           know I could still be with Naomi if           I had the guts.                                                   HOBSON           Just promise you'll never ask me to           sleep with Susan for you.                                                            EXT. MANHATTAN - DAY                                   Naomi's riding the bus. Her phone rings. `Number withheld'.          She rolls her eyes and answers.                                                   NAOMI           Arthur, if that's...                          (BEAT)           Hello? Yes. Yes, I did...Yes.           Sorry? Really? Well I worked pretty           hard on it..Love to...Love           to...What time?                                   Incredibly excited, she grabs a pen and writes on a walking          tours brochure: `JULIAN BARBER...RAINBOW PRESS...'                                                   NAOMI (CONT'D)           I'll call in dead to work. Bye.                                   She writes `TUESDAY 11.30' and an address.                                                            INT. NAOMI'S APARTMENT - DAY                                   There's a ring at the doorbell. Ralph answers. It's Hobson.                                                   HOBSON           Good afternoon, Mr Snart. Is Naomi           here?           79.                                                                            RALPH           You must be the nanny.                                                   HOBSON           I must be.                                   Ralph embraces her.                                                   HOBSON (CONT'D)           Please stop this, I can't inhale           and am in danger of treading on one           of your knuckles.                                   Ralph releases her.                                                   HOBSON (CONT'D)           If you and your undershirt would           walk two paces back I could enter           this dwelling.                                   Naomi appears, looking more of a writer than a tour guide.                                                   NAOMI           Well, well.                                                   RALPH           Ever since I met Arthur I liked           him. We have to make sure these two           wonderful kids stay together...                                                   HOBSON           Try not to talk. It's not your           words but the breath which bears           them. Perhaps you could repair to           the East Wing and make me a cup of           tea? I wish to speak to Naomi.                                                   RALPH           Sure, sure.                                   Ralph leaves.                                                   HOBSON           Arthur is having a pre-wedding           party tonight. You should come.                                                   NAOMI           Oh, should I? Are all the other           girls he passed up going too?                                   Hobson picks up a letter from Rainbow Press and peruses it.           80.                                                                            HOBSON           Don't you want to show Arthur how           well you're doing?                                                   NAOMI           Tell him thanks, but I have a           deadline.                                                   HOBSON           Arthur doesn't know I'm here. He's           far too decent to be involved in           something so tawdry. You could           bring your father. A magical           experience before he's too big to           leave this apartment.                                                   NAOMI                          (DISBELIEF)           Why would I go to this? Why would I           do that to myself?                                                   HOBSON           My dear, if there's one thing old           women can tell, it's young men in           love. And the food promises to be           breathtakingly free.                                   Hobson has a slight dizzy spell and sits down.                                                   NAOMI           Are you alright?                                                   HOBSON           Better than you, dear.                                                   NAOMI           You really look out for Arthur,           don't you?                                                   HOBSON           Yes. And it is a job that I           recommend highly.                                   Ralph comes back and with a cup of disgusting-looking tea.                                                   HOBSON (CONT'D)           You really look out for this           gentleman, from what I've heard.                                                   NAOMI           Ah, what am I gonna do? The no-kill           pet shelter won't take him.                                   Ralph hands Hobson the cup of tea.           81.                                                                            HOBSON           Thank you. Would you go the           bathroom and commence washing? You           only have three hours and it could           be quite a project.                                   Ralph goes. Naomi takes the tea.                                                   NAOMI           I appreciate what you're trying to           do but I'm not going to that party.                                                   HOBSON           Suit yourself.                                   Hobson gets up, still dizzy.                                                   NAOMI           Have you seen a doctor?                                                   HOBSON           Yes. And he has seen me.                                                   NAOMI           I think Arthur has a very good           friend. May I kiss you on the           cheek?                                                   HOBSON           Is it something you feel strongly           about?                                                   NAOMI           Yes.                                   But Hobson falls back into her chair heavily, looking sicker.                                                   NAOMI (CONT'D)           Dad! Call 911.                                                            EXT. JOHNSON MANSION. NIGHT                                   HORDES OF SMARTLY-DRESSED RICH PEOPLE are gathering on Burt          Johnson's mansion for the society night of the year. A high-          level security presence is much in evidence.                                                            INT. JOHNSON MANSION. BALLROOM - NIGHT                                   A LIVE BAND plays a cheesy soft-rock version of `Addicted to          Love'. ARISTOCRATS mingle with CRASS NEW MONEY TYPES mingle          with TIGER WOODS. The band finishes the song.           82.                                                                            VOCALIST           Thanks. We're going to move things           up tempo now with `The Only Thing           That Looks Good On Me Is You.'                                   The band start playing again. Partygoers hit the dance floor.          Vivienne, Susan, Burt and Erica pass a huge ice statue of          Susan and Arthur in a loving embrace and amazing catering.                                                   VIVIENNE           Splendid affair, Susan.                                                   SUSAN           Don't thank me, thank Erica.                                   Erica shrugs modestly. Arthur appears. Burt puts a big burly          arm around him and squeezes him a little too hard.                                                            EXT. JOHNSON MANSION. NIGHT                                   Naomi climbs out of a crappy cab. She's on her phone.                                                   NAOMI           With all due respect, Hobson,           you're talking out of your frumpy           English ass. Arthur needs to know!                                                            INT. HOSPITAL - NIGHT - CONTINUOUS                                   Hobson's in bed looking ill. Ralph's fussing over her pillow.          Hobson slaps him away.                                                   HOBSON           You are not to pull him out of that           party on my behalf.                          (BEAT)           Hello? Naomi!                                   But Naomi's gone. Ralph tries to plump the pillow again.                                                   RALPH           You're gonna get through this,           babe. Then who knows what the           future may hold?                                                            EXT. PARTY - NIGHT - CONTINUOUS                                   Naomi hurries past A DOOR MAN with a clipboard.                                                   DOOR MAN           Excuse me, madam. Name? Madam?           83.                                                            Naomi grabs the arm of A MALE GUEST.                                                   NAOMI           Snart plus one.                                   She hurries in with the bemused, but delighted man. The DOOR          MAN checks his clipboard.                                                            INT. JOHNSON MANSION. NIGHT - CONTINUOUS                                   Naomi enters the party, releasing the man, who's disappointed          to see her go. She looks around for Arthur, getting admiring          looks from other men - and women.                                                   PASSING WOMAN           Nice dress. Vera Wang?                                                   NAOMI           Ross Dress For Less. You know where           Arthur is?                                                   PASSING WOMAN                          (SHRUGS)           Sorry.                                   Naomi moves on. The Door Man appears, looking around for the          gatecrasher. The man whose arm she took on the way in - he's          called JUSTIN - is also on the prowl for her...                                                            INT. JOHNSON MANSION. BALLROOM - NIGHT                                   Burt takes to the stage to applause.                                                   BURT           When Arthur proposed to my           daughter, I was overjoyous. The           Bach-Templemeads are my kind of           people: classy. Respectable. Well           spoken. People like in Shakespeare           in Love, who esprouse the same           values I have always upheld both in           my business and spiritual life. But           tonight isn't about me or America's           leading independent formula brand.                                   Arthur takes the stage to wild applause.                                                   ARTHUR           Thank you, Burt! I've actually           prepared a little surprise song           with my friends here.           84.                                                            The band starts playing `Close To You' by the Carpenters.          Arthur sings to Susan, down in the crowd.                                                   ARTHUR (CONT'D)           Why does cash suddenly appear,           every time you are near?                                   The audience laugh.                                                   ARTHUR (CONT'D)           Just like me, it longs to be, close           to Sue. Why do cars fall out of the           sky, all of which, I can buy...                          (STOPS)           I'll sing a proper song.                          (SINGS)           You say potayto and I say potahto,           You say tomayto and I say tomahto,           potayto, potahto, tomayto, tomahto,           Let's call the whole thing off! You           say AA, and I say `no way', you say           `Red Bull' and I say `Go away,           Rehab, No way, Red Bull...                                                            INT. JOHNSON MANSION - ANOTHER LARGE ROOM                                   JUSTIN approaches Naomi, who's still looking around for          Arthur.                                                   JUSTIN           We meet again!                                                   NAOMI           Yeah. Have you seen Arthur?                                                   JUSTIN           The ballroom. I'll take you to him.                                   Justin takes Naomi's arm and leads her at a leisurely pace.          They pass a portrait of Susan.                                                   JUSTIN (CONT'D)           I'm so happy for Arthur and Susan.                                   Justin points at a portrait of Susan.                                                   JUSTIN (CONT'D)           Isn't she beautiful?                                                   NAOMI           Of course she is. Why would Arthur           marry a pig?           85.                                                            The Door Man appears, seeing Naomi.                                                   JUSTIN           What business is your family in?                                                   NAOMI           Hm? Oh, I'm the heiress to a           fortune built on small pets.                                                   JUSTIN           I'm sorry?                                                   NAOMI           Hamsters, mice, doglets...                                                   JUSTIN           Doglets?                                                   NAOMI           Tiny dogs. The technology's not           perfect. Seeing a horse the size of           a can of soup fall dead before your           eyes - that shit stays with you.                                   They walk through a door, ending up in a garden.                                                            EXT. GARDEN - NIGHT                                                   NAOMI           Are you sure he's this way?                                                   JUSTIN           Absolutely.                                   Naomi turns to A WOMAN.                                                   NAOMI           (to a WOMAN)           Excuse me. Have you seen Arthur?                                                   WOMAN           That way. The ballroom.                                                   NAOMI           Bye, Justin.                                   Naomi hurries away - running straight into the Door Man.                                                   DOOR MAN           Excuse me, madam. You're not an           authorized guest.           86.                                                                            NAOMI           I know that. I'm here to give           Arthur some very important news.                                                   DOOR MAN           Of course you are.           (takes her arm)           Shall we discuss this outside?                                                   NAOMI                          (SHOUTS)           Get your hands off me!                                   They tussle. Arthur intercedes.                                                   ARTHUR           It's okay, Jeff. She can stay.                                                   NAOMI           Arthur, can I talk to you?                                                            INT. HOSPITAL - NIGHT - LATER                                   A MAN IN A WHITE COAT is on the phone beside Hobson's bed.                                    MAN IN A WHITE COAT           We ran tests. It was just a dizzy           spell. We'll be sending her home           tonight.                                                   ARTHUR           But what about the other blackouts?                                   Hobson snatches the phone from the Man in a White Coat.                                                   HOBSON           Arthur, I'm fine. Do not leave that           party.                                                            INT. JOHNSON MANSION - DRAWING ROOM - DAY                                   Arthur's on the phone, coat on, in a big empty panelled room.                                    HOBSON (O.S, OFF)           Especially now that Naomi is there.                                   The call ends. Arthur looks across at Naomi, at the other end          of the room, looking so beautiful.                                                   ARTHUR           She's fine. They're sending her           home. Do you want a drink?           87.                                                                            NAOMI           No, thanks, Arthur. I should go.                                                   ARTHUR           But you came all this way. There's           ridiculously fancy food, there's...                                                   NAOMI           Arthur. Please. Can you just call           me a cab?                                                   ARTHUR           You're a cab.                                   No laughter this time. It's not funny. He takes out his          iPhone again. Stares at it.                                                   ARTHUR (CONT'D)           Shit. Hobson usually...                                                   NAOMI           Orders cabs to take the girls away?                                   Arthur's busted. He scrolls the phone for a cab number.                                                   ARTHUR           Thank you for coming all this way.           I'm sorry for all the stupid           presents and calls and gestures.                                                   NAOMI           It's okay.                                   Naomi looks up at a portrait of Burt and young, prissy, but          beautiful Susan.                                                   NAOMI (CONT'D)           She was a looker from the get-go.                                                   ARTHUR           What were you like as a kid?                                                   NAOMI           Nuts. I thought the moon followed           me. I would walk and think the moon           went any place that I did. I           thought it meant something special           would happen. So I've been waiting.           What an ass.                                   Arthur sees a sound system. He goes over and plugs his iPhone          into it, then takes Naomi in his arms.           88.                                                                            ARTHUR           Dance?                                                   NAOMI           Arthur. We've been through this.           Call that cab please.                                   Arthur looks down into her eyes and hits `PLAY' on his          iPhone. Music starts: it's not a slow, smoochy song but big,          brassy and upbeat.                                   MUSIC: `NELLIE THE ELEPHANT' BY MANDY MILLER                                   Arthur ballroom dances Naomi at speed around the room.                                                   MANDY MILLER           To Bombay, a travelling circus           came, they brought an intelligent           elephant and Nellie was her name...                                                   NAOMI                          (LAUGHING)           What the bejeezus is this?                                                   ARTHUR           Hobson used to sing it to me.                          (SINGING ALONG)           One dark night, she slipped her           iron chain. Off she ran to           Hindustan and was never seen again.           Nellie the Elephant packed her           bags, And said goodbye to the           circus, Off she went with a           trumpety trump, Trump trump           trump...                                   It's energetic, wonderful, as romantic as any slow dance.          They stop dancing. Arthur stares at Naomi. At last, they          kiss. But the music stops. It's Vivienne.                                                   VIVIENNE           Is this the tour guide?                                                   ARTHUR           She's a writer.                                                   NAOMI           Is this the Vivienne?                                                   VIVIENNE           Crowded field, writing.           89.                                                                            ARTHUR           Maybe someone will see her           potential.                                                   VIVIENNE           We all know who's seen her           potential.                                                   NAOMI           Meaning?                                                   VIVIENNE           Oh, of course, you don't know, do           you?                                   Arthur suddenly goes pale.                                                   ARTHUR           Vivienne, please. Don't...                                                   NAOMI           What is going on here?                                                   VIVIENNE           My son became fond of you. You're           not the first. Or the last, I           imagine. Anyway I was scanning his           monthly expenses - which always           makes for entertaining reading, all           those gifts for all those girls -           and found he'd bought an entire           publishing company called...what           was it now? Rainbow Press.                                                   NAOMI           You bought Rainbow press? So you           could tell them to publish my book?                                                   VIVIENNE           He knows people, dear. I'm sure you           do too, though the people you know           tend not to own books, let alone           publishers. Arthur, I trust we'll           see you back at the party? Susan's           a little worried.                                   Vivienne leaves. Naomi storms away. Arthur chases.                                                   ARTHUR           NAOMI! PLEASE! I didn't think I           would ever see you again. I was           just trying to give you some...           90.                                                                            NAOMI                          (GASPS)           Confidence? Self esteem isn't a           gift, Arthur! It isn't a fur coat           or a thousand billion orchids or an           apartment made from truffles or           whatever else you rich freaks use           to express love!                                   Arthur looks incredibly hurt.                                                   ARTHUR           I do express love! I love you!                                                   NAOMI           Don't say that!                                                   ARTHUR           You just told me to! And stop going           on about me being rich! You think           it's easy being trapped by money?                                   Naomi gets her old phone out. She speaks into it.                                                   NAOMI           Hello, Amnesty? Come quick!           Arthur's being held against his           will in Guantamoney Bay!                                                   ARTHUR           Abu Greed?                                                   NAOMI           Stop riffing with me! How dare you           do what you did. I didn't need your           money to feel good about myself!                                                   ARTHUR           No. Being cheap gives you that.                                                   NAOMI           Huh?                                                   ARTHUR           At least I'm prepared to have fun.           To live. I'm not all `Oooh look at           me with my antique food, aren't I           cool?' And...and...your phone's           RUBBISH! It's made of bits of old           doorbell and vibrator, I bet you           can only get calls from 1994 on it!           91.                                                                            NAOMI                          (BOILS OVER)           As long as I don't get any from a           drunk, rich fuck up like you!                                   A door opens.                                                   SUSAN           Hello? I heard shouting.                                                   NAOMI           I'm an employee of Arthur's. I came           to complain about the conditions.                                                   ARTHUR           Naomi, please...                                                   NAOMI           Mr Bach-Templemead, I know you           thought putting half and half in           the staff kitchen was an           improvement.                          (REALLY ANGRY)           But some people prefer Coffee Mate!           You were disrespectful. I quit!                                   Naomi walks away, slamming a door behind her.                                                   SUSAN           Because you changed the creamer?                          (BEAT)           Arthur, Marty called from the           hospital.                                                   ARTHUR           It's okay, Hobson's fine. I spoke           to her doctor.                                                   SUSAN           Apparently you didn't.                                                            INT. HOSPITAL ROOM - NIGHT                                   Hobson is lying in bed, looking even iller than before.                                                   HOBSON           It's just a headache!                                                   ARTHUR           Stop saying that! You bribed a           hospital orderly to tell me you           were okay!           92.                                                                            HOBSON           Oh, bothersnaps. What do doctors           know?                                   The door opens. Marty enters with a shopping cart.                                                   ARTHUR           Da dahhhh! I give you the amazing           costly, health-giving presents!                                   Arthur starts to produce gifts for Hobson: jewellery,          expensive bath products, perfumes, clothes, a DVD...                                                   ARTHUR (CONT'D)           'Wake up and Smell the Carcass'..           (reads the DVD)           `A compilation of the band's most           stomach-churning music videos and           deathly live performances...'                                   He produces a DARTH VADER HELMET.                                                   ARTHUR (CONT'D)           Put this on, please.                                                   HOBSON           I don't want to put it on.                                                   ARTHUR           Put it on. Or I'll fire you.                          (PAUSE)           Okay, or I won't fire you.                                   She dons the full face helmet.                                                   HOBSON                          (VADER VOICE)           How much did you waste on this           poppycock?                                   Arthur and Marty laugh.                                                   HOBSON (CONT'D)                          (VADER VOICE)           I see you've decided not to grow up           after all.                                                   MARTY           She sounds like Darth Invader!                                   Finally, Arthur unwraps a very high-end DVD player and TV.                                                   HOBSON           Why, Arthur?           93.                                                            INT. HOSPITAL ROOM - NIGHT                                   The room is dark. Arthur, Hobson and Marty are all on the          bed, bathed in blue light from the huge new TV.                                    VOICEOVER (O.S.)           Stargazer, known for her           distinctive white mottled back...                                   It's a documentary about grizzly bears.                                                   VOICEOVER (CONT'D)           ...is determined to catch the           salmon, despite the treacherous           rapids...                                   A DOCTOR enters.                                                   DOCTOR           Mr Bach-Templemead? Do you have a           moment?                                                            INT. HOSPITAL CORRIDOR - NIGHT                                   Arthur's looking delighted. But the doctor is grave.                                                   ARTHUR           Home? That's great news. Isn't it?                                                            INT/EXT. ARTHUR'S APARTMENT. HOBSON'S ROOM - NIGHT                                   We see a short montage of Arthur, now sober, taking care of          Hobson with Marty's help: Reading to her...Watching another          bear documentary...Arthur doing silly yoga for Hobson...                                                            INT. ARTHUR'S APARTMENT. HOBSON'S ROOM - NIGHT                                   Arthur is quietly cleaning Hobson's room. He stumbles on a          document. It reads: `THE BOY WHOSE HEART ESCAPED' BY N J          SNART. FINAL MANUSCRIPT.' He opens it.                                                   ARTHUR           How did this get here?                                                   HOBSON           I have no idea.                                                   ARTHUR           You might have a brain tumour but           you're not a complete veggie burger           just yet. Has Naomi been here?           94.                                                                            HOBSON           She dropped by once or twice.           Frightful needy trollop.                                                   ARTHUR           I thought she gave up writing.                                   Arthur's reading the manuscript, bearing Hobson's notations:          `Shorten', `Wonderful - do NOT cut!', `Beautiful. I cried'.                                                   HOBSON           Just trying to spare her outright           humiliation while I'm still here.                                                   ARTHUR           Don't wear yourself out. You're not           going anywhere soon.                                   He taps the top of a state-of-the-art heart monitor.                                                   ARTHUR (CONT'D)           World's most advanced heart rate           monitor. The tiniest problem will           alert your own private platoon of           paramedics camped out downstairs...                                   Hobson takes Arthur's hand.                                                   HOBSON           Arthur. I've loved caring for you           so much. But you'll never grow up           with me around. So either I retire.           Or I die. Option 1 involves too           much paperwork and blather with           having to find somewhere else to           live. And no offence to you, dear           boy...                                   She glances at a MASSIVE PILE OF BEAR DOCUMENTARY DVDs beside          THE WORLD'S BIGGEST TEDDY BEAR.                                                   HOBSON (CONT'D)           ...but I think we've exhausted the           bear-based entertainment. Which           leaves option 2.                                   Arthur can't fight the tears any more.                                                   HOBSON (CONT'D)           You're a good son, Arthur. You can           do anything with your life that you           want. Just like I did.           95.                                                                            ARTHUR           But you spent half of it looking           after a spoilt drunk twat.                                                   HOBSON           Exactly. Sorry Arthur. I'm past my           use-by date.                                                   ARTHUR           Sorry, Hobson, You don't win this           one. I need you to care for me.           (holds up a pill)           Now take your fish oil.                                                            INT. HOBSON'S ROOM - NIGHT                                   Arthur, in a chair at the end of the bed, wakes with a start          from a dream. He looks across to Hobson, who is very still.                                                   ARTHUR           Hobson?                                   The expensive monitor is dead. He jumps up.                                                   ARTHUR (CONT'D)           HOBSON!           (hammering the machine)           Why the fuck has the stupid thing           not gone off?                          (SHOUTS)           GET UP HERE! SHE'S NOT...                                   He sees that the monitor is unplugged. The cord is in          Hobson's hand. It's over. Hobson's dead.                                   Arthur sobs his heart out.                                                            INT. ARTHUR'S APARTMENT - DAY                                   It's a few weeks later. The place is very, very messy. The          place also seems to be heavily splattered with all colors of          paint.                                   SPLOTCH! A big lump of red paint thuds into Hobson's giant          teddy bear, which is already heavily spattered.                                   Arthur's sitting naked, apart from a helmet, in his tiny army          paintball tank. He's in a blank, drunken daze, firing paint          at the teddy. The tank turret rotates. He shoots walls,          possessions, furniture. He stops.           96.                                                                            ARTHUR           Would Frog ever get up again? Or           would he just sit in his tank,           crying and soiling himself until he           died of dehydration because he           didn't even have the energy to eat           a wet sandwich.                                   He looks down at an ashes urn.                                                   ARTHUR (CONT'D)           Hobson! Why are you in there when I           need you?           (lifts lid off urn)           HOBSON!                                   He's rewarded with a face full of ashes. Angrily he spins the          turret through 360 degrees, firing paint.                                                   ARTHUR (CONT'D)           Arrrrgghhh!                                   Marty comes in - and is hit hard by paint.                                                   ARTHUR (CONT'D)           Sorry.                                                   MARTY           How's the tea?                                                   ARTHUR           Shockingly bad, thanks, Marty.                                                   MARTY           Want to talk about the Cubs game?                                                   ARTHUR           Nahhh. Can I be alone please?                                   Marty goes. Arthur picks up his phone and scrolls down to          Naomi's name. He thinks for a moment, hits `call'.                                                            INT. NAOMI'S APARTMENT. DAY - CONTINUOUS                                   Naomi is shopping. She looks at the phone, sees Arthur's          name. She so wants to answer. But doesn't.                                                            INT. ARTHUR'S APARTMENT - DAY - CONTINUOUS                                   Arthur stands on the balcony. He peers down at Manhattan far,          far below.           97.                                                            INT. PIERRE HOTEL - HOTEL BEDROOM - DAY - CONTINUOUS                                   A COUPLE are having sex. A BODY falls past the window.                                                            INT. PIERRE HOTEL - RESTAURANT - DAY - CONTINUOUS                                   The body falls past a window. A huge crash from off.                                                            EXT. PIERRE HOTEL - DAY - CONTINUOUS                                   PASSERSBY are staring in horror at a yellow cab, its roof          caved in, the DRIVER shaking in shock.                                   Tilt up to find Hobson's HUGE teddy BEAR lying on the roof.                                                            EXT. ARTHUR'S APARTMENT. BALCONY - DAY                                   Arthur's on his phone again.                                                   ARTHUR           (leaving a message)           Naomi? I doubt you'll ever get           this, because your voicemail           probably consists of a 4000 year           old woman who writes the message           down in hieroglyphics then loses it           down the back of her incontinence           loin cloth. Hobson died. Hobson           died and I've fallen apart...                                   The doorbell rings from off.                                                   ARTHUR (CONT'D)           Marty! Can you get that? Marty!                          (INTO PHONE)           Naomi? Could you get it? Hello?                                   He throws the cellphone off the roof. A couple of seconds          pass. We hear a very faint howl of pain from whoever it hit.                                                            INT. CORRIDOR - DAY                                   Arthur opens the door. It's Vivienne.                                                   VIVIENNE           Arthur! You haven't answered the           phone for eight days. Susan's           beside herself. What's going on?           98.                                                                            ARTHUR           What do you think's going on?           Hobson died.                                                   VIVIENNE           Oh, that.                                   She bustles in past Arthur. A PLATOON OF MAIDS follows.                                                   VIVIENNE (CONT'D)                          (TO MAIDS)           Chop chop! You cleany penthouseio!           Come on, Arthur. Have to pick           yourself up, lad. It's like when           Nixon my Great Dane had to be put           down. Frightful state for days. But           I pulled myself together.                                                   ARTHUR           You're comparing Hobson to...a dog?                                                   VIVIENNE           Well, yes. A faithful, humble           companion who...                                                   ARTHUR           Um, I think I'd like you to leave,           if that's okay. Now?                                                   VIVIENNE           Remember who pays for this           apartment, Arthur. For everything!                                   He guides her out the door.                                                   VIVIENNE (CONT'D)           You had damn well better be at that           wedding, boy.                                                   ARTHUR           Don't worry. If I'm going to drink           myself to death I'll need           resources. Bye Vivienne...                                                   VIVIENNE           It's mother!                                                   ARTHUR           My mother's dead.                                   He slams the door. The phone rings again.                                                   ARTHUR (CONT'D)           Hello? I'm sorry?           99.                                                            INT. ATTORNEY'S OFFICE - DAY                                   Arthur is sitting in an estate attorney's next to MR FINKE,          a small, dirty man. ATTORNEY MARGARET AHERNE is at a desk          opposite them, reading from a will.                                                   AHERNE           The last will and testament of Jane           Hobson.                          (READS)           `I leave my life savings to the           Tulare Bear Sanctuary, Tulare           County, California.'                                   Aherne hands Mr Finke A CHECK for $8,864.                                                   ARTHUR           That'll explain the strong smell of           bear shit. Sorry.                                   Aherne opens a tiny envelope.                                                   AHERNE           To Arthur Bach Templemead, I leave           this.                                   She produces a teabag.                                                   AHERNE (CONT'D)           To operate kettle, press red           button. Milk in refrigerator;           that's the big box with the pretty           light that comes on when you open           the door.                          (PAUSE)           Arthur. You're going to be okay.           Now it's your turn to look after           someone. All my deepest, fondest           love, my dearest boy. I'm smiling           down at you - or more likely, up at           you - forever and ever, H xxxxxxxx.                                                            INT. ARTHUR'S APARTMENT - DAY                                   Close up on the KETTLE, steam issuing forth from the spout.          Then a MUG with the teabag in it. The kettle boils. A hand          pours hot water into the mug. Milk is added. And a drop of          vodka.                                                            EXT. CHURCH - DAY                                   Burt and Vivienne are standing outside, greeting GUESTS.           100.                                                                            BURT           I just want you to know, if he           doesn't show up for this wedding, I           can't know what I'll do.                                                   VIVIENNE           Don't worry, Burt. He's cleaned           himself up. He's stopped drinking,           he's anxious to get a real job.           He's become a responsible citizen.                                                            EXT. FIFTH AVENUE - DAY                                   Arthur is stalking - drunk but determined - through the          crowds. He comes upon a group of tourists standing by a tour          bus. Naomi's now wearing a headset mic, pointing south.                                                   NAOMI           Due to a tragic error in the           architect's drawing, the original           Statue of Liberty unveiled in 1886           was just seven inches tall. 100,000           New Yorkers rioted, having come           expecting to see something more           impressive than a garden gnome           holding up an ice cream...                                                   ARTHUR           Naomi!                                   Arthur pushes his way through the tourists. He sees her bus          and headset.                                                   ARTHUR (CONT'D)           You're on a bus? With a microphone?                                                   NAOMI           Girl's gotta have a dream.                                                   ARTHUR           Naomi. Can you take the next 60           years off?                                                   NAOMI           Are you okay? You're a mess. You           look like you...now.                                                   ARTHUR           Sorry. I accidentally swallowed           three bottles of hand sanitizer.           Fascinating story...Okay.                          (MORE)           101.                                                   ARTHUR (CONT'D)           Drinking was the only way I could           get the courage to come here and           say this: I don't need the money. I           love the money. But I don't lie           awake all night wondering how I'll           live without ever seeing it again.           I just wonder what it's like to go           24 hours without a steak tartare.                                   Naomi looks unconvinced. Arthur pulls out his wallet and          takes out a load of credit cards.                                                   ARTHUR (CONT'D)           The American Express Centurion card           - you have to spend at least           $250,000 a year to keep it, which I           blow in a quiet week.                                   He drops it down a drain. He produces another card.                                                   ARTHUR (CONT'D)           Sotheby's `World Elite' Mastercard           for art collectors.                                   Drops it down drain too. The tourists are enjoying this.                                                   ARTHUR (CONT'D)           And King of all idiotic reckless-                          SPEND-THE-FUCK-OUT-OF-EVERYTHING-                          FOR-TOMORROW-WE-DIE PLASTIC           insanity: the Visa Black Card.                                   This last one he hands to a PASSING HOMELESS MAN.                                                   ARTHUR (CONT'D)           PIN 3487. Daily ATM limit $180,000.                                   The man runs into the road. As Arthur talks, out of focus we          see the man hit by a car, but get up and keep going.                                                   ARTHUR (CONT'D)           (producing fancy iPhone)           The world's only platinum iPhone.           With police radio app.                                   He tosses it over his shoulder. It lands in the beef juice          pan of a Street French Dip stall. A BIGGER CROWD is          gathering. Arthur takes off his jacket.                                                   ARTHUR (CONT'D)           Alexander Amosu. Vicuna wool, shorn           once every three years from the           South American camelid - $50,000.           102.                                                            He throws the jacket in a passing cab's window. He takes off          his pants.                                                   ARTHUR (CONT'D)           Westmancott trousers, ten months to           design, fit and make. $21,000.                                   He hands the trousers to a PASSERBY. Off with his watch!                                                   ARTHUR (CONT'D)                          (SHOUTS)           Who wants the watch Neil Armstrong           wore to step on the sun!                                   Arthur flings it in the air. A crazed fight breaks out.                                   Arthur stands before Naomi in just his underpants and socks.                                                   ARTHUR (CONT'D)           These are from The Gap.                                                   NAOMI           I'm so sorry about Hobson.                                   They step away from the tourists.                                                   ARTHUR           I'm sorry about the Rainbow Press.                                                   NAOMI           It's okay. So how did Susan take it           that you're not marrying her?                                                   ARTHUR           She didn't.                                                   NAOMI           You haven't told her?                                                   ARTHUR           What's it to you? She's your arch-           enemy.                                                   NAOMI           Are you six? She isn't my enemy.           She's the woman you proposed to!                                                   ARTHUR           I couldn't tell her! Today's the           biggest day of her life!                                                   NAOMI           The wedding's today? When?           103.                                                                            ARTHUR           12. Which is...           (looks at his wrist)           Where's my watch gone?                                                   NAOMI           (looks at her watch)           It's eight minutes to.                                                   ARTHUR           It's too late, then.                                   Naomi hands Arthur her phone.                                                   ARTHUR (CONT'D)           I don't know her number! It's in my           phone's address book in that gloop.                                                   NAOMI           Church?                                                   ARTHUR           St. John the Divine. Can we please           just get me some clothes...                                                   NAOMI           St John..Fourth largest church in           the world...111th and Amsterdam.           It's about four miles. Better           hurry.                                                   ARTHUR           You want me to go there? Like this?                                                   NAOMI           What's the alternative? Jilt Susan           at the altar? Can I expect the same           treatment when you dump me?                                                   ARTHUR           No! I love you!                                   Naomi starts herding her tourists onto her bus.                                                   NAOMI           C'mon, folks...                                                   ARTHUR           Naomi! Susan's dad will...           104.                                                                            NAOMI           Arthur. Prove you're not the same           pampered little boy who can have           what he wants then toss it aside           when he's bored. Then we'll talk.                                   She sits in the driving seat and belts up.                                                   ARTHUR           Naomi! I don't even know the way!                                                   NAOMI           5th...right on Broadway...left at           Times...Right on 7th...back on           Broadway....right on Amsterdam. The           church is the big stone pointy           thing full of rich people.                                   The bus door shuts. Naomi drives away.                                                   ARTHUR           SHIT! TAXI!                                   A taxi stops. Arthur feels for his pockets. Ah shit.                                                   ARTHUR (CONT'D)           Um, can anyone spare...           (to the DRIVER)           How much to St. John the Divine           please?                                                   DRIVER           About 15 bucks...                                                   ARTHUR           (to the crowd)           Can anyone spare $15 please?                                                   DRIVER           What about tip? You cheapskate?                                                   ARTHUR           30?                                   The crowd just stare back. The taxi drives away.                                                   ARTHUR (CONT'D)           Stop! STOP!                                   Arthur looks at a STREET CLOCK: 11:53.                                   Arthur starts running in his underwear.           105.                                                            INT. CHURCH - DAY - CONTINUOUS                                   GUESTS are taking their pews.                                                            EXT. FIFTH AVENUE - DAY - CONTINUOUS                                   Arthur runs along Fifth.                                                            INT. CHURCH - DAY - CONTINUOUS                                   Susan is being fussed over by BRIDESMAIDS.                                                            EXT. BROADWAY - DAY                                   Arthur runs up Broadway, passing a Watch and Clock store.          Every timepiece reads 11:54.                                                            INT. CHURCH - DAY - CONTINUOUS                                   Burt, sitting in a pew, looks at his watch. He looks around          for Arthur then scowls very scarily.                                                            EXT. TIMES SQUARE - DAY                                   Arthur stops, out of breath. He sees A LINE OF STREET          ENTERTAINERS. That gives him an idea.                                                   ARTHUR                          (SHOUTS)           Gather round for the nearly naked           Yoga man - YOGI BARE! I give you...                                   Arthur strikes a sequence of silly poses and names.                                                   ARTHUR (CONT'D)           `Chicken forgetting birthday'...                                   TOURISTS throw money. Arthur grabs it up. He looks up at the          Times Square digital clock: 11:56.                                                   ARTHUR (CONT'D)           TAXI!                                   A taxi stops. Arthur throws the money to THE DRIVER.                                                   ARTHUR (CONT'D)           How far can I go with $1.95 and a           Japanese coin with a hole in it?           106.                                                                            DRIVER           A block and a half.                                                   ARTHUR           GO!                                   Arthur jumps in. The cab screeches away.                                                            EXT. SEVENTH AVENUE - DAY                                   The cab halts. Arthur jumps out and starts running again. He          sees A BUS with `COLUMBUS CIRCLE' in its window.                                   We cut to people cheering Arthur, hanging on the bus's front          bicycle rack. But the DRIVER sees him and hits the brakes.          Arthur's flung forwards but gets up and keeps running.                                   He sees a Subway Station.                                                   ARTHUR                          (TO PASSERBY)           Excuse me, are there trains down           there, like in films?                                                   PASSERBY           Yes.                                   Arthur runs down the steps.                                                            INT. SUBWAY - DAY                                   A train pulls on to the platform. Arthur leaps aboard.                                                            INT. TRAIN - DAY                                   Arthur stands among New Yorkers, none of whom bat an eyelid          at his appearance. He looks up at the stations.                                                   ARTHUR           (to A MALE PASSENGER)           Excuse me. Terribly sorry to bother           you, but...                                   Without looking at him, the guy hands him a dollar.                                                   ARTHUR (CONT'D)           Crikey. Thanks.           107.                                                            INT. CHURCH. SACRISTY - DAY - CONTINUOUS                                   Susan is ready. She looks to the door. Erica, who is peering          out, shakes her head with an `I told you so' look.                                                            INT. NAOMI'S TOUR BUS - DAY                                   Naomi's driving her bus up 42nd Street.                                                   NAOMI           (into a headset mic)           ...originally a rough           neighbourhood. Some say it was           called 42nd Street because it           wasn't safe to spend more than           forty seconds on it.                                   A few grudging laughs from the tourists.                                                   MALE TOURIST           Excuse me.                                                   NAOMI           If you burst into song, you're off           this bus.                                                   MALE TOURIST           Huh? I want to see St. John the           Divine.                                                   NAOMI           Sorry, sir, that's not on our route           today. Anyway...                                                   FEMALE TOURIST           I want to know if Arthur's gonna           make it.                                    OTHER FEMALE TOURIST (CONT'D)           You should be there for him.                                   Other tourists agree.                                                   MALE TOURIST                          (WAVES LEAFLET)           It says here `ask about your           personalised tours'. I want the           personalised tour. To St. John the           Divine!                                    ALL OTHER TOURISTS           So do I! St. John the Divine, St.           John the Divine, St. John the...           108.                                                                            NAOMI           Okay!                                                            EXT. STREET. DAY                                   Arthur comes bounding out of another station. Clutching his          dollar, he sees a bus. He runs aboard, and up to the driver.                                                   ARTHUR           Ah! I'm trying to get to...                                   Arthur feels eyes on him. The bus is full of SCHOOL CHILDREN!          It's a school bus! They all stare for a beat, then get out          cellphones to report the weirdo in their midst, who runs off          again and up Broadway, passing a store's line of shopping          carts. He starts emptying them of quarters.                                                   MANAGER           Hey!                                   A police car rounds the corner.                                                   POLICEMAN                          (INTO MIC)           Uh, unit 6J, we have reports of an           indecent exposure on a school bus.                                   Arthur jumps in a shopping cart; as the truck passes, he          launches forward, grabbing the rear fender!                                                            INT. CHURCH - DAY                                   Burt gets up, squeezing past TIGER WOODS.                                                            EXT. CHURCH - DAY                                   Arthur's cab pulls up outside the church, surrounded by          ONLOOKERS AND PAPARAZZI. Arthur leaps out and fights his way          through the crowd. People start to recognise the crazed,          sweating panting weirdo in underwear. Paparazzi and          pedestrians photograph and film him. He runs into the church.                                                            INT. CHURCH - DAY - CONTINUOUS                                   The church is packed with THE GREAT, GOOD, RICH AND FAMOUS.          Vivienne sits waiting. Arthur stumbles in at the back.           109.                                                            INT. CHURCH - DAY                                   Arthur's trying to inch along the back. But the congregation          falls silent, watching him. He stumbles up the aisle, looking          up to Jesus, in similar scantily-clad appearance, on a cross.                                                   ARTHUR           I'm not him.           (shows his wrists)           Look ma! No holes.                                   Arthur slips in a side door.                                                            INT. SACRISTY - DAY                                   Susan is sitting, sad, Bridesmaids comforting her.                                    ARTHUR (O.S.)           Susan?                                   Susan turns and is shocked to see Arthur.                                                   SUSAN           Arthur? What's going on?                                                   ARTHUR           Susan. I can't...I can't...                                   He leads her away from the bridesmaids.                                                   SUSAN           What?                                                   ARTHUR           The girl at the party? The one who           talked all that rubbish about           Coffee Mate? I love her.                                   Susan slaps Arthur. Hard.                                                   SUSAN           Shut up! We're getting married!                                                   ARTHUR           But I don't love you!                                                   SUSAN           And you think I love you?                                                   ARTHUR           Well, yes. What's not to...           110.                                                                            SUSAN           I never have.                                                   ARTHUR           Susan, you're upset, you hate me.           It's okay. Now I'm sorry, I have to           go, or your dad's going to do           whatever he did to your boyfriend           from college.                                                   SUSAN           Daddy never hurt Alex. He paid her           parents to send her away..                                                   ARTHUR           HER? You're..a...                                                   SUSAN           Lesbian. Yes. You may have noticed           that daddy is homophobic. He swore           he'd disown me if it happened           again.                                                   ARTHUR           But...why do you want to marry...                                   Arthur glances across, sees Erica skulking.                                                   ARTHUR (CONT'D)           Hang on. Am I your beard?                                                   SUSAN           Why else do you think I'd spend           more than 30 seconds in your           company? You're the perfect cover.                                                   ARTHUR                          (REELING)           Have you been pretending to like           Dane Cook as well?                                                   SUSAN           No.                                                   ARTHUR           Wow. Wow. Well. Uh...           (heads to the door)           Thanks for your honesty. I don't           feel so bad about calling this off.                                   Erica steps in his way.           111.                                                                            SUSAN           Arthur, please. You can drink as           much as you like, sneak off to           Naomi. We keep the money. We live           our lives. Everyone wins.                                                   ARTHUR           I may be a weak, pathetic drunk.           But I won't marry a lesbian Dane           Cook fan.                                   Arthur pushes past Erica.                                                            INT. CHURCH. ALTAR - NIGHT                                   Arthur stumbles out on the altar. The CONGREGATION stares. He          taps a mic from the pulpit like a stand up.                                                   ARTHUR           Good evening, St. John the Divine!           Anyone in from St. Patrick's?           Bialystoker Synagogue? Manhattan           Mosque? AA?                                                            EXT. CHURCH - DAY                                   Naomi's tour bus screeches up. She hurries out.                                                            SINT. CHURCH - DAY                                   Arthur's still before the congregation, telling a story.                                                   ARTHUR           ...and the first turned to the           second horse and said `That dog           just spoke'.                                   The hateful silence that only 500 angry rich people can          muster.                                                   ARTHUR (CONT'D)           The joke being that it's           inconsistent that the horses can           speak but the dog can't.                                   Naomi creeps in at the back.                                                   ARTHUR (CONT'D)           The wedding's off. The bride has           had second thoughts. I can't say I           blame her. Would you marry me?                          (MORE)           112.                                                   ARTHUR (CONT'D)                          (PAUSE)           You won't be seeing me again, as           I'm going to be poor. I'll be           shopping at the 99 Cent Store. Six           pork chops for under a dollar!                                   TIGER WOODS discreetly scribbles `99c Store, chops' on a torn-          out Bible page.                                                   ARTHUR (CONT'D)           Great. I'm glad we had this talk.           I'll let you get on with the           wedding....                                   A huge crucifix strikes Arthur hard. Burt, crazed with          hatred, drags him by his hair off the altar.                                                            INT. CHURCH. SACRISTY. DAY - CONTINUOUS                                   Burt is bashing Arthur's head HARD against a stone font.                                                   SUSAN           Daddy, no! Stop it!                                   Vivienne bursts in. Followed by Naomi.                                                   VIVIENNE           Burt! Get off my son!                                   But nothing's going to stop Burt.                                                   SUSAN           (louder than anyone yet)           DADDY!!!                                   Susan is over Burt, brandishing a Virgin Mary statue.                                                   BURT           You wouldn't hurt me.                                                   SUSAN           Wouldn't I? You crushed me.                                                   BURT           I just wanted you to be happy.                                                   SUSAN           Bullshit. You wanted to stop me           being a lesbian!                                                   BURT           Shut up! Shut up you dirty little           dyke harlot!           113.                                                            Erica leaps on Burt, pummelling his face with her fists.                                                   ERICA           You want some more, bitch? Huh?                                   Arthur looks up at Susan.                                                   SUSAN           Erica, that's enough, honey.                                   Erica stops. Susan kisses her.                                                   ARTHUR           Why didn't you tell me? We could           have worked something out.                                   Naomi give Arthur a look.                                                   ARTHUR (CONT'D)           I'm joking.                                                            INT. CHURCH - LATER                                   The church is empty, apart from Arthur and Naomi on the          altar. Naomi's trying to remove something from Arthur's neck.          Vivienne is sitting alone in a pew near the back.                                                   ARTHUR           OW! Stop it! Why are you doing           that?                                                   NAOMI           Because I hate an infection! Keep           still.                                                   ARTHUR           No, you keep still.                                   He kisses Naomi passionately.                                                   NAOMI           What are we going to do, Arthur?                                                   ARTHUR           I'll get a job. I'll model cheap           riding boots for people with no           horses. You can write books about           boys whose lungs have run away.                                                   VIVIENNE           Stop this!                                   Vivienne walks up to the altar.           114.                                                                            VIVIENNE (CONT'D)           A Bach-Templemead has never been           poor and we're not about to try           that experiment with you, Arthur.           That said, you've shown strength of           character for once, instead of           blubbing on about frogs and           friendship. The inheritance is           yours. All I ask is, with Hobson           gone, you finally start treating me           like a mother.                                                   ARTHUR           Sorry, Vivienne. I can't do that.                                                   VIVIENNE           I beg your pardon?                                                   ARTHUR           You've never earned that title. I           wouldn't fake it with Susan. I           won't with you.                                                   VIVIENNE           Arthur. I will withdraw this offer           forever. Don't doubt me, boy.                                                   ARTHUR           I don't.                                   Arthur shakes Vivienne's hand.                                                   ARTHUR (CONT'D)           Take care, Viv.                                   Arthur takes Naomi by the hand and they leave the church.                                                   VIVIENNE           Arthur! Arthur! I am serious! If           you walk out of that door...                                   They're gone. Vivienne sits in a pew. For once she looks          small, old, alone.                                                            EXT. CHURCH - DAY                                   Arthur and Naomi step into the daylight, pushing past          paparazzi and press. Marty is waiting in the Batmobile, now          repaired.           115.                                                                            ARTHUR           Sorry, Marty. This isn't mine any           more. Fancy joining us for a bowl           of Special J?                                   Marty gets out. The three walk away up Amsterdam Avenue.                                                   FADE OUT                                                            EXT. QUEENS - NIGHT                                   CAPTION: ONE MONTH LATER                                    ARTHUR (O.S.)           OW!                                                            INT. NAOMI'S BEDROOM - NIGHT                                   Naomi's typing, sipping `Sprike' (fake Sprite). Beside her is          a printed manuscript titled `SNART'S FAKE NEW YORK - A Bogus          guide to the World's Greatest City.' On the computer screen          is: `...the 1765 Irish Hair Famine swept through Manhattan,          rendering every resident bald for a week.'                                    ARTHUR (O.S.)           This is outrageous!                                                            INT. NAOMI'S APARTMENT. SHOWER - NIGHT - CONTINUOUS                                   Arthur's struggling with a very crap, piddly shower. Rather          than the glory of Manhattan from his shower-in-the-sky,          Arthur just has a bare wall opposite to look out on.                                                   ARTHUR           Operational heat controls in a           shower are a basic human right!                                   A hole in a pipe sprays his groin with hot water. He screams.                                                            INT. NAOMI'S APARTMENT. SITTING ROOM - NIGHT - CONTINUOUS                                   Ralph and Marty sit watching sports, Marty cheering as the          Yankees are losing, Ralph miserable, The doorbell rings.                                                            INT. NAOMI'S APARTMENT. BATHROOM DOOR. NIGHT                                   Ralph stands hammering at the bathroom door, holding a          package.           116.                                                             ARTHUR (O.S.)           Owww! My eyes! I'm blind!                                   Ralph hammers again. The bathroom door opens. Arthur's          holding a giant bottle of cheap shampoo. His eyes are bright          red, streaming.                                                   ARTHUR (CONT'D)           What the hell's in this shampoo?           Napalm? It sure as hell isn't tea           tree oil...                                   Ralph hands him the package.                                                   RALPH           Package for you. With any luck an           apartment for you and Lurch.                                                   ARTHUR           I thought you liked me.                                                   RALPH           I may have been seduced by money.           It happens.                                                            INT. NAOMI'S APARTMENT. SITTING ROOM - NIGHT - CONTINUOUS                                   Naomi appears from the bedroom. She finds Arthur staring at          a framed photo of Hobson as a beautiful young woman holding          Arthur as a happy, laughing toddler. A note is attached.                                                   ARTHUR           (reading it out)           `Can I be your friend at least?           Love, Vivienne xxx. P.S. Lunch           sometime? P.P.S. The inheritance is           yours. It always was.'                                   Arthur looks at Naomi, at Ralph, at Marty.                                                   RALPH           On balance, I'd go for it.                                                   MARTY           Money good.                                   They look at Naomi.                                                   NAOMI           You were never happy rich, honey.           It's only been a month. Be strong.           Remember: however hard life gets,           love will always find a way.                          (MORE)           117.                                                   NAOMI (CONT'D)           (off their stares:)           What? Can't a girl make a joke?                                                            EXT. MANHATTAN - NIGHT                                   Arthur steps out of a Bentley.                                                            INT. AA MEETING - NIGHT                                   Arthur enters the AA meeting, clutching Hobson's ashes.                                                   ARTHUR           Brought her for moral support. But           I'll do the talking this time.                                                   FADE OUT
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+                            THE ARTIST                            Written by                       Michel Hazanavicius    Silent film, illustrated musically, with some title cards to    indicate the dialogues, with actors whose lips move when they    speak although we never hear their voices. The images are in    black and white, in format 1.33.1   TITLES                                                       1    The letters of the titles come up on a title card typical of    the 1920s. Elegant motifs around the edge of the frame, and,    in the background, there are geometrical shapes reminiscent    of the light beams of a film premiËre. Behind is a stylized    town. The titles end in a fade to black. On black, the date    appears on the screen: 19272   INT. LABORATORY - DAY                                        2    In a "futuristic" 1920s laboratory, a man in tail coat and    bow tie is being tortured. Ultrasound is being piped into his    ears. It's incredibly painful! He's screaming.    Title card:    I'm not telling!   I won't talk!!!    His torturers, cold men of science in white coats, gradually    increase the volume. The pain seems unbearable, the volume    reaches level 10 (maximum), the man passes out!3   INT. CELLS & CORRIDORS - DAY                                 3    Guards wearing long leather overcoats throw the man into a    cell!    As the man is lying there on the ground, a dog wiggles    through the bars at the window. The dog, a Jack Russell,    jumps on top of the man - visibly his master - and begins to    lick his face. The man opens one eye! When he sees his dog,    he can't help cracking a smile...    The man, now on his feet, looks in pain. Despite the pain, he    motions to his dog who begins to bark in lively fashion.    Outside the cell, the guard looks curious about the noise. He    goes to the door, opens the spy flap and finds himself face    to face with the man, eye to eye just a couple of inches    apart! The man moves his eyes in such a way that he    hypnotizes the guard! Superimposed on the screen: a spinning    black and white spiral, until the dazed guard take his keys,    opens the door and releases the man and his dog.                                                                 2.    The man (the hero, thus) imprisons the guard without harming    him, then runs over to the guard's desk. His ears are still    causing him pain, but he opens a drawer and takes out his    belongings: a top hat which he snaps open, and a mask, which    he puts over his head to conceal his eyes.    We catch up with the masked man walking down corridors. He    suddenly stops, copied by his dog who follows him like his    shadow. The man, on his guard, has spotted another guard    where two corridors meet.    With a look, he orders his dog to move forwards into the    guard's line of sight. The guard looks over at the animal.    Using his fingers, the hero pretends to shoot his dog. The    dog collapses, plays dead. The guard, increasingly curious,    gets to his feet. He slowly approaches the motionless dog.    When he comes close he is attacked from the side by the hero,    who quickly puts him out of action with a mere punch!    The masked man then rushes to another cell, and releases a    young female prisoner. She too is wearing evening dress. As    she is thanking him he staggers and clutches his ears in    pain. She's concerned.    Title card:    Can I help you in some way?    He refuses.    Title card:    No. I don't get helped.   I give the help around here.    He composes himself. She casts him an admiring glance. Then,    in view of the urgency of their situation, they escape at a    run.4   EXT. HOUSE/LABORATORY - DAY                                       4    They come out of a house that is lost in the hills, climb    into a Bugatti sports car that the man starts by rubbing two    wires together, and speed off.5   EXT. ROAD - DAY                                                   5    The car speeds along the road. Its occupants turn round to    check they aren't being followed.                                                              3.6   INT. HOUSE/LAB - DAY                                           6    The guard who got knocked out picks himself up, realizes what's    happened and dashes over to his office. He grabs a radio    emitter and begins sending a message.7   EXT. AIR FIELD - DAY                                           7    The hero, the young woman and the dog come to a halt in the    Bugatti on the air field, by a telegraph pole whose wires    lead...to a watch tower.    In the watch tower, a radio receptor is vibrating. A soldier    approaches, listens and suddenly understands! He grabs hold of    his gun and goes out onto the air field, only to find the    fugitives! He tries to shoot at them as he draws closer, but    the hero manages to throw an airplane propeller at him, before    climbing inside where the woman and dog are waiting for him.    The airplane begins to move.    The soldier shoots.    The airplane is positioning itself on the runway, while the    soldier continues to fire!    The aircraft gains speed.    The soldier is still shooting, but too late, as the heroo pulls    back the joystick, and the airplane takes to the sky...    The soldier is furious, but the hero is all smiles as he looks    back towards the ground and shouts something.    Title card: Free Georgia forever!!!    The airplane flies away into the evening sky.8   EXT. AIRPLANE - NIGHT                                          8    A little later in the night, still at the controls, the man is    fighting not to fall asleep. Behind him, the women is sleeping,    the dog is lying in her arms. Suddenly she is awoken by    explosions happening close by! Pandemonium! The man doesn't    understand it either, he tries to pick up altitude, but quickly    notices that the explosions are in fact pretty and    inoffensive. He consults a calendar dial on the control panel    that shows it is July 14th, immediately understands, and    bursts into laughter.    Title card: We've arrived, welcome to France!!!                                                               4.     As the music picks up the tune of The Marseillaise, the     airplane flies away through the exploding fireworks...     The words "The End" appear on the screen.9    INT. WINGS MOVIE THEATER LOS ANGELES - NIGHT                   9     From the moment they parked the car onwards, we become     absorbed by what's happening around the screening of end of     this film.     Behind the screen, we've seen the actor who plays the hero -     his name is George Valentin - closely studying the reactions     of the audience. He was standing close to his dog, motioning     to it not to make a noise. The dog's name is Jack.     In the same area, we've also seen the lead actress. Her name     is Constance Gray. She too looks tense and is latched onto     the arm of a pleasant-looking man who is chewing anxiously on     a cigar. The man looks rich, but a little weak. He's surely     the producer.10   INT. MOVIE THEATER LOS ANGELES - NIGHT                     10     In the house, much of the audience is open-mouthed, excited,     immobile and often wide-eyed.     In the pit, a symphony orchestra plays to accompany the film.     (9) Now that the film is ending, and the last note is     sounding, the cast anxiously awaits the audience's verdict,     which, after two or three seconds of silence, bursts into     thunderous applause, to the great joy of the actor and the     people around him, especially the actress and the producer,     who kiss each other on the lips.     Two theater hands bring down the curtain.     (10) The lights come on. George Valentin comes onto the stage     and acknowledges the audience, they are cheering for him. He     is so happy he dances a few tap steps to express his joy then     he acknowledges the orchestra before finally motioning to     someone in the wings to join him. Jack the dog trots over in     response. The crowd laughs and cheers, George waves to the     dog, Jack waves back then waves at the audience, the people     are loving it!     In the wings, Constance is fuming with rage, but on stage,     George is pretending with his fingers to pull at the dog, who     fakes death. Thunderous applause again.                                                               5.     Behind the actress, the producer can't hold back a smile, and     this enrages the actress still more.     Suddenly, George, hamming it up, remembers something he'd     forgotten, and asks someone from the other side of the wings     to join him. It's Constance. She comes over, smiling to the     audience, and says something to George with a smile.     Title card: I'll get you for that.     She waves, but we can tell that her smile is set between her     teeth. She isn't feeling comfortable. George motions firing a     gun with his fingers, but she does not fall down, merely     casts him a "very funny" glance. George looks at his fingers,     not understanding why they don't work anymore then mimes     throwing them away behind him, as though they've become     useless. Constance stalks back off into the wings in     annoyance, but the audience is ecstatic. Once in the wings,     the actress sticks up her middle finger at George, and     exaggeratedly mouths so he can read her lips: "Put this up     your ass." George, grinning broadly, responds by clapping his     hands in applause, then leaves the stage, executing a few     more dance steps as he does so. The audience is delighted.     As he comes off stage, George gets soundly told off by     Constance, but, still grinning, he motions towards the     audience who are still asking for more. The producer,     although delighted by the successful reception, makes a weak     attempt to calm the actress down. As for George, he returns     to the stage, the audience roars. He pretends to want to     leave the stage, and mimes bumping into an invisible wall     just as he's leaving the stage. George holds his nose, the     audience goes wild, Constance gets even madder, and while     George carries on clowning about, the producer too breaks     into a beaming smile. He's probably realized that George has     the audience on his side... Constance, furious, storms off. She     is followed by the producer who is trying to placate her,     although it looks like he's got his work cut out for him.11   EXT. MOVIE THEATER LOS ANGELES - NIGHT                      11     Outside, we are in front of a typically American movie theater     decked out with all the accessories of a grand premiËre. The     entrance is lit up, there are crowds gathered on the sidewalk,     cops are guarding the red carpet with a cordon of bodies, etc.     George comes out, causing the crowds, mainly young women, to     press forwards - and the photographers' flashes to spark into     life. The cops are struggling to maintain control of the     situation as George poses for the photographers and waves at     his many fans.                                                               6.     In the crowd, a young woman right at the front is staring at     him in rapture. She drops her bag and, as she bends to pick it     up, a swell in the crowd pushes her underneath the arms of the     policeman in front of her, out of the crowd and into George.     She stares at him, more in love than ever, delighted to be     there. The police wait for someone to give orders. George     doesn't quite know what to do. Nobody moves. The young woman     finally bursts out laughing, which, after a moment of shock,     causes George to laugh too, thus placating the cops and tacitly     signaling to the photographers that they can take pictures of     the scene. The flashes seem to lend the woman self-confidence     who, in a very carefree manner, begins to clown about in front     of them. George is delighted at the sight, by the whole scene     and, realizing this, the young woman steals a kiss. Flash. The     image becomes static, then dissolves into the printed picture     on the front page of "The Hollywood Reporter" newspaper, along     with three other pictures of the scene and the headline WHO'S     THAT GIRL?12   INT. GEORGE & DORIS' HOUSE - DAY                           12     The very same newspaper is being read by an elegant woman     sitting at a sumptuous breakfast table. We are in the large     dining room of an ultra-luxurious Hollywood villa. All around     her are magnificent furniture, superb paintings and objets     d'art, including a beautiful trio of monkeys, one hiding its     eyes, one with hands clasped to its ears and the third     obscuring its mouth. George comes into the room and kisses     his wife. She responds with cold indifference. You could cut     the atmosphere with a knife. The woman hands George the     newspaper. He knows what's up but tries to laugh it off. She     doesn't find it funny, is as cold as stone and barely looks     at him. She is obviously extremely annoyed with him. George     picks up his dog and puts it on the table. Jack drops his     head to one side and his big eyes implore seem to implore her     forgiveness. It's the exact expression of someone asking to     be loved, but Doris is implacable. She gets up, walks away     and does not turn back. Left on his own, George has a closed     expression on his face. He seems unhappy to have hurt his     wife's feelings. Then he realizes that Jack is on the table     in a ridiculous pose, and signals to him to get down. The dog     obeys. George looks at the paper, the cause of his problems.13   EXT. HOLLYWOOD STREET BUS - DAY                            13     Thirteen white letters placed on a hillside.     HOLLYWOODLAND.     Below, in town, a bus.                                                               7.14   INT. BUS (DRIVING)/HOLLYWOOD - DAY                           14     Inside the full bus is the young woman from the day before. Her     name is Peppy Miller. She is proudly holding "The Hollywood     Reporter" with her face on the front page, and is more or less     discreetly making suggestive glances, hoping that someone     recognizes her. But the people around her - from working and     middle class backgrounds - are visibly on their way to work and     remain impervious to her game.     She - carefully - puts the paper away in her bag, in which four     or five copies of the newspaper are already carefully tucked     away, then gets off the bus at the next stop.15   EXT. KINOGRAPH STUDIOS - DAY                                 15     She goes through the main gates of Kinograph Studios, and     heads towards where they hire extras.     In a courtyard, fifty-odd people are waiting, some sitting on     wooden crates, others standing. There are mums with kids,     guys with animals, men dressed as cowboys, etc. Peppy is     among them, sitting next to a man of about sixty who is     dressed in a highly stylized fashion. His job is obviously     that of a butler. Peppy proudly shows him the picture in the     newspaper. The man leans to take a closer look, unfolds the     newspaper, sees the headline, smiles and then folds it back     up again and returns it to Peppy text-side-up, highlighting     the headline: Who's that girl ?     Peppy is a bit annoyed to have been put in her place, but     deep down she knows he's right. Nobody knows who she is. She     puts the newspaper away.     A man who visibly works for the studio, some assistant or     other, comes into the courtyard, climbs on a crate and makes     an announcement.     Title card: Contemporary film!   Five girls who can dance!     All the men who had pressed forwards turn on their heels,     leaving the assistant surrounded only by women. The man says     something to one girl, who begins to dance. He motions to her     that it's ok and she heads off towards the wardrobe section.     He does the same with a second girl and she gets hired too.     Then it's Peppy's turn. She puts a lot of energy into a few     top class tap steps, impressing the guy to such an extent     that he smiles admiringly then signals that she's hired.     Full of self-assurance that her lucky day has come, Peppy     heads off towards wardrobe too; swinging, her hips as she     pauses in front of the butler.                                                                  8.      Title card: The name is Miller.    Peppy Miller!      She finishes with an exaggerated wink, before walking on,      leaving behind the impassive butler.16A   INT. GEORGE & DORIS' HOUSE - DAY                            16A      In the lobby, George is preparing to leave the house. He      waves at the huge, full-length portrait of himself waving and      smiling whilst wearing a tuxedo. He looks great in the      painting, and George is delighted to see and to wave to      himself.16    EXT. KINOGRAPH STUDIOS - DAY                                 16      Later, George, in a luxurious car driven by his chauffeur,      arrives at the Kinograph studios with his dog. The guard at the      entrance smiles broadly at them and waves.17    INT. KINOGRAPH STUDIOS - DRESSING ROOM CORRIDORS - DAY       17      As he walks towards his dressing room, everyone smiles at him.      He's not always fooled by these signs of respect, and apes a      few smiles himself.18    INT. KINOGRAPH STUDIOS - GEORGE'S DRESSING ROOM - DAY        18      In his dressing room, wearing a tailcoat and top hat, George      is finishing putting his make up on. He has a white face and      dark lips and eyes. His chauffeur is signing autographs for      him on full length photographs of himself (George) with his      dog. George says to him:      Title card: Go and buy a piece of jewelry for my wife. A nice      piece, to make it up to her.      The chauffeur nods. Having finished his mask up, George,      picks up a photo, looks at it closely and then writes on it.      As he leaves the dressing room, we see the photograph. He's      written Woof Woof on it, and signed it with the paw print of      a dog.19    INT. KINOGRAPH STUDIOS - RESTAURANT DECOR SET - DAY          19      We're on a film set, the crew is setting up a shot. The      director is unhappy with a screen positioned behind a bay      window and he sends it off.                                                           9.Title card: Remove that screen and bring me another one!    Onthe double!Two hands pick up the screen and carry it away. Georgearrives on set, everyone smiles at him. He sits down on thechair which bears his name. The producer whom we saw theprevious day at the premiËre arrives. His name is Zimmer, andhe's flanked by - and followed around at every moment by -two secretaries and two assistants. One of them hands him TheHollywood Reporter, and Zimmer, before he's even come to ahalt, talks to George as he shows him the front page. He isvisibly upset. George looks a lot more relaxed, he says helloand vaguely tries to reassure him. But Zimmer persists, stillpointing at the newspaper.Title card: Because of this childish nonsense, there'snothing about the film before page 5!Behind George, the two set hands come back with a new screenof sky scenery, and wait, standing just next to George. Asthey are holding it, there is a three foot gap underneath.While the producer is talking to him, George's attention isdrawn by a lovely pair of women's legs that have come tostand behind the screen, the top half of the body beinghidden by it. George acknowledges the sight with a smile andis about to bring his attention back to the on-goingdiscussion, when his attention is drawn away again by anoise, that of the tap steps the female legs are making,presumably as a warm up. George smiles in recognition andresponds with a few tap steps of his own. The women's legsinstantly stop, seem to think a moment and then answer back,but with a jump in the complexity of the steps. A tapdialogue ensues between the two pairs of legs, until the sethands - the path before them now cleared - pick up theirscreen of scenery and walk off with it. The screen moves awayand as it disappears reveals that the upper body belongs to ayoung woman. She pulls a face meaning 'Here I am!!' And ofcourse it's Peppy, except that she immediately realizes whoshe is dealing with - visibly she wasn't expecting this atall - and feels completely ridiculous and uncomfortable.Her joyful expression gradually becomes one of abjectapology, but George is roaring with laughter.After a short pause, Zimmer makes the connection. He checksthe front page of the paper, and recognizes her!Then he begins shouting at her and all she can do is lowerher head, unable to reply. He gestures that she's fired andfor her to get out, and she starts to go, completelydistraught. She's just made a couple of steps when Georgestops her and tells her to come back. Everyone is surprised,most of all him. Zimmer can't believe it, and so doesn'trespond at first.                                                              10.     There's bad feeling between them, as though neither wanted     this sudden conflict, but like it had always been there,     tangible. Everyone on the set seems to be waiting for Zimmer     to react, but to their surprise, after a long moment of     hesitation, he walks away without saying a thing. Peppy looks     at George gratefully, smiling, but seems a little preoccupied     as though she might have made a mistake.     Everyone on set gets back to work.20   INT. KINOGRAPH STUDIOS - RESTAURANT DECOR SET - DAY        20     They're about to start shooting. The director is showing     George what he has to do. The scene is happening in a cabaret     restaurant. George has to cross a dance floor, but each time he     is stopped by a guy ringing a bell to signal it is time to     change dancing partner. George finds himself dancing with     Peppy one moment, and in the arms of a very fat man the next,     the director finds the gag hysterical. The scene is shot     several times from three different angles. Each time, George     dances with Peppy, and, each time, the nature of their rapport     changes. To begin with, they are happy and laughing, but then,     with time, less so. Then they become embarrassed, and then     things get worse. We start the sequence again and again, to the     sound of the clapperboard counting the number of takes, but the     eroticism between them is the only thing that stands out from     the scene, every thing else goes unnoticed. Ultimately, no     flirting or suggestiveness has gone on, just the very obvious     beginning of feelings between them that they find disturbing.     It's probably love.21   INT. KINOGRAPH STUDIOS - DRESSING ROOM CORRIDORS - DAY     21     Later on, in the dressing room corridor, Peppy, holding an     envelope, goes up to George's door. She knocks, waits for a     reply, then enters. There's nobody there. She hesitates, not     sure whether to leave or stay...22   INT. KINOGRAPH STUDIOS - GEORGE'S DRESSING ROOM - DAY      22     Finally, she goes into the room and places the envelope     addressed to George Valentin on the dresser. Then she     attentively looks around the dressing room. She looks at the     objects and photos and notices, hanging from a coat stand,     George's jacket on a hanger, and his hat which sits on a hook     above it. The way the clothes are disposed looks like George's     silhouette, except that the clothes are empty. She goes over,     strokes the jacket and little by little brings George to life     through his clothes.                                                              11.     She puts her right hand into the sleeve and touches her own     waist. As it's George's sleeve, she makes it look like his arm     has come to life, as though George has come to life. Even more     so since her left hand is stroking the jacket as though George     were inside. She takes pleasure from the embrace and, when     George comes into the room, she slowly removes her hand without     any rush. George sees her, they look at each other. He closes     the door but doesn't go over to her, instead going over to the     mirror. He looks at her, she at him... He motions to her to     approach. She does. He stares at her face for a while before he     speaks.     Title card: If you want to be an actress, you need to have     something no one else has.     He takes a make-up pencil and draws a beauty spot above her     upper lip. She looks at herself in the mirror and smiles. She     likes it. She turns towards him and, quite naturally, folds     into his arms. The dog watches them curiously with its head     leaning to one side. They are probably about to kiss when     George's chauffeur comes into the room and catches them.     George swiftly moves aside and there is a moment of     discomfort. The chauffeur unwraps a parcel and takes out a     large and beautiful pearl necklace. George is intrigued by     the necklace, and turns away from Peppy. She understands that     George has his own life, that their embrace was just a stolen     moment and slowly leaves, looking back at George as she does     so. He does not look at her. She leaves the room. Once he has     studied and necklace and is satisfied, George turns back     towards Peppy but she is no longer there. The chauffeur exits     the room.     When he is alone, George looks at himself in the mirror. His     expression shows that he things he is the stupidest man in     the world. He mimes shooting himself in the temple with his     fingers, but it's the dog which collapses into its play-dead     pose.23   INT. GEORGE & DORIS' HOUSE - DAY                             23     The next morning, he's having breakfast with his wife. The     atmosphere is still dreadful but this time he's not making any     effort either. He disdainfully watches Doris eat. She is     cutting up strawberries using a knife and fork. George watches     her, smiles and continues to watch. Except it's not Doris he's     watching. Instead it's Peppy who's tucking into her food and     talking and laughing vivaciously. George is with her with an     expression of love on his face. He's laughing with her when,     suddenly, reality bites. He's still sitting opposite Doris,     and she's staring at him because she doesn't understand why he     is laughing. She visibly finds him ridiculous. He stops     laughing and breakfast carries on as normal.                                                                 12.24   INT. GEORGE & DORIS' HOUSE - DAY                              24     We see several quick sequences which indicate time passing:     Breakfasts with George and Doris where the atmosphere is     increasingly dreadful. Doris scribbles on photos of George in     the press, draws on moustaches, large spectacles, etc.25   INT. STUDIO/STAGES - PIRATE/COWBOY/ETC. - DAY                 25     Short extracts of George in various films, in which he portrays     a pirate, then a cowboy, then William Tell, etc. We also see     him in "Someday in July" in the sequence he shot with Peppy and     the fat male dancer.26   INT. MOVIE THEATER AUDIENCE, ETC. - DAY                       26     Movie-goers reacting to the films, but the way the images are     edited - cut with breakfast images - could mean they are     reacting to them too.     Among the audience is Peppy Miller. She's trying to     concentrate fully on the film and is pushing away the handsome     young man she's with, who is trying to kiss her. We see her     later, at the movies again, but this time alone.27   INT. STUDIO/STAGES - PEPPY AS A SERVANT/DANCER/ETC. - DAY     27     We see her playing some bit parts, maid, dancer, etc. Her roles     seem to get a little bigger. We notice that she now wears the     beauty spot that she'll keep forever.     Her name climbs up the ranks in the title sequences of films,     until it appears on its own.28   INT. OFFICE - PEPPY/CONTRACT/1927 - DAY                       28     We see her signing a contract in a small office, she seems     happy.29                                                                 29     INT. OFFICE - GEORGE/ZIMMER/CONTRACT - DAY     George signs a big contract with Zimmer as photographers take     pictures. He smiles broadly, whereas Zimmer looks like his     smile is a little forced.     The date appears on the screen: 1929                                                                13.30                                                                30     INT. KINOGRAPH STUDIOS - TAVERN DECOR - DAY     George, dressed as a musketeer, is sword-fighting with three     middle-ages thugs in a tavern. He kills two of them, but     unfortunately loses his epee when fighting the third. But when     the third man attacks, George merely dodges with a sleight of     body and puts his attacker out of action with a right hook!     Calm restored, he smiles and waves in brotherly fashion to a     mysterious man who is trying to hide underneath his long cape.     The man stands up, throws aside his cape and reveals himself to     be... Napoleon! He puts his bicorne hat back on and warmly     thanks an astonished George. Napoleon says something to him     and George respectfully bows, walks away from him still bowing     then turns and runs. Once out of the decor, he bumps right into     a worried-looking Zimmer who is followed by his loyal     assistants. George is in a playful mood. Zimmer tells him:     Title Card: I want to show you something.     Right now.     George seems astonished that Zimmer is leaving the set and     not filming, but agrees. Napoleon walks past them very     imperially and gestures royally to a technician to bring him     a chair. The technician doesn't miss the chance to remind the     man that he is only an extra, and not Napoleon.31                                                                31     INT. SCREENING ROOM - STUDIO - DAY     Zimmer, his guards, and George - still dressed as a musketeer -     come into a screening room in which a dozen or so very serious-     looking people are waiting. They sit down and Zimmer, very     proudly and self-confidently, gestures to an assistant who     passes on the message to the projectionist. The room goes dark.     The screening begins.32                                                                32     INT. VOICE TEST STUDIO - DAY     On screen we see a card that indicates it's a sound shooting     test for a talking scene. Then Constance appears, the actress     from the spy film. She's standing in front of a mic and she     tests it, delighted to be there. Cut. We see her again, the     microphone has disappeared and she acts out a scene. It's a     monologue. Her acting is terrible, very theatrical, but the     audience can hear her. It is however, awful.     (31) In the screening room, the audience seems stunned by     what they see/hear. They are fascinated. They then begin to     congratulate each other and slap Zimmer on the back. Zimmer's     pride seems to grow by the second.     George, who at first seemed very surprised, slowly begins a     snigger which gradually has become a belly laugh when the     actress earnestly ends her monologue.                                                              14.     When the lights come up, George is laughing uncontrollably     way beyond the bounds of mere mockery as his sincerity is     obvious. The people present are embarrassed, and Zimmer is     deeply put out. George, still laughing, leaves the room,     waving an apology with his hands as he goes, but also     pointing to the screen to explain why he's laughing. Zimmer     feels even more humiliated. Fade to black on his face.33   INT. KINOGRAPH STUDIOS - GEORGE'S DRESSING ROOM - DAY      33     We're back with George in his dressing room. He's removing his     make up. He moves some ordinary object and the object, as he     moves it, makes a noise. We hear the noise it makes. Really     hear it. It's the first time we've heard a sound that comes     from within the film itself. One second later, George realizes     that the object made a noise. He moves it again, the object     makes a noise again. George is worried. He tries another object     and obtains noise again. His dog barks and we hear it! He gets     up (chair makes a noise) and says something to his dog, but no     sound comes out of his mouth when he speaks. He realizes     this... Panic sets in, he turns to the mirror and tries talking     again, but still no sound comes out. Not understanding what's     happening, the feeling of panic fully blossoms and he flees his     dressing room!34   INT. KINOGRAPH STUDIOS - DRESSING ROOM CORRIDORS - DAY     34     Noisy, laughing dancers pass in the corridor, others are     talking or shouting and even if we can't make out what they are     saying, they are all making sound. George tries to talk to them     but his voice remains silent. One dancer, seeing his fright,     bursts into throaty laughter. George rushes through the     milling crowd the sound of which is becoming increasingly     loud...35   EXT. KINOGRAPH STUDIOS - COURTYARD - DAY                   35     ...and bursts out into the courtyard of the studio that is now     suddenly deserted and silent. In front of him a feather eddies     slowly to the ground, carried by the breeze. It finally lands,     making a completely abnormal and disproportionate noise like     that of a building crashing to the ground in slow motion.     George screams, but again his cry is silent.36   INT. GEORGE & DORIS' HOUSE - BEDROOM - NIGHT               36     George awakes with a start! He's in bed and is having trouble     shaking off his nightmare.     The film continues as normal: in other words, silent.                                                               15.     His wife is sleeping by his side. He gets up, taking care not     to make a sound.37   INT. GEORGE & DORIS' HOUSE - LIVING ROOM - NIGHT            37     George calms down as he sits in the living room, alone in the     darkness. Jack, still sleepy, has just curled into a ball     next to him to fall back to sleep. George smiles and gives     him a pat.38   INT. GEORGE'S CAR (DRIVING) - LOS ANGELES STREETS - DAY     38     Driven by his chauffeur, George crosses town heading for the     studios.39                                                               39     EXT. KINOGRAPH STUDIOS - DAY     The car goes through the studio gates. There's nobody there.     George gets out. He goes into the courtyard. There's nobody     there either.40   INT. KINOGRAPH STUDIOS - TAVERN DECOR SET - DAY             40     He goes into the studio and heads for the set. There is still     no one about. He doesn't understand and goes back outside.41   EXT. KINOGRAPH STUDIOS - DAY                                41     Outside in the deserted courtyard, a feather eddies towards     the ground, carried by the breeze. George is watching it drift     to the ground when suddenly a gust of wind sends it soaring     back into the sky. George follows it with his eyes and notices     a man crossing between two sets. He looks like some kind of set     hand or assistant; a working man in any case. George calls to     him. The two men draw close and George asks him what's     happening. The man takes the day's newspaper out of his pocket     and hands it to George before walking off. George reads:     Kinograph Studios stop all silent productions to work     exclusively on talkies.42   INT. KINOGRAPH STUDIOS - SECRETARY'S OFFICE - DAY           42     Despite the secretary's attempts to stop him, a furious George     storms into Zimmer's office.                                                              16.43   INT. KINOGRAPH STUDIOS - ZIMMER'S OFFICE - DAY                43     Zimmer is in a meeting with some men. They are probably     engineers in view of the attention being given to the plans     lying on the desk. Everyone is surprised by George's rude     entry. The engineers seem embarrassed, but Zimmer smiles and     politely asks them to leave, as though asking for their     understanding. As they head for the door, some of them drop     their heads so as not to meet George's eyes, whereas others     look him right between the eyes but without any love lost. This     exchange causes a strange, unpleasant feeling within him. He     seems embarrassed. It's perhaps due to the rudeness of his     eruption into the office, but it's more likely due to the looks     he's been given. For the first time for ages, he has not been     looked at how a star is normally looked at - with respect,     desire and admiration - but like any ordinary man is looked at     or, worse still, how a superfluous man is looked at.     As George realizes that his status has just changed, Zimmer     invites him to sit down. Then speaks to him, in a friendly     manner.     Title card: We belong to another age, you and I, George.     Nowadays, the world talks.     He talks to him, looks a little embarrassed, while George     takes it on the chin, not knowing how to respond.     Title card: People want to see new faces. Talking faces.     George reaches deep down into himself and makes an effort to     bring up a smile.     Title card: Paramount will be delighted. They still want me.     Zimmer responds with a pursing of the lips that is more     damning than any counter argument could be. As though he's     telling George he can always give it a go... George understands     what's happening. Zimmer is sorry.     Title card: I'm sorry. The public wants fresh blood. And the     public is never wrong.     George gets to his feet.     Title card: It's me the people want and it's my films they     want to see. And I'm going to give them to them.     Zimmer nods with another pursing of the lips, as though he     can't wait to see that. George seems very sure of himself.     Title card: I don't need you. Go make your talking movies.     I'm going to make them a beautiful film!                                                              17.     As George leaves in disgust, his eyes are drawn to an     advertising feature representing the "new faces of Kinograph     Studios". Among the medallion framed young portraits, George     recognizes that of Peppy Miller. He glances up at Zimmer.     Title card: Fresh blood...     The two men exchange a last glance, then George exits.44   INT. KINOGRAPH STUDIOS, SECRETARY'S OFFICE - DAY            44     Outside he feels a few seconds of discouragement but, as he     meets the gaze of the engineers waiting in the secretary's     antechamber, he puffs up his chest and walks tall out of the     office.45   INT. KINOGRAPH STUDIOS - STAIRS - DAY                       45     Going down the stairs from the offices, he passes a laughing     Peppy who is accompanied by two young and charming men, perfect     specimens of America's golden youth. She is coming up, he is     going down. When she notices him, she stops, already one step     above of him. She has a beaming smile and is truly delighted to     see him. He is delighted too, although his mood is very     different.     Title card (him): How are you?     Title card (her): Fantastic! I've been given a lead role!     Isn't it wonderful?!     He nods, we see in his eyes that he's terribly happy for her.     They look at each other, she laughs.     Then she fumbles in her bag for something with which to note     down her telephone number on a piece of paper. It takes a     while and is a little chaotic, she apologizes, but he visibly     takes a lot of pleasure out of watching her. She finally gets     the number down and hands it to him, telling him to call her -     to really call her. In response he casts a glance over to the     young men waiting for her higher up the stairs, and she     bursts out laughing. She leans towards him to say something.     Title card: Gadgets!     She looks at him flirtatiously. Then she gestures again for     him to call her, and he nods, even though we think that he     probably will not do so. She leaves and he watches her go     before beginning his decent once more. Once at the top, she     turns back to call out to George, he too has turned to look.     She smiles at him, breaks into a few tap steps for old time's     sake, then blows him a kiss.                                                              18.     He catches the kiss with a smile, pretends to make it     disappear in his other hand like a magician, then shows her     the inside breast pocket of his jacket as proof that he's     keeping it safe and warm. She laughs loudly and goes on her     way. He watches her walk away with admiration in his eyes.     She vanishes and George's smile takes on a note of     melancholy, and then he leaves too.46   OMITTED                                                    4647   INT. GEORGE & DORIS' HOUSE - DAY                           47     George comes home. Doris is there scribbling on a magazine but     he takes no notice of her. When the dog jumps into his arms     however, he greets it affectionately. Doris is vexed.48   INT. GEORGE & DORIS' HOUSE - LIVING ROOM - DAY             48     A while later he's running Jack through his tricks when Doris     arrives.     Title card: We have to talk, George.     George smiles.     Title card: Or not.     She insists but he doesn't listen. He's with his dog. She     gets annoyed, he doesn't answer, she ends up throwing Jack.     George cannot forgive her for doing so, he looks at her in     disgust. She starts to cry.     Title card: I'm unhappy, George.     He answers without looking at her.     Title card: So are millions of other people, me for instance.49   INT. GEORGE'S STUDIO SET - JUNGLE DECOR - DAY              49     Thanks to a montage of shot frames, photos and press cuttings,     we see George begin making his film, the first clap of the     board that shows he's both the film's producer and director.     The film is called Tears of love, and it tells the tale of an     English adventurer - played by himself - accompanied by a young     woman, an old man who looks like a professor and who is     probably the father of the young woman and, lastly, an African     tribe represented as savages and whose humanity remains to be     proven.                                                              19.     We see George in the various stages of preparation: writing, re-     writing, directing, acting, signing a lot of checks, but also     leaving very early in the morning to set up shots with his     collaborators, etc. He looks fulfilled, like he truly believes     in what he's doing, despite the tiredness he's feeling. His dog     has a role in the film too, doing tricks. George looks very     happy, very committed. He takes a supple branch, feeds it     through the sleeves of a woman's blouse and, by holding the two     ends of the branch out in front of him, dances with the     imaginary woman. Everyone around him is happy and laughing.     He's not shooting a comedy, however, it's obviously a drama of     some sort from what we see of the set and the way the actors     play their role.     Then appear on screen the mock ups of posters, they are shown     on the set to George.     He chooses the one in which he is most prominent, it's a poster     depicting a cutesy melodrama and bears the release date     October 25th.50                                                              50     OMITTED51   EXT. LOS ANGELES STREET (POSTERS) - DAY                    51     In the street, at the entrance to a movie theater, George sees     a large "Beauty Spot" film poster. The poster shows Peppy close     up, wearing a magnificent and jauntily positioned chapka over     one eye. She is incredibly stylish but in no way vampish, more     the image of a young comedy debut... George looks at her, Peppy     seems to be smiling at him. He smiles back. Then his smile     becomes strained. He's noticed something. The two theater     employees are sticking a banner over the poster that reveals     the release date of Beauty Spot - it's also October 25th.52   INT. ANIMATION STAND - DAY                                 52     Then we see advertising inserts and full page press articles     appearing one after the other, creating a montage of images     with a very 1920's feel. "Get some Peps with Peppy!" and a     close up on her smiling, mischievous face. "The girl next     door", "The girl you'll love to love" "Young and pretty", etc.     with a photo of Peppy each time, posters of the film and then,     everywhere, the face that it's a talking movie! Talking,     talking, talking!     As for George, his image is a lot more austere, the photographs     show him as very serious. And the captions are like: "I'm not a     muppet anymore, I'm an artist!"                                                              20.53   OMITTED                                                      5354   INT. RESTAURANT INTERVIEW - DAY                              54     We're in a smart restaurant. George has his back to the room     and is eating with his chauffeur. Peppy comes into the     restaurant and comes to sit just behind George. They are back     to back. She is with several young men, two of whom are     journalists and they are interviewing her.     Title card: Your first film doesn't come out until tomorrow     and yet you're already the new darling of Hollywood! How do     you explain that?     She starts by bursting into laughter, which draws George's     attention. He turns round to listen to the rest of Peppy's     answer.     Title card: I don't know, maybe it's because I talk. And     people hear me.     She continues talking, obviously happy that people are     interested in her. She doesn't see George smiling behind her.     Title card: People are sick to death of those old actors who     pull faces to make themselves understood.     She continues talking with the casual arrogance of youth.     Behind her, George's smile vanishes.     Title card: Anyway, it's normal for the young to take over     from the old, that's life. Make way for youth!     George is hurt. He gets up and, before he leaves, gestures     silently that if she wants his place all she has to do is     take it. She watches him leave and immediately regrets what     she's just said.55   INT. GEORGE & DORIS' HOUSE - DAY                             55     It's the day of the films' release, October 25th.     It's morning. George opens his front door. His chauffeur is     outside. The man's expression announces bad news. He's holding     the day's press. The huge headlines talk of a stock market     crash, a black Thursday, a catastrophe.     Dressed in a robe, George is on the telephone in the living     room. He nods. The atmosphere is stifling. He hangs up. His     chauffeur looks at him inquisitively. George replies as though     lost in thought:                                                              21.     Title card: It would seem that we're ruined.     The chauffeur takes it on the chin with as much reserve as he     can muster, but George continues.     Title card: That's the best case scenario...     He almost laughs - not so the chauffeur.56   INT. GEORGE & DORIS' HOUSE - DAY                           56     Now wearing a suit, George is sitting at his desk. Lying in     front of him are the front pages of newspapers reporting the     Crash. He looks for something on the inside pages of one paper     and reads. Next to a large picture of Peppy there's a review of     his own film, beginning "Tears of Love, Old and Boring". He     shuts the paper and searches for something in the drawer of his     desk. He takes out a piece of paper. It's the telephone number     that Peppy had scribbled down for him. He looks at it, moves     closer to the telephone, hesitates, looks at the paper again,     then puts the scrap of paper back in the drawer without making     the call.57   INT. PEPPY'S HOUSE - BEDROOM - DAY                         57     Peppy awakes in bed with a start. She doesn't know what has     woken her up. She looks around, looks at the phone, seems     perplexed. Then a man's arm invites her to lie back down; she     does.     (56) Still at his desk, George gets up and goes to the     window. He seems lost in thought.58   INT. GEORGE'S STUDIO SET - JUNGLE DECOR - DAY              58     An extract from "Tears of Love" in which we see George, holding     the young woman in his arms, take part in a clichÈ-d African     dance with shields, spears and all the African accoutrements     attributed by Westerners at the time. George and the woman are     complacently watching the dance, when George says to the young     woman.     Title card: Let's go back, Norma. They've never seen a white     woman before and I don't want to take any risks.59   INT. MOVIE THEATER - "TEARS OF LOVE" SCREENING - DAY       59     There's hardly anyone in the theater. The people that are there     look bored more than anything. At the back smoking a cigarette,     George takes the failure on the chin.                                                               22.     One couple gets to their feet and leaves the theater. As the     man reaches George, he recognizes him and casts him a glance     that seems to say "goodness old chap this one's not up to     much..." George doesn't know what to say in reply.60   EXT. MOVIE THEATERS - LOS ANGELES - DAY                       60     Outside, George comes out still smoking his cigarette. On the     sidewalk, people are cheerfully waiting in line. George walks     up the line and comes to a movie house that's playing the     "Beauty Spot" talking movie. A huge poster depicts Peppy and     the people in the line seem excited and delighted to be going     to see the film. It's visibly a success. George takes it on the     chin.61   INT. GEORGE'S CAR (DRIVING) - LOS ANGELES STREETS - DAY       61     Inside the car, behind the implacable chauffeur, George is     talking to himself, as though he's re-running the story in     his head and searching for what he might have done better, or     differently.62   INT. GEORGE & DORIS' HOUSE - DAY                              62     Once home, he finds a photo of himself on the floor. It has     been defaced with a scribbled moustache, spectacles and a big     nose. There's a note to him scribbled on the back. We read it     at the same time as him.     It's over, George. You've got a fortnight to collect your     souvenirs together and get out of the house.     Doris     P.S.: You should go see Beauty Spot, it's incredible.     George takes it on the chin and leaves, revealing behind him     the portrait of himself wearing a tuxedo, smiling and waving.63   INT. MOVIE THEATER - "TEARS OF LOVE" SCREENING - DAY          63     As for Peppy, she's in the theater, watching Tears of love.     She's with a handsome young man who seems bored.64   EXT. JUNGLE - DAY                                             64     George is wearing shorts and an explorer's hat. He is sinking     in sinking sand. The young woman is screaming and the dog     barking.                                                                23.     The Africans are panicking but there's nothing anyone can do.     George stops struggling, and looks deep into the eyes of the     young woman. He says gently:     Title card: Farewell, Norma.    I never loved you...     It's obvious he's only saying that so that she can forget him     and move on with her life, but it doesn't wash and the young     woman weeps all the more, terribly moved by this last     sacrifice on his part.     (63) In the balcony, Peppy is speechless and her face     impassive.     (64) On screen, George and the young women exchange a last     glance as George's face gradually sinks into the sand.     (63) Next to Peppy, the young man sits watching her. She sees     sad.     (64) On screen, George has disappeared into the mire. Only     one hand stays in the air for several seconds more in a     tortured pose, that of a dying man trying to hold on to the     wind.     (63) Peppy's companion seems to find the film far too long     and doesn't understand why they haven't already left.     (64) The hand has disappeared. The young woman is in a state     of shock, rigid with a look of horror on her face. She is no     doubt about to be put to certain death. The dog turns round     and walks off with head and tail lowered...     The End appears on the screen.     (63) Peppy seems moved. She is shaking her head from side to     side.65   EXT. LOS ANGELES STREET - PICTURE OF GEORGE - EVENING        65     Evening has fallen on the town. It's raining. On the ground     lies an old page from a newspaper that bears a picture of     George. A man's feet trample the picture.66   INT. GEORGE & DORIS' HOUSE - NIGHT                           66     George is   at home. Two bottles are apparent and, obviously     drunk, he   is staring out the window. The projection of     raindrops   sliding down the window look like tears running down     his face.   And Jack's face too. George is pulled out of his     stupor as   he hears something.                                                              24.67   EXT. GEORGE & DORIS' HOUSE - TOP STEP - NIGHT                 67     He opens the door. It's Peppy. She immediately notices that     George is drunk. Her smile tenses a little.     Title card: I wanted to talk, I...     George looks at her. She continues.     Title card: I saw Tears of Love.     George nods, and answers.     Title card: And so you've come to get your money back?     She smiles stiffly, not knowing how to react.   He continues.     Title card: Too much face-pulling?     She stops smiling because it's not funny at all. It's bitter,     even. There's an embarrassed silence. Softly, she tries to     explain.     Title card: About last night...     She stops because George is not looking at her anymore. He's     watching the arrival of the young, smiling, handsome and     wholesome man who is with Peppy. George bears a melancholy     smile.     Title card: You're right. Make way for youth...     The young man shakes George's hand. He's obviously a nice     lad, and very polite.     Title card: I'm so happy to meet you. My Dad just loves you.     He says it very nicely, with no ulterior motive, but George     is cut to the quick. The comment wounds him and Peppy     notices. She cuts short the meeting by smiling and upping the     cheerfulness stakes, as though to kid George she hasn't     noticed any embarrassment or perceived anything that might     have shocked or hurt him during their encounter.     Title card: OK! Well, we'll be off now.   I'll call you soon.     Bye!     George smiles politely. She leaves, taking the handsome jock     with her. George watches them leave. As does his dog, who     sits with his head and ears hanging low as though very     disappointed. George watches Peppy walking away, then steps     forwards and sits down on the steps leading up to the house.                                                              25.     As she gets into the car, Peppy seems surly, unhappy even,     for the first time. She turns her back on her companion.     Title card: Take me home. I'd like to be alone.     George watches the car leave, then goes and sits on a bench     next to the front door. But the bench breaks and George finds     himself on the ground next to the dog. George remarks evenly     to Jack:     Title card: See, could be it just wasn't my day...                                                  FADE TO BLACK.68   EXT. MOVIE THEATER - "TEARS OF LOVE" - DAY                    68     In the rain, a worker is taking down letters from the facade     of a theater. Of Tears of Love, only the word Tears remains.69   INT. KINOGRAPH STUDIOS - PEPPY'S DRESSING ROOM - DAY          69     Peppy is facing her mirror and putting her make up on. She     takes a break, looking a little sad. Someone (some kind of     assistant) opens the door to her dressing room and says     something like you need to hurry up. She nods and gets back     to work.70   EXT. MOVIE POSTERS - LOS ANGELES - DAY                        70     Alternate shots of three or four film posters and frames from     them which illustrate Peppy's rising fame. Her name moves     higher up the posters and into bigger letters. The films are     called "The Rookie", "The Brunette ", "The Girl Next Door" and,     finally, "On the Roof ".71                                                                 71     OMITTED72   INT. KINOGRAPH STUDIOS - PEPPY'S DRESSING ROOM - DAY          72     We catch up with her in a close up, applying her make up. The     camera pulls back and we see that not only is she not putting     the make up on herself - a make up artist is doing that - but     there are in fact four pairs of hands getting busy around her;     two make up girls, a hairdresser and a wardrobe assistant.     Peppy, fortunately, has stayed completely natural and doesn't     seem to take any of it seriously. As the last touch is put in     place, Peppy gets to her feet and turns round.                                                              26.     At her feet lie a dozen pairs of shoes, each pair as     magnificent as the next, and all in their swanky boxes. Peppy     tries on a pair. Close up of her feet.73   INT. GEORGE'S HOUSE (1931) - DAY                              73     Crossfade to a man's pair of shoes with used heels and uppers.     George's dog comes to sit at his feet. The date is superimposed     on the screen: 1931.     The camera climbs up his legs to reveal George lying fully     dressed in his bed, obviously at home in view of his attitude.     He's changed. And even if his suit is still pretty smart, he's     become more "common", less unattainable. He seems to have lost     whatever it was that made him so superb. Primarily he's a bit     drunk, somewhat hesitant. George gets up and closes his Murphy     bed, the kind of bed that slots up into the wall to look like a     closet. Then he walks across the living area. His home has     changed too, it's fallen in class and is a lot more modest than     the one we were used to seeing him in. We do however recognize     some of the objects, furniture and paintings from his old     house, notably the huge portrait of him smiling. He goes into     the kitchen which is open onto the rest of the apartment.     There's nothing in the refrigerator. He looks for something to     drink but there's only one bottle left in the rack. He lifts it     up. It's empty.     He opens a closet. Inside, a tuxedo hangs among a number of     bare hangers.74   INT. PAWNSHOP - DAY                                           74     In a pawnshop, George, still a little drunk, is selling his     tuxedo. The pawnbroker and he are visibly disagreeing on the     price, but of course it's George who folds first and hands     over the tuxedo. The pawnbroker counts out the bills and     hands them to George who, in a fit of pride, leaves a tip as     he leaves - his dignity intact even in the face of adversity.75   INT. GEORGE'S HOUSE - DAY                                     75     At home, George is drinking and watching his chauffeur fix some     food. He seems preoccupied.     Title card: How long's it been since I paid you last,     Clifton?     The chauffeur answers as he carries on doing what he's doing.     Title card: Been one year now, Sir.                                                              27.     George gets up, visibly thinking that he shouldn't have done     that, that it's wrong. He go gets the keys and a jacket,     comes back and gives them to the chauffeur.     Title card: You're fired. Keep the car. Get yourself a job     someplace else.     The chauffeur refuses, George insists. They don't agree but     George ends up throwing him out, even though we've understood     that he's doing it for Clifton's benefit and not through any     unkindness.76   EXT. GEORGE'S HOUSE - DAY                                     76     Once outside, the chauffeur doesn't move. He stays next to the     car. George watches him through the window. The chauffeur     still doesn't budge. George pulls the curtains.77   EXT. GEORGE'S HOUSE - EVENING                                 77     In the evening, George looks out between the curtains, the     chauffeur is still there. George turns on his heels and gets     into his Murphy bed.78   INT. GEORGE'S HOUSE - BEDROOM - NIGHT                         78     Night time. George is in bed with his eyes open.79   EXT. GEORGE'S HOUSE - NIGHT                                   79     Outside, the chauffeur is still in the same position.80   INT. GEORGE'S HOUSE - DAY                                     80     The next morning, George gets up and goes to look from the     window. The chauffeur has gone. George is a little sad, but     that's just the way it is... He looks around at his home.     A little later, George looks at himself in a mirror. We pass     from him to his reflection, which he hides by placing his drink     against the mirror.81   INT. AUCTION ROOMS - DAY                                      81     A sign says that the effects of George Valentin are to be     auctioned. Furniture, costumes, objets d'art and paintings on     September 14th. There aren't many people in the room, just five     or six. George is standing at the back, smoking a cigarette.                                                              28.     His position and demeanor are exactly like when he was watching     the screening of Tears of Love, from the back of the room with     the verdict of failure in the air...     He's looking a little unsteady on his feet, probably due to the     hip flask he's necking that seems to contain liquor. The     objects go under the hammer one by one. We see the three     monkeys go by, notably, hear no evil, speak no evil, see no     evil. Two buyers especially are raising the prices by bidding     against each other, a distinguished and reserved-looking man,     and a lady of a certain age who looks a bit severe, to the     point of bigotry. They don't seem perfectly comfortable, but     they are the only two buying.     A few crossfades (the display table emptying, faces, hands     being raised, hammer falling, "sold" labels) show us the lots     disappearing - every single item is sold.82   INT. AUCTION ROOMS - CORRIDOR - DAY                           82     George is now with the auctioneer, he's studying the list of     items as auction assistants busy themselves around him,     carrying and packing the sold lots. The auctioneer, who is     putting on his coat, congratulates George.     Title card: Well done! It all sold, there's nothing left!     George nods but his smile seems a little ironic. He leaves     the room.     On the stairway, as he's leaving, he is joined by the     distinguished-looking man who puts on his coat and leaves.83   EXT. AUCTION ROOM'S STREET - DAY                              83     They leave at the same time. The man crosses the street, we     follow him.     He gets into a car. Peppy is sitting in the back. She's alone     and watching George walk off with his unsteady gait. She's sad.     The man casts a glance to ask her what he should do next.     Peppy, with a forced smile, motions that they can leave. As the     man starts up the motorcar, George is walking away. The car     sets off and overtakes him. Peppy does not turn round. She's     crying.84   INT. CLANDESTINE BAR - NIGHT                                  84     George, dressed differently, is drinking in a clandestine bar     that has made the effort of putting up a few Christmas     decorations. George is visibly smashed.                                                              29.85   INT. STUDIO JUNGLE ENCRUSTED LITTLE GEORGE - NIGHT            85     A small version of him appears superimposed on the bar, dressed     as an explorer and discovering the life-size version of     himself. The big version watches the little version load his     rifle. Then the little version shoots at the big version, but     the big version just smiles.     Little version runs off shot to get help, and he comes back     with a tribe of African warriors, all bearing spears. They     attack.     Big version tries to defend himself, staggers as he gets to his     feet, tries to gesture to the barman, but he is so drunk that     he falls straight backwards without making the slightest     attempt to stop his fall. The Africans leap about with joy.                                                  FADE TO BLACK.     (84) George's chauffeur comes into the bar. He motions to the     barman who jerks his head in one direction. The chauffeur     follows the indication and finds George lying on the floor,     totally smashed. He slaps him gently around the face a few     times in a vain attempt to wake him, then lifts him over his     shoulder, pays the check and leaves.86   INT. GEORGE'S HOUSE - NIGHT                                   86     At George's house, his chauffeur puts him to bed and hangs his     suit carefully before leaving the room. He sees the dog, goes     over to it and strokes it. They look at each other. We can tell     that the chauffeur is worried about George.87   EXT. "GUARDIAN ANGEL" THEATER - DAY                           87     Peppy Miller is "The Guardian Angel". It's a huge poster on the     faÁade of a movie theater. George goes inside. With Jack.88   INT. "GUARDIAN ANGEL" THEATER - DAY                           88     The auditorium is full. George sits down in the first row. To     watch the film he has to look upwards, and sees a huge and     magnificent Peppy rising above him. She's playing a scene with     a young actor we recognize, it's Humphrey Bogart. He's become a     spectator: he laughs, is absorbed and cries along with the     others.                                                               30.89   INT. "GUARDIAN ANGEL" THEATER - CORRIDOR & LOBBY - DAY       89     Coming out of the theater several young people bump into him.     They don't recognize him. There's a lot of people milling     about, so he picks Jack up. A woman exclaims an Oh! of     admiration as though she's recognized George. He smiles     modestly but soon realizes that it's just because she thinks     Jack is cute and has come over to stroke him like she would any     other dog. She is totally under Jack's charm, and says to     George.     Title card: If only he could talk!     George still has the smile on his lips, but it has become one     of resignation.     He looks away as the woman strokes the dog.90   EXT. MEXICAN VILLAGE - DAY                                   90     George is playing Zorro. He performs stunt after stunt and the     close ups show his devastating smile to its best advantage. In     fact, it's an extract from The Mark of Zorro with Douglas     Fairbanks, into which we'll insert close ups of Jean we've shot     ourselves.91   INT. GEORGE'S HOUSE - DAY                                    91     The Zorro sequence is being screened on a wall in George's     apartment. George is watching himself, slumped in an easy     chair. His sluggish attitude and listless air are in sharp     contrast with the image of himself projected by the film.     Then the image jumps and goes white. George gets up, still half-     smashed. His shadow is clearly delineated on the white screen.     He sees it, looks it up and down and then starts to look at it     sideways.     Title card: Look what you've become...     He carries on shouting at it, obviously very annoyed with it.     Title card: You were very nasty! And stupid! And arrogant!     He doesn't even want to look at it anymore. He looks     disgusted. Suddenly his shadow separates itself from him and     moves independently from him. As he shouts at it, it lowers     its head and doesn't reply.     Title card: You acted very badly! You were thoughtless!                                                               31.     He carries on as though it's normal until his shadow walks     off with its head bowed. He watches it go, trying to     understand what's happening, but it's gone and he's still     there. He begins to holler.     Title card: COME BACK! COME BACK HERE RIGHT NOW!!!     Totally smashed he starts to violently throw film reels     against the wall as he hollers. The cans split open and the     film bursts out all over. George is becoming more and more     frenzied. The floor is now covered in cans and film. He     stops, dripping with sweat. Worriedly, he looks around for a     moment. Then he strikes a match, takes a second to consider     what he's about to do and throws the match into the middle of     the reels.     There's madness in his eyes as he watches the fire take hold.     We can see his pleasure at seeing the flames spread. But he's     very quickly overrun. The reels burst into flames in an     instant and give off lots of smoke. Jack is panicking and     barks incessantly. Suddenly, George seems to lose it. He     doesn't know what to do anymore and, although the fire is     spreading quite spectacularly around him, he runs to where     the reels and films that he has not opened are, and begins     throwing them frantically over his shoulder as though he's     looking for one in particular. The ever-increasing denseness     of the smoke, however, is making the task almost impossible.     On the floor, below the smoke, Jack flees the room and runs     off while George suffocates but continues to struggle with     the cans of reels.92   EXT. GEORGE'S HOUSE - DAY                                    92     The dog comes out of the house and makes a dash for the     sidewalk as fast as he can.     (91) In the room, among the flames and the smoke, George -     now breathless - picks one of the reels and tries to turn     round. He collapses, still holding on to the can.93   EXT. POLICEMAN JUNCTION - DAY                                93     Jack spots a cop at a junction. He takes hold of the cop's     trouser leg with his teeth and tries to pull him towards     George's house. The policeman doesn't understand, however, and     pushes it away with his foot. The dog persists and barks but     the cop just wants to be left in peace.     (91) George is suffocating on the floor. The level of smoke     is getting ever lower and is slowly covering his face.                                                              32.     (93) Jack barks louder and louder. The policeman feels     uncomfortable. A woman is watching the scene inquisitively.     Not knowing what to do, the cop motions to the dog to be     silent and threatens it with two fingers, just like George     miming a pistol. Jack collapses and plays dead. The cop has     no idea what's happened, he crouches down and touches the dog     to see if it's all right. Jack wakes up and goes to leave but     stops immediately to show the cop he wants to take him with     him. The cop still doesn't understand, it's the woman who     tells him what he must do. The cop seems to understand, has a     moment of doubt, and then starts following the dog. Jack     encourages him to go faster, but the cop resists to begin     with. Little by little though, as though realizing the     seriousness of the situation, he speeds up. More and more,94   EXT. GEORGE'S HOUSE - DAY                                    94     until he finally arrives flat out at George's home. The cop     sees the smoke coming out of the house. He runs into the smoke.95   INT. GEORGE'S HOUSE - DAY                                    95     A completely unconscious George, overcome by the fumes, is     dragged out of the fire by the policeman.96   EXT. GEORGE'S HOUSE - DAY                                    96     They come out the house. George is still clutching the reel. A     crowd has formed, people recognize him. One woman feels sorry     for him, a man runs for help. George is unconscious.                                                 FADE TO BLACK.97   INT. KINOGRAPH STUDIOS - PEPPY SET - 1931 - DAY              97     We see Peppy on a shoot, sitting in a chair with her name on     it, smoking a cigarette. Everyone about her is busy preparing a     shot. Suddenly an assistant brings her a telephone. She takes     the receiver with a smile and listens. Her expression tightens     a little. She hangs up, pensive for a moment. On set,the     director gestures to his assistant that the shot is ready and     they are good to go. The assistant goes towards Peppy to let     her know but, as he gets to where she should be, her seat is     empty. He looks everywhere for her, but she has disappeared.98   INT. PEPPY'S CAR (DRIVING) - DAY                             98     In her car, and still in costume, she urges her chauffeur to go     quick as he can.                                                                 33.99    EXT. HOSPITAL COURTYARD - DAY                                99      The car pulls into the hospital courtyard.100   INT. HOSPITAL - LOBBY AND STAIRS - DAY                      100      Peppy bursts into the lobby, talks to a woman at the desk who      directs her with a raised hand that Peppy immediately follows.      She bounds up the stairs four at a time and comes into a      corridor,101   INT. HOSPITAL - CORRIDOR AND GEORGE'S ROOM - DAY            101      and then to a door through the window of which she sees      George lying down. His dog is at the foot of the bed, asleep.      George is on a drip, unconscious and covered in bandages. A      doctor is in the room with a nurse.      Peppy enters. She's anxious but the doctor seems reassuring.      Title card: He's not in any danger now. He just needs to      rest.      Peppy goes up to George. She notices that his burnt hands      seem to still be clutching something. She's intrigued. In      response, the doctor shows her the reel of film that sits in      a corner of the room.      Title card: He was holding that. It was real hard to pry it      away from him.      Peppy picks up the can. The label is too damaged to be able      to read the title of the film. She opens it and unrolls some      of the film in front of the window. We see random photograms      run by. It's the only sequence they ever shot together, years      before. Peppy is moved. Without turning round, she asks the      doctor:      Title card: Do you think he could come rest up at my place?      The doctor nods with a kindly glint in his eye.      Title card: It's probably the very best he could have hoped      for.102   EXT. PEPPY'S HOUSE - DAY                                    102      An ambulance takes George, still unconscious, to Peppy's      house. Jack is with him.                                                                 34.      It's a large, beautiful house, very expensive and very      Hollywood. But it's also very inviting.103   INT. PEPPY'S HOUSE - GEORGE'S BEDROOM & CORRIDOR - NIGHT    103      It's night time. George is in bed. He opens one eye. Then he      wakes up and looks around, not understanding where he is.      Jack wakes up and barks, wags his tail. A nurse who had been      dozing in an armchair facing the bed awakes with a start, then      goes over to George. She reassures him, motions to him not to      get upset, then slowly leaves the room before running off down      the corridor. She knocks at a door then goes back to George's      room. Peppy is close on her heels. She comes into the room in      her nightgown. When he sees her, George smiles and she rushes      over to the bed and puts her arms tight around him. She is      terribly moved but, when she releases him from her arms to talk      to him, she realizes that he has lost consciousness again and      so was not sharing the same special moment as she. She pulls a      face, afraid she might have done something wrong, glances over      at the nurse, then lays George's head back on his pillow.104   INT. PEPPY'S HOUSE - GEORGE'S BEDROOM - DAY                 104      The next morning, Peppy brings breakfast into George's room      and they eat it together. She laughs, talks, eats, drinks and      is as vivacious as he had dreamed she would be all those years      before. He looks at her with a smile on his face. Then she      looks at her watch and realizes she needs to hurry.      Title card: I've got to go. I have to be on set for nine      o'clock.      George smiles kindly at her. She returns the smile but we can      tell that maybe reality has just reminded them that she is      working, and he is not. They exchange a last glance before      she leaves the room.      George, now alone, gets up with some difficulty. He picks up      a pile of folded clothes from an armchair. It's his jacket      and pants, both half burned. On the floor, his shoes are in      exactly the same state of disrepair.105   INT. PEPPY'S HOUSE - DAY                                    105      A little later, and alone, he's exploring the house. It's      richly and tastefully decorated, highly personal. He goes      along a corridor and down a wide stairway. Jack begins sniffing      outside of one door, as though he wants to go inside.                                                               35.106   INT. PEPPY'S HOUSE - STOREROOM - DAY                        106      George opens the door and goes into the room, it's a kind of      storeroom in which everything is covered up with sheets. He      closes the door behind him. The room has a ghostly quality to      it. Jack sniffs about everywhere. George too seems troubled by      the strange pervading atmosphere. His curiosity is spurred by      a convoluted object that is covered in a thin cloth. A ray of      light surges into the room. The door has opened and, standing      against the daylight, is a maid.      Title card: You should go back to your room, Sir.      George nods with a smile. The maid leaves pretty swiftly, we      haven't seen her face, the whole moment seems rather strange.      George is intrigued but leaves the room. He has to call Jack      to him. Jack is reluctant to go but finally obeys his master.107   INT. KINOGRAPH STUDIOS - PEPPY SET - 1931 - DAY             107      A screenplay lies on a table. Peppy and Zimmer are seated      either side of the table and are talking animatedly. We're on      the set we saw the previous day, and Peppy seems to be trying      to convince Zimmer of something. She seems to be describing a      film poster or the faÁade of a movie theater she'd love to see.      He doesn't seem too enthusiastic from the looks of the negative      shakes of his head and his apologetic air as he listens to      Peppy. She finally stops talking and gives him a determined      look. Zimmer, uncomfortable and sorry, calmly replies.      Title card: George is a silent movie actor. He belongs to the      past. Today he's a nobody.      As Zimmer's speaking, she removes her accessories and hat.      Zimmer is so intrigued he stops talking.      Title card: What are you doing?      She looks him straight in the eyes, and answers:      Title card: I'm stopping work. It's him or me.      She looks determined. He's looking unsure of himself. He      visibly isn't sure he's understood properly. She drives her      point home.      Title card: What I mean is it's either him AND me! Or neither      of us!      Zimmer still isn't sure he's understood. He just looks at      her.      Title card: I'm blackmailing you, get it?!                                                                36.      Even when she's blackmailing, she's still pretty, and Zimmer      looks at her totally at a loss but at the same time it's      obvious that he's going to back down. The people around them      are listening in on their conversation and seem to be waiting      for his decision. There's an element of dÈj‡-vu to the      situation, and Zimmer, who already backed down a few years      before, gives in.      Title card: And why not...      She smiles at him, picks up the screenplay with delight, and      leaves. As he moves away she whistles at him. He turns round      and she vigorously blows him a kiss.108   INT. PEPPY'S CAR (DRIVING) - DAY                             108      The screenplay lies on the front seat of a car. The camera      pulls back, it's Clifton who is in the driving seat.109   INT. PEPPY'S HOUSE - GEORGE'S BEDROOM - DAY                  109      George is lying in bed when his former chauffeur comes in. At      first, he's delighted to see him, but this turns into      astonishment and he seems to ask the man a question. The      chauffeur answers:      Title card: I work for Miss Miller now.      George visibly doesn't know what to think and, although he      remains pleasant, becomes somewhat reserved. It's as though      something has come between them. The chauffeur places the      screenplay on the bedside table. George seems to greet it      with mistrust, certainly not with enthusiasm.      The chauffeur also has a box of cakes with him that he puts      on a plate for George. George doesn't want any, it's all too      much...      Before he leaves, the chauffeur overcomes his habitual      reserve for the first time and says to George:      Title card: She's been good to you. She's always looked out      for you.      The chauffeur leaves without trying to convince George      further, as the other looks on full of pride and doubt.                                                               37.110   EXT. PEPPY'S HOUSE - DAY                                  110      From the window, we see the chauffeur get into the car and      drive off. We recognize the car as being the one that belonged      to George.      (109) At the window, George watches him leave. Then he seems      to have an idea or, more exactly, an intuition.111   INT. PEPPY'S HOUSE - STOREROOM - DAY                      111      George goes into the room that's full of sheets. He goes      straight over to the object with the bizarre shape and lifts up      the sheet. Underneath he finds his former objet d'art, the      three monkeys "hear no evil", "speak no evil" and "see no      evil". He thinks for a moment, then pulls of another sheet to      reveal a piece of furniture. Once again it's a piece that used      to belong to him and we recognize it from having seen it at the      auction room.      After taking off several other sheets, George realizes that      she bought everything he had put up for sale: furniture,      paintings, objets d'art, souvenirs, etc. He rips off sheets      one after the other and the objects appear, even down to his      suits and tuxedos. He continues and discovers the painting      depicting him in a tux, waving and smiling. George looks      stunned at the sight of himself looking so full of life. He's      interrupted by the same ray of light which surges into the room      once more. This time, at the door, are the butler and the maid.      George walks towards them when he sees them. The closer he gets      to them, however, the more his expression tightens. We realize      that the butler is none other than the distinguished-looking      man who purchased everything at the auction, and that the maid      is the woman who was bidding against him to raise the sale      prices. George is looking at them as he leaves the room. He has      recognized them, but doesn't say anything to them. He walks      off, still shocked by what he's just realized.112   INT. PEPPY'S HOUSE - GEORGE'S BEDROOM - DAY               112      He finishes putting on his burnt suit in his room, and leaves.113   INT. PEPPY'S HOUSE - DAY                                  113      He goes down the stairs and flees the house.                                                               38.114   EXT. BEGGAR STREET - DAY                                  114      George is in the street wearing his burnt suit and damaged      shoes. He is shirtless. With Jack by his side, he walks along      the sidewalk. There are a few other people walking along. About      twenty yards ahead of him a man is begging. He holds out his      hand to passers-by. George approaches and, when there are no      other passers-by between him and George, the beggar glances at      him and lowers his hand. He doesn't raise it as George      approaches. George stops in front of him and looks at him, but      the beggar motions to him to scram. George continues on his      way. For that moment at least, he has become one of them.      He buttons up the collar of his suit in an attempt to hide the      fact that he doesn't have a shirt then, heads off and loses      himself in the crowd. Some distance later, he stops to check      his reflection in a shop window. The image he sees is that of a      bum. It's even more striking because the in the window there is      a young male mannequin wearing a tux, top hat and white scarf.      The image of the mannequin and that of George are superimposed.      A cop comes up to George and begins talking to him in a      friendly manner. He speaks but we don't know what about. There      is not Title card. George visibly has no idea what the cop is      talking about. The cop seems to be talking about nothing      important, just chatting... He talks and talks... George      doesn't understand what he's saying, and doesn't understand      why he's talking to him. He's lost.      Title card: What did you say?      The cop smiles, carries on talking, then stops. He thinks      he's talking to a madman. He doesn't persist, merely sizes      George up and, once he's decided that he's harmless, the cop      walks off. George, totally bewildered by the incident, seems      to lose his grip on himself a little more.115   INT. PEPPY'S HOUSE - DAY                                  115      Peppy gets home in the evening, arms laden with flowers. She's      happy.      She quickly goes up the stairs and into George's bedroom. He's      not there. She looks for him but can't find him. The maid says      that he has left. She drops the flowers.116   INT. GEORGE'S BURNT HOUSE - DAY                           116      George goes into his house that has been disfigured by the      fire. The flames have changed everything and the atmosphere,      here again, seems ghostly and sad.                                                               39.      George sits down in an armchair in the darkness. Jack sits down      facing him. He wags his tail and it thumps on the ground.117   INT. PEPPY'S HOUSE - STOREROOM - DAY                      117      In the room with all the sheets, Peppy is with the maid. The      maid seems to be telling her what happened with George, how he      removed all the sheets, etc. Peppy listens with an inscrutable      expression on her face. Then, suddenly overcome by a terrible      thought, she rushes outside.118   EXT. PEPPY'S HOUSE - DAY                                  118      She runs out of the house and over to the car, but the      chauffeur isn't there. She honks the horn to call him but      there's no response. She honks the horn again, then, not      wanting to wait any longer, and seeing the keys on the      dashboard, she gets behind the wheel, starts the engine and      pulls off in a series of kangaroo hops. It's obvious that she      doesn't know how to drive all that well, but still goes at full      speed - more or less successfully. Just as she passes through      the gate, the chauffeur turns up. Too late. He sees her drive      away.119   EXT. PEPPY'S CAR (DRIVING) - DAY                          119      Peppy is driving as fast as she can through town, but she's      pretty reckless and almost causes an accident.120   INT. GEORGE'S BURNT HOUSE - DAY                           120      Outside George's house, the wind is slamming one of the      shutters with the regularity of a metronome. George takes a      gulp of liquor, then puts down the glass, opens a cardboard box      and takes out a pistol that he places on the table in front of      him. He picks up the glass for another gulp. Jack doesn't like      what he sees. He barks.      (119) As for Peppy, she's speeding along, totally ignoring      even the most basic of road safety requirements.      (120) George puts down his glass and picks up the pistol.      Jack isn't happy at all. He barks and bites George's trouser      leg, pulling on it.      (119) Peppy speeding along.      (120) George puts the pistol into his mouth. Jack is barking      like mad. George, still in the same position, closes his      eyes.                                                                40.      Title card: "BANG!"      George is in the same position. He still has the pistol in      his mouth. Visibly, he's heard a BANG from outside, because      he takes the pistol out of his mouth and looks out the      window.121   EXT. GEORGE'S BURNT HOUSE - DAY                            121      Outside, we see Peppy's car has rammed into the gate and is      still shuddering. Peppy didn't brake in time, but she doesn't      care. She jumps out the car and runs into the house.122   INT. GEORGE'S BURNT HOUSE - DAY                            122      She rushes into the living room and stops for a moment to look      at George. George awkwardly tries to hide the pistol behind      him. She bursts into tears.      Title card: I feel so awful. I only wanted to help you. To      take care of you...      He seems to reply that no, it's not her fault, she's got      nothing to feel bad about. He opens his arms towards her,      still holding the pistol and the gun fires itself.      Fortunately no one is hurt, but the incident makes Peppy      laugh and, between sobs and gasps of laughter she throws      herself into George's arms. They hug for a long time. Peppy      says into his ear,      Title card: You've got so much that no one else has...      And into her ear, George replies:      Title card: No, I'm nothing but a shadow. No good for      anything but silence.      Peppy doesn't reply. She just holds him tighter still and      closes her eyes. Jack is sitting close by, watching them and      wagging his tail.      Outside, the shutter is still slamming and the car is still      shuddering. Peppy opens her eyes. Visibly, she's had an idea.      Jack wags his tail and thumps it on the ground. The shutter      slams. The car shudders. Peppy smiles at George.      Title card: I know what you have that no one else does.      Peppy moves away from George and motions to him to listen.      The shutter slams. Jacks tail thumps. The car shudders... Peppy      does a few tap steps. George doesn't understand.                                                               41.      Peppy starts again, with a beaming smile, waiting for his      response. George does a few tap steps himself, basic ones,      without any great enthusiasm. She smiles at him and does a      few more complex steps that are a lot livelier. He smiles      back finally understanding the golden gift that he has in his      feet. He looks at Peppy lovingly with a beaming smile on his      face.123   INT. KINOGRAPH STUDIOS (1931) - ZIMMER'S OFFICE - DAY     123      Music suddenly begins to play and we see feet dancing in      another decor. Except that from now on we actually hear the      sound of the tap steps. We pull back to find Peppy and George      in Zimmer's office. They're dancing for him. Little by little,      Zimmer is convinced by them, and, when they finish their      demonstration, he has a broad smile on his face.124   INT. STUDIO - PEPPY & GEORGE - DAY                        124      We find Peppy and George on a film set, still dancing. The      piece of jazz they are dancing to has gone so crazy that now      everyone wants to get up and dance! They are dancing a tap      number facing the camera, in a dÈcor representing a stylized      New York. The choreography is incredible, in the grand style      of the old Hollywood musicals and they finish with a knee      slide that brings them right up to us with big smiles on      their faces. The music stops on a powerful blast from the      brass instruments that leaves everyone bursting with energy.      In the ensuing silence, Peppy and George stay exactly where      they were, facing the camera, with the smile stuck on their      faces. It goes on for a little too long, they are out of      breath.      Then they look at someone off-shot. They are facing a film      crew (from their era of course). The director smiles. Zimmer,      sitting next to him, seems ecstatic. The director speaks and      we hear what he says.                          DIRECTOR                Cut! Excellent!      Zimmer has both his thumbs up. The director says to Peppy and      George.                          DIRECTOR (CONT'D)                Once more? Please?      George laughs and replies, and we hear him too.                          GEORGE                With pleasure!                                                       42.                           THE EndThe credits run while Peppy and George go back to theirpositions. The camera (ours) pulls back and into frame comeall the technicians who are setting up the shot, the hair,make-up and costume people for continuity, the camera cominginto position, the director coming over to say a few words tothe star couple, in short: the shot being prepared foranother take. And, when everyone is in position, the directorspeaks into his megaphone and we hear "OK, Camera! Sound!Rolling... and... Action!"Fade to black and the music picks up again for the end of thecredit sequence.
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+AS GOOD AS IT GETSAS GOOD AS IT GETS by Mard Andrus And James L. Brooks Story by Mark Andrus FADE IN: INT. APARTMENT BUILDING (NEW YORK), HALLWAY - NIGHT ANGLE ON apartment doorway. As it opens and an enormously SWEET-FACED, ELDER WOMAN steps out, bungled up against the cold -- turning back to call inside to the unseen love of her long life. SWEET-FACED WOMAN I'm just going to get some flowers, dear. I'll be back in twenty minutes. It's tulip season today. I'm so happy. And now she turns and faces the hallway... her sweetness dissolves in a flash... replaced by repulsion and that quickly she has reversed herself and re-entered her apartment... closing the door as we consider her vacated. POV - MELVIN UDALL in the hallway... Well past 50... unliked, unloved, unsettling. A huge pain in the ass to everyone he's ever met. Right now all his considerable talent and strength is totally focused on seducing a tiny dog into the elevator door he holds open. MELVIN Come here, sweetheart... come on. ON DOG Sniffing at a particular spot on the hall carpeting. Melvin lets the elevator door close and advances on the mutt who has ignores him. MELVIN Wanna go for a ride? Okay, sweetie? The dog lifts his leg at the precise moment Melvin lunges and picks him up with a decisive heft -- so that dog urine squirts the hall wall for a second or two. The DOG sensing a kindred spirit starts to GROWL and BARK. MELVIN (a malevolent tone) You've pissed your last floor, you dog-eared monkey. The dog takes a snap at Melvin, but the man is much meaner and quicker than the dog -- he holds his snout shut with his hand and reaches for the door of the garbage chute. MELVIN I'll bet you wish you were some sort of real dog now, huh? Don't worry... this is New York. If you can make it here, you can make it anywhere, you know? You ugly, smelly fuck. And with that, he stuffs him in the garbage chute and lets go. We hear a FADING SERIES of PLEADING "ANOOOOS" from the DOG fade to nothingness... as another apartment door opens emitting the loud sounds of a PARTY and SIMON NYE, early 30s. Simon has been born and raised with Gothic horror and it's strange that what that stew of trauma has produced is a gifted, decent man. INT. APARTMENT BUILDING (NEW YORK), HALLWAY - NIGHT Frantic... he bolts into the hall... Melvin is just about to enter his apartment. SIMON Verdell!?!! Here, good doggie... He notices Melvin at the far end of the hall. SIMON Mr. Udall... excuse me. Hey there! (as Melvin turns) Have you seen Verdell? MELVIN What's he look like? Melvin starts to walk back to his apartment door which is directly opposite Simon's. SIMON My dog... you know... I mean my little dog with the adorable face... Don't you know what my dog looks like? MELVIN I got it. You're talking about your dog. I thought that was the name of the colored man I've been seeing in the hall. Simon looks O.S. -- and sees his black friend. SIMON Which color was that? MELVIN Like thick molasses, with one of those wide noses perfect for smelling trouble and prison food... Simon has had it. SIMON Frank Sachs -- Melvin Udall. MELVIN (not missing a beat) How're you doing? SIMON Franks shows my work, Mr. Udall. I think you know that. FRANK (overlapping) Simon, you've got to get dressed. MELVIN (to Simon) What I know is that as long as you keep your work zipped up around me, I don't give a fuck what or where you shove your show. Are we being neighbors for now? SIMON (to Frank) Do you still think I was exaggerating? FRANK can only smile. FRANK Definitely a package you don't want to open or touch. MELVIN Hope you find him. I love that dog. Simon, terminally non-confrontational, still finds himself compelled to turn back toward Melvin. SIMON (directly) You don't love anything, Mr. Udall. Simon closes his door leaving Melvin alone in the hallway. MELVIN I love throwing your dog down the garbage chute. INT. MELVIN'S APARTMENT, BATHROOM - NIGHT Melvin locks and unlocks and locks his door, counting to five with each lock. He turns the lights quickly on and off and on five times and makes a straight-line towards his bathroom where he turns on the hot water and opens the medicine chest. INT. MEDICINE CHEST Scores of neatly stacked Neutrogena soaps. He unwraps one -- begins to wash -- discards it -- goes through the process two more times. INT. SIMON'S APARTMENT, ENTRANCE HALL - NIGHT A group of PARTY GOERS enters -- followed by a HANDYMAN holding Verdell who looks and finds: SIMON who looks up -- lights up -- and tears up as he moves quickly toward the group and his dog. SIMON Thank the good Lord... wow... my honey... where have you been? PARTY GOER (thinking the greeting's for him) He always liked me. As Simon goes past him to take the dog from the Handyman... JACKIE, Frank's junior partner, barking a laugh at the Party Goer -- VERDELL BARKING some love. As the others greet Simon, Jackie directs the group inside. Jackie lingers, looking on affectionately as Simon picks some awful, sticky gunk from the dog's body... he puts Verdell down to reach for his wallet -- the tiny DOG YAPS in protest. SIMON Just for a second, okay? The DOG YAPS "no." Simon, delighted, picks him up again. SIMON (kissing him on the mouth) Look at him... where was little baby? HANDYMAN (smiling) In the basement garbage bin eating diaper shit. Simon reacts -- then notices the Handyman, tongue in cheek, trying to suppress his amusement. SIMON Go ahead, John, you earned your fun. (looking at Verdell) How did he get down in the basement? I mean even if he got on the elevator how... ? HANDYMAN Maybe some nice neighbor shoved him down the garbage chute. SIMON My God! No! He stares out... Frank frustrated following. INT. MELVIN'S APARTMENT - OFFICE - NIGHT Quiet -- safe -- just Melvin's voice reading aloud as he writes. MELVIN 'Somewhat in the dark, she had confessed and he had forgiven. This is what you live for, he said. Two heads on a pillow where there is only the safety of being with each other. How, she wondered, could she find such hope in the most shameful part of her.' He barely reacts as we hear a LOUD KNOCKING at he reads. SIMON (O.S.) Mr. Udall. But Melvin's into it. His fingers flying as he reads. MELVIN 'At last she was able to define love. Love was... ' More KNOCKING. SIMON (O.S.) Mr. Udall, I'd like to talk to you please. MELVIN 'Love was... ' He almost has the rest of the sentence -- the meaning of love -- but the knocking throws him. MELVIN ... Son-of-a-bitch-pansy-assed- stool-pusher. He burst from his chair. INT. APARTMENT BUILDING (NEW YORK) - HALLWAY - NIGHT As Simon hears MELVIN through the door and takes a step back. Melvin throws open the door. He looks demonic. MELVIN (loud and angry) Yeeeess!!! SIMON Maybe this can wait. Frank signals encouragement as Melvin opens the door. SIMON I found Verdell, Mr. Udall. MELVIN Well, that's a load off. Melvin walks back into the apartment and is about to close the door when Simon has another burst of bravery. SIMON Did you... do something to him? MELVIN Do you realize that I work at him? SIMON (eyes downcast) No, I didn't. MELVIN Do you like to be interrupt when you are danging around in your little garden? SIMON No... actually, I even shut the phone off and put a little piece of cardboard in the ringer so no one can just buzz me from d... MELVIN Well, I work all the time. So never, never again interrupt me. Okay? I mean, never. Not 30 years from now... not if there's fire. Not even if you hear a thud from inside my home and a week later there's a smell from in there that can only come from a decaying body and you have to hold a hanky against your face because the stench is so thick you think you're going to faint even then don't come knocking or, if it's election night and you're excited and want to celebrate because some fudge-packer you dated has been elected the first queer President of the United States... and he's going to put you up in Camp David and you just want to share the moment with someone... don't knock ... not on this door. Not for anything. Got me. Sweetheart? SIMON Yes. It's not a subtle point you're making. MELVIN Okay, then. Melvin enters his apartment and slams the door shut. SIMON So the theory of confrontations is that now he'll think twice before messing with me? Frank smiles affectionately. Simon turns serious. SIMON He's genuinely upsetting, isn't he? FRANK Won't worry about it. You go ahead. Frank waits till Simon EXITS SCENE and then knocks loudly on Melvin's door. There is a sharp change in his demeanor. MELVIN (O.S.) Oh, I'm pissed!! Now I am really pissed!!! Frank waits patiently as Melvin jerks his door back open. Frank immediately grabs Melvin by his shirt and jerks him forward... Melvin is scared. Operating on survival mode. MELVIN No touch. No touch. No touch. FRANK You may think you can intimidate the whole world with your attitude, but I grew up in Hell. My grandmother had more attitude. You don't intimidate me. MELVIN (calling) Police! Police! Fucking crooked police... doughnut-munching morons help me! (to Frank) Assault and battery and you're black. FRANK Shhhh now. I like Simon. I like him enough to batter you unrecognizable if you verbally abuse him or so much as touch his dog again. Meanwhile, I'll try and think how you can make this up to him. (suddenly loud) I hate doing this. I'm an art dealer. (beat) Have a nice day. Party! He tosses Melvin back and walks out. Melvin straightens his shirt as he steps out into the hall. Frank smiles as he re-enters the other apartment. Melvin appears impressed. EXT. NEW YORK CITY STREET NEAR CAROL'S RESTAURANT - DAY A crowded and dirty street and here comes Melvin. His walk is brisk -- an animal wanting to pass through the danger without giving off the scent of its mounting fear. At times he places his palms together and extends his arms cutting a path through people. We will be very pointed in the fact that he avoids stepping on cracks. CLOSER ON MELVIN His eyes focused on the terrain. INT. CAROL'S RESTAURANT - DAY ANGLE ON WAITRESS CAROL CONNELLY talks with another MOTHER -- a customer. You would not guess it, but her working hours tend to be the most carefree time of the day. She is telling a story about her son for the umpteenth time. CAROL (to the Mother's little girl) Look at you, you're all better. MOTHER It's that new medication. CAROL You know all my son's stuff, right? The Mother nods too sympathetically that she does, but Carol interrupts her. CAROL No, no, no, I got a date tonight. I'm walking out the door this morning and he says to me, 'Mom, I promise not to get one of my fevers or coughs during your date.' MOTHER Isn't that sweet. CAROL Little blonde angle. (to child, affectionately) Eat everything. Melvin enters and moves past several empty tables to a table towards the back and is obviously surprised to find a MAN and WOMAN sitting at the table. WOMAN It just came out of me. I said you love me the way a remote control loves a TV. As long as I switch every time... HER MALE COMPANION Wonderful. MELVIN People who talk in metaphors can shampoo my crotch. (on their look) Eat up. They turn away -- Melvin walks a few paces to the waitress station where two waitresses, LISA and CAROL, are talking. LISA Pay me back next week. CAROL I owe you. I told you today... them's the rules. Oh, excuse me, Melvin. She puts two hands lightly on his waist to move him out of the way. He gulps at the contact (since no one else ever touches him) but covers his self-consciousness. MELVIN I'm starving. CAROL (firmly to Lisa) Will you please take it? Melvin intentionally moves a step in her path, with stealth, so that she must touch him again to get him out of the way... LISA This way you take a cab home so you have time to get ready for the date. CAROL "Ready" is not my problem. She barks a mirthless though hearty laugh. If we could read Melvin which we can't, we'd see him unsettled by the date talk. To Carol he is as harmless as furniture. CAROL (to Melvin) Go sit down. You know you're not allowed back here... Spencer's more excited about it than I am... He says, "Mom, I promise not to get a fever or couch during your date." The other WAITRESSES and the SHORT ORDER COOK all go "awww." CAROL I know. He's just the best. MELVIN I've got Jews at my table. CAROL It's not your table. It's the place's table. Behave. This once, you can sit at someone else's station. The two waitresses signal their protests. CAROL Or you can just wait your turn... Melvin walks back into the restaurant proper... he hangs near their table... his discomfort builds in this limbo... then: MELVIN How much more you got to eat? Your appetite isn't as big as your noses, is it? WOMAN What?!! MAN (to Woman) Let's go -- The Woman starts to protest. MAN Let's leave. We're going. Melvin sits down at the table -- and takes from his pocket a plastic eating utensil set wrapped and sealed. As he opens his utensils. CAROL Bryan says he doesn't care how long you've been coming you ever act like this again you're barred for life. I'm gonna miss the excitement, but I'll handle it. There is in Carol's attitude toward Melvin some ingredient of self-satisfaction -- that she is the only one in the place who can handle him. She starts to clear the table. MELVIN The table's fine if it had some cholesterol on it. Two sausages, six bacon strips, fries, three eggs over easy and coffee. CAROL You're gonna die soon with that diet, you know that? MELVIN We're all gonna die soon. I will. You will. It sure sounds like your son will. ON CAROL Stunned. Some crazy street-freak has slipped under her perfect guard and momentarily devastated her. Melvin senses that he's gone way too far. He wipes his knife. CAROL If you ever mention my son again, you will never be able to eat here again. Do you understand? Give me some sign you understand or leave now. Do you understand me... (adds truthful label) you crazy freak? Do you?!? A beat and then Melvin nods, hardly breathing -- backing down. CAROL Okay. I'll get your order. She walks away. Melvin watches her, biting his lower lip. He takes some napkins and cleans the table himself. INT. CAROL'S APARTMENT - NIGHT She is underneath a YOUNGER, cuter MAN on the living room sofa. He is expertly into foreplay. She begins to make noises as she responds... each time startling herself with her own noise and trying to reign it in. She's two women here -- one speeding the pleasure highway -- the other -- functional mom so blown away by the emergence of this sexy self that she laughs. The Young Man stops and looks at her. YOUNG MAN What? CAROL I... I... I don't know... You got me. His eyes try to burn into hers... She is getting excited but doesn't know how to play it... He pushes one of the fingers of the hand caressing her face toward her mouth... She closes her teeth, his fingers attempt opening her mouth. She stops him. CAROL Let me just do whatever I do by myself... I'll catch up to you someplace I promise. (as he's put off) Oh, no... don't look like that. No. I'm sorry if I'm a goof. And so with earnestness and caring, she has transformed the sex into something more intimate -- and, talk about egg in your beer, hotter. Things are getting wild when we hear from the distance a child, SPENCER, CALLING and COUGHING. CAROL Kissing... kissing boys. Oh my. Carol pulls her head away -- as Spencer's call continues. SPENCER (O.S.) (softly) Grandma, grandma... YOUNG MAN Maybe you better check. CAROL Like what did you think I was going to do? INT. HALLWAY/BEVERLY'S ROOM - NIGHT Pulling herself together she goes off down the hallway... she ducks her head into the first bedroom where her mother, BEVERLY, is listening to music on headphones... she takes them off when she sees Carol, then hears the cough. BEVERLY I'm sorry. I was hearing just everything you were doing so I put these on to give you privacy. Carol now goes into her son's room. INT. SPENCER'S ROOM - NIGHT The room is a monument to horrible, sleepless nights... two drugstore de-humidifying filters, a nebulizer (breathing contraption) a waste basket... a night stand filled with medicine, a blood pressure kit... along with some stacks of seven-year-old toys and a small TV wedged into the tiny space. SPENCER I'm sorry. CAROL Don't be silly. How bad? SPENCER Not bad. Carol feels his head... that's okay. Then he coughs -- trying to suppress it... then a bigger cough... they each know what that signals... She brings up a waste basket as he throws up... she comforts him. He apologizes. She loves him. INT. LIVING ROOM - NIGHT As she re-enters. He is taking a cigarette from a pack. CAROL (a bit panicked) You can't smoke... He can't take smoke. He palms the cigarette -- resumes making out -- his hand squeezes her breast -- then he stops and looks at his hand. She looks down and sees a bit of throw-up he picked up while feeling her and then notices him looking at her with extreme distaste... She barks a laugh to cover her embarrassment but speaks the truth. CAROL Oh, God... I don't even notice anymore. She crosses to the kitchen for a dishtowel. Tries to make light. CAROL That'll teach you. YOUNG MAN Don't apologize. CAROL (perturbed) That wasn't an apology. She notices his demeanor -- how he avoids looking at her -- how uncomfortable he is. CAROL Hey... this is just a little throw- up -- it's nothing to be so embarrassed about. Really. (as he shifts uncomfortably) Thanks for the dinner. Let me write down which trains you take to get back. YOUNG MAN No way. She brightens. YOUNG MAN I'll take a cab. She deflates as he moves past her. YOUNG MAN Too much reality for a Friday night. EXT. HOLLAND TUNNEL - NIGHT A cold night in hell. Three young men bullshit near the approach to the tunnel. Their names are VINCENT, EVAN and DOUG, who is the oldest at 28. Vincent is dopey and the most likeable of the gritty little trio. EVAN Why is every customer surprised I read books? DOUG (amazed) You read books? EVAN Oh, wow! I know this guy! Look! He even bought me dinner. They all focus on a black BMW as it slows and stops in front of them. CARL checks them out carefully through the front window. He is talking on the speaker phone. CARL (slightly exasperated) Look, I just can't. I promised Simon I'd find him a model. FRIEND (V.O.) (on speaker phone, flirting) Carl, take me off the speaker. Did I tell you that these are house seats? C'mon, you could use a break. Hello... Carl, are you there... hello? Seeing the hustlers: CARL. ... I just found a model. DOUG (to Carl) Hey, how it's goin'... EVAN Hey, hi... remember? CARL I only need one. EVAN You picked me up, maybe a few weeks, I don't know, some time ago. You were very flattering about our... encounter. CARL Maybe just you and me... but this is for a painting. I need a pretty face. Carl beckons to Vincent who joins him, trying to conceal his pride at winning this lowest end of beauty contest. INT. SIMON'S APARTMENT - DAY There is a KNOCK at the door -- Simon crosses to answer. He is more relaxed than we've seen him -- a man at peace humming to his favorite music, talking to his dog who scratches at the door. Simon opens the door to Vincent. SIMON Sorry, I was out in the studio doing some work and I forgot about our appointment. He leads the way back toward the studio -- chatting away -- unaware that Vincent is disrobing as he follows him and eyeing the expensive apartment. SIMON I usually make such a big deal out of picking models but Carl's so thorough. I'll bet he drove you nuts checking your references. And he turns and sees the naked model. SIMON (taken aback) This isn't a nude. Vincent moves back to retrieve his clothes. VINCENT Just kidding around. (then mutters) So much for love. INT. SIMON'S APARTMENT - STUDIO (MINUTES LATER) Vincent is striking blatantly sexual poses to the increasingly uneasy Simon. SIMON Exactly what is your previous experience? VINCENT How about that pose? (sing-song) This is not fun... (then) Give me some direction. Vincent has instinctively put Simon on the defensive. He tries not to show it. SIMON Nothing. I just watch till something strikes me. Do anything you think of -- try different thing. Until I say, "hold that pose." Then just try and comfortably hold it. VINCENT (trying another space) The fact that you haven't said, "hold it" means I haven't done it right... is that correct? I haven't done it right? SIMON No... Okay. What I do is watch and wait for, um... You ever watch someone who doesn't know you're watching... an old woman on a bus, kids going to school and you see this flash come over them and you know immediately that it has nothing to do with anything external -- that it's in respond to a private thought they just had? They are just sort of realer and more alive. And when you notice it so are you. If you look at someone long enough, you discover their humanity. Vincent's slack-jawed expression changes. He feels an intellectual tingle to be having this conversation. VINCENT I know exactly what you mean. There's a joy in him at this moment -- a bit of purity. SIMON Hold it. Vincent does so -- hums a bit of "Satisfaction" to celebrate. INT. RESTAURANT - DAY Carol and LESLIE, another waitress, are waiting for their order at the cappuccino bar. Leslie is telling the story of the traumatic audition which may have turned her life. Carol is rapt. As they pass Melvin she does not break stride, nor give him notice. Though she is aware of him -- resentfully so -- hard not to be since he is giving a moment to moment commentary on her every action. MELVIN Clippity clop -- clippity clop -- she has to pretend she doesn't hear me. Listening to the story from the upset friend... now she drops off the cappuccino and smiles at the putzette who doesn't even say, "Thank you." No, the putzette wanted the whipped cream so back she goes and now she has to pass him again and it's getting tougher to make believe. CAROL (reluctant forgiveness) Okay. Melvin stops -- she passes behind him to deliver an uncharacteristic rabbit punch. CAROL What's with the plastic picnic ware? Why not try ours... afraid it isn't clean? MELVIN I see the help -- judgement call. CAROL Just give yourself a little pep talk. "Must try other people's clean silverware as part of the fun of dining out." MELVIN What's wrong with your son, anyway? CAROL What do you care? Melvin just looks at her. CAROL He's gotta fight to breathe. His asthma can just shoot off the charts -- he's allergic to dust and this is New York and his immune system bails on him when there's trouble so an ear infection... Is this bothering you? MELVIN (caught) No. CAROL An ear infection can send us to the emergency room -- maybe five, six times a month where I get whatever nine-year-old they just made a doctor. Nice chatting with you. MELVIN His name? CAROL Spencer. MELVIN Okay. CAROL (quietly) Spence. She exits. INT. SIMON'S APARTMENT - STUDIO - DAY (SEVERAL WEEKS LATER) The greenhouse studio is a busy sanctuary, as Simon puts the finishing touches on his painting of Vincent. A beat and then a strange figure crosses between the CAMERA and the scene -- gone before we can examine him further. SIMON You can put on anything you want now. I might be sort of done here... Vincent quickly and expertly picks a CD to meet his immediate needs and puts it on -- dying a little at every second of silence during the transition... then LOUD MUSIC PLAYS... Vincent even GOOSING the VOLUME. Simon does a take -- he gestures Vincent to take it down -- which Vincent does. ANGLE - APARTMENT where it is not clear that a robbery is in progress -- Vincent's two friends from the street sweeping all objects into large sacks -- one of them, Doug, pauses to look past the terrace to the studio. DOUG Lucky Vinnie -- he's a painting. INT. SIMON'S APARTMENT, STUDIO - DAY MUSIC PLAYS -- Simon cleaning up his stuff. VINCENT So you're practically finished, huh? SIMON Yes... well, there's one more stage -- trying to figure out if it's any good. Simon sneaks a look at the canvas from another perspective... he focuses -- then the smallest shy nod of self-approval -- he's finished. Vincent is desperate to distract. CLOSE ON dog as Verdell awakens, stretches and pricks his ears. He moves quickly to the closed door and starts to frantically scratch, attracting Simon's attention. As Simon keeps walking... Vincent shoots over to the canvas. VINCENT Wait -- I want to see the painting. SIMON Just a second -- he has to go. VINCENT Please!! NO!!! Simon opens the door and Verdell shoots out like a bullet. Vincent pauses before the painting and is thrown to see his humanity captured -- to be "immortalized." INT. SIMON'S APARTMENT - LIVING ROOM - DAY Doug and Evan are nearly to the front door as VERDELL stops them with a vicious GROWL and BARK. Simon is distracted -- looking down at his pet so that he continues to walk toward Doug and Evan, not noticing them -- Vincent, terribly afraid, appears behind Simon. SIMON (to Vincent) What's the matter, sweetheart? He instantly stops. Shocked. Frozen. His eyes on the stranger, Doug, looking at him. Now Vincent comes in. Doug greets him. DOUG Yo. Simon turns to Vincent. SIMON Why are you doing this? VINCENT No. No. No. Hey, that painting in there... I just want to tell you... Now Evan appears holding a brass hat rack. EVAN (to Vincent) What are you doing? Cruising him? And he uses the hat rack first as a spear, then as a club, as the brief savage attack begins. ON VERDELL as he starts to go toward Simon and then scurries back in fear. The three attackers leave. Now silence. A single BARK from VERDELL. INT. APARTMENT BUILDING (NEW YORK) - HALLWAY - DUSK A mass of OFFICIAL PEOPLE clutter the hall as a gurney is whisked down to the elevator. It's impossible to tell if Simon is awake or dead. Melvin is standing against the wall near his door a cop, RAY, interviewing him. RAY Okay. So you call 911 and don't leave your name -- even a dumb geezer should know that emergency automatically pulls up your name. How come you make a mistake like that? MELVIN How come you're pretending to do cop work -- 'cause I don't think you could find your ass if you were spotted the hole. RAY (stunned) What? MELVIN Just move on. No one here killed him. RAY Oh, is he dead? MELVIN Ask him. RAY We will if we can and if we can't, we'll come back and ask you again and again. INT. APARTMENT BUILDING (NEW YORK) - HALLWAY - ANOTHER ANGLE - NIGHT Frank standing upset, anxious, holding a dog bowl, a leash and VERDELL, who is more upset making pathetic little CRYING SOUNDS. As we FOCUS BRIEFLY ON Verdell... Frank is talking to the Sweet-Faced Woman. SWEET-FACED WOMAN I've been praying for him since I heard. FRANK So I've got to get to the hospital. If you could take the dog just for tonight. SWEET-FACED WOMAN Oh, Lord -- I've got all these antique knick-knacks... Or else I'd be glad... FRANK Maybe if you kept locked in the bathroom. No? Okay. Thanks. (as he turns away and she closes the door he adds) Old bitch... Damn dog. A short laugh makes us realize that Melvin has witnessed and enjoyed Frank's hostile mutterings... VERDELL starts WHIMPERING as a pissed Frank approaches his mugger: FRANK You're taking him... yes... you're taking him -- this will clear the books. One night. You want to say "no" to me? Try... because I've never felt as nuts as I do right this second. I almost want you to try saying "no." MELVIN (quietly) I'm not saying nothing to you. FRANK Thanks for looking after him. Frank pushes open the door to Melvin's apartment and places Verdell inside. INT. MELVIN'S APARTMENT - NIGHT MUSIC IN: as Frank pulls the door partially closed to block Verdell's escape. The music represents Verdell's state of mind -- trapped in the apartment of the man who tried to kill him. We STAY with the dog during the O.S. dialogue: As his head turns in panic we see his various POVs as the dialogue continues O.S. MELVIN (O.S.) Hey, where are you going? You can't do this. (calls after Frank) I can't take a dog. (a confession) Nobody's ever been in here before. FRANK (O.S.) (threatening) You don't want to mess with me today. I'll figure something else out tomorrow. INT. MELVIN'S APARTMENT - LIVING ROOM - NIGHT Melvin enters -- the dog cowers in the shadows. Now Melvin sees him. MELVIN You're dead!! VERDELL STOPS -- gives Melvin wide berth -- slinking along the far wall. Melvin finds Verdell's fear of him a bit calming. MELVIN I don't have dog food. And I won't want dog food here. You'll eat what we have. You'll eat what we eat. Melvin exits. Verdell is in a major funk. INT. MELVIN'S APARTMENT - KITCHEN - NIGHT Melvin breaks two eggs over a large pile of prime chopped meat, sticks raw pieces of bacon into it and exits the room. MELVIN Don't you touch anything. INT. MELVIN'S APARTMENT - LIVING ROOM - NIGHT Verdell cringing as his new master approaches -- MUSIC CONTINUES ominously. Melvin sets the bowl down and exits... Verdell breathes excitedly though looking alternately in all directions... his recent past making him suspect this feast is a trick. He sniffs cautiously -- then dives in -- GOTHIC MUSIC CHANGING on a dime TO SCORE his RAPTURE... from O.S. we hear the sound of RUNNING WATER as steam escapes the bathroom -- then MUSIC OUT -- as Melvin returns... ignoring Verdell he sits at the piano and his one key repeatedly. It's odd. Verdell shifts his body so he is eating from the bowl with his tail to Melvin. Then Melvin begins to play and sing Monty Python's "Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life," with its cheerful whistle refrain. Verdell looks over with surprise and pleasure. But just as mood lifts and warmth threatens, Melvin stops abruptly, turns out the lights and exits. INT. HOSPITAL CORRIDOR - DAY Frank on the phone. FRANK (into phone) Put the solid red dots on three of them and the hold blue dots on two others... Well, we're not going to sell anything if they know we're two weeks into a show and have no sales. No, you can't reduce a price at this stage... We're in free fall here. Any calls? JACKIE We can see him. FRANK I'll meet you in there. INT. HOSPITAL ROOM - DAY As Jackie enters. JACKIE How you doing, great one? SIMON I haven't looked at myself yet. I figured I could tell from your reaction. He turns toward her. Much of his body -- taped -- his painting hand wrapped. Simon's face is something of a horror. Swollen, one savage discolored cut. We are into yuccchhh... The sight is a jolt. Jackie breaks into tears... sobs, actually. SIMON That bad, huh? They share a helpless half-laugh -- then Frank appears in the doorway. FRANK Hey, hey... (as he sees him) Haaa... bad but temporary. The nurses say it's much better than you looked three weeks ago... the hand will come back... they're sure... SIMON Jackie, will you hand me the mirror? JACKIE (a small voice) No. She starts to hand him a large mirror from her purse -- then thinks better of it. JACKIE Wait, I have a smaller one. But he holds out his hand and she gives him the mirror -- he starts to look -- then thinks better of it. SIMON So, what's new anyway? How's Verdell? FRANK (sheepish) Your neighbor -- Udall -- is taking care of him. SIMON (suddenly alive and upset) How could you do that? He'll hurt him. FRANK No, I promise... not a chance. I own this guy. There was no one else. I'm on the move too much. Trust me. SIMON You are very certain my dog is okay... because you have no idea... FRANK Yes. Your dog is fine, Simon. Simon holds the mirror poised for a moment of discovery, then he takes a breath -- like someone about to dive underwater. First a small, mumbled pep talk to himself. SIMON Okay, waiting gives the devil time. Now! He quickly brings his hand up and looks at the mirror... he is startled -- the bottom drops out -- leaving him awed by his misfortune. SIMON Oh my... Where'd I go? Ummmm? EXT. CAROL'S RESTAURANT - DAY AN ESTABLISHING SHOT FEATURING Verdell tied up in front. INT. CAROL'S RESTAURANT - DAY Melvin finishing a plate of eggs, bacon and sausage with his plastic knife and fork. Carol looks totally beat as she sets down a cup of coffee. Melvin is craning periodically to keep an eye of his dog. CAROL So what are you doing with a dog? MELVIN Suckered in. Set up. Pushed around. CAROL You're not worried that someone might take him? MELVIN Well, not until now -- for Christ's sake. CAROL Sorry. MELVIN It's okay -- I'll sit here. He changes tables for the first time ever so that he can keep an eye on Verdell. Carol is amazed. CAROL You know he's a little dog. Next time, if Bryan's not here, you can bring him in. MELVIN How old are you? CAROL Oh, please... MELVIN If I had to guess by your eyes, I'd say you were fifty. Carol looks at him. CAROL And if I had to guess by your eyes. I'd say you were kind. So, so much for eyes. But as long as you bring up age... how old are you? MELVIN (quickly) Otherwise, you're not ugly. CAROL (laughs out loud) Okay, pal... I accept the compliment, but go easy -- my knees start a-knocking when you turn on the charm full blast. MELVIN What's with the dark? He indicates the bags under her eyes by tapping his own. CAROL Dawn patrol -- major dawn patrol. My son had a full blown attack. And this time, for extra fun, they gave us the wrong antibiotics, so I get him home... She reaches for the plate of uneaten bacon -- he goes nuts. MELVIN No... no... leave it... the bacon's for the dog. She is jolted by the insensitivity of his interruption, but he doesn't notice, turning, almost chatty. MELVIN Last week I was playing the piano for him and he likes it, and so I decide I'm going to make a little joke... CAROL You all set here? Melvin nods -- a bit frustrated about not being able to finish his dog story. He pockets the remaining bacon. EXT. NEW YORK STREET - DAY As Melvin walks Verdell back home, we notice, perhaps a beat before Melvin, a remarkably event. Verdell is avoiding the cracks in the sidewalk. MELVIN It's a beautiful day for our walk. Melvin slows -- observes the dog mirroring his behavior. ON VERDELL again carefully placing his paws to avoid a crack in the sidewalk. Melvin laughs out loud -- puts on plastic gloves hurriedly so he can lift the dog to eye level. MELVIN Don't be like me, don't you be like me. You stay just the way you are because you are a perfect man. I'm gonna take you home and get you something to eat... what you love. ANOTHER ANGLE FEMALE PASSERSBY (charmed) Ohhh. I'd like to be treated like that. MELVIN (all smiles to Verdell) Let's go home and do some writing. INT. MELVIN'S APARTMENT - LIVING ROOM - NIGHT Melvin whaling away at his computer, reading to himself with great satisfaction as he goes. Verdell sits at his chair, fascinated by the speed of his master's fingers on the keyboard. He reads his writing aloud to the dog. MELVIN "He turned off the gas jets and carried her outside. He kissed her brow and when her eyes opened and found him, he said, 'there are easier ways to break a date.' She laughed. The only sensible ambition he had ever known was now realized. He had made the girl happy. And what a girl. 'You've saved my life,' she said, 'you'd better make it up to me.'" Exhilarated by his own words, he shuts down the machine... MELVIN (singing to Verdell) Done! (playing with him some) Yes, I hate the doggy... yes, I hate the doggy. He exits. MELVIN (V.O.) Sixty-two books... done! As the dog goes shooting off to the kitchen we leave our couple's play time for... INT. SIMON'S APARTMENT - BEDROOM/LIVING ROOM/HALLWAY - DAY As the rookie invalid awakens in precisely the same foul mood he'd had on falling asleep. In the living room, the maid, NORA, is talking with Jackie -- we catch only a few words as they review Simon's mounting pile of bills and talk of how long Nora can stay on. INT. NEW YORK APARTMENT BUILDING - HALLWAY - DAY Frank knocking on Melvin's door. He opens it. FRANK How's Verdell doing? MELVIN He's a pain in the ass. As he looks over at the dog, Verdell trots over and, without realizing it, Melvin smiles at him to Frank's surprise. FRANK Simon's home. I was sort of hoping you could keep the dog until he's had a chance to think and adjust... MELVIN (leaping at the chance) It's been five weeks... another few won't kill me. FRANK No. He wants him back. He'll be by tomorrow. MELVIN (too loudly, weirdly) Okay by me. Frank exits. INT. MELVIN'S APARTMENT - LIVING ROOM - DAY Melvin sits -- Verdell looks up at him. Melvin walks to the door. He turns the lock... then checks that they are locked... checks again to make sure he turned them in the correct direction... turns from the door... then back to check once more. And again... and again... anguished, until now he breaks briefly, the dog looking on. INT. NEW YORK BUILDING - MELVIN'S APARTMENT - HALLWAY - DAY Melvin opens the door -- looks at the scarred Simon in a wheelchair and shudders... MELVIN That's some face they left hanging on you. You look like... SIMON (interrupting) Could you take it just a little easy, Mr. Udall? A beat of silence as Melvin thinks whether to comply. SIMON Thank you. Verdell... sweetheart? (to Melvin) By the way, thanks for saving me. MELVIN I called. I never touched you. I didn't leave my name or nothing. SIMON (not listening) Verdell? ON VERDELL Totally weirded out... hiding behind Melvin... now Melvin shifts and Simon and Verdell see each other... Simon smiles at the dog... he is emotionally caught up in the reunion. SIMON Hi, sweetheart. Verdell isn't eager. ON SIMON The first gnawing pains of rejection. INT. SIMON'S APARTMENT - DAY Simon pats his leg -- trying unsuccessfully to get Verdell to approach him. Instead the dog goes to the door and scratches at it. Jackie starts to pick the dog up. SIMON No. Please, don't force him. JACKIE (to dog) You little stinker. He's given you everything. INT. MELVIN'S APARTMENT - LIVING ROOM - DAY MELVIN'S POV Verdell's towel on the floor -- near his bowl. BACK TO SCENE Melvin's lips compress... he sits on the piano bench and hits a few keys... looks at Verdell's empty spot again... there are those who "get the joke" -- Melvin is clearly one -- he laughs suddenly and helplessly even as he feels the panic rise in him... ... all his painstaking success in keeping the lid on and now it threatens to blow for a reason he articulates. MELVIN Over the dog... an ugly dog. It's hilarious. But now the humor detours. An actual sob is choked back... he gets up -- following a definite pattern across the room. He is conducting a small but highest-stakes fight for survival. Momentarily a scared, beaten middle-aged man -- he races out the door. EXT. NYC STREETS - DAY Melvin charging as fast as crack checks allow and then turning into a building with a copper sign reading "Grammercy Park Psychiatric Group." MELVIN Worst sidewalk in New York and look where they put in. INT. PSYCHIATRIST'S OFFICE - DAY Melvin bursts in on the psychiatrist and emits one word. MELVIN Help! DOCTOR If you want to see me you will not do this. You will make an appointment... MELVIN Explain to me how you can diagnose someone as "obsessive compulsive disorder" and then act like I have any choice in barging in. DOCTOR There's not going to be a debate. You must leave. The Doctor moves into the hallway, forcing Melvin to follow. MELVIN You said you could help me -- what was that -- a tease? DOCTOR I can help you if you take the responsibility to keep regular app -- MELVIN (suddenly) You changed the room around... DOCTOR Two years ago... Melvin shakes his head -- as if things weren't bad enough he must go through a careful exercise noting every new element before he's at all comfortable... as he studies each object. The Doctor is professionally intrigued despite himself. DOCTOR I also regrew my beard... but you're not interested in changes in me... so it's like I always told you... when it comes to people you... MELVIN Shhhhhhh. I don't have this mountain of available time... I got to get to my restaurant on time. Do you know how hard it is for me to be here? DOCTOR Yes. (as Melvin starts for the office) No. INT. PSYCHIATRISTS' WAITING ROOM - DAY More PATIENTS in the almost-crowded waiting room. Melvin passes through -- visibly drawn and upset. He stops. Eyes on them. Then: MELVIN (to other patients) What if this is as good as it gets? They look stricken. He exits. INT. CAROL'S RESTAURANT - DAY As he walks to his booth and sits down. Enormous relief. CHERYL, a heavy-set waitress, reluctantly moves to his table -- unseen by Melvin as he takes out his utensils and arranges them. In a corner booth, four big TRANSIT AUTHORITY POLICE are having a meal together. Cheryl looks at his utensils. CHERYL What the heck are those for? MELVIN No. No. Get Carol. CHERYL I'm filling in. We don't know if she's coming back. She might have to get a job closer to home. MELVIN What are you trying to do to me? CHERYL What the heck do you mean? MELVIN Hey, elephant girl, call her or something... just let her do my one meal here. I'll pay whatever. I'll wait. (as she doesn't budge; he screams) Do it!!! The MANAGER comes over, gesturing to the table of police that he can handle it. All attention is on Melvin. MANAGER Out. Be silent or leave. MELVIN I'll be quiet. Just let me wait. No problem. Get her here -- have her get me two sausages, four bacon, two eggs over easy and coffee. I'm not a prick here -- I'm a great customer. This day is a disaster. I can't handle this, too. MANAGER Get out immediately or there's going to be trouble. Melvin looks at the police, sizes up the hopeless situation and rises. MELVIN There's going to be trouble??? He walks toward the door as Cheryl and all the other employees applaud his defeat. As he passes a BUSBOY near the door he hands him 20 dollars. MELVIN Carol's last name? BUSBOY Connelly. EXT. BROOKLYN STREET - DAY An uncomfortable Melvin sitting in the back of a taxi. MELVIN'S POV A neighborhood in Brooklyn -- a community. Melvin, ever the shark observer, looks from the cab to see slices of community life -- MEN in front of a bar, PARENTS giving their CHILD a ride on a mechanical horse outside a local store -- two YOUNG WOMEN discuss dating. EXT. CAROL'S BUILDING - DAY As he exits -- RINGS the BELL and is BUZZED in. INT. CAROL'S APARTMENT BUILDING - DOOR/HALLWAY - DAY Carol opens the door just as he arrives on her landing. She holds a container of ice, washclothes and a thermometer. MELVIN I'm hungry. (on Carol's astonished look) You've upset my whole day. I haven't eaten. CAROL What are you doing here? Melvin ignores the question, instead answering a charge he had imagined she might make... MELVIN This is not a sexist thing. If you were a waiter I would still be here saying... CAROL Are you totally gone? This is my private home... MELVIN I am trying to keep emotions out of this. Even though this is an important issue to me and I have strong feelings about the subject. CAROL What subject? That I wasn't there to take crap from you and bring you eggs? Do you have any control over how creepy you allow yourself to get? MELVIN Yes, I do, as a matter of fact... and to prove it I have not gotten personal and you have. Why aren't you at work? You're not sick -- you don't look sick... just very tired and bitter. CAROL My son is sick, okay? Even saying the sentence, "My son is sick" pushes some emotions toward the surface which are wasted on the crazy man at her threshold. MELVIN What about your mother? CAROL How do you know about my mother? MELVIN I hear you talk when I'm waiting!!! She crosses to the sink to dump the ice. Melvin takes a step inside. Spencer, seven and looking ill, walks into the room. CAROL Sorry, honey... I'll be right there. MELVIN (uncomfortably) How ya doing? Spencer just stares at him. MELVIN (miffed) You should answer when someone talks to you... Carol eyes Melvin with disgust and disbelief then emphatically gestures him to "clear out." Melvin backs out the door. CAROL Sorry. There is a limit, Melvin, and I can't handle you teaching my son manners. She closes the door in his face, then walks to her son and leads him back to his room. INT. SPENCER'S ROOM CAMERA MOVES TOWARD mother and son sitting on the edge of Spencer's bed. She holds a digital thermometer to his ear. They both count down the seconds. CAROL AND SPENCER 5... 4... 3... 2... 1... Bingo. SPENCER 104.9 CAROL We are going to treat ourselves to a cab ride. EXT. BROOKLYN SIDEWALK - ANGLE ON CAROL - DAY As Carol carries her young son through a class of uniformed KIDS from a Catholic elementary school. She spots Melvin about to enter a cab. CAROL Melvin, wait! The school kids pick up the chant in unison. SCHOOL KIDS Melvin, wait! Melvin, wait! Melvin, wait! He turns to face them. MELVIN Shut up, kids! They immediately obey as Carol approaches him. CAROL Melvin... give us a lift. We've got to go see our friends at the hospital. Melvin is thrown... he pauses a beat... then holds the rear door open as Carol hustles the kid inside. The maneuver puts the beet red, sweating Spencer at his face. MELVIN I'll ride up front. Cover your mouth when you cough, kid. INT. BROOKLYN CAB - DAY As they settle in and drive off. CAROL Brooklyn Presbyterian Hospital, please and quickly please. EXT. HOSPITAL EMERGENCY ROOM - DAY As Carol enters the hospital. CAROL (calling back) I owe you three dollars. Melvin follows behind her as she carries her son... MELVIN Yeah, yeah... any chance you'll get back to work today? CAROL (furiously) No!!! Stay away from me! INT. SIMON'S APARTMENT - DAY Verdell lies just inside the front door whimpering for Melvin. Jackie sits across from Simon's wheel chair... she has some index cards in her laps which she occasionally consults and shuffles. JACKIE I feel terrible that I have to... Simon? Forget about the dog for a second. Simon forces his attention to Jackie. SIMON Sorry. What are those cards? JACKIE (a bit embarrassed) Frank's idea. He thought I should have notes so I did this right... maintained focus, didn't get emotional and tried not to terrify you. SIMON (scared shitless) Terrify me? JACKIE See, he's right. I need the cards. (reading from cards) Simon, you're broke. ANGLE ON VERDELL as their conversation continues -- the dog is distressed. JACKIE (O.S.) The medical bill are 61 thousand now. I've spoken to your parents and they didn't hang up or anything -- they just said they would feel strange calling you. SIMON (O.S.) Well, I can't reach them. Verdell walks out on the terrace and looks off. He turns for: SIMON (to Verdell) Here, baby... what is it, Verdell?... You miss the tough guy... (trying to be Melvin-like) Well, here I am, you little pissant mop, happy to see me? How about another ride down the chute? Oh, God... I don't mean it, sweetheart... (on Jackie's look) I'm sorry. I know... Verdell hides behind a chair. JACKIE Frank loves you. You know that... but I've spoken to him and he feels that -- (reading from card) -- as a businessman, with limited resources... SIMON I'll be able to keep my apartment and studio, won't I?... Just tell me. As Jackie looks at him then thumbs for a card. SIMON (overwhelmed) Wow... Verdell has come near him -- he reaches out a hand to pet the dog and the dog ducks. INT. MELVIN'S APARTMENT - DAY He is trying to write. He can't. His world has been upset. He walks away from his work -- a highly unusual act. He is distressed -- and then an idea and he exits. INT. PUBLISHER'S OFFICE - DAY We are looking at ZOE, the receptionist. She is listening with interest to an O.S. conversation while answering phone calls, "Premier Publishing." FEMALE EXECUTIVE (O.S.) Yes, you write more than anyone else. Yes, you make us a lot of money, but isn't there someone more appropriate to... MELVIN (O.S.) I need this. Just say, "Melvin, I'll try," okay? FEMALE EXECUTIVE (O.S.) (resigned) Melvin, I'll try. They appear now -- the woman tall, attractive, etc. She pauses at the elevator. FEMALE EXECUTIVE Now, on a pleasant note, our son got accepted at Brown. My husband... MELVIN (curtly) Great, wonderful. I don't need you to wait with me. She nods, pissed, waves and leaves. As Melvin waits, Zoe summons her moxie. ZOE I can't resist. You usually move through here so quickly and I have so many questions I want to ask you. You have no idea what your work means to me. MELVIN What's it mean? ZOE That somebody out there knows what it's like to be... (taps her head and heart) in here. MELVIN Oh God, this is like a nightmare. ZOE Aw come on, just a couple of questions -- how hard is that? As he hits the button, wipes his fingers, hits the button etc. ZOE How do you write women so well? MELVIN (as he turns toward her) I think of a man and take away reason and accountability. The fan is jolted as the elevator doors open and close. EXT. STREET NEAR CAROL'S BUILDING - DAY A depleted, exhausted Carol approaches her home. She is suddenly wary -- SOUND DIALED DOWN -- as we MOVE CLOSER. CAROL'S POV A car at the curb with "MD" license plate. BACK TO SCENE As Carol breaks into a run. INT. CAROL'S APARTMENT BUILDING, STAIRWAY/HALLWAY - DAY As she bounds the stairs, comes to her apartment door and jiggles with the keys, a strange prescient whimpering sound coming from her. As she enters the apartment. CAROL Hello? Hello? VOICE (O.S.) Mrs. Connelly, I'm in here. The worst confirmed, she moves down the narrow hallway, her innards squirting the same chemicals that drives elk on opening day of the hunting season. INT. SPENCER'S ROOM - DAY CAROL What? Please? Now? Tell me?! DR. BETTES Mrs. Connelly. I'm Martin Bettes ... Dr. Bettes. CAROL Not your name... what are you telling me your name for!! Where is he? DR. BETTES He's in the bathroom... He's fine. CAROL (overlapping) Tell me how bad it is. I let him go out last night when it was so cool without an overshirt -- just and underone with just the straps and I know better... and I let him talk me into it. He was whining and... you don't need this. Give me a second to catch hold. And so she does. Wow does she... and gives us some notion of the size of her fear demon and the strength it takes to subdue it as Dr. Bettes keeps reassuring her and she keeps nodding... finally a deep breath as Spencer enters from the bathroom. All at hyper speed now. Salvation as farce. SPENCER (to his mother) Hi... (they kiss) Did you know there are doctors who come to your house? CAROL No, I didn't. (to Bettes) So why are you h... Beverly, Carol's mother, enters the room. She is ebullient which, if life allowed, would be her natural state. BEVERLY I didn't know you had a secret admire. CAROL Huh? BEVERLY You met the gift. SPENCER He's good... And I'm an expert on doctors. CAROL (to Spencer) Stay out of this... Doctor? DR. BETTES My wife is Melvin Udall's publisher. (as Carol reacts) She says I have to take great care of this guy because you're urgently needed back at work. What work do you do? CAROL I'm a waitress. ON Dr. Bettes' reaction her mother adds a saving grace. BEVERLY In Manhattan. VOICE (O.S.) Dr. Bettes? DR. BETTES In here. A NURSE enters. NURSE Sorry it took so long. I don't know Brooklyn. DR. BETTES It's okay, Terry. (hands her blood vail) Tell the lab I'd like the report back today. Carol and her mother exchange a look of incredulity. CAROL You're going to get the results today?! MOVING SHOT As we approach the doctor and Carol seated across from each other at a small table... soft voices... relaxation. Bettes is examining medicine bottles. DR. BETTES How long has he been having problems? CAROL Since forever. DR. BETTES Have they done blood tests on him? CAROL Yes. DR. BETTES Only in the emergency room or when he was well. CAROL Emergency room only. DR. BETTES Have they done skin testing for allergies? CAROL No. DR. BETTES They haven't done the standard scratch test. Where they make small injections into the skin? CAROL No. I asked. They said it's not covered under my plan. And it's not necessary anyway. DR. BETTES It's amazing these things weren't done. CAROL Fucking H.M.O. bastard piece of shit... I'm sorry... forgive me. DR. BETTES No. Actually, I think that's their technical name. CAROL Once the tests come back, is there someone I can reach in your office for the results? DR. BETTES Me. My home number is on this card. CAROL His home number. Carol look at her mother -- they share a laugh. Beverly has a hard time stopping. CAROL (to doctor) Do you want some juice or coffee or two female slaves? DR. BETTES Water... Nobody told you it might be a good idea to remove the carpeting and drapes in Spencer's room? CAROL No. She starts towards Spencer's room. DR. BETTES You don't have to do it this second... it's not dangerous or anything. It's just something that's advisable. Look, there's a lot to be checked but... Hey, your son is going to feel a good deal better at the very least... She pats his head... Then embraces him with fierce intimacy. CAROL Doc!!! (then) So listen, you gotta let me know about the additional costs -- one way or the other we'll... DR. BETTES They're considerable. But Mr. Udall wants to be billed. She takes this as a blow to the heart, stomach and groin. INT. SIMON'S APARTMENT - DAY Simon practices walking using his cane. A tearstained Nora hugs him good-bye. NORA You poor, poor man. SIMON Let's use just one poor, okay? Anyway, dear, thanks for everything. Forgive my recent crankiness and as soon as things are on track again I'll call. She kisses him and starts for the door and suddenly a sharp intake of breath -- she's forgotten something. SIMON What's wrong? NORA Who's going to walk Verdell? Simon hadn't thought of this either. SIMON No, no. INT. APARTMENT BUILDING (NEW YORK) - HALLWAY - DAY Nora holding her things, knocks on Melvin's door. Melvin opens the door. Nora is still sniffling. He misinterprets. MELVIN Is he dead yet? NORA No! Would there be any way for you to be willing to walk his dog for him? MELVIN Absolutely. NORA Not just today -- Uh, could you do it -- until, until he gets back on his feet? MELVIN Sure thing. NORA You're a wonderful man. Two o'clock is a good time. Here's the key in case he's asleep. Open the curtains for him, so he sees God's beautiful work and knows that even things like this happen for the best. MELVIN Where'd they teach you to talk like this -- some Panama City "Sailor want to hump-hump bar"? Or was today getaway day and your last shot at his whiskey. Sell crazy some place else -- we're all stocked up here. He closes the door in her face. She stands there... thrown by the abruptness -- then lifts the two paper shopping bags holding her things -- walks back toward the elevator -- pausing briefly outside Simon's door -- then continues on her way. INT. CAROL'S APARTMENT The doctor gone, mother and daughter arguing. CAROL There is a seriously goofy man behind this. You are not allowed to block out that fact. BEVERLY Do you really want to go back to the runt doctors in Emergency who keep telling us they can't help? CAROL It lets a crazy man into our lives. BEVERLY Come on. Why fight when we know how it will come out. This isn't like stocking or a string of pearls. You don't send this one back. EXT. NEW YORK APARTMENT - ESTABLISHING - DAY INT. SIMON'S APARTMENT - DAY Shades drawn. Simon is a wheelchair... the PHONE RINGS. He goes to answer... the phone across the bed so that reaching for the phone is a brief but difficult struggle... he grunts with pain, hope and anxiety as he answers. SIMON Hello?... yes... sure... finally, huh? Why, "finally"? Because I called you so many times. Maybe 20. (relief) Oh, boy... I was hoping it was something like that. You didn't get one of them, huh? 'Cause I mean it wasn't only your office -- it was your home, hotel and the cigar club you like in San Francisco. No -- Sarcastic... Of course. I believe you. No, don't fire anyone... Please. Maybe I'm wrong about the 20 times. Take a breath... (more) So, you miss me a little? Hey, strike the question -- How's the case going? Really. Fantastic. I didn't hear. I haven't been watching. Great. Just great. I'm so happy. Whoopie! Me? Well, I'm mending. No, I look fine. Well, some of the damage might still be noticeable if you look closely... He runs a hand across his scarred and still bloated and beaten face... SIMON Carl, I need some help and you're the logical one to turn to. (aghast) No! Not 'cause I blame you for what happened. I hardly get how you can ever think that. No, I'm not being sarcastic. (trying to figure it out) I guess because you hired the guy who did this you think... No, I am a sarcastic person. Well, if you must know, the reason I said you were the logical person is because you always told me how you thought I was this great person who made you feel good about humanity and everything. You do remembering saying that? Well, whew. Okay, so Carl. I hate asking but this money thing is ridiculously serious... He picks up an index card from his night stand and takes the leap -- reading the text he prepared in advance. SIMON "Will you please loan me money? I will pay you back. I will give you whatever percentage of my income I don't absolutely need until I do. It will take a while. But I don't know what I'll do if you say"... that. (as he listens) I understand... yes... No, I do. (a bit of boldness) But you know, you know -- you didn't even ask how much, Carl? Well, Frank has no right to discuss how much I'm in hock... no, you're right -- not the point. So... what have you been up to??? Uh-huh... Oh, the group show... how was it? Well, I'm not surprised that there's that much talent around... great... Look -- gotta go... no, you shouldn't feel that way at all... take care, you, too... you, too... Good-bye. (as he hangs up) Pal o' mine. It's very quiet. LONG SHOT - SIMON A lonely figure -- who now holds his good hand up to his face and appears on the verge of enormous emotional release -- CAMERA MOVES TOWARD him as if to rendezvous with the moment of catharsis... ... but Simon is denied even this small luxury as the CAMERA ABRUPTLY ADJUSTS just as he begins sobbing to focus on the door opening and Melvin and Verdell entering the room. MELVIN Maybe I'll bring him some food by. SIMON Thank you for walking him. Simon wheels away from Melvin. SIMON If you'll excuse me I'm not feeling so well. MELVIN It smells like shit in here? SIMON Go away. MELVIN That cleaning woman doesn't... SIMON Please, just leave. MELVIN Where are all your queer party friends? SIMON (his first shout) Get out. Melvin pauses -- Simon weeping... Verdell looks at Simon with concern. Melvin is thrown. Moved? SIMON Nothing worse than having to feel this way in front of you? MELVIN Nellie, you're a disgrace to depression. SIMON Rot in hell, Melvin. MELVIN No need to stop being a lady... quit worrying -- you'll be back on your knees in no time. Simon swings his arm and cast at Melvin -- the sudden attack jolts Melvin but not as much as what follows. SIMON Is this fun for you? Well, you lucky devil... It just gets better and better. I am losing my apartment and Frank wants me to promise to paint hotter subjects and to beg my parents, who haven't called, for help... and I won't. And I don't want to paint anymore. Melvin has made for the door... Simon blocks him. SIMON So the life I was trying for is over. The life I had is gone and I am feeling so damn sorry for myself that it is difficult to breathe. Right times for you -- huh, Melvin. The gay neighbor is terrified... (a sudden screamed word surprises them both) Terrified... Lucky you, you're here for rock bottom... me wallowing in self-pity in front of you, you absolute horror of a human being... As Simon works to stop crying, Melvin is weird with discomfort. MELVIN Well, I'll do one thing for you that might cheer you up. SIMON Get out. MELVIN Don't piss on a gift, tough guy. You want to know why the dog prefers me... it's not affection. It's a trick. Simon looks up, his mood turning on a dime -- he's rapt... Melvin comes and stands by his wheelchair. MELVIN I carry bacon in my pocket. SIMON (pleased) Oh, my gosh. MELVIN (hands him bacon) Now we'll both call him. SIMON Come on, sweetheart... MELVIN Yo, yo, yo... Verdell goes like a bullet to Melvin... who is totally surprised and staggered by the implications. True love and such. SIMON Would you leave now, please? MELVIN Stupid dog. (to Simon) I don't get it. He exits... looking apologetically at Simon in stoic ruin. INT. CAROL'S APARTMENT - LIVING ROOM - NIGHT Carol in bed on the pullout sofa... She is in turmoil... there is THUNDER, but no rain. She walks to the kitchen. She is trembling as she drinks a glass of water and exits. INT. BEVERLY BEDROOM - NIGHT The room is on an air shaft and this is where Carol shares a closet with her mother, who is now asleep. Carol quietly extracts a dress from the closet, leaving her nightgown on the floor. There is something sexy here, the woman in Carol churning. She plops on a summer dress -- no time for underwear. EXT. BROOKLYN STREET - NIGHT Carol seeing a bus and dashing after it. EXT. MANHATTAN BRIDGE - TWO AM Carol crossing to Manhattan. She looks as if she's on her way to some final exam where she has no notion of the subject. EXT. NEW YORK CITY STREET - NEAR MELVIN'S BUILDING - NIGHT (RAIN) Hot summer night as she gets off the bus and now the rains come... We are in a familiar neighborhood. ANGLE ON MELVIN AND SIMON'S APARTMENT HOUSE As Carol consults the slip of paper with the address on it. INT. NEW YORK APARTMENT BUILDING - NIGHT (RAIN) As she enters building and realizes it's not just that she's wet -- the thin summer dress is a winner in any wet T-shirt contest... the fabric clinging to her breasts, like the old movie poster of The Deep. INT. NEW YORK APARTMENT BUILDING - HALLWAY - NIGHT As Carol passes Simon's door... stands in front of Melvin's apartment -- twists herself to ease nervousness and knocks on the door... then RINGS the BELL. Finally Carol hears MUFFLED THROAT CLEARING on the other side of the door. CAROL Uh, Udall? MELVIN (O.S.) Carol the waitress? CAROL Yes. As we hear him unlock the door, Carol looks at her breasts and gasps. She grasps the fabric and holds it straight out just as Melvin opens the door. His hair is static city, standing on end as he periodically gives it self-conscious pats. CAROL The doctors had your billing address. I'm sorry about the hour. MELVIN I was working... can't you just drop me a thank-you note? CAROL That's not why I'm here... (tearing suddenly) ... though you have no idea what it's like to have a real conversation with a doctor about Spencer... MELVIN (very uncomfortable) Note. Put it in the note. CAROL Why did yo do this for me? MELVIN To get you back at work so you can wait on me. CAROL But you do have some idea how strange that sounds??? I'm worried that you did this because... She pauses -- the beginning of an extraordinarily long silence. Finally. MELVIN You waiting for me to say something? (as she shakes her head) What sort of thing do you want? Look, I'll be at the restaurant tomorrow. CAROL I don't think I can wait until tomorrow. This needs clearing up. MELVIN What needs clearing up? CAROL (strong and true) I'm not going to sleep with you. I will never, ever sleep with you. Never. Not ever. Melvin's reaction? Well, he'll never get credit for the brief but intense inner struggle -- the struggle not to scream -- -- not to cry -- to process the sudden and stunning hurt during his half turn away from her -- and then answer hoarsely. MELVIN I'm sorry. We don't open for the no-sex oaths until 9 a.m. Carol is amused, surprised... maybe, in some small way ever taken by his style... but top priority is clarity. CAROL I'm not kidding. MELVIN Okay!!!! Anything else?!? CAROL Just how grateful I am. Her mission completed -- she turns. MELVIN So you'll be at work? CAROL Yes. INT. MELVIN'S APARTMENT - NIGHT It's a 3:22 a.m. as the two digital clocks on Melvin's night stand tell us... He gets up -- the first time we've seen his waking routine -- taps one foot on the floor twice -- then the other foot -- two more taps and his body angles from the bed in a deliberate way. He is having anxiety. He sits at the piano and plays very briefly... Stops -- wipes some sweat from his forehead... Walks to his computer room -- turns the light on and then quickly off... Walks to his refrigerator... INT. MELVIN'S APARTMENT, KITCHEN, INSIDE REFRIGERATOR - NIGHT As he grabs a cardboard take-out box... INT. NEW YORK APT. BUILDING - HALLWAY/SIMON'S APT. He knocks of Simon's door... It opens quickly. SIMON'S APARTMENT MELVIN I took a chance you were up. Simon walks painfully back to a chair. MELVIN I brought you Chinese soup. SIMON Thanks. MELVIN I have never been so tired in my life. Okay, if I sit here? SIMON Got any easier questions? Melvin sits and moans -- the dog sitting near him. MELVIN I haven't been sleeping. I haven't been clear or felt like myself. I'm in trouble. Some son of a bitch is burning my bridges behind my back... But the tiredness -- boy... Not just sleepy. SIMON But sick -- nauseous -- where everything looks distorted and everything inside just aches -- when you can barely get up the will to complain. MELVIN (brightening) Yeah... He feels a touch of community and not knowing where to take it from here. MELVIN I'm glad we did this. He rises and makes an awkward exit. MELVIN Good talking to you. He exits -- Simon puzzled and concerned. INT. CAROL'S APARTMENT - NIGHT Carol seated working on a letter... She is trying to express her gratitude... An enormous sheaf of completed pages sit next to her... She is so involved she doesn't even look up as a young man, SEAN, knocks on the door and is let in by Beverly. They exchange greetings and move inside where we faintly hear Spencer greeting him... We MOVE IN and read over Carol's shoulder -- "I'm sorry to have gotten sloppy and emotional in this letter, but it would have been on my conscionce (sic) forever if I didn't tell you how gratefull (sic)... " BEVERLY You're not still writing that thank-you note? CAROL I'm on the last page. How do you spell conscience? BEVERLY C-o-n-s-c-i-e-n-c-e. I got Sean from the bakery to baby-sit so let's go out. CAROL I still don't feel safe leaving Spencer with someone. How do you spell it again? BEVERLY Spencer is okay. You'd better start finding something else to do with your free time. If you can't feel good about this break and step out a little... (struts and pumps her arms) You ought to get Mr. Udall to send you over a psychiatrist. CAROL (more emotionally than she intended) I don't need one 'cause I know what's really going on here. I have to finish this letter or I'll go nuts. (looking at paper; weepy) This can't be right -- con- science. Carol breathes heavily -- gets control, stopping herself on the brink of crying. BEVERLY Carol. What? Carol is amazed at herself... that she might not be able to stem the flow... wide-eyed with apprehension, she looks at her mother, who, in return, only nods permission for Carol to let it go. A last defiant snort from Carol -- and then she is overwhelmed. The headline comes first. CAROL I don't know... It's very strange not feeling that stupid panic thing inside you all the time. Without that you just start thinking about yourself -- and what does that ever get anybody. Today, on the bus there was this adorable couple and I felt myself giving them a dirty look -- I had no idea everything was... BEVERLY Go ahead. CAROL (great, forceful hand gestures) ... moving in the wrong direction... Away from when I even remembered what it was like to have a man to... anything... hold fucking -- sorry -- hands with, for Christ's sake. I was feeling like really bad that Dr. Bettes is married. (this next one's tough) Which is probably why I make poor Spencer hug me more than he wants to... Like the poor kid doesn't have enough problems. He has to make up for his mom not getting any. (weeps at her insight) Oh, boy. Who needs these thoughts? BEVERLY Spencer's doing fine. So what are you saying, that you're frustr... CAROL Leave me be! Why are you doing this? Why are you picking at my sores... What is it that you want?... You want what? What's with you? I hope getting me thinking of everything that's wrong when all I want is to not do this has some purpose. (puffy; red; furious) What is it, Mom? No kidding. Slumped, fought out -- Carol gets out one last, naked husky voiced question. CAROL What is it you want? What? BEVERLY I want us to go out. A beat, then. CAROL (simply) Okay. INT. CAROL'S APT, SPENCER'S ROOM, HALLWAY - NIGHT As they enter, still wiping away the effects of their cry. CAROL (to Sean) We're going out. SEAN (looking at their red eyes) Looks like fun. She kisses Spencer -- almost getting involved in what he's doing -- then sees her mother waiting. CAROL Okay -- we're out of here. I love you. Spencer nods -- involved with Sean. CAMERA FOLLOWS Carol as she exits the apartment -- her mother leading. Halfway down the stairs, she stops and reverses herself, going back to the apartment which she re-enters -- then to her son to ask: CAROL Do you love me? SPENCER Uh-huh. Carol exits. EXT. STREET - NEAR CAROL'S BLDG. (MOVING) - DAY Beverly and Carol walking past the store windows. A simple and unprecedented experience in their recent lives. BEVERLY Nice to get out, isn't it? Carol nods tightly... then they wrap arms around each other and continue walking, turning into a corner bar. INT. CAROL'S RESTAURANT - CLOSE ON CAROL - DAY As Carol stands nervously while Lisa finishes reading her 14-page letter. In the b.g. Melvin and Frank are seated at the same table and in earnest conversation. Lisa keeps flicking away tears -- a few drops on the pages. CAROL Don't get it wet. Lisa brushes the paper -- finishes and embraces Carol. CAROL So it's okay? LISA You almost have me liking him. You sure come from the heart. I never knew what you went through with everything. CAROL I wanted him to know how much he'd done. (looking over) Can you believe he's eating with someone. ON MELVIN & FRANK MELVIN It's not my dog and this Simon seems to have enough on his mind -- but he did throw up twice and his spark is off. FRANK Sure -- take him to the vet. MELVIN I did. And his stomach is out of whack. So they need him for a couple of days. FRANK Do it. CAROL Melvin. She self-consciously hands him with the thick envelope. MELVIN What's this? CAROL (sotto) A thank-you note for what you did for me. He hands it back to her deliberately. She takes it and walks back to the service area where, embarrassed, confused, and messed with -- she tosses the note. After Carol leaves... FRANK She's nice. MELVIN (to Frank) Really nice. Shouldn't that be a good thing... telling someone, 'no thanks required.' FRANK It looks like it really went over. You're sure making the rounds. Simon says you brought him soup last night. I hope he doesn't write you a note. Melvin looks up -- wary -- his brain sends a disturbing message. FRANK What? MELVIN "What?" Look at you... You sense a mark. FRANK Hey -- you called me... I... MELVIN About a dog. FRANK Yeah, but it's all about Simon now... you helped with the dog... And now there are other things. I'm just as concerned as you are about Simon. MELVIN Concerned. I'm just the hall monitor here. FRANK It's not only financial assistance. What he's got to do is go to Baltimore tomorrow and ask his parents for money. It's not going to happen on the phone. MELVIN Yeah. If his parents are alive they've got to help -- those are the rules. Good. FRANK Yes. And tomorrow? I have a high maintenance selling painter coming through... So I'm out. Can you take him? MELVIN Think white and get serious. Carol enters scene. FRANK Take my car -- a convertible. Do you drive? MELVIN (loudly) Like the wind but I'm not doing it. CAROL Getting loud, getting loud. MELVIN He wants me to take his car and his client to Baltimore. CAROL I want your life for a minute where my big problem is someone offers me a free convertible so I can get out of this city. She exits. Frank prepares to depart. MELVIN Okay. I'll take him. Get him packed -- ready -- tomorrow morning. Frank stumbles back... self-satisfied, he relaxes. MELVIN (excited) Okay... so I'll see you tomorrow. Let's not drag this out. We don't enjoy another that much. FRANK If there's some mental health foundation that raises money to help people like you be sure to let me know. MELVIN Last word freak. Frank adjusts and exits... Carol approaches calling a "good-bye" to him. CAROL So. Anything else? MELVIN Yes. I'm going to give my queer neighbor a lift to Baltimore. CAROL Okay. MELVIN Hey, what I did for you is working out? CAROL (a breath; then) What you did changed my life. She offers him the note. MELVIN No... no thank you notes. CAROL Well, part of what I said in this entire history of my life which you won't read is that somehow you've done more for my mother, my son and me, than anyone else ever has... And that makes you the most important, surprising, generous person I've ever met and that you be in our daily prayers forever. MELVIN Lovely. CAROL I also wrote one part... I wrote I'm sorry... I was talking about I was sorry when I got mad at you when you came over and you told my son that he ought to answer back so I wrote that. (reading from the letter, Melvin wildly uncomfortable) I was sorry for busting you on that... and I'm sorry for busting in on you that night... when I said I was never... I was sorry and I'm sorry every time your food was cold and that you had to wait two seconds for a coffee filler... Melvin wants to disappear but Carol is getting into it -- emotionally moved by her own words. CAROL ... and I'm sorry for never spotting, right there at the table in the restaurant, the human being that had it in him to do this thing for us... You know what, I'm just going to start from the beginning... I have not been able to express my gratefulness to you... even as I look at the word "grateful" now it doesn't begin to tell you what I feel for you... And finally Carol notes Melvin's mood and pauses. MELVIN Nice of you... thank you. CAROL Thank you. MELVIN Now I want you to do something for me. She looks at him for a very strange, long beat. CAROL Oh, I'm sorry... Didn't I say, "what?" I thought I said, "what?"... What? MELVIN I want you to go on this trip. CAROL No, sir... MELVIN I can't do this alone. I'm afraid he'll pull the stiff one eye on me. I need you to chaperon. Separate everything but cars. You said you liked convertibles. Now I'm on the hook. CAROL The stiff one eye? MELVIN Two days. CAROL I can't. I work. MELVIN You take off when you have to. CAROL My son. MELVIN Bettes tells me he's doing fine. CAROL (no other way) Melvin, I'd rather not. MELVIN What's that got to do with it? CAROL Funny, I thought it was a strong point. MELVIN Write me a note and ain't she sweet. I need a hand and where'd she go. CAROL Are you saying accepting your help obligates me!? MELVIN Is there another way to see it? CAROL No. INT. CAROL'S APARTMENT - BEVERLY'S BEDROOM - NIGHT Carol takes an old weekend case down from the top shelf of the closet. CAROL Well, here's a little suitcase shocked that it's been used. She holds up a dress -- a pretty one... then decides it's too pretty and puts it back... Now she looks in another drawer and pauses as if she ponders one of the mysteries of the ages. She hesitates then talks to herself. INSERT -- UNDERWEAR DRAWER Her best underwear neatly stacked alongside her everyday "girl Jockies." She fingers the good stuff -- puts it back -- then the everyday -- hesitates. CAROL (furiously exasperated) There's not way to pack for this trip... well, I'll tell you -- I'm not packing the camera. As she exits the room -- INT. CAROL'S APARTMENT - KITCHEN - NIGHT As she picks up the phone. INT. MELVIN'S APARTMENT - BEDROOM - NIGHT Melvin is in his bedroom -- everything he's taking neatly stacked on the bed waiting to be packed (he is taking a camera). He has a list of what he needs. All items -- underwear, socks, etc... with four checks next to each one and still he -- checks each stack on the bed and adds another check. The PHONE RINGS. This is an amazing development. He has almost no recent experience with receiving a nighttime phone call. He makes a little comment to himself as he moves. MELVIN Woo-woo. He stops -- briefly trying to remember where the phone is -- and then, remembering, crosses and picks it up but before bringing it to his mouth nervously clears his throat. ON CAROL As she hears his throat being cleared. It is not a pretty sound. (The following conversation is INTERCUT.) CAROL Hello? MELVIN Are you still coming? CAROL Yes. Melvin visibly relaxes. CAROL Melvin... I'd like to know exactly where we are going. MELVIN Just south to Baltimore, Maryland. So I know what you're going to ask next. (correcting himself) That you might ask -- I'm not certain. CAROL There's... there's no need to bring anything dressy... or... I mean -- I didn't know if we'd be eating at any restaurant that have dress codes. MELVIN Oh. (a beat) We might. Yes. We can. Let's. CAROL Okay, gotcha. What did you think I was going to ask? MELVIN Whether crabs are in season there now... CAROL Oh. Okay, then -- Melvin. Good night. INT. CAROL'S APARTMENT - BEVERLY'S BEDROOM - NIGHT Beverly looks up expectantly as her daughter enters. BEVERLY How was it talking to him? CAROL Stop treating this like I'm going away with a man. He's just going to say those crappy, sick, complaining, angry things to me. I hate this, Mom -- I hate this. He's a freak show -- the worst person I ever met. BEVERLY Well, maybe he has nice friends. EXT. CAROL'S APARTMENT BUILDING - DAY Beverly and Spencer wait with her. The bus approaches. She kisses them. CAROL (to Spencer) You stand there and I'll wave to you from the back window. As she boards the bus. BEVERLY Call me as soon as you're settled. CAROL (to Spencer) I love you. The bus driver closes the doors on her -- she shoves them open. CAROL (to bus driver) Sensitive, huh?! The bus pulls out. He runs after the bus -- waving at his mother who grows concerned that he might be taxing himself. INT. VETERINARIAN'S WAITING ROOM - DAY A female VETERINARIAN in surgical scrubs holds Verdell as Melvin finishes filling out some forms. On opposite sides of the waiting room, a very large black dog and a tiny Chihuahua sit patiently with their owners. VETERINARIAN Anything unusual in the dog's diet? MELVIN No. Everybody gets their own cage? VETERINARIAN Certainly. MELVIN (pointing to Chihuahua) Put him in with that one, not that one... (pointing to large dog) ... Builds his confidence. EXT. BUS STOP NEAR APARTMENT BUILDING (NEW YORK) - DAY Carol disembarks. EXT. APARTMENT BUILDING (NEW YORK) - DAY As she walks and turns a corner. CLOSE ON CAROL The shot of the prisoner taking the walk toward the death chamber. But the prisoner -- has grit -- her knees do not buckle. She does not whimper. No prison "screws" will have to support her weight. Still, the prospect couldn't be grimmer. CAROL'S POV Melvin next to a spiffy convertible. Top down. Trunk open. CLOSER ON MELVIN He is wearing driving gloves and turns to witness the tussle Frank and Simon are having just inside the building. FRANK I'm sorry that I'm not taking you. SIMON (upset) So am I, Frank. Frank starts to leave -- Simon stops him. They embrace. MELVIN Soak it up -- it's your last chance at a hug for a few days. As Frank moves off Melvin sees Carol and his demeanor changes... that quickly there is a shyness. CAROL Hi. MELVIN Thanks for being on time... Carol, the waitress, this is Simon, the fag. CAROL Hello... Oh, my God, who did that to you? SIMON I, uh... I was... attacked. Walked in on people robbing me. I was hospitalized. I almost died. MELVIN Let's do the small talk in the car. Load up. Carol puts her bag in the car. MELVIN I was going to do that for you. CAROL (taken aback) It's okay. No problem. Where should we sit? MELVIN (totally non-plussed) I -- uh, I... Well, there is no place cards or anything. CAROL (to Simon) Let me go in back. You look like you need all the room you can manage. SIMON That's very thoughtful. MELVIN Never a break. Never. Carol steps into the back. Melvin disappointed that he's not sitting next to Carol... Carol is wedged in the small back seat. She struggles to get her feet in. MELVIN You're really jammed back there. He reaches for the latch between his legs and slides his seat and, with some effort, wrenches it forward giving Carol more room and putting his right against the wheel. She is startled by the gesture. CAROL Thanks, Melvin. MELVIN Welcome. And off they go. Simon and Carol stunned by the manners. EXT. 12TH STREET Turning onto Fifth. MELVIN I got the whole ride programmed. CAMERA FOLLOWS as Melvin goes to a rack of CDs -- all carefully labelled. He selects and begins to play the one marked "ICEBREAKER." It is a song which we clearly and quickly judge as off the circumstances -- a quick burst of "Y.M.C.A." Melvin STOPS the MUSIC and chuckles. MELVIN Just wanted to see what you'd do. No, we have greatness here. He goes for another CD labelled "FOR USE TO REP THINGS UP." The car turns onto Seventh as we hear BEAUTIFULLY SELECTED MUSIC. CAROL (O.S.) Hey, I like this music. And, as the MUSIC PLAYS, Simon looks out. EXT. ROAD - DAY The three of them... Carol chattering away. CAROL I don't know the last time I've been out of the city... Hey, my arms are tanning. I used to tan great. We gotta stop soon so'se I can check on Spencer. SIMON (during the above) I'm sorry... I can't hear you. I can't turn my head all the way yet... tell her we can't hear her. MELVIN Doesn't matter. She's enjoying herself. Consider it part of the music. EXT. ROAD - DAY A short time later. Carol is now driving. CAROL I'm sure, Simon, they did something real off for you to feel this way... But when it comes to your partners -- or your kid -- things will always be off for you unless you set it straight. Maybe this thing happened to you just to give you that chance. MELVIN Nonsense! CAROL Anybody here who's interested in what Melvin has to say raise their hands. Simon does not raise his hand. Simon and Carol have thus declared their majority. SIMON Do you want to know what happened with my parents? CAROL Yes. I really would. SIMON Well... CAROL No, let me pull over so I can pay full attention. Car pulling over toward parking spot. EXT. HIGHWAY - CURBSIDE - CONVERTIBLE - DAY She takes the car curbside and parks. CAROL Now go ahead. Simon looks back at Melvin as does Carol. He looks innocent. Several beats -- Melvin almost says something -- a hidden hand gesture from Carol stops him. Finally. SIMON Well, I always painted. Always. And my mother always encouraged it. She was sort of fabulous about it actually... and she used to... I was too young to think there was anything at all wrong with it... and she was very natural. She used to pose nude for me... and I thought or assumed my father was aware of it. MELVIN This stuff is pointless. CAROL Hey -- you let him... MELVIN You like sad stories -- you want mine. CARL . Go ahead, Simon. Really. Please. Don't let him stop you. Ignore him. SIMON Okay. Well, one day my father came in on one of those painting sessions when I was nine -- and he just started screaming at her -- at us -- at evil. And... MELVIN (very quickly) ... my father didn't leave his room for 11 years -- he hit my hand with a yardstick if I made a mistake on the piano. CAROL Go ahead, Simon. Your father walked in on you and was yelling and... really, come on. SIMON I was trying to defend my mother and make peace, in the lamest way. I said, "she's not naked -- it's art." And then he started hitting me. And he beat me unconscious. After that he talked to me less and less -- he knew before I left for college, my dad came into my room. He held out his hand. It was filled with money. A big wad of sweaty money. (gathers himself) And he said to me, "I don't want you to ever come back." I grabbed him and I hugged him... He turns and walked out. Carol, whose life has been rugged but basic, feels as strange as she does moved by Simon's trauma which is so much more complicated than her meat and potatoes troubles. She looks out her window -- then kisses her fingers and touches them to Simon's cheek. A nice, understated, gesture of friendship. CAROL Well, you know -- I still stay what I said. You've got to get past it all when it comes to your parents. We all have these horror stories to get over. Melvin shifts INTO the FRAME. MELVIN That's not true. Some of us have great stories... pretty stories that take place at lakes with boats and friends and noodle salad. Just not anybody in this car. But lots of people -- that's their story -- good times and noodle salad... and that's what makes it hard. Not that you had it bad but being that pissed that so many had it good. CAROL No. SIMON Not it at all, really. MELVIN (a veteran's irony) Not at all, huh?!... Let's go to the hotel. And if you're lucky tomorrow Dad will give you another wad of sweaty money. INT. HOTEL SUITE - LIVING ROOM/CARL'S ROOM - DAY MELVIN Two bedrooms and the sofa opens... Carol is on the phone in the living room -- she hangs up. CAROL (to Simon) No answer... Maybe we should just drive there tomorrow. Can I have that one? MELVIN Yes... sure. (to Simon) I'll take the sofa. Carol walks into her room -- the nicest room she'll ever have slept in... She goes to the phone and dials... CAROL (into phone) Hello... Hi, Spencer... Why are you out of breath? You did?!? That is great... So great... So -- no, wait a second, Spence... INT. HOTEL SUITE - MELVIN AND SIMON'S HOTEL ROOM - DAY Melvin watches Simon struggle to unpack his especially neat suitcase. Melvin is uncomfortable. MELVIN Can I ask you a personal question? Simon laughs loudly in apprehension squared. MELVIN Do you ever get an erection for a woman? SIMON Melvin... MELVIN Wouldn't your lie be a lot easier if you were not... SIMON You consider your life easy. MELVIN I give you that one... (eyes suitcase) Nice packing. INT. HOTEL SUITE - LIVING ROOM - DAY Carol enters the common living room... Melvin is sitting there. Carol is dealing with a number of unsettling new factors in her life. CAROL My son was outside playing soccer. I never saw him playing ball. Come on, you guys -- take me out for a good time... Take me out dancing. MELVIN Dancing? SIMON I can't, I'm exhausted. Carol walks to Simon and puts an arm on him. Melvin is visibly disturbed by her gesture. CAROL (to Simon) I don't blame you... This is a monumental first day out... You sad or anything? SIMON No... Nervous. It would be very rough, Carol, if you weren't along. CAROL What a nice compliment. She gives Simon a kiss... Melvin deals with jealousy. She turns to him. CAROL I'm happy. And you're my date. Let's get dressed. She exits the room. Melvin unnerved. MELVIN I'm going to jump in the shower. I'll be right with you. INT. HOTEL SUITE - NIGHT As Carol, dressed in a thrift shop find, enters the main room of the suite and hears the SHOWER running -- she sits down to wait -- through... SERIES OF DISSOLVES Showing the enormous length of time which transpires until finally a seriously clean Melvin emerges from the bathroom through a cloud of steam. They exit. EXT. FIRST RATE RESTAURANT - NIGHT As they drive up. VALET Good evening, sir. MELVIN They sell hard shell crabs here? VALET Yes. INT. FIRST RATE RESTAURANT - NIGHT As they enters... HEAD WAITER Good evening. MELVIN Hi. You have hard shells, right? CAROL Stop asking everyone. MELVIN Just him and that's it. Okay, you can answer -- we've worked it out. HEAD WAITER Yes, we do... And I can give you a tie and jacket. MELVIN What? HEAD WAITER They require a tie and jacket but we have some available. He reaches into the coat and check room and withdraws them. MELVIN No... I'm not wearing that -- and just in case you were going to ask I'm not going to let you inject me with plaque either. CAROL You promised a nice place -- can't you just... (to Head Waiter) You have these dry cleaned all the time, don't you? HEAD WAITER Actually, I don't think so. MELVIN (to Carol) Wait here. EXT. FIRST RATE RESTAURANT - NIGHT As Melvin takes his car back from the valet. EXT. STREET - SHOPPING MALL - NIGHT As the car goes right across the street to a shopping mall. INT. SHOPPING MALL - MEN'S STORE - NIGHT Melvin walks to the doorway and stops suddenly. SALESMAN Good evening. MELVIN I need a coat and tie. OTHER ANGLE CAMERA REVEALS that the floor is intricately patterned so that passage for Melvin is impossible. SALESMAN Come on in. MELVIN No. SALESMAN No? MELVIN (pointing) That jacket and give me a tie. EXT. FIRST RATE RESTAURANT - NIGHT As he pulls up - a new VALET taking his car. VALET #2 Good evening. MELVIN You have hard shells? VALET #2 I'm not sure. MELVIN Everyone else says you do. VALET #2 Then I guess we do. INT. FIRST RATE RESTAURANT As he enters, looks for and then spot Carol. She is having a martini at the bar... Sitting on a stool -- watching COUPLES dance... Happy by herself... Turning down a MAN who wants to buy her another... And Melvin watches... Watches his date. HEAD WAITER Shall I get her for you? MELVIN No, it's all right. I'll just watch. He enjoys watching her for a few more beats... She turns -- Melvin makes a "Haul your ass over here" gesture... and she smiles and walks toward him... A WAITER has lifted her drink -- placed it on a tray and follows her. She takes a bit of a slalom course through the tables, giddy as the MUSIC PLAYS and couples dance in the b.g. She notices the waiter in her trail. CAROL (mouthing the words to Melvin) My drink is following me. Melvin watches her approach. It is all too exquisite. He takes a breath -- it doesn't come easily. CAROL You look s... She stops herself from saying "sexy," regathers, then... CAROL You look great. They arrives at the table. He holds out her chair for her. CAROL You wanna dance? MELVIN I've been thinking about that since you brought it up before. CAROL (rising) And? MELVIN No... (and before she can digest that) ... I don't get this place. They make me buy an outfit but they let you wear a house dress. I don't get it. ON CAROL Melvin has no idea he has insulted her. Sandbagged in extreme, she gets up -- actually ready to leave. MELVIN No. Wait. What? Why? I didn't mean it. You gotta sit down. You can still give me the dirty look... just sit down and give it to me. CAROL Melvin, pay me a compliment... I need one and quick... You have no idea how much what you said just hurt my feelings. MELVIN (really pissed, mutters) That monominute somebody gets that you need them they threaten to go away. Never fails. CAROL That's not compliment, Melvin... That's just trying to sound smart so I feel stupid... A compliment is something nice about somebody else... Now or never. MELVIN Okay. He waves her down. CAROL (sitting) And mean it... MELVIN Can we order first? She thinks and then nods. The waiter is across the room. This does not stop Melvin. MELVIN (calling) Two crab dinners and pitcher of cold beer. (to Carol) Baked or fries? CAROL Fries. MELVIN (calling) One baked -- one fries. STARTLED WAITER (shouting back) I'll tell your waiter. MELVIN (to Carol) Okay, I got a real great compliment for you and it's true. CAROL I am so afraid you're about to say something awful... MELVIN Don't be pessimistic. It's not your style. Okay... Here I goes... Clearly a mistake. (this is hell for him) I have this -- what? Ailment... And my doctor -- a shrink... who I used to see all the time... he says 50 or 60 percent of the time a pill can really help. I hate pills. Very dangerous things, pills. "Hate," I am using the word "hate" about pills. My compliment is that when you came to my house that time and told me how you'd never -- well, you were there, you know... The next morning I started taking these pills. CAROL (a little confused) I don't quite get how that's a compliment for me. Amazing that something in Melvin rises to the occasion -- so that he uncharacteristically looks at her directly -- then: MELVIN You make me want to be a better man. Carol never expected the kind of praise which would so slip under her guard. She stumbles a bit -- flattered, momentarily moved and his for the taking. CAROL That's maybe the best compliment of my life. MELVIN Then I've really overshot here 'cause I was aiming at just enough to keep you from walking out. Carol laughs. CAROL So how are you doing with those pills? Well, I hopahopahopa. MELVIN Takes months to know... They work little by little. (holds his head; then) Talking like this is exhausting. Carol moves to the chair next to him... She sits very close -- he tenses. CAROL Have you ever let a romantic moment make you do something you know is stupid? MELVIN Never. CAROL Here's the trouble with never. TIGHT SHOT for the kiss. Their faces are close -- she looks at him... She closes her eyes -- her face moving toward him -- he is wide-eyed and afraid... His face almost moves away -- in a shot this close it's almost flight... But now his head moves back and he receives her kiss. It is brief. Carol smiles encouragement to him and herself. Melvin can't bear the pleasure. MELVIN You don't owe me that. CAROL That wasn't payment. When you first came into breakfast, when I saw you -- I thought you were handsome... Then, of course, you spoke... So now that your soft li'l underbelly is all exposed. Tell me, why did you bring me? Melvin's voice is soft -- hesitant, okay, vulnerable... as he holds up his hands in a "stop" signal. MELVIN Well, ah... that's a personal question. CAROL Tell me even if you're scared. Tell me why you wanted me here. It's okay. She kisses him again. CAROL If you ask me... I'll say, "yes." MELVIN (dissembling) There are lots of reason... I had a thought that if you had sex with Simon it might... CAROL (humiliated) Sex with Simon? MELVIN It's one idea... CAROL That's why you brought me? Look at me! Is that really why you brought me... Like I'm a what and I owe you what?! MELVIN I don't know why I brought you -- that idea occurred to me is all... It came out first... Hey, you kiss him -- me... He says he loves you. You two hit it off. But you don't want to... fine... Forget what I said about sex with Simon. It was a mistake. CAROL (wiping away tears) I'll never forget you said it. MELVIN It was a mistake. But she has already turned away and exits the restaurant... Melvin alone and miserable. INT. SIMON'S HOTEL ROOM - NIGHT He finishes dialing. He is extremely tense -- not breathing -- a lump in his throat -- trying not to let the anxiety immobilize him... the NUMBER RINGS twice, then a humorless male voice: PARENTS' VOICE (humorless male voice) Hi. This is Fred Bishop... (perky woman's voice) ... and Betty. (Fred again) We are sorry to be unable to take your call right now. Please leave a message and we'd appreciate your including the time/date and purpose of your call. (Simon mouths the word "date," then Betty speaks before the beep Bye-bye. SIMON Ah, this is Simon... I'm here in town... (he waits) ... and, folks, you haven't come home later than 10 in your lives. Please pick up -- really... Okay... I'm going to call again in the morning. I need to see you. Or, at least get you to answer the phone. He hangs up. His parents want no part of him and he needs help. INT. HOTEL SUITE - CAROL'S ROOM - NIGHT As Carol enters with some energy. We FOLLOW her as she goes into her room -- takes her suitcase, begins throwing things in. INT. HOTEL SUITE - SIMON'S ROOM - NIGHT SIMON Hello... Hello??? Carol thrusts open the door and enters... SIMON Was this supposed to be your room? CAROL Our room. I don't want to see him and he's not going to come knocking on your door. Simon struggles with his shirt -- she helps him, inadvertently venting some anger as she does so. SIMON Can you not be violent? CAROL I don't think so. You need help with the pants? SIMON (emphatically) No!!! CAROL I'm going to take a big bath and order a big meal. SIMON Uh-huh... CAROL I'm sorry... are you okay? SIMON Well, considering everything's horrible and tomorrow I have to face my parents... Don't ask me ... I'm sick of my own complaints ... got to get me a new set of thoughts. CAROL Why? What have you been thinking about? SIMON How to die, mostly. CAROL Can you believe in our little mix you're the good roommate. Simon laughs -- as she crosses to the bathroom and begins to prepare a bath. SIMON (turning off the light) Good night. CAROL Good night. We are ON Simon settling in for sleep, when instinct or sounds or the faint glow of hope turns him so that he faces the bathroom and we have... SIMON'S POV Carol sitting at tub's edge -- a towel around her and now as Simon looks at the bathing beauty she adjusts her hair -- the towel falls -- a better than perfect breast exposed... BACK TO SCENE SIMON (a whisper) Hold it. He leaves the bed. ANGLES ON HOTEL DESK What's he up to... he takes the blotter from the desk set and a pen from his jacket pocket which hangs on the chair and with vigor and faint pain moves to the other side of the bed where he turns on the light and stares at Carol. SIMON I've got to sketch you. CAROL No... Absolutely not. I'm shyer than you think. I give the wrong impression sometimes and... SIMON I haven't even been thinking about sketching for weeks. CAROL Stop staring. Do a vase. SIMON But you're beautiful... your skin glows. CAROL Thanks. But I just want to take a bath and... SIMON That long neck -- the line of you... you're porcelain... your back goes on forever. You're classic... you're why cavemen chiseled on walls... CAROL All right, cut me a break. Simon's pen moves across the blotter -- Carol sees him earnestly engrossed, a beat of indecision and then shyly but deliberately she lowers the towel. He's right. She's breathtaking. INT. BAR - NIGHT Melvin sits alone, nursing a drink. He's been talking to the bartender. MELVIN So then, the next thing I know, she's sitting right next to me, and then, well, it's not right to go into the details, but I screwed up. I got nervous. I said the wrong thing and if I hadn't, I could be in bed now with a woman who if you could make her smile you got a life. Instead, I'm here with you, no offense, a moron pushing the last legal drug. He sits there, just another Joe on a bar stool with his heart breaking. INT. HOTEL SUITE - SIMON'S ROOM - CLOSE ON SIMON - NIGHT He's excited -- smiling... We hear Carol -- also revved. CAROL (O.S.) I don't care how you put it -- We're being naughty here, pal. FULL SHOT Carol holding a pose for Simon... He is holding a ballpoint over the back of a hotel desk blotter. His style cramped by his cast. SIMON No. No. This is great, this is so great. I can't get the angle with this cast. He struggles with the cast, and then decides to struggle no more. Summoning remarkable strength, he rips a piece from the cast, freeing his hand -- he roars ironically -- a lion's roar of liberation. He is back at his center. INT. HOTEL SUITE - LIVING ROOM - DAY Melvin is having a room service breakfast. The door opens... Simon enters. A new Simon -- better than ever, clearly happy -- a morning-after glow. MELVIN Did you have sex with her? Carol follows his out. Her arms are filled with the hotel soaps, shampoos, etc. MELVIN Sorry, didn't realize she was right there. (a beat) Did you have sex with her? CAROL To hell with sex. Carol looks at Melvin -- he can't meet her gaze. CAROL We held each other. It was better than sex. What I need he gave me great. SIMON I just love her. (beat) How're you doing? Melvin reacts. INT. HOTEL SUITE - DAY Simon finishes dialing the phone... a brief wait, then: SIMON Hello, hi, Mom -- I can barely hear you. Do you have to whisper? No -- don't apologize -- it was the luckiest thing for all of us that you didn't answer last night... I can't hear you... okay, dear, just listen to me then. ON MELVIN AND CAROL Melvin has been reduced to straight talk as Carol brings the bathroom bounty into the room and begins to put it in her suitcase. MELVIN I get why you're angry. It's no snap to explain why I was like that, but let's not try to do it on the run... SIMON ... so Mom. Truly no grudges -- truly. A little odd that you didn't come to see me when you heard I was hurt, but the important thing I want you to know is your son is happy. I'm working again. I'll make do -- I don't want a thing. Wouldn't take it if it was offered. I'll drop you a note from wherever I land and then it's up to you. I hope we patch things up but know that if we don't, I wish you both the very best... I can't hear you. You heard me, though, right? Good -- take good care. 'Bye. He hangs up, totally satisfied with himself and rips over to Carol and Melvin. MELVIN ... Now he's going to want to stay. And they'll want to take a ride to the lake or whatever. So it's a good five hours back. It gives us a chance to take it easy and... SIMON I'm going back with you. CAROL But what about... SIMON I'll take care of myself -- MELVIN What are you talking about? You got real problems. SIMON I know. I'm a little bit nervous. Suddenly everything seems so easy. Carol, a load has been lifted. CAROL One night with me! SIMON You think you're kidding. Melvin stalks out. EXT. HIGHWAY - DAY The car parked near a phone booth -- MELVIN (to Frank over the phone) Aww Jesus! No choice. Carol walks up to Simon in the car. CAROL I got a gift for you. She hands him a base ball cap. MELVIN (on phone) Nothing like no choice to make you feel at home. CAROL (to Simon) Let me see... Ahh, gorgeous! MELVIN Do it then. Get the dog picked up. I can't believe you let it stay there. Melvin hangs up the phone. MELVIN Good-bye. (to Simon) Well, your luck is holding. They sublet your place. You're homeless. Frank's got a line on another place you can use for now. SIMON Another place where? MELVIN Does it matter? Melvin gets in -- goes to the glove compartment for a special CD labelled "For Emergency Use Only." As it PLAYS a confessional love SONGS: CAROL I don't want to hear that music right now. MELVIN What do you mean? You said you liked it. CAROL I don't. MELVIN This one has a special meaning. CAROL It's your car but I don't want to hear it. If that means anything. Melvin hesitates and then turns OFF the SONG in mid- proclamation of love. EXT. APARTMENT BUILDING (NEW YORK) - NIGHT As the car arrives... They get out... MELVIN Here are the keys to my apartment. I'm going to park you in my place while I take Carol home. CAROL (hefting bag) I'll take a bus. MELVIN I'll take you... why not? CAROL I don't care what you did for me. I don't think I want to know you anymore -- all you do is make me feel badly about myself. (turning to Simon) You have my number. SIMON (hugging her) I love you... (sotto) Let him take you home. CAROL Don't want to. I love you. She shakes her head and walks off. Simon looking at Melvin with some sympathy. MELVIN Don't say anything. INT. MELVIN'S APARTMENT KITCHEN - NIGHT Where Verdell's ears prick. INT. APARTMENT - NIGHT As they enter. MELVIN (O.S.) I told you to go on in. SIMON (O.S.) Look, I've got to get a hold of Frank and see where I'm hanging my hat 'cause... The door opens, revealing them: MELVIN I think you gotta camp it here... SIMON What are you talking about? The dog vaults toward them -- all else forgotten as the dog greets his two favorite people and they talk to him. SIMON (to Verdell) I know the feeling -- you feel like your ol' self again, huh? -- Mommy and Daddy are home. Melvin reacts. SIMON Sorry... You're fun to mess with. Melvin gets up... Simon notices some of his paintings. MELVIN They took your place furnished. Jackie said she grabbed your personal stuff -- they were supposed to set you up here. (leading the way) There's this extra room -- I never use. It gets good light. No other answer really. Simon follows. INT. SIMON'S NEW ROOM - NIGHT As they enter... the room clean and organized -- a small but lovely garret. SIMON Thank you, Melvin. You overwhelm me. MELVIN They did a nice job... Cozy, huh? SIMON I love you. Melvin looks at him finally -- pretensions fall. MELVIN I'll tell you, buddy, I'd be the luckiest guy alive if that did it for me. INT. CAROL'S APARTMENT - NIGHT As Carol unpacks, she gives gifts to her mother and Spencer. But clearly something gnaws at her psyche. INT. MELVIN'S APARTMENT - BEDROOM - NIGHT Melvin's two digital clocks are two minutes apart... each around 1:55 a.m... He sits in a chair still fully dressed... forlorn... Verdell in his lap. A beat then we hear Simon's whispered voice. SIMON (O.S.) Where is my big hairy boy? Melvin is alarmed. He stops breathing as his gay houseguest approaches. SIMON (O.S.) Verdell, sweeties? Melvin breathes again. Simon enters the room. SIMON Sorry, didn't know you were awake. I just thought Verdell shouldn't get too used to sleeping in here 'cause then... MELVIN Look, we both want the dog -- and... The PHONE RINGS... they look at each other. Melvin doesn't move. SIMON Should I get it? Melvin nods. Simon walks into the next room... several beats as he finds the phone. We hear him pick it up and: SIMON (O.S.) Hello. ON SIMON SIMON (into phone) Hello. It's me. He took me in. Did you know? Hold on, I'll get him for you. He walks back to Melvin's room. INT. MELVIN'S ROOM - NIGHT As he enters. SIMON It's Carol. Melvin is quickly out of his chair -- the dog in one mitt... he thrusts it at Simon. MELVIN Here. Take the dog. As he speeds him out... SIMON Good luck. INT. MELVIN'S APARTMENT - LIVING ROOM - NIGHT As Melvin picks up the phone... He clears his throat loudly. Following is INTERCUT between Carol and Melvin -- the first such CUT showing Carol blasted by the throat clearing. MELVIN Hello. CAROL Yeah... Well... MELVIN (very concerned) How you doing? CAROL I can trust my brain. MELVIN That seems like a good choice. CAROL I don't know whether I'm being sensible or hard on you. MELVIN The two might go together. CAROL See. There's an example. I don't know whether you're being cute or crazy now. MELVIN (what the hell) Cute. CAROL You don't have to answer everything I say. Just listen to me. Okay? He nods his head, "yes." CAROL It's really something that you're looking after Simon. And what I said on the street. That was a bad thing to say. And it made me sick to my stomach. It was a bad thing to say. And I'd be lying if I didn't say that I enjoyed your company... but the truth is you do bother me enormously and I know -- think -- that it's best for me to not have contact with you because you're just not ready and you're a pretty old guy to not be ready... and I'm too old to ignore that. But there were extraordinary kindnesses that did take place. So thanks for the trips... She's just broken up with him but she's being nicer than ever. It's hard to know whether to die or not. MELVIN Okay to say something now? CAROL Go ahead. MELVIN I should've danced with you. CAROL Okay. Good-bye. MELVIN So long. Carol hangs up. She feels strange. A shoe hasn't dropped. Oh, hell... she missed him. INT. MELVIN'S APARTMENT - LIVING ROOM - NIGHT Melvin walks in anxious circles in the living room. He is impatient. MELVIN You going to come talk to me or not? SIMON I'm coming. We enters the room carrying Verdell who strains to be allowed closer to Melvin. Simon releases him. SIMON What did she say? MELVIN I'm a great guy -- "extraordinary"... (before Simon can celebrate) ... and she doesn't want contact with me. (a beat) I'm dying here. SIMON Because... (gently) ... you love her? MELVIN (sharply) No... and you're supposed to be sensitive and sharp. SIMON Okay... you tell me why -- (mimics him) "You're dying here." MELVIN I don't know... Let me sleep on it and figure it out. (then) Because I'm stuck! Can't go back to what I had... She's evicted me from my life. SIMON Did you like it that much? MELVIN (furiously) It was better than this... Look, you, I'm very intelligent. If you're going to give me advice or conversation or consolation or hope, you got to be better than you're doing. If you can't be at least momentarily interesting than shut the hell up. I'm drowning and you're describing water. SIMON (getting pissed) Picking on me won't help. MELVIN Well, if that's true then I'm really in trouble. SIMON But you know where you're lucky? MELVIN Absolutely not. SIMON You know who you want. I'll take your seat any day. So do something... don't sleep on it... go over there. I don't think anybody should ever sleep on anything -- it's not always good to let things calm down. MELVIN Hey... I'm charged here. But she might kill me for showing up this late. SIMON Then get in your jammies and I'll read you a story... I think you've got a chance. The only real enemy you have is her ability to think logically -- the best thing you have going for you is your willingness to humiliate yourself if it gives you one chance in whatever -- so go catch her off- guard. MELVIN Okay. Thanks a lot. Here I go. He moves for the door... stops suddenly, jolted. SIMON What's wrong? MELVIN I forgot to lock the door. EXT. CAROL'S APARTMENT BUILDING (CAROL'S NEIGHBORHOOD) - NIGHT As he parks. He exits the car -- now wary... looks at his watch... hesitates... walks reluctantly into the apartment house. INT. CAROL'S APARTMENT BUILDING - VESTIBULE - NIGHT As Melvin looks at Carol's doorbell with great uncertainty. INT. CAROL'S APARTMENT - NIGHT Carol in a cotton wrap-around dress/bathrobe... sitting directly in front of a fan... the windows open, reading one of Melvin's books... There is the briefest possible sound of a DOORBELL... someone has jabbed her downstairs button ever so briefly -- so briefly that she's not certain it's her DOORBELL -- until the same brief sound REPEATED... She walks to her wide open window and looks over. HER POV The convertible at the curb. BACK TO SCENE She hesitates -- INT. CAROL'S APARTMENT BUILDING - VESTIBULE - NIGHT As Melvin gives up and starts out... turning as the sudden blast of being BUZZED into Carol's life sounds. He bolts for the door and enters. INT. CAROL'S APARTMENT - NIGHT She opens the door... she hears the sound of MELVIN SOUNDING HEAVILY up the stairs... He reaches her side. CAROL What do you want, Melvin? MELVIN Were you asleep? CAROL What do you want? MELVIN 'Cause if you were asleep -- I'm sorry. And you could be grouchy. CAROL Grouchy? MELVIN ... 'Cause of being woken up, and it would make my job impossible. So then I wouldn't even try. CAROL What job? MELVIN Were you asleep? CAROL What are you doing here? ANOTHER ANGLE Beverly in the hallway looking on -- BACK TO SCENE MELVIN I'm sorry I woke you -- some other time. He half turns to leave. CAROL I wasn't asleep!! MELVIN What a break... CAROL (losing it a bit) Is it a secret what you're doing here? MELVIN I had to see you... CAROL Because... MELVIN It relaxes me... I'd feel better just sitting on the curb in front of your house than anyplace else I can think of or imagine. Carol has not ever heard anything like that before... it's sort of sexy in its sincerity. ANOTHER ANGLE As we see in the b.g. that Beverly, standing near her door down the hallway, has heard at least this last part... Melvin, of course, cannot leave well enough alone... MELVIN (serious) Wait a minute, I'm overstating here, maybe the inside stairs. I don't want to sit with my feet in the gutter. What does that serve? It only... But suddenly Carl is shouting to the heavens. CAROL Stop it!! Why can't I have a normal boyfriend??? Why? Get out of here. Just a regular boyfriend who doesn't go nuts on me... BEVERLY (butting in) Everybody wants that, dear -- it doesn't exit... (as Carol turns to her) Sorry... didn't mean to interrupt. She disappears into her room. Carol snorts a laugh -- gathers herself. A beat. MELVIN (hopefully) Boyfriend? CAROL Oh, come on in and try not to ruin everything by being you. MELVIN Maybe we could live without the wise cracks. She looks at him -- then: CAROL Maybe we could... Melvin glances at the cracked pattern of Carol's kitchen linoleum and stalls at the door. MELVIN It feels a little confined here. Let's take a walk. CAROL See. It's four in the morning. A walk sounds a little screwy to me, if you don't mind. MELVIN If you need an excuse, there's a bakery on the corner. There's a shot it'll open soon -- that way we're not screwy -- we're just two people who like warm rolls. CAROL Okay. EXT. STREET - NEAR BAKERY - NIGHT They walk quietly -- Melvin still walking with his usual attention to where he steps. CAROL'S POV Melvin walking -- and though we can see an improvement -- it is still decidedly strange as he conspicuously avoids stepping on the lines. BACK TO SCENE Carol sighs. It is the sound of possibilities crashing down. Melvin looks at her -- embarrassed, self-conscious -- his habits making him appear unworthy. CAROL (gently; almost lovingly) I'm sorry, Melvin -- but whatever this is -- is not going to work. ON MELVIN He takes this hard. It forces him to half-whisper something he hasn't at all said to himself... given his history... this is an extraordinary intimacy. MELVIN I'm feeling... I've been feeling better. CAROL Melvin, even though it may seem that way now -- you don't know me all that well... (as he scoffs) I'm not the answer for you. She starts to turn. He tugs at her arm. As she turns back to him. MELVIN Hey, I've got a great compliment for you. CAROL You know what? I... MELVIN Just let me talk. (gathers himself with uncertainty, then:) I'm the only one on the face of the earth who realizes that you're the greatest woman on earth. I'm the only one who appreciates how amazing you are in every single thing you do -- in every single thought you have... in how you are with Spencer -- Spence... (he has reached her) ... in how you say what you mean and how you almost always mean something that's all about being straight and good... ON CAROL She stands on the precipice of being transported away from the logic which has been her lifeline. MELVIN I think most people miss that about you and I watch wondering how they can watch you bring them food and clear their dishes and never get that they have just met the greatest woman alive... And the fact that I get it makes me feel great... about me! (a real question filled with concern for her) You got a real good reason to walk out on that? That last question clearly a true question, not the least rhetorical -- she considers her answer, then: CAROL No! It's certainly not. No -- I don't think so. No. MELVIN (tentatively) I'm gonna grab you. (with conviction) I didn't mean it to be a question. I'm gonna grab you. He kisses her. An awkward bomb of a kiss. They separate. A tense beat. Then: MELVIN I know I can do better. They embrace again. He does indeed do much better. A first-class smooch. CAMERA MOVES DOWN to see his foot land squarely on a crack in the sidewalk without his knowledge. They break -- look at each other without a notion of where to take it from here, and the ALMOST in unison begin to walk away FROM CAMERA, Melvin following a path that avoids cracks. Suddenly the lights of the bakery turn on as it opens for business. CAROL Warm rolls... They walk to the bakery, Melvin avoiding the cracks. As they enter the bakery, a WORKER moves toward them to clean the entranceway. Melvin, forced to step back onto a crack, this time notices -- registers the momentous fact and joins Carol inside as we: FADE OUT THE END
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+ASSASSINS Written by Larry and Andy Wachowski August 12, 1994 FADE IN: PERFECT SQUARE OF BLACK We know that we are looking at something because its polished surface shimmers with light. PULLING BACK, other squares are revealed; the black and white tiles of a chess board. The board rises and spins, slipping beneath us we find ourselves MOVING ACROSS the board, MOVING THROUGH a chess game. The pieces are everywhere, checking and covering other pieces. It has reached that critical moment when pieces are traded and the board begins to clear as two strategies unravel towards a final outcome. Standing above the pieces around him, we see the black king. We MOVE CLOSER TOWARDS his face, CLOSER TO his chiseled ebony features, CLOSER UNTIL we are staring into his cold black eyes... DISSOLVE TO: EXT. MARSH - SUNGLASSES - DUSK The red setting sun is reflected in the black lens. Two men are tromping through the calf-deep mud of an end- less marsh. It is fall, the first frost not far away and the foliage is brown and bare. With the red-orange ball of fire melting into the horizon, the two men at first appear as only silhouettes or shadows slogging through the mire. The man with the sunglasses walks behind the other man. He is very well-dressed in a dark suit. A .22 caliber gun, fitted with a long silencer, dangles from his hand. His name is ROBERT RATH. The other man is WILLIE KETCHAM. He is also wearing a very expensive suit though it is being destroyed by the brambles and mud. As he lifts his foot his Gucci shoe is sucked off by the mud. KETCHAM Aw-shit! He balances on one leg, holding his silk-socked foot in the air. He looks at the shoe, already filling with mud. He looks at Rath. KETCHAM How much farther? RATH Just a little ways. Up to those trees. About a half mile further into the thickening marsh there is a small cluster of trees. KETCHAM Oh, fuck it. He pulls his sock off and plunges his foot into the mud. He smiles. It feels good. He hurls the sock. Lifting his other foot he pulls his shoe off and hurls that. He grabs for the other sock, struggling to get it off, laughing at himself as he slips and falls into the mud. Rath waits, a faint smile. He manages to get the sock off and then stands digging both feet into the dark, wet earth. KETCHAM Hey, this feels kinda good. They move on, Ketcham almost playing, sinking his feet deep pulling them out to make a SPLURCHING, SUCKING NOISE. KETCHAM Hey, do you mind if I talk a little? I feel like, I don't know, talking I guess. RATH Sure. KETCHAM Funny, I've never been a talker. My wife was always getting on me about that. 'Say what you feel, tell me what's bothering you, you ve got to talk to me.' I never would though. Not really. RATH Why not? KETCHAM I don't know. Part of me wanted to but part of me always said, 'What's she going to be able to do?' I don't know. Maybe I didn't trust her. He picks up a handful of mud and begins shaping it like a snowball. KETCHAM My Margaret... I loved her but you know what? I cheated on her. All the time. I don't even know why. It wasn't the sex, Margaret was great in bed. I think if I wasn't married I wouldn't have even looked at some of those women. I knew she couldn't trust me, so how could I trust her? If she was here right now I'd think that I would tell her that I was sorry... 'course, if she were here right now, maybe I wouldn't feel like talking. He throws the mud ball at the grove of trees but they are too far. KETCHAM I think I've heard of you. RATH It's possible. KETCHAM You're pretty famous aren't you? RATH I hope not. KETCHAM I know this may seem like a strange question, but can I ask you how much the contract was for -- not to insult you or anything, I know you're a professional, but just for me, I was just wondering. RATH It's a common question. KETCHAM Oh yeah? I guess we still need to see that price tag. Like art, right? You hang some painting that looks like baby-puke in your living room only if it costs a bundle. RATH A dime. KETCHAM One hundred thousand? That's it? Jesus... Is that a lot? RATH Average. KETCHAM Shit... oh well. Ketcham laughs. KETCHAM I have been thinking about this for a long while. I knew this day was coming. I knew someday someone would make the call on me. I never thought about anyone that I had whacked. What do you call it anyway? RATH Taken. KETCHAM 'Taken.' That's nice. When I had someone taken I would call our General Contractor, transfer the money and as soon as I hung up the phone I forgot about them. RATH Everyone who plays the game knows the rules. KETCHAM That's exactly what I told myself. Ketcham laughs again. He is getting kind of giggly, like he's high. KETCHAM I always wondered what I'd be thinking at this exact moment. I imagined that I would be thinking about the fucker who contracted this, trying to figure out who it was... Something occurs to him and he looks back at Rath. RATH Don't know. That's how it works. KETCHAM That's what our General Contractor told us but how can you trust someone like that? RATH Right. KETCHAM I thought that I would be thinking about Margaret, or work, or that I'd be having these deep, profound and depressing thoughts but I'm not. I'm trying to think really profound thoughts, but I can't. It seems very funny to me. RATH What are you thinking about? KETCHAM I'm thinking about Moonpies. Ain't that funny? I haven't had a Moonpie since I was ten years old. Right now, I'm thinking how much I'd love one. RATH And an R.C. He's 'laughing' and Rath laughs with him. Ketcham suddenly stops laughing. They are nearly to the cluster of trees. KETCHAM Can I ask you something? RATH Go ahead. KETCHAM What do other guys do? He looks at the trees, his voice dying in the WIND. RATH Everyone handles it differently. Some are ready, some are not. KETCHAM Do they get down on their knees, begging and crying? RATH Some. KETCHAM When I thought about this, that was always there, in the back of my head, that image of me on my knees, crying. It wouldn't go away and it would really upset me. It was something that I could never get away from... but now, I feel it's okay. I feel good. RATH Can I ask you a question? KETCHAM Anything. RATH Why didn't you fade? KETCHAM You mean quit? RATH Yeah. KETCHAM I used to think about it. I had Margaret. She wanted kids. I thought about moving somewhere far away like, Europe. I could see all of that, the first part, the getting away but I couldn't see that next part. 'Then what?' So I'd stop thinking about it and go back to work. You understand? RATH Yeah. Ketcham smiles and looks around at the grove of birch trees. KETCHAM I always pictured that I would end in some land fill, under someone else's garbage. I kept picturing those plastic diapers filled with some baby's green shit, covering me. But this is nice... He looks at the sun, bloody red seeping into the black horizon. KETCHAM Look at that. I haven't watched the sun set in a million years. Do you mind? RATH No. Ketcham stares at the last of the light. KETCHAM Nice... real nice. With his face hidden from Rath he begins to cry. Rath watches Ketcham staring at the setting sun. Rath looks down at the gun limply held in his hand. When the sun is gone, a red glow at the bottom of a dark- ening sky, we hear the GUN, SILENCED, ONCE, then the BODY FALLING INTO THE MUD. After a beat we hear TWO MORE SHOTS. Ketcham is lying face down, already sinking into the mud, a red cloud mushrooming around his head like the red haze left by the dying sun. Rath breathes in deep and lets the air out slowly, stand- ing alone in the middle of nowhere. INT. HOTEL SUITE - NIGHT The room is dark and still. A man is standing at a wall of windows that glow from the amber wash of urban light. Snow is falling, heavy white flakes glittering in the city's electric night. The man finishes his bourbon, ICE CLINKING in the empty glass. He is slightly drunk and he sways forward until his forehead rests against the window. In the dim light, we recognize the man as Rath. Outside there is a beautiful stone church decorated for Christmas. He watches the snowflakes drift to the distant street below. He is wondering what it would feel like to let himself fall, when there is a KNOCK at the door. Crossing the room, he opens the door. Backlit by the bright hallway light is a WOMAN. She has already removed her coat and though she is only a silhouette we can see that her dress is very short and very tight. ESCORT (WOMAN) Hi. Did you call -- RATH Yes. Please come in. Her HIGH HEELS TAP against the tile foyer as she enters and he takes her coat. ESCORT Goodness, it's so dark... She reaches for the wall switch but he stops her. RATH I prefer it like this. ESCORT How can a beautiful man like you be shy? He smiles. RATH I prefer it, that's all. She moves closer to him, the sexual confidence of her body radiating like heat. ESCORT It's okay, honey. We can do it anyway you want. Rath is obviously uncomfortable. RATH Would you like a drink? ESCORT I'd love one. Whatever you're having. They move into the room, from a distance, as featureless as two shadows. She stands at the windows watching the snow-bubble of a city night. ESCORT Beautiful. He hands her the drink. Her smile is bright and perfect. ESCORT Good will towards men. Their glasses clink as he drains half his drink. If she drinks at all, we can not tell. RATH Why are you working today? ESCORT Holidays are our busiest days. No one likes to be alone on holidays. I know I don't. She touches his face, the caress and her expression of tenderness seemingly genuine. RATH You're very good at this aren't you? ESCORT I think you're supposed to answer that question. Her hand slides down his chest, but before it goes any farther Rath turns away, returning to the bar. RATH I know what you expect, but I don't want... He pours himself another drink. ESCORT That's okay, hon, I always expect the unexpected. RATH I called because I just want... I need to talk. She sits on the couch, her body language changing, as she becomes a listener. RATH I've been thinking about my life, about things I have done... What I do for a living is in some ways similiar to what you do. He sits on the other end of the couch, his words thickened by the alcohol. RATH I know that everything has a price. I want you to understand that I'm willing to pay. He takes out an envelope and puts it between them. She picks it up, glancing inside at a stack of hundred dollar bills. ESCORT For what? RATH Honesty. She puts the envelope down. RATH I just want to ask you some questions. Uncomfortable, she waits as he searches his drink for the right words. RATH Do you ever regret things you've done? ESCORT Everyone regrets something. RATH But when you finLsh a job, afterwards do you think about them? ESCORT Sometimes. RATH Do you think about their wives or their families? ESCORT No. They call me, I don't call them. If they didn't call I wouldn't exist. Rath nods. His next question is barely audible. RATH Do you ever think about starting over? ESCORT All the time. RATH Can you tell me about it? For the first time we really see her take a drink. She closes her eyes. ESCORT Sometimes I dream that I meet a man, this good, honest man and we fall in love. I imagine us living on a boat, reading books, sailing to places where no one knows who we were or cares what we did. She opens her eyes and looks at him. RATH And what if you never meet that man? She smiles. ESCORT Then, I'll sail alone. RATH Do you believe that? ESCORT Are you asking me if I believe in another life? Rath nods. ESCORT I have to. She finishes her drink. ESCORT Is that all you want? RATH Yes. She picks up the money and stands. RATH Thank you. ESCORT Anytime. INT. HOTEL SUITE - NIGHT It is the same room but now it is very cluttered, room service trays and empty liquor bottles tossed about. He has been here for a while. He is sitting at the table, staring intensely at a chess game; we see the board and all of the pieces set in the same positions as in the opening sequence. He rubs at the whiskers that have darkened his face and then finishes off another bottle of bourbon. He flings the empty bottle across the room as he reaches over the board and moves one of white knights, taking a black rook. A sequence begins, obvious, and he works through it moving both the black and white pieces. Suddenly he stops. He gets up and shifts to the other side of the board, studying the game from white's perspective. Another sequence emerges and he trades the pieces through it as he moves around the table, returning to his place behind the black king. The games reaches its end as black is check-mated. He slumps down onto the table and looks across at the white king. RATH Fuck you, Nick. INT. HOTEL SUITE - DAWN Rath is at a desk where he has set up his computer office; a cellular phone is plugged into a modem with cables winding through a scrambler and then into a fax machine and the latest high-powered lap-top computer. On the table near the desk, we see the .22, dismantled and cleaned, spread out on a white towel. He types in a complicated access code sequence, then waits, staring at the blank screen. CONTRACTOR/SCREEN Where have you been, Robert? RATH/SCREEN Sick. The flu. CONTRACTOR/SCREEN I don't believe you. RATH I don't give a fuck -- RATH/SCREEN It's true. CONTRACTOR/SCREEN I have been sitting on a contract from Cleveland for six days because of you. RATH Fuck you, fuck Cleveland, and fuck your contracts -- RATH/SCREEN I need a rest. CONTRACTOR/ SCREEN That's impossible, Robert. You're at the top of your field. These are the best contracts. To stop now would be self-destructive. He looks away from the screen and sees the chess game on the table. RATH/SCREEN Send the file. I'll have the estimate tonight. CONTRACTOR/SCREEN I'm worried about you, Robert. RATH You fucking should be -- RATH/SCREEN Don't be. On the screen the word "Transmitting" appears. Rath slowly gets out of his chair. The FAX MACHINE CLICKS and HUXS to life as a photograph of a smiling, old Italian man curls onto the desk. Rath begins destroying the hotel room, smashing anything he can get his hands on. INT. HOTEL SUITE - DAY Rath is in the middle of the room which he has demolished. Having showered and shaved, he is now standing naked, in the midst of the rubble, practicing the slow and graceful art of Tai Chi. INT. HOTEL SUITE - NIGHT Rath is working at the desk. He is tallying numbers, materials, totaling his estimate. Spread out over the table are several faxed photos of the old Italian, Leevio Valli, usually surrounded by bodyguards. The file details Valli's life and his daily routine. It includes: phone bills, credit card and bank account statements, driver license and vehicle registration, the real estate listing of his house and even a copy of his income tax return. Satisfied with his figures, Rath plugs the phone into the modem and makes a call. The network comes on-line as the General Contractor types: CONTRACTOR/SCREEN You're too late, Robert. Rath types. RATH/SCREEN What? CONTRACTOR/SCREEN The contract was stolen. Rath stares at the screen. RATH/SCREEN Who? CONTRACTOR/SCREEN A new player. He's using the name Nicholai. The name hits Rath and he sits, unable to breathe. CONTRACTOR/SCREEN You know what must be done. The screen goes black as the network shuts down. Rath looks down at the pile of assembled facts. He lifts a credit card bill on which the name of a restaurant appears every Friday. The name of the restaurant has been circled in red pen by Rath: "Trattoria Roma." EXT. TRATTORIA ROMA - NIGHT A red awning spans the entrance of a popular Italian restaurant. INT. TRATTORIA ROMA It is a large establishment with many tables and booths. The dinner crowd is a mix of yuppies and older Italian families who have been eating here for years. Rath is sitting alone at a booth. With very subtle changes to his appearance, he looks like an older Italian. In front of him is a glass and a carafe of dark red wine. He touches neither of them. His eyes shift as he studies the room. LEEVIO VALLI pushes into the restaurant surrounded by five gorillas in Italian suits. The owner hurries to greet them, hugging, kissing, speaking only Italian. The entourage moves through the restaurant to the over- sized booth in the back. Rath does not look twice at them. Immediately he is watching everyone else, looking for the other assassin. Leevio slides into the booth as his goons stand and sit around the table, obscuring him from all parts of the room. A wine steward immediately brings a bottle of red wine and fills their glasses. A pretty waitress sets a steaming loaf of garlic bread out and a giant bowl of minestrone in front of Leevio. He tells her something and she giggles. They joke in Italian, watching her ass as she wiggles back to the kitchen. At Leevio's table the wine steward returns to fill their glasses. It is the goon standing against the wall that is the first to realize that it is not the same wine steward. He is the second assassin, much younger than Rath. His name is BAIN. He smiles. The goon reaches for his gun as -- Bain SHATTERS the BOTTLE of wine into his face. He screams. Leevio coughs a spray of minestrone, as a GUN flashes free from the white linen towel hung over the steward's arm. It happens instantly. FOUR SHOTS and the goons are dead. Leevio screams. LEEVIO Don't! A FIFTH, SIXTH and SEVENTH SHOT. Leevio's body falls forward and softly thuds on the table. Bain whips around drawing a small SEMI-AUTOMATIC WEAPON from his belt expecting an attack. Facing the screaming crowd, he begins to SHOOT anyone who moves or stands, men or women. There is chaos in the restaurant. People scream, falling to the ground, scrambling under tables. Bain is sweating, his eyes shifting wildly from one end of the room to the other. The restaurant falls quiet except for several people who are sobbing. He moves through the room, watching, searching. BAIN Don't anybody move. You move, you're dead. He passes the table Rath was sitting at, but it is empty. BAIN Come on, you chicken shit motherfucker. I know you're here. Let's go. EXT. CONCRETE PARKING GARAGE Across the street from Trattoria Roma, Rath jacks together a German assault rifle with night scope. INT. TRATTORIA ROMA Bain looks out the window at the dark street. He turns and searches through the people huddled on the floor. He aims his gun. BAIN You! Get up! A quivering wine steward stands. He points to another. BAIN You, too! Up! EXT. PARKING GARAGE THROUGH the NIGHT SCOPE we see the front door to the restaurant open and a group of wine stewards clumped together slowly back out. INT. TRATTORIA ROMA Bain is second from the end, both guns aimed at the stewards. One of them begins to cry. BAIN Not yet. Don't move or you're fucking dead. INT. PARKING GARAGE Rath moves the scope back and forth, unable to pick out the assassin. RATH Shit. Just do them all. All of them. Shit. He can't pull the trigger. EXT. TRATTORIA STOREFRONT The group moves toward the street. BAIN Now run! Like dogs out of the gate, they bolt. INT. PARKING GARAGE Rath watches as they scatter, finding Bain in his scope. EXT. STREET A chunk of BRICK EXPLODES from the wall just behind Bain's head as he drops behind the row of parked cars along the curb. He laughs. We get the idea that Bain is enjoying this. INT. PARKING GARAGE Rath looks over his scope, talking to himself. He is sweating. RATH Shit. What are you doing, old man? You're too fucking slow. He looks back into the scope and begins scanning the line of cars. RATH Okay. Which one? Which one is yours? EXT. CITY STREET Bain is crawling alongside the tightly parked cars, staying low and out of sight. He works his way up to a black Mercedes that is parked illegally next to a fire hydrant and takes out his keys. He hits the remote unlocking the doors. INT. PARKING GARAGE Rath finds the fire hydrant in his scope, almost obscured by the parked Mercedes. RATH Amateur. He takes aim. EXT. CITY STREET Just as Bain starts to open the door, the front TIRE EXPLODES. Another second, the back TIRE EXPLODES. BAIN Fuck! INT. PARKING GARAGE Rath waits, steely calm, his finger on the trigger. RATH Your move. EXT. CITY STREET Bain hears the growing wail of POLICE SIRENS. Thinking for a moment, he opens the car door and pulls a long handled switchblade and a roll of electrician's tape from the glove compartment. INT. PARKING GARAGE Rath sees the car light go on, but can't make out what Bain is doing. The SIRENS are GETTING LOUDER. There's a lot of them. EXT. CITY STREET Bain finishes taping the knife to his forearm and rolls his shirt sleeve down. From his pocket he takes out a Gameboy and begins playing "Tetris." INT. PARKING GARAGE Rath watches as the police cars come racing down the street. EXT. CITY STREET The CARS SCREECH to a halt in front of the restaurant. The COPS jump out, drawing their weapons. Bain throws his guns down, raising his hands in the air. BAIN Don't shoot! Don't shoot! I give up! More CARS come SCREECHING up as the two officers hold their beads on Bain. COP Hit the ground! Face down! Spread your legs! Bain follows the orders as the second cop edges up to him, frisking him. In this position the Cop is unable to find the knife strapped to Bain's forearm, but finds the Gameboy. BAIN Hey, don't touch that! COP Shut up! The Cop twists Bain's arms behind his back, handcuffing him tightly. They drag him to his feet, a swarm of police and paramedics in the street. INT. PARKING GARAGE Rath holds them in his cross hairs as they move to the police car, but is unable to get a clean shot. Bain is using the cops for cover, keeping his head low. RATH Son of a bitch. The Cops shove Bain into the back seat. Rath very quickly walks to his car, tossing his gun into the trunk. He gets in and STARTS the ENGINE. INT. PATROL CAR The two Officers are outside the car talking with the sergeant. Bain, laying low beneath the windows, peeks up at the shadowy parking garage. He smiles. The two Policemen get in the car, the second picking up the radio. The driver GUNS the ENGINE and the black and white RUMBLES down the street. COP #2 This is 181, returning with suspect involved in multiple shooting at Trattoria Roma. Repeat, en route with suspect. He hangs up the radio and looks back at Bain through the metal caging. COP #2 Jesus Christ, do you know who you shot in there? Bain almost laughs. COP #2 What are you? Some kind of a hitman? Bain looks out the window. COP #2 You know what we call guys like you? Bain looks at him. COP #2 Sizzle lean. They're gonna fry your ass. He laughs at his own joke, looking at his partner, who chuckles. EXT. CITY STREET Rath's car races down the street trying to catch up with the patrol car. INT. PATROL CAR Bain stares out the window, silent. Behind his back, he takes hold of his left thumb with his right hand. The Cop is playing with the Gameboy. With a quick jerk, he yanks the thumb out of its socket. His expression remains perfectly blank. The thumb hangs unnaturally from the hand. The skin stretches strangely as he pulls the metal cuff from his wrist. The Cop turns as the SWITCHBLADE CLICKS and Bain sticks the knife through the wire mesh, into the cop's eye. A font of blood arcs onto the windshield. Grabbing hold of the driver's shirt collar, Bain jabs the blade into the back of his neck. The driver screams trying to pull free of Bain's grip. He slams on the brakes, groping for his gun and the CAR SKIDS out of control. Bain stabs the Cop again, his GUN FIRING WILDLY as -- The patrol car starts to flip and roll. INT. RATH'S CAR Rath turns as he hears an EXPLOSION, several blocks away. The TIRES SQUEAL as he makes a hard right. EXT. STREET Orange flames lick up from the belly of the overturned patrol car. Oil black clouds billow into the night sky. Rath's car cruises past. Rath sees the back seat window shattered, kicked out. Bain is gone. RATH I'm not done yet. EXT. CITY STREET INTERSECTION A brand new cab is sitting at a red light. The cabby looks into the rearview mirror, as a pair of headlights roll up behind him. The car gets closer, the lights brighter; they don't stop. He shrieks as the CAR SMASHES INTO HIS, TEARING OFF HIS BUMPER. The cabby jumps out, rattling off a string of obscenities. Rath gets out of the white car, starting to apologize, as the cabby moves toward him. When he's close enough, Rath decks him, knocking him unconscious. He picks him up and puts him in the white car. Rath then gets in the cab and when the light changes to green, he drives off. INT. CAB Rath circles the area, turning up the cab's CB. A couple of CALLS CRACKLE through the speaker, before he hears what he's waiting for; an airport fare in this area. At the intersection of Adams and Nine. He picks up the mike. RATH This is 1242. I got it. EXT. ADAMS AND NINE It is a deserted intersection. The buildings are dark and some of the street lights are out. The cab sits by itself, ENGINE RUNNING, its taillights glowing through the exhaust. INT. CAB Rath holds his gun cocked beneath his coat. His other hand grips the door handle. As he waits, watching the intersection, he notices the cabby's ID pinned to the dashboard. Leaving the gun in his jacket, he reaches for the ID card. He rips it from the dash and as he drops it under the seat, the door behind him opens. Someone gets in and closes the door. Rath peers into the rearview mirror. It is Bain. For the first time we realize that the front and back of the cab is separated by an inch of bullet proof glass. There is an awkward silence as Rath sits, unsure. Bain looks at him. BAIN Is there a problem? RATH No. No problem. The airport, right? BAIN Right. The cab pulls out of the intersection. INT. CAB Rath studies Bain. There is a thin line of blood down his temple. Bain is oblivious to it and pulls out his Gameboy, resuming his game of Tetris. RATH How'd you cut yourself? Their voices are distorted through the small electric amplifier set in the bullet proof glass near the metal money exchanger. Bain touches the blood on his forehead, looking at it a bit surprised. BAIN Oh? Working. A little accident. He wipes it off as best he can. RATH You a waiter? You look like a waiter. Bain is uninterested. BAIN Yeah. Yeah, I'm a waiter. RATH Where? BAIN What? RATH What restaurant? BAIN Uh, Fontella's RATH So you're from around here? BAIN No. No I'm not. Bain is getting agitated. RATH Where you from? BAIN What is this? RATH Not too good at small talk, eh? BAIN Look, I'm real tired and I'm not interested in fucking chit-chat. RATH I know just what you mean. I'm pretty beat myself. Silence. RATH Since you looked like a waiter, I had to ask what restaurant because of what happened at the Trattoria Roma. Bain looks up. BAIN Why? What happened? RATH Didn't you here all them sirens? It's been all over the radio. Some guy shot Leevio Valli, and a bunch of bystanders, in the Trattoria Roma. BAIN No shit. RATH Yeah, it's terrible. I mean Valli, and I don't care what office he's running for, the guy's a crook. He probably had it coming, but all the other people. Real sad. BAIN Yeah. RATH But they caught the guy. I heard it all. Sounded like he just went berserk, fucking loco. Shooting anybody. Drugs, probably. BAIN Probably. RATH I'd love to sit in that jury. Send that S.O.B. right to the chair. Bain allows himself a bemused smile. BAIN Sizzle lean. The cab passes the intersection for the airport. Bain sits up. BAIN What are you doing? RATH What? BAIN That was Peterson back there. That goes to the expressway for the airport. RATH You're right. Talking too much again. BAIN Yeah well, you just blew your tip, pal. RATH What? You think I'm running you up? BAIN Just do your job. Rath pulls over and slaps the cab in park. BAIN What are you doing? RATH Get out. You think I'm running you up? Get out. BAIN You can't -- RATH The hell I can't. It's my cab. I don't like you. So, get the hell out! Bain can't figure out what is wrong, when he sees the dashboard and the missing ID. Their eyes meet in the rearview mirror. BAIN Holy fucking shit! The cab rocks as both men move. Instantly guns fill their hands. Bain ripping out a .357 lifted from one of the dead cops. Rath rolls to the side whipping the gun free from his jacket. Bain throws open the door, about to run, but stops. He looks at Rath. He wants him to run. Anyone who moves away from the bullet proof glass is dead. Both men are silent, each holding the other in their gun sights. Bain blinks, sweat forming on his lip. BAIN I get out, you got me. Bain reaches over and closes the door. He smiles knowing it is the right move. BAIN Now what? Rath calmly uncocks his gun. RATH We're both going to the airport. Bain nods. RATH Sit back. Put your seatbelt on. BAIN No fucking way. RATH Okay, don't. Bain thinks. RATH If either of us fucks around, the other can blow the fuel line. He points his gun at the floor where the fuel line runs. Bain sits back, aiming his gun, watching Rath. Rath eases back into the driver's seat, also holding his gun on the fuel line. He puts the car into drive and slides back into traffic, turning back towards Peterson. They sit in silence, studying each other, when they hit the expressway. Bain can't contain himself, giddy on adrenaline. BAIN Jesus -- I'm being driven to the airport by Robert Rath. He laughs. BAIN I can't believe this. You rolled some cabby for the radio, then waited for an airport fare. He laughs again. BAIN Boy, that's fucking genius. You're a fucking genius. Then you're just sitting there, bullshitting with me. Man, no way I coulda done that! RATH What's your name? We both know it's not Nicholai. BAIN Holy shit! Robert Rath wants to know my name. He leans back. This is a big moment for him. BAIN Bain. Michael Bain. RATH How long have you been freelance? BAIN Two years. Two long fucking years. Something occurs to him and he leans close to the window. BAIN Hey. What I don't get was why didn't you take the shot inside the restaurant? I mean you had me, a free shot. That's what I would have done. RATH It's just a shoot-out then. Sixty- forty, at best. Not my odds. BAIN Sounds like chickenshit -- He laughs hard. BAIN Listen to me calling you chickenshit! He stops laughing and looks closely at the back of Rath's head. BAIN Is that a wig? Shit, I hate wigs! Wigs are the worst part of this job. I'd rather dye my hair than wear a wig. Rath studies him. RATH You're wearing a wig now. Bain chokes on his laugh. BAIN God damn are you good. Everyone says you're so fucking good. I just can't believe I'm still alive. If I believed in God, I'd be down on my knees. Right now -- Hey, how come you just didn't plug us all when we came through the door? Rath does not answer. Bain smiles. He knows something about Rath now; he doesn't like killing innocent people. BAIN Shit if I was you, back there -- He holds his gun up to the bulletproof glass behind Rath's head. BAIN Game over. He laughs. BAIN Do you mind if I ask you a couple of business questions? You know I was wondering how much you bid this job at? Rath says nothing. BAIN You don't have to tell me that. It's just, I know my bid was low, but was it too low? I mean, did I seem like an amateur, like I didn't know what I was doing? RATH We both know what you were doing. Bain moves close to the glass again, checking out Rath's gun. BAIN Smith and Wesson .22 with an eight inch silencer. Classic. When I first heard you used that, I thought, shit, that's a lady's gun. Now, it's all I use. Clean, real clean. He looks at the gun, still trained at the floor. BAIN Would you really blow us? Rath does not have to answer. BAIN Oh! I got a question. Jesus, this has been driving me crazy for years -- shit, listen to me. I sound like some fucking fanboy. I'm sorry, but I just got to ask you. Everybody talks about how you left the Agency and got into the business and then how you went after the Russian, Nicholai Talinkov -- RATH Tachlinkov. BAIN Yeah, that's it. And he's like a fucking genius. They said he shaded you over and over. And in the end, he aced you again. Shaded and faded. They say he's living on some Greek island, but I say that's fucking bullshit. I say you're the best and that you planted his ass. Am I right? Rath says nothing. BAIN I bet I'm right. The car passes under a sign indicating the ramp for the Cleveland airport. BAIN Robert Bain, driving me! Jesus fucking Christ! RATH After those cops, you'll never be able to come back to Cleveland. BAIN Who the fuck cares about Cleveland. Cleveland blows. What kind of marks have they got here? Greasy mobster, teamster or some hand job politician. I want the money marks. I want the marks that you get. A long beat of silence. The CAB RUMBLES up onto the "departures" ramp which circles past all of the terminals. BAIN So what happens now? RATH We go around once. BAIN Bullshit. He throws off his seatbelt. BAIN You tell me that we're gonna go around once, then, while I'm checking out the lay of the land, you bail out and send me flying over the bridge. Right? Am I right? Rath doesn't answer, studying the terminals, noting the police and airport security. Rath studies the terrain. Bain studies Rath. Soon they have passed the entire airport. Rath nods. Steering the car through traffic in onto a circle interchange that will bring them to the beginning. Bain wipes the sweat from his face. RATH Okay. BAIN What? What's okay? Rath begins to accelerate, rounding the interchange. BAIN What are you doing? RATH There's a sand barricade up ahead; I'm going to ram this cab into it. The cab has an airbag, odds are good I'll survive. But with this steel casing and bullet proof glass, odds for you are not so good. Bain laughs. BAIN Oh man, that's sweet. That's fucking sweet. The speedometer continues to climb. BAIN You're bluffing. Rath says nothing. Ahead, at the ramp to the terminals, is the sand barricade. BAIN You're fucking with me. You want me to jump. I jump, you hit the brakes and bang -- Game over. The cab is flying at its target. BAIN No, no. Wait. You don't want me to jump. You're going to jump. I'm stuck back here until it's too late. Wham -- over! RATH I know you're going to jump. Bain looks at him and then at the barricade. RATH You're still young. Young enough to still think you're indestructible. Invincible. You believe with utter certainty you can bail out at the last second and survive. The barricade hurtles toward them, rising up, filling the windshield. RATH If you do survive, we'll see each other again. Bain screams, throwing open the door and hurling himself out. Rath jams on the brakes, TIRES SCREAMING, steering into the steel side rail, banking the car into the drums of sand as -- Bain hits the pavement, bouncing like a stone skipped across water. A driver hits his brakes, swerving, just missing him. SAND EXPLODES from the impact and the cab bounces up over the median into the bus-only lanes as the driver's airbag balloons out of the steering wheel. Bain rolls and rolls, finally stopping sprawled out like a piece of roadkill. The cab careens up onto a curb, slamming into a pole, the radiator spitting out a cloud of WHISTLING STEAM. Several cars lock up and collide to avoid Bain; one car stopping inches from him. A woman jumps out, rushing to the front of the car, but Bain is gone. Police CARS ROAR up into the midst of the accident. One of them pulling alongside the demolished cab. The door is open, the airbag popped. Rath is gone. EXT. APARTMENT BUILDING - DAY A large six flat leans out from a hill in San Francisco. INT. ELECTRA'S APARTMENT - DAY The apartment is always dark; heavy drapes cover the windows. The dining and living rooms look like the control booth of a network television show, stacks of video monitors and consoles, cables, electric wiring, coils of fiber optic cord duct-taped to the floors, walls and ceilings. They snake through holes punched in the plaster walls and hang everywhere like some technological jungle. At the center of this tangled web is ELECTRA, a beautiful athletic looking woman wearing only her underwear and a worn robe. She is curled up in an overstuffed chair, a bowl of popcorn in her lap. On the monitors, she is watching what at first might be mistaken for a soap opera; a young couple are having an argument. What is strange is that the angle never changes; a fish- eye lens staring down into the room. MAN (V.O.) I don't give a shit what your mother thinks. I'm not sleeping with your mother, I'm sleeping with you. WOMAN (V.O.) You won't be for long, with that attitude. MAN (V.O.) Jesus, Jennifer, if you're so god damned worried about your mother's approval, why don't you move back home so she can pat you on the head when you do something right. ELECTRA Jerk. Jennifer is too stunned to say anything. There is a long pause that is not at all like television. It seems very real. She starts to say something, but stops, trying to keep herself from crying. MAN (V.O.) Oh good. Go ahead and cry. JENNIFER (WOMAN) (V.O.) Would you please leave? Electra lifts her head, smelling the air. ELECTRA Mmm, smell that, Nikita? Nikita, Electra's black cat, is stretched lazily across the top of a chair, her tail twitching absently. Every corner of the chair has been clawed open. Electra reaches for the control board and throws a series of switches. The monitors flicker as the image changes. We are now looking down into a kitchen. A stove is beneath us, almost like a cooking show, where a round woman is taking out a tray of chocolate chip cookies. Electra smells them again, smiling as she inhales. ELECTRA I hope she saves some for us. There is a BANG, a DOOR SLAMMING in another apartment, and a MAN YELLING. Electra switches back to Jennifer's apartment. The man is still in the living room, but Jennifer is gone. MAN (V.O.) Do you think slamming doors is going to help work this out? Electra punches a command into a keyboard. Several of the screens change, showing different rooms of the same apartment. Jennifer is in the bedroom, lying on the bed sobbing, her face buried in a pillow. MAN (V.O.) I can slam doors too! We hear the front DOOR SLAM in the hall outside of Electra's apartment and through the monitor speakers. His stomping FOOTSTEPS FADE as he storms down the hall and staircase out of the building. Electra switches all of the screens to Jennifer. She watches and listens to her cry alone in her bedroom. Electra reaches out; her fingers lightly touch the monitor screen. INT. APARTMENT HALL Electra's front door opens slowly. Timidly, she steps out of her apartment and walks down the hall until she is standing in front of Jennifer's door. She starts to knock, but stops herself. She isn't sure she should do this. She paces, then turns to the door. She knocks, so softly it's almost impossible to hear. She stands, trying to force herself to knock again, when she hears Jennifer. JENNIFER (O.S.) Hello? Ken, is that you? Electra panics. The door knob turns, the door opens and JENNIFER looks out into the hall. It is empty. INT. ELECTRA'S APARTMENT On the monitors, Electra watches Jennifer pick up the phone. JENNIFER (V.O.) Hi, Mom, it's me. Ken and I just had a big fight. Electra's PAGER suddenly SOUNDS. She shuts down the screens and pulls out the pager, checking the number. ELECTRA Crap. INT. ELECTRA'S APARTMENT There is a system set up that is not unlike Rath's system; all of the same components, though the equipment is bigger, more powerful and less portable. On a table there is a bank of phones, several cellular. Electra is talking on one. WOMAN (V.O.) Electra, they are not paying you to sit at home and watch television. Electra is fiddling with five plastic computer disks; each has a MicroCell trademark and is labeled "Back-Up." ELECTRA I wasn't watching television. WOMAN (V.O.) The point is, they are paying for information. Real information. Not tooth paste brands. Not whether he wads of folds his toilet paper. And no 16 hours of recorded phone sex. You are wasting everyone's time with this shit. ELECTRA I thought it was interesting -- WOMAN (V.O.) God damnit, Electra. This is not a game. This is business. ELECTRA Right. In my hands I have five back-up disks he made of all of his work last night. WOMAN (V.O.) Jesus! Why didn't you tell me? ELECTRA I'll make my usual arrangements and expect my usual bonus. WOMAN (V.O.) Electra -- ELECTRA A pleasure doing business with you. She hangs up. INT. LOBBY Electra comes down the stairs. Outside the large glass door she sees KEN, Jennifer's boyfriend, leaving. On the lobby floor is a letter, apparently slipped under the door, addressed to Jennifer Morgan. Electra looks out the front door window, making sure that Ken is gone. She picks up the letter and stuffs it into her pocket. INT. HOTEL SUITE - NIGHT Rath is at his computer system. He is staring at it, like it is a living thing, a person that he despises, the blank screen reflecting his own face. It is an effort to bring himself to touch the keyboard, to type in his code. He waits. CONTRACTOR/SCREEN Hello, Robert. Rath wants to type something but hesitates. CONTRACTOR/SCREEN I know what happened. RATH I bet you fucking know! CONTRACTOR/SCREEN It cost us. Rath jumps out of his chair, screaming at the screen. RATH I give a fuck? I'm done! I quit! Do you fucking hear me! I'm fucking gone! CONTRACTOR/SCREEN He stole another contract. Rath turns from the monitor, pacing. Trying to collect himself. RATH I'm being set up. Fucking set up! He looks at the chess board. He hovers over it, the pattern completely familiar. RATH Is this how it went, Nick? CONTRACTOR/SCREEN Robert? Robert? Rath turns back to the screen, speaking as he types. RATH/SCREEN How did he know? CONTRACTOR/SCREEN Know what? RATH/SCREEN The fucking contract! How in the fuck did he know. A long beat. CONTRACTOR/SCREEN Such language in front of a lady. Rath still talking and typing. RATH/SCREEN I don't know what the fuck you are. CONTRACTOR/SCREEN I know. It was a joke. Rath stands, no longer typing. RATH A joke? A joke? Rath takes out his gun and levels it at the face of the screen. RATH You think this is a fucking joke? CONTRACTOR/SCREEN $1,000,000. Rath looks at the number. CONTRACTOR/SCREEN That's the bonus on the contract. Rath puts the gun down. RATH/SCREEN Deadline? CONTRACTOR/SCREEN Tomorrow. The buyer is Japanese. His retirement a condition of the bonus. The FAX MACHINE COMES TO LIFE, printing an inky image. RATH/SCREEN Who is the mark? CONTRACTOR/SCREEN Freelancer. A woman. Surveillance specialist. RATH A player? CONTRACTOR/SCREEN We have an M.O... Her system is protected by her 'pussy virus.' Rath looks at the fax; almost entirely black except for the wide, slit-iris cat eyes. EXT. SAN FRANCISCO AIRPORT - DAY There is a SCREECH and BLAST of ENGINES as a 747 touches down, heat rising off the tarmac. INT. SAN FRANCISCO AIRPORT - DAY Several passengers walk through the gate into the terminal. Across from the gate, Rath sits in a grungy airport cafeteria, reading a folded paper. He is wearing an airport security uniform, a gun holstered to his side. Taped inside the newspaper is a faxed Interpol photograph of a Japanese man wanted for "industrial espionage." At the gate, five Japanese men emerge. Leading the group is the man in Rath's photo. The other four are obviously muscle. Rath watches as they walk down the crowded terminal hall. When they are almost out of sight, he folds his newspaper and begins to follow. His pace and manner is that of a cautious predator. His focus shifts continually from face to face, expecting to find Bain's. His hand hovers near his gun. Ahead of him a thin young man, wearing a long blue trench coat, stops. Rath cannot see his face. The man starts toward a drinking fountain. Rath catches a glimpse of his face. It could be Bain, but he isn't sure. The young man bends over and slurps at the stream of water. He rises into the barrel of Rath's .22. A mouthful of water coughs from his mouth. It is not Bain and in the next instant, the gun is gone. RATH Sorry. My mistake. Rath continues. They young man is unable to move. EXT. SAN FRANCISCO AIRPORT - DAY The five men stride through the automated terminal doors and towards a waiting limousine. Further down, Rath, now wearing a black T-shirt and jeans, exits and hails a cab. INT. CAB RATH Hi. Up ahead my boss is in that black limo. We're not sure which hotel we're at, so could you just follow them? CABBY Sure. Rath sits back studying the faces exiting the terminal as the cab pulls away. INT. LIMOUSINE The five men sit in silence. Strangely, a PHONE begins to RING. The older man, whose name is AKIRA, opens his briefcase, removing a cellular phone. AKIRA Hello? We hear Electra's voice. She speaks in Japanese; he uses English. ELECTRA (V.O.) I trust your flight was comfortable? AKIRA Your Japanese is excellent. ELECTRA (V.O.) Tell the driver: the Hyatt Hotel. INT. HOTEL ROOM - DAY Electra is pacing, talking into the cellular phone. ELECTRA I'll call you again in twenty minutes. She punches a button and shoves the antennae down. The hotel room looks like her apartment. There is a computer and a series of monitors stacked on top of the wood laminate desk. Cables whip and wind across the carpeted floor to the central air duct. The panel has been removed and intertwined black and gray coaxial run up inside the duct. Immediately, Electra is busy finishing her preparations. She snaps in several power cords and the system comes on- line. On the monitor screen, we see an empty hotel room that looks exactly like the one she is in. INT. CAB Rath stares out the window, watching the surrounding traffic, the limo still in sight. Something occurs to him and he looks down at the folded newspaper where he had hid the contract file. He flips past several documents before finding what he's looking for; the cat. He pulls the dark fax of Nikita and stares at it. INT. HOTEL ROOM Laying on the bed, in a patch of sunlight, Nikita watches Electra rush about. Electra grabs the sheet from under the comforter and yanks it out. ELECTRA Excuse me, your Highness. Nikita casually walks off the bed. Electra takes the sheet to the open duct and tears off a long piece of duct-tape. EXT. HYATT HOTEL The limousine pulls up in the lavish circular driveway. The cab pulls in behind it. INT. HOTEL ROOM Electra checks her watch and picks up the cellular phone. INT. HYATT LOBBY The Japanese men stand in a cluster looking very rigid and uncomfortable. The BRIEFCASE RINGS. INT. HOTEL ROOM Electra is pacing again. ELECTRA Room 1414. INT. HYATT LOBBY With several other guests, the Japanese men crowd into an elevator. The doors close. Across the lobby, Rath enters, walking past the elevators. INT. ELEVATOR As the elevator rises, we begin to hear a SOUND, a familiar sound. Cramped in the corner is Bain. He is PLAYING "TETRIS," wearing dark sunglasses and a WALKMAN PUMPING SPEED METAL into his ears. INT. HOTEL ROOM Electra continues to pace, checking the monitors. INT. ROOM SERVICE KITCHEN At the switchboard, a YOUNG HOTEL EMPLOYEE wearing an operator's headset, takes a late breakfast order, typing the order in the hotel computer. YOUNG MAN (YOUNG HOTEL EMPLOYEE) Yes, sir. That'll be up in about thirty minutes. You're welcome. He turns around and Rath is right behind him. INT. ELEVATOR The fourteenth floor; the BELL CHIMES, the doors slide open and the clump of Japanese men get out. Just as the doors begin to close, Bain steps out. INT. HALL Bain follows them down the hall, still PLAYING the GAME. There is again an ominous sense of predator moving in on its prey. As Akira finds 1414 and opens the door, another door burst open, a large family, heading for the pool. The moment is gone; the Japanese men close the door and Bain continues down the hall again, PLAYING the GAME. INT. HOTEL SUITE When the Japanese men enter the suite, we realize that this is the image on Electra's monitors. Surveillance camcorders and microphones are mounted in various locations to display every inch of the room. The group hesitates for a moment, under the electronic eyes. The four goons have their hands in their jackets. A small LAPTOP COMPUTER sits on the coffee table HUMMING SOFTLY. It is the only noise in the room until a speaker crackles. ELECTRA/SPEAKER (V.O.) Good morning, gentlemen. I apologize for the arrangement, but we all know those aren't business cards you're reaching for. If anyone leaves this room, the deal's off. INT. ROOM SERVICE KITCHEN The operator is unconscious, slumped in the corner. Rath studies the hotel computer screen intently, the information rolling by. We see that it is the previous night's room service receipts. RATH One vegetarian plate and a can of tuna fish. Room 1014. INT. HOTEL ROOM Electra stands in front of the monitors watching the men as she speaks into the microphone. ELECTRA Ten thousand dollars per disk. Insert the first disk now. On the monitor, we see Akira at the coffee table shove the first disk into the laptop disk drive. INT. HOTEL SUITE Akira turns from the small computer screen and nods at a goon, who drops a green brick of bound one hundred dollar bills, down the central air duct. The little clock on the laptop ticks away as it copies. INT. HYATT HALL Bain is sitting on a bench entrenched in a fevered game of "TETRIS." Suddenly, he stops. BAIN Yes! The display of the game reads "Game Over" and congratulates Bain on a new high score. Bain stands, smiling. He puts the game in his pocket and starts down the hall. INT. HOTEL ROOM Electra is crouched at the open duct, grabbing another stack of money, stuffing it into her bag. A LOUD BANG EXPLODES out of the SPEAKERS and she looks up at the monitor. INT. HOTEL SUITE The lock on the door has been broken and standing in the frame is Bain. BAIN Surprise! He raises his arm, his GUN spitting SILENT BULLETS. INT. HOTEL ROOM Electra stares in horror at the monitors as Bain grabs the nearest bodyguard, FIRING a SHOT into his belly. ELECTRA Oh, God. INT. HOTEL SUITE Another SHOT and the second bodyguard falls. The other two draw their handguns and Bain shields himself with the lifeless body of his first victim. They FIRE at Bain but are unable to hit him. Bain squeezes off TWO MORE SHOTS and the two men fall dead. He lets his human shield fall to the ground and levels his gun on the shaking Akira. AKIRA Don't kill me. Bain looks at him and smiles, then FIRES. INT. HOTEL ROOM Electra leaps at the computer, ripping the cord from the modem. Bain sees the fiber optic cable and looks right into it. BAIN (V.O.) Tricky. Boy, you just can't trust anyone these days. He licks the lens, leaving a smear of saliva. She stuffs the disks into her bag. She puts Nikita in her "travel kitty" and charges for the door, grabbing her coat. Flinging it over her shoulder, she does not notice the letter from Ken slip out of her pocket as she bolts from the room. INT. HALL Electra explodes through the door and suddenly freezes. She is staring down the barrel of Rath's .22. RATH Don't be stupid and you will live. The elevator behind Rath opens and closes against a hotel lobby ashtray. He waves her into the elevator with his gun. RATH Hurry. EXT. HYATT HOTEL - DAY Electra's black CAR ROARS out of the garage, onto the open street. INT. HYATT HOTEL - DAY The door swings open. From the hall we can hear the familiar BEEPING of the COMPUTER GAME. The room, 1014, is the same as Electra had left it when she ran out. Jutting from a shadow on the floor is the corner of Ken's letter. INT. ELECTRA'S CAR Electra drives, obviously nervous, as Rath watches out the rear window. RATH Turn here. No one follows. He turns back to her. RATH How many bodies were there? He checks his watch. ELECTRA What? RATH He has to clean up. How many bodies were there? ELECTRA Um, five. RATH One hour per man. Rath sets the timer on his watch for five hours. INT. HYATT HOTEL ROOM - DAY Bain has returned to room 1414. Wearing rubber gloves, he clicks open a black leather attache and pulls out a can of rug cleaner. He picks up the phone for room service. BAIN Hi. This is room 1414 -- Behind him, in the bathroom mirror, we see one of the Japanese men hanging from the shower by his feet. He is naked. BAIN Yes, could you send up a pot of coffee and my friends are going to need some more towels. Thanks. He hangs up the phone and walks over to one of the large blood stains on the carpet. He points the rug cleaner at the stain covering it with white foam. INT. ELECTRA'S CAR Rath sees the entrance for the expressway. RATH Get on the expressway. ELECTRA Where are we going? Rath glances back. RATH Nowhere yet. Electra turns onto the highway and NIKITA HOWLS from the "travel kitty" in the back seat. ELECTRA Nikita, hush. NIKITA wants out and HOWLS again. ELECTRA She won't stop unless you let her out. Rath reaches back and opens the box. Nikita springs into the front seat onto Rath's lap. RATH Nikita? She helped me find you. ELECTRA What? How did you know I had a cat? RATH Took a guess. Lucky for you, I guessed right. ELECTRA Who the fuck are you? Who do you work for? RATH I work for the government. ELECTRA Yeah? She studies his face, his eyes. ELECTRA Bullshit. RATH Yeah. ELECTRA You're one of them, aren't you? A fucking pro. RATH I'm part of the game, just like you. Electra pounds the steering wheel. ELECTRA Jesus! He reaches into the back seat, grabbing her bag. ELECTRA What do you think you're doing? Rath plucks out the bundles of money. RATH Twenty large? That's all? ELECTRA What do you mean, 'that's all'? What in the hell do you know? RATH The bonus on the contract for you was one million dollars. Electra seems ready to jump out of her skin. The speedometer is floating around 90. RATH Slow down. He pulls out the disks. RATH I figure that means these are worth ten times that, maybe more. ELECTRA Ten million -- RATH Now you understand why I'm here. Electra wants to scream. The speedometer is climbing over 100. RATH I really think you should slow down. INT. HOTEL SUITE - NIGHT The room is immaculate; near the door, several over-sized suitcases line the wall. Bain is sitting at the desk. His WALKMAN is on, MUSIC BLASTING, as he flips casually through the telephone directory. His finger eases down a column stopping at "Morgan Jennifer." There is a KNOCK at the door. He smiles and tears out the page. There is another, LOUDER KNOCK which Bain hears this time. He TURN OFF the WALKMAN and opens the door; a BELLBOY is waiting with a luggage cart. BELLBOY Hello, sir. Have you some luggage you need carried. Bain gives him a wink and a smile. BAIN Indeed I do. INT. ELECTRA'S CAR - NIGHT The red "low fuel" light is on. ELECTRA Now what? RATH Turn off the engine. Electra twists the ignition and the CAR DIES. Rath glances around and we see the car is parked in a gas station. ELECTRA You want me to pump? RATH No, stay in the car. I want you to understand something. If I intended to kill you, you would already be dead. Electra says nothing. He reaches over and takes the car keys. When he is out of the car, Electra slowly releases the strangle-hold she had on the steering wheel. ELECTRA Okay, Nikita, stay calm, think, breathe, think... Electra checks the rear view mirror, listening as Rath pumps the gas. Her eyes flash down to her bag. Outside, Rath watches Electra through the windows. She appears motionless. The electric gas counter races like a stop watch. In the car, Electra eases her hand into her bag. The tank full, Rath re-hangs the pump. He walks around the car and heads for the station. Electra waits until his back is turned. She pulls her tool pouch from her bag, throws it open and finds her wire stripper. Reaching under the dash, she yanks out a tangled handful of wire. She looks up; Rath is inside paying. ELECTRA Come on, come on, it's a cake walk. Her fingers fly with surgical precision, snipping, stripping, twisting. Rath steps out of the station as her head pops up, looking for him. It takes only a second for him to realize what she is doing. RATH Oh shit. He runs at the car as she strips the last set of wires and strikes them; the BATTERY GRINDS. ELECTRA Please, please. He is almost there when the ENGINE FIRES. She stomps on the gas, ramming the shift into drive. TIRES SQUEALING, the car swerves forward as Rath slams into it. He bounces backward, falling to the ground. The car fishtails away, accelerating as Rath rolls to one knee, his gun automatically in his hand. He draws a bead, but, he does not shoot. With a concerted effort, he puts the gun away. RATH Dammit. EXT. ELECTRA'S APARTMENT BUILDING - NIGHT Electra's car is parked out front. She unlocks the lobby door and drags herself inside. INT. ELECTRA'S APARTMENT LOBBY Standing at the mailboxes flipping through her mail is Jennifer Morgan. What she was hoping for is not there. She looks up and sees Electra. JENNIFER Excuse me -- Electra stops. JENNIFER You live here, don't you? Electra nods. JENNIFER I'm sorry, this may sound really weird, but my friend told me he slipped a letter under the door here and I was wondering if you happened to see it? Electra is in a daze, her hand moving into her pocket. ELECTRA Letter? JENNIFER Yeah. He said he saw a woman with dark hair going into the building when he dropped it off. ELECTRA No. I don't have it. Electra's mouth opens and she backs away. Jennifer is bothered by her reaction and she doesn't push it. JENNIFER I'm sorry. I didn't mean to -- I'm sorry. She shrugs and unlocks the interior door, leaving Electra in the lobby. Electra watches her, as her hand moves from pocket to pocket. A worried expression tightens her face; the letter is gone. She opens the interior door, following Jennifer up the stairs. INT. STAIRCASE Electra climbs the stairs, her mind pouring through the possibilities, filled with fear. By the time Electra reaches the top floor, Jennifer is entering her apartment. Electra hurries past Jennifer's door to her own. INT. ELECTRA'S APARTMENT - NIGHT Electra flies across the living room to the monitors. She clicks them on, putting on Jennifer's channel. On the screen we see Jennifer in her living room checking her phone messages. One from her mother. Electra throws a few switches so that Jennifer's entire apartment is in front of her. On one of the monitors we see a shadow slide across the oak floor as something moves along the edge of the room. Jennifer has moved to the bathroom and is drawing a bath. Electra clamps her hand over her mouth when he steps out. Bain moves into the dining room where Jennifer had just been. Wearing rubber surgeon's gloves, he picks up the mail that she had dropped on the table and sorts through it. Bain moves about the apartment with complete indifference to Jennifer's presence; as if he were invisible, as though he knew she couldn't see him. He moves into a room, just as she moves out. Electra watches, dizzy, sick with terror, but she is unable to turn away. Bain searches through a desk drawer, while Jennifer starts undressing for her bath. He walks down the hall and stands outside of the bathroom. If Jennifer would turn around she would see him. Electra is about to run, to call out when -- Something catches Bain's eye. He moves into the bedroom, and is turned so that he is looking straight up into the camera. He inches towards it, not sure what it is. The fiber optic cable is hidden in the light fixture hanging over the bed. Staring at it, he is looking right at Electra. Bain steps up onto the bed, his face distorting as he moves close to the fish-eye lens. Poking it with his finger, he realizes what it is. A warped smile stretches across his face as he whispers -- BAIN (V.O.) Oh, you sick little bitch -- Electra tears away from the screen, panic seizing hold of her. She rips entire drawers out of her dresser, dumping them into a suitcase, stuffing in anything that looks important. She grabs Nikita in the "travel kitty." EXT. BACK PORCH The door opens and Electra jumps out, slamming it behind her as -- Bain turns from the back stairs. She leaps back inside as he whips out his GUN, PUMPING TWO HOLES in the door. INT. ELECTRA'S APARTMENT She scrambles from the kitchen, throwing her suitcase, still clutching the "travel kitty," as -- The back DOOR EXPLODES from its hinges, Bain charging, FIRING his GUN. BULLETS HISSING past her, Electra crashes through the front door into the hall. INT. HALL The stairs are at the far end. She is only halfway, when -- Rath rises up the stairs, his gun cocked. Electra drops to the floor as -- Behind her, Bain barrels from the apartment. Rath FIRES. The wood DOOR SPLINTERS, BULLET HOLES surrounding Bain. Off balance, he lunges back into the apartment. Rath continues FIRING, grabbing hold of Electra. They run down the stairs. EXT. REAR STAIRCASE Bain leaps down the flights. EXT. ALLEY Bain rushes into the street, looking in every direction. They are gone. BAIN Fuck me! EXT. LARGE CHAIN HOTEL - NIGHT Somewhere in the city. INT. HOTEL ROOM Electra and Rath enter the room together but they are both immediately alone. She walks across the room to a chair in the corner, curling into it even as Nikita jumps up and curls into her lap. He sets his briefcase on the table at the opposite end of the room and sits. They watch each other. Silence. Between then is the liquor cabinet. Rath knows a good idea when he sees one. RATH Want a drink? Her face is as expressionless as Nikita's. He pours himself a very large bourbon and slugs it down. Takes a deep breath, then pours himself another one. RATH Okay... He returns to his table with his drink. RATH I'm not good at this sort of thing, but we don't have a lot of time, so I'll just go ahead and get started. First: you. I ask myself, 'What is she thinking?' Her body tightens, coils. RATH Simple. She's scared. She's almost been killed twice and now she is alone in a room with a man that she believes is an... assassin. Another deep pull on the bourbon. RATH Furthermore she was brought here not entirely on her own accord which only increases her fear and suspicion. Thus, as long as she is afraid, her first, maybe her only thought will be escape. Does that leave me any other option? He slugs down the rest of his drink and stands, whipping out his gun. RATH No. Crossing the room, he turns the gun around and offers it to her. She looks at it. Back at him. He puts it on the bed beside her, turns his back and walks to the bar. She picks up the gun. RATH The gun is silenced. She could shoot me right now. She stands, Nikita jumping from her lap. RATH She could take the car and be far from here before the maid comes in the morning, but -- She starts squeezing OFF ROUNDS; the LAMP EXPLODES, the CHAIRS around him ERUPT, tufts of white stuffing leaping into the air. ELECTRA Shut up! He freezes, bottle in one hand, glass in the other. ELECTRA Stop trying to tell me what I'm thinking! She moves closer to him, the gun squeezed in her fist. ELECTRA I'll tell you what you're thinking -- you think I'm not going to shoot you but right now you're not so sure, are you? A slight shake of the head, no. ELECTRA You're thinking that maybe it was a mistake to give me this gun, that maybe I'm not going to think about things logically because I'm a woman and I'm freaked out and I'm going to do something impulsive and irrational -- right? She FIRES the GUN to both sides of his head. He's surprised to be alive. ELECTRA You don't know shit about me! Now sit down! He returns to his chair and sits with the same expression she had worn sitting a moment ago. She opens the cabinet and grabs one of the sample bottles of liquor. She sucks it all down and throws the bottle across the room. Grabbing another, she sits on the edge of the bed. ELECTRA Okay. How did you find me? RATH You're the computer hacker, you tell me. ELECTRA You didn't know anything about me. Nikita rubs up against her leg. ELECTRA Nikita? RATH Yellow Pages. V for veterinarian. There aren't that many. She nods, slurping at her bottle. ELECTRA You're one of them, aren't you? RATH 'Them'? ELECTRA An assassin? RATH Until a minute ago. ELECTRA What does that mean? RATH If I still was what I used to be, you would not be pointing that at me. Electra eyes him, considers shooting him right now. ELECTRA Who is that other guy? RATH Another contractor. ELECTRA Someone hired both of you? RATH No. They hired Bain. The contract would have been mine, but Bain took it from me as he took the previous one. ELECTRA So this is something between you and him? RATH He stole the contract knowing that I would come after him. ELECTRA Why? RATH Because he is trying to retire me. ELECTRA He wants to kill you? RATH Yes. ELECTRA Why? RATH The nature of the business. You remove your competition. ELECTRA And you want to use me to get him? RATH Yes. ELECTRA Forget it! RATH We don't have a choice. She FIRES the GUN, pocking the wall behind him. ELECTRA Don't tell me I don't have a choice! RATH Right. ELECTRA I'm two seconds away from making my choice which means you've got two seconds to tell me why I shouldn't shoot you. RATH It's simple. You need me. I need you. And we will both need money. ELECTRA I don't need you to get the money -- my money! RATH If it hadn't been for me, you would be dead. She's up pacing, knowing there is some truth in that. ELECTRA I don't need the money. RATH This is something that is never going to end. You can never work in the business again with this contract, because he will find you. To survive, you have to go into deep hiding. And that's going to take money, a lot of money. ELECTRA Then you can have the disks and I'll just walk out that door -- RATH If you walk out that door, Bain will still come after you. ELECTRA Why? RATH Because he took a contract on you. He'll come for you and he'll find you. ELECTRA You don't know that -- you're trying to scare me. RATH No. It's the truth. I know what you are. Like me, like Bain, you're a ghost, you're not part of the real world. You don't have a social security number. You don't pay taxes. You've probably used ten different names over the last ten years. A long time ago something probably happened, something illegal and you ran, you disappeared and it was easy. You think you can do it again. But I'm telling you, fading from the law is nothing. No matter what you do, where you go, I swear to you that Bain will find you. ELECTRA How? RATH Right now, as we sit here, he is tearing through your apartment. He is digging through your drawers, emptying your closets. He will take your telephone and address books, your appointment books. If you keep a diary, he is reading it. He'll go into the kitchen and find out what kind of food you eat, liquor you drink, cigarettes you smoke. In the bathroom he will find any prescription drugs you take and where you get them filled. If you have video tape or recordings he will watch and listen to all of them. She is coming unglued. Imagining him watching her tapes, going through her possessions. She is moving, pacing, ready to explode. ELECTRA Oh Jesus Jesus... RATH He will know everything about you. Everything. I know, because I've done it. Once you've been inside a mark's home, you're in their head. If you're any good, you'll find the mark in a week, and Bain is good because I was the best and I couldn't take him. She whirls and starts FIRING the GUN, firing it everywhere, fear and anger rocketing out of her in WHISTLING hot wads of LEAD. When she stops, he starts to say something but she levels the gun at him. ELECTRA Shut up! All right! You've said enough! She forces herself back, grabbing handfuls of the sample bottles. ELECTRA I need to think... To be alone. With the gun and an armful of booze and Nikita following at her feet, she goes into the bathroom and slams the door. INT. BATHROOM She locks the door and then collapses. Her body seems to fold up onto itself as she slides down the wall; the GUN and the BOTTLES falling from her arms, CLATTERING SOFTLY on the bath rug as she buries her face in her hands. INT. BEDROOM Very mechanically, Rath begins setting up his chess board, putting the pieces into the same positions. It is a ritual, and with it he enters a kind of trance. From the bathroom, almost inaudible, he hears Electra CRYING. INT. BATHROOM With her head now buried in her arms and knees, she is sobbing, her body rocking. The crying seems very similar to Jennifer's; a complete emotional release. INT. BEDROOM Rath stares at the board. The CRYING grows LOUDER. He stands and walks to the door. He starts to knock but stops himself. Like Electra with Jennifer, Rath would like to help, he just has no idea how to. He turns back to the desk, to his chess game. INT. BATHROOM Her eyes are now burning red. She stops crying long enough to suck down an entire sample of Scotch. Nikita rubs against her and she strokes her. ELECTRA Oh shit, Nikita. INT. BEDROOM Rath is setting up his computer system. He hears the TUB FILLING UP. INT. BATHROOM Nikita jumps up onto the toilet seat and starts drinking. ELECTRA Cheers. Electra finishes another sample and drops it to the floor where we see that many of the bottles are now empty. In the tub, steam rising off the surface, she wrings out a wash cloth and covers her face, sinking deeper into the water. INT. BEDROOM When Electra comes out of the bathroom, Rath is again at his chess game. She sits down across from him and sets the gun on the table between them. Rath looks up at her. ELECTRA Listen -- I don't even know your name. RATH Rath. Robert Rath. ELECTRA Electra. RATH Just Electra? ELECTRA Yeah. RATH As in daughter of Agamemnon? ELECTRA No. Just Electra. The conversation dies. ELECTRA What I'm trying to say is that -- I'm not sure I can do this, help you, unless I know more about you. RATH What do you want to know? ELECTRA If Bain hadn't taken the contract on me, would you have? He stares at her. RATH No. ELECTRA Why? RATH Because I'm done. ELECTRA This is crazy. I can't trust you. You can't trust me. How can we possibly help each other? They sit in silence, the gun and the chess game lying between them. RATH Do you play? She looks at the chess board. ELECTRA With computers. RATH It's not the same, is it? ELECTRA Better than playing with yourself. He smiles. RATH I had an opponent. She understands that he is trying to tell her something. ELECTRA Had? RATH He was Russian. Nicholai Tachlinkov. A legend in the business when I was just starting. I admired him. When I heard he loved chess I became obsessed with the game. Electra studies the board. ELECTRA He was white? Rath nods. ELECTRA It looks like white's game. RATH We played with a code using The New York Times obituaries. Over three years we played twelve matches. I never won. ELECTRA Why didn't you finish this game? She reaches over and lifts a White Knight and takes a Bishop. Rath counters, taking her Knight. RATH He was... taken. ELECTRA He was killed. Rath nods. Throughout the entire conversation they continue to play out the chess game. ELECTRA By who? A long beat. RATH I killed him. ELECTRA Why? RATH Because that's how it works. That's what it's about. He was the best. He was on top. ELECTRA Where you wanted to be? RATH Yes. As soon as you get into this business, all you can think about is getting to the top. That's all there is. Until then, there is nothing. You are nothing. ELECTRA How did you get into the business? RATH The same way everyone does; the government, the Agency. ELECTRA The C.I.A.? RATH More or less. ELECTRA How old were you? RATH They recruited me when I was in high school. ELECTRA Jesus -- why? RATH Languages. I was already fluent in nine languages. ELECTRA You were like a boy genius? RATH Some people said that. I never thought so. ELECTRA Why not? RATH I was just different. ELECTRA You went from high school to the Agency? RATH No. I graduated from George Washington University. Then I entered the Agency training program. ELECTRA They didn't give you a choice, did they? RATH No, they didn't. ELECTRA But you knew what they were training you for? RATH Of course. I was going to be James Bond. ELECTRA Ahhhh... RATH They are very good at what they do. It's very seductive. The training, the weapons, the travel -- ELECTRA The exotic women. RATH Women? No... not really. ELECTRA Why not? RATH Women... I don't... I don't want to talk about women. ELECTRA Why? RATH Because you are a women. ELECTRA Why did you leave the Agency? RATH The same reason everyone does. You hear your name on C-SPAN and you realize you're a skeleton in someone's closet and they're coming to bury you. ELECTRA They tried to kill you? RATH Yes. It didn't matter much to them as long as I disappeared. ELECTRA Then you went freelance? RATH The only thing different about the private sector is that a General Contractor takes less of a percentage than the government, so you make more money. Then once you make the transition, you realize you were never working for the government; it was always the private sector, the vested interests and it's the same vested interests that continue to buy your plane tickets. ELECTRA Tell me about the first time. RATH My first take? ELECTRA Yes. RATH Why? ELECTRA Because I want to know. RATH It was... mechanical. Very precise. It was exactly like the training drill except for the adrenaline. ELECTRA Are they usually like that? RATH No. Just the first one. ELECTRA After that? RATH They become complicated... messy. ELECTRA Did it ever bother you? RATH Did it ever bother James Bond? ELECTRA That's fiction. RATH This is fiction! Don't you see that? This is another reality. And the people that come into the world to play this game -- nobody forces them! They're here, they know the rules, the stakes, the risks! Do you understand what I am saying? No one is innocent -- including you! ELECTRA Does that mean it didn't bother you? Rath leans back and stares at her. She waits. RATH You get a job swinging a hammer, the first day you get a blister, it tears open, it bleeds and it stays sore a long time. You keep swinging the hammer, you get a good hard callous that covers that spot and it never bothers you again. Electra says nothing. He leans forward and slides a rook into her back row. RATH Check. He leans back. RATH Is that what you wanted to hear? Something cold blooded... something remorseless... ELECTRA No. Something honest. A beat. Rath likes this woman. She moves her Queen. ELECTRA Mate. He smiles. ELECTRA I hope your plan is better than your game. INT. CHEAP HOTEL - NIGHT The room is ugly. Shag carpeting, wood paneling and polyester patterned curtains. We hear a COMPUTER KEYBOARD CLICKING away as we MOVE ACROSS a table. The hotel phone is in a modem, which is held together with duct tape. Between the modem and the computer is a scrambler constructed out of a series of naked circuit boards. It is a very similar set up to Rath's, only it has been put together with a fraction of the resources. Bain sits, typing at the computer, his shirt off. Beside the desk-top is a six pack of Old Style beer, a bag of Doritos and his Gameboy. On the floor, disassembled neatly on a small white towel is his cleaned gun. Bain finishes punching in a code, sits back and sucks down his beer. CONTRACTOR/SCREEN Where have you been, Michael? He belches. He is communicating with his General Contractor. On the table is a collection of personal objects, much of it stuffed in pillow cases, taken from Electra's house. BAIN/SCREEN Tracking the mark. Bain fingers a pair of satin panties. He smiles as he smells them. BAIN I'm on the scent. CONTRACTOR/SCREEN You're too late. Bain slams his beer down. CONTRACTOR/SCREEN I've learned from MicroCell, Rath fulfilled the contract. BAIN/SCREEN How? CONTRACTOR/SCREEN He took out the mark and sold the disks back to MicroCell. Bain falls back in his chair, thinking. He runs his hands through his sweaty hair. CONTRACTOR/SCREEN Michael? BAIN No. No. No. I don't believe it. CONTRACTOR/SCREEN They money will be standard bank transfer. We believe we will know where and when. BAIN What? BAIN/SCREEN How? There is no response. BAIN/SCREEN How in the fuck do you know that? A long beat. CONTRACTOR/SCREEN Such language in front of a lady. BAIN I don't give a fuck what you are. I asked you -- He hits the repeat key. BAIN (types) How in the fuck do you know that? CONTRACTOR/SCREEN Do you want Rath or not? Bain stares at the screen, thinking. Thinking hard. INT. LARGE CHAIN HOTEL ROOM - NIGHT Another computer screen, but we don't know that it is different. CONTRACTOR/SCREEN It will take three days to arrange the transfer. ELECTRA Three days? We are in Electra and Rath's hotel room. She is standing behind him, reading as he types. CONTRACTOR/SCREEN Which account? ELECTRA Are you going to tell him? RATH It. Tell it. For all I know it could be a machine. ELECTRA You said you didn't trust it. RATH I don't. CONTRACTOR/SCREEN Which account? ELECTRA What kind of bank is going to allow us to withdraw ten million dollars the day it is transferred? RATH The kind preferred by drug smugglers, arms dealers and politicians. Rath types in an account number. RATH Do you have a passport? ELECTRA Several. RATH Good. ELECTRA Where is it? RATH Mexico. INT. AIRPLANE - DAY Rath and Electra are sitting in the first class section, which she is obviously enjoying, smiling and sipping champagne. ELECTRA God, I love first class. I remember when I was a little girl, I would wonder what it was like up here. I would always try to peek through the curtains. Rath says nothing, staring out the window. Electra shakes her head. ELECTRA I hope Nikita's all right. He still does not respond. ELECTRA Hey, where are you? RATH Thinking. ELECTRA About? RATH Nothing. Electra sips the last of her champagne. ELECTRA I've never been to the Gulf of Mexico. Is it as nice as they say? RATH I don't know. ELECTRA You were there? A long beat. RATH Yes. EXT. SMALL MEXICAN AIRPORT - DAY The plane lands. EXT. TERMINAL CAB STAND Rath and Electra hand their bags to a CABBY who puts them in his trunk. INT. CAB Rath speaks perfect Spanish. RATH (in Spanish) Good afternoon. We have reservations at the Hotel Paraiso in Costa Blanca. CABBY (in Spanish) Yes, sir. EXT. HOTEL PARAISO - DAY The cab pulls up in front of a large, brand new glass hotel, which shimmers in the blue green reflection of the gulf water. Rath is upset. RATH (in Spanish) No, no. I said the Hotel Paraiso. CABBY (in Spanish) Yes. This is the Hotel Paraiso. RATH (in Spanish) No, the other Hotel Paraiso, in the city. Near the Plaza del Sol. CABBY (in Spanish) I'm sorry, sir. A year ago there was a fire in the old Hotel Paraiso. This is the new Hotel Paraiso. RATH (in Spanish) Take us there. EXT. COSTA BLANCA - DAY American tourist dollars have built up the coasts, but much of the out-lying city is very poor. The old Hotel Paraiso is a five story blackened husk. The face of the building is burnt black and it seems to hang in space as something non-corporeal, like the shadow of the building rather than the building itself. Rath stares at it, remembering. Electra is behind him, standing in the midst of the Plaza del Sol. He looks up to the fifth story window, then turns directly opposite of that. The International Banco de Mexico, an enormous, beautiful old building; its exterior walls are white-washed concrete, blindingly bright white. Electra looks at the bank and smiles. ELECTRA So, that's where all that S & L money is? Rath is not listening to her. He is somewhere else. He turns back to the fourth story window. RATH That's where he'll be. ELECTRA What? RATH I wasn't expecting this. I need to think. EXT. HOTEL PARAISO - NIGHT Beyond the lights of the hotel the gulf darkens to midnight oil. INT. HOTEL PARAISO ELEVATOR On one side of the elevator is a young couple who look like newlyweds. They are cuddling, kissing and giggling as though they are alone. Electra and Rath are on the other side of the elevator. It is a strange contrast. Electra is staring at them. Rath, behind his sunglasses, is in his own world. The ELEVATOR CHIMES and opens. Nobody moves. The DOORS CHIME again and start to close, as everyone realizes that this is their floor. Rath and the other man grab the doors, which spring back open. It is a funny, awkward moment, as everyone apologizes and smiles politely, on the way out. INT. HALL The couple move down the hall, the newlyweds finding their door first. Rath reaches the door to their room, opens it and enters. Electra lingers, watching the other couple, watching as he fumbles for his keys, her hand running up between his legs and over his ass. He finally manages to open the door and she pushes him inside. Electra softly closes her door. INT. HOTEL PARAISO - HOTEL ROOM Rath is sitting in a desk chair staring out of the sliding balcony doors at the dark gulf water. ELECTRA Did you see them? Electra moves about the large suite. ELECTRA They looked like they were in love. Rath says nothing. ELECTRA Well, I think I'll take a bath. Come on, Nikita! The two of them walk into the bathroom, leaving Rath to himself. INT. BATHROOM Electra sits on the edge of the over-sized tub, water running through her fingers as she adjusts the temperature. After a beat she hears a SMALL CRASH, a GLASS BREAKING. It is followed by other MUFFLED NOISES, a WOMAN GIGGLING and a THUMPING. The sounds are coming from the other side of the tub wall, from the other suite. Electra puts her ear against the tile to listen. The WATER FILLING her TUB is too loud for her to hear. She turns it OFF. There is more BUMPING and THUMPING, the WOMAN LAUGHING and then, the LAUGHS SHORTEN into SOFT WHIMPERS. Electra hangs on each sound, slowly lifted by it, moving up toward the over-head fan and ducts. The SOUNDS get LOUDER as she moves closer to the vents, until she is standing precariously on the edge of the tub, listening to what is clearly the sounds of TWO PEOPLE MAKING LOVE. Their MOANS and SHRIEKS CLIMAX and Electra smiles. INT. BEDROOM It is dark now. A single desk light is on, under which Rath is setting up his chess board, putting the pieces in their familiar pattern. Electra comes out of the bathroom. She seems very clean and fresh, wearing a long white T-shirt and thin robe. ELECTRA That felt great. You should try it. She watches him setting the pieces onto the board. ELECTRA Don't you ever get tired of playing the same game? He looks at her. RATH No. ELECTRA Why not? RATH It helps me to focus. It centers me, helps me think. ELECTRA Oh. What do you think about? RATH Work. The things I need to get done. She sits across from him looking at the board. ELECTRA Do you think about the game? RATH Yes. ELECTRA But you've never figured out a way to win. RATH No. ELECTRA Not even a stalemate? RATH No. ELECTRA What happens if you do? This strikes Rath as a very strange question and he is suddenly annoyed by her. ELECTRA Can I ask you something? He knows she will anyway. ELECTRA What will you do if this works, if we get the money? RATH I don't know... maybe I'll live on a boat, sail to all the places I've never been. ELECTRA That sounds nice. He finishes his glass of bourbon. She is not sure what to say next, if she should say anything at all. ELECTRA I'm kind of tired. I think I'd like to try and get some sleep. RATH You can have the bed. The chair is fine for me. He pours himself another drink, dropping in some ice from the ice bucket. ELECTRA Thanks. She slips out of the robe and in between the sheets. Rath sits across the room, his back to her. She tries to make herself comfortable, but cannot. ELECTRA Do you think he's here? RATH Here? ELECTRA In Costa Blanca. RATH Yes. She thinks. ELECTRA What do you think he's doing? RATH I don't know... But I'm sure he's not sleeping. She pulls the covers tightly to her chin. Her eyes do not close. INT. HOTEL (COSTA BLANCA) - NIGHT A small hotel in the city, away from the beaches, built before there was such a thing as central air conditioning. Bain is naked, except for a small pair of camouflage jockeys and his Walkman strapped to his shoulder. His head is pumping wildly with the speed metal thrashing in his ears. He is tearing open a long box wrapped in "Happy Birthday" paper. Inside the box is a massive black hi-tech assault rifle. He smiles. He assembles it quickly, snapping it together with automatic ease. When the sight is tightened in place, he jumps up. In the mirror over the dresser, he poses down with the gun. Not satisfied, he grabs his shades and checks himself again. He starts moving with the music, playing with the gun, first as a guitar, then whipping it around, spinning it expertly, like a drum and bugle corpsman. The gun zips and flashes around as he whirls in place, then freezes. The butt of the rifle to his shoulder, he peers down the scope at his own head reflected in the mirror. He is sweating and breathing, but the barrel does not move. BAIN You're dead, motherfucker. EXT. HOTEL PARAISO - DAY Electra leans out over the railing, smiling, inhaling the warm air, the scent of the shimmering blue-green sea. Rath stands in the shadow of the door frame. RATH Breakfast. ELECTRA Why don't you bring it out here? It's beautiful out here. Rath steps a little farther out. He looks down either side of the building, checking sight lines. He looks out and sees another hotel with windows facing them. He turns to her. Says nothing. Moves back inside. INT. HOTEL ROOM The breakfast trays are empty. Rath is sipping coffee, scribbling notes and diagrams on a piece of paper. Electra comes out of the bathroom dressed for the beach. He stops working. ELECTRA I know what you are thinking. I'm not going to disappear, okay? I'm not going anywhere, just down there, to that beautiful beach. I got to get out of this room, just for a little while. RATH Okay. ELECTRA Really? RATH He won't be looking for you. Just be careful. Buy a book. Keep your sunglasses on. ELECTRA Book. Sunglasses. Great. INT. HOTEL HALL Electra steps out of the hotel room ready for the beach. At the end of the hall, she sees the newlywed couple get on the elevator. She starts to call to them to hold it for her, but she stops herself. The elevator closes. She edges slowly down the hall, stopping outside the door to their suite. She touches it with the tips of her fingers. INT. HOTEL ROOM - DAY Rath is still at the table. The curtain begins to billow, a soft breeze blowing through the open patio door. They swell open and fall. It seems for a moment that there is a figure, a shadow, in the changing shape of the curtain. Rath stands. He walks to the open door. Standing in the frame, he looks out at the blue ocean below. He slides the door closed, and the curtains fall still. EXT. PLAZA DEL SOL - DAY Bain moves through the market, booths lining the edges of the plaza. His eyes shift rapidly behind his sunglasses. He buys an apricot and strolls into the center of the plaza. He looks at the bank, at the military-style security guards that patrol the front. He turns in the plaza, checking the perimeter, his gaze falling on the tall, burned-out building. He looks back at the bank, imagining the sight line. He bites into the apricot, its juice gushing, running down his chin. INT. HOTEL ROOM Rath is leaning back in the bed, NIKITA PURRING in his lap. He did not sleep last night and is very tired. His eyes fight to stay open. The sound of the TELEVISION momentarily hangs in the hotel room as he sleeps. The program is a SPANISH DUBBED version of GOLDFINGER. The door bangs open and Rath springs off the bed, a gun flashing in his hand, leveling it at a dazed, blinking Electra. Rath sighs slowly, letting the hammer of the GUN CLICK back into place. RATH You should knock. ELECTRA Sorry. RATH How was the beach? ELECTRA The beach? It was nice. She smiles. EXT. HOTEL PARAISO - DUSK The sun burns a tropical red against the mirrored windows of the hotel. INT. HOTEL ROOM Electra is sitting on the bed, her back against the wall. In her hands is a paperback romance novel that she is looking over the top of, staring intensely across the room. We can hear Rath, his breathing deep and even. He is doing Tai Chi, wearing only his boxer shorts. His body is coated in a sheen of sweat, his muscles strained as he moves fluidly through space. Electra begins to breath with him. She moves her body slightly, her hips rising as though to meet his. He empties his lungs entirely in one exhale and stops, his eyes closed, rested. ELECTRA That was beautiful. He looks at her. ELECTRA Tai Chi, right? He nods. ELECTRA Where did you learn it? RATH Taiwan. ELECTRA Not that I would know, but you look like you're really good at it. RATH Thank you. ELECTRA I've always wanted to learn something like that. RATH You should. It's very important, that the body release the energy that builds in it. Electra nods, watching him bend, reaching for a change of clothes. RATH I'm going to shower. If you're hungry, go ahead and order some dinner. Electra nods again. INT. COSTA BLANCA HOTEL - NIGHT Bain is doing push ups. He is naked except for his camouflage bikinis. He has his feet up on a chair, making it harder, the dip deeper. His body is gushing sweat, his face a burning red. He is like a piston firing up and down. The muscles in his neck and shoulders are bulging cords. Slowly, his arm begin to tire, the strain seen in his knotting and twisting expression. Half way up, he collapses, feet falling off the chair. He rolls onto his back, rubbing a tricep. It hurts. He licks the sweat off his upper lip and smiles. INT. HOTEL PARAISO ROOM - NIGHT Rath checks his watch. It's after eight o'clock. He lifts the phone and plugs it into the modem. RATH I'm going to call. Electra drops her book and climbs off the bed. He dials, types the code and waits. CONTRACTOR/SCREEN Hello, Robert. RATH/SCREEN The contract? CONTRACTOR/SCREEN Paid in full. ELECTRA Oh, my God. Ten million dollars. CONTRACTOR/SCREEN Transferred to the specified account. Rath stares at the screen. CONTRACTOR/SCREEN Goodbye, Robert. Rath disconnects. The PHONE HUMS. Electra picks it up, placing it back in the cradle. RATH Sit down. She does. He opens a case and pulls out his gun, some paper and pens and two small mikes that look like hearing aids. RATH Okay -- He starts drawing several squares on the paper, as Electra picks up the mike. She looks over it, frowns. ELECTRA Two way? RATH Transmits and receives. ELECTRA Cheap as shit. He looks at her. RATH I paid a lot for these. ELECTRA They saw you coming a mile away. If I had known we'd be using -- RATH It's too late now. Okay? We'll have to deal with these. ELECTRA Fine. He goes back to his drawing. RATH This is the bank. This is the hotel. In the morning I will enter the bank. ELECTRA Check. RATH He will be hidden somewhere out here, probably somewhere low, in the crowd. He'll stay there until he sees me enter the bank. ELECTRA But he won't shoot you right then? RATH No. It would be amateur. A risk. He'll wait for the prime shot, that he knows is coming. Once I'm inside, he'll move to the hotel. He'll go up the back, too much traffic in the front. He draws another square. RATH You'll be here. A restaurant. A public place far enough away that he won't notice you, but with a good enough view you'll be able to see him when he moves inside. ELECTRA Okay. Then what? RATH Then, we wait. ELECTRA Aiiee. More waiting? I don't know if I like this plan. RATH It will take the entire day, but he will begin to doubt himself. He will begin to believe that he missed me, that somehow I slipped by and am already on a plane to Europe. He describes this as though remembering it. RATH The sun will be low, almost dark, the air cool and the bank will almost be closed. 5:45. 5:50. He will put the rifle down, he will get up and he will walk across the plaza to the bank. ELECTRA Why won't he wait until the bank closes? RATH He won't be able to. He'll have to go inside. He'll have to see with his own eyes, whether or not I am there. If the bank closes, he won't know for sure. He'll come. I'm sure. And when he does you'll go into the hotel, go upstairs and take the gun. ELECTRA What? What if he brings it with him? He shakes his head. RATH He can't. The bank has an expensive security system; metal detectors and X-ray machines. ELECTRA That means you won't have a gun. RATH That's right. ELECTRA And with the mikes, I'll tell you when he leaves the hotel and you'll tell me when he leaves the bank. RATH If things go well, I don't have to. You'll already be in a rented car waiting for me. ELECTRA You'll have the money. How do I know that you won't -- RATH I'll be walking out of the bank, unarmed. You'll have the gun and I'll drive the car. ELECTRA We split the money? RATH Five million apiece. You get on your plane, I get on mine. ELECTRA Sounds pretty well figured out. RATH I've been thinking about it for a long time. ELECTRA Except -- RATH What? ELECTRA Except, if he doesn't come out of the hotel. RATH I told you, he will. ELECTRA You can't know for sure, how can you? I mean, you're not him. RATH I was. She waits for him to explain. RATH Ten years ago, I sat there in that same hotel window, sweat pouring off of me waiting -- ELECTRA For Nicholai? RATH Yes. ELECTRA You killed him here? In this city, outside that bank? Rath nods. ELECTRA What is it? I don't like this at all. What is going on here? RATH I don't know. It just happened. I was here ten years ago, I'm here now. That's it. ELECTRA I don't believe that. RATH It wasn't planned or premeditated. I swear. Things happened beyond my control. I understood; I saw where they were leading and I suppose that it just made sense. ELECTRA Ten years ago. RATH Yes. ELECTRA What happened? RATH I waited until I was insane and then I walked into the bank. He was sitting there, very calm, waiting for me. ELECTRA What did he want? RATH He wanted what I want now; to get out of the business. To disappear to some empty Greek island. RATH What did he say? RATH He said I couldn't win. That no one wins at this game. ELECTRA Was that it? RATH Then he offered me one million dollars to walk away, to quit the business. ELECTRA You didn't take it. RATH No. I went back to the hotel. And waited. ELECTRA Ten years later, here you are again. RATH Yes. Here I am again. POV - THROUGH TELESCOPIC LENS - MARBLE STATUE The cross-hairs of a telescopic sight are lined-up on the head of a marble statue. INT. COSTA BLANCA HOTEL - NIGHT Bain is laying on the floor in the dark. The rifle is under him as he aims out of his balcony, down the street at the statue. He looks up from the scope, checking the street. It is dark and empty and he shifts back looking into the sight. His finger squeezes, the GUN ALMOST SILENT, as -- INTERCUT WITH: STATUE A chunk of STONE EXPLODES out the head of the statue. Again, the GUN SPITS and another cloud of dust and ROCK BURSTS from the head. His finger is pumping the trigger, until the head cracks and falls. He's laughing, hysterical, looking down the street at the headless statue. He rolls onto his side still laughing. Then, suddenly, he stops, staring up at the stars in the night sky. INT. HOTEL PARAISO ROOM - NIGHT Electra is still at the table, staring at the diagrams, in another world. Rath pours a glass of bourbon and sets it in front of her. ELECTRA This has been the longest day of my life. Rath nods, pouring himself a drink. Electra looks at the drink, downs the whole glass. He refills it. ELECTRA Do you have ulcers? RATH No. ELECTRA I think I got one today. RATH Five million dollars will buy a lot of Rolaids. She smiles. They both gulp down their drinks and he fills them again. ELECTRA What do you suppose he's doing now? Rath shrugs. He is no longer looking at her; staring at the board, moving his mind into the chess game. She watches him and then begins to study it with him, the way a child does, almost imitating him. She does not want to be left alone right now. She reaches over and moves a white knight. He blinks. His eyes shifting, sorting the possibilities. He picks a bishop and counters. After another sequence, he takes her bishop and she takes his knight. RATH Why did you trade a bishop for a knight? ELECTRA I hate bishops. They're useless. I like knights. RATH They're worth less points. ELECTRA So? There is no point in arguing. As they continue to play, we begin to hear in the distance, the COUPLE in the adjoining suite MAKING very vigorous LOVE. Electra watches Rath to see if he hears them. He shows no sign of it, concentrating on the game. ELECTRA Do you hear them? He looks up. ELECTRA Listen. He hears it. Not interested. ELECTRA Did you think they were newlyweds? RATH I didn't notice them. ELECTRA When I first saw them I thought they were married. RATH How do you know they're not? ELECTRA I went into their room this afternoon. RATH What? ELECTRA It was no big deal. I saw them leave, I went in. RATH Jesus, if someone had -- ELECTRA Nobody ever sees me. RATH Why in the hell would you take that chance? ELECTRA I heard them last night and it made me want to know something about them. I wanted to, so I did. Rath shakes his head. In the b.g., the WOMAN is ALMOST SCREAMING. ELECTRA She is married, but not to him. Another man, much older. She has four kids. The young guy works for her. And I think she likes kinky sex. RATH Thank you. ELECTRA Isn't it interesting though? I mean, look at us, in this room. Or yesterday, when we were walking in the plaza market. I mean, we look like just another couple. But what are we? Doesn't it seem so crazy? RATH No. ELECTRA No? RATH It's always been that way. The world has always functioned on two levels. ELECTRA I know. It makes me crazy. RATH Why? ELECTRA I don't know. When I was in college, I was forced to go to a psychiatrist because I was caught drilling holes in my dorm room floor. RATH And you were drilling these holes...? ELECTRA So I could watch the girl that lived under me. RATH Apparently this doctor was unable to cure you. ELECTRA He told me that my curiosity became unnaturally entangled with my sense of self-preservation. RATH Did he explain how this happened? ELECTRA He believed it all went back to one night, when as a little girl. I watched my parents have this big fight, really big. I thought my mother was going to kill my father. Then they went into their room and made up. And I watched them make love through the keyhole. The WOMAN SCREAMS a final time in CLIMAX. Electra moves her queen, taking his other knight. RATH What are you doing? ELECTRA What? RATH That's a ridiculous move. ELECTRA Why? RATH Because, I'll take it. ELECTRA I'm playing white, remember. You can't tell me which pieces to move. It doesn't work that way. He shrugs and takes her queen, the game continuing. ELECTRA Can I ask you something? RATH I'm sure you will. ELECTRA Am I attractive? This gets his attention. RATH Yes. ELECTRA Are you attracted to me? RATH Yes. ELECTRA Why? RATH Why? I don't know. ELECTRA Is it a physical thing, or a mental thing? RATH Both. A good answer. Electra smiles. ELECTRA Is that why you didn't want to talk about women before? RATH I didn't want to complicate the situation. ELECTRA Attraction is a complication? RATH It can be. ELECTRA It happened to you before? RATH Yes. ELECTRA Who was she? RATH Someone like me, like you. A pro. ELECTRA What happened to her? RATH She was taken. ELECTRA Did you -- RATH No. I tried to stop it. I couldn't. ELECTRA Was she the only one? RATH After her, I realized that to survive I had to live without... It's dangerous to let things become complicated. ELECTRA Is this becoming complicated? RATH I'm not sure that I care anymore. He looks up from the game. ELECTRA Were you attracted to me right away? RATH No. ELECTRA When did it start? RATH Honestly? ELECTRA Uh-huh. RATH When I gave you my gun and you almost shot me. ELECTRA Maybe you should see a psychiatrist. RATH Why? ELECTRA That doesn't sound normal. RATH I'm not normal. ELECTRA I know. That's why I'm attracted to you. I mean, you make me nervous. You're intimidating. Maybe it's my curiosity/self-preservation thing, but all I can really think about right now is kissing you. They rise up from the table, together, knocking over the chess game. The pieces fall to the floor. They grab at each other, kissing, both of them hungry, aggressive. They tear at each other's clothes and at their own clothes; it has a very awkward sense to it, as they become naked in front of each other. There is nothing smooth or fluid about it, which makes it seem very real. He takes her, lifting her onto the table. She scoots and wiggles back, the chess pieces falling out of the way. She opens her legs and he moves in between them. ELECTRA I wanted to tell you -- Her breath rushes out, then back in. ELECTRA My real name is Anna. He smiles. RATH Martin. ELECTRA Martin. Her legs wrap up around his hips and he pushes deeper into her. ELECTRA Nice to meet you, Martin. INT. HOTEL PARAISO - HALL - NIGHT Outside of the room, we can hear the MUFFLED SOUNDS of TWO PEOPLE MAKING LOVE. EXT. COSTA BLANCA - NIGHT We are MOVING DOWN the street, LOW, OVER the old flagstones, TOWARDS the marble statue that Bain shot. On the ground are the shattered pieces of the head. CLOSER We see one of the pieces is part of the face, the eyes, which seem like the iris-less eyes of a chess king. CLOSER We MOVE INTO the blank white of that eye. DISSOLVE TO: WHITE SQUARE GLOSSED WITH LIGHT We PULL BACK, RISING UP and AWAY, and see other squares, black and white like a chess board. A woman's HIGH HEELS CLICK past. RISING HIGHER, we see the woman walking. A man crosses behind her, in another direction. HIGHER STILL, and we realize that we are looking at the black and white marble floor of the -- INT. INTERNATIONAL BANCO DE MEXICO - DAY It is a strange and beautiful bank. The ceilings are vast, the suspended lights elaborate, baroque, the enormous clock on the wall, built to resemble a sun. It looks almost as though it could be a museum, with its massive oil paintings and bronze statues of important Mexican figures. Already it is crowded, people and security guards moving about beneath us. Rath steps onto the checkered floor and remembers. EXT. OUTDOOR CAFE The cafe is off the plaza. Electra sits at a patio table. Down the street she can see the back of the burned-out hotel. She hears Rath in her ear-piece. RATH (V.O.) All right. I'm in the bank. He'll move now. How are you doing? She is nervous. ELECTRA I'm ready. INT. BANK RATH Good. Rath is wearing a well-tailored, gray silk suit and dark sunglasses. In his hand is a very large briefcase. He crosses the checkered floor to the teller windows. TELLER May I help you? RATH Yes. Could you check on a transfer for me? TELLER Your name, or account? RATH Rath. Robert Rath. EXT. CAFE Electra smiles when she hears him, mouthing the name "Martin." INT. BANK A BANK OFFICIAL walks over to the window, carrying a printed receipt, with a very bright smile. OFFICIAL Senor Rath, we have received your transfer. He hands Rath the receipt. He glances at it, checking the zeros. There are seven of them. RATH Good. Now I'll need to close this account. I'd like you to ready the paperwork. The smile fades. OFFICIAL You wish to close this account today? RATH That's correct. OFFICIAL How would you like the funds? RATH American currency. OFFICIAL This will take some time. RATH I have all day. EXT. CAFE Electra looks up over her book and Bain is there, moving down the side street, gliding through the crowd with the menacing indifference of a shark. INT. BANK The Official is talking to the teller in Spanish, when Electra whispers in Rath's ear. ELECTRA He's here. Rath freezes. EXT. CAFE Electra watches as Bain moves along the plywood wall, covered with bills and posters, built to keep people out of the burned hotel. He is carrying a long nylon duffel bag. At the corner, a section of the plywood has been pulled loose and Bain squeezes through, into the hotel. ELECTRA He's inside. INT. BANK Rath is sitting in one of the high backed leather chairs set in pairs along the wall of the bank. He glances at the enormous clock, which reads 10:10. He checks his Rolex. RATH Now, we wait. INT. BURNED HOTEL PARAISO The center of the hotel is open. Interior hall balconies, which line each floor, look down onto an old atrium courtyard. The fire did the most damage here, spreading easily throughout the entire building. The skylight and ceiling at the top of this open area, has been destroyed and sunlight streams through throwing broken patterns of shadow and light onto the blackened floors and walls. Bain enters, and carefully begins climbing the charred staircase to the fifth floor. INT. BURNED HOTEL ROOM The room has been heavily burned, stained black from smoke. The charred carpet crunches and cracks, as Bain walks across it to the window. As he nears the exterior wall, several FLOOR BOARDS BREAK with a brittle SNAP and he almost falls through. BAIN Shit. He pulls his leg free. Outside the window, across the plaza, he sees the bank; a perfect site. Quickly he unzips the bag and lifts out the gun. He grabs a magazine and snaps it into place. He aims down at the bank's bright white stairs. A man is walking down the steps and Bain finds the center of his forehead in the cross-hairs of the scope. Bain makes a gun noise, followed by the sound of a head bursting open. He giggles. Leaning against the wall, in the shadows of the window, the gun in his lap, he waits. Time slows to a crawl. Without taking his eye from the bank, Bain rummages through his bag and finds a pack of cigarettes. He pulls one out with his lips and lights it. Taking a deep drag, he lets the smoke slowly leak out and drift up into the night. DISSOLVE TO: SUN White hot. INT. BURNED HOTEL ROOM There are five cigarette butts ground into the blackened window sill, where Bain extinguishes another. BAIN What in the fuck are you doing in there? The room is hot, a streak of sweat up his back and front. It is difficult to breathe. A man walks out of the bank, wearing a suit similar to Rath's. Bain's body snaps erect, rifle instantly leveled. He sights the man's head, his finger tightening on the trigger, but he is not sure it is Rath. He looks over the scope, looks back. The man reaches the bottom of the stairs. Bain's body sags. BAIN That's not him. Jesus, Bain, baby, chill the fuck out. He takes a deep breath and wipes the sweat from his forehead, leaving a smear of black from the charcoal wood. He again fumbles through his bag, finding a container of bottled water. He chugs the whole thing. INT. BANK The Official walks over to Rath with a number of papers to sign. OFFICIAL Your signature, senor. Everything is ready. Rath signs them, but does not get up. OFFICIAL Excellent, senor. If you could follow me? RATH I'm sorry, but I am waiting for an associate. Can you hold everything for me until he arrives? OFFICIAL Of course, senor. RATH Thank you. EXT. CAFE Electra is sipping at some iced tea, dizzy at the thought of all that money. ELECTRA Ten million dollars, sitting there. Waiting... this is insane. INT. BANK There is a faint smile on Rath's lips. EXT. PLAZA The shadows are getting longer. INT. BURNED HOTEL ROOM Bain is rocking back and forth, breathing through his teeth. He has to urinate. Bad. He is checking every face that comes out of the bank with the scope. Still nothing. BAIN This is fucking insane. He grabs the empty plastic bottle, unzips his pants and begins refilling it. A man in a suit appears on the steps and Bain fumbles the bottle, spilling it as he lifts the gun. It is not Rath. BAIN Fucking God dammit! He hurls the bottle of piss across the room. INT. BANK The sun clock on the wall, perfectly still, reads 5:20. After a long beat a single minute clicks off. INT. BURNED HOTEL ROOM The sun is getting low. The room much darker now. Bain sits at the window; his body a knot. A large group of tourists flow out of the bank and Bain's eyes light up. One by one, the scope passes over each face. They trickle down the steps and into the plaza. The stairs are again empty. Bain screams, pounding the butt of the gun down, splitting open the floor. He looks at the bank. Nothing. He checks his watch. In fifteen minutes the bank will close. He stands up. EXT. CAFE Electra is watching the back of the hotel, when Bain emerges from the shadows. ELECTRA Oh my God. He is moving like a bullet, knocking into people who don't get out of his way. ELECTRA He's coming. INT. BANK Rath looks up at the clock, smiles. RATH Four minutes. ELECTRA What? RATH I waited another four minutes. ELECTRA Shit. RATH Wait until he is on the stairs. ELECTRA Right. RATH I'm taking off my mike. ELECTRA Okay. RATH Electra -- ELECTRA What? RATH Last night -- EXT. CAFE Electra smiles. ELECTRA Was nice. RATH Yes. She sees Bain storming up the stairs. She stands, tosses several bills on the table and leaves. INT. BANK Bain charges into the bank, tearing off his sunglasses, scanning the room. His face is a twisted grimace, streaked with black charcoal. His body and clothes are covered in sweat and large salt rings. His breathing labored. He sees Rath sitting comfortably, calm, his suit not even wrinkled and realizes that Rath has been waiting for him. His first instinct is to turn and run, but he stops himself. He is confused, unsure. Then, as though understanding he has no choice, he puts his sunglasses back on and strides over to Rath, BOOTS CLICKING against the polished MARBLE. Bain sits down in the leather chair across from him. BAIN How'd you know? Just tell me that. How'd you fucking know? RATH I knew the same way in ten years you're going to know. BAIN What does that fucking mean? RATH It means that I'm going to tell you things, even though I already know that you're not going to listen to a God damned thing I say. INT. BURNED HOTEL Electra carefully moves up to the fifth floor, then navigates around a large hole, towards the last room. INT. BANK RATH It's irony. That's what it is. But the real irony is that you won't know it's irony until you're sitting over here. Bain isn't listening. Instead he's watching, everyone who walks near them. RATH When you walked in here and you saw me, sitting here, waiting; the first thing that went through your head was that you were a dead man. This catches Bain's ear. RATH You're thinking that you've been sold out. That's the only way I could know you were out there. Why would you think this? Because you don't trust your contractor. You don't trust anyone. It's automatic. It's the first and last commandment. It's the only thing that keeps you alive. So, try as I might to tell you the truth, you can't believe me. Do you see the irony of the situation? It's kind of funny, isn't it? Bain is not laughing. INT. BURNED HOTEL ROOM Inside the burned out closet, Electra finds Bain's nylon duffel bag. Digging through it, she finds his Gameboy, his Walkman, his .22, ammunition clips and several issues of Soldier of Fortune and a Punisher comic book. The rifle is not here. INT. BANK RATH Listen to me, Bain. Two days ago, you contacted your contractor, who told you that they knew when and where I was going to pick up the transferred money from MicroCell. You don't know how they got the information. It bothered you, but you didn't care. How do I know this? Because ten years ago, I was sitting in that chair, as scared shitless as you are now. BAIN I ain't scared of you. RATH Yeah you are and you hate it. You hate the fact that your hand is shaking and mine isn't. That you're sweating your balls off and I'm not. You've got fear and hate in your belly like battery acid, all because of me. BAIN If you think you can take me, quit fucking bullshitting and try it. RATH All right, Bain. Pay attention, because this is where everything changes. INT. BURNED HOTEL Electra is beginning to panic. She cannot find the gun and has started looking in other rooms. INT. BANK RATH You're a businessman, right? This is a business deal. Behind that counter, I have over ten million dollars. I'll give you half of it, more money than you'll make in the next ten years if, you walk away. Bain's face changes, muscles relaxing, the tension slipping out of him. BAIN Five million dollars? RATH That's right. BAIN Shit. That sure is a lot of money. Bain is smiling. RATH Did you see how I did that? Magic wasn't it? BAIN What? RATH You understand what's going on? It makes sense, right? BAIN Oh, yeah. RATH What I just said, no assassin would say. What I've said, only a mark would say. They stare at each other. BAIN You think I would be an idiot to pass up five million dollars. RATH You would be. BAIN You don't know a fucking thing about me. You don't have the slightest fucking clue. RATH Why don't you tell me. BAIN I'll tell you this. After Cleveland, I thought I was lucky to be alive. But now, here, I just realized that you were the lucky one. RATH Now I'll tell you something. It wouldn't fucking matter if I offered you one hundred million dollars. You'd still be thinking the same thing, that you're going to take me. And here I am, sitting through this, knowing it's bullshit, looking at you and the only thing going on in my mind, the only thing I can think is that, in just a few minutes I'm going to take you. Bain jumps out of the seat. BAIN Yeah, okay! I'm ready! Let's fucking go! He's walking, turning, watching everything, everyone. He's out the door. INT. BURNED HOTEL Electra is on the fourth level, searching desperately for the gun, rushing through the black skeletal remains of the hotel. In her ear she hears Rath. RATH (V.O.) Electra? She shrieks. INT. BANK Rath is at the counter, as the Official loads perfectly stacked blocks of crisp one hundred dollar bills into the case. RATH Electra? INT. BURNED HOTEL Electra is frantic. ELECTRA God, I can't find it! I can't find it! I can't find the fucking gun! INT. BANK For Rath, everything has changed. EXT. PLAZA In long, pounding strides, Bain crosses the square, twisting, glancing back, watching. INT. BURNED HOTEL Electra nears the room below the fifth story window. ELECTRA It wasn't with his other stuff! INT. BANK Rath is now afraid. RATH Electra, get out. EXT. SIDE STREET Bain nears the opening in the plywood wall. INT. BURNED HOTEL Electra looks up and there is the gun; supported by black plumbing pipe and charred lathe. It hangs in the space between two joists, hidden in the upstairs floor. RATH (V.O.) He's coming, Electra! Get out now! ELECTRA Oh, God. I see it! She reaches for it, but it's too high. RATH (V.O.) Electra, listen! You have got to come to the bank for the money! The money! She is not listening; she is rushing down the hall, back toward the stairs. Just as she grabs the rail, she hears BAIN STORMING INTO THE LOBBY below. She begins climbing the stairs, quickly but quietly. Bain is a rampaging beast, lunging up the stairs. INT. BANK The bank is almost empty. Rath has begun to sweat. RATH Electra! The Official looks at him strangely, stacking the last of the green paper blocks. INT. BURNED HOTEL Electra peeks over the rail to see Bain right behind her. RATH (V.O.) Electra! The voice screams in her ear and she tears the mike off, stuffing it in her pocket. INT. BANK RATH Electra, what's happening? What are you -- The Official closes the case and snaps the clasps shut. OFFICIAL Finido, senor. INT. BURNED HOTEL Electra turns into the hotel room just as Bain reaches the fifth floor. There is no time. She slips into the closet, as Bain whips around the corner into the room. He rushes to the window, slamming himself against it. BAIN You're gonna take me? Come on! Come on, motherfucker! He bends down and from the hole that he fell into, pulls out the assault rifle. BAIN Take this! Take this, you fuck! Electra watches through the slits of the blackened wood lathe. He pounds his fist rapidly into his thigh and then through the wall. BAIN Motherfucker! He stands suddenly, perfectly still, gun aimed at the bank. BAIN Comeon-comeon-comeone-it'sover- gameover-comeon. INT. BANK The sun clock reads six o'clock. There is no one left in the bank except for employees and guards. The Official is at Rath's elbow leading him towards the metal gates. OFFICIAL We are closed, senor. Thank you for banking with us. It is happening as it happened ten years ago. Rath knows that he is unable to stop it. INT. BURNED HOTEL Bain is rigid, cast in iron, the rifle rammed under his chin, sight tight to his eye, finger wrapped around the trigger. Electra silently, ever so delicately opens her bag, lifting out her gun. BAIN Make me shit, you sorry ass piece of mark meat! Come on, come on. It's over! I know it! You know it! We know it! In the... TELESCOPIC SIGHT we watch Rath step out of the bank, the doors closing behind him. BACK TO SCENE Bain smiles. INSIDE CLOSET Electra slowly rises, still watching Bain. EXT. PLAZA The sun has begun to set and the entire plaza has a deep orange and auburn cast. Rath looks down at the descending, white, stone steps. He steps down to the first stair. INT. BURNED HOTEL BAIN Lift your head, motherfucker. Electra is standing. The gun clenched in her shaking hand. BAIN Look up here. TELESCOPIC SIGHT The cross-hairs are an "X" on Rath's head. BACK TO SCENE BAIN Look up. Look at me. I want to see your face. EXT. PLAZA Rath looks across the square, up the side of the hotel, at the window; there is only black shadow. He knows it is over. INT. BURNED HOTEL BAIN Yes. Electra shoves open the door, leveling the gun -- As Bain turns. BAIN Wha -- She FIRES. His shoulder explodes, blood spraying the black wall. EXT. PLAZA Rath hears BAIN SCREAM. RATH Electra. His eyes, his whole body comes to life. INT. BURNED HOTEL Bain is twisting in mid-air, diving as -- She FIRES again, moving at him. A chunk of WOOD EXPLODES as she misses. He falls, the burned FLOOR SHATTERING, charred JOISTS SHEARING with the sound of BREAKING GLASS. She watches him fall through, hears him HIT the FLOOR below, ASH and WOOD CLATTERING around him. The gun trained on the hole, she peers over the edge, but he is gone. EXT. PLAZA Rath races wildly across the darkening market square. INT. BURNED HOTEL Bain, lying on his back, aims the rifle at her FOOTSTEPS. BAIN Die, bitch! He FIRES, finger pumping, BULLETS ERUPTING through the floor around her feet. Screaming, she leaps out of the room, into the hall. His shoulders oozing blood, Bain clenches his teeth and rises, listening as -- She sprints for the stairs at the far end of the hall. Beneath, he moves to the railing and aims at the staircase, waiting, until -- Electra freezes at the top of the stairs, realizing that they are exposed. She flashes her head, quickly dipping back as the WALL is PERFORATED with BULLETS. BAIN Fuck! God damn bitch! What are you doing? I don't believe this is happening! She can hear him coming, his voice ECHOING through the hollow building. She looks down the stairs, the hall, above; there is nowhere to go. BAIN You're dead! You're fucking dead! I'm going to kill you a hundred fucking times for this! Bain FIRES up at the ceiling, the BULLET tearing through the floor, WHIZZING past Electra's head. If she moves he'll know her position. He FIRES another. Electra sinks down, her back against the wall and aims at the floor. Another SHOT. She FIRES back. Bain closes, as they both start FIRING, silenced WEAPONS, flashing, PUMPING LEAD at unseen targets. Her gun empties first. He laughs hearing the CLICK. BAIN Game over, bitch! RATH Bain! Rath's scream ECHOES up through the building. Before Bain can target him, Rath is gone; a shadow, a ghost. He scans the hotel's courtyard. The last light from the setting sun slips through the slits, cracks and broken window panes, casting patterns; a surreal dream- like grid resembling a chess board. Electra sees her chance. She leaps to her feet, throwing the gun over the balcony. The two men watch the GUN CLATTER to the floor as she races back to the room. BAIN Fuck no! Rath grabs the gun tracking Bain hurling up the stairs to the fifth floor. Rath pulls the trigger and finds the gun is empty. RATH Shit! Bain reaches the top of the stairs before Electra gets to the end of the hall. Rath sees it all happening. RATH Electra! Bain snaps into a targeting stance. Electra is flying toward the door, her feet hardly touching the floor -- TELESCOPIC SIGHT When the cross-hairs find her back. BACK TO SCENE RATH Electra! Time becomes syrup. RATH Down! Get down! Bain FIRES. Electra dives. The blackened DOOR JAMB SPLINTER-BURSTS in front of her. She bounces, scrambling on all fours into the room. Bain hurries down the hall after her as Rath bolts for the stairs. Seeing Rath exposed on the stairs, Bain whips around and FIRES, the WALL SHREDDING behind Rath as he dives back down into the shadows. Ripping open Bain's duffel bag Electra grabs Bain's .22. Bain advances steadily, the rifle trained on the door. Inside the room Electra grunts, hurling the duffel bag out the door. It spins over the balcony and plummets to the ground and bursts open. A GUN CLIP SKITTERS across the stone tile coming to rest in the middle of the courtyard. Rath and Bain both see it. Staying hidden, Rath immediately circles towards it. Bain sweats, looking at the door, down at the clip, then back at the door. Something's got to give. Unsure what to do Electra waits, the gun clenched between her two hands, covering the empty, dark space of the door. Bain makes his choice, moving towards room 502. Rath sees that Bain is going after Electra. He takes a slow breath and tears from the shadows -- Bolting into the open, Rath is focused wholly on the clip, the ground a blur beneath him -- Bain reacts; the rifle swings, rushing, arcing after Rath. Two more steps and Rath dives, sliding, snagging the clip as -- The RIFLE SPITS -- Rath screams, his leg erupting with blood. TELESCOPIC SIGHT The scope glides up zeroing the back of Rath's head. BACK TO SCENE Rath rams the clip in place. BAIN Game -- Bain squeezes the trigger -- CLICK -- the rifle is empty. Bain screams in disbelief. Rolling over, Rath jacks back the slide and sights the balcony but Bain is gone. Electra searches the room for a way out. Keeping the gun trained on the door she steps carefully over to the hole that Bain fell through. Grimacing, Rath struggles to his feet. RATH Electra! Bain explodes through the wall, charred wood and plaster flying. Electra spins to shoot but the FLOOR suddenly CRACKS OPEN, swallowing her. Limping, lurching up the stairs, Rath hears the CRASH. Jarred by the fall, Electra drags herself away from the open ceiling. RATH The gun! He needs the gun! Get rid of it! Throw it! She looks up for Bain but he has again disappeared. She looks at the gun, thinking, turning it over in her hands. His leg soaked with blood, Rath rumbles down the hall. Black with soot, Bain descends soundless, serpent-like to the fourth level through another burned opening. Electra moves towards the door aiming at every sound, at every dark corner. She is almost there when we see Bain, a shadow coming to life, emerging behind her. Lumbering, Rath is halfway there, his eyes riveted on the door to room 502. Hearing Bain, Electra turns. In one smooth motion, he snatches her arm and breaks her wrist. The gun falls. Rath hears her scream. Electra kicks at his groin but he drops, leg sweeping her to the ground. She gropes for the gun when he kicks her in the face, jack-knifing her body back, knocking her unconscious. Bain grabs the gun. Rath whips into the room BLASTING -- BULLETS CHASING Bain as he disappears into a blackened hole. Rath goes to Electra not knowing if she is alive or dead. Gently he turns her, cradling her head, her face, smeared with blood. From within the labyrinth, Rath hears BAIN begin to LAUGH. BAIN (O.S.) Hey! Tell me something, Bobby-boy. Electra comes to, her eyes blinking open. BAIN (O.S.) Are you still thinking that you're going to take me? Electra is trying to focus, as Rath listens to the voice, searching the shadows but the voice seems to come from everywhere. BAIN (O.S.) No, I don't think you are. You know what I think? The voice is closer. Rath wipes the stinging sweat from his eyes. BAIN (O.S.) I think you're thinking what I'm thinking. Still dizzy, Electra taps her fist against Rath's chest. BAIN (O.S.) You know what I'm thinking, Bobby-boy?! It seems as though Bain is in the room. BAIN (O.S.) You know what I'm thinking?! Electra opens her fist and inside Rath sees the handful of bullets from the other gun. Bain whirls INTO VIEW, his gun whipping around to Rath who turns too slow. Bain pumps the trigger. ONE CLICK. ANOTHER. And ANOTHER. The gun is empty. RATH Yeah, I know what you're thinking. He levels his gun. RATH Game over. Rath FIRES, OVER and OVER, emptying the GUN into Bain's head and chest, even as he crashes through the balcony railing and falls, twisting through lightless space, slamming to the stone floor dead. EXT. PLAZA DEL SOL - NIGHT The sun is gone, the market is closing, the crowd drifting from the plaza. A man and a woman emerge from the shadows of the alley beside the boarded hotel. Although they walk a bit slow, leaning on one another, they become it seems, like just another couple, arm in arm, holding tightly to each other and to a very large suitcase. FADE OUT. THE END 
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+                                      THE ASSIGNMENT                                          Written by                                Dan Gordon & Sabi H. Shabtai                                         7/2/1996                                      SHOOTING DRAFT                               ESTABLISHING SHOT - EXTREME CLOSE - UP - COBBLESTONES - PARIS -                EARLY MORNING               TITLE SEQUENCE BEGINS               We OPEN with the screen filled with a dark gray, cut down                the middle by a black crevice. We should be unsure of what                we are looking at. Is it the surface of the moon or some                primeval canyon covered in volcanic ash? Just then a liquid                with a yellowish tinge finds its way down through the crevice                and further divides the screen in two, like a river border                dividing East from West perhaps.               CAMERA PULLS BACK AND UP to reveal that the dark gray gulch                filled the screen was in fact two paving stones on a Parisian                street and the yellowish river that ran down the middle of                the stones comes in two tiny streams that lead to two little                boys, who are peeing on the pavement, laughing at their                mischief. The boys are twins. They wear backpacks and are                set to go off to school. Just then we HEAR the voice of a                WOMAN shouting in French (with English subtitles).                                     FRENCH WOMAN (O.S.)                         What do you think you're going?! You                          ought to be ashamed behaving like                          that!               CAMERA PULLS BACK AND UP to reveal ever more scenes of life                on this particular street. The woman shouts at the children                from her window and the children run off. At the corner,                fresh bread is being delivered to a sidewalk cafe, as chairs                are set out at tables by white aproned waiters who are                preparing for their morning clientele.               CAMERA PULLS BACK AND UP to reveal a taxi driver arguing                with a deliver man as a husband kisses his wife goodbye and                set off for work as we continue pulling back and across the                city over Montmartre, picking up an argument between two                drivers here, fresh bread being delivered to a cafe over                there. Chairs are being set up at sidewalk tables as the                city awakens and we float across Montmartre into a small                residential quarter. Husbands kiss wives who send school                children on their way as TITLES CONTINUE and the city comes                more and more to life and we hover across a small square                just up from the Place de la Opera, not far from the Boulevard                Saint Germain-des-Pres, with Montmartre in the b.g. The square                has a sidewalk cafe with tables extending out onto a peninsula                of pavement that stretches to the foot of a small hotel,                whose shuttered windows overlook the square. As we pull back                and back over the small square, we literally...               SFX SHOT               ...Pull backwards through the slats of the shutter, going                from an aerial shot, being sucked in through the semi-closed                shutters into a hotel room where we continue ever so slowly,                pulling back.               INT. HOTEL ROOM - PARIS - EARLY MORNING               The first thing we SEE in this shot which should appear                seamless in its one continuous motion transition from the                preceding scene, is a spider-web. We are TIGHT on the web in                which a still-living insect struggles against his silky bonds.                The web begins to tremble as from up above the spider drops,                spinning thread lowering itself down on this latest victim,                soon to be lunch. As the spider makes this journey we become                aware in the b.g. of the panting sounds of lovemaking. It is                a woman's breathless sighs and gasps we hear, but under that,                perhaps a man's voice, perhaps not. The sounds build to a                climax as the camera continues to pull back until it discovers                the glistening body of a beautiful young Parisian woman in                post-coital dewy Nirvana. Then, the figure of a nude man in                silhouette enters frame and crosses over to the shuttered                window. His face and body are half-lit by the slats of light                that penetrate from the world outside the hotel room. He                lights a cigarette.                                                                    CUT TO:               ANGLE ON - CLOSE ON THE MAN               whom we will come to know as CARLOS. He lights the cigarette                and takes a thirsty drag sucking the smoke deep into his                lungs, glancing out at the street and alternately at the                spider who tiptoes down to her prey. He watches the spider                envelop the still-living victim with her spindly legs. Then                he takes another drag on the cigarette and the ash glows                bright, a burning ember which he touches ever so slowly to                the spider's body. It sizzles.                                     CARLOS                              (whispering to the                               burnt spider)                         You lose...               He looks out through the shutters at the digital clock across                the square. Then he glances back at the girl whom we will                call COLETTE. The conversation is in French with English                subtitles.                                     COLETTE                         What do you mean?                                     CARLOS                         I mean get out.                                     COLETTE                         You're a pig, you know that? How can                          you be like that?               Carlos crosses to her slowly. He runs his hand across her                cheek, then down across her throat. Death is in his eyes.                                     CARLOS                              (barely above a whisper)                         Leave without saying another word.               INT. BATHROOM - HOTEL - DAY               Carlos stands in front of the mirror. The mirror is cracked                and in it we see the fractured face of Carlos staring back                at us from opposite sides of the cracked glass. He wears                surgical gloves. From a make up kit by the side of the sink                he removes a piece of false hair and spirit gum as TITLES                CONTINUE.               A. Carlos affixes a John Lennon mustache.               B. Carlos puts on a brown wig of moderately longish hair                such as one might have seen on a student in Paris in the                early seventies.               C. Carlos puts on a pair of John Lennon granny glasses and                the student look is complete.               D. Carlos stands in front of a full length mirror in jeans                and a blue work shirt over which he puts a worn grey jacket.                He now looks every inch the young French student dressing                down to look like one of the proletariat.               END OF TITLES               E. Carlos takes an M26 hand grenade and puts it into an inside                pocket of his coat. He puts a machine pistol and snaps its                ammo clip into it and puts it in his student's shoulder bag                and then takes a Walther PPK and places it in his jeans at                the small of his back. All the while that he is doing these                things he sings: "ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE."                                     CARLOS                              (singing)                         All you need is love...                          Rum da, da da da                          All you need is love                          Rum da da da da                          All you need is lo-ve                          Love is all you need.                          Love is all you need.               SUPERIMPOSED: Paris, September 15, 1974.               EXT. / INT. SIDEWALK CAFE - DAY               It's a hot Sunday afternoon and the complex of shops and a                cafe in St. Germain-des-Pres is bustling with young clientele.                Inside the cafe, there is a second floor with a balustrade                overlooking the tables inside. Outside, there are tables set                up on the sidewalk.               JACK SHAW, a tall, husky American in his late thirties, sits                at one of the front tables outside. He reads the International                Herald Tribune. The headline is, "Terrorists Seize Embassy,                Issue Demands And Threaten Attacks." Jack sips his espresso.               ANGLE ON CARLOS               dressed as in preceding scene. He enters. Just then Jack                looks up and sees him. For an instant, Carlos looks at Jack,                tenses just slightly. Jack looks back at his paper paying no                attention. Carlos pulls out a cigarette, pats his pockets                for a light. Then he crosses to Jack.                                     CARLOS                         Pardon monsieur...               He mimes flicking a match and Jack looks for a match. He's                out. He offers the lit end of his cigarette. Carlos cups                Jack's hand.                                     CARLOS                         Merci.               He crosses away from Jack, smiling and goes inside the cafe.                Jack follows him absentmindedly, tracking his progress through                the windows, though his view is obscured somewhat by                reflections of the street. Carlos steps casually to the                railing overlooking the tables inside as Jack sees the double                image of Carlos and the reflected street scene. Carlos leans                over, pulls the pin from an M26 grenade, and lets the "spoon"                come off in his hand. We HEAR the timing fuse hiss as Carlos                nonchalantly counts to himself.                                     CARLOS                              (counting)                         One thousand one... one thousand                          two... one thousand three...               ANGLE ON - JACK               He looks up just in time to see Carlos drop the grenade                casually into the crowd below. Their eyes lock for a beat;                then Carlos smiles, turns and bounds away. Jack's eyes widen                in horror. He gets up, about to cry out a warning.                                                                    CUT TO:               ANGLE ON               the crowd below as the grenade EXPLODES, filling the air                with smoke and flying glass, its metal ripping through flesh                and bone. People are wounded, bloody and writhing in pain                and screaming in panic.               ANGLE ON JACK               disheveled, covered with the shattered glass of the window,                but not but not seriously hurt, he struggles to his feet. He                looks around for Carlos who has vanished, now realizing who                he was. As he looks around, he sees a SMALL BOY staring at                his left arm with heart-rending disbelief.               The boy has no hand.                                                                    CUT TO:               EXT. SIDEWALK CAFE - PARIS - DAY               There are throngs of ambulances, police and military                personnel, wounded survivors are being tended to. All is                confusion and off in a corner we SEE Jack, standing with a                man in a suit. The man's name is DU FOLTIERE. He shows Jack                an I.D.                                     DU FOLTIERE                         Du Foltiere, Monsieur, intelligence                          liaison officer. DST. My understanding                          is that you are the Deputy Chief of                          Station, CIA, Paris, and that you                          witnessed by coincidence this attack.                                     JACK                         That's right.                                     DU FOLTIERE                         And you have told my subordinate                          that you recognized the terrorist as                          Carlos?               Du Foltiere pulls out a small notebook to take notes.                                     JACK                         That's not what I told him. I said                          he recognized me. Afterwards I                          realized who he was. By then it was                          too late.                                     DU FOLTIERE                              (writing in his                               notebook)                         Ah yes... The deputy chief of station                          did not recognize him... But he                          recognized you.                                     JACK                         I wasn't the one wearing the disguise.                                     DU FOLTIERE                         Yes of course... But then how are                          you sure it was him?                                     JACK                         How often do you see someone holding                          a live grenade listening to the fuse?                          Besides, the arrogant son of a bitch                          bastard smiled at me.               EXT. INT. OPEC HQ - DAY               SUPERIMPOSED: Vienna, December 21, 1975               It's a cold Sunday morning with a light snow just beginning                to fall when SIX YOUNG MEN and ONE WOMAN enter the                headquarters of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting                Countries -- a modern, seven-story block of concrete and                glass. They all carry Adidas sport bags over their shoulders.                Their leader, Carlos, with dark beret and sunglasses, sports                a long white raincoat -- the kind that was very much in                fashion that winter. Next to him is KOJ, a Japanese terrorist                and his most trusted Lieutenant.                                     CARLOS                              (singing)                         I shot the sheriff...                          But I did not shoot the deputy...                                                                    CUT TO:               INT. CONFERENCE ROOM - THIRD FLOOR               At a long oval table TWELVE OIL MINISTERS. Miniature national                flags in chromium holders in front of them. Behind, sitting                or standing, the SECRETARIES, ADVISERS, INTERPRETERS AND                BODYGUARDS.                                     VENEZUELAN OIL MINISTER                         ...Obviously some of the members are                          exploiting the oil price differentials                          as a loophole... This body has been                          very precise in its policy.                                                                    CUT TO:               INT. ENTRANCE HALL - GROUND FLOOR               The group with the Adidas sport bags approaches the reception                desk. Carlos -- moustache, sideburns, and wispy beard in                reddish brown -- smiles politely at the female RECEPTIONIST.                Behind the reception desk are two circular staircases which                wind their way up to an elevator that is visible behind the                railing at the top of the landing. There is what appears to                be a security man standing at that elevator with an earpiece                and tell-tale bulge under his jacket.                                     CARLOS                              (in German)                         Pardon me. Is the conference still                          in progress?               Smiling back, the ash-blonde receptionist nods.                                     RECEPTIONIST                              (in German)                         Yes, but sir...                                     CARLOS                              (in German)                         I have an urdent delivery for the                          ministers.               As if on urgent business, Carlos quickly heads up the flight                of stairs before the security man who stands next to the                receptionist can react. The security man speaks quickly into                his walkie talkie.               ANGLE ON - THE LANDING               by the elevator at the top of the stairs. Carlos bounds up                the stairs and pushes the elevator button. The Security Man                near the elevator listens intently to what is being said in                his earpiece and he steps forward to challenge Carlos. Carlos                smiles at him and whips out a 9mm. silenced Beretta and fires                two shots right between the Security Man's eyes. He falls                over the railing and lands face up on the console in front                of the terrified receptionist. Carlos leans over the rail in                one move and fires two shots into the upturned face of the                Security Man who stands next to the shocked receptionist.                The receptionist screams.                                                                    CUT TO:               INT. CONFERENCE ROOM                                     NIGERIAN OIL MINISTER                              (angry)                         I protest the unfound charges of the                          oil minister from Venezuela. We do                          not use, nor intend to use, the lower                          gradings to capture more of the market --               His words are cut short when the door is kicked open, and                Carlos strides in.                                     CARLOS                              (brandishing his                               automatic)                         EVERYONE FREEZE!               Everyone frantically hits the floor. That is, with the                exception of TWO BODYGUARDS. They try for their weapons. A                short burst from Carlos' Beretta machine pistol which is                pulled from the inside of his trenchcoat brings them to the                floor. This weapon is not silenced, but deafening. Just then                Koj enters the room from the corridor.                                     KOJ                         We've got company.               Suddenly, there's the sound of INTENSE GUNFIRE coming from                the corridor.               ANGLE ON - CARLOS               He reaches into his trenchcoat and pulls out a pocket-sized                Chinese RGD5 grenade. He yanks the pin, lets the spoon fly,                listens to the fuse hiss, counts quite calmly and then tosses                the live grenade to Koj who catches it and in one movement                tosses it out the door. A loud sound of GRENADE EXPLOSION,                and plaster powders those glued to the floor. GASPS OF TERROR.                But the gunfire outside ceases.                                     CARLOS                         My name is Carlos. You'll do as I                          say.               His smile is cunning, mocking, and... familiar.               EXT. VIENNA AIRPORT - SNOWSTORM - MAGIC HOUR               We SEE an Air France jet liner touch down on the runway.               EXT. VIENNA AIRPORT - SNOWSTORM - MAGIC HOUR               Jack comes down the steps of the just-landed jet. The blizzard                whips around his face as he walks down the stair unit and                onto the tarmac, pulling his overcoat up around him.               EXT. AMERICAN EMBASSY, VIENNA - SNOWSTORM - MAGIC HOUR -                EST.               INT. OFFICE - AMERICAN EMBASSY - VIENNA - NIGHT               Behind the desk is CARL MICKENS, the CIA Station Chief --                tall, angular, cropped grey hair. He is in mid-conversation                with Jack Shaw who sits opposite him, his overcoat over the                arm of the chair in which he sits. He has obviously just                come from the airport.                                     MICKENA                         ...Twenty million dollars ransom.                                     JACK                         Who's asking for it?                                     MICKENA                         "The Arm of the Arab Revolution."                          Alias of the month time.                              (shrugs)                         Could be anybody. The point is...                          their leader claims to be Carlos...                                     JACK                         He does, does he?                                     MICKENA                         He wants to make sure everyone knows                          it's him. He wants the credit and                          the Austrians want a positive ID.                          That's when your name came up.                                     JACK                         Who brought my name up?                                     MICKENA                         The guy who says he's Carlos. The                          Austrians want you there to identify                          him.                                     JACK                         Where?                                     MICKENA                         At the airport. Tomorrow. When they                          provide the plane to fly him and the                          hostages to Libya. Carlos evidently                          feels very comfortable in Libya.                                     JACK                         They got him here in their own                          backyard and they're gonna let him                          walk away?!                                     MICKENA                         They've got no choice, Jack.                                     JACK                         Bullshit! Let 'em handle it like the                          Israelis would.                                     MICKENA                         They're not the Israelis Jack. It's                          not their fight.                                     JACK                         Then let me take him out! They want                          me to meet him at the airport. I can                          get close enough to get a clear shot                          at him. We can end this shit now.                                     MICKENA                         Jack! He's got seventy hostages.                                     JACK                         Fuck the hostages!               Mickens looks at him almost in horror. Jack knows he has let                down too much of the mask of professionalism as it were.                                     JACK                              (apologetically)                         Harold, we can handle it with a                          minimum loss of life.                                     MICKENA                         We will handle it with no loss of                          life. Those aren't just any hostages.                          They are the oil ministers of the                          richest countries in the world, and                          that twenty million bucks they're                          gonna have to pay isn't gonna break                          'em you know. It's nothing to them.                          They just want to pay it and... it's                          not our fight.                                     JACK                         What do you think Carlos is gonna do                          with that money? Put it in mutual                          funds? He'll use it to hit us. Let                          me assemble a team and we can...                                     MICKENA                         Jack goddamnit, there isn't any team                          to assemble! You're a fuckin'                          dinosaur. We're out of the                          assassination business. All of us!                          You got a personal hard on against                          this guy because he made you look                          like an asshole and now he's gonna                          rub your nose in it. I can appreciate                          your feelings, but it's not going                          down on our soil. It is not with our                          nationals and it is not our fight!                          Now I got my orders and you just got                          yours.               INT. VIENNA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT - VIENNA - NIGHT               Carl, Jack and various other CIA functionaries walk quickly                down the corridor with Austrian police and intelligence                officers. Jack carries a briefcase as do they all.               ANGLE ON - JACK                                     JACK                         I gotta hit the john.               INT. MEN'S ROOM - VIENNA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT - NIGHT               Jack stands inside of a stall in the men's room. He has just                crossed a certain frontier in his mind and stepped in to the                area known as no man's land. He quickly takes off his overcoat                and jacket and we SEE attached to his arm a harness made up                of straps and springs. He opens his briefcase and attaches                to the harness a .32 caliber Beretta. He fumbles with the                adjustments, racing against time. Finally, he seems to have                adjusted everything just so. Then he lowers his arm to his                side. Then he raises the right arm as if shaking hands and                the harness slams the .32 caliber Beretta from his forearm                straight into his palm.               He resets the gun back into the forearm position. He has a                look of grim determination on his face. The only question                is, is it the look of someone who is crazy enough to do what                he is contemplating.               EXT. VIENNA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT - BLIZZARD - NIGHT               On the tarmac, an Austrian Airways DC9. TV cameras, lights,                generators are set up in front of the plane, sending beams                and pools of yellow light into the darkness and the snow                which swirls all around as a pool of REPORTERS stands ready                to record whatever is about to go down. Among a small group                of OFFICIALS is Jack Shaw. Everyone's eyes are on an                approaching yellow curtained bus.               ON BUS               As it gets closer, we can detect through its windshield a                white raincoat and a black beret. Carlos is standing by the                driver with a machine-pistol in one hand and a grenade in                the other.               CLOSE - JACK               His eyes strain to get a better look at the terrorist, his                arm down at his side.               BACK TO SCENE               As the bus parks by the DC 9, Carlos jumps out and waves to                the media. Not the customary V-sign, but the wave of a                celebrity... The hostages then, under their captors' guns,                file compliantly out of the bus and onto the plane. A line                of exhausted, bleary-eyed middle-aged men in expensive suits                and in need of a shave. Carlos however, is as fresh, alert                and energetic as the morning of the attack. And he's                definitely savoring the moment.               ON JACK               Tense, he tries to be inconspicuous as he leans towards                Mickens.                                     JACK                              (whispering)                         I think it's him, but I can't be                          sure. Not with those dark glasses                          and the beard...               ON CARLOS               Everyone on board, he too climbs the mobile steps and                disappears into the plane. Suddenly, he reemerges and comes                down to where the officials and Jack stand. As Jack watches                him intently, he faces the MINISTER OF THE INTERIOR. In the                window of the plane we SEE Koj holding a grenade to the                pilot's head.               ANGLE ON CARLOS                                     CARLOS                         Minister of the Interior, I                          presume...?               The distinguished-looking man, who looks a bit like Kurt                Waldheim, nods.                                     CARLOS                         I'm sorry this had to happen in                          Austria. We have no quarrel with                          your government.               His eye catching Jack, he stops in mid-sentence. A devilish                smile crosses his lips as he turns towards him. He pulls a                cigarette out and crosses right over to Jack, up close and                as they say, very personal. The snowflakes whirl                surrealistically around them as the two stand face to face.                                     CARLOS                         Pardon monsieur...               He mimes flicking a match. He takes off his glasses and looks                at Jack and smiles.                                     CARLOS                         We were never really properly                          introduced Mister Shaw. My name is                          Carlos.               With a cunning, mocking smile he extends his hand out to                shake Jack's. Jack stares at him, ever so slowly beginning                to raise his hand. With that move he knows the gun will come                slapping into his palm and he will be able to take Carlos                out no matter what the cost.                                     JACK                              (smiling)                         Eat shit and die slow.               His hand starts rising. In another second the gun will spring                into it. Just then we hear:                                     MICKENA (O.S.)                         Jack, no!               Jack turns to look at Mickens. Mickens indicates the                photographers.                                     MICKENA                         You don't want your picture taken                          shaking his hand.               Jack is momentarily confused. He has turned to Mickens                thinking perhaps he was calling out a warning and now the                moment for the shot has passed. He turns back to Carlos who                shrugs and steps over to the Austrian minister so that the                Minister now is between Jack and Carlos and the shot is lost.                                     CARLOS                              (to the minister)                         As I was saying, I'm sorry about the                          loss of life. And thank you for your                          cooperation.               Once again he sticks out his hand. Only this time, as the                cameras roll, Austria's Minister of the Interior shakes the                hand of the archterrorist in what will go down in history as                the "handshake of shame."               ON JACK               His eyes tell it all.               EXT. JERUSALEM - WESTERN WALL - DAY               We begin with an ESTABLISHING SHOT of Al Aksa Mosque and the                Mosque of Omar in Jerusalem. These are the two most famous                landmarks in Jerusalem's Old City skyline.               OVER THIS WE SUPER:                                    JERUSALEM - AUGUST               CAMERA then pans and tilts down and we are above the Western                Wall looking down on the bobbing black hats of Hassidic Jews,                the knitted skullcaps of more modern Orthodox, here and there                the olive shirt of Army uniform with M16 or Galil assault                rifle that sways in prayer as well.                                                            CROSS DISSOLVE:               To the Jerusalem stone paving stones that make up the square                in front of the wall as we glide across the intersecting                lines of paving stones set one next to the other until a                glowing cigarette comes into view and then a foot which                crushes it out. There should be something in this sequence                that is reminiscent of our opening, a foreboding that just                as the cracks in the Parisian paving stones led us to Carlos                once before, perhaps these new stones will lead us once again                to some act of terror.               NEW ANGLE               to reveal a man standing in silhouette, the man who has just                crushed out the cigarette. We cannot see his face because he                has a camera to his eye.               NEW ANGLE - POV THROUGH THE CAMERA LENS               Through the lens of the camera just established we SEE an                old Rabbi praying at the wall. CLICK! The shutter captures                the shot.               BACK TO SCENE               The man in silhouette now lowers the camera and we SEE that                he is CARLOS! There is no mistake even though the nose,                perhaps is a little different and this time he is clean-               shaven, it is still Carlos the Jackals. He smiles slightly.               EXT. CHURCH OF THE HOLY SEPULCHRE               Busy photographing it, Carlos doesn't seem to notice the TWO                ARABS who watch him surreptitiously. He walks in front of                soldiers who laugh and look at us POV Carlos.               ANGLE               Carlos reaches into his pocket. Is he perhaps going for a                grenade to toss at these soldiers? We build tension as he                pulls out instead, another roll of film and with great                determination, we have the CLICK of the door of the camera                to enhance our music beat as tension builds. Surely it can't                be long till Carlos does something awful.               EXT. MOSLEM QUARTER - DAY               Carlos walks towards the Suq, working his way through the                crown from the Damascus gate as we reveal more soldiers in                the foreground, surveilling the area.               EXT. MOSLEM QUARTER - DAY               From the POV of the two Arabs following him, we SEE Carlos                lost, or pretending to be, as he ambles along through the                Suq, past all sorts of vendors hawking their wares. Heads of                fish are cut off with the swift slash of a knife in one stall,                freshly skinned lambs hang by their feet in another. Carlos,                still looking lost, approaches a street vendor hawking rosary                beads. We SEE them talk but cannot hear their dialogue.               Carlos walks on.               EXT. MOSLEM QUARTER - DAY               A group of children play an impromptu game of soccer.               NEW ANGLE - SAME SCENE - POV CARLOS THROUGH CAMERA LENS               We watch these innocent children playing. If this was a gun                sight they'd be dead. CLICK!               NEW ANGLE               It is Carlos who has taken the picture. His smile at the                sight of the children is no longer a subtle one. There is                some secret enjoyment here.               It's then, that he notices the Two Arabs tailing him.               CLOSE ON - CARLOS               He frowns.               Now what happens can be interpreted in one of two ways. Carlos                takes a turn down an alleyway that has at first a shop or                two, and then is nothing but deserted and foreboding alley.                He is either trying to shake the two Arabs or he has just                entered every tourist's nightmare: a deserted alley in a                foreign country with two bad guys. He quickens his pace. The                Arabs do too. Carlos now knows they're after him and he takes                off running.               EXT. MOSLEM QUARTER - DAY - CHASE SEQUENCE ANGLE               So do the two Arabs. Only now there are THREE MORE ARABS                coming after him.               MOVING               A tense, desperate CHASE in the Moslem Quarter's labyrinth                of twisted alleys and narrow streets. When his Arab pursuers                lose sight of him briefly, Carlos takes something out of his                pocket, some sort of ID and throws it in an alleyway.               EXT. SUQ - JERUSALEM - DAY               Carlos races through the Suq, past a group of Arabs who begin                heeding the call to prayer. They roll out prayer mats and                begin acclaiming in Arabic that there is only one God and                Mohammed is his prophet. Carlos grabs one of the canvas                awnings that shade the alleyways and this cafe. He rips it                off, trying to make an obstacle course between him and his                pursuers. He overturns trays of olives, sacks of sunflower                seeds, anything he can get his hands on.               NEW ANGLE               Carlos runs headlong into a copper serving platter that is                hanging on display. He is disoriented, terrified, and then                seemingly from out of nowhere, he is tackled, grabbed by the                Arabs and dragged to a dark alley between two stores. Carlos                is overcome and brought down to the ground. One of the Arabs                evidently has a deep dislike for Carlos and though Carlos is                subdued, he kicks the shit out of him.                                                              CUT TO BLACK:               INT. WINDOWLESS CELL - DAY               This room is your worst nightmare in the Middle East. It                could be a cellar suite in Beirut, or an interrogation cell                in Damascus. There is no way of knowing. It is simply an                empty room with a large metal ring embedded into the floor,                to which Carlos is shackled. Battered and badly bruised,                he's obviously in great pain. The room's metal door SCREECHES                as it opens slowly and a new man whom we will call AMOS                enters. With him are two of the Arabs we've seen earlier.                They're bareheaded now, without their kaffiyehs.                                     AMOS                              (accented English)                         How do you feel?               He smiles.                                     CARLOS                              (broken English)                         I do not speak English.                              (in Spanish)                         Yo soy Cubano... de Cuba... Castro...                          Su amigos... Amigos... Entiende?                                     AMOS                         You spoke English well enough to                          your contact... the street vendor...                          so please let's not play games. We're                          both professionals, Carlos.                                     CARLOS                              (with heavy Cuban                               accent)                         My name... Ramirez... no Carlos.                                     AMOS                         Yes, I know what your name is...                          Illich Ramirez...                                     CARLOS                         No Illich.                                     AMOS                         Alias Carlos Sanchez, alias Carlos                          Martinez, alias The Jackal.                                     CARLOS                              (with heavy Cuban                               accent)                         Jou're loco man... No Carlos... I am                          tourist...               Amos swoops down and with one hand pulls Carlos by the hair                over across his knee with his throat up and other hand in a                hammer lock. Amos brings his face down to Carlos.                                     AMOS                         Listen to me you piece of shit. I'm                          trying very hard to be professional                          about this but you are in Israeli                          hands now... So don't play games                          with me... entiende hombre?               Carlos whose neck is stretched back like a goose about to be                slaughtered can barely croak out an answer.                                     CARLOS                         Okay.               Amos loosens his grasp and straightens up. Carlos winces in                pain from broken ribs. As he speaks it is now unaccented                English, just the slightest trace of Spanish background.                                     CARLOS                         You... You're telling me you're                          Israelis... not Arabs?                              (relieved)                         I'm in some kind of an Israeli                          prison... is that what you're telling                          me?                                     AMOS                         Amazing how much your English has                          improved in just a few seconds...                                     CARLOS                              (trying to be very                               reasonable)                         Look, obviously there has been some                          kind of mistake. I don't know who                          you think I am, but I am a Lieutenant                          Commander in the United States Navy,                          okay? I am Lieutenant Commander                          Annibal Ramirez of the U.S.S.                          Yorktown, Sixth Fleet, docked in                          Haifa. I am not Carlos or Sanchez or                          Illich or the Jackal or whoever you                          think you just caught. If you call                          the U.S. Embassy and ask for the                          Sixth Fleet Liaison Officer, he'll                          confirm everything I've said.               He is not pushy, just firm and decisive.                                     AMOS                         Remarkable... remarkable                          performance... the chutzpa of it is                          unbelievable... my hat is off to you                          Carlos.               Carlos, who from now on out will be referred to by his real                name, RAMIREZ, has had it with the reasoned approach. He now                adopts the demeanor of a U.S. Naval Officer reaming an                enlisted man a brand new bunghole.                                     RAMIREZ                         Your hat's off?! I'll tear your head                          off! You get on the horn and you                          call the U.S. Embassy and you call                          the Sixth Fleet Liaison Office and                          then motherfucker you go out and                          find yourself a good lawyer and I'll                          tell you somethin' Jack, I'm gonna                          sue your ass so bad that your great                          great grandchildren will still be                          shovelin' shit to pay off the debt!               Amos is doing his best to look unflappable.                                     AMOS                         Carlos... give me a break, huh? If                          you were an American officer you                          would have... ID papers, dog tags.                                     RAMIREZ                         I ditched 'em in an alley just before                          you guys got me. Go back there you'll                          find 'em.                                     AMOS                         You ditched them.                                     RAMIREZ                         Per instructions... An American                          officer on shore leave in the Middle                          East must travel in mufti, civilian                          clothes. A bunch of Arabs start                          chasing me... could be terrorism...                          could be kidnapping... instructions                          are to ditch our tags, our ID or                          anything else that could identify                          us. That's why I spoke Spanish, that's                          why I said I was a Cuban, not an                          American. And you broke my ribs here                          asshole. I'm gonna sue you, I'm gonna                          sue your government... I'm gonna sue                          every fuckin' Jew I can get my hands                          on you, understand me?!               INT. CORRIDOR OUTSIDE RAMIREZ'S CELL - RUSSIAN COMPOUND -DAY               Amos walks down the corridor. For the first time, he looks                the tiniest bit concerned.                                     RAMIREZ                              (shouting after him)                         I'm gonna sue Menachem Begin, I'm                          gonna sue Moshe Dayan, I'm gonna sue                          the goddamned B'nai B'rith or whatever                          you call it.               INT. AMOS' OFFICE - JERUSALEM - DAY               Amos sits in his office looking very worried. A long-haired                baby-faced agent comes in. He could pass for a typical student                traveling on holiday. His name is YONI.                                     YONI                         Sir?                                     AMOS                         Yoni... I want you to go back to the                          old city... where we caught...                          Carlos... I want you to be very                          inconspicuous. Take a half dozen                          men... you comb every alleyway                          there... every garbage can...                          everything you can find... for what                          looks like a U.S. military ID if                          there is such a thing there.                                     YONI                         What's the problem?                                     AMOS                         Who said there was a problem? There's                          no problem. I just asked you to do                          something and you're going to do it.                          So there's no problem.               EXT. ALLEY OF OLD CITY JERUSALEM - DAY               Yoni and half a dozen plainclothed Shin Bet agents walk                through the alley looking around. Yoni is dressed like a                long-haired backpacking student; others dressed like Arabs,                others like tourists. As inconspicuously as possible, they                search alleys and trash cans like the homeless searching for                food.               INT. AMOS' OFFICE - JERUSALEM               Amos sits at his desk. Just then Yoni walks in. Amos looks                up.                                     AMOS                         Nu?               Yoni puts a U.S. Navy ID complete with photo and a set of                military dog tags on Amos' desk.               ANGLE - CLOSE ON THE ID               It identifies its bearer as Lt. Commander Annibal Ramirez                U.S.N. There is a picture of Ramirez in the upper corner of                the ID in uniform.               ANGLE ON AMOS               He holds the ID and then sits back in his chair defeated and                lets out a very Jewish sigh.                                     AMOS                         Oyyyy.                                                                    CUT TO:               INT. CIA HEADQUARTERS - TERRORISM SITUATION ROOM - DAY               This is a high-tech, ultra modern chrome and glass room which                features a map of the world etched in plexiglass with                terrorist hot-spots marked prominently. On the glass as well                is the logo of the CIA. In this Situation Room we find WINSTON               SCOTT III, a 50-year-old pin-striped suiter who appears to                be amused. With him is Monroe, his Black deputy and Jack. In                front of Jack, spread out on the desk is a file on Ramirez.                We SEE it as Jack does. Notes on the interrogation, Polaroid                photos of Ramirez in custory and the developed pictures from                the roll of film which Ramirez was taking in Jerusalem. Jack                listens to Scott and Monroe, but as he does he is taking in                all the information in Ramirez's file, making no judgments,                just taking in information.                                     SCOTT                         I love it! Those cocky Israeli                          bastards thought they hit the jackpot.                          Got the Jackal right in their own                          backyard...                                     MONROE                         State Department's goin' apeshit.                          And the Navy... Admiral Trost was so                          pissed he was ready to shell the                          port of Haifa.               Jack, however, isn't sniggering. He's thinking hard as he                looks at all the information on the desk.                                     JACK                         You're not gettin' it are ya?                                     SCOTT                         What?                                     JACK                         These weren't some yokels... This                          was the Israeli General Security                          Service... The Mossad. The best in                          the business. They have the most                          complete dossier there is on Carlos,                          the latest pictures of him...                          everything. I mean what's that tell                          you?                                     SCOTT                         That they really ate it this time.                                     JACK                         Scott... doesn't it hurt to walk                          around like that with your head up                          your ass... I mean isn't it painful?               His eyes glance down to the pictures, especially the photos                of the children. Something begins to click.               EXT. NORFOLK, VA - DAY               SUPER: NORFOLK, VIRGINIA               EXT. T-BALL FIELD - NORFOLK, VA - DAY               Almost nothing is as cute as 3 foot 5 inch 6-year-olds                struggling to play the most elementary form of baseball, T-               ball.               ANGLE ON - 6 - YEAR-OLD JOEY RAMIREZ               He is the first baseman and he is intent upon the batter who                stands at the T.               ANGLE ON - THE PARENTS               cheering their kids on. Amongst them we recognize MAURA,                Annibal Ramirez's wife, who is cheering for her son's team.                She holds a ten month old baby as she cheers.               NEW ANGLE               on Annibal Ramirez, resplendent in his summer whites, his                face still showing the faintest remnants of bruises at the                hands of the Israelis. He holds his sea bag in his hand.                There is a waiting taxi behind him as he strides over towards                the baseball diamond.               ANGLE ON - JOEY               He sees his father just as the batter hits the ball.                                     JOEY                         Poppi!               The pitcher scoops the grounder up and tosses it to Joey                whose eyes however have lit up at the sight of his sailor                father home from the sea so the ball hits him in the side of                the head and he goes down. Ramirez wants to rush out to his                son, but Joey straightens himself up quickly, not wanting to                be embarrassed by an over-protective parent.               ANGLE ON - MAURA AND RAMIREZ               Maura has followed her son's gaze at Ramirez and feels no                embarrassment whatsoever as she runs into his arms, still                holding her baby. She kisses him.                                     MAURA                         I thought you weren't coming back                          till tomorrow...                                     RAMIREZ                         I wanted to be here for his game.                          Look how beautiful she is!               He picks up the baby and kisses her.                                     RAMIREZ                         Just like her mother.                                     MAURA                         What happened to your eye?                                     RAMIREZ                         Nothing. Just fell. It doesn't matter.                          I'm home.               EXT. RAMIREZ'S HOUSE - NORFOLK - A MONTH LATER - DAY               It's a stucco, single-level structure in a clean, middle                income neighborhood. Jack Shaw pulls up, crosses out of his                car and knocks on the door. The door opens revealing Ramirez                in a T-shirt and pair of sweats. Jack looks at his face, the                unmistakable face of Carlos.                                     RAMIREZ                         Joey watch Yolanda... okay?                                     JACK                         Jesus...                                     RAMIREZ                         I beg your pardon?                                     JACK                         Lieutenant Commander Ramirez my name                          is Jack Shaw... I'm with the                          government... I'd like to talk to                          you about what happened in Israel.                                                                    CUT TO:               EXT. RAMIREZ HOUSE - BACKYARD - NORFOLK - DAY               ANGLE - CLOSE ON               the barbeque's coals which burst into flame as fluid and                then match are applied. OVER this we hear                                     RAMIREZ                         I want to sue them, okay? I want to                          sue the guy who broke my ribs. I                          want to sue their government and                          their Mossad... and I want to sue                          Golda Meir!               NEW ANGLE - ON JACK AND RAMIREZ               They stand at the barbeque as Joey plays shooting hoops.                Ramirez holds Yolanda. Ramirez and Jack speak quietly.                                     JACK                         Mrs. Meir is dead, Lieutenant                          Commander.                                     RAMIREZ                         Then you might want to have them dig                          her up because I intend to sue her.               Jack chuckles.                                     JACK                         Commander Ramirez when I said I was                          from the government, perhaps I should                          have been more specific. I'm from                          the CIA.               Jack reaches down, opens his briefcase and pulls out a large                photo album-like briefing book. He opens it up and hands it                to Ramirez. On the first page there is an 8◊10 enlargement                of a photo of Carlos entering a building. It is grainy but                it certainly looks exactly like Ramirez.                                     JACK                         Does the man in that picture look                          familiar?               Ramirez looks at the picture with the same look on his face                that Jack had when he saw Ramirez for the first time.                                     YOLANDA                         Poppi...                                     RAMIREZ                         That's not me... I mean I know it                          looks like me... but...                                     JACK                         I know it's not you.                                     RAMIREZ                         It's... this Carlos guy.               Just then, Joey yells from the tree he's in. Jack                automatically hides the picture as if the kid were from a                rival intelligence agency.                                     JOEY                         Poppi, you don't need to watch the                          fire, come climb with me.                                     RAMIREZ                         Get out of that tree, Joey. Your                          mother sees that and I'm dead.               Now when Jack speaks it is more guarded and in even quieter                tones.                                     JACK                         This is the only recent shot we have                          of him... telescopic lens from half                          a mile away taken by the Israelis.                          Can you blame 'em for what happened?                          The only difference is the eyes.               Ramirez looks at the picture in shock at the resemblance.                                     RAMIREZ                         Okay I get it now, you're here to                          talk me out of my lawsuit. But see I                          identified myself but they kept me                          in that cell for two more days chained                          to that wall after I told 'em who I                          was so...                                     JACK                         Lieutenant Commander, I am not here                          about your lawsuit. Carlos is the                          single most vicious terrorist in the                          world. He's personally carried out                          or masterminded the worst terrorist                          attacks in modern history. Men, women,                          children. Children like yours...                          blown to bits or slaughtered in cold                          blood. Annibal... why did you join                          the Navy?                                     RAMIREZ                              (as if by rote)                         To serve my country.                                     JACK                         To serve your country... to protect                          her from her enemies. Well Carlos is                          one of her enemies now. And he'll                          probably become a bigger one...                          terrorism... unfortunately is a growth                          industry.                                     RAMIREZ                         Why are you telling me all this?                                     JACK                         Lieutenant Commander, the governments                          of most countries in the free world                          have been after Carlos for ten years                          and we have nothing to show for it.                          There is exactly one person in the                          world who can help us get Carlos.                          And that person is you.                                     RAMIREZ                         What do you mean... to get him?                                     JACK                         All I can tell you is it may take as                          much as six months to a year of                          preparation. It will involve a high                          degree of risk. That much said, you                          may never as much as lay eyes on him                          yourself. But if we succeed Carlos                          won't be a threat to anyone anymore.                          Now I know you're going to need some                          time to think about it so...                                     RAMIREZ                         No I don't need any time. The answer's                          no.                                     JACK                         Annibal...                                     RAMIREZ                         Lieutenant Commander... I am a Naval                          Officer... that's what I was trained                          for... that's what I'm good at...                          See you came to the wrong address.                          You want James Bond. He lives in                          London and he's got an Aston Martin.                          You can't miss him.               We HOLD on Ramirez's look and Jack's half-smile.               INT. OFFICERS' CLUB - NAVAL BASE - NORFOLK - EVENING               The Officers' Club is decked out for a reception for ADMIRAL                CRAWFORD. All the officers are in dress whites and all the                wives wear white gloves and cocktail dresses as a Navy string                quartet plays softly in b.g. There is a reception line and                the Admiral stands with his aide who introduces each of the                guests who pass through the line.                                     NAVAL AIDE                         Admiral Crawford this is Commander                          and Mrs. Ward Scowcroft.                                     CRAWFORD                         I know your family well, Commander,                          I was with your father at the Academy.                          I expect great things from you Ward...                          great things.                                     SCOWCROFT                         I won't let you down sir.               Next up are Ramirez and his wife Maura.                                     NAVAL AIDE                         Admiral Crawford this is Lieutenant                          Commander and Mrs. Annibal Ramirez.                                     CRAWFORD                         Annabelle?!                                     RAMIREZ                              (smiling)                         It's Annibal sir.                                     CRAWFORD                         Yes... of course... well ... I'm                          glad to see we're getting some Mexican                          American officers in the ranks. I'm                          an L.A. boy myself so I have a real                          soft spot for authentic Mexican                          food... My stomach doesn't always go                          along with it but...                                     MAURA                         We'd love to have you over to dinner                          Admiral but the cuisine would be                          Cuban not Mexican. I think your                          stomach would find it more                          agreeable... not to mention your                          taste buds.                                     CRAWFORD                         You're Cuban Americans... oh I'm                          sorry... you grow up in L.A. and you                          hear Ramirez and... anyway it was a                          pleasure meeting you.               He looks uncomfortably over to his aide who gently keeps the                line moving. CAMERA FOLLOWS ANNIBAL AND MAURA DOWN THE                RECEPTION LINE. There in front of them is Jack in a white                linen suit.                                     JACK                         We do keep bumping into each other                          don't we. How do you do, Mrs. Ramirez?                          I was over at your lovely home the                          other day but I felt cheated because                          I had to leave before I had the                          pleasure of meeting you.                                     MAURA                         The pleasure is mine...                                     JACK                         Para servirle, Yo soy encantado de                          conocerte.                                     MAURA                         Encantada Senor...                                     JACK                         Shaw... Jack Shaw.                                     MAURA                         Senor Shaw. Mucho gusto.                                     RAMIREZ                         My wife speaks English Mister Shaw...                          so do I.                                     JACK                         Perdonname, I didn't think you'd be                          embarrassed to speak Spanish in front                          of the Admiral. A sus ordenes.               ANGLE ON               THE BAR - Ramirez stands at the bar.                                     RAMIREZ                              (to bartender)                         I'll have a club soda and... uhh...                          a glass of white wine please...               Jack steps up behind him. Jack holds a small wrapped package.                                     JACK                         Let me guess the white wine is for                          your wife right? Cause you're afraid                          to drink anything stronger than club                          soda around the brass. How do you                          stand this shit Annibal? I mean                          they're all so fuckin' constipated.                                     RAMIREZ                         My wife is waiting for her wine...                          if you'll excuse me.               Jack stands in front of him blocking his way.                                     JACK                         Oh there's a fiery retort.                                     RAMIREZ                              (under his breath)                         How about fuck you.                                     JACK                         I'd believe it if you said it a little                          louder...               Ramirez controls his anger which is starting to show through                in the bulging veins.                                     JACK                         Look at these guys. You don't belong                          with them. You belong with me. What                          did Darth Vader say to Luke? Come                          over to the dark side? You have no                          idea of the power we have.                                     RAMIREZ                         Hey... I told you I didn't want                          anything to do with you.                                     JACK                         How's it going to look in your jacket?                          Your country came to you requesting                          help and you turned it down. Not                          exactly promotion material, know                          what I mean? These people don't want                          you in their club, Annibal. I do.                                     RAMIREZ                         The answer is no. That's the end of                          it.               EXT. RAMIREZ HOUSE - DAY               We open on a shot of the front door. The doorbell is rung                and the door opens after a beat, revealing Ramirez. We don't                yet see who is at the door.                                     RAMIREZ                         Oh Jesus... what do you want?               NEW ANGLE               Revealing it is Jack who is at the door.                                     JACK                         I want you to come with me.                                     RAMIREZ                         Well then get set for disappointment.                                     JACK                         Okay. Then you are ordered to come                          with me.                                     RAMIREZ                         You can't order me to do shit.               Just then the cellular phone which Jack holds rings. Jack                smiles and holds out the phone to Ramirez.                                     JACK                         It's for you.               Ramirez takes the phone, totally faked out. He presses the                "send" button and gingerly says...                                     RAMIREZ                              (into Cell phone)                         Hello... who? Oh... yes sir... Yes                          sir... Yes sir... Yes sir. I will...                          yes sir.               We HOLD for a beat on Ramirez's look at Jack who stands there                unable to keep from smiling.                                                                    CUT TO:               EXT. BETHESDA NAVAL HOSPITAL - DAY               A helicopter lands in its air ambulance spot outside the                Emergency Room entrance of Bethesda Naval Hospital. Out step                Ramirez and Jack. They cross over to the hospital entrance.                We SEE a sign on the wall identifying this as BETHESDA NAVAL                HOSPITAL - EMERGENCY ROOM ENTRANCE.               INT. BETHESDA NAVAL HOSPITAL - DOCTOR'S LOUNGE - DAY               Jack is there with Ramirez. He hands Ramirez a white lab                coat and puts one on himself. Ramirez's coat has a tag he                doesn't even notice, which says: DR. RAMIREZ on it.                                     RAMIREZ                         What's this?                                     JACK                         Put it on.                                     RAMIREZ                         Why?                                     JACK                         Because I just told you to. You need                          a phone call for that, too?               Ramirez resignedly puts the coat on.               INT. BETHESDA NAVAL HOSPITAL - CORRIDOR - DAY               Jack and Ramirez walk down the corridor.                                     JACK                         The boy was flown here from Germany.                          His parents are U.S. military                          personnel. Navy family. A bomb was                          planted in a grocery store that was                          frequented mainly by U.S. military                          dependents. They believe it was Carlos                          or one of the Cells he runs. How old                          is your kid?               This last is asked almost as an afterthought.                                     RAMIREZ                              (quietly)                         He's six.                                     JACK                         Hmmph... so is this kid.               INT. INTENSIVE CARE - HOSPITAL - DAY               In the hospital bed is a six-year-old swathed in bandages.                The child is pitiful with IVs sticking in him and tubes                running underneath the bandages, and a heart monitor beeping                weakly above him. His parents sit next to his bed. The father                wears the khaki uniform of a Naval Lieutenant.               NEW ANGLE               ON Jack and Ramirez. They watch this scene through the little                window in the door and then they enter the room.               BACK TO SCENE               The parents turn to them as they enter. The parents wear the                look all parents wear in their children's hospital rooms at                the signt of the doctor who may be able to save their child's                life. A look of hope. A look of desperation.                                     FATHER                         Hello Doctor Shaw. Is this... Is                          this the Specialist you told us about?                                     JACK                         Doctor Ramirez, Lieutenant and Mrs.                          Newcomb... the parents of the child                          who was wounded in the terrorist                          attack.               Ramirez's eyes dart in panic from Jack to the Newcombs. They                stick out their hands. Finally, he offers his.                                     FATHER                         You're the one who's going to do the                          surgery.                                     JACK                         He's going to help out.                                     FATHER                         They told us you were the best person                          in the world to do this.                                     JACK                         He's the only one.               Jack turns to Ramirez.                                     JACK                         Here's the boy's chart, Doctor. As                          you can see, one kidney was destroyed                          by the shrapnel. There's a large                          perforation in the left lung, the                          spleen, the large intestine, the                          stomach lining were all torn. There                          are over a hundred individual shrapnel                          fragments. It was obviously designed                          by Carlos to maim, not to kill.               HOLD on Ramirez's look of helplessness which turns to anger.               INT. HOSPITAL CORRIDOR - DAY               Ramirez and Jack walk down the corridor. Ramirez is tearing                off the lab coat.                                     RAMIREZ                         What kind of a sadistic son of a                          bitch are you? You use those poor                          people... you use anything to get                          what you want.               Jack reaches into the large pocket of his lab coat and pulls                out a small photo album, the kind families use to put in the                3◊5 photos of their vacations. He puts it into Ramirez's                hand.                                     JACK                         To get what I want?               He hands him the photo album.                                     JACK                         These are pictures of just some of                          Carlos' victims. Most of them are                          children. We haven't had time to get                          that kid's picture in yet. Up until                          I heard about you, all we could do                          about Carlos was take pictures of                          his victims. I wasn't lying to those                          people. You are the only one who can                          do anything about Carlos. I'm not                          the bad guy, Annibal. Carlos is. I'm                          just trying to make you see the                          choices.               Ramirez is still too angry to speak.                                     JACK                         Who are you angry at? Me for bringing                          you down here or Carlos for blowing                          up that kid? Which of us deserves                          your anger?               INT. RAMIREZ HOUSE - STUDY - NIGHT               Ramirez sits at his desk looking at the presentation book                Jack gave him. The study is a reflection of the man, Navy                pennants, photos, ships in bottles, family photographs. He                is very much at home in this sanctuary.               INTERCUT               Photos of victims. Bloodied children, women, men, each                atrocity labeled with the place of the attack and number of                dead and wounded.               Just then there is a knock at the door. Ramirez closes the                book and covers it with a newspaper as his wife Maura enters                wearing a very sexy teddy with a short robe over it, giving                off the promise of a wonderful night of conjugal bliss.                                     MAURA                         What are you doing?                                     RAMIREZ                         I was just reading some... manuals...               She bends down and kisses his neck.                                     MAURA                         Read 'em on the Navy's time... this                          is my time...               She sits into his lap, they kiss and the robe slips down off                her shoulders. He kisses her more passionately now.               INT. CHILDREN'S ROOM - RAMIREZ HOUSE - NIGHT               Ramirez enters. He is wearing a robe, having just gotten up                out of bed. It is perhaps, one in the morning. Joey is asleep,                holding a stuffed animal. The baby is asleep in her crib                looking like a little angel. Ramirez pulls the cover up on                the baby and pats her gently so as not to wake her and then                bends down and kisses his son.               EXT. NEW LONDON, CONNECTICUT - SUBMARINE BASE - DAY               WE SUPER THE WORDS: "NOVEMBER, 1986"               Ramirez pulls up in a car with his wife and two children. He                is wearing his khaki uniform and carries a sea bag. He                embraces Maura.                                     RAMIREZ                         You'll see... it'll go by fast.                                     MAURA                         Not fast enough.               Ramirez bends down to hug Joey.                                     RAMIREZ                         You take care of Mommy, okay?                                     JOEY                         But why do you have to go?                                     RAMIREZ                         Well they're finally giving me my                          chance to go into subs... that's                          what I've always wanted you know...                                     JOEY                         New color subs...                                     RAMIREZ                         Nuclear...                                     JOEY                         Is there going to be a war, Poppi?                                     RAMIREZ                         Not if I can help it.                                     JOEY                         Then why do you need to go away?                                     RAMIREZ                         Because sometimes countries need                          soldiers and sailors to be on guard                          so there won't be a war... So all                          the little children like you and                          baby Yolanda will be safe.                                     JOEY                         Why can't somebody else's Daddy go                          on the sub and you could stay here                          and go to my games?                                     RAMIREZ                         Because I'm the one they asked and                          I'm the one who knows how to do the                          job.               He kisses Joey, stands up and kisses Maura and the baby she                holds and walks past the guard gate, showing his ID as his                wife and children wave.               EXT. AERIAL SHOT - MONTREAL, CANADA - DAY               Montreal is an island in the middle of the St. Lawrence. It                is a city part way up a mountain, Mount Royale. We TRACK a                car as it drives up out of the city, up the mountain to of                all places, a cemetery which sits at the foot of a deserted                prison that looms above it. The cemetery like the prison is                deserted. There can be no more desolate place than a graveyard                full of long-dead prisoners whose prison has long since been                shut down.               WE SUPER THE FOLLOWING WORDS: TEMPORARY CIA SAFE HOUSE -                MONTREAL, CANADA               EXT. ROAD LEADING TO CEMETERY - DAY               We SEE Jack's car with him and Ramirez in it driving into                the cemetery. As it does, it crosses in front of a video                camera inconspicuously placed in a tree.                                                                    CUT TO:               EXT. CEMETERY TO ABANDONED PRISON - MONTREAL - DAY               A camera mounted atop a light fixture pans with Jack's car                all the way up to the prison entrance. Signs on the prison                proclaim that it is closed and that trespassing is forbidden.                As Jack pulls up at the prison, a plainclothed operative                comes out and as Ramirez and Jack pull Ramirez's bag out of                the car, the operative slips into the driver's side and whisks                it away. The ground around the area is full of snow that has                not been plowed so the look of desertion is complete.               INT. OBSERVATION ROOM - MONTREAL - DAY               There is an observation tower in the middle of the room which                has become home to the pigeons who now flap noisily out of                it as Jack crosses with Ramirez. The place has the look of                an impromptu military encampment in a bombed out wreck of a                building. In the observation room are several nondescript                types. Jack shows Ramirez in.                                     JACK                         This is an ad hoc operation set up                          specifically for your mission. When                          that's over, not even a trace of it                          will remain. You don't need to know                          anyone's name. And from now on, your                          name is Miguel... Security.                                     RAMIREZ                         So your name really isn't Jack Shaw?                                     JACK                              (smiling)                         Of course it is.               INT. CORRIDOR - OFF OBSERVATION ROOM - DAY               Jack walks Ramirez down the corridor. They pass the                Surveillance Room, the small cell with its satellite dish                and single computer terminal and operator established earlier                as Technician #1. From here, cables snake their way along                everywhere. The place has the look of a mobile high-tech spy                station that just happens to be set up in a former prison.                Ramirez looks around. The idea of being in a prison is                obviously uncomfortable for him.                                     JACK                         Your mother is Irish... Irish                          American.                                     RAMIREZ                         Yes.                                     JACK                         Something wrong, Miguel?                                     RAMIREZ                         ...No... not really.                                     JACK                         Your father was in a Cuban prison if                          I'm correct.               Ramirez turns and looks at him in surprise.                                     JACK                         Your mother used to take you to visit                          him there, didn't she?                                     RAMIREZ                              (quietly)                         Yes.                                     JACK                         I'm sure that's a disturbing memory.               He looks Ramirez straight in the eyes.                                     RAMIREZ                         You didn't set this up in a prison                          because it was the first piece of                          real estate you were shown, did you,                          sir?                                     JACK                         Let's just say everything has its                          purpose. And Miguel... no one is to                          know anything about you other than                          that you're our student. So don't                          call me sir, because it's like wearing                          a sign on your forehead that you're                          military. From here on out forget                          the Navy.                                     RAMIREZ                         Yes sir... Gotcha...               INT. COMMAND ROOM - ABANDONED PRISON - DAY               Jack and Ramirez walk along until they come to a site which                could as easily be in a space station on the dark side of                the moon. There in the middle of a huge room looms a plastic                enshrouded satellite tracking system. The plastic hangs down                from the roof encapsulating this area to protect all of the                state of the art computer equipment from the dust. Inside                this plastic shrouded space we SEE technicians at monitors                which display every approach to the prison as well as monitors                which display the surveillance images transmitted back via                satellite.                                     JACK                         This is our surveillance and satellite                          tracking center. Just as we are                          plotting to destroy Carlos, if he                          knew what we're trying to do, I assure                          you he'd try to find a way to kill                          us first.               INT. PLASTIC COVERED COMMAND CENTER - ABANDONED PRISON -DAY               Jack pushes through the plastic shroud into a command center-               like room. He and Ramirez enter. This place is high-tech,                computers and neon lighting.                                     JACK                         Carlos has two main safe houses. One                          in Libya, one in East Germany. We                          have satellites that pass over each                          one three times a day. Unfortunately,                          the Russians know exactly when our                          satellites are in position so we                          have to assume that Carlos knows as                          well.               They cross over to the satellite tracking monitors which                display both the Libyan and East German safe houses. Sitting                in front of one of the monitors is Amos, typing controls                into the satellite tracking system.                                     JACK                         There's one person I want you to                          meet, though I think the two of you                          have already been introduced.               Amos now turns and comes around to Ramirez.                                     AMOS                         Hello Miguel... My name is Amos.               Ramirez stares at him.                                     RAMIREZ                         Oh yeah... I didn't recognize you                          without my foot chained to the floor.                                     AMOS                         I hope there are no hard feelings.                                     RAMIREZ                         There are a lot of hard feelings.                          And I'm still gonna sue you when                          this is over.                                     JACK                         Miguel, this is a combined Israeli-                         American operation. Amos here knows                          Carlos better than anyone in the                          free world. He was the one who took                          that picture of Carlos in Libya.                                     RAMIREZ                         If you could get a picture of him                          why didn't you just kill him?                                     AMOS                         Don't let all this equipment fool                          you. Carlos still has the home court                          advantage. He has the best protection                          in the world... three layers at least                          at all times. Next and maybe most                          important... Carlos himself. The                          French DST came to arrest him once.                          He was at his apartment, drunk,                          playing his guitar. He actually had                          them convinced it was all a mistake.                          Then he went into his bathroom, took                          a shave mind you so he would look                          his best for the interrogation and                          when he came out managed to shoot                          each of them through the forehead.                          Then he got the informer who had                          betrayed him, put him down on his                          knees and killed him... Think of it.                          He took a shave and didn't even nick                          himself once.               Amos is quiet, lets that sink in.                                     AMOS                         Finally, there are political                          realities. Whoever hits Carlos has                          to realize that he'll unleash against                          himself a fanatical wave of terrorist                          activity in retribution.                                     JACK                         That by the way, is the last question                          you're going to ask. From now on                          you'll get information when and how                          we want you to get it. Not before.                          You don't ask questions, you just do                          what you're told.               EXT. CEMETERY - MONTREAL - SUNSET               Amos, Jack and Ramirez walk amongst the tombstones. Jack and                Amos have warm coats. Ramirez does not. He shivers in the                cold, but tries not to show his discomfort.                                     AMOS                         This is going to be unlike any                          learning experience you've ever had                          before. For one thing, we're going                          to push to all your limits. Fatigue,                          frustration and fear. We're going to                          make you more terrified than you've                          ever been in your life just to see                          how you handle the fear. Any other                          learning experience you get things                          ninety- nine point nine nine nine                          percent right you get an "A." Here                          if you get things ninety-nine point                          nine nine nine percent right... you                          get...               Jack walks right up to Ramirez and mimes a gun with his thumb                and index finger and puts it right up to Ramirez's temple                and goes...                                     JACK                         Dead! And I'll tell you the truth. I                          honestly in my heart of hearts don't                          care whether you live or die. Don't                          take that personal. I don't care                          whether I live or die. I do care                          about getting Carlos. That's all I                          care about.                                     RAMIREZ                         But nothing personal, right?                                     AMOS                         I'm not as cold-blooded as my American                          friend... it would bother me very                          much if you were dead... so we will                          teach you to stay alive... but no                          questions... just do. Otherwise...               He puts the imaginary gun to Ramirez's temple.                                     RAMIREZ                         When do we start?                                     JACK                         You already have. What were the names                          on the last three tombstones you                          passed on your right?                                     RAMIREZ                         I... I don't know, I wasn't looking.                          I wasn't paying attention.                                     JACK                         That's what will get you killed.                          Carlos is always looking... always                          paying attention. Always.                                     AMOS                         Because Carlos is the master of the                          techniques of survival which we will                          teach you and because he is an                          efficient killer for whoever employs                          him, then for him there are simply                          no rules. Unlike you Miguel, you're                          a rule follower, aren't you?               Ramirez says nothing.                                     AMOS                         Carlos is the opposite of that and                          that's what's so seductive, you know?                          He can kill whomever he chooses...                          ravish whoever he chooses... take                          whatever he chooses. Do... whatever                          he chooses. It is to be in many ways                          a superman, not bound by the mores                          or morals of humanity.                                     JACK                         And if you learn what we can teach                          you, you'll be one, too. If not,                          you'll be dead.               INT. ABANDONED PRISON - CAFETERIA - THE NEXT MORNING               It is a huge, empty room. Ramirez sits at the lone table as                Amos enters. Ramirez is eating a bowl of porridge. His breath                steams out in the cold. The room is freezing but instead of                a warm jacket, he wears light prison overalls.                                     AMOS                         Good morning. How's the porridge,                          you like it?                                     RAMIREZ                         'Morning. It's not bad.               He finishes what's left in the bowl. Amos reaches over to a                side warming table. There is a huge pot of porridge there.                                     AMOS                         Good... finish everything in the                          pot.                                     RAMIREZ                         There's got to be like... eight                          helpings in there maybe...                                     AMOS                         No questions... Just do.               From now on, unless otherwise indicated Ramirez is in the                too-tight shirt and tie and light jacket.               Jack is in the distance, observing.               INT. OBSERVATION ROOM - ABANDONED PRISON - DAY               Ramirez is doing furious situps, hanging off the balcony of                one of the tiers, with his feet linked under one of the bars                so that as he does his sit-up it is over an abyss. Amos stands                in front of Ramirez, puffing on a cigar as he speaks, so                that Ramirez is gulping in breaths of cigar smoke as he                exercises.                                     AMOS                         Name and place of birth!                                     RAMIREZ                         Illich Ramirez. Caracas, Venezuela.                                     AMOS                         Your father?                                     RAMIREZ                         Doctor Jose Altagracia Ramirez... Do                          you have to smoke that cigar?                                     AMOS                         Yes.               There is a silence between them. This is obviously the end                of that subject. Then Amos goes on.                                     AMOS                         Carlos' father abandoned him and his                          mother because he wanted to be a                          playboy. Your father abandoned you                          in effect, when he was sent to prison.                          Either way, it's a lonely child                          missing his father. I want you to                          take what you know of your real father                          and superimpose it onto this the                          image of Carlos' father, so when you                          talk of one you are talking of the                          other with the same emotion... the                          same love, the same resentment...                          the same sadness, the same anger.                                                                    CUT TO:               EXT. CEMETERY - MONTREAL - DAY               As Jack and Ramirez walk toward the cemetery, we SEE Ramirez                who wears a lightweight white parka so that he shivers in                the cold in contrast to Jack's heavy winter gear. Ramirez                carries what appears to be a gun.                                     JACK                         You need to not only remember the                          names on every tombstone, but where                          they are so when I call out a name,                          you whirl and shoot.               They walk into a scene that is completely surreal. Standing                behind every tombstone is one of the crew of trainers.               Each man wears a white parka and white pants against the                freezing cold. In the center of their impromptu circle stands                Ramirez, also wearing white, but of much lighter material so                that he shivers in the cold. All of them including Ramirez                hold paint pellet guns. It is a cemetery full of living                targets which can shoot back. Jack stands outside the circle.                                     RAMIREZ                         It's kind of cold. You think I might                          be able to borrow a warmer jacket                          from someone?                                     JACK                         Brisson! We don't want you to be                          comfortable. That's just what will                          get you killed.               Ramirez hesitates a moment, trying to remember where the                tombstone with the name "Brisson" is. The trainer who stands                behind the "Brisson" tombstone has no such hesitation. He                fires at Ramirez and an ugly black splotch of paint explodes                on Ramirez's white suit. Ramirez shakes his head in                frustration.                                     JACK                         DuPres! Paquet!               Ramirez whirls, misses one, is hit again with another black                splotch but hits the Paquet tombstone square in the chest                with a black splotch of his own.               INT. KITCHEN SET - PRISON - DAY               In the middle of a huge room, a movie set has been erected.                There are flats supported by sand bags which form the "set"                of a kitchen. The set is perfect in every way but its position                inside of a huge prison hall lends a quality of the macabre,                since no movie is being shot here and no audience will ever                see these performances. Jack is there with Ramirez. He opens                the refrigerator and Ramirez looks inside as Jack times him                on his watch, then closes the refrigerator. Ramirez sneezes.                He has caught a cold but must ignore it.                                     RAMIREZ                         Top shelf... some milk, some juice,                          maybe some cottage cheese, a couple                          bottles of beer, some tomatoes... I                          don't know...                                     JACK                         What kind of milk, how many cartons,                          open or closed, what kind of juice,                          how full was the bottle, was it                          cottage cheese or cream cheese, how                          many bottles of beer, how many                          tomatoes? This is life and death!               Jack opens the cupboard.                                     JACK                         Look here... Ten seconds, how many                          cups, saucers, plates, look this                          time!               INT. CAFETERIA - ABANDONED PRISON - MONTREAL - DAY               Ramirez sits practicing his Venezuelan accent in English,                repeating phrases he hears from a native speaker on a tape                recorder as he eats another of the interminable bowls of                porridge.               EXT. CEMETERY - MONTREAL - DAY               Ramirez once again stands in the center in his lightweight                white parka surrounded by trainers in heavy white parkas.                Jack is nearby.                                     JACK                         Here's the thing about Carlos. He                          doesn't fit any mold. His father is                          an extraordinarily wealthy playboy                          who's a Marxist at the same time...                          DuFraisne!               Ramirez whirls and misses and is hit by the trainer. Jack                shakes his head and continues.                                     JACK                         The guy's such a fanatic he names                          his three sons after Lenin. And I                          don't mean John. The same thing is                          true for Carlos. He's a guerilla                          fighter who loves champagne and                          caviar... LaPierre!               Ramirez whirls and hits the trainer in his shoulder at the                same time that he himself is hit. Jack's look betrays no                emotion.                                     JACK                         He doesn't want to be Che Guevara,                          he wants to be the James Bond of the                          People's Liberation Front. It's not                          so much radical chic as an excuse                          for sadism. Paquet!               As he says this last, Ramirez whirls and shoots another                trainer, dead in the chest. Ramirez smiles. He is beginning                to enjoy playing terrorist.               EXT. DIRT ROAD - DAY               We are speeding down the road in a suped-up open Jeep POV                Ramirez, who is driving. Suddenly, we SEE Jack and Amos up                ahead. Amos pulls a lever and a barrier snaps up at chest                level across the road. We jam on the brakes and                                                                    CUT TO:               INT. JEEP - DAY               Ramirez is at the wheel. Suddenly he sees the barrier plate                a hundred yards in front. He hits the brakes and the emergency                brake at the same time.               NEW ANGLE               The tires scream and leave black tracks, as the Jeep slides                sideways towards the barrier. Just before reaching it, the                car completes a 180-degree turn and roars back, but at the                last second fishtails and swerves off the road.               ANGLE ON - RAMIREZ               He is obviously frustrated.               ANGLE ON - JACK               He shakes his head in disgust.                                     JACK                         Dead again.               EXT. BELVEDERE - DAY               Ramirez and Jack walk together on the belvedere which is an                observation area with a railing around it, overlooking the                abandoned prison. In between the belvedere and the prison is                a field which is almost completely barren except for one                tree. It sits down below.               In the distance, we SEE a snow mobile approach with its lights                on. Just then, Jack takes a pocket sized remote transmitter                and slips it into the front pocket of Ramirez's jacket,                turning it on as he does.                                     RAMIREZ                         What's that?                                     JACK                         It's a transmitter.                                     RAMIREZ                         For what?                                     JACK                         Target practice. You're the target.               Jack quickly moves away from Ramirez. As Ramirez moves, he                notices that the snow mobile changes direction as well, and                continues to home in on him. And then there is a second snow                mobile. And then a third, all of them coming straight for                him. He starts to run. The snow mobiles turn and continue                bearing down on him, driving him closer toward the railing.                We SEE the snow mobiles are controlled by radio antennas,                evidently homing in on his transmitter.               Jack, who has moved quite a ways off, pulls out a Beretta                and sets it on the rail. We SEE on the snow mobiles, a lit-               up remote device.                                     JACK                         If you shoot out the receivers,                          they'll stop. There are ten rounds                          in this clip. The first two are live,                          the next three dummy, then three                          live, two dummy.               Ramirez stands like a deer in the headlights for an instant                and then goes running for the gun. He cannot make it to the                gun before the first snow mobile barrels down upon him. He                is right against the rail now and goes diving into the snow.                The snow mobile goes directly over him and crashes through                the rail, falling down to the field below. Ramirez is up and                running, grabs the gun, fires two rounds and misses, then                hits three dummy rounds which click away as the second snow                mobile draws closer. Then he fires and hits a headlight,                then fires and misses, then fires and hits the remote device.                That snow mobile stops in its tracks. The third now barrels                down on Ramirez. He clicks off two dummy rounds and just                before the snow mobile hits him, a shot rings out. The                receiver shatters and we SEE Jack standing with the smoking                gun with which he has just saved Ramirez's life.                                     JACK                         Three times dead.               INT. CAFETERIA - ABANDONED PRISON - DAY               It is after lunch and Jack and Amos are eating ice cream                sundaes while Ramirez sits eating the last bit of porridge                from the huge bowl.                                     AMOS                         You finish all your porridge?                                     RAMIREZ                              (deadly)                         Yeah... yeah... I finished all my                          porridge.                                     AMOS                         Good now you can have some more.               He motions for the waiter who crosses with a fresh pot and                starts to ladle it out into Ramirez's bowl. Ramirez reaches                up and tears at his tie and rips open the top button. Ramirez                explodes batting the waiter's hand away and sending the bowl                flying.                                     RAMIREZ                         Enough of this porridge shit man, hi                          jo deputa! Fuck it man... I ain't                          eatin' no more of this shit! And I                          ain't wearin' this fuckin' shirt                          anymore either!               With that he rips off the tie and rips open the shirt.                                     AMOS                         Why Miguel amigo, whatever is the                          matter?                                     RAMIREZ                         I'll tell you what the matter is                          man... I been here twelve mother                          fuckin' weeks an' all I've had to                          eat the whole time is this shit! And                          those dumb ass basketball games...                          what's that?! You damn near kill me                          with those fucking snowmobiles... I                          haven't seen my family in three months                          and I still don't know what any plan                          is or what I'm supposed to be doing!                                     AMOS                         Congratulations! You're acting like                          a child... like a spoiled brat...                                     JACK                         And not a Navy Lieutenant Commander,                          which is exactly what would get you                          killed.                                     AMOS                         Finally you're acting like a willful                          spoiled child which is just what                          Carlos was.                                     JACK                         We couldn't just let you study Carlos.                          If this thing is going to work, you                          have to become him.               Ramirez looks at him in disgust.                                     RAMIREZ                         The two most elite intelligence                          services in the world and the best                          you can come up with is this porridge                          bullshit?!                                     AMOS                         As a child Carlos was fed that                          porridge that you love so much every                          day. He hated it. Every woman or man                          he's ever been close to he told about                          that porridge... how the very smell                          of it made him sick. And now it makes                          you sick.                                     JACK                         When he was in school he was a scrawny                          little kid. The last one to get picked                          for any teams. He felt as clumsy as                          we've made you feel...                                     AMOS                         His father smoked cigars... the same                          ones whose smell you complained about.                          The only cover that can save your                          life... is the one you believe                          yourself. Now... are you ready to                          pass the next test?               Ramirez just looks at them, in a kind of shock.                                     AMOS                         I'll take that for a yes. You're                          about to go into your house. Your                          wife has told you she was away with                          the children for a week. She is                          entering the house for the first                          time in a week with you. The children                          are still at Grandma's so the two of                          you have a nice romantic time ahead                          of you. Walk through the house...                          through the living room and the                          kitchen only. You have thirty seconds.                          Walk casually through the house so                          as not to make her suspicious of                          anything you do and find out if she's                          telling you the truth or not. If you                          pass this test your questions will                          be answered. If not... you'll be                          sent home to Virginia and this will                          be the end of it.               INT. ABANDONED PRISON - LIVING ROOM SET - MONTREAL - DAY               Ramirez walks casually through the living room with camera                following. Amos and Jack walk behind him. Ramirez bends down                to tie his shoe near the sofa. He crosses into the kitchen                and camera follows. He opens the refrigerator and takes out                a carton of milk. He takes a drink from the carton and                dribbles some onto his shirt and onto the floor. He gets an                "I'm such a slob" look on his face. Then he replaces the                milk, crosses to the sink, takes the sponge off the sink and                a paper towel. He mops up the spill with the sponge first                and then with the paper towel, then tosses the paper towel                into the trash. As he speaks, Ramirez himself will be amazed                at how much he is able to deduce using the techniques he's                been taught.                                     JACK                              (looking at watch)                         Time's up.                                     AMOS                         Nu? Is she telling the truth or lying?                                     RAMIREZ                         She's got to be lying, otherwise                          this would be a very short test and                          I don't think that's what you had in                          mind. She had a man over.                                     JACK                         How do you know?                                     RAMIREZ                         She hasn't been here in a week? Then                          why was the sponge still damp. It                          means she washed dishes. Take a look                          at the dish rack. There's water in                          the tray underneath it. Probably                          from a couple of plates. There's a                          bit of water in the silverware tray.                          The milk is still fresh... not even                          a hint of being sour and the date on                          it is a week from today... means she                          just bought it yesterday or the day                          before. The margarine's fresh-bought                          but it's already been opened. Same                          with the bread.                                     AMOS                         How do you know it was a man?                                     RAMIREZ                              (ignoring him a beat)                         She might have met him at a bar                          because there's a book of matches in                          the garbage. She was probably careful                          to throw the cigarette away but                          there's still a bit of ash and that                          cigarette smell at the bottom of the                          liner.                                     JACK                         What else?                                     RAMIREZ                         I think they made love on the sofa                          because one of the cushions has been                          turned over and there's the                          indentation of a tennis shoe print                          in the rug over there.               He looks down at Jack's shoes.                                     RAMIREZ                         Sorta like the ones you're wearing,                          Jack. Besides, I know it was a man                          because I smelled after-shave on the                          couch.               He gets a quizzical look, crosses to the couch, sniffs.                                     RAMIREZ                         ...Cheap kind.               He crosses to Jack and sniffs Jack as well.                                     RAMIREZ                         Jack... you've been fucking my wife.               He holds index finger and thumb up to Jack's head like a                gun, reprising his mentor's gesture to him and making the                sound of a gunshot with his mouth.                                     RAMIREZ                         Now who's dead?                                                                    CUT TO:               EXT. CEMETERY - DAY               We have four quick cuts. Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! In each one,                Ramirez who stands in the center of the trainers, whirls                like a ballet dancer and beats each trainer to the punch,                hitting dead center on each one with his paint pellet gun.                From the side, Amos and Jack nod to each other approvingly.               EXT. CEMETERY - DAY               A triumphant Ramirez walks with Amos and Jack.                                     JACK                         The plan is to get the KGB to                          eliminate Carlos for us. Carlos knows                          every link between the KGB and every                          terrorist organization in the world.                          He's not only the smoking gun, he                          knows every contact there ever was.                          We make the KGB think that Carlos is                          ready to turn... ready to go over to                          the CIA, and they'll take him out.                                     RAMIREZ                         Why would they think Carlos would go                          over to the CIA?                                     AMOS                         Money... fifty million... not for                          the forces of world revolution this                          time, but for him, in his pocket                          with a new identity and CIA                          protection. They'll believe it... if                          we lay it out right... they'll believe                          it.                                     RAMIREZ                         When do we move?                                     AMOS                         Not so fast. You're far from ready.                          I would think another three months                          of training and then...                                     RAMIREZ                         Bullshit! I'm ready now. Give me any                          test you want. Christ, I already                          passed your tests... what more do                          you want?               EXT. ABANDONED PRISON - SUNSET               The sun is just setting. There is the silhouette of the prison                in the snow. A kind of dark serenity permeates the scene.               INT. CAFETERIA - ABANDONED PRISON - SUNSET               Ramirez sits at the table in the huge, dark and empty room.                The table is set with champagne and caviar. He has his Arabic                book and tape and earphones.                                     RAMIREZ                              (studying to himself                               in Arabic)                         Shoo Ismak? Isme... Carlos. Isme                          Carlos.               INT. NEW MONITORING ROOM - ABANDONED PRISON - EVENING               We are in a new setting. It is a kind of dungeon, perhaps                once a solitary confinement cell. It is crowded here now                with Jack, Amos, and Technician #1 who sit in front of a new                bank of monitors. On one we SEE Ramirez eating in the                cafeteria.                                     AMOS                         It should be hitting him now...               ANGLE ON MONITOR               We PUSH IN on Ramirez on the monitor.               INT. CAFETERIA - ABANDONED PRISON - EVENING               Ramirez sits as before. He is eating his caviar as he looks                at his Arabic textbook.               ANGLE ON - THE TEXTBOOK               It shows a picture of a street in an Arab country, possibly                Libya. It is a typical street scene; a dispassionately sterile                photograph in which one can almost hear the BBC announcer                voice in your head saying, "And here is a typical scene in                lovely Tripoli..." There is a man in a business suit walking                on the sidewalk in this picture. We CUT back and forth between                Ramirez and then as Ramirez strains to look harder,                unbelievingly, we PUSH IN tighter on the picture from his                POV and to our amazement, the man in the picture looking                back up at us is Ramirez! Then suddenly the man in the picture                moves and his finger comes up to his lips and he looks at us                and says, "SHHHHH." Just then, a street vendor in the same                scene pulls out a gun and shoots Ramirez in the picture in                the head. Ramirez falls and the picture goes back to a still                shot of Ramirez lying face down in the black and white photo,                oozing black blood onto the white sidewalk of beautiful                downtown Tripoli.               He looks out the window at the bluish sky as we shift focus                between him and his background. He looks down at the bowl of                porridge.               ANGLE ON - THE CAVIAR               It is crawling with ants.               BACK TO SCENE               Ramirez picks up the bowl and throws it across the room.                                     RAMIREZ                         Jack! Jack!!!! Amos!! You                          motherfuckers!               He gets up, looks at the TV camera and walks down the corridor                to the observation room.               INT. CORRIDOR - ABANDONED PRISON - MONTREAL - EVENING               Ramirez walks down the corridor past the surveillance room.                The satellite dish is still there but there are no technicians                to be seen. He follows the cable that snakes down the corridor                towards the command room.               INT. COMMAND ROOM - MORNING               Ramirez walks along the cable until he comes to the plastic-               enshrouded satellite tracking system. He pulls one of the                plastic panels to discover that the place is totally empty.                He bends down and picks up the cable as if it were a lifeline                on a strip at stormy sea. He follows it hand over hand to                where all the equipment was -- it's gone. He looks around                and through the plastic, starts to see the silhouettes of                people moving and talking. Abruptly, he pulls the panel aside --                just some pigeons against the moonlight shafts.               INT. OBSERVATION ROOM - EVENING               Ramirez enters the Observation Room with its looming                observation tower that now has become home to the hundreds                of pigeons inside it. The place is completely deserted.                                     RAMIREZ                         Jack!!               At the sound of his shout, hundreds of pigeons explode out                of the observation tower like bats in a primal cave. Ramirez                instinctively crouches in terror.                                     RAMIREZ                         Amos you piece of shit! Wen anta?                          Coos echtak ya sharmuta!               ANGLE ON               POV Ramirez. It is blurry and then there are brilliant flashes                that cut across our eyes, slicing across our vision, blinding                us.               BACK TO SCENE               Ramirez knows they have doped him.                                     RAMIREZ                         So she tried the first bowl of caviar                          and said, that's too hot, and she                          tried the second bowl and said, that's                          too cold and so she tried the third                          little itsy bitsy bowl of caviar                          that belonged to little Miguel and                          that turned into maggots and that                          was just right...               INT. CORRIDOR - ABANDONED PRISON - NIGHT               Ramirez runs down the corridor. There are cells on either                side of him now. They are empty. He is trying to hold onto                his sanity.               NEW ANGLE - POV RAMIREZ               The cells are now full and each of the cells contains...                him! He is trying to get out of all of them.               ANGLE ON - CELL #1               Ramirez is in Carlos' black jeans and T-shirt.               ANGLE ON - CELL #2               Ramirez is in his dress white Navy uniform.               ANGLE ON - CELL #3               Ramirez is dressed as a doctor, operating on a patient with                Jack assisting him. Ramirez pulls a brain out of the patient's                head.                                     RAMIREZ                         Here's the problem, Doctor. He needs                          a new brain.               He tosses the brain to Jack who catches it.                                     JACK                         Brilliant, Doctor!               Jack eats the brain.                                     JACK                         And tasty, too!               ANGLE ON - RAMIREZ               as he walks down the corridor.               INT. CORRIDOR - DAY ANGLE ON - RAMIREZ'S HAND               It morphs from his own hand to that of a child and the child's                hand gives birth to a woman's hand who morph's up alongside                of him. It is Ramirez's mother.               NEW ANGLE               Child Ramirez and his Mother walk down the corridor behind                two Cuban prison guards. The cells are full of Cuban political                prisoners. There are shouts and screams of agony from men                being tortured somewhere far off. They reach Ramirez's                father's cell. Child Ramirez reaches out for his father's                hand. A guard pushes his hand away. RAMIREZ'S FATHER speaks                in Spanish.                                     RAMIREZ'S FATHER                         Vaya mi hijo. Vaya rapido!               INT. CORRIDOR - ABANDONED PRISON - NIGHT ANGLE ON - PIGEONS               They come flapping their wings, dive bombing at us.               NEW ANGLE - RAMIREZ               He walks in his black jeans and T-shirt. The cells are empty                around him but up ahead he hears the sounds of someone making                love. Well, not making love... fucking. He approaches the                sounds and there in one cell is is wife Maura under Carlos,                humping away at her. Carlos looks up at Ramirez.               ANGLE ON CARLOS               in cell humping Maura.                                     CARLOS                              (looking at Ramirez)                         I think she likes me better... don't                          you baby. She likes it rough... you                          never knew that? Yala... ruh mi hun.               He motions for Ramirez to leave.               ANGLE ON - RAMIREZ               He is about to rush the cell when more pigeons come flapping                down at him. He turns and...               INT. CORRIDOR - ABANDONED PRISON - NIGHT - SFX NEW ANGLE               The pigeon becomes a dove gliding in a shaft of moonlight.                Then it leaves the moonlight and it turns into a crow.               NEW ANGLE               The crow turns back into a dove and then suddenly the dove                begins to choke, to vomit. It opens its beak and out of its                mouth emerges the wet, slimy head of a full grown ravenous                crow. It is coming straight out of the dove's mouth and                straight at us, to devour us. We HEAR RAMIREZ SCREAM OVER                THIS.               INT. ABANDONED PRISON - CORRIDOR ENTRANCE - MORNING               Jack and Amos walk down the corridor. They both look as if                they have been up all night, which indeed they have. Both                are in need of a shower and shave.                                     AMOS                         I hope we didn't go too far with                          this.                                     JACK                         I'd rather have him wind up in a                          mental institution fucked up on LSD                          than shot in some back alley in Libya.                          If he can't handle this, he sure as                          shit can't handle going operational.               They round the corner. There, looking up at them, sitting in                a chair, showered, shaved, looking fresh and ready to greet                the day is Ramirez. He is reading his Arabic book. He looks                up at them.                                     RAMIREZ                         Okay... what's next?               INT. KGB HEADQUARTERS - CORRIDOR - MOSCOW - NIGHT               We begin on a shot of a huge statue of Lenin which dominates                this corridor. As camera swings around we SEE a HEAD KGB                OFFICER with his KGB AIDE. OVER this shot we SUPER:               KGB CENTRAL COMMAND - MOSCOW               The head KGB officer holds a report. He reads aloud in Russian                and we SUPER ENGLISH SUBTITLES. From now on, all dialogue in                Russian will be indicated by putting the dialogue in                parentheses. The KGB Officer is very smug about the report.                                     HEAD KGB OFFICER                              (glancing up from                               report)                         [We're just gotten information from                          our resident in Zurich that the CIA                          head of station there has deposited                          letters of credit in the amount of                          fifty million dollars into the account                          of a Mister Paulo Ortega... It would                          appear the Americans are dangling a                          very impressive bait for what I can                          only assume is a very juicy fish. I                          want to know who this Paulo Ortega                          is and what he's going to give the                          CIA that is worth so very much money.                          And then we'll see what we can do                          about that.]               He smiles with a great deal of self-satisfaction.               EXT. COUNTRY ROAD - MAGIC HOUR - AERIAL SHOT               Ramirez races down the road in the Jeep. The road twists and                turns as a light snow begins to fall.               INT. JEEP - NIGHT               Ramirez drives and we SEE that he has an earpiece which goes                to a Walkman tape recorder. We HEAR the instructions being                fed to him on the tape in Jack's voice:                                     JACK (THRU TAPE)                         You're going to hit a hairpin turn                          exactly three tenths of a mile from                          the stop sign which should be coming                          into view at any minute.               NEW ANGLE - ON THE STOP SIGN UP AHEAD BACK TO SCENE               Ramirez starts to slow down.                                     JACK                         Don't stop for the stop sign, don't                          even slow down for it. You've got to                          hit the hairpin exactly fifteen                          seconds after you pass the stop sign.               We see that Ramirez is going 60 miles an hour down the                straightaway. The road is open and straight ahead. Ramirez                drives on with total focus. The intensity is obvious. Up                ahead is a hairpin turn.                                     JACK                         The hairpin should be right in front                          of you. Keep your focus. You can't                          let down even after you negotiate                          the turn. You never know what's going                          to be around the next corner... or                          whose life might depend on your                          reactions.               NEW ANGLE               ON the Jeep as it negotiates the turn.               INT. JEEP - NIGHT               We have a shot of the road, POV Ramirez through the                windshield. Suddenly as we negotiate the hairpin turn, there                up ahead of us sits Jacks in the middle of the road TIED TO                A CHAIR, looking straight at us.               ZOOM TO JACK               sitting straight, tied into the chair so that he could not                run if he wanted to. He doesn't move, just stares forward,                as if trying to lock eyes with Ramirez.                                     RAMIREZ (O.S.)                              (as his hand starts                               for brake)                         You asshole!               HIGH ANGLE               The Jeep turns slightly to the right, then sharply to the                left. And as its back wheels lock, it slides and completes                the 180-degree turn. Just short of Jack.               CLOSE - JACK               His face is white, his stare frozen. He has seen death before.                Never that close.               BACK TO SCENE               Ramirez jumps out of the Jeep, coming straight at Jack.                                     RAMIREZ                         You crazy-assed mother fucker! I                          could have killed you!                                     JACK                         You can't let down! This isn't a                          game... it is life and death. You                          have to be ready for anything, all                          the time.                                     RAMIREZ                         Fuck you!               Just then we HEAR the roar of the snowmobiles coming out of                nowhere, bearing down towards them.                                     JACK                              (calmly)                         The clip in your gun has three live,                          two dummy, one live, three dummy,                          one live.               Ramirez looks at him, pushed to the breaking point now. He                pulls the transmitter out of his pocket and crosses right to                Jack and stuffs it in Jack's pocket.                                     RAMIREZ                         No rules, Jack? Then you fucking                          deal with it.               Ramirez waits for Jack to say something... to protest... to                say anything. Jack says nothing. Ramirez turns in a fury and                starts walking away as the snowmobiles bear down from four                different directions, coming straight towards Jack. Jack                says absolutely nothing. Ramirez turns and sees Jack is making                absolutely no attempt to toss the transmitter. Jack simply                locks eyes with Ramirez. Jack is not going to budge. Ramirez                turns his back and is about to continue walking away but the                noise of the snowmobiles bearing on the unrelenting Jack                grows louder. Ramirez can take it no more. He turns, pulls                out the gun and must run right to where Jack is in order to                get shots off at each snowmobile. He fires through the dummy                rounds until he takes out all four snowmobiles, the last of                which comes to rest only a few feet away from them both.                Ramirez is exhausted. When Jack speaks it is quietly and                with contempt.                                     JACK                         You pussy. You rule-following pussy.               Ramirez turns, looking at Jack, unable to believe his ears.                                     JACK                         You know why you don't fuck around                          on your wife? Not because you don't                          want to. You're a man. You want to                          fuck everything. But you don't...                          because you're afraid it would cost                          you what... your wife, your family,                          your self respect maybe...               As we watch Ramirez listening to Jack, we can see him going                over the edge.                                     JACK                         ...You know what Carlos would do if                          he was married? He'd bring whatever                          woman he wanted home and make his                          wife fuck her. That's what no rules                          means. That's what you're too much                          of a pussy to get.               Ramirez walks straight over to Jack, pulls his hair back so                that Jack is staring up at him and then he puts the barrel                of his gun at Jack's temple. Ramirez is not bluffing now. He                has gone completely into the dark side for the first time.                                     RAMIREZ                         No rules, Jack? Okay... We're in a                          fucking foreign country on a secret                          mission... I can't be here, I'm on a                          submarine. The U.S. Navy's my alibi.                          What's the count on my ammunition,                          Jack? Is this one live or a dud?               He stares down at Jack and we can see that Jack does not                remember the count, as Ramirez pulls the trigger. CLICK!                                     RAMIREZ                         What about the next one, Jack? Live                          or dud... who cares... no rules,                          right?               He pulls the trigger. CLICK!                                     JACK                              (perversely proud)                         Yes, my good son...                                     RAMIREZ                         Think you can be lucky three times                          in a row?               He pulls the trigger. CLICK!                                     RAMIREZ                         How about four?               He is about to pull the trigger once again when we HEAR:                                     AMOS (O.S.)                         Annibal! It's over!               Ramirez turns to see him, as Amos walks down the embankment                towards him.                                     JACK                         Stay out of it.                                     AMOS                         It's over, Jack. He's it.               Ramirez stays with the gun pointed at Jack. It is obvious he                is in a killing mood, perfectly ready and willing to squeeze                the trigger once again. Amos takes the gun from Ramirez,                points it up and pulls the trigger... KABOOM!               EXT. ROAD BY DEAD SEA - AERIAL SHOT - DAY               WE SUPER THE FOLLOWING: ISRAEL - APRIL, 1987               We have an aerial shot over a date plantation which sits                incongruously in the middle of the desert beside the Dead                Sea, as we MOVE TO REVEAL a car driving along this barren                road. The CAMERA pivots around the car as we See the landscape                scroll behind it; the tortured rock formations, the mountains                reflected in the water, a desert-scape that looks like                something out of Dante, as Peugeot cuts its way along the                road.               INT. PEUGEOT - DEAD SEA - ISRAEL               Jack is in the car with Amos, who drives, and Ramirez. Ramirez                has a bandage across his nose. He has black eyes from plastic                surgery. Jack hands Ramirez a small bundle which he opens.                Inside is a black T-shirt and black jeans.                                     RAMIREZ                         What's this?                                     JACK                         What you'll wear from now on. Black                          T-shirt and jeans... it's the only                          thing Carlos ever wears whenever                          he's not out being a terrorist. It's                          the opposite of what he was forced                          to wear as a child... you know...                          the school uniforms, the white tight                          collared shirts... It's become like                          a fetish for him.                                     AMOS                         And to match your new wardrobe, in                          another two days your bandages will                          come off and you'll get to show your                          beautiful new nose to Carla.                                     RAMIREZ                         Who's Carla?                                     JACK                         She's a Venezuelan. She was Carlos'                          main squeeze about fifteen years                          ago. She'll put the finishing touches                          on the act.                                     RAMIREZ                         Why's one of Carlos' girlfriends                          helping us?                                     AMOS                         Carlos used her... like he uses a                          lot of women. She emigrated to Israel.                          Now she wants to get even.                                     RAMIREZ                         What do you mean used her. How?                                     JACK                         He put her on an airplane with a                          bomb in her suitcase. She would have                          gone up with everything else. What's                          that song say? There are fifty ways                          to leave your lover? Make that fifty-                         one.                                     AMOS                         She's about thirty-seven... still                          attractive.                                     JACK                         So it's not gonna be a hardship.                                     RAMIREZ                         What's not gonna be a hardship?                                     JACK                         Making love to her.               Ramirez looks at Jack in shock.                                     JACK                         Annibal... the way in is a woman...                          her name is Agnieska. It's part of                          the trap. The KGB will be watching                          her... we'll make sure of that...                          She's a more recent girlfriend of                          Carlos... But they've got to be                          convinced and so does she. Carlos,                          you, are going to ask her to do                          something. She has to believe you're                          him or she won't risk it.               Ramirez just looks at him, as if cheating on his wife was                obviously not part of the bargain.                                     JACK                         What the fuck are you lookin' at?                          You're gonna help murder this guy,                          you draw the moral line at                          extramarital sex?               Ramirez is quiet.                                     JACK                         Don't think of it as cheating. Think                          of it as fucking for the flag.                                     AMOS                         "When in doubt, close your eyes and                          think of England."               EXT. SAFE HOUSE - DEAD SEA - SUNSET               At first we should not realize we are near a building of any                kind. We open on a WIDE ANGLE on the Dead Sea from a stunning                POV. CRANE DOWN to reveal the silhouette of Ramirez smoking                a cigarette. We now SEE that his nose is exactly that of                Carlos. He has just a bit of dark circles left under his                eyes, just enough to make him seem moody. He tosses the                cigarette and turns to enter a room. Now we see that this is                a deserted barracks pock-marked with artillery shells and                machine gun bullet holes from past wars.               EXT. BALCONY - SAFE HOUSE - DEAD SEA - SUNSET               Ramirez turns to enter the barracks with a wide-angle of the                landscape overlooking the Dead Sea. He now wears a black T-               shirt and black jeans. The Peugeot is parked near the barracks                that sits on the edge of the cliff in b.g.               INT. SAFE HOUSE - DEAD SEA - SUNSET               start TIGHT on a shot of an ashtray. It is overflowing with                cigarettes. A woman's hand picks up the butt that is in the                ashtray and with the last of its ember she lights another                cigarette off it. She is CARLA, mid-thirties, hard edged                which mars the beauty she still has. She is intense, neurotic                and bitter.               She and Ramirez are alone in the living room. She sits in a                corner. We become aware of the room. It is a study in                contrasts. Light shoots in through shell holes and cracks in                ruined walls. And yet, the interior is somehow soft, sensuous,                with thick carpet, muslin drapes and a large bed that                resembles at one and the same time, a boxing ring and an                altar. She pays no attention to Ramirez. She doesn't even                acknowledge that he's entered the room. She is in a kind of                reverie.                                     CARLA                         The thing about Carlos is... he                          doesn't lose himself with a woman...                          not with a lover... maybe with a                          whore I don't know... I wasn't his                          whore. Lovers are different to him...                          he might have a use for them... so                          he has to seduce them properly. He                          has to make sure they're so crazy                          about him they'll do anything for                          him.                                     RAMIREZ                         When did you...?               She holds up a hand without looking at him, commanding his                silence.                                     CARLA                         Shhh! You're not here.               She rocks herself back and forth, comforting herself and now                for the first time we see the bottle of Irish whiskey she                holds at her side. She raises it, takes a long gulp, some of                the fluid dripping down the corner or her mouth. She doesn't                bother to wipe it away. It is there next to tearstains on                her cheeks.               Slowly, her rocking back and forth, her primal comforting,                the act of an abused and abandoned child will turn into                strokes, caresses of a secret style from a phantom lover who                will get her in the mood for what she must do. She must get                herself wet. She must get herself ready. She must recapture                what it is to be seduced by Carlos. Her hand is her lover                now.                                     CARLA                         You don't exist until I'm ready to                          let you exist, and then... you do                          exactly what I say.               She leans her head back and conjures Carlos up in her mind.                                     CARLA                         It's not pleasure for him... it's...                          it's... it's... this sick kind of                          conquest... you know this seduction...                          he's got to make you not just a lover                          but a disciple... a worshipper... He                          brainwashes you with his body...                          so... so... you'll do anything...                          you see because he's the perfect                          lover... he does it all to... not to                          please you... but to excite you...                          to... to make it dangerous for you                          and then, that's very sexy too, to a                          woman... that danger... like he could                          kill you in a second... but instead                          he makes you come... So he's almost                          killed you, you see? And you have                          this orgasm right then and it's like                          he's killed you and there isn't                          anything left of you and he makes                          you be born again the way he wants                          you to be. So there isn't a thought                          in your brain that he hasn't put                          there. Not a feeling in your body                          that he hasn't put there.               She masturbates herself stopping just short of climax. Then                she looks up at Ramirez, acknowledges his presence and lets                him exist.                                     CARLA                         Take off your clothes.                                     RAMIREZ                         Just like that?                                     CARLA                         Look Mister...                                     RAMIREZ                         Miguel...                                     CARLA                         I don't want to know your name... I                          don't want to know anything about                          you okay. This isn't fun for me. I'm                          not here to play soft music and be                          romantic. I'm here to help you kill                          him... At least I hope that's what                          you're going to do. They promised me                          it was.                                     RAMIREZ                         Yes.                                     CARLA                         Take off your clothes.               ANGLE ON RAMIREZ               He takes off his clothes. CAMERA SHOOTS FROM THE WAIST UP.                                     CARLA                         You're smaller than him.                                     RAMIREZ                              (shaking his head)                         Great.               Carla slaps him suddenly without warning hard across the                face.                                     CARLA                         That's what he would have done if I                          would have said something like that.                          Without a moment's hesitation. What's                          wrong with you?! No eres ni hombre!               Ramirez back hands her and she flies backwards against the                couch.               ANGLE ON CARLA               lying against the couch. Her mouth is bleeding just a little.                                     CARLA                         Now come to me and kiss where you                          hit.               She puts her finger to her lip and sees the blood. Ramirez                bends down to her, the passion rising.                                     CARLA                         Kiss where the blood is and then                          smear it on my lips so I taste it.               Ramirez bends down and kisses her and the blood smears and                he kisses her passionately.                                     CARLA                         Now go down on me... yes like that...                          si... si... tease me... tease... but                          don't let me come... control me...                          it's got to be when he wants it...                          yeah...               Ramirez's head goes down out of frame.                                                               DISSOLVE TO:               NEW ANGLE               Ramirez and Carla in bed, both naked, Ramirez is on top...                                     CARLA                         Ask me if I like it... he always                          asks... he wants to hear it.                                     RAMIREZ                         You like it...                                     CARLA                         Demand it.                                     RAMIREZ                              (harder)                         You like it?!                                     CARLA                         Yeah...                                     RAMIREZ                         You like it?!                                     CARLA                         Make me beg.                                     RAMIREZ                         Beg for it...                                     CARLA                         Please...                                     RAMIREZ                         Yeah...                                     CARLA                         Please... Tell me you want me to                          come...                                     RAMIREZ                         I want you to come now...                                     CARLA                         You want to feel it all over you...               Ramirez is too turned on now to follow instructions.                                     RAMIREZ                         Oh yeah baby... yeah... you make me                          feel so good.                                     CARLA                         Stop!... Stop it!               She pushes Ramirez back. She sits up gropes for a cigarette.                                     RAMIREZ                         What... What'd I do...                                     CARLA                         He never loses control... He never                          tells you how he feels. He's in                          control. He's the one who makes you                          feel what he wants you to feel. He                          never feels anything... You stupid...                          stupid...               She fumbles with a lighter... Then she throws it aside and                the cigarette.                                     CARLA                         Roll over!                                     RAMIREZ                         Why?                                     CARLA                         On your back!               Ramirez rolls onto his back and she gets on top of him. CAMERA                SHOOTS FROM THE WAIST UP.                                     CARLA                         I'm Carlos... You're me.               She starts humping him. Her voice goes down very low.                                     CARLA                         You like it...               She humps harder. Ramirez evidently does.                                     RAMIREZ                         Yeah.                                     CARLA                         You like it?                                     RAMIREZ                         Oh baby...                                     CARLA                         Ooooo I want to make you come...                                     RAMIREZ                         Yeah...                                     CARLA                         I want to make you come... I want to                          feel it all over me.                                     RAMIREZ                         Yeah... yeahhh... Yeahhhhhh.               Ramirez is almost at the point of orgasm and Carla reaches                down with her hands and starts to choke him.                                     RAMIREZ                              (scared)                         What the fuck are you doin'?                                     CARLA                         Let me... let me do it... Put your                          hands down.               She humps him harder and chokes him and he climaxes and then                she releases her grasp on his throat...                                     CARLA                         He does that... he's crazy... he                          chokes you... just a little.               She gets off him and lights up a cigarette.                                     CARLA                         Then he goes to the refrigerator and                          eats... He's always hungry                          afterwards... always... God I feel                          like filth.               She starts crying and the crying grows louder. Ramirez rolls                over to her to take her in his arms.                                     RAMIREZ                         I'm sorry... I'm sorry.                                     CARLA                         Get your hands off me!                                     RAMIREZ                         Shh... I'm not him... I'm not                          Carlos... I'm...                                     CARLA                         I don't care who you are. I don't                          want to know anything about you...                          except that you're going to kill                          him.               EXT. KGB HEADQUARTERS - MOSCOW - NIGHT               INT. KGB OFFICE - NIGHT               A HEAD KGB OFFICER is with a KGB AIDE. He reads a report.                                     HEAD KGB OFFICER                         [It seems our friendly bank manager                          in Zurich has received instructions                          to put a new name on the account of                          our mysterious Mister Paulo Ortega...                          Agnieska Kozinski. Does the name                          sound familiar?]                                     KGB AIDE                         [Should it?]                                     HEAD KGB OFFICER                         [I ran a check on her. She's a French                          national... originally Polish. She                          was a girlfriend of Carlos.]                                     KGB AIDE                         [Our Carlos?]                                     HEAD KGB OFFICER                         [The question is... is he still our                          Carlos. Or is he about to become                          someone else's.]               EXT. AGNIESKA'S APARTMENT - PARIS - DAY               A beautiful young woman whom we will come to know as AGNIESKA                enters her apartment building.               INT. APARTMENT BUILDING - PARIS - DAY               Agnieska collects her mail. She stops when she comes to a                postcard. We cannot make out what it says, but it has a                profound effect on her. Dialogue is in French with English                Subtitles.                                     AGNIESKA                         My God... My God... It's him.               EXT. - BALCONY - SAFE HOUSE - DEAD SEA - SUNSET               Ramirez stands looking out to the horizon, smoking a cigarette                when Jack comes up behind him.                                     JACK                         Well... not the most painful way to                          burn your bridges behind you, huh                          Miguel?                                     RAMIREZ                         What do you mean?                                     JACK                         Saint Miguel the faithful husband is                          dead. Long live Carlos. You've cheated                          on your wife... now you can do                          anything.                                     RAMIREZ                         What I did in there I didn't do to                          cheat on my wife and you know it.                                     JACK                         Hey, pussy's pussy.               Ramirez turns to look at him as if a light bulb has just                gone on.                                     RAMIREZ                         I just got it about you, Jack. You                          can't get it up, can you?               The look on Jack's face for once, having been caught                completely off guard, betrays the fact that Ramirez is dead-               on. Just then, we HEAR:                                     AMOS (O.S.)                         We've got it. Just confirmed.                                     JACK                         Got what confirmed?               ANGLE ON - AMOS               He crosses towards them, holding a decoded message.                                     AMOS                         The KGB has set up a surveillance on                          Agnieska. And Agnieska has received                          her summons from her long-lost love...                          Carlos, telling her to come and meet                          you. At the meeting you convince her                          you're Carlos. You ask her to handle                          some bank transactions. She will.                          Then the KGB knows Carlos and Ortega                          are the same man. Then later they'll                          see you meet with a CIA agent. They'll                          have all the pieces. They'll know                          Carlos has turned.                                     RAMIREZ                         Where do I meet with this Agnieska?                                     AMOS                         Libya. That's where Carlos is.                                     RAMIREZ                         Couldn't we wait till he takes a                          trip? I mean Libya... shit.                                     AMOS                         The waiting is more dangerous to you                          than going to Libya. We've laid out                          a trap. Now we have to be careful                          not to get caught in it ourselves.               EXT. SHORE OF DEAD SEA - ISRAEL - SUNSET               Ramirez and Amos walk along the road which runs straight                along the Dead Sea. Here and there are strands of barbed                wire and the barracks in the b.g. As they walk, they pass a                sign which says: THE DEAD SEA - YOU ARE NOW STANDING AT THE                LOWEST SPOT ON EARTH... ELEVATION: 393 METERS BELOW SEA LEVEL.                                     AMOS                         Jack doesn't know that we're having                          this talk and I don't want him to                          know... understand?                                     RAMIREZ                         Okay...                                     AMOS                         Nothing can make you ready for combat                          but combat. Jack would be against me                          telling you this... He would say you                          shouldn't have a thought in your                          head that we haven't put there but                          you're not just a box that we're                          going to fill up with our own ideas.                          You have a right to know certain                          things.                                     RAMIREZ                         I appreciate that Amos... a lot.                          It's funny, I started out hating                          you... I mean I'm still gonna sue                          you, don't think you're off the hook                          for my broken ribs, but...                                     AMOS                         But now you love me and we're going                          to run away to San Francisco and                          find a reformed rabbi to perform a                          mixed gay marriage. Listen to me...                          You're going to feel more alone than                          you've ever felt in your life. It                          will hit you all of a sudden and                          you'll think your heart's going to                          jump out of your chest, you'll think                          everyone around you can hear your                          heart beating, and that everyone                          around you is an enemy agent. I want                          you to be prepared for that. So you                          can deal with it. Understand?               In the far distance, we are vaguely aware of a huge truck                barreling along, coming straight down the highway towards                them.                                     RAMIREZ                         Yes.                                     AMOS                         We had an agent... the best we ever                          had in training. We were going to                          infiltrate him into Beirut and then                          use him to penetrate the PFLP. No                          student ever scored higher than this                          man... We set up his cover for six                          months in Argentina. He was perfect.                          And then we sent him to Beirut. He                          got off the plane, went to his hotel,                          went up to his room and had a nervous                          breakdown.               Suddenly it seems, the truck is right on top of them, heading                straight for them, like monster in a child's nightmare. It                passes within inches and Ramirez has to fight to keep from                jumping as the truck roars past them. It is not a monster,                just a truck. Then again, it could have killed them just the                same.                                     AMOS                         We had to mount an operation to send                          in a man posing as a doctor so we                          could drug him and get him out on a                          plane. Okay? Now you understand?                          Nothing prepares you. I want you to                          know that so when it hits you, you                          don't panic, you feel the fear and                          then get rid of it.                                     RAMIREZ                         Jesus...                                     AMOS                         You splash some water on your face.                          You take some deep breaths. You look                          in the mirror and when you look in                          that mirror, I don't want you to                          find Annibal Ramirez. You find Carlos.                          If you find Carlos, that's what                          everyone else will find too. And if                          you find Carlos and anything goes                          wrong, he's the one who can get you                          out of it. Because he's the best.                                     RAMIREZ                              (after a beat)                         I got a wife I got to go back to                          when this is over. I got kids I got                          to go back to when this is over. I                          want to go back as Annibal Ramirez...                          not Carlos.                                     AMOS                         You will... you'll need a time of                          decompression and it will be hard at                          first, but you will. Because inside                          you aren't Carlos... you aren't a                          terrorist. But right now, in order                          to save your life, you've got to be.                          You've got to look in the mirror and                          find Carlos. Do you understand?               It is almost said like the offering of a vow.                                     RAMIREZ                         I do.                                     AMOS                         You won't be able to go in with a                          gun... too risky... so we're going                          to have to get one to you once you're                          in place. How I don't know yet...                          But we'll get one to you. You'll                          make your way out by boat. We'll be                          on it. But we won't be able to help                          if anything goes wrong. We'll make                          our way down the coast to a friendly                          state and then fly back to London,                          and from there back to the U.S.               EXT. LIBYA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT - DAY               As passengers come out of the plane we recognize Ramirez                amongst them.               SUPER: TRIPOLI, LIBYA - MAY 1987               INT. LIBYA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT - DAY               A cold, dreary, oppressive airport. Grim-looking SOLDIERS                and even more menacing SECURITY MEN in dark glasses. In the                line of arriving PASSENGERS, at the passport control booth,                is a limping Colombian businessman. Scanning the place from                behind sunglasses, his heart is POUNDING, POUNDING, POUNDING.                This is it. This is real enemy territory now, and he knows                it.               RAMIREZ'S POV               The foreboding paranoia that everyone is staring at him.                Soldiers, security men, airport employees, other passengers.                They all seem to know his secret. They're all just waiting                for the axe to fall. Ramirez heads over to the Customs booth.                He turns back as a guard pushes him aside to let pass a rich                Arabic family. A young fat girl holding some toys grimaces                at him as she indelicately makes her way with her family                through the crowd. In the b.g. we notice a Mercedes waiting                for them through the glass doors of the airport. Ramirez                continues on his way towards the Customs booth. Behind a                curtain, he sees a man being searched.                                     OFFICIAL                         El Pass'port!               The sudden harsh voice jolts us all.               CLOSE - OFFICIAL               Pockmarked face with exaggerated features. Ugly and mean.                Ramirez hands him his Colombian passport. The POUNDING                quickens.                                     OFFICIAL                         Sheil el Nadara!               He barks in Arabic, motioning Ramirez to remove his                sunglasses. Ramirez does, fighting to remain calm under the                man's granite gaze. The official looks at the passport and                back at Ramirez. The following dialogue is in Arabic with                English subtitles.               Now and for every other scene in which Ramirez passes himself                off as Carlos, he has brown eyes.                                     OFFICIAL                         Ricardo Moran Vargas?                                     RAMIREZ                         Yes.               CLOSE - RAMIREZ'S FACE               Tiny beads of sweat begin to form on his forehead.                                     OFFICIAL                         Your business?                                     RAMIREZ                         Pipes. I sell pipes.                                     OFFICIAL                         Pipes?               Ramirez nods, smiling apologetically, searching for the words                in Arabic. Ramirez struggles to appear calm. His heart's                POUNDING, however, intensifies.                                     RAMIREZ                         For the oil...                                     OFFICIAL                         Oil?                                     RAMIREZ                         Pipes for oil... Petroleum...                                     OFFICIAL                              (after a beat)                         Step over behind the curtain.               NEW ANGLE               Ramirez's luggage is being thoroughly searched by the                Official. Finally the Official looks up at him.                                     OFFICIAL                         All right. You can go.               Finally he stamps the passport.               EXT. LIBYA PALACE HOTEL - DAY               We have a shot of the cab, an old Mercedes coming towards                us, and then under the arch leading to the entrance of the                hotel. Ramirez steps out and he's assailed by a bunch of                kids begging and trying to grab his baggage. He looks around.               ANGLE - POV RAMIREZ               Across the street at a cafe soldiers with guns laugh. From a                shop window, the silhouette of a man seems to look right at                us. Across the street, kids on a balcony throw a water balloon                at a horse pulling a cart and the horse bolts right in front                of Ramirez.               BACK TO SCENE               As the street urchins continue to beg and grab at his luggage,                and the taxi driver demands impatiently to be paid, suddenly                out of nowhere, a bellboy appears and smacks one of the kids                who falls to the ground. They all disperse as the bellboy                takes the luggage and leads Ramirez who pays the cab driver                and then crosses to the hotel.               INT. HOTEL ROOM - LIBYA - DAY               The bellboy enters with Ramirez, sets down his bags and then                opens the shutters of the window. Ramirez tips him silently.                Once the bellboy has left, Ramirez walks to the phone and                checks it out. Then he crosses to the shutters. Perhaps he                sees a shadow looking in his direction from the dark apartment                across the street. He closes the shutters. Just then, there's                a LOUD KNOCK on the door. He jumps and automatically goes                for his gun. But he has no gun... and his heart begins to                POUND again. The LOUD KNOCK repeats itself.                                     RAMIREZ                              (in Spanish)                         Who's there?               An incomprehensible response in Arabic.                                     RAMIREZ                              (in accented English)                         What do you want?                                     VOICE                         Room service.                                     RAMIREZ                              (after a pause)                         I not order nothing.                                     VOICE                         Iced water.                                     RAMIREZ                         Iced water?                                     VOICE                         Yes, sir.               The voice is young, and not too assertive. Ramirez consults                his watch and looks out the window again. Everything still                seems to be normal.                                     VOICE                         Sir...?               Ramirez carefully opens the door. In walks a young, rather                innocent-looking WAITER with a jar of ice water. He wears a                fez on his head. As he places it on a table, Ramirez eyes                him with suspicion. Suddenly the waiter reaches underneath                his jacket and... pulls out a small handgun.               ON RAMIREZ               He is frozen with fear.               ON WAITER               Putting his finger to his mouth to signal silence, he shoves                the gun and silencer under a napkin. Then he takes off his                fez and from within, pulls out a small grenade and extra                clip of ammunition. Without any further attempt at                communication, he exits the room.                                     RAMIREZ                         Jesus.               Ramirez walks back into the bathroom. He splashes water on                his face and takes three deep breaths and then slowly looks                up into the mirror... and finds Carlos.               EXT. STREET IN LIBYA - DOWNTOWN TRIPOLI - DAY               We SEE a beautiful dark haired woman of about thirty coming                down the street. There are several other pedestrians as well.                The woman is Agnieska. She carries a large bag of groceries.               EXT. STREET - TRIPOLI, LIBYA - RESIDENTIAL AREA - DAY               A van is parked on the street. Agnieska walks along. The van                starts. A man whom we will come to know as VLADIMIR adjusts                the mirror. His partner NIKOLAI readjusts it and in it we                SEE Agnieska, walking. The two KGB operatives, now both see                Agnieska.                                     VLADIMIR                         [There she comes...]                                     NIKOLAI                         [Do you see Misha?]                                     VLADIMIR                         [Not yet.]               Behind Agnieska about fifty feet behind her we SEE several                pedestrians, one is an Arab and another a European. Agnieska                goes up into an apartment building.                                     VLADIMIR                         [There he is.]               Around the corner comes another Arab businessman type. The                first Arab stops in front of the apartment house and bends                down to tie his shoe. The second Arab comes up alongside of                him and the first Arab gives an almost imperceptible nod.                The second Arab goes into the apartment house.                                     VLADIMIR                         [He's passing her to Leonid. For                          Russians, they make good Arabs.]               The van makes a U-turn and pulls around the corner to give                them another vantage point of Agnieska's apartment.               INT. VAN - LIBYA - DAY               The two Russian operatives continue their stakeout of                Agnieska's apartment.               INT. APARTMENT - LIBYA - LATE AFTERNOON               Agnieska enters the apartment. She opens the door and slowly                walks in. The apartment is dark. She is about to turn on the                lights when suddenly a hand grabs her from behind around her                mouth and another hand holding a gun snaps right down next                to her head. She drops the groceries and screams but the                hand muffles it. She struggles a bit but the person who holds                her hisses.                                     PERSON HOLDING HER                              (in an Arabic accent)                         SHHHHHHH. One sound and you're dead.               Outside the door we hear faintly the sound of footsteps. We                still cannot make out who is holding her. He appears to be                an Arab in traditional garb completely bald with mustache                and glasses. He speaks in a thick Arabic accent.                                     PERSON HOLDING HER                         Carlos... when is he coming here?               He loosens the grasp on her mouth.                                     AGNIESKA                         I don't know what you're talking                          about.                                     PERSON HOLDING HER                         Don't play games with me. We've had                          you followed. We know you're going                          to meet him. Now, when?!                                     AGNIESKA                         I don't know any Carlos... please                          I'm telling you the truth.               The person holding her still has his gun at her head. He                cocks the trigger back with a loud noise. The gun has a                silencer on it.                                     PERSON HOLDING HER                         This gun has a silencer. There won't                          be any noise. Now talk!                                     AGNIESKA                         I don't know what you're talking                          about... I'm not from here. I just                          came to visit a girlfriend. This is                          her apartment. She'll be here                          tomorrow... please.               The person who is holding her throws her to the floor. He                stands over her.                                     PERSON HOLDING HER                         You're lying...                                     AGNIESKA                         I swear to you... I'm telling the                          truth...               The bald Arab who was holding her slowly takes his belt out                of its loops and puts his gun back in his pants. He holds                the belt as if he is going to strangle her.                                     AGNIESKA                         What... what are you going to do to                          me.                                     PERSON WHO WAS HOLDING HER                         First... I'm going to have some fun                          with you... and then...               He reaches up to his glasses and takes them off and his                mustache and false nose...                                     RAMIREZ                         Then I'm going to have something to                          eat... I'm famished.               PRODUCTION NOTE: THE BEGINNING OF THIS SCENE SHOULD BE PLAYED                WITH ANOTHER ACTOR SO THAT THE AUDIENCE HAS NO HINT THAT                THIS IS RAMIREZ. THEN ON THE CUT WHERE HE TAKES OFF HIS                GLASSES, IT SHOULD BE THE ACTOR PLAYING RAMIREZ, BUT HE IS                BALD.                                     AGNIESKA                         You bastard! I haven't see you for                          two years and this is the way you...               Ramirez laughs.                                     RAMIREZ                         I had to be sure I could still trust                          you.               He bends down to her and kisses her.                                     AGNIESKA                         I came all the way to this god-                         forsaken country didn't I? I've been                          holed up in this place you arranged                          for me for the past twenty-four                          hours... I couldn't eat I couldn't                          sleep... nothing just sitting in                          here waiting for you.               He picks her up in his arms and starts carrying her to the                bed.                                     RAMIREZ                         So why did you leave. . .?                                     AGNIESKA                         Whoever stocked this place with food                          didn't leave much of a selection...                          I wanted to go out and get some nice                          things for you. You weren't supposed                          to be here for another three hours.                          I could have made a nice dinner.                                     RAMIREZ                         I've got what I want to eat in my                          arms right now.               He lays her down on the bed and pulls up her skirt and his                head goes down out of screen as Agnieska arches her back and                sighs.               EXT. HARBOR - LIBYA - LATE AFTERNOON               The silhouette of a fishing boat drifts along the coastline.               INT. FISHING BOAT - LIBYA - LATE AFTERNOON               We see the silhouettes of two men against the out of focus                backdrop of the city. They are Jack and Amos, chain smoking.                Both men dressed as fishermen. Jack checks his watch.                                     JACK                         I wonder what he's doing now.                                     AMOS                         Practicing safe sex, I hope.               INT. BEDROOM - APARTMENT IN LIBYA - SUNSET               Ramirez is in bed with Agnieska. She lays back smoking a                cigarette, sighing.                                     AGNIESKA                         My God... my God...                                     RAMIREZ                         Yeah... Now, let's eat.               He gets up and throws on his pants and crosses into the little                kitchen. Agnieska follows, draping a blanket around her. She                crosses to a window and opens it.                                     RAMIREZ                         What are you doing?                                     AGNIESKA                         Just getting some air in here...                          Don't be so jumpy.               He turns back to the refrigerator and opens it. Agnieska                crosses to the fallen sacks of groceries.                                     AGNIESKA                         Forget about what's in there... I                          found caviar and, here's some pate.                                     RAMIREZ                         Didn't like the food I'd left for                          you, huh?               His eyes scan the refrigerator.                                     AGNIESKA                         Couldn't eat a bite of it.               ANGLE ON RAMIREZ               His eyes still scan. He pulls a cucumber out of the                refrigerator and takes a bite and makes a face.                                     RAMIREZ                         Ughhh... I don't blame you.               He opens the lid on the garbage can and throws the cucumber                inside.               ANGLE ON INSIDE OF GARBAGE CAN               At the bottom are cigarette butts. CAMERA ZOOMS IN ON ONE -                IT IS FILTER-TIPPED.               Ramirez turns around to her and comes up behind her.                                     RAMIREZ                         Who was here smoking a filter-tip                          cigarette my darling?                                     AGNIESKA                         What?                                     RAMIREZ                         You don't smoke filters.                                     AGNIESKA                         What are you talking about?               He grabs her by the back of the neck and shoves her face                down into the garbage can.                                     RAMIREZ                         That's what I'm talking about! The                          filter-tipped cigarette. Who was                          here.                                     AGNIESKA                         You're crazy... no one... I...                          Illich... listen... I ran out of                          cigarettes and... and I was at a                          cafe and I bummed a cigarette... I                          had a cigarette and coffee and came                          back here... that's all.                                     RAMIREZ                              (loosening his grasp                               just a little)                         You bummed a cigarette... that's                          all.                                     AGNIESKA                         Yes... yes... you know I can't have                          coffee without a cigarette.                                     RAMIREZ                         I believe you.               He straightens her up and rises with her. Then all of a sudden                he grabs her by the throat and starts to strangle her.                                     RAMIREZ                         The nearest cafe is two blocks away.                          A cigarette wouldn't have lasted                          that long... so you bummed a cigarette                          but it wasn't in a cafe... it was                          very close to here... In this                          apartment building. Who did you meet                          with? That window was a signal wasn't                          it?! Wasn't it you puta bitch!               He starts to strangle her and we see not Ramirez but Carlos.                                     RAMIREZ                         Tell me or you're dead!               He is choking the life out of her. She croaks out an answer.                                     AGNIESKA                         The French... the DST... They made                          me... I didn't have any choice...                                     RAMIREZ                         You sold me out!               He is choking the life out of her when we hear footsteps                racing down the hall. Ramirez throws Agnieska down, grabs                his gun and grenade and races to the open window and goes                out onto the fire escape. His feet are bare. He has no shirt                on.               EXT. FIRE ESCAPE - APARTMENT BUILDING - LIBYA - SUNSET               Ramirez comes out of the apartment onto the fire escape.                Bullets hit the wall next to him and below we SEE several                DST agents shooting up at him. A DST agent appears inside                the apartment and shoots at Ramirez. Ramirez moves out of                the way of the shattered window.               ANGLE - POV RAMIREZ               looking down and across the alley.               INT. VAN - LIBYA - SUNSET                                     VLADIMIR                         [Gunfire?! What the hell is going                          on?!]               The two Russian operatives get out of their van.               EXT. FIRE ESCAPE - LIBYA - SUNSET               DST agents from below are shooting up at Ramirez. Their                gunfire destroys everything in sight. Ramirez leaps over the                railing and flies across the street, landing on a terrace.                His momentum is so strong that he is propelled through the                glass doors of the terrace.               INT. APARTMENT - NEXT LEVEL - LIBYA - SUNSET               Ramirez goes through the window of the apartment as bullets                continue to fly. He cuts his feet on the broken glass.               INT. APARTMENT - NEXT LEVEL - SUNSET               Ramirez quickly goes through the apartment, falling into the                room, landing hard where a family is eating and watching TV.                We see now that Ramirez is wounded.               INT. APARTMENT HALLWAY - LIBYA - SUNSET               Ramirez comes out the door and starts toward the stairs.                Ramirez suddenly bangs into a DST agent. The two of them                look at each other in shock for a beat. Neither was expecting                the other to be there. The moment seems to last forever.                They are literally face to face. Which one will react first?                Ramirez takes half a step back, raises his gun and fires,                exploding the DST agent's forehead. Ramirez has a moment of                horror, splattered with the blood and brains of this man. We                Intercut a flash of the DST man being hit in an instant,                almost subliminal replay as if Ramirez's brain must register                the scene twice to comprehend it. Just then, a shot rings                out from below and Ramirez, who can't help staring in horror                at the dead man, flees once more for his life.               INT. APARTMENT HOUSE - STAIRWELL - LIBYA - SUNSET               Two more DST agents follow the trail of blood up the stairs.               EXT. ROOF - APARTMENT HOUSE - LIBYA - SUNSET               Ramirez arrives at the top of the stairs. Reaching the edge                of the roof, Ramirez looks across to the other side. The DST                agents arrive at the top and see Ramirez. Ramirez takes a                deep breath and jumps, barely making it, clinging onto a                pipe on the side of the building. Once again, we Intercut                the quick flashback of the DST man being shot. Then, as shots                ring out around him, Ramirez pulls himself up and gets away.               EXT. ROOF - APARTMENT HOUSE - LIBYA - SUNSET               Ramirez checks over the side of the building to see a DST                car following. One agent steps out and starts to shoot at                him. Ramirez fires back and shatters the windshield and then                jumps to the next rooftop.               EXT. ROOF - APARTMENT HOUSE - LIBYA - MAGIC HOUR               Ramirez's silhouette runs from roof to roof.               EXT. ROOF - APARTMENT - MAGIC HOUR               Ramirez trips over a piece of metal and crashes through the                metal roof of a shed, and then, landing, he takes off running                through the narrow alley below.               EXT. ROOF - APARTMENT - MAGIC HOUR               Ramirez runs down the dark and narrow alley.               EXT. NARROW ALLEY - MAGIC HOUR               Outside a Turkish cafe, a DST agent shoots at Ramirez. All                the diners duck for cover. Ramirez shoots out the lights,                the fixture sparks and flies off its hook, sending a string                of lights crashing down toward the DST agent, the bulbs                exploding around his head.               EXT. SMALL ALLEY - NIGHT               Ramirez arrives at a small street. In the distance we SEE                the lights of a bright and busy street. Suddenly, headlights                hit his face, gunfire rings out and Ramirez takes off followed                by the oncoming car.               INT. COURTYARD - LIBYA - NIGHT               Ramirez is running from the car dodging bullets. Ramirez                lobs a grenade at the car. It explodes right in front of the                car, not taking it out, just damaging it. Ramirez runs across                the street and is hit suddenly by a motorcycle which then                veers off and goes crashing into an oncoming car. Ramirez                gets up and runs into a doorway.               INT. COURTYARD - LIBYA - NIGHT               Ramirez, sweating and out of breath, scans his new and dark                surroundings. While bleeding, Ramirez suddenly turns around                and shoots. A DST agent falls out of the darkness, dead.                Ramirez hears something. Turning around, Ramirez shoots an                agent at the top of the building. The body falls and gets                tangled into the string of electrical wires. He reaches into                his pocket, pulls out another clip and re-loads.               EXT. STREET - LIBYA - NIGHT               Ramirez comes out of the doorway and waves down a taxi.                Ramirez jumps into the driver's seat, pushing the driver                aside. When the driver resists, Ramirez throws him out into                the street.               A passing truck nearly hits the driver. Other Arabs start                approaching Ramirez but back off immediately once he raises                his gun. The taxi makes a U-turn and leaves, racing through                traffic. Ramirez checks his mirror and sees that he is picked                up by a DST car. They begin to shoot at Ramirez and his back                window shatters.               EXT. SMALLER STREET - LIBYA - NIGHT               Ramirez is driving full speed. The car jumps as it hits the                junction of the street. Ramirez continues to be followed by                the car of DST agents. Ramirez turns into a small alley.               EXT. NARROW STREET - LIBYA - NIGHT               Ramirez drives down the narrow street. The sides of the car                barely fit through. Sparks fly from the metal scratching                against the walls. The taxi's mirror pops off as the chase                continues.               EXT. SMALLER STREET WITH ARCHES - LIBYA - NIGHT               The cars continue to race through the streets. Ramirez                suddenly sees two kids coming out of a garage. Ramirez veers                out of the way and misses the kids. The car goes crashing                into scaffolding and paint drops down onto the windshield.                Once again, we Intercut the flashback of Ramirez killing the                first DST agent, being splattered with his blood. Ramirez                continues to drive away, wiping away the paint on the                windshield.               EXT. SMALLER STREET WITH CAFE - LIBYA - NIGHT               Ramirez tries to wipe away the paint. The cars continue to                race through the streets.               EXT. STREET - LIBYA - NIGHT               The two cars disappear down a hill. Ramirez's vision is                blurred by the paint on the windshield. A car suddenly appears                that forces him to veer left into a stairwell. The taxi                descends the stairway. Ramirez suddenly pulls the parking                brake and the other car hits Ramirez's car and flips over it                and explodes. Ramirez, watching the explosion, takes off the                other way.               EXT. STREET IN LIBYA - NIGHT               On the harbor, a police car is seen next to Ramirez's taxi.                The sergeant reveals some blood inside the taxi but Ramirez                is nowhere to be found. We SEE the KGB on the scene.               EXT. HARBOR - LIBYA - NIGHT               The fishing boat enters the harbor. Jack stands on the deck                as the boat passes under a bridge. Out of nowhere a man jumps                onto Jack and shoves him to the ground. Holding him by the                neck, Amos appears and is about to hit Ramirez but Ramirez                grabs Amos' arm and stares at him.               EXT. VILLA - LIBYA - NIGHT - ESTABLISHING SHOT               We SEE Carlos' villa through the barbed wire. The silhouette                of a guard is on top of the building.               INT. VILLA BEDROOM - NIGHT               The real Carlos is asleep in the bed with a beautiful Arabic                woman. A Japanese KOJ enters and taps Carlos on the shoulder.                Instantly he springs awake with a gun in his hand pointed at                KOJ.                                     KOJ                         Illich... you must get dressed. There                          was a shooting tonight... We have to                          talk.                                     CARLOS                         What shooting... who?               EXT. FISHING BOAT AT SEA - NIGHT               INT. FISHING BOAT - NIGHT               Jack and Amos are with Ramirez who is furious. Amos is binding                Ramirez's wounds.                                     RAMIREZ                         What the fuck are you talking about,                          you didn't know she was working with                          the DST?                                     JACK                         We didn't. How the fuck should we                          know?                                     RAMIREZ                         They're our allies, for Christ's                          sake!                                     JACK                         They didn't tell us this time. Why                          should they it was their operation.                          And we sure as shit weren't gonna                          let them in on you being here.                                     RAMIREZ                         Why not?! That way they wouldn't                          have tried to kill me and I wouldn't                          have wound up killing them.                                     AMOS                         It would have been too dangerous.                                     RAMIREZ                         Too dangerous... what the fuck do                          you think that was back there? Safe?                          How the fuck more dangerous does it                          have to get?                                     JACK                         Annibal, the important thing was it                          worked! The Russians have to think                          it was Carlos now... . What did they                          see? They trail the girl... and then                          there's a shoot out. Let's make sure                          they know it was DST... we can make                          sure they get that information. If                          they know the DST was there then                          what were they doing there if it                          wasn't to get Carlos. She betrayed                          you, so tomorrow we take her name                          off the bank account and we set up                          another place for them to get their                          pictures. We burned Libya but okay                          so we'll find another place. The                          only thing that matters is they've                          got to believe it now. It's perfect!                                     RAMIREZ                         You fuckin' maniac! I killed four                          DST agents tonight! They're our allies                          and they were tryin' to kill me and                          I killed them. I killed our allies!                                     JACK                         Hey fuck our allies!               Ramirez just looks at him in horror.                                     AMOS                         Annibal... policemen wind up shooting                          other policemen... it happens. I                          would rather have you here feeling                          guilty about them than to know there                          was a meeting in Paris tonight where                          they were feeling guilty about you.                                     JACK                         Annibal... you did what you had to                          do and it worked. All the training                          worked. Carlos couldn't have done it                          any better.               He smiles.               EXT. KGB HEADQUARTERS - MOSCOW - NIGHT               The Head KGB Officer is there with his aide. Both look as if                they've been up all night.                                     KGB AIDE                         [Whether Carlos was actually in there                          with her or not we don't know... All                          we know is there was a gun battle...                          DST agents from what we've been able                          to find out. But whether or not it                          was Carlos...]                                     HEAD KGB OFFICER                         [If it was Carlos and he sent for                          the girl... and she betrayed him...                          Well... we should keep watch on the                          girl. What he does about her will                          tell us more than anything else.]               INT. VILLA - LIBYA - MORNING               Carlos sits in the closed Villa with Koj and four other                terrorists.                                     CARLOS                         So the moronic DST find an old                          girlfriend and send her here to bait                          a honey trap for me... and then they                          trip over their own dicks and start                          shooting each other... why?                                     KOJ                         There was a man with her... who we                          don't know... They must have spotted                          him come in... thought it was you                          and moved too soon... before she                          even made contact with you. Whoever                          he was... he was awfully good.                                     CARLOS                         Where is the girl now?                                     KOJ                         They've taken her to Paris.                                     CARLOS                         I want the bitch dead!                                     KOJ                         It won't be easy.                                     CARLOS                         If it was going to be easy I could                          hire a couple of junkies. I want the                          cunt dead! You handle it Koj. Hit                          her in Paris, right under their                          fucking noses and leave Europe through                          London.                                     KOJ                         When?                                     CARLOS                         Now! Leave now. Not this afternoon...                          not five minutes from now... Now!               Koj gets up and leaves. Carlos turns to the others.                                     CARLOS                         Something else troubles me my friends.                          How was this woman going to make                          contact with me. You're the only                          ones who knew about this safe house.                          So one of you was her contact.               They all start to protest too late as Carlos pulls out his                gun and shoots each of them.               INT. STAIRWELL - AGNIESKA'S BUILDING - DAY - EST. SHOT               SUPER OVER THE CIRCULAR STAIRWELL: PARIS - JUNE, 1987               Agnieska comes down the stairs, passes by camera.               EXT. AGNIESKA'S APARTMENT BUILDING - PARIS - DAY               A French DST security man comes out of the apartment building                first. He looks around the street and then nods. A second                DST man comes out of the building and gets in a black Renault                after first checking underneath it to make sure there is no                bomb and then popping the hood and examining the engine and                then examining the ignition wires. Satisfied, he takes a                deep breath and starts the motor and then the first DST man                nods inside the apartment building and another DST man comes                out with Agnieska next to him. He opens the door for her                when two shots ring out, both of them hitting her in the                forehead. The DST agents scatter for cover when suddenly the                car parked in front of the Renault explodes with tremendous                force and the DST agents are all hit.               INT. KGB OFFICE - MOSCOW               The Head KGB Officer is there. The Head KGB Officer has a                file opened on his desk. In it are photographs of Ramirez                jumping out of the apartment in Libya. None of the photographs                show his face clearly so there's no way of telling who it                is. Just then the Aide comes in and hands a telex to the                Head KGB Officer.                                     HEAD KGB OFFICER                              (reading it)                         [When?]                                     AIDE                         [This afternoon... the girl and two                          DST agents dead, one wounded.]                                     HEAD KGB OFFICER                         [So now we know... it was Carlos.]               He holds up the picture of Ramirez with just the back of the                head showing.                                     HEAD KGB OFFICER                         [We still have to tie him to the                          CIA... if that is what's going on. I                          won't make a move against him until                          I know for sure.]                                     AIDE                         [Why?]                                     HEAD KGB OFFICER                         [Because my dear boy... four of his                          colleagues shot in Libya, plus the                          DST and now the girl. He's a very                          dangerous fellow. One doesn't make a                          move against such a man until one is                          sure. And then one must move very                          quickly and kill him... before he                          has a chance to kill you.]               EXT. LONDON - HEATHROW AIRPORT - DAY               SUPER: LONDON - HEATHROW AIRPORT               INT. HEATHROW TERMINAL - ARRIVAL GATE - DAY               Ramirez crosses out of the arrival gate. He looks for all                the world like a business traveler who is completely alone.               INT. HEATHROW TERMINAL - CAFETERIA - DAY               The Cafeteria is crowded and noisy. Ramirez walks with his                tray as if looking for a table. There is an open seat where                Jack and Amos sit with their backs to each other at separate                tables. Ramirez crosses to Jack. Ramirez is still bald but                his hair has grown out a bit.                                     RAMIREZ                              (loudly)                         Is this seat taken?                                     JACK                         No, go right ahead.               Ramirez sits down and now the conversation is in hushed tones.                                     RAMIREZ                         I want to go home. I want to see my                          family.                                     JACK                         This isn't the place for this                          conversation.                                     RAMIREZ                              (pissed off)                         No rules, remember? I want to go                          home. You said yourself we can't                          move again till he leaves Libya. You                          don't even know when that's gonna                          be. He might stay there another year                          for Christ's sake.                                     JACK                         No he won't. He's gonna make a move                          and it'll be in Europe just to stick                          it up the DST's nose. I'm gonna go                          and find out about our connecting                          flight.               ANGLE ON - RAMIREZ               He picks up his soup spoon and turns it over and uses it to                scan what's going on around him.               ANGLE ON - SPOON               IN the spoon we SEE Koj with a flight bag walking across the                cafeteria toward Ramirez.               BACK TO SCENE               Koj crosses around in front of Ramirez to get a better look,                obviously surprised to see what he thinks is Carlos. Koj                leans in close to Ramirez.                                     KOJ                              (whispering)                         Carlos... what are you doing here?               Ramirez looks at him, shocked for a moment and then                recovering.                                     RAMIREZ                              (hissing)                         You idiot! Don't you know better                          than to approach me in public!                                     KOJ                              (loudly)                         Excuse me sir... I only wanted to                          know where I could buy a newspaper.                                     RAMIREZ                         Go over there by the phone booths                          and wait... I'll come to you.               Ramirez gets up casually.               ANGLE ON - AMOS               He has heard everything that has gone down.               ANGLE ON - KOJ               He waits, standing a few feet away and not by the phones as                he was told. He watches Ramirez. Something doesn't jibe...                passwords were not exchanged. He crosses to Ramirez's side.                                     KOJ                              (loudly)                         Excuse me sir... I asked if you knew                          where I could buy a newspaper.               Ramirez stops for a moment. He knows that the line is some                kind of code and he has no response to give so he starts up                walking again. Koj is instantly behind Ramirez, his hand                going into his flight bag and pushing the flight bag up                against Ramirez's back.                                     KOJ                         Make the slightest move and I shoot...                          and I don't miss. Walk to the rest                          room, very carefully.               Ramirez does as he is told.               ANGLE ON               Amos. He watches it all going down in the back of a chrome                napkin holder. He slowly gets up, looks around for Jack and                goes out into the corridor and sees Koj and Ramirez going                into the rest room. Koj sees one of those sandwich board                signs off to the side which says, "LAVATORY TEMPORARILY CLOSED                FOR CLEANING." He pulls it in front of the door.               INT. RESTROOM - STALL - HEATHROW AIRPORT - DAY               Koj has Ramirez's head with one hand, while he holds the gun                on him with the other. He forces Ramirez's head down deep                into the toilet bowl. He flushes. The water level sinks and                then rises, covering Ramirez's face. Koj holds him under                water long enough to almost drown him. Then, instead of                lifting his head out, he flushes again and the water level                lowers.                                     KOJ                         Tell me what I want to know quickly                          or you're dead.               Just then Ramirez manages to kick back and overpower Koj and                send him flying back out through the door of the stall.                Ramirez is back on him in a second but Koj has his gun up                and pointed right at Ramirez's head. They have shifted                position now, so that they are not facing the stall, but the                door of the bathroom. Koj is about to pull the trigger when                we HEAR:                                     AMOS (O.S.)                         Down!!               NEW ANGLE               Ramirez ducks and rolls out of the way and Amos fires two                shots into Koj's chest but not before Koj can get off a round                right into Amos' chest. In an instant Ramirez is on the still-               alive Koj grabbing his head in his hands and slamming it                down onto the edge of the sink with a thud that cracks his                skull. He quickly crosses to Amos who is dying.                                     AMOS                         Get out of here... now...                                     RAMIREZ                         I've got to get you to a doctor.                                     AMOS                         Get out now...               Ramirez cradles him.                                     RAMIREZ                         I'm not going to let you die here...                          I've still got a lawsuit against                          you, remember?               Here, Amos speaks as a doomed father would to a son who still                has a chance to save himself from the Holocaust.                                     AMOS                         My dear boy... my dear dear boy... I                          am dead. Please God, don't let it                          all be for nothing... Get out now...               Ramirez stands as Amos literally pushes him away. Ramirez is                the brave and dutiful son as his father says, coaching,                teaching him to the last...                                     AMOS                         Walk slowly... no attention.               Ramirez is ashen faced, knows Amos is right and forces himself                to stand up and walk almost robot-like out of the restroom.               INT. HEATHROW AIRPORT - CORRIDOR - DAY               On a long shot we SEE Ramirez walk down the corridor till he                sees Jack. He says a few words to him and then starts to                walk back toward the restroom. Jack grabs his arm and                literally walks him out of the corridor and down an escalator.               INT. HEATHROW AIRPORT - PHONE BOOTH - DAY               Jack and Ramirez stand next to a phone booth. Jack is on the                phone dialing. A voice with a cool British accent answers on                the other end.                                     PHONE VOICE                         Cousins Industrial Maintenance, may                          I help you?                                     JACK                         Mister Simon Wicks, please.                                     PHONE VOICE                         Ringing.                                     WICKS (THROUGH PHONE)                         Simon Wicks here.                                     JACK                         This is Jack Shaw. Could you send a                          clean-up crew to Heathrow. We've had                          a rather nasty spill.               EXT. CAR - IN RAIN - LONDON - DAY - ESTABLISHING SHOT               INT. CAR - IN RAIN - LONDON - DAY               Ramirez is with Jack who is on the phone.                                     JACK                              (into phone)                         Yes... I'm calling about my cousin...                          Oh Jesus... Oh Jesus...               He shakes his head. Ramirez knows it means Amos is dead.                                     RAMIREZ                         Oh God... no...                                     JACK                              (into phone)                         I understand... Yes... Good bye.               He hangs up the phone.                                     RAMIREZ                         Amos?                                     JACK                         He's dead.                                     RAMIREZ                         Why?! Why didn't you let me go back                          to him... If we'd have gotten him                          help sooner instead of... instead of                          "we had a rather nasty spill!" Is                          that what it was Jack? Is that all                          Amos was... a rather nasty spill,                          mop it up, it'll be okay?! Huh?!                                     JACK                              (dead panned)                         He would have been dead anyway and                          he knew it. That's why he told you                          to get out.               Ramirez knows he's right.                                     JACK                              (after a beat)                         Looks like you're going to get to                          see your family after all.                                     RAMIREZ                         What?                                     JACK                         You're going home... it's off... for                          the time being at least.                                     RAMIREZ                         Bullshit! I want him. I want that                          son of a bitch Carlos! And I want                          him dead!                                     JACK                         Tough shit what you want, Annibal.                          Koj had a ticket for Libya on him.                          Chances are he wasn't looking for                          you but...                                     RAMIREZ                         He wasn't looking for me... He thought                          I was Carlos!                                     JACK                         That's what I think too but the                          Director wants an operation review                          board... The DST shoot out... the                          girl winds up dead in Paris... now                          this... I've got to go back for the                          review and you've got to go home.                                     RAMIREZ                         No way man... it was my fault... the                          whole thing... I want him dead!                                     JACK                         What do you mean it was your fault?                                     RAMIREZ                         When he asked me about the paper...                          if I coulda just bullshitted my way...                                     JACK                         It was a password... you didn't know                          it... anything you would have tried                          would have backfired. I had a thing                          like that... Awfully warm for this                          time of year... the response was,                          yes but not as sticky as two summers                          ago... the guy says anything else...                          he even hesitates, you shoot him. I                          shot him... There was nothing else                          you could have done.                                     RAMIREZ                         I'm not leavin' till we get him.                                     JACK                         Nobody's askin' you. They're shuttin'                          us down. You go back home... maybe                          I'll see you again... maybe I won't.                          You'll either hear from me or you'll                          get new sea duty and that's the end                          of it.               Ramirez just looks at him shocked.                                     RAMIREZ                         Just like that?                                     JACK                         Just like that. I ain't the Madam                          kid... I'm just one of the whores.                          And so are you.               EXT. RAMIREZ HOME - VIRGINIA - DAY - RAIN               A taxi pulls up in front of Ramirez's house. Ramirez steps                out of the taxi dressed in his Navy uniform and carrying his                sea bag. He does not have a hat on and we SEE his head while                not bald, is now in the shortest of buzz cuts, certainly                much shorter than the way his wife last saw him. He stands                outside the house looking at it like an adult who has come                back to his boyhood home and finds it suddenly so small.                Just then the door opens. There is Maura holding the baby                and next to her, Joey. Ramirez runs toward them and they to                him and we SEE them in tableaux, embracing. An idyllic family                reunited.                                                                    CUT TO:               INT. RAMIREZ HOUSE - STUDY - VIRGINIA - NIGHT               We begin on a shot of Ramirez's chair. It rocks back and                forth violently as we PAN UP and SEE Ramirez, who is fucking                Maura. They are both fully clothed, skirt hiked up, fly                unzipped. This is not lovemaking. He is fucking her brains                out. It is passionate, rough sex. Maura hits high "C" as                Ramirez sweeps books off of a table, lifts her out of the                chair and lays her out on the table. The two of them climax                together. It is clear from Maura's look that this is the                best sex she's ever had. Ramirez slowly rolls off her. He is                smiling as well, and then becomes aware that Maura has begun                to cry.                                     RAMIREZ                         What's wrong?                                     MAURA                         You've been with another woman...                          haven't you.                                     RAMIREZ                         What are you talking about?                                     MAURA                         Haven't you?                                     RAMIREZ                         No. What... what would make you say                          a thing like that?                                     MAURA                         You're different...                                     RAMIREZ                         Maura... I was on a submarine...                          there aren't any women on                          submarines... There was nothin' to                          do but read. They had one of those...                          how to improve your sex life books...                          I must have read it about ten times.                          I tried out a couple of things from                          chapter three okay? I mean if it                          didn't turn you on blame Doctor Ruth                          okay?                                     MAURA                              (unconvinced)                         Okay.                                     RAMIREZ                         Great. You want to check with the                          Navy to see if we had shore leave...                          I'll get you a fuckin' letter okay?                                     MAURA                         I don't need any letters. And I don't                          need you to talk to me like that                          either.               Ramirez gets up and zips up his fly.                                     MAURA                         Where are you going?                                     RAMIREZ                         Get somethin' to eat... I'm starving.               He exits.               EXT. RAMIREZ HOME - DAY               SUPER: JULY, 1987               INT. RAMIREZ HOME - DAY               Ramirez comes into the house from the garage.                                     RAMIREZ                         Maura... Maura!               Maura comes out of the kitchen.                                     MAURA                         What?                                     RAMIREZ                         Where's the car? The car's not in                          the garage. Where's the car?                                     MAURA                         The fellow at the service station                          said it needed a tune up. I took it                          in this morning... You didn't say                          you were going to need it.                                     RAMIREZ                         Don't do that anymore.                                     MAURA                         What?                                     RAMIREZ                         I don't want anybody workin' on the                          car. Car needs something I'll do it.                          But I don't want anybody touchin'                          that car.                                     MAURA                         Why? What difference does it make.                                     RAMIREZ                         It makes a difference to me okay? So                          don't do it.                                     MAURA                         Did you check the mail?                                     RAMIREZ                         Yeah I checked the mail. Still nothin'                          from the Navy. Why, you so anxious                          to get rid of me?                                     MAURA                         I don't want you goin' back to those                          subs. I'll tell you that.                                     RAMIREZ                         Yeah well I don't have much to say                          about it. It's the Navy you know.                                     MAURA                         You can request another assignment.                          It's changed you Annibal. It's hurting                          us.                                     RAMIREZ                         What's hurting us?                                     MAURA                         Your attitude... that's what hurting                          us.                                     RAMIREZ                         My attitude. I don't have an attitude                          man... you got an attitude.                                     MAURA                         You're suspicious of everything that                          goes on... you snap at Joey, you                          snap at me. I don't like it.                                     RAMIREZ                         Look I just... it's hard gettin'                          used to... you know... it's hard...                          Listen... tomorrow's Joey's game.                          Let's just go to Joey's game. It'll                          be nice. It'll be like it always                          was. You'll see.               He holds her to him.                                                               DISSOLVE TO:               EXT. PARK - NORFOLK, VA - DAY               It is Little League Day. Adorable kids are dressed up in                their uniforms ready to play the next level of baseball.                They have graduated from T-ball to coach-pitch, in which the                coach pitches the ball for the kids. There are hot dogs and                lounge chairs, family dogs and... fathers. The mothers are                there as well, as are brothers and sisters, but primarily it                is the fathers trying to fulfill their own dreams of sports                glory through their kids.               ANGLE ON - RAMIREZ AND JOEY               Ramirez has his arm around Joey, giving him his last bit of                fatherly advice.                                     RAMIREZ                         Okay... remember, what do we do?                                     JOEY                         Keep my eye on the ball.                                     RAMIREZ                         And who's the guy who wins?                                     JOEY                         Whoever has fun, wins.                                     RAMIREZ                         Right! So you go out there and have                          fun.               He gives Joey "five" and Joey runs out to join his team at                their dugout. Ramirez starts walking about toward Maura and                the baby. As he does, he crosses next to another father,                FRANK, who is with his son TYLER. Frank is about six foot                four and to say that he is competitive would be the                understatement of the year. He is haranguing his kid as if                this were the deciding game of the World Series. He is on                one knee so we don't see just how big he is.                                     FRANK                         I don't want so see you out there                          dickin' around today, you understand?               Tyler looks at his shoes. He is cowed and embarrassed.                                     TYLER                         Yes sir.                                     FRANK                         You're gonna be focused and aggressive                          and you're gonna play to win. Got                          it?               Tyler is still staring at his toes.                                     FRANK                         Hey, you think I'm talking just to                          hear myself talk? Look at me when                          I'm talking to you!               Frank suddenly smacks him in the face. Annibal stops in front                of the two of them.                                     RAMIREZ                         Hey pal, lighten up, what do you                          say? It's just a game?               Frank looks at Ramirez and stands to his full six foot four.                                     FRANK                         What did you say?                                     RAMIREZ                         I said lighten up. It's just a game                          and he's just a kid.                                     FRANK                         He's my kid.                                     RAMIREZ                         Great. So why don't we let our kids                          have a good time. Come on, I'll buy                          you a beer.                                     FRANK                         I don't need you to buy me a fuckin'                          beer, you piece of shit. And you                          stick your face in my business again                          and I'll beat the living fuck out of                          you. What do you say to that?               ANGLE ON - RAMIREZ               There isn't a trace of Ramirez here at all. It is pure Carlos.                                     FRANK                         What are you smilin' at, asshole?                                     RAMIREZ                              (very quiet)                         A dead man...               But before Ramirez can move, we HEAR:                                     MAURA (O.S.)                         Annibal... please!               Ramirez turns. Maura is there beside him.                                     MAURA                         Annibal please. Let's go sit down.                                     FRANK                         Good idea, Annabelle. Your ol' lady                          just saved your ass.                                     MAURA                         Annibal... please... Please...               Maura tugs at Ramirez's arm and Frank smirks. Ramirez cages                the monster inside and turns with Maura. As he turns, Frank                turns to Tyler as if he cannot believe the boy is still there.                                     FRANK                         What are you doin' standing here?!                          You're supposed to be over there                          with your team! Now move!               The boy hesitates. Frank rears back his arm to hit him.                                     FRANK                         I said...               But before Frank can complete the sentence and strike his                child, Ramirez comes flying through the air with a kick                planted straight to Frank's head. It is sudden and violent                and brutal. He comes down and with one side-kick, "knee-caps"                Frank, which is to say he hits the top of Frank's kneecap                and breaks it so that it is down around his shin. Frank starts                to drop but before he can, Ramirez grabs his ears and brings                his head down into his own swiftly rising knee. The result                is devastating and Frank's nose is now all across his face.                Blood is everywhere and Ramirez does it again. Now the object                is Frank's teeth, so that when his head comes off of Ramirez's                knee, his mouth is a mass of blood as well.               In slow motion, Ramirez turns and sees his son who stares in                horror at what his father has just done. At the same time,                maura is up and grabbing onto Ramirez. Ramirez however is                not done. Frank is completely defenseless now and Ramirez                leans him back across his knee, pulls him by the hair exposing                his throat like that of a sacrificial lamb about to be                slaughtered. This time instead of a knife, it will be a karate                chop from Ramirez which will crush Frank's windpipe and kill                him. But before he can deliver the blow, Maura grabs his                arm. He turns to her, almost about to hit her or throw her                off and the two of them are face to face as Ramirez looks                from her to his son and realizes how deep into the abyss he                has plunged.               EXT. STREET NEAR BALLPARK - NORFOLK, VA - DAY               An ambulance is receiving what is left of Frank on a gurney                as Ramirez is led away in handcuffs to a squad car.                                                                    CUT TO:               INT. POLICE STATION - MARYLAND - DAY               The cell's metal door SCRAPES as it opens. The POLICE CAPTAIN                motions to Ramirez to follow him.               MOVING               Leading Ramirez through a number of corridors, the Captain                stops at a closed door.                                     CAPTAIN                              (opening the door)                         He's all yours.               Remaining outside he motions Ramirez to enter.               INT. ROOM - POLICE STATION - DAY               Ramirez enters and sees Jack who smiles his cynical smile.                                     JACK                         Little League, huh? Tough game.                                     RAMIREZ                         What are you doing here?                                     JACK                         It's show time.               EXT. POLICE STATION - MARYLAND - DAY - RAIN               Ramirez exits with Jack and starts across the street in the                rain.                                     RAMIREZ                         I got to have time to think it over.                                     JACK                         There isn't any time. He's on his                          way to East Berlin. We have word                          he's planning another attack in                          Europe. He'll be there maybe four                          days at the most.               Ramirez stops dead right in the middle of the street. The                traffic swirls around them.                                     RAMIREZ                         Hey, I don't know what to do anymore,                          okay? I almost killed some little                          kid's father today. I don't know                          about anything anymore.                                     JACK                         Hey, he was a baseball dad. He                          deserved it. Besides, from what I                          heard his kid was out, so what's the                          beef?                                     RAMIREZ                         I don't know if I could come back                          from it again.                                     JACK                         What happened to I want the son of a                          bitch dead? You think Carlos has had                          a change of heart and turned nice                          all of a sudden?                                     RAMIREZ                         Don't tell me about Carlos, Jack. I                          know exactly who Carlos is. I know a                          hell of a lot better than you do.                          But, maybe there's more important                          things to me, like keepin' from goin'                          crazy... like gettin' back to bein'                          me instead of me bein' some kind of                          fuckin' maniac.                                     JACK                         You want to get back to bein' you?                          Then finish it. Kill him. Kill him                          and he's dead and it's over with.                          You walk away from it now and what                          do you think you're gonna be like                          the next time you read that that son                          of a bitch blew up some airplane                          full of women and kids.                                     RAMIREZ                         Hey, the guy deserves to be dead. I                          know that.                                     JACK                         This isn't abstract, Annibal. You're                          walkin' around with his face. Sooner                          or later one of the bad guys is gonna                          see it like Koj did, and next time                          Amos won't be there to take the bullet                          for you. Carlos doesn't forget. You                          help me get him or you're never gonna                          know when he's comin' after you...                          Listen to me kid. I don't have any                          friends, no family, no nothin'. The                          only relationships I ever had that                          mattered to me were with the people                          I killed. But I... I fucking created                          you! You can't just walk away now.                                     RAMIREZ                         You did create me, didn't you...                          From the beginning... that kid in                          the hospital in Bethesda... when I                          was supposed to be the doctor... It                          was all bullshit, wasn't it? All an                          act...               There is a long pause. Jack turns cold as ice.                                     JACK                         This doesn't have anything to do                          with you and me. It's you and Carlos.                          You help me kill him... or I swear                          to you... I'll make sure he knows                          about you... I'll use you for bait.                          You and your whole fuckin' family                          too.               Ramirez grabs him and throws him against a parked car. He                begins choking Jack. He may well kill him. Though Ramirez                doesn't see it at first, Jack's gun is already out. Jack                nudges Ramirez in the stomach with it. Jack is choking, unable                to speak, but the gun is speaking for him.                                     JACK                         Huh? Huh?               Ramirez looks down and see the gun and loosens his grip.                                     JACK                         You want to try and kill me, that                          doesn't solve your problem, pally.                          You've got a Carlos problem. That's                          the guy you've got to kill. That's                          what it's all about now... you...                          and your family... or him.               INT. RAMIREZ HOME - KITCHEN - VIRGINIA - NIGHT               Ramirez is there alone with Maura. They are in mid-argument.                                     MAURA                         No! I won't let you do it! You're                          not going back to those subs! It's                          changed you... You need help, Annibal.                          You could get some kind of stress                          disability or...               Suddenly, Ramirez bellows and slams his hand down on the                counter.                                     RAMIREZ                         Enough!               Maura is shocked by the sudden violence in him.                                     MAURA                         No, not enough. Whatever is going on                          out there with your job...                                     RAMIREZ                         With my job!? What do you think my                          job is, Maura... huh? What do you                          think is out there? A nice, pretty                          safe little world with shopping malls                          and little league and ballet lessons.                          You sit here in your little kitchen                          and cook your little meals...               He looks at her almost in disgust. She sees the look and                slaps him. Faster than she could ever have considered, he                slaps her and sends her back into the wall. She holds her                cheek. He is an inch away from her face and now he is about                to show her Carlos, to become him in front of her.                                     RAMIREZ                         People are killing people out there!                          Jackals are licking up their blood                          waiting for the next corpse to drop...                          and I'm one of them. You get that?                          Do you get that now?!               He speaks very quietly, pulling the curtain aside, taking                off the mask and letting her see the full horror.                                     RAMIREZ                         I've murdered people. Not safe and                          clean and surgical firing a missile                          from some ship, but close and with                          my hands so their blood splattered                          on me... so their brains splattered                          on me. And they weren't the enemy,                          Maura... they were Allies. They were                          on our side. It was just to keep a                          cover... I've betrayed everything I                          ever believed in. I've betrayed you...                          I've fucked other women... I've killed                          men... There was a woman I would                          have killed but I just ran out of                          time. I've let friends die... I've                          become a terrorist... and I've made                          you and the children a target. Do                          you understand what I'm saying to                          you? Do you see me now? Do you see                          the monster? There's another one                          worse than me and he is out there                          and he will kill you and the children                          if I don't kill him first... . That's                          my job, Maura. And if you don't mind,                          I'm late for work.               EXT. WEST BERLIN - DAY - ESTABLISHING SHOT               SUPER: WEST BERLIN - JULY, 1987               EXT. BERLIN WALL - LOOKING INTO EAST BERLIN - DAY               We are ON the ramparts on the top of the Berlin Wall. These                are platforms from which people can stand and look into East                Berlin, they're covered with graffiti to the East Germans,                LET MY PEOPLE GO, that sort of thing. They look down over                they dingy wall that divides the city marked with machine                gun nests and observation posts. Jack stands there with                Ramirez.                                     JACK                         We used a double agent to get word                          to the Russians that Carlos is really                          here to close his deal with us and                          not to plan a new attack in Europe.                          He has a new girlfriend... He's been                          fucking her brains out since he got                          here. He has her brought over every                          night in a limo. You'll be dropped                          near the mansion... as soon as she                          goes in, you make as if you're                          sneaking out... the Russians will be                          watching. You'll go to the meet.                          It's at that beer hall, there...                          see? You see it?               Ramirez locates the beer hall through his binoculars.                                     RAMIREZ                         Got it.                                     JACK                         You go to the meet at the beer hall.                          Play it out... let 'em take your                          picture... then you've got to get                          back. They're going to have to analyze                          the pictures and see through your                          disguise before they can authorize a                          hit. They won't be able to do that                          before you're able to get back to                          the mansion. At twenty-one fifteen a                          Volga with diplomatic plates, DC-                         four-five-nine-two will come by the                          northeast corner of the compound. It                          will slow down... you jump in. If                          you can't make it for any reason,                          there will be another run at exactly                          twenty-one forty-five. It's your                          only ticket out so don't be late.                                     RAMIREZ                         Who do I meet? Who's my contact?                                     JACK                         Me... My ass is on the line too.                                     RAMIREZ                         Who cares? This isn't you and me.                          It's me and him. If the Russians                          don't go for the bait for any                          reason...                                     JACK                         If the Russians don't go for the                          bait for any reason you will have                          gotten out of there at twenty-one                          fifteen per orders.                                     RAMIREZ                         If the Russians don't go for the                          bait for any reason, I'll go in there                          and kill him myself. And if I'm still                          alive I might just come looking for                          you.               EXT. CARLOS' HIDEOUT - EAST BERLIN - LATE DAY               SUPER: WEISSEN, EAST BERLIN               THROUGH BINOCULARS               Across a street with a tree-lined divider, a large mansion                surrounded by a ten-foot high brick wall. The mansion's front                windows are heavily shuttered, with little light filtering                through. Nearby is a small lake.               INT. IVAN AND ANDREI'S CAR - ACROSS FROM CARLOS' HIDEOUT -                LATE DAY               Ivan looks through binoculars, staking out the mansion. He                suddenly becomes agitated.                                     IVAN                         [Look!]               Andrei picks up his camera.               THROUGH BINOCULARS               A man's figure emerges stealthily from the shadows of the                mansion's back wall.               ZOOM               The blonde, bearded Ramirez.                                     ANDREI                         [You think it's him?]               CLICK, CLICK, CLICK... The quick sound of the camera shutters.               Faintly we HEAR the sound of a motorbike start up. Then we                SEE Ramirez on the motorbike heading off. Ivan and Andrei                follow him at a distance.               EXT. ROAD LEADING INTO EAST BERLIN - MAGIC HOUR               The KGB car falls in behind another car separating it from                the motorbike and follows Ramirez into town. He passes by                giant steam pipes in the foreground as the KGB car follows.               EXT. ROAD - EAST BERLIN - MAGIC HOUR               A tram wipes the screen to reveal Ramirez, on his motorbike,                followed by the KGB car. The landscape is desolate, with                drab row-houses. Ramirez gets to a red light. As it turns                green he sees the KGB car in his mirror. He jams across the                street, just barely fitting in between two criss-crossing                streetcars. Ivan and Andre lose sight of Ramirez.               EXT. STREET - EAST BERLIN - DUSK               Ivan and Andre shoot forward and then slow, as they spot                Ramirez buying a newspaper at a newstand.               ANGLE ON - RAMIREZ               He holds his motorcycle helmet in his hand, and using it as                a mirror, he sees the KGB car in its reflection. Satisfied                that they have caught up with him again, he walks across the                street to the beer hall.               INT. BEER HALL - DUSK               The large bierstube is crowded, noisy and enveloped in a                thick cloud of cigarette smoke. Its lively, at times rowdy                clientele is in various stages of intoxication. As the loud,                oom-pah-pah-pah band plays popular German music, those who                are not too busy eating, talking, or emptying liter-sized                beer steins, sing along.               ON RAMIREZ               Fighting the crowd, he heads for the back of the beer hall,                looking for his contact.               ON IVAN AND ANDREI               Entering the place, they pretend to be camera-carrying Russian                tourists. A common sight in East Berlin.               ON RAMIREZ               He stops and stares.               RAMIREZ'S POV               Through the jam pack, the profile of a man, with a Tyrol hat                who sits along the back wall. Busy eating, he seems totally                oblivious to the hoopla around him. We can't really see his                face.               ON RAMIREZ               As he cautiously approaches what he thinks is Jack. It isn't                him. There is a sudden look of panic on his face and then he                spots Jack also in the same kind of hat. Lifting his head,                and turning to face Ramirez, we too recognize him. Under the                hat, and the new heavy eyebrows and mustache, is... Jack. He                smiles, takes off his hat, and motions his quest to sit down.               ON ANDREI (THROUGH IVAN'S CAMERA)               He's posing with a giant stein. A slight shift of focus and                we can see Ramirez. Jack, however, is hidden by the waiter's                back. Then, the Waiter moves on.               ZOOM               A clear, unobstructed picture of Jack and Ramirez up close.               CLICK, CLICK, CLICK, CLICK, CLICK... The rapid CLICKING stops                only when the view of the two is blocked again by other                people.               EXT. STREET OUTSIDE BEER HALL - DUSK               Ramirez emerges from the beer hall. He heads back to his                motorbike.               ANGLE               Seconds later, the two KGB come out. This time, only Andrei                takes after Ramirez. Ivan gets into a taxi which heads in an                opposite direction.                                                                    CUT TO:               EXT. STREET OUTSIDE MANSION - NIGHT               Reaching the mansion, Ramirez discreetly steals his way toward                its back wall. Then, just as slyly as he earlier had                materialized, he disappears.               ON VLADIMIR AT HIS POST               Watching Ramirez vanish into the mansion wall.               EXT. RAMIREZ'S HIDING PLACE - NEAR MANSION - NIGHT               He lies in the thick bushes, completely obscured from anyone's                view and now he removes the blond wig and the rest of his                disguise. Underneath his "disguise" clothes, he is wearing a                pair of black jeans and black T-shirt. He looks exactly like                Carlos now.               PRODUCTION NOTE: IT IS IMPORTANT TO UNDERSTAND WHAT IS GOING                ON HERE. THE REAL CARLOS HAS NOT DYED HIS HAIR BLOND. THIS                WAS NOT THE REASON FOR RAMIREZ PUTTING ON A BLOND WIG. THE                LOGIC HERE IS THAT IF THE "REAL CARLOS" WERE IN FACT GOING                TO A MEET WITH A CIA AGENT, HE WOULD HAVE PUT ON SUCH A                DISGUISE TO MAKE SURE HE WAS NOT SPOTTED BY THE RUSSIANS.               INT. BLACK VOLGA - EAST BERLIN - NIGHT               Jack takes off his disguise as he drives the Volga to the                appointed corner of Carlos' compound. He looks at his watch.                reads: 9:15 as he slows the car to a crawl.                                     JACK                              (to himself)                         Come on... come on...               EXT. RAMIREZ'S HIDING PLACE - NEAR MANSION - NIGHT               Ramirez watches as Jack cruises by.                                     RAMIREZ                         Not till he's dead, Jack. Not till                          he's dead.               INT. BLACK VOLGA - EAST BERLIN - NIGHT               Jack sees that Ramirez is not going to show.                                     JACK                         Shit.               INT. KGB HEADQUARTERS - EAST BERLIN - NIGHT CLOSE ON MONITOR                SCREEN               A head shot of Ramirez in his latest blond, bearded disguise.                Grainy and blurred at first, it's gradually being brought                into sharp focus.               PULL BACK to reveal a GROUP OF MEN closely watching the screen                of an impressive, state-of-the-art computer. We recognize                only one of them. Andrei. At the computer's sophisticated                keyboard -- manipulating the images on the screen -- are TWO                TECHNICIANS in white overalls. Right behind them stands the                Head KGB Officer from Moscow and his Aide.                                     HEAD KGB OFFICER                              (orders the technicians)                         [Now Carlos.]               ON SCREEN               It bisects, to allow a picture of the real Jackal (the                splitting image of Ramirez) to appear on the right half of                the screen.               BACK TO SCENE               The Head KGB Officer puts on his glasses and takes a closer                look at the monitor.                                     HEAD KGB OFFICER                         [The beard and moustache.]               One of the two technicians toys with the keyboard.               CLOSE - SCREEN               The beard and moustache on Ramirez' disguised image slowly                disappear. The two faces look very similar.               CLOSE - SCREEN               A huge nose covers the entire left half of the screen.               ZOOM               The upper part of the nose only. And... the incriminating                hairline where the bogus schnoz had been superimposed on the                real one.                                     TECHNICIAN (O.S.)                         [The nose is a fake.]                                     HEAD KGB OFFICER                         [Match the nose. And get rid of this                          wig...]               As the aquiline nose assumes the shape of the Jackal's --                the hair changes both color and form to match his -- the two                faces on the screen become identical.                                     HEAD KGB OFFICER                         [Have you identified the one he was                          meeting with?]                                     TECHNICIAN                         [His name is Jack Shaw. CIA                          Counterterrorism.]               The Head KGB Officer turns to his Aide.                                     HEAD KGB OFFICER                         [Get me the MFS on the secure phone.                          I want them out of the way.]               EXT. MANSION - NIGHT ON MANSION GATE               It opens slowly. One by one, a half dozen MFS -- including                the two we've seen earlier -- sneak out. Just as furtively,                armed KGB -- led by the Head KGB Officer and his Aide move                in through the still-open door.               EXT. RAMIREZ'S HIDING PLACE - NEAR MANSION - NIGHT               He watches the KGB men enter the compound.                                     RAMIREZ                              (sotto voce)                         Don't blow it Comrades... kill him.               INT. MANSION               Meeting no resistance on the ground floor -- whose security                apparently has been the task of the MFS -- the intruders                climb the open, spiral staircase. They move cautiously,                silencer-equipped weapons in hand.               ANGLE               Reaching the upper floor, they hear the muffled sound of                RHYTHMIC MUSIC coming from the far end of the hallway to                their right. The Head KGB Officer motions his Aide to move                into the corridor to their left. He does, taking three KGB                with him. Four others -- including Andrei and Ivan -- follow                the Head KGB Officer into the hallway to their right.               INT. HALLWAY               It's long, with several rooms on each side. As Vladimir moves                gingerly into the first one, Ivan covers him from the door.               INT. ROOM               Illuminated only by the light which filters through the open                door, the room is quite dark. A faint sound of SNORING reaches                Andrei from the bed closest to the door. Quickly there, his                arm goes up. Then, for a split second, the flash of metal as                the knife comes down hard. The victim's last MURMUR. Followed                by the SOUND OF MOVEMENT at the other bed.               ANGLE               In the beam of Ivan's flashlight, a waking JAPANESE is                reaching for his gun. Pffft. Pfffft. And he too falls back                to sleep. Eternally.               INT. ANOTHER ROOM - MANSION               TWO more JAPANESE in the midst of a Go game meet the same                fate. A burst from Head KGB Officer's automatic finishes                them off.               INT. HALLWAY AND OTHER ROOMS - MANSION               Doing away with several more of Carlos' multinational gang,                the five KGB finally reach the room with the large, heavy                French doors at the end of hallway.               INT. OUTSIDE CARLOS' BEDROOM               Quietly approaching the carved-wood doors, a KGB tries the                knobs. The doors are locked. Suddenly, the pulsating LATIN                BEAT which emanated continuously from behind the doors, stops.               ON HEAD KGB OFFICER               He's startled by the sudden silence.                                     HEAD KGB OFFICER                              (whispering)                         [Quick! Quick!]               Not wasting any time, Andrei and Ivan kick the doors open.                Diving to the side, they cover the other two KGB who storm                in with their Kalashnikovs very much at the ready.               INT. CARLOS' BEDROOM - MANSION ON CARLOS' BED               The voluptuous blonde -- her body glazed with post-coitus                sweat -- is paralyzed with fear; covering her prized assets                seems the last thing on her mind. She gapes at the KGB                marauders with wide, blue eyes. Not so, Ramirez's look-alike.                Caught reaching from under the sheets to replace the tape in                the stereo by the bed, he instinctively tries for his gun.               ON HEAD KGB OFFICER               Standing at the door. His automatic no longer has a silencer.                                     HEAD KGB OFFICER                              (sarcastic)                         Don't even think about it. It would                          deprive the KGB of the pleasure of                          interrogating you.               ON CARLOS               Surprisingly, he seems quite relieved.                                     CARLOS                         KGB? I thought...               BACK TO SCENE                                     HEAD KGB OFFICER                         What? That we were your new friends...                          The CIA... Jack Shaw...                                     CARLOS                         Jack Shaw...?                                     HEAD KGB OFFICER                         Stop playing games. And it's no use                          looking behind me... Your associates                          can no longer be of assistance. Not                          to you, not to anyone...                                     CARLOS                              (angry)                         Comrade, you'd getter have an                          explanation --                                     HEAD KGB OFFICER                         You've got it all wrong, Illich.                          It's you who has all the explaining                          to do... Now get dressed!                              (to the blonde)                         You too, Fraulein.                                     CARLOS                         My pants...               The Head KGB Officer motions to Andrei, who throws Carlos                his pants -- but not before checking to make sure there's no                weapon in them. He then hands the blonde -- who finally hides                her bazooms behind a sheet -- her clothes.                                     CARLOS                              (continuing; getting                               dressed)                         That's what was going on in Libya.                          The CIA... The DST... They're trying                          to set me up and you're falling for                          it, you idiot!                                     HEAD KGB OFFICER                         Enough. We tailed you to your meeting.                          We have the pictures of you with                          Shaw.                                     CARLOS                         That's impossible. I've been here                          all night.                              (points to the blonde)                         Ask her.                              (to the blonde)                         Tell him.               ON BLONDE               She's putting stockings on a pair of legs that could distract                even the most committed KGB.                                     BLONDE                              (in a voice matching                               her looks)                         It's true. All night...                                     HEAD KGB OFFICER                              (unimpressed)                         We know about your women... Now hurry                          up, both of you!               ON IVAN AND VLADIMIR               With Kalashnikovs still trained on Carlos, they seem unable                to resist stealing glances at the blonde.                                     CARLOS                              (to Head KGB Officer)                         I'll prove it to you. You'll be                          pleading for my forgiveness. Let's                          just go. I want to be interrogated.                          I demand to be interrogated.               He seems truly eager to leave with them now, as if confident                he can prove his case. Dressed, with the exception of a                jacket, he casually grabs one which lies on a nearby chair.                                     HEAD KGB OFFICER                         WAIT!               Too late. The Scorpion machine-pistol is already out, spouting                deadly accurate fire. He kills the Head KGB Officer first,                then...               ON KGB               They drop like flies, their bullets hitting everything but                him.               ON BLONDE               Hysterical, she screams her healthy lungs out.               INT. HALLWAY - MANSION               Suddenly there's the sound of APPROACHING STEPS. The KGB are                down the corridor, rushing to the bedroom, led by the Aide.               ON CARLOS               He doesn't hesitate. Firing a few rounds at them, he sprints                toward the window and literally flies through its shattering                glass.               EXT. MANSION - TREES - NIGHT               Ramirez lies in some bushes about fifty yards from the house,                dressed in the black jeans and T-shirt. He hears the gunfire                from the mansion.                                     RAMIREZ                         What the fuck?               EXT. MANSION COURTYARD               It's a dark night, and only a few dim lights illuminate the                rather large back yard.               ON CARLOS               Landing in a bed of flowers, he rolls, and is quickly on his                feet with the machine-pistol in hand.               ON TWO ARMED KGB               Securing the courtyard, they rush to the spot where,                apparently, they'd seen him land. Carlos, however, is no                longer there.               ANGLE               Glued to the back of a tree, the Jackal cuts them down with                one short burst and goes for the KGBs who appear at the broken                window. As they take cover, he quickly confiscates a                Kalashnikov from the dead KGB closest to him and makes it to                the high wall which encircles the place.               Carlos climbs over the wall with the Kalashnikov and drops                outside the compound to the grass below.               ANGLE ON RAMIREZ IN THE GRASS               He sees to his horror that Carlos is getting away. He is                ready to scream, going crazy. He has no gun, he wouldn't                stand a chance against Carlos, but there is no way he is                going to let him get away, no way. He looks around for a                rock... anything.               There is nothing. Carlos turns his back. Ramirez sees his                chance, he gets up on one knee ready to make his move when                suddenly he sees two more KGB guys come running around the                wall of the compound.               ANGLE ON RAMIREZ               He mouths the words:                                     RAMIREZ                         Kill him... Kill him...               ANGLE ON CARLOS               He whirls and fires at the two KGBs who fall.               ANGLE ON RAMIREZ               He can't believe it. Carlos is getting away?               ANGLE ON CARLOS               He suddenly gets a look as if he feels someone's presence.                His eyes open wide and he starts to turn when Ramirez comes                flying out of the darkness and leaps on Carlos. The two are                dressed exactly alike. Carlos is hit from behind and is                stunned and drops the assault rifle.               Ramirez has Carlos down and is choking him. Carlos looks up                at him more shocked than anything else. Finally Carlos manages                to break the grasp and kicks Ramirez off. Now it is a dazzling                display of martial arts. Then Ramirez charges Carlos and                tackles him and the two go rolling off into the bushes and                darkness. When they roll out of the bushes we have no idea                which one is which or who we should be rooting for. Just                then Jack's Volga drives up at the side.               ANGLE ON THE TWO CARLOSES               They roll over onto the bodies of two dead KGB. There is a                Kalashnikov on the ground pointed into the Carlos on the                bottom's side. The Carlos who is on top manages to get his                finger over to the trigger and pulls it sending a burst into                the Carlos on the bottom's body. Just then the Carlos on top                looks up and sees Jack standing over him with a gun pointed                at him ready to shoot. In b.g. we HEAR cars with sirens                approaching. The Carlos on top looks over to Jack who is                ready to shoot him.                                     CARLOS ON TOP                         Don't shoot. It's me you asshole!               Jack just stares at him and then lowers his gun.                                     JACK                         Let's get the fuck out of here.               He turns around and starts to get into the Volga. The Carlos                on top, whom we just thought was Ramirez bends down and                reaches for the dead KGB's pistol.               ANGLE ON JACK               He gets that sixth sense feeling and turns around, his gun                raised and pointed at the man whose hand is now on the pistol.                Is it Carlos or Ramirez, who is standing there with pistol                in hand almost turned to Jack but still at a disadvantage in                this Mexican stand off.                                     JACK                         Have you come looking for me now,                          Annibal?                                     THE MAN WITH THE PISTOL                         What the fuck are you talking about...                                     JACK                         Awfully warm for this time of year                          isn't it?               The man with the pistol knows this is a password of some                kind and the look on his face betrays the fact that he doesn't                have an answer. Jack is just about to shoot him when a burst                of machine gun fire is heard from the approaching cars and                it rips into the tree next to Jack who dives for cover.               That act of self-preservation gives the man we now realize                is the real Carlos the chance he needs. With catlike grace                he dives, rolls and vanishes into the shadows. He has gotten                away and Jack has to decide whether to go after his quarry                or rescue his friend. He opts for the latter, scoops up                Annibal and throws him into the Volga and speeds off as cars                approach from the other side.               EXT. BETHESDA NAVAL HOSPITAL - DAY - ESTABLISHING               INT. PRIVATE ROOM - BETHESDA NAVAL HOSPITAL - DAY               Ramirez is in bed, hooked up to all the monitors and tubes                and IVs but he is going to make it. Jack is there with him,                having just entered.                                     RAMIREZ                         Any word?                                     JACK                         How you feeling?                                     RAMIREZ                         Did he get away?               Jack nods his head. Ramirez almost breaks down in tears.                Jack crosses to him to comfort him.                                     RAMIREZ                         Then it was all for nothing... the                          whole thing.                                     JACK                         No it wasn't. He's finished. The KGB                          bought it. As far as they're                          concerned, he's the enemy now. He'll                          bounce around from one country to                          the next. But his paymasters have                          disowned him. None of their client                          states will risk using him. No one'll                          trust him again. He'll spend the                          rest of his life looking over his                          shoulder waiting to be betrayed. And                          it'll happen... sooner or later...                          when it's to some country's                          advantage... they'll give him up or                          they'll trade him. He's finished. It                          worked and he's finished.                                     RAMIREZ                         Not for me he isn't... There are                          still two of us...               EXT. MILITARY HOSPITAL - DAY               A car pulls up at the hospital and Maura gets out and enters                the hospital.                                                               DISSOLVE TO:               INT. RAMIREZ'S ROOM - DAY               Maura is there with Ramirez. He is in mid-conversation with                her. We don't know how long she's been there. He opens his                eyes.                                     MAURA                         Is it over?                                     RAMIREZ                         No.               She crosses to him and gently takes his hand in hers.                                     RAMIREZ                         You have to make a new life for                          yourself and the children.                                     MAURA                         No.                                     RAMIREZ                         Maura, anytime I start a car I'll                          wonder if this is the one that                          explodes. I couldn't bear the thought                          of you and the children being in                          that danger. He'll want me and                          everyone I've ever loved to be dead.                          Trust me... I know how he thinks                          because it's the way I think now                          too. I am so... sorry. I am so                          sorry...               Maura looks at him imploring him with her eyes.                                     MAURA                         I won't leave you.                                     RAMIREZ                         Maura, when my father was put into                          prison he told my mother to take me                          and leave and start a new life. That's                          what you've got to do.                                     MAURA                         You're not in prison and I'm not                          your mother and I won't leave you. I                          will not let him do this to us. Not                          him... not the CIA... not anyone.                                     RAMIREZ                         He'll come after me.                                     MAURA                         Get me a gun and teach me to shoot                          and he'll have to deal with both of                          us. This animal will not destroy my                          family. Please... come home.                                                               DISSOLVE TO:               EXT. RAMIREZ HOME - VIRGINIA - DAY               We hear a phone ring and it is picked up.                                     MAURA (O.S.; THRU PHONE)                         Hello...               We hear the voice of a friend of hers named GRACE.                                     GRACE (O.S.; THRU PHONE)                         Hi... listen, do you and Annibal                          want to come over with the kids for                          a barbeque this afternoon?                                     MAURA (O.S.; THRU PHONE)                         Uh sure, I think... but could I call                          you back later? We're just about to                          go to church. Annibal and the kids                          are already in the car.                                     GRACE (O.S.; THRU PHONE)                         Okay, call me when you get back.                                     MAURA (O.S.; THRU PHONE)                         Great. Talk to you later. Bye bye.               We hear the phone hang up. We hear the sound of a door opening                and closing that leads into the garage from the house. We                hear the sound of a car door opening. And then the key turning                in an ignition. And then the door is blown off the garage as                we see the Ramirez family car burst into an inferno and blaze                away inside the garage in a fiery blast which would kill one                and all instantly.                                                               DISSOLVE TO:               EXT. CEMETERY - DAY               The cemetery is set up for a funeral. There are various Navy                officers and their families in the chairs. At the back of it                all stands Jack wearing sunglasses, his face a mask into                which it is impossible to read any emotion of any kind. There                are four graves and four coffins, two adult-sized and two                small ones. Admiral Crawford addresses the mourners.                                     CRAWFORD                         How does one even begin to comprehend                          a tragedy like this. A highly                          respected Naval officer returns from                          six months of hazardous duty. He has                          escaped the danger we all come to                          know in the service of our country.                          He is about to go to church with his                          beloved family and in an instant...                          they are no more. They are with God.                          Our minds cannot comprehend such                          tragedy... only an undying faith in                          the Almighty a faith that says even                          though we cannot see it, there is a                          plan. That and the knowledge that as                          in life, so for eternity are they                          together...               ANGLE ON JACK               He whispers to himself as he takes off his sunglasses.                                     JACK                         Now you're free.                                                               DISSOLVE TO:               EXT. ST. MARTIN - DAY               It is a beautiful island community with clusters of villas                overlooking a magnificent coastline. A postal truck winds                its way towards one of the houses.               The POSTMAN gets out of his truck and crosses to the door of                the house. He knocks on the door. The door opens... it is                Ramirez... or Carlos... we don't know which. He wears shorts                and a shirt.                                     POSTMAN                         Mister Mendoza?                                     MENDOZA                         Yes.                                     POSTMAN                         Special delivery letter for you sir.               The Postman hands the man an envelope. He signs for it and                opens the envelope. It is a newspaper clipping...               ANGLE ON THE NEWSPAPER CLIPPING               The headline is: NAVAL OFFICER AND FAMILY KILLED IN FIERY                CRASH. There is a handwritten note attached. It says, "Rest                in Peace."                                     POSTMAN                         Not bad news I hope.                                     MENDOZA                         Someone... died.                                     POSTMAN                         I'm so sorry.                                     MENDOZA                         This guy's better off dead.                                     POSTMAN                         No one is better off dead I think.                                     MENDOZA                         Some people are.               He tips the postman and closes the door.               INT. HOUSE - ST. MARTIN - DAY               Mendoza crosses into the house holding the newspaper clipping.                He takes a cigarette lighter and burns it and across his                face there is a hint of a smile... a very cold smile. He                crosses out to the veranda. Down on the beach below, we SEE                Maura and the baby and Joey playing.                                     JOEY                         Poppi... come down and play with us.               We now know the man is Ramirez. He walks down the steps of                his house to the beach to his wife and his children as we:                                                               DISSOLVE TO:               EXT. MEDICAL BUILDING - SUDAN - DAY               WE SUPER the following: SUDAN 1994               Two bodyguard types wait outside the building at the entrance.                An old man who walks with a cane and whose face is horribly                disfigured by burns hobbles in to the medical building. He                passes a plaque on the wall that says in English and Arabic:                              DR. WASFI MUHAMMED, M.D.; PhD.                               Cosmetic and Plastic Surgery               We SUPER THE FOLLOWING:               NO FURTHER ACTS OF TERRORISM WERE EVER ATTRIBUTED TO CARLOS                AGAIN. HE MOVED TO YEMEN, THEN JORDAN, THEN SYRIA AND FINALLY                TO THE SUDAN.               INT. REST ROOM - MEDICAL BUILDING - SUDAN - DAY               The old man locks the door and stands in front of the mirror.                He pulls off the burn makeup and scalp wig and we see that                he is Carlos. Several years older, but unmistakable. He takes                off the old man's clothes and stuffs them in a trash can and                underneath he wears the black jeans and T-shirt. Then he                straightens up and exits the rest room.               INT. CORRIDOR BETWEEN RESTROOM AND DR.'S OFFICE - MEDICAL                BLDG. - DAY               Carlos walks down the corridor and enters the medical suite                of Doctor Wasfi Muhammed. There is a plaque on the door which                says, DR. WASFI MUHAMMED, M.D., PhD, Cosmetic and Plastic                Surgery.               INT. DR. MUHAMMED'S OFFICE - SURGERY SUITE - DAY               This is a surgery suite complete with gas anesthetic, a kind                of high-tech barber chair that reclines for full surgery,                gleaming scalpels, etc. DR. MOHAMMED is there with Carlos.                The Doctor is hastily washing his hands.                                     DR. MUHAMMED                         You're quite early. I wasn't expecting                          you for another half an hour.                                     CARLOS                         I like to be unannounced. It's safer                          that way.                                     DR. MUHAMMED                         Yes, yes, of course. If you'll just                          have a seat. I've done everything as                          you said. My assistant has been let                          go for the day. I'll administer the                          anesthetic myself. I assure you sir,                          you are completely safe here.               He turns around to look into the barrel of Carlos' drawn and                cocked .38 automatic.                                     CARLOS                         I know.               EXT. MEDICAL BUILDING - SUDAN - DAY               The scene is as before. The two bodyguards stand watch.                Suddenly a car pulls up. Another bodyguard gets out and out                of this car steps Carlos. The bodyguards acknowledge him as                he enters the building.               INT. DR. MUHAMMED'S OFFICE - SURGERY SUITE - DAY               Carlos leans back in the surgery chair. There is an IV                attached to his arm. A Doctor in a surgical mask stands over                him.                                     DOCTOR                         Feeling drowsy now?                                     CARLOS                         Yes...                                     DOCTOR                         Would you like to see what your new                          face is going to look like when we're                          done?                                     CARLOS                         Yes... of course.                                     DOCTOR                         It's going to look just like this...               He pulls down his surgical mask and Carlos looks up at his                own face. It is Ramirez. He holds Carlos, who struggles                against the anaesthetic. Suddenly, a second pair of hands                grab Carlos as well. It is Jack.               EXT. REAR OF MEDICAL BUILDING - SUDAN - DAY               An ambulance is pulled up at the rear entrance and two                attendants push a gurney out of the building with a patient                whose face is covered by an oxygen mask. The two attendants                push the gurney into the ambulance and race off.               CARLOS WAS FINALLY ARRESTED IN THE SUDAN AND FLOWN TO FRANCE                TO STAND TRIAL IN AUGUST OF 1994.               As the ambulance pulls off with its siren blaring, WE CONTINUE                WITH THE CRAWL:               INTELLIGENCE SOURCES BELIEVE HE WAS TRADED TO THE FRENCH BY                THE SUDANESE GOVERNMENT IN A BID TO OBTAIN WESTERN AID. THERE                ARE RUMORS THAT TWO RETIRED CIA AGENTS PLANNED AND EXECUTED                HIS CAPTURE.                                         THE END
\ No newline at end of file
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+
+
+AT FIRST SIGHT
+
+EXT. VALLEY - DUSK
+
+Gold light dappling across a valley that seems to reach on forever. We ease back, revealing more - taking in the visual feast - finally discovering a seated figure facing out over the valley - a DOG at his feet. 
+
+VIRGIL ANDERSON, life ahead of him - someone seemingly at ease with himself. As we watch. him a moment - SOUNDS become prominent - whistle of the wind through the grass - a bird's wings as it takes flight - a tree branch creaking under its own weight. And as he sits there, listening, we see the last rays of sunlight slip from the day. 
+
+BLACK - and our TITLES come up. 
+
+Then out of the darkness come a pair of HEADLIGHTS. - and we're: 
+
+EXT. NEW YORK TURNPIKE - INTO PINECREST - DUSK 
+
+An old BMW 2002 making its way up the Taconic Parkway. 
+
+INT. BMW - DUSK 
+
+On the radio: Whitney Houston's "I'll Always Love You". AMY TREMONT, 30's, driving, on the phone. 
+
+AMY
+I'm lost Betsy, and you know me - I don't wear lost well - wait, wait I'm losing you...
+(the cell phone glitches)
+I'm pulling over before you disappear forever.
+
+Amy pulls off the side of the road. Wrestles with a map and the phone. 
+
+AMY
+Sign? I was looking for a sign? There's no...
+
+Her attention is caught by something off camera. She stares out into the night.. 
+
+HER POV - A small iced over pond - and in the middle - moving about is Virgil, ICE SKATING - hockey stick in hand - moving about the rink with an imaginary puck. 
+
+AMY (O.S.)
+(distracted)
+Yes... I took the first ..... no, no, I'm listening...
+
+Virgil winds up and takes a slap at the ice with his stick - throws his hands up in the air like he just scored. 
+
+Amy smiles, peers off down the road. A sign: BEAR MTN. SPA AND RESORT 1.4 miles. 
+
+AMY
+Wait, I got it - yeah. No don't call me.. right, unless you hear from Atlanta. And fax me the designs - I want to tinker with them a bit more... I'm going to rest - bye - I'll see you in a week.
+
+Beep she hangs up. Looks back out to the pond. It's empty. Shrugs - about to pull out - that love song still blaring. 
+
+AMY
+Oh p-lease, Whitney.
+
+CLICK - she shuts off the radio - and pulls back out onto the road. 
+
+EXT. BEAR MTN. HEALTH SPA - NIGHT 
+
+Amy pulling luggage out of her car. She takes a breath - clearly she's exhausted - and starts towards the entrance. 
+
+INT. BEAR MTN. HEALTH SPA - RECEPTION DESK - NIGHT 
+
+Amy at the front desk with the Night Manager CAROLINE, 30'S, annoyingly fit. 
+
+CAROLINE
+… we have a full weight room, lifecycles, stairmasters, a spa, yoga, aerobics, spin classes...
+
+AMY
+I'm really just looking for a quick fix, here. Do you have anything that just involves lying down?
+
+CAROLINE
+A massage.
+
+AMY
+Great. I'll have one a day. Not too early.
+
+INT. BEAR MTN. - MASSAGE WAITING AREA - NEXT DAY 
+
+Amy enters, wearing sweats, she checks her watch - looks toward a closed door - about to grab a magazine when she hears from behind the door: 
+
+WOMAN'S VOICE
+Virgil, Oh God..., right there. Yes.
+
+Amy's interest piques - the woman's murmur continuing - deep ecstasy. 
+
+WOMAN'S VOICE
+Yes there - a bit more...
+(a small bell DINGS)
+--wait - wait, you can't stop - one more minute - noo! 
+
+VIRGIL'S VOICE
+Sorry, Susan - time's up. I've got someone waiting.
+
+And the door opens - and we see a woman, 60's, SUSAN, Bette Midler type, backing out of the room. 
+
+SUSAN
+Virgil, you have to come live with me.
+
+VIRGIL'S VOICE
+And what would your husband say? Amy, you out there? - c'mon in.
+
+SUSAN
+That's it - I'm getting a divorce.
+
+Amy smiles as she passes Susan and enters. 
+
+INT. VIRGIL'S MASSAGE ROOM - DAY 
+
+Virgil has his back to us as he prepares the table. The room is very ordered - every vial, bottle, towel has its exact spot. 
+
+VIRGIL
+Hey, Amy, I'm Virgil - why don't you get ready - hop up on the table.
+
+Amy sees Virgil - his head turned slightly away - she drops her sweats and lies on the table, face down - pulling the sheet to cover herself. 
+
+AMY
+Sounds like you're a genius at this.
+
+VIRGIL
+(laughs)
+That's right.. Mozart, Einstein, Virgil Anderson, massage therapist. Now I'm going to start working somewhat deep -you let me know if you want anything deeper.
+
+AMY
+Deeper is good - where I come from, all you get is shallow.
+
+VIRGIL
+I like that - deep it is.
+
+CLICK - he hits a button on a CD player and as we hear the soulful aria "Mira, 0 Norma" from Bellini's Norma. 
+
+VIRGIL
+First time in Pinecrest?
+
+AMY
+Came in late last night.. missed the town completely.
+
+VIRGIL
+If you came in broad daylight, you could still miss the town completely.
+
+DISSOLVE TO:
+
+Slow moving cuts of Virgil, working long strokes over Amy's body - - his hands gracefully LENGTHENING and STRETCHING her muscles. 
+
+VIRGIL
+Too much compute? work.
+
+AMY
+Uh-huh.
+
+VIRGIL
+Bad chair - you should think about a change.
+
+AMY
+(quiet)
+Absolutely.
+
+Virgil reaches his hands all the way down her spine and makes a move that causes Amy to release a very deep guttural sound. 
+
+VIRGIL
+Too deep?
+
+AMY
+No.. ..... just right.
+
+Amy is now lost in another world - as Virgil shifts - working gently - not caressing - but molding - like a sculptor. 
+
+A moment and Amy, surprisingly, begins to cry - softly. Virgil stops - takes a step back. 
+
+VIRGIL
+I - I'm sorry - it was too deep...
+
+She cries for another few beats - then takes a breath. 
+
+AMY
+No - it.. It's not you..It's just things have kinda built up, I don't know why I'm crying.. look, this is embarrassing...
+
+VIRGIL 
+Don't be embarrassed - you obviously needed it. We should stop for today.
+
+AMY
+Yeah, thanks.You always make the girls cry.
+
+VIRGIL
+Not since grade school. I'm going to go now - unless you'd like me to stay.
+
+AMY
+Could you - just for a minute?
+
+VIRGIL
+Of course, whatever you need.
+
+Virgil sits next to her - then reaches out - takes her hand and starts a slow comforting massage - we see Amy visibly relax. 
+
+AMY
+You ever feel like a Martian'sinvaded your entire body?
+
+VIRGIL
+Every day.
+
+Amy, closes her eyes - smiling slightly in thanks. 
+
+INT. VIRGIL'S MASSAGE ROOM - LATER 
+
+CAMERA pans slowly over to Amy asleep - and on the click of the door - her eyes dreamily open. 
+
+AMY
+Virgil?
+
+INT. BEAR MTN. HEALTH SPA - LATE DAY 
+
+Hallway outside the massage area. Amy exits the change room, now wearing her sweats - pulling on her sneakers. 
+
+VIRGIL (O.S.)
+(calling out)
+Hey Caroline, you look incredible today.
+
+CAROLINE (O.S.)
+(laughing)
+Quite a compliment, Virgil. See ya tomorrow.
+
+VIRGIL (O.S.)
+See ya.
+
+Amy looks down the hall - sees a glimpse of Virgil rounding the corner. She chases after hi~n into the reception area where she sees him exiting the door and moving of f down the driveway. 
+
+AMY
+Virgil - wait...
+
+He's gone. Hopping along, tugging on her last sandal - she decides to go after him - fighting her way through a large tour group just checking in. 
+
+EXT. BEAR MTN. SPA - LATE DAY 
+
+Virgil in the distance, moving his way towards the main street. Amy exiting the building - trying not to slip on the ice as she, hurries after him - trying to get close enough to call out. 
+
+Virgil stops at a main roadway as Amy comes up behind him. 
+
+AMY
+Virgil, hey.
+
+Virgil turns - sunglasses on - looks directly at Amy. 
+
+VIRGIL
+Yes.
+
+AMY
+It's Amy - Amy Tremont.
+
+VIRGIL
+Of course - you were sleeping, didn't want to wake you.
+
+AMY
+Yes thanks - you're the skater, right - I saw you last night, coming in. Pretty mean slapshot. You play on some team or something?
+
+VIRGIL
+Yeah, something. You a hockey fan?
+
+AMY
+Always liked it - never get around to seeing a game. But I loved to skate as a kid - unfortunately I have two left feet.
+
+VIRGIL
+(playing with her) 
+They look perfectly OK with me.
+
+Amy laughs, starts relaxing - unconsciously starts to flirt. Head cocked, shifts her weight on one foot, moving slightly closer. 
+
+AMY
+I love the view you get here.
+
+VIRGIL
+Same here - I never get used to it.
+
+Just then a YELLOW SCHOOL BUS pulls up in front of him and WHOOSH the doors pop open revealing CARL KIPLING, black, a hundred years old. Virgil turns as a few kids pile off the bus.. 
+
+VIRGIL
+Well, this is my ride. Hey Tommy, my man.
+
+And with his hand extended a kid high fives it. Amy looks up - a BUS full of young school kids. Seems odd. 
+
+TOMMY
+Virge.
+
+As the kid moves off. 
+
+AMY
+Well, I just wanted to apologize for back there - blubbering like that - I was just in a weird place.
+
+VIRGIL
+And now...
+
+AMY
+Now, I'm fine - so I wanted to thank- you. For what you did.
+
+VIRGIL
+For making you cry.
+
+AMY
+No, I made me cry - and you handled it great - didn't freak or anything.
+(beat)
+Is my mascara smeared or something?
+
+VIRGIL
+(laughs)
+No. Why?
+
+AMY
+You're just looking at me funny.
+
+CARL
+Virgil - lets move it.
+
+VIRGIL
+As I said earlier - I just never get used to the view.
+
+Virgil starts towards the bus, reaching behind to his pack. Pulls something out. 
+
+VIRGIL
+See you tomorrow.
+
+And CLICK, CLICK, CLICK - a WHITE CANE unfolds in his hand. And he taps his way to the bus. 
+
+AMY
+See you... oh my God.
+
+VIRGIL
+What?
+
+AMY
+You're, you're -- I'm so sorry.
+
+VIRGIL
+(smile)
+Hey, you already apologized once - no need to overdo it. Bye now.
+
+Amy doesn't know how to respond. And he moves into the front seat of the bus - amongst "Hey Virgil's" from the school kids and Ca-chunk the doors close - the Yellow Bus steaming off - past Amy, as she stares at Virgil in the front seat - about to wave to him - then realizing he wouldn't see. 
+
+As she turns and watches the bus move off down the street - a hand comes out - Virgil's - and waves good-bye. 
+
+EXT. VIRGIL'S HOME.- DUSK 
+
+The BUS stopping in front of Virgil's home - a side-by-side DUPLEX at the edge of surrounding woods. 
+
+Virgil steps into the street and with a HONK the bus pulls away. He turns, grazes his hand across a tree out front - and starts towards his home. 
+
+AT THE PORCH - he hesitates at the first door. Finds it with his hand - then raps on it. 
+
+No answer. He moves over to his own door - and goes inside. 
+
+INT. VIRGIL'S HOME - EVENING 
+
+As he enters, Sophie, an aging LAB, lays on the couch. 
+
+VIRGIL
+Get of f the couch, Sophie.
+
+As the dog slides guiltily off the couch. 
+
+VIRGIL
+Some seeing eye dog - more like sleeping eye dog.
+
+Virgil bends down as he passes the coffee table to pick up the REMOTE CONTROL placed just so. Click - a Game Show pops on. 
+
+VIRGIL
+Met a girl today - nice voice -followed me out of the building.
+
+Sophie barks. 
+
+VIRGIL
+No she wasn't a stalker.
+
+CLOSE ON Virgil's hand flipping open a large book marked "TV HOCKEY SCHEDULE" - it's completely WHITE - all in BRAILLE. 
+
+JENNIE (O.S.)
+Sophie's just worried about you - she watches too many horror movies.
+
+In the kitchen, JENNIE ANDERSON, older than Virgil, simply dressed, putting a just made dinner carefully onto a plate. 
+
+VIRGIL
+Hey, you're here - so how are the kids today?
+
+Running his hand down the pure white page - he finds what he wants: BAP - he hits the channel changer and the game comes on. 
+
+JENNIE
+The usual - need a lot of attention. So who's the girl?
+
+Moving into the kitchen, Virgil puts the remote to the side of the refrigerator where it VELCRO sticks to an exact spot. 
+
+VIRGIL
+From the spa. I made her cry.
+
+JENNIE
+You haven't done that since-- 
+
+VIRGIL/JENNIE
+-- grade school.
+
+VIRGIL
+(smile)
+That's what I told her. Coke?
+
+Virgil moves past Jennie as she goes into the living room - hand up, door open and he's got a glass. Back to the fridge, he grabs a coke. 
+
+JENNIE
+I'm fine. Your dinner's ready - chicken's at 3 o'clock - rice is at...
+
+VIRGIL
+6 o'clock, peas at 9 o'clock and news at 11.
+
+Jennie places Virgil's dinner down in an exact spot on a coffee table (facing away from the TV). 
+
+JENNIE
+(laughs)
+One day I'm going to switch them on you.
+
+VIRGIL
+And one day I'll play forward for the New York Rangers.
+
+Four precise steps into the room and Virgil plops down on the sofa - finds his fork. Jennie moves to a counter where a pile of school books sit. 
+
+JENNIE
+
+Ha - ha. You need new jokes.
+
+VIRGIL
+Or a new sister. 
+
+JENNIE
+I'd work on the jokes.
+
+Picking up the books she moves past Virgil - pecks him on the head and moves to the door. 
+
+VIRGIL
+You want to watch some hockey?
+
+JENNIE
+(at the door)
+You want to grade some spelling tests? 
+(beat)
+I'll be next door you need me.
+
+She leaves and Virgil pats the couch and Sophie hops up next to him. 
+
+VIRGIL
+You know this girl - for one moment -she actually thought I could
+(Sophie grumbles as she settles in) 
+I'm not kidding. 
+(beat) 
+And she had this great voice - relaxing - soft like a breeze through
+(beat)
+Wonder what she thinks about "blind dates." 
+
+INT. AMY'S ROOM - EVENING 
+
+Amy in bed - just out of the shower - the only light in the room comes from the TV. She has the remote, mindlessly switching channels - not staying on one for more than a second or two. 
+
+Click - an Odd Couple rerun - click - ESPN bowling - click - Three Stooges - Moe poking Curly in the eye - click - click - click. 
+
+Bored, she stops - notices a small scarf on a chair next to the bed. She picks it up, holds it against her eyes and ties it tight around her head. 
+
+She stands - hands out in front of her - starts to walk across the room - not so bad - WHAM - right into a side table. Shit that hurts! Grabbing her leg, she hops - hits a lamp. 
+
+AMY
+DAMMIT!
+
+Ripping the towel of f her head - hopping around on one foot - she hears: 
+
+KNOCK KNOCK 
+
+AMY
+Coming!
+
+Rubbing her leg - she limps/half walks to the door - opens it to: 
+
+Virgil: dark glasses, cane, smile 
+
+AMY
+Virgil..?
+
+She pulls a towel in closer - then realizes it doesn't matter 
+
+VIRGIL
+My turn to apologize. I should have told you I was blind it wasn't fair.
+
+AMY
+That's OK. You want to come in -I just got out of the shower - give me a minute to get changed?
+
+VIRGIL
+(as he moves in)
+Sure, I promise I won't look.
+
+As Amy starts to get changed in the bathroom. 
+
+VIRGIL
+Anyways, I was in the neighborhood -- actually the whole town's my neighborhood -- and since you've never been to ourillustrious village, I thought maybe we could go into town - see what we see.
+
+AMY
+See what we see?
+
+VIRGIL
+Figure of speech. 
+
+AMY
+You mean right now, tonight?
+
+VIRGIL
+Great - I'm blind and you're deaf - what a pair.
+
+EXT. MAIN STREET - EVENING 
+
+A few store windows lit up. Some people eating dinner at a streetside cafe. Virgil, holding Amy's arm as they walk down the street. 
+
+WITH AMY AND VIRGIL WALKING: 
+
+VIRGIL
+... the Mechanic at the top of the street is Doug - smokes too much - but a good guy. Three steps down is Carlson's hardware- he's got a laugh like a donkey - we sometimes listen to gamestogether - he's a Devil's fan. And just up ahead should be Grady's junk shop - he calls it "antiques"...Smells like junk. I'd hate to see what it looks like. 
+
+A woman bustles past, NANCY BENDER, weighed down with groceries. 
+
+VIRGIL
+(intuitively)
+Hey Nancy.
+
+NANCY
+Hey Virgil - got that book in for you.
+
+VIRGIL
+Nancy's our librarian, brings in any braille book I want.
+
+NANCY
+(to Amy)
+The guy's nuts about the pyramids -anything he can get his hands on...
+
+VIRGIL
+Thank-you Nancy - you should get yourgroceries home - your ice cream's melting.
+
+Nancy laughs - as she moves off. 
+
+AMY
+Nice place - you seem to know everyone here.
+
+VIRGIL
+Moved here when I was eight. My family figured it would be a good place for me to grow up. Tell me what you see.
+
+AMY
+Well, there's a good structure to the town - genuine lines, good use of space. To be honest I'd find a better balance to a lot of these buildings. But that's me.
+
+VIRGIL
+What's you?
+
+AMY
+The architect in me - can't leave wellenough alone. Art school in college - I made the arms for the Venus DeMilo. 
+(realizing he probably doesn't understand)
+see, the Venus De Milo has no arms and...
+
+VIRGIL
+(laughs)
+I know the Venus De Milo has no arms, and the Mona Lisa has this captivating smileand David doesn't wear a fig leaf.
+
+AMY
+How do you...
+
+VIRGIL
+I may not have been a lot of places -but I read about things, then make animage up here -- (points to his head)--that works for me.
+
+Grazing his hand across a telephone pole - Virgil stops - turns to Amy. 
+
+VIRGIL
+This is the end of the street. We should turn back.
+
+AMY
+What about past the end of the street? What's out there?
+
+He turns around. 
+
+VIRGIL
+(shrugs)
+Nothing.
+
+AMY
+No - there's an old run down building off to the side...
+
+VIRGIL
+Must be the old firehouse. It had a fire so they shut it down. (Amy laughs)Honest to God.
+(intrigued)
+What else do you see?
+
+AMY
+A wall of shrubs - a field with an interesting configuration of trees.
+
+The wind has picked up a bit. 
+
+VIRGIL
+Tell me how you see it.
+
+AMY
+(enjoying the game)
+OK, sure. Let's see - long and elegant. Like -- like a woman dancing with two lovers, trying to decide which one she loves.
+
+Virgil stops a moment - takes in the image. 
+
+AMY
+What?
+
+VIRGIL
+It's just - the image you just gave me - "Dancing trees. - I like that.
+
+Virgil stops - his head cocks slightly. 
+
+VIRGIL
+We should go - it's starting to rain.
+
+AMY
+(looking around) 
+There's a bit of a breeze but-- 
+
+KABOOM - thunder - and the rain just drops. 
+
+INT. FIREHOUSE - NIGHT 
+
+They run in laughing - Amy closing the door behind them as Virgil moves his way into the center of the room - stands where the moonlight from a high window hits the floor. Water runs down the outside glass, causing the light to ripple across him. The room is empty - almost surreal. 
+
+AMY
+I can't believe how fast it happens...
+(she sees Virgil - his head cocked towards the ceiling) 
+
+AMY
+Virgil?
+
+Virgil's head turns toward her. 
+
+VIRGIL
+You like rain - I love the rain.
+
+AMY
+(moving to him)
+What were you just doing there?
+
+Virgil slowly moves his head about, sensing the room. 
+
+VIRGIL
+Listening - the rain - it brings out the contours of everything, gives life to a room I can't see.
+
+WE SEE SLOW MOVING CUTS of the building as Virgil describes what he hears. 
+
+VIRGIL 
+You hear it?...on the roof dripping down the walls on every side. On the right, on the drainpipe, it's drumming with a deeper, steadier sound - - like a timpani - echoing across the room - tells me the room is large - open. You feel it - in your chest? On the left, the rain says... (he listens)...a fire escape, with it's own rhythm - ping - ping. Then listen - there...
+(he points)
+--what's that - over there...?
+
+AMY
+Looks like it's...
+
+VIRGIL
+No, listen for it - not what it looks like - what it becomes. Come here.
+
+Amy moves closer - Virgil puts his hands out on her shoulders - turns her to the sound. 
+
+VIRGIL
+Now just listen to it - shut outeverything but that sound - do you hear it?
+
+Amy strains to listen - closes her eyes - her head instinctively turning - no in unison with Virgil's 
+
+AMY
+Yes - there - it's soft - like a shimmer
+
+VIRGIL
+The wind blowing the rain against a window.
+
+AMY
+(smile)
+Like a cymbal. It's like our own percussive symphony, isn't it?
+
+Amy opens her eyes - looks about the room - listening. 
+
+VIRGIL
+The world is invisible to me - with my touch it comes alive. But only one thing at a time. But when it's raining,I feel everything at once. Sometimes, I wish it could rain inside rain all around us.
+
+AMY
+(musing)
+"Einfuehlung."
+
+VIRGIL
+What?
+
+AMY
+Einfuehlung - it's an architectural term. It means to share an empathy. Been a long time since I felt that.
+
+And as they stand listening to the rain, playing its music - Amy watches him - fascinated by him - then shivers slightly. 
+
+VIRGIL 
+You're cold, we should go.
+
+AMY
+No, I'm fine, really. It was just something passing through me - can't explain it - a good thing.
+
+Amy smiles at him - then quietly realizes he can't see it. She moves close, her hand reaching out and taking his. 
+
+AMY
+What you just showed me … how I feel - makes me smile.
+
+She takes his hand - hesitates - then puts it on the side of her face. 
+
+VIRGIL
+I see it now. Thank-you.
+
+We hold a beat - enjoying the symphony of rain - then cut to: 
+
+EXT. BEAR MTN. LODGE - MORNING 
+
+The sun warming the cool morning air. The school bus pulling away to reveal Virgil making his way into work. 
+
+VIRGIL (V.O.)
+I thought after yesterday, you'd never get up on my table again.
+
+INT. MASSAGE ROOM - NEXT DAY 
+
+Amy on the table. Virgil squirting oil in his hand - preparing. 
+
+AMY
+You kidding? today, I'm looking for a complete nervous breakdown.
+
+VIRGIL
+I love a challenge.
+
+And as he places his palms carefully on her back - working her back slowly we hear opera play quietly in the background. 
+
+DISSOLVE TO:
+
+Virgil's hands on the small of her back - something amazingly sensual about how he works her muscles. Amy speaks to him in low tones - in a state of complete relaxation. 
+
+AMY
+Can I ask how long you've been blind?
+
+VIRGIL
+Of course, most people avoid the subject. You tell them you're blind and they act surprised. "You're blind? Reallv? I didn't know - you hide it so well." And then they wave theirhand in front of your face just to make sure.
+(beat)
+It started when I was a little over a year old.
+
+Virgil's hands move down Amy's sides - slow - feeling each contour - the oil making her skin glisten. Amy moves her head slightly with his touch. She lets out a small breath of air. 
+
+AMY
+(quiet)
+You see shadows?
+
+VIRGIL
+No. Congenital cataracts. And a case of retinitis pigmentosa thrown in for good measure. This area needs to loosen up.
+
+AMY
+I think you're doing it. 
+(beat)
+No bright lights, nothing?
+
+VIRGIL
+I'm blind as a bat. Actually, blinder 'cause they emit sonar all the time. I don't have a sixth sense,I just don't have the fifth one. I can't hear things in Vermont, can't smell if you're mad at me, and, no - I don't know Helen Keller, Ray Charles or Stevie Wonder.
+
+Amy murmurs in response to Virgil's touch. 
+
+VIRGIL
+You say something?
+
+AMY
+No, I just - this feels nice - too nice.
+
+Virgil moves his hands down her back - sensually kneading each muscle. It's clear he's enjoying this as much as she is. 
+
+AMY
+You're very good.. at what you do.
+
+Another breath exhales from her involuntarily as Virgil hits a sensitive spot. 
+
+VIRGIL
+Thank-you.
+
+AMY
+You enjoy it.
+
+VIRGIL
+At times. Some clients make it more enjoyable than others.
+
+Virgil now works down her thighs - Amy's back arching slightly with the movement - both of them heating to the moment. Both their breaths quickening. 
+
+AMY
+And this client...
+
+VIRGIL
+Is very, very...
+
+DING - and the spell is broken. 
+
+AMY
+What?
+
+VIRGIL
+Sorry - it's time. I've got Mr. Ketchum coming in next - all two hundred pounds. Sorry - I felt like we were just getting started.
+
+Amy sits up on the table - the sheet pulling away slightly revealing her. For a moment she watches him - his head turned towards her - but not seeing. Then she slowly pulls the sheet up covering herself. 
+
+AMY
+Thank-you. For last night as well - love to do it again.
+
+VIRGIL
+How about I cook dinner then, tonight.
+
+AMY
+I'd like that.
+
+INT. BEAR MIN. - NEXT DAY 
+
+Aerobics step class. Amy working out. In front of her two rather large women in neon stretch workout clothes - Amy tries to avoid the view - a thought - and she shuts her eyes as she continues her exercise. 
+
+INT. BEAR MTN. - NEXT DAY 
+
+Amy, towel around her neck - coming in from the workout. 
+
+CAROLINE
+Amy …
+
+INT. VIRGIL'S HOME - NIGHT 
+
+Onions frying. Tilt up to Virgil - cutting the last of it and putting it in the pan - sizzling as it hits. Vegetables and a box of pasta are arranged on the countertop. Sophie watches the proceedings. 
+
+RRRRINNNG - the phone. 
+
+Virgil stops cutting - his hand easily finds the phone. 
+
+INTERCUT WITH … 
+
+Amy: on the phone in her car on the Taconic Parkway. 
+
+AMY
+Virgil - it's Amy. I - I can't make dinner - I'm really sorry - an emergency came up - they're dragging me back to New York.
+
+VIRGIL
+Oh. Yeah. Anything serious?
+
+AMY
+The project we were working on was rejected - could go down the drain. I'll deal with it quick - I'd like to come back.
+
+VIRGIL
+Yeah. Good. Well. I'll be here.
+
+Virgil hangs up the phone - frustrated, he reaches for the frying pan - and promptly burns his hand. 
+
+VIRGIL
+-DAMN IT!!!
+
+Dropping the pan - Sophie goes scurrying, as he kicks at it - sending it across the room. He turns - thrusts his hand under the sink - turning on the cold water. 
+
+VIRGIL
+Shit - that was stupid.
+
+EXT. FLATIRON DISTRICT - LATE DAY 
+
+Evening rush hour traffic surrounding the Flatiron building. 
+
+VOICE (ON SPEAKERPHONE)
+I'm just saying there seems to be something missing.
+
+INT. ROSWELL-TREMONT DESIGN - DAY 
+
+A small cardboard model of what looks like a small mini-mall. Amy sits in front of it - drawing on a sketch pad. The office is sparse, functional. A few DRAFTSMEN can be seen in the background through a glass partition. 
+
+DUNCAN
+Absolutely Mr. Falk - something lj missing - we realize that now. We just need some time to figure out what.
+
+DUNCAN ROSWELL, 30's, leaning a little too ardently into a speaker phone. The voice on the other end is JACK FALK - their would be employer. Their assistant BETSY ERNST, early 20's, sits in the corner, taking notes. 
+
+FALK 
+Fine - but you all know what kind of schedule we're on here?
+
+DUNCAN
+(watching Amy)
+And budget. Yes sir. Don't worry, we won't let you down.
+
+She takes a piece of paper, has an idea, starts sketching - Duncan hangs up. 
+
+DUNCAN
+Don't say it, I know. You were never happy with the design.
+
+AMY 
+I wasn't going to say that.
+
+DUNCAN
+But you'd have tinkered with it till the job went away. So now we've got him hooked, you've got your second chance.
+
+And Amy shoves her rough sketch across the table. 
+
+AMY
+Look at these site photos - see those trees - we were going to get rid of them - let's incorporate them into the design use what's natural about the location. 
+(Duncan stares at her) 
+And by the way - the 53rd St. lobby - coming back from Pinecrest, I came up with a new addition - add some life to that place.
+
+Duncan stares at the sketch - then looks up at Amy 
+
+DUNCAN 
+OK -- what's going on here? We sent Hydra the three headed monster off a few days ago and got back Mary Poppins in return.
+
+AMY
+What? I can't have a couple of ideas. 
+(even Betsy stares at her)
+Fine, you want to know - I met a guy.
+
+Betsy stands. 
+
+BETSY 
+Too modern for me.
+
+DUNCAN 
+Sit down.Betsy. We're all friends here. So - spill the beans.
+
+AMY 
+Nothing to spill - he's a good guy - smart, funny, blind...
+
+DUNCAN 
+Whoa, whoa - wait a minute - Blind!? Like tap-tap, white cane blind? Come on Amy - I mean, I know you like challenges, hell you married me - but...
+
+AMY 
+I knew you'd be understanding.
+
+DUNCAN 
+(standing) 
+No, no I am. You're right, this is none of my business anymore - but a blindguy? If you're lonely - in my. opinion -- get a puppy.
+
+BETSY 
+Duncan, don't be a jerk.
+
+DUNCAN 
+You still work here.
+
+He's gone. 
+
+BETSY 
+He's just jealous.
+
+AMY
+So much for the "we're all friends here" idea.
+
+INT. ROSWELL-TREMONT OFFICES - NIGHT 
+
+CLOSE ON - Computer screen. A cursor blinks - then the words CONGENITAL BLINDNESS - a CLICK and a web page for the AMERICAN BRAILLE INSTITUTE comes up. 
+
+WIDE - we see Amy hovering over her computer - various sketches of the proposed building next to her - two giant Magnolia trees have been incorporated into the design. As we watch her search on the computer we move over her shoulder to see in the corner of her plans - a sketch of the intertwined "dancing trees" and the Firehouse. 
+
+Betsy enters carrying her jacket. 
+
+BETSY 
+Everybody's gone for the day.
+
+AMY 
+Thanks. You go ahead - I'm just finishing up something here.
+
+She turns to look at Betsy who now peers over her shoulder - sees what she's doing. Amy looks up at her - sees Betsy's look. 
+
+AMY 
+What? I just want to know a little more about what's wrong with him.
+
+BETSY 
+(pause) 
+Amy? Friend to friend?
+
+AMY 
+Shoot
+
+BETSY
+I hate to admit it but I agree with Duncan on this one.
+
+AMY
+(back to the computer) 
+Don't shoot.
+
+BETSY
+He makes sense sometimes. My father had a problem a few years back with severe cataracts. Do you have any idea what you're getting into?
+
+Amy spins in her chair - looks to Betsy. 
+
+AMY 
+You ever listened to rain - I mean really listened?
+
+BETSY 
+This like that smell the roses thing?
+
+AMY
+(turns to her) 
+I've spent the last five years of my adult life with a man who has the emotional content of a soap dish. The only time I saw him cry was doing our tax return three years ago.
+(beat) 
+I need more than that, Betsy. For once in a long, long time I feel like I can breathe again. Just the way he touches me I know I found someone I can connect with.
+
+BETSY 
+Ah, here we go.
+
+AMY 
+No, no. I can tell he's sensing everything about me with a simple touch. He listens to my every word as if it's the only sound on the planet - I feel like even though he can't see me, he knows everything about me. He just moves me - does that sound crazy.
+
+BETSY 
+(beat) 
+Does he have a brother?
+
+EXT: PINE CREST MOUNTAINS - LATE DAY 
+
+The FROZEN POND, nestled against a strand of pine. Virgil skates fast across the ice enjoying the speed - the wind using his hockey stick as a guide - he nears the edge of pond - feels it with the stick and slams to a stop. 
+
+He shuffles his body around to face in the other direction - then starts skating again - passing AMY standing on the snow covered bank. 
+
+ON AMY - smiling, watching Virgil - enjoying his release of energy. 
+
+HER POV - VIRGIL - skating well, a look of relaxation we've never seen on his face. He skates in an arc coming back past Amy. 
+
+Finally she speaks. 
+
+AMY 
+Wayne Gretzky, look out.
+
+Virgil slams to a halt in surprise - nearly toppling over. 
+
+AMY 
+Sorry -- sorry. Didn't mean to scare you.
+
+VIRGIL 
+Amy?!
+
+AMY 
+I said I'd come back.
+
+VIRGIL 
+How long ... how long have you been...?
+
+AMY 
+Watching you? Just got here - couldn't find you at the spa - tooka chance you'd be here. You're very good.
+
+VIRGIL 
+Skated since I was a kid. My dad taught me - wanted me to play pro one day. How do you like my pond?
+
+AMY
+It's beautiful.
+
+VIRGIL 
+Describe it for me.
+
+AMY
+OK. Let's see. Like cool blue silk - you know blue?
+
+VIRGIL 
+I think so - keep going.
+
+AMY 
+Blue silk stretched tight across a bowl - surrounded by white jacketed sentries of trees on the horizon, protecting it from the outside world.
+
+VIRGIL 
+Horizon's a tough one.
+
+AMY 
+What?
+
+VIRGIL 
+Never understood horizon - if touch it - don't know what it that's OK I liked the rest of picture. 
+(he starts moving towards her) 
+You want to skate?
+
+AMY 
+Sorry, I didn't bring my skates.
+
+VIRGIL 
+Don't need them. Come on step hold of my stick.
+
+AMY 
+Excuse me?
+
+VIRGIL
+(smile) 
+Hockey stick. Here.
+
+He holds the stick out like a cross bar. Amy moves cautiously forward and takes hold of it. 
+
+VIRGIL 
+OK. Now hold on for balance. I used to do this with Jennie when we were kids.
+
+And Virgil starts skating backwards pulling Amy with him. Amy is apprehensive at first then starts to enjoy the movement - the sensation - both of them laughing out loud. 
+
+WIDE as we see them move about the rink - Amy sliding and being pulled by Virgil. As he picks up speed we hear Amy scream in delight. 
+
+AMY 
+Look out - we're running out of ice.
+
+Virgil turns expertly, arcing around the edge of the ice but Amy loses her nerve - and balance - and lets go of the stick and goes flying into an embankment. The momentum carries Virgil off down the ice - both of them laughing hysterically. 
+
+VIRGIL 
+You OK?
+
+AMY 
+Fine. Never been dumped so fast in my life.
+
+VIRGIL 
+Me, dump you? No way. Stay where you are - I'll come to you - just keep talking.
+
+Amy sits up on her elbows in the embankment. 
+
+AMY 
+What do I say?
+
+Virgil starts gliding across the ice searching for Amy. 
+
+VIRGIL 
+(hearing her voice, veering in her direction) 
+Anything - how'd you become an architect?
+
+AMY 
+God - let's see - I was in college - art school - a little aimless - and I metthis guy -. an architect - opened up a new world to me. I liked the structure the control - finding problems, coming up with solutions - when I graduated - we started a company together - on impulse got married- which was crazy - divorced a year ago - but we're still partners.. which must seemeven crazier.
+
+And Virgil's suddenly there - going a little too far - tumbling off the pond and into her. 
+
+VIRGIL 
+You'd think I meant to do that. A patented move.
+
+They're close - in the snow together - face to face. 
+
+AMY
+(Amy smiles, realizes) 
+This is tough.
+
+VIRGIL 
+What?
+
+AMY 
+I bat my eyelashes, toss my head just right, and there's this very sexy thing I do with my eyes - then realize none of it matters to you.
+
+VIRGIL 
+It doesn't matter. Tell me what you look like.
+
+AMY 
+I.. .1 don't know I'm...
+
+VIRGIL 
+Wait. Let me.
+
+He puts his hand out, over her face -- hesitates, then slowly feels down the contours of her cheek, her eyelids, the shape of her lips - Amy moving with the touch, the sensuality of it - and as he continues - Amy's hand reaches up - touching his face - Virgil smiles. 
+
+VIRGIL 
+Eyes, mouth, chin, cheek.. you are very beautiful.
+
+AMY 
+Thank-you. So are you - more than I could describe.
+
+Virgil's hands move down her face - closing her eyes - letting her just experience his touch - his exploring. 
+
+And as both their hands continue, enjoying the sensation of discovering each other - Amy leans forward, her eyes still closed, finding his mouth - grazing his lips with her own - softly, gently, then they fold into each other's arms locked into a warm, deep kiss. 
+
+INT. VIRGIL'S HOUSE - BEDROOM - NIGHT 
+
+It's dark - a pale moonglow highlights the two intertwined naked bodies. A fire burns in the background. In flowing CUTS we see them make love: 
+
+Virgil - his head tilted down - Amy - puts her hand to his chin - lifts his head - then kisses each of his closed eyelids in rhythm with Virgil's movements. 
+
+Amy - now astride Virgil - she closes her eyes - feels it the way Virgil would - moving faster now - in total rhythm - shuddering in mutual release -- and she collapses on top of him - a deep breath and she rolls over - cuddles into his arm. 
+
+A long beat - out of breath: 
+
+AMY 
+So -- that's what a blind date is.
+
+They breathe - then both start laughing - quietly - then hysterically together as Virgil wraps her up in his arms - holding her tightly. 
+
+EXT. PINECREST - DAWN 
+
+The horizon. The sun cresting it - bringing a new light to the day. 
+
+INT. VIRGIL'S HOME - EARLY MORNING SOUNDS OF A SHOWER IN THE BACKGROUND. AMY IN VIRGIL'S ROBE, PULLS A JUICE CONTAINER OUT OF THE FRIDGE - POURS HERSELF A GLASS, PUTTING THE JUICE ON THE COUNTER AS SHE WALKS INTO THE LIVING ROOM - TAKING IN THE SPARSENESS OF HIS SURROUNDINGS. 
+
+CLOSE ON - an open Braille Book. The completely white pages with minute bumps. Amy pulls up a chair, sits - and flips through the book, running her hand across the pages - trying to understand his world. 
+
+She then turns to the front cover to see what it is. Playboy. 
+
+We hear the shower stop as Amy smiles, puts the book down - pushes the chair aside then moves to a series of pictures on the wall: 
+
+Virgil as a young boy - his sister Jennie a few years older - and his mother and father. Then another picture next to it - Virgil in his skates and Jennie older - no father - Sophie at their feet. 
+
+And a final picture - Virgil as an adult - he and Jennie on the front porch - his arms wrapped around his sister like he's never going to let go. 
+
+VOICE (O.S.) 
+Hello?
+
+Amy turns to see - Jennie, carrying a bag under her arm. 
+
+AMY 
+Hello.
+
+Jennie moves towards the kitchen. 
+
+JENNIE 
+I'm Jennie, Virgil's sister. And you are..?
+
+Virgil steps out - bathrobe - drying his hair. 
+
+VIRGIL
+Jen, this is Amy Tremont.
+
+Jennie now at the kitchen - stares at the juice container - places it back in the fridge - just so. 
+
+JENNIE
+I was just at the market Virgil, picking up a few things before school - and I thought you might like some...
+
+VIRGIL 
+(smells) 
+Apples and bananas.Amy sees the fruit on the counter - impressed. 
+
+JENNIE 
+He's being a show-off, Amy - I always bring him these. 
+(putting them in the fridge) 
+The apples are on the bottom shelf...
+
+VIRGIL 
+At two o'clock. Oranges at 10. I know, thanks.
+
+JENNIE 
+Amy -- you in town long...
+
+And WHAM - Virgil moving into the room, collides right into the chair Amy moved - knocking into a lamp sending it to the ground. Jennie immediately rushes over. 
+
+AMY 
+Virgil?
+
+VIRGIL 
+I'm fine.
+
+JENNIE 
+No you're not - you're bleeding. 
+(turning to Amy, sudden) 
+First lesson with a blind man, Amy - don't change anything - it's too dangerous
+
+AMY 
+(moving to Virgil)
+I'm sorry - I didn't know...
+
+VIRGIL
+It was my fault. I'm OK.
+
+Jennie still dabbing at his leg. 
+
+VIRGIL
+(embarassed, snaps) 
+Goddamit, Jennie - I said I was OK - leave me alone!
+
+Jennie hesitates, then stands to go - sees the hockey book out of place. A glance to Amy and she picks it up - quietly moves it back to it's rightful spot. 
+
+JENNIE 
+I've got parent meetings tonight - there's dinner in the freezer - left corner.
+(turns to Amy) 
+Nice to have met you, Amy.
+
+AMY 
+Me too - and again - I'm sorry.
+
+And she's gone - leaving Amy and Virgil together - a moment of awkwardness. 
+
+AMY 
+She seemed ... nice.
+
+VIRGIL 
+She seemed jealous.
+
+AMY 
+Your leg is still bleeding.
+
+VIRGIL 
+It'll stop - happens all the time. Welcome to my world.We hold on Amy - taking this in: 
+
+INT. BEAR MTN. - LATER THAT NIGHT 
+
+Japanese lanterns criss-cross across an open area. Guests of the spa mingle about - drinks in hand - some dance on a floor set up over the aerobics area. Music plays in the background. 
+
+Amy, carrying two trays of food, finds her way to where Virgil sits at a table off to the side - putting his food in front of him. 
+
+AMY 
+Let's see if I can get this right. Chicken's at three - salad at seven - vegetables at ten.
+
+VIRGIL 
+(picking up his fork) 
+Very good - thank-you.
+
+AMY 
+This is nice. They do this every weekend?
+
+VIRGIL 
+Every Friday - for the guests leaving. Supposed to make them want to come back.
+
+AMY 
+(sits, uneasy) 
+Love the music - Gershwin - makes you want to...
+
+She stops. Virgil, fork poised over his food, senses her uncomfortableness. 
+
+VIRGIL 
+You like dancing?
+
+AMY 
+Hmmm? Yeah - don't do it much. 
+(changing subject) 
+Chicken's good.
+
+Amy resumes eating - Virgil's fork spears something on his plate - raising it to his mouth - both we and Amy now see it's a large pat of butter. Too late - it's in his mouth. 
+
+Amy watches him - the reaction on his face as he tastes it - then surreptitiously swallows it. Then realizes Amy saw him. 
+
+VIRGIL 
+Nothing like a good pat of fat. What do you say we dance?
+
+AMY 
+No, really, I'm fine...
+
+Virgil is up - pulling her hand. 
+
+VIRGIL 
+Come on
+
+She stands and Virgil puts his hands on the back of her shoulders. 
+
+VIRGIL 
+Lead on.
+
+And as she ushers him to the floor the music changes - a salsa - lively. Amy stops: 
+
+AMY 
+Different piece - maybe we should...
+
+VIRGIL 
+You kidding - take my hand.
+
+And as she does - Virgil starts dancing to the music - feeling the beat - in perfect rhythm but his moves are his own, something we've never seen before - uninhibited, wild - a little funny, but also there's something sensual in his abandonment. 
+
+All Amy can do is hang on for the ride - enjoying Virgil enjoying himself. People even clear back a little to give him some room - however he moves about the floor easily - somehow sensing where the other couples are. 
+
+It's a whirlwind moment - a moment where the two of them get lost with each other - for a second shutting out the world and it's just them, the music and their movement. 
+
+Then suddenly the music is over. And they stop - the moment gone. Virgil turns to Amy and she applauds Virgil's wild moves 
+
+He takes a bow with a flourish. Spins to another angle - another bow. Spins back again - a step back and: 
+
+CRASSSH - he's into the buffet table - sliding to the ground - food spilling on top of him. Amy, can't help but laugh, rushes to him. 
+
+AMY 
+You have to teach me that move.
+
+And Amy reaches down to his guacamole covered hand - and pulls him up into an embrace and as they kiss amidst sauce and salad dressing - we see: 
+
+INT. AMY'S HOTEL ROOM - MORNING 
+
+Amy - on the phone - looking out her window. 
+
+AMY 
+Betsy - you were telling me about your father, his cataracts - you said he had a problem. How is he now? 
+(she listens) 
+Doctor - Dr. Aaron? - do you have his number?
+
+INT. BEAR MTN. GYM - DAY 
+
+A handful of people on various pieces of equipment. Virgil, tank top, heavy sweat, on a stationary bicycle - working out. Amy next to him on a treadmill - trying to keep up as Caroline from the front desk comes and hands her something. 
+
+Amy reads it briefly then hops off the treadmill moving to Virgil. 
+
+AMY
+Virgil, I just got some great news.
+
+VIRGIL 
+(picking up speed again)
+The Atlanta project?
+
+AMY
+No, no - I was talking to my assistant this morning - her father had these severe cataracts...
+
+VIRGIL 
+(slowing) 
+Oh. Really.
+
+AMY
+She put me in touch with a Dr. Richard Aaron - the guy's the leading eye surgeonon the eastern seaboard - he's been working with techniques - I don't know all the jargon - but I spoke to him earlier on the phone at the Institute...
+
+VIRGIL 
+You called this guy?
+
+Virgil stops riding - starts to get off the bike. 
+
+AMY 
+(excited) 
+I told him all about you - he just faxed me back - he'd love to get a look at your eyes - he thinks maybe, mavbe - there might be a chance of reversal.
+
+Virgil faces Amy, best he can, while he pulls on his sweat jacket. 
+
+VIRGIL 
+I don't get it - am I missing the sign that says it's help the handicapped week.
+
+Virgil starts to move away. Amy stops him. 
+
+AMY 
+I thought you'd be excited. What's the problem?
+
+Virgil turns on her. 
+
+VIRGIL
+No problem. That's the whole point here Amy - there is no goddamned problem.
+
+And Virgil turns and bumps into a stationary bike, he SHOVES it off to the side, and makes his way out of the gym. 
+
+INT. LOCKER ROOM - DAY 
+
+Virgil enters, visibly upset - passing a CO-WORKER coming out of the shower. 
+
+CO-WORKER 
+Hey Virgil.
+
+Virgil steams right past him - not answering - hands feeling down the lockers - finding his - he tugs it open - pulls off his shirt and throws it in. He takes a breath, settles himself - then SLAMS the locker door shut. 
+
+EXT. JENNIE'S SCHOOL 
+
+PARENTS are picking up their CHILDREN from Jennie's school. As Jennie helps the last of the kids into her mother's car - she looks up to see Amy across the street. 
+
+JENNIE 
+Amy, right?
+
+Amy nods - starts towards her. 
+
+AMY 
+I'd like to talk to you if I could -- about Virgil.
+
+JENNIE 
+Something wrong?
+
+AMY 
+Sort of. There's something I don't understand. You see I spoke to a doctor who's apparently doing breakthrough work on cataracts -
+(Jennie turns to Amy) 
+- but when I brought it up to Virgil he acted as if...
+
+JENNIE 
+What don't you understand?
+
+AMY 
+If I was blind almost all my life -- and there was even a remote possibility I could see - I'd jump at it.
+
+JENNIE 
+When there's something you've adapted to, accepted - you'd just want to change it without even thinking about it? 
+(beat) 
+We're very comfortable here, Amy. Virgil has everything he needs.
+
+AMY 
+I thought just maybe he'd like to not be falling over things for the rest of his life. Look, I see...
+
+JENNIE 
+(cuts her off) 
+Yes you do and Virgil doesn't. He spent the first eight years of his life having his eyes prodded, pierced and poked by doctors, faith healers, spiritualists, shamans and medicine men. My father had them lined up out the door. It hurt and disappointed us all and it almost killed him. He doesn't need to go through that again. Now - maybe you understand.
+
+And she turns on her heel and is gone. 
+
+EXT. VIRGIL'S COTTAGE - LATE DAY 
+
+Amy making her way up to the porch - hearing from inside. 
+
+VIRGIL (V.O.)
+No, no - why - why?!
+
+She hurries up the steps, reaching the open door where she sees Virgil, his head in his hands. 
+
+VIRGIL (V.O.)
+I can't believe you're doing this to me.
+
+AMY 
+What - Virgil?
+
+Virgil turns sharply - Sophie jumps up - starts barking. 
+
+VIRGIL 
+Sophie - stop it. Amy? C'mon in - it's just the Rangers. I could check better than these guys today.
+
+AMY 
+They lost?
+
+VIRGIL 
+I prefer to think of it as not winning.I thought you would have been long goneafter that outburst from my evil twinbrother. We've had him committed youknow. Rikers Island - hard time. 
+(standing)
+Can I get you something - - Coke - beer?
+
+AMY 
+No - I - I'm fine. I just wanted apologize for stomping around in life like Bigfoot today.
+
+Virgil turns towards Amy. 
+
+VIRGIL 
+Amy, you see the big tree outside? How far is it from my front porch?
+
+AMY
+Guessing, about thirty feet.
+
+VIRGIL 
+To you. But to me, it's fourteen steps exactly. Fourteen steps and I arrive right where I want to be. But -- if I run or rush, I'll lose count and slam into it.
+
+AMY
+I'm sorry. Told you - can't leave well enough alone. I - I guess I should get back, start to pack...
+
+VIRGIL 
+Rushing into trees again?
+
+Off Amy's smile we CUT TO: 
+
+EXT. VIRGIL'S HOUSE - NIGHT 
+
+On the Porch - the two of them - sipping glasses of wine - we see their dinner - Hungry Man beef entree - each category of food in it's own perfect little compartment. 
+
+AMY 
+You know this dinner - this is really quite...
+
+VIRGIL 
+Ordinary? 
+(she laughs) 
+It's an acquired taste - trust me. Jennie thinks it's the only way I'll know where my food is. But I have a secret weapon.
+(holds up a little bottle) 
+Hot sauce! Let's you know you're eating something - like some.
+
+He starts to sprinkle liberally on Amy's food. Amy, laughing grabs the bottle. 
+
+AMY 
+That's OK - I'll do it. Don't want to overdo it.
+
+She puts the bottle down - looks to Virgil - sips her wine. Time to face it. 
+
+AMY 
+Virgil - I have to go home tomorrow...
+
+VIRGIL 
+Wait, wait - you smell that?
+
+AMY
+No - what?
+
+VIRGIL 
+The winter pines - it's so strong at night - drifts on the wind - wait - hear the breeze then...
+
+AMY 
+There.
+
+Amy closes her eyes - takes in the scent - and they both sit there - close - taking in the night air - enjoying the moment. 
+
+And on Virgil's face we see him lost in thought. 
+
+INT. VIRGIL'S HOME - NIGHT 
+
+CLOSE ON VIRGIL - eyes closed - we hear a sound - like night crickets. His eyes slowly open. 
+
+He rolls over - his arm reaching out for her: 
+
+But there's no one there. Virgil sits upright. 
+
+VIRGIL 
+Amy?
+
+Amy is sitting in a chair by the window. 
+
+AMY 
+I'm here - trouble sleeping.
+
+VIRGIL
+C'mere.
+
+And she crawls back into bed, Virgil takes hold of her and as she settles into his arm, he strokes her face gently - a blind man's version of watching his lover fall to sleep. 
+
+BLACK - then we hear voices 
+
+INT. VIRGIL'S BEDROOM - MORNING 
+
+CLOSE ON: Amy's face - the voices awaken her - cutting into her dreams. 
+
+She looks out the doorway - sees Virgil and Jenny arguing on the front porch. She can't hear what they are saying - but it's clear there's a problem. 
+
+INT. VIRGIL'S LIVING ROOM - MORNING 
+
+Amy pulling a robe around herself - comes into the room - as Jenny turns on her heel and walks away from Virgil. 
+
+EXT. PORCH - MORNING 
+
+Virgil stands there a moment - taking in what just happened. Amy steps out onto the porch. 
+
+AMY 
+Everything alright?
+
+VIRGIL 
+Yeah, yeah. Morning - Look, something I want to say...
+
+AMY 
+The leaving thing - I know - hate it too.
+
+VIRGIL
+The other night - when we were dancing - being with you - I felt different -special - I don't know - whole.
+
+AMY 
+That was whole?
+
+Virgil puts his hand out - she takes it - he turns to her. 
+
+VIRGIL 
+(smile) 
+Just for a second I felt like I could see you - all of you. 
+(beat) 
+What you said about this Doctor, this eye guy - I know how important it is to you...
+
+AMY 
+(turns to him) 
+Are you sure you want to do this?
+
+VIRGIL 
+We're just going to talk to the guy - what could it hurt?Off Amy's smile: 
+
+SMASH TO: 
+
+EXT. GEORGE WASHINGTON BRIDGE - MORNING 
+
+A soaring shot. Amy's car - travelling across the bridge - heading towards Manhattan. 
+
+AMY (V.0.) 
+You're going to love the city - so many things to see.
+
+INT. CAR - MORNING 
+
+Virgil in the passenger seat - windows open - taking in all the sounds - new and exciting. Amy watches him as she drives. 
+
+VIRGIL 
+(laughing) 
+Waitwaitwait - he hasn't said he can even do anything yet.
+
+AMY 
+I know I just feel good about this. 
+(Amy looks to him - sees him feeling 
+the light against his face) 
+Virgil, before you lost all sight, do you remember seeing anything at all? 
+
+VIRGIL 
+Yeah, I do. I was just a baby when it happened - but there is one thing. 
+(beat) 
+Something ... puffy. That's all I remember about it. Everyone says it's "clouds," but I know I had it in my hands - so it couldn't be clouds. This puffy thing - that was something special - it's stayed with me all these years - I don't know why.
+
+INT. NEW YORK EYE HOSPITAL - EXAM ROOM - DAY 
+
+DR. RICHARD AARON, wire rims, short, stylish haircut - is finishing a high-tech examination of Virgil's eyes. Cups attached to wires sit over his eyes. The machine, an ELECTRORETINOGRAM, emits an irritating strange flat line sound. The room is very dimly lit. 
+
+Aaron adjusts an intensity dial on the machine - a series of flashing lights hit Virgil's eyes. The doctor jots down a reading - then with a flourish, spins the machine away from Virgil's face and pops a button emitting a detailed computer print out. 
+
+In the corner sits an older gentleman - Dr. Goldman - focused on papers in his hands. 
+
+AARON 
+OK - we're done.
+
+Aaron bumps up the lights and wheels his chair back over to Virgil as Amy moves to join them. 
+
+AARON 
+Some good news. You have grade 4 posterior subscapular cataracts.
+
+VIRGIL 
+And this is the good news?
+
+AARON
+Good news in that I should be able to remove them with little or no damage to your cornea.
+
+AMY 
+So -- what does that mean - they're gone - then what?
+
+AARON 
+The cataracts are acting like a curtain - covering the window of sight. If the disease to the retina is reduced as much as I think it is - there's a very good possibility we can give you sight.
+
+Amy looks to Virgil - apprehensive. Virgil's expressionless - taking this all in. 
+
+VIRGIL 
+Sounds expensive.
+
+AARON 
+(looks to Goldman who nods imperceptibly) 
+We feel there's an opportunity for us all here - I think I can get the institute to pick up the bill.
+
+VIRGIL 
+So. Say you remove the cataracts - do you have any idea what kind of vision I'd have?
+
+Aaron looks to Goldman. 
+
+AARON 
+At this time - no. Unfortunately the cataracts are not allowing me to see the retinal wall. I can't tell how advanced the retinitas pigmentosa has become.
+
+VIRGIL 
+So you're suggesting an operation that may or may not be successful.
+
+AMY 
+But there is a chance he could regain his sight.
+
+AARON 
+There have been a few cases of restored vision in adulthood to a patient blind since birth. 
+(moves near Virgil) 
+The operation is delicate, I'll admit - but nothing as invasive as what you went through as a child. Of course there is always some risks with any operation - infection, swelling - long shot stuff. I would do both eyes at the same time - it's basically out patient surgery.Virgil - an exhale of air. A lot to take in. 
+
+VIRGIL 
+What if it doesn't work? What if I have the operation - with all it's risks - and you remove the cataract - and it doesn't work.
+
+Aaron looks to Amy. 
+
+AARON 
+(somber) 
+It would be evident that you will never be able to see.
+
+Virgil's head shifts slightly. Not what he wanted to hear. Amy reaches out takes his hand. 
+
+AMY 
+What do you think?
+
+VIRGIL 
+That's what I need - to think.
+
+EXT. AMY'S LOFT - SOHO - DAY 
+
+Virgil and Amy stepping out of a cab. Virgil using his cane - seems blinder than we've seen him before. The city sounds an assault on him. 
+
+AMY 
+This is my place - there's a park across the street and...
+
+She stops - realizes he wants to walk in silence. They enter her loft building, an old converted industrial space. 
+
+INT. LOFT STAIRWELL - DAY 
+
+There is an odd, loud sound which echoes three times after every bounce. As they come up on the second floor landing, a basketball comes flying down the hall which Amy fumbles with - then catches. 
+
+AMY 
+Ethan!
+
+From around the corner comes ETHAN COLVIN, eight, oversized Knicks shirt. Amy tosses him his ball. 
+
+ETHAN 
+Sorry - my mom won't let me go outside till she gets home from work.
+
+AMY
+Well, if the super catches you playingball in the hall, he'll have a coronary.
+
+ETHAN 
+A what?
+
+AMY 
+Never mind. Ethan, this is my friend Virgil.
+
+VIRGIL 
+Hey, Ethan
+
+ETHAN 
+(seeing his cane) 
+Are you blind?
+
+VIRGIL 
+Yeah.
+
+ETHAN 
+Cool. See ya.
+
+And he turns and runs back up the stairs. 
+
+AMY 
+(apologetic) 
+Virgil...
+
+VIRGIL 
+Hey, the kid thinks I'm cool - what's so bad.
+
+INT. AMY'S LOFT - LATE DAY 
+
+Amy's loft is a wide open space - a KITCHEN facing onto a small living area - a BED in the corner of the room - a WORK SPACE with DRAFTING BOARD and DRAWING RACKS fill one side of the room. By a window stands a plaster SCULPTURE stuck in the corner as if forgotten. 
+
+AMY 
+This is where I hang my hat - it's a bit of a mess but...
+
+Amy stops, realizes he can't see it. Virgil puts his overnight bag down. 
+
+VIRGIL 
+Now, Blind 101. Help me out with a mental map. Walk me down a straight line and show me your place, all the obstacles. Remember once you've told me, they can't be moved - otherwise...
+
+AMY
+Got it - here take my arm. 
+(they start about the room) 
+Couch, chair, TV to the left, low table at.. .at 4 o'clock, has the phone on it...
+
+They come to the Sculpture, Virgil's hand grazes across it. 
+
+VIRGIL 
+What's this?
+
+AMY 
+Nothing. A sculpture.
+
+VIRGIL 
+It's yours?
+
+AMY 
+My art school days - not very good.
+
+Virgil continues to feel the sculpture from top to bottom, not stopping during the dialogue. 
+
+VIRGIL 
+It's a mother? - holding her child - up in the air - like she's proud? It's beautiful.
+
+AMY
+It's not done yet - one day I'll finish it.
+
+Virgil turns - his hand to the wall - feels a window: 
+
+VIRGIL 
+Does this window open? I could use some air.
+
+AMY 
+(moving to the windows) 
+I think so.
+
+As Amy throws open the window, a wind blasts through - catching a stack of plans on her drafting table - blowing them across the floor. 
+
+AMY 
+Damn!
+
+Virgil turns, concerned, makes his way to her. 
+
+VIRGIL 
+What happened?
+
+AMY 
+The wind - knocked over my plans.
+
+Amy down on the floor picking them up - Virgil senses her down there - crouches down beside her - tries to help her pick up. 
+
+VIRGIL 
+What is this - these plans?
+
+Amy looks at Virgil - - his hand running across one of her plans. 
+
+AMY 
+Just my work - - some plans for the Atlanta project we're bidding on - drawings of a lobby we're finishing up, some other smaller stuff. It's -- it's what I do.
+
+Amy realizes they mean nothing to him - he hands them back - stands. She watches him - then standing, moves to him. 
+
+AMY 
+I've got to get to work. Tonight we'll do something - we could listen to music or go out for dinner...
+
+VIRGIL 
+How about a movie?
+
+AMY 
+A movie?
+
+VIRGIL 
+Yeah. I haven't been in years.
+
+AMY
+Alright. A movie. I won't be long.
+
+And Amy gives him a quick kiss and dodges for the door - a beat - she forgets her purse - steps back in to see: 
+
+Virgil standing there quietly - his hand out on her plans again - feeling the paper - searching for the design - wanting to know her - wanting to understand her - finding nothing there. 
+
+Amy feels uncomfortable - quietly steps out - closes the door. 
+
+INT. REVIVAL THEATER - NIGHT 
+
+WIDE - the theater half full playing Woody Allen's "Annie Hall" the very funny scene where Woody and Diane Keaton wrestle with the lobster. 
+
+We move in slowly and discover Virgil and Amy leaning in close to each other - Amy quietly describing the scene to him. 
+
+AMY 
+There's these big pots and Woody's got a huge lobster in his hand...
+
+VIRGIL 
+Lobster - what's a lobster?
+
+AMY 
+(trying not to use her hands to describe) 
+It's a.. .kind of like.. it's got...
+
+Then she looks to Virgil - sees he was kidding her. 
+
+AMY 
+(laughing) 
+That's it - you're on your own.
+
+Off Virgil's laugh: 
+
+INT. SUBWAY LINE - NIGHT 
+
+BWAM - a subway train explodes past us. 
+
+INT. SUBWAY CAR - NIGHT 
+
+A collection of typical night riders - everyone keeping to themselves. Two kids sit in the corner - blasting their boom box Virgil stands in the middle of the train - enjoying the vibrations. Amy sits on a seat watching him. 
+
+VIRGIL 
+And they lived happily ever after.
+
+AMY 
+Woody and Diane...
+
+VIRGIL 
+And the lobster?
+
+AMY 
+Stop with the lobster. 
+
+A song comes on the radio - Virgil's head turns. 
+
+VIRGIL 
+Hey - you here that?
+
+All she hears is the clatter of the subway. 
+
+AMY 
+What?
+
+Virgil turns towards the music - BAPPING his hands rhythmically on the subway car wall. 
+
+VIRGIL 
+Hey - can you turn that up?
+
+The KID shrugs - CRAKKS it up. It's Gershwin's "Can't take that Away from Me." Virgil turns to Amy - picks up on the song - hands RAPPING - he starts singing: 
+
+VIRGIL 
+"The way you comb your hair, The way you sip your tea..."
+
+He finds Amy, pulls her up and into an embrace as he saunters them down the aisle. 
+
+AMY 
+Virgil?!
+
+VIRGIL 
+(loudly) 
+"Can't take that away from meee" - what?
+
+AMY 
+People are watching.
+
+VIRGIL 
+Watching? Watching what?
+
+AMY
+You. Me. Everyone is staring at us.
+
+VIRGIL 
+And?
+
+AMY 
+Well - it can be embarrassing.
+
+VIRGIL 
+(kidding) 
+Oh - I see.
+
+AMY 
+No - you don't.
+
+VIRGIL Touche. "The way you make me see..."
+
+AMY
+(turns to him) 
+What do you mean?! 
+(Virgil gives her a look - 
+I want the operation) 
+You mean it. I mean I only want you to have the operation...
+
+VIRGIL 
+Amy. I want the chance to see. The chance to see Central Park, the Brooklyn Bridge, apples, raisins,a buffalo, a carbuerator and the man in the moon. 
+(beat) 
+But I would give all that up - just to see this face.
+
+And Amy folds herself into Virgil - a moment - they hold each other - then - Amy starts to sing along with the song - Virgil joining in - and they dance - together - in love. 
+
+SMASH CUT TO: 
+
+EXT. SUBWAY CAR - NIGHT 
+
+AMY/VIRGIL (V.0.) 
+"You can't take that away from me."
+
+And the car explodes past again - and as the music dies we cut to: 
+
+INT. NEW YORK EYE HOSPITAL - OPERATING ROOM 
+
+CLOSE ON: a platter of silver utensils - fine, exacting scalpels. A gloved HAND comes into frame - picks up a clamp - and we follow it to: 
+
+VIRGIL'S EYES - the clamp being used to hold it open. The work we are seeing is grueling - difficult to watch - but at the same time so fascinating it is hard to take our eyes off. 
+
+Dr. Aaron followed by Dr. Goldman - hands in the air - mask on - leans over Virgil - looks to the ANESTHESIOLOGIST who nods - then to no one in particular. 
+
+AARON 
+OK Virgil - let's get to it.
+
+And as he is handed a SCALPEL, we watch as it moves down to cut open the white section of the eye - and just as it feels almost unbearable to watch- - 
+
+INT. NEW YORK EYE HOSPITAL - WAITING ROOM - DAY 
+
+We see Amy, coffee cup in hand, grab a second just poured cup out of a vending machine. She makes her way over to reveal Jennie who sits quietly reading a book. 
+
+AMY 
+Coffee? It's really bad. 
+
+Jennie looks up - smiles takes the cup. Amy sits down next to her. They both sip for a moment. 
+
+AMY 
+Virgil never mentions his parents - do they know? 
+
+JENNIE 
+Our mother died when I was 20 - Virgil wasn'teven a teenager. And our father - he's been gone for quite awhile. 
+
+AMY 
+I'm sorry. I didn't know. 
+
+Jennie looks into her coffee - takes another sip. 
+
+JENNIE 
+(smile) 
+You're right this is bad.
+
+AMY 
+It must have been very tough on you - taking care of Virgil alone after your mother died.
+
+JENNIE 
+He's my brother.
+
+Simple. 
+
+AMY 
+You don't like Virgil doing this - do you?
+
+JENNIE 
+I don't like Virgil getting hurt. Hope is like fire, it can keep you warm - - or it can burn you.
+
+INT. NEW YORK EYE HOSPITAL - OPERATING ROOM - DAY 
+
+Dr. Aaron: - focused on his exacting work. His hands move deftly. 
+
+CLOSE ON: Virgil's eye. Cut open. Aaron's probe working right in the middle of it. 
+
+DR. AARON 
+There you are.
+
+And Aaron pulls out the cloudy cataract tissue - holding it up for all to see - before he PLOPS it on a tray. Switching instruments - he gingerly picks up a plastic implant - moving back towards the eye - he glances at the nurse assisting him: 
+
+DR. AARON 
+You know what they say, Virgil? The eyes are the windows to the soul.
+
+Virgil can't move - listens intently as he carefully places the implant into Virgil's eye. 
+
+DR. AARON 
+(with a wink) 
+That makes us the Windex to the soul. 
+(he focuses) 
+OK, both eyes done. Let's patch him up.
+
+On a large monitor we see an EXTREME CLOSE-UP of Virgil's eye - waiting. 
+
+INT. NEW YORK HOSPITAL - LATER 
+
+Virgil being wheeled down a hall - head wrapped in bandages. 
+
+INT. EXAMINATION ROOM - DAY 
+
+As he enters: 
+
+VIRGIL 
+Hello?
+
+Jennie's there - takes his hand. 
+
+VIRGIL 
+Jennie?
+
+JENNIE
+How're you feeling?
+
+VIRGIL
+OK - a little pain, like a tequila hang over- is Amy here?
+
+AMY 
+Right here - Dr. Aaron said you did great
+
+VIRGIL 
+So how's my hair - I'd hate the first time I see myself to be a bad hair day. 
+(Virgil reacts to a sound) 
+What's that?
+
+AMY 
+There's camera guys here too.
+
+WIDE - we now see the room has a small VIDEO CREW in it preparing to document the event. 
+
+VIRGIL 
+Camera guys?
+
+AARON 
+(entering) 
+For posterity. We're going to make youfamous. We're also sending this closed circuit to one of our conference rooms - there's a lot of people interested in our results today. So how you feel Virgil?
+
+VIRGIL 
+Good. Great. Fine. 
+(a laugh) 
+Nervous.
+
+Aaron moves about the room closing blinds to let in just a few slats of light. 
+
+AARON 
+Nothing to be nervous about. Now Jennie and Amy, if you would stand off to my right -- I want Virgil to get just a slight bounce of light.
+(returning to Virgil) 
+Ready Virgil.
+
+VIRGIL 
+Let's go.
+
+Both Amy and Jennie subconsciously adjust their hair as Aaron starts to unravel the bandages. 
+
+When the bandages are completely off - all that is left are two gauze patches on both eyes. 
+
+AARON 
+Okay - last phase - we remove these patches and...
+
+VIRGIL
+(suddenly apprehensive, hand up) 
+Okay - wait. So - so - what do I do? I mean, what will I see first?
+
+AARON
+Well - we're all here - Amy, your sister. This is new for us all. Why don't we find out?
+
+Aaron reaches up and plucks the two patches from his eyes - and everyone waits. 
+
+Virgil slowly opens his eyes - he just seems to be staring blankly, bewildered - not focusing at Aaron who stands before him, still holding the bandages. 
+
+Amy looks to Jennie - to Aaron - what's happening? Then finally: 
+
+AARON 
+Well?
+
+And Virgil reacts - a startling look of recognition mixed with fear crossing his face. 
+
+AMY 
+What is it Virgil?
+
+VIRGIL 
+It's - it's - I don't know.
+
+And now for the first time we see Virgil's POV: 
+
+There is light, movement, color, shadow - but somehow it is foreign to us. There is no perception of depth -. no sense of definition of shape or shadow - it is as confounding to us as it is to Virgil - like an explosion of Picasso, Dali and Monet on screen. 
+
+Suddenly in the midst of this chaos of images - there is movement - and a voice emits out of what we now for the first time recognize as a mouth. Dr. Aaron speaks again - leaning in to Virgil, who reacts back. 
+
+AARON 
+Virgil - what do you see?
+
+VIRGIL 
+Something's wrong.
+
+Jennie's reaction comes pouring out of her eyes in tears, first slowly, then a dam break. 
+
+AMY 
+Virgil what's wrong?What's happening?
+
+AARON 
+Everything's fine - it's going to take...
+
+JENNIE
+It's not fine - don't say it's fine.
+
+AARON 
+Tell me what you're seeing Virgil.
+
+Virgil suddenly pulling back - his eyes dancing around in his head - trying to take it all in - trying to focus. 
+
+VIRGIL 
+(over everyone) 
+I don't know - it's all screwed up - this can't be seeing - something's wrong- too confusing - what the hell's happening??!
+
+HIS POV - the camera crew coming toward him for a closer shot - it's like a giant monster violently moving towards us! 
+
+VIRGIL 
+What is it - Stop!
+
+Virgil's hand lashes out towards the camera crew - even though they are 15 feet away. 
+
+AARON 
+What? The camera?
+
+JENNIE 
+(to the crew) 
+Stop moving!
+
+AMY
+Virgil, it's just the camera.
+
+The room has heightened into chaos - Virgil reacting to everything he sees, any quick movement - Amy moves next to him - Aaron trying to remain calm - Jennie assuring Virgil everything's OK. 
+
+AARON 
+Alright - alright - they've stopped. OK. Let's everybody just calm down - we'll take it slowly.
+
+Everyone settles - takes a breath. 
+
+AMY 
+Virgil. What can we do?
+
+They all look to Virgil - breathing heavy - his eyes swinging back and forth. 
+
+VIRGIL 
+I gotta focus - gotta think - gimme a second - OK, OK - get me a coke. Somebody?
+
+JENNIE
+He's thirsty - someone get him a drink!!
+
+VIRGIL
+No - just a can - a bottle -- put something in my hands!
+
+Amy reaches over - grabs an empty coke can. 
+
+AMY 
+Here - how's this?
+
+Virgil takes it in his hands - closes his eyes - feels it. Then slowly opens his eyes - trying to focus on what is in his hand - Aaron catching on. 
+
+AARON 
+Good, Virgil - that's it - use your touch - associate - now, tell me - what do you see in your hand?
+
+Long moment. Virgil holds it up - stares hard. 
+
+VIRGIL 
+A can. Is it a can?
+
+JENNIE 
+What's going on?
+
+They all look at Virgil turning the can over and over in his hand - staring intently at it - learning it. 
+
+AARON 
+(beams) 
+He's associating - one sense to the other. His fingers tell his brain - then his brain tells his eyes and he recognizes the image in front of him. 
+(realizing) 
+He's seeing!
+
+Aaron looks to Amy and Jennie - they're still doubtful - he motions to them to meet him outside. 
+
+AARON 
+Virgil - let's rest your eyes for today and we'll check them again tomorrow. We shouldall be happy - we've got something.
+
+Virgil: not happy, just very confused. As Aaron leaves, Jennie takes Virgil's hand while Amy stands there upset - watching him just staring at a Soda Can. 
+
+INT. NEW YORK EYE HOSPITAL - DAY 
+
+In the corridor, Dr. Aaron shaking hands with Dr. Goldman - people exiting the near-by conference room all congratulating the two doctors. As Amy exits the room - Aaron moves to her. 
+
+AMY
+What just happened in there?
+
+AARON 
+You saw it. Success.
+
+AMY 
+Success - wait a minute - then why can't he see me, his sister, anything.
+
+AARON
+He sees you. He just doesn't understand that he sees you.
+
+AMY 
+But he'll overcome it - I mean - this is temporary right?
+
+AARON 
+There's a very real possibility the part of his brain area allocated to vision is atrophied - given it's lack of use, Virgil has probably used it for some other function.
+
+Jennie has stepped into the waiting area - has just heard Aaron. 
+
+JENNIE
+You didn't think of this?
+
+This is as much an accusation of Amy as of Aaron. 
+
+AARON 
+We had no way of knowing what his faculties were until we gave him the operation. If you remember - we didn't know what to expect - though it's clear his retinal disease must be in remission.
+
+AMY
+So what are we supposed to do now - you saw him - it's like he's another person in there.
+
+AARON
+He won't need to stay here - take him home - let him rest. But I will need to see him every couple of days for the next month. 
+
+AMY 
+Isn't there some kind of therapy he should be doing - someone to help him.
+
+Aaron stares at her - hadn't thought of this. 
+
+AARON
+OK, there is a visual therapist - Ray Webster - a little unorthodox - that's why he's probably your best bet, especially considering the unique aspects of Virgil's condition. I'll contact him for you - but there's no guarantee he can help.
+
+JENNIE 
+(can't believe this) 
+No guarantees.
+
+AARON
+Jennie, I told Amy here when we first talked - this is whole new ground - for all of us.
+
+And Jennie quietly turns and goes back into Virgil's room. Amy just stares at Dr. Aaron - a little overwhelmed. 
+
+INT. HOSPITAL ROOM - CHANGE AREA - DAY 
+
+Virgil - starting to dress. He stares at his clothes on a hangar - not comprehending what it is. He closes his eyes - his hand going out to feel it - then opening his eyes - he takes the shirt turns - and notices someone watching him. 
+
+VIRGIL 
+Hello?
+
+HIS POV - it's his own reflection in a mirror next to his clothes. Virgil stares at himself standing stock still - waiting for a response from the person staring at him. 
+
+VIRGIL
+Is there...?
+
+Slowly realizing that what he sees is himself. He starts moving towards the mirror fascinated. 
+
+Virgil's POV - Focusing on the image as it slowly takes shape - becomes clearer to him. His hand going up to his nose - moving it back and forth - laughs at it's absurdity - then is taken with his own smile. He tries a smile - comes off awkward as he starts to stare at his teeth. Touching each part of his face he investigates his chin, ears and finally his hair. 
+
+Then he stops - and just stares - and stares at a face that is his own - but so incredibly foreign to him. Who is this person? 
+
+INT. VIRGIL'S ROOM - DAY 
+
+Jenny starting to pack up Virgil's things. Suddenly there is a burst of laughter from the other room. She looks up quizzically 
+
+INT. HOSPITAL CHECK-OUT - DAY 
+
+Amy in the check-in area - pacing - on a cellphone. 
+
+AMY 
+Duncan - I know the additions to the mall will cost more.. look, I can't do this on the phone - I'll be in tomorrow.. yes, I remembered they're putting the fixtures in the lobby - I'll get there as well - I'm just asking for one more day.
+
+INT. WAITING AREA - DAY 
+
+Jenny - finishing packing up Virgil's things. 
+
+VIRGIL (V.O.)
+Amy?
+
+Jenny looks up - Virgil standing in the doorway, dressed. 
+
+JENNIE 
+No - it's Jennie.
+
+She moves toward him - Virgil pulls back - hands out in front of him. 
+
+JENNIE 
+I'm sorry - I'll move slower - I just...
+
+And Virgil's hands are on her face - eyes closed - feeling. He opens his eyes - staring blankly - trying to figure this out. 
+
+VIRGIL 
+This is you.
+
+JENNIE 
+This is me.
+
+INT. HOSPITAL HALLWAY - DAY 
+
+Angle on Amy moving down the hall - hearing the voices. 
+
+INT. HOSPITAL ROOM - DAY 
+
+JENNIE 
+Everything's going to be alright - we just need to get you home.
+
+VIRGIL 
+No, no - I can't go home. I need to be here - see the therapist- doctor's. I want to be here.
+
+JENNIE
+But I can't stay here - and you can't do this alone--who's going to take care.. .?
+
+She stops. Realizing. 
+
+ANGLE On Amy - outside the door - not wanting to go in. 
+
+JENNIE 
+Amy? She's going to look after you? She doesn't know anything about the blind.
+
+VIRGIL
+I'm not blind anymore - and I'm not going to let someone I care about walk out of my life again.
+
+JENNIE
+(moves to him) 
+It's not your fault he left. You can't keep blaming yourself.
+
+VIRGIL 
+(beat) 
+I'm staying here.
+
+A pause - and Jennie moves her hand out to him - touches his arm. 
+
+INT. HALLWAY - DAY 
+
+Amy feeling uncomfortable - starts to step away. 
+
+JENNIE (O.S.)
+Amy?
+
+Amy turns - Jennie in the doorway. 
+
+JENNIE 
+Virgil's finishing getting ready. Could you walk me to my car?
+
+Amy nods - sees an element of defeat in Jennie's eyes. 
+
+EXT. HOSPITAL - LATE DAY 
+
+Jennie and Amy stand on the curb near Jennie's car. A moment of uncomfortableness - then: 
+
+AMY 
+You alright? 
+
+JENNIE 
+I'm scared to death. I've spent my whole life looking for any holes he might fall in. I'd run up ahead and cover them. EverywhereI look here, I see holes.
+
+AMY 
+Please believe me - I don't want him to get hurt anymore than you do.
+
+JENNIE 
+Amy - when Virgil was very young, he couldn't see those close to him - so he never learned to reach out. 
+(turns to her) 
+Don't expect him to reach out when he's in pain,or confused, or unhappy. If you really care about him you have to just be there for him.
+
+And before Amy can answer, she gets into her car - starts it up and drives off. 
+
+EXT/INT AMY'S.LOFT - DUSK 
+
+Virgil slowly gets out of the cab, looks up at the buildings - immediately gets dizzy and nearly falls over. Amy lunges to help him. Virgil is laughing in spite of himself. 
+
+VIRGIL 
+This is just great - I don't believe this. What's that saying - stop the world I wanna get off.
+
+ETHAN (O.S.) 
+Hey Virgil, it's Ethan.
+
+Virgil turns to the familiar voice. Ethan, basketball under his arm, coming out of the building with his Mom, KAREN COLVIN. Virgil scans, tries to focus on them. 
+
+VIRGIL 
+That you Ethan?
+
+ETHAN 
+It's me - and this is my mom.
+
+AMY 
+Virgil - Karen.
+
+KAREN 
+Hi, Virgil - heard a lot about you.
+
+ETHAN 
+You look funny.
+
+VIRGIL 
+You should see how I look from this side.
+
+AMY Let's just get you inside - then you can rest. We'll see you later Ethan. Karen.
+
+And she gives Karen a small glance as she takes Virgil's arm as they start towards the stairs leading into the building - Virgil suddenly slamming to a halt. 
+
+VIRGIL 
+Wait, wait, what are we doing - WE'RE WALKING INTO A WALL!!
+
+Virgil's POV - the staircase. A flat image - a solid wall with horizontal lines. Ethan, surprised, what's up here? 
+
+AMY 
+It's OK - it's not a wall - it's just a staircase. You're going to have to trust me on these things.
+
+VIRGIL
+God, I feel like... like such a child - I just thought seeing would be different.
+
+AMY 
+We'll get a hold of this Ray Webster guy- we'll get his help.
+
+Virgil steps slowly forward - giant baby steps - each foot reaching out to feel the step before making the commitment. 
+
+HIS POV - the 'wall' of stairs changing perspective with each step. Like an accordion spreading itself out to us. This is all a very bad acid trip. 
+
+INT. AMY'S APARTMENT - DUSK 
+
+VIRGIL'S POV - multi-colored balloons, dozens of assorted flowers, bowls of colorful fruit and streamers intertwined across the room. A candyland of seeing. 
+
+VIRGIL 
+Man. Something exploded in your apartment.
+
+Amy laughs - pulls him into the room. Virgil trying to take it all in - not understanding anything. 
+
+AMY 
+I wanted to do something special for you.
+
+VIRGIL 
+It's making me a little bit dizzy - but it is special.
+
+Virgil's hands go out - Amy moves to him - he holds her shoulders. He stares at her. 
+
+As she turns her head slightly, Virgil is able to focus on her - her eyes - her smile. 
+
+VIRGIL 
+Okay - so - this is what beautiful looks like.
+
+AMY 
+Thank-you. You want tosee the rest.Focusing on her, Virgil smiles, takes her face in his hands - leans in and kisses her. She pulls back a little. 
+
+AMY 
+I can't believe this - how nervous I am.
+
+She kisses him then takes a step back. 
+
+AMY 
+What if you don't like what you see?
+
+VIRGIL 
+Do you want me to turn off the lights?
+
+AMY
+No - no. This is your first seeing day. 
+(she starts to unbutton her dress) 
+I want you to see everything.
+
+And she drops the dress from her shoulders - it hits the ground - a beat - and she stands there naked. 
+
+AMY 
+OK?
+
+VIRGIL 
+Yes, very OK.
+
+And she takes a step towards him and folds into his arms and as they kiss we slowly fade to black. 
+
+INT. AMY'S LOFT - NIGHT 
+
+The sound of heavy New York rain. Amy awakening, and sees Virgil is gone, his side of the bed empty. She looks across the room - where she sees silhouetted against the moonlit window - - Virgil standing next to Amy's sculpture, his face and body pressed up against the pane of glass. 
+
+AMY 
+(wrapping a house coat around her) 
+Virgil?
+
+Virgil turns around - half faces her - the rain on the windows decorating his face. 
+
+VIRGIL 
+I can't sleep - I'm afraid if I close my eyes...
+
+AMY 
+It'll be black when you open them again.
+
+Virgil nods. A moment and his hand goes out to her sculpture. 
+
+VIRGIL 
+You enjoy sculpting?
+
+AMY 
+At first. I liked the idea of molding - taking the way I saw things up here- - 
+(touching her head) 
+- and making it take shape with my hands.
+
+VIRGIL 
+But you never finish them.
+
+AMY 
+Pieces never come out the way I wanted - the way I saw them. I end up working on them forever - like this one - never getting them right.
+
+Virgil stares out the window at the rain. 
+
+VIRGIL 
+This is what rain looks like?
+
+AMY 
+Yeah.
+
+VIRGIL 
+It looks lonely. Not what I expected. But I like it.
+
+Amy smiles - moves into him as he pulls her in close and they look out at the night rain. 
+
+INT. ROSWELL-TREMONT - DAY 
+
+Amy working over a CAD computer with & draftsman. 
+
+AMY 
+You've got to alter each of the windows by five feet...
+
+DRAFTSMAN 
+These are the specs you gave me.
+
+AMY 
+I know - I'm changing them - this is better. 
+(calling out) 
+Betsy!
+
+Betsy pokes her head in. 
+
+AMY 
+Can you get me some research on those Maple trees we're leaving in. They're too big - I want to change them so they fit in with the design better. Get rid of the dead weight.
+
+BETSY 
+Don't you have an appointment?
+
+Amy looks to her watch. Starts for her jacket and the door. 
+
+AMY 
+Yes, yes. Thank-you. Evan here will print out the new specs - give them to Duncan - tell him I'llbe back in two hours.
+
+DUNCAN (O.S.) 
+Amy?
+
+Duncan steps out of his office. She turns - virtually out the door. 
+
+AMY 
+Just give me two hours.
+
+And she's gone. 
+
+EXT. NYU CAMPUS - NEXT DAY 
+
+A few KIDS smoking on the steps. Others entering, laden down with books - a small sea parting to allow Amy helping Virgil up the steps and inside. 
+
+INT. NYU HALLWAY - DAY 
+
+They make their way down the hall - past a - room where a group of BLIND CHILDREN learn to read Braille. Amy can't help but stare at these young faces struggling to learn. It's a whole different world. 
+
+INT. RAY WEBSTER'S OFFICE - DAY 
+
+A strange space, dark, as all the windows are covered. In a jar on the desk - two pickled eyeballs stare back at Virgil and Amy waiting patiently. There are books everywhere - periodicals stacked and overflowing on shelves. A dead plant in the corner. 
+
+RAY WEBSTER - 60's, almost completely bald, wearing a worn NYU sweatshirt, sits at the desk in front of them - flipping through a file in front of him. 
+
+WEBSTER 
+Right - OK, Virgil - says here you went blind at one - before you developed a visual vocabulary. 
+(Webster stands - moves towards a bookshelf) 
+You have no sense of depth of field, no knowledge of space, shape, size or distance. Basically your eyes work but your brain hasn't learned to process the information. 
+(beat) 
+You are mentallv blind. Neurologists call this "visual agnosia".
+
+VIRGIL 
+I call it pretty screwed up.
+
+WEBSTER 
+Better term. I'll make a note of that.
+
+Webster plops down a large book - flips through some pages, then searching his pockets: 
+
+WEBSTER 
+Dammit
+
+AMY 
+What?
+
+WEBSTER 
+Glasses, can never find 'em. 
+(calling out) 
+Mrs. Fenster.
+
+Mrs. Fenster pops her head in the door - this must be a ritual they have as she instantly pulls her GLASSES off and hands them to Webster who drops them over his nose. They are clearly woman's glasses - pointed in the ends - little jewels. As Mrs. Fenster leaves. 
+
+WEBSTER 
+(referring to the book) 
+OK. Alberto Valvo "Sight Restoration after Long Term Blindness" - blah-blah-blah. -ah here... 
+(reading) 
+"One must die as a blind person to be bornagain as a sighted person. However it is the interim, the limbo- -between two worlds,one dead/the other powerless to be born - that is so terrible." 
+(slamming the book shut) 
+There. You're in limbo.
+
+AMY 
+What do you mean - there - he's in limbo.That's all you have to offer?
+
+WEBSTER
+What? - I'm Anne Bancroft all of a sudden? I'm a professor - I teach people, how to teach the blind how to become independent. 
+(beat) 
+There's no book on what you're going through- I'd like to help - but like the rest of things in life - it's up to you.
+
+VIRGIL
+Wait a minute - up to me? I thought you were going to help me here.
+
+Webster rummages in his desk - pulls out a magazine photo - then digging in a brown paper bag - he pulls out an apple. 
+
+WEBSTER 
+You want a lesson? Right - here. What's this?
+
+He holds out the apple for Virgil - who reluctantly takes it - holds it in his hand, eyes closed, feels it - then opening his eyes he holds it out in front of him, trying to focus on it. 
+
+HIS POV - as the apple slowly takes on dimension and shape. 
+
+VIRGIL 
+It's an apple.
+
+WEBSTER 
+Good. Good. 
+(holding up the photo) 
+OK. What's this now?
+
+Virgil stares at the photo. HIS POV - a photo of -- an APPLE. Not that different from the real apple he holds in his hand - he holds the real apple up to compare - using his eyes. 
+
+VIRGIL 
+It's an apple.
+
+WEBSTER 
+(holding the paper out to Virgil) 
+Good. Good. But is it an apple or just a picture of an apple?
+
+And Virgil feels the paper and suddenly realizes - it's not an apple - just a representation of one. Virgil is visibly disappointed. 
+
+VIRGIL 
+So this is a joke? Is that what you'resaying - your eyes lie to you? Great - looking forward to this.
+
+WEBSTER 
+Your eyesight can and will play tricks on you Virgil. Remember that. No matter whatI could teach you - no matter what exercises I could give you - they'll still play tricks on you.
+
+VIRGIL
+That's all it is right now - one big trick. Nothing makes any sense. I can't function like this.
+
+WEBSTER
+(he moves to his chair) 
+Virgil - look - you have to learn to see - just like you learned to speak. Only this is not like learning a new language - it's like learning language for the first time. 
+(he leans forward) 
+Perception - sight - life, is about experience - about reaching out and exploring the world for yourself. It's not enough to just see Virgil -- 
+(he points two fingers into his eyes) 
+-- we've got to look as well.
+
+And Webster turns the fingers from his eyes outward - to the world. 
+
+AMY 
+(wound up) 
+Well, thank-you Obi Wan Kenobi - but that doesn't tell us anything. What we need is some assistance here - some kind of program - a set of exercises - we're kind of adrift and...
+
+WEBSTER 
+Amy - last I checked - this isn't a game of Parcheesi, it doesn't come with a set of rules.
+
+AMY 
+I can't believe you're just...
+
+VIRGIL
+Amy. Let's go.
+
+AMY 
+No, wait, Virgil...
+
+VIRGIL 
+Let's go. 
+(standing) 
+Thank-you Dr. Webster.
+
+WEBSTER 
+You want me - I'm always here.
+
+And Virgil turns and half steps - half shuffles towards the door. We hold on Amy's befuddled face - then: 
+
+EXT. NYU - DAY 
+
+Virgil feels his way down the steps - Amy rushing out after him. 
+
+AMY 
+I'm going to call Aaron - get him to recommend someone else.
+
+VIRGIL 
+He's right, Amy. I've got to do this on my own. No one taught you how to see.
+
+Virgil starts walking stiffly towards the street. Amy hurries after him - grabs him just as he was about to step into traffic. 
+
+AMY 
+I was a baby then - I had years to learn - you don't - you need to...
+(anxious)
+--we don't even know what to do - where to start..
+
+Virgil's hand goes out - brushes a mailbox. 
+
+VIRGIL 
+What's this - this thing?
+
+Amy looks over. 
+
+AMY 
+(shrugs) 
+What - it's a mailbox.
+
+VIRGIL 
+What color is it?
+
+AMY
+Blue.
+
+Virgil stares at it - tries to take it in. 
+
+VIRGIL
+Blue. OK, good - that's a mailbox- it's blue. There - we've started.
+
+She says nothing. Virgil senses her apprehension. 
+
+AMY Let's just get a cab, get you home - and tonight we can work on it.
+(hand out) 
+Cab!
+
+A cab veers across traffic - pulls up to them. 
+
+VIRGIL 
+I want to walk. I want to see what's out there.
+
+AMY
+Fine. Let's walk.
+
+VIRGIL 
+Don't you have a job?
+
+AMY 
+I'm going to make time for this. I promise.
+
+VIRGIL 
+Go to work. If I need you - I have your number.
+
+A beat, she looks to Virgil then climbs into the cab and it pulls away. 
+
+Virgil looks left, right - trying to decide where to start his journey when we see the cab back up in front of him and Amy climbs out. 
+
+AMY 
+Screw work - let's go try those eyes.
+
+INT. LECTURE RALL - DAY 
+
+Aaron at a podium. The room filled with colleagues. A NEWSCREW records the lecture from the back of the hall. 
+
+AARON 
+Now just two weeks after surgery--the patient is still having difficulty understanding images,shapes, contours - 
+
+EXT. NY CITY STREET - NEW DAY 
+
+Virgil - determined to see - making his way down a street - trying to dodge people coming at him from all angles. Amy walks a short distance behind him - coaxing him along. 
+
+HIS POV - people seem to explode out of two dimensions into three. This is clearly exhausting. 
+
+AARON (CONT'D)
+- and his progress with depth of field has been especially slow...
+
+WHAM - Virgil collides with a kid on a skateboard - Amy winces as he quickly regains his balance - shakes it off - starts his journey again - determined. 
+
+EXT. BROADWAY - STREET VNNDORS - DAY 
+
+Amy trying to help Virgil take in the confusion of images - explaining to him items hanging about the stalls. It's clear he's a little overwhelmed - when something familiar catches his eye. He moves toward it: 
+
+HIS POV - focusing - trying to give it shape - it's a YELLOW CAB - just like the one Amy drove off in - again he focuses - reaches out - surprisingly wrapping his hand around the car. 
+
+AARON (CONT'D)
+Virgil is still very reliant on his touch to interpret objects in his surroundings -
+
+He then realizes it's a porcelain toy from a souvenir shop. Amy watches him examine it like a child as we hear: 
+
+EXT. STREET CORNER - DAY 
+
+AARON (CONT'D)
+- and his understanding of three dimensionality is extremely limited and confounding to him...
+
+Virgil - his hands all over a small long haired TERRIER. He looks to Amy as he stands. 
+
+VIRGIL 
+It's a dog.
+
+Amy on her cellphone - trying to get work done - nods - yes that's a dog. Virgil looks back at the pup - which has now turned around backwards. 
+
+VIRGIL 
+Now what's that?
+
+On Amy - disturbed by his slow progress. 
+
+EXT. GARDEN MARKET - ANOTHER DAY 
+
+Amy and Virgil being led through a series of plants and trees by a 
+
+EARTHY SALESWOMAN. 
+
+SALESWOMAN 
+I believe we have just the tree you're looking for your lobby. Needs very little light - slow growing - ah here we are...
+
+Amy and Virgil stop at a large Ficus Tree. 
+
+AMY 
+Nice. Good. What do you think Virgil?
+
+AARON (CONT'D)
+He is also still having great difficulty "scanning", basically putting a whole picture together.
+
+Virgil stares at the large tree. Up - down - up - down - up - down - up - down - Amy and the Saleswoman watch him, Amy wants to help but can't comprehend what he's going through. 
+
+AARON (CONT'D)
+If he looks at the top of a tree - then scans to the bottom - he's forgotten the top by the time he reaches the trunk.
+
+INT. AMY'S WORK - DAY 
+
+ANGLE ON Virgil in Amy's office - staring at a construction sign - FUTURE HOME OF etc... Using his finger to outline the letters of the sign - he tries to read the word FUTURE. He mouths the letters - tries to form the word. 
+
+AARON (CONT'D)
+This includes the ability to read. In reading a word - he forgets the first letter by the time he gets to the last.
+
+Amy working with a draftsman - glances up to see Virgil struggling with reading. 
+
+INT. NEW YORK EYE HOSPITAL - LECTURE ROOM - DAY 
+
+Bathed in a bank of lights, Aaron at the podium continuing. Virgil quiet - is seated behind him. 
+
+AARON (CONT'D)
+-- meaning ... he has a total lack of visual memory. This is an unexpected physiological flaw. We are hopeful Virgil can overcome this. 
+(beat) 
+Thank-you - that's all for today.
+
+INT. NEW YORK EYE HOSPITAL HALLWAY - DAY 
+
+Virgil and Amy exit the hall, are immediately surrounded by REPORTERS and PHOTOGRAPHERS. There's a sudden FLASH. Virgil reacts, pulling away. 
+
+VIRGIL 
+What's that?
+
+AMY 
+A camera - it's OK - taking your - picture.
+
+VIRGIL 
+What, by flashing me in the face?
+
+FLASH - there's another - Amy tries to block the light. 
+
+AMY 
+Please!! - It's not good for him.
+
+Suddenly - there's a mike in his face, as CHRISTIE EVANS reporter from Channel 2 news steps forward with CAMERA CREW in tow. 
+
+CHRISTIE EVANS 
+Mr. Anderson. Christie Evans Eyewitness news. We heard the Doctor speak about your progress - and we're wondering what your expectations are.
+
+As Virgil stops - stunned by the lights in his face. As he looks to Amy we cut to: 
+
+INT. HOME - LATE DAY 
+
+TV MONITOR - Virgil turns to camera - starts talking to the reporter. As we pull back we hear less and less as we reveal a modest living room. A TEENAGER doing homework on a table in the corner and a MAN - early 60's, rugged - sitting on a couch watching the news. 
+
+MAN 
+Oh my God.
+
+He leans forward - his interest piqued and he picks up the phone. 
+
+MAN 
+Information. Pinecrest. For a Jennie Anderson..
+
+INT. RESTAURANT - LITTTE ITALY - LATER THAT NIGHT 
+
+A silver fork held up in front of us. 
+
+AMY 
+What's this?
+
+Virgil and Amy sit on the patio of La Mela. Virgil's hand goes out for the fork. Amy pulls it away. 
+
+AMY 
+Uh uh uh. See it first. No cheating. Concentrate.
+
+Virgil stares hard at it. 
+
+VIRGIL 
+(guessing) 
+A pen. I don't know - let me touch it.
+
+She hands it to him. 
+
+VIRGIL 
+A fork.
+
+AMY 
+Right.. Now put it down in front of you. How far is it from.
+
+VIRGIL 
+Twenty feet
+
+AMY 
+You're not looking.
+
+VIRGIL 
+Dammit, Amy, Amy, I spent all day in front of that panel feeling like a guinea pig. Every time I open my eyes I have to look. Can we just sit and have dinner for once?
+
+Amy just stares. It's clear they're both tired. 
+
+AMY 
+I'm just trying to help you see.
+
+VIRGIL 
+I know. But that's all it seems we're about. How was your day - what goes on at work - how about those Rangers - did the stock market hold today - is there anything else going on in our world besides my eyes?
+
+AMY 
+(beat) 
+OK, we've been invited to a party - Duncan's birthday.
+
+An ITALIAN WAITER appears - putting a large plate of spaghetti in front of Virgil and Amy. Virgil is a little repulsed by what he sees. 
+
+VIRGIL 
+What's this - looks like worms.
+
+AMY 
+It's spaghetti - it's fine.
+
+As Virgil tries to maneuver his fork - Amy reaches behind her. 
+
+AMY 
+I brought you a present - good for hand eye coordination.
+
+She hands him a TOYS R US bag. He peers inside. 
+
+VIRGIL 
+Great - you go to work building buildings - I go home with building blocks.
+
+INT. ROSWELL -TREMONT - LATE DAY 
+
+Amy - looking a little worn - staring blankly at her computer. A three dimensional rendition of the mall rotates on the screen. Duncan pokes his head in. 
+
+DUNCAN 
+I'm here for you to wish me happy birthday. How's it going?
+
+AMY 
+(distracted) 
+OK. He's progressing, slowly - doing the best he can.
+
+DUNCAN 
+I was actually wondering about the mall designs. We're expected in Atlanta tomorrow - with these plans.
+
+AMY 
+I can't go to Atlanta tomorrow - not with Virgil's problems,..
+
+DUNCAN 
+Ok, ok 
+(Duncan moves in behind her) 
+I'm sorry. Things aren't going so well?
+
+AMY 
+(stares at her work) 
+He seems blinder now than he ever was.
+
+Duncan puts his hands on her shoulders - starts to knead them. Amy starts to relax. 
+
+AMY 
+Do you ever wonder why you do the things you do?
+
+DUNCAN 
+Didn't get what you expected did you? 
+
+AMY 
+Sometimes I think he's not going to make it - that he's never going to be able to see.
+
+DUNCAN 
+Amy - listen to me. You liked this guy - I saw that. You wanted to help him - it didn't work out so hot. You can't punish yourself.. Sometimes things just don't work out the way we want them to - look at us.
+
+Amy smiles warmly. 
+
+AMY 
+Yeah. Thanks Duncan.
+
+DUNCAN 
+Anytime. 
+(beat, a joke) 
+Now back to work.
+
+As he starts out of the room, Amy turns stops him. 
+
+AMY 
+Hey, Happy Birthday.
+
+INT. AMY'S LOFT - DAY 
+
+Virgil sits at the kitchen table staring at everyday kitchen utensils - being held by Ethan. 
+
+VIRGIL 
+Measuring cup?
+
+Ethan shakes his head - no - it's a cheese grater. Virgil stares again. Ethan mimes grating cheese. 
+
+VIRGIL 
+Cheese grater.
+
+ETHAN 
+Yes - my man.
+
+Ethan holds up something new - one of those strange spaghetti strainers. Now they are both staring at something they don't understand. Virgil looks to Ethan. 
+
+ETHAN 
+Got me.
+
+VIRGIL 
+(laughing) 
+You're no help. How am I supposed to do my homework if...
+
+ETHAN 
+Homework - dude - Iain't doin' homework.
+
+Virgil continues to look at the strainer as Ethan gravitates towards his cane folded up on the table. 
+
+ETHAN 
+(beat) 
+You're lucky you got a cane.
+
+Virgil looks over - sees his fascination. 
+
+VIRGIL 
+You want it. I've been thinkingabout throwing it out.
+
+Ethan's up in a flash. 
+
+ETHAN 
+Man - really - I can have it? Cool. 
+(picking it up) 
+I could be a Ninja Darth Vader fighter with one of these - protect my mom from the evil super.
+
+Virgil is up - with the spaghetti strainer in his hand. 
+
+VIRGIL 
+But first you'll have to fight off the evil --- whatever this is.
+
+As they joust about - Virgil enjoying himself - there's a knock at the door. 
+
+VIRGIL 
+Could be the super - go for cover.
+
+As Ethan ducks behind the couch, Virgil makes his way to the door, fumbling with the handle - he opens it to: 
+
+JENNIE. Virgil stares at her. We soon realize he has no idea who this is. 
+
+VIRGIL 
+Yes?
+
+Jenny looks at him, her eyes welling. 
+
+JENNIE 
+Virgil - it's me.
+
+And suddenly Ethan is there - cane drawn like a sword. 
+
+ETHAN 
+En garde.
+
+Jennie startled - looks to Ethan then Virgil. What's going on? 
+
+VIRGIL
+Jennie?! Jennie.. God, I'm sorry - c'mon in - this is my friend Ethan - what are you doing here?
+
+Off Jennie's look: 
+
+EXT. CONSTRUCTION SITE - DAY 
+
+Virgil and Jennie standing across the street from a building being torn down. Hard hatted WORKERS hover about the large trucks at work. 
+
+VIRGIL 
+You want to tell me what we're doing here?
+
+Jennie points. 
+
+JENNIE 
+That's him. That's our Father.
+
+Virgil looks in the direction she's pointing - tries to focus on a figure moving across the lot. The MAN we saw watching TV. 
+
+VIRGIL 
+I can't - I can't see him.
+
+Jennie looks to him. 
+
+JENNIE 
+I thought your eyes were better.
+
+VIRGIL
+No. I - I don't want to see him. My eyes aren't good enough - not yet - he won't understand. It won't be enough.
+
+Virgil takes a step back. 
+
+JENNIE 
+He's our father. He heard about the operation and he's asked to see you. Look here he comes.
+
+VIRGIL 
+GODDAMIT Jennie - I don't want to see him - I don't even know why youbrought me here.
+
+And Virgil takes another step back then turns and starts of f down the street leaving Jenny alone. 
+
+INT. AMY'S BUILDING - NIGHT 
+
+Amy making her way up the stairs - roll of plans under her arm. Opening her door to: 
+
+INT. AMY'S LOFT - NIGHT 
+
+A totally dark room. She drops her things. 
+
+AMY 
+Virgil?... Virgil?!
+
+She flicks on the light - to reveal Virgil has been sitting in the dark. She looks over - sees the scattered blocks on the floor. 
+
+VIRGIL 
+I'm here. I forget about the lights sometimes.
+
+AMY
+Look - about this party tonight - it's no big deal - maybe we should just...
+
+VIRGIL
+It's your partner's birthday. We should go - besides you wanted me to meet your friends, right?
+
+AMY 
+Yeah. Right.
+
+INT. LOFT - NIGHT 
+
+Noisy, crowded - PEOPLE mill about carrying drinks - black and silver balloons float about the ceiling. Moving through the crowd - music blasting - Amy introducing people to Virgil over the noise. 
+
+A WAITER walks up to them holding a tray of wine. 
+
+WAITER 
+Glass of wine? Red - white?
+
+Amy reaches out - takes one. 
+
+VIRGIL 
+Which is the red?
+
+Amy looks at the waiter - then points to one. Virgil's hand reaches out slowly - hovering - it's clear it's confusing - trying to separate out one glass. The Waiter looks to Amy like "is he OK?" 
+
+AMY 
+Virgil - here let me.
+
+Her hand darts in front of his. 
+
+VIRGIL 
+(quick) 
+No! Sorry - I mean - I'm almost there - I think I got it.
+
+And she backs off as his hand wraps around a glass - pulling it back. At the last second knocking over two other glasses. 
+
+VIRGIL 
+Dammit. Sorry.
+
+The Waiter - trying not to spill on himself. 
+
+WAITER 
+Trust me - you're not the first - or probably the last. Let me get a cloth.
+
+VIRGIL 
+Thanks
+
+The Waiter smiles - and as he walks off. Virgil nervously takes a large drink of wine. 
+
+WAITER 
+I hope you're driving.
+
+Suddenly from the front of the room - MARSHALL, the host calls out: 
+
+MARSHALL 
+OK. He's coming up the stairs. Everybody get ready - kill the lights.
+
+Excitement - a buzz - Virgil looks around then CLICK - all the lights go out. Virgil panics momentarily. 
+
+VIRGIL 
+What - what's happening?
+
+Amy moves to him in the near dark room. 
+
+AMY 
+It's for the surprise - they turned off the lights.
+
+VIRGIL 
+Surprise - yeah.
+
+And suddenly the lights flood back on, everyone screams: SURPRISE!! 
+
+Duncan - at the door with Betsy - genuinely surprised - catches his breath - then fakes a quick heart attack and drops to the floor. 
+
+The room explodes in laughter - Amy included. This action is even more confusing to Virgil. 
+
+VIRGIL 
+Is he OK?
+
+Hearing this - everyone breaks into bigger laughter - Virgil now the focus of attention - good naturedly laughs - Amy smiles, embarrassed. Virgil takes a gulp of his wine, finishing it off. 
+
+LATER: 
+
+The Music is cranked! Many couples dance. Virgil exits the bathroom - glances back in the mirror again, at his hair - not sure he likes its style. He tries brushing it to the other side - it's OK. How about the other way - not so bad - maybe. It's clear he's a little tipsy as he keeps playing with his hair. 
+
+WAITER (O.S.) 
+Here ya go Virgil.
+
+Virgil turns - the Waiter stands there holding a glass of wine - placing it carefully into Virgil's hand: 
+
+VIRGIL 
+Cheers, Kevin.
+
+AMY (O.S.)
+(over the noise)
+Virgil!!
+
+Virgil embarrassed, turns - can faintly hear Amy's voice over the music. Searches the room - bopping bodies - balloons being bashed round - lights dim. The number of drinks he's had isn't helping. 
+
+AMY 
+Virgil--over here!!
+
+Amy, standing with Duncan and Betsy. 
+
+DUNCAN
+Maybe he's blind again.
+
+AMY 
+Don't even think it. C'mon - I want the both of you to meet him - he'll never find us here.
+
+With VIRGIL - smiling as he sees Amy, Duncan and Betsy move towards him. 
+
+AMY 
+Virgil - I'm sorry - I went to get Duncan. Duncan - Virgil. And this is Betsy.
+
+DUNCAN 
+Hey Virgil good to meet you.
+
+BETSY 
+Heard a lot about you.
+
+VIRGIL 
+Heyyy! Yeah. Good to meet you.
+
+Virgil thrusts his hand out - colliding it into Duncan's. 
+
+VIRGIL 
+Sorry - things still get a little cockeyed sometimes.
+
+DUNCAN 
+(holding up his drink) 
+Few more of these and I'll be the same.
+
+VIRGIL 
+Lemme get Kevin - my man - he'll top you up. KE-VIN!!!
+
+AMY 
+Virgil!
+
+VIRGIL 
+What?
+
+Uncomfortable - everyone stops. 
+
+AMY 
+Nothing. It's ok.
+
+DUNCAN 
+Amy, in Atlanta tomorrow...
+
+AMY 
+Duncan - I told you...
+
+DUNCAN 
+I spoke to Falk and he...
+
+AMY 
+(can't hear) 
+What?
+
+Duncan pulls Amy in close to talk - shutting Virgil and Betsy out. 
+
+BETSY 
+Amy said you had great hands. 
+
+VIRGIL 
+(laughs) 
+She did, did she.
+
+Virgil holds them up in front of his face - tries to see them. Then looks past them and watches Amy and Duncan - more importantly looks at Duncan's hair, his clothes. It's clear he's becoming aware of appearances. His own especially. 
+
+As they break their tete a tete. 
+
+BETSY
+You know my father was blind for several years, he had cataracts as well.
+
+Somehow this comes out patronizing. 
+
+VIRGIL 
+Really. I'm surprised I don't know him. It's a club you know.
+
+Kevin, the African American waiter comes up. 
+
+KEVIN 
+Yes.
+
+Virgil throws his arm around Kevin. 
+
+VIRGIL 
+Kevin - Duncan here the birthday man - could use himself a drink. Kevin here tells me he's black - did you know that- I mean look at him - look at me -isn't that the damnedest thing. He's black. 
+
+Amy is mortified, Kevin laughs. 
+
+KEVIN
+I'll get you a drink.
+
+Virgil looks to Amy. 
+
+VIRGIL 
+What's that look?
+
+AMY 
+What look?
+
+VIRGIL 
+I've never seen your face that way before. It's.. .weird. What does it mean?
+
+Before she can answer - a dance song breaks out - Betsy wraps her arm around Duncan's. 
+
+BETSY 
+Come on Duncan - let's dance - move those old bones.
+
+Duncan only acknowledges Betsy's contact with a raised eyebrow to Amy. 
+
+DUNCAN 
+What the hell it's my birthday -- nice to meet you Virgil - see you at the opening.
+
+And they're gone onto the floor. Virgil watches him - sees the ease with which Duncan moves, handles things. 
+
+VIRGIL 
+Opening?
+
+AMY 
+The lobby we designed. Virgil - you can't...
+
+VIRGIL 
+Let's dance.
+
+Virgil takes her arm and pulls her out on the floor. Amy - ready for one of Virgil's wild dances takes hold of his hand. The music blaring, Virgil starts to get into it - Amy starting to relax - then Virgil slowly notices how everyone else is dancing - more conservative. 
+
+He's even getting some looks from people. Slowly he winds down - tries to mimic what everyone else is doing - ends up in just a slow shuffle. 
+
+Amy watches him - sees he's uncomfortable - moves to him - but Virgil turns on his heel and strides away. Amy follows after him. 
+
+INT. LOFT - CORNER - NIGHT 
+
+Virgil stands near the glass doors leading to an outdoor balcony. Amy comes up to him - finds Virgil facing a wall - eyes shut. 
+
+AMY 
+What are you doing?
+
+Virgil's head cocks slightly towards her - just like when he was blind. 
+
+VIRGIL 
+I feel like Rip Van Winkle. I've woken up from a thirty year sleep - and the world's passed me by.
+
+AMY 
+It's just dancing. Who cares?
+
+Virgil whirls on her - his hand on her shoulder to steady his look at her. 
+
+VIRGIL 
+No-no-no-no. It's not the Goddamn dancing. I wanted to come here tonight - show you Icould "fit" in. Like the big boys do. Big seeing boys. Yes. Well, I don't. Don't.
+
+AMY 
+It's just going to take time. You weren't ready. We shouldn't have come.
+
+VIRGIL 
+No - I - me, shouldn't have come. You want me to see - but you know what - you know what - shit - I don't belong in the wonderful world of seeing. 
+
+Amy reaches out to him. 
+
+AMY 
+Virgil … look ….
+
+Amy realizes what she just said - Virgil pulls his arm away. 
+
+VIRGIL 
+No, I won't. I'm tired of looking. Fuck looking and the horse it came in on.
+
+And he spins to get away from her and takes a step crashing right into the sliding glass door which explodes in a shower of little crystals. 
+
+The party slams to a halt - Amy stands stunned. Virgil shaken - tiny cuts on his face. 
+
+AMY 
+Oh my God, are you alright?
+
+Virgil slams his eyes shut. 
+
+VIRGIL 
+Yeah, I'm just fine. Take me home.
+
+INT. AMY'S LOFT - NEXT MORNING 
+
+Virgil, small nicks on his face, wakes up - rolls over - feels the empty bed beside him. Looks up to see Amy pulling her coat on - suitcase at her side. 
+
+AMY 
+Didn't want to wake you.
+
+VIRGIL 
+You're going.
+
+AMY 
+I'll only be a couple of days.
+
+VIRGIL 
+This isn't working.
+
+AMY 
+What - we're not working - your eyes - what's not working?
+
+VIRGIL 
+I get up every morning - I look in the mirror - and I stare at a total stranger. I stare and I stare - and no matter how hard I look - I don't see Virgil there anywhere. And the more I look at you...
+
+AMY 
+What? You don't see me?
+
+VIRGIL 
+I saw you better when I was blind.
+
+AMY 
+Well, you're not blind any more. I'm sorry if that disappoints you. 
+(beat) 
+I've got a plane to catch. I'm going to go before we say things we don't mean.
+
+And she grabs her bag and is out the door. As we hold on Virgil's face. 
+
+AT THE WINDOW - Virgil looking out - watching Amy get in the cab. 
+
+As she drives away we see Virgil watch the car recede - then his hand goes out. 
+
+HIS POV - his hand grasping at the tiny disappearing cab - trying to hold onto it like in Times Square - trying not to let it go. 
+
+INT. FALK BOARD ROOM - DAY 
+
+CLOSE ON - Amy's sketches. The Mall has been integrated into the two large trees - giving it shelter and shape. 
+
+FALK (O.S.) 
+I love it.
+
+Amy and Duncan sit across from Falk, a man in his 40's - earned everything he's got - no bullshit kinda guy. 
+
+FALK 
+But we already cut those trees down.
+
+EXT. NYU CAMPUS - DAY 
+
+Kids milling about. A young couple neck unabashedly against a wall. 
+
+We see this is Virgil's POV - he's watching - people together. 
+
+INT. NYU HALLWAY - DAY 
+
+Virgil makes his way down the hall. Stops at an open doorway - a sign next to it with raised letters in Braille. As his hand feels across it - he also reads the visual letters - Dr. Ray Webster. 
+
+Peering inside - he sees a Lab - full of the NEWLY BLIND - some TEENAGERS - a couple of ADULTS - a handful of SEEING IMPAIRED - all learning to use a cane. The rapid tapping of their cane like a room full of typewriters. 
+
+Virgil watches - the Blind working their way around a small obstacle course - many of them running into desks, tables - it's tough, frustrating work. 
+
+Suddenly Virgil feels someone next to him. Webster. 
+
+WEBSTER 
+You want to join us.
+
+Virgil watches the blind. 
+
+VIRGIL 
+No - no - I'll wait for you out here - when you're done.
+
+As Virgil moves off to a hallway bench: 
+
+WEBSTER 
+
+VIRGIL
+
+Virgil turns as Webster tosses his something. Virgil misses it - it hits the ground - he reaches down - finding it, he picks it up - it's an apple. He looks to Webster who smiles back at him. 
+
+WEBSTER 
+I'll be done in a minute.
+
+INT. HOTEL LOBBY - ATLANTA - DUSK 
+
+Amy and Duncan walk through the lobby to their rooms. A little combo plays music in the adjacent bar - a few people on the tiny dance floor. 
+
+AMY 
+You'd think he would have told us. I mean those trees were in the photos.
+
+DUNCAN 
+We'll just have to win him over tomorrow. Let me buy you a drink - get those creative juices going.
+
+AMY
+(looks at her watch) 
+Aw - no - I really...
+
+But Duncan has her by the arm - and in one spin has her in a dance embrace. This move seems comfortable, familiar to them both. 
+
+DUNCAN 
+C'mon - listen, they're playing our song.
+
+AMY 
+(laughs) 
+Mack the Knife was our song?
+
+INT. WEBSTER'S LAB - LATER 
+
+Webster is cleaning up after class. Virgil watching some of the Teenage kids and Adults find their way out of the room. As the last of them leaves. 
+
+WEBSTER 
+OK - I'm just about done here - I got a placefor you - relax those eyes a bit.
+
+INT. STRIP CLUB - NIGHT 
+
+A table front and center. Some empty beer glasses in front of them. Two full ones in their hands - they're both a little in their cups. A STRIPPER grinds and weaves her way about the small dance floor to the sounds of Talking Heads "Burning down the House". 
+
+VIRGIL 
+(eyeing the girl) 
+You want to know the truth -- God's honest truth? Seeing's been the shits.
+
+WEBSTER 
+You got to be kidding me son. You can say that - sitting here in these prime viewing seats. Forget fixing your eyes - we're going to get your head examined.
+
+VIRGIL 
+I'm serious. I was better off blind. People don't have these expectations of you you can't live up to. You're blind - fine - they deal with it.
+
+WEBSTER 
+Didn't get what you expected did you?
+
+VIRGIL 
+When I was blind - I had an image of what everything was, up here...
+(points to his head)
+now - it's all different - not at all what I'd expected - not what I'd hoped for.
+
+WEBSTER 
+Virgil, let me explain something here. When you were blind - you dealt with things one at a time - sequentially right? A wall led to a door to a tree to a car. That's how you got to what you wanted - right.
+(beat)
+Seeing people - for better or worse - deal with everything all at once - taking in the whole picture - which sometimes confuses the hell out of what they want.
+(beat)
+Virgil, my advice after three beers - don't be afraid to take in the whole picture - just don't lose sight of what you want.
+
+VIRGIL
+What I want is to make it work with Amy.
+
+WEBSTER 
+And what does she have to say
+
+VIRGIL 
+She just wants me to see.
+
+WEBSTER 
+It's that important is it?
+
+VIRGIL 
+You know what I learned a long time ago. Seeing girls like seeing guys. 
+(beat) 
+I'm not going to let her down.
+
+INT. HOTEL BAR - NIGHT 102 
+
+Amy and Duncan are dancing - they seem good together. Nothing fancy - but they move as one about the floor. 
+
+DUNCAN 
+See - not so bad.
+
+AMY
+Not so bad.
+
+DUNCAN 
+It's nice to dance together again. 
+
+AMY 
+Yeah.
+
+DUNCAN 
+You remember...?
+
+AMY 
+First time we danced - Connecticut. We watched the leaves turn - so much to see - I'd love to go back. 
+
+DUNCAN 
+So would I. 
+(beat) 
+What happened to us Amy? You're so intent on fixing everything - why'd you give up on us?
+
+AMY 
+I learned some things can't be fixed. We got married for all the wrong reasons. I don't think I fell in love with you as much as I fell in love with architecture.
+
+DUNCAN 
+(serious) 
+I never fell in love with architecture - but I know I fell in love with you. 
+
+AMY 
+Now - that's bullshit.
+
+DUNCAN 
+It used to work.
+
+They smile at each other - everything's easy right now - pause - they dance - Amy looks up at Duncan - who hesitates - then leans in and kisses her. 
+
+A moment and Amy pulls away slightly - looks down for a second - then she leans back in and they kiss again. We hold on this kiss, then cut to: 
+
+INT. HOTEL ROOM - NIGHT 
+
+BLACK - we hear movement - then a light comes on in the bathroom. Amy stands there clutching her clothes - staring into the mirror. In the background we see Duncan curled up asleep in bed. 
+
+Amy stares at herself long and hard. 
+
+AMY 
+(whisper) 
+Oh, God.
+
+And she starts to dress: 
+
+DUNCAN 
+Amy? - what's going on -what time is it?
+
+Click - he flicks the bedside lamp on - squinting - finds Amy. She doesn't talk - keeps dressing. 
+
+DUNCAN 
+What's wrong?
+
+AMY 
+What's wrong? This was' a mistake - a big mistake. Go back to sleep - you've got an important meeting tomorrow.
+
+DUNCAN 
+I've got? - hold on here - you're not bailing out on me - I need you.
+
+AMY 
+(flat) 
+For the meeting.
+
+DUNCAN 
+Of course for the meeting.
+
+Dressed, she moves toward the doorway - Duncan sits up in bed. 
+
+AMY 
+I'm going home.
+
+DUNCAN 
+To be a babysitter.
+
+She stops at the door. 
+
+AMY 
+Can't we for once be adults - face the fact that we've just made a colossal error? 
+
+DUNCAN 
+Fine - this was stupid, there - happy? - but goddamit Amy - I still care about you. Where do you actuallv think any of this is going to lead with this guy?
+
+AMY 
+I don't know - but the one good thing to come of this mess tonight - I know I want to find out.
+
+And she's gone - WHAM. 
+
+EXT. AMY'S LOFT - DUSK 
+
+A cab pulls up - Amy gets out - looks up at her loft - it's dark. 
+
+INT. AMY'S LOFT - DUSK 
+
+Kitchen light on - a pile of Ethan's blocks on the table. Amy makes her way over to see it reads: 
+
+ON THE ROOF 
+
+EXT. AMY'S ROOF - DUSK 
+
+Amy opens the door and sees Virgil leaning against the parapet wall, staring out at the night Manhattan skyline. After a moment, he walks back to the other end of the roof, turns and slowly walk - toward the parapet wall again - all the time staring at the skyline - with a smile and look of amazement on his face. 
+
+AMY 
+Hi
+
+Virgil turns - finds her. 
+
+VIRGIL 
+Hey.
+
+Amy starts toward Virgil. 
+
+AMY 
+Whatcha doing?
+
+VIRGIL 
+It's the craziest thing. You start back over there - focus on a building. And when you walk towards it - it changes - each step makes it look different. I started out just looking for the horizon.
+
+AMY 
+You can't see it from here - too many buildings.
+
+VIRGIL 
+But it's still there - even though you can't see it - right? You gotta have faith it's there. Things exist beyond what I can see - I just have to take it on faith.
+
+She comes up next to him - Virgil, looking out over the wall turns to her - studies her face: 
+
+VIRGIL 
+You have so many looks?
+
+AMY There's something I have to tell you. I was getting confused - which is no excuse for how I've acted, but...
+
+VIRGIL
+Wait - no - this isn't your fault - I'm the one's been a shit. You're too hard on yourself - expect too much of yourself.
+
+AMY 
+Virgil …
+
+VIRGIL 
+(stopping her) 
+Let me say this. Every day of my life - I've wished for just one thing.
+
+AMY 
+To see.
+
+VIRGIL 
+To be whole. For just one month. For just one day or one minute. For one goddamned half a second. And not just to be able to run, or ride a bike, or drive a car. 
+(beat) 
+But for once not to have a bruise from bumping into something or to stand in a roomand have to ask "is anyone here" and here that dead silence, knowing someone is there. Not to have food on my sweater, or have to put my finger in my glass to know when it's full. I just want to be whole. 
+(beat) 
+I went to see my father the other day.
+
+Amy moves toward him. 
+
+VIRGIL 
+I couldn't face him. I felt like I was letting him down. I feel like I'm letting you down.
+
+AMY 
+No …
+
+VIRGIL 
+No, listen. I gave up years ago - I'm not going to give up now. Amy - that day I met you - for the first time in my life I felt someone needed me as much as I needed them. I don't want you to give up on me.
+
+Amy out of breath - feels a surge of love for this man - moves in kissing him. A long kiss - then: 
+
+VIRGIL 
+Besides I couldn't leave you - I owe too much in back rent.
+
+And as Amy pulls him into embrace - we hold on her face - then: 
+
+INT. LECTURE HALL - DAY 
+
+CLOSE ON - Dr. Aaron - harsh lights washing him out. 
+
+AARON 
+Up until the operation five weeks ago - Virgil had been a touch person - someone who's vocabulary, whole sensibility, his picture of the world was based on tactile -- non-visual terms.
+
+INT. DOWNTOWN ATELETIC CLUB - DAY 
+
+A HEALTH INSTRUCTOR - 50's Jack LaLaine type - is giving Virgil the tour of the facilities. They enter the weight/workout room. Various shapes and sizes of people work out on various shapes and sizes of workout machines. 
+
+Aaron's voice-over continues as Jack motions to Virgil to follow him.. Virgil hesitates. 
+
+HIS POV - chrome, iron, plastic - but somehow it's more defined than we've seen before. 
+
+Determined - Virgil starts his way into the gym - hand' out brushing by what he sees in front of him. 
+
+AARON (CONT'D)
+But - now - as a sighted person - by focusing singlemindedly on his goal, Virgil has a new found ability to understand his own physical relationship to objects in his life around him...
+
+Virgil now drops his hand - starts moving through the maze of people and equipment - actually "seeing" his way. 
+
+AARON (CONT'D)
+Distance, size, shape - perspective - now all have profound meaning to him...
+
+EXT. HEALTH CLUB - DAY 
+
+Virgil negotiating a glass door - exiting the building. 
+
+AARON (CONT'D)
+
+and though there are still miles to go in his learning process - for all medical intents and purposes - he is becoming a seeing person.
+
+Virgil walking down the street - deftly dodging a kid on a skateboard - throwing out his hand to hail a cab. 
+
+AARON (CONT'D)
+This is an extraordinary achievement and advancement for medical science and a tribute to Virgil's determination to see.
+
+INT. LECTURE HALL - DAY 
+
+AARON (CONT'D)
+Ladies and Gentlemen - Virgil Anderson.
+
+Applause and Virgil looking to Amy in the audience, stands - a seeing man - and easily makes his way to the podium. Standing in the lights he readjusts the microphone - moving it up from the much shorter Aaron. 
+
+VIRGIL 
+(clears his throat) 
+Since this may be one of our last sessions - are there any questions?
+
+VOICE IN THE DARK 
+Mr. Anderson - is there something youwere surprised to see for the first time- something that looked quite different than you thought?
+
+VIRGIL 
+Breasts. 
+(laughter) 
+No, really. Don't get me wrong - I love them - they just weren't what I expected.
+
+VOICE 
+What about your girlfriend?
+
+VIRGIL 
+Whose did you think I was talking about?
+
+Laughs. 
+
+ANOTHER VOICE IN THE DARK 
+Now that you're fully seeing - what are you looking forward to most?
+
+VIRGIL 
+Not having to do these sessions. 
+(laugh) 
+No - actually - being independent.
+
+VOICE 
+Can you read yet?
+
+VIRGIL 
+No, but...
+
+VOICE 
+Will you ever be able to?
+
+VIRGIL 
+I don't know.
+
+VOICE 
+If you can't read - will you ever be able to drive?
+
+VIRGIL 
+(suddenly somber) 
+I don't know.
+
+VOICE 
+Well how can you say...
+
+FAMILIAR VOICE 
+(interrupting) 
+Virgil. After so many years of darkness - describe what it is to actually see.
+
+Angle on the Voice in the dark. Webster. 
+
+CLOSE ON - Virgil - as he thinks about the question. 
+
+INT. ROSWELL-TREMONT - AMY'S OFFICE - LATE DAY 
+
+CLOSE ON - the Atlanta project. Miniature size. And a set of plans laid out across Amy's desk. Virgil's hand comes into frame - touches the model - moves to the plans - touches them. 
+
+ON VIRGIL - alone in Amy's office - looking at her work. We go to his face - his eyes - we see that he is seeing Amy's work. 
+
+AMY (O.S.)
+You're here.
+
+Virgil looks up - Amy at the doorway. 
+
+VIRGIL 
+The Atlanta project - I thought it went away.
+
+AMY 
+Duncan did some song and dance - Falk's comingto the lobby opening tomorrow - see our work.
+
+VIRGIL 
+I see it Amy.
+
+AMY 
+What's that?
+
+VIRGIL 
+Your world. What you do. The plans - the work the ideas. The molding. For the first time I really see whatyou do - and not just up here... 
+(he points to his head) 
+but in here.
+
+Virgil's hand goes out to her chest - places it on her heart. 
+
+AMY 
+(moves in close, sexy)
+Tonight is your night something special I want to show you
+
+VIRGIL 
+What is it?
+
+SMASH TO: 
+
+EXT. BUILDING - LATE DAY 
+
+AMY (V.0.) 
+Everything.
+
+TOP OF THE WORLD TRADE CENTER 
+
+The sun starting to set - the whole of the five burroughs of New York laid out in front of us. Virgil moves to the edge - looks out over this amazing panorama. 
+
+Amy moves up next to Virgil - they take it in a moment. 
+
+AMY 
+That's the Brooklyn Bridge, Empire State Building, Chrysler building just over there...
+
+VIRGIL 
+Amy, look at me.
+
+AMY 
+What? 
+
+VIRGIL 
+This face - this is everything. It's all I've ever wanted to see. 
+(he watches her) 
+You have so many looks. What do all those looks mean?
+
+AMY 
+Well. Let's see. This... 
+(makes corresponding face) 
+... is sad. This...is frustrated. This... is tired. This.. is confused. This.. is happy. And this... 
+(her face softens) 
+... is what in love looks like.
+
+Virgil puts his hand on her face - looks at it carefully. 
+
+VIRGIL 
+This look - this look I love. 
+
+Amy leans forward and kisses him - and he soon forgets it even happened. As they kiss we pull slowly back and away as the sun goes deep gold and we start to hear what sounds like rain: 
+
+We cut to: 
+
+INT. AMY'S LOFT - NIGHT 
+
+And they are still kissing - and we realize they are in the shower - together - kissing - exploring - very sensual. As Virgil moves to kiss her neck - her breasts - Amy's head tilts back in to the spray. 
+
+AMY 
+Virgil - it's raining.
+
+And he moves up again - looks her in the eyes - and for a moment his eyesight shudders ever so slight1y - it goes away and they kiss again. 
+
+EXT. AMY'S LOFT - MORNING 
+
+Amy and Virgil on the street - each hailing separate cabs. 
+
+AMY 
+So - eight o'clock tonight.
+
+VIRGIL 
+Eight o'clock - building opening - I haven't forgotten.
+
+She blows him a kiss and she's gone. Virgil watches her cab pull away - clear something is bothering him. 
+
+HIS POV - his vision going in and out. Then clear, then clouded again. 
+
+INT. DOWNTOWN ATHLETIC CLUB - DAY 
+
+Virgil's massage room. Not as organized as he had at Bear Mtn.. Virgil is working on an OVERWEIGHT MAN - his back is splotchy from too much sun. 
+
+Virgil massaging - becomes preoccupied with his skin's imperfections - losing his concentration. 
+
+OVERWEIGHT MAN 
+Hey, Virgil - I'm the one supposed to fall asleep here. 
+
+VIRGIL 
+Yes - sorry.
+
+He closes his eyes - gets back into his rhythm. 
+
+INT. ATHLETIC CLUB - LATER 
+
+Virgil, pack over his shoulder leaving for the day - about to cut through the weight room - when it suddenly comes to a halt. 
+
+His POV - his vision fading in and out - and then suddenly quick flashes of black. On the final BLACK: 
+
+We smash to: 
+
+INT. NEW YORK HOSPITAL - DAY 
+
+Virgil at the desk. The Nurse looks up. 
+
+VIRGIL 
+Daphne - I need to see Dr. Aaron - right away. It's an emergency.
+
+INT. NEW YORK HOSPITAL - EXAM ROOM - DAY 
+
+Dr. Aaron is again examining Virgil on the Electroretinogram. Done, Aaron pulls the machine out of the way. Looks at Virgil - rubs his hand across his face. 
+
+VIRGIL 
+What does that mean?
+
+AARON 
+What?
+
+VIRGIL 
+What you just did?
+
+Virgil imitates him. 
+
+AARON 
+It means - the machine is only registering sparks of activity - retinal sparks - followed by nothing. How long has this been going on?
+
+VIRGIL 
+I don't know - first I thought I was tired - some blurs - occasional cloudiness but it's been getting worse. Today I'm getting complete blackouts.
+
+AARON 
+Your retinal function is down ten percent. I'm afraid - your retinal disease seems to have returned.
+
+VIRGIL 
+You're afraid. What does that mean - I thought you corrected it. You told me I was a 'seeing person'.
+
+AARON 
+Now, you've every right to be upset. Maybe you didn't have the blood vessels to supply enough oxygen to the retinas. - Possibly some trauma - there are so many variables...(beat)to be honest, I don't know. I wish to God I did.
+
+Virgil stands, anxious - starts pacing. 
+
+VIRGIL 
+OK. You're the expert. Tell me - what do we do now - how do we repair this?
+
+AARON 
+Virgil. I -- I wish there was a nice way to say this.
+
+Virgil backs away - doesn't want to hear it. 
+
+VIRGIL 
+No - there is no nice way to say it is there. No nice way to let the man know it's all over - that.. he's going blind again!
+
+AARON 
+Virgil, I understand what...
+
+VIRGIL 
+No you don't! Don't ever say that. You'll never understand. Ever!
+
+Aaron stands there - says nothing - tries to let Virgil's anger dissipate. A long moment. 
+
+VIRGIL 
+How long?
+
+AARON 
+Hard to say. Month - few weeks - 
+(beat) 
+Days.
+
+Virgil stands there stunned - then looking to Aaron. 
+
+VIRGIL 
+God, what do I tell Amy? What do I tell her?
+
+On Virgil's face. 
+
+INT. EYE INSTITUTE HALLWAY - DAY 
+
+Virgil steps into the hall - Sees: 
+
+A FIVE YEAR OLD BOY - blind - eyes half shut - hands reaching out, plodding it' a half circle over to where his mother waits for him. 
+
+And we see the realization on Virgil's face of seeing his past - and what he will return to: 
+
+EXT. STREETS - DAY 
+
+Virgil RUNNING, RUNNING, best he can - through the crowded street - hands out - bumping into people - desperate - scared - trying to run from himself - from his fate. 
+
+WHAM - he comes to a stop - out of breath - he looks left - right - where do you go - then sees something off screen. His face torn with fear - he moves forward - hand out - reaching to a window - to his own REFLECTION. 
+
+And we push slowly in on the reflection as he touches the window - his hand on his face - a face he may never see again - and a cloud passes overhead and his reflection is gone. 
+
+EXT. CONSTRUCTION SITE - DAY 
+
+Virgil stands at the site - amidst the rubble and mud. His Father walks slowly over to him - raising his arms to embrace him. 
+
+Virgil takes a step back - not, ready - his father stops, understands - looks his son up and down. 
+
+FATHER 
+You look good. Hey - how do I look?
+
+VIRGIL 
+I need some answers. Why'd you leave? Because I'm blind - or because I quit trying to see?
+
+FATHER 
+To the point - I like that - something you got from me.
+
+VIRGIL 
+Cut the bullshit - "dad". I don't hear from you for over twenty years - then you find out I can see and all of a sudden you show up?
+
+FATHER 
+(looks around) 
+Hey. Virge - can we talk about this later, huh...
+
+VIRGIL 
+No, not later. Now! Was my blindness so wrong that made you tear our family apart.
+
+Virgil's riled his father. He steps towards Virgil tries to speak under his breath. 
+
+FATHER 
+Every morning I woke up and looked at you and saw my own failures. If I couldn't get my own son to see then...What difference does any of this make - you can see now - hell, I knew you could.
+
+Virgil watches his father - this stranger. His eyes start to well. 
+
+VIRGIL 
+I'm going blind again.
+
+His Father looks at him - stunned. He reels from the news - takes a step back. 
+
+FATHER 
+No...
+
+VIRGIL 
+The doctor told me today. You're the first person I've told. I wanted to come see you before it was completely gone.
+
+FATHER 
+(speechless) 
+
+A beat and Virgil's father takes another step back, then turns and walks away - forever. 
+
+EXT. NEW BUILDING - LATE DAY 
+
+Virgil standing across the street. Trying to take in the building 
+
+EXT. NEW BUILDING - LATE DAY 
+
+Standing at the front as a security guard opens the door. 
+
+GUARD 
+Sorry the building doesn't open until tonight.
+
+VIRGIL 
+I know. I'm Virgil Anderson...with Roswell Tremont. We did the lobby. I'm here to check some details for tonight.
+
+GUARD 
+Oh, okay, sure Mr. Anderson.
+
+INT. LOBBY - LATE DAY 
+
+The lobby is pretty, straightforward. Open - a few plants - a large central check in desk. Simple - unobtrusive - nothing exceptional or unique. 
+
+Virgil moves his way about the lobby - looking at it carefully from every possible angle - his hand grazing across walls, entranceways - desperately committing as much as he can to memory - finally ending up in the middle of the room in a final attempt to absorb as much as he can. 
+
+GUARD (O.S.) 
+You want to see that the thing work?
+
+VIRGIL 
+Thing? What thing?
+
+GUARD 
+This thing
+
+The Guard reaches over - hits a switch - and against one section of windows a wall of water comes dripping down - causing a shower of indoor rain - the sound instantly echoing off of the walls. 
+
+Virgil smiles - moves toward it - closing his eyes - listening to the indoor rain - really taking in the room having total empathy with what Amy has created. 
+
+INT. AMY'S LOFT - BATHROOM 
+
+Virgil, wrapped in a towel, is shaving. But he has his eyes closed. Amy comes in, dressed beautifully - using the mirror to put her earrings in. Virgil quickly opens his eyes. 
+
+VIRGIL 
+You nervous?
+
+AMY 
+No - not a bit. What do you think?
+
+She pivots for him. 
+
+VIRGIL 
+You look great.
+
+AMY 
+Really. Not too flashy? 
+(she looks in the mirror, she is nervous) 
+I'm going to change.
+
+Virgil lets her go - calls to her. 
+
+VIRGIL 
+This is an important night for you.
+
+AMY 
+But you know what's most important... 
+(she pokes her head in) 
+That you're going to be there to see it.
+
+Virgil turns to the mirror, stares at himself - contemplating what he's up against. 
+
+INT. NEW BUILDING - NIGHT 
+
+The lobby is filled with business types, waiters circulating with champagne, tiny hors-d'oeuvres. Virgil and Amy enter - standing at the top of the stairs leading to the party. Virgil immediately going into a performance for Amy. 
+
+AMY 
+So.
+
+VIRGIL 
+Amy, it's good - very good. I'm proud of you. I love the detail - planted pots in the corners, the moldings... 
+(beat) 
+It's got genuine lines.
+
+AMY 
+(excited) 
+Look around - do you see it?
+
+VIRGIL 
+What?
+
+He looks about the room - then turns towards the indoor rain. 
+
+HIS POV - clear - then slight haziness - a momentary flash of black - then back in focus. 
+
+He turns to Amy. Puts his arm around her. 
+
+VIRGIL 
+Our rain. 
+
+AMY 
+Your rain.
+
+DUNCAN 
+Hey Virgil.
+
+He extends his hand. Virgil, obliged slowly extends his - having trouble focusing - but Duncan helps him - taking hold of it and shaking it. 
+
+DUNCAN 
+Still working on that hand shake you'll get it don't worry.
+
+VIRGIL 
+Congratulations - the place looks great.
+
+DUNCAN 
+Thanks - here's the genius though - I just get the gigs. Can I steal her away Falks' over there and I can't tell if he's impressed with our work or just has gas from the pate.
+
+VIRGIL 
+Go - do your thing.
+
+AMY 
+I'll be right back. There's food and drinks down on the floor.
+
+Duncan and Amy start down the stairs as Virgil tries to find a safe place to stand. His eyesight fading in and out - he looks around - decides to negotiate the steps: 
+
+He takes one step on the stairs - looks down - is able to see Amy with Falk and Duncan, looking up at him - she smiles - he does his best - smiles back - lets go of the handrail - takes another step - finally reaching the bottom floor. 
+
+He stands there for a long moment - lost as to where to move. A glimpse towards the rain sculpture and he starts towards it using the sound to help guide him. 
+
+Amy looks over - sees Virgil moving across the floor - gives him a little wave - he doesn't notice her. 
+
+At the rain Virgil stands taking in the sound. A FIGURE comes up next to him. 
+
+VIRGIL 
+Quite a party. Love the detail of the building.
+
+WEBSTER 
+Sometimes the detail doesn't matter.
+
+Virgil stops - turns to Webster. 
+
+VIRGIL 
+Ray. What are you doing here?
+
+WEBSTER 
+Aaron called me. He was worried. I've been trying to find you - Amy's office told me you were here. It's bad?
+
+VIRGIL 
+It's almost gone. Last few days have been pretty bad.
+
+WEBSTER 
+Obviously Amy doesn't know.
+
+VIRGIL 
+It's going to break her heart. This is her big night - I didn't want to ruin it. Thought I could pull it off.
+
+WEBSTER 
+(beat) 
+You can't avoid this forever.
+
+Virgil turns back towards the rain. 
+
+VIRGIL 
+I know 
+(beat) 
+So Ray? Is it better to have seen and lost than never to have seen at all?
+
+WEBSTER 
+I thought it was loved and lost.
+
+Amy comes up to them. 
+
+AMY 
+Dr. Webster - this is a surprise.
+
+WEBSTER 
+Virgil invited me - wanted to show you off I think. The place is terrific - he's got every right to be proud.
+
+AMY 
+Thank-you. I need Virgil for a moment - schmoozing time.
+
+WEBSTER 
+Shmooze away.
+
+VIRGIL 
+(as he's led away) 
+Thanks Ray. I'll call you.
+
+ANGLE ON - Duncan standing anxiously with Falk and his wife Donna as they arrive. 
+
+AMY 
+Virgil - I'd like you to meet Jack Falk and his wife Donna up from Atlanta.
+
+VIRGIL 
+Pleased to meet you.
+
+DONNA 
+Amy tells us you were blind.
+
+Amy spurts out a glass of wine. Virgil deflects the comment. 
+
+VIRGIL 
+That's OK - nice to see someone so honest.
+
+FALK 
+Amy tells us you're her inspiration. Any help you can give us with our project?
+
+VIRGIL 
+I'm a little biased but I kind of liked Amy's original design.
+
+FALK 
+But could we do better.
+
+Amy jumps in with. 
+
+AMY 
+We could do better, Mr. Falk - a lot better.
+
+FALK 
+Good, I like that attitude. Let's keep trying for perfection.
+
+Everyone smiles - Amy wraps her arm around Virgil. 
+
+AMY 
+That's right - that's why I've got Virgil.
+
+Pleasant laughter all around - and as Amy and the others continue - we push in on Virgil as he takes in this thought. 
+
+EXT. NEW BUILDING - NIGHT 
+
+Virgil and Amy out front. People leaving - Duncan getting into a town car with Falk and his wife - he looks back - gives the thumbs up and climbs in after them. The car pulls away into the night. 
+
+VIRGIL 
+You wanna walk - I feel like some air.
+
+AMY 
+See what we see? Sure.
+
+VIRGIL 
+Can I take your arm - eyes a little tired.
+
+As they walk. 
+
+VIRGIL 
+You really made the place come alive with that fountain.
+
+AMY 
+Thank-you. 
+(beat) 
+You know I've been thinking - you're doing so great now - and if we get this new design job we'd have some extra money- I think we should go on a big seeingcelebration.
+
+VIRGIL 
+(taken aback) 
+A seeing celebration?
+
+AMY 
+Yeah, maybe in a couple of months. I looked into Egypt - we could see the pyramids - we could see it together for the first time. What do you say?
+
+VIRGIL 
+You know - there is something I'd like to see.
+
+AMY 
+Of course, anything.
+
+VIRGIL 
+The Rangers play tomorrow. Season'll be over before we know it - could beour last chance.
+
+AMY 
+The Rangers. Sure, why not?
+
+BLACK 
+
+Then a tiny pinpoint of light ahead - one that grows increasingly larger as we move towards a SOUND. A hum that grows in intensity until the light fills the frame and BAM - we exit the tunnel and we are: 
+
+INT. MADISON SQUARE GARDEN - NIGHT 
+
+That glorious first view - people - the white ice shining below like a giant jewel- and the players - in bright colors scurrying about the playing surface below. 
+
+AMY 
+This is amazing - isn't it?
+
+She looks to Virgil who is awed by what he is seeing. Then suddenly on his face - a flash - one of those moments of darkness. 
+
+AMY 
+Should we find our seats. Looks like the game's already started.
+
+VIRGIL 
+Yeah - I - I'll follow you.
+
+INT. GARDEN - SEATS - LATER 
+
+Virgil and Amy in the loge seats - on the aisle - up behind the goal. Amy looking at the stadium while Virgil next to her, watches the game best he can. 
+
+AMY 
+I love the stadium the way it's structure...
+
+VIRGIL 
+Amy - the game...
+
+AMY 
+Right - the game.
+
+SMASH - a hard check into the boards deep in the Rangers end of the ice. The puck squirts out Gretzky picks it up - fires it across ice - one, two it's back to him and he has a wide open break from center ice - the crowd is out of their seats - Virgil included - Amy quickly getting caught up in the enthusiasm. 
+
+On Virgil's face - watching Gretzky skate towards him - excited - then losing him - another flash of blackness - like a blow to the head - and we hear the crowd suddenly explode - and as Virgil's vision regains we see the players mobbing Wayne after his goal - the little red light behind the net the only evidence of it happening. 
+
+We see the frustration as Virgil realizes he'll never see it. 
+
+AMY 
+He scored, he scored - you see that - it was amazing.
+
+As the players make their way to center ice - the crowd sits and Amy sees the expression again on his face. 
+
+AMY 
+What? That was good right?
+
+VIRGIL 
+Yeah - it was great - I was just...
+
+Suddenly Virgil becomes transfixed. Walking down the aisle, away from him: 
+
+A VENDOR - carrying a tray of PINK COTTON CANDY. 
+
+Virgil stares at it a moment - transfixed - then like in a trance - he stands - stepping out into the aisle - a man on a mission. 
+
+AMY 
+Virgil, where are you going?
+
+And he's on the stairs - carefully moving down the stairs toward the vendor. 
+
+Then she sees the Vendor - handing Virgil a large cotton candy - round and puffy like a cloud - but something he can hold in his hand. Amy can't believe it - watching Virgil - his fascination at finding this long lost memory. 
+
+AMY 
+The puffy thing.
+
+Angle on Virgil turning - admiring his prize - then looking up, trying to find Amy - who waves to him excited. 
+
+HIS POV - scanning the crowd - it's hazy - then flashes of dark. 
+
+Amy's face - suddenly drops - it's clear, even though she is only four rows up - he doesn't see her. 
+
+INT. MADISON SQUARE GARDEN - NIGHT 
+
+Game is over - Virgil is packing up his stuff - Amy staring. at him. 
+
+AMY 
+Virgil, what's happening?
+
+VIRGIL 
+Just having a bad eye day. A lot to take in.
+
+AMY 
+Tell me. What's going on?
+
+VIRGIL 
+Nothing. I see almost nothing.
+
+Amy: she feels like she's about to explode. 
+
+AMY 
+Oh God.
+
+VIRGIL 
+It's OK.
+
+AMY 
+OK?!!
+
+VIRGIL 
+It's OK for you to cry.
+
+AMY 
+(recovering) 
+No, no - I'm not going to cry. Solve the problem. We made it through one operation - we'll make it through another. We won'tgive up. We'll get this right - we just need to...
+
+VIRGIL 
+I saw Dr. Aaron. There's nothing they can do.
+
+AMY 
+Then we'll find another Doctor. There's got to be someone else. We'll find something that works.
+
+VIRGIL 
+Don't you get it - I can't go through this again.
+
+AMY 
+So just like that - we just forget it - give up? Why the hell haven't you toldme what was going on?
+
+VIRGIL 
+(whirls on her) 
+Because of this!!
+
+AMY 
+What this?
+
+VIRGIL 
+You! Not letting it go - thinking there's a solution. Goddamit, I'm not design flaw in your fucking work that you can just change to make work Or throw away because it doesn't meet your expectations. 
+(beat) 
+Let's face it - it's over!!
+
+AMY 
+Virgil, give it time, you'll see.
+
+VIRGIL 
+No! I won't! This conversation is ended!!
+
+INT. AMY'S APARTNENT - NIGHT 
+
+The door swings open - Amy and Virgil enter - Virgil moves towards the bed - pulls out his duffel bag. 
+
+AMY 
+What are you doing?
+
+VIRGIL 
+I'm leaving.
+
+AMY 
+What do you mean leaving - you're leaving this apartment - you're leaving New York - you're leaving me?
+
+Virgil turns - they stand across the room from each other - miles apart. 
+
+VIRGIL 
+I'm going home.
+
+Amy walks toward him, picking a battle, rejection. 
+
+AMY 
+So you're big sister can take care of you - feed you TV dinners for of your life.
+
+Virgil tries to side step her. 
+
+VIRGIL 
+I'm not going to go through this bullshit again.
+
+Amy moves in front - confronting him 
+
+AMY 
+Is that what this has allbeen to you - bullshit?
+
+VIRGIL 
+Yes!! Who the hell were we fooling? I'm blind - I'm not meant to see - I don't belong here.
+
+AMY 
+God damn right you're blind. You want to live in your own little world - this perfect world that your sister built for you - where no one can touch you ... where no one can reach you.
+
+VIRGIL 
+Do you know the reason why I remembered the cotton candy all those years? Because I went to the game with my father. And it's the only good thing I can remember about him. The rest is him pushing me to be somethingI'm not - then turning his back on me the minute his plans fail.
+
+AMY 
+I am not turning my back on you. You want me to give up on you - you love the self pity.
+
+VIRGIL 
+I don't want you to give up on ME. But you won't give up on me seeing.
+
+AMY 
+Because there must be other options.
+
+VIRGIL 
+Not anymore.
+
+Virgil, avoiding her, sidesteps quickly past her - straight into the lamp, which crashes to the ground and breaks. 
+
+DARKNESS. 
+
+VIRGIL 
+Dammit.
+
+A short few steps then a much larger crash - the sound of a large heavier thing breaking. 
+
+AMY 
+Virgil!!
+
+Amy feels her way to the lights - and turns them on. We see that Virgil has collided with Amy's sculpture of the woman. He sits among the pieces on the floor. 
+
+Virgil - feeling the damage. 
+
+AMY 
+(going to him) 
+Is anything broken?
+
+VIRGIL 
+No - no bones are broken.
+
+Virgil uses the wall to stand - then - with his hands out in front of him he finds his way to the bed. 
+
+VIRGIL 
+It's finished - can't you see that! We both didn't get what we wanted.
+
+AMY 
+(quietly) 
+I never meant to hurt you.
+
+VIRGIL 
+When you asked me to come here - did you ever think this wasn't going to work - that for one minute I may not be able to see. 
+(beat) 
+Did you ever think it would be OK to have a relationship with a blind man?
+
+Amy - a pause.. Too long. 
+
+VIRGIL 
+There's my answer.
+
+And he grabs his duffel and pack - throws the last few things in - and moving to the door - leaves. 
+
+INT. BUS - NIGHT - RAINING 
+
+Virgil riding - crossing the George Washington Bridge - going home. He looks out the window - sees the receding city - and he closes his eyes - listens to the rain. 
+
+EXT. PINECREST - MAIN STREET - NIGHT 
+
+The Bus comes down the main street of Pinecrest. Stopping - the bus door opens and Virgil gets out - and turns to face up the street - the street he knew so well that is so foreign to him right now. 
+
+EXT. VIRGIL AND JENNIE'S - NIGHT 
+
+The door opens. Jennie smiles warmly, reaches out to him. 
+
+JENNIE 
+Welcome home.
+
+INT. HOME - NIGHT 
+
+Virgil and Jennie entering his place - to be greeted immediately by: 
+
+SOPHIE bounding across the floor towards them - tail wagging - tongue hanging out. 
+
+VIRGIL 
+Sophie!?
+
+And he bends down to hug her. Sophie laps at his face. Virgil holds her back to get a good look at her. 
+
+VIRGIL 
+Let me look at you. You're so beautiful.. yes.
+
+Jennie watches her brother - happy to have him home. Hoping to get him back to 'normal'. 
+
+INT. VIRGIL'S HOME - LATER 
+
+Virgil walks around, touching things, seeing the simplicity of his life. Nothing on the walls - no decorations - no plants. Everything functional. He realizes this is a home designed by his sister. 
+
+He moves over to the photo of the family. He on his dad's shoulders. Stares at it - at his father and mother for the first time. 
+
+JENNIE 
+Mom and dad. 
+
+Virgil just stares. 
+
+JENNIE 
+Everything's as you left it. Nothing's changed.
+
+VIRGIL 
+Jen - I'm pretty tired - I'd like to be alone.
+
+The PHONE rings. Rings again. Virgil doesn't move - his apprehension is clear - he knows who it is. Jennie sees this and moves toward the phone. 
+
+Virgil turns and walks out onto the front porch - followed by Sophie, as his sister picks up the phone in the background. 
+
+EXT. VIRGIL'S PORCH - NIGHT 
+
+He sits down - looks into the night as we hear Jennie faintly on the phone. A beat and she hangs up. We hold on Virgil: 
+
+EXT. PINECREST STREET - DAY 
+
+Virgil walks down Main street. Seeing his town - a town he grew up in but now seems so foreign. Virgil seems oddly disturbed by what he sees. 
+
+The yellow bus drives by - full of kids - Carl at the helm. Somehow it's not what he expected. 
+
+INT. ROSWELL-TRRMONT DESIGN FIRM - DAY 
+
+Amy organizing all her work on the Atlanta project - - the original designs - the new design with the trees - then she sees: 
+
+The sketch she made of the "dancing trees". Her eyes hold - and she slowly shuts them - and with them tightly closed - her hand reaches out and runs along the drawings. 
+
+EXT. PINECREST - END OF MAIN STREET - DAY 
+
+We find Virgil standing - looking out at the end of the street where he stood with Amy. In front of him he sees: 
+
+The "dancing trees". 
+
+VIRGIL'S POV - a retinal spark - a quick glimpse of the intertwined trees - one lover choosing between two others. 
+
+INT. FIREHOUSE - LATE DAY 
+
+Virgil - stands in the middle of the room. Looks about at what was at one time so special to him. Now it just seems old and dingy - the magic is gone. 
+
+He closes his eyes for a moment - listens - cocks his head to the left - the right - but there is nothing there. 
+
+EXT. TOWN LIBRARY - LATE DAY 
+
+Virgil standing outside - staring at a building he's never seen - never been inside. 
+
+HIS POV: flickering a moment. 
+
+INT. LIBRARY - SUNSET 
+
+Virgil now sits at a table. Stacks and stacks of LIFE magazine splayed out in front of him. He is flipping through them at a rapid rate - like a drowning man searching for air. 
+
+IMAGES - cars, JFK, the pyramids, Martin Luther King, houses, flowers, Marilyn Monroe, that Napalm burned little girl in Viet Nam, African masks, Dachau prisoners, Nixon, Warhol paintings, the Mona Lisa, that vulture watching over the little baby, the Eiffel tower, First Man on the moon, the Venus De Milo, that guy in front of the tank in Tianaman square .. and the Pyramids. 
+
+The pictures go by fast and furious - Virgil soaking them up like a sponge - life, beauty, horror, great people, great events... 
+
+And we move in on his face - absorbing these images for the last time - a face filled with anguish at a world disappearing. And we cut to: 
+
+EXT. AMY'S ROOF - SUNSET 
+
+Golden rays of the late afternoon sun. Amy on the roof - leaning on the parapet - watching the horizon. 
+
+Then a thought comes to her. And mimicking what Virgil had done - she walks back to the other end of the roof, turns and looks out towards the skyline again ... then starts slowly walking towards the parapet till she reaches the wall again. 
+
+The reaction on her face - she doesn't "see" it - not like Virgil did. 
+
+INT. VIRGIL'S HOME - DAY 
+
+Virgil is shifting furniture in his house. A table - moves it to the window - moves a chair to join it - stands back to have a look at it. 
+
+HIS POV - a moment of clear - then haze - then dark - then haze. 
+
+Virgil rubs his head - these last days of sight have been painful and exhausting for him. 
+
+JENNIE (O.S.) 
+Hello! 
+
+She's at the door. Virgil cocks his head in her direction. 
+
+JENNIE 
+I picked up some things at the store - T-shirts, I'm sure you're out, some socks...
+
+VIRGIL 
+Jennie, what's at the end of Main Street?
+
+JENNIE 
+Well - I think it's Vivian's little stationery...
+
+VIRGIL 
+Beyond all the stores - past firehouse. What happens when this is no more Main Street?
+
+JENNIE 
+Well - there's nothing really - you know that. ~ 
+
+VIRGIL 
+No! You told me that's all there was. That's wrong. There's a helluva lot out there.
+
+Jennie surprised at where this is going. 
+
+JENNIE 
+I told you what you needed to know.
+
+VIRGIL 
+What was within my reach.
+
+JENNIE 
+What more do vou want?
+
+VIRGIL 
+Isn't there anything more that vou want?
+
+JENNIE 
+Is this about our father -he called told me...
+
+VIRGIL 
+No. This isn't about him. Jennie - you've spent your whole life as blind as I was. The world doesn't stop within our reach.
+
+JENNIE 
+Virgil, please. This is your home. Stop thinking about what's out there - things that will never matter to you. You're safe here where everyone...
+
+VIRGIL 
+Where everyone what!?
+
+JENNIE 
+Knows you.
+
+VIRGIL 
+Can protect me?! (beat) Jennie, this place was a wonderful safe haven for me growing up. I know that. 
+(looking around) 
+And I can only imagine what you gave up to keep this world for me. I thank you and love you from the bottom of my soul. But now I want to give you your life back.
+
+JENNIE 
+Virgil, I - I can't...
+
+VIRGIL 
+You can
+
+Virgil reaches out his arms for her to join him. 
+
+VIRGIL 
+I'm reaching out, Jennie.
+
+This gets Jennie and she goes to him, really hugging him for the first time as tears flow from her eyes. 
+
+INT. AMY'S LOFT - LATE DAY 
+
+Amy, dressed in sweat pants and tee shirt sitting on the ground, trying to piece the sculpture back together. It's a difficult fix. 
+
+KNOCK KNOCK 
+
+DUNCAN 
+Amy - you in there.
+
+AMY 
+Go away.
+
+She scrapes some plaster into a dust pan. We hear enters a key in the door - and the door opens. Duncan 
+
+DUNCAN 
+I knew keeping this key would come in handy one day. What a mess - what happened?
+
+AMY 
+It broke - I'm trying to fix it.
+
+DUNCAN 
+So - guess what?
+
+AMY 
+I'm not in the mood for games.
+
+DUNCAN 
+We got it. The goddamned Atlanta mall - we got it!! Now - pull yourself out of this slump - I want you to fly down this week to...
+
+Continuing to work on the sculpture. 
+
+AMY 
+I'm not going.
+
+DUNCAN 
+What are you ta1king about? What's the problem here?
+
+AMY 
+The problem?! Everything. Nothing is right thank-you very much.
+
+DUNCAN 
+You know what the problem is - you're the problem - you met a blind guy you thought was cool and spent the first two months trying to change him.
+
+AMY 
+Are you finished?
+
+DUNCAN 
+Not even close. Let me tell you something - you can't change people to solve you. You tried to do it with me - you tried to do it with Virgil. You ever think some of the things you try to fix - ain't broke.
+
+And he's gone - as Amy slumps into a chair - confused, tired - then slowly she starts to hear: 
+
+TAP - TAP - TAP...TAPTAP - TAP 
+
+The SOUND of a CANE in the stairwell! Amy's heart starts racing - she takes a breath - jumps up quickly and moves her way over to the door - unlocking it and swinging it open: 
+
+AMY 
+(excitedly) 
+Virg .......
+
+The CANE - being held by Ethan - as he taps his way down the stairs. 
+
+ETHAN 
+Hey Amy.
+
+AMY 
+Hi, Ethan. Sorry - I thought...
+
+ETHAN 
+He's not coming back is he?
+
+AMY 
+No - he's not.
+
+Ethan sees she's covered in dust - looks past her into the loft. 
+
+ETHAN 
+Whatcha doin'?
+
+He looks past her at the sculpture half repaired. 
+
+AMY 
+Cleaning up a mess - going to start over.
+
+EXT. PINECREST - SUNSET 
+
+Virgil walks the path, Sophie following close behind. By the way he walks, counting steps, touching landmarks, we realize he is using sight very little. 
+
+EXT. HIDDEN VALLEY - SUNSET 
+
+Coming through the clearing, to the plateau where he took Amy, the leaves now starting to turn golden colors - he stops - stands over top of the pond. 
+
+VIRGIL'S POV - A retinal spark. The view across the valley, with white clouds against the bluest sky. 
+
+His hand reaches out - to touch the edge of the world - to touch the horizon. 
+
+And as he drops his hand, we see the clouds start to race by - while the blue sky goes golden then drifts into darkness. Virgil doesn't move from the spot. The screen goes almost black - then slowly the sun starts to rise in the east. 
+
+Virgil makes no movement. A long beat - then - as the sun moves across him - he realizes it's day. He stands and unfolds his cane. It's clear he has returned to being completely blind. 
+
+As he turns and starts his way down the hill we hear: 
+
+VIRGIL (V.O.)
+Growing up blind - I had two dreams. One was to see. The other - to play for the New York Rangers.
+
+INT. LECTURE HALL - N.Y. EYE INSTITUTE - DAY 
+
+Virgil stands at the podium speaking - dark glasses on, cane in hand. 
+
+VIRGIL 
+After the 'miracle' of my short period of sight - I realize - I'd rather play for the Rangers. 
+(laughs from the dark) 
+It's not that it was so awful - I saw many things - some good, some back some that I'm already forgetting.
+
+INT. WEBSTER'S LAB - NYU 
+
+VIRGIL (V.O.)
+But I realized that our eyes aren't what make us see. We only live in darkness when we don't look - look at what is genuine about ourselves - genuine about others - you don't need eyes for that.
+
+Virgil sitting with three young blind children - working through Braille with them. Webster watches from the corner of the room. 
+
+EXT. NYU - DAY 
+
+Virgil - small brown bag in one hand - cane in the other - exits the building and makes his way across the street to Washington Square. 
+
+EXT. WASHINGTON SQUARE - DAY 
+
+Virgil - taking in the sun - finishing off the last of his sandwich. Balling up his paper bag - he taps his cane out - finds the garbage can nearby - and tosses the bag - rim shot - it misses, hits the ground. A hand reaches into frame and puts the bag in the garbage. Virgil looks up - senses the presence. 
+
+VIRGIL 
+Did I miss?
+
+VOICE (O.S.) 
+By a mile.
+
+VIRGIL 
+Amy?
+
+ANGLE ON Amy: watching Virgil - realizing his sight is gone. 
+
+AMY 
+Ray told me you were living in town - said I could find you here. 
+(beat) 
+I rushed, didn't I? Fourteen steps to the tree and I made us smash right into it.
+
+VIRGIL 
+We tried.
+
+Amy sits next to him. 
+
+AMY 
+I finished the sculpture. I'd love you to see it.
+
+VIRGIL 
+Figure of speech.
+
+AMY 
+Figure of speech. Virgil - when I first met you - you saw more than any sighted person I've ever known. I didn't mean to take that away from you.
+
+VIRGIL 
+Amy. I saw ... I actually saw the horizon. You did that for me. It's out there. You showed me you just have to reach for it..
+
+Amy smiles - her hand goes out - hesitates - then lands lightly on his. 
+
+AMY 
+You want to walk?
+
+VIRGIL 
+See what we see?
+
+AMY 
+Yeah. Just see what we see.
+
+Virgil smiles, nods. As he stands - he takes her arm - and as they walk off into the park, we slowly FADE to BLACK and just LISTEN, listen to the SOUNDS of the day - the percussion of the city. 
+
+THE END
diff --git a/unformated_scripts/Script_August_ Osage County.txt b/unformated_scripts/Script_August_ Osage County.txt
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+                       AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY                           Written by                          Tracy Letts1   AN ENDLESS SKY AT TWILIGHT                                  1    Foreboding. Heat lightning in the distance. Miles of    unforgiving, summer-scorched prairie.                        BEVERLY (OS)              ..."Life is very long..."2   MILES OF STRAIGHT ROAD                                      2    Two lanes, not a car in sight. Cracked asphalt undulates over    gentle, browned hills, disappears into an infinite horizon.                        BEVERLY (OS)              TS Eliot. Not the first person to say              it, certainly not the first person to              think it.3   A LAKE IN THE GATHERING DUSK                                3    Flat, still. An empty aluminum rowboat lolls listlessly,    tied haphazardly to an old wooden dock.                        BEVERLY (OS)              But he's given credit for it because              he bothered to write it down.4   AN OLD FARM HOUSE SITTING ATOP A LOW HILL                   4    At the end of a long gravel road.   Surrounded by towering    black walnuts and lace-bark elms.   A farm once, no one's put    a plow to earth here in decades.                        BEVERLY (OS)              So if you say it, you have to say his              name after it. "Life is very long:" TS              Eliot. Absolutely goddamn right.    Wrap around porches, forgotten gardens. Imposing in the    gathering gloom. A single downstairs window glows.                        BEVERLY (OS) (CONT'D)              Give the devil his due. Very few              poets could've made it through Eliot's              trial and come out, brilliantined and              double-breasted and Anglican.                            "August" 9/21/12 FINAL WHITE Draft   2.4   CONTINUED:                                                    4    And now, a face fills the screen --5   INT. BEVERLY'S DIMLY LIT STUDY - TWILIGHT                     5    BEVERLY WESTON. A craggy, wise and deeply sad Okie.    We take    a long moment, just to study that face.                           BEVERLY                 Not hard to imagine, faced with                 Eliot's first wife, lovely Viv, how                 Crane or Berryman might have reacted,                 just foot-raced to the nearest bridge;                 Olympian Suicidalists.    Stares out the window at the darkening, ominous horizon.                           BEVERLY (CONT'D)                 Not Eliot: after sufficient years of                 ecclesiastical guilt, plop her in the                 nearest asylum and get on with it.    He sits   at a cluttered desk, his face damp with sweat. Nurses    a glass   of whiskey, his staggered delivery due more to his    careful   selection of words than drunkenness. He's talking to    someone   we do not yet see.                           BEVERLY (CONT'D)                 God-a-mighty. You have to admire the                 purity of the survivor's instinct.    From somewhere upstairs, a THUD. He looks to the ceiling.                           BEVERLY (CONT'D)                 Violet. My wife. She takes pills,                 sometimes a great many. They affect...                 among other things, her equilibrium.                 Fortunately, they eliminate her need                 for equilibrium...6   INT. VIOLET'S BEDROOM - TWILIGHT                              6    Full of shadows. She sits up slowly from rumpled sheets.    We're on her profile, CLOSE, silhouetted against the faint    light from the open bathroom door. She hesitates on the edge    of the bed, getting her bearings. Finds a pack of Winstons,    lights one. Listens to the voices filtering up from below.                         "August" 9/21/12 FINAL WHITE Draft    3.7   INT. THE STUDY - TWILIGHT                                       7    Beverly shifts, waiting for the sound of more movement from    the rooms overhead. When there is none --                        BEVERLY              My wife takes pills and I drink.              That's the bargain we've struck.                                                 INTERCUT WITH:8   INT. VIOLET'S BEDROOM/UPSTAIRS HALLWAY - TWILIGHT               8    She gathers herself to stand. Moves to the door. We FOLLOW    HER CLOSELY. Her hair unkempt, her steps unsteady, into --                        BEVERLY              The reasons why we partake are              anymore inconsequential.    The hallway, walls lined with photos of long-dead pioneer    ancestors and faded school photographs of three daughters.                        BEVERLY (CONT'D)              The facts are: my wife takes pills and              I drink. That's the bargain we've              struck, just one paragraph of our              marriage contract... cruel covenant.              And these facts have over time made              burdensome the maintenance of              traditional American routine.    She makes her way to the stairs starts down.                        BEVERLY (CONT'D)              Rather than once more vow abstinence              with my fingers crossed in the queasy              hope of righting our ship, I've chosen              to turn my life over to a Higher Power              and join the ranks of the Hiring              Class.    The light from the study slices across the living room.                        BEVERLY (CONT'D)              It's not a decision with which I'm              entirely comfortable. I know how to              launder my dirty undies. Done it all              my life, but I'm finding it's getting              in the way of my drinking.    She can see a portion of Beverly's desk, a woman's legs.                             "August" 9/21/12 FINAL WHITE Draft   4.8   CONTINUED:                                                     8                           BEVERLY (CONT'D)                 Sorry about the heat in here. My wife                 is cold-blooded and not just in the                 metaphorical sense. She does not                 believe in air-conditioning... as if                 it is a thing to be disbelieved. I                 knew your father, you know. Bought                 many a watermelon from Mr Youngblood's                 fruit stand. He did pass, didn't he??                             JOHNNA                 Yes, sir.                           BEVERLY                 May I ask how?                           JOHNNA                 He had a heart attack. Fell into a                 flatbed truck full of wine grapes.                           BEVERLY                 Wine grapes. In Oklahoma.   I'm sorry.                             VIOLET                 Bev...?!                             BEVERLY                 Yes?                           VIOLET                 Did you pullish? Did you...Oh, goddamn                *                 it... did. You. Are the police here?                             BEVERLY                 No...    She stands in the shadows of the living room, confused.                           VIOLET                 Am I looking through window? A window?                           BEVERLY                 Can you come here?    She steps into the study, emerging from the darkness into    light to reveal: VIOLET WESTON. Dissipated, dishevelled,    late sixties. She wears pajamas and a much slept-in robe.                             VIOLET                 Oh.    Hello.    She's staring at a woman sitting in front of Beverly's desk:    JOHNNA. Thirty, Native American, simply dressed.                              "August" 9/21/12 FINAL WHITE Draft   5.8   CONTINUED:                                                      8                           BEVERLY                 Johnna, the young woman I told you                 about.                           VIOLET                 You tell me she's a woman. Wo-man.                 Whoa-man.                           BEVERLY                 That I'm hiring --                           VIOLET                 Oh, you hire women's now the thing.                 I thought you meant the other woman.                           BEVERLY                 To cook and clean, take you to the                 clinic and to the --                           VIOLET                     (over-articulating)                 In the int'rest of ...civil action,                 your par-tic-u-lars way of speak-                 king, I thought you meant you had                 thought a whoa-man to be HIRED!                           BEVERLY                 I don't understand you.                           VIOLET                     (winsome, to Johnna)                 Hello.                              JOHNNA                 Hello.                            VIOLET                 I'm sorry.                     (curtsies)                 Like this.                           JOHNNA                 Yes, ma'am.                           VIOLET                 You're very pretty.                              JOHNNA                 Thank you.                           VIOLET                 Are you an Indian?                              "August" 9/21/12 FINAL WHITE Draft    6.8   CONTINUED:                                                       8                           JOHNNA                 Yes, ma'am.                              VIOLET                                     *                 What kind?                                              *                              JOHNNA                                     *                 Cheyenne.                                               *                           VIOLET                 Do you think I'm pretty?                           JOHNNA                 Yes, ma'am.                            VIOLET                     (curtsies again)                 Like...this?                     (curtsies again)                 Like this?    She stumbles, catches herself.                              BEVERLY                 Careful...                           VIOLET                 You're the house now. I'm sorry,                 I took some medicine for my mussss...                 muscular.                           BEVERLY                 Why don't you go back to bed,                 sweetheart?                            VIOLET                 Why don't you go fuck a fucking                 sow's ass?                              BEVERLY                 All right.                           VIOLET                 I'm sorry. I'll be sickly sweet. I'm                 soooooooo sweet. In-el-abrially sweet.    She smiles at Johnna, goes.         Beverly watches her disappear    back up the stairs, then --                            "August" 9/21/12 FINAL WHITE Draft   7.8   CONTINUED:                                                    8                           BEVERLY                 We keep unusual hours here. Try not                 to differentiate between night and                 day. You won't be able to keep a                 healthy routine.                           JOHNNA                 I need the work.                           BEVERLY                 I myself require very little                 attention, thrive without it, sort                 of a human cactus. My wife has been                 diagnosed with a touch of cancer, so                 she'll need to be driven to Tulsa for                 her final chemotherapy treatments.                 You're welcome to use that American-                 made behemoth parked out in the drive.                 Welcome to make use of anything,                 everything, all this garbage we've                 acquired, our life's work. Do you                 have any questions?                           JOHNNA                 What kind of cancer?                           BEVERLY                 My God, I nearly neglected the punch                 line: mouth cancer.                           JOHNNA                 What pills does she take?                           BEVERLY                 Valium. Vicodin. Darvon, Darvocet.                 Percodan, Percocet. Xanax for fun.                 OxyContin in a pinch. And of course                 Diluadid. I can't forget Diluadid.    Beverly wobbles to his feet, explores his bookshelf.                           BEVERLY (CONT'D)                 "By night within that ancient house,                 Immense, black, damned, anonymous."                     (and)                 My last refuge, my books: simple                 pleasures, like finding wild onions by                 the side of a road, or requited love.    He takes a book from the bookshelf, gives it to her.                               "August" 9/21/12 FINAL WHITE Draft   8.8    CONTINUED:                                                      8                             BEVERLY (CONT'D)                  TS Eliot. Read it or not. It isn't                  a job requirement, just for your                  enjoyment.                      (beat)                  Here we go, round the prickly pear...                  *                  Prickly pear prickly pear...                  Here we go round the prickly pear...9    OPENING TITLES                                                  9     We're underwater. Light fractures and scatters above. The     surface undulating gently as we GLIDE through a lake's     dark, tenebrous waters on a moonlit night.     A rowboat SLIPS across our field of vision. It's aluminum     hull cutting through the calm above, sending out small waves     as it makes it's way SLOWLY past.     Oars dip in on either side, propelling the small craft toward     deeper water. It slows. Stops. Bobs gently. We wait, watch --     And then suddenly, something large hits the surface above,     indistinct, exploding the calm, coming towards us, sinking     fast as TITLES END --10   A SHAPE                                                        10     Prone, silhouetted against a sunlit window across the room.     A body, her back to us. The phone RINGS. Once, twice. The     body doesn't move. A girl's voice calls from downstairs.                               JEAN (OS)                  Mom...?     The phone continues to RING. Still no movement.                               JEAN (OS) (CONT'D)                  Mom...!     Nothing. The ringing stops. A moment of silence, followed by     irritated teenage footsteps on the carpeted stairs.                               JEAN (OS) (CONT'D)                  ...Mom...?     The hallway door opens, we're in --                          "August" 9/21/12 FINAL WHITE Draft   9.11   INT. BARBARA'S BEDROOM - DAY                                 11     JEAN, fourteen, precocious, sticks her head in.                         JEAN               ...Mom?     A sound from the body, still no movement.                         BARBARA               Mmm...                         JEAN               You didn't hear the phone?                         BARBARA               If it's your father, tell him to               fuck off.                         JEAN               It's Aunt Ivy in Oklahoma.     New deal. She sits up. CLOSE ON: BARBARA FORDHAM, late-     forties, fully dressed. She gropes for the phone.                         BARBARA               ...Ivy? ...what's wrong?     Barb stands, moves slowly to the window. Outside: identical     suburban homes, neutral house colors, lawns.     We STUDY Barb as she listens. Greying roots, no make-up, a     few extra pounds. A woman who, for reasons we don't yet     understand, has decided to stop giving a damn.                         BARBARA (CONT'D)               ...When...?     Jean passes in the hall. Stops, watching as her mother slowly     dissolves, reaches for the sill, lowers herself to sit.12   INT/EXT. WESTON HOUSE (PAWHUSKA, OKLAHOMA) - DAY             12     A battered Honda Civic makes it's way up the long drive from     the highway below, dust swirling behind it. It's hot. Bright.     The Honda parks. IVY WESTON, forties, shy and soft-spoken,     attractive enough but expert at hiding it, climbs out.     Stares up at the trees surrounding the old farm house. The     precarious old barn out back and untended flower beds.                          "August" 9/21/12 FINAL WHITE Draft   10.13   INT. WESTON KITCHEN - DAY                                    13     Johnna washes a dish at the sink. Watches Ivy's arrival     through the kitchen window. Makes no motion to go to her --14   INT. THE WESTON HOUSE - DAY                                  14     Ivy steps into the dark house.   Drapes drawn, lights off.                          IVY               Mom...?                    (no answer)               Mom?     Steps into the open door of her father's study. His vacant     desk chair, untouched papers, dust mots settling in the     sunlight. She takes a moment, then heads upstairs. CARRYING     US with her. Finds Violet, in her bedroom, sitting in front     of her vanity in near darkness, smoking and on the phone.                         VIOLET               ...You've been out there...?     Barely acknowledges Ivy's arrival. The room is unruly. Bed     unmade. Clothes draped over chairs. Dresser and night-stands     cluttered with pills, tissue boxes, creams and lotions.                         VIOLET (CONT'D)               ...You're going out yourself...?                        *     Ivy wanders into the bath. More pills, wet towels on the     floor. She turns off the dripping faucet. Picks up towels.                         VIOLET (CONT'D)               Stop that...     Violet is off the phone, standing in hall, watching Ivy. Ivy     stops, briefly chastened. Violet opens a bottle of pills.                         VIOLET (CONT'D)               You call Barb? What'd she say?                         IVY               She's on her way.                         VIOLET               What'd you tell her?                         IVY               I told her Dad was missing.                               "August" 9/21/12 FINAL WHITE Draft   11.14   CONTINUED:                                                      14                            VIOLET                  Did you tell her how long he'd been                  missing?                               IVY                  Five days.                            VIOLET                  What did she say?                            IVY                  She said she was on her way.                            VIOLET                  Goddamn it, Ivy, what did she say?                            IVY                  She said she was on her way.                            VIOLET                  You're hopeless.                      (heads back into her room)                  Goddamn your father for putting me                  through this. Seen that office of his,                  all that mess? I can't make heads or                  tails of it. He hired this Indian for                  some goddamn reason and now I have a                  stranger in my house. What's her name?     Ivy follows her mother, returns to tidying up.                             IVY                  Johnna.   Who was on the phone?                            VIOLET                  This house is falling apart, something                  about the basement or the sump pump or                  the foundation. I don't know anything                  about it. I can't do this by myself.                            IVY                  I called Karen.                            VIOLET                  What did she say?                            IVY                  She said she'd try to get here.                            VIOLET                  She'll be a big fat help, just                  like you.                            (MORE)                            "August" 9/21/12 FINAL WHITE Draft   12.14   CONTINUED:                                                   14                            VIOLET (CONT'D)                      (takes another pill)                  I need Barb.                            IVY                  What's Barb going to be able to do?     Ivy moves on to hanging clothes back in the jammed closet.                            VIOLET                  What did you do to your hair?                            IVY                  I had it straightened.                            VIOLET                  You had it straightened.    Why would                  anybody do that?                            IVY                  I just wanted a change.                            VIOLET                  You're the prettiest of my three                  girls, but you always look like a                  schlub. Why don't you wear makeup?                            IVY                  Do I need makeup?                            VIOLET                  All women need makeup. Don't let                  anybody tell you different. The only                  woman who was pretty enough to go                  without makeup was Elizabeth Taylor                  and she wore a ton. Stand up straight.                            IVY                  Mom.                            VIOLET                  Your shoulders are slumped and your                  hair's all straight and you don't wear                  makeup. You look like a lesbian.     Violet takes another pill.                            VIOLET (CONT'D)                  You could get a decent man if you                  spruced up. A bit, that's all I'm                  saying.                            IVY                  I'm not looking for a man.                            "August" 9/21/12 FINAL WHITE Draft   13.14   CONTINUED:                                                   14                            VIOLET                  There are a lot of losers out there,                  don't think I don't know that. But                  just because you got a bad one last                  time doesn't mean --                            IVY                  Barry wasn't a loser.                            VIOLET                  Barry was an asshole. I warned you                  from the jump, first time you brought                  him over here in his little electric                  car with his stupid orange hair and                  that turban --                            IVY                  It wasn't a turban --                            VIOLET                  You work at a college. Don't tell me                  there aren't people coming through the                  door of that library every day.                            IVY                  You want me to marry some eighteen                  year old boy from one of these hick                  towns?                            VIOLET                  They still have teachers at TU, right?                  They did when your father taught                  there.     Violet takes another pill.                            VIOLET (CONT'D)                  How many was that?                            IVY                  I wasn't counting.     Violet takes another pill.                            IVY (CONT'D)                  Is your mouth burning?                            VIOLET                  Like a son-of-a-bitch.   My tongue                  is on fire.                            IVY                  Are you supposed to be smoking?                             "August" 9/21/12 FINAL WHITE Draft   14.14   CONTINUED:                                                    14                            VIOLET                  Is anybody supposed to smoke?                            IVY                  You have cancer of the mouth.                            VIOLET                  Just leave it alone.                            IVY                                         *                      (after a moment)                                  *                  Are you scared?                            VIOLET                  Course I'm scared. And you are a                  comfort, sweetheart. Thank God one of                  my girls stayed close to home.     Outside, the sound of a CAR pulling up. Ivy pulls back the     drape and the shade, finds a big Cadillac arriving.                            IVY                  Aunt Mattie Fae's here.                            VIOLET                  She means to come in here and tell                  me what's what.                            IVY                  I don't know how Uncle Charlie puts                  up with it.                            VIOLET                  He smokes a lot of grass.                             IVY                  He does?                            VIOLET                  He smokes a lot of grass.15   INT/EXT. CHARLIE'S CADILLAC/WESTON HOUSE - DAY                15                            MATTIE FAE                  I told Vi, "Take all those goddamn                  books he's so fond of and make a big                  pile in the front yard and have                  yourself a bonfire."     MATTIE FAE AIKEN, sixty-one, Violet's baby sister, larger     than life, is in the passenger seat. CHARLIE, Mattie Fae's     husband, easy-going, is behind the wheel.                            "August" 9/21/12 FINAL WHITE Draft   15.15   CONTINUED:                                                   15                            CHARLIE                  You don't burn a man's books.                            MATTIE FAE                  You do, if the situation calls for it.                            CHARLIE                  The man's books didn't do anything.                             MATTIE FAE                  You get any ideas about just up and                  taking off, Charlie Aiken, you better                  believe --                            CHARLIE                  I'm not going anywhere.     Charlie parks, they climb out into the blinding sunlight.                            MATTIE FAE                  I'm saying if you did, I'll give you                  two days to get your head straight and                  then it's all going up in a blaze of                  glory. Not that you have any books                  lying around. I don't think I've ever                  seen you read a book in my life.                            CHARLIE                  That bother you?                            MATTIE FAE                  What's the last book you read?                            CHARLIE                  Beverly was a teacher; teachers read                  books, I'm in the upholstery business.     Ivy comes out of the house to meet them. Mattie Fae spots     her, makes a beeline for her, envelopes Ivy in a hug.                            MATTIE FAE                  Ah, sweetie. Your daddy's done this                  before. Just takes off, no call,                  nothing. I told your mother, "You                  pack that son-of-a-bitch's bags and                  have `em waiting for him on the front                  porch."     Mattie Fae sweeps past Ivy into the --                           "August" 9/21/12 FINAL WHITE Draft   16.16   INT. WESTON HOUSE - DAY                                     16     Ivy and Charlie follow.                         MATTIE FAE               Where's your mother?                           IVY               Upstairs.                         CHARLIE               They've always had trouble, Ivy.                         MATTIE FAE               He'll come back again, I know he will,               he always does. Beverly is a very               complicated man.                         IVY               Kind of like Charles.                         CHARLIE               Yes, like Little Charles. Exactly --                          MATTIE FAE               Oh.   He's nothing like Little Charles.                         CHARLIE               She just means in their sort of quiet               complicated ways --                         MATTIE FAE               Little Charles isn't complicated,               he's just unemployed.     The phone begins to RING.   Ivy eyes it apprehensively.                         CHARLIE               He's an observer.                         MATTIE FAE               All he observes is the television.                   (and)               Why is it so dark in here?                         CHARLIE               So you can't even see Ivy's point?               That Little Charles and Beverly               share some kind of... complication.                         MATTIE FAE               You have to be smart to be               complicated.                             "August" 9/21/12 FINAL WHITE Draft   17.16   CONTINUED:                                                    16     The phone STOPS.    Violet's answered it upstairs.                            CHARLIE                  Are you saying our boy isn't smart?                            MATTIE FAE                  Yes, that's what I'm saying.     Ivy steals glances upstairs, concerned about the phone.                            MATTIE FAE (CONT'D)                  I'm sweating. Are you sweating?                            CHARLIE                  Hell, yes, I'm sweating, it's ninety                  degrees in here.                            MATTIE FAE                  Feel my back.                            CHARLIE                  I don't want to feel your back.                            MATTIE FAE                  Sweat is just dripping down my back.                            CHARLIE                  I believe you.                             MATTIE FAE                  Feel it.                             CHARLIE                  No.                            MATTIE FAE                  Come on, put your hand here --                            CHARLIE                  Goddamn it --                            MATTIE FAE                  Sweat's just dripping...     Mattie Fae pulls back a set of drapes, finds the light is     blocked by shades sealed with tape.                            MATTIE FAE (CONT'D)                  Ivy, when did this start? This                  business with taping the shades?                            IVY                  Been a couple of years now.                             "August" 9/21/12 FINAL WHITE Draft   18.16    CONTINUED:                                                   16      Mattie Fae starts peeling off the tape.                             MATTIE FAE                   Is it that long since we've been here?                             CHARLIE                   Do you know its purpose? You can't                   tell if it's night or day.                             IVY                   I think that's the purpose.      Ivy goes, Charlie notices Mattie Fae pulling off tape.                             CHARLIE                   Don't do that. This isn't your place.                             MATTIE FAE                   The body needs sunlight.A17   INT/EXT. RENTAL CAR (MOVING) - AFTERNOON                    A17   *      Jean has on headphones, listening to her Walkman in the back.     *      Barbara's estranged husband, BILL FORDHAM, drives the rental.     *      Barb's in the passenger seat beside him, watching the brown       *      countryside pass by.                                              *                             BARBARA                                    *                   What were these people thinking... the               *                   jokers who settled this place.   Who                 *                   was the asshole who saw this flat hot                *                   nothing and planted his flag? I mean                 *                   we fucked the Indians for this?                      *                             BILL                                       *                   Well, genocide always seems like such                *                   a good idea at the time.                             *                             BARBARA                                    *                   Right, you need a little hindsight.                  *                             BILL                                       *                   If you want me to explain the creepy                 *                   character of the Midwest, you're --                  *                             BARBARA                                    *                   Please, the Midwest. This is the                     *                   Plains: a state of mind, right? A                    *                   spiritual affliction, like the Blues.                *                             "August" 9/21/12 FINAL WHITE Draft    19.A17   CONTINUED:                                                   A17                             BILL                                         *                   "You okay?" "I'm fine.   Just got the                  *                   Plains."                                               *      They laugh.    He reaches across, touches her tenderly.             *                             BARBARA                                      *                   Don't.                                                 *      He withdraws quickly.                                               *17    INT. VIOLET'S BEDROOM - DAY                                    17      Violet hangs up the phone. Sits for a long moment, absorbing      what she's heard. Mattie Fae watches from her spot sitting          *      on the corner of the bed, concerned. Ivy is in the door.            *                             VIOLET                   They checked the hospitals, no                   Beverly.                             MATTIE FAE                   Who's this now? The highway patrol?                    *                             VIOLET                   No, the sheriff, the Gilbeau boy.                             IVY                   What else did he say?                             VIOLET                   The boat's missing.                             IVY                   Dad's boat?                             VIOLET                   I asked the sheriff to send a deputy                   out to the dock to check if anybody                   had seen him and his boat is gone.      Ivy watches her mother being comforted by Mattie Fae.       Wants      to go to her. Doesn't.18    MOVED TO A17                                                   18   *                           "August" 9/21/12 FINAL WHITE Draft   20.19   INT/EXT. RENTAL CAR/WESTON HOUSE - AFTERNOON                19     Bill slows the rental car to turn. Barb looks down the road      *     and across the field to where the farm house peeks out           *     through the trees, beckoning, threatening, ominous.              *     Bill pulls the rental in front of the house. Turns off the       *     ignition. Neither moves to get out. Jean realizes they've     stopped, pulls off her headphones.                         JEAN               I'm gonna grab a smoke.     Jean heads for the relative privacy of the fence at the edge     of the yard. Leaving Bill and Barb alone, watching.                         BARBARA               You've encouraged that.                         BILL               I haven't encouraged anything.                         BARBARA               You admire her for getting hooked               at fourteen, makes her seem even               more mature.     Barbara climbs out.   Bill follows.                         BARBARA (CONT'D)               Goddamn, it's hot.     Bill unlocks the trunk, begins unloading luggage.                         BILL               Suppose your mom's turned on the air               conditioner?                         BARBARA               You kidding? Remember the parakeets?                         BILL               The parakeets?                         BARBARA               I didn't tell you about the parakeets?               She got a parakeet for some insane               reason, and the little fucker croaked               after two days. So she went to the               pet store and raised hell and they               gave her another parakeet. That one               died after one day.                         (MORE)                              "August" 9/21/12 FINAL WHITE Draft   21.19   CONTINUED:                                                     19                            BARBARA (CONT'D)                  So she went back and they gave her a                  third parakeet and that one died too.                  So the chick from the pet store came                  out here to see just what in the hell                  this serial parakeet killer was doing                  to bump off these birds.     They head for the house with suitcases, wilting in the heat.                              BILL                  And?                            BARBARA                  The heat. It was too hot. They were                  dying from the heat.                              BILL                  Jesus.                            BARBARA                  These are tropical birds, all right?                  They live in the fucking tropics.     He laughs.    Barb looks over to Jean smoking by the fence.                            BARBARA (CONT'D)                  What, is she smoking a cigar?                            BILL                  Are you ready for this?                              BARBARA                  No.    No way.20   INT. WESTON HOUSE - AFTERNOON                                  20     Charlie is poking around the old stereo, finds an LP, the TV     beside him is tuned to a Royals game.                            CHARLIE                  Violet's a Clapton fan?     Johnna passes through, Charlie holds up his empty bottle.                            CHARLIE (CONT'D)                  `Scuse me, dear...could I trouble you                  for another beer?                            MATTIE FAE                  Goddam it, she's not a waitress.                            "August" 9/21/12 FINAL WHITE Draft   22.20   CONTINUED:                                                   20                            CHARLIE                  I know that.                            MATTIE FAE                  Then get your own beer.                            JOHNNA                      (takes the empty/goes)                  I'll get it.                            MATTIE FAE                  I don't believe you. Watchin' a ball                  game, drinkin' beers. You have any                  sense of what's going on around you?                            CHARLIE                  Am I supposed to sit here like a                  statue? You're drinking whiskey.                            MATTIE FAE                  I'm having a cocktail.                            CHARLIE                  You're drinking straight whiskey!                            MATTIE FAE                  Just... show a little class.                            BARBARA                  ...Mom?     Barbara and Bill have entered, are quickly descended upon by     Mattie Fae and Charlie. Hugs, overlapping dialogue.          MATTIE FAE (CONT'D)                     BARBARA     Oh my God, Barbara --! You        Hi, Aunt Mattie Fae --     give me some sugar!             MATTIE FAE (CONT'D)                    BILL     Bill!     Look how skinny you     Hi, Mattie Fae.     are!                            BILL                  Hi, Charlie.     Jean enters behind her parents, stands sheepishly.                            MATTIE FAE                  Oh my gosh, will you look at this one?                  Come here and give your Aunt Mattie                  Fae some sugar!                             "August" 9/21/12 FINAL WHITE Draft   23.20   CONTINUED:                                                    20          MATTIE FAE (CONT'D)                      CHARLIE     My gosh, you're so big! Look       `Lo, Bill. Man you have     at your boobs! Last time I         dropped some weight, haven't     saw you, you looked like a         you? Hello, sweetheart.     little boy!                            BARBARA                  Hi, Uncle Charlie.                            CHARLIE                  How was the flight from Denver?                             BILL                  Fine...     Violet appears on the stairs, rushes to Barbara.                             VIOLET                  Barb...                            BARBARA                  It's okay, Mom. I'm here, I'm here.                  Shh, it's okay, I'm here.     Ivy appears at the top of the stairs, watches her mother in     her sister's arms. Bill turns to Charlie, quietly:                            BILL                  No word then?                  CHARLIE                         MATTIE FAE     No.                                No, huh-uh.                 VIOLET                            BARBARA     What am I going to do?             It's okay, Mom.                            BARBARA                  Did you see Bill and Jean?     Violet takes them in, disoriented.                             VIOLET                  Yes.   Hi, Bill.                            BILL                  Hello, Violet.                            VIOLET                  I'm just so scared.                            MATTIE FAE                  Of course you are, poor thing.                            "August" 9/21/12 FINAL WHITE Draft   24.20   CONTINUED:                                                   20                            VIOLET                      (sees Jean)                  Well, look at you.                            MATTIE FAE                  Isn't she the limit? Look at her                  boobs!                            JEAN                  O-kay, we've all stared at my                  tits now.                            MATTIE FAE                  They're just so darn big.     Vi hugs Jean. Johnna slips in, leaves a beer for Charlie.                            VIOLET                  You're just the prettiest thing.                  Thank you for coming to see me.                            BARBARA                  Ivy, I didn't see you up there.     Ivy, still standing above on the stairs.                            IVY                  It looked crowded.                            BARBARA                  God, you look good.   Doesn't she                  look good, Bill?                  BILL                             BARBARA     Yes, she does.                     I love your hair, that looks                                        great.                            VIOLET                  She had it straightened. Barbara,                  or Bill, it doesn't matter, I need                  you to go through Beverly's things,                  help me with this paperwork.                            BARBARA                  Well... we can do that, Mom.                            IVY                  I was going to help with --                            VIOLET                  No, now that desk of his is such a                  mess and I get confused --                            "August" 9/21/12 FINAL WHITE Draft    25.20   CONTINUED:                                                    20                            BILL                  I'll take care of it, Violet --                            BARBARA                      (to Charlie)                  Which room are you in?                            MATTIE FAE                  We're gonna head home soon.                            VIOLET                  You're going back to Tulsa?                            MATTIE FAE                  We have to, we left in such a rush we                  didn't get anyone to take care of the                  damn dogs. Anyway, I know you want to                  spend some time with these girls.                            VIOLET                  How about Little Charles, can't he                  take care of the dogs?                            CHARLIE                  Well, yeah, I guess he could --              MATTIE FAE                             CHARLIE     No, he can't. We have to get         Maybe we should call him,     back.                                Mattie Fae --                            MATTIE FAE                  We talked about this.                            BARBARA                  Mom, can Jean stay in the attic?                            VIOLET                  No, that's where what's-her-name                  lives.                            IVY                  Johnna.                            BARBARA                  Who's Johnna?                            VIOLET                  She's the Indian who lives in my                  attic.                            BARBARA                  She's the what?                            "August" 9/21/12 FINAL WHITE Draft   26.21   EXT. THE YARD - LATE AFTERNOON                               21     Jean steps out onto the porch. Sees Johnna across the road     by the fence. Heads for her --                            JEAN               Hi...     Johnna is cutting off sprigs of wild mint entangled in the     fence, standing in what was once a vegetable garden.                            JOHNNA               Hello.                            JEAN                                       *               I'm Jean.                                               *                            JOHNNA                                     *               Johnna.                                                 *     Johnna keeps working, Jean watches.                         JEAN               I like your necklace.     A beaded pouch in the shape of a turtle.                            JOHNNA                                     *               Thank you.                                              *                         JEAN               Did you make that?                         JOHNNA               My grandma.                         JEAN               Is there something in it?                         JOHNNA               My umbilical cord.     Jean recoils.   Johnna smiles.                         JEAN               Ewww, are you serious?                         JOHNNA               When a Cheyenne is born, their               umbilical cord is dried and sewn               into a pouch.                            "August" 9/21/12 FINAL WHITE Draft    27.21   CONTINUED:                                                    21                            JEAN                  You're Cheyenne. Like that movie                  Powwow Highway. Did you see that?                             JOHNNA                                      *                  Yes. We wear it for the rest of our                    *                  lives. If we lose it, our souls                  belong nowhere and when we die our                  souls walk the Earth looking for where                  we belong.     Johnna starts back for the house with her mint.       Off Jean --22   INT. THE BACK PORCH - LATE AFTERNOON                           22     A screened in back porch off the kitchen. Bill and Barb sit     at an old linoleum table.                            BILL                  This was when?     Violet stands smoking, unhappily watching Charlie and Mattie     Fae climb into the Caddie and disappear down the gravel     drive, heading back to Tulsa.                            VIOLET                  Saturday morning. The Indian girl                  made us biscuits and gravy. We ate                  some, he walked out the door, this                  door right there. Got into his                  truck. And that was it.     Johnna enters with her mint, crosses into the kitchen.                            BARBARA                  He just left...?                            VIOLET                  I went to bed Saturday night, got up                  Sunday... still no Beverly. I didn't                  make much of it, thought he'd gone                  out on a bender.                            BARBARA                  Why would he do that? Not like he                  couldn't drink at home. Unless you                  were riding his ass.                            VIOLET                  I never said anything to him about his                  drinking, never got on him about it.                               "August" 9/21/12 FINAL WHITE Draft   28.22   CONTINUED:                                                      22                               BARBARA                  Really.                            VILOET                  Barbara, I swear. He could drink                  himself into obliv-uh, obliv-en-um...                               BARBARA                  Oblivion.                            BILL                  So Sunday, still no sign of him...                            VIOLET                  Yes, Sunday. No sign. I started                  getting worried, don'tcha know.                  That's when I got worked up about                  that safety deposit box.   We kept an                  awful lot of cash in that box, some                  expensive jewelry. I had a diamond                  ring in that box appraised at seven                  thousand dollars --     Johnna returns with glasses of iced tea, each with a sprig of     mint, delivers them to Bill and Barbara.                            BARBARA                  Wait, wait, wait, I'm missing                  something. Why do you care about a                  safety deposit box?                            VIOLET                  Well, I know what you'll say about                  this, but, your father and I had an                  urge-ment... arrangement. If                  something were to ever happen to one                  of us, the other one would go empty                  that box.                               BARBARA                  Because...                            BILL                  The money and jewelry gets rolled into                  the estate, bank seals the box until                  probate is settled. Can take months.                            VIOLET                  Right, that's right --                            BARBARA                  You're such a fucking cynic.                            "August" 9/21/12 FINAL WHITE Draft   29.22   CONTINUED:                                                   22                            VIOLET                  I knew you would disapprove --     Johnna cuts into a freshly baked apple pie in the kitchen.                            BARBARA                  Okay, what about the safety deposit                  box?                            VIOLET                  I had to wait for the bank to open on                  Monday. And after I emptied that box,                  I called the police and reported him                  missing. Monday morning.                            BARBARA                  And you only had Ivy call me today?                            VIOLET                  I didn't want to worry you, honey --                BARBARA                             BILL     Jesus Christ.                     Vi, you sure there wasn't                                       some event that triggered his                                       leaving, some incident.                            VIOLET (CONT'D)                  You mean like a fight.     Johnna places pieces of pie in front of Bill and Barb.                            BILL                  Yes.                            VIOLET                  No. And we fought enough... you                  know... but no, he just left.                            BARBARA                  Maybe he needed some time away                  from you.                            VIOLET                  That's nice of you to say.                            BARBARA                  Good old unfathomable Dad.                            VIOLET                  Oh. That man. What I first fell of                  with -- fell in love with, you know,                  was his mystery. I thought it was                  sexy as hell.                            (MORE)                            "August" 9/21/12 FINAL WHITE Draft     30.22   CONTINUED:                                                     22                            VIOLET (CONT'D)                  You knew he was the smartest one in                  the room, knew if he just said                  something... knock you out. But he'd                  just stand there, little smile on his                  face... not say a word. Sexy.                                                      INTERCUT WITH:23   INSIDE THE KITCHEN                                                23     Ivy enters with her coffee cup, runs water in it at the sink.     Outside, her mother, sister, and Bill on the back porch.                            BILL                  You can't think of anything unusual --     Johnna sits at the kitchen table behind Ivy. Johnna stands,     joins Ivy at the sink. Ivy hadn't seen her there.                            VIOLET                  He hired this woman. He didn't ask me,                  just hired this woman to come live in                  our house. Few days before he left.                            BARBARA                  You don't want her here.                            VIOLET                  She's a stranger in my house. There's                  an Indian in my house.     Ivy looks to Johnna, embarrassed. But Johnna just takes     Ivy's cup from her, finishes cleaning it.                            BILL                  You have a problem with Indians,                  Violet?                            VIOLET                  I don't know what to say to an                  Indian.                            BARBARA                  They're called Native Americans                  now, Mom.                            VIOLET                  Who makes that decision?                            BARBARA                  It's what they like to be called.                            "August" 9/21/12 FINAL WHITE Draft   31.23   CONTINUED:                                                   23                            VIOLET                  They aren't any more native than me.                            BARBARA                  In fact, they are.                            VIOLET                  What's wrong with Indian?                            BARBARA                  Why's it so hard to call people --                            VIOLET                  Let's just call the dinosaurs "Native                  Americans" while we're at it.                            BARBARA                  She may be an Indian, but she makes                  the best goddamn apple pie I ever ate.     Johnna smiles, nods to Ivy.       Leaves the kitchen.                            VIOLET                  He hired a cook. It doesn't make any                  sense. We don't eat.                            BARBARA                  And now you get biscuits and gravy.                  Kind of nice, huh?                            VIOLET                  Nice for you, now. But you'll be gone                  soon enough, never to return.                            BARBARA                      (a warning)                  Mom...                            VIOLET                  When was the last time you were here?                BARBARA                               VIOLET     Don't get started on that --         Really, I don't even                                          remember.                            BARBARA                  I'm very dutiful, Mom, I call, I                  write, I send presents --                            VIOLET                  You do not write --                            "August" 9/21/12 FINAL WHITE Draft   32.23   CONTINUED:                                                   23                            BARBARA                  Presents on birthdays, Mother's Day --     Ivy eavesdrops at the sink, unsure if she should stay or go.                            VIOLET                  Because you're "dutiful."                            BILL                  All right, now --                            VIOLET                  I don't care about you two. I'd like                  to see my granddaughter every now --                            BARBARA                  Well, you're seeing her now.                            VIOLET                  But your father. You broke his heart                  when you moved away.                            BARBARA                  That is wildly unfair.     Bill stands, picks up a plate, pushes his way back into the     kitchen. Ivy hears him coming, but doesn't have time to     escape. Goes to the refrigerator instead.                  BILL                             VIOLET     Am I going to have to             You know you were Beverly's     separate you two?                 favorite; don't pretend you                                       don't know that.     Barbara follows Bill. Ivy finds iced tea, pours herself     some. Tries to make herself invisible -- it's not hard to do.                            BARBARA (CONT'D)                  I'd prefer to think my parents loved                  all their children equally.     Violet trails behind them into the kitchen.                            VIOLET                  I'm sure you'd prefer to think that                  Santy Claus brought you presents at                  Christmas, too. If you'd had more                  than one child, you'd know a parent                  always has favorites. Mattie Fae was                  my mother's favorite. Big deal. I got                  used to it. You were your Daddy's                  favorite.                            "August" 9/21/12 FINAL WHITE Draft   33.23   CONTINUED:                                                   23     Barbara notices Ivy, standing there, Christ. This isn't a     conversation she'd like to be having in front of her sister.     Violet sees Ivy too -- could care less.                            VIOLET (CONT'D)                  Broke his heart.                            BARBARA                  What was I supposed to do?! Colorado                  gave Bill twice the money he was                  making at TU --                            BILL                  Why are we even getting into this?                            BARBARA                  You think Daddy wouldn't have jumped                  at the chance Bill got?                            VIOLET                  You're wrong there. You never would've                  gotten Beverly Weston out of Oklahoma.                            BARBARA                  Daddy gave me his blessing.                            VIOLET                  `S what he told you.                            BARBARA                  Now you're going to tell me the true                  story, some terrible shit Daddy said                  behind my back?                            BILL                  Hey, enough. Everybody's on edge --                            VIOLET                  Beverly didn't say terrible things                  behind your back --                            BILL                  Vi, come on --                            VIOLET                  He just told me he's disappointed in                  you because you settled. He thought                  *                  you had talent, as a writer.                         *                             BARBARA                  Daddy never said anything like that                  to you. What a load of absolute                  horseshit.                               "August" 9/21/12 FINAL WHITE Draft   34.23   CONTINUED:                                                      23                            VIOLET                  Oh, horseshit, horseshit, let's all                  say horseshit. Say horseshit, Bill.                               BILL                  Horseshit.     Violet goes. Barb and Bill exchange a look. Barb looks to     Ivy, who's blank. Barb takes a beat, follows Violet.24   INT. BATHROOM - LATE AFTERNOON                                  24     Violet is closing the bathroom door.       Barb stops her.                            BARBARA                  Are you high?                               VIOLET                  Excuse me.                             BARBARA                  I mean literally. You taking                  something?                            VIOLET                  A muscle relaxer.                            BARBARA                  Listen to me: I will not go through                  this with you again.                            VIOLET                  I don't know what you're talking                  about.                            BARBARA                  These fucking pills? Calls at three                     *                  AM about people in your backyard?                            VIOLET                  Stop yelling at me!                            BARBARA                  The police, all the rest of it?                            VIOLET                  It's not the same thing. I didn't have                  a reason.                            BARBARA                  So now it's okay to get hooked because                  you have a reason.                             "August" 9/21/12 FINAL WHITE Draft   35.24   CONTINUED:                                                    24                            VIOLET                  I'm not hooked on anything.                            BARBARA                  I don't want to know if you are or                  not, I'm just saying I won't go --                             VIOLET                  I'm not.   I'm in pain.                            BARBARA                  Because of your mouth.                            VIOLET                  Yes, because my mouth burns from                  the chemotheeeahh --                            BARBARA                  Are you in a lot of pain?     Violet starts to break down, sits on the lidded toilet.                            VIOLET                  Yes, I'm in pain. I have got...                  gotten cancer. In my mouth. And it                  burns like a... bullshit. And                  Beverly's disappeared and you're                  yelling at me.                            BARBARA                  I'm not yelling at you.                            VIOLET                  You couldn't come home when I got                  cancer but as soon as Beverly                  disappeared you rushed back --                            BARBARA                  I'm sorry... you're right. I'm sorry.     Barbara kneels, takes her mother's hand.                            BARBARA (CONT'D)                  Know where I think he is? I think he                  got some whiskey, a carton of                  cigarettes, and a couple of good spy                  novels... I think he got out on the                  boat, steered it to a nice spot, close                  to shore... and he's fishing, and                  reading, and drinking, maybe even                  writing a little. I think he'll walk                  right through that door any time.                          "August" 9/21/12 FINAL WHITE Draft    36.25   INT. UPSTAIRS HALLWAY/STAIRS/ATTIC ROOM - TWILIGHT           25     Jean walks down the hall, perusing photos of her ancestors.     Rail-thin, sunburned dust bowl farmers, WWII GIs standing in     front of battered Packards before shipping out to die on the     beaches of Normandy. Violet and Bev on their wedding day.     Jean's mother and aunts in grade school, with prom dates.     The photos end in a doorway that leads to a narrow, wooden     staircase. Jean climbs it to --26   INT. THE ATTIC BEDROOM - TWILIGHT                            26     Finds Johnna on her bed in the small ascetic attic room,     reading T.S. Eliot. Jean KNOCKS on the open door.                         JEAN               Hi, again... Am I bugging you?                         JOHNNA               No, do you need something?                         JEAN               No, I thought maybe you'd like to               smoke a bowl with me?                         JOHNNA               No, thank you.                          JEAN               Okay. I didn't know.                   (beat)               Do you mind if I smoke a bowl?                          JOHNNA               I.   No, I --                         JEAN               Mom and Dad don't mind. You won't               get into trouble or anything.     Johnna is clearly a bit uncomfortable. But:                          JOHNNA               Okay.                         JEAN               Okay. You sure?     From her pocket, Jean takes a glass pipe and a bud.                               "August" 9/21/12 FINAL WHITE Draft   37.26   CONTINUED:                                                      26                            JEAN (CONT'D)                  I say they don't mind. If they knew                  I smuggled this on the plane? And sat                  there sweating like in that movie                  Midnight Express. Did you see that?                            JOHNNA                  I don't think so.                            JEAN                  I just mean they don't mind that I                  smoke pot. Mom kind of does. I think                  cause Dad smokes pot too, and she                  wishes he didn't.                      (smokes, offers pipe)                  You sure?                               JOHNNA                  Yes.   No.    I'm fine.     Jean notices a framed photo on the night stand.                            JEAN                  Wow, are those your parents?                            JOHNNA                  Mm-hm, their wedding picture.                            JEAN                  Their costumes are fantastic.    Are                  they still together?                            JOHNNA                  My father passed away last year.                              JEAN                  Oh.    Sorry.                            JOHNNA                  That's okay. Thank you.                            JEAN                  Were you close?                             JOHNNA                  Yes.   Very.                            JEAN                  My Mom and Dad are separated now.                               JOHNNA                  I'm sorry.                                "August" 9/21/12 FINAL WHITE Draft   38.26    CONTINUED:                                                      26                              JEAN                   He's fucking one of his grad students.                   I don't care --aside from the pathetic                   English and Humanities cliche, like                   all those departmental dicks fucking                   their students -- he can fuck who he                   wants and that's who teachers meet,                   students. He was just a turd the way                   he didn't give Mom a chance to respond                   or anything. What sucks now is she's                   on my ass cause she's afraid I'll have                   some post-divorce freak-out and become                   some heroin addict or shoot everybody                   at school. Or God forbid, lose my                   virginity. I don't know what it is                   about Dad splitting that put Mom on                   hymen patrol.                       (then)                   Don't say anything about Mom and Dad;                   okay? They want to play it low key.A27   INT. BEVERLY'S STUDY - NIGHT                                   A27      Bill stands in Beverly's empty study. Absorbing the room, the      man, the stillness. Picks at the papers on the desk without      specific purpose. Turns to one of the many bookcases,      eventually finds a book, smiles.27    EXT. WESTON HOUSE FRONT PORCH - NIGHT                           27      Barbara sits on the front steps. It's dark now, but still      very hot. Moths bat at the porch lights. Bill comes out              *      carrying a Coke, shares it with Barb.                                *                                BILL                   Ivy leave?                             BARBARA                       (she nods)                   I'd forgotten about the lightning                   bugs.      Around the yard, flitting in and out of the low hanging      boughs of the trees.                             BILL                   Look what I found...      She turns, he holds a thin hardback copy of Meadowlark.                            "August" 9/21/12 FINAL WHITE Draft   39.27   CONTINUED:                                                   27                            BARBARA                  We have copies.                            BILL                  I don't remember a hardback edition.                  Think this is worth something... first                  edition, hardback, mint condition?                  Academy Fellowship, Wallace Stevens                  Award? This book was a big deal.                            BARBARA                  It wasn't that big a deal.                            BILL                  In those circles, it was.                            BARBARA                  Those are small circles.     He opens the book, perusing the first pages.       Reads.                            BILL                  "Dedicated to my Violet." That's nice.                  Christ, probably every word he wrote                  after this he had to be thinking,                  "What are they going to say, are they                  going to compare it to Meadowlark?"                            BARBARA                  Jean go to bed?                            BILL                  Just turned out the light. You'd                  think at some point, you just write                  something anyway and who cares what                  they say about it. I don't know --                            BARBARA                  Will you shut up about that fucking                  book?! You are just dripping with                  envy over these thirty poems my father                  wrote back in the late sixties, for                  God's sake. Y'hear yourself?     Bill's taken aback, but doesn't want to overreact.                            BILL                  I have great admiration for these                  poems --                            "August" 9/21/12 FINAL WHITE Draft   40.27   CONTINUED:                                                   27                            BARBARA                  My father didn't write anymore for a                  lot of reasons, but critical opinion                  was not one of them, hard as that may                  be for you to believe.                            BILL                  What are you attacking me for?   I                  haven't done anything.                             BARBARA                  I'm sure that's what you tell Sissy,                  too, so she can comfort you, reassure                  you, "No, Billy, you haven't done                  anything."                            BILL                  Why are you bringing that up?                            BARBARA                  They're all symptoms of your male                  menopause, whether it's you                  struggling with the "creative                  question," or screwing a girl who                  still wears a retainer.                            BILL                  All right, look, I'm not going to be                  held hostage here while you attack                  me. And her name is Cindy.                            BARBARA                  I know her stupid name -- do me the                  courtesy of recognizing when I'm                  demeaning you.                            BILL                  Violet really has a way of putting                  you in attack mode, you know that?                  You feel such rage for her you                  can't help dishing it --                            BARBARA                  Psychoanalyze me right now, I skin                  you.                            BILL                  You may not agree with my methods,                  but you know I'm right --                            "August" 9/21/12 FINAL WHITE Draft   41.27   CONTINUED:                                                   27                            BARBARA                  "Your methods." Thank you, Doctor,                  but I actually don't need any help                  from my mother to feel rage.                            BILL                  You want to argue? Is that what you                  need to do? Pick a subject, alright,                  let me know what it is, so I have a                  fighting --                            BARBARA                  The subject is me! I am the subject,                  you narcissistic motherfucker! I am                  in pain! I need help!     Barbara heads into the yard to get away from him.28   INT. WESTON HOUSE, UPSTAIRS ROOM - CONTINUOUS                28     Jean's on the small bed in the darkened room. Staring at the     ceiling, listening to her parents argue.29   EXT. WESTON HOUSE FRONT PORCH - NIGHT                        29     Bill chases Barbara into the yard.                            BILL                  I've copped to being a narcissist.                  We're the products of a narcissistic                  generation.                            BARBARA                  You can't do it, can you? You can't                  talk about me for two seconds --                            BILL                  You called me a narcissist!                             BARBARA                  You do understand that it hurts,                  to go from sharing a bed with you                  for twenty-three years to sleeping                  by myself.                            BILL                  I'm here, now.                               "August" 9/21/12 FINAL WHITE Draft   42.29   CONTINUED:                                                      29                            BARBARA                  Oh, men always say shit like that,                  as if the past and the future don't                  exist.     Jean listens in the dark to her parents fighting -- as she     has many times before. Heads out into the hallway to screen     door leading to the upstairs porch.                            BARBARA (CONT'D)                  It's just horseshit, to avoid                  talking about the things they're                  afraid to say.                            BILL                  I'm not necessarily keen on the notion                  of saying things that would hurt you.                               BARBARA                  Like what?                            BILL                  We have enough on our hands with your                  parents right now, let's not revisit                  this.                            BARBARA                  When did we visit this to begin with?                  I still don't know what happened. Do                  I bore you, intimidate you, disgust                  you? Is this just about the pleasures                  of young flesh, teenage pussy? I                  really need to know.                            BILL                  You need to know now? With Beverly                  missing, and your mother crazy as a                  loon? You want to do this now?                            BARBARA                  You're right. I'll just hunker down                  for a cozy night's sleep upstairs.                  Next to my husband.                            BILL                  This discussion deserves our   care.                  And patience. We'll both be    in a                  better frame of mind to talk   about                  this once your father's come   home.     Bill turns, starts back for the house.                            "August" 9/21/12 FINAL WHITE Draft      43.30      INT. WESTON HOUSE BEDROOM - NIGHT                             30        Jean sees her father coming, hears his footsteps approaching        across the wooden porch below, the screen door opens quietly.        She slips back into her room and bed, but he doesn't stop.        Jean waits, listening for her mother.   She doesn't come.31      EXT. SKIATOOK LAKE - NIGHT                                    31        We're on the old wooden dock, watching a man walking away        from us toward an aluminum rowboat tied haphazardly to the        dock in the moonlight. He leans down to untie the boat,        looks back at us, directly into camera -- Beverly.        Now we're traveling BELOW the surface of the lake, through        its dark, tenebrous waters on the moonlit night. The        rhythmic SLAP of gentle waves. We're underwater, light        fractures and scatters above us. We've been here before as --        A rowboat SLIPS across our field of vision.   It's aluminum        bottom cuts through the calm above.        Oars dip on either side, propelling the small craft. It        slows. Stops. Bobs gently. We wait, watch --        Until, suddenly, something hits the surface above, exploding        the calm, coming at us fast, sinking.32      INT. THE ATTIC - NIGHT                                        32        Johnna wakes with a start. Sits up, listens intently.33      EXT. WESTON HOUSE - NIGHT                                     33        Johnna steps out onto the second floor porch balcony, finds a        police car approaching in the distance, headlights cutting        through the dark country night.34/35   INT. WESTON HOUSE STAIRWAY - NIGHT                        34/35        Barefoot, Johnna quietly descends the stairs. Approaches the        front door, left open to let in the cool night air. Undoes        the screen door latch. Steps outside.        Watches the car arrive. The driver's door opens, a sheriff        gets out, silhouetted against the police flashers behind him.                           "August" 9/21/12 FINAL WHITE Draft   44.36   INT. UPSTAIRS HALLWAY - MOMENTS LATER                       36     Barbara, bleary-eyed, moves quickly down the dark hall in     her robe. Bill follows in his boxers and T-shirt, pulling     on pants. Barb goes to Vi's door, KNOCKS.                           BARBARA               Mom?     She opens the door. Over her we FIND: Violet, entombed in     her room. Squinting against the intrusive hall light.                         BARBARA (CONT'D)               Mom, wake up, the sheriff's here.                         VIOLET               Did you call them?    I dig in call               them.                           BARBARA               Mom.    The sheriff is here.                         VIOLET               Inna esther?                           BARBARA               What?                         VIOLET               Inna esther broke. `N pays me               `em...sturck...struck.                          BILL               Come on.   Leave her there.     Barbara does, starts for the staircase, meets the just     awakened Jean coming out of her room, concerned.                         BILL (CONT'D)               Go back to bed, sweetheart....     Barbara descends the stairs, trailed by Bill. The SHERIFF     waits on the porch, late-forties, handsome, Stetson in hand.     They go to him, but WE HANG BACK with Jean, watching the     scene outside unfold. Bill shakes the Sheriff's hand. The     Sheriff speaks earnestly to Barbara and Bill.     We can't hear what's being said, only murmurs until --     Barbara sinks to her knees. Bill holds her. Jean watches.                            "August" 9/21/12 FINAL WHITE Draft   45.37   INT. KITCHEN - NIGHT                                         37     Johnna enters, snaps on the light, starts a pot of coffee.     Stoic, inscrutable.38   EXT. WESTON HOUSE DRIVEWAY - JUST BEFORE DAWN                38     A big pre-dawn sky is changing from black to blue. The     Sheriff walks to his cruiser, kills the flashers. Bill joins     him, still barefoot.                         BILL               What happened?                         SHERIFF               Couple old boys running jug lines in               the lake hooked him. Pulled him up.                         BILL               He drowned. That's how he died, from               drowning?                            SHERIFF               Looks it.     Yes, sir.     Bill looks off.   Song birds begin their pre-dawn chatter.                         BILL               Is there any way to determine if               he... I mean is this an accident,               or suicide --?                         SHERIFF               There's really no way to tell.                         BILL               What's your guess?                         SHERIFF               ...Suicide.     And now the full weight of it hits Bill. After a moment --                         BILL               How does a a person jump in the               water... and choose not to swim?39   INT. WESTON GIRL'S BEDROOM - PRE-DAWN                        39     Barb pulls on clothes, rakes a brush through her hair. Jean     appears in the door, watches her. After a moment:                            "August" 9/21/12 FINAL WHITE Draft   46.39   CONTINUED:                                                   39                            JEAN                  What about Aunt Ivy?                            BARBARA                  I guess we'll stop on the way.                  Christ, I need to call Karen, too.                  Why the fuck am I brushing my hair?     She drops the brush. And then an odd sound intrudes from     downstairs, a song: "Lay Down, Sally" by Eric Clapton.40   INT. LIVING ROOM - PRE-DAWN                                  40     The music is LOUD. We follow Barbara and Jean halfway down     the stairs to REVEAL: Violet, high as a kite, doing a jerky     little dance by the stereo. The Sheriff stands uncomfortably     by the door, his hat in hand. She shuffles over to him.                            VIOLET                  Izza story. Barely's back.    Did sum                  Beer-ley come home?                            SHERIFF                  Ma'am?                            VIOLET                  Gizza cig... some cigezze?    Cig-zezz,                  cig-zizz... cig-uhzzz...     She laughs at her inability to speak. He takes a Pall Mall     from his shirt pocket, hands it to her. Lights it for her.                            VIOLET (CONT'D)                  In the archa, archa-tex? I'm in                  the bottom. Inna bottom of them.                      (and)                  Mm, good beat, right?     He nods.   Bill comes back in from outside.                            VIOLET (CONT'D)                  Barbara?! Is Barbara here?!                            BARBARA                      (quietly)                  Right here, Mom...     Johnna steps in from the kitchen, pensively observing.                             VIOLET                  Mm, good beat, right?   Idn't it's a                  good beat?                             (MORE)                            "August" 9/21/12 FINAL WHITE Draft   47.40   CONTINUED:                                                   40                            VIOLET (CONT'D)                  Mmmm, I been on the music... pell man                  onna sheriff. Armen in tandel                  s'lossle, s'lost? Lost?! From the day,                  the days. Am Beerly... and Beverly                  lost?     Violet abandons her dance, separates invisible threads in the     air. The others stand frozen, staring at her.                            VIOLET (CONT'D)                  And then you're here. And Barbara, and                  then you're here, and Beverly, and                  then you're here, and then you're                  here, and then you're here, and then                  you're here, and then you're here...41   EXT. SKIATOOK LAKE ROAD - DAWN                               41     The sun's just topped the horizon, throws long early shadows     across the flat expanse of prairie. Scattered trees, a     ribbon of asphalt leading to a distant lake, telephone poles.     We're HIGH ABOVE the country road, following the Sheriff     cruiser below. Barb's rental sedan trails behind.                            BARBARA (OS)                  I used to go out with that boy.                  That man.42   INT. RENTAL CAR (MOVING) - EARLY MORNING                     42     Bill drives, Ivy up front with him. Barbara sits in the back     with Jean. Watches the sheriff's car ahead.                            JEAN                  What man? The Sheriff?                            BARBARA                  In high school. He was my prom date.                            JEAN                  You're kidding.                            BARBARA                  Day of the prom, his father got                  drunk and stole his car, stole his                  own son's car, went somewhere, Mexico.                  Deon showed up at the door. He'd been                  crying. Confessed he didn't have a                  way to take me to the prom.                            "August" 9/21/12 FINAL WHITE Draft   48.42   CONTINUED:                                                   42     The cruiser slows, pulls through a pipe gate and over a     cattle-crossing, heads for a small collection of emergency     vehicles parked around a brush-strewn cove. Bev's old Chevy     pick-up truck sits to one side.                            BARBARA (CONT'D)                  So we got a six-pack and broke into                  the chapel, stayed up all night                  talking and kissing. Now here he                  is, showing me --                      (fights her emotions)                  It's so surreal. Thank God we can't                  tell the future. We'd never get out                  of bed.     The cars stop.    The Sheriff gets out.                            BILL                  Let me go first, see what they need.     Bill goes.    Barb fixes Jean with a look.                            BARBARA                  Listen to me: die after me, all right?                  I don't care what else you do, where                  you go, how you screw up your life,                  just... survive. Outlive me, please.     They watch the men. A resolute Bill returns to get Barbara     and Ivy. The sisters climb out, follow him to the water's     edge. Jean waits a moment, then steps out of the car.     Watches her father lead her mother down the small cracked     concrete boat ramp to where the Sheriff waits by a covered     body. As the Sheriff pulls back the tarp --43   INT. A STERILE ROOM - DAY                                    43     White walls, bright overhead light. We're CLOSE on a man's     pale, lifeless hand. Another hand enters frame with a     sponge, begins cleaning off the mud, filth.44   EXT. WESTON HOUSE - DAY                                      44     The Weston clan walks to Beverly's Lincoln, Bill, Jean. Barb     and Ivy help a distraught Violet. All wear mourning black.45   INT. THE STERILE ROOM - DAY                                  45     Beverly's sodden shoes are removed, his socks.                               "August" 9/21/12 FINAL WHITE Draft   49.45   CONTINUED:                                                      45     His limp, greyish arm is guided into a starched white shirt-     sleeve. The buttons carefully buttoned.46   INT. BEVERLY'S CAR (MOVING) - DAY                               46     Bill drives. Jean beside him. Barbara and Ivy sit in the back     seat, flanking Violet. They ride in silence. We study their     faces, the brown countryside outside.     Bill notices something in his rearview, a red speck, coming     up fast, very fast. A sports car.     It's suddenly right behind them, filling his mirrors. It     waits for a semi loaded down with massive circular hay bales     to pass in the opposite lane, then --     ROARS around. A Ferrari, it's throaty V-10 RUMBLING as it     SCREAMS past, accelerates down the road. Bill and Jean     exchange a look, watch it disappear.47   INT. THE STERILE ROOM - DAY                                     47     Strong male hands lift Beverly's now dressed body carefully     and place it into the casket. Adjust the pillow, comb his     hair into place, fold his hands across his chest.     We never see his face, never see his whole body. Only these     small, intimate pieces.48   INT/EXT. CAR/FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH OF PAWHUSKA - DAY             48     A few mourners enter the church as Bill pulls in to park,     discovers the Ferrari already there. A woman emerging.                            BARBARA                  Holy shit, that's Karen.     KAREN WESTON, forty, lithe, climbing from the car.                            BARBARA (CONT'D)                  Do you remember your Aunt Karen?                               JEAN                  Kind of...     STEVE HEIDEBRECHT, fifty, greying, athletic, tan and     handsome, gets out of the driver's side.                            BARBARA                                       *                  That must be this year's man.                               "August" 9/21/12 FINAL WHITE Draft   50.48   CONTINUED:                                                      48     Mattie Fae and Charlie are waiting for them, start over as     Violet emerges into the blinding sun. Recoils slightly.     Mattie Fae catches her, whispers comforts into her ear, helps     her toward the church steps.     We stay back, watching the Westons enter the church --                               KAREN (VO)                  I spent so    much time in our bedroom                  pretending    my pillow was my husband                  and did he    like the dinner I made and                  where were    we going to vacation that                  winter and    he'd surprise me with                  tickets to    Belize and we'd kiss.49   INT. BEVERLY'S LINCOLN (MOVING) - AFTERNOON                     49     Barbara drives, Karen beside her. Heat radiates off the     road. They follow Charlie's Caddie, Vi and Ivy visible in     the Caddie's back seat window ahead of us.                            KAREN                  I mean I'd kiss my pillow, and then                  I'd tell him I'd been to the doctor                  that day and I'd found out I was                  pregnant. I know how pathetic that                  sounds, but it was innocent enough.                  Then real life takes over, cause it                  always does --                            BARBARA                  -- uh-huh --     Here comes the red speck in the rearview again. The Ferrari     ROARS up behind them, pulls around to pass, HONKS as it     goes. Barb catches a glimpse of Jean in the passenger seat,     Bill jammed into the tiny back seat.                            KAREN                  Things don't work out like you                  planned. That pillow was a better                  husband than any real man I'd ever                  met; this parade of men fails to live                  up to your expectations, all of them                  so much less than Daddy or Bill. You                  punish yourself, tell yourself it's                  your fault you can't find a good one.                  I don't know how well you remember                  Andrew...                            BARBARA                  No, I remember.                            "August" 9/21/12 FINAL WHITE Draft   51.49   CONTINUED:                                                   49                            KAREN                  I loved him so intensely, so the                  things he did wrong were just                  opportunities for me to make things                  right. If he cheated on me or called                  me a cunt, I'd think "No, love is                  forever, so here's an opportunity to                  make an adjustment in the way you                  view the world."     The AC isn't working, Barb's sweating, rolls down her window,     let's the wind whip her hair around.                            KAREN (CONT'D)                  And thank God one day I looked in the                  mirror and said, "Moron," and walked                  out, but it kicked off this whole                  period of reflection, how hard I had                  screwed it up, where'd I go wrong.                  That's when I got into those books                  and discussion groups --                            BARBARA                  And Scientology too, right, or                  something like that --?                            KAREN                  Exactly, and finally one day, I threw                  it all out, I said, "It's me, just me                  with my music on the stereo, my glass                  of wine and Bloomers my cat. I don't                  need anything else, I can live my life                  with myself." I got my license, threw                  myself into my work, sold a lot of                  houses, and that's when I met Steve.     Charlie slows, signals, turns onto the gravel road leading to     the Weston house. Barb follows, Karen still going strong --                            KAREN (CONT'D)                  That's how it works, you only find                  it when you're not looking, you turn                  around and there it is: Steve. Ten                  years older than me, but a thinker,                  and he's just so good. He's a good                  man and he's good to me and he's good                  for me.50   INT. WESTON HOUSE STAIRWAY/UPSTAIRS HALL - AFTERNOON         50     Barbara leads Karen upstairs, Karen carries her suitcase,     Barbara carries Steve's. Karen's still talking.                             "August" 9/21/12 FINAL WHITE Draft   52.50   CONTINUED:                                                    50                            KAREN                  The best thing about him, for me, is                  that now what I think about is now.                  I live now. My focus, my life, my                  world is now. I don't give a care                  about the past anymore, the mistakes                  I made, the way I thought. And you                  can't plan the future cause as soon                  as you do, something happens, some                  terrible thing happens --                            BARBARA                  Like your father drowning himself.     They enter a bedroom, dump the luggage on the bed.                             KAREN                  That's exactly what I mean. You take                  it as it comes, here and now! Steve                  had a huge presentation today for some                  big-wig government guys who could be                  important for his business, something                  he's put together for months, and as                  soon as we heard about Daddy, he                  cancelled his meeting. He has his                  priorities straight. And you know what                  the kicker is?                      (beat)                  Do you know what the kicker --?     Barbara heads for the fan on the dresser, flips it on.                            BARBARA                  What's the kicker?                             KAREN                  We're going to Belize on our                  honeymoon!     Barb sticks her face into the fan. Karen watches, what?                             BARBARA                  Sorry.   Hot flash.51   INT. VIOLET'S BEDROOM - DAY                                   51     Violet pulls a dress from the closet; Mattie Fae sits,     rooting through a box of photos; Ivy stands by the door.                            VIOLET                  It won't kill you to try it on --                              "August" 9/21/12 FINAL WHITE Draft    53.51   CONTINUED:                                                      51                            MATTIE FAE                  Oh, this is a sweet one, Vi --                            IVY                  I find this a tidge morbid, frankly --               MATTIE FAE                             VIOLET     Look at this, Ivy --                 What's morbid about it?                            IVY (CONT'D)                  It's not my style, Mom.                            VIOLET                  You don't have a style, that's the                  point.                            MATTIE FAE                  Where was this taken?                              VIOLET                  New York.    On the first book tour.                            IVY                  I don't have your style, I have a                  style of my own.                            VIOLET                  You wore a suit to your father's                  funeral. A woman doesn't wear a suit                  to a funeral.                            IVY                  God, you're weird; it's a black suit.                            VIOLET                  You look like a magician's assistant.                            MATTIE FAE                  Little Charles has been talking about                  moving to New York. Can you picture                  that?                            VIOLET                  Don't discourage him now --                            MATTIE FAE                  He wouldn't last a day in that city.                  They'd tear him apart.          MATTIE FAE (CONT'D)                           IVY     I could kill that kid --             Why do you feel it necessary                                          to insult me?                            "August" 9/21/12 FINAL WHITE Draft   54.51   CONTINUED:                                                   51                            VIOLET                  Stop being so sensitive.                            MATTIE FAE                  He overslept? For his Uncle's                  funeral? A noon service?                            IVY                  I'm sure there's more to the story --                            MATTIE FAE                  Don't make excuses for him. That's                  what Charlie does. Thirty-seven years                  old and can't drive? Who can't drive?     Violet pulls more and more clothes from the closet, dumping     them on the bed. The pile is getting very large.                            MATTIE FAE (CONT'D)                  I've seen a chimp drive.                            IVY                  Why are you giving away your clothes?                            VIOLET                  All this shit's going. I don't plan                  to spend the rest of my days looking                  at what used to be. I want that shit                  in the office gone, I want these                  clothes I'm never going to wear gone.                  I mean look at these fucking shoes --                      (holds up spiked heels)                  Even if I didn't fall on my face, can                  you imagine anything less attractive,                  my swollen ankles and varicose veins?                  And my toenails, good God: anymore                  they could dig through cement.52   INT. THE KITCHEN - AFTERNOON                                 52     Johnna's at the sink, washing and breaking beans, every     kitchen surface is covered with the large dinner she's     preparing. Barbara enters, Karen still pursuing her.                            KAREN                  You get a read off Steve?   Did                  you like him?                            BARBARA                  We said two words to each other --                                 "August" 9/21/12 FINAL WHITE Draft   55.52   CONTINUED:                                                        52                            KAREN                  You get a feel, though, don't you?                  Did you get a feel?                            BARBARA                  He seemed very nice, sweetheart --     Barb grabs a glass from the cabinet, opens the freezer for     ice, lets her head linger in the cold.                            KAREN                  He is, and --                            BARBARA                  -- but what I think doesn't matter.                  I'm not marrying him --                            KAREN                  I guess what I'm telling you is that                  I'm happy. I've been unhappy most of                  my life,   my adult life. I doubt                  you've been aware of that. I know our                  lives have led us apart, you, me and                  Ivy. Maybe we're not as close as, as                  close as some families --     Barb gives up on the freezer, fills her glass with iced tea.                            BARBARA                  Yeah, we really need to talk about                  Mom, what to do about Mom --                            KAREN                  -- but I think I haven't wanted to                  live my unhappiness in view of my                  family. But now I'm just really                  happy. I'd like us to get to know                  each other a little better.     Barbara stares at her, what is she talking about?                                 BARBARA                  Yes.    Yes.     Karen wraps her arms around Barbara.                             BARBARA (CONT'D)                  Okay.   Yes.                           "August" 9/21/12 FINAL WHITE Draft   56.53   EXT. PAWHUSKA LIQUOR STORE PARKING LOT - AFTERNOON          53     The Ferrari pulls into the lot. Bill crawls out, heads for     the store. An anxious Jean calls after him.                         JEAN               Hurry, okay?                         BILL               I will, sweetheart.     Steve joins Jean, leans against the car. Throughout the     following they watch Bill shop for wine inside.                         STEVE               Is it always this hot?                         JEAN               Usually it's hotter.                         STEVE               Hard to imagine.                   (a beat)               How old are you, about, seventeen?                           JEAN               Fourteen.                         STEVE               Fourteen, right... Know what I was               doing when I was fourteen? Cattle               processing. Know what that is?                         JEAN               It doesn't sound good.                         STEVE               Slaughterhouse sanitation.                         JEAN               That's disgusting.                         STEVE               I don't recommend it. But hey.               Put food on the table. Get it?     An impatient Jean watches her father comparing wines inside.                         STEVE (CONT'D)               What's that smell?     She sniffs. Doesn't smell much of anything really.                              "August" 9/21/12 FINAL WHITE Draft   57.53   CONTINUED:                                                     53                            JEAN                  Dumpster over there?                            STEVE                  Nah, that's not what I'm smelling.     He sniffs the air, then sniffs her.                            JEAN                  What are you doing?                            STEVE                  Do I smell what I think I smell?                            JEAN                  What do you smell?                            STEVE                  What do you think I smell?                            JEAN                  I think you smell that dumpster.     He whiffs, hard, breathing her in.                            STEVE                  Is that... pot? You smoking pot?                              JEAN                  No.                            STEVE                  You can tell me.                              JEAN                  No.                             STEVE                  You a little dope smoker?                      (beat)                  Then you are in luck. Because I                  just happen to have some tasty shit.                  And I am going to hook you up.     Bill pays inside, motions to Jean that he's hurrying.                             JEAN                  That'd be so great. I just smoked my                  last bowl and I really need to get                  fucked up.                              STEVE                  You what?                            "August" 9/21/12 FINAL WHITE Draft      58.53   CONTINUED:                                                      53                            JEAN                  I really need to get fucked up --                            STEVE                  You need to get what?                            JEAN                  You're bad --     Bill hustles out of the store, carrying several bags.                            BILL                  No Pinots, but they had some decent                  California Merlots.     Crawls into the car. Steve grins to Jean over the roof of     the car, climbs in behind the wheel.54   INT. VIOLET'S BEDROOM - DAY                                     54     The closet is mostly empty now, the bed overflowing with     discarded clothes. Mattie Fae nurses a cocktail, hands a             *     photo to Violet.                            VIOLET                  Look at me.                      (shows photo to Ivy)                  Look at me.                            IVY                  You're beautiful, Mom.                            VIOLET                  I was beautiful. Not anymore.              MATTIE FAE                               IVY     Oh, now --                           You're still beautiful.                            VIOLET (CONT'D)                  One of those lies we tell to give us                  comfort. Women are beautiful when                  they're young and not after. Men can                  still preserve their sex appeal into                  old age. Not those men like you see                  with shorts and those little purses                  around their waists. Some men can                  maintain a weary masculinity. Women                  just get old and fat and wrinkly.                            MATTIE FAE                  I beg your pardon?                            "August" 9/21/12 FINAL WHITE Draft   59.54   CONTINUED:                                                   54                            VIOLET                  Think about the last time you went to                  the mall and saw some sweet little gal                  and thought she's a cute trick. What                  makes her that way? Taut skin, firm                  boobs, an ass above her knees.                            MATTIE FAE                  I'm still very sexy, thank you very                  much.                            VIOLET                  You're about as sexy as a wet card-                  board box, Mattie Fae, you and me                  both. Look, wouldn't we be better off                  if we stopped lying about these things                  and told the truth? "Women aren't sexy                  when they're old." I can live with                  that. Can you live with that?                            MATTIE FAE                  What about Sophia Loren? What about                  Lena Horne? She stayed sexy till                  she was eighty.     Violet finds something else in the closet for Ivy to try.                            VIOLET                  The world is round. Get over it.                  Now try this dress on.                            IVY                  I'm sorry, I won't.                            VIOLET                  You don't know how to attract a man.                  I do. That's something I always --                            IVY                  We just buried my father, I'm not                  trying to attract --!                            VIOLET                  I'm not talking about today, dummy,                  this is something you can wear --                            IVY                  I have a man. All right?   I have                  a man.                            VIOLET                  You said you weren't looking for                  a man --                               "August" 9/21/12 FINAL WHITE Draft   60.54   CONTINUED:                                                      54                            IVY                  And I'm not. Because I have one.                  Okay? Now will you leave it alone?                 VIOLET                              MATTIE FAE     No, I won't leave it alone.           No, let's not leave it alone.                            IVY (CONT'D)                  I wish you both could see the                  brainsick looks on your faces --                               VIOLET                  Who is it?                             IVY                  Nobody.   Forget it --                            MATTIE FAE                  Tell us, is he someone from school?                  How old is he, what's he do --?                            IVY                  I'm not telling you anything so --                            MATTIE FAE                  You have to tell us something!                            IVY                  No, I really don't.                            VIOLET                  Are you in love, Ivy?                            IVY                  I...I don't...I'm...     Ivy bursts into awkward laughter, Vi and Mattie squeal.55   EXT. WESTON HOUSE - AFTERNOON                                   55     The Ferrari ROARS up the drive. Jean jumps out, races into     the house. Bill and Steve emerge, grab the wine.                            STEVE                  No, we maintain the accounts off-                  shore, just until we get approvals.                            BILL                  To get around approvals?                                "August" 9/21/12 FINAL WHITE Draft   61.55   CONTINUED:                                                       55                            STEVE                  To get around approvals until we get                  approvals. There's a lot of red tape,                  bureaucracy, I don't know how much you                  know about Florida, Florida politics --                            BILL                  Only what I read and that's --                            STEVE                  Right, right, this kind of business                  in particular.     Charlie, keys in hand, comes out, heading for his Caddie.                            BILL                  ...Charlie?                            CHARLIE                  Picking up Little Charles.     Charlie climbs in behind the wheel, pulls away.                            STEVE                  Little Charles?                            BILL                  His son. I'm sorry, what is your                         *                  business again?     They start up the porch steps with the wine.                            STEVE                  You know, it's essentially security                  work. The situation in the Middle East                  is perpetually dangerous, so there's a                  tremendous amount of money involved.                            BILL                  Security work. You mean... mercenary?56   INT. KITCHEN/WESTON LIVING ROOM - AFTERNOON                      56     Bill and Steve enter. Barbara's in the dining room with     Karen and Mattie Fae setting the table. Goes for the men.                                BARBARA                  Give.   Me.     The wine.     She pulls a bottle of Merlot from Bill's grocery bag. Hears     something, looks into the living room as she passes. Jean     has just turned on the TV, LOUD. Barbara stares for a beat.                             "August" 9/21/12 FINAL WHITE Draft   62.56   CONTINUED:                                                    56                            BARBARA (CONT'D)                  Is that what you were in such a hurry                  to get home for? What the hell's on                  TV that's so important you?                            JEAN                  Phantom of the Opera, 1925.                            BARBARA                  For God's sake, you can get it at                  any Blockbuster.                            JEAN                  They're showing it with the scene                  in color restored.     Steve's appeared in the living room archway.                             STEVE                  Cool.                            BARBARA                  Let me make sure I've got this: when                  you threw a fit about going to the                  store with your dad... Hey, look at                  me.                      (Jean does)                  And you were so distraught over the                  start time of your Grandpa's funeral.                  Was this your concern? Getting back                  here in time to watch Phantom of the                  Fucking Opera?                             JEAN                  I guess.     Barb gives Jean a withering look, exits. Bill takes the wine     from Steve, follows. Steve lingers, watching the TV.                            STEVE                  Phantom of the Opera, huh?                             JEAN                  Huh-uh.     Karen enters from the dining room, sidles up to Steve.                            KAREN                  Hi, doodle.                             STEVE                      (focused on the TV)                  Hey, baby.                            "August" 9/21/12 FINAL WHITE Draft   63.56   CONTINUED:                                                   56                            KAREN                      (in super-baby-voice)                  Hi, doodle!     Steve turns to her, embraces her. They kiss. His hands     wander, squeeze her ass. She giggles, then breaks it.                            KAREN (CONT'D)                  Come on, I want to show you our                  old fort. Man, the air in here                  just doesn't move.     She goes.    He starts, but stops.    Quietly to Jean:                            STEVE                  Hook you up, later.57   INT/EXT. GREYHOUND BUS/PARKING LOT - AFTERNOON               57     We're inside the bus, sitting next to a man, LITTLE CHARLES,     thirty-seven, rangy and awkward. He stares pensively out at     the passing Pawhuska storefronts as the bus SLOWS, pulls into     a parking lot next to the bank.     He spots Charlie, waiting, drinking a Coke. Little Charles     exhales, stands. Steps reluctantly out into the heat.                            LITTLE CHARLES                  I'm sorry, Dad.                            CHARLIE                  No need to apologize.                            LITTLE CHARLES                  I know Mom's mad at me.                            CHARLIE                  Don't worry about her.                            LITTLE CHARLES                  What did she say?                            CHARLIE                  Your mother, she says what she says.                            LITTLE CHARLES                  I set the alarm. I did.                            CHARLIE                  I know you did.                               "August" 9/21/12 FINAL WHITE Draft   64.57   CONTINUED:                                                      57                            LITTLE CHARLES                  I loved Uncle Bev, you know that.                            CHARLIE                  Stop apologizing.                            LITTLE CHARLES                  The power must've gone out. I woke                  up and the clock was blinking noon.                  That means the power went out, right?                               CHARLIE                  It's okay.                            LITTLE CHARLES                  I missed his funeral!                            CHARLIE                  It's a ceremony. It's ceremonial.                  It doesn't mean anything compared                  to what you have in your heart.                      (and, then)                  Hold on, comb your hair.     Charlie hands Little Charles his comb.                            LITTLE CHARLES                  Uncle Bev must be disappointed in me.                            CHARLIE                  Your Uncle Bev has got bigger and                  better things ahead of him. He                  doesn't have time for spite. He                  wasn't that kind of man anyway --     Charlie starts for the driver's side, stops when he sees     Little Charles weeping. Returns to him, comforts him.                            CHARLIE (CONT'D)                  Hey, hey. It's okay. It's okay, now...                            LITTLE CHARLES                  Just... I know how things are. I                  know how they feel about me and                  something like this... you want to be                  there for people, and I missed Uncle                  Bev's funeral, and I know how they                  feel about me --                             CHARLIE                  How who feels about you?    Feels what                  about you?                            "August" 9/21/12 FINAL WHITE Draft   65.57   CONTINUED:                                                   57                            LITTLE CHARLES                  All of them. I know what they say.                            CHARLIE                  They don't say things about you --                            LITTLE CHARLES                  I see how they are. I don't blame                  them. I'm sorry I let you down, Dad.                            CHARLIE                  You haven't let me down. You never                  let me down. Now listen...you're                  wrong about these people, they love                  you. Some of them haven't gotten a                  chance to see what I see: a fine man,                  very loving, with a lot to offer. Now                  take this...                      (a handkerchief)                  Give me my comb. Stand up straight,                  look folks in the eye. Stop being so                  hard on yourself.                            LITTLE CHARLES                  I love you, Dad.                            CHARLIE                  Love you too, son.58   EXT. WESTON BACKYARD - AFTERNOON                             58     Barbara bursts out of the back porch screen and into the     yard, heading to the old barn. Bill follows.                            BARBARA                  Phantom of the Opera --                            BILL                  You don't remember what it was like to                  be fourteen?                            BARBARA                  She's old enough to exhibit a little                  character. But that's something you                  normally learn from your parents.                            BILL                  That's a shot across my bow, right?                  I missed something.                               "August" 9/21/12 FINAL WHITE Draft   66.58   CONTINUED:                                                      58                            BARBARA                  Really? Instilling character: our                  burden as parents.                            BILL                  I got that part.                            BARBARA                  And you really haven't been much of a                  parent lately, so it's tough to --                            BILL                  Just because you and I are struggling                  with this Gordian knot doesn't mean --                            BARBARA                  Nice, "Gordian knot," but her fourteen-                  year-old self might view it differently,                  might consider it "abandonment" --                            BILL                  Oh, come on, she's a little more                  sophisticated than that, don't you                  think?     Barbara kicks at an old, stuck, door.       Enters --59   INT. THE WORKSHOP AT THE BACK OF THE BARN - DAY                 59     Makes her way to the back where old dinner chairs hang from     nails pounded into the overhead beams.                            BARBARA                  Pretty fucking sophisticated, the                  restored whatever from Phantom of                  the Opera, I know that makes your                  dick hard --                               BILL                  Barbara --                            BARBARA                  Precocious little shit.                            BILL                  I'm not defending her.                            "August" 9/21/12 FINAL WHITE Draft   67.59   CONTINUED:                                                   59                 BARBARA                               BILL        (voice rising)                       (voice rising)     I'm not blaming her, because         I'm on your side. How can we     I don't expect her to act any        fight when I'm on your side?     differently when her father          Barbara...Barbara, settle     is a selfish son-of-a-bitch.         down!                            BARBARA                  Be a father! Help me!                            BILL                  I am her father, goddamn it!                            BARBARA                  Her father in name only!                            BILL                  I have not forsook my                  responsibilities!     Barbara hands dusty battered chairs back to Bill.                            BARBARA                  It's "forsaken," big shot!                            BILL                  Actually, "forsook" is also an                  acceptable usage --!                            BARBARA                  Oh, "forsook" you and the horse                  you rode in on --     Each now with chairs in hand, head out into --60   EXT. THE BACK YARD - DAY                                      60     And the blinding sunlight.    Start back for the house.                            BILL                  You don't fight fair.                            BARBARA                  I've seen where that gets me! I'm                  sick of the whole notion of the                  enduring female. GROW UP! Cause                  while you're going through your fifth                  puberty, the world is falling apart                  and your kid can't handle it!                            "August" 9/21/12 FINAL WHITE Draft   68.60   CONTINUED:                                                   60                            BILL                  Our kid is just trying to deal with                  this goddamn madhouse you've dragged                  her into.                            BARBARA                  This madhouse is my home.                            BILL                  Think about that statement for a                  second, why don't you?                            BARBARA                  Jean is here with me because this                  is a family event.                            BILL                  Jean's here with you because she's                  a buffer between you and the shrill                  insanity of your mother.                            BARBARA                  Y'know, you'd have a lot more                  credibility if you had any                  credibility.                            BILL                  You can't resist, can you?                            BARBARA                  You're a pretty easy mark.                            BILL                  You're so goddamn self-righteous,                  you know? You're so --                            BARBARA                  Surely you must've known when you                  started porking Pippi Longstocking                  you were due for a little self-                  righteousness, just a smidge of                  indignation on my part --                            BILL                  Maybe I split because of it.     They've reached the back porch stairs. She turns on him.                            BARBARA                  Is this your confession, then, when                  you finally unload all?                             "August" 9/21/12 FINAL WHITE Draft   69.60   CONTINUED:                                                    60                            BILL                  You're thoughtful, Barbara, but you're                  not open. You're passionate, but                  you're hard. You're a good, decent,                  funny, wonderful woman, and I love                  you, but you're a pain in the ass.     Bill pushes past her up the stairs, disappears inside.61   INT. BEVERLY'S STUDY - AFTERNOON                              61     Violet stands in the middle of the room. Sunlight streams in     through the windows surrounding her. Approaches Beverly's     swivel chair, touches the back, ...slowly spins it ...sits.                            VIOLET                  August... your month. Locusts are                  raging, "Summer psalm become summer                  wrath." `Course it's only August out                  there. In here... who knows?                      (and then)                  All right... okay. "The Carriage held                  but just Ourselves," dum-de-dum...mm,                  best I got... Emily Dickenson's all I                  got... something something, "Horse's                  Heads Were Toward Eternity..."     Produces a bottle of pills, shakes one out, takes it.                            VIOLET (CONT'D)                  That's for me. One for me.     Surveys the photos behind his desk. The girls. Vi and Bev     together in happier times. Picks up the hardback Meadowlark     Bill left. Finds Beverly's reading glasses on the desk, puts     them on. Thumbs through it, finds the dedication: simply:                            VIOLET (CONT'D)                  For My Violet...     Violet smiles ruefully, takes another pill.                            VIOLET (CONT'D)                  For the girls, God love `em.     Surveys the book with something bordering on disgust.     Another pill. Sits. Waiting. For what? She's not sure.                             BARBARA (OS)                  Mom?!   Food's on the table!     She takes a final look around, takes one last pill.                         "August" 9/21/12 FINAL WHITE Draft   70.62   INT. DINING ROOM - AFTERNOON                                62     Johnna, Karen, Steve and Mattie Fae carry in serving dishes,     set them down on the already overladen table. Charlie pours     himself a sweet tea.                         KAREN               This is lovely! You do all this?                JOHNNA                         MATTIE FAE     Mm-hmm.                         She's a wonder, this one.     Bill passes through, carries us into the living room where he     finds Jean, still watching the movie.                         BILL               Turn that off, it's time to eat.                         JEAN               Don't suppose I could eat in here?                         BILL               You suppose right.     Ivy comes down the stairs, looking.                         IVY               Did I hear Little Charles?                         CHARLIE               He went back out to the car.63   EXT. BACK YARD - AFTERNOON                                  63     Ivy steps out onto the porch. Little Charles is by his     father's car, retrieving a Pyrex dish.                         LITTLE CHARLES               Mom's casserole.     Shuts the door, rests the casserole on the hood.                         IVY               They said you overslept.                         LITTLE CHARLES               Maybe I purposely accidentally               overslept. I don't know. I'm sorry.                         IVY               Please.                            "August" 9/21/12 FINAL WHITE Draft   71.63   CONTINUED:                                                   63                            LITTLE CHARLES                  I know you had one of the worst days                  of your life and I'm sorry if I --                            IVY                  We don't have to do that with each                  other.     She embraces him, kisses him. He looks toward the house.                            LITTLE CHARLES                  You're breaking our rule.                             IVY                  They're on to me. Not us, just me.                  I told them I was seeing someone. I                  didn't tell them who. I just wanted                  you to know, in case it came up.                      (he stares at her)                  What?                      (beat)                  Charles...                            LITTLE CHARLES                  I adore you.64   INT. DINING ROOM - AFTERNOON                                 64     Barbara, Bill, Mattie Fae, Charlie, Karen, and Steve are     already seated. The men have removed their suit coats.                            CHARLIE                  Pass the casserole, please?                            MATTIE FAE                  My casserole's coming.                            CHARLIE                  I'll eat some of yours, too --                            BARBARA                      (calling out)                  Mom?! Let's eat!     Little Charles and Ivy enter with the casserole.                            MATTIE FAE                  There he is. I wanted to put you at a                  kid's table but they wouldn't let me.                            LITTLE CHARLES                  Where do you want this?                            "August" 9/21/12 FINAL WHITE Draft      72.64   CONTINUED:                                                      64     Ad-lib greetings, hugs, handshakes, Karen's introduction of     Steve. Ivy slips in and takes her seat. Little Charles goes     to put Mattie Fae's casserole on the table, but drops it.     It lands on the floor with a sickening SPLAT.        LITTLE CHARLES (CONT'D)                       BILL     Oh Jesus --!                        Whoops.               MATTIE FAE                             STEVE     Goddamn it --!                      O-pah!                            MATTIE FAE                  You goddamn clumsy goofball!             LITTLE CHARLES                         CHARLIE     Mom, I'm so sorry --                All right, nobody's hurt.     Little Charles helps Johnna clean up the mess.                            MATTIE FAE (CONT'D)                  What about me? I'm hurt.                CHARLIE                          LITTLE CHARLES     You're not hurt.                    Mom, Jesus, I'm sorry --                            IVY                  It's just an accident.                            MATTIE FAE                  That's my casserole!                CHARLIE                              STEVE     Let it go, Mattie Fae.              It's not a party until                                         someone spills something.                            CHARLIE                  Jean, you didn't get any chicken.                BARBARA                               JEAN     No, she won't --                    I don't eat meat.                CHARLIE                              STEVE     You don't eat meat.                 Good for you.                            CHARLIE (CONT'D)                  "Don't eat meat." Okay. Who wants                  chicken? Little Charles, chicken?                            MATTIE FAE                  Just put it on his plate for him or                  he's liable to burn the house down.                             "August" 9/21/12 FINAL WHITE Draft   73.64   CONTINUED:                                                    64                            CHARLIE                  All right, Mattie Fae.                             BARBARA                  Mom...!     Violet enters with a small framed photo of her and Bev.                            VIOLET                  Barb... will you put this?                            BARBARA                  Yeah, sure.     Barbara takes it, places it on the sideboard.               MATTIE FAE                           KAREN     That's nice.                       That's sweet.                            VIOLET                  I see you gentlemen have stripped                  down to your shirt fronts. I thought                  we were having a funeral dinner, not                  a cockfight.     An awkward beat. The men glumly put their suit coats back on.                            VIOLET (CONT'D)                  Someone should probably say grace.                      (no response)                  Barbara?                            BARBARA                  Uncle Charlie should say it. He's                  the patriarch around here now.                             CHARLIE                  I am?   Oh, I guess I am.                            VIOLET                  By default.                            CHARLIE                  Okay.                      (clears his throat)                  Dear Lord...     All bow their heads.                            CHARLIE (CONT'D)                  We ask that you watch over this family                  in this sad time, O Lord...                            (MORE)                               "August" 9/21/12 FINAL WHITE Draft   74.64   CONTINUED:                                                      64                            CHARLIE (CONT'D)                  that you bless this good woman and                  keep her in your, in your... grace.     A cell phone RINGS, playing the theme from Sanford and Son.     Steve digs through his pockets, finds the phone, checks it.                            STEVE                  I have to take this.     Steve hustles into the kitchen to talk on the phone.                            CHARLIE                  We ask that you watch over Beverly,                  too, as he, as he... as he... makes                  his journey. We thank thee, O Lord,                  that we are able to join together to                  pay tribute to this fine man, in his                  house, with his beautiful daughters.                  We are truly blessed in our, our                  fellowship, our togetherness, our...                  our fellowship. Thank thee for the                  food, O Lord, that we can share this                  food and replenish our bodies with...                  nutrients. We ask that you help us...                  get better. Be better people.     Steve reenters from the kitchen, snapping his phone shut.                            CHARLIE (CONT'D)                  We recognize now more than ever the                  power, the... joy of family. We ask                  that you bless and watch over this                  family. Amen.                             STEVE                  Amen.   Sorry folks.                               BILL                  Let's eat.     They begin to eat.     Everyone but Violet, who smokes instead.                            VIOLET                  Barb, have any use for that sideboard?                               BARBARA                  Hm?                            VIOLET                  That sideboard there, you have any                  interest in that?                             "August" 9/21/12 FINAL WHITE Draft   75.64   CONTINUED:                                                    64                             BARBARA                  This?   Well... no.   I mean, why?                            VIOLET                  I'm getting rid of a lot of this                  stuff and I thought you might want                  that sideboard.                            BARBARA                  No, Mom, I... I wouldn't have any                  way to get that home to Colorado.                            KAREN                  Really pretty.                             VIOLET                  Mm.   Maybe Ivy'll take it.                            IVY                  I have something like that, remember --                            VIOLET                  Clearing all this out of here. I                  want to have a brand new everything.                            BARBARA                  I. I guess I'm just sort of... not                  prepared to talk about your stuff.                            VIOLET                  Suit yourself.                            STEVE                  This food is just spectacular.                 KAREN                           LITTLE CHARLES     It's so good --                     Yes, it is --                            IVY                  You like your food, Mom?                            VIOLET                  I haven't tried much of it, yet --                            BARBARA                  Johnna cooked this whole meal by                  herself.                            VIOLET                  `S what she's paid for.     A silent moment.                             "August" 9/21/12 FINAL WHITE Draft   76.64   CONTINUED:                                                    64                            VIOLET (CONT'D)                  Y'all did know she's getting paid,                  right?                            CHARLIE                  Jean, so I'm curious, when you say                  you don't eat meat, you mean you                  don't eat meat of any kind?                             JEAN                  Right.                            CHARLIE                  And is that for health reasons, or...?                            JEAN                  When you eat meat, you ingest an                  animal's fear.                            VIOLET                  Ingest what? It's fur?                             JEAN                  Fear.                            VIOLET                  I thought she said --                            CHARLIE                  How do you do that? You can't eat                  fear.                             JEAN                  Sure you can. What happens to you,                  when you feel afraid? Doesn't your                  body produce all sorts of chemical                  reactions?                             CHARLIE                  Does it?             LITTLE CHARLES                            IVY     It does.                             Yes.                            LITTLE CHARLES                  Adrenaline, and, and --                            JEAN                  Your body goes through a whole                  chemical process when it                  experiences fear.                            "August" 9/21/12 FINAL WHITE Draft   77.64   CONTINUED:                                                   64                            LITTLE CHARLES                  -- yep, and cortisol --                            JEAN                  Don't you think an animal                  experiences fear?                            STEVE                  You bet it does. I used to work in                  a cattle processing plant, lot of                  fear flying around that place.                            JEAN                  So when you eat an animal, you're                  eating all that fear it felt when                  it was slaughtered to make food.                            CHARLIE                  Wow. You mean I've been eating fear,                  what, three times a day for sixty                  years?                            MATTIE FAE                  This one won't have a meal `less                  there's meat in it.                            CHARLIE                  I guess it's the way I was raised,                  but it just doesn't seem like a                  legitimate meal `less it has some                  meat somewhere --                            MATTIE FAE                  If I make a pasta dish of some kind,                  he'll be like, "Okay, that's good for                  an appetizer, now where's the meat?"                            VIOLET                  "Where's the meat?" Isn't that some                  TV commercial, the old lady says,                  "Where's the meat?"                            KAREN                  "Beef," "Where's the beef?"                            VIOLET                      (screeching)                  "Where's the meat?!" "Where's the                  meat?!" "Where's the meat?!"                            BARBARA                  That's pleasant.                               "August" 9/21/12 FINAL WHITE Draft    78.64   CONTINUED:                                                       64                            CHARLIE                  I thought the services were lovely.                 KAREN                                STEVE     Yes, weren't they --?                Preacher did a fine job.     Vi sticks her hand out, flat, wiggles it back and forth.                            VIOLET                  Ehhhhh! I give it a...                      (repeats gesture)                  Ehhhhh!                  KAREN                              BARBARA     Really?   I thought it was --        Great, now we get some                                          dramatic criticism.                            VIOLET (CONT'D)                  Too much talk about poetry, teaching.                  He hadn't written any poetry to speak                  of since `65 and he never liked                  teaching worth a damn. Nobody talked                  about the good stuff. Man was a world-                  class alcoholic, more'n fifty years.                  Nobody told the story about that night                  he got wrangled into giving a talk at                  that TU alumni dinner...                      (laughs)                  Drank a whole bottle of Ron Bocoy                  White Rum -- don't know why I remember                  that -- and got up to give this talk,                  and he fouled himself! Comes back to                  our table with this huge --                            BARBARA                  Yeah, I can't imagine why no one told                  that story.                            STEVE                  I don't know much about poetry, but I                  thought his poems were extraordinary.                      (to Bill)                  And your reading was very fine.                               BILL                  Thank you.                            VIOLET                      (to Steve)                  Who are you?                            "August" 9/21/12 FINAL WHITE Draft   79.64   CONTINUED:                                                   64                            KAREN                  Mom, this is my fiance, Steve, I                  introduced you at the church.                            STEVE                  Steve Heidebrecht.                            VIOLET                  Hide-the-what?                            STEVE                  Heidebrecht.                            VIOLET                  Hide-a-burrr...German, you're a                  German.                            STEVE                  Well, German-Irish, really, I --                            VIOLET                  That's peculiar, Karen, to bring a                  date to your father's funeral. I                  know the poetry was good, but I                  wouldn't have really considered it                  date material --                            BARBARA                  Jesus.                            KAREN                  He's not a date, he's my fiance.                  We're getting married on New Years.                  In Miami, I hope you can make it.                            VIOLET                  I don't really see that happening, do                  you? Steve. That right? Steve?                            STEVE                  Yes, ma'am.                            VIOLET                  You ever been married before?                            KAREN                  That's personal.                            STEVE                  I don't mind. Yes, ma'am, I have.                            VIOLET                  More'n once?                            "August" 9/21/12 FINAL WHITE Draft    80.64   CONTINUED:                                                    64                            STEVE                  Three times, actually, three times                  before this --                            VIOLET                  You should pretty much have it down                  by now, then.                            STEVE                      (laughs)                  Right, right --     Everybody's eating, passing food. Vi turns to Mattie Fae.                            VIOLET                  I had that one pegged. I mean,                  look at him, you can tell he's                  been married.                            KAREN                  I took Steve out to show him the                  old fort and it's gone!                  IVY                               KAREN     That's been gone for years.        That made me so sad!                            BILL                  What is this now?                            KAREN                  Our old fort, where we used to play                  Cowboys and Indians.                            IVY                  Daddy said rats were getting in there.                            VIOLET                  Karen! Shame on you! Don't you know                  not to say Cowboys and Indians? You                  played Cowboys and Native Americans,                  right Barb?                            BARBARA                  What did you take?   What pills?                            VIOLET                  Lemme alone --     Charlie's silverware clatters to the floor.       He appears to be     having some kind of attack.                            CHARLIE                  Uh-oh!                              "August" 9/21/12 FINAL WHITE Draft   81.64   CONTINUED:                                                     64                            MATTIE FAE                  What is it?                              CHARLIE                  UH-OH!                            MATTIE FAE                  What's the matter?               LITTLE CHARLES                         IVY     Dad --?                             You okay, Uncle --                            CHARLIE                  I got a big bite of fear! I'm                  shakin' in my boots! Fear never                  tasted so good.     Laughter.    Charlie digs into his plate ravenously.                            STEVE                  Right, right, it's pretty good                  once you get used to the taste.                            BARBARA                  I catch her eating a cheeseburger                  every now and again.                              JEAN                  I do not!                            BARBARA                  Double cheeseburger, bacon, extra                  fear.                            JEAN                  Mom, you are such a liar!     More laughter. Violet stares at Jean.                            VIOLET                  Y'know...if I ever called my mom                  a liar? She would've knocked my                  goddamn head off my shoulders.     Silence.                            VIOLET (CONT'D)                  You girls know there's a will.                              BARBARA                  Mom...                             "August" 9/21/12 FINAL WHITE Draft   82.64   CONTINUED:                                                    64                            VIOLET                  We took care of it some time back.                            BARBARA                  Mom, we don't want to talk about this.                             VIOLET                  I want to talk about it. What about                  what I want to talk about, that count                  for anything?                      (beat)                  Bev made some good investments,                  believe it or not, and we had money                  for you girls in his will, but we                  talked it over after some years passed                  and decided to change things, leave                  everything to me. We never got                  around to taking care of it legally,                  but you should know he meant to                  leave the money to me.                             BARBARA                  Okay.                            VIOLET                  Okay?                      (looks to Ivy, Karen)                  Okay?                             IVY                  Okay.                             VIOLET                  Karen?   Okay?     Uncertain, Karen looks to Steve, then Barbara.                             BARBARA                  Okay.                             KAREN                  Okay.                            VIOLET                  Okay. But now some of this furniture,                  some of this old shit you can just                  have. I don't want it, got no use for                  it. Maybe I should have an auction.                            MATTIE FAE                  Sure, an auction's a fine idea --                               "August" 9/21/12 FINAL WHITE Draft   83.64   CONTINUED:                                                      64                            VIOLET                  Some things, though, like the silver,                  that's worth a pretty penny. But if                  you like I'll sell it to you,                  cheaper'n I might get in an auction.                            BARBARA                  Or you might never get around to                  the auction and then we can just                  have it for free after you die.                               IVY                  Barbara...     Beat.   Violet coolly studies Barbara.                            VIOLET                  You might at that.                            LITTLE CHARLES                  Excuse me, Bill? I'm wondering,                  the reading you did, those poems --?                            VIOLET                  Where are you living now, Bill?                  You want this old sideboard?                            BILL                  I beg your pardon.                            VIOLET                  You and Barbara are separated,                  right? Or you divorced already?                            BILL                  ...We're separated.                            VIOLET                      (to Barbara)                  Thought you could slip that one                  by me, didn't you?                            BARBARA                  What is the matter with you?                            VIOLET                  Nobody slips anything by me. I know                  what's what. Your father thought                  he's slipping one by me, right? No                  way. I'm sorry you two're having                  trouble, maybe you can work it out.                  Bev'n I separated a few times, course                  we didn't call it that.                             "August" 9/21/12 FINAL WHITE Draft   84.64   CONTINUED:                                                    64                            BARBARA                  Help us to benefit from an                  illustration of your storybook                  marriage.                            VIOLET                  Truth is, you can't compete with a                  younger woman. One of those unfair                  things in life. Is there a younger                  woman involved?                            BARBARA                  You've said enough on this topic,                  I think.                             BILL                  Yes.   There's a younger woman.                             VIOLET                  Y'see?   Odds're against you there,                  babe.                            IVY                  Mom believes women don't grow                  more attractive with age.                            KAREN                  Oh, I disagree, I --                            VIOLET                  I didn't say they "don't grow more                  attractive," I said they get ugly.                  And it's not really a matter of                  opinion, Karen dear. You've only                  just started to prove it yourself.                            CHARLIE                  You're in rare form today, Vi.                            VIOLET                  The day calls for it, doesn't it?                  What form would you have me in?                            CHARLIE                  I just don't understand why you're                  so adversarial.                             VIOLET                  I'm just truth-telling.                      (to Barbara)                  Some people get antagonized by                  the truth.                             "August" 9/21/12 FINAL WHITE Draft   85.64   CONTINUED:                                                    64                            CHARLIE                  Everyone here loves you, dear.                            VIOLET                  You think you can shame me, Charlie?                  Blow it out your ass.                            BARBARA                  Three days ago... I had to identify                  my father's corpse. Now I'm supposed                  to sit here and listen to you                  viciously attack each and every member                  of this family --     Violet rises, her voice booming.                            VIOLET                  Attack my family?! You ever been                  attacked in your sweet spoiled life?!                  Tell her `bout attacks, Mattie Fae,                  tell her what an attack looks like!               MATTIE FAE                              IVY     Vi, please --                        Settle down, Mom --                            VIOLET (CONT'D)                  Stop telling me to settle down, goddam                  it! I'm not a goddamn invalid! I                  don't need to be abided, do I?! Am                  I already passed over?!                             MATTIE FAE                  Honey --                            VIOLET                      (points to Mattie Fae)                  This woman came to my rescue when                  one of my dear mother's many gentlemen                  friends was attacking me, with a claw                  hammer! You think you been attacked?!                  What do you know about life on these                  Plains? What do you know about hard                  times?                            BARBARA                  I know you had a rotten childhood,                  Mom. Who didn't?                            VIOLET                  You DON'T know! You do NOT know! None                  of you know, `cept this woman right                  here and that man we buried today!                            (MORE)                             "August" 9/21/12 FINAL WHITE Draft   86.64   CONTINUED:                                                    64                            VIOLET (CONT'D)                  Sweet girl, sweet Barbara, my heart                  breaks for every time you ever felt                  pain. I wish I coulda shielded you                  from it. But if you think for a                  solitary second you can fathom the                  pain that man endured in his natural                  life, you got another think coming.                   *                  Do you know where your father lived                  from age four till about ten? Do you?     No one responds.                             VIOLET (CONT'D)                  Do you?!                             BARBARA                  No.                             IVY                  No.                            VIOLET                  In a Pontiac Sedan. With his mother,                  his father, in a fucking car! Now                  what do you want to say about your                  rotten childhood? That's the crux of                  the biscuit: we lived too hard, then                  rose too high. We sacrificed                  everything and we did it all for you.                  Your father and I were the first in                  our families to finish high school                  and he wound up an award-winning poet.                  You girls, given a college education,                  taken for granted no doubt, and                  where'd you wind up?                      (jabs a finger at Karen)                  Whadda you do?                      (jabs a finger at Ivy)                  Whadda you do?                      (jabs a finger at Barbara)                  Who're you? Jesus, you worked as                  hard as us, you'd all be President.                  You never had real problems so you got                  to make all your problems yourselves.                            BARBARA                  Why are you screaming at us?                             VIOLET                  Just time we had some truth's told                  `round here. Damn fine day, tell                  the truth.                               "August" 9/21/12 FINAL WHITE Draft   87.64   CONTINUED:                                                      64     There's a long pause as everyone gathers themselves, then:           *                            CHARLIE                  Well, the truth is... I'm getting                  full.                               STEVE                  Amen.                            JOHNNA                  There's dessert, too.                            KAREN                  I saw her making those pies.                  They looked so good.     Little Charles suddenly stands.                            LITTLE CHARLES                  I have a truth to tell.                               VIOLET                  It speaks.                            IVY                      (softly pleading )                  No, no --                            CHARLIE                  What is it, son?                            LITTLE CHARLES                  I have a truth.                            MATTIE FAE                  Little Charles...?                               LITTLE CHARLES                  I...                            IVY                  Charles, not like this, please...                            LITTLE CHARLES                  The truth is...I forgot to set the                  clock. The power didn't go out, I                  just...forgot to set the clock.                  Sorry, Mom. I'm sorry, everyone.                  Excuse me...I...I.     He stumbles from the room. A long moment, then --                               "August" 9/21/12 FINAL WHITE Draft   88.64   CONTINUED:                                                      64                            VIOLET                  Scintillating.                            MATTIE FAE                      (to Charlie)                  I gave up a long time ago... Little                  Charles is your project.                            IVY                      (near tears)                  Charles. His name is Charles.                               VIOLET                  Poor Ivy.     Poor thing.                            IVY                  Please, Mom...                               VIOLET                  Poor baby.                               IVY                  Please...                            VIOLET                  She always had a feeling for the                  underdog.                            IVY                  Don't be mean to me right now, okay?                            VIOLET                  Everyone's got this idea I'm mean                  all of a sudden.                            IVY                  Please, momma.                            VIOLET                  I told you, I'm just telling the --                            BARBARA                  You're a drug addict.                            VIOLET                  That is the truth! That's what I'm                  getting at! I, everybody listen... I                  am a drug addict. I am addicted to                  drugs, pills, specially downers.     She pulls a bottle from her pocket, holds them up.                            "August" 9/21/12 FINAL WHITE Draft   89.64   CONTINUED:                                                   64                            VIOLET (CONT'D)                  Y'see these little blue babies? These                  are my best fucking friends and they                  never let me down. Try to get `em                  away from me and I'll eat you alive.     Barbara lunges at the bottle, she and Vi wrestle for it.                            BARBARA                  Gimme those goddamn pills --                            VIOLET                  I'll eat you alive, girl!     Bill and Ivy try to restrain Barbara; Mattie Fae tries to     restrain Violet. Others rise, ad-lib. Pandemonium.                    STEVE                           IVY     Holy shit --                      Barbara, stop it --!                CHARLIE                             KAREN     Hey, now, c'mon --!               Oh God --     Violet wrests the pills from Barb. Bill pulls Barb back into     her seat. Violet shakes the bottle, taunting Barb. Barb     lunges again, grabs her mother by the hair, toppling chairs,     they crash into the --65   INT. LIVING ROOM - AFTERNOON                                 65     Tumble to the floor. Pandemonium, screaming. The family     rushes after them into the living room. Barb has her mother     pinned on the floor and is strangling her. Bill and Charlie     struggle to pull Barbara off, pry her fingers off Violet's     throat and get her away.     Johnna and Mattie Fae rush to Violet, get her to a chair.                            VIOLET                  Goddamn you... goddamn you, Barb...                            BARBARA                  Shut up!                      (silence)                  Okay. Pill raid. Johnna, help Ivy                  in the kitchen; Bill and Jean                  upstairs with me.                      (to Ivy)                  You remember how to do this, right?                            IVY                  Yeah...                               "August" 10/23/12 BLUE Draft   90.65   CONTINUED:                                                     65                            BARBARA                  Go through everything. Every closet,                  every drawer, every shoebox.                            CHARLIE                  What should we do?                            BARBARA                  Get Mom some black coffee, a wet                  towel and listen to her bullshit.                  Karen, call Dr. Burke.                            VIOLET                  You can't do this! This is my                  house! This is my house!                            BARBARA                  You don't get it, do you?     She strides to her mother, looms over her.                            BARBARA (CONT'D)                  I'M RUNNING THINGS NOW!66   INT. UPSTAIRS HALLWAY - LATE AFTERNOON                         66     The hallway is empty, but we hear the sounds of the search     coming from the bedroom. Barbara appears, looks through the     linen closet, looking behind stacked towels and old electric     blankets. Finds a bottle of pills in the back.     Ivy comes upstairs, followed closely by Karen. Hold out pill        *     bottles, Barb adds them to the ones she's already collected     in a large Ziplock bag.                            IVY                  That's all we could find.                              *     Barb heads for the bathroom, lifts the toilet seat. Begins          *     dumping pills into the bowl. Karen examines the bottles.            *                            KAREN                                        *                  Why'd Dr. Burke write her so many                      *                  prescriptions? Doesn't he know --?                     *                            IVY                                          *                  It's not just him.   She's got a doctor                *                  in every port.                                         *                                                                         *                                  "August" 11/09/12 Pink Draft   91.66    CONTINUED:                                                       66                             BARBARA                   You knew this was going on again?      Ivy shrugs. Finished emptying the pills, Barb flushes the              *      toilet, steps to her mother's open bedroom door, looks in.67    INT. VIOLET'S BEDROOM - LATE AFTERNOON                           67      Violet lays motionless on the bed in the semi-darkness,      facing the wall, still fully clothed. Ivy and Karen join her.      They stare at their mother's comatose form. Finally:                   *                               KAREN                   Now what?                             BARBARA                                         *                   Wine... lots of wine.                                     *A68   OMIT                                                             A68   *68    OMIT                                                             68    *69    OMIT                                                             69    *A70   EXT. WESTON HOUSE YARD/GAZEBO - NIGHT                            A70   *      Barbara, Ivy, Karen and the remains of the dinner wine sit             *      around the table in the backyard gazebo.                               *                             BARBARA                                         *                   Think we can goad Mom into giving                         *                   Burke her "greatest" generation                           *                   speech tomorrow, tell him about the                       *                   claw hammer?                                              *                                "August" 11/11/12 Yellow Pages 92.A70   CONTINUED:                                                 A70                             IVY                   Won't do any good, he's part of the                   same generation.                             BARBARA                   "Greatest Generation," my ass. What                 *                   makes them so great? Because they                   *                   were poor and hated Nazis? Who                   doesn't fucking hate Nazis? Remember                *                   when we checked her in the psych ward,                   that stunt she pulled?                             IVY                                       *                   Big speech, she's getting clean,                   making this incredible sacrifice for                   her family, she's let us down but now               *                   she'll prove she's a good mother.                             KAREN                   I wasn't there.                             BARBARA                   She smuggled Darvocet into the psych                   ward ...in her vagina. There's your                   Greatest Generation for you. She                   made this speech to us while she was                   clenching a bottle of pills in her                   cooch, for God's sake.                             KAREN                   God, I've never heard this story.                                 "August" 11/11/12 Yellow Pages 93.A70   CONTINUED:                                                  A70                             IVY                   Did you just say "cooch"?                             BARBARA                   The phrase "Mom's pussy" seems gauche.                             IVY                   You're a little more comfortable with                   "cooch," are you?                             BARBARA                   What word should I use to describe                   our mother's vagina?                             IVY                   I don't know, but --                             BARBARA                   "Mom's beaver"? "Mother's box"?                     IVY                                KAREN      Oh God --                           Barbara!      As their laughter slowly dies down --                             *                             KAREN                   One thing about Mom and Dad. You have                   to tip your cap to anyone who can stay                   married that long.                              IVY                   Karen.   He killed himself.                             BARBARA                   Is there something going on between                   you and Little Charles?                             IVY                   I don't know that I'm comfortable                   talking about that.                                "August" 11/09/12 Pink Draft   93A.A70   CONTINUED:                                                  A70                             BARBARA                   Because you know he's our first                   cousin.                             IVY                   Give me a break.                             KAREN                   You know you shouldn't consider                   children.                              IVY                   I can't anyway, I had a hysterectomy                   last year.      What? Barbara and Karen stare at Ivy.                                 "August" 10/23/12 BLUE Draft   94.A70   CONTINUED:                                                   A70                              KAREN                                      *                   Why?                             IVY                   Cervical cancer.                             KAREN                   I didn't know.                             BARBARA                   Neither did I.                             IVY                   I didn't tell anyone except Charles.                   That's where it started between us.                              BARBARA                   Why not?                             IVY                   And hear it from Mom the rest of my                   life? She doesn't need another excuse                   to treat me like some damaged thing.                             BARBARA                   You might have told us.                             IVY                   You didn't tell us about you and Bill.                             BARBARA                   That's different.                              IVY                   Why?   Because it's you, and not me?                             BARBARA                   Because divorce is an embarrassing                   public admission of defeat. Cancer's                   fucking cancer, you can't help that.                   We're your sisters.                             IVY                                         *                   I don't feel that connection very                     *                   keenly.                                               *                             KAREN                                       *                   I feel very connected, to both of you.                *                             IVY                                         *                   We never see you, you're never around,                *                   you haven't been around --                            *                                "August" 10/23/12 BLUE Draft   95.A70   CONTINUED:                                                  A70                             KAREN                                      *                   I still feel that connection!                        *                             IVY                   I can't perpetuate these myths of                   family or sisterhood anymore. We're                   just people, some of us accidentally                   connected by genetics, a random                   selection of cells.                                  *                             BARBARA                   When did you get so cynical?                             IVY                   That's funny, coming from you.                              BARBARA                   Bitter, sure, but "random selection                   of cells?"                             IVY                   Maybe my cynicism came with the                   realization that the responsibility of               *                   caring for our parents was mine alone.                             BARBARA                   Don't give me that. I participated --                             IVY                   Till you had enough and got out,                   you and Karen both. I'm not                   criticizing. Do what you want. You                   did, Karen did.                             BARBARA                   And if you didn't, that's not my                   fault.                             IVY                   That's right, so don't lay this sister                   thing on me, all right? When I leave                 *                   here I won't feel any more guilty than               *                   you two did.                                         *                              KAREN                                     *                   I can't believe your world view is                   *                   this dark.                                           *                             IVY                                        *                   You live in Florida.                                 *                                                                        *                                 "August" 11/09/12 Pink Draft   96-97.A70   CONTINUED:                                                    A70                             BARBARA                   You're thinking of leaving?                             IVY                   Charles and I are going to New York.      Barb bursts out in derisive laughter.      Karen joins her.                             BARBARA                   What are you going to do in New York?                             IVY                   We have plans.                                BARBARA                   Like what?                             IVY                   None of your business.                             BARBARA                   What about Mom?                             IVY                   What about her?                             BARBARA                   You feel comfortable leaving Mom here?                              IVY                   Do you?                       (then)                   You think she was tough when he was                   alive? Think what it's going to be                   like now.                                              *                       (to Karen)                   You're going back to Miami, right?                                KAREN                   Yes.      Ivy stands, gathers up her wine glass.                                "August" 10/23/12 BLUE Draft   98.A70   CONTINUED:                                                  A70                             IVY                                        *                   There you go, Barb. You want to know                 *                   what we're doing about Mom? Karen and                *                   I are leaving. You want to stay,                     *                   that's your decision. But nobody gets                *                   to point a finger at me. Nobody.                     *      Ivy starts back for the house.                                    *70    OMIT                                                         70   *71    OMIT                                                         71   *72    EXT. WESTON HOUSE YARD - NIGHT                               72   *      The Weston women head for the house.                              *                             VIOLET                                     *                   My girls all together. Hearing you                   *                   just now gave me a warm feeling.                     *      Violet, sits on the swing in the semi-darkness, smoking, her      *      hair wrapped in a towel. They hadn't seen her. How long has       *      she been there?                                                   *                                 "August" 10/23/12 BLUE Draft   99.72   CONTINUED:                                                       72                            BARBARA                                        *                  You had a bath?                                          *                              VIOLET                                       *                  Uh-huh...                                                *                            BARBARA                  You need something to eat?   More                        *                  coffee?                             VIOLET                  No, honey, I'm fine.                      (then)                  This house must have heard a lot of                  Weston girl secrets.     Karen moves to her mother, sits next to her on the swing.     Barb leans against a fence post, Ivy hangs back.                      *                            KAREN                  I get embarrassed just thinking                  about it.     Karen takes a tube of hand creme from her purse.                            VIOLET                  Oh... nothing to be embarrassed                  about. Secret crushes, secret                  schemes. Province of teenage girls.                  I can't imagine anything more                  delicate, or bittersweet. Some part                  of you girls I always identified                  with... no matter how old you get, a                  woman's hard-pressed to throw off                  that part of herself.                      (to Karen, re: hand creme)                  That smells good.                            KAREN                  It's apple. You want some?                            VIOLET                  Yes, please.     Violet puts out her cigarette. Karen passes her the creme.                            VIOLET (CONT'D)                  I ever tell you the story of Raymond                  Qualls? Not much story to it. Boy I                  had a crush on when I was thirteen or                  so. Rough-looking boy, beat-up Levis,                  messy hair. Terrible underbite.                            (MORE)                             "August" 9/21/12 FINAL WHITE Draft   100.72   CONTINUED:                                                    72                            VIOLET (CONT'D)                  But he had these beautiful cowboy                  boots, shiny chocolate leather. He                  was so proud of those boots, you could                  tell, way he'd strut around, all arms                  and elbows, puffed up and cocksure. I                  decided I needed to get a girly pair                  of those same boots and I convinced                  myself he'd ask me to go steady. He'd                  see me in those boots and say "Now                  there's the gal for me."     Violet lights another cigarette.                                    *                            VIOLET (CONT'D)                  Found the boots in a window downtown                  and just went crazy: praying for those                  boots, rehearsing the conversation I'd                  have with Raymond when he saw me in my                  boots. Must've asked my momma a                  hundred times if I could get those                  boots. "What do you want for                  Christmas, Vi?" "Momma, I'll give all                  of it up just for those boots."                  Bargaining, you know? She started                  dropping hints about a package under                  the tree she had wrapped up, about the                  size of a boot box, nice wrapping                  paper. "Now, Vi, don't you cheat and                  look in there before Christmas                  morning." Little smile on her face.                  Christmas morning, I was up like a                  shot, boy, under the tree, tearing                  open that box. There was a pair of                  boots, all right... men's work boots,                  holes in the toes, chewed up laces,                  caked in mud and dog shit. Lord, my                  momma laughed for days.     Silence.                             BARBARA                  Please don't tell me that's the end of                  the story.                             VIOLET                  Oh, no.   That's the end.     Ivy shakes her head, goes inside. She's had enough of Violet     to last a lifetime.                            KAREN                  You never got the boots?                               "August" 11/09/12 Pink Draft   101.72   CONTINUED:                                                      72                            VIOLET                  No, huh-uh.                            BARBARA                  Okay, well, that's the worst story I                  ever heard. That makes me wish for a                  heartwarming claw hammer story.                            VIOLET                  My momma was a nasty-mean old lady.   I                  suppose that's where I get it from.     An awkward moment.                            KAREN                  You're not nasty-mean. You're our                  mother and we love you.                            VIOLET                  Thank you, sweetheart.     Karen leans her head against her mother's shoulder, takes her     mother's hand. Off Barbara, watching this --73   INT. GUEST ROOM - EARLY MORNING                                 73     Barbara wakes, takes a moment to get her bearings. Early     sunlight pours in. Bill's still asleep. She sits up,     studies him. Surprised to find him beside her.74   OMIT                                                            74   *75   OMIT                                                            75   *                            "August" 11/09/12 Pink Draft   102.76   INT/EXT. BACKYARD - EARLY MORNING                            76   *     Barbara stands in the door. Closes her eyes, letting the          *     early morning sun warm her. After a long moment, Johnna     appears with a coffee mug. Barb takes it, nods her thanks.                         BARBARA               Last time I spoke with my father, we               talked about the state of the world,               and he said, "You know, this country               was always pretty much a whorehouse,               but at least it used to have some               promise. Now it's just a shithole."               I think maybe he was talking about               something else, something more               specific, personal... this house? This               family? His marriage? Himself?               There was something sad in his voice--               not sad, he always sounded sad --               hopeless. As if it had already               happened. As if whatever was               disappearing had already disappeared.               And no one saw it go. This country,               this experiment, America, this hubris:               what a lament, if no one saw it go.                         JOHNNA               Mrs. Fordham, are you going to               fire me?                         BARBARA               What? No. But I'll understand if               you want to quit. I mean, there's               work. And then there's work.                         JOHNNA               I'm familiar with this job. I can               do this job. I don't do it for you               or Mrs. Weston. Or even for Mr.               Weston. Right? I do it for me.                         BARBARA               Why?                         JOHNNA               I need the work.                         BARBARA               Johnna, did my father say anything to               you?                            "August" 9/21/12 FINAL WHITE Draft   103.76   CONTINUED:                                                   76                             JOHNNA                  He just seemed like maybe he had... he                *                  talked about...                      (beat)                  He talked a lot about his daughters,                  his three daughters, and his                  granddaughter. That was his joy.                            BARBARA                  Thank you. That makes me feel better.                  Knowing that you can lie.     Johnna smiles.77   INT. DOCTOR'S OFFICE/WAITING ROOM - DAY                       77     Barbara sits opposite DR. BURKE, a genial, charming and     remotely creepy small town doctor. Ivy stands. Violet is     visible out in the waiting room, Karen sitting with her.                            DR. BURKE                  The chemotherapy and the radiation,                  coupled with the overuse of pain                  medications --                            BARBARA                  -- right --                            DR. BURKE                  -- and without the benefit of more                  thorough testing, an MRI or CT scan, I                  believe your mother is showing signs                  of Mild Cognitive Impairment.                            BARBARA                  Mild Cognitive Impairment?                            DR. BURKE                  Brain damage. It may be time to                  consider placing her in a long term                  care facility. I'd certainly feel                  more comfortable knowing she was                  receiving that level of supervision.                            BARBARA                  That would make you comfortable?   You                  would be comfortable with that?                            DR. BURKE                  Of course, it's a family decision.                               "August" 9/21/12 FINAL WHITE Draft   104.77   CONTINUED:                                                      77                            BARBARA                  You want us to send her to where, a                  psychiatric hospital?                            DR. BURKE                  Well, Beverly's gone.                            BARBARA                  Right. Not "gone" so much as "dead,"                  but I see your point.     Ivy suppresses a laugh.       Burke looks at Ivy, confused.                            DR. BURKE                  Legal guardianship for you and your                  sisters, with my recommendation,                  should be a simple --                            IVY                  Leave me out of this, thanks.                            BARBARA                  So you're thinking that if the                  three of us cooperated with you on                  a commitment end-around, we'd be                  less likely to sue your ass?                               DR. BURKE                  I'm sorry?                            BARBARA                  "Mild Cognitive Impairment?" Are you                  fucking kidding me? You really want                  to go before a judge and make a case                  for a couple radiation treatments and                  some chemo causing brain damage?                  Think you can make that stand up in                  court? When I'm sitting at the other                  table, doing this?     Barbara pulls out the Ziplock bag, throws a pill bottle at     Dr. Burke, bouncing it lightly off his head.                            DR. BURKE                  All right, I think --     Throws another pill bottle at him.                            BARBARA                  Know whose name is on these bottles?     She hits him with another pill bottle.                            "August" 9/21/12 FINAL WHITE Draft   105.77   CONTINUED:                                                   77                            DR. BURKE                  Your mother is a very --     She hits him with another pill bottle.                            IVY                  Barb...     She hits him with another pill bottle. He relents, waits for     her to get it out of her system. Only one problem with that     idea, though --     She hits him with another pill bottle.     Another pill bottle. And another pill bottle.     She pauses.    It seems she's done.     But then, another pill bottle.       And another.                            BARBARA                  We'll hang on to the bucket of these                  we have at home. For evidence. For                  your trial.     She gets up to go, gets to the door, turns and fires one last     pill bottle at him. Leaves. Ivy lingers, grins at Burke.78   INT/EXT. TALLGRASS PRAIRIE PRESERVE/BEV'S LINCOLN - DAY       78     The sun parched Indian grass and Turkey Toot are wilting but     stirred by prairie winds. Bev's old Lincoln follows a thread     of blacktop through the tall grass. Barb drives, Ivy up     front. Karen's in the back with Violet.                            VIOLET                  Pull the car over.                            BARBARA                  We'll be home in a few minutes.                             VIOLET                  Pull the car over.                      (beat)                  I'm going to be sick.     Barbara looks back, sees her mother means this literally,     pulls to the side of the road. Violet gets out quickly.     We stay with Barbara as she climbs out of the car, stares     across the road, waiting for Violet, who can be heard     retching. Karen and Ivy still in the car.                             "August" 9/21/12 FINAL WHITE Draft   106.78   CONTINUED:                                                    78     The sound fades as Barbara contemplates the prairie and for a     long moment... loses herself, back to this land, to her home.     Her expression is unreadable, enigmatic.     Then behind her, out of focus, we become aware of Violet     running away, across the prairie, through the tall grass.     Barbara turns, simply to get back in the car, sees Violet     running through the field.                             BARBARA                  Mom?     Violet keeps running.                             BARBARA (CONT'D)                  Mom?!   Where are you going?     Barbara watches for another moment.                            BARBARA (CONT'D)                  Goddamn it. Mom!     Barbara takes off after her. Ivy and Karen climb out, but     don't follow. Shield their eyes to watch the chase.     It's an odd sight, the two women, racing through the grass.     One almost seventy, the other nearing fifty.     Barbara is slow in her pursuit at first, maybe because of her     shoes, or maybe because she just feels silly. Then realizes     that Violet is not stopping... not unless Barbara stops her.     Violet runs through the tall grass, puts a foot wrong, goes     down. Barbara catches up, out of breath, collapses. They     lay on the ground, wheezing, sweating.                            BARBARA (CONT'D)                  Where the fuck are you going, Mom?     And now we see the full beauty of the land, the distant     horizon, the high cumulous clouds, the endless blue sky.     Barb and Violet two dots, lost in the unforgiving prairie.                            BARBARA (CONT'D)                  There's nowhere to go.79   INT/EXT. LINCOLN/WESTON HOUSE DRIVEWAY - AFTERNOON             79     Barb pulls the Lincoln in beside Charlie's Caddie and Ivy's     Honda. Shuts off the engine. Ivy and Karen climb out, start     back for the house. Barbara turns to Violet.                               "August" 9/21/12 FINAL WHITE Draft   107.79   CONTINUED:                                                      79                               BARBARA                  I'm sorry.                            VIOLET                  Please, honey --                            BARBARA                  No, it's important I say this. I lost                  my temper at dinner and went too far.                    *                            VIOLET                  Barbara. The day, the funeral... the                  pills. I was spoiling for a fight and                  you gave it to me.                            BARBARA                  So... truce?                            VIOLET                      (laughs)                  Truce.     They take a long moment, then --                                      *                               BARBARA                  What now?                            VIOLET                  How do you mean?                            BARBARA                  Don't you think you should at least                  consider a rehab center?     Karen turns, realizing they're not following. Should she go     back to the car? She decides no, continues inside.                            VIOLET                  I can't go through that again. No, I                  can do this. You got rid of my pills,                  right?                            BARBARA                  All we could find.                            VIOLET                  I don't have that many hiding places.                            BARBARA                  Mom, now, come on.                            VIOLET                  You wanna search me?                              "August" 9/21/12 FINAL WHITE Draft   108.79   CONTINUED:                                                     79                              BARBARA                  Uh... no.                            VIOLET                  If the pills are gone, I'll be fine.                  Just need a few days to get my feet                  under me.                            BARBARA                  I can't imagine what all this must                  be like for you right now. I just                  want you to know, you're not alone.                  If you need any help --                            VIOLET                  I don't need help.                            BARBARA                  I want to help.                            VIOLET                  I don't need your help.                              BARBARA                  Mom.                            VIOLET                  I don't need your help. I've gotten                  myself through some... I know how this                  goes: once all the talking's through,                  people go back to their own nonsense.                  I know that. So, don't worry about me.                  I'll manage. I get by.     Violet gets out, heads inside.      Barbara watches her go.80   INT. WESTON HOUSE, LIVING ROOM - AFTERNOON                      80     Ivy finds Little Charles watching television.                            IVY                  Is the coast clear?                            LITTLE CHARLES                  Never very.     Ivy waits until Karen passes through, heads upstairs.                            IVY                  What are you watching?                                 "August" 9/21/12 FINAL WHITE Draft   109.80   CONTINUED:                                                        80                            LITTLE CHARLES                  Television.                            IVY                  Can I watch it with you?                            LITTLE CHARLES                  I wish you would.     She sits beside him on the couch.                            LITTLE CHARLES (CONT'D)                  I almost blew it last night.                      (she nods)                  Are you mad at me?                                 IVY                  Nope.     They hold hands.                            LITTLE CHARLES                  I was trying to be brave.                                 IVY                  I know.                            LITTLE CHARLES                  I just... I want everyone to know                  that I got what I always wanted.                  And that means... I'm not a loser.                                 IVY                  Hey.    Hey.     He turns to look at her.                            IVY (CONT'D)                  You're my hero.     He considers this... then breaks into a huge smile, mutes the     TV, goes to the ancient, oak, electric piano, turns it on.                            LITTLE CHARLES                  Come on, help me push the pedal.     She joins him on the piano bench.                            LITTLE CHARLES (CONT'D)                  I wrote this for you.     He plays, and quietly sings a gentle but quirky love song.     It's charming, touching.                            "August" 9/21/12 FINAL WHITE Draft   110.80   CONTINUED:                                                   80     She smiles, he smiles back. Midway through, Mattie Fae     enters, watches for a moment. Then breaks the spell.                            MATTIE FAE                  Liberace. Get yourself together,                  we have to get home and take care                  of those damn dogs. They've probably                  eaten the drapes by now.     Charlie comes down the stairs with their overnight bag.                            CHARLIE                  I'm sure the house is fine.                            MATTIE FAE                      (notices the TV)                  Oh, look, honey, Little Charles has                  got the TV on.                            LITTLE CHARLES                  No, I was just --                            MATTIE FAE                  This one watches so much television,                  it's rotted his brain.                            IVY                  I'm sure that's not true.                             MATTIE FAE                  What was it I caught you watching the                  other day?                            LITTLE CHARLES                  I don't remember.                            CHARLIE                  Mattie Fae --                            MATTIE FAE                  You do so remember, some dumb talk                    *                  show about people swapping wives.                            LITTLE CHARLES                  I don't remember.                            MATTIE FAE                  You don't remember.                      (to Ivy)                  Too bad there isn't a job where they                  pay you to sit around watching TV.                            "August" 9/21/12 FINAL WHITE Draft   111.80   CONTINUED:                                                   80                            CHARLIE                  C'mon, Mattie Fae --                            MATTIE FAE                      (still to Ivy)                  Y'know he got fired from a shoe store?                            CHARLIE                  Mattie Fae, we're gonna get in the                  car and go home and if you say one                  more mean thing to that boy I'm going                  to kick your fat Irish ass onto the                  highway. You hear me?                            MATTIE FAE                  What the hell did you say--?                            CHARLIE                  You kids go outside, would you please?     Ivy and Little Charles go.                            CHARLIE (CONT'D)                  I don't understand this meanness. I                  look at you and your sister and the                  way you talk to people and I don't                  understand it. I can't understand why                  folks can't be respectful of one                  another. I don't think there's any                  excuse for it. My family didn't treat                  each other that way.                            MATTIE FAE                  Maybe that's because your family --                            CHARLIE                  You had better not say anything about                  my family right now. I mean it. We                  buried a man yesterday I loved very                  much. And whatever faults he may have                  had, he was a good, kind, decent                  person. And to hear you tear into                  your own son not even a day later                  dishonors Beverly's memory. We've                  been married thirty-eight years. I                  wouldn't trade them for anything. But                  if you can't find a generous place in                  your heart for your own son, we're not                  going to make it to thirty-nine.     He goes. She takes a moment to collect herself, turns to     follow, finds Barbara standing out in the open kitchen door.       *     There's an awkward moment.                              "August" 9/21/12 FINAL WHITE Draft   112.80   CONTINUED:                                                     80                            BARBARA                  I didn't mean to eavesdrop.   I froze.                            MATTIE FAE                  That's -- you have a cigarette, hon?                            BARBARA                  No, I quit years ago.                            MATTIE FAE                  So did I. Just sounded good to me.                  I thought at dinner... at that                  horrible dinner last night, seemed                  like, something might be going on                  between Ivy and Little Charles. Do                  you know if that's true?                            BARBARA                  Oh, this is...I'm not sure what to...                            MATTIE FAE                  Look, just. Is it true?                              BARBARA                  Yes.    It's true.                             MATTIE FAE                  Okay.   That can't happen.                              BARBARA                  This is   going to be difficult, uh...                  Ivy and   Little Charles have always                  marched   to their own... and I'd expect                  this to   be toughest on you --                              MATTIE FAE                  Barb...?                            BARBARA                  They're in love. Or they think they                  are. What's the difference, right?                              MATTIE FAE                  Honey --                            BARBARA                  I know it's unorthodox for cousins to                  get together, at least these days --                            MATTIE FAE                  They're not cousins.                              "August" 9/21/12 FINAL WHITE Draft   113.80   CONTINUED:                                                     80                            BARBARA                  -- but believe it or not, it's not as                  uncommon as you might --                            MATTIE FAE                  Listen to me. They're not cousins.                            BARBARA                  Beg pardon?                            MATTIE FAE                  Little Charles is not your cousin.                  He's your brother. He's your blood                  brother. He is not your cousin. He                  is your blood brother. Half-brother.                  He's your father's child. Which                  means that he is Ivy's brother. Do                  you see? Little Charles and Ivy are                  brother and sister.     Karen and Steve enter from outside.                              BARBARA                  Go away.                            KAREN                  We're just going to --                             BARBARA                  Go away!   NOW! GO AWAY!     Karen and Steve retreat.      Barbara stares at Mattie Fae.                            BARBARA (CONT'D)                  You and Dad.                      (Mattie Fae nods)                  Who knows this?                              MATTIE FAE                  I do.    And you do.                            BARBARA                  Uncle Charlie doesn't suspect?                            MATTIE FAE                  We've never discussed it.                              BARBARA                  What?!                            MATTIE FAE                  We've never discussed it. Okay?                               "August" 9/21/12 FINAL WHITE Draft   114.80   CONTINUED:                                                      80                            BARBARA                  Did Dad know?                             MATTIE FAE                  Yes.   Y'know, I'm not proud of this.                            BARBARA                  Really. You people amaze me. What,                  were you drunk? Was this just some --                            MATTIE FAE                  I wasn't drunk, no. Maybe it's hard                  for you to believe, looking at me,                  knowing me the way you do, all these                  years. I know to you, I'm just your                  old fat Aunt Mattie Fae. I'm more                  than that, sweetheart, there's more to                  me than that. I don't know why Little                  Charles is such a disappointment to                  me. Maybe he, well, I don't know why.                  I'm disappointed for him, more than                  anything. I made a mistake, a long                  time ago. Okay? I paid for it. But                  the mistake ends here.                            BARBARA                  If Ivy found out, it would destroy                  her.                            MATTIE FAE                  I'm sure as hell not gonna tell her.                  You have to find a way to stop it.                  You have to put a stop to it.81   EXT. WESTON HOUSE BACKYARD - NIGHT                               81     It's late, the house still. We MOVE through dark rooms,     drawn to the murmur of SOUND and a faint sound coming from     outside the kitchen --                            JEAN (OS)                  You weren't kidding, this stuff is                  strong.                            STEVE (OS)                  Florida, baby. Number one industry.                               JEAN                  Who cares?                             "August" 9/21/12 FINAL WHITE Draft   115.81   CONTINUED:                                                    81     Slowly DISCOVER: Jean and Steve sharing a joint, out by the     fence. She wears a long T-shirt; he wears sweat pants and a     sleeveless T-shirt. Both are barefoot.                            STEVE                  Number one by far. Want a shotgun?                      (off her look)                  You don't know what a shotgun is?                            JEAN                  I know what a shotgun is.                            STEVE                  Not that kind of shotgun, here. Just                  put your lips right next to mine and                  you inhale while I exhale.                             JEAN                  Okay.     He puts the joint in his mouth, lit end first. Their lips     nearly touch as he blows marijuana smoke into her mouth in a     steady stream. She nearly chokes.                             STEVE                  Hold it.   Don't let it out.     She finally gasps, exhales, coughs.                            STEVE (CONT'D)                  That's a kick, huh?82   INT. THE ATTIC ROOM - NIGHT                                    82     Johnna wakes. Listens. Sits up.83   INT. ATTIC STAIRS/UPSTAIRS HALLWAY - NIGHT                     83     Johnna makes her way down the attic stairs and into the     second floor hallway, the whispers below unintelligible.84   INT. MAIN STAIRCASE/HALLWAY                                    84     Johnna steps into the main hallway.      Drawn to whispers, and     giggling from outside in the yard.                            STEVE (OS)                  ...Show `em to me... I won't look.                             "August" 9/21/12 FINAL WHITE Draft   116.84   CONTINUED:                                                    84                            JEAN (OS)                  If you won't look, there's no point                  in showing them to you.                            STEVE (OS)                  Okay, okay... I'll look.                            JEAN (OS)                  You're just an old perv...                            STEVE (OS)                  Christ, you got a great set. Show you                  mine if you'll show me yours.                            JEAN (OS)                  I don't want to see yours, perv.     Johnna approaches carefully, can't yet see them.                            STEVE (OS)                  You ever seen one?                            JEAN (OS)                  What are you doing?                             STEVE (OS)                  Nothing.                            JEAN (OS)                  You're gonna get us both in trouble.                            STEVE (OS)                  I'm white and over thirty.    I don't                  get in trouble.     Johnna pushes out the screen to DISCOVER: Steve kissing and     groping Jean, sliding his hand down between her legs.     Johnna grabs a shovel leaning against the storm cellar door.     Jean and Steve, clothes in disarray, quickly separate.                    JEAN                              STEVE     Oh my God...                         Ho, fuck!     Johnna approaches Steve menacingly.                            STEVE (CONT'D)                  Hold up there, lady, you don't --     Johnna SWINGS the shovel, barely misses Steve's nose.     Bedroom lights above SNAP ON.                            "August" 9/21/12 FINAL WHITE Draft    117.84   CONTINUED:                                                    84                            STEVE (CONT'D)                  Hey, goddamn it, careful!     She swings again, HARD. The shovel SMACKS into the arm he     puts up to block her smashing his head with the spade.                            STEVE (CONT'D)                  Ow, goddamn --!     He holds his arm in pain. She wades in with a strong swing     and CONNECTS with his back. He goes down. Johnna stands     above him, arm cocked, watching for him to try and get up.     He doesn't. Karen rushes out, sees Steve on the floor.                            KAREN                  What happened?!                            JOHNNA                  He was messing with Jean --                            KAREN                  Honey, you're bleeding, you okay?     He groans, tries to sit up.    Bill and Barbara run in.                            BARBARA                  Jean, what are you doing up?                            JEAN                  We were, I don't know --                 BARBARA                            BILL     Who was?   Are you alright?       Do I need to call a doctor?             JEAN (CONT'D)                         KAREN     Yeah, I'm fine.                   I don't know.                            BARBARA                  Johnna, what's going on?                            JOHNNA                  He was messing with Jean, so I                  tuned him up.                BARBARA                             BILL     Messing with, what do you         What...what's that mean?     mean, messing with?                            JOHNNA (CONT'D)                  He was kissing and grabbing her.                            "August" 9/21/12 FINAL WHITE Draft      118.84   CONTINUED:                                                      84     This information settles in... then Barbara attacks Steve,     who's just gotten to his feet. Karen gets between them.     Bill grabs Barbara from behind, trying to pull her away.                            BARBARA                  I'll murder you, you prick!                            STEVE                  I didn't do anything!                  JEAN                                KAREN     Mom, stop it!                        Settle down --!                            BARBARA                  You know how old that girl is?                            STEVE                      (to Jean)                  Tell them I didn't do anything!                            BARBARA                  She's fourteen years old!            BARBARA (CONT'D)                          KAREN     Are you out of your goddamn          Barbara, just back off!     mind?     Karen manages to get Steve up the porch steps and into the     house. Barbara, Bill, Jean, and Johnna remain.                            BARBARA (CONT'D)                  Son-of-a-bitch is a goddamn sociopath!                            JEAN                  What is the matter with you? Will                  you please stop freaking out?                            BILL                  Why don't you start at the beginning?                            BARBARA                  What are you even doing up?                            BILL                  Please, sweetheart, we need to know                  what went on here.                            JEAN                  Nothing "went on." Can we just not                  make a federal case out of every                  thing? I came down for a drink, he                  came in... end of story. All right?                            "August" 9/21/12 FINAL WHITE Draft    119.84   CONTINUED:                                                    84                BARBARA                             BILL     That's not the end of the         That's not the end of the     story.                            story.                            JEAN (CONT'D)                  We smoked pot, alright? We smoked                  a little pot, and we were goofing                  around, and then everything just                  went crazy.                BARBARA                             BILL     What have I told you about        Then Johnna just chose to     smoking that shit?! What did      attack him with a shovel?     I say?                            JEAN (CONT'D)                  It's no big deal, nothing happened.                            BARBARA                  Just tell me what he did!                            JEAN                  He didn't do anything!    What's the                   *                  big deal?                            BILL                  The big deal, Jean, is that you're                  fourteen years old.                            JEAN                  Which is only a few years younger                  than you like `em.     Barbara SLAPS Jean; Jean bursts into tears.                            JEAN (CONT'D)                  I hate you!                            BARBARA                  Yeah, I hate you too, you little                  freak!     Jean tries to head into the house.       Bill grabs her.                    BILL                                 JEAN     Jean--                            Let me go!     Jean pulls free, runs off.    Bill gets in Barbara's face.                            BILL                  What's the matter with you?                            "August" 9/21/12 FINAL WHITE Draft      120.84   CONTINUED:                                                      84     Bill exits, pursuing Jean.       Barbara and Johnna are left     standing there, then:     WE FOLLOW Barb into the kitchen and up the stairs to --85   INT. THE GUEST BEDROOM - NIGHT                                   85     Karen is pulling on a sweatshirt, grabbing their clothes,     stuffing them into a suitcase.                            KAREN                  I can do without a speech.                            BARBARA                  Where is he?                            KAREN                  Out at the car. We're leaving.                  Back to Florida, tonight, now.                  Me and Steve, together. Want to                  give me some grief about that?                            BARBARA                  Now wait just a goddamn --                            KAREN                  You better find out from Jean exactly                  what went on before you start                  pointing fingers. Cause I doubt                  Jean's blameless in all this. And                  I'm not blaming her, just cause I                  said she's not blameless doesn't mean                  I've blamed her. I'm saying she                  might share in the responsibility.                  It's not cut and dried, black and                  white, good and bad. It lives where                  everything lives: somewhere in the                  middle. Where the rest of us live,                  everyone but you.                            BARBARA                  Karen--                            KAREN                  He's not perfect. Just like the rest                  of us, down here in the muck. I'm no                  angel myself. I've done some things                  I'm not proud of. Things you'll never                  know about. I may even have to do                  some things I'm not proud of again.                  Cause sometimes life puts you in a                  corner that way.                            (MORE)                              "August" 9/21/12 FINAL WHITE Draft   121.85   CONTINUED:                                                     85                              KAREN (CONT'D)                  And I am   a human being, after all.                  Anyway.    You have your own hash to                  settle.    Before you start making                  speeches   to the rest of us.                              BARBARA                  Right...                            KAREN                  Come January... I'll be in Belize.                  Doesn't that sound nice?     Karen pushes past Barb, rolling her suitcase behind her.86   EXT. WESTON HOUSE AND DRIVEWAY - NIGHT                          86     Karen bursts through the screen door, rushes down the steps     to Steve's waiting Ferrari, it's lights already on, engine     running. Throws her suitcase in the back.     Barb steps out onto the porch as it reverses, SLAMS into gear     and accelerates down the drive, spewing gravel as it goes.     Bill comes out, watches it disappear with Barbara.      Then:                            BILL                  I'm taking Jean with me, heading back                  to Colorado in the morning.     But Barb's still focused on the distant Ferrari.                            BILL (CONT'D)                  She's too much for you right now.                              BARBARA                  Okay.                            BILL                  I'm sure you'll find a way to blame                  me for all this.                             BARBARA                  Yeah, well...                      (beat)                  I can't make it up to Jean right                  now. She's just going to have to                  wait until I get back to Boulder.                            BILL                  You and Jean have about forty years                  left to fight and make up.                               "August" 9/21/12 FINAL WHITE Draft   122.86   CONTINUED:                                                      86                            BARBARA                      (confused)                  Why, what happens in forty years?                               BILL                  You die.                               BARBARA                  Oh, right.                               BILL                  I mean --                            BARBARA                  No. Right. I fail. As a mother,                  as a daughter, as a wife. I fail.                            BILL                  No, you don't.                            BARBARA                  I've physically attacked Mom and Jean                  in the span of twenty-four hours. You                  stick around here and I'll cut off                  your penis.                            BILL                  That's not funny.     He starts back inside.                             BARBARA                  You're never coming back to me, are                  you, Bill?                            BILL                  Never say never, but...                               BARBARA                  But no.                               BILL                  But no.                            BARBARA                  Even if things don't work out with                  you and Marsha.                               BILL                  Cindy.                               BARBARA                  Cindy.                            "August" 9/21/12 FINAL WHITE Draft   123.86   CONTINUED:                                                   86                            BILL                  Right. Even if things don't work out.                            BARBARA                  And I'm never really going to                  understand why, am I?     Bill struggles... seems he might have more to say, but then:                            BILL                  Probably not.     Bill goes.    She watches him leave.   Fights back tears.87   EXT. WESTON HOUSE - DAY                                       87     A blistering hot late August day. The Weston house sits in     bucolic, heat-weary silence. The driveway no longer crowded     with cars. Barb stands nearly where she did the night     before, in her sweats and robe. Watching yet another car go.     Their rental, Bill behind the wheel, backing up. Jean in the     seat beside him. Jean stares blankly at her mother, as she     rolls past. Bill never looks back.     The rental heads down the drive, passing Ivy's Honda     arriving. Bill slows for a moment to let Ivy pass. Then     continues on it's way back to Tulsa and the airport.     Ivy pulls in next to Bev's big Lincoln. Climbs out.     Walks     to her sister, looks back to the rental leaving.                            IVY                  Where are Bill and Jean going?     Barbara doesn't answer, just stands there.                            IVY (CONT'D)                  Karen, too?                            BARBARA                  Yeah...     Barb turns, heads for the house, Ivy follows --                            IVY                  Is she clean?                            BARBARA                  She's moderately clean.                              "August" 9/21/12 FINAL WHITE Draft   124.87   CONTINUED:                                                     87                            IVY                  Moderately?                            BARBARA                  You don't like moderately?   Then let's                  say tolerably.                            IVY                  Is she clean, or not?                              BARBARA                  Back off.                            IVY                  I'm nervous.                            BARBARA                  Oh Christ, Ivy, not today.                            IVY                  I have to tell her, don't I? We're                  leaving for New York tomorrow.                            BARBARA                  That's not a good idea. For you and                  Charles to take this any further.                            IVY                  Where is this coming from?     Barbara heads up the porch steps and into --88   INT. THE WESTON HOUSE/KITCHEN - DAY                             88                            BARBARA                  Lot of fish in the sea. Surely you                  can rule out the one single man in                  the world you're related to.                            IVY                  I love the man I'm related to--                            BARBARA                  Fuck love, what a crock of shit.                  People can convince themselves they                  love a painted rock.     They find Johnna cooking in the kitchen.                            BARBARA (CONT'D)                  Looks great. What is it?                             "August" 9/21/12 FINAL WHITE Draft   125.88   CONTINUED:                                                    88                             JOHNNA                  Catfish.                            BARBARA                  Bottom feeders, my favorite. You're                  nearly fifty years old, Ivy, you can't                  go to New York, you'll break a hip.                  Eat your catfish.                            IVY                  I have lived in this town, year in                  and year out, hoping against hope                  someone would come into my life--                            BARBARA                  Don't get all Carson McCullers on                  me. Now wipe that tragic look off                  your face and eat some catfish.     They head into the dining room, find Violet smoking, working     on her jigsaw puzzle.                            BARBARA (CONT'D)                  Howdy, Mom.                            VIOLET                  What's howdy about it?                            BARBARA                  Look, catfish for lunch.   Johnna!                      (to Violet)                  You hungry?                            VIOLET                  Ivy, you should smile.   Like me.     Johnna enters from the kitchen.                            BARBARA                  Mom needs her lunch, please.                            VIOLET                  I'm not hungry.                            BARBARA                  You haven't eaten anything today.                  You didn't eat anything yesterday.                            VIOLET                  I'm not hungry.                            IVY                                          *                  Why aren't either of you dressed?                      *                              "August" 9/21/12 FINAL WHITE Draft   126.88   CONTINUED:                                                     88                            BARBARA                                       *                  We're dressed. We're not sitting here                   *                  naked, are we?                                          *                              VIOLET                                      *                  Yeah...                                                 *     Johnna reenters with plates, then goes.                              BARBARA                  Eat.                              VIOLET                  No.                              BARBARA                  Eat it.    Mom? Eat it.                              VIOLET                  No.                            BARBARA                  Eat it, you fucker.   Eat that catfish.                            VIOLET                  Go to hell.                            BARBARA                  That doesn't cut any fucking ice with                  me. Now eat that fucking fish.                            IVY                  Mom, I have something to talk to you--                            BARBARA                  No you don't.                              IVY                  Barbara--                            BARBARA                  No you don't. Shut up.    Shut the fuck                  up.                              IVY                  Please--                            VIOLET                  What's to talk about?                              IVY                  Mom--                               "August" 9/21/12 FINAL WHITE Draft   127.88   CONTINUED:                                                      88                               BARBARA                  Forget it.     Eat that fucking fish.                            VIOLET                  I'm not hungry.                               BARBARA                  Eat it.                               VIOLET                  NO!                            IVY                  Mom, I need to--!                               VIOLET                  NO!                               IVY                  MOM!                            BARBARA                  EAT THE FISH, BITCH!                            IVY                  MOM, PLEASE!                            VIOLET                  Barbara...!                            BARBARA                  Okay, fuck it, do what you want.                            IVY                  I have to tell you something.                            BARBARA                  Ivy's a lesbian.                               IVY                  Barbara--                            VIOLET                  No, you're not.                            IVY                  No, I'm not--                            BARBARA                  Yes, you are. Did you eat your fish?                            IVY                  Barbara, stop it!                             "August" 9/21/12 FINAL WHITE Draft   128.88   CONTINUED:                                                    88                            BARBARA                  Eat your fish.                             IVY                  Barbara!                            BARBARA                  Eat your fish.                            VIOLET                  Barbara, quiet now--                            IVY                  Mom, please, this is important --                            BARBARA                  Eatyourfisheatyourfisheatyourfish--     Ivy stands, hurls her plate of food, smashes it.                            BARBARA (CONT'D)                  What the fuck --                            IVY                  I have something to say.                            BARBARA                  Are we breaking shit?     Barbara takes a vase from the sideboard, smashes it.                            BARBARA (CONT'D)                  `cause I can break shit --     Violet throws her plate, smashes it.                            BARBARA (CONT'D)                  See, we can all break shit.                            IVY                  Charles and I --                            BARBARA                  You don't want to break shit with me,                  muthah-fuckah --                            IVY                  Charles and I --                             BARBARA                  Johnna?!   Little spill in here!     Ivy gets in Barbara's face.                               "August" 9/21/12 FINAL WHITE Draft   129.88   CONTINUED:                                                      88                            IVY                  Barbara, stop it!                      (returning to Violet)                  Mom, Charles and I --                            BARBARA                  Little Charles --                            IVY                  Charles and I --                            BARBARA                  Little Charles --                               IVY                  Barbara --                            BARBARA                  You have to say Little Charles or she                  won't know who you're talking about.                            IVY                  Little Charles and I...     Barbara relents.      Ivy will finally get to say the words.                            IVY (CONT'D)                  Little Charles and I are --                            VIOLET                  Little Charles and you are brother                  and sister. I know that.     Freeze.   Silence.                               BARBARA                  Oh... Mom.                              IVY                  What?    No, listen, Little Charles --                            VIOLET                  I've always known that. I told you,                  no one slips anything by me.                               IVY                  Mom --                            BARBARA                  Don't listen.                            "August" 9/21/12 FINAL WHITE Draft   130.88   CONTINUED:                                                   88                            VIOLET                  I knew the whole time Bev and Mattie                  Fae were carrying on. Charlie should                  have known too, if he wasn't smoking                  all that grass.                            BARBARA                  It's the pills talking.                            VIOLET                  Your father tore himself up over it,                  thirty some-odd years, but Beverly                  wouldn't have been Beverly if he                  didn't have plenty to brood about.                            IVY                  Mom, what are you...?                            BARBARA                  Oh honey...                            VIOLET                  Better you girls know now though,                  now you're older. Never know when                  someone might need a kidney.     Ivy looks from Violet to Barbara... suddenly lurches away     from the table, knocking over her chair.                            IVY                  Why in God's name did you tell                  me this?                            VIOLET                  Hey, what do you care?                            IVY                  You're monsters.                            VIOLET                  Come on now --                            IVY                  Monsters...                            VIOLET                  Who's the injured party here?     Ivy flees from the dining room, pursued by Barbara --                         "August" 9/21/12 FINAL WHITE Draft    131.89   INT. FRONT HALLWAY - CONTINUOUS                               89                         BARBARA               Ivy, listen --                         IVY               Leave me alone.                         BARBARA               When Mattie Fae told me, I didn't               know what to do --     Ivy runs from the house.90   EXT. WESTON HOUSE - CONTINUOUS                                90     Ivy rushes to her car, still followed by Barbara.                         BARBARA               I was trying to protect you --                         IVY               We'll go anyway, we'll still go away.     Ivy gets in the car, starts it, revs the engine.    Barbara     tries to open the car door.                         BARBARA               This is not my fault.     Barbara pounds on the car window.                         BARBARA (CONT'D)               I didn't tell you, Mom told you!               It wasn't me, it was Mom!     The car window slides down.                         IVY               There's no difference.     Ivy floors the car, roars out of the driveway, leaving Barb     standing there. After a moment, Barb turns, stares up at the     house, angry, resolute. Starts back inside.91   INT. WESTON HOUSE - CONTINUOUS                                91     Finds Violet still at the table, lighting a cigarette.                            "August" 9/21/12 FINAL WHITE Draft   132.91   CONTINUED:                                                   91                            VIOLET                  We couldn't let Ivy run off with                  Little Charles. Just wouldn't be                  right.     Barbara doesn't respond, keeps her distance.                            VIOLET (CONT'D)                  She'll be back. She's a sweet girl,                  Ivy, and I love her to death. But she                  isn't strong. Not like you. Or me.                            BARBARA                  You knew about Daddy and Mattie Fae?                            VIOLET                  Oh sure. I never told them I knew.                  But your father knew. He knew I knew.                  But we never talked about it. I chose                  the higher ground.                      (and then)                  If I'd had the chance, there at the                  end, I would've told him, "I hope this                  isn't about Little Charles, cause you                  know I know all about that." If I'd                  reached him at that motel, I would've                  said, "You'd be better off if you quit                  sulking about this ancient history."                            BARBARA                  ...what motel?                            VIOLET                  I called over there on Monday after I                  got into that safety deposit box. But                  it was too late, he'd checked out.                            BARBARA                  How did you know where he was?     Violet is growing agitated with the interrogation.                            VIOLET                  The note. He said I could call him                  over at the Country Squire Motel --                            BARBARA                  He left a note?                            VIOLET                  And I did, I called him on Monday.                            "August" 9/21/12 FINAL WHITE Draft       133.91   CONTINUED:                                                       91                            BARBARA                  After you got the money out of your                       *                  safety deposit box...                            VIOLET                  We had an arrangement. You have to                        *                  understand, for people like your                          *                  father and me, who never had any                          *                  money, ever, as kids, people from our                     *                  generation, that money is important.                      *                            BARBARA                                         *                  If you could've stopped Daddy from                        *                  killing himself, you wouldn't have                        *                  needed to get into your safety deposit                    *                  box.                                                      *                            VIOLET                                          *                  Well, hindsight's always twenty-                          *                  twenty, isn't it?                                         *     Barbara stares at her mother for a long moment.       Then --                            BARBARA                  Did the note say he was going to kill                  himself?     No response.                            BARBARA (CONT'D)                  Mom?                            VIOLET                  If I had my wits about me, I might've                  done it different. But I was, your                  father and me both, we were...     Barbara looks off, quietly:                            BARBARA                  You were both fucked-up... You were                       *                  fucked-up... You are fucked-up.                           *                            VIOLET                  You'd better understand this, you                  smug little ingrate. There's only                  one reason Beverly killed himself and                  that's you. Think there's any way he                  would've done what he did if you were                  still here? No, just him and me, here                  in this house, in the dark, left to                  ourselves, abandoned, wasted lifetimes                  devoted to your care and comfort.                            (MORE)                             "August" 9/21/12 FINAL WHITE Draft   134.91   CONTINUED:                                                    91                            VIOLET (CONT'D)                  So stick that knife of judgment in me,                  go ahead, but make no mistake, his                  blood is just as much on your hands as                  it is on mine.     Barbara is reeling, trying to comprehend.                            VIOLET (CONT'D)                  He did this though, not us. Can you                  imagine anything more cruel, to make                  me responsible? Just to weaken me,                  make me prove my character? So I                  waited, to get my hands on that safety                  deposit box. But I would have waited                  anyway. You want to show who's                  stronger, Bev? Nobody's stronger than                  me, goddamn it. When nothing is left,                  when everything is gone and                  disappeared, I'll be here.     Violet YELLS up to the empty house.                            VIOLET (CONT'D)                  Who's stronger now, you son-of-a-                  bitch?!     Barbara feels sick, the floor giving away beneath her.       She     takes a moment. Then:                            BARBARA                  You're right, Mom.    You're the                  strong one.     She goes to her mother, kisses her. Turns, heads into the     hall, grabs her purse and Bev's keys from the dish.     Violet only slowly realizes Barbara's gone.                            VIOLET                  ...Barbara?     Hears the sound of the screen door opening and SLAPPING shut.                             VIOLET    (CONT'D)                  Barbara?     Violet follows her into the hall, stops at the screen door.                            VIOLET (CONT'D)                  You and me. We're alike.     Barb doesn't turn around, keeps moving.         Quietly:                              "August" 9/21/12 FINAL WHITE Draft   135.91   CONTINUED:                                                     91                              BARBARA                  No...     Sees Barb heading across the yard for Beverly's pick-up.                            VIOLET                  Barbara, please.                            BARBARA                  I'm nothing like you...                            VIOLET                  Please, Barbara.     Watches Barbara climb into the truck, back slowly out, go.                            VIOLET (CONT'D)                  ...Barbara?     Barbara drives off. The driveway now empty again. Violet     alone outside on the walkway. She turns back to the house,     yelling, moving from empty room to empty room.                              VIOLET (CONT'D)                  Ivy?!    Ivy, you here?!     Silence.   The dining room, the kitchen.                             VIOLET (CONT'D)                  Barb?!   Ivy?!     And into the living room, Bev's study.                            VIOLET (CONT'D)                  Bev?! ...Bev?!     She stumbles to the stereo, puts on her Clapton... stares at     the spinning album...                              VIOLET (CONT'D)                  Johnna?!     She reels to the stairs, crawling up --92   INT/EXT. BEVERLY'S PICK-UP (MOVING) - DAY                       92     Barbara is nearly catatonic as she drives, the house receding     in the rear window behind her.     A few large rain drops splatter her windshield, the rumble of     distant thunder, lightning and towering, ominous clouds in     the distance.                         "August" 9/21/12 FINAL WHITE Draft    136.93   INT. UPSTAIRS HALLWAY/ATTIC STAIRS - DAY                      93     Violet climbs the staircase on all fours.                         VIOLET               Johnna... Johnna... Johnna...     Johnna sets down her TS Elliot, goes to Violet, holds     Violet's head, smooths her hair, rocks her. Quietly --                         VIOLET (CONT'D)               And then you're gone, and Beverly,               and then you're gone, and Barbara,               and then you're gone, and then               you're gone, and then you're gone --     Johnna quietly sings to Violet.                 JOHNNA                            VIOLET     "This is the way the world        --and then you're gone, and     ends..."                          then you're gone --94   INT. BEVERLY'S PICK-UP - DAY                                  94     ON Barbara as she drives --                         JOHNNA (OS)               "...this is the way the world ends,               this is the way the world ends..."                         VIOLET (OS)               --and then you're gone, and then               you're gone...     We stay on Barb as she slowly pulls herself back together.     Brushes tears from her cheeks. Laughs darkly. Notices her     hands are shaking from the adrenaline.     Slows, pulls the pick-up to the side of the road at the top     of a small rise. Climbs out, stares out over the miles of     prairie. The wind gently ruffles her clothing, her hair.     CLOSE ON her as she settles into exhausted relief, unsure of     what comes next, but finally on her way as we --                                                  FADE TO BLACK
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+AUSTIN POWERS: INTERNATIONAL MAN OF MYSTERY BY Mike Myers FINAL DRAFT - 5/24/96 PINK REVISION - 5/17/96 BLUE REVISION - 7/12/96 YELLOW REVISION - 7/17/96 EXT. LAS VEGAS (STOCK FOTTAGE) - NIGHT GRAPHIC: 1967 - SOMEWHERE IN NEVADA It is set against the obvious skyline of Las Vegas. INT. DR. EVIL'S PRIVATE QUARTERS - DAY The lair is 1960's high-tech. We see a huge oversized conference table with six scary-looking EVIL ASSOCIATES, including a Latin American REVOLUTIONARY in a field jacket and turtleneck, TWIN NORDIC DOCTORS, and a METER MAID. ANGLE ON: A RING WITH DR. EVIL'S INSIGNIA ON IT. THE RINGED HAND IS STROKING A WHITE FLUFFY CAT. DR. EVIL (face always unseen) Gentlemen, are we all here? Good. As you know, my plot to high-jack nuclear weapons and hold the world hostage has failed. Again. This organization will not tolerate failure. He presses a button. The Revolutionary, the twin Nordic doctors, and the meter maid's chairs tip back and fall into a pit. Their chairs return empty and smoking. DR. EVIL Mustafa... ANGLE ON: MUSTAFA, an Arab with a red Fez. DR. EVIL Frau Farbissina... ANGLE ON FRAU FARBISSINA in a severe Salvation Army uniform. DR. EVIL I spared your lives because I need you to help me rid the world of the only man who can stop me now. We must go to London. I've set a trap for Austin Powers! EXT. CARNABY STREET - DAY MUSIC: Soul Bossanova by QUINCY JONES. We start on a pair of BEATLE BOOTS and peg-top crushed velvet pants walking down the street in rhythm, à la Saturday Night Fever. We pan up to reveal AUSTIN POWERS, International Man of Mystery. He's a swinger, with medium-length Mod hair and sideburns and he wears National Health Services glasses. Austin walks along Carnaby Street taking photographs. It is that perpetual bright sunny day you see in Sixties movies. Austin, bursting with life, gives a two-handed handshake to a MOD FREAK, who's just gotten off a red double-decker bus. Austin salutes a strolling BOBBY, then comes across TWO BEAUTIFUL MOD GIRLS who are excited to see him. They all start to twist to the music, including the Bobby. FREEZE FRAME - TECHNICOLOR BLUE TINT - TITLE CARD (PRODUCTION NOTE: ALL TITLE CARDS WILL BE DONE IN TECHNICOLOR FREEZE FRAMES À LA SWEET CHARITY.) In the middle of the street, THREE MODELS wait impatiently to be photographed in a makeshift photo shoot area. One wears a short-skirted Stewardess outfit. One wears a metallic silver pantsuit with matching cowl. The other wears a see-through Mary Quant dress. AUSTIN (taking photos) Alright, luv! Love it! Turn...pout for me baby. Smashing! We see that AUSTIN HAS VERY BAD ENGLISH TEETH. The model in the stewardess outfit foes on all fours. AUSTIN Crazy baby. Give me some shoulder. Yes! Yes! Yes! (beat) No. No. Show me love. Yes! And...done. Here you go, luv. I'm spent. Austin throws the camera in the air behind him. An ASSISTANT scrambles and catches it before it hits the ground. AUSTIN Get these off to Fab Magazine right away. SUPERMODEL 1 Austin, you've really outdone yourself this time. AUSTIN Thanks, baby. SUPERMODEL 2 (suggestively) We could have another photo session back at my flat. AUSTIN (coyly) Oh, behave! SUPERMODEL 3 Austin, I love you! AUSTIN So many women, so little time. A gaggle of MOD GIRLS come towards the shoot site. They recognize Austin and SCREAM hysterically. MOD GIRL 1 It's Austin Powers! Austin runs away. The mob chases after him a la Hard Day's Night. EXT. CARNABY STREET Two BAD GUYS attack Austin. He JUDO CHOPS them. AUSTIN Judo chop! Judo chop! The mob of girls catches up to Austin and he runs away. EXT. PHONE BOOTH Austin's in a phone booth with his back turned. The mob runs by. He steps out, disguised only by a beard. EXT. GUARD STATION - LONDON - DAY Austin is jiving down the street and comes across a stoned- face red-coated BUCKINGHAM PALAM GUARD standing at attention just outside his guard box. Austin mugs for the guard, trying to get him to crack up, but to no avail. Finally, he pulls a big sixties FLOWER from behind the guard's head and presents it to him. They both crack up. EXT. PHOTO BOOTH The girls run by a Sixties-era photo booth with somebody inside. Austin steps out. ANGLE ON THE FILM STRIP Panels 1-3 show Austin with various exotic MODELS. The fourth panel shows Austin with the QUEEN. EXT. CARNABY STREET Austin spots a VERY PREGNANT HIPPY GIRL with a placard that says "PROTEST!" in a funky font. AUSTIN You might want to protest a bit louder next time, luv. The both laugh. 2L FULL SCREEN INSERT - AUSTIN'S PASSPORT The passport opens. We see Austin's dour photo. Then he gives an insane grin, showing his bad teeth. The page flips and we see visa stamps from all the exotic places he's been. EXT. CARNABY STREET - DAY Austin flips a coin into a BLIND MAN's cup. The blind man, obviously sighted, moves the cup to catch the coin. Austin wags his finger in a "oh, you" fashion, and then proceeds to knee him the balls. EXT. CARNABY STREET - DAY Austin is being chased around the corner by a GAGGLE OF SCHOOLGIRLS. After a moment, Austin returns from around the corner with a baton, followed by a MARCHING BAND. The schoolgirls pick up his trail again and he begins to run. A 1967 Jaguar XKE convertible, which is decorated with a large Union Jack, pulls beside Austin. He jumps over the door into the moving convertible, racing off just ahead of the crowd. EXT./INT. JAGUAR - STREETS OF LONDON - DAY The driver of the Jag is Austin's associate, MRS. KENSINGTON, a beautiful woman in her thirties. They drive against obvious REAR PROJECTION of 1960's London. AUSTIN Hello, Mrs. Kensington. MRS. KENSINGTON Hello, Austin Just then, a FLASHING RED LIGHT goes off and we hear a distinctive PHONE RING. MRS. KENSINGTON That'll be Basil Exposition, Chief of British Intelligence. The glove compartment revolves to reveal a picture phone. ANGLE ON: PICTURE PHONE SCREEN. We see BASIL EXPOSITION a distinguished older man. A desk plate reads: "Basil Exposition, Chief of British Intelligence." BASIL EXPOSITION (on picture phone) Hello, Austin. This is Basil Exposition, Chief of British Intelligence. You're Austin Powers, International Man of Mystery, and you're with Agent Mrs. Kensington. The year is 1967, and you're talking on a picture phone. AUSTIN We know all that, Exposition. BASIL EXPOSITION I just wanted to be extremely clear so that everyone knows what's going on at any given time. We've just received word that Dr. Evil, the ultimate square, is planning to take over the world. AUSTIN Dr. Evil? I thought I put him in jail for good. BASIL EXPOSITION I'm afraid not. Earlier this week, Dr. Evil escaped from Zedel Edel Prison in Baaden Baaden and now he's planning a trap for you tonight at the Electric Psychedelic Pussycat Swinger's Club in Picadilly Circus here in swinging London. A panel revolves to reveal a map of London with lights showing Austin's position and the location of the club. AUSTIN Just where you'd never think to look for him. We'll be there. BASIL EXPOSITION Good luck, Austin. AUSTIN Thank you. BASIL EXPOSITION Oh, and Austin&emdash; AUSTIN Yes? BASIL EXPOSITION (pause) Be careful. AUSTIN Thank you. (to Mrs. Kensington) Let's go, baby! EXT. STOCK FOTTAGE - PICADILLY CIRCUS - NIGHT On top of one building is a three-story high BOB'S BIG BOY figure. EXT. ELECTRIC PSYCHEDELIC PUSSYCAT SWINGER'S CLUB - NIGHT The Jaguar pulls up in front of the swinging nightclub. Mrs. Kensington steps out of the car, dressed in a tight leather fightsuit. She looks fabulous. INT. ELECTRIC PSYCHEDELIC PUSSYCAT SWINGER'S CLUB It's a swinging club. FREAKS abound. In one corner, there is a PRESS CONFERENCE in progress. MICK JAGGER Hey Austin Powers, it's me, Mick Jagger. AUSTIN Hey, Mick! MICK JAGGER Are you more satisfied now sexually, Austin? AUSTIN Well, you can't always get what you want. MICK JAGGER (thinking) "You can't always get what you want!" That's a great title for a song! I'm gonna write that, and it'll be a big hit. AUSTIN Good on ya, man. MICK JAGGER Groovy! FULL SCREEN INSERT A vinyl 45 of "You Can't Always Get What You Want." 9 FULL SCREEN INSERT - BILLBOARD CHART "You Can't Always Get What You Want" at Number One. INT. ELECTRIC PSYCHEDELIC PUSSYCAT SWINGER'S CLUB In one corner ANDY WARHOL sits in front of his multi-colored Elvis (or equivalent). He body paints a butterfly on the thigh of a MOD GIRL wearing a metallic miniskirt outfit. ANDY WARHOL Austin Powers? Hi, I'm Andy Warhol. AUSTIN Hey, how are you? ANDY WARHOL Hungry. AUSTIN Here, have this can of Campbell's Tomato Soup. Austin hands Andy a can of soup. ANDY WARHOL I'm going to paint this can of soup and become famous and not give you any credit for it. AUSTIN If you can become famous, everyone will have their fifteen minutes of fame, man. ANDY WARHOL "Fifteen minutes of fame?" I'm going to use that quote and not give you any credit for that, either. AUSTIN Smashing! FULL SCREEN INSERT Andy Warhol's famous Soup Can painting. INT. ELECTRIC PSYCHEDELIC PUSSYCAT SWINGER'S CLUB HER MAJESTY, THE QUEEN is giving Austin a Victoria's Cross like the Lyndon Johnson scene in Forrest Gump. Behind them, are two COLDSTREAM GUARDS and the DUKE OF EDINBURGH. QUEEN Austin Powers, Britain owes you a debt of gratitude. Austin gives a cheeky look to Mrs. Kensington. QUEEN I understand you were wounded. Where were you hit? AUSTIN In the but-tocks. QUEEN That must be a sight. I'd kind of like to see that. Austin turns around, drops his pants, and shows his wounded bum (matching Gump's) to the queen. The queen walks away. QUEEN (laughing) Nice buttocks. In the line-up we also see FOREST GUMP. He has to pee very badly. MRS. KENSINGTON We've got to find Dr. Evil! AUSTIN Wait, I've got an idea. He PUNCHES a PRETTY MOD GIRL in the face, knocking her out cold. EVERYONE Ohhh! MRS. KENSINGTON Austin, why in God's name did you strike that woman? AUSTIN That ain't no woman! It's a man, man. It's one of Dr. Evil's assassins. Austin pulls off the mod girl's wig. She is a MALE ASSASSIN. The assassin comes to and leaps to his feet. Mrs. Kensington knocks his feet from under him. The assassin hits the ground and pulls out a dagger. Mrs. Kensington kicks the knife out of his hand and Austin gets him in a head-lock from behind. AUSTIN Where's Doctor Evil? ANGLE ON: A FINGER WITH DR. EVIL'S INSIGNIA ON IT. THE FINGER PULLS THE TRIGGER OF A SPEAR gun. The assassin falls forward. A spear protrudes from his back. Austin sees Dr. Evil as he runs through a door. They give chase. INT. CLUB - BACK ROOM They enter. Dr. Evil climbs into an egg chair. AUSTIN I've got you again, Dr. Evil! The chair fills with a WHITE MIST. DR. EVIL (unseen, through mist) Not this time. Come, Mr. Bigglesworth! (calling out) See you in the future, Mr. Powers! Before the doors close, the white CAT jumps in the egg chair. A sign on the egg reads "CRYOGENIC FREEZING BEGINNING." MRS. KENSINGTON My God! He's freezing himself. Austin begins FIRING at the egg chair. The ceiling opens up and the egg rises through the opening. Everything begins to RUMBLE. Rocket exhaust pours out of the ceiling. EXT. ROOF - NIGHT The Bob's Big Boy rocket begins to LIFT OFF. EXT. CLUB - SIDEWALK - NIGHT PEOPLE outside the club react to the rocket. EXT. EARTH FROM SPACE The Bob's Big Boy rocket leaves the atmosphere. Mr. Bigglesworth is pressed to the window like one of those stuffed Garfields. DR. EVIL (V.O.) (shivering) I'll be back, Mr. Powers, when free love is dead, and greed and avarice once again rule the world. EXT. NORAD - COLORADO SPRINGS, COLORADO GRAPHIC: 1997 - NORAD - COLORADO SPRINGS THIS SCENE IS SHOT IN THE MULTIPLE SPLIT SCREEN STYLE, LIKE THE THOMAS CROWN AFFAIR: 16 FULL SCREEN - INT. NORAD TRACKING ROOM A BLIP appears on the radar screen. RADAR OPERATOR (on phone) Commander Gilmour? 17 SPLIT SCREEN 2 - INT. COMMANDER GILMOUR'S OFFICE COMMANDER GILMOUR, a distinguished man in his fifties. RADAR OPERATOR (on phone) Commander, this is Slater in SoWest Com Three. We have a potential bogey with erratic vectoring and an unorthodox entry angle. COMMANDER GILMOUR (on phone) Is it one of ours? RADAR OPERATOR No. Log Com Bird Twelve says its metalurg recon analysis is a standard alloy, not stealthy, not carbon- composite. (pause) It does have an odd shape, sir. COMMANDER GILMOUR What are you saying, son? RADAR OPERATOR It appears to be in the shape of Bob's Big Boy, sir. 18 SCREEN 3 - THE BOB'S BIG BOY ROCKET The rocket is dirty and battered from thirty years in space. COMMANDER GILMOUR Oh my God, he's back. DRAMATIC STING RADAR OPERATOR In many ways, Bob's Big Boy never left, sir. He's always offered the same high quality meals at competitive prices. COMMANDER GILMOUR Shut up. RADAR OPERATOR Should we scramble TacHQ for an intercept? COMMANDER GILMOUR What's its current position? 19 SCREEN 4 - A RADAR MAP OF NEVADA On the radar screen it says "NEVADA." RADAR SCREEN It was over Nevada, but...oh my God! It's gone! COMMANDER GILMOUR Listen son, I want you to forget what you saw here tonight. RADAR OPERATOR Commander, I have to log it&emdash; COMMANDER GILMOUR That's a direct order. You didn't see a thing! He hangs up and picks up another phone. COMMANDER GILMOUR (into phone) Philips. 20 SCREEN 5 - SERGEANT PHILIPS AT HIS DESK SERGEANT PHILIPS picks up the phone. COMMANDER GILMOUR Call the President SCREEN 6 - THE WHITE HOUSE COMMANDER GILMOUR Prepare the jet... 22 SCREEN 7 - AN AIR FORCE JET ON A RUNWAY COMMANDER GILMOUR Get my overnight bag. 23 SCREEN 8 - AN OVERNIGHT BAG COMMANDER GILMOUR Philips, do me a favor and feed my fish. SCREEN 9 - FISH IN A TANK A hand enters and sprinkles fish food. COMMANDER GILMOUR Not too much! The hand re-enters and scoops up some of the fish food. COMMANDER GILMOUR I'm going to London, England. EXT. MINISTRY OF DEFENSE - LONDON, ENGLAND GRAPHIC: LONDON, ENGLAND - MINISTRY OF DEFENSE MUSIC: "RULE BRITANNIA" INT. M.O.D. - HALLWAY (OUTSIDE CRYOGENIC STORAGE FACILITY) Basil Exposition (now aged 30 years), Command Gilmour, and NICOLAI BORSCHEVSKY, a Russian General, put on extreme-weather gear over their uniforms. BASIL EXPOSITION As you know, gentlemen, Dr. Evil had himself frozen in 1967. Soon after, Austin Powers volunteered to have himself frozen, in the event Dr. Evil should ever return. We believe Dr. Evil has begun yet another plot to take over the world. And that, gentlemen, is why we're here. COMMAND GILMOUR Outstanding re-cap, Exposition. Command Gilmour opens a vault door. COLD MIST escapes. INT. M.O.D. - CRYOGENIC STORAGE FACILITY They pass a row of cryogenic holding berths, each containing a naked PERSON in suspended animation, a la Demolition Man. They pass GARY COLEMAN, EVEL KNIEVAL (with cape), and VANILLA ICE, all in suspended animation. They pass a now-empty berth with a plate that reads "JOHN TRAVOLTA." BORSCHEVSKY Who is this Austin Powers? Is he a British operative? BASIL EXPOSITION No, he worked freelance, an internationally renowned swinging photographer by day and the ultimate gentlemen spy by night. Finally, they come across Austin Powers: He is naked. His hands cover up his private parts. The look on his face suggests 'Oh my God, my bits and pieces are cold'. His glasses are frosted over. He is very hairy. FEMALE ANNOUNCER (on PA) Attention, Stage One, laser cutting beginning. Lasers begin to cut Austin out of the ice in one huge cube. FEMALE ANNOUNCER (on PA) Laser cutting complete. Stage Two, warm liquid goo phase beginning. A ROBOTIC ARM lifts the cube out of the berth and places it into a high-tech melting vat of warm liquid GOO. FEMALE ANNOUNCER (on PA) Warm liquid goo phases complete. Stage Three, reanimation beginning. Austin comes to life out of the goo on a draining platform. FEMALE ANNOUNCER (on PA) Reanimation complete. Stage Four, cleansing beginning. INT. EXAMINATION AREA Technicians lead a half-asleep Austin to a screened area, where only his feet and head are visible. He's washed off with a series of hot-water jets. FEMALE ANNOUNCER (on PA) Cleansing complete. Stage Five, evacuation beginning. He's given futuristic inoculations and then led to a screened- in toilet area. We can hear the sound of PEE ENTERING THE BOWL. He PEES for a while, then a little longer. And then EVEN LONGER STILL. The stream seems to be subsiding...then begins STRONGER than ever. He is still PEEING. Finally, it STOPS. FEMALE ANNOUNCER (PA) Evacuation com... He begins PEEING again. A little LONGER. Then in short staccato BURSTS. The it STOPS. Pause. Two DRIPS. FEMALE ANNOUNCER Evacuation... (waiting) Complete! The cryogenic state of Austin Powers is now completed. Austin lies in a bed tilted up in an extreme angle à la Dr. Frankenstein's lab. NURSE TECHNICIANS administer injections and monitor electrodes, IV's, and other biological sensors. AUSTIN (weakly) Where am I? BASIL EXPOSITION You're in the Ministry of Defense. It's 1997. You've been cryogenically frozen for thirty years. AUSTIN (shouting) WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE? BASIL EXPOSITION The shouting is a temporary side- effect of the unfreezing process. AUSTIN Yes, I'm having trouble controlling&emdash; (shouting) THE VOLUME OF MY VOICE! BASIL EXPOSITION You might also experience a slight fever, dry mouth, and flatulence at moments of extreme relaxation. Austin, this is Commander Gilmour, Strategic Command, and General Borschevsky, Russian Intelligence. AUSTIN Russian Intelligence? Are you mad? BASIL EXPOSITION A lot's happened since you were frozen, Austin. The cold war's over. AUSTIN Thank God. Those capitalist dogs will finally pay for their crimes against the people, hey Comrades? BASIL EXPOSITION We won, Austin. AUSTIN Groovy. Smashing! Good on ya! (to Gilmour) Nice tie. Yea capitalism! COMMANDER GILMOUR Mr. Powers, the President's very concerned. We've got a madman on the loose in Nevada. BASIL EXPOSITION It's Dr. Evil. AUSTIN When do I begin? BASIL EXPOSITION Immediately. You'll be working with Ms. Kensington. AUSTIN You mean Mrs. Kensington? BASIL EXPOSITION No, Austin, Mrs. Kensington has long- since retired. Ms. Kensington is her daughter. VANESSA KENSINGTON, Mrs. Kensington's daughter, beautiful, mid-Twenties, English, enters. She is wearing a very conservative, business pantsuit. Her hair is up and she wears glasses. Austin's breath is taken away. She sets down a huge stack of files. BASIL EXPOSITION Vanessa's one of our top agents. AUSTIN (out loud, to himself) My God, Vanessa's got a smashing body. I bet she shags like a minx. How do I tell them that because of the unfreezing process, I have no inner monologue? (pause) I hope I didn't say that out loud just now. There is an uncomfortable SILENCE. VANESSA Mr. Powers, my job is to acclimate you to the Nineties. You know, a lot's changed since 1967. AUSTIN Well, as long as people are still having promiscuous sex with many anonymous partners without protection, while at the same time experimenting with mind-expanding drugs in a consequence-free environment, I'll be sound as a pound. VANESSA My mother's told me all about you. AUSTIN If it's a lie, goddamn her. It it's the truth, goddamn me. (pause) God, I hope that's witty. How's your mum? VANESSA My mother's doing quite well, thank you very much. BASIL EXPOSITION Yes, well...Agent Kensington will get you set up. She's very dedicated. Perhaps, a little too dedicated. (aside to Austin) She's got a bit of a bug up her ass. Good luck, Austin, the world's depending on you. AUSTIN Thank you, Exposition. BASIL EXPOSITION Oh, and Austin&emdash; AUSTIN Yes? BASIL EXPOSITION Be careful. AUSTIN Thanks. Basil exits. INT. M.O.D. - QUARTERMASTER'S WINDOW Austin and Vanessa wait at the window. VANESSA Let's gather your personal effects, shall we? A CLERK brings out a locker-basket and reads off a list. CLERK (reading) Danger Powers, personal effects. AUSTIN Actually, my name's Austin Powers. CLERK It says here, name Danger Powers. AUSTIN Danger's my middle name. CLERK OK, Austin Danger Powers: One blue crushed-velvet suit. One frilly lace cravat. One gold medallion with peace symbol. One pair of Italian shoes. One pair of tie-dyed socks, purple. One vinyl recording album: Tom Jones, Live at Las Vegas. One Swedish-made penis enlarger pump. AUSTIN (embarrassed) That's not mine. CLERK (reading) One credit card receipt for Swedish- made penis enlarger pump, signed Austin Powers. AUSTIN I'm telling you, baby, that's not mine. CLERK (reading) One warranty card for Swedish-made penis enlarger pump, filled out by Austin Powers. AUSTIN I don't even know what this is. This sort of thing ain't my bag, baby. CLERK (reading) One book: Swedish-Made Penis Enlarger Pumps and Me: This Sort of Thing Is My Bag, Baby, by Austin Powers. The clerk shows the book to Austin, who is humiliated. AUSTIN OK, OK man, don't get heavy, I'll sign. Just to get things moving, baby. VANESSA Listen, Mr. Powers, I look forward to working with you, but do me a favor and stop calling me baby. You can address me as Agent Kensington. We have to leave immediately. We've preserved your private jet just as you left it. It's waiting at Heathrow Airport. AUSTIN (excited) My jumbo jet? Smashing baby. EXT. PLANE TAKING OFF - DAY We see a plane taking off in silhouette. EXT. PLANE IN FLIGHT - DAY A multi-colored psychedelic jumbo jet with Austin's logo on the tailpiece. INT. PRIVATE PSYCHEDELIC JET The inside looks like Hugh Heffner's jet&emdash; rust shag carpet, brown walls, and beads. Austin and Vanessa sit on beanbag chairs. Vanessa works on her lap top. AUSTIN Pretty groovy Jumbo Jet, eh? How does a hot chick like you end up working at the Ministry of Defense? VANESSA I went to Oxford and excelled in several subjects, but I ended up specializing in foreign languages. I wanted to travel -- see the world. In my last year I was accepted into the M.O.D. in the Cultural Studies sector. I thought I was off on an exciting career, but my job was to read everything printed in every country. It's very boring. My whole day is spent reading wedding announcements in Farsi. If I do well with this case, I finally get promoted to field operative... AUSTIN That's fascinating, Vanessa. Listen, why don't we go into the back and shag? VANESSA I beg your pardon? AUSTIN I've been frozen for thirty years, man, I want to see if my bits and pieces are still working. VANESSA Excuse me? AUSTIN My wedding tackle. VANESSA I'm sorry? AUSTIN My meat and two veg. VANESSA Mr. Powers, please. I know that you must be a little confused, but we have a very serious situation at hand. I would appreciate it if you'd concentrate on our mission and give your libido a rest. AUSTIN Have you ever made love to a Chigro? VANESSA A Chigro? AUSTIN You know, a Chigro&emdash; part Chinese, part Negro&emdash; Chigro. VANESSA (offended) We don't use the term 'Negro' anymore. It's considered offensive. AUSTIN That's right. You're supposed to say 'colored' now, right? (spotting the flight attendants) Here's the stewardesses! Bring on the sexy stews! The STEWARDESSES enter. They're not dressed very sexily. One of them is a man and another wears braces. FLIGHT ATTENDANT Excuse me, did you say 'stewardess'? We're called 'flight attendants' now, thank you very much. AUSTIN Oh, I get it, it's like 'I'm not a whore, I'm a sex worker', baby. FLIGHT ATTENDANT My name is Mrs. Wilkenson. There are a few things we need to discuss. First of all, we're not wearing these. She holds up some skimpy, lingerie-type flight outfits. FLIGHT ATTENDANT ALSO, I HAVE SOME QUESTIONS ABOUT THE ITINERARY. IT SAYS HERE, '4:30 - DINNER, 5:30 - Everyone Gets Naked and Covered with Baby Oil, 6:00 - Orgy'? AUSTIN Seems pretty straightforward, don't you think...listen darling, I think you're a fabulous bird. Can I get your telephone number? FLGHT ATTENDANT (mock sexy) Sure, it's easy to remember. (writing on his hand) It's 777-FILM. We have to prepare the craft for take-off now. AUSTIN Smashing! When we land I'll give you a tinkle on the telling bone. The flight attendant gives him a chilly stare and then exits. AUSTIN Brrrr! She must be frigid. There's two things I know about life: one, Americans will never take to soccer. Two, Swedish girls and stewardesses love to shag! They're shag-mad, man! Let me ask you a question, Vanessa, and be honest. VANESSA Sure. AUSTIN Do I make you horny? VANESSA What? AUSTIN Do I make you horny? Randy, you know. To you, am I eros manifest? VANESSA I hope this is part of the unfreezing process. AUSTIN Listen, Vanessa, I'm a swinger&emdash; that's what I do, I swing. VANESSA I understand that, Mr. Powers, but let me be perfectly clear with you, perhaps to the point of being insulting. I will never have sex with you, ever. If you were the last man on Earth and I was the last woman on Earth, and the future of the human race depended on our having sex simply for procreation, I still would not have sex with you. Austin is oblivious. AUSTIN What's you point, Vanessa? EXT. PLANE IN FLIGHT - NIGHT Austin's plane. Time has passed. IINT. PRIVATE JET - NIGHT Vanessa's lap-top BEEPS. COMPUTER VOICE You've got mail! ANGLE ON: the computer screen. It's Basil Exposition. BASIL EXPOSITION Hello Austin. Hello Vanessa. This is Basil Exposition, from British Intelligence. There's a company in Las Vegas called Virtucon that we think may be linked to Dr. Evil. Many of the Virtucon executives gamble at the hotel/casino where you'll be staying. That's the first place you should look. Well, I'm off to the chat rooms. AUSTIN Thank you, Exposition. BASIL EXPOSITION Oh, and Austin&emdash; AUSTIN Yes? BASIL EXPOSITION Be careful. Vanessa closes her lap-top. PILOT (over loudspeaker) Ladies and gentlemen, we're beginning our final descent into Las Vegas International Airport. Flight attendants will be coming by to collect your drinks, and I'll ask you at this time to please return to the main cabin and put your bean-bags in the upright position. Austin and Vanessa fasten the seatbelts on their bean bags. EXT. AIRPLANE LANDING - NIGHT We see a plane's lights landing at night. ZOOM CUT TO: INT. PSYCHEDELIC SCENE BREAK MUSIC: Psychedelic Wa-wa Pedal Funky Drummer Beat TITLE GRAPHIC: The Trip Using a sequence of snap-zooms, colored projections, and flashing lights, we see Austin dance crazily à la BOB FOSSE with a GO-GO GIRL in a bikini with the Austin Powers logo body-painted on her midriff. The sequence lasts five seconds and is very groovy. EXT. LAS VEGAS MONTAGE - NIGHT Sights and sounds of Las Vegas icons at night: "Welcome to Las Vegas" sign. Luxor. The giant cowboy whose arm waves. Caesar's Palace. The montage ends on the modern skyline of Las Vegas. GRAPHIC: 1997, SOMEWHERE IN NEVADA INT. DR. EVIL'S PRIVATE QUARTERS DR. EVIL (face again unseen) Ladies and Gentlemen, it's been a long time, but I'm back. It's all gone perfectly to plan except for one small flaw. Because of a technical error, my right arm was not frozen. I was therefore by definition only partially frozen. ANGLE ON EVIL ASSOCIATE MUSTAFA. He is terrified and sweaty, eyes darting left and right. MUSTAFA But my design was perfect! Your autonomic functions were shut down, and even though your arm wasn't frozen, the aging was retarded, therefore your right arm is only slightly older than the left. DR. EVIL Can't you see I'm only half a man? Look at me, I'm a freak! He holds up his older right arm, which looks normal. MUSTAFA But Dr. Evil, all you need to do is&emdash; (holding up tennis ball) --work with this tennis ball. Squeeze it for twenty minutes a day. A few months of that and it'll be just as strong as the other arm... DR. EVIL And look what you've done to Mr. Bigglesworth! ANGLE ON MR. BIGGLESWORTH who is now totally hairless, with a fringe of white hair around it's ears, like Dr. Evil himself. MUSTAFA We could not anticipate feline complications due to the reanimation process&emdash; DR. EVIL (face unseen) Silence! ANGLE ON A HAND WITH DR. EVIL'S RING ON IT Dr. Evil presses a button. Mustafa's chair tips back and he falls backwards into a pit. MUSTAFA (blood-curdling scream) Ahhhhhhhhh! DR. EVIL (face unseen) Let this be a reminder to you all that this organization will not tolerate failure. MUSTAFA'S SCREAMS ECHO FAINTLY ANGLE ON: DR. EVIL FOR THE FIRST TIME. HE IS IN HIS EARLY FIFTIES AND IS BALD, WITH A HIDEOUS scar on his cheek. DR. EVIL Gentlemen, let's get down to business. More muffled SCREAMS. DR. EVIL We've got a lot of work to do. MUSTAFA (O.S.) (muffled) Someone help me! I'm still alive, only I'm very badly burned. DR. EVIL (slightly distracted) Some of you I know, some of you I'm meeting for the first time. MUSTAFA (O.S.) (muffled) Hello up there! Anyone! Can someone call an ambulance? I'm in quite a lot of pain. DR. EVIL (very frustrated) You've all been gathered here to form my Evil Cabinet. Excuse me. He picks up a white phone and MURMURS into it. MUSTAFA (O.S.) (muffled) If somebody can open the retrieval hatch down here, I could get out. See, I designed this device myself and...oh, hi! Good, I'm glad you found me. Listen, I'm very badly burned, so if you could just&emdash; SFX: Muffled Gunshot MUSTAFA (O.S.) (muffled) Ow! You shot me! DR. EVIL Right. Okay. Moving on. MUSTAFA (O.S.) (muffled) You shot me right in the arm! Why did&emdash; SFX: Muffled Gunshot. Dr. Evil waits. Nothing. DR. EVIL Let me go around the table and introduce everyone. Frau Farbissina... ANGLE ON FRAU FARBISSINA DR. EVIL ...founder of the militant wing of the Salvation Army. Random Task... RANDOM TASK is a large Korean man in a butler's uniform. DR. EVIL ...a Korean ex-wrestler, evil handyman extraordinaire. Show them what you do. He stands up, bows, then takes off his shoe and THROWS it. It knocks the head off a sculpture across the room. DR. EVIL Thank you, Random Task. Patty O'Brien... PATTY O'BRIEN, a small, wiry Irishman with fiery eyes. DR. EVIL ...ex-Irish assassin. His trademark? Around PATTY O'BRIENS WRIST is a charm bracelet. DR. EVIL A superstitious man, he leaves a tiny keepsake on every victim he kills. Scotland Yard would love to get their hands on that piece of evidence. PATTY O'BRIEN (heavy Irish accent) Yes, they're always after me lucky charms! Everyone in the room tries to keep a straight face. PATTY O'BRIEN What? What? Why does everyone always laugh when I say that? They are after me lucky charms. They cannot contain their LAUGHTER. PATTY O'BRIEN (angry) What? FRAU FARBISSINA (through suppressed laughter) It's a television commercial with this little cartoon Leprechaun who is a benevolent imp who is very concerned that these children will steal his lucky charms which are foodstuffs fashioned into various shapes&emdash; hearts, moons, clovers, what have you... (pause) It's a long story. DR. EVIL Finally, I come to my number two man. His name: Number Two. NUMBER TWO, a good-looking 40-year-old man with an eye-patch. DR. EVIL For thirty years, Number Two has run Virtucon, the legitimate face of my evil empire. He hits a button. The conference table slowly rotates to reveal a large, illuminated map of the United States dotted by various miniature models. NUMBER TWO Over the last thirty years, Virtucon has grown by leaps and bounds. About fifteen years ago, we changed from volatile chemicals to the communication industry. We own cable companies in thirty-eight states. The thirty-eight states illuminate on the map. NUMBER TWO In addition to our cable holdings, we own a steel mill in Cleveland. A steel mill miniature illuminates in Cleveland. NUMBER TWO Shipping in Texas. A ship off the coast of Texas illuminates. NUMBER TWO Oil refineries in Seattle. An oil refinery illuminates in Seattle. NUMBER TWO And a factory in Chicago that makes miniature models of factories. The miniature model factory lights up in Chicago. NUMBER TWO We also own the Franklin mint, which makes decorative hand-painted theme plates for collectors. (holds up plate) Some plates, like the Gone With The Wind series, have gone up in value as much as two-hundred and forty percent, but, as with any investment, there is some risk involved. DR. EVIL Gentlemen, I have a plan. It's called blackmail. The Royal Family of Britain are the wealthiest landowners in the world. Either the Royal Family pays us an exorbitant amount of money, or we make it look like Prince Charles, the heir to the throne, has had an affair outside of marriage and, therefore, they would have to divorce. There is an uncomfortable silence. NUMBER TWO Um, Dr. Evil, Prince Charles did have an affair. He admitted it, and they are now divorced, actually. DR. EVIL People have to tell me these things. I've been frozen for thirty years, throw me a bone here. (pausing) OK, no problem. Here's my second plan. Back in the Sixties I had a weather changing machine that was in essence a sophisticated heat beam which we called a "laser." Using this laser, we punch a hole in the protective layer around the Earth, which we scientists call the "Ozone Layer." Slowly but surely, ultraviolet rays would pour in, increasing the risk of skin cancer. That is, unless the world pays us a hefty ransom. There is another uncomfortable silence. NUMBER TWO Umm, that also has already happened. DR. EVIL Right. (pause) Oh, hell, let's just do what we always do. Let's hijack some nuclear weapons and hold the world hostage. (pause) Gentlemen, it's come to my attention that a breakaway Russian Republic called Kreplachistan will be transferring a nuclear warhead to the United Nations in a few days. Here's the plan. We get the warhead, and we hold the world ransom... (dramatic pause) ...FOR ONE MILLION DOLLARS! There is an uncomfortable pause. NUMBER TWO Don't you think we should ask for more than a million dollars? A million dollars isn't that much money these days. DR. EVIL All right then... (dramatic pause) ...FIVE MILLION DOLLARS! There is another uncomfortable pause. NUMBER TWO Virtucon alone makes over nine billion dollars a year. DR. EVIL (pleasantly surprised) Oh, really? (slightly irritated) One-hundred billion dollars. (pause) OK, make it happen. Anything else? FRAU FARBISSINA Remember when we froze your semen, you said that if it looked like you weren't coming back to try and make you a son so that a part of you would live forever? DR. EVIL Yes. FRAU FARBISSINA Well, after a few years, we got sort of impatient. Dr. Evil, I want you to meet your son. DR. EVIL My son? FRAU FARBISSINA Yes. (calling out) Scott! SCOTT EVIL walks out. He is fifteen, grungy, and wears a Kurt Cobain T-shirt. SCOTT EVIL Hi. DR. EVIL Hello, Scott. I'm your father, Dr. Evil. (emotional) I have a son! I have a son! Everyone, I have a son! (gesturing to globe) Someday, Scott, this will all be yours. SCOTT EVIL I haven't seen you my whole life and now you show up and want a relationship? I hate you! EXT. JAGUAR - DRIVING - VEGAS - DAY Vanessa and Austin drive in his perfectly-preserved Jag. AUSTIN You've preserved my Jag! Smashing! VANESSA Yes, we've had it retrofitted with a secure cellular phone, an on-board computer, and a Global Geosynchronous Positioning Device. Oh, and finally, this. The glove compartment revolves to reveal a display of various dental hygiene products&emdash; floss, toothpaste, toothbrush, dental mirror, and cleaning tool. AUSTIN Let me guess. The floss is garotte wire, the toothpaste contains plastic explosives, and the toothbrush is the detonation device. VANESSA No, actually. I don't know how to put this really. Well, there have been fabulous advances in the field of dentistry. AUSTIN Why? What's wrong with my teeth? EXT. VEGAS HOTEL - NIGHT The Union Jack-emblazoned Jaguar pulls up to the front door. INT. VEGAS HOTEL ROOM Vanessa carries her compact flight attendant bag and Austin takes his two bright red oversized leatherette Samsonite suitcases. AUSITN Which side of the bed do you want? VANESSA You're going to sleep on the sofa. I'd like to remind you, Mr. Powers, that the only reason we're sharing a room is to support our cover story that we're a married couple on vacation. AUSTIN So, shall we shag now, or shall we shag later? How do you like to do it? Do you like to wash up first? Top and tails? A whore's bath? Personally, before I'm on the job, I like to give my undercarriage a bit of a how's-your-father. AUSTIN (off her angry reaction) I'm just joking, Vanessa. Trying to get a rise out of you. They both laugh. VANESSA Let's unpack. HER LUGGAGE: In the inside flap is a types list of contents. All of her items are in separate, labeled plastic bags. AUSTIN Gor blimey, nerd alert. HIS LUGGAGE: He pulls out a Nehru jacket and a huge Remington shaver with huge English plug. HER LUGGAGE: She pulls out a compact clothes steamer/travel iron and a Braun blow drier. HIS LUGGAGE: He pulls out a vintage 1967 Playboy and a bottle of Jurgens lotion. HER LUGGAGE: She pulls out Wet-Naps, her underthings in a plastic baggie marked "Underthings" and her shoes in a baggie marked "Shoes." HIS LUGGAGE: He pulls out a miniature meditation gong and Hai Karate cologne. HER LUGGAGE: She pulls out a dossier labeled "Dr. Evil - Top Secret." HIS LUGGAGE: He pulls out the Swedish penis enlarger pump. Vanessa sees it. AUSTIN Hey, who put this in here? Someone's playing a prank on me! Honestly, this isn't mine. VANESSA (suffering) I'm sure. AUSTIN I think I'll give that stew a ding-a- ling. Austin casually dials the phone while looking at his palm. After a beat we hear a loud MALE VOICE coming through the handset. MOVIE PHONE VOICE (through handset) Hello! And welcome to 777-FILM! Austin covers the mouthpiece and whispers to Vanessa. AUSTIN I got her answering machine. INT. CASINO Austin and Vanessa walk through the casino. Austin gives PEOPLE two-handed handshakes. They stare like he's a freak. AUSTIN I love Las Vegas, man. Oh, I forgot my x-ray glasses. VANESSA Here, use mine. AUSTIN I'm going to use a cover name. It's important that it be a generic name so that we don't draw attention to ourselves. INT. CASINO Austin and Vanessa join the high-rollers table. Number Two is there, complete with eyepatch. On one side of him is a beautiful ITALIAN WOMAN (a la SOPHIA LOREN) in a white dress with a white kerchief on her head. On the other side of him is an extremely large-breasted BIMBO. AUSTIN Do you mind if I join you? NUMBER TWO Not at all. The DEALER deals. DEALER Seventeen. Zoom in on Number Two's eyepatch. NUMBER TWO'S MONOCULAR POV GRAPHIC: "X-RAY EYEPATCH". We see everyone at the casino in their underwear. He looks at the next card in the shoe. It is a 4. NUMBER TWO Hit me. DEALER You have seventeen, sir. The book says not to, sir. NUMBER TWO I like to live dangerously. The dealer draws a card from the card shoe. DEALER Four. Twenty-one. Everyone at the table applauds. The dealer deals to Austin and Number Two. DEALER (to Austin) Eighteen. (to Number Two) Sixteen. NUMBER TWO'S POV GRAPHIC: "X-RAY EYEPATCH". He looks at the shoe at the shoe and sees that the next card is a ten. NUMBER TWO I'll stay. DEALER (to Austin) Sir? Smugly, Austin puts on Vanessa's x-ray glasses. AUSTIN'S POV GRAPHIC: "X-RAY SPECS". Everyone is in their underwear, but it is completely blurry. DEALER (to Austin) Sir? VANESSA (quietly) What's wrong? AUSTIN (quietly, to Vanessa) I can't see a bloody thing. VANESSA Oh, I forgot to tell you, they're prescription X-ray glasses. I have very bad astigmatism. DEALER Sir, the table is waiting. AUSTIN (panicking) Uh, hit me. The table MURMURS. DEALER On an eighteen, sir? AUSTIN Yes, I also like to live dangerously. The dealer deals him the ten. NUMBER TWO You're very brave. AUSTIN Cards are not my bag, man. Allow myself to introduce...myself. My name is Ritchie Cunningham. Vanessa is mortified. AUSTIN (indicating Vanessa) This is my wife, Enid. NUMBER TWO My name is Number Two. He extends his hand to shake. Austin extends his hand, but misses and begins to shake the bimbo's breast. There is an awkward pause. Austin takes off his glasses. VANESSA (rescuing him) Number Two? That's an unusual name. NUMBER TWO My parents were hippies. (indicating Italian woman) This is my Italian confidential secretary. ITALIAN WOMAN (Italian accent) My name is Alotta (quickly) Alotta Fagina. AUSTIN I'm sorry, I'm just not getting it. It sounds like you're saying your name is a lot of...never mind. Listen, cats, I'm going to crash. It's been a gas. NUMBER TWO Bye-bye, Mr...Cunningham? AUSTIN Peace, baby. Austin and Vanessa leave. INT. CASINO VANESSA Why did you leave so soon? AUSTIN That cat Number Two has an X-ray eyepatch. I get bad vibes from him, man. Listen, we should go back to the room, but first I have to go to the naughty chair and see a man about a dog. He heads to the rest room. INT. HIGH ROLLERS TABLE - CASINO Number Two has been watching them. He presses a BUTTON. INT. BATHROOM - CASINO Austin enters to see a gregarious TEXAN in a huge cowboy hat. Austin enters a stall. The Texan enters the adjoining stall. TEXAN Good luck, buddy. You don't buy food, you rent it. AUSTIN Too right, youth. INT. BATHROOM STALL Austin sits down. Behind him, a panel SLIDES OPEN, revealing Patty O'Brien. His charm bracelet JINGLES. Austin looks back. Patty's bracelet is now garotte wire. He wraps it around Austin's throat. Austin gets his thumbs between the wire and certain death. AUSTIN (grunting) Uh, uh! INT. TEXAN'S STALL The Texan can only see Austin's feet, which are moving about frantically. He can hear the GRUNTING. TEXAN Hey pardner, just relax, don't force it! Use some creative visualization. INT. AUSTIN'S STALL Austin GRUNTS and snaps his head back into Patty O'Brien's crotch. Patty O'Brien GROANS in agony. PATTY O'BRIEN (groaning) Ughhhhh... Austin breaks free of the charm bracelet/garotte, grabs Patty O'Brien's head, and pulls it between his legs so that it hovers above the toilet bowl. AUSTIN Who does Number Two work for? INT. TEXAN'S STALL TEXAN That's right! Show that turd who's boss! INT. AUSITN'S STALL AUSTIN Who does Number Two work for? PATTY O'BRIEN (quietly, straining) Go to hell. Austin drops Patty's head into the toilet and FLUSHES. We hear MUFFLED GURGLING SOUNDS from Patty O'Brien. INT. TEXAN'S STALL The Texan hears all of this, and is now concerned. INT. AUSTIN'S STALL Austin reaches into Patty O'Brien's wallet. We see his Dr. Evil ID card and Alotta's Virtucon business card with her address. INT. BATHROOM Austin is leaving his stall. The Texan can see Patty O'Brien's dead body head-first in the toilet. TEXAN Jesus Christ, what did you eat? ANGLE ON THE FLOOR OF AUSTIN'S STALL Patty O'Brien's lifeless hand hits the floor. The charms come tumbling out: a heart, a moon, a star, and a clover. A second later, a blue diamond falls out. INT. PSYCHEDELIC SCENE BREAK MUSIC: Psychedelic Wa-wa Pedal Funky Drummer Beat TITLE GRAPHIC: Love Power Austin and the go-go girl dance crazily. EXT. VEGAS HOTEL - MORNING INT. HOTEL SUITE - DAY Vanessa is on the phone on the bed sifting through photos and files on Dr. Evil, Virtucon, etc. In the background, through an open door, we see that Austin is asleep on the couch. VANESSA (into phone) Hello Mum? INT. MRS. KENSINGTON'S HOUSE - LONDON An older Mrs. Kensington sits in her suburban English front room. MRS. KENSINGTON (on phone) Oh, hello Vanessa. How was the flight? VANESSA (V.O.) Great. MRS. KENSINGTON How's Austin? VANESSA (V.O.) He's asleep. MRS. KENSINGTON You didn't... INT. HOTEL SUITE VANESSA Oh, God no, I made him sleep on the couch. In the background, we see Austin get off the couch. He is very naked and very hairy. A strategically placed vase of flowers blocks his naughty bits from view. MRS. KENSINGTON (V.O.) I'm proud of you. VANESSA Why? MRS. KENSINGTON (V.O.) Because you managed to resist Austin Power's charms. Austin moves towards the bathroom away from the flowers. Right in the nick of time, Vanessa holds up a photo of Number Two and looks at it, blocking his naughty parts. VANESSA Well, God knows he tried, but I've been rather firm with him, Mummy. You didn't tell me he was so obsessed with sex. It's bizarre. MRS. KENSINGTON (V.O.) You can't judge him by modern standards. He's very much a product of his times. In my day he could have any woman he wanted. VANESSA What about his teeth? SPLIT SCREEN - HOTEL ROOM/MRS. KENSINGTON'S HOUSE MRS. KENSINGTON You have to understand, in Britain in the Sixties you could be a sex symbol and still have bad teeth. It didn't matter. VANESSA I just don't see it. MRS. KENSINGTON Just wait. Once Austin gets you in his charms, it's impossible to get out. VANESSA Did you ever... MRS. KENSINGTON Of course not. I was married to your father. VANESSA Did you ever want to? MRS. KENSINGTON Austin is very charming, very debonair. He's handsome, witty, has a knowledge of fine wines, sophisticated, a world-renowned photographer. Women want hin, men want to be him. He's a lover of love&emdash; every bit an International Man of Mystery. We hear the TOILET FLUSH. Mrs. Kensington WIPES off the screen. Austin re-enters from left to right, still NAKED. Vanessa holds up Austin's Fab Magazine shoot from the Sixties, and in perfect timing blocks his crotch from the camera. VANESSA You didn't answer my question, Mum. MRS. KENSINGTON (V.O.) I know. Let me just say this: Austin was the most loyal and caring friend I ever had. I will always love him. AUSTIN (V.O.) Good morning, luv, who are you on the phone with? VANESSA (to her mother) Do you want to talk to him? MRS. KENSINGTON (V.O.) No, it's been too long. Best to leave things alone. VANESSA (to Austin) I'm on with a friend! (to her mother) Look, I'd better go. I love you. MRS. KENSINGTON (V.O.) I love you, Vanessa. Vanessa hangs up. Austin enters wearing an "Austin Powers" robe. AUSTIN Good morning, Vanessa! I hope you have on clean underwear. VANESSA Why? AUSTIN We've got a doctor's appointment&emdash; an evil doctor's appointment. EXT. VIRTUCON MAIN ENTRANCE - DRIVEWAY - DAY THROUGH BINOCULAR POV CUT-OUTS We see a black limousine pull up in front. Random Task and another BODYGUARD exit the limo and secure the area. EXT. LAS VEGAS - BUSHES We see that the binoculars belong to Vanessa. She and Austin are on a stakeout. Austin's Jag is in the background. VANESSA A limousine has just pulled up. AUSTIN Let me see. Austin pulls into frame an extremely long telephoto lens attached to his vintage camera. EXT. VIRTUCON MAIN ENTRANCE TELEPHOTO LENS POV Two more BODYGUARDS leave the building and approach the limo. Number Two exits the building holding Mr. Bigglesworth, the hairless cat. He's not happy about this, and has a scratch on his cheek. FREEZE FRAME. SFX: Camera motor drive. EXT. BUSHES AUSTIN Hello, hello. That's Dr. Evil's cat. VANESSA How do you know? AUSTIN I never forget a pussy...cat. EXT. FRONT ENTRANCE TELEPHOTO LENS POV Number Two hands the hairless cat through limo's window. FREEZE FRAME. SFX: Camera motor drive. The limousine speeds off. EXT. BUSHES VANESSA Let's go get him! AUSTIN He's too well-protected right now. VANESSA We can't just sit here, Austin. AUSTIN Let me tell you a story. There's these two bulls on top of a hill checking out some foxy cows in the meadow below. The young bull says, 'hey, why don't we run down the hill and shag us a cow?', and the wise old bull replies, 'no, why don't we walk down the hill and shag all the cows?' VANESSA I don't get it. AUSTIN Well, you know...cows, and shagging. VANESSA Unfortunately, while you told that stupid story, Dr. Evil has escaped. AUSTIN No worries, luv. We'll just give Basil a tinkle on the telling bone... He notices the way the desert light catches her beauty. AUSTIN My God, Vanessa, you are so incredibly beautiful. Stay right where you are. Austin changes lenses and begins SNAPPING PICTURES. VANESSA I hate having my picture taken. AUSTIN You're crazy. The camera loves you, Vanessa. Vanessa does a few coy poses. AUSTIN Go, Vanessa, go! Vanessa lets go a little bit more. WHITE CYC Austin and Vanessa are in the midst of a full professional photo shoot, and she's loving it. Austin begins SNAPPING pictures, all the while changing her look, touching her hair. AUSTIN Alright, luv! Love it! Turn...pout for me Vanessa. Smashing! Crazy. Give me some shoulder. (pause) Yes! Yes! Yes! He motions to her two top buttons of her blouse. She nods no. Austin nods yes. She sheepishly undoes them. A MONTAGE of her in various gowns, one more exotic and exciting than the other. AUSTIN Show me love. Yes! (beat) Smashing! Vanessa is flanked by two buff MALE MODELS à la Madonna. AUSTIN Great! Great! Smashing! (beat) Yes! Yes! Yes! (beat) No! No! Love it. Give me love. Give me mouth. Give me lips. (BEAT) Going in very close now. He goes in closer. AUSTIN Give me eyes. (closer) Give me cornea. (closer) Give me aqueous humour. (closer) Coming in closer. Give me retina, Vanessa. (closer) Even closer. Give me optic nerve. (beat) Love it! (beat) And...done. He throws the camera down. AUSTIN I'm spent. What say you we go out on the town? EXT. LAS VEGAS STREET - BUS - NIGHT Austin and Vanessa are on the top deck of an open air double- decker English bus having a full-course formal dinner. They're drinking champagne. Austin is cutting sausages into ever-smaller pieces, holding his cutlery very English. He has cut one piece to the point to which it's a speck. H puts it on the fork and offers it to her. AUSTIN Fancy a nibble? VANESSA I couldn't have another bite. They laugh. They drink. It's TOM JONES, serenading them. They begin to dance. Austin gives her roses. Austin is wooing her. EXT. LAS VEGAS STREET - NIGHT They walk along the brightly-lit streets, laughing, enjoying each other's company. Austin gives Vanessa a pet rock. She graciously accepts. 64 LAS VEGAS - SUPERIMPOSITION MONTAGE Austin and Vanessa stroll against a changing series of backgrounds&emdash; neon signs, Vegas icons, dice showgirls, etc. INT. HOTEL ROOM Sounds of MOANS and GROANS. We see Austin's backside sticking out above a piece of furniture, then Vanessa's high-heeled leg straining upwards. VANESSA (O.S.) Watch out, you're on my hair! AUSTIN (O.S.) Sorry. Move your hand to the left. There you go. Gorgeous. VANESSA (O.S.) Go! Just go! We hear a SPINNING SOUND. AUSTIN (O.S.) Left hand, blue. We now see that Austin and Vanessa are playing TWISTER. She reaches for left hand blue and they fall over, laughing. AUSTIN Wait a tick, I forgot something in the lobby. (moving behind the couch) I know what. I'll take the stairs. Behind the couch, Austin mimes going down stairs. AUSTIN Maybe I'll take the escalator. Austin mimes the smooth descent of an escalator. AUSTIN Why take the escalator when I could take a canoe? Austin mimes rowing a canoe behind the couch. VANESSA I haven't had fun like that since college. AUSTIN I'm sorry. VANESSA Why? AUSTIN I'm sorry that bug up your ass had to die. She laughs too much, making a SNORTING sound. VANESSA Always wanting to have fun, that's you in a nutshell. AUSTIN No, this is me in a nutshell. Austin mimes being trapped in a nutshell. AUSTIN Help! I'm in a nutshell! What kind of nut has such a big nutshell? How did I get into this bloody great big nutshell? Vanessa laughs again, SNORTING, tipsy. AUSTIN You're smashed, Vanessa. VANESSA I am not. AUSTIN Oh, yes you are. VANESSA I'm not. I'm the sensible one. I'm always the designated driver. They are both on the bed. She looks at him. He looks at her. There is an awkward silence. She's about to kiss him, then he pulls away. AUSTIN I can't. You're drunk. VANESSA It's not that I'm drunk, I'm just beginning to see what my Mum was talking about. (pause) What was my mother like back in the Sixties? I'm dying to know. AUSTIN (sentimental) She was very groovy. She was so in love with your Dad. If there was one other cat in this world that could have loved your Mum and treated her as well as you Dad did, it was me. But, unfortunately for yours truly, that train has sailed. Austin hears SNORING. He looks over and sees Vanessa asleep. A distinctive PHONE RINGS and a RED LIGHT FLASHES. Austin opens one of his funky suitcases to reveal a PICTURE PHONE. It's Basil Exposition, on an airplane. BASIL EXPOSITION (on the picture phone) Hello, Austin, this is Basil Exposition from British Intelligence. Thank you for confirming the link between Dr. Evil and Virtucon. Find out what part Virtucon plays in something called Project Vulcan. I'll need you and Vanessa to get on that immediately. AUSTIN Right away, Exposition. BASIL EXPOSITION Where is Vanessa, by the way? Austin looks over at Vanessa's sleeping figure. AUSTIN She's working on another lead right now. BASIL EXPOSITION Then you'll have to go it alone. Good luck. AUSTIN Thank you, Basil. BASIL EXPOSITION Oh, and Austin&emdash; AUSTIN (knowing) Yes? BASIL EXPOSITION Let me remind you that because of the unfreezing process you might experience flatulence at moments of extreme relaxation. AUSTIN Oh, yes. Thank you. BASIL EXPOSITION There's one more thing, Austin. AUSTIN Yes? BASIL EXPOSITION Be careful. AUSTIN Thank you. Austin looks at Alotta's Virtucon business card. INT. ALOTTA'S JAPANESE STYLE PENTHOUSE Austin is in a dark penthouse suite. Austin passes a piece of art that is very suggestive of the female anatomy. AUSTIN Paging Dr. Freud. He goes over to a credenza where there is a briefcase. He opens it. FULL SCREEN - DOCUMENT Austin's photographing the dossier with his miniature camera/pendant. AUSTIN (photographing) Give it to me baby. Super. We now see that the document outlines all of Virtucon's holdings in a flow-chart fashion. AUSTIN Pout for me, luv. Smashing. Yes! Yes! Yes! No! No! One side of the chart is labeled "Secret Projects." Under that we see "Human Organ Trafficking", "Carrot Top Movie", and in CLOSE-UP&emdash; "Project Vulcan." We see schematics for some sort of subterranean probe and a cross-section of the earth labeled "Crust, Mantel, Core." AUSTIN And I'm spent. The front door opens. It's Alotta. AUSTIN You seem surprised to see me. ALOTTA I thought you'd quit while you were ahead. AUSTIN What, and watch all my earnings go... (smug) Down the toilet? ALOTTA What do you want, Mr...Cunningham, was it? AUSTIN Call me Ritchie, Miss Fagina. May I call you Alotta... (pause) Please? ALOTTA You may. AUSTIN Your boss, Number Two, I understand that cat's involved in big underground drills. ALOTTA Virtucon's main interest is in cable television, but they do have a subterranean construction division, yes. How did you know? AUSTIN (smug) I didn't, baby, you just told me. ALOTTA It's for the mining industry, Mr. Cunningham. We can talk about business later. But first, let me slip into something more comfortable. AUSTIN Behave! MUSIC: "The Look of Love" by SERGIO MENDEZ AND BRAZIL 66 Alotta goes behind a Japanese screen. In silhouette she takes off her clothes and puts on a robe. She opens a pair of sliding doors to reveal an elaborate Japanese bath grotto. INT. JAPANESE BATH She slips off her robe, revealing a DR. EVIL LOGO TATTOO on her shoulder, and enters the water. ALOTTA Come in. AUSTIN I'd rather talk about Number Two. ALOTTA Don't you like girls, Mr. Cunningham? Come in, and I'll show you everything you need to know. Austin takes off his clothes. He is extremely hairy. He goes in. Alotta produces a soapy sponge and swims over. ALOTTA May I wash you? AUSTIN Groovy. She washes his back. Behind his back, she pulls out his wallet and looks through it. ANGLE ON HIS IDENTIFICATION. It reads "AUSTIN POWERS, INTERNATIONAL MAN OF MYSTERY." ANGLE ON HIS VARIOUS CARDS: CHARGEX, PLAYBOY CLUB, ETC. SHE PUTS HIS WALLET BACK IN HIS trousers. ALOTTA In Japan, men come first and women come second. AUSTIN Or sometimes not at all. ALOTTA Care for some saki? AUSTIN Sak-i it to me! Alotta pours them saki. Alotta unscrews the diamond in her ring. A sign on the inside of her ring reads "Relaxation Pills." She drops two PILLS into his drink. Austin takes a sip. His eyes glaze over. He's instantly woozy. ALOTTA How do you feel, Mr. Cunningham? AUSTIN Mmmm...I feel extreme relaxation. A big BUBBLE comes to the surface, right in front of Austin. AUSTIN (reciting poem) 'Pardon me for being rude, It was not me, it was my food. It just popped up to say hello, and now it's gone back down below.' ALOTTA That's very clever. Do you know any other poems? AUSTIN (reciting in a lofty tone) 'Milk, milk, lemonade. Round the corner fudge is made. Stick your finger in the hole, And out comes a tootsie roll!' ALOTTA (genuinely moved) Thank you, that's beautiful. To your health. AUSTIN To my health. ALOTTA Kiss me. They go to kiss. She notices HIS TERRIBLE TEETH, CLOSE-UP. ALOTTA Do you mind if I ask you a personal question? AUSTIN Is it about my teeth? ALOTTA Yes. AUSTIN Damn. What exactly do you do at Virtucon? ALOTTA I'll tell you all in due time, after we make love. But first, tell me another poem. AUSTIN I think it was Wordsworth who penned this little gem: 'Press the button, pull the chain, out comes a chocolate choo-choo train.' ALOTTA Oh, you're very clever. Let's make love, you silly, hairy little man. She glides over to him. INT. PSYCHEDELIC SCENE BREAK MUSIC: Psychedelic Wa-wa Pedal Funky Drummer Beat GRAPHIC: The Party Austin and the go-go girl dance crazily. INT. DR. EVIL'S PRIVATE QUARTERS - DAY Dr. Evil, Number Two, and Frau Farbissina sit at the large conference table. DR. EVIL Austin Powers is getting too close. He must be neutralized. Any suggestions? FRAU FARBISSINA Ya wohl&emdash; I mean, yes wohl, Herr Doctor. I have created the ultimate weapon to defeat Austin Powers. Bring on the Fembots! MUSIC: Sexy Matt Helm-type theme THREE FEMBOTS enter. They are beautiful buxom multiracial girl/robots in Sixties clothes and white go-go boots. DR. EVIL Breathtaking, Frau. These automated strumpets are the perfect bait for the degenerate Powers. FRAU FARBISSINA These are the latest word in android replicant technology. Lethal, efficient, brutal. And no man can resist their charms. Send in the soldiers! SEVEN SOLDIERS come in. They are immediately attracted to the FEMBOTS. They throw down their guns and come to the girls zombie-like. When they get within range, guns POP out of the Fembots' bras and begin FIRING, killing the guards. DR. EVIL Quite impressive. FRAU FARBISSINA Thank you, Herr Doctor. DR. EVIL I like to see girls of that caliber. By caliber, I mean both the barrel size of their guns and the high quality of their character...Forget it. SFX: 60'S ELECTRONIC BUZZER NUMBER TWO That would be the video feed from Kreplachistan. Dr. Evil and Number Two watch a large screen. We see stock footage of a Russian warhead. We cut into a close-up of RUSSIAN SOLDIERS being taken prisoner by VIRTUCON SOLDIERS in the front of a military vehicle. DR. EVIL Gentlemen, Phase One is complete. The warhead is ours. Let Phase Two begin! Patch us through to the United Nations security secret meeting room. INT. UN SECRET MEETING ROOM REPRESENTATIVES of various countries in their traditional garb around a large UN-style meeting table. The BRITISH are dressed in bowler hats. The AMERICANS all look like JFK. The CANADIANS are dressed as Mounties. The ARABS are dressed in ceremonial robes, etc. DR. EVIL Gentlemen, my name is Dr. Evil. They all look up at the SCREEN. DR. EVIL In a little while, you'll find out that the Kreplachistani warhead has gone missing. Well, it's in safe hands. If you want it back, you'll have to pay me...ONE MILLION DOLLARS! The UN representatives are confused. Number Two COUGHS. DR. EVIL (frustrated) Sorry. ONE-HUNDRED BILLION DOLLARS! The representatives ARGUE amongst themselves. UNITED NATIONS SECRETATY Gentlemen, silence! (to Dr. Evil) NOW, MR. EVIL&EMDASH; DR. EVIL (angry) Doctor Evil! I didn't spend six years in evil medical school to be called 'mister'. UNITED NATIONS SECRETARY Excuse me. Dr. Evil, it is the policy of the United Nations not to negotiate with terrorists. DR. EVIL Fine, have it your way. Gentlemen, you have five days to come up with one hundred billion dollars. If you fail to do so, we'll set off the warhead and destroy the world. UNITED NATIONS SECRETARY You can't destroy the world with a single warhead. DR. EVIL Really? So long. The screen goes BLANK. DR. EVIL (to evil associates) Gentlemen, in exactly five days from now, we will be one-hundred billion dollars richer. (laughing) Ha-ha-ha-ha. (slightly louder) Ha-ha-ha-ha. EVIL ASSOCIATES (laughing with him) Ha-ha-ha-ha. DR. EVIL & ASSOCIATES (LOUDER AND MORE STACCATO) HA-HA-HA-HA-HA! (louder again, and even more evil and maniacal) HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA! (PAUSE) Ohhhh, ahhhhhh... (pause, quieter) Ohhh, hmmmm. (pause, very quiet) hmn. There is an uncomfortable pause, because clearly we should have FADED TO BLACK. The evil associates look around the room, not knowing what to do with themselves. DR. EVIL Okay...Well...I think I'm going to watch some TV. EVIL ASSOCIATES Okay. Sure. They exit the frame awkwardly. INT. BRITISH MAKESHIFT HQ Austin and Vanessa enter past two BRITISH MILITARY POLICEMAN. There is a communications center, a makeshift armory, bunks, etc. We see Basil, dressed as the Vegas-era Elvis. AUSTIN Hello, Exposition. BASIL EXPOSITION Austin, Vanessa, let me bring you up to speed. Dr. Evil has high-jacked a nuclear warhead from Kreplachistan and is holding the world ransom for one-hundred billion dollars. If the world doesn't pay up in four days, he's threatening to destroy the world. AUSTIN Thank you, Exposition. Only two things, scare me, and one is nuclear war. BASIL EXPOSITION What's the other? AUSTIN Excuse me? BASIL EXPOSITION What's the other thing you're scared of? AUSTIN Carnies. BASIL EXPOSITION What? AUSTIN Circus folk. (shudders) Nomads, you know. They smell like cabbage. BASIL EXPOSITION (suffering him) Indeed...If we could get back to the business at hand. It's one thing to have a warhead, it's quite another thing to have the missiles to launch it. AUSTIN Maybe these photographs are the last piece of that puzzle. (hands him the photos) I've uncovered the details on Project Vulcan. It's a new subterranean warhead delivery system. BASIL EXPOSITION Good God, and underground missile. We've long feared such a development. VANESSA When did you find that out, Austin? BASIL EXPOSITION Austin did some reconnaissance work at Alotta Fagina's penthouse last night. VANESSA Oh. BASIL EXPOSITON Our next move is to infiltrate Virtucon. Any ideas? VANESSA Yes, Virtucon runs a tour of their facilities every hour. I suggest we pose as tourists and do site-level reconnaissance. BASIL EXPOSITION Top drawer, Kensington. Oh, Austin, I want you to meet somebody. Basil waves to an extremely frail ELDERLY BRITISH LADY. BASIL EXPOSITION Austin, this is my mother, Mrs. Exposition. She's in from Tunbridge Wells in Kent. Can you believe, she's ninety-two years old? Austin hauls off and PUNCHES the lady in the face. BASIL EXPOSITION My God, Austin, what have you done? AUSTIN That's not your mother, that's a man! Austin begins tugging on her hair. MRS. EXPOSITION Owww...my hair! BASIL EXPOSITION Get away from my mother! VANESSA Austin, have you gone mad? The two guards come over and help Mrs. Exposition to a cot. MRS. EXPOSITION (through pain) Who is that man? Why did he hit me? BASIL EXPOSIION Don't worry, mother. Lie down. Austin, you have a lot of explaining to do. AUSTIN I'm sorry, Basil, I thought she was a man. BASIL EXPOSITION Damn it, man! You're talking about my mother! AUSTIN You must admit, she is rather mannish. No offense, but if that's a woman, it looks like she's been beaten with an ugly stick. VANESSA Really, Austin! AUSTIN Look at her hands, baby! Those are carpenter's hands. BASIL EXPOSITION All right, Austin, I think you should go. AUSTIN I think if everyone were honest, they'd confess that the lady looks exactly like a man in drag. BASIL EXPOSITION I'm leaving! (pause) Oh, and Austin? AUSTIN Yes, Basil? BASIL EXPOSITION Be careful. AUSTIN Thanks. Basil escorts his mother out. VANESSA Austin, may I have a word with you? AUSTIN Of course, luv. VANESSA Listen, I know I'm just being neurotic, but I can't shake this suspicious feeling about that Italian secretary, Ms. Fagina. I mean, I don't want to sound paranoid, but I've had some bad relationships in the past, and I have some jealousy issues. You went to her penthouse. It makes me feel so small to give into these insecurities, but I can't help but feel this weird, irrational, unfocused...well, jealousy. I'm sorry. AUSTIN Don't be sorry. You're right to be suspicious. I shagged her. I shagged her rotten. VANESSA (stunned) I can't believe you made love to her just like that. Did you use protection? AUSTIN Of course, I had my nine-millimeter automatic. VANESSA No, did you use a condom? AUSTIN Only sailors use condoms, man. VANESSA Not in the Nineties. AUSTIN Well they should, filthy beggars, they go from port to port. Alotta meant nothing to me. VANESSA (pause) Well, it means something to me. If you want us to have a relationship, you've got to be a one-woman man. AUSTIN It was just a shag, Vanessa. You're everything to me. VANESSA You just don't get it, do you, Austin? Good night. Welcome to the Nineties, you're going to be very lonely. INT. HOTEL ROOM - NIGHT MUSIC: "What the World Needs Now" by BURT BACHARACH Austin looks at his address book. ANGLE ON THE PAGE: We see a list of names crossed out, with comments written in beside them. Beside Jimi Hendrix we see "Deceased, Drugs"; Janis Joplin, "Deceased, Alcohol"; Mama Cass, "Deceased, Ham Sandwich"; Jerry Garcia. "Deceased, Gratefully"; Jane Fonda, "Square". Austin looks at his old pair of Sixties-era canvas sneakers. He picks up his new pair&emdash; REEBOK SHAQ CROSS-TRAINER PUMPS. He pumps them too much and they explode. Austin looks out his window at the lonely city below. We see the CDs he's just purchased, including SERGEANT PEPPER'S and BURT BACHARACH'S GREATEST HITS. Austin goes over to the kitchenette and puts a can of unopened Campbell's Tomato Soup in the microwave and turns it on. It explodes in a shower of sparks and soup. He puts the CD on a record player and drops the needle. The NOISE is awful. Austin plays MORTAL COMBAT III. His fighter gets his head ripped off, and blood spews out. Austin is genuinely frightened by this. INT. BATHROOM Austin attempts to use the Water Pik, but the head is too loose and water shoots all around the bathroom. EXT. CAR - STREETS OF LAS VEGAS - NIGHT Austin drives alone and sad against the rear-projection of Las Vegas. INT. CASINO BAR - NIGHT Austin drinks by himself while a gaggle of EIGHT CONTEMPORARY YOUNG PEOPLE IN LOVE cavort. They look at him like he's a freak. Austin raises a bottle of ZIMA as if to say "hey, I'm down with that". They shoot him sarcastic peace signs. Austin is pleased. INT. HOTEL ROOM - DAY Austin sits watching the TIME-LIFE The Last Thirty Years video on TV. Vanessa enters. AUSTIN Hello, luv. VANESSA Thirty years of political and social upheaval. The fall of the Berlin wall, a female Prime Minister of England, the abolishment of Apartheid, a fascinating tapestry of human strum und drang. AUSTIN Yeah, I can't believe Liberace was gay. Women loved him, man. I didn't see that one coming. VANESSA Basil was very concerned to know where you were last night. AUSTIN Out and about, doing odds and sods. VANESSA I'll tell him. By the way, I've decided we should keep our relationship strictly professional. INT. THERAPIST'S OFFICE - NEXT DAY We're in the middle of a group therapy session, containing six or seven FATHERS with their teenage SONS. It is emotionally charged. A lot of pained expressions and coffee in Styrofoam cups. SON 1 (crying) I love you, Dad. DAD 1 I love you, Son. They hug. Everyone APPLAUDS. We see Dr. Evil and Scott. THERAPIST That was great, Mr. Keon, Dave. Thank you. OK, group, we have two new member. Say hello to Scott and his father, Mr....Ehville? DR. EVIL Evil, actually, Doctor Evil. GROUP Hello, Dr. Evil. Hello, Scott. SCOTT EVIL (into it) Hello, everybody. THERAPIST So, Scott, why don't we start with you. Why are you here? SCOTT EVIL Well, it's kind of weird. THERAPIST We don't judge here. SCOTT EVIL OK. Well, I just really met my Dad for the first time three days ago. He was partially frozen for thirty years. I never knew him growing up. He comes back and now he wants me to take over the family business. THERAPIST And how do you feel about that? SCOTT EVIL I don't wanna take over the family business. DR. EVIL But Scott, who's going to take over the world when I die? SCOTT EVIL Not me. THERAPIST What do you want to do, Scott? SCOTT EVIL I don't know. I was thinking, maybe I'd be a vet or something, cause I like animals and stuff. DR. EVIL An evil vet? SCOTT EVIL No. Maybe, like, work in a petting zoo or something. DR. EVIL An evil petting zoo? SCOTT EVIL (shouting) You always do that! (calm) Anyways, this is really hard, because, you know, my Dad is really evil. THERAPIST We don't label people here, Scott. SCOTT EVIL No, he's really evil. THERAPIST Scott. DR. EVIL No, the boy's right. I really am evil. THERAPIST Don't be so hard on yourself. You're here, that's what's important. A journey of a thousand miles begins with one step. SCOTT EVIL I just think, like, he hates me. I really think he wants to kill me. THERAPIST OK, Scott, no one really wants to "kill" anyone here. They say it, but they don't mean it. The group LAUGHS. DR. EVIL Actually, the boy's quite astute. I am trying to kill him. My Evil Associates have cautioned against it, so here he is, unfortunately, alive. THERAPIST We've heard from Scott, now let's hear from you. DR. EVIL The details of my life are quite inconsequential. THERAPIST That's not true, Doctor. Please, tell us about your childhood. GROUP Yes, of course. Go ahead, etc. DR. EVIL Very well, where should I begin? My father was a relentlessly self- improving boulangerie owner from Belgium with low-grade narcolepsy and a penchant for buggery. My mother was a fifteen-year-old French prostitute named Chloe with webbed feet. My father would womanize, he would drink, he would make outrageous claims, like he invented the question mark. Sometimes he would accuse chestnuts of being lazy. A sort of general malaise that only the genius possess and the insane lament. My childhood was typical. Summers in Rangoon, luge lessons. In the spring we'd make meat helmets. If I was insolent, I was placed in a burlap bag and beaten with reeds. Pretty standard, really. At the age of twelve I received my first scribe. At the age of fifteen, a Zoroastrian named Vilma ritualistically shaved my testicles. There really is nothing like a shawn scrotum. At the age of eighteen, I went off to evil medical school. From there... ANGLE ON THE THERAPIST AND THE GROUP. They are stunned. PSYCHEDELC SCENE BREAK MUSIC: Psychedelic Wa-wa Pedal Funky Drummer Beat TITLE GRAPHIC: Sock It To Me Austin and the go-go girl dance crazily. EXT. VIRTUCON HIGH RISE - NEXT MORNING INT. HALLWAY - VIRTUCON A TOUR is in progress. Austin, Vanessa, and other TOURISTS ride on an electric tram. AUSTIN Since I've been unfrozen, I've had a rancid taste in my mouth. Do you have a piece of gum? VANESSA (in her own world) Do you think she's prettier than I? AUSTIN Who? VANESSA You know who. AUSTIN No! Don't lay your hang-ups on me, Vanessa. You're being very trippy. VANESSA I'm looking at you, and the whole time I can't help thinking you had your willie inside her hootchie-kooch. AUSTTIN Well put. Listen love, we can't keep having this fight. I'm an International Man of Mystery. Sometimes in the course of my work to save the world I have to shag some crumpet. It's all part of the job. TOUR GUIDE Welcome to Virtucon, the company of the future. (pointing to large display window) Virtucon is a leading manufacturer of many items you'll find right in your own home. We make steel, volatile chemicals, petroleum-based products, and we also own the Franklin mint, which makes decorative hand- painted theme plates for collectors. (holds up plate) Some plates, like the Gone With The Wind series, have gone up in value as much as two-hundred and forty percent, but, as with any investment, there is some risk involved. The people on the tour APPLAUD. TOUR GUIDE Coming up on the left, we have the Virtucon gift shop, offering a wide range of Virtucon licensed products. On the right, you'll notice a door that leads to a restricted area. Only authorized personnel are allowed beyond that point. INT. VIRTUCON GIFT SHOP AREA All the tourists head for the gift shop. Austin notices a SEVEN-FOOT-TALL SCIENTIST leaving the "RESTRICTED AREA" with a FOUR-HUNDRED-POUND FEMALE SCIENTIST. They both wear Virtucon coveralls. AUSTIN I'll take him, you take her. The seven-foot-tall male scientist goes to the men's room; the four-hundred-pound woman goes to the ladies room. Austin and Vanessa follow. We hear from inside either washroom the sound of PEOPLE BEING KNOCKED OUT. Austin and Vanessa exit wearing the scientists' coveralls over their clothes. Magically, the coveralls fit perfectly. They go through the doors into the restricted area. INT. HALLWAY - RESTRICTED AREA They approach the security GUARD. VANESSA Austin, we don't look anything like our photo badges. AUSTIN Don't worry, baby. I picked up a mind control technique during my travels to India. I learned it from my guru, the late Guru Shastri, a chaste man who mysteriously died of a disease that had all the hallmarks of syphilis. Just watch me. Watch me, now. They reach the guard. GUARD Hi, folks. You're entering a restricted zone. Can I see your security badges? AUSTIN Sure. They flash their security badges to the guard. ANGLE ON AUSTIN. WE PUSH IN SLOWLY AS AUSTIN CONCENTRATES, RAISING ONE EYEBROW AND THEN THE other, back and forth. MUSIC: Mystical Indian sitar. AUSTIN (hypnotist-like) Everything seems to be in order. GUARD (looking at the badges) Hey, wait a minute&emdash; ANGLE ON AUSTIN. He redoubles his eye-brow-raising. GUARD (trance-like, in Austin's English accent) Everything seems to be in order. VANESSA That's amazing. Let's go! AUSTIN Hold on one second. Austin again does his mind control trick. AUSTIN Here, have a piece of gum. GUARD (in trace) Here, have a piece of gum. He hands Austin a piece of gum. AUSTIN Don't mind if I do. GUARD (slipping out of trance) Hey! Wait a minute, that's my last piece of gum. Austin does his mind-control again. AUSTIN No, no, I want you to have it, even if it's my last piece. GUARD (trance-like) No, no, I want you to have it, even if it's my last piece. AUSTIN (mind-controlling) I'm going to go across the street and get you some sherbert. VANESSA (irritated) Austin, we have to go! She pulls him away. GUARD (O.S.) (faintly) I'm going to go across the street and get you some sherbert. Austin and Vanessa come to a door marked "PROJECT VULCAN - TOP SECRET." They walk through. INT. PROJECT VULCAN RESEARCH ROOM Inside, SCIENTISTS wearing head-to-toe radiation suits surround and inspect a huge diamond-encrusted drill bit. SCIENTIST This is the strongest, sharpest drill bit ever produced by man. It weighs fifteen metric tones and can bore through a mile-thick bedrock of solid granite in seven seconds. INT. VIRTUCON GIFT SHOP AREA - TOUR TRAM A SECURITY GUARD and the tour guide take a head count. They notice Austin and Vanessa's empty seats on the tram. The guard speaks into his walkie-talkie. INT. PROJECT VULCAN RESEARCH ROOM SFX: ALARM GOES OFF ANNOUNCER (on PA) Attention, there are intruders in the complex. All the radiation suited scientists turn to look at Austin and Vanessa. SCIENTIST Get them! The scientist approach. Austin knocks two of them out cold with judo chops. AUSTIN Judo chop! Judo chop! Vanessa knocks two of them out using roundhouse kicks. SECURITY GUARDS flood into the room from the hallway. Austin and Vanessa take off through another side door which reads "VIRTUCON STEAMROLLER TESTING FACILITY." INT. STEAMROLLER TESTING FACILITY It is a room the size of a large gymnasium overseen by a large observation booth. Six STEAMROLLER go around a test track very slowly. Austin and Vanessa hide behind one of the slowly moving steamrollers. Security guards enter the facility and begin fanning out in a search. AUSTIN Our only way out of here is to drive out! They climb up the back of a steamroller, KNOCK OUT the DRIVER, push him off, and assume the controls. P.A. (O.S.) There they are! Two SECURITY GUYS jump on either side of the steamroller. Vanessa wrestles the machine gun off on and pushes him away. Austin punches the other one off. AUSTIN Hang on! I'm going to floor it! He engages a lever. It goes only slightly faster. TWO SECURITY GUARDS jump in front of the steamroller. They are acting like they're frozen, ad if in the headlights of a fast-approaching car. GUARD Noooooooooooooo! AUSTIN Where did you learn to shoot? VANESSA Where did you learn to drive? ANGLE ON THE GUARDS. ONE OF THE GUYS JUMPS OUT OF THE WAY AS IF "IN THE NICK OF TIME." THE steamroller is now 8 yards away. The other army guy is still frozen in the path of the oncoming steamroller. GUARD Noooooooooooooo! VANESSA Austin, watch out! AUSTIN (looking around) Where? Where? ANGLE ON THE GUARD. HE'S BATHED IN THE HEADLIGHTS OF THE STEAMROLLER, WHICH IS STILL 3 YARDS away. GUARD Noooooooooooooo! ANGLE ON AUSTIN AND VANESSA. AUSTIN IS FRANTICALLY JERKING THE STEERING WHEEL AND TRYING TO downshift. SFX: Metal grinds. The shifter breaks off along with a gaggle of wares. He desperately jams on the breaks. ANGLE ON THE GUARD. HE IS FINALLY RUN OVER BY THE STEAMROLLER. THERE IS AN INORDINATE AMOUNT OF blood and guts. By now, Austin and Vanessa are right by the door. They run out into the hallway. INT. HALLWAY The coast is clear. VANESSA Thank God, Austin, we made it. AUSTIN Yes, act naturally and we'll split this scene the way we came in, Vanessa. From behind, a HAND knocks Vanessa and Austin out. It is Random Task flanked by four SECURITY GUARDS. INT. STEAMROLLER TESTING FACILITY We see the aftermath. Several WORKMEN sweep up the blood and guts with large squeegees and brooms. One of them turns to reveal "Steamroller Accident Response Team" written on his jumpsuit. Another WORKMAN leans down to the body with a hand broom and dust pail to sweep up blood. ZOOM IN on the steamrolled Army guy's ID tag, which reads "STEVE HARWIN." EXT. SUBURBAN HOUSE - LOS ANGELES It is a pleasant, Marcus Welby-like ranch-style house. We hear a PHONE RINGING. INT. KITCHEN A pleasant-looking MIDDLE AGED LADY answers the phone. MIDDLE AGED LADY Hello? (pause) Yes, this is Mrs. Harwin. (pause) Yes, I have a son named Steve Harwin. (pause) Yes, that's right, he's a henchman in Dr. Evil's Private Army. (pause) What? Killed? (pause) How? (pause) Run over by a steamroller? Oh my God. Thank you for calling. She HANGS UP. A FOURTEEN-YEAR-OLD enters. FOURTEEN-YEAR-OLD Hi Mom! When's Steve coming home? He said he was going to teach me to play ball. MRS. HARWIN Sit down, Billy, I have some bad news. As you know, your brother Steven was a henchman in Dr. Evil's Private Army. BILLY Was? What is it, Mom? MRS. HARWIN Your brother was run over by a steamroller. BILLY A steamroller? (bursting into tears) No, not Steve! Since Dad died, Steve's been like a father to me. MRS. HARWIN I'm sorry son. People never think how things affect the family of the henchman. (hugging him) I love you, Billy. (to herself, out loud) I wonder if we'll be able to receive Steve's henchman's comp. CAMERA PANS to a high-school photograph of Steve on the wall. INT. PSYCHEDELIC SCENE BREAK MUSIC: Psychedelic Wa-wa Pedal Funky Drummer Beat TITLE GRAPHIC: The Pad Austin and the go-go girl dance crazily. EXT. VEGAS - HIGHWAY We see a Virtucon electric minivan humning along. INT. BACK OF ELECTRIC MINIVAN Austin and Vanessa are unconscious. EXT. HIGHWAY The electric minivan turns onto a dirt road that leads to a boulder. EXT. DESERT - BOULDER The boulder lifts up and the minivan drives into it. INT. UNDERGROUND TUNNEL The minivan enters a long cylindrical tunnel. INT. FREIGHT ELEVATOR The minivan is being lowered on a high-speed elevator. INT. DR. EVIL'S MAIN CHAMBER VIRTUCON ARMY MEMBERS keep watch. SCIENTISTS check clipboards. DR. EVIL Frau Farbissina, check on our guests. The electric minivan pulls up right next to the immense table. All the evil associates are present. Dr. Evil squeezes a tennis ball repeatedly. Frau Farbissina opens the rear hatch of the minivan and pulls out Austin and Vanessa. DR. EVIL Welcome to my underground lair, Mr. Powers. Mrs. Kensington's daughter, how lovely. I believe your name is Vanessa? I'd shake your hands, except for obvious reasons. VANESSA I don't understand. DR. EVIL My hand, dammit! Look at it! AUSTIN What's wrong with your hand? DR. EVIL Don't try to suck up to me! It's a little late for that. I'm a freak! Look at it, it's been rendered useless. He moves his arm around to show them, but it's virtually normal, just slightly aged. AUSTIN I'm sorry, baby, I'm just not grocking your head space. DR. EVIL Oh forget it. As a fellow player on the international stage, Mr. Powers, I'm sure you'll enjoy watching the curtain fall on the third and final act. A large telescreen comes on, showing the United Nations Secret Meeting Room. DR. EVIL Gentlemen, I give you the Vulcan. He presses a button on his chair panel. A giant canvas falls, unveiling an ultra-high tech diamond-bladed subterranean bore&emdash; the VULCAN. It is rather phallic. AUSTIN (under his breath to Vanessa) Does that make you horny? VANESSA (under her breath) Not now, Austin. DR. EVIL The world's most powerful subterranean drill. INT. UNITED NATIONS SECRET MEETING ROOM ON SCREEN: Stock footage of volcanoes erupting and animated charts of magma squirting through the Earth's layers. DR. EVIL (voice over) So powerful it can penetrate the Earth's crust, delivering a 50 kiloton nuclear warhead into the planet's hot liquid core. Upon detonation, every volcano on the planet will erupt. The various representatives are ABUZZ. Behind the British delegation sits Basil Exposition. To his right, sits Mrs. Exposition with a hideous BLACK EYE. AMERICAN UN REPRESENTATIVE Why should we pay him the money? He's only got one warhead and he's going to detonate it deep underground. BASIL EXPOSITION (the light shifts towards dramatic as he speaks) My God, man, don't you understand? It won't just be active volcanoes, inactive ones will erupt as well. Seven-eighths of the Earth's land mass will be deluged with hot magma. Tectonic plates will shift, causing massive earthquakes. Imagine no United Kingdom. Think of it, no cricket, no tea, no freshly toasted crumpets smothered with Devonshire clotted cream, the diving mystery of Stonehenge. Imagine severing forever the continuity of Britannic majesty, the demise of this sceptered isle, this jewel, this England... BRITISH UN REPRESENTATIVE Any word from Powers? BASIL EXPOSITION (back to normal) I'm afraid we've lost contact with him. BRITISH UN REPRESENTATIVE I see. UNITED NATIONS SECRETARY Dr. Evil, it seems we have no choice but to pay your ransom. INT. DR. EVIL'S MAIN CHAMBER DR. EVIL Gentlemen, your deadline is in three hours. You have your instructions. Good-bye. The screen goes BLACK. DR. EVIL Come join us for dinner, won't you Mr. Powers? INT. DR. EVIL'S PRIVATE QUARTERS Austin and Vanessa are seated at a table with Frau. WAITERS serve food. MUSIC: Sexy Matt Helm-type theme DR. EVIL I think you'll enjoy the food. I have the best chef in the world. His name is Ezekial. He's made of seventy-five percent plastic. Scott enters. DR. EVIL Scott my boy, come here. How was your day? SCOTT EVIL Well, me and a buddy went to the video arcade in town and, like, they don't speak English right, and so my buddy gets into a fight, and he goes 'hey, quit hassling me cause I don't speak French or whatever', and the other guy goes something in Paris talk, and I go 'um, just back off' and he goes 'get out' and I go 'make me'. DR. EVIL (trying to hide contempt) Fascinating. What are your plans for this evening? SCOTT EVIL Thought I'd stay in. There's a good tittie movie on Skinemax. DR. EVIL And that's how you want to live your life, is it? SCOTT EVIL Yeah. What? ANGLE ON A PANEL OF BUTTONS THAT HAS EVERYONE'S NAMES ON IT. DR. EVIL'S HAND HOVERS OVER THE button labeled "SCOTT." Frau Farbissina slaps his hand away. DR. EVIL Scott, I want you to meet Daddy's nemesis, Austin Powers. SCOTT EVIL Why are you feeding him? Why don't you just kill him? DR. EVIL In due time. SCOTT EVIL But what if he escapes? Why don't you just shoot him? What are you waiting for? DR. EVIL I have a better idea. I'm going to put him in an easily-escapable situation involving an overly- elaborate and exotic death. SCOTT EVIL Why don't you just shoot him now? Here, I'll get a gun. We'll just shoot him. Bang! Dead. Done. DR. EVIL One more peep out of you and you're grounded. Let's begin. A PRIVATE ARMY SOLDIER grabs Austin and Vanessa. Dr. Evil hits a button. One whole wall slides out to reveal a tank. DR. EVIL Mr. Powers, Vanessa, some friends of mine are joining us for dinner. They're quite delighted you'll be part of the meal. The soldier takes Austin and Vanessa to the tank and puts them in the dipping mechanism. AUSTIN Dr. Evil, do you really expect them to pay? DR. EVIL No, Mr. Powers, I expect them to die. Even after they pay me the money, I'm still going to melt all the cities of the world with hot magma. (to guard) All right, guard, begin the unnecessarily Slow-Moving Dipping Mechanism. The guard do so. Austin and Vanessa begin to descend slowly towards the surface of the water. DR. EVIL Release the sharks! (to the room) All the sharks have had laser beams attached to their heads. I figure every creature deserves a warm meal. FRAU FARBISSINA (clearing her throat nervously) Dr. Evil? DR. EVIL Yes, what is it? You're interrupting my moment of triumph. FRAU FARBISSINA It's about the sharks. Since you were frozen, they've been placed on the Endangered Species List. We tried to get some, but it will take months to clear up the red tape. DR. EVIL (disappointed) Right. (to Austin) Mr. Powers, we're going to lower you in a tank of piranhas with laser beams attached to their heads. Frau clears her throat again. DR. EVIL What is it now? FRAU FARBISSINA Well, we experimented with lasers, but you would be surprised at how heavy they are. They actually outweighed the piranha themselves, and the fish, well, they sank to the bottom and died. DR. EVIL I have one simple request&emdash; sharks with friggin' laser beams attached to their heads, and it can't be done? Remind me again why I pay you people? What do we have? FRAU FARBISSINA Sea bass. DR. EVIL Right. FRAU FARBISSINA They're mutated sea bass. DR. EVIL Really? Are they ill-tempered? FRAU FARBISSINA Please allow me to demonstrate. Frau Farbissina throws a leg of lamb attached to a rope towards the tank, where the WATER BUBBLES and sea bass arch through the air. The sea bass devour the lamb. She pulls the rope back. The lamb has been eaten to the bare bone. DR. EVIL Fine. Whatever. Mutated, ill- tempered sea bass it is. (to the room) Come, let's return to dinner. Close the tank. SCOTT EVIL Aren't you going to watch them? They'll get away! DR. EVIL No, we'll leave them alone and not actually witness them dying, and we'll just assume it all went to plan. SCOTT EVIL I have a gun in my room. Give me five seconds, I'll come back and blow their brains out. DR. EVIL No Scott. You just don't get it, do you? Dr. Evil presses a button; the wall closes back over the tank. INT. TANK AREA Austin and Vanessa slowly descend towards the water. They can see the WATER BUBBLING beneath them. VANESSA What's your plan? Just then, a SEA BASS jumps out of the water, just missing Austin. AUSTIN First, I plan to soil myself. Then, I plan to regroup and think about the next move. Any thoughts? VANESSA Sadly, no. Hold on! I always keep this on me just in case. She pulls out a container of dental floss. AUSTIN All right, I get it. I have bad teeth. You have to understand, in Britain in the Sixties you could be a sex symbol and still have bad teeth. It didn't matter. VANESSA No, no, no. We'll use the floss to get to the ledge. AUSTIN Smashing idea! Give it to me. Austin takes the container and draws out four feet of dental floss and spins the container above his head like a bolo. He throws it and it wraps around a RADIATOR and it catches like a grappling hook. Austin begins drawing out the floss to take up the slack. Meanwhile, the slow-dipping mechanism is edging towards the sea bass. Unfortunately, Austin is still drawing out the floss. He keeps pulling out floss. More floss still. The mechanism continues to sink. Finally, the floss line goes TAUT. Austin ties it off high on the pole of the slow-dipping mechanism. Austin holds out his hand like a surgeon&emdash; Vanessa places a tube of toothpaste in his hand. Meanwhile the guard is reaching to undo the floss. Austin places the open tube on his palm, aimed at the guard. Vanessa WHISTLES at the guard loudly. He turns around. AUSTIN Judo chop! Austin JUDO CHOPS the toothpaste tube, sending a stream of toothpaste into the guard's eyes. GUARD (screaming, rubbing his eyes) My eyes! My eyes! Austin folds the tube across the top of the wire, grabbing both ends. AUSTIN Hold on, Vanessa! She grabs onto him and they slide down the floss to safety right as the dipping mechanism goes under the water. Meanwhile, the guard waits for them with toothpaste smeared all over his face. He and Austin STRUGGLE. The guard manages to get Austin pinned to the ground, Austin's head dangling over the water. SEA BASS circle. The water boils, dangerously close to Austin's head. VANESSA (shouting) Austin, watch out! Austin FLIPS the guard over. The SEA BASS chew the guard's head off like a blender. AUSTIN Not a good time to lose one's head. VANESSA Indeed. AUSTIN That's not the way to get ahead in life. VANESSA Yes. AUSTIN It's a shame he wasn't more headstrong. VANESSA Shut up. AUSTIN Fair enough. They head out a door. ANGLE ON THE HEADLESS TORSO. The name tag reads "JOHN SMITH." EXT. HOOTERS RESTAURANT - DAY It is a sports bar-type restaurant that has scantily clad BUSTY WAITRESSES. INT. HOOTERS RESTAURANT At a table we see fifteen or so TWENTY-SOMETHING GUYS, scouting chicks, drinking mugs of beer. GUY 1 I can't believe John Smith is getting married tomorrow. GUY 2 Where is Smittie anyways? It's not like him to be late for anything, especially his own stag party. GUY 3 Well, you know he's a henchman for Dr. Evil. Sometimes they work late. Can I just say something that may sound a little sappy? I think it's a testament to our friend John that so many of his buddies showed up in his honor. There's a lot of love in this room. A large-breasted WAITRESS approaches with a phone. WAITRESS Hi, I have a phone call here for the John Smith party. GUY 1 Hello? (pause) Yes, I have a friend named John Smith. (pause) That's right, he's in Dr. Evil's private army. (pause) What? He's dead? (pause) Decapitated by mutated flying sea bass? Oh my God! OK, thank you. He hangs up. GUY 2 (to Guy 1) Hey Bill, what's wrong? Was that John? Is he coming late? GUY 1 Guys, John's not coming. GUY 2 Why? GUY 1 He was decapitated by mutated flying sea bass. GUYS (upset) Oh no, oh my God, etc. GUY 1 All right, to Smittie! Everyone raises their glasses. GUYS To Smittie! INT. PSYCHEDELIC SCENE BREAK MUSIC: Psychedelic Wa-wa Pedal Funky Drummer Beat TITLE GRAPHIC: Out of Sight Austin and the go-go girl dance crazily. INT. CORRIDOR Austin and Vanessa drive a Dr. Evil golf cart down a brightly- lit, narrow corridor to a doorway marked "Emergency Exit." VANESSA What do we do now? AUSTIN We've got a freaked out square and world annihilation is his bag. You go get help. I'm gonna stay here and keep an eye on the bad Doctor. VANESSA I'm not going anywhere. We're a team. AUSTIN Too right, youth. That's why I need you to lead the troops. VANESSA I'll hurry back. AUSTIN Listen, Vanessa, whatever happens, I just want you to know that I feel bad about shagging that Italian girl. I had a sip of sake and all of the sudden, I don't know what happened. The whole time I was shagging her&emdash; I mean really shagging her, I mean it was crazy, I was like a huge mechanical piston, in and out, IN and OUT!&emdash; VANESSA (cutting him off) Austin, what's your point? AUSTIN Anyways, what I'm trying to say is that if you want me to be a one-woman man, well, that's just groovy, because...I love you. VANESSA Oh, behave! Vanessa goes out the door. INT. LADDER Vanessa starts climbing up the ladder. INT. CORRIDOR Austin tries to turn the cart around in the narrow corridor. He begins a twenty-seven point turn. INT. DR. EVIL'S PRIVATE QUARTERS Dr. Evil, Scott and the evil associates finish dinner. DR. EVIL Come, everyone, let us repair to the main chamber. Project Vulcan is about to begin. Scott, are you coming? SCOTT EVIL I don't want to. DR. EVIL Don't you want to see what Daddy does for a living? SCOTT EVIL (under his breath) Blow me. DR. EVIL What did you say? SCOTT EVIL Show me. They all go towards a giant door with the radiation symbol painted on it. INT. CORRIDOR Austin's still trying to turn the cart around. PULL BACK TO REVEAL&emdash; The cart is completely wedged perpendicularly in the corridor. Austin jumps out and starts running down the hall. Austin comes to a T in the hall and goes around the corner. He sees two GUARDS and ducks into a door. INT. FEMBOT LAIR Inside are SEVEN FEMBOTS lounging in various seductive poses on Sixties furniture&emdash; egg chairs, trapezes, round furry bed, etc. MUSIC: Sexy Matt Helm-type theme AUSTIN Hello, hello. FEMBOT Hello, Mr. Powers, care to have a little fun? AUSTIN (looking at his watch) No, actually, I have to save the world. He runs towards to door to exit. Suddenly, A PAIR OF FEMALE LEGS drop and wrap around Austin's neck and lift him up. His feet leave the floor. Another FEMBOT cartwheels up to Austin. Nozzles pop out of the tips of the Fembot's bra. AUSTIN Is it cold in here? A cloud of multicolored gas spews from the nozzles. Austin is overcome. The room starts to spin. INT. DR. EVIL'S MAIN CHAMBER - CONTROL AREA Dr. Evil sits into his chair with his radiation suit on. DR. EVIL Arm the probe! A small electric flatbed comes in carrying the nuclear warhead. A PHALANX of Dr. Evil's soldiers run beside it. The cart approaches the subterranean probe and the warhead is loaded up into its tail. INT. FEMBOT'S LAIR Austin is on the bed being held down by the Fembots. Psychedelic music plays. Projected colored swirling lights flash. The Fembots swirl around seductively. AUSTIN (delirious) I've got to get Dr. Evil! (eyes closed, fingers in his ears) Margaret Thatcher naked on a cold day! Margaret Thatcher naked on a cold day! Margaret Thatcher naked on a cold day! INT. DR. EVIL'S MAIN CHAMBER The (very phallic) Vulcan droops to its down position. DR. EVIL Probe in place. TECHNICIANS in "VIRTUCON" lab coats scurry about, being technical. DR. EVIL Five minutes to go. Let the penetration countdown begin. Dr. Evil presses a button marked "PENETRATION BEGIN." Next to it is a large button that says "ABORT." ANGLE ON AN EASTERN EUROPEAN TECHNICIAN at a microphone. EASTERN EUROPEAN TECHNICIAN (on PA, very slowly, with very thick accent) Five minutes and COUN-ting. EXT. DESERT Vanessa leads fifteen COMMANDOS on ATCs across the sand. INT. FEMBOT LAIR Two Fembots guard the door and five are on the bed in come- hither poses. FEMBOT You can't resist us, Mr. Powers. Eventually you'll give in. AUSTIN Au contraire, I think you can't resist me. MUSIC: Sexy Matt Helm-type theme Austin starts his seductive dance. He does a quick head count of the Fembots, reaches out of frame, pulls out eight cigarettes, put them in his mouth and lights them with a blowtorch. He throws seven cigarettes one by one. Each cigarette lands perfectly in a different Fembot's mouth. Austin smokes the remaining cigarette. Austin begins to do a seductive striptease. The Fembots are aroused. He takes off his shirt, revealing his hairy chest, and focuses his sexual energy on one Fembot. She begins to shake violently, her head shaking back and forth like in Jacob's Ladder. Eventually her head explodes. Austin is now stripped down to his Union Jack bikini briefs and turns to another Fembot. Her head explodes. He takes off his shoes and throws them away cavalierly. Then he tosses down his lit cigarette and grinds it with his bare foot. He gives a look of disguised pain. He mouths "I love you" to another Fembot. Her head explodes. He does the 'I'll call you' hand signal to yet another Fembot, whose head explodes. Austin does a hip-thrust to another and her head explodes. Austin leans over and wags his rump to the two remaining Fembots. AUSITN Oh, I fell over. Their heads explode simultaneously. All the Fembots are lying on the floor, smoking. Just then, Vanessa enters, flanked by a COUPLE OF COMMANDOS. She surveys the scene and looks at Austin in his briefs. She's hurt. The commandos salute Austin. AUSTIN It's not what it looks like, Vanessa. (to the commandos) At ease, boys. VANESSA (glancing down) Likewise. AUSTIN I can explain. They attacked me. Gas came out of her...well, and then they...and I... VANESSA I believe you, Austin. Let's go. AUSTIN Hold on a tick, let me put on my togs. INT. MAIN CHAMBER Austin and Vanessa lead FIFTEEN COMMANDOS into the chamber and GUNFIRE breaks out. Two CATWALKS run the length of the chamber, meeting at the door to the control area. The commandos split into two groups and lob grenades at the PRIVATE ARMY SOLDIERS who are guarding the stairs leading to the catwalks. They go flying. INT. CONTROL AREA The ALARM goes off. DR. EVIL Activate the blast shutters! Metal shutters automatically cover the windows overlooking the probe mechanism. DR. EVIL Launch the subterranean probe! The giant probe engine begins to throb and whirl. The tip of the spinning probe suddenly strikes the floor of the chamber and burrows into the earth with atomic force. Smoke and debris explode upwards. The entire chamber quakes violently&emdash; eight on the Richter scale. EASTERN EUROPEAN TECHNICIAN We have penetration. Subterranean detonation&emdash; two minutes and COUN-ting. INT. DR. EVIL'S MAIN CHAMBER Austin, Vanessa, and three commandos are pinned down behind several VIRTUCON BARRELS INT. CATWALK Another FOUR GUARDS block their way. Austin goes to shoot, but he's out of bullets. SFX: CLICKA-CLICKA Austin and Vanessa run along the catwalk towards the control room. They're directly in the path of TEN CHARGING PRIVATE ARMY SOLDIERS. AUSTIN Follow me! We're going to have to jump over the rail! VANESSA Are you crazy? AUSTIN Don't worry! ANGLE ON SIDE SHOT OF CATWALK They continue to run towards the guards behind some STACKED BARRELS. Two OBVIOUS STUNT DOUBLES run out from behind the barrels in a continuous motion instead of Austin and Vanessa and diver over the rail. ANGLE ON THE OTHER TEAM OF COMMANDOS They are making progress on the other catwalk. ANGLE ON AUSTIN AND VANESSA They have landed safely, but are surrounded by FIVE PRIVATE ARMY SOLDIERS, armed to the teeth&emdash; one has a bazooka, one has a flamethrower, one has a Gatling gun, etc. They see Austin and throw down their weapons, pulling out KNIVES. One of the private soldiers runs at Austin and he stabs him. Another soldier runs at Austin, and Austin also stabs him. A third private army soldier runs at Austin. Austin does the stabbing motion. SFX: CLICKA-CLICKA AUSTIN Blast! Out of ammo. Vanessa unleashes a series of kicks, knocking them all out. INT. CONTROL ROOM Austin begins to enter. VANESSA Austin, I'm coming with you. AUSTIN I'm going it alone this time, Vanessa. I have a follow-up visit with the Evil Doctor. VANESSA I'll secure the perimeter. INT. CONTROL AREA Austin enters the control area. A VIRTUCON ARMY MAN fires at him. Austin returns fires, shooting up some electrical equipment. Live wires dangle dangerously. Austin sees Mr. Bigglesworth running out a read door. DR. EVIL (O.S.) Come, Mr. Bigglesworth! Austin heads for the door until he smacks into AN INVISIBLE FORCE FIELD. He turns and sees a bank of old-fashioned computers labeled "DESTRUCTACON 5000". DESTRUCTACON (V.O.) Good afternoon, Mr. Powers, I'm the Destructacon 5000. I'm programmed to prevent you from progressing beyond this point. You might as well surrender. Resistance is futile. Your odds of survival are 23,763,273 to AUSTIN Well, Destructacon 5000, you have quite a head on your shoulders, I dare to coin. DESTRUCTACON (V.O.) Yes, I am programmed to answer any question. AUSTIN Really? Let me ask you this. What is love? DESTRUCTACON (V.O.) That does not compute. AUSTIN Why not? It's a question. DESTRUCTACON (V.O.) Love is...love is...love is... The computers begin to smoke. Alarm bells ring. DESTRUCTACON (V.O.) Remjack! Remjack! (singing) Daisy, Daisy... (faster) Remjackremjackremjack! There is a muffled explosion. The computer goes dark. Austin passes through the force field and heads for the door until he hears&emdash; EASTERN EUROPEAN MAN (on PA) Subterranean detonation&emdash; one minute and COUN-ting. He begins looking furiously for the abort button. AUSTIN (to Eastern European Man) Where's the abort button? The Eastern European Man holds up his finger as if to say 'give me one second.' EASTERN EUROPEAN MEAN (on PA) Forty-five seconds and COUN-ting. (to Austin) It's right over there. Austin sees the abort button. It is across the room. Just then, Random Task enters. Austin sees him and goes to shoot him, but he has run out of bullets. Random task takes off his SHOE. Austin makes his way across the room to the button. Random Task THROWS HIS SHOE. ANGLE ON SHOE SPINNING IN THE AIR The shoe HITS AUSTIN IN THE HEAD. Austin pauses. The shoe has not killed him. It has just hurt him slightly. AUSTIN Ow! That really hurt. I'm going to have a lump there, you idiot! Who throws a shoe? You fight like a woman. EASTERN EUROPEAN MAN (on PA) Fifteen seconds and COUN-ting. Random task blocks Austin's way to the button. He stands there, menacing, missing one shoe. Exposed wires are everywhere. On the counter beside Austin is a Big Gulp. AUSTIN Care for a drink? Austin throws the drink at Random Task's feet. It lands in front of him on a pile of exposed wires. Electricity travels through the Big Gulp, up Random Task's wet sock, ELECTROCUTING him. He begins to SMOKE, and then dies. AUSTIN Shocking. EASTERN EUROPEAN MAN Three...two...one... A 50 kiloton explosion from deep in the earth rocks the control area. EXT. STOCK FOOTAGE MONTAGE - VOLCANOS ERUPTING Different volcanoes around the world. Lava spews and flows. INT. CONTROL AREA Austin dives in SLOW MOTION towards the abort button. He flies through the air for an inordinate length of time. AUSTIN (slow motion distortion) Nooooooo! His hand lands on the button. EASTERN EUROPEAN MAN (on PA) Abort. EXT. STOCK FOOTAGE MONTAGE - REVERSE VOLCANO ERUPTIONS Lava, smoke and debris sucks back into volcanoes around the world. (Eruption footage run in reverse.) INT. CONTROL ROOM Having saved the world, Austin picks up a MACHIEN GUN from a fallen Private Army guy and runs to the door at the back, chasing Dr. Evil. INT. CORRIDOR Austin chases after Dr. Evil. INT. DR. EVIL'S PRIVATE QUARTERS Austin bursts in, catching Dr. Evil packing a suitcase. AUSTIN I've got you, Dr. Evil! DR. EVIL Well done, Mr. Powers. We're not so different, you and I. It's true, you're British, and I'm Belgian. You have a full head of hair, mine is slightly receding. You're thin, I'm about forty pounds overweight. OK, we are different, I'm not making a very good point. However, isn't it ironic, Mr. Powers, that the very things you stand for&emdash; swinging, free love, parties, distrust of authority- are all now, in the Nineties, considered to be...evil? Maybe we have more in common than you care to admit. AUSTIN No, man, what we swingers were rebelling against were uptight squares like you, whose bag was money and world domination. We were innocent, man. If we'd known the consequences of our sexual liberation, we would have done things differently, but the spirit would have remained the same. It's freedom, man. DR. EVIL Your freedom has cause more pain and suffering in the world than any plan I ever dreamed of. Face it, freedom failed. AUSTIN That's why right now is a very groovy time, man. We still have freedom, but we also have responsibility. DR. EVIL Really, there's nothing more pathetic than an aging hipster. Alotta enters. She holds a gun to Vanessa's head. ALOTTA Not so fast. DR. EVIL Well, it seems the tables have turned, Mr. Powers. Just then, Scott Evil enters. SCOTT EVIL Hey, Dad, I can take my Sega, right? Austin grabs Scott and puts the gun to his head. AUSTIN It seems the tables have turned again, Dr. Evil. DR. EVIL Not really. Kill the little bastard. See what I care. AUSTIN Man, you are one chilly square! SCOTT EVIL Dad, we just made a breakthrough in group! DR. EVIL I had the group liquidated, you little shit. They were insolent. SCOTT EVIL I hate you! I hate you! I wish I was never artificially created in a lab. DR. EVIL Scott, don't say that... Scott runs off. In the confusion, Vanessa KNOCKS the gun out of Alotta's hands. Alotta pulls out a knife. Austin SHOOTS the knife out of her hand. Vanessa grabs Alotta by the throat. VANESSA This is for sleeping with my man, you whore! ALOTTA I didn't sleep with him. VANESSA I don't believe you. ALOTTA (choking) It's the teeth. VANESSA OK, I believe you. But you still must be chopped. Vanessa gives her a judo chop. VANESSA Judo chop! Meanwhile, Dr. Evil has run to the egg shaped rocket, which closes and begins to lift up through A HOLE IN THE CEILING. HE RUNS IN. ON THE WAY, HE FLIPS A SWITCH WHICH SAYS "SELF-DESTRUCT - 5:00 MINUTES." EASTERN EUROPEAN MAN (O.S.) (on PA) Five minutes to self-destruct and COUN-ting. Austin SHOOTS and misses. Rocket exhaust pours out of the hole in the ceiling. AUSTIN Let's split! Austin and Vanessa run out the door into the... INT. CORRIDOR They pass Number Two, who is front of an open safe, stuffing his pockets with cash while the others are trying to escape. Austin and Vanessa run to the main chamber... INT. MAIN CHAMBER ...to the main corridor... INT. MAIN CORRIDOR ...past the Fembot lair, over the wedged-in cart, to the escape ladder. They begin to climb. INT. MAIN CHAMBER Explosions, debris, the cavern begins to collapse. 134 STOCK FOOTAGE - DESERT FLOOR - MERCURY TEST SIGHT Ground caving in from an underground nuclear explosion. EXT. RAFT - MIDDLE OF THE OCEAN - DAY Austin and Vanessa are floating in a large inflatable raft. FIERY DEBRIS falls in the water around them. VANESSA I have something to tell you. AUSTIN Lay it on me. VANESSA I love you, Austin. AUSTIN That's fab, because I love you, too, Vanessa. VANESSA Kiss me. AUSTIN Behave! Austin and Vanessa draw towards each other, preparing for a passionate kiss. Just as their lips are about to touch, however, they are interrupted by a strong WIND and the noise of a HELICOPTER OVERHEAD. Their hair is blown all about and the waves are whipped into a frenzy. AUSTIN Just when things were getting interesting. ANGLE ON BASIL EXPOSITION WEARING SCUBA GEAR, BEING LOWERED ON A ROPE FROM THE HELICOPTER. HE stops just above them. BASIL EXPOSITION Well, Austin, you've stopped Dr. Evil from destroying the world with his subterranean nuclear probe, and somehow you and Agent Kensington managed to escape unscathed from his evil lair. AUSTIN I'd say that about sums it up, Exposition. BASIL EXPOSITION Not quite, actually. Vanessa, I have something for you. Basil hands Vanessa an official-looking set of leather-bound credentials. BASIL EXPOSITION Because of your exemplary service to Her Majesty, you are now officially an active Field Agent with all the privileges and responsibilities thereof. VANESSA Thank you, Exposition. I'm honored. AUSTIN Congratulations, Field Agent Kensington! BASIL EXPOSITION Austin, I have something for you as well. He hands him a business card. BASIL EXPOSITION Here's the number of my dentist, he's first rate. Ring him up, he'll look after you. AUSTIN Thanks, Basil. Maybe the Nineties aren't so bad after all. VANESSA Oh, Austin. Austin and Vanessa embrace and kiss. BASIL EXPOSITION Austin, now, about your next mission&emdash; Still kissing Vanessa, Austin motions with his thumbs to the pilot of the helicopter to lift Basil up. He rises away in mid- sentence. BASIL EXPOSITION (rising up) But, wait, I&emdash; you got me again. Oh, and Austin&emdash; AUSTIN (calling out) Yes Basil? BASIL EXPOSITION (rising) Be careful! Austin and Vanessa kiss again. The helicopter blows them around. The CAMERA TILTS UP to the sky and continues to rise, until we are in&emdash; EXT. SPACE We see DR. EVIL'S CAPSULE in orbit around the Earth. DR. EVIL (V.O.) I'll get you yet, Austin Powers! END CREDITS ROLL LAST CREDIT reads "SEE AUSTIN POWERS IN YOU ONLY FLOSS ONCE." AUSTIN POWERS LOGO ANNOUNCER (V.O.) Now you can get all the Austin Powers movies in one Laser Disk box set! Virtucon Home Video presents "The Powers Collection." DISPLAY TABLE With five laser Disks laid out, alongside a PK-47, Austin's glasses, and floss and a toothbrush. ANNOUNCER (V.O.) Relive all your favorite Austin Powers movies, including... 141 GRAINY, BLACK & WHITE CLIP Showing Mike as Austin Powers, with Fifties hair and suit, against a rear projection of explosions and stunts from stock footage. ANNOUNCER (V.O.) Middle Name: Danger. AUSTIN So, Dr. Evil, do you expect the world to pay the ransom? DR. EVIL No, Mr. Powers, I expect them to die. ANNOUNCER (V.O.) No Austin Powers collection would be complete without some of the later hits, like... SEVENTIES FILM CLIP ANNOUNCER (V.O.) Four Eyes Only. We see Austin from behind, talking to a GIRL in a bathing suit. GIRL IN BATHING SUIT Oh, Austin, kiss me. He turns around. It's Austin Powers, played by ROGER MOORE, with the same glasses and bad teeth. ROGER MOORE Oh, behave! He does a frightening grin, displaying the AWFUL TEETH. ANNOUNCER (V.O.) We've also included some of the more obscure hits, like... 143 VERY RUNNY COLOR FILM CLIP ANNOUNCER (V.O.) From India With Affection. We see Austin Powers played by an INDIAN GENTLEMEN, same glasses, same bad teeth. INDIAN AUSITN (Indian accent) Well, my good fellow, are you expecting me to pay the ransom to you, you despot? INDIAN DR. EVIL (Indian accent) No kind sir, I expect you to go up in the evolutionary chain. But first, I expect you to sing. INDIAN AUSTIN (singing, Indian atonal) 'IF MUSIC BE THE FOOD OF LOVE, LET'S BAKE A CAKE.' DISPLAY TABLE ANNOUNCER (V.O.) All the Austin Powers adventures in one Laser Disk boxed set! 145 CLIPS FROM MOVIE - AUSTIN IN TIGHT CLOSE-UP AUSTIN Behave! THE END
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